Andrew “Dr. Andy” Marrone, the clinic director of Redmond Ridge Nutrition & Chiropractic, can now add “author” to his name.
The chiropractic physician, podcast host, radio-show host, lecturer and self-described family man recently published his first book, “America’s Health Crisis: And What It Means to Your Family,” through Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc.
The 142-page health book, initially published in May, probes what’s effective — and what isn’t so effective — about the health care community. Marrone also discusses increasingly ubiquitous national diseases at length, including heart disease, diabetes, cancer and more.
Marrone said that the book came together, in part, because of how much information he was regularly sharing through his research-based blog, radio show and podcast. Though he knew he was making a difference in his community, he wanted his experiences and expertise to reach a wider audience.
“I thought, ‘If I just organize this information and tweak it, I could have a book out of this,’” he said.
“America’s Health Crisis” comprises knowledge Marrone has disseminated through his various projects, with additional information to help make the book more cohesive.
“The book, in that respect, almost wrote itself,” he said, adding that it took him about a year to complete. “If that’s fast or slow, I honestly don’t know.”
It was important to Marrone that, while writing the book, he made the effort to differentiate between what was succeeding and what was in need of improvement in the health care community. It was also important to investigate the pros and cons of sickness and crisis care versus wellness and preventative care — categories not always looked at in similar terms.
“Both sides serve an invaluable service,” Marrone said. “You need both sides, and it would be better if both sides worked together.”
While writing, Marrone additionally made it a priority to help people understand that both allopathic and natural medicine serve important purposes, especially since agreement on the usefulness of natural medicine, for instance, is frequently uneven.
“They’re both absolutely necessary in this day and age,” he said.
When thinking about which diseases he wanted to put a spotlight on in his book, Marrone made the effort to focus on ones that are on the rise in the country.
When asked about who he thinks would most benefit from reading his book, Marrone said that person is “any American who’s living the American lifestyle.” The American lifestyle, in Marrone’s view, tends to be characterized by a high-stress media landscape, high work-related stress, lack of exercise and poor dieting habits.
Katie Gonzalez, one of Marrone’s patients, has felt benefits both from Marrone’s work as a chiropractic physician and his book. Gonzalez praised Marrone for being someone who cares about your mental health as much as he does your physical health and how much he stresses effective preventative measures patients can take.
“I honestly feel like he’s a family member to me,” Gonzalez, who initially came to see Marrone for stomach pain, said. “He really cares. You can just tell right away. He almost feels like an uncle. He wants to know what’s going on. He doesn’t just want to know if you feel sick. He wants to know what’s going on with your life.”
Gonzalez said that although she hasn’t finished “America’s Health Crisis” quite yet — she is loaning it to her mom first — what she’s read so far has been helpful and easy to apply to her life.
While Gonzalez said she thinks the young adult to senior age range is likeliest to be impacted by Marrone’s book and believes anyone can be positively affected by what’s inside the pages.
“I think, honestly, any age of person would benefit,” she said. “I feel grateful that I’m learning this now instead of later.”
After reading the book, Marrone hopes readers will not only have a better understanding of the various facets of the health care community, he also hopes they consider reevaluating their lifestyles, particularly in areas where they might be able to take preventative measures.
“You need to take your health by the reigns and not put it in someone else’s hands,” Marrone said. “You need to eat well, move well and think well. You need to have healthy form, function and fuel. The only person who can do that is you. I can make recommendations. I can do testing to figure out which systems of your body are under the most nutritional stress and I can make dietary recommendations and recommend the right enzyme supplements. But if you don’t change your diet, if you don’t take the supplements and do your exercises, everything I do is really nothing.”
Although Marrone will be taking a break from writing from now, he’s already thinking about his next book. He often comes up with new ideas while consulting with patients.
“I do a consult in my office with somebody with other types of issues and say, ‘I should have put this in my book,’” he said. He added that he’s already compiling — albeit slowly compiling — a list of subjects to cover next time.