Success at New Year's Resolutions: They're modern-day rituals

The poster near the Jewish Community Center's locker rooms proclaims in 288-point type:  "Rabbi Loses 35 Pounds!," and then nudges:  "Exercise and eating well are the new rituals."  

"This program transformed the way I think about meals, food and fitness.  I struggled for years to lose weight and keep it off.  But the TIO (Take It Off) program put it all together in a way that helped me shed pounds, get strong and fit, and feel good about what I eat and what I don't.  Checking in each week in a private session, along with personal training, has helped me keep on track.  I'm not going back to the way I used to eat, and I'm not giving up my regular workouts.  This has truly brought positive change to my life," says Rabbi Barbara Penzner. 

She is being the change, leading by example.  Her leadership in several other realms has been inspirational and life-changing, too.  To name just two:  Years ago, she helped form and guide the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, an important component of the coalition that brought universal health insurance to Massachusetts.  And she led the Hyatt Hotel boycott, which eventually led to fair treatment for hotel workers in Boston and across the country.

Joan Hayes has served as her personal trainer (and mine) at the Jewish Community Center in Newton, Massachusetts.  Thanks, Joan!

Read another story about sustaining healthier habits.

Our border collie is our personal trainer: Dogs' contribution to health

Groundhog Day came and went, but now we're back in the dog days of winter. Two dog lovers' stories:

Barbara Abrams' story:

We are in our 70s and have no doubt that our dog significantly contributes to our health. Gracie, a three-year old border collie, gets two long walks (two miles on average) every day, no matter what the weather. And the weather here in Rochester, New York can be brutal, with black ice on the sidewalks. But no matter how strong the temptation to stay in, Gracie demands her walks, appealing to us with her soulful, puzzled eyes when we are behind schedule. She is our personal trainer.

Will Mesa's story:

Not long ago my dog brought me my bottle of aspirin in her mouth while I was having a terrible headache, proving that pets indeed help alleviate pain in owners.

Advice: Keep using your personal trainer, of course, while leashed and curbed properly at all times.

Read another story about what dogs teach us about healthcare.

Thanks to the editor of the New York Times Letters to the Editor, for these stories published on January 10.

No better way to pay back the universe: A cancer survivor's story

During Thanksgiving weekend in 2005, Henri Engle's throat swelled up. Two weeks later, while watching a movie, he began coughing up blood. He finished the movie before going to the Emergency Room at Massachusetts General Hospital. They took him into surgery immediately, and he awoke in the Oncology unit, diagnosed with a very rare cancer – synovial sarcoma of the throat.

The tall 24-year-old went through four doses of chemotherapy over five months, and six weeks of radiation treatment, twice a day for five days a week. He had to be fed through a gastric feeding tube, and he lost 85 pounds.

Now, he's cancer-free, and at 175 pounds he's in the best shape of his life. How? He attributes his strength to workouts with cast-iron kettlebells – which look like cannonballs, each with a handle, and weigh from 10 to 88 pounds.

Henri encountered personal trainer Anthony DiIuglio, the owner of the first American kettlebell gym, in East Providence, Rhode Island, and began working out. He progressed rapidly under Anthony's guidance. Anthony is himself a cancer survivor. He works with patients while they are undergoing radiation, to offset the scarring and stiffening ("fibrosis") of muscle tissue that radiation can cause.

Henri’s progress prompted him to ask Anthony for a license to open his own Punch Kettlebell Gym. Henri opened the gym this week in Newton Centre, Massachusetts. With the gym, he says, "I get to help people doing something I enjoy – there's no better way to pay back the universe than that. Not everyone gets that kind of direction in life."

Advice: Take heart; people are amazingly resilient. Some find that cancer has led them to find their calling.

Read another inspirational cancer survivor story.

Thanks to Rachana Rathi for the source article in today's Boston Globe.