Eat Well Live Well

The Wegmans' Eat Well Live Well challenge
is taking the Rochester Community by storm!
The Challenge is all about increasing physical activity and healthy eating among people of all ages in the communities that Wegmans serves. Many companies in the Rochester area join the challenge in the spring or fall. If you work for one of these companies, you may have benefited from it yourself.

You don't need to work for a company
who is doing the challenge to be part of it.
You can do your own personal challenge
and have your family and friends join in
with you! Everything you need to get
started is on Wegmans' Eat Well Live
 Well website and it's free.You don't
 need a pedometer to do it, but you
can get them for little money at most
super stores like Wal-Mart and Target. You don't need anything fancy; the basic model will do.

You might want to "compete" with other family members or friends. The competition that results from being on a team and working towards a goal probably helps; but so does keeping track of our own progress. When we keep a journal of our physical activity and eating habits, we have a better chance of reaching our wellness goals.

There are two things that we track when we join the challenge.
1) The number of steps we take a day
2) The amounts of cups of fruits and vegetables we eat

Steps are tracked using a pedometer that we wear on our hip. The goal is to walk 10,000 steps per day or do equal to that through other forms of physical activity. In general, most Americans do not get enough physical activity and come far under that 10,000 mark. However, when we wear a pedometer, it reminds us to take the stairs, park farther away, walk to the next bus stop, take that walk during lunch and do other thinkgs to reach that 10,000. It's like having a health coach on your hip!

Eating more fruits and vegetables can be a bit harder. First of all, we have to learn what a serving size (a cup) looks like. Wegmans has some helpful handouts and information in their stores and online to help us. In general, a cup of fruits or vegetables is the size of your fist! People with larger fists need more than people with smaller ones! There are some exceptions. For example, if a fruit is dried, 1/2 a cup equals 1 serving. On the other hand, leaf lettuce is more airy, so 2 cups of it are equal to 1 serving.

Take the challenge and start living well!