Once-overweight Teen Now Helps Others Get Fit and Healthy
High school senior Anjelica Chickara once weighed almost 200 pounds. With hard work, strong support from family and friends, and an enthusiasm to live a healthier life, she lost 68 pounds.
“It was very difficult to go through weight issues at a young age, and it happens to many of the world’s youth. … I was determined to make changes in my habits that would make me healthier,” Anjelica says. “Becoming healthier is easy and fun.”
The 16-year-old has a love of fitness and softball, and wants to join the volleyball team for her senior year. The Holmdel, New Jersey resident loves fashion and hopes to be a designer one day.
Motivated to share her experience with other students, Anjelica now is serving on the Youth Advisory Board as part of the empowerME movement of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. On Wednesday, September 2, she led a panel of six fellow Youth Members at an Alliance forum of about 75 teens celebrating the beginning of Go Healthy Month. They came up with ways to combat unhealthy food in their neighborhoods, such as writing letters to school leaders asking for healthy food choices. They also shared tips with one another on how to avoid spending too much free time inactively as well as the cravings and pull of fast food.
The teens, from around the New York metropolitan area, are all involved in leading youth organizations in New York, including Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City, Do Something, FamilyCook Productions, Healthy Monday, New York City Food and Fitness Partnership, Working in Support of Education, and YMCA of Greater New York.
After the forum, held at the Vanderbilt YMCA in Midtown Manhattan, the teens made healthy quesadillas in a Teen Iron Chef competition. Most ingredients – including beans, a medley of greens, avocados, carrots, radishes, and squash – were from local farmers’ markets. At the end of the day, the teens broke up into groups and attended exercise classes, including aerobics and dance.
The one-million-strong empowerME movement will continue to work throughout the fall to expand and inspire even more tweens and teens to eat better, be more fit, and halt America’s obesity epidemic. To learn more, visit www.empowerme2b.org/events.
