Welcome to the Best of 2023 Series!
Today's episode features some of our favorite inspirational stories from people just like you and me. However, they have used the power of plants to change their lives for the better.
Please enjoy Part 2 of our “Best of 2023” series!
Don't forget to enjoy The Best of 2023: Part 1
Featured Guests:
Ep 94 Beth
Ep 100 John Lewis aka Bad Ass Vegan
Ep 127 Kate Galli
Ep 129 Catharine
Ep 134 Dr. Sarah Kashdan
Ep 136 Dr. Amanda Atkins
Ep 139 Sunny Williams
Ep 141 LaShonda Maxfield
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WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!
Have a question, suggestion or comment for the podcast? Fill out form here
Plant Centered Nutrition Essential Resources:
Welcome to the Best of 2023 Series!
Today's episode features some of our favorite inspirational stories from people just like you and me. However, they have used the power of plants to change their lives for the better.
Please enjoy Part 2 of our “Best of 2023” series!
Don't forget to enjoy The Best of 2023: Part 1
Featured Guests:
Ep 94 Beth
Ep 100 John Lewis aka Bad Ass Vegan
Ep 127 Kate Galli
Ep 129 Catharine
Ep 134 Dr. Sarah Kashdan
Ep 136 Dr. Amanda Atkins
Ep 139 Sunny Williams
Ep 141 LaShonda Maxfield
_____________________________________________________________________
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!
Have a question, suggestion or comment for the podcast? Fill out form here
Plant Centered Nutrition Essential Resources:
Welcome to the Plant-Centered and Thriving Podcast. I'm your host.
Speaker 2:Ashley Kitchens. I'm a plant-based registered dietitian and virtual nutrition mentor. I was raised on an Angus Cattle Farm, grew up with a lot of GI issues and used the power of plant-based eating to promote healing.
Speaker 1:Here you'll find inspiration, ideas and encouragement for your own plant-based journey. I'm so thrilled you're here today. Let's get started.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the show Plant-Centered Listener. My name is Ashley and I'm Katie, and we are closing out the year with our Best of 2023, part 2 series, and I am so excited to share this episode with you. And today we are featuring some of our favorite inspirational stories from people just like you and me and how they have used the power of plants to change their lives for the better.
Speaker 3:Oh, I'm getting so geared up. Yeah, you're going to get fired up, you're going to cry. You're going to go out and buy all the kale that you see. You're going to be so inspired to incorporate more plants this year. So I'm so excited to share kind of like a condensed version of the best we had to offer this year, because we had some really powerful stories. We really did.
Speaker 2:We had some wonderful stories from this past year. If you've been thinking about going plant-based, we have a course called Plant-Based in 30 Days, which is just below in the show notes. It is your step-by-step guide to go and plant-based, so definitely check that out if you've been thinking about it, or maybe you've tried it and didn't quite work. Well, we have that course made specifically for you. We are planning our 2024 calendar for next year. If you have a story to share where you have gone plant-based and it's really benefited your life, your health, your family, friends, whatever that may be, we would love to hear from you. So we have a form below where you can fill that out and let us know that you would like to be a guest on the show. So we're really just looking for ordinary people with extraordinary stories about going plant-based and how it's changed your life for the better, and we know that your story has the potential, the power, to impact other people who are also thinking about going plant-based and maybe haven't quite made the leap yet.
Speaker 3:Yes, you do not have to be a professional speaker. You do not have to have been on 10 podcasts before. We are just looking for inspiration for our listeners. So if you're thinking about, wow, I've made a lot of changes, we want to hear from you. The power of editing can fix anything.
Speaker 2:That's true. A lot of the guests that you're about to hear from now have that was the first time being on the podcast.
Speaker 3:So it's not extra fancy. We are just looking for your stories. Don't be shy, that's right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we'll fill that form out below. Please enjoy part two of our Best of 2023 series and if you weren't able to listen to part one yet, definitely go back and listen to that. And then, katie, I'm really excited because we're opening 2024 with a cool episode talking about how we can live more like a blue zone. That is going to be a really cool episode.
Speaker 3:Oh my God, I cannot believe it's 2024.
Speaker 2:Let's dive in to these inspirational stories. Awesome. You may know him as John Lewis or the badass vegan, so he is going to share with us just so much about his journey, his new cookbook that's coming out, his documentary and so much more. And even in your book you kind of touch on this a little bit. It's like you kind of went in the beginning from kind of being in people's faces about going vegan, going plant based, but that's really evolved over time too. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Speaker 5:Yeah. So I have a good friend. He's still not vegan, but he's more conscious because of me, and I used to be that guy. I was, I was the angry vegan, I was the guy that, like wait a minute, I just found this new religion and I got to tell everybody about this religion and if you're not a part of this religion, you're going to vegan hail. So you just get ready. And he, he just reached out to me one day. He was like yeah, bro, you know, you know you're not really helping people. And I'm like what do you mean? I'm trying to help the people. I'm telling them what not to eat. And this is that. He goes. Well, you're not helping them because nobody's listening. And I'm not like it was like a dagger, like right to the heart, and I'm like, oh man, he got a point.
Speaker 5:Like I couldn't even argue with him at that point. I was like huh. So I took a step back and of course I still do more comedic stuff. But and even before he told me that I've never been one to demean anybody I was just way more aggressive. Now I'm just more like like hearted, playful and I'll crack jokes and it's so funny. People are always like you're always trying to push your agenda. I'm like I never go to anybody else's page. You're on my page telling me what not to do. The funniest quote always tell people is that. Isn't it ironic that you're on my page telling me to let others live while you're telling me not to live, like me.
Speaker 5:You would just say like they don't get that part though. So, but yeah, I just had to take a step back and say if somebody was talking to me that way, I probably wouldn't respond to. Well, now, I know there, I, and I also believe this too. I believe that the movement, as far as any movement I don't care what it is I think the movement has different lanes and we're all going down the same highway, but we have different lanes and people are attracted to the different lanes, like there are animal activists that are that are showing you what's going on in the farms and showing you what's going on in the slaughterhouses and in these camps and all the stuff, and that's that's great for them. I never knocked them. That's just not for me.
Speaker 5:What I've, what I found, is hitting people and if you notice, in a lot of my wordage I use the words us and we. I'm always like we can do better. I was there where you were, like I'm not acting, like I'm above you. I'm saying, hey, I was there, but look what we can do now. And you know I get people that you know I get comments every now and then like, oh, I hate coming to your page, but I know you're helping me, like I just had that yesterday on a post. It's like oh, you keep deterring me from meat. I keep coming back, so I know it's working. So yeah, that is. It was aggressive. Now it's like kind of like comedic and and just having fun. I believe you can talk about serious topics and still have fun.
Speaker 2:I'm bringing Beth on the show. She is a mom of two and founder of trifecta Pilates, using an empowered, effective and joy filled approach to working out. So you can see why I want to have her on the show, right. I just I love, I love, love, love, the joy filled approach to working out. As a cancer survivor and health coach, she knows that it's about healthy habits that are simple, sustainable and personal. So, really, like you're like, you're saying, like really getting in touch with, like your body and kind of recognizing okay, well, why am I having these cravings today, or why am I especially rapidness, or why am I just especially fatigued? Like maybe really trying to tap into, maybe like why that is digging deep in that connection, like with what your body's trying to tell you.
Speaker 7:It is really digging deep and also I feel like taking the opportunity to assess, like, do I really feel like this or have I just been conditioned to want this? And this conditioning starts very young. Like this is why there's companies big, large companies are trying to get brand awareness to kids and youth, because they know if they drink that Coca-Cola or opposite Pepsi when they're really young, they're going to do that when they're adults Because there's so many unconscious decisions we make. It's just part of our everyday life. Like this is what. This is how I've always done it, rather than pausing it and being like do I actually really enjoy this? And if I do really enjoy it, well, is it an alignment? So they have it as much as they want to, and the amount of proportions.
Speaker 7:And there's some foods, for instance for me, where it's like I'm vegan-ish, I say, but I still try to reduce my sugar. But there's a cake, like a strawberry lemon cake, that I make every single summer. It's my once a year cake and that thing's low in sugar. I'm not going to play with how much sugar it has because it's once a year. My kiddos love it, but I also know I'm not making it every single week and there was this my dog, so my dog loves. We still have cheese in the fridge where my kids enjoy cheese right now cheese and carrots. Now, if you feed her a carrot first, she'll eat her carrots, but if you feed her cheese first, she's not going to eat those carrots. Wow, and I think about that. She's like no, no, that's that does not. That carrot doesn't do anything for me. I need that cheese right now.
Speaker 7:And I think about that. That sometimes we're just so conditioned to okay, eating out which I used to eat out more like fast food, and now I'm like I don't even enjoy that food at all. And when I have to go, I'm like, okay, like I went to McDonald's once I was just staring up at the menu thinking, okay, when am I going to have? Like looking at the menu, and then I got a drink and I, no, I forget what I got. I said that's your medium size, like that. When I was growing up, that used to be like a small size. So there's all these different components.
Speaker 7:If you like, it's just plant-based is another way to live more consciously with what we're doing, rather than just following what's always been done and the way that I've reframed it because I did have to change my family recipes is that traditions started because once upon a time, someone started something new and it became this transition that sometimes we just get. We feel like we have to keep cooking those holiday meals or the birthday dinner meal the same exact way because we've been doing it that way, but someone invented that somewhere once upon a time. So we talk with me okay, those a lot about that too. Like, let's respect the traditions but really evaluate Do you enjoy them? Do they bring you pleasure? Do you wanna try something a little bit different and see, and sometimes it works out really great, and other times like not ever doing that again, and other times in between I'm gonna tweak it a little bit next time.
Speaker 2:Today we're talking with a courageous woman who received a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis and used diet and lifestyle changes to, as best as she can, effectively combat her disease.
Speaker 8:And in 2017, maybe going into early 18, I was all into this OMS lifestyle and, like full disclosure, I'm not super strict with myself from the meditation side of you and all the other bits, but from diet I was like, do you know what this works for me? I feel really good. You don't feel like that heaviness, weightiness, and I could see like how well I was doing, say, from an exercise point of view, rather than feeling like everything being like a drain or like drudgery. I found myself that were bouncing back quicker. So that side of things, I would say I was pretty much all in, yeah, within about nine to 10 months, and that was kind of it for me and I knew it worked. I knew straight away I was feeling good. I feel like, yeah, I feel like everyone talks about like energy and that side of things, but for me I really did. You don't get that heaviness. Like I mean, yeah, we all get 3PM slumps, but do you know what I mean? It's like I would never. I wouldn't feel that like really weightiness after a meal anymore. Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 8:Now, it's probably overthinking everything I was eating at the start as well. Do you know what I mean? Like, it's just, it's hard to change and you are, you're really thinking about what's in this, what's in this? Am I eating enough? Or at the beginning you eat the same bloody meal so many times because you're just trying to be good. But it's, you know, once that side of things settled down, I've found it way more fun. Like, I found way more enjoyment in food. I care so much more, you know, it's like it's more exciting to find a new plant-based restaurant, like, and look what they can do, look how amazing that looks, versus a regular omni restaurant, because everyone can kind of do that. But to make something incredible, like in a plant-based restaurant, I just think is so impressive. Like, and we're always on the hunt, like you know, we live in Melbourne, so it's like a mecca. Like it's the perfect place to be living yeah, or it's the perfect place to be living for, like, plant-based or vegan eating yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:That's wonderful, I'm so glad. And so it sounds like there was just this undeniable shift in your energy and how you fell and it was like, okay, this is, this is it.
Speaker 8:I'm not looking back, I'm gonna continue forward with this plant-based eating 100%, like I just I think it clicked in me really quickly and once I got over there, you know I saw the variety I could eat and I got, you know, used to this way of cooking Once I realized like it wasn't impeding me in anything, it just felt way more enjoyment, like I enjoy cooking more, I enjoy eating out more, and it just for us. It just felt like, do you know what? Why would I? I don't know, why would I make myself feel unwell and dairy is really contraindicated with MS. So, to be honest, for me, at the very beginning, I would say no, do you know what? If you put meat in front of your dairy, I would eat the meat before the dairy. Like I switched with dairy, like that. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, that's for me because it's a real like.
Speaker 8:I think there's real clear research with dairy and MS, whereas I think the meat side of it is from a saturated fat. So, you know, you can sort of people can sort of say, oh well, lean meats. But I think for me as well, you start looking, looking for recipes, you start following this person, that person, and you start seeing the ethical side of it as well, which is where my mind is set. I probably I would think I'm 50-50 in it now from a health perspective and an ethical perspective. So for me there's certainly no going back, like I've said, if I was, if someone said to me tomorrow you're cured, there's no MS, I would not change the way I eat.
Speaker 8:Like no two ways about it, yeah no two ways about it.
Speaker 2:I am really excited for today's guest, who is named Dr Amanda. She is a double board certified internal medicine, lifestyle medicine physician, health coach, owner of enlightenment, health and wealth, and one of the main things she does, which I love so much, is she works primarily with women, and she works with women in helping them possibly reverse chronic illnesses such as type two diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure, and not only possibly reverse those chronic diseases, but also she helps them prevent them as well.
Speaker 11:I didn't even put the two together yet at that point in time that what I was eating actually impacted long-term health. Like again, my initial thought was I'm just trying to lose weight, I'm just trying to lose weight, so that's where I was at that time. So it went until years later, after even finishing residency and actually practicing for probably a couple of years, that I'm like okay, these two kind of go together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm curious how you started to make that connection, cause I think for so many of us that can be a challenge. That's not really something that we're taught that, oh, food has an impact on how you feel throughout the day, maybe how you sleep, or what puts you at risk for, maybe certain chronic diseases. How did you start making that connection?
Speaker 11:And I have to give all the credit to one of my patients. It was an older gentleman. I was actually in Tennessee, practicing Tennessee, so Tennessee's in the South, so that's not a big vegetarian place either, right. And he just happened to say cause he had heart disease, his cholesterol was high and everything like that. And he was like, well, you know, dr Atkins, I've been well, actually I was Davis then but I've been reading this book and been following this guy named Dr Joel Furman and he has his book called Eat to Live. And I was like, okay, that's interesting. So I got the book, just skim through it, and I'm like, oh, this is pretty good. So what I've been doing is not too far off. He's a bit more strict than just being vegetarian.
Speaker 11:And then I had more patients ask I don't wanna be on medicine, what else can I do for my high blood pressure? What else can I do for my diabetes? And I'm like, hmm, you know what? We were taught to give you a prescription. So I don't know what else you can do.
Speaker 11:And then, you know, just, dr Furman just kept coming back to me and then we had we have to do, you know continual medical educational courses, and there happened to be one in a state that I always wanted to visit. I always thought I would live there and it was in Arizona. So I went to feed it, you know, in probably a colder time of the year, but it's always hot in Arizona. So I was like I'm going there and it was a nutrition conference and I was like, okay, so this kind of lines up, trying to learn a little things here, and one of the doctors there said you cannot out exercise a bad diet, and that stuck with me and kind of transformed me from going from vegetarian to vegan to, you know, mostly plant-based.
Speaker 11:Just from there and it's again. It's just like, oh, I just happened. This just kind of happened. You say it happened but it was, you know, divine intervention for this to actually occur, for me, to have this patient at this time in his life, for him to say, dr Joe Perman, you know it just all kind of lined up. And then you know, like I said, going back to my story when I was 16, like, hmm, and then you can actually say to patients when you tell them you know not to eat meat, then they'll look at me as an African-American, you know, saying, well, do you not eat meat, do you exercise and like, as a matter of fact, that is my story, you know. So it kind of resonates with people a bit more when they actually see someone like sitting in front of them, looking like I look and saying you can do it too, because I've been doing it for decades now.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, I feel like it means so much more when you're actually walking the walk and not just talking to talk.
Speaker 11:Yeah, and that was big for me also going through medical school to actually be able to carry out these things that I was going to be saying to people, because you know I didn't go to the doctor growing up much, but I do remember one time going to a pediatrician and he was like 300 pounds, you know, telling me I needed to, you know, lose weight and stuff. And I'm just looking like really you know.
Speaker 11:So that I don't know. I don't remember his name, I just can. You know, you have those visions, that just kind of pop in your head that you can remember. You know little bits of your childhood and that was one of them and I was like I don't want to be that person. So that kind of helped me to, kind of and still helps me because people like, how do you stay on track? It's like because I have to be accountable to these people that I'm helping.
Speaker 2:Robbie and Mia Graham. So they are the proprietors of Revelations Cafe, which is a plant-based restaurant in Tampa, Florida, which they founded in 2018. Their story was also featured in a new documentary film called Revelations Cafe Food for the Soul. He had this situation happen while he was at the gym. He was a hardcore meat eater and you probably already know he does not eat that way anymore, but it was pretty wild and, honestly, pretty wild that he is still living today with everything that transpired, and it took him really changing his life around massively in many different ways for him to be still with us today.
Speaker 14:Long story short. About four months before we opened this wonderful cafe, we were in the gym training and I was working out and I started to get severe pains. I was already dealing with it for about a month or so. I was getting chest pains but I thought I pulled something, because I've always trained, I've always lifted. I was a competitor bodybuilder when I was younger. So I just felt like you know, I must have pulled a pack. I got an internal pit tear in there and it just kept bothering me. And then, eventually it got to the point when I was at this one workout and as I was in the middle of my workout, the pain got so intense that I could barely catch my breath. And then I started getting radiating pains down my left arm and at that moment I knew that was it. So I walked over to her I think she was doing abs, I think she was on the ab machine and I said, hey, I'm done. And she goes. What do you mean? You're done, I go, I'm done. And she looked at me she goes oh my God, you're having a heart attack, cause she could see how it's. I was like my eyes are practically rolling back in my head. I was pale as a ghost, and so she immediately went and grabbed the car, got me into the car, immediately got me in the car and five minutes not even five minutes she had me in the ER and they wheeled me right in and they were able to retard the heart attack. They stopped it and at that point in time they determined they needed to admit me and then I was cardiac cat at the next morning on a Sunday, which they never do, but that's how serious they thought my heart condition was, that they brought the cardiologists in and then that's when they spend in my left coronary artery While I'm recovering.
Speaker 14:I have a brother in the Lord that you know is a vegan and you know, of course I used to pick on him a little bit and I made fun of him, as you know, cause you eat like a bird and real men eat meat, you know. And so because I got something for you. But he says you're going to have to take it serious and I went all right. So he sends me Dr Esselstyn's book Reverse and Prevent Heart Disease. Wow. So I started to read this book, and the more I read this book, the more angry I got, because the science was convicting me, you know, and I, because of my faith, I read the Bible. When I read the Bible, it convicts my soul. You know, I'm like man. This is truth here. I really love this. Well, I started to read Esselstyn's book and I got extremely convicted. So the more I got convicted, I basically said all right, that's it.
Speaker 14:So I decided I'm going to go plant-based. I have to, yeah, yeah, because I could go on to the bitter end and keep eating what was clogging all my arteries or I can make the changes. So, reluctantly, I did it and I can only say, within three months time, my cardiologist nearly fell out of his chair because the results of my cholesterol, overall cholesterol, my blood pressure, completely went away. I had they were able to take me out of blood pressure medication because I had high blood pressure. Wow, my cholesterol dropped over 100 points and I started to feel the absolute benefits of a plant-based diet from a recovery perspective, something that I was not used to as a former bodybuilder. I was always, you know, I'd pump hard, but I'd always be puffed, be breathing hard, and I can tell you that, honestly, I've never my cardiovascular fitness four years removed from eating meat, has been phenomenal.
Speaker 2:I just have a really special guest on the show. His name is Mitch Gill and to be honest, he actually reached out on Messenger. He had said some kind words about the podcast and he gave me a glimpse into his whole food plant-based journey and I shared this a little bit in our episode here in a second in our interview. But I was like we have to have Mitch on because he just has such a unique story and he's incredibly gregarious and he's a comedian and I just think you're really going to appreciate just the transparency that transpired here during our conversation.
Speaker 6:In the winter of 2019, I watched five documentaries.
Speaker 13:Oh boy.
Speaker 6:And February 2nd. That was it. I'm done. I'll never eat meat, dairy eggs or seafood ever again. Wow. And I haven't looked back and I lost another 35 pounds. And now I'm right down to like I'm five nine and bought one 32 and I feel so good and agile and I feel like an athlete at 58.
Speaker 2:Wow, I mean I would assume like better than you felt in probably a long time.
Speaker 6:Yeah, it was like gluten-free was here, plant-based is here. It's just off the chart. In my opinion, fixes, or helps to fix, depression and keeps you away from medication because you have no other alternative other than to be in a good mood.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 6:On vegetables.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's true. Well, especially when you're regular, who's not happy when they're regular, like that's such a great feeling.
Speaker 6:I don't want this might be too much information, but when I leave the bathroom my two, three or four times a day sometimes I feel high, like I've just smoked a joint. I'm not kidding, I'm like floating and I'm like I'm in such a good mood and I'm really glad to see people and I feel like saying you should have been in there.
Speaker 7:Yes.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 6:That was incredible.
Speaker 2:Cause most people come out of it and it's not a pleasant experience, or it's not a pleasant experience during the situation that's going on. Welcome to the show Plant-Centered Listener. My name is Ashley and I am your host today. Imagine being diagnosed with a tumor and, in the height of 2020 quarantine, you are searching for answers, you are in pain, you don't feel well, you are truly a shell of yourself and you're looking for anything. Well, this was Sunny, our guest today. Her story and she shares how, after several doctors visits, she finally found answers and, to her surprise, a lot of these recommendations from these different doctors were very similar.
Speaker 13:So I was diagnosed with a prolactinoma. It's a benign tumor that's on your pituitary gland, but it causes your pituitary gland to produce prolactin, which is a hormone that the body creates when you're lactating, when you're nursing. I have never been pregnant, so I actually had a partial hysterectomy when I in my 20s, from stage four endometriosis. So I don't know if the tumor is related to that, but yes, so that's what the tumor does. It causes your breast to swell, it causes weight gain, lethargy and sometimes milk production which I didn't get, luckily, but it's pretty common and they put me on a ton of really terrible medicine. It made me sick for a little while but then it got better, and so their MRI-ing and making sure that it's shrinking. It has shrunk and I'm allowed to go off the medicine.
Speaker 13:I moved to London to do my master's degree and in London, healthiest I've ever been in my life. I was not vegan, I was eating normally quote unquote, typically but I was strong, I was healthy, I had tons of energy. And then I moved back to the United States and I'd say within six months the tumor was back. So American food perhaps to blame, I don't know. I also had broken my foot at the time. So I was no longer moving like I did when I lived in London. I would walk miles a day and I was doing aerial as well in London, and so I was in very good shape, broke my foot. Whole life kind of crashes in around me. Tumor comes back. They want to put me back on this medicine, but I had had such a hard time with that medicine I didn't want to go back on it. So I saw several doctors, I went to naturopaths and people who specialize in female hormones, all these things, and all of them said go plant-based. Every single one of them. They said this is the answer and I thought oh, I'm from Texas and I had been a vegetarian as a child, because I do have a love for animals, so I had tried it. But that was the 80s and there was nothing, no options, and my whole family didn't support me and I was a child. So I ended up malnourished because they would just make chicken and gravy and biscuits and stuff and I would starve. So I quit being a vegetarian as a child. So I knew that I could do it, but I'd never done vegan. But I was already dairy-free because I'm lactose intolerant. Since moving back to London or from London, no problem with milk in London. But as soon as I moved back, I started having trouble with milk, so I'd already gone dairy-free. I was kind of, you know, at the cusp it's like okay, it's basically just going vegetarian again because I've already cut out dairy. I told myself.
Speaker 13:So once we went into lockdown for COVID, I was teaching, so I started teaching online and I thought to myself this is the perfect opportunity to try this vegan, plant-based thing that all these doctors keep telling me about for the two weeks that we're locked down and then, if my symptoms go away from the tumor, then I'll know they were right. But I doubt they will. I don't. You know, this isn't gonna help, you know, I was telling myself. Instead, after even maybe a week, my symptoms started reducing and after the two weeks of being like very strict vegan during lockdown, I thought I don't wanna stop. And we're still locked down.
Speaker 13:The lockdown kept getting extended, you know, and I thought I'll just keep going until we're back, because as soon as we're back on campus, everyone's gonna have donuts everywhere and all these things. But of course we didn't go back for a whole two semesters, I think. Well, a semester and a half. So I just kept going and I just kept feeling better and better, dropped like 20 pounds. I just fell off and I had gained that 20 pounds after I'd broken my foot. My hair started growing back. I have very thin hair but I had gone, like you know, I had like balding spots. They're coming back a little bit right now because I'm getting older, but my skin improved. It was remarkable. I'd never go back now. So I went vegan kind of as an experiment and loved it. All my symptoms were gone. Now I have zero symptoms of this tumor. They still check me regularly to make sure it doesn't come back. At the moment it's great Dr Sarah Kashnan.
Speaker 2:She is a registered naturopathic doctor and she's a NCCAOM Diplomat of Acupuncture, with additional degrees in environmental health and toxicology. Stupid old brain, incredible. So Dr Kashnan is unique in that she has degrees in both naturopathic medicine and Chinese medicine and acupuncture and she brings such a unique perspective to this conversation, One because she's an athlete and also because she has this background in medicine.
Speaker 9:So I think, similar to you, I grew up on a lot of meat, yep, lot of meat, lot of butter, lot of lard, all that gross stuff. I was never really a big meat eater, I just did it because that's what my family fed me. It's a lot in my heritage, and over the years I, kind of just on my own, started to eat a little bit less and a little bit less. I just didn't really like it Lactose intolerant, anyways. I didn't eat dairy for a long time, but it wasn't until 2012,.
Speaker 9:That whole year I actually started to get really sick. I was teaching yoga full time during that year and I thought that maybe I was just teaching too much and moving around too much. I was losing a bunch of weight. I felt kind of weird. People thought I had an eating disorder and I was like no. So I went to a bunch of different doctors and I was like I don't feel good, I'm losing weight, things are weird. And they just told me it was in my head, there's nothing wrong with me, yeah, as it goes. And it turns out that later in that year I got diagnosed with ovarian cancer and I was like, oh no, wow.
Speaker 11:Yeah.
Speaker 9:So I got diagnosed pretty young and a lot of my healing was a lot of dietary changes. I did end up having surgery to have that one over. We removed, I refused radiation in chemo and during that time I was introduced to acupuncture for pain management and then kind of started to dabble in the naturopathic world which is where I exist now as a physician and really just went from what I was eating before and I just went strict vegan, and when I say vegan I mean vegan, Like we're talking fruits and veggies, Like that's it, Like smoothies and juices. I went hard and I've been in really good health ever since. I have recovered. I feel good, I've never had a recurrence and I would never go back.
Speaker 2:Wow, because when you started experiencing symptoms, you were like in your late 20s, at that point my 20s.
Speaker 9:Yeah, I was young, I was young for it, yeah. Well, how did?
Speaker 2:veganism come about.
Speaker 9:So the vegan aspect of it is I've always loved animals. I actually wanted to be a veterinarian. I didn't want to be a human doctor, but this is just where life took me. I never felt right eating animals. It never felt spiritually good to me. So for me it was just a really natural transition of changing my diet for health reasons but then continuing on because I do love animals so much.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah, it sounds like it was really aligned. I'm sure even more as you got more into practicing yoga. I'm sure that just like it was a very cohesive turn of events. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 9:That's just kind of like compassionate living, and I know for some people compassion exists in a lot of different ways, but for me, just in my heart, I can't do it. I just can't do it. Sometimes I think about, well, if I had different health issues but I changed my diet, I don't know. But I feel really aligned with not only just eating plant-based but also spiritually feeling grounded in my decision to be vegan. And it's been since then, so 10, whatever years, 10 plus years.
Speaker 2:That's incredible. And were you practicing as a physician yet at that time too, when you were going through all that?
Speaker 9:No, no, no, I was. This was before I went to medical school, and this is sort of what led me to medical school, because I didn't want anyone to go through the experience that I did, feeling really disempowered and not listened to, and especially as a female. So I wanted to go to school and do it differently, and that's what I do. I do it very differently now.
Speaker 2:So today I'm interviewing Fred Ford. He is an author, a speaker and a life coach. Actually, if you're familiar with the movie the Secret, who is Bob Proctor was a part of the Secret. Fred Ford actually trained with Bob Proctor and now Fred helps other people achieve improved health and reach their ideal weight through a coaching program called Think and Grow.
Speaker 15:Thin. I came home one day I actually watched a video from a guy named Dr Neil Barnard, and Dr Barnard said in his this particular speech, talking about how the whole food plant-based diet will help reverse heart disease.
Speaker 15:And here I was 61 years old, 350 pounds, with heart disease in my family. If I wasn't a candidate for a heart attack, I don't know who was. Dr Barnard said the scary thing about heart disease is that for many people, the first time they find out they have it is when they die of a heart attack. I came home and I said to my wife I want to try a whole food plant-based eating plan. She said, ok, we've been on that plan ever since. Oh my gosh, ever since, wow, I did not look back. I have consistently lost weight. I've consistently changed. Even within the vegan community there were differences about should you be eating this or that, and I've listened to all of it and I've adopted and I've changed as I went. But that's basically the history of how I came to a whole food plant-based eating. I made a decision that I was going to be 205 pounds and that decision was the first domino, and it's not that I look back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you put it out there and then a week later it's kind of just standing right there in front of you.
Speaker 15:It was right there. It's been there the whole time, but I never even considered whole food plant-based. I don't know why I just have embraced the idea that I'm a meat eater.
Speaker 2:I guess Right.
Speaker 15:And, in fact, one of the other life coaches that I work with said you got to do a podcast called the Unlikely Vegan, and I'm like I have enough going on. Sure, maybe sometime I will do that, because I am an unlikely candidate to have gone on this type of eating plan, if there is such a thing.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 15:But here I am.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm sure so many people could relate to that too, because I think so many people are like. Either they said at one point I can never give up cheese or I can never live without meat. And then here they are they're vegan or whole food plant-based. It's like I never expected to be here.
Speaker 15:Well, what I tell people is language is declarative nature. So if you say I can't go without meat, you can't, the truth is you can, but the bigger truth in your particular life is you are making that statement, you are declaring that you can't go without cheese and meat. Therefore, in fact, one of the clients in one of my coaching classes said that, and I did the wrong thing. He said I can't do a vegan diet. I said I know you can't and he said what do you mean? He got angry with me and I said you're declaring that you can't do a vegan diet. Therefore, you can't. It's Henry Ford.
Speaker 15:No relation said whether you think you can or whether you think you can't. You're right and you're declaring that you can't. So you can't Until you embrace the thought that that is a possibility and you can do it if you decide to do it and use this and see what happens, which is what I did. So if you would have known me, anyone who knows me and I said if I were to tell you, buy Fred a gift certificate to his favorite restaurant, and you gave it to 50 people who know me, not every one of them, with maybe minor exceptions, would give me a gift certificate to Teller's Chop House, which is my favorite steakhouse of all time Yep.
Speaker 15:And they know that I was a meat eater. I no longer am.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 15:You know no one's. You know it's been a crazy but a very fulfilling journey.
Speaker 2:OK, have you ever known someone who has made some vegans or given people who eat plant-based a hard time? Maybe you were one of these people. Well, today I am talking to someone who that used to be her exactly to a T. She used to give vegans, plant-based eaters, a hard time. She couldn't understand why you would eat that way, and it's amazing how we can completely change our tunes and turn 180.
Speaker 2:And when we think I could never go plant-based, I could never give a meat or I could never give up cheese, all of a sudden we're on the other side of that, and that is who I'm talking to, delaney Delaney Fisher, and she's actually a professional podcaster. She's also a serial entrepreneur, is a meat and advocate. We are very grateful to be a stepping stone, because I feel like that is what it takes, especially when you're starting to talk about it more. It is. It is scary, and especially when you had different viewpoints way back when, which I feel like most people listening can relate to that as well. It's like I used to say I could never give up cheese, or I used to maybe make fun of that vegan that I would go out to eat with, or whatever. I feel like most of us can relate to that at some level.
Speaker 16:Oh, totally. I mean I was straight up mean to the only vegan person I knew, Like I didn't realize I was being mean. I thought I was just being joking and funny, but I was rude and.
Speaker 16:I didn't. And then it's so interesting how life teaches you lessons, because now I get those same comments directed at me. I was like, oh my gosh, I really owe this person an apology, because now I know what this feels like on the receiving end and it is not cool, but I've been that person. So when people come at me with all kinds of stuff, I was like, look, I get it. I said those exact same things. I know, I know exactly how to feel. I've been there. I was eating meat and dairy for 28 plus years of my life. I got you.
Speaker 16:I get it.
Speaker 2:Have you received much pushback? I mean in addition to people asking questions or anything like that.
Speaker 16:But yeah, I think more in social situations where it's like OK, more for me, whatever you know that kind of something like OK, cool, I didn't say anything, or I hate that phrase, or even stereotype, where it's like oh, if you don't know somebody's vegan, don't worry, because they'll tell you. I'm sorry, y'all come at me when I'm at a party. You guys come to me and ask questions. I do not bring it up. I don't like bringing it up because I don't like talking about it when I'm the only one in the room, so I'm never going to bring that shit up.
Speaker 12:Oh, I don't know if I can swear.
Speaker 16:Sorry, ashley, no, you can't. And so when they're like, oh yeah, they're going to talk to you about it, I don't like that because it's not true. It's not true to my experience anyway. But you know, what's so funny is I was getting a lot of questions and a little bit of pushback from family and one of my family members. When I first said, hey, I'm going vegan, I truly felt like I was coming out with a really huge secret. Like just so you know, I've been vegan for many months and like this is what I do now.
Speaker 16:kind, of a thing, and this parent of mine was like why are you doing that? Well, don't ruin everybody else's meal by telling us anything about it, right? Guess what? That's my dad, and he is now the biggest vegan I have ever met in my life. What? Yes, my dad and my stepmom both went vegan, I think maybe a year or so after I did, not because of me, but because of just other things that they were looking into. Maybe I introduced the idea a little bit.
Speaker 16:But they actually listened to one of my podcast episodes with preacher Lawson, who's a hilarious comedian.
Speaker 2:I'm going to see him on Friday.
Speaker 16:I love him, he's so great. Yeah, and he was talking about how he went vegan and how Ed Winters Earthling. Ed was a huge inspiration for him. He was so excited. I'm going to be interviewing soon and I cannot wait. Oh my gosh, I got it. Yes. So my parents tuned into that episode. They ended up watching Earthlings together and, like with 48 hours, they were vegan, and so it's very funny to see the people that were giving me some of the most pushback are actually more vegan and outspoken than I am.
Speaker 12:Like they are more passionate about it.
Speaker 16:Yes, that has been a very cool snowball effect to see Nobody else in my family or anything is vegan. But two of my parents made that decision and the results that they have had have been mind blowing. I mean everything from being able to go off cholesterol and blood pressure medication, sleeping better, joint pain. My mom or my stepmom, had horrible allergies. Like every day, all times of the year has no allergies anymore, zero, wow. It doesn't even have them Like we went to. There's a place called the Gentle Barn in Santa Clarita.
Speaker 16:Yes, I love that place and we went there. She's like, oh my gosh, I forgot my allergy medication, I'm going to be a mess. Just nothing, no reaction. They were so excited. They told me that they got one of their checkups from their doctor. They took their blood and looked up all their levels and they told my parents you guys have the insides of if you were 30-something-year-olds.
Speaker 12:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 16:And they're 50-60s, like whatever you're doing, keep doing, because internally you're like 30 years old. Wow. Like that's crazy. That's crazy to think that a doctor is telling you that you are adding so many years to your life because of whatever changes that you have made.
Speaker 2:Yep, yeah, yeah, because, delaney, I mean, when you get old, you're supposed to have high cholesterol, you're supposed to have high blood pressure You're supposed to be the sickly person. Yes, no, it doesn't have to be that way.
Speaker 16:Yes, exactly, and we've been all shocked by that Because I didn't even realize what that could do for somebody close to 60 years old, right, what that lifestyle changed Like oh gosh, well, you got like five decades worth of stuff. I wonder if it will do like some of the same kind of reversing that maybe it did for me and it did, and we were all blown away. I mean, they are so passionate about it and I think it is because they made that decision in more like a midlife age range, yeah, and I am so grateful because I'm like I'm going to have my parents longer on the planet.
Speaker 2:Yes, oh my gosh.
Speaker 16:It's not just a diet Like it is your life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, and not only are you going to have them around longer, but they're probably going to feel better than if they were to continue going up on their statins, going up on their high blood pressure medication, probably adding more medication to the list Like what a difference in their quality of life.
Speaker 16:Exactly and like you know what, if somebody was promoting a pill that did all of this stuff, we would all be taking it in a heartbeat yes Right, like we wouldn't even have to think about it. But because there's unfortunately still such a stigma around veganism and plant-based and whatever having a dairy-free stuff that there's so much resistance and I just wish there wasn't. I wish there wasn't so many obstacles to having meaningful conversations with people about it. But there seems to be so much resistance still.
Speaker 16:And it just bums me out because I'm like I just really feel like you're missing out and I care about you, but I can't say that because you're just going to label me a judgy pushy vegan.
Speaker 5:Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well, it's honestly people like you who are going out here story being transparent, vulnerable, saying like, hey, I didn't used to think this way five, six years ago. That is going to help break this stigma that we have, and it's examples of the laundry detergent that's going to make it even more relatable.
Speaker 16:I love that.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 16:I really think of it as like if I was at brunch with my girlfriends and somebody was talking about how they had a really bad rash on their arm or something and I knew exactly what cream could cure the rash because I had tried it I would not even think twice to be like, hey, you should try this cream that I had. I had that same rash and it cured it within a few days, or whatever. But when people, when I'm at brunch and they're talking about health related issues or things like that, I don't feel like I can share as freely as like have you tried this thing? Have you tried replacing this product with this product? Because they can't hear it. They don't hear it.
Speaker 16:They just hear vegan, vegan, vegan. So, it makes me sad because I share other things freely, but I just have learned who I can share that stuff with and who I can't. And it's a bummer because you want to help the people that you love and you want to give them options, but there's just still kind of a block there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I know it seems like food how we eat is just so wrapped up in our identity. It's hard when you're in the thick of it to see someone else's point of view, no matter really what it is and how they're eating. But when someone has had the success like you have had, like I have had, like I know a lot of people listening have had, it's so hard to watch others suffer. When you're like I feel like I potentially have the answer for you, but I can't quite say it because I know that there's this wall that's already up or going to be put up.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 16:Exactly, and it's almost like OK, how uncomfortable do I feel like being today?
Speaker 4:If.
Speaker 16:I have to be super uncomfortable to bring this up.
Speaker 16:Sometimes I will, depending, like if it's a family member or something. If it's a parent, I'll bring it up, but if it's a friend or an acquaintance, I'm just not willing to be this uncomfortable for what I know is about to happen. I just have to kind of sit here quietly and bite my tongue a little bit. And yeah, it's unfortunate, because I really wish somebody would have been able to get through to me as early as possible. I really wish, instead of being rude to my first vegan friend in college, I really wish that she would have been able to have a conversation with me and maybe open me up a little bit. But I wasn't willing to hear it, I wouldn't be receptive to it, and so I also think of that as like I know that I would have wanted somebody kind of in my corner in that way. Am I willing to be that person for other people? And the honest answer is sometimes, and sometimes not, because sometimes I just feel like I got to protect my own energy and mental health around the topic.
Speaker 2:Today I have an incredible guest with me. Her name is Kate. She hails from Australia, which I didn't know when we were recording, and we talk about that a little bit later in our conversation. One thing that we talk about today and if this is something that you struggle with, it was really, really helpful we talk about 10 tips to make adopting a plant-based lifestyle easy. I know sometimes it can feel like a struggle or a hurdle or like am I doing everything quote right, these 10 tips are really, really beneficial.
Speaker 2:Kate also takes it a step further and she is very transparent about talking about how not to be angry when you're vegan or you're plant-based. We live in a non-vegan world and so sometimes it can be really challenging when family members or close friends just don't quite understand and have even strangers sometimes, and so she just shares her wisdom there and I really appreciate it. Well, I know that you've been in the fitness space for a really long time, so I'm curious, when you made that transition from vegetarian to vegan, if you noticed anything in your body composition, in your recovery, your training, anything like that.
Speaker 10:Great question I will share. I was in a very male, dominant bro science type of a gym and I was already the weird one for being vegetarian. But they couldn't dispute that I was fit and healthy and never off work. And when I announced that I'm now going vegan, one of the trainers who's very science-based and I do respect he was like well, goodbye lean muscle. And at that point I had decided that it wasn't about vanity and how I looked. If I chucked on a bit of fat and lost a bit of muscle, that was OK, it was worth it for the animals and in fact really nothing changed. I maybe got a little bit stronger, I didn't lose muscle. I didn't put on fat Like so many people come to realize. The food was so much better. I'd been quite kind of, I guess, basic with my lack of diversity with my vegetarian diet. I tried so much more with the vegan approach. So only good things.
Speaker 2:Yes, oh, I love hearing that that is so amazing that you got a little bit stronger your composition didn't really change much and that you were I'm assuming feeling really great too, because you were eating more variety and kind of stepping outside what you'd eaten maybe for a long time.
Speaker 10:The main thing was the emotional feeling and the congruency and the lack of that. You will notice, though, that the heaviness that you carry around, even if you're unaware of that lack of congruency, there's still a heavy witness that you carry around, and it's like it's lifted when you really do align your eating actions with your beliefs.
Speaker 2:It's true. It's true. There's something that that connection just goes so much deeper with the food that you're eating. The appreciation I feel like is greater. And I feel like so many people also say I am eating just like you said. Okay, I'm eating so much more than I thought. I'm going in parts of the grocery store that I never thought I would go into because I am vegan or plant based or not eating to be meat anymore.
Speaker 10:For sure. And like you're trying new foods, you're finding new foods less fear. Like I come from that background for like a decade or so, where carbs were the enemy and it was all about super high protein, super low carbohydrate and, bit by bit, I was just seeking out those vegan I guess positive influences who had the body and the strength and the fitness that I wanted, and I was looking at what they ate and I saw that they ate potatoes and bananas and lentils. And I saw that they ate soy. I'd been off soy for a few years by then, so so much deliciousness invited back into my life yes, I love hearing that.
Speaker 2:And potatoes are amazing, so we love potatoes around here and bananas.
Speaker 11:For sure, 100%.
Speaker 2:So today I have with me Lashonda, who is currently living in Florida. She is an attorney, wellness coach, business owner and lover of all things health and nutrition. She began her journey before, I would imagine, most of you began your vegan journey, so she shares what that day was or what that year was. And then, in 2013, as an outlet for grief after losing her grandmother, she created a Facebook group and started sharing some of her own journey.
Speaker 12:And then one day I remember it was right after Fourth of July I was visiting my parents and I was the only one at home didn't feel like cooking and decided to go out and like grab you know some chicken or something. Right, I remember it was chicken wings. I never ate chicken wings, but for some reason I grabbed them for like two or three days. Stage Great, that's all I was eating. And I remember being home, bored out of my mind, and I turned on the TV and nothing was on TV but PBS. So turned on PBS and it must have been like the marathon day of food documentaries and it was one after the next, after the next, and then the one that got me was the. There was a documentary about parasites in chicken and at that moment I went cold turkey. I decided overnight I was like okay, there was like two different documentaries on parasites. It was very detailed, yeah, and I just couldn't get it out of my mind. So I went cold turkey, but I believe I was prepared for it, right, because I was online back then.
Speaker 12:You didn't have a lot you know to look at other than blogs, and so I was following this young lady out of England and she was doing. She was overweight, she was doing juice cleansing, so all I knew was either eat the chicken or juice cleanse. And so I figured give up the chicken, give up the meat, and I'm just going to do juicing, right. And then I started that for a little while. And then I'm still following her and looking for more information, but still not finding it.
Speaker 12:And as I continued to research, I found some people who were raw vegans. So I started raw vegans, so I started this vegan journey, like on the extreme. And you didn't have the resources. You didn't have the Facebook, you know. You didn't have any of these social media pages. You hardly had any bloggers who are out there. You couldn't, you weren't running into anyone who was vegan, or hardly. You know, there were some vegetarians, but that was completely different, and so I was just trying to like, not stumble. So as long as it was a vegetable or fruit, I knew I was in the right, you know. And so I did that for about six months and it just took a toll on me.
Speaker 12:It took such a big toll on me, health wise, that I was. Finally, I remember one day I woke up, I was trying to get out of bed and I remember my eyes were open but my body couldn't move. And so I'm just sitting there like trying to get my body to move and I couldn't, and it took a while. And when I was finally able to get up I was slow, was a little thargic, and a friend told me go to one of these natural like grocery stores. There's usually people there. They can help you figure out, like what you need.
Speaker 12:And one of the best things happened to me when I walked in that store I let this lady know what I was doing. She understood it. She was familiar with veganism. She shared a little bit with me. She was like you don't have to be raw. And then she's B12, which literally saved my life that I would take the. I've been taking B12 every single morning since 2006 because of this lady, oh my goodness. And it allowed me to. It allows me to wake up in the morning, Like it. I mean for me it was a miracle drug because I figured what was happening is because I was doing raw and juicing, I was missing the B12 and it dropped from me.
Speaker 12:Yeah, right, and so, yeah, that's kind of how I started my journey. It really truly was a. I tell people all the time I went vegan for health, but the truth is I started veganism because of a chicken Right, so it was really a little bit of a mom Yep Chicken and parasites.
Speaker 2:Wow, that lady probably has no idea either the impact that she had on you. I mean, oh my goodness.
Speaker 12:And what it did. It allowed me to understand that. Look, you know, even though I couldn't find the resources online, I could look into the community for those resources, and that opened up the door for me.
Speaker 12:So at the time I was living in Atlanta, which there's a lot of vegan restaurants there were a lot of vegan restaurants back then, some that were what did they call like idol vegans, you know kind of like a Rastafarian type of vegan, and so I was able to taste some really great vegan creations early in the process, even though the stuff in the stores was horrible. All the processed foods were terrible. Yeah, all the protein powders had horrible aftertaste. Yeah, process vegan food was not great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, no, not back in 2006. That's for sure. I mean, okay, I think, facebook I don't know if it had been invented yet, or it was like just becoming, like it was just starting to come around.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay. So, like technology and finding, having like resources or information at your fingertips back then was so much more challenging to find, whether it was, like you said, like through a blog or through a forum where you're reading like post after post. I mean, sometimes you know you had to go to your like library or your encyclopedia to find something. Yes, so I remember that. This is why we talk about supplementing with vitamin B12 all the time, because when you're eating a plant-forward diet, our modern farming practices and just the way we sanitize our produce nowadays, vitamin B12 isn't as a as of a reliable source from the foods that we eat with compared to like many, many years ago. And so that's. I'm so glad that you found that, lashonda. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 12:Yeah, it's, and it's amazing because the days that I did not take it now, during that time I was studying for the bar exam, so I didn't have a choice but to be able to be awake and alert, like it was really challenging time. But the liquid B12 every morning it was like I guess, you know I don't drink coffee, so I guess I look at it kind of like it was kind of like my coffee in the morning, but it sustained me throughout the day and if I didn't take it then I went right back to that lethargic state and so, yeah, I make sure I have my bottles with me when I travel.
Speaker 12:Yeah, like I have it all the time and I look back at it now and I'm like, wow, I had a lot of challenges in the beginning that should have deterred me and I would say for the first four years I was very, very diligent with, you know, being 100% compliant, like extremely diligent.
Speaker 12:I looked at one of your other podcasts and you had a young lady on who was talking about PCOS. So I also had PCOS and part of the reason why I stuck to the diet is because of the PCOS. Because someone one doctor mentioned at some point in time that I could get to the point where I'm pre-diabetic or diabetic and I was like that's unacceptable. Yeah, so I knew I could see the end and I was like, nope, you know I'm going to have to stick this thing out because I know that this helps me. All the symptoms, all the issues that come along with that, I had all of them and the majority of them were just, you know, they had diet down because of the diet, exercise and all that helped keep my stress levels down. But the diet has the big, it has had the biggest effect overall, especially hormonally.
Speaker 2:I am very honored today to actually be interviewing a fellow CrossFit athlete, which is really exciting because we talk about a lot of things which I will get to in just a minute. But not only am I interviewing a fellow CrossFit athlete, but George Matthews, who is on the show today. He is a vegan athlete and he happens to be the captain of the vegan, strong plant-built CrossFit team. George is extremely passionate about fitness and the vegan lifestyle, and George is also a helicopter pilot for the United States Coast Guard, which he talks about. And if this, his vegan journey started after a health problem while he was in white school and his dream was to always become a pilot in the Coast Guard, and here he was facing a health problem that was going to probably get him let it be this whole life from pursuing his dreams Around 2008,.
Speaker 4:I was in flight school. My full-time job is a helicopter pilot in the Coast Guard, so it was the only thing I ever wanted to do with my life. I spent my whole you know, younger life trying to get to that point. And then when I got to flight school, I actually had a lot of problems with sinuses. So I was getting sinus infections constantly pretty much, and with that I was always taking antibiotics. Just felt like garbage so, and at the time I wasn't really working out much. I maybe drank too much, I didn't sleep well, I didn't really prioritize my health at all.
Speaker 4:But I was at the point where I was about to get medically disqualified from flight training and I had a surgery and then I had to get a second surgery. The first they fixed my septum and then they went in and like, did some other stuff and neither of the surgeries really worked. So it was kind of the end of the road. And I finally had a doctor who was like, well, have you tried cutting out dairy? And I had never heard of that. It didn't make any sense to me. But I was willing to try anything at that point because I wanted to become a pilot and I didn't want to get you know stopped from doing that because of my sinus problem. So I cut out dairy and almost immediately felt better. It was kind of incredible how quickly I recovered from that and really since then haven't I've maybe had to take antibiotics maybe once Since then and, you know, since 2008, my sinus problems were basically gone.
Speaker 4:So I got very curious after that initial just switch and I thought maybe, hey, let's try to get rid of red meat and see how I feel. So I felt a little bit better after that and then I went. After I finished flight school, I went to Puerto Rico and I was eating chicken and fish and then eventually just stopped eating all that and went fully vegan. And it was really when I learned about the ethical and the environmental and the other parts of veganism that I really got into it and have been vegan now for 10, 11 years, 12 years, something like that.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's incredible. What's wild, too, is that this is something that you were looking forward to doing. It sounded like your entire life, like you wanted to be a pilot. You wanted to go through flight school, which, from what I understand, is not easy to get through. Is that right? It wasn't for me.
Speaker 4:I'm sure some people would say it was easy. But no, I challenge. It was a huge challenge for me. In the midst of trying to get medically disqualified, I also came very close to failing out. I got to the point where I had to get a board where they talked about my performance and all that stuff and then I was basically at the point of if I failed another flight or another event, I was going to be going home. So I went through about probably a year and a half of having my back against the ropes without it. So I barely made it. Barely made it, but survived and doing it now.
Speaker 2:Yes, and it's wild that something I don't want to say, something that really you weren't really taught a lot about growing up with your sinus issues, that this was something that almost got you medically disqualified from again holding you up from pursuing your dream.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I didn't really expect that and, you know, never in a million years would I have thought that that was the thing that would have stopped me. I mean, granted, even in full, 100% health. I was so close to failing out anyway, but that certainly didn't help. But, yeah, that was almost the thing that ended in, and there's so many medical tests and little things that they do where you can get disqualified from all these things and people actually get medically disqualified for a lot of different stuff going into it. So I was extremely fortunate that we kind of figured it out and were able to get through that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So then you, your doctor recommends giving up dairy. You give it a try and it sounds like. From then on you're like, wow, there's actually something to this, because it made an impact on your health.
Speaker 4:Yeah, a huge impact. And that's what people ask me a lot. They're like, you know, did you notice anything different? And really I went vegan over you know period of probably three or four, maybe five years, something like that. So. But immediately after cutting out dairy, it was night and day. I felt totally different because I had some type of an allergy from that. So I felt way way better after that and then, incrementally, each step I took to remove things from my diet, I felt better and better and now I think it's a huge, you know, reason that I'm able to perform and still do this job many years later.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for listening to the Plant Centered and Thriving podcast today. If you found this episode inspiring, please share it with a friend or post it on social media and tag me so I can personally say thank you. Until next time, keep thriving.