Montana Meals April Challenge: Plan your dinners for one week!
During our recent Stress Management webinar, 83% of viewers reported that they had skipped a meal or made a poor nutritional choice within the past three days due to stress or busyness. Without a plan, it’s easy to resort to unhealthy fast-food or take-out meals. This might be especially true if you’re faced with feeding a hungry family at the end of the day, or if you’re cooking for yourself and don’t feel like putting in the effort. Take the stress out of dinner time this month and participate in the Montana Meals April Challenge: Plan out your dinner meals for one week. We’re hoping you’ll see how much of a difference this can make when you aren’t scrambling to decide what’s for dinner or running to the grocery store at the last minute.
Next week, I’ll provide some tips and tricks for efficient meal planning, but if you want to go ahead and get started, here is a log that you can use for the challenge. To fill it out, I recommend doing the following:
- Take an inventory of food that you have on hand that can, or needs to be, used in the upcoming week. Write food items in the “Refrigerator/Freezer/Leftovers” section.
- Look at your schedule for the week. In the “Plans” section, fill in any evening events or appointments that may impact how much time you have for dinner prep.
- Write out your dinner menu in the “Meal” section.
- As you’re planning out your meals, write your grocery list.
And remember, this will only work if you make your plan beforehand. You don’t have to stick to it exactly, but give the planning process a try and see what kind of dividends it yields. You might like it so much that you make a habit out of it! Send in your Meal Plan by Thursday, May 1st with the subject line: April Meals to wellness@montana.edu or fax your log to 994-2391.
April Prize Drawing: Slow Cooker!
Montana Moves April Challenge: Set a Personal Best!
Ever since we were kids, it’s always been fun and rewarding to do our best! For the Montana Moves April Challenge of the Month, we’re asking you to do just that. Every athlete strives for a Personal Best (P.B.), and you can too. Here’s some ideas of things that could qualify:
- Fastest time in a particular race distance. (Easiest way to achieve: run a new distance you’ve never raced before, it will automatically become your personal best).
- Longest…run, hike, bike, walk, etc.
- Elevation: Highest elevation gain, or highest elevation achieved.
- Weight Training–heaviest lift (careful if you do this one, make sure you have a spotter), or most reps with a certain weight (safer).
- Most days exercised in the month. Or most consecutive days exercising.
- Get creative! Make your own!
If you need to qualify your personal best, we’ll let you. For example, you might say: Personal Best post-baby, or post-surgery, or personal best in my 50s. Also, if you set a personal best recently (but not in April), feel free to share that as well. Now get out there, set records, and send us your personal best description/story/photo to wellness@montana.edu with the subject line Personal Best! by Thursday, May 1st to be entered to win our monthly drawing!
April Prize Drawing: Camp Hammock!
You must be an MUS Insured Plan Member to participate.
Montana Moves 