by Dan | Aug 12, 2012 | Exercise, Family, Motivation, Wellness/Health
Back from our 11 day trip to Alaska–land/cruise. It rained 9 of those 11 days, which apparently is typical. Still saw some great sights. Even though we were on vacation, we, me and the family, managed to exercise every day. Again, once it becomes a habit, you don’t think about it. I will show you over the next several posts what we did for exercise, and the sights we saw, and how it made doing the exercise that much more fun, and rewarding. These pictures are just a few of the great mountains scenes we saw.
Here is one where you can see the glacier in front. I will have some close up shots later. Absolutely amazine. Keep moving everybody! It is good to be back.
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 1781
by kelsey | Aug 1, 2012 | Etc., Exercise, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
I usually leave the activity talk on this blog up to Dr. Dan, however lately I have had a lot of questions and discussion regarding activity with my patients that I thought I’d discuss a little bit on here as well. As many of you know, it’s hard to tackle wellness with just diet or just activity, thus to be most successful you really need to work on both! Often times, people will tell me that they are super busy during the day and their job requires them to be on their feet so that counts as exercise. Having a job where you’re on your feet is better than a desk job as we naturally burn more calories standing than sitting, however that doesn’t necessarily mean it counts as moderate activity.
At least 150 minutes of moderate activity is recommended each week. We recommend it by week as it can be spread throughout your days (example 30 min Monday, 40 min Tuesday, 60 min Wednesday, etc)…and it just has to be 10 minutes at a time! Moderate activity has been shown to be beneficial for our cardiovascular health as well as aiding in disease prevention and weight management. The difference between moderate activity and your daily chores and work duties is that moderate activity gets your heart rate up high enough to result in these benefits. You can certainly check your heart rate and figure out your range, however the easiest way to determine you are reaching that moderate level is by using the talk test. Moderate activity involves getting your heart rate up high enough that you can talk (in between breaths), but you are unable to sing. If you are able to sing and talk as you normally would, then your heart rate is not at that moderate level.
Here are some examples of moderate activity:
- Gardening for 30-45 minutes
- Shoveling snow for 15 minutes
- Stair walking for 15 minutes
- Washing windows and floors for 45-60 minutes
- Walking 2 miles in 30 minutes (1 mile in 15 minutes)
- Dancing fast (social dancing) for 30 minutes
- Swimming laps for 20 minutes
- Jumping rope for 15 minutes
Just remember that every bit counts so if you are only able to do little bits of activity throughout your day, that’s better than nothing! The key is to keep moving!!
-Kelsey
by kelsey | Jul 31, 2012 | Exercise, Wellness/Health
I have discussed my involvement with South Dakota Team Beef in previous posts and my passion for promoting lean beef and physical activity. After the Beef and Eggs 5k race I had the opportunity to visit with Bruce Falk, editor for the Tri-State Neighbor. He is also a member of SD Team Beef and shares similar interests. He was interested in learning more about my job as a dietitian and being in a producer family in the beef industry. One of his questions inquired about my husband’s activity…which brought us to the very popular limitation for exercise: TIME! As a farmer and rancher, Adam spends most of the time when the sun is out working, which means in the summer the days start early and end later. Whether you’re a farmer, rancher, or a business man, we all have one thing in common: everyone is busy! When we’re busy, it’s easy to push off the exercise until you have more time.
Time management is key to success with health and wellness. First off, it’s important to make a commitment to exercising. Next, you’ll want to focus on ways to add exercise into your routine. I suggest looking at your calendar for each week and plan it into your daily schedule. If you think of it like a work meeting you have to attend, you’ll be less likely to skip it and it will eventually become second nature or a habit to do it. Most importantly, you want to schedule it into your day when it’s convenient for you. If you are not a morning person, setting your alarm to work out at 5am will not be ideal for you! You also want to consider engaging in an activity that you enjoy. I am not big into swimming (despite knowing how), so if I had to swim daily, I would dread every minute of it! Whereas my preferred activities are biking and running as I enjoy them. One other aspect to consider is if you like to exercise with a buddy or alone. Some may enjoy going alone as it can be a quiet time for them, but others may prefer a buddy to help them stay motivated. The key is finding a solution that works best for you!
Setting goals is a good tool to help with accountability. This is something we will do in our first lecture with STRIVE 2 Survive on September 4th.
Another concept we discuss regularly in my house and with my patients is the difference between being “busy” and aerobic activity…stay tuned to tomorrow’s post to learn more!
If you want to read more about the article I am featured in click the link below:
http://www.tristateneighbor.com/news/opinion/bruce_falk/article_a19c86b0-d766-11e1-9521-001a4bcf887a.html
-Kelsey
by Dan | Jul 30, 2012 | Exercise, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
Year round, there are fun runs, walks, triathlons, bike rides, that it is easy to find some ways to keep busy, and stay fit. Here this last saturday was the annual Kampeska run, 1/2 marathon, 10K, and 5K. It was great weather, perfect day for getting out for a run. Here I am after I won the 10K for my age group. Whether you win or lose, it does not matter. Get out, and try. I am surprised, and of course, when I saw Rhonda Arbogast taking pictures, I had to ham it up a little more. It is all about having fun, right?
Of course, not to even be outdone by myself, here I am holding my winning door prize for the race–a hooded sweatshirt. So everybody, get out, and go have some fun. Whether you are walking, running, biking, it does not matter. Just get out and move. Where have I heard that before? Oh, yeah–me! Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 1768
by Dan | Jul 29, 2012 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Heart Health, Motivation, Wellness/Health
This is the final segment of the heart disease series. Everybody knows somebody, or they themselves personally, have heart disease. No one is immune. Sometimes reminding yourself of the reasons why you should do something about it is as close as your own home. Family should rank as the primary goal. I touch on this more is a minute.
Treatment options include: 1. Medications: These medicines can be used to help lower your blood pressure, lower your cholesterol, improve your blood sugars, but in all, they can help lower your risk of a heart attack. Which medication is right for you depends on your own health issues, and discussion with your doctor.
2. Angioplasty/stent: If you already have heart disease, or had a heart attack, these may be one of the treatments that are used. Angioplasty involves using a balloon to open up the coronary artery, and then placing a stent helps keep it open. If things are too involved for this, then the next step may be…
3. Coronary bypass surgery: Here another blood vessel from your body, very commonly from your leg, is used to “bypass” the areas of blockage. It is reattached above the area of the blockage, to an area below it, so it effectively bypasses the blood flow around the areas of blockage. These 2 options definitely are more advanced ways of treating heart disease, but one of the most effective yet is preventing it from ever getting this severe. This brings up to the last treatment option.
4. Lifestyle changes: This is basically what are entire blog, and Strive 2 Survive program is all about. The more you can do about watching your diet, and increasing your exercise, the better. This can definitely help prevent heart disease from coming on, but are also extremely effective in helping to manage heart disease if any of the other options above come into play also.
Afterall, is life not about having fun!
Wrap your arms around the things in life that are most important to you. We all have to remember we are not going to have them forever. Appreciate them while we can. Family is the center of all of this for me, and why I try to stay healthy. I want to be here and enjoy them a long time. A special thanks to photographer, and friend, Cory Ann Ellis, for once again creating some great family pictures to enjoy forever. Thanks!
Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 1767
by Dan | Jul 23, 2012 | Exercise, Family, Motivation, Wellness/Health
It was a busy weekend for many parents. It was the state softball tournament held in SF. Boy, was it hot; around 100 degrees both days. Between me running back and forth between my daughter Molly’s game, and my son’s games, I had just as much of a workout as they did. Here Nick is with his Brown Clinic/Glacial Lakes Property Management teammates as they placed 2nd in the U14 division. They played very well, and gave it all they had.
Here Molly is racing around 3rd base on her way to home to score. Both kids had a lot of fun, and for me, as Dad, I can say it was a lot of fun watching them, but I was exhausted afterwards. Keeping up with the 2 of them, while Sarah is back home on call, was quite the workout. I did lots of walking in between games as well, and did not have to worry about trying to do any other exercise for the day. All of this was enough.
For all of you parents out there, you know what you all do for your kids. We make a lot of sacrifices as well trying to keep the kids involved in activities, and trying to be there to cheer them on as well. We have to remember to take care of ourselves as well, and remember to stay active for us as well. If we don’t, we are going to have a hard time keeping up with them. We also run the risk of not being around for them later when they need us. Hopefully, they appreciate all of this as well. For many of these things, it may not be appreciated at the time, but as they look back, they will remember we were there for them, and then it will matter. So remember, take care of ourselves, stay healthy, and keep moving everybody.
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 1761
