Anita: 0:00

We're Adam and Eve counting them. Did God ever tell them to count calories? Keep up our macros, oh, and watch your portions. Watch your portions, because if you eat too much, well, you're just going to have a problem with your BMI, which is another number you need to keep up with. No, just no. Jared is bringing this to you and I think it's just so amazing, because we're counting the wrong things, and it's the only counting that we endorse is counting plants. Hey sister, welcome to the Power, and it's the only counting that we endorse is counting plants. Leave fatigue behind and finally have the energy to do all the things you want to do. Hi, we're Jared and Anita Roussel.

Anita: 0:46

Christ followers, healthcare professionals, parents of four and big fans of great tasting food. We, too, tried exercising more, eating natural and clean foods, but we still found ourselves struggling with what we thought were changes that come with age or bad genes, and we weren't finding answers the traditional route. So we dug into the research and created our secret nutritional weapon sustainable plant-based living. The truth is, you can eat more whole plant foods and it's not hard. You just need the way. That's realistic and delicious so you never feel deprived If you're ready to enjoy your meals, no longer be held back by your health struggles and actively live your life, then you're in. To enjoy your meals, no longer be held back by your health struggles and actively live your life, then you're in the right place. So grab your favorite plant-based cup of happy pop in those ear buds and let's get started.

Jarrod: 1:34

Doing what we do. There's no shortage of food myths or misguided advice that we will hear on a fairly regular basis. Now, whether it's me visiting with patients, anita working with clients, or when we're just out at the public at large, we invariably will hear the same things over and over. Things like count your calories, or you need to count your macros, and the list goes on and on.

Anita: 1:58

Where do you get your protein?

Jarrod: 2:01

That's number one.

Anita: 2:02

How do you survive without meat?

Jarrod: 2:05

I think the evidence would suggest we survive quite beautifully actually.

Anita: 2:09

Happily. I'll tell you what's really happy, though, not to change the subject, but we can pretty much talk about anything right now because I have a chocolate Frosty in my cup. Now, if you want to experience plant-based joy I'm just saying, and you've never experienced Anita's Frosty go right now to poweronplantscom, forward slash cookbook and get your copy of the recipe. It literally takes five minutes to make this. It's a whole nother level. I feel that way about everything we eat and drink, right, jared, because, seriously, if it's not next level, I don't want my name on it. I want it to be something that is going to light you up and help you love this way of living, because this is how it should be. Life should be enjoyable, it should be simple, it should be easy, it should be exciting.

Jarrod: 2:53

If it's not next level, anita will abandon it. I'm not kidding 100%, it's got to be amazing. All of our cookbooks are fantastic, but the vegan chocolate frosty is in our Thrive cookbook, so if you're looking for that one, it's in Thrive.

Anita: 3:06

Ooh, don't miss Thrive, Don't miss original either.

Jarrod: 3:08

Don't miss any of them.

Anita: 3:10

Yeah, it's just, it's the taste of goodness that you're looking for. It's that thing that's going to give you the spark. You'll start finding more new favorites and before long you'll be feeling good and going where has this been all my life? Good and going, where has this been all my life? I mean, one of our clients just told me and we hear this so many times I had been doing this for a while before I found you and found your recipes. But your recipes changed my life, Because I never realized how easy this could be but how enjoyable it could be, Because they had a bad run in with some nasty, gnarly brownies that were dry and crumbly. They had cookbooks that were vegan, cookbooks that had 20 ingredients each. So, yeah, there are things we believe that just aren't true. These myths like it's hard, it's difficult, it takes a long time, or how am I going to get my protein?

Jarrod: 3:58

Now they say count calories, but we say count plants. That's the only counting we do. That's a good one.

Anita: 4:07

Now, unless you like numbers, I'm just saying why else would you want to be counting when it comes to your food? Why? I mean when you could be free to be doing other things, worrying yourself about numbers and keeping up with grams of this and points of that. It's just not going to work long term because it's exhausting.

Jarrod: 4:25

And this would be a more modern convention. I mean, did people count macros 200, 300 years ago? No, they were just eating food.

Anita: 4:33

Were Adam and Eve counting them. Did God ever tell them to count calories? Keep up with macros, oh, and watch your portions. Watch your portions, because if you eat too much, well hell, you're just going to have a problem with your BMI, which is another number you need to keep up with. No, just no. So I love what you're talking about today. Jared is bringing this to you and I think it's just so amazing because we're counting the wrong things.

Jarrod: 4:55

And it's the only counting that we endorse is counting plants. Now, I didn't come up with this myself. I heard about this that in Japan, the Ministry of Health, their recommendation is you want to eat 30 plants per week. The reason being is that they recognize that getting a wide variety of different plants helps to make your gut microbiome flourish, which then adds additional health benefits.

Anita: 5:22

Yes.

Jarrod: 5:22

So they're specifically, from what I could read, recommending this for the gut microbiome, but we also know that all the phytonutrients things that have yet to even be identified are found in plants. But you're not going to get that wide variety if you're just eating those same three or four, your token iceberg lettuce and tomato and cucumber. Nothing wrong with those, we enjoy those regularly, but that's not the only thing that we eat.

Anita: 5:47

So, instead of worrying about the few nutrients that we do know about, think about phytonutrients, all the nutrients that are found in plants.

Anita: 5:53

We've talked about this, but I want you to really wrap your mind around it this time All these nutrients that have been discovered that haven't even been named yet, tens of thousands of them that scientists have discovered. But then think about all the others that God's put in there, that they haven't even discovered or seen yet, that are yet to even be discovered and we're worried about a couple and keeping up with the grams of this and that and figuring out the best ways to get them, when you could just eat more plants. That's so much more enjoyable and you know you're going to be getting a wider variety than you would have before if you just think. Okay, that's simple 30 plants in a week, 30 different plants in a week. So the question then is are you currently getting 30 plants a week? How do you know that? Set yourself a five minute timer and just brainstorm and write down all the plants you regularly buy and you're actually eating during the week. See how many there are. Be honest with yourself, because this can change everything for you.

Jarrod: 6:42

And, as you do this, I want you to expand your thinking, though, because it's not just the lettuce, the tomato. If you listen to our last podcast episode, I was giving you my new favorite oats, and I want you to count this for me, anita.

Anita: 6:55

You're making me hungry again, though All right.

Jarrod: 6:57

Well, that's all right. We can eat after this podcast episode I like it.

Anita: 7:01

And you know why we can do that? Because we're not counting calories and we feel hungry now, so we can just go eat and enjoy it.

Jarrod: 7:08

Absolutely. So we start with my ball. So oats, that's one. Then I put pumpkin pie spice in it. Now you may not be thinking of that as a plant, but what does that have? It's got nutmeg, it has cinnamon. I'm sure there's some other things.

Anita: 7:23

I think it has cloves, different things, ginger. I'm not sure what all's in it, I just know it tastes fantastic, so you have that.

Jarrod: 7:29

So okay, let's just say there's four To the oats, so that's five. Now I will add some extra cinnamon.

Anita: 7:40

Oh, so you're counting your spices. You're counting the spices too. Yes, they're plants, and you're getting nutrients from that.

Jarrod: 7:45

So I add vanilla, that's six. Then I put water, that's not really a plant. Then I put some date syrup, that's seven.

Anita: 7:53

Jared you're plant stacking.

Jarrod: 7:56

Exactly, then I'll throw some blueberries on there. That.

Anita: 8:05

Exactly. Then I'll throw some blueberries on there. That's eight. Maybe I might throw a little mango, that's nine. In one dish I have had nine plants, do you not?

Anita: 8:09

think this is one of the best things about eating the power on plants method. When you use our method, you're not making like we grew up and you have to come up with all these different dishes. Like you have a main that's a meat, and then you have a side that has meat in it and you have another side that has oil and meat in it meat and then you have a side that has meat in it and you have another side that has oil and meat in it. You have to come up with all these different sides to fill your plate, and if you can learn how to make these one dish meals that are so simple, it's going to blow your mind. But it's a one dish meal, but it has all these different plants in it.

Anita: 8:31

Think of the wide variety of nutrients that you're getting now when you're plant stacking. It's so much simpler too. I want you to think about the fact that if you're the one that does most of the cooking and preparing of food, it is so much easier to get a lot of plants into one dish than to figure out all these different dishes you have to make using the different plants. Just wrap your mind around that one thing. Can you see how much easier this would make things for you.

Jarrod: 8:53

Historically, if you had a hunk of meat and the meat was the meal then you'd do a side of corn, a side of lima beans, maybe some rice in my house, or maybe potato, so that would be three, whereas in my bowl of oats I've just named nine.

Anita: 9:07

True true, although we did plant stacks. Sometimes we're stacked different things. Like if our parents made maybe a little side salad or something, but it still would have a couple of ingredients, not a whole lot. Like if we were making up a stir salad in the power plant's way. Right, it's totally different. So you're going to learn, as you work with us, the ways to get more and more and more of these in your life.

Anita: 9:28

But what we want you to do today is take out a sheet of paper or apple notes, something like that, and just jot down very quickly, set the timer for five minutes what whole plant foods am I eating right now on a regular basis and what am I not getting? So first you want to look at it. Just think what am I getting? Don't think about what you're not getting yet. What am I getting? Set that timer, write everything down, brain dump it. Ask your spouse, ask your kids. Look in your pantry. What's there? I guarantee you, if it's not in your pantry and it's not in your fridge or freezer, you're not eating it on a regular basis. You're not. You might think you are, but you're not. And the little token slice of thin, unripened tomato on your daily burger does not count. I'm just saying Like that, just you can't count that as a full serving.

Jarrod: 10:07

It is a plant.

Anita: 10:08

Yeah, you can count it, but it feels like cheating. It just feels like cheating.

Jarrod: 10:12

It's not going to undo the burger. I'm sorry, it's just not so. It really is not as hard as as you might think. And look at things like black pepper. That's a plant, Italian seasoning, I mean.

Anita: 10:27

It has thyme oregano and rosemary and our particular blend has a couple of other spices in it. So again you're stacking.

Jarrod: 10:30

So don't just look at the big part of the dish. Also, look at all the different things that you're adding, because those add flavor, but they add nutrients, they add benefits to them.

Anita: 10:39

Look at the color. Is everything on your list white? If it is, you need to add more color in there. Excellent point. And if it's all green and you eat green cabbage, well, why are you not eating purple cabbage, right? Add some of that in there. And so one thing you want to do once you've spent your five minutes, you jot down what you're actually eating. Look at room for improvement. Don't use it as a judgmental tool. It's like what could I add? This week, add a couple more. The next week, add a couple more. Make those regulars that you get on rotation. How do you make that easy? You find your new favorites. You get in Pi, our community service group at powerandplantscom forward. Slash Pi, where you come into community and share and learn and grow, and you get ideas for new things that you can easily add in as you find your new favorite meals.

Jarrod: 11:23

And don't look at this exercise that Anita has just given you as a chore. Look at it as a challenge. If I'm missing the purples, what can I get? Blueberries, purple, sweet potatoes ways to get more flavor, but also more nutrients and more health benefits.

Anita: 11:38

Blackberries.

Jarrod: 11:40

Yes, blackberries.

Anita: 11:41

Okay. So now you have your list and you're thinking, okay, now I have this list and you can kind of scratch off, add to it, keep it somewhere where you can see it. But what's easier that's already set up for you is an app that's out there. It's Dr Greger's Daily Dozen. Okay, so if you go on that, that is an easy way to start getting more variety. Use it. It's going to help you vary things up and just keep thinking 30, 30.

Anita: 12:09

I want to try to get 30 a week and kind of look at it and tweak your list and use the Daily Dozen as another tool to help you, because you can just click, click, click. What am I eating in a day? I'd say, don't do it forever. You don't have to do these things forever. It's just a tool to help you get started, so that you can expand your horizons and get more of the life-giving foods into your world, so that you feel like you're alive. You eat the life-giving foods. You feel like you're alive, right? That just makes sense. And then again, like we talk about, those, opportunities start opening up for you, because now you can, because your body is a tool that's going to get you where you were created to go. If your tool is not working well, you're like a broken down car on the side of the road. You're stuck.

Jarrod: 12:54

It's still a car, but it's not going anywhere.

Anita: 12:56

It's just a terrible place to be. I was there for so long and my heart goes out to you if you're there, but I want you to leave encouraged that it does not have to stay that way for you. This is one simple way to get going. Anita, I don't know what to do, but there's so much information. Okay, take one thing, just one thing. I always say this, just one thing. So today, take out that one piece of paper, get out your one timer. Use your phone. I don't have a timer. Use your phone. You probably have a phone. I don't have a phone. You have a computer. There are timers online that are free. Like there's always an excuse.

Jarrod: 13:25

All you have to do is say, hey, siri set a five minute timer. Right and it will do it.

Anita: 13:30

We love you too much to let you keep using excuses. If you've listened this long, you're ready for change. So do this Get out the sheet of paper, count them, see if there are 30. If there aren't, what else could you add? If you?

Jarrod: 13:55

had 30,. Could you eat 31? Challenge yourself to add one more. Or if you eat those same 30 and you look back and you realize I'm in a rut and I've been eating these same 30 for quite a while now, what could you switch up?

Anita: 14:03

Bury it up. That's so good, so good.

Jarrod: 14:07

I think it would be helpful to do this from time to time as just a snapshot, like Anita said, not something you want to do every single day, but maybe put it on your calendar once every three months just to do a quick snapshot and assess what am I eating? Am I still getting a good variety of different types of plants? Am I stuck on the same thing over and over again? What could I switch up? That way it changes my profile.

Anita: 14:29

And there is always something new and exciting to try In the plant world. It's amazing how many options you have and we keep on repeat buying just those same 10 to 15 things over and over. Switch it up Like okay, so you always buy potatoes? Do you buy sweet potatoes? Yes, Anita, I buy sweet potatoes. Are they always orange? Yeah, I didn't know. There were other colors. Are there other colors? Yes, there are. Oh, yes, you need to be eating the other colors of sweet potatoes the purple ones and the white ones, If you haven't discovered those yet. You have some great things coming and we're about to have a post come out about that.

Anita: 15:01

I have a feeling inside our community. So, again, you need to get in there. You're not going to want to miss this because there's someone in there that you're about to meet and she has a great idea of how to prep these potatoes. So get in there right now. You're not going to want to miss it. At poweronplantscom forward slash P-I-E. Sunshine. Isn't this exciting? There are so many amazing ways you can start to feel better. Take one, just one. Implement it today and then, before long, you'll be living your God-given dreams. You are loved, you are prayed for and we'll see you again very soon, Thank you.