by Dan | Mar 12, 2017 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
We all have our own unique personalities, our own unique things we like to do, and our own unique, in general, querks! We made fun of Jill in run club with this picture. Everybody else was just smiling, and she thought we were supposed to be stretching…but she was the only one stretching! It is times like this that make us individuals. But because we are all different, we all have something to share with everybody else. We all have something to offer to others. We have something to make someone else better, and as a result, we become better. We all have some underlying characteristics about us that just need to get brought out to the surface.
Sarah and I had fun at the most recent Halloween Hustle run going as minions. We got to run in a race, and yet got to express ourselves in a fun, goofy way. As I said that day, “my Sarah is one in a minion!”. We need to let those other inner aspects of us come out…learn to have some fun in the process. Bottom line, learn to…
When you learn to let go of stress that we all have, in a way that allows you to have fun, life opens up. We have enough times during the day where we have to be serious, and get things done. But, we can have fun along the way. Exercise, and especially for me running, can be a great way to release stress, and have fun. It opens things up during the day that you end up paying more attention to. Things you may not have even noticed, all of a sudden become very noticeable. Noticeable enough to make a difference…if we pay attention.
When we were recently in Mexico, we would run, and walk, on the beach, along the ocean, twice a day. It was breath taking. We don’t get to see that in SD, so we were going to take advantage of it there. Many things show up, and make the day even more enlightening.
The pelicans would fly by, usually in groups, and swoop down to get fish. You could just stand there and watch, and they would come by. Many would get very close as well.
They were very interesting to watch. Never a dull moment. Of course, along some of those same times, I would notice other things more clearly too. Here I am on a beach in Mexico, watching the sunrise, and noticing Sarah in a whole different way. Now for me, talk about breathtaking!
Don’t ever lose sight of what is really important in your life. Don’t forget what makes you better…and that you can make someone else better. In order to discover others, you need to discover yourselves!
Take the time to discover you, so you can discover other things/people as well. This is what makes you better! Don’t lose sight of this. Appreciate those people in your lives, and what they do for you, and especially, what can you do for them? Life is short. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Strive to Survive, and continue to work at becoming better…better for you and others!
Those other people in your life is what life is all about! Don’t let things go by with regrets. Appreciate them all at the time. Spend time with them, and for them. Guaranteed way to become a better you!
Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3453
by Dan | Mar 5, 2017 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Motivation, Weather, Wellness/Health
Sarah and I just got back from a vacation trip to Mexico. The weather was great! We lost a day trying to get there because of the blizzard in SF, but still had 6 days to enjoy. We had a little twist thrown in when Sunday night we got a call from our son, Nick, that he was in the ER and was told he needed to have his appendix out! What a wreck we were. I had a ton of help from my brother Tim who was in SF, and helped with everything. Nick was home later in the morning on Monday, did well with surgery, and my brother Tim told us now to relax and have a good time…everything was under control! After that, we really did need to unwind and relax, and the beach and ocean was the perfect place for it. We got to just unwind, read, take a nap, listen to the ocean, and spend time together!
We still got our exercise in! We either ran or walked on the beach early in the mornings, and then in the afternoons, we always went for a 4 mile walk along the beach. Talk about relaxation, but yet we were still active. There were also other things to stay active with while we were there.
The paddleboards were a great way to get out and enjoy the water and weather, but had to work a little at it. Sarah even got into some yoga and water aerobics at times during the days.
Best of all…we got to spend some time together. We don’t seem to get to do this much unless we are literally out of town. We have to keep working at this as well. We have to become better to each other, which will overall make us better! It was great to get out and enjoy the scenery along the ocean as well.
The pelicans would fly by and then dive down into the water for food. It was really cool to see.
Best of all, I got to walk and talk with Sarah! We have all heard about the movie “Beauty and the Beast”…well, this is my picture that I have called “Beauty and the Beach”!
The sand on many of the sections were so soft, and then we would walk back and see our footprints. We got to see where we had been, and yet still had an idea of where we were going!
We become better when we spend time with those who mean the most to us! We become better when we take the time to relax and enjoy life along the way. We all work, or have worked if we are retired. We all have different degrees of stress in our life. If we don’t take time to relax, the stress will eventually get to us all. Exercise is also a great way to relieve that stress, but listen to our bodies, and recover when we need to. Become a better you, and take the time to relax, and enjoy life along the way! Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3446
by Dan | Feb 19, 2017 | Exercise, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
Over the years, we have all gone to school, and we have all learned. But, we need to keep learning. Nobody knows everything, and once you learn something, then you need to teach someone else. This same thing applies when it comes to exercise. We have all tried things, different activities. There are certain activities we may like more than others, but we learned this by trying it. And, if we see other people trying it as well, and it is not working for them, we can teach them what we already figured out too. Even more important, we can teach what does, or did, work.
This is a great summary, and oh so true! And by continuing to teach, we ourselves can learn even more…more about anything…diet changes, exercise changes, lifestyle changes…even changes in life in general! There may have been times in the past where we had a lot to learn, and felt overwhelmed, and never would you ever think you would be able to get all this, much less teach it to someone else.
That is what medical school did for me! Here I am at the end of the second year of medical school, just getting ready to take my first Board exam. All of this on the table was just the summary review material that was going to be covered. I will never forget that time. The amount of material to know was staggering. But, it set the foundation for the rest of my life…and now I am also teaching it. By teaching it to someone else, whether other students, residents, and patients…I know and understand it even better now. But, it is also more enjoyable as well.
There are always things in our past that we may not like to think about, or would rather just forget. But we also learned from those experiences, and now can pass that information on to someone else. Nowhere was this more true than this past year when many of us were training for the Twin Cities Marathon with our run club. Those of us running it are in the top picture. For one of us, it was her first. I had the most at 12 marathons. All the rest of us had experience, and we all shared our ideas on what the experience was like for each of us. The biggest part of all of this was we all had something to teach, and we all had something to learn. I am still learning, but have to admit from Paula what I learned the most from her, with this being her first, is that overall excitement and enthusiasm you have when it is the first. You need to make each event, race, workout, whatever it may be, seem like the first, and go at it with excitement, adventure, and fun. We should even change the name from exercise to “enjoyable physical activity”. The more enjoyable it is, the more we are going to do it.
How is this for excitement? And with all the different levels of experience in this picture when it comes to running, we all have something to learn, and we all have something to teach!
Inspire someone. Teach someone. And in the end, it will not only change them, but you!
Don’t ever forget this! Life is full of adventure. Stay active. Take care of yourself. Teach someone what you know, and the same will be returned to you many fold. Enjoy life and all of its adventures! Become a better you, and teach someone about you and your experiences…your life! We are all unique and have something to share! Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3432
by kelsey | Feb 16, 2017 | Diet, Heart Health, Wellness/Health
In celebration of National Heart Month, I think it’s fitting to discuss the significance diet and activity play in promoting a healthy heart. Heart disease is the number one killer of Americans and affects both men and women. Genetics do play a role, however a heart healthy diet and and regular activity can help minimize the effects and complications of heart disease. Whether you have heart disease in your family or not, it’s still good to follow a heart healthy eating plan. Highlights of the diet include:
- Lots of fruits and veggies! I’m sure you already knew this one, but the benefits of getting your 5 a day servings of fruits and veggies are worth reminding you again. Most of us know this, the hard part is doing it. Try adding them to your meals, have fruit as a snack, get a double serving to help you reach this goal.
- Fiber! Fiber is very beneficial in combating heart disease. Incorporating more whole grains (and fruits, veggies, and beans/lentils) into your diet will increase your fiber and aid in heart health. Oatmeal, brown rice, wild rice, whole grain noodles, whole grain breads, and even popcorn are considered whole grains. Aim to get at least 25-35 g/day.
- Choose lean proteins. Decreasing the amount of saturated fat in your diet will help reduce plaque buildup. Choose white meat poultry without the skin, 90% or greater lean hamburger, fish, beans, etc….stay away from processed meats! Fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, herring, and trout offer additional benefits as they are loaded with healthy omega 3 fatty acids.
- Choose healthy fats. Incorporating more plant fats such as canola oil and olive oil into your diet and reducing your intake of saturated and trans fats has been shown to improve heart health. You want to choose foods that are lower than 5-8g of total fat per serving and <3g saturated and trans fat per serving. Choosing low fat dairy products will help reduce the amount of saturated fat in your diet as well.
- Hold the salt! Excess sodium can increase blood pressure and cause heart failure. Aim to keep your sodium intake below 2400mg/day. You can do this by doing more home cooking, avoiding boxed or packaged goods, cooking with salt free seasonings, and not using table salt.
- Exercise! At least 30 minutes of exercise a day has been shown to improve heart health. If you can do more, the better!
Making small changes or substitutions will help you have a healthier heart and reduce risk for disease. Reading labels is really essential to help you make good choices, so take some time in the grocery store and really examine the products to ensure you’re making healthy choices!
-Kelsey
by Dan | Feb 12, 2017 | Exercise, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
Don’t you wish sometimes that you knew everything? Or at least knew more than you do? One thing is for sure, there will always be questions you will be seeking answers for. When you are working on your health, or trying to figuring out more how to take care of your health, there should never be a shortage of things to learn. If you are serious about your health, you should always be striving to learn more as well. There are many questions to ask: Who, what, where, how, and the ever important why?
Many questions, with many answers. All of which can lead to power…power for you as individuals, power to take on more things in your life that you like to do…power to enjoy life to its fullest! In order to gain this power, you have to have input.
You will continue to collect data throughout your life, and with life’s experiences. You then use all of this information in ways that will lead to gaining more knowledge, both in good ways, and bad ways. How you utilize all of this knowledge is what will lead to wisdom! Wisdom is powerful, and each of us can use it to our own advantage as well. We gather all of this date, information, and knowledge through our interactions, and the people we surround ourselves with.
When is comes to exercise, we learn from what others have done, both what works, and what does not work. Our friends and training partners are great sources of this knowledge, and we can all learn from each other. What we learn from each other is experience…and experience is wisdom!
How we choose to use this experience can influence others who want to do the same thing, such as how to get started exercising, or how to stay exercising; how to do better with our diets; how to finish/compete in a marathon!
The amount of things to learn in this world, in our lifetime, is limitless. We will never know everything. There will always be something that somebody else knows more on, and that is what makes this so special…we can all learn from each other. We should all learn from each other. We all have our own unique lives, unique stories, unique experiences. The old saying, “the more you know, the more you know you don’t know”! How true is this? Use those training partners, friends to your advantage. We all have wisdom in different things. But, there is one thing more important yet before this can be shared.
If we do not know ourselves, we will not get very far! Only we as individuals can know ourselves better than anybody else. And then once you know yourselves, then…
…you can put it into practice. Then, it can become of value. Value not only to yourself, but to others. We always had a saying in medical school as well when it came to doing a procedure, or something new: See one, do one, teach one. You have to see something first in order to try and do it, and once you do it, then how do you teach it? If you can teach it, then you are very knowledgeable to that subject, and can help spread that knowledge on to others. That is how you become a better you…passing on that knowledge to someone else. Next week I will be talking about teaching, and how this can help you become a better you! Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3425
by kelsey | Feb 9, 2017 | Diet, Food, Holidays, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
Another holiday is just around the corner and everyone knows what Valentine’s day brings besides a lot of love: Chocolate. The one item that seems to make everyone happy, but may not be the healthiest of treats for us to enjoy. This Valentine’s day you can enjoy your delicious treat without feeling guilty. Although chocolate may not seem healthy, there are some perks to eating chocolate. Dark chocolate is good for the heart and lowers high blood pressure. So when you’re thinking of getting your loved one that nice box of chocolates, maybe go for a box of Dark Dove Chocolates. If you don’t like eating the dark chocolate plain you can melt the chocolate and dip it in strawberries. It is a treat that will leave your taste buds wanting more and you will find it easy to prepare. If you want to stay sugar free, try making sugar free gelatins in a shape of a heart. Add fat free whip cream on top for a little extra punch to the dessert. If you want choices and variety to your dessert try a chocolate fondue. Melt chocolate and choose sides to dip into the chocolate. Some choices of sides could be bananas, strawberries, pretzels, pineapple, marshmallows, dried apricots, pear slices, apples, or any of your favorite snack foods! If you want to add more to your sweet tooth, try a sherbet ice cream with a dark chocolate topping. If you crave a saltier valentine’s day treat then you can try a trail mix with mixed nuts, sunflower seeds, raisins, pretzels, marshmallows, dark chocolate m&m’s, or a low fat candy such as Twizzlers.
Enjoy and Happy Valentine’s Day!
Kelsey
