Latest / Two Girls and a Cup of Wellness / Go All In with Ann and Rip Esselstyn Transforming Your Health Through Plant-Strong Living Episode 42

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Go All In with Ann and Rip Esselstyn Transforming Your Health Through Plant-Strong Living Episode 42 · Two Girls and a Cup of Wellness

• Marie: All right, guys. Well, welcome back for another Two Girls in a Couple Wellness chat. This is Chrissy. This is Marie. And today we have Ann Asselton and her son Rip Essleton. Welcome. Welcome. Rip: Welcome, welcome. Thanks for having us. Marie: You're welcome. Ann: Thank you. We are the Assel Stins. Marie: Esselstons. I do I do have an issue with pronunciation. I make up my own words. If you watch my show, I like to pronounce things my way. Sorry, but Esselstins. Got it. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you for taking time out of both of your days. I know from watching you guys on social media, you are busy, busy, busy. And I love nothing more than to sit back and watch some of your videos. they're so fun. informational, educational, inspiring, and we are just beyond honored to have you guys on our show today. So how are you feeling beyond Miss Anne? Ann: I'm fine. I have no way to get onto social media except I have my granddaughter gave me a system, so I have two things I see on social media. One is Rip's Instagram and two is Jane's. That's my exposure. Marie: Mm-hmm. A lot of perfect. Well. Two fabulous ones to watch. Probably plenty. Yeah. In today's world. Rip: Yeah. And and and and Ann, as you guys are probably well aware, she does a lot of stuff with my sister Jane on her Marie: Mm-hmm. Rip: YouTube channel. They do a lot of cooking videos, demonstrations, and people love the duo of Marie: Yes. Rip: Jan Jane and Ann, and you know, kind of the the chemistry that they have. Marie: Yeah. Yeah. And we got your book right behind us. Ann: yeah. Marie: Yeah. It's good. But I love the idea of the YouTube videos. And mainly because especially when people start talking about going plant based or slowly starting to take out some of the animal based products, right? And in their food and and diet. I know for myself after breast cancer, I had breast cancer back in 2020. And I was like, okay, well, one of the things when I was done with chemotherapy, because I could only savor as many taste buds as I could to get what I could get down. but after that, I was like, okay, I'm gonna go plant based. And I know it was very difficult, it was sticky, it wasn't, it didn't feel natural. And to be able to have videos of two amazing women who make it fun. To be able to watch is really, really amazing. So everybody's got to check that out. Cause I think that's a really great first start in to starting to incorporate eating plant-based and starting to remove certain things out. For those of you who are wanting to dive into that, and we'll talk about I'll rip all your amazing stuff too, because with Plant Strong, I definitely want to talk about Plant Strong and all of that, because that's fabulous too. All your products Ann: But actually Marie: and Ann: I disagree with you about something. Totally. Marie: I love it. Ann: Because I think if you're gonna do it, to do it f little bit by little bit is absurd. What you need to do is do it. Just do it. And and and I grip grip has the American, Marie: Like cold turkey, but not turkey. Cocail. Rip: Cold kale, cold kale. Ann: what do you call it when you have a ten twenty day thing for people they they join they do it for 20 days a challenge and but Rip: Well you have a y well yep. Yeah. Exactly. Marie: Like a challenge. Mm-hmm. Ann: if you do something for a period of time suddenly your taste is changing and you can do it. I mean you you you don't feel it's you say I'm gonna do it for 20 days or 40 days and then I won't do it anymore. Well you've done it for that and then you realize I can do it. And if you're just doing it Marie: You can do it. Yeah. Yeah. Well I I think it's after Ann: If you're doing it as you started, first of all, the benefit isn't there. And why? If you're gonna do it, do it. Marie: Yeah. A hundred percent. That's my dad's philosophy. When my dad went plant paste, he was all in a hundred percent. He said, You don't eat cheese on pizza. You don't eat macaroni with meatballs. And I said, Who are you, Dad? I've been preaching this stuff for years. Rip: Yeah. Ann: Rip Rip hasn't like a Jew found people and make a difference that way. Rip. Marie: rep. Rip: Anne, Anne, say the question again. It it I didn't quite hear it. Ann: Aren't your twenty day challenges, haven't they been very successful? Rip: Well, so we we've we've had all kinds of challenges over the years. So I my first book that came out was called The Engine Two Diet, and the call to action was to try this for twenty-eight days. Ann: What are you? Rip: and we got and we got phenomenal results in twenty-eight days. And then I retired from firefighting in two thousand and nine because John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, said, Rip, if you really want to take helping people and saving lives to the next level. Retire from firefighting and come work with Whole Foods, use our bully pulpit and really get this message out to the masses. and so in this relationship that I had with Whole Food Market Stores, one of the things that he asked me to do was to take some of his sickest team members and to put them through kind of the gauntlet of of of eating this way, of kind of changing their mindset, understanding the the science. the the the impact that nutritionally that this way of eating in just seven days has. And and so my third book is called The Engine 2 Seven Day Rescue Diet. And so a lot of people will say, 28 days is too long, but anybody can do seven days. And what we discovered is that in seven days, the body does so much more than we ever thought was possible to heal itself. At a molecular and a cellular level, you can check this with your blood chemistry, your lipid profile, your total cholesterol, your LDL, your HDL, your triglycerides, your fasting glucose. literally, it's mind-numbing. People have to titrate down off their meds or come off their medications. So to Ann's initial question, yes, try it, go all in, right? Cold kale, I would recommend start do it for seven days. And if you have a baseline, some baseline blood work, weight, Marie: Yeah. Rip: blood pressure that you can measure it against in the next seven days, I think that you will go, Whoa, that was a cinch. I was eating in a in a way that was all about abundance, not deprivation. Marie: Yeah. Rip: I was eating all these colors and textures and All these flavor profiles that I typically am not consuming day to day. and wow, you know what? I'll go another seven and another seven. And I've had people in my book signings that have come up after doing this for a year and a half. They've lost 120 pounds, reversed their diabetes, off all their meds. So it is borderline miraculous what Marie: Powerful. It's absolutely. Rip: can happen. Yeah. Marie: Yeah. So I'm a nurse Ann: But it is Marie: practitioner. sorry. Go ahead, Ann. Rip: Ha ha Ann: But it is it is easy when you have breast cancer, when you have some reason to do it. That makes it easy. Marie: Yeah, I agree. Ann: The hard part is what is just the general population who thinks, Marie: Yeah. Ann: you know, I'm not really sick. Marie: Yeah. Yeah. That's in general too, right? Most people don't want to make drastic changes to their lifestyle until they have to, until it's too late, until it's time to so true. You know, take a deep breath and now freak out because they gotta make changes to their lifestyle because they are ill and sick and unwell. Right. So it's like, don't wait, people, don't wait. Yeah. So what I was gonna say Rip: Yeah. Yeah. Well Marie: is I just had a patient that came to me, a young girl. And she was doing a keto, a high fat, high meat-based diet. And she didn't feel good, she felt sick. And I checked her cholesterol. And her total cholesterol was 308. And I have a background as a cardiovascular ICURN. So that makes me very nervous. Yeah. Right? But I I am a big advocate for patient education and teaching in lifestyle medicine instead of just throwing somebody on a medication because I know the side effects of it, specifically for a woman going on a statin. So I gave her an opportunity. I said, listen, I don't want you to eat any animal-based products, maybe fish once in a while. And her blood total glucose glucose, not cholesterol, came back at 202 after I gave her, I gave her a full three months. But I was Rip: Yeah. Marie: nervous for her to go get her blood work. But I said, You win the gold star of the week. You're the best patient I have right now. So it is Rip: Yeah. Yeah. Marie: absolutely true with a huge impact. Rip: Well, I w and I would and I'll tell you that y for people that don't wanna wait a month or two months or three months to get their post blood work done, literally get it in seven days. there's ways now that you can do it where you don't have to align yourself with a physician and get a prescription to make this happen. It's right, it's Marie: yeah. Mm-hmm. Rip: it's super easy. And What we discovered is that in seven days we have people dropping their cholesterol a hundred, hundred and twenty points. Seven days. That's what I mean. Marie: Wow. Rip: it's it is so dramatic. And then that way you don't have to wait three months to s to to say to yourself, is this working or is it not working? Right. Marie: Is this working? Yeah. Ann: Well, you can Marie: Yeah. Ann: just go to one of those seven day immersions. that's awesome. That also is a good beginning. Rip: Yeah. Yeah. Marie: Yeah. I saw that. So you have these types of immersion retreats, right, Rip? Rip: Right, right. We call them wellness retreats now, plant strong wellness retreats. We s really started these in two thousand and ten, like I mentioned, with Whole Foods unhealthiest team membership. They had to medically qualify to attend. So they had to have like a BMI over a certain level. They had to have a total cholesterol over a certain level, LDL over a certain level, already had a brush with heart disease, diabetes. Cancer, something of that nature. but so we took the same playbook that we had basically built up over a decade with Whole Foods and their team members, and we started offering it to the public in 2021. And so we do two of these a year. We do one in Black Mountain, North Carolina. It's gorgeous. It's so verdant and Marie: I'm sure. Rip: green, and you know, these two. streams that just bifurcate through the property. it's on the literally on the side of a mountain. It's about a thousand acres. Go on the most amazing hikes and excursions during the week. And Ann: Amazing code. Rip: yeah Marie: Do guys need a yoga instructor? Rip: Well, you what is funny you a we do actually have we have a yoga a local yoga instructor, but is that you? Are you a yoga instructor? Marie: I am. Rip: Okay, raise your hand then. and then the other the other one, that's usually in April, so in the spring. And then in the fall we have one in the beautiful red rocks of Sedona, Arizona. Marie: Yeah. Saw that one too. So beautiful there. It's Rip: Yeah. Marie: so peaceful there too. Rip: Yeah. But but Ann: Alright. Rip: I I really can't we intentionally picked locations where it's very difficult to order order Uber Eats, right? And and and and Marie: Yeah. Rip: so we basically have you we have you in our in our grasp for a whole week. You are forced to eat copious amounts of steel cutouts and Five servings of green leafy vegetables a day and all kinds of sweet potato lasagnas and casseroles and Marie: Sounds heavenly. Rip: and and and plant-based burgers and pizzas. So it is, it's very heavenly. We love doing it. Marie: Yeah. Rip: and yeah, it's magical. It's magical. And like we just had one in Sedona, we had a hundred participants, and by the time Marie: Wow. Rip: we leave, six six and a half days later. You we really feel like family. And it's amazing how many of these people Marie: Yeah. That's nice. Rip: feel feel alone where they live and how they're doing this. They don't feel like they have support. And so they finally come together and they feel like they have finally they don't feel like the weird one. They don't feel alone and they've kind of found their tribe. So it's it's a beautiful thing. Marie: Yeah. Ann: And Rip, I do Marie: Well Ann: believe that you do give some scholarships occasionally. Is that right? Rip: This is true. This is true. We do. It it's a a need based thing, but yes. Yeah. Marie: Yeah. Yeah. No, it it seems like a really a great reset, right? So coming together, first of all, people coming together and gathering is very healing in itself. And then the food that you're eating is nourishing. And then just being able to completely disconnect. I'm sure they're not, you know, on their phones as much as they would be in their normal day to day lives or computers or laptops. So all of that is just hitting that reset button and and creating kind of like a a new route and a new vibe within them. Rip: Well, you know what, you make a good point. So the the location in Sedona, it's ten miles up this dirt road. And it's very hard to get any kind of a internet signal. Ann: Perception. Rip: So it it is truly for some of these for some of these people, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be off the grid and truly connect with yourself, your thoughts, your you know, your whole internal vibrations. and those of the participants that are with you without being bombarded by all the distractions and the negativity that we get typically from our scrolling through our phone, Instagram, Facebook, Marie: Mm. Rip: the the daily news, all that. So yeah, it's something we we cherish, Marie: Yeah. Right. And just the business. Rip: we cherish, cherish these weeks. Marie: So is everybody cooking together and learning how to prep? No. Just Anne? Rip: So we so we have go ahead Ann. Go ahead and no, so Ann: No, yeah. Go ahead. No, you go ahead 'cause you Rip: we we there's too many people for that and so we don't have designated Marie: Mm. Rip: little cook cooking stations for that. But every day Jane gives a cooking demonstration that's usually 45 minutes and she covers everything from sauces to breakfast, quick breakfasts, lunches, dinners. sauces, desserts, and typically goes through anywhere between five to eight different recipes every session. and so that's that's a lot of fun. Marie: Mm-hmm. That's great. Yeah. Super helpful. Ann: They have great speakers too. So it's it's a real, really special experience that life changing for almost every I would say everybody that goes. Marie: Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's it's not only bringing in again, I'm the yogi here. So to me, anytime you can slow down and reset and then be with people, kind of going there, all for the same reason, really, right? They may have their o the umbrella of the reasoning of going there is change and is learning and is is growth, right? Becoming somebody different than going in there. And it really just comes back to the whole mind and body connection, right? What you put in your body is also gonna just change your essence and and how you show up in the world and your actions. because your body is like, thank you. This is what I I was craving instead of the Doritos or, you know, certain things like that. Now I it's hard for me to say no to pizza, but I'm gonna try. Rip: Well, well but the great thing about the great go ahead, Anne, go ahead. Ann: Rip, talk about the pizza because it's just Rip: Well no, yeah, well, it's just e you just take a whole grain crust, pizza, and then you add a nice, barbecue sauce or red sauce or a spinach hummus, and then you dress it up however you want, right? Sun dried tomatoes, black beans, pineapple, spinach, kale, a caramelized onion. Ann: I've just put a lettuce on top of it and then some balsamic vinegar. it's Marie: yeah. Ann: y it's great. Rip: Yeah. Yeah. Marie: Yeah. Yeah. It I think Rip: Yeah. So you yeah, yeah, you just yeah. So you just you just want you to you just want to Ann: This company makes the best pizza crust too. Rip: You Marie: homemade pizza crust is the best. I gotta work on that. Rip: You yeah. So you just wanna leave off the meat and the cheese and then you get to have another two slices, same calorie content. You get to you know, it's there's a principle called volumetrics. And when you eat whole food plant based because it's so calorie light and nutrient dense, you essentially get to eat a greater quantity of food and you don't have to play the counting calories, counting points, measuring weighing your food game, which is very liberating. Yeah. Marie: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Now Ian, what is your favorite thing to make? Ann: Well, I want to tell you before I answer that something else that relates Marie: Okay, okay. Rip: Ha ha. Ann: before. And that is just before the COVID hit, Jane had a conference that she has every year, a woman's conference. That and the last and people were all in person in Cleveland, and the last speaker was our daughter-in-law, Polly Labar, who is brilliant speaker, and she Marie: Mm. Ann: Commented at that conference that you need to do something, she said, for 40 days, and then it is yours. And it happened that we had just gotten a call from our son Ted, who said that he just knew that my husband would love a Peloton. He had just gotten a Peloton bike and he just knew as he would love it. And I said, and I I thought Nah, but because he really liked his own bike. And then suddenly, maybe around Christmas time, there was a great sale. And so I thought I bought the Peloton. Essie wasn't even interested to get on it and try it. It was this expensive bike. And so I thought, what am I gonna do? So I called Polly, my daughter-in-law, who had c made the comment about 40 days. I said, Polly, I'm gonna ride the bike every day for 20 minutes before breakfast for 40 days. And she said, fine, but text me every time after you do it. Marie: Accountability. Ann: For twenty 40 days, I did it. Actually, after the 20th day, I said, Polly, why 40 days? And Marie: Yeah. Ann: she said the The L the the universe is with you at that point. The magic of the inner universe. So on the day 40, I got off. And on day 41, guess what? Back on. Marie: Back on. Ann: Every day since then, I don't necessarily ride the Peloton, but I do not have breakfast until I have had. Done some exercise, gone outside, done something, but it for twenty, thirty minutes. And in my rest of my life, I used to I exercised all the time, but sometimes it would be five o'clock, six o'clock. Marie: Yeah. Ann: I hadn't done anything. So now now I do. Marie: That's me today. Rip: Well, and and and and and I think Marie: That's amazing. Rip: what's so incredible about that story is if you knew how much Ann loves to eat, and the fact that she basically has to put that exercise, twenty minutes of exercise before she eats, is a fantastic way of her habitually meeting all those goals, right? So Marie: Yeah. Rip: that she just lines them up. That's so smart, Anne. Ann: That's why I'm Marie: That is. Ann: saying do something for a period of time. It's yours. Marie: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Create that habit. Absolutely. Absolutely. Because I there's We can change. And there's a lot of people that don't want to change, right? They say they do and they'll go down a path. And then when things start to get difficult, like your day 20, right? They get to the point where they really are in a fork of the road. Do I keep on going or I quit? It's much easier to quit and go back to my own ways. But if you have either somebody holding you accountable, right? Or you're just like, no, I am not turning backwards and going back to who I was. I'm going to keep going down this path. That's when it just starts to become now you are now that person. Right. And now you are no longer look back. you not not working out before eating is just not even a thing. So we can change people. We can change. Keep that in mind. Ann: I ha I sometimes have had lunch, breakfast at three, but Rip: man, man. Anne, and Marie: Ha ha Rip: what have you done what have you done today for exercise? Ann: Well, I have a a little sort of yoga thing I do at seven with my sister in law and my sister and another person who teaches it. So I did that at seven and then I went outside and I went out for a mile and now and I hanged. Hung. What do you call it? Marie: You didn't I I I hung. Rip: You you did the dead hang. You did the dead hang today? Really? For how long? For how long? Marie: You did it. Ann: Well, I had a little I had a crazy thing. I was cut you know those big clippers that you cut trees with? Marie: Uh-huh. Ann: And I was cutting all these trees and I was reaching up on this side and I didn't have enough strength. And so I stuck it here to try and c clip see if I could get strength that way. And I ended up breaking my ribs right here, right through here. So Marie: no. Ann: But I wasn't able to hang for a while. So I'm getting Rip: Yeah. Ann: back to hanging. Rip: And and she's the hanging queen, right? Marie: I'm sure your body is like We know, we know. It's amazing. It's two time winner. It's it it Rip: Well Marie: it's beyond amazing. It's just it's it's mind blowing to me. And it just goes to show number one, no excuses. Don't tell me you can't do something, right? You gotta start somewhere. We all need to practice because we barely made it past 30 seconds. Yes. We did. Rip: Ha you tried. You tried. Good. Good. Marie: My husband did it too. We took videos today. Rip: And so what what what did you find was your limiting factor at thirty seconds? Marie: For me, I was like, okay, I need to get off and actually do some of this. But I could start to feel my mind kicking in and was like, okay, Chrissy, you're done. Right. Like my that's exactly what my mind was saying is okay, Chrissy, you're done. However, I know sometimes not to listen to my mind. And when I get home later today and I'm actually gonna get my workout in, I'm gonna shoot for 10 seconds longer. And I'll just kind of keep adding on as many as I can do. And when my mind tells me stop, stay longer. I say that to all of my yoga people, all of my students as well. When the pose itself starts to say, when your body's like, okay, get out of your mind, not your body. When your mind is like, Okay, I could feel the burning in the leg. I need to get out. I need to get out. Stay in it a little longer, because that's where the sweet spot is. And it's different for everybody, right? Like I know not hanging. Every day, I'm not gonna do it and then boom, I'm gonna be where you're at, Anne. I gotta start somewhere. I'm gonna appreciate what I can do. Ann: would never have it never occurred to me, Rip, Rip, we were doing something with your group, and you one of the things you would ask them to do was to hang. And I said, Rip, I've I I've we have this great bar in our house and sometimes I've just gone up there because I feel it like it's good to sort of stretch your body, you know? And I and so Rip said, well how long can you do it? And I said, I don't know. And so when he was there on the phone I did it maybe for a minute and thirty and he was impressed. So Marie: Yeah, yeah. Ann: then he wanted me to keep doing it. I mean, I wouldn't have even thought of it. And so I kept, you know, I do what Rip says. So I So I kept I kept doing it. Marie: I love that. Didn't that used to be the other way around? That sounds like a T shirt. Ann: I kept doing it. I kept doing it. But what was interesting is Rip was doing it and this other friend of his. And so Rip really proudly one day said, you know, I did it for two minutes and 15 seconds. Rip: Sixteen. Yeah. Ann: And I s what? 16? And I said, Rip: yeah. Ann: Well, I did it for two minutes and twenty seconds. And when I realized I was better than Rip, I thought, yes, I am onto something. So Rip: Well, yeah, yes. If I could just add a little color around that. So it was February of this year, and every month we typically try and offer a a challenge to some of my social media followers. In February, it was hanging with rip. And so the goal was every day to try and do two minutes of hanging in totality, not at once, but just in totality, right? To build up Marie: Okay. I love that. All right, I'm gonna try that. Yeah. Rip: to build up the grip strength because we know just how it's so associated with longevity, back Marie: Longevity. Mm-hmm. Rip: strength, stretching yourself out, shoulder strength, just so many wonderful qualities. And then frankly, you mentioned you dropped at thirty w whatever. I find it just it sucks. It it it's like it's it's so hard on your your your finger. There you go. Yeah. Ann: Yes, we're getting a phone call. Rip: There you go. There you go. I find it so hard on your your fingers, your hands. You know, I you should see my the calluses that I have built up and Anne as well. Marie: Yeah. Yeah. Ann: I cannot believe rip is one solid I mean it is it's like you're it's like it's crazy. I yeah I have one Rip: It's like it's like it's like sandpaper. It's like sandpaper. Yeah. Yeah. Ann: talus where my ring is, which is bothering bothers me when I hang, but rip is just constant. I mean it's l nutty. Rip: Yeah. Marie: Yeah. Rip: But but so so yes, to Anne's point, I was like, Ann, today's the first day. Will you hang with with with me and the group? And she's like, sure. So she went back there. She went over a minute. I was like, my gosh, let me see what the world record is, right? For for for Marie: Ha ha ha. Rip: for for women over eighty. And it was it was like two minutes and one second. And then the next day, the next day, a big article, front page of the New York Times came came out about this eighty-one year old woman. Who went three minutes and two seconds and broke the record. And so I and so Marie: Wow. Rip: I I told Ann, listen, let's see if you can break this record. And so anyway, it took her it took her two tries, but the last try she went just like a couple weeks ago over Labor Day, she went three minutes and forty-three seconds. Phenomenal. Three minutes and yeah. Marie: That's unbelievable. Kudos to you. Amazing. So what's your longest rip? How long have you been on it? Rip: so my longest is two minutes and sixteen seconds. I will say this, and it's not an excuse, but when you are a hundred and twelve pounds, whatever Anne is, it is a little a little bit easier. But the fact that Anne, you're ninety one and you're going for almost four minutes is mind boggling. to me. and and she like she she she starts hanging and she gets into this like Zen mindset Marie: Yeah. Meditative states. Rip: and there's like no no pain no no perceived effort it's just I am in my kind of happy place and I'm going. I'm going. Watch me go. Marie: Yeah. I I talk about that a lot in in yoga, that I don't want to see the efforting, I wanna see the ease. You know, if you're in a pose and it's challenging, you're gonna feel the power of it in the body, but I don't wanna necessarily see it in the face. Like, how can you get to that point of ease and calm and peace, even in the challenging situations? Right. So this is a kind of like a perfect example that. It's very cool. Rip: It is. It is. And and what what are you thinking when you get on that bar? What's your what's your mindset? Ann: Well, only that I have to keep going, I I don't know. Marie: Love that. Just keep going. Ann: ac actually at certain point my face begins to get flushed. Marie: Yeah, you're getting from the inside out. When I did it this morning, I that's what I felt. I felt my face and then right in here was sore, like it was hurting. And I said, I don't think I'm gonna, I'm not gonna make Ann: Exactly. Right here, this right here. Right here. Marie: it on the side of the mountain. I'm just gonna go. Rip: Ha ha ha ha ha. Marie: It's hard. Yeah. It's a challenge. And and you get to a point, I'm sure, where it's mind over matter, right? Then the mind can be a very powerful thing in a in a lot of great ways and and maybe in not so many good ways. But you know, if can kind of redirect your mind to the keep going, I got this, those types of affirmations in your mind rather than my God, when is this gonna end? Right. Yeah. With anything in life. Yeah. Ann: Except when you're hanging. Mine doesn't over matter when your hands are just slipping off. You know, my your mind can't get that back. Rip Marie: Yeah, there comes a point. Your physical body is done. Yeah. Ann: Rip sent me some of that chalk. So if I do that some of that chalk. Marie: The gymnastics. Yeah. Do you guys use gloves? Do gloves help? Not really. No. Okay. Interesting. Rip: No. No. You wanna you wanna feel the bar. Be at one with the bar. Marie: I love that. Be be at one. I don't even know if I could like put my arms around the bar or my legs and hold on that long. Like a sloth. Like a sloth? I don't even think I could do that for three minutes anymore. Ann: Well Rip: No, Ann: as as Rip: no. Ann: I told you earlier, I I I don't do a lot of the internet stuff. And I mean the what do you call? Social Marie: Social media. Ann: media stuff. But I have this one way I can get to Rip's Instagram. And then I discovered just I mean the other day that suddenly underneath Rip there are all these other little f different things. And there is and the other day I probably spent half an hour. I can see how the world is just going to pot by just going. But Marie: That's a great way to put it. Ann: but but this is the amazing thing. There was a baby hanging. And the father asked the baby to put, I mean, this is a baby, to put the baby's feet up on the bar. And here is this Marie: Mm. Ann: baby hanging. That's the next thing, Rip. We gotta put the feet up. Marie: That's right. there you go. You're gonna level up. Ann: Ha ha. Marie: You're gonna level up. I gotta say though, even in the short 30 seconds that I did, when I got down, I did feel this like like bolt of energy. It just felt like, that felt really good. You know, I didn't over like tire myself out, which you know, when I'm the hanging longer, because I'm gonna be a pro at it now too. I'm gonna do it. Yeah. I'm gonna really start focusing on it. But I like Rip, I really like your suggestion of starting where you can and trying to do two minutes every day in increments, right? Do what you can. I like that. Rip: Yeah. And for people starting out, just go like maybe do start with fifteen second Marie: Mm-hmm. Rip: segments, right? Fifteen, fifteen, Marie: Mm. Rip: fifteen, fifty. Yeah. there's there's the other phone Anne. Marie: There's the other phone. Somebody wants to find her. Somebody really wants to talk to you. You're so popular, Anne. I love it. I I do kind of want to circle Rip: Cheese, Louise. Marie: back around to the food topic because I know a lot of people that I am very close to, and a lot of people I talk about or talk to, they're really, really concerned about. Protein. And I know protein is having a moment right now. It's really common to hear or go scroll down social media that you need to eat as much protein, especially women through going through perimenopause and menopause. And the the one counter, I guess, that I'll get from people is. Well, I can't go plant based. I I work out too much and I'm an athlete and I just I can't get enough protein. What Ann: Hey, I'm curious when you say protein, exactly. Give me a a size and a serving and a what it is. Marie: Well, I'm just saying in general, people are saying that we should eat like twice your weight. Twice your weight. Maybe like a so Ann: Well that doesn't mean anything to me. To give it to me in a something visual. Marie: once so probably I would say people are aiming for women specifically the new thing is to say fifty so like a the size of a chicken breast at each meal. Let's just say that. Ann: Just so you just have chicken breast at it. Marie: And I don't know if that's a mutated chicken breast or an organic chicken breast, because it's big difference in size. I I don't I don't Rip: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well Ann: No it's filled with it's filled with Marie: overly obsess about it, but I just know a lot of people do who really enjoy working out or are athletes. And that's always their like comeback, but I don't know if I can get enough protein. So what people don't know that there's protein in plants. Right. Yeah. Rip: Well, that that that's just yeah, yeah. Well, they're just mistaken. They're just they're just mistaken is all. It's really not their fault. Marie: Right. Rip: you know, the reality is, so you mentioned so yeah, according to the World Health Organization, the suggestion is that we get point eight grams per kilogram of body weight. So for somebody yeah. So for somebody that is Marie: Kilogram. Mm-hmm. That's a hundred. Rip: a hundred and let's just say a hundred and eighty pound male, that's gonna come out to about sixty five. grams of protein. Ann: How many chicken breasts would that be, Rip? Rip: I I I I I can't speak to that. All I can speak to is the fact that nobody, well, very few people in this country are protein deficient, but we are all fiber deficient. I mean, according to the stats, Marie: Yeah, one hundred percent. Rip: n ninety-seven percent of America's fiber deficient. And we're just now starting to learn, you know, so the the Marie: It's a big start. Rip: benefits, the myriad of benefits that we get from fiber, not only from keeping us regular, but also, you know. Marie: Microbiome. Mm-hmm. Rip: Flushing out toxins, but the microbiome and creating this wonderful gut garden that's responsible for our brain, stomach connection, our immune system. the list goes on and on and on. It also helps satiate us. So any athlete that's out there, just know that when you're working out, you're typically you also increase your appetite. And by increasing your appetite, you're just by default, you're getting more protein. Let me just give you an example or two. So if you have one extra one two ounces, one extra two ounce serving of whole grain pasta, that's gonna be right around eight to ten grams of protein. If you have one extra piece of whole grain Ezekiel 4-9 toast, that's seven grams of protein. If you have an extra just one-third cup of black beans, that's again seven grams of protein. So The two ounces, the one piece of toast, and a little bit more beans, that's twenty one grams of protein just by consuming a little bit more food. And I can tell you, just my breakfast bowl in the morning is forty one grams of protein. My pizza, Marie: Yeah. Rip: I've I figured my my my pizza, if I have five slices of pizza, is about again, about it's about forty, forty two grams of protein. You know, it's just It's a cinch, and it's something that if you're really looking to elevate your health, you want to get your protein from the cleanest Goldilocks form of protein that doesn't promote inflammation in our arteries, that doesn't, that doesn't raise our cholesterol levels, that doesn't promote tumor and cancers. And the problem with animal protein is it's just It's janky. It's janky. It's not the most intelligent form. If you've ever seen the the the the movie with Harrison Ford Blade Runner, you know, there's a quote in there, the light that burns twice as bright burns half as long. And so I would just caution people out there that animal protein, whether it's from a you know, chicken, fish, red meat, whether it's from dairy products. is it's it's a it's yes it's a great source of protein but it comes at a cost and that cost Marie: Yeah. Rip: especially long term is going to be your health and so go straight to the mother source which comes from the amino acids that we need and the mother source all basically nine of the essential amino acids they come from plants and so the animals either directly or indirectly get it from the plants. So you can bypass the cholesterol, the saturated fat, the heme iron, you can the the trimethylamine oxide, all these these things and these substances that are really raining terror on this country's health, just by avoiding Marie: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Rip: what everybody in this country thinks you need, which is more animal protein, to be healthier. And it's it's it's a problem. It's a problem. Marie: Yeah. It's a problem. I when your book came out, was that about fifteen years ago? The Engine Two diet? Twenty ten, right? Rip: the that one came out in two thousand and nine. Yeah. Marie: Nine because that I I remember reading that and I remember I was sitting next to a doctor who said that you can't change your life with diet, which I've heard that many times before. But I feel like, and we've said this before in the podcast, that with all the knowledge and all the work that you've done and Chris Wark and Dr. Colin Campbell Rip: Yeah. Marie: and all the all the stuff that's out there, our obesity rates and overweight rates are still seventy percent. Our children are getting type two diabetes. The insulin resistance is out of control. Why isn't anything getting better? A lot of people just don't want to change and they, it's it's sad. Ann: Well now they're concerned about protein, but one of the things that I think w w both of you just did is when people know that all the protein you need is the amount and I mean if you just said how many beans, I mean, if you tell me five grams, it means nothing. So Marie: Yeah. Right. Yeah. I agree. I'm the same way. I don't know. Rip: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ann: something specific, ha gosh. if it's five slices of bread, my goodness, I do that every then it would make people feel that they're okay. Marie: Yeah. But to your point, Rip: Yeah. Was that Marie: Anne, that makes a really good point. in America and specifically, how many people, and Rip, you mentioned this before, how many people are counting calories and they're constantly weighing themselves and they're doing their carb loading or this or that or not, you know, no carbs or yes carbs are good and it's constantly changing, but I I don't ever w weigh my food and go buy that or calories or this. I eat to To nourish myself and I eat what feels what am I craving today? And not from my mind cravings, but like my gut. What do I want? What's gonna nourish me today? And I just eat, I eat more intentionally rather than worrying about so much. But I think our our society is so focused on numbers. And it's fast. Everybody's working, it's fast paced. But right now, so Florida. Ann: Speaking of facts and numbers, Rip: So so Ann: one of the things that I think is brilliant is that Rips food line is something that if if you have it on hand, it makes life so easy. Have something Marie: So much easier. Ann: that you know is s g is safe right there. Don't you think Marie: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Rip: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No well we can talk about that in a sec, but I want to come back to the a question or a statement that one of you made, which is you know, with ever with Colin Campbell and our father and the documentaries and all these things that have been out Ann: Mm. Rip: there swirling around, why is the country not eating healthier? And we had a moment. I mean, between two thousand and I would say 12 and 2019, plant-based was on a tear. And then, you had every everybody was talking about it, Marie: Everybody was talking about it. Yeah. Rip: but but they weren't, they were talking about plant-based. They weren't unfortunately talking about whole food plant-based, where you're eating foods as close to grown. Yeah. Yeah. Where you Marie: Yeah. They were talking about vegan, right? Yeah. Yeah. Rip: weren't so it's there's a big difference between eating plant-based or vegan and eating whole food plant-based, where you're eating foods as close to grown as possible that are minimally processed. And then in starting in 2020, I think you really and in COVID, you've you have the rise of, Instagram and TikTok and all these things. And there's so many different health influencers that are out there that are peddling their different prescription. And a lot of these people, they look beautiful, they're they're shredded. You're like, wow, I want to be like them. And they're telling you, you know what, all I eat is meat. and so there's so much confusion. And most Americans they don't know, you know, what a randomized controlled study is or the difference between that and you know, somebody just saying or or Marie: Favorite word. Rip: or you know, an epidemiological research or whatever. So Marie: Right. Rip: there's no there's really no most Americans are not literate when it comes to what truly represents the science. And that Marie: Mm-hmm. Rip: is what we have on on our side in spades is whole food plant-based has the science when it comes to reversing diabetes, reversing heart disease. you know, basically DNOS has shown when it comes to reversing, or I should say, halting, breast cancer, prostate Marie: Yeah. Yeah. Rip: cancer, and some of these other things. And nobody can hold a candle to whole food plant-based, Marie: Yeah. Rip: but most Americans don't, they don't know that. And And then we're also up against the fact that, they're palates and they like the taste and the feel of of meat and highly processed foods. And and then you've got a a government right now that is pushing an inverted pyramid with, meat Marie: Yeah. Rip: at the top and full fat dairy and and tallow. And so it's just the people don't know what to believe. Ann: But we're getting rid of that now. Marie: Yeah. Rip: Well, so so so we are in a bit of a quagmire. Ann: Hey, I want to tell you Marie: Yeah, there is. It's true. Ann: the most amazing thing is that Essie's oldest, my husband's oldest patient was eighty-seven when he called him. He was lived in California and he had to have triple bypass and he thought, I'm not gonna make it. And so Stanley at age 87 went totally whole whole food plant based. And then he contacted us. every year always. And one year he called and asked for me and he said he wanted some recipes. And I said, what for? And he was celebrating his hundredth birthday and he wanted. And since then he has called every year. The last call he was 103. Marie: That's also Ann: This is what the power at someone at 87 who Marie: Yeah. Can change their life. Ann: changed their life. Marie: That's great. That is. That's very inspiring. Rip: Well, and not only somebody and not only somebody that's eighty seven, but somebody that had triple bi or triple vessel heart disease, right? Ann: Yeah. Marie: Yeah. Ann: And and and and did it, really by telephone. I mean Rip: You're right. Marie: Wow. Yeah. Yeah. that's amazing. I remember when I was I because my breast cancer journey started in twenty twenty, in September of twenty twenty. So I had a lot of time on my hands. I stopped working and I was going through treatment, you know, chemotherapy, bilateral mastectomy. And in my healing, I had a lot of time to read. And I read Dr. Michael Greger's How Not to Die. And that book. was very eye-opening for me as well. And that's what was really and and then I started, some other books as well. But that one in particular was really, really powerful for me to start to look at what I was doing or not doing and what do I want to change. And just now it's it's about reminding everybody that they have the power within them to change if they, you know, that they that they deserve it too. Mm-hmm. A lot of people don't know they want it. The first book I read about plant-based was The Skinny B I T C H. Did you read that rep? Have you read that book? Somebody gave it to me on the plane. And it Rip: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Marie: has the most foul language in it, but I really didn't know that animals grew on a little beautiful red farm with Farmer Joe. I had no idea. And I remember going back and talking to one of the cardiologists at the hospital then. I said, This is crazy. I'm never eating chicken again. my gosh. I never thought I would stop eating chicken. And he said, Yeah, I I don't eat any meat. And I said, What? He's like, Yep, no meat, no dairy. And I said, But you do open heart surgery all the time. He said, No, the patients don't want to listen. I'm not gonna tell that. So it's just it's crazy. Yeah. It's crazy. You know. Rip: Well, i I yeah, I think it's a shame that that so mm so the you know, when you have a doctor that is has embraced it and he's not sharing that information with his patients, just assuming that they're not gonna do it. And that's one of the things that my father has never assumed, right? He always gives them the the the option. Marie: Mm-hmm. Rip: But the but that was Rory Rory Roy Friedman, I believe, that did skinny bee. T C H. Yeah, yeah. Marie: Yeah. I was just shocked when I read that book. And then then I rem the next book after that I think was The Omnivore Omnivores Dilemma by Michael Pollan. And then forget it. I've read so many books, I can't remember what I've read. Sometimes Rip: Yeah, Michael Pollan. Yeah. Marie: I pick them and I'm like, I've already read this book. Sometimes you need to reread it. You know, we're in different stages of our lives. We can relearn things and things might r relate and you know, make it diff make sense in a whole different way at times. Ann: Well the engines you got and plant strong and Rip: Well there Ann: Anyway. Marie: Yeah. Rip: there's a bunch of There's a bunch of them. Marie: We're gonna link them. We're definitely gonna link them all below. And Ann: The other Marie: the Forks of our Knives magazines are excellent. I have a ton of those magazines. Pretty pictures. I like the pictures. Rip: Yeah. They have they have a lot Ann: Yeah. The other crazy thing is how and I think you'll find with your children who you say are not necessarily that everybody, believe it or not, is is w observes you are you, are are seeing how you're eating, what you're doing. Marie: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Ann: And when they hit a certain age, kids, suddenly their doctor says, I think you need to go on a statin. or something and they know that there is an alternative if they don't choose to do that. So Marie: Mm. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What you do in your home is so important. And that's why I love watching you and Jane cook because our home was full of cooking and fun and family and noise and mess. My grandmother was from Italy. So I appreciate that she she brought the joy of cooking. And I do. I I love to cook. She does, and she's a phenomenal, phenomenal cook. You have to love to cook too, especially when you're getting creative with other ingredients. You can't just throw things together like I don't know. prepared stuff. You really have to be into it. And I have a big garden. It's expanding. Ann: I have a neighbor who gave us a zucchini, that's this long. I mean Marie: Wow. Ann: anyway, and it's been sitting here forever. And this morning I decided, okay, we're gonna have stuffed zucchini tonight. Marie: we'll be right over. Ann: So what would you do if you were going to stuff a zucchini? What would you Marie: I I like to shred it and make little little patties. But if I'm gonna stuff it on a boat. Or you gotta clean it out and do a zucchini boat. Ann: No, no, no, no, no. I wanna hole. I wanna cut it in half and make the zucchini boats. Marie: Maybe I would do like a lot of beans and some chopped tomatoes and I got a lot of peppers right now in my garden that aren't spicy, which is great, 'cause I can grow a mean hot pepper. and make it like a fajita zucchini. Mm. That would be good. Or some Marinera sauce too with some white beans and some s and maybe even squash with We're kinda getting into fall. Yeah. Yeah. That could be to do it. Indian cuisini. Zucchini. Ann: Well, I'll show you what I did. I I'm gonna show you what I did. Marie: Yeah. Okay. Cause Rip, your cook your cookbook's great. You do a lot of the the Mexican themed stuff, which is great, like all the beans and the salsas and stuff. I love that. And that's easy. It's easy to do. Rip: Yeah, yeah. Thanks. Yeah, I I have never liked squash Marie: Welcome. Ann: Yeah. Rip: or eggplant. Marie: Okay. Ooh. So do tell Anne what? Rip: and what do you have? Hold it h hold it closer. Hold it closer. Hold it closer to the camera. No, up, up higher. Up higher. Up higher. Marie: Yeah, I gotta take a picture. Yeah. She's gonna take a picture real quick too. I can find my camera. Ann: Yeah, Rip: Up no no no. Hold hold the food the food higher. Higher. A little higher. A little higher. There it is. Marie: No, no, no, the food. The food there. There you go. That looks delicious. There you go. Are there mushrooms in there that I see? Are Ann: Give up. Anyway. Rip: Well Marie: there mushrooms and some nutritional yeasts? Ann: And mu and r I put everything in the refrigerator. Marie: That's the way to cook. Ann: I'm yes to Carling. Anyway. Marie: I'm sure it's gonna be fabulous. That is a big Rip: That looks really good, Ann. Marie: zucchini though. That's a really big zucchini. Ann: was just I'm it's been driving me crazy sitting there. Marie: But that's the thing, you know, you do have to get creative, but you also have to just just trust throw a bunch of stuff together and it'll it'll all meld to just fine. I think you just gotta sometimes not be so attached to recipes also and kind of think outside of the box a little bit. Ann: I agree. Yeah. Marie: Yeah. That's good. Well, Rip: Yeah, yeah. Marie: this was so fun. I don't want to let you guys go. It has been a long time. Everybody's been calling you. Yeah. People are like, Ann: Yeah, but it's been a long time. Rip: Ha ha ha ha. Marie: wait, that was only supposed to be 30 minutes, Anne. Gosh. Well, we adore. Ann: My favorite my new I I'm in for doing things fast now and my new favorite thing is to start with mushrooms, just the whole box of mushrooms, and then when they're ready to turn, I put balsamic vinegar on them and flip them and then I put I I sh put little I take tofu and make little cubes and I actually marinate it maybe in even balsamic vinegar, tomato, whatever, and I put that in, cook that, and then I got zuc bok choy and cut that up and put that in. And that c I mean this takes all three minutes. Marie: Yeah. Ann: And guess what the final thing is? Marie: What? It's Rip: Well. Marie: a sauce. Ann: That makes it awesome. Rip: Sriracha. Marie: peanut curry. Some plant strong peanut curry. Ann: One cup of this plant strong secret sauce peanut curry and it makes it so good. And on top of the rice is Marie: Well curry is good. I can't wait to try it. Rip: Mm. Ann: great. Rip: Thank thank you, Ann. Marie: Yes, so this is of ripped line. Yes. Do tell. Rip: Yeah. Yeah. No, well, no, that's very nice of you, Ann. And yeah, let me just give a give a quick minute just so for people that Marie: Yeah. Rip: are looking to make the healthy choice the easy choice, I've been working working with food since whole my Whole Food Days back in 2010. I had a 10 year relationship with Whole Foods. We had a food line called Engine Two Plant Strong. then it got turned back over to me in 2021. And so we have now rebranded it, Plant Strong. And we have about 32 products across 10 categories. It's a platform brand. we have all the day parts: breakfast, lunch, dinner, even some sauces, everything from pancake and waffle mixes, granola cereals, pizza crust kits, heat and eat chilies and stews, shelf stable milks that are, and everything is just it has to meet our rigorous nutritional guidelines when it comes to. No added sugars, no excessive sodium, all made with whole grains. we don't have any added oils. And so and and it has to be absolutely delicious. And so we're super proud of what we've created over the last five years now, and we're available on what? Ann: Did you say did you say pizza kids? Pizza? Rip: I think I may have. I don't remember. But but Marie: I think so. Yeah. Ann: You know what about the pizza? Because this is what's so extraordinary. There's you get f how many pizzas in a thing? Five? And then Rip: You have five. Ann: each pizza has a little packet of po of marinara sauce, pizza sauce. So you can you you it's all right ready and you can just it's great. Marie: Yeah. Yeah. Rip: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and so so yeah, we're super proud of what we've created. It's it's it's you know, we have a a team of fourteen of us working full time. but we're available at Whole Foods Nationwide, Wegmans, we're starting to get into Walmart. and then we have a great direct to consumer. So if you want it just ship right to your doorstep, you can go to plantstrong dot com and then we'll ship it right to your doorstep. So And then Amazon. Amazon as well. So yeah. So thanks. Marie: amazing. Rip: Thanks for the plug in. And thank you. Thank you. Ann: But I loved what I one of the things I love doing is I have gotten this thing. I have a special breakfast I like, but I am now obsessed with having spoonfuls out of a bag of rips rips big bowl banana walnut big bowl. And it's Rip: Here's and here's the Dayton Raisin. That's the Dayton Raisin right there. Marie: And I miss cereal. I really do miss cereal. I have not been Rip: Yeah. Marie: able to now I'm I can't wait to try something. I'm very excited. Ann: I just take a spoonful I don't mix it like rip dust. I just eat it. Marie: Yeah. Love it. You're like Rip: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Marie: number one cheerleader, Anne, and I love it so much. Ooh, pancake. gluten free. Yeah. That's good. Yeah. I'm really hungry now. Rip: people to want it. And if anybody if anybody wants a pl a clean plant plant based milk, just almonds and water and then fortification. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Marie: Okay, great. Now it's important because Trying to make everything plant based from scratch is not easy. It it is time consuming, right? So being able to have a line to make things a little easier, a little faster, a little more convenient is amazing. So thank you for sharing all of that. What do you got, Ann? What you got, Ann? Rip: Thank thank you. Ann: No, I I think Rip showed it. He he he this is a plant spine Marie: the granola. Ann: before, but you have a chocolate one. Right? Rip: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Marie: Chocolate granola. Rip: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We have we have five Marie: Mm-hmm. Rip: we just we just came out with the crunchiest, most delicious granolas without any added oils or sugars. We've got a berry, we got a dark chocolate, we have an oatmeal raisin, an apple cinnamon, and and a peanut butter cup. Marie: Ooh, yummy. Ann: And one of the things I love to do is to I order I can order like six different kind like his any of the have his milks and have them come and order the cereals at the same time and they come in a big box, but it's so convenient not to have Marie: Yeah. Ann: to lug all that milk home from the grocery. Marie: Yeah, and not having to worry if it's cold or not, right? goodness. Well, we will link all or put all of the links to everything from books to plant strong to videos to YouTube and all of that on the show notes here. But this was fabulous. This is awesome. This is accomplishment for me. and my friend Julie Annan Rip wanted me to say you have changed her life. And thank you. Rip: Julie. So Marie: Julie. Rip: hm. Do we know Julie or no? No. Marie: Yeah. I don't know actually. She goes to a lot of different vegan things and plant based things. She's been on cruises, so I'm sure she might have been in an audience somewhere. But yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So keep changing lives, guys. Just keep changing lives. Ann: It it is surprising that a lo th it it's surprising to me at the number of people that pay attention and do it. And and sometimes they do it fairly silently, you know, and it Rip: Uh-huh. Ann: they and they just they just get it. And once you get it, you got it. Marie: Yeah, you can't unknow things, right? Once you know, you know and you can't unknow. So you're gonna eat that right now? Love it. She's gonna have a snack. Rip: Probably. Let show us how show us how crunchy it is. Yeah, you you you you can't that's Marie: Great. I love you so much. my gosh, Anne, you are such a light in this world. And everyone Rip: Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Marie: needs more of you. Rip: True, it's true. Ann: So thank you, girls. Marie: Thank you. Thank you for hanging with us today and shining Rip: Yeah, no. Marie: your light and all of your amazingness and your your knowledge and your passion and everything that you guys have done. You're doing amazing work in the world. So thank you. Yeah. This was great. Rip: Yeah. Well, thank you, two girls and a cup of wellness. That was fun. Marie: All right. Ann: I would say n a gallon of wellness. I mean lots Marie: I love that. Yay. We'll Rip: yeah, yeah. Marie: take it. Two girls and a gallon of wellness. Until next time, guys. Thank you.