by Dan | Nov 27, 2016 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Holidays, Motivation, Wellness/Health
At this time of year, it is easy to start thinking about what you are thankful for. Here Nick, Sarah, and I are getting ready for the annual Turkey Day 5k held on Thanksgiving. The weather was great, and it is a great way to start off the day exercising…and a great way to make room for all the food we plan on eating that day. It is an annual run and walk, and attendance was the largest yet!
After everybody gets done running/walking, you get treated to a piece of pumpkin pie before everybody takes off to go spend time with family.
Thank you Watertown DASH for holding this event again, originally started by the Hiedeman family. If you have never tried participating before, get out there next year!
We had many of the Watertown Run Club members made it out for the annual run as well. Sarah, Nick, and Jill Makepeace, and Steve Arbogast.
And of course, the McElroy’s…we were just missing Gracie, who was sick that morning. But Jenn, Kate, and Owen made it out.
Paula, Paul, and Jackie ran as well.
It was all worth while. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, watching football, and eating! It was good to get out and move before hand. This way we could earn our food feast for the day. Thanksgiving turkey is one of my favorite meals!
So, now it is time to sit back and be thankful for what we have. Keep in mind your health, your family, and your friends. Spend time with them, appreciate them. We won’t have them forever. Being thankful shows how you become better, and more appreciative as well. We don’t know when things are going to change for us. The next slide sums it up for me!
Thank you! Here is to hoping everybody has great holidays coming, that you keep working on increasing your exercise habits, and working on your healthy eating as well. All of this is important for you to becoming a better you. Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3348
by kelsey | Nov 22, 2016 | Cooking Tips, Diet, Food, Holidays, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
Happy Thanksgiving to you! The Thanksgiving holiday is always a fun one enjoyed by all as we stuff ourselves and then resort to the couch to watch football or the start of the holiday tv shows. Here are some tips for you to get through the holiday without putting on all those undesired extra pounds.
- Survey the entire table before you take any food. Decide what foods are worth eating and what can be ignored, and then stick to that decision. Why waste calories on foods that don’t bring you pleasure?
- Eat a snack before you leave home. If you arrive at a party starving, you’ll be more likely to overindulge.
- Eat your calories instead of drinking them. Stick to lower calorie or calorie-free drinks (diet sodas, water, light beer, or wine spritzer) instead of punches, eggnogs, and mixed drinks that can have up to 500 calories per cup.
- Sip a large glass of water between every alcoholic drink or non-alcoholic punch or eggnog. This will help keep you hydrated and you’ll drink fewer calories by the end of the night.
- When you are the host or hostess, include nutritious and lower-calorie foods like fruits, vegetables, and lean meats on the menu. When you are a guest, bring along a lower-calorie dish to share.
- Try not to hang out near the food. Find a comfortable spot across the room and focus on people instead of eating.
- Watch your portion sizes. Don’t cover your plate completely with food. In most cases, especially when it comes to holiday sweets and alcoholic beverages, less is better. Use a smaller plate or bowl and have just a sliver of pie like the picture shows.
- Drop out of the “clean plate club”. Leave a few bites behind every time you eat, especially if you are eating something you don’t really care for.
- Enjoy your favorite holiday treats but take a small portion, eat slowly, and savor the taste and texture of the wonderful foods of the season.
- Skip the pie crust and go for the filling.
- Choose light meat over dark meat.
- Use home-made cranberry sauce over canned cranberries that are jam packed with added sugars.
- In soups, sauces, puddings, and desserts: Replace whole milk or cream with low-fat milk, evaporated fat-free milk, or nonfat dry milk.
Lighten up your recipes:
- To make dips and toppings: Use low-fat or nonfat cottage cheese or sour cream, or non-fat Greek yogurt.
- To make salad dressings: Use nonfat Greek yogurt or low-fat buttermilk.
- In place of 1 whole egg in recipes: Use 2 egg whites or 1/4 cup egg substitute.
- In place of regular cheese: Use fat-free or reduced-fat cheese.
- In place of full sugar: replace half with Splenda or reduce half completely.
- In place of fats: use unsweetened applesauce or oil (1-1 replacement), or prune puree (1 cup of fat=1/2 cup puree).
More importantly is ENJOY your family and friends and all that have to the THANKful for!
-Kelsey
by Dan | Nov 20, 2016 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
We all get 24 hours in a day. We all get 7 days in a week, 365 days a year. So why does it always seem like there is never enough time to get things done? Why is everybody always in a rush to get something done, when the majority of those things really are not that important anyway? The secret in life is to prioritize those things that are important in our life, and then making sure we have enough time to get these done. The center of all of this should be around those people most important to us. After all, who is going to miss us when we are not here? As a physician, I am helping people all of the time in their final days of life, helping them to make that final journey. I hear all of the time how they did not have enough time to do things they wanted, especially when it came to spending time with family and friends. I have never heard anybody yet tell me, “You know Doc, if I could just spent more time working!”. Think about it…what is important to you? This Summer I had all of my kids home for a short time, and we went to a twins game, and spent a few days in the Twin Cities. Family time. We even went to a play in Chanhassen.
As the kids continue to grow up, these are the times that they are going to remember…the times we spent together as a family. That is always how exercise has helped make us a closer, stronger family. We all exercise! It is a great way to spend family time together. But you need to slow down, (except when we are running a race!), and learn to enjoy things more.
Sometimes if we are in too big of a rush, we are going to have important things pass right by us, and we are not going to have a clue until it is too late. Take the time to slow down! Enjoy life as it comes. Enjoy that full day for everything it brings. We all have 24 hours, we are all busy, but not too busy that we can’t make room to take care of ourselves. We have to take time to exercise, and to spend time with those important to us. Sometimes that can even be at the same time!
It is amazing what you all can appreciate more if you take the time to look…take the time to appreciate…even just taking the time to take the time! We need to figure out for ourselves where that can work for us. Where can you take a break to slow down, just sit and observe, and enjoy…and just think. Think about how you can do things better, and more efficient. It may just surprise you by doing this, how much more productive you can be during the day, and still have that time to spend with family. These are some of my favorite places to sit and think.
A rocking chair overlooking the lake. Just you and nature.
Lots of park benches along the bike trail here in Watertown. You can sit and relax and watch the world go by.
Watching a sunset out on Lake Kampeska. Amazing the things that go through your head, and the things you can come up with solutions for, by just sitting and taking the time to think. I will sometimes be out for a run along the lake, and just stop and watch for awhile…and think. Or if I am out running/walking along the trail by the lake, how peaceful it is, and how your mind can just take you away for all of the stress in your life…and you are out exercising as well!
Remember this! Make it part of your routine. Slow is fast! Taking the time to think about things will make you more productive, and happy. It can be one of the secrets to making you a better you!
Keep moving everybody…and slow is good!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3341
by kelsey | Nov 17, 2016 | Cooking Tips, Diet, Food, Holidays, Weight Management
As Thanksgiving approaches, you may be thinking about your grocery list and all the goodies you will be making. County Fair Foods has a great recipe that is healthy and tasty! The recipe has some great substitutions for lightening the sugar, fat, and calories. Give it a try and enjoy!
Healthy Pumpkin Pie 15 oz can pumpkin
8 oz skim or low fat soy milk
3 egg whites
2/3 reduced fat graham cracker crust (take off the sides of the crust and discard)
¾ c Splenda
Pumpkin pie spice
2 egg whites for the crust
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix pumpkin, milk, and egg whites until smooth. Gradually stir in Splenda ¼ c at a time. Add the pumpkin pie spice, taste and add more if needed. Pour into crust and spread evenly. Bake for 15 min then reduce the temp to 350 degrees and bake for another 45 min. Let cool and serve your favorite way. To make the crust less soggy beat the egg whites and brush over the crust and bake for about 5 min. at 350 degrees.
-Kelsey
by kelsey | Nov 16, 2016 | Cooking Tips, Diet, Eating Out, Food, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
The American Dietetic Association has a great public feature to their site that offers great nutrition tips. I thought I’d share these with you as you work to trim your waistline. These tips don’t require huge changes, however will give you great results!
- Downsize Your Dishes. Use smaller plates and bowls to help you eat less. We tend to fill up the dish we’re using and then eat it all. Our brains also think we are getting more when the same amount of food is placed in a smaller dish.
- Savor Your Meals. Eating slowly helps you consume only what your body needs to feel satisfied. Eating too quickly, in less than 20 to 30 minutes, leads to overeating and feeling uncomfortably full afterwards.
- Leave Some Food on Your Plate. This is especially important if you grew up in the “clean plate club.” By leaving even a few bites, you can focus more on your internal signals of satisfaction and less on eating food just because it is there.
- Don’t Eat Out of a Bag or Box. When you eat out of a package, you are likely to keep eating until it’s all gone – no matter how many servings the package actually contains. Pour one serving into a small bowl.
- Choose Your Glass Wisely. Here’s another place where our eyes play tricks on us. When glasses are short and wide, we tend to fill them with more fluid and to drink more. Use a slender glass for any beverage except water.
- Rethink Your Drinks. High-calorie beverages like soft drinks, juice drinks, energy drinks, specialty coffees and alcohol add calories just like solid foods. Whenever possible, replace these drinks with plenty of water.
http://www.eatright.org/Public/content.aspx?id=6849
-Kelsey
