132: Don't Diet! Eat Great Tasting Food AND Build The Full Life You're After

Hey there, sunshine. Welcome to the power on plants podcast, where your host, Jared 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 everyday 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 of 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, 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 plants is all about. So pull up your chair, grab a matcha latte, and let's get started. You can have your cake and eat it too. But can you really when it comes to getting healthy. It's very interesting. We were out and about this week, and we met a new friend. We're just shopping, went into the store, open the door and just struck up a conversation. And somehow, I don't know how it always happened. I don't

know it's a mystery. But somehow,

people always end up asking us about how to get healthy. And they want to know more when they find out we teach people how to adopt a healthy plant based lifestyle in a way that's really easy that they can enjoy. And it tastes good. So you can do it for life. But there's that obstacle of believing it can't taste good. Like if I'm going to get healthy. The lifestyle that I adopt or the things that I do must in some way involve miserable tasting food, it's got to taste bad if I want to feel better, if I want to get better if I want to reverse this diabetes, if I want my blood pressure to come down naturally. And sometimes they don't even know that that's possible, either.

I'm feeling a side tangent here, just came to me. And I feel like well, it's related. Because you're saying you don't know why we have this, this idea that it has to taste bad. And I just thought, I feel like this is programmed in us by the industries that do dieting, because if they can get you on a diet, you lose the weight, but you hate it, then they can get you back on the foods that you quote unquote love that gotcha there. I don't know. I just feel like there's a profit motive. I could be wrong. But I feel like there's a profit motive for this flip flopping. And it just it doesn't have to be that way. Yeah,

I don't think that's always true. But I do believe that it could be true in some cases. I mean, we don't ever think about that. But the industries may be tied to each other. We talked about that in the last episode. I mean, it's very possible. But either way, what you need to realize is that the lie that you've believed that to get healthy, I'm going to have to adopt this lifestyle that I hate that the food is going to be hard to prepare that it's going to taste like crap. And really, let's just be honest, we think that it's got to taste like diet food. This is not a diet and fruits and vegetables can taste good. You've just got to know how to flavor them and prepare them. So I'm talking to this new friend, we strike up this conversation. And she says, Oh, yeah, hopefully play bass. Okay, so is that wait a minute, that's vegan, right? She said, Oh, yeah, I was a vegan. And I was explaining to her well, it's, it's like veganism, and that you're eating more of the plant foods, you're eating plant foods, but you're not eating the animal products. You're not eating the meat, the cheese, the dairy, the eggs, things like that. Some people eat whole food plant base might eat honey. And a lot of times the motivation behind it is more health oriented than animal activist oriented. although that's not always the case. Some people are vegan because they want to do that for their health. And they also care about the animals and seven people that are healthy plant base really care about the animals and their health. So that's not always the case. But that can be a distinguishing factor. But what's really big as a lot of people are vegans, but they eat vegan junk food. And she went on to tell me once she learned more about whole foods plant based absolutely was a junk food vegan and she said and I felt horrible. So people become vegans. They're still eating the junk food. It's just veganize junk food, processed foods, things that do not fuel their body. Well, they feel bad and then they think well PLANT BASE isn't for me, because I've tried veganism and I felt awful. And the reason is, is your body wasn't getting the nutrients it needed. And she said that she said, You know, I felt awful and she said the one thing I want to do, she said, I'm not focused on my weight. You know, I'm not focused on these different things that will improve with a healthy lifestyle, what my main focus is, I just want to feel good and right then I connected with her because that's all I wanted. I just wanted to be well, I just wanted to be able to chase my children around and go on vacations with my family, make memories and fully experienced life. I wanted to be able to build a business and help people in a way that I knew I was capable of doing. I wanted to have the self confidence to be able to do that, but also have the body that were back at my desired lifestyle. And I just couldn't do it. I was sick. And I was exhausted for you

this happen in your 40s. But our new friend here is in her 20s. I mean, to look at where she's starting at this point going forward, that's even more heartbreaking. Because you think, Oh, my goodness, she didn't even have your 20s and 30s to at least feel halfway decent. Right? Yeah, she's already feeling she's feeling that way at the beginning of her life. And that would be overwhelming and extremely discouraging.

So she said, I just want to feel better. And I got that it was like, Oh, this is my sister, I totally understand where she is and what she's going through in the fact that her body's at a place where she can't do what she wants to do. And she was saying that I feel awful, I can't do the things I want to do. I'm tired, I feel sluggish all the time. And she said, I can eat anything. If I know I'm eating the right thing thing that's going to fuel my body, well, that's going to make me feel amazing and allow me to do things I want to do. And give me the energy I need. I can eat anything, I don't even care what it tastes like. And right there. If you've been here long enough, you know, symptom with through my mind shot through me that said, this is awful. This is awful, that she feels this way. And I feel this way, every time I hear somebody talk about how they're willing to do whatever they have to do to power through, I'm gonna power through, it's really hard to power through 8090 100 years of your life. And that's your daily routine. I'm just gonna power through this crappy taste and fade that I hate or this lifestyle that I don't like. And I just stopped for a minute. And I said, but what if it didn't have to be that way? What if you could eat foods that you absolutely loved, have a lifestyle that you fully enjoy living because you like the foods you like the things that you did on a daily basis to support your health? What if you didn't have to live a miserable existence in order to feel the way you want to feel? And she just stopped. And she was thinking and looking around. And trying to process the fact that that's even a possibility. Because we're taught so many times by dieting, or by quote, health experts, that you have to eat our packaged products, or you have to eat this certain way in order to be healthy, and it never tastes good. Like even in plant based, I'm just gonna go go out there and say this, even in healthy plant base, when I pick up a recipe to try and this happened to me yesterday, nine times out of 10, even from the most popular venues of recipe provision, and I'm not going to name any names, because these are popular ones. Yeah. And I like to look at different people and see what they're doing just to get ideas of different foods people might want to know about but that's where it stops, because I'll look at the ingredients and go, this is gonna taste horrible. We actually looked at one yesterday a recipe for blueberry muffins, and they got five star reviews from all the people who had tried it. Because they're so used to step tasting so bad when they get something that's just a little bit better. They're going this is amazing. This is so good. Like you would never know it was healthy. Let me tell you what, no, you don't need a blueberry muffin that is heavy. That tastes like goop. And think to yourself, This is a best blueberry muffin I've ever put in my mouth. Like for me, it's got to be light and airy. It's got to taste good. It's got to be a almost like an experience like I'm gonna sit down at a restaurant have one of the best meals I've ever had. And that's how I want my food to taste really, really great like that. And if you can experience life in that way where food is not your center, it's not your everything. I don't live to eat anymore. Thank God, I've been released from that, like food used to capture us and it would we think about it all day long we'd be eating a meal and start talking about what are we gonna have for the next meal and the next meal. And it just doesn't have that hold on us anymore. You it leads that it loses that addictive property to where you're not just having all these cravings all the time. And that along spraying that along brings joy that is plant based Joy right there. When freedom Yeah, when you can get rid of those cravings and those things that drive your day to day. But I'm talking about when you sit down to eat, you actually look forward to what's on your plate and you ate it and you leave the table smiling because it was just a really great experience. So there are lot of recipes out there and people try them out till cheered us at it. It frustrates me. And it makes me so sad because even in the plant based realm, you pick up a book and you try maybe five recipes and they're not getting you think, Well, I can't be playing bass playing bass tastes bad. I don't like it. And I can never do this for life. And this isn't reality, like these people are living in some sort of alternate reality. Yeah, they are. Because nobody is going to be able to live that way for a lifetime, and make it stick. The food has got to taste amazing. That's why I say if you're giving up something, you better not leave a hole there. Always, always replace it with something similar, that's going to fill that place for you. That's going to taste as good or even better than the things that you love before so that you don't miss those things. You don't dream about them. And you certainly don't have a need for cheat days. cheat days are gone with this lifestyle. This is why Jared and I've been able to do this for years and years and years. And we never look back. And we'll keep doing it for the rest of our life. Why? Because it tastes great. It makes us feel amazing so we can build the life we want to live. 10 years ago, I was in a place where I thought I was dying at 40. At 40 years old. That's not normal. I'm 50 I feel I don't even know how many times better. I feel. I mean, I can't even describe to you the difference that whole food plant base has made in our lives. We've both lost weight and not even trying. You know we get up every day we eat the foods we live but we focus on our relationships because we're not bound by that fit those food addictions anymore. What do you think some of the benefits of it just the health benefits? I was having autoimmune symptoms. I had clogged arteries, which I don't hear

a lot of those things that have reversed. Yeah, I

don't hear the blood rushing through my neck first. I don't hear the blood rushing through my neck anymore. At night when I lay down on my pillow. And my skin is cleared up. I don't have to use $200 worth of products on my face. I can use something very basic. I mean, people ask our daughter she's 17 all the time and all our children. They don't have acne. What do you put on your face? What's your skincare routine? She's like herbs, soap and water. Maybe a little coconut oil,

berries, really and potatoes and carrots and but we see your skincare routine?

Yeah. Because you see what's on the outside of somebody you look at skin will skin is an organ. And when you have these breaks, and you have these skin problems, like what are some skin problems that people typically heal with healthy,

there's stuff like eczema and dermatitis. I know this isn't skin, but asthma, those types of airway issues. An autoimmune skin disease would be psoriasis that can get better. But I have heard that a very good dermatologist can pick up on things going on on the inside, because a lot of internal diseases or imbalances have manifestations on the skin. So if you've got a rash, a lot of times it's not about the skin, that's just a secondary thing, alerting you to what's going on on the inside. Okay, but

here's what I want them to think about. And this is what we all need to think about. That's not just the case was skin. If you've got blood pressure that's creeping up and up and up and up, you've got cholesterol that's creeping up and up and up. It's not just about your blood pressure. It's not just about controlling the blood pressure. It's not a marker. Exactly. So your blood pressure is telling you there's something going on in the inside. That's not right. And we've come to believe that as people get older, as a society, we've come to believe this as people get older, your blood pressure just goes up. And if your parents had it, then of course yours is going to be high too. Same with cholesterol. Same with all these different things we thought. But we need to think about what are the things that we share with them. We don't just share genes, we share habits, right? And so I want you to understand there are things that you can do about these things that you think are genetic, that you think are just going to be what your story for the rest of your life. Many times, it does not have to be your story many times there is something you can do about it. But you've got fun, enjoyable way of life to do those things. Because otherwise, it's never going to stick. You're never going to be able to do it long term. You cannot eat box meals that tastes like cardboard the rest of your life. You can't make plant based recipes that you spend hours in the kitchen making and you're exhausted afterwards. Either that's not going to work or ones that don't taste good. It's got to be satisfying and enjoyable.

I almost wonder if the going through the that trial and tribulation of the nasty food feels like a rite of passage for people. You know, I had that thought just a few minutes ago that because I want this beneficial desired result. I have to suffer you there's something that I'm doing wrong, which there is but I think it's many times because we just don't know. And that's why we're so passionate. Getting on here and sharing these things with you. But it almost feels like I must suffer and do this thing to get this desired result. But once you get there, you don't want to stay there. Yeah. And there's the prospect you're saying for the rest of your life. If you're in your 20s Do you think I've got 6070 years of this? No, thank you.

No, even in your 60s and you got 30 years, 40 years, 50 years of it? No, it's not gonna work. I mean, you're doing well, if you can keep that weight off for just one maybe two, three years. Five years. You're a champ. But But are you a champ like you think about I've gone through this suffering? Yeah, Jarrod? Like Jared said, we almost see it as a rite of passage. I've done it. I've done the site. But I want you to look at long term to this isn't just about the suffering through and how that doesn't have to happen. Any time you start a new lifestyle, or you've been living one for a while, I want you to look at the long term effects. Okay. You know, yesterday, we were at the farmers market, and there was someone who follows a certain diet pattern, and they had it plastered all over their farmers market thing. And we know that martialled over time, this certain lifestyle makes people sick, it clogs arteries that clogs vessels. And just this morning, Cerd was reading to me, how a diabetes, what was it, it was about how to cure diabetes, breakfast ideas for diabetes, breakfast ideas for diabetes, it was the worst advice I have ever seen. But it's promoting this certain type of lifestyle where you eat a lot of fats, and animal proteins and things that are known to cause clogged arteries that are known to cause blood flow issues, which diabetes is linked to a lot of those different things. It's known to clog your cells so that the insulin cannot get in. Okay, this is the heart of the long term problems with diabetes, people reverse type two diabetes, or at least improve it quite often with healthy plant based living, because those are the foods that you need to have in your life. But we're walking through Was there something you want to say? So we're walking through the farmers market and we see this plastered? Anytime you're following a certain lifestyle? Look at the person who taught it? And who's promoting it. Okay, not in a judgmental way. But look at their body, look at the state they're in. And then look at the long term like Atkins, who started this whole craze. Look up, what was his end? How did things end for him? It didn't end? Well. Certain things got leaked out about his autopsy, his vessels were in really bad shape, his body was in really bad shape. And all these diets are springing off of his original teachings. So you've got to ask yourself, what is the long term effect of this thing. And what I want you to know is once you find out and figure out like we did that, hey, I can heal on whole plant foods, you've got to find a way to have them that you enjoy. It does not have to be misery. We don't want you to be in misery. I don't want you to adopt healthy plant based living and have a miserable journey because every recipe you try is a heavy blueberry muffins, heavy gummy things. And you just think because you're eating whole wheat flour or whole grain flour that's gluten free, whatever it is, you think it's got to be happy. That's just how it is. No, it's not. But you've just got to learn and get those right recipes, and get the right methods and learn how to do it in a way that you can enjoy long term. Enjoy, so that you can stick with it, so that you actually look forward to it. You don't think, well, we're doing this whole food plant based thing I got to keep doing it. No, you want to do it because it makes you feel great. It heals your body, but it also is rather enjoyable to and this is what it's all about finding plant based joy. If you haven't checked it out yet, go to our new website, check out power on plants.com We're starting to get more blog post on there. What we've got some freebies on there, go ahead and grab while you're there. easy ways to get more greens in your life. I mean, that's one a wonderful place to start. Okay, it's just a booklet, an ebook resource filled with all kinds of ideas that you can grab right now for free to help you start on your plant based journey. If you ever have any questions don't hesitate to reach out to us. My email is in Anita at power plants.com Reach out to us there and let us know how we can help you how we can better serve you. We're here for you. We are in your corner sunshine. You have a great day and we will see you again next time on power on plants.