Rip Esselstyn is PLANTSTRONG!

yeah are you good I think I'm good let me get comfortable let me get her this crap here cool I think this is pushing that a little too much I got a little sensitive head yeah your sensitive guy know a lot of ways I am so finally after five years of doing the podcast I'm finally getting the opportunity to sit down and talk to you from the moment I started this podcast you were you know number one top of the list guy that I wanted to get with and and I just taken this long to make it happen but I'm super stoked to be sitting here to unpack your story right me too me too here we are I know it's amazing we had a great swim this morning to get my butt up and down the pool show me what's what I felt good uh you were doing awesome considering it listen you've been even traveling a lot you haven't been so much it was it was funded like you it was fun to get in the water and just shake it up a little bit yeah it was fun it was cool yeah so I should say at the outset that just to kind of create a little bit of context when I began my plant-based journey I stumbled across your Facebook page this must have been 2000 sometime in 2006 when did engine to come out engine to officially came out in February 25th 2009 2009 ok so when I so maybe it was a little bit later maybe 2007 but I know that you were like working on it yeah yeah at the time and it hadn't come out yeah and we didn't really know each other but I knew your name from swimming and we had been at the same meets growing up as kids you went to Mercersburg where my sister swam you know and I had followed your career at Texas and we had had dual meets against each other and the like and I just remember I very vividly recall looking at your Facebook that it's not at some point I must have sought you out to be a friend and you accepted it even we didn't I was like you know following old swimmers or whatever and I can't remember exactly what you were posting about but it had to do with the book and kind of this movement that you're in and what we're working on and it was right at the time when I was stepping into this and I was like wow this guy he swam and he's doing this and I think out of the blue I sent you a message on Facebook and you responded and we started a little bit of a dialogue at that point and here we are yeah so crazy to sit back and look at what you've built and the number of lives that you have impacted with your work and your books and your advocacy and what your family as a collective unit has been able to accomplish is really nothing short of extraordinary mm-hmm well thanks a lot rich I mean yeah it's been an amazing it's been an amazing journey it's been an amazing path and you know I think we vote we've both been on our own amazing journey being being advocates for plant-based nutrition and yeah I mean you know my my journey started in nineteen really 1987 is when I kind of plunged into this and in large part because of my I shouldn't say in large part but really because of my father's research at the Cleveland Clinic right so explain that a little bit yeah people that don't know yeah so uh for any listener that doesn't know who my father is he he wrote a book called prevent reverse heart disease and really it's based upon his work at the Cleveland Clinic going back to 1984 and he got really just sick and tired of surgery as a means of trying to address a lot of breast cancer and so he was like you know what in my lifetime it will be probably pretty hard to show that we can prevent reverse breast cancer biting this way but I know that you you can do it I'm betting that you can do it with heart disease and so by eating the save your heart you're also saving your breasts and your prostate and you know all these other things or what gave him that idea to begin with like when did he begin his own journey with this way of yeah living yeah well you know what so I think he started looking at a lot of the epidemiological studies that were out there he saw this research that had been done on green monkeys where they were able to reverse the heart disease in green monkeys so they basically fed them food that gave him these a thirst erotic plaques and then they would give them a primarily a whole food plant-based diet and then they were able to reverse it so I was like wow if it can be done in green monkeys and we have cultures on the planet that for the most part having no heart disease very little cancer obesity I bet you we can do it so he took he asked the cardiology department the Cleveland Clinic to send him the bottom of the barrel patients that have been turned down for another bypass or an angioplasty stand all those things and over the course of like a year and a half he got 22 patients and five years later they're still alive ten years later they're still alive 15 years later they're still alive 20 years later they're still alive and these are remembered these are the walking dead right and now all of a sudden there's a walk you know there's a walking alive they're like they're they're having very amazing fruitful lives again and this was back in the late 70s so this is known this this all started in 1984 Oh 84 1984 at the Cleveland Clinic and so I got to see what he was doing from 1984 to 1988 in 1987 I graduated from UT in December of 1986 and that's when I was off the athletic training table fare of steaks and burgers and chicken and pizzas and all that you know crazy stuff and I immediately started eating this way and you know and one of my heroes in the sport of triathlon Dave Scott six-time winner of the Hawaii Ironman triathlon had been following this particular way of eating and so I was to me it was like a slam dunk I mean I'm in I'm sold health performance I don't I don't need anymore anymore you know data or convincing I'm sold and when your dad began doing this correct me if I'm wrong but I think I read somewhere that this wasn't exactly a popular protocol at the Cleveland Clinic the because they make their money on surgery right and suddenly he's helping all these people and they don't have to go under the knife anymore right no that's you bring up a very very good point there so 60% roughly 60% of the Cleveland Clinic's revenue comes from the cardiology department right from doing all these you know you know surgery stents angioplasty zits crazy and so he he was not looked upon very favorably at the cleveland clinic but you know luckily he he he's pretty self-confident when he's found the truth and he's gonna like you know have that be as his guiding light and he didn't care how many people were calling him doctor sprouts in the mail he would get envelopes that had you know tree bark in it and there was no return address I mean it's crazy what people were doing but he held he held fast to his guns he knew he was you know barking up the right tree and you know lo and behold I think it was within three four years he had proof of concept that yes this is disease is reversible and then he's been doing this now this is the longest running study of its kind I mean it's still ongoing and it's now you know thirty five years later and he's been written up and you know probably close to eight or nine different medical journey journals his latest that came out in 2014 was the American was in the American Journal of I think it was Family Practice where he went back and he looked at 200 patients that he had that he had counseled to find out what the compliance was compliance rate was like four years later guess what it guess what guess what it was I don't know four years high right who is 90 percent wow that's amazing ninety percent ninety percent of people still mean still or maintaining that program like hitting it out of the park and of the remaining ten percent that didn't file the program what's interesting is 67 percent of those ten percent 20 roughly 22 23 people that either passed away had another heart attack stroke surgery and of the 167 that stayed with the protocol one male had a small stroke so pretty pretty incredible yeah I mean that high rate does not surprise me you know I've met so many of these people by participating in you know some of your events and I've met a lot of these people who have literally literally been brought back from the brink and they're so evangelical because their health has turned around so dramatically and unexpectedly and they're just all about it like there's no way they're going back yeah I mean some of these people were so bad off imagine that you're in a wheelchair you're you're getting cardiac cardiac disability because you can't go to work because you're so far gone that you're now in a wheelchair because your angina so bad that you can't even stand up some of these some of these these men there and China was so bad just to shave in the morning just this motion right here right was so severe that they had to put basically nitric and nitric oxide paste nitro gluten nitroglycerin paste on there on there right around here right just so they could shave in the morning well I mean I don't think anybody realizes how far gone and out bad off these patients we're half of them almost half of them we're given what's called a diagnosis of end-stage heart disease which means you have less than a year to live Wow you know and the doctors order marching orders were go home and get all your affairs in order and it's one thing to talk about prevention and it's another thing entirely to talk about reversal but when you see the before and after angiograms in your dad's book it's it's shocking you know to see that reversal of what happens when you go on this protocol and you can actually open up those arteries again and the plaque clears up and suddenly the blood is flowing in a way that it hasn't in many years yeah slow unbelievable profusing the heart and that's why you know people like ninety percent how could he have that kind of compliance like imagine if your life has been basically whittled down to the point to where you're in a wheelchair you have no life whatsoever you can't even walk without you know pain discomfort and now you're also have your reptile dysfunction and now a year six months into the program you're like you have no more chest pain you're walking you're playing tennis you're dancing with your wife you're having sex with your wife you're gonna be intimate again I mean wow I mean you can't put a price tag on that stare it's unbelievable yeah so he's doing this back in 1984 it was a very different time the receptivity he certainly wasn't what it was you know what it is today and it's got to be so gratifying you know for him and for all of you and your family to see kind of culture catch up and embrace this you know it's it's it's amazing because I I know when he started this in 1984 it was a completely different world as far as like him embracing this and now 2017 you know we've got everywhere I turn now I see a book about eating you know plant-based you've got all these documentaries that are out there he and he's and he and Colin it's Colin cam right you know in Forks Over knives you know it's in their own right they now have been elevated to the status of almost you know celebrities and in the in the plant-based world and in and again to me it's a testament of these two you know one clinician one kind of scientist that stuck to their guns they knew were that they were doing the right thing and and they've both made such an impact on people's health in this whole movement so let's talk about the specific the specifics of what the diet actually is for those who might be new to the show or you know less familiar we're talking about plant-based but this is a very specific version of plant-based yeah so well for the engine to engine to diet or you prevent reverse well yeah so that's or even to gradations yeah you know yeah and more but you know we could start with engine - yeah so engine - so for the people that don't know you know engine - basically it's called engine - because I was able to get a bunch of firefighters in Austin Texas to drop the because you were a firefighter we're gonna track your story it's okay yeah yeah yeah you're a firefighter yeah all right engine to burn Austin firefighter engine to help save a fellow firefighters basically destiny with a heart attack by by eating plants strong following the Institute program but you had a contest right like you made it fun for all of these guys that you were working with oh yeah yeah no yeah I mean we had a little bar bet sitting out on the porch that hey guys let's you know who we thought was the healthiest and we decided you know what to follow through on this bet we're gonna go down to the lab and we're gonna get our cholesterol check and see who's got the lowest cholesterol and that was when one of my firefighting brothers his cholesterol came back at 344 at the age of 33 and you know most most humans or most Americans rather have a cholesterol between 200 and 220 v jr was 344 's his father had triple bypass at 50 his grandfather died before the age of 50 his great-grandfather died before the age of 51 and so he was he was just following down right that the family path there and so jr. was and the T and the crew there they were like game to jump on board and try this and so in 2003 we started eating a lot of fruits vegetables whole grains beans limited amounts and nuts and seeds you know no no extracted oils you know so we're not doing olive oil canola oil safflower any of these oils and within 28 days Jr's cholesterol came down 148 points so unbelievable yeah 148 points dropped dropped about 14 pounds increase in energy you know all the things that happened asked acid reflux and digestion bowel movement function all that stuff so and that caught the attention of the media right so suddenly there's newspaper articles being written about this what's this guy doing at the fire department like he's got these guys and on this crazy diet their cholesterol is dropping and people start paying attention to what you're doing yeah I mean people start paying attention the crowning blow was the New York Times did a did a front-page piece in like 2006 and then that's when it was like Katie bar the door I mean we got we got inundated with with letters emails phone calls postcards just from people saying why you guys are an inspiration you know keep it up and then that's when when I got a lot of offers from literary agents and publishing houses to write a book and I decided at some point after that probably was three months after getting some a lot of these these phone calls and letters that you know what maybe I can't write a book because forever I was like who am I to write about I got no business writing a book I'm a doctor I'm not a health coach I'm not a nutritionist I'm not a dietician I'm an X X you know professional triathlete that's now a firefighter but at some point I was like you know what maybe there's somebody out there that would benefit from hearing this from a firefighter and I got a decent platform and so you know what let's let's give this the old you know college try so yeah I spent two years writing the book decided to call it engine 2 because that's where the whole thing you know originated from that was a genesis of it and did a pilot study to show the efficacy of eating this way was 62 guinea pigs and yeah so that and then the book came out in February 2009 and that's how it all started yeah that book blew up that was it was New York Times bestseller yeah yeah it was a New York Times bestseller and I was fortunate enough to be in a lot of the morning shows and stuff like that and yeah and then a couple months later you know John Mackey read it and and became a fan and he asked me if I would consider coming on board with Whole Foods to be a healthy eating advocate and partner and I said you don't twist my rubber arm right yeah and here we are at the Whole Foods headquarters right now and you just showed me your office I mean I obviously I know you have a product line with Whole Foods the into line and I'm familiar with some of those products but I didn't realize that you have 50 SKUs yeah close to 50 I think it's 47 exactly right now we're coming out with seven new SKUs here just in a probably a month or two but yeah it's it's you know so in for the listeners that don't know what a skew is because I didn't know you know when I got into this in this business with what's a skew basically for example I've got cereals and I've got three different types of cereals right got the rips big bowl cereal I've got the banana walnut the triple berry and the original that's got raisins in it so each one of those is a SKU each one of those is askew within the cold cereal category right and so we've got hot cereals we've got granolas we've got hummuses we've got crisps bread crackers we've got soups pasta sauces pizza crusts veggie broth we've got two different types of soup we got a we got a firehouse chili we have a Moroccan stew and and soon we're coming out with some insane insane raviolis and some amazing burritos it's great and they're all no oil super low fat right and they all follow the they all follow all the criteria of engine 2 which is basically got to be 100% plan strong right you know I can find any animal products or any animal by-products in there everything's got to be low-fat so 25% of the calories or less coming from fat and it's got to be all naturally occurring fat it's in the food right and then everything's got to be low salt and and what that means is if you look at the number of calories per serving let's say it's 220 like for the soup the ideally the milligrams of sodium have to be equal to that or less so for example most soups that are out there you'll see that there's 220 calories per serving and the milligrams of sodium are like 600 almost three times the amount and by and by following that one-to-one ratio or less you're pretty much going to guarantee that your daily sodium intake is less than 2200 which is kind of the upper limit according to the Institute of Medicine right so we want to pay attention to that especially considering that you know what is it close to 1/4 of the American adults are now in some sort of hypertension medication I just read an article this morning the he was in CNN talking about how now we have more obese Americans than ever before 40% 40% of adults 19% of children it's insane it's insane yeah it's insane you know heart disease number number one killer one out is still one out of every three Americans will die one out of every two will contract some form of heart disease diabetes 50% of Americans by 2030 they're predicting will be diabetic or pre-diabetic yep you know I say it all the time these are these are the epidemics of our era and when you really like sit and ponder those statistics it's insane well what's the most insane thing about it to me is it I think you know and I know that we could abolish all this literally in a matter of a year and a half two years if everybody kind of had this knowledge knew the power of a whole food plant-based diet to not only to prevent but also to reverse these these diseases but instead you know were were we're looking for procedures we're looking for diets that don't work we're looking we're barking up the wrong tree everywhere we go and it's just making it worse people are more confused than ever and it's it's an absolute crying shame yeah well on the confusion piece it's a weird time because we've never had more immediate access to information than ever yeah and part of that is amazing and another part of that is you know creates that confusion especially in the health and nutrition space where there's so much conflicting information and a lot of time to read all this stuff and they're gonna look at the headline they're going to move on nobody's reading these studies nobody's taking the time to see how the studies were performed or who made for them right and they're just trying to get through the day right and so how do you cut through that morass and get the truth out yeah it's not as easy as it sounds no no or they're gonna look at the headlines maybe skim it and then just look for some takeaways that allow them right to have their butter to have feel good about their bacon or whatever it is I mean the latest cousin to the Paleo that's just tearing it up right now is the ketogenic yes I don't tell me I'm interested in your perspective on that because that is on center stage right now oh it is it is well I mean basically what they're saying is you can have your bacon you can have your eggs you can have your sausage you can have your butter and as long as you kind of get your body to go in this this state where you're you're burning fat you're you're doing minimal to no you know carbohydrates you put your your body basically into this starvation state you can you can lose weight and you can fight cancer and I think it's I mean some of those dangerous things that's out there and you know I had a I had a woman at one of our immersions that we just did in Sedona Arizona she hadn't had a piece of fruit in a year because her her personal trainer basically told her that it's just gonna add pounds like nobody's business so here's somebody that's eatin bacon and eggs and butter and cream cheese and all this stuff but she's not even touching a fruit because she's under the mistaken belief that it's gonna go right to her thighs mmm you know she's 90 pounds overweight and you know it's crazy but the whole keto thing it's amazing how the whole Atkins thing just won't go away right as MacDougall always says right you love to hear you know good things about your bad habits but you know it was Atkins and then it was South Beach and then it was you know paleo and now it's keto it's like just you know just interesting how how the focal point and the conversation is pivoted like you don't hear so much about paleo anymore it's all kind of move towards keto and low carb and and it's fascinating certainly at the crux of that is the fact that people want to hear good news about their bad habits because that doesn't want to be told that like they should be bacon for breakfast is like I get it I think it's something more than that to like I think there's something about the way that that that silo that that camp communicates to the public and I think they understand there may be a little bit more internet savvy and fluent in how we communicate in this modern age and then perhaps our plant-based community is I mean there's something to be learned from that sure about how we can improve because I feel like we're challenged in really connecting with people in a way that I think we're capable of and I don't know what the answer to that is yeah but we have some work to do I think yeah and like for example just last week ABC Good Morning America did a did a segment on the this new Kido book that's out there and this beautiful news anchor was saying how yeah I've lost weight and you know I had breast cancer and now I'm fighting my breast cancer and look what I can eat I can eat sausage and bacon and eggs and they actually showed her putting butter into her coffee and I can tell you right now in the air that we're living in now that thing has gotten basically you know forwarded on to that little five-minute segment to more people that book was number one on Amazon I mean it's just like mm-hmm it's crazy and all that igf-1 and casein and animal protein like what's gonna happen carnitine and lecithin or cancer and insidiously destructive animal protein and cholesterol and trans fats and saturated fats it's just the list goes on and on and on so what happens when someone comes up to you and says yeah but like saturated fat is not I like I read this like that's been debunked like saturated fat does not lead to elevated serum cholesterol it's not that bad for you we've been duped that was you know that was propaganda by the sugar industry or whatever you know whatever vested interest like what is your response to that because I'm sure you've well the filled out all the time well I would actually disagree I'd say if you look at it for the preponderance of the scientific literature when it comes to saturated fat you'll actually see that it actually does promote heart disease that it it promotes type-2 diabetic insulin resistance that it actually does fuel cancers but you know really to me the bottom line is is that you're not going to find saturated fat in any plans I mean it doesn't exist in plants yet in some nuts and some science coconut coconut right right but fruits vegetables whole grains beans it doesn't exist so to me the saturated fat it's the lifeblood it's really the lifeblood of the the Paleo keto program and so if you were to if we were to say scientifically definitively saturated fat is contributes to all these things and it is a bad map of JAMA they wouldn't have a program anymore so they've gotta you know stand up and scream and shout and say no there's nothing wrong with saturated fat but look at what it look they're better at shouting you know because that ends up on the cover of Time magazine or what-have-you and what you just said gets lost in the shuffle yeah yeah well and in your and then look at look at the look at the friends that saturated fat keeps right at that whole laundry list at you and I just rattled off there right the igf right the quarantine the less it then the wrong kind of destructive animal protein the cholesterol I mean it's just like that's what you're also getting with saturated fat right so let's just give them the benefit out yeah there's nothing wrong with saturated fat but everything else that saturated fat lives with in the red meat the chicken the fish the eggs the you know the milk the cheese the butter the the yogurt you can't get away from it mmm all those things a sugar it's about sugar rep well some people believe it's about sugar I don't I don't think it's a sugars not the culprit know that people like to deflect a little bit what about the idea that all sugar is the same whether it's a fruit or a coca-cola that's not yeah it's not no because like the fruit so the I mean the sugar that you're getting for example in a banana or an apple or an orange right it comes attached to the fiber and that's the main difference when it's attached to the fiber it can act as a nice slow release of energy over an extended period of time but when it's just like pure you know white sugar brown sugar and molasses or something like that it leads to the the sugar highs and then the lows and and then it leads to increasing triglycerides and potentially even you know elevating cholesterol levels so but no eating eating sugar fructose sucrose when it's attached to fruit is like supremely healthy and you know I mean you and I is as athletes what's our by our body's main source of fuel its its carbohydrate it's not protein it's not bad as carbohydrates and yet everyone is so fixated on the protein thing right I've been doing this ten years you've been doing it much longer we swam together this morning you kick my butt you were the fastest guy in the pool you're 54 now almost 55 55 you're killing it so so what about this you know let's just clarify things for for people who are listening this issue of protein and and maybe even get a little bit more detailed about this idea that okay well you can get protein from plants but it's not of the same caliber or quality as the protein that you would get from an animal source no you're right I would say it's even better right it's a lot better so when I'm talking to my kids 3 8 and 10 I let them know that you know in this house we eat strong food so we're eating foods that are strong they're going to basically make you bulletproof to chronic Western disease they're going to give you an immune system like a Canadian moose so you basically very rarely if ever get sick and in this house were just not going to eat weak foods and so that's why we're not going to do red meat chicken fish or eggs and I'd let them know that it's a weak source of protein everybody thinks it's funny because it's almost like a 180 from what we learned growing up so traditionally we thought that you know red meat and chicken and fish were strong really healthy sources of protein but the reality is is that there really insidiously destructive they have a proportion and composition of the essential amino acids really 8 or 9 depending upon what you think that that actually wreak havoc on our systems are very pearl inflammatory in nature they actually raise cholesterol levels you know we talked a little bit early about igf-1 animal protein especially those the animal protein in dairy products can actually turn on cancer cancer cells initiate and propagate cancer cells and and then you know if you're a female it also contributes to leaching calcium from the bones because it creates a state of metabolic acidosis so I tell my kids like listen so the strongest form of protein that you're going to get comes from whether it comes from fruits vegetables whole grains or beans that it's very friendly in nature it's not gonna promote inflammation it's not gonna leach calcium for your bones it's not gonna bash your like your kidneys or your liver you talked to somebody that's having a you know kidney issues your doctor will have you go on a low protein diet because that animal protein bashes the living out of your body or out of your kidneys so you know and one of the things that I don't think people understand is that all protein all the essential amino acids that are the building blocks for protein originated in plants that's where all originates that's where like the true nutritional engine for all and anything that's beneficial and good in nutrition lives in plants that's where it all originates from so your proteins right if an animal has protein and either direct indirectly got it from plants right if it's got vitamins either directly or indirectly got it from plants it's got minerals same thing right that's where it all starts one of the things that you hear consistently from athletes on a plant-based diet or athletes that that transition to a plant-based diet is that suddenly their recovery is enhanced right you kind of touched on it a minute ago and I think it has to do and I'm interested in your thoughts on this it has to do with your eating much more anti-inflammatory foods right so you're not eating all these inflammation provoking foods you're getting your protein but you're doing it in anti inflammatory way and that allows the body to recover more rapidly more quickly you bounce back more quickly you're less likely to get sick you can go harder you go faster you can go longer otally you know it's like it's like you know nature's EPO mm-hmm then protract that out over a course of a season or a number of years and that translate into you becoming a better athlete yeah it's not that eating plants makes you a better athlete but it sets you up to pursue a better trajectory for success that's no brilliant you just said it beautifully and the other thing you know I don't think people realize I mean the cleanest burning fuel out there you're gonna get is from plants and it's an athlete one of the things that is crucially important for us as far as their athletic performance is being hydrated right I mean you you get a little dehydrate your performance can drop you know five percent just like immediately and it takes eight times more water to digest meat then it does plant-based products and plus look at look at all the inherent water that's in plants I mean fruits and veggies are roughly what 7080 percent percent water in addition to that just the energy it takes to break down all those foods versus plant foods like your you have to exert yourself that's why you get these food comas and these lulls and energy because your body has to metabolize all these foods and they're difficult to break down yeah yeah totally no I mean yeah as far as recovery as far as stamina as far as you know reaching reaching your ideal weight I mean you look you look across you know all the pro sports that are out there these days basketball football baseball it's amazing to me how many of these athletes are overweight right they're overweight here they are this is their profession right this is what they're getting paid typically want wonderful wonderful money to do and they can't get it right when it comes to their their diet and what to eat have you worked with professional athletes directly I mean there's a lot of them I mean every day my Twitter feed somebody sends me how so and so is gone you know plant-based this person in that but it's like it's interesting you know it's an interesting moment in time where a lot of these athletes are testing it out and giving it a try no it's fascinating I personally am not working with anyone I mean I did get I know people reach out to you behind the see yeah talk to people well for like yeah I did yes for example not too long ago the the GM for the Atlanta Falcons right we've had several phone calls back and forth about me pop you know going in there and talking to the guys Tony wide receiver Gonzalez Tony Gonzalez yeah yeah yeah he got kind of exposed to it with Tony Gonzalez back you know several years ago but and for those of you they don't know Tony Tony Gonzalez is the all-time reception has more receptions of any tight end and I think it was like with three years to go in his career he read the China Study and started going going plant-based but yeah everyone you know Griff Whelan right a wide receiver reached out to me a little bit but yeah here and there that's cool so during your swimming career though you were just eating the Averett whatever you like at the training table at UT was pitiful yeah it was absolutely beautiful but you know what it's kind of one of those things when you're 18 19 20 21 you can almost get away with anything yeah you know I mean just you're burning so hot and when you're swimming four or five hours there's nothing like swimming to create an appetite huh it's crazy it's nothing like like running cycling forget it listening yeah but let's clear something up because just that you can't it doesn't matter how hot the engine burns you're you know you're not gonna you're not gonna burn off you're right those those athletic plot plaques the cholesterol the fatty lesions you know whatever whatever you're doing to start you know some sort of cascade of cancer cells that you can't you can't do that starts early yeah I mean I think we we tend to believe like I'm young I'll deal with this later but you really start you know heart disease starts when you're very young as soon as you start eating those foods that's when it begins yep no we there's there's a there's we know from studies right poor you know poor kids who have died and you know automobile accidents or whatever usually starts three four five six years of age that's crazy so after your swimming Kurt so you swam at University of Texas you were I mean you were all-american in Scituate finalists on her back no you no you no no I was I was an all-american but it was on relays so I was I was on I was 400 freestyle relay yeah three three years three different years and we were we were top three three years but in an individual you answer to ace wouldn't know it's kind of painful no no the sort of four years that I was there we got two seconds into thirds yeah yeah I think one of those years we lost to Stanford might be true one was Florida one was going to work Cal Berkeley when beyond he was there yeah and all of them are painful you look back and you're like oh my god you know what happened if this wouldn't have happened you know we would have won by you know four points you know right it's just it's just crazy and after after so after the conclusion of that you decide you're gonna dip your toe in the end up becoming a triathlete you become a pro triathlete yeah and you were you had some good success and that's right around the time when you switch your diet that's right when I switch my diet right yeah 1987 1987 is when I started you know what would be a ten-year career as a full-time triathlete and yeah it was I mean it was looking back it was it was quite a time you know I was just really I was training I was sleeping I was eating healthily I was looking for sponsorships Fleiss man Oh nomadic backpack kind of a way of living it was yeah no it was it was I was at the right age to do it right my early 20s but looking back I'm like god I can't believe yeah you know what I what I put up with what I went through you know sleeping on couches lugging my bike carrying case everywhere there what's Papa easy thinking at this time well that's interesting so I mean gold medal I want the gold medalist in rowing right right so tough act to follow well in a pasta and it possible iPhone right so but so for the first I would say five years my father was my biggest fan biggest fan like you know would fly all over the the world basically you know watch me compete it was incredible and then at some point I felt like well I shouldn't say I felt he felt like it was time for me to move on right move on with my life get a real job you know grow up and and kind of stop this child's play and you know he wrote me this really from his heart just in looking back now that I have kids just very loving the letter that I already basically thought that I was chasing after something that was impossible for me to attain and it's like a fools mistress and and that he could not support me any longer mmm not financially because he wasn't but just could not support me emotionally and all that stuff that's that's a rough one oh it was intense it was intense and so from that point on around him I was a closeted track triathlete right and I still continue to do it that you're doing it yeah yeah yeah but I did it for another another almost five years and then it was perfect because at that in 1997 I was like I was almost 34 years old and it was it was a great transition it was time I was like it was time for me to get out I'd had enough I'd had enough of that that's success along the way were you first out of the water in Kona like yeah no listen I was you know over the course of that ten years I became the one of the premier swimmers in the sport came out the water weather was Alcatraz whether it was Kona you know weather was all these you STS races typically first if not first second and Escape from Alcatraz I was out of the water six years in a row first led the bike would usually get passed on the run by you know guys like Mike Pig Wes Hopson Scott Tinley some of those guys though I could throw down on a good day I could throw down a 33 10k and some of these guys you know 31 32 yeah so I had some good success I mean I was considered one of the top ten Torino triathletes at the short court distance the International distance 1.5 K swim 40k bike 10k run I was never a dull traditions guy right I didn't do the Iron Man's I did him twice just to do it right I went to Kona and my first year there 1994 I came out of water first I led the bike for probably 40 miles you know I had two helicopters overhead I had that I had I had you know the motorcycles I had the cars I had you know ABC Wide World of Sports I I wasn't pacing myself I wasn't drinking I wasn't fueling myself you know my longest my longest I think ride run going into that might have been you know an 80 mile ride and a three-mile run for the most part it is so funny because you know might the first person to pass me was was Dave Scott uh-huh and he passed me about probably mile 40 right before you you know climb make the climb of yeah and he looked he looked amazing you know in the back of his his his hamstrings were just like a stallions and I'm like there he is man there's my man and any other of getting something he got second that year to Greg Welch uh-huh and he I think he threw down like a 245 you know marathon there but incredible but yeah I you know I just I never really had the mentality to do that the training that was necessary to be good at the IRA to make the leap to the longer this yeah yeah it's a whole it's a whole different beast it's a different sport it's a different sport yeah two hours verse eight and a half right nine yeah yeah so you do that you get the letter you're underground for a while alright yeah what's next yeah yeah so I you know I continue doing my thing I'm you know I'm living in I'm living in Austin and that I absolutely know love and adore and then at some point I was like you know it's time for me to make the transition and I'm like well what do I want to do you know I know I don't want to do a nine-to-five desk job and you know what's my skill sets and and I had some age group triathlon triathlete buddies they were like you know what you should like consider being a firefighter it's like an amazing profession no two shifts are ever the same you know it's usually we go out and ten or fifteen times a shift we're doing these amazing deeds and helping people and saving lives and so I went to fire station 1 which is the Animal House of the Austin Fire Department and I went on a ride out just to kind of see what it was about and I was like oh this is this is like amazing amazing you know getting on the fire engine code three lights and sirens you know go into an emergency your Adrenaline's pumping your heart is racing you know you're helping people and you're doing it with a bunch you know three or four other guys that you become that become your brothers and sisters so fast the camaraderie that you experience from in a UT like reconnect with that get to relive it and but in a completely different environment and so the you know that's the thing I miss most about firefighting because I've been gone now eight years is that is that camaraderie you know that that kind of fraternal bond that happens I remember one time you said to me it was on the cusp of you know you really like breaking out with all the things that you're doing now all these opportunities and you're like it's great it's amazing but you know I'm gonna have to like walk away from being a firefighter like you were torn up about it like that's an embarrassment of riches like that's a quality decision problem to have right you know I just remember the consternation like the emotion that you had around that like yeah that you were gonna have to let that go in order to grow well it's funny you say that because what happened is you know John Mackey after I wrote the book kind of you know pulled me into his office and said hey you're right we're you know white for you to consider being a healthy eating partner and I said you know let me think about it and I went home and I talked to my wife Jill and decided you know what this is really probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and and I was having dinner at John's house and we walked out onto the the porch and I told him you know that I was just kind of wrestling with this decision because it would mean me having to retire from firefighting that I've been doing now for for almost eight years no I'm sorry twelve years and and I remember saying you know ripp sometimes in life you know you just gotta you got to burn the ships to really fully commit and yeah and so I went home and decided you know what I'm I'm gonna retire I'm gonna I'm gonna retire from firefighting after 12 years and I'm gonna commit to do this thing with Whole Foods and yeah I mean it's been you go back to the firehouse all the time you know what I got I got I go I go back to the fire I mean when I like for example for UT football games mm-hmm I'll go there and I'll use the parking lot and go in and say hi to the guys it's a whole new stable of guys now then when I was there and it's fun going to different fire houses and visiting and stepping into that environment again but probably six to twelve times a year I go back and visit I would imagine that I mean I think people have this idea that firefighting involves fighting fires all the time but a lot of it is making these house calls on people who are having heart attacks that's right so it's is that true like that's your you're dealing with a lot of people that you're kind of dealing with now in a different way yeah so it's sort of an extension of that same kind of work is it is yeah so I always tell people typically in my talks that you know when I joined the fire department I mistakenly thought that the majority of our calls would be these big old you know house fires and we'd be going in and I'd be fighting the dragon and or slaying the dragon and you know rescuing you know kids and grandmas you know out of the house and that's not the case at all for the most part eighty to ninety percent of our call volume as firefighters across the country are medical emergencies so we're going in and we're helping somebody with a diabetic emergency because their fasting glucose or their glucose has gotten too low somebody that's got having difficulty breathing somebody that's got chest pain somebody that's had a heart attack and and they are actually not breathing they they're pulseless breathless and we have to you know start pumping on their chest and try and bring them back to life lifting assistance calls where we're helping people that are morbidly obese get out to the ambulance typically eight or nine of us putting them on some sort of a well they they have this device now called a mega mover right and mega mover where you you know and it can hold up to a thousand pounds Wow device we didn't need twenty thirty years ago no no this stretchers the stretchers themselves now there are these hydraulic stretchers that hold up to I think it's twelve hundred pounds because so many firefighters and EMS personnel were throwing out their backs you know getting these these these patients up onto the under the stretchers so yes we see you get to go yeah it close and personally the acute version of the preventative side that you now focus that one see the devastation is caused by the fork the spoon the knife yeah that's amazing so now one of the main things that you do with Whole Foods is you spend half the year traveling around doing these immersion programs with the employees of all these stores all over the country right how many stores well that's not quite right so so what it is so the immersions versus just the offense right so these the seven-day immersion program we usually do two of those a year and one of those is is is designated for whole food team members right that are that are really you know that are sick and have to medically qualify to go the other and so that's to one week out of the year and then another week is for the public but I'd say six to seven months out of the year probably close to a hundred to 120 days a year I'm on the road I'm going to whole food stores I'm doing customer facing events basically shouting from the rooftops you know get planned strong right you know stop stop the red meat the chicken the fish the eggs the dairy products and instead start substituting all these healthy plant-based foods plant strong foods and then I'm also in the back of the house with the team members I'm also giving them a little like you know hey guys this is one of our core values as a company right is to promote healthy eating to all Whole Foods shareholders and you know I was brought on board in 2009 here's my story you know if any of you are hurting if anybody in your lives are hurting think about it and we also have this product line that basically is a whole food market exclusive brand and this is what it stands for you know X Y Z right low fat plant strong and and then I show them a compare like you know a can of the engine to pasta sauce verse typical canna pasta sauce and the difference in sugars and sodium and cheeses and animal products and all that stuff so it's me educating right the and there's now there's almost a hundred thousand whole food team members across the country that's amazing yeah so it's it's it's a never-ending stream of trying to educate people mmm it really is so yeah it's so what you know and I am forever thankful because because of John Mackey I now have this bully pulpit in this platform to basically take the message from my original book the Institute diet book and and I'm sharing it with people it seems like almost every single day in my life nothing yeah I could I could not imagine a more kind of Purpose Driven fulfilling you know life right so Papa E's all good that's actually very brilliant yeah you know what so things with my dad are fantastic and it one of the beautiful things is that my dad and I now you know you know you've attended and you've been a guest speaker at a lot of our events I asked my dad and my mom and my sister to be speakers at a lot of the engine to events I should say all the engine to avenge the immersion programs our weekend events plant stock and so it's like it's really it's a family affair now it really is yeah it really is and you know for the listener every year you do this event called plant stock it's at your family farm and this is this farm is insane it dates back generations in generation 1675 this is the largest single family owned farm in the eastern seaboard or something like that at some point close close its what it's one of two family farms in the state of New York that have been owned and operated by the same family for over 300 years yes it's unbelievable it's beautiful and you invite all these people to come and you have this amazing speaker lineup but the point I'm trying to make is that this is a family affair and it's like every single person in your family is involved and participates and contributes yeah not just to this event but to this message like and and to see that cohesion it's really it's really a powerful thing unbelievable like I can't imagine when you are you know a 19 year old swimmer but you thought you were gonna be doing right but it's really beautiful yeah thanks rich no it's it is really beautiful and I know you didn't come to this this year's planned stock but it was they're all amazing and wonderful and special past years was the best it was it was really magical I mean the weather was idyllic we we had two two of the Jumbotron screens instead of one because we had almost 600 people and there wasn't one bad seat in the house we arranged that big wide aisles didn't matter where you were you know you didn't have a bad bad seed you know the meals the food was was off the charts we had really good gender parity and when it came to you know men and women's speakers this year it was almost half and half which was which is really important for me this year and nothing like nothing likes having two and a half days we had a we did a big Friday night event this year so we had an ice cream social and my dad told the story of winning his Olympic gold medal oh wow and we actually show a story and we actually showed footage of it yeah so if you ever get my dad on the podcast yeah ask ask him to share that story with you yeah but and then here you are you know for to almost two and half days and what do you have underneath your feet grass amazing lush you so you're firmly you're firmly planted on earth right you know and yeah and everything it's such a tight contained environment there and one of the things that's always made it special to me is that the speakers for the most part they always hang out they hang out and so everybody these conferences you buzz in you do you blow out you know you're not really participating in the event know we're all hanging out in your kitchen staying up till 2:00 in the morning talking or whatever yeah but the participants also have access to you - John - you know Eric Adams whoever it is because they're there and they're accessible and it's like wow you know this this is really cool interestingly enough we're not having plant stock 2018 at the family farm yeah yeah you know what we just decided it was time to kind of shake things up a little bit you know we've we've been there six six years in a row now and so for the seventh one we're moving to this it's going to be just as magical in a different way it's the Blue Ridge assembly it's this it's this 1500 acre campus in the Black Mountains of Asheville North Carolina and everybody can stay on site and you're there's different levels if you want you know deluxe accommodations economy or or dormitory style and so you know plant stock it was like 595 you know just to come and you had to also do your kind of B&B and drive and rental car and all that you fly into Asheville take your uber there and then you stay on site and it's like you know you can do I can economize all in that includes everything right I mean yeah that's clewd talks every session and room and board I mean it's like crazy I think the economy piece is really important and when we talk about you know you should go plant-based and we're talking about Whole Foods you know we it's easy to start getting weld into this idea that this is a lifestyle for the well-heeled only that this is an affordable thing for most people I can't afford to shop at Whole Foods I can't afford to go to plant stock no am I gonna be able to do this so how do you how do you think about and communicate around that issue well it's funny you know I was I was uh I was in Boston not too long ago and I had an uber driver there was 300 plus pounds was telling me how it's got young kids she's got type 2 diabetes and how he you know he wish he had the energy to play with his kids and so I told him he said what do you do and I said well I'm actually I'm a healthy eating advocate and I teach people you know how to reverse her diabetes and how to get you know how to find their ideal weight and all these things and he's like oh tell me how do I do it and I say well this is what you want to do you want to avoid animal products dairy you want to start focusing in on plant strong foods and he immediately yeah well one of his objections he had many but was well you know you can't I can't I got it hard I he's like I can't afford to eat healthy and I said well let me stop you right there I go what you need to understand is this is peasant food right as soon as you understand this is peasant food we're talking about rice and beans and potatoes and bananas and you can do frozen that is like just as nutritiously sound you know buck ninety-nine a pound never goes bad you just take what you need out of the freezer and you're good to go but you kind of saying that it's too expensive to eat healthy would be like you saying well I can't I can't afford I can't I can't drive because I can't afford a Porsche all right I can't eat healthy because you know yellow bell peppers $4.99 a pound an organic you know and so you know you take that out of the equation I say listen oatmeal how much is oatmeal Oh peels like drop dead cheap sweet potatoes you know pasta with a nice you know little little marinara sauce on top if I had to I could I could live on probably about 11 11 bucks a day eating this way easily easily and that's not even buying or buying in bulk and I bet I could probably make it for under 4 bucks a day if I really was trying yeah the the conversation about wellness gets conflated with superfoods and all these sort of you know essential oil whatever it is like all of these expensive you know top of the pyramid items and the truth is wellness is you know being hydrated getting a good night's sleep it's eating the foods that that fuel you best and heal your body and it doesn't have to be it's not exotic it's simple no but as human beings we want to overcomplicate it we want to know okay you're telling me that but take me beyond the velvet rope where's the VIP make it harder than it is yeah and when you say it's it's right I mean I could eat rice and beans with like hot sauce like every day and there's plenty of times I do that's exactly what I know you know on a salad or whatever like I I'm fine with that you know but a lot of people want to make it harder and then there's like this weird psychological resistance to just accepting like it can be this easy ya know cannon beachy and that's and that's why in the new book that I wrote the seven-day rescue diet it's all about building these like really economical really quick bowls the whole concept is about bowls the whole recipe section and and when I was writing the the recipe section with my sister Jane and we were doing our pilot studies we did want to mesquite texas into a cleveland with 180 people we gave them down to the like letter like okay this is what you this is what you should have for breakfast lunch and dinner we gave them a company and grocery grocery lists for everything and nobody was filing it and it's because you know what people they're they're super busy they don't have time to go grocery shop and they don't have time to make you know make these meals and a lot of them were pretty darn simple and so I said Jane we just have to let's meet people where they are and so we've now got four different Bowl concepts and four for breakfast lunch dinner and then kind of salads and then you know you pick your foundational ingredients that you like you pick you know you're different like legumes that you like your different toppings that you like different sparks that you like and then you're you're set and so you do that for breakfast lunch and dinner find you know a core assortment of ingredients and now these are no recipe builder bowls there's no you have to follow one single recipe right and people are loving it that's great loving it that's great yeah so in the hundreds and thousands of people that you encounter you know during your travels and these events that you do you know I would imagine you have a pretty good sense like I'm interested in some of the success stories but I'm also interested in you know what you've learned about the psychology and the you know kind of emotional component that circulates around healthy eating habits what works what doesn't like what is it that is tripping people up the most or creates the most challenge for people trying to you know live better and embrace this way of living mm-hmm well the biggest challenge is always yourself right you're always your biggest hurdle and once you can like get past that yeah that's huge but yeah if you've had a heart attack if like if you're in pain and you're up against the wall that choice is easier but what if you're just you know what I don't feel good I'm like I'm just I'm heavy I'm lethargic but you're not quite at that pain point yeah yeah we so I just you know I just did a immersion with eighty eighty two people in Sedona Arizona and most of these people are there they're overweight they're sick they're they're not doing well and they've seen you know other forks over knives or what the health or one of these documentaries and I think they realize that something about you know this these documentaries or they've read prevent reverse or one of my books are like something about this resonates with me but I got to just figure out how to do it and and so that's what I mean that's what we try and do at these emergencies we try and basically show people that not only the you know why they want to do it but also how to do it and but I'm just trying to figure out because I want to I want to answer your question but yeah but I think what I'm really getting at is just you're meeting all of these people there's a lot of success stories but I'm sure you meet people that like are sort of in that cycle of like they do it for awhile they fall off they do it you know they're getting back it's kind of like that human thing of like yeah how can we just like how can you just get it to click in with people and like what works what doesn't I don't know that there's a magic part of that no I mean if you talk to Dan Buettner he'll say well you got to make the Healthy Choice the convenient choice right you know I can't try to get them to shift their mindset you just got to make sure it's within their reach at all times that they're out during the day yeah I get that convenient and easy and accessible yeah well that's all stuff that we you know we we talk about as well it's like yeah you got to get a you got to get rid of all the barriers all the all the excuses all all the things that are going to wreak havoc on you so we don't want this to be about willpower right and so we got to create an environment obviously in our in our lives and our houses at work in the car that it's not going to have you like reaching for that pile of pistachios or you know reaching for the the cashews and I'd say one of them you know the most important principles that we teach people at these immersion programs is calorie density and so within the actual plant-based world what foods is it that you can learn to eat until you're comfortably full at breakfast lunch and dinner and in the disconnect a lot of times is people people think that they can have a couple spoonfuls of peanut butter that they can have you know you know an avocado that they can have a little bit of oil and and these things add up in a hurry and you do them repeatedly again and again and again and if you're you know you have a genetic predisposition to heart disease you know forget about it you're not going to extinguish those little hot spots right it's going to continue on you know and as my dad likes to say he doesn't want his patients having one thimbleful of anything that's going to ignite their heart disease so he played you know he plays hardball and with the seven-day the new book the NGT seven-day rescue program you know we're we're playing hardball too and because this is really for people that are trying to rescue their health you know you've got one of the the big four you know chronic Western diseases and you're trying to address it and we know we know that if you follow this protocol you can not only stop it but you can reverse it so you got to create an environment in your life that's conducive to it you ideally you have people around you they're supportive to it you know and if not you got to figure out a way to enlist them so that they're they're not going to sabotage your best efforts with this the whole human psychology got ultimately you gotta want it you know it's like you can't you can't will somebody into wanting it for themselves you can you know it's like you can lead them to water but you can't make them dredge it's amazing how you can drop an alcoholic off in rehab but if he doesn't want to quit drinking he ain't gonna quit drinking yeah yeah and so it's emits amazing how some people their self-starters right they they get the information and they get it it's no big problem other people's other people that you know they fight tooth and nail and you know they're just they for whatever reason they know that this is the way the path to go down but they just for whatever reason they have a hard time making a stick you know I mean it's it's probably goes back to the whole pleasure trap right Doug Lyall and you know you know we're looking you know for we want to conserve energy we're looking for the greatest amount of pleasure we're trying to avoid pain and everything about the environment we live in and now in 2017 is you know I mean look at where we sit in our self driving cars practically now and we go to the drive-thru we're not exercising one iota all the food is super super you know highly processed no water no fiber a fraction of the vitamins and minerals and it lights up our our brains like a pinball machine right and all that salt all that sugar all that fat and so you're asking people to walk away from that you were asking people well we got to down regulate all those receptors in our brain to those things and now we have to develop new cravings and new likes to you know steamed kale broccoli with a you know a little smidgen of no-salt-added Bensons you know seasoning to it a nice piece of you know marinated a cauliflower steak a tofu steak whole grain whole grain crust pizza with sun-dried tomatoes and and spinach and black beans and pineapples I mean this this food can be so insanely delicious that you know it's just crazy and so that's I think that's you know one of the things that for people that don't know anything about this is that ultimately you're not you don't to give up anything you just have develop a whole new set of you know kind of tastebuds cravings and and then what opens up before you is a whole new world of health that you never dream was was available to you one of the things that I hear fairly regularly if you bring up Forks Over knives or the China Study is this knee-jerk reaction like oh that was debunked oh stuff I read that that was debunked and it's dismissed it's just out of hand dismissed without and to even further discuss it is to is to you know be somebody who doesn't understand what's going on so do you hear that like to you how do you respond to that you know what I don't you don't know it with four years out all the time with forks over knives I don't and maybe it maybe it's because you know my dad was one of the right the the main threads going through it right he and Colin you know I I had a little cameo in it but I don't have I don't have people come up to me saying yeah I'll be saying it to you they're not gonna say their face but there's sort of this meme on the internet like oh that was it probably began with Denis mangers blog post which I don't know if you're familiar with that or whatever which I think she recanted I think she did recant that one thing yeah yeah they were canting didn't get as much attention and no it didn't of course you do but that that's sort of a mindset that's sort of percolating out there like oh yeah like that no that wasn't true or whatever yeah you know it's funny I I've I don't I don't spend too much time like with all the naysayers and all the people that are trying to debunk whatever it is I'm just I find I'm too busy I'm too busy I'm just plowing forward you know doing my thing and I mean in my heart of hearts it's like this is like this is it I mean its whole food plant-based it is or at least plant-based it's it's the answer to so many things that are like taking us down right now right it checks every box if you checked it exactly this it does and and I guess it's just amazing to me that that other people don't see it as as clearly as we do maybe it's almost like a Republican you know democratic thing it's like well I don't know I don't know that it's a it's it's not it's not a per se democratic or no nothing but in the way that our trains op that's what I'm a how we just we silo ourselves yes um you know idea of the world or world view that becomes very difficult to uncheck all us from yeah you know yeah whether it's religion or politics I mean foods right up there you know it really is it's it's difficult not to crack but with you being you know on the front lines and I mean you're doing one-on-one like you're face to face with these people all the time and I can't imagine well I can't imagine because I have experienced it on some level but that that that when you see these people and you you know some time has gone by and you see the change or they give you a hug and they're crying and they're like you know you changed my life like this is they have a new lease on life as a result of like this work that you're doing there's there's nothing more gratifying or more worthy and for me when I get those emails or I meet those people it's like I just want to shout it from the mountaintops yeah you know it's like I want everyone I want everyone to experience what that person just expressed to me yeah yeah no I am I sometimes wish that I had somebody filming right when I'm doing you know an event or book signing whatever I can be arranged yeah I know but but then the person that's sharing it probably wouldn't you know might feel a little self-conscious yeah but but just saying you know gosh you know you I just want to thank you you know you you know you and your father your family you know save my life and then they tell me their story and it's like yeah they're like oh you must get sick of hearing this like now no never never get sick of hearing this and then I let them know I said listen you know I appreciate you thanking me but you know what you did this you did this you took this information you like you owned it and now look where you are and it's you know congratulations big high five to you so we got to wrap this up in a minute but I would love to be able to leave people with you know some takeaways if somebody's listening and they're stuck maybe they've tried to go plant base but they laughs or they're interested they just don't know how to begin like how do you suggest that people embark on this journey well I would start by reading some books reading you know watching some documentaries if you specifically want to like learn more about engine to go to engine to comm we have an amazing amazing community and support group there's a ton of resources on that I do a lot and around the launch of the new book the seven-day rescue we created a private Facebook group and we've now got over 22,000 members on there it's the most supportive loving nourishing did a little thing I did a little thing there he sure did yeah I don't know last year something did generating that engagement was crazy people are so into it yeah yeah it's it's it's a really beautiful community but you know so as far as somebody that wants to like get involved with this I would say I would tell somebody like jump into my new book the seven day rescue because to me it's it's I've taken you know the all the data that I didn't have that is in this book since I wrote you know engine - so since 2009 it's all these new studies all this new data I mean it's just it's it's incredible I basically break it down into seven super simple pillars that I ask you to follow for for seven days and then you'd be the judge on day eight what you want to do going forward and then you know do it if you if you sign up to do it you get an email from me every day for seven days with an encouraging you know word of advice and then also a recipe a simple buildable and then you know if you go in and then join the the private Facebook group you've got I mean so you got the book you got the emails you got the recipes you got the community I mean and you know community peace and the support is huge especially for people that are trying to do this without that you know support and their own home yep yeah that's crucial yep yep huge so yeah and there's then there's so much cool stuff that's this coming down the pike you know not only with me but with just you know this movement you know yeah I know you know about this flick coming out called the game changers and you know 2018 I think that'll like move the needle in a big wonderful amazing way much like Forks Over knives yeah but but hopefully this'll like really really speak to the men that are out there yeah I think it's gonna have a huge impact on people yeah yeah it's exciting yeah yeah man it's good man and when are you gonna when you when are you gonna what's what's your next athlete exchange you're gonna get back in the pool come on man yeah I know so we'll see about 2018 you know I miss getting the world record for fifty to fifty four year olds in the 200-meter backstroke bye-bye just a few seconds and but if I would have done it for 55 to 59 year olds I would have gotten right the world record so I just have to hang in there basically forever there for it till January till January and then you got to get it because when that movie comes out you want to be able to go yeah maybe maybe maybe I know I know it's so funny how you know we I know I I feel like I put I put so much pressure on myself you know our fair amount in life you know with everything it's like if I really want to add this like to the to the list of things like yeah but I think it can energize you and I think it gives you it gives you a little structure and then it it makes going to the pool easier because there's a purpose to it you know and it fundamentally it serves the mission and the message that you're trying to get oh yeah because those kind of actions speak louder than words you can get up and say whatever but like when you demonstrate that athletically and you're more than capable of doing that it's powerful man and people pay attention to that like I think it's important and I think I think it's you know it's a worthy it's a worthy thing it's not it's not like a silly whatever like I think you know and it's what you do dude I saw I was in the pool you this morning you're tearing it up you know what people know what that's all about yeah yeah but I also know the pain that's he Alves and yeah you've known that pain your whole life it's funny I have known in my whole life but it's I had been removed from it - I mean like tearing it up in a workout is one thing but like putting the gas to the to the to the metal for a race that's almost 2 2 minutes and 20 seconds where you know halfway through you feel like you're breathing out of your eyeballs and you know your legs are stuck in cement it's like wow I'm 55 and I'm and I still really want to like do this and yeah I guess maybe I do but the pain the pain it was a lot worse than I remember it when I was in my 20s in too few minutes of pain for this for the plant-strong you know I know I know I do I think I need I need to give you a call maybe once a week and have you pump me up I'm happy to do it if I lived here I'd be at the pool with you every morning so yeah it's fun awesome well great talking to you as I ate it at the outside of the show you know you've been a not only like a personal inspiration to me even an amazing mentor to me and thank you for all the guidance that you have thanklessly given me over the years my life is indelibly impacted by your example and your work and your friendship and I really appreciate it and again it's like the service that you're doing to the world and that your family is actively engaged in is really quite remarkable and I just wish you only win in your sales and great success with trying to impact as many people as possible on this this mission that we share awesome and before we go let me just say too that when I first met you at the vegan world that's right health is like some tiny little thing in LA yeah it was in LA which it was it was billed as something huge right that you flew out it wasn't all that a little table but but no but and I met you and I met Julie there and you had just gotten into this bike accident in your lip remember your lip and but we ought you up on stage and we had a little calf off or she who had the biggest calves and I remember talking to you and I remember like saying you know what you got a book in you dude you got a book in you and then you were the first person to to sort of give me that confidence and I remember you introduced me to your pokie agent and I had a called I just wasn't ready like I had no I didn't know what to say to the guy and he was like yeah I don't you know like rightfully he was like yes I don't think this guy's ready to write a book which was a good lesson for me like I needed to spend time and really think about what I wanted to write but when I finally did you were the first person that I sent you know the manuscript to and you like called me back like within days and and you know what you said to me I'll never forget well I I read that thing in a matter of hours and I was like oh my god this thing is like I loved how you just but you bared at all and I didn't know I didn't know all that about you know about your personal story and your personal journey and I was like this is crazy man this is beautiful it was a beautiful beautiful book and look I mean and so right back at you man like look what you have done since since I met you then right and I wasn't I think it was 2009 that's right yeah I think it was summer of 2009 yeah and you know you yeah it's so beautiful to me to see what you have done in this movement with your podcast with you and Julie you know with your with your with your events your books and that's one of those things where we can both look at each other and say hey you know we knew each other when cool and yet millions of people are suffering out there man and there's a lot of work to be done and that's that's what it's about and we're yeah yep I mean that'll be interesting to see where we are in a decade well come back and spend five years since I've been chasing you maybe we could do it yeah yeah anyway awesome man if you wanna if you want to connect with rip engine to is men shoot die kamar engine to calm and shortened oh just engine to engine to in to to that engine to on all the social networks and all that kind of stuff yeah and check out one of his he check out plants talk man plant stack 2018 we already have 200 people signed how are you so we're good at you we're gonna cap it it probably 700 uh-huh I said get on that people yeah all right now thanks brother thanks peace engine to plants cool man I ran out I ran out I ran over your ending there yeah now it's good I like to I can mix it up

Channel: Rich Roll

Views: 172,295

Keywords: rich roll, vegan, health, fitness, diet, nutrition, athlete, podcast, inspiration, motivation, plantpower, plant-based, wellness, spirituality, mindfulness, meditation, self-help, planstrong, rip esselstyn, engine 2, weightloss, firefighter, triathlon, swimming, whole foods, heart disease, heart attack, caldwell esselstyn, diabetes, obesity, wfpb, john mackey, meat, beef, weight loss, finding ultra

Id: Nwt5VWGDi1E

Length: 85min 1sec (5101 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 21 2017