The Rich Roll Podcast - How Eating Raw Repaired My Health and Gave My Life Purpose With Fully Raw Kristina

Episode Date: July 6, 2015

For most of her young adult life, Kristina Carrillo-Bucaram was in and out of hospitals. Constantly sick, hyperglycemic, low on energy and losing hope that she could ever feel normal. Little did Kristina know that a chance encounter with a strange man at the grocery store would soon change everything, radically and permanently altering the trajectory of her life. This week I am delighted to sit down with the effervescent and passionate Fully Raw Kristina — as she is now popularly known on the internet – to hear all about how a raw vegan diet not only healed her body, but gave her life purpose. Boasting over 600,000 subscribers, many of you may know Kristina from her wildly popular YouTube Channel. For most, this would be an all consuming full time gig. But making videos is subservient to Kristina's first passion, which is running Rawfully Organic – the food cooperative she founded in 2007 at age 20. What began in her living room is now the largest raw organic produce co-op in the United States, providing affordable, healthy raw produce to over 6000 members across the Houston area weekly. Although I would not label myself as fully raw, it's fair to say that I eat tremendous amounts of raw plant foods every day and can personally attest to the importance of prioritizing a large variety of fresh raw produce on your plate at every meal. Nonetheless, I can hear you muttering under your breath: eating fully raw sounds so extreme! Is it possible to be healthy, vibrant and happy on raw plant foods alone? Won't I suffer nutrition deficiencies? To quell these questions, Kristina visited 2-time RRP alumnus Garth Davis, M.D. for a checkup. Here's how it went down: Forefront in today's conversation is of course diet and nutrition. A fun exchange that probes: * how eating raw resolved Kristina's hyperglycemia and repaired her health * the pros & cons of ‘mono-mealing' * how cultural traditions can lead us astray * why fruit is unfairly vilified * why we should support local, organic farming * tips & tricks to eating raw economically * the importance of falling in love with yourself; and * how to live your truth irrespective of public opinion I sincerely hope you enjoy our discussion & look forward to your thoughts in the comments section below. Peace + Plants, Rich

It's a conscious choice every single day to eat this way. Every bite is a conscious choice, and you have to take responsibility for that. Because people who say, oh, I just, you know, I didn't have the self-control, or, oh, I didn't really want to, but I did it anyway. Well, nobody else is putting the food in your mouth. You are hand-to-mouth consciously doing it. Why not just take a baby step? If you can't start with one full day, start out with one meal.

That's Fully Raw Christina, this week on the Rich Roll Podcast. The Rich Roll Podcast. Hey, everybody. What are you doing? It's Rich Roll. I'm your host, and we're back at it with another episode of the podcast. Thanks so much for tuning in. If you're new, welcome. What do we do here? Well, I have the great privilege of sitting down with some pretty amazing people. Some of the best, most pioneering, most intelligent, most dynamic, paradigm-breaking

minds and personalities across all manner of categories, everything from health and wellness to fitness, medicine, nutrition, spirituality, psychology, entertainment, athletic performance, and excellence, always excellence. And the big idea behind all of this is to leverage the insights that are provoked through these conversations, through these thought leaders to really just help you, help me, help all of us just live better, to be better, to help all of us unlock and unleash our best, most authentic selves. So thank you so much for subscribing to the show on iTunes,

for spreading the word, and of course, for always clicking through the Amazon banner ad at richroll.com for all your Amazon purchases. It's a great free way to support the mission, the plant-powered mission, not just the podcast, but the movement at large. So why don't you go ahead and bookmark the link from the banner ad on my site, unless of course you're driving a motor vehicle right now or riding your bike or something like that. But in any event, if you bookmark it, then you don't have to go to my

website every time. It's right up at the top of your browser. Makes it easy. And of course, again, it does not cost you a cent extra. Amazon kicks us some loose commission change and everybody wins. So thank you for everybody who has done that. So I'm delighted today to sit down with the lovely, the effervescent, the passionate Christina Carrillo Bucaram, fully raw Christina, as she is more aptly known on the interwebs. And so who is she? Well, in a general sense, she is a proponent and an advocate of the raw vegan lifestyle. So that's basically what we're going to talk about today. And many of you may know her from her wildly popular YouTube channel. She's got over 600,000 subscribers on this channel. It's insane. She's huge on social media. She's got over 600,000 subscribers on this channel. It's insane. She's

huge on social media. She's got a giant Instagram account. I think the last time I checked, she had like 750,000 followers. In any event, you know, very influential on the internet. But what you might not know is the interesting story behind what led her into the raw lifestyle to begin with. This is something that she'd been doing for about nine years. And what you also might not know is the fact that her YouTube channel, which let's face it, for most people, that would be like a full-time gig, right? But this is really subservient to her first passion, which is running Roughly Organic. And Roughly Organic is the food co-op she founded in 2007 when she was just 20 years old, still in college. She did it with a couple neighbors in her living room. And it has now grown to become the largest raw organic produce co-op in the U.S.

With over 6,000 members, the co-op feeds over 1,500 families per week across the entire Houston area, providing them with affordable, healthy, raw produce. So that's pretty cool. Beyond that, she's a coach, she's a speaker, she just launched a juice line, she's got a book coming out in the fall, all kinds of interesting things. So this is a really cool conversation about so many aspects of diet and nutrition, and you're just going to have to tune in to find out how it goes. And as always, make sure you check out the show notes for the episode and actually for every

episode that I record for that matter, at richroll.com on the episode pages, because they contain tons of additional resources, links, books, as well as other podcast episode suggestions, my podcast episodes that are similar to this one or the one at issue in theme or subject matter. Just for those of you who are inspired by what you hear and kind of want to take things beyond the auditory. Okay, you guys, so you ready to check out the fully raw world of Christina?

Shall we do that? Yes, we shall do that now. I've been following you for quite some time, but we actually had never met until we crossed paths in New York at the Vegetarian Food Fest. So it was cool to meet you there. And here we are. I felt like a little fangirl. I was kind of excited. I was like, hi, Rich, it's Christina. Can I have a hug? And he was like, yeah.

This is coming from the online celebrity that is fully raw Christina. I mean, what you've built and what you, like your platform and the number of people that you're impacting with, you know, what you put out into the world is truly extraordinary. Thank you. I feel the same way about you. I really do. I've been following you for a very long time, and it's just unbelievably inspirational. Well, cool.

Well, I want to get into how it all works with your life because you have a lot going on. I have so much going on. First of all, what are you doing? Why did you come to LA? What are you doing here? You came just to do the podcast, right? I came just for you. That's right.

I came just for you. I feel better. You did. I came just for you. That's right. I came just for you. I feel better. I did. I came just for you. Yes. And I'm living my life. Yeah, cool. Yes. Just brings you to LA from time to time. Yes. Okay. She's getting embarrassed. There's something she doesn't want to tell us. That's all right. You don't have to. I'm not going to push you on that. all right. You don't have to, I'm not going to push you on that. It's all kind of personal thing. All right, cool. Well, uh, you're, you live in Houston and amongst, I mean, I think people who are listening know you predominantly as, you know, a personality on YouTube. I mean, you have one of the largest YouTube channels around and you also have this massive Instagram following. I mean,

I think if you added it all up, like what is, I mean, how many, how many sort of followers do you have on social media? I mean, it's got to be well over a million. I'm sure if you add, added them all up. Yes. But I don't even see it like that because what happens if one person follows you on all of them and that person is just one super strong supporter. Right. Yes. I do do many things though. Right. And I think that, that, you know, for anybody to kind of have developed an audience of that size, you would think, well, that's their full-time gig, but this is, but that's just kind of the side gig to what your main gig is. Right. That's correct. So let's talk about that. Let's talk about the co-op. I would love to. Um, I, my main focus, my main occupation, I guess you could say, is I run Roffley Organic in Houston, which is the largest.

I hate saying that because it's like I'm not toting my own horn, but it is the largest nonprofit organic produce cooperative in the United States right now. We have over 50,000 registered members just in the Houston area. And we feed hundreds of families each week. They come and they pick up a huge box of fruits and vegetables. And it's an amazing community. I post pictures all the time of our boxes and the people and the energy.

And it's really great. And I know in May we're going to be starting home delivery. And so I have three companies that I run. Roughly Organic is the produce cooperative, and that company birthed Fully Raw Juice. So we use all of our leftover produce, and we make fresh, raw, crafted juice, which is also we're starting to get into home delivery with that,

and we sell all of our bottles at co-op as well. And from feeding... So that's like the for-profit arm of the non, that is the for-profit arm of the nonprofit. And then it's interesting because 10 years ago, when I went raw, it's all I really wanted to do was feed my family. And Ruffler organic started in my garage with, you know, 12 people and it grew to being kicked out of my house, being kicked out of our neighborhood, being kicked out of our neighborhood, being kicked out of the parking lot because we were taking away business from local grocery stores

and we were creating traffic in a neighborhood that wasn't supposed to be having outside visitors. So that grew. What year was that? That was in 2007. Right, so not that long ago. I mean, you're young. How old are you now? I'm 28. What do you mean? I'm almost 30. Don't even begin with that. All right. So I, um, my, my main focus has always been to feed people, whether that be food or information, but

people would always go home with the box and they'd be like, I don't know what to do with this food. They'd be like, kale looks really great. I know it's great for me, but what do I do with it? And I started printing out recipe cards and putting in the boxes for people. But then some people would be like, oh, I was out of town last week. I missed the box. What was the recipe card? So I started a YouTube channel where I remember one of my first videos was I came home with a box. I put it on the table. I was like, all right, you guys, here's your co-op box. We're going to put it on the table. We are going to make something out of it and made a smoothie.

And it was originally intended just to have people in Houston for co-op to be able to have these types of recipes. And before I knew it, it was like I was getting emails from people in Japan. You're like, I love your recipes. And it was like, wow, people in Japan with my recipes. It was a very exciting moment. And just with a lot of support from the raw food community and the vegan community, everybody's really helped to support it. And it's been really great. And it's really just grown organically, pun intended, from there.

Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So when you say members of the co-op, I mean, that means that somebody, how does it work? Like they subscribe and then every week or they get a box? So basically whenever you want a box, you go on, you just order it, and you can pick up on a Tuesday, a Thursday, or a Saturday. And you have a central location or at a farmer's market? I got you. Wow.

We have three locations in Houston. And we primarily run them out of vacant lots. And we pitch up 21 12 by 12 tents. Some of them we have covered areas. So the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the Houston Arboretum, which is like our Museum of Natural Science. We have one there.

We have one right by Rice University. And then one that is, it used to be in a location called City Center and then moved to a church. And so now we're taking that one away and then we're going to start home delivery five to six days a week. Wow. It's going to be great.

So how many people are signed up for the home delivery? We won't know until we publish it. Oh, until you announce it. I got you. But we're hopefully anticipating a couple hundred orders each day to start off with. Wow. So how many employees now? I have my right and my left-hand people, and I'd say those are probably about 15 people. And then everybody else is an amazing volunteer that comes.

And when I say volunteer, I mean like this entire company has been run by people who haven't been paid. And I, to this day, still have not taken a paycheck from this company. And that's just a note that I took in the beginning. And for me, it keeps my passion alive. And that's why I love to do it, because it's always been my main thing. And it keeps my focus from shifting. And I love it, because every Saturday, it's like we have 20, 30 people come,

sweats on, smile on their face, like, all right, let's get dirty. Hands and vegetables, let's sort these boxes. We put on the music, we have a good time, and it just feels like community and that's like I love it. Well, I want to get into kind of the aspect of how it works with the farmers and how you've connected with these farmers and where you get all this kind of stuff. You know, you're essentially like a clearinghouse, right?

You have relationships with all these farms that provide you with this stuff. I'm like the food hustler. Right. I like, you understand, I start off by hustling produce out of my garage. And then I just move to larger scale. Gangster style. Takes a certain talent, a certain street knowledge. Fullerog gangsta.

Well, I want to, yeah, I want to get into kind of the farmers and what you've learned working with all gangsta. Well, I want to, yeah, I want to get into kind of the farmers and what you've learned working with all these farmers, but you mentioned, you know, that you, you mentioned your passion, right? So let's, let's take it back to where that passion began and how it all like started for you. Okay. Um, I started eating raw 10 years ago. I made the shift in one night cause I had hyperglycemia, which is the onset of type two diabetes. And hyper meaning too much, like too much sugar, right? Too much sugar, which for diabetics is primarily the cost of having too much fat in your diet, which would go back to my mother. God bless her. I do love her, but she fed me way too much

Lebanese food growing up, which was like olive oil and meat. It was a very high fat. Was that raw meat dish? Yeah, that was raw meat. It's a very cultural dish in Lebanon. I no longer eat it obviously, but definitely gave me all types of health issues. So yeah, so hyperglycemia was one thing, but you had a whole battery of things, right? Like didn't, I'd read somewhere or maybe watched, it was in one of your videos that you were kind of in and out of the hospital all the time with a whole battery of maladies. Yes. I was severely emaciated because I was malnutritioned. I had frequent migraines to the point to where I had to sit in black rooms with bandanas cutting off circulation tight around

my head. Um, I mean, I was 87 pounds and I was five, seven at the time. And I'm 5'7 now. You can imagine me like way lighter. It's yuck. And it wasn't that I was not eating. It was more so that I just, I couldn't process what, and what doctors were telling me to eat, which was packaged goods, which was anything that said sugar-free this, dairy-free this, which was basically all chemicals. And I just remember feeling so awful all the time. I mean, I was diagnosed when I was 16. And by the time I was 18, I just had felt like I had, you know, gone rock bottom and I'd lost like 50 pounds or something like that. Wow. And what are your parents doing during this time? Like, are they tripping? Spending $35,000 a year on my medical bills was basically what

they were doing. And the doctors really couldn't, I mean, they couldn't pinpoint it to any one particular thing or cause. They literally just said that, you know, you type two diabetes runs in my family. You know, you're getting type two diabetes. I guess we have to wean you on the insulin and go in and out of the hospital. They'd try and inject me. My body would go like through these awful stages where it felt like it was not wanting it. And then obviously I remember the day that I went raw was I'd just gotten out of the hospital and I was digging through the granola and the sugar-free bin, right? And I had a stranger tap me on the shoulder.

And he was an older man in the Whole Foods and he was like, excuse me, are you a raw foodie? And I just kind of popped up and I looked at him and I'm thinking, okay, older man, a protein 18 year old girl in the grocery store. This is, and he started telling me about how he's eaten raw food for like 23 years, how he does juices and all this stuff. And I'm sitting there, my mind is just being blown away

because I didn't grow up eating fruits and vegetables. I grew up eating chicken, beans, rice, olive oil, fried, raw meat, things like that. Not necessarily fast food, but just cultural dishes. And I remember I took his card and I didn't think much of it. I'm a very open person. So I went home and I was telling my family, I was like, I think I met a rabbit man today. And I'd never had it happen that I'd gotten out of the hospital one day and gone right back in the same night. And I was feeling so awful.

I remember I just started vomiting that evening and I could barely get off the floor. And when I got out of the hospital three days later, I just remember I called him and I was like, look, I've never tried anything alternative before, but I'd be willing to give this a try. It goes against everything that my family's ever taught me and I don't know anything about what you were saying, but I'd be willing to learn. So he was like, well, just meet me at Whole Foods, and I'll tell you what you need to know about what your body's doing. So I met him at Whole Foods every single day that week for about three hours, and he was telling me why fruits and vegetables are different than eating processed sugars and how I can heal my body eating this way. And keep in mind, this texas 10 years ago so vegetarian was just getting to be just getting to be known telling some of your vegetarian was like oh yeah i heard they don't they eat cows they don't eat cows something like that right and then telling like vegan veganism would be like

beyond what they could comprehend telling somebody that you went like to be raw was okay she's gone she's gone off the bend somebody sent her a loony bin you know right right but i was 87 pounds at the time and he was like all right just pick your favorite fruit i was like well i can't i don't even have a favorite fruit she's like i'll say out of the corner of my eye, I saw peaches. I was like, okay, peaches. I walked out of the store that day with 87 pounds of peaches or 80 pounds of peaches to eat. And I ate peaches for two weeks straight.

And then. It was like a peach cleanse. It was like a peach cleanse. You just ate nothing but peaches for how long? For two weeks straight. So he asked you to buy your body weight in your favorite fruit. Yes. Wow.

That's amazing. And how long did it take you to eat those 87? I mean, it just, I probably like three or four days worth because I was still trying to like understand how it was all working. But I'll tell you after like three or four days, I felt a difference. I was walking without feeling like I was going to faint. I remember I'd gained like a pound or two, which for me was a big deal. And I hadn't had a migraine. And it was interesting. How often were you getting migraines? Every other day, like blackout migraines, yucky ones. And it was interesting because after 30 days, it's like after starting to eat and incorporate a few greens and some tomatoes and you know, a few other fruits, it was like, wow, I've been raw for 30

days. And at that point, people have a stigma of thinking that you go raw for 30 days at something. But when you're doing it, it doesn't seem like that. It's just something you do and you get the hang of it and it becomes exciting. And I never said I was not going to go raw again. I just said I was going to keep doing what I was doing because I was feeling so much better at what I was doing. Right. But perhaps getting crazy adventuresome and expanding beyond the peach. Yes, exactly. Well, this idea of just eating one food, it's called mono-mealing, right? Yes. Talk to me about the idea behind why you would try something like that. I was so young at the time, I was just desperate to feel good. Right, I know at that point, but like what you've kind of learned in retrospect.

I'd say there's three main reasons to monomeal. And number one, it improves digestion. It is a lot easier to eat one thing at a time than it is to eat 20 things at a time. It's easier for your body to digest. And so then bringing you to number 20 things at a time. It's easier for your body to digest. And so then bringing you to number two would be the elimination. If it's easier to eat and digest one thing, it's also easier to eliminate one thing, which is hugely important for people to eat and digest. A lot of people pay attention to what's going into their body, but not very many people

pay attention to what's going out or even want to deal with that. The number three being that it's the way food is found in nature. Like I spend a lot of time on farms. If you find a fig tree and if you've been working all day and you find that fig tree, it's like you want to eat every fig until you're full and you're satiated. And that first fig, when you're really hungry, it'll taste really good to you. And then after you've had like 20 or 30, it's like they don't really taste that good to you anymore. That's your body saying, hey, I'm full. I'm satiated, time to move on. Sometimes I find that if I'm eating and being stimulated by 30 different flavors, it's harder for me to identify when I'm full. Right, right, right. But how do you kind of, I mean, the idea of mono-mealing really is a temporary thing, right? To sort of get your

digestion sort of working more properly. I mean, that's kind of the, is that the functionality behind it? Because I guess what I'm getting at, what I'm like trying to juxtapose that against is the, you know, the idea of eating more naturally when things are in season and not like, you know, there's indications that certain allergies are because we kind of eat too much of one thing all year round and we don't like kind of do it

within the sort of circadian rhythm of the planet. Right. Well, I think there's a way to do it within that. Like for instance, like eating seasonally, some people think that eating monomailing means you have to eat bananas for a whole week, but a monomail can be like eating bananas for breakfast, eating apples for lunch, eating oranges for dinner. It's like, all right, you've gotten three cool things in your day. And then the next day you could eat three different things and monomilk each individual meal. So it's more about eating what's in season then? Absolutely.

Yeah. For me, that's how it works. Right. Right, right, right. And it's funny how you kind of deliver that like so casually. And I get it. But I think there's a lot of people listening who would think that that sounds super like, what? That's all you're eating?

I know. It sounds super extreme to some people. But in my head, I'm thinking. I think to most people it is in all fairness. I mean, to say that that's what you're going to eat, that's going to be your day. That's sort of, you know, a pretty out there notion for, I would say, the vast majority of people. I know. But OK, so to say that if you've ever had really good fruit, like one really delicious mango, perfectly ripe off the tree. It doesn't just taste like a mango.

That mango tastes like divine, immaculate deliciousness, right? And when something is that good and you begin to pay attention to your taste buds and your flavors more and you learn to enjoy something that is good for you and that loves you back, you begin to enjoy your food a little bit more. A lot of people are very disconnected with their food and what goes into their body. And maybe perhaps that's why they're thinking like, I'm not eating to numb. I'm not eating a burger. I'm not eating fries. How does this work? You know, because some people are just eating just to move on to the next meal rather than eating to enjoy or to savor. I have an observation. So I'm interested in your perspective on this,

which is what I've noticed is that people that I know that are in kind of the fruitarian or 80-10-10 community, and I have lots of friends that are part of this community, and I love all these people, they tend to get extremely passionate in almost a romantic relationship with these foods. You know what I mean? Like the way you described the mango.

It's like I don't hear that. You know, people that are on other kind of like diets or nutritional protocols, they don't kind of get starry-eyed when they start talking about their foods. Did I just do that? Like if you watch a video of, you know, Evan Rock talking about durian, you know, it's like out's having a relationship with this fruit that transcends the nutrition aspect of it. So tell me what's going on with that. I totally know.

I see both sides here. Let me create the bridge. I'm just trying to understand. I think it's when you become, I totally, okay, I know exactly where they're coming from, where you're coming from. I think the simple answer is that you fall in love with your food. You fall in love with the food that makes you feel good. And that the cleaner your body becomes when you eat raw, the better it starts to taste.

Like when I first went raw, it's like, oh my God, peaches all this time? It's like, they didn't taste like peaches. time, it's like, they didn't taste like peaches. But then once I started eating like real peaches and getting to understand local homegrown Texas peaches, ripe, fresh off the tree, warmed by the sun, it was like, holy cow, that is a peach, you know? And then the relationship that you had, like eating that and the experience became something more. And once you have it once, it's very, then you grasp that and then it becomes like a romantic relationship with your food. But then I think the longer you do it, then you begin to understand. It's like you are eating foods that are caring for you in the same way that, you know, you're caring for your body.

And it's just a very powerful feeling. Right. I got you. I know. I'm trying to like, you know, tone down the romance here, the fruit romance. Well, no, I mean, look, I say go with it. If that's what you're feeling, don't tone it down. Like, yeah, don't tone it down. You don't look like somebody who has trouble expressing themselves. I mean, just like, you're like this starburst of color. Like anybody who follows you on Instagram or watches any of your videos know, like you're just like bursting with bright colors in your bracelets and your clothing choices. And I'm extremely expressive. Yes. I feel like, I feel like if you posted a photograph on Instagram in black and white, that, that it

would just automatically saturate it with color. Like you would just, you would overcome the filter, the black and white filter, and it would just be colorful anyway. Like this is your thing, right? Like, and I think that brings up, I want to get back to kind of you and, and, uh, and John Rose at Whole Foods, like you and this older man having this raw food relationship. We'll get back to that in a minute, but still one of my best friends. I know he was your mentor, but, um, but I think like the style and the aesthetic that you bring to your message and, you know, the advocacy that you do and, and, and the way that you communicate to your message and, you know, the advocacy that you do and the way that you communicate with your audience, I think is, it's very specific. But I also think it's really

important, like you have an attention to detail. And I appreciate that, like, there's a certain look, you know, it's like, I know when I know that your Instagram pictures are going to look a certain way. And you know, they're, they're they're like you know they have a certain like color palette that is obviously considered like you put thought into that and it and it meshes well with the clothes that you're choosing to wear and the way that you color your your videos and all that kind of stuff and I think that that probably tracks back to you know you you studied art in college right yes um and and so you're bringing like this design sensibility to your approach to this world, right? And I think that that speaks to, you know, something that interests me and that I'm always trying to be conscious of, which is what's an effective way

to really communicate with people. And I think when we're talking about, whether you're talking about raw foods, you're talking about veganism, whether you're talking about the environment or animal rights or any of these kind of, you know, political health, environmental issues that swirl around, like these things that we're passionate about, when people, you know, hear that, they come with a preconceived idea of what these people are like or what this means or, you know or how it would reflect on them if they were to adopt that idea. And so I'm always trying to really paint a very modern picture, an accessible, modern picture. And I think aesthetics and detail are important.

And I think that you, I feel like you get that on some level. Like you do it in a different way than I do, but I notice kind of like the way that you do it. And I think that I'm interested in, in kind of your perspective on that and like what that decision making process is for you. Thank you for noticing that. It means a lot to me because I do put in a lot of attention to detail. Like it's so important to me. Um, maybe it's the type A personality thing. I was always a straight A student in school. I was like paid attention to every comma, every dotted I, every cross T. And, you know, before I started getting into raw food, I wanted to be a potter.

Like that was what I wanted. I still love my art. I still do it, but I handcrafted pottery. And maybe perhaps it was being able to form and shape something the way that you love. And it's interesting because I think colors existed in my world even before food. I think it just totally, food took it to another level. Because even when I was learning to fire glazes, professors would always be like,

well, you have to use the natural colors. And I would, one of the reasons why I got my grants at Vanderbilt is because I started mixing glass with glaze because I wanted color. I wanted real color. And when I started getting into food, I think it brought my attention to a whole other level. The things that are most colorful on this planet are fruits and vegetables. That's where color comes from.

At least it does in my head. And it's like painting a picture, right? It's like putting it all together in some different form. But the coolest part about food is it's something that you get to eat. So it's like we get to eat color for a living. We get to eat color to bring us life. And so these things that have all of these colors bring us life. And they have life. And that's why raw food to me is so symbolic on a different level. And I love it. Every time I make something, I just, yeah, you can call me a unicorn hugger.

I'll take that label. You can call me that any day. Right. I mean, when you say symbolic, like how would you articulate that symbolism? Like what is the symbol? Like what does it mean to you? Life. Color to me is life.

And if I'm having a day and I'm wearing black, something doesn't feel right. All right, so let's go back to Whole Foods and John, your mentor. So he's somehow hoodwinked you into eating 87 pounds of peaches. And you're having this experience. Do you still like peaches? And you're into eating 87 pounds of peaches. And you're having this experience. Do you still like peaches? And you're going home. I love peaches. Okay, good.

I want to know how the conversation goes when you come home and tell your parents that you met a 50-year-old guy who wants you to eat 87 pounds of peaches. I will tell you, my family had such a hard time with it. I will say my sister supported me. How many brothers and sisters? I have an older brother and an older sister. I'm the youngest of three. However, I'm also the most independent

of all three of us and the most driven. So you're like the youngest oldest. I'm the youngest oldest. That does happen. Yes. My mother wanted to send me to a loony bin. I kid you not. She had the tickets bought, ready to go, the place reserved, someplace in Arizona, wanted me to go play with horses

instead of play with food. She was convinced that I was like... Equine therapy? I don't even know. That's good. That's also good. She wanted me out. And my dad was a different story because my dad and I have always been closer.

He raised me a lot more. So he's Ecuadorian and your mother's Lebanese. Yes. Right, very interesting. And so what did your dad do, or what does he do? Well, he came to talk to me in the kitchen one day, and I just remember this conversation. He's like, Mijita, this was maybe like a year later.

I was home from college for a weekend, and he's like, I know you, you know, this was maybe like a year later. I just, I was home from college, like for a weekend. And he's like, I know you're saving me a lot of money because they went from paying like 30,000 a year on my medical bills to nothing. And so my dad was happy. He had no problem with it. But I remember I was making a smoothie. I told this story to Louis earlier. I was making a smoothie and he walks in and he saw me cutting mangoes. And he's like, Mijito, why are you eating poor people food? And I looked up at him. I was like, what?

This mango was $2.99 at Whole Foods. This is not poor people food. And he was like, well, yeah, only the poor people in Ecuador eat that. And I was like, okay, it hit me. I was like, I'm thinking about T. Colin Campbell, the China study, the wealthier people in these third world countries. My father grew up in utter poverty. You wouldn't believe. And to him, eating meat and dairy is what wealthy people ate.

And nobody wants to eat the things that are falling off the trees everywhere all around them. Because literally in everybody's backyard in South America, there's like a mango tree or a sapote tree or whatever it may be. And when I started explaining to him, I was like, well, dad, this is healthier. And, you know, starting to tell him about, you know, the wealthier people, they should be eating this. And that's why everybody in the wealthier parts of those areas are dying. And I think it just hit him at that moment. He's like, oh, okay. Okay, well, make me a smoothie too.

And that was it. That's all. He was the easy sell. It was the easiest ever. But once I won my father over, everybody else was good to go. My brother, now he still needs some work. But I mean, did they see how you were feeling and they saw how you look and you know, you're so healthy, you're not emaciated, you're healthy, you're vibrant, your skin's great. Like they could see all of that. So, and they must've seen how sick you were before. And I think that was what

was so hard for my mom. And she saw that. And I can't even tell you how many conversations we had where we sat down and everybody was crying because mom ain't happy, nobody ain't happy, right? And she'd just be like, I don't understand. You look so good. But in my mom's head, it wasn't just about the food.

It was about the culture. And she really felt like I'd abandoned our culture. Like I wasn't eating my grandmother's food. I remember our first Thanksgiving, I showed up with a plate of pears. My mother took me in the room and she's like, you can't sit at the table with all of us, you know, because you're not eating your grandmother's food. Yeah. This is really, I mean, it's really amazing how, how much those cultural traditions are really wrapped up in the food, you know? And it's like, yeah, so it becomes almost like an assault on your heritage, on your lineage or ancestry. And, um, yeah, it's, it's, um, it's definitely

something that we all are working to rewrite, you know, and I know that definitely, um, you know, uh, actually a really dear friend of Rich and mine and also podcast guest Josh Lajani. He's from New Orleans and he's expressed kind of the same thing, you know, about how it's so culturally, you know, interwoven. And so you really sort of have to rewrite a way of living and bring everybody in. Well, it's what it's, it's barriers that prevent people from, from changing and improving because it's so wrapped up emotionally in love and your feelings about your family and what does it say about you

and what are they going to think if you do this. It's no wonder it becomes difficult to change. It's not as simple as this is healthier, eat this. It's a very different thing, I think, in my family because everybody was very comfortable with everybody being in the role that they were in, and I totally changed up the game. How dare you?

How dare I? How dare I? But I mean, I was always running around naked in mud pits anyway. I don't know why they were so shocked. But, you know, everybody says you can't be a prophet in your own home. And I think that with my mom, one of the biggest things that had helped is, you know, the first Thanksgiving, I was barely around people and I just ate pears. But then the next Thanksgiving, she started to come around. And, like, when I literally say come around, I mean, like, my mother and I barely communicated because she was just having such a, like, I'm losing my daughter type of moments.

But which, it was so ironic because everybody else was telling my mom, but can't you see how good she looks? You're not losing your daughter. She was about to die before. But in her head, she was thinking that she had lost me to this, whatever it was that had taken over my mind and my body. And I remember that second Thanksgiving, my grandmother was like, well, why don't you just bring a salad or your plate of pears? And I remember sitting at the table with everybody, and everybody was saying a prayer, and I felt so awkward

because my grandfather brought out the turkey, and he put it in the middle of the table, and I just started crying because I was having a weird mental flash of a human being laying on the table in the middle of us. And I couldn't imagine, why are we praying over this? Why are we praying over this dead animal in the middle of the table? Why are we saying thanks to this? And I started putting salad on everybody's plates.

And my grandmother was like, okay, I can eat your salad. I made a tabbouleh. It's like I started making traditional ethnic dishes, which was one of the first YouTube videos I ever made, was a tabbouleh that was a cultural dish that I could share with my family because maybe perhaps they would relate to that. And it's interesting because they didn't even realize that it was raw. Like nobody ever told them. But you don't think it's just tabbouleh.

Like if you said this is vegan tabbouleh or raw tabbouleh, they'd say, oh, no, I'm not going to eat that. That would be bad. But even a salad, you know, making a salad. But it's interesting because, you know, I started making a pie. Like I made like a strawberry pie or something. And it's like everybody ate it. And it was like, oh.

And then, you know, my grandmother calls me the next day. She goes, so I guess you could make, you know, another pie if you wanted. And it was like for me that was like, yes, you know, like success. I get to bring another pie to Thanksgiving dinner. It was like I had just reached somebody. And it's interesting because I'm, it's like now at Thanksgiving, everybody wants me to bring something and I can't bring enough and nobody wants to eat my grandmother's food anymore. And it's like highly offensive. So we're dealing with other issues now. But it's, it's, I think it really

is just a journey and a process of like. Yeah. We always call it, uh, an evolution revolution, you know, and, and, you know, for most people and it, and it continues to evolve. I mean, I think that, you know, for you, you jumped in with both feet. It was like 87 pounds of peaches and you were like off to the races and you just drew that line in the sand and stepped over and never looked back. But I think it's also important, you know, and that's intimidating for some people. I always try to make sure that people understand that they have permission to ease into this and start changing habits slowly.

I'm an extreme person too. I like to jump in all the way. But even for you who really did kind of do that, it still continues to evolve, right? Yes, absolutely. I'm sure the way you do things now looks very different than it did eight years ago. Absolutely.

Every day I wake up and I make a conscious choice to be better because— I mean, so how has it evolved? Like what are some of the things that have changed or that you've switched up? You mean with the way that I've been eating? Well, with eating and your—I mean how that's impacted other kind of perspectives around the movement, I suppose, or any aspect know, any aspect that you think is significant. Well, when I first started, I didn't know how to make a salad. So, um, you know, that changed. I didn't know how to make any of these foods. Um, gosh, I was never really ever

allowed in the kitchen for that matter. Cause you know, all the other women in my family did that. because all the other women in my family did that. I would say that more so than anything, it's just kind of the outlook on it because coming from a very purist place, and then I've spent so much time with Doug in Costa Rica and the natural hygiene, I was very much kind of raised in the raw food by being introduced into natural hygiene. And so I've had to kind of open my eyes a little bit to experiment with new things like, you know, eating dried things. I didn't eat dried fruits for a good four or five years in there, but now I'll eat mulberries. I love mulberries. And, you know, sun drying tomatoes to make a dressing and having that evolve because you realize that just by making little changes

like that, more people are interested in eating those types of recipes, more people are interested in trying those things. And I love eating simply. And sometimes I love eating more complicated and I'm learning to balance my life a lot more with that. Right. And what about things like cosmetics and cleaning products and other like consumer products that, you know, you kind of have to use to live in the modern world? I think I kind of like when you first get into this, that's one of the big questions. And I kind of let go of all those, especially when I went to college and I like no deodorant. I actually, I have a beautiful raw crystal deodorant that I love, but honestly you don't smell as much when you're raw. You just don't stank, you know? And it's awesome. Um, I remember when I went to went to college it was it was nice because i got

to clean out my all my stuff from high school i love that i'm talking about this as if it were yesterday college for me was like 10 years ago this is so painful i just went to my 25th college reunion so go ahead i get it but it was it was like i kind of felt like i was starting over my whole life and my high school raffle, I won it. Out of everybody in the high school, I won the high school raffle. And guess what I won? Deodorant. A microwave.

A microwave. How useful. I mean, like, what are the chances, right? So great. I remember that day. And it was almost like another symbolic moment in my life where I went to go and return the microwave. And I got a little Nutribullet instead. And that was exactly what I was like, this is my dedication to college. I'm going to eat healthy in microwave and I got a little Nutribullet instead. And that

was exactly what I was like, this is my dedication to college. I'm going to eat healthy in college. I'm not going to drink. I'm not going to do this. And I didn't. I had an eight by eight foot dorm room with no kitchen sink. So how did it work? Like, did you, were you part of the meal plan or you just, that you had to like get out of, or how did you like, how did that look like on a daily basis? This is kind of a cool story. Um, for me, I actually made special requests. I got like my doctors to write notes to the people in the cafeteria. So I didn't really get on the meal plan. I just had access to the salad bar whenever needed. And I took the bus to the nearest wild oats and I would go twice a week and get bananas, pears, and lettuce, which

was what I could afford. And I stored them underneath my dorm bed in my eight-by-eight-foot dorm room. Did you have a roommate? No. Well, I did the second year, but that is a totally different story. She was not raw. With all the produce under the bed? She ate microwave meals and we had to- The sorority would not approve.

No. No, no. But I'll say that it was interesting because i mean i look back now and i'm like wow i must have been passionate because if i had to wash something i'd wash it in the girls bathroom and i'll never forget there were times where i'd be washing stuff and there'd be girls puking saturday night like behind me i'd be like oh why am i doing this but at least i'm dedicated it's okay yeah this is uh i mean this is committed oh i was um i'm either all in or not at all.

Was there a turning point where you realized, like I know you kind of went full in, but when you realized like, wow, this really is resolving my health issues, because we didn't even kind of follow up on that thread of like how you went from blackout rooms and migraines to hyperglycemia to... I still haven't been back to the doctor to this day.

It took me a year and a half to reverse my hyperglycemia to... I still haven't been back to the doctor to this day. It took me a year and a half to reverse my hyperglycemia with just eating food. And I think, like, let's just camp there for a second because I think there's this idea. I mean, right now we're in this world where there's a lot of talk about extremely low-carb diets and, you know, paleo diets and ketosis and we're in this diabetes epidemic,

and suddenly fruit is being vilified as if it's some kind of terrible food that's going to make you unhealthy and fat and give you diabetes. It's interesting. It reversed mine. Which makes me insane. And so when I hear your story, which is basically you have this condition that you know i would think that somebody who from one of these camps and look i'm not a doctor i'm not a nutritionist i'm not scientifically trained in this but i would imagine that you know a response you know a logical response would be to reduce your sugar intake right and instead you basically took your diet from, you know, basically complex carbohydrates, typical, you know, sort of ethnic, probably mostly Mediterranean type diet and went really, you know, probably more than 80-10-10, probably like 95-2 or something like that.

Exactly. super hot, you know, very fructose rich way of eating, which seems, um, you know, contrary to what I would imagine a Western doctor would tell you would be your best protocol. Exactly. And that's why it looks crazy. Sounds crazy. It was crazy, but for some reason it worked. And did you ever go to a doctor to get like an explanation for that? Or you just, how did you know that it was resolved? Well, I went to get my blood checked. And then I remember after the three-year mark is when I went back to my old pediatrician. Because after a while, you can't go back.

And when I was still 16, 18, I was still seeing a pediatrician because I was still a kid, basically. And gosh, I remember she was just shocked when she saw me because I looked like a totally different person. And I went back actually to get my medical records because somebody was asking for them. And she was just like, Christina Bukram, is this even you? We don't even have you in our system anymore. You haven't been back here in so long. And my first initial response was like, Oh my God, I'm freaking out. They don't have my medical records. And she was like, yeah, by state of law, Texas gets rid of everything after three years if you don't come back. And she's like,

well, you haven't been back here in like six years. And I was like, well, I guess that's a great thing. That means that like I totally reversed my everything and we took blood tests and everything was fine and normal and it was just like a crazy experience and it was really cool to show people that and what did she say when you told her how you did it um she's now a member of my co-op and she comes once a month to pick up her produce that's how cool is that that's very cool and that seems to be the story with a lot of people and dr gart davis is a huge supporter of the co-op, and I love him. We did a video of my blood test results recently.

I just watched that video today, and I emailed him. I was just with Garth at Marshall a couple weeks ago, Marshall, Texas. I love that guy. He's amazing. I think that it's sort of guys like Garth Davis and Dr. Robert Osfeld, you know, are sort of the younger generation of these doctors that are hip to what's going on. And they're standing on the shoulders of the giants, you know, Colin Campbell and and Dr. Esselstyn and stuff like that. But they're like a younger, you know, it's a it's the new it's the next generation. Right. right? And what makes, in my opinion, Garth so special is that not only does he have the experience as a practicing surgeon, but he's completely mired in the research. He knows it

backwards and forwards. He's read everything. But on top of that, I mean, most doctors that are like that, they tend to be, you know, they're going to be more on the dry side. They're very academic, they're very intellectual, they're up in their head, but he has this fiery passion and he's a very gifted communicator and a great orator. So not only does he have the science, he's able to communicate it in a passionate and compelling way, which I think makes him really kind of an extraordinary guy. And I think he's going to blow up. Oh, he's amazing. There's no doubt. Dr. Garth and you're like, I never go to the doctor, but like take my blood and let's just make a video and whatever it says, that's what it's going to be. Right. So you kind of took a risk because you don't, you know, right. Maybe you are deficient. I didn't know. And actually I, Dr. Garth came to co-op and started

buying vegetables and I didn't really know who he was. I was just like, this is the coolest doctor ever, you know? And then we became friends and it was just like i don't know and now we work together and we have our pharmacy program that we run out of the hospital and it's just i don't know he's my homeboy let's walk through that blood test right yes i made some notes oh yeah rich did his research yeah yeah yeah so no no no so he like talk about he's like okay let's look at the look at the blood so this is at the nine year mark of you eating yes fully raw because you are fully raw christina right that is correct there can't be anything not raw so it's all raw all raw and i actually i have to attest to this because I made Christina raw walnut and tuna for a little snack.

And I was blanching the collard greens. We just boil the water and blanch the greens for just 30 seconds. And halfway through the stack, it dawned on me that she was fully raw, Christina, and that she might not be going for the blanched collard green. So I left off half the leaves and she did in fact choose the completely raw collard we could attest that she is fully raw thank you so much yeah um but yeah so he he like you know he looked at your protein levels like i don't know how this stuff all works exactly but it was right where it was supposed to be uh in terms of in terms of like

we should we should call him right now we haven't done that yet i? We should call him right now. We haven't done that yet. I know, we should call him live. We should. You're not anemic. Your iron levels are exactly where they're supposed to be, like a seven. I don't know what the measuring units are. A seven sounds awesome.

I know, right? Awesome. On the awesome scale. Calcium was normal. LDL was super awesome. The HDL, which is the good cholesterol, was low. Your vitamin D was super fantastic, and most people are vitamin D deficient.

Your B vitamins are great. And you don't take any supplements other than a vitamin B12 supplement. And I have a funny story to tell you about that. You're not having any experience with osteoporosis or calcium or iron or anemia or like any of these things are just like, they're not even showing up on the radar. Not even. So what's the funny story? The funny story is that Dr. Garth was like, you know, maybe you should go get a B12 shot before you come in. And I was like, or he'd take B12. And I was like, well, am I deficient? I don't, I don't even know. And so the funniest part is that

I went to go get one before that test thinking like, okay, well maybe am I deficient? I don't even know. And so the funniest part is that I went to go get one before that test thinking like, okay, well, maybe I'm deficient, maybe I'm not. And the funniest thing is that my levels through that are like jacked sky high through the roof. You were super duper high because you got a shot. I was like jacked up. But I didn't even notice a difference on that amount of B12. Right, right, right.

So did you take a supplement or get a shot or what? I went to get a shot. Oh, you did get a shot. Yeah i hate needles yeah and i went through needles twice that week right so you're brave you're committed to the cause i am courageous that's what we love about you all right well where so so uh so you're in college you're hiding fruit under your bed and uh and you're getting by on this lifestyle, and you finish school, where does the co-op start to play in, or how are you starting to think about

what you want to do with your life when you're getting out of college? Awesome, okay. This is a good one. Are you ready? I'm ready. So I was at Vanderbilt. I was on a full scholarship for art,

and I had an art grant, and it got to the point to where I was by myself all the time because I was in a full scholarship for art and I had an art grant and it got to the point to where I was by myself all the time because I was in the art studio and I was doing a minor in voice at the time. I was being trained in jazz and blues and I wanted to do music composition. And I was like, when I say alone all the time, I mean like girls in the hallway would like make fun of me until I like started branching out and I was like, bring them smoothies to be friends with them because everybody at Vanderbilt, it's a very fraternity, sorority-based school. And I didn't have a car, it was cold,

I didn't have my family, and I just felt like I wanted a transfer. So I ended up going from there to Costa Rica, spending time in Costa Rica with Dr. Graham, and then I ended up deciding that I wanted to finish off my studies at Rice. So I transferred to Rice and applied for more grants there and got financial aid and got to be on there. And it was really wonderful. And by the time I'd gotten to Rice, it was like, okay,

I had already just basically completed two majors and I still needed to finish off my four years. So I decided to add on another major, which was kinesiology to the study of movement and the body and food and all these things. And somebody had asked me if I wanted to be part of the environmental committee because they saw me walking around campus with bananas all the time. So I was like, sure, I'll help it out. So me and 12 other students, we created an environmental committee and we started community gardens around the campus. And we came up with the idea that we wanted to have a farmer's market for the students every Tuesday. We invited six of the farmers that we knew in the Texas area,

because it's like, there weren't many. And they all came on a Tuesday and they only had like one or two tables worth of stuff, like not enough to feed a nation by any means whatsoever. And I remember I became very good friends with one of these families, the Gundermans, because they had kids my age. And I remember I'd go there on the weekends and I'd pick with them and I'd hang out on the farm and get my toes dirty in the mud and all the pictures that I, usually when I go, I go there. And they only had 50 acres at the time, like not growing much. But so I started getting a lot of my fruits and my veggies from there. And I was like, yeah, but okay, I'm still spending. At that time, my family was getting on board and we were all going to Whole Foods

and we were spending like $500 a week on produce. Oh, my God. Yeah, you can't do it. You can't live this way buying at Whole Foods. But that's all I did. Yeah. So I started putting together my resources and stalking some serious people. And I got a hold of one of the distributors in Texas. And I mean, Whole Foods has their own distribution chain.

And this one distributor, he distributes like Kroger, Albertsons, HEB, all the, I mean, I had no idea that this man is a self-made billionaire. And he just has this giant ranch in Texas. Okay. And I called him for maybe about three months in a row and he didn't take my call. Don't call me persistent. If you may, he finally gets, you know, his secretary picks up one time and she finally rings me through and he gets on the phone. He's like, hello, darling. I hear you've been calling this office an awful lot. He's like, can you please tell me what you need? call in this office an awful lot. It's like, can you please tell me what you need? You know, it's like, oh my God, you know, my name's Christina. Here's my life story. Now my family's eating raw and we, you know, we have about, eat about 10 cases of produce each week. And I'd be

really, really grateful if you would deliver a truck of organic produce wholesale to my doorstep. Like, okay. I know. I'm thinking like, okay, distributor, you can just drop a truck off. Why not? We're a family of like six. Right. I'll be sure to do that on the way back from Kroger. I know. Well, it was funny because his first response is like, you are cute and endearing. Those are the things that he called me. And I remember being like slightly like, don't call me cute. You know, don't call me endearing, but okay. And he's like, all right, I'll make a deal with you. And he's like, if you can put in a minimum case order, 40 cases once a week, I will deliver to your house. And without even

thinking about it, because this is sometimes what I was like, yes, I'm in Thursday night after class, drop it off. Let's go bring it. And he was like, okay, all right. And so I sent him in the order. And I'm, I remember after that, I'm thinking thinking to myself like one case of lettuce has 24 heads of lettuce in it. One case of peaches has 64 peaches in it. One case of bananas is 40 pounds. One case of tomatoes is 10 to 20 pounds. So I'm thinking to myself like there's no way my family can get through that. And I remember him telling me he was like, you know, I deliver to grocery stores and they order like $2,000 worth of produce every day.

He's like, there's no way you're going to be able to compete with these people. And I'm thinking to myself like, oh my God, I don't know what he's got. But you're not trying to compete with them. You're just trying to get food for yourself to eat, right? But he was basically trying to tell me that he doesn't deliver at a small time. Well, of course. He's delivering to giant supermarkets and then he's going to do a home delivery for you. Hilarious, right? Well, it gets interesting because I asked, I got, I started knocking on doors, getting a few of my neighbors in on it

and getting, I think, so I got 12 people in my, in my neighborhood and a few of our family friends to get in. The night they delivered, there was like produce boxes up to the ceilings in my mother's living room. Like they wanted to kill me. What have you gotten me into? But it was so, like for me, I was having a blast. They all wanted to kill my mother. I thought she was about to have a heart attack.

God bless her. But it was funny because people started like peeping their heads out their windows and their doors and like, what is that bootgram girl doing now? You know, the next week we had 40 people picking up, sharing this produce with us out of the garage the next week. And then a few weeks later it became 100 families. And eventually we got kicked out of my house by the neighborhood association because we were creating traffic jams. And then they were like, all right,

well then you guys can move into the parking lot. And then I think I told you earlier, we got kicked out of the parking lot into, you know, I literally thought that that day was the last day of my life because it's like, here's my passion project. And they're giving me a big X saying, we're closing you down. And the next day I was getting calls from people over the city being like, hey, you want a parking lot?

Here's a huge one. Do your thing. And that was awesome for me. And the funniest part about that is, is that I started off with the distributor, but all of those local farmers that I'd made relationships with, I started saying, Hey, why don't you come and bring your stuff and we'll put it into the boxes as well. And, you know, with all the support that we've gotten over the years, the Gundermans, they've gone from a 50 acre farm to a 500 acre farm and grow for us full time. Like that's the kind of stuff that makes the difference here. You know, and I'll show you pictures on my phone.

Like I spent all week there last week. Just like, it's like. So when you're, yeah, when you're doing your videos or you're doing your, like that's the farm that you're at when I could see behind you. That's my favorite farm. My favorite. And like.

How far, how far outside of Houston is that? 45 minutes from my house. Really that close. It's so close. And it's, it's just like a few Shania Twain country songs drive away and you're there, you know? But another cool thing about that is, is I've actually become very good friends with the distributor as well. He has a daughter my age, they have horses, we play and

you know, grocery stores in our area, they maybe spend about $2,000 a day on produce. He sends me the list before everybody else in the city because I spend anywhere from five to 30,000 a day on produce and so it's like we beat out our grocery stores because we actually have our community involved and we get to support our local farmers and our the biggest day ever we spent like 30,000 on produce that's like crazy yeah so not only are you ordering more like doing what he said would never happen which is is totally more than a supermarket. You're like, you're 10 X on that. It's like, but it's, but it's like, we don't have a brick and mortar. We're pitching up tents where it's, it's like a farmer's market, but it's people coming together.

They're consciously choosing to purchase this food. We're pre-making them and ordering them. And like, but is it just one day a week or like, are you doing, we have three days a week that we do this. So, I mean, we do this so i mean we have our small days we have our saturdays our big days tuesdays are our medium days thursdays are our super small days but it's like they all serve the community in different purposes because they're all different areas of the city and once we get rid of thursdays it's going to be like right right yeah but we're still going to keep our days and we may even open up a third one and it runs as a non-profit so how does that how does that work i mean are you making enough to cover costs and then calling it even,

or are you making like, what would you, are you investing the extra money and just growing it? Or how does that work? So you can run nonprofits and still run them very, very well. But basically what we're telling people is that all the money that they are using to buy these fruits and vegetables are going either back to pay, they're paying for their food, going back to the farmer and anything else is going to basically help make this run the way that it is. Any extra pennies at the end of the year, the IRS will get on you for that. So basically that's where my job comes in. I'm very good at math. I do all the numbers. I still do every single co-op order, like whether I'm traveling or not, if I'm on the other

end of the world, I'm still up like, all right, you guys, you need 15 cases of zucchinis for tomorrow. All right, team, go. Right. So when you said you like to cross the T's and dot the I's, like you're not kidding.

I'm not kidding. I still do every single order. Like I'm not kidding. I still do all of our co-op orders. We should lock you and Rich in a room for a weekend and see what happens. I can't. Like I have such a hard time letting anyone help me.

See if you could join forces or if you would kill each other. I'd probably kill each other. But the thing is that the co-op is my baby. It's my business. I get it. All three of them are in. You don't have to tell me. I understand.

My biggest lesson this year is I'm learning how to be the coach rather than a player on the field because you can't be a player on the field and play every position and have a winning team well you can but you're gonna you're gonna hit up against the ceiling and how much you can grow right so if you want to be able to take this and expand it and continue to grow it and on some level you have to let go and delegate and and empower a team and all that kind of stuff and that involves like letting go of some of that stuff where you you it's like you're not going to be able to cross every T and dot every I and somebody else is

going to get to cross the T and sometimes they're not going to cross the T the way that Fully Raw Christina crosses the T. Do you think you could like... Rich could use like a self-help session a week. Maybe we could like coach each other. Yeah, alright.

So, alright. But here's High five. So, all right. But here's the thing that I think is super interesting and I think is, you know, can provide, you know, a good place for some people to really get some great takeaways, which is you're very connected to, it's locavorism. Like, you're very connected to these local farmers. Like, you know what these farmers have to do in order to produce these foods. You're connecting those farmers with your community. And this is what, like, you know, this is what it's all about. This is what, like, the community food movement, you know, that's ground zero. And you're in the middle of it. So, you know, what is it that people might not know about how their produce is grown?

Like, or, and, you know, why is it important that it's organic? And in your experience of getting to know these farmers and the relationships that you have, like, what have you learned that frustrates you when you talk to a typical consumer who, like, maybe doesn't, isn't paying enough attention or, you know, doesn't really fully appreciate what you're trying to do? Like like why these kinds of foods are important, why it's important to support these farmers and why these foods are different and better. Growing your own produce is the most important, most logical, most economical thing that we could be doing right now. And I say that on every single level, because if like all of our chains

and distribution systems like went down, the only people that will be surviving right now are farmers. And people have no idea how much work it takes to grow one beet, how much effort it takes, how much love that goes into that. And it is a lot of work because, I mean, I would encourage anybody start your own garden and then try. You know, I mean, you won't be able to live off your own land unless you have a big, big farm. And then you'd really have to, like, grow your own fruit trees. And it would take a few years to even build up to that point, you know. And for me to say, it's like, okay, for people to wake up to that, to say, like, hey, you are consciously supporting with your dollar then. And they're normal people. They're like you, they're like me. I mean, Garrett and Stacey, McKinley is their daughter. She's my goddaughter now too. And we're consciously supporting them.

It goes back to them. So if you go to the grocery store, you buy a filet of meat, that money goes obviously back to the person who killed the cow. You're supporting that movement. But if you want to support more of your local farmers, like that money, even if it's just buying a box of fruits and vegetables, that gave them more money to grow more fruits and vegetables. From 50 acres to 500 acres, we're reaching more people. you know, but imagine the kind of impact that that's had. It's, I don't, I, I can't even begin to express it just like even the little things make the biggest difference. And it's not going to be an overnight thing by any means, but it's being consistent every single day with what you do. And I think sometimes it's really

hard because people don't connect with that because they don't see it every day. They're not involved in that field every day. People aren't even involved if they're eating animals, they're not killing that cow. They don't know that animal. They're not connected. Right. So what people do connect with is their own image, their own feelings, their own emotions, their own health. Right. So that's why when people sell recipes, when people sell beautiful things, when people sell, you know, feeling good, they resonate with that. That's more appealing to somebody than saying, hey, let's do this to save the farm or let's do this to save the animals because anybody can donate $5 here or there, but it's being consistent with it over a period of time that's going to make the biggest difference. It's changing your life. It's not

changing your diet. It's changing every aspect of that. It's, you know, changing the way that you purchase, changing the way that you think, changing what you do, changing how you think, all of these things, they all play a part. And they all connect back to food. So food is the first portal to awaken all those other senses. Food is life and color. Food is life. Right back to point A. And how do you counsel people when they come to you and say, you know, do I really have to eat organic? Is it that different?

What's the difference? What is your advice? People come to me at all different levels. I mean, whether they come to me and say organic, do I have to do this totally? Do I have to be vegan? Do I have to be vegetarian? I always say do the best you can because in a perfect world,

everything would be fresh, ripe, local, and organic. But all four of those are actually very different. And delivered to your door by a billionaire. Wholesale. I don't know how I got so blessed. I consider myself blessed. But you know what?

I've taken those lucky stars and I've tried to multiply them for other people. Yes, and you are. So in that sense, I say that even, you know, I've learned a lot with my mom, as much pain and as much struggle as that has brought me, I've learned so much with my mom that her just starting off with a smoothie every morning turned into her starting off with a smoothie in the morning and a salad in the evening. And even if she does whatever she wants for lunch, she feels a difference, you know? And even when she comes home or she'll like, she sent me a text the other day, she goes, I made a smoothie. Aren't you proud? It's when she comes home, or like she sent me a text the other day,

she goes, I made a smoothie, aren't you proud? It's like, I hear her voice in my head. I'm like, yes, mom, that's great. You know, it's like the fact that she's excited about it. She's doing it on her own and I'm not pushing her, you know? And so little things like that. Right, right, right. And what about the budget aspect of this?

I mean, I know that you've made a video about this. I've made tons of videos about how people can afford it. I mean, I know that you've made, you've made a video about this. I've made tons of videos about how people can afford it. I mean, so let's talk about that because I think that, you know, this is a barrier for a lot of people. They just think they dismiss it out of hand is like, there's no way that I could afford to do this. Just sounds, you know, it sounds crazy. Forget about the extreme aspect of, of only eating, you know, raw foods that some people struggle with, but just the economics of it. So first off, hopefully if people do go to my Instagram or my YouTube, they can see that it's not boring. I've made so many recipes out there that looks so good. I mean, I'm sure there's one

of them out there that somebody would like to eat just one. I have like 200 of them. The second aspect would be, you know, I, I did it on 60 bucks a week in college for years, and I'm pretty sure they could too. I mean, besides joining a local co-op or supporting your local farmers and going at the end of a farmer's market and getting the deals, heck, I was at the Hollywood farmer's market yesterday making deals with farmers. They don't even know who I am. And I'm like, bring it. I'll take the rest of that whole case. Give it to me for like 20, 30 bucks that they're like, yes, sold. Yeah. I think people don't realize that you can negotiate with these farmers. And they want to do business with you.

And they don't want to have to throw this stuff out if they don't sell it. Yes, absolutely. I mean, if people knew how much was actually going to waste in these fields, they wouldn't feel bad about, oh, I don't know if I should buy an extra carton of blueberries. It may go to waste. I'm like, buy the blueberries. Show your support and then throw them away. Because guess what? The grocery store is going to throw it away if it doesn't get sold.

Or if like the farmer grows it and it doesn't look good enough, they're going to have to compost it back. Show your support, buy it regardless, you know, and the money saving aspect. I mean, gosh, so many things you can do. Well, hit me with a couple. Okay. Um, buy by the case. You always get 10% off any grocery store. 10% off by buying by the case. Right, so how do you do that? You go to the customer service dude and you're like, what do you got in back? Yeah.

Because there's always stuff they're like moving out, right? Yeah. Because it's not quite as pretty and they're going to get rid of it. And you can make deals there. Exactly. I was in New York last weekend and I was like, hey, do you have a case of ripe bananas? And they're like, oh yeah, bananas over there. I was like, no, no, no, no.

Speckled ripe bananas. They sold me the case for like 10 bucks. I took it back to like, you know, my friend's place. Like, what are you doing with that box? I was like, what does it look like I'm doing with that box? You know, it's like got it at a discount for a great rate because they didn't know. So buy by the case. Even if it's not ripe, you can get it 10% off.

Making deals with your local farmers, finding a local co-op, buying what's in season. I don't think people realize that if you're trying to find a watermelon in the middle of December, you're going to be buying a $10 watermelon. When things are in season, they're more likely to be discounted. Obviously, growing your own is the cheapest option, but it's not always an option for everybody. That's another option. always an option for everybody. That's another option. What about people that don't have, you know, farmer's market in their local area? Yes. So people who live in, I would say, less developed areas, especially like, you know, where it's like where you only have one local grocery store or Walmart, even Walmart's starting to carry more organics where you could get cases of stuff and it's cheaper.

Not that I'm recommending that you go to Walmart to shop. Whatever it takes. Whatever it takes to try to... What about online then for some of these people that live in these regions that don't have a farmer's market? Yeah, I mean...

What about dried things? Yes, ordering food online. Why not? Nuts. Nuts and seeds online. I mean, I wouldn't recommend living off of nuts or seeds, but there's some stuff that you could definitely get online. At this point, I think if you live anywhere,

you can find some type of fruits or vegetable. I've traveled everywhere, literally. I've never had a problem traveling and eating raw. I mean, what is the main piece of advice that you give to somebody who's kind of comes up to you? You can tell they're curious. They're kind of skirting around it. They're not so sure. And they just need that feeling like they can do it.

Or maybe it's not as hard as they might think it is. I mean, how do you connect with somebody like that? I'm very much a heart person. I don't know if you can tell that. Like I wear my heart on my sleeve quite a bit. Sometimes I think it takes connecting with each individual person. I think everybody has like their hurdle that they go through. Like somebody may have a dad issue. Somebody may have an overeating issue or a feeling of unworthiness or a feeling of this that keeps them from wanting to do what they know is good for them.

Sometimes people just need to hear like, hey, you can do this. You are worthy of doing this. Your body needs this. You know, like, why not take charge of your health? All of these things. Sometimes people just need a hug, you know? And sometimes people need it to be made for them once or twice or to try it or to just take the leap.

Whatever it is, I promise the first step is always the easiest. And then once you kind of get moving, you get moving and you get passionate about it. You get excited. People who are listening to this podcast are probably already excited. Some of them probably haven't even tried a smoothie or one of Julie's amazing recipe dishes. They will soon. They will soon. No, and I was trying to, actually I was trying to think before you came over, I was, you know, usually when I'm intuitively thinking about, you know, my recipes,

people ask, well, you know, how much is raw? And I, and I want to say, well, probably 40% is raw and 60% is cooked, or maybe 30% is raw and 70% is cooked. But I wonder if I went through the book, I think realistically, it may be more 50-50. Can I just say that I'm looking at a sneak peek of the book and it is the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen in my life. Thank you. Thanks. You were talking about kind of how you had to navigate, you know, this lifestyle with your parents and your family. And one of the questions that we get, and I'm sure you get it constantly, is, you know, I'm really into doing this. I'm trying to make changes.

I want to live healthier, but my fill-in-the-blank, you know, boyfriend, girlfriend, wife, husband, mother, father, brother, cousin. It's just too hard. Or, or they're just, they don't, they don't feel it. They don't have the support, you know, like the other person in their life or the other people in their life are not down with it and it makes it hard. Right. So, so how do you, um, I mean, you were able to do it. You had, you know, you had the odds stacked against you with people that I feel like I've had the odds stacked against me for years. But I feel like you also, but you were very directed. Like you were, you know, look, you were sick. Like you were in a place where you had a huge capacity

for willingness to like do something different. But for somebody who's just trying to, they want to do it, but you know, like the other people in their life are not down, like how do you counsel those people? Or what are some strategies that you can share that might be helpful to people? Absolutely. And just that I can show some type of empathy for those who are struggling with this. I have to say that I was alone for maybe the first four years of me eating this way. And when I say alone, like I mean like

I kept to myself, like very much to myself because I was still trying to learn what was going on within me. I would write down every day what I ate, how many calories I was eating, what was coming out, you know, what was in season. I still have all these cute little papers written out. Like I wrote them in a book every day, very diligently. And I felt very alone. And I think that for me, you know, there's always a reason for things happening, but I think that a big part of this journey for me has been me learning to love myself, like truly fall in love with me, not need anybody else's approval to do it. Just me doing this for me so that I can be the best me possible and being strong in that and

being confident in that because there are very few people who can say that they love themselves and they're their own best friend and that when you're put into a dark corner that you know that you can stand up and be totally fine and not need anybody's help. And I know that it is really, really hard sometimes to do something when you feel like you have no support and you have no idea what you're doing and everything's going wrong. But if I can say to just plan out one day or one meal and take it one step at a time, it is so much less overwhelming than trying to sit and think about the rest of your life doing it. Oh my goodness. I mean, if you're like, well, I'm going to eat raw for the rest of

my life. I mean, that's the most daunting. To that day, I still haven't told myself that, but yeah, here I'm looking and I'm like looking back, I'm like 10 years later and I still wake up every morning and it's a conscious choice. Just like being with a partner and waking up and deciding to be with that person that day. It's a conscious choice every single day to eat this way. Every bite is a conscious choice and you have to take responsibility for that because people who say, oh, I just, you know, I didn't have the self-control or, oh, I didn't really want to, but I did it anyway. Well, nobody else is putting the food in your mouth. You are hand to mouth consciously doing it. Why not just take a baby step? If you

can't start with one full day, start out with one meal because one meal is just one meal. And if you really want to do it, you will find a way. And there's plenty of resources and knowledge and support. And even online today, there's so much support and the community is growing by heaps and bounds every day. I know it because I see it growing on my own feed about the people that are being exposed to this and who are learning about it and who are growing passionately for it as well. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, you've had quite a journey in this world. I mean, obviously, exposed to this and who are learning about it and who are growing passionately for it as well. Yeah. I mean, you've had, you know, quite a journey in this world. I mean, obviously it revolutionized your health and you've become passionate about it. And this is your life, like through the co-op and through, you know, your work on YouTube and online. I mean, you've

really cultivated this whole community around these ideas, which is amazing and marvelous. And I'm interested in, you know, kind of with respect to, you know, the YouTube aspect of it. I mean, did it, did that just grow organically? Pardon the pun, or was there, was there like one video that just went berserk and then suddenly you're like, you know, this YouTube star, or how did that? I have never been an overnight success because every single day I wake up and it's the daily grind. And I will say that the most important thing I can share about that is that I've been consistent. I've put out one or two videos a week every single week for the past two years. Consistency is it. And you're going to have some things that do better than others,

but you want the things that don't do good and the things that do do good because that's what gives you like an overall solid content, you you know and that gives people to learn from and gives people a chance to know you too and so i would say consistency has probably been the most important and just sharing the things that are important in my heart because you know sometimes it's like you make you put out a video it's like oh i didn't really like the recipe but you know this person liked it and it didn't do as well you, well, I should have listened to my heart there. Because maybe I really wanted to make a video about why my toes turn purple when I eat beets or something like that. You just never know.

So it's being authentic and really finding that connection. Fully real. But there's also this kind of social contract that you enter into when you become this person who's living their life somewhat transparently online, right? Like you make this implicit deal where you become open to criticism and attack. And listen, there's no more vile place on the internet than the comment section of YouTube. Oh, trust me, I've experienced it. I've been harassed. So I'm interested in, yeah, how you kind of navigate the negative aspects of that. And look, you know, like, I think we'd be remiss if we didn't, um, at least, you know, kind of consciously address the fact that, you know, there's a lot of drama in the, in the vegan world and the,

in the, you know, there's all these camps, and there's a lot of bickering that goes on. And quite frankly, I just try to stay, I don't really get involved in any of that kind of stuff. And I kind of see it, I see the chatter at a distance. I don't really engage, and I don't really click on links to watch stuff. So I don't really know what's going on, but I just know that there always seems to be people that are upset with other people because somebody did this, and then somebody said that. And I look at it like, you know, I'm sure there's a right and a wrong, or there's obviously two sides to every story and all of that. But I just look at it kind of in a macro level looking down and I go, well, while we're arguing, there's, you know, millions

and millions and millions of people that are stuck in unhealthy lifestyle habits and diets that are killing them, like the people that are still going to McDonald's. So we're, there's this argument going on over the final 0.05% of this way of doing this or that way of doing this. But I feel like there's a myopic, like a myopic perspective on, on like the bigger issue at hand. And so I just kind of wanted to kind of get your thoughts on all of that and kind of how you navigate it all. I agree with you 100%. And I have consciously chosen to take myself out of a lot of that drama. And it's sometimes it's not even that you want to be in it. But perhaps that if you're in the community, and if everybody knows

in the community, everybody wants to know what you think about it, and somehow you get thrown in it, but perhaps that if you're in the community and if everybody knows in the community, everybody wants to know what you think about it and somehow you get thrown in it, even if you didn't create it or cause it, trust me, I've been there. And I've been the eye and the attack of many who've harassed me and publicly tried to, you know, put me on a crucifix. And you know what? That's okay because it's made me a lot stronger and I've really learned how to navigate it and deal with it and communicate better with myself and be stronger and communicate better with others who've asked about it. And I have to first and foremost remember to put myself in their shoes. Whoever is creating the drama is a hurt person, needs compassion, and perhaps for some reason whatever triggered their trigger triggered it for a reason

because nobody gets offended unless something hurts them. And so coming from a place of compassion, which we're vegan, which is what we should do, is instead of coming back with an attack, is maybe perhaps coming from a place of understanding, either not engaging or just trying to shine brighter and showing people the right way and keeping focused on what's good and what can continue to make a difference and what is changing people's lives. Because wherever you put your focus, wherever you put your energy, that's exactly where it's going to go. And I've learned to do that a lot. Yeah. So, I mean, what are some of the things that you've had to shift around?

For me. I mean, is it just a mindset or are there actual things? No, because you know what? It's going to pop up everywhere and you're always going to have haters. Haters going to hate, you know, potatoes going to potate. And you really do have to either address the comments or you choose to address them in a way that feels comfortable with you. Right? Because some people will cry wolf as much as they want for your attention and you have to choose whether or not it's going to be worthy for you to respond.

It may be that, you know, sometimes people say mean things on your Instagram like, oh, I can't believe, you know, you don't eat meat. And the second that you come back to them and you're kind and you speak with compassion, like, oh my gosh, she replied. Okay, well, I saw what you meant. No problem. A lot of times it's like they had no idea that you would even see that. Exactly. They're thrown back.

And you know what? I go by, I always make sure that I go and I respond to the positive comments as much as I can. But if somebody leaves a really nasty comment, it's inappropriate or foul language. It either gets deleted or I respond back and I say, gosh, I'm really sorry you feel that way. Let me give you and point you in a direction that can help you. And typically after that, they're like, oh, I didn't mean it like that. I'm so sorry. 90% of the time, that's it. For the people who really have deeper rooted emotional issues, they'll try and pick at you more

because maybe perhaps it makes them feel worthy to be able to get your attention that way. And then at that point you have to choose to let go or to move forward. But it's really a test of yourself, like how strong are you to be able to not get engulfed in it, to not get wrapped up in it and to keep moving forward in your own mission. Yeah, it's tricky. I mean, first of all, get wrapped up and to keep moving forward in your own, in your own mission? Because yeah,

yeah, it's tricky. I mean, there's the, you know, first of all, like, you know, fully raw Christina, you're not a doctor. How dare you, you know, try to be supportive of a healthy lifestyle. You have no credibility or qualifications for this. Right. So that's a, that's like a thing. Right. So, and I, there's plenty of other people that suffer from that. And it's like, you've had a certain experience. You're trying to share that. You're trying to help people live healthier and make better choices. Um, how dare you? How dare I? But see, the thing is that I'm not giving anybody doctorate advice. Nobody's coming to me and sitting on my table and saying, read my blood labs. No, I'm just saying like, Hey, here's some fruits and vegetables. Eat them. Here's a recipe.

Go live your happy lifestyle. Cleanse out your system, your body. Work on yourself. I mean, like your mom could tell you that. But now you're just talking crazy. Now I'm just talking crazy. But the thing is that it's like, it's cool because I get to say, hey, I've done this for 10 years. I'm living proof.

Try it. And if you don't like it, you can go back to doing what you were doing before. No offense taken, but try it. And if you don't like it, you can go back to doing what you were doing before. No offense taken, but try it. Yeah. And I think one of the amazing things is just from your example is, you know, listen, not everybody is going to go fully raw. It's not their thing. It's not their life, you know, their life path. It's not mine at this point. Um, but what's so beautiful is that I think there's this, there's this idea that if you only eat, you know, vegetables or fruit uncooked for a day, like, like I might get sick. You may die. Am I going to live? Yeah. So, I mean, you know, just actually hearing you share your story, you know, one could see how it would be very, very easy to

just pick one day a week or, you know, or even a day a month and just try it and pick one thing, one local fruit and just eat it for that day and see how your digestion is. Keep a journal, check it out. And I'm all about the natural beauty that Mother Nature has provided for us. And we have a section in our book where we try to highlight just raw, some raw veggies. book where we tried to highlight just raw, you know, some raw veggies. So, you know, it's, it is the most pristine mana, the most pristine nourishment that was provided for us. So, you know, it's actually very logical and very natural that you would be drawn to the pure creation of the planet that was given to us to nourish us. Yes.

Look, everything has a vibration. I've said this before on the podcast, but the people that you surround yourself carry a certain vibration. If you hang out with people that are depressed or negative, then you're going to get depressed or you're going to start saying negative things and you're going to have a certain perspective of the world. And when you start hanging out with, look, if you then go hang out with Tony Robbins for a week, then you're going to feel different, you know, because he's carrying a very powerful, different vibration. And, you know, to think that that doesn't apply to food is actually insane, right? So when you're eating, you know, live foods as close to their natural state as possible, you know, picked locally right out of the ground fresh, that's carrying a very

powerful vibration. And that's if that sounds new agey, I don't care, because I've experienced it myself. And the more raw foods I eat, then the better I feel. And that's just the way it is. And I don't think anybody out there who has done that could say otherwise. Is there anybody who says, yeah, I ate tons of raw vegetables and fruits and I just felt horrible? I don't know. We all know this, right? We all know this. So how do we start to move more in that direction? I think you just said it all yourself. Moving in that direction. I think the real question is how do you get people to wake up?

Right? Because you can't push them. Well, now you're getting tricky. Now you're getting into some pretty tricky psychology because you cannot compel somebody to be willing to make a change. Exactly. That has to be self-directed. So what happens if somebody says they don't like fruit? What happens if they say, Oh, I don't want a smoothie. If they're not ready

to even make a first step, there's nothing you can do except for live as an example. And maybe perhaps you have something that they want, whether that be happiness, whether that be a good body, whether that be, you know, being able to run a hundred miles, whatever it is, it's like, okay, then your reason becomes, hey, I do this because of my diet. I do this because of the way that I live. And then that's your selling point, you know? And so living as an example has become more of a way for me to reach just my family because I realized very quickly that I couldn't talk them into doing what I was doing. Maybe perhaps it's that you just have to live as an example. Those who are ready will take the step and then we know how to encourage them from there, right? We know how to like give them a little nudge, give them a

little hug, make them a smoothie, give them the tools that they need to get there. I think that what's even harder is getting more people to wake up to that and to realize like, hey, what's going on here on a more deeper level is not just your pain, but pain on a much more massive scale. Well, I mean, I feel like nobody is the same. Everybody's very, very different. And people are in their own journey and their own moment in their own life

and their own evolution. So I can't sit here and say that everybody, it's right for everybody to eat raw, like right now, and that's good for every single person. Because in my experience, that's not true. I would agree with you on that. Yeah, but I will say that

we all can benefit by incorporating these whole, pristine, untouched foods from nature, and they should become a part of your life. And so, you know, we have a dear friend, June, who grows 90% of her family's food in Malibu in her own home. And I am going to do a nectarine or peach fast because of you. And she will be delighted. You should check out June's garden.

I'll take you to LA. I should go raid her peach tree. I should take you there. You're going to freak. No, it's amazing. So because of your inspiration and because of your example and because of your beauty and your radiance and your heart and your commitment and your knowledge and your talent. Thank you. Because of all these things. No, I also healed

myself of a, of a, you know, of a disease through food. So, you know, that takes a lot of inner courage and fortitude and commitment. And, and it is a lot of enduring being marginalized and standing in the corner alone as everybody talks about you. So, you know, you've shown that strength and you are a beautiful example. And I will absolutely do a peach or nectarine. I'll see which one comes in. And I'm going to do it and I'll see how I feel and, you know, and report back. I can't wait.

Yeah, totally. I'll have to Snapchat it or something like that. Yes, you can Snapchat it to me and be like, look, Christina, I'm eating all the peaches. All right. Well, I think that's kind of a beautiful place to end it, but I can't let you go without I have two more things I have to ask you. You can ask me anything you want. Let's talk about how your eyes change color.

Yes, let's talk about it. Would you like to look at them? I have people walk up to me all the time and they stare at my eyeballs and I'm like, are you looking at my eyes? Yeah. Well, what's cool is, um, all right. So you used to have really dark brown eyes. I watched the video and now they're quite hazel. You have like little brown specks around the iris. And then the outer, the outer rim is now really is like a purplish blue, right? And I saw you with the dark brown eyes. And you got a little shit for that video, like saying,

Oh, my God, I got a lot. I got a lot. I changed the color of my eyes. You know, like 10,000 comments later, this girl's a wacko. But I can't, I mean, I don't know what changed the color of your eyes, but they definitely did change. And the reason I bring it up is because my eyes have changed color too. I mean, I think they, they, they've been sort of, I mean, they used to be really dark brown and they're a lot lighter. They're not, it's not nearly as dramatic as you, but they're much, they're,

they're much more hazel than they used to be. So I just found that interesting. So how did that, like, I actually didn't, I didn't even notice them changing color until my mom said something to me. And this was like four or five years into it. And she was like, Nushka, I think your eyes are changing color. And I was like, you're crazy, mom. I was like, now all of a sudden you're noticing changes in me. I was like, please, you know, like whatever, mom. And so I remember I went upstairs and I took a picture of my eyes. I was like, I'll look at it in a few years. Lo and behold, I, you know, two years, like a year later or something, I was like, I think my eyes really are changing color. And my mom was like, I told you, but you never want to listen to your mother type of thing.

And it's funny because then I started actually looking at it and keeping track. And then a few years ago when I did the video, I was like, this is creepy. I was like, my eyes are turning blue again. And it wasn't a graph. It's been just a very slow graph. Blue again? Well because when I was little I had blue eyes. Yeah babies have blue eyes. Right, right, right. And it's just been crazy

to watch. Like every day when I wake up I see different things changing in my eyes. It's weird. That's interesting. It's very weird. It's very cool. But you think it, you, you, you think it is because of the, it is diet related because you know, they say that, you know, the heaviness of your colon is directly correlated with like what's in your eyes. So I went to go see an iridologist. I was just going to ask you that, you know, and she was telling me like all this stuff. She was like, you know, this side of your eye here and this side of your eye

here, this is your left foot, this is your colon. And she was like, the reason why it's cleared out is because you've cleared out so many toxins from your body. It's like literally you're seeing that through your eyes. And I'm like, that is nuts. But she was showing me her charts and everything, and I was like, this is crazy awesome. That is crazy. I know.

We can talk. Yeah, yeah. No, I'm just, that's interesting. You know, like, yeah, I'm going to explore that a little bit. Because I know you took a lot of grief. I know there's all these doctors. Well, how dare you? Actually, you want to know what?

With that video, I haven't looked at those comments in years. And I've promised people that I wouldn't because they're like, don't look at him. You don't want to see him. You don't want to see him. And he goes, you know, I'm happier off not looking at him. I'm sure you are. That brings me to the last question, which is really like, where are you, where are you taking all this? Like, where's it going? Like where,

like five years from now, like what's the vision? My vision would be, um, home delivery takes off, um, in Houston for our juice. So with all three of my companies, I have to address them separately because they all have different goals. Roughly organic would be that within the next few years that we expand to Dallas and Austin, if that is how I choose to take the company. Will I take it outside of Texas? I mean, I'm not sure I want to get into franchising. That may ruin the whole vision. That may ruin the whole heart of it. There's a lot of different people crossing a lot of different T's.

Yeah. We'll talk about that. We'll talk about that after.'ll talk about that after am I making you nervous? No, just maybe. Um, as far as the juices, I, I want those to grow with co-op, but, um, I've had several different investors approach me about making, you know, a fully raw juice bar and vegan meal restaurant in Houston. And so maybe perhaps they'll see a few of those pop up around the city soon. As far as my YouTube videos, I'm just going to keep making them and being myself. And I'm sure that will grow on its own. But my book comes out in January. I'm excited. Oh, I didn't even know about this. Yep. I got signed with Hoped and Mifflin. and it took me, it's been a year that I've been

signed. So it'll be out in January. Everything's officially been done. It's called the fully raw diet. Same people who published the paleo diet. And I told them they did good by signing me because I'm undoing a lot of that and redoing a lot of good. And, um, it's funny how like the imprints do that, right? They'll put out, they'll be all excited about a book. And then like three months later, they'll put out, they'll get all excited about another book that is the exact opposite of the book. So it's called the fully raw diet and it's a 21 day, uh, plan for people to transition into a healthier lifestyle, whether that be fully raw or vegan or vegetarian, there are different plans in there. And then I've laced it with different stories throughout my life

that have been encouraging to me that have shown how I've gotten through different situations. And then there are also a hundred recipes in the book. So that's great. Very cool. Well, you'll have to come back in January and do the show again. Does that mean I can sleep on your roof? You can sleep on the roof. Yeah. It might be a little chilly in January. Oh man. I, you know, I normally don't do below 80. Us Texas girls, we prefer the hot, heat-smuggy, 90-Texas-degree weather. Well, even in August, it's 40 in the mornings here. That is winter in Texas. We're in the desert, you know. But it'll go up to 110, but it will be chilly in the morning. So I don't know how that works. Those are my goals. There you go. Well, that's laudable, and that's exciting.

Thank you so much for having me here and for making me colored wraps and for introducing me to your beautiful family. Thank you. You guys are such a team. It's so inspirational, and I want to be part of it. Thank you so much. Well, you are delightful, and it was great to hang out. So we've got to do it some more.

We totally will. You can't get rid of me now. Awesome. Sounds good. Thanks so much. Thanks. If you want to, uh, if you're inspired by Christina and you want to connect with her, the best way to do that, I mean, you have so many different websites and places to go, but fully raw.com and your YouTube channel fully raw. Which one is it? Like you're fully raw Christina. That's the best, right? Yes. And then you're easy to find on this online. Yeah, just find me. I'll put the links in show notes to all the places that you can connect with Christina.

And if I had to pick one of your videos to kind of embed on the blog page with this episode, Definitely do the I one. Yeah, do the I one. Why not? Let's go for it. Come on. Reading the comments on that? Let's jump in. With all of her wealth of information about eating raw

foods and raw food diet, you want to put the one in about her eyes? But look at her eyes. I would do Why I Started Eating Fully Raw. That one's nice because then they get to know me. I watched that one. I know what that one is. I think that's a good introduction to who you are and all that. That's cool. Awesome. Thank you. Thanks so that. All right. Cool. All right. Awesome. Thank you.

Thanks so much. Peace. Plants. Namaste. Hey, I think we did it. How'd that go for you? Did you guys enjoy that? I hope you enjoyed it.

Let me know what you thought of the episode in the comments section on the episode page at richroll.com. Keep sending in your questions for future Q&A podcasts to info at richroll.com. And guess what, you guys? We got stickers. Yeah, baby. Who doesn't love stickers? Our newest offering on the website, plant-powered stickers, temporary tattoos. We got the plant-based California license plate graphic in

a sticker. We have the awesome Rhino image and the plant power revolution graphic, a couple other designs. It's a really fun, easy, affordable way to share your enthusiasm and kind of, you know, get the plant-based, plant-powered message out there. So check that out. And as long as we're talking about new products on the website, I'm really excited to announce something kind of new and entirely different that we're doing and we're offering. Basically, a limited edition run of fine art prints by my friend, the esteemed artist Andrew Pasquella, who is a premier upcoming talent who's really making waves in the art and food movement. This is a guy he's exhibited in such prestigious venues as Art Basel, Switzerland, Art Basel, Miami. His art is hung in the Google headquarters. And this print is kind of a political commentary on the United States Department of Agriculture. It's a very cool artistic sort of commentary on the politicization of this organization, the USDA, and I guess you

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black mat. It's float mounted. It's really done very, very well, very high quality. And this is a cool thing, you guys. Support Andrew, support the food movement, support great art, and participate in the Plant Power Way of Living. Check that stuff out. And so, of course, for all the rest of your Plant Power deans, visit richroll.com. We've got nutrition products, books, education products, 100% organic cotton garments, meditation programs. Basically, you know the deal.

Everything you need to take your health and your life to the next level. So thanks so much for supporting the show, by telling your friends, for sharing it on social media, all that good stuff. Really appreciate it. And, of course, for using the Amazon banner out at richroll.com for all your Amazon purchases. Okay, you guys, I'll see you in a few days. Make it a great week. Catch you soon. Peace. Plants. Thank you.