Nutrition expert to reveal ways to create a healthy you

Date: 3/23/2009

CHICOPEE " On March 30 at 7:15 p.m., St. Anne Church will present a public service event, A Healthy You, in its parish hall.

The evening will open with Nancy Dell, best known for her Food for Thought nutrition news segments on NBC s WWLP news. She worked with Olympic gold medalist Florence Griffith-Joyner to update magazine editors about the latest findings in nutrition and fitness so they could use the information for magazine articles. Dell has been quoted in many magazines including Bride, Elle and Glamour. She has also worked with basketball star Rebecca Lobo on part of an article on sports nutrition for the first edition of Sports Illustrated for Women. She has received the Excellence in Nutrition Education Award from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

Dell, who earned her bachelor s degree in biology from Westfield State College and her master s in human nutrition from the University of Massachusetts, will talk about Food Power: Practical Tips to Add Life to Your Years. She will be available to answer questions.

Following the keynote speech the group will then split for two sessions, one presented by Karin Johnson, MD from the Baystate Sleep Center and the other by Teresa Fitts, DPE, Associate Professor of Movement Science at Westfield State College. After each presentation and a brief question and answer period, the groups will exchange speakers and hear the other presentation.

The audience will hear from Dr. Karin Johnson, a Neurology and Sleep Medicine Attending at the Baystate Sleep Center. A graduate of Harvard, Johnson went to Pritzker Medical at the University of Chicago. She completed a neurology residency at Rhode Island Hospital at Brown University and a Sleep Fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston.

An assistant professor at Tufts University School of Medicine, Johnson will speak about the importance of sleep, how sleep disorders can present and symptoms and treatment of sleep apnea.

Fitts, aside from her position as an associate professor of Movement Science at Westfield State College, is co-program director of the Health Fitness Program. She is involved in several initiatives aimed at helping individuals of all ages increase their physical activity. She is a Health Fitness Specialist certified by the American College of Sports Medicine and trained in the art of Wellcoaching.

Fitts will present Get Fit, Stay Fit: Begin with a Wellness Vision, assisting seminar attendees with crafting meaningful goals and developing exercise programs that are functional and realistic.

This is a great chance to take advantage of valuable professional advice. Healthy refreshments will be served with recipes to take home.

The church is located at 30 College St.