Stressing health gain

I want to stress that the primary focus of “Heavy Weights” is not weight loss–it’s health gain.
It’s not a diet or a fad but rather an attempt to take the bad health habits we have and exchange them for healthy ones. Hence the motto, “Championing better health through better lifestyles.”
To act as a kind of gauge for the program, my own personal progress through “Heavy Weights” will be chronicled here in the Times on about a monthly basis. Since this is the first article, I might as well start where my quest for health gain did–namely, the Fort Frances Clinic.
Since my family has a history of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, I thought it would be a good idea to get some blood work done and see what my cholesterol, sugar, and triglyceride levels were at, then include a follow-up visit to my physician to see what it all meant.
As it turns out, my blood work came out pretty good. In fact, Dr. Ted Jablonski gave me a rating of “excellent.”
Score one for me.
If you don’t have a closet full of diseases in your gene pool, Dr. Jablonski said getting the blood work done is less important. But seeing a doctor to start off “may not be a bad idea,” he said. Most often, it will lead to a referral to a dietitian.
“The dietitians at the hospital are excellent,” he said. “They have a nice healthy approach to weight loss. The key is slow weight loss that keeps it off.”
While many tabloid diets say otherwise, Dr. Jablonski stressed healthy weight loss is about one or two pounds a week.
“You have to look at it in the long run,” he said. “It’s not one week or two. It’s a change of lifestyle–that’s the key.”
Betty-Anne Czarnecki, a dietitian at the Valley Diabetes Education Centre here, said pretty much the same thing. She took on my case because with my family history and weight (about 350 lbs.), I fall under the diabetes prevention part of her department.
The first thing she gave me was a Canada Food Guide, which is available at the hospital or Northwestern Health Unit. Keeping a journal on what you eat and how much of it is a good idea, she said. If nothing else, it helps you identify poor eating habits and nutritional gaps.
Something else to keep track of is your activity level. Since I already was cleared by my doctor for exercise, Czarnecki asked me to commit to exercising three to five times a week for 20-30 minutes at a time.
“Start slowly, then build intensity,” she said. “One problem is people make too big of an initial commitment and can’t stick to it.”
Czarnecki recommended low-impact exercises to start out with, such as walking, biking, or swimming.
Exercising in the winter, however, can be a hassle because it is often too cold to do any of the aforementioned things with any ease. But all those things can be done in relative comfort indoors at the Fort Frances Sportsplex.
Although the Sportsplex was kind enough to give me a annual pass for free (one of the perks of being a reporter), buying a membership will cost money.
But Community Services manager George Bell said there were several advantages to being a member, including a full range of treadmills, exercise bikes, swimming, and aerobic programs.
“Our biggest programs are pool programs,” he said, and all of them are at your disposal after you’ve paid your membership fee.
Bell noted quite a few people also pay a daily rate of $5.25-$6.25 to use the facility.
A monthly pass for an adult resident runs at $52 while a non-resident has to pay $60. That figures out to about $2 a day. If you move up to the annual membership, which is $340 and $400 respectively, that works out to just under a dollar and just over a dollar day.
As for me, I’m going to try and hit the treadmill and the exercise bikes for now. And as things start to warm up, maybe I’ll move outdoors more.