Blaze Your Trail

Living well is simple - and easy - when you
take it one step at a time.

There is an oft-quoted Chinese proverb – a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. The same principal applies to any large task we try to tackle in life. You need to take the first step, and continue to put one foot in front of the other. Whether you want to exercise more or quit smoking, living well is simple – and easy – when you take it one step at a time. 

Here are a few tips to keep in mind if you want to get healthier:

• Focus on the positive. Better habits equal more benefits. For example, if you stay tobacco free, you no longer buy cigarettes and you need fewer doctor visits – money saved. 
• Reward yourself. Enjoy an outing or a new book when you achieve a goal, such a slosing five pounds or walking two miles a day. Choose a reward that is meaningful to you.
• Record your success. Tracking accomplishments gives you a thumbs-up. Share your success online. Research shows that when people keep a record of diet or exercise, they tend to stay on track with their goals.
• Develop new habits gradually, and you’ll enjoy good health for life. Don’t expect change to come overnight, but unless you get started, you’ll never get there.
• Step it up. Walking is simple and it feels good. No special equipment required. In fact, our bodies are meant to move. If you already walk, add some variety to your workouts. Walk one day and then bike the next. Check out Fosston’s FIT Trail, if you haven’t already.

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

HealthyU is brought to you by SHIP, Polk County Public Health, the City of Fosston, Essentia Health, and several other private partners. Launched in 2008 as part of Minnesota’s bipartisan health reform effort, SHIP works to help Minnesotans live longer, healthier lives while building healthy, vital communities. SHIP encourages healthy eating, active living, and avoiding commercial tobacco by working with schools, communities, workplaces, and healthcare to make healthy choices easier.

photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12786044@N00/9316926836">Fern Canyon, Little River, Van Damme State Park, Mendocino</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">(license)</a>

Keep It Simple

Keep it colorful! Use fresh garden produce when available.

With all the conflicting information on what to eat, trying to improve your health and your diet can be confusing. Over the course of my lifetime, I think I have heard just about everything: don’t eat red meat; don’t eat cheese; cut fats out of your diet; eat fats – not carbohydrates; and the list goes on.

When it comes down to it, keeping things simple is the best approach of all. Here are a few simple tips to improve your nutrition each day:

• Balance is basic. Try to include all food groups at each meal, three times each day for steady energy. Tip: Fill half of your plate with fruits and vegetables, one-fourth with grains (at least half of them who grains) and one-fourth with protein. This is basically the same recommendations as USDA's "My Plate."
• Color is power. Dark green, deep red, and bright orange fruits and vegetables are protective by nature – enjoy at least two cups of fruit and two and one-half cups of vegetables daily. This time of year, with all the garden produce that is available, there are so many great choices! Tip: Garnish meals with an extra carrot or slice of fruit.
• Size counts. Keep servings and your weight in check. Tip: Rather than totally cutting out your favorite foods, just reduce their portions and frequency. (I really like this one! I can still eat that fudge brownie once in a while.)
• Friendly fats are on the menu. Monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and omega-3 fatty acids can help protect your heart. You need fat in your diet. Your body and your brain do not function well without it. Tip: Cook with extra virgin olive oil.

God has given each of us only one body. Good nutrition takes effort, but it is well worth it. 

Check out our other articles and please share your comments with us! We would love to hear your thoughts, your story, or your healthy recipe!

HealthyU is being brought to you by SHIP, Polk County Public Health, the City of Fosston, Essentia Health, and several other private partners. Launched in 2008 as part of Minnesota’s bipartisan health reform effort, SHIP works to help Minnesotans live longer, healthier lives while building healthy, vital communities. SHIP encourages healthy eating, active living, and avoiding commercial tobacco by working with schools, communities, workplaces, and healthcare to make healthy choices easier.

How Sweet It Is...Not

Too much sugar in your diet may raise your risk of dying
of heart disease, even if you are not overweight.

Let’s face it – eating sweets is a huge part of life. When we celebrate, we eat cake. When we are sad, we eat ice cream. When we get together with friends for coffee, we eat cookies. When we were kids and had a boo-boo, mom made it feel better by offering us a treat. 

As a nation, we certainly love our sweets. However, we never see most of the sugar we are consuming because it is hidden in the foods we eat. To give you an idea of how much we are actually eating, if you sat down with a plate in front of you, piled with 22 teaspoons of sugar, you would be looking at the amount consumed by the average American.

While moderate amounts of sugar are fine, too much can lead to health problems such as weight gain, mood swings, tooth decay, and even cardiovascular disease.

A study, “Added Sugar Intake and Cardiovascular Diseases Mortality Among US Adults,” published by a group of researchers about a year ago in JAMA Internal Medicine, found that too much sugar in your diet may raise your risk of dying of heart disease – even if you are not overweight.

The rigorous study followed participants over the course of 15 years. Participants who took in 25% or more of their daily calories as sugar were more than twice as likely to die from heart disease as those whose diets included less than 10% added sugar.

Sugar-sweetened beverages like sodas, energy drinks, and sports drinks account for more than one-third of the added sugar consumed by the average American. Other major sources of added sugar include cookies, pastries, and similar treats; fruit drinks; ice cream and frozen yogurt; candy; and ready-to-eat cereals.

Is sugar consumption actually boosting the risk of heart disease, or is the real problem that people are eating sugar-laden foods instead of healthy foods? To answer that question, researchers measured the participants’ Healthy Eating Index, showing how well their diets compared to dietary guidelines.

The study found that no matter how high someone scored on the Healthy Eating Index, if they ate more sugar, they had higher cardiovascular mortality. In other words, too much sugar leads to heart problems, no matter how healthy the rest of a person’s diet may be.

How much sugar should we be eating every day? The American Heart Association recommends that women consume less than 100 calories of added sugar per day (about six teaspoons) and men consume less than 150 per day (about nine teaspoons).

A 12-ounce can of regular soda contains about 9 teaspoons of sugar, so even one can will put all women and most men over the daily limit.

If you need something sweet, consider a fruit-based dessert. That way you are not just consuming empty calories and you are at least getting some nutritional benefit. Trying to cut down on soda? Try mixing a little fruit juice with seltzer water. Holding a meeting or hosting a party? Offer some healthy alternatives without added sugar, like fruit or fresh veggies. Less sugar is a good thing.

photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51035734193@N01/434504171">Sunday</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">(license)</a>

Fresh Air Drives Fresh Thinking

Members of Healthier Fosston committee, Michelle
Landsverk, Mark Nohner, Barbara Muesing,
Chuck Lucken, and Kirsten Fageland practice
what they preach.

How many of us have experienced the drudgery of sitting around a table at a meeting while secretly wishing we could be outside, enjoying the beautiful weather?

Well, there is a growing trend in our country that is literally moving people out of the board room and onto the sidewalks – walking meetings.

Yes, from the sidewalks of Fosston to the hills and dales of Silicon Valley, people are re-imagining what a productive meeting looks like; realizing that it is not necessary to sit slumped around a table for hours on end.

Walking meetings have become the norm at LinkedIn, the professional social media platform. On any given day, you can find workers strolling and talking together on the bike path at the company’s Mountain View, California, headquarters. The path takes about 20-25 minutes to circle — perfect for a half-hour one-on-one with a colleague.

The first and most obvious benefit is the exercise. Desk-bound office workers are prone to sitting disease – sitting too much is killing us. (See the Healthy U blog for more on Sitting Disease).

One of the less expected results is the way it amps up creativity and out-of-the box thinking. Walking together breaks down formalities, removes barriers, and fosters camaraderie. It also minimizes distractions like phones, emails, texts, and other interruptions.

Business innovator, Nilofer Merchant, has been helping to grow businesses -- from Fortune 500s to web startups -- for 20 years, working for major companies like Apple, Autodesk, Logitech, Symantec, HP, Yahoo, and many others.  

Merchant was recently featured on a TED talk and shared the impact that walking meetings have had on her life. Merchant was started out as an unlikely advocate for walking meetings, but found that social interaction was what got her moving.

“Someone invited me to a meeting,” Merchant said, “but couldn't manage to fit me in to a regular sort of conference room meeting, and said, "I have to walk my dogs tomorrow. Could you come then?" It seemed kind of odd to do, and actually, that first meeting, I remember thinking, "I have to be the one to ask the next question," because I knew I was going to huff and puff during this conversation. And yet, I've taken that idea and made it my own. So instead of going to coffee meetings or fluorescent-lit conference room meetings, I ask people to go on a walking meeting, to the tune of 20 to 30 miles a week. It's changed my life.”

In recent weeks, I have become an advocate of walking meetings, too. I do business out of my home office, and though I work alone, I spend quite a bit of time on the phone each day. In an effort to get moving, I decided to use a headset for my phone and walk while I talk. I have found that it increases my energy, creativity, and in general – it just helps the conversation flow.

Merchant concluded her TED talk with “Walk and talk. Walk the talk. You’ll be surprised at how fresh air drives fresh thinking, and in the way that you do, you’ll bring into your life an entirely new set of ideas.”

Check out our other articles and please share your comments with us! We would love to hear your thoughts, your story, or your healthy recipe!

HealthyU is being brought to you by SHIP, Polk County Public Health, the City of Fosston, Essentia Health, and several other private partners. Launched in 2008 as part of Minnesota’s bipartisan health reform effort, SHIP works to help Minnesotans live longer, healthier lives while building healthy, vital communities. SHIP encourages healthy eating, active living, and avoiding commercial tobacco by working with schools, communities, workplaces, and healthcare to make healthy choices easier.

Ready for a Fitbit?

You have probably heard about the Fitbit by now, but maybe you are like me – wondering what the real benefit is – and if it’s really necessary to turn to technology to improve your health.

The answer for many might simply be “no.” You certainly do not need technology to help you improve your health. But for Fosston native Jill Burggraf and many others, wearing a Fitbit is a positive step toward building a healthier lifestyle.

Fitbits are created by Fitbit Inc., a California company that recently filed an IPO with the New York Stock Exchange. Since its 2007 launch, the company has become well known for its products – personal wearable devices that measure data such as the number of steps walked, quality of sleep, and other personal metrics. The company claims that their users take 43 percent more steps with Fitbit.

Wearing a Fitbit is reported to help wearers increase the number of
steps they take each day by 43 percent.

Jill Burggraf owns the Charge HR model, which monitors her heartbeat and graphs her sleeping patterns. She credits her Fitbit with increasing health awareness throughout the day. “I find myself thinking that I need more steps in my day,” she said. “I also find satisfaction when it vibrates, telling me that I have reached my goal.”

Jill’s employer connects her and other employees to an integrated Fitbit program called “Virgin Pulse Health Miles,” designed to improve employee health. Employees earn points by tracking steps walked, as well as earning cash incentives.

The Fitbit company believes people are more likely to reach goals if encouraged to have fun, smile, and feel empowered along the way. Jill affirms the “fun” aspect of the Fitbit, which has a social component. “I am ‘friends’ with other Fitbit wearers, including family members,” Jill says. “In good fun, we are able to cheer each other on and hold each other accountable.”

Dr. Charles Winjum is also a Fitbit wearer. “Our bodies are meant to move,” Winjum says. “We should all look for simple ways to get up and stay up. I wear a Fitbit just so I can keep track of my steps.”

If you buy a Fitbit, you will find that it does a lot more than just track steps. Through integrated smart phone apps, you can log the food you eat, various activities, water intake, weight, and fitness goals throughout the day, even while offline.

The Fitbit company has also created a free website that can be used with or without the Fitbit Tracker. If you would like to try it before you buy the device, you can create an account by going to Fitbit.com. Using the free account, you can log your food intake, activities, weight, blood pressure, heart rate, and glucose levels. You can also set daily and weekly goals for steps, calories burned and consumed, and distance walked.

Do you have a Fitbit? How are you using it? Please share your Fitbit stories in the comments below.

HealthyU is being brought to you by SHIP, Polk County Public Health, the City of Fosston, Essentia Health, and several other private partners. Launched in 2008 as part of Minnesota’s bipartisan health reform effort, SHIP works to help Minnesotans live longer, healthier lives while building healthy, vital communities. SHIP encourages healthy eating, active living, and avoiding commercial tobacco by working with schools, communities, workplaces, and healthcare to make healthy choices easier.

What is “MyPlate?”

The new "MyPlate" infographic.

Combine all the choices and the wide variety of foods that are available today with all of the widely varying ideas on what constitutes a healthy diet and you have a good recipe for confusion.

                   

Opinions from researchers and respected health authorities have told us that eggs, red meat, and dairy will lead to heart attack. We were told to eat more grains and little to no fat. Then a diet comes out telling us not to worry about eating fat – eat all you want, but stay away from carbohydrates. Scores of best-selling books have been written on these and many related topics. In 2012, the weight loss industry in the United States – diet books, diet drugs, and weight loss surgeries – totaled $20 billion.

What is the average person supposed to think? We know that diet is an important component of our health, but how do we know what to eat? What kind of diet is the most beneficial?

Many of us grew up with the classic food pyramid, originally developed and promoted by the United States Department of Agriculture. The classic food pyramid recommended:

·         6-11 servings of bread, cereal rice, and/or pasta;

·         3-5 servings of vegetables;

·         2-4 servings of fruits;

·         2-3 servings of meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dry beans, and nuts;

·         2-3 servings of milk, yogurt, and cheese; and

·         Fats, oils, and sweets used sparingly.

In 2005, the USDA retired the old food pyramid and introduced what it was promoting as a healthier pyramid, which reduced the amount of carbohydrates, among other things. Fast forward to 2011, and now, we have an entirely new model called “My Plate.”

Introduced by First Lady Michelle Obama and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, MyPlate is a new generation icon intended to prompt consumers to think about building a healthy plate at meal times, and to seek more information to help them do that by going to ChooseMyPlate.gov.

Compared to the old food pyramid, MyPlate does seem simpler, focusing on five food groups that are building blocks for a healthy diet: fruits, vegetables, grains, proteins, and dairy. The recommendations are simple:

·         Focus on fruits.

·         Vary your veggies.

·         Make at least half your grains whole.

·         Go lean with protein.

·         Get your calcium-rich foods.

Everything in moderation, my grandmother used to say. For detailed information on MyPlate, go to the USDA website: choosemyplate.gov.

Have a healthy eating idea to share? Post it in the comment box below. We'd love to hear it!

HealthyU is being brought to you by SHIP, Polk County Public Health, the City of Fosston, Essentia Health, and several other private partners. Launched in 2008 as part of Minnesota’s bipartisan health reform effort, SHIP works to help Minnesotans live longer, healthier lives while building healthy, vital communities. SHIP encourages healthy eating, active living, and avoiding commercial tobacco by working with schools, communities, workplaces, and healthcare to make healthy choices easier.

My War on Sitting Disease

Plan to get moving at the annual Rotary 5K run/walk
coming up May 2 in Fosston. More information at fosston.com

A couple weeks ago, I wrote a piece on Sitting Disease and it generated quite a bit of interest, understandably so, in light of the large number of  us who spend the bulk of our days behind a desk.

So what is Sitting Disease? The term refers to the impact that excessive sitting has on our bodies. It is believed to negatively effect our metabolism and is linked to several serious health risks including obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, and depression. [James Levine, MD, PhD] Sedentary lifestyles are also believed to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. “For people who sit most of the day, their risk of heart attack is about the same as smoking.” [Martha Grogan, Cardiologist, Mayo Clinic]

For those of us with desk jobs (or who lead otherwise sedentary lifestyles) this is not good news. In my research on the topic, one of the things that surprised me the most is that simply working out every day cannot mitigate the damage caused by sitting for several hours a day. You would think that a good daily workout would solve the problem. Not so.

The cumulative effect of sitting for so many hours simply counts up and has negative consequences. Not to say that working out every day isn't a good thing. A daily workout is definitely a good thing, but what the experts are telling us is that we have to stand up and move around more frequently throughout the day. In other words, don't sit for several hours straight. Once every hour or so, get up and move around.

Dr. Charles (Chuck) Winjum, could not agree more. "My message has always been our bodies are meant  to move, so sitting is very much contrary to that belief," Winjum said. "We should all look for simple ways to get up and stay up.  I wear a Fitbit just so I can keep track of my steps.  I walk to get answers instead of calling."

Since my initial research on Sitting Disease, I have personally made an effort to stand and move more throughout the day. Those who read the last article will remember that I recently purchased a mount for my desk that allows me to stand while I work. Consequently, I am standing at my desk the majority of the time. I've also started using a phone that allows me to be mobile. I walk while having phone conversations and have found that it actually helps the conversation (and my thoughts) to flow more easily.

Dr. Gabe Wiener knows the troubles I've had with my neck and shoulders over the last couple of years, and endorses the use of "sit-to-stand" workstations, as well as standing and moving more, citing the fact that "sitting is a big stress on our bodies." He goes on to say that "we sit a lot more in today's world than ever before.  Our bodies are made to move and without movement adverse health problems are the result.   Sit to stand workstations are helpful to reduce the stress of the work day on our bodies."

What else can we do? According to Dr. Wiener, "to really counteract the stress of sitting during the day, people need to walk and utilize weight bearing exercises." With that in mind, I've made a personal goal to walk 10,000 steps each day. My iPhone 6 has an integrated health app that tracks steps, if you turn it on.

Once I started using my phone health tracker, I was disappointed to find that the situation was even worse than I realized; I was walking only about 1,000 steps each day in my normal activities. I have since increased my daily average to almost 9,000. Dr. Winjum referenced use of the Fitbit, a device that works with more than 150 different smart phones, and helps to track several health goals, in addition to steps. A good old-fashioned pedometer can also be an invaluable tool.

What are you doing to combat Sitting Disease? I invite you to share your stories with me using the comment box below!