Welcome to the first episode of The Rebel Health Coach podcast! Today Tony Loyd of the Social Entrepreneur podcast is interviewing Thom Underwood, Founder of Weight Loss that Lasts and The Rebel Health Coach. Thom will host future episodes of The Rebel Health Coach, but we wanted to kick things off with a little bit of background information, what to expect from the podcast, what to look for in the future, how he came up with the name, and the problems that he’s solving in the world today. In February 2007 Thom was tired of feeling tired all the time. He weighed 282 lbs, his cholesterol level was off the charts, and he was pre-diabetic. It was a harsh reality check, but it helped him realize he wanted to take his life back and become healthy. His first big step was joining a gym and starting kickboxing. Later he learned about the Paleo diet and became acquainted with real food. By 2012 he had dropped down to 195 lbs. “I lost pretty much a whole Backstreet Boy.” In 2015 Thom became a certified Health &amp; Wellness Coach through the University of Integrative Nutrition. From there, he set off on a mission to help people get healthy the right way. The Rebel Health Coach is about following the path to health that works for you, as opposed to following a system or product. We don’t fit into a cookie-cutter mold, and neither does our health. “A diet is a four-letter word. You have to enjoy your life also.” Thom sees a health crisis in America. The national health system is designed to treat disease, but it doesn’t get to the root of the problem: our unhealthy lifestyles. Thom wants to fix the things that are broken, he doesn’t want to treat the symptoms. Weight Loss That Lasts is about changing your perspective and making lifestyle changes so that the weight loss lasts forever. It’s not a system, it’s a series of lifestyle changes that help you live differently. “I wanted to teach people the lifestyle changes that are necessary to keep the weight off forever.” Thom wants to help everyone get healthier, even if they cannot afford his programs. He is starting a nonprofit called Three Roses Wellness, which will use donations to help applicants create a flexible program. It will eventually evolve into a ministry of helping people who need the help and can’t afford the help. “I feel very strongly that if you help enough people get what they want, you will get what you want.” Special thanks to Tony Loyd for hosting our first episode, and you listen to more of his great interviews on the Social Entrepreneur Podcast. Thom will be back in two weeks with another episode packed full of tips, tricks and hacks that will help listeners find the path to health that works for them. Make sure you head over to iTunes, Stitcher or Google Play and subscribe so that you don’t miss a single tip. -- &nbsp; &nbsp; Resources:  Learn more about Thom: Website | Three Roses Wellness | Twitter | Google+ Free resources:  11 Surprisingly Easy Changes to Be Your Best Self (eBook) | Recipes Schedule a  free 1-hour consultation with Thom Sign up for Thom’s  Healthy Habits program Interested in Weight Loss That Lasts or Healthy Habits? Join the Facebook Group and ask a question! Check out Tony Loyd’s Social Entrepreneur Podcast  &nbsp; -- This episode is brought to you by ThriveMarket.com. We all know eating organic is a part of being healthy. If you think the organic and non-toxic products are too expensive or hard to find, then ThriveMarket.com is your solution. It’s like CostCo meets Whole Foods for everything healthy online. You’ll get the best organic and non-GMO brands up to 50% off retail prices shipped nationally to your door for free within 2-3 days. When you become a member, ThriveMarket.com will donate a free membership to a low-income family, teacher or veteran so we can all thrive together. You never have to pay full-price for healthy food again! Head to ThriveMarket.com/TheRebelHealthCoach to get your free jar...

Ep. 1 - Thom Underwood: Getting to Know The Rebel Health Coach

Welcome back to the Rebel Health Coach podcast! I’m your host, Thom Underwood. Today I’m speaking with Tara Gesling, Founder of Cultivating Health, LLC and best-selling author of  The 180 Degree Wellness Revolution: Simple Steps to Prevent and Reverse Illness. Tara is a woman of many hats. Not only is she an author and an entrepreneur, she is also a Certified Functional Health Practitioner (FDN-P), Certified Integrative Nutrition Coach (CINC) and a Master Gardener in horticulture. “When we’re healthy, we live in ease – when we’re not healthy, we’re living in dis-ease.” Tara’s book,  The 180 Degree Wellness Revolution, introduces you to Tara, the resources she found when she was first researching functional health, and translates information about health and wellness from scientific jargon into plain English. “The reason I wrote the book is because I was very, very ill a number of years ago. It was such a difficult journey. I didn’t have information available to me to help me get better, so I had to figure a lot of things out.” Tara started researching health and wellness more than 25 years ago, after she became ill. She developed a neuromuscular and autoimmune disease, which put her in a wheelchair before the age of 30. She had a near-death experience in which her heart stopped, and after that experience she realized her lifestyle and prescriptions were poisoning her. “I never, ever would have thought that that could have happened to me.” People often think of diseases as a part of them (e.g. “I have a stuffy nose”), but Tara acknowledged that her diagnoses were a compilation of symptoms given labels. If you walk around saying, “I am sick,” how can you ever hope to reverse it? One of the hardest lessons that Tara learned was not giving her power over to a doctor, or anyone else. After learning that lesson, Tara was able to work towards wellness without sabotaging herself along the way. She focused on what she put in her body by cutting out medication and taking a better look at the food she ate. “Stop counting calories and start counting chemicals.” Tara is a big proponent of organic food and eating healthy, but she doesn’t deprive herself at all. She stopped counting calories and started counting chemicals. The typical American diet is full of chemicals, and those chemicals are stored in fat cells to protect your organs. Relieving your body of those chemicals can reduce the health burdens in your life. “I may be paying a little more right now to the farmer, but I’m paying a whole lot less to the doctor or the hospital.” One way to reduce the chemicals in your food and eat organic is to participate in Community-Supported Agriculture programs or buy directly from CSA farms. At the beginning of the season, farmers will set a price for the whole season’s crops. This helps the farmer cover costs throughout the growing season, and it provides people who participate in the program with fresh food every week. You can find a local CSA program by going to your local farmer’s market or using this resource on LocalHarvest.org. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Resources:  Learn more about Tara: Cultivating Health | Facebook | Twitter  The 180 Degree Wellness Revolution: Simple Steps to Prevent and Reverse Illness by Tara Gesling Find Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in your area  &nbsp; Production &amp; Development for Rebel Health Coach by Podcast Masters

Ep. 2 - Tara Gesling: Best-Selling Author on Simple Steps to Prevent & Reverse Illness

Welcome back to Rebel Health Coach. Today’s guest, Jason Colleran, is a Muscle Activation Technique (MAT) specialist and the Founder of Elite Edge Fitness. “This isn’t the military. Exercise should not hurt. It should be good for your body.” Muscle Activation Technique specialists provide in-depth biomechanical evaluations to assess what is causing symptoms like inflammation, chronic pain and fatigue. Many modalities only address symptoms, but MAT specialists look at what the root cause of a problem is. Muscle Activation Techniques involve active and passive range of motion assessments to identify tight areas and look for any asymmetry. Just stretching that tight area can compromise the protective mechanism keeping you stable, so the goal is to restore balance. “If you walk into a gym and don’t get personal attention then just turn around and walk out. They’re not there for you.” Elite Edge Fitness doesn’t have a preset protocol for new members. Everyone is different, so they have to address everyone as an individual. First they make new members feel comfortable, because “everyone has a first day here.” They use strategic progression to assure that the workouts are both safe and effective. “We really pride ourselves on making it safe and effective.” If you are just starting out at Elite Edge Fitness, you may not even participate in a whole session. They don’t want members to over train. Other gyms want you to go as hard as you can day one, but when you put all of that force on your neuromuscular system you can also affect the endocrine and immune systems. “You’re throwing off all these systems in your body because you trashed your nervous system.” Jason warns against going into a CrossFit program right off the couch. Our bodies aren’t meant to do a lot of those exercises and pushing yourself too hard with one prescribed process can lead to injury or illness. Pain is an indicator that something is wrong, but they have built a culture that thinks it’s cool to just keep pushing. “To me, flopping around like a fish is not exercise.” You can’t learn anything in a weekend course or certification course, which are common in the fitness industry. Over the past six years, Jason has invested over $60,000 and thousands of hours into continuing education to improve the services offered at Elite Edge Fitness. When you are looking for a trainer, you want to look for the letters RTS behind their name - Resistance Training Specialist. With RTS, you know that the trainer has gone above and beyond and you know that they are there to help people. &nbsp; You can find Elite Edge Fitness at 3550 Broad Street, Chamblee, GA or learn more at their website. &nbsp; &nbsp; Resources:  Elite Edge Fitness is located at 3550 Broad Street, Chamblee, GA  &nbsp; Production &amp; Development for Rebel Health Coach by Podcast Masters

Ep. 3 - Jason Colleran: Muscle Activation Techniques – Get From the Couch to the Gym

I found Sean Croxton’s podcast during my journey to a healthier me, and today I’m sharing his inspirational voice with you. Sean hosts one of the most popular self-help podcasts, writes about wellness and kicked off the JERF (Just Eat Real Food) movement. He is enrolled as a student in the Proctor Gallagher Consultant program as well as the Robbin-Madanes Training course. “I’m a guy who just likes to come up with ideas and make them happen and help a lot of people at the same time. I’m just a man of service.“ Sean is creating a movement in the world of personal development and the science of mind by combining the philosophies of classic American thought leaders with the modern research in the field of neurology. His goal is to teach one million people how to use their minds to give and get everything they want in life. If the circumstances in your life aren’t the way that you want them to be then you have to understand that, for the most part – if not completely –&nbsp;you are responsible for those circumstances. Not only have you created them, in many cases, but you’re able to respond to them. Think about the word responsible – it means able to respond. You can respond to your circumstances in a positive way or in a negative way, and that will affect your ability to change those circumstances and your health. “We have to believe that there’s something better. We have to believe that we can be someone who creates better results for ourselves.” &nbsp; If you want to change the circumstances in your life, you can learn Sean’s strategies by clicking here to get a FREE copy of his book: The One Percenter’s Mind: 7 Steps to Beating Fear, Doubt, and Indecision… and How to Get Anything You Want &nbsp; &nbsp; Resources:  Learn more about Sean Croxton: Website | YouTube | Twitter | Instagram The Sessions with Sean Croxton Quote of the Day Show with Sean Croxton Pick up a FREE copy of The One Percenter’s Mind: 7 Steps to Beating Fear, Doubt, and Indecision… and How to Get Anything You Want by Sean Croxton  &nbsp; Production &amp; Development for Rebel Health Coach by Podcast Masters

Ep. 4 - Sean Croxton: Choose to Live a Better Life

72% of people fall off their New Year’s resolutions in the first month of the year. &nbsp; Don’t let that be you. &nbsp; In this episode, Bronni Karatassos, the head trainer at OrangeTheory Fitness Sandy Springs, shares how you can make your healthy New Year’s resolution easier – and more fun! If you have a resolution to lose weight then you should check out OrangeTheory’s next event. The coaches will support you, and the reward will help keep you going to the gym! &nbsp; The OrangeTheory 6 Week Weight Loss Challenge runs from January 16th - February 27th, 2017. Each studio will be running their own challenge. One male and one female will win $500. I’m a big fan of OrangeTheory workouts. The programs are fun, personalized and change every week. Your 55-minute session incorporates music, instruction and the Splat point system to help you monitor your progress. Splat points are awarded for each minute you spend with your heart rate elevated. The goal isn’t to have the most points – the goal is to create an afterburn. The theory behind OrangeTheory and the Splat point system is that, after 12-25 minutes of elevated heart rate during a workout, you will create an afterburn. An afterburn means that, for the next 24-36 hours, you will have a slow, low calorie burn. The points let you track your progress during a single session, and over time. “That’s the game changer in OrangeTheory and that’s why we’re so successful – You give us an hour of your time, and we’re going to give you a 24-36 hour calorie burn for the rest of the day and into the next day.” If you get bored easily, or if you’re OCD like me, you’ll really enjoy the OrangeTheory programs. You’ll also never experience the same workout from week to week. This keeps your sessions diverse and more fun, and your muscles are getting challenged in a different way each time you come in. “There are no rules are OrangeTheory. If this is a first time workout, if you haven’t worked out in six months, we want to ease you into the shallow end. We certainly aren’t going to take you into the deep end and let you drown.” The changing programs and supportive coaches at OrangeTheory make it an easy and fun place for beginners to get fit in the New Year. Plus, your first workout is always free! OrangeTheory is most effective when you go to the gym four times a week. They’re so confident it will work that they have a money back guarantee, for the first month, if you’re not getting results and you’re going at least three times a week. &nbsp; Resources:  Learn more about OrangeTheory Fitness: Website  Push: A Guide to Living an All Out Life: The Story of Orangetheory Fitness by Ellen Latham  &nbsp; Production &amp; Development for Rebel Health Coach by Podcast Masters