Harvey County

Tag: Health

Brain Health

The brain allows you to interact with the world, understand and respond to carious surroundings. It is important to have a healthy brain to survive, grow and have everyday successes. How do you stay mentally fit? I have a few tips on how to keep your brain fit!

Socializing will help you critically think, be creative, and express your emotions in a healthy way. To do this, keep in touch with friends, get involved at church, by volunteering, or joining a group that meeting weekly/daily. Other ways is to get to know your neighbors and utilize the internet!

Doing mental stimulation is just as important as going to the gym! Play games or puzzles like Sudoku; read or write in a journal, stay a lifelong learner, pick up your favorite hobby again, or try new exciting things. Try to keep your brain stimulated by making it think critically about what you are doing.

Physical activity is not just great for your body, but for your brain as well! Basically by getting your heart rate up, you help circulate blood and oxygen to your brain releasing endorphins and making you happy.

Nutrition always goes with physical activity, so by eating foods high in antioxidants it will help your brain naturally repair itself. Eating right in general will help your brain tremendously with everyday functions.

Lastly catch your ZZZZZ’s. Sleep helps you with a ton of things because it gives your body a resting period where it can repair and rest. To get better sleep, exercise, eat a well-balanced diet, have a schedule and keep technology out of the bedroom.

Maintaining a healthy brain and establishing other healthy lifestyle behaviors throughout your life will influence optimal aging.

Summer Fun Activities

School is almost over and that means you have to find something for your children to do. If they can go to camps and/or day care that is great, but not everyone can do that. If you have to leave them at home while you work, there are a few things you can do to keep them busy.

  • Make a chore chart for them based on their ages. Older kids can do a lot of things to help you around the house and younger kids can do simple tasks like folding laundry.
  • Find some free camps for them to go to, to help break up the summer.
  • Plan some fun activities that will take them a few days to complete. Pinterest has a ton of STEM activities for children to do.
  • Our local libraries have activities going on this summer, might be a fun way to make new friends.
  • Boredom. Sounds weird, but it can be a good thing for kids to experience.
  • Make a bucket list for the summer!

These are just a few, but be creative!

Warm Weather Food Safety Tips

The weather is getting warmer, which is wonderful, but that means we are going to be thinking about eating outside. Whether that is camping, a picnic, family get together, or whatever pulls your meal outside, we need to make sure we are following safe procedures to ensure our food stays safe. Here are a few tips:

  • Use an insulated cooler filled with ice or frozen gel packs to keep your picnic safe. Foods that need to be kept cold include raw meat, poultry and seafood; deli and luncheon meats or sandwiches, summer salads such as chicken or tuna salad; cut up fruit and vegetables, and perishable dairy products.
  • Keep sack lunches and snacks safe by adding a frozen juice box or small ice pack to an insulated lunch box.
  • Going out to eat? Consider planning ahead and bringing an insulated bag with an ice pack to safely carry home your leftovers.
  • Summer grocery shopping can be challenging when temperatures are high. Pack your cold or frozen items together in an insulated bag for the ride home (be sure to separate raw meat from

National Nutrition Month

March is National Nutrition Month; which means I will be talking a little bit about how to better your health with a few simple steps.

Physical fitness is very important! Adults need 150 minutes a week, which seems like a lot, but really isn’t. Breaking that down it could be 21 minutes a day, 50 minutes 3 times a week or 30 minutes 5 times a week. To achieve the 150 minutes you can run, walk, bike, dance, strength training, Zumba, yoga or anything that gets your heart rate up for more than 10 minutes at a time. My favorite is to run and/or walk.

How do you start this habit? Well, Walk Kansas starts March 19th and it would be a great way to start making physical fitness a habit. Contact the office for more information about Walk Kansas!

Nutrition, eating well, eating better, and fresh are all terms used to describe how you should eat, the other part of living a healthier life style. Everyone should be following MyPlate from the USDA on what you should eat and how much of it. Half your plate should be fruits and vegetables every meal! Also we should eat a little less meat than we do. I love my beef and it is hard to eat less of it!  For more information about portion sizes and how much you should be eating contact the office at 316-284-6930.

It really boils down to nutrition and physical fitness on how to lead a healthier life style. Start small and build as you become comfortable with your new habit. I believe everyone can live a healthier life style by just changing a few simple things.

Farming SUCCESSion Conference

Join us for The Key to Farming SUCCESSion Conference on March 20th from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM featuring Keynote Speaker, Roger McEowen!

Attendees will leave with new knowledge and strategies to grow their business and secure farm assets for future generations to come. $40 Registration Fee for First Individual, $30 Registration Fee for Additional Family Members or Students. Registration includes: Conference, Resource Notebook, Lunch, Refreshments. Registration is due ASAP. Payment is due to the McPherson County Extension Office at 600 W. Woodside, McPherson KS 67460 on or before March 20th.

Online Registration: https://tinyurl.com/KeyToFarmingSUCCESSion2018

(note: more information is at this link)

Walk Kansas is Here!

Want to feel better and have more energy?

Maybe you need to blow off some steam from a stressful day or need to get better sleep. Regular exercise can help you achieve this and more. The health benefits from regular exercise and physical activity are hard to ignore, and they are available to everyone, regardless of age, sex, or physical ability. Another fantastic thing about exercise — it’s fun!

Walk Kansas is based on Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, which recommend a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week OR 75 minutes of vigorous exercise/week, and strengthening exercises at least 2 days per week. Walk Kansas also promotes a warm-up and cool-down time and stretching to improve flexibility.

How to join Walk Kansas? Register your team of 6 at www.walkkansasonline.org.

Check out our website www.harvey.ksu.edu for more information about Walk Kansas in Harvey County and the activities we will be doing this year!

Can’t wait for you to join!