SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hi, Anita. Welcome to my clinic. It's so great to meet you. Before we get started, I'd like to get a little bit of background history. Okay. For starters, are there any health issues, any diagnoses that you have? Oh no, I'm healthy. Oh, okay. Well that's great. Any medications that you take?

SPEAKER_01: 0:16

Yes, I take lysinoproll for my blood pressure and lipitor for my cholesterol.

SPEAKER_00: 0:21

But I thought you said you were healthy, that you didn't have any health issues.

SPEAKER_01: 0:25

Oh, no, no. All my numbers are really good, so I'm very healthy.

SPEAKER_00: 0:29

Well, actually. Welcome to the Power on Plants Podcast, home of the purpose-driven men and women who refuse to let their body become the bottleneck to their God-given calling.

SPEAKER_01: 0:40

If you're building a business, raising up the next generation, and carrying vision, but behind the scenes your energy is fading, inflammation is rising, your labs aren't great, and you're wondering how much longer can I keep pushing like this, it's time to fix the fuel.

SPEAKER_00: 0:56

You've accomplished a lot in life, so you know you don't have a discipline problem and you're not just getting older.

SPEAKER_01: 1:03

Your body needs the strategy that matches your assignment. Whole plant foods the exciting, sustainable way that fuel razor shark focus, optimize energy, reverse inflammation, and the most common chronic diseases of our time. All while you enjoy every single bite.

SPEAKER_00: 1:20

So if you're done feeling older than you are and you're ready to show up strong, think clearly, multiply your impact, and actually love the meals that move you to optimal health. You're exactly where you need to be.

SPEAKER_01: 1:30

So grab your earbuds and let's maximize your power on plants. You're a purpose-driven leader, your calling isn't slowing down, and you absolutely refuse to let the enemy steal any more of your destiny. This is Power on Plants, the podcast where we make high-performance health simple, enjoyable, and sustainable so you finally have the unstoppable strength and productivity you need to completely live your God-given dreams. I'm Anita Roussel, a nurse and certified integrative nutrition health coach.

SPEAKER_00: 2:03

And I'm Jared Roussel, physician assistant and lifestyle medicine professional.

SPEAKER_01: 2:07

In every episode, we show you exactly how to fuel your body the way it was designed to thrive. So you can finally experience what it feels like when inflammation fades, your energy returns, and the stubborn health struggles actually resolve. And here's another one of our favorite parts what you won't find here. No exhausting dieting methods, no willpowering through, foods you can't stand, and no woo-woo. Because you deserve to be truly healthy. Spirit, soul, and body. If you're ready for the complete step-by-step system, we'll walk you through it inside accelerator at poweronplants.com forward slash accelerator. Now, if you didn't hear a little intro skit, you might not know what this episode's about. So maybe you shouldn't press fast forward so much. Yeah, I know what you do.

SPEAKER_00: 2:58

I know what you do. A little fast forward there because you think you know what to expect. Don't do that. We give surprises every now and then, and I think it's going to become more frequent. I actually enjoyed that. That was kind of fun doing a little skit there, mixing it up a little bit.

SPEAKER_01: 3:11

It was fun. And the whole purpose of the skit was what Jared hears on the regular from his patients. And I want you to tell them just a little bit about that scenario. Because when you have new patients coming in to see you, a lot of times there's this idea that I'm healthy, and that's not really what's going on.

SPEAKER_00: 3:29

People tend to equate an overt lack of symptoms as the same thing as being healthy. Or possibly they have controlled numbers like lab results, vital signs like blood pressure that are on that piece of paper. So they say, Oh no, those are good. I must be healthy now.

SPEAKER_01: 3:46

So in the skit, what happened is I came in as a new patient. Jared says, Hey, welcome to the clinic. You know, and then he starts saying, Do you have any health issues? And I say, Oh, no, no, no. I'm really healthy. And then he asks if I was on any medications. Oh, well, yeah. Matter of fact, I'm on this blood pressure med, I'm on this cholesterol med. And then he acts confused.

SPEAKER_00: 4:06

He says, So But I thought you said you were healthy. Well, well, I am. I am healthy. My numbers are great. Well, great numbers don't always equal health. Now, it's good to have controlled blood pressure because blood pressure that's elevated can cause problems. Yes. But what is causing that problem? So, with this particular topic, there are three points that I really want to highlight. The first, and like we've said, I've had patients that because they have no overt symptoms or they're controlled on medications, they assume that that means healthy. But are you really healthy? Or are you a managed sick person?

SPEAKER_01: 4:46

And this reminds me of the frustration that you had years ago. I mean, I remember we went to Orlando and we rented a house there. We took the whole family, and Jared had gone to this conference. So one day he came home from the conference and he looked at me and said, I cannot do this anymore. And I'm going, what is he talking about? Like, are we about to be jobless? I don't know what's going on here. Oh no. He said, No, seriously, I cannot do this anymore. What are you talking about? Okay, so I just sat through hours of meetings where it went kind of like this. The doctor's standing up on stage, very intelligent man, completely firm in what he teaches, right? Very knowledgeable. So he's up there and he's pointing at the screen and he's going, if their blood pressure's in this range, you give this medicine. And then if it goes to this range, you give this medicine. And then if it goes to this range, you add this one. And then this range, you add this one, this range, you add this one. He said, It went on and on. And I was thinking, are you kidding me? Like there is a problem here. The problem is, he said, I'm so tired of managing disease. I didn't go into medicine to help people manage symptoms. Yes, if they have bad things, we want to get them under control, right? That makes perfect sense. That's not what we're saying here. What he was expressing to me is his disgust with the system of not getting to the root issue of the real problem. If you're not productive, if you have low energy, if you have all these symptoms creeping up that are making you feel like dump, so that you cannot live the way you were created to live all the dreams, all the things you're meant to do, your body's now starting to hold you back from fully living it. Yes, you've had success. Yes, you're still showing up. You're pushing through, but silently you're suffering and you are a go-getter. So you keep pushing through, pushing through, and you're going to appointments, nobody's giving you the real answer. You keep Googling symptoms, trying to figure it out. And there's more medicines and there's more side effects. And this one, if this isn't right, and this one if that isn't right. And it's like, why don't we just figure out what is going on here? I mean, that's a novel idea, right? Ding, ding, ding. Why don't we just figure out what's causing the problem?

SPEAKER_00: 7:01

That was really the revelation that I had as I was sitting there listening to him go on and on. And again, he was very knowledgeable. And these medications would have controlled the problem or the side effect of the problem. They didn't really go to the heart of the issue. And that was the realization that I had.

SPEAKER_01: 7:16

And you said to me, it's kind of like, do you remember what you told me it was kind of like?

SPEAKER_00: 7:20

Well, I I had this mental imagery of it's like we're sitting there throwing lit matches into a hayfield. Now, I've never done this, but I've seen people take wood matches and they set them on the little striker and kind of flick it just for, I don't know, entertainment. Because it'll light and then go flying through the air. I guess it may be like some cheap fireworks or something.

SPEAKER_01: 7:41

Bad idea for entertainment. Don't do that. Don't do that. Not a good idea.

SPEAKER_00: 7:44

But I thought it's like we're flicking lit matches into a hay field and then we're trying to figure out what's the best fire extinguisher to put this out. If it's a small fire less than two feet in diameter, use this fire extinguisher. If it's five feet in diameter, you need this bigger fire extinguisher. If it's bigger than that, then you need one that has a different chemical. Or multiple fire extinguishers. Multiple fire extinguishers.

SPEAKER_01: 8:06

So think about that. Wrap your mind around that for a second. Picture someone throwing lit matches into a hayfield and then saying, What can we do to put it out? Yes, you have to get it under control. But how about we just stop flicking the matches in the first place or stop lighting the fires because something is starting the fire, right? If you have a fire going on, if there's something going on with your health that is wearing you out and you're exhausted, what is causing it?

SPEAKER_00: 8:37

And the analogy there that I had in my mind is that we know that there's inflammation within the blood vessel. So inflammation is like fire. And then the final part of that whole analogy is that even though we're putting the fires out, if that goes on long enough, what is the final effect? The field is burned up. You've got ash everywhere. Even though you've not lit this whole thing ablaze and you've got this five alarm fire, we've managed it, quote unquote. I'm doing air quotes right now, but that's all we've done. We've managed it. We've kept the inflammation at a low level. That doesn't mean that there's not still issues, that there's not still damage going on long term. So, with all of this, the distinction is important because if you think you're healthy while you're on pills and that's just how it is, you don't ever look beyond that because I'm now I'm healthy. Congratulations, Jared. You're healthy now. You never look at, well, what was the cause of this? What was the genesis? And I don't really blame you because we as providers really aren't taught that. We're taught with regard to blood pressure, since we're on that example, we're taught blood pressure as a pathology and what can potentially happen if that's not controlled. But we never look at what's causing that red light indicator on the dashboard. It's like we just put a piece of tape over and say, I don't see it anymore, so nothing's going on.

SPEAKER_01: 9:59

And what breaks my heart there is then you're adding one thing and then you're adding another thing and another thing to take care of symptoms. And maybe some of the new symptoms that happen happen after you start taking the meds and you're healthy, but now you have to manage the symptoms of the meds that you're taking. And so you're taking more meds. So where does it end? If there's no real answer and you keep taking the same things again, where does it end? And so we have to find the happy ending here. Like, are you a happy ending girl? Like, I am a happy ending girl or a happy ending man if you're if you're guy listening, right? I'm such a happy ending girl.

SPEAKER_00: 10:35

Such an understatement. You could have the most awesome movie, it's wonderful, but in the last two minutes, the main character dies or the couple breaks up or whatever. It's like, that's the worst movie ever. I am never watching that again. That was a horrible, horrible movie. Spot on 100%.

SPEAKER_01: 10:53

And so taking meds to manage symptoms, meaning, I'm not talking about an acute thing like if you've got a blood pressure through the roof, you need to take some meds to get that down and then get the lifestyle right. We're not talking, we're not an anti-medication. What we're talking about is the chronic use of medication that most everyone in our society is doing today that is keeping them sick and nearly dead, like just barely functioning and thinking that we're healthy. And so this is not the happy ending that we're going for with you, especially as kingdom leaders. You have an assignment, a divine assignment that you were placed here to do. You have people waiting for your magnificence. And you cannot show up in the fullness of all that you were created to be. Yes, you can manage things and keep showing up to kind of do what you were called to do and have success and be making good income, but not have the full impact that God wanted you to have on this earth. Because, in other words, you're not living the happy ending. The happy ending is well done, good and faithful servant. You were a good steward of all that God gave you. We have to ask, am I being a good steward when I'm plugging into the system and allowing it to tell me that I'm healthy? If I just take these meds, it'll all be okay. Are we going for okay or are we going for the real happy ending?

SPEAKER_00: 12:10

I want exceptional. I don't want just okay.

SPEAKER_01: 12:13

Me too, 100%. I'm in, and this is about kingdom advancement. There are hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands who are going to hear this and say, no more to the enemy. No more am I plugging into this system without asking better questions. No more am I going to eat the foods that are keeping me stuck and not be getting the ones that are fueling my body right. I can figure this out. It is not hard. These are the kind of things we need to be saying to ourselves because we're truth tellers. We don't want to live and state lies to ourselves and stay stuck in this spiral of thinking that okay, that managing is our happy ending because it's not. It's never going to be the happy ending. And we want for you the happy ending because if you and then Susie, who's listening to this episode, and John, who's listening to this episode, and Robin and all the people who are listening, we're all a part of one family, right? As God's children and as kingdom leaders, we are on assignment together to bring his kingdom come to this earth. How awesome is that? What a beautiful gift we've been given to have these talents and these abilities that God is living through us to help other people get set free in that area of your expertise. That is why the enemy wants to keep you stuck. That is why you need to wage war against this and say, no more. We are banding together. This is a movement. This is not just about one person getting healthy. It's about us breaking the lies. As in this first point where Jared's saying that lie of because my symptoms are quote, managed, that I'm healthy. That's just not true.

SPEAKER_00: 13:54

And we know 80% of what we see in our healthcare system here in the United States is lifestyle choice related. So the way that our modern system is built, who wins in that scenario? It's just a question that I think bears asking. Step back, that 30,000-foot view. If 80% of our society or the health issues don't necessarily have to be, but they're there. We're trained to treat the symptoms with the medication. Who wins in that scenario? I'm pretty sure they can answer that for themselves. I don't think it's us. So again, I'm not making any accusations. I'm just asking a good question here. Such a good question. Such a good question.

SPEAKER_01: 14:35

And we do need to ask these kinds of questions.

SPEAKER_00: 14:37

Point number two, maybe you are unaware of your symptoms. So before we talked about you're on medications, but your symptoms are controlled, and yes, you know you have a problem, but you equate that with being healthy. Right. Point number two is what if you're unaware of your symptoms? I say, yes. I remember this was your story. This was my story. That's why I have it in here. It's possible to not feel good and not know it. What if you've always just eaten poorly? That's the way you grew up. I mean, we grew up eating sausage and steak and chicken. You grew up in a barbecue restaurant. So we just always ate this way. Dairy, ice cream, egg. I mean, it was just a normal part of your diet. Right. But you likely feel a level of fatigue or malaise, but because that has always been your norm, you don't know any differently.

SPEAKER_01: 15:28

Right. I mean, if you're always functioning at that level and that's what you've always felt, how would you know that anything else was an option? And that's how you are. We started making these changes because of my poor health, not realizing and all the bad situations I found myself in and unable to do the things I needed to do, low energy, low productivity, exhaustion, weird symptoms, things I didn't know what was going on with my body. And so we start eating this way and we start changing things and doing the research and one step and the next step. And all of a sudden, we're freed from symptoms. I'm getting better, but not only that, he's going, I had no idea this was even a problem.

SPEAKER_00: 16:06

Some of my aches and pains are gone. I just thought it was because it was the way I was sleeping, or it's just normal. I'm getting older. They went away. Shoulder impingement, bursitis in my hips, gone. Aches and pains, gone. And I see this with patients and clients. Whenever they go all in, they eat this way very quickly. They say, I had no idea how bad I felt until now. I feel great. So then looking back, I realized what I thought was just normal was not normal. Not normal. So it is possible that you don't feel good. You just don't know that you don't feel good. I know it sounds like a weird concept, but just trust me on this. We've seen it so many times. It happens. And then point number three, the evidence of your sickness may not manifest itself initially. There may be things going on under the surface that don't yet produce a symptom, but are still there nonetheless. So it is possible for you to have a rise in your blood pressure to a certain degree before you feel any symptoms, or your cholesterol or your blood sugar numbers can start to rise. And there's this margin there where it's happening, but you don't feel it. And then when it gets really bad, then you start having symptoms.

SPEAKER_01: 17:16

Well, think about the research with children. What do they find about the arteries and the vessels?

SPEAKER_00: 17:21

Excellent point. I wasn't even thinking about that. They have studies where they find fatty streaks in the arteries of children as young as four years old. It's quite common. It's quite common. Four years old, eating the standard American diet. So they're eating the McDonald's on the way to preschool or you know, fried chicken or pizza, just the standard American diet. As young as four years old. This isn't a 40-year-old disease problem. And this doesn't just start a year before you have the heart attack. This is a lifelong thing that builds up slowly over time. That's why we're so passionate about this for people. Even if you don't feel bad, I tell my patients that are in their 20s. I wish I would have known back then what I know now, because Anita and I could have avoided a lot of these issues that we had. I'm thankful we feel better now, but what could we have avoided? A lot.

SPEAKER_01: 18:08

A lot of things we didn't want. But you know what I'm thinking about the whole time you're sitting there talking, I'm thinking about how thankful I am for the accelerator framework and for this method that we teach. Because what makes us so different in this space, well, there's a lot of things, but what makes us very different is the fact that we show you how to make this taste good and work with your busy schedule. So Jared's talking about the problem is they let the kids have fried chicken and pizza and ice cream and like all the things he's naming off. And in your mind, I know exactly what you're doing. You're going, but I love those things. Those are the foods that I love to eat. Of course you do.

SPEAKER_00: 18:44

And you may even call them quote unquote good.

SPEAKER_01: 18:47

But the thing that makes us different is we're not going to say, you can never have those things again. We're going to show you how to have those things in an upgraded way that you like just as much or even better than your old favorites. Like, I don't miss fried chicken or chicken nuggets. We used to get chicken nuggets all the time. We have a way to make those that you will not believe. Seriously, I could give those to anybody who ate chicken nuggets and they would think they were eating a chicken nugget if they did not know we were playing base. They would not ever know. And we have the replacements for all the things to make your foods creamy and cheesy. And we show you exactly how to do this inside accelerator. We're even working on, I'm going to tell y'all secretly, like we're working on creating an event where you can come to the Emerald Coast, be in a really amazing place. I'm not going to give it all away, have some incredible experiences, get in the kitchen hands-on with us because you're busy leaders. We don't have time to try to figure all this stuff out on our own, right? What would it make possible for you if we could spend three days together and send you home with the game plan where you've been able to get in the kitchen and do these things with us by your side, showing you five-minute meals, 10-minute meals, 15-minute meals that you can do on repeat that you like just as much as your old favorites, even the fried chicken. Like, what if we could show you how to do chicken nuggets that you like just as much as your old favorites? And I could show you how to make Chick-noe sauce to dip them in. No joke. Like it's a no-brainer. And so what you think, what you've been trained to believe, is that you can no longer have the things you love if you want to get healthy. Diets have trained you that way. The establishment has trained you that way, but you can still have them. You're just going to eat them in the upgraded way that you actually love that loves your body back. And it's hard to believe if you've been dieting. I mean, I was talking to Jared before this podcast about how I used to sit in all these different weight loss things with my mom. I've been through it all. Like I know them. Weight watchers, nutrition, all the different things I went through with her and these tiny little portions of nasty tasting food or having to keep up with points and do things that are unnatural. And it's miserable. Like that's never going to last. So I love what makes us different. That's what I was thinking about. Like you were going through all the different things that the kids are eating that are causing the fatty streaks. And I'm thinking, but they could have those same things in an upgraded way, never develop the fatty streaks and never end up where we ended up at 40 in a health crisis. And even you in the health crisis, not even knowing you were in one and finding out later, oh, I actually was having different things and I didn't even realize it until you get off the food and all of a sudden your body feels great and it functions differently than it used to.

SPEAKER_00: 21:23

Yes, it does. And that is such a beautiful thing. So to recap this episode, your lack of obvious symptoms does not necessarily equate being healthy. With point number one, if you're on medications and some of those numbers are controlled, that just means you're a managed sick person. That doesn't mean you're healthy. Point number two, maybe you're unaware of the symptoms that you're having, but you just don't know it because you've never felt amazing. And point number three, you may not have any symptoms yet. The disease process may be going on underneath the surface. You just haven't reached a level of having symptoms, but that fire's been started, my friend, and it will get bigger.

SPEAKER_01: 22:06

And we don't ever want you to end up in that situation. That is why we keep showing up here for you, loving on you, sharing with you about the vehicle that will get you to your desired destination. And sometimes just revealing that there actually is a vehicle. Because some people have never heard of this before. Jared has patients all the time say to him, Why has someone not told me this? If you don't know what vehicle we're talking about, or you haven't heard this episode, 379, go back and listen to it. It is going to change your life. It's called, What do I do? The one answer that reverses disease without meds or diets. Again, that's 379. Hit play on that as soon as this episode's over because you are going to love that one. And then the one that comes after at 380, also a life changer. And it goes perfectly with that episode. So those are two cannot miss episodes that are going to change your life. Friend, we have loved spending time with you again today. Know that we genuinely care about you and you do not have to stay stuck in your health struggles. We are here for you and would love for you to join us inside Peak Performance Network, our amazing community where your plant-based family hangs out. You can join us there at poweronplants.com forge slash PPN. That's for Peak Performance Network. Have a wonderful week and we will see you soon.