10
S moke S ignals
JULY 1, 2015
Younger feeling younger
Tribal Elder no longer carries that weight
By Brent Merrill
Smoke Signals staff writer
Credit an anonymous late-night
infomercial host with possibly sav-
ing a life.
Tribal Elder Lew Younger said he
doesn’t remember the host’s name
and that it doesn’t matter.
“It was all white noise to me at
that point,” said Younger of the
epiphany he had at 2 a.m. on Nov.
22, 2014. “I was in a fog anyway
from waking up and not being able
to sleep. But what got through to
me was the message of how simple
changing my diet and changing my
life could be.”
Younger, who works as the Tribe’s
wastewater treatment technician
and serves on Spirit Mountain Ca-
sino’s Board of Directors, said he
was so overweight that he couldn’t
tie his shoes and that when he woke
up that night he couldn’t breathe
because he had been choking.
“I’m 62 years old. I had a decision
to make,” said Younger. “It was
the week of Thanksgiving. It was
the week of Restoration. I thought
about my wife and I thought do I
want to become a burden to her
or do I want to become an asset.
It occurred to me if I had died and
my family asked me in heaven ‘Why
did I leave?’ I didn’t have a good
answer.”
The late-night television made
him think of the friends in “Shaw-
shank Redemption” who had an
epiphany of their own. “I thought to
myself, ‘There comes a time when
you have to start living or you have
start dying.’ ”
Now, Younger wants to save
lives. He is hoping Tribal mem-
bers will be inspired by his story of
weight loss and renewed health. He
hopes if someone can relate, they
might see how simple it can be in
their own life.
“I was pushing 225 pounds on a
5-foot-2-inch frame,” said Younger.
“That is a lot of weight. I got up
out of breath on November 22 and
I turned on the television set out
in the living room and there was
this guy talking. He wasn’t selling
anything. He was talking about
nutrition. He was talking about
how your body dehydrates itself,
so when you get up in the morning
drink a glass of water.”
Younger said about an hour
after waking up each morning he
now eats a high-fiber breakfast:
oatmeal, cream of wheat or raisin
bran.
“Don’t drink water with your
meal; it dilutes what your body has
to process,” said Younger. “Wait 15
minutes after your meal and then
drink another glass of water.”
Balancing intake and portions
are the key, he said.
“It doesn’t matter what you eat,
as long as what you eat is bal-
anced,” said Younger. “Your body
needs to consist of a certain amount
of proteins and a certain amount of
carbohydrates and fibers. You have
to have a certain amount of carbs.
You need a combination of fruits
and vegetables. It doesn’t matter
what the combination is. Eat only
one serving.”
Younger said that because the
human body is like an oven and us-
ing the water all of the time, people
must replace that water constantly.
Younger said he now tries to walk
so that he can burn those calories
he has consumed.
“It doesn’t have to be high-in-
tensity, but in the afternoon get
in some exercise,” said Younger.
“Then in the evening, repeat what
you did at lunch. Balance your
meals out. Eat your snack and then
sleep well. I started thinking about
what he said and I just started
doing it exactly. I didn’t have any-
thing to lose.”
After losing 55 pounds since
November, Younger said he has
never felt better. He has lost four
pant sizes, two shirt sizes and any
doubts that he could have done this
much sooner in his life if he had
only followed some basic principles
of nutrition, diet portion control
and overall good health.
“My original goal was to lose 25
pounds,” said Younger. “I reached
it so fast. The first week I lost
seven pounds. The second week
I lost five pounds and the third
week I lost three pounds. I’m off
my medicines. I don’t need them
anymore. I’m pre-diabetic; well I
was pre-diabetic. I haven’t felt this
good since 1984.”
Younger’s sister Mary Leith said
the change in her brother has been
stark and inspiring.
“Before the weight change I could
see it in him, he was very unhappy,”
said Leith. “There were no smiles.
He struggled to get around and
there were a lot of health issues.
And then one day something just
clicked with that guy.”
Leith said it is nice to see her
brother smiling again.
“Every week he would come in
with a smile and it was anoth-
er three pounds or another two
pounds lost and it just went on
and on,” said Leith. “I could see the
change in him – the happiness. He
was getting around. He was up and
down the stairs. He was walking
five miles. He was walking from
Grand Ronde to Willamina. I’m
just so proud of him. I really think
it probably saved his life.”
Younger said that as he lost
more weight he started doing more
exercise. He also stuck to the core
principles of a balanced, nutritional
diet. He vowed to never return to
his old habits and be like people
who follow a diet, reach their goal
and then stop and gain it all back.
“This guy talked about modifying
your diet, your food intake,” said
Younger of his late-night TV savior.
“He said eat what you like to eat
and stick to the correct portions.”
Younger said many things have
happened to get him to this point
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Tribal Elder Lew Younger has lost 55 pounds since November by eating better
and exercising. Part of his exercise includes walking a loop around Tribal
housing and the Tribal campus, which includes the hill near the cultural area,
twice a day.
and not all of them are late-night
epiphanies.
“At the Elders Activity Center
they have actually worked with me
to make sure I get the salads and
the protein lunches that I want and
the fruits that I need,” said Young-
er. “The help is there.”
Elders Activity Center staff mem-
bers said they appreciate Younger
giving them credit for being helpful,
but that it was Younger who took
the first step to change things.
“Lew had been talking to (Elder
Activity Assistant) Dan Ham about
some of his health issues and we
had just started a full-blown salad
bar every day,” said Cook Kevin
Campbell. “He just took it on him-
self and took advantage of the salad
bar set up that we have. He will
sign in and let us know he is here,
make a salad to go and then he is
off to his spin class.”
Campbell said that staff isn’t do-
ing anything for Younger that they
wouldn’t do for anyone else.
“He just sees what we have each
day and he pretty much sticks to
the salad bar,” said Campbell. “He
tries to balance it out with his pro-
teins. He has done it himself really.
We have just been here helping
support him.”
Campbell said what Younger is
doing could easily be repeated by
other Elders.
“I wish more of the Elders would
take it upon themselves to do that,”
said Campbell. “Look at John Lil-
lard (see sidebar). He (John) took
it upon himself when he was over-
weight and he was on oxygen and
now look at him. He’s healthy. He’s
walking every day. It’s a choice he
made for himself. Lew and John are
perfect examples of it being their
choice and how it has changed their
whole lifestyle.”
Younger said he wants the Tribe
to consider hiring a full-time nu-
tritionist. He envisions someone
dedicated to working with members
on a full-time basis to monitor the
processes and make things work.
Younger said he sees this person
working not only with the mem-
bership, but with Tribal and casino
employees as well.
“They (casino employees) would
love to have something,” said
Younger. “They have noticed what
has happened with me. The only
thing I’m doing different than be-
fore is I’m watching portion control,
drinking more water and getting
more exercise. It’s just lifestyle
changes. I’m an advocate for life-
style changes more than anything
else.”
“I did notice. He dropped an in-
credible amount of weight pretty
quickly,” said Patrick Dempsey,
Human Resources director at Spirit
Mountain Casino.
Dempsey said he and Younger
discussed what he was doing and
that they talked about Younger’s
nutritional approach and how much
he is working out now.
“Lew is very invested in getting
other people to follow that path and
that’s a good thing,” said Dempsey.
“He is a really good example.”
Dempsey said Younger is correct
that casino employees are looking
for fitness alternatives.
“As far as the casino goes, from
a business standpoint, but more
importantly a human standpoint,
we absolutely do quite a bit toward
health and wellness and we would
like to do even more,” said Dempsey.
“We offer things like biometric
screenings to employees. It’s just
a simple blood draw, but it gives
you all your numbers and we can
do that on site. It saves the em-
ployee money and it saves us a
lot of money, and we get a much
higher participation rate. These
screenings tell people if they have
an issue, what it is and what they
can do about it.”
Dempsey said the casino offers
fitness classes at “extremely” re-
duced prices and that they do
everything they can to encourage
participation.
See YOUNGER
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