Whole Phil

Welcome to The Whole Phil podcast, I am your host, Phil Reese, the DJ, that's my Facebook name, Really Phil Reese, that's my Twitter, Phillip J Reese, that's my Instagram, my dot com and my real life. Tweet me right now, hashtag #getyourwholephil and tell me about yourself. I am a loving, lovable, chubby, queer, sober, spiritual, vegetarian, feminist radical leftist web developer, and deejay in DC. This is the podcast where you get your whole Phil. I talk about whatever I want, with whomever I want, and do whatever I want, because there's no rules, no format, and no fucking censors. Let's start the show.

Today is Saturday, February 22, and we're talking about fake meat.

Plant based food is having a moment, and as a vegetarian, lots of you omnivores have asked me how I feel about these foods.

I went full vegetarian in the Spring of 2010 -- I'm coming up on my 10th vegeversary! I had been pescatarian for almost 3 years at that point. Ten years ago, Boca and gardenburger were about the only options for me if I wanted to have a burger, so we've definitely come a long way. Today, any type of junk food meat you can imagine has a popular plant-based analog. From chicken nuggets, to tofurky bacon and deli slices, to fish sticks, holiday turkey, and yes, the famous Beyond Burger and Impossible Burgers that have all the look, feel and taste of good old-fashioned pink slime processed ground round, right down to the bleeding.

Meat analogs, as they're called by the industry, are plant-based processed foods meant to mimic the experience of eating processed meat-based foods. The most important function they perform is allowing people flirting with a plant based diet the ability to try it out without changing their eating habits.

These fake meats aren't made for us long-time veggies. They're for you, the omnivores who can't imagine your life without kielbasa, bacon, nuggets and Whoppers. Meat analogs are all the heartburn and preservatives of a regular junk food binge without the guilt that another living creature with feelings and a family was herded into a dark stinky room, terrified, and shot in between the eyes with a glorified nail gun, where it may or may not have died instantly, and if it didn't, was then subjected to unspeakable pain and torture before it was served up for you where you promptly and thoughtlessly gobbled it down without even a thought in under 3 minutes.

But as far as being a "healthy alternative" to meat, that's debatable. If your diet consists of delicate, unprocessed, small farm raised, grass fed beef and lamb, and no junk food, switching to meat analogs is NOT healthier for you. But if your diet consists of at minimum 3 fast food trips a week, you may want to consider it. These plant based proteins are definitely highly processed and full of weird stuff, but if you're a junk food buff, absolutely none of that stuff is any worse than what you're already putting into your body. Side-by-junk-food-side, beyond burgers are lower in calories, cholesterol and saturated fats, pound-for-pound than your local dive's burger. However, they have tremendously higher sodium and other additives (all plant based and natural, but additives nonetheless) not present in your Angus burger, all while being devoid of iron and b vitamins.

A bigger impact you may be having, though, is on the environment. According to NBC news, Beyond and Impossible patties require 87-99% less water, 93-96% less land, and 89-90% less fossil fuel emotions to get to your plate than traditional burgers. With no methane-leaden cow farts involved. But these emissions statistics are still five times higher than traditional fresh veggies and legumes.

After a short break, we'll talk about these fresh veggies and legumes.

I want to pause for a moment to encourage you to keep this discussion going. If you like what you hear here, please share my podcast on social media or text the link bit.ly/findwholephil to your friends. We can keep this conversation going on Twitter, I'm @reallyphilreese, use the hashtag #getyourwholephil. If you're new, subscribe at the bitly link I just mentioned, and give me a rating wherever you subscribe. Thanks, fam.

Now on with the show.

Yes, if you're eating like the average middle class American, substituting meat analogs into your already processed-food heavy diet is relatively better for both you and the environment, though they are at least twice the price. But this is missing the point. Both you and the environment would be even more better off if we all ate a hell of a lot less meat and fake meat and a hell of a lot more fresh vegetables and legumes. Remember the lack of iron and b vitamins in these foods? Spinach, beans and peas, asparagus, leeks and dried apricots are all high in iron and b vitamins.

If you're worried about protein, you have a complete protein any time you combine a grain (which has half the amino acids of a complete animal protein) and a legume (which has the other half). Some legumes, like peas and soy/edamame already have all the protein, as do some grains like chia and buckwheat. All of this is FAR FAR FAR lower in calories, saturated fats, cholesterol AND sodium than any meat OR meat analog, and are far far better for the environment too, especially in terms of fossil fuels required to farm and distribute.

If you're a junk food eater looking for a low barrier of entry route to vegetarianism because it means you are helping your body, the environment and opt out of a system of misery and torture for animals, a great start is to switch to these meat analogs in place of your processed foods. But it should be a stop on the way to an actually healthy diet of fresh, unprocessed fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes. And ultimately that is best.for your body, the environment, animals AND your wallet.

Thank you to Josh V. for suggesting this topic.

That's it for today. I hope you're enjoying the show. If you like what you hear, please subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, just search Whole Phil or go to bit.ly/findwholephil, and please drop me a rating. Tweet me at @reallyphilreese with topic ideas you think I should cover. [DJ GIGS Thur Fri sun] Learn more about my upcoming DJ gigs at my website phillipjreese.com. And remember, be good to yourself, love yourself, and we're all in this together.

Some of my facts and figures come from:

Support Whole Phil by donating to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/whole-phil

Find out more at https://whole-phil.pinecast.co

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Welcome to The Whole Phil podcast, I am your host, Phil Reese, the DJ, that's my Facebook name, Really Phil Reese, that's my Twitter, Phillip J Reese, that's my Instagram, my dot com and my real life. Tweet me right now, hashtag #getyourwholephil and tell me about yourself. I am a loving, lovable, chubby, queer, sober, spiritual, vegetarian, feminist radical leftist web developer, and deejay in DC. This is the podcast where you get your whole Phil. I talk about whatever I want, with whomever I want, and do whatever I want, because there's no rules, no format, and no fucking censors. Let's start the show.

Today is Saturday, February 17, and we're talking about the end of the world.

Or, at least, what feels like the end of the world.

I'm the type of person who can get fixated on a specific problem or issue and not be able to move on. Sometimes this can be good. When faced with a problem at work or in an organization, I am a problem solver. I will work doggedly at an issue until it is fixed. But a lot of times in my personal life, this asset becomes a huge liability.

I can get mired in how I'm currently feeling and get spiritually stuck. I start putting as much energy into my negative feelings as I do with a piece of website code that isn't quite working right, and in this case it just makes everything worse.

For the last month I have been dealing with back pain and back issues that have been so acute and persistent it's started to feel like the end of the God damn world. This week I got extremely depressed over it. I was frustrated over the pain AND the mental and physical exhaustion of trying to get through the day with said pain. I was also feeling guilty and disappointed I had to miss two paid DJ gigs over it, and use up PTO at work. On top of that I was dropping all sorts of dollars on doctors and chiropractor appointments, yoga, massage, back braces and meds. In addition I had to bow out of a ton of other obligations, and I was feeling guilty over that.

And all of that and I wasn't feeling any better.

Stick around and in a minute I'll tell you whether or not the world actually ended.

I want to pause for a moment to encourage you to keep this discussion going. If you like what you hear here, please share my podcast on social media or text the link bit.ly/findwholephil to your friends. We can keep this conversation going on Twitter, I'm @reallyphilreese, use the hashtag #getyourwholephil. If you're new, subscribe at bit.ly/findwholephil, and give me a rating wherever you subscribe. Thanks, fam.

Now on with the show.

The truth of the matter is this back pain sucks right now, but it's not going to last forever. I'm only at the very beginning of my treatment, and this pain may very well last a while longer. But the worst of it IS over. It's frustrating to have spasms and aches pop up frequently, but it's already reduced in severity. I really want to go to the massage, the chiropractor, yoga, and get up off the table or the mat, and be done with this. But that's not how this is going to work. I'm frustrated my injury recovery isn't happening more rapidly, but none of us has control over the timeline that things like healing from an injury happens on.

I only have control over one thing, my reaction to this, and while I was trying to stay positive about all of this for a minute, I got impatient. And impatience is NEVER a constructive emotion.

That's it for today. I hope you're enjoying the show. If you like what you hear, please subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, just search Whole Phil or go to bit.ly/findwholephil, and please drop me a rating. Tweet me at @reallyphilreese with topic ideas you think I should cover. [DJ GIGS: Thurs Feb 20, Thurs Feb 27, Fri Feb 28, Sun Mar 1, Mon Mar 2] Learn more about my upcoming DJ gigs at my website phillipjreese.com. And remember, be good to yourself, love yourself, and we're all in this together.

Support Whole Phil by donating to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/whole-phil

Find out more at https://whole-phil.pinecast.co

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Not everyone working in nightlife who needs to get clean may experience the same thing I have, but overall, Getting clean while retaining my nightlife gigs has actually in many ways been an asset to my recovery, not a detriment.

Support Whole Phil by donating to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/whole-phil

Find out more at https://whole-phil.pinecast.co

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Welcome to The Whole Phil podcast, I am your host, Phil Reese, the DJ, that's my Facebook name, Really Phil Reese, that's my Twitter, Phillip J Reese, that's my Instagram, my dot com and my real life. Tweet me right now, hashtag #getyourwholephil and tell me about yourself. I am a loving, lovable, chubby, queer, sober, spiritual, vegetarian, feminist radical leftist web developer, and deejay in DC. This is the podcast where you get your whole Phil. I talk about whatever I want, with whomever I want, and do whatever I want, because there's no rules, no format, and no fucking censors. Let's start the show.

Today is Saturday, January 18, and we're talking about PrEP. No, not getting ready for a big test, I'm talking about the big blue HIV preventing pill, Truvada.

You probably know the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV, attacks your immune system turning your immune cells into factories for more virus cells, and leaving you open to suffering from all sorts of diseases your body normally easily fights off. HIV is an insidious virus that even creates reservoirs of dormant virus in your body that reactivate later even if your body has fought off a previous wave of infection.

HIV infection was once very fatal, but over the years, drug treatments have made it possible for most people infected with HIV to live full normal lives, as long as they maintain their daily drug regimens religiously. Early antiretrovirals had wicked side effects. Over time, though, new drugs were developed to try to minimize and even eliminate those side effects.

Though there is no cure for HIV, after the invention of protease inhibitors in 1996, it became possible for drug regimens to destroy the live viral load in a person with HIV, which means their immune systems function normally and over time, in most cases, those sticking to these drug regimens are unable to transmit the virus to others. Undetectable means untransmittable.

PrEP is an acronym for pre-exposure prophylaxis. It is an HIV drug that HIV-negative people take daily to prevent HIV infection. If a person on PrEP is exposed to HIV, the chemicals in their body from PrEP kill the HIV virus and prevent it from replicating and creating reservoirs in the uninfected person. It's like the 80s Star Wars defense system for HIV in your body. If HIV tries to get in, it's obliterated before it can do anything.

This episode is in no way sponsored by the pharmaceutical company, Gilead, who have the patent on the brand Truvada. And while this is a pro-prep episode, Gilead isn't going to love everything I say here.

Truvada is the name brand of em-tri-citi-bine/teno-fo-vir, a groundbreaking HIV and Hepatitis-B medication that came out in 2004, combining two antiretroviral HIV/Hep-B medicines. It was very successful in eliminating HIV viral loads in patients that took it; so successful folks started to wonder if it could even be used to prevent new infections. It also showed, long term, to have very few serious side effects in many of the patients who were on it, though some patients saw kidney and liver issues crop up from long term use.

In 2007, the four year iPrEx study began in Peru and Ecuador, exploring whether or not those uninfected but high risk for HIV infections taking Truvada would remain uninfected long term. Truvada was selected because of it's effectiveness in knocking out viral load, and it's low instance of serious side effects. In 2008, the US, Brazil, South Africa and Thailand jumped in on the study. The results published in 2011 were significant.

Not everyone who stayed in the study had stuck to taking it daily, and among those who stopped taking it altogether or took it very sporadically, there were infections. But among the study participants who maintained the recommended daily dose, there were zero new infections. That was huge.

It was like a big giant triple locked steel door got kicked in for the HIV prevention community. In 2012, the FDA approved Truvada to be taken for prophylactic purposes. In 2013, as soon as my insurance would cover it, I got myself on PrEP.

Despite all the hopeful data about PrEP, however, there was a huge backlash against those taking and promoting PrEP, and it sadly came from a very unexpected source: inside the LGBTQ community itself.

We'll be right back.

I want to pause for a moment to encourage you to keep this discussion going. If you like what you hear here, please share my podcast on social media or text the link bit.ly/findwholephil to your friends. We can keep this conversation going on Twitter, I'm @reallyphilreese, use the hashtag #getyourwholephil. If you're new, subscribe at the bitly link I just mentioned, and give me a rating wherever you subscribe. Thanks, fam.

Now on with the show.

Despite the fact that since the creation of protease inhibitor drugs, we've seen people living with HIV taking these drugs consistently maintain a viral load of zero, stigma of those living with and treating their HIV remained very high in the queer community. Despite all our best efforts at education, ignorance prevailed. Illogical fear and discrimination reigned. People did the wrong things to try to protect themselves based on this bad information, and HIV transmission remained high in our community. One in four HIV infected people did not know their status.

That ignorance and stigma was extended to any discussion of PrEP. In the early days, like most people promoting PrEP, I was attacked online constantly and vociferously by people who I had previously respected. I was told I was encouraging bad behavior and irresponsibility, and that people on PrEP were going to create a supervirus that no HIV medicines would be able to treat. I was told by several people that their friends that had died from HIV related illness would be disappointed in me, and one said his friends were rolling over in their graves because of me.

But even more shocking, Michael Weinstein, the founder and leader of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, started a massive and well funded disinformation campaign to sew fear in anyone considering getting on PrEP and shaming those promoting it. One of the biggest and most well funded HIV healthcare advocacy groups went to war with people trying to prevent new infections. It was gross and sad.

But it looked like PrEP wouldn't be stopped. Aside from Weinstein and the uneducated people loudly protesting online, most voices in the HIV healthcare community began loudly banging the PrEP drum. Even the Human Rights Campaign started to promote PrEP, and I was featured as part of a social media campaign they did, proudly holding my big blue pill up in a picture, despite the public shaming I was still receiving.

PrEP use grew, and despite detractors sensationalizing doomsday predictions, the numbers didn't lie. Since PrEP has become a cornerstone of HIV prevention strategies, new HIV transmissions have gone down 68% in New York City, 50% in San Francisco, 50% in DC, 44% in Australia, 32% in New Orleans, 19% in Chicago, 18% nationwide in the US and most starkly, more than 70% down in the UK.

PrEP prevalence also reduces the stigmatization of HIV infected individuals, helping them be treated like everyone else in the community.

Truvada is expensive, through, at nearly $12,000 a year. Gilead holds the patent on the drug in nearly every country it's approved for PrEP use. There is no hope for a generic anytime soon. The FDA recently approved another drug, Descovy, for PrEP. Guess who owns that one too.

If you are insured, your insurance may cover large portions of the cost for PrEP. And Gilead has a copay assistance program that covers the copay up to $200 a month. If you're not insured, and you meet other eligibility requirements, Gilead may pay for a big portion of your annual bill for the drug. Still, people with shitty or no insurance can't afford to keep up with the daily efficacy that's required for PrEP to actually be effective.

When HIV is properly treated, an infected person can live a long, healthy life. But you have to catch the infection before it ravages your immune system, and you have to have the money to afford that treatment. And again, HIV is incurable. If you can't continue to treat it or don't catch it, it can still be fatal.

PrEP, is therefore for many at risk people, a LIFE SAVING NECESSITY. Drug patents can be diabolical. Look no further than Valiant Pharmaceuticals or Martin Shkreli to see recent stories of drug companies abusing their patients and using drug patents to fuck people over.

Drugs like HIV drugs should have their patents broken, and generics should be available to all. At risk people should be able to get PrEP free without a hassle. If we're serious about actually ending new HIV infections, PrEP needs to be free.

Until we can break the patents, though, on these life-saving drugs, you should do whatever you can to make daily adherence to PrEP a reality for you. Talk to your doctor and visit the Advocate article I've put at bit.ly/affordprep to start researching how to make it affordable to you. Then sign up at breakthepatent.org to find out how you can help us break the patent and make prep free for everyone.

That's it for today. I hope you're enjoying the show. If you like what you hear, please subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, just search Whole Phil or go to bit.ly/findwholephil, and please drop me a rating. Tweet me at @reallyphilreese with topic ideas you think I should cover. [DJ GIGS] Learn more about my upcoming DJ gigs at my website phillipjreese.com. And remember, be good to yourself, love yourself, and we're all in this together.

Support Whole Phil by donating to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/whole-phil

Find out more at https://whole-phil.pinecast.co

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Subscribe to Whole Phil!

http://bit.ly/findwholephil

Subscribe to Disgraceland!

http://disgracelandpod.com

Song Exploder

https://songexploder.net/

Switched on Pop

https://switchedonpop.com/

The Chartographers

https://facebook.com/TheChartographers/

Support Whole Phil by donating to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/whole-phil

Find out more at https://whole-phil.pinecast.co

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Welcome to The Whole Phil podcast, I am your host, Phil Reese, the DJ, that's my Facebook name, Really Phil Reese, that's my Twitter, Phillip J Reese, that's my Instagram, my dot com and my real life. This is the podcast where you get your whole Phil. I talk about whatever I want, with whomever I want, and do whatever I want, because there's no rules, no format, and no fucking censors (sorry Mom).

Thanks for joining me today, Sunday, December 15. Let me tell you a little about me, I'm a loving, lovable, fat, hairy, queer, inked, sober, spiritual, vegetarian, feminist radical leftist web developer, video producer and deejay in DC. Now that you know a little about me and where we are, let me know a little about you. Tweet me, at reallyphilreese, I'd love to meet you. Let's start the show.

Today's show is about some of the most common people you encounter every day. Service workers. At the coffee shop, at the door of your office building, at the diner, the pharmacy, the grocery store, the 7-11. Bus conductors, Uber drivers, door people, coat checks, receptionists, bank tellers: we usually encounter service workers multiple times every day. Though they are usually paid not much more than minimum wage, and have little to no power, these people are the public faces of the institutions and systems they work for, the sentries at the gates. Because of this, all the feelings that the public has about their employers gets aimed squarely at these people. More than that, many people pile their own personal shit on service workers. Having a bad day, and feeling powerless? Maybe a few minutes of talking down to a McDonald's cashier because the second nugget sauce isn't free will make you feel like a big man.

Service work is incredibly hard, unrewarding and underappreciated. Things amp up at the holidays. This is an incredibly stressful time for all people, but many of us forget service workers are people and pile our anxieties right on them instead of going to get some badly needed therapy for our control and self esteem issues.

People who have worked in service in the past, but no longer do, can be some of the worst. They seem to fantasize that despite being fired as a busser from four questionable quality diners, and a short six month stint as a bank teller who conveniently forgot how to math, that they were the paragon of the customer service workers, and therefore are justified in having impeccable standards. Just yuck.

Food service provided the absolute worst situation for these workers. Because they are beholden to tips to be able to earn a living wage, they are forced to put up with absolutely inhumane treatment or risk homelessness.

People who know this and sadistically take advantage of it have their own special circle in hell, trust.

While tip culture should be banished, as everyone deserves a living wage REGARDLESS of how slow you perceive they brought you your triple espresso, I'm not so naive to think it's going anywhere anytime soon. So if you live somewhere where servers are paid differently than cooks, it doesn't matter how bad you perceive your service to have been, that 20% minimum tip is part of the cost of that meal you bought. Leave it every time.

But even non-tip workers get shit on. It's important when we're interacting with the customer-facing component of an institution, that worker has no power over the rules of that institution. No matter how frustrated you are with whatever situation you are in, do not take it out on the service worker. Even at places as perennially as frustrating as the DMV -- hell especially in places as perennially frustrating as the DMV -- never take out your frustration on the customer service worker.

Also keep in mind service workers don't owe you a smile, don't owe you pithy conversation, and DEFINITELY don't need your flirting or innuendo. Keep things business, because this is business. If you want affection, get a pet.

Remember the last 50 people that the server just talked to were probably pretty shitty to them. Be different and don't expect anything more than what they're there to do: to perform a transaction with you and answer your questions. And even if you don't get the answers you want, don't take that out on the service worker.

Be polite, say please and thank you, don't pry into their personal life, don't try to be charming and don't make their day worse than it already is. And be reasonable

And as for ride shares, this is where I need to take my own advice. I can have incredibly unreasonable expectations for ride share drivers. I have no idea where this came from, and I'm working on it. But they are letting me ride in their car for under minimum wage in what we've come to learn is an incredibly shitty occupation. I have no business judging what they play on the radio, I have no business getting surly about talkativeness, or the temperature of the car. And if I know how to get where I am going better than anyone else, I should just get my own car and drive myself.

Be kind, professional and patient to service workers all the time no matter what. Unless they assault or demean you unprevoked, I have no reason to do anything else.

That's it for today. I want to give a late birthday shout out to my dad. Happy birthday. I hope you're enjoying the show. If you like what you hear, please subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, just search Whole Phil or go to bit.ly/findwholephil, and do please drop me a rating on Apple podcasts or Google podcasts if you want me to keep this going. Tweet me at reallyphilreese with topic ideas you think I should cover. [Upcoming DJ gigs, JR's: Monday Dec 16, Thursday, Dec 19] Learn more about my upcoming DJ gigs at my website phillipjreese.com. And remember, be good to yourself, love yourself, and we're all in this together.

Support Whole Phil by donating to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/whole-phil

Find out more at https://whole-phil.pinecast.co

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Sorry to not have a full episode for you this Sunday, but I should be getting a brand new one out to you in a few days!

Support Whole Phil by donating to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/whole-phil

Find out more at https://whole-phil.pinecast.co

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Welcome to The Whole Phil podcast, I am your host, Phil Reese, the DJ, that's my Facebook name, Really Phil Reese, that's my Twitter, Phillip J Reese, that's my Instagram, my dot com and my real life.

I have a special guest this week! I’ll let her introduce herself:

Hi, I'm Jillian, and my Instagram is Xoxojillzian!

Thanks for joining me today, Monday, December 2. Now that you know my sister, let me tell you a little about me, I'm a loving, lovable, fat, hairy, queer, inked, sober, spiritual, vegetarian, feminist radical leftist web developer, video producer and deejay in DC. Now that you know a little about me and where we are, let me know a little about you. Tweet me, at reallyphilreese, I'd love to meet you. Let's start the show.

How to un-dread the family holidays:

That's it for this week. If you're in DC and want to hear me DJ check me out Monday the 2nd at JR's for Showtunes Sing-A-Long. On Wednesday, I'll be at The Big Board on H street for Market Crash, and then back to JR's Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Please tweet me what you think about this podcast at reallyphilreese. And as always, be good to yourself, love yourself, and we're all in this together!

Support Whole Phil by donating to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/whole-phil

Find out more at https://whole-phil.pinecast.co

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.