November 14, 2024 • 51 mins
Fueling your body doesn’t have to mean sacrificing the things you love.
Julia Furlipa, a vibrant coach and advocate for plant-based living, shares her journey to finding balance, strength, and energy through holistic wellness.
Learn how she made simple lifestyle choices to boost energy, support mental well-being, and pursue a life of longevity.
Whether it’s understanding the power of food, finding daily motivation, or building sustainable health habits, this story is a powerful reminder that vibrant health is within reach for everyone.
Join us on this holistic journey to unlock your full potential as a plant-powered athlete. Subscribe, comment, and click the like button.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to the land powered athlete podcast, Joe Gagnonio hosts today.
(00:05):
Um, I have a very special guest with me.
I have Julia Rolipa who is spectacular person.
You know, she does sort of all the things that I hope more people do, you know,
focus on health, longevity, lifestyle mindset, um, works at the top end of the
game with professional athletes, but also works with, we'll call it the regular
(00:27):
people like us, uh, and what we're going to do is just dive into sort of, you
know, the idea that really what we choose to do, how we choose to live, the
resources we have are all available to us to live our version of the best
version of life that we can.
And so Julia, welcome to the podcast.
(00:47):
Uh, thank you so much for having me.
I really appreciate it.
I'm very excited to be here.
Yeah.
I know you bring this sort of positive personality to everything you do.
I know that from reading a little bit about you, but maybe since maybe
some people haven't heard of you, um, a quick intro and give us a
little bit of your story.
Like how did you end up here?
(01:08):
Was this obvious when you were, I don't know, high schooler that you were going
to end up, you know, in a plant, helping amazing people achieve their objectives?
Um, no, that was not how it started.
Uh, it's funny because ever since I was 17, I've pretty much been on my own.
Um, I went to college, I did, um, English education or English literature, secondary
(01:31):
education, minor to theater, and I've consistently had a passion for nutrition.
I had a passion for training.
Um, and when I was 15, a lot of stuff or 13 to 15, a lot of
steps are happening in my life.
Um, my mom was diagnosed with cancer.
My grandma was diagnosed with cancer.
My other grandma had just passed away.
Who was my best friend.
(01:51):
My mom's best friend had cancer.
My partner at the time, his father had cancer.
It was like all these things in front of my face and I am a huge, um, believer.
And so every day I was praying and just really trying to focus on, uh, how do I
get through this and more so just realizing at this time, what was the, what
(02:12):
was the main cause of why so many people were getting sick in my family?
And, um, if we look at disease itself, we know it's dis ease, right?
Dis ease.
Um, even like when people say diet, that's kind of why I avoid, you know,
saying diet, I'll go on a diet because the word die isn't diet.
Um, so I prefer to say lifestyle.
So I would hear so many people in my life, um, just my mom on the sad
(02:37):
standard American diet, um, us growing up as kids on it.
And I knew something was not right.
It didn't sit well with me that my family was continuing to
fuel themselves with this food.
But also it's on society because we never learned what was really
healthy and not healthy.
It was in school.
We were served the chicken and fries and all that.
(02:58):
Um, so anyway, when I got to college, I did residence life.
Um, I served emergency crisis.
I talked, I did suicidal ideations.
I was very much in that world in that field of having to be a proactive problem
solver and, um, the one thing that helped me so much, even from 15 years
old through this high end or this high, um, expectation of crisis job was exercise.
(03:25):
So I, my gym time was me time.
And that was the time I was, I felt most like myself.
Um, so I was, you know, following videos on YouTube and then I started
to create my own plans and a lot of pain that I felt like being in relationships,
um, you know, that didn't work out things of that nature.
Anytime I felt pain, um, besides, you know, feeling my emotions,
(03:47):
cause I do work a lot with, um, handling emotions again, that was the world I
worked in with mental health.
So I was very good at working with people with mental health and helping
them with, um, changing their mindsets.
I knew that in another respect, fitness saved my life.
It saved so many people's lives around, around them.
(04:09):
And it was just the opportunity to break away from, from the world.
Um, and I felt it wasn't just for the physical, it was definitely for the
mental, the endorphins, um, to create it from your brain and so forth.
And so just continuing on with that journey, I continued to work in the
emergency crisis field, residential life and housing.
(04:29):
I had, um, been on call for student deaths.
Um, so I saw a lot at just 22, 23 years old.
I was seeing and handling a lot of this.
And the other thing I noticed was my energy levels were not sustainable either.
I would, I'm like, I'm 23, not really having much energy.
So I took a deeper dive into nutrition.
(04:51):
And when I was 24, I was at Barnes and Noble in the discount section.
And I picked up two books, how not to die by good old Gregor and crazy
sexy diet by Chris Carr read those books within a week and come back
and completely changed my fridge, changed my entire apartment that I was living in
(05:12):
at the time and went whole food plant-based.
It was the end of 2024 or it was the end of when I was 24.
Um, so the end of 2019 going into 2020 and I ended up, um, feeling such a difference.
And so it, that as well, changing my nutrition habits, continuing to work out,
(05:32):
um, really just helped me with through all my jobs of being, like I said, the
working, the emergency crisis, working in that field, helping people with COVID,
having to be a designated COVID tester.
Um, and then I was a teacher for a while, English, um, teacher, an adjunct professor.
Um, I served in athletics and just my passion for nutrition training was always
(05:56):
there and being a coach as well, like, um, orange theory coach, a spin instructor,
body pump instructor, that was the thing that brought me the most joy.
And so as of, um, 2022, I started, I started writing my book or really put it together.
Um, and I ended up, you know, starting a business, uh, holistic wellness,
(06:20):
nutrition coaching, and from that point, I just continued to dive into it.
And as of this year, I resigned officially from teaching and I went full throttle
into my business and pretty much that's, you know, I mean, there's a lot of other
things mixed in between, but that has brought me here today and I'm, and you
know, running a business is, it's challenging and has its challenges, but I
(06:43):
am so blessed to have had the opportunity or the opportunities I've been presented,
uh, to allow me to do it full time.
So it's kind of a, you know, I guess a short winded, long winded story.
The mess of life that we all go through.
Yep.
The ability to sort of feel what we can feel at the right time and do something with it.
(07:05):
And, you know, having talked to lots of people on their journey, you know, it's
always this sort of interesting, what is it that sticks about change?
You know, cause there's a lot of people who probably intellectually know,
Oh, I should eat better or I should exercise more, should sleep more, do something.
And they don't hit the moment where they have internalized it.
(07:27):
And then you have the stories that I've had, you know, talking to a guy, you
know, he's in prison sitting there and, you know, the next thing you know, he's
a thru-hiker doing 12,000 miles around the United States, has inspired, you
know, also a vegan and, and you just think like, well, what triggered it?
Cause what is it?
(07:47):
Why are we open sometimes and not others to what's available to all of us.
And so through your own journey and then how you're helping others, how do you
think about creating the moment of openness for people so they can sort of
step to the other side and hopefully a better side for them?
Yeah.
(08:08):
I will say just to interject, I am, we are all our hardest critics.
I am very hard on myself and I know I'm a very disciplined person.
And like when I was sick, I would just be like, no, it's okay.
I just have 102 fever.
It's fine.
Let me just go and do what I have to do for work.
And a lot of people, that's not healthy as we understand, right?
(08:32):
I understand now being, you know, 29, that's not going to be sustainable for life.
And the biggest thing I see that come up with people and just this mindset of
change is, change is inevitable growth is optional, right?
Like a lot of people are going to be seeing that change happens every day and
they're like, okay, I'll just go with it.
(08:53):
But excuses is also something that continue to come up because every
person under the sun has excuses.
I can create an excuse right now as to why I should not work out the next seven
days or why I should not eat well the next seven days.
And that's, I really see that as something people struggle with is that,
(09:15):
that they're, they want to change and they say it and say it and say it, but
the action is, is not always taken forward.
People struggle with the action part of it.
And so, in scenarios like that, cause I've met tons of people, I usually
recommend, okay, either finding a coach or a mentor, finding an accountability
(09:37):
buddy, but it's, it's really hard in the society we live in because one,
everything's instant gratification, if we want something brought to us, if we
want food brought to us, we just click it on the finger, click it on the phone.
And it's right there.
And same with bodies.
Unfortunately, people can, I mean, it's fortunately, unfortunately, depending
(09:57):
on your situation and circumstances, people can change their bodies, how
they want to feel more confident.
So some people are like, and I've heard this before, that's why I'm bringing
it up is I don't have money to be looking good, you know, I don't have
the money to go get that done.
I don't have the money for that.
And that is another, I don't want to say this excuse because it's valid in
(10:18):
certain respects, but that is something I hear.
And then I encourage them, look at what you're spending money on.
Look at what you're, you know, you're going out to eat three times a week.
That's 20, 40, $60, maybe $80.
And a gym membership can be $40 a month.
So, and then you can get free online programs if you want, you don't have to
necessarily go down the route of getting a coach, but people are going to find
(10:42):
so many excuses along the way as to not, as to why they shouldn't do something.
And even in this, this is something I talk about in my book.
This is something I do with my clients.
When we first hop on a call is what is your why?
Why are you doing what you're doing?
Because if you don't have that, why sure, maybe like looking good for your ex to
try to win them back or whatever that is, it's cool for a hot second, but
(11:06):
it's not sustainable.
What is that sustainable factor?
And for me, I don't want to be in a place where if something's preventable, I
want to be able to prevent it.
And sorry if I went a little tangent, but that's pretty much what, what popped
in my mind as you were saying, like asking that question.
(11:27):
Yeah, I think, well, first I agree with many of the points because.
Some support system is important, especially if we don't know, right?
If we don't know how to find the support system.
The second is to sort of for all of us, I think to translate, you know, our
actions into some outcomes.
And so it's a look, we want to make a lot of money.
(11:49):
That's a good outcome.
I want to go on vacation, the Caribbean.
That's an outcome, you know, being a strong, right?
Being a healthy person.
Those are outcomes that we should all think about.
And so trying to have us think about it in that sense, in creating community
that is supportive when it gets a little bit hard, you made the choices that you
(12:10):
made because probably a little bit triggered by your personal experience.
Right.
You know, you saw people don't know exactly why we get cancer, but, you
know, it is probably possible that with healthier lifestyle, we could mitigate
that risk.
And so, you know, I think that to echo your point, and maybe we could talk a
little bit about your book, like, yeah, why write a book?
(12:33):
Like, what were you trying to tell a story of?
And, you know, that's a hard project to take on, you know, like, what do we
know?
Oh my God, I'm going to write a book.
I said to people, my friends in the beginning, like, who cares?
Like, right.
You know, in some sense, but then, you know, there, we do want people to help
us.
So what was the motivation behind that?
What were you trying to tell people, etc.?
(12:54):
Great question.
So I won for the book.
If I consider it a handbook, it's a very easy read.
It's like a hundred pages.
So that's yeah, it's the seven plus lifestyle, a recipe book for life.
So it's seven plus sign Amazon.
Yeah.
Amazon Barnes and Noble.
And then I have a book called The Seven Plus Lifestyle.
(13:18):
It's Amazon Barnes and Noble.
I know Amazon's usually the easiest.
Everybody goes there.
So I would just say, yeah, you can get it there.
And so for the book itself, I wanted it to be accessible.
All my notes that I coach people on in a book.
So I wanted it to be what I tell my clients, what I encourage my clients to do.
(13:40):
I mean, of course, when you're working with clients, it's a hundred percent
customized to them.
It's not a cookie cutter approach.
But just for that advice to help them and guide them and motivate them.
And a lot of it, I have humor written in it, like spunkiness, sassiness, all of that.
Just to act as if I'm there.
Because a lot of people who pick up my book, they know me and they're like, oh, my
(14:03):
gosh, I hear your voice everywhere.
And then some people don't know me are like, oh, this is this is interesting.
This is a very it's a story of a girl.
Like people have come to me who are left me reviews and have said, you know, I
feel your energy.
I feel your I feel your positive attitude in the book.
And that's what I want to be.
I want to be a positive influence that is somebody who's motivating.
(14:26):
And the seven plus itself.
So I had read a lot about the alkaline versus acidity in foods.
And so I wanted to do something that was encouraging a plant based diet without
saying plant based diet or plant based lifestyle, because some people I don't
know why it's so offensive to people or they're like, oh, I see vegan and I
(14:49):
don't want it.
I don't want to read it or I don't want anything to do with it.
And so I was like, how do I get people's attention and get them to read a book
without it saying vegan across it?
Like my vegan shirts, apparently, you know, I guess enough, which is already
something psycho.
But for the book, that's what I focused on.
I focused on OK, everything loves seven is alkalizing on a plant based foods.
(15:13):
Whole food plant based is very alkalizing for your body.
So I didn't just talk about food.
I talked about habits, relationships.
I have questions to help people guide their day to day to make sure they're
holistically living well, because it doesn't matter if you are the healthiest
nutritionally, you're the healthiest fit person working out.
If you're not taking care of yourself in every respect, you're not going to feel
(15:37):
the optimally best that you can.
So that's where I care about like that holistic aspect.
And I have seven pivotal steps, not just about food, but seven pivotal steps to
help you get your life, you know, I guess a little bit better, one percent better.
Yeah, that's good.
I like one percent.
I'll take two.
Builds over time.
You know, having written a book and sort of, yeah, I'd say that mine is a handbook
(16:03):
for life.
Also, I wish I had when I was going through the process, I didn't have any
resources.
So later on, imagine if you could trigger a few ideas and people be support.
And yeah, let's talk plant based for a second.
OK, sort of matters.
(16:24):
I don't know.
I similarly have the same feeling.
And, you know, I don't know vegetarian, vegan, like, well, let's not draw
a distinction here.
I mean, I've had a lot of people say, yeah, plants and not like, yeah, I bet
you've had this experience where you go to a restaurant with your friends and
you count up 17 menu items, not a single one that doesn't have meat.
(16:46):
OK, back to the salad thing.
I'm like, I can't live on salad.
I mean, I have too many calories a day.
And so you wonder like, what have we done to each other to say that plants,
vegetables, you know, healthy foods are bad because that's what you sort of
would interpret, right?
(17:06):
Yeah.
No one wants that.
Yep.
But so but then some people make a choice.
Like, you know, I think I'm going to feel better, you know, maybe I'll
perform better.
Maybe, you know, life will be different.
So what was your journey to plant based?
What have you found?
I'm not sure.
(17:30):
Yeah, I'm sad that I have been had meat in 20 years and I'm happy for it,
but you sort of wonder sometimes if you're just out on the island by yourself.
So, yeah.
So anyway, how did you find your way here?
Yeah.
So I was going to.
Well, one thing I wanted to bounce on your point about healthy about people
are like, oh, if you're eating healthier on a diet.
And I'm like, no, no, that's not how it is.
(17:54):
You can't just eat what you want.
Just try to have fruits and veggies every day.
Fruits, vegetables, berries every single day.
But and I usually go off Dr.
Greger's daily dozen list.
But so many people I hear that all the time, like, I'm going to go on a diet.
And I'm like, what is this diet consists of?
And they're like, well, I'm just going to eat healthier.
(18:15):
I'm like, that should be your lifestyle choice.
But yeah, that's something I know a lot of people don't.
I think we can we can be on here for hours and talk about the people,
the things people argue about.
But my my specific journey with plant based and I usually say plant based
lifestyle in that.
That's something I've said for a while.
(18:37):
I mean, I have not had a lick of meat, dairy, any eggs, none of that for over
five, no, almost five years.
Yeah, almost five years.
And I don't my taste buds have changed so much that if I get a whiff of it,
I'm like, no, thank you.
No, thank you.
But for me, I already ever since I was young, I've I did musicals and theater
(19:01):
for 30 years and I was used to the rejection or people criticizing me because
when you're in that world or if you go for an audition and somebody's like,
no, or you go to model and somebody's like, no, I was used to the criticism.
Like, OK, people are going to criticize.
They're going to say no to your face.
They're going to say this.
So I was just like being plant based.
You know, I've dealt with this my whole life and people criticizing and and me
(19:24):
facing that that if people are going to so many people, it's a phase you're
just experiencing.
You're going to go back.
You're going to be protein deficient.
You're going to be all these things.
And I and it's so funny because it motivates me more to be like, no, I'm going
to be the fittest person here.
I'm going to be the most energetic person here.
My blood work is going to be amazing.
And I mean, it's thankfully been, you know, been that way that I can I can show
(19:50):
I can show being plant based without having to tell.
And then people ask and I explain.
So my journey itself again, I grew up, you know, fast food.
I drank in college.
I drank in graduate school.
And then I didn't really like it.
I had certain experiences where I'm like, no, I need to not do this.
And because I feel felt crappy and I would research.
(20:11):
I did research.
I have publications from graduate school.
So I was I love research and I would research why do I not sleep well when I drink
like I thought wine helps you sleep.
And I learned so much just about the sleep cycles.
And I'm like, I want to be healthier overall.
And if I'm helping my body reduce inflammation and fight off diseases, I want more of that.
(20:35):
That is the thing I want to be after.
And so my journey itself, aside from reading those books, just cleaning out my fridge.
Unfortunately, I lived alone.
So I was able to have the privilege of doing that.
Just my job gave me free housing.
So and so I was able to clear out and I got recipe books like bodybuilder recipe books because I wanted to be I wanted to make sure I was consuming enough.
(21:02):
I got myself a coach who I still have to this day in twenty twenty one and I worked for a vegan fitness and nutrition company.
And so I learned a lot along the way.
And I also went for my own certifications right now.
I'm doing a program with Cornell, but I did a lot of my own certifications just to make sure that I was well versed and educating people in that position that I could sit and educate people besides me.
(21:28):
Just again, being obsessed with research and reading all the time.
So that's a little bit of my journey.
And then and so many people, like I said, so many people have criticized me and said certain things and said, you know, you're not going to be able to do that while pregnant.
You're going to not going to be able to do that while you're when you're older.
You're not going to be able to do that.
I'm like, I'm sorry.
I'm let me take it.
(21:50):
My life, my day by day.
You live your life, but so many people are so invested in one another's life that, you know, they're not taking care of themselves.
And I'm I want to take care of myself.
And I it's one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life.
So I love love being plant based.
I like that. So exciting.
(22:12):
When you say that, I'd like to drill into this point of whose life are we living anyway?
Yeah.
How many of us are trying to satisfy what we think others think we should be rather than what we think we should be?
Even if it imagine if you were just listening, you wouldn't be plant based.
You'd be doing what someone else tells you and you wouldn't be achieving the objective.
(22:37):
Sometimes what we're thinking about is, hey, you know, if I choose to live my life, maybe I'll have more power.
Maybe I'll have more strength. Maybe I'll have more resiliency and vitality.
Yeah. And the irony is at some point in our life, we probably don't believe we're probably going to get we'll call it old.
I don't like to reframe that.
(22:59):
Yeah.
I think old is an old concept.
Right. Yeah.
It's a concept that says that we expect to decline at a rapid rate to a point of not even being sort of vital or productive.
But if we can instigate earlier by making choices, exercise, eating, mindset, community, sleep, those things that maybe you can change the trajectory.
(23:26):
Right. This is what we get to do. But that's because we made that choice because we want to feel better.
Right. Isn't it great? Like you feel better. You are a very fit athlete.
In addition to, you know, a writer now and, you know, inspired person, coach and all these things like you sort of wonder, had you stayed on those other paths, probably wasn't possible for all these things to happen.
(23:49):
Right. I mean, like, you created magic through the choices you made.
Yep. It's all it. And that's the thing. It's every single day we have a choice and it might not be.
And I reiterate that as a coach, too. I'm like, every single day we have a choice. You have a choice to go, you know, and run on the tread or walk on the tread.
You have a choice to go buy that healthy apple, organic apple, or you have a choice to go buy the bag of Doritos.
(24:15):
Like you have those choices. And I think a lot of people don't think about the kind of choices they have. And there are again, there's so many there's so many people that have these limiting beliefs that they they if they're one way or they're growing up one way, then they can't change that.
Like I've met people who are like, no, my family's had diabetes. So that just means I'm going to have diabetes.
(24:37):
And I'm like, that's not how how it is. Like, that's not that is you putting that in your mindset. And the hardest thing to do is unlearn learned behaviors.
And for me, I spent years unlearning these learned behaviors that I learned as a kid of eating, you know, eating McDonald's and eating all those things growing up. And it's so you see it every day and people they want to make you feel a certain way if you're being the healthier one.
(25:07):
If you're eating this way, like I would never give up me I would never I would never, you know, go to the gym all those times like I'd rather enjoy the life I have.
Like, you can enjoy the life you have with a little bit more energy. If you just focus a little bit more on what you ate and working out and drinking water, and you can live a much more vibrant life but a lot of people want to be stuck in a certain way of life.
(25:29):
And the amount of people that I again see or have spoken to that wanted that some people just genuinely are like no I'm okay just taking the medicine and being sick. I'm like, you don't, you don't need to be living on living on Nyquil and things like that just so you can get a good night's sleep there's different things you could do so, again, I could go on a whole tangent about it but we could we could pause for a second.
(25:54):
Oh, it's good. I think this courage idea, you know, is important, right, which is really think of that is, you know, I don't know maybe you're out in meeting a bear or something you have courage but no choices we make takes courage and that's up to us.
I agree with you, I think that remind ourselves always that it's our life and we should choose to live the way that we feel if we like the idea of, you know, power and, you know, feeling good and you know having energy.
(26:28):
There are there are pathways there, you know, one of the things that I always think about with these choices are sometimes it's like, well, you know, Julia, look at you, you know, you are look great and you're so fit and they see us at the end of the story right not
there has been time, and it takes I mean and you work with professional athletes as well. Yeah, and then it's the time commitment that's important to accomplishing these objectives and, you know, we have 168 hours in the week, how do we want to spend them, you know,
(27:03):
how do we spend them in the Netflix world or we're going to spend them, you know, outside, or in a gym or something else. So, when you think about your daily activities and time and then you're helping coach people.
You know, do you have some structure that you give people to help them, maybe get to the breakthrough moment. So is this like I think to the point before you know always lead with yes, don't hold on to know so hard.
(27:30):
Those are good advice but you then have to get about. Okay, give me the structure Julia What should I be doing.
Yeah, so, and I get a lot of, I will say, a lot of I worked with both women and men, my pro athlete is a male.
But right now all my clients are female and a lot of them are older. And so, one, it's just having them develop a relationship with food, because the amount of people, I have them write out like a food diary to start off to just see what they're doing and then from that point on,
(28:03):
after they write out that food diary. I look through and I'm like, Oh my gosh, they are not eating anything today. So, once I once I get to that point of them not being able, or them not having that relationship with food I start asking them like, Okay, is there a reason why we're, you know,
sticking to this and a lot of times they're not hungry they're not this and so I'm like, Okay, so I make mental note that relationship with food needs to be improved. So I encourage them I'm like, Okay, if this is what we're doing every single day over the next week, maybe can we add like a couple of dates or can you add a handful of nuts every day, dad that.
(28:39):
And so from that point on, what we, what we work on is also the other habits, are they drinking water, what is your water like, and then after the water, how much are you moving throughout the day you know you talk about your needs versus exercise so people do not some people have no idea what
non exercise activity thermogenesis is, and I'm like no that that helps you feel good that does burn extra calories. So that's a huge part in it and then also you're looking at your exercise so exercise is also so important so you have those two factors.
(29:13):
And then, so aside from that sleep is definitely the fundamental part that people, you know, definitely pay attention to and make sure, or not pay enough attention to so I need to make sure that they are 100% on point with sleep.
So, in my book I have a pyramid that I talk about sleep, I talk about nutrition, I talk about exercise I talk about movement. I talk about your social life, who you're surrounding yourself with because we know the most people you surround yourself with the most
(29:43):
you're like, so, as a teacher I used to always say that to my students I'm like you are the most like the five people you surround yourself with.
So communities everything and then your vitamins supplements things of that nature. And so, with clients, I say, I set weekly goals we have weekly calls, and we set those, I only want two to three goals a week, I don't want a whole laundry list.
(30:06):
And it's also saying, if your end goal is, oh I want to lose you know 60 pounds. We're not going to make our goal oh I'm going to lose two pounds this week it's going to be okay I'm going to drink, you know, if I'm trying to get to 100 ounce of water, and I'm only at 30 ounce of the water day,
we're going to do 35 ounces. So it really varies on the client and what their goals are.
(30:28):
So that's pretty much what I look at I hear them I see the food diary I asked them to track their steps for a week I asked them to track their water for a week and then I see, okay, what do we need to actually improve on.
And then I also see the quality of food that they're consuming and making sure that they are getting some protein and making sure they're getting some carbs and not just all fats and oils and things of that nature or fast food so those are huge parts that I definitely.
(30:55):
Focus on when I'm working with clients. Hey it's Nathan crane founder of plant powered athlete and I want to thank you for tuning into the plant powered athlete podcast, and as a special thank you I want to give you a 10% discount code on our plant powered protein scientifically
formulated super clean organic high quality plant powered protein designed with health and performance and longevity in mind with three super high quality adaptogens that have been shown to help improve energy increase focus endurance speed up recovery and help your body thrive.
(31:31):
So the 10% discount code, you can use the word podcast at checkout, and you can get plant powered protein at our website at plant powered athlete.com. Thanks again for tuning in.
It was sort of down the middle basic right you know these are not hard concepts.
(32:02):
The day of us being able to hear the signal, which is, it's not that complicated you know we have this called the cocktail party trivia question how many ingredients are in a Twinkie.
Yeah, yeah.
3737, but you wouldn't cook crazy 37 ingredients you wouldn't even have that many in your house. And so you sort of wonder what are we doing to food that we need 37 ingredients to create that mouth feel by the way it's not even vegetarian, let alone
(32:31):
eating because they know that in there. And so you sort of wonder if we're. Why did we allow, why do we allow other people to make so many decisions for us.
Is that how we want to live, you know, do we, you know, that simple concept right you know we've taught everyone to do a few things we thought about a brush their teeth.
That's that's really good. We do that but there are other habits. We've tried to teach people that you should invest in the future with a 401k right so that when you become 50 or 60 there's some money there.
(33:02):
And then the most important part of everything is who we are.
Yeah, we investing in that. So that, you know, over time when we get to the, the time when mitochondria produce less rapidly when there is a last lack of vitality like how do we stem that tide right and this is stuff that yeah be investing in now
(33:26):
right this is not a decision for a year right this is a lifetime.
Yeah. And so, as you think about you know the your client base or, you know, do you see people starting to have that light bulb go off that this isn't something I'm going to do for a year this is my life decision to live this way.
Yep. And that's, that's exactly how I frame it, I say, because I've had people come to me off Weight Watchers. I've had people come to me from doing these, because these guaranteed programs pay, you're going to lose 30 pounds in a month, and they have
(34:03):
800 calories a day and I've had to work with women get develop a healthy relationship with food and be like you're not going to live on 800 calories a day that's not happening. So for me, that's something I, I, I have to tell them I'm like, if you're going to put on some weight, it's okay
to lose weight. Like, we are trying to reverse these habits, or this habit that you just developed got yourself into to be sustainable and that is my, my philosophy to I'm all about a sustainable approach not a band aid approach.
(34:33):
I'm not going to be the coach that ever promotes. Hey, you're going to lose all this weight with me like that's not guaranteed. That's not something I like to, I know that's what, like a business thing that a lot of people do to like just draw people in but some people come,
come in and expect, hey, I'm going to lose all this weight in the next three months you promised I would lose this weight. I'm about developing those healthy habits, healthy relationships and that's something I care the most about.
(34:59):
So for me, I, you know, just as a coach, I promote the sustainable effect like this is not a quick fix your, if you don't lose all the weight within three months or four months of us working together. It's not about that and every single client I've worked with has had so many non scale victories.
And yeah, they're like, oh my gosh, my clothes feel good that I focus on the non scale victories I tell them I'm like, that's the metric. And then I usually tell them how much I weigh and they're like no you don't. You don't weigh in there. I'm not kidding. I'm like, I'm 100. Sometimes I'm 145 pounds. I do not look 145 pounds. I'm like this is muscle. I'm like, some days it's lower some days it's higher some it depends on the day and it's one of those things people just are so fixated on a number that fluctuates and especially women going through our
(35:49):
four cycles, I have to coach women that too, because so many women have no idea that it's one of the things that I've been, I've been adamant about educating. So they know their body, they listen to their own voice, they don't silence their own voice because so many people silence their own voice because they're so crowded by one another and social media, you welcome 100 people into your room every morning when you start scrolling that it's, I just said, I care so much about habit formation and development because when you focus on that, all
(36:19):
the rest is going to come. This won't change unless this changes. So that's more so my philosophy and it's helped so many people.
I like that. Let's talk about muscle and protein for a second. You know the language of the world now is that depends on how you want to count it but the muscle is the largest organ in the body.
Some people argue that the fascia is actually larger, people know what the fascia is so but we all know what muscle. Yeah. Yeah. And in the plant based world, we, is it every day or every week or every month that we hear, you can't get enough protein if you're
(36:55):
straight. This is more of the world like oh my god, the only way you know and if we can have 100 grams of protein a day you know we're starting to really make a difference. So muscle and protein, how do you address it? Think about it.
I, you know, yeah. So it's funny because last year I went to, I was at Vegan Fest with Dr. Greger, Dr. Neil Bernard, Dr. Milton Mills, a bunch of different doctors. And so, when I was, you know, there with them we all had that talk about protein.
(37:33):
However, the one difference was that I'm an athlete and training athlete, and a lot of the people that were going were not in that, in that field. So, um, I am under the, like for me, I'm going to have more protein as an athlete, than someone who's not an athlete.
So, the daily recommendation I usually say is the 0.8 kilograms to grams of body weight. I believe that's a conversion of me saying it, I think you know what I'm talking about that.
(38:04):
Yes, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So, I'll go with that but even for my professional athlete who's an endurance based athlete, basketball player, his protein is not, if for somebody who weighs 200, over 200 pounds, he's having about 160 grams of protein a day.
And even in the NBA, people are really on that, a lot of them are on the higher end, they're in like, and I understand if you're, if you're healing or something of that nature, constantly tearing muscles, you need a little bit more.
(38:35):
So, that's again why I want to make sure it's mostly plant based.
For me, I typically have anywhere from, it really ranges per day, it's like it could be 115 to 130. But I have, I genuinely enjoy a protein shake every day.
So, I have that and that just helps me go over and I'm also building. So, I'm naturally having a lot more calories like I, I, and people also get, are like, oh my gosh, how many calories and I'm like anywhere from 27 to 2900 calories a day.
(39:07):
I'm, I'm an athlete, I train hard, I like to eat my food. So, that's, that's pretty much for me. So, when I calculate, I typically use that conversion.
Sometimes it could be a little bit lower, but for me, especially like athletes, I focus on that 45 to 65% of your overall, overall caloric intake for carbs and then just really make sure that you're meeting everything else like macro wise more so like for the athlete world but protein is, it's definitely important because your body, especially if you're trying to lose weight, your body ends up, protein requires a lot more energy to be breaking down.
(39:48):
And just for, you're not going to hurt yourself having more plant based protein, but the majority of people don't like, aren't hitting that number where they're going to be hurting themselves naturally.
So, that's for me I do protein is very important. I don't, if my clients aren't hitting their recommended protein goal I don't, I'm not on them about you need to hit your protein I'm just like that's okay, we're gonna, we'll, we'll work our way up or next time maybe you have more lentils or add a little bit more nutritional yeast into your pasta sauce, or have some pumpkin seeds sprinkle that over a salad and usually those little things just help.
(40:29):
Yeah, I like that. You know the interesting part about the way that our body metabolizes the three different so for everyone listening if you don't know the macros are fat carbohydrates and protein, and we metabolize them differently.
Our body uses them for different purposes they're all important, especially how much movement we have, you know, I'm an ultra endurance runner so you know I can't be afraid of carbohydrates or I would never make it yeah race you know so like oh I can't believe you're eating that I'm
(41:03):
like I'm trying to get to the end of a race I got to survive.
But the hack that I found really made the biggest difference is to start the day with a protein shake.
It is not as hungry. So if you want to snacky taking 30 to 40 grams you're doing, don't just have two scoops two three scoops four scoops whatever your stomach will tolerate and once you do that you start to realize you start the day better we metabolize
(41:32):
protein builds whatever strain and stress we put and then, then we add from there so for trying to get to 100 grams it started with 50 like wow this is a much easier play.
But it also really works on curbing because protein does actually curb our appetite so all these hacks that we learn when we are practitioners in here right that help us.
(41:56):
It's a good place.
I'm with you on that that's how I start my day also sorry the sun is like all in my face right now I'm like, can't really find a good position where it's not in my face.
But that's, that's exactly what I do I do that. I do a protein shake, and I do.
Yeah, and I do some apples in the morning, I drink my water 40 ounces. And then I also have. I mean I could tell you my whole day we don't need to go into all that, but I have, I drink my water and then I have a coffee lover, so I have my coffee with
(42:30):
oat milk.
I think it's so interesting.
I think the more active the community the more we like coffee, it's a funny thing you know the rail running.
Jim. So, yeah, that we like being but yeah exactly we're. It's an okay habit you know we're going to have a habit. Yeah.
(42:55):
Well, that's what I tell myself, you know, you know we can only give up so many things but actually, you know, the interesting part for me always was.
It wasn't about giving up it was about gaining, you know, it was about experiencing something new. If you live in a higher quantity of vegetable world you have more variety than if all you do is eat meat, you know, and you'll feel the benefits
(43:18):
as you start to push into your system and find out, you know, I wonder if I could do that push up I wonder if I could walk that mile I wonder if.
And the more that our metabolic system is working effectively.
The more that it's helping us both sleep to your point what we eat. Yeah, all of that.
(43:39):
Yeah, and experience and learn right it's exciting to try something new like that.
From a couple more questions and we'll let you go to. Yeah, what have you learned from working with the pro athletes side that we can is just our you know we love to use the word athlete with everyone.
I'm not a professional athlete but I am an athlete because I put my effort into my disciplines.
(44:05):
What can you take away for the rest of us from that experience.
Yeah, working with the NBA player, I will say, I do work with a chef, so I'm in control I recommend all the meals, everything that goes in it, taking out oil, etc wherever we can, making sure he's fully hydrated and at the end of the day,
(44:28):
the athletes still struggle to with meals like they still have craving, they still have, you know, I want the ice cream I want this, even if they're so disciplined in their craft, so I just see that in that world that they also have those moments
of like no I'm craving this I'm going to listen to my body and of course you know when you're being paid millions you know you do you want to care about what you're eating and whatnot.
(44:53):
But there's also it's so nice to have a little bit of a balance so just knowing that even in our own journeys that we also can can have those moments of it and it's, you know, I don't believe in cheat days, I don't believe in cheat meals.
I believe you're having everything in moderation, every day, but it matters on the quantity or the quality of food you are having right like that's always why like I said, I care about the food log just so I can see can we make adjustments here.
(45:21):
But I've met people who are like can I, I want to do a cheat day this Saturday and just pig out and not focus on you know what I'm eating and I'm like, why don't we just balance it in like if you're craving chocolate on Thursday why don't you have chocolate on Thursday and not have to wait for Saturday
like I don't, it's for me I'm like, just listen to your body because you don't want to create these unhealthy behaviors and patterns.
(45:44):
So just working in that world as well it's very, I mean carbs are everything, working with athletes, because that's what they run on and so many people and they're like carbs are bad carbs I'm like, well, I mean are you, what kind of carbs you have in Twizzlers every day or what
what are you, what are you eating. So, I, you know, I always dive in a little bit more but just to break down that stigma around carbs. So, in that world it's very important to, yeah, just to still erect, listening your body, and if you go through and I say this to like when people are sick.
(46:21):
This is something I tell people like you don't don't force food down your stomach, because some people like no I need to be consistent I need to eat I need to get like, no because your body needs the energy to fight off that disease, instead of using that energy for digestion
let it take care of the, of whatever is going through your body, let it fast, and then you can go ahead and you'll feel a lot faster and even for me like that's what I do I let I let that idea go of I need to make sure I still get protein on the days I'm sick and whatnot it's
(46:51):
like no if my body's trying to fight off something, let me listen to my body and so it's same thing with the pro athlete world thing, you know, they're all you gotta, you have to develop a good relationship with your body where you can very genuinely listen to it and
stop listening to every single person around. So, that just goes with making sure you're giving time for your inner voice.
(47:16):
I think the intrigue is that, and you know when you're under stress like whatever the stress.
Stress is the same. So if I'm running 100 mile race that's stress, you know, work is really hard that's a stress if there's nothing with our children that's a stress and cortisol triggers, some kinds of responses and depends on which one but, you know, sometimes
(47:39):
everybody actually doesn't know what it needs. But I would say in that hack category back to that when we feel that if we're not under like sort of athletic distress that protein shake is magical.
You want to believe it. I want to have four cookies. If you drink protein shake, you won't want the four cookies. No. So if you can sort of learn that. Yeah, you probably do need something but it might not be that. And yeah, totally agree with you.
(48:09):
And ice cream or cookies or these things they're fine you know this is just can't be every meal. Right. Yeah, of course, of course, we don't want to. It's not even that we're saying well it should live a monastic life.
We're actually thinking, I'm fueling myself for these purposes. And, you know, the, the non 29 year olds listening to the podcast to think of being able to still do stuff with your children when 14, are you did enough to go play pickleball or run after
(48:41):
the ball or go for a hike with them. Don't we want to set ourselves up for the life where we can still participate throughout our journey. All these places do matter to achieving that.
Yeah, I'm, I'm that's it's, I was saying most of my clients are older with kids either grown kids younger kids. And it's, it's sad to see just because, again, most of the population of workers as women that they sacrifice so much over the years of not taking care of
(49:11):
themselves that I now have to help teach them and guide them that they have to prioritize themselves in order to live a long healthy life like you want to see your kid grow up and and make it to all those milestone events and if you're, you know, going day by day
just, you know, oh I snacked on a yogurt today I'm good enough like this is good. It's, it's really trying to get those habits under control because I do. I see that a lot with people who are who just who grew up and have kids and whatnot and so the ones who, and I've worked with
(49:44):
a lot of women who are pregnant or even newer families and a lot of them I'm just like please make sure like adjust the baby to your schedule. Don't change your schedule for the baby like to live on the baby schedule have them adjust to you because otherwise you're
you're not going to have any moments where any moment for yourself and like the things that make you you. We can work together to figure out how to carve that like I'll sit down with you and look at your schedule and I know, and I hear having the baby.
(50:14):
One of the hardest things that you know people have to people do and they and it's a huge sacrifice and but it's a blessing, or and it's a blessing not but and it's a blessing. It's just being able to still carve out that time for, you know, even just one successful habit of the day if you're
able to walk. Maybe you go on a walk for an hour and that's a successful habit and then you continue to add on to that. So, yeah, I digress but just, um, that's what it made me think of your son.
(50:46):
Well, the way I always in the podcast is sort of with this simple statement and you can give me your answer which is, okay, being plant powered allows me to, how would you finish that.
Allow me to live the most vibrant life. That's so simple though, I feel like I need something a little more.
(51:08):
We like it too. But you know, I think that's a good answer, you know, being plant based lets me live the most vibrant life that I can. That's very powerful because I think we would all want that.
Yeah, you know, Julia you're a, you're an inspiration and exciting and your, you know, personality is fun and engaging and anyone who gets to work with you is certainly a beneficiary but hopefully those listening to the podcast have taken away that you know,
(51:36):
we can be strong fit, you know, and happy. Use plants in our life more effectively and, and who knows what might happen next right the magic is just over the horizon.
Thank you so much for having me truly appreciate it. Appreciate it too. Thanks so much.
Welcome to the land powered athlete podcast, Joe Gagnonio hosts today.
(00:05):
Um, I have a very special guest with me.
I have Julia Rolipa who is spectacular person.
You know, she does sort of all the things that I hope more people do, you know,
focus on health, longevity, lifestyle mindset, um, works at the top end of the
game with professional athletes, but also works with, we'll call it the regular
(00:27):
people like us, uh, and what we're going to do is just dive into sort of, you
know, the idea that really what we choose to do, how we choose to live, the
resources we have are all available to us to live our version of the best
version of life that we can.
And so Julia, welcome to the podcast.
(00:47):
Uh, thank you so much for having me.
I really appreciate it.
I'm very excited to be here.
Yeah.
I know you bring this sort of positive personality to everything you do.
I know that from reading a little bit about you, but maybe since maybe
some people haven't heard of you, um, a quick intro and give us a
little bit of your story.
Like how did you end up here?
(01:08):
Was this obvious when you were, I don't know, high schooler that you were going
to end up, you know, in a plant, helping amazing people achieve their objectives?
Um, no, that was not how it started.
Uh, it's funny because ever since I was 17, I've pretty much been on my own.
Um, I went to college, I did, um, English education or English literature, secondary
(01:31):
education, minor to theater, and I've consistently had a passion for nutrition.
I had a passion for training.
Um, and when I was 15, a lot of stuff or 13 to 15, a lot of
steps are happening in my life.
Um, my mom was diagnosed with cancer.
My grandma was diagnosed with cancer.
My other grandma had just passed away.
Who was my best friend.
(01:51):
My mom's best friend had cancer.
My partner at the time, his father had cancer.
It was like all these things in front of my face and I am a huge, um, believer.
And so every day I was praying and just really trying to focus on, uh, how do I
get through this and more so just realizing at this time, what was the, what
(02:12):
was the main cause of why so many people were getting sick in my family?
And, um, if we look at disease itself, we know it's dis ease, right?
Dis ease.
Um, even like when people say diet, that's kind of why I avoid, you know,
saying diet, I'll go on a diet because the word die isn't diet.
Um, so I prefer to say lifestyle.
So I would hear so many people in my life, um, just my mom on the sad
(02:37):
standard American diet, um, us growing up as kids on it.
And I knew something was not right.
It didn't sit well with me that my family was continuing to
fuel themselves with this food.
But also it's on society because we never learned what was really
healthy and not healthy.
It was in school.
We were served the chicken and fries and all that.
(02:58):
Um, so anyway, when I got to college, I did residence life.
Um, I served emergency crisis.
I talked, I did suicidal ideations.
I was very much in that world in that field of having to be a proactive problem
solver and, um, the one thing that helped me so much, even from 15 years
old through this high end or this high, um, expectation of crisis job was exercise.
(03:25):
So I, my gym time was me time.
And that was the time I was, I felt most like myself.
Um, so I was, you know, following videos on YouTube and then I started
to create my own plans and a lot of pain that I felt like being in relationships,
um, you know, that didn't work out things of that nature.
Anytime I felt pain, um, besides, you know, feeling my emotions,
(03:47):
cause I do work a lot with, um, handling emotions again, that was the world I
worked in with mental health.
So I was very good at working with people with mental health and helping
them with, um, changing their mindsets.
I knew that in another respect, fitness saved my life.
It saved so many people's lives around, around them.
(04:09):
And it was just the opportunity to break away from, from the world.
Um, and I felt it wasn't just for the physical, it was definitely for the
mental, the endorphins, um, to create it from your brain and so forth.
And so just continuing on with that journey, I continued to work in the
emergency crisis field, residential life and housing.
(04:29):
I had, um, been on call for student deaths.
Um, so I saw a lot at just 22, 23 years old.
I was seeing and handling a lot of this.
And the other thing I noticed was my energy levels were not sustainable either.
I would, I'm like, I'm 23, not really having much energy.
So I took a deeper dive into nutrition.
(04:51):
And when I was 24, I was at Barnes and Noble in the discount section.
And I picked up two books, how not to die by good old Gregor and crazy
sexy diet by Chris Carr read those books within a week and come back
and completely changed my fridge, changed my entire apartment that I was living in
(05:12):
at the time and went whole food plant-based.
It was the end of 2024 or it was the end of when I was 24.
Um, so the end of 2019 going into 2020 and I ended up, um, feeling such a difference.
And so it, that as well, changing my nutrition habits, continuing to work out,
(05:32):
um, really just helped me with through all my jobs of being, like I said, the
working, the emergency crisis, working in that field, helping people with COVID,
having to be a designated COVID tester.
Um, and then I was a teacher for a while, English, um, teacher, an adjunct professor.
Um, I served in athletics and just my passion for nutrition training was always
(05:56):
there and being a coach as well, like, um, orange theory coach, a spin instructor,
body pump instructor, that was the thing that brought me the most joy.
And so as of, um, 2022, I started, I started writing my book or really put it together.
Um, and I ended up, you know, starting a business, uh, holistic wellness,
(06:20):
nutrition coaching, and from that point, I just continued to dive into it.
And as of this year, I resigned officially from teaching and I went full throttle
into my business and pretty much that's, you know, I mean, there's a lot of other
things mixed in between, but that has brought me here today and I'm, and you
know, running a business is, it's challenging and has its challenges, but I
(06:43):
am so blessed to have had the opportunity or the opportunities I've been presented,
uh, to allow me to do it full time.
So it's kind of a, you know, I guess a short winded, long winded story.
The mess of life that we all go through.
Yep.
The ability to sort of feel what we can feel at the right time and do something with it.
(07:05):
And, you know, having talked to lots of people on their journey, you know, it's
always this sort of interesting, what is it that sticks about change?
You know, cause there's a lot of people who probably intellectually know,
Oh, I should eat better or I should exercise more, should sleep more, do something.
And they don't hit the moment where they have internalized it.
(07:27):
And then you have the stories that I've had, you know, talking to a guy, you
know, he's in prison sitting there and, you know, the next thing you know, he's
a thru-hiker doing 12,000 miles around the United States, has inspired, you
know, also a vegan and, and you just think like, well, what triggered it?
Cause what is it?
(07:47):
Why are we open sometimes and not others to what's available to all of us.
And so through your own journey and then how you're helping others, how do you
think about creating the moment of openness for people so they can sort of
step to the other side and hopefully a better side for them?
Yeah.
(08:08):
I will say just to interject, I am, we are all our hardest critics.
I am very hard on myself and I know I'm a very disciplined person.
And like when I was sick, I would just be like, no, it's okay.
I just have 102 fever.
It's fine.
Let me just go and do what I have to do for work.
And a lot of people, that's not healthy as we understand, right?
(08:32):
I understand now being, you know, 29, that's not going to be sustainable for life.
And the biggest thing I see that come up with people and just this mindset of
change is, change is inevitable growth is optional, right?
Like a lot of people are going to be seeing that change happens every day and
they're like, okay, I'll just go with it.
(08:53):
But excuses is also something that continue to come up because every
person under the sun has excuses.
I can create an excuse right now as to why I should not work out the next seven
days or why I should not eat well the next seven days.
And that's, I really see that as something people struggle with is that,
(09:15):
that they're, they want to change and they say it and say it and say it, but
the action is, is not always taken forward.
People struggle with the action part of it.
And so, in scenarios like that, cause I've met tons of people, I usually
recommend, okay, either finding a coach or a mentor, finding an accountability
(09:37):
buddy, but it's, it's really hard in the society we live in because one,
everything's instant gratification, if we want something brought to us, if we
want food brought to us, we just click it on the finger, click it on the phone.
And it's right there.
And same with bodies.
Unfortunately, people can, I mean, it's fortunately, unfortunately, depending
(09:57):
on your situation and circumstances, people can change their bodies, how
they want to feel more confident.
So some people are like, and I've heard this before, that's why I'm bringing
it up is I don't have money to be looking good, you know, I don't have
the money to go get that done.
I don't have the money for that.
And that is another, I don't want to say this excuse because it's valid in
(10:18):
certain respects, but that is something I hear.
And then I encourage them, look at what you're spending money on.
Look at what you're, you know, you're going out to eat three times a week.
That's 20, 40, $60, maybe $80.
And a gym membership can be $40 a month.
So, and then you can get free online programs if you want, you don't have to
necessarily go down the route of getting a coach, but people are going to find
(10:42):
so many excuses along the way as to not, as to why they shouldn't do something.
And even in this, this is something I talk about in my book.
This is something I do with my clients.
When we first hop on a call is what is your why?
Why are you doing what you're doing?
Because if you don't have that, why sure, maybe like looking good for your ex to
try to win them back or whatever that is, it's cool for a hot second, but
(11:06):
it's not sustainable.
What is that sustainable factor?
And for me, I don't want to be in a place where if something's preventable, I
want to be able to prevent it.
And sorry if I went a little tangent, but that's pretty much what, what popped
in my mind as you were saying, like asking that question.
(11:27):
Yeah, I think, well, first I agree with many of the points because.
Some support system is important, especially if we don't know, right?
If we don't know how to find the support system.
The second is to sort of for all of us, I think to translate, you know, our
actions into some outcomes.
And so it's a look, we want to make a lot of money.
(11:49):
That's a good outcome.
I want to go on vacation, the Caribbean.
That's an outcome, you know, being a strong, right?
Being a healthy person.
Those are outcomes that we should all think about.
And so trying to have us think about it in that sense, in creating community
that is supportive when it gets a little bit hard, you made the choices that you
(12:10):
made because probably a little bit triggered by your personal experience.
Right.
You know, you saw people don't know exactly why we get cancer, but, you
know, it is probably possible that with healthier lifestyle, we could mitigate
that risk.
And so, you know, I think that to echo your point, and maybe we could talk a
little bit about your book, like, yeah, why write a book?
(12:33):
Like, what were you trying to tell a story of?
And, you know, that's a hard project to take on, you know, like, what do we
know?
Oh my God, I'm going to write a book.
I said to people, my friends in the beginning, like, who cares?
Like, right.
You know, in some sense, but then, you know, there, we do want people to help
us.
So what was the motivation behind that?
What were you trying to tell people, etc.?
(12:54):
Great question.
So I won for the book.
If I consider it a handbook, it's a very easy read.
It's like a hundred pages.
So that's yeah, it's the seven plus lifestyle, a recipe book for life.
So it's seven plus sign Amazon.
Yeah.
Amazon Barnes and Noble.
And then I have a book called The Seven Plus Lifestyle.
(13:18):
It's Amazon Barnes and Noble.
I know Amazon's usually the easiest.
Everybody goes there.
So I would just say, yeah, you can get it there.
And so for the book itself, I wanted it to be accessible.
All my notes that I coach people on in a book.
So I wanted it to be what I tell my clients, what I encourage my clients to do.
(13:40):
I mean, of course, when you're working with clients, it's a hundred percent
customized to them.
It's not a cookie cutter approach.
But just for that advice to help them and guide them and motivate them.
And a lot of it, I have humor written in it, like spunkiness, sassiness, all of that.
Just to act as if I'm there.
Because a lot of people who pick up my book, they know me and they're like, oh, my
(14:03):
gosh, I hear your voice everywhere.
And then some people don't know me are like, oh, this is this is interesting.
This is a very it's a story of a girl.
Like people have come to me who are left me reviews and have said, you know, I
feel your energy.
I feel your I feel your positive attitude in the book.
And that's what I want to be.
I want to be a positive influence that is somebody who's motivating.
(14:26):
And the seven plus itself.
So I had read a lot about the alkaline versus acidity in foods.
And so I wanted to do something that was encouraging a plant based diet without
saying plant based diet or plant based lifestyle, because some people I don't
know why it's so offensive to people or they're like, oh, I see vegan and I
(14:49):
don't want it.
I don't want to read it or I don't want anything to do with it.
And so I was like, how do I get people's attention and get them to read a book
without it saying vegan across it?
Like my vegan shirts, apparently, you know, I guess enough, which is already
something psycho.
But for the book, that's what I focused on.
I focused on OK, everything loves seven is alkalizing on a plant based foods.
(15:13):
Whole food plant based is very alkalizing for your body.
So I didn't just talk about food.
I talked about habits, relationships.
I have questions to help people guide their day to day to make sure they're
holistically living well, because it doesn't matter if you are the healthiest
nutritionally, you're the healthiest fit person working out.
If you're not taking care of yourself in every respect, you're not going to feel
(15:37):
the optimally best that you can.
So that's where I care about like that holistic aspect.
And I have seven pivotal steps, not just about food, but seven pivotal steps to
help you get your life, you know, I guess a little bit better, one percent better.
Yeah, that's good.
I like one percent.
I'll take two.
Builds over time.
You know, having written a book and sort of, yeah, I'd say that mine is a handbook
(16:03):
for life.
Also, I wish I had when I was going through the process, I didn't have any
resources.
So later on, imagine if you could trigger a few ideas and people be support.
And yeah, let's talk plant based for a second.
OK, sort of matters.
(16:24):
I don't know.
I similarly have the same feeling.
And, you know, I don't know vegetarian, vegan, like, well, let's not draw
a distinction here.
I mean, I've had a lot of people say, yeah, plants and not like, yeah, I bet
you've had this experience where you go to a restaurant with your friends and
you count up 17 menu items, not a single one that doesn't have meat.
(16:46):
OK, back to the salad thing.
I'm like, I can't live on salad.
I mean, I have too many calories a day.
And so you wonder like, what have we done to each other to say that plants,
vegetables, you know, healthy foods are bad because that's what you sort of
would interpret, right?
(17:06):
Yeah.
No one wants that.
Yep.
But so but then some people make a choice.
Like, you know, I think I'm going to feel better, you know, maybe I'll
perform better.
Maybe, you know, life will be different.
So what was your journey to plant based?
What have you found?
I'm not sure.
(17:30):
Yeah, I'm sad that I have been had meat in 20 years and I'm happy for it,
but you sort of wonder sometimes if you're just out on the island by yourself.
So, yeah.
So anyway, how did you find your way here?
Yeah.
So I was going to.
Well, one thing I wanted to bounce on your point about healthy about people
are like, oh, if you're eating healthier on a diet.
And I'm like, no, no, that's not how it is.
(17:54):
You can't just eat what you want.
Just try to have fruits and veggies every day.
Fruits, vegetables, berries every single day.
But and I usually go off Dr.
Greger's daily dozen list.
But so many people I hear that all the time, like, I'm going to go on a diet.
And I'm like, what is this diet consists of?
And they're like, well, I'm just going to eat healthier.
(18:15):
I'm like, that should be your lifestyle choice.
But yeah, that's something I know a lot of people don't.
I think we can we can be on here for hours and talk about the people,
the things people argue about.
But my my specific journey with plant based and I usually say plant based
lifestyle in that.
That's something I've said for a while.
(18:37):
I mean, I have not had a lick of meat, dairy, any eggs, none of that for over
five, no, almost five years.
Yeah, almost five years.
And I don't my taste buds have changed so much that if I get a whiff of it,
I'm like, no, thank you.
No, thank you.
But for me, I already ever since I was young, I've I did musicals and theater
(19:01):
for 30 years and I was used to the rejection or people criticizing me because
when you're in that world or if you go for an audition and somebody's like,
no, or you go to model and somebody's like, no, I was used to the criticism.
Like, OK, people are going to criticize.
They're going to say no to your face.
They're going to say this.
So I was just like being plant based.
You know, I've dealt with this my whole life and people criticizing and and me
(19:24):
facing that that if people are going to so many people, it's a phase you're
just experiencing.
You're going to go back.
You're going to be protein deficient.
You're going to be all these things.
And I and it's so funny because it motivates me more to be like, no, I'm going
to be the fittest person here.
I'm going to be the most energetic person here.
My blood work is going to be amazing.
And I mean, it's thankfully been, you know, been that way that I can I can show
(19:50):
I can show being plant based without having to tell.
And then people ask and I explain.
So my journey itself again, I grew up, you know, fast food.
I drank in college.
I drank in graduate school.
And then I didn't really like it.
I had certain experiences where I'm like, no, I need to not do this.
And because I feel felt crappy and I would research.
(20:11):
I did research.
I have publications from graduate school.
So I was I love research and I would research why do I not sleep well when I drink
like I thought wine helps you sleep.
And I learned so much just about the sleep cycles.
And I'm like, I want to be healthier overall.
And if I'm helping my body reduce inflammation and fight off diseases, I want more of that.
(20:35):
That is the thing I want to be after.
And so my journey itself, aside from reading those books, just cleaning out my fridge.
Unfortunately, I lived alone.
So I was able to have the privilege of doing that.
Just my job gave me free housing.
So and so I was able to clear out and I got recipe books like bodybuilder recipe books because I wanted to be I wanted to make sure I was consuming enough.
(21:02):
I got myself a coach who I still have to this day in twenty twenty one and I worked for a vegan fitness and nutrition company.
And so I learned a lot along the way.
And I also went for my own certifications right now.
I'm doing a program with Cornell, but I did a lot of my own certifications just to make sure that I was well versed and educating people in that position that I could sit and educate people besides me.
(21:28):
Just again, being obsessed with research and reading all the time.
So that's a little bit of my journey.
And then and so many people, like I said, so many people have criticized me and said certain things and said, you know, you're not going to be able to do that while pregnant.
You're going to not going to be able to do that while you're when you're older.
You're not going to be able to do that.
I'm like, I'm sorry.
I'm let me take it.
(21:50):
My life, my day by day.
You live your life, but so many people are so invested in one another's life that, you know, they're not taking care of themselves.
And I'm I want to take care of myself.
And I it's one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life.
So I love love being plant based.
I like that. So exciting.
(22:12):
When you say that, I'd like to drill into this point of whose life are we living anyway?
Yeah.
How many of us are trying to satisfy what we think others think we should be rather than what we think we should be?
Even if it imagine if you were just listening, you wouldn't be plant based.
You'd be doing what someone else tells you and you wouldn't be achieving the objective.
(22:37):
Sometimes what we're thinking about is, hey, you know, if I choose to live my life, maybe I'll have more power.
Maybe I'll have more strength. Maybe I'll have more resiliency and vitality.
Yeah. And the irony is at some point in our life, we probably don't believe we're probably going to get we'll call it old.
I don't like to reframe that.
(22:59):
Yeah.
I think old is an old concept.
Right. Yeah.
It's a concept that says that we expect to decline at a rapid rate to a point of not even being sort of vital or productive.
But if we can instigate earlier by making choices, exercise, eating, mindset, community, sleep, those things that maybe you can change the trajectory.
(23:26):
Right. This is what we get to do. But that's because we made that choice because we want to feel better.
Right. Isn't it great? Like you feel better. You are a very fit athlete.
In addition to, you know, a writer now and, you know, inspired person, coach and all these things like you sort of wonder, had you stayed on those other paths, probably wasn't possible for all these things to happen.
(23:49):
Right. I mean, like, you created magic through the choices you made.
Yep. It's all it. And that's the thing. It's every single day we have a choice and it might not be.
And I reiterate that as a coach, too. I'm like, every single day we have a choice. You have a choice to go, you know, and run on the tread or walk on the tread.
You have a choice to go buy that healthy apple, organic apple, or you have a choice to go buy the bag of Doritos.
(24:15):
Like you have those choices. And I think a lot of people don't think about the kind of choices they have. And there are again, there's so many there's so many people that have these limiting beliefs that they they if they're one way or they're growing up one way, then they can't change that.
Like I've met people who are like, no, my family's had diabetes. So that just means I'm going to have diabetes.
(24:37):
And I'm like, that's not how how it is. Like, that's not that is you putting that in your mindset. And the hardest thing to do is unlearn learned behaviors.
And for me, I spent years unlearning these learned behaviors that I learned as a kid of eating, you know, eating McDonald's and eating all those things growing up. And it's so you see it every day and people they want to make you feel a certain way if you're being the healthier one.
(25:07):
If you're eating this way, like I would never give up me I would never I would never, you know, go to the gym all those times like I'd rather enjoy the life I have.
Like, you can enjoy the life you have with a little bit more energy. If you just focus a little bit more on what you ate and working out and drinking water, and you can live a much more vibrant life but a lot of people want to be stuck in a certain way of life.
(25:29):
And the amount of people that I again see or have spoken to that wanted that some people just genuinely are like no I'm okay just taking the medicine and being sick. I'm like, you don't, you don't need to be living on living on Nyquil and things like that just so you can get a good night's sleep there's different things you could do so, again, I could go on a whole tangent about it but we could we could pause for a second.
(25:54):
Oh, it's good. I think this courage idea, you know, is important, right, which is really think of that is, you know, I don't know maybe you're out in meeting a bear or something you have courage but no choices we make takes courage and that's up to us.
I agree with you, I think that remind ourselves always that it's our life and we should choose to live the way that we feel if we like the idea of, you know, power and, you know, feeling good and you know having energy.
(26:28):
There are there are pathways there, you know, one of the things that I always think about with these choices are sometimes it's like, well, you know, Julia, look at you, you know, you are look great and you're so fit and they see us at the end of the story right not
there has been time, and it takes I mean and you work with professional athletes as well. Yeah, and then it's the time commitment that's important to accomplishing these objectives and, you know, we have 168 hours in the week, how do we want to spend them, you know,
(27:03):
how do we spend them in the Netflix world or we're going to spend them, you know, outside, or in a gym or something else. So, when you think about your daily activities and time and then you're helping coach people.
You know, do you have some structure that you give people to help them, maybe get to the breakthrough moment. So is this like I think to the point before you know always lead with yes, don't hold on to know so hard.
(27:30):
Those are good advice but you then have to get about. Okay, give me the structure Julia What should I be doing.
Yeah, so, and I get a lot of, I will say, a lot of I worked with both women and men, my pro athlete is a male.
But right now all my clients are female and a lot of them are older. And so, one, it's just having them develop a relationship with food, because the amount of people, I have them write out like a food diary to start off to just see what they're doing and then from that point on,
(28:03):
after they write out that food diary. I look through and I'm like, Oh my gosh, they are not eating anything today. So, once I once I get to that point of them not being able, or them not having that relationship with food I start asking them like, Okay, is there a reason why we're, you know,
sticking to this and a lot of times they're not hungry they're not this and so I'm like, Okay, so I make mental note that relationship with food needs to be improved. So I encourage them I'm like, Okay, if this is what we're doing every single day over the next week, maybe can we add like a couple of dates or can you add a handful of nuts every day, dad that.
(28:39):
And so from that point on, what we, what we work on is also the other habits, are they drinking water, what is your water like, and then after the water, how much are you moving throughout the day you know you talk about your needs versus exercise so people do not some people have no idea what
non exercise activity thermogenesis is, and I'm like no that that helps you feel good that does burn extra calories. So that's a huge part in it and then also you're looking at your exercise so exercise is also so important so you have those two factors.
(29:13):
And then, so aside from that sleep is definitely the fundamental part that people, you know, definitely pay attention to and make sure, or not pay enough attention to so I need to make sure that they are 100% on point with sleep.
So, in my book I have a pyramid that I talk about sleep, I talk about nutrition, I talk about exercise I talk about movement. I talk about your social life, who you're surrounding yourself with because we know the most people you surround yourself with the most
(29:43):
you're like, so, as a teacher I used to always say that to my students I'm like you are the most like the five people you surround yourself with.
So communities everything and then your vitamins supplements things of that nature. And so, with clients, I say, I set weekly goals we have weekly calls, and we set those, I only want two to three goals a week, I don't want a whole laundry list.
(30:06):
And it's also saying, if your end goal is, oh I want to lose you know 60 pounds. We're not going to make our goal oh I'm going to lose two pounds this week it's going to be okay I'm going to drink, you know, if I'm trying to get to 100 ounce of water, and I'm only at 30 ounce of the water day,
we're going to do 35 ounces. So it really varies on the client and what their goals are.
(30:28):
So that's pretty much what I look at I hear them I see the food diary I asked them to track their steps for a week I asked them to track their water for a week and then I see, okay, what do we need to actually improve on.
And then I also see the quality of food that they're consuming and making sure that they are getting some protein and making sure they're getting some carbs and not just all fats and oils and things of that nature or fast food so those are huge parts that I definitely.
(30:55):
Focus on when I'm working with clients. Hey it's Nathan crane founder of plant powered athlete and I want to thank you for tuning into the plant powered athlete podcast, and as a special thank you I want to give you a 10% discount code on our plant powered protein scientifically
formulated super clean organic high quality plant powered protein designed with health and performance and longevity in mind with three super high quality adaptogens that have been shown to help improve energy increase focus endurance speed up recovery and help your body thrive.
(31:31):
So the 10% discount code, you can use the word podcast at checkout, and you can get plant powered protein at our website at plant powered athlete.com. Thanks again for tuning in.
It was sort of down the middle basic right you know these are not hard concepts.
(32:02):
The day of us being able to hear the signal, which is, it's not that complicated you know we have this called the cocktail party trivia question how many ingredients are in a Twinkie.
Yeah, yeah.
3737, but you wouldn't cook crazy 37 ingredients you wouldn't even have that many in your house. And so you sort of wonder what are we doing to food that we need 37 ingredients to create that mouth feel by the way it's not even vegetarian, let alone
(32:31):
eating because they know that in there. And so you sort of wonder if we're. Why did we allow, why do we allow other people to make so many decisions for us.
Is that how we want to live, you know, do we, you know, that simple concept right you know we've taught everyone to do a few things we thought about a brush their teeth.
That's that's really good. We do that but there are other habits. We've tried to teach people that you should invest in the future with a 401k right so that when you become 50 or 60 there's some money there.
(33:02):
And then the most important part of everything is who we are.
Yeah, we investing in that. So that, you know, over time when we get to the, the time when mitochondria produce less rapidly when there is a last lack of vitality like how do we stem that tide right and this is stuff that yeah be investing in now
(33:26):
right this is not a decision for a year right this is a lifetime.
Yeah. And so, as you think about you know the your client base or, you know, do you see people starting to have that light bulb go off that this isn't something I'm going to do for a year this is my life decision to live this way.
Yep. And that's, that's exactly how I frame it, I say, because I've had people come to me off Weight Watchers. I've had people come to me from doing these, because these guaranteed programs pay, you're going to lose 30 pounds in a month, and they have
(34:03):
800 calories a day and I've had to work with women get develop a healthy relationship with food and be like you're not going to live on 800 calories a day that's not happening. So for me, that's something I, I, I have to tell them I'm like, if you're going to put on some weight, it's okay
to lose weight. Like, we are trying to reverse these habits, or this habit that you just developed got yourself into to be sustainable and that is my, my philosophy to I'm all about a sustainable approach not a band aid approach.
(34:33):
I'm not going to be the coach that ever promotes. Hey, you're going to lose all this weight with me like that's not guaranteed. That's not something I like to, I know that's what, like a business thing that a lot of people do to like just draw people in but some people come,
come in and expect, hey, I'm going to lose all this weight in the next three months you promised I would lose this weight. I'm about developing those healthy habits, healthy relationships and that's something I care the most about.
(34:59):
So for me, I, you know, just as a coach, I promote the sustainable effect like this is not a quick fix your, if you don't lose all the weight within three months or four months of us working together. It's not about that and every single client I've worked with has had so many non scale victories.
And yeah, they're like, oh my gosh, my clothes feel good that I focus on the non scale victories I tell them I'm like, that's the metric. And then I usually tell them how much I weigh and they're like no you don't. You don't weigh in there. I'm not kidding. I'm like, I'm 100. Sometimes I'm 145 pounds. I do not look 145 pounds. I'm like this is muscle. I'm like, some days it's lower some days it's higher some it depends on the day and it's one of those things people just are so fixated on a number that fluctuates and especially women going through our
(35:49):
four cycles, I have to coach women that too, because so many women have no idea that it's one of the things that I've been, I've been adamant about educating. So they know their body, they listen to their own voice, they don't silence their own voice because so many people silence their own voice because they're so crowded by one another and social media, you welcome 100 people into your room every morning when you start scrolling that it's, I just said, I care so much about habit formation and development because when you focus on that, all
(36:19):
the rest is going to come. This won't change unless this changes. So that's more so my philosophy and it's helped so many people.
I like that. Let's talk about muscle and protein for a second. You know the language of the world now is that depends on how you want to count it but the muscle is the largest organ in the body.
Some people argue that the fascia is actually larger, people know what the fascia is so but we all know what muscle. Yeah. Yeah. And in the plant based world, we, is it every day or every week or every month that we hear, you can't get enough protein if you're
(36:55):
straight. This is more of the world like oh my god, the only way you know and if we can have 100 grams of protein a day you know we're starting to really make a difference. So muscle and protein, how do you address it? Think about it.
I, you know, yeah. So it's funny because last year I went to, I was at Vegan Fest with Dr. Greger, Dr. Neil Bernard, Dr. Milton Mills, a bunch of different doctors. And so, when I was, you know, there with them we all had that talk about protein.
(37:33):
However, the one difference was that I'm an athlete and training athlete, and a lot of the people that were going were not in that, in that field. So, um, I am under the, like for me, I'm going to have more protein as an athlete, than someone who's not an athlete.
So, the daily recommendation I usually say is the 0.8 kilograms to grams of body weight. I believe that's a conversion of me saying it, I think you know what I'm talking about that.
(38:04):
Yes, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So, I'll go with that but even for my professional athlete who's an endurance based athlete, basketball player, his protein is not, if for somebody who weighs 200, over 200 pounds, he's having about 160 grams of protein a day.
And even in the NBA, people are really on that, a lot of them are on the higher end, they're in like, and I understand if you're, if you're healing or something of that nature, constantly tearing muscles, you need a little bit more.
(38:35):
So, that's again why I want to make sure it's mostly plant based.
For me, I typically have anywhere from, it really ranges per day, it's like it could be 115 to 130. But I have, I genuinely enjoy a protein shake every day.
So, I have that and that just helps me go over and I'm also building. So, I'm naturally having a lot more calories like I, I, and people also get, are like, oh my gosh, how many calories and I'm like anywhere from 27 to 2900 calories a day.
(39:07):
I'm, I'm an athlete, I train hard, I like to eat my food. So, that's, that's pretty much for me. So, when I calculate, I typically use that conversion.
Sometimes it could be a little bit lower, but for me, especially like athletes, I focus on that 45 to 65% of your overall, overall caloric intake for carbs and then just really make sure that you're meeting everything else like macro wise more so like for the athlete world but protein is, it's definitely important because your body, especially if you're trying to lose weight, your body ends up, protein requires a lot more energy to be breaking down.
(39:48):
And just for, you're not going to hurt yourself having more plant based protein, but the majority of people don't like, aren't hitting that number where they're going to be hurting themselves naturally.
So, that's for me I do protein is very important. I don't, if my clients aren't hitting their recommended protein goal I don't, I'm not on them about you need to hit your protein I'm just like that's okay, we're gonna, we'll, we'll work our way up or next time maybe you have more lentils or add a little bit more nutritional yeast into your pasta sauce, or have some pumpkin seeds sprinkle that over a salad and usually those little things just help.
(40:29):
Yeah, I like that. You know the interesting part about the way that our body metabolizes the three different so for everyone listening if you don't know the macros are fat carbohydrates and protein, and we metabolize them differently.
Our body uses them for different purposes they're all important, especially how much movement we have, you know, I'm an ultra endurance runner so you know I can't be afraid of carbohydrates or I would never make it yeah race you know so like oh I can't believe you're eating that I'm
(41:03):
like I'm trying to get to the end of a race I got to survive.
But the hack that I found really made the biggest difference is to start the day with a protein shake.
It is not as hungry. So if you want to snacky taking 30 to 40 grams you're doing, don't just have two scoops two three scoops four scoops whatever your stomach will tolerate and once you do that you start to realize you start the day better we metabolize
(41:32):
protein builds whatever strain and stress we put and then, then we add from there so for trying to get to 100 grams it started with 50 like wow this is a much easier play.
But it also really works on curbing because protein does actually curb our appetite so all these hacks that we learn when we are practitioners in here right that help us.
(41:56):
It's a good place.
I'm with you on that that's how I start my day also sorry the sun is like all in my face right now I'm like, can't really find a good position where it's not in my face.
But that's, that's exactly what I do I do that. I do a protein shake, and I do.
Yeah, and I do some apples in the morning, I drink my water 40 ounces. And then I also have. I mean I could tell you my whole day we don't need to go into all that, but I have, I drink my water and then I have a coffee lover, so I have my coffee with
(42:30):
oat milk.
I think it's so interesting.
I think the more active the community the more we like coffee, it's a funny thing you know the rail running.
Jim. So, yeah, that we like being but yeah exactly we're. It's an okay habit you know we're going to have a habit. Yeah.
(42:55):
Well, that's what I tell myself, you know, you know we can only give up so many things but actually, you know, the interesting part for me always was.
It wasn't about giving up it was about gaining, you know, it was about experiencing something new. If you live in a higher quantity of vegetable world you have more variety than if all you do is eat meat, you know, and you'll feel the benefits
(43:18):
as you start to push into your system and find out, you know, I wonder if I could do that push up I wonder if I could walk that mile I wonder if.
And the more that our metabolic system is working effectively.
The more that it's helping us both sleep to your point what we eat. Yeah, all of that.
(43:39):
Yeah, and experience and learn right it's exciting to try something new like that.
From a couple more questions and we'll let you go to. Yeah, what have you learned from working with the pro athletes side that we can is just our you know we love to use the word athlete with everyone.
I'm not a professional athlete but I am an athlete because I put my effort into my disciplines.
(44:05):
What can you take away for the rest of us from that experience.
Yeah, working with the NBA player, I will say, I do work with a chef, so I'm in control I recommend all the meals, everything that goes in it, taking out oil, etc wherever we can, making sure he's fully hydrated and at the end of the day,
(44:28):
the athletes still struggle to with meals like they still have craving, they still have, you know, I want the ice cream I want this, even if they're so disciplined in their craft, so I just see that in that world that they also have those moments
of like no I'm craving this I'm going to listen to my body and of course you know when you're being paid millions you know you do you want to care about what you're eating and whatnot.
(44:53):
But there's also it's so nice to have a little bit of a balance so just knowing that even in our own journeys that we also can can have those moments of it and it's, you know, I don't believe in cheat days, I don't believe in cheat meals.
I believe you're having everything in moderation, every day, but it matters on the quantity or the quality of food you are having right like that's always why like I said, I care about the food log just so I can see can we make adjustments here.
(45:21):
But I've met people who are like can I, I want to do a cheat day this Saturday and just pig out and not focus on you know what I'm eating and I'm like, why don't we just balance it in like if you're craving chocolate on Thursday why don't you have chocolate on Thursday and not have to wait for Saturday
like I don't, it's for me I'm like, just listen to your body because you don't want to create these unhealthy behaviors and patterns.
(45:44):
So just working in that world as well it's very, I mean carbs are everything, working with athletes, because that's what they run on and so many people and they're like carbs are bad carbs I'm like, well, I mean are you, what kind of carbs you have in Twizzlers every day or what
what are you, what are you eating. So, I, you know, I always dive in a little bit more but just to break down that stigma around carbs. So, in that world it's very important to, yeah, just to still erect, listening your body, and if you go through and I say this to like when people are sick.
(46:21):
This is something I tell people like you don't don't force food down your stomach, because some people like no I need to be consistent I need to eat I need to get like, no because your body needs the energy to fight off that disease, instead of using that energy for digestion
let it take care of the, of whatever is going through your body, let it fast, and then you can go ahead and you'll feel a lot faster and even for me like that's what I do I let I let that idea go of I need to make sure I still get protein on the days I'm sick and whatnot it's
(46:51):
like no if my body's trying to fight off something, let me listen to my body and so it's same thing with the pro athlete world thing, you know, they're all you gotta, you have to develop a good relationship with your body where you can very genuinely listen to it and
stop listening to every single person around. So, that just goes with making sure you're giving time for your inner voice.
(47:16):
I think the intrigue is that, and you know when you're under stress like whatever the stress.
Stress is the same. So if I'm running 100 mile race that's stress, you know, work is really hard that's a stress if there's nothing with our children that's a stress and cortisol triggers, some kinds of responses and depends on which one but, you know, sometimes
(47:39):
everybody actually doesn't know what it needs. But I would say in that hack category back to that when we feel that if we're not under like sort of athletic distress that protein shake is magical.
You want to believe it. I want to have four cookies. If you drink protein shake, you won't want the four cookies. No. So if you can sort of learn that. Yeah, you probably do need something but it might not be that. And yeah, totally agree with you.
(48:09):
And ice cream or cookies or these things they're fine you know this is just can't be every meal. Right. Yeah, of course, of course, we don't want to. It's not even that we're saying well it should live a monastic life.
We're actually thinking, I'm fueling myself for these purposes. And, you know, the, the non 29 year olds listening to the podcast to think of being able to still do stuff with your children when 14, are you did enough to go play pickleball or run after
(48:41):
the ball or go for a hike with them. Don't we want to set ourselves up for the life where we can still participate throughout our journey. All these places do matter to achieving that.
Yeah, I'm, I'm that's it's, I was saying most of my clients are older with kids either grown kids younger kids. And it's, it's sad to see just because, again, most of the population of workers as women that they sacrifice so much over the years of not taking care of
(49:11):
themselves that I now have to help teach them and guide them that they have to prioritize themselves in order to live a long healthy life like you want to see your kid grow up and and make it to all those milestone events and if you're, you know, going day by day
just, you know, oh I snacked on a yogurt today I'm good enough like this is good. It's, it's really trying to get those habits under control because I do. I see that a lot with people who are who just who grew up and have kids and whatnot and so the ones who, and I've worked with
(49:44):
a lot of women who are pregnant or even newer families and a lot of them I'm just like please make sure like adjust the baby to your schedule. Don't change your schedule for the baby like to live on the baby schedule have them adjust to you because otherwise you're
you're not going to have any moments where any moment for yourself and like the things that make you you. We can work together to figure out how to carve that like I'll sit down with you and look at your schedule and I know, and I hear having the baby.
(50:14):
One of the hardest things that you know people have to people do and they and it's a huge sacrifice and but it's a blessing, or and it's a blessing not but and it's a blessing. It's just being able to still carve out that time for, you know, even just one successful habit of the day if you're
able to walk. Maybe you go on a walk for an hour and that's a successful habit and then you continue to add on to that. So, yeah, I digress but just, um, that's what it made me think of your son.
(50:46):
Well, the way I always in the podcast is sort of with this simple statement and you can give me your answer which is, okay, being plant powered allows me to, how would you finish that.
Allow me to live the most vibrant life. That's so simple though, I feel like I need something a little more.
(51:08):
We like it too. But you know, I think that's a good answer, you know, being plant based lets me live the most vibrant life that I can. That's very powerful because I think we would all want that.
Yeah, you know, Julia you're a, you're an inspiration and exciting and your, you know, personality is fun and engaging and anyone who gets to work with you is certainly a beneficiary but hopefully those listening to the podcast have taken away that you know,
(51:36):
we can be strong fit, you know, and happy. Use plants in our life more effectively and, and who knows what might happen next right the magic is just over the horizon.
Thank you so much for having me truly appreciate it. Appreciate it too. Thanks so much.
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