Bio

(GNC California Figure)

I was born in Bagio City, Philippines. My ethnicity is a mix of Visayan, Spanish, and Irish. Visayan also called Bisayan belongs to the Filipino ethnic group. My parents both speak Hiligaynon/Tagalog but the language never stuck with me as we moved to the USA when I was five years old and my parents didn't speak the language as frequently.

Although early in my childhood having lived in Asia exposed me to lots of exotic fruits from mangos, mangosteens, papayas, and snake skin fruit, and fresh fish, I also ate alot of unhealthy foods such as Ramen Noodle Soups, Lumpias, salty fried fish and over-cooked stir frys, fried liver and onions, white rice, hot dogs and spam, Wonder Bread, soy sauce, coca-cola, and my mom seemed to fry everything in lard and bacon. My mom was a great cook as long as you weren't concerned with your health. The move to the USA introduced my family and I to the highly processed, and more "convenience" foods. The new food of choice was fast foods; McDonald's, Carl's Jr., Burger King, Taco Bell and KFC. I think the only thing that saved me from becoming obese was my mouse appetite as a young girl and my asian genetics.

I was introduced to the Bodybuilding and Fitness world when I was eighteen years old. I joined Golds Gym in Salinas, California because I had a desire to want to be tone, fit, healthy, and strong. Upon joining the gym, I was immediately put through an APEX Nutritional Program and circuit routine. I learned how to prepare lean meals, make healthy food choices/alternatives, and how to use the weightlifting equipment. Inner willpower, healthy food knowledge and the right exercise intensities helped me achieve my fitness goals.

My body transformed within weeks of the nutritional program and I loved the way I felt and looked. I quickly became friends with the local bodybuilders who took me under their guidance and showed me how to effectively train to get my body to the next level. My body responded quickly. I loved exercising so much that I decided to get certified as fitness trainer to help other people get in shape. My first fitness certification was achieved through the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA).
I eventually took my fitness levels to a point where I decided to compete.
My first competition was in Monterey, California where I was sponsored by Baseball Hall of Famer, Reggie Jackson.

Here's a list of all my competitions to date:
Monterey Bay Bodybuilding and Fitness Classic 1998- 3rd Place Lightweight Bodybuilding Division
San Francisco Bay Bodybuilding Championships- 1998- 3rd Place Lightweight Bodybuilding Division
Sacramento State Championships- 1999 – 1st Place Lightweight Bodybuilding Division
GNC California State Bodybuilding Championships- 2000- 3rd Place- Lightweight Bodybuilding Division
USA Bodybuilding Nationals- 2000- 9th Place- Lightweight Bodybuilding Division
Utah Spring Bodybuilding, Fitness and Figure Classic - 2004- 2nd Place- Figure Class A Division
GNC California State Bodybuilding, Fitness and Figure Championships - 2005- 3rd- Figure Class A Division
New York Team Universe Figure Nationals- 2005- 11th Place- Figure Class A Division
California State Championships- 2007- 1st Place Masters Division. And 4th Place- Figure Class A Division

During my early years of competitions I was also studying to become a nurse and passed the California Stateboards in 2002. I continued on with my studies and specialized in Emergency care. I've worked in the Emergency room and also worked with the Visiting Nurses Association conducting flu clinics, worked in behavioral health with schizophrenic and bipolar patients, and also worked at an Alzheimers daycare where I initiated a fitness program.

Aside from being passionate about health, fitness and wellbeing, I also love traveling. I enjoy learning about the different people and cultures of the world, the diverse ways of how people live, how they stay healthy and youthful, preserving the environment, and observing wild animals and creatures within their natural environment.

One of my most memorable and highly educational travel experiences was when I accompanied a rainforest and coral reef organization called Seacology to the Islands of Samoa. This trip was led by an Ethnobotonist, Dr. Paul Cox. He was highly respected by the Samoan higher chiefs and was honored with the name, "Nafanua." He wrote a book of his experiences which he named, Nafanua. On this particular trip, I witnessed the opening day of a rainforest canopy walkway and the seacology group and myself sat in a large circle with the higher chiefs chanting as their virgin created a Kava drink which was passed around to each of us to drink. It was a very heartfelt and joyfully tearful experience. The walkway that Dr. Cox helped initiate years prior had saved this miraculous rainforest from being cut down. The canopy walkway was created so people can visit the rainforest without destroying the medicinal plant life. He founded a plant extract growing in the rainforest called Prostratin which at the time was being tested at the AIDS foundation in being a possible cure for the AIDS virus. While in Western Samoa, we also visited the home of famous writer Robert Louis Stevenson which was turned into a museum after his death. It was also the home that he spent the last days of his life in. It was a two story house with a red roof, two verandas, one upstairs, one down, and with a nearby waterfall, a stream, and was at the foot of Mount Vaea. It was peaceful, open and airy. I can see why he always came back to this place. My experience was an amazing eye opening journey that took me through several Samoan islands beginning from Pago Pago, American Samoa, then to Apia, Upolu, and then Falealupo, Savaii.

My trip to Kenya, Africa was hands down the most adventurous travel experience I have ever had. A must see to add to your lists to do before you die. I spent five weeks in East Africa. I traveled by jeep from Nairobi to the Maasai Mara, and then to the coast of Mombasa, Kilifi, and Malindi, then all the way to Arusha and Tanzania. Some of the roads were nonexistent. Aside from seeing the land and the African people by jeep, I also went on a hot air balloon tour across the Maasai Mara which revealed the endless, magnificient landscapes, diverse terrains and thousands of roaming wild animals seeking to find new grasslands. You have to keep your eyes wide open as pick pocketing and road hazards were everywhere. Of course, you can't go to Africa at the time of the Great Migration and not explore it closer. No way, I spent almost 2 weeks in Masaai Mara and witnessed nature at its uptmost wildest at arms length at times. It literally took my breath away seeing the wild animals by the hundreds of thousands running free right before my eyes; wilderbeast, zebras, giraffes, gazelles, impalas, lions, hyenas, cheetahs, elephants crossing rivers in family groups of 10 to 12, baboons caring for their young, Martial eagles, buffalos, dung beetles, killer ants, crocodiles and exotic birds. I spent time with the Maasai Tribes and learned how they lived in huts made of elephant dung, twigs, and dirt. They made their own fires without matches, boiled their water taken from the Mara River, and witnessed them stabbing their sacred cow to drain blood from it to mix with the milk. The tribe found ways to live in harmony with nature. Words can't even come close to describing the experience so luckily I've taken many pictures which I've included on this site. I hope you enjoy them.

I have also lived and traveled extensively through Asia. I traveled to Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia, East Malaysia and Borneo. To discuss all my memories of Asia would be a book in itself. Let me begin with Borneo. I enjoyed trekking through the Borneo Rainforest, a forest over a 100 million years old. The trees were enormous. It was my first time that I ever saw a Probiscus Monkey except on television shows such as Animal Planet. These large nosed docile monkeys with big pot bellies were funny to watch. It was incredible to see them swinging freely on the trees above. Gibbon Apes were also witnessed within the rainforest. On my 4th morning at the Borneo Rainforest Lodge I awoke finding blood all over my bed sheets and as I stood up I noticed blood dripping down from my leg, to my surprise I found a leech attached to my theigh. I gently peeled it off. It came off with ease since it had its fill. I quickly searched my son to see if he may have one attached too. It was not uncommon according to the hiking guides to find a leach during treks through the rainforest. The rainforest was crawling with leeches. When a leech bites you it uses a combination of mucus and suction to stay attached. It thins the blood by secreting an anticoagulant enzyme called hirudin. It will stay attached until it becomes full, at which point it falls off to digest. Due to the hirudin, bites may bleed more than a normal wound after the leech is removed. Being a nurse, I treated the bite accordingly.

If your seeking out relaxation, serenity, warm ocean waters with sandy white beaches, peace... a place to unwind but still with cultural flair and adventure close by, I would say, go to Bali, Indonesia. I spent a month in Bali residing at the Melia Benoa Resort in Nasa Dua. A resort with lots of activities for both kids and adults. My son learned to swim for the first time in the warm waters of the Bali Sea. Only a short drive away is Ubud where you can go river rafting. It is filled with beautiful scenery and the mountain sides are covered with carvings of Balinese figures. Also nearby visit the rice plantations and spend some time observing the people cultivating the rice. While in Indonesia, I learned so much about spices and their medicinal uses and the amazing flavors and aromas they created in combination. Indonesia was a culinary experience. The Indonesian people are gentle with kind souls. You can fall in love with their hospitality and desires to please.

While in Asia, I had the opportunity to not only observe the people but also teach many people from as many cultures, shapes and convictions I could ever hope for meeting while sharing the one common denominator; the love for better health, emotional well being and ways to remain more youthful, to inspire us all to try whatever worked.

When I thought my 11 month tour in Asia was the end of traveling for a while, I soon had the opportunity to live in Europe and train a Kabaddi team in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The guys even flew in from India to play and train in Holland. After just a few weeks of intensive NFL style training and applying dietary corrections they started to win every competition. During the following three months they won against teams from Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Germany just to name a few, thanks to the training. It is an exciting sport and I hope it becomes more mainstream in the future.

In Europe, I spent time in Paris, Amsterdam, Rome and London. Let me tell you about a few of my experiences in France and Italy. Paris is a beautiful city but I felt it to be high energy, noisy and with lots of traffic. I spent some time at the Louvre Museum where it was much quieter and I admired the many sculptures and paintings of some of the greatest artists that ever lived such as the works of Leonardo da Vinci's famous Mona Lisa painting. It was highly guarded with security. I also enjoyed watching my son feed the pigeons beneath the Eiffel tower built by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel. The Eiffel Tower is visually more magnificent at night than during the daytime.

My most memorable experience in Europe was my time in Italy. The food is full of flavor and the people are passionate about life. I really enjoyed strolling the streets of Rome both night and day. It was amazing to be able to walk on the same 2,000 year old cobble stone walkways that the Romans had once rode their horses on. I got goosebumps as I stood within the Colloseum as I imagined the gladiators that fought at the same place that I stood. All the fountains were beautiful works of art. The Pantheon, the Vatican and St. Peters, the Spanish steps, its hard to imagine all the Roman fighting that took place. It was incredible to see so many Roman structures still intact and at the same time to see the destruction of many incredible buildings due to the past wars. I have only touched a layer of Europe and there is still so much of the continent I still have to explore. But so far, I love Rome the most and in the very near future, I will plan to spend more time in Italy. Id like to see life in Naples, Sicily, Venice, Florence, Capri, Lake Como, Tuscany and of course the Italian Riviera. Amore!

Wherever I have traveled, even in the most undeveloped areas of the world such as Cambodia, there was always a gym of some sort and healthy foods to choose from if you take the time to seek it out. Being away from home or on vacation doesn't mean you suddenly have an excuse to get out of shape. If you care about your body, treat your body like a Ferrari or Bugatti. Would you ever put the wrong fuel in these vehicles?

No gym is available? I always found ways to improvise my workouts with exercise bands , push-ups, sit-ups and yoga exercises whenever a gym or exercise equipment was not available. Once exercise becomes part of your life, like taking a shower, maintaining your home and vehicle, there is no effort to reach for the right food, if available, and spend the few minutes per day doing the planned intensive or medium intensive exercises.

My NOWES system has kept my immune system intact, my cortisol levels down, and clarity in my mind. Even when I am exposed to other people with viruses and infections, the daily demands of being a mother, international travels and the normal everyday stresses of living life in Los Angeles with its pollution, bumper to bumper traffic, stress...etc. I believe the body has the ability to heal itself as long as you give it what it needs oxygen, nutrients, movement, care and time.

It's the A,B,C's of living!

I have experienced and learned so much about life and realize more than ever that good health and wellbeing should be the top of everyone's priorities. Long term happiness is not achieved through materialistic gains but instead by having inner peace and good health.

You have the power to take control of your health. I am doing that and so can you! Start taking care of your body today.

Stay tuned as my website is slowly evolving. I love to hear your comments, learn about new innovative products, travel experiences, health and fitness success stories. Email me: Info@catsanson.com

Thanks for visiting my website.

Love, good health and happiness to you all,

Catherine Sanson, R.N.
xoxo

Youth has no age.- Pablo Picasso