The modern food system is broken and our health is terrible. What can we do to fix it?
Theresa "Sam" Houghton, Chief Nerd at The Modern Health Nerd, brings together the movers, shakers and innovators from food, health, agriculture and everywhere in between for fascinating conversations that examine what individuals and companies are doing to transform what we eat and how we live.
From innovative plant-based products and indoor vertical farming to fitness and foodtech, every episode features some of the most thoughtful and innovative minds making an impact across industries.
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Plant-Based Diet Transition Tips to Empower Your Health Journey: Panel Discussion
Season 2 · Episode 10
Wednesday, March 9, 2022 • Duration 44:58
“Don’t worry so much about what you don’t know. Just step into it and try it.” ~ Kathy Davis
For some people, going plant-based can be intimidating. There are so many unknowns: Does it require shopping at special stores? Subsisting on mock meats and cheeses? Spending countless hours trying recipes that may or may not taste good?
Cyd Notter, Kathy Davis and Chuck Carroll agree that the answer is a resounding NO.
In fact, they can all say from experience that going plant-based was much easier than they expected—and it’s led to other positive changes in their lives, including better health and more confidence. So much so that Chuck calls the plant-based lifestyle “Life 2.0.”
- Tips for going all-in with a plant-based diet if you don’t know where to start
- Encouragement for anyone who’s afraid going plant based will be too hard
- How to overcome the struggles many people face when going plant-based
- Why it’s important to have a solid reason—not just a short-term goal—for adopting a plant-based diet
- Why plant-based diets are the gateway to long-term health
- How going plant-based can inspire confidence and vitality in other areas of life
Get takeaway tips for brands here: SITE LINK
About Cyd, Chuck and Kathy
Cyd Notter is a graduate of the Center for Nutrition Studies, a certified instructor for The Starch Solution and other dietary courses, a past newspaper columnist, and the author of the award-winning book The “Plan A” Diet: Combining Whole Food, Plant-Based Nutrition with the Timeless Wisdom of Scripture.
Kathy Davis is a plant-based lifestyle and mindset coach, the CEO of VegInspired, and the author of three plant-based cookbooks. Kathy empowers high-achieving professionals to elevate their energy by adopting healthy living habits so they can show up at their optimum performance and achieve their goals.
Chuck Carroll is known as “The Weight Loss Champion” for a reason — he has lost and kept off 280 pounds for more than 10 years! Now he is using his new lease on life to inspire others and host The Exam Room Podcast by the Physicians Committee, which has been downloaded millions of times to become the No. 1 nutrition podcast in nearly 80 countries!
Giving Patients Power Over Their Health with Plant-Based TeleHealth
Season 2 · Episode 9
Wednesday, March 2, 2022 • Duration 46:24
“What ends up happening is the patient is now in charge of their health.” ~ Dr. Niki Davis
Traditional medicine addresses chronic disease with pills and procedures that control symptoms or attempt to fix damage that’s already been done.
Plant-Based TeleHealth takes a different approach: lifestyle medicine that uses a plant-based diet and personalized care to get to the root of diseases and help patients heal.
That’s what attracted Dr. Kim Scheuer, Dr. Niki Davis, Dr. Colin Zhu and Dr. Chris Miller to this unique new practice that serves patients across the U.S. They wanted to stop “putting band-aids” on patients’ problems, go beyond what they were able to do in traditional practice and start giving patients the time and attention they needed to get better—for good.
Through Plant-Based TeleHealth, these doctors and their colleagues are able to help patients reduce their medications and improve their health. The patients get less of what they don’t want (more pills) and more of what they do want (freedom from symptoms and disease).
Episode Highlights
- How taking a holistic look at the whole person instead of just their symptoms changes the way medicine is practiced and enables a lifestyle approach
Connect with the Doctors Online
The Secret to Plant-Based Diet Success is Science, Not Dogma with Simon Hill
Season 2 · Episode 8
Wednesday, February 23, 2022 • Duration 48:25
“Our health is not determined by one single meal or one single food that we eat at one point in time. It’s about consistency over years and years.” ~ Simon Hill
Simon Hill’s journey into the plant-based space started at age 15 when he saw his father have a heart attack. Since that first brush with the effects of lifestyle disease, Simon has immersed himself in the science of diet and plant-based nutrition in his career as a nutritionist, podcast host and author.
Rather than supporting any particular dietary dogma in the plant-based space, he provides research-backed advice backed to help people plant their diets appropriately according to goals and life stage.
“I think it’s important to not always reduce everything to black and white,” he says, “because science is not black and white.”
Simon believes it’s going to take more data collected across demographics to settle some of the persistent questions about plant-based nutrition and ensure that people have the best information to tailor their diets to changing needs as they age.
He believes “every diet needs to be appropriately planned” and continues to use his platform to provide information and guidance that helps people adopt and stick to healthy plant-based diets.
About Simon & Plant Proof
Follow, Listen to & Read Simon’s Work
Getting a Balanced Perspective on Vegan Diets with Ginny Messina (the Vegan RD)
Season 2 · Episode 7
Wednesday, February 16, 2022 • Duration 33:59
“Whether it’s in whole food plant based or ethical veganism, ... there is a way for everybody to adopt this diet.” ~ Ginny Messina
As a registered dietician and a vegan of almost 30 years, Ginny Messina has a lot of experience in the plant-based space. She spends a lot of her time writing books, articles and tweets relating to vegan and plant-based nutrition.
Her goal with all this work? To “ensure that vegans have the best information that will allow them to stay vegan.”
Ginny brings a balanced and reasonable perspective to some of the most common questions and controversial issues within the plant-based community, including protein and fat, oil consumption and whether “ultra-processed” foods and sweet treats have a place in a healthy diet.
While she maintains that anybody can be vegan, she also acknowledges that doing it right requires some attention to nutrition. But she doesn’t see this as a shortcoming for plant-based eating. In fact, she believes taking the extra time to get educated and supplement properly is more than worth it for the health and environmental benefits the diet offers.
Episode Highlights
Connect with Ginny’s Work
How to Make Your Plant-Based Brand Stand Out with Zoë Geller of Fire Ox Foods
Season 2 · Episode 6
Wednesday, February 9, 2022 • Duration 28:35
“Always be open to learning. Don’t assume that what you have is what people want, and that it’s the right solution.” ~ Zoë Geller, co-founder, Fire Ox Foods
After working with Americorps and food distributor Zoë Geller realized there was a huge gap in both knowledge about and access to nutritious food. It wasn’t long before she did something to address the problem—by founding Fire Ox Foods.
Fire Ox is using delicious flavors inspired by world cuisines to make vegetables attractive and simple to prepare so that people can easily incorporate more whole plant-based foods into their diets.
Zoë and her co-founder, Jason, drew on their mutual love for dishes from around the world as inspiration for their products and are bringing these meals to consumers in a convenient frozen format.
Fire Ox focuses on taste first to make their meals both enjoyable and nourishing. And Zoë keeps her ears open to customer feedback to continue improving Fire Ox products. Whether it’s increasing the amount of food in each meal or calling out the number of vegetable servings on the package, she’s all about staying flexible.
Because, she says, there’s a difference between driving trial and getting repeat customers. “You can get a lot of people to try your product, ... but you need them to keep coming back.”
How to Position Plant-Based Foods Using Nuance and Consumer Research: Industry Expert Panel
Season 2 · Episode 5
Wednesday, February 2, 2022 • Duration 44:54
“First, I think you have to understand the goals of the individual before you start assigning what products will work for them and what products should be on the market.” ~ Elysabeth Alfano
Elysabeth Alfano, David Benzaquen and Irina Gerry are no strangers to the plant-based space. Their collective experience spans from hosting a plant-based business podcast to investment and advising to marketing roles at some of the most well-known plant-based companies.
And they have a ton of insight into how brands can position their products and attract consumers in today’s growing plant-based market. With sub-niches spanning from cultivated meat to unprocessed plant foods, there’s plenty of room for innovation.
One of the biggest areas of opportunity for brands? Fresh and minimally-processed produce.
With whole food plant based becoming its own category, it’s more important than ever for brands to understand who they’re marketing to, what those consumers need and the best ways to deliver it through products and messaging.
Episode highlights
The broad spectrum of plant-based food and consumers’ perceptions of health
How brands play a role in plant-based diets—including encouraging consumers to eat more produce
Getting super specific with marketing to position plant-based products in ways that reach unique market subsets
Defining and positioning animal-free, plant-based and whole food plant-based products
Recognizing and overcoming barriers to people incorporating whole plant foods into their diets
Revolutionizing the Way We Shop for Food with Faiez Rana of Prep to Your Door
Season 2 · Episode 4
Wednesday, January 26, 2022 • Duration 39:03
“If we can go to outer space, we can get fresh food to people’s doorsteps.” ~ Faiez Rana, co-founder & CEO, Prep to Your Door.
It all started when Faiez went vegetarian for 10 days to impress a girl.
That girl was Heather, his (now) wife and co-founder of Prep to Your Door, a whole food plant-based, zero-waste food delivery company that’s bringing fresh, healthy food to people’s doors throughout Austin and Houston.
“The supply chain is not designed to get fresh food into our bodies,” he points out.
Through Prep to Your Door, he’s looking to change that—and make eating whole food plant-based meals just as easy and convenient as buying packaged food at the grocery store.
Episode highlights
Prep To Your Door’s history and whole-food, zero-waste premise
The power of iteration in implementing and improving a business model
Importance of sticking to brand values in customer retention
Rethinking the way people shop for food
Why friction is the enemy of mass whole food plant-based adoption—and what to do about it
Listening to customers to determine how best to serve unique segments
Using tech to bring fresh, healthy food to people’s doors instead of to create new food products
Making Whole Food Plant Based Fun, Colorful and Tasty with Jason Rosenbaum of Actual Veggies
Season 2 · Episode 3
Wednesday, January 19, 2022 • Duration 37:52
Actual Veggies CEO Jason Rosenbaum and his co-founder, Hailey Swartz, didn’t set out to make a whole food plant-based product that appealed to everybody.
But that’s exactly what they did with their line of colorful burgers.
When Jason stopped eating meat for his health, he couldn’t find an alternative to his favorite meat, the beef burger, that met his standards. Although he recognizes plant-based meats as a tasty and helpful “next step” for people transitioning from a standard Western diet to a plant-based diet, he and Hailey wanted to go the next step and offer healthier options.
Their philosophy is simple: Make something from 100% whole plant foods that looks good, tastes good and is easy to prepare. Without compromising on these principles, Jason and Hailey worked with their team to create a line of burgers in a rainbow of colors—all crafted using veggies, beans, grains and spices.
The experience of growing a brand in a category dominated by big names that aren’t whole food plant based
How making a whole food plant-based product colorful and attractive can drive adoption across demographics and into the mainstream
Retailers’ and consumers’ increasing demand for healthier plant-based products
Why customer feedback is critical in product development
The “plant-forward” trend that’s taking plant-based food to the next (healthier) level
The changing narrative around plant-based eating and whole food plant based in particular
How having advocates who can positively influence the public toward plant-based can help brands in the space grow </aside>
About Actual Veggies and Co-Founders Jason & Hailey
Find (and Follow) Actual Veggies
Taking Back Our Power for Health with Paige Parsons Roache
Season 2 · Episode 2
Wednesday, January 12, 2022 • Duration 32:10
“Everybody has access to extraordinary choices.” - Paige Parsons Roache
When her daughter decided to go vegan, Paige Parsons Roache couldn’t have imagined how much her own diet and life would change.
It started with education: reading books, listening to plant-based doctors, watching documentaries and trying vegan food from local restaurants. Pretty soon, Paige was experimenting with recipes and becoming a “chef in her own kitchen” for the first time in her life.
After meeting Jane Velez-Mitchell at a vegan event, Paige found herself inspired to get more involved and more vocal about the plant-based cause. Documentaries like Cowspiracy and What the Health had opened her eyes to the environmental and social impacts of animal agriculture, and she became committed to helping end the suffering connected to the industry.
“If I knowingly was contributing to the harm of another,” Paige says of her realization, “I knew I had to make the change.”
Episode Highlights:
Paige’s background in the environmental movement, including what inspired her to go plant-based vegan
Insights from Paige’s journey from a “frozen food vegan” to someone who loves experimenting in the kitchen
The importance of educating yourself about food, health and the environment
How Jane Unchained/Unchained TV is advancing the vegan and plant-based movements through the resources they provide
Easy ways to swap whole plant-based foods in place of animal products
Caring for your body holistically, not just through what you eat
How to minimize the environmental and social impacts of factory farming
Paige’s passion for the environment, health and animals shows in her words and actions. Through Jane Unchained, Clubhouse and other initiatives, she’s inspiring and encouraging others to get educated about plant-based eating, make the switch away from animal products and take back power for health and wellbeing.
About Paige
Connect with Paige and UnchainedTV
For further watching
Taste is Key in Whole Food Plant Based with Tyler Mayoras of Cool Beans
Season 2 · Episode 1
Wednesday, January 5, 2022 • Duration 35:40
“It’s hard to build a trend if the stuff doesn’t taste good.” ~ Tyler Mayoras, CEO of Cool Beans
Eating plant based is a journey. For some, it starts with an all-in commitment to eat nothing but whole plant foods. But most of the time, the transition to new eating habits is supported by a range of plant-based products that replace meat, dairy and eggs.
Tyler Mayoras is helping the next generation of these products come to life through his brand, Cool Beans. With their portable whole-food wraps, Cool Beans is making healthy eating convenient—and delicious.
Episode highlights:
Market insights from Expo East 2021, including the increasing number of products made with whole-food ingredients
Advice for brands that want to launch whole food plant-based products, including categories with the biggest opportunities
Gaps in the market where plant-based and whole food plant-based entrepreneurs can solve unaddressed consumer pain points
How to bring out maximum flavor in whole plant foods so that they’re more appealing to customers
Appealing to families with whole food plant-based options
Beans as the next generation of plant-based protein
The need for more nutrition education—particularly plant-based nutrition—in medical schools
Why clarity is important when communicating the whole food plant-based message to the public
According to Tyler, it’s all about taste.
“So many people in the general consumer market are moving toward cleaner and healthier ingredients,” he says. But “it’s hard to build a trend if the stuff doesn’t taste good.”
By complementing the naturally delicious flavors of vegetables, beans and grains with a range of spices, Cool Beans is proving to consumers that eating whole food plant based can be just as delicious as—or even more delicious than—eating processed plant-based products.
About Tyler
Connect with Tyler & Cool Beans
- Why the ability to spend more time with patients is critical to helping them make lasting diet and lifestyle changes
- The need to dig deeper and go beyond nutrition to discover all the potential factors that influence patients’ health
- The importance of understanding what potentially conflicting information patients will get from traditional doctors who don’t understand plant-based lifestyle medicine
- The need for a paradigm shift in health, wellness and medicine to get people back to the basics and on track for long-term healing
- Success stories from the doctors’ practices
About Plant-Based TeleHealth
Plant Based TeleHealth (PBTH) provides offers lifestyle medicine care for patients who have chronic disease and other conditions. Through the powerful, evidence-based practice of promoting healthy behaviors and lifestyle modification, including a whole food, plant-based diet, doctors work with patients to help them go beyond managing symptoms to experience real healing.
- Why educating people about healthy food isn’t the key to improving diets or health outcomes
- How the food environment may prevent people from making healthier dietary choices
- A scientific look at common myths and misconceptions in the plant-based space
- Why being aware of nutrient needs specific to plant-based diets and current life stage is a smarter approach than obsessing over single nutrients or foods
- Why it’s important for the plant-based community to be opened-minded about new discoveries in nutrition science
- Simon’s tips for maximizing nutrition and health on a plant-based diet
Simon Hill is a nutritionist and qualified physiotherapist and the the founder of the popularPlant Proofpodcast and blog.
On top of his formal education, Simon spends hours deciphering scientific studies so that he can break down how to fuel your body to promote longevity and reduce the chance of developing disease while simultaneously achieving whatever health and fitness goals you may have.
The secret lies in paying attention to sales data, talking to customers and being willing to stay nimble as the brand adjusts its messaging. Zoë has some great insights into what to look for and how to make those changes to get products in front of more people.
Episode Highlights
- Seeking opportunities to bring unique products to market by identifying gaps where your passion could fill a need
- Supporting brand goals by staying consistent in every area—from naming to ingredients to packaging to messaging
- Using customer feedback to differentiate your products from others in the market
- The importance of being open to learning more about your customers and how they use or consume your product
- Tips for testing messaging before and after coming to market
- Using sales data, customer data and feedback to hone in on the problem you’re solving for consumers
- Going beyond product to educate and empower consumers through content
About Zoë
Zoë Geller founded Fire Ox to create a more sustainable food system. Her time at Americorps and Common Market taught her how to grow food and opened her eyes to how the unjust industrial food system shapes our diets and bodies, and this sparked her passion to create good, nourishing food that is better for people and planet.
About Fire Ox Foods
Fire Ox is on a mission to help people eat better for themselves and the planet by making delicious, vegetable-based foods accessible to all. Their line of vegetable-based frozen meals is inspired by cuisines from around the world.
Using branding and marketing campaigns to help consumers understand how to choose, use and prepare whole plant foods
About David, Elysabeth and Irina
David Benzaquen is one of the world’s leading experts in the plant-based food industry. He invests in and advises plant-based and alternative protein food disruptors through his firm Mission: Plant. He is also the co-founder of consumer insights firm Moonshot Collaborative and plant-based ecommerce grocery store, PlantBelly.com. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbenzaquen/
Elysabeth Alfano is the CEO of VegTech Invest, the founder of Plant Powered Consulting and the host of the Plantbased Business Hour. A respected thought leader and international speaker on trends in plant-based business, Elysabeth speaks globally on the state of the industry, including recently at the United Nations. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elysabeth-alfano-8b370b7/
Irina Gerry is a Chief Marketing Officer at Change Foods, a precision fermentation food tech startup, creating animal-free dairy products. Irina has over a decade of experience in consumer marketing space, including 5 years working on two of the best-known plant-based food and beverage brands, Silk and So Delicious. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/irinagerry/
For Faiez, this is food tech: leveraging today’s high-tech systems to remove friction, improve access to nutritious food and cut down on single-use plastic waste. By listening to what customers want and always improving on their processes, the Prep to Your Door team is doing much more than delivering meals—they’re changing the face of “convenience food” and redefining what it means to shop for groceries.
About Faiez and Prep to Your Door
Faiez met his co-founder (now wife!) Heather in class at Harvard University. They paired their passions for social entrepreneurship and sustainable business to build Prep To Your Door. Slowly, the pair began perfecting meals in jars with help from their very first customers. Always plant-based, organic, locally sourced and ready to eat, PTYD meals are made without cutting corners, compromising on ingredients or using single-use plastics.
Since 2017, Prep To Your Door has grown to a team of 40 team members. Faiez believes addressing our food chain has the power to reverse several crises of our time: healthcare, climate change, and economic inequality. And he's working with Heather and their team to make organic, sustainable and fresh food at scale the REAL new normal.
Jason encourages other whole food plant-based brands to stick to their principles and persevere through the ups and downs of business.
“Don’t compromise on your foundation or on what you set out to do,” he advises. That’s how he and Hailey turned their passion project into a business they love and that’s making a difference in the plant-based movement—and the world.
Founded in early 2020 and headquartered in New York City, Actual Veggies is redefining what retail and food service consumers consider a plant-based burger with its four different varieties of its ¼-pound, chef-crafted veggie burger patties made with only fresh, actual vegetables, grains and spices. Actual Veggies can be found at Sprouts, HungryRoot, and online at ShopVejii.com and www.actualveggies.com.
Hungry for plant-based nerdity and industry insights? Subscribe to The Modern Health Nerd for updates: https://www.modernhealthnerd.com/news/
Paige’s daughter went vegan at age 13, and Paige joined her 6 months later. Today, she’s committed to bringing environmentally conscious vegan living to the forefront and reports on all the latest animal rights’ aspects, including Animal Save Movement’s vigils, various PETA protests, VegFests, vegan conferences and more.
She’s an active member of Clubhouse and can be found in numerous rooms throughout the week, contributing her knowledge to the plant-based conversation from a variety of angles and offering tips and encouragement to anyone seeking to live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle.
Hungry for plant-based nerdity and industry insights? Subscribe to The Modern Health Nerd for updates: https://www.modernhealthnerd.com/news/
Tyler is the “Cool Executive Officer” of Cool Beans and serves as both an angel investor and mentor to several other plant-based and sustainable brands. He has more than 20 years of experience in private equity investing and consulting with a focus on sustainable food and agriculture. He has personally experienced the benefits of plant-based diets and wants others to join him on the journey.
Tyler previously appeared on Season 1, Episode 33 of The Modern Health Nerd Podcast. (Check it out if you missed it!)
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