Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey there, sunshine. Welcome to the Power On Plants podcast. We're your host, jared, and Anita Roussell, and we're absolutely head over heels for whole plant foods and helping you navigate this incredible plant based journey. That's because our lives have been completely changed by plant based goodness. We used to struggle every day with excess pounds and low energy, vascular disease, joint pain and lack of sleep, just to name a few, and even though we're medical professionals, we still weren't getting practical answers that actually worked. So we dug into the research, we started living what we learned, and now we both have our lives back, and that's what we want for you, too.

Speaker 1: 0:39

The truth is, you can do this, and it's not hard. You just need a way that will bring real and lasting change, and that path. It has to be simple and enjoyable, and it's got to be delicious too. So are you ready to live your life to the fullest? Then you're in the right place, because living without limits that's what Power On Plants is all about. So pull up your chair, grab a matcha latte and let's get started. Hey there, sunshine. This is going to be the simplest podcast episode you have ever listened to, because the episode is about simplifying to grow. Now, what does that mean exactly? Jared and I are going to talk about what it means to us, because we were sitting on the beach the other day and we were talking about how there are certain things that are. What do you call them, jared? They're simple, yet profound.

Speaker 2: 1:33

Profound, profound knowledge that they're not always complex, nothing about the universe. They can be very simple concepts, but they just change or reframe your thinking and they're so profound that the destination or the outcome is just so different, so profoundly different.

Speaker 1: 1:54

It can actually change your life, and this is one of those things simplify to grow. What I keep hearing from so many of you, as you've reached out and connected with me through email, is that things are so overwhelming for you when it comes to your health, and I get that. I used to feel that way and I think part of the reason is because I didn't understand the process of simplifying to grow. I felt like if I wanted to be healthy, I had to eat nasty tasting foods. That's the idea of eating nasty tasting foods in the name of health. We're trained to think it's got to be some complicated process. There's no way the foods can taste good and you can still lose weight or feel great afterwards.

Speaker 2: 2:38

It has to be hard. It's almost like there's some kind of redemption here, that you must earn your redemption. You must earn your weight loss, that you must prove yourself a valuable enough human being to be at a normal weight, to be healthy, to have energy, to not have the pain. Yeah, I'm glad you brought that in because I was going to say it's not just weight loss. No, it's not Like it's disease.

Speaker 1: 3:02

If you're fighting some disease, it's going to be this difficult process and really hard, and you're going to have to take medicine and a lot of times they tell you you're going to have it for life. It's just going to be a difficult process. But what we know is the top 15 chronic diseases in our Western societies today are lifestyle related, which is great news, because that means they can be prevented and even reversed. Jared and I see this all the time, but it's just by learning the simple concepts. So you hear us talking about plant based and you think, well, I can never go all in, it's hard, I don't have time, I'm busy going here doing this, run into that thing and this thing, but honestly, this is the simplest way we've ever lived. If you haven't listened to the podcast for very long or maybe you just haven't listened long enough to hear us talk about our personal lives I want to let you in on a little something. Jared and I work full time on this business because it's our heart's desire to see you healed and we want you to understand that this is not difficult. Jared and I work full time on this business. Jared works then full time telemedicine, seeing his own patients separately, on top of our clients that we have inside the membership, on top of those of you that write me email and I write you back, on top of any social media we do in the course I'm writing.

Speaker 1: 4:23

Right now we have four children, three of which we homeschool, one we just graduated, two of them are in high school, one's in middle school. I mean you can imagine how busy that is. We have a home that we keep right and all the other activities and things that we do on a regular basis. Are we busy? Absolutely we're busy. We've made it a point in our life to cut out the busyness. Do you understand what that means? Like if I have four children at high school age, I'm not about to have every single one of them by choice in three different activities apiece. That's insane. Even two activities apiece. How would I even know the children right? It's crazy what we do to ourselves and we do the same thing when it comes to our help. I don't have time, I'm busy, I'm running here and there, I'm doing this thing and that thing, but I will tell you, and Jared will testify, and this is the truth. One of our things that we value is being honest and I'm just gonna tell you this is the simplest way you'll ever eat. Now, if you want to complicate it cause you think it has to be complicated go right ahead.

Speaker 1: 5:31

I just talked to somebody, probably a couple of months ago, that told me that they quit plant based because they were spending over two hours in the kitchen together every single day. Are you kidding me? What were they doing? The whole problem was they just didn't know what to do. They didn't understand how to make food formulas.

Speaker 1: 5:52

These are the things you cook when you don't even have time for a recipe. What are their go-to favorites? Did anybody teach them how to build a simple list of those and so, when you have those, you can pick them up and you know what to cook immediately? What are some things that you can just get done in 15 minutes or less? What are those tips that you can easily implement in your busy life, girl?

Speaker 1: 6:13

We are busy. We don't have time for all that crazy chaos. We need something we can throw in a bowl and go. If we're on the road, it's gotta be a pack and go, bowl and go. But if we've got all these activities we want to do and our children are involved in things and we need to be powered. Well, we're exhausted, we're tired, we're overwhelmed and we think we've got all these things that are coming on us because age is just catching up or our genes are against us. But the truth is your genes can be turned on and off by what you eat, and it's not your age, sister. There are people in other societies that live the longest in this world and they're not struggling with these things. They don't have high blood pressure. Their blood pressure actually comes down, their cholesterol isn't high, they don't have heart disease, but they're eating differently. They're taking time for themselves, for self care. But don't say to yourself that it's complicated, it's hard, it's simple. The truth is it is simple and you've got to learn how to simplify so you can grow, so your health can grow to be where you want it to be. You can lose the pounds, you can get your cholesterol and your blood pressure back to normal. We see it all the time.

Speaker 1: 7:28

You can learn how to eat your favorites, right? I mean tonight we had fajitas. I do not miss anything about traditional fajitas. We have a way that we make tofu that is so simple. I told the kids when we were making it tonight. I said I seriously should be taping this right now for the members of Power On Plant Society, because I was chopping up veggies really quickly and just throwing them in a casserole dish and then I sprinkled on some fajita seasoning Boom, they went in the oven. I seasoned them up a little more when they were done. That was it. I mean, it was so easy. And then you can put them on pre-made corn tortillas or anything like that that you're go to.

Speaker 1: 8:04

Don't worry if you don't know the brands to make. You're going to find your new favorite products. You're going to know where to shop. To make it simple, there's a lot of these things you can have shipped right to your house. It doesn't get simpler than that. I'd go out and shop less than I ever did before. You can go to your local farmers market while you're running errands, stop by there and get fresh food. But there are so many ways that you can do this. You've got to find this system that works for you, and it must be simple or you're never going to do it. But when it's simple, I can guarantee you you are going to set yourself up for some massive success.

Speaker 2: 8:45

And the thing is is that you can't correct what you don't start, so get started.

Speaker 1: 8:50

Are you?

Speaker 2: 8:50

going to make mistakes? Sure, but are they really mistakes or are they just learning experiences? I don't think that you're going to mess anything up to the point that you're going to cause yourself some kind of irreparable harm.

Speaker 1: 9:02

No.

Speaker 2: 9:03

You just if you buy a product you don't like, don't get it, find a different one. If you accidentally burn something, well, next time don't cook it so long. If this type of beans not your favorite, well, find another one, that is. But you're not going to learn, you're not going to know those things until you get started, right. Until you take action.

Speaker 1: 9:20

I absolutely agree with that, 100%. So you take simple action. This is how you're going to start growth. So you've got to figure out I want to grow in my ability to be able to do the things I want to do. I want to power my body well. Well, whole plant foods is how you're going to do that.

Speaker 1: 9:41

Right, you're struggling with high cholesterol, high blood pressure, inflammation. My joints hurt. I don't feel good. You know, no matter which one of you I talk to, it doesn't matter which one of those diagnosis you have, or if you have multiple ones, even weight loss. Okay, if that's your goal, every single one of you has said to me I'm struggling with this disease, whatever it is. I'm struggling with extra pounds. Let's take that, for example. I'm struggling with extra pounds. But you know what I really want? I just want to feel good, and that is exactly how I felt.

Speaker 1: 10:14

I was struggling, I was tired. I just wanted to feel good. I wanted to be able to chase my kids around. I wanted to be able to go to the grocery store like a normal person and not feel like I was going to pass out before I got done. I mean, I just had no energy and I constantly had to push myself to be the active mama that I wanted to be able to be naturally, naturally and nobody told me I could heal naturally.

Speaker 1: 10:38

Nobody told me, hey, there are foods you can eat that taste just as good as your old favorites, and you can do that in such a way that it takes you way less time than what you're doing now. I mean it's crazy, but it's so true. And it works for so many things, because these foods fight inflammation and they open up blood vessels, and those two things are huge for healing your body. And then, when you get the other things out, because you're now eating the good stuff, this is the simple way. It's not like oh well, now you got to count macros or you got to keep up with the calories. How is that going to work for you long term? Is that simple? Is it simple? I mean, is that something God asked us to do? Did he ask us to count calories and macros? Do we need to keep up with that?

Speaker 2: 11:20

Yeah, I don't think before, probably the 1900s, they even really knew what a calorie was, or the macros or all the things that we know now. They didn't know it back then.

Speaker 1: 11:31

And how did they survive and do better than even what they do today?

Speaker 2: 11:35

They ate whole plant foods.

Speaker 2: 11:37

I mean, they just ate a normal diet, not the restrictive diet, but just normal food intake. But you know, you said something a moment ago and you were talking about how. How is it that this affects so many things? And I believe it's because our bodies need nutrients, they need building blocks, and whenever it's not given those building blocks, sometimes it may be a rheumatologic thing, maybe it may be joint breakdown. Just like I used an analogy several episodes back about rust, rust on your brakes causes squeaky breaking when you go to put the brake pedal on.

Speaker 2: 12:16

Or a rust on the springs makes it sound squeaky whenever you hit a bump. Rust on the hinges makes it sound squeaky when you open the doors. It's just wherever the disease process happens to land in your body. But if we give our body the materials that it needs to function optimally, then the body will do what it was made to do it will heal. I had the thought and I don't know if this is a great analogy, but it's almost like food. It's absolute, most perfect Lego set that has every piece. It's like this little divine box where you put your hand in it and whatever that piece is you need, it's there. That's kind of like eating a plant-based diet, a very well-balanced, rounded, plant-based diet. Your body will get what it needs because the Lord put those ingredients in the food. So if you can do that and concentrate on getting good, fresh foods, quality foods, diverse plant foods, then you don't really need to worry so much about the micros, unless there is something specifically that you're lacking If your dog grows or the micros Right.

Speaker 2: 13:22

Exactly.

Speaker 1: 13:23

But what about my protein? Listen, we have episodes on that. Go back and listen. Don't worry about your protein. That is a marketing thing. That is why you're worried about that, because there's so much marketing out there to push protein products. Sister, you're going to save yourself a lot of time and money and you're not going to have to worry about things like that, because if you spend, your life Worry needlessly.

Speaker 1: 13:43

Absolutely. You spend your life worrying about all these things. Where I get my protein? Am I going to get my this or that thing? Protein foods are made up of so much more than just macronutrients and micronutrients, so you want to get a variety and you're going to, amazingly enough, get what you need, with the exception of something like B12, which almost everyone is low on, no matter how they eat. By the time they get our age right, you need to be taking a B12 supplement. Okay, but other than that, I mean really, for the most part, you're going to be getting everything you need.

Speaker 1: 14:19

You might be thinking and this is realistic I don't know where to shop, I don't know what to eat, I don't know what to cook. Okay, start by grabbing the cookbook. It's super simple. I break it down for you. I provided you with over 50 recipes in there that are tested and true and absolutely delicious. If you want to know where to start, just start getting those recipes.

Speaker 1: 14:43

If you have a question about one of the ingredients in there, shoot me an email at Anita Power and Plants. I haven't put weird stuff in there. I intentionally try to make it really simple, so it's not these foreign ingredients that you have to go to some out of the way market or something, or you can't just order it to your home. So if you wonder, hey, anita, where do you get something for this recipe that I have in your cookbook, feel free to shoot me an email. If you own the cookbook and just ask me. I'll be happy to let you know. It's so simple. I mean really, most of the recipes have minimal ingredients, very, very simple to make, rather than anything. Once you make it a time or two, it's so easy. It's just the thing of getting over. It's new, it's different, but, like Jared said, once you take action it becomes so simple, because now you know how to and most of our recipes You've done it, you've learned it.

Speaker 2: 15:33

Now it's become second nature.

Speaker 1: 15:35

And we're laughing about the fact that most of my recipes are just like you drop stuff in a blender and it's just done, and you just pour it into this pan and get it ready. Or you drop it into an Instapot and press start and it's done. Can you make it on the stove top? Yes, but am I all about saving you time and making it simple? Absolutely so. I built that into the cookbook. I hear that time and again from the women who are using it, and it makes my life simple. I become a little cook. I didn't even like to cook. People listen to this and they think I was some big cook, but really it just became all about simplifying processes for me and this isn't just about your health Jared and I have gone through and done that with our wardrobe People.

Speaker 1: 16:15

We were selling our house a few years back and these people are looking through the closet and they go where's all your stuff? We said well, we got tired of digging through the hundred outfits. We had to find the five that we actually wear over and over again. So we wear our five. We have a few more than five, but I mean just for an example. We made it so, so simple. Now we just have those things we wear and enjoy, and when they wear out, we get new things that we enjoy and wear, and then, if they're still in good shape and we get a few too many in there, then we just donate those and share them with others, right? So you just want to look at simplifying processes, and that is what we do. It's our specialty here at Power and Plants making it quick and simple and making it taste absolutely amazing.

Speaker 1: 17:04

So I don't want you to get overwhelmed and think, well, I can't go all in, but you can. You absolutely can, and it can be as simple as you want it to be. And you start with something as simple as the cookbook or listening to the 200 plus episodes we have for you here that are packed full of information. But don't feel like you have to do everything at once. If you're facing disease, by all means do it all, go all in, because you're going to get the fastest results and, honestly, it is the easiest way to make it stick.

Speaker 1: 17:34

So one of the things we're talking about here the first thing, is simplifying your mindset so that you can grow, so you can grow healthy and strong and live the full life you're after. We don't want you struggling anymore, sister, to have the energy that you need to do all the things that you want to do in life. We want you to feel great so you can live out your mission, so you can play with your kids, so you can grow old and have energy to play with your grandkids, so that you can build that business you've always wanted to live. Whatever the dream is for you, you have to be able to think clearly and your body be able to function well. To do it and these are the foods that will help to get you there but don't do it Apparently. There is a complicated way to do this, because people come to us all the time. I've tried this. I felt the wagon wagon 100 times. And now, with your processes, it works.

Speaker 2: 18:26

It just works Time preparing or having to do food prep ahead of time, or maybe buying things at a lot of different places. I mean, we hear all different kinds of stories and you really you can simplify these processes. You just have to look and then, once you learn the one, then you learn the second, then you learn the third. But don't get overwhelmed, Don't go into it with this frazzled mindset of oh my goodness, this is just. My life is already hectic, this is going to be hard, I just can't do it.

Speaker 2: 18:54

I don't have time, I don't have the energy, and that may be true, but just take a moment, step back, relax, take a deep breath in and just say, okay, this is not hard, it's just different. What is the first thing I can learn? What is the first thing that I can do? Like we said before, take action, because you can't change, you can't improve something that is not moving. It's like if a boat's just standing there and you turn the wheel and the motor's turning around, it's not going anywhere. There's no direction. It's changing. If it's not moving, has to be moving forward. Really same with the car. If you're not moving and you're turning your wheel, you're not changing direction, so you go in a direction. You think, okay, maybe this didn't work, the best wasn't the greatest.

Speaker 2: 19:37

Well, redirect learn a little something, adjust a little bit. Now you think, okay, well, now we've got tomato soup for dinner. We made it in five minutes. I mean we do that all the time.

Speaker 1: 19:48

Yeah, it's amazing and we love it, and it's easy and it tastes great.

Speaker 2: 19:51

And so now you've got that in your treasure chest of recipes, Find another one, but find easy ones. Find ones that you can prepare quickly. Find ones that don't require an hour or two of prep beforehand.

Speaker 1: 20:04

And when you're on the road a lot and you're traveling back and forth from work and you're taking kids different places to different activities and things, and you're just on the road, maybe you're retired and you travel to see your grown children and you're going glamping. I had a friend who wrote me the other day and told me she's going glamping and she loves to go and do all these things. Well, what do you eat when you're out there camping? You find those things that work and you start keeping the list. Like Jared said, you simplify. But he made a point that maybe you are so busy, maybe you don't have time. But I will venture to say and I wanna plant this seed you need to think about this Do you have time not to take the time to learn how to make it simple? Do you have time to not have time? Because if you don't have time to help yourself get better, sister, who is going to do it for you?

Speaker 2: 20:55

And how much time will that then waste and take up when you're sick, when you're in a doctor's office?

Speaker 1: 21:03

or in the hospital, or trying to figure out how to manage all the symptoms that you now have because of all the medications that you have to take. We don't want you dealing with any of those things, and it just doesn't have to be. Odds are, and we see it time and again. There is something you can do to feel better, and it does not have to be ever complicated. So today, you're gonna decide for yourself that you are going to make things simple. Whatever that first simple step is gonna be for you, you're gonna make it simple and you're gonna grow. You're gonna grow in the knowledge of how to make plant-based living simple, quick and delicious for yourself. One easy step at a time that is realistic with your busy schedule. You can do this. It's not hard, it's just different. But once you step out and start taking action, your life is gonna change in amazing ways.

Speaker 1: 21:56

And, sister, I want you to reach out to me, jared, and I care so much about you. We are here for you, cheering you on and let us know in the email Drop me an email, anita, at poweronplantscom, and let me know the simple action step that you're gonna take this week, starting today, to start growing in the areas of your life that you wanna grow Gaining health, gaining energy, getting rid of the joint pain, reducing your blood pressure, reducing your cholesterol, whatever it is. Shoot me an email and let me know what you're gonna do and what you most hope to get as a result. I can't wait to hear from you, and we will see you next time on Power, on Plants.

Speaker 2: 22:47

Music playing.