CommonHealth

Our offices are closed today and we share the sentiment from our friends at National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc.

Today, we celebrate Juneteenth—a day of freedom, reflection, resilience, and hope.

As health education specialists, we recognize the importance of advancing health equity, empowering communities through education, and helping create opportunities for all people to achieve their highest level of health.

We honor the significance of this day and the continued work toward healthier, stronger, and more equitable communities.

In observance of Juneteenth, the NCHEC office is closed today.

Yum!!!

Wondering what's in season in Virginia? Blackberries, blueberries, green beans, potatoes, summer squash, cucumbers, and early raspberries are officially in season. Unfortunatley, some farms sustained damage from the frost/freeze events this spring, so call ahead to ensure product availability. Find a local farm at https://vagrown.vdacs.virginia.gov/ 🧺🌾

Happy Wednesday! Can you believe what we spotted at a thrift store? Do you remember our THINK ABOUT IT health education campaign? We gave out these decks of cards as a reinforcement tool. Glad we came across these to give away at a future session!

Yum! This looks like a great recipe to try. They had us at Greek Yogurt. Gut healthy too!

Tzatziki is a traditional Greek sauce made with yogurt and cucumbers. 🥒 This "deconstructed" tzatziki yogurt takes the traditional Mediterranean flavors and turns them into an elegant, savory breakfast packed with protein and light on carbs. Check out this Savory Tzatziki-Style Greek Yogurt recipe at bit.ly/4f0lw51.

One of our main pillars of wellness is nutrition. Our current topic, Gut Check, focuses on the microbiome and our gut health. One of our suggestions is decreasing the amount of ultra processed foods we consume by adding in more natural foods. This benefits the brain as well as the rest of the body.

A new longitudinal study of U.S. older adults found that higher ultraprocessed food (UPF) consumption was associated with increased risks of dementia, cognitive impairment with no dementia, and overall cognitive decline outcomes.

Researchers followed more than 5,000 adults age 50+ over nearly 9 years and found that participants with the highest UPF intake had significantly greater risks of cognitive impairment compared to those with the lowest intakes.

The authors note that these findings remained even after accounting for many social, lifestyle, and health factors, meaning healthy cognitive aging may depend not only on nutrients — but also on the degree of food processing. The study adds to growing evidence connecting ultraprocessed foods with chronic disease, mortality, and now brain health.

Read more at the link below ⬇️

And it’s Flag Day! 🇺🇸
Does your agency host blood drives? If not, consider starting that tradition.

Every June 14, countries around the world celebrate World Blood Donor Day. Join the celebration & help raise awareness of the importance of a safe & adequate blood supply. There's no substitute for blood, platelet & plasma donors! Give with the Red Cross: https://rcblood.org/appt

We are all about a flow chart and our friends at WW shared a great one. Did you know that state employees who are “benefits eligible” can join WW at a discounted rate? See our website for more details. At this time, TLC groups are not part of this offer.

The dinner dilemma, solved.✨

We built a roadmap to your new favorite WW recipe based on your current vibe.

Point breakdown per serving:
🫛 Minty pea pasta: 7
🥩 Pan-seared sirloin steak: 0
🍔 Cheeseburger salad bowl: 3
🍕 Pepperoni pizza bowl: 5
🧀 Cottage cheese pizza: 8
🍠 High-protein sweet potato turkey nachos: 5

Find the full recipes and track them all in the app 📝

Our first staff meeting in DHRM’s new office space! The building is beautiful and we’re digging the new environment. Our PD (product development) team revealed the next health education campaign, Nailing the Basics, so ACs (agency coordinators) should stay tuned for a preview in the coming weeks.
We have a lot going on this summer and fall between VDOT Roadeos and Unity Fairs, the Higher Education Wellbeing Symposium, VCCA’s annual conference, etc. Will we see you out and about?

Felix is live right now presenting about us to the new benefits administrators (BA) as part of the Office of Health Benefits (OHB) virtual training.