Extraordinary Health Magazine EHMagazine Vol 36 | Page 36

LIFE SAVER:
Health & Fitness
with Garden of Life
Brand Ambassador
Julie
Dudley
by Kelly Merritt
It’s the middle of the night. The smoke alarm echoes through the
house. You call 911 and make it to the door of your bedroom­—
but you can feel the heat on the other side. There’s no other way
to escape. All you can do is wait and wonder. Will I make it out
alive? Just when you’re not sure if tomorrow will come, you hear
them, the brave men and women who have come to save you.
Through soot and tears, the faces of your saviors emerge. With
what seems like superhuman strength, this team of heroes gets
you and your family to safety.
Such is the life of Julie Dudley and firefighters like her. Dudley
works on the fire and rescue team and is a paramedic, so the team
runs numerous calls including medical, not just fires. She is on a
ladder truck and also responds to car accidents and public assists.
“Being a firefighter you never know what you will have to do and
some days the whole world comes crashing down,” said Dudley.
“Life is too short to worry about silly things and at the end of the
day, you appreciate that you have another day and what you are
able to do with it.”
34 Vol 36 • Extraordinary Health ™
Photos courtesy of: Amy Vu, Snap Photography & Cinema
Dudley’s job never fails to remind her of how important it is to
stay strong. She has always been into staying fit. Super active as
a child, she credits being outside riding bikes and horses with
igniting a passion for feeling good.
“I’ve always been into fitness, but the older I was getting I didn’t
want to become a liability,” said Dudley. “Our age doesn’t matter,
but for ladies, I don’t think I realized the impact I was having.”
Dudley is talking about competing on the hit NBC show Titan
Games, starring none other than Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson,
who inspires everyday contestants in extreme tests of stamina,
strength and mental resilience. At age 51, Dudley excelled in the
intense battles, though she hopes to compete again someday to
revisit the challenging barrels portion of the competition.
Most of the competitors on the show were in their late 20s.
Producers scouted Dudley on Instagram and flew her, along with
120 other contenders to Los Angeles to observe them. On the
show she heard from women everywhere that she had inspired
their fitness journeys.