Author: lizjones10

About once a year, I like to remind people why it is so important to donate blood. I’ve believed for most of my life that if you are willing to take something, you should be willing to give it in return. That especially applies to giving blood. It is so easy and yet such a lifesaving gesture.
I’ve been giving blood since I was in my 20’s and weighed enough to meet the requirements. Later in life, I realized even more how important it is to give. When my son Jordan was in a terrible accident at the age of fourteen, the impact of how we all need to pay it forward really struck me. If you would accept blood for yourself or your loved ones when they are in the hospital, I believe it is our duty to give it when you are able. Some people cannot give because of a medical reason, others have a great fear of needles. I can tell you, it only is a small pinch for a quick second. The small “sacrifice” is by far worth the benefit.
Here are some facts from the American Red Cross about donating blood:
Facts about blood needs
• Every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood.
• More than 41,000 blood donations are needed every day.
• A total of 30 million blood components are transfused each year in the U.S.
• The average red blood cell transfusion is approximately 3 pints.
• The blood type most often requested by hospitals is Type O.
• The blood used in an emergency is already on the shelves before the event occurs.
• Sickle cell disease affects more than 70,000 people in the U.S. About 1,000 babies are born with the disease each year. Sickle cell patients can require frequent blood transfusions throughout their lives.
• More than 1.6 million people were diagnosed with cancer last year. Many of them will need blood, sometimes daily, during their chemotherapy treatment.
• A single car accident victim can require as many as 100 pints of blood.
Each blood donation is said to save up to three lives. What greater benefit can you get than that? It is an amazing gift. Other benefits to giving blood are it actually makes YOU healthier to donate. According to studies published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, blood donors are 88% less likely to suffer a heart attack and 33% less likely to suffer any type of cardiovascular event. They are not sure why, but hey- I’ll take those stats! It also is said to burn calories and may reduce your risk of cancer as well. Not to mention you get a free health check up for cholesterol, blood pressure and other biometrics each time you donate. You can give every 56 days so check with your employer or church for upcoming blood drives, or go to Carter Blood Care or American Red Cross websites to find a donation site.
http://www.carterbloodcare.org/Donate-Blood
http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/why-donate-blood

Liz Jones is the Wellness Coordinator for the City of Mesquite and a wellness professional in Rockwall, Mesquite, Wylie and surrounding areas. She is a writer, certified yoga instructor, personal trainer and wellness coach. She holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership and Strategic Management, with a graduate certificate in Ethics and Leadership. Her undergraduate studies included communication, business, writing, art, fitness, and dance. Liz Jones can be reached at: [email protected].

Wellness does not just mean gym time. One very common issue I see people dealing with is fiscal fitness. I know many people who are struggling with money. Many folks are trying to afford healthy food for them or are trying to feed their kids on a limited budget. So, in times of financial stress, how do you eat well?
When my son Jordan was growing up, we were very poor. I was a single mom, working a low-paying job, paying for daycare, and going to college all at the same time. We didn’t have money for extras, so we didn’t buy things like chips, soda, and candy. In some ways, that was a blessing because Jordan grew up not having junk food in the house and much of that carried forth to his adulthood. However, back in those days, before my life took the path of wellness, I bought many things that were inexpensive, but not nutritious like boxed macaroni and cheese, ramen noodles, raviolis, peanut butter and white bread.
As the years went by, I learned more about health and nutrition and the food in our house became more nutrition-based and yet was still affordable on my very limited income. We cut out most of the processed, “fast-foods,” and added in more things like chicken breasts, broccoli, egg whites, canned tuna, and spinach.
Some tips I have for eating well on a budget.
• Eat plant-strong meals. Serve spinach, broccoli, brussel sprouts or another leafy green with most meals.
• Grow your own. For the green-thumb-blessed, this is a great option. For those like me, if you factor in the cost of seeds, the time weeding the garden, and the fact that I eventually kill most plants, this isn’t the best plan.
• Food co-ops. We are very lucky to have Bountiful Baskets available to us locally. I get a great basket of fruits and vegetables for around $15. Bountifulbaskets.org.
Where do you get your protein? Try alternatives to meat. Things like tofu, quinoa, beans, canned tuna and eggs are all very affordable options for protein sources. Many vegetables are also a great source of affordable protein; just make sure you are getting a whole protein when eating non-animal foods (like eating brown rice with your beans or broccoli so that you get all of the essential amino acids that you need).

The breakdown:
• Quinoa (1 cup) contains 8.14 grams of protein: $2.19 per box (2 servings = $1.10 per serving)
• Chia seeds (2T) contains 6 grams of protein: $6.99 for 12 oz container (14 servings = .50 cents per serving)
• Tofu (1/3 cup) contains 7 grams of protein: $1.99 per container (5 servings = .40 cents per serving)
• Broccoli (12.5 oz) has 11.5 grams of protein: $1 per bag (7 servings = .14 cents per serving)
• Tuna (1/2 can) 20 grams of protein: .79 cents per can (2 servings = .40 cents per serving)
• Eggs (1 whole egg) 7 grams of protein: $2.79 per dozen (12 servings = .23 cents per serving)

Liz Jones is the Wellness Coordinator for the City of Mesquite and a wellness professional in Rockwall, Mesquite, Wylie and surrounding areas. She is a writer, certified yoga instructor, personal trainer and wellness coach. She holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership and Strategic Management, with a graduate certificate in Ethics and Leadership. Her undergraduate studies included communication, business, writing, art, fitness, and dance. Liz Jones can be reached at: [email protected].

We finished our chocolate bunnies and marshmallow chickens. Most people are starting to think about bathing suit weather, days on the lake, and fitting into our summer wardrobe. Summer is coming faster than you think. By now into 2014, most people will have started and stopped going to the gym, done some sort of cleanse or diet and reverted back to McDonald’s drive through and beer, and let their vow to practice yoga and meditation give way to deadlines and annoying coworker behavior.
Recently we had a lunar eclipse on April 15th and it is said in astrology that the time between a full moon, especially a lunar eclipse, and a new moon (April 29) is a time to get rid of bad habits, finish projects, wrap up an unhealthy relationship, or whatever you need to complete or work on in your life. And of course, Easter on April 20th, fell during the most recent moon cycle. Easter is the greatest story of rebirth and renewal, ending one phase and coming back to life.
So what does this mean to you? When you take out the religious and mythological factors, and focus on the symbolic factors of the season it is a time to reinvent your life and your habits. What can you do to make THIS time different? First, decide what you are really dedicated to. Do you want to focus on being happy in your relationship and have a partner that you can have a healthy relationship with? If so, what has kept you from to this point from achieving that? What are you willing to give up (behaviors, habits) to have the happiness you seek?
Same with fitness. What are you really dedicated to achieve? Why is it important to you? What’s kept you from it previously? So in January you were going to lose 20 pounds, train to run your first 5K, go to yoga three times a week. Maybe you need to focus on just one thing. Again, what do you REALLY want and what are you willing to give up to have it or to achieve your goal? Try to set a realistic, time-framed, specific goal (I will lose 1 pound a week for the next 12 weeks). Write it down, note why it’s important to you (I want to get off blood pressure medication, I want to look fabulous in my bikini, I want to have energy to play outside with my kids, etc.). What are you willing to give up to have it? (happy hour, more than one “free meal” a week, a tv program that you watch that you could instead be at the gym, and so on). You can do it! All you need to do is decide to do something that you are really committed to and have a plan as to how you are going to reach that goal. I’m always here to help, so please email me if there is something I can give you some information on or a question you would like me to write about.

Liz Jones is the Wellness Coordinator for the City of Mesquite and a wellness professional in Rockwall, Mesquite, Wylie and surrounding areas. She is a writer, certified yoga instructor, personal trainer and wellness coach. She holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership and Strategic Management, with a graduate certificate in Ethics and Leadership. Her undergraduate studies included communication, business, writing, art, fitness, and dance. Liz Jones can be reached at: [email protected].

The first thing I will say is if you have an addiction issue, to seek professional help. Other than that, as a trainer, I rarely tell people that they have to quit drinking… people don’t like that. It’s one of the habits that many people just won’t give up, so I often have to help them find ways that they can cut back on alcohol and save it for “treat days,” special occasions, or in moderation if they have a glass of wine or a beer in the evenings. Of course, if you have fitness goals that you are trying to reach, the BEST choice would be to cut out the extra calories from drinking.
I lived in Wisconsin for thirty-five years of my life and the state is known for beer drinking (heard of Old Milwaukee anyone?), so growing up, it really was a part of the culture. I am not an addiction specialist, so I will leave that specific topic to the professionals in that field. However, from a fitness and wellness perspective, how much and what type of alcohol you drink can affect your life. Having a drink occasionally has been shown by some studies to help the heart, but binge drinking or drinking more than one drink (for women) or two drinks (for men) a day can start to have negative effects on your heart, liver, and brain. Alcohol can increase the occurrence of depression and anxiety. Excessive alcohol use has also been linked to increasing risks for certain cancers.
As far as fitness, if you are working toward physique goals, such as losing a large amount of weight or getting “ripped” to compete in bodybuilding, most fitness professionals, such as one of my favorites, Mike O’Hearn (American Gladiators- both the old and the most recent series, Mr. Natural Olympia, fitness model, etc.), recommends that you never touch alcohol. Research shows that it can mess up your hormonal system, deters muscle growth, create a “beer belly” and “man boobs” as well as fat throughout the rest of the body. Alcohol can also cause dehydration, which can affect your weight loss, cause headaches, and increase the likeliness of getting wrinkles. Also, drinking causes most people to make poor nutritional choices. I can personally say the only time I have ever eaten a bag of Doritos, there was alcohol involved in the splurge.
If you are trying to get fit, it’s best to cut out most alcohol, but if you do decide to drink, stick to choices like merlot, vodka and soda water, or occasionally a light beer or Chelada (beer and Clamato), but beer, no matter how light, will generally cause bloating. Avoid sugary drinks like margaritas, mojitos, cream-based drinks, or darker beers. It’s really a personal choice, and you have to balance what you want with what you want to give up. Do you want your nightly glass of wine more than you want a flat belly? Do you want to have beers at happy hour with your friends more than you want to fit into your pants? When it comes to your health, you also need to weigh the costs and benefits to your choices. For more information, I’ve included some links to other resources.
Bodybuilding and alcohol: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson11.htm
Alcohol limit: https://www.tabc.state.tx.us/enforcement/blood_alcohol_percentage_chart.asp
Get help: http://www.recovery.org/topics/addiction-recovery-helplines/
Teens and alcohol: https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-teens-and-alcohol

Liz Jones is the Wellness Coordinator for the City of Mesquite and a wellness professional in Rockwall, Mesquite, Wylie and surrounding areas. She is a writer, certified yoga instructor, personal trainer and wellness coach. She holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership and Strategic Management, with a graduate certificate in Ethics and Leadership. Her undergraduate studies included communication, business, writing, art, fitness, and dance. Liz Jones can be reached at: [email protected].

Spring is on its way. The weather in Texas has been bipolar- hot one day, freezing and sleet the next- so it’s definitely a sign of spring right around the corner. I’ve felt the effects of the change in season myself, feeling low energy and restless at the same time for a few days. I know I need to do something to feel like my happiest, healthiest self again. It’s a good time to clear your space, doing spring cleaning both in your home, your office, your car and your body. Throw out the junk food in your house. Donate canned goods of processed foods. If you have kids or a roommate or partner that you can’t remove all of the processed food from the house, designate an area for the “junk” food.

For me, this is a good time of year to do a cleansing detox program for a few days. I don’t personally do fasting cleanses, but I do think that eating a vegetable and fruit based diet, while increasing your water intake and drinking tea can help to cleanse the body, give yourself a boost toward weight loss, and increase energy levels.

Drink more water, get quality sleep. Focus on clean eating and nutrition. Exercise is a proven way to help your body detoxify. Sweat. Increase your fiber intake. Eat brown rice, quinoa, beans, and green vegetables. I also like to drink green tea and dandelion root tea. I recommend adding apple cider vinegar to your food as well, or drinking a Tablespoon of it in hot water, a few times a day.
Certain yoga poses can help your body as well. Practicing yoga helps to reduce your stress level. Twists stimulate digestion and elimination, and legs up a wall, downward dog and other inversions aid your lymphatic system and promote blood flow.
Ways to help your body detoxify:
• Yoga: Yoga not only helps the body relax and reduce the cortisol levels in your body, many yoga asanas (poses) help the body detoxify. Twisting poses help the digestive system and many poses, especially inversions, stimulate the lymphatic system.
• Epsom salt baths: Mixing Epsom salt with a natural oil such as coconut oil or olive oil makes a great, natural body scrub. Epsom salt in hot water helps to draw out toxins, help the body to relax. (Epsom salt can also be used as a gentle laxative when ingested)
• Massage therapy: Massage also helps you to relax, releases endorphins into your body, stimulates and drains the lymphatic system and releases lactic acid built up in your muscles.
• Dry brushing your skin and hair: Dry brushing your skin and hair also helps stimulate the lymphatic system as well as removing toxins and waste from the surface of the body. This also stimulates natural healing. Natural bristle brushes are best and always brush toward your heart.
• Apple cider vinegar: helps with digestion and is said to flush fat from the body.
• Water, water, water!: Drinking enough water each day is probably the best way to help your body remove toxins, stay hydrated and refresh the entire body.
• Barley powder: barley powder is a great addition to your diet when doing a cleanse. It is one of the most nutritionally dense substances out there including nine amino acids. It is known to help with skin ailments as well from the inside out. Its high fiber content helps the body to eliminate waste.
Follow me on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/liz.jones.1441810

Liz Jones is the Wellness Coordinator for the City of Mesquite and a wellness professional in Rockwall, Mesquite, Wylie and surrounding areas. She is a writer, certified yoga instructor, personal trainer and wellness coach. She holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership and Strategic Management, with a graduate certificate in Ethics and Leadership. Her undergraduate studies included communication, business, writing, art, fitness, and dance. Liz Jones can be reached at: [email protected].

My son Jordan turns 24-years-old this week. Many of you who have regularly read my columns know that he is a miracle child and overcame great adversity when he survived a terrible motorcycle accident that put him in a coma, leaving him with a Traumatic Brain Injury when he was 14-years-old. He is a true survivor and has overcome great odds in life. I’m happy to say he is healthy and living back up in Wisconsin, getting ready to return to college this August to work on a degree. I am incredibly proud of him and yet still always incredibly worried about him. But that’s my job, I’m a mother.
When I think about overcoming odds, I often think how ironic it is that I do the work that I do, helping other people to make positive changes in their lives. Actually, it’s not ironic as much as it’s exactly the path that was put before me. I think most people who end up in any leadership role, or in any helping profession, have had to overcome some adversity in their lives, it’s what builds us as leaders. It’s what gives us experience and wisdom to help others and to encourage people along the way. I had a shaky home-life as a child, as people used to call it, a “broken home,” but these days, coming from a family of divorce or dysfunction seems to be more of the norm, and having parents that are married and stay married (and are actually happily married), is the more unusual situation.
As I grew up, I lived in foster homes as a teenager, on and off, and moved out when I was sixteen years old. I worked evenings and went to high school during the day. I was a year ahead in my class and was the youngest senior at the age of sixteen. I worked nights at a truck stop and drove to school in the mornings in my ratty old Chevette that had holes in the floor that would splash up on my passengers if it rained the day before. Eventually I dropped out of high school because I was too tired to stay awake in algebra class and was often falling asleep on my desk. I moved to Montana and became pregnant at the age of seventeen. I decided at that time to move back to Wisconsin, where I was from, to have my son. I finished my High School diploma, taking tests while I was pregnant and finishing with him by my side in his baby carrier.
When Jordan was two, we were very poor, but I was able to get accepted into college and began going to the university during the day and working at UPS loading trucks in the evenings and cocktail waitressing on the weekends. Later I was able to go to college full-time on the weekends and work a better day job during the week. I built a house on my own at the age of 29 and raised Jordan there until he was through with high school and into college.
I finished both an undergraduate and master’s degree in the weekend program at the College of St. Catherine and I attended law school, working toward a dual degree until Jordan had his accident. At that time I took a year off from school during his recovery, but went back to complete my graduate program. I taught yoga and fitness as a part-time job around my full-time work and I raised Jordan. Over the years we have both been through many trying times, many big changes.

When Jordan was 21, he had been in college for a while and I decided to put my house up for sale, pack up a 20 foot U-haul and my 100 pound dog, and I headed to Texas, ready for a change in my life with nothing more than a wing and a prayer. There’s a lot more to my path to becoming a wellness professional, but I am grateful every day to get to do the work that I do and even for the experiences that I have gone through that were difficult at the time because I hope that I can be an example to others that they can achieve their goals and can overcome the odds that may seem to be stacked against them.

Liz Jones is the Wellness Coordinator for the City of Mesquite and a wellness professional in Rockwall, Mesquite, Wylie and surrounding areas. She is a writer, certified yoga instructor, personal trainer and wellness coach. She holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership and Strategic Management, with a graduate certificate in Ethics and Leadership. Her undergraduate studies included communication, business, writing, art, fitness, and dance. Liz Jones can be reached at: [email protected].

March is National Nutrition Month. Any good trainer will tell you that 80% of your fitness results come from what you eat, 10% from your fitness program and 10% genetics. Even if you are religiously sticking to a workout plan, but you make poor choices with your diet, you are not going to see the results that you are looking for or the health benefits that are so important. Eat clean, train mean, get lean.
One good way to become more aware of what you are consuming is to log your meals. I’ve always been an advocate of writing down what you eat and drink when starting a program. It helps to be accountable to yourself and more mindful of what you are putting in your mouth. I’ve always been a pen and paper writer and hold off on most technology until it has become necessary (I am a late bloomer with getting an IPhone and still have never downloaded a song in my life and don’t own an IPod- which some may find very strange for someone who teaches any fitness or yoga class), but recently I decided to try MyFitnessPal.com, which is a free app that you can use on your phone, computer, or other device to log your food and exercise. I found this incredibly useful, not because I want to count my calories, but to be able to see the nutritional breakdown of my meals. It has been very interesting and also has helped me to shed a few extra winter pounds as I emerge into my spring training program. It also helped me to realize that I wasn’t getting enough potassium in my diet, which is surprisingly hard to get enough! High blood pressure runs in my family, so it’s extra important for me to make sure I’m getting enough potassium.
I am not an advocate of getting “demerit” points for eating because I think that it attaches a psychologically negative association to eating. What we need to do is learn how to eat for nutrition and nourishment, while still keeping food enjoyable. I do think having treats like desert or margaritas (or your favorite) can be good to have in moderation and on occasion, but that it shouldn’t be used as a reward or punishment. Finding balance and a positive association with food is probably the best ultimate goal, even more important than reaching a certain weight or pant size.
Trying new foods is also important to help your family get the nutrition that they need. Things like kale, quinoa, or flax seed can add great benefits to your meals. Or trying avocado based chocolate mousse, using unsweetened applesauce in place of fat, agave nectar in place of sugar, or creating smoothies with power foods can be a surprising way to have treats that are much healthier and still delicious. If you’d like some tips on food that are high in potassium or some new foods to try, follow me on Facebook in March for “Try This” tips https://www.facebook.com/liz.jones.1441810.

Liz Jones is the Wellness Coordinator for the City of Mesquite and a wellness professional in Rockwall, Mesquite, Wylie and surrounding areas. She is a writer, certified yoga instructor, personal trainer and wellness coach. She holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership and Strategic Management, with a graduate certificate in Ethics and Leadership. Her undergraduate studies included communication, business, writing, art, fitness, and dance. Liz Jones can be reached at: [email protected].

I’ve had a couple of discussions lately with people who are “regular” runners, about whether running burns off muscle. As with most things, it really depends what your goals are in order to determine how much cardio and weight training you should do (see my previous article on lifting heavy or light). My personal belief is that everyone needs to do cardio, weight training, stretching and relaxation in order to achieve wellness and to help them meet their personal goals.
Many of my friends in the Rockwall Running Club are strictly runners, they can get up in the morning and run ten miles right out of the shoot, but they don’t do any weight training or yoga, so they may want to add a weight training program to increase their leg strength, shape their body, or for bone health reasons. Many runners I know also suffer from shin splints, hairline fractures, plantar fasciitis and other ailments). Yoga or a stretching program is also important for runner to help maintain flexibility and decrease soreness, cramping, etc.
On the other foot are my body builder and power lifting friends. Many of the people I know who compete, especially the power lifters, focus more on their weight training and do not include much cardio in their training plan. You can weight train intensely enough to raise your heart rate to achieve health benefits, but that takes careful planning. Most body builders also need to do enough cardio to achieve heart health and fat burning benefits. The same philosophy applies to body builders doing yoga and stretching, it helps them to feel better as well as excel in their sport.
One fear body builders/fitness/figure/power lifters have is that doing too much cardio will burn away hard-earned muscle. In some cases that is true and when working to add muscle while getting lean, it is a balancing act to be able to increase lean muscle mass, while being lean enough to see muscular definition. How much cardio you need also depends on your diet, what types of foods you are consuming and the volume of food and beverages you ingest.
I don’t mean to generalize any category of fitness folk, but these are some known trends in various sports. I encourage you to have a well-balanced fitness program along with a mostly clean diet, no matter what your passion.

Liz Jones is a wellness professional in Rockwall, Mesquite, Wylie and surrounding areas. She is a writer, certified yoga instructor, personal trainer and wellness coach. She holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership and Strategic Management, with a graduate certificate in Ethics and Leadership. Her undergraduate studies included communication, business, writing, art, fitness, and dance. Liz Jones can be reached at: [email protected].

How many of you have ever felt like you were a little stressed out at work? Maybe felt you needed a little more energy by the middle of the day? How about missed a day of work because of a chronic illness or body pain? I’m guessing if you are raising your hands, few people would be left now that don’t have their hand up. I’d love to talk to you to learn your secret!
Most people can relate to at least one or all of the statements above. So what can employers do to help their employees to have better health and be at their best both at work and at home? It’s important for employers of all sizes to encourage a culture of wellness for their employees- even if you are a business of one, a family business, a non-profit or a large corporation. Employee health directly impacts healthcare costs — an issue for every business. However 75% of these costs are driven by preventable and highly manageable chronic diseases, like heart disease, type-2 diabetes, and some forms of cancer.

Obesity among full-time employees cost employers $73.1 billion a year in medical costs and lost productivity in 2008. A recent study estimates that an obese person incurs annual medical costs that are over $2,700 higher (in 2005 dollars) than if they were not obese.

Healthy workers + Healthy Corporate Culture =
• Higher productivity
• Less absenteeism
• More job satisfaction
• Better bottom line on health care costs in the long-term
• Connection with co-workers
• Employees are our most valuable asset!

This is a link to an article on America’s Healthier Companies, of all sizes, and what they are doing to be leaders in employee wellness:
http://greatist.com/health/healthiest-companies
Some of the things that you can participate in as an employee of the City of Mesquite are things like wellness coaching (creating a personalized plan, nutrition counseling, exercise planning and instruction); group coaching (creating challenges, rewards, team support); education (Lunch & Learns, handouts, newsletters, videos), and Wellness Days (information, chair massage, blood pressure or other biometric screenings). We also have various wellness activities going on right now that you can be a part of. If you need help figuring out what would work best for you, send me an email and I can help you create a plan.

Liz Jones is the Wellness Coordinator at the City of Mesquite and a wellness professional in Rockwall, Mesquite, Wylie and surrounding areas. She is a writer, certified yoga instructor, personal trainer and wellness coach. She holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership and Strategic Management, with a graduate certificate in Ethics and Leadership. Her undergraduate studies included communication, business, writing, art, fitness, and dance. Liz Jones can be reached at: [email protected].

As I write this article, yesterday I attended the memorial service of my friend’s 22-year-old son. I have to say, it was heartbreaking and hard to bear for many reasons. My friend Melinda has shown an amazing amount of strength throughout the time I’ve known her. Her son Jake was in a car accident in 2007 and left with a severe traumatic brain injury. He required 24-hour care for the rest of his life. Recently, he took a turn for the worse and sadly passed away after a long battle.
I met Melinda when I first moved to Rockwall a few years ago. I became a part of a group of ladies that went out together and it’s how I got to know some people in the area. Ironically Melinda and I, along with our friend Kim, had something more in common- we all had sons who had suffered traumatic brain injuries to different degrees. They were all different situations and very different outcomes, but I always felt like there was something that brought us together. Although I am deeply saddened by Jake’s passing, I have to say that Melinda is also very inspirational. Nobody can truly know what she is going through, or what she is dealing with, but anyone that has seen her as a mother knows that she was always there for Jake and kept pushing forward, doing what she felt was best for him, no matter what the sacrifice.
Looking at what Jake went through and what Melinda, as a parent, had experienced, it is humbling and puts most other situations into perspective. I won’t compare losing a child to anything else in the world, but I hope that in some way, their story will inspire you to overcome whatever obstacles you perceive to be in your way and to keep moving forward and pushing through.
Here are some tips for various setbacks that commonly throw people off track from their goals:
• A health issue- injury, severe illness or disease can really wreak havoc on a wellness program. Talk to your medical provider, most will encourage you to continue a healthy lifestyle, including a training program and good nutrition to help you through your recovery. If you break an arm, you can still work your legs. I learned after orthoscopic knee surgery many years ago that I would have recovered much better had I stayed active. I also gained over 20 pounds from my couch time and ice cream consumption because I felt bad. Hindsight is 20/20. If you are diagnosed with a disease, again, most medical providers will encourage you to continue eating well and exercising to help your body to fight the disease.
• Relationship ending- many times people will avoid the gym if they went there with an ex, or because their regular habits are changing, they allow that to change their fitness habits as well. Try to focus on yourself and give yourself extra self-care during a breakup and keep active going to the gym, your current Zumba class, or try something new.
• Depression- Although it may be hard to feel motivated when going through situational or chronic depression, exercise is proven to raise endorphin levels and lower the rate of depression. Exercise can also boost your self-esteem, helping with many symptoms of depression. Eating healthy also aid in managing and preventing depression, eating foods high in Omega 3s such and tuna and salmon, avocados as well as increasing Vitamin B and D, and amino acids all have been shown to help.
• Financial issues- Many places, like the YMCA, offer scholarships and other gyms offer some very low cost options, such as Express 24 Fitness, has memberships as low as $15 per month. Many classes offer a free first class or a week trial. Depending on the situation, there are also many workouts you can incorporate at home, outside, with a video or taking a recreation center, low cost class.

Liz Jones is the Wellness Coordinator for the City of Mesquite and a wellness professional in Rockwall, Mesquite, Wylie and surrounding areas. She is a writer, certified yoga instructor, personal trainer and wellness coach. She holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership and Strategic Management, with a graduate certificate in Ethics and Leadership. Her undergraduate studies included communication, business, writing, art, fitness, and dance. Liz Jones can be reached at: [email protected].