Instructor's Choice March 29th 2013

Hello Everyone,
We will be playing an easter game, and exercising at the same time! So come and workout before you start your fun filled Easter weekend.
Hope to see you their!

I-WALK- save the date!

Great volunteer opportunity that gives us all a chance to provide feedback on the walkability of Grinnell.  Iowans Walking Assessment Logisitics Lit (I-WALK) needs community members to volunteer a bit of their time to help create an environment that allows everyone, especially those 55+ a safe place to walk and bike.

I-WALK asks volunteers to fill out a web based or paper survey listing their concerns.  We'll let you know once those are released.  Then we'll map problem areas as a group.   Volunteers will meet the morning of May 8th for a quick training and then we will actually walk the routes identified in the surveys.  Results will be presented to the community.

More details will be forthcoming.  It's a great way to make Grinnell more inviting for walking and biking, creating healthier citizens in the process.  The more volunteers we have, the better, so please, save the date if you can.

Instructor's Choice

Hello Everyone!
Get ready for a fun filled game and then we will be working on our core. Hope to see you all there!

Chuck Norris and change

I (Jen) heard on the radio this morning that Chuck Norris has shaved his beard.  I have to admit to watching a lot of his movies as a youth and being a bit of a fan.  After decades of one signature look (that he has taken to the bank) the man has decided to shed the facial hair for a fresh new style.  This is someone that makes his living based in part on his image so it's kind of a big deal.  If he can embrace change after years and years, so can we. 
Today is the first day of spring and it's a great time to be like Chuck and make change.  Check in with those New Year's Resolutions we made a few months ago.  Are we there yet?  Or do we need to reevaluate what we're currently doing and make some changes? 
Not inspired by some dude shaving?  Hey, that's ok!  Let's find something that does work for you.  Plan a personal training session, try a new class, make a new recipe, whatever.  Just do what you need to do to get to the place you want to be.  Let us know how we can help you.  Short of shaving something, we would love to help you.  It's why we're here.

Morning Cheer

Good morning everyone!  Don't forget to get a little breakfast before you come see us!

A good breakfast gets you fueled up for the day — but notice we said a “good” breakfast, not a donut or anything involving bacon. Here are five healthy choices for starting your day right, courtesy of the Cleveland Clinic:

§ Greek Yogurt: Loaded with calcium and B vitamins, plus twice as much protein as regular yogurt.

§ Fruit Salad: A fresh fruit salad is a nice eye-opener if you’re not super hungry, and whole fruit has more fiber than juice — any maybe more antioxidants, too.

§ Vegetable Omelet: Make it with one yolk and three egg whites to get A and B vitamins with less fat and cholesterol.

§ Whole Grain English Muffin with Peanut Butter: Filling and healthy — as long as you use peanut butter that’s made entirely of peanuts and muffins that are 100 percent whole grain.

Quinoa Cereal: Quinoa is a grain that’s loaded with protein and can be cooked as a hot cereal with almond milk, cinnamon, and/or raisins.

March is colorectal cancer month

I (Jen)  keep seeing PSAs from the Iowa Department of Public Health calling March National Colorectal Cancer month.  Previous trainings I have attended discussed the fact that Poweshiek county has a higher than average instance of this cancer.  So please, read below.   

A colonoscopy isn’t recommended until you reach middle age, but there are plenty of things you can do before then to lower your risk of colon cancer, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Colonoscopy — a video inspection of your colon — is recommended for most people at age 50, and age 45 if you are African-American. It can detect colon cancers and polyps that may become cancerous, but to avoid these growths in the first place, you should:

§ Add more fruits and vegetables to your diet, along with fiber-rich whole grains, cereals, nuts, and beans

§ Limit your consumption of red meat, fatty food, and processed food

§ Avoid becoming overweight or obese

§ Get at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise five days per week

§ Limit your alcohol consumption to no more than one drink daily for women, two for men

§ If you smoke, quit

State of Iowa's Health

You've probably heard about the Governor's Healthiest State Initiative to improve the health of our state. This was partially spurned on by Iowa being ranked 19th in the nation for overall well being in 2011.  The Healthiest State Initiative is responsible for the community-wide 1K walks for which Grinnell was a pilot community.  This and other state initiatives such as the Live Health Iowa programs must have helped.  The great news is that we have jumped up to 9th!  We clearly have a way to go before we reach the goal of #1 but this is great news for Iowans.   For more about other states, read the article below.

If you’re looking for healthy Americans you definitely would rather be in Colorado, which continues to be the only U.S. state where less than 20 percent of the population is obese.

Gallup reported March 6 that Colorado was the nation’s least-obese state in 2012, the third straight year that the Centennial State has claimed that mantle. The state’s obesity rate stood at 18.7 percent last year, according to the Gallup-Healthways Well Being Index.

Massachusetts (21.5 percent), Montana (22 percent), Connecticut (22.7 percent), and California (23.1 percent) were the other states with the lowest obesity rates in 2012.

West Virginia continues to be the most obese state in the U.S., for the third straight year. The report found that one in three state residents (33.5 percent) were obese in 2012, followed by four other Southern states — Mississippi (32.2 percent), Arkansas (31.4 percent), Louisiana (30.9 percent), and Alabama (30.4 percent).

Overall, 26.2 percent of Americans are obese, according to the report. “Nationwide and across states, obesity rates remained relatively unchanged in 2012, but are still generally higher than they were in 2008,” according to Gallup.

The survey also found:

§ 29.3 percent of respondents said they had been diagnosed with high blood pressure in their lifetime. Not coincidentally, Colorado had the nation’s lowest rate of high blood pressure, West Virginia the highest.

§ 11 percent of Americans reported having diabetes, with the lowest rates in Alaska and Colorado and the highest rates in Mississippi and West Virginia.

25 ways to lose it

1.  Set realistic weight-loss goals of 1.5-2 lbs a week

2.  Keep track of what you eat

3.  Motivate yourself

4.  Enlist the help of friends and family

5.  Pay atteneti0on to portions

6. Physical activity most days of your week

7.  Empty the kitchen of food that will tempt you

8.  Make a stack of recipe cards with 10 (or so) easy, healthy meals

9.  Eat regularly to avoid hunger

10.  Keep produce on hand and prepped to eat

11.  Stock up on easy-to eat fruit

12.  Stealthy changes like cooking with a lower % milk 

13.  Liquid calories need to go

14.  One and only one small portion of a high calorie treat a day

15.  Eat slowly

16.  Downsize the dinnerware

17.  Drink water before meals 

18.  "After 8 is too late"  no evening snacking

19.  10,000 steps a day

20.  Occasionally treat yourself

21.  Sit down to eat (at a table, not in your car)

22.  When eating out, plan ahead of time for a healthier selection and stick with it

23.  Get plenty of sleep on a consistent schedule

24.  Regular weigh ins

25.  Reward yourself for milestones- just not with food.

Adapted from DesMoinesRegister.com