About Dr. Justl Ellis
Dr. Ian Justl Ellis is a board-certified physician with a doctorate from the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He completed a residency in Emergency Medicine at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York, and completed a fellowship in Medical Education at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth. He practices hospital-based emergency medicine in the DFW area.
He graduated summa cum laude from Union University in Jackson, Tennessee with an undergraduate major in Athletic Training and minors in Biology and Psychology.
He is also also a Personal Fitness Instructor certified by the International Fitness Professionals Association, and has served clients of all ages and fitness levels as a personal trainer and nutrition expert since early in his college career.
He has also braved the stage as a drug-free fitness competitor, has taught and competed in Latin and Ballroom dancing, and somehow pulls himself away from his wonderful wife and three children every day for just long enough to make it to the gym (well, most days, anyway).
“My Journey”
One of my core memories is standing in front of a mirror at 14 and promising I wouldn’t end up like adults I saw trying–and failing–to get down to a healthy weight and stay there.
Well, as it turns out…
Getting and staying healthy and fit in our modern Western world is not so easy! In fact, for most people–even if you know how–it is really, really hard.
Exercising is hard, knowing how-when-and-what-the-heck-can-I-even-eat is hard, getting enough sleep and drinking enough water is hard, saying no to hyper-palatable, endlessly available, addictive junk food and drink is hard, not using drugs or alcohol is hard, “finding the time” is hard, dealing with stress is hard, fighting bad genes, injuries, and pain is hard!
Sometimes it all just feels darn near impossible.
And yet. It IS possible. And it is SO important to try.
As an Emergency Medicine doctor, a good portion of my days are spent in the Emergency Department taking care of people with complications from chronic diseases.
High blood pressure. High cholesterol. Obesity. Diabetes. Coronary Artery Disease. Congestive Heart Failure. Stroke. Emphysema. Cancer. Peripheral Vascular Disease.
Patients who can’t walk, or can’t move, or can’t move, or can’t breathe. Patients who have lost–or are losing–the ability to enjoy their work, their families, and their hobbies. Patients whose every day efforts are spent simply staying alive.
This is the natural end point of our culture, diet, and lifestyle in the United States. These conditions cause immense suffering.
I have dedicated my life to learning how to keep people from getting to that point. The tragedy (and the ray of hope) is that in nearly all cases, these diseases can be prevented! And many times, reversed!
But how?!
It hasn’t been easy for me. I have had many successes and many failures along the way.
I’ve been at <8% body fat as a finely tuned competitive athlete and ballroom and latin dancer. I’ve ALSO been >40% body fat, wearing XXL scrubs as a medical resident working 100+ hours a week, while trying to keep my family life afloat, with exercising and eating healthy entirely absent from my life–and feeling like the challenges were insurmountable.
I’ve struggled through injuries and chronic pain that made exercising feel impossible. I’ve battled binge eating, excessive exercise, and have struggled at times not to succumb to our culture’s over-emphasis of aesthetics over real, sustained, meaningful health.
I’ve had to separate the good from the nonsense when it comes to the endless flood of questionable nutrition and exercise advice. I haven’t done it on my own, either–I’ve needed lots of help along the way.
I now have the wisdom, knowledge, experience, and the plan to help anyone who is willing to get, and stay, healthy and fit. It’s not going to be easy for you, either. But it can be done. I started Voafit to help make the impossible possible for anyone willing to try.
Will you join me? We can do it together!