About the Health & Fitness Sleuth

Hi - I am Patricia Setzer, founder of the Health & Fitness Sleuth

I grew up in northwestern North Carolina in the city of Winston Salem. Even though it was a large city of approximately 100,000 people, there was still very much the feeling of a small town. Little did I realize as a child growing up that Winston Salem was and still is rich in history, art, culture, furniture and home of Tanglewood golf course. Of course there is tobacco and R.J. Reynolds (who makes Winston Salem) recognized not just in the U.S. but abroad as well. In the fifties and sixties I think it would have been impossible to find anyone growing up in the city whose life tobacco did not at least touch. For me, tobacco has done so much more than touch my life. It has played a major role in who I am today, more on this later. One more claim to fame in recent years Winston Salem is the birth place of Krispy Kreme doughnut.

At the age of nineteen I married my husband Dennis, at the time an airman in the Air Force. There was never any doubt in my mind that the day would come when I would travel; that certainly turned out to be an understatement. During Dennis’s Air Force career we lived in seven states and two other countries adopting On The Road Again as our theme song. As the number of states we lived in grew so did our family. We have two sons and a daughter now with their own careers and homes.

At the age of 16 I started smoking and continued this habit until age 46. Smoking was so much a part of who I was at the time. I made the statement many times that I would smoke until I was six feet under. The Universe decided to check in with me and see just how serious I was and presented me with a major wakeup call. Out of the blue I started having chest pains. My husband rushed me to the hospital, and the next thing I knew I was in surgery; smoking lost its appeal.

The first year after heart surgery was like a honeymoon period, I was so happy to be alive nothing else mattered. Like the obedient child I did as I was told never asking questions. After a period of time I became aware of side effects from the prescription drugs I was taking that I was not pleased with. The honeymoon period was over and this was my second wakeup call. It became so obvious to me that in order to be truly healed I had to take an active part in my healing.

Research became very much a part of my life, at first on how to have a healthy heart, then evolving into how to have a healthy body. Through this research I discovered Natural Health and a new way of life.

Now I am certainly not in a minority when it comes to an interest in Natural Health and marketing has not wasted any time in taking advantage of this. Research as well as working in a health food store has made me very aware of how many products are on the market that have absolutely nothing to do with improving your health. This awareness lead to the creation of the Health & Fitness Sleuth.