On Monday, Feb. 28, 10 women began a journey to a more healthy and active life as they joined the American Heart Association’s BetterU course, which takes place over the next 12 weeks.
Women from all over the Capital District will be learning how to shop for and cook healthy meals, and will have a 12-week free membership to Gold’s Gym. More than 70 applied to be a part of the program.
On Monday, the women had their blood pressure checked and recorded a video answering questions about why they wanted to be a part of the program and who they were doing it for.
American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Director Tina Hansen created the course two years ago in Omaha, Neb., where she said she saw it make a huge difference in women’s lives.
I’m really passionate about the work of the American Heart Association, and I feel like this is a real opportunity for the American Heart Association to institute real change in the Capital Region, she said. `We have a lot of education out there, but I really see this opportunity and this challenge as an actual way impact lives noticeably so. So the changes are not just talked about, they are acted upon.`
This is what a lot of the women who are participating in this challenge are looking for ` a way to ditch their old bad habits and start living a healthier life.
Renee Vickery, 48, of Glenmont was diagnosed with endometrial endino carcinoma last February. She endured, chemotherapy, six weeks of radiation treatment and surgery. After spending most of 2010 dealing with cancer, she said 2011 needed to bring a change.
`It’s 2011,` she said. `I’m healthy. I want to start a new life. And I want to change my lifestyle. After going through something like that, I want to live. I don’t want to be sitting on my couch watching TV. I want to be a part of life. I want to go out and be active.`
Setting a good example for her family and children is also a high priority for Vickery, as she said that she would rather her children grab for an apple instead of going for a Twinkie.
`I want them to know healthy,` she said. `I want them to go out there and choose riding a bicycle or to go bowling or playing tennis, instead of sitting there watching ‘Two and a Half Men.’`
Another participant who went through a life-threatening experience was Tami McDonald, 47, of Voorheesville, who suffered a heart attack in December 2009, which resulted in her having to undergo bypass surgery.
Being a smoker and living with stress due to some personal issues, McDonald called herself a type A personality. But what really freaked her out was waking up in a hospital bed and being the youngest person in the room by 30 years.
Now with being a part of this challenge, McDonald vows to make this opportunity work for her.
`I think it’s my second chance to get it right,` she said.
Although she was carrying around the flier promoting the program, McDonald said she didn’t turn her application in until the day before it was due. When she got the call that she was accepted, she almost didn’t believe it, but said she was very excited.
`I really needed to make some life changes,` she said. `I started some things on my own. I started exercising and I started dancing. But I need to obviously lose some weight. I’m made for this, this is me.`
Tonisha Bynum, 32, of Colonie said she had known for a long time that she needed to lose weight, but past attempts to do so have failed. With a program that pushes one to exercise and with a group of nine other women who are there for support, Bynum said she feels she can succeed.
`I think the group is what’s going to be the key for everything,` she said. `It’s kind of, like I said, I go to the gym for 10 minutes and leave. I’m there by myself, and I’m not doing anything with anyone else. I don’t have that support.`
Having the group support is what has excited a lot of the women involved in BetterU.
`Give me a group to go through with this so I won’t be learning things on my own,` said Vickery. `Give me the incentive to go to the gym. I was living life on the couch and don’t know how to exercise. Having them give me the support is very important.`
Hansen agreed, and said that being a part of a group is one of the main components that contributes to the program’s success.
`It really keeps you accountable,` she said. `And that really is a big part of this program, keeping these women accountable for each other.`
All of this is leading up to the Go Red For Women’s luncheon on May 18, where more than 400 women dressed in red come to be educated on the risks of heart disease, which Jane Golub, director of in-store marketing programs for Price Chopper, said kills more women than breast cancer.
`These ten women will be a part of the motivational speaking at the luncheon that day,` she said. `They will have been in this program for 12 weeks and there will be an appreciable change in each of them in their physical appearance, their activity rate and in their ego. They will share that with the ladies at the luncheon.`
If you would like to follow the journey these women will take on, visit http://capitalregionagoredbetteru.blogspot.com, where the women will detail their experiences in the program. Also visit www.facebook.com/americanheatnewyork where one woman will be featured on the page every week.
“