Summer 2007

A quarterly newsletter for members of

10 Ways to Rev Your Metabolism

What You NeedTo Know About

Your Medications

INTRODUCING:Wellness Discount

Program

Healthy Lifestyles

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Put Your Salad on a DietA healthy diet and fitness plan is good for the body and mind.

You think you’re being so virtuous by making a salad for lunch or dinner. A handful of iceberg lettuce,topped with grated cheese, croutons and a generous serving of creamy salad dressing. Before youdive headfirst into that salad, though, consider this: Those seemingly innocent toppings can add up tomore calories, carbohydrates andsaturated fat than a drive-thru goldenarches hamburger!

Made properly, a salad provides lots ofvolume for relatively few calories. Thesecret to success: Enjoy generousportions of spinach, lettuce and othersalad veggies like carrots, broccoli,mushrooms, cucumber, radishes,peppers and onions. Use low-fatcheeses and dressings.

To add variety, try using frozen orcanned vegetables. For example, youcan add some corn and black beans tolend a Tex-Mex flair to salads, artichokehearts and garbanzo beans for Mediterranean flair and edamame for Asian salads. “Frozen (lightlycooked) vegetable blends such as Birds-Eye broccoli, cauliflower and snow pea pods or baby mixedbeans and carrots also make delicious salads.

If you’re worried that frozen veggies are not as healthy as fresh vegetables, relax. In 1998, the Foodand Drug Administration compared the nutrient profiles of fresh, frozenand canned produce. They concluded that frozen and cannedvegetables are nutritionally comparable to the raw versions and wouldlikely provide the same health benefits. In fact, in some cases, frozenand canned vegetables contained higher levels of certain nutrients thanfresh because fresh produce is vulnerable to nutrient losses undercertain storage conditions.

What’s a salad without the dressing? You can make your own, usingmainly vinegar mixed with a tablespoon of good-for-you olive oil andherbs. Or choose your favorite flavor in a low-fat or fat-free brand.

If you love spicy toppings, skip the flavored croutons. Substitute salsafor a zesty, low-calorie, low-carb treat. Another topping to try: a spoonfulof sauerkraut, which is low-calorie, low-carb and high in taste value. If

you long for buttery croutons, try taking a butter-flavored rice cake and crumbling it over your salad.Or, if you’re on a low-carb diet, crumbled pork rinds can add that wonderful crunch to your plate.

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If you have heart disease or are at risk for developing it, now isthe time to learn more about the Dr. Dean Ornish Program forReversing Heart Disease®. For more details about the countlesshealth benefits of this program, contact one of the participatinghospitals listed below:WV Ornish Cohort Start Dates for July - September 2007

United Hospital Center, Clarksburg, WVNext cohort start date: July 24, 2007Registration deadline: July 13, 2007Contact: 304-624-2935 Toni Marascio, Program Director

West Virginia University Hospital, Ruby Memorial, Morgantown, WVOrnish Open House: August 9, 2007 from 5:00 pm to 7:30 pm*Call to register and learn more about the program

Next cohort start date: August 27, 2007Registration deadline: August 17, 2007Contact: 304-293-2520 Diana Richardson, Program Assistant

St. Mary’s Medical Center, Huntington, WVNext cohort start date: August 20, 2007Registration deadline: *Inquiry calls are welcome any timeContact: 304-526-8072 Jeff Heflin, Nurse Case Manager

Charleston Area Medical Center, Charleston WVNext cohort start date: September 24, 2007Registration deadline: September 10, 2007Contact: 304-388-9411 Kelly Anderson, Nurse Case Manager

The Wellness Center at City Hospital, Martinsburg WV*Offers Ornish Advantage Only (6 week program)Next cohort start date: September 2007Contact: 304-264-1000, ext. 1814. Dana DeJarnett, Program Director

West Virginia Hospitals Offer Enrollmentin Summer Ornish Program

For more than twenty-five years, Dr. Dean Ornish and his colleagues haveconducted research demonstrating that comprehensive changes in dietand lifestyle can slow, stop and even reverse heart disease. Unlessthese changes are made, the risk of recurrent heart attacks,blockages and angina remains a threat. Heredity, obesity, stress,lack of exercise and social isolation are contributing factors to theprogression of heart disease.

By combining stress management, moderate exercise, groupsupport and a low-fat, whole foods nutrition plan, participants inthe Ornish Program experience improvements in weight, chestpain, cholesterol, blood pressure and vitality.

Call today tomake your

reservation!

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Healthy LifestylesA quarterly newsletter for membersof Mountain State Blue CrossBlue Shield, Inc.

Visit our website:www.msbcbs.com

Phone: (304) 347-7663Fax: (304) 347-7684E-mail: debbie.starks@msbcbs.com

Editor - Debbie Starks

Healthy Lifestyles is published quarterlyfor Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shieldmembers to provide general information. Itis not intended to provide personalmedical advice, which should be obtaineddirectly from a physician.

Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield’spolicy of equal employment opportunityis to recruit, hire, promote, reassign,compensate and train for all jobclassifications without regard to race,color, religion, sex, age, national origin,disability or veteran status.

2007 - All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A

Healthy Lifestyles

10 Ways toRev Your

Your body is a lean, mean, fat-burning machine just waiting to happen! All you need is the knowledgeand determination, and your extra weight will be gone in no time. In fact, you don’t necessarily have tomake drastic changes. Try these 10 simple tweaks to your lifestyle, and you will see results.

Lift weights. Muscle is the key to a high metabolism. Gals, that doesn’t mean you have to look likea female wrestler. Building lean, sleek muscles increases your calorie-burning. Your resting metabolicrate (RMR) accounts for 60 to 70 percent of your daily calorie expenditure, and it’s closely linked to theamount of muscle you have. Muscle burns more calories than fat… even while you sleep!

Get moving with your cardiovascular exercise. When you perform cardio, enzymes areproduced that break down fat and enable the body to use it as an energy resource. The averageperson has 100,000 calories worth of fat stored on their body — roughly enough to run for 200 hours.For fat to be burned as energy, oxygen needs to be produced. People with a high cardio capacity areable to burn fat very easily because their bodies are efficient at delivering oxygen to muscle cells.

Try interval training. Your body has an amazing ability toadjust to routine. If you don’t change things up, you can get stuckin a rut. Try interval training — bursts of high-intensity moves — toboost metabolism. Studies show that people who do intervaltraining twice a week, in addition to cardio, lose twice as muchweight as those who do just a regular cardio workout. Just insert a30-second sprint into your jog every five minutes or add aone-minute incline walk to your treadmill routine.

Don’t overdo calorie-cutting.If you ingest too many calories, yougain weight, but if you restrict yourcalorie intake too much, it’s asurefire way to keep the pounds on.That may sound strange, but whatyour body is doing is enteringsurvival mode. Your body isprogrammed to defend itself. If yousuddenly drop a bunch of caloriesfrom your diet, your restingmetabolic rate will slow down,because your body makes theassumption that you are starving.Depending on your level of activity,

Metabolism

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you can safely lose anywhere from half a pound totwo pounds a week. The easiest way to figure outyour needs is to multiply your current weight by 11.So, if you’re 150 pounds, aim for around 1,650calories a day. Unless you’re less than five feettall, don’t let your daily calories dip below 1,200.Research shows that women who consume lessthan this amount see their resting metabolic rateplummet by as much as 45 percent!

Eat breakfast. Some of you out there justdon’t have an appetite in the morning. Some justdon’t have time. But breakfast may just be themost important meal of the day. Your metabolismslows when you’re asleep, and it doesn’t rev backup until you eat again. If you skip breakfast,you’re talking upwards of 18-20 hours since yourlast meal! That’s a recipe for disaster. Start theday with a solid 300 to 400-calorie meal,preferably high in fiber.

Space your meals wisely. If you find that youget frequent snack attacks, kick-start yourmetabolism and curb your appetite by dividingyour meals into five to six small, nutritious mealsa day instead of three squares. Eat a 200-400calorie mini-meal every three to four hours. Yourbody will expend more energy to digest the foodand your metabolic rate will increase. If this is toomuch to handle, revert back to the three meals,but make them slightly smaller and add a couplesnacks strategically placed mid-morning andafternoon.

Catch some zzz’s. According to studies,sleep loss mayincrease hunger andaffect the body’smetabolism, whichmay make it moredifficult to loseweight. People wholose sleep maycontinue to feelhungry despiteadequate food intakebecause sleep losshas been shown toaffect the secretionof cortisol, a

hormone that regulates appetite. Make sure you

get in your eight hours or more of shut-eyeevery night.

Drink water. Researchers in Germany havefound that drinking water may increase the rateat which you burn calories. Study participants’metabolic rates increased by 30 percent afterconsuming approximately 17 ounces of water.The energy-burning process ofmetabolismneedswater toworkeffectively.Water alsofills you up,curbs yourappetite,flushes outyoursystem and rids the body of bloat. Drink at leasteight to 10 glasses per day, even more if you’reactive.

Skip alcohol. Thinking about throwing backa couple before dinner? Not so fast. Severalstudies show that having a drink before a mealcauses people to eat around 200 more calories.Drinking with dinner isn’t such a good ideaeither: Other research has found that the bodyburns off alcohol first, meaning that the caloriesin the rest of the meal are more likely to bestored as fat. If you do have a cocktail craving,stick to wine, which packs only 80 calories aglass — or minimize the calories by drinking awhite-wine spritzer (two ounces of wine mixedwith two ounces of seltzer).

Drink milk. If you’re not lactose intolerant,don’t shy away from low-fat dairy. Women whoconsumed milk, yogurt and cheese, three to fourtimes a day, lost 70 percent more body fat thanwomen who didn’t eat dairy in a study publishedin the American Society for Nutritional SciencesJournal of Nutrition. The reason: calcium, alongwith other substances in dairy, actually revs upyour metabolism, according to the study.Research shows that women reap the largestfat-burning benefit when they consume threeservings of dairy and 1,200 milligrams ofcalcium a day.

Healthy Lifestyles

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Stored Cord Blood Saved theLife of a Child with Leukemia

Mountain State Offers Personal Health Record

A CorCell customer’s stored cord blood was used in what is believed to be the first autologous cordblood transplant for childhood leukemia in the world. The case was reported on January 3, 2007, inPediatrics, the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. An autologous cord bloodtransplant is the blood collected from a baby’s umbilical cord and used specifically for that child.

Ten months after being diagnosed with the most common malignancy in children, acute lymphoblasticleukemia, the 3-year old girl relapsed while receiving chemotherapy. The physicians recommended ahematopoietic stem cell transplant, which is the transplant of cord blood, bone marrow or peripheralblood. No matching bone marrow donor within the family was found. The child received a transplantof her own stored cord blood, after tests showed no leukemia was present in the cord blood at birth.More than two years after transplantation, the child is free of leukemia. The treating physician, Dr.Ammar Hayani, stated in the Pediatrics report that “The decision made by the parents of our patient tosave the umbilical cord blood may have increased the patient’s chances of survival.”

Collected at birth through a safe and non-invasive process, cord blood stem cells offer a powerful andpotentially life-saving resource for treating a growing number of ailments, including cancer, leukemia,blood and immune disorders. With more than 60 clinical trials underway in the United States involvingumbilical cord blood, research is forging ahead to find additional treatments using cord blood forchronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.

Discount for Cord Blood Preservation with CorCell®

Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield members are eligible for a $350 discount with CorCell to purchasecord blood storage for their own newborn child, a grandchild, niece, nephew, or other loved ones. Tolearn more about cord blood stem cell storage and CorCell’s convenient payment plans, please visitwww.msbcbs.com to link to CorCell or call 1-888-326-7235.

Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield recently added a new option to the member website,mybenefitshome.com, as a way of enhancing consumerism capabilities for our members. Located under thetab “Your Health” Mountain State members now have the option of creating and maintaining their own“Personal Health Record” (PHR). Using claims data from health, drug and other relevant information, thePHR offers members a personalized Health Action Plan that provides specific action items for improvementsto their listed health conditions. This added capability also links members to various programs to help themmanage possible health issues and provides them with detailed information to ensure the member is fullyeducated about their health.

Additionally, members who are identified with diabetes, asthma, coronary artery disease or one of more than30 other health topics can get access to a condition manager who provides specific programs, tools andinformation to take the necessary action to better understand and improve their conditions.

The detailed personal health history located within the PHR is supplemented with a tool that enables membersto prepare for healthcare appointments with their physician. This tool allows members to print portions of theirindividual record to share with providers and other caregivers. To explore the many options and capabilitiesoffered by this new addition, log on to www.mybenefitshome.com, click on “Personal Health Record”located under the “Your Health” tab.

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If you have an ongoing illness or medical condition,chances are good that you take a few differentmedications. Medications are often important inmanaging medical conditions and preventingadditional health problems. But in order to get themost benefit from the medications you take, youmust take them exactly as your doctor prescribed.That means taking them at the right time each dayand taking all the doses you’re supposed to.

Unfortunately, that’s not always easy to do.Sometimes it’s hard to remember how to take yourmedication or what to take when. Or you may feellike the medication your doctor prescribed isn’thelping. In fact, some medications, like ones forlowering blood pressure or cholesterol, don’t change the way you feel even though they can make abig difference in your health.

Get Help

If you have trouble taking your medication as prescribed, ask your doctor, your pharmacist, or aBlues On Call Health Coach for help. Health Coaches are specially trained healthcare professionals,such as nurses, dietitians, and respiratory therapists. They are available by phone, anytime, 24 hoursa day, 7 days a week, at no charge to you.

By talking to one of these health professionals, you can learn about simple things you can do toimprove your medication-taking habits. For instance, if you tend to forget to take your medication, youcould try using a pillbox that has a slot for each day of the week. And if you can’t seem to motivateyourself to take your medication, it might help to find out exactly what it does. Just knowing why amedication is important can help convince you to take it.

Your Medicines: What You Need to Know

Knowing key information about your medicines can help you take them correctly. Talk to your doctor,pharmacist or a Health Coach to get the answers to the questions below.

What is the medicine’s name?Why am I taking this medicine?Should I take this on an empty stomach or with food?When should I take it?

Is it safe to drink alcohol with it?If I forget to take it, what should I do?How long should I take it?How much should I take?What problems should I watch for?

Prescription:Learn

about your

medicines

If bothersome side effects are keeping you from taking your medication, your doctor may be ableto prescribe a different dose or type. And if cost is an issue, your doctor may be able to prescribelower-cost medicines.

To talk to a Health Coach, call 1-888-BLUE-428. You can also get information online by going towww.msbcbs.com and clicking on the Blues On Call link.

Post Office Box 1948Parkersburg WV 26102

Healthy Lifestyles

PRESORTED STANDARDU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDPERMIT #2784

CHARLESTON, WV

Mountain State Partners with American WholeHealth To Launch NationwideComplementary Wellness Discount Program

Beginning July 21, 2007, Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield will launch a new discount programfor all members. To help you “Have a Greater Hand in Your Health,” Mountain State has partnered withAmerican WholeHealth Networks, Inc. to offer a new, nationwide Complementary Wellness DiscountProgram. One of the first components of Mountain State’s new “MemberPerks Program,” theComplementary Wellness Discount Program, gives our members access to discounted complementaryand alternative medicine services through more than 35,000 practitioners and facilities nationwide, withdiscounts of up to 30% on products and services, including:

Yoga, Pilates and tai chi classesMassage and body workNutrition counselingPersonal trainersHerbal consultationsVitaminsHealth magazinesAcupunctureFitness centers*

Easy To Use Online Or By Phone

To locate a participating practitioner, just log on to www.mybenefitshome.com, log in and click on“Choose Providers” and “Member Discounts.” Members can also call 1-877-244-2465, Mondaythrough Friday, between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. EST.

At the time services are obtained, members need only to show their Mountain State identification cardto get the discount. They are responsible for paying any applicable fee directly to the practitioner.

American WholeHealth also offers access to WholehealthMD.com, an online education tool thatprovides health and wellness information, opinions, resources and an online reference library.

*The Complementary Wellness Discount Program is separate and distinct from your health benefits plan.*Fitness Centers are not included for members of Medicare Advantage or Medigap plans due to their eligibility for the SilverSneakers®

program. SilverSneakers is a registered mark of HealthCare Dimensions Inc.

$AVE

MemberPerks Program