by Dan | Feb 2, 2013 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
Last night Prairie Lakes Hospital held a Women’s Health Forum, talking on numerous topics, particularly heart disease. The keynote speaker was 2004 Olympian Carrie Tollefson, a native of Dawson, MN.
She took a picture with all of us after her motivational speech. I got to go because they presented me with recognition for my consecutive exercise streek, and it was great to be there. I got to bring the rest of the family along as well. Nick and I are the only male attendees that night, and we got to sit at the front table, right in front of the podium!
Before her talk, she took this picture with us, and we are holding two of the Runners World magazines I had with her on the cover (she has 4 total!), and she autographed them for me. She is 6 months pregnant right now, and could still kick our butt running! She gave an excellent talk, fired everybody up, and it was great seeing someone close, and from a town of 1600, do what she has done, and not forget where she came from. She was a journalism major, broadcasting, so her and Megan had a good talk as well as she wants to go into journalism. The kids were all amazed at her accomplishments as well. Sarah could not be there to start with as she was off delivering a baby, and they don’t wait! She did an excelllent job speaking to the crowd of about 450 people. Her line is: “Get after it!” Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 1956
by Dan | Jan 31, 2013 | Exercise, Motivation, Weather, Wellness/Health
Since getting my Nike+ Fuel band watch, I have been keeping track of my daily steps. It makes a big difference when you where this, and then go run a marathon. Wow!
At roughly 2000 steps/mile, you can see what kind of mileage this leads too. With the cold spell hitting here right now, even though it was hot and humid at the Disney marathon, I really appreciate it more now. I would rather put up with the heat versus the cold. Sometimes, you just have to go back and relook at things to remind you of those better weather days as well.
Looking back at how things looked then, when it is cold here, brings back those memories quickly, and can still fire you up to get motivated. Anytime we go somewhere warm during the winter, this helps keep your attention, and remind you of those fun times. It sure helps keep me going! Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 1954
by kelsey | Jan 31, 2013 | Cooking Tips, Food, Weight Management, Winter
The weather is making headlines today as we woke up to -40-50 below with wind chill. It’s very hard to get motivated to do anything on days like today as we’d rather just curl up in a blanket in our sweatpants and watch a movie. Even though we may feel like being a bum, it’s still a good time to get a little workout in which will help raise your body temperature and give you more energy throughout the day. We also typically eat more soups, stews, and hot-dishes on days like this. If you are watching your waist line, it’s important to be careful of how much you consume of these foods as they can be high in calories, fat, and carbs… depending on how you prepare them. Broth based soups and stews are lower in calories and fat than cream based. In addition, if you’re making a hot dish, you may consider cutting calories by choosing fat free soups to add to your dish, such as fat free cream of chicken or mushroom soup. They also have low sodium varieties of these so if you’re watching your blood pressure or sodium intake, you may consider using this variety. And, as always, be sure to incorporate your lean proteins and plenty of fruits and veggies to your meal. Two of my favorite cold weather meals are my mom’s beef stew that has carrots, peas, potatoes, onion, and roast meat and her chicken noodle soup that also has plenty of veggies with white meat chicken. Nothing beats either of these on a cold winter day!
If you venture out today, be sure to dress appropriately and cover up!
-Kelsey
by kelsey | Jan 30, 2013 | Diet, Food, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
Do you ever feel like you just don’t have any energy or can’t get your steam up to get that list done? I’m sure most of us have felt this way before! Many people turn to caffeine to help give them a boost…and that caffeine is found in a variety of sources from coffee, tea, pop, to energy drinks. Energy drinks have gotten very popular over the last few years and are more prominent in the younger generation. Recently, the FDA has cracked down on makers and suppliers of energy drinks as there have been several reports of adverse affects including 18 deaths related to consumption of energy drinks. Energy drinks have a lot of sugar and caffeine. Caffeine can act as a stimulant and cause a variety of adverse effects, which is why we recommend limiting your caffeine to 200-300mg a day. To put this in perspective, this would be equivalent to 2-4 cups of coffee. A can of Diet Coke has about 42 mg, Mtn Dew has about 55 mg, a latte about 150 mg, and a cup of green tea has about 24-40 mg. The energy drinks have have a lot more than these options. For example, Rockstar drinks can range from 80-240mg depending on the kind, a Red Bull has about 75-80 mg, 5 hr Energy has about 215-240 mg of caffeine.
Many times, a person may have a combination of an energy drinks and other caffeine sources such as coffee or pop, thus making their total consumption of caffeine very high. I encourage you to reflect on the amount of caffeine you take in and if you are getting over the 200-300 mg/day, you may consider switching to decaf or caffeine free products. If you are using caffeine to keep you awake, you may consider reflecting on your sleep habits as well and work at improving them to keep you more alert during the day! For more information on energy drinks and caffeine content, click the link for a complete list from the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database: http://naturaldatabase.therapeuticresearch.com/ce/ceCourse.aspx?cs=&referer=EUPDATE201301&utm_source=default&utm_campaign=eupdate&pm=5&pc=13-900&utm_content=block1link5&utm_medium=012013eupdate.
-Kelsey
by kelsey | Jan 29, 2013 | Goals, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
As we look to the end of the week, the long month of January comes to an end and February greets us. This also means that for those that made New Year’s resolutions, you’re a month into your new plan. How’s it going? What are you doing really well? What needs work? Take some time for reflection and think about these questions. When I work with my patients, we talk about a lot of different things from activity, nutrition, and behavior modification and it’s hard to tackle it all at once….and usually when we do we become overwhelmed and throw in the towel and start that viscous cycle all over again! In efforts of promoting life long habits, focus on a few things at a time and as you feel you have mastered those new habits, pick another few to focus on. Over time you will have a new healthy lifestyle that you can maintain! Use your calendar or your journal to keep track of your goals and be sure to reward yourself along the way!
-Kelsey
