The Rich Roll Podcast - Chef Babette: Fit at 72, Self-Love & Life Transformation Through Food

Episode Date: January 23, 2023

A force of nature, Chef Babette is the chef and owner of Stuff I Eat, a plant-based restaurant in Inglewood, California. After weathering an extremely challenging childhood, years addicted to drugs and processed foods, and suffering from a myriad of health issues, Babette managed to get clean and transform her life wholesale. From going plant-based in her 40’s, to starting a restaurant in her 50’s despite no experience, to becoming the very model of fit and radiant at 72 years young, Babette is a living testament to all late bloomers that it’s never too late to change. This conversation is about all that and more. Show notes + MORE Watch on YouTube Newsletter Sign-Up Today’s Sponsors: House of Macadamias: https://www.houseofmacadamias.com/ Salomon: https://www.salomon.com/richroll Athletic Greens: https://www.athleticgreens.com/richroll Express VPN: https://www.expressvpn.com/RICHROLL Voicing Change II: bit.ly/voicingchangeII Peace + Plants, Rich

Hey everybody, welcome to the podcast. and total control over my seconds. And now I can be as happy as I choose to be. Hey, everybody. Welcome to the podcast. My guest today is the incomparable Chef Babette. Babette is a vegan chef. Of course, you might have intuited that. 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. I first came across her at this big gala fundraising event for Mercy for Animals here in town

and pretty much knew immediately upon setting eyes on her that I wanted to share her powerful story on the podcast. So here we are. This is such a good one and it's all coming up right quick, but first. We're brought to you today by recovery.com. I've been in recovery for a long time. It's not hyperbolic to say that I owe everything good in my life to sobriety. And it all began with treatment and experience that I had that quite literally saved my life. And in the many years since, I've in turn helped many suffering addicts and their loved ones find treatment. And with that, I know all too well just how confusing and how overwhelming and how

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Life in recovery is wonderful. And recovery.com is your partner in starting that journey. When you or a loved one need help, go to recovery.com and take the first step towards recovery. To find the best treatment option for you or a loved one, again, go to recovery.com. Okay, Chef Babette has been featured on Inside Edition, The Chew, The Steve Harvey Show,

and other television shows. 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 super powerful. 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. This is a person who grew up in East L.A., weathered an extremely challenging childhood

that involved things like sexual abuse. She spent years addicted to drugs and processed food, suffered from a myriad of health issues, and basically managed to overcome all of that to become this truly inspiring example of transformation. And now, at 72, she's crazy fit, ripped, just radiant. Her skin is insane. And just this living testament to the idea that it's never too late. I started with one push-up. And every day, I would add a push-up. Start with one.

Babette 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 at the same time, was also very vulnerable, open, and quite candid about the traumatic experiences that she survived in her early years. I could sing her praises all day long. She was such a joy to spend time with, but I'm not gonna make you wait any longer.

This is me and your new inspirational role model, Shuck Babette. Are you ready? Hi. Cause we got a lot to talk about. I'm so ready. Oh, it's 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, I can feel it. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you, thank you for having me. Yeah, let's, I can feel it. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you, thank you for having me. Yeah, let's, I don't even know where to start because there's so many things I wanna talk to you about. 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 wanna hear every beat of the story. Oh, my pleasure. I want to hear every beat of the story. My pleasure. I love to share. My life has been quite a journey, but you know, that's what it is when we come to this planet. We're on a journey. And as a child, I went through quite a bit. I was molested at five years old by a total stranger. And I know I was five years old because my sister was in the crib in the next room

and I'm five years older than her. Wow. Is that a memory that stayed with you or a memory 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 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, I 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 she worked two and three jobs. So obviously we needed caretakers. 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. Very, very cruel. There was a time that she told me I had to make a pallet, 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 pallet and go sleep in the garage with the dog. As I was attempting to get the pallet 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 pallet. 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 pallet to go sleep in the garage with the dog. Now, I never heard any more 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 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 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 babysitter's son. That was after the babysitter, yeah. Cause now I'm three, four years older. Yeah, it was pretty nuts.

Now, I think about my mom determined not to get us on welfare. We weren't gonna be a part of the system. No, I'm not doing that. 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 twenties when I finally told her

about her husband and the babysitter, she was making a comment, 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 them 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. And 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 in your formative years, I suspect that makes it very difficult to trust other people or to embrace 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 grapple with that and come out like with 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. Wow. 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. Wow. Part of the journey. Yeah, how old were you then? I'm now in my 30s, you know, but the crack cocaine was so debilitating. And what we did was he 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. And then after I left him and I was living in Denver, Colorado, after I left him and moved back to Los Angeles and 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 was going. It was a hot mess.

And 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 an 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 said, so that's who you are now.

The piggy bank that you had as a kid in your childhood room. You're going through a piggy bank. Yeah. That was the very last time I ever dealt with cocaine. Yeah. I mean, it's not that different than, you know, sort of crawling through the carpet,

looking for the tiny rocks that might- Baby, I smoked so much cornbread. Look, child, look. But did you, were you able to just stop or you say you have this epiphany? I stopped. Yeah. When that voice came to me,

No N.A. or anything like 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 came to that.

That's powerful. That is powerful. I mean, not that many people, I mean, that's a tough one for most people to overcome. 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'm just now sharing this story because I've walked in so many different shoes, Rich. 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 through. 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

embraced 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 Mucous-less Diet Healing System by Professor Arnold Ehret changed my world. Let's put a pin in that for a moment though, cause you just turbocharged through a whole bunch of stuff

that I don't wanna bypass too quickly. Okay. I'm curious about how you made peace with the tumult of your childhood, how you kind of worked through the pain of those abusive situations that you were in. Embracing love. As a choice.

situations that you were in? Embracing love. As a choice. It was either be angry, judgmental, all of those things. 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 100, 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 regret is usually associated with something that you did. And these are things that happened to you. Exactly, exactly. But now I feel it that way. I regret that man came up to my room and did that to me, but I didn't stay there. I embraced love.

And that is where I am now. It makes me wanna 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. 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 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 to be expected that those experiences foment a sense of shame

or a sense of worthlessness that make it very difficult to hold yourself 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, 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 in healthy self-regard of yourself. You know, I think 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 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 $80 for an abortion. Some woman came into my home and gave me a dish with 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, women, say no, thank you.

But it was ivory liquid and pine salt. And I paid her $83 to do that. Later on, I think she did go to jail for really hurting somebody. But I don't know, I walked into this church, City of Angels, and the person that was the speaker or the minister of that church was O.C. Smith. God didn't make little green apples. You remember him? O.C. Smith. I know, but I know Agape and Michael Beckwith. I was there at Agape and O.C. Yeah, well, I was there too. I was there at Agape. And OC just spoke to everyone. I don't care if you were 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, 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, but it was that that started resonating with me. I have the moment. I am in complete and total control over my seconds. And now I can be as happy as I choose to be. And that is where I stay. Empowering to have agency like that. Oh, it's wonderful. It really, and true. Now that's not to say I don't shed a tear because honey, I've shed some tears,

enough tears to drown. But I always, I know where to go now to bring it back, to reel it in, to say, this is your time. This is nobody else's moment, but yours. What are you going to think? How are you going to feel? You're going to laugh? You're going to cry? What are you going to 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 somewhere else now. I 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 100% 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 made that wasn't 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 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 seem to have mastered that. I have my moments.

I have my moments just like you. I'm not running 100. I just remind myself at 72 years old, sweetheart, I figure between now and 28 years, that's what I have. That's the time I have. years, that's what I have. That's the time I have. And I don't want to be as miserable as I was. So I remind myself, even if somebody hurts my feelings, I'll either have a gentle conversation with them. This is how you made me feel. Let's move past this. Or I just let it go. I take responsibility for it. Period. You are totally responsible for you. And I'm responsible for me and my feelings.

That's the good news and the bad news. 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 around in my late 30s,

something like that. And during that period of time, you had all these different careers. You worked for the airlines, but 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, but you did a lot of things before. I have floral arrangements. Like there's all kinds, I mean, like there's so many layers. Like the chef thing is like the most recent thing, but you did a lot of things before. I have floral arrangements. I was a balloon designer. I did- Balloon designer? I did all kinds of stuff.

You know what? But isn't that the beauty of the journey? And especially a little girl coming from the East side of LA, 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 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?

I have not even had a conversation with you. I do a little bit of homework. Try to understand who I'm gonna be sitting across from. I should say, cause I was gonna 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 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 water. You've learned everything, man.

It's so adorable. I love it. Okay. What did you just ask me? How did you know about Ron? You met Ron through, you initially met him through, didn't you audition? Well, actually, he had a friend that I was still eating fish. I was at the fish market buying some dinner. I had just gotten rid of all the men in my world. And so I used to- You needed to get rid of those guys. Yeah, I did. I used to be a hairstylist. So I had a little salon created on my service porch. And I went to the fish market and I met this guy, Ron's friend, and they had a band. 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 digest my food because I just ate the standard American diet and it was killing

me. And he prepared this beautiful vegan meal for me and he offered me those two books. And 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. So Fit for Life and the mucusless- Diet healing system. Okay, I've heard of Fit for Life.

I haven't heard of that other book. Yeah, Professor Arnold Ehret. It's all about reducing inflammation essentially. And that's what he believed. Arnold Ehret believed, I don't care what name you give a disease, you're pretty much just inflamed. Sure, all of this are chronic lifestyle diseases that we're suffering from,

whether it's obesity, heart disease, et cetera, can be tracked to the level of inflammation that we have. And that inflammation is a result of the foods that we're eating and the lifestyles that we're living. So prior to that though, paint the picture of your relationship with food and exercise, as a person, the pre, I guess we're talking about the pre Ron era.

I was, when I was a kid in high school, I was really fast. I could always run really fast, a great sprinter. 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 has to be Ron. 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. And I couldn't understand.

I kind of like him, 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 going to be able to run this hill. Yeah. And the food part. So what was your diet like growing up pre-Ron's first meal? Honey, give me a pig. I ate everything from the root of to the to the no.

I actually ate chitlins. I actually cooked chitlins. I cooked chitlins. I saw the poop in chitlins and still boiled them and ate them. So, you know, I just, I ate everything. You do what you do. This is the culture that you-

Refined sugar, Very hard on me. I could hardly wear anything backless. Now you can hardly keep me out of something backless. Like I said, my skin was just ripped. And every single month, I broke out in my face like with a rash. That's crazy because your skin is absolutely perfection. Isn't that incredible?

Isn't that incredible? Translucent. Isn't it? And it was all diet related. It was all diet related. Unbelievable. I finally learned, started treating myself to massages and scrubs. And I was like, oh, 72 and you got skin that 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. 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. 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. Isn't that so? 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 overlapping each other is a very powerful combination. It really is. And I heard about your story too.

And I thought about, man, he was doing that thing around the same age as myself. Yeah, I think at 40, that's a moment where you start to reflect a little bit on like, am I on the right path here? You know, maybe you're a little more open to some changes than you would otherwise. 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 Ron, 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 now it's very important to take responsibility for myself and my feelings. No matter what, I take responsibility for myself and my feelings. No matter what, 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 victimhood. The victim. And it doesn't really serve me in my life to be the victim. I don't need to hold grudges. So how did you make that switch? Just understanding, and that's happening right today, Rich.

It's been a gradual thing for me to understand because I can cry like that. It's not always coming from out there. Why are you really crying? Why is this really hurting you? You know? 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 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's certainly something we need a little bit more of right now. We need a whole bunch more of it. I feel like that relationship with love and connection with each other and an appreciation of the wholeness 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's like, I can't make that amazing mac and cheese I made today before I left the restaurant without it being also an expression of me. 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. My mother never met strangers. And I remember that as a kid, I was like, this lady talks to everybody. What's wrong with her? She never met a stranger. People loved her wherever she went. I'm her now. I just wanna embrace you, I just wanna love you.

I'm not thinking about anything else, I don't want to. Yeah, it's a beautiful act of service also 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 just something beautiful. So beautiful.

Yeah, about that, right? It really is. And I 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 somebody has said something to me in the restaurant, or Rondo said something to me in the restaurant, and I have to remember the energy. I have to remember me touching this food and I'm handling food. Calm down. It's a practice. Oh my gosh, is it a practice? Oh, we've been in our screaming matches before because it's real. I'm not trying to paint a picture to you that comes off like I'm Gandhi.

Yeah, yeah. No, I get you. Trust that. 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? 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, we dated for two years. So I met him in 1990 and we got married in 1992. And 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. 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 going to maybe have myself a, what do you call those, a company where I can prepare food for people if they're having parties. Catering. Catering. That's what I thought I was going to do. And 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. spiritual center and 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, late 90s, early 2000s. I don't even know. I don't know. It's 2022 now. I'm't even know. I don't know, man. It's 2022 now.

I'm trying to think. Were you there? I was, yeah. No, my wife and I would go to Agape. I mean, we didn't go every- On Slauson, right? On Slauson? In Culver.

In Culver City, yeah. Maybe 2000, 2003, around that era, we went pretty frequently and we would eat. So I'm pretty sure I ate your food. 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 we, okay, 2004, we got the building on Market Street.

We had no money. In Englewood. It was a gift in Englewood. 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. And so, yeah, I was on the parking lot at Agape for six years. So it had to be the beginning, you know, early 2000s. Pretty sure I enjoyed your food at some point. Yeah, it was great.

They were wild rice tacos. Long lines. And they were pretty popular. And I had this souped up, it was like a souped up hot dog cart. 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 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 for Animals, they really put us on the map. They really did. Did business go through the roof after that? Let me tell you, when they did that first video of me, the first one,

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 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. And the only other thing that we added because we were in Englewood, it was predominantly black and brown community at the time. We hadn't brought the soul food platter into it. So it was still just tacos, burritos, the enchilada pie, that. And had to be the only plant-based restaurant anywhere around there.

On our side of the street, it was a desert. There was not too much going on downtown Englewood in 2008. But people would come in and, you know, no chicken, no meat. What is this? And I would treat them to tacos, come back, try my taco. But I had to put the soul food platter on the menu. It was vital.

But you were chasing people down the street and were running out and giving them free food to rope them in. I said, come back in here and let me give you a taco. How much free food did you give away? I might've given away a whole bunch of free food, but guess what? Some of those people became perfect customers.

And I still have some of those customers today. Yeah. Well, what's interesting is, first of all, you make the decision to open the restaurant in 2008, which is the peak of the recession. Yes, it was. And you decide to open a organic plant-based cuisine place in a food desert and offer it to open a organic plant-based, cuisine place in a food desert

and offer it to a demographic of people who aren't inclined to be favorable to that. Was I just, who did I pick up on this? I wanna understand like how, and now you've made it work. Like I wanna, you got through the pandemic. I wanna talk about that. But when we talk about healthy eating, plant-based or not,

like how are we educating people about how to take care of themselves amidst healthcare crisis in which increasingly, more and more people are succumbing and falling prey to these chronic lifestyle elements that are entirely avoidable through making different choices. And also ailments that are entirely avoidable through making different choices and also ailments that are disproportionately impacting communities of color and lower income, you know, neighborhoods. So on some level, like, do you feel this calling 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 how it impacts your community? It was all about a responsibility. It was more than just 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. Do you need a to-go container for that salad? You need to eat that salad. Brow beating the customers who were willing to at least come in and pay. Now you're need to eat that salad. Browbeating the customers who were willing to at least come in and pay. Now you're going to scare them off. But what I started learning through studying the China study, just increasing my knowledge about my lifestyle, if you will, and what I'm sharing with the message. Now we created created a, I'd like to say that our menu is one that helps you transition. It's a transitional menu. I have a lot of belief in eating food live. I know that that is the best food for me to grab hold to 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 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 sit down with people and talk to them, not browbeat them except for the salad. 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 pus 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 taught you that that stuff easing out of that chicken is juice, it's body fluids. You subjected it to temperature, high temperatures, you've cooked it and now that stuff is oozing out. But you would never prick that burn. You would never think about pricking that burn

and sucking those juices. No, you wouldn't. I would do that. People come in and- How'd that speech go over with people though? They tell me that story. A lot of them have transitioned because do that. People come in and they tell me that story. A lot of them have transitioned because of that. 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 that's supposed to have our back. I used to think everything, 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, 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. How has it like impacted the sort of community more broadly though? Like the Inglewood community, like, you know, like so much of it is an entry point, right?

But then they're gonna go home and they're gonna do what they're gonna do. And healthcare is about follow-up care too. And I would consider you to be a healthcare practitioner, the truest sense of the word, 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 community, you know,

bond over a certain value that takes root? You know, more of that is happening now that I'm older because of who I am today. People believe me. I think they believe me more than they did when I was younger. They don't understand how can you do 75 pushups 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 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? But the beauty is that

the change on the planet right now, I just came from St. Martin and they had vegan. So you know what I'm saying? They understand vegan. So because of documentaries like some of the ones that we've seen that got people kind of fired up, it's made my job and my place in the community more welcomed. And it just has made my job easier, if you will. Well, I think what you're doing is I would argue,

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, these chronic ailments are disproportionately impacting communities of color. You need role models and people to look up to who are living a certain lifestyle as educators and inspirers, because the vegan movement or plant-based or whatever

is often characterized as an aspirational kind of high net worth lifestyle that 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 gonna 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, et cetera. You're absolutely right about that.

And I would have to agree with you. Ron and I made the decision because, and that's why we named the place Stuff I Eat. We're pretty much organic. That cost us a grip of money. Right. That's going to raise the prices, obviously, in the restaurant. We brought it to a community where they could have cared less about organic.

But that was one of our teaching points. Try to get organic if you can. But if you cannot, try to stay plant-based. But 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 suggest to us? Or my child has a lot of diarrhea. I heard you had asthma. What did you do for that? And that's when the gifting begins, educating, sharing where I've come from, what I've been through,

educating sharing right 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 very important purpose for stuff i eat to be there then and now and thank god we made it through covet yeah i mean how did you do that when it closed so many restaurants we wound up up just opening up, what was it? Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, four days a week. We shut down a few days. For just takeaway? For just takeaway. And we had to let go quite a few employees.

So we're still down very limited on employees. We're just coming back. We're still not 100%, but we're not going anywhere either. Yeah. As a matter of fact, we're now contemplating a Stuff I Eat Express, more of a franchise situation. Oh, cool. 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, but they're clean burgers. I, you

know, I just said, and that's another thing. We don't feed people out of boxes and say, you know, I like fresh food. Everything kind of comes from plants and nuts and seeds, and it works that way. Except for like, 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. With like a cashew sauce, cashew cheese sauce. Actually, we're using just one of the non-dairy milks, water and 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. Yeah. But as a transition food, as an entry point, if you can deliver on that, then you got a customer who, you know, you can pivot or kind of push them towards the salads. 100% is so true.

But you know, they're eating their salads now. 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 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 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, as somebody who's been eating an organic plant-based diet and I don't know, probably predominantly raw for like 30 years right now, you're on the cusp of turning 72. Like I said earlier, you're radiating positivity. Your skin is insane. Like it's crazy that you're 72. Like you just, you look radiating positivity. Your skin is insane. Like 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 pushups 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 that we put in our body, 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 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, you know, I know for myself, even, it really helps you rethink about what our relationship is

to getting older and what that means. The 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 my time on this planet in this form. 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. Wow. You said a mouthful there. Well, walk me through the fitness routine. I wanna know, first of all, you don't

sleep. We can talk about that. I've read that you get up at like 2.30 in the morning. So I don't know about that. I go to bed at six, Rich. 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 to myself. I live alone. I enjoy that. But yeah, I usually wake up between 1.30 and 2. And usually I just get up because then I'm getting myself ready if I'm going to go work out with Shabnam or go to the restaurant that day. I just get my day started early. restaurant that day. I just get my day started early. Like you say, my energy is just off the roof, so I'm ready to go. But to be able to share that and let people know that, man, part of the whole self-loving thing is to be a part of all of this, to be able to move. If I want to run a hill, I can run a hill. I don't want to have a life alert. 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 can get your butt out the tub.

That's the whole thing when you get older. It's all about like if you fall down and you can't get up. That's what people need to really understand. Now, of course, sometimes we have accidents that, you know, it's not any fault of our own. But when we just sit down and just let it go, that's generally what will happen to you. You lose strength. And another thing that I think is I'm not a superficial person. 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've lived an entire lifetime looking different. So, you know what I mean? It's not a bad thing to have the crow's feet. 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 had lines like in this table. But she was beautiful. She was beautiful.

And just to experience. Because she owned it and she's comfortable with who she is. 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 wear the bushy eyelashes. I'm a little bit too old for that.

That don't work on this face. But you did, when you turned 70, you posted these, you did like a bathing suit shoot, right? Oh, remember the bathing suit shoot? And that went bananas and like when everybody was sharing that. It did. It went crazy. That one went crazy.

That was another like inflection point in 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 going to do a beautiful photo of myself. But you'll see. It'll be, but no more bathing suits. 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? Yes, I should have brought you one. Hang it up over here. Oh man, we gotta get you one, Rich. We gotta get you one. So I still wanna go through like the day in the life,

the 2.30 wake up, 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 to take care of myself, pull out my paint gun and spray paint the face. Once I got her all beat up and wrap my hair, then I'm out of the, but 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. That's goofy. But 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 4 in the morning until we open.

Wow. I do all the cooking right now. And sometimes I think I'm just, you need to find yourself a chef. I'm too old for this, but. That's a hard, having a restaurant, man. That's work. It's work, sweetheart.

You are never done. You're doing all of it. You don't have sous chefs and. No, no, no, no, no, no. The one chef that I had there, she's working in Arizona now. She had to move. I loved her.

She was awesome, but she's gone. And then COVID hit, so we let everybody go. So it's me now. It's gotta be coming back now. It's me. No, I know. It's coming back. After this goes up,

I'm gonna get some new people over there. I know. And then- Pad the bank account a little bit and hire some help. Yeah, I'm going to get some new people over there. I know. And then pad the bank account a little bit and hire some help. Yeah, there you go. Hire some help. But 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 so, yeah, 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 the rest of the day is mine. I don't think we have a Zoom call today. But typically are you in, when you're not doing podcasts, you're in the restaurant all day and then you- I'm in the restaurant usually till noon

and then if my trainer can see me after I I'm in the restaurant usually till noon. And then if my trainer can see me after I'm out of the restaurant, I'll go over there, get about an hour workout on with her, stop by Rainbow Acres, get all my goodies, and then go back to the house and enjoy Babette for the rest of the evening. I live a very simple life. I'm careful about the energy that comes into my space because of what I've been through. I understand. I'm very, very careful. And now I pay attention to signs, whereas as a kid, you know, something would be presented to me and I'd be like,

isn't that the big deal? I can handle that. No, no. I pay attention to the signs now because I'm responsible for me. So how do you work through what you say yes to and what you say no to? Well, if it doesn't feel right, I'm real big on not hurting. 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 it.

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 at my age, I take control. I take control of me. And then if I'm not in the restaurant, maybe a trainer has time for me at 8 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 doing something nowadays.

But I have a very, very simple, beautiful life right now. Yeah. Yeah. 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 basic stuff. Now, I had a torn groin, so I hadn't been really doing too much of the hike because I'm a part of a docu-series in Houston, because I'm a part of a docu-series in Houston, Texas.

And I was feeling good. I didn't feel like I still had the tear. And we went to the track. When we got to the track, the sister was sprinting. And I was like, yeah, I feel really good. So I got up there and all the athletes were like, no, no, chef, you haven't stretched. I got out there and by the time I got to the end, I had to limp back. You know how a grand tear will do. It takes a long time. A long time. So we've been very careful, my trainer and I going forward, not to stretch that too much.

And stairs, I love stairs. And you know I love running hills. I just posted a video when we were in St. Martin of me hitting a hill. I just love movement. I love knowing that I can move. I love that. 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 important. And maintaining that is so key, especially as you get older. Consistency. Yeah, like the gym stuff becomes really important. I started with one pushup and every day I would add a pushup. And if I couldn't add

a pushup, I do the numbers that I had 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 pushups or anything. Anything. 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 pushups 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 pushups with me, maybe I'll give you a taco. Especially. Free tacos. a taco, especially. Free tacos. Free tacos, especially. Watch the pushup competition.

Look, I'll give you two tacos if you can do all 72 with me. 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 sound like my husband. But I figured like this, if somebody suggested to me, because I was doing sets of 25 and somebody said, you know, I can do that many, but I do like this, if somebody suggested to me, because I was doing sets of 25 and someone

said, you know, I can do that many, but I do sets of 10. And then I thought that's a lot easier because the time between sets is only like a minute or two versus three to four minutes when I'm doing sets of 25. So I'm going to do sets of 10. I might even get push out a hundred, honey. Yeah. Well, if you break it down into sets of 10, then it's easier to build and improve. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So there you go. Yeah. Tell me about the docu-series. Okay. Check this out. 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. But then the

heart and soul of a champion is Dr. Baxter Montgomery, who is a board certified cardiologist. Montgomery, who 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, levels all off the chart. And he puts them on a raw diet. And guess what? They don't even 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?

In his medical practice. This guy's in Houston, right? It's in Houston. We were just at a gala event that he put on and very beautiful doctors came to speak. We had John Sally there. 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. 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. He's former president of the American Association of Cardiologists. Smart as can be. And he laid it out at that gala. And 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.

Yeah, and this docu-series includes, you got athletes. You remember Green, what's his name? He was the fastest runner. Yeah. Sprinter? Yeah, he was running football, football player. NFL player?

Yes. Which Green? Daryl Green. Daryl Green. Daryl Green. Oh yeah, he was there, just several different athletes. And the docu-series shows you how they came in and how he got them 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 such, it's just so intelligent. It knows what to do. It does. If you treat it right. If you give it. 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 St. Martin for some days and I came back and we had to go to Houston. And then I wound up in Vegas. You know, that whole travel thing. This eye gets inflamed if it's time to fast, in other words. It's time to fast, in other words.

Now, once I fast, and I'll probably do the master cleanse because I'm gonna go hard on the cayenne pepper and the lemon and that sort of thing. Within a week's time, all this tearing will subside. Been there, done that. Interesting. Very interesting. Very interesting. You do that a couple times a year, right?

Oh, I have to. I do it like about, I usually do three to four times a year. Now, Master Cleanse, this Master Cleanse is, I'm going hard on this one because I really need to reduce the- That's the cayenne pepper, maple syrup. And the lemon juice and- 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 an incredible cleanse. Wow. Incredible cleanse. Have you ever played around with intermittent fasting? I do that, yeah, that's my thing.

That's my thing. That's how I roll. So what does that look like for you? I don't even weigh myself. I was telling Shabna, I just make sure I keep that separation between my thighs. You know what I'm saying? And I'm good to go.

I think I know. I'm good to go. I don't need a scale. It's like, yeah, I'm still good here. Okay, I don't know a scale. It's like, yeah, I'm still good here. Okay. I don't know if I answered you. Where is the docu-series gonna air? I would have to, I think towards the end of the year.

I think the first episodes are getting ready to- For, do you know where people- I don't have that information, but we'll definitely get it back to you. And what's the doctor's, Baxter? Baxter, Montgomery. Yeah. Brilliant.

I wanna check that guy out. Brilliant, Houston. Yeah, it's cool. It's interesting that with all the documentaries, What the Health and all that kind of thing, and the explosion of interest in the plant-based lifestyle and the number of plant-based restaurants and food products and the number of plant-based restaurants

and food products and the level of education has expanded. I mean, it's, you know, compared to 2008 when you opened your restaurant and you know, that's kind of what I was starting to get going too. 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 pushups and with your skin and rocking the attitude

and like the whole thing, they're like, yeah, but like, where am I gonna get my protein? How's this gonna work? Like, I don't, maybe Babette 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 a 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 gained. All those documentaries that you mentioned, do you know 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. It's about the whole. It's about our home. It's like you got to at least understand that the climate is changing because we're too hot. And that is primarily because of what we are 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. 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. 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. 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 an example, or as somebody who's trying to like lead or hold somebody's hand, you have to be patient with that as well. I could still be crawling around on the force, smoking cornbread. The other thing though also is that, your entry point was your own personal health as it was for me.

And now you're talking about healing the planet and our collective responsibility to, you know, shoulder, you know, what we have to do to prevent catastrophe. That's a realization that only comes in time with this starting point of being, and you know, look, personal health, you can characterize that as sort of selfish.

Like I just care what I wanna feel like and et cetera. 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 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 part and parcel of the consumer choices that we're making every day. And we are responsible for those choices, even us in the restaurant, plastic. Plastic is over the top. Yeah, it's crazy. And it's hard to get around that

because if you wanna put a product out into the world or 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. But that's where you as the individual,

you got to take responsibility. That is why I'm not crawling around looking for cocaine rocks. It's because my mother, she didn't teach me anything else. She taught me responsibility. She did teach me that. And 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 wasn't just all about me. Yeah. Part of that speech comes out in your browbeating of Howard Schultz and that Starbucks. Oh my. PSA.

It's like, dude. You did that with Dotsie, right? It's Switch for Good. Yes, yes. So talk about that, the campaign to get, cause Starbucks up charges for their plant-based milks, but they don't for their dairy additives. They give away the creamer.

You can take as much creamer as you want 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 intolerance. Exactly.

So you require me to pay more for the plant-based option as wealthy as you are, give a little, just give a little for the whole, do that. Yeah, it's on YouTube, I'll link it up in the show notes. It's pretty good. Has there been any movement there? Any response, official response from Starbucks? You know, they just got in touch with me today on doing something else with them. I was like- Starbucks did? No, Switch for Good. I said, you know what? I'm down. Whatever we can do, whatever I can say, what are they going to do to an old lady? Yeah. what do you need me to say? That's the good thing about

getting older is you start to just not give a fuck anymore. You don't care. No, because I know that what I'm saying and what I'm offering is truth and it's for the good of all. I'm not over there putting out bullshit. I'm telling you

the truth through my experiences and I'm sharing that with you. Listen or not, but. But no voicemail from Howard yet. Not yet. I was kind of hoping maybe I could get a little, but no, haven't heard anything. There's an interesting on this subject

of kind of expanding your consciousness. You change your relationship with food. You're bringing a different vibration into your body. You start to raise your 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 ideas around what's good for you and what's not good for you, obviously that leads you into an awareness of 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 kind of justice more broadly, right? So how do you think about like your relationship with food

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, in terms of the animal rights, we don't have the capacity to serve animals and their byproducts to the masses. We're failing at that. We just don't have the capacity.

When you think about animal waste and our water and our air and all of those things, when you make that connection, you realize we don't have the capacity. We have, not we are, we have failed when it comes to producing animals for food. We failed. We're failing our health, individual health. We're failing 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 tusks. 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 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,

it's painful to watch, but at the same time, as an individual, I have to do my part and speak my truth. I hope that's answering part of your- Yeah, I mean, certainly, you know, we've created in this factory farming industrial complex that we've, you know, created a highly unsustainable and toxic industry that is, you know, slaughtering and torturing billions of animals every year. If there's one thing that it does successfully,

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 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, in the background of our consciousness, we all know that it's deeply wrong, right? It's so wrong. And so how does that kind of erode, how we feel about ourselves as a species, I guess, 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 love outside of you. And that's what I think is happening because I love me. So I'm going to 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 sure as heck are not going to have too much love for anybody else, and especially

animal. Now, you're going to love that dog. You're going to love that dog or 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 us individually.

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 being amongst, 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 seeing nature. But then I can look at a documentary and see chickens housed in 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 we have to demand change, but we have to know why we need to change. And that's, it's like lifting weights, especially the real- You gotta get up and do it every day.

You get those real heavy ones when you just gotta get stronger and stronger and stronger. Embrace work that has no end. I love life and I'm embracing the love of life and all life on this planet. So if somebody is 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 Babette has to share.

I know that I haven't been practicing self-love and I haven't been taking care of myself or I haven't been 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 just share with them, it's 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 one of those soul food. I make sweet potato pie. I just don't use a dozen eggs in it like my mama did. 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. 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 out to 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. It's that simple. Now, for those who live in areas and they can't get out, like you said, the food deserts, I made a post one time. I wasn't trying to be funny. 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 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. I 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. If I don't know what the word is, I can't even say it. I don't know if I should be eating that. 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 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 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 an 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 even- Now you're asking, I'm like, now I gotta grow it myself too? 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 have to remember that as well. I was there. I thought anything in the supermarket was a-okay. 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 guy in LA, Ron, who's the urban gardener, who's taking, you know who I'm talking about? What's his name?

I'm forgetting his last name. Bennett, I forgot his last name. What is it, Bennett? Ron Finley. Finley. Ron Finley. Yeah, I know Ron Finley. Like taking over vacant lots. Yeah, and what he did was he planted 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, try to shut him down. You have to put grass out here. They should be giving him money to do more. Thank you, to do it. And they try to shut him down with that.

But that's not still the case though, is it? No, he started massive TED Talk. He did okay. He did okay. After the TED Talk. But 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 were in my apartment and she had been giving them to her child, the same ones. And that is what I mean. 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 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 because I don't wanna come off as mean or cranky or I got it all together because I don't. But educate yourself. Right, well, you're doing your part. I think what you're doing is beautiful.

I think that you should have like your own cooking show on network television, like more Babette out there, right? And like, 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 another book that has been written for at least two years.

It's called, Your Stuff. And what I've done is I've taken portobello mushrooms, bell pepper, the huge tomatoes and potatoes. And 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.

Well, 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 finish that. 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're like, hey, on my 72nd birthday, I'm gonna do 72 pushups. But 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-based 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 right now, because I'm so responsible for prepping all the food in the restaurant, and my time is-

Can I get you help? You need infrastructure. I do, honey. Cause your shit's gone like this. It's scaling, you know? But you gotta figure out how to surround yourself with people who can do the things that you can delegate so that you can be you.

Cause the world needs more of you. I agree. I love you for that. Thank you. Yeah, well, let me know how I can help out with Yeah. Because the world needs more of you. I love you for that. Thank you. Yeah. Well, let me know how I can help out with that. Okay. I will.

Anyway, any last thoughts here before we wrap this up? Well, just, I want to thank you so very much for having me on. I'm going to tell you a little secret. Now, Shabna probably already blabbed her mouth, but Shab said, get in touch with Rich Roll. And I was like, he's not gonna even read my message. Come on. And she said, try it, just reach out.

And when you responded to me. Well, what was funny is I had been at the gala and I was like, oh, I'm getting her on. And I might've mentioned it to somebody or whatever. So I was like, I was getting her on. And I might've 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 going to ping you. Are you kidding me? No, no, no. So I thought maybe somebody told you like, oh, Rich wants to get in touch with you. No, it was Shabnam, my trainer that told me,

get in touch with him. And I said, he's not going to read. 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. I almost did one after I said almost. I'm surprised you knew what I was doing or who I was because I had just seen you and I was like, this is great. But I just want to say thank you for what you're doing too. Your podcast is off the chain.

I love it. I always just, I was so excited about coming on because 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, thank you. 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. Beautifully put. Anyway, thank you. 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 is family now. I gotta get you out of here before your bedtime too. You did not. You did not say that. I got 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. You too. Peace, plants. Yeah. That's it for today. Thank you for listening.

I truly hope you enjoyed the conversation. To learn more about today's guest, including links and resources related to everything discussed today, visit the episode page at richroll.com where you can find the entire podcast archive, as well as podcast merch, my books, Finding Ultra, Voicing Change in the Plant Power Way,

as well as the Plant Power Meal Planner at meals.richroll.com. If you'd like to support the podcast, the easiest and most impactful thing you can do is to subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, and on YouTube and leave a review and or comment. Supporting the sponsors who support the show is also important and appreciated. And sharing the show or your favorite episode with friends or on social media is of course, awesome and very helpful. And finally, for podcast updates,

special offers on books, the meal planner, and other subjects, please subscribe to our newsletter, which you can find on the footer of any page at richroll.com. Today's show was produced and engineered by Jason Camiolo with additional audio engineering by Cale Curtis.

The video edition of the podcast was created by Blake Curtis with assistance by our creative director, Dan Drake. Portraits by Davy Greenberg, graphic and social media assets, courtesy of Daniel Solis, Dan Drake, and AJ Akpodiete. Thank you, Georgia Whaley, for copywriting and website management. And of course, our theme music was created by Tyler Pyatt, and website management. And of course, our theme music was created by Tyler Pyatt, Trapper Pyatt, and Harry Mathis.

Appreciate the love, love the support. See you back here soon. Peace. Plants. Namaste. Thank you.