EDuCATIOn, AnD
SOunD SOLuTIOnS
obesity epidemic now facing us all and how
devastating it has become to individuals
and families. I listened to a documentary
called The Weight of the Nation, and the
statistics that I got out of it were absolutely
overwhelming. I have been in the fitness
industry for some time and kept thinking
that most of the people who come to work
out are the one-third of the population that
is healthy. That's not to say some of these
people couldn't benefit from still losing
more weight. But the other two-thirds of
the population are never going to a gym
and never working out, and these statistics
really blew me away. You are talking
about 69-plus percent of our national
population of adults are either overweight
or obese, and nearly 33 percent of our
nation's children are overweight or obese.
I read recently in the Wall Street Journal
that doctors, in order to help with the
growth of Type 2 diabetes in children, are
recommending early aggressive treatments
with insulin shots for many youth who are
diagnosed with the disease. To me that's
scary. Children are now dying before their
parents are, and somebody needs to step
we don't need to be taking pills, shots,
medications, and all these things when in
fact we can alter multiple diseases. What
we can do is 1) get mentally strong; 2)
have awareness; 3) be educated so that
we know why our actions are causing the
problem; and 4) make changes to our lives
so that we can become a healthy nation.
replace them with healthier choices for a
more joyful way of life. How are you going
to accomplish this huge task? Will you
have test cases or studies to measure
your progress?
lifestyle program called the 90-Day
Breakthrough Personal Challenge
which was inspired by my SheaNetics®
programs. An important aspect of our effort
is working with the GH Training and the
Adler School of Professional Psychology
We have pre- and post-questions we ask
participants so we can have measurable
results as far as the emotional and the
mental experience of what they're going
through. One of the things that we learned
early on is that writing a book and telling
somebody what to do, or just having a
do doesn't work. If that worked, we would
not have this epidemic. So, it's taking on a
big task. But I definitely believe that each
and every person does make a difference.
And I believe in paying it forward. I'm
taking 40 individuals right now through the
Breakthrough program; mentoring them to
change their mental and emotional habits,
helping them deal with the nutritional side
of what they eat and how to embrace
exercise. I'm getting them to the point
where they don't give themselves excuses
about why they can't do it; instead, they
actually positively understand that giving
time to themselves is a big benefit to them.
Moreover, doing these things is setting
the best example for their children, and
their children see that they are becoming
healthier people and can pick up on that. At
first, it's just the participants trying to make
these changes, and then they graduate
because they were able to make better
decisions, to take the weight off and create
a healthier lifestyle. People come up to
them and say, "You look wonderful! What
are you doing that's so different?" Our
ambassadors say, "Here is the program; let
me share it with you and guide you through
what I've gone through." And that's what
we're doing to have Chicago lead the way,
one city at a time, to make a difference.
wears many hats: she's an author, speaker, life coach, and fitness trainer, to
name a few. She is the creator of SheaNetics
also the founder of Healthy Initiative, a charity that champions disease prevention
through awareness, education, and sustainable solutions for building healthy
and joyful lives. I had the pleasure of talking with Vaughn about her new charity,
and like Vaughn, I believe her breakthrough charity is something we've all been
waiting for.