by Dan | Jul 2, 2017 | Exercise, Family, Motivation, Wellness/Health
We all have a beginning…a time when we were a baby, and how fast the years go as we grow older. But the tone that is set at that beginning can be a determining factor on how you will continue on with certain things as you get older. That is not to say that we cannot all change, but the effort involved in can be much easier if we start young. I exercise every day, and I will trace my roots back “to my beginning”. Here I am with my twin brother Don as we are being held by our older brothers, getting ready to be taken on a bike ride. Even back then, we were active. Of course, back then, we did not have all the electronics we have now, and only had 3 stations on a TV, and it was black and white. So we spend many hours outside playing, and being active. And, having our older siblings to follow, and learn from them.
My sister Mary had us out for a walk in our double stroller. The whole family could be out and be active. That is so important, even more so now today, with all the advancements we have, and all the different modes of entertainment we have to make us stay inside. Get out and get moving. When we were all small, we were all very active, and moving. We are made to move. We learned over time how to slow down, and maybe take the easier route. But we need to keep moving. “Use is or lose it”. I will tell that to my patients on an almost daily basis.
Here we are getting into everything. Always busy, always moving. Remember those days, and keep the same spirit of moving alive. My grandma would always tell us that we needed to get outside and play or the “moss would grow under our feet”. Words of wisdom!
So step up to the front. Become a leader to those around you. Most important, be a leader to yourself, and prove that you can be more active. I will continue to show over time as I grew older how activities were a part of my life…the life of a running doc! The only problem is we did not have the cameras readily available to take pictures all the time like we do now. I had to do a lot of digging to try and find these! My patients will hear me tell them everyday that they need to keep working on their diet and increase their activity, and hear from me that “I will be telling you this until you are not here anymore!”. Keep active, make it fun. “Play to joyous abandon!” Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3564
by kelsey | Jun 28, 2017 | Diet, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
Metabolism is the body’s process of breaking down what we eat to use as energy. This process is the key to maintaining healthy weight and to stay feeling your best. Metabolism mainly stays stable; however, your body’s metabolism gradually decreases with age.
Is there a way to raise your metabolism back up to a healthy rate to promote weight loss or keep weight off? Here are a few tips that help with boosting your body’s metabolism back to a faster rate—the healthy way.
- Eat regularly: Spacing the time you eat to every 3-4 hours (about 3 meals + 2 snacks per day) helps your metabolism stay on track and running properly. Skipping meals causes your body to slow down to conserve calories. This also causes the body to store fat due to thinking it’s in a famine. Storing fat and conserving the calories your eating will cause weight gain rather than weight loss.
- Eat well balanced meals: The type of food that you consume plays a huge role with your mood along with the energy you receive. Eating foods high in saturated fat and added sugar (i.e. desserts, fast food, chips) may cause you to feel more tired and will not give your body the proper nutrients it needs. Try eating smaller, more balanced meals with whole wheat/whole grains, vegetables, lean meats, and fresh fruit.
- Exercise: Exercising helps your body build muscle, which then helps your body burn calories more efficiently. The faster you burn calories, the easier to have weight loss. People with more muscle can consume more calories because of the rate they burn them, compared to someone with more body fat. Try switching up your exercises regularly to make sure your body doesn’t get used to the same routine to promote the best results.
- Be patient: Building your metabolism back up may take time, so being patient is important to getting results.
- Persistence: Boosting metabolism takes consistency. Following a regular diet and a stable eating pattern will help with this. Make a schedule with eating and exercising that you are comfortable with and keep it a routine.
Ways that will NOT boost your metabolism consistently:
- Eating hot peppers or drinking green tea: These MIGHT boost your metabolism for a few hours, but are not an effective way to keep your body producing enough energy to burn your calories in a day. Instead, stick to eating healthy grains, vegetables, and lean meats which will impact your metabolism more effectively and better over time.
- Consuming very little calorie diets: This will cause your body to go into starvation mode which leads to conserving calories and burning them more slowly. Therefore, will cause you to keep weight on. Instead, keep a well-balanced diet and eat throughout the day.
Following these tips will help make you feel better, have more energy, and will give your metabolism an extra boost.
-Heather Arbach, SDSU Dietetic Student
Sources: http://www.eatright.org
by Dan | Jun 25, 2017 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
Going on almost 27 years now when Sarah and I said: “I do!”. It has been a great adventure. Ups and downs, good times, not so good times…but mostly, great times! We believed in each other then, and we do even more now. We have 3 kids, all now out of the house. One still in college, but the other 2 just graduated in May. We have been active ever since we started dating, and we still work out together, exercise together, and support and cheer each other on. It has taken continuous work and effort. It does not just happen. We push each other to keep going. That is what life is about. Finding that person, or people, who can support you, and you return the favor. I have written now for the last several months on what it takes for you…for me…to become better. Confidence, courage, vision, teamwork, remembering our past, how to improve the future, and taking time to relax. I also discussed about never stop learning, becoming a difference maker, and going after your dreams. It is a continuous process, and one where we will make mistakes along the way. We just have to figure out how to pick ourselves back up, stay motivated, and continue to put one foot in front of the other. The process never ends! We need to work on becoming better for our entire lifetime. For Sarah and I, it has continued from that day when we said “I do”. We have not quit. We keep pushing forward. And…we are having fun along the way, and enjoying adventures I would have never dreamed of.
We participate in a lot of races together, and we sponsor a lot of races/events to help make sure there are plenty of activities for other people to enjoy too. It is also a way to help other people stay motivated, and to get out and stay active, and help them take control of their own health. As Family Physicians, that is also our job description. Our primary focus is on the family…how to take care of them, how to help them in tough times, sick times, and to help keep them motivated as well. If we are not, how can we expect anyone else to be? This is all part of becoming better, and we learn along the way. Life always has a curve ball to throw, and we either swing and miss, and learn from it, or hit it head on! You don’t know how things would be unless you try.
We have gone through many things together over the years, and hopefully there are many more adventures, many more races, many more activities to spend together. I am going to help Sarah finish her first marathon coming up in October. And, we are running for charity, helping to raise money for research in regards to Friedreich’s Ataxia, and there are several people in Watertown alone afflicted with this genetic disease. We are working together…helping each other, and others. We have many finish lines yet to cross together!
We start together, and we finish things together. That helps me become a better me! I am always learning though. It takes continuous effort, just like taking care of your own health, you have to take care of your mental health. Be supportive…be there for others! There may be some occasional posts that I make have again if the right subject comes up again on “Becoming a Better You”. For now, I am going to begin something new. Something new as I/we continue to Strive to Survive. I am titling this next segment of posts as “A Running Doc’s Life”. In it I will explore different aspects of myself, and different times of my life, including current issues, about my life as a doctor…a running doctor…and what I do to help promote exercise and health, and hopefully lead by example. I will help explain things that I have gone through, good things, and struggles, including injuries, and what you can do for them, and can do instead while you may be injured. I write this blog in an attempt to help motivate and inspire others, but, I find it helps inspire and motivate me as well. We all need that. We all need to be reminded of that, and how to do it. We all need to keep working on it as well, “in good times, and in bad times, in sickness and in health, for all the days of my/our life”. Sound familiar? We took a vow all those years ago, to each other, for each other, and will help you too! So stay tuned…if it inspires or helps motivate somebody, then it is all worthwhile! If it is helpful to you, let me know, and feel free to pass it on to someone else…maybe it can help them too! If you become better, everybody around you wins!
Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan — “The Running Doc”
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3557
by kelsey | Jun 22, 2017 | Cooking Tips, Diabetes, Diet, Heart Health, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
It’s the middle of the afternoon and you are struggling to keep your eyes open and focus. You keep yawning and you’re thinking isn’t it 5’oclock yet?! Has this ever happened to you? I’m sure it has! Many of us can have lows in our energy levels and we often turn to caffeine to rev us back up…which isn’t always the best or smartest choice. Here are some tips to help you keep your energy levels stable and get you through the day!
- Eat consistently throughout the day. I am sure you have heard me say it before, but this really does apply to energy levels. Eating small amounts every 3-4 hours can aid in a healthy metabolism, blood sugar control, and ward off extreme hunger. It will also help you be more focused and attentive!
- Avoid heavy eating (ie-gravys, fried foods, rich foods, etc). Eating more moderately or lightly will help curb your cravings and reduce overeating which often results in feeling sluggish and sleepy (like on Thanksgiving!).
- Focus on balance. It’s really important to eat well balanced meals that include lean proteins, fruits and veggies, whole grains, and low fat dairy. Each food source offers the body various nutrients and a balance of these is best for fueling the body.
- Make healthy snacks. Snacks should be about 100-200 calories and have a balance of protein and fiber rich carbs. This balance stays with you and lasts longer, further helping sustain energy and blood sugar control. A piece of fruit with a handful of almonds, low fat string cheese and a few whole grain crackers, or yogurt and berries are some good choices.
- Watch the caffeine and sugar. Avoid soda, sugary coffee, and energy drinks as these foods will give you an energy boost, but it’s only short term, which result in a big energy crash an hour or two later. Instead choose water or unsweetened tea.
- Get good sleep. It’s really important to get a good nights rest, which includes at least 7-8 hours of sleep. This will help you wake up rested and ready to make the most of your day!
-Kelsey Raml, MS, RD, LN
by kelsey | Jun 21, 2017 | Cooking Tips, Diet, Food, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a farm tour around the Brookings area. We toured Baby Bel’s plant, a dairy, VanderWal’s feedlot, and the SDSU Cow/Calf Unit. It was a great day of learning and exploring where our food comes from and the practices involved of getting food to our tables. Dr. Russ Daly, DVM discussed some hot topics such as antibiotic and hormone use. I posted this write up below a few years ago and thought it was worthy of reposting as it addresses the hot topic of hormone use and beef. If you have any questions after reading the facts, please contact me. I am more than happy to help diminish the confusion on this topic!! 🙂
I recently came across a really well written, credible, and easy to understand article regarding hormones in beef. There are a lot of mixed messages and concerns about the use of hormones in our meat production. Hormones are found in all multi-cellular organisms, which does include animals, vegetables, etc. Sometimes producers will use hormone implants which cause the meat to have a little bit more hormones than a non-implanted animal. Federal laws prohibit the use of hormones in hogs and chickens, but it is permissible in beef. The reason producers use implants are to increase efficiency, meaning the cow will gain more muscle, from less feed, more quickly. This really helps keeps prices down of the meat and reduces environmental impact. When implanted, the meat will contain a slightly higher amount of estrogen in a 3 oz serving (1.9 nanograms compared to 1.3 nanograms in non implanted meat). Many people are concerned that the extra estrogen is causing a variety of other issues such as early puberty or faster growing children.
Now here’s where you you pay special attention: our own bodies produce hormones naturally, a child will produce around 50,000 nanograms of estrogen/day and an adult female will produce about 480,000 nanograms of estrogen a day. In addition, when hormones are eaten and digested, they are not able to act as hormones anymore….but even if they did, that 1.9 nanograms in a 3 oz serving of meat is pretty small compared to our own natural production. In addition, it’s important to point out that many other foods have much more estrogen in them naturally, such as potatoes have 225 nanograms, peas have 340 nanograms, icecream-520 nanograms,cabbage- 2000 nanograms, and soy milk has 11,250 nanograms (all based on 3 oz servings). Also, one birth control pill has about 35,000 nanograms of estrogen. So here’s the bottom line, the hormones found in implanted beef are miniscule compared to our own production of hormones and various other foods we normally eat. I personally, am not concerned about this practice and feel it is safe to consume and we shouldn’t have any concerns about it. Now if you are still concerned, even after reading this and learning more from other credible resources, then you certainly can choose organic foods or grass fed meat (they may be higher in price and have a bit different taste, but they are an option for you). Lastly, this also brings us to the very important point that I have mentioned many times: moderation! When you prepare your meals, be sure to plan in a variety of other whole foods withe your lean meats, such as fruits and veggies and whole grains to create a well-rounded, balanced healthy plate!
-Kelsey
http://newsroom.unl.edu/announce/beef/2846/15997
