Patrice Joslin
55, New Hartford
Patrice Joslin’s secret to staying fit is doing things she enjoys, she said.
“I run. I bike. I kayak. I hike. I think I do a little bit of everything,” she said.
That variety helps to keep exercise interesting even though she exercises at least five times a week, she said. And Joslin chooses activities she can do outside because she loves the outdoors, she said.
Exercise can also mean dancing, jumping rope, raking leaves or sweeping, Joslin said.
“You have to find what activity is good for you and for your current lifestyle,” she said.
Her eating habits also keep her healthy, Joslin said.
“My saving grace is I know when my body is full. And I do not like that stuffed full feeling,” she said. “I eat everything. There’s nothing I do not eat, but I eat in very definite moderation. I do not eat big.”
But Joslin has no interest in being skinny.
“I have to eat to have some stamina,” she said.
Everyone has to balance their lifestyle to suit their body, mind, spirit and motivation, she said.
“It has to fit together for us. If it fits together for someone else, it will never work for us,” she said.
Dr. Peter Schklair
OB-GYN
Slocum-Dickson
Medical Group,
New Hartford
For Schklair, a healthy woman is one who gets preventive care. She gets an annual gynecological exam, including a Pap smear to test for cervical cancer, he said. She does monthly breast self-exams and gets mammograms every year or two after age 40.
And she sees her family doctor for other screenings, such as cholesterol tests, thyroid tests, bone density tests as she gets older and colonoscopies after age 50.
A healthy woman should be aware of how her lifestyle choices (from smoking to having many sexual partners), her family history and her personal health history can put her at risk for health problems, and learn what she should do about those risks, he said.
Healthy women also take their medications regularly, he said. Many women, for example, ignore the risks of high blood pressure because they feel fine, a dangerous mistake, Schklair said.
And healthy women raise their health concerns with their doctor, even about uncomfortable topics such as sex or incontinence.
Dr. Amy Freeth
endocrinologist and medical director of the clinical research division of Bassett Healthcare, Cooperstown
For Freeth, the issue is really wellness – taking the best care of yourself.
But many factors are stacked against women achieving wellness, she said. For example, eating healthy foods costs more. Freeth is very critical of the food industry for marketing high-calorie foods that offer little nutrition.
At the same time, women are surrounded by images of models and actresses that create an unrealistic picture of what women should look like, Freeth said.
“Women believe that if they lose weight, they’ll be happy. And I think we find that a lot of people will lose the weight, and even considerable weight, and say, ‘Wow, I’ve lost weight and I’m still not happy so there must still be something wrong with my body,”’ Freeth said.
While Freeth doesn’t want women to obsess about their dress size, they need to pay attention to their body-mass index, a ratio of height to weight. Obese women, with a BMI of 30 or higher, are a risk for a host of serious health problems.
Jackie
Michel
licensed clinical
social worker and executive coach,
Clinton
Michel discussed the components of good mental health:
• A commitment to self-reflection or self-awareness.
• The ability to sustain, focus on and follow through on goals.
• Building emotional flexibility and resilience.
• An optimistic attitude toward oneself and others.
• Connecting with others, including through helping and volunteering.
And a focus on the present; accepting yourself the way you are right now can give you the freedom to choose to change, Michel said.
Michel said it’s also important to realize that a healthy woman is not her body.
“Who she is,” Michel said, “is reflected in her deepest values and the meaning and purpose in her life.”
A healthy body, mind and spirit let women fulfill that purpose, she said.
Helen Urich
79,
Little Falls
Every morning, Helen Urich heads out to the Little Falls YMCA to put in a half hour in the pool and 20 minutes in the weight room.
The pool exercise keeps an old back injury from troubling her, she said. She also spends some time on three exercise machines in her home, she said.
Urich first took up daily exercise five years ago when she started walking three miles a day. After a fall, she switched to indoor exercise.
The exercise has kept her weight down and her body in “pretty good shape,” Urich said.
Before she retired – Urich was a sewing machine operator – she didn’t exercise.
“When we were younger, we didn’t have time,” she said.
Dorothy Barth, 87
Presbyterian Residential
Community, New Hartford
“I walked for 42 years,” said Dorothy Barth, describing her years of working her way from a salesclerk to head of personnel at the former Woolworth’s in downtown Utica.
She thinks those years left her in good shape for her retirement years, she said.
But after going through rehab for a fractured pelvis about four years ago, Barth decided to do something else for her well being: she moved into the adult-care facility at Presbyterian, a move that, she said, has brought her peace of mind.
“It’s good for me in many ways. I’m not lonely … (If) you get sick, there’s always someone around you,” said Barth, who has no family.
Her building includes a fitness room and offers a variety of regular activities. It serves three meals a day. Staff keep her prescriptions filled, give Barth her daily medications, make doctor appointments for her and generally make sure she’s feeling OK.
And Barth keeps herself busy by volunteering for a number of jobs, such as assembling the facility’s bulletin and calendar, delivering the mail and taking care
of some large, potted plants in the gym. She was
named Volunteer of the Year last year.
Alicia Boyd
49,
Utica
Two years ago, walking up a flight of stairs was tough for Alicia Boyd, she said.
But when she was diagnosed with Type II diabetes, she decided to get serious about her health.
Boyd had one advantage in meeting her goal – she works as a customer-service representative for Excellus Blue Cross/Blue Shield. So she knew all about an Excellus Web site called Step Up
(www.stepup.excellusbcbs.com) that gives out advice and information – to anyone, not just members – on walking for weight loss and health.
She bought a pedometer and worked her way up to five miles a day, although she admitted she slacked off over the winter.
And when, after taking a class for people with diabetes, Boyd found herself still confused about eating right she talked to an Excellus dietitian who made sure Boyd understood the fine art of moderation and balance. Boyd eats lots of fruits, vegetables and lean meats, but she’ll also eat the occasional cookie if she wants, she said.
So far Boyd has dropped 50 pounds, and finds with hard work and education diabetes can be a very manageable disease.
Katerina Mathias
25,
Clinton
Katerina Mathias has put a lot of thought into her first pregnancy.
“I was asking so many questions that I thought (my doctor) was sick of me,” she said.
Mathias started taking prenatal vitamins two years before she got pregnant, just to be careful. She’s done a lot of research on the Internet and has also decided to take flax seed oil and vitamin E supplements.
Active before she got pregnant, Mathias, who was 31 weeks along when interviewed in late March, took up yoga as a safer and more comfortable way to get in exercise.
“I sleep better and it relieves pains in my back. If I don’t do it for a while, it comes back,” she said.
Mathias tries to eat carefully, choosing nuts, fruit or juice for snacks – but every once in a while, she’ll give in to her desire for a McDonald’s cheeseburger.
“There shouldn’t be any forbidden foods,” she said. “If I stay away from something, that’s the only thing I can think of.”
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