From KT – June 19, 2014

Yo DaVitans!

And when I use the word DaVitans it covers everyone, including all teammates from HealthCare Partners, Kidney Care, Paladina, DVA RX … both in the US and the rest of the world.

It is time for Match The Mayor VII (MTM) !!!!  This is our annual team health effort where thousands of fellow teammates band together to work on improving the healthfulness of their daily life.  7 years ago that meant about 500 folks joined hands.  Last year over 5000 did the same (you can see the year by year numbers at the bottom of my note).  Feel free to invite your family and friends to join.   We have also had dogs and cats join in, and one camel a few years back.  I don’t know what ever happened to that camel.

This year the emphasis is on servings of produce, meaning fruits and vegetables.  Most nutritionists want us each to have 5 servings a day, which = about 2.5 cups of cooked vegetables, or the equivalent amount of fruit.  I will be very curious to see how many I currently consume, and will be trying hard to increase it if I am well below that threshold.  I have set my goal at 31 servings a week, which would mean I hit the full 5 servings 5 days of the week, and only hit 3 servings on the other 2 days.  I need to be a little decadent on those 2 days, unless I can count the tomato slice on a burger or the pepperoni on a pizza as a serving!

Also as in past years I will write a near-daily log, to let you know how I am doing on the produce as well as what sort of stuff I am doing at work.   I will also have an exercise minute goal of 380 minutes a week, consisting of an average of 40 minutes per week-day and an average of 90 minutes per weekend day.

Last year’s MTM was great in that I pretty much broke my diet coke habit, so I want to thank all of you who offered your support.  My use remains about 70% lower than it was before last year’s MTM.   Wonderful!

Just picture 5000 people cheering you on as you savor that broccoli !!!  We can all do better if we encourage one another.  This will help us keep our Village happy and healthy!

One for all,  kt

Participation over the years:

• 2008 – 580
• 2009 – 900
• 2010 – 1200
• 2011 – 2000
• 2012 – 3800 (340 family and friends)
• 2013 – 5400 (490 family and friends)