Rehabit Your Life: A Doctor’s Notebook on Navigating Health and Wellbeing was the winner in the Health/Medicine/Nutrition category of the 2024 IndieReader Discovery Awards, where undiscovered talent meets people with the power to make a difference.
Following find an interview with author PL Bandy.
I am completely honored (and humbled) winning the 2024 Indie Reader Discovery Awards in the Health /Wellness and Nutrition category. Thank you! My book is written with the intention to simplify health and empower each and everyone of us with accessible, affordable, and proven habits to reclaim greater wellbeing.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
Rehabit Your Life: A Doctor’s Notebook on Navigating Health and Wellbeing. Published by Archway Publishing on November 30th, 2022.
What’s the book’s first line?
Habits are all the rage.
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
Using the transformative power of small, affordable, and proven steps to create lasting change in health and wellbeing.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
My entire career largely centered on serving the underserved and uninsured populations who suffer the largest burden of chronic disease and struggle most in obtaining access to care. Finding ways to empower individuals beyond prescriptions is a critical step to reclaiming one’s health and wellbeing and create long-lasting change.
Taking care of ourselves and having access to quality healthcare should not be complicated, should not bankrupt us, and it certainly should not be privileged or exclusive—yet, it’s currently all of the above. My book hopes to level the playing field with affordable, accessible, health-effective, and scientifically-supported habits shown to create positive health outcomes and long-lasting well-being regardless of insurance, income, and status.
What’s the most distinctive thing about your book?
Visually, content is presented in a reader-friendly format and with digestible chunks of information, while interwoven graphics and illustrations (I did all the illustrations) break up the text for a more pleasant learning experience. On another level, my book seeks to meet each individual where they are most motivated in their health journey and most interested in creating change.
One of the biggest mistakes we make in medicine is acting like the older brother, imposing our agenda onto the patient’s life instead of meeting them where they’re at and understanding what’s actually possible for them and their unique situation and circumstances. My book encourages the reader to browse, explore and act according to their interests, needs, and goals in health. Finally, my book is a tool that readers can come back to—a reference / resource for different times in their health journey.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
Hope. Feeling seen and empowered to improve their lives. Sadly, no one is coming to save us–healthcare has become increasingly complex and convoluted. Health and wellbeing begins with each of us—our nutrition, movement, sleep, how we manage and respond to stress—the choices we make. Nothing brings me more joy than seeing individuals proactively engaged in their health and recognizing the power they have at their fingertips to live better lives.
If they made your book into a movie, who would you like to see play the main character(s)?
Well, that would certainly be an interesting movie–more like a documentary or series of habits. It would be awesome having Michelle Obama narrate it.
When did you first decide to become an author?
It kind of happened by accident as I wanted to create a resource of all the experience I had gained over my career as a family physician and educator–I did not want my education, knowledge “die” with my retirement from clinical medicine. It turned into “the best advice” I could give anyone even if I was no longer practicing.
Is this the first you’ve written?
Yes, I’m a debut author.
What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
I continue to teach medical students and have other projects to promote healthy and mindful living.
How much time do you generally spend on your writing?
Currently, I have not resumed any major projects, but this will be changing in the months to come where daily writing will be needed.
What’s the best and the hardest part of being an indie?
Being a unknown.
Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
Possibly. It certainly would help if a major publishing house got behind you in terms of getting my message into as many hands as possible.
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
The healthcare system has become increasingly faceless, individuals are shuffled about without continuity of care–I am motivated by the prospect of helping individuals lay the foundation required for health and wellbeing. The habits in my book are not only critical to maintaining health, but preventing disease, and especially, managing chronic medical conditions effectively.
Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
Fiction: Ruth Sepetys or Kristin Hannah or Charles Mackey
NonFiction: Eric Larson or Ryan Holiday or Lisa Cron
Which book do you wish you could have written?
Actually, I wish I could have written the screenplay for “THIS IS US” TV series–incredible storytelling. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse–Charles Mackey. Any of the Chris Van Allsburg books along with those illustration skills.