by kelsey | Jun 6, 2012 | Food, Weight Management
As the summer temperatures go up, so does our taste and desire and for frosty drinks. Unfortunately, most of those tasty drinks such as margaritas, mudslides, and daiquiri mixes are loaded with extra calories from sugar…and then more calories are added from the alcohol! A tall glass of a frozen drink such as these can give you anywhere from 300-500 calories! Wheras, a glass of beer will have about 180-250 calories and wine will give you about 225-250 calories in about 10 oz.
If you are one who enjoys these fruity drinks, try using a low calorie or calorie free mixer such as diet soda, lime, or diluted juice. In addition, you’ll want to be careful of the tonic water mixer as that can have alot of calories as well. Another way to lessen the added calories, is to use the real fruit instead of the prepared mix.
In addition to alcoholic beverages, beverages like sweet tea, lemonade, and punch are common in the summer. All of these are very tasty and often times hit the spot on a hot summer day, but they do offer a lot of calories as well. Opt for the unsweetened tea or sweeten it yourself with artificial sugars such as Splenda. You can also choose the low calorie lemonade mixes such as Crystal Light to give you that tasty drink without the extra calories.
Liquid calories are hidden calories that we often don’t realize are adding up, so choose wisely…and enjoy!
-Kelsey
by Dan | May 31, 2012 | Exercise, Goals, Heart Health, Wellness/Health
Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death in the United States, and includes coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease (stroke), hypertension, and peripheral vascular disease (claudication of the legs).
An estimated 6 million people in the US have coronary heart disease, 2 million have cerebrovascular disease, and 58 million people have hypertension. The American Heart Association estimates that 63,290,000 people in the US have cardiovascular disease. So, nobody out there can say that they either do not suffer with it themselves, or that they do not nobody somebody directly who deals with this disease.
The chance of an American male developing coronary artery disease before age 60 is one in 5.
The American Heart Association estimates that 4,740,000 Americans alive today have a history of a heart attack, angina (chest pain), or both.
The even scarier statistic: Sudden death is the presenting symptom in 1 out of every 5 coronary attacks.
I could go on and on with statistics. For many of us, it is really not thought about until it affects either someone close to us, such as family, friends, or even ourselves, before we get the wake up call. There are many risk factors that go into this as well, some of which we can control, and others we cannot. These can range from our age/sex; smoking history; cholesterol levels; race; family history; obesity; hypertension itself; diabetes. We have to be able to control the factors that we can as much as possible. We need to be starting now, not after an event happens.
As I go forward on this topic, I will talk about what things can be done to test and evaluate for some of these problems, and what we can do to try and change our risk factors going forward. For a lot of these risk factors, we are “the drivers in control”. The more we know about our individual risk factors, the more we can do to change them, or at least improve our odds.
Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 1708
by kelsey | May 31, 2012 | Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
One of the best parts of our trip last week was that our Grandma got to come along at the ripe age of 83. Grandma Evelyn (and Grandpa Marshall who passed away a few years ago due to cancer) have always been great examples to us to show us how to live life to its fullest. It seems it runs in the family as Great Grandma Mary Likness also displayed these awesome qualities and lived life to its fullest all the way to age 95. Grandma Evelyn has some significant heart issues, but they rarely stop her from doing what she loves. She loves gardening, being outside, and spending time with her family and friends. Due to her heart issues, she’s had to slow her pace down a bit, but it still hasn’t stopped her from doing what she loves. Many of us attribute this to her stubborn Norwegian heritage, but I like to think it’s alot about her positive attitude about life.
We can’t always control what’s going on in our lives, but what we can control is our attitude and thoughts about that situation. Disappointments and failures are going to happen, but staying positive and motivated to reach your goal is what will help you eventually reach your goal. As we were standing and gazing over Niagara Falls, I told my Grandma how special it was for her to have come along and she told me she never thought she would have been able to take this trip again with us due to her health. It would have been easy for her to give up and just stay home where it’s easy, but she didn’t. Seeing her family and celebrating life helped motivate her to live life to its fullest.
She’s been a tremendous example for all of us in our family and I hope I can be half of the lady she is. As you are working on your goals, I encourage you to think about what motivates you and evaluate your attitude about the various parts of your life. Sometimes we get so stressed out with various parts of our life, such as our job, our kids, etc that the rest of our life results in chaos as well. Take time to prioritize and change your thinking to more positive thoughts than negative and the rest will fall in place! At our last meeting on Tuesday, as we were re-evaluating our goals, one of our participants said her new goal is to let go of what she can’t control. Even though this doesn’t exactly relate to your weight, activity, or eating habits, it’s directly correlated with overall wellness and is an essential part to a healthy you!
Below is a picture of our special Grandma Evelyn enjoying life and taking in all it has to offer. 🙂
-Kelsey
by kelsey | May 30, 2012 | Goals
Watching my brother Micah run in the Buffalo Marathon was my second experience with cheering on a brother in a marathon. My oldest brother and his wife ran the Chicago Marathon a few years ago and we were there to support them as well. Both of these experiences have amazed me. Running a marathon or a half marathon is a huge accomplishment. For one it’s a HUGE time committment and of course involves a lot of determination, motivation, and strength to get through it! There are always going to be professional runners in these races, but there are also a lot of just every day people running for a cause, their own personal goal, or to just stay fit. One of the most amazing people we saw running was a woman in her 30s, who was pushing an adult male with disabilities in a stroller. So not only was she running herself, she was pushing the stroller! She was really amazing! Determination and motivation come from within and it takes some personal meditation and thinking to stay positive about your goals. Having cheerleaders and a support system are always going to help you be more successful but the first step is to believe in yourself and your capabilities. Self worth and a positive attitude are keys to being more successful. The easy way out is to give up or fall off the band wagon and in turn you start the cycle all over again. Staying positive with positive self talk and feelings will help you stay more determined and motivated.
As our STRIVE 2 Survive spring program wraps up next week, we will be celebrating with many of our participants, but at the same time, we’ll be coaching those who need a little more help to stay on track with their goals. Weight loss isn’t easy and the weight isn’t going to fall off in a day like we all want it to! Staying determined, motivated, and positive about your goals and your accomplishments will help you be successful in the long run. Celebrate each baby step along the way and before you know it you’ll be celebrating the bigger accomplishements!
Below is a picture of Micah just a few blocks from the finish line. He’s all smiles and giving us the thumbs up. This is what accomplishing your goals looks like and of course it takes a lot of determination to get there! In the end, the big goals like finishing a marathon or the little ones like reducing your pop intake, getting that 30 min of exercise in a day, or eating more fruits and vegetables are worth celebrating as well.
-Kelsey
by kelsey | May 29, 2012 | Goals
I have been trying to figure out how to write this post for about a month now. You have all heard from us about the importance of setting goals that are measurable, but what happens when you can’t fulfill them?! Usually that results in disappointment, giving up on yourself, and falling off the band wagon with wellness as a whole sometimes. Well the reality of goal setting became very real to me about a month ago. My older brother Micah decided to sign up for running the Buffalo NY marathon in January. His reasoning behind this big goal was that it was something he has always wanted to do, to help get him back in better shape, and of course (like many) to improve his health to be around a long time for his family. When I found out he signed up, it sparked my interest as I was needing a little kickstart to my exercise routine. I didn’t have much desire for running the full marathon, but I learned that the half runs the same course as the full and starts at the same time so I signed up for that.
I was super excited to train and bond with my brother during this experience. I was doing well with my training and celebrated many new personal records along the way, until I hit about 10 miles in my training and the chest pain ans shortness of breath came on. I have a congenital heart murmor that has never given me problems until now. Well I thought maybe it was the wind, the temperature, or the humidity, but everytime I tried to do my runs after that (no matter what the conditions were) the pain persisted and the shortness of breath would come on during the longer distances. I decided I better get checked out…and after many tests, Dr. Shah, PLH cardiologist politely told me, “what your mind wants to do and what your body is going to let you do are different.” At that moment, Dr. Shah confirmed I am never going to be able to engage in long periods of vigorous activity like running a marathon, biking long distances, etc due to my heart condition. Well it was an easy decision to not run because it’s really not worth going into cardiac arrest and dying from it, but it did challenge me personally as I was not going to meet my goal…and that doesn’t happen real often for me.
This last weekend, we cheered my brother on in the Buffalo Marathon and he did great! It was so much fun to be a part of his success. I have decided to adjust my goals and run in shorter races like 5 and 10k’s of which Dr. Shah thought would be better for me. This experience showed me how important reality is in setting goals. Even though I follow a healthy diet and exercise regularly, running a half marathon was not in my cards. This applies to many other goal setting principles. When setting goals, you need to think about what’s most realistic and achievable for you and your body and your capabilities. Many times, I’ll have patients look at the BMI chart and say, wow…the last time I weighed that was in high school and they are now in their 50’s. Well obviously that weight is not realistic, so let’s compromise and meet in the middle.
Life is about give and take and prioritizing…. and we are here to help you with that! Our whole STRIVE 2 Survive team really makes efforts to practice what we preach in efforts to be good role models for our patients and participants and we are human just like you which does include bumps along the way. In my next few posts, I’m going to discuss some other highlights of our trip. We took our 83 year old grandma with us and she continues to show us how to make the most of life….stay tuned!
Above is a picture of “Team Likness”. Tabby had shirts made for all of us to help cheer Micah on. They were all pretty comical! My shirt said, “that’s not sweat, it’s your fat cells crying,” my Dad’s said, “RELAX! You’re not going to win!”, and Micah’s said, “26.2…I need a new hobby!”
-Kelsey
