Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. Happy Monday!
Stay tuned on Wednesday for a special Easter treat!
This weekend was a chilly one, which led to lots of indoor activities (of course including a little March Madness...some awesome games). Thankfully, the indoor weather also allowed us to finish up some projects that we've been working on. The biggest accomplishment was finishing the headboard for the guest bedroom. If you remember, we had taken 4 old glass cabinet doors and fixed them together to create this look. We added frosting to the glass (which you can't really see in the picture, but I promise it's there) and legs to the headboard rather than attaching it to the wall. So here it is! Now, the canvases will actually be hung above the headboard, but that's the look we're going for. It's coming along.
Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. Happy Monday! Stay tuned on Wednesday for a special Easter treat!
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I finally started wearing my Fitbit again. I find that it helps keep me more active at work, which is important because my job is mainly sedentary. It also motivates me to get in more exercise to reach my 10,000 steps per day! My Fitbit also sparked a bit of healthy competition between the boy and I, leading him to get a Fitbit as well. A little competition never hurt anybody! The cool part about the Fitbit (as well as many other trackers), is that it also tracks sleep. I tracked my sleep for the first time in awhile last night and wow...just wow. When I woke up this morning, I figured I had a pretty good night's rest. I didn't remember too much waking up or tossing and turning. I went to bed around 10:30pm and woke up around 7am, which means I could check off the 8 hours of sleep box. But boy did my Fitbit reveal a lot. It's obvious that my body isn't getting the type of deep sleep that it needs to.
So in order to improve on my sleep i'm going to start working on the following suggested by Harvard Medical School: 1. Not playing on my phone or computer at least a half-hour before bed-I am a huge culprit of phone time in bed! 2. Turning the alarm clock away from me-When I wake up in the middle of the night I tend to look at the clock and count how much longer I have to sleep-bad habit! 3. Don't drink too much before going to bed-I tend to be thirstier at night, which probably means that i'm not drinking enough during the day, but also means that I wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. I need to try drinking more during the day to alleviate this. 4. Eating lighter at dinner/evening meals-I tend to have a larger dinner because I have more time to cook and prepare food. I may want to be aware of this to help my sleep pattern. I plan to start working on these things and hopefully get a better reading on my next sleep tracker! I also want to look into getting a dawn simulator or wake-up light like this one. This is supposed to help your body wake up in a more natural way rather than the buzzing of an alarm. I'll have to look into it further! What are your best tips for a good night's sleep? I was not compensated at all for the purchase or use of the Fitbit tracker. There are many other trackers that can determine steps and sleep habits. Last night, we had a double header at volleyball. Double headers make everything more fun because you get more of what you love, but I sure was sore when I woke up this morning. Part of the soreness is definitely from all the playing. However, I also did a quick, kick butt leg workout before volleyball. Obviously, volleyball players are often in a squatting position while playing. This workout will target those same muscles and leave you with a good burn. Give it a try! My next endeavor for my workouts is to increase my speed. I have never been a very fast person (I like to blame it on my height, but that doesn't always work!) and I want to improve on this. Speed and quickness are very important when playing sports, which is something I love to do! What are your favorite speed workouts?
It is officially Spring and with the change in season comes my favorite season of fruit...strawberries! Strawberry season begins in March and you've probably started to see the influx of this delicious red fruit in grocery stores. The best part about buying this fruit in season is that not only is it more delicious and juicy, but it is way way less expensive!
So, why should we eat strawberries anyway? What are they good for? Strawberries have a plethora of nutrients that help our bodies. Most notable is their high Vitamin C content. Vitamin C is essential in collagen production necessary in our bodies. We also are not able to make Vitamin C in our own body, so we have to obtain it from our diet. Enter strawberries (and other citrus fruits) to bridge that gap. Strawberries also contain fantastic antioxidants that can help prevent damage of cells. And in less known nutrients, strawberries contain a good source of manganese. Manganese assists our body in skin health and metabolism. I don't need too much of an excuse to eat more strawberries, but the science sure does back up my addiction! What is your favorite in-season fruit? I recently had a patient inquire about the use of calcium in her diet. She is getting older and realizes how important calcium is in protecting her bones now and later in life. However, like many vitamins, it gets confusing when trying to understand when and how to get calcium. If you aren’t having any medical concerns that require a supplement, you should first try to increase the amount of calcium you are consuming in your diet. Dairy products such as, milk, cheese and yogurt contain a good source of calcium. Legumes, quinoa, broccoli, leafy greens, and seafood also contain a good source of calcium. Many foods are fortified with calcium to help us meet our needs, as you can see on many juice and cereal labels. Just like many other vitamins and minerals, certain foods or other vitamins can impact the absorption of calcium. Oxalic acid found in spinach, chard and beet greens interferes with the absorption of calcium found in those foods. Meaning that eating spinach by itself will be a good source of vitamins and minerals, but not necessarily a good source of calcium. On the other hand, Vitamin D is essential in calcium absorption as it aids in the metabolism of calcium. Ensuring that you get enough Vitamin D, will improve calcium stores. Finally, small amounts of vitamin C, mainly found in citrus fruits, is thought to help calcium absorption. If necessary, calcium supplements can be used to support increased calcium in the body. The two most common forms of supplements are calcium carbonate and calcium citrate. Both forms should not be taken in amounts greater than 600mg at one sitting due to absorption. However, these can be taken multiple times throughout the day to achieve best absorption and needed intake. Overall, looking for ways to increase calcium in our normal diet can help us prevent many health concerns and issues. Remember, the dietary reference intake for calcium is as follows: 1000mg/day ages 19-50 1200mg/day females ages 51-70 and greater *this amount increases at this age due to increased risk for osteoporosis Are you getting enough calcium in your diet? Information from: Eat Right.org-https://www.bbvitamins.com/wp-content/uploads/ADA_Calcium.pdf
Photo from freeimages.com We had quite the eventful St. Patrick’s Day, but not in the green beer type of way. We had a volleyball game last night, which was going well until this happened. The boy unfortunately rolled his ankle while playing and got a pretty nice sprain (Even though it was St. Patrick’s Day, no alcohol was involved). After making sure that it wasn’t broken, we went right into RICE. RICE stands for Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. These steps are essential in the first 24-48 hours to prevent further damage to the injured tissue. Rest means trying not to do any extra movement or putting extra pressure on the injury. Ice is fairly self-explanatory, but you want to ice the injury for ~20 minutes on, 1 hour off as possible. Compression will help decrease the swelling and inflammation. Compression can be done through an ACE bandage or a brace. Finally, elevation is lifting the injury above the level of the heart. This also will help with inflammation and circulation. We made sure that we iced the injury multiple times last night and the boy slept with this foot under enough pillows to get above his heart. Ibuprofen and other NSAIDs can help with the pain and inflammation during this time.
The biggest thing that people forget is that after the swelling goes down (hopefully around 48 hours) RICE turns into MICE. We want to make sure that we are Moving or Mobilizing the injury to prevent loss of motion. Small range of motion exercises should be completed at this time. The exercises should not cause any extreme pain or discomfort. The ice, compression and elevation should continue as able for at least the first ~5 days following the injury. Hopefully, the boy’s swelling will decrease in the next day or so and we can get him doing some small exercises and ultimately back to sports in no time! Hope everyone had a good St. Patrick’s Day with no injuries! ...or at least trying to! This week is the first warm week we've had (or are supposed to have) in the the South. Which is exciting because that means that Spring is on it's way. To celebrate the warmer weather, I decided to make a change in the way I commute to work. I have to preface this with the fact that I work about a mile from my house. So, I actually have one of the best commutes in the world. If you've followed my blog for awhile, you may remember that I purchased a bike off Craigslist last Summer. I gave it a good fix up and now she works great! So, with my bike and short commute, I decided to start biking to work rather than driving. Today was the first day that there wasn't snow/rain in the forecast so I felt as though I could give it a try. Thankfully, while the roads to work are busy, they are wide, so I felt pretty comfortable with the cars around me. All in all, a pretty good experience that i'd do again! I'm excited to keep biking to work as much as I can and am going to start to look for other ways to commute rather than taking my car (I can walk as well, but that would require getting up earlier ;) ). I also want to look at other ways that I can decrease my carbon footprint. Here's to a happier, healthier Spring 2015!
Many of you may or may not have heard about FitBloggin. FitBloggin is a community of health, wellness and fitness bloggers. Each year they have a conference that brings together bloggers from all over the nation to meet each other and learn how to continue to motivate a health and wellness culture on their blogs. To learn more about FitBloggin look here.
The conference this year is at the end of June in Denver, CO. And drum roll...I am lucky enough to get the privilege to be a LIVE BLOGGER during this conference! Live blogging means that I will be assigned a certain session during the conference and will get to inform all of you and the rest of the blogger world about what we are doing at FitBloggin '15! What a neat concept to ensure that no one misses out on the fantastic information shared. Can't wait to see everyone there! Many of us struggle with getting in vegetable intake throughout the day. This is especially difficult when we try to get in a good variety of vegetables with all sorts of different colors because the options are endless. Green leafy vegetables have abundance of nutrients that can help our bodies, including fiber, folate, antioxidants, Vitamin C and K, iron and calcium. Now, cooking these greens does decrease some of their nutrient value, but even cooked greens can give us good bang for our buck. Because of these benefits, I’m always looking for easy recipes to include in my leafy green repertoire. I had a large bag of mixed greens (kale, spinach, chard) from Costco that I figured would make the perfect side dish to dinner last night. I sautéed the greens with a bit of garlic and onion and it paired beautifully with flounder. Ingredients: 5 cups mixed greens or greens of choice 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 onion, chopped 1Tbsp olive oil Directions: 1. Chop onion and mince garlic. 2. Add olive oil and minced garlic to pan on low heat. 3. Heat garlic and olive oil until simmering. 4. Add onions and cook for ~5 minutes. 5. Add leafy greens and sauté until greens are wilted and onions are at desired texture. 6. Sprinkle with salt and pepper or spices as desired. What is your favorite way to incorporate leafy green vegetables?
Side Note: It is Registered Dietitian Day! Celebrate your favorite RD today and thank them for their hard work! As of Friday, my blog officially became a member of the Nutrition Blog Network. The Nutrition Blog Network is a collection of blogs written by dietitians that are approved and meet criteria to be supported by this group. These blogs are the top of the line for nutrition advice since they are all written by credentialed dietitians. My blog had to be submitted to the team at NBN and analyzed to determine that I was providing sound nutrition knowledge to the community. Isn't it comforting to know that the blogs you follow from this site have standards they must uphold! The NBN has a list of all the approved dietitian blogs and is a fantastic place to find news, advice and information. Take a look at some of the other blogs and learn something new today! My new Nutrition Blog Network badge is on the right hand side of the blog above the search bar! Happy Monday!
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AuthorKatie is a Registered Dietitian in the Greenville, SC area. She currently works as a surgical weight loss dietitian. In her spare time she enjoys playing volleyball, cooking and hiking. Archives
January 2016
CategoriesDisclaimer: I am a Registered Dietitian and Personal Trainer, but I am not a Medical Doctor. Please check with your doctor before changing your activity level or making changes in nutrition based on medical conditions. My recommendations are generalizations and may not be appropriate for all individuals.
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