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Planning your Springtime Health Regime

It’s August and after the winter months you feel like a blob so how do you kick start getting the energy levels up without wearing your unfit self out within the first week?

Here’s an easy way to get started:
1st Week

1. Make a resolution to replace any high calorie snacks with fruit plus drink two more glasses of water a day than you
   are drinking now that is unless you are already drinking 6 or more.

2. Every morning spend at least 15 minutes stretching and do 10 sit ups and 10 half press-ups. If you cannot mention 10 at once do in sets of 2 or 3s between
   stretches.

3. Each evening take a 15-minute to half-hour walk.

That’s it. All you have to is keep that up for 5 out of 7 days and re-assess at the end of the week whether you are ready to increase the intensity. We are working on not having to do more than 45 minutes in total a day so that you should be able to fit this into at least 4 days of each week.

Copyright all rights reserved Ann Polaschek.
 

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During the past 4 weeks we have been discussing organising a School Health Week and this would not be complete unless you send the following note home with all the students and also put the same information into your schools online newsletter or notices.

NOTE: TO PARENTS, CARE-GIVERS and SCHOOL STAFF

We are having a School Health Week and we would like to offer the following information in order to enhance the results of our efforts:
Winter colds and flus are a teacher’s and caregiver/parent's occupational hazard so if you do come down with a bug and don’t want the endless cycle of each person in your household getting the flu and returning the favour here are the rules:

1. Before anyone in your household gets the first of the winter flus invest in some cheap face masks, buying twice the number of face masks as there are people in your house and keep them with your first aid kit or cold medicines.
    

2. Isolation is the key so find you or them a room in the house which is warm dry and ventilated and shut them or yourself up in it as much as possible for the duration which should be 7 days for the flu. Remember most flu viruses are caught by airborne transmission, that’s why you can’t avoid it in the classroom.
   
   2b) Do not let your spouses sleep in the same room for seven days and if they or other members of your family are looking after the sick ones ensure they use their own face-mask whenever they enter the sick room.
    

3. For at least 7 days instruct everyone in the house to wipe all bathroom surfaces after use or touch everything with a clean tissue. Don’t forget this rule when those with the flu are feeling better and start popping out to the kitchen to make food or cups of tea for themselves, everyone in the house should restrict their intake of dairy products for at least 10 days.

Copyright all rights reserved Ann Polaschek.

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You will need to spend a couple of weeks planning this very special week so read at least 3 parts of this series before commencing on any of the initiatives described over the next 4 weeks.
1st Stage removing the root cause: A sick infectious child is a parent/caregiver’s responsibility and the following exercise will protect the other students and Staff.

A few days before commencing your health week have a Staff Meeting that includes the School Nurse or whoever is in charge of the sick-bay . Now the following may smack of telling Auntie how to suck eggs but this during the week chosen the following exercise is to be done with a determined sense of purpose by you and all your Staff.
At the meeting inform the Staff that as from Monday of the following week

1. Any child who exhibits infectious symptoms is to be sent immediately to the sick-bay.
   This means that the child doesn’t need to be complaining of feeling ill, a teacher can identify an infectious child by a constantly runny nose and/or cough, looking very pale or hot.
2. The child then goes to the sick bay where the nurse after deciding that the child is infectious instructs the school office to call the parent/caregiver to come and get them and when the they arrive asks them to have the child checked or keep them at home until their symptoms have gone.
3. If the child is returned to school the very next day which would most likely be too soon then the whole exercise is repeated and repeated until the child becomes well or the parent/caregiver turns up a doctors certificate to the effect that the child is not infectious.
4. Even more importantly if a member of Staff becomes ill they should immediately inform you so you can organise a relief teacher.
5. Help the school nurse to set up an extra area to use as a sick bay and organise standby roster of assistants as you will find that she could be very busy. Make sure that the nurse and all assistants use masks and throw-away rubber gloves.
6. If you have trouble with any parent over this let them know in no uncertain terms that unless they can produce a certificate of health to attend school from registered M.D ., their child must stay home for the sake of their own health and the whole of the school community.
7. If the parent/caregiver/next of kin do not turn up or start or are not answering their phones then keep the child in sick-bay and send them home at the end of the day with a follow-up call to make sure someone at home knows that you mean business. Stick to your guns and repeat the exercise for as long as it takes to get the message through.

If you have a student who is constantly sick and you know that they have not seen a doctor then do ask to see the parent and if they are not co-operative call social services.

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Changing Lunchtime Habits will help clear blocked noses. The following is an explanation on how to lower the amount of mucus forming foods in everyone’s diet during the lunchtime break.

For this second part of your School Health Week Plan it is best if you again enlist the help of parents and local businesses. You may be pleasantly surprised at how well your community will respond.

Send home a note with the following requests:
Extra kitchen equipment:
Optional as you may have enough fridge/freezer space but if not ask for the loan of a couple of average sized fridge-freezers. Many parents or even staff may have spare fridges that they use only for summertime parties and wouldn’t mind lending to the school as long as you pick them and return them once this exercise has been fulfilled.
If you do not have a stove in your tuck shop ask to borrow one of those electric two elements stove tops.
Also optional. If you don’t already serve hot chips see if you can obtain a low-oil instant chip cooker or simply use the inside of your canteen stove with a big roasting pan.
Extra soup ladles and big spoons and serving spatulas.
Ask if any parent/caregiver owns, works in or has strong contacts with a restaurant/ cafe/ butcher/ supermarket or catering company as you may have some business for them (or you can ask them for the sponsorship of some or all of the following for your planned health week) with a view to permanently ordering these foods throughout the year so there could be extra business for them.

1. Hot cooked plain chicken drumsticks.
2. Large pot of hot soup so you can have a soup of the day.
3. Gluten free bread or rice/corn cakes.
4. Plenty of cheap serviettes and disposable cups for hot drinks.

If none of your parents are in catering of any sort then ask for donations of the following:

1. Bottles of Blackcurrant/ Lemon and Honey/ Lemon Barley Cordial or anything you can make hot or cold drinks with.
2. Fresh Fruit
3. Pumpkins or any other vegetables fresh or frozen that soup (including chicken soup) can be made from. Ask if several mothers/ grandmothers are willing to make the same pot of soup on certain days so your school can have it as the soup of the day. Always return their pots and see if you can get some of the ingredients donated to the mums. Ask them to avoid adding milk or cream and to use plenty of leeks/ onion/ garlic wherever possible.
4. Packets of chicken drumsticks
5. Corn/ Rice Cakes
6. Extra Hot Drink Cups for the soup and hot Vitamin C Drinks.
7. Packets of frozen potato and kumara chips
8. Donations of cheap serviettes. (The reason being that for the health week the canteen/ tuckshop is only going to serve the following low gluten and mainly dairy free foods:

1. Hot chips.
2. Bread crumbed fish pieces.
3. Chicken drumsticks.
4. Hot Soup of the day with no milk or cheese added a rice cakes and with either gluten free bread, corn or rice cakes.
5. Fruit and jelly cups.
6. Fresh Fruit.
7. Packets if corn or rice cakes.

Finally send a separate note home to parents/ caregivers asking them that for the period of your health week they avoid putting into lunch boxes the following:
Milky drinks, cheese, biscuits, pies, sausage rolls, white bread, in fact anything loaded with gluten and milk products.
The whole idea of this community diet is to lower the amount of mucus forming foods that every-one in school is consuming over your designated health week.

And of course remember to ask your staff to set an example.

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The last but most important part of your planning for your School health week is to simply re-enforce the basic hygiene rules for everyone in school.
Make a competition out of hygiene by awarding prizes and certificates at the conclusion of your health week/fortnight. You will need to give each child a notebook into which happy faces/stars/blue dots will be awarded for effort and sad faces/clouds/red dots for those not adhering to the rules.

If you haven’t already done this organise a roster of hand-washing monitors for each class in the toilet blocks at break and reward these volunteers with extra stars for doing the job.

Arm every teacher with extra tissues for their classroom and again award happy/sad faces for the use or lack of use of these tissues and their proper disposal.

Also provide disposable paper towels and a low allergenic but effective anti-bacterial spray for every classroom and instruct teachers to get their students to take turns using it to spray and wipe down their workbenches/desks twice daily. As well as taking care of their own desks and other well-used surfaces The teachers should also spray all door handles on cupboards and doors a couple of times a day.

In the school office and staff room similar precautions should be taken.

Ask the caretaker to also pay special attention to door handles on the showers, toilet blocks and other well-used communal doors that are always been opened and shut by staff and students.

Make sure that in every classroom there is a lesson plan on hygiene during the first part your health week/fortnight.

Any child who becomes ill during the health week should be sent home immediately with a note that they will not be allowed back without a doctor’s approval or until they no longer appear infectious i.e. free of a runny nose and/or cough etcetera.

Also include in health for that week the importance of breathing in through your nose and out fully through your nose or mouth especially during cold weather.

Award happy faces to students for coming to school warmly dressed and in addition to issuing sad faces send notes home to those parents who have not made sure that their children are dressed for the weather.

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Your Health Week/Fortnight Check List

1. Have you prepped your School Health Nurse and sick bay?
2. Prepared notes for parents/caregivers with the following information:
   a) That all children who have become ill at school the week before or during health week/fortnight will need a doctor’s certificate in order to return to school. A complete explanation of how to do this is in part one of organising a health week/fortnight click here to read part one.
   b) That you need help with extra canteen equipment such as a loan of spare garage beer fridges and donations of fruit and healthy drinks. For a complete shopping list see the previous part two article by clicking here.
    
3. Have a Staff Meeting to:
   Alert teachers to this strict policy for this week/fortnight and inform them that if they themselves become ill they must inform the office as soon as symptoms appear so a relief teacher can be arranged.
    
4. With regard to hygiene inform your entire Staff of the procedures and back up with a memo plus provide them with the extra anti-bacterial sprays, paper towels and tissues and of course the essential extra reward stickers and reward notebooks for the student incentive competition especially important for those students who volunteer to be rostered on as hand=washing monitors. To read the entire hygiene article again please click here.
    
5. If everyone is now informed of the parts they need to play and the canteen and sick bay are stocked up and ready to go then set the date in concrete and go to it! Once your health week/fortnight is completed you will be able to look forward to a much healthier school and at home community for the remainder of the winter and spring months. Now that the staff, parents and students have reaped the benefits of this exercise you may find all will vote to continue with all or some of procedures as part of your school’s regularly enforced health policy.

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This plan will work beautifully for 3 Days after that you should return to a normal weight control plan as long term this particular plan will have the reverse effect.
You do not need to exercise although the plan does work more effectively with at least 2 exercise sessions over the 72 hours.
This is also a good way to kick off a new long-term weight loss plan which you would start on the 4th or 5th Day.

Warning:
If you suffer from diabetes, low blood pressure or any low blood sugar condition please do not follow this plan.

What you will need
Fluids and healthy food choices  

Shopping List will consist of:

• 2 Lemons and about 8 to twelve pieces of other fresh fruit
• Oats, rice or whole-wheat bread
• For proteins buy from a choice of chicken, fish, eggs, tofu, small packet of raw unsalted brazil nuts or almonds and
  240gms of any type of cheese.
• Any vegetables that you would enjoy eating raw.
• Natural Apple cider vinegar,
• Pure honey,
• Extra-virgin olive oil or any cold-pressed oil of your choice.
• Herbal tea or decaffeinated drinks.

Day 1
Start the day by first measuring yourself
Then drink ½ lemon squeezed into a 200ml glass of warm water.

Breakfast
2 to 3 pieces fruit: Suggest an apple and 2 kiwi-fruit with either, 4 to 6 Brazil Nuts or Almonds plus 60gms of any sort of cheese or 2 boiled/poached eggs. Water and/or herbal tea

Lunch
As many salad vegetables as you want plus 150gms fish, chicken or tofu. Dressings should be a combination of any good oil such as extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice or cider vinegar and honey, drizzled over your salad.
Fluids can be unsweetened herbal tea or water.
Dressing
Combine equal quantities of oil and vinegar or lemon-juice plus a small teaspoon of honey per cup of mix. You can add pepper and any herbs you like but no salt during the 3 days.

Afternoon Tea:
Repeat Breakfast

Dinner
Same as lunch but make sure that you consume dinner by 6.30pm. Eat nothing after this but drink plenty of the suggested fluids.

Days 2 & 3
Start the Day with ½ lemon squeezed into a 200ml glass of warm water.

Breakfast
First consume 2 to 3 pieces fruit: Suggest an apple and 2 kiwi-fruit
Plus
Today you have a choice of third of a cup of plain cooked oats or rice or 2 small slices of wholegrain dry toast.
Add 1 teaspoon of honey to any of the above. Don’t forget your water or herbal tea and multi-vite

Lunch
As many salad vegetables as you want with the dressing you made up plus 150gms fish, chicken or tofu.
Unsweetened Herbal Tea or water.

Afternoon Tea:
Repeat Breakfast and if you are feeling tired drink more water and try a pear which is a great pick-me-up fruit

Dinner
Same as lunch but make sure that you consume dinner by 6.30pm.

If possible exercise at least two of the three evenings involved in the plan, preferably away from the house to get your mind off the fridge and pantry. Go for a good walk or play a ball game with the kids or partner for an hour or more, go for a half hour steady swim, or take in an aerobic class. If you are at the gym use all your favourite aerobic machines or do a light circuit workout but keep moving for at least an hour. Whatever you choose add in 4 sets of at least 10 abdominal crunchies which can be spread throughout the work-out or done at the end. A word of warning do not overdo the exercise or engage in lifting heavy weights as your food cravings to replenish the body will overcome you and you will negate what you have already achieved.
When you come home avoid the kitchen, get glass of water and go to bed as soon as possible.

Day 4 or Party Day
Measure yourself and if you don’t get a pleasant surprise repeat Day 1 until party-time.
If you follow the plan exactly you will lose at least 3cm off your waistline and hips by the end of day 4.
On day 5 DO go back to a complete healthy eating plan.

Next week a complete and satisfying winter eating plan.

Copyright all rights reserved Ann Polaschek.

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This is the sequel to last week’s tips on the benefits of a three minute daily balance routine.
If you would like to first read last week’s tips click here

Starting position for all three of the following exercises is simply to stand up straight with feet together arms by your side.

Exercise 1:

Raise your arms above your head and interlock your fingers now lift one foot a few centimetres off the ground, close your eyes and breathe in and out slowly 3 times whilst balancing. If this is easy try more breaths.
Repeat with the other foot.

Copyright all rights reserved Ann Polaschek.

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Advantages to practicing simple balance exercises.
Focuses the mind, improves memory and has an overall calming effect.
Strengthens muscle groups equally on both sides of the spine and body. Normally the strong side always carries the weaker side when performing similar exercises with both limbs.
Creates a positive but firm attitude helping you to make quick rational decisions helping both your self and others overcome the daily traumas of running a school or class.
All of the above save your precious energy.

3 Tips to practicing balance exercises.

1. If possible practise alone and clear the decks just in case! Once you have mastered an exercise then share it with your students by verbal instructions using a volunteer from the class to demonstrate the moves.
2. Focus your eyes on one spot and breathe easy through out each exercise.
3. To begin with choose simple exercises such as standing with feet together and lifting one foot off the ground then bend and straighten the supporting knee as though you are performing a mini-squat.

Copyright all rights reserved Ann Polaschek.

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Learning to breathe regularly in through the nose and out through either the mouth or nose is a good way to stop absorbing germs from students already suffering from colds and flus.

The nose with all it's small hairs is a natural air filter.

The following exercise is also a good way to calm yourself and your students enabling eveyone to concentrate more fully on the lesson that is about to commence. Great for Maths and Literacy.

Famous anonymous quote:
The average person can live for weeks without food
Days without water
Three minutes without air.

The beauty of the following short but wonderful exercise routine is that no matter what your fitness level is you can safely practise this 5 minute exercise 3 times a day anytime, anywhere.
Stand with feet together or sit comfortably with your chest lifted, shoulders back and down and remember to retain this positioning of your shoulders and chest throughout both the in and out breaths.
Finally fold your hands across your stomach.

1. Start a sequence of 5 to 10 breaths by first emptying the lungs. You do this by blowing air out through the mouth and sucking the tummy in at the same time.

2. Breathe in through the nose expanding the stomach like a Buddha so you can fill the lungs as much as possible.

3. Hold the breath for no more than a couple of seconds then breath out slowly either through the nose or mouth, whichever is easier, at the same time sucking the tummy in keeping the chest lifted and shoulders down.

4. Hold for a second then relax the stomach and breathe in again.

5. Repeat the In - Out breath 5 to 10 times and it is guaranteed that you will feel relaxed and energised.

Even if you have a cold always breathe in through the nose as much as possible as your nose is a natural filter for all the dust mites in the air and so will help to clear your nose and stop more irritants entering the breathing passages. Out breath can be either through the nose or mouth and in some instances exhaling loudly through the mouth is great way of expelling bugs from the body and is also a relaxation technique very similar to laughing.

Copyright all rights reserved Ann Polaschek.

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Avoiding the to-ing and fro-ing of winter colds in your household.

Winter colds and flus are a teacher’s occupational hazard so if you do come down with a bug and don’t want the endless cycle of each person in your household getting the flu and returning the favour just here are the rules:

1. Before anyone in your household gets the first of the winter flus invest in some cheap face masks, buying twice the number of face masks as there are people in your house and keep them with your first aid kit or cold medicines.
    

2. Isolation is the key so find your self a room in the house which is warm dry and ventilated and shut yourself up in it as much as possible for the duration which should be 7 days for the flu. Remember most flu viruses are caught by airborne transmission that’s why you can’t avoid it in the classroom.
   
   2b) Do not let your spouse sleep in your room for seven days and if they or other members of your family are looking after you make them use their own face-mask whenever they come into your room
    

3. For at least 7 days wipe all bathroom surfaces after use or touch everything with a clean tissue including your spouse. Don’t forget this rule when you are feeling better and start popping out to the kitchen to make your own food or cups of tea.

Copyright all rights reserved Ann Polaschek.

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An Apple a Day + 2 More Tips to Build Up Your Winter Immunity

Building up Immunity means adding as many natural anti-oxidants into your diet as you can. Here are three more ways of doing this.

1. An Apple a Day keeps the Doctor away – Definitely a great deal of truth in this old saying
   Try a cut up apple instead of coffee to wake you up and eat as much of the core as you can. Don’t forget to first give your apple a wash under the kitchen tap.
    

2. Start drinking green or white teas, there are heaps of varieties on the market. Black teas are also full of anti-oxidants but are so acidic they generally need milk however if you would really rather drink black tea than any other shop around for a full leaf loose tea and brew in a pot. If it is a good quality it should be quite drinkable without milk.
   If you really crave a milky drink replace dairy with organic rice or soymilk.
    

3. Cut out adding sugar to your brews and use pure honey instead, NZ active Manuka if you can afford it. Do not use an artificial sweetener.

Copyright all rights reserved Ann Polaschek.

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Sweating is Good for You

Perspiring is the body’s way of cooling down and also of ridding itself of toxins.

If you find yourself perspiring when sitting or lying still in a relatively cool atmosphere you are either

a) Experiencing menopause
b) Trying to digest something that has not agreed with you
c) Quite ill or very stressed and need to see a doctor.

Whether it is a, b, or c you actually need to sweat more because your body is trying to rebalance itself. However if you suspect it is number 3 do see a doctor first and get the AOK to practise the following 3 safe ways to achieve a healthy sweat that will help you return to good health and stop you sweating at the most inopportune times: