Before I discovered the benefits of natural living, I had never heard the saying "Eat to Live", I lived to eat. I never heard anyone say, "Prevention is better than cure!" I realised for the first time in my life that you are what you eat. This is the key message I enthusiastically wanted to share with the world!

It all started back in 1979 when I joined a gym to lose weight and get fit. At the time I weighed over 101 kilos. I’m only 164cm (5’3”) tall so I was obese and as a result I was very self-conscious, so I decided to do something about it.

One day I arrived at the gym with a burger in one hand and a can of soft drink in the other. George (the gym owner) pulled me aside and said, “Frank, it’s really great that you’re training here, but if you don’t change your diet you won’t live a long and healthy life... What you eat today, is what you are tomorrow!”

I asked George, “So in your opinion, what is a good diet?” George turned around, picked up a book from behind the counter, handed it to me and said, “Frank, do yourself a favour. Buy this book and read it, I promise you it will change your life.” I thought to myself, “Do I really need to read a book to know what to eat?” George was very persistent. Reluctantly, I purchased the book just to get him off my back. I really didn’t have any intention of reading it.

After a couple of days, I thought I should read a few pages because George would surely ask me questions next time I popped into the gym. I eventually picked up the book and started reading the first chapter and I couldn’t put it down. I read the whole book cover to cover in 3 days and just as George had promised, it changed my life forever. I went from one day eating everything my wife Grace put in front of me to the next day not eating anything that she cooked.

The book was called ‘The Miracle of Fasting’by best-selling author Paul Bragg. Before reading the book, I knew absolutely nothing about a balanced diet or that food and regular exercise played an essential role in maintaining good health and preventing disease.

People ask me, how did one book have so much impact on my life so quickly? It’s a good question! The reason Paul’s book had such a profound impact on me instantly was because it was the first time in my life I ever heard someone say to me “Eat to live”, most of us live to eat. It was the first time I ever heard the saying “Prevention is Better than Cure”.

I realised for the first time in my life that if I took responsibility for my own health, I could live a long, healthy and vibrant life!

It was as though I had been struck by lightning. You see, before I read the book, I thought I had no influence or control over my health. Now, for the first time in my life I realised that I had an option. I had a choice to maintain my health or I could throw caution to the wind and hope that I wouldn’t end up with a chronic disease. It was a no brainer – I decided to maintain my health by choice! As soon as I discovered that I had some control over the outcome of my health, I instantly changed my lifestyle habits. I didn’t want to waste another second eating foods that would undermine my health.

I started reading every book I could get my hands on about natural living, bowel health, internal cleansing, herbal medicine and vitamin therapy. The more I read, the more I wanted to know! All my time was totally consumed with learning more about this new health approach that I now believed was the secret to regaining and maintaining vibrant health.

In 2 years, I went from weighing 101 kilos, with a body fat percentage of 38% down to 64 kilos and 11% body fat. At 26 years of age, I was in the best shape of my life. I felt amazing, physically and mentally. My head was clear, I was less stressed, I was sleeping better, and my self-confidence was sky high. I was so inspired by my learnings that I couldn’t wait to tell the world. I started with telling my family, friends, work mates and anyone who would listen. I would talk all day if people were willing to listen. I felt it was my duty to spread the word about natural living so others could experience the health benefits, just as I had.

Then, one day I said to my wife Grace, I would really like to do this full time. I would love to open a health food store so I could talk about my passion with the world. We had just put a deposit on a block of land and were planning on building our new home. Grace had her heart set on it. I said “Grace, do we build a new home, or do we open a health food store?” We discussed it and she said “It’s your passion, let’s open a health food store and we can build the house another day!” To this day, it still brings tears to my eyes when I think of the huge sacrifice my wife made so I could follow my dream. I’ve always had Grace’s support. She is my rock!

So, on the 1stNovember 1982, on my 28thbirthday, I opened my health food store. It was one of the happiest days of my life. Every day I couldn’t wait for the sun to come up, so I could get to the store and start talking to my customers. I absolutely loved what I was doing!

After a few years of working in the health food store, I realised that there weren’t as many people in the industry that were as passionate as I was on natural living. So in 1995, I decided to create my own vitamin range. The idea of starting the business was originally to bring out a small range of internal cleansing programs that would support digestion and take a load off the digestive system, so the body could focus on healing itself.

That’s how I started. Since then, the range has expanded to over 100 products.

I’m now in my seventies, I train 4 days a week, I’m in good health and take no medication. It’s not that I’m against it, I simply don’t need it. I can say with my hand on my heart that I feel just as alert, have just as much energy, and feel just as enthusiastic about life today, as I did in my twenties. I would like to think I can live well into my nineties and beyond, in good health. If I continue to eat to live and exercise regularly, I can’t see why not!

Today I remain just as committed about educating and helping people to achieve better health through good nutrition and regular exercise, as I did when I started way back in 1979.

I’m a good example that if you take responsibility for your own health and embrace the principles of natural living you can live a long, healthy and vibrant life. I hope that by sharing my story, it will have a positive impact on your life just like it did on mine all those years ago.

I considered myself somewhat lucky to have discovered the benefits of natural living at a young age. So, I have made it my life's mission to inspire other Australians to join with me in building an army of health crusaders, to educate others on the benefits of natural living and the essential role it plays in preventing disease.