Fit Together in Action- February

Fit Together 5210 School Highlights: Southwest Celebrates Valentine’s Day

Southwest School sent a friendly reminder to the kids and their families about the school’s healthy celebration wellness policy. Instead of celebrating Valentine’s Day with candy and treats they have suggested fun holiday pencils, stickers and homemade cards.

There are many fun ways to celebrate without a lot of treats and sweets. Some examples are verbal praise, special coupons, and dancing to your favorite song. The benefit of providing a non-food reward is that it creates an environment that fosters a healthy lifestyle and supports the 5210 message.

For more information about 5210, please contact Jessica Stewart, Fit Together 5210 Youth and Families Coordinator at (860)806-1825 or jstewart@how2fitkids.org.

New Nutrition Facts Label

We’re all familiar with the Nutrition Facts label. This is the label that appears on billions of food and beverage products, giving us the lowdown on how healthy (or not so healthy) items are based on calories, fat, sugar, salt, carbohydrates, protein, and various vitamins and minerals.

On January 1, an updated Nutrition Facts label took effect covering all food and beverage products from manufacturers with more than $10 million in sales (most manufacturers with less than $10 million in annual sales get an additional year to comply).

Here’s what’s new:

• New line for added sugars
• More realistic serving sizes- in line with what people actually consume
• “Dual labels” will be featured that include the nutrition content of both a single serving as well as the entire package.
• Easier to see Calories, servings per container, and serving size, they’re all featured in bigger and bolder font.

Worksite Wellness- Five Tips to Add More Activity to Your Workday

1. Try to get up once every hour and go for a short walk around your worksite
2. Take the stairs whenever possible
3. Use your lunch break to incorporate movement to your workday

Ex. Go for a walk around the block or do some stretches

4. Park as far away as you can in your work parking lot to add in some extra steps
5. Aim to get up and go speak with a coworker rather than contacting them through e-mail or phone whenever possible

For more information about worksite wellness, please contact Martha Kelley, Fit Together 5210 Worksite Coordinator at (860) 921-7464 or mkelley@nwcty.org.

Celebrate Hearth Health Month with Heart Healthy Brownies

Prep Time: 5 mins Cook Time: 25 mins Yield: 12 Brownies

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup almond butter or other natural nut butter
• ¾ cup pumpkin puree (canned or fresh)
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup maple syrup or honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• ½ cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and prepare a 8x8 baking dish with grease or parchment paper.
2. In large bowl, mix together almond butter and pumpkin.
3. Whisk in the eggs, and then add maple syrup and vanilla.
4. Add cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt- stir until combined
5. Add in chocolate chips
6. Pour into pan and bake 22-25mins or until toothpick comes out clean.
7. Let cool before serving

Nutrition: 1 Brownie 200 calories, 12.7gm fat( heart healthy), cholesterol 31mg, Sodium 260mg, Carbohydrate 21gm, Protein 6gm