PLANTSTRONG Rip Esselstyn

Sgt. Vegan, Bill Muir, has always had a “think outside the box” attitude – from being a straight-edge punk rocker to going vegan in 1992, and then joining the military just after 9/11 where he served as a US Army Paratrooper.
And all of this - YES - as a hardcore vegan. Needless to say, it wasn’t easy, but he was (and is) so convicted and grounded in his values that he made it work.
Today, Sgt. Vegan chats with Rip about:
How he became a hardcore straight-edge vegan
Why he joined the military to give back
How he made it through basic training as a vegan
What it took to procure his own food and remain grounded in his values
Why he’ll never eat chili again and what he eats these days
Today, he is a Registered Nurse at a VA Hospital in LA, where he continues to stand up for those who need assistance. Whether it’s helping humankind, animals, or our planet, Sgt. Vegan is ready to serve.
Episode Resources
Watch the Full Episode on YouTube
Sgt. Vegan Website
Sgt. Vegan Instagram @sgt_vegan
PLANTSTRONG Meal Planner - use code: STARTFRESH to receive free two weeks
Join our PLANTSTRONG Sedona Retreat - October 9-14, 2023
To stock up on the best-tasting, most convenient, 100% PLANTSTRONG foods, including our all new chilis, check out all of our PLANTSTRONG products HERE.
Give us a like on the PLANTSTRONG Facebook Page and check out what being PLANSTRONG is all about. We always keep it stocked full of new content and updates, tips for healthy living, delicious recipes, and you can even catch me LIVE on there!
We’ve also got an Instagram! Check us out and share your favorite PLANTSTRONG products and why you love it! Don’t forget to tag us using #goplantstrong 🌱💪
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In a world that is littered with false information and blatant lies, especially when it comes to health and nutrition, it is so important to seek the truth. 
Matthew Rees is a treasure trove of facts and commentary about food and health at his website, foodandhealthfacts.com.

As a longtime journalist, speechwriter, and author, Rees has written for such esteemed publications as The Economist, The New Republic, and The Wall Street Journal. His writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, Reader’s Digest, and more. 
He’s also co-authored several books, but his personal passion lies in nutrition. He pulls information and research from recent scientific studies, interviews, books and more, and makes them all easily digestible nuggets of truth on our toxic food culture and how it’s contributing to massive rates of disease and death throughout the country.
It is his mission to help us better understand how consuming unhealthy foods leads to the mess of chronic health issues we’re facing today as a society, but also provide understanding and solutions. 
Episode Resources
Episode Website
Watch the Full Episode on YouTube
Visit and bookmark foodandhealthfacts.com
PLANTSTRONG Meal Planner - use code: STARTFRESH to receive free two weeks
Join our PLANTSTRONG Sedona Retreat - October 9-14, 2023
To stock up on the best-tasting, most convenient, 100% PLANTSTRONG foods, including our cereals, granolas, pizza kits, broths and soups, check out all of our PLANTSTRONG products HERE.
Give us a like on the PLANTSTRONG Facebook Page and check out what being PLANSTRONG is all about. We always keep it stocked full of new content and updates, tips for healthy living, delicious recipes, and you can even catch me LIVE on there!
We’ve also got an Instagram! Check us out and share your favorite PLANTSTRONG products and why you love it! Don’t forget to tag us using #goplantstrong 🌱💪
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In honor of Mother's Day weekend, we're thrilled to feature everyone’s favorite PLANTSTRONG Woman Warrior - Ann Crile Esselstyn.
In late Spring, Rip and Ann did a Facebook live where she took questions from the audience and that's what we share today.
They run the gamut of subjects today including:
The foods and ingredients that are exciting her most these days
Her current favorite meals
Advice for those at the beginning of their plantstrong journey
How to navigate unsupportive loved ones
Exercise and how she's building a 40-day habit with her Peloton bike
How she gets her leafy greens
Her go-to quick and easy salad dressing
And... her favorite thing about being 87 years young!
As always, Ann holds nothing back and we wouldn’t want her any other way!
Episode Resources
Watch the Full Episode on YouTube that Aired on March 31, 2023
Order Be A Plant-Based Woman Warrior: Live Fierce, Stay Bold, Eat Delicious
Join our PLANTSTRONG Sedona Retreat - October 9-14, 2023
To stock up on the best-tasting, most convenient, 100% PLANTSTRONG foods, including our cereals, granolas, pizza kits, broths and soups, check out all of our PLANTSTRONG products HERE.
Give us a like on the PLANTSTRONG Facebook Page and check out what being PLANSTRONG is all about. We always keep it stocked full of new content and updates, tips for healthy living, delicious recipes, and you can even catch me LIVE on there!
We’ve also got an Instagram! Check us out and share your favorite PLANTSTRONG products and why you love it! Don’t forget to tag us using #goplantstrong 🌱💪
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Kathy Stevens founded the Catskill Animal Sanctuary in 2001 with 80 acres of land that she turned from a virtual trash heap into an idyllic sanctuary where rescued, abused, and forgotten animals can live their final years filled with the love, care, and respect they so richly deserve. 
In her work and in her exquisitely written books, Kathy describes the essence and personalities of these animals – and today, she shares some of the most poignant stories from those souls she has had the privilege of caring for through the years. 
Every animal has a rich emotional life and they want to live. Like humans, they have pain and fear, but can also learn to trust with the right interactions. 
Thank goodness for humans like Kathy Stevens and places like Catskill Animal Sanctuary who bring love and care to animals, while also making the world a better place for all of us. 
 
Episode Highlights
11:05 When and how did she get the property to start Catskill Animal Sanctuary?
17:02 How does she acquire her sanctuary animals?
22:25 Animals of the stories, starting with Rambo the sheep
37:30 Polly, the cockfighting rooster
41:35 Buddy, the Blind Horse
48:25 What Kathy knows for sure about all of her animals
51:20 Dino, the only survivor of a fire that killed 22 other horses
54:10 The special pig/human relationship
58:30 Mealtime is the magical time at Catskill Animal Sanctuary
1:01:10 How has our current climate affected sanctuaries?
1:05:10 What makes her most proud about her work?
1:06:50 How does she say, “hello” or welcome a new animal to the sanctuary?
1:09:45 How do they say, “goodbye” to these precious animals?
"I believe that in all of us is a good and pure knowing that beneath the surface of things, beneath gender and skin color, religion and nationality, social class and sexual preference, and yes, beneath species, we are all the same. This book is dedicated with love and hope to that good and pure knowing in you."
 
Episode Resources
Watch the Episode on YouTube
Catskill Animal Sanctuary Website and Resources - including public tours and donation information
Order Where the Blind Horse Sings
Join our PLANTSTRONG Sedona Retreat - October 9-14, 2023
To stock up on the best-tasting, most convenient, 100% PLANTSTRONG foods, including our cereals, granolas, pizza kits, broths and soups, check out all of our PLANTSTRONG products HERE.
Give us a like on the PLANTSTRONG Facebook Page and check out what being PLANSTRONG is all about. We always keep it stocked full of new content and updates, tips for healthy living, delicious recipes, and you can even catch me LIVE on there!
We’ve also got an Instagram! Check us out and share your favorite PLANTSTRONG products and why you love it! Don’t forget to tag us using #goplantstrong 🌱💪
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Kim Campbell is the Director of Culinary Education and Development at PlantPure and the daughter-in-law of T. Colin Campbell known, of course, for authoring The China Study and his work in Forks Over Knives.
Together, Kim and her husband Nelson Campbell run PlantPure Nation, where they provide support and resources to help people experience the benefits of a whole food, plant-based lifestyle.
In December 2022, Kim released her latest cookbook, PlantPure Comfort Food, which features over 100 plant-based and mostly gluten-free recipes from cultures and ethnicities across the globe.
These family meals pack the flavor without all of the oils you often see in the traditional recipes and this book proves that the possibilities for healthy, delicious plant-based eating are endless and know no cultural bounds!
Episode Resources
Watch the Episode on YouTube
Order PlantPure Comfort Food
PlantPure Nation Website
Join our PLANTSTRONG Sedona Retreat - October 9-14, 2023
To stock up on the best-tasting, most convenient, 100% PLANTSTRONG foods, including our cereals, granolas, pizza kits, broths and soups, check out all of our PLANTSTRONG products HERE.
Give us a like on the PLANTSTRONG Facebook Page and check out what being PLANSTRONG is all about. We always keep it stocked full of new content and updates, tips for healthy living, delicious recipes, and you can even catch me LIVE on there!
We’ve also got an Instagram! Check us out and share your favorite PLANTSTRONG products and why you love it! Don’t forget to tag us using #goplantstrong 🌱💪
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When Ann Crile Esselstyn, tells you to do something, you do it! So, when she told me I had to interview today’s guest, I didn’t hesitate.
Ruth Morley is an adventurer. She’s rarely at home in Cincinnati because she’s usually found on a hiking trail. I’m talking about the Appalachian Trail, the Florida Trail, the Buckeye Trail, and Kilimanjaro…just to name just a few. 
She’s even ridden her bike 3,000 miles across the country and competed in dozens of marathons and triathlons. 
Oh, and did I mention that Ruth (known by her trail name, “Ruthless!”) is 70 years old and 100% PLANTSTRONG? 
Today, she tells us how she prepares all of her food for these multi-week adventures and shares the details of her equipment and intricate logistics as a solo hiker. 
This conversation is inspiring, informative, and downright motivational – not just to do these super-long hikes - but to do anything that is out of your comfort zone. 
Her slogan? “Make plans, not excuses.” 
 
Episode Highlights


5:00 She had lunch with Ann??
7:15 From depression to a game-changing moment - What inspired Ruth to go plant-based?
11:45 What immediate effect did it have on her emotional and physical well-being?
13:20 Where does this adventuring spirit come from? 
15:15 How much does her backpack weigh?
16:30 Her athletic journey from runner to triathlete
18:30 Why she stays in “cheap” hotels and loves to hike alone
21:25 Self-supporting her hike on the Buckeye Trail 
27:30 What a LASHer! How many major trails has she hiked? (Patagonia, Asia, Kilimanjaro, Appalachian Trail, Buckeye Trail, Florida Trail) 
33:00 All about the food and prepping meals for these massive hikes! https://excaliburdehydrator.com/
41:50 Her preferred tent: https://durstongear.com/
Backpack: https://www.ula-equipment.com/product/circuit/
Sleeping Bag: UGQ https://ugqoutdoor.com/ 
Shoes: Topo Athletic https://www.topoathletic.com/ and Altra https://www.altrarunning.com/
Outdoor Research Hat https://www.outdoorresearch.com/us/ 
49:05 Hikers Midnight - How long does she sleep and how does she make her daily hiking schedule?
52:00 Who's the most interesting person she’s ever met on a trail?
54:05 What was her hardest moment on the trail? 
1:02:00 What does she say to people who need the inspiration to eat better and move more?
 
Episode Resources
Episode Webpage
Watch the Episode on YouTube
Ruth's Blog
Join our PLANTSTRONG Sedona Retreat - October 9-14, 2023
To stock up on the best-tasting, most convenient, 100% PLANTSTRONG foods, including our cereals, granolas, pizza kits, broths and soups, check out all of our PLANTSTRONG products HERE.
Give us a like on the PLANTSTRONG Facebook Page and check out what being PLANSTRONG is all about. We always keep it stocked full of new content and updates, tips for healthy living, delicious recipes, and you can even catch me LIVE on there!
We’ve also got an Instagram! Check us out and share your favorite PLANTSTRONG products and why you love it! Don’t forget to tag us using #goplantstrong 🌱💪
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