Expression GreenExpressing the need for a healthy green lifestyle

With several health care reform bills making their way through congressional committees, many Valley employers are worried how the outcome will affect their financial future.

Already facing increased health insurance premiums, businesses also are concerned about being required to provide health coverage for all workers and how a government-run option might affect their costs. One proposal that has benefits consultants wringing their hands is an excise tax on insurance plans that cost a family more than $21,000 a year.

Kathryn Bakich, national director of health care compliance at the Segal Co. in Washington, said lawmakers must be careful not to do something that will create bad consequences for employer plans.

Most plans cost $15,000 to $18,000 a year, she said, including both the employer and employee portions. With a couple of years of inflation, some of those plans will hit the $21,000 cap and be open to additional taxes on employers.

“Many times they call it a Cadillac tax, but these are not Cadillac plans they are taxing,” Bakich said. “That’s a big problem.”

She said she hasn’t seen any consensus from employers about which plans seem to be most employer-friendly. She said some employer groups don’t like any of the proposals, while others might like a single aspect of a complex plan.

“Everyone is looking to see what the Senate Finance Committee comes up with, which will combine with the Senate Health Committee bill,” she said.
Employer-based coverage

Dennis Hoffman, professor of economics at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, said the U.S. is one of the only countries that relies on employers to provide the bulk of health insurance. That practice originated after World War II, when the government imposed wage and price controls on companies. As a result, employers — beginning with the auto industry — offered health benefits to entice high-quality employees.

“In terms of basic economics, the labor market would be much more efficient if people were free to seek jobs and they could separate insurance coverage from employment,” Hoffman said. “Businesses could feel free to hire and fire people without concerns about insurance implications, pre-existing conditions and lawsuits around health insurance.”

Hoffman, who receives comprehensive benefits from the state, said he is satisfied with his coverage. The state of Arizona recently awarded $750 million in contracts to several health plans, all of which compete to sign up an estimated 135,000 members. Hoffman chose the Boise, Idaho-based AmeriBen plan, which is using the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona provider network.

“I don’t have any complaints about my particular benefits package per se, but it still does cost the state and myself a lot of money,” he said.

Hoffman would rather have the state exclude health benefits and put that money in his paycheck so he can buy his own health coverage.

Jack Lunsford, president and CEO of Westmarc, a West Valley economic development coalition, said a government plan could destroy the employer-based coverage system that works for many Americans. Yet he also said a tax on small businesses for not offering insurance to employees would hurt them.

Lunsford is grateful for Westmarc’s coverage through Health Care Group, which provides a safety net for small businesses that have trouble finding affordable health plans in the commercial sector.

“We were not able to offer health insurance to our staff until we qualified under Health Care Group,” Lunsford said.
Businesses fear mandates

Employers such as Marwan Madanat, who hire independent contractors and don’t provide health insurance, say an employer mandate would be “devastating” to his company, Alphamed Solutions Inc. in Chandler.

Alphamed has four workers in Arizona and 16 across the U.S. who provide medical transcription and billing services for doctors’ offices. All are home-based independent contractors, which means they are responsible for their own insurance.

Madanat hopes to expand his business into the growing electronic medical records segment, which many say ultimately will help lower medical costs.

“In my opinion, we have got the best medical treatment in the whole world,” said Madanat, who was born in Jordan and became a U.S. citizen in 1994. “This is where I’m coming in with the technology. At the end of the day, we can help reduce the cost of providing services and hope the doctor will reduce their fees. This would have a ripple effect.”

Scott Harkey, a partner in Phoenix-based marketing firm Owens Harkey & Associates, said he recently had to cut health insurance benefits for five full-time and four part-time employees.

Someday, the children that we know will be running the world. Yes, all the little boys and girls who are now playing with balls and frogs, dolls and blocks will someday be the politicians, business executives, law enforcement officials, teachers, and, most important, parents. That’s why it’s so critical to teach them the right things now. Proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle are a couple of those things. A child’s educational lessons about nutrition are the foundation of good health as an adult. Physical growth and mental development are dependent on a child having not only adequate nutrients, but also the proper ones. It is the adult’s role – whether it be a parent or other family member, teacher, or friend – to educate children on proper nutrition. After all, neither the body nor the brain can function adequately without the right nutrients; and when our new leaders make world-changing decisions, it’s imperative that their bodies and minds are as sharp and strong as possible. Discount vitamins can help accomplish this.

Much time and effort is put into nourishing newborn babies with the most nutritious foods available – from formula and breast milk to fortified cereals and baby foods. This concern is justified given the amount of growth a baby is expected to do in his or her first 12 months. (Healthy babies should double their birth weights by 6 months of age and triple them by 12 months of age.) Then they become toddlers and develop minds and tastes of their own. Suddenly, the only foods allowed to enter into their mouths are chicken nuggets and chocolate chip cookies. Forget the four food groups – they’ve just been reduced to two; and a balanced diet on two food groups (and not even good ones) is like a balanced table on two legs – it just doesn’t work. Parents do their best to teach their little ones that peas and applesauce are more important in their diets than crackers and fruit snacks, but it becomes a battle of wills. Eventually, it becomes a compromise (sometimes known as a bribe). “Okay, little Sammy. If you want that piece of chocolate cake, you must eat all of the green beans on your plate.”

Just when parents think they’ve got a handle on the whole diet and nutrition thing with their little ones, the toddlers become students and go off to school for one or two meals a day. This means an introduction to hot lunch and cafeteria food. Sure, school menus are regulated by certain government guidelines, but when ketchup and salsa are classified as vegetables, how much faith can be had in the nutritional value of a school lunch? So, well-intending parents send their kids with sack lunches full of the four main food groups. The saying goes that you can take a kid to the cafeteria, but you can’t keep him from trading his apple for a candy bar.

Then they become teenagers and don’t want their lunches from home or from the school. They’d rather enjoy open campus and venture over to whatever fast food establishment is nearby – if one hasn’t set up operations right on campus. Fast food menus are high in saturated fat and simple carbohydrates and very low in nutritional value. Want to confuse a fast food employee? Ask him how to get a single serving of vegetables off the restaurant’s menu.

While adults cannot necessarily control what the children in their lives eat when not under their direct supervision, they can still have a major influence over the choices that they make and they can provide those children with discount vitamins to fill in the nutritional blanks that their daily diets create. There are many varieties of children’s daily vitamins from which to choose, but all of them offer many of the nutrients that are lacking in our everyday foods.

For infants and toddlers, there are vitamin drops available from a number of sources. These drops provide multiple vitamins, but are concentrated in vitamin D. Vitamin D helps in the absorption of calcium and is critical to the development of strong bones and teeth. As children get older, they are able to graduate to the fun and fruity chewable multi-vitamins. These are available in sugar-free, vitamins-plus-minerals, extra vitamin C, extra calcium, and other versions.

By purchasing discount vitamins online, not only can parents provide their children with the freshest vitamins available (due to the fast turnover of inventory caused by large sales volume), but they can also save money for the many other things that their kids need, like braces and summer camp and college. Additionally, there is much research and information to be found online regarding children’s nutrition, vitamin supplements, and some of the major dietary issues facing kids today.

When researching vitamins and nutrition for children, it is a most convenient time to do the same for oneself. While adults are no longer growing and developing, proper nutrition is still vital for maintaining proper organ function, preventing disease, and for staying energized. Additionally, consuming the right nutrients can also slow the signs of aging and help keep adults feeling like children themselves. Besides, grown-up diets are often more nutritionally void than those of their kids. Hectic schedules and a lack of healthy convenience foods are major contributing factors.

The very most important reason adults should consider their own health and nutrition as much as their children’s is that kids learn by example. The whole “do as I say, not as I do” approach to teaching children values and good habits doesn’t go very far. The best way to teach a child about nutrition and diet is to show him. When children see adults taking their vitamins everyday, chances are that the children will follow suit and want to do the same. Couple this with an explanation of how vitamins help kids grow up big and strong (and help adults stay that way), and children will soon be reminding the parents to take their vitamins.

Solid and complete nutrition is the foundation of a child’s development. Not only does adequate nourishment ensure a healthy body, but it also helps in mental development. Children who receive proper nutrition not only grow up healthy and strong, but they also learn better and develop stronger cognitive thinking skills. Eating balanced meals and taking multivitamins are not things that children learn to do on their own. They are dependent on the adults in their lives to teach them and show them. By example, children learn about healthy lifestyles and how to take care of their bodies. Adults can teach children by establishing their own healthy routines, such as eating right and taking discount vitamins daily. This is a great opportunity to do something for oneself and help the kids at the same time.

Let’s start with some facts:

1. Fruit and vegetables bring amazing health benefits
2. We need to educate children about the benefits of eating fruit and vegetables
3. Children need to adopt a healthier diet to avoid health and obesity problems in later life

 

All simple statements, but in practice it’s not so easy getting kids to eat more healthily which is exactly why it needs to be made fun and interesting.

Fruit is often considered by children as the boring alternative to crisps, chocolate and cakes. And sadly, despite the outstanding health benefits, maybe there is some truth there. Oranges, apples, plums and all the usual run-of-the-mill fruits, salads and vegetables that parents try to smuggle into the lunchbox could well be considered bland.

But apples and oranges are not the be all and end all of fruit. What about the more interesting, exotic fruits and vegetables that readily available on our supermarket shelves? Foods that not only taste delicious and can be incorporated into interesting dishes, but that also look and feel interesting too, stimulating the imagination and sparking natural inquisitiveness into where they came from.

There is a plethora of mouthwatering recipes involving exotic foods just waiting to be tried; keep them simple and your kids can help you with the preparation giving them hands-on experience as well as the opportunity to learn a range of new skills and boost their knowledge of worldwide cultures at the same time. For example, how delectable do these sound?

• Avocado pear salad with cherry tomatoes, cucumber and crispy lettuce leaves
• Pineapple fruit salad with ice cream, strawberries, citrus fruits and of course, pineapple!
• Mango pancakes with strawberry jam
• Green banana and carrot mash with vegetarian sausages
• Sweet potato baked chips with a sour cream and chive dip
• Butternut squash and blueberry treat
• Plantain ice cream

 

Children will never fail to find these dishes fun to make, and they will suddenly realise that healthy foods can actually taste good too.

You could also enhance your educational efforts by including educational resources such as books and toys into the healthy eating curriculum. Take a look in your local bookstore, search online or if you are a school or nursery teacher, consult your resources supplier and you will soon come across specialist products that are designed to help younger children recognise and learn about worldwide, exotic foods and healthy eating.

Children are the future; so make sure their future is healthy and packed with the goodness of fruit and vegetables! Make learning about healthy eating fun by introducing children to the exciting world of exotic fruits and vegetables!

The Chinese have known about its health benefits for centuries. It has been used to treat headaches, depression, and a wide range of other ailments. Recently, this herb has been shown to help hinder the growth of cancer cells, restrict the spread of the HIV virus in the body, and to help promote weight loss. Green tea supplements provide the same benefits as drinking tea by the cup, and actually the active ingredients in a supplement are more highly concentrated.

There are many reasons why you should consider taking a green tea supplement.

• Convenience – capsules can be carried with you wherever you go, in your purse or in your pocket. Instead of carrying a container of tea and a cup, you can carry a few capsules that you can take wherever you are. It is the perfect choice for a busy lifestyle.

• Dosage – most studies show that the best dosage is between three and ten cups per day. Even drinking three cups per day may be difficult, but drinking eight or ten cups is just nuts. A green tea supplement easily provides the equivalent of 2 to 4 cups of tea.

• Taste – some people cannot drink tea without adding a lot of sugar or artificial sweeteners. Adding so many calories or chemicals to get the health benefits does not make much sense. For example, if you are trying to drink the tea to lose weight, it does not make a whole lot of sense to add a lot of sugar to make it drinkable. Refined sugar just turns to fat in your body.

• Caffeine – capsules are available in decaffeinated form, so you do not have to worry about being jittery.

By using green tea supplements, you can have all of the health benefits without all the hassle and inconvenience of brewing cups of tea for each meal.