The Rich Roll Podcast - Optimize Your Morning Routine To Begin Your Day Right

Episode Date: January 8, 2015

Welcome back to our second spin around the listener Q&A merry-go-round! Due to popular demand (and all the great questions flooding our inbox), we're happy to once again banter on the subjects, issues and topics you want addressed. In this episode Julie and I cover a ton of ground, name dropping resources like an over-caffeinated publicist. Here's a top down view on the landscape: * The importance of the morning ritual to optimize your day; * Inspirational and educational books, websites, podcasts & other online resources; * Resources to facilitate your shift to a Plantpower lifestyle; * A few (very brief) thoughts on high carb / low carb / gluten and nutritional density; * More brief thoughts on certain foods to avoid and others to embrace; and * A few closing thoughts on running volume. No need to break out pen and paper. Due to the hard work of my trusty right hand Chris Swan, everything is detailed, itemized and hyperlinked for your convenience in the below show notes. So just sit back and enjoy. Special thanks and shoutout to everyone who submitted questions. Keep them coming! Peace + Plants, Rich

Welcome to episode 124 of the Rich Roll Podcast. Ask me anything with Julie Pyatt. The Rich Roll Podcast. Hey, everybody. I'm Rich Roll. I'm your host. Welcome to my show, to the Rich Roll Podcast. I'm here with Julie Pyatt. Hey. Hey, everybody. I'm Rich Roll. I'm your host. Welcome to my show, to the Rich Roll Podcast. I'm here with Julie Pyatt. Hey. Hey, Rich. How's it going? It's going awesome. Do you know what I do?

I do. I know a little bit about what you do. Probably more than most. I'm an ultra endurance athlete. I'm a bestselling author. I'm a wellness evangelist. I'm a lifestyle entrepreneur. I'm a husband and I'm a father of four. What do you do? What are some of the things that you do, Julie? I don't do that much. I sort of just watch you do what you do. That's not true at all. You do all those things and more. Do you really want me to say anything about me?

Just fire them off. Bullet point. But see, I'm a yogi. I'm a chef. I'm a Renaissance artist. I'm a musician. I'm a mother of four. I'm a, what am I? Spiritualist. You're a wife. Meditator. I'm a musician. I'm a mother of four. I'm a, what am I?

Spiritualist. You're a wife. Meditator. I'm a wife. You're a chef. I said that already. You did. Yeah, I did.

So I do some of those things. I've been coming home lately, walking into the house and Julie's sitting on the floor in the main room of our house, practicing her sitar. Like she had this huge sitar. You're getting pretty good at it. Thank you. It's pretty cool to watch. It's been really amazing, actually. I mean, it's like the hardest instrument to learn, right? Oh, I don't know. I think, yeah, I think I had that same kind of thought before I began,

but actually it's, you know, it's like anything. It's music, it's universal. It's been around for thousands of years and there's been many, many people that have played, of course, you know, not at a Ravi Shankar level, but I'm really, really enjoying it. It's quite beautiful. And surprisingly, I'm learning it. What we should do is just have you record a couple bars, riffs. We can just use it in the podcast. Okay. That'd be cool. That'd be awesome. Yeah, that'd be good. Well, do you know what we do here at the show? I know what we do here at the show.

Do you? Yeah. Each week I sit down with the best and the brightest, the most forward-thinking, paradigm-busting minds in health and in wellness and in fitness and in sports and in nutrition. And it's been amazing. Spirituality and in entrepreneurship. Why? Why do I do this?

You do it to inspire all of us and help us. To help you, all of us, discover, uncover, unlock, and unleash our most authentic selves together. That's right. But we're doing it a little bit differently today. Not that you're not one of the best and the brightest. You're certainly a paradigm breaker. But this is our second stab at the Ask Me Anything question and answer format version of the podcast. Thanks so much to everybody who tuned in for our first one, which we did a couple weeks ago. I thought it went pretty well. The feedback was pretty good.

We're showing back up. There seemed to be a demand for us to do it again. So you guys kept sending in your questions, things you wanted us to talk about, to ask about, to pontificate on. So that's what we're here doing. We're going to be doing, I'm going to be mixing it up too.

I'm going to start bringing in some other guests. Oh, you're kidding me. To sit in your chair. No, I'm kidding. I'm going to rotate you out. I'm so bummed.

No, I already talked to Preston Smiles about it. He wants to do it too. He'd be good too. I think Charlie Knowles would be cool to do it. I don't know. We'll figure it out. It'd be great.

But don't worry. Your place in the show is secure. I'm not worried. I'm not worried. All right. Is there anything you want to talk about before we get into these questions? No, I'm just prepared to be of service. of these questions? No, I'm just prepared to be of service.

We're brought to you today by recovery.com. I've been in recovery for a long time. It's not hyperbolic to say that I owe everything good in my life to sobriety. And it all began with treatment and experience that I had that quite literally saved my life. And in the many years since, I've in turn helped many suffering addicts and their loved ones find treatment. And with that, I know all too well just how confusing and how overwhelming and how challenging it can be to find the right place and the right level of care, especially because unfortunately, not all treatment resources adhere to ethical practices. It's a real problem, a problem I'm now happy and proud to share has been solved by the people at recovery.com, who created an online support portal designed to guide, to support and empower you to find the

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I really do. And they have treatment options for you. Life in recovery is wonderful. And recovery.com is your partner in starting that journey. When you or a loved one need help, go to recovery.com and take the first step towards recovery. To find the best treatment option for you or a loved one, again, go to recovery.com. Well, we got a whole ton, and they ranged from very broad to incredibly specific. Some people would ask questions that were just so specific to their certain situation that I didn't feel like it was appropriate to address in this format. Really?

to address in this format. But there was one kind of consistent theme that went through a bunch of the emails, which was about the morning routine. And I think that's a good thing to talk about, because that's something that I've been kind of focused on lately. That's an evolving thing for me. It's certainly an area where I needed to look at and improve upon. And that's what I've been doing lately. But the question basically is, you know, how do you start your day off right? What's your morning routine? How do you, you know, what are the things that you do when you wake up to get yourself ready for the day? So I can talk about what I've been working on, but why don't you like sort of lay the foundation for what you do or what you think is important for people to think about? for what you do or what you think is important for people to think about?

Well, I guess I would say that establishing the morning routine for me in its most powerful form is in the wee hours of the dawn before the sun has come up. You can't do the 4.30 thing again. No, but it's just, you know, you asked me to share my experience. That's the truth of what it is. So I can't, you know, I can't say something else just, you know, because it's more comfortable for the masses or whatever. So, but I mean, I would say as a mother of four and, you know, my nephew lives with us and we now have, you know, we now have nine members living in our community. Plus we just rescued two beautiful, beautiful dogs. So we now have 11 beings living in our space.

Right. Well, explain that a little. So it's a, it's you and me and it's our four children. And then we have two dogs. And my nephew. And we have, yeah, Harrison. And then Drew and Rain who live in the Airstream. That's right.

So it's like at any given time there's 11 people. The commune. We're going to start throwing down yurts and it's just going to be a full on. It's always been my dream. Mooney. Don't use that word. It's going to be a full on... It's always been my dream. Mooney. Don't use that word. It's going to be a transformational experience. But anyway, so with that comes, I mean, it's hard.

It's hard to, it's challenging, I would say. Sometimes I will be in a space where I'm ready to kind of drop in and suddenly five people will walk through the door. And I have that moment of, I can't believe you're walking in right now. And yet, at the same time, you know, that's what's happening, and it's in alignment, it works for us. So especially after the first of the year, I mean, I had a full moon meeting with my band, who also happens to be my sons, Tyler and Trapper, and also Harrison,

and we were really, really setting down structure. So we're cleaning out clutter, you know, opening up spaces, and we're establishing very, very strict, you know, structures, I won't say strict, but structures around our life so that we can creatively bring in what we, you know, the power of our deepest visions and greatest visions, most expanded dreams that we're actualizing right now. So for me, what that means for me being the mother of all these people and holding that energy is that I have no choice but to get up at 4.30 or 5 in the morning, because if I don't have, if I don't do that, my day is already taken by everybody else. Because there's too many people intervening.

And I mean, at six o'clock, Ty's coming in to get ready. And we kind of had this ritual where we have this sort of superfood latte together that we create. So, you know, it's a mix of sometimes it's Brazil nuts and fresh coconut and then, you know, warm water and a date, you know, sometimes it's hemp seeds and ginger and turmeric. But we have a kind of ritual where we sort of sit together and, you know, we drink this together and then he goes off to work. And, you know, that's kind of a special thing for a mom to experience with her 19-year-old at this moment in time. And so, you know, I'm reticent to say, hey, you know, let's, I got to go or I have to go meditate. So, I just have to get up earlier. So, a lot of that comes,

you know, and for me also, I will just add and then I'll let you have the mic and that is, you know, there's a preparation for the morning as well. I'm not only addressing spiritual issues or topics or inspiring things or things that will help me break through barriers in that morning hour. I'm sort of preparing for it throughout the day. So oftentimes in the evening when I'm practicing sitar or, you know, I will seek something or find whatever I need for that inspiration and it will set up the next morning. So I'm not, I'm sort of prepared for the morning when it arrives, when it arrives. Right. But anything else about your morning

routine that's sacred or you think is important? Like I'm trying to distill it down to very specific tools or practices. I have to give away my deepest secrets? No, no, no. You don't have to do anything. No, I don't know. I am, well, again, it's like, you know, I believe rising before the dawn is very, very powerful. Washing your hands, your face, and your mouth. So if you want to sort of imagine that you're going to sit down and you're going to speak to the divine, to the most expanded consciousness, you don't want to sit down with bad breath or with an unclean body. So there's something about that washing the hands and feet, you know, brushing your teeth, drinking a clean glass of water with lemon. And then depending on how you are, you know, I usually light a candle,

then I have, you know, some kind of tea. And then I do my visualization, set my energetic space, which involves really a visualization. And then I dive into meditation after that. Okay. Is that specific enough? Yeah, that's specific enough. I mean, all right, so here's where I'm coming from. You know, I'm an insane, obsessive, compulsive personality. And my proclivity, like my, you know, my default setting, my preference is to wake up, spring up, immediately check my email, get online and get out of the house as fast as possible so I can start my day

because every minute not being productive is a minute wasted, right? And life is short. minute not being productive is a minute wasted, right? And life is short. This practice- It's insane. Has gotten, yeah. It's gotten me so far, but it's also running me into brick walls and it's not serving me. And as I want to say on this show and in life, the road gets narrower and certain practices that I have been able to kind of live with or get away with throughout my life suddenly become no longer workable in my life. And I have to let them go or I have to look at them and I have to try to find a better way. It was true with drugs and alcohol. It was true with food. It's true with exercise. And, you know, it's becoming more and more true with other things like watching television or

checking Twitter on my phone, all these things that are distracting me, removing me from the moment, making me less mindful and ultimately less productive, less engaged with those people around me that I care about and making me a less fully actualized human being. So the morning practice, the morning routine is certainly part of that. And part of my 2015 is about setting up structures for a better way of doing this that is counter to my instincts. And if you look at the habits of the most successful people in the world, I think there is a consistent theme. And some of those practices, well, one of them that's pretty consistent with most people that accomplish tremendous things is they get up really early in the morning. Most of them do. Yeah, I would have to agree. You know, whether you're Richard Branson or- You're not sleeping until 11.

I mean, even The Rock on his Instagram, like he Instagrammed his wake-up call, his alarm on his iPhone. He gets up at 3.45 in the morning to go to the gym, right? He doesn't have to do that. So, developing a habit of rising early, and that involves like getting good sleep is important. So that begs the question of what your evening routine is also to prepare yourself for the night. We could talk about that maybe on a different podcast. But rising early, whether it's 4.30 or some other number, but pre-dawn I think is important. And then also developing a specific practice of deliberate mindfulness in the morning to prepare yourself for the day, whether that comes, you know, and you'll see that in different forms with different people. But I think sort of being slow, deliberate,

preparing, visioning, journaling, meditating, these sorts of things are really important to set a tone and a trajectory for how you're going to navigate yourself throughout the day, as opposed to being reactive, you're being proactive. So this is something that I've been putting at the very top of my list. So what do I do? I get up. I could be getting up earlier than I've been getting up, but I've been having issues with my sleep too. You said it, I didn't. Yeah, I know. I need to look at that.

Sleep's very important to me though. My sleep's been very erratic lately. And then water with lemon juice or apple cider vinegar shortly upon awakening to alkalize the system is important. And then I make myself some tea. I've been drinking black tea in the morning, although I probably should be having some Pura tea or maybe some Reishi tea instead. Yeah, for interesting teas, go to livingtea.net. That's the place to get the good stuff.

And that's our dear friend Colin. He'll hook you up. He works with Wuda. Exactly. If you listen to Wuda on the podcast. I got a lot of questions about tea also. Okay, good. We'll do that later. So make myself some tea. And then I go upstairs and I have a little routine, a meditation routine where I recite some visioning words. In great faith and

trust. In faith and trust, right? And that's a very personal kind of thing that I do. And then I do a 20-minute meditation. And I've been playing around with the Headspace app for that, which I found to be great. I think it's a very accessible practice. It's very beginner-friendly, but it's also tried-and-true practices that would work for anybody. And so that's a 20-minute kind of guided meditation that I do. And it's been great. You know, I've been doing it.

I don't know. I've been doing it now pretty much like 40 some odd days without interruption. And I've already noticed some pretty significant changes. What are some of those changes? Well, on the physical level, a really interesting thing is I have fingernails. That's crazy. For the first time in my adult life, I've always compulsively like picked and chewed my fingernails down to the quick where I have like bleeding cuticles. And it's just a nervous kind of anxiety thing that I've always done.

The entire time I've known you. As long as you've known me, right? I'm always. No fingernails. No fingernails ever. No. And now I have actually broken a nail two days ago. It's the first time I've ever broken a nail

because I've never had fingernails long enough to break them. Let me see those. Hold those up. See, they don't even look like your fingers. It's shocking. I know. Now they're like too long.

No, they're fine. It's just weird. Enjoy them. They're not like, you know, flamenco guitar long. They're just like an eighth of an inch, but they're just not chewed. That's crazy. And so what do you attribute that to? Yeah, I have compulsively chewed them out of anxiety or whatever.

It's not even a conscious act. Like I don't even know that I'm doing it. And suddenly that stopped. Right. That's interesting. Like, without a conscious decision, it wasn't like, my New Year's resolution is I'm not going to, you know, bite my fingernails anymore. Like, I didn't even think about it. It just, suddenly it just wasn't happening anymore. And I looked down, I was like, wow, I have fingernails.

What happened? That's amazing. And the only, what is the variable? Like, if you're doing an experiment, like, what is it? Well, the variable is this morning routine. Meditation. So if that's what's happening, like in the physical realm with my hands, my fingers, I think that's suggestive of an inner kind of calm or peace that is starting to take root.

So that's interesting in and of itself. And I've noticed just as I go throughout the day, I'm just more mindful and grounded. Like I'm still human. I get riled up. I get reactive. I get angry. I get riled up. I get reactive. I get angry. I get all of those things, but it's just a little bit, I don't know. I'm just, I'm productive. I'm economic and efficient in the use of my time. I'm less reactive and things just tend to, they seem to be going more smoothly.

Yeah. That's amazing. And I mean, this is just one of the things and it's like, you know, in, you know, yogic tradition, it's like, you know, you don't quit anything, like you're not suppressing anything, you simply go into the practices, and then you may wake up and find yourself transformed, you know, it's, it's the other way around. So it's very powerful, and you're experiencing a very visceral physical demonstration right before your eyes. That's a wonderful like leg of proof for you to grab onto and continue on your exploration. Right. And so, all right, so I do the recitation, then I do the 20-minute meditation. And what is that meditation?

Are you following your breath? Are you doing pranayama? Yeah, it's basically a following of the breath, you know, and Andy from Headspace kind of guides you through it. I'm having him on the podcast, which is great. That's good. But what I like about the Headspace app, you know, listen, I've tried tons of different kinds of meditations. I'm not a newcomer or a beginner to meditation, but what I've always struggled with is being consistent in the practice. I have fits and starts.

And so what Headspace has been most helpful to me with is creating momentum and consistency because it's an app and they're like, okay, you're on day seven. Now you're on day eight. And you kind of feel like. Right, so you can chart it. Oh, yeah, you can chart it. It keeps, you know, it keeps track of it for you. It'll send you an email. You did, you know, four days in a row without whatever. And just on a weird kind of like semi unconscious level, you just feel like, oh, I have to, you know, it's like that app compulsive, you know, like I don't want to break the, I don't want to break the thing. There, you're still on an app. I know, right.

Which is so awesome. But it's working for me. Well, good. You know what I mean? Go for it. And just I'm enjoying it. So, you know, I would suggest that. And then what I do after that is I have a little like moleskin journal.

And then I do a- Is that vegan? Moleskin? I don't know. It's not real moles. We better make sure. I make it out of mole. Well, whatever.

I have a little journal. I don't know. I should check that out. You should check that out. It's not made out of leather. I don it out of mole well whatever i have a little journal i don't know i should check that out it's not made out of leather i don't know i should look it's just another one of those things we have to clear out no um and i do a gratitude list i make a list every morning of the things that i'm grateful for oh that's good and then i'm learning this for the first time too because this is his private and then i do uh and then i do like- See, I'm learning this for the first time too, because this is his private. And then I do like a mini journal. Like if I have more time, I'll do a full like sort of artist way, three pages of journaling.

But it's like, how many things do I have to do in the morning before I get going? So I kind of truncate it. And I usually just write down a couple sentences. And then also just to free my mind, like sometimes when I'm meditating and I'm always trying to bring my mind. Like sometimes when I'm meditating and I'm always trying to bring my, you know, bring my mind back to the breath, like a thought will enter and then it leaves and I'm bringing my

thought, you know, I'm trying to bring it back to the breath. I'll jot those things down in a journal, like the things that keep coming up in my mind that are kind of preoccupying me. So at least they're on paper and I can kind of dismiss them from, you in my head. Right, that's good. And then I brush my teeth and I get dressed and I either go train or I go to work, depending upon the day. So that's the morning routine. But I think whatever you're,

I'm not saying that that's what everybody should do. That's an example of something that's working for me. Yours is a little bit different. But I think the message is decide upon, make a conscious decision about how you're going to spend that time in the morning, as opposed to just waking up and being reactive and being on autopilot. And I think that because those, you know, those first, that first hour of your day is super important. And I think it's a time of the day where you want to be conscious about the actions that you're taking.

And setting it up in the right way. Yeah. And if some of you are more like me and you're ready to dive in a little bit deeper and, you know, my meditation on the Rich Roll website is extremely powerful and it consists of a few different techniques. But the first one is a humming practice, which has been absolutely transformational for me. And I've seen it work with children and, you know, experienced meditators, beginning meditators. And it's basically a humming practice. And so you hum into your heart center.

And then you listen to some mantra that is from, it's to Ganesh, which is the remover of obstacles this amazing elephant boy deity and then it has a very powerful sealing practice which I really really feel is essential for all of us in the world today it's learning how to manage your energy field and how to seal yourself so that you know what feelings are yours and what feelings and emotions are others that should not be in your space? So if you have a desire, you can check that out. And I would suggest committing to it for a set period, like saying, I'm going to try this for 21 days or 40 days. And then just do it without judgment and see where you're at at the end. And maybe you'll have really long fingernails. Maybe you will.

That's frightening. All right, let's move along. There was also a series of questions that were all very similar about resources, books we read, podcasts we listen to, website resources, et cetera, et cetera. So just to kick that off, Anne Holmes. Hi, Anne. Hi, Anne. From British Columbia, wanted to know, among other things, can you recommend five books that inspired you along the journey? Do you have five books that

have been- From each of us? Yeah. I made a little list. Do you want to go first? Yeah. There's so many books, but I was trying to think of what are the core ones that have been the most profound or impactful to me. It's hard to make that list, but I would say that, well, the top of that list would probably be the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous. That's huge for you. Yeah, well, I got sober with that book. That's right, man. I still reread it all the time. Without that, you wouldn't be alive.

So I'm reciting it constantly. So that's probably at the top of my list. That might not be everybody's. Hopefully not. Not everybody needs that. Actually, there are tools in that book that are applicable to everybody, wherever you are. Like these steps are really kind of revelatory for everybody in their journey and process. So that's one. The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron has been instrumental for me. It's about sort of unlocking your inner muse and getting in touch with your more creative self, developing that connection, that relationship with the best part of who you are and learning

tools and ways to express that in your life. So I would definitely suggest that one. Similarly, The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, hugely important book to me. It's about overcoming procrastination and learning how to be creative and be able to express your voice. It's a fantastic book. It's a super short, easy to read book too. I haven't read that. Autobiography of a Yogi. Of course. By Paramahansa Yogananda.

The classic. It's an amazing book. I've read that at least three times. Must read. I would suggest that one. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. Yeah. I've always said it Tolle, and then suddenly people are saying Tolle all the time.

I don't know. We always said it Tolle. Yeah. I don't know. Whatever. I read that one a long time ago. He doesn-ay all the time. I don't know. We always said it toll. Yeah. But whatever. I read that one a long time ago. He doesn't care. Trust me. I don't think he does either.

Yeah, that's a must. I mean, everybody kind of knows that book, but even so, that doesn't mean that it's any less impactful. And he also wrote his new book, The New Earth, which is also amazing. It's an amazing perspective. Those are huge. And if you can get Power of Now on audio with him reading it, you will get zapped through the CD. A little gnome-like energy. No, it's amazing.

I mean, you will receive some transformation from listening to him. That's amazing. All right. So Artist's Way, Autobiography of a Yogi, War of Art, Power of Now, and the big book. So that's like a starter pack. It's a starter pack. And then if you want to go to the next level. What kind of craziness do you have written down over there? If you want to go to

outer space, then come with me on this journey. No. So I would also have to say just Autobiography of a Yogi, I had it written down as well, but let's just say Divine Romance or any of the other, you know, many, many, many books that Yogananda wrote. I also want to mention his, there's a film out about his life right now. It's called Awake. You can go, I don't know, search it. I think it's awake.com. I saw the film on Sunday. It was extraordinary footage of him and of Sri Yukteswar and Anandamoy Ma. And it just, it took my breath away. Beautiful, beautiful. And it was his birthday yesterday. And I learned some things that I didn't know from the film. And if you get a chance to see it or organize a screening in your town,

please check it out because it's really, really exceptional. So I would also say, it's really, really exceptional. So I would also say, okay, so one really amazing, amazing sort of guidebook that really sort of was with us through many, many trials over the years where we were being dismantled and kind of reconfigured. So if any of you are going through that kind of very sacred experience right now, and, you know, things are pretty intense, pick up a copy of Oneness by Rasha. And Rasha is actually a collective consciousness that channels through this woman. So it is a communication from off planet and it explains in detail different stages of development of the human experience and what's happening here. So it's very humanly useful. So it might talk about what's going on if you have relationships falling away or what's going on if you've lost your job or you're losing your house.

And so our copies were completely tattered and it really kept us company and was an extreme source of support. So check that out. Then I would have to say The Starseed Transmissions by Ken Carey. Oh, no. You're getting super out there. You asked me. I know. I'm asking you.

Go for it. What are you talking about? This is amazing. This is an amazing, amazing, amazing book for anybody who's on the brink of really opening up their spiritual awareness. And it's an old book. It's a little, it's a thin book, but he actually talks about a time on the planet, you know, these's really very, very powerful and beautifully, beautifully written. And also it is a channeled work he received. And he actually dedicates the book to a group of trees that were on the land where he received this body of work. And then just to really make Rich uncomfortable, I'm going to say Bringers of the Dawn, Teachings from the Palladians.

These are a star race. And it's by Barbara Marcinial. Really amazing, amazing perspective if you've never even thought, you know, if you've thought beyond your backyard fence, like if you've ever managed to look over and see what else might be out there. And the Palladian energy is a very, very loving, very soft, very beautiful energy. And so check that out. And then I would have to say the entire body of work from the Bihar School of Yoga books. The Bihar School of Yoga was founded in 1964 by Satyananda Saraswati. And he was a disciple of Sivananda who came from Tamil Nadu.

Still to this point in my life, they are an incredible source of pure yogic teachings and technique. And it is pure and true and just a beautiful, beautiful body of work. And you can get all of these at the, I think it's called bharschoolofyoga.com. If you're a yogi, you must have these books. Right. Well, I'll put links up in the show notes to all of these books to help you guys pick it up. All right. So that's your list? Yeah, that's my list. That's an out there list. Is that good enough for you?

It's fine. It's your list. It's awesome. Why are you laughing at me? I'm not. Because, well, you make it easy. That's why. That's another one of my talents.

All right. Well, a corollary to this question is other things that we – other types of content that we enjoy, whether it's other kinds of books or website resources, podcasts, et cetera. And in terms of some of the websites that I find myself frequenting to read, I like Brain Pickings, brainpickings.com. I like Zen Habits, Leo's website, always chocked full of great wisdom. He started a new website called Unschoolery, which is kind of a forum and resource for parents who are homeschooling and unschooling, which has been really great. And what other things do you read on the internet? I don't have that much time. I know you're going to go to some crazy... No, I would say again, it's like, if this isn't for you, then just laugh and don't pay attention. But if this is for you, I mean, our life is now...

You're not going to say like the Huffington Post, you're going to say... Of course, I'm not going to say the Huffington post. Why would I, I don't, I don't really troll the internet for whatever. Um, no, I mean, this is, it's our life is now the time for transformation is now. And you know, we're spiritual beings having a human experience and I'm not really in a place anymore where I feel I have to apologize for that point of view. It's like, no, it's incredible. And it's like, people are asking for more information. I just gave them like my best, like that, like that's the truth. It's, and so in order to be, you know, authentically in service and really serve, I have to, I have to offer, you know, what's true without asking you to do anything other than that. Okay. So there's two websites that I think are amazing. And it's actually, and again, you'll know if you're this person.

If you're this person, you're going to be going, oh, thanks, Julie. Thank you so much. So you're welcome. I tell you, you're welcome. And if it's not for you, then you won't hear it and you won't be able to find it anyway. So the most amazing resource, okay, this is for anyone who is in, is at that moment or experiencing extreme health situations. I'm talking about life or death situations. Just anything. If you're on that brink of spiritual transformation, check out Lisa Renee at EnergeticSynthesis.com. She has been a dear mentor of mine and of my family. Rich and I would not be standing here as well as we are were it not for her.

She is very, very in service to humanity. It is a very advanced perspective on spirituality. So if you're one of those people, there it is. And if you would like things in a little bit lighter package, there is an amazing woman on the East Coast. Her name is Lauren Gorgo, and she has a site called thinkwithyourheart.com. I think she has now, thinkwithyourheart.com. And she sends out a monthly newsletter and has a very beautiful sense of humor and lightness about her, has a very beautiful sense of humor and lightness about her, even though she's talking about some of these very dire, you know, situations that are happening on planet earth, you know, all over the world, which, you know, it is very intense time out there. So I hope that's helpful. And also

srimati.com for the deeper story. But I haven't been posting there because I was finishing the cookbook and I'm trying to organize my nine, my 11 family members at the house. But I will be hitting, I will be starting to step up spiritual communication stuff on that site in 2015. All right. And I would say that to supplement that, I like to read fiction at night. I can't, I have a really hard time reading like howto type stuff in the evening, like when I'm trying to wind down. And I really enjoy great books. So I just finished reading 1Q84 by Murakami, which I highly suggest. It's like a thousand pages. It took me a while to read it, but it

was great. And now I'm reading Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, which I am loving right now. And on the how-to front, I'm reading Zero to One by Peter Thiel. I just cracked it, so I can't really give a full review on that. But those are just a couple of the things that I'm looking at right now. In terms of podcasts, people want to know what kind of podcast do you listen to? Well, I think our family, what? They listen to Serial. Well, everybody listens to Serial. That's hardly like news.

Yeah. All right. Serial, of course. I mean, I love WTF with Mark Maron. He's my interview hero. I think that guy's fantastic. I love the way that he speaks to people. So that's really always kind of like at the top of my list. But I also listen to Radiolab. I love Dan Carlin's Hardcore History. It's fantastic. And I listen to Tim Ferriss' show and James Altucher's show. And I love Off Camera, which is great kind of long form conversations with your favorite filmmakers and actors. It's Sam Jones and I interviewed him for the podcast that's coming up in a couple of weeks, which is great. He's a photographer and I interviewed him for the podcast that's coming up in a couple of weeks, which is great. He's a photographer and a documentary filmmaker, and he has a show

off camera, which is also a television show on direct TV, but he does it as a podcast and he does a really nice job. So I enjoy that. The latest one was with Jeff Bridges, which was fantastic. And the one with Matt Damon was really good. They're both amazing. So it would have to be. And then the second corollary to this question is a couple emails came in about resources,

online resources or books for people that are looking to step into getting plant powered, right? Like how do I, where can I go online? What other books, resources can I avail myself of that will help me make this dietary shift? And if you listen

to this show, you know that we recommend our Ultimate Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition course at mindbodygreen.com. We're really proud of that. And I think that that's very helpful. Of course, Finding Ultra and our cookbook that's coming out this spring, The Plant Power Way. If you do have a copy of Finding Ultra, you will notice in the appendices that I have a huge bibliography of all these books, as well as a long list of website resources that are all really helpful. But if you don't have a copy of the book, maybe you should just pick it up, right? But- Now's the time. Why wait? Yeah. I mean, some of those would be, I mean, anything by Dr. Neil Barnard is great.

The books by Brendan Brazier are great. The books by Rip Esselstyn, The Engine 2 Diet, My Beef with Meat, Brendan Brazier's Thrive series. Neil Barnard's books on reversing diabetes are fantastic. Of course, T. Colin Campbell's books, Whole and the China Study. Dr. Esselstyn's book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease is amazing. Kathy Freston's books are good and kind of very user-friendly. Joel Fuhrman, Eat to Live. Let's see, as far as websites, pcrm.org.

That's Neil Barnard's site. Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is fantastic. Nomeatathlete.com is good. Forksoverknives.com. Engine2diet.com. Nutritionstudies.org, which is T. Colin Campbell's foundation website. And my favorite is nutritionfacts.org, which is Dr. Michael Greger's site. So they should keep you busy for a while.

Great DVDs that he can send your way. Yeah, and all the videos there. And for any of you yogis who are interested in Ayurveda or in sort of studying more deeply the role that yoga plays in lifestyle, you can check out a workbook on living a high pranic life at swamahiman.org. It is written by His Holiness Vidya Dishananda. And I attended a workshop and I'm actually cooking out of this cookbook. And it's quite a treasure of information.

And you can only get it on their website. Very good. All right. Before we get to the next question, I wanted to do an addendum to our last Q&A. Remember when I read a question by a guy called Pete and he claimed to be a recovered alcoholic and I went, recovered? Yes. clarification, right? So a brief response to your response. I used the quote unquote recovered word for a specific reason. The big book tells us numerous times that we do recover and suggest that we be introduced to the new man as quote, someone who has recovered, close quote. I am sponsored by Big Book Thumper, whose belief is that if we no longer suffer from the hopeless

state of mind and body, we are recovered, never cured, just food for thought. So that makes sense. I like that, Pete. Thanks for clarifying that. Thank you for that. And apologies if you took my statement before the wrong way. I didn't mean any offense to that. No, but it's good that he clarified it. Right. How about a little specific nutrition question? Okay. So this is from Ron. Hi, Ron. Ron B. Hi, Ron B.

He says, have you, well, there's a bunch of stuff here, but he said, have you found yourself cutting back on your carb intake during this plant-based journey? The thought of cutting back on carbs slash pasta is a little scary. So I think what's behind this question is kind of there's this low-carb movement right now, cut out the carbs, and there's a little bit of confusion here because I think there's a difference between reducing your carbohydrate intake versus reducing your intake of kind of empty, nutritionally poor sources of carbohydrate, like the pastas or the crackers. White bread. White rice and the white bread and all these sorts of things, right?

So where do you stand on this? So, I mean, I would say, I think that, okay, so the correct way to form the question would be for whom and when. So I don't know where you are in your journey, you know, into plant-based nutrition, but it's all a journey and you know, it's not black or white, it's gray and it evolves kind of at its own pace. But I would say that as you start to eat more whole foods that are organic, local, in season, you will find that you will be craving those things less and less and less. But I will tell you that being a pasta lover myself and having traveled extensively in Italy, and Rich and I used to host these beautiful yoga retreats in the Italian countryside, and the food was insane.

So the idea of never eating a pasta again was not a very beautiful thought to me when I went completely vegan. But I will say that there is an amazing product and a lot popping up now, but in particular one, and I'm forgetting the name of it. Is it exotic? It's called Asian Exotic or exoticasian.com, something like that. And there's a hyphen in it. I can't remember because I was looking it up. You're talking about the mung bean and the tzuki bean pasta.

Yeah, it's incredible. And they make like a fettuccine out of mung bean and all it is is mung bean. The same thing, they have tzuki spaghetti, they have black bean spaghetti, and they have brown rice, pad thai noodles so start looking look online actually i know for a fact you can get it on amazon so you can click through the ritual doc through ritual.com click on the amazon banner and go source your pasta online try these products out and i don't think you're going to be disappointed. I think you're going to be quite inspired. I just can't say enough.

I really feel gluten is not good for us and I don't really even care if you're gluten sensitive or not because I thought that I wasn't for a very long time and the way that our wheat source and other kinds of breads are being produced in the U.S. at least, you don't want that stuff in your body. And the workbook that I mentioned from the Vedic monk that I studied with, he feels very, very strongly about gluten and what it's doing to the body. So try to get off it and try to find cleaner sources. And I have

some amazing pasta sauces and dishes that are coming in the Plant Power way that I think you will enjoy. Right. So first of all, I found the website. It's explore.asian.com. Explore-asian dot com. Explore. Okay. Yeah. So they have all these tzuki bean pastas and all different kinds of pastas made out of beans

and they're very low carb and low fat and high protein. So it's a complete win across the board. But I think in terms of, you know, of reducing your

carbohydrate intake, I think a better question is trying to increase the nutritional density of the foods that you're eating. So, you know, I'm not a proponent of like cutting fruit out of your diet. I think that, you know, a prudent amount of fruit in your diet is a fantastic thing. And I'm more a proponent, excuse me, of cutting out nutritionally poor foods, foods that are high in calories or high in carbohydrates, but don't really have any- Processed foods.

Yeah, are processed and don't really have any nutritional value. So I think that's really the greater focus of your inquiry. In terms of gluten, certainly experiment with removing it, pay attention to how you feel. The hybridized wheats and grains that we're eating these days are certainly not the grains of our grandparents. They've been stripped of a lot of their nutritional value. And in so doing, there has been an increase in the gluten content,

among other things that are being shown to be maybe not so good for us. No, and I heard another thing recently, actually, and I didn't read this myself, so I heard it, you know, third party, but I heard that in order to kill the wheat and make it easier to harvest, it's being sprayed with Roundup, which is an extremely toxic poison. So it's just not great things. That's how Monsanto sort of does this whole thing.

They create a seed that's Roundup resistant, and then they spray Roundup on it, so it's all vertically integrated. It's horrible. The GMO of the seed, the genetically modified seed, is specifically conceptualized and conceived so that it can withstand that pesticide. That's the whole point. That's most of the point of why they're doing this. So anyway, yeah, all the more reason why you should look for, you know, obviously if it's certified organic, it won't have that. But, you know, when you can, that's what you should be looking for.

And also look for heirloom grains. And the good news is there's a lot of creative, amazing people that are getting on this. And, you know, I know we live in California, so we have access to a lot of things. But there's a lot of people developing new, improved, creative, you know, healthy food. So I have faith in us. We'll be okay. All right. Here's a question from Cecilia.

I don't know if she wants to be... Hi, Cecilia. Hi, Cecilia. She wants to be anonymous, so I will assume that she does. Hi, Rich. I really enjoy your show, and I'm so thankful for it. I have transformed from eating junk and being an alcoholic to being a green juice machine, runner, and surfer. I lost 30 pounds within a year's time.

I'm now running long distances once a week and running 30 to 40 miles per week. A few folks are worried I'm running too much. I want to run for the rest of my life without getting injured. How much can I run per week? I may want to be an ultra runner. You're so inspiring going with the flow

and surfing the wave that comes my way. Happy 2015. So, all right. So, a few folks are worried I'm running too much. Those few folks. I wonder if those few folks are the same few folks we know. The folks that are projecting onto you their worry about how much you're running is saying a lot more about who they are and what's going on with them than about you, right? So what is going on with them that it's important for them to be kind of levying judgment upon something that seems to be working for you? I think that's the first thing to think about. I'm not, you know, we don't know these people. Maybe you are running too much. I

don't know. But I think that it's important to develop a sense of self where you start to know what's right for you and have the wherewithal and the self-esteem and the self-confidence to rely on that, trust on that, and act upon that irrespective of what other people are telling you you should or shouldn't do. How is your energy level? How is your balance? Are you getting injured? Are you missing experiences that are important in your life with your children, your partner, your kids, your lover? Or are you just running a lot? So you have to say. Well, running 30 to 40 miles per week is not like running 100 miles a week. That's not that huge of a time commitment. I think that it is important. It's impressive. Yeah, it's great.

Don't get me wrong. I'm impressed. You should be very proud and happy with how you've changed your life around. And it's funny. It's the joke that I always say, like nobody's concerned and worried about you when you're eating junk food all day long. When you're not running. Because that's comfortable for the community. But once you do something that is a little bit outside the box, even if it's, you know, in the direction of self-improvement, that sometimes can be threatening to other people. And you would think like when you do something good for yourself and you change for the better that everybody else will notice and give you a pat on the back and say, good job. But that's not always how human behavior works, because if you could make that change, then that's a mirror up to that other person showing

them that, hey, maybe they could too. And that's scary for a lot of people. So what do they do? Instead of giving you a high five, they'll react negatively because they want to bring you back down. And unfortunately, that happens. So it's about developing the acuity to be aware of when that dynamic is starting to take hold and being able to kind of say, okay, this is what's going on. Like, I understand and either extracting yourself out of it or just with that understanding, knowing how to respond accordingly. Yeah. And sometimes it's also, you know, like people don't like change. And so, they're trying to figure out how you fit into their image of you of how you were,

you know? So, they're just trying to find a place to put you. And you're running a lot, and it's feeling very unsafe to them. So, I mean, it's not, you know, it's kind of human nature. And so, you know, it really just comes from that, of that fear of that you've broken some boundary and, oh, my God, what's beyond that? And what might I have to look at? What are you doing? Why are you doing? I remember when I first started, because it was very different from our crowd of friends, that I would be doing something like that. And they would be like, you're doing what?

Like, why are you doing that? And like, yeah, I don't think that's such a good idea. Ryan, I remember even after your first race and you were like, yeah, I'm trying to figure out what's next. And people were like, what do you mean what's next? Go back to work. It's over. You know? So people just, I don't know. And you know, we're all just doing the best we can. So I'm sure those people really do care about you. And I'm sure that they're just trying to find their balance. So just stay neutral, find your own truth, love and compassion. It is true. You do want to be careful not to run too much. Don't run too much. Because you can get injured. So you have to be very, very cautious

and judicious about how you increase your running volume. And it should be done very responsibly and incrementally with rest days and rest weeks built in so that you allow your body to slowly adapt and heal from the training that you're doing, what you will find is that your heart and your lungs will develop more rapidly than the tendons and the ligaments in your legs, right? So that's where injury comes in because you feel like you can keep going, like your breath is good, your heart feels good, you want to go. But you haven't put in enough miles for the ligaments in your knees and your ankles and everything like that to kind of adapt. And that's where trouble comes in. So when in doubt,

do err on the side of doing a little bit less. And that will pay dividends in the long run. Have anything to add to that? Well, I guess I would just say that, you know, listen to your body. Your body knows. Here's a fun one from Joe. Do you think it's possible for someone to be on a healthy plant-based lifestyle while still consuming a vegan alcohol if that person is not troubled by alcoholism. And to that I say, if I was not an alcoholic, I would get drunk every day. So knock yourself out. Yeah, I think it's...

You know, I can't really like... Listen, if you don't have a problem with alcohol and you have a glass of wine... But do you have a problem with alcohol? No, I'm kidding. But only an alcoholic would ask that question. No, I'm not an alcoholic. No, I don't know. Yeah, I would say that it's a process. I wouldn't worry about it. I'm glad that you're enjoying great, you know, vegan, organic alcohol. That's awesome.

Good for you. And I think that the more you tap into your spiritual connection and the more that you connect with living your authentic self and eating amazing foods, I find that that tendency just falls away. But it doesn't mean you will never drink again in your life, but it becomes, it's sort of like, it's just a side symptom. So I wouldn't worry about it. I just be yourself and enjoy how great you're feeling. Here's an interesting aspect of his grammar choice and syntax in this question, though, because he says, he says, do you think it's possible for someone to be on a healthy plant-based lifestyle while still consuming vegan alcohol, if that person is not troubled by alcoholism? So does that mean that that person has alcoholism,

but it just doesn't trouble them that much? Or does it mean that they don't have alcoholism? Oh, I don't know. I don't know. But I'm just happy that he's on the path. So, yeah, listen, if you want to have a little alcohol and it doesn't interfere, the question really is, is it interfering with your, is it undermining the quality of your life? Do you wake up the next day and feel lousy and not able to be as present and productive in your life. That's really the only thing.

If not, then... But I mean, let me share from not being an alcoholic because everything that we talk about on the show is always from, you know, you're sharing your addict's perspective, right? It's all in that. No, it's fine. But it's like, you know, for me, you know, I use plenty of drugs and alcohol more than most people should.

And oh my God, I'm lucky I'm alive, quite than most people should and oh my god I'm lucky I'm alive quite frankly. You still do? No I did in high school and I mean I was done with drugs by like 11th grade so it's a I grew up in a very very very wild town and you know a lot of stuff went down and I wouldn't recommend it for anybody but but I survived and, you know, it was part of my mastery, I suppose. But the way that, you know, just recreational wine drinking, because it is, you know, it's a social, it's a social, you know, event, you go out, you have a drink, you know, even I was drinking, you know, I always like to drink good quality because I was so sensitive and I would, you know, not feel well the next day. But I would just say that as I started practicing more and more yoga and meditating and eating better,

then I started noticing just how I really didn't feel like I was at the top of my game the next day. And I would feel to myself, why did I drink? Why did I drink? And it was a lot of time of me asking myself, why did I drink? Because I really didn't feel good the next day. And then when I tapped into a certain amount of sort of life force and this kind of connection to consciousness from practicing yoga on a regular basis and meditating on a

regular basis that I could say that that that need or that desire simply fell away from me and I no longer desired it and And, you know, you say to me often, you know, you should drink, you know, have a drink, you know, you should, you can. You make it sound like I'm pushing it on you. I don't ever do that. No, but you're like, you should, you know, if I told you I wanted to have a drink, you'd be like, great, have a drink because I'm not an addict. One way or the other. No, but I'm just saying that I don't have the desire. It doesn't exist in me. And I can't

even remember the last time I took a drink, you know, of anything. Before then, it was like an occasional half a glass of champagne at some special event. You know, now it's just not, it's just, it's just not how I want to be. I don't want to feel that way. I want to feel myself in full force. So I think... So what is it, what is the advice or the recommendation I think it's his own path I think it will have its own trajectory and if he's truly not an addict then as he develops deeper and deeper aspects of himself and connects more deeply to himself

it will likely fall away or it will likely be only an occasional thing could be, might not be he's his own person It will likely fall away or it will likely be only an occasional thing. Could be. All right. Might not be. He's his own person. Yeah.

Well said. I mean, I can't express an opinion from that side of the fence because I don't have experience with that. It's okay because I already did. All right. Good. All right. Well, that's all the time we have today. That's it? We're going to wrap it up.

That's all? We've gone an hour. That's good. So, thanks for taking this little- Thanks for having me on your show, Rich Roll. ... a little jaunt along with us today. It's been a pleasure. Good. Thank you for doing it. If you guys are enjoying this Q&A format, let us know either way.

What do you guys want to hear? Is this working for you? Is it not working for you? What are your suggestions? We're open. This show is an evolving organic organism, and we're open to your ideas. If you do have questions you want answered, we are going to continue to do this. So please send me your questions. If you want to get your plant-powered diet and nutrition program jacked up, what do you do for that, Julie? You go to the ultimate guide for plant-based nutrition on mindbodygreen.com. And it's the new year, new year, new you, 2015. You have goals, you have resolutions, but most people, they don't really know how to pursue those goals properly or follow through. And that's why most people abandon those resolutions by mid-February, right? So how do we avoid that? Well, I've got a couple resources for you that

I think might be helpful in my Arts of Living with Purpose course, which is all about getting connected with your higher self, learning how to set and properly achieve goals. And that's my second course at mindbodygreen.com. Both those courses are on the homepage. Just click video courses at the top of the homepage menu and you can learn more. For all your plant power provisions,

go to richroll.com. We got t-shirts, we got swag, we got some tech t-shirts, we got swag, we got some tech t-shirts, running tech t-shirts with the leaf pattern on them. Those are pretty cool. We got digital products. Julie told you about her meditation program. We have a digital cookbook called Jai Seed. That's pretty awesome. You can keep company until the other one comes out. Yeah, we're going to be coming out with pre-order incentives for our new cookbook, The Plant Power Way, pretty soon. So stay tuned for that. So I know that you guys have lots of choices for your content, and I appreciate you guys tuning in and giving us a listen.

If you are enjoying the show, please give us a review on iTunes. Use the Amazon banner ad at richroll.com for all your Amazon purchases. Thank you so much to all you guys who have been doing that. And if you want to go back into the early shows, the back catalog of the RRP, the best way to do that is to get our free iOS app in the iTunes app store. Just search Rich Roll and it'll pull it right up. So that's it. Let's close it down. That's amazing.

Thanks so much. Thanks so much, you guys. We will see you back very soon. Happy that's it. Let's close it down. That's amazing. Thanks so much. Thanks so much, you guys. We will see you back very soon. Happy 2015. Yes. Peace. Namaste. Namaste. Thank you.