Guest Author: Barbara Ryan with the Office of the Army Surgeon General
There are simple things we can all do to start creating better health habits. Sleep is something we all wish we had more of, and it’s proven that having regular bedtime routines and sleeping eight hours a night supports overall well-being and good health. Of course establishing good, healthy eating habits and being physically active throughout the day are essential to maintaining a healthy weight, an active lifestyle and one’s happiness. Yet, people are human and often face big hurdles — emotional, economic, environmental and social – when trying to change their behavior and transform their lifestyles. Making the healthy choice may not always be the obvious or easy choice.
Together, we can work to change that to make good health choices for the long term.
DoD launched the Operation Live Well initiative in spring 2013 with the goal of helping the defense community lead healthier lives, particularly in the areas of weight management, tobacco use and mental wellness. As part of this long-term effort, we’re conducting the Healthy Base Initiative (HBI), a year-long demonstration project, at 14 DoD sites and installations worldwide. We are assessing current health and wellness programs and implementing new ones. After the one-year period, we’ll evaluate what changes in behaviors and improvements in health we find at the HBI sites, and what programs are most successful. The exciting part is then we will recommend and expand the most successful programs to other DoD installations and sites over the coming years.
Another program under Operation Live Well is the Army’s Performance Triad, which promotes healthy lifestyles and choices around the key elements of Sleep, Activity, and Nutrition. The goal of the program is to share knowledge about the key elements and ultimately to change behaviors to increase individual and unit health, readiness, resilience and performance. Families, retirees, and Department of the Army Civilians are being engaged in this initiative, and a specific campaign for them will launch in the New Year.
So what does this mean for you? Here are the five top ways in which Operation Live Well is striving to support the DoD with weight management and other wellness opportunities:
1. Be Inspired! Check out our tips via social media. Let’s face it — many of us need fresh ideas and ongoing motivation and social support to reach our wellness goals. Please follow us and interact with us on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and YouTube.
2. Healthy Recipes! Try one or all of them – they’re endorsed by our expert DoD dietitians. Our ongoing series of cookbooks, which can be downloaded from the Operation Live Well website, contains a variety of healthy and delicious meal ideas. We often post recipes on the Pinterest page.
3. Personal wellness journeys and success stories! Shared by spouses and parents like you. We recently launched a blog in which Army MSG Jennifer Loredo – a Gold Star wife, mother and resilience trainer – shares the many facets of her life and her commitment to leading a healthy lifestyle. We’ll be featuring other bloggers in the months to come.
4. Tools, resources and news articles! Need an app or link for tracking your nutritional intake or physical activity? You’ll find these and more proven tools – some of which were developed by DoD – on our Health.mil site.
5. Creating Health Environments! Finally as part of the Healthy Base Initiative, in cooperation with our DoD Service partners and Military Family and Community Policy, we’re working with commissaries, dining halls and fitness centers to create environments that make the healthy choice the easy choice. This might mean setting up a weekly farmers market, arranging bike shares, expanding the number and type of fitness classes, providing a personalized, online wellness site that enables you to take charge of your health, or increasing the array of healthy food items in stores and dining facilities. We want to hear from you so we can take the lessons learned from this year-long demonstration project and bring them to an installation near you.
So, we are asking you to do something today for yourself! Take those extra steps, sleep at least seven hours at night and fill up your plate with vegetables and fruits. Create good habits that can last a lifetime, and we will take your feedback to heart. Please let us know how we are doing on behalf of you and Operation Live Well. Feel free to comment below or submit ideas to us via our website because the journey toward total wellness of mind, body and spirit begins with you.