It took me a while to come up with an issue that I feel very passionate about. I began thinking about myself and what I enjoy doing and the lifestyle that I have. Being healthy by eating right and working out is extremely important to me. I try to get to the gym as much as I can. I feel that the number of obese and overweight people keeps rising in our country and it is a huge issue that people need to start paying more attention to. It is harder for some people to maintain a healthy lifestyle and eat right and work out at a gym, for example because it can become pretty expensive after a while. People's schedules are also very different from one another and it may be harder for some people to find that extra time in their day that they can use to go to a gym and work out. Also, you need to have that drive to be able to push yourself to be able to reach your goals. I feel that if people would take at least 30 minutes a day and do something active they would become healthier and save themselves from some serious health issues down the road. There are so many different workouts that you can join, such as the gym, like Planet Fitness http://www.planetfitness.com/loc.asp?s=NH or Gold's Gym, or a yoga http://www.bikramyogaconcord.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=1 or pilates class, for example. I have a membership at Planet Fitness and it's great that you can basically go there anytime you want and work out as long as you would like. This summer I tried Bikram Yoga, which is yoga in a room that is about 105 degrees for an hr. and a half. It was very relaxing and helps get all of the toxins out of your body. It's a great stress reliever. It was a really great experience.
I feel so passionate about the obesity issue that our country has and maintaining a healthy lifestyle because of somethings that I have experienced myself. I had attended the University of Southern Maine for my first year of school before I had transfered here to UNHM. While I was in Maine I had gained quite a bit of weight, but at first didn't really take it seriously or notice it too much. Near the end of the school year there, I would begin feeling a little out of breath after walking up stairs and that had started to scare me a little bit. I decided that summer to start working out regularly and eating healthier foods than what I had been eating when I was away at school. I began losing weight and began feeling a lot better about myself and feeling a lot healthier overall. I feel so strongly about doing good things for your body and keeping it as healthy as you can. You only have one body and you need it to last you the rest of your life, so you might as well take care of it.