PLANTSTRONG Podcast

Rip welcomes back our cancer-crushing warrior, Dr. Kristi Funk, for her third appearance on the PLANTSTRONG Podcast   Dr. Funk is a board-certified breast cancer surgeon & physician, bestselling author of the book, Breasts - the Owner’s Manual , and women's health advocate. Simply put, she is an encyclopedia of knowledge and a dynamo personality, which is why she’s the perfect expert to dig into t...

Dr. Dawn Mussallem is a board-certified Lifestyle Medicine Physician at the Mayo Clinic Jacoby Center for Breast Health where she works with breast cancer patients during and after their diagnosis to heal and thrive using the pillars of lifestyle medicine alongside their conventional cancer treatments.  Dawn has many remarkable stories of patient recovery, but the biggest recovery story of all is...

This week in the United States, we’re celebrating Thanksgiving, which is why we decided to drop this BONUS “Friendsgiving”- themed episode featuring my Mother, Ann, and my sister, Jane.  This recording was taken from a LIVE event we did a few weeks ago where Jane and Ann whipped up two wonderful holiday-themed dishes - Mommy’s Mushroom Gravy and Twice-Baked Stuffed Sweet Potatoes.  Yes, you can ab...

Hellah Sidibe is the first black man to run across America (fueled by plants!) and has been running every day since May 15th, 2017. That’s officially over 2000 days in a row in every weather condition imaginable! This year, he also completed the iconic Leadville 100 Trail Race in Colorado.  And, it all started with a commitment to run just 10 minutes a day.  Like many, Hellah hated running but sta...

A few weeks ago, we hosted a Facebook live event with Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn to discuss the importance of green leafy vegetables in preventing and reversing heart disease. 
During the broadcast, Essy shared the science behind chewing vs. drinking your leafy greens and he also spent time answering viewer questions. It was packed with so much information and action, that we’ve decided to share th...

Are you on meds for acid reflux and indigestion? Do you take antibiotics or birth control? Do you enjoy artificial sweeteners in your coffee? Do you drink alcohol on a regular basis? These are all ubiquitous substances in our society at this point, but they are also posing a threat to our immune system. Multiple studies show that antibiotics, medicines, and substances like alcohol and sweeteners a...

It has been said that necessity is the mother of invention and Debbie Adler epitomizes that phrase. In 2006, she opened Sweet Debbie’s Organic Cupcakes bakery, the first to feature vegan and sugar-free treats.  However, a year later her son was born with many life-threatening allergies, forcing her to take an even deeper dive into nutrition and food-related illnesses. Because of her son's needs, s...

As busy families, it’s easy to catch yourself coming and going, shoveling back quick meals without even thinking, and prioritizing convenience over health, especially when you’re constantly pressed for time.  You know you’re supposed to incorporate healthier eating habits for your whole family, but HOW? Enter board-certified pediatrician, certified lifestyle medicine physician, health coach, and m...

We’re thrilled to bring you the gravity-defying, jaw-dropping, artistic calisthenic work of Raymond, “The Noodnick.”  His strength, grace, and skill of his movements shouldn’t come as a surprise because Raymond is PLANTSTRONG, baby!  In fact, his Mom and Uncle were the original founders of the Nasoya Tofu brand that you see today in grocery stores.  Raymond has fascinating stories and philosophies...

Today, we share a modern-day story of David and Goliath with Dr. Baxter Montgomery.  In 1997, Dr. Montgomery opened Montgomery Heart and Wellness in Houston , Texas right in the shadows of the powerful and world-renowned campus of the Texas Medical Center, the world’s largest medical center.    As a board-certified cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist, Dr. Montgomery has treated thousands...

We are "fired up" to welcome a plantstrong firefighting sister, Cindy Thompson, to the PLANTSTRONG podcast.  I was so moved by Cindy’s background of why she chose firefighting as a career, but it’s her journey to plants that makes her a true hero in my book. In this male-dominated, meat-loving profession, she boldly took agency over her own health and, along the way, inspired others (including tho...

We’re going to introduce you to a word today that may be new but is something many of us unknowingly participate in on a daily basis. That word is “carnism.” Melanie Joy coined the word in her work as a Harvard-educated psychologist and author specializing in the psychology of eating animals, social transformation, and relationships. What exactly is carnism? It’s the Invisible belief system in our...

Imagine being in the absolute prime of your life - 21 years old, going to school at Stanford to study Mechanical Engineering, playing sports for hours on end…and then, ABRUPTLY, it comes to a screeching halt when you are diagnosed with not one, not two, but three autoimmune diseases within a matter of months. Today’s guest, Cyrus Khambatta, went from “soccer stud” to “chronic disease patient” in t...

You know how my Mom and Sister just released their new book, Be a Plant-Based Woman Warrior? Well, Jennifer Stojkovic is one of those warriors.  In 2020, she founded Vegan Women Summit (VWS), a global media and events platform focused on empowering women to build a kinder, more sustainable world. She also recently released the fabulous book, The Future of Food is Female , highlighting fifteen fema...

We’re here to make PLANTSTRONG living as simple as possible and one of the topics we receive a ton of questions about is batch cooking, or prepping food for the week all at once.  Well, as the kids head back to school and we enter into Fall activities season, I wanted to talk to one of the experts about her game-changer appliance in batch cooking - the Instant Pot®.  Pam Kropf, known as TrailMomma...

It’s time to live fierce, stay bold, and eat deliciously with my Mom, Ann, and sister, Jane Esselstyn!  That’s right, we’re celebrating the release of their new book, Be a Plant-Based Woman Warrior , which is out and available now. It’s always a party with these two and I’m fortunate to have had the opportunity to be with them in person just a few weeks ago when we were all together at the Esselst...

Ocean Robbins, was born a changemaker. Recently, his Dad John Robbins (author of Diet for a New America and other great books) was on the podcast, and the response from that episode was overwhelming. Many of you wrote in to say just how moved you were by John’s authenticity and his willingness to walk away from the Baskin Robbins fortune to forge his own “rocky road” of happiness without the strap...

Dr. Dawn Mussallem is a board-certified Lifestyle Medicine Physician at the Mayo Clinic Jacoby Center for Breast Health where she works with breast cancer patients during and after their diagnosis to heal and thrive using the pillars of lifestyle medicine alongside their conventional cancer treatments. Dawn has many remarkable stories of patient recovery, but the biggest recovery story of all is h...

Imagine a world where we can all come together to heal…heal ourselves, heal each other, and heal the planet. I know, it sounds virtually impossible, but it isn’t, and that time is now with the leadership of Sailesh Rao, founder of Climate Healers . Sailesh Rao is one of the most intelligent, compassionate, and passionate people on the planet.  Dr. Rao is actually one of the brains behind the high-...

We are thrilled to welcome Jessica Hegarty back to PLANTSTRONG Snackables after her maternity leave. In addition to being a new Mom to her beautiful daughter, Ellie, Jessica leads product innovation for the PLANTSTRONG food line, so she always has the latest trends, food ideas, and tasty tidbits right on the tip of her tongue! Today, Rip and Jess talk all things asparagus. They dish on this veggie...

We’ve all heard the phrase, “You can’t change others. You can only change yourself.” It’s really frustrating when the people we care about are behaving in self-defeating ways (especially with their health and well-being), and when we try to talk to them about it, we just make things worse. Our guest today, Howie Jacobson, is here to tell you, you CAN change people - not by force, shame, or guilt -...

Feeling stressed in the kitchen? Not sure how to prepare healthy meals while still keeping them delicious and flavor-filled? Have no fear! This week, we're sending you an SOS-Free lifeline in the form of Cathy Fisher, culinary instructor at True North Health, the McDougall Program, and author of the book and blog,  Straight Up Food . SOS-Free cooking means preparing meals without added salt, oil,...

Dr. John McDougall was drawn to medicine because of his own health “fate.” At 18, he suffered a massive stroke and was an anomaly to the doctors in Michigan who wanted to explore “why” and “how” this could happen to someone so young. This health scare inspired his own journey to become a doctor, which eventually led McDougall and his wife, Mary, to Hawaii to practice medicine on a sugar plantation...

Paul Young is a hero. He's a husband, father of three, and has been a firefighter in Southern California for 17 years. He LOVES his life and his job. Imagine his surprise when he had his annual firefighting physical and received results that frightened him: 243 total cholesterol, 173 LDL, and a heart calcium score of 104, which put him in the 90th percentile in his age for a cardiac event. As Paul...

After practicing medicine for several years and raising two children who were officially off to college, Dr. Melissa Sundermann decided it was time to pursue her own passions and expand her knowledge and scope of practice.  While she loved being an internal medicine physician in Ann Arbor, Michigan, she wasn’t fulfilled by the revolving door aspect of the system - quick appointments, multiple pati...