Dr. Odette's Healthy Heart Challenge

THE CHALLENGE: Make 3 heart healthy choices every day for 3 weeks. These lifestyle choices have been shown to decrease risk factors for developing heart disease.

1. Eat 4 servings of fruits & vegetables daily.
2. Eat 1 serving of nuts & 2 servings of healthy oil daily.
3. Be physically active for 150 minutes over the course of 1 week.

These 3 choices were chosen for their simplicity. With our busy lives, they can be anything but simple to follow through with. The idea of a community challenge to help keep one another motivated is a great way to make these changes more achievable.  

THE REWARD: Reduce your risk of heart disease. Improve your overall health & well-being!
START DATE: Sunday, February 8^th, 2015
END DATE: Saturday, February 28^th, 2015
 
THE RULES:
Challenge #1: Eat 4 servings of fruits & vegetables daily.  
Challenge #2: Eat 1 serving of nuts & 2 servings of healthy oils daily.
Points awarded: 1 point for serving of nuts & 2 points for healthy oils, for a maximum of 3 points per day
 
1 serving of nuts = ¼ cup of nuts
1 serving of oil = 1 tablespoon oil
 
Challenge #3: Be physically active for 150 minutes over the course of 1 week.
Points awarded: 1 point for every 30 minutes of physical activity collected, for a maximum of 5 points per week.
 
You can choose how you want to divide the 150 minutes over the week. In general, it is recommended to get at least 10 consecutive minutes of physical activity at one time, but other than that, you can decide what works best for your schedule.  
 
Some ways to reach your 150 minute goal include:
10 minutes of activity 3 times per day, 5 times per week
30 minutes of activity 5 times per week
60 minutes of activity 2 times per week + 30 minutes of activity 1 time per week
 
THE POINT SYSTEM:
 

CHALLENGE	MAXIMUM POINTS PER DAY	MAXIMUM POINTS PER WEEK
1	4	28
2	3	21
3	Depends on your schedule	5
	MAXIMUM POINTS IN 1 WEEK	54
	MAXIMUM POINTS IN 3 WEEKS	162

 
HOW TO PARTICIPATE:

1. Commit to this challenge for 3 weeks. If you decide to join me in the challenge, I would love to know. Let me know on my facebook page!
2. Calculate your points at the end of every day for the nutrition challenges (#1 & #2) & at the end of every week for the physical activity challenge (#3). Calculate your points at the end of the 3 weeks. Feel free to share your points on my facebook page at the end of every week, and at the end of 3 week challenge.
3. Check my facebook page regularly for tips to help you achieve each challenge.
4. Challenge your friends, family & co-workers to participate with you. There’s nothing like a little healthy competition to keep you motivated and people to help hold you accountable to complete the challenge. Encourage one another as you go!
5. Check my facebook page in the first week of March to see how well you did! I will be posting the top 3 high scorers...and my own score! And remember, keep these heart healthy changes as part of your healthy lifestyle!