OPTIMAL HEALTH WITH ZANE GRIGGS

Tell us a bit about Zane.

I've been a fitness and weight loss coach in Nashville, TN since 1998. My wife and I moved to Nashville from California 25 years ago and have raised 4 kids here. It's an incredible community for both building a business and raising a family. It was evident early on in my personal journey for optimal health that following the standard nutrition recommendations wasn't going to work for achieving long-term health.

Digging into the biochemistry of how our bodies respond to the food we eat, and through a lot of personal experimentation, I began to understand why. When the diet is the primary factor driving metabolic disease, amount of exercise will be able to correct that. In 2002 I began recommending a low-carb diet to my clients who wanted to lose weight and then in 2010 began practicing and recommending intermittent fasting. I still implement both of these dietary tools in my personal routine.

During my career, I had the opportunity to work one on one with participants on ABC's "Extreme Weight Loss" for Seasons 1 and 4 to help them lose half of their body weight in a year which was an incredible learning experience. Currently, the majority of my clients are successful business owners, corporate leaders and people in the entertainment industry who are motivated to be healthy and fit to stay engaged in their careers as they get older. I help them put sustainable lifestyle changes into place that will give them the greatest leverage in their health and keep performing at a high level.

What motivated you to focus on addressing health after 50?

The paradigm about health after 50 is changing. 50 has traditionally been considered "over the hill" when many reduce their personal expectations of fitness and just try to manage the symptoms of aging.