Testimonials
Cathlee Bantsari
Cathlee Bantsari: "Hello WISEWOMEN! I have been a WISEWOMAN for over a year now and since joining my life is healthier and I am happier. I have a different outlook on people, because I am out there meeting other native women who are just like I was, as far as not being active and not really thinking about the food I was buying for myself and my family.
Before I joined WISEWOMAN I stayed at home and didn't do anything, nothing at all. My granddaughter, Tasha, was so happy I joined because now I am much more active in cooking, walking, and using the pedometer. I even take her with me when I go swimming and walking. We have made a game from it and Tasha is always checking my pedometer so I will beat the numbers from the day before.
Even when I was out at the grocery store, when women saw me wearing the WISEWOMAN logo on my jacket, that I wear almost everyday, they asked me where I got it from, and I told them I earned it by cooking recipes for SEARHC Medical Center lobby events that I got from a few of the cookbooks given to me during previous WISEWOMAN gatherings.
I have learned that you can add healthier foods to your daily diet instead of eating quick unhealthy snacks and fast foods, and it is a lot more fun and healthier to make our own snacks. We forget the candy bars now and just have one once or twice a week instead of on a daily basis. I never really bothered with reading labels before, but now when I shop, I am always checking out for the words: trans fats/partially hydrogenated oils.
I now use wild rice instead of bleached white rice in my cooking, and my family loves the nutty taste and aroma of the wild rice. I even have fish and wild rice for breakfast.
WISEWOMAN can change a person's life. It sure changed my life for the better. I feel like I am a lot more outgoing. My family is much happier that I did find the WISEWOMAN program. We look forward to our monthly newsletter and get so excited about the activities being offered. Tasha, now 10 years old, can't wait to become a WISEWOMAN. Once when she saw the WISEWOMAN pin I was wearing, I told her it symbolized a woman being reborn, she started asking me, 'When I can I be reborn to be a WW, grandma?'"
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SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium
