New Normal Project

This episode's guests are Natalie and Stuart McIntosh.

Stuart and Natalie (also known as Jai Ma), created the documentary "Serving Love", an excellent movie sharing the stories of people who have experienced the profound health benefits of following a high raw plant based lifestyle, including overcoming cancer, illness and depression, whilst also developing new loving and healthy relationships with people, nature and life itself. The movie also features interviews with Dr Michael Klaper, Dr Malcolm Mackay, philanthropist Philip Wollen, ultramarathoners Janette Murray-Wakelin and Alan Murray, and Yoko from Shoko Iku, as well as Natalie and Stuart.

After watching the documentary, I simply had to interview them for the podcast. I was warmly welcomed to their beautiful farm in Beaconsfield, Victoria, where apart from our conversation I was able to see the diverse array of organic fruit and vegetables they grow there.

Given the movie is mostly about raw wholefood plant-based eating, you will likely expect that to be the predominant topic. Yet early in this podcast Natalie courageously tells us the story of her depression and how she suffered with it, her attempted suicide, her feeling that this was actually a call to God for help and her subsequent journey from depression to wellness.

Natalie and Stuart then go on to speak about:

• The empowering shift Natalie noticed after seeking help and spiritual guidance
• How her depression recurred despite this
• What Stuart noticed about how the antidepressants were affecting Natalie
• The efforts they took to help Natalie discontinue her antidepressants once her mental health came under control
• Natalie's subsequent call to nature and to eating fresh real food
• How this progressed to both Stuart and Natalie deciding not to eat animal foods
• Some of the people who have guided them both spiritually
• Their realization many of us live unconsciously through our psychological minds
• The difficulties with believing we are in control of what is happening
• The benefits of letting go and simply being aware to become more fulfilled
• The benefits of seeing life as a Guru itself
• How the right spiritual teacher is someone you resonate with
• How they came to make their documentary Serving Love
• Some advice about eating more raw food as part of a wholefood plant-based diet

Listening to the podcast may be confronting for you. If you feel you need help, please contact your national 24-hour crisis counseling service. Australian listeners can go to www.lifeline.org.au or www.beyondblue.org.au.

After the interview, I tell you how I have been going with some of the recent challenges I've mentioned on the show, and I also discuss a couple of scientific papers you might value hearing about or even reading yourself, particularly if you have or know someone with depression.

Please enjoy listening to Natalie and Stuart; two of the most kind, caring and loving beings I've ever met.

Live well, feel well, do well.

Andrew Davies

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About the New Normal Project podcast: The podcast is aimed to inspire and empower you to live your most plant-based, body-moving and mind-focused lifestyle, by hearing about healthy lifestyle pillars such as nutrition, exercise, mindfulness, sleep, connection and purpose. I hope you'll glean insights to help you make choices about your habits so you become more healthy, fulfilled and conscious.

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Links to people, organisations & other resources mentioned:

Raw Food For Life website

"Serving Love" documentary

"Serving Love" documentary trailer

Raw Food For Life on Facebook

Raw Food For Life on Instagram

Dr Michael Klaper

Dr Malcolm Mackay

Philip Wollen

Janette Murray-Wakelin and Alan Murray

Blog post about Natalie's journey from depression to wellness

Lifeline

Beyond Blue

MJB seminars

Louise Hay

Fully Raw Kristina

Mooji

Rupert Spira

Russell Brand video

Jim Carrey video 1

Jim Carrey video 2

Jim Carrey video 3

Alan Watts

Dr Joe Dispenza

Raw – the Documentary

Yoko from Shoko Iku

Shoko Iku

Doctors For Nutrition

Earth Choice

Doctors For Nutrition newsletter

Blog post about Natalie's mother Kaye Dowel's cancer journey

Adam Guthrie

I Feel Good Magazine

Episode 38 of New Normal Project podcast with Michael Klaper

Episode 46 of New Normal Project podcast with Andy Ramage

Episode 51 of New Normal Project podcast with Alan Desmond

Scientific paper in Lancet on efficacy and acceptability of antidepressant medications (click on the free full text link on this page to read the full paper)

Blog post commentary about this scientific paper

Scientific paper in Annals of Family Medicine on discontinuation of antidepressant medications (click on the free full text link on this page to read the full paper)

New Normal Project podcast

New Normal Project website

New Normal Project on Facebook

New Normal Project on Instagram: @newnormalproject

New Normal Project on Twitter: @newnormalproj

Email Andrew Davies

Andrew Davies on Instagram: @andrewdavies66

Andrew Davies on Twitter: @andrewdavies66

Andrew Davies on Facebook

Subscribe to the New Normal Project newsletter

What are the 5 top evidence-based tips to maintain your gut health?

And which 3 questions should your doctor be asking you about your diet?

Dr Alan Desmond, a plant-based gastroenterologist from the UK, is fascinated with the diet that is most likely to improve the gut health of his patients, especially those with gastrointestinal problems like inflammatory bowel disease. And having reviewed the medical literature he has come to learn that the more plant foods and the more whole foods we eat the better our gut health will be, whether we have a gastroenterological problem or not.

So now not only does he eat a wholefood plant-based diet but he also recommends this to his patients and asks them 3 simple questions to help them improve their diets. You will hear these questions in this episode of the New Normal Project podcast.

Alan is originally from County Cork, Ireland and having completed his medical and specialty training in Cork, Dublin and Oxford is now a Consultant Gastroenterologist in Devon in the South-West of England, where he lives with his wife and children. Alan has gained substantial experience in diagnosing and treating patients with all sorts of digestive problems; including coeliac disease, diverticular disease, irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. He eats a varied, wholefood plant-based diet, enjoys his cooking and is active on Instagram (@devongutdoctor) where he posts photos of wholefood plant-based meals backed up by scientific evidence.

In this podcast, Alan also talks about:

• How his journey to become a doctor started as an ill newborn
• How he became hooked by the specialty of gastroenterology
• The degree that a plant-based diet can reduce the risk of colon cancer
• His long-standing interest in the microbiome (and what that is)
• The diversity of plant foods increasing the diversity of the microbiome
• What is harmful about overconsumption of processed foods
• What a course of unnecessary antibiotics does to the gut
• The difference between prebiotics and probiotics
• The amount of nuts and legumes recently recommended by the EAT-Lancet commission
• The Happy Gut course he developed with the Happy Pear
• The benefits a plant-based diet has in inflammatory bowel disease
• How some populations have very little of the diseases he treats
• And the groundswell of plant-based eating he is observing

Alan recently spoke at the Nutrition in Healthcare Conference held in Melbourne. Thank you to Doctors For Nutrition for inviting him to the meeting so I could interview him. His talk about inflammatory bowel disease and his participation in the conference were hugely valuable.

I hope you learn a lot from listening to Dr Alan Desmond.

Live well, feel well, do well.

Andrew Davies

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Links to people, organisations & other resources mentioned:

Dr Alan Desmond

Dr Alan Desmond's clinic website

Alan Desmond instagram: @devongutdoctor

DFN Nutrition in Healthcare Conference 2019

Doctors For Nutrition

Happy Pear

Happy Pear courses

Happy Gut course - Use discount code POD20 for a 20% discount

Happy Gut Guide - Free download

PlantProof podcast

PlantProof podcast episode with Alan Desmond

American Gut Project

NHS Eat Well Guide

Article – Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems

Dr Denis Burkitt

Article in Gut Journal – Evolving role of diet in the pathogenesis and treatment of inflammatory bowel disease

Rich Roll

Dr Dean Ornish

Dr Caldwell Esselstyn

Episode 2 of New Normal Project podcast with Rich Roll

Episode 22 of New Normal Project podcast with The Happy Pear

Episode 38 of New Normal Project podcast with Michael Klaper

Episode 43 of New Normal Project podcast with Kim Williams

Episode 45 of New Normal Project podcast with Neal Barnard

Episode 48 of New Normal Project podcast with Caldwell Esselstyn

Episode 49 of New Normal Project podcast with Scott Stoll

Episode 50 of New Normal Project

Doctors For Nutrition newsletter

New Normal Project podcast

New Normal Project website

New Normal Project on Facebook

New Normal Project on Instagram: @newnormalproject

New Normal Project on Twitter: @newnormalproj

Email Andrew Davies

Andrew Davies on Instagram: @andrewdavies66

Andrew Davies on Twitter: @andrewdavies66

Andrew Davies on Facebook

Subscribe to the New Normal Project newsletter

Episode 50 of the podcast is here! And it's the 2nd birthday of the podcast too. That's two years and many hours of enjoyable podcasting to acknowledge, especially given the value our inspiring guests have provided.

After a busy first year followed by 12 months of far fewer episodes, I thought it was time to clarify what the true purpose of the podcast is and to realign its direction. My wife, Claire, and I started the New Normal Project with the aim to produce a podcast on the topic of a healthy lifestyle. We made our lifestyle transformation based on 6 healthy pillars: (1) eating more plants, (2) getting more sleep, (3) practicing mindfulness, (4) being more active, (5) building healthy relationships with people and things, and (6) better understanding our authentic purpose. We continue to aim for the most healthy, fulfilling and conscious life we can live.

50 episodes later the podcast is still going and, despite Claire deciding not to work on the podcast for the time being, I remain passionate to listen, read and think about what I call a plant-based, body-moving, mind-focused lifestyle. As a Doctor I wish to demonstrate the healthiest lifestyle I can, to keep learning from guests on the podcast, and to gently educate and guide you as a listener to find out what works best for you.

I'm also a Doctor working in the Intensive Care Unit, which can be an unpleasant, uncomfortable and intimidating environment for those critically unwell people who are our patients. Intensive Care is a focal point for people with chronic diseases like heart disease, stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cancer, dementia, asthma, emphysema, chronic liver disease, mental illness and obesity. We now have evidence that many of these diseases are modifiable with healthier lifestyle choices. This means the same lifestyle that gives you the highest chance of staying alive longer and disease-free is the very same lifestyle that in my view can stop you from being admitted to the ICU. As an ICU doctor this is my genuine desire and is how I wish to help you with the podcast.

I'd like to bring more scientific information to the show using the experience I've gained from conducting a number of research studies in the ICU. But I also understand that scientific information can be insufficient on its own to change medical practice and people's lifestyles, so a mix of story-telling and information is the way the New Normal Project podcast can help to transform or enhance your lives.

Whilst I think more about how I can bring more scientific evidence, how I can combine this with telling you of my own lifestyle change experience, and how I can challenge us all to try new lifestyle habits together as a community, I'll continue to bring you guests who are experts on one of the pillars of a healthy lifestyle, people who have made lifestyle changes successfully or simply people who inspire by the way they lead their lives. That is what makes this really a Project of living a New Normal and which hopefully inspires and empowers you to live a healthy lifestyle.

Thanks for reading and listening. I am very grateful for your support of the podcast.

Live well, feel well, do well.

Andrew Davies

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Links to people, organisations & other resources mentioned:

Episode 1 of New Normal Project podcast

Mastering Intensive Care podcast

Randomised controlled trials

Observational study

Case series research

TED talks

Dr Scott Stoll

Episode 49 of New Normal Project podcast with Scott Stoll

New Normal Project podcast

New Normal Project website

New Normal Project on Facebook

New Normal Project on Instagram @newnormalproject

New Normal Project on Twitter @newnormalproj

Email Andrew Davies

Andrew Davies on Instagram @andrewdavies66

Andrew Davies on Twitter @andrewdavies66

Andrew Davies on Facebook

Subscribe to the New Normal Project newsletter

What's the best way to speak when helping people understand the benefits of a plant-based diet?

This week's New Normal Project podcast guest, Dr Scott Stoll, has been thinking about this question for a long time. After representing the USA in the Olympic bobsled, Scott completed his medical specialist training in Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, and then around 15 years ago found he did not have the answers to all of his patient's health woes. He read widely and came to recognize that a plant-based diet, especially whole-foods plant-based nutrition, had an excellent scientific basis for improving human health. As his family, including his children, transitioned to this diet, he realized that his patients would likely benefit from this too.

What has followed is a radical transformation of both his medical practice and his family. His wife and 6 children, like Scott himself, are vibrantly healthy and thrive on this way of living. Since then Dr Stoll has become a leading light of the plant-based nutrition movement, being a co-founder of the Plantrician Project, an organization aiming to educate doctors and other healthcare practitioners about the benefits of plant-based nutrition. The Plantrician Project runs the annual International Plant Based Nutrition Healthcare Conference, which is simply amazing for it's quality of speakers and information.

Dr Stoll has spent a lot of time thinking about ways to influence both patients and healthcare practitioners, especially with regards to changing behavior, and therefore has many valuable insights to share in this episode. In this conversation we also covered:

• What it feels like to be riding in an Olympic bodsled
• The importance of exercise and sleep in supplementing a healthy diet
• The story of the patient who prompted Scott's plant-based transformation
• The upsurge in elite athletes becoming plant-based
• The immersion retreats he leads

Dr Stoll appeared at the excellent Nutrition in Healthcare Conference, run by Doctors For Nutrition, in Melbourne just last week. Thank you to Doctors For Nutrition for bringing him to Australia so that I could interview him.

I hope you enjoy and learn as you listen to Dr Scott Stoll.

Live well, feel well, do well.

Andrew Davies

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Links to people, organisations & other resources mentioned:

Dr Scott Stoll

Doctors For Nutrition

DFN Nutrition in Healthcare Conference 2019

The Plantrician Project

International Plant-Based Nutrition Healthcare Conference

Article about Scott Stoll in the 1994 Olympic Bobsled

Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine

Dr Dean Ornish

Book "The China Study" (T. Colin Campbell and Thomas Campbell)

Book "Eat To Live" (Joel Fuhrman)

Whole Foods Market

Dr Stoll's Total Health Immersion

Dr Neal Barnard

Dr Alan Desmond

Dr Renae Thomas

Loma Linda, California

Blue Zones

Dr Luke Wilson

Dr Heleen Roex

Dr Juliette Roex

Emma Strutt

Joel Craddock

Shamiz Kachwalla

Documentary "Code Blue" trailer

Documentary "Diet Fiction" trailer

Dr Malcolm Mackay

Jenny Cameron

Peter Johnston

Simon Hill

PlantProof podcast

Doctors For Nutrition newsletter

Episode 38 of New Normal Project podcast with Michael Klaper

Episode 43 of New Normal Project podcast with Kim Williams

Episode 45 of New Normal Project podcast with Neal Barnard

Episode 48 of New Normal Project podcast with Caldwell Esselstyn

Book "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" (Caldwell Esselstyn)

Jeff Lester

Cacao Ceremony led by Jeff Lester

Body Flow Yoga

Sophie LeFevre

Episode 16 of New Normal Project podcast with Sophie LeFevre

Adam Guthrie

ifeelgood magazine

Interview of Andrew Davies in ifeelgood magazine

New Normal Project podcast

New Normal Project

New Normal Project on Facebook

New Normal Project on Instagram: @newnormalproject

New Normal Project on Twitter: @newnormalproj

Email Andrew Davies

Andrew Davies on Instagram: @andrewdavies66

Andrew Davies on Twitter: @andrewdavies66

Andrew Davies on Facebook

Subscribe to the New Normal Project newsletter

Photograph by Noah Hannibal

Is heart disease from clogged arteries a food-borne disease?

Can eating the right foods really reverse heart disease?

Which foods have a powerful antioxidant effect in your blood vessels?

Dr Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr is a superhero in our family. And this American surgeon who turned his career on a head to become a provider, researcher, advocate and international expert of a wholefoods, plant-based nutrition to prevent and reverse heart disease, is this week's special guest.

Dr Esselstyn grew up on a beef farm, won a Gold medal at the Olympics with the United States rowing crew as a university student and began his medical life as a surgeon. He then had an important mid-career epiphany, realizing that cutting out the cancer of an individual person was less valuable than understanding why some populations had extremely low rates of both cancer and heart disease. When he learned these healthier populations ate a predominance of plant-based wholefoods he began eating that way himself. He then took a group of patients with very severe heart disease and taught them to eat a wholefoods plant-based diet without oils as part of a formal research study. These patients had dramatic reversal of their heart disease symptoms, lived longer than they were expected to, and a powerful nutritional intervention for heart disease was launched. Caldwell then published this research, wrote the book "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" and has since devoted his life to directly helping hundreds of patients with heart disease, and to indirectly influencing thousands of patients (and doctors like me) to adopt the same way of eating.

One of those people is Claire's aunt, Dulcie, who after adopting the diet in "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" had a near overnight cessation of the frequent chest pain her blocked heart arteries was causing. This inspired Claire and I to adopt a plant-based diet which we haven't looked back from.

Many of you may have heard Dr Esselstyn on a different podcast or in a documentary. You may have read his book too. The reason I think you should listen to this is that you'll hear very specifically:

• What happens inside your blood vessels when you eliminate animal-based foods
• About the 2 distinct mechanisms for this heart disease reversal
• How much effort he personally makes for each of his patients
• What foods should be both eliminated and freely consumed

We also covered aspects such as:

• How important nitric oxide is to the lining of your blood vessels
• How your doctor is unlikely to be aware of this information
• Why oils should not be consumed
• Why he isn't keen on green smoothies
• The importance of green leafy vegetables as antioxidants
• What other disorders respond to the wholefoods plant-based diet
• Why he chose not to do a randomized study

I really hope you learn from listening to Dr Caldwell Esselstyn

Live well, feel well, do well.

Andrew Davies

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Links to people, organisations & other resources mentioned:

Dr Caldwell Esselstyn

Episode 22 of New Normal Project podcast with The Happy Pear:

"Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" Book

Episode 44 of New Normal Project podcast with Dulcie Corbett:

Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute

Dr Esselstyn's initial study (published in 1995)

Dr Esselstyn's subsequent study (published in 2014)

Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity

American Heart Association diet

John Snow and the Broad Street Pump

William Morton and Ether

Ignaz Semmelweis

Louis Pasteur

Joseph Lister

Karl Landsteiner

Frederick Banting

Charles Best

Alexander Fleming

Howard Florey

Barry Marshall

Robin Warren

Ann & Jane Esselstyn

Rip Esselstyn

DFN Nutrition in Healthcare Conference 2019

Doctors For Nutrition website

Dr Neal Barnard

Dr Scott Stoll

Dr Alan Desmond

DFN Wellington event

DFN Auckland event

New Normal Project podcast

New Normal Project website

New Normal Project on Facebook

New Normal Project on Instagram: @newnormalproject

New Normal Project on Twitter: @newnormalproj

Email Andrew Davies

Andrew Davies on Instagram: @andrewdavies66

Andrew Davies on Twitter: @andrewdavies66

Andrew Davies on Facebook

Subscribe to the New Normal Project newsletter

What has Claire been up to lately? And what is her New Year's resolution?

In this episode, Claire is back on the show! Early in 2018, my wife and co-host Claire Davies announced she was taking a break from the podcast. This is only a temporary appearance and you should enjoy the opportunity of hearing what Claire has been doing over the past year and just what her ongoing passion is.

Claire is an amazing human being. After working as a nurse for over 2 decades, the last decade as a working Mum, she took some time off to help get the New Normal Project off the ground. Her calm, measured and wise way of being brought a valuable voice and philosophy to this podcast, something that many of you have fed back to us. But after a year of speaking on the podcast about the plant-based lifestyle we adopted, and how much healthier and happier we both feel for living this way, Claire realised this was neither her true purpose nor the best use of her skills and experience.

It shocked me when she said she no longer wanted to work on the podcast, at least for the time being, but having seen the growth and fulfilment she has enjoyed over the last year, I now see why she made that decision.

Claire has begun a career in clinical pastoral care. As you'll hear in this podcast this is all about providing a deep listening presence to those unfortunate people who are patients in our hospital system. And from what I've heard Claire does, and will continue to do, a great job at this.

Listen in as Claire speaks about:

• What this new vocation is all about
• The educational course she has been participating in
• How she has been helping hospitalised patients
• How this relates to her own faith-based journey
• Why she's no longer co-hosting the podcast
• The New Year's resolution Claire has chosen
• The New Year's resolution I have chosen
• And some advice from Claire about identifying the purpose behind your exercise regime

Enjoy listening to my beautiful wife, Claire.

Live well, feel well, do well.

Andrew Davies

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Links to people, organisations & other resources mentioned:

Claire Davies on Twitter: @CLDavies22

Clinical Pastoral Education

Rich Roll

Oprah Winfrey

Andy Ramage

Episode 46 of New Normal Project podcast with Andy Ramage

One Year No Beer challenge

Doctors For Nutrition website

DFN Nutrition in Healthcare Conference 2019

Dr Neal Barnard

Dr Scott Stoll

New Normal Project podcast

New Normal Project website

New Normal Project on Facebook

New Normal Project on Instagram: @newnormalproject

New Normal Project on Twitter: @newnormalproj

Email Andrew Davies

Andrew Davies on Instagram: @andrewdavies66

Andrew Davies on Twitter: @andrewdavies66

Andrew Davies on Facebook

Subscribe to the New Normal Project newsletter

Have you ever considered an alcohol-free challenge?

Are you worried you might be drinking too much?

Do you need help with your drinking?

If any of these questions resonate with you, this podcast is one you may learn something from. Andy Ramage, a passionate ex-professional footballer who is now an equally passionate oil broker in London, UK, is this week's guest. In 2015 Andy co-founded the global lifestyle phenomenon OneYearNoBeer.com, a 28, 90 or a 365-day alcohol-free challenge to help transform people's relationship with alcohol. His first best-selling book The 28-day Alcohol-free Challenge, co-authored with his colleague Ruari Fairbairns, was released in December 2017.

Andy is one of the world's leading behavioural change & performance coaches. He works with CEOs, business professionals, athletes, entrepreneurs, actors and influencers to transform their relationship with alcohol to improve their health, their careers and their day to day lives. Andy is working towards a Masters degree in positive psychology and coaching psychology, is a Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, a mindfulness based awareness coach, a much sought-after speaker, and with Ruari, he has a popular podcast called the One Year No Beer podcast.

In this episode, Andy tells his story of how he ended up in a work culture where alcohol was prominent, how he realised this had become a problem and what he did about it, his initial failures going alcohol-free mainly because of the social pressure he felt, how an extended alcohol-free period ended up being successful, and what he is now doing to inspire others to take and benefit from an alcohol-free challenge.

In the conversation, Andy also speaks on:

• How he didn't ever identify with being an alcoholic
• The failed alcohol-free attempts which made him stronger
• His realisation that apart from Alcoholics Anonymous there was not much to help people with their drinking behaviour
• Using non-alcoholic beer to help him
• What the One Year No Beer movement and community is all about
• His 28 day Alcohol-Free Challenge book
• What happens after most people try an alcohol-free challenge
• The benefits of getting up early without a hangover
• How to deal with partners with drinking behaviours
• His change to plant-based eating and how that has helped him
• How mindfulness has helped him, especially Loving Kindness meditation
• He hopes to write more books, do more speaking, write blogs and lead courses
• His passion for football and how that led to a professional football career
• How much better a footballer he might have been with his present lifestyle
• The disconnect between what professional footballers drink and what the supporters think they drink
• The need for more public figures being known to be alcohol free

This is not a conversation to necessarily make you give up alcohol completely. This is not a conversation focused on people who might be considered alcoholics.

This is a conversation for people who drink even small amounts of alcohol. This is a conversation to raise your awareness of the relationship you might have developed with alcohol without labelling or stigmatising you.

At a time of the year people are often making New Year's resolutions, this might just be the kicker to try an alcohol-free challenge, especially as Andy well describes the social pressures we all face as we choose behaviours that make us different to the culture all around us.

Andy understands how to invite people to change their behaviour without ever telling them they are a bad person for what they are currently doing. It's not negative, it's all about the positive. If you have been thinking about reducing your drinking, I hope this will be helpful.

Live well, feel well, do well.

Andrew Davies

PS. Claire is taking a break from hosting the show so I invite you to stick with me on a search to improve your health and happiness. My father's recent death with cancer has reinvigorated my passion to help as many people as possible to live the healthiest lives possible to give us the best chance of a longer and disease-free life.

The podcast will continue to focus on the pillars of a healthy lifestyle such as eating more plants, becoming more mindful, moving our bodies more, improving our sleep, developing healthier connections and refining our sense of purpose.

I'd really appreciate your help in supporting the show by posting on social media, rating or reviewing the show, or simply by telling one person you think would enjoy listening.

And please subscribe to our newsletter at www.newnormalproject.com.au

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Links to people, organisations & other resources mentioned:

Andy Ramage webpage: https://www.oneyearnobeer.com/author/andyramage/

Andy Ramage on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andyoynb

Andy Ramage on Instagram: @andyramagemv

Andy Ramage on Twitter: @AndyRamageAF

Andy Ramage on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyramage/?originalSubdomain=au

Andy Ramage email address: [email protected]

One Year No Beer webpage: https://www.oneyearnobeer.com/takethechallenge

One Year No Beer on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Oneyearnobeer/

One Year No Beer on Instagram: @oneyearnobeer

One Year No Beer on Twitter: @oynbuk

One Year No Beer podcast: https://www.oneyearnobeer.com/podcasts/

The 28 Day Alcohol Free Challenge book: https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/andy-ramage/the-28-day-alcohol-free-challenge/9781509857258

Our Plantpower World retreat: https://www.ourplantpowerworld.com/

Rich Roll: https://www.richroll.com/

Rich Roll podcast: https://www.richroll.com/category/podcast/

Julie Piatt: http://www.srimati.com/

5 AM Miracle podcast: https://www.jeffsanders.com/the-5-am-miracle-podcast/

Hal Elrod: https://halelrod.com/

No Meat Athlete: https://www.nomeatathlete.com/

Matt Frazier: https://www.webmd.com/matt-frazier

Professional Footballer's Association: https://www.thepfa.com/

Episode 45 of New Normal Project podcast with Neal Barnard: http://newnormalproject.libsyn.com/episode-45-neal-barnard-how-to-start-plant-based-eating-and-which-health-benefits-you-might-expect

Doctors For Nutrition website: https://www.doctorsfornutrition.org/

DFN Nutrition in Healthcare Conference 2019: https://events.humanitix.com.au/nihc2019

New Normal Project podcast: http://newnormalproject.libsyn.com/

New Normal Project website: https://www.newnormalproject.com.au/

New Normal Project on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newnormalproject/

New Normal Project on Instagram: @newnormalproject

New Normal Project on Twitter: @newnormalproj

Email Andrew Davies: [email protected]

After an 8 month break, the New Normal Project podcast is back, aiming to inspire and empower you to live a more healthy, fulfilling and conscious life.

Claire is taking a further break from the show so I invite you to stick with me, Andrew, on a search to improve your health and happiness, and indeed mine. My father's recent death with cancer has reinvigorated my passion to help as many people as possible to live the healthiest lives possible to give us the best chance of a longer and disease-free life.

The podcast focuses on the pillars of a healthy lifestyle such as eating more plants, becoming more mindful, moving our bodies more, improving our sleep, developing healthier connections and refining our sense of purpose.

This interview is with Dr Neal Barnard, a physician, clinical researcher, author, and an adjunct associate professor of medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington DC, USA. In 1985, Neal established the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) to promote preventive medicine, conduct clinical research, and advocate for higher ethical standards in research. The PCRM also provides direct medical care through its subsidiary, the Barnard Medical Center, in Washington, where patients with diabetes, obesity, and other chronic conditions can be treated, and/or participate in clinical research studies, aiming to improve the prevention and treatment of these health problems.

In this episode, you'll hear Neal speak about:

• His forthcoming trip to Australia
• His early career in psychiatry
• His upbringing on a farm with a medical father
• How nutrition isn't owned by any single medical specialty
• How much of his work is really behavioural change
• The aim of his new book the Vegan Starter Kit
• The first steps in starting a plant-based diet
• Plant-based eating being less torturous than other popular diets
• His perspective on oils in a plant-based diet
• How hardening of the arteries can lead to back pain
• How poor diet plays a part in the development of dementia
• The rapid effects of a plant-based diet in diabetics
• How patients are now starting to educate their doctors
• His thoughts on eliminating cheese, fish and chocolate
• Which cancers are most responsive to plant-based eating
• The carcinogenic effects of grilling meat
• How plant-based eating night influence mental illness
• Why he set up the PCRM
• The Barnard Medical Centre helping people with dietary changes
• The respect he and his colleagues have for their patients
• Some of the advocacy initiatives he has led
• His thoughts on the other pillars of healthy lifestyle
• The online Kick Start program from the PCRM

Neal has been inspiring, supporting and helping people with scientific articles, books and conference presentations about plant-based nutrition for over 3 decades. I see him as one of the pre-eminent international plant-based doctors, which is why I really hope you enjoy this interview.

Following the interview you'll hear how Neal will be coming to Australia for the Nutrition in Healthcare Conference, run by Doctors For Nutrition, from February 15-17, 2019 in Melbourne. Lucy Stegley, co-founder of Doctors For Nutrition joins me on the podcast to speak about this new organization, it's vision, and who and what is on the program for this excellent conference.

Whether you are a doctor, another healthcare professional, or simply someone interested in hearing from experts in nutrition, including Dr Barnard, please check out www.doctorsfornutrition.org to find out more.

New Normal Project e-list subscribers have exclusive access to a 10% discount on conference tickets. If you haven't signed up to our e-newsletter as yet, you can do so here: www.newnormalproject.com.au

Live well, feel well, do well.

Andrew Davies

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Links to people, organisations & other resources mentioned:

Dr Neal Barnard on Twitter: @DrNealBarnard

Dr Neal Barnard on Facebook: @NealBarnardMD

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine website: https://www.pcrm.org/

Vegan Starter Kit book: https://www.pcrm.org/news/news-releases/vegan-starter-kit-neal-barnard-md-provides-fast-track-health

The Cheese Trap book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Cheese-Trap-Breaking-Surprising-Addiction/dp/1455594687

Neal Barnard's other books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Neal-D.-Barnard/e/B001ILHHG0

Neal Barnard on the Rich Roll podcast (episode 242): https://www.richroll.com/podcast/neal-barnard/

Neal Barnard on the Rich Roll podcast (episode 296): https://www.richroll.com/podcast/neal-barnard-2/

Barnard Medical Centre website: https://www.pcrm.org/barnard-medical-center

Study publication by Dr Barnard and colleagues of plant-based nutrition for diabetes: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19339401

Study publication by Dr Barnard and colleagues of plant-based nutrition in the workplace: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23695207

Second study publication by Dr Barnard and colleagues of plant-based nutrition in the workplace: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24524383

Dr Dean Ornish website: https://www.ornish.com/

PCRM Online 21 Day Vegan Kickstart Program: https://kickstart.pcrm.org/en

Raw Events Australia website: www.raweventsaustralia.com/

Doctors For Nutrition website: https://www.doctorsfornutrition.org/

Dr Heleen Roex website: http://www.wholeplantshealth.com.au/

DFN Nutrition in Healthcare Conference 2019: https://events.humanitix.com.au/nihc2019

Dr Scott Stoll website: https://drscottstoll.com/

Plantrician Project: https://plantricianproject.org/

Dr Alan Desmond: https://www.plantbaseddoctors.org/alan-desmond

Dr Renae Thomas website: https://www.livefull.com.au/about-us

Code Blue documentary: http://www.codebluedoc.com/#the-film-1

Diet Fiction documentary: https://www.dietfictionmovie.com/

Young At Heart – Brisbane Nutrition Symposium with Dr Kim Williams: https://events.humanitix.com.au/brisbanesymposium

New Normal Project podcast: http://newnormalproject.libsyn.com/

New Normal Project website: https://www.newnormalproject.com.au/

New Normal Project on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newnormalproject/

New Normal Project on Instagram: @newnormalproject

New Normal Project on Twitter: @newnormalproj

Email Andrew Davies: [email protected]

How would it feel to need to sit down in the middle of the road because the pain in your chest was so bad?

You couldn't even wait until you got to the other side. And what if your cardiologist said "I've done all the stents I can, the blood vessels in your heart are falling apart and there is nothing wrong with sitting down"?

Dulcie Corbett didn't like to hear this. She was too dynamic to be crippled by heart disease. She had gone trekking in the Himalayas on the day she retired from work at aged 60. She wasn't even sure she had heart disease. All she knew is that to relieve the terrible pain in her chest she needed to sit down and hug herself. And she needed to do it often.

So when her GP recommended the book "How to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" by Dr Caldwell Esselstyn, at first she read it and thought it all sounded too hard. But when the pain continued unabated, she read it again. And she realised that Dr Esselstyn was simply asking her to make a choice. A choice between living with the crippling of heart disease or trying a healthier diet that might help her feel better. What was there to lose? Based on how bad she felt she simply had to try the diet.

The rest is history. Dulcie, who is Claire's aunt, adopted the whole food plant-based diet with the added "extras" of no oil ("not a drop"), no nuts and no avocados, and she has never looked back. The no oil bit was an initial stumbling block and giving up cheese was hard, but her blood cholesterol fell dramatically and the chest pains went away. She literally felt fantastic in a week.

Dulcie doesn't do much sitting around these days. And the 13 tablets she was taking before the dietary change have dropped to 4, one of which (aspirin) she is on for life. This is a terrific story about the powerful effects of whole foods plant-based nutrition, how it can reverse heart disease and the realities of eating this way.

Dulcie tells us how and why this all happened, how it felt before and after, the practicalities of how she did this, how she needs 3 monthly blood tests to keep on track, how she has very occasional sinning days (where she eats fish) for relief of the strictness, how she deals with eating out at restaurants and functions, how she entertains at home and best of all how she got back on her bike 2 months ago to ride 12km to prove she could still do it.

Dulcie is a small lady with a big story. She has an immeasurable zest for life and she was the main reason Claire and Andrew adopted a plant-based diet. Dulcie has also influenced her daughter and her grand-daughters which is surely the ultimate gift of a family elder – inspiring your descendents to make the healthiest choices they can based on your own living example of improved health and happiness.

Thank you Dulcie for joining us on the podcast and for championing this way of life. You are our hero and we love you.

Claire & Andrew

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Links to people, organisations and other resources mentioned in this episode:

Book - How to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Dr Caldwell Esselstyn: http://www.dresselstyn.com/site/books/prevent-reverse/about-the-book/

Book - How Not To Die by Dr Michael Greger: https://nutritionfacts.org/book/

Book - The China Study by Dr Colin Campbell: https://nutritionstudies.org/the-china-study/

Book - Finding Ultra by Rich Roll: http://www.richroll.com/finding-ultra/

New Normal Project website: https://www.newnormalproject.com.au/

New Normal Project podcast: http://newnormalproject.libsyn.com/

New Normal Project on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newnormalproject/

New Normal Project on Instagram: @newnormalproject

New Normal Project on Twitter: @newnormalproj

Email Claire & Andrew Davies: [email protected]

If you had heart disease, wouldn't you prefer advice from a cardiologist who is trying to make themselves heart attack proof?

Dr Kim Williams is a vegan cardiologist. Yes you read it right. He adopted a plant-based diet 15 years ago when his cholesterol level was found to be higher than it should have been and he'd recently seen a patient's heart scan improve remarkably with a plant-based diet.

He now understands that a whole foods plant-based diet should give him a longer life and should also give his patients the opportunity to reverse their heart disease, one of the greatest killers on this earth.

Hence he eats, advises and advocates plant-based nutrition.

After graduating from the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago, Kim became board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular diseases, nuclear medicine, nuclear cardiology, and cardiovascular computed tomography. He has worked at the Pritzker School of Medicine, the Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit and since 2013 at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, where he is Professor and Head of the Cardiology Department. He was President of the American College of Cardiology from 2015-2016 and has also been President of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology.

Previously an elite tennis player himself, Kim is now combining his passions of tennis and plant-based nutrition advocacy with a visit to Melbourne this January. Whilst primarily here to watch the professional tennis players at the Australian Open he is also speaking at the "Young at Heart" Nutrition in Healthcare Symposium run by Lucy Stegley of Raw Events Australia on January 23rd 2018 at RMIT University in Melbourne. If you live in or close to Melbourne you won't want to miss what he has to say. As a doctor whose career combines patient care, scientific reasoning, diagnostic testing and health advocacy he has lots to tell us all about the patient stories and the evidence to support his stance that a diet devoid of animal products is the best for our heart health.

He was very kind to give us an opportunity for a chat here on the New Normal Project podcast. We covered several important topics from what he eats, what patients with heart disease should eat, to what pro tennis players eat. And lots in between.

Live well, feel well, do well!

Claire & Andrew

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Links to people, organisations and other resources mentioned in this episode:

Dr Kim Williams at Rush University Medical Center: https://doctors.rush.edu/details/1728/kim-williams-sr-cardiovascular_disease-chicago-oak_park

Dr Kim Williams on Twitter: @cardio10s

Australian Open tennis tournament: https://ausopen.com

Blog post by Dr Williams on "Vegan diet, healthy heart": https://www.medpagetoday.com/Cardiology/Prevention/46860

American College of Cardiology: http://www.acc.org

Dr Caldwell Esselstyn: http://www.dresselstyn.com

Dr Dean Ornish: https://www.ornish.com

Portfolio diet (David Jenkins): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portfolio_diet

American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association guidelines on high blood pressure: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29133356

Meta-analysis by Dr Neil Barnard's team: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24566947

Adventist health studies: https://publichealth.llu.edu/adventist-health-studies

Dr John McDougall: https://www.drmcdougall.com/

Dr Joel Fuhrman: https://www.drfuhrman.com/learn/the-nutritarian-diet

Book - The Spectrum by Dr Dean Ornish: http://deanornish.com/books/

Mediterranean diet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_diet

PREDIMED study: http://www.predimed.es/

Happy Cow: https://www.happycow.net/

Tennis Australia: https://www.tennis.com.au/

Rod Lever Arena: https://www.rodlaverarena.com.au/

Professional tennis players mentioned: Donald Young, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams, Venus Williams

Raw Events Australia: http://www.raweventsaustralia.com/

Raw Events "Young at Heart" Nutrition in Healthcare Symposium: http://www.raweventsaustralia.com/calendar/

Raw Events Eventbrite link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nutrition-in-healthcare-melbourne-symposium-dr-kim-williams-usa-more-tickets-41260790134

New Normal Project website: https://www.newnormalproject.com.au/

New Normal Project podcast: http://newnormalproject.libsyn.com/

New Normal Project on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newnormalproject/

New Normal Project on Instagram: @newnormalproject

New Normal Project on Twitter: @newnormalproj

Email Claire & Andrew Davies: [email protected]

Photo credit: Noah Hannibal