27. Area 22: The Plant Base

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
I have you the same. Let's go to a mission one.
Reading enough that are ready for rendering a theme deck
for lunch. Y'all. We have had a few bumpy flights,

(00:31):
but I promise this one will be smooth, and I'll
tell you why, because it's about health and health is wealth, Papy.
I have known this man since I was a wee thing,
and yes I may still be a wee thing in stature,
but I have learned a few things since then, not
only thanks to the man sitting next to us, but

(00:52):
thanks to the woman sitting next to me. Jem introduced
me to a vegan diet. But truly, when I was
a child and seeing you come over and train Mama
and everything, you introduced me to the idea of nutrition.
So together the two of you have kind of made
me on the path to health. So thank you, and
we hope whoever is listening out there is going to
join us on that path. So welcome today, Marco board.

(01:16):
Just the amazing, incredible, unbelievable Marco, Thank you, thank you,
thanks for having me. I felt like I had to
press that green button without pushing them. Mind, you have
a better access. I love it. Thank you for having
me this is so much fun. I'm already enjoying myself.

(01:39):
I know, I know, I know. I only got here
like thirty minutes ago, and it's felt like I was
literally departing, like from the you know, conversations up until
the moment I drove up. I felt like I was
going somewhere. I'm so happy to hear. We're really happy
to have you here. Like M said, Um, I've been
a lot more flex lately. I'm completely honest, but I've
I haven't in eggs, any animal products or most by

(02:03):
products what I've cheated on his dairy for the last
ten years. But the greater part of those ten years
was a completely vegan diet. Um for me, it was weird.
It was a weird process. I started to get curious
about vegans and vegetarians because I used to think critically
of them. I saw, um, it's sort of like a fad.
It wasn't as as in as it is now, which

(02:24):
I'm really happy about. And I started to watch documentaries
and do my research and I was like, holy cow,
literally that was good, and thank you. You might have
to pull this away from me because I get carried away.

(02:44):
You can go as far as you want, that's yours. Now,
I might just give it to you. But growing up,
my favorite place to eat at was Boston Market and
like I would get all of it and all the fixens.
And I'm eating at Boston Market one day and I'm
looking down at my three p s dark and I
was like, this is kind of grossing me out and
I couldn't need it. The following day, I went cold
turkey vegan, I swear to you. And ever since then,

(03:08):
it's been an evolution. I feel like I've gotten closer
to it at times further back. But I'm really interested
in you and what you have to say about everything
plant based and what it really what you really believe
to be the healthy, the healthiest way of life, because
I look up to you so much. Thank you so
sweet um. I love that you started there because for me,

(03:31):
it's such an important thing for people to realize that
way too often we start off. You know how I
feel about the the intimacy right, So I'm speaking to
you from the heart, right And when I see that
people have a tendency, especially as it relates to diet
and nutrition, they define themselves by what they're not right
like we and already starts in a negative way. Right, No,

(03:53):
I'm not that. I'm not vegan or I am I
don't eat meat, right, and I think that, um, it
creates this sense of um. Sometimes it's insecurity. Sometimes it's shame.
Sometimes it's you know, I want to belong to this movement,
but I'm not. I feel like I'm a hypocrite because

(04:15):
I'm still wearing leather or or I eat so you
you almost felt like you had to jump off the
top rope with I'm not just in case I happen
to see a picture of you eating dark or whatever,
and and and I've never been about that. So for me,
it's always been about inclusion. It's never been about judging people.
I truly believe that we live in a world where

(04:37):
we judge way too much and we don't love enough, right,
where people should practice loving more. You know, it's it's like, no,
I'm not that, I'm not that, I'm not that. What
are we? We're all human, we all have blood inside
of us, we all have a heart. I think that
for the most part, most people are good people. Right,
some things happen in their lives that make them turn

(05:00):
them in a direction where sometimes they do things that
are questionable, but at the core, I think most people
are pretty good, right, most people are really good. That's
how I want to live. That's the world that I
want to live in. And and it's always been about
not judging people, just saying, you know, like, the more
you eat plant based foods, the more you eat clean foods,
unrefined foods, unprocessed foods, the better you're gonna feel. The

(05:21):
more you lean towards the healthier lifestyle, the better you're
gonna feel, the more energy you're gonna have, the better
you're gonna sleep, the better your mood is going to be.
What does that mean, Marco? It means, you know, try
to stay away from the junk stuff. You don't need
a PhD. You don't need all the research in the world.
You don't need to be a nutritionist, a registered dietitian.
You don't need to hire an expensive, you know, life

(05:42):
coach to tell you these things. Use common sense. What's
crazy is that common sense isn't so common, which is
which is kind of silly to think about. But the
reality is that think about it. Um a drink that
has you know, five artificial colors. Um is made with
you know the second ingredient. Yeah, the second ingredient is
like sugar of any kind, um, and it's got like

(06:04):
gums and stabilizers. Is that better than water? I don't
think you need to be a rocket scientist. I don't
think you need to be in a spaceship to figure
out that it's probably not good for you. Right, So,
don't beat yourself up over the decision you make. Use
those decisions to propel better decisions. If you had something terrible,
it's okay, don't beat yourself up about it. What I
find more often than not is that it's an accumulation

(06:26):
of things rather than one thing for most people. Right. Um,
there are some cases where someone could have, you know,
I don't know, a bad drug and have an overdose.
But for the most part, it's people are dying from
things that they are, you know, from the lifestyle that
they're living, from things that you're doing. I always tell
people you are not what you do one time, You
are what you do on a repeated basis. So if

(06:49):
you do something mean one day, it doesn't make you
a mean person. You just made a mistake. I'm sorry
you had a bad day. It happens to everyone. Right,
But if you're an asshole every single day the week
part the but. But if if you're not a good person,
not a nice person, you judge people, you're always just nasty,
you're probably not a nice person. It's okay, you can

(07:11):
fix that. How do you fix it? Smile, start being
nicer to people. Have one good day and follow it
with another good day, and you could change it. And
a lot of times we feel like we don't have
the power to change these things. As it relates to
your food and your health, the same thing relates to
who you are and the effect that you have on
the people around you. Walking in the room with a
smile is the absolute greatest thing that you could do.
You disarm everyone, even if they had a preconceived notion

(07:33):
about who you are or what you were going to be.
It's like you start there, just take like, strip it down,
and then what comes out of your mouth has a
lot of power. So whether it's telling people, oh, you're
not a real vegan or saying wow, that's awesome that
you eat mostly plant based, it just changes the dynamic
of what you know. You might have thought, oh god,
I have to jump out with this because I don't

(07:54):
want him to think that I'm a hypocrite if he
finds out that I'm I know you didn't. But that's
most conversations happened that way. By the way, it still
happens to me, and I have a very close, small
circle of friends where people feel like they have to
excuse themselves even though they know they don't. I'm not
that guy. I live my life the way that I
live it. And just like I wouldn't want you to say, oh,
but why don't you smoke? Or oh but why don't you,

(08:15):
you know, drink, or oh why wouldn't you, like I
wouldn't want you judge me for the things that I
don't do or the things that I do. I want
to love you for who you are, and I want
you to reciprocate that love to me. And if you
start there, we allow each other. Because what winds up
happening is if I sit here and say I'm gonna
plant the vegan flag and I only want to talk
about things that are vegan, and if you are not

(08:37):
with me, you're a d percent against me, which is
today the world right, You're either on this center and
you're on this side. I'm not that guy. Guess what.
I'm not on the left. I'm not on the right.
I'm in the middle because there's some things are the
right that I absolutely love, and there's some things in
the left that I absolutely love, and there's a lot
of things in the center that I can't live without,
you know, Like it's just how I think, you know

(08:58):
people should live, But I don't or sit on anyone else.
So when you ask me what's the best thing that
people can do, I think people should just be conscious
of what they put into their body. I love that. Well,
jem is going to take this away because she hasn't
parted this to me, but I will say one thing.
Becoming aware sometimes it is like lifting a veil because
you don't even know that you have to be aware. Like,

(09:20):
for example, I never read ingredients. I would grab, you know,
health drink and be like, oh, it says health on
the cover. That means that it's healthy, and not realized
that reading ingredients, what's in your food? What are you
putting in your body? I wasn't even aware. I didn't know.
And that's what scares me that I am that person

(09:40):
that wants to walk into the room with a smile
and whatever and I also had high cholesterol at seventeen
because I didn't know what I was eating. So that's
what JEM helped me be a lot aware of, is
like realizing that just turning around your food, like what
are you fueling yourself? And look on that. On that point,

(10:01):
the argument to that is, you know, big food is bad,
they're evil. They're not They're really not. I mean the
guys that make you know, drinks with fifteen colors and
and you know in sugars the first or second ingredient,
they're not evil. They're giving consumers what consumers want. Right.
People are asking for food that taste really good, it's convenient,
and that last you know, a year and a half
on your shelf. A banana. Banana won't do that. You know,

(10:23):
an apple won't do that. You put in if you
if you come from you know, wherever you shop and
you drop an apple on the floor, you better quick
because tomorrow is gonna be brown. Right, So like there's
not a whole lot of um, you know, shelf life
when it comes to real food. Right. So what happened
when we started, whether it was with electricity or refrigeration,

(10:45):
we started stockpiling food, right, We went from having what
we needed for the day or for the week to
like going to the club stores and buying seventy four
bags of fifty pounds you know, potato chips because oh
my god, in Miami ec even what it can't be
any like. It just went from like only what you
needed to everything you wanted. And that is what changed

(11:08):
the paradigm for and whenever you want to have it.
So if you say to someone you know, I want
to drink that, can you know that tastes really good?
That gives me an incredible up because I didn't sleep
well less night because I don't exercise, is because I'm
fifty pounds overweight. I mean, the only way to get that,
You're not going to get that from water, right, And
then once you hit that bliss point and you get
to that point where you're so used to drinking something,

(11:32):
I know people that can't drink water. I've met people
that can't drink water because because they're they're so used
to drinking like, you know, soda, and so their soda
consumption was the water. They're like, I don't need to
drink that. I've got I got it in this, And
then they wonder why they get diabetes or why they
have heart disease. And when you look at the numbers,
you realize that we're literally killing ourselves by what we're
putting into our body. You know, we don't exercise, we

(11:54):
don't move right. So, like a lot of the really
amazing things that have allowed us to live super convenient,
beautiful have also made us lazy to a certain extent,
And we need to acknowledge that. We need to recognize
it so that we can move beyond it. Right Like
we now, you know, travel everywhere by car or by
scooter or by uber. Right Like, you don't even have
to grab your car keys anymore, walk to your car,
you literally just click a button on your phone. You

(12:15):
walk outside in the back of someone else's cars. You
don't even have to think about it anymore. So, so
many things that have made life so amazing, and but
they've all come so quick that we haven't had the
ability or the time to reflect and react accordingly. Right Like,
we no longer work outside. We're sitting in a chair
for eight hours a day, right Like we're sitting in
the Think Think about that. Think about people that have

(12:35):
to work in an office setting and are sitting in
a chair for eight hours a day. They sit to
drive to work, probably an hour. They drive back from
work for an hour. That's ten hours a day. Then
they go home and watch TV for a couple other
hours and they're not watching TV standing up. And then
they sit down to have dinner. And then they go
to bed and they lay down horizontally. Then you go
to the doctor once a year, if you're lucky, maybe twice.

(12:57):
Uh you know, every two years would have you for
physical and the doctor tells you you're gaining. You gained
four pounds is not a big deal, but times ten.
After the tenth year, all of a sudden, what happened?
I'm forty pounds heavier. I've got pre diabetes, I've got
high cholesterols. And it doesn't come overnight, but the results do.

(13:18):
So it's like you get that report and you're like,
how the hell did my cholesterol get to twenty? How
the heck am I weighing sixty pounds more than when
I was in high school? Why do I have? You know,
pre diabetes? And then we think we don't have control anymore, right,
And when you think you don't have control, then what
winds up happening is that you wind up getting to

(13:39):
a place where you have these these diseases, whether it's
pre diabetes or heart disease. What happened and I, and
I mentioned that my referenced them because you're the leading
causes of death right during I I thought, because I
looked it up, and I looked it up, US cause
of death, every one cause of death, even during COVID
nuvery one cause of death, heart disease. And imagine that

(14:01):
we have the world shuts down for something that kills
fewer people than we actually cause ourselves through our lifestyle.
Yet we don't shut down the world. We give you
more ways to treat the symptoms and never the underlying cause.

(14:21):
That right, so you get to a point where you
feel powerless, But the reality is that you always remain
powerful as long as you keep an open mind and
you're willing to change. We we took on you know,
I'm crazy, and that I took on a space that
is incredibly difficult as a career choice because I just
love to help people and I'm really passionate about health

(14:42):
and wellness. But think about it's not the easiest place
to be, right and it's definitely not the easiest place.
If you're telling people, I'm not going to give you
a pill, I'm gonna tell you all these hard things
that you could do to live a better lifestyle. People
want pills. We're used to it, and we used to
just takeing one UPTA for everything, and so um, you know,
I I jumped into the space wanting to help people

(15:02):
live healthier lives. And then I went even further as
if that that wasn't difficult enough. So I said, I'm
going to help people change their habits, which is the
most difficult thing to do in the world, because people
don't like to change. Um, they don't think they need
to change, and they're hopeful that they can continue to
live the way they live, and they hope for it
and wish for it, but don't work at it to

(15:23):
make it happen. And that's you know, that's not a plan, right,
It's sort of though. I think sometimes to follow through
with action. It's really easy to come up with ideas
and hypothesize or create a plan, but I think that
humans in general struggle with that first step, like going
to the gym. Even I'm I'm the first person that

(15:44):
says when I think about going to the gym of like,
oh my god. But the second I walked through the door,
that's it. It's all it takes. Is like literally taking
the first step and and putting yourself in a position
where you are not doing something you hate, your finding
something you love. Right, So people will call me and say, oh,
what's the best form of exercise? Oh, what do you

(16:05):
enjoy doing? Like why would you tell me that? Well,
because if you don't enjoy it, you're not gonna do it.
So if you like to, you know, whatever, bike and
I tell you run, and you're gonna say, oh, okay,
I'll do what every wance, so you're never gonna do it.
Or if I tell you run or bike and you
say run, you know, So you just have to find
something that you like. And I tell people, okay, think

(16:25):
about exercise like work. You know, at the end of
the day, most people have given the chance to be
on vacation, you know, their feet up in a hammock,
would probably do that rather than work. Doesn't matter what
job they have, but they know that they have to
work because they have to put food on the table. Right,
So think of exercise as not like it is not
an option you don't get to click C none of
the above. It's either A or B, right, Like, give

(16:47):
yourself that A B or C or D or E
and say, Okay, I'm either gonna I'm gonna commit to
doing this on a daily basis because it's good for
my health mentally, um, physically, you know, biologically, like emotionally,
all of it. It's gonna help me with everything. And
if I have someone that I love, and if I
have a kid, and if I have whatever family a purpose, right, Like,

(17:08):
I've got to do this for my own you know,
well being. And at the end of the day, when
you look at you know, communities, whether it's like the
blue zones or people that live super long lives, there's
there's always purpose to their life. Right, There's a purpose
for what you do and why you do it. And
if you can center your purpose around knowing that doing

(17:31):
this will help do that better. Like you love to
play music, You guys love to entertain and educate. Okay,
you can entertain and educate even better. You could be
a better version of you. I'm at ten, how about
I take you to eleven? Like that is super powerful
and really important because when people understand that and they

(17:51):
get it. Like you just said, I hate thinking about
going to the gym, but once I get in there,
I'm like, oh, this is why I do it, but
this is why I show up. I was gonna say, like,

(18:15):
when I was younger, I feel like that discipline came
across more as a job. And then when you become
an adult, at least a lot of people that I've met,
you know, when you're a child, oh, I was a
basketball player, it was a soccer player, I was this,
I played hockey. It's almost like, oh, well do it.
You gotta be. And then when we grow older, we
let it slide because our because you don't have the

(18:39):
external commitment. I don't know, because I'm still learning and growing.
I happen to feel right now that in our professions,
they ask a lot of you commitment wise, and a
lot of those professions, like Marco said, require sedentary positions.
So then you feel like if you're draining your energy,
your mind, etcetera. Takes an extra effort. You know, I

(19:00):
feel like we're just being completely overworked period and underpaid.
But you know, that's a whole other thing. If we
were going back to the point where you're like, oh, well,
now we're inside. There was a moment where most human
beings were working outside. And also even back to our food,
going even further back cooking the nineteen fifties. You know,
oh great, we're gonna get a microwave. Now you can
cook your free in two minutes. And by the way,

(19:22):
you women who were supposed to be inside cooking for
your husband's were at war. Now you it'll take half
the time. So you don't have to worry about it
because you have all these kids and all this laundry,
and it's just like, to me, very unnatural, you know.
And I don't mean to impose that on anybody, because
I agree it's a judgment free zone and we have
to keep an open mind. But an open mind means
looking at everything, and to me, it's a little bit

(19:43):
of programming. I'm the first one to tell you I'm
super lazy. Once I get cooking quote unquote cooking, I'll
enjoy it. I'll put on music and I'll love it.
Jem when she cooks, it's an experience. It's a gathering.
There's usually people there were sitting around, we're talking that
I feel like it's a part of life that we've lost.
Now we're shaving our legs on the dashboard with a

(20:03):
Chipotle burrito and our mouth on the phone and looking
at a TikTok at the same time, you know, like
and look, at the end of the day, all the
solutions are in front of us right that they. I
truly believe that, uh, the solution to every problem lies
in the problem. And when you think about it, we

(20:25):
just have to stop for one second to understand, to
acknowledge that a lot of what happens to us is
happening because of us, because of what we are doing.
Whether it's someone reacting to something you said, or you're
not being clear enough, or you're not you know, choosing
the right foods, or you're not exercising enough, you're not

(20:47):
moving enough. These are things that we could very easily
change and all it takes is just an open mind
um to be able to do it right. So there's
so many So here's the here's a great part of it.
Because of the democratization of media through all the social platforms,
we have more access to workouts than we've ever had.

(21:07):
Inspirational people leaders, you know, maybe start following a couple
of people that inspire you to be better. Right, that
make you feel like it's okay to you know, to
push to be your best you that it doesn't make
you feel guilty, because remember how I started off, like,
they want you to be either in this box or
that box. Right, you're either the person that fat shames

(21:32):
or you're the person that completely embraces, you know, a
five pound person. I tell you what, right, I want
to be the person in the middle. I would never
judge someone for the way they look, But I'm also
not going to stand by and make money off of
a five pound person by putting them on the cover
of you know, Best Body magazine just because I want

(21:55):
to check a box. I think that's really really horrible.
And we're doing something to say idy where we're telling
people it's okay not to help other people, just try
to make as much money as you can off of
everyone's misery. That's just not cool. By the way, a
fund person is morbidly obese, and we already know they
have a much higher likelihood risk factor for heart disease, diabetes, stroke, dementia, Alzheimer's, etcetera.

(22:21):
So you're just gonna sit there and say, hey, this
is okay, this is okay, let's be okay with It's
not just okay now, it's shame on you if you
don't celebrate it. And that's not okay because we send
the wrong message the kids where we have to empower them.
Like about beauty, it's about health. It's about health. We're
taking advantage of people, and I don't think that it's fair.

(22:41):
I want to put people in the position where they
could live their best lives and be their best selves.
But we can't do that coming from a place where
we're only thinking about our pocketbooks. I didn't launch my
company because I thought I was going to become a billionaire.
I don't write my books because I think we're gonna
it's much easier. Not easy, but it's much easier. We're
still there. Help but listen. It's impressive. But the reality

(23:06):
is we don't do what we do to either check
a box or to tap into a marketplace. You know,
people look at business opportunities, and I'm not saying that
it's wrong. We didn't look at a you know, total
addressable market of this and say, oh, we want a
piece of that. I was just like, how do we
continue to empower people with information tools, resources, that help

(23:27):
them live a better life at ways to in ways
that don't judge people, Like you don't have to be
a plant base a matter of fact, I mean, like
we're really going to get down to the bottom of it.
There is no evidence to show that a percent plant
based is better than plant based, orcent plant based or
percent plant based. Just be conscious, right, Like if you

(23:50):
look at the blue zones, which is really really good
data for you know, these five naturally occurring areas in
the world where people they have the ighest concentrations of centenarians,
people that lived to be above a hundred. Right, they're
not a hundred percent plant based or predominantly plant based.
But they're not a hundred percent plant based. So like,
there's no data that could tell you because there's never

(24:11):
been a like a big enough human population has been
a hundred percent plant based. That's relatively new, right, So
when you think about it, someone telling you, oh, no,
you have to be you know, vegan to be, there's
no data to back it, right, you should be predominantly
plant based. We have plenty of data to prove that.
We have data that proves the work that the brilliant

(24:32):
doctor uh Neil Uh well it was. Neil Barner's done
a lot of really really cool work, um, but Dr
Dean Ornish is the only guy that's been able to
prove without a shadow of doubt that the only diet
in the world that cannot just arrest but that can
actually reverse heart disease, is a hundred percent plant based diet. Right,
so we know that we could open up you know, Um,

(24:53):
a lot of art resossals break down some of the
plaque by by going towards a plant based diet. So
we know that it's the only it can help you
reverse the disease. There's nothing else in the world that
could do that. But you know, if you're that's solely
up to you. And I think that, you know, people
should be okay with that. They shouldn't. Yeah, they should
embrace it. I jumped into the plant based, you know,

(25:13):
lifestyle because I was looking for optimum health and I
realized that we are really a factor of the habits
that our parents give us. Right, people think that Cuban
My my mom and dad are both Cuban, you know,
but the reality is that you see disease all around you.
And I was super curious as a kid. I was

(25:34):
like the most curious kid in the world. Like I
get in a car and grab like the window handle
and I turn it be like I wonder how this
thing works. And then we get home and I'd ripped
the panel off the of the of the door, and
then I'd look inside and then I put it back
before anybody noticed. Like I was just like incredibly curious.
And you know, my curiosity led me to one day
noticing that my grandmother would always put a pill under

(25:55):
her tongue when we would go walking. My mom would
drop us off single parent would drop us off of
my grandmar the Mima's house, and we'd walk around the
neighborhood with her, and she always needed this bottia she
had in her purse and it was nitroglycerin. She had
heart disease at her super young age because when I
did the mask, she was like early forties. And as
I got older, I realized that I wanted to help

(26:15):
her because I loved her so much, and I was like,
I'm gonna become a doctor. And then I realized medicine
was just way too reactive. We treat symptoms, never really
treat the underlying cause we don't have time for just
too many people getting sick because of the things that
they do. Right, And I was like, okay, um, I
am going to pivot with a degree in biology and
pick up a degreen exercise physiology and go and become
a trainer, right because I want to help people live

(26:37):
healthier lifestyle. So the curiosity was always there. So when
I saw the data, I was like, oh, forget about it. Um.
People think that disease is hereditary. What's hereditary is not
the disease, it's the habits. It's the behavior. Because you know,
don't be like shocked when your daddy eats kind napoko
for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and then you eat it

(26:58):
that you have the same cholestero he has for breakfast
over there. That was me. You know what, Now my
parents are open more to the based they'll have like
plant based peak idea, which again even running back, you
don't want to keep having processed vegan foods. It's about
the foods that come from the vine, from the earth.
How long until you put it in your mouth? Like

(27:20):
it's a whole process of data and understanding. But I
that was me, and I was exercise morning till night.
And you've never been heavy. You've always been super fit,
but my numbers, the numbers were speaking the truth. Why
am I having to have brown rice at seventeen? Well,
and and the beautiful thing is that you at least

(27:41):
took the time, you had the initiative, the you know,
the desire to want to know those numbers. Most people
don't even know those numbers. So my entire family has
had high cholesterol. We in this generation changed that and
as a result of it, my mom went plant bassed,
my brother went plant bassed, my sister and plant bassed.
So it just kind of like created this chain reaction.
Now none of us have high cholesterol, and we like

(28:04):
ended it, and it's such a beautiful thing. Again understanding
that habits are something that are deeply ingrained and really difficult,
especially when it comes like something that's handed down, like
a genetic predisposition. So it's really difficult. So don't be
hard on yourself when you don't love going to the gym,
because maybe I'm probably going to go on a limb
and take a guess that your mom didn't do it
on a regular basis. So it's it's a genetic predisposition

(28:28):
based on what you've seen right, Like, really isn't genetic,
but it feels like it is because those are the habits.
But imagine if every single day your mom woke up
and went to the gym and it was like a job,
and then came back and you're like, Okay, that's something
she does. I have to check that box. Right, Like
you already put yourself in a different position where you
know you're skating now you don't think about it, but
that's exercise. That's amazing. Right. So you you you put

(28:51):
yourself in a business, you're like, oh, you know, you're
being hard on yourself. Don't be so hard on yourself
because you're already moving. You're already doing a lot to
try to empower yourself, right. Um. And so we put
a pin on um on on on numbers and it's
crazy that we know, like we could see a brand
from like, you know, a hundred feet away and be like, oh,

(29:11):
that's you know guess, Oh that's Louis Vutan, Oh that's
um Gucci. And then someone can say to you what's
your LDL, what's right right? And what what's your HDL,
what's your total cholesterol? Um? Do you know that there's
you know certain numbers that you should know. You know,
what's your A n C like or do you have

(29:32):
a higher pretious position for you know, diabetes and normal
like checking your cholesterol, checking your numbers, getting a physical
and and it's not people always go there like, oh,
well that's something only you know, rich people can do,
only people to have disposable income can do it. It
really isn't because the reality is a lot cheaper to
stay healthy than it is to get sick. Uh, Like,

(29:53):
if your cholesterol a year ago was one forty or
two years ago is one forty, and then last year
was one eighty, and then this year's two, you're trying
in a round direction like you gotta do something about it,
and you just gotta go back and say, Okay, what
did I do? How do I go back? Or if
your cholesterol is consistently you know, to seventy to seventy
to seventy, and the doctor says to you, I'm gonna
have to put you on statins because we have to

(30:14):
bring this cholesterol down. Well before you do that, maybe
maybe you should consider eating uh, you know, predominantly plant
based diet and trying to see if you can lower
your numbers that way because the evidence is there, the
data is there to prove that you can do it.
And then maybe when you do that and you go
back to the the doctrine instead of it being you know,
to eighty or two ninety, it's like D and sixty,
you're gonna say, oh my god, I do have the power.

(30:36):
You went from being powerless to powerful in one second.
And that one good action, I believe, but gets another
good action, another good action that just becomes a perpetual cycle.
Or you want to do things to improve the way
that you feel, and you know, the way that your age.
They give a lot of power to the external, to
the website, to the doctor, to this. And I'm not

(30:57):
knocking all those people who have studied and are working
in their field, etcetera. But the moment that you feel
that you are powerless in your own health, I feel
like that's where you're in trouble. You need to do
the research and realize what else can I do? Like
even with me when my with my menstruation, you know,
like I've been through so much in that process and
the things who have helped me the most have been

(31:18):
natural things, you know, research, raspberry leaf, you know, exercise things,
that people will say, oh, you gotta get on birth control,
you gotta do this, you gotta do that. I mean,
there are fifteen sixteen year olds on birth control and
they would never say, up your exercise, change your diet,
try some natural supplements, you know. And if my arm
is chopped off, I'm not going to put some raspberry

(31:39):
leaf on it. I'm going to the hospital. But if
there's something wrong with the machine, you know, take a
step back. You know, before is great for trauma, great
for trauma, but for the things that take every day
to build, it's not there. It's not there. It's interesting though,
because it's kind of like human nature to say, to

(32:00):
go off of what you're saying, that they want us
to They don't want us to know our power. I
don't know who they are, but they really mean and
they don't. But us as humans also, I mean, historically
have always wanted to be told what to do and
what to believe. This is in the sevent undreds with
the entire Enlightenment period was about have the courage to
use your own reason there to know, there to learn.

(32:22):
And it's true, I completely agree with you. I I
believe that that one good action but gets another action
because my journey in veganism is still evolving and I
started knowing very little. And the reasons why I I
have to own my shame, that my own shame and
my veganism is I know so much about what my
decisions cause that I'm I can no longer be unaware

(32:45):
of them. So when I eat a piece of cheese,
I know it didn't come from the happy dairy farm
named Daisy. I know what that dairy farm is like.
And I know the industry. I know what the industry is.
I know how my action impact my environment beyond just
the health of veganism, the ethics of what you know,

(33:06):
what a what a life is worth, my my right
not to take that life, but also in the environment,
what we're doing to our planet by consuming these these things.
But um, I think that in every area of our life,
even health included, and outside of health, we are the
masters of our own reality. We are the creators of

(33:27):
our universe, and we get to choose. Not not only
do we get to choose, but I think the moment
we realized something, and not to go against what you
just said, but but I'm saying it from a place
of love that they you say they don't want us
to know our power. I believe is like the Boogeyman.

(33:51):
We make it up in our mind because it's easier
to believe that someone is holding you back, and that
someone isn't you. M m m, well, I think I
think the day doesn't exist. And here's you No, here's why,
why no no, here's why. Here's why the day doesn't exist.

(34:27):
Because statins don't exist because someone wants to take your
money and have you on a subscription for the rest
of your life. Um, you know, uh, soda doesn't exist
because someone wants to give you a drink that you're
going to be addicted to. We are asking for these
things because we are, in many many cases, very resistant

(34:50):
to change, because we don't want to change our habits,
because we don't want to change the way that we live.
Right Like, the reason that you know, right sharing exists
is because people use it. If people didn't use it, it
it wouldn't exist. The reason that, um, there's so many
people on statins is because people don't want to change

(35:10):
the way they live their lives. The reason why so
many people are morbidly OBEs no matter what anyone tells you,
is not a genetic predisposition. It is because people don't
want to be conscious of what they're putting into their
body and how they're living their lives. There is no
they there that they is themselves. So at the end
of the day, when you say they, you are giving

(35:32):
up your power to an external source that you believe
is holding you. But in in your mind it's like,
you know, you see those um those videos of the
people that go to like those big you know, mega
whatever places to worship and they like touch someone in
the head and they like fall back and it's like
this whole big, you know, spectacle right, like you're now
cure type of thing, or like if you believe that

(35:56):
someone is holding you, you won't be able to move
what a distance because in my research, right and one
of those zones that they were trying to replicate something
of what a blue zone would be, they went into
a community that is really overweight, like very unhealthy, relatively overweight,
and they analyze certain things like, for example, there is
not a one mile radius that you don't have a

(36:18):
fast food restaurant in your eyeline or at your disposal.
So when you talk about brands, when you talk about oh,
we're working so much, we're sitting. If you're hungry and
you're driving home and you see three taco bells, that
is a war to fight, baby. You know. Like if
it's cheap and it's on the way home and it's
super unhealthy, you know it's gonna be the easier option.

(36:41):
So I agree with both of you. But like you
said in the beginning, I'm in the middle because I
think that it is a choice. However, it becomes really
really hard to make that choice when there are so
many other things beating you down. Like when you go
to the grocery store, Okay, you're gonna get your free
range chicken. You're gonna make the quote unquote better choice,
and you're gonna grab some kale. And then when you
go check out, what's in the checkoutline? Reesus, kick cat

(37:04):
hog and das. Why don't they have kale in the checkoutline?
Do but sell? That's the thing. I'm also in the middle.
I'm not actually because I agree with you. People are
the ones that have the power. But when I say they,
I'm not talking about um just one entity. It's not
about supply and demand for me, because I completely agree

(37:27):
there's that why do you think there's vegan food way
more vegan food accessible now that want before, There's more
people that wanted, more people that are buying it. But
I believe in the day, as in the the people
who are making the decisions. As far as how we
are being educated. I grew up on the American food Pyramid,

(37:47):
which tells me that I have to eat me and
I have to have dairy, and I have to do this,
and the got milk ads. I do believe. I do
believe wholeheartedly that we are in power. But I do
believe that there are corporations, that there are relationships, you know,

(38:08):
Oscar Meyer, and not everybody is great, and I'm not
even saying that they're I don't polarize. I don't believe
in good and bad because I understand that the duality
of life is what we need. I wouldn't know what
light is if I didn't experience dark. It's literally what
physics is based off of. It's not that I think
that they're bad or there's even one person to blame.
It's that I spent my life not knowing, not even

(38:32):
knowing that I couldn't know. So, but I think that
in that ignorance, it did benefit somebody or somebody's and
so I don't I don't see it so much as
like something is trying to hold me back. I know
that it's me who has the control, but I was
convinced for a long time, and I do think a
lot of people are convinced that they're they're not in control,

(38:53):
and it's like somebody else is calling the shots. You know,
I don't disagree with anything either of you have said.
On the contrary, I read with all my heart that
it is true. I rather, I also believe that people
love to hear good things about their bad habits all
the time. So we got you like if you go

(39:13):
to you know, I don't know any McDonald's or any
burg king. Uh asked them what they sell more of
salad or burgers, but they have both. And so you know,
at the end of the day, it's one of those
things where like I rather not focus so much on
the you know what that external. You know, there are
going to be corporations, there are going to be people
in this world. Like, let's not be like coy about it.

(39:35):
There are some really evil people on this planet. Right.
It's really sad and it feels like paceutical corporations and
fifteen dollars for a pill that they sars and and
it feels like it's more. It's I don't think that
it's more frequent or more often than it has ever been.
I think that we have more access to the information
than we've ever had. Um. But there's there's yeah, some
really really bad people on this planet. So you have

(39:56):
to again do your best to unleash yourself from that
key man, because there are definitely corporations that are making
money off of every bad decision that you make. Right.
So again it goes back to like empowering yourself and
doing one good thing so that one good thing perpetuates
another good thing. And then you come to a point
where you're like, you know, I could I go to
the same checkout line that everybody else goes to. I
don't pick up those impulse I shopping for groceries. It's

(40:20):
a combination. It's public, it's whole foods, it's you know,
when did did you ever eat me? I did? When
did that stop? And how I literally was I've been
obsessed with human performance my whole life, and because of
my background and everything that I did, and just like
sports and training and conditioning. I really became obsessed with like,

(40:43):
how do we recover faster? How do we recover better?
How do we how do we age more you know beautifully,
more effectively, more, you know, efficiently. And everything that I
looked at was always pointing to appliant based site, and
for a while I was kind of ignoring that. And
then I looked at like, how do we how do
we help someone with that cholesterol, how do we help
someone with pre diabetes? How do we help someone that's

(41:04):
more but the obese? And then you start to break
down you know, food for what's in it right, And
it's like, wait, if we need so much fiber and
we're and we're deficient in fiber in so many ways,
where does fiber come from? You can only find fiber
and plants there's no fiber and animal protein. There's no
fiber and anything that comes from animals at all. So

(41:24):
you're like, well, if our body needs it, why doesn't
it exist in that? And then you start to like, Okay,
you go down this rabbit hole where you're like, okay,
where does the meat really come from? Where does the
fish really come from? Where does the milk really come from.
And then you get to the point where you're like, wait,
you mean these are the foods that are causing these problems. Okay,
let me be the end of one. Let me let
me be my own crash test dummy, Let me do this.
And you've known me forever, Like, I was never obese,

(41:48):
I've never been fat, I've never been on the I've
always I've been an athlete my whole life. So it
was not me searching for a solution to something that
ailed me. It was me looking for a solution to
be able to help my family eat. I think first,
and then the people that were that were coming to
me for advice. I can't give advice. If I'm not
educated and informed enough to be able to give that advice,

(42:09):
I wouldn't take I wouldn't be responsible with someone's you know,
life like that, right, So I wanted to make sure
that I was educated enough to be able to make
recommendations that I knew would would help people move towards
the direction that they were trying to move it. And
then one day I was like, okay, I like if
I don't go plant basis because I'm being ignored. So
I just literally woke up and there I was like, Okay,
I'm gonna go a hundred percent plant based. You can

(42:31):
imagine my mom like thought, it was crazy, you're too
skinny as it is, like you're there. So I went
plant based. And then a result of that, after a
little bit of time, some of the people around me
decided that they do it. And then they saw their
numbers coming down. And some of the people that you know,
I was working with, their numbers started coming down. And

(42:51):
then our mutual friend Raymond Garcia went plant based and
his cholesterol literally fell off a cliff. He lost eighty pounds.
And then it just kind of snowballed, and then people
kept reaching out say how did you do this? How
did you do this? How did you do this? And
at the time, I was ready to like share it
in a in a big way, and I wanted I
had this like ambition of being able to write a book.
And then everybody kept telling me, like a vegan book,

(43:13):
that's just not gonna sell. No one's going to buy that.
That's crazy, right, thank you. It was just like it's
was serendipitous. I got super lucky because it all happened
at the right time. And then I wrote the book
and it's like twenty plus languages around the world. It
just came about. And it's not like you know, humble
brag or anything. It's just it. It happened. It was

(43:34):
super I got really lucky, and it was really serendipitous,
and it happened when it happened. But it happened because
I was in search of fulfilling my why Like how
do I continue to do this? How do I continue
to help people? How how do I continue to be
the best me that I can be in helping people
achieve their you know, best self? And that just made
me realize that there was so much power and things

(43:56):
that people do on a regular basis. Like I knew
it from like an exercise perspective, but then I started
to apply that to just every other, you know, just
about every other aspect of life, and I was like, man,
this is so crazy. It's also connected and so close.
Like you know, people ask me, like, you know, what
about sleep, and I'm like, it's all about sleep hygiene
and they're like what is that. I'm like, you know,

(44:17):
do you sit in bed and read? Do you sit
in bed and watch TV? Do you sit in bed
and like scroll through social like for an hour hoping
that you're going to fall asleep, You're telling your brain
don't fall asleep, and then you expect to fall asleep.
That's not going to happen. Try this, and then people
are like, oh my god, what do you do? I
did this. I do two things in bed, and I'll

(44:38):
let you guess at what the two things are. Sleep
and babies. Yeah. I have four kids, so yeah, but
I should probably be sleeping more. It's like, no, that's
it because I've always known how important it is, and
sleep is very very important for health, for wellness, for recovery,
for aging. I'm like, how many Yeah, seven to eight hours.

(45:03):
But I track my sleep um really closely. Uh so
I I know how much RAM I'm getting, like how
much deep sleep, and and it's crazy. If you start
to track it, you will realize, Like you know, sometimes
you wake up in the morning and you're like, damn,
I feel good, it's gonna be a good day. And
then other days you're like God, at that time, God,

(45:27):
it's because you didn't get enough R E M. So
you didn't get that restorative sleep that allows you to
wake up super energized, right because your body does all
its housekeeping, think about that right at night, and if
it doesn't, you know, if you had a party the
night before and the and the house was not cleaned
by like seven am or eight am, and it's still
like like oh if people are coming right, you wake
up and you're just like, oh, man, I need just
one or two more hours, But it's because you didn't

(45:48):
get enough of that deep sleep. And that deep sleep
is when your body you know, releases growth hormone and
you're able to you know, really repair and recover from
all the damage that you've done the day before the
day before that. And so that for me has always
I've been really clear about that even before I went
plant based, and I've been plant based not for like
sixteen years or even before that, it was always a big,

(46:08):
big thing for me. Um. So yeah, I mean I
think that for anyone that's you know, suffering from the
ability to you know, insomnia or the ability to sleep
you know profoundly at night, just check your environment and
make sure that you know the room is dark. Think
about that right, Like if you close your eyes, you
could still see those lights, right, Like you know, when
there's a bright light in front of you, because your

(46:29):
your eyelids or photosensitive, so like you could see light
through your eyes. So if there's any light on in
your room, if you leave a curtain open, if you
have the TV plane in the background, which is my
mom would fall asleep with the TV on. Youngest sister.
They trained her this way. I like, that was not
the right move to fall asleep with a movie. Yeah,
I don't think she can fall It disrupts your sleep

(46:49):
cycle incredibly. Yeah, it's crazy. So there's so many things
that you could do to fix a lot of the
things that they no. Yes, I have like eyes on
be outside, but they have like a right like they
don't like lay on your lids. They have like a
little space. And I told him probably like two days ago,

(47:09):
I was like, I'm sleeping a lot better now that
there's no light pollution because it does happen to me.
I noticed, And you have light in the room. Well
before what it was it was like not this TV,
but like the Apple TV, the one white light. You
have no idea how what that does. It could be
like a smoke, any little thing, and it really I've

(47:32):
I'm not you know, I'm still working on my sleepy
ching that's that's that's why I'm so interested in it.
I'm getting better, but I was like, wow, this is
really changed. How could I sleep? It's amazing, it's amazing.
I have a question that I have to ask you
before you float off this couch because I don't want
you to go anywhere. I want to pick your brain forever.

(47:52):
But you know you got things to do. Um for me.
For example, back to the veganism thing, like I've a
has been an immense animal lover. Like I could never
kill an animal. I couldn't do it. I don't think
I think people could. I think I could. I don't know,
because I have friends who hunt and who eat the
things that they hunt, whatever, But I couldn't do it.

(48:14):
I think I could probably quicker kill a human. I
know it's really terrible. Don't come after me. Sorry, I heart,
but um yeah, So in this process, like I would
be the first person to jump be like try it,
try it. And in my head, like you said about
even the ingrained nous about exercise, it's also food. They
train you to, you know, eat certain things and whatever.

(48:37):
And I feel like that's some of the most important
moments when you're like learning about your palette and how
your body is reacting to things. So at first the
veganism thing for me, it was a light switch, but
it was more like I was disgusted and whatever. Over time,
the thing that really made me understand it for me
that you know, I would love to know your opinion,

(48:58):
and Jem helped me with this a lot, and you
can elaborate obviously, is that the industry of the way
that we consume meat. Like you talk about fresh veggies, right,
even veggies or vegan meats with preservatives that's not healthy
for you, so like fresh produced raw foods, right, Like
if how long does it take when you go to

(49:19):
the store and you buy a steak, how long has
that cow been dead? And also what was its life
like when it was alive in that environment? And then
you're consuming that energy in your body of this tortured
soul who is a living thing. So I'm just curious
because a lot of it for you is health and
you know your curiosity, which I respect and love, But

(49:41):
was any of it for you about the animals? Yeah,
that's a great question. Um. It started off because of
my profound love of health and and like you said
in the jump, it was health is wealth, right? Um?
But then I very quickly, because I'm such a data junkie,
I looked at all the data and I was like,

(50:03):
there's no data that says it has to be right.
You could be ninety, you could be But because of
my curiosity, I want to know where the food is
coming from and how it made it to my plate.
So I tell people that I went plant based for
human performance, but I remained plant based for the animals
because even though I don't have to be a hundred
percent plant based, I stayed a hundred percent plant based

(50:24):
because I know the atrocities that go on in animal agriculture.
It's just something that I didn't want to be a
part of. So if someone asked me, I'll be like, hey,
take a look at this, look at this dock, and
look at this other documentary, and just inform yourself, and
if you're cool with it, then that's fine. I have
friends that hunt that are perfectly fine with and they're like, no,
but I hunt and I I eat all I kill,
and I'm like, okay, I guess what. It lasts them

(50:47):
so much all knowledge that, Yeah, there are families that
I know that will literally go to a far free
range farm where there's a cow that they're like, you know,
they will form a relationship with the college. I don't
know how they do it because well forward, but there's
a psychological disco. We'll let you go. I don't want
to judge, be like, but but anyway, the point is

(51:07):
that when the cow is deceased, it will feed their
family for one to two years, depending on how they
change their diet, especially if you're not if you're you know,
exploring being plant based and also integrating certain meats in
your diet. So it's also just makes so much more
sense if that's the route that you absolutely need to go.
I feel like, even if you do research and you

(51:27):
decide that you want to consume meat, there's a way
more ethical way to do it. And even circling back
to what Jim was saying about her friend at first,
my first reaction when she's like, oh, I just told
her if she wants to eat the steak, eat the steak.
And I'm not a parent, right, but I'd be like, Okay,
kill the cow. You want to kill the cow, then
you'll have the steak. I'm traumatic, I'm alright, alright, you're right,

(51:48):
you're right, let me roll it back. And then I
was like, you know what maybe I would do. Maybe
I would make a really delicious plant based version, you know,
of a steak and be like, look, this is a
steak and nobody had to die in the meantime, and
you're not going to have cholesterol, and tell me how
you feel. But I don't have kids, and I know
that kids are difficult and sometimes they want what they want. So, yeah,
this is my decade. I reached my decade this year

(52:11):
in April. And in my ten years of being mostly
plant based, I have found that the quickest way to people.
And I'm not a pusher. M nos. I made my
grandma and heard my my sister steak. I'm a lover
and I'd love to share with the people that I love.
So if you don't you don't eat vegan food, I'm

(52:33):
still going to prepare you food because I love you.
But it is through their stomach. The biggest response that
people have given me when they find out that I
don't that I have a plant based diet, that I
don't eat meat, it is like, oh, what do you
eat them? Lettuce? I always say, come over, we cook
for you because people. I can't explain. I'm sure you've
experienced this, the amount of people who come over and
they have a completely plant based meal and are surprised

(52:57):
at how good it could taste. They're like, I didn't
know vegan food could be so delicious, something like, yeah,
there's so many unbelievable options out there today, because there's
so many chefs that are really like some of the
best chefs that I know that are plant based didn't
weren't always plant based. They were just phenomenal chefs. And
then they were like I went plant base and then

(53:18):
felt some like urgency inside of them to be the
change that they wanted to see. And yeah, and they
you know, and they wanted to be eleven mad, wanted
to be like the change, right, and then they jumped
into the space like our friends at abc V. I mean,
you guys, have ever been like the greatest, most decadent food,
most amazing meal you've ever had, And you don't preface

(53:41):
it by like saying it's the most delicious vegan meal.
You just say it's the most delicious meal you've ever had.
There's like a public service request, right, like there should
be more restaurateurs, more people in hospitality that are making
it okay for us to all eat together, because you're
just too many restaurants right vegan that are like again,

(54:03):
either this or that we're not vegan or we're not
you know whatever planet, uh animal based beyond Burger, Can
we have a couple more options that are as fully
vegan or or I wanted to all eat together or
have that are changeable? Likely changeable because I've been a server,

(54:25):
I know how it is. Luckily the restaurant that I
worked for was a chain, but they were really big
about you know, we want the customer to feel at home.
I love that this is customizable, you know, give me
other protein options you you have, you know, like even
an Asian restaurants you have like this list of sauces,
allow me to choose tofus a protein or just vegetables.

(54:45):
A lot of places don't even have that. If you
want to come in and just have a brownie with
vanilla ice cream, that's on you, right, Like, that's okay,
that should be okay. But knowing that there's so much
healing and food, you should as a restaurant if you're
in hospitality, I mean, it's in the word itself. Right, hospitality, right,
it's in it's the root of the word, right, Like,

(55:05):
you should want people to feel good, and you should
know that you can heal with food in so many
ways figuratively literally you can heal people with food. So
why wouldn't you offer some combination of healthy foods? And
that's I mean, that's for me. Is that my biggest
pet peeves when I go to a restaurant because I
love to be around people, and I don't always want

(55:26):
to take my friends to apply based restaurant, right Like,
I want to be able to go eat wherever. And
I won't name any restaurantcause none comes to mind right now,
to be honest with you. But you go to a
place and then you look at the menu and every
appetizer is some form of animal protein, Every entree is
some form of animal protein. Every dessert I could at
least offer fruit for dessert. I mean, it'sn't that that

(55:48):
difficult that it really isn't complex for a salad that
doesn't have you know, whatever, If you're gonna make for
the old Nato, don't make them with chicken stocks. It's
crazy why it does. There's no need for it. The broth,
but won't put any actual chunks of meat, and it

(56:08):
will be like who makes it? And I hate it.
That's another thing to inform your employees. I hate it
because but I you know, I don't compromise when it
comes to this. I've been in restaurant settings and some
people are like, you know, very shy because I continue
to ask questions. And I understand they don't understand why
I have to ask so many questions. But I know

(56:29):
that not always the person that's coming to your table
knows exactly what's going in the meal. And I've asked,
super perfect example, is your soup vegetarian or is it
or does it have any any meat or meat products
in it? And they'll say no because they're thinking it
doesn't have chunks of meat. And I say, they'll come
back and I say, do you mind just going back
to the chef and asking what kind of stock they use?
Low behold chicken or beef or I'll be like, you know,

(56:51):
they'll think like, oh, the French onion soup is vegetarian. No,
it's not. French onion soups are beef stock. I know
because I've been looking for the soup for so long
and the other day we found with you make your
own Yeah, yeah, create business opportunity. Yeah, it is right.
Oh god that the vegan plant based market is just
such a great business opportunity now. But it's so it's

(57:13):
doing good while doing good exactly. I don't have to
feel bad about it. There you go. That's your next project. Yeah,
I love that is your French Cuban French soup Cuban French.
And your mom speaks perfect French, so there you go.
You'll have her do the commercials. I'm the biggest foodie
in the world. That's another thing people get, like the mistake.

(57:34):
They're like, oh, you must just be okay with eating
like grass. Like, dude, I am the biggest foodie on
planet Earth. I love which makes it fun because we
love to experiment and we love to play. And you know,
of every twenty inventions that you make, maybe two were
really phenomenal. The other ones are like kind of whatever
I'm gonna need because I made it, um, but we're

(57:55):
we're here. That's amazing though if you make it right,
it wasn't. But I did make an that was good. Yeah. Hey,
have you guys ever thought of doing a cookbook? She
needs a cookbook. Why don't I don't cook? She cooks amazing.
You could be the sush chef, she asked my susf,
she preps on. I'll do the advertisement. I cannot be
anywhere near the kitchen, but I will. If you're not

(58:16):
the sush Chef, you don't get to be on the cover.
So I don't need to be on the cover as
long as I consider at the table and eat. You
both need to be on the cover with the flight suits. Okay,

(58:42):
So speaking of food, we've talked about nutrition, We've talked
about habits, We've talked about your passion and your book
and everything and all of that wrapped up in one
And what is said the name of your book for
people who are listening, Um, well, one of them is
the twenty two Revolution, the Devolution Cookbook and the green
Print that you What's so incredible about you is that

(59:03):
I knew about the the side behind forming habits before
I met, But it was one of the things that
we talked about when we saw each other. It was
it Vegan vegan Fest Vegan. They saw it was awesome. Um,
I feel like you're educating people so much more beyond
like their bodies. What we can do with just embracing

(59:26):
the power in our minds. And you've talked about it
a lot in this conversation. I'm really happy that you
have because that idea that it just takes making it
past the twenty first day two to build a new
habit is revolutionary. Yeah, tell us how you molded all
of this amazing information that we're sharing and learning into that.

(59:47):
Because if I could out there to anybody listening and
joining us on this flight, let's smooth this flight we've
ever had because it doesn't have any meat on it.
Just kidding, I'm kidding. UM. I wanna like give people
them where to go, something that they can do because
for me, like Jump said, like where do you start?
And you offer that, so talk to us about that

(01:00:07):
twenty two days. Thank you well. The the idea came
from this notion that I had that if you can
help people understand that you know, they're not doing bad
things necessarily we don't like it said earlier, Right, it's
not doing one bad thing doesn't make you a bad person.
It's what you do consistently. Um. And the same applies
for the other side, right, Like you can't do exercise

(01:00:29):
one time and expect to be in perfect health is
something you have to do. Consistency is the key. But
in order to be consistent, there has to be continuity, right,
it is, it's it's in the actual word. But continuity
only becomes effortless with a habit. So we are a
collection of habits, very very tiny habits that are all

(01:00:52):
piled together throughout the day. Our minds, our bodies are
so efficient at energy consumption it's unbelievable. And it's this
is something that's like, this is prehistoric type of stuff, right,
Like it's been with us forever, right, Like our bodies
are wired to use as little energy as possible for
things that don't shouldn't require a lot of energy, right, So,

(01:01:13):
like you don't wake up and think, okay, brush your teeth,
flaw gargolens, wash your eyes, take the bookers out good
in the shower that you just get up and you're
like and then you're you're in the kitchen, you're in
the car, you're at work, and it's just like, so
I knew that you could if we could help people
understand that it's the habit, and habit isn't impossibly difficult, right,

(01:01:37):
It's not super easy, but it's not impossibly difficult, because
what winds up happening is if you tell someone you
need to exercise, they say for how long? Forever, and
they're like, it just goes and then it's like the
person that was standing in front of you is now
like one miles away. You can't even see them. They're
like a speck on the horizon, and becomes impossibly difficult.

(01:02:00):
But if I break it down from you, tell you
it takes twenty one days to make or break a habit.
It takes twenty one days to create that synaptic pathway
in your brain to be able to connect the habit.
So on the twenty second day, you have a new tool,
which is that habit. To live a healthier life, to
be more efficient at work, to be a better lover,
to be a nicer person, to be a more productive
citizen of the world, like any of those things you

(01:02:20):
want to do. It's twenty two days. It's super digestible,
kind intended like it really like I could, I could,
I could do that twenty one days, like and the
commitment to be able to change your life twenty two
days without really having to overthink it. This is not
like saying, go to college for six years to study
something that you may or may not like, and then

(01:02:41):
which we end up doing anyways, and then you may
or may not use it when you grow up. And
it's like, uh, this is very very easy. So I
started with that notion of empowering people through the basically
through through. Let the habit be the trojan horse that
gets people there. Right, So that that was the idea,
um and then it just snowballed. Is like I love
what I do. I you know, I love people. I

(01:03:02):
wanted to be able to help people out. It gives
me such joy to hear people say, oh this helped
me or that helped me. But it when I decided
that I would go plant based, I thought of it
as a party, Like imagine a house party, right, Like
I'm waiting for you at the door, right, and you
come to my house and I opened before you even knock.
I opened the door. I'm like, you're wearing that, or

(01:03:25):
I say, oh, no, sneakers, you have to be wearing heels.
I'm like, oh, you're too much makeup or two you know,
ear rings and you're like, where's he going with this?
I'm like, if I judge you before you even come
into the party. You don't want to show up. So
I wanted to make sure that it was an open door,
the no one was at the door, that everyone was
welcome to come in. The music was playing, it was
great music. There wasn't anyone genre in particular. I believe

(01:03:47):
good music is just good music. It's genre less, right,
So like when you when you walk to this place,
you hear these great songs and you look in the
door and there's a bunch of really eclectic, super fun,
cool interesting people, and you're like, oh, I want to
be a part of that. And you walk in and
then no one starts, you know, off the top rope
with like what do you do? How do you eat? Uh? Like,

(01:04:10):
no judgment, Just come in and relax, and let's enjoy
ourselves and and just through our energy and our connectivity,
we're gonna want to know more about each other. We're
gonna want to feel what makes us more alike than
we are, what makes us different. And and in that
is where I found the magic of being able to
connect with people. So it really wasn't It wasn't much
more than just I wanted to write in a way

(01:04:33):
that made people feel welcome. I wanted to make it
so that it was a book full of you know,
information that was usable, that was relatable, that made sense,
and was again pun intended, digestible and like the easiest, funnest,
coolest way. Um. And it it resonated. UM. And like

(01:04:54):
I said, the stars lined up and we got lucky.
So it works, we got lucky. I have I have
a question for you because one of the arguments that
I get a lot what I love talking about veganism,
and I love it when people ask me questions because
it's funny, uh, this philosophy that you said, why Emily
pointed at me earlier when you said, it's what you
do most of the time. That's what I tell everybody

(01:05:17):
that is interested in a vegan lifestyle. I just hold
myself to a very high standard, and I really believe that.
I really believe it's what you do most of the time,
not what you do you know every so, yeah, exactly. Um.
And one of the things that people always tell me
is like, oh, but you we need way more protein
than that. And I feel like from a nutrition standpoint,

(01:05:38):
we're starting to see a lot of literature that tells
us that we don't need to be as protein obsessed
as we have been. Is this accurate in your experience?
It is very very much so. But we don't We
don't have a protein deficiency problem. What we have is
a fiber deficiency problem. We consume probably twice amount of

(01:05:59):
protein that we should con him in a daily basis
from animals, that is, and we are consuming less than
half of what we should be in fiber. So when
you look at have you ever seen someone in an
emergency room from a protein deficiency? Okay, but you know
the the you know, constipation from something as benign as constipation,

(01:06:19):
is a multibillion dollar industry to you know, colorectal cancers.
Look at look at colorectal cancer and see where that is.
And you know, in in in sort of like the
spectrum of uh, you know, mortality, right like it's up
there and and it and it shouldn't be right. Um.
So at the end of the day, we're consuming way
way less fiber than we should be consuming because it

(01:06:41):
only comes to plants, i e. We're not eating enough
plants on processed foods um and we're consuming way too
much animal proteins. A matter of fact, Harvard it's got
some really great studies that you can just google them.
I mean, like literally, it's there for you to for
for you to look at it. Um, there's some really
really great studies out today where we point in the
direction of like it's it's not only do we not
need as much protein as we are consuming, we actually

(01:07:04):
are endangering ourselves, putting ourselves at a predisposition for a
lot of these you know, so called age related diseases
because of the overconsumption of the animal protein, heart disease, diabetes, etcetera. Right,
and there's so inner linked cancer, there's so inner linked
to one another, which is crazy. I mean, like you're

(01:07:25):
assuming that the person that's going to eat the meat
is eating like something that's hormone free, etcetera, etcetera. But
once you pile that onto it, you know, the bioccumulation
of all of these toxins that are put into these
animals that are not eating, not even eating the foods
that they were naturally eating their habitat. It's just I mean,
think about that, like farming fish. I mean, there's just

(01:07:47):
so many things that that you when you think about it,
you're like, oh, this really doesn't make any sense. So
I'm not saying, you know, everybody should go or has
to go time based. I'm just saying, educate yourself and
then make the decision for yourself. The thing say about milk, oh,
that were the were they the only species that not
only a consumes milk past our infancy, And we're also

(01:08:08):
the only species that regularly And I say regularly because
I know that people are gonna be like, but I
saw a cat drinking milk from account regularly consumes milk
from another species. We're the only ones, and we don't
need to end. Seventy of the population is lactose intolerant
on some degree. That was my thing. I'm like, everybody
wondering why they're lactose intolerant. Maybe we should maybe because

(01:08:29):
we're not the teeth of the cows. Yeah, maybe we're
not supposed to be. We're not supposed to be. That's
just that's just the truth. That's just the truth. The posted.
You know what, let's make it a challenge. You're gonna go.
You want some milk, go get it yourself. I love
I love I love facts too, and I love when

(01:08:51):
people tell me when I talk about milk, and I'm like,
do you know that there are legal amounts of puss
and blood in that milk? You aren't condu the bus
and blood. Yeah, it's true. Where's the little symbol for
the we gotta get? We gotta get one of those
we don't want? By the way, is this thing called

(01:09:12):
the Hispanic paradox? I don't know if you've ever heard
of it, which is like, although Hispanics have typically um
lifestyles that are not as healthy as most um because
of the consumption of beans or the increased consumption of
beans as compared to Americans, we actually live longer than
Americans because of that. Right, So, like there's a lot

(01:09:33):
of magic and beans or eat your beans beans and
people are like, oh yeah, but you're not like all
day long, and I'm like no, because what winds up
happening is you don't have the right probiotics in your
stomach to help you digest it because you're never eating fibers.
So if you don't eat fiber, your body is basically
wired to digest other things that aren't fiber. But once
you start to digest it, if you go through the

(01:09:54):
motions or may not be easy the first day or
the second or third day. I've always eaten beans because
I'm Cuban seasoning. But yeah, but but not even mean
more to like the digesting so much fiber in your stomach, right,
so like they think, and you're not and you're not
gassy because you have the right base for it. You
but you have the right base for it. By the way,

(01:10:16):
it's natural for people to have gas. It is natural.
So whoever tells you they never you know, fart is
lying to you, right and just trying to be kind
or whatever. I would hate to see them to be
around them, because then they're taking time bomb. Uh no,
but but you know there there is natural occurrence. But

(01:10:36):
you're not going to be like all day like, oh
my god, my stomach is killing me, because because once
you start to consume a fiber on a regular basis,
your body understands how to digest it and he gets
rid of it better. Could you be our friend? We
would love to be, are you you guys your family?
We're beyond that, well beyond were beyond first base. Feel
like we're sitting at home already at the house. We

(01:10:59):
already first set and third we were home looking for
guinea pigs. Let's go for my recipe and I'm him.
You need you and your lovely family need to come
over to taste her food. Just what your favorite thing
is to eat now being you know, you know we
have four kids, right like you didn't forget that right now?
We love children, and not only that, they're going to

(01:11:20):
eat and talk about inquisitive jem to sit outside because
we only have an outdoor dinasy. That's fine. Bought a
literal incubator incubator and well it's actually a yogurt yogurt maker,
but I guess it's some of the same technology because
she made her own tempe from scratch. And when I
tell you that that temp every day she was looking,

(01:11:44):
the mold was growing. And that's another thing about the
process of making food. You put your energy into it.
That's tempe, cast iron pan, a little bit of salt.
That's it. You need anything, dude, I'm starving. Can we
wrap this up? I'm sorry, all right. I mean, I'd
love to keep chatting with you guys forever, but I
want to go eat right now. Like I'm going to

(01:12:05):
throw you guys in the back of my car and
we're going to go eat something we should. Oh my god,
by the way. I need some of that Tempe. Whenever
you grow more, just put a little bit. But I
tip on my key tho, I'm gonna put this aside.
I'm gonna save this for you. We might have some
frozen still. No no, but I'm addicted to Tempe by
the way. And it's like lately because I never really
got into Tempe. I didn't get into Tempe to like

(01:12:26):
a couple of years ago, and then I would the
Tempe guy that's here in Miami, Oh my god, and
he has a zukie bean temper multiple makes it himself.
I haven't seen him with the cocon and growth marker
in a while, but he used to be. I'm gonna
supplied Dia Bowles. That was his vibe. I don't know
if you ever eat there not. I love that place.

(01:12:51):
Oh man, how amazing. Thank you so much for having me.
It's been so much fun. I mean, I knew it
was going to be like this because every time I
see you both, you have the biggest smiles and you
just radiate so much love and so much positivity. You
know how I feel about you, And this has just
been an absolutely My sister was like, hey, um, I
was like yes. You know that video that went around

(01:13:13):
during COVID that was like the guy, do you want
to spend another month with your wife? It was like, hey,
would you like to spend another month with your wife
or be And before they could say where he goes Bet,
I was like I was like hey, yes. I was
like yes, anything and everything for the two of you.
So happy to be here. Thank you for having me. Well,
first of all, those of you out there, you're welcome,

(01:13:36):
go get all these books. And if not, even if
you decide to eat vegan today, it's a wind baby,
because build these habits and it's your life. It's in
your hands. You have all the decision to do with
it what you want, and nobody's gonna at the end
of the day hold you accountable except yourself, even the
people who love you most, because that's not their place.

(01:13:57):
So look in the mirror, do it yourself. Thank you
so much. You are one of those people who, again,
like everybody around me, Like when I was young, I
was one of those people who saw the people around
me working out, who saw the people caring, and as
a result, definitely in the physical sense, not so much
in the food, but now, thank god, thanks to jem
I have been um have You're my greatest No. But

(01:14:19):
but I also came from a family that was very,
very in on exercise. It became a part of my life.
And if I didn't have that, I don't know where
You inherited really great habits. You come from good lineage
mom and dad, but never too late to change your
habits out there, guys, we believe in you. We love you,
even if you're not vegan days. That's right, Area twenty

(01:14:43):
two baby, See you next time on in our own world.
This podcast is brought to you by moon Flower Productions
in partnership with I Hearts Michael podcast Network. For more podcasts,
visit the I Heart Radio app or wherever you listen
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Hosts And Creators

Gemeny Hernandez

Emily Estefan

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