64. Making Healthy Decisions with Rock Valley Health's Kate Tryon Artwork

Loaded: The Hahn Ready Mix Podcast

A podcast for the employees of Hahn Ready Mix

Loaded: The Hahn Ready Mix Podcast

64. Making Healthy Decisions with Rock Valley Health's Kate Tryon

May 18, 2026 • Griffin Hahn & Andrea Meier • Episode 64

0:00 | 34:02

Andrea and Griff are joined by Kate Tryon from Rock Valley Health to cover some of our aggregated wellness screening results and have a general conversation about health.

Also: some construction at the river plant and a world cup prediction pool.

SPEAKER_02 0:09

Welcome to Loaded, the Hahn Ready Mix Podcast with Andrea Meyer, Griffin Hahn, and producer Lex.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

How's it going today?

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Great.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Great. We're also joined by Kate Tryon with Rock Valley Health. Welcome.

SPEAKER_02 0:21

Hello. Thank you so much for having me. Special day to have a guest here.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 0:25

I think it's funny. She just said she's never been here when it's warm out and when it's not full of drivers. Everyone's on the road today, so it's a great day.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Yeah. Yeah. And first time podcaster, right?

SPEAKER_02 0:35

First time podcaster.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Well, we only expect the very best on those podcasters.

SPEAKER_02 0:39

No pressure. We're experts here, so you're really gonna have to step up.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Okay, I'll do my best.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

All right. You want to do some announcements first?

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Sure. What do you got?

SPEAKER_02 0:49

Um this is kind of a bummer. I'm kind of bummed about this. They're doing some construction on the far east entrance at the river plant. So I think this is primarily used by our haulers.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

It's a kind of a bummer. I get it. They're trying to they're working towards a quiet zone for the railroads, I think. So if there's crossing arms at those railroad tracks, then they don't have to make a bunch of noise. So like I get the idea, but it is gonna be an inconvenience for us.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

So yeah, definitely during construction. But then even after that, they're gonna narrow the road, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:22

So just keep your eyes open. I know when they you know change traffic patterns that we've been following for what feels like a hundred years, it's always an adjustment for everyone. So just slow down, keep your eyes open and watch out for the work that's happening there.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Yeah. Shout out to John Allen for fighting to keep at least the approach at the current width. So that's good.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

Uh also another five two bummer announcements.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

That's okay. I have a I have a positive.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

Okay. Count on you to turn it around for us. My other one is about Riverstone's dumping area in Bettendorf is closed. We just got Miller's back open. Now Riverstone's closed. So we expect that to be maybe a month or two.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Month or two is right.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

Yes. Right now, when we're gearing up and need to move quickly, we don't have that option. Yeah. But so make sure you're communicating with dispatch. If you have leftovers, we will make blocks and sell them. So do that if you can. Otherwise, let them know uh that you have leftovers and they'll send you to the next best place.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Yeah. My announcement is more fun.

SPEAKER_02 2:23

Of course. One of us is fun and one of us is not.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

Some of you may know I and Lex actually are huge soccer fans. And the World Cup starts in the United States and Canada and Mexico on June 11th. So to celebrate that and have fun, we're going to do You're giving us a month warning. I'll give you a month warning that we're going to do a kind of a work pool uh prediction pool. So if you're interested, let me know. We'll post some stuff up. Aaron Casas, I'm looking at you. I expect your participation. Yeah, I think it's gonna be fun. So just wanted to throw that out there.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

So is it like a March Madness thing where you're picking which team's gonna win each game and advance?

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Yeah, not advanced like that. So you would pick it, you get three points if you like correctly pick the score. So it's like two one uh and you and that's what you selected, you'll get three points. You get a point and a half if you're like one goal off, but the result is correct.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

Are you making this up or is this like a real thing that people do?

SPEAKER_00 3:20

I looked it up before. Okay, and then you get one point if if you correct, like if you pick the right team that won or a draw, but the score wasn't right. You know, so if you said the US is gonna win two to one against Paraguay and we won eight to one, you would just get one point for that because you weren't close on the score, but you correct the right result.

SPEAKER_02 3:40

So but there aren't multiple rounds.

SPEAKER_00 3:43

There are, so you'll be able to pick before every round.

SPEAKER_02 3:45

Oh, multiple, multi-effort endeavor if you're into it. I'm gonna try. I'm gonna try just because I would love to I would love to take your money.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

Okay, so that seems like a lot, but I'm sure I'm sure people who know what they're doing will know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

It'll be fun.

SPEAKER_02 4:06

So they should see you if they want to participate.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:09

All right.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Kate, are you ready to jump in? Let's do this. All right. Uh why don't you let's just start. Give us a little bit of your background and and kind of the background on Rock Valley Health. What do you guys do for us?

SPEAKER_03 4:21

Absolutely. So I'm Kate Tryon. I am the wellness coordinator at Rock Valley Health. You see me at your health screenings every January, February. We love to come test you out and do all that fun stuff. And then we use some of that data to see if we can help you improve your health. So at Rock Valley Health, we're about wellness and prevention. So we do a lot of screenings so we can kind of see what the needs are and then kind of help the groups we work with, then what can we put in place in the workplace to help you live a healthier life, be more productive employees, and enjoy your time outside of work.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

Yeah, we really appreciate you guys working with us. I know we're uh erratic in our scheduling and probably more challenging with having layers of winter clothes and boots to take off to get a wellness screening done every year. But you guys have been awesome and uh really appreciate working with you over a long period of time. And thanks for being here today. I know this is putting you on the spot to come. We do always talk through our results, but doing it on the podcast is another level, I'm sure. Happy to be here. All right. So I most of our people actually do participate in the health screening, but just in case someone hasn't been a part of it, can you kind of walk through what we do at the health screenings?

SPEAKER_03 5:30

Absolutely. We try to make it pretty quick as we can. First thing we're gonna do is um test your cholesterol and blood sugar. And we do that with just a small finger poke so there's no blood draws. Uh, we do your blood pressure, test your pulse. We do have you jump on a scale to get your weight, waist measurement, body fat if you would like us to do that. And then we give you all those numbers right there so you have them to take home, which is I think a big key factor is that you know your results right there and you're not waiting for lab results. You don't have to look them up elsewhere. Uh, we do also have you fill out a health risk questionnaire so that way you can get a report at the end to say, hey, maybe I am at higher risk for certain, you know, common diseases, you know, uh, I need to check my dental health, those kinds of things. So it gives you kind of some actions to do after the health screening.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

Yeah, so it's really a two-part thing. There's a the questionnaire that we do online, and then there's a physical exam basically with the providers here in the office. So we try to make it super convenient for everyone. It's usually super cold and snowy on the day we choose to do it.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

And some reason for a couple of years, we did it right after like the night before I would forget we'd do it, and I'd eat an entire bowl of like blueberry muffin batter, then just throw my results off or the listen, we're trying to get accurate results, but that's your normal pattern. I was like, oh, why why why does this keep falling on this day?

SPEAKER_02 6:46

Of course you did. Yes. Well, that that sort of leads us to our next question. How did we do when you look at our results compared to the other groups you guys work with? What stands out to you, good and bad, about our employees?

SPEAKER_03 6:58

Well, you know, it's a little hard to compare sometimes because we work with lots of different types of companies. So some are more, you know, physically active employees like yours. Some of our groups are very sedentary. So it and some are all of the above. So um we tend to look at national norms rather than kind of norms between the groups that we have. So with Han, you know, we're gonna see a little bit higher on the um overweight or obesity factor, a little lower on the uh eating healthy portions of it. And the smoking is about similar to other groups we see, similar to national norms, but those are the biggest ones that we're gonna notice. And I would say along with the overweight and obesity, we have a little bit higher risk of diabetes as well. They're ca they go hand in hand though.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

Yeah, yeah. I always thought that was interesting. You know, a lot of our employees are like physically working hard all day long, every day. So how does that happen? Like, how is it that so many of our people are are physically working hard, but still struggling with like weight, blood pressure, diabetes, like you said.

SPEAKER_03 7:56

Sure. And it's very frustrating when that happens when you feel so tired by the end of the day and you don't want to, you know, think about doing anything else, but you're just not seeing those results. And some of it is our bodies get used to doing the same thing all the time. So we kind of they are used to burning those similar types of calories every day. And so we adjust to that. So even though you're physically active, you're not um in a calorie deficit per se, which would kind of help with weight management. So when you're tired and you just don't want to do anything else, I want you to focus on more simple things like can I go for a walk a little longer? Can I really watch the things that I eat a little bit better? So maybe instead of focusing on I've got to work out harder, but I'm so tired to manage my weight, what else can I do? And sleep is a factor in that as well. So, I mean, you'll hear hear kind of the same things from me today as far as let's watch the things we eat, make sure we sleep well, and let's just get some regular movement in. So even a 10 to 15 minute walk at a nice moderate pace, so you're getting your heart rate up just a little bit, doesn't have to be vigorous, you do not have to be a runner, can really help you with weight management and also with that blood sugar management as well.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

That's that's good. I'm glad you said that. I we've recently been struggling with um leaving our trucks idling in the parking lot for too long, and we can customize the message that goes out to the driver. So I thought about can we say on the message like Go for a walk. Take a walk. We don't actually want them to leave the truck and go far. So I don't know what the right next to the truck exercise is. Yeah, there's maybe definitely opportunity for movement when you're sitting in the let's workshop that one before we start.

SPEAKER_03 9:28

I mean, my wellness brings says uh count how many laps you do around your truck and then do a competition, you know. Oh, yeah. Of course, I'm sure you'd rather them be actually in their truck than walking.

SPEAKER_02 9:39

But I'd be I'd be okay with walking laps around the truck as long as they're still ready to get loaded. Yeah. Yeah. We'll think of something. Along those same lines, I noticed in the report it talks a lot about metabolic syndrome. Can you tell us like what that means to us and what people should be looking for?

SPEAKER_03 9:58

Absolutely. Metabolic syndrome is something we use a lot in the wellness world. Your doctor may speak of this too. It's not an actual disease. So I want to point that out too. Metabolic syndrome is not a disease. What it is is a cluster of factors that says you're at a lot higher risk for common diseases. So the factors we're looking at are blood pressure, um your blood sugar, so your fasting blood glucose. We're looking at your triglyceride, which is part of your cholesterol panel, your HDL cholesterol, that's your good cholesterol. And then your waste measurement. So not your weight, not your BMI, it's where you carry your weight that makes a difference. If three of those factors are out of range, you're considered to have metabolic syndrome. Now, the reason that that is a big deal, all of those risk factors on themselves, you know, put your at higher risk for things like heart disease and stroke. When you put them together, your risk increases greatly. So it kind of compounds that risk even more for heart disease, especially heart attacks, for strokes, certain cancers like colon, breast, and prostate cancers, and also leads to a lot of inflammation. So that's a kind of a big thing we hear about now is inflammation. And inflammation can affect your arteries and your blood vessels. So then we start talking about do we have too much inflammation and we're having some cognitive issues over time. Um, you know, are we stressing our pancreas and our liver? So that's why we get concerned about metabolic syndrome. It's sort of a way to classify things we can measure easily to then work on some risk factors, decrease a host of whole common issues that we have.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

Yeah, I think that's helpful to know that these are sort of numbers you can be aware of and be working on before you're really at a point where you're diagnosed with something. But I really want to point out that we can celebrate this one because our group actually improved in this category this year, right?

SPEAKER_03 11:42

Absolutely. So when we when we look at your numbers, we look at what were your numbers this year for our 2026 screenings for the people that participated, but we also do what we call a cohort where we say, so let's look at the people that screened in 2025 and the people that screened in 2026. Did they improve? And we did see a lot of good improvement for those people that participated from year to year.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

So I think it's important to point out, too, in case anybody's listening, that we can't see like some one person's individual results, right? We're looking at aggregated results. So you add them all up together and divide an average, right?

SPEAKER_02 12:14

Or do not have a huge binder in front of us with every single person's printout.

SPEAKER_03 12:18

That's not what's not what we're at. Right. Yes, yes, yes. We're all your information is still HIPAA protected. All the company gets is just the the numbers.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:27

One thing that I thought was interesting about our screenings every year is a lot of people come in feeling okay, you know, like they think they're in great shape or, you know, or good enough, they feel fine. And then they get surprised at the screening that they have a number that's that's way out of line. Can you tell us about some of that kind of stuff that happens and why it's important that we do these screenings?

SPEAKER_03 12:47

Sure. So a lot of the factors we're looking at, they don't have symptoms that would make you feel bad. Like most of the time, you don't feel if your blood pressure is high unless we're dangerously high. You know, you don't necessarily feel if your cholesterol is out of range. Like there's no symptom for that. So most people do feel okay. It's those checks you need to get on a regular basis to let you know that you do need to pay attention to some things because there's not physical symptoms for them. So that's why the screenings are so great, because we can do it fairly quickly. Um, we can do it kind of at the beginning of your day. And then, you know, you're not waiting for the results to see what's going on.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

Yeah, that's that's why it's important. That's why we hassle everyone and try and get them in here because it may it may be the only time in a year that you see those numbers. And it's just so convenient to come in right here and do it with you guys. So I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_03 13:35

Really. And I will throw this in here too, is that I have heard from several of your employees year after year. After the screening, I went to my doctor and I've got this looked at. I'm doing better with this. So sometimes it's just that first check of a number to then you pursue it a little more.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

That's the flag. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:52

Mm-hmm. Great.

SPEAKER_02 13:53

Well, that's all the questions I have about the results before we move on to some kind of practical improvements. Was there anything else that you wanted to point out that I didn't call out in my questions? No, I don't think so. Very good. Well, moving forward then, a lot of our people have to work crazy hours, and that means grabbing fast food or getting food at a convenience store. What are some kind of simple suggestions or improvements you can make knowing the constraints of what we're working with every day?

SPEAKER_03 14:21

I tell this to everybody, and I don't think it really matters what we do in our lives because we're all either busy with work, family, you know, whatnot. Planning ahead is a key. And planning ahead does not mean meal prepping everything you're going to eat for the week. That is far too cumbersome. Planning ahead means what are some good, healthy snacks that I can have that I can grab and go that are in my house. So one of the dietitians that I used to work with was fabulous, and she said, if you bring it in your house, you will eat it. So only stock your house with foods that you know you should be eating. Now, when you're on the go and you're traveling, of course, you can't stock Quickstar. They're gonna have whatever they have in there. But you can go in there and make some different choices as well, right? So if you want something warm, can you choose something that's more of a grilled or baked version rather than something that's fried? Can you choose a smaller portion of, say, you're getting, you know, whatever your main meal is? Is there a smaller portion that you can get and then fill it in with some healthier options? Like, can you add a cheese stick? Can you add a fruit cup? Can you add, you know, nuts, even which are a great source of protein? And the other thing is watch your beverages. We get so many calories from our beverages. So can you choose a low or no calorie beverage? There's lots of options out there now. If you're a caffeine addict like me, it doesn't always have to be a soda, it can be something else that's a lower calorie. And that goes for any beverages that you have. So even outside of work, if you're consuming beverages after work, a lot of those calories add up as well too. So those are kind of some options. And then, you know, portion sizes are huge. So restaurants want to serve you lots of food because they want to keep you coming back. You know, you don't have to eat at all. And you can choose the smaller portions. You probably aren't that hungry to eat all of that food.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

Yeah, those are really good points. I'm glad you brought up beverages. It sort of reminded me of something that I didn't prepare for this, but hopefully you can answer my question. Um, I see a lot of people drinking um energy drinks, right? Like rock stars or monster energy drinks. What do you, what's your take on those?

SPEAKER_03 16:20

Many of the brands have come out with low or no calorie, which is fabulous because when they first came out, they were it was just a soda essentially, um, in a different packaging. So sugar plus caffeine.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

Correct.

SPEAKER_03 16:30

Yes. Now, for someone who uses a lot of them, you need to really watch the milligrams of caffeine in it. And as far as I know, there's no specific recommendation for how many milligrams you should have, but some of them add up very, very quickly. So you need to watch how many of them you're drinking because there is real health risks for too much caffeine, more than we want to get into on this podcast, but you know, you need to watch how much caffeine you're actually consuming. A lot of them are much more than just having like a cup of coffee or even the soda. So that's something to watch.

SPEAKER_00 17:00

I remember when I was younger, it's like pre-energy drinks, but like the precursor for energy drink was surge. Do you guys remember surge? And uh my dad, our Lex and I's dad would always think that we could or I could play soccer better if I drank a surge right before the game. So he would hand me a surge.

SPEAKER_02 17:21

Maybe you should try that with your kids. Pass that on.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

I don't think they need more energy. I don't think that's the problem.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

That's that's awesome. Uh, one of the food things that has been a game changer for me is the grocery delivery stuff. Like that was so frustrating to me when I would try and grocery shop just once a week. And then by like Wednesday, your raspberries have gone bad or they're gone completely. And being able to get just like multiple groceries delivered in one week has been such a such a game changer for having fresh food ready to go.

SPEAKER_03 17:56

And that's a great way to think about planning ahead because you have to kind of plan ahead what you want to order. It keeps you from getting those little snacks that sound super good. And then you fill your fill your house up with the things you don't really want to be eating on a regular basis. So I'm all for grocery delivery. If it works for you, some people like to shop, you know, every other day, some people shop once a month, you know, however, it works. I think something like that too is you can kind of look to see the nutrients in something before you add to cart on, you know, on your phone or where however you're doing it. So I think that's that's a great option. So again, planning ahead looks different for a lot of people. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

I find like what I've really noticed is the fast food companies have obviously jacked up prices, right? So it's it's much more expensive than it used to be. So it used to be that you could, you know, go get a burger at McDonald's for a dollar or whatever. And so that was a huge reason why you would go to a place like that was the cost. Well, now, you know, you a regular burger at McDonald's is gonna be like $14, right? Right. And so what I find is if I go to a place like McDonald's and eat a burger, yeah, there's a lot of food potentially if you get the whole meal, but like a few hours later, I'm hungry again. But if I go to Chick-fil-A and get a salad, it's the same price or cheaper. And I'm full. Like it's it's it's just kind of astonishes me because they're good calories, right? Not just junk calories.

SPEAKER_03 19:21

Right. It's the quality of food makes a big difference too. So you've got you know what you're just talking about, you're getting fiber with your protein, besides just some protein and a whole lot of saturated fat from McDonald's that kind of makes you feel sluggish and tired. You like McDonald's meal doesn't make you feel very good the rest of the day, but something else really gives you that energy to sustain the day. It all costs a lot of money, which is also why I'm a big fan of preparing ahead, because you can save so much money and maybe just choose when you want to eat out instead of relying on eating out all the time.

unknown 19:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:51

What about you, Lex? You have any food tips? You are someone that takes great care with preparing their food.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

Yeah, I'm not going down that rabbit hole.

unknown 19:59

Nothing.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

We need a whole nother single tip, it is bad.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

You don't have a single tip for people.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Part two podcast for next week.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

Other other than uh just eat whole foods. Like that's my main thing is eating. I was gonna say that later. Oh, sorry, sorry. We'll get to that then.

SPEAKER_02 20:17

Okay. Another thing that I know comes up a lot for people is they're tired after work, after they've, you know, been physically working all day. What's your suggestion for people? Like, where should someone start who hasn't exercised in a long time, who is tired after a busy day at work? What's what's the first thing they should do?

SPEAKER_03 20:37

Give yourself five or 10 minutes. Don't feel like every exercise session needs to be 30 minutes, an hour. Start with something just to get it, you in the routine. A lot of exercising and being consistent is just making it part of your routine, right? It's just part of your day. Like I always like taking a shower, brushing your teeth. I exercise. But start with something you can manage. So if you got five or 10 minutes before or after work, maybe just start with even stretching. Um, because I know a lot of the jobs, you know, you sit up, stand down, sit up, sit down, stand up, sit down, stand up. You know, it's probably a lot of sitting, driving. And then so you've got tight hamstrings, you know, a tight back, and then all of a sudden you've got to lift a real heavy load. So even stretching can help with injury prevention, but also just get your body in that mind of I'm gonna be active at this time of day. Start with five or 10 minutes and gradually increase it, and then you'll kind of get in that mindset of exercise. Even some simple things at home of, you know, the standard squats and push-ups and lunges are great things to do as well. Or go for that five or 10 minute walk. It can actually be a little energizing, especially even after you eat, to go for that small walk.

unknown 21:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:42

I like that. Our diabetes related numbers were were pretty high just from my uneducated observation. What are a few like practical things you think people can do now to lower their risks before it becomes a bigger problem? Because it for CDL drivers, it is a big problem if you become insulin. Independent, then it is a much bigger deal with keeping your DOT Medsert. You want to avoid that at all costs if you can, for your health and for your job.

SPEAKER_03 22:07

For so many reasons. Absolutely. Um, number one, we already even talked about replace your sugary beverages. That is the most simple thing that you can do. What are you drinking? What is in your glass? That is a super simple thing. I always think of it this way: your sugary beverages have zero nutritional benefit. So you're just drinking them to drink them. You're not getting anything out of them. Watch your portion sizes. How much food are you eating? Do you need to eat that amount of food? And then weight loss helps a lot as well. So watching your portion sizes, watching your sugary beverages will help with weight loss. And I'll give a shout-out to Lex, eat your whole foods. That helps a ton too. They all work together to do that. But one thing you can do today is what are you drinking? That's the biggest thing.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

I like that takeaway. Another risk factor for us that you mentioned earlier is employees who use tobacco. A lot of people answer the question, like they're not ready to quit, but they also don't love that they're doing it. So what are your practical tips for people who, you know, aren't looking for a lecture, but are looking for things to consider as they think about quitting smoking or using tobacco?

SPEAKER_03 23:13

Absolutely. You know, tobacco use is a physical and mental addiction. So it's it's not as easy to say I'm gonna quit tomorrow. Like that never is really sustainable. So set your environment up for tobacco cessation when you are ready. So for some people that, especially if you smoke cigarettes, don't smoke in your home, don't smoke in your car. Kind of give yourself some boundaries.

SPEAKER_02 23:34

Don't smoke in your truck.

SPEAKER_03 23:37

That would be awesome too. Um, I know very popular now, especially with the younger generation, is those um nicotine pouches that are are just kind of in your mouth. And so, you know, nobody knows you're doing it. So though it's a little bit harder to say, don't do that in your car, don't do that in your truck, don't do that in your home, but give yourself some boundaries and see how that goes. Also, um, I think it's great on the employer side, you know, to have the resources either posted or listed somewhere easy for your employees to find. There are several out there that are just even like the quit line Iowa is one that is just a phone call. And and there's multiple other areas there. Um, but the best thing is to set up your environment for tobacco cessation, truly.

SPEAKER_02 24:18

Yeah, I like that. And we have quite a few smokers here, and we also have quite a few people who have actually quit. Um, and it's interesting to me that every person that you talk to has a different method that helped them quit. Right. There's no one best way. Yeah. If when you're ready, come talk to me and I'll tell you five different people you can talk to about how they did it and just hear their different ideas. Everyone's willing to help, and every so many people have been through it. So there are tons of resources around here when you're ready.

SPEAKER_03 24:45

Absolutely. And community is so important if you have that support of someone who has quit that can kind of help you walk through those tough moments and and hang out with people that are tobacco free. And that helps.

SPEAKER_00 24:58

Andrea is good at uh setting up situations to encourage behavior change when it comes to smoking.

SPEAKER_02 25:05

If you need a personal bully on any topic, just let me know. I'll find you and harass you incessantly. Just ask John, Sheldon. You know, people that see me all the time, they they know.

SPEAKER_00 25:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 25:17

Uh that's great. Another thing that I love about our wellness screening is it's pretty well-rounded and we do ask about stressors, right? Because that impacts everyone's health. And one thing that I hate to see showing up is people have a lot of financial concerns. What are your thoughts on that from our results and tips moving forward for people?

SPEAKER_03 25:36

First of all, I will say every company that is number one. Every group we work with, financial concerns is number one thing that stresses people out. I think that knowing your own personal situation, and I feel like people have a lot of financial stress because they have a lot of other stress in their life too, right? So just kind of general stress-relieving techniques of having a plan, kind of being prepared. I know you guys, you know, when we come to our health screenings, you also have the financial guys here at the same time, which I think is fabulous. Um, you know, talk to them, kind of know what your goals are. And when it comes to your day-to-day, you know, we already gave you a few tips, eat at home a little bit more, you know, or give yourself a budget for eating out, those types of things. Just knowing what your financial status is, I think is also helpful. A lot of people don't want to look at it because they don't want to know, but that is almost more stressful because then you don't know how to make any changes if you don't know where you're starting from. So, but it is pretty common to have financial stressors. Honestly, I've been doing this with Rock Valley for eight years and we've been through ups and downs economically, and it's always number one, no matter where we are with the economy.

SPEAKER_02 26:42

Okay. Yeah. I I thought maybe we were in a tougher position with that because our scheduling is so erratic. We have the volatile, you know, cycles of seasons and being at work and off work. And I know that that has to be stressful for people to try and um anticipate that and work through it. Um, I think we've done a lot to try to help with that, like prepaying for your health insurance so that that deduction isn't happening over the winter. Um, you know, there's we're trying anything that we can to make it easier on people. So I again would encourage people to reach out to us. And like if you, if you have something, you know, of serious concern that we can try to help work through with you, we are happy to do that. We have the employee assistance program through our insurance company. We have resources through you guys, we have the 401k advisors, like you said. Like there are resources out there. And if that's something that's really weighing on you, we can try and connect you with resources to help through that as well.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

I have a question that the the weight loss shots, the GLP ones are, you know, all the rage right now. What's your take on those? Are they safe? Um, is that something people should consider and what should they know about using something like that?

SPEAKER_03 27:47

The GLP ones have actually been around for almost 20 years. Oh, really? Um yeah. They're were originally used for type 2 diabetes. So um their original use was for blood sugar control. Um, so they're safe to use. There's a few different types now, and they are FDA approved for different things. Some are still for type 2 diabetes, some are more for weight loss. You need to speak with your physician, your personal physician. Um, I will encourage everyone to do that, not to use a telehealth because they don't know you as well. And your personal physician can follow up with you. If they feel that that is appropriate for you, that's great. And there's many different uh, again, formularies of that one, um dosages that you can use. Some people, you know, you hear about all these side effects. Some people have terrible ones, and so they have to change it. Some people have none. You just you don't know until you use it. But if you feel like that is something you want to do, speak with your physician. They will let you know if you are a candidate for it. Um, it helps a lot with weight loss. So it helps a lot with all like the metabolic syndrome we were talking about earlier. It can really help. I don't have an issue with it. I think if you need it and your physician thinks you need it, go for it.

SPEAKER_00 28:58

I think a lot of times what I've seen be successful for people is they take the shot and then they're able to change diet and exercise and things because they have more energy, because it's, you know, relieved that burden of extra weight. And so it gets them on the right track to make healthier long-term decisions.

SPEAKER_03 29:17

That is always the goal. And I will say the people that are the most successful using some type of GLP one is they continue to eat very well. So it's not an excuse to eat whatever you want and the shot will take care of it. You still have to eat really well and you need to exercise. A lot of people lose a lot of muscle mass when they're on a GLP one, which is not going to help your longevity. So just taking a GLP one will not cure all of the things you want it to cure. You still have to do the lifestyle work with it as well.

SPEAKER_02 29:45

Yeah, I'll add on to what you were saying there about how important it is to go through your physician. There are also many hoops to jump through with insurance to try to get coverage for these. And we want to work with people on that too. But it takes your physician helping you, you know, and advocating for you with the insurance company to try and get you that coverage. There's tons of other options too, like you know, insurance cards, you know, outside of our insurance, there's other, you know, prepaid cards that can help with covering that too. But it is not just automatic, call a number, get in it, get a prescription, and then you're on your way. It's it is a little bit more involved. Um, but I don't want that to discourage anyone either.

SPEAKER_03 30:23

And I would say too, the um if you're considering using one of those and it it is a waiting process at lots of points, you need to start your lifestyle behaviors before you start any type of weight loss medication, because really we should start with lifestyle measures. And many physicians will want to see that you're serious about your weight loss if that's the reason you need your GLP one before they will prescribe it. So, you know, good diet, exercise, start with that.

SPEAKER_02 30:50

Very good. Just a couple final questions here. If you could get everyone at Han to do one thing differently over the next 90 days, what would it be to help us improve our health?

SPEAKER_03 31:00

Eat better. Truly, whatever that means for you. You know, whether that's again your sugary beverages, your portion sizes, you know, the quality of food you're eating. And by quality, I just mean are you eating more whole foods? It doesn't need to be something fancy or organic. It just needs to be less processed. That would be number one, helps on so many factors.

SPEAKER_02 31:18

Very good. And if anyone is listening who like knows that they have things that they want to work on or improve, but it's kind of embarrassing or overwhelming and they're not sure what to do next, what is one small thing that they can do start doing right away?

SPEAKER_03 31:31

It is super overwhelming when we think we need to make all of these changes. So what I typically would suggest is just take a moment and take stock of what is the most important thing to me right now? You know, is it my weight? Is it my blood sugar? Is it my blood pressure? Is it that I'm not sleeping very well? Decide what is the one thing that's the most important to you and one small thing you can do to improve it. Start very, very small. So if I don't feel like I'm sleeping very well, well, then maybe I need to look at my nighttime routine and and shut my phone off 20 minutes earlier than I do did last night. You know, a small change you know you can do and give yourself a small win. And then we build upon that momentum. With every small win, we just keep building and building. And then pretty soon you've got some great new habits. And seek out help if you need it. If you're like, I really need to exercise more, but I don't know what to do. You know, talk to somebody in the fitness industry or, you know, someone that maybe you work with that you know does a great job.

SPEAKER_00 32:28

Lex.

SPEAKER_02 32:31

When you have plenty of time to hear everything he has to say.

SPEAKER_01 32:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:35

Well, dude, this is a great, you know, future casting uh where we're going with the podcast when Lex comes on with all of his own.

SPEAKER_00 32:43

10-part Lex Health series.

SPEAKER_03 32:45

Should I be worried you're gonna take my job?

SPEAKER_00 32:48

Uh no.

SPEAKER_02 32:49

You're very efficient. Lex will never be there, I don't think, with this topic. All right. Well, as we wrap up here, I just want to say how much we appreciate you being here and working with Rock Valley and continuing our partnership. You know, as we're moving forward, what do you want our employees to keep in mind about Rock Valley?

SPEAKER_03 33:06

That Rock Valley is just a company that is really interested in your best health. So however that looks for you, that is always our goal at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

Absolutely. You guys are a support and a resource and not in any way trying to catch anyone doing anything wrong. I know people when they come for the wellness screening, they're like, oh, I don't want them to see my numbers, but that's that's not at all what it's about. It's about seeing where you are now and how to move you forward and all of us forward as a group. So we appreciate it.