10 Ways to Stay Healthy When You are a Parent in School

I often hear the complaint- "It is so hard to be healthy when you are a parent in school." Yes, yes it is.

When you are focusing on your education doesn't mean that you want to ignore your health, because you really can't afford to get sick. You have school and family obligations that don't go away when you need a sick day. However it can be really hard to squeeze those healthy habits in with your responsibilities that are tied to parenting, schooling and/or work.  Here are a few ideas to stay healthy while taking on school, parenting and generally trying to be awesome.

1. Set realistic expectations- You don't have to do all the healthy things everyday. There are so many hours in a day and you have school work to do. Don't beat yourself up that you don't have a six-pack while you are writing your thesis or that sometimes your kids are not eating enough vegetables. Make reasonable health goals for yourself and realize that it's ok if you aren't perfect at all the things all the time.
2. Find ways to multi-task- Get your exercise in while you chase your kids at the park. Do sit-ups while you listen to an online lecture. Prepare your meals while you listen to a recorded presentation. Listen to a relevant audio book while you run. Multi-tasking can be overdone, but it can work if you can combine something mindless (exercise, chopping veggies) with something that you have to think about.
3. Commit to do something for your health everyday. It doesn't have to be running 10 miles. It can be drinking enough water, eating a salad and walking around the block. Small steps forward are better than no steps, or steps backward.
4. Get yourself a water cup with a straw Keep it full of water and next to your computer/textbooks, so you can sip it constantly while you study. Water is an amazing substance that is cheap/free. Being well-hydrated helps prevent a multitude of ailments. Water literally enables all of your cells to function better. It reduces headaches, helps you focus, curbs appetites and cravings and gives you more energy. If you want to know how much you need take your weight in pounds and multiply it by 2/3. That is the amount of water in ounces that you should drink everyday. (Possibly more if you are exercising a lot or depending on the weather.)
5. Ditch your chair. Sitting in a chair for hours is bad for your health. If you have to sit, try an exercise ball. Sitting on an exercise ball does a few things for you 1) It reduces back and hip pain. 2)It forces you to use your core muscles more than sitting in a chair does 3) Can help improve your balance. Standing at your computer can also be a good option if you can adjust your screen to make that feasible. Try reading your textbooks while laying down. Switch it up.
6. Plan healthy meals- Don't leave what you eat for dinner up to whatever you can forage at the end of the day. Even if you don't have time every day to cook, commit to have 4 balanced dinners each week, or whatever you think you can handle. Over the weekend make a plan of what you will eat in the next week. Include some salads. Make sure you have the ingredients available so your plans don't fall apart while you're trying to prepare given healthy meal and your kids are demanding food and attention. When you are prepared it takes less will power to make healthy choices.
7. Take exercise breaks After I have been studying for several hours it helps me to stay sane to walk away and exercise for 30 minutes. When the outside weather is unpleasant I like to do a 21 Day Fix Extreme workout at home. Other days I go for a run. Find whatever exercise you enjoy and go with it. You can find a short workout on Youtube or even just do a set of jumping jacks. Taking exercise breaks can make your study time more effective.
8. Plan healthy snacks- If you have healthy food available that is what you will eat. Some easy examples: carrot sticks and hummus, apples with peanut butter, string cheese, grapes, yogurt with granola, etc. Sometimes it helps to prep healthy snacks (chop veggies, put in containers or baggies) on the weekend, so that they are convenient for you throughout the week.
   
9. Find friends that support you in your goals- Find friends who are also in school and trying to eat healthy and exercise. If you don't know anyone in real life there are plenty of Facebook groups where you can find support and recipes.
10. Take a few minutes to meditate- Take 5 minutes to take deep breaths, remind yourself that you can do this and that in the long run many of the little things that are causing you stress will not matter.

To all you parents out there who are also in school, I salute you. Don't give up!

The Series of Misadventures and Failures that was Living in Colorado

 I think I have been asked hundreds of times why we left Colorado, so it's about time that I just blogged about it. It makes it easier for everyone.
Last August we moved to the Denver area so I could attend graduate school at the University of Colorado. (Which was an adventure in and of itself.) When we arrived we discovered that our apartment was 650 square feet smaller than our contract stated. In fact apartments as big as our contract stated did not exist. They gave us one that was 50 sq ft bigger than the first and a free garage and storage unit to put our stuff in. As there was a housing shortage and we were there with our moving truck, we didn't have a whole lot of options. The apartment was brand new and the location seemed great so we took it.

 I checked out the elementary school for our kids before we selected our place. It seemed very close in scores to the one my kids attended previously. But my kids were bullied, so I started volunteering in their classes so I could be more aware of what was going on. I felt like their teachers were great, I LOVED their teachers. However, there were other factors that made it hard, like a very large number of kids in their classrooms who didn't speak any English, and an unusually high percentage of kids with special needs. As great as these ladies are, they can only do so much.
 In November I was notified that I was a possible match to donate blood stem cells to someone with leukemia through the Be the Match program. That was super exciting.
 In December my son's 1st grade teacher quit. It was hard and she decided it wasn't what she wanted to do.
 In January I started a temporary nursing position that I was super excited about. It didn't work out very well. After a month I requested that I be oriented as much as they had promised, and they fired me. It would have been nice if they fired me the week before we bought a second car instead of the week after. :/
 A week before my winter semester started I began having intense abdominal pain. After a couple days of that, I went into the emergency room. They found a hemorrhaging mass (cyst) the size of an

orange on my ovary. They told me it might be cancer and if I needed more pain meds before I could see  a specialist I should just come back to the ER. I know that sounds completely ridiculous, but I am not making this up.
 A few weeks later, the OB/GYN said that the cyst appeared to be gone, but they would do more follow-up in 6 weeks. The upshot was that after a couple months they said I don't have ovarian cancer, (yay!) and the problem with my ovaries isn't worth treating unless I am winding up in the ER on a regular basis. (So far, so good.)
On the day that I went to the ER we also discovered that my son was failing every subject except math. Between having a string of substitute and potential replacements, he and most of his class were failing. The longer we stayed the more miserable my daughter was. There was one week where she cried everyday on the way to school, she hated it so much. We had tried to get our kids into the gifted school, but we were told that you have to live in the district for a year and then there was a long application process. So we were waiting to hear if our kids would be accepted to the gifted school for the next year.
 In February I was notified that I was indeed the best possible match for the person with leukemia. They drew a 19 large tubes of blood for diagnostic tests. I walked out of the office pale and with blue lips. I went home, fainted and hit my head in my kitchen. Be The Match decided that it was probably best to go with the second closest match. Between my hemorrhaging mass and all the blood draws I was pretty anemic, meaning finding the energy to do my homework and keep my kids alive took all my will-power. I was grateful that they had a back-up match.
  The day I was scheduled for my ultrasound I also took a practical exam that I failed. 85% was required to pass. I was nervous and I missed just a few too many points. So even though I still had an A in that class I failed the whole course by default, and I'll have to retake it later.
 Meanwhile no one wanted to buy my big beautiful house in Utah. We put a ton of money into upgrades. No offers. We dropped the price by enough that we would lose at least $20K. No offers. Nor could we

rent it for enough to cover our costs. And Colorado kept getting more and more expensive. During 2014 Denver tied with San Francisco for the highest inflation rate.  Lots of people wanted to move there (for marijuana and various other reasons) and the housing supply did not match the demand. We were paying almost twice as much for our tiny apartment as for our large house that had nearly four times the space. And in the 8 months that we were there the market value of our apartment went up 30%. We heard all kinds of crazy stories about people struggling to buy houses and the longer we stayed, the more we realized that the prospects of us getting into a place that was both big enough for our family and near a good school for our kids were not very good. The final straw was when our daughter was accepted into the gifted school and our son was put on a waiting list. Not good enough. Even though our place was convenient for me, staying right there was not a good option. We couldn't ignore the fact that his academic needs were being ignored. I may be a lot of things. I'm a nurse. I'm a student. I'm a runner, I'm a coach, but first and foremost I am a mom and I can't go after my dreams at the expense of my kids.
 So we moved back to our big beautiful house in Utah. My daughter was immediately accepted into the local gifted school and my son will be there when he is old enough (Here the gifted programs don't start until 3rd grade).  The longer we are here, the more it is evident that this was the best move our for our kids. Our kids are more free to run around and make noise. We have enough living space (and then some) with reasonable lighting. They have more friends. Within 3 weeks my son was reading at grade level. All of our expenses are less, which takes off some stress. We LOVE it here, even more so than when we lived here before.  My husband and I have great friends here.  We have easy access to lots of hiking and outdoor play. I can do most of my classes online, and the rest gets complicated, but I will make it work.

 Colorado is beautiful and there were lots of fun things to do there. We made some really fantastic friends there who we miss, but unfortunately Colorado was not a good option for our family.
 In some ways the experience felt like a big expensive and painful failure. (We had several other smaller failures mixed in that adventure, but those were the highlights.) But we learned things. Do we know where we are going to be when I am done with school? No, not really. Would I do it that way again? Probably not. But I am stronger than ever and I learned lessons that I'm not sure you can put a price tag on.
 Moral of the story, sometimes things don't work out as planned, but we keep going, we learn and we find things to be grateful for along the way.

African Americans, Diabetes and Thinking Like a Freak

Last week I was listening to Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain . The whole premise of the book is looking at problems from different angles. In it the authors shared the story of an economist who was interested in why is it that African Americans have such higher rates of diabetes and heart disease compared to other parts of the population. This is so even if you account for things like stress, education and income level. If you look at European Africans or Native Africans, their incidence of diabetes and heart disease is far less than African Americans. This isn't racism, it's just statistics. Then why is it that African Americans are prone to have these problems? The economist's theory (which he is still researching) is that those who survived the slave trade had a genetic propensity to be able to withstand extreme dehydration, because they held more salt in their sweat and bodily fluids, they retained more water.  This leads to a higher oncotic pressure in the blood and more cardiovascular damage. These people who had this characteristic  would have more tendency towards heart disease and would pass this on to their descendants, modern African Americans. Slave- traders actually selected for this characteristic by licking potential slave purchases and selecting people who tasted more salty.

An Englishman tasting an African

Now this is all well and interesting, (and the history of the slave trade is very tragic) but so what? What can we do with this information right now? This morning I had an 'ah-ha' moment while listening to my pharmacology lecture. There is a newer group of diabetic medications known as SGLT2 inhibitors (Invokana) which inhibit sodium & glucose transport in the kidney which leads to less sodium and glucose in the blood, and is essentially an osmotic diuretic. One of the side effects is weight loss and patients are more likely to experience DEHYDRATION. This is a the perfect medication to give to patients who are genetically resistant to dehydration. Of course has a pediatric nurse practitioner it is not likely that I will be treating African American patients with Type 2 diabetes, and I'm sure that someone else out there has already made this connection, but I was excited about it and am so grateful for science and people who think outside the box to try to find solutions to problems and improve healthcare.

Reaching For a Better Version of Myself

This morning I popped in my 21 Day Fix workout dvd, and started arranging my equipment to work

out. My husband asked "So is your goal to look like that? (Gesturing to Autumn Calabrese) Is that the body that you're going for?" I thought for a second and said "No!" I am not interested in looking like Autumn Calabrese. (Not that she doesn't look amazing, because she does.) I know that I am never going to look like her. I have more booty and more hips than she does and I am perfectly fine with that. I'm not interested in changing my body so drasticly that I look like someone else. I exercise because I am reaching for a better version of myself. Because exercise makes me happy and gives me the energy to get done the things that I need to. Because I want to be around for my family for a long time. I exercise because I believe that inside me there is a powerful person who can make a difference in the world and exercising is going to help set her free. And if I get killer abs in the process I will not complain. :)

My Piyo Story- Or How I Recovered from a Hip Injury During Graduate School

Before I talk about how I got into great shape, I need to give the background of how I got out of shape. In Fall 2012, I was in descent shape. I ran the St. George marathon, as well as 7 half marathons that year. In the course of training for the marathon, most of my running buddies injured themselves. One just quit altogether. That left me and one friend who regularly walked and ran together, until she was diagnosed with breast cancer in the spring of 2013. (She is now in remission and doing great.) Without a workout buddy, my running became less regular. In Fall 2013, I started graduate school as a non-degree seeking student. I ran and did yoga occasionally, but not like I had been.
My Hip Injury
I wish that I had some cool or dramatic story about how I injured my hip, but I don't. My husband and I went to Alaska to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary in June 2014. After sitting in a small airplane or airplane terminal seat for the better part of 13 hours my left hip started aching. I injured my hip  by sitting for too long, pretty lame story.  I tried to take it easy and it got worse. I tried running on it, and it felt better as long as I kept it under 6 miles, then it would hurt. It wasn't extreme pain, it was just annoying. I tried doing yoga more often and visiting a massage therapist. It helped a small amount, but it was always temporary, and overall it was slowly getting worse.
 In Fall 2014 we moved to Colorado so I could go to graduate school, and I joined the university running club. I was excited to have someone to run with and meet new people. The problem is that everyone in the running club is 8-10 years younger than me and in much better shape. When I started pushing myself hard enough to keep up with them I really screwed up my hip. It was too the point that I was in severe pain all day everyday. It hurt to sit, it hurt to stand, it hurt to walk, it hurt to lay down, it hurt to run. My left hip hurt all the time. I was a mess. I was crippled and frustrated that I couldn't exercise and it effected how I felt overall. I went to see a chiropractor. The x-rays showed that my left hip had been rotated enough that my left leg was 2 inches shorter than my right. And the pain was coming from my muscles being twisted and stretched out of place around the joint. So I went in for regular treatments and adjustments. He told me that I needed to start exercising again to help it, but NO running. That made things hard. I don't like the gym, I like to run.
 Piyo

 Then an old friend messaged me and asked if I would like to join her fitness challenge group. I worked with Missy years ago, and she was one of the primary nurses who trained me to be a pediatric nurse. Working nights on pediatrics, you grow to love and trust your co-workers. And I was always impressed that even though she had small kids and worked full-time nights she would still run. At the time I felt to overwhelmed to exercise, but I was impressed that she did.
 While I debated about whether I would do the fitness challenge (because to honest forking out the money is what held me back), I joined one of her clean eating groups. I went the entire month of October without eating any sugar and I lost three pounds. (College life is often not conducive to healthy eating habits.) Then I started the fitness challenge and started doing Piyo workouts. Piyo is like a cross between Pilates and Yoga, with a few other exercises thrown in there. It's a low-impact (read-easy on your joints), full body workout and it was exactly what I needed. It doesn't require any weights or equipment other than a yoga mat. The dvd instruction is led by fitness guru Chalene Johnson. After doing it for a month, I felt so much better! My hip wasn't all the way better, but I could function without pain, and all of my clothes were fitting better. I could sit for hours during my lectures and it was ok! By the end of the month I could run a few miles, but not just that committing to a workout on a regular basis changed me. I had more energy. I found that even though I'm busy with school and three kids and all of the other things in my life, I feel so much better when I schedule time 6 days a weeks for exercise. Piyo really helped me to get in the habit of exercising regularly, without feeling exhausted (like when I trained for my marathon).
 Then I did the workout for another 30 days and I was so pleased with the results. I have never been in this good of shape. My hip is about 90% better (I'm still careful with it, and I do try to avoid sitting for hours at a time). I am stronger and more flexible. There are yoga moves I can do now that I was never able to do before. Doing my workouts gives me the energy and motivation to take on all of  the other things in my life that I need to do. My stomach has not been this flat since jr high. I CAN DO PUSH-UPS! I sleep better! I fit into clothes I never thought I would fit into again after having my kids. And I feel awesome. I loved it so much, I decided to start coaching, because I want to help other people improve their health too. As a nurse, that has always been a goal and motivation anyway, but in many ways as a nurse you can only help people for a short period of time.
 I worked hard, but I wasn't perfect. This was November, December and early January that I did this. (Finals and Holidays) I had a few holiday treats.We went to a few dinner and Christmas parties, and I still enjoyed yummy holidays foods. I still got a little candy in my stocking. Between kids, graduate school and winter illnesses, I missed one workout almost every week. So it doesn't take perfection to improve, but it does take progress and dedication.
 If you are looking to get in shape and want a workout that won't require a lot of equipment and will be easy on your joints. I highly, highly recommend it.
Results
Okay here's the part that I feel kind of nervous about. I'm putting pictures of myself in my sports bra on the internet, so you can see my white flabby mid-driff, stretch marks included.  But I'm sharing so you can compare my results and see that it really works.

Balance Rewards- Earning Credit for Walgreens Purchases for Tracking Your Workouts

It's a fair assumption that all of us could use a little extra cash. Here is an easy way to earn some, just

by tracking the exercise that you are already doing through the Walk with Walgreens/Balance Rewards program. This isn't the kind of extra cash that will pay your bills, but it will help you cover your drugstore purchases like ibuprofen and cold medicine, or photo prints. Most of us are walking everyday anyway, so why not get some credit for it? Here's how it works:

1. You sign up for a free account at Walgreens.com
2. Track the miles that you walk, run, bike, hike, etc. Each mile logged gives you 20 points.
3. 5000 points = $5 to spend at Walgreens
4. You can also get points for recording other healthy habits, like tracking your blood pressure and blood sugar values, losing weight, making fitness goals or making steps to stop smoking.
5. If you have a fitness tracker like Fitbit, you can sync it to your account and then you don't even have to think about recording your miles. Fitbit can do it for you for you automatically.
6. You can also earn points by buying certain products at Walgreens, but those vary depending on what the weekly ad is.

10 Ways to Prevent Catching a Cold or Flu

It's that time of year, commonly known by health care professionals and mothers of winter babies as  'respiratory season'. The time of year that you and your family are always battling to stay healthy and not have a constant runny nose, cough and/or sniffles. It can be a struggle, but here are some ways to help you and your family stay healthy.

1. Stay well hydrated- It's kind of a running joke in my family, if anyone has a physical ailment
   
   or complaint I will ask them how much water they have been drinking. But hydration is sooo important. Your body requires water in order to facilitate all of the processes it does all of the time. It think my toddler's first complete sentence was to me when I was sick "Drink more water, it will feels you better." Make sure you and your kids are getting enough fluids.
2. Keep your nose moist- When I was in nursing school, one of my professors said that the secret to not getting sick when you are caring for sick people is nasal mist. (You can find them at your local drug store.) When you are well-hydrated, your nose and respiratory tract is full of moist squishy mucus (boogers). That squishy, sticky mucus is perfect for catching germs so they don't get deeper into your body. When that mucus gets hard and dry it is less effective at catching the germs. Nasal mist and a water bottle are your friends.
3. Wash your hands-Frequently I know we have all heard this before, but it still holds true. Keep your hands clean and keep them away from your face and you stand a better chance at not catching whatever the latest bug is to go around. And whenever we return from playing at some indoor playplace (or any other place where there are a lot of children frequently touching the surfaces), I make my children bathe. A trip to McDonald's always ensures bath time.
4. Exercise- When you exercise, it helps your immune system to work more effectively
   
5. Eat a healthy diet- Your body is constantly fighting a battle against legions of microbes, in order to fight that battle your immune system needs proteins, vitamins and minerals to keep your skin (your primary protective barrier) in good condition and create the antibodies and white blood cells that disable any harmful invaders.
6. Keep sick people away from your family- This can be hard because you don't want to offend people, but the health and well-being of your children in more important than someone having the privilege of spreading their illness. Once years ago, I took care of a tiny infant whose grandma had come to visit. Grandma had bronchitis, but had already paid for her airline ticket from across the country and was too excited to stay away from her new grandchild. The infant quickly came down with bronchiolitis caused by RSV and became very ill. At one point a mucous plug formed in one of the lungs, causing a pneumothorax (the tension caused the lung to “pop” and deflate). That infant had to be life-lighted to a Pediatric ICU at another hospital. I don’t know whether or not it survived. This is serious business. Keep sick people away from your babies, even if it is Grandma.
7. Make sure your family gets their flu shots. And often it doesn't even have to be a 'shot'. Most pediatricians office offer a 'flu mist', which is a quick squirt up the nose, no needles required. The flu shot is not fool proof. The scientist who develop try to pick the strains of  flu viruses that are most likely to spread through the population that year. They then give that vaccine to the population to give them immunity against it. Sometimes they pick the wrong one and other strains effect the populations (like this year), but it is better to get the flu vaccine and as a probable prevention than not. And even if you do get the flu, it is likely that your symptoms will not be as severe. Most years it is an extremely effective way to prevent illness.
8. Get enough rest- Keeping your body healthy can be hard work, and you need adequate rest to
   
   keep going and stay healthy. This is for kids and parents. It can be hard during the holidays to get enough rest when there is so much going on, but it is important for everyone.
9. Alcohol-based hand sanitizer & baby wipes- I keep these in my purse and car at all times. Yes they are not as effective at killing germs and a thorough 2 minute hand scrubbing with soap and water, but often you and your kids don't have time for that and hand sanitizer is still very effective at killing germs.
10. Keep your doorknobs and light switches clean- Wiping these down with a Lysol wipe is one of my kids' favorite chores. This ties into keeping your hands clean, which many studies have shown effectively prevents illness.

And because RSV is such a huge part of the respiratory season in kids, here's some more information on it. RSV stands for respiratory syncytial virus and is most common reason for infant hospital admission. (Although metapneumo virus or MPV will cause very similar results.) When adults or older children contract the virus the immune system responds by producing more mucous to catch the virus so it can be moved out of the lungs by coughing and the action of microscopic hair-like parts in the lungs called cilia. In an infant the problem is that the virus also causes inflammation of the lungs (bronchiolitis) and this swelling of their tiny airways makes it difficult to move the mucous and viruses out. The irritation causes more mucous production and the poor tiny guys are almost drowning in their own snot. Frequently because the infants don’t feel well, they don’t drink enough, they become dehydrated and that makes the mucous thick and sticky and more difficult to cough out. 

Because RSV is a virus, antibiotics do nothing for it. There is a vaccine, but it is VERY expensive and doesn’t guarantee prevention. It’s called Synergis and it generally only given to very premature babies. There is no vaccine for MPV. The only treatment is oxygen, suction and fluids. Sometimes suctioning with a bulb syringe is enough to clear the airway, but more often the infants need to be deep suctioned by a professional. If your infant displays any of the following, it is time to see a doctor: retracting (or sucking in) around the rib cage and collar bones, blue lips, grey color, difficulty breathing, wheezing, or breathing faster than 60 times per minute.