Anita: INTRO: 0:00

You're listening to the Smarter Healthy Living podcast where we firmly believe that getting healthy should never feel like torture, where your host Jarrod and Anita Roussel were college sweethearts and health professionals who help you redefine what getting healthy looks like using a whole food plant based lifestyle. It's time to hear from the experts and learn the best tips and tricks that helped others get beyond the overwhelm, to create a vibrant life they love. If you're sick and tired of being sick, and tired, you're in the right place. So pull up a virtual chair, grab your matcha latte. And let's get started. How in the world did this happen? How did this happen? We're on episode 100. We're thrilled to have you with us. This is an exciting time now. I'm going to start off by testing Jarrod a little bit. What was the date of our very first episode?

Jarrod: 0:50

It was December 13.

Anita: 0:52

I knew you would know it just off the top of your head. You just knew it. Why? Because in our relationship, Jared is the one who always remembers the dates for every

Jarrod: 1:01

part on the date guy for the most part.

Anita: 1:04

When did we buy our first house?

Jarrod: 1:05

We bought our first house. Ooh, that was? Oh, I'm

Anita: 1:09

surprised she don't know it. No,

Jarrod: 1:11

hold on, hold on. It was in 1997.

Anita: 1:16

What map?

Jarrod: 1:20

Hold on 1997. I believe it was March. And I want to say March 16 17th. Somewhere around they're

Anita: 1:31

probably right about the exact date with a given give or take a day.

Jarrod: 1:35

Well, the thing is, is I associate with other events because our neighbors that that particular house had just had their youngest daughter, okay. And I believe she was only nine days old. And I think her birthday was March 5. Yep. But I'm not 100% sure on that. So I'm pretty sure was March It was 1997.

Anita: 1:53

I think you're right. Yeah, he remembers all the days. So your your key there to remembering dates is associating it with something else. So

Jarrod: 2:01

that's what works for me. For me, I'm a visual person, I think visually, I remember things better when I read them than when I hear them. And so then I imagined these associations almost like a make a little mental movie. Well, you pass the test. So with this test, I just remember well, this when I remember we did a lot of work. And it was in December. And it was just December 13. I don't know. I just remembered it

Anita: 2:25

done 100 episodes since December. Um, how long is that? What six months? No,

Jarrod: 2:30

I mean, it's only been about seven, seven months.

Anita: 2:34

I cannot believe that we have put so much information out there into your hands. Go back and listen to them. Listen, we are going to tell you today, our favorites. We're sharing the insider scoop on our favorite episodes. And this was really hard for us because we have a lot of different ones that are our favorites. I'm asking you to go first, what was your very favorite? Do you think do you have a very favorite are just a couple for us?

Jarrod: 2:59

I have a few. I think the one that sticks out in my mind was episode number five, just because we had a very special guest on that particular episode. I don't want to give out too many details of these different episodes because this would be a very long episode in and of itself. But a lot of great information there. You can go and listen to him. And we encourage you highly to do so. But we had our youngest daughter Kate, who was a guest on her on that particular one, episode. Number five. Yes,

Anita: 3:27

yeah. And we talked about making plant milk on that one, I just have to tell you what it's about because I like that one. Because people think about plant based. And we think it has to be hard. It's got to be difficult. And I share about when I first started making plant milk, or when I met someone else who was thinking about storing this journey, and she just couldn't think about your milk.

Jarrod: 3:49

We were sharing some stuff with her. And she thought that this particular aspect of it was going to be very difficult. And so you walked her through and shared how it wasn't difficult. Yeah. And

Anita: 4:01

we share all about that. And episode number five on top of how to make it and how not to make it because I made one pretty big mistake when I was making plant milk that made me hate it and think I couldn't do it anymore. But then I figured out it wasn't so hard. And now our eight year old makes it well.

Jarrod: 4:18

Well now she's nine now. She's actually been making it what she was eight at the time of the day. Yeah, yes, that may be what you remember, it is exactly what I'm remembering. But she's been doing it for a while even before then just because it is so easy.

Anita: 4:31

So if you haven't had a chance to listen to episode number five, we highly recommend that one it's a great one. And learning how to make plant milks is a wonderful place to start on this journey. And if you've been doing this for a while and you've been buying your plant milk, you're gonna see how easy it is to do by checking out that episode as well. You maybe go next.

Jarrod: 4:50

Yes, you tell us what's your favorite. You pinned me down. Now

Unknown: 4:55

I'm gonna put you down.

Jarrod: 4:57

What's your favorite you can say number five. I've already said that one.

Anita: 4:59

You know I have to go with one that we just did five episodes back. And I highly recommend this episode, Episode Number 95. If you missed it, we shared our insider secrets to getting a delicious plant based meal on the table fast. And if you struggle eating plant based and it seems like meal prep takes a long time, this is the can't miss episode for you. Listen, there was a time where I wondered how in the world I was going to do this, you know, and then I would look at recipes and they would be have these long list of ingredients, I think, how am I gonna have time to chop all that up? How am I gonna have time to go buy all that and prep that? Well, there are some simple ways to prep your meals that you've probably never even thought of, not to mention the fact that some of its already prepped in the store. But there are other ways that you can get it. And we're going to share that inside episode number 95. For you, I had so much fun taping that episode.

Jarrod: 5:55

And we'll put a link down in the description below to of all the episodes that we referenced today.

Anita: 6:00

And you know, what kills me is we shared so much in that. And there's so many more even things that we didn't get a chance to share about how to make it easy and how to make it quick and how to make it tasty. We just we can't share it. We

Jarrod: 6:13

want to tie these podcasts exactly one long episode would be just a never ending live stream.

Anita: 6:21

That's true. And that would be fun. That'd be a great way to hang out. But we do that seminar membership too. But I love Love, love that episode, you've got to hear if you missed it, that's nonie five, our insider secret to getting a delicious plant based meal on the table fast. Now I have to say the other types of episodes I really loved are the big benefits episodes, we've done several things about the benefits. One of them is episode number 82, the amazing little food that's known to lower blood pressure better than some medications, because the truth is eating whole plant foods is medicinal to her bodies, it will help you it'll strengthen your immune system, it feature good gut bacteria, the fiber it needs to live, you know your gut bacteria that are in there, they are crucial to your health. And there's no fiber in animal foods, and dairy and things like that in eggs, you're not going to get the fiber, you need to feed those wonderful little creatures that live in your gut. You've got to have your fiber. And one of the things is on that episode we share about is lowering blood pressure. I just said that right. Right. I'm saying it again.

Jarrod: 7:33

Okay.

Anita: 7:34

So I've loved the big benefit episodes, because we're not just looking at lowering blood pressure here. I mean, what are some of the other big benefits of eating whole plant foods? I mean, you're looking at

Jarrod: 7:45

lowering cholesterol. Yeah, decreasing pain,

Anita: 7:48

lowering your risk of strokes, heart disease, lowering your risk of many types of cancers, and all different kinds of things, some

Jarrod: 7:55

of the dementias too, because now they're seeing that there is a vascular component, two dimensions. And basically what we're saying is that as your arteries get clogged, it reduces blood flow. And blood flow is everything. I mean, it's so many different things. It's not just heart disease, it's your brain, it's the rest of your body, it's your

Anita: 8:15

fingers, your toes, your joints, yeah, we were having terrible pain in our joints before he started eating this way. And our inflammation went down, as our body started getting the foods they were created to eat. And then Okay, so that would be like a big benefit, something you would want to get rid of later in life. And that leads us into the point of, you know, you, you're never too old to start, you're never too old. Because you may think, Oh, well, I'm just I've got I'm this age. And this just happens when you get all. And usually the truth to that is No, it doesn't. It's not normal. I mean, we look at other societies that don't eat the standard American diet, or eat the processed foods that eat the whole healthy plant foods, and minimal to no meat, look at the Blue Zones, if you haven't looked that up. And it will tell it'll show you the research that's been done on this. But the people that live the longest and most productive lives, eat more whole plant foods. So get as many of them as you can. And that's what we're all about is showing you how do you do that in a way that you actually enjoy. But that other episode that I wanted to talk about here is number 79. We talk about heart disease and how it actually begins in childhood. So now we're looking at that other end of the age spectrum, you think, well, maybe I'm too old, you're not. But then the other thing is when you do this, and you have children or grandchildren in your being an example to them and how you live out your life. And you can make a tremendous difference in their life from an early age. Because what we do know is that heart disease does begin in childhood and we talked about that. And as I said in that

Jarrod: 9:49

episode, it's actually very eye opening. I actually had that on my list as one of those and not because it was one that I necessarily enjoyed that much, but just because it was so eye opening, because we don't hear those kinds of things, we don't hear a really heart disease until you're in your maybe 40s 50s 60s until we're much later in our years. And it starts so very early. And making those little changes that early on, can add years to your life, but also well, to your child's life, and quality to that live. Now you're talking about how you're never too old. And I've heard stories of people in their 80s, making changes in their diet, and what they eat, and diabetes going away, their cholesterol going down, then losing weight, the their energy levels go up even later in life, because I feel like as long as you have breath, your body will do what it was designed to do. And that's to heal. Absolutely. Even if you're in your 80s 90s, whatever it will heal.

Anita: 10:49

Well, now we're looking at number 50. I have that on my list how to lose weight and keep it off with healthy plant based living. Because the truth is a lot of people come to this way of living because they feel like they just can't lose the weight and they've gone through. You know, when you go through diet after diet after diet, and you're programmed to think that the only way I'm going to lose weight is by counting calories, counting points, eating food that tastes like cardboard and recipes that fall flat every time that I just hate and so I look forward and to and live for cheat days. That's no way to live, that's never going to work for a lifetime. And that's why we love living and eating this way. Because you can do this in a way that's simple. And that tastes amazing that you like so much it brings you joy. And when you live a life that brings you joy, that's something you want to keep doing day after day after day, it's not something that you dread so much that you're planning and how to get out of it and how soon you can stop it. Because once you reach your goals, if you stop it, you're gonna end up right back where you are,

Jarrod: 11:48

get the same result of what you had by doing what you were doing in the first place. And

Anita: 11:53

the truth is, usually it ends up worse than where you started. And that's what studies show with people who've died. And the way studies usually gain weight and end up in a worse place. And we don't want that for you, that does not have to be your story. Listen to Episode 50 for how to lose weight and keep it out off with healthy plant based living.

Jarrod: 12:10

Now some of the episodes that really stick out for me are the ones that are the mindset shifts. And one of the huge popular ones is about protein. Now, I actually have three episodes that are on my list is because they deal with protein.

Anita: 12:27

Well, it makes sense. Because everybody asked us I mean, that's one of the first questions we always hear. How do you get your protein?

Jarrod: 12:34

How do you get more of the knee jerk response will be where do you get your protein wire?

Anita: 12:40

Yeah,

Jarrod: 12:40

if I don't eat me, then where am I going to get it as though there's no protein anywhere anywhere else in the world? So, number 10, it's where do you get your protein? So we go into more detail about that. But I mean, obviously the answer is going to be plants. And again, we describe more about that in there. But

Anita: 13:03

we show you how you don't have to worry, you don't need to worry about it. There's no reason to worry about and why is that and we dive into that more in that episode. And then the other thing is protein combining we get that question all the time.

Jarrod: 13:15

And and that. For us. That's episode number 61. We do talk about that

Anita: 13:20

you've got to go back and listen to that episode because it is gonna blow your mind if you think the protein commanding is something you need to worry about that and that we're gonna

Jarrod: 13:30

well no one is very aptly titled, The shocking thing you really need to know about protein combining.

Anita: 13:37

Right? Yeah, go back and listen to probably teach

Jarrod: 13:40

just where we where we go with that. But please go listen, it's very, very interesting, very informative. I think you will walk away from that podcast with your eyes wide open.

Anita: 13:51

And what blew my mind about that is finding out where did that come from? And why are we still doing it today? And why do you still hear it? And how did it latch on? And we talked about that in that episode.

Jarrod: 14:01

And then it was pretty wild. Did you have another? one more episode number 55. It was all protein is not created equal. So true. So we're talking about the differences between plant proteins and first of all proteins? Yes. So all three of those I feel like we ought to make a little mini series out of that where we just

Anita: 14:19

put all the proteins are like it. Alright, and then number 77 is one of my favorites, making great memories with your kids. Okay, and this is really important. This is about being intentional. How do you make great memories with them while living this lifestyle living healthy playing bass. You know, we're all about ways to involve the family, your children, your grandchildren, if you can find ways to make great memories with them and wrap them around this lifestyle or anything else that you want them to internalize in their lives, right if you want to teach a child something, model it before them In a joyful way, and get them involved, yes,

Jarrod: 15:03

get them involved them

Anita: 15:04

involved, get them in there and exciting. Let them be a part of the creative process of figuring out different things to try of getting in the kitchen and learning different techniques of how do I make this or that, and just have fun with it. But here we talk specifically about one way that we do that. And it was a lot of fun. And we have an interesting story there that we share to you.

Jarrod: 15:25

Actually, that is one of the things that I hear a lot, um, to your point about making it fun for children getting them involved is that whenever I tell people that we're hopefully plant based, they'll say, in your your kids like that to like, yeah, they love it.

Anita: 15:40

They love it. Not only do they love it, they're in the kitchen, constantly crying. And I say that

Jarrod: 15:44

I said some of it is so easy that even our nine year old daughter is doing it and has been doing some of this for a couple of years now.

Anita: 15:51

But I love what we teach because not only are they in there with us and alongside us when you're intentional. And when you show them how to do these things. They get in there and create on their own. I mean, our 16 year old yesterday, we walk out the whole house smells like bread, corn, what is that smell, she just decided, you know, we don't need rolls very much. And I just really want a good roll. Of course, every roll recipe online pretty much unless it's dry and hard and heavy as brick is going to have eventual oil or eggs or dairy or all of the above. Right. I mean, that's just the reality of it. And she has learned just through what we teach to substitute all those things. And so she's in there, she created our own roll recipe light as air, they rose up to be huge, they're absolutely delicious, whole remaining plant based no oil, no egg, no dairy. And they would rival any role, any role that we've ever had in our live sister Schubert's type role.

Jarrod: 16:50

And that's exactly what I was thinking is that they reminded me very close to a sister Schubert type role,

Anita: 16:56

I would venture to say only better, they were amazing. And they didn't make us feel bad after we know. And they

Jarrod: 17:01

were delicious. They were light, the flavor was amazing. I was extremely impressed, because she didn't tell us that she was doing it. She didn't ask, she just, she just found a traditional recipe and use the skills that we've taught her to make it her own to adapt it to the whole food plant

Anita: 17:17

based lifestyle. And that's what we're all about teaching you how to do the same. You know, you've got to be able to look at any recipe, or most any recipe, some recipes, you know, if it's just a rice recipe, I mean, you really you can substitute for something like, there, there are some things that you just look at and go, No, it's just not even we're trying to try that change that one and you just look at a different one. But by the time you're done, it's a whole new recipe, but it's one that's healthy, plant based, no all compliant, and it's absolutely wonderful. You can learn how to do this in a way that will work for you and your family. Now, perhaps your taste buds are different than ours. And you can use different learn how to use the different flavor profiles, right? So you don't have to use the exact same things that we would substitute in a recipe. I teach you how to do that. How do you build the flavor profiles that you love. This is all about making it a joyful and wonderful experience. We want you to build a life you love so that you can do this for the long haul and heal your body. And the whole point of that is so you can do all the things that you want to do. But you feel like you're missing out on. We want you to fully be able to experience your life and feel great enough to do that. Maybe that's building a business traveling, just spending more active time with your family and your children making memories.

Jarrod: 18:33

Or maybe you just want to homeschool your children and not do it from the couch.

Anita: 18:37

Yeah, that was a story. Yeah, episode number one. I share all about my story. And that is really important. Oh, yeah, I was I was in big trouble. It was a bad bad situation. Thankfully, that is not my story anymore. And it never has to be your story either. We have loved having you join us on these first 100 episodes. If this podcast has helped you in any way we would love to have you help us celebrate. What we want you to do right now to help us celebrate this episode is go to the reviews, and just share with us one or two sentences about how this podcast has helped you. We look forward to hearing from you and getting to know you more along your journey. We wish you all the best and cannot wait to see you again on episode 101