Brian Kateman is cofounder of the burgeoning Reducetarian movement, and one of the bright young stars in the fight to save humanity, animals, and planet earth from spiraling into an unredeemable mess.

Brian reached out to me about a year ago, sharing a modest vision for an edited book designed not to turn ordinary people into vegetarians or vegans, but simply to encourage and empower them to eat less meat.

I happily contributed a chapter, but didn't think much about the project until I started seeing the Reducetarian movement pop up in all sorts of places.

A TEDx talk. A summit in New York City. And the book has been endorsed by some of the most respected, influential, controversial, and colorful figures in the world of ideas and English-language writing.

This thing is going to be big. (Of course, this prediction is from the same guy who told T. Colin Campbell to stop wasting his time with Forks Over Knives; the title was so dumb that it wouldn't amount to anything.)

No, seriously. What Brian has done is take an idea that almost nobody can argue with – eating less meat is good for humans, for the animals, and for the environment – and divorced it from the advocacy groups that trigger guilt and shame and overwhelm in most people.

I'm not knocking the advocacy groups at all. Without animal welfare, animal rights, and whole-food, plant-based health advocates, Brian and the Reducetarians would probably not have come to pass.

But we have to admit that the “extreme” message of all or nothing is not saturating the marketplace of ideas. It's not resonating with the billions of people on the planet who eat as much meat as they can afford. And for all of us who go 100% vegan, there are thousands of people we're not influencing at all.

Brian and I discussed the strategy of the Reducetarian movement, and how we can create massive change if we're willing to let go of doctrinaire positions and unrealistic goals, and instead find common ground with allies.

We discussed:

* Growing up in nature (Staten Island) and becoming a college environmentalist

* Reading Peter Singer's The Ethics of What We Eat

* Favorite food: Buffalo wings from Applebees

* Being a vegetarian, but complicated situations (Thanksgiving)

* Eating a piece of turkey (“I thought you were a vegetarian, Brian”) or iHop bacon

* Not about being perfect – but the name vegetarian caused problems.

* Are there other words (reduce animal products)?

* Flexitarian / semi-vegetarian – rigid terms.

* Open to cutting back 10-20%

* Come up with a word describing people who cut back incrementally.

* Creates behavior consistency (reduce).

* Movement came from conversations with friends.

* Heck, let's go for it (SquareSpace website, TEDx talk, media representatives)

* IndieGogo campaign to raise money – consider turning this into a non-profit

* Tapped into an existing movement – excited to reduce animal products they consumed, but

* immobilized by not having a community.

* Persistence and lucky timing (VB6, Meatless Monday, absolutist vegans).

* Omnivores wanted to join this movement.

* Making the movement more mainstream.

* Plant-based opposition to reducetarians – not as much as he thought.

* Understandable reasons for opposition to reducetarians

* “There's only progress” (make tomorrow a little bit better than today).

* Progress is incredibly incremental.

* Dating vs proposing marriage on the first date.

* Goal: not to make everyone vegan, but to make a happier world for people and animals.

* “We don't have to wait.” – Then we're incredibly screwed.

Thoughts on the episode? Let us know.

Michael Edelstein, PhD, returns to the podcast to help me wrap my mind around two of my most faithful mind-companions, guilt and shame. Dr. Edelstein is a clinical psychologist, and author of the most excellent self-help book, Three Minute Therapy.He's also a student of the great Dr. Albert Ellis, founder of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), one of the foundational contributions to cognitive behavior therapy (CBT).I reached out to Dr. Edelstein after reading Peter Breggin, MD's book, Guilt, Shame, and Anxiety: Understanding and Overcoming Negative Emotions. While I loved the book, I couldn't totally shake my belief that guilt and shame have played a useful role in my own life.

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Fund appeal: I'd like to make this podcast accessible to the Deaf and hearing-impaired by producing transcripts. Cost is a dollar a minute. I'm looking for generous donors who are willing to sponsor a future month of transcripts ($250), or an individual past episode ($50-75, depending on the episode length).

Or maybe you just won the lottery and want to fund the entire back catalog ($12,000) and the rest of 2017 ($2250).

As you may have noticed, this podcast accepts no advertising, but I'm willing to make an exception for this noble purpose. If your business wants to sponsor a month or episode, you'll get a thanks in the show notes and in the transcript.

Let me know if you can help: *protected email* Thanks!

Michael Edelstein, PhD, returns to the podcast to help me wrap my mind around two of my most faithful mind-companions, guilt and shame. Dr. Edelstein is a clinical psychologist, and author of the most excellent self-help book, Three Minute Therapy.

He's also a student of the great Dr. Albert Ellis, founder of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), one of the foundational contributions to cognitive behavior therapy (CBT).

I reached out to Dr. Edelstein after reading Peter Breggin, MD's book, Guilt, Shame, and Anxiety: Understanding and Overcoming Negative Emotions. While I loved the book, I couldn't totally shake my belief that guilt and shame have played a useful role in my own life.

As in, without guilt I would do shitty things to other people. And without shame, I would be a total slacker who wasted his entire life binge-watching Amazon Prime shows. (Sneaky Pete is fun, but Patriot is just stunning. Just saying…)

In our conversation, Dr Edelstein and I covered:

* how human demands – on ourselves and others – block effective action

* we don't “get” shame, guilt, and anxiety – we create them

* we have the power to uncreate negative emotions

* dealing effectively with social and political crises

* guilt and shame arise from turning preferences into demands on ourselves

* the evolutionary origins of anxiety

* the fictional basis of 12-step programs (powerlessness)

* “it doesn't matter if alcoholism is a disease or not; the treatment is the same”

* and much more…

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

Dr Edelstein's practice site

Three Minute Therapy – on amazon

Guilt, Shame, and Anxiety: Understanding and Overcoming Negative Emotions – by Peter Breggin, MD

Transcript

Download the PDF transcript here (courtesy of Traci Scharf)

Grab the Beat the Bully Report – Last Chance

When you try to change your diet or lifestyle and you achieve initial success, you may encounter the voice of the Bully.

The one who says, “Don't start feeling good about yourself. You've done this before. It always ends in failure. You'll never really change.”

Would you like to learn how I beat the Bully? And how you can too?

I wrote a report called Beat the Bully. It's free, until the end of March 2017, when it goes back into the archives for another year. Grab it here:

Get the Beat the Bully report.

Support the Podcast

Like what you hear? You can contribute to the growth and improvement of the podcast by becoming a patron. Click the “Support on Patreon” or “Donate” butt...

Thoughts on the episode? Let us know.

Emerson Wickwire, PhD, returns to the Plant Yourself Podcast to share his message of a good night's sleep.In this show we focus on actionable advice:What to do when you have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, getting back to sleep, or waking up fully rested.I used to be all about diet. Then I was all about diet and natural human movement. Then I became aware of the importance of environmental exposure, to nature and to extremes.And Emerson has reminded me that the fourth leg of a healthy life is positive sleep.

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Emerson Wickwire, PhD, returns to the Plant Yourself Podcast to share his message of a good night's sleep.

In this show we focus on actionable advice:

What to do when you have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, getting back to sleep, or waking up fully rested.

I used to be all about diet. Then I was all about diet and natural human movement. Then I became aware of the importance of environmental exposure, to nature and to extremes.

And Emerson has reminded me that the fourth leg of a healthy life is positive sleep.

We discuss:

* ideal sleep patterns

* the science of sleep and the biological drives that govern it

* types of poor sleep

* how our habits, lifestyles, thoughts, and environments contribute to our sleep problems

* how to create a “sacred sleep cave” in your bedroom

* how to design and stick to a daily pre-sleep routine

* how to deal with late-night anxiety

* the differences between cognitive and mindfulness approaches to rumination

* why we're sleepier than we think we are (and why that's dangerous)

* Emerson's sneaky “red flag” question to spot hidden depression

* and much more…

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

Emerson's website

Jon Kabat-Zinn's mindfulness meditation

A free sample of mindfulness meditation

Transcript

Download a PDF transcript here

Support the Podcast

Like what you hear? You can contribute to the growth and improvement of the podcast by becoming a patron. Click the “Support on Patreon” or “Donate” buttons on the right to help out.

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

– Christine Nielsen

– Tina Scharf

– Tina Ahern

– Jen Vilkinofsky

– David Byczek

– Michele X

– Elspeth Feldman

– Viktoriya Dolomanova

– Leah Stolar

– Allan Kristensen

– Colleen Peck

– Michele Landry

– Jozina

– Julianne Rowland

– Stu Dolnick

– Sara Durkacs (rhymes with circus)

– Kelly Cameron

– Wayne Pedersen

– Leanne Peterson

– Janet Selby

– Claire Adams

– Tom Fronczak

– Jeannette Benham

for your generous support of the podcast.

Announcements

Friend of the podcast and past guest Olivia Kelly of WellStart Health is looking for a cohort to take on a journey of disease reversal. WellStart Health offers science-based behavioral interventions with a plant-based foundation to help people change their habits and their health destiny.

If you're an employer with employees suffering from type 2 diabetes or ...

Thoughts on the episode? Let us know.

Nalida Lacet Besson wasn't so concerned about weighing 240 pounds or passing the occasional painful gallstone. What got her attention in the summer of 2013 was a physical malaise so complete and overwhelming, she believed she was dying.Everything hurt, including her skin. It was as if her body were saying, "I've had enough of this. Time to rest."Nalida lay in bed, thinking about how to say goodbye to her young son, when she suddenly decided to fight for her life. She prayed to God, asking forgiveness for how she had treated her body up to that point, and vowing to take care of it, if God would only show her what to do.She turned her head, and saw on the nightstand a copy of Joel Fuhrman, MD's Eat to Live.

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Nalida Lacet Besson wasn't so concerned about weighing 240 pounds or passing the occasional painful gallstone. What got her attention in the summer of 2013 was a physical malaise so complete and overwhelming, she believed she was dying.

Everything hurt, including her skin. It was as if her body were saying, “I've had enough of this. Time to rest.”

Nalida lay in bed, thinking about how to say goodbye to her young son, when she suddenly decided to fight for her life. She prayed to God, asking forgiveness for how she had treated her body up to that point, and vowing to take care of it, if God would only show her what to do.

She turned her head, and saw on the nightstand a copy of Joel Fuhrman, MD's Eat to Live.

No, it didn't materialize out of thin air. The book had been there for a while, but Nalida hadn't up to that point shown any interest in taking it seriously.

This time, however, she saw the volume as an answered prayer. One that had been staring her in the face, but now she had take the first step toward doing her part in the healing process.

She got up and threw out every piece of junk food in the kitchen. And the healing began.

In our conversation, Nalida and I cover:

* transitioning to a plant-based diet

* taking responsibility for one's own health outcomes

* helping children make good food decisions

* navigating traditional food culture (in her case, Haitian)

* conquering the salt addiction, thanks to Chef AJ's guidance

* “abstinence is easier than moderation”

* amazing her doctor

* the importance of consistency

* placing her daughters' PCOS in remission through diet

* “the Year of No Excuses”

* “God, deliver me from wanting more”

* the health consequences of belly fat

* and much more…

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.

Transcript

Download the transcript in PDF format

Links

Eat to Live, by Joel Fuhrman, MD

Nalida's Facebook Page: Plant-Based, God's Grace

Haitian Black Rice and Dried Mushrooms (Djon-djon) – recipe and pics

Buy Djon-Djon Mushrooms online

Nalida's video interview with Jason Cohen of Big Change The Film

Get the Beat the Bully Report

Support the Podcast

Like what you hear? You can contribute to the growth and improvement of the podcast by becoming a patron. Click the “Support on Patreon” or “Donate” buttons on the right to help out.

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

– Christine Nielsen

– Tina Scharf

– Tina Ahern

– Jen Vilkinofsky

– David Byczek

– Michele X

– Elspeth Feldman

– Viktoriya Dolomanova

– Leah Stolar

– Allan Kristensen

Thoughts on the episode? Let us know.

Ken Beckman (who's not into having his photo out on the Internet, so I grabbed a graph instead) is Vice President and Actuary at Central States Indemnity. He's a member of theAmerican Academy of Actuaries, and an Associate of the Society of Actuaries and Casualty Actuarial Society. With 0ver 20 years of actuarial experience, primarily in life and health insurance, he's done a lot of writing and thinking on the best ways to cover individuals efficiently and manage pools of risk.(Now hang on, you non-math folks - this is going to be a lot more interesting (and accessible) than you might think. Give us a chance here... :)After getting turned on to the health benefits of a plant-based diet, Ken began seeing the health insurance industry in a radically new light. If the best possible outcome is a slow decline mediated by appropriate drugs and timely procedures, then we're probably doing OK.If, on the other hand, disease prevention and reversal is really possible, then our current system is a paragon of inefficiency.

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Ken Beckman (who's not into having his photo out on the Internet, so I grabbed a graph instead) is Vice President and Actuary at Central States Indemnity. He's a member of theAmerican Academy of Actuaries, and an Associate of the Society of Actuaries and Casualty Actuarial Society. With 0ver 20 years of actuarial experience, primarily in life and health insurance, he's done a lot of writing and thinking on the best ways to cover individuals efficiently and manage pools of risk.

(Now hang on, you non-math folks – this is going to be a lot more interesting (and accessible) than you might think. Give us a chance here…

Thoughts on the episode? Let us know.

At age 55, Paul Chatlin was a few minutes away from surgery on a 100% blockage in his right coronary artery when his cardiologist asked him out of the blue, "Would you consider a nutritional change instead of bypass surgery?"Turns out the cardiologist's mentor was a dude named Caldwell Esselstyn, which is the only way this story makes any sense.Paul, tired of his severe angina, terrified of the life that followed bypass surgery that he witnessed in his father and three uncles, and in agony from the "elephant sitting on his chest," agreed.

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