Anita: 0:01

The Power On Plants Cookbook Bundle is now available and ready for you. It's our premier go to collection of over 50 simple whole food plant based recipes that actually tastes great and are done in a flash. So you can have more time, more energy and more joy every single day. These are our family's favorite recipes that you're going to love, because they'll actually love you back. Our friends and clients tested them gave rave reviews. And then I gathered them all into one powerful collection just to share with you go to get dot power on plants cookbook bendel.com to be the first to

get your coffee. That's https: 0:36

// et.poweronplantscookbookb ndle.com/ where you can get y ur hands on our quick and easy ecipes that make living a ealthy life. Not just possible, but really enjoyable and super delicious to get your copy toda.

INTRO: 0:56

Hey there sunshine. Welcome to the Power On plants Podcast! We're your host, Jarrod and Anita Roussel 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 to 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 to you. 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 plants is all about. So pull up your chair, grab a matcha latte, and let's get started. Hello, sister and welcome back. We are thrilled to be hanging out with you again today. And if you are new and this is your first time joining us there has never been a better time to plug in and tune in to this podcast, we have some exciting announcements today, you may have noticed we've changed the podcast covers

Jarrod: 2:24

a tweak or two,

Anita: 2:25

we've changed the name used to be Smarter Healthy iving now, the podcast is going o be called Power On Plants. hy? Because we already using hat name for the cookbook, the ower plants cookbook and the ower plants membership, it just akes sense to bring everything ogether. It also much better efines what we're doing. ecause we are talking about etting your energy back, uilding a life that you love hat makes you feel great from he inside out. And that's going o be done when you fuel your ody with the best food that's vailable. And that is whole lant foods. So we're talking bout how do you do that in a ay that's simple, enjoyable and elicious, that you absolutely ove so you have no trouble oing that for a lifetime. And hen possibilities just blow ide open for you in life. ecause now you feel like doing ll the stuff you wanted to do efore and just couldn't do. So hat's what we're doing. That's hy we changed the name to power n plants podcast. And along ith the name change, you're lso going to notice new intro, nd we're excited about it ecause I think it defines a lot ore of what we're doing, what ur heart is, what our passion s for you. And just how we just ave a heart's desire to help ou out. As you build your best ife ever.

Jarrod: 3:35

We spend a lot of time looking for that music. So we hope you love it. We want to pick something that would inspire you that when you hear it, you're just ready to jump right in and listen to that episode,

Anita: 3:44

leave a comment or leave a review and let us know what you think we'd love to hear what you think about the changes. We always love hearing from our listeners. And just feel them like, you know, we're hanging out with you. We'd love to hang out with you over the airwaves, I guess as we say, but we just feel like we're kinda all hanging out in living room together. And that's how we want you to feel too. So always, always, if you have a suggestion, a comment a question, leave those share now read those personally, right now. And we'll continue to do that as long as we're able. We are at a place now where we're starting to bring on different people to help us out within the business as well. And so you may be getting to know some other people inside of power plants and smarter healthy living to get a family. Absolutely. We're all about that. You know, we're all about family. Okay, so today, what are we talking about? What is on the agenda for today? Well, we've talked about this a little bit before, but I keep getting asked this question about carbs and are all carbs bad. And I think that just comes from the fact that all around us there are posters or ads or different things about carbs are bad for you. They're terrible for you and with the wave of keto and different just paleo

Jarrod: 4:57

diet, every kind of Oh,

Anita: 4:59

exactly. All the arrows that convince you that the fuel that your body actually needs and was created to run on, which is carbs are all bad for you. And just because one type of something is bad, doesn't mean they're all bad. So what's the difference here? What are we talking about?

Jarrod: 5:15

The main differences between the bad carbs and the good carbs, that what you mean? Well, the big difference with the bad carbs is that they're stripped from their natural product than the natural package that they're made in.

Anita: 5:27

So when we're talking about bad carbs, and we're talking about white sugars, and a lot

Jarrod: 5:33

of the refined white sugars, a lot of the refined sugars or syrups, and things like that, that are just highly, highly concentrated nothing but just the sugar molecule.

Anita: 5:41

So k ro corn syrup, we're talking confectioner sugar, and any kind of white sugars, even brown sugars really are not that great. And things like

Jarrod: 5:50

your refined but have a little bit of the, oh,

Anita: 5:54

a little bit of the minerals and things and there may be, but there, they may not be quite as refined as white. But we know that they're close. Yeah, they are really close. So that's not those are not the best choices. So what do you choose? I mean, do you eat desserts when you eat plant based? What?

Jarrod: 6:11

You can never have another dessert again.

Anita: 6:13

That's it. We're done.

Jarrod: 6:15

All right, episode is over. No, seriously, we eat dessert. And people are just astounded by that fact. I think no, we still enjoy some of these things. We just enjoy them in a better way.

Anita: 6:26

Yes, love your desserts, enjoy your desserts. Now, that doesn't need to be the main portion of your plate. And that doesn't mean you need to eat desserts with every meal or that every breakfast should be sweet. Like we've got. You need to learn to balance here. Yeah, we all have to learn that in our life. What's What's the good balance, what's the right balance, but when you want a little dessert, eat it. It's like on that last dress belt last one of the last episodes that I shared about the balsamic dressing recipe and how a lot of people will add maple syrup that there's a popular recipe out where it calls for maple syrup. Well, why add maple syrup to that it is a better sugar. So if you're going to use a sugar, it's one of the better ones, because you'll get some trace minerals and things like that. Not enough to make it such a to call it a health food. Right? I would never call that a health food. But and it's not a whole plant food. But it is better than so if you're going to eat something sweet, yes. But in a dressing like that. What I want you to think about is if something's already sweet, like the balsamic vinegar, which is naturally sweet, why use your maple syrup there, save it, reserve it for when you're making those delicious dessert recipes, where you'd absolutely love having it in there, unless you have the balance. But the thing I also want to address here is diabetes, because there are a lot of people they think, well, I'm going to get high blood sugar if I eat sugars, or I'm going to get or I already have it already have diabetes, what am I supposed to do? And so we're going to talk a little bit about that today. What are the best foods to eat if you already have diabetes, and what are the best foods to eat to avoid it.

Jarrod: 7:59

And one of the sad things that I feel about this is that many people are told to avoid certain things like fruits or berries, things that are high in phytonutrients, things that are high in these nutrients that help your body heal.

Anita: 8:13

So the foods are good for you. I mean, there are phytonutrients in there, there's fiber in there, all that stuff's been removed when you start eating the sugars that are taken out of the foods. So if you're eating the whole foods, it's so much better for you. So if you have diabetes, that doesn't mean you should never eat any fruit, it's going to be a little bit harder for your body to process even the better fruit, the better sugars, which are the fruits and things like that. So you want to start out when you're in this journey, eat some of the great things that are low glycemic fruits, you still should get your phrase, we're going to explain why it's a little harder for your body to process that once you do have diabetes. But it's like Jared was saying to me before, you know, if you already have it, it's different than if you don't. So in the beginning, what was it you were saying earlier?

Jarrod: 8:59

What I was mentioning before is that your car, gasoline is good for your car, your car needs it, but not when it's on fire. Now, because your car is burning out of control and you put gasoline in it, it's going to explode. So it's almost that same kind of scenario with sugar that when your body is healthy, and it's working like it should the sugar is being processed normally. But when we have diabetes, and we'll explain a little bit that it's not the sugar that causes the diabetes,

Anita: 9:25

it sounds like you're saying maybe it caused this or that cause

Jarrod: 9:27

no, because the sugars are the gases and what made the car catch on fire. Right? Yeah, something else did that same thing with the sugar. So

Anita: 9:36

and in this case, there's something else is fats.

Jarrod: 9:39

So it is it is the saturated fats that get inside of your muscle cells and kind of gum up the process so that it doesn't work right. So when insulin hits that little receptor, it's almost like when the key goes in the lock, it fits and you kind of turn and try to jiggle it, but it won't turn you know it's the right key, but it won't turn to unlock. So then it doesn't let you in the house. Same thing with the sugar when that insulin doesn't function properly, because of the fats that are inside of the muscle cell, than the sugar can't be let inside the muscle cell.

Anita: 10:11

And suddenly your blood sugar guys that sugar is in your blood,

Jarrod: 10:15

instead of raising it causes all these other problems. So

Anita: 10:17

the sugar stays in your blood instead of being able to get into your cells to be used properly, where it's needed. And that's why and the fats are causing the sugar to not be able to get into the cell. That's just the summary.

Jarrod: 10:31

Now, I will say, if you have diabetes, please follow the the direction of your health care provider, we don't want you to say, Hey, I'm going to go crazy on berries and fruits and all these things. No, we want you to start incorporating these things. But you have to do it wisely, you have to keep a good eye on your blood sugar levels. And you have to make sure you follow that your proper medical advice. And

Anita: 10:52

honestly, one of the best things you can do if you can is find a plant based doctor, I mean, if you can find a plant based doctor who is passionate about this, and they're out there, and they're out there, what do you think are the best what's the best website where they can find a good plant based doctor,

Jarrod: 11:09

you can actually find that at plant based Doc's dot com do si s.com.

Anita: 11:14

Yes. And then if you don't have one in your area, a lot of doctors are still supportive of this decision. Because honestly, one of the things that most healthcare providers agree on, even people who believe in different types of diets are eating than healthy plant base, we can all agree that the more whole plant food you get, the better, nobody's gonna argue with that. No one because the research is there, and it shows the more fruits and veggies, the better you're going to be. Now, again, with diabetes, you want to look at the lower glycemic ones first, and not make the main party for your plate be free. I mean, it just makes sense. And honestly, even without diabetes, the main part of your plate should not be fruit, I mean, it just be you need a lot of well, you need the five foundational face and balance. So you need the whole foods, the whole plant face. And that's gonna be the grains, the leg games, the nuts, the seeds, the fruits, and the vegetables. And we want a lot of vegetables and a lot of those whole grains. And you're going to vary that go back, we have a ton of different podcast episodes where we go into the five foundational foods and talk about each one in different episodes. And that would be a great place to start to learn more about how to build that plate. But so that all of that to say you don't want to have just big piles of fruit. And honestly, it might not be best for you to look up a recipe like plant based nice cream, that's just bananas right now, like that's not a good place for you to start, if you already have diabetes. And someone without it shouldn't be eating huge bowls of that either. I mean, let's enjoy. It don't it doesn't matter to enjoy. We enjoy that for every once in a while, but we don't eat it every day.

Jarrod: 12:56

And we don't eat a big giant bowl of it either.

Anita: 12:58

No, but it's so good. It's so delicious. And if you don't have diabetes down the road, you may be able to have it as well, because the truth is, many, many people who have diabetes have reversed it on whole food plant based living. I mean, it is very doable. And if you need some encouragement around this, I mean, you can look up testimonials online, just go online. And we've we've even worked with clients where this has happened. And it's sometimes it doesn't take too long, but go online, and just search and plant based diabetes or whole food plant based diabetes, or you could search like reverse diabetes with whole plant foods. Yeah, and you're going to find a lot of testimonials that are giving give you encouragement, and spur you on to understand that it can happen, it can happen. This is not just a genetic thing, right? We have a lot of power in what we put into our mouths, and how we live our bodies, what type of diseases that we're dealing with on a regular basis. And I know because I've dealt with a lot of different diseases personally that I've had to overcome. And we've seen them go away one by one with whole plant foods. And it's been amazing. And that's why we're so passionate about this because we know that your life can change by living this way. Alright, so we want to go into some of the different low glycemic fruits that you can eat. Now, the lowest one one of the lowest ones that I know of is cherries, and

Jarrod: 14:31

wait, what cherries, but but aren't they sweet?

Anita: 14:35

They're so good. They're sweet, but they're not super sweet. But I'll tell you that's the

Jarrod: 14:39

surprising thing though, is they're sweet, but they're not a high high level of sugar.

Anita: 14:44

Right and they are delicious. They're amazing for you so many health benefits with cherries and look for them in your grocery store. I mean right now at this time of the year, where we live in Florida, and it's right now it's August and so We're finding cherries, organic cherries on the shelves. That doesn't mean they're local, but we're finding them okay. And we eat them quite often and we just pop them in our mouth and spit out the pits or you can use a pit or their cherry pickers. If you don't like that. Or honestly, just the big fat straws that you drink out of sometimes those plastic thicker ones, you can push those right down the middle of your cherry and the pit will pop out on the other side. And that's a great way to as long as it doesn't get stuck in the straw bale. We've used it I mean the little plastic flimsy ones that you get from the store, which I wouldn't recommend buying those anyway just because of waste and all of that could

Jarrod: 15:37

find maybe a reusable stainless steel, stainless steel

Anita: 15:40

and might actually work the best I think just one of the regular sized one nice little handy tip there. Yeah, those weren't great multifunctional tool. I Oh, yeah, you can use it for more than one thing, right? We're all about that. Because I don't have a place to store all that extra stuff. We just want the stuff that we can use for a lot of different things. And then what about grapefruit right very low glycemic index, apricot, pears, apples, we love apples, get yourself an apple slicer, it'll make you smile like nobody's business. We love those things that will core it, slice it everything,

Jarrod: 16:12

we actually have three of them, we they get us so much.

Anita: 16:15

We use them daily. Don't put them in your dishwasher though, there's another handy tip for you because the plastic will heat up get brittle. And that will crack a lot faster. And we've tried some of the metal ones as well and haven't found one yet. That holds up super great. But we use hours daily. And there are six of us probably using Insightly. So I don't expect it to last us as long as maybe it would some people but you can't extend the life you can by not putting in your dishwasher. So there's a little tip for you. But we love those. I mean, it makes such a great kid, a kid friendly snack, but also adult friendly snack because I've been known to just grab an apple slice. I mean, it takes how long people talk about eating this way. It can take so long, it's so hard. Seriously, how long does it take to press an apple core and slicer down an apple, I mean, I can have that done in about two seconds, maybe two seconds. If I'm, if I'm going slow. And then you can dip it and brownie batter him as we have that in the cookbook, you can dip it in, like simnet better if you like nut butter, you can dip it in a little bit of that. And you don't need a huge amount of that maybe if you have diabetes as well, with the fats, you might want to stay on the lower side of the fats, but, but it's good, just a little bit with Apple dipped in it, it's wonderful. And then I've been known to store some cacau in there and, and some I'm trying to think what else sometimes a little bit of vanilla bean or something to get a vanilla flavor. And then you dip it in with the sweetness of that Apple. so so good. Just a simple, easy snack. And really think about this with the fruits that you do eat that are lower glycemic, like the apples, the payers.

Jarrod: 17:56

The next ones on the list of strawberries, we love those when they're off, you can find a good strawberry, there's just nothing like it.

Anita: 18:02

But I was gonna say one other thing with apples, pears, oranges, things like that, that I was mentioning. Get a beautiful bowl that brings you joy, like a clear glass ball, something that brings you joy, leave those fruits out on your counter, the ones that you know, are lower glycaemic that you'd absolutely love a game. We're talking specifically more for diabetes here for the types of foods that you would put in it. But leave those out. And you'll be so much more likely to choose the good stuff when you surround yourself with it. And you can see the beauty of it. And it's just a gorgeous decorative item for your kitchen. I mean, it's naturally beautiful. Peel those stickers off. That's another thing that makes it prettier, and then put them in there and your kids will grab them anymore to and grandkids.

Jarrod: 18:45

It's like an edible work of art.

Anita: 18:49

It is it absolutely is. And then what are some of the other ones you were saying? Strawberries,

Jarrod: 18:54

strawberries and other berries. Those are fairly low glycemic index. And when we first learned that it kind of blew our minds and we hope that we're blowing your mind just like we did when we first heard all this. But then there are peaches.

Anita: 19:09

We laugh

Jarrod: 19:10

good when they're in season.

Anita: 19:11

Yes. dripping down your arm as you take a bite. We've been known to hold overseeing when we eat a beach because if you can get a good like a good page, we're here in the south like a Georgia peach or something like that.

Jarrod: 19:24

And then related to those apricots, nectarines, things like that. If you ban those in season,

Anita: 19:29

but I want to go back to berries because there are a lot of berries that people donate and really honestly most all of us, all of us should try to be getting berries on a regular basis. They are incredible for you. They're low glycemic index but eat the seeds too. So you're eating the berries and you're getting the seeds. There are tons of nutrients in there that you're not going to get anywhere else that you're going to get in a berry. So blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, cherries. What else what other bigger Are you thinking of anything else that I've left out? I mean, there are tons of different wonderful, delicious berries,

Jarrod: 20:07

current. There's those. I'm kind of stuck with the ones you've already said, because those are the ones we commonly see in the grocery store and in the freezer section.

Anita: 20:16

And then there's another thing we eat dragon fruit. Sometimes you can get it frozen in your frozen food section. I don't know what the glycemic index of it but it is not. Excuse me is not super sweet. So I'm thinking No, it's it's about the same level of things like grapes and strawberries like,

Jarrod: 20:34

Yeah, what's index D is from 48 to 52.

Anita: 20:38

Okay, and the strawberries and other beers around for low 4040s. And then you're looking at cherries, the glycemic index of 20. So it's half Okay, so you're still kind of low with the berries. But if you want to go really low cherries are an amazing place to start grapefruits about 25. Dried apricot is 32. I want to mention one other thing that we didn't mention. While we're talking about staying away from the oils and the fats especially well, I don't care, diabetes or no diabetes, that we just recommend staying away

Jarrod: 21:07

from all the refined oils and fats, fats that are naturally present in the plant foods, which there are there. We're not talking about those. I mean, even like in a lettuce, there's still some small amount of fats naturally present there. We're not, we're not addressing that

Anita: 21:22

we're talking about we're pressed out, drained out strained out Kymco chemically removed oils, if you if you ever watch how an oil is prepared to go into a bottle, you might not ever even want to think about it, just take our word for it, you don't want to do disgusting. So what we're not talking about, you know, we're not even talking about other oils, like the oils added to processed foods, you know, the packaged foods and things that people eat all the time we eat those and we don't think about it, you start looking at the back of stuff, things that should never have oil added like your pasta sauce, you're like the sauces. Absolutely, that's another one. That's a pet peeve of yours. I can't stand it. I'll stand in. Why is it in there? Exactly. I'll stand in the store. If you ever run into us in the store, or you ever go into a store and you just hear somebody on the next aisle going, why? why it's going to be me, it's going to be me, although I did make another friend in the grocery store not too long ago, because we're walking down the aisle and I hear behind me, what? What is this? I mean, why is crap in here. And I'm changing his words around a little bit. But you get the gist of what I'm saying he was not happy. And he had just started living healthy plant based come to find out once we started talking. And he was just as disgusted as I get with how they add all this junk to the food. And it just is not necessary, it should not be there. So what you're going to do is you're going to take your time to turn every package over anytime you buy a package, you're going to look at those ingredients, you're gonna say should this be in here? Why is there oil in here? Why is there salt? Why is there sugar? Why are there 20? Things I can't pronounce? Right? And you're going to do that and make sure that you don't buy those products. Okay, so we got a little off topic, right?

Jarrod: 23:16

So I think your point with this was looking for oils in the dried fruits,

Anita: 23:20

exactly. Look for the oils, because it's added to a lot of different things and dried fruit is notorious for it. And it just doesn't mean

Jarrod: 23:28

the only thing I can think of is maybe it acts to keep any remaining moisture in there almost like a barrier or possibly as a way to keep the fruit from sticking to one another. But just not necessary. No, because

Anita: 23:39

coming from someone who buys raisins that don't have it who buys and I'm not recommending that if you had to have diabetes, you start with razors, that's not a great idea. But just start there. I'm using it as an example. So raisins, we buy dried mangoes, we buy all kinds of different dried fruits, no oil added at all. no preservatives at August what they just have one ingredient. And that's the dried fruit shop around. And listen, let people know what you think about how you spend your dollar. Because the way that you shop and what you buy. It speaks highly to the people who are creating

Jarrod: 24:14

products because the things that fly off the shelves, the grocery stores, purchase more of it, man, the companies that sell more are gonna buy more of it. And the companies that sell less they make less isn't an immediate overnight change. No, but you're voting with your dollar. So vote wisely.

Anita: 24:32

I want to go back to one other thing we were talking about with diabetes because we had talked about how fat is the culprit that blocks the ability for sugar to get into your cell. So we're what are the main sources of that fat? Do you think and I think a lot of people would want to know that.

Jarrod: 24:47

It's not what I think is what we know. It actually the and it's not widely spread yet. But science knows this is that it's from animal products the saturated fats from dairy The meat, whether it's chicken, whether it's beef, same amount of saturated fat

Anita: 25:06

fish, fish, people ask about fish all the time,

Jarrod: 25:10

it is still an animal product, it's not really a lesser than. So said the

Anita: 25:17

products, the cheese that all that an exclusive, right? And then just the oils, just eating or added oils and everything like we talked about. So those are

Jarrod: 25:27

there are a lot of saturated fats in coconut and palm oil as well.

Anita: 25:30

And so you're thinking and we heard for a long time Oh, coconut oil is for you. It's to help food. No, let's dispel that myth. Myth, right? And now No, it is not. And you don't need to be eating coconut oil. Not a great idea. Love it, love it as a moisturizer. use it all the time. But it's great for things like that, but not, not in an on your feed. Not a great idea. All right, so we've covered here, different ways to deal with carbs which carbs are good, which carbs are not so good. So we want those whole plant food, carbs, they are not the enemy. They are not the same as a white sugar, a corn syrup, a confectioner sugar, those are the things you need to start getting out of your pantry, get them out.

Jarrod: 26:16

And one other thing I wanted to touch on too with the whole foods is that you have the fiber which you do not have an animal products. And the fiber helps to slow down the absorption of the sugar. So you're not getting this big giant spikes, all at one time.

Anita: 26:28

Great point. That's one of the reasons our bodies deals our bodies deal differently with the whole plant food, sugar Shabbat, it's because of the whole package, everything was created in that thing in that food, right that you need. And when we take it, and we take away from or we add to and that may sound familiar to you, if you're familiar with the Bible, right? We're not to take away and add to his word. Well think about it the same way with the food, you know, we start toying with it and making it our way, and we start taking away and adding to and that's when we start getting into trouble. No joke. I mean, we look at the science. And that's what the science shows when we start taking away from not good. And so we don't want to eat the things that have been removed and highly processed. Because that's not whether you have diabetes, or whether you don't, that's just not good for you. So we've cleared that up. We've talked about how, what are the low glycemic fruits, right, right. And that some things you want to avoid when you go shopping to help to not clog those cells to not forget the ability to absorb that sugar, because you want to be able to function at your highest level. And these things that you've been told or genetic that you'll always have. You will see time and time again, testimonies, testimonials of people. And you'll hear them as you start looking for them of people who've reversed these diseases that they were told they'd have forever. And we're going to be sharing in an upcoming episode about some of our favorite movies that are plant based. You'll want to keep an eye out for that because in that, you'll also get some great testimonials, especially from people who have reverse their diabetes as well. It has been great having you with us today. As always, thanks for giving your valuable time to hang out with us. We absolutely love it. We treasure you, we care about you. And we look forward to hearing more about how you're doing on your plant based journey. We also want you to know if you're new to this path or you've been on it for a while and you just need some new recipes or you don't know where to start. We now have a cookbook bundle for you. It has some surprises in it not just the kickback there are some bonuses available. There are also some courses available that are kind of hidden within that offer. I'm just giving you the inside scoop because you're our listeners and we treasure you guys. So make sure to go if you're interested in getting some new recipes and learning how to live this awesome plant based life. Go to get dot power on plants, cookbook bundle.com and we will look forward to hanging out with you again next time on, I almos said Smarter Healthy Living, n Power On Plants podcast. Have a good da