Have you made your News Year’s resolution? For many people, losing weight and getting fit is high on the priority list especially after eating and then eating more during the holiday season. Of course, figuring out how to get in
Have you made your News Year’s resolution?
For many people, losing weight and getting fit is high on the priority list especially after eating and then eating more during the holiday season.
Of course, figuring out how to get in shape and then getting the motivation to achieve that goal could be a daunting task.
Enter Nutrition and Fitness Consultant Susan Maika, who brings 3 1/2 years of experience to Kaua‘i in an effort to help reshape those in the island community mentally and physically.
“Knowledge is power,” she said.
“Basically, I just want to help people who have little background or knowledge about nutrition and exercise and don’t have a membership to a gym,” Maika said.
Maika, 38, owns her own nutrition and fitness consulting business here on the island.
She offers interested individuals their own personal diet. In addition, she can help create their own fitness regimen and can help motivate people who want to change their lives.
“For the first time in your life, you will know what to do,” Maika said. “I am offering to help the people of Kaua‘i get fit and stay healthy.”
Maika works with individuals as well as with medical organizations that are in need of a qualified health and wellness practitioner.
She earned a Masters Degree in 1996 from the University of Nevada in Reno in Exercise Physiology before working in a cardiac rehabilitation center at the university.
About the same time, Maika became a certified (ACE) personal trainer and licensed massage therapist.
She intends on using her previous experience to help clients in the private sector.
“My hope is to work with medical professionals on Kaua‘i to help promote health and wellness,” she said.
“Those include chiropractors, osteopaths, physical therapists and other wellness professionals.”
For Maika, tragic events helped shape her passion for the health and wellness field.
Early in her life, her father suffered two devastating heart attacks. It was these events that led Maika to help spread awareness about a healthy heart.
“Heart disease is our nation’s number one killer,” Maika said. “I would love to help people have more time with their loved ones. I didn’t have the chance (to spend time with my father).”
Upon meeting a new client, Maika will begin to tailor a program to fit their needs.
Her initial consultation includes a medical and family history profile; a cardiac risk factor analysis with contributing factors such as obesity, a sedentary lifestyle, high blood pressure and cholesterol and smoking; a dietary diary; personal gains, i.e. what are the personal gains from the program?; finally an individual program which includes nutrition and exercise.
And while proper nutrition and exercise are critical elements to Maika, she is not a proponent of fad diets.
“My belief is that you can have everything you want in moderation,” she said.
For more information, contact Susan Maika at 651-4365.
Business Editor Barry Graham can be reached at 245-3681 Ext. 251 or mailto:bgraham@pulitzer.net
