Here’s the story...

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I’ve always been fascinated by incredible humans. People like, Bruce Lee, Michael Jordan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Hulk Hogan to name a few. Gymnasts were a culture of “super people” who not only made gravity look weak, but who also defied humanity itself by developing themselves to the point where traditional human limitations somehow didn’t exist in their world. So in high school I decided to become one of them. My journey to super human status was finally beginning.  I would later go on to become a championship gymnast and diver, and then to pursue a bodybuilding career in my early college years. Looking the part, as opposed to BEING the part, became my primary focus. But my 10,000 calorie/day fast-food habit, taking 200+g of protein/day from shakes on top of that, and trying to lift the heaviest weights possible was a less-than-ideal recipe for genuine health.

I eventually found myself in a world of personal health challenges, at least one of which was potentially terminal. I developed a tumor; I was overweight to the point of borderline obesity, insulin-resistant, sluggish (mentally and physically), aches/pains that are synonymous with the stereotypical old age that most accept to be true.  Hardly the picture of the super hero I once believed I could be.  Quite the opposite, in fact.  Not only was I not saving anyone, I was helplessly fading away in life. The only thing worse than the subtle reality that my body was aging faster than the accompanying years were passing was that there was a nagging sense of irrelevance that became the gravity for my defiance, and it was winning. Apathy, self-doubt, and low self-image were my constant companions on my un-journey. My body was telling me that it was time to do something; either move or else... go... away... permanently.  A family member (and head pathologist) convinced me to change my diet as a way to combat the early death I was headed for. Out of some odd combination of fear and fascination, I decided to take the advice, mind you- I was a skeptic of the word “diet” and any advice that didn’t line up with my bodybuilding worldview. But I did, indeed, experience what I would consider to be the miraculous. By changing the food I consumed my body began to heal itself. That healing led to a hope. That hope led to inspired action. That action led to even greater results. Those results fueled the inspiration and led to greater action (repeat.)  And voilà! I was back on the path to becoming a super human again.