No-Bullsh!t Vegan

Nadia lives 10 hours away from the nearest city, in the middle of the Outback. She orders her groceries a week in advance, which get delivered by truck. There are no commercial gyms in her town. Her unique situation won't be shared by a lot of our listeners, but this episode illustrates the "where there's a will, there's a way" concept - both for veganism and for strength training. Nadia has made...

In a discussion with one of our episode 27 guests, an unvaccinated baby was mentioned. It wasn't the main topic of conversation, and it wasn't the guest's own child, but this topic is too important to ignore. I put together a short bonus episode addressing some of the most common myths about the risks of vaccination. Choosing to not vaccinate your children is putting their lives at risk. It's as s...

Jeffrey discusses why a vegan lifestyle is imperative for all Jews and Christians, the Dominion verse in the Bible, and how he's personally benefitted from a vegan lifestyle. Maria discusses her experience with her family (her partner is a "big meat eater"), how her nurse and doctor colleagues respond to her veganism (spoiler alert: it's not always positive), and how she incorporates preventative...

Professional hockey player Shiann Darkangelo joins us today. Shi played college hockey at Quinnipiac University, and has played professionally for the last 3 years. She's been on the US National team program for 4 years, and recently played for a professional team in Shenzhen China after getting cut from this past Olympic team. While she was in China, she got certified in plant-based nutrition thr...

For the month of September, we're featuring interviews with amazing listeners of this show. In this episode: Tiffany shares her incredible story of weight loss (70 pounds!) while in school and on a tight budget, as well as tips for being vegan as a busy student and in social situations. Erynn discusses using her art to talk about animal rights and welfare, interacting with clients/fans (some of wh...

Mike Howard is on the show to talk busting BS in the fitness & diet industry (including keto, paleo, the myth that "calories don't matter", and more). We also discuss how you can tell whether a certain fitness or nutrition claim is bullshit. Some gems from Mike: "If we're not pissing off the extremists to some degree, we're not properly doing our job." "If they claim that it's fast, that it's real...

Izzy Pope-Moore (a real-life vegan superhero) joins us to share her story of veganism, strength training, and kicking major obstacles squarely in the ass. She went through a serious abdominal surgery that involved 9 incisions, and shares her no-bullshit, no-excuses approach to recovery. She'll also share with you how she addresses the unfortunately still-present myth that vegans are unhealthy and...

Thanks to some excellent questions from our awesome listeners, I'm covering losing weight on a vegan diet, pre- and post-workout supplements, what I think about vegan keto (spoiler alert: it's bullshit), plant-based protein powder options, quirky habits I have (thanks to my friend Holly for submitting a question that gets me talking about my weirdness on the show...), creatine for non-lifters, pla...

Rachel King is here to talk about being vegan in a *very* un-vegan part of the world, how she navigates family events where nobody else is vegan, her past personal experience as a "professional dieter", and her current experience strength training while on a vegan diet. I brought Rachel on the show today because she exemplifies the no-bullshit vegan lifestyle. Seriously, if she can be vegan in the...

Competitive strength athlete Matt Terry is here to share his incredible story of veganism for the first time. We also discuss veganism as it relates to strength sports and building muscle, protein, supplementation, and more. Matt hasn't yet shared his story and wanted a vegan platform to tell it. I'm honoured to have him on the show to share his story of overnight veganism - stemming from health i...

The idea that it's always a bad thing to compare ourselves to others is BS. Comparing yourself to others can be extremely useful, if you challenge yourself to think like a scientist. We're going to use the critical thinking skills used by scientists to conduct literature reviews, and apply them to comparing ourselves to others - especially when we're doing so to set fitness & physique goals. I sug...

Emma Green is a PhD candidate at the University of East London, with a Masters degree in health psychology. She's also a qualified personal trainer. Emma is vegan herself, but today we're discussing topics that aren't exclusive to veganism. Given her health psychology background, we're talking about why motivation is overrated, the value of building habits, myths about willpower, how cognitive bia...

Dr. Scott Lear has been a leading scientist in preventing heart disease for over 20 years. He's a professor in Health Sciences at SFU, and he conducts research into how lifestyle can prevent and manage heart disease. He has heart disease himself, and blogs at drscottlear.com. We discuss 3 myths he encounters in his work: Myth #1: Stress causes heart attacks/heart disease. Myth #2: Dietary choleste...

Daniel Austin (The Vegan Meathead) is a 13-year vegan, powerlifting competitor, and member of the international vegan athletic team PlantBuilt. We discuss 5 points: There's no evidence that overcompensating protein consumption on a vegan diet is harmful, the benefits of eating more fat calories, supplementation is necessary for anyone who subjects their body to a lot of stress, tips for adopting a...

Dawn Joseph is a Certified Online Trainer who has been in the industry for over 20 years. She works with women in their 30's & 40's who want to be strong and energetic, role models for their kids, and also want to avoid their pelvic floors falling out of their bodies in the next few years! Online training is a new concept, so it makes sense that people don't know much about it, and perhaps have mi...

I'm doing something a bit different, and answering 25 questions from listeners. We've got incredibly wide-ranging questions about veganism, health, fitness, and nutrition. I didn't do any prep, so you get whatever pops into my brain. I discuss foam rolling, supplements for vegan strength training, organic foods, coffee, cooked vs. raw foods, keto, vegan party recipes, travelling as a vegan, weight...

We discuss some extremely important concepts within the vegan movement: the idea of veganism as an echo chamber and "in-group" and why this is a problem, the types of activism that have been shown to work (or backfire), the importance of being critical within a movement, diversity and inclusivity within veganism, and much more. Daniela is the founder of the Social Change Makers Society, which prov...

Renowned vegan dietician Vesanto Melina discusses mistakes vegans make with their diets, why exactly vitamin B12 is important and what it does in our bodies, and the importance of including legumes in your diet (she even puts me on the spot and asks me a pop quiz question!) Vesanto is the lead author of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics' position paper on vegetarian and vegan diets. We discus...

Dr. Melissa Reilly is here to once and for all bust one of the most pervasive myths within veganism: the myth that soy is bad. That it causes man boobs in males. That it causes cancer. That it causes infertility or messes with our hormones. Find out why it has such a bad rap, what the research *really* says about soy, and the difference between phytoestrogens and estrogens (hint: they're very diff...

Jackson and Aaron from Thought For Food Lifestyle are here to talk about why there's so much pseudoscience within veganism, and how we can all work toward bringing back sanity to the movement. We also discuss how Jackson and Aaron fuel their respective athletic training on 100% plant-based diets, why fiber is the most underrated nutrient of all time, and the concept of the preponderance of evidenc...

Sharon Palmer is on the show to bust 3 myths: vegans don't need to supplement B12, vegans don't have to worry about calcium, and the concept that there's no point going vegan because most people don't *stay* vegan. Important points: How to make sure you're getting enough B12 and calcium. Research that's been done on vegans and calcium intake. From a dietician's perspective, the specific ins and ou...

Badass fitness coach Margs O'Farrell joins us to talk about how to "eat like you give a f*ck - not just about your ethical values, but also about your health!" In doing so, Margs is busting 5 myths about veganism for us. Myth #1: Veganism is inaccessible. (Put another way, veganism is "an elite diet for rich hippies who just eat dates and bananas".) Myth #2: Science should not be trusted unless it...

Whether you're currently raising vegan children, whether you want to make the transition to veganism as a family, whether you're interested in raising vegan children in the future, or whether - like me - you're just interested in the research - I'm sure the knowledge and practical tips in this episode will be useful for you. Join us for 4 myths about vegan nutrition for kids, discussed by a world...

Dave Smith, chosen as Canada's Top Fitness Professional, is on the show to discuss a very pervasive fitness myth: higher intensity training means better results. Learn why this isn't necessarily the case! Also learn why high-intensity interval training (or too much of it) isn't for everyone, and discover the pros and cons of low- versus high-intensity training. Dave shares suggestions for what you...

The myths we bust in episode 4: 1. A variety of myths surrounding veganism and protein. 2. Why (and when) eating a 100% whole foods diet might not be the best option for your health and athletic training. The myths we bust in episode 5: 3. The concept of moderation - applied to healthy foods! 4. High carb diets - the good, the bad, the ugly. 5. Why the typical bodybuilder training 'split' routine...