About & FAQ

Why did you create this site?

“To help people” is probably one of the most overused cliches/platitudes in the English language as it relates to explaining to someone why you’re doing something. However, that’s my answer. After years of trying to spread the gospel one person at a time, my passion for holistic wellness and personal trainer certificaton (via American Council on Exercise) have motivated me share what I’ve learned (and continue to research) on a larger scale. I also love to write. So, it almost seems like a natural fit. Friends, family and coworkers have constantly encouraged me to start a blog. Gandhi once said “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others”. That is my personal mission.

Additionally, rampant propaganda from multinational food companies, the Big Pharma cartel, unscrupulous “health” companies, and folks with good intentions, but bad information, is rampant these days. I will try to demystify as much of this as I can by providing clear, common sense advice that you can actually use in your daily life. I’ve done a great deal of research on the subject of wellness, and I think I’d be remiss if I didn’t spread this knowledge. I truly believe that we’re all put on this earth to be of service to others in some capacity. With that said, my core mission is to enlighten, inspire, and challenge you to lead a healthy life……a better life.

What separates your site from other health sites?

A quick search will result in countless websites that contain troves of information. After paring down the sites with fad diets, erroneous information and obvious bias toward a particular product, you’re left with a handful of top-notch sites that provide useful, evidence-based information. As good as they are, I’ve found that these sites tend to have a heavy focus on only one of the “pillars of health” (nutrition, fitness, mental wellness).

I will do my best to provide unbiased, sensible, actionable information that evenly spans all of the pillars of wellness, which will hopefully decrease (or eliminate) the need to hop from site to site. Think of it as a “one stop read.”

What qualifies you to write on this subject? In other words, who the heck do I think I am?

(My wife seems to ask me that same question all the time, and I have yet to come up with a suitable answer). First of all, I’m just a regular guy, which means I’m in the grind daily – just like you. This affords me a unique, relatable perspective when providing information to you. In addition to being a nationally certified personal trainer (via American Council on Exercise), I’ve also conducted countless hours of research on topics like holistic nutrition, reducing toxic load, internal cleansing, supplementation and the like. Working in an office environment most of my adult life has also taught me how to merge a holistic lifestyle and a “9 to 5″ job. But more important than all of that, I actually practice what I preach. After all, would you heed any advice from an obese, unhealthy wellness professional?

How is your personal health?

I’d like to think my health is very good. It’s always interesting to me when I hear the term “healthy” because it’s rather nebulous trying to determine exactly what that means. Does it just mean you have good vitals (the result of going to a primary care doctor for a standard check-up)? Or is it just that your body mass index (BMI) is in an acceptable range? Or is it simply that you are free from disease? I’m not sure there’s a consensus definition, but I do believe that health is more of a journey than a destination.

To directly answer the question – in addition to standard health vitals, I recently got the following checked: complete blood count, liver/kidney panel, vitamin d3 levels, resting blood sugar and hormone levels. All were within the “healthy” range. I have very good energy levels. I rarely get sick with colds (which are mostly viruses). To put that in perspective, I may have been sick 3-4 times in the last 10 years. And, the duration is typically about 1-2 days – without OTC or pharmaceutical intervention. I’d like to think this makes me relatively healthy at this point in time.

We can’t put good health in the bank to draw against in times of not being so healthy. For the most part, it’s a cumulative, “what have you done lately” proposition. So, conscious lifestyle choices will make these statistics, and ultimately my health better or worse over time. The same goes for you as well.

What is your personal wellness philosophy?

The short answer is “live well and prosper.” I’m a big fan of keeping things simple, as much as possible. Life is already complicated enough. As such, I subscribe to the “80/20″ rule. Essentially, this means mind your lifestyle (eat right, exercise, etc.) 80% of the time, and go a little crazy 20% of the time. For instance, I reserve a day or two each week (typically the weekend) where I’m not so rigid with my diet or working out. Tweak this to fit your lifestyle, however. A musician once said “everything in moderation, even moderation…”

What types of activities do you do to stay in shape?

Honestly, anything that involves movement. My personal goal is to stay active and be consistent. Although I use them occasionally, exercise machines are too boring and limited for my taste. So anything from walking with my family to high-intensity interval (HIIT) training is fair game. I also play in two flag football leagues in addition to other things like boxing, pick up basketball, swimming, etc.

What are your eating habits? Do ever eat any specific foods that aren’t so nutritious?

This is sort of a loaded question, but I’ll try to keep it simple. Because cooking at high temperatures denatures food, I try to eat raw foods as much as possible – veggies, fruit, nuts. As a matter of fact, I bring a fresh salad to work almost daily. If it’s high quality meat/fish (wild, free range, hormone-free, antibiotic-free, etc.) even that is cooked to medium-rare “doneness.” I don’t drink soda or juice. Water is my main beverage. I also prepare fresh veggie and fruit juices as well. I do drink beer/wine occasionally. I’m partial to fresh pale ales from craft breweries, though. Fortunately, I never picked up a taste for sweets so I rarely eat desserts. The one exception, and my only food weakness, is a good quality slice of carrot cake (and no, the carrots don’t have anything to do with why I like it). So, if you’re even trying to get in my good graces, this is a good start.

Do you take any supplements?

Because my diet supplies most of my nutrients, the only supplements I take on a regular basis are a food-based multi, fish oil, and probiotic. I may take others on a case-by-case basis.

Are you a sports fan?

Absolutely! I played football in high school, so that’s sort of my first love. In addition to football, I also follow basketball, boxing and mixed martial arts (MMA). Unfortunately, that’s all my schedule will permit.

How do you balance this lifestyle with a family and a full-time job?

I’d be lying if I told you that it was easy…it’s most definitely not. But it is extremely rewarding. There’s a lot of independent self-study involved. Characteristics like determination, consistency, perspective, creativity, and will power all play a part as well. That being said, it all comes down to educating yourself and just doing it.

Why do you use the term wellness instead of health? What’s the difference?

Honestly, it’s just an issue of semantics. You’ll often notice that health and wellness are used interchangeably. So, it really depends on your intention behind the words. That said, health is widely defined simply as the “absence of disease.” On the other hand, here’s my definition of wellness: a lifestyle that promotes an individual, optimal state of physical, mental, emotional, nutritional and spiritual well-being. Now that you know my intentions, I’ll use both terms interchangeably on this site.

Why did you choose the name wellnessindie?

The wellness part is hopefully straight forward. To put it simply, the term “indie” refers to anything that is anti-commercial, free-thinking and independent from the mainstream. You may have heard the term in relation to some form of independent media (eg – indie band, indie label, indie movie, etc).

This independent attitude is at the core of all the content on this site. It’s at the heart of this new, wellness movement. Indie stands for thinking outside the box and for yourself, individualism, authenticity, empowerment, and progressiveness. In the context of wellness, it’s a do-it-yourself attitude whereby you’re responsible for achieving your optimal wellness. If you’re an “indie,” you don’t depend on Big Pharma, Big Food, Big Gov’t, or even well-meaning doctors/nurses for disease prevention or achieving optimal wellness. If you’re an “indie,” you don’t let fad diets, slick marketing campaigns, goofy exercise equipment, peer pressure, unnecessary medicine or misguided health providers dictate how you go about reaching your wellness goals. This is what wellnessindie.com is all about.

How often will you publish articles?

My goal is to publish about 2-3 high quality, original articles (on average) per week. The “Health News” section will be updated more frequently. Right now it’s just myself (and my wife on occasion) providing content, so schedule will dictate the frequency. Some weeks, there may be more than the average and other weeks less. In the interest of making this process as collaborative as possible, I’m hoping to eventually have community journalists helping out as well. If interested, drop me a line (please put “Community Journalist” in the subject line). If you come across an interesting news story or would like to see a specific topic covered, let me know. Also, feel free to subscribe to the news feed.

A Little More About Me…

As a child, I was involved in all kinds of athletic activities. I grew up in a pre-Iphone, Xbox, laptop, Facebook era where coming home from school and “playing” actually meant some type of physical activity. I played football in high school while at the same becoming specifically passionate about nutrition and how food affects the body. Somewhere along way, this passion morphed into fanaticism (although my wife prefers the word “enthusiast”). Family, friends, and coworkers can attest to that.

Genetics and family history reinforced this zeal as I watched all my grandparents become victims of stroke, hypertension, diabetes and heart disease. My father passed recently after a long battle with heart disease and my mother diligently manages her Type 2 diabetes mellitus. So subconsciously, all of that serves as my core motivation for maintaining a high level of well-being.

I’m a self-professed news junkie. I have a lovely wife who is a licensed massage therapist, a beautiful two year old daughter, and a newborn baby boy (Side note: both children were home births, and with the help of well-trained midwives, my wife delivered with absolutely no medicine). So, I’m more than familiar with incorporating this lifestyle into the daily juggling act of work and family. At the same time, I’m hopefully laying a strong foundation for my children where highly processed, chemically-laden, denatured, fast food, is as foreign a concept as whole foods, probiotics, water, antioxidants, and fish oil is to many folks today.

Enjoy and be well!