TRANSFORM Your Life With Food: Chef Babette On Fitness At 70+, Self Love & Reinvention | Rich Roll

all you have is the moment I am in complete and total control over my seconds and now I can be as happy as I choose to be my guest today is the incomparable Chef puppets but that is a vegan Chef she is the owner of the plant-based restaurant stuff I eat in Los Angeles and she's basically just an Unstoppable force of nature I just love movement I love knowing that I can move Chef Babette has been featured on a ton of TV shows like inside edition The Chew The Steve Harvey Show and she's the author of the dessert cookbook cash in on cashews she also Chronicles her daily fitness journey on social media which is really fun and inspiring but perhaps the most impressive thing about Chef Babette is that she didn't actually even get started with a healthy vegan diet or even exercise for that matter until she was in her 40s and she didn't start her restaurant until her 50s each and every one of us has to determine what is important to me about the gift of life and now at 72 years young she's crazy fit like ripped and just radiant her skin is insane full of amazing vitality and life force and truly this Living testament to the idea that it really is never too late I started with with one push-up and every day I would add a push-up start with one but that brings the heat today she delivers the goods with more energy and enthusiasm than I've seen across this desk in quite a while and she was such a joy to spend time with but I'm not going to make you wait any longer this is me and your new inspirational role model yeah are you ready because we got a lot to talk about I'm so ready oh so nice to have you here what a delight to have you in the studio so excited to get into it with you I mean first of all you look fantastic you came in your energy is like through the roof your skin is radiating your outfit is like off the chain like everything about you is positivity and like love and welcoming this welcoming energy and you know I mean just when I walked in here you guys were already here and I was like wow this is like feel it thank you yeah thank you thank you for having me yeah um let's uh I don't even know where to start because there's so many things I want to do at the beginning but let's start at the beginning why not yeah tell me about growing up your relationship with food with Fitness the whole Evolution I want to hear every beat of the story oh my pleasure I love to share my life has been quite a journey but you know that's that's what it is when we come to this planet we're on a journey and um as a child I went through quite a bit I um was molested at five years old by a total stranger [Music] um and I know I was five years old because uh my sister was in the crib in the next room and I'm five years older than her wow is that is that a memory that stayed with you that you retrieved later never left I never told anybody it was actually the babysitter's son now I don't know if this guy was an adult but I was five so he came up to my bedroom did whatever he had to do and then he left we both went downstairs where his mother was doing laundry I stood on one side of her he stood on the other side of her nobody ever said a word and I never told anyone until I was adult an adult what was the inflection point that caused you to finally talk to somebody it was a conversation that I was having with my mother but prior to that um you know I had had been with different caretakers because my mother came from North Carolina she had a third grade education but she was bound and determined not to be on welfare she did domestic work she cleaned she cooked and um she worked two and three jobs so obviously we needed caretakers um my brother was 10 years older than myself and he was a kid that was always in trouble juvenile hall so he wasn't necessarily in my life it was myself and my younger sister I had a godparent that had actually christened me and my mother felt very comfortable leaving me with her she was The Seventh-Day Adventist right exactly but she was cruel it's very very cruel there was a time that um she told me I had to make a palette wash all the dishes he had guests that evening she said I want you to wash all the dishes and then I want you to make yourself a palette and go sleep in the garage with the dog as I was attempting to get the palate together her husband said to me what are you doing and I said well godmother wanted me to clean up the kitchen and then make a palette now I'm only around seven eight years old then she wants me to go sleep in the garage with booger bear that was the dog and he said go to bed I'll clean the kitchen and don't ever ever make a palette to go sleep in the garage with the dog now I never heard anymore about it but I'm sure he had something to say to her so I went through that all week and then my stepfather who was Italian my mother had a a loving heart very open so race was never anything that we dealt with everybody was the same and that was the one great thing in in my life but he would come to pick me up and he would sit me in his lap and pretend I was driving the way home as he fondled me or whatever so I had to live with her during the week and go through all of the pain of being mistreated with her and then he would pick me up on Fridays and then I had to go through all that and that was after the baby that was after the babysitter yeah because now I'm three four years older um yeah it was pretty pretty nuts now you know I think about my mom determined not to get us on welfare we weren't going to be a part of the system no I'm not doing that I'm going to work but what if we did receive welfare would I have been able to be there with her would she have been able to watch me more as we make our comments and our judgments towards people who receive assistance sometimes it's needed but she did what she felt was best so the reason I wound up telling her I was late in my 20s when I finally told her about her husband and the babysitter she was making a comment uh a negative comment about my first husband who was a childhood sweetheart and I said to her which I know it was extremely painful at the time I said well perhaps he doesn't come home and endorse his checks and sign him over to me but there were some things your husband did that my husband would never do and they were done to me and she was like what are you talking about and I told her and she said I saw him Pat you one time I told him that if I was not enough for him he should leave it stopped so obviously she did say something to him I never knew why it stopped but it stopped but when those types of things happen to you as a young person in your formative years I suspect that makes it very difficult to trust other people or to you know embrace the you know the idea that the world is a safe place like the world is dangerous your mom doing what she thought was in your best interest entrusted you to certain people who betrayed you profoundly and you carrying that around for so many years as a young person how do you you know grapple with that and come out like with the the sort of attitude that you have now that is such an awesome question and I was giving that a lot of thought last evening because the pain didn't stop there when I got married at 21 and had a child my spouse was addicted to heroin so you can imagine what kind of life that was I decided not to go to college I went and got a job immediately out of high school and we were married for quite a number of years and then I met someone else we divorced and he was abusive physically so I've been cold cocked I've been picked up and body slammed I've had my head run through a wall part of the journey but it doesn't end there so when I'm done with him I meet someone else this particular person had me smoking crack cocaine part of the journey yeah how old were you then I'm now in my 30s you know um but the crack cocaine was um so debilitating um and what we did was she and I I was working for the airlines when I started using the crack the guy that kind of used to whip me around he was a drug dealer um and then after I left him and I was living in Denver Colorado after I met met him left him and moved back to Los Angeles and um met my brand new person we decided we were going to cook crack cocaine form the rocks and sell them and that's how we would make our living well he liked to snort it and I like to smoke it so you can imagine where that lifestyle it was the chaos it was a higher mess and um I can remember being at my mother's home in the bedroom where I grew up now we grew up on the east side of L.A Washington Boulevard and Central Avenue went to Thomas Jefferson High School 20th Street Elementary School Carver junior high school so I was a East Side girl right I can remember sitting in this bedroom after smoking these rocks and going through a piggy bank and I can remember it was like a voice Sid so that's who you are now the piggy bank that you had as a kid piggy bank yeah that was the very last time I ever dealt with cocaine yeah I mean it's not not that different than you know sort of crawling through the carpet looking for the tiny rocks that my baby I smoke so much cornbread yeah child look but did you were you able to just stop or you say you have this Epiphany stopped yeah when that voice came to me I never went to anything I stopped when got a job with Republic Airlines and reservations and I can remember the very second paycheck I can remember driving on the 110 freeway and saying to myself man got this paycheck you could really get high today and the other voice said and mess everything up I have never looked back never looked back when it comes to this powerful that is not that many people I mean that's that's a tough one for most people and to do it kind of on your own is very unusual I did it yeah and I'm so proud of myself that I did it but I I I'm just now sharing this story um because I've walked in so many different shoes rich I I know that there's somebody out there that can identify with what I'm saying right now that knows exactly what I've been sure you know what I mean I have to share it's part of the journey it's part of the experience and what I've done because I I I embrace the love I met my current husband he turned me on to the vegan lifestyle he wasn't even vegan so now I'm reaching that point where healing is about to begin and I read two books Fit for Life by Harvey and Marilyn diamond and the mucusless diet healing system by Professor Arnold Eric changed my world let's put a pin in that for a moment though because you just turbocharged through a whole bunch of stuff that I don't want to bypass too quickly okay I'm I'm curious about how you you made peace with the tumult of of your childhood how you you know kind of um work through the pain of those abusive situations that you were in embracing love it was either be angry judgmental all of those things those those things are not going to heal me to take responsibility for being the human that I am and knowing that going forward each and every second of my journey I'm learning every single day I'm not running a hundred obviously but I learn every single day love is a lot easier than hating now I have said and I just learned this a few weeks ago I've said I don't regret not one step of my journey and I had someone say to me you should regret it those were horrible things that happened to you what's important is that you didn't wallow in it that's what's important right and and regret is usually associated with something that you did and these are things that happened to you exactly exactly but but now I can I feel it that way I I regret that man came up to my room and did that to me but I I didn't stay there I embraced love and that is where I am now it makes me want to cry it's like I could be a bitter old cranky lady but I realize I have each and every second guaranteed to me and I am now in control of those moments and if there's anybody out there that has gone through anything and you feel like you just just wait a second just wait a second and be in control of those moments because it means everything in terms of this journey and your life experiences and what I feel like I was called to do now I'm the hot vegan 72 years old you can't mess with me now I know now that's I mean that's Undisputed but um I think that Journey has a lot to do with cultivating self-love like you were a victim of horrible situations and I think it's very common and and uh you know to be expected that those experiences foment a sense of of shame or a sense of worthlessness that make it very difficult to hold yourself in in high regard so where does that instinct within you to Revere yourself so deeply come from is that the result of a spiritual practice is that something that you just have always had within you like how do you how do you uh you know sort of embody that sensibility of self-love such that because you can't give love and be of service if you're not thank you in healthy self-regard of yourself so true you know um I I I think as as a child I think it was always there but because I was so frightened I was scared a lot I was scared a lot that I was always going to be in trouble that something was was going to happen to me and then as I grew and because I was raped I was raped once had to have an abortion so when people have the conversation about abortions I'm like I paid eighty dollars for an abortion some woman came into my my home and gave me a a dish with uh something really weird I think she went to jail after that but it was like really weird so if anybody ever offers you anything like this the women say no thank you but it was Ivory liquid and pine salt oh my God and I paid her 83 to do that later on I think she did go to jail for really hurting somebody but um I don't know I I walked into this church um City of Angels and the person that was the speaker or the minister of that church was OC Smith God didn't make little green apples you remember him OC Smith I know but I know agape and yeah well I was there too I was there within at Agape and um OC just spoke to everyone I don't care if you had if you were a pre a professor sitting in that audience or somebody with like my mom a third grade education he spoke to everyone and I knew right then and there I'm home it was all about love it was all about now it was not living in yesterday because he used to say yesterday is a canceled check and tomorrow is an IOU all you have is the moment what do you choose to do with your moment and I just started Living that I got a teary eye and I have a nap here please somebody will get you one but it was it was that that started resonating with me I have the moment I am in complete and total control over my seconds and now thank you sweetheart now I can be as happy as I choose to be and that is where I stay empowering to have agency oh my God it's wonderful it really and true now that's not to say I don't shed a tear because honey I've shared some tears enough tears to drown um but I always I know where to go now to bring it back to reel it in to say this is your time yeah this is nobody else's moment but yours what are you gonna think how you gonna feel you're going to laugh you're gonna cry what are you gonna do with this moment this now when I see people I hugged you as soon as I saw you I believe in the Oneness of the universe I'm just I'm just somewhere else now believe that we all were created by the same intelligence and that we're one in this I don't care about complexions I think diversities are we need to be embracing each and every one of our differences and learning to love one another and that is what has gotten me through and that is why I don't wallow in yesterday and I really too worried about how I'm gonna pay the rent tomorrow because I got now yeah intellectually I'm a hundred percent there but in practice this is something that I struggle with like I woke up this morning Melancholy and thinking about things I could have done better the other day or a stone that's unturned that I should have turned over or a choice that I've made that wasn't you know kind of in alignment with the person that I want to be and I'll beat myself up and I'll run a tape and I'll loop on it and then I'll be up and I'll wake up in the middle of the night and think about it even though I know everything that you just said is true making that leap from understanding to practice to actually living it in the moment to moment is challenging right and you've seemed to have mastered that I have my moments I have my moments just like you I'm not running a hundred I just remind myself at 72 years old sweetheart I figured within the next 20 between now and 28 years that's what I have that's the time I have and I don't want to be as miserable as I was hmm so I remind myself even if somebody hurts my feelings I'll either either have a gentle conversation with them this is how you made me feel let's move past this or or I just let it go I take responsibility for it period yeah I am you are totally responsible for you and I'm responsible for me and my feelings and that's the good news and the bad news it but but it but it is what it is and we've been given the power that is a beautiful thing Rich to have the power to determine what your moments are going to feel like that's power I take and accept that power so you have this realization how old were you when this kind of came into your awareness I was probably uh man this life has gone so quickly it's not probably around in my late 30s yeah you know something like that and during that period of time you had all these different careers you worked for the the airlines but you were you were a hairdresser right and you were a singer and then you were like singing in Tokyo and like there's all kinds I mean like there's so many layers like the chef thing is like the most recent thing yes you did a lot of things the floor Arrangements that was a balloon designer I did balloon designer I did all kinds of stuff oh you know what but isn't that the beauty of the journey and especially a little girl coming from the east side of L.A that we had nothing to be able to say life is still good I want to see what more it has to offer and I'm just going to do me I decided not to go to college so I didn't have that but you know what I was I had a lot of gifts yeah I was singing and that's how you end up meeting Ron right how do you know all this stuff pretty much I have not even had a conversation with you it's a little bit of homework try to understand who I'm going to be sitting across from I should say because I was going to say it at the outset like you're here because I was at the mercy for Animals Gala benefit and they gave you an award and they showed this video and you got up and you accepted this award and you gave this impassioned speech and I just I didn't know who you were and I was like I don't know who that person is but like I need to know more about her I need some of that energy in my life like I'm getting her on the show you know come hell or high one I learned everything that is so adorable I love it okay what did you just ask me how did you know about it through your you initially met him through didn't you audition well actually um he had a friend that um I was still eating fish I was at the fish market buying some dinner I had um I had just gotten rid of all the men in my world and so um yeah I did I used I used to be a hair stylist I so I I had a um like a little Salon created on my service porch and um I went to the fish market and I met this guy Ron's friend and they had a band and so they invited me over I said yeah well I'm a singer they invited me over to come and audition and I did and that's how I met Rondo Davis and he actually prepared my very first vegan meal for me and it was amazing because food that was another thing that was hard on me I had eczema asthma I was a Wipeout couldn't couldn't digest my food because I just ate the standard American diet and was killing me um and he he prepared this beautiful vegan meal for me and he um offered me those two books and um I thought he was kind of cute you know so okay I'm gonna read the books I'm not really that big of a reader but I'll read these books best thing that ever happened to me hmm yeah so Fit for Life and the mucusless diet healing system okay I've heard a Fit for Life I haven't heard of the that other book though yeah but Professor Arnold Eric it's all about reducing inflammation that's essentially and that's what he believed Arnold arid believed I don't care what name you give a disease you're pretty much just inflamed sure so all of this are chronic lifestyle diseases that we're suffering from yeah whether it's obesity heart disease Etc you know can be tracked to the level of inflammation right that we have and that inflammation as a result of the foods that we're eating and the lifestyle that we're living exactly so prior to that though paint the picture of your relationship with food and exercise you know as a as a person the pre I guess we're talking about the pre-run well you know I was um when I was a kid in high school I was really fast I could always run really fast a great Sprinter um but when I got my first job I just kind of sat down like everybody else I stopped moving and when I met him it it it has to be wrong when I met him our first date was going up running the hills at Griffith Park well he ran the whole thing backwards and I kept thinking to myself something is wrong with this man right and I couldn't understand but I don't know if I like him that much I don't know if I like him that much really how many more inclines and he would say oh just another one around the corner but I thought to myself because he was only two years older than me and I thought wow if he can run this whole thing backwards I'm struggling walking one of these days I'm gonna be able to run this hill yeah and the food part so what was your diet like growing up free free Ron's first meal honey give me a pig I ate everything from the rooted to the tuna I actually ate chitterlings I actually cooked chitlins I cooked chitlins I saw the poop and chitlins and still boiled them and ate them so you know I just I I ate what you do but the Recon sugar very hard on me um I could hardly wear anything backless now you can hardly keep me out of something backless um like I said my skin was just ripped especially after I got I and every single month I broke out in my face like with a rash that's crazy because your skin is absolutely isn't that incredible isn't that incredible no sense isn't it it and and it was all diet related it was all diet related unbelievable I finally learned started uh treating myself to massages and scrubs and I was like 72 and you got skin they feel like this so it was just a brand new world that just I entered into with healthy eating I could eat and I wasn't making the loudest belches on the planet and I wasn't constipated constantly um it just everything just got easier and then with the movement I got stronger so now I feel worse if I'm not moving than I do keeping it going yeah yeah it's it's not dissimilar from my own story which also started at 40 changing my relationship to food finding a plant-based diet and then having that Resurgence of Vitality and energy that got me interested in movement and fitness for the first time in a long time and those two things kind of you know overlapping each other is a very powerful really combination it really is and I heard about your story too and I thought about man he was doing that thing around the same I mean you know the same age as myself yeah I think at 40 you know that's a moment where you start to reflect a little bit I'm like on the right path here you know you're maybe you're a little more open to some changes than you would other otherwise um and it was a Line in the Sand kind of thing for me just like it sounds like it was for you like you all right so you go on this hike with [ __ ] he's running backwards he prepares this meal he gives you these books you read these books the light bulb goes off and you kind of like basically just cross that line in the sand and that was it just like putting the crack pipe down exactly yeah exactly and and and now in terms of the whole because it's it's not always been that I've just been so um it's been it's very important to be now to take responsibility for myself and my feelings no matter no matter what I I I take responsibility for those things in particular but it wasn't always like that I did a lot of finger pointing and if it wasn't for you and if it hadn't been for that and if I would you know what I'm saying the victim the victim and um it's it it doesn't really serve me in my life to to be the victim I don't need to hold grudges so how did you make that switch just understanding and and and that's happening right today Rich that it's been a gradual thing for me to understand um because I can cry like that it does it's not always coming from out there why are you really crying why is this really hurting you you know um so I take responsibility for me and I just think it's important for each and every one of us to do that and to understand that they're all learning experiences I I just appreciate this human Journey so very much because from whence I came to where I am now and my voice being bigger and bigger I would have never thought anybody would ever even listen to me but to now share that Human Experience and embrace love that is the key to all of our issues is love it really is I can't say it enough yeah it uh it's certainly something we need a little bit more of right now we need a whole bunch more of it yeah I feel like that relationship with love and and connection with each other and an appreciation of the wholeness uh is a little bit fractured right now it's very fractured but that's why we are individually responsible each of us you understand when each of us takes on the responsibility of embracing love and understanding that there is no separation it's like I am just an expression of my creator period it's like I can't make that amazing mac and cheese I met made today before I left the restaurant without it being also an expression of me yeah and so I know that I believe I was created in and of this power of love and so I feel better in that space than I do anywhere else I feel like I've known you forever I don't my mother never met strangers and I remember that as a kid I was like this lady talks to everybody is wrong with her she never met a stranger people loved her wherever she went I'm her now I just I just want to embrace you I just want to love you I'm not thinking about anything else I don't I don't want to yeah it's it's it's a beautiful Act of service also to uh to embody that natural disposition but also as somebody who makes food to prepare food with that love and then give it to somebody else like that is you know there's a there's there's something beautiful so beautiful about that right you really know like obviously I get the sense that all the food you make is injected with your you know very specific vibration of love like it's a transmission of energy there's a sacredness to that and when I have my moments I'm human when I have those moments when I'm somebody has said something to me in the restaurant a Rondo said something to me in the restaurant and um I have to remember the energy I have to remember me touching this food and I'm handling food calm down let's go outside oh my gosh is it a practice oh we've been in our screaming matches before because we're it's real I'm not trying to paint a picture to you that that comes off like I'm Gandhi yeah yeah I guess that no but there's there's uh but awareness is what I have now awareness and appreciation of the innate fallibility of The Human Condition yeah you know yes yes and to you know make space for Grace with that yes right I feel like most people want to eat better they want to improve their diets absolutely have you heard of it I've heard of it this trips up so many people we thought hey we know a couple things about how to do this a few so we created this thing called the plant power meal planner that is this beautiful offering whereby you gain access to literally thousands of plant-based recipes that you can totally customize based upon your preferences your allergies your peccadillos it integrates with grocery delivery so all the ingredients that you need get shipped right to your door so you can make the stuff that you've pre-selected and we all could use a little inspiration and support when preparing meals for our families in our busy lives so we hope you join us no matter what your eating style is we have our arms open wide and we've saved you a space at our family table to join us in eating more healthy vibrant plant-based meals and if you're looking for the perfect holiday gift for a loved one right now for a limited time we're offering twenty dollars off meal planner gift cards through December 15th visit meals.richroll.com to claim the offer again for twenty dollars off meal planner gift cards from now until December 15th visit meals Dot richroll.com [Laughter] so you have this kind of Awakening moment and you're embracing the Vitality of the foods that you're eating and learning to prepare but when does the light bulb moment of like I'm going to now take what I'm learning about food and make it an offering for other people you know Ron and I um we we dated for two years and so I met him in 1919. and we got married in 1992. and our our lifestyle was pretty cool you know we injected movement in that and we've got a healthy diet we're feeling good and I'm thinking this food is really good um maybe we should share this so after I went to Japan I thought I was going to be a singer but when I was over there I was cooking for everybody and working out and I was like you know my thing is really really movement and food right now that's where I am so when I got back to the States I decided I'm gonna I'm gonna maybe have myself uh what do you call those uh a company where I I can prepare food for people if they're having parties catering catering that's what I thought I was going to do and um Ron eventually asked me would you like for me to help you in this and I said sure why not so we had an opportunity to go over to Agape Spiritual Center and uh Reverend Michael Beckwith allowed us to bring our cart that we had built on the parking lot and we began to accumulate block long lines what years was this this was like okay um late 90s early 2000s I don't even know rich I don't know man it's 20 22. I'm trying to think were you there I was yeah no my wife and I would go to Agape I mean we we on Slauson in Culver in Culver City yeah yeah um maybe 90 2000 2002 three around that era we we went pretty frequently and we would eat so I'm pretty sure I'm sure you ate my food it had to be the early 2000s too because we were on the parking lot for six years and um we okay 2004 we got the building on Market Street we had no money it was a gift in Inglewood um the owner just almost gifted us the place and I remember it was 2004 it took us four years to open the doors because we had to get in there and try to fix everything up right and um so yeah I was I was on the parking lot at Agape for six years so it had to be the beginning you know yeah yeah early 2000 pretty sure yeah yeah it was great the tacos were really pop they were wild rice tacos long line and they were pretty popular and I had this souped up as like a souped up top uh hot dog cart um and we had a griddle Refrigeration we could make smoothies on the other side it was just awesome and we'd set up every Sunday and um yeah it was great and then we wound up opening the rest of the doors in 2008. we didn't even have table and chairs I think we had the three Bistro tables and chairs we didn't even have trash cans but we opened the doors because I heard that if you open the doors the people will come and sure enough but that's when mercy of our animals gave us our they they really put us on the map yeah they really did did uh business go through the roof let me tell you when they did that first video of me the first one um yeah it was the first time we ever had lines like that we couldn't even keep up we couldn't even keep up it was incredible the the the food cart at Agape in the parking lot is almost like perfect training wheels to figure out like how do you make a business out of this what are the recipes people like so that by the time you're in the restaurant you kind of have an understanding of what to do we had already basically people had already tested the food we knew it would sell we knew people liked it you know um and the only other thing that we added because we were in Inglewood it was predominantly black and brown community at the time um we hadn't brought the soul food platter into it so it was still just tacos burritos the enchilada pie that had to be the only plant-based restaurant it was it wasn't anywhere on our side on our side of the street it was a desert there was not too much going on downtown Inglewood in 2008. yeah but um yeah we um we added people would come in and you know no chicken no no meat what is this and um I would treat them to Tacos because come back try my taco but I had to put the soul food platter on the menu yeah it was it was vital but you were chasing people down the street you were running out and giving them free food come back in here and let me give you a taco yeah how much free food did you give away I might have given away a whole bunch of free food but but guess what some of those people became they became perfect customers and I still have some of those customers today yeah you know well what's interesting is first of all you you make the decision to to open the restaurant in 2008 which is the peak of the recession yes when you decide to open up organic plant-based you know Cuisine place in a in a food desert uh and offer it to a demographic of people who who you know aren't inclined to you know be favorable to that was that just who did that no but like I want to understand like how and and now you've made it work like I want to you know you've got through the pandemic I want to talk about that but you know when we talk about healthy eating plant-based or not like how are we educating people about how to take care of themselves amidst a health uh you know Health Care crisis in which increasingly you know more and more people are succumbing and falling prey to these chronic lifestyle ailments that are entirely avoidable through making different choices and also ailments that are disproportionately impacting communities of color and and lower income you know neighborhoods so on some level like do you feel you know this this this this calling uh or a sense of responsibility to try to do something about this or was this merely an expression of your passion and a way to create a business around it like how do you think about those broader issues about Health Nutrition diet disease and and uh you know and how it impacts your community it was all about um a responsibility it was more than just uh creating a business for myself because trust me I did not have to put a salad on every plate and we were the two my husband and I were the two people that would come by your plate and be like the only life on your plate is that salad why are you not eating do you need it to go container for that salad you need to eat that salad even if it's customers who were willing to at least come in and pay now you're gonna scare them but but what I started learning um through studying The China Study just you know just increasing my knowledge about my lifestyle if you will and what I'm sharing with the message now we created a um I like to say that our menu is one that helps you transition it's a transitional menu um I have a lot of belief in eating food lives I know that that is the best food for me to grab hold too because I know that every time I'm cooking something to certain temperatures I'm killing the life in that food let food be thy medicine and Medicine be thy food so I would explain to people I'd put a salad on your plate so you have some life on your plate this menu is a transitional menu but it'll take you away from clogged arteries and some of the horrible diseases we're faced with today and I would always I would I would always sit down with people and talk to them not brow beat them except for the salad but but just share with them like I would always make this example you love chicken I love chicken too I didn't quit eating chicken because I didn't like it but check this out if you burned yourself and it blistered what's in the blister and they would say puss or body fluids and I'd say okay so you take that piece of chicken you stick it in the oven you pull it out and you open it up what is that stuff oozing out of that chicken and they'd go they've taught you that that stuff easing out of that chicken is juice it's body fluids it you subjected it to temperature high temperatures you've cooked it and now it's that stuff is oozing out but you would never prick that burn you never think about pricking that burn and sucking those Deuces no you wouldn't I would do that people come in and all that speech goes they tell me they tell me that story a lot of them have transitions because of that yeah because I don't think we think enough about what we're eating what we're really eating what we're really ingesting we don't give enough thought to it I used to think everything sold in the supermarket because of all of our governmental agencies they're supposed to have our back I used to think everything if it's not if it's sold in the supermarket it's okay to eat I really thought that way do you know how many of us think that way most people or if they think about it at all think about it at all thank you very much so they survived those lessons from Chef B okay that's hilarious um how has it like impacted the the sort of community more broadly though like the Inglewood Community like I you know like so much of it is an entry point right but then they're going to go home and they're going to do what they're going to do and you know health care is about follow-up care too and I would consider you to be a healthcare practitioner in the in the the truest sense of the word um but really changing people's habits in a sustainable way is as much about education and follow-up and accountability and creating kind of a you know a a community you know Bond over a certain value that takes root you know more of that is happening now that I'm older um because of who I am today um people believe me I think they believe they believe me more than they did when I was younger you know um they don't understand how can you do 75 push-ups at 72. why are you still running that hill at 72 years why do you still look like that at 72. it was self-love and self-care and now um I have people coming in saying you know you taught me about such and such a long time ago when you guys first opened so now I hear more of that you know um but the beauty is that the change on the planet right now I just came from Saint Martin and they had vegan so you know what I'm saying they understand vegan um so because of uh documentaries like some of the ones that we've seen that got people kind of fired up um it's made my job and my place in the community community more welcomed and um it just has made my job easier if you will well I think what you're doing is I would argue you know more important than the average person who maybe is your age or eats well or even has a restaurant in that because of the fact that that you know these these chronic ailments are disproportionately impacting communities of color you need role models and people to look up to who are you know living a certain lifestyle as Educators and inspirers because the vegan movement or plant-based or whatever is is is often characterized as an aspirational kind of high net worth lifestyle that you know isn't accessible to most people right and how can you do it on a budget how can we make it more accessible and affordable especially in food desert communities where all they have is a bodega and a fast food restaurant on the corner they don't even have a supermarket with the healthy options amongst the unhealthy options at the same time and that is really like we're not going to solve this problem unless we solve that problem which I think is the biggest problem and the communities that need the most education assistance help Etc you're absolutely right about that and I um I would have to agree with you I do um Ron and I made the decision because and that's why we named the place stuff I.E um we're pretty much organic um uh that cost us a grip of money right but um raise the prices you know what I'm saying in a restaurant we brought it to a community where they could have cared less about organic but that was one of our teaching points if you try to get organic if you can but if you cannot try to stay plant-based um but it it wasn't and isn't that simple but doing what we've done we've been a gift I'd say to the community because when they couldn't go anywhere else they knew we were there and then they would bring parents in that are not feeling good can you do can you suggest to us or my child has a lot of dye I heard you had asthma what did you do for that and that's when the the gifting begins educating sharing where I've come from what I've been through what Rondell has been through with all of those who care to know and um it was a it was a very important purpose for Stuff I Eat to be there and to be there then and now um and thank God we made it through covet yeah I mean how did you how did you do that when it closed so many restaurants uh we wound up um just opening up what was it Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday four days a week we sit down and for um just take away and um we had to let go yeah quite a few employees so we're still down very limited on employees um we're just coming back we're still not a hundred percent you know um but um we're not going anywhere either yeah as a matter of fact we're now contemplating um a stuff I need to express more of a franchise situation uh probably won't have the soul food platter in there but the easier you know because like I said I make my own Burgers everybody loves a good burger uh but they're clean Burgers I you know I just said and and that's another thing we don't feed people out of boxes and you know I like fresh food everything kind of comes from plants and nuts and seeds and it works that way except for like uh I just I just beefed up my Mac and Cheese because I kind of want stuff I eat to be known for some serious mac and cheese like Grandma's mac and cheese but vegan so I've done that but with like a cashew sauce yeah actually um we're using just one of the non-dairy milks uh water and um some of the vegan cheese to do that but I'm putting more cheese on it and so it's coming off like the traditional mac and cheese instead of just this creamy out of the box mac and cheese I got you oh yeah but as a transition food as an entry point you can if you can deliver on that yes you got a customer who you know you can pivot or kind of push them towards the Cell 100 is so true but you know they're eating their salads now okay I don't doubt it I mean listen it's one thing to profess a healthy lifestyle or give somebody the science or have them write a book but I think what really um impacts people the most is when they see somebody who is a living example of a certain lifestyle and they're doing it in a way that is is aspirational but still like you know not so far out there that they can't see themselves in that person and I feel like you serve that role beautifully in many categories I mean first of all somebody who's been eating you know an organic plant-based diet and I don't know probably predominantly raw for like 30 years right now you're you're on the cusp of turning 72 you're like I said earlier you're just you're radiating positivity your skin is insane like you I mean I I it's it's crazy that you're 72 like you just you look like I don't know you look like you're 36 or something and you're totally jacked you got like veins coming out of your arm you can do push-ups all day and on Instagram you're sharing these videos of you doing your exercise routine and it's very inspiring and it's very empowering like reframing how we think about aging and having this conversation around longevity and the relationship between the choices that we make the things we put in our body the the choices we make about how we interact with other people like it's more than just oh here's a salad it's about that self-love piece it's about exuding love it's about like how are you being of service how are you contributing all of these things that you're about without being preachy you're just an example and they say like in the parlance of recovery you can't transmit something you haven't got in other words you can't be you can't be an example of something if you're not actually living it yourself or you haven't like intuited all of those habits and you so clearly do that in a beautiful way and I think that's the real power in your message yes of course the restaurant and all of that but you now have this platform where you can talk about these things and I think it really um you know I know for myself even it really helps you rethink about what our relationship is to getting older and what that means it's a beauty of it the beauty of the aging process and after that's this entire Journey to be able to say that I'm 72 and enjoy each and every moment of um my time on this planet in this form um it's just amazing and I'm so grateful to life I really am I'm so grateful to have this opportunity to do what it is that I do and love it so much um wow you said a mouthful let's let's walk me through the fitness routine I want to know first of all you don't sleep I I we can talk about that like I've read that you get up at like 2 30 in the morning I don't know about that I go to bed at six okay if I go to bed at six come on all right they left that part out I get plenty of rest trust I'm very very still and quiet at home most of the time I'm I'm to myself I live alone I enjoy that um um but yeah I usually wake up between 1 30 and 2. and usually I just get up because then you know I'm I'm getting myself ready if I'm gonna go work out with shop Nam or um go to the restaurant that day I just get my day started early um like you said the energy my energy is just off the roof so I'm you know ready to go but um to be able to um to be able to share that and let people know that man part of part of the whole self-loving thing is to be a part of all of this to be able to move you know if if if I want to run a shield I can run a hill I don't want to have a Life Alert I don't I don't want to get in the bathtub and can't get out so I force myself to take baths sometimes I'm not always taking showers make sure you get your butt out the tub uh but that's the whole thing when you get older it's all about like if you fall down and you can't and you can't get that's that's what people need to really understand now of course sometimes we have accidents that you know is not any fault of our own but uh well we just sit down and just let it go that's generally what will happen to you lose strength and another thing that I I think is I'm not a superficial person I am I enjoy the aging process I don't look like I looked when I was 60. you know what I mean but however it is however this look is going to be as I age I embrace it because just think I had lived an entire lifetime looking different so you know what I mean it's not a bad thing to have the the crow's feet I I don't I don't care to use anything to get rid of that I'm okay with it I want to see what it's going to be I saw one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen before she weared lines like in this table but she was beautiful she was beautiful and if just too she owned it and she she's comfortable yeah oh she was just gorgeous and that is how we should all be because it's each step of the journey that we embrace and appreciate and don't you know I can't I can't wear that I can't wear the bushy eyelashes it's gonna be a little bit too over that that don't work on this face but you did when you turned 70 you posted these you did like a bathing suit bananas like when everybody was sharing that and it went crazy that one went that was another like inflection point in your your your kind of story arc right yeah people really really love that I got a little bold the next year and did bikinis and stuff but this year I am gonna do uh a beautiful um um photo of myself but um you'll see it it'll be but no more bathing suit so I'm good for that I still have my little calendars I wasn't able to give them all away and now it's the end of the year you made like a bathing suit calendar and yes I should have brought you one hang it up over here oh man we got to get you one you gotta get you one yeah so I I still want to go through like the day in the life the 2 30 wake up the what is the routine I know you go to the restaurant quite early but like walk me through a day in the life of like food Fitness being a chef especially if I'm working that day and working out that day so I get up around two um take care of myself pull out my um paint gun and spray paint the face once I got her all beat up and wrapped my hair then I'm out of but but I I am I do have this to admit I got a little OCD so everything has to be exactly right in the house I can't stand hair in the bathroom uh-huh that's goofy but but I once everything is exactly the way I want it to be so when I come home I come home to what I left then I head over to the restaurant and I prep generally from like four in the morning until we open wow I do all the cooking right now and sometimes I think I just you need to find yourself a chef I'm too old for this but that's a hard I'm in a restaurant man that's Relentless it's work sweetheart you don't have Sous chefs and no no no no no no no no I the one Chef that I had there uh she's working in Arizona now she had to move I loved her she was awesome but she's gone and then covet hit so we let everybody go so it's me now coming back now it's me you know coming back after this goes up I'm gonna get some new people over there and I know and then you know had the bank account a little bit there you go hire some help but yeah right at the moment I'm responsible as a matter of fact I was working before I came here today I worked all day yesterday because I had been out of town for a while traveling and um so yeah I I worked all day yesterday and went in there and they still had a list for me this morning so I completed the list came over here and uh the rest of the day is mine I think we have a zoom call today but typically are you in you know when you're not doing podcasts you're you're in the restaurant all day and then you I'm in the restaurant usually till noon um and then uh if if my trainer can um see me after I'm out of the restaurant I'll go over there get about an hour workout on with her uh stop stop by rainbow Acres get all my goodies and then go back to the house and um enjoy Babette for the rest of the evening I live a very simple life um I'm careful about the energy that comes into my space because of my what I've been through I understand I'm very very careful and now I pay attention to signs whereas as as a kid you know something would be presented to me and I'd be like isn't that that big a deal I can handle that no no I pay attention to the Signs Now um because I'm responsible for me so how do you work through what you say yes to and what you say no to well um if if it doesn't if it doesn't feel right um I'm real big on not hurting I don't I don't want to create pain for anybody I don't like messy I don't want to be involved in anything where it's going to be messy and somebody's going to wind up getting I don't I know I don't want I'm not into hurting that's not what I'm about and if I hurt you let me know because I am the first to humbly apologize to you that is not my purpose here to inflict pain so um at my age I take control I take control of me and then if I'm not in the restaurant maybe a trainer has has time for me at eight o'clock in the morning I hit it right over there to my trainer we get a cool workout on and the rest of the day is mine most of the times I'm busy on zooms or you know doing something nowadays but uh I have a very very simple beautiful life right now yeah yeah um but the fitness routine that's basically like strength training that's everything you're in the gym and some hiking or stairs you like to do the stairs and stuff like that but it's pretty big I had a torn growing so I hadn't been really doing too much of the hype because um I'm a part of a docu-series in Houston Texas and um yeah so we were we I was feeling good from the grad I didn't feel like I still had the tear and we went to the track we got to the track sister was sprinting and I was like yeah I feel really good so I got up there and and all the athletes um were like no no Chef you haven't stretched you haven't I got out there and I by the time I got to the end I had to limp back yeah you know how grow on tear will do it takes a long time a long time yeah so we've been very careful my trainer and I going forward not to stretch that too much and I stairs I love stairs and you know I love running heels I just posted a video when we were in Saint Martin of me hitting the hill um I just love movement I love knowing that I can move I love that I I I've often thought if something ever happened and I was the only person that could get to help even at my age I know I'm in shape enough to do that right that's maintaining that is so key especially as you get older consistency yeah like the the gym stuff becomes really important I I I started with one push-up and every day I would add a push-up and uh if I couldn't add a push-up I do the numbers that I'd done the day before but I tell people that I tell women that start with one inch by inch Life's a cinch yeah whether it's push-ups or anything anything that's that's the way you do anything yeah it's by starting with one starting with one like I have to do at least 72 push-ups on my birthday so I'm gonna do it in the restaurant anybody that wants to come to the restaurant and hang out and either get down there and do some push-ups with me maybe I'll give you a taco this is why you can't hire somebody to help you in the restaurant you're giving away too much stuff that's my husband you suck like but but I figured like this if somebody suggested to me because I was doing set to 25 and someone said you know I I can do that many but I do sets of ten and then I thought that's a lot easier because the the the time between sets is only like a minute or two versus three to four minutes when I'm doing set to 25. so I'm gonna do set to 10 I might even get push out a hundred honey yeah well if you break it down into sets of ten then it's easier to build exactly exactly yeah yeah so there you go um yeah tell me about the docuser okay check this out I I'm so this is another thing that's so exciting I'm in two Series right now how do you get to be 70 years old and then somebody invites you to be a part in the series now the one series is called the right turn series I'm so excited I play myself pretty much in that and that's probably coming out towards the end of the year um but then the the um uh heart and soul of a champion is uh Dr Baxter Montgomery who uh is a board-certified cardiologist and he's healing people through diet and exercise literally he has a raw food restaurant in his practice so when his patients come in and I mean patients with like taking 15 16 different meds yeah number levels all off the chart and he puts them on a raw diet and guess what they don't have to go home and cook you just go to his kitchen and they'll bag you up your meal and he has this in his Medical Practice Medical practice we were discussed in Houston right it's in Houston we were just at um a Gala event that he put on and um very um beautiful doctors came to speak we had John Sally there um I love John yeah there was another doctor there that I just fell in love with I can't Ken Williams Oh I know oh Kim Williams Kim Williams incredible incredible but yeah former president of the American Association of cardiologists smart as can be and he laid it out at that that um a Gala and um just the fact that everybody that I was responsible for interviewing our guests as they came in everybody's Story the same Rich healing from food and movement healing really really really chronic illnesses and they're all like in tears because Dr Baxter Montgomery practicing medicine that's healing people through diet it's just incredible beautiful yeah and this docu-series includes um you got athletes you remember green um what's his name um he was the fastest runner um yeah Sprinter yeah he he was run at football football player NFL player yes oh yeah he was there uh just several different athletes and the the docu-series shows you how they came in and how he got him within a few weeks get their numbers down and all that kind of stuff you know how it goes as soon as you start the human body just starts to heal if you're consistent and if you're true isn't it incred isn't it such it's just so intelligent it knows what to do it does yeah now look remember you gave me this because my eye was tearing my body always tells me when I've gotten I've been a little out I went to Saint Martin for some days and I came back and we had to go to uh Houston and then I wound up in Vegas you know that whole travel thing this eye gets inflamed if I'm it's time to fast in other words now once I fast and I'll probably do the master cleanse because um I'm gonna go hard on the cayenne pepper and the lemon and and that sort of thing within a week's time all this tearing will subside been there done that interesting and very interesting very interesting you do that a couple times a year oh I have to I I do it like about I usually do three to four times a year now Master Cleanse This Master cleanses I'm going hard on this one because I really need cayenne pepper maple syrup and the lemon juice right yeah yeah that's hardcore that one's serious yeah but it works it really does work as a matter of fact I can remember the first time doing that and all of a sudden after day four I could smell everything I was like whoa I'm smelling everything now it's it's an incredible cleanse wow and incredible plans have you ever played around with intermittent fasting okay that's my thing that's how so what does that look like for you I don't even weigh myself I was still in shop now I just make sure I keep that separation between my thighs you know what I'm saying yeah and I'm good to go I'm good I don't need a scale it's like no I'm still good here where is the docu series gonna air um I would have to I think towards the end of the year I think the First episodes are getting ready to refer do you know where I don't I don't have that information but we'll definitely Baxter Montgomery yeah brilliant brilliant brilliant Houston it's interesting that you know with all the the documentaries what the health and all that kind of thing and the the explosion of interest in the plant-based lifestyle and the number of plant-based restaurants and food products and the level of education has expanded I mean it's CR you know compared to 2008 when you open your restaurant and you know that's kind of when I was starting yeah it's a thing that it wasn't back then but still people have difficulty wrapping their head around really getting on board even seeing you at 72 banging out the push-ups and with your skin and you know rocking the attitude and like the whole thing they're like yeah but like where am I going to get my protein how's this going to work like I I don't maybe maybe you know but that is some crazy outlier and it's not possible for me like so how do you think about and communicate with that person first of all we're all animals we're part of the human species we're all the same period if it works for me it will work for you self-love self-care period educate yourself because knowledge is power don't walk around here being ignorant and saying ignorant things and keeping yourself in an ignorant space there's so much knowledge out here to be to be gained all those documentaries that you mentioned do not often how many times I've watched what the health and I always see something that I missed I just try to stay knowledgeable because I know that this lifestyle this side of the tracks has done me good so I want to know more and more and more I can't change anybody's mind but I can be an example and maybe somebody will change their mind now I don't know how quickly any of this change is going to happen for the masses we may not even be here but I do know it's not just about the one species on the planet is it about the whole it's about our home it's like you gotta at least understand that the climate is changing because we're too hot so and that is primarily because of what we're doing and our obsession with money and power and greed when the planet goes for me it goes for you too you understand so I don't care how much money you have and you can jet off into outer space if you want to but if you don't know how to take care of this home you're not going to know how to take care of that home either so my thing is you better educate yourself and you better understand where protein comes from all the different sources as a matter of fact here's the old 72 year old telling you youngsters out there Google it I love that you're extreme like you're just like I'm done with that I'm over here now right like I that's the way I function most people don't function that way it will they're like I need a little well I'm gonna try this and Dabble around in this takes them a little bit longer everybody's different and you as a as an example or somebody who's trying to like lead or hold somebody's hand you have to be patient with that I could still be crawling around on the force smoking cornbread the other thing though also is that you know your entry point was your own personal health as it was for me and now you're talking about you know healing the planet and our Collective responsibility to you know shoulder you know what we have to do to prevent catastrophe that's you know uh uh that's a realization that only comes in time with this starting point okay and you know look personal health you can characterize that as sort of selfish like I just care what I want to feel like and Etc so somebody who says to you yeah but I like my chicken or it's like you know it's about my personal choice and what I want right and then the retort of course is listen you know the the planet's burning we need to understand like how we're manufacturing our food and the downstream implications of that on you know CO2 emissions and all these other things that you know are are part and parcel of the consumer choices that we're making every day yeah I I and and we we always responsible for those choices even us in the restaurant plastic plastic is over the top yeah it's crazy and and it's hard to get around that because it's very you want to put a product out into the world or your your vendors are sending you stuff and everything is like and there's no other way of doing it exactly like you kind of have to figure out how to do your best with a terrible situation that's where you as the individual you've got to take responsibility you have to that is why that is why I'm not crawling around looking for cocaine rocks is because my mother if she didn't teach me anything else she taught me responsibility she did teach me that and um it used to be all about me but I'm one with all of it so once I began to understand my Oneness with the whole then it it wasn't just all about me yeah you uh that yeah part of that speech comes out in your uh your brow beating of of Howard Schultz and that Starbucks oh yes but yeah so talk about that the campaign uh to get because Starbucks up charges for their plant-based milks but they don't for their Dairy they give away the creamer you can take as much creamer as you want and and no extra charge but you're gonna charge me for a plant-based alternative I can't do dairy I'm one of your customers that cannot do dairy not just because I'm vegan I can't do it lactose intolerant exactly so you require me to pay more for the plant-based option as wealthy as you are give a little give a little for the whole do that yeah there's a you I'll put it's on YouTube I'll link it up in the show now it's nice has there been any movement there any any response official responses you know they just got in touch with me today on doing something else with them I was like Starbucks that's it you know what I'm down whatever we can do whatever I can say what they gonna do to old lady yeah yeah well you need me that's the good thing about getting older is you start to just not give a [ __ ] you don't care anymore you don't care no no because I know that what I'm saying and what I'm offering is truth and it's for the it's for the good of all I'm not I'm not over there putting out [ __ ] I'm telling you the truth through my experiences and I'm sharing that with you listen or not but but no no voicemail from Howard yet not yet um I'm hoping maybe maybe I could get a little you know but you know I haven't heard anything there's an interesting on this subject of of kind of expanding your Consciousness you change your relationship with food you're bringing a different vibration into your body you start to you know raise your you know awareness of other things that maybe you've been told earlier that aren't quite correct and you start to question some paradigms out there whether it's the food pyramid or uh you know ideas around what's good for you and what's not good for you obviously that leads you into an awareness of of you know how we're treating all these animals with how we're raising them for food and it's not a big leap from That Into You know kind of Justice more broadly right so how do you think about like your relationship with food and and sort of the movement around that with respect to you know the animal rights issue and also just food Justice more broadly well in terms of especially with uh in terms of the animal rights um we don't have the capacity to serve animals and their byproducts to the masses we we we're not we fit we're failing at that we just don't have the capacity um when you think about animal waste um and our water and our air and all of those things when you think when you make that connection you realize we don't have the capacity we are we have not we are we have failed when it comes to producing animals for food we failed um we're filling our health individual health we're feeling the health of our planet we're killing off sentient beings that want to have a life that deserve to enjoy their experience if you will we kill elephants for Tusk are you kidding me are you kidding me and so we feel like we kill enough of them so if we if they die off we got these tusks we can say what is wrong with you it's it's it's so it's so selfish in the way that we we think and live we're very very selfish and we don't have a problem hurting others to be that way and it's for me it just um it's painful to watch but at the same time as an individual I have to do my part and speak my truth um I hope that's answering part of your of your yeah I mean certainly you know we've we've created in this factory farming industrial complex that we've you know created a highly unsustainable and and toxic industry that is you know slaughtering and and torturing billions of animals every year if there's one thing that it does successfully it it it it it creates a situation in which that animal uses the least amount of resources and is on the planet as shortly as possible to blow it up and turn it into food but the byproducts the waste it's an intolerable situation and it's just I think it's you know toxic on a soul level too because we've normalized it and we turn a blind eye to it and we just say well this is what we need to do to feed ourselves and we all need to eat but I think there's you know in the in the you know background of our Consciousness we all know that it's deeply wrong right and so how does that kind of erode you know how we feel about ourselves as a species I guess right and if we can't resolve that within ourselves how do we then you know treat our brothers and sisters with the highest respect and regard you're right and that right there sounds like self-love to me if you don't love you you can't live outside of you and that's what I think is happening because I love me so I'm gonna find out what caused the eczema what caused the asthma and I stay clear of those things because now I don't want to hurt me the individual by ingesting those things that are going to cause me issues that's practicing some self-love right there but if you don't care to find out the truth about what you should be ingesting as a human then that means you have very little love for you and so you shouldn't as heck are not going to have too much love for anybody else and especially animal now you gonna love that dog I'm gonna love that dog a cat that dog and that cat better not touch that dog or that cat but the hell with the pig cow chicken or turkey so it's like or fish what are we doing we go out and we catch all these fish and all we want is tuna so what do we do with the rest of the fish you know what I'm saying so it's it's it's us individually every each and every one of us has to determine what is important to me about The Gift of Life what is truly important to me and and being amongst I I went to Yellowstone one year it was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life and to see all of nature just walking around doing them you know what I mean not bothering anybody I went to Kenya same thing just just seeing nature but then I can look at a documentary and see chickens housed in and warehouses and pigs and people in the community being sick from the waste and each and every one of us has to change that and and we have to demand change but we have to know why we need to change and and that's it's like lifting weights especially get those real heavy ones when you just got to get stronger and stronger and stronger Embrace work that has no ends I love life and and I'm embracing the love of life and all all life on this planet so if somebody's listening to this and they're like man I just I need some of that energy in my life like I'm inspired by what a bad house to share I I know that I haven't been practicing self-love and I haven't been taking care of myself or I haven't been you know eating the high vibration foods and I just don't know how to start or where to begin like how do you guide that person what's the first step to catalyze that trajectory well first of all I I just share with them is everything that you ate you just omit this this and this that is why we have the menu that we have tacos burritos quesadillas you know what I'm saying it's a it's one of those soul food I make sweet potato pie I just don't use a dozen eggs in it like my mama did you know I figured out how arrowroot powder works you know what I'm saying so I can still have sweet potato pie I can still have the mac and cheese so my share to them is you don't have to really omit anything but death that's the only thing I'm asking you to stop ingesting um and just they have so many vegan recipes now I will go if I want to make something because I'm not a self I'm a trained Chef I'm you know come come out the kitchen at home and took it to a restaurant but I can look up recipes I'll play with them and make them my own that's all that's it's that simple now for those in who who live in areas and they can't get out they you know like you said the food deserts I I made a post one time I wasn't trying to be funny I I went to Vons which is a place right by the restaurant and I went in with my phone and I was in the produce section and I said hey you guys you see all this this is food this is real food I just shot every oranges apples potatoes everything and I said too much of this is what we eat and I went over to the Cracker section you just say the whole rest of the market you could have said that for sure but I went over to the Cracker section and there was something on a box of Cheez-Its that I had never seen before because I don't buy this product but I went to the ingredients because too many times people are looking at the nutritional facts and they avoid the ingredients I don't personally care to eat anything or ingest anything if I can't I don't know what it is but I don't know what the word is I can't even say it I I don't know if I should be eating that um I kind of like words like apple orange broccoli those words I got and on the box of Cheez-Its it had in very light black writing that it was bioengineered it's not even real it's a food-like substance that they've created in a laboratory now when I started that video but then I had I got feedback from a couple of people like well you know some of us live in areas where that's all we have and you don't want to come off insensitive and be like that's when we need to get some planting pots and go to Costco or a a Home Depot and pick up they have organic seeds now and sometimes we need to start planting our own food if you're living in the area where you can't get too fresh food sometimes you have to take the responsibility of planting your own food and feeding yourself now but it's a lot I mean you know that's a lot to ask especially people in that Community are working multiple jobs and and some of them don't you're asking them like now I got to grow it myself some of them are still where I was thinking that everything they sell in whatever supermarket is okay to eat because the government gave the okay and I I have to remember that as well I was there I thought anything in the supermarket was A-Okay right and there are tons of people out there just like me and living in food deserts who's the guy I'm looking him up right now the the guy in La Ron um who's the Urban Gardener who's T who's oh yeah you know what I'm talking about what's his name I forgot his last name Bennett uh I forgot his last one has it been it because I know his brother is uh Ron Finley Finley yeah no run yeah like taking over vacant Lots yeah what and what he did was he planted uh right at his curbside he was planting food and people could come by and pick whatever they wanted that's how he got started and the city tried to give him Flack for that right you can't try to shut him down you have to put grass out here I should be giving him money today to do it yeah and they try to shut him down with that that's not still the case though is it no I think he he started massive Ted Talk he did okay right he did okay after that we need more of that we need much more of that but that's my point can government get out of the way and allow us to nourish ourselves because you're not you said it's okay to put those crackers in the store oh this is the best part of that I got home my granddaughter was living with me and she has a little two-year-old I looked on top of my refrigerator those same Cheez-Its for in my apartment and she had been giving them to her child the same ones and that is what I mean it's it's we're so wrapped up in ignorance not knowing and of course I had to share that these crackers are in my house and I just made a video about these darn things but um yeah we just I don't know sweetheart I don't have all the answers I wish I did I share when I can share and because I don't want to come off as mean or cranky or I got it all together because I don't but um educate yourself right well you're doing your part you know I think what you're doing is beautiful I think that you um should have like your own cooking show on network television like I you know more Babette out there right and like why you I know you have this cashew book but you should have like a full-blown cookbook you must be working on that you know what Chef is I have a another book that has been written for at least two years it's called um stuff your stuff and what I've done is I've taken portobello mushrooms uh bell pepper the huge tomatoes and uh potatoes um and uh I've made a different stuffing for each one of those four like four mushrooms four and they're absolutely delicious all I need to do is just write the book I have all the recipes all down ready to go I just haven't written the book If you get up at two in the morning sounds like you're busy though but I'm sure you got to squeeze out time to I need to get that book out I see that's motivation thank you motivating me and I think you know you need like some kind of fitness challenge that brings the community in like I know you like hey on my 72nd birthday I'm Gonna Do 72. Right push push-ups but um I think there's a lot of people out there that you know are enjoying what you have to offer and to make that analog like something in Griffith Park or something you know that's community base where people could actually come out and do the workouts with you you know I've thought about it yeah you know I have and and right now because I'm so responsible for prepping all the food in the restaurant and my time is how to get you out you need infrastructure I do honey because your your shit's going like this it's scaling you know but you got to figure out um how to surround yourself with people who can do the things that you can delegate so that you can be you yeah because the world I agree I love you for that thank you yeah well let me know how I can help out with that okay I will anyway um any last thoughts here before we wrap this up well just um I want to thank you so very much for having me on um I'ma tell you a little secret now shopping I'm probably already blabbed her mouth but shop said get in touch with Rich Roll and I was like she's not gonna even read my message come on and uh and she said try it just Reach Out and when you responded to me I reached out to you well what was funny is I had been at the gala and I was like oh I'm getting I'm getting her on and I might have mentioned it to somebody or whatever so I was like I was getting ready to send you a message and then you sent one to me like literally that day I was gonna ping are you kidding me I don't know so I thought maybe somebody told you like oh rich wants to get in touch no it was shabnam that my trainer that that told me get in touch with him and I said he's not going to read man do you know how many people try to get in touch with me and I don't even see she said I bet you he will just try it and when I reached out and I've never done a backflip in my life oh I almost did one after I said almost something right you knew what I was doing or who I was because I I had just seen you and I was like this is great oh my but I just want to say thank you for what you're doing to your podcast is off the chain I love it I always just I was so excited about coming on because it just the way you speak it just it felt so comfortable and I knew I was going to have a good time here but for my brothers and sisters on the planet try it try embracing love starting with yourself and then don't worry about anything other than the fact that you are an expression of the greatness that created all of this be the best expression you can possibly be beautifully put anyway I think that's a good way to end it yeah how do you feel we did it wonderful I think we did pretty good we did good yeah you feel good we friends we we is family now I gotta get you out of here before your bedtime too you did not you did not say that I go to bed at like 8 30 and I thought I was a lunatic so you got me beat all right baby all right well come back and talk to me again sometime all right much love peace [Music]

Channel: Rich Roll

Views: 836,988

Keywords: rich roll, rich roll podcast, self-improvement podcasts, education podcasts, health podcasts, wellness podcasts, fitness podcasts, spirituality podcasts, mindfulness podcasts, mindset podcast, vegan podcasts, plant-based nutrition

Id: IDISpLVSeeY

Length: 103min 24sec (6204 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 23 2023