Thought For Food Podcast

We've talked about why a vegan diet isn't a panacea for all that ails you, and that just because you go full level 9 vegan doesn't mean you will become the world's strongest athlete and you'll never get sick again. That's why we were excited to bring Matt Ruscigno on the show. Matt is a registered dietician and holds a Masters of Public Health from Loma Linda University. He's also been an ethical vegan for 20 years. As a result, he's both well versed in the science of nutrition, as well as the ethical concerns of diet. Matt keeps it real when it comes to the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle. Matt is also the Past-Chair of the Vegetarian Group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and has completed many ultra-endurance events, including some 24 hour mountain bike races and ultramarathons. We really resonate with Matt's approach to diet and nutrition, while still maintaining an awareness of the ethical and environmental concerns around eating animals. We talk to Matt about a lot of topics, including:

The long awaited next installment in our What's The Deal series is finally here. Iron is a nutrient of significant debate in the general public, especially among athletes and people eating plant-based diets. Besides protein, iron may be the first thing thought to be a major deficiency among vegans and vegetarians. But what does the science say? Surprisingly, there is fairly little debate among the scientific community regarding this nutrient. It's not that controversial. It's definitely not poorly studied. In fact, a lot has been learned and applied regarding this mineral. However, iron deficiency is the number one nutrient deficiency in the world, so this is a very important dietary component. So, we decided to tackle the research and look into how iron actually works and if it is of major concern if you eat a plant based diet. After defining and characterizing iron, we discuss and address a few common claims, such as: You can't get enough iron on a plant-based diet, especially as an athlete Plant sour

Super super excited to share today's episode with you. Professional plant-based ultrarunner Sage Canaday returns to TFF along with his incredibly talented girlfriend, coach, and esteemed ultrarunner, Sandi Nypaver! Sandi and Sage are the dynamic duo, power couple of the ultrarunning scene so it was an honor to have them both on the show. Sandi is a USATF and Lydiard certified running coach, certified in Plant-Based Nutrition from eCornell, and the winner of many races from 5 miles to 100 miles. Sage is a professional ultrarunner for Hoka One One and has won many big races including Speedgoat 50k, World Long Distance Running Championships, and the North Face Endurance 50 Mile Championships. He also has a marathon PR of 2:16 (cray cray) and is the host of the enormously popular and helpful YouTube channel, Vo2maxproductions. Sandi and Sage have started a coaching business called Sage Running, and also very recently started a podcast called Sage Running, which you can find on iTunes and their website, sagerunnin

Boy oh boy are we excited about this one! We've been huge fans of Sid for a long time, from the amazing commentary on his podcast, Approaching the Natural, to his hilariously brilliant YouTube VLOGS, Sid Garza-Hillman is perfectly aligned with TFF. A certified nutritionist, health coach, Programs Director at the Stanford Inn, 50k race director, and ultramarathoner, Sid is a straight up badass. He's been in the plant-based scene for quite some time now, and is an advocate of the small steps approach, which we talk about in the show. In this episode, we talk to Sid about things like: his background in acting and music approaching the natural through a small steps approach why integrating exercise throughout the day is more effective than working out and then sitting Sid's thoughts on effective activism much more! If you haven't already, definitely go subscribe to both Sid's podcast and YouTube channel. They are amazing. Huge thank you to Sid for joining us on TFF, and we're excited for future colla

Here we are with another Q&A episode! We absolutely love answering your guys' questions, so keep 'em coming. Thank you to everyone who submitted questions via email and social media. On today's podcast, we answer questions ranging from how to get started in cycling, to vegan parenting tips, to where we're at with addressing our exercise addiction. Hope you enjoy the show, and don't forget to subscribe on iTunes or Google Play to get the latest episode first thing Thursday mornings. Thanks to everyone for the continued support of TFF. We are more motivated than ever and that's thanks to you guys. It means so so much to us to see your reviews on iTunes, comments on social media, and outpouring support through emails and all of our content. Let us know what YOU want to see from us here, whether it's podcast ideas, video ideas, or ways we can improve your experience. We are also fully open for business with nutrition consulting, so if you or someone you know could benefit from individualized consulting and hel

This week on the show, we're excited to bring Shaleen Shah to you guys. Shaleen is an entrepreneur and founder of the farm sanctuary Luvin Arms, based here in Boulder, Colorado. Luvin Arms is a pretty new sanctuary, only about a year old, and is pretty small, with a few goats, pigs, chickens, and horses. With his background in computer programming and entrepreneurialism, Shaleen has created a beautiful website and platform focused on creating a community based on education and compassion by connecting with animals. In our conversation, we cover everything from how Luvin Arms started to creating a culture based around compassion and what the plant-based/vegan business world is looking like for the future. If you're in Boulder or Colorado in general, come celebrate Luvin Arms 1 year anniversary and eat amazing vegan Indian food this weekend (October 9th)! Get tickets here: https://eventgrid.com/Events/23257/luvin-arms-1st-anniversary-dinner-and-dance-celebration. We're really grateful for Shaleen coming to join

This week on the podcast, we're excited to bring you an interview with Kayle Martin. Kayle is the owner and founder of Cowgirls and Collard Greens, a business designed to empower women battling breast cancer with knowledge about plant-based nutrition. Kayle was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 30 and decided to adopt a completely raw-vegan diet combined with conventional cancer treatment, which led to curing her disease and catalyzing her to spread the message of plant-based living to prevent and reverse disease. She loves animals, and has a particular affinity to horses, and became vegetarian after her beloved cow, cupcake, ended up on her dinner plate. Kayle also lives a mostly digital-nomad lifestyle, following her passions.  In the episode, which was a solo interview from Aaron, is focused on Kayle's story surrounding breast cancer and veganism. The conversation also includes a discussion of her current lifestyle based on travel and growing her business. Kayle is incredibly inspiring and is a fa

In this episode, we go deep on a pretty serious subject: exercise addiction. Both of us have struggled significantly with this problem and wanted to discuss it on the podcast. It's something we've recently gotten some questions about so we felt compelled to share our thoughts on the subject. Jackson talked with his then girlfriend Robin about this on a previous episode, but Aaron wasn't there. We are both working super hard to find balance in our exercise routines and really come to a place of sustainable training. Just a quick warning though: for those of you very sensitive to topics like this, the things we discuss could be potentially triggering for you. So if you feel worried about that, don't listen. We don't want this to stimulate any negativity, we simply wanted to share our own experiences. We talk about each of our pasts with exercise addiction, and then some of our best tips for working towards managing it. We would love to hear your feedback on the subject, so please send us an email at tfflifestyl

"Think good thoughts, do good deeds" Sometimes you meet someone whose heart is just massive and you can't comprehend the amount of service they've done for the world. John Pierre, or JP as he's known, is one of those guys. From animal activism to being Ellen's personal trainer, geriatric physical therapy to rescuing victims of sex trafficking, building an animal sanctuary from the ground up to teaching women's self defense classes, JP does it all. In this episode, we dive into JP's background plus all of this stuff and have a really stimulating conversation that will hopefully leave you with something valuable to bring into your own life. Some of the things you can look forward to in the conversation: JP's early adoption of a plant-based vegan diet and how that culture has shifted over time Some stories from his work as a celebrity trainer working with people like Ellen Degeneres and Emily Deschanel Why movement is more powerful than exercise Why the three Pillars of Health are so important to living

Warning: this episode may ruffle some vegan police feathers. Here at Thought For Food, we try to keep not only judgement-free, but also realistic and inclusive. But we also want to change paradigms, and paradigms are not shifted by being safe, censored, and idealistic. So, with this episode, we pushed the boundaries a bit. It's extremely common to hear vegans claiming things like: going vegan will make you stronger than you've ever been. You'll never get sick again! Going vegan will save the world, or you will no longer be aggressive or angry because you aren't consuming fear and death. Essentially that eating a completely plant-based diet is a panacea for all that ails us. These idealistic and unrealistic claims can often get out of hand, and create an unfavorable depiction of plant-based diets. Now, we're obviously not saying going vegan isn't amazing, it is. We just prefer to stick to the science and evidence to come to conclusions rather than sensational claims that are too often used in nutrition and l

  I first met Ben through a mutual friend, who introduced us because Ben is a vegan triathlete. Little did I know, Ben is also the Vice President of Boulder Food Group, a venture capitalist firm in Boulder that invests in early stage organic and non-GMO food companies. That's one of the coolest part of being part of a cycling or endurance sport culture, we're all on the same playing field out on the bike or on the trails. We've since become great friends and training partners, as Ben drags me out at the buttcrack of dawn to ride up all the canyons in Boulder! Okay. Brief intro for Ben: VP of Boulder Food Group. Graduated from and played lacrosse at Duke. Worked in finance in New York City, moved to Boulder to start a nut butter company and then ended up at BFG. Vegan triathlete, completed multiple half-Ironmans. Overall: super nice guy and certified Ladykiller. In the conversation we cover everything from the current and future state of the natural foods sector, and how plant based food technology fits i

This is an episode we've wanted to record for a long time, and we hope to continue and expand on this conversation further. As two vegan dudes, we feel a responsibility to stimulate a dialogue among men regarding the masculine ideal in the 21st century as it relates to diet, lifestyle, and health. We believe that the masculine ideal needs a makeover, and should be focused on protection, compassion, and strength over dominance, power, and aggressiveness. In today's show, we talk: The definition of masculine How the masculine ideal relates to diet and lifestyle Examples of masculine pressures Why compassion, vulnerability, and protection should have a higher priority in the masculine ideal And more! What do you think? How should masculinity be shifted in today's world? Does being vegan increase or decrease your masculinity? Girls: what do you look for in a man? Let us know! Thanks for listening, go eat some plants, and what's your thought for food? -Jackson and Aaron Show Notes: Masculinity NPR

Imagine creating a product that tastes, smells, cooks, and feels exactly like a hamburger, but without the animal involved in the equation. Which would you choose? The product based in suffering, exploitation, environmental inefficiency, and disease-causing effects, or the plant-based alternative? This is where today's return guest to TFF, Liz Specht, comes in. Last time we spoke on the show (Listen to episode 11), Liz was working as a post-doctoral researcher in the BioFrontiers lab at the University of Colorado Boulder, and hoping to combine her skills in the laboratory with her passion for plant-based foods and animal rights. After she was recently hired as senior scientist at the Good Food Institute, we just had to have her on again to talk science, food tech, and the future of food. The Good Food Institute is a non profit organization that seeks to support, financially and educationally, startup companies in the plant-based food world to be more competitive in the market. Like the plant-based milk alter

Alright! It's that time again: Q&A Time! We got some great questions for this round of Q&A, which we're really excited about. We're also including a special addition to the normal podcast Q&A where we also broadcasted LIVE on Facebook to get some additional questions for the end of the episode. We are thinking about including these in more of our Q&A episodes; what do you guys think? Yay or nay? Let us know. We answer questions ranging from: Is the eCornell Plant Based Nutrition Certification course worth it? What supplements do we recommend for vegans and which ones do we take? Eating disorder recovery as a vegan athlete The economics of switching from animal agriculture to plant-based food agriculture And much more! We seriously enjoyed recording and answering all of your questions, so thank you so much for sending them in! If you want a question answered, feel free to send us an email at thoughtforfoodpodcast@gmail.com and we'll throw it in the pile for the next Q&A (usually every 10 episodes

Okay guys. If you're a veteran of the whole food, plant-based lifestyle, today's guest on the show needs little introduction. For the rest of you, Dr. Neal Barnard is a hero among the medical community in relation to diet and lifestyle management of diabetes, ending medical use of animal experimentation, and helping to dismantle the outdated paradigms of medicine. Dr. Barnard is the founding president of the Physician's Committee For Responsible Medicine (PCRM), an organization that is dedicated to changing the way doctors and other healthcare providers approach healthcare. Shifting towards prevention over pills, PCRM is fighting for a healthier, more compassionate system to make real change. Dr. Barnard is also an associate professor of medicine at the George Washington School of Medicine, he founded the nonprofit Barnard Medical Center which opened in January of 2016, led a successful effort to abolish all animal experimentation in ALL U.S. medical schools, and serves as a fellow in the American College of

We’ve recently been thinking a lot about minimizing things in our lives to live with more purpose and simplicity. Minimalism seems to be a pretty hot topic these days so we thought it would be fun to weigh in on the subject with our own experiences. Being a “minimalist” doesn’t just mean ditching all of your possessions and living off the grid, it’s about intention, mindfulness, and understanding what’s truly valuable in YOUR life. It’s been a while since we were both together on the show with a topic episode, so hopefully you enjoy our conversation. We go into things like: Why a plant based, vegan lifestyle is the best way to live in terms of minimalism Our own current thoughts and goals for living more simply How we approach minimalism in our own lives Why Jackson wants to become a digital nomad Our advice and tips for the listeners of the show There are so many benefits to reducing clutter and stuff in your life, and we felt it was important to share our thoughts on the matter. Clearly, neithe

Imagine following your purpose in life and utilizing that purpose to save money to travel the world in search of community, adventure, and cycling. That’s exactly what this week’s guest, Stephanie Yu, does. Steph is living the digital nomad lifestyle through creating a personal social media brand that is dedicated to helping others recover from eating disorders (something she’s been through herself), teaching the benefits of a vegan lifestyle, and making entertaining and gorgeous online content. Steph and I met briefly in Thailand this summer, and then she spontaneously decided to come to Boulder, reaching out over the internet to see if I was willing to help show her around. She recently gotten into cycling, so of course I was stoked to play tour guide. We immediately hit it off and are already great friends, and Steph is just as energized, passionate, and kind as she is in her videos! We sat down for a very informal podcast interview after she interviewed me for her YouTube channel, which should be up soon

It’s pretty clear that our environment is in serious trouble. Ozone depletion, desertification, ocean dead zones, deforestation, species extinction, and climate change are some of the main problems that we’re facing. The problem is, these issues don’t always have a clear fix, and many factors play into their cause. We do know though, that humans play a major role in the acceleration of environmental degradation through overpopulation, transportation, and the focus of this conversation: diet. Welcome to the show Peter Newton, PhD researcher and professor at the University of Colorado Boulder in the environmental studies program. Pete and I met through the running community here in Boulder (Pete is a passionate ultrarunner) and I soon found out that he also focuses on deforestation in Brazil as a result of animal (specifically beef) agriculture. I was really interested to hear more about his work so of course a podcast would be a great place to start! We covered a lot of great topics including: Pete’s backg

There’s a lot of talk in our society these days about “hacking” your way to success, results, or better productivity. Aaron and Jackson are quite obsessed with being productive and learning about entrepreneurship and efficiency. But we believe that, like most sustainable and positive lifestyle achievements, productivity can’t be hacked. Okay, maybe some components can be achieved through shortcuts and skills, but for the most part it’s about finding what works for you and being consistent. Today on the show, we ramble about our approach to productivity, morning routines, and finding balance in work. In the episode, we cover things like: Our morning and daily routines that are essential for staying productive in school, work, family, and fitness Why practicing meditation can be massively beneficial for productivity Finding balance in your schedule The ultimate tip for being productive We also want to give a big shout out to the girls at Live Planted Podcast! They just recently started up a podcast fo

It’s been quite a while since our last in-depth, evidence-based, objective analysis of a specific topic related to nutrition. In our last installment of “What’s the Deal” we covered all things protein. If you haven’t listened to that one yet, we highly recommend you check it out. This time, we go deep into the oh so controversial bean known as soy. From internet bloggers claiming it causes man-boobs, to widespread fear about breast cancer, there seems to be a lot of misinformation and misconceptions about this food. Aaron and Jackson set out to address a few of the most common claims about soy in an objective, non biased manner to come to a pretty solid conclusion. Topics covered include: What is soy in the first place? Does soy increase your risk for hormone sensitive cancers? Does soy cause gynecomastia and other feminizing effects in men? Does soy cause hyperthyroidism? Are phytates in soy to blame for mineral malabsorption? What is soy’s effect on the environment? Should YOU avoid soy products? Both Jac