New Normal Project

If you don't know David & Stephen Flynn of The Happy Pear then get to it. These 37 year old Irish twins started a health revolution that began when they opened a fruit and vege shop in their hometown of Greystones that has lead to an empire including 3 cafes, 2 best selling cookbooks and 20 food items that sell in supermarkets throughout Ireland and the UK. They also have had huge success with their YouTube channel showing hundreds of 5 minute recipes that centre around the simple message to 'eat more vege'.

But they are so much more than that. They have a generosity of spirit that has them sharing porridge and tea with all who jump with them in the Irish Sea daily at dawn and in fact have free porridge on the menu at all of their cafes.

Their energy and enthusiasm for life is off the charts and in this interview Andrew and Claire hear how it all began and the core message that they want to share with the world.

We were lucky enough to spend a day with Dave and Steve, that began of course with a dip in the Irish Sea, followed by breakfast and then a tour of Pearville, the factory and studio near their home base in Greystones, 45 minutes south of Dublin.

The lads, are true leaders in the movement of plant based living and present a welcome mat of inclusivity for anyone no matter where they might be on the journey.

Find them here:

The Happy Pear website

The Happy Pear on YouTube

The Happy Pear on Instagram: @thehappypear

Books:

- The Happy Pear. Healthy, easy, delicious food to change your life. By David and Stephen Flynn

- The World of the Happy Pear. Simple, exciting, delicious food for a happier, healthier you. By Stephen and David Flynn

Remember when you were 18? Life was carefree and for many of us, revolved around exploring the freedom of becoming an 'adult'. Pubs, night clubs, partying without a care in the world except for where the next good time was. But we do care about our peer group and what they think of us. And usually that magnetic pull to belong is too strong to resist.

This was Georgie's life too except that for her, it just didn't feel right. For a while she ignored it but one day an image popped up on her Instagram feed of a guy doing yoga and that changed everything. She had found her people.

Georgie is a 24 year old with much to give to the world. She is a nurse whose life has been transformed through commitment to yoga, plant-based eating, meditation, exercise and social media. It's via Instagram that she has connected with many and it's her warmth, honesty and humility which has seen her following grow to nearly 50,000.

We talk to Georgie about how her new normal came to be, her devotion to the craft of nursing and how to work in a system that doesn't advocate plant-based eating. She shares how to build a social media presence that remains authentic to its message.

Kate Davies has a lot to live for. She was sadly widowed suddenly, 7 years ago, when her daughter Ruby was just a baby. At that stage, Kate had been living in Hong Kong for 13 years and many told her it was time to return home to Melbourne. But back she went and has stayed there for another 7 years, surrounded by the community she has built around her and who gave her and still give her so much support.

The themes of this week's podcast centre around connection, authenticity and being 'real' when it matters. Are these skills innate or can they be learned and fine tuned? Kate is the sister of NNPs Andrew Davies and is responsible for coming up with the name New Normal when we launched 6 months ago. We thought she was the perfect guest to celebrate our 20th podcast episode.

In support of the NNPs "Living the Plantpower Way" events with Rich Roll and Julie Piatt back in March, Kate not only booked a plane ticket from Hong Kong to attend, she took on the challenge of going plant-based for 3 weeks leading up to it. We hear about that experience and the surprising effects it's had on her life and her comment that "No-one is going to stop me from being healthy".

It's a powerful, entertaining and moving conversation between brother and sister (plus side commentary from Claire Davies) about life, death and eating plants.

In this week's episode we play you audio of the healthcare professional panel discussion including audience questions which was held after a screening of the documentary movie What The Health in Perth, Australia, at the Perth Town Hall on June 16th 2017.

Whilst co-hosts Andrew & Claire Davies did not participate in the movie screening, the feedback from the 2 panel discussions previously aired in episode 4 (Melbourne screening) and episode 15 (Canberra screening) of the New Normal Project podcast suggested this would be another popular, inspiring and valuable episode.

The panel members at the Perth screening were Dr Alyce Churchill (a trainee General Practitioner), Dr Vinayak Hutchinson (a Psychiatry registrar), Elizabeth Boucher (a Pre-admission and Day Surgery Unit nurse) and Louise Roberts (a Coronary and Intensive Care nurse). Tony Boucher, a metallurgist and businessman, was the panel moderator.

The event was organised and hosted by Lucy Stegley from Raw Events Australia, with co-hosts Animal Justice Party, Animal Liberation WA and Plant Based Easy. Raw Events Australia has been taking this movie, What The Health, to venues in many cities across Australia and New Zealand, thanks to the directors Keegan Kuhn and Kip Anderson. This extremely provacative and groundbreaking documentary movie is the follow-up film from the creators of the award-winning documentary Cowspiracy. The film exposes the collusion and corruption in government and big business that is costing us trillions of healthcare dollars, and keeping us sick. It uncovers the secret to preventing and even reversing chronic diseases, which is essentially a whole foods plant-based diet, and seems to be something the world's leading health organizations don't want people to know about.

The topics of discussion included the definition of whole foods plant-based nutrition, the panellists impression of the documentary and which issue stood out the most, what attracted the panellists to eating a plant-based diet, how the panellists incorporate plant-based nutrition into their practice, how nutrition is poorly covered in most medical training institutions, how healthcare professionals can influence their colleagues about nutrition, how a whole foods plant-based diet might help in a person with chronic pain syndrome, how healthcare professionals might be affected if the health of the community becomes significantly improved because of plant-based nutrition and what tips the daughter of a man recently diagnosed with lung cancer might need to help him. During the discussion several inspiring stories of people with dramatic health benefits due to plant-based nutrition were told.

Andrew & Claire also discuss on the podcast the successful New Normal Sunday event they held, and which included a variety of activities including a run or walk, a yoga session, a meditation and a green smoothie.

Green smoothies have played a big part in the health transformation of podcast hosts, Andrew and Claire Davies. This week we pay homage to the green smoothie, discussing when we started consuming this vibrant beverage, what effects it has had on our health, on our guts, and its role in recovery post running, and our own New Normal favourite blends. Plus the benefits of having a high-powered blender to make smoothies of the best consistency. We also discuss some of the science behind the effects of green smoothies and for those looking for more information on this topic, we recommend searching "green smoothies" at the website www.nutritionfacts.org. We both bemoan the lack of healthy real food in our hospitals and wonder how much patients would benefit from having a green smoothie every day whilst in hospital.

A green smoothie features in the upcoming event, New Normal Sunday, on Sunday July 16th 2017 in St Kilda, Melbourne. Also included are other components Andrew and Claire consider vital to their New Normal, namely exercise in the form of a run or walk, yoga and meditation sessions and social connection over a...green smoothie of course! Tickets and more information are available via our website www.newnormalproject.com.au or via Eventbrite.

What would happen if you challenged yourself to a physical feat to learn more about what lies within?

Our guest this week, David Orr, tells a fascinating tale that began in New York, working for Lehman Brothers, in the heady days before their declaration of bankruptcy in 2008 that precipitated the global financial crisis.

David is a Canadian who we first met one year ago at the Plantpower Italia retreat hosted by Rich Roll and Julie Piatt. A few weeks ago Andrew had the opportunity to meet with David close to his home in Tuscany to learn more about how he has ended up living in Italy for the past 7 years. During the retreat we had heard snippets about how he'd walked alone from Delhi to the Taj Mahal but we had no idea of the story that was to come. What follows is an interview that themes around being on the journey of life, taking opportunities, self discovery, ultra endurance running, love and plant based eating.

It finishes with David talking about how the retreat motivated him to run two ultramarathons of 100km and 125km, the second of which he completed just days before the interview. You'll hear his raw reflections on just how he felt and dealt with the pain and soreness, what he ate to fuel him, about running through the night, and above all how experiencing the whole journey is much more fulfilling than simply crossing the finishing line.

David has a talent for story telling plus a great story to tell.

Do you practice yoga? What do you understand yoga to be?

This week we talk to Sophie Le Fevre, who was introduced to yoga as a child and is now a highly qualified teacher of more than 15 years with her own studio in Melbourne.

Perhaps surprisingly to some, we don't discuss the specific poses that can help us to become stronger and more flexible but Sophie paints a picture of yoga providing an opportunity to develop focus whilst being relaxed. This, she says is the practice of yoga. The time spent in the yoga studio or on the mat is therefore training to be able to avoid distraction whilst maintaining a sense of calmness outside of the studio as well. So yoga can be the many things we do in everyday life. And the asanas or physical poses that we do in a class are just a means to help us achieve relaxed focus.

We talk about Sophie's childhood and she recalls an instance of being in a flow state as a 7 year old, when completing an otherwise dull task. We also discuss how yoga has benefited her own children and others she has taught during her career. Other topics covered include the health benefits of yoga, building community around a studio, the challenges of starting her own studio, how yoga is spiritual but not religious and how often we should practice yoga.

We hope you enjoy this conversation. If you've never tried yoga before, have an infrequent practice or perhaps you are a yoga afficianado, we would love to see you at our next event - New Normal Sunday - on July 16th. It's a run or walk, yoga, meditation and a green smoothie in the suburb of St Kilda in Melbourne. Go to www.newnormalproject.com.au.

In this week's episode we play you audio of the healthcare professional panel discussion including audience questions which was held after a screening of the documentary movie What The Health in Canberra at the National Film and Sound Archive on June 13th 2017.

New Normal Project podcast co-host, Andrew Davies, was a member of the panel which included Robyn Chuter, a naturopath and nutritionist from Sydney, Clare Mann, a psychologist and author from Sydney, and Stephanie Dakin, a General Practitioner trainee doctor from Canberra. Caitriona Reed, a mentor and trainer of conscious entrepreneurs was the panel moderator.

The event was organised and hosted by Lucy Stegley from Raw Events Australia, with co-hosts Vegan ACT, Animal Liberation ACT and Vegan Healthy Living Canberra. Raw Events Australia has been taking this movie, What The Health, to venues in many cities across Australia and New Zealand, thanks to the directors Keegan Kuhn and Kip Anderson. This extremely provacative and groundbreaking documentary movie is the follow-up film from the creators of the award-winning documentary Cowspiracy. The film exposes the collusion and corruption in government and big business that is costing us trillions of healthcare dollars, and keeping us sick. It uncovers the secret to preventing and even reversing chronic diseases, which is essentially a whole foods plant-based diet, and seems to be something the world's leading health organizations don't want people to know about. In great news this week we learned that the What The Health movie is now available on Netflix for all of us to share with our families and friends.

Back in episode 4, we broadcast a similar panel from a screening in Melbourne, but as this was also an interesting and informative discussion we thought we'd bring this to you on the podcast. The audience was different and the panel members were different, so as you can expect the questions were quite different too. We covered the topics of whether the movie might be biased, how the economy might cope if a much larger number of people were plant-based eaters, how effective whole-foods plant-based nutrition is for inflammatory bowel disease, what effects sugars have on the microbiome and liver, whether the harmful effects of saturated fat have been exaggerated, whether there are whole-foods plant-based dietitians and nutritionists in Canberra, whether medical practitioner groups are trying to defuse the lobbies of big agriculture and big pharma, whether soy consumption can be a problem in thyroid disease, whether clean meat might be better than dirty plant foods and how someone starts a whole foods plant-based diet when they have just been convinced to do so by watching the movie.

We also announce on the podcast an event called the New Normal Sunday which will be held in Melbourne in July 2017. This will include a run or walk, a yoga session, a short meditation and a green smoothie.

Are you going to live to 100? Do you care about your ACE - Activity, Coping and Eating?

Listen to Dr John Tickell, a medical doctor in Melbourne Australia, who in this episode starts by describing how he visited and studied the Okinawans, a cultural group with the largest proportion of people who live past 100 years of age. He discovered that the Okinawans never talk about calorie or carbohydrates, aren't fanatical about anything and stay active all of their lives.

He identifies some of the things in our Western society that don't serve us well: like retiring from work and losing purpose, getting annoyed if we can't get a car park right outside the supermarket, consuming food from packets or cans rather than in its whole form, reading newspapers filled with doom and gloom, living in congested apartments rather than old-style communities like villages, buying food that has traveled hundreds of miles to get to us, defining success by things we can count like money, and living a life lacking in family, fun, friendship and faith.

Dr Tickell talks about getting back to basics. Eating the food the earth provides us – without human interference (HI). He gives other well considered general preventative health advice that's easy to understand and built around the tenets of a very basic lifestyle – Activity, Coping and Eating.

John talks about how he became interested in preventive health during his medical training, and how when his general practice receptionists found that the most prescribed drugs were valium and antidepressants, that this was proof that we all need better coping skills than simply popping pills.

John uses a bunch of great acronyms to help people understand the key principles and he tells a great story or two. Hear about his interaction with Kerry Packer, a story that might not flatter the late media mogul but explains how the choices we make damage the brilliant machine of a human body we are born with.

This is not an episode about pure plant-based eating but John gives some great advice about how we need to eat 80% basic foods (plant foods) and 20% bonus foods. Basically everything in moderation except laughter, sex, vegetables and fish.

What's in our toolbox? What resources do we use to support us in living a plant based lifestyle?

This week Claire and Andrew Davies list all the key influencers that first made them try plant-based eating and that now continue to inspire and inform them. Not surprisingly considering their background in healthcare, the 'Big Four', Drs T. Colin Campbell (The China Study), Caldwell Esselstyn (Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease), Michael Greger (How Not to Die, nutritionfacts.org) and Dean Ornish (Program For Reversing Heart Disease) focus heavily in this discussion.

Another influencer is of course plant based ultra endurance athlete, Rich Roll, who via The Rich Roll Podcast has interviewed several plant-based gurus including Colin Campbell and Michael Greger, in addition to other doctors such as Neal Barnard, Garth Davis, Robynne Chutkan and Robert Ostfeld. The evidence based information they discuss is very helpful in understanding the health benefits of plant-based eating. Rich's interviews with individuals such as Josh LaJaunie, Fully Raw Kristina and Khalil Rafati provide inspiration and motivation with their personal stories of the power of plants in their own lives.

Rich Roll and his wife, Julie Piatt, have also written The Plantpower Way, a cookbook that was a key resource to Claire and Andrew. Other cookbooks they refer to include Vegan Goodness by Jessica Prescott, A Modern Way to Eat by Anna Jones, River Cottage Veg Everyday by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, all the books by Yotam Ottolenghi, Community by Hetty McKinnon, The Wholefood Pantry by Belle Gibson and Sweet Greek by Kathy Tsaples.

Watching films and documentaries are a great way to receive a lot of information packaged up in a format that is easy to follow and can be shared together. Claire and Andrew describe how 'Forks over Knives' was the main reason they finally committed to stop eating meat and animal products. Other films of influence include What the Health, Cowspiracy, The Connection, Supersize Me and That Sugar Film.

Connection with others on the same journey in community groups as well as attending retreats and immersions such as those conducted by Rich Roll and Julie Piatt can be incredibly helpful in moving forward and making a bigger commitment to eating more plants. Attending events such as the recent What the Health screenings, that are still happening around Australia, are a great way to boost motivation levels and meet others who are seeking a 'new normal'.