Seamus Mullen
Award-winning Chef & Best-selling Author
Seamus Mullen is an award-winning chef, restaurateur, and author behind the cookbooks Real Food Heals and Hero Food. He currently lives in New York, but grew up on an organic farm in Vermont where he learned early on the value of eating real, whole food. He carried this knowledge with him as he cooked throughout Spain, New York and San Francisco.
Diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 2007, Mullen was forced to rethink his relationship with food, and through diet, exercise and lifestyle changes was able to turn his health around and thrive. He's been featured in The New York Times, Bon Appetit, Men’s Journal, and more.
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Q&A
What is your wellness philosophy?
Nourish, move, recover. I believe health and wellness is really a three legged stool, and each leg supports the stool. Nourishing ourselves empowers us to move intelligently, and good, natural movement helps exhaust us, which forces us to recover properly.
What brought you into wellness?
I was sick for many years. I was at the point where I didn’t have a choice but to seek treatment — on multiple pills a day, in and out the hospital, pre-diabetic, basically sick and getting sicker. I started to look at a holistic approach to address the root cause of my illness, and after about six months of Dr. Frank Lipman, I started to see major, major improvements. Once I got a taste of that feeling, I wanted more and more. We talk a lot about disease being contagious, but I firmly believe health is equally contagious. The healthier we get, the healthier we want to get, and the more we inspire people around us to change their lives.
What does You. We. All. mean to you?
To me, the idea that we can all just pick ourselves up by the bootstraps, if you’re overweight you should just not eat so much, if you’re sick, you’re not working hard enough to get better, if you’re poor, you’re lazy — I think that’s bullshit. Whatever your situation is, it’s generally propelled by something much greater than who we are as individuals. The idea that we as individuals can make changes without the support of community and family and the world around us is unrealistic. We start with our own intentions but then recruit and surround ourselves with likeminded people who are supportive of our objectives. Collectively, we can create so much more positive change than any of us could individually.
What gets you up in the morning?
The sunshine. The promise of possibility. The mystery of the day. Also, sometimes, I don’t get up in the morning — sometimes the morning is overwhelming, and it seems like too much, but I remember I’m not alone. Knowing that I’m not alone gets me up. There are others who depend on me, and others I depend on, and that motivates me to rise.
