Find tools for better health at DePaul

April 20, 2012
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Two years ago, Cara Kaufmann-Rosenthal was overweight and couldn’t walk without feeling pain in her knees, ankles and back.

By overhauling her eating habits and slowly adding exercise to her life, the director of development in Information Services dropped 70 pounds in less than a year.

“You have to hit a point where you say, ‘I'm done,’” she says.

Kaufmann-Rosenthal, 44, achieved her success with the help of a personal fitness advisor, and other DePaul employees can find similar nutrition and personal training assistance at below-market rates through the Department of Campus Recreation and the Ray Meyer Fitness and Recreation Center.

There’s no better time to start than now. Human Resources is encouraging employee wellness this year through its Stay Healthy and Earn Healthy Vin-cent$ Campaign, a program for faculty and staff to earn a $150 credit toward their 2013 medical plan premiums.

Services for good health at The Ray

Approximately 570 DePaul faculty and staff currently are members of The Ray, which offers fitness services at member and non-member rates.

Employees can purchase nutrition consultations singly or in three-session packages. Clients begin by completing a three-day dietary log that a registered dietician on staff will evaluate with The Ray's nutrition computer software, says Chris Arterberry, Campus Recreation’s associate director for fitness and wellness. The dietician then will make suggestions on how the client can eat better, he says.

Campus Recreation offers two levels of personal trainers at The Ray. All the trainers have university degrees or national certification, but level-two trainers also have more experience and expertise in behavior coaching, Arterberry says.

“People in the general public sometimes think personal trainers are only for wealthy people or that they’ll need to meet three times a week,” he says. “That’s not the case. Our trainers work with people's schedules and our rates are affordable because we’re primarily here to serve the DePaul community.”

To reduce the cost, clients can purchase partner sessions with a friend or purchase 30-minute sessions.

A long journey with a rich reward

Kaufmann-Rosenthal’s weight loss journey began with a focus on nutrition. She chose healthier foods and took a close look at labels, paying particular attention to foods’ ratio of saturated fat to protein. Though her fitness advisor initially helped her select healthy products, she says she can decipher a label within seconds now.

Her fitness level improved, too. As she lost weight, strenuous exercise became easier. For the past year, she’s taken kick-boxing classes and lifts weights. She hit her goal weight on March 13, 2011, and has maintained it since then.

“I have a sense of pride again,” Kaufmann-Rosenthal says. “When you feel good about yourself, it permeates everything you do.”