Switch4Good

If you died tomorrow, what adventure would you regret not taking?   As the host of The Amazing Race, a bungee jump world-record-holder, and a cyclist who has ridden across the US for charity, Phil Keoghan walks the walk of his philosophy: "Tick it before you kick it."   When Phil isn't interviewing guests like Dotsie on his podcast BUCKiT , he's crossing experiences off his own list, including din...

Jasmin Singer, author of the memoir Always Too Much and Never Enough , was vegan long before she was thin.   She struggled for thirty years with her weight and, more importantly, a destructive relationship with food.   Even after dedicating herself professionally and personally to compassion for animals, she was still missing compassion for herself.   She says it was only after she turned her obje...

Few illnesses are met with as many misconceptions as eating disorders.   They're often over-simplified with one four-letter word: just .   Just eat a cheeseburger. She's just doing it to lose weight.   Dr. Ron Thompson is a psychologist who specializes in the treatment of eating disorders, and he joins Dotsie and Alexandra in this episode to explain that it really isn't that simple.   Dr. Thompson...

Is your diet keeping you sick?   Dr. James Loomis is a whole-foods plant-based internal medical practitioner spreading the message that food is the best way to combat illness and disease.   After experiencing a decline in his own health, Dr. Loomis made the switch and saw miraculous results: a significant drop in weight, cholesterol, and blood pressure in under three months.   He says that most pr...

Traditional medicine often prioritizes symptom-relief over addressing the underlying cause of illness.   But if we look beyond symptoms and approach our wellness holistically, can our bodies begin to provide their own relief?   Naturopathic medicine challenges the traditional standard by working on whole-patient wellness and concentrating on the treatment and prevention of disease by understanding...

We know that eating plant-based is great for our bodies and the environment, but what about eating fruit -based?   Can we really thrive on a raw food diet consisting mainly of fruits?   TJ Long is a certified personal trainer, health coach, and fruitarian who says that a diet of living plants is optimal for gut health.   After a long journey through addiction to substances and unhealthy food, TJ f...

How would our health outcomes change if we were proactive in treating illness and disease?   Is changing your diet an effective way to reverse chronic conditions?   Dr. Neal Barnard is a physician, clinical researcher, and advocate for preventative medicine.   As the founder of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and author of more than twenty books, Dr. Barnard is a leading voice in...

When meat is considered to be an integral part of athleticism and masculinity, how can you convince a team of football players that a plant-based diet is best for their health and performance?   Chef Charity Morgan holds a culinary degree from Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts and is leveraging her artistry in the kitchen to feed dozens of NFL players plant-based, nutrient-rich meals every d...

Activism is often marked by speaking up for the voiceless, and that starts by bearing witness to suffering.   These are two of the cornerstones of Jane Velez-Mitchell's mission with Jane UnChained, a digital news network dedicated to reporting on animal rights, climate change, food justice, and living cruelty-free.   Jane is a former news anchor, two-time Emmy winner, and four-time author with two...

Society has perpetuated the idea that masculinity is connected to animal consumption and preying on the weak.   Luckily, there are men like Dominick Thompson actively challenging that belief.   After going to prison more than seventeen years ago, Dominick had an epiphany about what it means to cause harm in the world.   He is now a social entrepreneur and activist with an online wellness program,...

How does compassion play a role in ecological conservation?   In what way does our treatment of animals impact the way we treat ourselves and the planet?   Marc Bekoff is an animal behaviorist who argues that turning away from human exceptionalism and theoretical prejudices are the keys to expanding our compassionate footprint and making our conservation efforts more effective.   As the author of...

Not many people can say they've played the flute for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show , worked as an executive pastry chef, and been vegan for more than 40 years.   Chef AJ, a culinary instructor, YouTube host, and author of Unprocessed and The Secrets to Ultimate Weight Loss , can say all of that and more.   Although she has a background in comedy and a long track record of ethical eating, there...

Despite the growing acceptance of plant-based nutrition in the mainstream, there are still major disparities in health , food access , and nutrition education for certain demographics.   Thirty-year vegan, best-selling author, and public health nutritionist Tracye Lynn McQuirter has spent decades teaching people how to be vegan for life while advocating specifically for African American women and...

Our diets are forever evolving and never perfect, but if we allow ourselves to have compassion and understand the journey, we can get to a healthier place.   Nik Tyler lives this philosophy daily.   He's an actor, vegan, and the Celebrity Relations Manager for Mercy for Animals, the leading farm animal protection non-profit organization.   Nik was raised as a vegetarian, taught to honor the Jainis...

How can a vegan lifestyle help heal your mind, body, and spirit? Before becoming a personal trainer certified in plant-based nutrition, Bianca Taylor started her fitness journey as a bikini bodybuilder.   Searching for purpose and a sense of control, she instead found herself dealing with depression and a broken relationship with food.   One small realization started an avalanche of change.   Bian...

When you hear about the rapid decline of our resources, coupled with the growth of our human population, do you wonder what you can do to help save the planet?   Matthew Prescott, author of Food is the Solution: What to Eat to Save the World , joins us to talk about a very convenient truth: the world can be saved with every bite.   As the Senior Director of Food and Agriculture of the Humane Socie...

You've heard all the myths surrounding plant-based diets: it's not sustainable as an athlete, or easy when you travel, or fun if you're a foodie.   Robbie Balenger is about to bust all of those myths in one 3,000-mile run across the United States.   Robbie first laced up his shoes six years ago to alleviate his stress as a restaurant manager. Since then, his career and running paths have coalesced...

What are we really ingesting when we drink cows' milk? What are mothers passing through their bodies to their children? What in the world is a dairy allergy ?   Dr. Vivian Chen dives into the dangers of dairy and her story of transitioning to a plant-based diet after a battle to diagnose the root of her infant's feeding problem.   As a double-certified physician, Dr. Chen has seen a host of improv...

Everyone experiences the occasional food craving, but for some, certain foods become a true addiction .   Why are some people wired to crave certain types of food so intensely, and how can we break free of it?  Dr. Susan Peirce Thompson, founder of Bright Line Eating , answers these questions and explains her strategies for managing food addiction and achieving sustainable weight loss.   We are fa...

What actually is diabetes ? How is it caused?   What's the difference between type 1 and type 2 , and is sugar or fat to blame? Robby Barbaro and Cyrus Khambatta answer these questions and more during our chat today.   Both were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and manage it with a low fat, whole food, plant-based diet .   They've teamed up to create Mastering Diabetes , a coaching program to help o...

Giacomo Marchese is a successful natural bodybuilder and coach, but he wasn't always the epitome of perfect health.   After discovering the sport of bodybuilding at a young age, Giacomo became severely anorexic , forcing him to step away from competitions for several years.   After overcoming his eating disorder and harnessing a healthier mindset around food and exercise, Giacomo eventually made h...

Actress. Photographer. Ballerina. Influencer . Agnes Muljadi has an impressive resume with an even more impressive Instagram following—530K.   But she's not after followers. She's interested in ethics and serving as a positive role model for young girls.   We dive into a number of wide-ranging topics in this episode, from her overnight transition to veganism after a health scare to using her socia...

Bill Muir, also known as SGT. Vegan, doesn't make excuses.   A vegan since 1992, Bill has traveled to 47 countries, served in the army, and was deployed to Afghanistan, all without breaking his commitment to his cruelty-free diet . Bill completed the brutal basic training on a plant-based diet and went on to become a medic and paratrooper , never wavering from his mission to help others.     He no...

You might know her as Dr. Temperance " Bones " Brennan on the smash television hit, "Bones," but today, Emily Deschanel is just playing her cool, laid back self as a mom, friend, and vegan.   Learn what goes on behind the scenes of a film set as Alexandra and Emily discuss their experiences as vegan actresses and where they found red carpet-ready and vegan-friendly fashion.   Emily also talks at l...

Keep your bulk but drop the dairy. Vegan bodybuilder and influencer Brian Turner don't suffer any loss of gains since switching to a plant-based diet .   He attracted social media following after documenting his horrific acne experience as a teen on YouTube.   After intense Accutane treatment that ultimately failed, Brian cured himself of his chronic skin condition by ditching dairy, and eventuall...