“Learn from other people’s mistakes”

I am going to admit something that many people will be surprised at and some people may not believe. I am a personal trainer and I am NOT genetically gifted. When I demonstrate an exercise, Clients comment that I make exercises look easy when I do them. Yeah, despite my layers of lose clothes that I wear it’s no secret that I am fit. I will admit that I do generally have passion for exercise, a fascination for the way the human body works and an admiration for the potential human beings can achieve physically and mentally.

But the truth is I was not always this way. Okay my family is going to kill me but I am going to spill the beans. I figure since I went on Oprah and shared my life with Oprah and 33 Million people and few hundred thousand more who may be reading my webpage and blog won’t make much of a difference right.

Okay I am five out of six children and I am the ONLY one who exercises. In fact I don’t ever remember the words healthy, nutritious or exercise being spoken when I grew up. My mother didn’t even make me eat my vegetables. I am the lone voice in the woods when I give my sister lectures about health eating and exercise. And I have become sort of the family joke when I bring my “healthy” dish to the family pot luck. Despite this I understand how important it is for me to continue on my health and fitness journey every day. I want you to meet my inspiration. Someone I have never introduced before.

The woman third from the right is my mother, Atiyah. (the others are my sisters) My mother is my “Shero” in many ways. She is my foundation, my inspiration, and my motivation. Of all the lessons she taught me growing up, one of the most valuable was “learn from other people’s mistakes”. I have always taken that advice to heart and tried to live my life with that lesson in mind. So NO I do not want to smell the sour milk, I trust you when you say it’s sour.


My mother has diabetes. She has been insulin dependent diabetic for 25 years. She never really learned how to change her lifestyle to help treat her diabetes and today she suffers from every side effect there is, related to diabetes. Including heart disease, neuropathy, glaucoma. Many factor contribute to diabetes, like genetics ( both my maternal grandparents were insulin dependent diabetes for a large portion of their adult lives), and lifestyle choices.

Now that I am a fitness professional I understand what a significant impact lifestyle choices can make on diabetes. Genetics is just a piece of the puzzle and although there are all types of research on diabetes and its causes there is one thing we all know. The MOST significant factor in determining diabetes prevention and treatment is nutrition and exercise. That is why I am dedicating my New Years resolution in 2009 is to help as many people as I can to use nutrition and exercise to prevent and treat diabetes. I am so excited to announce that BALANCE fitness has joined with the American Diabetes Association to launch The CT Fitness C hallenge. A 12 week competition to get CT residence to incorporate healthier nutrition and exercise habits to lose weight and avoid the epidemic of diabetes and WIN $3000 in the process. I am so passionate about this cause that I am giving all the profit to American Diabetes Association. So not only will you do something good for yourself but you will help the American Diabetes Association do something good for diabetes research and treatment.

So why exercise to avoid diabetes. Wow, let me count the ways! Here is the biggest One!
Waist to hip ratio. Did you know the size of your waist determine if you will develop diabetes. Yes if your waist to Hip ratio high then you have a 70% chance of developing diabetes, high blood pressure or heart disease in the next 10 year. This risk is even more accurate that BMI for African American women who’s can develop those diseases in the next 7 years.

Lose weight, reduce your waist size and you will reduce your risk for diabetes. It’s that simple. http://www.ctfitnesschallenge.com/