Edible Empire

And we’re back! And we bring you the first ‘express edition’ of the podcast. These will be short-form snippets peppered in between our regular episodes, where Ben and Emma cover specific subjects or timely topics.

In this episode we let you know what’s been happening behind the scenes while we’ve been away from the mic and cover a current hot topic. Social media and news platforms have been alight due to a recent paper released by The Sustainable Food Trust. The paper recommended that those who want to choose the environmentally sustainable milk choice should opt for dairy over soya. This translated into news articles with clickbait headlines like ‘Soya milk will cost the earth, vegans warned’. So, do the findings in this paper actually stack up? Not so much. We delve into the details.

And, we have a brand new website so make sure you check it out, share it and subscribe to our mailing list!

To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website.

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Gerard Wedderburn-Bisshop is the Executive Director of World Preservation Foundation. He worked until mid-2010 as Principal Scientist with the Queensland Government Department of Environment and Resources Management Remote Sensing Centre, where he witnessed 4% of the world's deforestation for over 20 years. Following 37 years with federal and state government, Gerard is now engaged in communicating environmental issues such as deforestation, land degradation and biodiversity loss, and is full of optimism that together humanity and our natural environment have a bright future.

In this episode we discuss:
• Gerard’s background work monitoring deforestation.
• Australia’s disastrous land clearing rates, and what’s really driving this.
• Queensland deforestation and its impact on the Great Barrier Reef.
• Key planetary boundaries, including those we have already overstepped.
• The contribution of animal agriculture to climate change.
• Gerard’s work with NGO Beyond Zero Emissions.
• His involvement in the upcoming documentary and associated book Eating Our Way To Extinction.

This one covers some really vital issues and the consequences of not addressing these concerns soon are quite dire.

To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website.

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Brad Dixon, owner and director of Everfit Physiotherapy and Coaching joins us in this episode. Brad’s enthusiasm for total wellness, through a holistic approach to health, is very evident in this conversation, as he runs us through his expansive wellness recommendations.

Brad brings with him 20+ years’ experience as an athlete and physiotherapist and incorporates many important pillars of lifestyle medicine to his coaching work - so we are sure everyone will find value in this jampacked conversation.

In this episode we discuss:
• Brad’s background, his athletic endeavours and journey to a plant-based diet
• The impact of his family as a collective
• The expansive wellness mindset
• 10 beneficial habits anyone can implement and the science behind each recommendation
• Creating long-lasting habit changes

We guarantee there will be some important take-homes for anyone listening to this conversation!

To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website.

Please support our work and enable us to deliver more content by buying us a coffee or becoming a member of Athletes for Nature.
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The phenomenal Dr Mike Joy joins us in this episode to discuss the true cost of our current food and farming practices and the environmental consequences of the current system.

Mike is a freshwater ecologist, currently working as a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Governance and Policy Studies at Victoria University, Wellington and holds a PhD in water ecology. Mike has received multiple awards for his work, is well known for passionately advocating for environmental protection, and has co-founded Better Futures Forum and brings a lot of knowledge and passion to this conversation, so you’re in for a real treat. 

In this episode we discuss: 
• Mike’s background and journey to academia 
• The big environmental challenges New Zealand needs to address
• The excessive use of nitrogen in our farming system 
• The current state of New Zealand’s waterways and the consequences for marine life and human health 
• Current farming practices and their true cost to the economy 
• The short-sightedness of carbon credits
• A way forward, including the newly established Better Futures Forum

To find out more about his important work, please visit Freshwater for Life.

To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website.

Please support our work and enable us to deliver more content by buying us a coffee or becoming a member of Athletes for Nature.
Follow us on Instagram and Facebook, subscribe to this podcast, and share this episode with your friends and family.

Shireen is a Consultant Haematologist at King’s College Hospital, London, specialising in the care of people with lymphoma and other haematological cancers. Additionally, Shireen is the founder and director of the non-profit organisation Plant-Based Health Professionals, UK, whose mission is to provide evidence-based education to health professionals and the general public on plant-based nutrition and other lifestyle interventions for the prevention and treatment of chronic disease.

Shireen is also a visiting Professor at Winchester University, where she runs the UK's first University-based course on plant-based nutrition. One busy lady! 

In this conversation we discuss:
• Plant-Based Health Professionals UK, their mission and advocacy work 
• The University of Winchester Nutrition Course for health professionals, which she spearheaded 
• The latest nutrition guidelines from the American Cancer Society
• Socioeconomic determinants of health
• Food Justice Issues
• Shireen’s brilliant weekly plant-based nutrition news on Medium and social media.

To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website.

Please support our work and enable us to deliver more content by buying us a coffee or becoming a member of Athletes for Nature.
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This episode is all about gut health for Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, with the brilliant Robyn Chuter. Robyn is a certified Lifestyle Medicine Practitioner who specialises in helping people reverse serious and chronic illnesses using a plant-based diet and emotional healing through her practice Empower Total Health. Robyn’s original training was in naturopathy and nutrition, and she has since gained qualifications in counselling, EFT therapy, Matrix Re-imprinting and Lifestyle Medicine. Robyn has also completed her Bachelor of Health Science (Honours) and is basically a walking encyclopaedia when it comes to gut health.

Robyn is a phenomenal wealth of knowledge when it comes to the topic of optimal gut health and she touches on a number of important principles for fostering a healthy microbiome, not only for reducing bowel cancer risk but minimising the risk of certain autoimmune conditions and mood disorders. This one is jam-packed with information so you may want a notepad and pen at the ready!

In this conversation we discuss:
• Key principles for maintaining a healthy microbiome
• The importance of variety for yielding optimal gut diversity
• The role of probiotics and prebiotics
• Elimination diets such as FODMAP and candida regimens
• Meat and cancer risk
• The link between gut health and Autoimmune conditions
• Food and mood

Download the Gut Challenge resource here.

To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website.

Please support our work and enable us to deliver more content by buying us a coffee or becoming a member of Athletes for Nature.
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Episode 9 and we chat with the extraordinary power couple, Jasmijn de Boo and Professor Andrew Knight. 
Jasmijn is a professional animal advocate and educator with over 20 years of experience in global leadership positions. Jasmijn is currently International Director at ProVeg International and has previously worked in a range of international animal protection organisations, including as a CEO of both SAFE NZ, and The Vegan Society UK, and as a researcher, global education manager, lecturer, and programme adviser.

Andrew is a Professor of Animal Welfare and Ethics, and Founding Director of the Centre for Animal Welfare, at the University of Winchester, UK; a New Zealand and American Veterinary Specialist in Animal Welfare; an EBVS European and RCVS Veterinary Specialist in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law; a Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, and a Senior Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy.

Together, Andrew and Jasmijn co-authored The Green Protein Report: Meeting New Zealand’s Climate Change Targets by 2030 Through Reduced Reliance on Animal Agriculture.  New Zealand’s clean, green image has been threatened by its heavy reliance on agricultural practices. This report provides compelling evidence that animal agriculture negatively impacts planetary health, human health and puts the country’s economy at risk long-term.

In this episode we cover:
• Andrew and Jasmijn’s backgrounds – they are incredibly busy, brilliant and passionate humans!
• Food consumption, agricultural production and the impact on NZ’s economy
• The environmental impact of animal production for food
• Farm animal welfare concerns and Zoonotic diseases
• A way forward; how to achieve climate targets by 2030

To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website.

Please support our work and enable us to deliver more content by buying us a coffee or becoming a member of Athletes for Nature.
Follow us on Instagram and Facebook, subscribe to this podcast, and share this episode with your friends and family.

In this episode, we are joined by the inspiring Grant Dixon, the filmmaker behind The Big Fat Lie documentary. Grant was inspired to make this award-winning documentary after his own health scare, suffering a heart attack at only 58 years of age.

The documentary details his journey back to health, with the use of a whole food plant-based diet, and his quest for answers as to why government and medical guidelines don’t promote the use of such a diet, given the evidence base to support it.

Grant’s passion didn’t end there - he has since been instrumental in establishing the advocacy group Evidence Based Eating NZ, with the mission to educate and inspire the general public, health professionals, private organisations and government institutions on the countless health benefits of a wholefood plant-based diet.

In this episode we cover:
• Grant’s health scare and his experience within the medical system, which fuelled his desire to produce The Big Fat Lie documentary
• The frustrating lack of support for the use of a whole food plant-based diet (WFPBD) within the health sector, given the many benefits recorded in the literature
• The consumption of oils, nuts and seeds
• Grant’s athletic prowess post-heart attack!
• Genetics vs lifestyle
• Grant’s quest to raise awareness of a WFPBD through the establishment of Evidence-Based Eating NZ.

Heart disease continues to be both Australia and New Zealand’s top killer, so the message Grant shares through his humorous yet hard-hitting documentary are of utmost importance. This documentary was accepted into five international film festivals and won the best documentary and best message at Top Indie Film Awards – please be sure to check it out on Vimeo, iTunes or Amazon Prime. 

To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website.

Please support our work and enable us to deliver more content by buying us a coffee or becoming a member of Athletes for Nature.
Follow us on Instagram and Facebook, subscribe to this podcast, and share this episode with your friends and family.

The amazing Brad Dalrymple joins us in this episode for a chat about the impact of diet on climate, the importance of keeping our waterways clean, and his athletic endeavours. Brad passionately advocates the environmental benefits of a plant-based lifestyle and works as a principal environmental engineer at Ocean Protect. Having over 18 years’ experience in various environmental engineering projects associated with environmental engineering and has RPEQ, NPER and CPEng accreditation – he brings a lot of knowledge to the table on this topic. Brad also keeps busy by co-hosting the brilliant Ocean Protect podcast with Jeremy Brown, which discusses key issues impacting on the health of our oceans.

Brad has quite the sporting resume, having won both the Australian National Sprint and Olympic Distance AG Championships, as well as completing the gruelling Ultraman Australia event twice (a 3-day multisport event of swimming 10km, cycling 421km and running 84km), with a best of 4th place overall, so we delve into his training and race nutrition strategies.

Brad touches on a number of vitally important issues in our discussion and we hope you enjoy this conversation – we certainly learned a lot.
In this episode we cover:
• Brad’s early experimentation with a plant-based diet, including a common pitfall
• Performance improvements after switching to a wholefood plant-based diet
• Nutrition for endurance sports
• Various foods and their impact on climate change, ocean acidification and deforestation
• The valuable work of Ocean Protect
• Plastic pollution and the damage it causes to the marine environment

In light of the climate emergency, the topics Brad covers in this episode are of incredible importance. Please reach out to Brad and let him know if you appreciated this conversation.

To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website.

Please support our work and enable us to deliver more content by buying us a coffee or becoming a member of Athletes for Nature.
Follow us on Instagram and Facebook, subscribe to this podcast, and share this episode with your friends and family.

In this episode, we sit down with Dr Portia D’Anverrs, a brilliant plant-based Radiology Registrar. Portia is also a qualified fitness instructor and has previously competed in powerlifting, INBA bikini and sports modelling – so it’s safe to say that she walks her talk when it comes to living a healthy lifestyle.

In her work, Portia literally gets to see the results of lifestyle choices from the inside out and we spend some time discussing the untapped potential of medical imaging as a tool for lifestyle intervention. We also delve into Portia’s fascinating backstory and her journey to becoming plant-based. Portia currently serves as the Tasmanian Ambassadoc for Doctors For Nutrition and advocates a healthy lifestyle through her social media.

In this episode we cover:
• Portia’s upbringing and reasoning behind her transition to a plant-based lifestyle
• Her busy schedule as a Radiology Registrar and the potential use of medical imaging as an education tool
• The importance of movement – for physical and mental health
• A plant-based diet for performance and the importance of nutrition education to ensure good health
• Making a plant-based diet work for busy people
• Her top tips for quick and easy meals

To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website.

Please support our work and enable us to deliver more content by buying us a coffee or becoming a member of Athletes for Nature.
Follow us on Instagram and Facebook, subscribe to this podcast, and share this episode with your friends and family.