Take it Off, Keep it Off – Stevens Point premier weight loss support group

Are you working out and not seeing results? Do you need a little help with nutrition or do you just need someone to check in with on a weekly basis? Join the Adventure 212 Fitness weight loss support group, Take it Off, Keep it Off run by our very own Registered Dietitian, Sarah Agena-Wright. You will not get this kind of support or expertise anywhere else in the area.

Each weekly session will include a weigh in and a nutrition topic for discussion. Meetings will start Wednesday, January 4th at 5:30 pm and will run for 45 minutes.

Cost per month is $35 and will be set up through automatic withdrawal with no contract. Meeting drop-in rate is just $10. This includes weekly support through an online nutrition and exercise tracking tool.
For more information please contact Sarah Agena-Wright at sagena@adventure212.com or 715-343-0212 ext 213.

Balancing Act: Fall Prevention Resource Open House Event Oct 1

Did you know that falls are the leading cause of injury deaths among persons over 65 and are preventable?

This FREE fall prevention event is open to the public and will include presentations, information, interactive displays and screening for increasing independence and reducing falls in adults of all ages.

Interactive Presentations

• Physician Comments (9 – 9:30 a.m., and repeated 10:30 – 11 a.m.)
• The Importance of Exercise (9:30 – 10:30 a.m., and repeated 11 a.m. – Noon) Staying active every day improves balance, flexibility and strength.
• I Spy the Fall Risk – Areas in your community can place you at risk for falls in a number of ways. Find out if your home and community are free from fall hazards and obtain tips to make these areas safer.

Screenings

• Medication Review – When you are taking more than three medications, your risk of falling increase significantly. Talk one-on-one with a registered pharmacist about your current medications. Please bring a list of the medications you currently take.
• Fall/Balance Screening

Interactive Displays

• Medication Drop Off – Bring your unwanted, unneeded, or outdated prescriptions and over-the-counter medicines—please leave in original container. (Sponsored by the Marshfield Police Department)
• Wood County Fall Prevention Coalition
• Aging And Disability Resource Center
• Ministry Home Health
• Marshfield Parks and Recreation

Saturday, October 1
9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
(Come and go anytime)

Ministry Saint Joseph’s Hospital
Conference Center
611 Saint Joseph Avenue, Marshfield
(Parking is available in Lot E, across the street from the conference center. Refreshments will be served.)

All are welcome to attend this FREE event. To register, call 888.667.9465

Free Introductory Session to Creighton Model of FertilityCare

Most women do not know or understand their menstrual and fertility cycle. By using the Creighton Model FertilityCare System™, a woman can finally “unlock the mysteries.” This method of family planning is taught at Ministry Health Care locations in Plover and Marshfield.

A free introductory session to learn more about the method is scheduled at Ministry Saint Joseph’s Hospital Thursday September 29, 6-8 p.m., in the Saint Joseph’s Conference Room.

The Creighton Model is a natural method of fertility regulation, enabling a woman, through recording daily observations, to better understand and maintain her reproductive health. The system also provides an opportunity to learn more about:

• Pregnancy avoidance and pregnancy achievement
• Premenstrual syndrome
• Hormonal abnormalities and treatment of infertility
• Irregular or abnormal bleeding and other health problems.
• The method is beneficial for women of all ages, from puberty through menopause. It has a 96.8 percent user effectiveness rating in avoiding a pregnancy. It is also highly effective in achieving pregnancy. For couples with infertility concerns, 20-40 percent are able to achieve pregnancy without medical intervention.

To register or for more information, call 715.387.9499 or email

SJHfertilitycare@ministryhealth.org or annette.firkus@ministryhealth.org.

The Creighton Model FertilityCare™ related expenses are offered as a benefit for employees of Ministry Health Care.

CDC communication expert to highlight challenges in communicating health information

Glen Nowak, senior adviser to the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia

A nationally respected expert on health communication issues will be a guest lecturer in communication classes at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point on March 8 and 9. Glen Nowak, who serves as the senior adviser to the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, will talk to students in a number of health communication and public relations classes.

Nowak will present a free public lecture at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 9, in Room 221 of the Noel Fine Arts Center. In his talk, “Communicating About Health, Science and Medicine: Who Knew It Could Be This Difficult,” Nowak will discuss some of the challenges involved in trying to influence people’s health-related beliefs and behaviors. He will also provide tips and strategies for increasing the odds of success when communicating about issues related to health, science and medicine.

Nowak serves as the senior media adviser for all respiratory diseases and immunization issues for the CDC. He was the CDC’s point man during the H1N1 health crisis in 2009. His tenure at the CDC includes assignments as the director of the Division of News and Electronic Media and as the associate director for communications at the CDC’s National Immunization Program. Nowak is a frequently quoted source on important health issues.

A Wisconsin native, Nowak received his undergraduate degree in 1982 from UW-Milwaukee with majors in economics and communication. He earned his master’s degree in journalism (1987) and a doctorate in mass communication (1990) at UW-Madison.

Your Health: Improving Your Bone Health

Improving Your Bone Health
Brittany Polzin, Fitness/Corporate Wellness Intern

Osteoporosis is a silent yet vicious disease that affects mostly women. Unfortunately, there are no symptoms of this disease until you fracture a bone. Therefore, it is important to test for this disease as well as increase your awareness of the many risk factors for osteoporosis.

Risk factors for osteoporosis include:

1. Smoking
2. Physical inactivity
3. Caucasian or Asian
4. High stress levels
5. Family history or poor bone health
6. Had a hysterectomy
7. Taking certain prescription drugs
8. High intake of caffeine
9. Low calcium consumption
10. Low waist to hip ratio
11. High alcohol consumption
12. Experiencing a change in your monthly cycles during pre-menopause and menopause

As you may know, exercise is a very important ingredient for living a long and essential life. There are many exercises that can be done to improve your bone health! For starters, according to USDA, it is important for adults to exercise at least 30 minutes every day, or most days. For children, it is important to exercise at least 60 minutes every day, or most days. Also, it is recommended to incorporate weight resistance training in your exercise routine in order to build strong muscles and to support your bone maintenance. If you have children, this could be a great opportunity for all of you to exercise together!

A few examples of exercises you can do to improve your bone health include: weight lifting, stair climbing, gymnastics, gardening, jogging, race walking, tennis, dancing (especially tap dancing, contra dancing, polka, and other dances that involve hopping and stomping), aerobics, step aerobics, jumping rope, jumping jacks, and/or cycling (when increasing the resistance). This variety of exercises will never leave you bored.

Start improving your bone health today, and prevent osteoporosis from heading your way!

Your Health: Eat This. Not That (in Portage County)!

Your Health: Eat This. Not That (in Portage County)!
Sarah M. Agena-Wright, MS, RD – Adventure 212 Fitness

Have you ever eaten something at a restaurant to later find out it contained most of your calories for the entire day? To help you out I’ve put together a list of the best and worst of area restaurants.

• Applebee’s
  Best: Grilled Shrimp and Island Rice served with vegetables at 380 calories.
  Worst: Crispy Orange Chicken Bowl at 2,030 calories.
• Chili’s
  Best: Guiltless Grill Classic Sirloin at 240 calories, choose steamed veggies, corn on the cob or black beans as a side.
  Worst: Jalapeno Smokehouse Burger with Jalapeno Ranch at 2,130 calories.
• Erbert and Gerbert’s
  Best: Boney Billy at 257 calories. This sub is on Honey Wheat with Low Fat Mayo.
  Worst: Flash at 933 calories. This sub is on French bread with Regular Mayo. This sub with Low Fat Mayo would be 803 calories.
• Subway (6 inch subs)
  Best: Veggie Delite at 230 calories or Turkey Breast at 280 calories both on 9-Grain Wheat bread.
  Worst: Meatball Marinara at 580 calories (bread not specified).
• Noodles and Company (Regular Serving)
  Best: The Med Salad at 310 calories.
  Worst: Indonesian Peanut Sauté at 950 calories.
• Arby’s
  Best: Ham and Swiss Melt at 300 calories or Chopped Farmhouse Salad – Turkey and Ham (w/o dressing) at 250 calories, Small Potato Cakes at 260 calories.
  Worst: Ultimate BLT Market Fresh Sandwich at 850 calories, Large Mozzarella Sticks at 650 calories
• McDonald’s
  Best: Hamburger at 250 calories, Fruit and Yogurt Parfait at 160 calories or Small Fries at 230 calories.
  Worst: Angus Bacon and Cheese at 790 calories, Large Fries at 500 calories.
• Taco Bell
  Best: Fresco Crunchy Taco – 2 at 150 calories each or Gordita Nacho Cheese with Steak at 260 calories.
  Worst: Volcano Nachos at 1,000 calories.
• Pizza Hut
  Best: 12” Fit ‘n Delicious Pizza – calories range from 150-180 calories per slice depending on toppings.
  Worst: 14” Meat Lover’s Stuffed Crust Pizza at 480 calories per slice.
• P. F. Chang’s
  Best: Sichuan From the Sea with Shrimp at 187 calories per serving (served 3. 561 total calories).
  Worst: Cantonese Chow Fun with Chicken at 790 calories per serving (served 2. 1,580 total calories).
• Starbucks
  Best: Tall Skinny Flavored Latte at 90 calories (skinny means made with nonfat milk, sugar free syrup and without whipped cream). Grande at 130 calories, Venti at 160 calories.
  Worst: Tall Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha at 420 calories, Grande at 540 calories and Venti at 660 calories.

Your Health: Beautiful Skin Begins From Within

Beautiful Skin Begins From Within
Tami Nicewander, Adventure 212 Spa Esthetician

Have you ever noticed how soft baby’s skin is? All of us had that beautiful, unmarred skin at one point in our lives. As time goes by we look at our skin and notice the changes ranging from brown spots to wrinkles. These changes cannot all be avoided, but we can take steps to minimize the damage and ensure that our skin not only looks beautiful but feels baby soft.

Our skin is the largest organ of our body and other than the brain it is the most complex. Our skin performs six primary functions: Protection, Absorption, Secretion, Regulation, Sensation and Excretion.

• Protection: The skin shields internal tissues from toxins (pollutants, smoke and chemicals). The skin also acts as a barrier to infectious bacteria.
• Absorption: Vitamins, acids, water and oxygen are absorbed through pores to provide necessary moisture and nourishment.
• Secretion: The skin secretes sebum or oil which keeps the skin soft. This layer of sebum is called the acid mantle which serves as a protective barrier to prevent bacteria from invading the skin.
• Regulation: The body’s temperature is maintained through mechanisms such as shivering and goose bumps. When body temperature increases, we produce sweat. When the sweat evaporates it gives off heat and cools the body.
• Sensation: Sensations such as heat, cold, pain, pressure and touch can be detected because the surface of the skin contains millions of nerve end fibers.
• Excretion: The skin is the largest waste removal system of the body. Toxins and waste material are released through the sweat glands and pores. Have you ever eaten a lot of garlic and actually smelled like garlic the next day? This is an example of the body excreting waste from the system.

Your skin is working every day and if not taken care of it will show its wear. Your skin will reflect how well you take care of it. Many of us are forced to remember our physical health when the waistbands of our pants get tight or if we get out of breath climbing the stairs. We may begin by going an extra 20 minutes on the treadmill or even making an appointment with a physician.

Take a look in the mirror today. Do you see dry skin, redness, wrinkles or brown spots? If the answer is yes, perhaps your skin is asking for a little more care and attention. Taking care of our skin is not just for cosmetic reasons or for pampering. It’s for your health.

Family Meals: Fast Food Done Right

Family Meals: Fast Food Done Right
Lanie DeMars, Adventure 212 Bistro Manager

As much as I love summer vacations; basking in the sun, swimming in the river, and wakeboarding with my friends…it’s hard to compete with back to school for fun times of the year. The leaves are starting to change color, the evening air gets a little crisper, and the promise of what the school year will bring is so exhilarating! (Not to mention that you even get to go shopping for new school clothes!) From mom’s and dad’s perspective, the start of school correlates to less time in the evening for cooking and eating together as a family. Kids have football practice, swimming class and dance lessons (sometimes all in the same night!) and with all the running around, car seats often pinch hit for the kitchen table. But we all know that in order to keep our families healthy, we should limit our consumption of fast foods….right?

What if I gave you some tricks and ideas for “fast” foods you can make at home—so YOU control the fat, sodium and portions? It doesn’t take a ton of time, just a little bit of planning. Here are some step-by-step ideas to make the planning go smoothly.

• Figure out what you’ll be making for dinner the day before—so you can make sure you have ingredients on hand. Then, start it in the morning before you leave for work. We all know that by 5:30 pm, if you haven’t started dinner yet, you’re most likely going to end up at a drive-thru window, forking over good cash for yucky food. If you’re really on your game, you can plan the whole week’s dinners on the weekend, so we can just do one big grocery shopping trip and save time there.

• If you know your family will be running around in the evenings and will need to eat on the go, invest in a nice re-usable container for each family member. Color code them if you like (your kids might get into that), and make sure they’re clean and ready to go when you’re prepping for the next day’s meal. Don’t forget utensils and napkins, and something to pack a glass of milk for your kids. Pack them all in a large re-usable bag (like a grocery sack), so it’s easy to pack in and take out of the car with you.

• When you’re planning your menu, remember the food pyramid. My pediatrician told me to shoot for the plate to be 2/3 vegetables and fruit, the rest protein and complex carbs (brown rice, whole grain pasta, etc).

• Think about these cooking methods for fast and easy weeknight suppers… Crockpot. Casseroles. Stews. Chili. (Anything you can make ahead and just warm up quickly on your way out the door.)

• Have a little cooler of snacks in the car for when kids are hungry (or “staaaaaaaaaaarving” as my kids are prone to say) and dinner is more than 15 minutes away. Cheese sticks, apples, whole grain crackers, nuts or trail mix and re-usable water bottles are good choices.

Need some ideas for quick (and packable) dinners?

• Chicken a la King, full of peas and carrots (made in the crockpot) over a biscuit, served with melon chunks and strawberries.
• Asian beef with mandarin oranges, lots of peppers and vegetables with rice (crockpot), watermelon wedges for dessert.
• Shepard’s Pie (made with ground turkey, corn, green beans, leftover mashed potatoes and a bit of cheese), served with apple slices.
• Sloppy Joes (crockpot– try it with ground turkey) on whole grain buns with a tossed salad and carrot sticks **Note: Okay, perhaps not in the car with this one, but it can be eaten quickly before you need to leave the house, or as a mini-picnic before the big game.
• Chicken and wild rice casserole (bake it the night before if you know you’ll be in a big hurry!) with raw green beans and tomato slices.

For more great and quick dinner ideas, check out a couple of my favorite websites…

http://family.go.com/food

www.familycrockpotrecipes.com

http://www.momswhothink.com/recipes/recipes.html

Got Stress?!

Got Stress?!
Jen Oswald, MS Adventure 212 Fitness

Stress, it seems, has gotten a bad name in our society. It may surprise you, but stress plays a very important role in our day-to-day lives. Stress hormones fuel the energy that gets us through our days and calls us to action when we are in danger. However, we have so busied our lives that for many, stress is kept at a constantly higher level than is necessary or healthy. Chronic stress is wreaking havoc on the lives of millions of Americans.

Chronic stress can be dangerous and even life-threatening if levels are kept above average for long periods of time. It depletes the body and makes us more vulnerable to colds, infections and disease. In addition, it has been linked to weight gain, specifically around the abdomen. The stress hormone, cortisol, and adrenaline are key in this process. It is cortisol’s job to help refuel the body after each stressful event. However, when stress is left unchecked, there is a cascading effect.

When the stress response is activated within the body, adrenaline and cortisol levels spike telling the body to release sugar and fat into the bloodstream. This fat and sugar provides energy to the body. When the stressor subsides, the body’s fuel level needs to be restored to its original level. Cortisol triggers an appetite response to provide the carbohydrates and fat that were used up and to store for the next stressful event. This could explain why you crave high fat foods, as opposed to healthy ones when under stress! When that process happens on a continuous basis, the appetite response stays elevated and the constant increased appetite can lead to weight gain, specifically around the midline.

Dr. Wally Schmitt of Proactive Wellness and Chiropractic in Stevens Point says, “Of all the negative influences on the body, I consider unmanaged stress the most damaging. It has an effect on every cell in the body and every major disease can be linked to it. Unfortunately, many people do not address this issue in their lives and suffer the health consequences.”

So, if you needed a reason to slow down, you’ve got one! Americans have become the unhealthiest people on the planet. Of course this is linked to widely available fast food and too little exercise. However, I believe the pace at which we live life is a contributing factor as well. I encourage you to look for little ways in which you can reduce stress in your life. Get up fifteen minutes earlier to have some quiet time before the day starts. Make it a point to eat dinner as a family, together at the table, rather than in front of the television. Try to work some exercise into every day, even if it is a fifteen minute walk on your lunch break. Every little bit is going to help when it comes to making a change in the stress you allow into your life. And I promise, you won’t regret it!

If you would like more information on the negative impact stress has on health, contact Dr. Wally Schmitt at 715-254-3980. One of his passions is to educate on various health topics. His office is located in Adventure 212 Fitness in Stevens Point. If you would like help managing the stress you currently have, contact Jen Oswald, Wellness Coach, at 715-343-0212 or joswald@adventure212.com.

Healthy Eating: Cool Down with Fresh Sorbet

Cool Down with Fresh Sorbet

So we’re heading into the very hot, steamy days of August. One thing I’ve seen all around the community while out biking, shopping, etc. is the fresh blackberries and raspberries…so I thought I’d share a recipe given to me by an old Chef friend to help cool you down and utilize those fresh berries. The best thing about this recipe is that all you need is a pot, blender and/or a food processor! So enjoy a delicious treat this evening!

BLACKBERRY AND TEA SORBET
Yields: 6-8 servings
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup Loose Leaf Black Tea
½ cup sugar
3 cups blackberries
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Boil tea with water and let steep for 5 minutes. Return to the heat add sugar. Stir until it dissolves. Cool completely, either by setting it to the side or placing it into the cooler.

Clean blackberries and place into food processor or blender and pulse until pulp. Add tea and blend until smooth. Pour into a shallow pan and freeze for 3 hours. Transfer the mango mix into the food processor again and blend until smooth, about 30 to 40 seconds. Place into a bowl and enjoy!

You can also add other fruit to your “ice cream”. Try mangos, strawberries, blueberries, etc. Also try other teas! Use a Green Tea with mangos, or a Red Rooibos Tea with blueberries! When you get used to playing with teas and fruit the options are unlimited!
This also stores up to 2 months in the freezer, when you pull it out let sit for about 10 minutes and then scoop away! Enjoy!