This week's episode is a happy accident.

I interviewed Elizabeth Bell in order to record a testimonial for WellStart Health, and ended up having a conversation so compelling and instructive and inspiring that I decided – with Elizabeth's blessing – to share the whole thing.

When Elizabeth first joined the WellStart program, she was more or less house-bound. A mysterious malady had taken her balance, her energy, and much of her eyesight. She was in danger of having to go on full disability, give up her professorship in astrophysics, and lose the apartment she had worked so long and hard to afford.

Her beloved pastimes – reading and playing cello and piano – were also out of reach due to her dizziness, fatigue, and blurred vision.

It's easy to see how Elizabeth could have felt like a victim at that point.

As a highly trained and accomplished scientist, she always looked to data for direction. But here, there was none. One specialist after another proclaimed themselves clueless. Without a diagnosis, there was no treatment plan.

I was nervous when Josh and I first met Elizabeth on a WellStart coaching call. We're confident that we can help people with obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and autoimmune problems – since they're typically caused or exacerbated by lifestyle, they're typically responsive to lifestyle improvement.

But a set of symptoms like Elizabeth's? We had no idea if our approach would help, and we told her so.

After a few months, something clicked. We could see it in her forum posts, in her text threads with coaches, and in her mood and energy on the group calls.

Elizabeth decided that she wasn't going to wait until she was feeling better to take decisive action toward healing.

She was going to take action first.

And it started small small small, as you'll hear in our conversation.

With a daily walk to the mailbox.

As one of the most active members of the Sick to Fit Facebook group, Elizabeth is now inspiring others on a daily basis. And as a certified WellStart Coach, she's expanded her toolkit and is working with clients to help them see what's possible when they take the first step.

Oh – and this is important – Elizabeth isn't “healed.” Or “cured.” She still doesn't know what happened, or why, or if the condition is ever going away.

She knows only that she can live a full, joyful, active life on her terms, even if the mystery disease never resolves.

And she relishes – and passionately preaches – the freedom that mindset affords.

I couldn't be prouder of Elizabeth, or more delighted at her progress, or more excited for the growing impact her coaching and advocacy are having on the world.

Just for fun, here's a before and after montage:

 

Enjoy, add your voice to the conversation via the comment box below, and please share – that's how we spread our message and spread our roots.

Links

Elizabeth's Facebook Page

Elizabeth's Health Coaching Email: [email protected] (website coming soon)

Elizabeth on Instagram and Twitter

Sick to Fit Facebook Group

WellStart Health Coach Training

WellStart Health

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This podcast is not underwritten by advertising, so I can experience complete editorial autonomy without worrying about pissing off the person paying the bills. Instead, I pay the bills, with your help. It's free for those who can't afford to pay, and supported by those who can. You can contribute to the growth and improvement of th...

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Caroline Webb is the author of the wonderfully entertaining and useful How to Have a Good Day, which is basically a cookbook on how to be an effective human in the world.She is an executive coach, economist, and speaker, and the book comes out of her extensive knowledge of behavioral science and its application in the real world.How to Have a Good Day has influenced my own health coaching so much, I wanted to talk with Caroline specifically about applying her tools and "recipes" to the challenges around improving diet and lifestyle.

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Caroline Webb is the author of the wonderfully entertaining and useful How to Have a Good Day, which is basically a cookbook on how to be an effective human in the world.

She is an executive coach, economist, and speaker, and the book comes out of her extensive knowledge of behavioral science and its application in the real world.

How to Have a Good Day has influenced my own health coaching so much, I wanted to talk with Caroline specifically about applying her tools and “recipes” to the challenges around improving diet and lifestyle.

We talked a lot about the discover-defend axis, and how the brain tends to prioritize threat over opportunity. And what that costs us. And how we can rebalance the mental scales to be more effective, kind, and powerful in relation to ourselves and others.

We discussed really cool techniques for making requests, dealing with conflict, giving negative feedback, saying no, talking to ourselves when we're liable to binge, and embarking upon big change goals.

We finished by talking about Burning Man, and how to bring the festival's 10 Principles (gifting, participation, communal effort, self-expression, immediacy, self-reliance, leave no trace, decommodification, radical inclusion, and civic responsibility) into our home communities.

Enjoy, add your voice to the conversation via the comment box below, and please share – that's how we spread our message and spread our roots.

Links

How to Have a Good Day, by Caroline Webb

CarolineWebb.co

HowToHaveaGoodDay.com

Caroline's Burning Man article in Behavioral Scientist

Caroline Webb on the Bregman Leadership Podcast

Mind in Motion, by Barbara Tversky

Video: The Selective Attention Phenomenon

Gillian Sandstrom and the Talking2Strangers Scavenger Hunt Game

Download the Scavenger Hunt Goosechase App

Support the Podcast

This podcast is not underwritten by advertising, so I can experience complete editorial autonomy without worrying about pissing off the person paying the bills. Instead, I pay the bills, with your help. It's free for those who can't afford to pay, and supported by those who can. You can contribute to the growth and improvement of the podcast by . Click the “Support on Patreon” or “Donate” buttons on the right to help out.

Announcements

Become a Wicked-Effective Health Coach: WellStartCoach.com

March 2020 New Orleans Josh/Howie Retreat

Ready to embark on your Big Change journey?

Are you tired of knowing what to do, and still not doing it consistently? The WellStart Health Big Change Program, led by Josh LaJaunie and myself, will help you take the steps to finally live according to your knowledge and values.

Go to WellStartHealth.com/program to learn more, and to get notified about the next program.

Ask your questions or share your feedback

Comment on the show notes for this episode (below)

Connect with me

Subscribe, rate, and review in iTunes

Join the

Thoughts on the episode? Let us know.

Juan-Carlos "Carly" Asse is a fitness trainer and documentarian. His first film, Unsupersize Me, has been viewed over 3 million times, and has inspired and guided countless people to embark on their own journeys of healthy weight loss.Carly was a guest on one of the earliest Plant Yourself Podcasts. We talked about his prison transformation: his commitment to bettering himself after being incarcerated for drug charges, his encounter with The China Study, and his new career of personal fitness trainer.Carly's second film, Unsupersize Us, continued and validated the story of Unsupersize Me, this time with five participants from Carly's town of Gainesville, FL. Carly's goal was to broaden the message, and make it clear that this lifestyle and diet was for everyone, and that Tracy's transformation in the original film was not an anomaly.

Click to subscribe to the Mindset Mastery Memo.

Support the show

Juan-Carlos “Carly” Asse is a fitness trainer and documentarian. His first film, Unsupersize Me, has been viewed over 3 million times, and has inspired and guided countless people to embark on their own journeys of healthy weight loss.

Carly was a guest on one of the earliest Plant Yourself Podcasts. We talked about his prison transformation: his commitment to bettering himself after being incarcerated for drug charges, his encounter with The China Study, and his new career of personal fitness trainer.

Carly's second film, Unsupersize Us, continued and validated the story of Unsupersize Me, this time with five participants from Carly's town of Gainesville, FL. Carly's goal was to broaden the message, and make it clear that this lifestyle and diet was for everyone, and that Tracy's transformation in the original film was not an anomaly.

UnSupersize Me in Cuba, coming out in 2020, is a Spanish-language film that documents the transformation of Ridiel Pérez, a Cuban man suffering from obesity and several chronic diseases.

In this conversation, we explore this next phase of his advocacy: the two additional documentaries, his growth as a filmmaker, and his community work in the context of his Florida gym, Zen Fitness.

Enjoy, add your voice to the conversation via the comment box below, and please share – that's how we spread our message and spread our roots.

Links

TheZenFitness.com

Unsupersize Me

Unsupersize Us

Carly on Instagram

Support the Podcast

This podcast is not underwritten by advertising, so I can experience complete editorial autonomy without worrying about pissing off the person paying the bills. Instead, I pay the bills, with your help. It's free for those who can't afford to pay, and supported by those who can. You can contribute to the growth and improvement of the podcast by . Click the “Support on Patreon” or “Donate” buttons on the right to help out.

Announcements

Coach Training starts November 2019. Find out more at WellStartCoach.com.

One spot left for the Josh/Howie Health Retreat in North Carolina November 14-17, 2019. Read all about it here.

Ready to embark on your Big Change journey?

Are you tired of knowing what to do, and still not doing it consistently? The WellStart Health Big Change Program, led by Josh LaJaunie and myself, will help you take the steps to finally live according to your knowledge and values.

Go to WellStartHealth.com/program to learn more, and to get notified about the next program.

Ask your questions or share your feedback

Comment on the show notes for this episode (below)

Connect with me

Subscribe, rate, and review in iTunes

Join the Plant Yourself Facebook Page

Music

The Plant Yourself Podcast theme music, “Dance of Peace (Sabali Don),” is generously provided by Will Ridenour, a kora player from North Carolina who has trained with top Senegalese musicians.

Thoughts on the episode? Let us know.

Benjamin Alter, ND, treats his patients as if they actually have the power to heal themselves.This power introduces a wonderful and frustrating messiness into the scientific pursuit of truth. It's hard to control for. It's hard to randomize for. And it's hard to replicate.In fact, science has dealt with this messiness by, at best, pretending it doesn't exist, and at worst, actively denigrating people's subjective experiences of illness and healing.

Click to subscribe to the Mindset Mastery Memo.

Support the show

Benjamin Alter, ND, treats his patients as if they actually have the power to heal themselves.

This power introduces a wonderful and frustrating messiness into the scientific pursuit of truth. It's hard to control for. It's hard to randomize for. And it's hard to replicate.

In fact, science has dealt with this messiness by, at best, pretending it doesn't exist, and at worst, actively denigrating people's subjective experiences of illness and healing.

In our conversation, Ben and I talk about his definition of health, and how it connects to freedom.

And why our increased lifespans over the past 50 years may not equate to true health. Despite having medical technologies and pharmaceutical innovations like never before, we are disempowered by our dependence on these external sources, not of health, but of symptom remediation.

There's plenty of solution-talk in our conversation as well. We talk about how align with the law of the universe to take back our own agency, and how to make the world a healthier place for everyone.

Here's the video, in which you can see the lovely artwork in Ben's office that we discuss at the very top of the show:

Enjoy, add your voice to the conversation via the comment box below, and please share – that's how we spread our message and spread our roots.

Links

Ben's Practice Site: Alter Health

Ben's Alter Your Health Podcast

Me on Ben's Podcast

Support the Podcast

This podcast is not underwritten by advertising, so I can experience complete editorial autonomy without worrying about pissing off the person paying the bills. Instead, I pay the bills, with your help. It's free for those who can't afford to pay, and supported by those who can. You can contribute to the growth and improvement of the podcast by . Click the “Support on Patreon” or “Donate” buttons on the right to help out.

Announcements

WellStart Coach Training starts November 4, 2019. Find out more.

Ready to embark on your Big Change journey?

Are you tired of knowing what to do, and still not doing it consistently? The WellStart Health Big Change Program, led by Josh LaJaunie and myself, will help you take the steps to finally live according to your knowledge and values.

Go to WellStartHealth.com/program to learn more, and to get notified about the next program.

Ask your questions or share your feedback

Comment on the show notes for this episode (below)

Connect with me

Subscribe, rate, and review in iTunes

Join the Plant Yourself Facebook Page

Music

The Plant Yourself Podcast theme music, “Dance of Peace (Sabali Don),” is generously provided by Will Ridenour, a kora player from North Carolina who has trained with top Senegalese musicians.

It can be found on his first CD, titled Will Ridenour.

You can learn about Will, listen to more tracks, and buy music on his website, WillRidenour.com.

Gratitudes

Thanks to Plant Yourself podcast patrons – Kim Harrison – Lynn McLellan – Anthony Dissen – Brittany Porter – Dominic Marro – Barbara Whitney – Tammy Black – Amy Good – Amanda Hatherly – Mary Jane Wheeler – Ellen Kennelly – Melissa Cobb – Rachel Behrens – Chr...

Thoughts on the episode? Let us know.

Gwyn Whittaker is a change-maker, and for the past several years she's deployed her considerable "get-it-done" skills to the plant-based movement.Whittaker is CEO of Greenfare Cafe in Herndon, Virginia, which is the only 100% whole-food, plant-based (WFPB), organic restaurant either of us has ever heard of.

Click to subscribe to the Mindset Mastery Memo.

Support the show

Gwyn Whittaker is a change-maker, and for the past several years she's deployed her considerable “get-it-done” skills to the plant-based movement.

Whittaker is CEO of Greenfare Cafe in Herndon, Virginia, which is the only 100% whole-food, plant-based (WFPB), organic restaurant either of us has ever heard of. (If you know of one, please let me know in the comments section so I can give it a shout-out!)

From a career as an engineer and entrepreneur in the intelligence community, she pivoted to nutrition and health after the untimely and tragic death of her 50-year-young fiancé in 2010. Upon discovering Forks Over Knives and getting introduced to T. Colin Campbell (by me, apparently, although I confess to not remembering ;), Whittaker rolled up her sleeves and devoted her energy to bringing the message – and taste – of healthy plant-based food to the wider world.

From her financial assistance with Nelson Campbell's film Plant Pure Nation, to executive producing the recent release The Game Changers, Whittaker's energy has helped spread the word to millions.

What I wanted to talk with her about, though, was the strategy and impact of Greenfare, a restaurant that bucks the trend of making plant-based food more acceptable to the mass market (think Veggie Grill and their fried entrees, and the Impossible/Beyond/Miyoko's products).

Greenfare is uncompromising in its adherence to strict WFPB standards. Her goal is not to convince us that plant-based eating is just as decadent and delicious as “regular” dietary choices. Instead, it's to point the way to a restaurant of the future, that feeds us well without compromising our health. (What a concept!)

We talked about this strategy, and the impact of the restaurant on normalizing plant-based eating in its community.

We discussed the Yelp phenomenon that vegans often rate the food as less tasty than meat-eaters, and how so many vegans are ensnared in the “pleasure trap” described by Doug Lisle and Alan Goldhamer's book of that name.

And how life gets so much better when we eliminate the junk and animal products from our diets.

Enjoy this conversation with an inspiring mover, shaker, and plant-based visionary!

Enjoy, add your voice to the conversation via the comment box below, and please share – that's how we spread our message and spread our roots.

Links

Greenfare Cafe

Greenfare on Facebook | Instagram | Yelp

The Pleasure Trap – by Doug Lisle and Alan Goldhamer

Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine – 21 Day Kickstart

Plant Pure Nation documentary

The China Study – by T. Colin Campbell, PhD, and Thomas M Campbell, MD

Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition – by T. Colin Campbell (with an assist by me

Thoughts on the episode? Let us know.

For my money, Stephen Porges' Polyvagal Theory has done more to improve our ability to heal and grow and thrive as a civilization than any other scientific breakthrough of the past 50 years.Its advances over prior understandings of the human nervous system, psychology, and experiences of states like well-being, happiness, and love - are profound. Paradigm-shifting. And, unlike a lot of theory, incredible practical and applicable to our everyday lives.

Click to subscribe to the Mindset Mastery Memo.

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