How reading a book on natural health changed my life

Frank Caruso was just 24 when he had one of those life-changing sliding door moments.

Frank Caruso
It was at this school desk, when eight-year-old Frank’s grade 3 teacher walked over to him and said “Caruso, you’ll never add up to anything in your life!”

“In November 1979 I decided to join a gym to lose weight. I was 30kg overweight and very unfit,” recalls Frank.

“I was always a chubby kid – growing up in an Italian home it was easy to overeat.

“One day I turned up eating a burger and chips and George, the owner, said, ‘Frank, it’s great you’re training here to get fit, but if you don’t change your diet, you won’t live a long and healthy life’.

“George handed me a book and said, ‘Buy this book, read it and I promise it will change your life!’”

Eat to live

The book was The Miracle of Fasting, written by US health food advocate Paul Bragg.

Frank read it in just three days and, as George had predicted, it changed his life forever.

He immediately changed his eating habits – avoiding refined and processed foods, sweets, sugar, junk food, soft drinks and milk.

He started eating fresh, natural foods and drinking lots of water.

“For the first time in my life I was eating to live and not living to eat,” he says.

“I realised I had a choice. I could take responsibility for my own health and live a long and healthy life, or throw caution to the wind and just keep my fingers crossed.”

Helping others live long, healthy lives

Frank decided to give up his career to open a health food store so that he could share his newfound passion.

“I asked my wife, Grace: ‘Do we open a health food store or build a new home?’ At the time we’d just put a deposit on a block of land,” he says.

“Grace said to me, ‘It’s your passion, let’s open the store and we’ll build a house another day’.

“It still brings tears to my eyes when I tell that story.”

On November 1, 1982, the day he turned 28, Frank opened his health food store in Fairfield, New South Wales.

“I’ll never forget it – the first day was packed, all these people were walking in and I just talked and talked about this new philosophy,” he says.

Eventually, as people clamoured to know more, Frank started a publication, Health News, which was distributed to more than one million homes.

A growing business

Finally, Frank felt it was time to use his knowledge to create a range of health products, with his first step a series of herb-based cleansing formulas to help correct digestive functioning.

The range, initially known as Totally Natural Products and today as Caruso’s Natural Health, now includes more than 80 vitamins and herbal and nutritional supplements.

No slowing down

You get the feeling a dynamic and energetic Frank, now in his 60s, won’t be slowing down any time soon.

“I feel as enthusiastic about life today as I did in my 20s,” he grins.

“My mission has always been to spread the word on nutrition and the important role it plays in the prevention of disease.

“I truly believe that if you embrace the principles of natural health, you can live a long, healthy and vibrant life!”

This post is brought to you by Caruso’s Natural Health.

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