By ANNE RODGERS Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Shari Brenner, 52,
Palm Beach Gardens
5′ 7″ (she would not divulge weight)
Her fitness secret? Practices yoga, takes vitamins, stays active.
This third-grade teacher takes vitamins daily, practices yoga and Pilates weekly and does water aerobics. She plays tennis once a week and takes a body sculpting class. She goes on yearly skiing vacations and yoga retreats. She also kayaks, hikes and goes horseback riding.
Dvera Berson, 93,
Boca Raton
5′ 2 1/2″, 128 pounds
Her fitness secret? Developed the Berson Water Exercise Program.
After contracting severe arthritis in her mid 50s, Dvera was crippled for years until she discovered the benefits of water exercise. Over a period of nine months she became pain-free, and along the way she discovered what exercise movements and principles work best to relieve arthritic pain. She emerged with a series of 35 water exercises done five times a week. She’s been pain-free for 30 years on the program.
Vickie Easson, 77,
Singer Island
5′ 5″, 125 pounds
Her fitness secret? Walking barefoot on the beach.
Vickie takes action if she gains 5 pounds; that’s when she starts eating half portions of her meals, losing 2 pounds a week. She eats out most of the time, and always takes home a doggy bag to enjoy the next day. She walks barefoot on the beach for an hour five times a week. She also loves dancing.
Carol Best, 58,
Lake Clarke Shores
5′ 2″, 110 pounds
Her fitness secret? Leslie Sansone’s Walk Away the Pounds program.
Carol gained weight as she approached middle age, and by 48, she was up to 180 pounds. With Sansone’s program, she lost 70 pounds and has appeared in 20 tapes and two infomercials for the program. Now she’s a master walk instructor, spin instructor and Pilates instructor.
Janice Ferraiolo, 51, Boynton Beach
5′ 7 1/2″, 150 pounds
Her fitness secret? She made the fitness industry her line of work.
She’s held other jobs, but Janice says being a fitness instructor is by far the most fulfilling. ‘It not only makes me glad that I keep myself in shape, but the success of the women I teach – all over 45 – could fill every page of this newspaper.’
Maureen Sullivan, 55, Tequesta
5′ 8 1/2″, 145 pounds
Her fitness secret? Bikram yoga.
A check of her mineral status three years ago showed that Maureen had poor calcium uptake, wasn’t getting enough good water and was eating way too much protein. (She was an Atkins-type diet advocate at the time.) She began taking proper minerals and joined a Bikram yoga class three times a week. The first 10 times she had to leave the room and rest. Now she’s at the front of the class. Her stamina, strength and balance are much better – and she can hit her golf drives farther.
Jane Illsley, 49, Boynton Beach
5′ 5 1/2″, 144 pounds
Her fitness secret? Taking the Bible at its word that fasting is a needed cleansing.
Jane skipped two meals two days a week, and one meal the other days. After six months, she lost the 10 pounds she’d gained around the middle with menopause. She takes vitamins, listens to her doctor, goes to a Christian kinesiologist and believes retaining one’s youth is an internal fight.
Jane Burge, 70, Jupiter
5′ 4″, 173 pounds
Her fitness secret? Got involved in water aerobics, then became certified to teach it herself.
After a second heart attack at age 65, Jane left behind her sedentary lifestyle. She takes classes in water aerobics at North County Aquatic Center in Jupiter three days a week, and teaches two days a week at North Palm Beach Country Club. She eats lots of vegetables and fruits and very little red meat, and says she feels better than she has in years.
If you’re fit and over 45, chances are it’s no accident. The forces of fitness almost seem to line up against women of a certain age: you’re battling the effects of menopause, plus you’re contending with the natural loss of muscle to fat and the increased difficulty of losing weight. No wonder a pear is the most identifiable shape for midlife women.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Plenty of women have taken control of their weight and health, opting to put themselves on the winning side of the formula for fitness.
What works for one woman may not be right for another, but sensible eating and some form of exercise are must-haves in the war against excess weight. So is the initiative to get started. No matter how small your effort feels, do it. It’s likely to lead to more, and soon you’ll have a program to be proud of.
To look at Jane Burge today, you’d never guess she had heart attacks at age 60 and 65. Her exercise consisted of a little bike riding – until a friend at her heart surgeon’s office recommended water aerobics. She started slowly, but fell in love with the activity, and now the Jupiter woman is in the water five days a week, both teaching and taking classes.
“I say get up off your duff, get moving, get with people you love and do something you enjoy. Don’t let the soap opera people become your friends,” she said.
Jane points out the evidence is mounting that physical activity not only preserves but improves cognitive abilities in adults 60 to 75 years old, “so my advice is eat well, keep moving, laugh a lot, believe in yourself and love life. The alternative does not seem like much fun to me.”
Dvera Berson is another woman who took to the water to cure her ills. At 93, the Boca Raton resident is a winning advertisement for the Berson Water Exercise Program, which she developed.
After contracting severe arthritis in her mid 50s, Dvera’s condition deteriorated to the point that she had to wear a neck collar, a back support and a surgical corset. She was crippled for years until she discovered the benefits of water exercise. Over a nine-month period she became pain-free, and along the way she discovered what exercise movements and principles work best to relieve arthritic pain. She emerged with a series of 35 water exercises that are done five times a week with increasing frequency until the person becomes pain-free.
“I still have arthritis,” she said, “but I no longer have pain. That’s because most arthritis pain comes from muscles that atrophy, spasm and contract around the joints. My program of water exercise is designed to strengthen, stretch and relax the muscles of the entire body, thus relieving pain.”
She shares her secrets in her 1978 book, Pain-Free Arthritis. (Arthritis sufferers might want to visit www.becomingpainfree.com.)
Taking to the water is hardly the only way women find health. For Janice Ferraiolo of Boynton Beach, the ideal way to stay in shape after 45 was simple: She made it her job.
“As we age, it becomes harder to stay fit and in shape,” said the 51-year-old fitness instructor. “We really must make the decision to eat properly – I dislike the word diet – and we must get some form of physical activity daily. It’s that simple!”
Other women find their road toward fitness to be a more internal process. Jane Illsley, who visits a Christian kinesiologist whenever she gets sick, decided to take the
Bible at its word – and lost 10 pounds by fasting.
“I read Discover and Scientific American, I watch television news programs and listen to my doctor about what works to keep us young,” said the 49-year-old Boynton Beach mother of three. “I
believe, as many say, that it is an internal fight.”
Jane said that being fit can require anything from “a certain vitamin E to keep our cholesterol down, to something that keeps our cells young, to making sure we get Omega 3 in our diet and less Omega 6, to using natural ingredients for cancer, such as carrots, or a plant called graviola.
“All I know is that when I don’t take the vitamins, I wake up with wrinkles and bags around my face. When I do, I’m OK, as in a face like a 20-year-old, only no zits.”
Developing a healthy lifestyle takes many forms, and Maureen Sullivan found her journey to be a very sweaty one. At 52, she was 170 pounds, post-menopausal, fatigued, depressed and having several bouts of heart palpitations a day.
“I found a way to get my mineral status checked and my levels were all out of whack,” she said.
Maureen began taking proper minerals and joined a Bikram yoga class three times a week. The first 10 times, the heat forced her to leave the room and rest. Now, three years and 25 pounds later, the
Tequesta golf enthusiast is at the front of the class.
Her stamina, strength and balance are better – and she can hit her drives farther, 240 yards plus.
“Granted, I am not the most flexible, but my stamina, strength and balance are 100 times better than before I started,” Maureen said. “It has not been easy, but all the changes I have made – well I feel like I’m 45 again instead of 55!”
If sweating intimidates you, perhaps walking is your highway to health. It was for Carol Best.
A decade ago, Carol was facing menopause, along with all the tiredness and malaise that comes with it. “I was so blessed to live in New
Castle, Pa., the home of Leslie Sansone’s Walk Aerobics. At her fitness center, I learned to move more as I age.”
After losing 70 pounds, Carol, now 58, said she sleeps better, wakes up earlier and has more energy. She says walk aerobics is good for the Baby Boomer generation because your body doesn’t have to take a pounding when you exercise. She even got her 80-year-old parents started on it.
Carol frequently comes to visit her daughter Nadine in Lake Clarke Shores and was here so often that she joined Ladies of America in Palm Springs.
“Let me tell you, women of a certain age, to join these beautiful places, learn from the wisdom of other women, young and aged, and get up and move,” she offered.
“I take no medication for any of the diseases related to my age: no high blood pressure, no cholesterol medications, no meds for hormones. Please know you can welcome this beautiful second half of life with open arms.”
The big problem of obesity
With approximately one-third of U.S. women classified as obese, obesity is the fastest growing health problem in the United States. Obesity is different from being overweight. Obesity is defined as a Body Mass Index greater than 30. It is viewed within the ob-gyn specialty as one of the leading health problems confronting women today and is associated with increased health problems, including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, infertility, heart disease, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, and a variety of cancers, including breast, uterine, and colon cancers. In addition, obese women are five times more likely than non-obese women to develop endometrial cancer.
– Source: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
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