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Healthy Alter Ego offers articles, tips, advice, updates, insights and breakthroughs from a wide source of qualified practitioners and sources.  This need came out of the passion and personal experiences of its founders.

Meet Our Team:

Dr. Gary Huber, D.O., AOBEM
Medical Director (a.k.a. Head Medical Ego)
Dr. Huber who has served 20 years as a board certified emergency medicine physician has long had a passion for nutrition and human physiology as it relates to wellness and longevity.  Dr. Huber presently serves as president of the LaValle Metabolic Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio and actively treats a broad range of patients with an integrative care approach that blends traditional medicine with complimentary and alternative care principles. 

Dr. Huber brought the perfect blend of passion, expertise, common sense and humor to Healthy Alter Ego. As a founding member he writes, records videos and leads many of our regional health conference and outreach efforts.

A graduate of the University of Dayton Dr. Huber holds degrees in Biology and Psychology.  Completing his medical school training at Ohio University, Dr. Huber graduated in the top 10% of his class. 

Dr. Huber’s long-standing passion for health and wellness extends into many community programs.  He served as the medical director for the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon in 2002 and 2003. As founding member of “Hey Coach”, a charitable organization that delivered lectures to grade school and high school students, Dr. Huber educated kids about the dangers of steroid use as well as nutritional instruction and training guidelines.  Dr. Huber has developed strength and conditioning training programs for high school varsity sport teams, as well as offered individual developmental training for youth athletes.  He is a former triathlete and has been an avid cyclist for more than 25 years.  His interest in human performance has led to extensive study on maximizing athletic potential in athletes both young and old.  “There is an athlete in all of us that longs to be recognized.”

“My years in the emergency department have afforded me a unique perspective on health care.  I have had the pleasure of treating a great spectrum of patients from pediatric to geriatrics, acute cardiac issues, cancer patients, diabetics and everything in between.   I have seen what traditional medicine does well but have also been witness to where we fall short.  It is my dream and desire to impact a life before it reaches the E.R.  To stop disease before it starts and to reverse ailments before they cripple.  We have the ability to do so much more than simply cover up symptoms.  The body wants to heal itself and is fully able to do so with the right guidance.  This is where my true passion lives.  Not just keeping people alive but helping them to truly live.”

Q:  Why did you leave emergency medicine to pursue integrative health care?
A:  I have always been involved with integrative care; it is who I am as a person.  I grew increasingly frustrated with the lack of options within traditional medicine.  Medical schools do not teach physicians anything about nutrition yet we are faced with nutritionally based diseases like hyperlipidemia (cholesterol), diabetes, heart disease and cancer every day.  Physicians are taught disease care in school and not taught how to make someone healthy.  Traditional medicine lives within the guidelines set by the insurance companies and since the insurance companies don’t pay for preventative care, physicians have limited resources or incentives to pursue prevention modalities.

Q:  Do you believe in natural treatments or drug therapy?
A:  I feel drug therapy can be very useful, but I fear that many of my colleagues have lost respect for drugs and often hand out pills like they were harmless jelly beans.  Synthetic drug therapy is the fourth leading cause of death in this country, right behind heart disease, stroke and cancer.  We need to be mindful of the tremendous side effects that occur when using synthetic drugs and realize that the vast majority of all drugs do not treat the original metabolic dysfunction that caused the symptoms in the first place.  I prefer to address the true cellular physiology and correct the source of the problem, rather than just covering up the symptoms with drug therapy.  Sometimes, drugs are a necessary part of a therapeutic intervention but they should be viewed as a brief and temporary adjunct.  The real solution is almost always found in diet and lifestyle changes.

Jo Wehage, B.S., C.W.C.
Operations Manager (a.k.a. Head Operations Ego)

Healthy Alter Ego was the anxious, frustrated, yet optimistic brain-child of Jo Wehage, a business professional in Cincinnati, Ohio. While living through some sad and traumatic times with her family, Jo found out the hard way that 100% of the facts, options and opportunities to better health do not always come from well-intentioned doctors, health organizations, government sources or the media. “Industry and politics can slant health and medical claims in ways that could be dangerous to your health. My family and I have been personally affected by these claims, because we didn’t know better. However, I’ve had to learn that it is no one’s responsibility but our own to research, learn and discover ways to incorporate our own avenues to better health.” 

“Healthy Alter Ego was born from random email alerts to friends and family about startling facts discovered during countless hours of research on issues pulling my family apart – issues such as breast cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, emphysema and more. “It was during this time that I started to reach out to doctors, researchers, authors, healthcare practitioners, educational organizations and community interest groups. The good news is that many reached back. I’ve since met and learned much from amazing sources that are available to us all and some of them still contribute regularly to the information you’ll find at Healthy Alter Ego.”

Jo, who holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Northern Kentucky University, left her position as Vice President of Operations and Client Services of a Cincinnati-area direct marketing firm to spend more time with family and to further pursue educational endeavors in the health, wellness and nutrition arenas. 

In 2007, Jo completed the education requirements from the Columbus, Ohio based Wellness Forum to become a Certified Wellness Consultant. She now serves as Operations Manager for Healthy Alter Ego online and Project Director for regional health conferences.

Other Healthy Egos on our Team:

 Phyllis McCarthy, B.S., C.H.C.
 Health Counselor (a.k.a. Head Mommy Ego)

Phyllis  received her training to practice Health Counseling at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, which is the only nutrition school integrating all the different dietary theories, combining the knowledge of traditional philosophies with modern concepts like the USDA food pyramid, the glycemic index, the Zone and raw foods.   Phyllis received her professional certification from Teachers College Columbia University, rated the No. 1 Graduate School of Education by U.S. News and World Report, as well as accreditation from the American Association of Drugless Practitioners in June 2008.  

Prior to her nutrition career, Phyllis utilized a bachelor’s degree in business to focus a 16 year career with the airline industry, serving in a variety of roles, including operations, human resources and corporate leadership.  Phyllis’ journey into the health and wellness field involved a personal transformation from expecting a quick “fix” by the medical community for a variety of chronic symptoms to finding complete relief by shifting her lifestyle and including more whole foods. 

Phyllis is the proud mother of two beautiful girls, who have brought about her passion to improve the food options presented to children in our school systems. Phyllis hopes to educate parents, teachers and policy makers about the positive impact nutrient-dense food choices have on our kid’s health, behavior and learning ability.  In contrast, she highlights the misleading marketing claims made by major food manufacturers as they relate to “nutrition,” and the problems with government recommendations, such as the USDA food pyramid, which includes beverages and desserts rich in high fructose corn syrup as “acceptable” under current standards.

Learn more about Phyllis on her website at  www.cincyhealthcoach.com

Jody England, MSW, EFT Practitioner, Reiki Master
Author, Life Coach (a.k.a. Head Empowerment Ego)

Jody England is the Founder of BuzZen and the Visionary behind the creation of the Essence Process. Jody’s unique blend of experience as a former mental health therapist and long-time champion of women’s rights has positioned her as a leading voice in the global shift in consciousness that is currently occurring on the planet.

Jody is the author of Attraction Actions: New “Bee”haviors for Creating the Life you Deserve, is the host of the BuzZen radio show, and is in great demand as a speaker and life coach.   She holds a Masters Degree in Social Work, is an EFT practitioner and Reiki Master.

Her passion is to raise the calibration level of the planet by empowering and connecting women with their inner wisdom and higher selves. 

You can learn more about Jody and her coaching, courses, and company by visiting http://www.buzzen.us/