I lived the first few years of my life on Long Island before my family moved to the finger lakes region of upstate New York. The contrast in lifestyle, from a busy suburb to a really rural countryside, was formative. I had and experienced things that I would later, after returning on my own to the NYC area, come to miss and belatedly appreciate. Simple stuff like good clean water and fresh air. The seemingly insane choice of living in a big city has definitely colored my take on matters of health and lifestyle.

I've been writing about something since I was in grade school but I didn't really apply myself to a book project until 2009. I've been big on ideas and small on followthrough but writing about health and the like has been easier to zero in on.

After spending years working with different people on improving their health and happiness, I realized that there were five things that kept showing up as likely solutions to their problems. Seeing so many people in terrible health, across the nation, knowing I could never reach them all, I decided to write out a concise, simple guide that would help nearly anyone who read it and followed along. It is intended to be a hit list of the lifestyle choices that can have the broadest impact with the smallest efforts. I look at it almost as a way of multiplying myself, exponentially increasing the number of lives I can help improve.

My next book is going to focus on the addictive properties of various "foods", and explore how absurd some of the distinctions made by the Food and Drug Administration are. It will expose the mechanisms by which gigantic corporations use taxpayer subsidies to produce low-quality, highly processed, addictive foods at prices that virtually ensure lower income folks will choose them over fresh food. The fact that this has resulted in generations of children bring addicted to unhealthy junk will be detailed as well. In keeping with the tradition of my last work, 5 Things You Can Do Now, I will also offer simple action steps that can be taken to avoid and conquer food addictions.

The first novel I wrote was difficult at times, but there was certainly great joy in creating an original story and weaving in bits of stuff I personally found fascinating, knowing that others would get to share in it. My latest non-fiction work was a pleasure because I have always enjoyed sharing information. Life is fascinating, and so is the human body. Books about health matters can have a huge impact on some readers, changing lives, and it's awesome to be a part of that.

Lately I've been having fun re-reading books I read years ago. It's interesting to see what I've forgotten, or remembered differently, and I always notice new details or insights. Just finished The Stand and am halfway through the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

I grew up on a lot of Stephen King and Michael Chricton. Favorites would definitely include Arthur Clarke, Tolkien, Koontz, and Anne Rice. I could never name all the great authors of non-fiction. As much as I love a good novel, hard, useful info is where my heart lies.

I'm a big fan of martial arts, hiking, camping, and the occasional dinner party. I don't have a TV so I end up reading, or eating!

Knowing that as long as life is, or can be, it does end. I have no trouble taking some time off and truly relaxing or having fun, but I'm keenly aware that our number of sunrises is finite and I want to leave the world a better place.

It's tough to narrow it to one, because everything is interconnected. To just pick one though I'll say combustion engines. Saying nothing of the raw death toll from highway/road accidents and such, those things pump out so much toxic smoke that it boggles the mind. Remember, we are talking everything from diesel trucks to leaf-blowers here. All that funk has been linked to some nasty chronic diseases. We tend to forget that we take in far more air than any other substance; it is really crazy that we allow it to become so polluted that one can taste it in some locales.

Anyone who buys a book of mine is appreciated as a patron but people who choose to become true fans are like teammates to me. I see the work I'm doing as a collective effort, alongside many others pushing for change. When a person follows and promotes your work because they love it, it makes them part of the effort, to me, and I really appreciate that.