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Nevada Teammate Angela Scurry: Textbook Example That Turning Around

Your Health Is Possible

The journey of improving her health is an ongoing one ever possible, conscious of trying to get her steps in.
for Angela Scurry, Senior Director, People Services, Ne- Her success does not come without a lot of hard work
vada. And the first part of her and effort. She has a food scale
story may sound familiar to some. at home and she measures
“I have been on diets all of my how much she can have of var-
life; none of them worked,” she ious ingredients. When she re-
recalled. cently went to Hawaii, she
A couple of years ago, when see- didn’t eat the plentiful rice
ing her primary care physician, An- there, and when she had a
gela came to terms with her pancake there, she only ate a
situation. Her doctor had told her small piece and that was it. She
that her cholesterol was changing has eaten her favorite pop-
and her sugar was going up. “It hit corn, but only one or two cups,
me,” she said. “If food can cause all Angela Scurry, before and after. as opposed to consuming the
of this, I can control this.” entire bag as she would have
Another memory that stands out as a vivid changing done in the past. She counts out 10 to 12 tortilla chips as
point for her was her mother. Angela had thought about her allotment, and enjoys salsa, which is not high in calo-
having gastric bypass surgery a couple of years ago. At the ries. She will allow herself to have chicken wings, but four,
time, her mother kept telling her she could do this without not ten.
surgery. “I need you here,” said Angela’s mother, who “I actually feel good,” she said. When she recently saw
passed away one year ago on September 11. one of her old photo ID badges, her first thought was, Who
And do it on her own, she did. Always one to read and is that?
listen, Angela started to figure out an approach that would And her doctor is equally pleased. “He told me I am a
work for her. “It all came down to identifying the right way textbook case—my cholesterol is great, sugars are low. He
to eat,” she said. “I became more conscious of what I was told me most people in the situation I was in come back
eating, and I paid attention to portion sizes. That is what and he has to give them medication.”
made the difference.” She credits the Vitality wellness program in helping her
Over the last couple of years, Angela has lost between 50 to start as well. Linking her FitBit to Vitality, just to try to
to 60 pounds. She has gone from wearing a size 20-22 to initially get steps into her day, was one thing that started
size 16. Her goal is to still work off 30 more pounds. Her her on her path. In the process she discovered through her
motivation to do so? “Myself. It’s about me staying FitBit that she could scan food and get information to help
healthy for myself. It has to be me.” her to eat healthier.
In addition to carefully watching what she eats, Angela The hardest part is starting, Angela admitted. “Some-
has been using her FitBit regularly, and she gets in be- times you don’t sleep, or you sleep hungry,” she said. “It
tween 5,000 to 10,000 steps a day. “We have four build- can be like going through a withdrawal. It’s so easy to not
ings here—I don’t drive to any of them, I walk,” she said. do—the hardest part is to say no. But once you start, it be-
She also parks further away from her destination when- comes your lifestyle. Now I have to maintain it.”

All information in the Vitality program is HIPAA protected. Members have chosen to share their personal health accomplishments.
For more information about Vitality, visit www.powerofvitality.com. Contact Janet Galli for further program information.