HJNO Jan/Feb 2022

TRANSFORMATION 18 JAN / FEB 2022 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS   burn more calories and increase my heart rate. Not only was this helping my body, but my mind was more clear and focused, even later in the day when I would typically start to fade. Editor Do you think belonging to a gym is necessary to maintain fitness? Fontenot I think it all depends on what your ultimate goals are in fitness. If my goal is to have a chiseled, muscular body that could end up on the cover of Muscle and Fitness magazine, then yes, I should probably join a gym or at the very least have weights in my spare bedroom. If my goal is to maintain physical and/or mind health, then no, a gym is not necessary. There are plenty of good paid subscrip- tion apps out there, ranging from Peloton, Ladder, Fitbit and a host of others. There are also many that are completely free apps, such as Nike Training Club or the Johnson and Johnson Official 7 Minute Workout apps. I would suggest doing a little research on these and reading reviews as there are many to choose from. Most fitness apps incorporate the option to engage in body- weight exercises (no weights required) and also offer workouts requiring dumbbells or kettle bells for any kind of weight resistance training. Many apps and websites also offer high intensity training exercises, which offer more aerobic benefits. All it would require is adequate floor space and possibly a floor mat in order to perform these exercises. Editor You told me once, in the midst of caretaking, that I needed to make sure I was taking care of myself. I remember staring at you and whispering to myself … “I don’t even know how to begin. What would that really look like in my reality?” Do you remember saying that? What did you mean? What actionable steps would you have taken if you were me at that moment? I felt like I was doing the best I could at the time, given the circumstances. Fontenot I do remember saying this to you, Diane, and I think my point was that with the added stress of being a caregiver for a loved one, we can tend to take our own well- being out of the equation so that we feel as though we can invest everything into the quality of care that we are giving. Every- one who finds themselves operating in this capacity would be best served by figuring out some kind of balance in maintaining a healthy mental, physical and emotional state so they can offer the best possible care for their loved one. The law of diminishing returns comes to mind and can be a very common result when caregivers are operat- ing in a sleep-deprived, overwhelmed and, quite simply, a fight-or-flight mode for long periods of time, which can be harmful to the caregivers’ health as well as not being able to provide a more helpful quality of care. Editor How are you handling the aging process? What has surprised you most? Fontenot Well, I hope to be handling it as gracefully as possible, balanced with enough edge to continue to see gains in areas that are important to me. First, I operate under the mindset that there is no changing the fact that, as humans, we all age; so, my efforts are not to alter this process, but to employ the means necessary to provide an opportunity for the best quality of living through this unavoidable fact. When I was younger, for instance, my activity level and my metabolism were in a different place than they are today. Nutri- tion was not a focal point for me at that time, as I felt like I could eat whatever I wanted to. Today, I find that nutrition plays a sub- stantially more important role in my over- all health and wellness, in addition to my level of fitness. I have experimented with a number of different eating plans, all of which promise to produce certain results, and I am journeying through many of these plans to experience howmy body and mind reacts to them. In 1998, while rehabbing an ACL recon- struction, I hired Mackie Shilstone, a New Orleans-based sports performance man- ager, who came highly recommended from local athletes and physicians. He was very instrumental in getting me to consider spe- cific measuring tools for my body, such as body mass index (BMI), instead of relying on a body weight scale. Today, there are plenty of rated smart scales out there that will give you valuable information on bio- metrics such as BMI, body fat, muscle mass, visceral fat, subcutaneous fat, etc. These are surprisingly inexpensive and relatively accurate tools that I use to quantify my jour- ney toward fitness and health. What has surprised me is that it’s never too late to start this journey. I have been able to experience more drastic changes at my age now than I did when I was at the peak of my career. The only difference being that I have to proceed much more carefully, smarter and with more diligence than in the past! Editor We live in a culture that venerates youth, especially forwomen. I realize you are not one, but what are your thoughts on feeling optimal about your age? Any advice for the women out there? And, would your advice be different for men? Fontenot You’re hitting me close to home here as I have three daughters of my own, each one truly magnificent in her own way; and, no matter how much I tell them this, it doesn’t change the way they feel about themselves. In a world where social media plays such a poignant role in the lives of Americans today, it seems like everyone who surfs the platforms out there is influ- enced by the most widely accepted (and self-proclaimed) beautiful, marketable per- sonalities in cyber-land, and, yes, youth gets its more-than-fair share of promotion. The truth of the matter is that we are all aging — some gracefully and some begrudg- ingly. Why is it that the cosmetic industry in 2018 generated nearly $90 billion in the U.S. alone? I’m not saying that cosmetics are evil — not even saying that you shouldn’t wear them — I simply point this out to highlight