I remember feeling so skinny after giving birth to my first child.  I no longer had that huge protruding belly.   I even left the hospital with such a flat stomach ( so I thought..) No longer would I have to be envious of people wearing belts!  Woohoo!  As soon as I got home, I quickly went to try on my old jeans.  Ouch!  That surprise hurt.  I may have been several inches away from buttoning them.  My perspective was I felt so thin after being so huge.  Just goes to show you perspective is an amazing thing.  When I was having my first baby they didn’t tell us the things that we might find helpful like you will have a flabby hanging belly for awhile, or you will get hemorrhoids from pushing making it impossible to sit for a few days, or your vagina will be swollen and you will have to wear a frozen diaper for a few days.  How about telling  you that you will get severe after birth cramps the next few days as your uterus contracts, or you will be so exhausted you will become dumb.  You know, things like that. 

Did anyone tell us that suddenly our bodies would no longer be ours?  If you nursed for sure it wasn’t yours. Even if you didn’t, the sudden realization that you are completely responsible for another human is a sobering awakening to your new reality.  Trying to navigate and juggle taking care of babies and toddlers and taking care of yourself is really hard.  I remember when my son was 1 year old and I decided I needed to get back in shape.  I took him to a gym with  daycare.  It had a glass divider and as I was leaving for the short hour down the hall to attend a fitness class, my heart sunk as both his arms and face were pressed on the glass, mouth wide open screaming “mama!!”with crocodile tears streaming down his face.  Like I was leaving him at an orphanage.  God it was awful and was my first and last class for a long time.  I then tried running with a double jog stroller for my oldest and middle.  I was desperate for activity and didn’t care that sippy cups would go flying every minute or two. Those years were a struggle for me to keep some semblance of fitness and self preservation.  However, I wouldn’t trade them for anything.  It was an honor and blessing to be able to stay at home with my kids before they were in school.  Again perspective is an amazing gift to reflect on our blessings.

Today, 25 years after my first, the struggle for fitness is different in many ways.  More on this to come...  I have researched and learned so much about health and wellness over the years but I still must keep it in perspective. I won’t ever again look like I looked in my twenties but that is ok.    As my sister and I say, we must keep fighting the good fight!

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As we are in the midst of a global crisis we realize there are not many things we can truly control.  We can blame, we can accuse, but that is truly counterproductive.  We can however control how we may respond to contracting a virus.  We can control our health to a large extent.  Are you eating well?  First and foremost nutrition is key to our health. Are we eating whole unprocessed foods like fresh fruits, veggies and healthy proteins?  Secondly are you getting exercise each day?  Teenagers require 60 minutes of activity per day every single day.  They aren’t getting it.  Trust me I am a physical education teacher.  I know.  Especially during this remote time they are not getting enough exercise (as a whole generation).  As adults, we need exercise at a minimum of 5 days per week.  It doesn’t have to be intense but we need it to stay active which helps to build our immune systems.  

The pandemic has boldly outlined our need for health awareness globally.  The data strikingly shows how poor health can have disastrous effects with the covid 19 virus in particular.  What are you personally doing about this to protect yourself?  A virus is insidious by nature.  We can’t just wear masks and hide forever.  It will spread from living organism to living organism because that is what it does. Perhaps instead of trying to lock down and hide we stand up and take control of our own health.  Go to your gym, eat well, watch your weight.  We can control these few things to help us combat what many of us will unfortunately, inevitably contract.  Did you know obesity kills over 300,000 Americans per year?  Did you know heart disease kills approximately 655,000 Americans per year?  That is 1 in 4!!  These are numbers that are astounding yet why aren’t we taking more action towards combating these?

 In my humble opinion, lock downs will further throw us into a desperate situation devoid of the opportunity for growth, collaboration, healing, and unity.   We are human beings who according to Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist and philosopher, require 5 classifications of needs in order to achieve self actualization and therefore be able to contribute to society.  

The first need is physiological.  This is the need for shelter, clothing, water, air and sleep.  Right now many humans because of the covid lockdowns are not able to meet these basic needs.  The second is safety.  The ability to earn enough money to feel safe in our future.  Again the lockdowns are creating failure for many in this aspect. People are losing savings, businesses they have grown, getting laid off, etc.  The third are social needs, which as humans we are social beings requiring love, relationships and social interaction.  Again the lockdowns destroy that part of being human.  Esteem needs and self actualization are the fourth and fifth categories which we can not achieve as the lower three are not being met.  

Let us protect the weakest amongst us, give knowledge, education, and the means to the  rest of us to learn how to make our own bodies healthier.  Review the data that we have amassed from the past 8 months to see that we can fight this in a manner that can protect our elderly and weak yet allow the stronger to persevere and achieve using common sense and creating a strength that no one can take away.  Create your own health and wellness.  Teach your kids to be healthy by following your example.  

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The World Health Organization reported that in 2017, 2.8 million people died from obesity.  On this day 4/22/2020 it has been reported that there have been 178,371 deaths from Covid19 complications.  Besides age being a risk factor, they are also saying there is a direct link to deaths from Covid19 and obesity.  This should not be a surprise to anyone actually.  I'm not taking away from the heartbreak of deaths from this horrible pandemic, but I am hoping the United States is going to wake up to a more severe epidemic that is obesity.  2.8  million!!!  Only a mere 12% of our population is metabolically healthy!  We have become weak and sick from the food we are eating each and every day.  Unfortunately, I fear we will eventually get back to the status quo and will go on with our lives, treating obesity like it is just an inevitable side effect of life.  Our billions of dollars spent on autoimmune diseases, cancer, diabetes and metabolic diseases due to obesity seems to be overlooked by most.  Is it because it is a slow death and not a quicker one like a virus?  Is it because of our relationship with the foods we eat?  Is it that we can't fight big food companies and their power?  These are questions I ponder as I sit at home working on online teaching and trying to keep a gym operating during quarantine.  There are opportunities for growth in all disasters.  My hope from this tragedy is that we all grow in knowledge and awareness of what we put in our bodies and how it effects our health in so many ways......

What a crazy, unsettling time is upon us.  It is so scary to not know what our future brings and if we will have access to supplies, necessities, and non essential items.  For those of us with small businesses what will this mean for our future? I keep taking a deep breath myself and trying to stay calm and realize that generations before us, for as long as humans have existed, have dealt with worse!  Plagues have always been around and technology and resources have never been this available.  

I was reading facebook and my thoughts are it brings out the best and worst in people.  So many are generous and grounded yet others are negative and angry. Parents are faced with homeschooling their children which can be a real challenge.  I am also a teacher so believe me I know what it is like to have some of these kids stay focused and learn. However, I also know how much they actually crave learning.  Students in high school want to learn life skills more than anything at this point. How do I pay my taxes? How do I write out a check? How do I interview? How do I shake a hand properly?  I teach this stuff in my classes because it is valuable. We have gotten away from the basics in our society in our quest for the best education possible. Sometimes the best education includes life skills, social graces, morals, and learning how to do things around the house.  Even older kids will value a list of things to do to help during this time. Talk to your kids, ask questions, learn from them. I miss my students. They make me laugh everyday and I learn so much from them. Give them general guidelines for the day. Do a home project and make them help!  Why are we so reticent to have our kids work with us? We need to make them work. We are in this together!

I am going to be posting workouts of the day on my youtube channel for students during our social distancing time.  I hope families also join in! Check it out…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7ZOfEZCvB0&t=120s


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