Olivia Kelly is CEO of WellStart Health, a startup wellness company whose foundation is a plant-centered diet. Armed with a "why not me?" attitude, a background in fitness and health, and a dream, Olivia co-founded WellStart Health to change the game in corporate wellness and healthcare.

It's a big task, given that there's roughly $3 trillion spent every year on healthcare in the US, and precious little of that is being spent productively.

Olivia and I talked about her journey and her background, and how she leveraged her skills and experiences to design and grow a health promotion program that works for people.

In our conversation, we covered :

• the founding of WellStart Health
• the elements of a successful health behavior change intensive
• how to use technology to engage and motivate people
• the necessity of a foundation of plant-based eating
• the importance (and difficulty in making time for) self-care
• Olivia's background as a fitness trainer, surfer, stock trader, political consultant, and world traveler
• teaching plant-based eating through daily goals
• how to use text messages to keep participants on track
• the value of light competition
• the biggest behavioral challenges and stumbling blocks experienced by participants
• the crucial component of social support
• an invitation to skeptics to "suspend disbelief" and try it for a few weeks
• creating a potentially lucrative business model - and what that's so important
• how to use biometrics to assess progress and estimate ROI
• the Rand Corporation study on the ROI of wellness programs (spoiler: it ain't good)
• the problem of low expectations of patients by clinicians, and the unfortunate popularity of the DASH diet
• eating a bad diet today is like smoking 20 years ago - and the doctors are mostly doing it

Enjoy, add your voice to the conversation via the comment box below, and please share - that's how we spread our message and spread our roots.

Links

The Rand Corporate Wellness Study