The Rich Roll Podcast - Why Food Is The First Portal To Self-Actualization — Miami Live Q & A

Episode Date: July 7, 2017

Four and a half years ago, I hit record and spoke my first words on this podcast from a cavernous warehouse on Kauai's North Shore. An experiment without much forethought, it was at best a simple creative outlet. Without attachment or any expectations whatsoever, I wasn't sure there would even be an episode 2. Today I celebrate 300 episodes. About 500 hours spent going deep with the most compelling minds I could find. It's a catalog I am extremely proud of. A catalog I wish I had access to guide my younger years. A catalog I hope has brought you guidance, perspective, inspiration and education to inform your journey we call life. Today I celebrate by taking a moment to reflect back on the journey with my audio producer Jason Camiolo. Then we launch into a Q&A that was recorded before a small live audience on July 14, 2017 at Sacred Space in Miami at Julie's This Cheese Is Nuts! book launch event. In recognition of the 300 episode milestone and to honor you, the listener, I am giving away 10 signed copies of Finding Ultra as well as a handful of #BuildTheHouse t-shirts. To be eligible to win, simply take a screen shot of your favorite RRP episode and share it on social media with a brief explanation of why you found that particular episode meaningful. Tag your post with #RRP300 and we will select the winners one week from today (July 14, 2017). Just a small way for me to say thank you — because without you, this beautiful thing would not exist. I sincerely hope you enjoy the exchange. Peace + Plants, Rich

Right now we're in the midst of this insane healthcare crisis, right? There was just an article that came out a couple days ago. One third of the world's population is now obese or overweight. One third of everybody on the planet with of course the United States leading the way. And in this article it goes on to say, well, how is this happening? Like, why is this happening? And it's like, well, it looks like it's the food, you know, as if this is some sort of like revelation. Of course, it's the food. Look at what we're eating. Look at what we're putting in our bodies.

That's me. And this is the 300th episode of the Ritual Podcast. the rich roll podcast hey everybody how you guys doing what's happening my name is rich roll welcome to my podcast the 300th episode i can't believe it and i got a special guest in studio that i want to bring in to kind of rehash a little bit of the history of the podcast before we launch into today's episode. Jason Camiolo, say hello. Hello. Jason is my audio engineer. He is my producer. He is my editor. He's the guy behind the scenes who is working on the WordPress site, the show notes that we tediously put together every week. And you came on board how long ago? It's a little over a year. It's been a year, right? It's been working on the podcast

for a year. He's doing a great job. Thank you. You live in Phoenix, but he happened to be in Los Angeles this weekend. So he came by. He helped out today on the Facebook Live with the podcast with Samantha Gash that we recorded earlier. And I thought it would be cool to chat with him a little bit, prefatory to today's episode, not only to celebrate the 300th episode, but I also think it's kind of interesting, like how you kind of came in, came, you know, came across my radar and became part of this team. I stalked you. I cyber stalked you. Basically, RRP fan. And I don't know what it was, man. But like when I put the word out that like I needed an editor, like you were all about.

You hit me on every platform, I think. Everything from like LinkedIn, which I never checked. That's the thing you responded on. Was it really? Yeah. I don't even remember that. Yep. You were really big on Snapchat at the time.

Right. I was using Snapchat a lot. I took a picture of my business card. And you know how you can write on the app. I circled my name and like put arrows to my email address. And I was like, this guy's either off his rocker or like he really wants the job. Right. You know? Yeah. And you had the skills. So I was like, all right, well, I was looking at the time for somebody who lived in LA because I, you know, I was, that was what I had in my mind. But I was like, I don't know this guy, man.

He's like, he's all about it. Like maybe I'll, I'll give him a shot. We'll do a trial. And then you just jumped in and with both feet and we just haven't looked back ever since. I was telling my wife every step of the way, like what I was doing, I'd come home. I'd be like, I tweeted, you know, Rich liked my tweet. And she'd be like, okay, cool.

You know, every step of the way. How did you first discover the podcast well long story short but I audio engineer talking to the microphone I'm being a difficult artist it's a different hat I know musician well a little bit I I was googling like plant know, how do you get your protein, right? Right. Typical Ricky question. And I stumbled upon the, what was the protein article that you still read? Oh, I was slaying the protein myth or something like that. Slaying the protein myth. Yeah.

That was it. Right. And so that was like the initial thing. And then I just like Googled your name after I read that article. I was like, oh, I like this guy. Like, you know, I like what he's saying. I like the way he's laying it down. And I found out that you had put out finding ultra and I hadn't read

that book yet but you know I then so I was like I gotta get this book and I had no idea what ultra running was or that people ran those distances or anything like that mm-hmm and then again the long story short, I picked up Finding Ultra and it had way more to do with alcohol than I thought the story did. And I read it at like the right wrong time in my story. And yeah, it just made me re-examine, you know, my drinking habits. And that was really it. And then I got turned on to the podcast. And, you know, the guests are just unbelievable.

The stories, the wide net that you cast of people. It's just like, I feel like I've met all these people, you know. And they fuel me through, you know, staying sober and running and eating better. And so, in the wake of like Reading finding ultra and discovering the podcast like not only did you put alcohol in the rear view? But you started running and now you've done some ultras, right? Yeah I joined a running group out by you know where I live in Arizona and those guys got me into running trails and I did a 50k and 100k and We're training around Halloweenina 100 mile in October.

Yeah, it's going to be amazing. One that David Clark talks about. Yeah, very cool. And, you know, Jason's got a very interesting past as a rock and roller. You had 15 minutes of fame in a band that, like, kind of crested the wave of MTV, you know, sort of stardom. You were signed to P. Diddy's label, right? Bad Boy Entertainment. Bad Boy Entertainment.

And it was the name of the band. Fuzz Bubble. So, for all you Fuzz Bubble fans out there, it's funny. I haven't mentioned this on the podcast, but I actually met P. Diddy. I know. It had to be about, I don't know, two months ago or something like that. And I told you I was going to go meet him. I saw it in your schedule. met p diddy about it had to be about i don't know two months ago or something like that um and you and i told you i was gonna go meet him and i saw it in your schedule you gotta like you're like

you gotta you gotta ask him about fuzz bubble you gotta ask him about fuzz because you like had you you knew him at that point right oh yeah totally yeah so i brought it like i wasn't sure that contextually it would be appropriate to bring that up in the context of this meeting but the purpose of the meeting, whatever. But like when it was all done, there was like a little opportunity where we were joking around. I was like, hey man, you remember Fuzzbubble? And he just lit up like a Christmas tree.

He's like, ah, yeah, man. I told him the story and he was like ecstatic about it. That's good. I appreciate that, man. Yeah. So, now you work as a professional audio engineer. And, you know, part timing, like your side hustle is working on the podcast. And I've been giving you a little bit more and more as we go. And it's been a great collaboration. It was great to have

you here today. And I thought it would just be cool for the fans and listeners out there to kind of connect the dots with you. Yeah, I appreciate it. Yeah. So awesome. You, uh, you can, you can find Jason on Instagram and Twitter at Jason Camiolo. He's easy to find there. Give him a shout, give him a pat on the back for all the good work that he's doing on the show. And, um, it's particularly cool because today is the 300th episode and you're the one who reminded me like a week ago, you're like, dude, you got the 300th episode coming up. Uh, you know, what do you want to do to celebrate that? And I was like, oh man, I don't know. Let me think about that. Like, I hadn't even thought about it. I'm just like moving forward, moving forward. But I think it

is good to like hit the pause button and really kind of reflect and honor, um, you know, these milestones. Like when I started this podcast, uh, you know, the story is lore and overtold at this point, but I was in a warehouse in Kauai. It was the thought experiment at best. I had no idea or plan that I would continue on, let alone, you know, have it turn into this like, you know, professional endeavor that would reach people all over the world. But that's what happened. And I can, you know, I'm just, I'm so blessed and grateful because it has broadened my life and improved my life as much as anybody else out there who's been impacted by it. Just the gift of being able to sit down and have these exchanges with these amazing people

who then become integrated into my life. I just can't think of any greater blessing to have. And so the journey has been, you know, it's a lot more work, I think, as you're realizing too, that most people out there realize. And as we kind of step it up and get to, you know, we're aspiring to do two every week and we're kind of doing, doing that every other week at this point and the workload is increasing, but there's a lot of value in it. And I'm so dedicated to it because it is so meaningful, you know, it's a crucial, important part of my life. And it's just heartwarming to know that there are people out there who have connected with

it. You know, everywhere I go, every airport I'm in, anywhere I go in the world, I connect with people who are listeners of this show. And, you know, it's been amazing. It's been amazing. And so, you know, at 300, I just wanted to express gratitude to all of you out there, the listeners, for taking this leap of faith and this journey with me. And I can tell you that I'm only dedicated to making the show better and improving it

and continuing, you know, to sort of give it the level of focus that I think it requires and deserves. And I think in celebration of this 300th episode, you would ask me like, what do you want to do? And I was like, I don't know, what can we do? But I think it would be cool. Like, I think it would be fun. I can give away, I'd like to give away

10 signed copies of Finding Ultra. Cool. You know, and I've got, as you can see in the corner of the, over there, Jason, I got a stack of some t-shirts that say build the house, hashtag build the house, which is kind of that, you know, meme that I throw out there on my training Instagrams. And I'm happy to kind of spread those around. They don't, I don't have them in every size. I don't even know how many

there are. There's probably five or six or seven, probably some larges and extra larges. So I don't have every size covered, but here's what I'll say. If you have been impacted by this podcast in a positive way, and you're interested in getting a signed copy of finding ultra or one of these t-shirts, um, let's do this, uh, on social media, whether it's Twitter or Instagram or Facebook, uh, upload an image, uh, of your favorite episode of the podcast, whatever it is, like go into the archive, screen grab it off your phone or whatever, and post it on social media. Explain why that episode is of particular importance to you and add the hashtag, hashtag RRP300. That way I can find it on all the social platforms and I will select the winners from there. How does that sound, Jason? I think that's a great idea.

So, like the plan? Yeah, that's cool. Do you want to be in charge of going through all the hashtags? Oh, yeah. All right. So good. You are duly assigned with that task. Today, we've got a cool episode for you.

But before we get into it, I got to take care of a little business. All right, today's episode of the show is a Q&A that Julie and I did when we were in Miami a couple weeks ago at our book release launch party for this Jesus Nuts. We did this incredible event at a space called Sacred Space. It's this amazing event space that's adjacent. It's actually connected to Plant Food and Wine, Matthew Kenney's restaurant in Miami. And it's so capacious and vast, just like massive. And Julie organized the menu and it was a sit down dinner for about 70 people preceded by a live podcast Q&A, which is what I'm going to be sharing with you guys today. We were introduced by Marco Borges, my friend from 22 Days Nutrition, who's been on the podcast a couple of times. Awesome dude. And as you know, 22 Days is a sponsor of this program.

And I just love that guy. So that's it really. Is there anything else that we need to say about this, Jason, before we just go into it? No. Yeah. I think we're good. It's self-explanatory. It's essentially a live Q and a that, uh, we're just sharing with you from the podcast. It's going to be focused, uh, a little bit around Julie's new book and cheese, which we've already kind of explored, but we talk about some other things as well. And I think I'll just leave it at that. Uh, so with that said, thank you guys for, again, taking this journey with me. 300 episodes. It's unbelievable.

I cannot believe that there has been 300 episodes of this podcast. We're coming up on five years at this point. And it's all about you guys. It's all about the audience. I would not be here without you. So your love, your support, your engagement with this show is everything to me. So keep those emails flowing in. Although I can't respond to all of them or even very many of them, I do read them all. And that is really the wind in my sails and I appreciate it. So without further ado, here's Julie and I and Marco from Miami live Q&A podcast.

and Marco from Miami, live Q&A podcast. Enjoy. Welcome. Thank you all for joining us tonight. I'm really excited to be here with you today for a couple of selfish reasons, because this is so long overdue and for some personal reasons. long overdue and for some personal reasons, but I'll start with a short story. So a little while ago, I was in LA and my very close personal friend, Julie said, I'd love for you to come by the house because I want you to try some cheeses. And I thought, yeah, absolutely. Free food, I'm in. absolutely, free food, I'm in. So I show up to the house, and Julie has literally a buffet of probably 20-plus cheeses that she had handmade that all looked like they came from the finest gourmet shop on earth.

And I proceeded to go through them, and she started to tell me about her project. And I thought, oh, my God, this is the missing link. Because I can't tell you how many conversations I have on a daily basis with people telling me how much they want to go plant-based, but they can't. And this is yet but another opportunity to lean closer, to lean fully into a plant-based lifestyle. So for that, I thank you, Julie.

I applaud you. The cheeses are as satisfying as they are simple and easy to make. I will report that as of today, it is a number one bestseller on Amazon. So congratulations. Congratulations. seller on Amazon so congratulations and and and we all know how that conversation started with the publisher right so she's like I want to write a book and they're like awesome what's it gonna be about she's like cheese that's made from nuts and then the phone on the

other end drops no way that can happen. Well, not only can it happen, but like I said, it's a number one bestseller. And that's just really exciting news because while the pendulum has a really long way to go, it's swinging and it's swinging really, really fast. We are living in a society where people are tired of walking around asleep with their eyes closed. People are waking up. And it's a really exciting time to be alive because so much is happening

and so much change is occurring on a daily basis. Just to be part of this, just to be invited by Julie and Rich, I have to pinch myself because it's really an incredible opportunity to be part of not just history, but to be part of the team that's writing it. So congratulations to you all for being a part of it. Thank you very much. So we're going to make tonight all about you because Julie is that

kind of selfless person. I don't know if all of you know her personally, but I'm going to imagine that you probably don't. She is kind. She is loving. She is as amazing as you can imagine times 10. She is the person that you hear on the podcast. She is thoughtful. She is an amazing partner. She's an amazing friend. She's an amazing human being. She is what you want in a best friend, in a family member. She's conscious. She's a very, very special human being. And to that, I would love to say, Julie, would you please join us up here? And she happened to bring with her a pretty amazing guy as well. Rich, you're also welcome to join us. Rich Kedzioriakoumata Awesome.

So, yeah, this is Rich, by the way. Can I get a hug? So before I give Rich the mic, and he knows I like to hoard mics, before I give this, I'll leave you with one little note. So we want to continue to fuel this plant based revolution so share the book with your friends, buy one for yourself buy one for a loved one share it, tweet it, Instagram it, Facebook it and it's the number one

book on Amazon so can we hear another round of applause for Julie Marco what's the fee that we talked about for you? Because I've got to make a big check out to you for that. Just cheese. Thank you so much. Can we hear it again for Julie in this amazing evening that she put together?

An incredible book and the incredible cheese that you guys are enjoying. We're just thrilled to be here tonight to be able to participate and have community around all of these ideas. And I'm going to shut up. I'm going to let Julie talk. No, it's good. Thank you all so much. This is an extraordinary opportunity.

Wow. We get to spend a few hours together sharing our hearts, sharing our experience, sharing plant-based cheese that is dairy-free, and also in this incredible space. I just want to thank, before we get started and too far into it, I just want to thank Carla from Sacred Space for hosting us here. This is truly a dream come true. I think if God said to me, you know, if an angel flew down

from the heavens with wings and said, Julie Srimati, where do you want your book launch to be? It would be in this space. It's absolutely magnificent. Everything about it is extraordinary. I also want to thank Radiate Kombucha for sponsoring the kombucha during the cheese tasting. Did you guys enjoy the cheese during the cheese tasting awesome so it's a perfect pairing with your kombucha and then also I want to thank watermelon water also for supplying the drinks for our cocktail hour so thank you so much I also want to thank Veronica and Diego I'm going to bring them forward later when we've consumed this amazing hi there we've consumed this amazing plant-based

dinner that we've been preparing for two days there is no way that I could have written this book released it had my LA book launch prepped your cheese for tonight that I had aired here, and also come here and make an entire dinner for 70 without a team. So I had an amazing crew, Veronica and Diego from Love Life Cafe, gave me their heart and soul. This is something that I love about Miami. I don't know what it is about Miami, but the feeling of family here is just permeates everything and all I'm feeling is love and

Gratitude and amazing vibes in the city I think it's an extraordinary place and rich and I are so honored to spend time with you and also We had some amazing People in Miami promote this event Marco from Nutrition, who you just heard introduce us, really, really went for it and really put his heart and soul into supporting me. And Marco, I just appreciate you so deeply, really. And the most beautiful family, Marilyn and all the M6, all the children. So thank you.

And I also want to thank Allison from Seed Food and Wine, who also has welcomed Rich and I so beautifully to this amazing city. And if you guys will keep having us, we'll keep coming back because we really, really love it here. So I thought it would be fun to interview Julie a little bit and ask her a few questions. I ask her questions all the time.

We talked about the book in the last podcast, but maybe it's worth kind of just recapping for those who haven't heard that. Like, why did you write this book? You could have written a book about smoothies. You could have made it about, you know, I don't know, just more general plant-based nutrition recipes for the family. Like why cheese? Like why did you decide to write this book? Well, I, um, when I finished the plant power way, I don't think the ink was really even dry. And, uh, how many here have the plant power way cookbook? Okay, cool. So you guys know from that book that I have kind of a foundational cheese section in that

book and it's pretty awesome actually. It has some amazing cacao lattes that I advocate as substitutes for, you know, coffee and those type of drinks that we drink in the morning. I also had some warm cashew cheese sauces that when we discovered them, we suddenly threw out our need for melted cheese, and we used that sauce on our nachos. And so there's a recipe in the book that's torre de nachos. And the sauce is so delicious that we literally, my family's like eating it as I'm pouring it.

By the time I get to the table, it's just gone. Like the whole thing's destroyed. So we started using that same recipe also on top of pizzas in place of melted cheese. And one of the reasons that I did this is because I tried some store-bought packaged almond cheeses. And I realized after I melted this almond cheese, which was okay, it was all right, I needed a jackhammer to get the residue off the tray. And I suddenly realized, wait a second, my body is having to deal with this internally.

So I think one of the key things that we disassociate from that is really a key for us is that what we are eating and are eating, putting in our mouth, our body has to digest that and your your gut is an evolute of your brain that's why they say I have a gut instinct right so as Guru Singh calls it it's the gut brain well what we have in our society is people are very foggy and not in their power because they've polluted their gut brain and they have no intuition so very foggy and not in their power because they've polluted their gut brain and they have no intuition. So you're looking at things only with your mental mind,

like what is the story that's being told to me? And as you guys all know, right now it's like anything goes because we have alternative news. So it's really on us. It's our responsibility to know what's true for us and in order to do that you have to develop all of your intuition you have to see something and feel it with much more than your mind and maybe some of you guys had that experience when you were tasting my cheese you can feel

there's a vibration in it it's an intention with which it was created it's something else it's the ingredients but it's also something else and that's why it's so amazing that we're gathering here in this sacred portal of sacred space because the groundwork has been laid for this kind of awareness to come forward so getting back to rich's question which i always go off topic and i'm sure he's thinking but you didn't answer my question I just knew that we hadn't even scratched the surface with what we could discover

in plant based cheese and I knew that that was the thing that was the one thing if I missed anything in a plant based diet it would be those kind of cheeses I mean I lived in Paris in college I'm very schooled with cheese. I understand how delicious it is.

But I also experienced a lot of, you know, disease from it or ailments, stomach aches, cystic breakouts in my chin for years. And I would go to the dermatologist and have to get injections, literally like an underground volcano, like pulsing in my chin. And the hilarious thing is that no one ever thought to ask what I was eating, even me, you know, at the time. So I just knew that this was the thing that could help so many people. And if I could unlock this key or this mystery, and I could do it in a creative, innovative way that was simple

and share it with everybody so you can do it at home, that that would be something that would be worthy of me spending some time on. How many people here are 100% vegan plant-based? So, alright, that's a good percentage. How many are like vegetarian slash plant curious crowd? Alright, good. How many people here are just like, what am I doing here?

Like, I don't get it. it. What are these people talking about? My wife dragged me here. There we go, yes. Okay, good. I got my eye on you tonight. We're going to check in after dinner tonight and see how you're doing. Cool.

But just to kind of echo what Marco said, there is a movement that's happening, and that movement is gaining steam, and it's a beautiful movement that is so much, it's about so much more than just, you know, what's on your plate. It's about the evolution of consciousness. You know, we're at a very critical moment right now. There's a lot of crazy stuff happening around us.

And it takes all the more awareness and composure to ground yourself and to be able to like be connected to that gut intuition to like stand your ground and understand who you are and what it is that you're here to do and as we always say food is the first portal to unlocking that in yourself it is a portal to self-actualization it's very important what you're putting in your body if you want to evolve your consciousness. And right now, we're in the midst of this insane healthcare crisis, right? There was just an article that came out a couple days ago. One-third of the world's population is now obese or overweight.

One-third of everybody on the planet, with, of course, the United States leading the way. And in this article, it goes on to say, well how is this happening? Like why is this happening? And it's like, well it looks like it's the food, you know, as if this is some sort of like revelation. Of course it's the food. Look at what we're eating, look at what we're putting in our bodies, right?

And when we're mindless, when we're checked out, when we don't have that gut intuition, you just put in your mouth what everyone else is putting in your mouth. And to stop that, to reverse that, and to have that awareness and that mindfulness and that consciousness about what you are putting in your body, it takes a little, it takes, it takes like a little bit more than self-awareness. It takes a decision. It takes a little bit of a commitment. And I think, you know, what Julie's been able to do with this book and the other books that she's written is make that a little bit of an easier leap for people

to understand you don't have to be one of those one-third that are going to end up obese or overweight. One out of every two people in the United States suffers some form of heart disease. One out of every three will die the United States suffer some form of heart disease. One out of every three will die of a heart attack. 50% of Americans are diabetic or pre-diabetic. They're anticipating that in the next like 10 years. Like this is no joke. You know, this is life and death stuff. And when you go plant-based, when you eat organic, when you sort of follow this paradigm that

Julia's worked so hard to set up and others in here, leaders like Marco, you don't have to become one of those statistics. You can not only avoid becoming a circumstance of chronic lifestyle illness, but you can become a leader in your own community because there's a lot of awareness that needs to get out there right now. And that's not even getting into the environmental implications of the food choices that we're making on a daily basis. When you canvass the situation, it's fairly dire.

The amount of water and land required to raise animals for food is insane. The carbon emissions that go into industrialized animal agriculture trump that of transportation, species extinction, algal blooms in our oceans, like you name it, it's really quite extraordinary what our system of food is doing to our precious planet. And by going plant-based, it's a very powerful and empowering choice

that you can make not only for yourself, but for future generations and for others with whom we share this planet not to mention our animal friends alike so this is very real stuff and the truth is you can make this leap you can make this leap and you don't have to deprive yourself you can eat the cheesy flavors that you like and do it in a healthy way and that's really what our message is about it's a message of inclusion it in a healthy way. And that's really what our message is about. It's a message of inclusion, it's a message of compassion, and it's a welcome mat for anybody and everybody to step into this lifestyle so that you too

can experience what I have on some level, this journey towards becoming your best, most authentic self towards self-actualization. That's my big speech. I don't have a question. I think we should, you can say whatever you want, but we should open it up for questions from people. So what I wanted to talk is I wanted to talk about just community for a minute,

because I think that these kind of gatherings are really, really important. And this was why we structured this this way. I really wanted to have a dinner together. I wanted to have this experience of sharing this amazing food in community. It's these kind of gatherings that are going to affect change and change people's lives. And so I really want to thank each of you for signing up, for coming, and for supporting and being here. Because without you guys doing it, we couldn't have pulled it off.

So we did it in two weeks. It was not advised by our business advisor, but we just went with it anyway. And you guys made it happen because look at how quick we got together. So we have 70 people here tonight. We're going to share amazing food. I'm going to tell you a little bit about the menu,

and then we're going to open it up to questions, because we're with you tonight, and we want to answer everything and be available to you in any way that you want us to be. So any question goes. It doesn't have to be on food. It doesn't have to be related. But I want to just say that we've prepared for you for dinner. We have a main course of a potato lasagna. And this is made with some very special individual recipes. They're all like fall down on the floor delicious. So when you combine them together, you might not be able to talk for a while.

But it's made with, so potatoes are the noodle in it, and then we've made an almond pesto that's with almonds and basil, and then we've made a fresh ricotta out of cashew with lemon, and then there is a homemade tomato sauce that's made with roasted tomatoes, and it has the secret ingredient of cacao nib in it so these will be baked and served so that's one amazing thing then we're doing a whole sauteed Swiss chard with northern bean and this is seasoned with pistachio oil which is green and it's topped with some hemp seed. So that's a really delicious,

the chard is just sauteed very quickly and seasoned with a little apple cider vinegar and sea salt. And then we also have a beautiful roasted potatoes that are served with a truffle essence and a beautiful rosemary on it. For dessert, we've prepared for you a vanilla bean cheesecake that has a macadamia coconut crust with a lemon zest, and it's going to be topped with fresh raspberries. And then we also had to make you

the best peanut butter cookie ever. So there's a peanut butter cookie that has coconut sugar and a little flax seed, and it's topped with a ginger dark chocolate square, and those are lightly baked. So they're so pure that you could eat them raw if you wanted, but they'll be, we'll see what happens. We're working with an oven that, you know, every oven's different and every pan is different, but so that's kind of the menu. So you guys can paste yourselves.

Hopefully you've gotten taste of the fresh mozzarella. So how many like the fresh mozzarella? So were you, were you guys shocked? I mean, it's shocking, right? It's kind of shocking. Like, how is that possible? And I think the reason that it's possible, and this is a wonderful example for all of us, and it really was for me as an artist,

if we just open ourselves and stop thinking that we know everything about everything, just open your being to new possibilities. This is the blessings that the children are bringing us. And we have four little children here today. Actually five, I think. Five kids. Not little. Mighty children. Beautiful, powerful children here today. And this is beautiful. I'm so glad you brought your children. Thank you, parents, for bringing your kids. I think that if we open our minds,

the children are going to bring these new ways. And this is one of the reasons why I really believe in new innovative education, like homeschooling, unschooling. Let's try to not put our kids in a box. Let's try not to do that. Because if we do that, we're gonna miss the gifts. And I was able to take a childlike approach to this cheese. I didn't go out and study a bunch of cheese books and go find out what everybody else was doing.

I tried to be intuitive, I tried to be open, I tried to do things that my intuition told me might work. That's how we all need to be in order to have the quantum messages and get the information and the innovations and the creations that are going to show us how to live higher and better and more expanded. So that was my little gift to you

and that fresh mozzarella. So I'm glad you enjoyed it. And then the other cheeses that you had was a smoked almond cheddar that's the number one easiest book recipe in the book you can make this and your friends will think you are amazing it's so tasty you can do it in the food processor no aging required and then I also had the blue cheese which I made for you two weeks ago and aged and brought, and that gets its blue from spirulina. And you guys like that one also? Okay, good.

Okay, good. I say that really makes me happy. So that's what I want to say. Let's open it up for questions. Thank you. I haven't seen your book yet, but do you discuss food combining in the book in terms of, like, you know, what to pair with the different cheeses, like certain fruits or anything like that?

I didn't do really any pairing as far as what to serve with the cheeses. The question was, maybe, should I repeat it? Do you think he was loud enough? Okay. You called it, I don't even know that term, leucomining? Oh, food combining. I couldn't understand what he said. I was like, is that like an interesting cheese-like term that I don't know? Okay,

food combining. Okay, I'm with you now. Okay, it's been a long day of cooking. Give me a little bit of a break. It's been a long day of cooking. No, I didn't really, but what I did do is I gave a lot of companion recipes. So in addition to the cheeses you have a lot of recipes for instance Creme brulee was my favorite go-to like I had to have that and I have never had it since I was plant-based I developed the most insane creme brulee recipe you will just freak out. It's so delicious So I gave you things like the cheesecake creme brulee fondue gorgonzola with ancient grain pasta, lasagna. I made an eggs benny with no eggs, so the hollandaise sauce. I have a potato stuffed with cashew sour cream topped with smoked tea. So there's a lot of

companion recipes so that you can make your own meals out of these. So I hope you enjoy them. Hi again. I have a question. I received the book yesterday through Amazon and of course I was going through it last night and reading all the recipes. My question is with the modified tapioca starch.

I, of course, am always trying to not go with anything that says modified. Yeah, that modified word is not good. I know. Okay, yeah, so I know. And then the second one is, could you substitute the arrowroot powder? Okay, let me just,

and I was clear on this in the book, and I'm going to have to talk about it more because I know that word modified. Okay, the tapioca, modified tapioca starch is called that because of the chemical process that it's put through. The one that I get off of Amazon is organic and non-GMO. So don't confuse the term. It wasn't, the tapioca wasn't genetically made.

It's a scientific process that the actual tapioca goes through. I don't think you can. What this does, and it was interesting. Actually, I'll just share this experience. Because I had this package that was supposed to arrive with this ingredient. I would have to get it from Amazon. And it didn't arrive. And I wanted to make this mozzarella for you so badly.

So John, one of the local chefs, actually drove like two hours to go to this bakery to find it. And we found it from another company and when he got it here, it was not the same. It said it was the same, but it was lighter. So we figured out how to increase the quantity, and we were still able to pull it off. And then halfway through the prep, my box arrived.

So half of the cheese was made with my preferred, and half was from this bakery. So anyway, it's not a GMO product. It's just a chemical thing. And that is only in that recipe, by the the way it's only in the mozzarella and brine one recipe in the entire book no it is not no it's just amazon and you'll just put it in there and it'll pop right up awesome thank you and you'll just put it in there, and it'll pop right up.

Awesome. Thank you. As far as people who've been skeptical, who were you guys personally most excited to maybe get on the team with one of the cheeses that you've produced? Who do we know who's skeptical that we were trying to... Well, what I'll share with you is I have some very dear friends of mine who, Lucy and Jan, Lucy Pinter and Jan Welter, and they live part-time in Paris. They're newer friends of ours, and so I have them over for dinner. Yeah, I was kind of nervous to serve my cheese to them because they're Parisians.

I was like, oh, no. I mean, they're not French, but I thought but I thought oh no what if they're like this is disgusting or what no I knew they um they loved it they absolutely they became literally my biggest champions they're just and they're begging me to to create my own line they're like you have to you have to you have to you have to so I got a lot of support from them that was fun so you guys probably haven't well you might have haven't even begun to think about this yet since we're you know at the book launch And I know you guys just came out with your meal planning tool and things that you had But you know I think a lot of people in this room can't really get enough of what you guys

You know launch and do and what's next for you guys? What's next Wow? Okay, actually I have to deliver the follow up to the Plant Power Way in August actually September 1 is my deadline so we're publishing the follow up to the Plant Power Way it's called Plant Power Italia

and some of you know that we've been doing retreats in Italy and also in Ireland we have one in Ireland coming up July 21st to the 28th. We still have some spots left if anybody wants to join us on that trip. But anyway, so we've been in Italy,

and what I do when we go is I design the menu for the week, and we've been actually, you know, cooking with local chefs there and creating these amazing plant-based weeks in Italy. So I'm about halfway done with the book because I shot it all for those times, so I'm in pretty good shape, but I've got to basically get home

and then whip out another 75 recipes, photograph and have them tested and into the publisher by September. That'll be released in April 2018. Hi, I have no voice. I lost my voice this morning. That'll be released in April 2018. Hi. I have no voice. I lost my voice this morning. Being thought leaders, you all have, and with your retreats, I'm sure you do a lot of traveling.

Do you have small children? Our youngest is 10. So how do you, you know, being able to spread this message around the world and stay connected to your children what challenges if any do you guys face and how do you tackle those with the kids well I mean usually we um we do the plant power Italia retreats we take all of our family as crew so that's really amazing um the Ireland location doesn't work out that way because it's smaller and so it just it there's not enough spaces to make the whole thing work. So we try to bring them whenever we can and right now our older, our oldest boys are in their 20s.

So we have five, we have our four kids and then our nephew lives with us and they're all in their 20s. And then my assistant Leah, who I want to give a shout out to. She's actually the photographer of the Plant Power Way. Leah, I'm sorry, this cheese is nuts. Excuse me. Leah was our nanny when the girls were very little. And she's been just a light in my life. And I saw her last year taking some pictures on Instagram. And I noticed that she had an incredible eye.

And so in addition to creating this book, I wanted to mentor her to become a full-fledged photographer. And we worked together every day. We styled together. She worked really hard. These photographs are extraordinary, and she really, really rose to the occasion and I couldn't be more happy about this book because it's a success on many levels and if my success can help another to rise it's even more meaningful. So Leah stayed home with the girls, she's handling social media and then we have the four boys, three boys at home so they're the little ones I also have a ten-year-old and a thirteen-year-old so they're all kind of all together we have kind of a tribe situation at home. Are they home schooled? The girls were until two years ago and now they go

to an environmental school they go to Muse in California which is a plant-based school they eat plant-based food every day They grow 70% of their own food on campus. And actually, they're super excited. They just got this Cheese is Nuts. I'm going to be going in and working with the chefs in a month and a half. And they're doing an incredible job with the food there. Congratulations.

Hi. First of all, congratulations on the book, That Cheese Was Delicious. So congratulations. Hi. First of all, congratulations on the book. That cheese was delicious. And my question is, I have four small kids at home and sometimes dinnertime is just crazy. And I know a lot of the recipes are beautiful, but are a little more involved. What's your favorite kind of meals like weeknight in a hurry?

Everybody just has to eat dinner and move on. I find that that's where I usually get stuck when it's like against o'clock people the kids need food and we have to move it along so what are your guys go-to just like quick weeknight meals well um we do a lot of one bowls in our house we go through periods but one bowls are always great those are in the plant power way so they would be like a bean a sauteed kale or a sauteed chard and then some kind of grain quinoa or rice and then you can do if you master the sauces in the plant power way then you can make those and have those in the fridge and use those you know on those one bowl so maybe it might be pesto one day or maybe

it's a roasted you know cacao tomato sauce the next day so those are really really good another Another really, you know, our mac and cheese, which is, there's a mac and cheese recipe in the new book as well, this cheese is nuts, but it's really, it's very fast because everything you do in the Vitamix, it's just a blender. So you put all the ingredients in the Vitamix and blend it and you're done, so you have something. And one of the other favorite meals are, I'm just looking at my friend Dan Helper in here

because I know he eats my, they eat our veggie burgers and they have like four kids. So, you know, but those are more time intensive. You have to, you can make those though on a Sunday and then freeze them and have them for the week. What is another one? Our untuna is really great and you can make that really, really quickly.

And really just these homemade tomato sauces are incredible. But as far as the cheese go, you could make that almond cheddar spread in literally 10 minutes. That's it. And in the book there's also artichoke spread that you can make in the same time frame. And what's another favorite of my kids? My kids actually love this mozzarella, but that's going to take you just a little bit longer. Thank you. Yeah.

I just wanted to add something really quick to that. For those of you who maybe are less familiar with us or perhaps a little bit newer to this sort of plant-based way of eating and living, There is a misguided idea that if you're going to go plant-based, suddenly you're going to be spending all day in the kitchen, and you're going to have to shop for all these crazy exotic foods, and you're going to have to do meal prep over the weekend and plan out how everything is going to go. And I'm telling you, like, maybe, I'm sure there's a lot of people that do that.

Like, that's not what we do. And when you said, like, how do you just do it quick? You're just trying to make dinner for your kids. Like it's like, I gotta go to bed. I got all this stuff to do. Like we're the same. Like we're, we got, you know, all these kids running around. Everybody's got to be somewhere.

It's not, you know, and we're doing a million things. It's got to be fast. It's got to be easy. And the truth of the matter is like in reality, most of these dishes, like there's some stuff that's involved in this book but like in the plant power way and just eating plant-based generally we're talking about this is like pauper food this is rice and beans and greens it's like it's so basic and a

lot of the stuff most of the stuff is very easy to prepare so this idea like Oh plant-based it's gonna be, I have to be a vegan chef. Like Julie, she didn't go to culinary school. Like she taught herself and she goes in the kitchen and whips this stuff up. She's like, I'm tired, I wanna go to bed. Like, here you go, you're done. And that's the way it has to work to be sustainable

when you're busy and you have kids and all of that. So the truth is it can be done and that's how we do it. And so it's not about like, you know getting you know, super precious about all this, you know All the kind of finer aspects of cuisine I'd like to add to that as well. I really pride myself. I really feel that my recipes are extremely simple and I feel that if anybody even if you're not a chef or you've never cooked before you can make my recipes and I have people tell me that all the time we have our friend Rob Bell who's this extraordinary force of nature and we actually met him because somebody gifted him our book the plant power way

and he became a chef he started cooking for his friends after he read my book and it's this hilarious thing he's so excited but I think most of you will see that my recipes are simple. I will tell you almost everything in all my books you can make in 30 minutes or less. Even the aging in this book, you're not standing there while it's aging. You just blend it in the Vitamix, okay, all the ingredients go in the Vitamix. You blend it. You've prepared a little mold. You blend it in the Vitamix, okay? All the ingredients go in the Vitamix. You blend it. You've prepared a little mold. You pour it in the mold and cover it with parchment paper

and put it in the dehydrator. You go live your life for a day. You come back. You put it in the fridge. You go live your life for another day. And then you come wake up the third day and you have cheese. So it's not like, don't freak yourself out. Don't psych yourself out. It's not hard. And if you do some of this

stuff, you'll have some really good tasty stuff. Like if you had done this blue cheese, and let's say you're busy, and then you whip up some pasta with a quick tomato sauce, and then you just do a tossed green salad, but then you bring the cheese out, they're going to be like, oh, like, wow, you're amazing, right? And also even the cheesecakes, you can do those and just freeze them. You take them out and they thaw 30 minutes ahead of time. So most of this is blending in the Vitamix, pouring it in, and then you're done. And if you look at my sauces, like master the sauces, because if you master the sauces, you're golden. You know, you know what to do.

Or you can even make them and keep them for, you know, for three or four days, you know, and then use them. So. Hi. So I know the reason we're here is because of your book, and I really like how you've taken the change the form to let it be about questions, and I really appreciate that. So I've got a ton of questions. Before I ask you, Julie, do you mind if I, tell me about this bed or the tent where you have your mattress. Let's, okay, now we're getting into the good stuff. Let's talk about the tent.

Okay, here, I'm going to let Rich speak of this. We might need a mic at the table, by the way. I know. How long do we have, by the way, before we have to wrap it up? I think we have another eight minutes. Eight minutes, okay. I sleep in a tent on the roof of our house. This is a fact.

I've been sleeping in a tent on our roof for about a year, I think. Yes. So the question is, why am I doing this? Yeah, the short answer is, I struggle with sleep. When I'm training really hard, like, I sleep well. But, like, in general, I have a very active mind. And even when I'm meditating and doing all the things that you're supposed to do, I have difficulty falling asleep at night. And I noticed over the summers, we have a flat roof on our house. The girls, and when the boys were little, we would go out onto the roof,

and we have a flat white wall, and we could project movies onto this wall. And we'd put sleeping bags up there. We'd drag mattresses up therees up there we'd have like a party on the roof and we would sleep on the roof in the summertime and it was super fun and I would wake up and I would feel amazing and I'd be like I sleep great like under the stars why don't I do this every night you know it's literally five steps from our bedroom so I got a tent and I started sleeping on the roof and I literally was getting the quality of my sleep improved like five to 10x every single night And so I was like, well, I'm just gonna keep doing this. So I was like Julie. Is this okay? Can we stay married? And I've been doing it ever since I slept all winter long like, you know, it's Los Angeles

It's not that cold But still it would go down into like 31 at night, and I still continue to sleep out there. The only nights I didn't sleep on the roof were when I was traveling, or when it was so windy, because it blows the thing, and it's not restful, but never because of cold, and now I'm just used to it, I don't know, so that's, does that answer, you can, I don't know if anybody cares about that. That's a great question. But you know, it's also funny is that when we go to Italy, we take his tent because, because when we go to Italy, like we are just, we have 33 people. We just, let me finish. No. So when we, when we go to Italy, we have 33 people. So we,

and we're just devoted to them for the whole time. So we're with them all day and all night, and we're just immersed. And so if he doesn't sleep well, he doesn't have his energy, so he can't show up. So it's like we came, like I told the owners, Giovanni and Francesco, I was like, hey, it's okay if we pitch a tent out there?

And they said, yeah, but it was hilarious because the Ireland location got word of it, and they told me when we went there, they were like, you cannot pitch a tent anywhere on this land. So they had this idea that we might all show up with tents. I was in New York City in, I think it was March. And I was checking into the hotel.

And when I was checking in, the person behind the desk, I could tell that this woman kind of knew who I was. I knew that she recognized me. After she finished checking me out, she never said, oh, I listen to the podcast or whatever, but after she was completely done doing the whole thing, she looked up and she said, did you bring your tent? I was going to pitch it on the roof of a Manhattan hotel.

Anyway. All right, we have a couple more minutes. I was going to pitch it on the roof of like a Manhattan hotel. So anyway. All right. We have a couple more minutes. So the other thing I wanted to ask is as far as your food and recipes for medicinal reasons, as far as like health issues. And I know you wrote, that was in one of the podcasts that I've like listened to in marathons of it. But I'm really interested in that just because of my wife.

Yeah, so one of, you mean, so I healed myself, that story. Okay, so I healed myself of a cyst in my neck many years, some years ago, 2007, I think. And I did that with food. So it was my opportunity to embrace food and kind of go into that exploration. And I had always been a thin person,

so I really never, I could kind of get away and kind of eat what I wanted and didn't really show what was happening on the inside until I got a huge cyst in the front of my neck. So yeah, food is completely medicine. I went against the advice of surgeons and also Rich was not so keen on what I was doing at the time, but I just felt very convicted that this was an opportunity for me to really explore that and really understand that food is medicine. And luckily I completely healed it. It's never come back. Um, and it's something that the doctor said was completely impossible, but getting back to your question about, yeah, I think that this food, food is medicine and understanding that what you put in your body has to digest through your system. And, you know, I know that I never

thought about that until, you know, in the middle of my life. Like, it never occurred to me. I never even thought about it. And I think that this focus on digestion is very important. And, you know, as much as maybe we don't want to talk about it, you know, I grew up in a house, like, I never heard my dad, like, fart ever. Like, ever. Like, once. Ever. And so, it wasn't, we didn't really talk about it. And in Ayurveda, you know, there's a lot of talk about, you know, bowel movements and what they look like and what your constitution is. But you better be paying attention to how you're digesting your food. And, you know know and do some research and figure it out because you know you know the yogis say that like when you every time you eat you're dying a little bit you know because it's taking prana it takes energy that's why when I saw that almond cheese that I needed a

jackhammer to get it off the plate I'm like wait that's not okay same reason that I didn't include mold in this cheese book. I didn't include mold because I tried it. I wanted to be an expert in cheese. So I ordered the mold. It came in the mail. It was named something like penicillium bactilium, which was my first clue. But I, you know, I tried it. I added it to the cheese and literally just putting a little minuscule bit of it in the cheese, I woke up in the middle of the night completely inflamed, my sinuses. And then I did achieve a Ryan on a cheese, and guess what? I had that underground cystic breakout like that. So then I said, wait, I'm in wellness, how can I be telling people to put mold in their cheese? I'm not going to.

How can I be telling people to put mold in their cheese? I'm not going to. So again, if anyone ever comes to me with any kind of health imbalance, and the thing is we've created these health imbalances over a long time, and then we want it to go away right away. And that's what Western medicine does. Like it gives you a pill to like, you know, take care of the symptom. But we haven't really healed the cause of what's happened. So Ayurveda is not fast. I had to wake up every morning for three months with pus all over my face in the

form of pimples. I had people begging me to stop taking the herbs, but we have to clear our bodies of all this abuse that we've put them through. This is done through herbs, through eating a clean diet. And again, like I did this book on cheese, but this doesn't mean that I'm telling you to go eat cheese every single day of your life, three meals a day, and go, ah, this is great. I mean, let's please not do that. This is a condiment to your healthy, plant-based, vibrant life, to your one day of fasting a week, to your quarterly detox that you're doing.

We have heavy metals. We have pollution. We have, you know, marshmallow fluff from when we were 14 that's like stuck in your digestive tract. So you know what you've been eating. Take responsibility for your digestive tract. So you know what you've been eating. Take responsibility for your own body. The good news, your body is a magnificent divine organism. It's a miracle. It is a miracle of God. And if you treat it right, it will heal itself. And we have the power to heal. One of the worst things I think that happens in medicine is when you get a diagnosis

and somebody tells you something, so your mind can then attach to that reality. I say create your own reality. You are creating it, you know, and you have to take responsibility. So, you know, I had to with my cyst. It wasn't popular. People didn't support me, but I was convicted and I believed and held it beyond anything else that was happening. And you know what? After four months, that thing was getting smaller and I knew I was gaining. And, you know, again, so this is health and wellness. It's preventative. You guys are beautiful, and you have everything you need inside of you to live your best life. We're just trying to share some of our experience and some of our techniques and tricks to help you find your own way. I have a question.

How do you socialize? Because I travel a lot. Back and forth. You know, I was in Paris, and I'm here. I'm going back to New York. I'm going to the H the ham to the Thursday and then I spent three days in New York and people invite you for dinner and what do you do because I I want to eat healthy but people invite you for a Smith and Walensky and you I go there and I eat the tomato you know how do you do without being obnoxious graciously how do you do without being obnoxious, graciously? How do you do that?

That's a great question. And I, you know, quite honestly, perhaps the most important question, because I think that for a lot of people, if not most people, it is the social barrier that is the impediment to taking the leap, taking the action, Because you don't want to be the center of attention. You don't want to ruffle people and be that person who's a problem. And you don't know how you're going to navigate those delicate, intricate social dynamics at the cocktail party or the wedding

or the bachelor party or just dinner with your friends, right? The simple things. The truth is, I've discovered that all of these situations are very manageable and we project onto them all this importance and we freak out about something that hasn't even happened yet. Like we're thinking, oh my god, like you're going to New York, right? Well, first of all, New York City, it's like plant-based capital of the universe. I live a block from the Kettle Cafe.

Okay, right. You live next door to perhaps the most famous vegan restaurant in the world. And you're talking about... All right. But your friends want to go to Smith & Walensky, right? Yeah. They want to go to Jean-Georges or something, you know.

Yeah. The tasty menu is the worst. Right. Because I don't want to taste any of it. Mmges or something. Tasting menu is the worst. Because I'm going to taste any of it. It's going to come. But baked into that, psychologically, is a fear. And that fear is, if you say, I want to eat plant-based, or if you tell the waiter you want to do this, or whatever it is, that you are going to be on the receiving end of some kind of judgment.

this or whatever it is, that you are going to be on the receiving end of some kind of judgment, right? And what I've discovered is that people, most people are way too self-oriented. They're thinking about themselves. They don't, if they're your friends, they don't really care what you're eating. You know what I mean? As long as you're not like a pain in the butt about it. You know, if you're just like, hey, this is what I'm doing'm doing just keep it low-key you know if you don't want to make a big stink with a waiter excuse yourself say hey you know what I'm gonna go to the bathroom and then on your way to the restroom find your waiter and say hey you know what can you just whip me up something like just the biggest salad you've ever seen or baked potatoes with you know some kind of amazing tomato

sauce or just be creative like surprise surprise me, da, da, da, da, da. More often than not, they're thrilled. They're used to making the same thing all the time. Here's a challenge. Here's something interesting that they can do for you to please the customer. And then you come back to your table. You don't even have to say anything. Your food comes. Most of the time, no one even notices because they're thinking about themselves or whatever they're going to say next in the conversation. So a lot of these things are a lot easier than we think they're going to be. And that doesn't mean that occasionally it is a little bit tricky because everybody wants to go here and you want to go there or what have you. You know, quite often, especially in the beginning,

if I had a business lunch or dinner and it was going to be at a Smith and Walensky type place, I had a business lunch or dinner and it was going to be at a Smith and Walensky type place, I'd eat before I went to the restaurant. Or I'd eat something so I wasn't starving. And then I could eat light at the lunch, you know, and just not say anything. Like, it's nobody else's business, really. But what you will find is that it creates an interesting subject of discussion for the dinner table. They'll say, well, why are you making that choice? And you don't have to be strident in judging anyone else. You're like, well, I'm experimenting with this.

It seems to work for me. And more often than not, I've discovered, and I think you will as well, they'll be like, oh, that's interesting. Tell me about that. And when they're asking you as opposed to you telling them, there's an openness in that dynamic where you actually can't have a really cool constructive conversation Now I'm not saying that every scenario is going to be super facile and easy, but I think it is a lot less

Problematic than you might then you might believe does that answer the question? Yeah. Cool. Hi. I think you answered my question throughout the session in different ways, but I was wondering if you have additional thoughts on how can we influence others, like family and friends, into embracing this plant-based diet lifestyle movement, besides the obvious things like perhaps cooking you know, cooking for them, explain the benefits and stuff like that. So any additional thoughts, any insights from your experiences? It's a great question. How do we, you know, how do we share our experience with others? I mean, I really feel like a really great way is through food. So I know it's like if you're

going to someone's house, take the time and make something and take it, you know, sharing that from your heart and it tastes good. They're going to appreciate it and they're going to see the kind of food and it starts to open up a whole other world. I also talk a lot about making sure that we cultivate non-judgment in our life and also in our kitchen and also through this process. in our life and also in our kitchen and also through this process. And, you know, we're not stepping on this road to, you know, create a hardness or a judgment or a constriction. You have to allow people their own process. And so I really think holding this non-judgment and love for all beings and understand that they're at different places in their journey and making space for everyone. I think one of the commentaries that we have a lot

in our culture is eye-oriented. I like bacon, but I like bacon, so I need bacon, right? I don't really think that's relevant at this moment where we all, we have to change the discussion and the perspective to a we perspective. So we are eating as a collective. How are our choices on our plate affecting our community,

our countries, our planet, our animals? What are we partaking in? I would say one more thing, though, that I think is very necessary at this point, and that is a very real sharing and communication of the facts of what is happening. And I think this is very necessary with children. If I was a child and I was being fed something and I didn't know where it was coming from, I don't think that that's really full disclosure. And I think as parents, we want to like shelter our kids and well, they don't really need to know that. No,

they need to know. They need to know what's going on so that they can make decisions for themselves about what they want to do. So I think education, education in a very non-judgmental way and non, you know, you don't want to go and like blow up a, you know, blow a bomb up in somebody's world. That's not helpful to anyone. And ultimately, be the best version of yourself. Live your life to the ultimate level so that you're blessing everyone around you with everything

that you do. That's the best way. And just to add to that, I think it's a very personal thing. Like, how do you carry the message? How do you be an advocate? How do you be an advocate? How do you be an example? Well, that's very much tied into who you are as a person. Some people are natural leaders, and they're outspoken,

and they have a very clear point of view. And other people are more soft-spoken. And so it's like, if you're a soft-spoken person, you can't be expected to step into the shoes of somebody who behaves otherwise like we need all voices right so you know you got to have the super hardcore you know animal rights person so that the person over here who's not like that knows where that line is you know what i mean and so it's about who you are and i think the more fully integrated you can become and the more kind of self-aware so it's about who you are. And I think the more fully integrated you can become

and the more kind of self-aware about what kind of person you are, then you will answer your own question. But I think it's mostly about actions rather than words. And are your words integrated with your actions? Is there an alignment there? And to the extent that there isn't, where can you fix that, right? And that's, I think, where the answer comes. Because people watch how you behave, right?

We see what people say, but it's really like, how are you carrying yourself in the world? And that's what people pay attention to, and that's what they follow. So I knew we were going to have an issue when you gave me the mic and told me to keep time because we were absolutely going to go over. And with these amazing questions and this awesome interaction, it's obvious that I don't want to stop the conversation.

So we'll just move it into the other room. But before we do move, I want to leave you with two things. First of all, on behalf of the city of Miami, I want to thank both of you for being here. Thank you, Marco. Because as I'm sure you know, Miami has now made it into the top ten cities in the U.S. for plant-based living. So thank you, because without empowering inspirational pioneers like you, this is not possible. So thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you.