Wearing Life Well

Many of us know Marilu Henner best as Elaine Nardo on TV's long-running series, Taxi. Since the early 1980s she has remained a familiar fixture on television (she hosted her own talk show for a year, and co-starred with Burt Reynolds in the series, Evening Shade), in feature films, and on Broadway.

Today, at age 52, Henner exudes more vibrancy than most women half her age. It's a good thing, too, since this busy mom of two young sons also juggles a thriving third career as healthy lifestyle coach to legions of followers. Author of seven books, including the best-seller Marilu Henner's Total Health Makeover, Henner also teaches online classes at Marilu.com.

As a writer, Henner has a knack for translating dry, complex material into entertaining and easily digestible tips. Her books are full of practical, health-enhancing strategies for both the novice and the advanced student of wellness. Henner spoke to me recently by phone from her home in Los Angeles.

TC: So how did you first get involved in natural health?

MH: I started my journey in 1978 after my mother died of arthritis at the age of 58. My father had already died from a heart attack at 52. I have five brothers and sisters. So we'd been dealt this genetic hand and I wanted to know how to prevent these things. I decided to learn every single thing I could about the human body.

When my mother was in the hospital, I watched her suffer. I saw that whatever the doctors did to her, her body would rally and try to make sense of it. Basically, I was watching the immune system at work. You know, I had an epiphany watching her. Can you imagine how your body would rally if you did the right things for it?

It gave me a tremendous appreciation for the body's natural desire to heal itself.

The more I studied, the more I realized that all disease comes from the same basic lifestyle habits. You might have a genetic propensity toward one disease or another, but it's really the breakdown of the body that begins it all.

So I became a student of health. I went to medical libraries and read books and journals. I visited doctors, nutritionists, and health food stores. I took a human anatomy class. I was really taking the best of everything that I learned. So I experimented on myself and dropped 50 pounds, and kept it off. Then seven years ago I was asked to write a book, Total Health Makeover. Now I'm working on my eighth book.

TC: You must get rewarding feedback from people who've been inspired by your work.

MH: The greatest things I hear on my website are usually about kids. Mothers write to me saying, "They were going to put tubes in my child's ears. So I took him off dairy products for a month after reading your book, and now he doesn't need them." Or "My son was diagnosed with ADHD and was considered a difficult child. I took him off the chemicals and the sugars in the foods you talked about and now he's in the gifted program at school." These letters really show me that what we're feeding our children is taking a toll on their little 40- to 80-pound bodies.

TC: How do you maintain your lifestyle when you're working on location?

MH: You know, whether I'm on vacation, or when I was pregnant, breastfeeding, working, or not working, wherever, whatever, I've always been able to eat the same way for the past 25 years.

TC: What about getting your exercise?

MH: I can exercise in a small space. I do a 15-minute Pilates mat warm-up first. Then sometimes I put on music and jump around or dance in my room or I go outside for a walk. Exercise does not have to be expensive. I'm always saying, "Rediscover the child in you and find something that you loved to do as a kid." You know what's my new passion? Jumping rope. Oh my gosh, that's hard!

TC: Do you have a rebounder?

MH: Yes. Two minutes five times a day is amazing. You know what that does? It triples your white blood cell count for an hour after you do it. It also gives you such a great energy boost.

TC: What's your take on the controversy surrounding soy at the moment? There seems to be a real backlash against it.

MH: I think soy is great. But it became the be-all and end-all. Big business got involved and made it a substitute for everything. I think you still have to have tremendous respect for it because it's a strong product. The biggest controversy right now is this low-carb fad. I think the whole Atkins thing is ridiculous. All that protein in the human animal doesn't make sense. We're not natural carnivores. We're not designed to digest that much protein in a day. Many people are on this high-protein, low-carb bandwagon, yet the food they're eating is fake. It's full of chemicals. You need carbs, but you should have things like oatmeal, brown rice, and some of the other heartier whole grains...Ezekiel breads [a], things like that.

TC: In Total Health Makeover, you wrote a great chapter on gusto. Can you summarize that?

MH: Sure. Gusto is attitude. It's being able to say, okay, life's tough; it's a roller coaster ride. Who knows what's going to happen? It's riding that roller coaster with your arms up in the air, screaming once in a while, and really being able to appreciate the ride. People who have gusto have an amazing quality. They wear life well.

TC: The quote I loved the most in your first book is "The key to life is how well you deal with plan B."

MH: Yeah, that's my number one thing in life. You can aim for plan A. You can set up your life to try and have it, but what really happens is often plan B. You can either be dragged kicking and screaming into plan B, or you can say, "This is okay. Now what's around the next corner?" With this kind of down-to-earth advice, it's no wonder that Marilu Henner has inspired many to a healthier lifestyle.

Marilu Henner's Books

By All Means Keep on Moving (Atria, 1994)
Marilu Henner's Total Health Makeover (Warner, 1998)
I Refuse to Raise a Brat (Regan, 2000)
The 30-Day Total Health Makeover (Regan, 2001)
Healthy Life Kitchen (Regan, 2002)
Party Hearty (Regan, 2003)
Healthy Kids (Regan, 2004)