My friends like to joke that I've dis­cov­ered the foun­tain of youth. They even say I'm as en­er­getic and youth­ful as a 20-some­thing-year-old. It's true-I feel as young as ever, but I don't owe my good health and en­er­gy to a mag­ic foun­tain of youth. I main­tain my vi­tal­i­ty through my ded­i­ca­tion and com­mit­ment to healthy lifestyle choic­es. Through reg­u­lar ex­er­cise and smart meal choic­es, I keep my­self sharp and ready to tack­le the chal­lenges of each day. I want to share my ap­proach to good health with T&T and I hope to en­cour­age oth­ers to be proac­tive about their health. As part of my com­mit­ment to a healthy lifestyle I formed a Coun­cil on Health Out­reach to tack­le some of the most crit­i­cal health is­sues fac­ing T&T. The coun­cil com­pris­es lo­cal health ex­perts and em­bassy staff who will help steer the coun­cil to­ward the most ef­fec­tive en­gage­ment ini­tia­tives. I know many T&T na­tion­als who be­lieve in be­ing proac­tive about their health, and I look for­ward to con­nect­ing even more with them through this coun­cil. To en­cour­age healthy choic­es I'd like to talk a bit about my own ex­er­cise reg­i­men and meal choic­es that keep me en­er­getic every day.

My ex­er­cise rou­tine in­cludes walk­ing, or a com­bi­na­tion of walk­ing and run­ning, ten to 12 miles every day. On top of that, I sched­ule weightlift­ing ses­sions twice a week and make sure to get in pi­lates ses­sions when I am back in the Unit­ed States. Lift­ing weights is es­pe­cial­ly im­por­tant for women, who are at an in­creased risk of de­vel­op­ing the bone dis­ease os­teo­poro­sis as they age. I'm an avid hik­er, I've climbed Mt Kil­i­man­jaro twice, so my post­ing in T&T is a per­fect fit with its many hik­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties. I love climb­ing Holo­lo moun­tain and La­dy Chan­cel­lor with a reg­u­lar group of fel­low hik­ing en­thu­si­asts. I even in­clude my se­cu­ri­ty team in my work­outs. They may com­plain some­times, but I know they val­ue the healthy re­sults.

This ex­er­cise sched­ule might in­tim­i­date some, but for me, ex­er­cis­ing every day helps me men­tal­ly as well as phys­i­cal­ly. It helps me deal with the stress that of­ten comes with my work. Walk­ing ten to 12 miles a day isn't for every­one. It's im­por­tant to lis­ten to your body and push your­self while re­spect­ing your lim­its. If you need to start slow-start slow. It's bet­ter than not start­ing at all. The hard­est part of a healthy lifestyle is choos­ing to com­mit. Once you make that com­mit­ment, take small steps, like walk­ing a loop around the Sa­van­nah, and work up to more chal­leng­ing phys­i­cal goals. My com­mit­ment to ex­er­cise not on­ly keeps me fit for my de­mand­ing job, but al­so helped me re­cov­er from ma­jor surgery. I amazed my sur­geons with my quick re­cov­ery from surgery four years ago and they cred­it­ed my speedy re­turn to health to my com­mit­ment to ex­er­cise. I've al­so avoid­ed the health is­sues that plague many Amer­i­cans and Trinida­di­ans as they age, in­clud­ing heart dis­ease and hy­per­ten­sion.

It's not on­ly dai­ly ex­er­cise that keeps me in top form; it's al­so my smart ap­proach to food. I con­trol por­tions, lim­it my in­take of salt and sug­ar, and keep my di­et high in pro­tein. Which is not to say I don't love food. As long as I prac­tice mod­er­a­tion and stick to my ex­er­cise sched­ule, I can still en­joy my fa­vorite foods-es­pe­cial­ly Ital­ian food. Wher­ev­er I go, I en­sure that I main­tain my healthy lifestyle reg­i­men. Whether on va­ca­tion with my fam­i­ly or in the midst of a hec­tic trav­el sched­ule for work, I make time to get in my walk every day. It helps that I share a pas­sion for healthy liv­ing with my hus­band, An­tho­ny Wel­ters. To­geth­er, we make our healthy lifestyle a pri­or­i­ty. I love shar­ing this pas­sion and am thrilled to meet oth­er ex­er­cise and healthy liv­ing en­thu­si­asts in T&T. By shar­ing my ex­er­cise prac­tices and form­ing my Coun­cil on Health Out­reach, I look for­ward to many op­por­tu­ni­ties to work with com­mu­ni­ties in T&T in my con­tin­ued ef­forts to pro­mote healthy liv­ing.

My ex­er­cise rou­tine in­cludes walk­ing, or a com­bi­na­tion of walk­ing and run­ning, ten to 12 miles every day. On top of that, I sched­ule weightlift­ing ses­sions twice a week and make sure to get in pi­lates ses­sions when I am back in the Unit­ed States. Lift­ing weights is es­pe­cial­ly im­por­tant for women, who are at an in­creased risk of de­vel­op­ing the bone dis­ease os­teo­poro­sis as they age. I'm an avid hik­er, I've climbed Mt Kil­i­man­jaro twice, so my post­ing in T&T is a per­fect fit with its many hik­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties. I love climb­ing Holo­lo moun­tain and La­dy Chan­cel­lor with a reg­u­lar group of fel­low hik­ing en­thu­si­asts. I even in­clude my se­cu­ri­ty team in my work­outs. They may com­plain some­times, but I know they val­ue the healthy re­sults. This ex­er­cise sched­ule might in­tim­i­date some, but for me, ex­er­cis­ing every day helps me men­tal­ly as well as phys­i­cal­ly. It helps me deal with the stress that of­ten comes with my work.

Walk­ing ten to 12 miles a day isn't for every­one. It's im­por­tant to lis­ten to your body and push your­self while re­spect­ing your lim­its. If you need to start slow-start slow. It's bet­ter than not start­ing at all. The hard­est part of a healthy lifestyle is choos­ing to com­mit. Once you make that com­mit­ment, take small steps, like walk­ing a loop around the Sa­van­nah, and work up to more chal­leng­ing phys­i­cal goals. My com­mit­ment to ex­er­cise not on­ly keeps me fit for my de­mand­ing job, but al­so helped me re­cov­er from ma­jor surgery. I amazed my sur­geons with my quick re­cov­ery from surgery four years ago and they cred­it­ed my speedy re­turn to health to my com­mit­ment to ex­er­cise. I've al­so avoid­ed the health is­sues that plague many Amer­i­cans and Trinida­di­ans as they age, in­clud­ing heart dis­ease and hy­per­ten­sion.

It's not on­ly dai­ly ex­er­cise that keeps me in top form; it's al­so my smart ap­proach to food. I con­trol por­tions, lim­it my in­take of salt and sug­ar, and keep my di­et high in pro­tein.

Which is not to say I don't love food. As long as I prac­tise mod­er­a­tion and stick to my ex­er­cise sched­ule, I can still en­joy my favourite foods-es­pe­cial­ly Ital­ian food. Wher­ev­er I go, I en­sure that I main­tain my healthy lifestyle reg­i­men. Whether on va­ca­tion with my fam­i­ly or in the midst of a hec­tic trav­el sched­ule for work, I make time to get in my walk every day. It helps that I share a pas­sion for healthy liv­ing with my hus­band, An­tho­ny Wel­ters. To­geth­er, we make our healthy lifestyle a pri­or­i­ty. I love shar­ing this pas­sion and am thrilled to meet oth­er ex­er­cise and healthy liv­ing en­thu­si­asts in T&T. By shar­ing my ex­er­cise prac­tices and form­ing my Coun­cil on Health Out­reach, I look for­ward to many op­por­tu­ni­ties to work with com­mu­ni­ties in T&T in my con­tin­ued ef­forts to pro­mote healthy liv­ing.

Beat­rice Wel­ters

US Am­bas­sador