Healthy Attitude

Some people say attitude is everything. When the going gets rough, push past the pain. I believe it.

That's how I started running.  I pushed past the pain and kept on running. Running was something that I could control. It was only I who could make myself run faster or longer or make it more exciting.  I had to push. When I run, I felt great.  The health benefits where icing on the cake so to speak.

I started out first with a mile, then a little bit more.  I thought, if my boss, who was a three-donut-a-day man could run, so could I. Now, almost 17 years since my first 5K and the subsequent 10k's, half-marathon's, marathons, ultra-marathons(50k's and 46.2 miler), I still push past the pain. 

I'm a bit smarter now.  I run mostly on soft trails, I take rest days, but I keep on running. I will be running for many years to come. I get my inspiration from amazing people like Mr. Harry Nix. When you meet someone like him, you understand the word perserverance a bit more. I interviewed Mr. Nix this month and would like to share his story with you.

Keep Getting Around                      Harry Nix--Lifelong Rheumatoid Arthritis Patient

Harry Nix lives life to the fullest and doesn’t let pain get in the way.  His straightforward premise is that the only way to get around is to keep getting around.

After only a few months married to his wife Bobbie, he had his first episode with arthritis. It was 1947. At age 20, his knee was so swollen that it was frozen, and he couldn’t move or bend it. Arthritis hit other joints in his body. At one point, a doctor wanted to put him in a full-body cast. Bobbie said, “No way, I’m not living with a man in a body cast, let’s get out of here,” and they walked out the door. He kept walking. Nix says that the truth is that the body cast would probably have finished him off. There wasn’t much research on what was then called rheumatitis.  Activity was what saved him. 

Nix, a metro Atlanta native, worked as an executive for a big-six CPA firm and went on to build his own successful businesses. “In work and in life,” he often said, “there are no problems, only opportunities.” 

He would play golf regularly and would sometimes take 20 aspirin a day to get through a round of golf. “I learned to self-manage with physical activity. I golfed a lot and then I would sit in a warm shower and use my fingers to crawl up the wall so that I could reach my arms above my head,” said Nix. “Sometimes you just have to endure the pain; that, and have a wife who will put hot packs on your feet and ankles when an episode flares up,” he says with a big smile.

Nix underwent many surgeries for his arthritis, including two major surgeries for spinal stenosis, a knee replacement, all of his toes on both feet broken and reset, and then recently had a quadruple bypass. “I still have my hips and hope that I don’t have to have them done any time soon,” he said.

“I’m thankful for the many people in my life that helped me through this. They helped me to get where I am today despite my arthritis,” says Nix. “I will never forget my therapist, Dina Schmidt. I called her the muscle girl, and she worked with me twice a day for two to three hours after my surgery on my feet. She helped me to get walking again.” 

Growing up, Harry’s daughter Nancy doesn’t remember ever hearing her dad complain. “He would go to work every day and travel for his job.  We never knew it if he had any pain. It never stopped him from building an amazing barn in our back yard for my horse or building a brick patio by himself. I do remember that he would walk down the driveway backwards to get the mail,” she said. 

Never has a day gone by that Nix wasn’t aware of his arthritis; however, there are varying degrees. Sometimes life was miserable, with episodes lasting five or six weeks, and then his world would return to normal. Golfing. Building. Working.

At 84 years old, he still gets the mail every day. Only now, he doesn’t walk backwards; it just takes a bit longer.

7 Success Factors in Setting up Winning Wellness Committees

1. Make sure all departments are represented ==> equal representation
2. Keep it between 5-12 ==> manageable sizes
3. Conscientious employees
4. Good role model
5. Likeable Leaders
6. Good communicators ==> to get your message out
7. Diversity (men/women/Black/White/Hispanic/Asian)

Choose wisely.  Wellness committee members are an integral component in your success of your wellness program.  Team members want to be part of the team; therefore, they want to help make the decisions as to the direction.  Wellness committee member are ambassadors, it is important that they don’t only serve the directive from the leadership team.

I’ve worked with an organization with 1,800 people and the most important factor in our success would be that we made sure that there was a representative from each department.  If the department is too small, then have a representative from a cluster of smaller departments.  Choose individuals based on their commitment to wellness, ability to communicate well and likeable.  It also helps to choose individuals who are conscientious enough to want to make-up the time that they are away from their regular jobs.  Effective wellness program usually increase productivity so be wary of the members who may use it as an excuse to get away from their jobs. 

The number of employees should be enough to divide the work fairly and effectively.  In addition, you want team members to provide good marketing and to communicate well with all departments.

The wellness team needs to be cohesive.  An effective leader of the team will maintain balance while generating energy and results.  That's what we look for in our programs.

Don't Be Confused by the Dates -- 2010 Dietary Guidelines Will be Published in 2011

I was excited to get an invitation from the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion to attend the launching of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines.  The event is on Monday, January 31, 2011 in Washington, DC.  I will be watching via webcast and blogging and tweeting as they review these guidelines. 

The USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services will be announcing the new 2010 Guidelines.  At first, I thought it was a typo but after researching it, I realized that it is the updated guidelines.  The initial report came out in mid-June and there was committee review along with six meetings for public comment.

Updates to the guidelines are every five years.  The last time they were updated was 2005 where there were several breakthroughs.  2005’s focus was based on methodology including evidence-based research and the message was healthy weight and exercise.  I remember being confused at the new pyramid and was concerned that most people would have a difficult time understanding them.  But there were many tools that people could use to work at maintaining their goal weight with a strong focus on leafy green vegetables.  Also, there were calculators and guides on exercise for every age.  The focus was nutrition with a message, feel better today, stay healthy for tomorrow.  I like it.  The 2005 guidelines can be found at

http://health.gov/dietaryguidelines.