Eating a healthy diet with plenty of vegetables and fruits can help you:
• Lower your risk for heart disease and some types of cancer
• Maintain or reach a healthy weight
• Keep your body strong and active.
Getting the recommended amount of fruits and veggies is easier than you think! Just remember two things: 1) Fill half your plate with fruits and veggies at every eating occasion (including snacks) and 2) All forms (fresh, frozen, canned, dried, and 100% juice) count toward your daily intake! Read More
Years of slouching wears away at your spine to make it more fragile and prone to injury. Holding your body and moving in unhealthy ways often leads to neck, shoulder, and back pain. In any 3-month period, about 1 in 4 adults in the U.S. has at least 1 day of back pain.
According to the National Institutes of Health, if you spend a lot of time in front of a computer, it's important that your workstation fits you the best it can. You should also switch sitting positions often, take brief walks around the office, and gently stretch your muscles every so often to help relieve muscle tension.
Source: National Institutes of Health
Useful Links
Read how yoga may help treat back pain.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one in three American adults have high blood pressure and are at increased risk for heart disease (the nation’s number 1 killer) and stroke (the number 3). Many people do not know that they have high blood pressure.
The first step in managing your blood pressure is monitoring your blood pressure on a regular basis. BMC is partnering with the American Heart Association to offer a blood pressure management program called Check. Change. Control.™ Everyone is encouraged to sign up whether you have high blood pressure or not. Stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks about how you can participate.
Useful Links
Read the Myths About High Blood Pressure from the American Heart Association
This magnificent magenta salad is filled with the tartness of ruby red grapefruit and the earthiness of beets. It isn’t just gorgeous to look at, but also tasty to eat. Read More
Source: recipes.heart.org
In this vegetarian taco recipe, cauliflower is tossed with a smoky-tangy sauce made with honey, lime juice and chipotles in adobo sauce before being roasted. Read More
Source: eatingwell.com
If you were affected by Hurricane Harvey, several of BMC’s benefits partners are providing special services for you and your covered family members. If you need care, medication and emotional support, go to mybmcbenefits.com to learn more.
The bWell Rocks Tour hit the road on September 1. Join the tour and start rocking your health and wealth. Your first stop on this tour is completing the online Well-Being Assessment and getting a health screening.
On-site health screenings will be held this fall at five BMC offices:
Houston, Austin, Lexington: The week of October 23
Tampa: November 2
Santa Clara: November 8 and 9
Mark your calendar and watch your email for times and locations.
When the epic bWell Mission Superheroes battled ended, 183 BMC caped crusaders earned 7,000 bWell points between September 1, 2016, and July 31, 2017, and reached the Going Supersonic reward level. By unleashing their inner healthy superhero, they became eligible for the drawing for 10 Great Escapes prizes — sports, adventure and rejuvenation prizes. Way to go! Read More...
Finding ways to manage your stress and cope with stressful situations is a huge leap forward in improving your health and overall quality of life. Join Magellan’s live interactive webinar on Wednesday, September 13, The Path to Stress Relief, Unravelling the Mystery of the Yellow Brick Road. This webinar will help define the origins of stress, the stress response, identify barriers to stress relief and provide tips for relieving stress. Space is limited so register now.
Useful Links
Read the four simple techniques for managing stress from the American Heart Association.
College courses are a great way to enhance your job-related knowledge and skills or prepare for possible advancement at BMC. With prior manager approval, the BMC Tuition Reimbursement Program may reimburse you for certain tuition expenses for undergraduate and graduate-level college courses up to the annual $5,500 cap.
If you are taking a college course this fall and plan to submit your eligible expenses for reimbursement, you’ll need to fill out some paperwork first. Before you register for college classes, you must complete the pre-approval process on the Your Spending Account (YSA) website. Your manager or director must also sign a pre-approval form that you submit to YSA. For more information, review the How to Request Tuition Reimbursement step-by-step guide or call YSA at 1-877-BMC-4849, Option 2—Your Spending Account.
Join us for Rock Your Money Week, a five-day tour with the Fidelity crew, September 11 to 15.* This tour features free live and on-demand workshops with strategies and tips to help you confidently rock your money. With an impressive set list, there’s probably a workshop for you — whatever your financial goals and challenges.
Join the tour to earn 200 bWell points when you participate in a workshop and a chance to win an Apple iPad mini or a pair of Beats by Dre head phones! Earn another 150 bWell points when you meet one-on-one with a Fidelity expert to get personalized guidance on your finances.
*Tampa employees: Fidelity representatives will be on-site September 21 for one-on-one meetings and September 28 for workshops.
The BMC 401(k) Plan now requires employees to wait 15 days between paying off a Plan loan and taking out a new loan.
The new rule for loans became effective on September 1, 2017, and is considered a best practice by Fidelity, the Plan’s administrator. Previously, employees could take out a second 401(k) Plan loan before paying off an existing loan, which created delays in updating loan repayment information for paycheck deductions.
According to The College Board, the average family paid $24,061 for public university and $47,831 for private college in the academic year 2015-16 with over 70% of students taking on student loans. For most Americans, that means taking on student debt.
If you’re feeling the pinch of high college tuition costs, Fidelity offers tools and services that can help.
Pay for College
It is an exciting time when your child enters high school and really starts thinking about the future and college. Learning more about your family’s options for paying for college can help you navigate these waters. Taking the “Almost in College: High School course will help answer the question all families have — how much college can we afford?
Manage Student Debt
The Student Debt Tool from Fidelity allows you to upload and see all of your student loans (federal and private) in one place and explore different payment strategies to see if there’s a better way to pay off your loans for good. Because the tool uses real loan data, you’ll see the potential impact of switching plans or making extra payments. Helpful resources like cheat sheets make it easy to get started making a change.
MyBMC Rewards provides a snapshot of your pay, retirement benefits, health and insurance benefits and corporate programs. Visit MyBMC Rewards to:
Go online anytime or call 877-262-4849. Representatives are available from Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Eastern time.
From enrollment reminders to important 401(k) information and benefits updates, you can be the first to know when your attention or action is required.
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