"The food is the medicine and the medicine is the food."
Kelley Gilberry, CHN, is a fervent advocate for holistic wellness, an accomplished Health Coach, plant-based nutritionist, a published author, and an inspiring keynote speaker that is dedicated to guiding people towards a better life. The death of his mother and his own diagnosis soon after caused a seismic shift in how he was approaching life. Determined, Kelley set out on a path of research, self discovery and transformation. And it all started with plants.
Resources from this Episode:
Plant Saved My Life
Happy Cow
MedicineFreeMethod.com
If you want to connect with Kelley, visit the following:
Instagram: @one_determined_vegan
Website: OneDeterminedVegan.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Plant-Centered and Thriving
Podcast.
I'm your host, ashley Kitchens.
I'm a plant-based registereddietitian and virtual nutrition
mentor.
I was raised on an Angus cattlefarm, grew up with a lot of GI
issues and used the power ofplant-based eating to promote
healing.
Here you'll find inspiration,ideas and encouragement for your
(00:23):
own plant-based journey.
I'm so thrilled you're heretoday.
Let's get started.
Welcome to the showPlant-Centered Listener.
My name is Ashley and I am yourhost today.
And today I have a very specialguest and story to share with
you.
This is the story of Kelly, whohas taken pivotal,
heartbreaking moments in hislife and use those to spur his
(00:46):
transition to a plant-based diet.
Kelly Gilberry, chn, is afervent advocate for holistic
wellness.
He's an accomplished healthcoach, plant-based nutritionist,
published author and aninspiring keynote speaker
dedicated to guiding you towardsthe life of your aspirations.
His expertise lies inidentifying and transforming
(01:10):
counterproductive food relatedbehaviors, habits and beliefs.
With a philosophy rooted instraightforward methods, kelly
empowers his clients to achievetheir health objectives through
sustainable lifestylemodifications.
His debut book plants saved mylife serves as a comprehensive
guide to understanding howlifestyle medicine can be a
(01:34):
catalyst for reclaiming yourwellbeing.
Kelly's zeal for craftingimpactful resources is
particularly geared towardsthose grappling with obesity and
chronic health issues.
Kelly goes into detail abouthow he reversed several of his
chronic diseases and lost weightas he transitioned to a
plant-based diet.
(01:56):
Drawing on an impressive 18-yeartenor in training and
development, kelly harnesses theinstructional strategies honed
during his time as an instructorat the US Naval Academy to
passionately convey theprinciples of health and natural
healing to his audience.
Y'all this conversation washeartfelt, it was empowering,
(02:16):
and he shares so muchinformation that I know will
help your journey.
Please join me in welcoming tothe show Kelly.
Kelly, welcome to the show.
I'm so excited to share yourstory and really just dive into
all these things that sort ofhave led you to where you are
today.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
100% Thanks for having me.
Let's do it.
I'm excited about it.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Sweet.
Well, before we get into likethe nitty gritty details, I'm
curious if you could kind ofjust share a little bit about
your personal healthtransformation and then we'll
really dive deep into what wenton.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Well, yeah, a little bit about me is a few years ago
I was actually in the worstshape of my life.
I was a pre-diabetic, I hadheart disease and I was obese.
And keep in mind this is all atthe very same doctor's visit.
But the reason I get thatdiagnosis is right before that,
my mother had just passed away.
She passed away maybe threemonths prior to that, two or
three months prior to that, fromheart disease, heart attack,
(03:12):
which is the leading cause ofdeath throughout the United
States, and not even the UnitedStates, but just across the
world.
So when I'm flying back homeand I'm just like man, what the
hell just happened?
She was literally here one dayand gone the next day.
And then I'm flying back on theplane, I'm like I have no idea
what just happened.
My mom was here and now she'sgone, taken by a heart attack.
And then I go to the doctor andlike hey, man, you got all
these chronic conditions and soI'm in the worst shape of my
(03:34):
life.
So I decided that I was going tomake a change.
But before I made that change,my mother came to me in a dream
and told me that I had thisability to be able to help other
people heal themselves throughchronic conditions, through
chronic.
I had no idea what that dreammean.
Keep in mind when she comes tome in the dream I'm obese, I'm a
pre-diabetic and I got heartdisease.
Like what do I know abouthealing anybody?
Absolutely zero, right.
(03:55):
So but then that dream madesense a few months later, when
my uncle came to live with us.
And when he came to live withus they gave him two months to
live because of his cancer.
His cancer came back.
So he beat cancer before itwent into remission and then it
came back.
And when it comes back, youknow, when cancer comes back, it
always comes back with avengeance.
So I was his caretaker duringCOVID.
So I saw him go from a strongperson to a very weak person and
(04:16):
then he ultimately passed away.
So I was his caretaker untilthe last five days of his life.
So I saw both sides of death.
I saw how death will take youout quickly, like that from a
heart attack.
Then I saw how death will takeyou out slowly from cancer.
So then I go to the doctor andthey're like you got all these
conditions.
And then, when he passed away,that dream for my mother made
sense.
It means that A I needed to goon a mission to first transform
(04:36):
my own health, and then once Itransform my own health, and
then next is the transform justlike my mother said is to
transform the health ofeverybody on this planet.
That's my mission.
I'm not going to stop doingthat until the day that I die.
That is what I'm mostpassionate about helping people,
let them know that they don'thave to pass away 20, 30, 40
years later from a preventabledisease.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yep, absolutely.
Well, I'm here for it, that'sfor sure.
So I'm so glad to kind of justdive into this more, because
those sound like some reallypivotal moments in your life
that led you to start makingthis change.
So you're at the doctor'soffice, you know they're telling
you that you have all of thesediagnoses.
Well then, what happens afterthat?
And obviously your mom comes toyou in a dream and it's like
well then, how do you get towhere you are today?
(05:17):
They didn't.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
They didn't actually, yeah, they didn't.
Actually, it was from anepiphany actually.
So when the doctors are like,hey, man, here's all this.
He had the nurse call me.
Actually I wasn't actually atthe doctor's office when he told
me this, it was on the phonecall right, oh lovely, yeah.
When I get back home and afterthey get the lab results back
and all that stuff, they're likehere you go, doctor wants to
prescribe you this.
(05:37):
He wants to prescribe you that.
It was actually a low moment forme because I had taken pride in
the fact that I had never takenmedication a day in my life,
Aside from some Motrin and Adviland you know something for my
tummy.
Other than that, I didn't takeany medication.
So when the doctor called meback and said that I actually
had experienced a low moment, Ithought back to when I was on a
(05:59):
cruise.
So I was on a cruise about youknow, maybe seven, eight years
ago, on a cruise about you know,maybe seven, eight years ago,
and then on that cruise therewas a tour guide and on that
tour guide someone on the busasked the tour guide hey, where
do you get your medication fromhere?
Uh, he said we don't get ourmedication from the grocery
store.
We don't get our medicationwhen we, when we need our
medication, we go straight outhere to the land.
(06:19):
We go to the land, we grab atree, a plant, bush, and we mix
them together.
Everything that we use to healourselves is from the land.
So we just go out to the landand go get that and then we just
let nature take our course.
And when I'm faced with this,hey, take these medications.
I remember what that tour guidetold me.
He said take the medicine fromthe earth and mix them together,
(06:41):
make some type of concoction,then you just let nature take
its course.
So that's what I decided to do.
I decided that, yeah, you canjust prescribe me the medication
, but I'm saying to myself I'mnot going to take it.
So I didn't take it.
So I just I went on a crazymission to again to transform my
own health.
So my mother told me, the moreresearch I did, the more I kept
pointing back to it's the food,like it's the food, it's the
food.
So I'm putting in things intoGoogle like why don't people die
(07:03):
?
Because I wanted to know why mymother passed away.
I wanted to know where heartdisease came from.
I wanted to know where cancercame from.
I wanted to know where everystinking disease came from,
because I was going to go to warwith it.
And once I made that decision,I decided oh okay, yeah, it's
all about the plant, becauseMother Nature is perfect in her
design.
There's a reason that there'sover 250,000 edible plants on
this planet, and that reason iscalled variety, and that's where
(07:25):
you get the medication from.
So the food is the medicine andthe medicine is the food.
So that's the philosophy that Iuse to transform my own health.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Oh, my goodness, I got chills just listening to
that because you're so right.
And I got chills just listeningto that because you're so right
and that mentality, like thattour guide mentioned, is so
different than the mentalityhere in the States.
I mean, we don't often look atfood as a form of medicine or
think that we have all thesedifferent plants that we could
use to heal, cure, preventcertain diseases 100%.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
That's where all the medication comes from anyway.
All the medication you see inthe stores, it's derived from a
plant.
So why not?
So why take?
Cut out the middle man, justcut out all that modern stuff
and just go back to the roots.
The food is the medicine andthe medicine is the food.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Yep, yep.
Okay, so you have this epiphanyand I'm curious, like how did
you start this journey?
Because I know a lot of peoplelistening today.
They maybe are struggling withcertain health ailments or
they've started theirplant-based journey.
But kind of getting over thathurdle once you get all this
information can be challenging.
So how did you go from what I'mguessing is eating sort of like
the standard American diet to aplant-based one?
(08:27):
How did those first few stepssort of start for you?
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Reasons.
I had enough reasons.
So I had all the reasons in theworld.
So if I have enough reasons,the how is easy, right?
People are like oh man, I don'tknow how to do that.
I don't know how to do that.
If you got enough, if you gotenough strong enough reasons to
why you'll do it, you'll figureit out.
(08:52):
So what I did is I just startedsaying, okay, I'm not, I'm
cutting out all animal products.
I did that for a few days andthen, once I got used to juicing
, then I started getting intovariety of, like fruit bowls,
let me try.
Okay, what's this differenttype of fruit bowl?
Then I started doing so.
I would hear someone talkinglike my sister would say
something about a tabbouleh bowl.
Like her husband went vegan onetime before and he was like he
started eating a.
What are tabbouleh bowls?
(09:14):
So I looked those up and then Istarted figuring out about
Buddha bowls.
Like what's Buddha bowls?
Buddha bowls are just a bunch, awhole bunch of deliciousness
just tossing together in one bigold pot, and that's how you eat
it.
Because the reason where Buddhabowls came about is because
back in the day, buddha used togo through all the towns and and
the people didn't have anythingto give him.
So they were like, ok, buddha,he just had this big basket.
(09:42):
So they just fill his basket upwith a whole bunch of different
foods.
Right, that was their gift tohim for coming and doing what he
does.
So he would just have this bigbowl of deliciousness and he
called it Buddha bowl.
But the thing about a Buddhabowl is you got to make a
delicious sauce so you can putnon-starchy vegetables, starchy
vegetables, whole grains, youcan put beans, you can put leafy
greens, you can put anythingthat you want in there, and you
just top it off with a delicioussauce.
Then I would make a recipe.
So I'd make a recipe and thenone week and like, okay, I
(10:04):
learned that recipe, and then Iwould make it again and then I
would kind of put my own spin onit.
So that is kind of how Istarted.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Yep.
So your reasons, your why wasstrong enough, where the how was
pretty easy.
I mean there was no turningback.
It sounded like I mean you wereon this journey, you were
committed.
And I'm curious too what didyou start noticing the more you
got into these weeks of tryingthese recipes, eating
plant-based?
What did you notice, just inhow you felt physically?
Speaker 2 (10:28):
I can tell you the first month was all about the
digestion.
I can tell you that, yeah, thefirst month was digestion.
The first month was okay, likeI was in corporate America.
I just recently left corporateAmerica, but when I was in
corporate America, I'm acorporate trainer.
So when I'm being a corporatetrainer, I'm teaching a class,
and this is in 2021.
So I'm teaching the class andI'm like hey, students, it's
time for a break.
(10:49):
They're like well, we just hada break.
Like, yeah, I know it's timefor a break, but I got to go.
When you got to go, you got togo because you're changing up
your microbes, right, you'rechanging up.
You're going from eating hotdogs and hamburgers and double
cheeseburgers and gummy wormsand all that stuff with no fiber
to a diet that's filled withfiber and when that happens,
your, your gut's going to noticeit's going to take notice.
(11:09):
So you just, there are timesthat I had no control over.
So I'm just like man, if Idon't go right now, then it's
going to be a bad situationright here.
So that's kind of what thefirst thing that I noticed was
my digestion.
Then after about a month I saythree weeks, after about three
weeks, I started to get a holdof my digestion a little bit and
(11:30):
like, ok, I'm able to control.
It's still going to be thistime to go, but I can control it
a lot better than what I didbefore.
So that's kind of the firstthing I noticed.
But in the first five months Ilost about 45 pounds.
I was obese, so I lost about 45pounds within the first five
months.
I went from an extra large to amedium shirt within the first
five months.
Ultimately I'm in the small.
But after about the first fivemonths I'm like man.
There's probably another 20 to25 pounds that I could lose.
So by the end of the year I had11 months.
(11:53):
So by the end of the year Ilost about 65 pounds.
So I reversed all my chronicconditions.
I reversed heart disease, Ireversed pre-diabetes and I was
back to my high school weightOnce you get to be 40, that's it
, bro.
Give it up.
You're destined to have a dadbod.
You're destined to have allthese chronic health conditions.
You're probably going to diepretty soon.
That's what they say when youturn 40.
(12:13):
Well, I'm here to tell you thatthat is so far from the truth.
Health is not determined byyour age.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
I love that and you're right.
I mean, I hear people all thetime say, oh, it's all downhill
after 40.
And it doesn't have to be.
I mean, that might be the normfor our society, but it does not
have to be the norm 100%.
So I'm curious did you end upgoing back to the doctor?
Speaker 2 (12:32):
I did go back to the doctor.
The reason I went back to thedifferent doctors because that
this doctor specialized inthings like diabetes and
diagnosing things of that nature.
So I went back to him and hewas just like whoa bro that is.
I told him he showed my numbersbefore and he was just like
whoa.
This is kind of unheard of.
This is this is not, it's notnormal, everyday stuff that
(12:52):
you've dropped your cholesterol100 points.
I mean you went from being apre-diabetic, having heart
disease, being obese, to nowhaving a 3% chance of having a
heart attack in the next 10years.
So his mind was blown.
It wasn't a pre, it wasn't anoriginal doctor, but even this
doctor was.
His mind was blown.
And then I go back to him again.
The following year mycholesterol went down even more
and I go back to him again andthen you know, all of my numbers
(13:13):
are great.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
That's amazing.
What a testament to aplant-based diet.
I mean, really in all the workthat you were doing, you know,
in the past year, witheverything that was going on,
I'm curious too, Kelly, in thoseyou know, 11, 12 months, as you
were transitioning and asyou're kind of going through
this in the beginning stages,what were some of like the
challenges that you faced?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
The challenges I faced were being out in society.
Being out in society is whenkeep in mind, like I said, I was
a trainer, corporate trainer.
So I'm traveling all over here,I'm going from this state, that
state, I'm going to Canada, I'mdoing everywhere to teach these
classes.
And then when I teach in theseclasses, I mean it's not like
vegan or plant based options areeverywhere.
So I started, I found out aboutthis app called Happy Cow and
(13:54):
on this Happy Cow app, it justtells you all of the vegan
locations, all the plant-basedlocations in there.
And then, like I said, I'm sodetermined.
That's why I go by OneDetermined Vegan, as you can see
on my name here, it's OneDetermined Vegan.
But I was so determined, my whywas so strong that again, the
how is easy, just because I'mout and about and it's
inconvenient for me to have togo to the grocery store to stack
(14:15):
my hotel fridge.
Yeah, that's not convenient,that's like not normal stuff
that I would years prior, beforeI went plant-based, or before
the tragic passing of my mother.
I would have just been like,bro, I'm not going to the
grocery store to go stack myfridge at the hotel, I'm just
going to go get whateverMcDonald's, burger King,
whatever's on the menu.
(14:36):
I'm getting Mountain Dews orwhatever Jigami worms, whatever
I'm getting Now, it has to be,it's deliberate.
You deliberately have to plan.
If you do not plan, you willfail, living this way or eating
this way, because not everythingis catered towards plant-based.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
I feel like that's good advice for someone who's
also just starting out withtheir plant-based journey is
being deliberate and planningahead, because if you're not
like you said I mean it's hardto be successful if you're not
thinking ahead, especially whenyou're traveling or you're on
the road- yes, I live by the antphilosophy.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
That's what I am.
Do you know about the antphilosophy?
Speaker 1 (15:08):
No, tell me.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Come to find out.
Ants are the most successfullife forms on this planet.
The reason number one is theynever quit.
They never quit.
That's why I get the name OneDetermined Vegan from.
So if you put a pebble in frontof an ant, it's just going to
go one way to get to the otherside.
It's going to go the other way.
If you can't go that way, it'sgoing to try to go over the top.
If she can't go over the top,guess what she'll do?
She'll try to dig a holeunderneath, and if that doesn't
(15:39):
work, she will literally try tognaw her way through that pebble
to get to the other side.
All right, so that's that's.
And then the next thing is antsalways plan ahead.
In the summertime, they'realways thinking about the winter
.
So they're stacking so muchfood Like they're putting away
food.
They're putting away food.
In the summertime, they'reworking, working, working,
working, working.
A they're planning ahead.
What are they doing?
They're making assets forthemselves.
And what's the grasshopperdoing?
The grasshopper, on the otherhand, in the summertime he's
hopping around without a plan.
(15:59):
And then, when the wintertimecomes, guess what happens to the
grasshopper?
He starves to death, and whilethe ants have plenty to eat
because they planned ahead.
So it's all about planningahead.
A they never quit.
B they plan ahead.
And then C, when things arenegative, they think positive.
They know that the sun's goingto come back out again.
They know that this winter isnot going to last forever.
So what's winter?
(16:19):
You got winter in your life.
You got the winter of when yougo to the doctor and you got all
these chronic health conditions.
You got a winter of the deathof a loved one.
You got the winter of thisthing called divorce.
You got the winter of wheneverything you just can't get it
right, everything just goesupside down, but the sun always
will come out again.
Spring always follows winter,every single year.
(16:41):
And the last thing that antsare most popular for is how much
food do you think an ant willput away in the summer to
prepare for the winter?
Speaker 1 (16:51):
I don't know, like I don't even know, how to measure
that.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yes, the answer you're looking for is as much as
she possibly can.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
That is what she will put away in the summertime to
prepare for the winter.
So that's the philosophy I livemy life by.
I live my life by the antphilosophy to do all you
possibly can.
Don't ever neglect the thingsthat you know that you can do,
but do those.
Whatever you do, do it with allyour might, do it with whatever
your hands chose to do, do thatwith all your might.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Wow, that's amazing, that's the ant philosophy.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
That's a little bit of it.
It's way more in depth thanthat, but that's just the
surface level of it.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
That's beautiful when we're ending the podcast here.
That was just so great.
It's like a mic drop now.
But seriously, I mean I thinkthat's a great takeaway for you
listening and even for myself,just something to remember.
I mean that is very impactful.
Kelly, I'm curious too, as youwere going plant-based were
there any misconceptions thatyou had about plant-based diets
or anything that you encounteredor like tried to do to address
them?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
I didn't have any misconceptions, to be honest
with you, because I did all myresearch.
I did my research in the sensethat because I wanted to know
the real reason of why my motherpassed away, I really wanted to
know the real reason of wherecancer came from, the real
reason of where heart diseasecome from.
So I didn't have anymisconceptions.
Only, the only misconceptionsthat I have is the
misconceptions of society sayingthat we're supposed to eat
animal products from the daythat we're born.
(18:10):
I mean, this is what we'redesigned to do.
We're designed to eat animalproducts.
No, we're not.
If you really study humananatomy, if you really just
study the human physiology, youunderstand that no, human beings
are designed to eat plants,based on everything from our our
teeth and we have flat teeth toour claws I mean our hand
fingers.
We don't have claws, sorry, andwe have a long digestive system
(18:31):
for for for digesting plantsand then carnivores like lions
and tigers.
They have short digestivesystem for for processing
rotting flesh, which is what youknow carcasses.
That's why it's so short, soyou can get that out of your
body.
So that's kind of just themisconception that I see when
people ask me all of these allthese different times.
Like, I did all my research andI know that human beings are
(18:52):
designed to eat plants.
No one wants to admit that.
No one wants to admit that like, yeah, yeah, we designed to eat
plants.
The reason that people don'twant to admit that is because
we've been conditioned since wewere six months old.
As soon as your mom crackedopen that chicken flavored
Gerber, you said okay, and thatsmeared across your intestines.
It was at that point.
And then when your mother gaveyou the bottle full of cow's
milk, it was at that point whenyou said, okay, this is what I'm
(19:14):
designed to have.
Your cells will startacclimating to that, but that's
not the way nature intended it.
Like I said, mother naturedoesn't make mistakes.
Mother nature is perfect in herdesign.
There's no way that a humanbeing or another mammal is
supposed to drink the secretionsfrom another mammal, right?
Simply because of the proteincontent and how fast that animal
grows.
I tell people all the time ifyou want protein, if protein is
(19:36):
what you're really after, forgetabout the cow's milk.
I want you to go straight torat's milk.
The reason you want to gostraight to rat's milk is
because of how much protein iswithin that rat's milk, because
a rat only takes six months fora rat to become a full adult.
It takes a cow about two yearsto become a full adult.
So what does protein do?
It makes people, it makesthings grow right.
(19:56):
It takes human beings 18 yearsto become a full adult.
So that's why we don't havehuge amounts of protein in case
within our food.
So that's just kind of some ofthe misconceptions that I break
down to people Like.
These are the laws of nature.
You can't defy the laws ofnature.
You can try, but you're goingto lose, yep.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Yep, absolutely.
With your health transformationtoo, kelly.
Were there any other impacts,or what were some of the impacts
of your health transformationon other aspects of your life?
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Everything, everything as far as so.
It's all about the six pillarsof lifestyle medicine.
Six pillars, so I have anacronym called PACE.
So what's PACE?
Pace is?
The P stands for peaceful mind.
Right, peaceful mind.
So what is it that you do torelieve your stress?
What is it?
What's your wuxia moment?
Is it meditation?
Is it prayer?
What do you have to calmyourself down, to be at peace
(20:48):
every day?
And then the A is for activebody, your activity levels.
What are your activity levels?
Are you moving around?
Are you a couch potato?
And then the C is for cleaneating.
What's clean eating?
I used to tell people in thebeginning to eat all plants.
Now I got a lot of pushbackwith that.
Now I just tell people to eatmostly plants.
90% mostly eat mostly plants,eat real food, not too much,
(21:11):
mostly plants.
And then the last and the Estands for energizing rest.
So that's PACE.
So it's peaceful mind, activebody, clean eating.
And then energizing rest, pace.
So all of those go into play.
When I started clean eating,then I started noticing like, oh
okay, I'm noticing that I'msleeping better, or I'm noticing
that my energy levels arebetter, or I'm noticing that I
(21:33):
don't have any brain fog as muchanymore.
I can think clearer now or Idon't have crazy negative
thoughts like I had before.
All of that stuff's beingcleaned out.
So it's all about yourlifestyle.
So I teach people it'slifestyle medicine.
So it's lifestyle first,medication second.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
I love that.
Oh my gosh, I love that so much.
I think that's fantastic andit's something good to remember.
I'm curious too, Kelly.
This is kind of just a quickquestion.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Is there a daily habit that I have a morning
routine and a night routine.
So my morning, so my, themorning routine actually starts
the night before.
So the night before I'm puttingall.
I start my day with positivityand I end my day with positivity
.
So I'm putting on somethingmotivational at nighttime or I'm
putting on something, somethingmore meditative at nighttime,
maybe to like the last 30, last15 to 20 to 30 minutes.
(22:22):
Whatever you want to manifest,you manifest your affirmations.
So when you go to sleep youhave that on your subconscious.
You're dreaming about that,you're thinking about that.
You're thinking about whetherit's more money or whether it's
losing weight or whether it'sjust being a stoic or being a
philosopher I love philosophyand then when you wake up in the
morning, you pile on top ofthat, you do it again, and it's
(22:45):
morning, evening, morningevening, morning evening.
So it's a day routine, morningroutine and a night routine.
So that's part of my pace,that's part of my peaceful mind,
like before you have tragediesin your life.
I'd have so many tragedies inmy life I didn't know how to
handle it.
Now, when tragedies happen inmy life, I'm able to cope with
it better because I've callousedmy mind in the sense that I
(23:06):
understand that I'm more intouch with my feelings.
I'm more in touch with who I am.
So that's what meditation is.
Meditation stands for becomingfamiliar with.
I'm more familiar with myself,I'm more familiar with my
emotions, I'm more familiar onhow I would react to things.
So that's a little bit of partof that's the P peaceful mind.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
That's fantastic and you have a lot of great
resources on your website,onedeterminedvegancom, and you
wrote a book.
I would love for you to justkind of tell us just a little
bit about Plant Saved my Lifeand where people can grab it if
they'd like to.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
That's exactly it.
Plant Saved my Life.
Plants Save my Life is thankyou for asking that.
Plants Save my Life isliterally about the story that I
just told you, the whole story.
I just told you about plantssaving my life, so I use my
story to educate you.
Keep in mind, like I said, Itold you, I was a trainer.
So I was a trainer in corporateAmerica and I was a trainer at
the United States Naval Academy.
So I've taken everything thatI've learned in the style and
techniques, everything that Ilearned when it came to totally
transforming my health withinthat 11 months or within that
(24:04):
year, and everything that Iimplemented, even things that
I've implemented afterwards.
So it's basically a guide to gofrom A to Z on if you want to
transform your health not evenif you want to transform your
health, just if you want to livea healthy lifestyle.
This is the book for you.
And again, I don't talk aboutbeing 100% plants, even though
I'm 100% plants In the book.
(24:25):
I give people like the 90-10method, like 90% of your stuff
okay fruits, vegetables, nuts,seeds, whole grains and legumes,
and then the other 10% you cando kind of whatever you want.
So that's time, that's yourwiggle room time.
If you're at a party, if you'reat a graduation or if you're
out with friends and family,you're like oh, I can't eat,
don't feel bad about that, Ican't eat my plants.
Okay, don't feel bad about that, use that as your emergency 10%
(24:47):
time.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
I feel like it's more approachable that way too, and
I also feel like this is why Ilove having people like you on
the show, because stories arewhat help insight change.
You could throw a hundredresearch papers at someone as to
why they should go plant-based,but oftentimes when they hear a
story like yours, kelly, oreven read your book, that is
(25:10):
more empowering than reading ahundred research papers, and so
I think books like these can bereally powerful.
Especially if you have a lovedone in your life who you're
trying to encourage to goplant-based maybe you yourself
are trying to go plant-basedthis can be a great way to just
kind of help, just kickstart orempower you to do that 100%,
very, very, very practical.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
And yeah, and if and if your listeners want a free
resource, they can have theultimate guide to mastering
wellness.
So the ultimate guide tomastering wellness is that
medicinefreemethodcom,medicinefreemethodcom.
So that's, that's again, that'swhy I'm, that's what I'm all
about.
That epiphany when that tourguide told me that the
medication is from the land andthen the land is the medication.
(25:47):
So that's why I created, I'msuper passionate about this, so
that's why I created theMedicineFreeMethodcom and you
can go in there.
Your free resource is calledthe Ultimate Guide for Mastering
Wellness.
That framework is specificallymore so about eating real food
not too much, mostly plants.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
That's wonderful, and we'll include those links in
the show notes.
That way, for you listening youcan access them really easily.
Kelly, is there any other waypeople can connect with you or
learn more about you online?
Speaker 2 (26:11):
100%.
You can just type my name intoGoogle.
You can type in One DeterminedVegan, or you can type in my
name, kelly Gilberry,k-e-l-l-e-y Gilberry, and you'll
see me.
I'm all over Google as far as,like you know, just with the
same message.
Just the same message isgetting people.
If you want to get in contactwith me, that's the best way.
Punch me into Google or even onall the socials.
The same thing One DeterminedVegan.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Awesome, all right, well, kelly, thank you so much
for coming on the show andsharing your story.
I really really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Thanks for having me.
This is super fun.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Yay, good, all right.
Well, thank you for tuning intoday and we'll catch you on the
next episode.
Thank you so much for listeningto the Plant-Centered and
Thriving podcast today.
If you found this episodeinspiring, please share it with
a friend or post it on socialmedia and tag me so I can
personally say thank you.
Until next time, keep thriving.
Welcome to the Plant-Centered and Thriving
Podcast.
I'm your host, ashley Kitchens.
I'm a plant-based registereddietitian and virtual nutrition
mentor.
I was raised on an Angus cattlefarm, grew up with a lot of GI
issues and used the power ofplant-based eating to promote
healing.
Here you'll find inspiration,ideas and encouragement for your
(00:23):
own plant-based journey.
I'm so thrilled you're heretoday.
Let's get started.
Welcome to the showPlant-Centered Listener.
My name is Ashley and I am yourhost today.
And today I have a very specialguest and story to share with
you.
This is the story of Kelly, whohas taken pivotal,
heartbreaking moments in hislife and use those to spur his
(00:46):
transition to a plant-based diet.
Kelly Gilberry, chn, is afervent advocate for holistic
wellness.
He's an accomplished healthcoach, plant-based nutritionist,
published author and aninspiring keynote speaker
dedicated to guiding you towardsthe life of your aspirations.
His expertise lies inidentifying and transforming
(01:10):
counterproductive food relatedbehaviors, habits and beliefs.
With a philosophy rooted instraightforward methods, kelly
empowers his clients to achievetheir health objectives through
sustainable lifestylemodifications.
His debut book plants saved mylife serves as a comprehensive
guide to understanding howlifestyle medicine can be a
(01:34):
catalyst for reclaiming yourwellbeing.
Kelly's zeal for craftingimpactful resources is
particularly geared towardsthose grappling with obesity and
chronic health issues.
Kelly goes into detail abouthow he reversed several of his
chronic diseases and lost weightas he transitioned to a
plant-based diet.
(01:56):
Drawing on an impressive 18-yeartenor in training and
development, kelly harnesses theinstructional strategies honed
during his time as an instructorat the US Naval Academy to
passionately convey theprinciples of health and natural
healing to his audience.
Y'all this conversation washeartfelt, it was empowering,
(02:16):
and he shares so muchinformation that I know will
help your journey.
Please join me in welcoming tothe show Kelly.
Kelly, welcome to the show.
I'm so excited to share yourstory and really just dive into
all these things that sort ofhave led you to where you are
today.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
100% Thanks for having me.
Let's do it.
I'm excited about it.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Sweet.
Well, before we get into likethe nitty gritty details, I'm
curious if you could kind ofjust share a little bit about
your personal healthtransformation and then we'll
really dive deep into what wenton.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Well, yeah, a little bit about me is a few years ago
I was actually in the worstshape of my life.
I was a pre-diabetic, I hadheart disease and I was obese.
And keep in mind this is all atthe very same doctor's visit.
But the reason I get thatdiagnosis is right before that,
my mother had just passed away.
She passed away maybe threemonths prior to that, two or
three months prior to that, fromheart disease, heart attack,
(03:12):
which is the leading cause ofdeath throughout the United
States, and not even the UnitedStates, but just across the
world.
So when I'm flying back homeand I'm just like man, what the
hell just happened?
She was literally here one dayand gone the next day.
And then I'm flying back on theplane, I'm like I have no idea
what just happened.
My mom was here and now she'sgone, taken by a heart attack.
And then I go to the doctor andlike hey, man, you got all
these chronic conditions and soI'm in the worst shape of my
(03:34):
life.
So I decided that I was going tomake a change.
But before I made that change,my mother came to me in a dream
and told me that I had thisability to be able to help other
people heal themselves throughchronic conditions, through
chronic.
I had no idea what that dreammean.
Keep in mind when she comes tome in the dream I'm obese, I'm a
pre-diabetic and I got heartdisease.
Like what do I know abouthealing anybody?
Absolutely zero, right.
(03:55):
So but then that dream madesense a few months later, when
my uncle came to live with us.
And when he came to live withus they gave him two months to
live because of his cancer.
His cancer came back.
So he beat cancer before itwent into remission and then it
came back.
And when it comes back, youknow, when cancer comes back, it
always comes back with avengeance.
So I was his caretaker duringCOVID.
So I saw him go from a strongperson to a very weak person and
(04:16):
then he ultimately passed away.
So I was his caretaker untilthe last five days of his life.
So I saw both sides of death.
I saw how death will take youout quickly, like that from a
heart attack.
Then I saw how death will takeyou out slowly from cancer.
So then I go to the doctor andthey're like you got all these
conditions.
And then, when he passed away,that dream for my mother made
sense.
It means that A I needed to goon a mission to first transform
(04:36):
my own health, and then once Itransform my own health, and
then next is the transform justlike my mother said is to
transform the health ofeverybody on this planet.
That's my mission.
I'm not going to stop doingthat until the day that I die.
That is what I'm mostpassionate about helping people,
let them know that they don'thave to pass away 20, 30, 40
years later from a preventabledisease.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yep, absolutely.
Well, I'm here for it, that'sfor sure.
So I'm so glad to kind of justdive into this more, because
those sound like some reallypivotal moments in your life
that led you to start makingthis change.
So you're at the doctor'soffice, you know they're telling
you that you have all of thesediagnoses.
Well then, what happens afterthat?
And obviously your mom comes toyou in a dream and it's like
well then, how do you get towhere you are today?
(05:17):
They didn't.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
They didn't actually, yeah, they didn't.
Actually, it was from anepiphany actually.
So when the doctors are like,hey, man, here's all this.
He had the nurse call me.
Actually I wasn't actually atthe doctor's office when he told
me this, it was on the phonecall right, oh lovely, yeah.
When I get back home and afterthey get the lab results back
and all that stuff, they're likehere you go, doctor wants to
prescribe you this.
(05:37):
He wants to prescribe you that.
It was actually a low moment forme because I had taken pride in
the fact that I had never takenmedication a day in my life,
Aside from some Motrin and Adviland you know something for my
tummy.
Other than that, I didn't takeany medication.
So when the doctor called meback and said that I actually
had experienced a low moment, Ithought back to when I was on a
(05:59):
cruise.
So I was on a cruise about youknow, maybe seven, eight years
ago, on a cruise about you know,maybe seven, eight years ago,
and then on that cruise therewas a tour guide and on that
tour guide someone on the busasked the tour guide hey, where
do you get your medication fromhere?
Uh, he said we don't get ourmedication from the grocery
store.
We don't get our medicationwhen we, when we need our
medication, we go straight outhere to the land.
(06:19):
We go to the land, we grab atree, a plant, bush, and we mix
them together.
Everything that we use to healourselves is from the land.
So we just go out to the landand go get that and then we just
let nature take our course.
And when I'm faced with this,hey, take these medications.
I remember what that tour guidetold me.
He said take the medicine fromthe earth and mix them together,
(06:41):
make some type of concoction,then you just let nature take
its course.
So that's what I decided to do.
I decided that, yeah, you canjust prescribe me the medication
, but I'm saying to myself I'mnot going to take it.
So I didn't take it.
So I just I went on a crazymission to again to transform my
own health.
So my mother told me, the moreresearch I did, the more I kept
pointing back to it's the food,like it's the food, it's the
food.
So I'm putting in things intoGoogle like why don't people die
(07:03):
?
Because I wanted to know why mymother passed away.
I wanted to know where heartdisease came from.
I wanted to know where cancercame from.
I wanted to know where everystinking disease came from,
because I was going to go to warwith it.
And once I made that decision,I decided oh okay, yeah, it's
all about the plant, becauseMother Nature is perfect in her
design.
There's a reason that there'sover 250,000 edible plants on
this planet, and that reason iscalled variety, and that's where
(07:25):
you get the medication from.
So the food is the medicine andthe medicine is the food.
So that's the philosophy that Iuse to transform my own health.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Oh, my goodness, I got chills just listening to
that because you're so right.
And I got chills just listeningto that because you're so right
and that mentality, like thattour guide mentioned, is so
different than the mentalityhere in the States.
I mean, we don't often look atfood as a form of medicine or
think that we have all thesedifferent plants that we could
use to heal, cure, preventcertain diseases 100%.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
That's where all the medication comes from anyway.
All the medication you see inthe stores, it's derived from a
plant.
So why not?
So why take?
Cut out the middle man, justcut out all that modern stuff
and just go back to the roots.
The food is the medicine andthe medicine is the food.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Yep, yep.
Okay, so you have this epiphanyand I'm curious, like how did
you start this journey?
Because I know a lot of peoplelistening today.
They maybe are struggling withcertain health ailments or
they've started theirplant-based journey.
But kind of getting over thathurdle once you get all this
information can be challenging.
So how did you go from what I'mguessing is eating sort of like
the standard American diet to aplant-based one?
(08:27):
How did those first few stepssort of start for you?
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Reasons.
I had enough reasons.
So I had all the reasons in theworld.
So if I have enough reasons,the how is easy, right?
People are like oh man, I don'tknow how to do that.
I don't know how to do that.
If you got enough, if you gotenough strong enough reasons to
why you'll do it, you'll figureit out.
(08:52):
So what I did is I just startedsaying, okay, I'm not, I'm
cutting out all animal products.
I did that for a few days andthen, once I got used to juicing
, then I started getting intovariety of, like fruit bowls,
let me try.
Okay, what's this differenttype of fruit bowl?
Then I started doing so.
I would hear someone talkinglike my sister would say
something about a tabbouleh bowl.
Like her husband went vegan onetime before and he was like he
started eating a.
What are tabbouleh bowls?
(09:14):
So I looked those up and then Istarted figuring out about
Buddha bowls.
Like what's Buddha bowls?
Buddha bowls are just a bunch, awhole bunch of deliciousness
just tossing together in one bigold pot, and that's how you eat
it.
Because the reason where Buddhabowls came about is because
back in the day, buddha used togo through all the towns and and
the people didn't have anythingto give him.
So they were like, ok, buddha,he just had this big basket.
(09:42):
So they just fill his basket upwith a whole bunch of different
foods.
Right, that was their gift tohim for coming and doing what he
does.
So he would just have this bigbowl of deliciousness and he
called it Buddha bowl.
But the thing about a Buddhabowl is you got to make a
delicious sauce so you can putnon-starchy vegetables, starchy
vegetables, whole grains, youcan put beans, you can put leafy
greens, you can put anythingthat you want in there, and you
just top it off with a delicioussauce.
Then I would make a recipe.
So I'd make a recipe and thenone week and like, okay, I
(10:04):
learned that recipe, and then Iwould make it again and then I
would kind of put my own spin onit.
So that is kind of how Istarted.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Yep.
So your reasons, your why wasstrong enough, where the how was
pretty easy.
I mean there was no turningback.
It sounded like I mean you wereon this journey, you were
committed.
And I'm curious too what didyou start noticing the more you
got into these weeks of tryingthese recipes, eating
plant-based?
What did you notice, just inhow you felt physically?
Speaker 2 (10:28):
I can tell you the first month was all about the
digestion.
I can tell you that, yeah, thefirst month was digestion.
The first month was okay, likeI was in corporate America.
I just recently left corporateAmerica, but when I was in
corporate America, I'm acorporate trainer.
So when I'm being a corporatetrainer, I'm teaching a class,
and this is in 2021.
So I'm teaching the class andI'm like hey, students, it's
time for a break.
(10:49):
They're like well, we just hada break.
Like, yeah, I know it's timefor a break, but I got to go.
When you got to go, you got togo because you're changing up
your microbes, right, you'rechanging up.
You're going from eating hotdogs and hamburgers and double
cheeseburgers and gummy wormsand all that stuff with no fiber
to a diet that's filled withfiber and when that happens,
your, your gut's going to noticeit's going to take notice.
(11:09):
So you just, there are timesthat I had no control over.
So I'm just like man, if Idon't go right now, then it's
going to be a bad situationright here.
So that's kind of what thefirst thing that I noticed was
my digestion.
Then after about a month I saythree weeks, after about three
weeks, I started to get a holdof my digestion a little bit and
(11:30):
like, ok, I'm able to control.
It's still going to be thistime to go, but I can control it
a lot better than what I didbefore.
So that's kind of the firstthing I noticed.
But in the first five months Ilost about 45 pounds.
I was obese, so I lost about 45pounds within the first five
months.
I went from an extra large to amedium shirt within the first
five months.
Ultimately I'm in the small.
But after about the first fivemonths I'm like man.
There's probably another 20 to25 pounds that I could lose.
So by the end of the year I had11 months.
(11:53):
So by the end of the year Ilost about 65 pounds.
So I reversed all my chronicconditions.
I reversed heart disease, Ireversed pre-diabetes and I was
back to my high school weightOnce you get to be 40, that's it
, bro.
Give it up.
You're destined to have a dadbod.
You're destined to have allthese chronic health conditions.
You're probably going to diepretty soon.
That's what they say when youturn 40.
(12:13):
Well, I'm here to tell you thatthat is so far from the truth.
Health is not determined byyour age.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
I love that and you're right.
I mean, I hear people all thetime say, oh, it's all downhill
after 40.
And it doesn't have to be.
I mean, that might be the normfor our society, but it does not
have to be the norm 100%.
So I'm curious did you end upgoing back to the doctor?
Speaker 2 (12:32):
I did go back to the doctor.
The reason I went back to thedifferent doctors because that
this doctor specialized inthings like diabetes and
diagnosing things of that nature.
So I went back to him and hewas just like whoa bro that is.
I told him he showed my numbersbefore and he was just like
whoa.
This is kind of unheard of.
This is this is not, it's notnormal, everyday stuff that
(12:52):
you've dropped your cholesterol100 points.
I mean you went from being apre-diabetic, having heart
disease, being obese, to nowhaving a 3% chance of having a
heart attack in the next 10years.
So his mind was blown.
It wasn't a pre, it wasn't anoriginal doctor, but even this
doctor was.
His mind was blown.
And then I go back to him again.
The following year mycholesterol went down even more
and I go back to him again andthen you know, all of my numbers
(13:13):
are great.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
That's amazing.
What a testament to aplant-based diet.
I mean, really in all the workthat you were doing, you know,
in the past year, witheverything that was going on,
I'm curious too, Kelly, in thoseyou know, 11, 12 months, as you
were transitioning and asyou're kind of going through
this in the beginning stages,what were some of like the
challenges that you faced?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
The challenges I faced were being out in society.
Being out in society is whenkeep in mind, like I said, I was
a trainer, corporate trainer.
So I'm traveling all over here,I'm going from this state, that
state, I'm going to Canada, I'mdoing everywhere to teach these
classes.
And then when I teach in theseclasses, I mean it's not like
vegan or plant based options areeverywhere.
So I started, I found out aboutthis app called Happy Cow and
(13:54):
on this Happy Cow app, it justtells you all of the vegan
locations, all the plant-basedlocations in there.
And then, like I said, I'm sodetermined.
That's why I go by OneDetermined Vegan, as you can see
on my name here, it's OneDetermined Vegan.
But I was so determined, my whywas so strong that again, the
how is easy, just because I'mout and about and it's
inconvenient for me to have togo to the grocery store to stack
(14:15):
my hotel fridge.
Yeah, that's not convenient,that's like not normal stuff
that I would years prior, beforeI went plant-based, or before
the tragic passing of my mother.
I would have just been like,bro, I'm not going to the
grocery store to go stack myfridge at the hotel, I'm just
going to go get whateverMcDonald's, burger King,
whatever's on the menu.
(14:36):
I'm getting Mountain Dews orwhatever Jigami worms, whatever
I'm getting Now, it has to be,it's deliberate.
You deliberately have to plan.
If you do not plan, you willfail, living this way or eating
this way, because not everythingis catered towards plant-based.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
I feel like that's good advice for someone who's
also just starting out withtheir plant-based journey is
being deliberate and planningahead, because if you're not
like you said I mean it's hardto be successful if you're not
thinking ahead, especially whenyou're traveling or you're on
the road- yes, I live by the antphilosophy.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
That's what I am.
Do you know about the antphilosophy?
Speaker 1 (15:08):
No, tell me.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Come to find out.
Ants are the most successfullife forms on this planet.
The reason number one is theynever quit.
They never quit.
That's why I get the name OneDetermined Vegan from.
So if you put a pebble in frontof an ant, it's just going to
go one way to get to the otherside.
It's going to go the other way.
If you can't go that way, it'sgoing to try to go over the top.
If she can't go over the top,guess what she'll do?
She'll try to dig a holeunderneath, and if that doesn't
(15:39):
work, she will literally try tognaw her way through that pebble
to get to the other side.
All right, so that's that's.
And then the next thing is antsalways plan ahead.
In the summertime, they'realways thinking about the winter
.
So they're stacking so muchfood Like they're putting away
food.
They're putting away food.
In the summertime, they'reworking, working, working,
working, working.
A they're planning ahead.
What are they doing?
They're making assets forthemselves.
And what's the grasshopperdoing?
The grasshopper, on the otherhand, in the summertime he's
hopping around without a plan.
(15:59):
And then, when the wintertimecomes, guess what happens to the
grasshopper?
He starves to death, and whilethe ants have plenty to eat
because they planned ahead.
So it's all about planningahead.
A they never quit.
B they plan ahead.
And then C, when things arenegative, they think positive.
They know that the sun's goingto come back out again.
They know that this winter isnot going to last forever.
So what's winter?
(16:19):
You got winter in your life.
You got the winter of when yougo to the doctor and you got all
these chronic health conditions.
You got a winter of the deathof a loved one.
You got the winter of thisthing called divorce.
You got the winter of wheneverything you just can't get it
right, everything just goesupside down, but the sun always
will come out again.
Spring always follows winter,every single year.
(16:41):
And the last thing that antsare most popular for is how much
food do you think an ant willput away in the summer to
prepare for the winter?
Speaker 1 (16:51):
I don't know, like I don't even know, how to measure
that.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yes, the answer you're looking for is as much as
she possibly can.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
That is what she will put away in the summertime to
prepare for the winter.
So that's the philosophy I livemy life by.
I live my life by the antphilosophy to do all you
possibly can.
Don't ever neglect the thingsthat you know that you can do,
but do those.
Whatever you do, do it with allyour might, do it with whatever
your hands chose to do, do thatwith all your might.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Wow, that's amazing, that's the ant philosophy.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
That's a little bit of it.
It's way more in depth thanthat, but that's just the
surface level of it.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
That's beautiful when we're ending the podcast here.
That was just so great.
It's like a mic drop now.
But seriously, I mean I thinkthat's a great takeaway for you
listening and even for myself,just something to remember.
I mean that is very impactful.
Kelly, I'm curious too, as youwere going plant-based were
there any misconceptions thatyou had about plant-based diets
or anything that you encounteredor like tried to do to address
them?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
I didn't have any misconceptions, to be honest
with you, because I did all myresearch.
I did my research in the sensethat because I wanted to know
the real reason of why my motherpassed away, I really wanted to
know the real reason of wherecancer came from, the real
reason of where heart diseasecome from.
So I didn't have anymisconceptions.
Only, the only misconceptionsthat I have is the
misconceptions of society sayingthat we're supposed to eat
animal products from the daythat we're born.
(18:10):
I mean, this is what we'redesigned to do.
We're designed to eat animalproducts.
No, we're not.
If you really study humananatomy, if you really just
study the human physiology, youunderstand that no, human beings
are designed to eat plants,based on everything from our our
teeth and we have flat teeth toour claws I mean our hand
fingers.
We don't have claws, sorry, andwe have a long digestive system
(18:31):
for for for digesting plantsand then carnivores like lions
and tigers.
They have short digestivesystem for for processing
rotting flesh, which is what youknow carcasses.
That's why it's so short, soyou can get that out of your
body.
So that's kind of just themisconception that I see when
people ask me all of these allthese different times.
Like, I did all my research andI know that human beings are
(18:52):
designed to eat plants.
No one wants to admit that.
No one wants to admit that like, yeah, yeah, we designed to eat
plants.
The reason that people don'twant to admit that is because
we've been conditioned since wewere six months old.
As soon as your mom crackedopen that chicken flavored
Gerber, you said okay, and thatsmeared across your intestines.
It was at that point.
And then when your mother gaveyou the bottle full of cow's
milk, it was at that point whenyou said, okay, this is what I'm
(19:14):
designed to have.
Your cells will startacclimating to that, but that's
not the way nature intended it.
Like I said, mother naturedoesn't make mistakes.
Mother nature is perfect in herdesign.
There's no way that a humanbeing or another mammal is
supposed to drink the secretionsfrom another mammal, right?
Simply because of the proteincontent and how fast that animal
grows.
I tell people all the time ifyou want protein, if protein is
(19:36):
what you're really after, forgetabout the cow's milk.
I want you to go straight torat's milk.
The reason you want to gostraight to rat's milk is
because of how much protein iswithin that rat's milk, because
a rat only takes six months fora rat to become a full adult.
It takes a cow about two yearsto become a full adult.
So what does protein do?
It makes people, it makesthings grow right.
(19:56):
It takes human beings 18 yearsto become a full adult.
So that's why we don't havehuge amounts of protein in case
within our food.
So that's just kind of some ofthe misconceptions that I break
down to people Like.
These are the laws of nature.
You can't defy the laws ofnature.
You can try, but you're goingto lose, yep.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Yep, absolutely.
With your health transformationtoo, kelly.
Were there any other impacts,or what were some of the impacts
of your health transformationon other aspects of your life?
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Everything, everything as far as so.
It's all about the six pillarsof lifestyle medicine.
Six pillars, so I have anacronym called PACE.
So what's PACE?
Pace is?
The P stands for peaceful mind.
Right, peaceful mind.
So what is it that you do torelieve your stress?
What is it?
What's your wuxia moment?
Is it meditation?
Is it prayer?
What do you have to calmyourself down, to be at peace
(20:48):
every day?
And then the A is for activebody, your activity levels.
What are your activity levels?
Are you moving around?
Are you a couch potato?
And then the C is for cleaneating.
What's clean eating?
I used to tell people in thebeginning to eat all plants.
Now I got a lot of pushbackwith that.
Now I just tell people to eatmostly plants.
90% mostly eat mostly plants,eat real food, not too much,
(21:11):
mostly plants.
And then the last and the Estands for energizing rest.
So that's PACE.
So it's peaceful mind, activebody, clean eating.
And then energizing rest, pace.
So all of those go into play.
When I started clean eating,then I started noticing like, oh
okay, I'm noticing that I'msleeping better, or I'm noticing
that my energy levels arebetter, or I'm noticing that I
(21:33):
don't have any brain fog as muchanymore.
I can think clearer now or Idon't have crazy negative
thoughts like I had before.
All of that stuff's beingcleaned out.
So it's all about yourlifestyle.
So I teach people it'slifestyle medicine.
So it's lifestyle first,medication second.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
I love that.
Oh my gosh, I love that so much.
I think that's fantastic andit's something good to remember.
I'm curious too, Kelly.
This is kind of just a quickquestion.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Is there a daily habit that I have a morning
routine and a night routine.
So my morning, so my, themorning routine actually starts
the night before.
So the night before I'm puttingall.
I start my day with positivityand I end my day with positivity
.
So I'm putting on somethingmotivational at nighttime or I'm
putting on something, somethingmore meditative at nighttime,
maybe to like the last 30, last15 to 20 to 30 minutes.
(22:22):
Whatever you want to manifest,you manifest your affirmations.
So when you go to sleep youhave that on your subconscious.
You're dreaming about that,you're thinking about that.
You're thinking about whetherit's more money or whether it's
losing weight or whether it'sjust being a stoic or being a
philosopher I love philosophyand then when you wake up in the
morning, you pile on top ofthat, you do it again, and it's
(22:45):
morning, evening, morningevening, morning evening.
So it's a day routine, morningroutine and a night routine.
So that's part of my pace,that's part of my peaceful mind,
like before you have tragediesin your life.
I'd have so many tragedies inmy life I didn't know how to
handle it.
Now, when tragedies happen inmy life, I'm able to cope with
it better because I've callousedmy mind in the sense that I
(23:06):
understand that I'm more intouch with my feelings.
I'm more in touch with who I am.
So that's what meditation is.
Meditation stands for becomingfamiliar with.
I'm more familiar with myself,I'm more familiar with my
emotions, I'm more familiar onhow I would react to things.
So that's a little bit of partof that's the P peaceful mind.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
That's fantastic and you have a lot of great
resources on your website,onedeterminedvegancom, and you
wrote a book.
I would love for you to justkind of tell us just a little
bit about Plant Saved my Lifeand where people can grab it if
they'd like to.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
That's exactly it.
Plant Saved my Life.
Plants Save my Life is thankyou for asking that.
Plants Save my Life isliterally about the story that I
just told you, the whole story.
I just told you about plantssaving my life, so I use my
story to educate you.
Keep in mind, like I said, Itold you, I was a trainer.
So I was a trainer in corporateAmerica and I was a trainer at
the United States Naval Academy.
So I've taken everything thatI've learned in the style and
techniques, everything that Ilearned when it came to totally
transforming my health withinthat 11 months or within that
(24:04):
year, and everything that Iimplemented, even things that
I've implemented afterwards.
So it's basically a guide to gofrom A to Z on if you want to
transform your health not evenif you want to transform your
health, just if you want to livea healthy lifestyle.
This is the book for you.
And again, I don't talk aboutbeing 100% plants, even though
I'm 100% plants In the book.
(24:25):
I give people like the 90-10method, like 90% of your stuff
okay fruits, vegetables, nuts,seeds, whole grains and legumes,
and then the other 10% you cando kind of whatever you want.
So that's time, that's yourwiggle room time.
If you're at a party, if you'reat a graduation or if you're
out with friends and family,you're like oh, I can't eat,
don't feel bad about that, Ican't eat my plants.
Okay, don't feel bad about that, use that as your emergency 10%
(24:47):
time.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
I feel like it's more approachable that way too, and
I also feel like this is why Ilove having people like you on
the show, because stories arewhat help insight change.
You could throw a hundredresearch papers at someone as to
why they should go plant-based,but oftentimes when they hear a
story like yours, kelly, oreven read your book, that is
(25:10):
more empowering than reading ahundred research papers, and so
I think books like these can bereally powerful.
Especially if you have a lovedone in your life who you're
trying to encourage to goplant-based maybe you yourself
are trying to go plant-basedthis can be a great way to just
kind of help, just kickstart orempower you to do that 100%,
very, very, very practical.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
And yeah, and if and if your listeners want a free
resource, they can have theultimate guide to mastering
wellness.
So the ultimate guide tomastering wellness is that
medicinefreemethodcom,medicinefreemethodcom.
So that's, that's again, that'swhy I'm, that's what I'm all
about.
That epiphany when that tourguide told me that the
medication is from the land andthen the land is the medication.
(25:47):
So that's why I created, I'msuper passionate about this, so
that's why I created theMedicineFreeMethodcom and you
can go in there.
Your free resource is calledthe Ultimate Guide for Mastering
Wellness.
That framework is specificallymore so about eating real food
not too much, mostly plants.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
That's wonderful, and we'll include those links in
the show notes.
That way, for you listening youcan access them really easily.
Kelly, is there any other waypeople can connect with you or
learn more about you online?
Speaker 2 (26:11):
100%.
You can just type my name intoGoogle.
You can type in One DeterminedVegan, or you can type in my
name, kelly Gilberry,k-e-l-l-e-y Gilberry, and you'll
see me.
I'm all over Google as far as,like you know, just with the
same message.
Just the same message isgetting people.
If you want to get in contactwith me, that's the best way.
Punch me into Google or even onall the socials.
The same thing One DeterminedVegan.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Awesome, all right, well, kelly, thank you so much
for coming on the show andsharing your story.
I really really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Thanks for having me.
This is super fun.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Yay, good, all right.
Well, thank you for tuning intoday and we'll catch you on the
next episode.
Thank you so much for listeningto the Plant-Centered and
Thriving podcast today.
If you found this episodeinspiring, please share it with
a friend or post it on socialmedia and tag me so I can
personally say thank you.
Until next time, keep thriving.
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