Healthy People Profile
Jeff and Katina Walker
Name:Jeff and Katina WalkerAge: 48, 44 (respectively)
Location:Tully, NY
Your day job: Jeff is a diesel engine technician; Katina is a college professor at SUNY Cortland.
Your second job (how you spend most of your remaining hours): Jeff rides and races mountain bikes during the spring and summer months, and during the fall, he rides cyclocross. He also enjoys taking care of the yard and the house; Katina participates in the same mountain biking and cyclocross events and loves to cook and bake and take care of her critters. Jeff’s been riding and racing bikes since he was in his teens and Katina’s been involved in the sport for close to 25 years.
What kinds of activities do you do to stay healthy? For us, our main physical activity is cycling; time is dedicated to it just about every day. We mainly enjoy riding and racing mountain bikes, but will get on our road bikes from time-to-time. In the fall, we race cyclocross and in the winter months, we ride our winter-equipped bikes on the local snowmobile trails. The night riding on the snowmobile trails are magical in the wintertime. Very relaxing and fun!
We try our best to eat healthy. For us, this means that we have “Meatless Mondays”and typically one other day of the week without meat; the rest of the time, our meals consist of a lean protein sources, lots of vegetables, fruit, and whole grains. Katina does most of the cooking and tries to prepare foods in their most natural form. Little, if any, of our food is processed. Our garden provides us with a lot of healthy food in the summer time and the garden is also a good de-stressor.
What are some of the challenges you face when it comes to being healthy?Trying to eat healthy while traveling can be a challenge. The cost of the above activities can (at times) put a strain on the wallet, but we understand that there is a price to staying healthy. The aging process can also be a challenge especially when it comes to recovery after a hard workout. In some ways, it had made us more diligent in leading a healthy lifestyle. Years ago when we were younger it was easy to be healthy and active; as we age, the body changes and likewise, life changes.
How do you try to work with or around those barriers? We love each other very much and we rely on one another for support. We make sacrifices in other aspects of our life to support our healthy habits.
What piece of advice do you have for others?
Jeff: Set easy goals for yourself. Stay open minded to yourself and others.
Katina: It is better to love than it is to hate. I believe that if we carry love in our hearts regardless if we are cycling, cooking, or caring for another, it enhances all aspects of our lives and does in the end, help to make us healthy, or at least, healthy minded.
Thanks to Jeff and Katina Walker for sharing their story!
Your second job (how you spend most of your remaining hours): Jeff rides and races mountain bikes during the spring and summer months, and during the fall, he rides cyclocross. He also enjoys taking care of the yard and the house; Katina participates in the same mountain biking and cyclocross events and loves to cook and bake and take care of her critters. Jeff’s been riding and racing bikes since he was in his teens and Katina’s been involved in the sport for close to 25 years.
What kinds of activities do you do to stay healthy? For us, our main physical activity is cycling; time is dedicated to it just about every day. We mainly enjoy riding and racing mountain bikes, but will get on our road bikes from time-to-time. In the fall, we race cyclocross and in the winter months, we ride our winter-equipped bikes on the local snowmobile trails. The night riding on the snowmobile trails are magical in the wintertime. Very relaxing and fun!
We try our best to eat healthy. For us, this means that we have “Meatless Mondays”and typically one other day of the week without meat; the rest of the time, our meals consist of a lean protein sources, lots of vegetables, fruit, and whole grains. Katina does most of the cooking and tries to prepare foods in their most natural form. Little, if any, of our food is processed. Our garden provides us with a lot of healthy food in the summer time and the garden is also a good de-stressor.
What are some of the challenges you face when it comes to being healthy?Trying to eat healthy while traveling can be a challenge. The cost of the above activities can (at times) put a strain on the wallet, but we understand that there is a price to staying healthy. The aging process can also be a challenge especially when it comes to recovery after a hard workout. In some ways, it had made us more diligent in leading a healthy lifestyle. Years ago when we were younger it was easy to be healthy and active; as we age, the body changes and likewise, life changes.
How do you try to work with or around those barriers? We love each other very much and we rely on one another for support. We make sacrifices in other aspects of our life to support our healthy habits.
What piece of advice do you have for others?
Jeff: Set easy goals for yourself. Stay open minded to yourself and others.
Katina: It is better to love than it is to hate. I believe that if we carry love in our hearts regardless if we are cycling, cooking, or caring for another, it enhances all aspects of our lives and does in the end, help to make us healthy, or at least, healthy minded.
Thanks to Jeff and Katina Walker for sharing their story!
