Speaker 1: I'd rather have you eat already caught up vegetables than
Speaker 1: to not eat vegetables at all, or the frozen vegetables.
Speaker 1: Just whatever makes these steps feel doable and not overwhelming,
Speaker 1: because when you go for perfect, well most of us can't,
Speaker 1: none of us can really achieve perfect, and then you
Speaker 1: don't get started at all.
Speaker 2: You are listening to the Plant Based Diet podcast where
Speaker 2: we talk about all things plant based. I'm mister Garth
Speaker 2: and the host of this show and founder of Alternative
Speaker 2: Food Network. Join me in my amazing array of guests
Speaker 2: who are a mix of healthcare professionals, industry executives, and
Speaker 2: people with an interesting story to tell about their plant
Speaker 2: based journey.
Speaker 3: Let us help you.
Speaker 2: With your journey wherever you're at to learn the what, why,
Speaker 2: and how to eat plant based. Happy New Year, everybody,
Speaker 2: and welcome to Season six of Plant Based Diet. Every
Speaker 2: year I say the same thing. I can't believe it's
Speaker 2: lasting this long, so thank you for your continued listening
Speaker 2: and support of the show. In today's episode, I'm joined
Speaker 2: by Michelle Stam, who is a plant based health coach
Speaker 2: and also a returning guest. She's going to share with
Speaker 2: us a quick list of simple, realistic, plant forward eating
Speaker 2: tips that you can use right now, especially after the holidays.
Speaker 2: Many of us have in our minds to start the
Speaker 2: year on a healthier note. That could be with lighter foods,
Speaker 2: more exercise, lowering stress. I want to simplify plant based
Speaker 2: eating for all of you, whether you're a beginner and
Speaker 2: overwhelmed resolution maker, or you're just looking to add more
Speaker 2: nourishing meals into your routine. I'm not a proponent of
Speaker 2: all or nothing plans and diets, and I think this
Speaker 2: is where plant based eating can help. It's not a
Speaker 2: strict rule book, it's just a practical way to feel
Speaker 2: better day to day and long after the holidays are over.
Speaker 2: With this podcast, I want to help you build habits
Speaker 2: that actually last and that support your health, energy, and
Speaker 2: enjoyment of food year round. On a side note, if
Speaker 2: you're curious about the emerging field of culinary medicine, which
Speaker 2: is an evidence based field of medicine that blends the
Speaker 2: art of food and cooking with the science of medicine
Speaker 2: to prevent and treat disease, I encourage you to check
Speaker 2: out the podcast's culinary Medicine recipe, which is hosted by
Speaker 2: a medical doctor who also loves to cook like this
Speaker 2: plant based diet series. Culinary Medicine Recipe is an Alternative
Speaker 2: Food Network production and is available on all major podcast platforms,
Speaker 2: on YouTube, and on our website Alternativefoodnetwork dot com. And Now,
Speaker 2: without further ado, I'd like to welcome our guests for today,
Speaker 2: Michelle stan Hello, Michelle, nice to see you again.
Speaker 1: Yeah, hello, Esther, It's so nice to be here. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for inviting me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's been a couple of years since
Speaker 2: you were on the show. I remember we did an
Speaker 2: episode about plant based roadblocks and helping people get through
Speaker 2: what they perceive our roadblocks, and that's it really well by.
Speaker 4: The way, that episode, oh good.
Speaker 3: You know what, I'm going to include.
Speaker 2: It in the show notes on this episode, so if
Speaker 2: someone does want to hear another episode with you, that'll
Speaker 2: be it'll.
Speaker 3: Be easy for them to find.
Speaker 4: Great.
Speaker 2: So, as I said in my intro, you are a
Speaker 2: plant based health coach. Do you want to explain to
Speaker 2: people what that really means and what you do?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: For sure.
Speaker 1: What I do as a plant based health coach is
Speaker 1: help people who in particular want to improve their health
Speaker 1: through the power of a plant based diet.
Speaker 4: And it's very.
Speaker 1: Important to me as a coach that eating plant based
Speaker 1: becomes doable, delicious, and fun for people, because when things
Speaker 1: are doable, you actually do them, and when they're delicious,
Speaker 1: you actually want to eat them the food, and if
Speaker 1: it's fun, you actually want to stick with it, and
Speaker 1: when you stick with it for the long term because
Speaker 1: you're actually enjoying it. That's how you use plants to
Speaker 1: create health in your body. It can't be just a
Speaker 1: one week New Year's resolution and you can't just do
Speaker 1: it for a week and it's going to change everything.
Speaker 1: You have to stick with it. But you only stick
Speaker 1: with things you enjoy. So that's why everything I do
Speaker 1: here at Wellness Empowered is about helping people actually enjoy
Speaker 1: eating this way.
Speaker 2: And I was going to mention this later in the episode,
Speaker 2: but it's such a fun recipe that I'm just going
Speaker 2: to mention it now. You have shared with me, which
Speaker 2: I will be sharing an Alternative Food Network's newsletter in
Speaker 2: January a recipe for an orange Dreamsicle fruit dip. It
Speaker 2: looks amazing. I can't wait to try it. But you
Speaker 2: were just talking about fun. That kind of stuff is fun,
Speaker 2: and I'm sure it tastes great. So that's just an
Speaker 2: example of what you were doing on how to make
Speaker 2: plant based eating fun.
Speaker 3: If someone wants to.
Speaker 2: Get this recipe, they should just subscribe to our newsletter.
Speaker 3: It's free.
Speaker 2: You just go on Alternative Foodnetwork dot com and click
Speaker 2: that subscribe button.
Speaker 4: Perfect.
Speaker 3: Today's episode is going to be a quick one.
Speaker 2: We want to get people started with good habits, so
Speaker 2: why don't we just run through a list of your
Speaker 2: suggested plant based eating tips.
Speaker 1: The first thing I would suggest to people is, rather
Speaker 1: than going with all the cants, I can't eat this,
Speaker 1: and I can't eat this, and now I can't do
Speaker 1: this anymore, start thinking about all the things you can
Speaker 1: and just start bringing in more plants. Everything is about
Speaker 1: the carrot, not the stick around here, So bring in
Speaker 1: more plants. Don't have to throw everything out that you're doing.
Speaker 1: But you know, maybe you just add an apple to
Speaker 1: your lunch. You start dinner with a salad instead of thinking, oh,
Speaker 1: I can only eat a giant salad for dinner. No,
Speaker 1: just eat the same dinner, but bring in some salad.
Speaker 1: You can just buy the prepared grocery store produce like
Speaker 1: the stuff that's already cut I'd rather have you eat
Speaker 1: already cut up vegetables than to not eat vegetables at all,
Speaker 1: or the frozen vegetables. Just whatever makes these steps feel
Speaker 1: doable and not overwhelming, because when you go for perfect,
Speaker 1: well most of us can't. None of us can really
Speaker 1: achieve perfect, and then you don't get started at all.
Speaker 1: So bring in more plants to squeeze out the other
Speaker 1: stuff is the first step that do it in a
Speaker 1: way that feels doable.
Speaker 3: What's your second tip?
Speaker 1: My second tip is to keep things familiar. So if
Speaker 1: you're making the switch over to a plant based diet,
Speaker 1: whether it's just you and or especially if it's people
Speaker 1: at home, like if you live with kids or something like,
Speaker 1: I think it's better to keep things familiar. So if
Speaker 1: you're a taco Tuesday family, keep the tacos on Tuesday,
Speaker 1: just make them plant based. Or if you're a Sunday
Speaker 1: morning pancake family, keep Sunday morning pancakes, just make them
Speaker 1: plant based. And there's recipes for these things online. And
Speaker 1: then it's also another way to think about keeping flavors
Speaker 1: familiar is if you do have a favorite taco recipe,
Speaker 1: use all the same seasonings. That you're used to just
Speaker 1: swap out, you know, get a ground beef substitute, or
Speaker 1: use beans or lentils or something. But use flavors that
Speaker 1: you and your family are familiar with, flavors you already
Speaker 1: know you like. So don't find a plant based recipe
Speaker 1: with all kinds of weird to you ingredients. Just only
Speaker 1: change little pieces of it and then it'll feel more
Speaker 1: familiar and comfortable, which makes it easier to stick with.
Speaker 2: And I'll just add, since you did bring up pancakes.
Speaker 2: In US, we make pancakes with cashew milk. So if
Speaker 2: you're not going to use dairy or you want to
Speaker 2: substitute the milk that's in pancakes, cash eu milk makes
Speaker 2: pancakes really fluffy.
Speaker 3: I don't know. Have you ever tried that.
Speaker 1: I haven't. I haven't, but I will. Now that's a
Speaker 1: great idea.
Speaker 3: It's great.
Speaker 1: The recipe that I use for pancakes, it's plant you
Speaker 1: Carly bow Drug she's from Canada. I know you are
Speaker 1: as well, so shout out to her. But she has
Speaker 1: a pancake recipe where she uses lemon zest.
Speaker 4: And baking powder in there.
Speaker 1: And what I have found for things like baked goods
Speaker 1: and pancakes and stuff. Is when you use an acid
Speaker 1: lemon z ass lemon juice plus baking powder, it does
Speaker 1: that science thing that we all learned back in school
Speaker 1: and it kind of fluffs things up. But those are
Speaker 1: the fluffiest pancakes I've ever had. But now I'm thinking,
Speaker 1: if I use the lemon zest baking powder combo and
Speaker 1: then add cashew mill.
Speaker 4: They're gonna be the best pancakes in the world.
Speaker 3: They're gonna explode.
Speaker 1: They're gonna explode, but they're gonna be light and fluffy
Speaker 1: while they do.
Speaker 3: So, Okay, Tip number three.
Speaker 1: Tip number three is plan ahead even a little bit helps.
Speaker 1: So I think a lot of times when people hear
Speaker 1: plan ahead, they think of that pinterest refrigerator or pantry
Speaker 1: where everything is in little matching containers and is labeled
Speaker 1: and you have a plan mapped out for the month
Speaker 1: of all the meals you're gonna I am not I
Speaker 1: am not talking about that. I've never been able to
Speaker 1: pull that off, and it is you can, like more
Speaker 1: power to you. But what I'm talking about again is doable.
Speaker 1: So if you can, you know, make up big a
Speaker 1: double batch of soup instead of a single batch, it
Speaker 1: doesn't really take that much longer to make a double batch.
Speaker 1: They'll make a double batch on the weekend. Maybe you
Speaker 1: eat it Sunday night for dinner and then you have
Speaker 1: your you know, package it up for lunches during the week,
Speaker 1: something like that, or making think you and I talked
Speaker 1: to esther about maybe making like bash cooking quinoa or
Speaker 1: rice or something and using that to build your meals.
Speaker 1: So that kind of planning ahead certainly helps.
Speaker 4: But also almost.
Speaker 1: More important, I think is having a plan for a
Speaker 1: way from home, because I think people are used to
Speaker 1: thinking about the organized pantry and things like that for
Speaker 1: planning ahead at home, but a lot of places where
Speaker 1: the clients that I work with get tripped up is
Speaker 1: when they leave their house. You know, all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: you're you're on a road trip and you're starving, and
Speaker 1: now you don't know what to do, and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden you're pulling into a place where maybe they
Speaker 1: don't have a lot.
Speaker 4: Of good plant based choices.
Speaker 1: So planning head like that, packing a granola bar or
Speaker 1: something like that, Or if you're going to an event,
Speaker 1: whether it's a you're invited to a pot luck, or
Speaker 1: a party or something. Maybe find out what they're going
Speaker 1: to be serving and bring something compatible along, or you know,
Speaker 1: talk to the host ahead of time.
Speaker 4: Have a plan.
Speaker 1: If you figure out there's going to be nothing plant
Speaker 1: based there for you to eat, well, then eat ahead
Speaker 1: of time so you don't head and starving and make
Speaker 1: a choice you don't want. And then another planning ahead
Speaker 1: tip is you know when you're going to a restaurant.
Speaker 1: Even if you don't have a lot of heads up,
Speaker 1: I mean you at least you know have the fifteen
Speaker 1: minutes if you're a passenger in the car or something,
Speaker 1: just look up the restaurant ahead of time, because I
Speaker 1: think where people run into problems is if that waiter
Speaker 1: is back for the third time to your table and
Speaker 1: you're like, I don't know, I'll just have something that
Speaker 1: you always used to eat that wasn't plant based. And
Speaker 1: then in that the stress and the heat of the moment,
Speaker 1: you sometimes make decisions you don't want to. So planning
Speaker 1: ahead allows us to access the more helpful parts of
Speaker 1: our brain. We all know we have parts of our
Speaker 1: brain that work when we plan ahead and parts of
Speaker 1: our brain that take over when we're panicked or stressed,
Speaker 1: so we want to access those planning parts.
Speaker 3: Greats, all great suggestions, God, God, else do you go?
Speaker 1: The next step is don't aim for perfection, aim for progress.
Speaker 1: We're always going to do better when we look at
Speaker 1: how far we've come. And this is because our thoughts
Speaker 1: and what we focus on really does create our results
Speaker 1: in life. So if you think about just want you
Speaker 1: to try on two different thoughts. Say you ate five
Speaker 1: plant based meals during the week and and nothing else changed,
Speaker 1: but you ate five plant based meals, which is pretty
Speaker 1: good by the way.
Speaker 4: But if you're.
Speaker 1: Thinking, wow, I ate I ate five plant based meals
Speaker 1: this week, or you could be thinking, oh, I didn't
Speaker 1: I didn't do it again another week, I didn't eat
Speaker 1: plant based like I wanted to. Like my voice is different,
Speaker 1: I know. But think of the feeling that creates in
Speaker 1: your body when you think I ate five plant based meals.
Speaker 1: That feels good, which is going to keep feel moving forward,
Speaker 1: because again, we want to do things that make us
Speaker 1: feel good. Where if instead you think, ugh, I didn't
Speaker 1: get it perfect this time again another week, you're gonna
Speaker 1: feel you know, just down, like weighed down, of like
Speaker 1: I can't do it, And then who wants to try again,
Speaker 1: you know, So focusing on your progress makes all the difference,
Speaker 1: even if your progress is like I bought one bag
Speaker 1: of frozen spinach and put it in the freezer. Yay
Speaker 1: for you, Like that is a step in the right
Speaker 1: direction for sure.
Speaker 3: Okay, well positive mindset right.
Speaker 1: Totally, totally, but not Pollyanna weird positive like I can
Speaker 1: do anything, you know that, because it's not real and
Speaker 1: your brain won't believe.
Speaker 4: That's what.
Speaker 1: It has to be believable, like look at me, I
Speaker 1: actually bought the frozen spinach. Next week, I'm actually gonna
Speaker 1: make the smoothie with it, that kind of thing, So
Speaker 1: it has to be believable. But yes, focusing on the
Speaker 1: positive rather than the negative, definitely, I'll help people get
Speaker 1: to where they want to go faster.
Speaker 3: Okay, I think we're on our fifth point.
Speaker 1: Fifth we are we are, which slides really well from
Speaker 1: the last one, which is celebrate your winds every day
Speaker 1: if you can be thinking about what's working, or at
Speaker 1: least every week, and the winds don't just have to
Speaker 1: be like I accomplished it a fully plant based week.
Speaker 1: They can be I ate plant based breakfast today, or
Speaker 1: I bought cashew milk, or I bought spinach, or the
Speaker 1: scale moved a little bit, or gosh, my food was
Speaker 1: more fun to eat out of this fancy bowl or
Speaker 1: something like that. I had a client, a teenager, and
Speaker 1: she was having a lot of stomach digestive issues and
Speaker 1: that kind of thing. And by going plant based, she
Speaker 1: did create a lot of great health in her body.
Speaker 1: Her digestive issues cleared up, her acne cleared up, she
Speaker 1: lost some weight, she fit into some smaller clothes. But
Speaker 1: talking about and focusing on all of those things as
Speaker 1: they happened really needs such a difference for her, and
Speaker 1: not just in her food and in her health. But
Speaker 1: pretty soon, because her skin was cleared up, she was
Speaker 1: feeling more confident. And then she didn't feel like she
Speaker 1: had to wear makeup.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 1: As a teenager, I remember feeling like I kind of
Speaker 1: had a hype behind my makeup. And so here she
Speaker 1: is with more confidence. And then because she was liking
Speaker 1: her food, she was enjoying cooking new recipes, and then
Speaker 1: that letter to want to have some cook for some friends,
Speaker 1: and then she bought herself this little cute tea set.
Speaker 1: So I share all that of like the winds can
Speaker 1: come from every anywhere, but they really do keep you
Speaker 1: going in a positive direction. And then another client of
Speaker 1: mine she, again, most people come to me to improve
Speaker 1: their health, right that that's what we work on. And
Speaker 1: she did all that as well. She had a lot
Speaker 1: of inflammation in her body. She was waiting to get
Speaker 1: to the rooumatologists but couldn't get in on, you know,
Speaker 1: for months, So we worked together in the meantime her
Speaker 1: RA factor if you know what that is, but it's
Speaker 1: a rheumatoid marker that shows inflammation in your body. All
Speaker 1: those numbers improved, her migraines went away, So she definitely
Speaker 1: had a lot of health improvements. But an extra thing
Speaker 1: that I thought was so cool is she really learned
Speaker 1: about the importance of winds and focusing on the winds.
Speaker 1: And then one day she's a manager of her department
Speaker 1: and it was one of those bad weeks at work.
Speaker 1: So what she did is she just she didn't talk
Speaker 1: at all, and she walked up to the whiteboard on
Speaker 1: the office wall and just wrote the word wins on
Speaker 1: the top, and then she jotted a few down herself,
Speaker 1: and just quietly doing that, her team started writing more
Speaker 1: wins down and then a couple weeks later she wasn't
Speaker 1: even doing it anymore. They were writing wins on top
Speaker 1: of this board even when she wasn't there and keeping
Speaker 1: track of the wins. And I guess I share all
Speaker 1: of that that second story, especially to show like how
Speaker 1: this spills into every area of your life and it's
Speaker 1: making her a more effective boss at work, and it's
Speaker 1: making her a more productive and everything. So I could
Speaker 1: go on and on, and I kind of am, But
Speaker 1: the point is focusing on your wins really does make
Speaker 1: a difference.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And as you said, it relates to the previous
Speaker 2: point about positive mindset and positive reinforcement as.
Speaker 1: Well, right right, And then I think the celebrate your
Speaker 1: wins is really that celebrate piece too, Like it's more
Speaker 1: than just observing them, it's acknowledging them and seeing how
Speaker 1: they really are making a difference in your life.
Speaker 3: And that for our last.
Speaker 4: One, always keep it fun.
Speaker 1: The reason to have fun with it is again, you
Speaker 1: want to do things that are fun. Who wants to
Speaker 1: do things that feel daunting.
Speaker 4: And drudgery and you know all of.
Speaker 1: That, like nobody does, but people want to do things
Speaker 1: that are fun. So if you can make plant based
Speaker 1: eating fun, You're going to want to stick with it
Speaker 1: for the long term. And that's what how the plants
Speaker 1: can keep creating health in your body.
Speaker 2: So when I asked you in advance of the recording
Speaker 2: if you would like to share a recipe with us,
Speaker 2: and you sent me this orange dream.
Speaker 3: Cicle, I'm like, that is so fun. This is really perfect.
Speaker 2: So again, if someone would like to get this recipe,
Speaker 2: it will be in our January twenty twenty six newsletter.
Speaker 3: So please just.
Speaker 2: Go to our website at Alternative Foodnetwork dot com and
Speaker 2: click the sign up button.
Speaker 1: Yes, and I will say, like, I'm so excited about
Speaker 1: that recipe that dip recipes. I loved orange dreamsicles growing
Speaker 1: up as a kid, you know, before I plant based.
Speaker 1: And when I went to create this recipe, I knew
Speaker 1: I didn't want to use nuts in it. My future
Speaker 1: daughter in law is allergic to nuts, so I wanted
Speaker 1: to stay away from that. So I used tolfu as
Speaker 1: the base. But you know, hopefully that doesn't scare any
Speaker 1: on a way, Like it's it's so good and goes
Speaker 1: with fruit and kids love to dip things anyway, So
Speaker 1: that recipe really does exemplify the word fun in a
Speaker 1: really very realistic way, something anybody can make.
Speaker 2: So on behalf of the Alternative Food Network newsletters subscribers.
Speaker 2: I thank you very much.
Speaker 4: You are very welcome.
Speaker 1: I love to share recipes anything to help people eat
Speaker 1: more plants.
Speaker 4: Totally awesome.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 2: Well, we've gone through six quick tips that hopefully will
Speaker 2: get people into the habit of eating plant based foods
Speaker 2: to help them hopefully feel better.
Speaker 3: Do you have any closing message for the audience.
Speaker 1: Yes, I think the main thing is just get started.
Speaker 1: No matter which of these tips landed with you the moles,
Speaker 1: take that tip or that suggestion for spinach in the freezer,
Speaker 1: try the orange dream so to cal dip or anything
Speaker 1: we talked about.
Speaker 4: Just keep moving forward. That's really it.
Speaker 1: I mean, you can't I know, this is an expression
Speaker 1: people use. You can't move apart or you can't steer
Speaker 1: a parked car. So you've got to get moving and
Speaker 1: then you're going to create successes and you're going to
Speaker 1: come up against challenges. But working through those challenges is
Speaker 1: how you're going to get to where you want to go.
Speaker 1: So don't let yourself get overwhelmed and just just keep
Speaker 1: moving forward. That's when if you think about driving in
Speaker 1: the fog, that's how the fog lifts is when you
Speaker 1: move forward. It doesn't you can't see when you're sitting still,
Speaker 1: but then you get moving and you can see where
Speaker 1: you're going. And that's why you've got to get started
Speaker 1: to get things moving.
Speaker 2: So wonderful if someone wants to reach you, what's the
Speaker 2: best way for them to do that.
Speaker 1: I would love to connect with any of your listeners esther,
Speaker 1: that would be great. I offer a forty five minute
Speaker 1: free consultation call where we talk about you and your
Speaker 1: goals for eating plant based and anything that's getting in
Speaker 1: your way, and also some next steps for getting started,
Speaker 1: which you can schedule on the work with Me page
Speaker 1: of my way website, which is Wellness dash empowered dot org.
Speaker 1: And that's going to be hooked up in the show
Speaker 1: notes as well. And if you're not quite ready for
Speaker 1: that call yet, you can sign up for my plant
Speaker 1: based Roadmap to Better Health on my website as well,
Speaker 1: and that walks you through some simple steps for getting
Speaker 1: started some of the tips we shared today as well
Speaker 1: as some others, and then a few recipes, including one
Speaker 1: for bolonaise sauce which uses we talked before about substituting
Speaker 1: in your favorite flavors, but using just a substitute instead
Speaker 1: of like ground beef for example, And this bolonaise sauce
Speaker 1: uses you grind up mushrooms and walnuts and make like
Speaker 1: a ground beef substitute. So even just to sign up
Speaker 1: and learn that recipe then would help you expand on
Speaker 1: your own tacos and chili's and that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: So anyway, head on over to my website is the
Speaker 1: very long answer and sign up for the roadmap, or
Speaker 1: book a call if you'd like to talk more, because
Speaker 1: I would just love to again help you eat more
Speaker 1: plants in ways that you enjoy. That's what I do
Speaker 1: here at Well is empowered, wonderful.
Speaker 3: Well, thank you so much.
Speaker 2: It was great to see you and interview you again.
Speaker 2: Hopefully the episode will do as well as the last one.
Speaker 3: So thank you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you so much for having me here. Esther,
Speaker 1: It's always good to talk with you and your listeners.
Speaker 2: I hope you found this helpful. Please share, rate, leave
Speaker 2: a review, and follow Plant Based Diet on your favorite
Speaker 2: podcast listening platform. You can find us on YouTube and
Speaker 2: Instagram at Alternative Food Network. We also publish a monthly
Speaker 2: newsletter that includes plant based recipes, links to our latest episodes,
Speaker 2: and the occasional giveaway. You can subscribe for free by
Speaker 2: going to our website at alternativefoodnetwork dot com and click
Speaker 2: the newsletter sign up button. Until next time, thanks for listening.
Speaker 2: All content provided or opinions expressed in this podcast or
Speaker 2: for informational purposes only, and are not a substitute for
Speaker 2: professional medical advice. Please seek advice from your doctor or
Speaker 2: other qualified health care practitioner.