Just because homelessness is a complex problem doesn't mean that there aren't simple solutions.The obstacles to ending homelessness stem from the "address homelessness" industry itself, which benefits from the persistence of the problem rather than its eradication.What's needed, according to today's guest, Momma Kai Sanders, is affordable housing.That's the root of the issue: homes that people can afford to live in.And Momma Kai isn't just talking about it. She's taking action — running for mayor of Raleigh, North Carolina, on a write-in ticket.She's running for her son, Wisdom, to create the policies now that can give him a chance at a good life in the future.She's fighting for the most vulnerable and marginalized from a position not just of solidarity, but identity.She's all about compassion and authentic leadership.If you can vote for her, I hope you do so.If you know folks who live in Raleigh who can spread the word, I hope you reach out to them.It's a long shot, sure, but the most important question isn't "Who's going to win?" Instead, it's "Whose team do you want to be on?"LinksMomma Kai's Instagram pageHelping the Unhoused – and Homeless – Move From Poverty to Prosperity: Momma Kai Sanders on PYP 562True Privilege is Growing Up in a Low-Trauma Environment: Momma Kai Sanders on PYP 566

Tom Solid and Paco Cantero are the minds behind the Paperless Movement, a consultancy and educational program for people who aspire to high performance in a fast-changing digital landscape.Which is to say, they're here to help us get shit done in a world of infinite bits and bytes, a world of 24/7 access to information, and a world which will grab our calendar by the short and curlies and impose a zillion external agendas upon us if we don't learn how to defend our time, our priorities, and our purpose.Rather than focus on the latest and greatest individual tools (the "it girls" of the productivity world), Tom and Paco emphasize the need to understand systems, and use tools for particular purposes to achieve desired results.We dive into their ICOR framework, and encounter such things as the Capturing Beast, the Single Source of Truth, and the pitfalls of using the internet as a "Second Brain."We also explore the difference between Deep and Shallow work, and why it's crucial to be deliberate in building time and space for the former. Here are the key takeaways, according to AI:Productivity is about performing at your best without burning out.Understanding that everything is a system can enhance productivity.Busy professionals can be productive if they have clarity in their tasks.Switching tools frequently can lead to confusion and inefficiency.A structured approach to productivity is essential for busy professionals.Continuous improvement happens naturally when systems are in place.Clarity in goals and tasks leads to better tool usage.It's not the tools that matter, but how you use them.A combination of small changes can lead to significant improvements.Ultimately, productivity is simply a means to achieve What Matters Most to us. Joyfully.With peace of mind.And on purpose.LinksPaperlessMovement.comICOR® Journey: Learn how to build your ultimate productivity system with any tools!

In the movie There's Something About Mary, there's a scene where Ben Stiller's character picks up a hitchhiker who tries to pitch him on a business idea.There's a popular exercise video called Eight Minute Abs, but the hitchhiker is going to capture market share by making a video called Seven Minute Abs.He explains, "If you walk into the video store and you see Eight Minute Abs and Seven Minute Abs, which one are you going to take? Seven minutes, of course.But he gets stumped by the question, "What if somebody else comes out with Six Minute Abs?"I thought of that scene when I got pitched for a new book called Three Minutes a Day: A Fourteen-Week Course to Learn Meditation and Transform Your Life, by Richard Dixey.I thought, boy, have we really dumbed down the tradition of meditation from its origins.Starting with Buddha sitting under the tree for days or weeks at a time until enlightenment descended upon him, to the practices of of monks and nuns of the monastic orders in Europe who would sit and pray for several hours a day.And now, just like everything else in the West, we've turned it into something that you can package and microwave and sell to the masses who just want a quick fix.Then I took a look at the book and completely changed my mind.And in fact, the conversation you're about to hear with Richard Dixey, the author, is actually one of the deepest explorations of spirituality I have ever had. It's changed how I think about my own spiritual practice. And it's been a couple of weeks now of going through the exercises in the book, and my spiritual practice has transformed for the better.I understand if you're skeptical. So have a listen, and let me know what you think.A Mantis Carol, by Laurens van der PostA Story Like the Wind, by Laurens van der PostThree Minutes a Day: A Fourteen-Week Course to Learn Meditation and Transform Your Life, by Richard DixeyYet Being Someone Other, by Laurens van der PostDharma CollegeRichardDixey.com

Thoughts on the episode? Let us know.Let's get started because we don't have a lot of time.At least that's the perspective of today's guest, Jodi Wellman. Jodi is an executive coach and speaker, and the author of You Only Die Once. And she's a big fan of Memento mori, Latin for "remember that you will die."Acknowledging the scarcity of our time, she insists, can help us make the most of the time that we have.And it doesn't have to be morbid. It can be fun. Jodi keeps skulls as decorations, and they're surprisingly cheerful-lookingRemembering that we don't have infinite time and infinite opportunities can provide a much needed push when we're stuck. So we can live the life we want, rather than waiting and rationalizing and looking back with regret at the end.In our conversation, I get free coaching on making some bold moves in my life.We talk about my fear of "indulging," even a little — that it will turn into a one-way highway to depravity — and how I might explore some balance between self-indulgence and Puritanical austerity. In summation: "Life is short. We gotta get on with this shit."Click to subscribe to the Mindset Mastery Memo.Support the show

Thoughts on the episode? Let us know.Sarah Davis was a corporate risk manager who began to chafe at the limitations on her life.Sure, she had a safe job and a comfortable income. She ran marathons (3:38 PR — damn!) and was living the dream in Bondi, Australia.But something was missing.When Sarah interrogated herself, she realized that she wasn't living as big or as bold as she wanted.Did risk management always have to be about minimizing risk at all cost? Or could the principles of risk management inform and guide actual risk taking?Could she use her professional skill set in tandem with her experience in surf sea kayaking and her love of travel and her pursuit of novelty to do something big and bold and amazing?In our conversation, we talk about the life lessons learned as she became the first woman to paddle the Nile River from its headwaters in Rwanda all the way to the Nile Delta in Egypt.I hope you're inspired to step outside of any comfort zones that have got you stuck. I hope you're inspired to identify a passion project and pursue it. And I hope you stay safe and well the whole time!A couple of the quotable quotes from this episode, as identified by AI:"Control the controllables""Life is for living"LinksSarahJDavis.comPaddle the Nile: One Woman's Search for a Life Less Ordinary, by Sarah DavisInstagram: @sarahpaddlesSarah's LinkedIn profileSarah's YouTube channelClick to subscribe to the Mindset Mastery Memo.Support the show

Thoughts on the episode? Let us know.Over the years I've had the privilege of supporting thousands of people to make changes in their lives:entrepreneurs sharpening their focus and implementing their action plansexecutives growing their leadership and influence chopsregular folks adopting healthy habits and uprooting self-sabotaging impulsesAnd I like to think that the net effect of all those individual changes is a more global shift, as the ripples extend beyond my clients to their families, organizations, communities, and the world.But that's different from engineering large-change scale from the get-go.And heaven knows, the human species could really use some transformation at scale at the present moment, if we are to survive on a livable planet for much longer.So I reached out to change expert Huw Thomas to explore the keys to behavior change at scale.In our conversation, we cover Huw's three keys to change:leadershipmanagementgovernanceWe dig into empathy, resistance, adaptability, and influence, and a bunch of other buzzwords that actually contain real nuggets of wisdom.And we talk about our own journeys of change, and the obstacles we've created, faced, and overcome.Enjoy!LinksHuwThomas.com.auMaximum Achievement, by Brian TracyThe Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R CoveyLeading with Emotional Courage, by Peter BregmanClick to subscribe to the Mindset Mastery Memo.Support the show

Thoughts on the episode? Let us know.This is the first conversation that I had with Dr Richard Hodge, and it's the fourth podcast that I've published.That's because after we talked, Richard sent me an email basically saying, "Hey, we covered some pretty advanced stuff, but I think we need to really break it down for folks."So the last three conversations with Richard have been reverse engineering our way to this conversation, the culmination (so far).This is the conversation about how to make a difference in the world.How to use systems thinking, how to approach problems and issues holistically.How to listen to up-until-now marginalized voices and community.And how to still be how to be a small, insignificant human beings and still look at the world and know that there's "no problem too big."I hope you enjoy our conversation, and that you're inspired to lend your mind, spirit, and shoulder to the wheel of Better.LinksDrRichardHodge.comRory Sutherland's TED TalkThe Memory Code: Unlocking the Secrets of the Lives of the Ancients and the Power of the Human Mind, by Kelly LynneUnlocking the Emotional Brain, 2nd Edition, by Bruce Ecker, Robin Ticic, and Laurel HulleyRight Story, Wrong Story, by Tyson YunkaportaAntifragile, by Nassim Nicholas TalebAwakening from the Meaning Crisis (Video series by John Vervaeke on the Four Ways of Knowing)The Greatest Night in Pop (Netflix documentary on the making of "We Are the World" in 1985)Click to subscribe to the Mindset Mastery Memo.Support the show

Thoughts on the episode? Let us know.You don't hear the word joy thrown around a lot in business. And that's why I'm delighted to share this conversation with you with business psychologist Simi Rayat.Simi is the author of the upcoming book Productivity Joy. And her thing is, are you a joy to be around at work, at home, on the streets? It's such a great question. It reminds me of my friend Howard Prager's trademark question: “How can I make someone's day?”They’re both a sort of mantra that allows you to orient your whole life towards a really beautiful goal. And for Simi, it's about being a source of joy for others; being someone that other people actually want to be around. And if you think about it — what a powerful focus for the workplace, for our volunteer organizations, for our families, for anywhere that we want to have a positive changeThere’s so much wrong with the world and there's so much to be angry about and there's so much to be sad about. And if we want to mobilize people to action, to make a difference, to make a change, we can't just run on the fuel of negativity. We also need joy. And the harder it is to generate that joy, the more it's needed. So I'm really excited to share this conversation. It's chock full of science. It's chock full of joy. And I hope it helps you bring about the world that you want to see. Click to subscribe to the Mindset Mastery Memo.Support the show

Thoughts on the episode? Let us know.In this conversation, the brilliant Dr. Richard Hodge (aren't you glad you live in a universe that includes him?) introduces the four quadrant model as a way of clarifying and codifying our approach to complex problems.Before we get into it, I wanna say: This is high-level stuff.It's meaty (ok, seitan-y) and will take a while for most folks to digest. (I'm still working on it after being introduced to Richard's work over 3 months ago.)And it's the real deal — a ninja path to high level impact at scale in a TUNA world.(TUNA, which we learn about in this episode, stands for Turbulent, Uncertain, Novel, and Ambiguous. Richard likes it better than VUCA, and now I do too.)The four quadrants are:WHY (drives meaning)HOW (drives connection)WHAT (what we're going to do)IF (impact if implemented)The beauty is, we can apply this process to both large-scale organizational problems and personal challenges.The process is question-based.First, we ask why to uncover meaning and values.Then we explore how to build connections between people, nodes of the system, and outside forces.We inquire into what we're going to do, diving into the oft-overlooked details of strategy, operations, and governance. (Yes, this is complex, but you can apply it to your personal goals and challenges, like improving your diet or starting a journaling habit or upgrading how you communicate with work colleagues and loved ones.)Then we look at the projected consequences and outcomes, and ask if they match our initial goals and values.We go deep here, covering concepts like identity and policy framework. And I realize this isn't your usual podcast-while-taking-a-walk episode.In fact, I highly recommend you set aside time and space to watch the video — there's a lot of valuable white-boarding, which will make the whole thing way more understandable.And I don't want the complexity to obscure the big idea here: that every person has a role to play in making the world a better place. By understanding their place in the larger system, they have exponentially more power to contribute to positive change.LinksDrRichardHodge.comSir Ken Robinson's TED Talk: "Do Schools Kill Creativity?"Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor FranklWalking Well, by Michael Gelb and Bruce FertmanClick to subscribe to the Mindset Mastery Memo.Support the Show.

Thoughts on the episode? Let us know.What can we learn from indigenous knowledge systems about how to navigate and transform our world?My guest, Dr Richard Hodge, points out several aspects of Aboriginal culture that can help us act effectively and with heart and wisdom in a world full of problems.To guide us in a complex world, we need touchstones of value.For many indigenous peoples, that's the function of totems and totemic beings: kangaroo, echidna, wallaby, and so on.Counterintuitively, seeing the world through a totemic perspective offers greater clarity than how we often view it, through the lens of our limited egoic state, entangled with fight-or-flight fancies that superimpose themselves over reality.Our perception colors our interpretation of the world.The Western mindset sees the world as a number of separate objects, ourselves among them. Which means our prime directive is always control and domination of the "other" — whether it be nature, or the weather, or animals, or other people.Shifting to an indigenous way of seeing creates connection and opportunities for collaboration and synergies on a systems-level.And that's the level at which transformational change at scale becomes possible.With that foundation, Dr Hodge shares his Dragonfly Model of systemic, deep change.If you can, watch rather than just listen, because there are diagrams and models that can help you follow the concepts and the conversation.Enjoy our yarning, and please let us know what you think.LinksDrRichardHodge.comThomas Berry, "The Meadow Across the Creek"Stephanie Kelton, economistMariana Mazzucato, economistBertrand Russell, "In Praise of Idleness"Click to subscribe to the Mindset Mastery Memo.Support the Show.

Thoughts on the episode? Let us know.I'm particularly excited about this conversation. Dr. Richard Hodge is not just an expert; he’s deeply inspirational. On his home page, he writes about two core beliefs:Each of us matters more than we think.We can do more than we think in the time we have on this Earth.Are you as jazzed as I am to unpack those beliefs?In our conversation, Richard speaks about his philosophies with a blend of humility and urgency, encapsulated by his forward mantra: “No problem too big.”This isn't our first conversation. We did one a couple of months ago, but Richard actually suggested we hold off on releasing it as it should be 'conversation number four'. He stressed the importance of laying a foundational framework first—a classic systems thinker approach! So, this episode is the first of four, culminating in our original chat.In today's episode, we explore topics ranging from the profound impact of value and relevance on our actions to the importance of doing no harm as we navigate an increasingly complex world. Richard introduces his engaging framework connecting value, relevance, and consequences, guiding us toward profound sustainable change.One aspect we delve into is the idea that individuals at any level can make a significant impact.Richard tells an insider story about the design and construction of Heathrow's Terminal 5 which illustrates how removing bureaucratic obstacles and embracing collaboration can lead to remarkable success. It’s a shift from the reductionist, profit-driven models we’ve become accustomed to, spotlighting the importance of human-centric and life-centric designs.Look forward to exploring more of Richard’s models, like the interplay between value, relevance, and consequences, in subsequent episodes. For now, I'll leave you with a new perspective, inspired by Richard, on finding worthiness in our actions and seeing the bigger picture in everything we do.LinksDrRichardHodge.comThinking in Systems, by Donella MeadowsKathryn Cormican Industry 5.0Click to subscribe to the Mindset Mastery Memo.Support the Show.

Thoughts on the episode? Let us know.Divya Ramachandran helps startup founders do the hard work needed to bring new ideas into the world.And while she advises on strategy and investment and go-to-market and minimum viable product, her real focus lies in sharpening the mind and body of her clients.That is, she guides them to clarity, which helps them prioritize and make better decisions.And she helps them explore their energy expenditure. Energy is partly about working long hours, but it's also related to how much the founder's identity is bound up in the eventual success or failure of the business.Through emotional clarity and self-awareness, people who are doing hard things to make the world a better place can find peace and joy even within the most intense moments of the struggle.Enjoy!LinksDivya's WebsiteThe Guest House, by Rumi (translation Coleman Barks)Support the Show.

Thoughts on the episode? Let us know.Hey, jan Tokawi here, and we're going to be talking about languages.jan Tokawi is my Toki Pona name. Toki Pona is a language that I had not heard about until three weeks ago. It's a Conlang, a constructed language, meaning that it was created by, in this case, basically one human being and then a community formed around her.The entire language consists of somewhere around 140 words or so.And as I'm learning Spanish and dealing with 50 or so different forms of each verb, there's something very appealing about a language I can learn in a weekend.When I encountered the Toki Pona community, I became intrigued about the implications of communicating using such a limited vocabulary.What's it like trying to get complex ideas across? How do we make sure that our conversation partner or reader understands what we mean?And then I thought, Gee, I've got that same problem in my native tongue. Maybe there's stuff I can learn here that can make me a more effective communicator in English.I reached out to jan Usawi, who is a proficient speaker of Toki Pona, and also a musician who write lyrics in the language.In our conversation, we explore lots of philosophy and epistomology and other long Greek words.To my delight, we even tied it into transformational healing and the linguistics of radical mindset shifts.And — and this will make sense if you watch the video — we explored the function of jan Usawi's antlers.Enjoy!LinksSina – song by jan UsawiDivergent Translation presentation by jan UsawiToki Pona official siteRobWords video intro to Toki Ponajan Usawi on YouTubejan Usawi on Bandcampjan Usawi on PatreonNo Bad Parts, by Richard Schwartz (book about Internal Family Systems)Maria Mison – gamesSupport the Show.

Thoughts on the episode? Let us know.Christopher Miller is an unlikely poster child for psychological well-being. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder as an adult, and losing his wife to brain cancer in 2021, he has nevertheless turned his personal struggles and tragedies into a mission to help people get the most out of life.His first book was all about how to find FISH in your life: Fulfillment, Inspiration, Success, and Happiness.In our conversation, we focus on his new book, Finding FISH in a Strengths-Based Practice, which talks about how to identify and leverage your talents and strengths, rather than spending energy trying to fix your weaknesses.Of course, unchecked strengths can themselves become weaknesses. We talk about the potential downside of strengths, and how awareness and balance are needed in order to get the benefits while mitigating the costs.Awareness and balance are orienting themes in Miller's life, and provide him with the self-management tools to navigate his mental health challenges as a successful organizational consultant, coach, trainer, and facilitator.And emboldened by the things that have happened to him and his own resilience in the face of tragedy and mental illness, Miller has doubled down on Love as a core operating system, both in personal and professional relationships.In this conversation, we explore the power of following the heart as much as the head, and leading with Love in all aspects of our lives.Enjoy!Here's what ChatGPT thinks are the key takeaways:Strength-based approaches focus on identifying and leveraging individuals' talents and strengths.Appreciating and valuing the unique strengths of individuals requires a mindset shift.Awareness and balance are crucial in utilizing strengths effectively.Strengths can have dark sides, and it's important to be aware of and manage them.Personal development and growth can occur even in the face of challenges and loss. Monitoring well-being using the FISH score can provide insights into one's happiness, success, inspiration, and fulfillment.Purpose, values, and life roles can serve as anchors during challenging times and contribute to one's well-being.Self-awareness and self-management play a crucial role in navigating mental health challenges and maintaining stability.Individuals with mental health conditions often possess a unique creative potential that can lead to significant contributions in various fields.Integrating oneness consciousness and love can lead to profound personal and professional transformations.Following the heart is essential for personal growth and creating a more compassionate and connected world.LinksChristopher-Miller.com (books available from here) Support the Show.

How to become the kind of listener who can bring out the magic in the people around you.

What can the rest of us learn from Olympic athletes about doing our best under pressure?

The world needs us to show up and stand out. So how do we get over ourselves and shine our lights?

Modern economics assumes that humans spend all our energy "maximizing satisfaction." Don't buy it.

Discover the science-based "magic" that fuels rapid, effortless, and permanent positive change: memory reconsolidation.

Questions are far more powerful than answers. Today's guest explains how and why, and shares mind-bending examples.

Nava Atlas has been writing and publishing vegetarian cookbooks and advocating for a more plant-based lifestyle for 40 years. And she's not slowing down any time soon!

What's the problem with being a "problem-solver?" How can we create the future we want for ourselves, and help others do the same? On today's Walk and Talk, let's explore the Magic Question.

There's an epidemic of burnout in the modern workplace. What's causing it? And how can we prevent and treat it?

Glenn and Howie discuss the ahead-of-its-time book Immunity to Change, and Howie demonstrates the power of memory reconsolidation as a coaching tool to help clients overcome resistance to action that doesn't seem to make much sense.

To change our behaviors, we can try to change our thinking. But today's guest shares a faster, more reliable way to become a different, better version of ourselves.

Peter Levine, creator of Somatic Experiencing, talks about his own life journey of severe trauma, healing, and discovery. His conclusion: "Given the right tools, trauma won't rule."

Coaching can be a transformative experience in people's lives. Here's how to get the most out of your coach.

Until we fix our broken food system and broken web of human relationships, no one can be truly healthy. Today's guest shares an ancient and extremely timely perspective on how we can get there. Plus recipes!

Are initiatives to diversify the workplace helping or hurting organizations? Does diversity help or undermine excellence?

In a Wonderbread world, what would happen if we returned to the old ways? Today's guests share the joys and meaning of slow, mindful, healthy sourdough baking.

Why do cravings return with a vengeance just when we think we've got them beat? And can the answer help us defeat our cravings for good?

Why do smart, well-educated people fall for insane conspiracy theories? And once caught in their web, can we make them see reason?

Understanding fundamental concepts in economics turns out to be darn useful in crafting a fulfilling life. Today's guest explains why and how.

A roller coaster ride of medical catastrophe and healing, miracles and despair, led Tracy Garrigan to become a holistic health coach. She's now training coaches to bring hope to those who have been suffering.

Neuroscience has recently cracked the code on how the brain updates and heals from trauma, but few therapists or coaches know about the breakthrough. Today's guest is working to change that.

Does trauma healing have to involve painful and lengthy therapy that forces patients to revisit their worst moments? Or, as Jon Connelly claims, can profoundly effective therapy be fun, light, non-threatening - and fast?

What is obsessive-compulsive disorder? What are the symptoms, and what's the lived experience? And how can we overcome it and live a full and satisfying life?

Do you have to become a ruthless predator in order to make money as a business owner? Or can running a small business be an act of healing and love?

Erin Riley shares why we need to avoid commercial fertilizer - even most "organic" brands - if we aim to nurture an earth- and people- and animal-friendly home garden.

My coaching has changed a lot over the past 20 years. Here's how I now help clients achieve lasting, effortless, transformational change.

Momma Kai returns to the podcast to share her vision for a world without poverty or homelessness.

Is there real, revolutionary power in kindness and compassion in a "might-makes-right" world? Here's a story that will blow your mind.

In order to heal our minds and spirits, we must contact - and welcome home - all the exiled parts of ourselves. Veronica Monet shares how IFS can help.

Can we find belonging, peace, and deep healing in the gym, of all places? Embodiment guide Philip Shepherd shows us how.

How can we end homelessness? Unhoused activist and visionary Momma Kai shares her experiences and solutions.

I've been in Spain for 9 weeks now, and some listeners have requested a "stream of consciousness" episode from my new locale. Today we go on a walking tour of my new town, Sitges, as I discuss what my life has been like and what I'm thinking about over these past 2 months.

What is grace, and how can we use it to navigate challenging times with compassion and resilience? And why is it a prerequisite of modern leadership?

There have been women practicing psychedelic healing in anonymity for decades. What can they teach our modern culture about developing safe, effective, and respectful relationships with these powerful substances?

What's it like to suffer from Long COVID in one's 70s? And can water fasting bring about healing?

Rebecca Wildbear is an outdoor guide, yoga teacher, and author of Wild Yoga: A Practice of Initiation, Veneration & Advocacy for the Earth. She invites us to view yoga as both a personal practice and a form of environmental and social advocacy.

Veronica Monet grew up in a repressive and abusive cult, developed and recovered from severe addiction, toiled in the corporate world, and worked as a high-end escort for 15 years. She now helps people overcome trauma and heal from shame and advocates for sexual liberation and the rights of sex workers.

Peter Singer pretty much launched the animal rights and animal welfare movements in 1975 with the publication of Animal Liberation. Forty-eight years later, he's got a revised edition coming out: Animal Liberation Now.

How can we create workplace cultures that include all of us, when there's still so much sexism, racism, and systematic fuckery in organizations?

For most of the 20th century, neuroscientists believed that old emotional memories could only be managed, not removed. Until the discovery of Memory Reconsolidation...

John Lewis takes on the system in his blistering documentary, They're Trying to Kill Us. In his book and social media, he instructs, inspires, and delights.

Danny O'Malley wants you to eat plant-based protein because it's inexpensive, convenient, and tasty.

Five years after Lesley and Simon appeared on this podcast to talk about how to set and achieve athletic goals, Lesley just won a BAFTA for screenwriting. So let's listen again to this 2018 conversation for clues about how to live a brave life.

How can vegans market their businesses to take advantage of affinities in the vegan community, without alienating everyone else? And should they even try? 

We can get so caught up in duty and obligation and self-improvement that we neglect one of the key elements of a good life: plain old fun.

Russ Harris, author of the bestselling The Happiness Trap, shares techniques and practices for unhooking from the mind's dictates to live a joyful, authentic, and purpose-driven life.

Is prostate cancer preventable? What does the latest science say about dietary and lifestyle choices that can actually change the outcome?

Mark Goulston, MD, shares how to engage in healthy conflict, control your anger in tough situations, and defuse tension with "surgical empathy" and "radical patience."

What are the root causes of physical tension and chronic emotional distress? How can we truly heal our bodies and minds? Today's guest points to the nervous system as the node of highest leverage.

In terms of human suffering and environmental destruction, there's little that can compare to the global trade in palm oil. Today's guest takes us a hard yet vital journey of discovery and understanding.

Humans aren't the only beings that talk to each other. Whales, elephants, bees, corals, unhatched turtles, and even plants and fungi use sound waves to connect and coordinate. Can we begin to understand them, and talk back?

Aging can be a hard ride, as we let go of everything that made us who we are. Or it can be an opportunity for spiritual growth as we drop roles in exchange for connection to our souls.

What makes for a meaningful and joyful long life? Is it just random, or can you proactively design it?

My walking thoughts on today's midterms, individual and social change, and healing our collective trauma while fighting against fascism.

Do you feel supported and cared for at work? Are you a friend to others? The answers could determine your happiness, and the ultimate fate of your organization.

Let's walk in the woods and talk about acorns, sustainable agriculture, cameras, frustration, and the pros and cons of settling.

The old "command-and-control" leadership style is proving less and less effective in the era of pandemic, Millennials, and growing appreciation of the value of inclusivity and safety in the workplace. Michelle Johnston tells us what has replaced it, and how you can master the new skills and mindsets.

Take a walk in the woods with Howie and catch up on what he's been reading and thinking about.

What's a simple, elegant, free, convenient, and scientifically validated practice that combines the benefits of exercise, meditation, and relaxation?

The fiercest, boldest, and most hilarious mother-daughter team in the plant-based world educate and entertain as they talk about their latest cookbook.

Our society tells us to excel; to be special; to reach for the stars. But what's the cost of setting the bar so high? Does it make us happy, or allow us to connect with the people around us? Can we be OK with being ordinary?

Is fasting a cure-all, a desperate orthorexic cry for help, or a complex and powerful phenomenon that can be a valuable addition to the modern medical toolkit?

We are biologically hardwired to seek pleasure and avoid pain. But easy access to intense pleasure turns out to lead to intense suffering long-term. What are we do to?

"The worst years of our lives turned out to be the best ones." - Wisdom from healthy and happy octogenarians.

COVID-19 is a very different disease that it was in early 2020. How should our behaviors and policies shift to reflect the new reality?

Is it possible to make subtle changes to posture and movement, and completely eliminate long-standing chronic pain?

How can you get what you want out of life if you're too scared to ask for it? A negotiation expert shows to be tough and kind at the same time.

Our brains are brilliant at finding problems, and are great at keeping us alive by avoiding them. But this doesn't work when our problems are in our heads. What does? Find out in this conversation.

David Berceli turned a couple of overwhelming constraints into a revolutionary way to help people heal from trauma.

Humans will not stop eating and mistreating animals until animal-free meat is as delicious, convenient, and inexpensive as animal products. Today's guest explains how that's going to happen.

"It's really hard to be the best, but it's surprisingly easy to be ONE of the best." Dorie Clark helps us balance commitment and ambition in pursuit of a good life.

Our bad habits can have deep roots, and superficial solutions only cause more distress. How can we pull out dysfunctional behaviors at the roots?

If you feel bad after eating a particular food, you should stop eating it, right? Not so fast; today's guest explains FODMAPS, histamines, and what the largest microbiome study ever is teaching us about healing our guts.

What's the connection between psychological and biological resilience? What tools do we have to increase our resilience, so we can bounce back faster and stronger to challenges, whether physical or emotional?

Rym Selmi is the founder of Miiro, a company that makes vegan and healthy chocolates and baking ingredients.

Maria Solanki is running for school board in Pinellas County, Florida, with a mission to improve the health and performance of students through better nutrition.

What's the purpose of marriage? Is it to get happiness for yourself? Give happiness to your partner? Or something bigger and grander that encompasses yet transcends both?

Charlie Morris is a self-taught documentarian who highlights environmental issues to help sway public opinion and affect policy. We talk about how he goes about his work.

Are you right in a world where almost everyone else is wrong? If so, do you know how to speak, strategize, and organize to change people's minds? Todd Kashdan has studied what makes some people incredibly effective at significant social change.

Are you pissed off? Are there problems in the world you'd like to see fixed? Danny Warshay would like to teach you how to turn unsolved problems into opportunities to make a difference.

Self-improvement is fine and good, but there's a danger in over-optimizing our minutes and missing our lives.

Josh LaJaunie talks about his disappearing bayou and the personal heartbreak of climate change.

Smartphones and computers have wrecked our posture. Today's guest explains the importance of good posture, and shows us how to get it back.

How can humanity dig itself out of the giant mess we're in? Do businesses have to balance ethics and financial success? And how can each of us begin to use our unique qualities and abilities in service?

Sagar Doshi and Zak Hourmouzis are both a pair of docs and a paradox: Emergency Medicine physicians who run a Lifestyle Medicine clinic.

Set an example. Don't be a snowflake (or a bully). Don't get sucked into social media. Simple advice for challenging times.

Unlike the TV show Seinfeld, which was about nothing, my conversation with Glenn Murphy in December 2021 was about everything. We talked philosophy, practicality, hypotheticals, counterfactuals, and how to live a good life while embedded in uncertainty and ambiguity. I'd love to hear your contributions to this conversation. You can go here to record a message that I may insert into an upcoming episode. Links NCsystema.com

Can trauma and tragedy open us up to spiritual awakening? How can we prepare ourselves for the inevitable slings and arrows of life in a way that opens us to compassion and love?

Keith Knight is the creator of the comedy/drama series "Woke," on Hulu, and a creative, hilarious, and kind soul dedicated to making the world a better place. Listen in as my daughter Yael Zivan and I get to know Keith better and hear about his artistic vision and activism.

Can you be an effective negotiator if you're kind and mild-mannered? Or do you have to bully others to get what you want?

Saskia Kremer burned out after spending 13 years tending the sick, dying, and impoverished as a member of Mother Teresa's order. How did she reinvent herself, and what can she teach us about a meaningful and heartfelt life?

Are GMO crops and microbes safe and effective ways of improving agriculture and feeding our crowded planet, or ticking time bombs that threaten our health and the future of life on earth?

How would you like to have a superpower that can positively change the lives of the people around you? It turns out the ability to make someone's day is almost always available to us. We just need to remember, practice, and cultivate our identity as helpers and delighters.

Many plants and synthetic substances that can profoundly improve our mental and physical health are currently illegal. Lynn Marie Morski is working to change that, by educating healthcare professionals and connecting activists with communities in need of healing.

With effects as profound as meditation and safer than psychedelics, breathwork, cold exposure, and heat exposure can democratize access to heightened and expansive states of consciousness, and better psychological and physical health.

One reason for Zoom fatigue is the poor quality of other people's audio and video. Today's episode shows you how to become a Zoom pro - to influence others more powerfully and to connect more deeply.

How happy are you with the outcomes of the decisions you've made? Would you like to get better at decision-making? Today's guest shows you how.

Fast fashion is a disaster. For the planet, for the oppressed workers, and for the souls of those who are constantly exhorted to throw out their clothes and buy new ones. Today's guest offers an antidote.

How shall we live, on a boiling planet and enmeshed in a civilization that knows only how to use up and destroy all it encounters? Can we find meaning and healing in the shelter of each other, to bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old?

"Where does the mind stop and the rest of the world begin?" asked two philosophers in 1998. Today's guest follows the science to give us an unexpected answer.

What would it look like to extend compassion to all sentient beings? And can we get there through reason, rather than because a deity or prophet told us so?

Tom Reid and I talk about how to communicate effectively when you need people to act in particular ways, in both personal and professional settings.

Can plant-based batteries combat planetary overheating and help save the world? Today's guest is betting yes.

Can the mass media market handle veganism and conscious living? Bianca and Michael Alexander take their show to the big time.

Skye-Anne Tschoepe is an environmental scientist and activist who's not afraid of getting arrested for her beliefs. Here's her story.

Dreena Burton has been churning out amazing vegan cookbooks for 20 years. In this conversation, we explore her career, and what the journey's been like.

Can music bridge the gaps that divide communities? Can we sing and play together and rediscover our common humanity and deep caring for one another? Cantor Harold Messinger and James Pollard Jr. have been conducting a music "Faith Gumbo" in Philadelphia for the past 13 years. I hope their bright spirits and loving hearts will inspire you.

What is upcycled food? What is it good for? Why should you care?

Black women in America suffer more from obesity and chronic disease than any other demographic. In this conversation, we talk about why, and what to do about it.

Is it possible to change other people for the better? Or should we just mind our own business, and concentrate on ourselves?

How do you know if something is true, or exaggerated, or more nuanced, or fake news? How can you get better at telling truth from fiction in a world of snake oil and misguided believers?

Miyoko Schinner is founder and CEO of Miyoko's, one of the most successful plant-based dairy alternative ventures of the past decade. We talk about her journey - ups and downs - and lessons learned.

Sick to Fit coauthor Josh LaJaunie and his family are trying to help their friends, neighbors, and community - many of whom have lost everything, and have no access to food and water, fuel, electricity, or transportation.1

Can science learn anything from Indigenous knowledge about local plants, and animals? Can science acknowledge that debt and offer reciprocity?

Are sharks vicious, erratic human-eating predators? Are they keystone species crucial for the health of marine ecosystems? Or are they just the subject of annoyingly catchy children's songs?

How can you change your habits with ease and confidence, and without shame and struggle? Behavioral scientist Katy Milkman has answers.

Is veganism the only way to stop climate change, reduce animal suffering, and improve human health? Or can we get there through just eating less meat?

Will a plant-based diet help you become a better athlete? Is it as simple as just eating plants, or is there more to doing it right?

Alaina Love wants you to find your passion - and then express it through your most important work. But what is passion? How do we identify ours? And how can we create workplaces that validate and support them?

Josh LaJaunie and I talk about new science of metabolism, how Josh lost 230 pounds and kept it off, and how to pursue an authentic human existence.

My dear friend Lani returns to the podcast to talk about her latest book, Mindfulness, published under the Conscious Care Guides imprint.  We had our usual freewheeling conversation, with some tears and lots of laughter.

The formula to lose weight is obvious: eat less, move more. Unfortunately, it's wrong. And it's not because "calories don't matter." Discover the new science of metabolism with Herman Pontzer, PhD.

Have you ever found yourself in a "conflict loop," where every conversation just makes it worse? What if you had the ability to break free and find the best possible outcome? Today's guest, Jen Goldman-Wetzler, PhD, shows you how.

How can we make whole food, plant-based options more convenient for consumers and more sustainable for the planet? Today's guest, Cool Beans CEO Tyler Mayoras, shares how he's investing and leading for a healthier planet.

What's the root cause of eating disorders? What's behind our current obesity crisis? Are we hungry for food? For nutrients? Or for joy and connection?

Teju Ravilochan is an entrepreneur who sees problems and envisions grand communal solutions. From the Unreasonable Institute (now Uncharted.org), which he founded, to GatherFor.org, a community based mutual aid accelerator borne from the pandemic), he brings people together to solve problems and explore possibilities. 

Can we fix our broken climate with technological and policy solutions alone? Or do we need to heal deep personal and cultural wounds as well?

My favorite mind-body science stress performance guy, Glenn Murphy of Stressproof.net, and I kicked around the concept of mental chatter and how we can perform at our best when the voice in our head is getting in the way.

Michele Olender is a health and life coach and founder of Vedge Your Best. She talks about her journey, her coaching, and how all of us can adopt new habits to be happier and healthier.

It took a week for them to reply to your email. Your colleague has their camera turned off during a Zoom call. What does it all mean?

What can the world learn about food from the Native American tradition? How can those of us who no longer live on our ancestral land-base reclaim our cuisine, culture, and connection to the whole?

According to many climate scientists, it's already too late, and there's nothing we can do to avert global catastrophe. Today's guest has a different view. Marco Vangelisti explains how to reverse global warming through our financial decisions.

How can we help children deal with stress? Today's guest, Shoshana Chaim, shares the strategies from her new book, "I Am a Peaceful Goldfish."

Glenn Livingston talks about the evolution of Never Binge Again, his system to help people conquer emotional eating and gain control over their relationship with food.

Peggy Brusseau has cast a spell of peacefulness, calmness, joy, connection, and well, contentedness in her cookbook The Contented Vegan.

Nava Atlas and I chew the plant-based fat (and protein) about her new book, Plant Powered Protein. Discover how to cook delicious, healthy meals that include vegan meat analogues.

Women and people of color are systematically underrepresented in business. That's a problem for woman and people of color. But, it turns out, it's a problem for businesses as well. In today's episode, we'll learn what work, and what doesn't, in the effort to create an inclusive workplace.

Why are humans destroying the planet and making each other miserable? Are we defective? Or have we lost the map to authentic human development?

It's so painful to see your loved ones suffer unnecessarily. Can you change the people around you, when they're eating poorly and not taking care of their health?

Do ever have the urge to tell other people what they're doing wrong? How can you help other people change without coming across as an a-hole?

Litterati is an app and a movement to solve our planet's litter problem through individual empowerment and data-driven policy.

Why are modern humans so unhappy and unhealthy? Today's guest says it's because we've forgotten how to move like humans.

Dan Carraciolo has engineered a remarkable self-transformation from unhappy, overweight diabetic to ebullient athlete. On today's show, we talk about how he achieved it - and the obstacles he's had to overcome.

Forgiveness sounds nice, and often feels like the hardest thing in the world. How can we learn to forgive others and ourselves without excusing terrible behavior?

What's the most efficient way to exercise for fitness and health? And what's the most effective? Turns out there's a single answer to both questions: 4-second all-out interval repeats.

A conversation with policy wonk, energy geek, community organizer, and visionary strategist Pam Frank on the transformative potential of a clean and efficient transportation system.

Given the shocking violence we've seen this week, with more predicted around the country, I found myself in a very strange place: feeling like my home and family are under potential threat. I reached out to vegan rabbi firearms instructor Hillel Norry for guidance.

What can we learned from "failed" relationships that can help us succeed next time? Couples therapist Susan Orenstein talks about her work helping people move on and grow after a first marriage.

Can we use the principles and practices of improvisation to make healthy choices? In this episode, improvisation teacher Stephen Nachmanovitch shares what a 639-year-long musical performance can teach us about being present while thinking of the future, and how steering a car can guide us to self-correct our mistakes in real time.

Tired of the nutrition debates? Confused about what YOU should be eating? Dr Casey Means of Levels Health shares the power of closed-loop data to change our lives - and health destinies - for the better.

What are the best house plants for healthy indoor air? Which ones are easiest for beginners? What are the benefits to indoor plants? And how can we become more connected, calmer, and happier people through our co-nurturing relationships with these plants?

Christin Bummer used to lavish care on dogs via her Canine Kingdom business. Now she coaches humans to give similar consideration to themselves.  In our conversation, we explore the fruitful and scary landscape of operating intuitively rather than adhering to preordained rules.

Josh LaJaunie returns to talk about his strategies for staying sane, strong, and fit during the pandemic. How to resist junk food and junk information, and how to talk to ourselves for the long haul.

Author, academic, and artist Tyson Yunkaporta offers an Indigenous perspective on some of the core beliefs that have guided my life. Some, like veganism, survive in a different form. Others, like the Hero's Journey, lie in tatters. And some, like exercise, get transformed and deepened.

Tada Hozumi is a somatics practitioner, and one of the leaders of a movement known as cultural somatics. Basically, cultural somatics explores how our culture influences our bodies - how we move, how we interpret reality through our senses, how we think about the relationship between mind and body. 

Glen Merzer has possibly created a new genre, the comedic plant-based memoir. Join me, Glen, and recipe contributor Chef AJ to talk about their new book, Own Your Health.

Tyson Yunkaporta is an Australian Aboriginal artist, philosopher, and researcher who lectures on Indigenous Knowledge at Deakin University in Melbourne. He's also the author of Sand Talk, a book that has influenced my thinking more profoundly than any other. Yunkaporta turns the lens of anthropology around and puts Western civilization under the microscope, showing us how insane and unsustainable the entire project is.

Danielle Roberts is a visual artist, technologist, and meditator. She's the creator of MeditationLab, whose mission is to support spirituality through technology, and AwarenessLab, which develops tools for awareness from a technological, artistic, and experiential perspective.

Glenn Murphy returns to talk about the importance of embracing physical discomfort, even when we're already stressed out mentally and emotionally. He offers some tips about how to do so without burning out, and shares a 10-minute guided visualization exercise to help us get back in touch with our bodies and spirits.

Perry Marshall is one of the organizers of Cancer & Evolution Symposium, and a "pantomath" of the highest order. An engineer, marketer, writer, and science enthusiast, he has devoted much of the past 10 years to cracking the evolutionary code. Mainstream Darwinism simply can't answer some of our biggest questions, or account for much of the fossil record, according to Marshall. And given that creationists and intelligent design advocates are the main opponents of this understanding of evolution, scientific consensus has refused to admit other possibilities. As Marshall quips, "Evolutionary biology is the field most resistant to evolution." Marshall argues that natural selection is not the only, or even the main factor, in evolution. Instead, the organism itself exerts its will, and is an agent in its own evolution to further its own goals. And that explains why we have such a poor track record when it comes to treating and preventing cancer. We act like cancer cells are stupid, and only engage in random mutation. But what if cancer is a disease of identity?: the cancerous cell gains immortality by killing off its kill switch (apoptosis), and fails to realize that it's part of a larger organism.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams returns to the podcast to talk about his new book, Healthy at Last. Part family memoir, part political mission statement, part science review, part self-help book, and part cookbook, this is a celebration of the possibilities of health for the American people in general, and the Black community in particular. We talk about the title - from Etta James, and not Martin Luther King, Jr's "I have a dream" speech, as I first assumed - and the fact that, in Adams' words, "slavery never ended," and remains entrenched in the slave foods that are still harming Black people to this day. And we explore some of the policy initiatives BP Adams has launched to bring the practice of plant-based health to Brooklyn, New York City, and the world.

Today's guest, Barbara Tversky, has spent her professional life questioning the primacy of the mind over the body. Her incredible book, Mind in Motion, argues that our abilities to think and perceive originate in our bodies. And more specifically, in the process of movement and feedback from the environment. Which means that physical activity is far from optional exercise. Moving our bodies in multiple ways, frequently, is the core of who we are as homo sapiens. If you want to grow and evolve, books and philosophies are fine, but challenging your physical body with new situations and challenges is a far more powerful engine of evolution.

Today's guest, Jovita Lee, is co-founder and vice president of Democracy Green, a North Carolina-based non-profit dedicated to environmental justice. The environmental movement has a long and shameful history of privileging certain parts of the environment over others. Specifically, it's focused on preserving spaces enjoyed by the rich, and where the rich live. The result is a nation in which environmental racism condemns poor people and people of color - regardless of income and economic status - to lives cut short by chronic conditions caused and worsened by pollutants and climate instability.

Meryl Fury is a registered nurse and CEO of the Plant-based Nutrition Movement. And she's a fierce advocate for justice and sanity in a world lacking both.

Rajani Katta, MD, is a dermatologist and professor at the Baylor College of Medicine, and the author of Glow: The Dermatologist's Guide to a Whole Foods Younger Skin Diet. On today's podcast, we talk about the evidence connecting diet and lifestyle to radiant, healthy skin.

Gregg Clunis learned most of what he knows about persistence, strategy, personal development, and success from watching his immigrant parents struggle to achieve their dreams. Originally from Jamaica, Gregg and his family followed his father, who had been a professor and police officer in their native country, and worked as a migrant farm laborer in their new home. Gregg was attracted to the self-help world, and quickly discovered that the tactics and messages were often at odds with his perspective, and that of his generation in general. 

Judy Brangman, MD, aka The Plant-Based MD, visits the podcast to talk about her labor of love, the Reclaim Your Health Summit. The summit is the first one featuring exclusively people of color in the plant-based healthcare space. Eighteen doctors, a dietitian, and a fitness expert all share their wisdom and action plans with Dr Brangman, and with everyone who signs up for this free event.

Steven C Hayes is the originator of ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or Acceptance and Commitment Training, take your pick), one of the most important psychological approaches of the past 100 years.

A key role of medical professionals whose job it is to help their patients and clients change, is to frame messages to maximize the odds of desired behaviors. Unfortunately, most medical professionals have been trained to communicate in ways that actually reduce patient self-efficacy by challenging their autonomy and undermining confidence in their competence. On today's podcast you'll discover how to talk so patients will not only listen, but adopt positive new behaviors and maintain them in the face of ongoing temptation. 

Michael Rothberg, MD, returns to Plant Yourself to share the latest actual scientific understanding of COVID-19. We spoke first in mid-March, when we didn't know much. Fast forward five months, and we now know a lot, but in the US at least, we're ignoring most of the science and suffering for it. I've been as confused as anyone else, daunted by epidemiological models I can't evaluate for accuracy, overwhelmed by social media fights about masks and free speech and hydroxychloroquine and vaccines and government overreach that have riven the plant-based community, and befuddled by competing claims of conferred immunity and how long it might last. So I got Michael on the Zoom and peppered him with my questions.

Ryan Robinson, DDS, is a unicorn in the medical world: a dentist who helps people open up their airways and learn how to breathe properly.

If you're fortunate enough to have savings, you've probably thought about how to invest them responsibly.  The standard answer is to stick your money into no-load mutual funds that track the market and leave it there for as long as possible. Low risk because of the diversification. Low fee because there's no genius managing your money, just an algorithm. And high return because over the long term, it's almost impossible to beat the market. What could possibly be wrong with that?

The COVID-19 pandemic is not a great time to be pregnant, according to my guests, Jeanne Schumacher and Debra Shapiro of The Pregnancy Advantage. It is, on the other hand, a terrific time to prepare to get pregnant. How does a woman do that, other than paint the nursery, give up booze, and buy a copy of What to Expect When You're Expecting?

I reached out to Bianca and Michael because I was turning into an asshole. Specifically, I was full of rage and outrage and judgment at all the racists out there.  And the fact that I was right, and on the side of right, and standing shoulder to shoulder with people of color, and fighting against systemic oppression that has been going on far too long - just made me more of an asshole, to be honest. 

For the last 7 years, I've worked to improve human health and wellbeing by focusing on better nutrition, vigorous physical activity, sleep hygiene, and stress management. Turns out I may have been missing the most important determinants of health - the social ones. Marta Zaraska has written a book that is fun, fascinating, scientifically sound, and socially revolutionary. In Growing Young, she argues that eating well and exercising are all well and good, but spending time with friends, cultivating a positive attitude, and helping others are far more powerful (and enjoyable!) determinants of health.

Lisa A Smith is a serial entrepreneur who's made it her life's work to empower the Black community with information, skills, and philosophies that support health, peace of mind, and mutual support. 

Glenn Murphy returns to Plant Yourself to talk about how we can self-regulate our emotions and actions during a time of great societal upheaval and division. We talk about our own impulses to "fight" with others, and where there's a messy intertwining of good intentions and unresolved psychological issues. We discuss the physiology of the stress response, particularly as it relates to the shame and guilt that accompanies some of our attempts to right wrongs and redress injustices.

Dustin and Josh LaJaunie have amazing transformation stories. They went from obese to fit. From junk food addicts to plant-based eaters. From hunters to vegans. From sedentary to active.  And, as you'll see and hear, from racist to antiracist.

Team Sherzai, aka Dean and Ayesha, join me on the podcast to talk about the role of science and scientists in dealing with all the false statements propagated on social media (as well as, occasionally, traditional media). What the Sherzais value highly about science is the holy grail of falsifiability; the challenge that every theory and finding implicitly makes to other scientists: prove me wrong! They also appreciate the inherent humility that is baked into true science, as well as the imperfect nature of knowledge at any given time.

Most of my work as a health coach involves helping people respond differently to stimuli. That is, develop the ability to make different choices when confronted with tempting foods, tempting environments, tempting people, and tempting sensations, emotions, and thoughts. Think about it - NOT having that ability basically means you're a robot, a machine. If you can't control your responses, you have no freedom.

Richard Kwok is an environmental researcher who studies the effects of environmental pollution on human health. He's also my neighbor, and we met while cleaning up litter and quickly discovered a lot of interests in common. While the environment doesn't often change our genetics, it can have huge impact on our epigenetics, or how those genes get expressed in our bodies.

Dr Bojana Jankovic Weatherly is one of my favorite physicians, double board certified in internal and integrative medicine. She has also trained in functional medicine, nutrition and mindfulness. Dr Jankovic Weatherly is a real stickler for evidence of efficacy, whatever modality she's exploring or recommending. Which makes her a very reliable podcast guest, especially when talking about topics not fully embraced by mainstream medical practice. And, she's a mom struggling to homeschool two children in a New York apartment while working full time from home.

One day my grandfather punched someone in the face over some disagreement. The recipient of the blow, wounded more in pride than body, wobbled to a seat on the curb and began yelling, "Iodine! Police! Iodine! Police!"

Shay Seaborne is a trauma survivor, educator, and activist dedicated to demystifying trauma and helping people heal from - and with - Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD). In our far-ranging conversation, we covered the origins of trauma, the mistaken societal beliefs that reinforce trauma and get in the way of healing, and ways of empowering trauma survivors to reconnect with their bodies.

Mark Silver helps solo entrepreneurs and micro-businesses thrive through heartfelt business practices. The tagline for his company, Heart of Business, is "Every act of business can be an act of love." I wanted to pick Mark's brain on behalf of the many listeners who are in some kind of career limbo in the age of pandemic - unemployed, underemployed, unsure about the future, sick of being a cog in the capitalist system, tired of relying on yucky tactics to make payroll - and want a way forward that meets their needs and is in service of a More Beautiful World.

One of the hot trends in behavior modification is gamification: that is, turning our goals and activities into behavioral chunks in order to win points and, sometimes, prizes. Gamification has its place, but there are a couple of pitfalls to watch out for. How best to gamify, and when not to - these are the subjects of today's podcast.

Often a coaching client will end a session by saying, "Wish me luck" after setting a goal and making a plan to achieve it. In health coaching, this phrase is a huge red flag that the client is going to fail.

What's the most important dietary rule? Is raw better than cooked food? Why shouldn't I always avoid foods that give me an upset stomach? This conversation with Dr Will Bulsiewicz, author of the just-published Fiber Fueled, will make you rethink everything you know about the link between diet and health.

Sometimes I hear from clients that they've done all they can, and they can't move the needle. They're stuck. They've hit a plateau. And there's simply nothing more to be done. What do we do then? ============================================= Tip Jar: https://plantyourself.com/gift Get Coached: https://plantyourself.com/laser Become a Health Coach: http://wellstartcoach.com

Say you want to stop eating junk food, or drinking soda, or watching porn, or whatever. Maybe you've read a motivating article or seen a video, or gotten a scary medical result, or just got fed up at your current reality. So you set an intention, and then… you end up doing the same thing again. And again.

Lots of us are moving less during this stay-at-home time. But we're often eating just as much, or more, or more frequently, or worse. It's easy to say, "Just eat less," but it's not that easy to do. In this short episode, I share three strategies for reducing caloric intake without feeling deprived.

Will Bonsall is a self-described "back-to-the-land hippie homesteader," and author of two extremely important and prescient books: Will Bonsall's Essential Guide to Radical Self-Reliant Gardening, and Through the Eyes of a Stranger, an adventure novel that explores what a sustainable society might look like following what he calls "the calamitous times" of the 21st century.

In the Jewish tradition, we say "Blessed is the righteous judge" upon hearing of a death. That's pretty much the opposite of how we may feel at that moment. We'd rather lash out at the unfairness of it, rather than praising the deity that ordained the death. So that incantation gives us the space to choose a response, rather than be jerked around by our default reactions.

Meditation apps have become a huge market. Headspace, Calm, 10% Happier, Insight Timer, and others promise stress relief, better health, and even spiritual contentment to users. Gregory Price Grieve, professor of religion at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, studies the nexus of spirituality and digital media. He recently published an article titled "Meditation apps might calm you – but miss the point of Buddhist mindfulness."

Michael Schwarz is the founder of Treeline Cheese, a plant-based cheese company dedicated to ending the suffering caused by the animal-based dairy industry. He's also the child of one of the great heroes of the South African anti-apartheid struggle, Harry Schwarz. In our conversation, we try to connect the dots between political activism and vegan cheesemaking, between standing up for human rights and creating a company to reduce demand for the products of animal abuse.

One of the factors that weakens any system - a garden, a community, a nation - is lack of diversity. Monocultures provide economies of scale, but also opportunities for scaled disaster. A messy, diverse ecosystem is far healthier and more resilient. Today I talk about how we support diversity in our garden, and why the messiness and inefficiency is more than compensated for in terms of yield and risk management.

Today I talk about one element of my gardening practice and philosophy: working with, rather than against nature. This includes growing perennials, mulching with wood chips, and refraining from unnecessary tilling.

Those of us in one kind or another of "limbo" - life, career, relationship - are all facing the same question: what do we do with our time and energy right now to support our future? When the future is so uncertain, our old "default" answers can feel insufficient. Today I talk about my own "investment philosophy" with regard to time and energy.

Some of us have had more time for self-care over the past few weeks than we even know what to do with. And we're loving it. How can we take advantage of this time to make ourselves, our families, our communities, and our societies healthier and more compassionate?

How we got home from South Africa. (Not particularly interesting; just an update for folks who've been listening for the past two weeks and were wondering what happened to us.) Returning tomorrow with a clear and rested head, for all new daily episodes.

We may be going home tomorrow. There are dozens of unknowns, and we have little to no control over any of them. I'll stay in touch as I can!

In tough times, you might expect people to hunker down and hoard what's theirs. We see some of that these days, for sure. But we also see incredible displays of generosity. I personally am benefiting from the generosity of my listeners as I broadcast from lockdown in South Africa. Today I talk about how generosity benefits us as givers and receivers.

People are comparing their experience of lockdown as an endless repetition of Goundhog Day, the 1993 Bill Murray movie about a man trapped in the same day over and over again. What I recall about that movie was, once Bill Murray's character makes peace with his situation, he uses it to better himself.

In a world full of conspiracy theories, how can we know what to believe? We can't. But we can choose to adopt worldviews based on whether they empower us to help ourselves, others, and the world.

In these challenging times, we may think we have a lot of decisions to make. And we can agonize over those decisions and feel tremendous regret if they don't work out the way we hoped they would. But it's almost impossible to make rational decisions when the future is so unpredictable. Past experience doesn't provide a road map anymore. Instead of applying more data-power and algorithmic thinking, I'm finding that developing a calm presence allows me to tap into body wisdom. And also that most decisions ultimately end up being made for me, not by me. How are you dealing with decision-making these days? Guided Relaxation Exercises for the Homebound and Stressed Out – pay what you can Tip Jar: PlantYourself.com/gift

I'm very very constrained these days. Locked down in a foreign country with luggage for a 3-week vacation, with no light at the end of the tunnel. Crappy internet, little social contact outside my family, and beautiful hikes all around that I can't go on. And those same constraints also are providing opportunities for me to shake up my routines, innovate, and come out of this with a better, more integrated life. How can you benefit from the constraints that are currently imposed on you? Tip jar: http://plantyourself.com/gift Guided Relaxation Exercises for the Homebound and Stressed Out – pay what you can

Many of us are bored right now, in lockdown or sheltering in place. We can paper over our boredom with mindless consumption, or we can use it to begin a process of profound healing.

Glenn Murphy returns to the podcast in the nick of time, to help understand, manage, and overcome stress reactions and symptoms in this time of fear, lockdown, and uncertainty. He shares an evolutionary perspective on why this pandemic produces stress responses unlike other typical stressors, and offers exercises, solutions, and mindsets to help us get through and build our resilience along the way.

It's easy for me (and I guess, a lot of us) to focus on the negative these days. I'm reminding myself daily to look for things to be grateful for - and finding them!

In these strange times, we have an opportunity to remember what is essential, and what is fluff. Who are we really, and how can we carry that realization forward once we attain a new equilibrium?

In a world in which we have virtually no control, how do we assert control in a useful way?

Those of us who have survived difficult times - physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual - have a gift for the rest of society: the knowledge that we can handle what seems unmanageable, and grow from what seems diabolical. Let's share those gifts now, to counter all the fear and panic and despair out there.

A special Covid-19 Lockdown Edition of the Plant Yourself Podcast. Halfway through I realized I was using the wrong mic. If that's the worst thing that happens today, cool! Now is not the time to indulge in crappy food choices, even though we may be stressed and cooped up and grieving. We have an army inside us - our immune system - that does its best to keep us safe. Now's the time to feed it well. We have an opportunity to find new sources of dopamine, of joy, of connection. What are you doing to get your daily dopamine fix?

Michael B. Rothberg, M.D., M.P.H. is the Vice Chair for Research in the Medicine Institute of the Cleveland Clinic and Director of the Center for Value-Based Care Research. He joined me on Skype to talk about the current state of knowledge about Covid-19, and what we can and should do as individuals and a society to save as many lives as possible.

Shane Williams, MD, has been practicing plant-based (or as I would say, evidence-based) cardiology in Canada for nine years now. With hundreds of patients and lots of experience with what works and what doesn't in terms of advocacy, education, and support, Dr Williams is a valuable resource for plant-based physicians everywhere.

Don Larsen died this month, at the age of 90. He played baseball professionally from 1953 to 1967, and had a less than stellar career. As a pitcher, his lifetime record was 81 wins and 91 losses. He played five of those years with the powerhouse New York Yankees during their dynastic heyday in the 1950s; his record for lesser teams was a dismal 36 wins and 67 losses. And yet he's one of my favorite players of all time.

Justin Luria now lives what he calls a "muggle" life, managing on online bookshop. Before that, he trained as an energy healing and shamanic practitioner, and immersed himself in many of the spiritual practices of the "New Age," and learned from many contemporary spiritual teachers: Byron Katie, Eckhart Tolle, and others. He also actively pursued the goals of the self-help movement as modeled and taught by folks like Tony Robbins and others. And somewhere along the way, he realized that the bulk of self-help and spirituality was little more than our grasping consumer society wrapped in finer threads. Rather than being a cure or counterweight to modern life, mainstream spiritual and self-help culture intensifies our feelings of inadequacy and need, and often takes advantage of the vulnerable state in which that inadequacy leaves us.

If you've adopted a new good habit today, you're probably very excited and motivated. What about tomorrow? Will you be motivated then as well? Fingers crossed...

In this episode, I share a personal coaching session that I conducted with Ian Lawton, host of the Workshed Podcast.

When I was in 11th grade, I came in 3rd in the New Jersey Science League Chemistry II competition. Which was odd. I wasn't one of the best chemistry students in the state, by far. I wasn't even close to being the best chemistry student in my high school. Hell, I wasn't close to be the best chemistry student in my chemistry class.

Aaron Spitz, MD, is the director of male reproductive and sexual medicine at Orange County Urology Associates. He's served as president of the California Urological Association, was the lead urology delegate to the American Medical Association, and has been an assistant clinical professor at UC Irvine's Department of Urology for the past decade and a half. Impressive, no doubt. But cinematically compelling? You might not think... In one of the final parts of the documentary filmed before submitting it to Sundance, Dr Spitz performs an experiment with three male college athletes. They eat a meat-filled burrito for dinner one day, and a plant-based version of the same burrito the next. Both nights, the guys are hooked up to devices that measure the size and duration of their erections.

There's a logic puzzle, well-known to those of us who never dated in high school, about an island that's inhabited by two tribes - the Liars and the Truthtellers. As you might guess, the Liars always lie, and the Truthtellers always tell the truth. It's impossible to tell them apart by looks.

Colleen Patrick Goudreau is author, most recently, of The Joyful Vegan. It's a book about joy, yes, but joy as a strategic imperative in a world that is relentless in trying to undermine our resolve about living compassionate and brave lives. While steadfastness and willpower and outrage can provide bursts of energy for our journey, Goudreau asserts, it's joy that gives us the long-burning, clean fuel that allows us to come from love and compassion and understanding in all our interactions.

After the third consecutive night of no sleep, I was starting to lose it. Our newborn daughter, who had looked so sweet and angelic in the moments right after her birth (9 on the APGAR - you go, girl!) had morphed into a demonic nighttime presence. She needed less sleep than any human I had ever encountered. And when she did snooze, she did so with hair-trigger sensitivity to the environmental cues to full alertness: an adult cranium touching a pillow, an eyelid closing and not reopening within a tenth of a second.

Brad Stulberg returns to the podcast to discuss his latest book, The Passion Paradox, co-written with Steve Magness. They wrote the book mostly for themselves, which is how a lot of great self-help books begin. Basically, they had learned a lot of weird and contradictory lessons about passion and how to harness and incorporate it into their lives. On the one hand, we're supposed to "follow our passion." On the other hand, we're supposed to lead a "balanced life." Well, guess what? You can have a passionate life, or a balanced life. So which do you choose?

I'll never forget my daughter's first birthday party. On a chilly February afternoon, a bunch of friends and relatives gathered at our house to share the joy of the event. We had decorations, presents, singing, and of course birthday cake. Everything went well, until the cake.

Carolyn Raffensperger has been advocating for the environment since 1982. She's currently executive director of the Science and Environmental Health Network, and a tireless proponent of the Precautionary Principle when it comes to balancing economic and environmental impacts.

When we adopt a new habit, we often experience a honeymoon period. Partly it's our enthusiasm and motivation at the first flush of hope and desire, and partly we've chosen this time to start because it's particularly convenient or easy. But the universe will test our resolve not too long after that. It can feel like slamming into a brick wall at the end of a runway.

Kelly McGonigal's latest book, The Joy of Movement, is both a work of science and a love letter to the human body/spirit. I admit, when I ordered it, I thought I knew what I was going to read: a well-researched, engaging tale of how exercise improves our mood and our brain functioning. I was delighted to be surprised by a treasure trove of ideas and philosophies that go far beyond the biochemistry of mood and movement.

The public health crisis was going to be unprecedented, and catastrophic. As the Americans clumsily extricated themselves from the Vietnam War in the early 1970s, tens of thousands of US troops would be returning home. And by some estimates, 90% of them had become addicted to heroin during their tour of duty.

Michael Greger's latest book, How Not to Diet, is just stunning. It's a love song to science: its potential, its process, even its limitations. There has never been a more comprehensive, accessible, and evidence-based look at our current knowledge of how to get to and maintain a healthy weight.

Matt Buckner's low point came one day about 9 years ago, when he was 41. He was getting ready for an international business trip, and realized that one of his key medications, tramadol, was going to run out during the trip. The drug, which Matt took for the back pain caused by his morbid obesity, was one of five meds that he consumed every day. The others were for hypertension, high cholesterol, acid reflux, and depression. Matt also suffered from sleep apnea; his wife would force herself to stay awake at night so she could hear when he stopped breathing and wake him up. While waiting on line at the drug store, without an up-to-date prescription since he couldn't get in touch with his doctor on short notice on a Friday afternoon, Matt looked around and saw the other people in line. All of them old and sick. There's where he was headed. Matt took action.

Myq Kaplan is a stand-up comedian who also happens to be vegan (or is it the other way around?) He's performed on the Tonight Show, Conan, the Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Seth Meyers, the Late Late Show with James Corden, in his own half-hour Comedy Central Presents special, and in his own one-hour special on Netflix and Amazon, Small, Dork, and Handsome.

Rich "Raz" Razgaitis is on a mission to get water out of plastic, and plastic out of water. As co-founder and CEO of FloWater, which aims to reduce and ultimately end our dependence on single-use plastic water bottles, Raz has become an impassioned advocate for public health and environmental sanity. His message: bottled water is the new cigarette. As in,  it's killing us. Huh? How is that possible?

Jim Loomis, MD is Medical Director of the Barnard Medical Center, and one of the stars of the blockbuster documentary The Game Changers. Dr Loomis' journey to plant-based practice for himself and his patients began with a viewing of Forks Over Knives, at a time when his own health was starting to fail. Once he discovered and benefited personally from Lifestyle Medicine, he began to see that the paradigm of human health he had been taught was seriously flawed. He summed it up this way: "If I'm not sick, then I must be well."

In June, 2019, Dr Milton Mills gave testimony before the USDA Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee about their persistent recommendation to include dairy in our diets. Dr Mills short presentation was not what I was expecting to hear. Instead of just repeating the overwhelming body of evidence showing that cow's milk is not a healthy or suitable food for humans,  he put the debate in the context of racism.

Lenore Braford is founder, volunteer interim Executive Director, and volunteer Shelter Manager at the Piedmont Farm Animal Refuge, located in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Which makes her (and the sanctuary) my neighbor!

James Wilks is a producer, as well as narrator and chief instigator of The Game Changers, already the bestselling documentary of all time on iTunes. He got his nickname "Lightning" during his career as a mixed martial artist (which, as far as I can tell, means that he can kill me in at least a dozen ways using just a box of toothpicks and a birthday candle), the highlight of which was winning season 9 of The Ultimate Fighter in 2009. As good a fighter as he was, the sport had taken its toll on his body. He had enough cracked bones that his doctors told him that continuing to fight would probably lead to paralysis. Following his retirement from MMA in 2012, James spent several years learning how to rehabilitate himself. That's when he discovered that diet can play a significant role in healing and human performance.

Is time linear, or cyclical? According to analog watches, time goes around in circles. According to calendars and planners and most of Western culture, time moves ever forward. And few of us take seriously the cycles of nature when we contemplate time and how we move through it. Brian Tourville has been thinking about time, and how our disconnection from the rhythms and cycles of the natural world contribute to our alienation from it.

Wendy Wood, PhD, knows more about the science of habit formation - and habit breaking - than just about anyone. While popular writers share their opinions about habits, Wood does the research. More than 30 years worth, as a research psychologist first at Duke University and now at the University of Southern California. Wood has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers, and the paper trail of her research demonstrates a curious and creative and extremely tenacious approach to uncovering the mysteries of human behavior - particularly those human behaviors that are a mystery to the humans engaging in them.

Ron Tibbs is a wellness coach, plant-based advocate, and all-around great guy. He's part of the core team at WellStart Health, where he coaches, guides, and cheerleads clients to make significant positive changes in their lives. Ron is perfectly situated to do this, because he's created his own massive changes in the face of very strong opposing forces.

Melanie Joy, PhD is a social psychologist, vegan activist, political strategist vs all the oppressive "archys" out there, organizational consultant, and relationship coach. She joins the podcast to talk about her book Beyond Beliefs - essentially a merging of the political and relational. How can we advocate for human health, environmental sanity, and ethical treatment of animals without wrecking our relationships with family members, friends, partners, and coworkers?

Brittany Sade is a vegan entrepreneur and health coach. Her company, Prosperiteez Clothing, devotes part of its profits to combatting food insecurity in impoverished communities. Brittany wasn't always a paragon of healthy living. Thanks to meat three times a day, along with a serious cheese addiction, she suffered from skin problems, arterial blockages, and overweight. It took the suffering and death of close family members to wake her to the realization that life didn't have to be an inexorable descent into disability and disease and painful premature death.

Karen Smith is a plant-based registered dietitian, runner (sub-3 hours in the Boston Marathon, baby!), and all around good person. At Progressive Health of Delaware, which includes my Ultimate Frisbee buddy and podcast guest and lifestyle medicine superhero Dave Donohue, MD, Karen counsels patients on improving their diets and their health with a combo of skills: her RD training, her knowledge of plant-based nutrition (which she did not learn in school), and coaching techniques from the WellStart Coach Training Academy (hey, that's my school! :))

Kim Campbell is the culinary force behind PlantPure Nation and PlantPure Foods. She kindly agreed to visit the Plant Yourself test kitchen (which is just the kitchen in my home, cleaned up sufficiently for video) and make some delicious food for me, my wife, and my sister who was visiting from NYC. She also introduced us to nifty kitchen gadgets, one of which I promptly broke. This moment definitely deserves pride of place in the blooper reel of my life. Because this episode was so hands-on and visual, it didn't make sense to release the whole thing as an audio podcast. So today's podcast just introduces the videocast, which you can watch here. https://youtu.be/_6HzzJTeZT4

Margot Freitag is a coach who helps people transition to a plant-based diet successfully and sustainably. Growing up in Northwest Ontario (cue "Helpless" by Neil Young), she suffered from asthma, and made constant trips to the ER throughout her childhood. As a teen, she became a yoyo dieter, trying every variation she stumbled across in an attempt to lose weight: the apple-only diet, the "don't eat for a week" diet, low carb, etc. One plan she tried allowed her to eat cheese but not carrots, because sugar. (Sigh...)

Danny and Katherine Dreyer are the co-authors of three of the most valuable books ever on human bipedal locomotion: Chi Running, Chi Walking, and Chi Marathon. The promise of their methodology is that you can walk or run a lot farther and faster, without pain or injury. I can personally testify to its effectiveness, AND to my own ability to learn something great and totally forget about it for, like, a decade and a half. I met Katherine and Danny at their home in Asheville, where they regaled me (and now you) with tales of ultra-running and pain, and discovering how to apply the principles of Tai Chi to running, and starting a business and movement.

I interviewed Elizabeth Bell in order to record a testimonial for WellStart Health, and ended up having a conversation so compelling and instructive and inspiring that I decided - with Elizabeth's blessing - to share the whole thing. When Elizabeth first joined the WellStart program, she was more or less house-bound. A mysterious malady had taken her balance, her energy, and much of her eyesight. She was in danger of having to go on full disability, give up her professorship in astrophysics, and lose the apartment she had worked so long and hard to afford. Her beloved pastimes - reading and playing cello and piano - were also out of reach due to her dizziness, fatigue, and blurred vision. It's easy to see how Elizabeth could have felt like a victim at that point.

Caroline Webb is the author of the wonderfully entertaining and useful How to Have a Good Day, which is basically a cookbook on how to be an effective human in the world. She is an executive coach, economist, and speaker, and the book comes out of her extensive knowledge of behavioral science and its application in the real world. How to Have a Good Day has influenced my own health coaching so much, I wanted to talk with Caroline specifically about applying her tools and "recipes" to the challenges around improving diet and lifestyle.

Juan-Carlos "Carly" Asse is a fitness trainer and documentarian. His first film, Unsupersize Me, has been viewed over 3 million times, and has inspired and guided countless people to embark on their own journeys of healthy weight loss. Carly was a guest on one of the earliest Plant Yourself Podcasts. We talked about his prison transformation: his commitment to bettering himself after being incarcerated for drug charges, his encounter with The China Study, and his new career of personal fitness trainer. Carly's second film, Unsupersize Us, continued and validated the story of Unsupersize Me, this time with five participants from Carly's town of Gainesville, FL. Carly's goal was to broaden the message, and make it clear that this lifestyle and diet was for everyone, and that Tracy's transformation in the original film was not an anomaly.

Benjamin Alter, ND, treats his patients as if they actually have the power to heal themselves. This power introduces a wonderful and frustrating messiness into the scientific pursuit of truth. It's hard to control for. It's hard to randomize for. And it's hard to replicate. In fact, science has dealt with this messiness by, at best, pretending it doesn't exist, and at worst, actively denigrating people's subjective experiences of illness and healing.

Gwyn Whittaker is a change-maker, and for the past several years she's deployed her considerable "get-it-done" skills to the plant-based movement. Whittaker is CEO of Greenfare Cafe in Herndon, Virginia, which is the only 100% whole-food, plant-based (WFPB), organic restaurant either of us has ever heard of.

For my money, Stephen Porges' Polyvagal Theory has done more to improve our ability to heal and grow and thrive as a civilization than any other scientific breakthrough of the past 50 years. Its advances over prior understandings of the human nervous system, psychology, and experiences of states like well-being, happiness, and love - are profound. Paradigm-shifting. And, unlike a lot of theory, incredible practical and applicable to our everyday lives.

Ray Martin, aka "Old Man Skin and Bones," is on a mission to save others from what he went through: heart disease, expensive and unnecessary and potentially harmful medical care, and a bad case of the "If only I'd knowns." I met Ray through the Missing Chins Run Club (first rule of the Missing Chins Run Club: tell everybody in the Missing Chins Run Club how much you ran today), and was instantly charmed by his energy, passion, sense of humor, and fierce determination to spare others from his fate. The before and after photos accompanying this podcast says it all. In October, 2015, Ray came out of triple bypass surgery, alive and ready to change his life.

Amber Antonelli and Anthony Esposito run the Awaken Your Soul iboga retreat center in Costa Rica. Iboga is the name of a plant native to Gabon and neighboring West African countries that acts as a psychedelic, or as Amber and Anthony put it, a "teacher plant." Iboga, along with its better-known (in the US) cousins, Ayahuasca and psilocybin-containing mushrooms, appears to act pharmacologically by down-regulating parts of the human brain responsible for the moment-by-moment construction of the ego.

Jud Brewer is Director of Research and Innovation at the Mindfulness Center at Brown University, and a second-time guest on Plant Yourself. When we first talked, two years ago, Jud had just published his groundbreaking book, The Craving Mind, and was in the process of releasing mindfulness apps, Eat Right Now (for dealing with food cravings),  Craving to Quit (for smoking cessation), and Unwinding Anxiety (for, you guessed it, anxiety). I wanted to catch up with Jud to find out how his academic research and public writing had migrated into the world. What is the state of mindfulness-based health improvement? Does he have data on how his approach compares to current best practices, like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for smoking and other addictions?

Yeah, them's fighting words in the title of today's episode. And Garth David, MD, my lead author of Proteinaholic and co-conspirator in a mission to tell the world that chronic disease and obesity are preventable and reversible, is a fighter. He's mixed it up on national TV, giving and taking punches on The Doctors. He's scrapped with Z-Dogg, tussled on Twitter with Joe Rogan, and publicly debated many of the best-known low-carbers out there. His agenda? Good science. The truth, as best as we can know it. And teaching people how to avoid "Internet-borne Misery" by becoming savvy consumers of information.

Jody Esselstyn is a registered nurse at the Charlottesville, VA, city schools, and docent at the Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia. An unusual combo, perhaps, but Jody combines her two interests - medicine and art - in some innovative and lifesaving ways. She leads programs that help medicine students make better diagnoses, display more empathy at the bedside, and collaborate more generously with their medical peers through visits to art museums. It turns out that art is a perfect medium for helping people see beyond their assumptions and projections, to observe what's actually in front of them.

Joe Cross was, in the words of his first film, "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" when he embarked on a 60-day experiment to escape the pain and discomfort of a lifestyle-induced auto-immune disease. His transformation story, chronicled in that 2010 documentary, has inspired millions of people to start juicing, and to add more plants to their diets. His second film, Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead 2, highlights the stories of some of those people.

I had the best time talking with New York Times' bestselling author and love goddess adrienne maree brown! I stumbled upon her work through a sidebar article about her most recent book, Pleasure Activism, and was sufficiently intrigued to reach out to her publisher for a copy of the book and a request for an interview. Once the book arrived, I knew I was in for an education.

Lauren Plunkett is a registered dietitian living with type 1 diabetes. She's also the newest addition to the WellStart care team - and we couldn't be more pleased or delighted! Lauren is a dynamo of positive energy, and a shining example of the power of lifestyle to enhance quality of life. Diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 11, Lauren struggled for years to feel good and have the energy to do what she wanted to do. She went on a mission to learn everything she could about nutrition and health. Once she discovered plant-based nutrition, she knew she had found the key to thriving with diabetes: reducing insulin resistance.

Kathy Hester is a cookbook author, gear and gadget junkie, and vegan wizard. She's also a neighbor of mine, and a hilarious and warm and wonderful human being. This is her third appearance on the podcast - and frankly, I got tired of talking about food and not getting to eat it! So for this episode, I invited Kathy into my kitchen, to teach us all how to use the air fryer to get low-fat plant-based deliciousness into our lives.

Jesse Herrera is founder and chief visionary of Urban Theory, which I'd categorize as a "think tank" and an "act tank" for social and economic and environmental justice. Or as Jesse puts it, an "innovation lab" to prototype and scale solutions to urban poverty.

Linda Carney, MD, returns to the podcast to talk about a wholistic approach to treating depression. It turns out that while adverse childhood events, genetics, and traumatic life circumstances all contribute to the onset and severity of depression, we do have choices and tools and strategies to prevent and recover from this debilitating mental condition.

Linda Carney, MD, returns to the podcast to talk about a wholistic approach to treating depression. It turns out that while adverse childhood events, genetics, and traumatic life circumstances all contribute to the onset and severity of depression, we do have choices and tools and strategies to prevent and recover from this debilitating mental condition.

Josh LaJaunie returns to the podcast for a fifth (?) time, for a conversation about our relationship with nature. We talk about the beauty and grandeur of nature, and the ways human beings benefit and grow from being exposed to that loveliness. And also about nature’s dangerous and scary and yucky and itchy and hot and humid and freezing and soaking and uncomfortable aspects - and how we need those experiences in equal measure with the pleasurable ones.

Emma Passé is Chief Operating Officer at E-Powered Benefits, one of the renegade benefits brokers challenging a bloated and broken healthcare system. I first met Emma a year ago at a healthcare conference, where she brought down the house with a spirited, entertaining, and incisive look at how health plans negotiate prices with providers. You might not think that the topic of "reference-based pricing" would be all that interesting to the non-wonks in the room, but Emma has a way of making it relevant and fun. And, when you discover how you've been overpaying for healthcare all these years, you might become outraged as well.

How can we better ourselves without going to war with ourselves? How can we engage in "self-improvement" - around habits of mind and habits of action - without setting up a supervisor and a supervised? How can we pursue mastery without subjugating ourselves to a master - even if that master is some part of ourselves?

Ramona and Dustin LaJaunie are part of a family that has lost over a thousand pounds through plants and running. The mother and brother, respectively, of Josh LaJaunie, Mona and Dustin are now the cooks in the family. And one of their biggest challenges was abandoning all the classic southern recipes that they loved and took pride in making and sharing - gumbos, jambalayas, turnip stew, cabbage rolls, and all the delicious desserts - in favor of low-fat, plant-based fare.

Olivia Kelly is CEO and co-founder of WellStart Health, the fabulously amazing startup that I also co-founded. So everything I'm going to say about her is totally unbiased.

Dr Wayne Jonas is a pioneer in integrative, healing-based, patient-centered healthcare who has been at the nexus of healthcare and healing for over 40 years. He served as director of the National Institutes of Health Office of Alternative Medicine in the 1990s, as well as leading the World Health Organization’s Collaborative Center for Traditional Medicine.

Our lives have changed dramatically since 2007, when the first iPhone was introduced. As today’s guest, Glenn Murphy, points out, if we handled any other object over 1000 times a day, we would be considered severely OCD, or addicted, or certainly life-impaired in some way.

Shiann Darkangelo plays professional hockey for the Toronto Furies, in the Canadian Women's Ice Hockey League. If that isn't a place you'd expect to find a committed plant-based athlete, join the club! Shiann is not only one of the world's best hockey players, but she's a passionate plant-based coach and mentor.

Kevin Davis is a WellStart Health “Supercoach,” and co-leader of the WellStart Health Coach Training Academy. Today we talk about his story, from being the “fat kid” in high school, to getting into bodybuilding and embracing extreme keto, to a traumatic car crash that led to years of agoraphobia, to his plant-based journey and healing of anxiety.

My buddy Josh LaJaunie returns the to podcast for his fourth? fifth? appearance. We've been busy building WellStart Health, dealing with logistics and curriculum and business development and whatnot, so we were both hungry for a slow, meandering, purposeless, deep conversation. The kind friends have, with no agenda, except with thousands of people listening in. If you don't know about Josh, see the links below for background info. Short story shorter, ex-football playing bayou boy goes from 420 pounds to the cover of Runner's World magazine through the power of plants and running.

Marco Borges, founder of 22 Days Nutrition, is a visionary social entrepreneur. From humble beginnings, Marco has partnered with Beyoncé and Jay-Z to bring plant-based health to as many people as possible, as affordably as possible. And he's one of those folks whose very presence and easy self-confidence compels others to take him seriously - in short, a powerful spokesperson and ally.

David Sabgir, MD, is a board-certified cardiologist practicing at Mount Carmel Medical Group in Columbus, Ohio. Frustrated at his inability to move the needle on his patient's self-care, he had the idea to just invite them to go on a walk with him. This modest idea eventually blossomed into Walk with a Doc, a movement within the field of lifestyle medicine whose mission is to empower doctors to share the health and happiness benefits of walking with their patients.

Emily Lindsay, PhD, is lead author of an uber-important scientific paper on how to mitigate loneliness through mindfulness and acceptance training. Lindsay is a research scientist in the Psychology Department at University of Pittsburgh who studies how mind-body practices like mindfulness and meditation affect our physiology and ultimate health outcomes. It's an important field of study, because negative mental and emotional states can be terrible for our health. It turns out, for example, that loneliness and social isolation may be as bad for your health as smoking, or eating a crappy diet. Which is precisely the condition that Lindsay and her team sought to address in a recent study.

Danny Warshay is the executive director of the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship at Brown University, and a long-time friend. He dropped by to talk about how to apply his Entrepreneurial Process to lifestyle and habit change. Neither of us knew exactly what we would discover when we began speaking, although we both had hunches that there was direct applicability somehow, some way. We talked about viewing our “problems” from the perspective of “treasure hunt” rather than shame. Danny shared his philosophy of finding problems worthy of solution via the tools and mindsets of anthropology.

When I asked Dr Monica Aggarwal to join me on this podcast, I figured we'd talk about her plant-based advocacy at the University of Florida, where she is an assistant professor of medicine and Director of Integrative Cardiology and Prevention. We got there, eventually, but took a fascinating detour into the gender politics of medicine, and cardiology in particular.

Today's a huge departure for this podcast. For the first time, we explore the virtues of eating something other than plants. No, don't worry. I haven't gone paleo or keto or carnivore (although one of my prior guests has (SMH)). I'm not into fish oil or organic beef liver or hummingbird tongue. Today we explore an entire kingdom that can boost our immune function, mood, and possibly bring us sanity: fungi.

Sarah Bofinger is an unlikely Olympic hopeful, a WellStart Health Coach, and a fountain of positivity. Today she returns to the podcast to update us on her Olympic dreams, and to share how becoming a WellStart Health coach has taken her training and life to a new level of awesome.

As a newly divorced mother of two small children and high-powered professional, Diane Randall had let her health take a back seat to all her responsibilities. Overweight, diagnosed with high blood pressure and high cholesterol, she was jolted into action by a doctor's warning that her current trajectory was going to take years off her life. Having seen type 2 diabetes lead to disability and premature death among family members, Randall took the warning seriously. Employing her training as a systems engineer and consultant, she approached her own health challenges strategically and methodically. She discovered plant-based nutrition, along with other modalities and practices amenable to a healthy lifestyle, and eventually came to a point where she started helping other busy professionals make health a priority in their own lives.

Dr Josh Luke was enjoying his career in sports marketing when his grandmother got sick. He watched in amazement and frustration at the way she was treated when she didn't have the money for the treatments prescribed. He saw the lack of communication and coordination among different nodes in the system. He saw the avoidable pain and suffering, and decided sports marketing wasn't important to him anymore. Luke jumped into healthcare, and worked his way up from one CEO position to another, running larger and larger hospitals. And learning about - and tackling - the roots of the dysfunctions he saw from the sidelines of his grandmother's illness.

Charles Eisenstein has been challenging my thinking for about 15 years now, but never more so than with his latest book, Climate: A New Story. Basically, Eisenstein argues that focusing all our environmental activism on reducing greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming is a bad idea.

When I polled my listeners about topics or guests they’d like to hear on upcoming episodes of Plant Yourself, I got a lot of requests for a show about plant-based pregnancy. I thought this might be a little too niche, until I reminded myself that every one of us is the result of a pregnancy, and that for the foreseeable future, all our descendants will continue to be born in this fashion. So no problem there… When I asked my Facebook Hive Mind who would be a great guest for this topic, Micaela Karlsen’s name came up again and again. So here we are today :)

Andrew Taylor was tired of being out of shape, obese, and sick. An olympic hopeful in his teens, he had let his fitness and health slip away as his commitment to kayaking waned but his addictions to food persisted. His depression, largely fueled by the thought that he was far away from the person he wanted to be, always kept him returning to the trough for another supersized hit of vegan junk food. His revelation - and the spark of his transformational year of eating nothing but potatoes - was that he was treating food like an alcoholic treats booze.

Hillary Rettig is both an activist and a productivity expert, two vocations that don't seem to have much in common at first glance. But as soon as I started reading two of her books, The Lifelong Activist and The 7 Secrets of the Prolific, I got the connection. Unproductive would-be activists are disempowered activists. And in a world that systematically tries to disempower those who challenge its structures of power and privilege, the last thing we need is to get in our own way when we stand up to injustice.

Joseph Alexander is a nurse and park ranger in Minnesota. He's always been interested in health, and has always loved the outdoors.Knowing just those facts about Joseph, if you were to close your eyes and picture him in your imagination, you probably wouldn't see him as a 438-pound diabetic who had started – and given up on – just about every diet and weight loss strategy known to man.I met Joseph online through the super-secret Missing Chins Run Club (oops ;), and in person at the 2018 Plantstock event, where he wowed the crowd with a moving presentation of his struggle and transformation.Joseph now runs marathons, coaches people to reverse disease and drop weight through a whole food, plant-based diet, and generally loves life.We go deep in this conversation, as Joseph shares his darkest moments, his most profound realizations, and his hands-on tactical, strategic, and philosophical approach to lifestyle change.The audio quality is dodgy for the first 10 minutes, but improves considerably once I figure out gain levels and Joseph tames his rustling microphone 🙂Enjoy, add your voice to the conversation via the comment box or audio recording box below, and please share – that's how we spread our message and spread our roots.LinksBecomeGreater.net – Joseph's websiteJoseph on Facebook and TwitterThe Emotional Eater's Repair Manual, by Julie SimonEat to Live, by Joel Fuhrman, MDThe 7-Day Rescue Diet, by Rip EsselstynSupport the Show.

Tess Masters, aka The Blender Girl, is a powerful spokesperson for a healthy plant-based lifestyle, and a force of nature. Growing up in Australia on a "meat and three veg" diet, she was plagued at age 14 with extreme lethargy. A naturopath suggested that she eliminate gluten, meat, and dairy, and within 48 hours she felt dramatically better.

Happy New Year! I come to you today from the cab of my truck, in my driveway, to talk about the fact that my new office isn’t ready to move in, and it’s January 1, and it’s kind of driving me crazy. I don't even have access to my studio, my computer, my completed interviews - nothing. Everything is in tight storage, because I thought the new office would be ready for me by New Year's Eve. (That's a photo of me in my old office, which has returned to its old role as child's bedroom...

Tina Ahern is a long-time Plant Yourself Podcast listener and supporter. When she reached out to share her inspiring story, I knew I wanted to share it with you. Long story short, Tina and her husband Brian opened up a partially plant-based restaurant in Perry, Oklahoma, as part of their mission to serve their community through their Christian faith.

When you're doing a video podcast with the guy who wrote the book on focus and mastering our attention, you don't take lots of notes. Instead, you look at your guest and stay present to the wisdom and insight he's dropping left and right. Which explains why I don't have a lot of show notes for today's guest, Chris Bailey. Chris and I got on Skype to discuss his latest book, Hyperfocus: How to be More Productive in a World of Distraction. 

Caroline Trapp, DNP (that’s Doctor of Nursing Practice to you and me), is the director of diabetes education and care with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), as well as a nurse practitioner specializing in the care of people with diabetes in Michigan. Trapp is a passionate advocate for the role of nurses in educating and empowering patients on lifestyle medicine to combat chronic disease, particularly diabetes.

Darina Bockman is a business mover-and-shaker; a Senior Finance Director at CBRE, and a long-time vegan activist. She felt split; on the one hand, committed to helping her organization succeed and achieving personal career success, and on the other hand, representing her views on animal rights, human health, and environmental stewardship through plant-based advocacy. And it occurred to her that there might be others like her; leaders in corporate management who happened to be vegan (or, if you prefer, vegans who happen to be in corporate management).

While leading the morning run groups at Engine 2's Plantstock this August, I met a young woman named Emily Skamla. She was fit and speedy  - easily pounding out 6-minute miles, and smoking me during the hill repeats. I figured that the combination of youth, a Plant Strong diet, and a commitment to training were the whole story. Instructive, mildly inspiring, but certainly not Plant Yourself Podcast material. Boy was I wrong. Turns out, Emily has been suffering since the age of 7 with Type 2 Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD; now known in medical circles as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, but we'll stick to RSD since that's the term Emily uses).

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2016. Unwilling to surrender his health destiny to the medical profession, Adams did some research, adopted a plant-based diet, lost 30 pounds, and reversed his condition. And he didn't stop there. Instead, he committed to making Brooklyn into Ground Zero for healthy living.

Carol J. Adams is the author most recently of Burger and Protest Kitchen, and a self-described "feminist-vegan." Our conversation was eye-opening to me in many ways. I noticed my language in ways I hadn't before. I saw for the first time a chunk of cultural programming that was determining a lot of my attitudes and actions. And I watched myself tread lightly - and I suspect clumsily - for fear of offending Adams and listeners to the podcast.

Sanyin Siang is a CEO Coach, Author, and the Executive Director of the Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership & Ethics (COLE) at Duke University. In other words, quite a big deal. When I reached out to Sanyin and asked her to appear on the podcast, I had two audiences in mind. First, plant-based entrepreneurs like myself. (Actually, as a co-founder of a startup, I just kind of wanted to pick her brain.) Second, anyone who wants to grow anything new in their life. A new habit. A new lifestyle. A new identity as a healthy person. The conversation ping-ponged between these levels. I hope you find it useful, whatever idea or venture is bubbling within you.

This past Saturday, I set up my portable recording studio in Cary, North Carolina, to live-podcast the PCRM Kickstart Your Health NC Triangle event.

This weekend, the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) is bringing its big guns to my neck of the woods, the Triangle region of North Carolina (Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill). Neal Barnard, Suzy Cameron Amis, Eric O'Grey, and others will be bringing their messages of hope and inspiration and information to my community. But PCRM also highlights local heroes - the folks who do good work in this community every day.

Why do 92% of New Years' Resolutions fail, one year on? Why has the current cultural obsession with grit and willpower failed to move the needle on our behaviors? And why do long-time Buddhist monks demonstrate more self-control than the rest of us? Today's guest, David DeSteno, PhD, has been studying these and related issues for a long time.

Neal Barnard, MD, is the president and founder of the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) - an organization far too large and influential to still be called a "committee," but who among us hasn't outgrown our childhood name? - and the founder of the Barnard Medical Center in the DC area. He's also the author of a crazy number of books, including the recent The Cheese Trap - which you should give to all your vegetarian dairy-loving friends just to gross them out and blow their minds.

When Grace Smith resolved to quit smoking in 2011, she began with the most common approaches: nicotine gum, the patch, going cold turkey (is there a vegan equivalent to that phrase?). When a single hypnotherapy session led her to quit that same day, she turned from a skeptic into an avid promoter. She shifted her career from the high-stress world of New York sales, got certified, and made it her mission to share the power of hypnosis with the world - in her words, "to make hypnosis mainstream."

There's so much buzz about keto these days, there must be something to it, right? I mean, if it didn't work to help people lose weight and feel better, they wouldn't be doing it. I admit, despite my years of research and practice; despite having co-written three books on nutrition; despite seeing the positive effects of a plant-based diet on people's health and vitality every single day - I still have this little voice in my head that's incredibly susceptible to really good marketing. And boy, does the keto/paleo crowd have us beat on marketing!

Brian Wansink is the researcher behind some of the most surprising findings in recent behavioral science, the most famous of these involving the interaction between plates and bowls and eating behavior. Specifically, he found that changing the size of dinnerware had a big impact on how much food people will consume. Small plate, eat less. Big plate, eat more.

Gary Whitaker is the founder and owner of Plant-based Fitness, a transformation gym located in Oakland, CA.

Jeff Seal is a comedian, documentarian, adventurer, and undercover clown operating out of New York City. One of my son Elan's favorite YouTube artists, Jeff points out the hilarity, absurdity, and injustices of life through art and comedy. When Elan shared Jeff's work with me, I was particularly struck by his videos on dumpster diving and train-hopping.

I had the great privilege of moderating a panel discussion at Engine 2's Plant-Stock event, held this year in Black Mountain, NC, over a weekend in August. The topic was, "Transformation and Recovery from Addiction." The panelists included Adam Sud, Joseph Alexander, Ken Lander, and Josh LaJaunie. They talked about what helped them on their journeys to health and authenticity; on how paying it forward played a large part in their ability to stay the course; and they answered audience questions about overcoming plateaus, dealing with setbacks, and helping others.

Bob Cafaro is a professional cellist, author, and ass-kicker of multiple sclerosis. In his latest newsletter, he revealed two MS-busting tactics that he hadn't written about in his book, When the Music Stopped: My Battle and Victory Against MS. Partly as an excuse to have another conversation with Bob (he's such a kind and passionate and awesome guy!), and partly to explore these two tactics, I reached out and managed to grab 30 minutes of his time in between the five dozen other things he has going on.

Micah Hendler is the founder and director of the YMCA Jerusalem Youth Chorus, and one of Forbes' magazine's "30 under 30" (global leaders and change-makers under the age of 30). He founded the chorus to promote connection and peace between the teen communities of East and West Jerusalem; that is, inaccurately but roughly speaking, Palestinians and Israelis. We met at a Seeds of Peace concert in New York City in May, and Micah graciously agreed to be on the podcast. I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to "shoehorn" this theme into Plant Yourself, but the wiser part of me whispered, "Who gives a shit? Just have an inspiring and wonderful conversation!"

Welcome back to Joel Kahn, MD, one of the great gentle pugilists of the plant-based, evidence-based, lifestyle medicine movement. Joel has gotten a lot of air time since our last talk three years ago - he's a regular on The Doctors, weighing in with actual science against some of the crazier nutritional theories of our time (ie vegetables are dangerous). And he's a publishing powerhouse, coming out with The Plant-Based Solution, The No B.S. Diet Book, Dead Execs Don't Get Bonuses, and Vegan Sex, with Ellen Jaffe Jones.

Yup, that's me, talking directly to you in this episode. I wanted to take a break from the guest-interview format because I have a lot on my mind. Yesterday was my 53rd birthday, and would have been my dad's 100th (he and my mom planned well ;). I've been thinking about him a lot around this milestone. And I'm on day 3 of a planned 7-day water fast, so my mind is doing all sorts of deep dives that I normally miss because of eating and business.

Ted Barnett, MD, is also known as "Dr Veggie." An interventional radiographer by day, he has been a plant-based advocate, educator, activist, and gadfly in Rochester, NY and nationally since the early 1990s. Over the past 27 years, Ted has been in the forefront of the movement to get lifestyle medicine known, respected, and practiced by the medical profession. We talked about his journey, and the obstacles, and the big challenges still confronting the lifestyle medicine movement as it seeks to deliver true wellness to the masses.

Ayesha Sherzai, MD, is one half of Team Sherzai, along with her husband, Dean (also MD). She's codirector of the Brain Health and Alzheimer's Prevention Program at Loma Linda University, where she leads the Lifestyle Program for the Prevention of Neurological Diseases. She's got three lifetime's worth of degrees (preventive medicine, neurology, advanced research methodology, lifestyle and vascular brain diseases) as well as certificates from two cooking schools.

Amy Baglan is both a Type A Entrepreneur and a committed mindful meditator. The founder of MeetMindful, an app and movement that connects spiritually engaged people for both dating and friendship, Amy drives hard for achievement, and also consciously aims for that "being OK in the moment" vibe that doesn't depend on external success. I wanted to talk to Amy about dating, and romance, and sex; topics highly correlated with health and happiness, and topics that I've managed to avoid pretty much completely over five years of this podcast.

Will Bulsiewicz, MD MSCI, trained to become a gastroenterologist at some of the top hospitals in the world: Georgetown, the University of North Carolina (go 'heels!), and Northwestern. He's board certified in both gastroenterology and internal medicine. Why am I trotting out Will's credentials to introduce this podcast? Because even with all that education, Will found himself unable to answer even his patients' most basic questions about what they could do about their own GI conditions. What should they eat? What should they avoid? What causes gluten sensitivity and celiac disease? Why eat local and organic?

Martica Heaner PhD, is a nutritionist and exercise physiologist and health writer. She is an adjunct associate nutrition professor at Hunter College in NYC and the author of 6 books including Cross-training for Dummies and Lean Mommy. She has been a group fitness instructor for over 30 years and starred in a fitness TV show while living in London in the 90s. She has been a vegan for 5 years (prior to that was vegetarian for 32) and teaches plant-based nutrition in a conventional nutrition 101 class. Martica and I got on the phone and talked about her childhood, her education, her fitness career, and some of the myths floating around the plant-based world.

Marcy Madrid is Vice President of Planning and Marketing at Midland Memorial Hospital in Midland, Texas. (That's about halfway between Dallas and El Paso on I-20.) When Midland decided to embrace plant-based nutrition as a pillar of their disease-treatment protocol, Madrid was brought in to spread the message. Both internally, and to the larger community. What she didn't expect was to need that message herself, and soon.

Janice Stanger, PhD, is author of The Perfect Formula Diet and a genius at getting other people to become nutritional geniuses. Her approach to any topic - diabetes, pregnancy, hormones, whatever - is to dig down into first principles and build from there. This way of thinking helps non-experts understand the issues without having to rely on experts or gurus to tell them what to think. Grok the first principles, and you can build your own understanding on any topic.

Matt Tullman wants 30% of the US population to go plant-based by the year 2030. And that's not an idle wish - Matt is doing something (a lot of things, actually) about it. Matt is a long-time policy wonk, entrepreneur, bio-hacker, and venture capital guy. And he brings all these talents and outlooks to bear on the central problems of our time in history - all of which, he points out, can be solved or significantly improved by the switch to a plant-based diet.

Clint Paddison was pursuing a career as a stand-up comedian in Australia when he was struck with a debilitating case of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A former athlete and science all-star, Clint found himself almost unable to work, to move, to enjoy life. He discouraged his girlfriend from marrying him because he didn't want to ruin her life. At first, Clint followed the doctors' advice, and embarked on an aggressive pharmaceutical protocol that was almost as bad as the disease. Pain, disability, misery, and early death seemed the only path forward. Then, one day, he discovered a secret delivered via a poisoned cherry: fasting, induced by food poisoning, profoundly relieved his symptoms.

Sarah "Mergoddess" Bofinger swam before she walked - literally. Born with hip dysplasia (I thought the same thing: "Isn't that something Golden Retrievers get?"), she required six surgeries before she celebrated her fourth birthday. Sarah was put in the water for therapy and rehabilitation, and took to it like a, well, mergoddess to water. Swimming, as well as dancing and gymnastics, helped take her mind of the discomfort and pain of the constant hip problems.

D Anthony Evans found out at age six that he had a rare disorder (Neurofibromatosis) that caused painful tumors to emerge at random all over his body. And things just got worse from there. His doctors explained that this disease generally leads to a highly aggressive form of cancer, MPNST (Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors). So he spent his youth wondering when and where the cancer would strike.

Valter Longo, PhD, is a longevity researcher at the University of Southern California whose broad vision and ability to focus on the details of scientific enquiry over a 30-year career may provide the data we need to extend the human lifespan by decades. And not through CRISPR or nanotechnologies or Himalayan yak butter in our coffee, but through simple lifestyle and diet tools readily available to many of us, like plant-based food and moderate physical activity.

Today's guest, Gregg Sparkmann, PhD, runs experiments to test the idea of dynamic norms. That is, the concept that what's considered normal and acceptable can change. Sparkmann and his mentor, Greg Walton (last week's podcast guest), hypothesized that because change is hard, the knowledge that people are changing might indicate to a person that there was a good reason for it.

Gregory Walton, PhD, has done some of the most groundbreaking social science research of the past decade. His "Wise Interventions" model utilizes brief, targeted experiences to permanently alter a mindset and create a cascading series of life events. Example: a one-hour Wise Intervention for freshman students of color at a major university reduced the GPA achievement gap by 50% for the next three years.

Fraser Bayley's arc of transformation is long and inspiring. Growing up in Auckland, New Zealand, Fraser was a poor student who struggled in school despite putting in the effort. He felt stupid, like something was wrong with him. His social anxiety was so severe, he dropped out of college but managed to keep a crushing load of student debt. When an after school job at a local supermarket offered him a chance to learn about butchery, Fraser jumped on the opportunity to apprentice himself in the grueling trade. It didn't require smarts, or much reading, or sitting still.

Eric Krieg spent decades in the belly of the beast; the benefits industry beast, that is. Until one day he asked a profoundly inconvenient question: "Am I doing the right thing?" By way of answer, he left his job as a traditional broker and went rogue, revealing the ethically questionable practices of the benefits industry to the world.

Dave Chase is one of those quiet innovators who moves mountains through vision, energy, and sheer persistence. With a healthy dose of trickster energy in the mix... Chase is one of the founders of Healthcare Rosetta, a non-profit dedicated to accelerating "adoption of simple, practical, non-partisan fixes to our healthcare system."

Bethany Stec Janicek grew up on a Nebraska pig farm, on a diet of meat and dairy and cheese and butter. Always bigger than her peers, she began dieting in elementary school, and suffered the anguish that came with always failing, always giving up, and always feeling disappointed in herself. She was deeply disconnected from her true self, and masked her sense of inadequacy with a bubbly exterior and various coping mechanisms: food, cigarettes, alcohol, clothing, and makeup. Everything in her life was literally or figuratively sugar-coated.

Lesley Paterson, aka the "Scottish Rocket," is a three-time world champion in off-road triathlon, an Ironman triathlon champ, a professional mountain biker, an athletic coach, and a world-class slinger of profanity. Simon Marshall, her husband, is a sport and exercise psychologist at San Diego State, performance psychologist for BMC Racing, and a self-described "mid-pack age-group endurance athlete." Together, Lesley and Simon comprise Braveheart Coaching, a service that gets athletes performing to their potential in spite of the "3-pound lump of crazy" that lives in their cranium.

This episode is special to me, as I share the next phase of my journey and mission. I've just joined WellStart Health as a co-founder, along with CEO Olivia Kelly, Chief Medical Officer Bojana Jankovic Weatherly, and Chief Brand Ambassador Josh LaJaunie. Our mission is, in Olivia's words, to "put chronic disease out of business." We're doing this through a potent combo of evidence-based protocols (like, eat more whole plants and less garbage), behavioral science (my title is Chief Behavioral Science Officer), crackerjack technology, and a network of coaches like Josh who have street cred based on their own struggles and journeys.

Matthew Prescott is one of the most influential voices in the animal welfare, plant-forward movement. He's Senior Food Policy Director for the Humane Society of the United States, and advisor to the Good Food Institute. He's both contributed to and harnessed the stunning change in public perception and habits around reducing animal consumption by helping giant food companies alter and improve their supply chains.

Darren Morton, PhD, is a Fellow of the Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine, which means that not only is he wicked-smart about how to live a long and healthy life, but also he shares his insights in a cool Australian accent. Darren's original research (more than 50 published articles, y'all!) includes quantifying the effects of the Complete Health Improvement Program (CHIP) on participants' biomarkers, disease outcomes, and quality of life.

Cyrus Khambatta and Robby Barbaro are the co-creators of Mastering Diabetes, an online program and support network for people living with all forms of the disease: type 1, type 2, type 1.5, prediabetes, and gestational diabetes. And both have been living with type 1 diabetes, also known as insulin-dependent diabetes, for most of their lives. Type 1 can't be reversed or cured through diet and lifestyle, so they must take synthetic insulin in order to remain alive.

I personally wouldn't have predicted that the guy behind Lunchables and Slim Jim jerky sticks  might save the planet. But Rody Hawkins, muscle physiologist, consultant to the meat industry for decades, nutrition wonk, and pioneer in shelf-stable food technology, has just launched a plant-based meat replacement company that's getting global attention for the quality and environmental benefits of its product.

Carl Safina is the author of, most recently, Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel. I consumed it on Audible a couple of years ago, and was utterly mesmerized and transformed by the listening. I think it was one of the sneaky factors that pushed me, somewhat against my better judgment, into the Animal Welfare camp of the plant-based movement. The book describes the author's encounters with three fascinating and endangered animal populations - the elephants of East Africa, the wolves of Yellowstone, and the Orcas of the Pacific Northwest - and the humans who have devoted their lives to studying, documenting, and understanding these magnificent creatures.

David Donohue is a primary care physician in Wilmington, Delaware, and one of only 280 board-certified lifestyle medicine specialists in the United States. As David points out in our conversation, that's fewer than one for every million Americans. I wanted to talk with David about the successful and innovative Cure Diabetes program that he's run over the past year, but we quickly started egging each other on (is there a vegan egg-replacer metaphor for that phrase?) to describe our pet peeves about the current medical system.

Emily Fletcher is one of the new faces of an ancient practice. Former Broadway star and founder of Ziva Meditation, she talks funny, dirty, relatable, and wise about one of the simplest, cheapest, and most profound of wellness practices: going within ourselves. Emily draws upon her experiences in a stress-inducing profession, her immersion in the spiritual technologies of ancient India, and cutting-edge research into the neuroscience of consciousness to give meditation a modern angle: it's a brain gym for high performers.

Tali Sharot is an Associate Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, and director of the Affective Brain Lab. Affective, as in emotions and motivation. Brain, as in processing and decisions. Drawing on recent groundbreaking work in behavioral economics and neuroscience, Sharot shows us how to navigate the intricacies and predictable biases of minds; our own and those of others. Dr. Sharot is the author of the new book The Influential Mind: What the Brain Reveals About Our Power to Change Others. When I saw the title, I knew I had to discover what she knows about influence: how we can do it well, and how we often screw it up.

Kassi and Derick Harrington grew up in Thibodaux, Louisiana, where they grew obese and ill and miserable on the Standard Cajun Diet. Derick's life revolved around food: hunting and fishing and then frying whatever he caught. Kassi was overweight her whole life, as was her entire family. Derick suffered from hypertension, high cholesterol, an auto-immune disease, and was on the fast track to type 2 diabetes. He had no energy, no passion for life outside of the gustatory, and in his own words, was "just existing."

From the moment his parents' marriage fell apart, Bryan Falchuk turned into the fat kid. In a world out of control, food was the one thing he could control, and the one thing that could soothe his deep hurts and anxieties. Every day Bryan woke up and was determined to lose weight, and twenty minutes later he'd be elbow-deep in the foods he'd sworn to give up, or at least moderate. He experienced himself as someone untrustworthy, someone who lacked agency, someone to whom life happened.

These days I'm really into creativity, and how we can foster it, and how it can help us lead happier and more fulfilled lives. Plus it's fun. So when I saw today's guest, Tina Seelig, give 90 seconds of truly excellent advice to Daniel Pink's audience in his PinkCast, I reached out to see if she would be willing to share her wisdom "long form" with the Plant Yourself crowd.

Josh Turner, is one hell of a smart, compassionate, committed human being. A type 1 diabetic who was told that his quality of life, health, and longevity would be compromised by his condition, Josh has adopted a plant-based diet and taken up running. In the process, he's lost almost 100 pounds, gained his life back, and become an inspiration and lighthouse for other type 1 diabetics who are struggling to escape the grip of the wrong-headed medical model of disease management through low-carb, high-protein diets.

Phil Green is a heavy equipment mechanic for the military. Which is to say, he can fix things that people rely on for their lives. And yet his own body was in a terrible state of disrepair. As a red, white, and blue son of Texas, Phil's diet was (in his own words) "fried everything." Except for the barbecued meat.

Plant-based Cyclist Ian Cramer and I spent a lovely hour geeking out on our journeys, and podcasting, and our gratitude for the trailblazers who introduced us to the plant-based lifestyle. Ian is a certified athletic trainer at the University of Rochester, a competitive cyclist, a podcaster, and a freelance health and performance coach. We met at PlantStock 2017, and in the space of two hours, recorded episodes for each of our podcasts. Check out his other guests (mostly plant-based medical professionals and researchers) at the Plant-based Cyclist Podcast.

Michael Klaper, MD, is one of the world's most eloquent, convincing, passionate, and persistent advocates of a plant-based diet. He's studied the health effects, the environmental ramifications, and the psychological aspects of eating meat and junk food, and can put the most complex science in totally accessible terms. Here's how he explains the vast majority of chronic disease in the Western world: "We're putting diesel fuel in a gas engine." Boom. Simple. Powerful. Inarguable. For the past eight years, Dr Klaper has practiced nutrition-based medicine at True North Health Center in Santa Rosa, California. Come January 2018, he's unleashing his best self into the world of education, sharing his knowledge and passion with medical professionals, medical students, and the public. Once you hear our conversation, you'll be as excited as I am about his unfolding quest.

Scott Stoll, MD, understands the power of Believing You Can. Which is a good thing, because he's made his life mission a task that would seem daunting to most: to transform the healthcare industry into one that actually practices health care rather than disease management and mitigation. Scott is, among many other things, co-founder of The Plantrician Project.

Dave Evans and Bill Burnett are co-authors of the New York Times bestselling Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life. You may not have heard of them, but their design work has almost certainly touched your life. You know Dave's work if you've ever used an Apple mouse or laser printer. And Bill's designs include the hinges on Apple's Powerbooks and the original Hasbro Star Wars figures. What do these guys have to teach us about being healthy and happy? As it turns out, plenty.

Elizabeth Winings is Doctor of Nursing Practice at  Nemours Children's specialty care and Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida. She specializes in working with children and teens who are receiving mental health care in an acute in-patient setting. In her work with the children and their families, she emphasizes wholistic, therapeutic, and lifestyle approaches toward wellness. Ironically, it was Dr Winings' early exposure to nursing care in the Emergency Department and on a surgical unit that sparked her abiding interest in prevention through lifestyle. Dr Winings is also a voice for plant-based, lifestyle medicine. She interned at True North health center, and presents frequently at Engine 2 events and immersions.

Sid Garza-Hillman returns to the podcast to talk about his new book, Raising Healthy Parents. In typical Sid fashion, the book is funny, irreverent, wise, and insanely useful. Sid is the Nutritionist and Program Director at The Stanford Inn by the Sea in Mendocino, California, and host of the Approaching the Natural podcast. He's also a race director, YouTuber, and health coach.

Anthony Masiello grew up as the "fat kid," and owned the identity with resignation. Growing up in a town with three pizza restaurants within walking distance, it was easy to avoid the healthy food his mom stocked in their refrigerator and rely on the standard American junk diet. His weight continued to grow as his health and wellbeing began to decline. One day while away at college, a conversation with his mother got Anthony to try giving up meat and alcohol for a few months and "see what happens."

Jeff Stanford combines a scientist's mind with a vegan's heart and a mystic's soul. He's co-founder of the Stanford Inn by the Sea in Mendocino, California, an eco-resort complete with a fully vegan restaurant, The Ravens. Jeff's a longtime spiritual seeker, an old-school "back to the land" hippie, and a philosopher. And an advocate of a vegan diet, from all the usual perspectives as well as some that are uniquely his. Jeff is equally at home citing the works of Krishnamurti, Jeremy Narby, and Stephen Batchelor as those of T. Colin Campbell and Caldwell Esselstyn. He's a student of anthropology, and uses his background in that field to challenge the assumptions of the paleo movement.

Dr Saray Stancic became an infectious disease specialist in response to the HIV and hepatitis C crisis of the 1980s and 90s. On October 11, 1995, the then-3rd year medical resident found a short nap window at 2am, and collapsed in fatigue in the on-call room of the hospital where she worked. When she was awakened for her next shift, Dr Stancic couldn't feel her legs. She was rushed to the ER, and an MRI revealed multiple sclerosis (MS) with multiple lesions in the brain and spinal cord. In addition to the neuropathy in her legs, it turned out that her kidneys were also failing. She was admitted to the hospital, given an IV steroid drip and a bunch of other medications. And just like that, a young, energetic, ambitious doctor was converted into a frightened, confused, dispirited patient.

Rip Esselstyn is founder of Engine 2, a food and education company dedicated to eliminating chronic disease through a whole food, plant-based diet. As Engine 2 continues to grow in influence and reach, Rip is stewarding the company to new opportunities. As a food brand associated with Whole Foods and an education provider to their employees, Engine 2 is poised to explode with Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods this past year. I see Amazon as a potential blessing and curse, both in its current behavior, and its continuing disruption of retail into the future. I wanted to get Rip's take on the opportunities and dangers inherent in a tight relationship with Amazon.

Elspeth Feldman is The Speedy Vegan. Combining a love of cooking with a stint in culinary school with a dedication to human health and love of all sentient beings, she teaches and coaches people on adopting a plant-based diet in a delicious and non-time-consuming fashion. Elspeth is on the podcast today because she sent me a beautiful cookbook called (wait for it...) Pardon My Turkey. A lot of my coaching clients start clenching up as the holidays approach, bracing themselves for unpleasant interactions around food with family and friends. Pardon My Turkey is kind of a handbook for misdirection - make food this tasty and nice-looking, and the conversation about protein seems much less urgent.

Nathan Runkle is the founder of Mercy For Animals, an organization that focuses on the prevention of cruelty to the billions of farm animals raised for food in the United States. Nathan's just written an amazing memoir, titled Mercy For Animals, with friend-of-the-podcast Gene Stone. The book is part coming of age story, part exposé of the animal agriculture industry, and part gripping tale of adventure and risk and strategy as a few passionate, committed young people go undercover to expose the abuses that are a regular and normal and accepted part of our meat-based food chain.

Rob Greenfield has put the fun and friendly into environmental activism. Known for his eye-catching and media-worthy campaigns and adventures to wake people up to the destruction we're causing to our planet, Rob brings a positivity and sense of humor and humility to what is too often a dreary scold-fest. Rob was originally on track to live an opulent American dream, complete with nice stuff, fast car, big house, and enough money to do whatever he wanted. A life in which he never had to think about the downstream consequences of his actions, choices, and consumption. Then, somehow, he woke up. It dawned upon him that there was a direct link between his individual choices and the faraway and hypothetical poisoning of our ecosystem. That his convenient, comfortable existence was being underwritten by factory farms, oil spills, and trash heaps that wouldn't decompose for 500 years.

When Ken Lander disembarked from a plane on December 16, 2016, he lost his breath, stumbled, and couldn't make to baggage claim. When the 430-pound Lander was examined in the emergency room, it was determined that it was a very sick heart that had nearly cost him his life that day. Further tests revealed a 90% blockage in the left descending artery, and severely compromised heart efficiency ("ejection fraction" in cardio lingo). On December 17, 2016, Ken googled "books on heart disease and diet." Of the hundreds of options, he chose the one with the most hopeful title: Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, by Caldwell Esselstyn, MD.

Peter Breggin, MD, has been known as the "conscience of psychiatry" since his crusade starting in the 1970s to abolish psycho-surgery (lobotomization) and electro-convulsive therapy. Since then, he's become an outspoken critic of the entire psychiatric profession, largely based on their reliance on neurotoxic drugs instead of humane and effective treatment options.

Lani Muelrath is a good friend of the podcast (on the show for the fourth time), and a prolific thinker, teacher, and writer. Lani's new book, The Mindful Vegan: A 30-Day Plan for Finding Health, Balance, Peace, and Happiness, covers the third of her three pillars of a healthy life: mastery over habits of thinking the first two being physical activity and a whole-food plant-based diet).

Now Russ is an accomplished weight loss (and "life gain") coach, and has started an innovative food delivery service, Harvest Food Box, to support his clients and others in the tri-state region of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. In this episode, we talked some about Russ's fascinating past, his journey to health, his entrepreneurial venues, and his current work. But most of our conversation highlights Russ' wisdom around the mental aspects of big change.

Thi Squire is the garden manager for Homestead Hospital, located 35 miles south of Miami on Florida's east coast. A longtime urban gardener and sales rep in the burgeoning farm-to-table industry in South Florida, Squire talked her way into a position growing fresh organic produce for the hospital cafeteria. Not only that, she began using the 10 acre garden to educate and inspire members of the community of Homestead (which see describes as an agricultural center that's also a food desert) to start cooking with whole, fresh, organic plant foods. Her "Grow 2 Heal" and "Grow Your Lunch" programs are proving incredibly popular with kids and adults alike, and are introducing thousands of farm workers to the culinary potential of the plants they tend and harvest every day.

When Brooke Goldner, MD, was 16 years old, she was told by her doctors that she probably had about six months to live. Her lupus, a chronic autoimmune condition that commonly attacks joints and skin, had gone after her kidneys, and it didn't look like they (and she) could be saved. Thankfully, the weekly chemotherapy worked well enough to stomp on her immune system, and it gave her kidneys and the rest of her a break and allowed her to grow up and have a fairly normal life. Goldner decided that however short her time on this planet, she wanted to make it count. She excelled at school, entered med school despite warnings that the stressful lifestyle could trigger debilitating relapses. Despite these health setbacks occurring, she became a doctor and began her intern year of residency hoping to keep her lupus at bay.

Bernie Roth is a co-founder and Academic Director of the incredibly influential d.school at Stanford University (officially known as the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design). He's also the author of a charming, unflinchingly honest, and hugely helpful book, The Achievement Habit: Stop Wishing, Start Doing, and Take Command of Your Life. Bernie's great contribution to the world, aside from his numerous inventions and innovations in machine design, robotics, and engineering, is the insight that successful, happy, healthy people generally don't achieve these nice things by accident. Instead, they apply design principles to their lives, and make the good stuff happen.

Damien Mander's entire identity centered around war: as a 19-year-old who joined the Australian Royal Navy and trained as a clearance diver; as a spec-ops sniper; as a member of an elite Tactical Assault Group; and as a special operations soldier in Iraq for several years. After leaving Iraq in 2008 after 12 tours of duty, Damien was burned out, dispirited, and ill-equipped to manage in civilian society. Still addicted to adventure and thrill, he found his way to Southern Africa, where he started working with the rangers and organizations dedicated to protecting the big animals of Africa from poachers. Something clicked within his heart as he witnessed a pregnant rhino dying from wounds inflicted by the poachers who took her horn. As he pulled the trigger to put the great beast out of her misery, he knew that his "shitty skillset" that was no use in normal society could do much good in the bush of Africa. Damien began liquidating the fortune he had amassed while fighting in Iraq, and founded the International Anti-Poaching Federation (IAPF).

Will Bonsall is the visionary gardener whose half-century of experimentation and iconoclasm can help us save human civilization from collapse. His method, which he refers to as "gardening without borders," takes into account all the inputs and outputs of a garden or farm, in contrast to the usual methods of conventional, organic, and permaculture production. In addition to gardening, teaching, and seed saving, Will is also a novelist. His 2010 work, Through the Eyes of a Stranger: Yaro Tales Book One, takes his philosophy and imagines it in practice in a working, sustainable civilization.

Aaron Stuber and Jackson Long are the irreverent, hilarious, and extremely fit duo behind the Thought For Food Podcast and nascent publishing empire. Aaron is a cardiovascular nurse, and a long-time competitive climber. When he first started dating his vegetarian girlfriend, he initially dismissed that diet as "the dumbest thing I've ever heard of." Then he began to feel the effects of adding more plants to his diet, checked out the science, and was hooked. Jackson is a competitive road cyclist who has competed at the national and international levels. During one particularly grueling training season, he followed his coaches' paleo advice and ditched the carbs - and started feeling terrible. He also turned to research, found Forks Over Knives, Rich Roll, and Brendan Brazier, and turned his health and his fitness around in short order.

Tara Kemp is one of the happy luminaries of the plant-based movement. Spend an hour in her presence and you'll be charmed and delighted into eating better - no lectures or harangues required. When I first met Tara, I just assumed she was a natural-born positive person, never given to depression or anxiety or even garden-variety snarkiness. But as I discovered in our conversation, she has overcome a great deal to get to where she is now. And it's that journey, and the hard-won lessons gleaned from it, that give Tara the wisdom and authority and power to take on the task she's chosen for herself: helping people everywhere learn to love themselves, make peace with food, and eat life-nourishing plants.

Michelle McMacken, MD, is a leader in the field of plant-based lifestyle medicine. She's an assistant professor at New York University's School of Medicine, and the director of a medical weight-loss clinic at Bellevue Medical Center. She's also responsible for teaching doctors-in-training at Bellevue, where she gets to introduce the next generation of medical professionals to the wonderful world of lifestyle medicine. Bellevue serves a very diverse patient population, including people who live in homeless shelters, who speak very little English, and who have multiple other obstacles to the "Whole Foods" lifestyle. And yet she works with them, and with the other healthcare professionals who work with them, to improve their health outcomes and happiness by replacing junk food and animal products with life-supporting plant foods.

Judson Brewer, author of The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love - Why We Get Hooked, & How We Can Break Bad Habits - kept his meditation practice and medical career separate for a decade. Luckily for us, it eventually dawned on him to inform his research and clinical practice with the 2500-year-old insights of Buddhism. As he dove deep into the dynamics of addiction, he noticed that the primary western model for understanding human learning - BF Skinner's operant conditioning - was simply another way of describing the Buddhist concept of dependent generation. That is, humans, like all organisms, survived because they learned to associate certain triggers with behaviors that produced a reward that conveyed survival benefit.

Vic Strecher was a stellar public health researcher and entrepreneur when his life lost all meaning. A professor at the University of Michigan, founder of the Center for Health Communication Research, and creator of an online health coaching company that was bought by Johnson & Johnson in 2008, Strecher was at the top of his game. And then in 2010 his life fell apart when his daughter Julia died at the age of 21. It wasn't unexpected, exactly. Julia had had her heart destroyed by a chicken pox virus at six months old, and had received a heart transplant and had suffered from health problems for her entire life.

Kim Williams, MD, is past president of the American College of Cardiology (ACC). Let's take a moment to appreciate how amazing that is. First of all, he grew up poor and black on the South Side of Chicago. One winter he ended up in the hospital with pneumonia; his family couldn't afford to buy him a coat. His step-dad died of an intercranial hemorrhage when Kim was five years old. Second, Dr Williams chose medical school over a promising career as a professional tennis player. Third, he's the first and thus far only president of the ACC to "come out" as a vegan. The current chairman of cardiology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago has been vegan himself since 2003, and now recommends a vegan diet to his patients as the first line of defense against heart disease.

Susan Orenstein, PhD, is a couples therapist in Cary, North Carolina. She's also a long-time friend (I believe we met in 1986) and neighbor (since we moved to NC in 2005). I wanted to pick her brain about a challenge that many of my clients face - navigating their health journey in tandem with their significant other. Many of my clients and students feel like they don't want to impose their new healthy way of eating and living on their partners. Others feel blocked by their spouse's disapproval or resistance or defensiveness. And still others feel supported, but don't know how to get their partner to join them on the journey to wellness.

Alon Civier is the Customer Experience Manager at HomeBiogas.com, an Israeli startup whose mission is to bring clean and elegant biogas technology to the world. I discovered biogas when I lived in South Africa six years ago. Some remote Zulu villages had installed underground tanks near their cattle, and every day shoveled manure into these tanks. Somehow, as the bacteria in the tanks went to work on the manure, methane was produced, which was siphoned off for use in cooking and heating.

Sid Garza-Hillman is one of the world's great bald plant-based podcasters of Jewish origin. He's also a remarkably savvy and sane health coach, and a funny and frank philosopher of what constitutes a good life. We met in person in Marshall, TX, during Healthfest, and found ourselves agreeing on lots of things that almost nobody agrees with us on. So deciding we were kindred spirits, we planned a podcast conversation around the state of plant-based practice and advocacy in 2017. Oh, and Sid gave me a copy of his book, Approaching the Natural, which is sized conveniently to fit in a back jeans pocket. So we talked about his general philosophy of health behavior change as well.

My good friend and neighbor Kathy Hester is a combination cookbook factory and mad scientist. I like having her on the podcast partly because I get lonely and it's fun to have in-studio guests, and partly because she brings me vegan goodies to share with my family, and partly because she is always pushing the boundaries on how to make healthy plant-based meals easier and tastier and mainstreamier. Her latest book, The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook for Your Instant Pot: 80 Easy and Delicious Plant-Based Recipes That You Can Make in Half the Time, capitalizes on the electric pressure cooker craze sweeping the plant-based community. I basically cook soups and stews in my Instant Pot, and I love that I can get totally absent-minded and nothing bad happens. But Kathy takes everything to the next level, and this book shares clever ways to extend the usefulness of the Instant Pot to many other types of food. Kathy's working on a new book about the latest healthy cooking gadget, the Air Fryer. I have never seen one, or used one, or tasted anything made in one, so this was all new territory to me. We'll see if I catch the bug.

Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness know a lot about burnout. They were up-and-comers in their respective fields - consulting and running - and neither managed to live up to their early promise. Both "burned out," losing interest, passion, and the performance edge they had honed through years of hard work and deliberate practice. As they rebuilt their lives, they both gravitated to the field of high performance. Wondering what happened, perhaps, and seeking a way to turn things around for themselves and others. Today their efforts have culminated in the release of a new book, Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success. It's fantastic. It's incredibly useful. It's inspiring. It's fun to read. And best of all, it's 100% evidence-based.

Florence Williams is the author of a must-read book, The Nature Fix. Why must-read? Because contact with nature, it turns out, is one of the foundational elements of human health and well-being. Florence is not only a great science journalist, she's a fantastic storyteller, and all-around hilarious writer. In case you think of science books as medicine, this one is coated in enough sugar to make you feel like you're reading a guilty pleasure.

Lee Slonimsky is both a financial wizard and an accomplished poet. His abiding interests include social justice and animal welfare. Lee has managed to fit all these skills, interests, and passions into a singular and impactful life. He's the co-founder of Next Era Capital Partners LLC, the country's first hedge fund majority owned by Native Americans. He uses his investment chops to shift the capitalist game from amassing resources at any cost to using capital as a tool to reorient business toward more life-sustaining practices. He's also published several volumes of poetry, as well as a detective novel, Bermuda Gold, that fictionalizes the scandalous and secretive world of hedge funds.

On the road from Marshall, Texas to MSY airport in New Orleans, Josh LaJaunie and I (shown, left, after surviving the Crescent City Classic 10k and attaining new personal records) tried out a concept that we've been playing with for about a year. Josh came up with it originally (not that no one's ever thought it before, but he was the first person who articulated it in a way that empowered me to make good decisions based on it). And the more I applied it, the more it started looking like the Unified Field Theory of How to Be an Authentic Human. The concept is Naturally Attainable Quantities.

Adam Sud is only 34 years old and he’s already battled against obesity, type II diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, drug addiction, fast food addiction, and severe depression. Once weighing over 300 pounds, he had lost all interest in life. Addicted to fast food and prescription drugs, Adam dug himself out with plant-based nutrition, after attending an Immersion with Rip Esselstyn. Having reversed all of his chronic health conditions and losing 160 pounds, Adam is now health coach for the Whole Foods Market Medical and Wellness Clinic in Austin, Texas. He is also an addiction recovery counselor who has developed a program using plant-based nutrition as a tool for strengthening recovery and relapse prevention. Adam and Lecia spoke openly and often poignantly about their journey, pain and suffering and anguish and guilt and worry and regret and all.

Chris Voss learned negotiation in one of the most high-stakes professions possible: as a lead international hostage negotiator for the FBI. Having learned from the super-smart, super-rational Harvard negotiation experts, Chris quickly discovered that humans are not rational, and that principles and tactics that work with Rational Humans (a fictitious species) do not reliably work with Real Humans. Drawing upon the work of behavioral economists like Daniel Kahneman, Amos Twersky, and Dan Ariely, and upon hundreds of real-life situations with bank robbers, terrorists, hardened criminals, and all manner of desperate people, Chris has distilled his counter-intuitive approach to negotiation into a fabulous book, Never Split the Difference.

Lana Kontos is a naturopath and women's health advocate who somehow managed to transcend her training and embrace the true sources of health. While still in high school, she was told by her guidance counselor that she should become an MD. But the contradiction in her education - like the brilliant, morbidly obese dean of her state university with a PhD in nutrition who was always in pain, and whose dietary preferences consisted largely of  steak and eggs - sent her into the business world. The combination of poor food habits and a high-stress job led to Lana developing acid reflux and IBS. At this point, her medical mind came to the rescue, as she researched the conditions and discovered her own successful treatment protocol.

Kim Campbell is the author of two really useful cookbooks: The PlantPure Nation Cookbook, and The PlantPure Kitchen. Her recipes are featured in the Jumpstarts chronicled in the documentary PlantPure Nation, directed by her husband, Nelson Campbell. Kim dropped by the Plant Yourself World Headquarters to talk about food, cooking, transitioning yourself and your family to a plant-based diet, and why she and Nelson and the rest of the PlantPure team are so focused on improving the diets of impoverished rural communities.

Brian Kateman is cofounder of the burgeoning Reducetarian movement, and one of the bright young stars in the fight to save humanity, animals, and planet earth from spiraling into an unredeemable mess. Brian reached out to me about a year ago, sharing a modest vision for an edited book designed not to turn ordinary people into vegetarians or vegans, but simply to encourage and empower them to eat less meat.

Michael Edelstein, PhD, returns to the podcast to help me wrap my mind around two of my most faithful mind-companions, guilt and shame. Dr. Edelstein is a clinical psychologist, and author of the most excellent self-help book, Three Minute Therapy. He's also a student of the great Dr. Albert Ellis, founder of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), one of the foundational contributions to cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). I reached out to Dr. Edelstein after reading Peter Breggin, MD's book, Guilt, Shame, and Anxiety: Understanding and Overcoming Negative Emotions. While I loved the book, I couldn't totally shake my belief that guilt and shame have played a useful role in my own life.

Emerson Wickwire, PhD, returns to the Plant Yourself Podcast to share his message of a good night's sleep. In this show we focus on actionable advice: What to do when you have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, getting back to sleep, or waking up fully rested. I used to be all about diet. Then I was all about diet and natural human movement. Then I became aware of the importance of environmental exposure, to nature and to extremes. And Emerson has reminded me that the fourth leg of a healthy life is positive sleep.

Nalida Lacet Besson wasn't so concerned about weighing 240 pounds or passing the occasional painful gallstone. What got her attention in the summer of 2013 was a physical malaise so complete and overwhelming, she believed she was dying. Everything hurt, including her skin. It was as if her body were saying, "I've had enough of this. Time to rest." Nalida lay in bed, thinking about how to say goodbye to her young son, when she suddenly decided to fight for her life. She prayed to God, asking forgiveness for how she had treated her body up to that point, and vowing to take care of it, if God would only show her what to do. She turned her head, and saw on the nightstand a copy of Joel Fuhrman, MD's Eat to Live.

Ken Beckman (who's not into having his photo out on the Internet, so I grabbed a graph instead) is Vice President and Actuary at Central States Indemnity. He's a member of theAmerican Academy of Actuaries, and an Associate of the Society of Actuaries and Casualty Actuarial Society. With 0ver 20 years of actuarial experience, primarily in life and health insurance, he's done a lot of writing and thinking on the best ways to cover individuals efficiently and manage pools of risk. (Now hang on, you non-math folks - this is going to be a lot more interesting (and accessible) than you might think. Give us a chance here... :) After getting turned on to the health benefits of a plant-based diet, Ken began seeing the health insurance industry in a radically new light. If the best possible outcome is a slow decline mediated by appropriate drugs and timely procedures, then we're probably doing OK. If, on the other hand, disease prevention and reversal is really possible, then our current system is a paragon of inefficiency.

At age 55, Paul Chatlin was a few minutes away from surgery on a 100% blockage in his right coronary artery when his cardiologist asked him out of the blue, "Would you consider a nutritional change instead of bypass surgery?" Turns out the cardiologist's mentor was a dude named Caldwell Esselstyn, which is the only way this story makes any sense. Paul, tired of his severe angina, terrified of the life that followed bypass surgery that he witnessed in his father and three uncles, and in agony from the "elephant sitting on his chest," agreed.

Ed and Amanda Smith are the co-founders of Healthfest, a three-day annual event in a small Texas town that's become an unlikely hub of plant-based nutrition in the United States. Marshall, Texas, population 27,000, is smack in the middle of the "stroke belt." Where beef is king, hunting is a rite of passage into manhood, and if it ain't deep-fried, it ain't food. And there, where Ed served as mayor, is where they decided to bring plant-based knowledge and practice.

In the winter of 2013, Scott Carney traveled to Poland to debunk the prophet/madman Wim Hof, a charismatic Dutchman who claimed that his method of breathwork, cold exposure, and meditation could confer superpowers on its practitioners.

When Vanessa Sardi was a drug rep for one of the world's largest and most powerful pharmaceutical companies, she firmly believed that she was educating doctors to make better prescribing decisions and was helping patients live healthier, more comfortable lives.

I ran into Ellen Jaffe Jones at the Raleigh NC Vegfest, where she was inspiring young and old to get off their butts and embrace a healthy, active, vegan lifestyle. We had met on Skype for a podcast interview more than three years ago, but this was the first time we had met in person. And since I've become a runner, I badly wanted a copy of her new book, Vegan Fitness For Mortals. As one of the most decorated track and field athletes in the country (and getting more and more competitive as her non-plant-based rivals slow down and quit as their bodies decline), she has a lot to teach me about running well and sustainably.

Two years ago, Justin Lacy weighed 500 pounds, and could move about only on crutches — when he could move about at all. His tendonitis and lymphedema made standing painful and walking all but impossible. Following his mother’s stroke, the then-30-year-old Justin decided that he was going to make changes and get healthy, no matter what.

Tad Hargrave is an environmental activist and marketing teacher whose heartfelt wisdom and elegant and ethical strategies inspired and guided much of my own thinking when I was in the online marketing field. We've stayed in touch over the years, and as Tad is a prolific writer, I spend a fair amount of time pondering his pensive and powerful essays on, basically, how to be a courteous and committed ally to those on the planet who are suffering.

Hal Herschfield is a UCLA psychology professor, and author of some really interesting studies on the connection between what we do now and how we think about the future. Specifically, he's shown through brain scans that the more we think of our future selves as a person different from ourselves (and most of us do), the less we're willing to sacrifice today to help that future self.

Growing up in rural East Texas, Clay Garrett was raised to appreciate meat. His father, an agriculture instructor, literally taught an entire class on how to produce, process and cook meat. And the "meat and butter at every meal" cuisine was never linked, in anyone's mind, to the family history of high cholesterol and cancer, let alone to the digestive issues that ruled Clay's life.

In 1987, fresh out of college, I took a job as a teaching intern at a fancy prep school in central New Jersey. One of the students who never made it across my radar was a quiet, blonde fifth grade boy named Dave Wiskowski. In his class photo, he’s not smiling, unlike many of his classmates. He told me that he was struggling with depression at that time, any for many years later. Like many people who find themselves overwhelmed by life and negative emotions, he became adept at self-medicating through food, alcohol, and self-pity.

Dr John “Chad” Teeters grew up eating a good old meat and potato diet in his home state of North Carolina. An active kid, he looked and felt healthy and fit; his diet started catching up with him only when combined with the rigors of college, medical school, and medical residency. For his entire adult life, Chad struggled with weight, gaining and losing pounds as his activity levels and self-control waxed and waned. After competing in a couple of triathlons in 2005, he let go of the struggle and gained roughly 10 pounds a year for the next 10 years.

Katie Simmons was working as a traditionally trained chef and moonlighting as a fitness instructor when the dare happened. She was struggling - as she had been her whole life - with her weight and her health. She managed to achieve a tentative balance between compulsive overeating and compulsive overexercising, but still dealt with feeling lousy and often ashamed of herself. Then the dare - go vegan for one month - changed everything.

Robyn Chuter is a plant-based "recovering naturopath" and wellness researcher from New South Wales, Australia. She's particularly interested in how groups of people support each other's health journeys, and is currently running an ethnographic study on a whole food, plant-based Facebook support group to identify effective strategies and barriers to behavior change.

Doug Schmidt is an enrichment teacher and health and wellness coordinator for his upstate New York school district. Now, health and wellness coordinators generally focus on stress reduction in the workplace, smoking cessation, and getting teachers to increase their physical activity by taking the stairs and parking farther away from the front entrance.

Adam and Shoshana Chaim are the hosts of the most excellent Plant Trainers Podcast. Their journey of discovery and transformation is one that needs to be heard by everyone who may ever come into contact with the medical establishment. (And even more so by the members of that establishment.)

Darshana Thacker is the culinary project manager for Forks Over Knives, as well as the chef responsible for 125 kid-friendly recipes in the brand new Forks Over Knives Family book. She has been a Forks Over Knives (FOK) insider since the very beginning (in addition to being a top-notch plant-based chef, she's also FOK producer Brian Wendel's girlfriend).

When my right knee started hurting so bad that I couldn't run, do yoga, squat, or ride a bike, I did all the things I knew how to do. I got massages. I iced. I rubbed hot and cold ointments into the skin. I visualized. I went to the chiropractor. I stretched. And nothing worked.

Michelle Cehn and Allison River Sampson have spent over a year creating a 12-day program designed to wean participants off dairy - permanently.

Bradley Stulberg writes about the connections between exercise and human physiology and psychology. He's interviewed many of the world's elite athletes, and has synthesized their insights into valuable lessons for the rest of us.

Cory Warren is a plant-based athlete from Orlando, Florida, and dad to three whole food, plant-based kids. After struggling through a medicine morass of misinformation and toxic treatment when his wife was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis (UC), they took matters into their own hands and started looking for alternatives.

Gene Stone is the author of about 40 books (he wasn't quite sure of the exact count), and has become the pre-eminent co-author on books in the plant-based and vegan genres, including Michael Greger's runaway bestseller How Not to Die, Rip Esselstyn's The Engine 2 Diet and My Beef with Meat, and a bunch of others.

On March 28, 2014, Dave Willits suffered a heart attack at work, and died at the hospital later that day. Several times, in fact. Luckily for him (and us), he was revived every time, and awoke from his surgery vowing never to take another day for granted. Dave had thought himself in good shape at the age of 53, so he quickly realized that all his assumptions about how to have a healthy heart were flawed.

Josh LaJaunie is, by his own admission, a simple Bayou coonass who discovered plants and running, and transformed his life. His backstory is well documented in a couple of Rich Roll Podcasts, which you should drop everything and listen to if you don't know Josh yet (links below). Josh can do that kind of reductionist rebuttal as well as I can, but he prefers to stay out of the weeks and just talk in terms of common sense. So when Joe Rogan tweeted about a report that the sugar industry had influenced scientific studies on the dangers of saturated fat by proclaiming "China Study RIP," Josh jumped in. Joe argued: "There are certainly benefits to eating lots of plants. The question is are there also benefits to eating animals." Here's how Josh responded: @joerogan @Drgarthdavis absolutely. It's called avoiding starvation. In excess of that, it's ignoring nature's brilliant protocol. — Josh LaJaunie (@joshlajaunie) September 14, 2016 I wanted to talk with Josh about this concept: that simply by looking at nature with curiosity and humility, we can intuit how we should eat and move and live for optimal health and happiness. So that's the conversation on this episode. A caution: Josh employs "salty" language, so keep the earbuds on if you're listening in the presence of the innocent :) [powerpress] We covered: reductionist science: enjoying the music rather than analyzing every note appreciating the brilliant self-sustainable protocol of nature "human animals are the only ones that f--- it up" modern human culture is a "popcorn fart in the wind" the "quantity problem" of animal food consumption extrapolating the pointy stone at the end of a spear to CAFOs and heated box blinds with porn and beer hunting and fishing in the woods - a drive to understand one's relationship to the environment and its resources our reliable calories and nutrients: tubers and leafy greens how to get off track within the plant-based paradigm (nut butters, breads, pastas) on not judging hunters running and human survival overfeeding a deer on dead birds and much more...

At various times in my life, I've felt like I was hitting my head against the universe. Struggling to figure out what to do next. Stuck in a house and neighborhood that wasn't right for us. Navigating a conflict between duty and pleasure. That sort of thing. And eventually, I would call my friend Mark Leuchten and ask him to help me "figure things out.

Marta Zaraska is the author of Meathooked: The History and Science of Our 2.5-Million-Years Obsession with Meat, which was just published this year (2016). Marta writes about science and health for some of the most influential and prestigious publications, including Scientific American, The Atlantic, and the Washington Post. And now that she's been published on the Plant Yourself Podcast, I suppose she's reached the height of achievement ;)

Pam Kropf is on an inspiring journey of wellness and self-actualization that lacks some of the drama our culture associates with growth and change.

Heather Goodwin is fond of saying that she was born at her ideal weight, and that was the last time she ever saw it.

Jim Gray (middle of the photo) knew that he had been dealt a lousy health hand when he was diagnosed with high blood pressure at the tender age of 18. At that point, he was in good shape, a high school athlete, muscular and lean at six feet tall and weighing under 200 pounds.

Dr Milton Mills combines an encyclopedic knowledge of human biology, anatomy, physiology, and pathology with a passion for health and justice for all creatures. Plus, he's a top-notch debater with a flair for analogy.

Jason Cohen tipped the scale at 297 pounds when a buddy of his moved and left him a bicycle. That, along with the death of a slightly older, leaner friend, carrot-and-sticked Jason to a weight loss journey that soon turned into much more.

Timaree Hagenburger is a full-time nutrition professor at Cosumnes River College, a professional speaker working in corporate wellness and is a Certified Exercise Physiologist. She discovered plant-based nutrition a few years ago, and hasn't looked back.

When Tim Kaufman was in his late 30s, he weighed about 400 pounds, struggled with addictions to pain killers, and figured this was how his life was gonna be from now on. After all, he had been diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), a genetic disease that messes with connective tissue and left his knees essentially useless.

Michael R Edelstein is a clinical psychologist with a practice in San Francisco, and globally via Skype. As a teenager, he was depressed and anxious, and a chronic procrastinator. After a long, unsuccessful stint of psychoanalysis, Michael discovered the pioneering work of Albert Ellis, the founder of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT).

Eric O’Grey co-stars in a 6-minute video that’s been viewed over 50 millions times. He’s been on NPR, Rachael Ray, Oprah.com, and Today.com. He runs multiple marathons a year, advocates for animal rescue and plant-based diets, and is in the process of inking a book deal. All because of a scruffy, obese, middle-aged rescue dog.

Ashley Rhinehart is Food and Nutrition Manager at the Humane Society of the United States. A military brat by upbringing and a pediatric nurse by training, Ashley is uniquely positioned to advocate for plant-based nutrition in high places.

Doug Lisle, PhD, is an evolutionary psychologist, Director of Research at True North Health Center, and co-author of one of the most important and - to me - challenging books on human happiness and health, The Pleasure Trap. The other author, Alan Goldhamer, was a recent guest on this podcast, and credited his desire to beat Doug at basketball as the motivating factor behind his own search for the truth about health.

Glen Merzer juggles multiple careers with a grace and impact that makes me a bit jealous. From standup comedy in 1980s San Francisco, to sitcom writing, to screenplays, to non-fiction collaborations with plant-based authors, to his very own novel (now I'm a lot jealous!), Glen is doing a lot of good in the world through his pen.

Sandi Kronick is founder and CEO of Eastern Carolina Organics (ECO), an innovative food hub company that connects medium-scale organic farmers with local and far-flung markets. Located in Durham, NC, ECO is part of a new breed of mission-driven for-profit companies looking to help us eat better within a capitalist framework.

Keegan Kuhn was raised with two rules: don’t hurt anybody, and question authority. Judging by what’s he’s become and what he’s accomplished, I think those two rules may comprise a necessary and sufficient philosophy of child-rearing. Keegan is an accomplished bio-intensive farm and garden developer, a social activist, and a documentary filmmaker whose latest project, What the Health?, promises to rip the cover off the pharmaceutical / medical / agricultural conspiracy to ruin our health.

Hey there, it's me, Howard. My mind has been buzzing lately, full of input from some of the guests I've interviewed over the past few months. It's like they've been talking with each other, in my mind, and I have these momentary revelations and confusions as I go on runs, sit down to write, and lay awake at night when I'm not tired enough to sleep

When Jamie Gannon was 27, he was an aspiring actor living the dream in Hollywood. Reading for films, TV, and commercials. Working his day job. Working out to keep his leading man physique. Taking voice and acting classes. And living a healthy, active life. When it all fell apart, thanks to a golf-ball sized malignant tumor at the base of his brain. A tumor that, even after its removal and long courses of chemo and other intensive medical therapies, left Jamie with a 10-15% chance at survival.

Matt Frazier and Sid Garza-Hillman have teamed up to produce plant-base meal plans that are designed to get us to the point where we no longer need meal plans.

Bob Cafaro was enjoying a successful career as a professional cellist with the Philadelphia Orchestra when he was struck with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in December, 1998. After some serious denial and three increasingly nasty attacks, he was forced to confront the reality and severity of his diagnosis. With Bob's eyesight worsening to the point of blindness and his hands unable to control the cello, it was only natural for his doctor to write him a note for permanent disability. And slip him a script for an antidepressant to help him cope with the loss of his profession, his livelihood, his passion, and his independent existence

Nina Cooke is a performance coach who specializes in helping people find success, balance, and happiness in their lives by questioning their most subterranean beliefs and thought patterns. I met her through a mutual friend who shared with me how helpful Nina had been in showing him how to unlock his own potential.

Steven Sashen is co-founder of Xeroshoes.com, and a fierce critic of the athletic footwear industry. Steven and I met when we were in the digital marketing world, and stayed in touch as we both migrated into health and wellness.

Dustin Rudolph, PharmD, is a repeat guest on the podcast. As one of the only pharmacists in the world who favors a plant-based treatment approach, he shared his "coming of age" story and his take on the world of doctors, drugs, and health care. Today he's back to talk about two specific conditions: high blood pressure (hypertension) and type 2 (insulin resistant) diabetes.

Dr. Linda Carney got her first taste of medicine - an addictive one, as it turns out - when she managed to witness an autopsy at the age of 14. Her vegetarian-chef / Mr. Mom stepdad added the experience of delicious plant-based eating to her life, and when she heard Hans Diehl, PhD, describe the results of his CHIP program (see below for my interview with Hans), she combined the two and embraced plant-based medicine. As Medical Director of the original Engine 2 Immersion with employees of Whole Foods in Austin, TX, Dr. Carney witnessed daily what most doctors would consider medical miracles: 100 point drops in cholesterol in 5 days, type 1 diabetics reducing their insulin requirements by 20% a day, and more. I became acquainted with her work through her website DrCarney.com, which renders complex nutritional and health science in layperson's terms. I specifically wanted to speak with her about women's health issues.

True confession: I usually multitask while I eat, despite telling other people not to. I read, I Facebook, I talk on the phone, I create presentations, and so on. I rationalize it very well: I'm busy, I can still chew slowly (note to self: "BS!"), and this is the last time.

Vlad Chituc is a behavioral economics researcher at Duke University. He works with Dan Ariely at the Center for Advanced Hindsight, and focuses on issues of ethics, morality, and decision-making.

Michael Greger is the founder of NutritionFacts.org, an amazing website that produces daily what would take me six months to do: a short, entertaining video exploring some aspect of nutritional science and its application to everyday life. From humble beginnings, the website now educates millions of viewers about the relationship between diet/lifestyle and disease/health.

Irving Kirsch is a soft-spoken researcher who accidentally stumbled upon one of the biggest and most costly errors in modern medicine. His cautious yet relentless search for the truth has made him persona non grata to much of the psychiatric profession and pharmaceutical industry, and a hero to the rest of us.

Janice Stanger, PhD, author of The Perfect Formula Diet, is a repeat podcast guest. This time, she's on because she gave a remarkable presentation on hormonal health and disease at the annual Wellness Forum Health conference.

Alan Goldhamer, DC, is coauthor, with Doug Lisle, of The Pleasure Trap, and co-founder and director of one of the most important medical institutions in the world: The True North Health Center in Santa Rosa, California. Using lifestyle medicine and supervised water fasting, the staff at True North achieve medical miracles on a daily basis.

Antonia Demas, PhD, is founder and director of the Food Studies Institute, an organization that creates and promotes nutrition-based curricula for elementary schools.

Chef AJ is a funny, ferocious, blunt, and incredibly warm and supportive leader in the plant-based movement. It's always a treat to talk with her, and this podcast gives me a good excuse to do so at least a couple times a year.

Robert Whitaker has written some of the most dystopian, disturbing, and fascinating stories of evil unleashed that I've ever read.

Kelly Turner, PhD, is the author of Radical Remission: Surviving Cancer Against All Odds. If you have cancer, or know anyone who has cancer, or are a human being (Western men have a 1/2 chance and women a 1/3 chance of developing cancer in their lifetime), you need to read this book. It's not one of those "Think happy thoughts and cure everything books." Instead, it's a profoundly scientific look at a group of people who may hold the key to curing cancer - and who have been systematically ignored, marginalized, and dismissed as irrelevant by medical research for the past 150 years.

I goggled at my Facebook feed, early one December morning, when I read that Arnold Schwarzenegger, of all people, was advocating for a plant-based diet at the Paris climate talks. The "You hit like a vegetarian" actor, bodybuilder, and politician was the last person on earth I would have ever guessed to make such a statement.

Eileen Kopsaftis is an amazing physical therapist based near Albany, New York. She's unusual in many ways, including her use of nutrition to help her patients get out of pain and regain function, and her hands-on (literally) approach to resolving pain and mobility issues.

Susan Benigas is executive director of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) and founder of the Plantrician Project. Through these and other efforts, Susan is in the forefront of the movement to educate doctors about the healing power of diet and lifestyle.

Glenn Murphy is a science writer and educator, bestselling author, and longtime student of the Russian martial art known as Systema. He's also my teacher, my friend, and a hilarious guy with a kick-ass British accent.

Kathy Hester is the author of five vegan cookbooks (more if you count the Halloween ebook), including the new Easy Vegan Cookbook: Make Home Healthy Cooking Practically Effortless and OATrageous Oatmeals: Delicious & Surprising Plant-Based Dishes From This Humble, Heart-Healthy Grain.

Jay Oliveira and Michelle Muench are pretty much poster children for an athletic, plant-based lifestyle. YouTube and Instagram stars, with tens of thousands of followers, Jay and Michelle share their philosophy, their fitness and food strategies, their often-salty opinions, and the ups and downs of their lives in a public and powerful way.

Dietitian Anthony Dissen has the plant-based science down cold, like many of us. What sets him apart is his research in and experience with group programs to change behaviors in an engaging, positive, and sustainable fashion.

Dr Rekha Chaudhary is an oncologist and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Until a chance viewing of the documentary Forks Over Knives, Dr Chaudhary had never once encountered the concept that diet could affect cancer intiation, progression, or outcome.

I met Queenetta (Queenie) Moore at her booth at the Raleigh VegFest, where she was promoting a "21 Day to Plant-Based" Challenge: Soul Food edition.

Jill McKeever is not an introvert, I suspect. I began to form this suspicion when we started our video Skype conversation and I noticed she was wearing fuzzy bunny ears.

Samantha Carrie Johnson, at age 30, has already accomplished several lifetimes worth of personal and social achievement. A chef, restauranteur, entrepreneur, actor, model, Miss Pennsylvania 2007, and MTV reality show star, Samantha devotes her energy and her time to raising consciousness, promoting plant-based health, and keeping her own life balanced.

Dina Rose, PhD, grew up in a household rife with dysfunctional lessons, attitudes, and behaviors related to food and eating. Her mother struggled with food and obesity, and ultimately died of obesity-related illness when Dina was 5 months pregnant with her daughter.

Today, something a little different. To mark the publication of Proteinaholic, which I worked on with Garth Davis, MD, I wanted to talk about, well, Proteinaholic.

After 7 years in the emergency room and 15 years running a traditional medical clinic in suburban New Jersey, Dr. Ronald Weiss decided to radically change his practice.

Hendrie "Hank" Weisinger, PhD is the co-author of a fabulously empowering book, Performing Under Pressure. He's a New York Times bestselling author, and a consultant to some of the biggest names in business, sports, government, and health care. He's worked with people under pressure like I couldn't even imagine.

Lani Muelrath is one of the world's most accomplished wellness and fitness coaches. She combines cutting edge scientific research on fitness, diet, and mindset with an encyclopedic knowledge of behavorial science with a lifetime of experience helping people achieve health and happiness.

Andy Bellatti became a card-carrying member of the American Dietetic Association (now Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics - AND) as soon as he completed his training as a registered dietitian.

Glenn Livingston is a clinical psychologist, marketing consultant to Fortune 500 companies, entrepreneur, author, and all-around good guy. Also, a dear friend, colleague, and mentor.

David Katz, MD, is a crusader on the front lines of health sanity in an insane culture. Somehow, he's managed to command attention and respect from the mainstream media, as well as medical and governmental establishments, despite talking sense and not being on the take from industry.

Don Matesz loves ideas and philosophy as much as he loves nutritional and health research. After spending many years eating a vegetarian diet, he was swayed by a storybook, NeanderThin by Ray Audette, masquerading as serious science.

If there were a Nobel Prize for food, Miyoko Schinner would be rehearsing her Oslo speech right now. Committed to human health and happiness, environmental stewardship, and animal welfare, her activism tends toward the decidedly delicious.

Sonia Faruqi had spent her entire life preparing for a career on Wall Street. She grew up fascinated by the acquisition and accumulation of nice possessions. She studied government and economics at Dartmouth College. And she landed a prize job out of college as a consultant at an investment bank.

One day, Zoe Weil came to the radical conclusion that the main goal of education is to produce kind people who contribute to the wellbeing of the world by tackling huge problems.

Micaela Karlsen is a lot more optimistic about the future of nutritional science than I usually am. Maybe it's genetic, and she's just more upbeat in general. Or maybe - and I fervently hope this is the case - her decade of experience in the world of nutritional research, policy, and public discourse leads to her see a bright future for our increasing understanding of how to eat.

Dreena Burton has taught an entire generation how to cook delicious, innovative, and down-home vegan meals. In her fifth cookbook, Plant Powered Families, she combines delicious, accessible, and kid-friendly to create one of the books you will never lend to anyone, ever.

I recently republished an August 2007 interview with Amie Hamlin, Executive Director of The New York Coalition for Healthy School Food. In that conversation, we covered:

Chef Del Sroufe is a master of efficiency, which is a good thing. As co-owner and head chef at Wellness Forum Foods, Del feeds a crazy amount of people every week. If he didn't have his act together, his business would be a hot mess of chaos and waste.

Annie Oliverio's mind works differently from most people's. When she sat down to write a cookbook, she didn't come up with chapter headings like Breakfasts, Lunches, Snacks, Soups, Desserts, and so on.

Corey Rennell doesn't do things halfway.

PYP 105 Kerrie Saunders on Navigating Cravings and Overcoming Addictions

Robert Ostfeld was collecting Ivy League degrees like some people collect state quarters. With a BA from Penn, an MD from Yale, and a Masters in Epidemiology from Harvard, Robert was well on the way to a prestigious and lucrative career at the pinnacle of conventional medicine.

Nelson Campbell is the eldest son of Dr. T. Colin Campbell, co-author of The China Study, and author of Whole, and The Low Carb Fraud. (I helped with those last two.) For the past two years, Nelson has been quietly working on a remarkable project with the potential to change everything for the better.

Today's podcast is the first half of a double-header with Amie Hamlin, founder and executive director of the New York Coalition for Healthy School Food.

Rich Roll, along with his wife Julie Piatt, has just released The PlantPower Way. Already #38 on the amazon bestseller list, the book is a wonderful introduction to a family-centered, plant-based lifestyle, and a font of recipes, advice, and philosophical guidance.

Julie Piatt returns to the Plant Yourself Podcast to celebrate the imminent release (like, tomorrow) of her and her husband Rich Roll's new book, The PlantPower Way.

Ben Chesler was finding - and fixing - broken food systems before he even got to college. As a freshman, Ben cofounded the Food Recovery Network, a non-profit that feeds the hungry with excess food from college dining halls. Now with chapters in over 100 colleges nationwide, it’s donated over 700,000 pounds of perfectly good food that would otherwise have gone to waste.

Susan Peirce Thompson knows something about addiction. Starting at age 14, she lurched from addiction to addiction, finally getting clean and sober at age 20. Years later, in grad school, she had become obese, and found that she was powerless to control - or even understand - her cravings and binges.

Mimi Kirk started experiencing health problems at age 69, and instead of selling her luggage and taking up sudoku, she took matters into her own hands. Mimi adopted a raw vegan diet and started juicing like crazy.

Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz is Founder and CEO of the Shamayim V’Aretz (Hebrew for “Heaven and Earth”) Institute for Animal Welfare. Newsweek magazine named him to their list of “America’s Top 50 Rabbis” (whatever in the world that means!) in 2012 and 2013.

Karen Page is one of the most influential food writers of our time. The author, with her husband Andrew Dornenberg, of several impressive books about gourmet cooking, chefs, and fine restaurants.

When Sharon Livingston was a kid, her parents were kosher caterers and she had to watch them nourish the world while, often, ignoring her. She doubled her weight between ages 9 and 12, and had to deal with being "the fat girl" all through high school.

On December 31, 2007, Tracy Russell went to bed in mediocre health, lacking energy to exercise, and 40 pounds overweight.

When Heather Crosby found herself in poor health and, according to her doctors, destined to be on meds for the rest of her life, she decided to take her health into her own hands.

Heather Jo Flores came of age in an "addicted, abusive, and estranged family" in the slums of Los Angeles in the 1980s.

I'm delighted to share my interview with one of the most important medical figures of the 20th and 21st centuries. I hope this recording will be around in a hundred years so my descendants can brag that great-great grandpa knew both T. Colin Campbell and today's guest, Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr, MD.

In a recent email from Coach.me, a smartphone app devoted to positive habit formation, I was introduced to a healthy eating coach named Anjali Shah.

Lani Muelrath is one of the world's most accomplished wellness and fitness coaches. She combines cutting edge scientific research on fitness, diet, and mindset with an encyclopedic knowledge of behavorial science with a lifetime of experience helping people achieve health and happiness.

Today's podcast guest, Martin Gibala of McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, has been studying that question in his lab for a decade. And his answer is a great piece of news for folks like me who may have only 10-15 minutes in which to get in that daily workout.

Ann Bradney's life spun out of control from the age of 13, when she first discovered drugs and drinking. For the next 18 years, she lived in constant misery, self-medicating and functioning barely above life support. At 31, she had a fleeting yet powerful realization: she wanted to live.

Julieanna Hever, the Plant Based Dietitian, was torn.

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine Director of Nutrition Education Susan Levin grew up on a high-fat, highly-processed Alabama diet.

Robert Cheeke was a scrawny, scrappy teenager who embraced veganism - and raised hell in the process.

Mike Crockett, aka Big Bald Mike, has an amazing and inspiring story.

Katie Mae grew up eating chicken, beef, mashed potatoes - and overcooked frozen vegetables (when her parents forced her). In high school she exhibited disordered eating patterns, and thought of herself as an "ice cream addict."

Alan Muskat has shown some pretty famous people how to feed themselves off the ground.

Julie Piatt is a musician, plant-based chef and healer, yogi, home-schooling mom, cookbook author, and contributor to MindBodyGreen.com.

PYP 076: Katherine Nilbrink on Evolution, Diet, and the 24/7 "Open For Sex" Sign

Mother and daughter Ann Crile Esselstyn and Jane Esselstyn are co-authors of the brand spanking new Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook. The recipes are inspired by two things: the nutritional profile of heart-protective foods validated by their husband and father Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, and a knack for making healthy food prep as easy and familiar as the Standard Western Diet.

Thomas M. Campbell is a family practice doctor in Rochester, NY, an instructor of Clinical Family Medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, and executive director of the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutritional Studies. He's also co-author of what's probably the most influential book on science-based nutrition, The China Study.

Debra Orenstein is an author, lecturer, and actor. Her many accomplishments are catalogued on her bio page at Congregation Bnai Israel in Emerson, New Jersey, where she serves as pulpit rabbi.

Peter Bregman consults with CEOs and their leadership teams to achieve high performance. He's been doing this work in a deep way since 1989, and I've been fortunate enough to observe and sometimes assist him as he's developed and delivered his methodology.

When John Bruna was 10 years old, he was already stealing from liquor stores. Born into an environment of poverty, violence, and substance abuse, John began to turn his life around at the age of 22.

Patrick Sherwin was decommissioning a solar hot water system on someone's roof when he had a crazy idea.

Sparked by a situation in my own family, I devoted this episode to supporting parents who send their kids to daycare and still want to feed them well. I reached out to my network of "Here's how to do it" genius educators and collated the short interviews into this comprehensive and hopefully valuable resource.

When you think of the school you went to, or the school your child goes to, do these words pop into mind?

Kathleen Melanson, Director of the University of Rhode Island’s Energy Metabolism Laboratory, is conducting a series of brilliant and simple experiments about the connection between how fast we eat and how many calories we consume.

In addition to being a bestselling science author, musician, and tiger-handler (really!), Glenn Murphy is an instructor of one of the most powerful, esoteric, and valuable martial arts ever developed: Systema.

Alissa Bilfield and Adam Aronovitz are co-founders of The Cookbook Project, an amazingly inspiring, effective, and elegant not-for-profit dedicated to the fine mostly-lost art of home cooking.

Alan Roettinger packs a ton of wisdom, compassion, and humor into a 102-minute interview - one of the longest and most inspiring I've had the privilege to conduct.

OK, so I've been procrastinating writing this intro to the Matt Frazier interview for about a week, because I wanted to get the prose just right.

Elana "Titanium" Priesman is an unlikely subject for a magazine devoted to fitness.

From his early days in the belly of the beast as a claims adjuster for the tire industry, to his work on the front lines with Ralph Nader's Institute for Auto Safety, to his own work making companies pay for their negligence, Sean has seen it all as an insider.

Dr Garth Davis is medical director of Surgical Weight Loss at Memorial Harmon Memorial City Hospital in Houston, Texas.

In college, Janice Stanger developed serious eating disorders to hide her binge eating from others. At 5'4", she ballooned somewhere past 165 pounds (she admits to having stopped weighing herself when the news got too grim).

Emily Nolan is one of my heroes. She's an internationally sought after model, a former Olympic trainee, a serial entrepreneur, and a tireless advocate for kindness, self-acceptance, and positive body image.

Bianca and Michael Alexander are buddies of mine and co-founders of ConsciousLivingTV.com.

John Pierre is fitness trainer to the stars, including Ellen DeGeneres, Pamela Anderson, and Emily Deschanel. He's also a tireless advocate for the voiceless, powerless, and dispossessed: animals, the aged, and abused women.

Joel Kahn, MD is a preventive cardiologist, a rare breed in Western medicine. He's the author of The Whole Heart Solution, available for purchase on September 16, 2014.

When Dan Hanley was in the navy, he first encountered cultures where meat wasn't the center of every meal. In this interview, done live at a Vegan conference in May 2013, he discusses his 17 year journey into ethical veganism and healthy plant-based eating.

In WHOLE, we wrote an entire chapter about the sleazy influence of the junk food industry on the powerful Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Wow, a second interview with John Robbins

John Robbins rose to prominence with the 1987 publication of his book Diet for a New America. The young heir to the Baskin-Robbins ice cream empire (and fortune) put out an eloquent and powerful call to action against the consumption of animal-based foods.

Jeff Rogers, The Naughty Vegan, may have saved my sanity back in the day when I had foresworn Ben and Jerries, but couldn't stomach the taste or texture or nasty ingredients of then-available non-dairy frozen desserts.

Lara Heimann runs the Yogastream studio in Princeton, New Jersey. Originally trained as a physical therapist, Lara brings anatomical and functional sensibilities to her classes to enable her students to push their limits in a safe and powerful way.

Lani Muelrath is the author of Fit Quickies: 5-Minute Targeted Body-Shaping Workouts, which is a lot more comprehensive than it sounds. It covers exercise physiology, diet, health, mindset, and just about everything else relevant to a happy and healthy life.

Kelly Coffin is founder and CEO of Wayfare Foods, a Montana company dedicated to making healthy and animal-free versions of many of our favorite foods, including ice cream, pudding, cheese, sour cream, and even bacon bits.

PYP 045: Kathleen Hale on the Healthy Way to Rebel at Work

Julieanna Hever is the author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition. She hosts Veria Network's "What Would Julieanna Do?", is the nutrition columnist for VegNews.com, and is a frequent guest on The Doctor Oz Show.

Joseph Gonzales is Staff Dietitian for PCRM, the Physicians' Committee for Responsible Medicine.

Jon Hinds is founder of the successful and rapidly growing Monkey Bar Gym chain of contrarian gyms. He believes in using the body the way nature intended:joyfully, freely, and naturally.

Nicholas Freudenberg is Distinguished Professor, Public Health and Social/Personality Psychology at Hunter College campus of the City University of New York (CUNY).

I had a lovely chat with legendary cookbook author Nava Atlas, whose first vegetarian cookbook was published in 1984! (Had tofu even been invented then? ;)

Miyoko Schinner cooks gourmet plant-based food for omnivores, demonstrating that there's no need to "give anything up." She's a popular speaker, teacher, and cookbook author whose latest book is Artisan Vegan Cheese.

Ocean Robbins co-founded YES! (Youth for Environmental Sanity) at the age of 16, and hasn't slowed down since. He's co-founder, with his dad John Robbins (author of Diet for a New America and many other awesome books), of the Food Revolution Network, which advocates and educates about food justice, safety, compassion, and sustainability.

Today I got to fulfill one of my dreams - I spent an hour on the phone with Dr. Ruth Heidrich, one of the fittest women in the world (of any age).

75-year-old Mimi Kirk looks and acts like someone in her 40s, not a person shopping for an assisted living facility.

After Mary Wendt had been practicing medicine for several years, she discovered that despite exercising like crazy and eating "right" (lots of meat for protein and dairy for calcium), she was pre-diabetic and had dangerously high cholesterol.

Tami Noyes of VeganAppetite.com has tackled the biggest, baddest bastion of carnivory with her latest cookbook, Grills Gone Vegan.

Ronda Collier is CEO and founder of Sweetwater Health, a technology company that sells a couple of neat little iPhone apps called SweetbeatLife and Sweetbeat.

Stephanie Dignan was working as a financial advisor when she was asked to help people with a whole different set of goals: health and fitness.

Sharon McRae runs Eat Well, Stay Well, a plant-based health coaching service. She's an expert at balancing a full life with feeding her family (busy husband and three kids) well, and knows how to help others transition to a healthy plant-based lifestyle.

Sam Carpenter is an entrepreneur and author of Work the System, a book about the easiest way to make meaningful and permanent improvements in your work, life, and health.

Jessica Porter is co-author of The Kind Diet, with Alicia Silverstone, and the author of The Hip Chick's Guide to Macrobiotics, and the recently published The MILF Diet.

Julie Morris is a cookbook author and recipe developer for "Superfoods" companies.

Laura Bartels is the founder/owner of Greenweaver, Inc., a consulting and education company that promotes sustainable building and community development.

Milton Mills, MD, is Associate Director of Preventive Medicine for the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), as well as a practicing internist at Fairfax Hospital in Virginia. He also provides medical care and counseling in several free clinics in Washington, DC. In this conversation, Dr Mills shared his provocative views - all of them supported by overwhelming evidence - on the ideal human diet.

Margarita Restrepro is the founder and editor-in-chief of Naked Food Magazine.

Jill Nussinow, aka The Veggie Queen, has been helping people eat healthy and delicious for over 20 years.

After Lucinda Dulcalfe sold her latest tech startup, she began casting around for her next project. After watching Forks Over Knives and wondering a) if this could possibly be true, and b) if it was, why hadn't she ever heard about it, Lucinda transitioned to a whole-foods, plant-based diet and discovered the benefits for herself.

At age 29, Tracy Ryan weighed 350 pounds, and was comfortable in her role as the "funny fat girl."

When we get sick, most of us go to the doctor. And most of the time, the doctor prescribes a pill. Or two. Or a whole handful.

When Ashley Flitter, the Unintentional Vegan, discovered that she was lactose intolerant, she began a transition that culminated in her adopting a 100% plant-based diet.

Today I had a lovely chat with the amazing Brian Wendel, creator of the #1 amazon bestselling documentary Forks Over Knives.

Award-winning film-maker and fitness trainer Juan Carlos (Carly) Asse had everything going for him. High school valedictorian, good-looking, popular, and enjoying college in Florida on a tennis scholarship.

Brendan Brazier is a professional Ironman triathlete, author, and formulator of Vega plant-based nutritional supplements.

Dr. Ana Negron is a family physician in the Philadelphia area who treats her patients with healthy food, empowerment, community, and love.

Brenda Davis is a plant-based Registered Dietitian, and co-author of eight books, including Defeating Diabetes and Becoming Vegan.

Cathy Fisher's plant-based food blog, StraightUpFood.com, is a popular and delicious source of whole food, plant-based recipes.

Chef AJ is well known in the plant-based world for her entertaining and bawdy cooking demos. She sings, does handstands, tells dirty jokes about kale and avocados (really), and wows audiences with her energy, fitness, and lean and radiant demeanor.

Dave Simon's Meatonomics is a fascinating and terrifying descent into economic, social, political, environmental, and ethical insanity.

Dreena Burton is the author of one of my favorite plant-based cookbooks: Eat, Drink & Be Vegan.

Ellen Jaffe Jones is an Emmy-winning investigative reporter, a crack financial analyst, a chef and cookbook author, and a multiple-event running champion.

Dr. Emerson Wickwire is Sleep Medicine Program Director at Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Associates in Columbia, Maryland, and Assistant Professor, part-time, at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He is board certified in behavioral sleep medicine and cognitive and behavioral psychology.

Char Nolan is a health coach, community connector at RealFoodWorks in Philadelphia, and graduate of the same Health Education program that bestowed a PhD upon me (the no-longer-existing school of HPERD at Temple University).

Dr. Wes Youngberg, author of Goodbye Diabetes, was just a boy when his mother died of cancer. At the age of 13, he was already obsessed with discovering and mitigating his own risk factors of disease.

Hans Diehl is founder of CHIP (The Complete Health Improvement Program), a 30-day health education program that has been changing lives for the better for decades. In this interview, Hans and Howard discuss the simple and incredibly powerful health effects of a few simple choices.

Randy Clemens is the Sriracha-loving author of two Sriracha-based cookbooks. (In case you haven't tried it, Sriracha sauce is a fairly spicy, totally amazing Vietnamese hot sauce that has generated a cult following in the past few years.) Randy's first book was a general introduction to Sriracha cooking. His latest, The Veggie-Lover's Sriracha Cookbook, is dedicated to getting us to eat - and love - our veggies. In this fun chat, Randy and Howard bond over hot sauce, discuss cool (and totally crazy) uses of Sriracha, and wax philosophical about how a condiment can change the world.

Howard had a lovely chat with the kind and courageous Char Nolan, Connector at Real Food Works and powerful promoter of a plant-based diet in the Philadelphia area.

10 years ago, Del Sroufe ate his way to 475 pounds - on a vegan diet! Now, 200+ pounds thinner (and counting), Chef Del is the culinary genius behind the Forks Over Knives cookbook.

Fran Costigan believes there's more to life than veggies. Like luscious chocolate cakes, for example. A world-renown pastry chef and educator, Fran has done wonders for the plant-based movement's PR and sex appeal.

In this first Pant Yourself Podcast episode, Howard has a lovely chat with the Happy Herbivore, Lindsay Nixon, about her transition to a whole-foods plant based diet, her evolution from kitchen klutz to accomplished cookbook author, and the Happy part of being plant-pure and strong.