by kelsey | May 27, 2014 | Exercise, Family, Weather, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
Summer and the warm temps have finally arrived! Physical activity is critical for optimal health. Summertime brings many opportunities to get active with your kids, spouse, or on your own; there’s never an excuse for inactivity! Below are some activity ideas for you and your family.
- Swimming lessons or sports clubs like tennis are a great way for kids to get regular, scheduled physical activity.
- Take a walk through the park! We have an awesome bike trails that will keep you off the couch.
- Most yard work is great exercise that will burn tons of calories. Try using a push mower over a riding one for exercise!
- Are you competitive? Join a softball team or go golfing. If it’s rainy outside, bowling is also a fun activity for indoors.
- Sign up for a 5k race! If running isn’t your thing, you can always grab a friend and walk together. The picture above is of a few of the Brown Clinic folks after the Hospital Hill Run last year. This years Hospital Hill run is June 14th. Get signed up!
- If you don’t belong to a gym, try exercise videos at home when the weather is acting up.
- Work your muscles if you’re on the lake or river! Waterskiing and tubing are great workouts.
Throw the excuse jar away and take advantage of the nice weather and get active!
-Written by Lara Cafruny, SDSU Dietetic Student
-Kelsey Raml, MS, RD, LN
by Dan | Apr 27, 2014 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
We all have a goal as parents: We want to see our kids grow up, and to be happy! Prom was last night, and it was our son Nick’s turn. He is a junior. Sarah and I exercise all the time, try to watch our diet, and stay healthy, so we can be around more for our kids, and to see them grow up. This is what life is all about! Here is proud mom with her son. We just got done having 18 kids over at our house to eat prior to going to the grand march.
And of course, we have to have one with Dad also! This is what it is all about. We watched Nick the day before at the Watoma relays. He had a great day, taking 3rd in the mile, and being a part of the winning relay teams of the Medley, and the mile relay. Important to keep everybody active! Enjoy life. Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 2403
by kelsey | Apr 24, 2014 | Family, Goals, Heart Health, Motivation, Wellness/Health
This weekend, my Grandma Evelyn turns 85! We had a great party and celebration for her over Easter weekend and it was once again a great time to truly celebrate life and living! She has been an incredible role model to me growing up as she has showed me how being active (mentally and physically) helps the aging process. Grandma has some heart issues, but she never lets that stop her from keeping up with her kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids (not to mention she always looks awesome–see the picture with myself, Grandma and cousins!). She has an awesome will to live and makes the most of everything in life. She continues to try to stay active and that has helped her age gracefully.
Life is all about choices and we only get one life to live, so make the most of it! The choices you make regarding your nutrition and activity will truly make an impact on your life, lifespan, and health long term, so staying active and eating a healthy and well balanced diet will provide proper nutrients to aid in a healthy body long term. Even at the age of 85, Grandma Evelyn will be out in the garden, getting activity and working on a bountiful harvest of nutrient rich produce to enjoy. Grandma’s genetics have a strong history of heart disease and I even got it from her as I have to watch my cholesterol, but she is a great example of how lifestyle choices can still make a positive difference in your health despite your genetics. I saw a saying that describes this perfectly: “Your genetics load the gun, your lifestyle pulls the trigger.” Make the most of every day, make healthy choices, and appreciate the life you have!! It’s never too late to start putting a positive focus on your health!
-Kelsey
by Dan | Apr 12, 2014 | Exercise, Family, Motivation, Weather, Wellness/Health
With everything that has gone on for our family these last few weeks it was nice to have some good news for a change. My daughter Megan goes to school at George Mason University in Fairfax Virginia, just outside of Washington DC. She has been having health problems this last month, and had to undergo a bunch of tests recently. Sarah flew out there this week to be with her through it, and we got great news that at least nothing serious, and will be fine! What a relief! We can worry about ourselves, and all the things we have to do, but when it comes to our kids, everything comes to a halt! Sarah and Megan are spending today in DC at the Cherry Blossom festival. They have sent me a few pictures. What a view!
Here Megan is with all the cherry blossoms in the background. A great view in more ways than one! Appreciate every day we have, and especially appreciate our health, as we don’t know when things may change. Keep working on what we as individuals can do to help maintain our own health, and keep working on our diet, and staying active. There is no pricetag on our health! As I have been saying a lot lately, somebody out there would care if we were not here! Enjoy the Spring coming. Be outside. Enjoy all the views. Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 2388
by Dan | Mar 30, 2014 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
It has been a tough week. I had to say goodbye to my Dad forever. Where do you begin to say Thank You for everything. I hope he realized how much I appreciated everything from him. He taught me you had to work hard for what you got, and to be proud of what you are doing. If anybody wonders where I got the exercise traits from, you would not need to look any further than him. He did manual labor his whole life, and then when he retired, got involved with riding a stationary bike. He would ride anywhere from 15-45 miles per day, every day! He has been an important part of my life for so long, I am not sure how I am going to handle this going forward.
When I received Family Doctor of the Year a few years ago, I was so proud to have you and mom show up at Deadwood, and for it to be a complete surprise to me. I have always been so proud of you, and I can’t tell you how proud it made me feel for you guys to show up for that night.
You made life fun. You worked hard for everything you had. We never wanted for anything that was important. You taught us what being a great Dad was supposed to be. A lot of us may be able to be fathers, but it takes a special individual to be a Dad. I learned a lot from you, and hope you were proud of me as well.
I will miss your smile; your sense of humor; just talking to you. I hope you can now rest. You don’t have to worry if you don’t remember things anymore. It does not matter now. We remember, and always will. All of your children are proud to have called you Dad. We will continue to do as you taught, and won’t let you down. I will be exercising, and keep trying to motivate people to take care of themselves, and stay healthy. I had a hard time trying to keep my exercise streak going these last few days, because I did not want to leave your side. I took many frequent walk breaks to clear my head, and then came back to be by your side. You would have been upset had I not, and wanted me to keep going as well. I will keep referring back to you here over time, because your wisdom was priceless, and I need to share it over time. I love you Dad!
Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 2375
by kelsey | Mar 26, 2014 | Family, Food
Yesterday was National Ag Day. Many don’t think about where our food comes from or the effort it takes to put it on our tables. We just go to the store, pick up what we want, and eat it…a simple process right! In reality, there is a great deal of planning, hard work, and efforts that go into putting that food on your table. There truly is an art and science to farming, raising cattle, and livestock. This includes planting techniques, seed technology, keeping the plants growing to produce a bountiful harvest, harvest timing, and the markets (selling the product). Successful farmers today truly have to have a vast knowledge of agriculture, animal science, and ag business.
A few fun facts for you about agriculture in South Dakota include:
- 8% of farms in South Dakota are family owned and operated – in fact, over 2,500 South Dakota farms have been in the same family for more than 100 years.
- The average size of a farm in South Dakota is 1,374 acres.
- The average age of a South Dakota farmer is 55.7 years.
- There are 46,000 producers in South Dakota on 31,800 farms.
- Each year, one South Dakota producer raises enough food to feed 155 people in the U.S. and abroad.
- South Dakota’s agriculture industry has a $20.9 billion economic impact each year.
- In addition to generating 20% of our state’s economic activity, production agriculture and its value added industries employ over 80,000 South Dakotans.
- http://sdda.sd.gov/education-outreach/agriculture-industry/
Producing the food that you put on your table, truly is a labor of love and hard work, so in celebration of ag day, I encourage you to thank our local farmers and ranchers for helping put that delicious food on your table… and take extra appreciation of it!
Here are a few pictures from our life on the farm.
Harvesting soybeans.
Dumping the soybeans from the combine to the grain cart, which then gets dumped in a hopper (attached to a semi) and brought to the elevator.
Cattle grazing.
From ranch to table…a healthy plate of fruits, veggies, home grown potatoes, and home grown Raml steak.
Happy Ag Day!
Kelsey
