Vincent Earns Title of Biggest Loser!

I recently interviewed Ali Vincent, the first woman to win the hit reality show “The Biggest Loser.” The former Mesa resident competed with her mother in the first challenge, and they worked really hard. Sadly, they were eliminated in week four. But Ali really wanted to win, so she put words into actions. It paid off! She was called back to the show and won!

Vincent is fascinating. She answered all my questions about her inspiring win and her life.

Vincent has loved swimming since she was a baby. “I swam before I walked!” she shares. When she was little, she did synchronized swimming. When she got older, she stopped synchronized swimming and just swam until she started gaining weight, which made her feel uncomfortable in a swimsuit. Then she stopped swimming altogether.

Her mother was a motivational speaker and worked for PSI Seminars. Vincent grew up listening to the seminars and still uses the philosophies she learned at them.

“To visualize and paint your picture…I put the effort into it. I told myself out loud, and I told everyone, ‘I’m going to be the first female Biggest Loser,’” she recalls. Even though Vincent and her mom never had a really close relationship before the show, they grew much closer after it. Vincent says the competition enabled them to really get to know each other.

During the competition, Vincent and her mom had to work twice as hard as the male contestants because men naturally have a higher metabolism. Vincent thinks that’s why no woman had won the show in the previous four seasons.

But Vincent was determined to win. Even after she was eliminated, she still believed that she was going to be the first female Biggest Loser. So she continued to work out and stick to her diet at home. Then she pulled a muscle in her calf and couldn’t run or walk up the stairs, which was one of her main workouts to shed the pounds. So she swam instead and continued losing weight.

Then came the call for her to come back for a weigh in at “The Biggest Loser.” She went and had lost the most weight of all the people on the show. And since her mother was not with her, Vincent had to make up the ldifference by losing even more weight. She won with all her hard work and perseverance.

Vincent’s message to kids is to be more active with their lives. They do not have to have a specific sport but must stay active in some way to stay healthy. She is working with schools to strengthen P.E. programs so students can learn how to stay fit as they get older and have less health issues.

After 8 Golds, Phelps Pledges to Help Kids

In China, eight is a lucky number. That’s why the Beijing Olympics opened on 8-8-08.

American swimming sensation Michael Phelps also thinks eight is great after he and his medley relay teammates set a new world record to give Phelps his eighth gold medal of the Summer Games!

His haul of eight golds and eight record-breaking swims makes Phelps arguably the best athlete in Olympic history.

By breaking the single-Olympic record of seven gold medals set by U.S. swimmer Mark Spitz, Phelps earned a $1 million bonus from his sponsor, which makes his high-tech Speedo swimsuits.

On the “Today Show,” Phelps announced he would use the money to start the Michael Phelps Foundation to get kids all over the United States into the pool!

To kick things off, Phelps says he’s going on an eight-city tour to get kids excited about the sport he loves. “This is a way for me to really help grow the sport,” he announced. He plans on sharing his incredible Olympic experiences to motivate kids to work hard to realize their dreams.

After practicing every stroke for countless hours in the pool, Phelps went to Beijing ready to take on the best swimmers in the world.

He knew that if he swam his best he had a shot at earning eight gold medals.

Phelps swam five individual events and three relays. One by one he came out on top with record times. During the relays, he and his teammates set new world records, too. By the seventh event, the 100m butterfly, he was six for six. In a dramatic come-from-behind race, Phelps won by just 1/100th of a second! He fell short of a world record, but set a new Olympic record. His record-breaking eighth gold came when he and his teammates won the 4 x 100m medley relay in world-record time.

“The help from these guys (his relay teammates) made it all possible. It’s amazing to be a part of,” Phelps told NBC News right after earning his eighth gold. He calls his victories in China’s Water Cube the best experience he’s ever had. “It’s the whole thing—every race from one to another. It was a great experience for me, and something that I’ll have forever,” he said.

So far, Phelps has racked up 14 gold medals during two Olympics!

Busy Hurricane Season Slams Southeast

Hold on tight—the 2008 hurricane season is in full swing and has millions of people along the Southeast Coast scrambling to get out of the way.

Why the worry? Because nothing matches a hurricane’s fury.

Packing winds well over 100 mph and incredible amounts of rain, powerful hurricanes can grow large enough to cover the Gulf of Mexico!

“A typical-sized hurricane is about 400 miles across, but some can be double that size,” explains Erik Pytlak, science and operations officer for the National Weather Service.

Three years ago, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and other coastal communities in Louisiana and Mississippi. In all, 1,836 people died and 700 are still missing. Katrina destroyed homes and businesses, totalling about $150 billion in damages.

Ike was the latest big hurricane to hit, slamming the Texas coast on Sept. 12 and causing billions of dollars in damage to places like Galveston and Houston. At least eight people died.

The warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico fuel the hurricanes that pass over them. “Water temperatures in the gulf are 85° F to 88° F, and that’s what a hurricane needs to produce thunderstorms, high winds and to intensify,” Pytlak explains. Hurricanes start as tropical storms or depressions. But as sustained winds reach 75 mph or more, it becomes a hurricane.

“A hurricane has several dangers to it,” Pytlak says. “One is the wind. Hurricane-force winds can continue for minutes and hours, and that can do a lot of damage.” Winds were 110 mph when Ike hit Texas.

“The other big problem is the sea level actually rises with a hurricane,” he continues. “The air pressure is so low, it actually builds up water.” Called a storm surge, walls of seawater up to to 20 feet high can smash into the coast!

“Then you get very heavy rain,” Pytlak adds. So if a storm surge doesn’t cause disastrous flooding, the rain can, sometime dumping 10 to 20 inches in one place! And far from its center, a hurricane can spin off several highly destructive tornadoes.

Fortunately, the National Weather Service has satellites, supercomputers and other high-tech equipment to give early warnings so people can get out of the way. “We’re getting pretty good at forecasting the track of a hurricane,” Pytlak explains. The weather service leaves it up to local emergency officials to motivate their citizens to evacuate dangerous areas.

Is Shaq Sinking Suns?

There's a new big man in town; the Phoenix Suns are betting he's the spark they need to win the playoffs.

One of the biggest stars in the NBA universe, Shaquille O'Neal, is now wearing purple and orange. And both Shaq and the Suns have a lot to prove. Shaq, who just turned 36 and has endured knee and hip injuries, wants to show he's still a big force in the NBA. His critics say that the Diesel is too old and too slow for a high-octane, blazingly fast team like the Suns.

During the regular season, the Suns are one of the toughest teams in the West. And while fans love the Suns' exciting and high-scoring brand of basketball, led by two-time League MVP point guard Steve Nash, the team has never won the NBA Finals.

The Suns believe that Shaq is the piece that's been missing. At 7 feet 1 inch tall and 325 pounds, Shaq gives the Suns a true center who grabs rebounds, plays tough defense and passes the ball well. Up till now, Amare Stoudamire has been stuck playing center for the Suns, even though he's really one of the best power forwards in the game. With Shaq in at center, Stoudamire is freed up to do what he does best!

"Psychologically it really helps us out. Guys are much more willing to go to the boards and fight around the basket with Shaq in there," explains Head Coach Mike D'Antoni.

Fans love Shaq's superstar qualities. The big guy has won four NBA Finals and was MVP for three of them! But the Suns have lost their winning ways since Shaq started playing on Feb. 20. In the trade for Shaq, the Suns gave up All-Star forward Shawn Marion, who said he wanted to be traded at the beginning of the season. For years, Marion had been a clutch scorer. As of press time, the Suns have won just two of their last six games and have fallen to fifth place in the Western Conference. Fans wonder whether it's growing pains with the big guy or could it be a bad fit?

'Doomsday Vault' Opens for Business!

SVALBARD ARCHIPELAGO, Norway-Imagine a bank that's so far north that polar bears outnumber the people living there! The bank is located on Norway's Svalbard archipelago just 620 miles from the North Pole. As you may have guessed, it's cold there. During winter's around-the-clock darkness, temperatures can fall to -22° Fahrenheit.

The bank was blasted into the side of an arctic mountain and has reinforced concrete walls to help protect its valuable deposits from natural disasters, global warming and even a nuclear explosion. Welcome to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault-also called the "Doomsday Vault" by the press!

You can find seedbanks all over the world. Native Seeds/SEARCH is a seedbank here in Arizona. Its mission is to protect the diversity of local seed used in farming and their wild relatives. "We have nearly 2,000 varieties in our seedbank, mainly corn, beans and squash," explains Carolyn Owens, who works on grants for the seedbank. "Just like the seedbank in Norway, the seeds need to be kept cold, so they're stored in a freezer," she says. Seeds for the bank come from southwestern states and northern Mexico.

Seedbanks help protect our food supply from the "what ifs" in life-like what if there's drought; what if a disease attacks a certain kind of wheat, or what if global warming changes what can grow around here?

Modern farming has led to fewer and fewer varieties of crops. This has brought about many varieties of food crops being lost forever, and Owens says it's alarming. "It's just more cost effective to grow a single variety...but you don't know what disease is going to come along down the road," she says. A disease could wipe out an entire variety of a crop, leading to food shortages. But if there are enough other seed varieties, like wheat for instance, one of those types of wheat may turn out to be resistant to the disease.

Owens points out that a lot of seedbanks are in politically unstable areas like Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq, and have been looted or destroyed. In the Phillipines, a flood wiped out the country's seedbank.

That's why the Svalbard Global Seedbank was created-to protect the diversity of seeds no matter what happens in the world. Countries can "deposit" different varieties of seeds. If a disaster jeopardizes crops, the country can make a "withdrawal" of seeds.

The vault was built by Norway at a cost of about $3 million. Because seeds are so small, the "Doomsday Vault" can hold up to 2 billion seeds!