Vonzell Cash is a Certified Precision Nutrition Level 1 Coach (Pn1). He has a bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from Northeastern Illinois University and has spent most of his career in higher education as a Financial Aid Administrator/Advisor. Because of his love for advising and coaching students on financial literacy and financial aid awareness, applying the same concept of advisement and coaching to health and fitness was a natural next step. He loosely started his health journey almost 20 years ago, because of an unlikely auto-immune disease called Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS). GBS is a very rare auto-immune disease that affects the peripheral nervous system. Plainly, the body’s antibodies attack the nerves, damaging the nerve protective cover (myelin) causing severe weakness and in some, cases paralysis.
Vonzell spent 2 months in the hospital recovering from the disease having to relearn how to walk and talk as well as develop fine motor skills such as writing and dressing himself all over again. Through the arduous tasks of daily physical, vocational and speech therapy, Vonzell, against all odds, was able to walk out of the hospital with the assistance of a cane in each hand. The further recovery process of regaining strength is what sparked an interest in going to the gym. Vonzell, after months of consistent training and rehabilitation, gained all of his strength back, and then some, and also his weight (and then some). https://www.facebook.com/vonzell.cash/videos/938990210317601
Fast forward to years later, the added responsibility of being a husband and soon-to-be father, Vonzell’s life, at this juncture, regained all sense of normalcy. So much so that his eating habits and exercise routine had fallen off of his list of priorities. Under notice of his wife and a trip to the doctor, Vonzell had gained quite a bit of weight and was tipping the scale at close to 260 lbs., the heaviest he had ever been to date. It is also relevant to note that Vonzell, prior to his hospitalization, was overweight and had been most of his childhood and all his adult life. Not only was he the heaviest he had ever been, but his doctor also revealed that he had become hypertensive and type 2 diabetes was commonly running in his family. He was prescribed high blood pressure meds at the age of 28.
In fear as to what the future would hold if he didn’t make a drastic and immediate change, he quickly consulted a physical trainer friend of his for advice. He was told to eliminate sugary beverages from his diet, and he followed that recommendation. Next, he found a plan to follow because he had no idea where to start or how. That plan was P90X. It came with a diet plan and a workout routine. He was able to lose 30 lbs. in 3 months and simultaneously brought down his blood pressure to get off the meds by the following doctor visit. He kept working and was able to eventually come down to 215 lbs. in the next few months.
Sometime later life caught up with Vonzell again as he worked and began his life with his family. Often work and a life that involves focusing on others makes us deviate from attention to self. This deviation caused Vonzell to balloon back up to 240 lbs. Realizing, at some point, that what happened before happened again, he decided to go back at it. This time with some knowledge in his favor. The issue this time was not having enough time to work out. Who hasn’t said that to themselves before, right? However, determination said it was just a problem that needed to be solved. He found another intense program that was based on a 25 min daily workout called T25. He followed that for a spell and then decided to try another program called Body Beast which was an at-home bodybuilding program. This sparked his love for bodybuilding.
Bodybuilding at home was ok for a while but he was getting stronger and needed a gym. There was a full gym at the school he worked for at the time. What he gathered along the way was primarily that a program is needed. He found quite a few and worked quite a few but the problem all along was that Vonzell didn’t look like he wanted. Yeah, he’d lost weight and looked better and even his health had improved but he wanted to look athletic. This program changed everything inside of Vonzell. It was called Kris Gethin’s 8-week Hardcore Trainer. He followed this program to the letter for 8 weeks and dropped all the way down to a lean and muscular 175 lbs. This time was life altering because it revealed the most important aspect of health and fitness that was staring him in the face all along. It was the food! The whole time it was the food. The type, the amount, the timing, the restriction, etc. The veil had been lifted when he realized that diet was the most important part of any health regimen. Not only that but it made him realize that anything was possible because he had just completed something that in his mind for so long was not doable.
Vonzell had unlocked, as he saw it, a cheat code in the Matrix so he wanted to share it with anyone he knew would listen and be inspired by his story. After talking about it so much to a close friend and brother of his he finally told him that nutrition is what he was supposed to be doing. Deliberating for some time he found a course with Precision Nutrition to get certified as a Nutrition Coach. After taking this course and acquiring his certification he started Zell Nutrition, Inc. Nutrition Coaching and Consultation. He specializes in mindset change to make lasting change, so you don’t experience the ups and downs he dealt with. He says you must change your mindset first before lasting change can occur and is now known as a Nutritional Mindset Coach.
For nutrition tips and products visit:
https://procoach.app/zellnutrition
520) 788-7685