Latest / NHA Today Podcast / 150: Terri Chrisman on Fabulous Health, Lifestyle Medicine, and Sustainable Change

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150: Terri Chrisman on Fabulous Health, Lifestyle Medicine, and Sustainable Change · NHA Today Podcast

0:00
Hello, welcome to NHA Today Podcast.
0:02
I'm Justin Williams.
0:04
And I'm Stephanie Williams.
0:05
And we are part of your virtual conference team for the 2026 NHA conference, as
0:10
well as being NHA lifetime members.
0:14
And who do we have today?
0:15
Today we're talking with Terry Chrisman.
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Terry is board certified nutritionist and she's also a member of the
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American College of Lifestyle Medicine.
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We sat down with Terry to talk about her, um, new book, fabulous Health,
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which is a wonderful roadmap for those of you who are just embarking on your
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plant-based journey or who want to up your game in terms of health and longevity
0:42
and whole food plant-based nutrition.
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So Terry, uh, gave us a, a great peek into, you know, how she
0:50
views this lifestyle and some of the, the great information
0:55
she will be sharing in the book.
0:57
We hope you look forward to hearing this conversation.
1:01
And, uh, before we begin, if you could please make sure that you share
1:06
the podcast with a friend or like, subscribe, do all the things that
1:11
really helps the show grow, and we really appreciate your help with that.
1:15
So, without further ado, here's our conversation with Terry.
1:20
Terry Chrisman, welcome to NHA today.
1:23
Thank you so much for joining us.
1:24
We're so glad that you could be on with us.
1:27
Thanks, Justin.
1:28
Thanks, Tiffany.
1:30
Yeah, it's great to see you.
1:31
Thanks for, for spending time chatting.
1:36
So Terry, to get us started, why don't you tell us, well, first of all,
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it, it sounds as though you may have started your life somewhere else in
1:44
the world and, and come to the us.
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So, you know, talking to us maybe how you got here and then how you
1:50
found whole food, plant-based living, how you started on this journey.
1:55
So the America story is, I'm just following my husband around the world.
2:00
He is an international lawyer and he's been posted in various
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places around the world.
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Uh, one of my favorites being Dubai.
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That was really nice to live in Dubai and Hong Kong.
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We spent five years in Hong Kong that was gorgeous, and London and Australia and now
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the us So that's how I got to, to America.
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But my plant-based journey was pretty long as well.
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Um, I was vegetarian.
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I went vegetarian when I was 18 around Christmas time.
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So I was like 18 and a half.
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And I had no nutrition knowledge whatsoever.
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I was just struggling with my weight and I wanted to give up something
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that wasn't chocolate and cupcakes.
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So I thought meat, like, I don't wanna kill the cows.
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Uh, I don't need meat.
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I'll just give up meat.
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So that, that was my very flawed but altruistic, uh,
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way of becoming vegetarian.
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And throughout the years, I kind of educated myself about animal agriculture.
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And then I started, you know, flying that environmental flag, you know, cows
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ruining the environment because they're chopping down the forest and then the
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cows are doing the burps and the farts.
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And I'm, I'm not having anything to do with that and I don't kill the cows.
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And I'm an angel and it's fantastic.
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And I had a girlfriend who had been vegan for a long time, and she was
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sending me, she started sending me videos of, and, uh, torture.
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And they deeply affected me.
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And I called her up one day and I said, stop this.
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Like this is ridiculous.
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I'm a vegetarian.
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I've been vegetarian for 25 years.
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I'm not killing the cows.
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I'm not hurting the chickens, I'm not eating them and I'm not
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hurting the piggies, et cetera.
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And she said, yeah, you are.
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And I said, what do you mean?
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And then she told me about the atrocities of the dairy industry and the fact that
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the picture on my egg carton of those chickens running around in the, in the
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field with all the daisies and lots of space and them just having a great time
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and laying their eggs was just fake.
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And at the time, I was doing my master's in nutrition and the university
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was still following the guidelines.
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And the university I did it in was Australia.
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I was living in Hong Kong, but I was doing it online in Australia.
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And the guidelines in Australia were, and still are, uh, meat-based like.
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Eat meat for your protein and have eggs and have dairy, et cetera, et cetera.
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I mean, they're bringing together the opportunities for more plant-based
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foods in the guidelines, but they're not gonna be released until 2026, just like
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the American ones are coming out soon.
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Fingers crossed.
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We, we don't know.
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Uh, and so I started doing some more science.
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So I started reading more science, and then I realized, yes, meat and
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dairy, well certainly meat, but certainly dairy is, uh, bad for
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the cows, and eggs are bad for the chickens and also bad for a human body.
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So I went vegan overnight on, uh, the 1st of November, 2025, so sorry, 2015.
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It's now 2025.
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So almost 10 years.
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10 years, 1st of November.
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And so I haven't looked back because once you know, you know, and you can't unknow.
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So I, I was under the impression I was doing the right thing for
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myself and the environment and the animals, but I was misinformed.
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And I think there's a lot of people out there who are misinformed,
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and that's when I found the truth.
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It's a, for me, it's a moral shift.
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I can't undo that.
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And the same with the science.
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I have a history of heart disease in my family and obesity, and if the
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science says stay away from that stuff to get healthier, I'm staying away
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from that stuff to get healthier.
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I, I, it's really hard for people to like understand why we do it.
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You know, Justin, I, I'm at the point now where I can't
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understand people who don't do it.
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Like I just can't comprehend that I have people in my life.
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Who are nice people who I think are compassionate people who, you
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know, wouldn't run over a kitten.
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You know what I mean?
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Like, these are nice people, yet they're still gonna be eating meat.
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And I, I don't comprehend the disconnect and I know that that's been
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ingrained in us through culture and through advertising and just through
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the lives that we've all lived.
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You know, I'm in my late fifties and I've lived the life where it's
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normal and that it's expected to eat meat and, and fast food and whatnot.
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But I still find it really hard to comprehend how intelligent
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people don't, don't see the light.
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But anyway, that's their business, not mine.
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I can only do the best what I think is for me, and then when
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people ask me for my opinion, I'm.
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Dang Right.
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Gonna give it to him.
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That's my book.
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Right.
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Oh, I love that so much.
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It's true.
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It is hard to understand at this point when we ha and when we have so many
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options that are available for lovely food, um, to eat and, uh, that isn't meat.
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It's kind of, and like you said, so much evidence that, that it's not necessary.
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It's really in dairy, it's really hard to understand at this point
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why people still see it as a need.
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Mm-hmm.
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Um, it is, it is.
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And it's hard not to processize as well.
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Because we have all the information.
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That's why I think, uh, communities like the NHA are so important because it's
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nice to go to a place where people get it.
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Um, you know, if we're surrounded by a lot of people often that, that aren't
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quite there yet, it's nice to have a place to go, to be inspired and, and, um,
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remember why we're doing what we're doing.
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Absolutely.
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And I, look, I'm, I'm in groups.
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I'm in meetups with, uh, plant-based people.
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And when I go to those meetups, it's awesome because ev everyone's my
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people, they're, they're my tribe.
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And I feel really comfortable.
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And even though I have a, an outgoing personality, and I'm
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a bit of an extrovert, I know some people are not like that.
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And that the stress of others questioning what they're doing, arguing with
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them about what they're eating is sometimes it's just too much for people.
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So they just choose the path of re least resistance, which is, you know,
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I'm just gonna keep, you know, eating the meat or the dairy or whatever,
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because I can't handle the stress.
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And in the book, I do have a few tips and tricks to deal with your friends and
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family who wanna give you a hard time.
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But as a spoiler alert, the number one thing is you can't
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change somebody else's opinion.
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You can only change what you do.
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And if you truly believe that this lifestyle is gonna benefit your health,
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then let's talk about health just for the minute and, and you know,
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not discounting the animal welfare, but let's just talk about health.
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If you really believe that the science speaks to you and that this way of
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living will help you get off meds, you know, get rid of your diabetes, improve
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your heart disease, lower your blood pressure, all the things, then you've
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just gotta just stand your ground.
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And I have in the book some little tips of what to say to the people who give you
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a hard time that are not confrontational.
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So instead of somebody coming up to you and giving you a hard time about eating
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the Turkey at Thanksgiving or whatever, instead of you rabbiting on about all
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the science about how bad Turkey is for you, 'cause it's full of saturated fat
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and all the stress and pain the turkeys go through, which no one wants to hear.
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You say something like, oh no, look, my plate is full.
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I'm having a great time.
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Hey, I really like that shirt you're wearing.
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That's great.
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Where'd you get, you know what I mean?
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Like deflect.
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Deflect.
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How was your holiday?
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Oh, I hear you had a new, got a new job.
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Oh, excuse me.
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There's my friend Stephanie.
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You know what I mean?
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Like, you don't need to deal with that antagonistic behavior towards you.
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You just have to s stand your ground and then let it wash over you.
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But don't try and argue with people because it only turns out bad.
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Um, I think if Neil Barnard was at a. Dinner and somebody tried to serve him
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meat, he'd be able to do it in a very gracious way, but that's like level 10.
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Like he's, he's up there and every time he speaks it's calm and beautiful.
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And, but some of us, we get all riled up, right?
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And we, we say things that maybe don't put us in the best light because we get
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maybe angry or, or whatever, but I say, be gracious, smile, deflect, move away.
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Sure.
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That can be really a really hard thing to do too.
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It's like, and it's a good reminder.
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'cause I know like when we were new to this lifestyle, it was kind of like, oh my
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God, this is the answer to so much stuff.
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Like, we see people and with chronic conditions and, and like they're just
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sitting there eating an ice cream and stuffing their face with whatever, and.
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You just wanna be like, oh my God, no, I can, I can help you.
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Oh, I know.
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They don't wanna hear that.
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They just wanna, they're like, this is my family recipe, stromboli, or
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whatever they are eating, and that's all that they want at that time.
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And I, I think like, it, it's really good to just try to lead by example
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and, and bring up just normal things.
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So That's a good point.
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Yeah.
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And never underestimate the value of modeling.
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You don't have to say anything.
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Just pile your plate high with lots of yummy food and enjoy it.
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And then next time they see you, they'll say, oh my God,
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Justin, your skin looks gorgeous.
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Like, have you been working out?
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Like, what's going on?
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No, nothing.
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You know, and then you're eating your yummy food that you brought with you.
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And, you know, people are not dumb.
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They will see, they'll put two and two together, but you, not if you.
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Try and help somebody who doesn't wanna be helped.
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Have you heard of, uh, the trans theoretical model of change?
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Yeah.
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Right.
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So just for viewers or listeners who dunno what that is, it's a psychological
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model that basically says, in order to change a human being has to know where
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they are in the process of change.
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And then they have to only take actions in, in that moment.
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So, for example, if uh, somebody's sitting down to a steak dinner and
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Justin comes up to them and says, Hey, that's gonna give you a heart attack.
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They're in the first.
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Uh, part of the model, which is they don't wanna know, it's called pre-contemplation.
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They don't even know they've got a problem.
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Right.
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But if you are out to dinner and you are eating your lentil casserole and
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somebody says to you, oh, just I noticed you don't eat meat, and I see that
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you, you are looking really healthy.
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Can you tell me a bit about that?
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So now they're in the contemplation stage, so now you can talk to them about it.
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Or maybe you've had this conversation last year and they come up to
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you at the party and they say, oh, Justin, I lost 10 pounds.
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And I mean, try, and I've been trying really hard to eat plant-based
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all the time, but sometimes I just can't, you know what I mean?
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I'm trying, but I just can't.
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Then they're in the doing phase, right?
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So they're in the action phase, they're trying it, they wanna know more.
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Then you can go deeper, deeper, deeper.
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But if you try that deeper, deeper with Mr. Eaton steak at the restaurant, yeah.
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Just beating your head against a brick wall.
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So it's identifying what stage of transition somebody is in and then
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making your conversation fit that stage.
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And it's really easy to do because if somebody comes at you and says, you
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need meat, you know, to get muscles, you know, you don't that, oh really?
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I've gotta go see ya.
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You know what I mean?
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Like, you, you don't wanna have that conversation.
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There's no winning that conversation at all.
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No.
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Yeah, I think those, those are really great points.
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And, um, I think that, uh, yeah, it's about kind of meet, like you
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said, meeting people where they're at and, um, taking the time to have a
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conversation and know them as a person.
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And then when the health and the food comes up, it comes up
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organically or it doesn't Right.
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But, um.
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But yeah, I think there's something else, uh, that I heard one of the
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plant-based doctors talk about in relation to, excuse me, being whole
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food plant-based, and also remembering that that's not all of your identity.
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That that's kind of what we do to, to, um, have the vitality and the
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energy and the longevity to live the other parts of our purpose.
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So, you know, keeping those things in mind too, so that we can connect.
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Yeah.
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Otherwise people think you're obsessive.
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Right?
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Right.
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Exactly.
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Exactly.
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I, I think some of us are a little bit obsessive, um, am,
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well, I like to say committed.
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So I've chosen this lifestyle and it's a moral standpoint for me
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as well as a health standpoint and a scientific standpoint.
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So if you call that obsessive, because I stand up for myself, then so be it.
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But sometimes I get a little bit, like when we go out, I
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go to plant-based meetups.
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That's what, I don't really go out anywhere else to other things unless
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I'm with my husband and then, you know, we go to the theater or the art show
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or whatever it is that we are going to, but if I'm meeting other people,
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it's always a plant-based meetup.
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Sure, sure.
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Yeah, same here.
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That's most often what we do as well.
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For sure.
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And I think because like you said, Stephanie, we feel comfortable
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in the presence of people who have the same values of as us.
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Yep, exactly.
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Exactly.
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And so how did you, did you, um, go whole food plant-based right
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away when you started eating vegan?
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Or how did you find like that kind of, uh, camper way of, of thinking?
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Yeah, so I convinced myself I was whole food plant-based for a couple of years
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while I was having, uh, you know, bagels with, uh,
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plant-based cream cheese on them.
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Um, yeah.
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So, and buying, uh, vegan cupcakes.
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Yeah.
17:03
So I, I think the thing is there's, it's not an either or.
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I'd like to, I wish it was an either or because then I could like focus,
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but it's kind of like a continuum.
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There's the vegan junk food junkie who drinks, you know, Coca-Cola eats
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Oreos and eats fried fries, and I'm sure nobody actually eats like that.
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But, but that's the example of the extreme.
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And then there's the raw food, you know, whole food plant-based
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person who won't put anything over 50 degrees Celsius or something.
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And that's a another extreme.
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And I try to find a happy medium, but the happy medium didn't work
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for me because I. Genetically and metabolically, whatever you wanna call
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it, I, seafood, it puts weight on me.
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Like I've put on weight really easy.
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I'm not one of these people that can eat excess calories and get away with it.
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I just can't.
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My metabolism says, yum, cupcakes, stick that on your butt.
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Right?
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So, and not only that, stick it on your butt and I'll raise your blood pressure.
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And while I'm at it, I'm gonna raise your cholesterol even though it's plant-based.
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So I have to be really careful about those things.
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And it took me a few years to realize that it was the eating out in restaurants
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and the occasional vegan donut and you know, the cream cheese, the
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vegan cream cheese that was keeping me from being at Optimal Health.
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And then I started studying with the American College of Lifestyle Medicine
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and more science, more science, more science than I just, and also COVID.
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And I put on some weight during COVID because hey, we could order in anything,
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which we did.
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And I got Chunk Lanka.
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So, uh, I, I decided that this is no good for me and I've since been as much
19:04
whole food plant-based as I can be.
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Look, I'm not gonna lie, I've put on a couple of kilos, so it's about
19:08
time to tighten it up a bit, you know, and stop going out for dinner.
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Even I'm ordering the no oil, I'm ordering, you know,
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I'm not eating the chips.
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Yeah.
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But it all adds up, right?
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So it's just a case of knowing where my body is.
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Happiest and healthiest and eating that way.
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And if I could get away with eating vegan cupcakes and vegan donuts, I would
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love that.
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But they're not healthy for people.
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Don't eat them.
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I think that's such a good point.
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The whole like listening to your body and, and, uh, eating, feeding it,
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the things that make it feel good.
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And the mo most of us, if we were honest with ourselves, the
19:54
cleaner we eat, the better we feel.
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Whether it's people who choose to include some animal products in their diet or not.
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The cleaner that we eat the better we feel.
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And um, so I think that's that's right.
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And a lot of the processed foods, they're made on purpose to taste
20:12
exceptional and they're addictive.
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But the aftermath is that you don't feel good after eating them.
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So it's like, you know, illicit drugs or whatever.
20:23
Cocaine is awesome until the next day when it's not.
20:26
And the same with, you know, and I'll go back to vegan donuts, which
20:29
are fried in oil, you know, all that sugar, all that, that, that oil, that
20:35
crispy doy white flour, the second it's on your tongue, it's amazing.
20:41
But five minutes later you're going, oh, that was horrible.
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Why did I, why did I do that?
20:47
So you really, and look, I didn't learn this overnight.
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It took years.
20:54
Have you ever seen that, uh, Simpsons episode where Lisa Simpson does a
21:01
scientific experiment and she calls it, is my brother stupider than a hamster?
21:08
It's my favorite.
21:10
It's my favorite Simpsons episode.
21:11
So what she does is she puts a cupcake on the top of the refrigerator with an
21:15
electric current running through it.
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So every time Bart reaches up to get the cupcake, he gets shocked, and then
21:22
she notes how many times he does it.
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Like he does it like the wrong times,
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and then she does it with a hamster.
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The hamster only does it once, right?
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So I think I'm a little bit like that, like Bar Simpson, right?
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I'll, I'll go back.
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I'll forget that the cupcake made me feel sick.
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And you know, three months later I'll be like, oh, I haven't
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had a cupcake for three months.
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I might have one.
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And then I'll be like, oh, you idiot.
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Don't remember.
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Right.
21:52
But Simpson,
21:55
you gotta find that episode.
21:56
It's so funny.
21:58
That is funny.
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I do say we need to watch more Simpsons around here, but
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that does start.
22:08
So you, um, so you study with the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.
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Is that, um, when you became a health coach?
22:19
Um, yes and no.
22:21
No.
22:21
So I was a wellness coordinator in an international baccalaureate college
22:28
in Hong Kong for five years before I got my master's in nutrition.
22:33
I had a undergrad in sport and exercise science and I was.
22:39
Dealing with minors who were between the ages of, uh, 16 and 18 years old.
22:45
And they were coming to me for health and fitness advice and fitness training
22:50
and weightlifting and you know, cardio classes and all that kind of stuff.
22:54
But then they started asking me for nutrition advice.
22:59
Well, number one, they're minors, so you have to be really careful
23:01
about what you say to them.
23:03
And number two, I didn't have a nutrition degree.
23:05
I had a sport and exercise science degree with a nutrition
23:08
component, which wasn't this big.
23:10
And so I went back to university and got my, uh, nutrition master's in 2018.
23:18
And then I was in, in Dubai for a couple of years.
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And they wouldn't let me use my qualification.
23:25
I won't go into why, but they just wouldn't.
23:27
So then when we moved to the US I wasn't also allowed to
23:30
work because that's the law.
23:33
And it took two years for me to get my green card.
23:36
So.
23:37
I started getting all the machinations of coaching in together to get
23:45
it happening in America while I was waiting for my green card.
23:50
And that came through in 2021.
23:53
And then I started coaching and then I said, oh, I need more.
23:58
I need more.
23:58
So that's when I went to the A CLM because I, I wanted to make sure that
24:04
the coaching that I was giving people was up to date, scientific information.
24:09
And even though I just got my master's in 2018, which is not that long ago,
24:14
they're still teaching, you know, the meat and three veg and, you know,
24:19
so I had to up, up the, uh, grades a little bit and just upgrade and,
24:26
and be much better for my clientele.
24:30
So really, I only started coaching when I became legal in,
24:34
in this country, which is 2021.
24:37
Okay.
24:37
Mm-hmm.
24:38
Wow.
24:38
That's a long journey.
24:39
Mm-hmm.
24:40
Yeah.
24:40
Yeah.
24:41
But I coaching before, like fitness coaching and all that
24:44
kind of stuff, I did since 2007.
24:46
Yeah.
24:47
So you're ba you're, um, born to be a teacher in some capacity.
24:52
It seems like it's part of your makeup.
24:54
Yeah.
24:55
I love, oh look, you can tell I can't shut up.
24:57
So I like talking.
25:00
I like teaching, I like putting light bulbs in people's brains and
25:05
them going, Ooh, I didn't know that.
25:06
That's interesting.
25:08
And my main, uh, focus at the moment is public professional, public speaking.
25:13
So, you know, getting on stages and instead of, you know, when you
25:17
coach people, you coach one person or maybe you do a group coaching
25:21
session or something with three or four people or 10 people or whatever.
25:25
When you're on stage, you know, you can have 5,000 people in front of you,
25:29
or even 500, or even 50, whatever.
25:32
And if one or two or three of those people goes, Ooh, this is interesting, I might
25:38
find out more about that, that's golden.
25:41
Right.
25:42
And you can do it in so much less time.
25:43
Mm-hmm.
25:45
Mm. Such a good point.
25:47
And it is, I agree.
25:48
It's an amazing feeling to see people light up and be like, oh,
25:53
that, that just changed me in some way, or changed my perspective.
25:57
It's, it's really, yeah.
25:59
The sad, the sad thing is, Stephanie, that you say the things that you and I
26:03
talk about, you know, eat a whole food, plant-based diet to reverse and prevent
26:07
diseases like diabetes, heart disease, Crohn's disease, cancer, blah, blah, blah.
26:12
And people are like, what?
26:14
Yeah.
26:15
And, and I'm.
26:17
Yeah.
26:18
And that's still, I still think, why do people not know this?
26:23
Why is it not normal?
26:25
Like why do, why is this just not common knowledge?
26:29
Yeah.
26:30
And it's not.
26:31
And so I think.
26:34
My aim, and hopefully your aim with this podcast is to get people to
26:37
realize that this is a possibility.
26:40
Just like you said, Justin, that you know, who knew that one
26:44
thing could kind of fix, prevent, reverse, whatever, tons of things.
26:51
It's like the one stop shop and mm-hmm.
26:54
And so the more people we can get to hear the message, the more
26:57
people will take action on it.
27:00
And it won't be just from me standing on a stage saying, Hey,
27:04
you gotta eat more vegetables.
27:05
'cause hello has everybody's grandmother's been saying that
27:07
to them since they were born.
27:09
But it'll be me standing on a stage.
27:12
It'll be somebody watching your podcast.
27:14
It'll be somebody reading Neil Barnard's book.
27:16
You know what I mean?
27:16
Like all the things will converge and all of a sudden somebody will go, oh.
27:22
Oh, this is the real deal.
27:23
Like this is not just some crazy lady from Australia standing
27:27
on stage trying to sell a book.
27:28
This is like serious science.
27:30
And, and maybe this will help me because people are desperate for help, right?
27:36
They go to their doctor, the doctor says, and this happened to a friend
27:39
of mine and it broke my heart.
27:41
So he has, he's overweight, he's got diabetes, his kidneys are failing.
27:45
The doctor says, I'm gonna give you more drugs.
27:48
I was furious.
27:50
So I called him up and I said, please, can I tell you something?
27:55
And see, I didn't know where he was in the trans theoretical model of change,
28:00
but I said, please, can you just let me tell you some facts because I don't think
28:06
your doctor's telling you the facts.
28:08
And I sent him the books and, you know, the, uh, diabetes mastering,
28:12
diabetes cookbook and all the things, you know, sent, sent them all to him.
28:16
This is before I wrote my book.
28:17
And, uh, you know, he's lost.
28:20
He's in Australia, so it's in kilos, 18 kilos, so that's 40 pounds in his, you
28:25
know, his medication, he's still on meds and stuff and he's still got diabetes, his
28:28
kidney's in better condition and stuff.
28:31
But he wasn't being told the news and that broke my heart.
28:35
'cause he, I love him.
28:36
You know, he is a friend of mine.
28:37
I've known him since he was 11.
28:39
And, and, and I want doctors to wake up and start reading the science.
28:48
Go to the A CLM conference, go to the NHA conference, go to the
28:53
um, international Conference and Nutrition and medicine with Dr.
28:56
Barnard.
28:57
Go to all the conferences and listen and learn so that when you get back
29:01
to your patients, you can say, hey.
29:05
Let's look at some options, not just, here's some more pills.
29:09
How about, here's some more pills.
29:10
But you know what, you won't, probably won't need these pills or as many of
29:14
them, if we start, you know, reducing some weight or we start, you know,
29:18
getting some exercise or getting better sleep or whatever it is.
29:21
And my aim is for doctors to really, really start to pay attention and
29:27
then it's, it's gonna be mainstream.
29:29
Right.
29:33
Okay.
29:34
Uh, I like to tell people too, like, you know, it's obviously we're just
29:38
in this, this whole world of sick care when it comes to United States
29:42
Medicine, perhaps around the world too.
29:45
But, you know, people are just so used to going to the doctor saying, I want
29:50
the pills to help me with the stuff.
29:52
And, but like, we're seeing massive costs increase.
29:57
We're seeing people without insurance.
30:00
So I like to tell people like, listen.
30:04
This is just a, a simple change to your diet and you'll see results
30:09
like, will it fix everything?
30:10
Perhaps not.
30:11
It's still listen to your doctor, obviously.
30:14
But if you make that simple change, you might be ac actually saving money
30:18
in the long run because you're not on a $300 medication every month.
30:22
You know?
30:25
And people don't know how sick they are until they get better.
30:28
No, that's true.
30:29
Because the human body is an amazing machine that will take so much, uh,
30:35
torture, you know, self torture.
30:38
It'll take so much.
30:40
Um, what's the word?
30:42
I've forgotten the word, but, um.
30:46
Then and then it won't.
30:47
Right?
30:47
So everything, you, you can have high blood pressure for a long time
30:51
until you have a stroke or, and I shouldn't laugh 'cause that's terrible.
30:55
But the same that, that happened to my dad.
30:57
So my dad was 51 when he died of a heart attack and he had high blood pressure.
31:05
And I don't know if he had high cholesterol, I'm assuming he did because
31:08
I was a kid and I paid no attention to his medications and whatnot.
31:11
But, um, he didn't know that he was at great risk.
31:17
Nobody told him that he was at risk.
31:19
His doctor certainly didn't tell him and nobody gave him option B. Right?
31:24
So now that we have 35 years of solid evidence that you can prevent and re
31:31
reverse heart disease, just one of those non-communicable diseases with a
31:36
whole food, plant-based diet, exercise and nice sleep and all the bit bits.
31:40
Then now there's really no excuse for doctors not to give that information.
31:45
But it breaks my heart when people are still ignorant and naive to it.
31:51
And I mean, ignorant in the nicest way.
31:53
IE nobody's ever told them, right.
31:55
So mm-hmm.
31:56
You can't change if you don't know that there are options.
32:00
Mm-hmm.
32:03
There's a lot of wisdom in that, in that statement.
32:07
And so, um, is that what led you to write the book Fabulous Health?
32:12
Because you wanted to, to make information accessible for people?
32:17
Yes, and I wanted to give them the science in a way that they could understand it.
32:24
So that they didn't have to read volumes and volumes of, you know, NIH and PubMed,
32:31
uh, research studies, which are really interesting if you're that kind of person.
32:35
But I know that, you know, 99 out of a hundred people
32:38
are not that kind of person.
32:40
So I wanted to give people the proof.
32:45
So I'm telling you, if you eat whole food, plant-based diet, you'll be at less risk
32:52
of getting a heart attack like your dad.
32:55
How come?
32:55
How do you know that?
32:56
Well, because of these studies that Dr.
32:58
Dean Ornish did in the nineties and the studies that Dr. Eston did in
33:02
the early two, two thousands, mid two thousands, and, and these studies,
33:07
they're, you know, they're small studies.
33:09
They're only thousands of people, but then other people replicated them.
33:14
Then, you know, then the EPIC study and then all these, the, um, the
33:19
Adventist health study and all these studies started replicating.
33:23
And then you started getting, you know, thousands if not millions of people's
33:27
data all pointing to the same thing.
33:31
And people just don't know it exists.
33:33
You and I know it exists 'cause we are interested, most people walk around their
33:38
lives, they're not interested in getting a nutrition degree, they're not interested
33:41
in joining the NHA because it's not on their, you know, it's not on their radar.
33:45
Mm-hmm.
33:46
But I wanted to, he help people who thought that their only avenue was
33:52
stents and more medications and, you know, injectables and all the things.
33:58
And I wanted to say to them, look, you can do this.
34:02
And just exactly what you said, Justin, it may not be the panacea,
34:07
it may not be the golden chalice.
34:09
It may not cure all your ills.
34:13
It'll put you on the best foot forward, and then you go from there.
34:17
Right.
34:17
And I'll be quite open here.
34:19
It's not in my book, but I've, since I've been doing lots and lots
34:22
of podcasts, I've become a little bit less scared of saying it.
34:26
I have genetic heart disease and I have to take medication.
34:30
But my whole thought process is if I didn't eat this way, if I didn't spend
34:38
my whole life exercising, I'm over 51.
34:41
Right.
34:42
I would probably be dead like my dad.
34:44
So the options are vitality in life, or sickness and death.
34:50
Which one do you want?
34:51
Right.
34:51
It's that simple for people.
34:53
And so many people don't see the sickness and death until it's too late.
34:58
Like my dad, he didn't see it at all.
35:00
Didn't even know it.
35:02
Right, right.
35:04
And I think, um, you know, you raise a good point that we're, you know, uh.
35:09
We're doing the best we can with the genetics that we're given.
35:13
And, um, especially if we have something that we know genetically
35:17
we're predisposed to, why wouldn't we do all all things possible to mitigate,
35:24
you know, the risks associated with that or the risk of, um, of uh, you
35:31
know, it expressing itself or whatever.
35:34
So I think, um, I think it's good that you shared that, that that's part of your
35:39
story because I think there's probably a lot of people in the same boat.
35:44
And it goes back to the, the kind of spectrum thing that
35:47
you talked about, right?
35:48
Mm-hmm.
35:49
That it's not an either or, it's not.
35:51
You take medicine or you eat whole food, plant-based sometimes it's gotta be both
35:57
depending on what you have going on.
35:59
Yeah.
35:59
And it's important that we make room for all of, all of
36:02
the nuances too, per person.
36:05
Yeah.
36:06
And not to be ashamed of it, like I was kind of ashamed of it.
36:08
I didn't put that I was on medication in the book because I thought it would
36:12
invalidate the stuff that I was telling people to do because the last thing I want
36:16
people to say is, oh, here she's telling us to eat a whole food plant-based diet.
36:20
And here she's, she's on cholesterol medication.
36:22
So you know, what's the deal?
36:24
Well, the deal is that if I wasn't on a plant-based diet, I
36:27
most likely would be dead, right?
36:29
Because that's what happened to my dad.
36:31
When I was vegetarian, I was on blood pressure medication.
36:36
I couldn't maintain healthy blood pressure eating dairy.
36:40
As soon as I went off, uh, dairy, I did it in conjunction
36:44
with my doctor, not by myself.
36:46
Never go off medication by yourself.
36:49
We weaned off the blood pressure medication and I haven't been on
36:52
blood pressure medication for 10 years and e now because I've been doing
36:58
this lifestyle for such a long time.
37:00
What used to happen is that I would take my blood pressure at home and by the
37:04
way, I suggest everybody takes their blood pressure at home, buy a cuff,
37:07
take it at home, just check it once a whenever, couple of weeks or whatever,
37:11
just to check to see how it's going.
37:14
And I would take my blood pressure at home and it was perfect.
37:16
And I'd go to the doctor and it'd be 150 and 95 and I'd be
37:20
like, what's going on here?
37:22
And this happened for years.
37:23
And the doctor would be like, oh, I think I'm gonna have to put
37:25
you on blood pressure medication.
37:26
I'd get outta my phone, I'd say, no, look, I've been taking my blood
37:30
pressure at home and it's normal.
37:31
It's this, your blood pressure goes up when you're at the doctor.
37:35
'cause there's this like internal stress, right?
37:37
And I didn't think it did, but it did last time.
37:40
Two times I've been to the doctor, so maybe over a period of six months.
37:46
Blood pressure, absolutely normal in the chair.
37:50
So that proves to me.
37:52
That the lifestyle works in the long term.
37:55
Right.
37:56
And I'm, so, I've maintained this low blood pressure for such a long time that
38:01
now when I go to the doctor, it's normal.
38:04
And first, the first time it was normal.
38:06
I thought it was a mistake
38:09
because I was so used to the blood pressure, you know, the nurse
38:13
saying, oh, your blood pressure's high, and I have to go, oh no, it's
38:15
not, you know, blah, blah, blah.
38:17
And it's because the, the lifestyle works and sometimes it takes your
38:22
body or it'll be the time to catch up.
38:25
So people say, oh, I went vegan for like three months and it didn't work.
38:29
Well dude, do it for three years and then do it for 30 years and see if it works.
38:37
That's such a good point.
38:38
That's such a good point.
38:39
'cause what do they say?
38:41
You walk.
38:42
10 miles into the woods, you have to walk 10 miles to get back out of the woods.
38:47
So yeah, people, we all want a quick fix.
38:50
That's the world that we live in now.
38:51
But yeah, we have to have patience for sure.
38:54
And the thing is, stuff is happening inside your body that you don't even see.
39:00
And most people will focus on the scale.
39:04
Because it's easy, right?
39:05
I get on the scale today, I am 200 pounds.
39:07
I get on the scale after being plant-based for a month and I'm 200, one pounds.
39:11
It's not working, right?
39:14
But you know what things are happening, whether you see them or not.
39:19
So awesome things are happening.
39:21
You repopulating your gut microbiota, you know, with all the healthy fiber that you
39:27
are eating from the plants, and you're not filling your body with, uh, pesticides.
39:32
Hopefully if you are eating organic or maybe you're washing your veggies
39:35
or whatever, but things like, uh, medications, veterinary medications,
39:40
and uh, cancer cells from animals and puffs from milk and, uh, stress
39:46
hormones from poor little chickens.
39:49
Like you're not filling yourself with that stuff and artificial
39:52
colors and flavors and whatever.
39:53
In all that packaged garbage, magic things are happening inside your body.
39:58
Your body is cleaning up years and years and years of crap.
40:02
To make you a better person.
40:04
And I'm sorry that that little piece of plastic on the ground that you're
40:08
standing on is not telling you the whole story, but it's just not.
40:11
And people give up because they instantly can't fit into a smaller pair of jeans.
40:15
And I say to people, do it for three months at the very, very minimum.
40:20
But you have to promise that you go to the doctor and get all your bloods
40:24
done on day zero, then three months, then you go back to the doctor and
40:30
get all your bloods done on, you know, day 96 or whatever three months is.
40:35
Um, and then see the difference in parameters.
40:39
And you'll find that most people will have great things happen,
40:42
like the HBA one C will drop.
40:44
And for those people who dunno what that is, that is a measure of your
40:47
average glucose over the last 12 weeks.
40:49
And it's a measure of diabetes status.
40:51
And if your H hba one C is high, you know, over seven you've got diabetes.
40:56
And if it's low, like five and a half, you're awesome.
40:59
Um, so.
41:01
Your blood pressure may drop or not because you're at the doctor's surgery.
41:04
So who don't stress about that?
41:06
Your cholesterol may drop, your triglycerides may drop.
41:10
Your C-reactive protein, which is a measure of inflammation may drop.
41:14
Like all these things may happen, and you don't know those things because
41:19
your scale doesn't tell you that.
41:20
So I always say to people at the very, very least, 12 weeks,
41:25
preferably six months, but if you can't wait, 12 weeks is fine as well.
41:30
Mm-hmm.
41:31
Awesome.
41:32
I think, and um, one of the other things that I like ab, I like about
41:37
your book, in addition to the nutrition piece, is that you focus on all
41:43
the pillars of lifestyle medicine.
41:46
I think that's something that makes your book really unique
41:49
for people starting out.
41:50
And I think for me and my health journey, that's been a huge part is like, it
41:56
starts with the food, but I have to incorporate all of those other pillars
42:00
as well in order to feel truly my best.
42:04
Absolutely.
42:05
Look, it's no good, uh, being whole food plant-based, going out night clubbing,
42:11
not getting any sleep and snorting cocaine, it's just not good for you.
42:14
Like it's, you can't stand on your healthy, you know,
42:18
with your flag in the ground.
42:19
I'm on the healthy journey, you know, while you're doing stuff like that.
42:22
It's just not gonna work.
42:23
So the six pillars, they didn't come from me and I maybe didn't mention them, uh,
42:29
properly in the book, but I absolutely give kudos to the American College of
42:32
Lifestyle Medicine for those six pillars.
42:34
And they are the plant-based diet.
42:36
They're getting enough physical exercise or physical activity, uh, not doing, uh,
42:41
risky substances like alcohol and drugs and smoking, uh, getting enough sleep.
42:46
Getting some stress reduction and having a connection to others not being lonely,
42:50
not doing everything on your own.
42:51
And those six pillars they make the whole person.
42:55
And that's what Dr. Ornish has been doing in all his studies since way back
43:01
in 1990 when he did his very, very first cardio, cardio study where he tested to
43:07
see whether or not he could open up the lumen of people's, uh, heart arteries
43:13
of their heart, the diameter of them.
43:16
Or look, I'll show you something.
43:17
This is the diameter.
43:18
This is, this is a artery that's all clogged up with goop, right?
43:22
And then this is an artery that's clean and it's got no goop in it.
43:27
So he took people whose arteries were like this, well, maybe not
43:30
that 'cause it's like having a heart attack, maybe like this.
43:34
I've always wanted to put these on tv.
43:36
Um, but there's not very much room for the, you know, the blood to go.
43:40
And he gave them the diet and the exercise and the stress reduction and
43:43
all that to make the arteries like this.
43:45
Because people have heart attacks.
43:47
Because they're stressed.
43:49
Yeah.
43:50
Not just because they're eating burgers all day.
43:52
So yeah, it's the whole deal, you know?
43:56
And, um, I'm so grateful for people like him to not be so.
44:01
What we call reductionist like, and that's what scientific studies
44:05
generally are reductionist.
44:07
We have this one problem, we're gonna give you this one pill
44:10
and see what it does, right?
44:11
He's like, bugger that.
44:13
I'm gonna do the whole shebang.
44:14
I'm going to tell people, you know, we're gonna put you on an exercise program.
44:18
We're gonna give you good food, we're gonna do counseling,
44:21
we're gonna do stress reduction.
44:22
We're go, you know, we're gonna make sure you stop smoking
44:24
and all the things, therapy.
44:27
We're gonna hang out in a group.
44:28
We're gonna make friends, and then see what the human body
44:32
does because we are the hu.
44:33
We are the whole thing.
44:34
We are not just food, we're not just stress.
44:36
We're not just, you know what we do for exercise.
44:41
So.
44:42
I'm really grateful for him for being the pioneer, and I'm so glad
44:45
that, you know, pretty much every conference he gets named like, you
44:48
know, man of the year or something.
44:52
So just for paving the way for all of us just to be on his coattails and
44:56
say, Hey, you, you can do this and you are a hu a whole body and let's
45:00
look at everything, you know, diet, of course it's the most important, but,
45:04
but all the other things together will exponentially move you towards health,
45:09
which is this way on your screen.
45:10
Yeah.
45:15
Um, one of the other things I really like about your book is,
45:18
um, how you have quizzes after you give the information so people can
45:24
kind of check what they remember.
45:27
And you also, you know, um, leave space for journaling so that people can
45:32
kind of process what they're learning.
45:34
In addition to just taking in the information, talk about why you
45:39
decided to include those things.
45:41
Oh, 'cause I'm a nerd.
45:45
No, actually, that's the way I learn.
45:48
By repetition, by repe, um, doing quizzes.
45:53
If I, you know, I, as I say, I was at university in 2018.
45:57
I didn't go back to university my first undergrad degree.
46:00
I was in my forties and when I did my master master's, I was 50.
46:03
So, um, I learn by reading, then doing and then reflecting and, and it's, with
46:13
all those three things that you can really get the information in your head.
46:19
I would've never passed university if I just read the
46:22
textbook and then did the exam.
46:23
Like, I wouldn't remember that.
46:24
How am I gonna remember?
46:25
You just can't remember all that stuff.
46:27
And even though my book is written for the lay person who, you know, either
46:33
hasn't gone to university or doesn't wanna go to university or doesn't
46:36
wanna read a textbook, they just wanna read a book that's gonna help them.
46:40
Still a lot of information.
46:42
And if you ask me to quote something in the book right now, I probably
46:46
couldn't do it because we retain a fraction of what we learn.
46:51
And so the idea for me was, okay, I am going to give people
46:55
something that's tangible that they can relate to their own life.
47:00
So today, I feel is one of the journal prompts.
47:04
How do you feel today?
47:05
Well, you know, you can write Well, I feel really frustrated because I
47:07
tried really hard to get home and have a salad and I, you know, my car
47:11
broke down and I was starving and I had to go and get a burger, you know?
47:14
Fine.
47:15
That's fine.
47:16
Write it down.
47:16
Because when you write it down, you're releasing it from yourself and
47:19
instead of being, oh, I'm so peeved.
47:22
'cause I really wanted to do good today and it just didn't work
47:26
out for me by writing it down.
47:28
You are like, it's gone.
47:29
Alright, tomorrow's another day.
47:31
And it's very nice of you to mention that too, Stephanie,
47:35
because I am writing another book.
47:38
And it's probably gonna be this thick, but it's just the workbook, not just
47:44
the two or three pages per chapter.
47:46
There's gonna be like 20 pages per chapter of questions that
47:52
relate to the individual.
47:55
So just, I can't even tell you off the top of my head.
47:58
So think about five things in your pantry that you could probably do without.
48:04
Why could you do without them?
48:05
What are the ingredients in those things in the pantry that you think
48:09
are probably bad for your health?
48:11
And, and what do you think you could swap those things for?
48:14
Now, I don't have room in my book to put all that stuff
48:16
in, but I do in this workbook.
48:19
So I am working on that and hopefully that's gonna be a, a compendium
48:24
to the book very, very shortly.
48:26
And it's also really good for the people who bought the Kindle or will get the
48:32
audio book, which is almost there, almost.
48:35
Um.
48:36
Because they don't have anything to write on.
48:39
And a lot of people who are trying to prevent and reverse heart
48:45
disease, um, you know, mature adults over 40, I'm gonna say over 40.
48:50
I know there's people who are under 40 and bless them because I think
48:53
it's awesome that they're trying to clean up their diet early.
48:56
But a lot of the people are people over 40, maybe in their fifties or
49:01
sixties, and they, you know, they got to the point where their health is
49:05
just not working for them right now.
49:07
And they wanna be the person they were in their thirties, but they're just not.
49:10
And these people, my people, we like to write things down.
49:15
You know, we like something tangible.
49:18
We like a book that we can hold, which is there, and we like to write things down.
49:23
So that's why I am doing a extra workbook for people to get in there and do it.
49:31
That's a good idea because.
49:33
I, I think one of the things that I wasn't expecting when we first went
49:37
whole food plant-based, 'cause uh, I was well over 300 pounds and I wasn't
49:45
ready to deal with like, the emotional part, the, the psychological part.
49:50
And it just was so important to address that.
49:53
Uh, 'cause I didn't realize how much of, like, my whole thing, my problem with food
50:02
was psychological and it's just important to, to bring that and I appreciate that.
50:09
Oh, thank you.
50:10
And congratulations too.
50:12
That is an awesome, awesome thing to achieve.
50:15
And I agree with you.
50:17
I have had food demons in my head since I was born and you know, have you
50:23
ever seen that Sylvester and 20 Bird.
50:26
Cartoon.
50:27
See, this is how old I am, Sylvester and t, Tweety Bird, and there's little
50:31
Sylvester on his shoulder, and he's a little devil going, you know, kill
50:34
the, kill the Tweety bird and the other little sylvester's like a little angel.
50:38
And he's like, no, don't kill the t Tweety bird.
50:40
He's your friend.
50:42
Well, that's me.
50:42
Eat the cake.
50:43
No, don't eat the cake.
50:44
You know what I mean?
50:45
Like these creatures have been in my head since I was born, and it's very, and I
50:52
argue with them all the time, and luckily the healthy P Me is, is is a little bit
50:57
more overwhelming than the unhealthy me.
50:59
But if I get stressed, man, I'm straight in the cupboard.
51:02
And I understand how emotion is attached to eating.
51:08
And yes, I don't, in this book, it's more practical, right?
51:12
So I'm saying go and buy the healthy food and have the healthy food in your
51:16
house, and then when you're hungry, you'll only eat healthy food and, and kick all
51:19
the unhealthy food outta your house.
51:21
Well, it's very easy for me to say that.
51:23
Because I don't know you and I don't know your emotional attachment to
51:27
those Oreos, and you know what I mean?
51:29
So I try to give people practical tips on what they can do.
51:34
But the emotional thing, it's just, it's, it's another animal.
51:37
And I feel for people because I feel it too.
51:41
And I know Justin, you know, the same deal.
51:43
We, that's why these, um, medications, uh, the, the GLP one medications
51:50
are so popular with people because apparently, I don't know, but
51:53
apparently they quieten the food noise.
51:56
They kick out the bad Sylvester, you know?
51:58
And, uh, and people don't feel the emotional pull to food.
52:02
And look, we make GLP ones in our tummy anyway.
52:07
And I'm getting off on another tangent.
52:09
Uh, so when you start, just for people who maybe are thinking about
52:13
going down that route of medication.
52:15
Start eating whole plant foods first, and then see what happens emotionally.
52:20
See that maybe you repopulate your gut bacteria and maybe then you're producing
52:25
more of these GLP one hormones and you don't feel like you have to run
52:29
to the donut shop when you get upset.
52:31
But I do understand that it's, it's a, an old habit.
52:36
Uh, it's a way of being.
52:38
It's the normal for people who were overweight that emotional pool of food.
52:43
And look, if I said to you, Justin, just shut up and eat a bowl of broccoli.
52:47
If you're hungry, you'd just be like, no, you don't understand.
52:50
Like sometimes a bowl of broccoli will not cut it.
52:54
But the more you eat healthy food, the more you, your body says,
52:58
Hey, gimme that roll of broccoli.
53:00
I've been known, well pre, pretty much every time I go out to dinner,
53:05
I would like a side of broccoli.
53:07
No, no butter, no oil, no salt.
53:09
Just steam it.
53:10
Every time I go out to dinner, I don't care what kind of restaurant
53:12
it is, just gimme the broccoli.
53:14
Because I know that if I'm having, let's say it's an Italian restaurant
53:17
and I'm having spaghetti or something, it's gonna be tomatoes and onions and
53:21
white pasta, which is not good for me, upsets my tummy and then hello.
53:26
That's, that's not enough, right?
53:29
So I'm, give me the things that I need.
53:33
So I don't know where I went with that question.
53:38
I told myself I wouldn't ramble and look what's happening.
53:41
No, you're doing fabulous.
53:42
I think that, I think that those are really great points and I think the fact
53:47
that you talk about, you know, stress relief and social connection, those are
53:51
two of the big, so like lack of connection and the crazy, stressful world we live
53:59
in right now are two of the things that really lead us, lead those demons to
54:04
get louder and louder and, and to, um.
54:08
Make us use food.
54:09
So I think, you know, the idea of addressing the whole person helps a lot.
54:15
Big time.
54:15
Yeah.
54:16
Plus a lot of the time eating is thoughtless.
54:22
Yes.
54:22
You don't say, I mean, yeah, I talked about the, you know, sylvesters
54:26
on my shoulder, eat the donut, don't eat the donut, whatever.
54:29
That's when there's thought.
54:31
But sometimes there's zero thought.
54:33
I had clients and I would say to them, how'd you go?
54:37
You know, oh, eggs and bacon for breakfast again.
54:39
Why did you do that?
54:41
I don't know.
54:42
It was just there.
54:43
Well, did you say, did you stop and go, you know, are the, uh, the eggs
54:46
and bacon gonna be healthy for me?
54:48
And what's another healthy option?
54:49
Maybe I could have some oats.
54:50
No, I just went to the fridge and I got the eggs and bacon
54:54
out and I made breakfast.
54:57
And that, that happens more than the conversation.
55:02
So that's an interesting thing too, is that.
55:06
It's an automatic habit of past actions and we need to break
55:10
some of these patterns and then we need to not have a vacuum.
55:15
I had a lady say to me, well, if I take away the steak from my dinner, what?
55:21
You know, then I've just got peas and potatoes.
55:24
That's not enough food.
55:25
Well, you know, of course it's not enough food.
55:30
You have to put something in place of the steak.
55:33
Yeah, and that's what people think.
55:34
Well, if I take away the meat, if I take away the eggs, if I take away
55:37
the dairy, what am I left with?
55:40
And that I'm trying to tell people there is an abundance of other yummy,
55:45
healthy things that you can eat.
55:48
And it is, I think plant-based eating is a little bit of a different cooking style.
55:54
Um, you can't just, well, you can, but it's tasteless.
55:57
You can't just throw a tofu on the grill and, and then have it
56:00
with some chips, right, because that's boring and not very tasty.
56:05
So there needs to be, I think, a little bit of education, a little bit
56:10
of learning about how to put flavors together and make sure you're getting,
56:15
you know, your protein, legumes and, and your whole grains and whatnot, and
56:19
you're getting enough calories because particularly men, they need more calories
56:25
than women because they're bigger.
56:27
And if you take away the meat and just leave them with some, you know,
56:33
a, a tablespoon of peas and a and a and you know, a little thing of half
56:37
a cup of mashed potatoes, they're gonna be hungry, hungry hippos
56:39
and they're not gonna be happy.
56:40
So we have, there's like a little bit of education to work out how
56:44
to incorporate foods into our diets that are satiating filling.
56:50
They make us feel warm and snugly.
56:52
Like nothing to me tastes better than mashed potatoes
56:56
with peas and mushroom gravy.
56:58
Like, oh, yummy.
57:00
Right?
57:00
So you eating that and it may, it's like, they call it comfort food, but comfort
57:06
food doesn't have to be deep fried in oil.
57:09
It doesn't have to be, you know, some poor little dead chicken's wings or whatever.
57:13
So it's just a little bit of learning, but not too much learning.
57:19
Awesome.
57:22
Well, we we're coming up on the end of our time together.
57:26
Sad to say, but I just wanted to ask real quick what, uh, what's
57:33
like a good go-to meal for you?
57:36
Like when, when time is tight.
57:40
My favorite meal is the five minute Asian noodle bowl.
57:44
Mm-hmm.
57:45
And I'm very specific about ingredients, but don't stress because if you
57:49
can't get these ingredients, I'm sure there's gonna be subs somewhere.
57:53
I buy these millet and brown rice.
57:57
Noodles, like, you know, like cup noodles, they're like square blocks of noodles.
58:01
Um, but they don't have any sauce or anything with them.
58:04
And you throw that in a pot with some veggie stock.
58:07
And I love, I don't know if your listeners like, well, your world
58:11
products or they've heard of them, but I love the well, your world, uh,
58:15
Asian veggie stock, it's salt free.
58:17
It's so flavorful.
58:18
It's so delicious.
58:19
So you stuck stick some of that on your noodle with the boiling water.
58:23
And then I go to Costco and I buy these stir fried, mixed vegetable blend.
58:27
It comes in a bag.
58:28
It's like this big, right?
58:31
And it's got all the things in it.
58:32
It's got all the things that I want in a stir fry, like your red pepper
58:36
and your green beans and your water chestnut, and your carrots and your cauli.
58:39
It's got all the yummies and you just throw that in And then I cheat and buy
58:47
the little Trader Joe's pre-season tofu.
58:50
Chop that few little of those in.
58:52
'cause it's like teriyaki tofu.
58:54
It's got some flavor.
58:56
And then a little bit of ginger and just boil that for like two
59:01
minutes and then put some cilantro on top and maybe some tahin.
59:04
And if I'm feeling really raunchy, maybe a couple of
59:07
roasted peanuts without the salt.
59:09
And then what?
59:11
It's like the best, easy five minute lunch ever.
59:16
You get a beautiful broth, so you're ingesting lots of water,
59:19
and when you drink water, you're filling up your tummy with pretty
59:22
much no calories, plus it's warm.
59:25
Then you get the noodles and they're all squiggly.
59:26
So there's that sensory kind of thing.
59:29
You know, you want your food to be exciting, and they're squiggly noodles.
59:32
You can slurp 'em up the veggies that are only in the water for like
59:36
a minute and a half, so they're still crunchy and delicious.
59:38
And frozen vegetables are a person's best friend because you don't have to
59:48
cut 'em up, you just throw 'em in the pot and then it's like, no brainer.
59:52
And then mm-hmm.
59:53
Sometimes my husband, he likes things a bit saltier than me,
59:56
so he might put a little bit of miso in or something like that.
59:59
I tried not to do salt 'cause of my, you know, my blood pressure loves salt.
1:00:03
Um, but yeah, that's the, I have that for lunch probably three times a week and
1:00:09
it's so easy and it's got to the point now where my husband and I just put one
1:00:14
block in for two of us because just one little block was too much noodles for us.
1:00:20
I said, let's double the veggies and half the noodles.
1:00:23
And so we get just by eating the same thing, we get less calories.
1:00:29
And look, some people may want more calories, right?
1:00:32
You might say, you know, half a block of noodles is not enough for me.
1:00:36
Well, that's fine.
1:00:37
My husband's 150 pounds.
1:00:38
He doesn't need any calor, you know, he's tiny.
1:00:40
Uh, you know, so it's not like he needs extra, extra calories.
1:00:44
He probably needs less than I do.
1:00:47
'cause he doesn't exercise as much as I do.
1:00:48
But if you want more noodles, eat more noodles, you want
1:00:51
more tofu, put more tofu in.
1:00:52
Who cares?
1:00:53
Right.
1:00:54
So it doesn't, it doesn't, you want two blocks, put two blocks in.
1:00:57
I know that, uh, that, you know, Dylan and Res have just released a
1:01:00
brand new, I might give him a plug.
1:01:02
Actually, they just released a brand new cookbook yesterday and
1:01:05
they've got a noodle dish in it.
1:01:06
They use four blocks.
1:01:08
Right.
1:01:08
I don't know who they're feeding, but you know what I mean.
1:01:10
Like just throw 'em all in because you really can't overeat calories on
1:01:17
a diet where you use whole plant foods with no added oil and no added salt.
1:01:21
You just, you can't do it.
1:01:23
Sure.
1:01:23
If I was to add peanut butter to the sauce, yeah.
1:01:26
We are overeating calories.
1:01:27
Right.
1:01:28
If I was to throw in two handfuls of peanuts, we're overeating calories.
1:01:31
If I was to put sesame oil all over it, we're overeating calories.
1:01:35
But if you don't do that, you can still have the yummy yummies.
1:01:39
And, and not worry about putting on extra weight or, you know,
1:01:43
getting inflammation from the oil and all, all the nasty things.
1:01:47
So that's my favorite go-to insto dens.
1:01:51
Mm. Oh my gosh.
1:01:52
It sounds so delicious.
1:01:54
Yeah.
1:01:54
Go, go make one right now.
1:01:56
Lunch guests, let us know.
1:01:58
Come over anytime.
1:01:59
I keep those bags of veggies in my freezer all the time.
1:02:03
I have 'em for breakfast too.
1:02:06
I just throw 'em in the microwave.
1:02:08
Uh, heat 'em up.
1:02:09
And I've even, even.
1:02:12
Either, excuse me, made some cheese sauce from my book, the recipe I've
1:02:17
got in the book Cheese sauce, which has got no cheese in it, of course.
1:02:20
Uh, or I'll put, uh, just, you know, tomato pisata, which is just canned
1:02:26
tomatoes that have been blended.
1:02:28
Just throw the veggies.
1:02:29
That's pretty nice.
1:02:30
Or I might put, um, some California balsamic balsamic vinegar on top
1:02:35
and I'll have that for breakfast three or four times a week.
1:02:38
And look, if you are, if any of your watches or listeners are thinking, are you
1:02:43
kidding me, veggies for breakfast, like, I'm gonna be hungry in like 15 minutes.
1:02:47
No, you won't, you won't be hungry in 15 minutes.
1:02:49
You might be hungry in two hours, right?
1:02:51
Instead of three hours.
1:02:52
And if that's the case, have some oatmeal or have something that's
1:02:55
got, you know, bit more stodd to it.
1:02:58
Maybe a potato or, you know what I mean?
1:03:00
Like listen to the body.
1:03:02
But I try to get veggies in my bre, uh, at least three or four
1:03:05
times a week because I know then if they're in for, it's like exercise.
1:03:09
Exercise first thing in the morning, veggies, first thing in the morning.
1:03:12
Just get 'em done.
1:03:12
Right.
1:03:15
That's awesome.
1:03:15
Chef AJ would be proud.
1:03:17
Mm-hmm.
1:03:18
She's an awesome lady.
1:03:20
I love her so much.
1:03:21
Yeah, she's great.
1:03:22
She is.
1:03:23
She is.
1:03:25
Well, Terry Chrisman, thank you so much for joining us
1:03:27
and so lovely talking to you.
1:03:29
We really had a good time.
1:03:32
And can you just let um, our listeners know where they can
1:03:35
find you and, and your book?
1:03:38
Well, thank you so much Justin and Stephanie.
1:03:40
Yes.
1:03:41
So, uh, my website is fabulous health.net.
1:03:44
Easy to remember.
1:03:46
I didn't buy fabulous health.com.
1:03:47
'cause they want $12,000 for that URL, so that can stay there.
1:03:53
And I, the book is available on Amazon, but for people who are in
1:03:57
America, I will sign you a copy if you buy the book from my website.
1:04:02
So if you just go to the website, fabulous health.net or I've actually got
1:04:06
two websites, fabulous health book.net.
1:04:08
But let's not confuse people.
1:04:10
Uh, and, and you buy it from the website, not Amazon.
1:04:14
I will personally sign it for you and send it to you.
1:04:16
Unfortunately, I do apologize to anybody who may be watching
1:04:20
this from another country.
1:04:21
I can't send it overseas, but definitely anybody in the States,
1:04:25
I'll definitely sign it for you.
1:04:27
And, uh, if I'm out at conferences or anything like that, I'll
1:04:30
definitely sign books for you too.
1:04:31
But otherwise Amazon's will go.
1:04:35
Awesome.
1:04:35
Thank you so much.
1:04:37
Thank you Terry.
1:04:38
We appreciate you.