GREATER JOLIET AREA YMCA

Back in the 80s, a young and talented swimmer named Tony Blake etched his name into Joliet Y Jets history books by setting three records that have yet to be broken today. He eventually went on to swim at Yale, where he’d become the first African American to earn a spot on the All-Ivy League Swim Team. Nowadays, he’s known as Siphiwe Baleka and has switched to a unique profession. Watch the video above to learn more.

In 2009, when I was diagnosed with having Type 2 Diabetes, I viewed it as just another ailment. Another medication to add to my list. Every three months I would see my doctor and hear the same story: Lose weight through diet and exercise. Over the years, I’ve tried various diets and fitness routines, losing a few pounds only to gain them back. In December 2014, my lab work came back and it scared me. That’s when I decided to make some changes in my life.

My weight loss journey began on January 10, 2015. I read about the Y’s Get Fit Challenge in the program guide. I was not a member at the time but decided to become one and sign up for the program. On the first day of class, I was a bit nervous. I wasn’t sure if I had made the right decision. But our instructor, Julie Miller set me at ease, and I made quick friends with other members of the class.

I did not know it at the time, but this program would change my life forever.

The Get Fit Challenge class was incredible. The program includes weekly weigh-ins, an education session on nutrition and exercise and, lastly, weekly group workouts. I knew I had to be willing to change if I wanted to improve my health and have a better life. I made the decision to fully commit to doing what Julie said from day one of the program.

Our first nutrition session focused on the diet plan that we would be following. Julie discussed the Paleo diet in detail and gave us the option of going “all in” from the start. A few classmates and I decided to go all in from day one.

I’m not going to lie, the first three days on the diet were rough. My body was going through a detox.  I had a dull headache and people around me told me that I was a bit “crabby”. I questioned if I would be able to follow the diet, but each day got better. I noticed that I felt full throughout the day, and was not starving between meals, which was different than other diets I have tried in the past.

I was nervous when I weighed in for the second week, but was pleasantly surprised when the scale said I had lost six pounds. I kept following the diet and the following week I had lost another seven pounds. A couple of weeks I had small weight loss numbers, sometimes only half a pound, but in my mind, it was still a loss and not a gain!

Our first workout, Julie led us in an AMRAP (“As Many Reps as Possible” high-intensity interval training) style workout and I was scared. I honestly did not think that I would be able to finish. I was using muscles that hadn’t been used in a long time. I came home from that first workout and could barely walk. I wondered if I would be able to continue the program and if my body would hold up. It took me until Monday before my legs felt normal, but again I decided to keep moving forward with my commitment to Julie and her program.

Each week brought a new workout. One week Julie introduced TRX Suspension Training. I had never heard of it before. I wondered how it could be used for a workout. Julie showed us all the different uses of the straps, and how they can be used to target specific muscles, and I actually enjoyed the workout.

Last week was week 10 of the 12-week program. I had a doctor’s appointment the morning of our Saturday class, but I decided to swing by the Y first and check in. I explained to Julie that I wouldn’t be attending the full class, but I at least wanted to weigh in. Julie replied; “Now that’s commitment!” The scale showed I had lost 3.8 pounds from the previous week. To date, I have lost a total of 28 pounds following the program.

The weight loss is one benefit of the program, but I have seen improvements in other areas. I routinely check my blood sugar throughout the day, and I have seen great improvements in their numbers. I’m waiting on the lab results from my recent doctor visit, but I have to say this is the first time that I’ve ever seen my doctor happy with my progress.

My blood pressure was at an all-time low. Depending on the lab results, my doctor stated that he might take me off one of the diabetic medications and possibly my blood pressure medication. He may also reduce the dosage of another maintenance medication. I have a renewed sense of confidence and commitment as a result of the program, but I’m not done yet. I’m going to continue following the program and work towards meeting my goal weight that my doctor has set for me.

I share my personal story to encourage other C.W. Avery Family YMCA members that are looking to make changes in their life to take the Get Fit Challenge. I owe a big thank you to Julie Miller and the rest of my friends from the class for helping me change my life for the better.

After selling out two weeks beforehand, the Greater Joliet Area YMCA’s Giving Gala welcomed a record-setting 500 guests into the Bolingbrook Golf Club on Saturday, February 28. By night’s end, a whopping $140,000 was raised—the most in the event’s eight year-history.

Those in attendance were not only treated to an elegant dinner and top-notch entertainment, but were also invited to bid on a number of silent and live auction items, including signed sports memorabilia, exclusive getaways and premiere golf packages.

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Why Sugar Makes Us Fat

“Eat less sugar.” We all know this basic guideline, as sugar has become Public Enemy Number One in our nation’s health problems. And yet, while that sounds simple on paper, cutting sugar out of our diets is tough. When the low-fat craze hit in the 1980s, manufacturers simply replaced the fat products with sugar. As a direct result, we’ve been steadily gaining weight as a nation, and finding it harder and harder to avoid sugar. Unfortunately, the simple truth is that sugar makes you fat, and here’s why.

What is a Sugar?

Sugar is the simplest form of carbohydrate, a type of organic molecule occurring in many foods. There are three varieties—glucose, fructose, and lactose. Table sugar (“sucrose”) and high fructose corn syrup are both nearly 50-50 mixes of glucose and fructose. The sugar found in fruits is primarily fructose, and lactose is found in dairy.

Other simple forms of carbohydrates, like the white flour used in most processed foods, are very quickly broken down in your stomach into glucose. In terms of your body’s response, there is very little difference between a handful of pretzels and a spoonful of sugar.

Insulin Response

Whatever the source, all sugars are converted to glucose and enter your bloodstream in that form. Glucose is often cited as your body’s preferred energy source because it’s so readily available, and can convert quickly into energy. Your brain does require glucose to function, as do all the other cells in your body.

However, your immediate-use fuel tank is very limited, and any excess glucose floating around in your bloodstream after your immediate needs are filled are put into your long-term primary storage facility—also known as your fat.

Before you even swallow a bite of sugar or other simple carbs, your brain begins preparations to process the sugars you are consuming. Enzymes in your stomach break it down into pure glucose, and it is released into your bloodstream. When the amount of sugar in your blood rises, insulin is released.

Insulin’s job is complex, but one of its main functions is to take any sugar that your body can’t immediately use—which will be most of it—and put it into your fat storage. The higher the dose of sugar or other simple carbohydrates, the more insulin is released and the more energy will be stored into fat. As you continuously eat high-sugar foods, insulin is continually present in your blood and is continually adding to your fat storage.

After all the sugar is stored away, insulin still remains. The higher the sugar burst, the higher the insulin spike and the more insulin remains after processing. Insulin wants a job to do, so the lingering excess causes you to become hungry again within a very short time, usually craving more sugar, so the insulin can be put to use. This is why you often feel hungrier after you eat a high-carb meal or dessert.

What’s even worse is that insulin inhibits your body’s ability to release stored fat. This means that even if you’re limiting your calories, eating a diet high in carbohydrates will thwart your efforts to lose body fat. If insulin is present, you won’t burn fat.

Even worse than making you deal with stubborn body fat, continuously high levels of insulin in the body can lead to type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the cells become resistant to the insulin present. Therefore, the body needs to release even more insulin, and an even higher percentage of the blood sugar is stored into the fat.

To summarize: Eating sugar or simple carbs releases insulin proportional to how much you ate. Insulin puts the sugar into your fat storage, and makes sure no fat leaves storage. High levels of insulin over time can lead to type 2 diabetes.

Carbs and Weight Loss

The reason why low-carb diets work is that consuming fewer carbs allows your insulin levels to stay low. When insulin levels are low, your fat stores are not being built up, and you can even mobilize fat OUT of long-term storage. The added benefit is that when your blood sugar levels are kept even, you experience far less hunger and cravings, making it much easier to stick to your goals.

Certain extreme low-carb diets, such as Atkins, have left a dark stain on our collective understanding of “low carb”. The typical American diet is around 60% carbohydrate or more. Reducing that percentage can make a big difference in terms of weight loss.

But take note! As you reduce the percentage of carbohydrates, you will have a higher percentage of calories from fat. This is okay. Despite decades of being told fat is bad, current research has found unequivocally that consuming fats does not make you fat.

It may seem odd to replace the foods we typically think of as healthy, like whole grain breads and brown rice, with high-fat foods we’ve been taught to stay away from, like full-fat salad dressings and butter. But the only way to lose weight is to keep your carb intake low enough to keep your insulin low enough to allow the fat to be mobilized outward.

How low your carbohydrate consumption needs to be to allow that to happen depends on many factors, such as your current level of insulin resistance, weight, and genetic factors. Some people may be able to lose with only a minimal of carb cutting, others may need more severe cuts.

Good Carbs

As aforementioned, you brain and body does require glucose, and it is an important energy source. But you do not need to consume glucose to feed your brain; your body is highly skilled at creating the glucose it needs from more complex carbs, and even from fat. Sugar and processed grains are very small molecules, broken down into pure glucose nearly instantly.

This means that the sugar enters your bloodstream very quickly, and insulin spikes rapidly in response. However, carbohydrates are also present in fruits, vegetables, and dairy, in a much more complex form. This means the carbohydrate molecule is much larger and requires more time to break down and digest. Ultimately they do break all the way down to glucose, but this takes time and therefore the sugars enter your bloodstream much more slowly, meaning a much smaller dose of insulin will be released in response.

To use a metaphor, when you eat sugar and white flour, your insulin reacts like the scariest roller coaster at the amusement park: up fast, down hard, over and over. You get off feeling a bit dazed and shaky. Eating complex carbs is more like the little kiddie track rides, gently rolling along with a few little bumps. It’s an easy ride and you walk away feeling comfortable and stable.

If you’re trying to lose body fat, your best bet is to avoid sugar and simple carbs. If you need something less drastic, you can help even out the insulin response with food pairing. Fats, proteins and fiber digest very slowly.

Therefore, if you can’t give up your pasta, scale back on the amount of noodles and make sure to pair it with some good fats, protein, and fiber, like olive oil, chicken, and veggies. If pretzels and crackers are your go-to afternoon snack, scale back your portions of those and add in some hummus or guacamole to slow the digestion, increase fullness, and slow the release of insulin.

Our bodies are designed to love simple sugars. Thousands of years ago, when food was scarce, it was in our best interests to load up as much as possible on these things, which would be stored as fat to be used in lean times.

Unfortunately, now they are available at all times, and we never experience a famine period to use up that stored fat. Our sugar-loving bodies haven’t evolved much, but our understanding of how our bodies work has. Hopefully a little understanding of how sugar and other simple carbs affect you can help you chose to cut back, for the sake of your health.

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Nourishing Thoughts is written by Julie Miller, an expert on nutrition and fitness instructor at the C.W. Avery Family YMCA.

We all have a Y story to tell. Kevin Washington’s begins as a 10-year-old in an after school program at the Christian Street YMCA in south Philadelphia. His story continues as he steps into his role as the 14th President and CEO of YMCA of the USA. Watch the video above to hear Kevin’s story in his own words.

Sarah Porzel, the program and membership director for the new Morris YMCA, has set a lofty goal for 2015: To know each and every member’s name.

Sitting in her office, tucked away in the back of the Y’s aerobics room, she suggests her goal is almost complete and lets out a laugh—probably because the Morris Y, which opened just four weeks ago, already has 1,700 members (and counting).

But if anyone can do it, it’s Sarah, a self-described “Y Geek” who has plans for a lifelong career with the Y.

Sarah first got started with the Y during her time at St. Ambrose University in Iowa, where she had an internship at the Davenport YMCA. After earning a degree in physical education, she spent time at the LaGrange YMCA before finally settling in full-time with the Greater Joliet Area YMCA.

In under two years as the C.W. Avery Family YMCA’s youth and family coordinator, Sarah introduced a variety of new programs to the Y, while also taking the lead on summer day camp, one of the Y’s largest youth programs, as well as the Fab 50 Club, an increasingly popular social program for seniors. Then in December 2014, Sarah accepted her new role at the Morris Y.

“I got bit by the Y bug,” she says. “I get up everyday and I’m happy to go to work. I love who I work with. I love the members. I love that I get to come into work and not feel like I’m working.”

From Monday to Saturday, you can find Sarah at the Y. Sometimes, she mans the Membership Desk, interacting with members and answering questions. Other times, she stays behind the scenes, developing new programming for youth, teens, adults and seniors.

In fact, some of those programs are set to officially premiere at the Y next week.

“The fact that I can basically create these programs—ones that I always wished I had when I was little—and give them to the community is probably one of the best feelings in the world,” she says.

Starting February 9, the Morris Y will begin offering preschool programs such as “Tiny Tot Two’s” and “Fine Motor Fun,” among many others. Youth programs set to begin include “Lego Mania” and “Little Artists.”

The best is yet to come, however. Sarah says a lot more programs are in the works for 2015. While she didn’t dive into specifics, Sarah did mention that she just placed a big order for tumbling equipment.

“What we have going on here is pretty amazing,” she says.

With Sarah leading the way, we wouldn’t expect anything less.