Gardens in the air

Books and computers aren’t the only ways to learn for the fortunate students who attend Triangle Elementary School; they are also nurtured by nature. Colorful butterflies are attracted to their lush butterfly garden. Students stroll through the peaceful garden or sit serenely on one of the benches to help calm nerves before a test.

In addition to delicate and dazzling butterflies, the school provides a delicious way for students to learn through growing their own fruits and vegetables. A recent report from Cornell University states students who grow their own vegetables are four times as likely to eat them. Triangle Elementary students pick what they want to grow and participate in planting, weeding, and harvesting tomatoes, strawberries, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts in garden boxes.

The fruits, vegetables, and herbs that grow in the air in hydroponic towers also amaze the students. The school had four towers and has just added four more.

“Gardening goes along with STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics program). Kids learn how plants are pollinated, seeding, and what nutrients plants need. Lettuce is a big hit, and is served in the cafeteria’s lunch buffet. That’s how our cafeteria salad bar came about,” says Principal Kathy Billar.

Kim Taylor, cafeteria manager, adds, “Kids are not exposed to gardening anymore. They grow up in apartments…If they get a chance to seed it, grow it and pick it, they might try it just because they grew it.”

Learning all you can about diabetes may save your life—or at least improve your health significantly. Elder Options recently partnered with South Lake Hospital, Live Well Fitness Center in Clermont to offer a diabetes self-management, six-week workshop to the Lake County area. Liz Dalusio-Floyd was the instructor.

These workshops, offered on a rotational basis, are free to the public and provide valuable information for those recently diagnosed with diabetes, their caregivers, those who have been struggling with diabetes for a long time, or those who simply want to know more for prevention.

The workshop meets for more than two hours for six weeks. It improves attendees’ quality of life by providing support with practical ways to deal with your or a family member’s chronic condition, discover better nutrition and exercise, and learn how to discuss health issues with doctors and family. During the workshop attendees learn to: manage symptoms, lessen frustration, eat healthy, fight fatigue, build confidence, monitor blood sugar and get more out of life!

Each participant shared some of their “successes” during the six weeks. Carole Holden commented, ”I was on vacation, and instead of just lying around, I went swimming and hiking, kept my blood-sugar in range, and only picked up one pound!” She attributed her success to steps she learned during the workshop.

Another class member, Pat Shakir, says, “I was tired of dealing with high blood pressure, so I started looking for ways to cut my salt. I excluded pickles and brought my pressure down.”

The workshop teaches participants

YOU to set goals and develop a step-by-step plan to improve their health and life. To do this they discuss stress management, relaxation techniques, and handling difficult emotions. Students also learn to monitor blood sugar, prevent low blood sugar, exercise safely, and care for skin and feet.

• Are overweight

• Are 45 years or older

• Have a family history of Type 2 diabetes

• Are physically active fewer than three times per week

• Had gestational diabetes or gave birth to a baby that weighed more than nine pounds

Source: cdc.gov

Dora Lynne Mcintosh attended the workshop and had nothing but praise for the experience. ”This class raised my thoughts and convictions to make a weekly action plan for [my husband] as well as myself,” Dora says. Her husband, Joe has stage-four prostate cancer and Parkinson’s disease and Dora is battling chronic diabetes. “I am encouraged by [Liz’s] choice of words, ‘chronic conditions’ instead of ‘chronic diseases.’ Living with chronic conditions seems to be a mind change and is spurring me to want to develop better habits to exercise, eat healthy and manage medicines as needed,” she adds.

The Florida Department of Health in Lake County offers a free class called the National Diabetes Prevention Program, also in Clermont. This is a 12-month program that consists of 16 weekly one-hour sessions followed by six monthly sessions that provide tools to eat healthy, be more active, and lose weight.

FOR MORE INFORMATION REGARDING THE TWO PROGRAMS CONTACT: Diabetes Self-Management Workshop: Betty Flagg 352.692.5219 or Jennifer Davis 352.394.4071, Ext. 4223 Florida Department of Health 352.589.6424, Option 3

Akers Media’s Healthy Living, Lake & Sumter Style and Lake Business magazines were recognized by the Florida Magazine Association with 17 awards for writing and design excellence. Including:

Best Feature Jaxon Strong

Best Public Service Coverage Made in Lake

Best Public Service Coverage Down the Drain

Best Humor This & That

Best In-Depth Reporting Pacelift

Best Photo Illustration Building up Speed

Best Photo Illustration Top Docs

Best Typography Extraordinary People

Best Single Feature Photograph Positivity Attracts

Best Single Feature Photograph Bombers Away

Best Cover, Consumer Must Eats

Best Cover, Consumer Building up Speed

Best Feature Design The Hot 100 Issue

Best Client Ad Face to Face

Best Client Ad #1 with Owwies

Best New Magazine Lake Business Magazine

Best Advertorial Section Impulse

Cameron Vansant is busy working on a lifelong sculpture project: himself.

Posing on stage at the Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center, the 16-year-old high school student with green eyes, shiny black hair, and a Herculean body is cheered on by the crowd. This is his first body-building competition, but he calmly and confidently wears a smile throughout his 60-second routine.

His tanned, golden-oak skin is clad only in the briefest of metallic brown briefs. He clenches every bulked-up muscle tightly as possible, making his biceps, quadriceps, abs, and deltoids sparkle in the spotlight. Then, he faces away from the audience to reveal his back, which is an inverted triangle of muscular mass.

As he flexes through a variety of poses, judges carefully examine his body for strengths and flaws.

Once his posing routine is complete, he and other bodybuilders gather on stage for an awards ceremony. The announcer speaks, ending suspense for both contestants and fans.

“First place goes to…”

Maybe we should stop there. To appreciate the end of the story, we should start from the beginning.

Muscling in on bodybuilding

The average American teenager typically competes in football, basketball, baseball, and soccer.

But bodybuilding?

Cameron, a sophomore at Tavares High School, was bitten by the bodybuilding bug as a child. He often ventured into his father’s home office to read “Arnold Schwarzenegger Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding.” The pictures of perfectly sculpted bodies captivated him.

“Their bodies were picture perfect,” he says. “I was amazed at their great overall physiques and how buffed they were.”

But this is Florida, where football reigns supreme. Cameron participated in youth football and dreamed of scoring game-winning touchdowns and making hard-hitting tackles on the high school level.

In fact, as an eighth-grade student, he joined a soccer team solely because he wanted to be in peak shape to play on the Tavares High School junior varsity football team as a freshman. Unfortunately, he found himself watching from the sidelines.

“I asked my soccer coach when I could get in the game. He looked back at me and said, ‘Never.’ I told him I was done playing for him because he never let me play. I went home and cried.”

That did not dampen Cameron’s desire to play football. Instead, he used the setback as motivation. To ensure he would be in tip-top shape, he implemented a six-meal-a-day regimen, ran three miles each day, and lifted weights religiously. Becoming toned, buff, and in superior physical condition felt natural. The hard work paid dividends by the time summer football workouts rolled around.

“The team was working in the hot sun, and some of my teammates were throwing up. I wasn’t tired at all. In fact, I was running laps around everybody.”

After each practice, coaches urged players to go home and watch football videos to help them master fundamentals.

“Instead, I’d go home and watch bodybuilding videos because that really interested me more,” he says.

When his football coach unexpectedly changed practice hours, it threw a kink in Cameron’s eating regimen.

“I could no longer eat my 6 p.m. meal, and I wasn’t going to be taken away from my regimen. I had no control over my eating anymore and did not like that feeling.”

He hung up his football cleats, hit the gym, and started concentrating exclusively on bodybuilding.

Striking a pose

Cameron quickly realized bodybuilding is an arduous, full-time job. Healthy eating, protein drinks, and intense workouts are part of the lifestyle. And bodybuilding is a lifestyle.

“Serious bodybuilders create a lifestyle where you eat differently than other people and you exercise in a more dedicated fashion. It’s very time-consuming and a big part of your daily life.”

So much a part of daily life, in fact, that Cameron skipped the school’s homecoming dance, quit watching television, and stopped texting friends. Girlfriends? Forget about it.

“I don’t want to be with a girl,” he says. “Girls are a distraction.”

It’s hard to blame him. After all, achieving a Herculean look requires laser-like focus, unimaginable willpower, and strict discipline. Simply going to the gym and lifting weights does not help build the dream body.

Bodybuilding is a science. That means knowing what exercises work the part of the muscle competitors are trying to bulk up and performing them in a correct manner to achieve a symmetrical physique. They must also know what exercises do not work, how long to rest between sets and workouts, and be aware of overtraining or undertraining.

Similarly, the dieting process is a like solving a complicated jigsaw puzzle. Consuming too many calories causes competitors to put on fat, while eating too few calories results in muscle loss. Through countless hours of research and experimentation, Cameron formulated a meal plan that best helps him achieve muscle growth.

He carefully calculates and monitors not only his daily caloric intake, but also the calories received from each of the macronutrients—carbohydrates, protein, and fat. In addition, he must receive the right combination of macronutrients for his specific body index.

“It’s not easy. I always remind myself I’m eating for a purpose. I also tell myself I eat to live rather than live to eat.”

Willpower is also a key player. For eight months, Cameron followed a strict diet regimen consuming only these foods—oatmeal, egg whites, protein shakes, yogurt, jasmine rice, white potatoes, chicken breast, and broccoli.

During the final week of training— known in the bodybuilding world as peak week—he eliminated carbohydrates to reduce fat surrounding muscles. Less body fat reveals muscles under tight skin and helps achieve the competition look. Five days before competition, Cameron consumed only 37 ounces of fish daily and drank a limited amount of water to lose water weight. In five days, he went from weighing 162 pounds to 149 pounds.

“I remember being on the treadmill at night and crying because I was so hungry.”

Why put his body through so much strain for one day of competition? Because much like a potter molds clay, Cameron enjoys sculpting his body.

“I knew all along this sport is about starting something and finishing it. It’s all about how badly you want to succeed.”

For Cameron, failing was never an option. In fact, to avoid becoming sick, he wore a mask to school for six weeks before the competition. Illness would have seriously derailed his training regimen.

“My classmates gave me a tough time. They said I was stupid. I responded by saying, ‘Am I stupid or am I smart?’ I didn’t work so hard just to get sick and miss the competition.”

It’s ShowTime

It’s Oct. 1. For Cameron, the moment of truth arrives when he steps on the stage at the NGA 6th Annual Florida State Natural Bodybuilding Qualifier in Ormond Beach.

All his hard work and sacrifice come down to this. It’s his time to display his awesome physique and express himself from the heart, much like a musician does at a concert or a dancer does at a recital.

He has 60 seconds to impress judges, who score him on appearance, muscularity, pose, and music. As Cameron flexes each group of individual muscles, the crowd hoots and hollers and delivers a thunderous round of applause.

“First place goes to…Cameron Vansant.”

The first-time bodybuilder takes first in the “Teen Division” and “Debut” categories. He also finishes fourth in the “Open Lightweight” category.

“I always say if the mind can conceive it, you can achieve it,” Cameron says. “I felt very proud that I did so well in my first competition.”

His father, Kendall Vansant, is equally proud.

“This sport teaches you who you are and what you can endure as a person,” said Kendall, a Realtor at Re/ Max Realty Center in Eustis. “Watching him go from Point A to Point B was so painstaking because he had to get his weight down, undergo constant cardio workouts, and learn when to eat food and how much. It wasn’t easy, but I’m so proud of him for hanging in there and never giving up.”

One thing is certain: The sport helped Cameron develop more than muscles. He also learned the importance of hard work, determination, discipline, and focus. Going forward, he hopes those attributes help him raise the bar in the sport of bodybuilding.