Growing up in a strictly vegetarian Indian household, at home all I had was RDBS: rotli, dhal, bhat, and shak (i.e., bread, lentils, rice, and vegetables). While RDBS sounds and is delicious, try eating it every day; it not only wears on you, but at some point, with its heavy carb-laden base, you wear it.
At the same time, I lived in meat-centric Kansas and all I wanted to eat was McDonald’s burgers. When I had the chance to eat without my mother seeing I devoured every bit (I didn’t dare take home leftovers). I gorged myself and then would come home and eat full servings of the dinners my mom made. Later when I headed off to college, my binge eating led to obesity.
That is my story and it’s the major reason why I am so passionate about parents’ having “the food talk” with their kids and what inspired me to write my first book: “The Food Talk” A Parents’ Guide to Teaching Healthy Habits to Kids Of All Ages
While I believe it is never too late to get on track with healthy eating and exercise, I (and my parents) had certainly made a lot of work for myself. I wasn’t just starting at zero; I had a major negative balance in terms of my health: a lot of weight to lose, a lot of addictions, and a lot of bad eating habits to change. It would have been so much easier to develop healthy eating habits in childhood.
I have taken my passion for healthy living and parlayed it into successful business ventures. I was a former professional MMA fighter, in 2012 I founded Team No Excuses Fitness and Nutrition, a worldwide nutrition and fitness education company to help children and adults achieve their nutrition and fitness goals through education and cutting through all the misinformation. I continue to develop a following for my business and have been interviewed on numerous platforms including radio, national podcasts about my views on nutrition and fitness with more upcoming interviews.
I have degrees in biology, chemistry, and physical science, and for over a decade have served as a medical consultant educating physicians and surgeons on various disease states and surgical techniques using different medical devices.
Last, I am also a professional actor with credits that include two episodes of season four of the Netflix series House of Cards. I also have appearances in six films and other TV/films set to release in 2018 (see http://www.imdb.com/name/nm7578668/).
