by kelsey | Sep 17, 2014 | Cooking Tips, Diet, Food, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
Last night we started our fall session of STRIVE 2 Survive. I am so excited to get to work with another awesome group of people! Besides getting to help people improve their health and wellness, one of my favorite parts about STRIVE is the treats County Fair Foods provides us (yes dietitians actually do enjoy food!). Last night’s treats were new ones to us and were excellent! Be sure to give these a try! All of the ingredients can be purchased at our friendly County Fair Food Store.
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars
1 Box of angel food cake mix (one step kind–the kind that says just add water)
1 can of pumpkin puree (15 oz)
3/4 c water
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 8oz package of light Cream Cheese
1) Mix together the cake mix, pumpkin puree, water, and cinnamon.
2) Separately mix cream cheese with a couple tablespoons of water to make it smooth and thinned out.
3) Grease baking dish
4) Fill the baking dish with HALF of the pumpkin cake mix and HALF of the cream cheese
5) Run a knife through the mix making figure 8s for a fancy design
6) Then put the rest of the pumpkin cake mix in the baking dish and rest of the cream cheese mix. Again run a knife through the mix making figure 8s for a fancy design.
7) Bake for 35 minutes on 375 degrees or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for a few minutes, then cut and enjoy
Mock Tuna
This is a chickpea spread that tastes like tuna salad. Great served in a sandwich or with crackers or pretzles as a dip.
1 (19oz) can of garbonzo beans
2 Tbsp light mayo
2 tsp spicy mustard
1 Tbsp sweet pickle relish
2 green onions chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1) In a food processor combine beans, mayo, mustard, relish, chopped onions, salt and pepper and mix well.
2) Chill.
3) Serve and enjoy!
-Kelsey
by Dan | Sep 14, 2014 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
Nick participated in the Augustana sponsored high school cross country meet yesterday. First race since collapsing 300 meters before the finish line 2 weeks ago at the Canby meet at night. What a scare! He had been sick with an upper respiratory infection for over a week, and it was very humid out that day and night. He also has an exercise induced asthma component, but had used his inhaler prior to the race, as usual. With all of this together, he pushed himself to the maximum, and over did it. When he was not coming to the finish, I took off looking for him, but couldn’t find him. As I was running back to the finish line, the PA speaker announced “Dr. Reiffenberger to the ambulance now!” Nothing like a dead sprint to the ambulance! When I got inside, he was “out of it”. He vomited multiple times, and was pouring in sweat. He does not remember what even happened. He lost 10# that night, and took it easy for the next 2 weeks, trying to gain his strength back. Yesterday was his first day back to racing. He was very nervous. He came up to me off at the side 5 minutes prior to the start and told me he was not sure he could do this. I just reinforced to him to just do his best, that it did not matter his time, and he had to prove to himself he could do this.
Here he is coming down the home stretch to the finish line yesterday. Was he happy with how he finished? No. Was he happy with how he felt? No. But he finished, and safely. I applaud him for having the courage to come back and face his fears. He overcame them yesterday, and hopefully now he can keep moving on. This may have just been “a race” yesterday, but this is what life is all about. We all have challenges we have to face in our life, or have fears we have to overcome. We have to be willing to go out of our comfort zone, and face them head on, or risk being ruled by those fears forever. This part was far more important than any race. I could not have been more proud of him that I was yesterday! Way to go Nick, and take on your challenges and fears head on! That is a lesson for us all…things we want do not come easy. Staying fit and doing exercise is never easy, but you can do it, and gain the benefits from it in many ways. Thanks for teaching us a lesson Nick!
Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 2543
by kelsey | Sep 9, 2014 | Etc.
Fall STRIVE starts in ONE week, September 16th! STRIVE 2 Survive is our 12 week program and we will meet in person every other Tuesday at the County Fair Banquet Hall from 5:30-6:30pm (see dates below). The weeks we do not meet, you will be given a take home lesson mailed or emailed to you, thus every week you will be given education, tips, etc on nutrition and activity. In addition, we include lab work (total lipid panel and glucose) and body composition testing (weight, height, BMI, blood pressure, fat%, and muscle mass) at the beginning and end of the program. The total cost is $130, which includes all lessons, lab work, and body composition testing.
Our main goal is to help you learn how to live a healthier lifestyle that promotes disease prevention, longevity, and quality of life. Weight loss, improved lipids, improved glucose, improved blood pressure, and improved overall health are all results of our program.
If you are interested or know of someone who is, please contact us! You can call me directly at 884-4226 or email strive2survive@brownclinic.org. You only have one week left to enroll, so be sure to contact us now to reserve your spot! We are looking forward to another great session!
September 16 “Healthy Eating Made Easy” Kelsey Raml, MS, RD, LN
September 30: “Exercise for the Health of It” Dr. Dan Reiffenberger & Dr. Scott Torness
October 14: “Medications…to do or not to do” Deidra VanGilder, Pharm D
October 28: “Your Equation to Success” Dr. Jon McAreavey
November 11: “A Walk thru the Wellness Wheel” Dr. Clark Likness
November 25: “Making Health a Way of Life” STRIVE Team
-Kelsey
by kelsey | Sep 4, 2014 | Cooking Tips, Diabetes, Diet, Food, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
As summer starts to fade into fall and schedules start to become even more jam packed with school events and sports, it starts to become even harder to sit down and eat balanced meals. The summer picnics are replaced with faster on the go meals that are sometimes not the best choices when trying to eat healthy. This busy time puts an even greater emphasis on meal planning. Meal planning can seem like a daunting task if you have never done it before, here are some quick tips for getting started with meal planning.
- Start with a basic template for each day that includes a protein, vegetable, fruit, and a starch. Then sit down with your family during the weekend and plan out what everyone would like on each day. Then on a weekend day, go grocery shopping for all the ingredients that you will need for that weeks menu.
- Take a look at your child’s school lunch menu to try and plan a meal that is different than what your child ate at lunchtime.
- Make meal planning a family event by including everyone in the decision making process. Split up the meals by family members so each member has a day they are in charge of.
- Batch cook: prep some of the food items on the weekend when you have time such as browning up the hamburger, slow cooking the chicken breasts, making a large batch of chili or a large casserole and separating it into smaller containers for freezing and using now.
- Make enough to have leftovers for the next day meals.
- Keep the recipes simple with minimal ingredients for shorter prep time and incorporate your family’s favorite Crockpot recipes.
With these quick and easy tips meal planning can become a fun and enjoyable family process that will save you time and help your family eat healthy while on a busy schedule. Below are some sandwich ideas for the lunch box and easy breakfast ideas to help your child start the day off right!
Sandwich Ideas
- Whole wheat bread with deli meat (try to avoid bologna, pepperoni, and salami)
- Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
- Bagel with light cream cheese or peanut butter
- Crackers and cheese
- Pita with hummus
- Ham and cheese rolled up in a whole wheat tortilla
- Dinner leftovers
- Chicken noodle soup
- Quesadilla
- Cheese pizza
5 Fast and Easy Breakfast Ideas:
¨ Fruit and cheese
¨ Fiber rich cereal with lowfat milk or yogurt
¨ Peanut butter, banana , & whole grain toast
¨ Carnation Breakfast Essentials
¨ Simple smoothie– low fat milk, frozen fruit, and ice
-Written by Alex Loes, SDSU Dietetic Student
-Kelsey Raml, MS, RD, LN
by kelsey | Sep 3, 2014 | Cooking Tips, Diabetes, Diet, Food, Weight Management
Fall is a wonderful time of year, the leaves begin to change, children are returning to school, and the temperature starts to cool off. With all of these changes that are taking place you may find it hard to get away from all of the summer time BBQ and picnic eating habits. A way to help you get back to healthier eating habits is to start using some seasonal vegetables. Fall vegetables are great tasting and easy to cook with. Swapping out a regular potato for a seasonal sweet potato is a simple and easy way to get more bang for your buck. Sweet potatoes are much more nutrient dense which means that they contain more nutrients in a serving compared to a regular potato of the same size. A quick and easy recipe for sweet potatoes is to make sweet potato fries in the oven. Another fun way to incorporate seasonal vegetables is to make Kale chips in the oven. These make for delicious and healthy after school snacks for your children when paired with a low-fat cup of milk.
Baked Sweet Potato Fries: First, peel and wash the potatoes and cut them into strips around a ¼ in thick. Second, place in a bowl and toss with olive oil, paprika, salt, and pepper then place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Lastly, place the baking sheet in a preheated 450-degree oven for 10-15 minutes or golden brown and crispy.
Kale Chips: kale is classified as a super food and is packed with antioxidants along with vitamins and minerals. First, cut up the kale into bite size pieces then in a bowl drizzle olive oil over the pieces then toss so the olive oil coats the pieces evenly. Second, salt and pepper the kale to taste and then place on a baking sheet and place into a 350-degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until edges are slightly brown.
-Written by Alex Loes, SDSU Dietetic Student
-Kelsey Raml, MS, RD, LN
