The worldwide prevalence of obesity has nearly tripled in less than fifty years. If we are more informed about potential health consequences than ever before, why are more and more adults choosing unhealthy eating habits that lead to weight gain, diabetes, and heart disease? Dr. Stephan Guyenet , who has spent more than a decade studying the neuroscience of body fatness, argues that most of us aren’t choosing our eating habits at all. His book, The Hungry Brain , dives into the idea that eating ...
Sep 11, 2019•57 min
There are tragic similarities in the trauma of abused children and animals raised for slaughter. Seeing her own pain in the lives of animals being tortured and killed for food is what lead Gianna Simone to make the switch and never look back. Before Gianna was an activist, model, and actress, it was all she could do to survive. After years of violence, she bounced between foster families and ended up in a group home where she found herself sleeping with a knife and skipping school to find solace...
Sep 04, 2019•53 min
With global demand for meat being expected to rise by more than 70% by 2050 , and the average American’s beef consumption already generating almost 2,000 pounds of greenhouse gasses annually , we have to find an alternative that people will readily adopt. Non-animal meat products are growing rapidly in availability, but there’s still work to be done. David Welch, Ph.D. , is a plant biologist, ultrarunner, running coach, and the Director of Science and Technology at the Good Food Institute . His ...
Aug 28, 2019•55 min
If we are what we eat, what kind of person is your food creating? Luke Tan is an author , educator, and fitness coach on a mission to help people reach their ultimate physical and mental potential by using the A.W.A.K.E. Method to live an authentic, plant-based lifestyle. The former bodybuilder is the founder of the Plant Fit Summit , a free online event showcasing plant-based trailblazers, including some of your favorite doctors, athletes, and nutritionists who have been featured on Switch4Good...
Aug 21, 2019•33 min
During the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, Switch4Good aired a commercial featuring dairy-free Olympians to fight the dairy industry’s propaganda that that says milk is the key to performance. One of the world-class athletes featured in the commercial was Kara Lang Romero . Kara is the youngest woman to have represented Canada on their National Women’s Team. She competed in two FIFA World Cups, at the Beijing Olympics, and is now a Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame inductee. She has also been vegan since ...
Aug 14, 2019•54 min
It’s sometimes hard for people to change what they don’t know, and one of the best ways to spread an educational message is through the power of inspiring films. Marc Pierschel is a documentary filmmaker who has been advocating for animals personally and professionally for decades. He created an online vegan store , which still operates today, in 2002 and wrote a German vegan cookbook in 2009. Most recently, he’s the plant-based pioneer behind the films Live and Let Live and The End of Meat and ...
Aug 07, 2019•45 min
If a simple dietary change could limit the destructive effects of cancer, reverse chronic conditions, and heal your body, how quickly would you make the switch? We’ve all been touched by chronic disease, whether we’ve been personally diagnosed or watched a loved one struggle through an illness. Dr. T. Colin Campbell has dedicated his career to proving that a diagnosis doesn’t have to be a death sentence and that prevention is possible. Dr. Campbell is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus ...
Jul 31, 2019•56 min
The woman behind Switch4Good is a force of compassion who has lifted herself out of pain, into greatness and is now working in pursuit of a kinder world. Dotsie Bausch is an Olympic medalist , two-time Pan American Champion, world record holder, mentor, renowned speaker , and founder of the Switch4Good non-profit. In this very special episode, she steps to the other side of the microphone to be interviewed by her co-host and friend, Alexandra Paul. Dotsie shares her incredible journey from the r...
Jul 24, 2019•1 hr 16 min
Like a lot of interesting stories, Matt Frazier’s begins in a bar. A fun challenge between friends to run a marathon, made over a beer, incidentally turned into the start of a lifelong journey for fitness and health. Seven years after his first long-distance run, Matt cut meat out of his diet, hoping that it would give him the final push to qualify for the Boston Marathon -- and he was amazed by the results. Struck by the lack of information available to athletes looking to go vegetarian, Matt d...
Jul 17, 2019•56 min
What can Americans learn from the diets and lifestyles of other countries? Football prodigy Chris Manderino played in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals and, later, for the Kansas City Chiefs. During his time as a fullback, he was told he needed to gain 40 pounds to stay competitive -- and eating became another full-time job. In 2009, Chris signed with the Bologna Doves, an Italian football team, and considers the dietary culture shock a pivotal point in his health journey. Now the founder of L...
Jul 10, 2019•53 min
Developing a healthy relationship with food is imperative to properly nourish your body and live a fulfilling life. So what happens if, instead, you spend your formative years coping with loss and chaos through restriction and deprivation? Mandy Gill is a super athlete, ultra-marathoner, and has been named one of Canada’s Top 10 Vegan Athletes . After overcoming her eating disorder and finding joy in exercise, she turned to a plant-based diet and got in tune with what her body truly needed to su...
Jul 03, 2019•46 min
If you died tomorrow, what adventure would you regret not taking? As the host of The Amazing Race, a bungee jump world-record-holder, and a cyclist who has ridden across the US for charity, Phil Keoghan walks the walk of his philosophy: “Tick it before you kick it.” When Phil isn’t interviewing guests like Dotsie on his podcast BUCKiT , he’s crossing experiences off his own list, including dining atop an erupting volcano and renewing his wedding vows underwater while hand-feeding sharks. His lat...
Jun 26, 2019•1 hr 2 min
Jasmin Singer, author of the memoir Always Too Much and Never Enough , was vegan long before she was thin. She struggled for thirty years with her weight and, more importantly, a destructive relationship with food. Even after dedicating herself professionally and personally to compassion for animals, she was still missing compassion for herself. She says it was only after she turned her objective from vanity to self-care, and traded vegan snacks for juice fasts, that she was able to get to the r...
Jun 19, 2019•54 min
Few illnesses are met with as many misconceptions as eating disorders. They’re often over-simplified with one four-letter word: just . Just eat a cheeseburger. She’s just doing it to lose weight. Dr. Ron Thompson is a psychologist who specializes in the treatment of eating disorders, and he joins Dotsie and Alexandra in this episode to explain that it really isn’t that simple. Dr. Thompson has served as a consulting psychologist for the Athletic Department at Indiana University and as a consulta...
Jun 12, 2019•58 min
Is your diet keeping you sick? Dr. James Loomis is a whole-foods plant-based internal medical practitioner spreading the message that food is the best way to combat illness and disease. After experiencing a decline in his own health, Dr. Loomis made the switch and saw miraculous results: a significant drop in weight, cholesterol, and blood pressure in under three months. He says that most problems that walk into his office can be traced back to inflammation and stress, often resulting from the S...
Jun 05, 2019•56 min
Traditional medicine often prioritizes symptom-relief over addressing the underlying cause of illness. But if we look beyond symptoms and approach our wellness holistically, can our bodies begin to provide their own relief? Naturopathic medicine challenges the traditional standard by working on whole-patient wellness and concentrating on the treatment and prevention of disease by understanding systemic causes. Dr. Christian Gonzalez is a naturopathic doctor who earned his Bachelor of Science deg...
May 29, 2019•1 hr 1 min
We know that eating plant-based is great for our bodies and the environment, but what about eating fruit -based? Can we really thrive on a raw food diet consisting mainly of fruits? TJ Long is a certified personal trainer, health coach, and fruitarian who says that a diet of living plants is optimal for gut health. After a long journey through addiction to substances and unhealthy food, TJ found himself a junk food vegan replacing alcohol with other vices. With some help from a new companion, an...
May 22, 2019•48 min
How would our health outcomes change if we were proactive in treating illness and disease? Is changing your diet an effective way to reverse chronic conditions? Dr. Neal Barnard is a physician, clinical researcher, and advocate for preventative medicine. As the founder of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and author of more than twenty books, Dr. Barnard is a leading voice in the plant-based movement. When he isn’t lobbying for more sustainable practices in medicine, or being fea...
May 15, 2019•57 min
When meat is considered to be an integral part of athleticism and masculinity, how can you convince a team of football players that a plant-based diet is best for their health and performance? Chef Charity Morgan holds a culinary degree from Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts and is leveraging her artistry in the kitchen to feed dozens of NFL players plant-based, nutrient-rich meals every day. Once players got a taste of the lunches she was making for her husband, Tennessee Titans linebacke...
May 08, 2019•50 min
Activism is often marked by speaking up for the voiceless, and that starts by bearing witness to suffering. These are two of the cornerstones of Jane Velez-Mitchell's mission with Jane UnChained, a digital news network dedicated to reporting on animal rights, climate change, food justice, and living cruelty-free. Jane is a former news anchor, two-time Emmy winner, and four-time author with two New York Times Best Sellers to her name, including iWant: My Journey from Addiction and Overconsumption...
May 01, 2019•1 hr 8 min
Society has perpetuated the idea that masculinity is connected to animal consumption and preying on the weak. Luckily, there are men like Dominick Thompson actively challenging that belief. After going to prison more than seventeen years ago, Dominick had an epiphany about what it means to cause harm in the world. He is now a social entrepreneur and activist with an online wellness program, vegan clothing line, and upcoming food product line. Dominick joins us today to discuss the realization he...
Apr 24, 2019•51 min
How does compassion play a role in ecological conservation? In what way does our treatment of animals impact the way we treat ourselves and the planet? Marc Bekoff is an animal behaviorist who argues that turning away from human exceptionalism and theoretical prejudices are the keys to expanding our compassionate footprint and making our conservation efforts more effective. As the author of more than 1,000 essays and 30 books, Marc is a leading voice in the fields of ecology, animal behavior, an...
Apr 17, 2019•45 min
Not many people can say they’ve played the flute for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show , worked as an executive pastry chef, and been vegan for more than 40 years. Chef AJ, a culinary instructor, YouTube host, and author of Unprocessed and The Secrets to Ultimate Weight Loss , can say all of that and more. Although she has a background in comedy and a long track record of ethical eating, there’s nothing funny about food addiction . Even as a vegan, Chef AJ struggled with overeating sugar and und...
Apr 10, 2019•1 hr 2 min
Despite the growing acceptance of plant-based nutrition in the mainstream, there are still major disparities in health , food access , and nutrition education for certain demographics. Thirty-year vegan, best-selling author, and public health nutritionist Tracye Lynn McQuirter has spent decades teaching people how to be vegan for life while advocating specifically for African American women and girls. The author of By Any Greens Necessary and Ageless Vegan joins us to discuss health inequalities...
Apr 03, 2019•51 min
Our diets are forever evolving and never perfect, but if we allow ourselves to have compassion and understand the journey, we can get to a healthier place. Nik Tyler lives this philosophy daily. He’s an actor, vegan, and the Celebrity Relations Manager for Mercy for Animals, the leading farm animal protection non-profit organization. Nik was raised as a vegetarian, taught to honor the Jainism belief of ahimsa or to do no harm. However, he still struggled with sugar and vegan “junk” food, and it ...
Mar 27, 2019•48 min
How can a vegan lifestyle help heal your mind, body, and spirit? Before becoming a personal trainer certified in plant-based nutrition, Bianca Taylor started her fitness journey as a bikini bodybuilder. Searching for purpose and a sense of control, she instead found herself dealing with depression and a broken relationship with food. One small realization started an avalanche of change. Bianca used the power of plants, with some professional guidance, to reignite her passion for food, health, an...
Mar 20, 2019•56 min
When you hear about the rapid decline of our resources, coupled with the growth of our human population, do you wonder what you can do to help save the planet? Matthew Prescott, author of Food is the Solution: What to Eat to Save the World , joins us to talk about a very convenient truth: the world can be saved with every bite. As the Senior Director of Food and Agriculture of the Humane Society of the United States , and as a speaker invited to TEDxUCLA and Talks at Google , Matthew’s advocacy ...
Mar 13, 2019•50 min
You’ve heard all the myths surrounding plant-based diets: it’s not sustainable as an athlete, or easy when you travel, or fun if you’re a foodie. Robbie Balenger is about to bust all of those myths in one 3,000-mile run across the United States. Robbie first laced up his shoes six years ago to alleviate his stress as a restaurant manager. Since then, his career and running paths have coalesced into a passion for endurance athleticism powered by plants -- and vegan ice cream. He joins us to chat ...
Mar 06, 2019•42 min
What are we really ingesting when we drink cows’ milk? What are mothers passing through their bodies to their children? What in the world is a dairy allergy ? Dr. Vivian Chen dives into the dangers of dairy and her story of transitioning to a plant-based diet after a battle to diagnose the root of her infant’s feeding problem. As a double-certified physician, Dr. Chen has seen a host of improvements in her patients when they cut dairy and address their lifestyle. She’s going to tell you the snea...
Feb 27, 2019•47 min
Everyone experiences the occasional food craving, but for some, certain foods become a true addiction . Why are some people wired to crave certain types of food so intensely, and how can we break free of it? Dr. Susan Peirce Thompson, founder of Bright Line Eating , answers these questions and explains her strategies for managing food addiction and achieving sustainable weight loss. We are fascinated by her method and believe everyone can gain from her knowledge and establish a healthier relatio...
Feb 22, 2019•58 min
