An Interview About Living a Healthy Lifestyle: Jane Sutton

"In May, the Office on Women’s Health celebrates National Women’s Health Week. This important week reminds women to make their health a top priority. Many women find it hard to take care of themselves because they are busy working and taking care of others. Jane Sutton, a successful professional, wife, and mother, learned early on that healthy eating and exercise would help her achieve all of the things she set her mind to. Read on for tips and suggestions to help you make the most of all the years ahead of you. Learn more about balancing your career and your health in this interview."

Click here to read my interview with Women's Health.

Health is a Precious Commodity

Women are prone to overlooking an ache or pain. We can easily dismiss a headache, fatigue, inability to sleep – and even weight gain of a few pounds. But we really shouldn’t. As caregivers and career professionals, we often pull double duty in our life roles – not to mention the additional time we put into volunteering for sorority.

This month, we send out a reminder to put yourself first.

When it comes to health, you are the best judge of something that may be awry. If you wait for a loved one or colleague to tell you that you’re not on your usual game, your symptoms may have waylaid you into a chronic condition.

Falling back on a cliché about prevention is too simple, but we want you to take a moment to listen to the advice of Dr. Kate Wolin, a St. Louis-based epidemiologist and Chi Omega. Dr. Wolin has good advice for women of all ages, especially about the habits that we fall into when young that will lead to potential diseases in later life.

We’re seeing startling health trends these days, from obesity to early onset of diabetes. And women are still making the same mistakes that can easily be corrected to get on a better path to health. These are minor changes in lifestyle that result in major health differences.

We can all start making quick changes during National Women’s Health Week this May 13-19 (beginning on Mother’s Day). You will find the NPC listed as a partner with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health as we help to spread the word.

Let’s start with some small steps.

• Take a friend for a brisk 30 minute walk.

• Log off your computer and head out into the fresh air.

• Jump into those pools that will open up on Memorial Day weekend.

Let’s take care of each other and ourselves. And don’t forget to take the pledge to encourage women to visit their health care professionals for checkups.

The National Panhellenic Conference has a long history of being health aware – from our Something of Value program which addresses risky behaviors on campus to the various health-related philanthropies of our member groups that educate and raise research funds for the good of all.

It is never too late to start practicing good health habits. So start now. And share your story of health with us on Facebook or Twitter. We are always glad to share good news and always willing to listen to a sister.

Support CHIA

At this year's D.C. Hill Visits I stood up and said, "We are here to ask you for your support of the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act." As I said these words again this year, I realized we need to do more. 

As sorority members, we tout the fact that our organizations breed civic-minded, engaged students and alumnae. Now more than ever we need to mobilize those civic-minded individuals to action. We have been engaged in a ten-year effort to pass a bill that would allow our donors the same tax benefits they would receive if they were making a contribution to a university. This is important because our facilities need renovations, and we do not want to pass those costs onto our students. 

To that end, the National Panhellenic Conference has joined forces with the North-American Interfraternity Conference and the Fraternity/Sorority Political Action Committee to create a coalition that exists to build a permanent platform for an integrated federal government relations program supporting the objectives and needs of fraternal life. But, none of our efforts are worth anything without you and your sisters. We need to encourage our civic-minded members to use the tools the coalition has prepared, namely the tool to assist you in creating a letter for your state representative.

This tool can be found at www.fgrcgreek.org. Use it, share it with your friends, tweet your representatives and then tweet them again. Let them know that we need the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure (CHIA) bill to pass, and we are using our civic-minded sisterhood to make it happen.

Sarah Lindsay, NPC Government Relations Committee Chairman, and I support CHIA.