Grow the Good

When it comes to food and all the different views on what is healthy, how do you know what to believe? Overwhelmed with confusion and decision fatigue, most people simply just give up and I can see why! With so many different opposing views on what you should eat and what it means to be healthy, it’s often hard to know where to turn, who to trust, or what to do when it comes to our diet. I’ve personally felt frustrated with an overflow of conflicting information and rebuttles. The key is learning how to do your own research and how to know if a study is actually true. I personally eat my diet based on evidence-based nutrition with articles published in peer-reviewed journals. A huge resource for me has been NutritionFacts.org. Let’s talk more about that.

Nutritionfacts.org was founded by Dr. Michael Greger.  He is medical doctor, a New York Times Best-Selling Author, and internationally acclaimed speaker. As a little boy, his grandmother was diagnosed with end stage heart disease and had many bypass surgeries. She was confined to a wheelchair and the doctors said her life was basically over at age 65. Lifestyle medicine pioneer, Dr. Pritikin treated Michael’s grandma, Frances Greger with diet. Within weeks being treated with a whole foods plant-based diet, she was out of the wheelchair and able to walk many miles per day. Not only that, she was able to live another 31 years until age 96. Her incredible recovery inspired Dr. Greger to dedicate his life to medicine and he has made it his life’s work to comb through thousands of nutrition science articles and created nutritionfacts.org as a public service.

Nutritionfacts.org is a non-profit site about the latest research in nutrition. Dr. Greger presents informative evidence-based videos stemming from the latest peer reviewed journals. The website is run through donation only with no sponsorships whatsoever, and Dr. Greger does not receive any financial compensation. The purpose is to maintain integrity since so many studies and foundations are tainted by the persuasion of dollars. If you’d like to read any of the studies, there is a “studies cited” button next to all the videos.  

He recently published a blog post about how to decipher a study and whether you should believe it is valid or not.  Check it out here.

Dr. Greger is also a speaker and is constantly on the go talking about the power of plants. His book, How Not to Die is a powerful read and reference describing the top 15 killers of humans how to prevent them. 100% of his proceeds from his speaking and his book go to his 501(c)3 nonprofit NutritionFacts.org.

Topics Discussed in the podcast 

• how to decipher a scientific study - how to know what to believe
• where to get good resources for nutrition science
• what plant-based foods to add to your diet
• how food leads to diseases and how to prevent diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer
• Dr Greger's personal story and his book, How Not to Die

Show Notes:

• Daily Dozen App  (Also available for Android)
• How Not to Die book

--------------
The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co. 

A podcast episode with NutritionFacts.org founder Dr. Michael Greger about evidence based nutrition, how to tell if a scientific study is valid, and what plant-based foods to eat.

Sonya Looney and Amy Beth McDougall won the La Leyenda Del Dorado - a 7 day ultra-endurance mountain bike stage race.  Amy is from South Africa and they met when Sonya raced the Joberg2C Stage Race in South Africa last year as competitors. This episode is about their experience as a team, how to race as a team, how to do a stage race, and all about their experience in Colombia. 

The La Leyenda Del Dorado is a premiere and one of the hardest stage races in South America.  It takes place in Caldas, Colombia with stages ranging from 1.5 hours to nearly 8 hours.  The terrain included high altitude jungles, volcanoes, and very steep climbs.

Amy and Sonya were overwhelmed with gratitude during the race. The Colombians were huge cycling fans with over a thousand people at the finish line each day.

--------------
The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co. 

Sonya Looney and Amy Beth McDougall won the La Leyenda Del Dorado - a 7 day ultra-endurance mountain bike stage race. They discuss teamwork, how to do a stage race, mindset, and talk about Colombia.

Matt Ruscigno knows a thing or two about extreme ultra-endurance sports and thriving on a plant-based diet. He has been a vegan for the last 20 years after being influenced at a teenager through punk music. His passion for his diet led him to his career path: a world-renowned vegan dietician with a Master's in Public Health from Loma Linda, California.

Interestingly enough, Loma Linda is one of the 5 blue zones in the world.  Blue zones are five geographic areas where people statistically live the longest.  Read National Geographic's feature on Blue Zones here.  They key elements common to the all the Blue zones are eating primarily a plant-based diet (particularly high in legumes), strong sense of community, no smoking, daily exercise.  In fact, Matt recommends 3.5 servings of legumes per day.  Examples of one serving of legumes can be: 1/4c hummus, 1/2c cooked beans (split peas, lentils, black beans, butter beans, etc), tofu, tempeh. 

Most people know that eating more fruits and vegetables is healthier, but they have trouble executing it.  It's great to see there are many media sources, documentaries, and resources that are breaking down the barriers to adopting a plant-based diet and lifestyle.  The science behind the health benefits are irrefutable whether you are looking for a boost in your performance or simply want to avoid cancer, heart disease, diabetes and more killers of human beings, simply adding in plant-based foods will help. 

In this podcast about plant-based nutrition, Matt Ruscigno is very relatable and unpretentious.  He talks about how to optimize your food not only for regular meals, but also how to optimize plant-based foods before, during, and after your workout.   There can be a lot of resistance and fear of the unknown when it comes to being a plant-based athlete and Matt certainly helps alleviate these fears with facts and practical advice.  

Listen to the show (and don't forget to subscribe on Apple Podcasts!)

Matt also discusses some of the comments/issues I've heard from athletes who changed their diets and how to fix it such as:

• I'm hungry all day as a vegan and have to eat all the time
• I don't feel like I have enough energy
• how do you know what kind of food to add to your diet

Matt says, "What I like to do is expand on what they are already eating... some people thrive on a high fast diet and for some people, it'd be too much."   He coaches individuals through video conferencing and also started a clinic called Nutrinic, more on that in a minute.

 

 

  When looking to change your diet, Matt Ruscigno says, "You have to make it your own and find the blog, person, website, or cookbook that speaks to you."

That was certainly the case for me and I have my own people who inspire me and a cookbook collection that leans toward the amount of time I want to spend cooking in the kitchen and types of food I want to eat.

 

Matt also founded a plant-based nutrition center called Nutrinic outside Pasadena, California.  It specializes in anything from every day plant-based nutrition to preventing diseases using a plant-based diet.  The Registered Dietitians (RD) also partner with your doctor to work as a team. 

Topics Discussed in the podcast 

• what plant-based foods to add in to your diet for optimal health and performance
• what to eat before, during, and after your workout on a plant-based diet
• starting point for switching to a plant based diet
• how

--------------
The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co. 

Matt Ruscigno is an RD and ultra athlete. He talks about how to optimize your food not only for regular meals, but also how to optimize plant-based foods as an athlete. We also discuss relationship with food, barriers of a plant-based diet and more!

“Stress is global. It’s really important to not just switch tasks but to try to build some space into your day, into your life where you can really just check out from all of those stimuli... the lowest hanging fruit is sleep. Sleep is so important [for mind, body, and emotional capacity].”     -Brad Stulberg

libsyn

 Have you ever felt overwhelmed like every part of your day was spiraling out of control and you weren’t enjoying your life at all? I admit that I have, and so have this week’s podcast guests Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness. Feelings of overwhelm and burnout happen to the best of us. In a society that pressures us to do everything and be everything all the time and where we are connected to our devices 24 hours a day, the idea of balance is impossible. We are told to have great careers, be in great shape, spend quality time with our families, cook, sleep 8 hours a night, eat healthy, have a social life and the list goes on. It’s hard to pull the e-brake and take some down time without feeling guilty or even knowing what you need to do to give your body and mind a break. After listening to this show, you’ll feel a sense of calm and will be empowered take back control of your time and energy doing one simple thing: rest.

 

But how do you actually execute that?

[video width="940" height="788" mp4="http://www.sonyalooney.com/wp-content/uploads/EP14-video.mp4"][/video]

Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness have had very close personal experiences with overwhelm and burnout. While their road maps to burnout were from different areas, they both experienced the same feelings and ultimately had to start over. Brad was working at the White House working far too many hours as a consultant and Steve was a completely committed high school phenom runner, clocking a 4:01 minute mile and never ran that fast again. Brad is now an accomplished writer for Outside Magazine, New York Magazine, Forbes, Runner’s World, LA Times, and The Huffington Post and Steve is a coach to the top runners and Olympians.

Their book, Peak Performance is one of my favorite books. Steve and Brad combed the research on rest and energy management to bring stories from artists, top business professionals, athletes and more to teach readers to “have the courage to rest.” Their mountain of research shows that if you take the time to rest, you’ll be even more productive, successful, and inspired in your work and training

I know I personally struggle with burnout. I don’t struggle to take rest days off the bike, but when I am reducing my training, it means I generally work crazy hours on all the other facets of my business. I love everything I do, but I take on way too much and never take any time to rest.

Our addiction to results and success impact our self worth and self-identity. We are told to hustle, work harder, push HARDER! But where does all that effort start to break down and furthermore, what do the results of those efforts mean? In this podcast episode, we discuss self-identity and the awareness around the feelings like, “I lost, therefore I am a loser.” Those thoughts are not true and are tied to a fixed mindset. It’s something I personally had to work on in many aspects of my life, but that’s another story! (You can find some of it in this episode). If you view your self-worth based on your results, it makes you miserable. If you can change how you approach things

--------------
The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co. 

Authors of Peak Performance, Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness teach us how to crush feelings of overwhelm and burnout. In this podcast, we cover self identity, validation, intrinsic motivation

anxiety and stress as performance enhancers, productivity, goal setting, personal expectations, optimal intervals of working and resting, sense of purpose and motivation, multitasking, how to actually rest

"There are always opportunities every single day to challenge yourself mentally and grow and progress as a human." - James Lawrence

James Lawrence, The Iron Cowboy, is a man with seemingly no limits.  He holds not one, but two different records in the  Guinness Book of World Records for insane Ironman Triathlon feats.  His most recent record was called the 50-50-50.  He completed 50 Ironman distance triathlons in 50 consecutive days in 50 different states.  Many said it could not be done, but he redefined what others said was impossible.  From there, his endurance career has continued to branch out with a trip to Mt Kilimanjaro with his mountain bike, a 235 mile walk across Greece with Navy Seals, and doing the 4 hardest Ironmans in the world this year (Alaskaman, Norseman, Keltman, Swissman).

He wasn't always an endurance machine.  He was a couch potato with a mortgage company and his wife was sick of it.  It all started when she empowered him to do a what James called a "pathetic mess of a 4 mile run."  She then signed him up for the Salt Lake City marathon and told him he had 6 months to get in shape.  Never in their wildest dreams did they imagine that a 4 mile fun run would lead to a career of inspiring others taking on the hardest physical endurance challenges in the world.  It's a great example of how important it is to get started and try something because you never know where it can take you.  James also includes charity as a huge proponent to all of his adventures and truly believes in giving back.

Iron Cowboy James attributes his success to not just physical strength, but mental toughness and speaks about it all over the world.  He says, “I’ve seen some incredible talent just be unrealized because they (people) can’t figure out the mental side of it…they are looking for one answer or solution to it and it truly comes down to that it’s another facet of training.”

In this podcast, we dive into some of the details of his 50-50-50 adventure, some of the events he has done this year, and a huge theme of how to stay positive during the hardest situations.  Mental toughness is a choice and is something I love to talk about on this podcast.  We don't just tell you to be smile and be positive;  we actually discuss how you can work on mental toughness and mindset on a daily basis without even having to take on extreme physical challenges.  Iron Cowboy James says,  “Through the course of every single day, you have micro-opportunities to start that mental training and toughness and your route of adaptation. … There are always opportunities every single day to challenge yourself mentally and grow and progress as a human. If you’re not finding those opportunities, then you’re not looking or searching or wanting to grow. You’re happy in your miserable state.”

James Lawrence also has 5 kids and they are involved and his life and career as an ultra endurance athlete.  In this podcast, he also tells us how to be a parent as an endurance athlete and world traveler.

When asked what his favorite sport is despite everything he has done, James said without hesitation, “cycling, without question.”

I loved chatting with James Lawrence and I hope that this exchange gets you as excited as it got me!

Topics Discussed

• how to have mental toughness and how to work on it
• Iron Cowboy's 50-50-50
• His book, Redefine Impossible
• Parenting as an endurance athlete
• His other adventures this year around the world

Show Notes

• Get Iron Cowboy's book: Redefining Impossible
• Iron Cowboy's coaching program
• Red Bull's article on 50-50-50

--------------
The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co. 

The Iron Cowboy, James Lawrence, has tackled the hardest endurance challenges on the planet. He attributes his success to not only physical strength, but a strong mindset. He says, "There are always opportunities every single day to challenge yourself mentally and grow and progress as a human." With the hardest Ironman Triathlons, mountain biking Mt Kilimanjaro, walking across Greece and his 2 Guinness book of world record feats including 50 full distance ironman in 50 states in 50 days.