| Kevin: Good evening, everyone. So Craig, you've | | | | to lose weight, how to get in shape, how to live |
| been in the fitness industry for over 26 years and | | | | better, how to feel better with no tricks and no |
| with that, I imagine comes a bit of wisdom. Why | | | | gimmicks for the rest of their lives. That's really what |
| don't you start with your story and how you've | | | | the big fat health and fitness lie is all about and that's |
| gotten to where you are now? | | | | really what the Fit Advocate website is all about. |
| Craig: Sure Kevin. Well, first of all, I started out in the | | | | Kevin: And you take a different approach in your |
| fitness industry as a personal trainer making $3.50 an | | | | book as opposed to a lot of the other books that |
| hour. | | | | I've read about health and fitness and it's related to |
| Kevin: Wow. | | | | addiction. You say addiction feeds this whole lie. What |
| Craig: So I've been in it for awhile and I grew through | | | | do you mean by this? |
| the ranks in the fitness industry to the executive | | | | Craig: Well, many people live a self-inflicted toxic |
| level. I was the president of two of the largest | | | | lifestyle that destroys their health and feeds this lie. |
| fitness organizations in the United States. I was the | | | | So what do I mean by that? Well, the definition of |
| Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for | | | | toxic, first of all, is poison and in our society we are |
| the largest chain of fitness clubs in the world | | | | surrounded by poisons, in our air, it's in our water, |
| operating in 11 countries. I also successfully owned | | | | some of them we can't avoid and many of them we |
| and operated my own fitness company. I've visited | | | | can, however. A lot of these poisons, they're not |
| 30 countries and evaluated health and fitness trends | | | | going to kill us today, but instead what they do is |
| all over Russia, Asia, Europe. I've been to dozens of | | | | they slowly and quietly deteriorate and destroy our |
| fitness conventions, purchased millions of dollars | | | | health. |
| worth of equipment, supplements and other health | | | | There's two specific types of poisons or toxins that I |
| and fitness related products and I've also had the | | | | talk about that create these health problems. The |
| ability to train thousands of health and fitness | | | | first, of course is chemical exposures. There are |
| professionals around the world and help them to help | | | | thousands of untested chemical combinations in our |
| other people improve their lives. So this really kind of | | | | food supply to improve taste, texture, color or to |
| led me to where I am today, which is to where I | | | | extend shelf life. There are low calorie, low carb |
| just got to the point where I want to do something | | | | foods laced with toxic sweeteners that has |
| more and that's why I wrote my book The Big Fat | | | | contributed to obesity and diabetes. We've been |
| Healthy Fitness Lie and founded the Fit Advocate | | | | conditioned to believe that sodium fluoride, for |
| website so that I could create a platform to protect | | | | example is good for our teeth. Yet it's a known |
| and enhance the lives and health and fitness | | | | chemical waste bi-product of the aluminum and |
| consumers. | | | | phosphate fertilizer industry. This chemical has been |
| Kevin: Now you just mentioned your book, The Big | | | | pumped into our water supply and put into our dental |
| Fat Health and Fitness Lie which I absolutely love. | | | | hygiene products for years but fluoridation has been |
| What is the big fat fitness lie. Let's just lay it on the | | | | flatly rejected by many developed countries because |
| table. | | | | of the dangers and the lack of really any scientific |
| Craig: Why mince words? Let's dig right in. The lie is | | | | evidence of any health benefit. Beyond that, we |
| that there are these billion dollar industries out there | | | | have toxic chemicals in our household products, our |
| getting richer while we get sicker and fatter and with | | | | cleaning products, personal hygiene products. Fruits |
| all the so-called solutions available for losing weight | | | | and vegetables have been treated with herbicides |
| and improving our health, we are literally in the worse | | | | and pesticides. Chickens and cows are fed ground |
| shape in the history of modern civilization. There's big | | | | chicken and beef. Then pumped full of antibiotics to |
| profit in sickness and in fatness, and a lot of times | | | | stave off disease from the horrific conditions in which |
| people question that and they think, "Oh, well we live | | | | they live and where they're slaughtered. So we have |
| in the United States, we're in great health and we | | | | all of those, you know, all of this chemical toxicity. |
| have the best health care system" which is a | | | | That's the first concern. |
| complete fallacy. Here's an interesting fact that | | | | The second is the biggest toxic exposure which is |
| people should be aware of, we're approaching some | | | | related to stress, and people don't realize this but as |
| 300 million people in the U.S. and we have every year | | | | much as 80% of all disease is the result of stress |
| 200 million diseases that are diagnosed for conditions | | | | and having had the ability to travel all over the world |
| that could be prevented with simple lifestyle changes. | | | | and visit, you know, I believe I've been to over 40 |
| Kevin: Wow. | | | | countries now, you find that we in America are the |
| Craig: And we spend in the United States, 270 billion | | | | most stressed out country on the planet. We work |
| dollars on 3.7 billion prescriptions written to, not to | | | | more than any other activity other than sleep. Just |
| cure anything because there's really very few cures | | | | think about our normal lives, we wake up every day |
| in modern medicine, medicine is meant mostly to | | | | and we're running on empty from morning to night. |
| mask our symptoms. So taking into our bodies a lot | | | | We've got the pressures at work, at home, the |
| of toxic chemicals and you know there's so much | | | | challenges sustaining some sort of happy relationship |
| confusion out there and misinformation about health | | | | with our significant others. We've got the demands |
| and fitness. So there's a huge opportunity, | | | | of the kids, trying to pay the bills. We have all of the |
| unfortunately, for people to make big money on the | | | | negativity in the news. We're all trying to live the |
| lack of knowledge that people have about how to | | | | American dream which is predicated on financial |
| lose weight, improve their health, get in shape and | | | | freedom, but the truth is only a fraction of people |
| live better. So millions of people are out there paying | | | | out there actually ever realize the American dream |
| thousands of dollars that have no chance of helping | | | | and the rest of us are simply trying to get by, and, |
| them achieve their goal and that's really the big fat lie. | | | | you know, we're buried in a mountain of debt. All of |
| Kevin: And let me just ask you this, you've been on | | | | these things add up to a lot of worry and stress and |
| the other side, you've been a part of the industry | | | | to cope with this stress, what do we do? We drink, |
| that is making a lot of money in the fitness clubs and | | | | we smoke, we take drugs, we over eat, we eat the |
| the organizations and everything. When did you | | | | wrong foods and we spend hours in front of the |
| suddenly say, "Hey, you know, maybe I need to | | | | television or surfing the internet. All of these |
| educate people about this." | | | | activities, unfortunately make us fat, lazy and out of |
| Craig: Well, first of all I never felt that the club | | | | shape, and what happens is this poor health that's |
| industry was a bad industry. | | | | created from this self addictive lifestyle creates, and |
| Kevin: Okay. | | | | opens the door for these big fat health and fitness |
| Craig: And in my book I still am a big proponent of | | | | lies. One of them is companies that market, |
| joining a fitness center for the average person, there | | | | manufacture and market and sale products that have |
| are, of course, some caveat of how to get a quality | | | | no chance of helping us and then, of course, the |
| club. I have an article on the ten worst tricks for the | | | | worse thing is when we look to synthetic chemical |
| fitness industry. So I try to expose the things that I | | | | compounds, prescription drugs, as the first line of |
| think are bad but there's also a lot of good too, but | | | | defense to handle our self inflicted health problems. |
| what I did notice while I was operating all of these | | | | So we really have a lot of issues that we have to |
| clubs and trying to help people is that I would talk to | | | | deal with in order to be healthy, but people need to |
| thousands of consumers, face to face. For a big part | | | | understand the basis of where it starts, the cause. |
| of my career, my job was to get out there and help, | | | | Kevin: Yes. How does someone take that sort of |
| work with people in the field, club operators, | | | | addiction or quote unquote addictive personality and |
| managers, sales people, fitness staff members, | | | | turn that into fitness success? |
| personal trainers, to talk to them about how to help | | | | Craig: Well the first thing they have to do is identify |
| people make decisions that are good for them and | | | | it. |
| the guiding principle, of course was always don't | | | | Kevin: Yes. |
| focus on making money, focus on helping people and | | | | Craig: You have to realize it. Here's, here's a fact |
| you will make money as a natural result, as a natural | | | | that's pretty important that people should know |
| bi-produce of helping people. That's always been one | | | | about, the number one reason that people give for |
| of my guiding principles, but in speaking with all these | | | | not exercising regularly is that they don't have |
| consumers, you find that the average person spends | | | | enough time, okay. Yet the average American |
| thousands and thousands of dollars on products and | | | | watches four and a half hours of television a day. So |
| services that have no chance of helping them. They | | | | there's an issue there with priority and people have |
| spend hours and hours of wasted time on | | | | to understand that time is the most important and |
| information that will never help them improve their | | | | the most valuable thing that we have because once |
| health or change their lives. So I got tired, frustrated | | | | it's gone you can't get it back. If you want to |
| and really kind of outraged at all of the quick fix | | | | improve your health, you have to make time to do all |
| solutions that are out there that people jump from | | | | of the things that are necessary to improve and |
| one to the other and without really understanding the | | | | enhance your health and your life and it's not just |
| true cause of why they're in such poor health. So I | | | | exercise but it is one of the key components. So |
| wanted to try to educate them on all of the things, | | | | they have to first understand the issues and then |
| the lies the deceptions while also trying to give them | | | | have the right motivation and set the right priorities |
| simple solutions for how to improve their health, how | | | | to get them to where they need to be. |