mACK'S sTORY

I have always been aware of what I consumed. As a child I had dreams of playing college football and I knew that my diet was an important aspect of me reaching my goal. For instance, I would not drink carbonated drinks I thought they were bad for me. Turns out I was correct but not because of the carbonation but the sugar that is in them. There were many other things I wouldn’t eat or drink because even with a limited knowledge I knew were not healthy.

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I went on to earn a scholarship to play football at Middle Tennessee State University. After college I became a firefighter. A career that I enjoyed so much that I still say, “It’s the best job in the world.” I was a firefighter for 26 years and worked my way up through the ranks to the position Chief of the department’s training division. Being a firefighter as enjoyable as it was, was very demanding physically, emotionally and psychologically. Apart from the horrific things we had to deal with at times, the stress of sitting in the Firehouse watching TV and the alarm sounds and now you get an instant shot of adrenaline (it’s like going from 0 to 60 in three seconds).  Now imagine that same scenario but you awaken out of your REM sleep in the middle of the night. In the summer months you’re typically going instantly from a cool 72 degrees environment to here in the south 90+ degrees with 80 pounds of gear on to protect you from the things that are trying to harm you.  In the winter months you’re dealing with the opposite, a warm environment to at times extreme cold. Usually in two minutes or less from the time the alarm sounds. Because of the unpredictability of a day on duty, I developed some habits to this day I’m trying to break, and I’ve been retired now 8 years.  I remember, I hadn’t been out of the academy long and we were just getting ready to sit down to breakfast and the alarm sounded, it was a commercial building fire. I had taken a couple of bites of my breakfast before I had to leave it sitting there on the table. By the time we returned to the station the food was not eatable. So, from that moment on my goal was to finish my meals before the alarm sounded which meant that I ate as fast as I could. To this day when I’m eating with family or friends, I’m generally the first finished with my meal. I’m still working on that. The other habit I developed was overeating because there were days you might get only one meal, so you tried to make sure you ate enough to get you through the day. Still working on that one too. If you never eaten a firehouse meal, they are very delicious but not necessarily the most nutritious. The accumulative effect of my profession takes a tremendous toll on your health. The average life expectancy of a firefighter is 60 years old verses 78 years old for the average American. By the time I retired my health had started to decline. I stayed reasonably healthy throughout my career because I was health conscious but by the end of my career my blood pressure was elevated as well as my blood sugar levels and A1C level.

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I remember one of my first postretirement physicals, the doctor came in with my labs and said Mr. Moore we’re going to prescribe you medication for your blood pressure and we’re concerned about your blood sugar levels and your triglycerides. I convinced him to give me 30 days to improve my numbers, which I did through changes to my diet, exercise and dietary supplements but I was still overweight and not healthy. So, I decided I needed to make some real lifestyle changes to improve my health. After praying for guidance, I watched the documentary, “What the Health” and much of what’s in it resonated with me so I decided to do a 14-day vegan challenge and within the first 7 days I noticed a considerable improvement in my health.  I was convinced that a plant-based diet was the way to go. Now mind you this was coming from a man who was a true meat-eater. Meat was always the biggest portion on my plate. When I started the vegan challenge, I weighed around 270 pounds, which was about 65 pounds more than I weighed when I joined the fire department. The diet change alone I lost about 30 pounds before my weight stabilized, I then decided to start back working out. I exercised most of my life but while I was in our department’s training division, I met a 60 something year old ex-navy seal who happened to be the fitness instructor for our recruit academy and he introduced me to the kettlebell. I remember going to his kettlebell class for the first time and him suggesting that I start the class with an 18-pound kettlebell. I remember picking it up and thinking this is way too light, so I grab the 25 pounder. Needless to say, 5 minutes into his class I was laid out on the mat DONE. After that class I decided to research this odd-shaped instrument of torture and was so impressed with the benefits of training with it, it has become the foundation of my training regimen. Once I started training with the kettlebell dropped another 30 pounds and I am now back at the weight I was when I became a firefighter. I am lean, athletically built and in the best shape of my life.

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By the grace of God, I was able to improve/restore my health through some lifestyle changes. Changes to my diet, the implementation of dietary supplements and an exercise program transformed my health. I had been told that the increase in weight, the aches and pains, medications were all apart of the normal aging process. I decided to challenge that and I am living proof that that does not have to be the case and I would like to share what I have learned through my journey to restored health with you.