Our guest today, Chris MacAskill, is the exceptionally likable geophysicist and founder of the image-sharing service SmugMug AND the creator of the very popular YouTube channel Plant Chompers . At Plant Chompers, Chris offers entertaining, science-based content delivered with wit and verve on the benefits of a plant-dominant diet. He debunks popular myths while exposing marketing tactics that encourage unhealthy eating habits. The videos are terrific, uplifting, and we challenge you to watch jus...
Aug 23, 2023•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 244
Today we are excited to welcome Susan Peirce Thompson, Ph.D., back to the show again. For those who need a refresher, Susan is an expert in the psychology of eating and has shared so much with us about the science behind food addiction and addiction in general. Susan is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the University of Rochester, the President of the Institute for Sustainable Weight Loss, and the CEO of Bright Line Eating Solutions. On top of that, Susan is a su...
Aug 18, 2023•1 hr 10 min
Dr. Erin Tjam is a health scientist and professor, and she’s here with us today to give us some tough love about what we’ve been doing to our body’s largest organ – our skin. In her new book, Skin Sobering: 99% of Products Age and Harm Your Skin, Dr. Tjam and co-writer Dr. Ryuichi Utsugi break down why we’ve been mistreating our skin by relying on skincare products, how we’ve been deceived by the billion-dollar beauty industry, and what we can do to stop the damage we’re doing. Skin sobering is ...
Aug 16, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 243
Our guest today, Austin Meyer, is a documentarian, journalist, podcaster, and animal rights activist, giving a voice to those whose stories might not otherwise be heard. He’s worked for HBO, The New York Times, and National Geographic, to name a few outlets, and his filmmaking has taken him to faraway places like India, Nepal, and Zambia, where Austin chose to adopt a plant-based diet. Austin is also a passionate ultrarunner. And on April 15th of this year, with a time of ten hours and seven min...
Aug 09, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 242
You’d be hard-pressed to find a fitness coach with a greater understanding of how to reshape the human body than today’s guest – Maxime Sigouin, the founder of Fit Vegan Coaching. Maxime has been a bodybuilder, triathlete, and he has walked runways all over Europe as a model. And to excel in those, you need 3 very different body types! So Maxime has learned precisely what it takes to transform physiques, and he dedicates his life to helping his clients change their mindset and achieve remarkable...
Aug 02, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 241
From writing speeches for sitting Senators and Presidential candidates to acting as Vice President of Channel One News to writing the teleplay that earned Kyra Sedgwick her first Emmy nomination, today’s guest, writer, and activist Roger Wolfson, has been in the room where it happens, achieving remarkable success in the fields of news, politics, and entertainment. Roger was also Commissioner of Animal Services for the city of Los Angeles, where he fought to establish and maintain Los Angeles as ...
Jul 26, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 240
Our guest today, Desiree Nielsen, is a registered plant-based dietitian and national bestselling author. Her practice focus is chronic digestive and inflammatory diseases, and she helps her clients heal with plant-based approaches that lead to optimal health. You may have already heard of Desiree through The Allsorts Podcast, one of her books, or one of her articles in USA Today or Mind Body Great. She now has her third book out, Good for Your Gut, which we get to discuss in this episode. It is ...
Jul 21, 2023•1 hr 2 min
In April of 2023, today’s guest, Marielle Williamson, planned to hold an event for fellow students at Eagle Rock High School to promote the benefits of plant milks and highlight the consequences of dairy milk consumption and production. However, the school’s administration informed her she could only promote the benefits of plant milks if she did so for dairy milk, too, citing a federal law stating any information that could directly or indirectly restrict the sale or marketing of cow’s milk on ...
Jul 19, 2023•47 min•Ep. 239
Does your doctor live by example? Our guest today is a doctor who certainly walks her talk and then some. Dr. Harriet Davis is an expert on what it takes to change the human body’s composition. Not only is she a Board-Certified family medicine and sports medicine physician, but at the age of 40, she applied her fitness and plant-based nutrition mastery and launched another career competing as a professional bikini athlete. She earned her International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation pro card...
Jul 12, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 238
If you are vegan or vegetarian, at some point, someone, somewhere, has probably asked you how you get enough protein. It’s a common misconception that a plant-based diet is deficient in protein. However, in their new book, Plant-Powered Protein: Nutrition Essentials and Dietary Guidelines for All Ages , our guests today, dietitians Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina, debunk the myth that you can’t get quality protein without eating animals. The book provides an abundance of evidence for why plant p...
Jul 05, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 237
While vegan activists have been struggling to find the most effective way to get people to stop eating animals, today’s guest employs a unique approach to tackle this dire problem. In an effort to empower reluctant people to change their dietary patterns, Brian Kateman coined the term “Reducetarian”—which means a person who is deliberately reducing his or her consumption of meat—and he co-founded the Reducetarian Foundation, a non-profit spreading this message. Brian is also the author of Meat M...
Jun 28, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 236
For years, Kelley Gilberry ate the standard American diet and had the weight gain and clogged arteries to show for it. But a devastating personal loss and a pivotal doctor’s visit changed his life forever. Seeking answers on how to get his health back, Kelley was so inspired by what he learned that he decided to kick his old habits to the curb and commit 100% to a whole food, plant-based lifestyle. A former instructor at the prestigious Naval Academy in Annapolis, Kelley is now a Certified Holis...
Jun 21, 2023•56 min•Ep. 235
Our guest today, Will Bulsiewicz, also known as Dr. B, is a gastroenterologist who is also the author of the books Fiber Fueled and The Fiber Fueled Cookbook. He lost more than 45 pounds when he switched to a plant-based diet and now has his own patients take control of their health and reverse their own digestive problems by following his fiber-fueled prescriptions. We first talked to Dr. B in 2020 when he was about to release his first book Fiber Fueled: The Plant-Based Gut Health Program for ...
Jun 16, 2023•58 min
Our guest today is author and Doctor Monisha Bhanote, also known as the Wellbeing Doctor. Dr. Bhanote is a specialist in integrative lifestyle medicine, culinary medicine, and nutrigenomic biohacking. She’s one of the few quintuple board-certified physicians in the United States, and she’s diagnosed with over one million cancer cases. Dr. Bhanote takes a personalized, whole-body approach to help her patients transform their health, and she leads wellness workshops and retreats throughout the wor...
Jun 14, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 234
Eric Lindstrom once ate 68 chicken wings in one sitting. Today, he works full-time in animal advocacy and has written two books on veganism. What changed? The self-proclaimed carnivore adopted a plant-based diet over a bet with his wife. While he admittedly grumbled the whole time, what was intended to be a 30-day health kick turned into a lifelong passion. Once Eric discovered that he didn’t have to give up his favorite meaty, cheesy foods, he stopped grumbling and embraced the plant-based way ...
Jun 07, 2023•49 min•Ep. 233
A plant-based diet has so many health benefits: reduced inflammation, a stronger immune system, and improved gut health, just to name a few. But can plant-based eating also have an impact on addiction and recovery? Could it prevent relapses and increase your resilience to cope with life? These are the questions that today’s guests, Dr. Tara Kemp and Adam Sud, set out to answer in The INFINITE Study, which researches if there are any benefits to plant-based eating in addiction recovery. Adam Sud ...
May 31, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 232
On a summer morning in 2001, today’s guest, Michael O’Brien, had what he refers to as his last bad day. While out on a morning bike ride, an SUV traveling at 40 mph crossed into his lane and struck him head-on, forever altering his life as he knew it. Doctors were shocked that he survived and told him that he’d likely never ride again or even walk with comfort. Yet, in 2022, Michael completed a 41-day, 3,600-mile bike ride across the United States, proving all of them wrong. Today, Michael is a ...
May 24, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 231
How does a 400-pound cripple living in constant pain become an avid mountain climber and a triathlete? Here to tell his story and inspire everyone that change is possible is Tim Kaufman. Tim was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) in his early twenties and lived in chronic pain most of his life. By the time he was 37, he was addicted to Fentanyl, alcohol, and fast food. Weighing over 400 pounds, Tim could not perform simple daily tasks and was almost immobile. He had lost his interest in...
May 19, 2023•1 hr 10 min
Today’s guests are on a mission to empower patients and accelerate change in the way medicine is practiced. They are husband and wife practitioners of functional and integrative medicine and experienced huge improvements in their own health by switching to a whole-food, plant-based diet. Dr. Micah Yu is an integrative rheumatologist and he has a unique perspective as both a physician and a patient because he was diagnosed with gout—a form of inflammatory arthritis that’s extremely painful—at the...
May 17, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 230
The work of fighting to make the world a better place for all sentient beings can be fraught with adversity, leaving even the most resolute of us disheartened at times. And that’s why we’re so thankful for today’s guest, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau because she’s a breath of fresh air and an exemplar of how thought leaders can inspire change through the power of positivity. Known as the Joyful Vegan, Colleen is a long-time animal activist, producer, and host of the podcasts Animalogy and Food For Th...
May 10, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 229
Have you ever dreamed of having unparalleled access to the culture, people, and mouthwatering vegan cuisine of such faraway lands as India, Thailand, or Indonesia? Ever wanted to step off the beaten path and experience an exotic locale in an authentic way, generally reserved for locals? Today’s guest can provide precisely what you’re looking for and more. Zac Lovas is the co-founder of Vegan Travel Asia by VegVoyages. This vegan cultural adventure tour company brings you an immersive experience ...
May 03, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 228
For anyone out there who’s been curious, but reluctant to try a plant-based diet because you’ve heard it’s time-consuming or expensive, our guest today is going to completely shatter those myths. In her new book, “Plant-Based on a Budget Quick & Easy: 100 Fast, Healthy, Meal-Prep, Freezer-Friendly, And One-Pot Vegan Recipes,” Chef Toni Okamoto, host of Plant-Powered People Podcast and founder of the wildly popular Plant-Based on a Budget website, demystifies plant-based eating and offers cle...
Apr 26, 2023•53 min•Ep. 227
Born and raised in East Los Angeles and forged in the fires of adversity, cookbook author Chef Babette Davis burst onto the culinary scene with her renowned vegan restaurant Stuff I Eat in Inglewood, California, where the soul food platter is one of the many, many must-try dishes. An ageless paragon of fitness and vibrant health, Chef Babette has legions of social media followers who love seeing her posts of this incredibly fit 71-year-old working out or cooking or even in a bikini. If she’s not...
Apr 21, 2023•57 min
The exciting story of today’s remarkable guest, entrepreneur Arturo Elizondo, started in the border city of Laredo, Texas. But his innate curiosity and desire to effect positive changes in the world led him to the hallowed halls of Harvard University, to study food security in Geneva, and even to an internship at the White House. But it was really his time spent with the United States Department of Agriculture that truly opened his eyes and changed him forever. And with so many incredible opport...
Apr 19, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 226
“Inflammation”, is a word most people don’t think about until they’re confronted with it. In fact, many of us are living with inflammation right now and don’t even know it. Why does this ultimately matter though? Because inflammation is the precursor to disease. Fortunately, the guest we have with us today is an authority on this very subject. Author, radio host, health activist, and thought leader in the wellness industry, Dr. Sunil Pai is an expert in Integrative Medicine, and one of the first...
Apr 12, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 225
When it comes to aging, the general school of thought is that pain and deterioration are just part of the deal. But what if it doesn’t have to be this way? What if there was a way to mitigate, or even reverse this decline? What if there was a way to feel younger and stronger? Fortunately, our expert today, Eileen Kopsaftis, can talk about common misconceptions around aging and show us why there’s nothing natural about physical deterioration. Eileen is a physical therapist, founder of Have Lifelo...
Apr 05, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 224
As human beings, we are addicted to animal products, and it will take a lot of time to make a change. But today’s guest is a creator with a purpose and joins me this week to share their inspiring journey towards making lasting change. Robbie Lockie is a brave soul filled with grit, determination, and the desire to see real change happen. They are the co-founder of Plant-Based News, an outlet that provides free access to information on responsible consumerism, environmental activism, and plant-ba...
Mar 31, 2023•1 hr 12 min
On Friday, March 17th, after nearly six hours of deliberation, and facing up to six months in jail if convicted, Alexandra Paul and co-defendant Alicia Santurio were acquitted by a California jury of the alleged crime of taking two sick, slaughter-bound chickens from a Foster Farms truck in Livingston, California. Prosecutors called it stealing, but Alexandra and Alicia called it a rescue. From accused to acquittal, in this very special episode, we get to hear the story from Alexandra herself, i...
Mar 29, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 223
Today’s incredible guest, Darcy Gaechter, has been whitewater kayaking for over two decades and is considered one of the best kayakers on the planet. She’s won whitewater kayaking races throughout the world, led kayaking expeditions in over a dozen countries, and in the year 2013, she became the very first and only woman to kayak the entire Amazon River, from its origin in the Andes Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean. In her book, Amazon Woman: Facing Fears, Chasing Dreams, and My Quest to Kayak th...
Mar 22, 2023•59 min•Ep. 222
Ice hockey is often stereotyped as a white man’s sport. In fact, USA Today claims that the National Hockey League is made up of only 3% non-white players. But today’s guest helped pave the way to increase that percentage and get more men of color on the ice. Georges Laraque is a retired professional hockey player, Canadian sports commentator, author , and animal rights activist. In his 13 years in the NHL, Georges played 695 games , including 57 in the playoffs and two fighting for the Stanley C...
Mar 15, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 221
