The initiative has a founding sponsor, Iron Girl – a triathlon community and event series for women who want to live healthier lifestyles. We met Judy Molnar, Vice President, Iron Girl, at the Marketing Health and Wellness to Women Conference in Chicago in April.  Judy herself is an Iron Girl and has absolutely won me over for her energy and vision in helping  women live healthier lifestyles and get stronger, without a focus on losing weight but having FUN.  That’s what Iron Girl events are all about!

Have you ever met an Iron Girl?

Over the next three weeks, I’m super excited to introduce you to Judy and  to three other women who are all Iron Girls and who have very different ways that they became Iron Girls. One thing they all have in common is that they started from the beginning and gained confidence with each training and event.  We’re going to hear from all three of them on our on-line radio show on June 12 (Kara Thom), June 19 (Dr. Pamela Peeke)  and June 26th (Marni Sumbal).

Let’s start with our first guest on June 12th – Meet Kara Thom who is mom to 9-year-old twin girls, another daughter who is 8 and a 4-year-old son. She’s also co-author of the book, “Hot (Sweaty) Mamas: Five Secrets to Life as a Fit Mom,”  and as you might guess, she enjoys being active, especially (but not limited to) running, biking, swimming, and yoga.  Her blog is amazing, and she is very active in it…encouraging moms to find their fitness amidst the chaos of motherhood!

Join Kara and I as we talk about why she is an Iron Girl, what she’s gained from the experience and how she thinks about fitness as a necessary part of the chaos of motherhood!

I invite you to go to Real Women on Health on-line radio on June 12th @12:30 pm EST for a 30 min chat with Kara, myself and Judy.

You can listen live via your computer or dial 1-646-929-2625.

 If you do dial in on the phone, press #1 and feel free to ask your questions for Kara and I!!

Can’t make it?  Simply download the file and listen at your convenience!

CAN’T WAIT TO SHARE STRONG IS THE NEW SKINNY WITH YOU ALL!!!

]]> http://www.realwomenonhealth.com/2013/06/07/your-call-to-action-strong-is-the-new-skinny/feed/ 0 http://www.realwomenonhealth.com/2013/04/02/robin-morgan-agent-of-change-for-women-with-parkinsons/ http://www.realwomenonhealth.com/2013/04/02/robin-morgan-agent-of-change-for-women-with-parkinsons/#comments Tue, 02 Apr 2013 13:57:52 +0000 Kelley Connors http://www.realwomenonhealth.com/?p=3517  

In recognition of International Women’s Day on March 8th, we will be hosting a two-hour (120 minute) radio show and on-line conversation with  global women’s health leaders.  Our official non-profit partners on this important day are ONE Campaign, International Women’s Initiative and Dining for Women.

The radio show hosted by Kelley Connors, MPH, President, KC Health and Host, Real Women on Health will be co-hosted by Erin Hohlfelder. Policy Director, Global Health at ONE Campaign and include interviews with Marsha Wallace, Founder, Dining for Women, Aubrey Shaler, Executive Director, International Women’s Initiative, and Amy Graff, health advocate for ONE Campaign and staffer at the San Francisco Chronicle.

“Our on-line collaboration with global women’s health leaders on International Women’s Day expands our women’s health advocacy network and offers new opportunities for industry, non-governmental organizations and grassroots groups to work together.  We want to also raise awareness around ongoing progress to reduce maternal deaths in under-resourced countries and meet the Millenium Development Goals, says Kelley Connors, President, KC Health and Host, Real Women on Health.

The conversation will focus on work in Haiti, Tanzania, Ghana, Ethiopia, and Uganda where AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria threaten reproductive and sexual health of women in countries already burdened with gender inequality and poor access to high quality health care.

To find out more about women’s health advocacy and policies that support eradicating poverty and improving women’s health, you’re invited to listen in or comment on the Real Women on Health on-line radio show on March 8^th at 12:30 pm EST.

 Please email Kelley Connors, MPH, here to find out about sharing your mission and platform with Real Women on Health.  You can check out our Real Women on Health on-line radio page here to learn more about March 8th and how you can participate in this important day!

My recipe for stress reduction? Two weeks ago I luxuriated in a “Divas in Distress” yoga and wellness retreat with natural health and nutrition coaches.  It’s that time of year when a day (or an hour!) in retreat is a balm for stressed out nerves and I immediately mobilized my girlfriends for this half day get-away. Our destination was not Kripalu (our absolute favorite weekend R&R retreat) but a local Connecticut farm called Sticks and Stones.  Immediately, we felt transported from the everyday task list to the rustic tranquility of a remote village more like Vermont, complete with yoga, juicing, and a farm to table lunch…yumm!

The importance of taking time to relax and “tame your tiger” is important because research shows that stress management prevents chronic disease and illness as well as obesity and cognitive decline.  It’s just a fun excuse to get away from the stimulus of stress and take in some antioxydants. No time for a retreat? Become a walker…get outside in nature to let the everyday sounds and beauty of nature take over your senses.  Or take out your earbuds, close your eyes, and tune into some classical music like Verdi’s Four Seasons.  Gift these antioxydants to yourself regularly!!

What’s next for Real Women on Health?  We are excited to share a new platform with you called “Design the Second Half of Your Life” for midlife women.  It’s a blog and the theme for upcoming radio shows with researchers and thought leaders in the emerging field of healthy aging, wellbeing, and creativity. It’s also an incubator for ideas I will be writing about on my Huffington Post50 blog, starting with caregiving for my mother-in-law.

Please join me in sharing your ideas with other midlife women!

Would you like to get updated on what the news is around gender and sex-based health research?

HERE’S HOW to LISTEN TO DR. CLAYTON.  Just go to our podcast here on our radio show page. You can listen live here or download and listen via iTunes later.

BACKGROUND ON THE SHOW: On Wednesday, December 12th at 12:30 pm EST, Kelley Connors, MPH, Host of Real Women on Health on-line radio show and Women’s Health Advocate will be speaking with Dr. Janine Austin Clayton, MD, who was recently appointed Director for the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH).  Dr. Clayton will reveal how her responsibilities at the National Institutes of Health will help women and their healthcare professionals better diagnose, treat and prevent an array of gender and sex-based conditions.

Janine Austin Clayton, M.D., was appointed Director for the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) and Associate Director for NIH Research on Women’s Health by NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., on September 4, 2012. Dr. Clayton served as ORWH acting director beginning August 2011, when Vivian Pinn, M.D., the first full-time ORWH director, retired. Prior to her tenure as acting director, Dr. Clayton served as the ORWH deputy director for three years. Dr. Clayton currently co-chairs the NIH Working Group on Women in Biomedical Careers with the NIH director.

Prior to joining ORWH, Dr. Clayton was the deputy clinical director of the National Eye Institute, NIH. A board certified ophthalmologist, Dr. Clayton’s research interests include autoimmune ocular diseases and the role of sex and gender in health and disease, with  a particular interest in ocular surface disease. Dr. Clayton discovered a novel form of disease associated with premature ovarian insufficiency that affects young women. She is the author of more than 80 scientific publications, journal articles, and book chapters.

Find out about Dr. Clayton’s vision for advancing women’s health and more on Wednesday, December 12th at 12:30 pm EST – 1:00 pm EST.

Share your views on our facebook page here afterwards and become your own best health and wellness advocate!

We’re launching a series of on-line radio shows on the theme “Design the Second Half of Your Life”.  The shows are for midlife women and they provide boat loads of information and inspiration that will guide women through menopause – the gateway to the second half of life.  While our content is highly inspirational, we don’t want to neglect that life is what happens when we’re busy planning the future and so we are focusing our next show on:

“Life Interrupted: Designing the Second Half of Life with Cancer”

Date and Time: Wednesday, November 14th at 12:30 pm EST for 30 minutes.

How to Listen or Join the Show:  Go to Real Women on Health On-line Radio here to listen live via computer. If you want to talk with us, just dial 1-646-929-2625 at show time and let us know you’re there.  We welcome all listeners to join our live conversations to ask a question or just to say hello.

I will be joined by our guest clinical psychologist, Suzanne B. Phillips, Psy.D* and our guest women’s health physician and advocate, Virginia Mauer, MD, Founder, Mauer Foundation for Breast Health Education and Breast Cancer Surgeon.

Dr. Virginia E. Maurer, MD is a nationally recognized leader in the field of breast health education. A graduate of Queen’s University School of Medicine in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, she is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada. Dr. Maurer is a prominent breast surgeon and breast cancer specialist. She has been in private practice since 1981 and currently maintains two offices in the New York area.

A staunch proponent of breast cancer awareness, Dr. Maurer discovered that many women lacked access to pertinent and current information about breast health and breast cancer. She resolved to correct that deficit, establishing The Maurer Foundation for Breast Health Education in 1995. Today, she remains active in her role as Founder and Board Member.

(Virginia Mauer, MD)

( Suzanne B. Phillips Psy.D.,ABPP, Psychologist, Co-Author of Healing Together: A Couples Guide for Coping with Trauma and Posttraumatic Stress)

This topic was not what I was planning for in the Design the Second Half of Your Life series but Hurricane Sandy has triggered the kind of trauma that ignites fear and anxiety and strains our closest relationships.   As much as we witness support and a great sense of the American spirit at work in the affected communities, we seek the comfort of our closest relationships to help us ride out the storm and heal.  This natural disaster has reminded us all  that life is what happens amidst all of our planning and attempts to control.

Traumatic events are unexpected and unimagineable and certainly the devastation we’ve witnessed here in the Northeast is nothing short of that.  Because these events are those in life that no one sees coming,  they are frightening and often overwhelming.They can make us question ourselves, other people, even God. ” How did this happen?” Traumatic events affect relationships because they rob partners of their sense of safety and trust. They alter what was familiar.   Whether the trauma has happened to one or both partners, the relationship often becomes shaken.When a partner is hurt, grieving, having nightmares, too angry to speak or too sad to hope both partners struggle and suffer. For a time they seem unable to find the ” we” they once were.

Would you like to explore this topic with Real Women on Health?

As part of our on-line radio show series called “Design the Second Half of Life”,  I will be speaking with Suzanne about the unplanned part (the “I never thought this would happen to me” part) of designing the second half of our lives – despite the diagnosis, the trauma and the unimaginable.Second Half of Your Life” I will be speaking with my guest co-host, Suzanne B. Phillips, Psy.D, Author, Healing Together, A Couple’s Guide to Coping with Trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress. Learn more about her work at couplesaftertrauma.com . Visit Suzanne’s Facebook Page HERE.

 Date:  Wednesday, November 7th, 2012

Time:  12:30 pm EST

How to Listen:  Go to Real Women on Health On-Line Radio to listen live or to download and listen as a podcast on iTunes.

Let us know what you think of the show and share your story here or on our Real Women on Health FACEBOOK page.

Just as you might have finished changing diapers on your two year old, believe it or not…perimenopause symptoms can start to wreak havoc on your busy life.  Perimenopause is actually  “the change before the change” that starts to slowly emerge around age 35.   However,the symptoms can fly “under the radar” for years and wreak havoc on your body, mind and spirit unless you’re armed with information from other women who have gone through a similiar experience. Major note to self:  Arm yourself with info because many physicians are out of the loop on what it takes to manage symptoms and achieve a higher level of wellbeing.

The reason is that the syptoms are associated with being stressed out, anxious or just plain busy with a young, growing family or, as is possible at any time in a woman’s life, perhaps divorce or the loss of elderly parents.  Pre-menopause symptoms are physiologically and emotionally associated with hormone imbalances that occur in the ten or so years before menopause.

It’s time to have the 2nd talk – a conversation about how our bodies change with age and what to expect just when you’ve declared you’re “done” having kids!

Join me on Monday, October 8th at 10 pm here with Mamavation, a vibrant on-line community of moms committed to healthy lifestyle change.

I was invited to speak with Lena Burkut, host and producer of Mamavation on Mingle Media TV/webchat that airs on Monday on Mingle TV(internet TV network) 10-11 PM ET.

This week’s Mamavation TV show is about education and learning what we need to know now before the menopause knocks on our doors.

Have you read about Dr. Joel Fuhrman?  More than just a focus on the Mediterranean Diet, Dr. Joel is Dr. Oz’s new best friend and he’s got a nutritious way to think about food and keeping your weight down.  It’s all right on Dr. Oz’s web site.

Dr. Fuhrman believes that healing through food is the key to a healthy lifestyle. His alternate food pyramid starts with foods high in micro-nutrients as the base. These foods not only contain vitamins and minerals that are essential to helping the body repair itself, they also have immune-boosting phytochemicals.

Rather than supplementing with vitamins, Dr. Fuhrman believes that nutrient-dense foods, which make up the base of this pyramid, are the most important part of your diet, helping your body thrive naturally.

Print your copy of Dr. Furhman’s Food Pyramid.

We’re celebrating the transition we all make to the second half of our life by introducing you to our fantastic line up of “Change Agents”. These are women we’ve selected based on what they do every day in their lives. So, from my own perspective, they are practicing what they preach and making the changes within themselves to start out on a new journey and live each day with

renewal..faith…love…focus…commitment…play…joy…movement…and MORE.

So, meet Julia. She’s author of three books. Her latest, RIPE: Rich, Rewarding Work After 50 – Your Guide to the Next, Best Phase of Your Career, shows that how we think about aging, work, and retirement is undergoing profound change. In 2008, her second book, We Are The New Radicals: A Manifesto for Reinventing Yourself and Saving the World, reported on another significant trend – people using skills acquired in their careers to work on the world’s greatest challenges.

I’m so honored to bring you Julia Moulden (pronounded “Golden”), from Toronto Ontario. I can’t wait to have her unleash her stuff. After all, Huffington Post has her writing in their global edition, and she’s worked with celebrities and prime ministers around the world, on 4 continents.

Come chat with us and get inspired on Wednesday, August 22 at 12;30 pm EST. Just dial in to our Real Women on Health online radio show at 1-646-929-2625 to listen or talk with us. We’d love to hear your voice and share your views with us on this dynamic time in life!

Thanks Ladies..here’s to YOUR Second Half of Life!

Kelley