HEALTHY MEALS ON A BUDGET

Eating healthy on a limited budget may seem impossible, but with a little time, planning and strategic shopping, you can eat healthier and stay within your means.

Importance of Planning

Planning your meals for the week is the best place to start. Planning will help you make sure you are including foods from each food group—pay special attention to serving enough fruits and vegetables in family meals. Planning ahead helps you achieve a healthy balance—for instance, if you plan to serve a food higher in fat or salt, you can plan low-fat or low-salt foods to go with it.

In addition, planning saves time and money. Making a shopping list helps you know what food you already have, and what food you need—and helps avoid pricey “impulse” buys. Plus, planning your meals means fewer trips to the grocery store and helps you make use of leftover food and ingredients.

Planning Tips

Following these planning tips to make sure you are getting the most out of your money:

• • Build the main part of your meal around rice, noodles or other grains. Use smaller amounts of meat, poultry and fish.
• • Add variety to family favorites and try new, low-cost recipes. There are many online resources for finding healthy recipes.
• • Try new ways to cook foods, such as a slow cooker or crock-pot, to make meals easier to prepare.

• • Make use of leftovers to save time and money. For instance, if you make a pot roast, serve half of it and freeze the rest to use later in a casserole.
• • When time allows, cook large batches of certain meals and freeze family-size portions for meals later in the month.

Tips for Shopping

Use the tips below to help you grocery shop on a budget:

• • After planning your meals, make a list of all the foods you need (don’t forget to check the kitchen first!)
• • Look for coupons in the local newspaper or online for the foods you plan to buy.
• • Avoid convenience foods (baked goods, frozen meals, etc.); you can usually make these at home much cheaper and can control the nutritional value as well.
• • Try generic, store brands. They usually cost less, taste just as good and have the same nutritional value.
• • When buying produce, buy what is in season. Compare fresh, frozen and canned to see which is cheapest. Read More

Celebrate World No Tobacco Day by Learning About Smoking Cessation

According to the American Lung Association, smoking kills over 480,000 people every year. Few people would disagree that smoking is hazardous to their health, yet millions continue to take part in this unhealthy habit.

The most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows a decline in U.S. adult smokers, but an estimated 34 million still smoke cigarettes. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 1.1 billion adults worldwide smoke cigarettes.

The tobacco epidemic is so pervasive that the WHO supports World No Tobacco Day, held annually on May 31. In honor of World No Tobacco Day this year, take some time to learn about the benefits of smoking cessation and how you or a loved one can get started on the journey of quitting smoking.

Quitting Smoking

Smoking can cause immediate bodily damage and result in long-term health problems. More than 16 million Americans are living with a smoking-related disease like cancer, heart disease or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

With all the health risks associated with smoking, it’s important to extinguish your smoking habit for good. Here

are some suggestions to get you started on your journey to being smoke-free:

• • Think about when and why you smoke—keep track of when you light up and how you’re feeling. Identifying your triggers can help you prepare to quit.
• • Think of the many benefits to quitting, like extending your lifespan, saving more money and feeling healthier overall, to stay motivated.
• • Plan ahead for cigarette cravings to stay on track. Some common strategies for managing cravings include chewing gum, eating a healthy snack or taking a walk when you feel the urge to smoke.
• • Be sure to share your plans with your loved ones so that they can help support you and hold you accountable.

It’s never too late to start your smoking cessation journey. Talk to your doctor today to create a cessation strategy that’s right for you. Read More

Best Practices for Addressing the COVID-19 Pandemic

As the number of U.S. COVID-19 cases grows daily, employment is rapidly changing. While local governments temporarily adjust laws and guidelines, businesses across the country are implementing plans to keep their employees healthy.

Statistically speaking, the best way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is to minimize person-to-person contact. As such, employers are using the following strategies to encourage employees to stay home:

• • Expanding telecommuting policies to ensure as many employees as possible are working from home
• • Highlighting benefits offerings that employees might not know about, including short-term disability
• • Expanding leave policies, including allowing

negative balances in paid time off banks

• • Offering financial incentives for employees to stay home and not come into the office

Unfortunately, having employees work remotely isn’t always an option. Here are steps individuals can take to slow the spread of COVID-19:

• • Practice social distancing, maintaining six feet or more of distance from others
• • Not touching their eyes, nose or mouth
• • Avoiding contact with those who are sick
• • Washing their hands often with soap and water

Unfortunately, there is no known vaccine for a human-contracted coronavirus, taking precautions that much more critical. Proactive steps could save an organization countless hours of lost productivity. Read More

Reopening Decisions and Risk Assessments

While many essential businesses (e.g., hospitals, pharmacies, grocery stores and gas stations) have remained open during the COVID-19 pandemic, other operations deemed nonessential have shut down temporarily or changed the nature of their operations. Not only has this led to significant business disruptions, but, for many, it has critically impacted their bottom line.

However, we may be nearing a time when stay-at-home regulations are scaled back and all businesses are allowed to resume as normal. The question then is: How will business owners know it is acceptable to reopen? The following are some best practices to keep in mind:

• • Review guidance from state and local governments—The COVID-19 pandemic impacts states and regions in different ways. Just because a business is allowed to reopen in one region of the country doesn’t automatically mean your operations will be allowed to resume as well. As such, it’s critical to understand and review all relevant state and local orders to determine if and when your business is allowed to reopen.
• • Understand the risks—If and when the government allows all businesses to reopen, that doesn’t necessarily mean COVID-19 is no longer a threat to your operations. What’s more, some businesses may have greater COVID-19 exposures than others, underscoring the importance of performing a thorough risk assessment before reopening. Prior to conducting a risk assessment, it’s important to review guidance from OSHA, state and local agencies, industry associations as well as your local health department. More information on conducting a risk assessment can be found below.

Again, before reopening, it’s critical to seek the expertise of legal, insurance and other professionals.

Conducting a Risk Assessment

Even after the government allows businesses to reopen, firms still need to determine whether it makes sense to resume operations. Safely restarting your business won’t be as simple as unlocking the front door.

Before reopening, businesses should perform a risk assessment to determine what steps must be taken. While the complexity of risk assessments will differ from business to business, they typically involve the following steps:

• • Identifying the hazards—When it comes to COVID-19, businesses need to think critically about their exposures, particularly if an infected person entered their facilities. When identifying hazards, it’s a good idea to perform a walkthrough of the premises and consider high-risk areas (e.g., breakrooms and other areas where people may congregate). It’s also important to consider what tasks employees are performing and whether or not they are especially exposed to COVID-19 risks when performing their duties.
• • Deciding who may be harmed and how—Once you’ve identified hazards to your business, you need to determine what populations of your workforce are exposed to COVID-19 risks. When performing this evaluation, you will need to make note of high-risk individuals (e.g., staff members who meet with customers or individuals with preexisting medical conditions). Read More