We were lucky to catch up with J Gulinello recently and have shared our conversation below.
J, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you share an anecdote or story from your schooling/training that you feel illustrates what the overall experience was like?
I was trained at the oldest graduate program for human nutrition in the country. I feel fortunate that the program was also functional medicine based and now trapped in the old way of doing things. We pushed boundaries and were always encouraged to ask questions, stay curious and back up our assertions with evidence.
On a weekly basis we participated in discussion boards that were above and beyond clinical training. It was there I learned the skill of articulating an argument with words and to stay level headed/less emotional about a case. Its not about being right. Its always about the truth.
J, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My background is a bit different because I came from the art world as a musician/actor living in NYC. I became a personal trainer to make money on the side and quickly realized that nutrition was a key missing piece in my repertoire. As I began to study and research independently I soon learned that most main stream advice was a the least, inaccurate and at worse flat out wrong and not truly backed by rigorous evidence. I have a natural, built in desire for truth and this led me to study at the Nutritional Therapy Association when many doors of the human body and began to open and then finally to grad school a year later for a master degree in clinical human nutrition. What I feel is unique about me is my skill set is looking at problems from an outside and more creative perspective. Since I was not a scientist my whole life I have a fresh set of eyes which makes some enemies in the health space because I see how sick we are as a society and yet how advice just toes the line. This doesn’t make sense in any true quest to solve problems. We must be humble enough to change the input to achieve a different output!
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
The truth is learning starts either with a clean slate or the humility to UNlearn what you have already learned. I was a government food pyramid believer. Fat is bad, calories in vs calories out is all you have to really worry about, etc…Its hard to unwind these beliefs because you have to admit you didn’t really understand where the advice came from in the first place.
The question I think that one has to ask is do you want to be right or are you searching for the truth no matter where it leads? This is all I care about and I can honestly say that almost all the most critical knowledge I attained was through hard work on my own and not handed down from some authoritative body.
Have you ever had to pivot?
My entire career moved from the entertainment field into the health sciences. However, my goal is actually to combine both. What is knowledge without the ability to disseminate it in a digestible manner. This is where I believe my skill set is unique. My goal was always to make people happy with music or acting in a film. Now I use those skills to try and make people happy by helping them to become the best version of themselves.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.perpetualhealth.co/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perpetualhealthco/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/perpetualhealthco/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/j-gulinello-a3661165/
- Twitter: @phco_j
- Other: Substack – https://perpetualhealth.substack.com/