I shop at a local Harris Teeter. I used to shop at a lower priced market until we had a hurricane here and my food store closed and did not reopen for over a week. The Harris Teeter store here gave away perishables, brought in ice and water daily and gave them away. They brought customers into the store, escorted through the darkened isles by an employee who by-hand calculated the order and took their money. I became a loyal fan then and have remained one since. I don’t think they are perfect but the company was a friend when everyone in my neighborhood was without power, water and basic necessities for a week.

Why am I blogging about this. Well, yesterday in the local Harris Teeter, I picked up a brochure with the title Harris Teeter - yourwellness for life . The words yourwellness written together in distinct colors is a trademark of Harris Teeter. The author of the brochure advocates getting 16 “points” per day by doing things worth one point each day like 1.Choose lean protein, 2. No Trans-fats, 3. Eat a healthy breakfast, 4. Eat 2 cups of vegetables and 5. 2 Cups of fruit per day. They have a list of 14 line items. Two are worth 2 points each (no tobacco and reach your daily steps goal-10,000 per day over 15 weeks) the other 12 one point each. Each item is to be performed daily. The idea is to get 112 points per week by accumulating 16 points per day through healthy lifestyle behaviors that are daily habits. Harris Teeter wins when you buy the food and supplements from them. You get the bigger win - a better life - all they get is money. A life is created one day at a time. It’s a good program.

These are great ideas when you are ready to take action. Maybe you want to change but have trouble with “when and how”. Choosing to get a few points per day like NO Tobacco and No trans-fats are quite do-able. Doing breathing exercises for stress reduction 4 times a day as explained in their handout is an easy one too. The idea is to do something. If you are ready then tackle the whole thing.

Pick up a brochure if you have a Harris Teeter near you. If you can’t, go to their online site, click on wellness on the top tool bar and at the bottom of the drop-down menu click your wellness for life.

Measure your progress and report it

How many of the recommended points do you get each day? Are you willing to try to get more? Make a commitment here. Click on comments and tell us how many points you are going to get each day. Keep track - HT has a download of an excel document you can use. What is that? You say you don’t have excel. If you have a Google account you can use Google Docs to download and save it. So, how many of you are going to try it? Let me know here. I know I can do 12! The walking and the caffeine are going to be a problem. So is the sleep. So I commit to 12 or more points per day. I will report here each week. How many of you will join me?

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