by kelsey | Oct 29, 2013 | Exercise, Family, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
As you’ve been learning, we are starting a new kids wellness program called Strive Kids and one component of the program is helping families learn how to be more active while making it fun. Children need at least 60 minutes of activity a day. Meeting this activity recommendation will not only promote a healthy weight, but also ward off diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. This 60 minutes does not have to be all at once though…it can be spread throughout their day. You may consider the following tips to help you and your child be more active:
- Join a sports team or try a new physical activity.
- Take a walk or turn up the tunes and do some dancing indoors after your supper meal.
- Instead of catching a movie or watching TV, pick an activity that requires movement such as laser tag, bowling or miniature golf.
- Give children toys that encourage physical activity like balls, kites, hula hoops, Frisbee and jump ropes.
- Limit TV time and keep the TV out of your child’s bedroom.
- Plant a garden. Kids love to water plants, and they’ll get excited weeks later when they see their flowers bloom or vegetables grow.
- Practice what you preach! Kids will be more apt to engage in activity and stay interested when their parent or family is doing it!
Creating a positive environment with encouragement and reinforcement will help your child live a long and healthy lifestyle. These tips are just a glimpse of what we’ll cover in Strive Kids. If you’d like to learn more about our program, be sure to contact us!
-Kelsey Raml, MS, RD, LN
by kelsey | Oct 24, 2013 | Family, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
As you learned in a post earlier this month (https://s2sbrownclinic.com/2013/10/strive-kids/) , we are starting a new kids wellness program called Strive Kids! We are really excited to start this project and help the children and families in our community learn how to achieve a healthy lifestyle. We fully understand that weight is always a sensitive subject and never easy to discuss, thus I thought I’d help you out with that. Here are some suggestions on ways to approach the topic thanks to the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics:
“Don’t Talk, Do Something: In general, if your child is elementary age or younger and you’re concerned about his or her weight, don’t talk about it; just start making lifestyle changes as a family. The best thing you can do is make it easy for kids to eat smart and move often. Serve regular, balanced family meals and snacks. Turn off televisions, video games and computers. Look for ways to spend fun, active time together.
Don’t Play the Blame Game: Never yell, scream, bribe, threaten or punish children about weight, food or physical activity. If you turn these issues into parent-child battlegrounds, the results can be disastrous. Shame, blame and anger are setups for failure. The worse children feel about their weight, the more likely they are to overeat or develop an eating disorder.
A United Front: As with any other important issue, make sure both parents and other important relatives are on the same page. Mixed messages about weight can have unhealthy consequences.
Talk with Your Health-Care Provider: If a health professional mentions a concern about your child’s weight, speak with him or her privately. Discuss specific concerns about your child’s growth pattern. Ask for ideas on making positive changes in your family eating habits and activity levels.
Seek Advice: For kids and teens, check out local programs and professionals who specialize in youth. Look for a registered dietitian with a specialty in pediatric weight management. Many hospitals and clinics have comprehensive programs with education and activities for both kids and adult family members. Some of these options may be covered by your health insurance plan.
Focus On the Big Picture: The key is health, not weight. If your family starts eating better and moving more, your children may “grow into” their weight as their height increases. Compliment your children on lifestyle behaviors (“Great snack choice,” or “You really run fast”) rather than on the loss of a pound or two.” http://www.eatright.org/Public/content.aspx?id=6848
StriveKids is open to all ages of kids, thus if you’re interested and would like to learn more about our program, please contact me!
-Kelsey Raml, MS, RD, LN
by Dan | Oct 17, 2013 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Heart Health, Motivation, Wellness/Health
When I am talking to patients, it is much easier to tell them that they need to work on doing more exercise and staying active if I am doing it as well. When in medical school, I had an attending physician that would tell his patients they had to lose weight, and quit smoking. He weighed around 300 pounds, and had his cigarette pack hanging out of his pocket. I am not sure too many people really listened to him with this advice, if he was not going to even follow it himself. I will admit, it is not always easy. But, it is much easier to try and convince someone else to do it, if you believe in it enough yourself to follow your own advice. This not only applies to my practice, but to my own household and family.
Here Nick is last week at his Cross Country meet. You parents out there, if you believe in a healthy lifestyle, and staying active, you too have to commit to it also. There is no better way to get your family and kids to do the same, then if you do it yourself! As for the kids, there is no better way than to teach a healthy lifestyle then seeing it first hand. The famous movie line: “Build it, and they will follow.” Lead by example! There is no method that is more effective than this. This is also what we at Brown Clinic are trying to push and create with our new program, Strive for Kids. A 12 month program of education for kids, parents, and families on healthy lifestyle, and correct eating habits. See our web page for more details as well. Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 2213
by Dan | Sep 25, 2013 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
My early morning run this AM marked the end of 6 years of consecutive daily execise! I began this goal on September 26, 2007. My initial plan was to see if I could accomplish a year in a row. I have to say, that first year was the hardest thing I have ever done! Now, it is habit. I plan for my workouts, and have had to learn to be flexible in the plan, and remember to just go out and move. I have many people to thank, including my training partners over the years. They include my dog Buddy; Tom Beaudry; Steve Hauck; all three of my kids, Molly, Megan, and Nick. But I owe the most gratitude to my wife, Sarah.
Without all of her help… the things she has helped finish at home, with the kids, whatever it took…so it helped allow me time to go workout. There is no doubt, this relationship is a team effort…with everything we do! I can’t thank her enough, and am so lucky and grateful to have her as my wife! She is always by my side, whether running with me, or cheering me on. This goal would not have been achievable, and would not be able to continue to go forward without all of the help she has given me.
Here we are on the bus going to Disney after just finishing the marathon. We have been able to do a lot things, and see many places over the years because of our interest in exercise, and staying fit. Hopefully the adventures still continue. Who knows how far this consecutive streak will go. At this point, it is now a habit, and will just plan on it every day like I have been. Hopefully, I will have Sarah at my side for the majority of it as well! Thank you Sarah! Love ya! Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 2191
by kelsey | Sep 19, 2013 | Family, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
I apologize for my lack of posts the last week or so! It’s been a fun and crazy time for me and I am finally getting a chance to post about it! Our fall session of STRIVE 2 Survive started on the 10th and we have a really great group of people that we are excited to work with! They are all off to a great start by working on their diets, working on getting more activity, and taking those necessary strides to improve their health and wellness! The start of a new group is always exciting as we get to meet and work with more people and we all have one thing in common: the desire to learn more about improving our health and wellness!
The rest of my week was even more exciting as I celebrated my 10 year class reunion with my classmates from Watertown High School. It’s hard to believe we’re that old already, but we had a really great turn out and a blast catching up with everyone! This picture was taken by classmate Jenna Bakke Ryan, who so graciously volunteered her photography skills. I may be biased, but I think we look pretty good for 10 years post high school! 🙂
My weekend continued to be exciting as my mom’s family got together for a family reunion in her hometown of Madison. My mom is one of 10 children (two have passed away, so there’s 8 now) and since we are all getting older and families continue to expand, we don’t always see each other real often, which makes gatherings extra special, especially when my grandma will be celebrating her 87th birthday next month! Below is a picture of Grandma and most of her grandkids and great grandkids (we’re missing about 8 others!).
All of these special events serve as a reminder to celebrate life and live each day to it’s fullest. Take time to visit and catch up with old friends and family and most importantly take good care of yourself! Putting our health as a priority will help keep you healthy and strong and able to enjoy all of these great things in life! I know some may feel like eating healthy or exercising is a dreadful thing, but we have to adjust and learn how to make it more fun and enjoyable as these habits truly are the key to a long and healthy life! I hope I get to celebrate my 87th birthday someday too and I know making healthy lifestyle choices will surely help!
-Kelsey
by Dan | Sep 2, 2013 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
This past saturday we went to Brookings to see our daughter for college, and we all entered a fun run while we were there…A Color Run! We had never done one before, and it was quite the experience. Here is Molly and Sarah’s view afterwards!
We did a lot of laughing, but Molly was not so sure when some boys were walking by. Here they are at the start…
We were each given a packet of color corn starch, and could start throwing on people even before the start of the race. It was a 5k race, or 500o meters, and it was not timed, but just for fun. Every 1000 meters, there would be a group of people to throw another color on you. We had blue, yellow, pink, and orange, and the mixture of them created green as well.
It was fun to try, and say we have done one. It was kind of a mess driving back home. It took several showers to get it all out. Especially tough getting the color out of your ears and nose! There were at least several hundred people there, all laughing and out to get some activity. These color runs are charity runs, and proceeds from this were going to benefit those with Myasthenia Gravis. Overall, it is a good way to get people to get out and move. There are no times reported, just go out and run/walk, and getting covered in colors! Try one sometime! Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 2168
