ACET, Inc. Blog

Last week, ACET staff members devoted an afternoon in service to Bridging, a local nonprofit that provides families in transition with furniture, kitchen supplies, linens, and other essential home goods. We were given a tour by the executive director and informed of the many ways in which Bridging partners with the community and regional groups to provide families with a variety of new, used, and refurbished housewares. ACET was put to work moving various furniture items around the warehouse and then prepared a space in an upper section of the warehouse to be filled with blankets in advance of Bridging’s recent Bring A Blanket drive.

We are grateful to Bridging for the opportunity to be useful to them and to help people outside of the office in a different way.

Left: Executive Director Sara Sternberger explains Bridging’s work to Dan and Stella. Right: Joseph secures the perimeter.

ACET staff at the SEA Life Minnesota Aquarium touch pools. Photo by Stella SiWan Zimmerman.

Recently, ACET staff traveled to the Mall of America to take in our quarterly wellness event at the SEA LIFE Minnesota Aquarium. Many of us had never been to the aquarium or had not visited it in many years. In addition to the touch pools above, ACET staff enjoyed the tanks that allowed visitors to walk under sharks, fish, and turtles as they swam around.

Have you ever been to the aquarium at the Mall of America? Tell us about your favorite exhibits in the comments!

ACET Staff

Grocery chain Whole Foods Market and its Whole Kids Foundation, dedicated to improving nutrition and wellness in youth towards ending childhood obesity, have announced a fundraising goal of $2 million for its Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools program. Beginning this month, K-12 schools participating in the USDA’s National School Lunch Program are eligible to apply for a grant to bring a salad bar to their school. Schools with bronze status or higher with the HealthierUS School Challenge automatically qualify for a salad bar donation, with the requirement that the qualifying district or school wants and can support a daily lunchtime salad bar.

While the deadline for this opportunity is open, grants will be awarded based on date of approval. Complete information and application instructions can be found at saladbars2schools.org.

Good luck!

ACET Staff

Think about the last time you felt really hungry. It probably started out with just a small feeling. Maybe you thought “I need to eat soon” and soon forgot all about it. I bet it wasn’t long before your head started to ache, your stomach started to hurt, and you couldn’t focus on anything other than food. Pain, desire, attention…these are the ways that your brain is telling you that you have a need that needs to be met (hunger in this case).

This much is obvious, but what isn’t obvious is that our brain is highly “trainable.” Stress is your brain saying, “hey, you have a need, do something about it dummy.” Well, my brain takes the time to insult me and includes “dummy,” but not all brains do. Just as when you are hungry, soon you will get a headache and you will not be able to focus on anything but the stress. The pains are similar to hunger pains, and so are the solutions. What we use to deal with the stress teaches our brain that that is what we need to satisfy the stress need.

Returning to the hunger example, when we are hungry and we habitually reach for chocolate, our brain learns that chocolate = satisfying the hunger need, and it rewards us with releasing chemicals that make us feel happy and satisfied for fulfilling this need. And the next time you feel hungry the desire for chocolate will be greater because your brain thinks that is what it needs, and it will reward you when you indulge. Luckily we can teach the brain that X=satisfying the hunger need, “X” being any number of things (juice, pretzels, nuts, a good meal).

The key to healthy stress management is to practice ways of dealing with stress that are good for you and, with time, your brain will learn to reward these activities and increase your desire for them when facing stress. Try these habits when feeling stressed instead:

Short term strategies:

Take a walk

Work on a crossword

Stand up and stretch

Write down one (and only one) thing to accomplish next on a sticky note

Eat a fruit or vegetable

Longer term strategies:

Regularly exercise

Increase fresh fruit and vegetable intake

Get a pet

Volunteer

Start blogging

What are some things you are doing to train your brain in healthy stress management?

Joseph

Last Thursday we piled into the conference room for our monthly employee wellness lunch!  We all had a fantastic time relaxing, chatting, eating delicious Chinese take-out and watching an episode of Firefly.  Since I’m the newbie, I missed the first episode and had no idea what was going on—so I spent the beginning of the show with my face pretty deep in my egg foo young.  But by the end, I basically knew what was going on and definitely look forward to episode three.

The delightful Cassie (a.k.a. the woman whose shoes I’m trying to fill) joined us as well!  It was great to catch up with her and she seems to be thriving in her new job.

Our tasty and entertaining hour ended on a bittersweet note, however, as it was Rachel’s last day with us.  We are so grateful for all she’s done here at ACET and wish her only the best as she takes on Washington, D.C.!

I guess our lunch seemed to revolve a little around new beginnings—me here at ACET, Cassie at West Suburban Teen Clinic and Rachel in our nation’s capitol.  Well, new beginnings and sci-fi.

Kate

At ACET, we occasionally have employee appreciation days, such as having catered pizza for lunch or sharing bagels in the morning. Recently, ACET staff gathered together for lunch and a show.

Each staff member ordered Chinese food from one of our traditional work haunts and we settled in to relax with an episode of “Firefly,” a show that’s well-loved by a few staff. This was the first of a monthly employee wellness activity created to show appreciation for staff.

Everyone, including myself, enjoyed the activity, but I was a bit disgruntled (and amused) to receive the following fortune cookie message:

How does your company show appreciation?

Cassie

As you may know, organic food has become a craze in our culture. Organic food has gotten a lot of attention in recent years – for good reason. Some studies, such as the 97 studies reviewed by the Nutrition Research Center, have shown that food that has been produced organically often has higher amounts of nutrients. Other studies, such as reported in Science Daily, have found little difference between organic food and non-organic foods. Mayo Clinic states that the answer remains unclear.

Just how does a product become classified as “organic?” Organic products have some strict agricultural requirements that must be met. To meet organic requirements for crops, products be grown in safe soil and have no modifications. Farmers cannot use any synthetic pesticides, bioengineered genes (GMOs), petroleum-based fertilizers, or sewage sludge-based fertilizers to help the crops grow or sustain. For organic livestock, the animals must have access to the outdoors and be fed with organic feed. As with the crops, the animals cannot be given antibiotics, growth hormones, or any animal-by-products. Bear in mind, however, that “organic” means that the product only has to be 95% organic, whereas “100% organic” requires all products to be made by natural means alone.

I’m a budget-conscious shopper, but there are certain items that I prefer to spend the extra money and buy organic. For example, I buy organic milk, which is at least double the price of non-organic milk. I choose to spend more on this because organic milk is one of the foods that has been found to have significant health benefits. In 2008, Newcastle University released a study that found that organic milk had higher amounts of beneficial fatty acids, antioxidants, and vitamins. In fact, one beneficial fatty acid was found to be 60% higher in organic milk than in non-organic milk. I also find that I prefer the taste of organic milk.

Not all products, however, are worth buying organic. You may have heard of the “Dirty Dozen” and the “Clean Fifteen.” According to the Environmental Working Group, there are certain foods that contain higher amounts of pesticides than others. Certainly it is worth taking the time to investigate which foods would be better for you to purchase organically and which foods are not worth the extra effort. Check out the list here: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/health/the-dirty-dozen-and-clean-15-of-produce/616/

What’s your take on organic foods?

Cassie

Kermit the Frog always complained that it’s not easy being green. Well, we have found that it’s incredibly easy to be green – environmentally, at least! In order to reduce costs and be environmentally conscious, ACET implemented many green initiatives last year. What are some ways that you and your company can initiate green practices?

1. Reduce printing. ACET adopted printing reduction guidelines from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency through REDUCE.org in order to reduce waste. We save and view files on our computers whenever possible to reduce the amount of printing. When we do print, we take note of factors such as margin spacing and duplex options to reduce paper and ink usage.
2. Use real dishes and silverware. In other places where I’ve worked, companies provide Styrofoam or plastic cups and dishes. At ACET, staff members brought in extra dishes and real silverware for the team to use instead of throwing away harmful products. This immensely cuts down on waste and cost!
3. Recycle. Our building doesn’t provide a recycling service, but we still make sure to set up recycling bags in our break room. When the bags are full, ACET staff take turns bringing the bags to their home and recycling them. It’s an easy way to keep wasteful products out of the landfills.
4. Compost. Along with recycling, we have a bucket set up in our break room for compost. When the bucket is full, Kirsten or Heather, who both have compost bins, take the bucket home and adds the contents to their bin. By composting appropriate food items, we provide more nutrition to our plants and gardens. Last summer, Heather accidentally grew a cantaloupe in the flowers she potted on her deck. It came from un-decomposed seeds in her compost bin.
5. Walk to work. Not all of us live close enough to work to walk, but Joseph does! He rarely takes his car to work, unless it’s below zero or he has a meeting. Using public transit or carpooling also drastically reduce car emission rates, so keep that in mind if you don’t live close to work.
6. Green up your space. Our office is decorated with plants. Having plants in office spaces has been shown to decrease stress, increase productivity, and filter and clean the air.
7. Learn from one another. At ACET we have lots of conversation about the environment, recycling, and being good to the earth in general. We are always sharing what we learned from what we read, what we see on TV, or what we practice in our daily lives. For example, Kirsten took a straw bale gardening class last spring and shared what she learned with the rest of the staff. Heather participated in a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA or bought a share of a local farm) last summer and shared produce with the rest of the team. Joseph became a vegetarian. All of these examples have inspired numerous conversations and reflections about sustainability and environmental impact.

In what ways does your company stay green? We’d love to hear more ideas!

Cassie