May Health Raiser Submissions

 

To see the May winners, click here!

Step to it!

After being stuck inside during the winter months (and during the spring motion promotion), I decided to bring some gym shoes to work with me and walk during my lunch break.  I started walking around the lake a few times and am now walking all over campus. I started with 15 minute walks and now I find myself wandering the campus for 30 to 45 minutes. It's a great way to get to know the campus and I have noticed the health benefits as well! I've lost 10 pounds and have so much energy. It's amazing what a walk can do for you! I feel so energized when I get back to my desk. Now I have started walking more when I get home.  My dogs are definitely happy with how much I love to walk now! I guess the next step is to get some of my colleagues to join me!

It takes two!

Last July, my wife Stephanie and I made a significant, life-changing decision. We just had our fourth (and final!) child in March of 2007, and we both decided we needed to lose weight. With (4) kids ranging from 8 years old to a newborn, time management in our family was always a constant challenge, and our eating and exercise priorities obviously suffered.

 

After making the decision to lose weight, we raised the stakes by creating a competition between us inspired by the Biggest Loser series on TV. We scheduled weekly weigh-in’s on Friday mornings, and we kept track of our weight loss by calculating the percentage-lost from our original weights. We each also agreed to throw $100 into a prize pot for the winner of the competition, but we quickly realized the cash was meaningless. Both of us simply wanted the bragging rights of winning!!

 

At our final weigh-in on December 28, my wife lost a total of 26 pounds, and I lost a total of 44 pounds!!! My percentage-lost actually exceeded my wife’s (but just barely!), so I won the competition, but the title was meaningless considering our combined success.

 

We pledged back in December to continue the weekly weigh-in’s indefinitely, and our new goal was to train for the 10K race during Flying Pig weekend. Despite less-than-ideal weather, we both ran and completed the 10K without walking at all!! I actually lost 8 more pounds since December, so my overall total weigh loss is now 52 pounds!! Losing 3 more pounds will put me at the same weight I was as a college sophomore, and this is where I plan to stop.

 

Our strategy was based on making a true, conscious effort to eat the right foods, avoid the bad foods as much as humanly possible, and regularly scheduling exercise 2-3 times a week. We also followed the basic principles of the South Beach diet, but we did not follow the program religiously. Our main focus was simply avoiding foods rich in sugar, and other carbohydrates that digest similar to sugar. Eating right and exercising sounds simple, but the amount of daily discipline required is unbelievable. The new eating and exercising habits are part of our daily lives now, but our biggest key to success was definitely the accountability of working towards this common goal together

Non-traditional approach to health works for some

I started practicing Arnold Ehret's Mucusless-Diet Healing System in 2002 and since then I have lost over 120 pounds [I used to be a 280 pound football player] and cured all of my ailments, including: chronic migraine headaches, lower back pain, arthritis in my right hand and knee, chronic allergies, bowel constipation, and otolaryngological problems, including chronic cases of bronchitis. I was emancipated forever of the numerous pharmaceuticals that I had been taking since I was seven years old, as well as addictions to tobacco and alcohol. I also was able to do away with a C-PAP unit (oxygen machine) for my bad case of "Sleep Apnea." I consider myself a Mucusless-Diet success story and I credit much of my achievement as a professional musician and educator to my practice of the diet.       In 2004 I came together with some other very health conscious musicians and created a wonderful band named the Breathairean Ensemble. We are an all-vegetarian group whose purpose is to act as a healing support for one another and promote health consciousness to the World. It is a family and community oriented ensemble dedicated to the elevation of the human spirit and it is the primary way that I am able to "raise" and promote health and well-being to the community.   Professor Arnold Ehret's Mucusless Diet Healing System consists of all kinds of raw and cooked fruits and starchless green-leaf vegetables. It uses a combination of long and short-term fasts with menus that progressively change to non-mucus-forming foods, and colon irrigation. Using Ehret’s “transition diet” any serious practitioner can move away from mucus (disease) forming foods to cleansing, non-mucus forming foods. If you would like to learn more about the Mucusless Diet please visit my website at www.breathairmusic.com and tune into 88.3 WAIF FM Cincinnati every Wednesday from 4-5pm for the Immortality Pipeline hosted by myself, Willie Smart, and his son Haneef.

Accepting change with hope and action

Well, I have done several things to help me out.  After my first child I was thought to have a minor case of MS, I was basicially, unable to do things like run, dance, and high-impact aerobics.  So what to do, I researched several options and I discovered through my friend Lori at WNKU that YAYA would be a great option for me.  I wanted to strengthen my muscusles since they may be becoming less strong over the years, so since I have hardly any balance anymore stretching in a chair was ideal for me to use.  I also joined a very low-impact gym to help me tone and lose a little weight which is always helpful.  So, I really didn't need to lose a lot of weight but toning and strengthening were very important to me.  I also always take the stairs around campus if I can, and Lori has also hooked me on salads for lunch instead of fatting fast-food.  Thanks to everyone who has helped me try to cope with this major change in my life.  I'm only 40 and I was a cheerleader, track, volleyball player plus many things more I particpated in High School, so this change has been a big thing for me to cope with and accept.

Campus Recreation offers great services

I am a Health Raiser because I finally took advantage of the campus recreation center, and it's fun.  I have wanted to explore it in the past, but was a bit intimidated.  Then I got in there, asked for a tour, and they were really helpful and supportive.  I now work out there 2-3 times per week, and not only do I use the workout room, I take serious advantage of the indoor pool.  Their facility is properly equiped, the locker room is spacious, and the staff is great.  The sauna is relaxing, and I can't wait to get involved in some of the exercise classes they offer.  I am so grateful that I have such a wonderful facility and no charge for being a student, and that my other half can join in on the fun for a small charge. Thanks CRC.