New Year’s Eve often opens up a time for reflection, and as a consequence, new goals, targets and resolutions emerge. I’m not sure if I’ve ever actually completed a New Years’ resolution; I seem to get more energy planning them than I do from their implementation. Most of us can easily find something that we want to change about ourselves for the coming year. It comes from a beautiful desire to want to be the best version of ourselves. We call this the “actualizing tendency.” Now that we’re nearly a month into the new year, how are your resolutions going? The truth is that most resolutions fai ..read more

Supporting mental health in the workplace is high on employers’ objectives for corporate wellness in Ireland. Why? Because happy, healthy employees make for a great place to work. We all go through tough times in our lives, where we struggle and need extra support. Our mental health affects us in all aspects of life, which means we don’t get to leave our problems at home. And since we spend most of our day at work, it makes sense for employers to support mental health in the workplace. So what can employers do to promote mental health at work? In this article, we’ll look at some positive measu ..read more

The Wellness Crew alongside our sister company Employee Financial Wellness delivers programmes that are designed to educate, empower, and improve the financial wellbeing of your employees. We do this through a 3 pillared approach to improving the financial health of employees in workplaces big and small. 1.Measurement The measure of a workforce is fundamental to the success of an Employee Financial Wellness intervention. We must understand the attitudes, opinions, trends, and existing financial literacy levels of any given workforce.  Attitude and Trends Survey This measurement is taken ..read more

A recent survey The Wellness Crew conducted led to some interesting and thought-provoking insights into how things have really changed in the ‘workplace’!?! A fundamental piece of each employee wellbeing programme is to measure. It is crucial that we gain an understanding of the employees’ sentiment directly instead of assuming or indeed deciding on this ourselves as wellness leads, HR or management. Employees will often feel overwhelmed or concerned and not communicate that with each other or with their manager, so we need to measure our workforces directly. A client organisation we measured ..read more

Chicken Korma Prep Time: 3 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes Serves: 2 Suitable for Freezing Ingredients 3 tbsp vegetable oil 2 chicken breasts cut into chunks 1 onion, peeled & chopped 1 garlic clove, crushed 1 medium apple, peeled & thinly sliced 100 g baby sweetcorn, cut into quarters (optional) 1 tbsp Korma curry paste 1/2 tbsp mango chutney 1 tbsp tomato puree 100 g frozen peas 150 ml coconut milk 1 chicken stock cube dissolved in 150 ml boiling water salt and freshly ground black pepper Method Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok or frying pan and stir-fry the chicken for about 4 minutes. Remov ..read more

Teriyaki salmon with stir-fried veg Serves 4/Preparation and cooking time: 30 minutes  Ingredients:  2 tbsp toasted sesame oil (or use rapeseed oil if you don’t have sesame) 6 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or use tamari for gluten free)  1 tbsp maple syrup  3 cloves garlic, grated  1 tsp freshly grated ginger  2 tsp lime juice (or use rice wine vinegar)  4 x 125g salmon fillets  ½ tbsp coconut oil (or use olive or rapeseed oil)  4 cups broccoli florets  1 bunch asparagus, woody ends removed, and stalks cut in two  220g pack green beans  ..read more

Healthier ‘nutella’  AND  Oat and banana pancakes Nutella is almost 60% sugar and contains palm oil, a hot topic for those interested in sustainable eating. Make your own healthier version at home and enjoy with pancakes or a slice of wholegrain bread. Preparation time: 5 minutes Ingredients 170g jar hazelnut butter (or use peanut, almond or cashew nut butter) 2 tbsp. maple syrup 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 1/2 tbsp. raw cacao powder (or use cocoa powder) Pinch salt 1 tbsp chocolate chips 1 tbsp coconut oil (optional) Method Add all ingredients to a blender and blend to a smooth paste Ad ..read more

Creamy lentil and spinach dahl AND Chocolate ‘ice-cream’ Creamy lentil and spinach dahl Serve 5/Preparation and cooking time: 30 minutes Ingredients: ● 1 tbsp. rapeseed or coconut oil ● 2 onions, finely chopped ● 1-inch piece fresh ginger, grated ● 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped or crushed ● 2 tsp ground cumin ● 2 tsp ground turmeric ● 1 – 2 tsp garam masala ● Pinch dried chilli flakes (optional, for added spice) ● 200g red lentils, rinsed well ● 400g tin chopped tomatoes ● 400g tin full fat coconut milk e.g. Thai Gold brand ● 200g bag baby spinach (or use kale or mature spinach, roughly chop ..read more

Now more than ever we need to look after our mental health. To support you and your employees we have developed a few new seminars which offer support, practical solutions and overall will aim to boost mental health. Wellness, Resilience and Stress Management – The Workshop   This 90-minute seminar breaks down the biology and neuroscience of stress, offering 5 practical solutions that can reduce the effect of stress, boost mental health, resilience and measurably increase productivity. Naturally, we all know the necessity of sleep, diet, and exercise, but this seminar explains why these f ..read more

Serves 4/Preparation and cooking time: 20 minutes Ingredients: ● 1 can full fat coconut milk ● 2 tsp good quality Thai red curry paste e.g. Thai Gold ● 1 ½ tsp fish sauce (Nam Pla) ● 1 tsp coconut sugar (optional, replace with brown sugar or omit) ● 120ml vegetable or fish stock (use low salt) ● 220g pack green beans, halved ● 200g pack tenderstem broccoli ● 160g pack sugar snap peas ● 100g baby spinach (or use other greens) ● 300g bag frozen prawns, defrosted ● Handful fresh basil or coriander or mixture of both, roughly chopped ● Small red chilli, sliced (optional) ● + Wholegrain rice or noo ..read more