George Spellwin said:
Yes, in fact, Chef founded Elite, then hired me for a personal consultation. He made amazing progress, then traded the site to me for training him -- he then went to cooking school and is almost up to a third Michelin star.
Actually, I escaped from a bengali prison camp in a tiger suit made of used cereal packets... er... no... wait.... its EXACTLY like George said, yeah, thats it.
All kidding asside, I was lucky to find George, when I did I was up at about 36+% bodyfat, too weak to carry my baby for more than five minutes and suicidal. I was 'supplementing' and drinking to deal with my weaknesses and that was killing me slowly as well. I finally looked at myself and saw my life coming to a quick end when I found out I had a photoshoot coming up in about 6 months for a 'food' book (remember that? probably not) and was wondering if I would be there for the shoot, and what the HELL would I look like?!?
George turned me onto Di Pasquale and through some mysterious web site he knew <cough> introduced me to 'Dr.' Dan Duchaine, with whom I had some powerful conversations about nutrition (I still hold my licence) and his unique understanding of... fuckit.. EVERYTHING.
Dan could be a pain in the ass, and most folks didn't get his sense of humor, but he helped me through two tough surgeries and I will always love him for that, he gave without asking and kept giving. I, for one, will miss him always*. (*If you didnt care for Dan, or had some issues with Dan, thats your deal, please dont talk any shit about a dead friend, and don't flame me for something YOU need to come to terms with.)
George also got me into HIT at about that time, and my wife learned that leg day and the week it takes to recover were her favorite days: she laughed at me for years making 'old man' noises as I tried to cover the stairs.
George and the events that transpired through him, changed my life. COMPLETELY. Saved my life. I wouldn't have made it through these past nine years the way I was going. No way.
So dramas around here come and go and I missed a lot over the past few years but none of that really amounts to much. Through George, and the selfless sharing of folks on these lists, past and present, I am more than alive, I am living.