May is Physical Fitness Month

May, 2008

By: Javier Alegre

            May is National Physical Fitness Month. This year, the RST Diabetes Prevention joins millions across Indian Country to challenge American Indians to get motivated and get moving for health and to get active and fit during the month of May.

             Last month RST Chairman Rodney Bordeaux, along with RST Diabetes Prevention challenged everyone on the Rosebud Reservation to join the “National President’s Challenge” starting on March 20^th (first day of spring). The challenge was extended to all local residents, RST employees, as well as Rosebud Casino employees, SWA, BIA employees and all those interested in improving their health and lifestyle. The President’s Challenge is a six week physical activity program designed to get America up and moving.

             “We strive for a healthy nation; we want our people active and healthier. We want to take charge of our health and life, and be as healthy of a nation as we once were” said Rodney Bordeaux, RST chairman on a recent interview.

             As many of you know, physical activity is a key ingredient to an overall healthy lifestyle. In addition to building and maintaining healthy bones, muscles and joints, it reduces the risk of many serious diseases, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and Stroke. Diseases that often result from being overweight or obese and living a sedentary lifestyle and that are a serious problem on the Rosebud reservation.

“It is time for the Sicangu Nation to Rise to the Challenge! We are challenging all residents of the Rosebud Reservation to get moving and join this challenge” said President Bordeaux.

Adults need at least 30 minutes of activities five days a week. This can be done by choosing to bike or walk instead of driving, taking stairs instead of an elevator, play outside instead of video games or doing yard work and pushing a lawnmower instead or riding one. Children need at least 60 minutes of daily active play. They need to run, climb, jump, and just get up and move around, away from their television and video games or computers. Twenty minutes of vigorous activity three times a week such as sports, aerobics, working out in the gym, and running have added health benefits. However “It’s important to understand that you don’t have to go to a gym to sweat and work out, or run a marathon to get the benefits of daily physical activity. With just 30 minutes a day, broken up into shorter increments if it suits you better and tailored to your physical and medical needs can greatly improve your health” said Marc Marshall, physical Fitness Supervisor at RST Diabetes Prevention.

During the month of May make it a point to get up and move. If you are a part of the President’s Challenge, kick it up a notch! If you are not participating on the challenge, create your own with co-workers, friends and family. Remember, your health and your future is in your hands!

Back to Basics… Pre-diabetes, What is it?

April, 2008

By: Javier Alegre

     Pre-diabetes is a condition where the body’s cell begin to show resistance to insulin. Glucose circulates in the blood instead of being used by the cells for energy. Blood sugar levels become elevated, but not high enough to become diabetes. Increased weight gain, unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle can lead to pre-diabetes.

     There is a lot you can do yourself to know your risks for diabetes or to know if you have pre-diabetes, your actions could help you prevent the disease from ever developing. The good news is that even though pre-diabetes is a serious medical condition, you can take to proper steps to manage it and control it.

          Being overweight or obese makes a person much more likely to develop pre-diabetes and eventually diabetes; much of the reservations adult population is overweight or obese according to recent studies conducted by Indian Health Services. The amount of young adults and children with weight problems is indicating, for the first time is decades, that the next generation will have a shorter life expectancy rate than their parents due to obesity, lack of exercise, and poor diet.  Causing our young ones to develop illnesses like heart disease and diabetes.

     According to the American Diabetes Association, over 41 million adult Americans over 40 have pre-diabetes and don’t even know it. The rate of adults diagnosed with diabetes have reached 60 % in some Indian communities. Statistics for younger people are even grimmer. 99,500; 12.8% of American Indians and Alaska Natives age 20  and over have been diagnosed with diabetes. Applying that rate to the total undiagnosed Native population in the US it gives us an estimated 118,000, 15.1% of Native Americans and Alaska Natives with diabetes (diagnosed and undiagnosed), increasing the possibility of having pre-diabetes at an early age much higher than expected.

     Native Americans have a 2.2 times higher chance to have diabetes than any other race. Pay attention to your body, family history and lifestyle

March Is National Nutrition Month

March, 2008

By: Javier Alegre

     March is National Nutrition Month. Eating well can help reduce your risk of chronic diseases like diabetes, obesity, hypertension and cancer. Eating well doesn’t mean eating expensive meals or fancy ingredients from exotic locations. It means eating a variety of healthy foods in the right amounts so your body gets the nutrients needed to maintain good heath and work properly.

     What exactly are the nutrients that come from food? Different foods provide different kinds of nutrients:

>> Proteins (lean meats, eggs, beans,      nuts) help build muscle and a strong immune system.

>> Carbohydrates (starches, sugar and whole grains that also provide fiber) give you energy.

>> Fats provide essential fatty acids and extra energy.

>> Vitamins and minerals (commonly available in fruits, vegetables and whole grains) regulate body processes, enhance cell function and growth and help build a strong immune system.

>> Water gives cells shape and acts as a medium where body processes can occur.

     Including a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins into each meal will help ensure that your body gets the right amount of the essential nutrients. Eating too many saturated fats and sugar can lead to excess weight gain and chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes.

     In general, processed foods tend to lose many of their vitamins during the manufacturing process and often have other less healthy ingredients added such as corn syrup and trans fats. Thus, the term empty calories is often used to describe foods like soda and potato chips. Replacing processed foods in your diets with more fresh foods like fruits, vegetables and plain water helps your body and eliminates some chances for chronic disease. Improving  your diet and reducing the amount of fats and empty calories may also help improve your memory.

     The following are some tips on how to practice good nutrition this month and every month:

1. Eat smaller meals. Make a large serving of vegetables the center of your plate, with smaller meat and starch servings. Include at least one serving of fruits with every meal.

2. Drink more water between meals; try veggies or a handful of nuts for a snack and fresh fruit for something sweet.

3. Reduce your intake of deep fried foods, chronic disease-causing trans fats found in processed foods and baked goods.

4. Read food labels and reduce the amount of added sugar, corn syrup and salt in the diet. Use fresh herbs and spices to season food instead.

     Pay special attention to your breakfast, here are some additions to your first meal of the day that could make a big difference in your health:

1. Ready to eat whole grain cereal topped with fruit and a cup of yogurt.

2. Whole grain waffles topped with peanut butter, fruit or ricotta cheese.

3. Hot cereal topped with cinnamon.

4. Vegetable omelet with orange juice.

     Paying attention to what  you eat could save your life and your children’s life.

Steps to create a New Year’s resolution…

January, 2008

By: Javier Alegree

     If you're like most people, you've probably experienced the sudden burst of motivation that comes in early January, as holiday indulgences make their way to the waistline.

"This is the year that I vow to lose ten pounds and keep it off." Other common variations include goals to get back to one's "true" weight or to fit into a size ten, and worthy resolutions they are. Sadly, New Year resolutions are notoriously Short-lived, if not completely forgotten by February. The trick to making resolutions work is to follow the same steps required to make any goal work, as follows:

   1. Choose the Right NY’s Resolution(s)

     For all too many New Year resolutions, failure is virtually assured at the offset because the resolutions are not made with serious intent and deliberation. The first trick is to choose the right New Year resolution, for the right reasons

Give some thought to what you really want and why you want it. What direct benefit do you hope to receive? Is a weight-loss resolution meant to improve your self-esteem? Attractiveness? Vitality? Longevity? Identifying the “why” helps you avoid setting goals for the wrong reasons.

     Next, decide how difficult to make your new year resolution. Aiming high generally makes people try harder. Optimal performance comes from goal that are difficult, but not so difficult that we don’t believe they can be accomplished.

     Finally, be specific about your resolution and make it official. Being specific means phrasing the goal in words that make it obvious whether or not the goal has been completed.

     2.– Create a plan

     Most resolutions fail because people stop once they’ve made the resolution. It is crucial to harness new year’s temporary motivation into something that will carry you through an extended period of time.

The key to constructing a good plan is to identify the exact steps that you will take toward accomplishing your goal, and assigning due dates to those steps.

     3.– Stay on track

     With a good plan in hand, making significant progress toward your goal may require very little discipline for those who live strictly by daily planners and love nothing more than checking off items on our to-do lists.

     4.– Remain Flexible and keep on going

     We can also expect our short-term and long-term priorities to change. So long as we build flexibility into our expectations, we can simply adjust thing as we go.

Finally, the flip side of setting difficult resolutions is that you must remember to acknowledge partial success. Losing 15 pounds is cause for celebration, even if your original goal was to lose 20pound. If you are just one step closer to your goal, then you are better off than before you started. Pat yourself in the back and keep on going...