Wellness for Life-Importance of a Healthy Lifestyle

At Westminster-Canterbury, we recognize the importance of a healthy lifestyle. We encourage our residents to have a “Wellness for Life” mindset. Life is so much more than living day-to-day, so we developed six wellness pillars that we focus on to ensure our residents are fulfilled in all aspects of their lives. The pillars are social, spiritual, intellectual, vocational, emotional, and physical. This last pillar – physical  wellness – helps our residents keep their whole bodies active and engaged, and is the one we will focus on in this blog post. 

Westminster-Canterbury has a state-of-the-art fitness center on our Virginia Beach campus, along with a very robust fitness program. The program consists of a wide array of group classes, physical therapy, personal training, aquatic classes in our two pools, and weight training in our fitness center. We also have HUR equipment, which is specifically designed for strength training and wellness for seniors. The equipment uses pneumatic (air resistance) instead of weights for a more precise and effective workout.

We spent some time talking to our newest Exercise and Aquatic Specialist, Myron Stewart, about why he loves what he does, and what a healthy lifestyle means to him. Myron began his fitness journey in 2017; he was over 400 lbs and knew he needed to make a change. He lost 100 lbs in the first 6 months and has consistently kept it off weighing 235 pounds as of June 2021. He graduated with his Associate degree in Fitness and Wellness from Tidewater Community College. He plays Tight End for the Semi-Professional football team, “The Hampton Roads Panthers” and won 3rd place in “The Heart of Ghent 10K” in 2019. 

When we asked Myron why he thinks a healthy lifestyle is so important he said, “I truly believe that it’s very important to maintain a healthy lifestyle because it drastically improves your quality of life. Many sedentary individuals are unaware of the benefits of living a healthy life. It can help prevent chronic diseases and long-term illnesses, and improve memory and brain health as well as heart and bone health. Living a healthy lifestyle is also important for your self-esteem and self-image. It allows you to feel good about yourself and good that you are taking care of your health.”

Welcome Myron to the Westminster-Canterbury team. We think an outing to a Hampton Roads Panthers game is in our future!

An important part of maintaining your physical health is focusing on your diet. We serve many fresh and healthy meals in our three dining venues. One of our favorite  entrées is Chef Bobby’s Mediterranean Chicken Pasta, which our residents can order anytime in The Pub. Use the recipe below to create it at home! 

When thinking about “Wellness for Life” we think our resident, Dick Binford said it best, “The key to a healthy retirement is to remain active. The key to remaining active is to live at Westminster-Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay!”