What if the cleanest, most complete protein you could eat wasn't made from animals, plants, or soil at all?

In this episode, Dr. Daphne sits down with Walter Ross, founder and CEO of Spacemilk, to explore a category of protein most people have never heard of: single-cell yeast protein, grown in a closed-loop tank of water, free of heavy metals, pesticides, allergens, and the resource footprint of conventional agriculture.

Walter is not a food scientist. He studied economics, went to law school, and grew up watching his father pioneer hydroponic heirloom tomatoes in South Florida. The through-line? A relentless drive to find a better way. That instinct led him to baker's yeast, one of the oldest organisms in human food history, and to building what he believes is the cleanest protein powder on the market today.

We cover a lot of ground in this conversation:

• How yeast protein is actually made, from a molasses-fed fermentation tank to a finished isolate, and why that process naturally removes purines, histamines, and heavy metals that accumulate in soil-grown proteins.
• Why Walter named the company Spacemilk, and the moment at a space conference that reframed everything he was building.
• The randomized controlled trial data comparing yeast protein to whey for lean muscle mass, and what the research actually shows.
• The environmental math: 40% less water and land use than soy, 97% less than beef, and a certified upcycled supply chain where nothing goes to waste.
• Why he third-party tests every single batch for heavy metals, 77 pesticides, molds, mycotoxins, and allergens, and why he thinks most companies simply do not.
• The formulation decisions behind every ingredient, from monk fruit and thaumatin to acacia fiber and algae-based omegas, and what is changing in the next product version.
• What living with purpose means to him, and why he believes the root of all meaning is in giving back more than you take.

This is one of those conversations that quietly shifts how you think about where your food comes from.

Spacemilk: https://spacemilk.com

Spacemilk third-party testing: https://spacemilk.com/pages/testing-1

Try Spacemilk for yourself at spacemilk.com and use code SPACE50 for 50% off your first subscription from July 2 - July 5, 2026, only! 

Additional resources to help you thrive on plants:

🌱 Access the free Plant-Powered Body course: Access Here

🌱 Take the free health assessment for women 40+: Start Here  

🌱  Watch every episode on YouTube

⭐️ If you loved this episode, please leave a review! ⭐️

Here’s how to do it on Apple Podcasts:

Go to the Thrive on Plants Podcast page: Click here

Scroll down to the ‘Ratings & Reviews’ section. Tap ‘Write a Review’ 

(you may be prompted to log in with your Apple ID). 

Thank you for your support!

What if the most powerful cancer-fighting tool isn't a drug, it's your muscle?

Exercise oncologist Sami Mansfield spent 23 years building programs inside cancer centers and co-authoring ASCO guidelines before most oncologists were willing to have this conversation. In this episode, she joins Dr. Daphne Bascom to cover what your care team probably hasn't told you about movement, muscle, menopause, and what it actually takes to prevent cancer and thrive after it.

Whether you have a diagnosis, are caring for someone who does, or are simply committed to protecting your health in midlife and beyond, this conversation will change how you think about your body.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why "rest and eat whatever you want" is one of the most harmful things an oncology team can say
• The minimum effective dose of movement Sami starts every patient with (it's 5 minutes and it works)
• Why muscle loss during treatment may occur and how to prevent it
• How to track your muscle health at home for under $35
• The difference between cancer detection and cancer prevention (and why 364 days matter more than your annual screening)
• Sami's "bookend" method for protecting sleep during treatment and menopause
• ….and more!

Connect with Sami Mansfield

My Lifestyle Shift (her survivorship and lifestyle program): https://www.mylifestyleshift.com

Cancer Wellness for Life: https://www.cancerwellnessforlife.com

#CancerPrevention #ExerciseOncology #WomensHealth #Menopause #PlantBased #Longevity #LifestyleMedicine #CancerSurvivor #MuscleHealth #ThriveOnPlants 

Additional resources to help you thrive on plants:

🌱 Access the free Plant-Powered Body course: Access Here

🌱 Take the free health assessment for women 40+: Start Here  

🌱  Watch every episode on YouTube

⭐️ If you loved this episode, please leave a review! ⭐️

Here’s how to do it on Apple Podcasts:

Go to the Thrive on Plants Podcast page: Click here

Scroll down to the ‘Ratings & Reviews’ section. Tap ‘Write a Review’ 

(you may be prompted to log in with your Apple ID). 

Thank you for your support!

What if the healthcare system was never actually designed to make you healthy?

Dr. Zeev Neuwirth spent decades inside major health systems as a physician, Chief Medical Officer, and Population Health Officer. What he found there shocked him, then frustrated him, then ultimately set him free.

In this conversation, Dr. Neuwirth breaks down three phases of his career-long awakening: from realizing that even world-class hospitals were failing patients relationally, to discovering that improving healthcare delivery was not the same as improving health, to his most unsettling realization of all: that the entire system, including much of the wellness industry, is built around consumption rather than creation. 

This is one of the most riveting conversations we have had on Thrive on Plants. We ran out of time before we ran out of ideas. Part 2 is coming.

What We Cover

• Why the US ranks 40th in lifespan and 80th in healthy adjusted life years despite spending over $5 trillion on healthcare annually
• The Groundhog Day moment that changed Dr. Neuwirth's career trajectory
• Why willpower is the least reliable health tool you have and what actually works instead
• The three reframes that shift you from self-blame to self-protection
• How your social environment is shaping your health behaviors, whether you realize it or not
• The wellness industrial complex: when the solution becomes part of the problem

About Dr. Zeev Neuwirth

Dr. Zeev Neuwirth is a physician, healthcare executive, and author of Reframing Healthcare. He is the host of the podcast Creating a New Healthcare and spent decades in senior leadership roles at major US health systems, including Atrium Health (now Advocate Health), one of the three largest health systems in the country. His work sits at the intersection of healthcare systems reform, behavior change science, and personal health agency.

Connect with Dr. Zeev Neuwirth

X: https://x.com/ZeevNeuwirth

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zeevneuwirth

Apple Podcast: https://www.creatinganewhealthcare.com/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0bU0A671AbKoeKIKLlaKSk

Amazon (books): https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B07NK5YP7H

#HealthcareReform #Healthspan #LifestyleMedicine #ReframingHealthcare #BehaviorChange #ThriveOnPlants 

Additional resources to help you thrive on plants:

🌱 Access the free Plant-Powered Body course: Access Here

🌱 Take the free health assessment for women 40+: Start Here  

🌱  Watch every episode on YouTube

⭐️ If you loved this episode, please leave a review! ⭐️

Here’s how to do it on Apple Podcasts:

Go to the Thrive on Plants Podcast page: Click here

Scroll down to the ‘Ratings & Reviews’ section. Tap ‘Write a Review’ 

(you may be prompted to log in with your Apple ID). 

Thank you for your support!

Julie Gibson Clark is not a billionaire with a team of longevity doctors. She is a full-time recruiter, a former structural engineer, a single mom from Phoenix -- and she has outperformed most of the world's highest-spending biohackers on the most rigorous biological aging leaderboard.

Her DunedinPACE score of 0.665 indicates she was aging at a rate of 65 days per 100 days. She got there with a pound of vegetables a day, weights four times a week, a $20 gym membership, and a very clear reason why she refuses to age faster than she has to.In this episode of Thrive on Plants, Julie shares what she has learned over the years. She did not just tell me what works. She told me what went wrong, including the time she added one too many supplements, developed a fibroid, cut her HRT in half, stopped sleeping, and watched her pace of aging jump from 0.665 back up to 0.77. 

What we cover:

• What biological aging pace actually measures, and why it matters more than a static "biological age" number
• How she accidentally slowed her aging faster than Bryan Johnson, and why she is not surprised he has since surpassed her
• The quercetin experiment gone wrong: a new fibroid, disrupted HRT, and a DunedinPACE score that climbed back up -- and what it taught her about adding supplements without understanding your own genetics
• Why she stopped eating 100 grams of protein every day and what she does instead 

This is not a story about biohacking. It is a story about what happens when you pursue healthspan with consistency and intention.

Resources:

• Julie Gibson Clark's website: https://www.juliegibsonclark.com
• Julie's YouTube channel (Longevity Kitchen -- From Paper to Plate): youtube.com/@JulieGibsonClark
• Julie's Instagram: @juliegibsonclark

Additional resources to help you thrive on plants:

🌱 Access the free Plant-Powered Body course: Access Here

🌱 Take the free health assessment for women 40+: Start Here  

🌱  Watch every episode on YouTube

⭐️ If you loved this episode, please leave a review! ⭐️

Here’s how to do it on Apple Podcasts:

Go to the Thrive on Plants Podcast page: Click here

Scroll down to the ‘Ratings & Reviews’ section. Tap ‘Write a Review’ 

(you may be prompted to log in with your Apple ID). 

Thank you for your support!

Forty percent of women are not being heard by their doctors when they report menopause symptoms. Andrea Donsky was one of them.

She is a nutritionist with 26 years of experience. She had studied health and wellness her entire career. And she still spent 14 years in perimenopause without knowing it.

When she finally understood what had been happening to her body, she did not keep it to herself. She spent two years researching, surveyed over 5,200 women, published her findings, and wrote the book she wished she had been handed at 35. That book is Nourishing Menopause: Powerful Nutrition and Lifestyle Strategies to Feel Your Best. 

In this episode, we cover:

• Why perimenopause likely starts earlier than you think, and why most women miss it
• How one night of poor sleep disrupts insulin, increases cravings, and contributes to weight gain
• The REST Protocol for better sleep: Routine, Environment, Support, and Technology
• Why "eat less, exercise more" stops working in perimenopause, and what to do instead
• The 17 reasons you may be gaining weight, and most of them are not your fault
• How your gut microbiome and estrobolome affect hormone clearance
• The blood tests every woman in midlife should be asking her doctor for
• Andrea's simple protein formula, built directly from the research
• Why most electrolyte supplements are formulated for male athletes, not perimenopausal women
• How mindset shapes your menopause experience more than most people realize
• Andrea's research found that 50 to 90 percent of the top 10 most common menopause symptoms are brain and mental health related

Get Nourishing Menopause (available now): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1668061546

Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/Nourishing-Menopause-Audiobook/B0FXHRZX63 

Book website: nourishingmenopausebook.com (a great download is available on this site)

Learn more about Andrea and her research: https://wearemorphus.com

Follow Andrea Donsky: 

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wearemorphus 
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@andreadonsky 
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@wearemorphus

Additional resources to help you thrive on plants:

🌱 Access the free Plant-Powered Body course: Access Here

🌱 Take the free health assessment for women 40+: Start Here  

🌱  Watch every episode on YouTube

⭐️ If you loved this episode, please leave a review! ⭐️

Here’s how to do it on Apple Podcasts:

Go to the Thrive on Plants Podcast page: Click here

Scroll down to the ‘Ratings & Reviews’ section. Tap ‘Write a Review’ 

(you may be prompted to log in with your Apple ID). 

Thank you for your support!

Lori Baum is a medical assistant who has spent over two decades working in oncology. She knows cancer. She knows screenings. She eats well, stays active, and has been proactive about her health for years.

And still, in November 2022, she found the words "invasive carcinoma" on her phone screen at lunch.

In this episode of Thrive on Plants, Lori shares her full story: a heavy family history of cancer, a negative BRCA test, a breast MRI that changed everything, and a triple-negative breast cancer diagnosis that her mammogram earlier that same year had completely missed.

What follows is one of the most honest conversations we have had on this podcast. Lori talks about what it actually feels like to go through 16 rounds of chemotherapy and 15 rounds of radiation, how she stayed active and kept eating well when treatment was taking everything from her, what the healthcare system gets right and gets wrong during survivorship, and how she found her way back to herself on the other side.

Lori is now 58 years old, fully plant-based, strength training, running half marathons, and training for an Ironman relay. She says she is in the best shape of her life.

Topics covered:

• Why family history and dense breasts may require more than a standard mammogram
• Triple negative breast cancer: what it is and what treatment involves
• How Lori stayed active and ate well through chemotherapy and radiation
• The emotional weight of survivorship and what comes after treatment ends
• How plant-based eating and strength training transformed her recovery
• Why self-advocacy is the most important tool you have in your healthcare journey

Connect with Lori: [email protected]

Additional resources to help you thrive on plants:

🌱 Access the free Plant-Powered Body course: Access Here

🌱 Take the free health assessment for women 40+: Start Here  

🌱  Watch every episode on YouTube

⭐️ If you loved this episode, please leave a review! ⭐️

Here’s how to do it on Apple Podcasts:

Go to the Thrive on Plants Podcast page: Click here

Scroll down to the ‘Ratings & Reviews’ section. Tap ‘Write a Review’ 

(you may be prompted to log in with your Apple ID). 

Thank you for your support!

Content Warning: This episode includes an honest, courageous conversation about the mental health toll of hormone deficiency, including a moment of profound hopelessness. Sarah speaks to this with full self-awareness and strong support in place. If you or someone you love is struggling, please reach out to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988.

What happens when a nurse practitioner who specializes in women's hormonal health spends an entire year fighting to get her own hormones covered by insurance?

That is exactly what happened to Sarah Katkhouda, FNP-C.

Sarah is a women's health nurse practitioner and a provider at MIDI Health. In this episode, she pulls back the curtain on one of the most frustrating and overlooked realities in women's healthcare: the gap between what women need and what the system is actually willing to provide.

After undergoing a hysterectomy and oophorectomy for pelvic congestion syndrome, Sarah was plunged into surgical menopause overnight. What followed was a year of insurance denials, medication shortages, dose trials, canceled appointments, and a slow but deliberate fight to reclaim her health, her strength, and her sense of self.

In this episode, we cover:

• What pelvic congestion syndrome is, why it is underdiagnosed, and what women need to know before pursuing surgical intervention
• The critical differences between surgical menopause and natural menopause, and why treating them identically is doing women a serious disservice
• How to optimize estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone, and why the sequence and method of delivery matter
• The role of muscle in hormonal health, metabolic resilience, and longevity, and what happens to musculoskeletal integrity when hormones are out of range
• How to self-advocate when you feel dismissed or worn down by a system that was not built with women in mind

Sarah does not sugarcoat what this year has cost her. She also does not stop there. She shares what she has learned, what she wishes she had known, and why she is committed to making sure other women do not have to fight as hard or as long as she did.

Connect with Sarah Katkhouda, FNP-C:

Sarah is a provider at MIDI Health, a telehealth organization focused on women's midlife health. MIDI accepts insurance and is available in all 50 states.

MIDI Health: https://www.joinmidi.com

Disclaimer: This episode is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute medical advice. Please consult a qualified healthcare provider for guidance specific to your individual health needs.

#MenopauseHealth #HormoneReplacement #SurgicalMenopause #WomensHealth #HRTAwareness #TestosteroneForWomen #PelvicPain #PelvicCongestionSyndrome #MenopauseSupport #HormoneOptimization #MidlifeWomen #WomensHealthAdvocacy #ThriveonPlants #DrDaphneBascom #PerimenopausalHealth #MuscleAndHormones #MentalHealthAndMenopause

Additional resources to help you thrive on plants:

🌱 Access the free Plant-Powered Body course: Access Here

🌱 Take the free health assessment for women 40+: Start Here  

🌱  Watch every episode on YouTube

⭐️ If you loved this episode, please leave a review! ⭐️

Here’s how to do it on Apple Podcasts:

Go to the Thrive on Plants Podcast page: Click here

Scroll down to the ‘Ratings & Reviews’ section. Tap ‘Write a Review’ 

(you may be prompted to log in with your Apple ID). 

Thank you for your support!

Most of us were never taught about the pelvic floor. And yet it affects everything from bladder control and bowel health to sex, exercise, and how we age through menopause. In this episode, Dr. Daphne sits down with Dr. Sara Reardon, board-certified pelvic floor physical therapist and author of Floored, to have the conversation most of us never got from our doctors or our mothers.

In this episode we discuss:

• What the pelvic floor actually is and why it affects everything from peeing and pooping to sex, exercise, and menopause
• The three reasons women have been kept in the dark about pelvic health (and why this is a medical system failure, not a personal one)
• Why Kegels are not the whole answer and why some women actually need to relax, not strengthen
• How perimenopause and declining estrogen quietly change your pelvic floor, even if you've never had children
• Topical vaginal estrogen, prolapse, hysterectomy, orgasms, running incontinence, and more

Resources:

• Book: Floored: A Woman's Guide to Pelvic Floor Health at Every Age and Stage by Dr. Sara Reardon: https://thevagwhisperer.com/floored/
• Dr. Sara Reardon's website and The V-Hive app (your pocket pelvic floor therapist): https://www.thevagwhisperer.com/
• Find a pelvic floor PT near you (Academy of Pelvic Health Physical Therapy): https://pelvicrehab.com
• Follow Dr. Sara Reardon on Instagram: @the.vagina.whisperer | YouTube: @thevaginawhisperer | App: @the.vhive

If this episode helped you, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a woman in your life who needs to hear this. Your pelvic floor has to last you a lifetime. Start caring for it today.

Additional resources to help you thrive on plants:

🌱 Access the free Plant-Powered Body course: Access Here

🌱 Take the free health assessment for women 40+: Start Here  

🌱  Watch every episode on YouTube

⭐️ If you loved this episode, please leave a review! ⭐️

Here’s how to do it on Apple Podcasts:

Go to the Thrive on Plants Podcast page: Click here

Scroll down to the ‘Ratings & Reviews’ section. Tap ‘Write a Review’ 

(you may be prompted to log in with your Apple ID). 

Thank you for your support!

Description:

268 million years. That is how much collective life the Black community in America is on track to lose to preventable chronic disease. Kwame Terra, a plant-based public health strategist, walked over 2 million steps in 30 days to launch bEHR Health, a platform designed to recapture that time. This conversation will change how you think about health, community, and what real prevention looks like.

In this episode of Thrive on Plants, Dr. Daphne Bascom sits down with Kwame Terra, MPH, the founder and CEO of bEHR Health Systems (Black Electronic Health Record) to talk about the life expectancy gap facing Black Americans, why 80-90% of health outcomes are determined outside the clinic, how a 55-year-old physician lost 20 pounds and stopped taking blood pressure medication after a community walking challenge, and why Kwame believes "the desire to live" is the true root of longevity.

Kwame has been plant-based for over a decade, studied public health at Xavier University of Louisiana and Columbia University, worked on organic farms, and built a health platform that is producing measurable, real-time improvements in community health scores. He is also the person behind the bEHRathon, a virtual walking challenge launching April 1, 2026 with the goal of collectively walking to the moon (239,000 miles) in 30 days.

Whether you are plant-based, plant-curious, or simply believe that your zip code should not determine your lifespan, this episode is for you.

JOIN THE bEHRATHON (April 1-30, 2026)

The bEHRathon is a virtual walk/run challenge on the bEHR Health app. The mission: unite 2,500+ participants and collectively walk 239,000 miles to the moon in 30 days. All you need is 7,000 steps a day. Learn more here: https://luma.com/fpz4hxmv

The app is free for the first 30 days. Download now so you are ready for April 1:

https://behrhs.com/

How to get involved:

- Download the bEHR Health app (free 30-day trial)

- Commit to 7,000 steps a day in April

- Invite your friends, your run club, your family, your community

- Share this episode with someone who needs to hear it

CONNECT WITH KWAME TERRA + bEHR HEALTH

Website: https://behrhs.com/

Social: @behrhealth (all platforms) | @kwameterra

#PlantBased #HealthEquity #BlackHealth #bEHRHealth #bEHRathon #WalkingChallenge #LifestyleMedicine #ThriveOnPlants #Longevity #PlantBasedDiet #FoodIsMedicine #WholeFoodPlantBased #PublicHealth #PreventiveMedicine #WalkToTheMoon

Additional resources to help you thrive on plants:

🌱 Access the free Plant-Powered Body course: Access Here

🌱 Take the free health assessment for women 40+: Start Here  

🌱  Watch every episode on YouTube

⭐️ If you loved this episode, please leave a review! ⭐️

Here’s how to do it on Apple Podcasts:

Go to the Thrive on Plants Podcast page: Click here

Scroll down to the ‘Ratings & Reviews’ section. Tap ‘Write a Review’ 

(you may be prompted to log in with your Apple ID). 

Thank you for your support!

"Why wasn't I taught this?" If you've ever felt this way about your health, this conversation is for you.

In this episode of the Thrive on Plants podcast, Dr. Daphne Bascom is  joined by award-winning health journalist Meghan Rabbitt, author of "The New Rules of Women's Health: Your Guide to Thriving at Every Age." They dive into the health conversations women desperately need but were never taught to have, from advocating for yourself in the doctor's office to understanding your heart and brain health in midlife.

Main Topics Covered:

✅ Why medical research has left women behind (and how that's finally changing) 

✅ How to prepare for doctor's appointments so your voice is heard 

✅ The connection between your gynecologic history and heart disease risk

✅ Why Alzheimer's starts in midlife (and what you can do now) 

✅ Breaking free from diet culture and nourishing your body instead 

✅ The new rule: suffering is not an option 

✅ How to become an empowered patient in a system that wasn't built for you

About Meghan Rabbitt: Meghan Rabbitt is an award-winning journalist and author of The New Rules of Women's Health: Your Guide to Thriving at Every Age. She spent over three years interviewing more than 100 female health experts to create a comprehensive, evidence-based resource for women at every stage of life. Her work has appeared in Women's Health, Oprah Daily, Prevention, Maria Shriver's Sunday Paper, and more.

Connect with Meghan

Book Website: https://www.newrulesofwomenshealth.com 

Resources Mentioned

• WISDOM Breast Cancer Study (UCSF): https://www.thewisdomstudy.org/
• Tyrer-Cuzick Lifetime Breast Cancer Risk Assessment: https://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/blog/tyrer-cuzick-model/

#MeghanRabbitt #NewRulesOfWomensHealth #WomensHealth #Menopause #HeartHealth #BrainHealth #MidlifeHealth #EmpoweredPatient #HealthAdvocacy #WomensWellness #Perimenopause #LifestyleMedicine #PlantBased #ThriveOnPlants 

Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your healthcare provider regarding any medical questions or conditions.

Additional resources to help you thrive on plants:

🌱 Access the free Plant-Powered Body course: Access Here

🌱 Take the free health assessment for women 40+: Start Here  

🌱  Watch every episode on YouTube

⭐️ If you loved this episode, please leave a review! ⭐️

Here’s how to do it on Apple Podcasts:

Go to the Thrive on Plants Podcast page: Click here

Scroll down to the ‘Ratings & Reviews’ section. Tap ‘Write a Review’ 

(you may be prompted to log in with your Apple ID). 

Thank you for your support!