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Public Health Culture

Join Leonore Okwara, MPH as she discusses public health research, initiatives, and how to engage the community in it all.

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  2. 47. Fit for Life: How to Stay Active, Find Support, and Prevent Disease

47. Fit for Life: How to Stay Active, Find Support, and Prevent Disease

Mar 30, 2021

Kristie Hicks, MPH, CHES, CPT is a public health professional with experience in chronic disease management, health and nutrition education, and fitness. She’s the founder of Brown Girls Get Fit, a health and wellness organization for women of color and Better Balanced Health which offers online fitness training and wellness coaching services. She is the author of a peer-reviewed North Carolina Medical Journal article featuring her childhood obesity research. She is a National Diabetes Prevention Program Lifestyle Coach, Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES), and an ACE Certified Personal Trainer. She is passionate about educating individuals about personal fitness, chronic disease prevention, wellness, and healthy behavior change.

In This Episode We Cover:

  • Her research on childhood obesity and how she showed correlations between health education in adolescent curriculum and health changes.
  • The ways in which she engages people in healthier lifestyles. 
  • Her passion about chronic disease prevention and how knowledge does not always equal behavior change.
  • Her belief that showing people workouts is key to helping to engage in fitness.
  • How Brown Girls Get Fit started as a hobby that she shared on social media and how it organically grew into what it is today. 
  • Her inspiration for Better Balanced Health. Hint: it has to do with the pandemic and her work with the Diabetes Prevention Program.
  • Her inspiration for her five pillars of health for Better Balanced Health. 
  • The questions she asks her clients and how she creates individualized action plans using a whole person approach. 
  • The ways she is working towards achieving health equity.

Advice for Public Health Professionals:

Kristie highly recommends that everyone be open to volunteering in their field of interest.  It is extremely important to be open to volunteering and giving of your time. There are benefits including connecting with community organizations, nonprofits, etc. 

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