PLANTSTRONG Podcast
The PLANT STRONG Podcast is for people who want real answers about food, health, and longevity—without the noise, fear, or extremes. Maybe you’ve been diagnosed with a chronic condition and want a path forward that actually supports healing. Maybe you’re an athlete looking to fuel performance and recovery. Maybe you’re a parent trying to escape the ultra-processed food aisle and feed your family real, nourishing meals. Or maybe you’re simply tired of being confused about what “healthy” actually means. The challenge? Eating more real food can feel overwhelming. You’ve heard warnings about protein, cost, or restriction. You’ve been told it’s complicated, boring, or socially isolating. This podcast exists to change that. Each week, host Rip Esselstyn sits down with leading doctors, researchers, athletes, authors, and everyday people who are proving—through lived experience and science—that eating more whole plants and moving your body consistently can deliver powerful, lasting results. We’re not interested in perfection or dogma. We’re here to be extremely practical, extremely evidence-based, and extremely encouraging. Rip’s work began more than two decades ago, when he helped transform the health of his fellow firefighters using simple, whole foods—guided by the groundbreaking research of his father, Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr. That experience launched a lifelong mission to help people reclaim their health through real food and active living, and ultimately led to the creation of PLANT STRONG. Today, the podcast is an extension of that mission: cutting through misinformation, challenging cultural norms, and showing what’s possible when you fuel your body with food that actually supports it. You’ll hear conversations about: Preventing and reversing chronic disease Strength, endurance, and recovery Gut health, inflammation, and longevity Behavior change that actually sticks How to build habits you can sustain in real life This podcast isn’t about being perfect. It’s about eating real food, building real habits, and getting real results. You won’t be weak when you eat strong food. Welcome to PLANT STRONG.
Episodes
Colleen Patrick-Goudreau—the author, speaker, podcaster, and longtime advocate known as the Joyful Vegan—returns to the Plant Strong Podcast for a thoughtful conversation about compassion, sustainability, and creating change without burning out.
Colleen explains why anger, remorse, isolation, and rigid thinking can make a plant-based lifestyle harder to sustain. Rather than making “being vegan” the ultimate g...
In 2011, a routine physical revealed a total cholesterol of 240 and LDL of 170 for Vince Rountree. Told there wasn’t much he could do beyond medication, Vince (a chemical engineer) wasn't buying it and kept searching—and eventually found the work of Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr.
So he went all-in.
For six weeks, Vince ate a 100% whole-food, plant-based diet with no exceptions. When he retested, his total cholesterol had ...
Rip sits down with longtime friend, former triathlon coach and Primal Kitchen founder, Mark Sisson, for a wide-ranging conversation about biohacking, longevity, chronic cardio, walking and foot health.
Rip and Mark go back more than three decades — and although their nutritional philosophies couldn't be much more different, Rip has always admired Mark's entrepreneurial spirit, curiosity and willingness to take risks.
In this ep...
Who are you—and why do you do what you do?
Most of us spend our lives answering questions about what we want to accomplish, what career we should pursue, and what steps we should take next. But Dr. Gary Sanchez believes we’re asking the right questions in the wrong order.
Gary is the founder of The WHY Institute and the creator of a system designed to help people discover their WHY, their HOW, and their WHAT—the per...
New York Times bestselling author, Carleigh Bodrug, is back with PlantYou: Quickies, her third cookbook, packed with more than 140 fast, approachable plant-based recipes designed for busy, real life.
The idea for Quickies came during an especially challenging season. After losing her mother, becoming pregnant, and welcoming her son Weston, Carleigh suddenly understood what it felt like to simply not have the energy to cook.
That led ...
Getting older may be inevitable. Getting weak, frail, and sedentary? Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina say absolutely not.
In their new book, Plant Powered Seniors, these longtime plant-based nutrition experts explore how to stay strong, healthy, and independent as we age — and they’re living proof. At 84, Vesanto still takes fitness and yoga classes regularly, while Brenda, 67, runs trails, does push-ups, and climbs on th...
Dr. Neal Barnard is back on the PLANTSTRONG Podcast — and this time, he and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine are taking the federal government to court.
At the center of the fight? The new Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Neal says the government tossed aside the work of a transparent scientific advisory committee and instead moved forward with recommendations shaped by a nine-member panel that operated largel...
Rip sits down with Certified High Performance Coach and author Lisa Wargofchik to talk about her book, Remarkable Routines: How Daily Habits Shape a Life of Intention and Fulfillment, and why those small, seemingly ordinary choices can add up to something pretty extraordinary.
Lisa spent nearly 40 years in the employee benefits and wellness world, including leadership roles at Fortune 100 companies and consulting with organizations ...
Originally recorded for Complement's Plantapalooza in 2024, this timeless conversation with CEO, Matt Tullman, explores how sport, community, fun, and whole plant foods can support lifelong fitness.
Rip shares his journey from elite swimming and triathlon to pickleball, mountain biking, family adventures, and master’s swimming. He also explains how accountability partners, simple routines, and the pillars of Plant Strong nutri...
Ep. 367: Menopause Is Not the End: Dr. Jessica Shepherd on Hormones, Plants, and Thriving in Midlife
Rip sits down with OB-GYN, women’s health expert, and author of Generation M, Dr. Jessica Shepherd, for a candid, empowering conversation about perimenopause, menopause, hormones, nutrition, sex, sleep, strength, and what it really means to thrive in midlife and beyond.
For too long, menopause has been framed as a decline — something to dread, hide, or simply suffer through. Dr. Shepherd is here to change that narrative....
Dr. Daniel Chong has spent years helping patients understand their true cardiovascular risk and take meaningful action to prevent heart attacks and strokes.
In this episode, Rip and Dr. Chong dig into the confusing, often polarizing world of cholesterol and heart disease. Is LDL cholesterol really important? How low should it go? Is ApoB a better marker? What about calcium scores, lipoprotein(a), statins, saturated fat, and the grow...
Dr. Kendale Ritchey is a podiatrist in Knoxville, Tennessee, a former University of Tennessee swimmer, and a self-described “recovered barbecue-aholic.”
For nearly three decades, Kendale lived with recurring episodes of intense abdominal, chest, and joint pain, along with fevers and debilitating inflammation.
Then, after watching Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead and Forks Over Knives with his wife Connie, Kendale decided to tr...
At 17, after adopting a high-protein diet filled with meat, milk, protein powder, and processed meats, Dr. Yu experienced his first gout attack. The pain was so intense that he still remembers waking up at 4:00 a.m. feeling as if someone had slammed a wooden board into his toe.
But gout was only the beginning.
Over the years, Dr. Yu developed recurring, mysterious inflammation throughout his body — jaw, shoulders, wrists, finge...
Dr. Melissa Mondala joins Rip to talk about women’s health, autoimmune disease, anxiety, perimenopause, metabolic health, hormones, and the power of whole food, plant-based lifestyle medicine.
A family medicine and lifestyle medicine physician, Dr. Melissa shares her personal journey from struggling with GERD, IBS, fatigue, and serious health challenges to discovering the transformative power of plant-based nutrition during he...
Ever eat when you weren’t really hungry and wonder why willpower wasn’t enough to stop you?
This week, Rip talks with Dr. Jud Brewer - neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and author of The Hunger Habit - about cravings, emotional eating, and the science behind food habits.
Rip and Brewer explore the difference between true physical hunger and what researchers call “hedonic hunger” — eating driven by emotions, ...
Nelson Campbell joins Rip Esselstyn for a deeply personal and powerful conversation about his new book with Dr. T. Colin Campbell, The Whole Truth: The Hidden Agendas Behind Decades of Health Misinformation—and What to Do About It.
Nelson reflects on growing up as the son of one of the most influential nutrition scientists of our time and watching his father’s groundbreaking discoveries meet resistance from industry, gov...
Barbara Court is almost 75 years old, full of humor, full of heart, and living proof that it is never too late to get Plant Strong.
After joining PlantStrong’s free Real30 Challenge, Barbara committed to eating 30 different whole plant-based foods each week and moving her body for 30 minutes a day. In just a few months, she lost nearly 15 pounds, brought her A1C out of the pre-diabetic range, increased her daily steps, and fou...
The newest AHA and ACC guidelines for treating dyslipidemia are here — and according to Dr. Kim Williams, they mark a powerful shift toward prevention, earlier testing, and whole-food, plant-based nutrition as the foundation of cardiovascular care.
Rip welcomes back Dr. Kim Williams, past president of the American College of Cardiology, for a practical and deeply encouraging breakdown of what these updated cholesterol guidelin...
Rip sits down with Terri Edwards — founder of EatPlant-Based.com — to talk about the recipes, habits, and simple food swaps that helped her completely transform her health.
After years of struggling with joint pain, high cholesterol, insomnia, adult acne, and weight gain, Terri discovered the power of whole-food, plant-based nutrition after watching Forks Over Knives in 2013. Within weeks, she noticed major improvements ...
In this special episode, Rip shares a preview of Vital Signs: Real Food. Real Medicine. Real Change., Plant Strong’s upcoming CME-focused conference for healthcare providers who want to bring the power of whole-food, plant-based nutrition into real-world clinical care.
This is not just another conference. Vital Signs is about helping doctors, nurses, dietitians, health coaches, and medical professionals build confidence in the...
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