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Get Healthy De Soto

…having a long-lasting positive impact on the health and safety of the De Soto community by encouraging healthy lifestyle choices, through programs promoting physical activity, healthy nutrition, community involvement, and disease and injury prevention.

Winter Flakes Couch to 5K

Have fun getting fit with the Winter Flakes Couch to 5K program. Meet up with friends and family and achieve your 2023 health goals!

This program is designed for the novice runner*. No pre-training is necessary, since it is designed for the “couch potato”.

The 2023 Winter Flakes Couch to 5K program starts Monday, January 9, 2023. This eight-week training program involves a weekly session with a running coach, a training plan, and weekly communication with nutrition tips and information. The cost is $50 and includes the Winter Flakes 5K registration and t-shirt. Participants will receive a stylish accessory and other participation prizes along the way! The weekly training sessions will rotate between Walther’s Park and Larry G. Crites Memorial Park. Youth must have parental consent.

The training sessions will culminate with the Winter Flakes 5K run/walk on Saturday, March 4, 2023! All proceeds benefit Get Healthy De Soto programming. Ready to register?

Register Online

*As always, please consult with your healthcare provider before starting any nutritional or physical programs if you have any previous, current or possible medical conditions. These guidelines, recommendations and suggestions are not stated to cure, treat or prevent any diseases or conditions.

Brought to you by Get Healthy De Soto and the Jefferson County Health Department…working together for better health.

Walk Your Way to Thanksgiving

We are just over a month away from Thanksgiving, and that can be a challenging time for people trying to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight. There are so many dessert options, and like all good mammals roaming my yard, I’m looking to store fat for my long winter of hibernation…even though I don’t hibernate…and there’s rarely food scarcity in this country that would require hording.

It is perhaps a bit psychological, but my waistline doesn’t care about the psychology of it. 45 minutes of moderate exercise can counteract some of those urges to overindulge, and a month ahead of Thanksgiving seems a great time to add that to your schedule. (Added bonus: increased physical activity will also reduce your stress as we head into the holidays.)

Leslie Sansone, who has energy in spades, encourages people to walk. A few years ago, she developed a 4-week walking program. It is something to consider if you don’t regularly incorporate physical activity into your daily routine. It can also be a little boost for those who are already moving regularly and just want to change gears or add something extra at the end of the day.

You can download the walking plan here. She included links to purchase her workout music, which I consider totally unnecessary. Just remember to pay close attention while walking outside because that music or anything being piped through earbuds can be a distraction.

The plan is fairly gentle, and you might use it to feed into a Thanksgiving Day race. I’m a fan of the one that the YMCA in Festus does (nice being close to home) and the Turkey Trots (four of them this year) in St. Louis; Run, Gobble, Nap. They are all walkable races that are 5 kilometers or just over 3 miles.

The plan looks very similar to my weekly running routine with one major deviation. I believe in a rest day every week! That would be my caution too. If you get overly sore or fatigued, take a rest day and then get back to it. If you aren’t physically up to walking two miles at a brisk pace, do it slowly and work on increasing your pace incrementally over time. This should be specific though, and you’ll need to measure it.

There are apps you can use, but a watch works well too. If you start at the kiosk near the new swings at Walther Park and walk on the trail south to the loop by the dumpsters and then back up the road through the park, there are 1/4 mile markers. Time yourself to see how long it takes to walk a mile. Then, try to shave 15-20 seconds off the next time you walk. It might not seem like much, but incremental change is more about slow and steady. Just make sure you don’t stop to chit chat too much.

⬇⬇⬇An example of Leslie Sansone’s energy⬇⬇⬇

Does 10,000 steps a day seem insurmountable?

Well, you aren’t the only one! That 10,000 steps goal that was set years ago was based on…well, absolutely nothing! It didn’t have any scientific basis. Sure, people who walk 10,000 steps a day are generally healthy individuals, but new research sets the bar at something much more achievable: 4,400 steps each day.

Walking more than 4,400 steps helped lower the risk of all-cause mortality even further, but the benefits leveled off when walkers logged 7,500 steps. In other words, more steps did not equal better outcomes.

If 10,000 seems like a stretch, start by getting a simple pedometer and tracking your steps over a week or two. Then, aim to add a bit to your average. For example, if you’re averaging 2,700 steps a day, try to increase it to 2,800, then to 2,900. Incremental changes are easier to manage than simply trying to jump to 10,000 (again, a totally arbitrary number) steps each day, which would be unrealistic and just leave your psychologically feeling like a failure. Take it slow, and if you aren’t getting 4,400 steps a day, try to reach that goal. Let friends, family, or GHD know how you’re doing too. Accountability is important.

Happy trails!

An evening snack

Image: Burg Children’s Dentistry

There are times when I enjoy a snack before heading off to bed. I’m partial to a little bowl of cottage cheese or a piece of dark chocolate. The cottage cheese isn’t such a bad option, but the chocolate… With an estimated number of 492,000 adults in Missouri having been diagnosed with diabetes, a little bit of chocolate before bed is not a healthy option. (We can argue about the antioxidants and pure joy of chocolate some other time.) People with diabetes who have high blood sugar in the mornings need to find a way to keep their numbers in check. There are two things that contribute to this phenomenon of hyperglycemia in the morning:

  1. The dawn phenomenon. Between roughly 3:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m., blood sugar levels surge as part of the process of waking up. This causes high blood sugar levels in the morning.
  2. The Somogyi effect. Glucose levels drop significantly between 2:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. The body responds by releasing hormones that raise blood sugar levels again. It can release too much of these hormones, leading to high blood sugar levels in the morning.

There are some snacks though that might help keep blood sugar levels from going off the rails. Tracking blood sugar is the first step, and people with diabetes should work with their dietitian to determine if an evening snack might help. (If you are diabetic and do not have a dietitian, contact the Jefferson County Health Department to see what options are available: 636-797-3737.)

Possible snacks to help levelize blood sugar overnight are those that have few carbohydrates, are high in protein, and contain healthy fats.

This seems like it makes sense, but then what are your options for snacks?

An article in Medical News Today has some great recommendations. Below are a few, but you should check out the article for other options too.

  1. Nuts-raw or roasted, but check the ingredients to see if oils are added. Also, watch the sodium amounts. Nuts are a better option than the corresponding butters because peanut butter, almond butter, and others generally have added sugar and oils.
  2. Boiled eggs-I like this option, but it takes some advanced planning. You could boil a half dozen or so on the weekend, and store them in the fridge to snack on throughout the week.
  3. Low-fat cheese or unprocessed cheese-I recommend mozzarella, ricotta, or Swiss.
  4. Baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, or cucumber slices-good because the caloric intake is minimal for a generous portion. There’s also some very beneficial fiber in fresh vegetables. I might need to pair this with a bit of cheese or hummus though!
  5. Roasted chickpeas-again, some planning is required. I normally have canned chickpeas in my pantry because I like to randomly make hummus. I have roasted some though, and they are delightfully crunchy. They are also a great source of protein and fiber! Check out this recipe for a spicy version.

Remember to check with your doctor and dietitian if you are diabetic and have blood sugar surges early in the morning. Talk to them about healthy snacks that might help keep those in check.

Source: Jenna Fletcher, Medical News Today

Improving Healthy Relationships

There is research that indicates there are health benefits to having good friends. We often don’t know how to maintain and improve those relationships though. It seems like once you’re friends with someone, the idea of changing or improving the relationship is somehow awkward. As children, we don’t feel this hesitant, but we also don’t change our BFF like underwear, either. As adults, maintaining and strengthening friendships is important, and here are some ideas from Psychology Today that make it easier.

  1. Ask a question you’ve been putting off, because you thought you didn’t have time to talk about it. Confiding in each other is important. Taking the time to ask questions and respond to questions and concerns is a big part of being a good friend.
  2. Think of a memory that makes you laugh, and text or email it to your friend. A bit cheesy, I’ll admit. It allows you to connect based on a past shared experience though. Healthy reflection is…healthy.
  3. Reveal something about yourself that you need to talk through but feel vulnerable about. This requires trust and time. You might think that you don’t have the time for this sort of vulnerability, but you might re-evaluate that. It could be that you need to do more to strengthen that bond of trust.
  4. Figure out a date that’s important to your friend — their birthday, their anniversary, or even a difficult milestone in their lives, like a parent’s death — and write it in your calendar so that you will know to do something personal when the time comes. This doesn’t mean adding “Happy Birthday” to their Facebook wall either. A written note goes a long way.
  5. Plan the next time you can see each other in person — and if that’s not possible, plan a time to catch up, for real. Anticipation is great. We frequently have large gatherings at our house, but if you get invited more than a few days in advance, that is really something. The “fly by the seat of my pants” saying fits me too well, and deliberately planning something weeks in advance only happens a few times a year for me. Intentionally seeking moments to spend with a friend are something that needs improvement.
  6. Write a thank-you note to your friend about something they’ve done that means a lot to you. It is particularly meaningful if the friend did something and is totally unaware of their impact too.
  7. Take 15 minutes to send a funny postcard or a small package of your friend’s favorite candy in the actual mail. No, this isn’t an advertisement for the US Postal Service, but it is nice to receive something that isn’t junk mail. (Two notes on this from experience: Be mindful of weather because chocolate melts! and Wrap items well***ants!)
  8. Let your friend in on a personal goal that you’ve been working on — and see if you can be accountability partners for each other. Celebrating successes further strengths your bond.
  9. Tell your friend about something new in your life that they may not know about. If it is important to you, it can be important to your friend too.
  10. Try to recall your last conversation, and vow to follow up on something specific from it the next time you communicate. This takes me a bit; usually about 20 minutes after a conversation, I remember that I should have asked about… It is difficult for me to keep those things in mind, but I’ve found that even the next day, I can always connect with the person again simply to ask the question that I forgot to ask.

You can learn more about strengthening friendships by reviewing the article in Psychology Today, written by Andrea Bonior Ph.D.

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