Health Wise Friday
Health Wise Friday—Good stuff to know for a stronger, healthier, happier you!
Janet Spencer King
On January 23, 2023 I hit “publish” for the first time and Health Wise Friday came to life. It took many months for me to reach that moment. The content wasn’t the problem—I had been writing about health and wellness extensively for years. It was getting a handle on the Substack process and, even more to the point, concern about producing newsletters … every … single … week.
I soon learned that I love writing HWF and being in regular communication with my readers. (I am grateful to you all!) As to the weekly schedule, yes, it is a lot of work, but I found I could handle it and how best to do it.
That said, I have expanded the intended audience of HWF. Concern about health and wellness sets in for real when people begin to realize they can no longer just assume good health as they did in childhood. The words, “I need to pay attention to that,” start to surface having to do with information on how to stay strong, healthy, and happy throughout a lifetime. The age when awareness kicks in may be thirty … or forty … perhaps a bit later. But awareness does strike and I write HWF to meet it accordingly.
HWF offers in-depth information on a wide variety of topics—health problems, challenges, and awareness; exercise approaches and techniques, and well-being in general. Adding to those topics, I also cover such subjects as particular foods and how you can be sure they really are healthy. Another week could be an essay on life issues—happiness, gratitude, friendship and more. And always my voice comes through, knowledgeable, yes, but with good cheer.
Speaking of that, the following is the professional background I have that enables me to write Health Wise Friday.
Who is Janet Spencer King?
First, an important reminder: my expertise is as a health and wellness writer and reporter. I am not a medical provider. The wide range of health and well-being topics I cover in Health Wise Friday is meant to further your understanding and awareness. For your health issues, diagnoses, and treatment, please, see your doctor.
Having clarified that, here is how I developed facility for reporting on HWF subjects. After years of writing articles for national women’s magazines, I became editor-in-chief of two national parenting magazines. One of the topics I most enjoyed—which frankly surprised me—was the health and medical coverage we did. It seemed to me even then, some decades ago, that health reporting would soon be of burgeoning interest to readers. And indeed, it is.
Eventually, I left that job, but I stayed involved in health journalism. I wrote a national magazine Q&A health column for which I consulted many doctors. Soon after that I became the editor of a magazine for the hemophilia community. I knew nothing—nada, niente, zip—about hemophilia and other bleeding disorders, but I quickly learned in the way journalists always do, through interviews, research, and attending conferences.
Spreading my medical/health wings further, I became a chief writer for Daily Health News, an online column from Bottom Line Publications. It appeared five times a week and for the many columns I wrote, I reviewed current health and wellness studies and controversies, which I followed up with relevant expert interviews.
I freelanced with Bottom Line for eleven years, and at that time added to my resume further at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN). This was a year-long program on nutrition and health coaching that featured prominent expert lecturers in the nutrition and well-being health worlds. At the conclusion of the IIN course, I was certified (with honors!) in health/food coaching.
I have worked for a number of years now as an independent book editor, and director for customized self-publishing projects. Adding writing a health and wellness column to my life via Substack has brought me much joy.
HWF subscriptions are free but you should know that there is a paywall on most issues. Paid subscriptions are just $6 a month (that’s 20 cents a day!) or $65 a year. Not only do you receive full content of each newsletter, a paid sub provides access to all back issues. Thank you to all my readers, whether free or paid subscribers. You are appreciated! If you know others who might enjoy and learn from HWF, please share!
Health Wise Friday—Good stuff to know for a stronger, healthier, happier you!
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