Joey Thurman:
Welcome to Talking Plant Protein, I'm Joey Thurman.

Nicole Astra:
And I'm Nicole Astra. We've mentioned flexitarians on this show several times, or plant forward diets. I want to get into that a little bit more today. So of course, Joey is a nutrition expert. I want to talk about why plants, you're a meat lover?

Joey Thurman:
Yes.

Nicole Astra:
But you still are a plant forward eater. You recommend that. Why?

Joey Thurman:
Plant forward, plant curious, plant based, whatever you want to say, right? The definition is loose, like 51% plants, then your plant based, essentially. I mean, plants are plants, fruits, vegetables, it's all very important. Fiber, our microbiome, all these different nutrients, everything that we really don't get from having meat. So I make sure I incorporate that every single day in every single meal.

Nicole Astra:
And it's not just about nutrition, but it's about overall health?

Joey Thurman:
Right. Overall health, and when we talk about diet, right? Diet is what you're eating every single day. So we're all on a diet. I know that may be confusing to hear, but by definition, that's what it is. And I spoke with my friend Juliana Hever, was a world renowned plant based dietician, best selling author. She wrote her seventh book. And we sat down to talk about this book, The Choose You Now Diet. And she broke down exactly where you should start.

Julieanna Hever:
It starts with knowing why you want on it. And like you did say it almost exactly right. I always say you could lead a human to healthy, but you can't make them eat. So you have to want it. I've had so many situations and people that matter the most in my life, my son, my parents, people that I really care, I want them to be healthy more than anything, but no matter what I say or do, it doesn't really necessarily translate to them. Because they have to want it.

Julieanna Hever:
And I had this experience this year, last year, where my father had a stroke. And when he finally came to in the hospital and I said, "Dad, what's going on?" And he said, "Well, you know, I've been eating off, eating a little bit more, blah, blah, blah."

Julieanna Hever:
And I said, "You know, dad, I could help you with that." And he looked at me right in the eyes. He's all "Jule, you have to want it." And it was like, yes, that's exactly it. And so you have to want it.

Julieanna Hever:
So if you want it, if those people out there listening want to make a change, they want to transform their health. Because what I was taught in graduate school was not what I expected. I was taught to help mitigate increasing dosing of medications or to try to decrease the progression of a chronic disease. But what I see with my clients and I say results are typical. My clients actually get off medications. They actually reverse their chronic disease. And they lose 0.4 to 0.8 pounds of body fat every single day when they follow my plan. So it's incredible how prescriptive and predictable this really is.

Julieanna Hever:
So if you want it and you know you want it and you have to want it badly enough, then all of the temptations that will come your way, because we're constantly bombarded with food messaging and food that's indulgent and delicious and hyper palatable. And we want it.

Julieanna Hever:
And so you have to want to get to your goals more than you want, you could be empowered to say no to those opportunities.

Julieanna Hever:
The first step is to make a plan. The first step is to know your why, and then make a plan, what are you going to eat? What does it look like? And then again, it always comes back to eating whole plant foods, eating more plants. I don't tell people you have to be vegan. I never would say that. It's about eating more plants and eating more of these foods that are incorporated in the most health promoting nutritious foods out there, vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, mushrooms, nuts, seeds, herbs, and spices in infinite tasty combinations.

Julieanna Hever:
So finding those recipes that you love, I want you to love your food. People are like, "Oh, but I love to eat." Well, yeah, I love to eat too. My whole life was around food. So find recipes you love and swap them in. And then you build your repertoire of delicious nutritious recipes that are on plan that will help you serve your goals. And you have a whole repertoire eventually it just becomes second nature.

Nicole Astra:
And what we eat, those everyday choices make a biological difference.

Joey Thurman:
Yes.

Nicole Astra:
In our bodies. Brightseed is an AI driven data company, uncovering the biological connections between people and plants. Their co-founder and CEO, Sofia Elizondo, sat down with us and says that plant consumption has the power to transform the healthcare system.

Sofia Elizondo:
Healthcare is really designed to treat disease. So in many ways, it's like we have a disease care system, not necessarily a proactive healthcare system.

Sofia Elizondo:
When we think about nutrition and there is knowledge around the essential nutrients that our bodies need or mineral acid or vitamins and minerals. But there is this gap around how can we be our optimal selves? What is it, how can we achieve our full performance or full expression of who we are and can be and the value that we can add to the world. And this is a space of where Brightseed thinks we can add a lot of value.

Sofia Elizondo:
We can look into these bioactive compounds inside of plants, this dark matter. Identify the effects that these compounds have for preventative health, for sure. To avoid chronic diseases in the future, but also to just take it up a notch and keep us focused when we need to be sleeping and resting when we want to, relax and content when it's the time to do that. Food has that impact on us already. We're now bringing the lens to actually identify what is that impact and therefore give us the tools to make those adjustments as needed.

Nicole Astra:
So the impact is not only on the future of food, but is also on the future of medicine.

Sofia Elizondo:
Yeah. And when an inside of Brightseed, we think about it as health. We are an AI driven data company that enables health through identifying these connections between plants and people. And the manifestation of health comes through raw ingredients that we buy at the produce aisle. The packaged food that we buy for our go-to snack. The tonic or extract, and all the way to our daily habits with supplements. We are starting to work with pharma companies as well.

Sofia Elizondo:
I don't know if you knew this, but two thirds of small molecule drugs are actually derived from these bioactive compounds. Drugs, or as common as aspirin, it's derived from the compound in a bark of a Willow tree, or Taxol, a breast cancer drug, is also derived from another tree of a Pacific Yew tree. So nature all around us has these answers.

Sofia Elizondo:
We can help identify what are these starting points that we can develop efficacious therapeutics with them. But it's, I guess my bottom line is health is a spectrum and does go all the way to medicine, but it also starts with this simple whole plant.

Joey Thurman:
Now I wish people really understood how everyday choices impacted their health. In my line of work, I talked to a lot of doctors and every single one of them says, "You need to be having more plants." And when I sat down with Dr. Alexander Paziotopoulos, he diet and specifically plant-based diet is always where he starts.

Nicole Astra:
Even when medication is required, he starts with diet.

Joey Thurman:
Yes, he does.

Dr. Alex Paziotopoulos:
So if I could, I would put everyone on a plant-based diet, and I prescribe it. And it's part of their regimen. I want you to be on a plant-based diet and these are the kind of plant I want you to eat, right? I want you to have microgreens. I want you to have herbs and spices. I want you to rotate them. They have all these different effects on the body. I want you to have enough fiber, right? I want you to have a rainbow diet so that you can get all the different types of compounds that we want from the plants, right? And then of course, we'll do some food sensitivity to you see what you're sensitive to, and we'll do some gut testing to make sure that you're not getting some of the plants that might cause problems.

Joey Thurman:
Right.

Dr. Alex Paziotopoulos:
But we want you to be on plants. And I show them things like the China study and some of the other things like that came out of the Cleveland clinic with heart disease and Dean [inaudible 00:08:14] and the fact that up until today, we don't, we can't reverse coronary artery disease with any other diet than plants. Now, I have theories that, just intermittent fasting will probably start working. But we don't have enough studies on that yet.

Joey Thurman:
Right.

Dr. Alex Paziotopoulos:
Right? But we do know that plants work for that.

Joey Thurman:
So right now you're a primary prescription is plants?

Dr. Alex Paziotopoulos:
Is plants.

Nicole Astra:
So that's what's so exciting about the food revolution that we're in, plant-based products have come a long way. Consumers want it, they understand what it's doing for their bodies. I stopped eating meat in the nineties.

Joey Thurman:
[inaudible 00:08:48].

Nicole Astra:
Don't do the math. And the options were so slim. It was expensive. The things, the meat substitutes didn't taste good. It was terrible.

Joey Thurman:
Yeah. I remember having my first plant-based protein powder and it tasted like dirt. It was disgusting. Now it tastes like a chocolate milkshake.

Nicole Astra:
Yeah. We've come a long way baby.

Joey Thurman:
Healthy eating is really important. And as Nicole said, it came a long way. So people want to eat sustainably. And consumer trends are more focus on what is on their plate and where it comes from.

Nicole Astra:
It's not every day you find a protein, a plant protein show in a steakhouse. But we had a delicious experience at Stolp Island Social, where we both found something on the menu.

Amy Morton:
Food is important to all of us, we need it. And it's the number one form of entertainment today. And I just personally know that I feel better when I eat certain things. I also consider myself a flexitarian.

Nicole Astra:
Great.

Amy Morton:
So there's nothing I don't eat. And yet I really do feel much, much better when I eat vegetables.

Nicole Astra:
Right.

Amy Morton:
And so I try really, really hard in all of my restaurants to offer a really great range of things. Because whether someone comes in just once and there's certain things they can or cannot eat, or whether they want to come in and/or are regular guests, there's always an option for them.

Amy Morton:
We actually call ourselves a steakhouse in seasonal kitchen.

Nicole Astra:
Yes.

Amy Morton:
I do have a more full on steakhouse located in Evanston, and also a farm to table restaurant in Evanston.

Nicole Astra:
Beautiful.

Amy Morton:
And each one of those menus has its own kind of formula for the amount of options, how I want to create the percentages for protein, vegan, vegetarian. And a lot of it really stemmed from sustainability.

Amy Morton:
And that we have an opportunity to also get our food from people, whether it's animal or plant based protein. Delivered by the farmers themselves. And that's another huge reason we choose the items we do on our menu. And again, whether they're protein or not, animal or not, because it tastes better when they come from an hour away.

Nicole Astra:
And the truth is that consumers want this, or you wouldn't be working on that formula to keep your menu diverse.

Joey Thurman:
Now, Amy demonstrates everything we said here today. Our bodies thrive by getting a wide variety of nutrients and having options at restaurants for meat lovers, flexitarians, vegans, and everyone between. It proves that consumers are needing and wanting options. The Morton family is giving you the power of choice from greens to prime cuts of meat.

Nicole Astra:
Yeah, truly something for everyone. But more importantly, Joey, where are we going for lunch?

Joey Thurman:
Oh, are you paying?

Nicole Astra:
Well, it is your birthday.

Joey Thurman:
It is my birthday. Happy birthday to me, is that a thing?

Nicole Astra:
I'm not sure that our audience here knows, but Joey and I also host Talking Cities in Illinois, second largest city, Aurora. So if you want his happy birthday song, that's not very good. You're going to have to head over to Talking Cities. For now, I'd like you to join me though in wishing Joey happy birthday by making a birthday wish because what birthday is complete without a birthday wish?

Joey Thurman:
Wait, do I have to say it out loud?

Nicole Astra:
Of course not.

Joey Thurman:
Is this a plant based cupcake?

Nicole Astra:
First the hat.

Joey Thurman:
Oh.

Nicole Astra:
Has to be done.

Joey Thurman:
Okay. I got to get with my-

Nicole Astra:
Please, no song, but make a wish.

Joey Thurman:
All right, I have my wish. I'm here with wonderful people.

Nicole Astra:
So nice.

Joey Thurman:
That's good. Right? Charm will get you everywhere. All right, I made my wish.

Nicole Astra:
All right. Wonderful.

Joey Thurman:
Thank you very much. I appreciate all of you. I'm Joey Thurman.

Nicole Astra:
And I'm Nicole Astra. We'll see you next time on Talking Plant Protein.