November 15, 2007
Sports like cross country skiing can help you get through the winter.
Healthy Hearts presents: Soup and Snow
by Ben Marx, Healthy Hearts Case Manager
Ahhh! Soup and snow, what a great combination! Come in from being outside in the cold all day and enjoy a hot bowl of soup. It's even better when the soup is healthy and the enjoyment of the snow includes physical activity.
What is Healthy Soup?
Healthy soup has lots of vegetables, either canned or frozen. It also has some meat, such as fish, bird, or moose. The smallest source of food is starchy foods, such as potatoes or rice or noodles, but only 1 or 2 of them, not all of them. Instead of salt, healthy soups have other ingredients. Good ingredients to add into soup are below:
- green beans
- tomatoes
- onions
- spinach
- mixed vegetables
- zucchini
- peppers
- celery
- sourdock
- olive oil
- seal oil
- black pepper
- garlic powder
- cumin
- basil
- rosemary
- thyme
- lemon juice
- fish
- moose
- caribou
- seal
- chicken
- ptarmigan
- beaver
- bird
- rabbit
Winter Activity
Winter provides an enchanting variety of activities, including skiing, snowshoeing, and dog mushing, where the sound of crunching snow and the tickle of snow crystals upon your nose can be a beautiful experience. However, not everyone enjoys fighting the frigid wind-chill of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
Even though a person gets plenty of exercise in the summer during the peak of fish camp and berry picking, skipping out during the winter can put people at risk for poor health and even heart disease.
There are several indoor activities that offer an effective recipe of duration and intensity and are a great way to be active with family and friends. These include squats, lunges, calisthenics and using inexpensive equipment to get your heart rate up in the comfort of your own home. For less than $30, you can purchase such things as stability balls, exercise DVDs, dumbbells sets, and much more.
You can also lift and carry logs for your stoves or carry jugs of water. If you have no stove or jugs of water, volunteer to help a friend out by carrying these things. Pulling kids on a sled with a rope is a great way to get fit and those kids will love you forever.
Many people are confused why they are not losing weight or are being told they have poor health even though they are active during the warmer months of the year. Even for health maintenance, the body needs consistent exercise. Staying active in the winter may be the best thing someone can do to maintain health and fitness all year long. With a little creativity and enough desire, anyone has the ability to stay active during winter.
For more information on winter activities, types of equipment, or anything relating to exercise, call Ben Marx at 543-6904 or email him at benjamin_marx@ykhc.org. As the case manager for Healthy Hearts and as an exercise physiologist, he is glad to help anyone choosing to better their lives with physical activity.
Make the most of your winter...get up and get active!