Social Media, Medicine, and a Great Story!

At Seasons, we love social media. Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, You Tube — they are all great tools to help us communicate with our patients/clients and for our patients/clients to communicate with us. Seasons has been using social media for well over a year. That process began with a blog-based website, introduced over two years ago.

While this approach to communicating in the medical industry is rare, it is working. Case in point? Watch this video which tells a great story about a woman who had a misdiagnosed wrist injury. Twitter helped her find a correct diagnosis and then treatment and recovery from her injury.

Our thoughts? This is super cool and we will continue to use social media to interact and educate our patients and clients about the pursuit of wellness!

Petrus and Africa Top Finishers In Wellness Challenge 5K

April showers bring May flowers. And on Saturday, May 22nd, the rescheduling of the Wellness Challenge 5K due to April showers was long forgotten. Participants from surrounding areas traveled from Alexandria, Gonzales, Arcadia, Calhoun, Choudrant, West Monroe, Shreveport and Arkansas to participate in the first annual Wellness Challenge 5K sponsored by Healthy Woman of NLMC, Seasons and Sharon Jackson’s Slammin’ Boot Camp.

Read more

Nibble on This: Fabulous Fiber

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. by Valerie Costanza, RD Fiber is what puts the bulk in lettuce, the crunch in carrots and the chewiness in bread. Although our bodies do not break down fiber and we are not nourished by it, it plays a vital role in our health. Fiber helps prevent constipation, gallbladder disease and diverticulosis and promotes healthy cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar levels. Not only is fiber beneficial for disease prevention, it is also a key factor in weight management. It is one of those important nutrients of which we just don’t get enough. The typical American consumes only half of the recommended amount of fiber each day. To get more fabulous fiber into your diet include: • Whole fruits and vegetables vs. juice • Whole grain products vs. refined or enriched grain products • Beans and legumes • Rolled or steel cut oats Here’s a recipe for Three Bean Chili that provides lots of fiber for your body. Three Bean Chili (Serves eight.) INGREDIENTS: 3/4 cup each dried cannellini or red kidney beans, black beans and Anasazi beans, picked over and rinsed, soaked overnight, and drained 4 cups water 1 bay leaf 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 2 large green bell peppers, roasted and seeded 2 large red or yellow bell peppers, roasted and seeded 3 tablespoons olive oil or canola oil 1 yellow onion, chopped 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 tablespoon chili powder 1 tablespoon dried oregano 2 teaspoons ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes 4 tomatoes, peeled and seeded, then diced 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro (fresh coriander) 6 tablespoons shredded queso asadero or Monterey Jack cheese 2 green (spring) onions, including tender green tops, thinly sliced Directions: In a large saucepan over high heat, combine the beans, water, bay leaf and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover partially and simmer until the beans are tender but still firm, 60 to 70 minutes. Drain and discard the bay leaf. When the beans are cooked, coarsely chop the roasted bell peppers and set aside. In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the yellow onion and saute until soft and lightly golden, about 6 minutes. Stir in the garlic, chili powder, oregano, cumin, red pepper flakes and the remaining 1 teaspoon salt. Cook until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the bell peppers, cooked beans, tomatoes and cilantro and cook until the tomatoes are heated through, 5 to 6 minutes. Ladle the chili into individual bowls and sprinkle with the cheese and green onions. Nutrition Facts per Serving: Calories 300; Monounsaturated fat 4 g; Protein 16 g; Cholesterol 5 mg; Carbohydrates 45 g; Sodium 486 mg; Total fat 8 g; Fiber 16 g; Saturated fat 1 g. This Nutrition Update is brought to you by Seasons. For more nutrition tidbits, visit our website at www.seasonswc.com. For a personalized nutrition consultation with Valerie Costanza, call Seasons at 255-3223 and schedule an appointment.

A Glimpse Into The Future!

Wouldn’t it be great to know what you will look like in 10 years? Or would it?

At Seasons, we think information is the key to wellness. The more you know, the more you can prevent. And we all know that “an ounce of prevention is worth much more than a pound of cure” according to Benjamin Franklin, one of the greatest inventors and thinkers in U.S. history.

We have a great invention to share with you called the Visia Complexion Analysis System. While we didn’t invent this technology, we think it’s important to the future of your skin. By taking a glimpse at your skin up close, we can give you a good idea of the progression of your skin without intervention over the next 10 years.

The Visia Complexion Analysis system is a camera unit that sends high-quality photographs to a computer which then analyzes the results. Our clients can see their complexion in relation to other clients of the same age and skin type. The Visia’s analysis of skin helps determine a treatment process for anti-aging, cosmetic face treatment and medical therapy.

Visia evaluates:

• Depth of your pores
• Individual analysis of the skin condition
• Measures wrinkles
• Analyzes pigment difficulties
• Detects UV damage
• Detects porphyrine and bacteria

The Visia Complexion Analysis takes about 15 minutes and is complimentary anytime you visit Seasons in Ruston.

Don’t be afraid to know the truth about your skin. It’s only when we see reality that we can make a good plan to prevent unwanted signs of aging through a Seasons skin treatment plan developed by one of our trained aestheticians. For an appointment, call 318-255-3223.

From the Doctor’s Desk: Health and Wellness Defined

Definitions.

Health can best be defined as the absence of disease.  Wellness is best defined as the existence of positive health.  So health and wellness can be best defined as the absence of disease in the presence of positive health.

Why the focus on health and wellness these days? I think modern medicine gets a failing grade. Obesity is epidemic in the American culture today. One of my patients knew that her weight was not healthy. However, her previous physician told her that she should learn to live with her new heavier weight and maybe the weight would level out. That statement haunted her and led her to find a physician who offered her more hope and solutions.

Health and wellness cannot be achieved through a traditional, allopathic (Western modern medicine) medical approach. Why? Western modern medicine (we’ll call it traditional for our purposes) uses a disease-focused model utilizing pharmaceuticals. Pharmaceuticals block biochemical reactions, produce mitochondrial toxins, and deplete important nutrients. There is no positive health there.

In fact, the 4^th – 6^th leading cause of death is from prescription drugs (Mol Aspects Med. 2005 Aug-Oct;26(4-5):363-78). In contrast, functional medicine is a health and wellness model utilizing natural substances found in the body to enhance cellular processes. A health and wellness model looks to work with the body, to facilitate metabolic reactions and optimize physiologic function (The principles of metabolic therapy for heart disease. Heart, Lung and Circulation 2003; 12:S55-S62).

In some ways, the two are complementary; but in many ways, the two are not. I am not advocating a boycott of traditional medicine. In fact, I still practice some traditional medicine when disease exists.

The key is this — does disease exist or not?  If disease doesn’t exist, and health and wellness or health restoration is your goal, then a functional or integrative approach is the way to go to facilitate and optimize physiologic function.

So, what is a functional medicine approach?  To help define functional medicine, let’s look at a few examples.

The traditional medicine approach.

Metformin or Glucophage is a well-recognized drug used to treat diabetes.  Metformin works to improve insulin sensitivity and thus facilitate glucose uptake inside the cells.  Type II Diabetes is marked by very poor insulin sensitivity and thus blood sugar rises.  Traditional medicine prescribes Metformin to provide a 13% improvement in insulin sensitivity.

Remember, pharmaceuticals block biochemical reactions.  Metformin reduces folic acid and vitamin B12 and can elevate homocysteine. Elevated homocysteine levels increase blood clot risk (this is one of the ways that birth control pills increase blood clot risk).  Diabetics and those with insulin resistance are already at an increased risk of blood clots. Can you see how the treatment is piling on in this situation?

The functional medicine approach.

Let’s contrast that with a functional medicine approach. Vitamin D deficiency is rampant today. Vitamin D deficiency has been implicated in heart failure, myocardial dysfunction, sudden cardiac death, and is required for normal insulin release and glucose control.  Remember the 13% for metformin? Higher vitamin D levels resulted in a 60% improvement in insulin sensitivity (Chiu K., et al., “hypovitaminosis D is associated with insulin resistance and beta cell dysfunction,” Amer Jour Clin Nutr  2004).

Remember, functional medicine works with and facilitates the body’s functions. Vitamin D does not block any biochemical reactions, nor does it interfere with any. Thus, there is no negative effect comparable to Metformin. Now, too much of a good thing can be a problem. Too much Vitamin D can elevate calcium. Because of this, Vitamin D should be prescribed under the watchful eye of a physician.

Why do I do what I do?

Amazing results — as naturally as possible. This is why I practice functional medicine. This is why I created Seasons. A health and wellness model, through functional medicine, works with the body to enhance and optimize physiologic function.  Health and health restoration can only be achieved by working with the body. Let’s get out of the way and let the body heal itself.

Confession #11: Goals, Progress And A Non-Runner’s Venture Into The Running World

I’m a big fan of goal-setting. My mother cultivated this idea in my brain from childhood. She always said, “Elizabeth, you’ll always do better if you are shooting for a goal.”

So from my earliest remembrances, I have had a goal. And it’s when I haven’t had a goal in mind that my life becomes a little derailed. When my mom notices my derailment, she will always ask, “So what’s your goal?” Sometimes I had no answer.

One thing I love about getting older is gaining wisdom. And I now truly appreciate the wisdom of my mother’s words. And in November of last year, I decided to set a goal. When spring rolled around in 2010, I wanted to wear the clothes that stayed in the back of the closet last year. However, one thing I’ve learned about myself over the years is that I cannot diet. It won’t last. For me, it’s about a healthy lifestyle.

I am a healthy eater. But the big issue for me (and most women my age) is the exercise issue. I love to walk. But it just wasn’t enough. I have always wanted to be a runner (there’s nothing more beautiful than a lean runner’s body) but one ache from a knee was all I needed to quit.

And then….the opportunity arose to have THE GOAL.

I am on the advisory council for Healthy Woman at Northern LA Medical Center in Ruston, Louisiana. During a meeting with the Healthy Woman Coordinator, Audrey Buskirk, we were brainstorming ideas to help women become more educated on being healthy. With the new year rapidly approaching (our meeting was in November 2009), we were seeking to create some sort of event or series of events that would help motivate women to pursue their fitness and nutrition resolutions they might make at the beginning of the new year. You know. THE RESOLUTION. I think I have made that resolution every year for the last 20 years. The lose weight resolution. Ugh. I said it out loud. I HATE the words lose weight.

And so, the Healthy Woman Wellness Challenge was born. Who knew it would end up changing my life. The one thing I’d been looking for was THE GOAL — a reason to take that first step. As I worked on putting together tools for women to become healthier such as nutrition presentations (by Valerie Costanza, RD, and staff member at Seasons) and customized fitness programs (by Sharon Jackson, CPT and owner of Sharon’s Slammin’ Boot Camps), I found myself in therapy. Yes. What I was creating for others would end up helping me as much or even more than those who have attended!

The Healthy Woman Wellness Challenge began in January with a kickoff party. Every good event begins and ends with a party, right? Then every three weeks was another session which included healthy food (with recipe cards for each menu item), and a nutrition and fitness presentation. As I write this column, I am preparing for the fourth and final wellness session. However, the real life-changer of the Healthy Woman Wellness Challenge is the final event — a fitness goal for me and all my friends — the Healthy Woman Wellness Challenge 5K Run/Walk.

One of my greatest pet peeves in the whole world is a hypocrite — say one thing, do another. And so my own hypocrisy immediately convicted me. I CANNOT RUN A 5K. I cannot even run to my mailbox.

There you go. The beginning of the journey.

And here I am. The non-runner. I now own my first pair of running shoes purchased from Sport Spectrum in Shreveport. I love that place! Great customer service! They even watch how you walk to make sure that you are fit with the proper pair of shoes. I bought 2 running outfits. Every girl needs the right outfit for the occasion! And I downloaded the Couch-to-5K running program for my iPod. If you’ve never run before, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this program. In 9 weeks, you can go from couch potato to running a 5K.

It hasn’t been easy. I have had to make myself get out of my warm , cozy bed and run in 27 degree weather. I have posted my running status on Facebook to force myself into accountability. And it’s working. It’s not an overnight-wake-up-the-next-morning-and-your-skinny sort of solution. It’s a life change. And that’s what it takes for a 40-something to be healthy into her 50’s, 60’s, and beyond.

I WILL RUN that 5K on Saturday, April 24th. (Actually, since I’m in charge of the race, I may have to run it the afternoon before so I can work during the race!) I may lay down on the ground after I cross the finish line, but I will cross the finish line.

If you can’t run, then come join us and walk. The point is this: everyone needs a goal. I know. My mother said so! And just for the record, I AM wearing one of those outfits that hung in the back of the closet last spring. Oh happy day!

Click here for more information about the Healthy Woman Wellness Challenge 5K Run/Walk, Saturday, April 24, Lincoln Parish Park, Ruston, LA at 8 a.m.  Train Hard. Live Well.

From The Doctor’s Desk: Wellness Is Not Band-Aid Medicine

So you wake up one day and you have symptoms. You select a doctor, make an appointment, recite your symptom list, receive a diagnosis, get a prescription, take the prescription and hope that the prescription gets rid of the symptoms.

But the question is this: Are you well?

Symptom relief medicine is great, but it is reactive medicine. I call this band-aid medicine. Just throw a band-aid on it in 5-10 minutes and ignore the real underlying cause. You can relieve symptoms with band-aids, but if the cause is left unchecked (usually an imbalance of some sort), then disease will be the result.

I like to use symptoms as clues to finding the cause. I call it proactive medicine. Symptoms are the result of imbalance. Disease is the result of ignoring the symptoms. It is a progressive cycle: imbalance, symptoms, disease.

Balance is the key.  As I said above, symptoms are the result of imbalance. Medicine today has lost site of this. In the fast pace of the typical doctor’s office (even mine many years ago), all we have time for is symptom focus and treatment. There is no time for focus on cause.

You don’t have to look to far to see the importance of balance.  Look at our bodies.  They are all about balance:  two eyes, two ears, two legs…you get the picture.  This balance is by design. We should not lose sight of the fact that symptoms are the body crying out for help.

Symptoms reveal imbalances, and the imbalances can be quite diverse. They can include hormones: Estrogen/Progesterone, Thyroid/Cortisol, Growth Hormone/Cortisol, just to name a few. But imbalances can involve more than just our hormones. Neurotransmitters can be imbalanced. Have you ever heard of anxiety or depression? Neurotransmitters involve serotinin, glutamic acid, and nor-epinephrine just to name a few.  And no, anxiety and/or depression are not the result of a SSRI deficiency.

Even Fats can be imbalanced.  Everybody has heard of Omega 3.  Omega 3’s are anti-inflammatory, they lower cholesterol and are good for the skin. But have you heard of Omega 6 fats. Omega 6’s are pro-inflammatory. Americans have excessive Omega 6’s in our high processed diets. The typical American diet is 24 to 1 ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3. A healthy ratio should be 3 to 1.

Symptoms are the body’s way of asking for help. Let’s start listening.

Confession #10: Inspired by Courage

Note: This confession has nothing to do with health or any of my usual topics. But it does have a thing or two to do with WELLNESS. Being inspired can surely lead to a healthier mental existence, don’t you think? This confession was featured in the February/March edition of The Minute Magazine.

Writing topics don’t always come easy. I’m always looking for inspiration. Sometimes I use the calendar. I’m writing this column in January, so there are the typical New Year topics: resolutions, weight loss, save more, spend less. But none of those inspired me to write.

So what has inspired me lately? Well, there are lots of things that might provide a moment of happiness: a good story, a good song, a good joke, a good hair day (don’t laugh…you know it’s true), finding the perfect shirt on the 75% off rack (better yet the perfect pair of shoes and the perfect handbag to match), the perfect shade of lipstick. But if we evaluate the truthfulness of an inspiration, I find that many inspirations just fizzle out. We’ll disregard those and say that maybe they weren’t truly inspirational. They were just happy moments.

True inspiration is rare. And the times that we are truly inspired cause life to look differently the next day. They are the kinds of inspirations that stick with the soul long after the moment passes. I have had true inspiration at various junctions in life. Each time, that inspiration has moved me to a new place in my heart. Two of those moments came recently. One was at the movie theater. The other was sitting at my desk.

Movie theater inspiration

My son turned 11 on December 16. His birthday usually falls during the last week of school, so it’s always a tough time to plan a party due to the chaos of class parties, Christmas shopping, and holiday insanity. So each year for the last 4 years, instead of a big party, my son and I opt for a movie day with friends as his birthday celebration. This year, Nicholas, Henry, Austin, Langdon (my son), and I had lunch and hit the theater to see the latest, greatest movie.

Because I had a crew of 11-year old boys, the movie du jour was The Blind Side – a football movie, or so I thought. While I enjoyed the movie, I was unprepared for the inspiration that poured over me as I watched the unfolding story destined to become a classic.

The movie is set in Memphis, Tennessee, a city which I think embodies the soul of the south. The look and feel of the movie were very familiar to me as a native southerner. It gave a piercing glimpse into the darkest parts of American culture – the poverty and abandonment that many children in “that part of town” deal with on a daily basis. That poverty and neglect was then contrasted with the private school-attending, BMW-driving lifestyle of the Touhy family.

The great inspiration of this movie was the courage of its characters. They were real people stepping out of their comfort zones and embracing the plight of others, no matter the cost. Sean and Leigh Ann Touhy had courage when they asked Michael Oher, a virtually homeless African-American teenager who attended their children’s private school on a scholarship, to stay the night on their living room couch because he had no place to go. And Michael Oher had the courage to work hard, think and learn when he must have been overwhelmed by his new circumstances of living with the Touhy family. There was even courage to be found in the Touhy children. Collins Touhy, the older daughter of the Touhy family, had courage to embrace Michael Oher as a sibling, even though he was a different race and not her brother by blood. Imagine the sneers of her peers she must have endured.

Michael Oher played football and eventually graduated from that private school. He went on to play college football at the University of Mississippi (even making the honor roll) and later became the 23rd pick in the first round of the 2009 NFL draft.

The Blind Side is an amazing story on so many levels. The happy ending certainly helps. But in this case, it was the heart-felt courage to step outside of normalcy and into the realm of persecution that stayed with me after the movie. Their internal character proved a more powerful force than the criticism and persecution of others. Now that is inspiring. And that is courage.

Courage is a wonderful thing. We know it when we see it. But what exactly is courage? And where does it come from? By definition, courage is the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, or pain. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is the overwhelming presence of bravery.

No one can have courage without heart. It’s when our heart can’t bear the current conditions around us that courage wells up inside of us and explodes into action. For the Touhy family, courage was defined by crossing racial and socio-economic barriers and helping a young man who needed an opportunity and a whole lot of unconditional love. For Michael Oher, courage was defined by hard work against seemingly insurmountable odds as he regained years of education that had been lost due to his unstable home life. He also courageously dropped the internal walls that surely had became a fortress around his heart and let a family love him. And in return, he loved them back.

For Michael Oher, courage was overcoming himself and his situation. And I think that is where we begin to see the true meaning of courage. When we overcome ourselves and our situation or obstacle – whatever that might be – we have shown courage.

Following my afternoon at the movies with my boy and his buddies and two hours of free-flowing tears (“when you’re a parent, you’ll understand,” I said to him), I knew that courage inspired me.

You Tube inspiration.

I was working at my desk earlier this week and received an email. In the email was a link to a YouTube video. The message from my friend was this: “This video motivated me this Sunday morning. The only thing that limits us is ourselves.”

Intrigued, I clicked the link. The next thing I knew, I was watching a humble cell-phone salesman shuffle onto a stage in front of three judges and a huge audience. This man, when asked what he was going to do, said, “I’m going to sing opera.” Eyes rolling, the three judges waited with the look of am-I-going-to-fall-out-of-my-chair-laughing-or-is-he-going-to-be-good on their faces.

The music began and he opened his mouth to sing. The sound that emerged from his humble lips brought me to tears within a matter of seconds. This humble man was motivated to enter a talent contest with the hope of saving he and his wife from the brink of bankruptcy. He seemingly had no self-confidence yet stood in front of those judges, those television cameras, and an at-times-hostile crowd and sang his heart out.

His courage moved me. He overcame himself. He overcame his circumstances. Courage welled up inside of him and gushed out of his mouth with abandon. And what a great performance it was. Paul Potts has become a YouTube sensation, with over 74 million hits on that video of his initial audition for Britain’s Got Talent. His first album went multiplatinum. He has just released his second album.

I love happy endings. But happy endings are endings. Courage, on the other hand, stays with us. So my question is this: when was the last time you overcame your personal insecurities and stepped out in courage to change your life or someone else’s?  We are surrounded by opportunities to be courageous. But our heart must be open and our ears listening. We need to see the needs of others and act when the heart is moved.

February is the month of the heart (it’s Valentine’s Day) and March is the beginning of renewal (it’s spring time). So it seems the right time to start fresh with the heart. Be inspiring. Have courage.

• To watch Paul Potts amazing audition for Britain’s Got Talent, click here.

• To see the movie The Blind Side, catch it at your local theater. If it’s not showing at your theater anymore, don’t hesitate to rent or buy it when it become available. It’s a must-see movie.

From The Doctor’s Desk: Wrinkles and Hearts

“If wrinkles must be written on our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should never grow old.” — James A. Garfield, 20th President of the United States.

I read that quote by President Garfield the other day and it occurred to me how important his statement was in my practice of medicine. What causes wrinkles? What causes the spirit to grow old? What can damage the heart? The answer is stress. Stress is not something that just exists. Stress is not just a term used to describe forces applied as in engineering. Stress is real and it affects our hearts. Stress kills.

What impact does stress have on the health of our heart?

• 43% of all adults suffer stress related adverse health effects.
• 75-90% of all visits to primary care physicians are stress-related.
• Stress is directly linked to heart disease according to a new study from University College London.

The interesting thing about stress? It’s not just external. Stress is both external and internal. There is stress of day-to-day life. And then there is the silent physiologic stress. The internal stress occurs in the form of obesity, food sensitivity, and inflammation to name a few.

How is stress affecting you? Ask your heart. Focus on keeping your heart healthy by limiting and relieving your stress this Valentine’s Day. While we can’t always eliminate the causes of stress in our life, we can control how we allow it to affect us!

My recommendations?

• Make good food choices to give your body the right kind of energy that lasts and helps you work and feel better.
• Get regular exercise. It boosts your metabolism, fights fatigue, and even elevates your mood helping you to cope with stress more effectively.
• Take time to meditate and pray.
• Take a break and relax whether it’s a soak in the tub or a good book.

Take care of your heart. That’s the best gift you can give those you love!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Marcia G. Yerman: A New Recipe for Heart Health (huffingtonpost.com)
• Bill Clinton says lack of sleep added to heart problem (ctv.ca)
• Easy Tips for Reducing Stress (dirjournal.com)
• Stress `can cause heart damage’ (telegraph.co.uk)

Confession #9: C’mon girls! Let’s do this!

It’s here. 2010. For the xxth time, I have made that New Year’s resolution. You know the one. To lose the extra that’s following you around on your backside.

Seasons, in collaboration with Northern Louisiana Medical Center’s Healthy Woman and Sharon Jackson’s Slammin’ Boot Camp, is bringing you the tools you need to accomplish the goal you resolve every New Year. But we’re not going to say the “d” word. This isn’t about a diet. We’re going to do this the right way. We are going to pursue WELLNESS. Do you hear me? Wellness. That means make good food choices. And that means get off your booty and get busy!

With some great seminars from Sharon Jackson, CPT (that’s certified personal trainer), and Valerie Costanza, RD (that’s Registered Dietician), we are going to gain the knowledge, the tools, the motivation, and the inspiration to do this together.

The kickoff party is coming up soon…Tuesday, January 12, 2010 from 6 until 8 p.m. at the Community Trust Bank Community Room. It’s in the rear of the CTB Financial Center located at 1511 N. Trenton St. in Ruston. Look for the Healthy Woman Wellness Challenge signs and you’ll find it! At the kickoff party, we’ll learn the ropes of what we’re about to undertake. You need to let us know you’re coming. So register by calling 318-255-3223.

We’ll hear from Sharon and Valerie and from wellness advocate and local physician, Dr. Nathan Goodyear. There will be yummy, HEALTHY food for all to munch on and tons of fabulous door prizes (for everything from Botox to Best Buy). Sharon will even be doing some baseline measuring and weighing if you are interested in tracking your progress throughout this journey.

You’ll leave armed with a fitness training guide to begin a running/walking program to prepare for our final event – the Fitness Challenge – to be held Saturday, April 28. Sharon has put together a day-by-day training regimen to help guide you towards running a 5K. And in addition, Sharon will be hosting weekend group runs to prepare for this event most every weekend until April 28. I love Sharon Jackson! And you will, too!

In addition, you’ll take home recipes from every event and a nutrition guide from each event. Valerie is going to teach us how to make better choices when we cook, grocery shop, and meal plan.

So what are you waiting for? I have NEVER been a runner…I’ve always been a walking treadmill kind of girl. So if I can do this, you can too! And it will be much more fun if we do it together.

So…c’mon girls! Let’s do this!

For more information about the Healthy Woman Wellness Challenge, click here.

Next Page »