Girls Night In event encourages women to live best lives

Celebrity personal trainer and author Bob Greene said he hopes to inspire women throughout Kansas City during the University of Kansas Hospital’s Fifth Annual Girls Night In.

Greene, who served as a personal trainer to Oprah Winfrey for 15 years, will headline the event, which starts at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 23 at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center. Tickets are $100.

Greene encourages women to step back from goals and rigid diet plans as a means to lose weight. Instead, he encourages women to look at the whole picture and strive for the best life possible.

“Obviously, when someone sees that I’m going to be talking they expect me to talk about the foods you should be eating and the emotional side of eating,” Greene said.

But those who attend Girls Night In can look forward to a holistic discussion that explores more than just diet and exercise.

“It’s more about living the life that you want and how do we gain motivation and lose motivation,” Greene said.

Karin Morgan, RN, BSN, said she hopes Greene’s talk motivates women to live heart healthy lives.

Morgan serves as coordinator for the Change of Heart Program at the University of Kansas Hospital. Proceeds from Girls Night In go to the program, which provides cardiovascular assessments to women and men age 35 and older.

According to the American Heart Association, more than one out of every three women will develop some form of cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death for men and women.

“Only 50 percent of women are aware that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death,” Morgan said.

Risk factors such as smoking and obesity increase an individual’s chance of heart disease. But moderate lifestyle changes at any age can ward off heart disease, Morgan said.

“It’s never, ever too late,” Morgan said. “The thing I recommend is everything in moderation and something is better than nothing.”

Greene agrees.

“It’s all about balance, and what I emphasize most is that we’re all looking for the same thing. We want the best life we can live,” he said. “When we do the right things, the beautiful thing about the human body is it responds.”

But the body does not always respond immediately and in the form of lost pounds. Greene encourages people to exhibit patience and focus on the positive aspects in life.

“That actually can be much deeper satisfaction,” he said.

Girls Night In will feature recipes from Greene’s cookbooks, which will be available for sale at the event.

His most recent book is “The best Life Guide to Managing Diabetes and Pre-Diabetes.”

“The philosophy behind it is really how wonderful cooking should be,” Greene said.

Morgan said she hopes to have 1,000 women at Girls Nigh In. At least 700 women have signed up so far.

“It’s going to be a nice event,” Morgan said. “There’s going to be gift bags for the women that come.”

For more information, call (913) 588-8888 or visit www.achangeofheartkc.org and click on “events.”

Trackback(0)

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Write comment