Find Your Fit | Wellness, Fitness & Nutrition

Maureen Bassmaster, Star of BreakingBlind on YouTube, Joins the Team to Share her Incredible Story

What an episode! First, Jessica runs in after a long run of 18 miles. Funky, funky! The crew awards a Fitbit Flex activity tracker, courtesy of USABA, to a loyal listener from Massachusetts. Yes! Already there are loyal subscribers. Thank you! We have one more Fitbit Flex to give away. Send an email to [email protected], and tell us you want to be in the drawing. Deadline is April 15.

From the News Desk, Kathleen reads about March, National Nutrition Month, from the International Business Times. What is natural? See what the Food Network Blog has to say. Weigh in on the matter at regulations.gov. “Question: is regulations.gov accessible for screenreaders? When will the Justice Department release proposed regulations? See, National Federation of the Blind Resolution 2015-01.” USABA announces Goalball camps for Veterans and others. “We really think Goalball is the national sport for the blind”.

Maureen Bassmaster is truly a star. In this very personal interview, she shares her remarkable story of how nutrition and exercise has truly saved her life. She’s had more than 30 surgeries in her young life due to complications of Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease. Maureen knows there will be others. She knows that if she wants to stay strong, enjoy quality life, and live long, she must stay fit. She speaks openly of her journey. She talks of her work to teach others who are blind, at the Colorado Center for the Blind. She speaks frankly, and regretfully, of people she has met with the genetic mutation of VHL, or other disabilities, who just give up. She speaks admiringly of the author, Tom Rath, of “Eat, Move, Sleep”. Tom is visually impaired, has VHL, and is a favorite of the Find Your Fit crew. Maureen serves as a consultant for WE Fit Wellness.

Fit Chat – this is crazy. In an earlier episode, we talked about probiotics and Kombucha tea. Jessica, Kevan, and Kevin the Genius, conduct a taste test. Yummy? It’s good, and good for your liver, kidneys, lungs, and gut health. Look for the taste test video on YouTube. We got our Kombucha tea at Ohana Kava Bar, at 112 East Boulder St. in Colorado Springs, CO.

We want to thank our sponsors: The United States Association of Blind Athletes, the Colorado Center for the Blind, and PUSH 2.0 Water.

Your job – Kevan says, “Make me feel like a natural woman”.

Sam Smith, Marathoner and Zumba Teacher, and Jared Ciner, Executive Director of Baltimore’s Spirit Club, Join the Team

Sam Smith of Spirit Club

Life should be fun. But, an 80’s music mash-up from Jessica and Kevan? If you can get past the first 30 seconds, you will love this episode of Find Your Fit. What are intestinal flora, and have you tried Kombucha tea, a great source of probiotics?

Learn more about Maureen Bassmaster’s BreakingBlind channel on YouTube. Maureen visits haunted houses and does restaurant reviews. Jessica produces these wonderful little video vignettes.

In the News: does eating healthy food make you fat? What is healthy food? Kev talks up his favorite kale ceasar salad, available at Seed’s Community Café. Seed’s is a member of One World, Everybody Eats. Check to see if there’s a community café in your neck of the woods. Next, in a shoot-out with Russia, the women’s Goalball team wins silver.

Is there a USABA Sports Club in your area?

Want to win an activity tracker to help you count your steps?  Send an email to [email protected] by March 1, 2016 to enter. One lucky person will win a FitBit Plus. USABA conducts a program to distribute FitBits to blind and visually impaired people through funding from the Anthem Foundation.

Jared Ciner of Spirit Club

Jared Ciner and Sam Smith join us to discuss their work to empower people with developmental and physical disabilities on a road to recreation and fitness. We were inspired by their down-to-earth, energizing approach. Sam is autistic, a marathon runner, an ice hockey player, and Zumba teacher. He is a living example of the WE Fit Wellness model. Many of us are just taking our first tentative steps toward a more healthy lifestyle. But, you will enjoy Sam and Jess talking about marathoning. Jared and Kevan spend time discussing language and approaches when working with under served populations. Learn how the Spirit Club changes lives in the Baltimore, DC area. Tell us what’s happening in your community to make total well-being accessible, affordable, and achievable for everyone.

On Fit Chat, Jess takes issue with listing crispbreads on a top 10 list of foods from the Center for Science in the Public Interest. She creates her own list. John Pare, a leader in the National Federation of the Blind, and enthusiastic vegan, challenges us to get more daily calories from the lists.

Your job: find the wonderful thing about Tigger.

Amazing Amelia Dickerson Joins the Team to Talk About Her Journey into Blindness, Independence, and Running a Record-Setting Marathon

From the News Desk, we hear the announcement from the National Association of Blind Merchants’ about NABM BLAST 2016. This year, it will be held at the Loews O’Hare Airport Hotel in Rosemont, Illinois. Visit the NABM website for more details, and to register for BLAST! We also learn about Bio-Individuality, and how ancestry, blood type, and metabolism all play a role in determining the perfect way of eating for each individual’s body. Last, psychoactive drugs can help lazy people to exercise?

You will be inspired and motivated by Jessica’s visit with Amelia Dickerson. Dickerson, who skis, snowshoes, and marathons, from her home in Boulder, discusses running with her guide dog, Albert. Amelia is the blind woman marathon record holder, with a time of 3:20:28. Amelia and Jessica talk about building a network of friends and guides through Achilles International and USABA.

Kev gave a shout out to the Colorado Center for the Blind.

On Fit Chat, Jess and Kev discuss the fluff and blubber of winter laziness. Jess offers ways we should stay active through the winter months. Check out her blog. Your co-hosts discuss being stranded in a Washington D.C. hotel during the Blizzard of 2016. Despite the Snowpocalypse, the National Federation of the Blind Washington Seminar took the Hill by storm with more than one-third of the Federation’s usual attendance, braving the blizzard.

Your job: learn how Amelia lost her guide, and why she wants more of her friends to get married.

Coach Beecham congratulates Worley for skipping the junk food and walking a 5k on New Year’s day. Worley, ever the braggart, talks up his PR.

From the News Desk, Kathleen Foy details the sordid episode, from the Denver Post and NY Times, in which Coca-Cola buys influence, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to University of Colorado research professor, James O. Hill, former chair of the first World Health Organization Consultation on Obesity, and past president of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NASSO). He is also co-founder of America on the Move, a national weight gain prevention initiative, aiming to inspire Americans to make small changes in how much they eat and how much they move, to prevent weight gain.

The Blind Play Football, from Australia, to Louisiana.

WE Fit Wellness teams with National Federation of the Blind Sports & Rec Division to offer yoga sessions and Fit Chat round-tables Monday morning, January 25th, during the Federation’s Washington Seminar.

Coca-Cola can keep you thin? Seriously?

On this episode, we had the honor to visit with Mel Scott about her amazing life journey. She spoke of battling cancer, starting a company, and developing revolutionary workout routines, accessible to both the blind and sighted. She is a winner, and is always ready to share her victorious spirit. She says she designed the workouts because she wanted to “look hot”. Why do they cost only $19.10? It has much to do with her father; listen and find out. It was a joy to have her as a guest on Find Your Fit.

Worley drinks Red Bull? But then, the Genius, Kevin Kovacs, reads the ingredients.  Coach Jessica chides Kevan for not staying hydrated, urging him to drink PUSH 2.0 Water.

Is it true that beverages with artificial sweeteners actually increase your craving for sweets? The experts, including Tom Rath, author of Eat Move Sleep: How Small Choices Lead to Big Changes, tell us so.

Your job: laugh at the hypocrisy and crass advertising of the 1961 Coca-Cola television commercial. “Now don’t you get too thin!”

Say Cheese – the Team samples “vegan cheese”? The genius reads the ingredients.

Go to the News Desk for the good, the bad, and the ugly of exercise & nutrition. Learn to improve mood with food when your brain gets the correct nutrients. Check out Potatoes Not Prozac: Solutions for Sugar Sensitivity, by Kathleen DesMaisons, and The Food-Mood Solution: All-Natural Ways to Banish Anxiety, Depression, Anger, Stress, Overeating, and Alcohol and Drug Problems–and Feel Good Again, by Jack Challem.

Kev & Jess discuss positives and possible negative approach of the Spirit Club as detailed in the Baltimore Sun.

Congratulations to Amelia Dickerson of Boulder, CO and Matt Oliver of San Diego, CA. Hear more about their championship runs in the news.

Worley asks the probing question, “what’s a PR?” This Worley’s a pretty bright fellow. I mean, there’s a reason he’s a co-host of a show about sport and exercise. Really? “What’s a bib?”

Worley also plays Goalball in the studio. Jessica is bemused and tolerant.

This episode’s featured interview is with Kevin Brousard, Membership and Outreach Coordinator for USABA.  Brousard’s evolution as a world-class athlete is taking him from the shotput and discus, to judo. Kevin offers thanks to the Turnstone Foundation for supporting the brand-new Center for Goalball Excellence in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Beecham & Brousard discuss women’s Goalball as stars Jen Armbruster, and Asya Miller train for the Road to Rio. Kevin says, USABA is more than elite athletics; it includes the Fit Bit Challenge, sponsored by the Anthem Foundation, USABA Sports Clubs, ski camp, membership opportunities, and much more. Kudos to the Anthem Foundation! We were moved by the work USABA does with blind veterans.

In this week’s episode of Fit Chat, Jess & Kev discuss the book, SuperBetter: A Revolutionary Approach to Getting Stronger, Happier, Braver and More Resilient–Powered by the Science of Games, by Jane McGonigal. Life should be a game.

Your job: find the bit where Worley urges everyone to subscribe to Breaking Blind, starring Maureen Bassmaster, on YouTube.

Here is a short video of Kevin Brousard in action:

Meet the Team – The Genius at the controls, is Kevin Kovacs; Kathleen Foy is at the News Desk; Jessica Beecham and Kevan Worley take the all-important first step on the road to the all-new Find Your Fit show.

In the News – Center for Science in the Public Interest Newsletter highlights Denny’s new Peanut Butter Pancake Breakfast at only 1,870 calories. Really? Strong Legs, strong brain, so says research from King’s College.

Jessica makes shameless plug for the Total Fit Pack. Worley says, take a walk with me. Beecham says, don’t forget Achilles in your area.

Noted Denver attorney, husband, and father of two joins us to discuss the reasons for his 2014 cardial infarction. Scott LaBarre, President of the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado, tells of the steps he has taken to avoid another episode. Scott expresses frustration over inaccessibility of much of the work-out equipment at hotels and fitness centers. LaBarre says Goalball is a great sport for people who are blind wanting to play a competitive game. He wishes he’d have known of Goalball in his youth.

Worley suggests his personal road to fitness awareness started 22 years ago, at the Colorado Center for the Blind.

In this show’s Fit Chat, Jess and Kev banter about the book, The Happy Vegan: A Guide to Living a Long, Healthy, and Successful Life, by Russell Simmons. It is also available for the blind and physically handicapped on BARD. In the first Fit Chat, we give a shout-out to Mike Callicrate of Ranch Foods Direct. He’s working hard for school menu reform.

Worley calls corn a vegetable? Really? Don’t blame PUSH Beverages. They actually understand good nutrition, taste, and value.

Your job: find the bit in which Worley actually calls corn a vegetable.