The Rich Roll Podcast - How Can I Get My Kids To Eat Healthier? (Plus $300K+ in Giveaways!)

Episode Date: March 2, 2015

Let's talk about food. Despite all the diet and nutrition content I consistently and freely generate, Julie and I are still inundated daily with inquiries like: So what exactly do you guys eat? How can I get my kids to make healthier choices? Is it possible to eat healthy on a budget? How can I overcome my cravings for unhealthy foods? And of course…Where do you get your protein? It's questions like these that led to an epiphany: I think it's time for the next book. A cookbook. However, there is is no shortage of amazing plant-based cookbooks already available. What could Julie and I possibly bring to this conversation that hasn't already been said? After pouring through all the cookbooks at our local Barnes & Noble, we made a rather shocking discovery — not a single plant-based cookbook seemed to speak directly to the primary concerns of the typical modern family. So we started to think about how we could fill this gap by providing real, tangible guidance for the soccer moms and softball playing dads with young kids just looking to live a little healthier. Normal people searching for a simple, solid roadmap to make better choices at the market and in the kitchen. A book that would really address the true needs of everyday, budget-conscious folks too busy to study nutrition yet seeking easy-to-implement answers. A book that would guide, educate and inspire people to adopt healthier eating and lifestyle habits and instill such habits in their children. Visualizing such a book was easy. Because it's just a natural, authentic extension of our every day family lifestyle. A lifestyle we call The Plantpower Way. It's taken more than two years of solid focused work to get this book right. So this week Julie and I thought it would be fun sit down and learn more about her personal journey in food while rehashing the long journey undertaken to finally birth this book to life. WHAT IS THE PLANTPOWER WAY? Everybody deserves optimal health. And wellness begins with what we put on our plate. But that's just the beginning. So we decided to pick up where every other cookbook leaves off by providing concrete tools, tips and general lifestyle guidance to foster long-term wellness and catalyze your journey towards unlocking your best, most authentic self. Bursting with inspiration, practical guidance, and beautiful food and lifestyle photography, The Plantpower Way features more than 120 of Julie's delicious, easy-to-prepare whole food recipes, certain to delight even the most finicky or carnivorous of your clan. But this is more than a mere cookbook. It's a fully formed, comprehensive lifestyle primer chock-a-block with information, tools, resources and inspiration to not only answer all those questions we field daily, but elevate and guide the modern family towards healthier, more sustainable food, lifestyle and parenting practices. Both evolutionary and revolutionary, it's a book you will proudly use every day, share with colleagues, eagerly gift family members and even display on your coffee table for friends to peruse and enjoy. WE NEED YOUR HELP! Although the book doesn't hit stores until April 28, it is currently available for pre-order. The way publishing works, pre-orders are very important in terms of setting up the book for long-term success.

This is not a book for vegans. It is a book for all of us, for anybody desiring better health and a more authentic and full expression of your life. Welcome to episode 132 of the Rich Roll Podcast with Julie Pyatt. The Rich Roll Podcast. Hey, everybody. Welcome to the show. My name is Rich Roll. I am your host, the host of The Rich Roll Podcast.

Welcome back, Julie Pyatt. Thank you, Rich Roll. It's good to have you back on the podcast. Thanks for having me back. We keep talking about doing two episodes a week and doing the Q&A kind of thing, and life is in session. Life is busy. I think people underestimate how long it takes to produce, post-produce, and get these podcasts up. So I still aspire to do two episodes a week, but life keeps intervening. And this is not a Q&A podcast.

We're going to talk a little bit more about Julie's story today. But we are going to be having Q&A podcasts again soon. So everybody out there, we've gotten great feedback on that. And for those of you who are new, we take questions from the listeners. So if you have a question that you would like us to answer, please send it to findingultra at gmail.com, and we will add it to the queue. And we have another episode soon coming up in the next two weeks, I would say. But today, it's just me and Julie talking. Awesome.

Do you know what this podcast is about? I think I do. You do? I think I know a little bit about it. What it's about, Julie, is it's about unpacking the tools necessary to live your best life. That's right. Do you know something about that? You do a good job presenting.

The theme is how to live more excellence. So each week I sit down with the best and the brightest, like yourself. Thank you. Most forward thinking, paradigm busting minds in health, wellness, fitness, sports, nutrition, the arts and entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurism. I'm an entrepreneur. You are an entrepreneur.

To tap into the experience, the knowledge and the insights of these fantastic people to help you and me because I am on this journey as well. Yes. Most of all you. Yeah. Most of all. Yeah.

This is basically my own personal, his own selfish adventure to, uh, to expand myself. But the idea is to discover, uncover, unlock, and unleash your best,

most authentic self. That's right. And you have done an extraordinary job bringing us some amazing people and amazing human beings really doing great things. Thank you. It's been, it's definitely been a pursuit of passion. I think we're on a roll right now. We've had some pretty amazing guests lately and we have a lot of really cool people coming out. So I feel like it's hitting a stride right now. It's like, you know, it's in a good groove and, uh, and yeah, it's nice to see it kind of growing continually. And you do put a tremendous amount of work and commitment into this and, uh, it shows.

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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. So today, we are going to talk about food. Wow. Are you ready to talk about food? I am ready. I'm super excited. I don't think I've ever been interviewed about food. Well, we're talking about, you've been on the podcast many, many times. I mean, we've talked about many different subject matters from meditation to spirituality to personal growth and family and raising kids

and homeschool and all that kind of stuff. But, uh, yeah, I want to focus this on food. And the reason for that is that, uh, is that our book is coming out. It's pretty exciting. It finally is. Yeah. Uh, for those of you who are new to the podcast, we have a cookbook coming out. It's called the plant power way. It's coming outust august april april please not august honey that would be really painful april 28th uh in fact we just this morning received an email from our publisher avery which is a division of penguin saying uh we have 24 hours to turn around the last pass on this kind of thing so all hands are on deck for the next 24 hours. It's going to be an all-nighter.

But I mean, it's there, you know? And then after this, it literally goes to print. So it's pretty exciting. It's been two years. Maybe even more, like three years. Well, it's sort of like what you always say when somebody says, how long did it take you to paint that painting?

Yeah, my whole life. No, or many lifetimes yeah the book is is a manifestation of a life journey really i mean but from the moment we decided to embark on this cookbook journey i mean that's it's been maybe two and a half it's been two but you know i mean i say three because i've been developing the recipes for a very long time well you started developing actually for years and years and years yeah exactly so that part of it has been going recipes for a very long time. Well, you started developing the recipes for years and years and years. Yeah, exactly. So that part of it has been going on for a long time. But the actual process of like compiling everything to create a book.

That's right. It's not like we woke up, you know, a couple months ago and said, let's throw this together. And this has been being worked on for a long time. And there's been a lot of quote unquote cooks in the kitchen. A lot of support and a lot of collaboration. A lot of people collaborating and lending their expertise to make this a pretty extraordinary and exceptional work of art and education and inspiration, I think. into kind of your whole story of being a chef and being the kind of creative force behind the book. What excites me the most about this book is how it is different from every other kind of plant based vegan cookbook out there. And when Julie and I kind of got together and said, what do we

have to offer? What can we express or share from our journey that would be helpful to people out there, at least in the context of the food aspect of what this journey has been all about for us? We noticed a couple of things. I mean, the first thing we noticed is there's a lot of amazing books out there. If you want to like cook plant-based or cook vegan or whatever, there are some beautiful, amazing, inspirational, and very educational cookbooks out there. So at first we were like, well, wow, like, what are we going to, you know, what can we express? Like what, what is our, you know, what is our place at this? Where's our seat at this table? You know, what, what could we say

that hasn't been said? And what we noticed, what, why this is so exciting for us is what we noticed is there didn't seem to be anything that really spoke specifically to the primary concerns of the typical modern American family. In other words, the concerns of most parents, which are, how can I get my kids to eat healthier? They eat junk food all day long. can I get my kids to eat healthier? They eat junk food all day long. And for people that are busy or just living their lives, you don't have time to come home and research nutrition. They just want to eat healthier. They know they should be eating organic. They've heard probably avoid GMOs. But people are just leading normal lives who are thinking, you know what, I really want to eat healthier than I am. I need somebody to help me do it. So we tried to answer that with very specific, but also very accessible and simple recipes that are plant-based, but also, and I think most excitingly as well, is the lifestyle

aspect of the book, because it's really not just a cookbook. It's really kind of a lifestyle primer to stepping into a healthier and more sustainable and ultimately, I think more personally fulfilling way of conducting yourself in our world. That's true. You know, and I mean, it definitely serves, it's a, it's an authentic, um, sort of window, um, where we sort of like open the doors and invited people into our home and really into every aspect of our life. So, you know, there's as much photography of lifestyle image about us actually in, you know, living as there are, you know, beautiful food photographs as well. But I feel like, you know, people want to be more healthy. They want to, um, definitely make a shift in, you know, the status quo and the way that they've been living. And, uh, we need more family based,

um, examples and, uh, you know, uh, uh, guide and, and, and processes and, and just ways to actually start to implement some of those changes. And I feel that, you know, hopefully it's conveyed in the book that we do this with, you know, in open arms and compassion and, you know, just really sort of a very, a very open and welcoming energy where you can step into the plant power way wherever you are in your life. Yeah. I mean, I think that it's not about being like a strict vegan, you know, adhering to some kind of really, you know, towing some super hardcore line.

It's really a book for everybody, you know, because everybody wants to be healthy or healthier. Everybody wants to help their kids create the, you know, the healthiest long-term sustainable life patterns with respect to the food choices that they're going to make. And the parents are going to be making as well. Yeah. And I mean, I think also is that, you know, again, you know, we have to honor and respect every individual where they are in their journey today. And we have to recognize that people are individuals and that people are at different places in their journey. So everyone's process

through life is not going to look exactly the same. So the only thing that we can do is present options and, you know, leave it sort of open open ended for people to find their own way through, um, and their own unique voice and their own unique way of living. Um, so, uh, that's really been our, you know, core intention. Right. And I think it's emblematic kind of like how you approach food and also parenting and lifestyle, which is to try to empower rather than sort of, you know, sort of restrictively guide. In other words, like with respect to a recipe, like your whole idea is here are the tools to make something amazing. I'll tell you exactly how to make this and it's going to be great. But more importantly, learn how to do this for yourself.

Like I encourage you to empower yourself so you can experiment and go beyond what this recipe has to say, you know, to create something special for yourself that works for you and your family and your kids. Absolutely. I mean, I think that's definitely, you know, the, one of the core foundational elements of, of all of the recipes and all really the way of living this lifestyle is to really support people to find their own voice and to go ahead and give them the permission to trust their own intuition, break the rules, switch up a vegetable, switch up a process, maybe throw two recipes together, you know, just really, really create in the moment. But these 120 recipes, over 120 recipes. I can't believe there's that many, um, really are an authentic,

uh, window into our family table and every single recipe in this book we eat in our home. Um, so there was nothing that was researched or that was like said, Oh, well, we're missing this recipe. So find one and bring it in. Every single thing in the book is authentic to our family. Yeah. I mean, that's what you see with a lot of these books. It's sort of like, there'll be, at least with respect to the recipe parts, it's a, it's like a collection. People reach out and they say, Hey, send me your recipes. I'm writing a book. I want to include a couple of your recipes and they do the same. They reach out to chefs or athletes or other authors, et cetera. And that creates a great, you know, sort of

collection. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that. But what we're doing is a little bit different. We're not doing that. We're not reaching out to, you know, the chefs of the world or the other people that have written books in this subject matter. This is all a reflection of what, what we've done ourselves, like how we've lived our life. And, you know, one of the main, not that this is a Q&A, you know, podcast, but one of the main questions we get all the time is, you know, how did you develop this lifestyle? Like anybody who's visited us at our house, we have a very, you know, I always joke, like we're running a commune here because like every week it seems like there's different people around or like like it's almost like

an open house all the time here and we're very privileged and lucky to live in this amazing home and we have you know a nice piece of land here and we feel our responsibility to share that and to have it open as a center like almost like a safe haven or like a place where people can come who are interested in, you know, the kind of things that we're interested in. So as a result of that, not only do we have our four kids here and our two dogs, we also have our nephew Harrison who lives with us, our friend Andrew, who's living on an, in an Airstream on our property as well. And he has his four-year-old daughter rain here half the time. That's right. We had our friends, Mark and

Brianne got married here actually a couple of weeks ago. Exactly. Andold daughter, Rain, here half the time. That's right. We had our friends Mark and Brianne got married here, actually, a couple weeks ago. That's right. Exactly. And you never know. Like, I always never know when I drive in, like, who's going to be here. Like, just now, I was upstairs. I came down, and our friend Lindsey Dakota was here, you know, who's an ultra runner and a slide blister. Amazing, amazing designer. So everybody knows, like, that if you're our friend, like, you can just come by, you know.

That's right. But don't everybody come by. Please don't everyone come not saying please don't just drop in on our house but but uh but what i'm saying is we have a very kind of open door uh policy or kind of approach to um the people that we care about in our life and and and that is a reflection or an extension of, kind of how we're trying to raise our children, um, and expose them to, you know, people who are doing amazing things or vibrating on a certain, you know, living outside of the box, breaking, breaking the rules, living their own way. Exactly. But I mean, really it's sort of expressed in the architecture of the house and you'll see that, you know, in some cases throughout the book, but the, the home, the architecture of the home is extremely open. It's a very, very open plan. Like it has a very few interior walls in it. So

it has a loft kind of feeling. And so, yeah, it's a, it is, it's a very open space and it invites nature in wherever you are. Um, and really the main focus of the whole house though, is the kitchen, like everything revolves around the kitchen and the kitchen really of the whole house, though, is the kitchen. Like everything revolves around the kitchen. And the kitchen really is, you know, kind of the hub of activity, whether it's just our family here or whether we have visitors here. And so that's sort of like the heart that is beating the blood throughout the rest of what's happening here. Yeah, and I'd like to add to that is, you know, in spiritual traditions, you know, the, the mothers kept the fire in the kitchen. And so the kitchen is the heart of the home. It's the spiritual center where, you know, everything is created and alchemized in that space. And this is a really amazing element. When I was doing a lot of interior design and building,

I would notice where, and you'll notice, I'm sure many of you will agree with me, whenever you go to somebody's house, it doesn't matter if it's a small apartment or it doesn't matter if it's a mansion, everybody ends up in the kitchen. It doesn't matter if you have this magnificent room with all these fancy things or everyone will be in the kitchen without fail. So when I was designing homes and designing kitchens and specifically this home, I wanted my kitchen in the living room because I want to be able to cook and talk and interact with everybody. And so that's how we've designed. We have an island that basically juts out into the space and everything is in one room, I can see everyone from one vantage point. And, um, so that's, that's a very

beautiful, um, thing to acknowledge, you know, when you're designing your home or when you're, because otherwise if you put your kitchen off to the side, everybody will be crammed. That's what it is at every party anyway, at any house I've ever been to. They all go in the kitchen. Right. All right. So, so why'd you write this book, Julie? Why did I write this book? Why did we write this book together?

Well, I mean, I think, you know, I think the, the beginning of it was Jai Seed, which was our first, you know,

e-cookbook. And, you know, we just have to acknowledge that because it really was the beginning point. And it was, uh, it was out of an authentic desire for me to feed you and replenish your body when you were training incredible, insane hours and you were preparing

for the Ultraman races that you competed in. So the idea really was I've got to feed this guy who's out, you know, training, riding his bike on these eight hour bike rides, but I also have to create something that my kids are going to eat. They've got to like it. It's got to be hearty enough for them. And it's got to be, uh, you know, fulfilling or satiating for my husband. And also it's got to be like, it can't be too difficult. Like you're busy doing a million different things, right? It's not, you're not, you're not in here like, you know, finally cutting and chopping certain things to come up with some really precious delicacy.

Yeah. Well, I think, you know, I think the, the real, the real intention behind this whole, you know, me becoming a vegan chef and creating, it really was when I, when I realized the amount of miles you were putting in, I, I felt like as your partner and your wife and someone who loves you and your best friend, that it would be really helpful for me if I really tried to cover that element for you.

And I really tried to nourish you when you came in the door, you know, after an eight-hour bike ride or after running 40 miles, you know, in a training run. So I started to play with it and, you know, I will say that my food is very family oriented. It's family oriented because it's extremely fulfilling. Uh, it is satisfying, tasty, hearty. Um, you're not just eating a lettuce leaf with me. Like that's not, that's not plant-based food. I'm, I don't eat a lettuce leaf. I'm not like, Oh, that's awesome. You know, like it, it has to have, you know, a lot of flavors. That thing where, you know, we've been to certain, you know, vegan restaurants where it's super

gourmet and then you get the, you get the main entree and it's literally like the tiniest thing. I'm like, are you serious? Like we're going to have to go to dinner after we leave this restaurant. It's true. Yeah. And I mean, of course, you know, when you're training, you're eating a lot, a lot more quantities. And also when you're eating such pure food, you know, you're, and you're training at the level that, you know, you were, you're eating more quantities, but also, you know, I have boys, you know, I have growing boys and, you know, young girls. And, um, I just, you know, I like full family food. That's simple. That's not fussy. You know, I don't chop things really small. I like the process of actually chewing the food,

which is very, very important to our digestive systems. Um, and so the food, the food was designed to nourish my family and it came from a very pure place. Like I wasn't going, oh, that would be a great idea. I'll make a cook, you know, I'll do, I'll make a cookbook and that would be fantastic. It's, it's actually really came from a very personal need and a personal desire to nurture. Certainly, uh, making the switch to being plant powered to this plant-based lifestyle that we're on. I mean, it dramatically changed my life in every respect. I think it's changed everybody's life in our

family. And there's ripple effects that go out from that. And so the book really is also kind of our feeling of responsibility to kind of share that and hopefully inspire others, because I just want everybody to kind of have their version of the experience that we have had and continue to have. But I think, you know, what happens and what this podcast really kind of tries to address is that gap between the information or the inspiration and actually creating sustainable change on on the other hand. Right. So, look, it's no mystery that people need to eat more vegetables and whole foods. You know, like everybody knows that. Everybody knows they need to get rid of, you know, they shouldn't be drinking Diet Coke and they shouldn't be eating fast food.

Like, this is not like rocket science, right? But why are we in the midst of this almost unspeakable healthcare crisis that we're in right now, where obesity rates are through the roof, like 70% of Americans are either overweight or obese. By 2030, 50% of Americans are going to be diabetic or pre-diabetic. Across the globe, 28 million people suffer from cancer. And of course, heart disease, America's number one killer continues to just kill people by the millions. One out of every three people will die of a heart attack. And one out of every two people, 50% of Americans will suffer some form of coronary disease. It's crazy. It's crazy. It's insane, right? So on the one hand, you know, we're here

talking about wellness and we, you know, the kind of people that we interact with and we see, we see this tremendous interest and intrigue about like living, you know, a more wellness oriented lifestyle. There's a lot of energy around that. There's a lot of people that are really interested in that. And yet there's this whole other America out there that is, which is most people that are really struggling. And those are the people that, that, you know, those are the people I'm interested in reaching, you know, people that are already on the path. That's great. Like we can help support that, but how do we connect with people that really need the help and how can we get them excited about making the change and actually making that change in a way that they

can sustain. And so that's where the kind of lifestyle aspect of the book comes in to try to help inspire through the lifestyle photography and kind of, you know, being this example of this lifestyle, but also with really kind of tangible, easy to follow tools about how to, you know, begin to make this switch. That's right. I mean, yeah, that's true. I mean, we go over, there's a lot of information in this book. So as, as powerful as recipes are, there's just as much, you know, other information, guidance and equipment lists and shopping lists and education on, you know, whole foods and fruits and vegetables and different kinds of condiments and different processes of cooking

and sprouting and superfoods and where do you get your protein? All those things. Basically, every main question that we ever get, we kind of try to address in the book in a way that's where the information is really. That's right. So there's a lot of reading in this book. Like, and, you know, you and of course, you don't have to start. The beautiful thing about this book is that you don't have to start at the beginning, which is my favorite thing, because I hate to read a book at the beginning.

Julie's thing is she gets a book and she just opens it to the middle and starts reading. I open wherever. What are you doing? No, but the reason is because up until a couple years ago, most of the books that I read in the last 25 years were spiritual texts. So actually, that's quite powerful because my intuition opens me to what is exactly relevant to what's going on. And so you wouldn't understand that, but it's very powerful. But anyway, so this book, you don't have to read from the beginning to the end. You can open it up. You can find a recipe that entices you. And then you can read whatever lifestyle section is near it and be inspired or learn, you know, a lot.

There's a lot of information in this book. Yeah, there's no question about that. And to kind of make it even more exciting for you guys, We have, um, put together, we just went live with this. We put together this amazing, uh, set of bundled goods and services, uh, for everybody who orders the book, who pre-orders the book before it comes out on April 28th. So right now you can pre-order it. The book lists, uh, the, the publisher's list price for the book is like 40 bucks, 30, I think 39, but, uh, of course, you know, on Amazon it's 28 something or something like that. And I think it's pretty similar on all these other retailers. So, so if you're buying a book, like you're looking at shelling out like 28 bucks, right.

But to kind of, um of make it a little bit more exciting, we've created these packaged bundles to give you guys a little bit more in return for making that leap of faith and ordering the book before it comes out. So for example, if you get one book, you also get a PDF with nine extra recipes, nine bonus recipes that are not in the plant-powered way, which is pretty cool. You get a 15% one-time discount to Four Sigma Foods, which is this really amazing company that makes mushroom supplements like reishi that you can put in your tea. Cordyceps. Cordyceps, which I use. I use this product all the time.

A 10% one-time discount to Aloha, which makes organic green powder supplements for your drinks and your juices and your smoothies. A 15% one-time discount to SoCal Cleanse, which is the first certified organic cleansing. It's an amazing product. Yeah, it's amazing. $20 gift card and one

month membership to Thrive Market, our friend Gunnar's new startup, which is basically an online way to get everything that you get at Whole Foods at like a fraction of the cost. And it functions on kind of a Costco model. Like they don't, they really don't, I don't think they make any money off selling the food products there. It's a membership thing. You have to join. You pay an annual fee. I can't remember what it is. I think it's like $40 or something like that, $60. And then you can basically shop there.

And it's amazing how much cheaper the food products are at Thrive Market as compared to Whole Foods, which we otherwise call Whole Paycheck. It's a huge, huge, huge service. Which is a great service. And Gennar's a great guy that we've known for years and years and years. And that's kind of emblematic of like all of these packages that we put together. They're all from companies where we know the founder or the CEO. We've been friends for a very long time. They wanted to support what we're doing. We like supporting what they're doing. So it's a win-win. Also 20% off the best, off the video course, Ultimate Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition, our video course at MindBodyGreen.

Fantastic course. So basically, I think it's $45 worth of stuff that you get for ordering one book. So you're going to pay $28, and then you're going to get the book that is worth between $28 and $40, depending upon how you value it. And then you're going to get $45 worth of stuff on top of that. So you're getting anywhere between $85 and like $75, $76 worth of stuff by ordering one book, which is crazy. It's awesome, right? And then it kind of scales up from there. If you order three books, we give you more stuff, five books, 10 books, 30 books, 50 books, 100 books, 300 books.

Yeah, and in the later packages, you get, you know, it increases and you're getting meditation programs and things like that. Right. So the main thing here, though, that I want everyone to kind of understand that if you want to learn more about this stuff, all the details are at richroll.com forward slash the dash plant power dash way, or just go to the homepage richroll.com and you can find it really easily. But the main thing is we're just excited about this book. Of course, you know, look, we want to sell the book. Who wouldn't, if you wrote a book, we want as many people to read it and get it and all of that but honestly this whole pre-order campaign is not about trying to convince people to buy a book that they don't want because we're throwing a bunch of you know extra stuff extra stuff you don't need that's not what it is. What this is, the whole intention and heart behind this is to give back to you guys who have supported us through thick and thin for the last several years, who have jumped on board this podcast and who have gotten something out of it and who are making changes in their own lives and affecting the people around them. Because this is a movement, right?

It is a movement. We're very privileged and honored and excited to play a small part in this movement. But it's not about Julie and I. It's about the fact that we are having a health care crisis in America right now and beyond. Because, you know, this health care crisis that we're suffering from is a result of one of our biggest exports, which is the window diet, right? The fast food diet, all these fast food franchises that you see all across America. Well, we've exported these across the world and I've been privileged enough to travel to some amazing places throughout the Middle East. And you see these franchises everywhere you go. And now,

you know, in Saudi Arabia, in Pakistan, in Beirut, all these places, they're now having similar health problems that we've been suffering from here for a while, for the first time in the history of like humankind, right? We are exporting this unhealthy diet and this unhealthy lifestyle across the globe. And we're trying to put a stop to it. This book is our small little offering, you know, towards that. Um, but it's really about everybody out there and the work that everybody else is doing with, you know, the one-on-one interaction and the, uh, the sort of example that you're setting for your children and how you're conducting your own life. That's right. And I mean, you know,

by committing or by buying more than one book, you know, like, why would we present that to you? Like, why would we say, you know, well, if you want to buy 10 books or you want to buy 50 books or you want to buy 300 books, you know, why is that important? And it's important because we need all of us to join in the movement to affect changes in our fellow humans' lives. And if you feel that calling within yourself and you feel aligned to the mission and aligned to what Rich and I have been creating and many, many, many others, other amazing people that are doing extraordinary things, this is a way that you can get involved.

And it does make a difference because it allows us to reach more people in a shorter amount of time. And so we went back and forth about the incentives. We really did not want to just offer free stuff for the sake of offering free stuff or to make it feel like it was a marketing push. It's completely not our style. It's not what we've done with our brand, you know, and I think, you know, the transparency with, in which we've shared our story and we've, you know, kind of opened the windows of our, of our life to everyone, you know, speaks to that. But, you know, we are here releasing a book that has a potential to affect a powerful change. And in order to do that, we need all of you to help us to that end.

And you shouldn't do it if you don't feel the alignment. If you feel it in your heart and it's authentic um then we welcome you to join us and help us and if it doesn't feel that way to you please don't do it don't do it don't do it and no wait and know that we respect you and honor you fully like this is no there's no hook here um but we are in the middle of a planetary crisis where it's a health crisis and there's also a planetary crisis. And if you feel like what we are sharing could affect another or shift even one other life, then please buy more than one book, you know,

please join us and assist us in reaching more people. Yeah. I mean, I think just to echo what Julie said, I mean, of course, if this doesn't speak to you, don't buy it. Like I'm not an internet marketing guy, you know? Like I'm not like out here trying to like find affiliates to like sell the book, you know, whatever all those tips are and tricks

and like here's how you write an email to people to get them to click on it. Like that's not our vibe. That's not what we're doing here. I'm not about that. I don't like that. I don't understand that at all. And I feel like a lot of that world is very, I don't know. It just feels like weird and slimy to me, you know?

And so that's the furthest thing from what we're about and what we're trying to do. But we do feel like, you know, we are proud of our book. Of course we want to share it. We want to expose it to as many people as possible. But it's really about, you know, trying to find other people that are resonating with what we're doing and to extend, you know, this offering to you guys. And to do it in a way where it's like, we're trying to, we want to thank you. We want to give you like as much as we can of ourselves.

And that's really what the podcast is about. Of course, from the very beginning, I said the podcast is free. It'll always be free. This is an act of love. This is an act of service. And at the end of the day, this book is an act of service. It's all about service. It's not about Julie and I or our ego or whatever. It's about trying to find a way to connect with people so that

they can go on their own journey of health and wellness and all of that. And, and really it's, the book is all focused around trying to be appealing to anybody out there. Like we're not, you know, Topanga hippies trying to just speak to the vegan there. Like we're not, you know, Topanga hippies trying to just speak to the vegan crowd. Well, you are, but you got to call it out. We're living a very modern life though. You know what I mean? Like I'm trying to, you know, the, the, the idea is that this has to be accessible for everybody, not for, it's not for preaching to people that are already, you know, kind of been living vegan for 25 years. It's for trying to connect with people that maybe aren't so sure and need a little encouragement or, um, you know, motivation or whatever.

And, you know, in the book, so we have three lifestyle paths in the back of the book. Um, and, uh, you, it, it provides you sort of a framework to enter the plant power way from three different perspectives. Um, and, um, you know, again, it's like, this is, this is not a book for vegans. Um, it is a book for all of us, for anybody desiring, um, better health and a more authentic and full expression of your life. The other thing is that it's about really kind of everything that we've been talking about is about building community, right? This podcast is about building community. This book is about contributing to that community and building additional community around these ideas.

And it's why we, you know, became partners in Joy Cafe, you know, which is our plant-based restaurant that we're partnered up on out here in Westlake Village. And it's why we got involved in Karma Baker. It's like, we're trying to align ourselves with other people that are doing amazing things. And, you know, Joy Cafe serves as a meeting place, a place where we can congregate and promulgate and propagate these ideas that have a ripple effect that goes out into the world. And this book is a way of us trying to catalyze other people to create community as well. We tried to create it like a coffee table book that you could leave out on your coffee table for anybody to look through. You'd be proud to leave it out.

You look through it. It looks amazing. The photography is incredible. You'd be proud to leave it out. You look through it. It looks amazing. The photography is incredible. Uh, you'd be, you know, proud to give it as a, as a gift. Somebody would be excited to get it as a gift or just to see it. And I think when you have a set piece like that, like you have a beautiful book that you can tell when you page through it, a lot of care and heart, um, and authentic, you know, kind of, uh, creativity and expression went into it. You could tell, you know, you know, when it's just, creativity and expression went into it. You could tell, you know, you know, when it's just, Oh, these guys whipped out this book because they needed to get a book out versus like, Oh, there's a lot of care that went into this. And that's what this

book is. Um, because you know, our belief is that if we do that, like that's, that's what will begin to, uh, you know, speak to people and, and people and kind of cultivate that transition. And support them, you know, and be a starting place. And you're going to see and experience really great, tasty, family-full food, like real food. And I think, you know, one of the things that I hear from meat eaters or from, you know, people that are, you know, reticent to try a plant-based lifestyle is they think that they're going to have to go without. They think that they're going to have to sacrifice their taste that they love so much. And I mean, this book has, um, uh, vegan cheeses in it. It has, you know, ice creams,

desserts. It has amazing, uh, mains and sides and gravies. And, and, um, um, it's just, it's really, really full, hearty food. And no one will be left feeling like they were a rabbit in the field. And they just, you know, only had a bite of a carrot. Right, right, right. And I also just want to mention that I had a really extraordinary, I don't think you did mention it, I don't know. But within these giveaways, we designed a nine bonus recipe bundle, and I created that in the last probably month. And I'm very, very proud of it. I'm very excited about it. They were recipes that I created in a

very spontaneous way and going to the farmer's market and sort of doing it on the spot. I had a very good time doing it. And I hope you'll be as pleased with the recipes as I am. But I actually think that that bonus recipe bundle is a really great little gift. It certainly was not something that was left over. It was something that has a lot of value. Yeah, it's not like they were recipes that were cut out of the book because they didn't make the grade. They were created independently for this very purpose of trying to give something back.

That's right. And we have nine new recipes that I tested out with you guys. And so everybody was excited to welcome the new nine into the fold. you guys. And so everybody was excited to welcome the new nine into the fold. And just, just to like wrap up the incentive bundle kind of conversation, we can move on other things. I mean, we it's, it's $300,000 worth of goods and services. There's a lot of cool stuff here and it goes all the way up as you ramp up into the, you know, big time book purchase things, you know, we'll even like do a talk with there. There's a special dinner with Julie and I at joy cafe. And, uh, you can all even get your very own speaking engagement with me and Julie hour and a half, you know, consulting, whatever, like there's lots of cool stuff there for people that, you know, have the wherewithal or the interest to make the massive

purchases. But for everybody who orders it, um, you're getting lots of good stuff. Like if you buy five books, it's, uh, $356 worth of value added, uh, 10 books is $450 worth of stuff, 30 books, $950 worth of goods and services that you get on top of the book purchases. So it's pretty cool. Check it out. Um, again, you know, only do it if it speaks to you and for people that have already pre-ordered, uh, it's, uh, you're still eligible for all of this stuff. If you go to the main pre-order page on my site, uh, you can upload your purchase receipt, uh, and all of these bonuses will ship when the book ships or around the same time, like, uh, following April 28th. So even if you already

pre-ordered, you can still, you can still participate. Let's talk about, I want to talk about like taking off on that idea of the hardiness of the recipes and, and, you know, trying to create something that's going to be, you know, satisfying to anybody. I mean, it kind of harkens back to, you know, how you got interested in food, where you began, you know, where your cooking journey began and, and just maybe to kick off that conversation, it would be kind of, uh, heartwarming and fun to tell a story about like your dad, because your dad comes from a very different place and the experience of trying to cook for your dad and make him, make him happy. Well, it's kind of, yeah, it's kind of, uh, it's kind of amazing. And, you know, I've told this

story before. I mean, I was raised in Alaska. I was born in Colorado and drove to Alaska in an AMC Hornet with my mom, my four siblings and a dog. And I turned nine on the way, um, in Idaho falls. One of your, one of your sisters tried to run away. She did. She ran away. She ran away drive. Cause she didn't want to leave her high school. Well, it was a little bit, you know, when I think about it, you know, you think about the things your parents did and the decisions that they made and you're just like, really in some cases. So they, yeah, they yanked my three older siblings out of, out of high school in their community. And my sister had a boyfriend, and she didn't want to go. So she actually ran away, and we found her hitchhiking on a trucker ramp.

That's so funny. It was kind of funny, but good thing we got her. But anyway, no, so going back, though, I really want to just share this story. And that is that I first learned about food from my grandmother, my paternal grandmother. Her name was Mom Pearl, if you can believe that. Somebody's named that. My dad is from Amarillo, Texas. So for any of you probably haven't spoken this,

shared this, but I am a part Texan girl. And we would go visit my grandmother and she cooked her entire life as long as I knew her. I never saw her without an apron on except for maybe at somebody's funeral at the church. Um, she actually played piano at the church. She was a piano teacher and, uh, she cooked, uh, in her kitchen from the time she woke up until the time she went to bed and she had a garden outside. So she grew, you know, tomatoes and peas and squash and, you know, sort of, uh, all of those types of things. And when I was a little

girl, I used to join her in the garden and she would have me pull the caterpillars off of whatever thing she was growing. And I just, at the time as a child, you know, I saw the amount of work that she put in and I was not interested in that at all. I thought, wow, what a thank, what a thankless life. Like that woman just lives in the kitchen and she doesn't do anything, you know, but literally it was three full meals, you know, fully decked out for, you know, 15 people, three times a day without fail every day for many, many, many years. Mom Pearl. Mom Pearl. Mom Pearl. Not Mom Pearl.

In Amarillo. In Amarillo, Texas. And the wonderful thing and the bizarre thing is that here I am and I spend so much time in the kitchen and I'm always feeling her and always thinking of her in, in that way. So, uh, she was really, I think, you know, the, the cook, the chef of the family. Um, my mother was not really, my mom was more of a career woman and, uh, was raised in Chile and, and, uh, had a different experience. But here I am in Alaska and I'm a child and I was raised in a household with game meat. So my dad would go out and harvest a moose for the winter and freezer stuffed full of salmon and occasional caribou, reindeer sausage and bear occasionally, sheep, mountain sheep occasionally.

sheep, you know, mountain sheep occasionally. And, uh, you know, it was, it was, I mean, I remember the smell of blood, like the smell of blood from a, from a pheasant hunt that was earlier actually in Colorado. They, I don't think they have pheasants in Alaska, but anyway, so I remember that smell. Um, but he would go out, um, you know, on his expeditions for, you know, three weeks at a time. He was a bush pilot, so he would fly his plane. And, you know, he has all kinds of stories of like landing on glaciers and then, you know, sleeping in the freezing ice for like weeks and then finally, you know, killing whatever he was killing. And then he would have to skin it and pack it out. And, you know, it's quite an involved thing. Right. He's, I mean, he's essentially like this Indiana Jones figure. He's done all these amazing things in his life. And, and when I first started dating Julie and, and was exposed to her family, you know, we would get together and her dad would tell stories. And these stories range from things like she just said to, you know, I think he crashed his plane on a sandbar off the coast of Ecuador and there were sharks circling around.

And he tells this amazing story of he was climbing a mountain somewhere in South America. No, he was, so he worked for the geodesic, um, uh, department and what that means is he actually developed maps. So for a time in his young, when he was a young man, yeah, I think that's what it is. Geodesic isn't in the geodesic dome? Yeah. No, I think.

Geographical society. No, it's not that word. It's another word. But he worked for the government, right? Like he was mapping the jungles. He was mapping the jungles, but I think that that is the correct term, but you'll have to see. All right. I could be wrong. But anyway, so he actually lived in the jungles of Brazil for some time as a young man and he would map the jungles and build these huge towers. And so he has one story where he was on the top of a tower and he had to kind

of jump to a helicopter. The helicopter was trying to pick him up, I think, and had dropped a ladder from the helicopter. But the, the, the altitude where they were, they were so high up when,

and when the air gets super thin, like the helicopter can't hold its altitude. so it was dropping this this like ladder for him to jump onto but the helicopter kept dropping in altitude because it couldn't sustain its height and apparently like he had to make this leap and he's hanging you know and and the helicopter started to like lose altitude and descend. And he's like dangling from this rope. I mean, it's like what you'd see in a movie, right? These crazy stories. So, you know, he's telling these stories and then like, you know, Julie would look over to me and would say, so rich, do you have anything to share? It's like, I've never felt smaller or like less

accomplished. And this was before everything had happened yeah i was like before do you think it was a dare do you think that was a catalyst in getting you to do something really extraordinary maybe on some unconscious level because i was i felt so much so less than and then but then and i think he kind of i think your dad would sort of look at me and think like this who is that guy yeah like who's that la guy sitting there weak this weak ass dude exactly but then when you wrote wonderfully before my dad's eye my dad is 92 now but before his eyes went he was able to read your book and he really enjoyed it and he has a tremendous amount of respect for you and what you've accomplished so thanks for i had to thanks for i had to do all of that to get the approval

no no but it's great. So, but I think, yeah, like, so your experience was, I mean, you know, look, hunting and all of that, that's not your vibe. That's not our vibe. That's not what we're about. But I think you could say that your dad, Larry, you know, has a certain appreciation for nature and a connectedness to his environment that probably most people, not probably that most people don't have. Yeah. I remember a time it was interesting, a really sacred time with him. He took me flying one of the many times that I went up in the plane with him and he had various numbers of planes, but, um, we went up in this old Cessna. It was like, it's so, so surreal. Cause like a small airplane, you know, it's like you're, you're

going inside a small, like a thin tin can and you're just taking off and going up into the wilderness, like on floats because of the outside of the plane, you know, it's very, it's just, it's not like sturdy or anything like that. It's just sort of a canvas-y or kind of light. But one time, I don't know, I must've been, I don't know, maybe 15 or 14 or something. And we flew by Mount McKinley. And it was one of these rare moments where there was no clouds and he was freaking out because it was so gorgeous. And he took a bunch of pictures and I remember we tried to get back. We turned

the plane around and the cloud cover had filled in and there was no way, you know, there's no way through because there's no instruments in the bush planes and stuff like that. So we had to fly to the edge of the cloud and then find an open place to drop back down. And then when we got back, there were no pictures and he was so upset about it. And I was, and I said, dad, just let it go. It was just for you and me. It wasn't for anybody else, but he didn't have that perspective. No, not at that time. No. But to kind of bring it back, bring it back to food. I mean, when you, when we kind of started to live this lifestyle, you've had many opportunities to try to prepare food. That's going to, you know, please your father and his predilections in terms of the kind of things that he likes to eat, you know, as somebody who kind of spent his whole life hunting and eating

game meat and packing it and doing all that kind of stuff that you just described. Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, he's, uh, he had enough experience with my cooking to know that I had an ability with it. Like, I don't think he's ever eaten a meal of mine that he was like really unhappy with. Um, and you know, earlier in my life, um, it just, I'm very, um, I'm a very much of a homemaker, you know, I love to make a beautiful home and I love to cook great food and feed people. And I had an ability to do it. It didn't really stress me out. So I could do it for 50 people and it wasn't really stressful for me to handle that. And then later as I kept going through my journey, it was really through yoga.

I discovered yoga in this lifetime and started practicing again. And then that started really affecting my dietary choices. And, you know, pretty soon there we were and, and, uh, the whole house was becoming plant-based after your transformation actually. Right. And now you kind of have this sort of interesting perspective on, I mean, being, being the kind of person that you are who's doing many things, a musician, you know, yogi, spiritual guide, all these sorts of things. You have this kind of performance artified at the amount of work that it took to prepare a meal. Um, you know, probably wasn't as adept at it when I was that young, but I kind of felt like as an artist, as an artist that it was sort of thankless. Like it was, it really is performance art because you spend this time creating this and there's all this

creative energy that goes into it and then you present it and then everybody eats it and it's over it's gone but really from a spiritual perspective it's really sort of one of the highest expressions of art because because of that very reason because it's impermanent non-attachment well it's impermanent yeah well it's sort of like those uh you ever seen you seen, you see them in like Berkeley or in New York city. They're the Buddhist monks that draw chalk art on the sidewalk. Yeah, exactly. Like incredibly intricate, beautiful works, but they know like, you know, the wind tomorrow it will be gone. The wind will blow it. Yeah. That's really beautiful. And, you know, also in a lot of my, you know, art explorations, you know, I've done a lot of work with sculpting things and then just destroying them. And preciousness of your art like the preciousness of

you know i have to guard this i have to guard this one scene or i have to guard this one dish or i have to guard this one song and you realize that you just let it go in the moment and then you can recreate it again in a unique way it gives yourself permission to to just be more in a flow kind of state like especially with writing like you you, you can't, if you're, if you think like every sentence you're going to write is going to be perfect, like you'll never write a sentence. You have to allow yourself to write poorly, you know, and be not attached to that. Or, or just allow yourself to write freely and not judge it because you don't know if it's going to be poorly. It could be channeled perfect, like in the shortest amount of time if you really allow yourself to just let go of any of the rules then you can that's a struggle for me because i i still

operate under this perspective that like unless it's painful it's not good it's not worthy you know like it's unless i suffered for it like whether it's training for a race or whether it's writing a book like i feel like i have have to feel it, you know, in order for, in order to, for it to qualify as being valid, valid. Well, it goes back,

but it goes back to that same kind of idiotic question that everybody asks when you create a painting and they get, they come up and they look at it and they go, Hmm. And then they go, how long did this take you? That's the first question they ask because in the human programming, you think that if it took you a longer time, then it's more valid, which for me is completely idiotic.

Because if you're really tapped in, it shouldn't take any time at all. You should be able to grab it. And it reminds me, it's funny, because in Jycee Cookbook, we just tried to slap together a bunch of things that we had that could, you know, compliment our recipes so we could get something up online. And, and, um, I remember I had a, I had the blessing of having a, an art show with these, uh, tree photographs that I took that were, you know, mounted, they were four, four feet by 10 feet, glossy, you know, um, prints that were laminated to plexi with like an aluminum back. And I had this show and I remember standing there. I literally shot that series in an hour and a half. I shot, I w I thought I was going to go get my legs with the camera. And by the time I finished the hour, half hour and a half, I had my images.

And then of course I went and worked on them and develop them. And there was more time after that. But if you look at it as a net time, there was really no time at all. And I'm very, very pleased with that work. You know, it's a really cool thing. But I remember being at my art show at Canvas in Malibu, and I was standing there and this really serious photographer came up to me and he looks at me and he says, what did you use to shoot these with? and I swear to god I I'm not even a photographer like not a I'm not a trained photographer I just grabbed a camera and shot and I looked at him and I and I said I think it was a canon that's all I could say because I had no other idea and he just looked at me like you're insane you're or you know you probably didn't shoot these right that's super funny that's funny well i mean i think it's it's a good lesson in you know if somebody's listening

and they struggle with you know preparing meals and wanting them to be perfect or have this uh concept that it's a labor you know it's a it's it's an effort and mean, what is your, how do you guide somebody? It is a labor. The dishes are a labor. I mean, is it seriously, it's so wrong that so many dishes are created in making food. That's a bummer. That's a total bummer. So there is a reality.

There is an amount of work in it. But I would say that the most powerful thing in your cooking is your intention. What is your intention and what energy do you come to the kitchen with? And if you're really in service and you really have a desire to nurture and heal and feed and bless people with your food, you're just going to be supported. You're going to find out that that happy accident just turned into something amazing. People will feel the difference in your food and it could be something very simple, you know, and most of my recipes in the book, they're very simple, you know, aside from, you know, a few, there's a few things about sprouting and, you know, there's a few technique things and a few recipes take a little bit longer, but in general, everything is very easy and fluid to make. And if you just give yourself the permission to be free and, you know, there are no mistakes. There's only different ways of creating things.

intuition, trust the, trust the energy of the moment, trust the vegetable that is local and in season, you know, trust the fruit that you see that is calling you to buy it at the farmer's market. Like, you know, substitute change, feel, you know, feel, get your legs and give yourself the permission to experiment and don't, don't be attached to perfection, you know, just enjoy the process and serve it with love, whatever it is. True in the kitchen and true in life. That's right. True outside the kitchen. It's very true outside the kitchen.

I'm going to try to practice that one in a while. Did you ever think you were going to be a cookbook author? You know, I really didn't. I didn't. I didn't, except the funny thing, the interesting thing is, is that back when, Rich and I had a website when we first were together, and it was called Jai Lifestyle. And I was doing yoga retreats. We were doing yoga retreats in Italy and on these high-end sailboats. And it was called Jai Yoga. And then I was doing interior design at the time.

Jai Environments. We just had a whole Jainess going on here. But I didn't think everything, I never thought to myself, oh, I want to become a vegan chef. But I did think at one point, we're going to do a cookbook that's going to be a part of the house. And so I bought Nobu's cookbook, um, one of his extraordinary offerings on, you know, sushi as art. And the, the book is very modern and very gorgeous. And just, it reminded me of our house. And then I just, that was a long time. That was like 2005 or something before then, even before Mathis. And I put it away in, in the cabinet and it sat there for all these years. And the interesting thing is, is that Nobu is the first, uh, restaurant that I ate sushi in, but it was not in LA when he was famous. It was when he was first starting out,

he opened his first restaurant in Anchorage, Alaska, which was my hometown. Oh, I think you told me that a long time ago. I remember that. And I had sushi there for the first time. It was, it was casual. Like, you know, we weren't a family that could afford something. Yeah. For people who are listening, who don't know who Nobu is, uh, his name is Nobu, uh, Matsuhisa. Is that? Uh, he's very famous sushi chef. He's world renowned. World renowned sushi chef. World-renowned now. And his first really big, famous restaurant was in Los Angeles. It's called Matsuhisa. Yeah, Matsuhisa. And that was the place to go.

It was on Robertson, I think. I want to say La Cienega. Maybe La Cienega. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very famous sushi place. And he's gone on from there to open a variety of restaurants called Nobu. There's one in New York city, one in Malibu. I think there's one in Aspen. Yeah. So they're all over now. So he's like the guy. He's the guy. Yeah. So anyway, so who knew? So I guess I had

some kind of intuition. But his first place was in Anchorage and you ate there when you were in like in high school or something? Uh, yeah, maybe, yeah, maybe even a little younger possibly. And my parents took me and I remember, and, and this restaurant burned down actually. And then he left Anchorage. So, but it's just, it's, it's one of those bizarre things.

And then we had a mutual friend at, at, from our yoga community, Heath Slane, who actually ate there very frequently. And she took us and actually introduced us to him. So I met him actually later in life. But anyway,

so, so who knew? I had that book up there in the cabinet and then life just sort of unfolded and here we are. How does this happen? That suddenly you find yourself to be co-authoring a cookbook?

Yeah, I mean, for a while there, I kept saying, yeah, no, I'm not a chef. I remember Saul Ray, who's a- You gotta stop saying that because you are a chef. I am a chef. No, I know. I was saying before, no, cause Saul Ray was, um, was inviting me to, uh, cook for his yoga retreat. So I would be cooking for, you know, 30 yogis, three meals a day for nine days. And I would be saying, but I'm really not a chef, but I kept, you know, bringing the dishes to the table. Right. And, uh, one of, one of the most profound experiences that I had though, in that, in that, uh, role is Saul hired me, um, to chef for one of his retreats after I suffered the loss

of actually the boy's dad, um, Lou Pyatt, who, um, passed away about three years ago. And, uh, he called me just a couple weeks afterwards, and he said, you know, Srimati, I feel like you should come to Kauai and cook for us. Am I asking too much of you? And I remember I asked the boys, and I asked you, and they said, Mom, go ahead and go. So I went, but what happened is I was still in shock

from the death experience, and I couldn't make a list. My mind could not make a list from the beginning to the end. So Saul and I went to the market. We went to Howe's Market on Kauai. And we got two huge baskets. And I bought every single ingredient that I use in anything that I make, like any vegan thing that I make. And then he would look at me and he would say,

you know, Srimati, what's for dinner? And I would say, I don't know, Saul, but something will be there. And he would say, okay. And he would leave and go teach his class. And I would just get in there. And all of a sudden the inspiration would start rolling and there it would happen. And I would produce the meal and everybody was like, oh, this is incredible. But that was a really interesting demonstration of being forced to be completely in the moment with the food creation. And it was powerful, really powerful. So what is your hope for anybody who looks at this book or experiences your food? What are you trying to communicate? anyone to find their own authentic heart and their connection and their life purpose to be who they are authentically and without any, um, constriction, um, that would be a worthy goal

of this food. I mean, one of the things that, that I always say that we always talk about is health and wellness begins and ends with what you put on your plate, what you put on your mouth. But that's really just the beginning, right? Because for me, and I know for you, and what I've learned from being with you, is that it's all a spiritual journey. journey. And when you kind of change or raise the vibration of the foods that you're eating, that has a tremendous impact on everything. It has an impact on your physical body, your energy levels, your vitality, your emotional state, your mental state, how you interact with other people, the decisions that you make, it finds its way into every aspect of your life.

And when you think of it more expansively like that, I think it helps you to realize just how important it is to kind of wake up and not just blindly put into your mouth whatever happens to be in front of you to create more mindful habits around this that can quite literally change the trajectory of your life. That's right. And I mean, I feel like there are, um, so many people on the planet who can't feel themselves because they are, um, they have toxins in their body. You know, they have toxins in their body. They have toxins. We have many different things, environmental, but we have a lot of issues and a lot of processed food and a lot of fats and energies, low vibrational food choices that are affecting the being

from expressing itself the way that it was designed. And so for me on a larger level, on a planetary level, I have tremendous and complete faith in creation and in consciousness and that we all were created for a divine purpose. And each one of us is completely unique. There's not another one of any one of us in the entire universe, if you can just grapple with that. And so the biggest, you know, mission or search for each one of us should be to discover who we really are at that core. Like, who are we and what is our divine design and I believe that if more and

more of us can find that special chord or that special resonance in which we were created and we can share that and express that in our world that we can accomplish great miracles and, and just beautiful, beautiful things out of that. And so eating pure food and eating good food is the beginning step in starting to access that. And I've seen it demonstrated in, you know, individuals that have written in from the podcast, you know, in particular, one young man named Josh Lajani comes to mind who's in new Orleans, who, you know, was, you know, 450 pounds and, you know, lost his body weight. And now he's running marathons and he's, he's changing the way food is first ultra. Did he really? A beach on the beach. He's just amazing. And this man has such a beautiful heart and such a great love for New Orleans and for where he comes and the way that he expresses himself. And that's extraordinary. And then I would also say that you don't have to be 400 pounds to be needing to discover yourself. 400 pounds to be needing, uh, to discover yourself. You know, it comes in many different kinds of body types. You know, I was a skinny person my whole life. I have never had issues

with food, but in my case, you know, I was given a gift of, of, you know, developing a cyst in my neck, which then, uh, forced me to inquire deep, more deeply into food as medicine. And so I healed myself, um, from that cyst, um, through the use of Ayurvedic herbs, which are plant herbs, um, and diet, um, and meditation practice and consciousness and a lot of other things, but. Yeah. Beautifully put. Well, certainly, uh, getting plant centcentric in your life is the key towards unlocking a healthier, more expressive, more authentic version of yourself. Plant-based diet is really the only protocol that I'm aware of that has been shown to not only prevent but actually reverse these diseases that we were talking about earlier. diseases that we were talking about earlier. And when you think about the fact that 75% of all healthcare costs are attributable to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, prostate cancer, and breast cancer, and then understand that 80 to 90% of these chronic ailments are reversible or

preventable through simple lifestyle and diet alterations, it's kind of mind blowing, right? And when you combine that with the environmental concerns, like let's look at the environment real quick. I mean, animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions, which is more than transportation. We talk about our cars and not driving so much and getting off our dependence on oil, but the truth of the matter is the elephant in the room that we're not talking enough about

is the impact of animal agriculture, raising animals for food, and what that's doing to our planet, the deleterious impact of that. And when you think about just the water use, the extent to which our oceans are polluted by this, the extent to which species are rapidly going extinct, the fish populations are becoming completely unstable, rainforest deforestation, like all of these considerations are really all a function of trying to get more and more land and devote more and more resources to raising animals for food.

And it's simply not sustainable. We cannot feed the billions and billions of people on this planet in the way that we have been. Eventually, we're all going to have to be plant-based. And the thing that's so amazing is that we can solve this problem by just becoming plant-based, right? That's right. You know, and people ask all the time, well, what, you know, what can I do? Or what can we do? Because the problems are so large, you know, well, there's a lot you can do. You can make that choice every meal of your day. And it makes a huge impact, huge impact with the water that you save, the animal lives that you save, the rainforest that you save, you know, it is affecting the planet in a positive way. And we all, regardless of our race,

of our belief systems, of from which, you know, perspective we came into this life, we all share this planet. And we are all common in that, you know, in that element. And we don't really have a long time to fool around with this. So, and yet at the same time, you don't have to sacrifice taste. I mean, like with the dishes that you make, I mean, I don't feel like I'm missing anything. You know, I just feel better. I feel better energetically i feel well fed i feel sated in my meals like i don't i don't think of it as a deprivation thing i think of it as um an empowering thing yeah it is well it is it's very empowering to eat high vibrational food and you know i mean it's a testament to the fact that it works and that it's tasty and that it's satisfying that our older boys both eat this way. Not only do they eat this way,

but they're becoming their own chefs in their own right. And, um, it's, uh, and even, you know, our, our younger girls also, um, you know, they go through their, you know, their, uh, protesting and, you know, they're still kids, you know, and they see things out in the world that they want and all of this, but overall the microbes start to take over and they're making amazing healthy choices. And it, and I'm shocked what I see on their plate. Many times I laugh out loud. Oh my God, this happened the other day and it's okay. So I'm really proud of this recipe. So it's

in the bonus recipe bundle and it happens to be the, um, uh, the chocolate cake that's on the cover of my second album called Jai home. And, uh, it's a, it's a cherry cacao cake. Um, and I perfected the recipe. It's absolutely decadent beyond, and I made it with a traditional, you know, powder sugar, you know, birthday cake frosting, because that's kind of what what's required for the vibe. And, and I was really, really happy with the recipe. And both my girls told me, Mom, we love the cake, and this frosting was too sweet. was too sweet and I just, I drop, almost drop the plate in the kitchen when I heard this come out of their mouths, because these are girls who were, you know, they were looking for the frosting whenever they could get it. Right. It was all about the frosting, only eating the frosting. And now like the frosting's too much. And how did that happen? You know, it's shocking. So anyway, so I give it to you guys in the, in the, in the bonus recipe bundle. And I also am happy to be giving a free download of my album for the whole pre-sale time.

So there's a button that you can click and download it for free. So you can listen to my album while you're making the cake. Go for the full experience. Go for the full experience. See, I knew it. I knew it was going to come into full fruition. And the podcast in the background. There you go.

No, no, no. Just listen to my album and then make the cake. And then, um, yeah, I knew it. I knew it was going to come into full fruition. And the podcast in the background. There you go. No, no, no. Just listen to my album and then make the cake. And then, yeah, I mean, I give you a little variation because, you know, the frosting is that it's classic. Like every birthday cake frosting has that much powdered sugar in it. So I also give a variation of just, you know, using a little vegan cream cheese with maybe some maple syrup in it or maybe leave it off altogether. But anyway, I hope you enjoy it. I'm very proud of it. And it got a lot of likes on Instagram. I think it's my top Instagram photo and everyone devoured it. All right, cool. Well, thanks for dropping by the podcast. I think that was a worthy hour that we just spent together. Thank you so much. Thanks

for having me on. Yeah. Well, I'm excited for our book and the moment of being able to share it with everybody. If you guys want to learn more, go to richroll.com. There's a pre-order page for the book. And we have a trailer video, which kind of walks you through the whole thing. It's pretty exciting. We have an amazing foreword by our friend, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who wrote some beautiful words for us to kick the book out off. And again, it's a cookbook, 120 recipes, but also a lifestyle guide on the power of plant-based eating to transform your life experience. And you can look at all the

pre-order incentives and all that fun stuff. So yeah, man, check it out. It's awesome. If you want to learn more about Julie, you can go to her website, which is srimati.com, S-R-I-M-A-T-I.com. And you are on Twitter and Instagram under the same name. I am the same unified name. Making it so easy for you guys. In one place.

That's right. And she's been Instagramming beautiful recipe shots and all that kind of stuff. So if you're into like the food porn Instagram thing, she's your go-to source for that. What else can we say? I think we just, let's just close it down right i just want to say thank you yeah for allowing us to share in this way and being a part of our lives and all of the emails and letters and communication that we get from you guys sharing your own stories of transformation and it it is always without fail that when we're having a dark moment or we're having, you know, a tough time, somebody sends

something in that then inspires us in turn and gives us the energy to keep going and keep pursuing and keep thriving. So, um, we're all in this together and, uh, appreciation that we, uh, proudly present, um, this amazing expression, um, which is called the plant power way. Yes. Our gift to you. I mean, I would echo that we get so many amazing messages on a daily basis from so many people out there. And if you've sent us one and we didn't respond, I apologize. There's no way that I can respond to all the emails, but please know that we read them all and they are very well received and welcome. So thank you.

And it definitely gives us wind in our sails to continue on our service mission to try to help everybody out there. And this is, that's what this is about. This is about service. This is not about like some way to, you know, I don't know, feel, it's not a marketing idea, you know, like we're just, we're here to help. We want to be a resource for people. I've been so blessed with the, with all of these gifts, um, that have been given to me as a result of, of the changes that I've made in

my life. And honestly, like my motivation, what gets me excited every day when I get up out of bed is how can I share this and how can I help other people to be more fully expressed in who they are? That's right. And that came, this experience and that awareness came from you adopting a plant-based diet. Yeah, that's right. That's true. If that's not more powerful demonstration of the power of plants, I don't know what is. There you go, right? All right, you guys, thanks so much.

We appreciate the support. Continue to share this show with a friend. Maybe send an email to a friend and say, hey, I really enjoy this podcast. Maybe check it out. Right? And I love all the Instagramming, sharing how you guys share or experience the show. So keep doing that. I love it.

I appreciate it. Just make sure you tag me at Rich Roll so I can see it. And that's it. That's all. We'll see you in a couple days, next week. All right? Peace. I'm waiting for you to say it.

Namaste. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Hush Abide Don't You Cry

Go To Sleep My Little David When You Wake You When you wake, you shall have all the pretty little ponies. Ramayana Sri Vedah Ramayana Sri Vedah

Ramayana Sri Vedha Ramayana Sri Vedha Upatthana Ubatana Ubatana Ubatana Upatana Upatana Ramayana, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, abide, don't you cry. Go to sleep, my little devil. When you wake, you shall have all the pretty little ponies.