MILWAUKEE, WI - During this time of year it's a natural instinct for our bodies to tell us to stay indoors and load up on calories to keep warm and cozy all winter long. But this sort of lifestyle may cause one to pack on the pounds and can lead to a range of health-related concerns.

While some prefer to head to the gym to keep up their fitness routine, Amy Goldwater, M.S., educator, former body-building champion, and physical fitness expert for TOPS Club, Inc. (Take Off Pounds Sensibly), the nonprofit weight-loss support organization, recommends a list of creative outdoor activities to enjoy with family and friends.

"Fun activities like snowball fights, making snow angels, and building a snowman count as exercise and burn calories," Goldwater notes. "For example, a 150 pound person burns an average of 285 calories per hour building a snowman, 319 calories per hour during that snowball fight, and 214 calories burned per hour making snow angels."

Other winter "fitness" activities to consider include :
• Building a snow fort or igloo;
• Playing chase, tag, or hide and seek;
• Having a scavenger hunt for winter nature items, such as animal tracks, pinecones, or bird nests;
• Shoveling a path in the yard like a maze;
• Setting up an obstacle course in the yard with jumps, tunnels, and other challenges;
• Playing Frisbee/disc golf on a local course or at home.

All of these activities burn significant calories during participation. In fact, an hour of snow shoveling can burn 340 calories.

Traditional outdoor winter activities also are excellent fitness opportunities, according to Goldwater. Ice-skating, hiking in the snow, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing, offer great cardiovascular workouts. Remember to dress warmly and in layers; stay hydrated; keep hands, feet, and head warm with outerwear; and keep an eye on the weather forecast for snow and wind chill warnings.

Eat a light snack an hour or two before working out, to add energy and prevent distracting hunger pangs. Ideal snack options should be low-fat and include fruit smoothies; a few handfuls of nuts; hard-boiled eggs; and fast-digesting, high-glycemic fresh fruit like watermelon, grapes, pineapple, and bananas.

"Sunblock is important in the winter, too," Goldwater says. "Using an SPF of 15 or higher will help protect your skin from sunburn that can occur when exercising in snow or high altitudes. Also, don't forget to wear a lip balm that contains sunscreen."

TOPS Club Inc. (Take Off Pounds Sensibly), the original, nonprofit weight-loss support and wellness education organization, was established more than 63 years ago to champion weight-loss support and success. Founded and headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, TOPS promotes successful, affordable weight management with a philosophy that combines healthy eating, regular exercise, wellness information, and support from others at weekly chapter meetings. TOPS has about 170,000 members in nearly 10,000 chapters throughout the United States and Canada.

Visitors are welcome to attend their first TOPS meeting free of charge. To find a local chapter, view www.tops.org or call (800) 932-8677.

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WASHINGTON - January 18, 2011 - Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) released the following statement after the Department of Health and Human Services released a new report showing that, without the Affordable Care Act, up to 129 million Americans under the age of 65 who have a pre-existing health condition would be at risk of losing health insurance when they need it most, or be denied coverage:  

"The report released today by the Department of Health and Human Services reconfirms the vital importance of the Affordable Care Act's broad consumer protections.  The Department's analysis shows that up to 129 million Americans under the age of 65 have a preexisting condition, and millions more are likely to develop such a condition in the next eight years.  If Congressional Republicans had their way, these Americans would face denial or restriction of health benefits.  This report makes clear that we can't afford to deprive half of Americans under the age of 65 of this vital protection."

The HHS report comes on the same day of a new Associated Press-GfK poll that shows opposition to the Affordable Care Act diminishing among Americans.  

Last week, Harkin announced that the HELP Committee will hold a series of hearings to examine how the Affordable Care Act is benefiting Americans.  The first hearing will be held on January 27.

I've been mulling over something a very smart co-worker said to me this week: time is relative.  It moves faster or slower depending on your age, your work load and enjoyment of whatever you're doing at the moment.

If you are my approximate age and grew up on a farm, you probably remember how long summers used to last when you spent day after sweaty day walking beans or de-tasseling corn.  The start of school (and an end to the 12-hour chore days) seemed to take forever.

For proof of the "relativity of time" theory, look no further than your children.  Every mother thinks time stands still when faced with a colicky infant, sleep deprivation and potty training.   But what about when they're teenagers?  Every time I look at my daughter (now 13 and taller than me), I'm convinced she should still be five, holding my hand to cross a parking lot and totally in love with her parents (sigh).

According to psychologist Philip Zimbardo, it's not just 13-year-olds who need to sloooooow down; it's us (http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/time-is-relative/?emc=eta1). We probably don't need some psychologist brainiac to tell us all that we eat too fast, work too long, worry too much.  We spend too little time sitting down to dinner together.  We sacrifice our friends, our family and our sleep in order to "get ahead" in our jobs.  According to the latest statistics, only 20 percent of households sit down and have dinner together.

One thing is for certain: as fast as time goes by at our age (mine anyway), there IS no going back.  So, as we look ahead to 2011, how about making a couple resolutions to help us all make time a little more meaningfully.  Here's my short list of 2011 Resolutions:

1)      I resolve to do everything slower: walking, talking, breathing, praying; you know, the Big Stuff.

2)      I resolve to tell my family members every day that I love them.  Let me just say that anyone with a surly teenager at home knows this can sometimes be harder than it sounds (sigh).

3)      I resolve to let my dog take his time to check out evvvverrrything on our morning walks.  At least once a week, anyway (sorry, Spot).

4)      I resolve to chew my food.  Slowly.  No more burgers wolfed down at my desk while I "work through lunch".  Sure, it's not practical every day, but a recent dinner with friends at a new French restaurant in Des Moines (http://tinyurl.com/2wuojrj) convinced me that there is beauty in planning and enjoying a slowly and carefully-prepared meal.  I need to take time to actually taste and enjoy my food!

5)      And finally, I resolve to share even more stories of Iowans who DO take their time doing what's right in the name of putting food on ALL our tables: farmers.  Farmers, more than anyone else, understand the theory of "relative time."  Their technology has evolved faster than our nation's space program, yet the raw materials at their disposal remain unchanged: soil, water, work ethic.  Technology can shorten a growing season, increase yields or improve the nutrition of a chicken egg, but it can't change values.  Values of good farmers don't change.  Let's hope we all resolve to remember that in 2011.  Happy New Year!

 

Laurie Johns is Public Relations Manager for the Iowa Farm Bureau.                        12/31/2010

Finance Leaders Release GAO Report Indicating Better Guidelines for Budget Planning Are Needed

Washington, DC - Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today called for new guidelines to be set for Medicare Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) so the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) can ensure QIO funds are spent properly.  QIOs are organizations within each state contracted by Medicare to, among other things, determine the quality of services delivered to Medicare beneficiaries through quality-of-care reviews.  Baucus and Grassley called for improved budget planning today after releasing a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report which indicated that the methods QIOs use to determine and report the total costs of quality-of-care reviews currently vary among states.  The GAO found that clearer and more specific guidelines for the budget-writing process would better ensure that Medicare dollars are being well-used to improve quality of care for seniors.

"This report demonstrates the need for a sound budget development plan that guarantees that not one dollar of the Medicare Trust Fund goes to waste," said Baucus. "Reviewing the quality of care of health care providers plays a critical role in ensuring that seniors are treated fairly and have access to high quality care.  The money we spend to ensure quality health care should make people healthier and effective budget guidelines from Medicare will certainly contribute to making sure we meet that goal."

 

"There isn't a good system for the QIOs to keep track of what they find, meaning the value of their work cannot be determined," Grassley said. "It might be that CMS is overpaying for these services.  CMS has to do a better job of tracking this work so it can pay the appropriate amount and so taxpayers get what they're paying for, which is better quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries.  Improving its oversight of Medicare contractors is something CMS needs to accomplish, and it's one of my long-time priorities."

Currently, QIOs inform CMS of the total cost of quality-of-care reviews conducted and calculate labor costs therein, but do not follow a standard set of guidelines on how to calculate or provide that information.  As a result, QIOs' reporting systems vary among states, and CMS is unable to guarantee that its three-year QIO budget is appropriate. GAO recommended that CMS create clear instructions specifying how QIOs should detail the volume and costs of their quality-of-care reviews.  Such a standard would allow CMS to develop accurate budgets for quality-of-care reviews.

CMS enters into three-year contracts with QIOs in every state to perform various reviews to help guarantee Medicare dollars are spent wisely and health care providers in each state are maintaining a high standard of care.  Quality-of-care reviews, just one of the reviews QIOs perform, gauge certain measures like the standard of treatment patients receive and Medicare providers' adherence to their patients' medication schedules.  CMS creates a budget to cover the total cost of reviews at each QIO.  The current amount budgeted for all reviews, including quality-of-care reviews, for QIOs in every state is approximately $208 million for the three-year period between 2008 through 2011.

The full text of the GAO report is available at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11116r.pdf.

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