Body Image, with Tracy Cromwell

*The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.

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Visit Care Partners Livingcom. The following podcast is provided by an approved senior care provider on the answers for elders radio network, and welcome back every answers for elders radio and we are here with senior fitness specialist, certified personal trainer, Tracy Cromwell, and Tracy is here talking about how our health evolves and how are in the age process really affects how we, you know, can stay healthy. I love hearing about your background and, of course, knowing you back in the day, Tracy, I would have never known that you had those issues right, because I know I hit them well, you know. Finally, face, you know, lady that I knew, and certainly you know we all had our impact and the things that we did and you, certainly, you know, touched me as a wonderful friend and here we are today, a deck over, a decade later. Yeah, and you know kind of gone off on our own past. So I’m so thrilled again that you’re here with us this hour. This is going to be an amazing conversation to all of us and I think all of us are going to take something away from this because we have a great opportunity here to learn a lot about how our bodies evolved through aging. And I know for me I just went through a major arthritis hand surgery. You know I have another one coming up. I have arthritis on my body. That’s really hard. But is hard as it is and as painful as it can be, the best thing that I can do to keep my arthritis at bay is to move and not is the best type of you know, lotion for those kind of things. So, you know, it’s making yourself do things and exercises. And it’s like my hands, like I’ve been wearing braces on my hands, but now I’ve been going through physical therapy and because as I’ve been even using this bad hand to compensate, it’s better that I don’t have to wear the brace now as much as I did before. Not I still do, but the point is is that I have now a hand that’s recovering and I’m snit, you know, and I’m about forty percent disabled them my right hand, so and better, you know. So the whole point is we all have an opportunity to learn from this, including me. So I am very, very excited about this hour. Struggled with with food and I’ve always struggled with with body image and and all those things, and then I also had food sensitivities growing up. So I just had a real harsh, harsh again relationship with food. So I always felt sick. I didn’t understand how food affected my body and because I didn’t feel good, I didn’t you know, I would, I would exercise, but it was it was more of a way to bludge in my body because it wasn’t what I wanted it to be, right, yeah, and I figured if it was just what I wanted it to be, my life would be perfect. And so when I found, when I look back on things, was even when I would look good on the outside, I was really really having challenges with my self esteem and my relationship with myself because I was trying to exercise myself out of like a bad diet, you know. So I had anxiety, I didn’t feel good. Food creates, you know, you know, makes ourselves a funk in a certain way. And so finally, Gosh, in I think it was two thousand and five, I had put on a bunch of weight again, and then two thousand and six, the doctor said, Tracy, your pre diabetic, and I was just mortified, you know, because it was just another failure as far as I was concerned. And then I thought, if only I taken care of this body before, if only I had appreciated myself, if only, if only, if only, and and so what happened then was I Yoyo died, if you know, trying to figure out how to get myself out of out of my pre diabetes. And but with that, then I during the housing crisis. I spent years, I was in purchasing management and residential construction estimating as the housing crisis of a Wad, I lost my job. I was one of many. Yeah, and so add that on top of my pre diabetes, and you know I did, I went into a pretty big tailspin. And but what happened was my I had this little voice in my mind, you know, that kept coming forward really gentle very wonderful, saying well, just what, if we can figure this out, you know, maybe there’s a way. How can we do this? And and I said what do you want to do? You know, what do you want to do the rest of your life? And what was interesting was the first thing came to my mind was I want to I would love to be a trainer. I used to love exercising and all this. But then there was this little negative nelly. But you’re over away than your prediabetic. It’s going to even take you on as a as a possible, you know, trainer, and so I had all this going on in my mind and so it took me a few years. People, Tracy, you’re not alone. I think that one of the things that happens a lot, yes, especially family caregivers, you know, who’ve been, you know, lost their jobs. Do I mean? Forty percent job loss in the family caregivers? Up The graphic and yeah, and you know, with the pandemic it’s even worse. And the statistics that are happening with family caregivers out there right now, you know, they’re they’re just trying to, you know, tread water and every day it’s a new challenge, especially caring for those that we love absolutely, you know, and we tend to family caregivers tend to put themselves last. Yes, so a lot of the things that you’re talking about, I’m sure we have listeners today that could probably relate to a lot of that self talk we’re doing to yourself. Yes, and what I love is you brought up to you know, I was putting myself last, I was putting my job first, my family first. I was, you know, still trying to please people by eating whatever was served and I knew that it was harmful to me, you know, going through all those things and so so, anyway, jump to about I consultant and construction for a little while, and finally I was like I was. I felt like two by four hit me in the head. It said go back to cool, you know, and I realized I really love worked talking to people about nutrition and things like that. So that’s when I went back to school to get certified as a a great nutrition health coach and then I added the personal training from there and then opened my own practice. And so it was interesting. I I I believe now that I had to have these certain things happened to me to force me into my purpose, and so I look back on it, although it is very hard and challenging for me at the time, I don’t believe I would change anything because it you know, what I’ve learned through that and working with people is how miraculous our body really is and how miraculous we you know, if you talked to Tracy from fifteen years ago and you told her, well, you’ll be riding hunder mild bike rides, you’ll be hiking a ton, you’re gonna be feeling the best you’ve ever felt in your life. You’ll be eating a certain way, I would have said you are crazy. So, you know, I think the biggest thing was, you know, I realized that I was not alone and maybe you know, if I got into personal training and and and Nutrition Coaching and behavioral coaching, that my experience can help somebody else’s, that I’ve been through that path. I’ve been in the low of lows and then I’ve experienced, you know, making it through those low mos. So that’s what led me. And you also take care of your mom. I’d help. So you have not only the relationship of you know, going through it yourself, but you hope can understand what it’s like to be there for a loved one and to see the day to day life of a an elder parent and also to relate to putting yourself last. So, Tracy, just in a nuts cell in this first segment. I’m so glad we got a chance to get to know you. I would love to know just a little bit about how can people reach you because as we have this conversation, I want our listeners that are interested in taking better care of themselves to actually, you know, Look Tracy up, because she is somebody that can totally live with where you are. She can be with you in my in mindset and and soul and body, because she’s lived the talk. So, Tracy, how do we reach you? Yes, so, I have a website. It’s just my name. So it’s tr AC WHY CR MS and Maxwe l lcom so, Tracy Cromwellcom and there you can learn a bit about me. I also have a complimentary session called stop the Yo Diet chaos. You’re not a yoo diet or and you just want to learn something else that you can still take that free session and then also to know you’ll be able to find some podcast information there and some links to my my book, My book, your personal journey with food. Well, and tell us a little bit about your book. Yes, so, I wrote a book with a partner in Grid Lou from Santiago Chile. We realized when we were going through school that we had both similar journeys with food, even though we were in different countries or six thousands of miles apart, and so we wrote this book to help people, through their own journey with food, their own relationship with their body, to learn about themselves so they can create their ideal relationship with food. Not My ideal relationship with food, their ideal relationship with food and their body. So it’s very interactive journaling in there. You can read chapters in the order that you should. It’s really I just love it. It’s just a phenomenal book. So it is available. Yes, awesome, and that’s on Amazon, yes, and independent bookstore, awesome. Awesome. So everyone. Tracy is going to be right back right after this. We want to make sure that you guys are all listening because we have some amazing information to talk about in this next forty five minutes of our show today and we’ll be right back right after this. We at answers for elders. Thank you for listening. Did you know that you can discover hundreds of podcasts in our library on senior care? So visit our website and discover our decision guides that will help you also navigate decision making. Find us at answers for elderscom.