As You Review Your Elections for Open Enrollment This Year I Wanted
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HARFORD COUNTY GOVERNMENT Greetings from the Director: May 2013 Open Enrollment As you review your elections for Open Enrollment this year I wanted to share with you the huge success the BlueChoice Opt Out Plus has been for both active and retired employ- ees. Lower co-pays for both office visits and prescription drugs along with no referrals necessary to see specialists are important features of this plan. I encourage you to visit the County’s webpage to review the Enrollment Guide which contains a summary of coverage for the BlueChoice plan. The representative from CareFirst will be available on May 21st and May 23rd in the Department of Human Resources’ Conference Room from 9a-3p to answer any questions you may have. Scott T. Gibson Director of Human Resources Benefits with Beth: Inside this issue: Greetings from the Director th I will be attending the May 28 Retirees’ Benefits with Beth Association Meeting to address any ques- CareFirst Mobile Access tions or issues that our retirees have with Healthy Drinks this year’s coverage. You are encouraged 5 Biggest Mistakes When Choosing to visit the County’s webpage in order to Workout Shoes review the Enrollment Guide. I will have a Grimm Statistic limited number of guides with me at the meeting. To Snooze or Not to Snooze Citrus Berry Smoothie Recipe The Dirt on Stress Relief There’s a whole lot of buggin’ going on A Day at the Beach Healthy Recipe Spring Picks Top Twenty Places to Walk in Harford County 1 PAGE 2 2 PAGE 3 Healthy Drinks Alcohol: Alcohol is both a tonic and a poison, and the differ- ence lies in the dose and the person drinking it; moderation is Water is best to key. 5 Quick Tips: Choosing Healthy Drinks quench your 1. Quit the sugar habit. The average can of sugar- sweetened soda or fruit punch provides about 150 calo- thirst. Skip the ries. If you were to drink just one can of a sugar- sweetened soft drink every day, and not cut back on calo- sugary drinks, ries elsewhere, you could gain up to 15 pounds in a year. Cutting back on sugary drinks may help control your and go easy on the milk and juice. weight and may lower your risk of type 2 diabetes. See how much sugar is in your drink. There are many options for what to drink, but without a 2. Go calorie-free naturally. “Diet” drinks with artificial sweeteners may condition our taste buds to crave super- doubt, water is the best choice: It’s calorie-free, and it’s sweet foods. Plain old water is the best calorie-free bev- erage—but if it’s just too plain, try adding a squeeze of as easy to find as the nearest tap. lemon or lime or a splash of 100% fruit juice. Plain coffee and tea are also healthy calorie-free choices, in modera- tion. Read six ideas for low-sugar drinks. 3. If you don’t drink alcohol, there’s no need to start. Drinks that are loaded with sugar are the worst choice: Moderate alcohol consumption lowers the risk of heart They provide lots of calories and virtually no other nutri- disease and diabetes; it also slightly increases the risk of breast and colon cancer. For some people—especially ents. Drinking them routinely can lead to weight gain pregnant women, people recovering from alcohol addic- tion, people with liver disease, and people taking one or and increase the risk of type 2 diabetes. more medications that interact with alcohol—the risks of drinking clearly outweigh the benefits. 4. Save sports drinks for athletes. Sports beverages are designed to give athletes carbs, electrolytes, and fluid Other drinks have pros and cons, but in moderation, during high-intensity workouts that last an hour or more. For sedentary folks,they’re just another source of sugary can fit into a healthy diet: calories. 5. Pull the plug on energy drinks. These pricey concoc- Coffee and tea: These are calorie-free, as long as you tions have as much sugar as soft drinks, enough caffeine don’t load up on the sugar and cream. They are safe for to raise your blood pressure, and an unpronounceable list most people and may even have some health benefits. of herbs and additives whose long-term health effects are unknown. No one needs them. Artificially sweetened drinks: These have no calo- http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-drinks/ ries—a plus—but their long-term effects on weight and health are unknown, so it’s best to limit them, if you drink them at all. 100% fruit juice: Fruit juice has vitamins, but it is high in calories, so stick to no more than a small glass (four to six ounces) a day. Milk: Milk is also high in calories, so there’s no need to drink more than a glass or two of low fat or skim milk a day, and less is fine, if you get your calcium from other sources. 3 Page 4 5 Biggest Mistakes When Choosing Workout Shoes Maybe you shouldn't reach for those comfy old sneakers after all. By Gina Shaw WebMD Feature Reviewed by Kimball Johnson, MD What’s the one piece of workout gear you can’t live without? Your iPod? A good water bottle? A truly supportive sports bra? Wrong, wrong, and wrong. The single most important piece of equipment to virtually any kind of exercise program -- running, aerobics, hiking, tennis, basketball -- is the right pair of shoes. A good pair of shoes can make or break your workout, and it’s easy to go wrong. Here are the five biggest shoe mis- takes people make. 1. Grabbing Whatever’s Handy "The biggest mistake people make when they start running, jogging, or some other exercise program is just reaching into the closet and pulling out an old pair of sneakers," says Tracie Rodgers, PhD, spokeswoman for the American Council on Exercise. An old pair of shoes may no longer have the support you need. And even more problematic, that pair of shoes might be inappropriate for the activity you choose. 2. Choosing the Right Shoe -- for the Wrong Workout You need to choose the right type of shoe for the kind of workout you’ll be doing. And yes, it does matter. A shoe made for running is very different in a number of ways from a shoe made for basketball or tennis. Joe Puleo, the author of Running Anatomy, says, "Running shoes have no lateral stability built into them because you don’t move your feet laterally when you run. You’re only going forward. A running shoe is built to give you support and stability as you move your foot through the running gait cycle." Puleo says basketball and tennis shoes both need to be stabilized laterally. That's because you move your feet side to side a lot when playing these sports. "You can’t build a running shoe that has lateral stability" he says, "and you can’t build a shoe for basketball or tennis that doesn’t have it." Even walking shoes differ from running shoes. Catherine Cheung, DPM, a podiatrist and foot surgeon with the Post Street Surgery Center in San Francisco, says runners land more on their forefoot while walkers have a heavier heel strike. "So for running," she says, "you want a shoe that has more cushioning on the forefoot, while walking shoes should have stiffer rubber to support the heel." Can’t you just get a good cross-trainer and use it for everything? Maybe, maybe not. "Cross-trainer" shoes never existed before Bo Jackson, who played professional baseball and football (remember the "Bo Knows" ad campaign?). 4 Page 5 Before Jackson, we just called them sneakers," Puleo says. "Then, Nike came up with an ad campaign, and now we have cross-trainers. But there’s no specificity to them -- you can’t do any one thing well. They have some lateral stabil- ity, so you can play a game of basketball with your kids occasionally. You can run a mile or two. But most of them are not very good shoes for any particular activity." Then again, some people aren’t heavily into running, hiking, tennis, or any one sport. They go to the gym occasionally, maybe play tennis with a work buddy once in a while, or shoot a few baskets with the kids. For them, a cross-trainer might be the best choice. "A good cross-trainer will allow you to do the treadmill, some walking on asphalt or on a track, and light jogging," Kath- leen Stone, DPM, president of the American Podiatric Medical Association, says. "Not mileage, of course. But I like them for people who are doing a variety of athletic endeavors casually." To choose a good cross-trainer, Stone suggests you look for: A firm heel Good support (you shouldn’t be able to bend the shoe too easily) Light weight (you don’t want to add a lot of pounds to your feet) But the APMA recommends that if you’re going to participate in a particular sport on a regular basis (two to three times a week or more), you should choose a sport-specific shoe. 3. Loving Them Too Much "Your workout shoes should be your workout shoes and not your running-around-town shoes," Rodgers says. "You’ll break down a pair of shoes standing in them or wearing them to the mall and running errands much faster than when you’re running or exercising." So buy yourself a pair of casual tennies for running around town, and stow your good workout shoes in the closet as soon as you get home from your run or your tennis game.