Discover Paul Chatlin's inspiring journey from heart disease survivor to plant-based nutrition advocate in our latest 'Plant Based on Fire' podcast episode. Learn how he's transforming health and building communities with the Plant-Based Nutrition Support Group.
Overcoming Heart Disease with Plant-Based Nutrition
Paul Chatlin's journey into plant-based living began with his personal battle against heart disease. After experiencing severe side effects from cholesterol medications, Paul turned to the Cleveland Clinic, where he embraced a whole-food, plant-based diet. This lifestyle shift not only improved his health but also ignited his passion for plant-based advocacy.
Building a Plant-Based Community: The Plant-Based Nutrition Support Group
Determined to spread awareness, Paul founded the Plant-Based Nutrition Support Group. This platform serves as a beacon for those seeking guidance on plant-based diets, offering educational resources, community support, and events focused on plant-based health and nutrition.
Empowering Plant-Based Entrepreneurs: Insights from Paul Chatlin
For aspiring plant-based entrepreneurs, Paul emphasizes collaboration, education, and community engagement. He shares valuable insights on creating impactful plant-based initiatives, highlighting the significance of networking and resource sharing in the plant-based business landscape.
The Future of Plant-Based Living: A Unified Vision
Paul's vision extends beyond individual health. He is actively working towards creating an alliance that unifies various plant-based initiatives. This collaborative effort aims to foster a healthier, more sustainable world, addressing environmental concerns alongside nutritional health.
>Podcast episode’s transcription:
Bryan (00:03.19)
Hello everyone and welcome to Plant Based on Fire, where we talk about plant based businesses and their inspiring stories to thrive in industry. I am your host Brian and joining us today is Paul. Paul is a heart disease survivor from Detroit who founded the Plant Based Nutrition Support Group after a transformative journey to health through plant based nutrition.
He has, I believe, over 8,700 members in the Plant-Based Nutrition Support Group and promotes a nutrition-first approach to medical students, corporate audiences, and just bottom line prioritizing a wellbeing and productivity through the whole food plant-based practices. So welcome, Paul, to the show. How did I do on your intro?
paul chatlin (00:51.646)
You did a little bit above average. You know, that's not bad, not bad.
Bryan (00:54.434)
Good, good. Any highlights that you want to hit for me that I missed?
paul chatlin (01:01.96)
I would say we got about 150,000 social media followers, 21,000 people on YouTube. Our membership is close to 300, and our email list is about 14,500. So that kind of shows the kind of following that we have across the country.
Bryan (01:06.205)
Woohoo!
Bryan (01:19.506)
Absolutely. I think even across the world to a degree too. I fear you were just talking with a few people in Australia last week and stuff. So I want to unpack like the journey, like everybody who has a plant based business doesn't say, Oh, I'm going to make millions of dollars by going to this plant based business idea. But like everybody has this story of how they're, they've changed their lives and they're shifting towards this kind of a lifestyle. So what was kind of your journey that brought about the plant based nutrition support group?
paul chatlin (01:22.64)
Well...
paul chatlin (01:49.342)
Well, thank you for asking. And you know, it's funny, my journey started when I was like a 10, 11 year old, because in my family, it was about my dad and his three brothers. And during a three and a half, four year period, three out of four had to have bypass surgery and unfortunately, two of them died on the table. One of them went to a mental institute after.
Bryan (01:55.799)
Mm-hmm.
paul chatlin (02:13.366)
And it was X amount of years later, my dad had quadriple bypass, and it was the only time I could remember seeing him cry my whole life. So it changed the dynamic of my family. And then, you know, I could kind of like fast forward, you know, I was a workoutaholic, and I'm gonna bring this into play real early and quick. I'm gonna show you what I used to look like. Let's see, here we go.
Bryan (02:36.898)
There it is. Wow.
paul chatlin (02:39.39)
Okay, so that was me. So what was me was 235 pounds as a power lifter. I would be athletic. I'd be running doing all these kind of things. And I know my theory was simply I'm just going to keep working out and that will offset the gluttony of food I was putting in me because you know my family's life, my life was built around food.
Bryan (02:58.935)
Yeah.
paul chatlin (02:59.506)
So as I hit my late 20s, cholesterol started climbing and climbing went to the doctor, get the physical. And I think it was in the like 300s. And my doctor at that point, and think about it, it's 30 years ago, would say, well, just eat skim this, skim that. And then, you know, I could put you on Zocor. That was my first medication. I'm like, okay, you know, trust my doctor, right? Trust your doctor. Unfortunately, about two months into it, I got the side effects, literally could not walk.
Bryan (03:23.702)
Yeah.
Bryan (03:29.079)
Mm.
paul chatlin (03:29.82)
you're getting the muscle enzyme side effects, get off it. Two days later, I was okay. Then he put me on Lipitor. Remember back then there were three choices, Zocor and Lipitor. Seven months later, side effects. Then he put me on Provistatin. Provistatin is the lightest of all the cholesterol medications he gave me the max amount and got my baseline down to about 280. He looked at me and said, well, I think we can manage it at 280. Okay, so again, not having any idea what nutrition was
Bryan (03:37.354)
Yeah.
paul chatlin (03:59.3)
about plant-based nutrition at that point. I continued my life until I hit 54 years old and I woke up one day and literally, you know how they say it's like an elephant on your chest. So true. I wake up and I'm like, whoa, something is really wrong. I would just lay in bed for a little bit of time and go away. So I conducted my life. And then it would maybe crop up at night a little bit. And again, not saying I'm the smartest person in the world, but I kept quiet.
Bryan (04:09.966)
Mm-hmm. Ugh.
Bryan (04:25.186)
Hehehehe.
paul chatlin (04:26.782)
And as long as I could function during the day, I could put up with some pain and suffering in the morning and at night, really not knowing what's going on. Finally,
Bryan (04:32.494)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
paul chatlin (04:35.386)
I was at a meeting one day about two months, three months into this angina journey and I had to leave the room. I was sweating. I was just and I said that's it. I went to my doctor's. Again, I was all by myself at this point. I wanted to see what he thought. He did a series of tests and got me immediately over to a cardiologist locally. And they did all the batteries of tests up to a heart catheter and a heart biopsy.
So, but the doctor, the cardiologist said, well, I've been practicing for like 30 years and I'm sorry to tell you, but you're gonna probably need either, you ready for this? A immediate bypass surgery or a heart transplant.
Bryan (05:11.607)
Oof.
paul chatlin (05:11.902)
I'm like, whoa, he says, but let's schedule the heart catheter. So I scheduled like it was like a week or so later. On the way home, I said, you know, I've just got to tell my wife, I am one of the lucky ones. I've been married for 25 years. And she's my best friend and I'm deeply in love with her. Have been for 25 straight years. Never lost a day. And I had to take her out of her office, go into a conference room. I'd share everything I told her. I told her I just didn't want her to worry about it. She kind of like, what are you doing? Not telling me, right?
Bryan (05:24.61)
Mm-hmm.
Bryan (05:29.254)
Mm-hmm.
Bryan (05:39.498)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
paul chatlin (05:40.534)
but the tears were flowing out of her, her boss walks in, she's got to explain it to him. And they, you know, she'd been working there for 20, 30 years. And he said, hold on for a second. And my, I started getting these crazy miracles. The first miracle was he, in about an hour, he says, Hey, I got you into the Cleveland Clinic. And it turned out to be the day before I was supposed to go to the local hospital to have a heart catheter. I, you know, heart, you know, the Cleveland Clinic, the heart hospital. So I'm like, we're going there. So I get to the Cleveland Clinic.
Bryan (06:03.53)
Mm-hmm.
Bryan (06:06.912)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
paul chatlin (06:10.814)
And you know they have hundreds of cardiologists there and I got assigned a doctor and I always kind of share this with everybody. I take a quick pause as I turn around. I read this to you because this is you know they kind of look at what you have what your issues are and then sign you to a doctor. My doctor his title was director heart failure intensive care unit section of heart failure and cardiac transplant medicine. So this guy was serious you know.
Bryan (06:21.646)
Mm-hmm.
Bryan (06:27.979)
Mm-hmm.
Bryan (06:35.659)
Phew. Yeah.
paul chatlin (06:38.402)
So, you know, he had me go through all the tests. For since this is a real man show, I can say to you, I had a moment of true clarity and where I lost my humility because I've always been a guy's guy, you know, like and that moment was, you know, when they prep you for heart catheter.
Bryan (06:45.183)
Yeah, please.
Bryan (06:54.103)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
paul chatlin (06:58.978)
They have to prep you to get the catheter either in your wrist or in your groin. They're not sure. You know, the wrist is the way to go. Recovery is much quicker, half the time. But if it doesn't take in the wrist, they do it through the groin. That's kind of the old way they do it.
Bryan (07:04.11)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Bryan (07:12.404)
Yeah.
paul chatlin (07:12.858)
What happens is you go into a room and they put you on a demerol drip so you're kind of loopy but not totally out of it. And then when they're ready to do it, like four nurses come in and shave you top to bottom. And I remember sitting there like, like I just got shaved. I was kind of loopy. I'm taking like a look at myself shaved. I'm like, oh, that's funny. Well, I mean, that was actually, so I'm like, wow, four strangers just shaved me. I got no humility left. That was my moment.
Bryan (07:28.023)
Yeah.
Bryan (07:33.931)
Yeah.
Bryan (07:39.817)
Right, yeah.
paul chatlin (07:40.91)
So now I go into heart catheter and I could hear him, you know saying yes, yes Yes, like, you know, he comes down he goes well, you don't need a heart transplant, but you need surgery right away You have a hundred percent block and you're right artery 70% in a few other ones So I'm all prepped up. I'm being wheeled in right at the doorstep. He looks at me says hey
I've only offered this to one other person in 20 years, but would you consider a lifestyle change instead of doing surgery? And I'm like, yes. You know, I didn't know what a lifestyle change was. I just knew I didn't want the surgery. Think of my dad, think of my uncles. So he says, hold on. He picks up his cell phone, he dials a couple of digits. On the other end, it turns out his mentor was Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn. He hands me the phone. He's like, hey, Dr. Esselstyn, remember.
Bryan (08:13.578)
Yeah.
Bryan (08:24.952)
Oh my gosh.
paul chatlin (08:29.622)
Never been to the Cleveland Clinic, never met my doctor, never knew who Caldwell Esselstyn was. And the guy said, just go on home and I'll give you a call in the morning. Cool. So we wrap up a couple hours later, I drive back from Cleveland back to Michigan with no hair, but a good sense of humor and no humility. And...
Bryan (08:31.385)
Mm-hmm.
Bryan (08:34.637)
Yeah.
Bryan (08:43.126)
With no hair.
paul chatlin (08:51.13)
And sure enough in the morning he spends an hour talking to me. Now think back, this goes back quite a long time. So what was available was I could read the China study. I could do how to prevent reverse heart disease. There were like two cookbooks. But he said go to the store, label read everything. You'll be shocked at how different names that salt and sugar and oil. And he says you're giving up. Meet Darien from this minute on. And I did.
Bryan (08:55.245)
Yeah.
Bryan (09:03.406)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
paul chatlin (09:17.034)
So from that second on, I have not had meat, dairy or oil. And I thought to myself, oh, thank you, thank you very much. So I thought to myself, you know, I was on that gurney and I did this, you know, like I did this as a kid growing up and never really kept the promise too often. Hey God, if you get me out of this mess, I owe you one.
Bryan (09:34.902)
Yeah, yeah.
paul chatlin (09:35.018)
So I kept saying that to myself, like I was thinking I was gonna have bypass surgery, but all of a sudden when the miracles happened, I remembered that, you know, and I said, hey, I gotta give something back and I'm going to this time, I really am. Initially I thought what I'd do is I didn't know how to cook the food, I wasn't a cook, I wasn't a chef. So I went to the Esselstyn's cooking class, let's say the bill was $800, I tried to expense it through Blue Cross Blue Shield, they denied me, I said, oh, this is my mission, this is my give back,
Bryan (09:47.746)
Mm-hmm.
Bryan (09:52.167)
Yeah.
paul chatlin (10:05.152)
at Blue Cross Blue Shield. So that way anybody in the future that doesn't want to spend 125,000 for bypass surgery, they can go take a cooking class for $800. You know, Blue Cross Blue Shield should like it. I like it. So unfortunately I went up to the seven different layers and they denied me because I have to work with the Michigan legislature. And I did not want to do that.
Bryan (10:14.199)
Mm-hmm.
Bryan (10:18.066)
Yes.
Bryan (10:26.05)
Yeah.
paul chatlin (10:27.71)
In the meantime, I had, you know, it wasn't just had a 100% block in my right artery. I had an enlarged heart, leaky valve, scar cytosis to the right side of the artery. I had a left bubble block. I had a heart murmur. I was a mess. So basically, I was on complete bed rest for 60 days. And the only thing I would basically do is I'd sleep all day and then I would cook. And then go back. And it was not a happy life. Let me tell you, I'm...
Bryan (10:37.934)
True.
Bryan (10:53.43)
Yeah, yeah.
paul chatlin (10:54.318)
crazily active and it was like, oh, you know, thank God it was drug induced because it was me just laying down for 16 hours. I couldn't do it. In the meantime, I thought to myself, well, maybe what I'll do is I'll put a $20 ad in the paper and I'll just say, hey, this is what's happened to me because in those 60 days, I started losing like 20, 30 pounds, you know, the engine went away in like seven, eight days. So that was amazing. And the craziest
Bryan (11:14.82)
Mm-hmm.
Bryan (11:19.936)
Mm-hmm.
paul chatlin (11:24.732)
going away was that in about 14 days all the foods I swore I didn't like growing up like the vegetable side and I because I promised I would eat whatever I had to eat for 14 days see what I feel. My taste buds started to change where the foods I grew up not liking I tolerated a lot more. I will never tell anybody that I love them. I do not. I like them though and that's good enough because you know I now I eat to live instead of live to eat kind of mentality.
Bryan (11:36.631)
Yeah.
Bryan (11:47.271)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Bryan (11:53.57)
Mm-hmm.
paul chatlin (11:54.234)
So I put it in the paper and within two days I had 20 people come into my house. What's so cool about it is I'm still in touch with them today. And then I did it again and I'm like, whoa, I'm onto something here. People need heart health support and they could do it through nutritional education. So when I called the big three hospitals here in Michigan, I said, give me an interventional cardiologist, lifestyle cardiologist, give me three names. Well, the same name cropped up. It was Dr. Joel Connelly.
Bryan (11:59.618)
Wow.
Bryan (12:04.032)
Mm-hmm.
Bryan (12:12.47)
Yeah.
paul chatlin (12:24.788)
I have never heard of him, never met him, but I figured, okay, I'll call him first. I met him and he was all in. He said we could do it at Beaumont Hospital. And that's what started the creation of the Plant-Based Nutrition Support Group. And then, yeah, and then just let me just take you like in a big leap. The milestones of them was that A, we created a medical course material.
Bryan (12:33.837)
Mm-hmm.
Bryan (12:38.839)
Woohoo!
Bryan (12:48.302)
Mm-hmm.
paul chatlin (12:48.426)
B, we had like three or four opportunities that I thought would be just like earth changing, where General Motors called up and said, we need your help. And we got to the highest level and unfortunately, politically couldn't do it.
Bryan (13:01.163)
Mm-hmm.
paul chatlin (13:02.082)
You know, we worked with the Beaumont hospitals. We thought that they were gonna change their meal plans. And at the last second, they couldn't do it. But again, we would have events every single month. And it would be a combination of culinary events. We would have speaker events where literally 500 to a thousand people would show up. And it was a vibe like I've never felt in my life. You know, just humming and excitement. And it was like, these people knew every month they're gonna see like-minded people in one place.
Bryan (13:08.791)
Mm-hmm.
Bryan (13:22.391)
Yeah.
Bryan (13:28.823)
guests.
paul chatlin (13:29.706)
And then it gave me an opportunity to meet all the greats that we, all the heroes I grew up, you know, worshipping and they would come into town, they give their talk, I take them to a bunch of medical schools and that's how it was for like 10 years until COVID. And when COVID hit, then all of a sudden, you know, you know, think about the majority of our members were like 16 older. We had, I put a hard stop. It was like early February and we re, we pivoted to online and Zoom and you know,
Bryan (13:36.578)
Mm-hmm.
Bryan (13:43.65)
Mm-hmm.
Bryan (13:52.406)
Yeah.
paul chatlin (13:59.38)
people learn how to use Zoom. So that's a positive. Go COVID, right? No, no. Okay, so, so now here we are today and today, you know, we're, I'm proud to say we are still in business. We are the only national support organization. We have a membership. I'll tell you what you get for that. And so whopping $20 a month. And it's on sale right now for $14. Ooh.
Bryan (14:01.186)
That's for sure. Ha ha ha. Yep.
Bryan (14:25.303)
Nice.
paul chatlin (14:25.998)
Just go to www.pbnsg.org, sign up. And what you get for that is all the speaker events. We still have multiple speaker events. We still have culinary events.
Bryan (14:34.642)
Mm-hmm. Yep.
paul chatlin (14:38.51)
And we shifted from what we had community groups. We had 54 at our peak to now we have like 15 specific support groups. So if you've got heart disease, obesity, diabetes, whatever the modality is, or it could be like, you know, a single parent group, you know, bring it up your child with plant-based nutrition. So we have a variety of different groups. And for $20, you could see one group. You could see all the groups plus.
Bryan (14:53.09)
Mm-hmm.
paul chatlin (15:02.154)
We have recorded every single meeting from every single speaker and every single culinary event from day one. So we've got a vast library. So you could explore and look into, always looking for help along the way with volunteerism. But yeah, so that's kind of my long, short, long story. Yeah.
Bryan (15:08.91)
Mm-hmm.
Bryan (15:21.446)
I love it. Yeah. No, I mean, it's such a powerful movement. I hate to see you have to go through all the troubles that you had to, but it even further solidified your journey. I mean, I know mine wasn't as drastic as that, but I, you know, I've been sold just like you after the first 30 to 60 days. I just knew it was the right path. So, so let's, let's give out a little bit more advice for some other people that are trying to start their plant-based businesses and grow them on that front.
So what advice would you give to people trying to start the more nonprofit organization, focusing on health, nutrition, trying to be some of that change and support for the communities?
paul chatlin (16:04.106)
Well, first of all, I think it's important to, you know, I have no initials at the end of my name. Okay. So what that means is, you know, I spent a lot of time reading about the benefits of nutrition.
Bryan (16:06.902)
Ahem.
paul chatlin (16:18.998)
But at the end, when you're working in a community environment, there's a lot of questions that are asked of you, and they were asked of me. And while I would always have to preface it by saying, I'm not a doctor, but this is my opinion, it was like a reel that I repeated all the time. It might be important to, you know, find out if there's a dietician, a nutritionist, maybe a lifestyle doctor in your area and connect with them first and just say, listen, you know, maybe I want to create a community group.
Bryan (16:31.305)
Mm-hmm.
Bryan (16:43.063)
Mm-hmm.
paul chatlin (16:49.352)
in my town and if I do would you be alongside me and you know be able to answer some of the medical questions because I can't really do it you know and I don't feel comfortable doing it. So you know that's not something to consider. The other thing is you know now there's so many different whole food plant-based cookbooks. You know we have one called Perfectly Plant-Based. It's still I think the only no oil cookbook but there's a variety of cookbooks and
Bryan (17:10.594)
Mm-hmm.
paul chatlin (17:18.832)
meeting at every small group, because that's what you're kind of talking about, a community small group. And we would always do something like we'd spend like 10, 15 minutes of what's new, what's your challenges. And we spent a few minutes on, you know, the host would say, I got to give you a 10 minute presentation on XYZ. And the rest of the time was a potluck.
Bryan (17:22.166)
Yeah.
Bryan (17:35.86)
Mm-hmm.
Bryan (17:39.254)
Haha, very nice.
paul chatlin (17:39.727)
And the catch was always that we would say is, when you bring food, bring 10 recipe cards of what you made. So if they like it, they could take it home and enjoy it themselves.
Bryan (17:48.001)
Yeah.
Bryan (17:52.622)
That's awesome.
paul chatlin (17:52.758)
You know, and then we play around with like, let's create stuff that's five items or five ingredients in five minutes, make it in five minutes or 10 items in 10 degrees. So, you know, there's a lot of creativity, but you know, like anything, the human race, we love our food. So my thought is, is it, if you, if you connect up with a science nutritional type person, if you put an ad in the local paper or go through meetup, you know, create an environment of learning,
Bryan (18:00.142)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
paul chatlin (18:22.772)
what's new, what challenges are you up to, and lastly end it with food and it's be a great start.
Bryan (18:23.132)
Mm-hmm.
Bryan (18:27.602)
Absolutely. Yeah. No, that's some great tips there. So let's flip it around. How are you measuring the impact of your organization and what advice would you give for others that are getting started on this journey on how do they measure the impact of the programs in your advocacy efforts?
paul chatlin (18:46.334)
Well, I mean, we're talking about doing analytics and metrics. And I must admit, like,
Bryan (18:49.928)
Mm-hmm.
paul chatlin (18:51.11)
I'm good in a lot of areas, but I leave that to my IT guy to share the metrics. Because I just like, you know, my head's exploding every day on other areas of trying to grow the thing. And I just know that like right now, you know, we just got granted $10,000 a month in Google ads. So we're going to have to keep a click rate at a certain amount, otherwise we lose it. So that's up to him to make sure that is done. But as far as, you know, I look at growth.
Bryan (18:57.087)
Yep.
Bryan (19:04.796)
Yeah.
Bryan (19:14.219)
Yeah. Yep.
paul chatlin (19:20.944)
for example, and it's, you know, it was really easy to open the front doors and welcome 500 or a thousand people. And we could just measure and say, well, we had this speaker and we got this results. And this is the revenue we got because the price was always the same. It's a little different when you're totally doing everything remotely. To me, it's based on, we introduced a membership, which, you know, it was free. Everything I did was free for 10 years. But like anything else, you know,
Bryan (19:45.586)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
paul chatlin (19:50.11)
My board of directors is my wife. I don't mean that with the organization, but in my heart and my life. And it was the point where, you know, you said, I've paid enough, I've done enough. I gotta make it self-sustaining. So that membership, so I'm proud to say that it was just this month that we finally, for the first time in three years, broke even. You know, so that was, oh, thank you, thank you very much.
Bryan (19:55.748)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Bryan (20:03.863)
Mm-hmm.
Bryan (20:13.506)
Yeah.
paul chatlin (20:16.086)
So, you know, I mean like now we're hoping to lift off and grow because money allows us to do more things and I've got a lot on that list right now that we got to do. So, yeah.
Bryan (20:24.918)
That's awesome. So talk to us about the future. What is the next year or two look like for Plant-Based Nutrition Support Group? Do you have some other initiatives in mind? Lay it on us.
paul chatlin (20:33.557)
Hahaha
paul chatlin (20:36.942)
Whoa. All right, well, look at, I got man goosebumps right here. You can see them live and they're growing. All right, so I had an epiphany and everyone has these moments where like, oh wow, something spoke to me. You know, like, what am I gonna do because something spoke to me? Am I gonna just forget about it or am I gonna do something about it? I like doing stuff about it and see where it takes us. So.
Bryan (20:42.137)
Nice, I like it.
Bryan (20:59.022)
Mm-hmm.
Bryan (21:03.95)
Mm-hmm.
paul chatlin (21:04.67)
You know, I admit I'm gonna tell everybody I'm a Trekkie from the old days and I was in the middle of the night Live long and prosper man. So so I was watching the one and I'll just for Trekkies out there
Bryan (21:12.878)
Hahaha
Bryan (21:18.912)
Uh huh.
paul chatlin (21:19.206)
It was with John Luke Picard and the Q. The Q was an omnipotent being and John Luke Picard had his individuality and they were always bantering back and forth and the omnipotent Q says, wow you think you're so independent and you're doing so well, let me show you what your future is.
shoots them a hundred million light years somewhere. And that's the first time they saw the Borg, which was like arch enemies in the future to multiple series of Star Trek. And the difference was they were like humans that were assimilated with AI attachments to them. And they worked together as a cohesive group. And then I thought, I said like, that's it. Now I'm gonna peel it a little bit for you. I.
Bryan (21:38.559)
Yeah.
Bryan (21:43.273)
Yeah.
Bryan (21:49.282)
Yeah.
Bryan (21:59.019)
Mm-hmm.
paul chatlin (22:05.91)
I've been, I admitted that I've been chasing the heroes, rightfully so, for about 10, 11 years. And you know who they are, okay? You know, it could be the Campbells, the Uslesons, or Gregory McDougals, you know, Bernards, and there's a list, there may be 10 or 15, give or take. And like, I was always in awe of their knowledge, the fact that they would come speak to my organization and others, you know, they gave a lot of their time freely.
Bryan (22:13.87)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Bryan (22:22.178)
Mm-hmm. Yep.
paul chatlin (22:35.17)
But what I noticed was they didn't work and didn't play well together. I don't want to get into the specifics. I happen to know them. But it doesn't matter. They weren't sharing ideas. Think about it. Each one has a different point of view.
Bryan (22:50.83)
Mm-hmm.
paul chatlin (22:51.154)
90-95% of what they believe in, they all agreed in, but they just, you know, they had so many years, you know, in the dark ages of plant-based nutrition that feelings were heard or things were done, and now they're much older and they can't forgive, forget, and move on. They just can't, and it's okay. I mean, people are like that, but I'm not, and I realized right then that we have to look at that next level of people.
Bryan (22:56.468)
Mm-hmm.
Bryan (23:12.857)
Mm-hmm.
paul chatlin (23:20.89)
out there that want to make a world of difference and it would be much younger, more diverse, outspoken like me and risk takers like me as well to sit there and say it's time that we pivot. That all being said, I started writing open letters and if you're on my email list you'll you've seen them and I did basically a call to action. I said it's one of my best days ever. Really.
Bryan (23:33.646)
That's right.
Bryan (23:41.986)
That's how we met. You sent out that letter and I reached out to you. So thank you. Thank you for doing that. It goes, I mean, it just goes back. Like, I know this is the plant based on fire podcast, but like our overarching thing is real many plants and that is trying to get more men to be vulnerable and admit they need some help and come into this plant based world that we, we already are familiar with. So thank you for doing that and tell us, keep going. Sorry.
paul chatlin (23:48.778)
What am I testing? Yeah, by the way.
paul chatlin (24:10.53)
No, no, that's cool. I like freestyling. And I gotta admit something to you, like you can see real man right there, okay? I don't play around. And the fact is, is that I actually said to Brian, I said like, Dude, you're going after that 10% segment of men who eat plant-based.
Bryan (24:13.152)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Bryan (24:24.679)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
paul chatlin (24:25.598)
So I said, I'll be your ambassador. Like if you need me to connect with somebody, anybody, I'm your guy. And this is how it works, because we're going to collaborate. And we're going to be a shining example to all others. So we have created something called, and this is the first time anybody's going to, well, actually, this is in the future. I like this. So we're going to have our meeting September 25. I'm hoping that everyone will hear about it. I know this will be recorded in October. So the plan here is, I open.
Bryan (24:30.538)
Yep. Yeah.
Bryan (24:38.734)
That's right.
paul chatlin (24:55.472)
letter went out, I've now received 30 connections of organizations and individuals who said, you are right, it's time to pivot, we have to work together, we need to have one voice. We need and the idea is this, if we create like an alliance, think about a, well, we'll use the example of a big wheel with 30 different spokes. If we make sure the wheel is healthy, it's going to lift and keep the spokes in place.
Bryan (24:56.788)
Mm-hmm.
paul chatlin (25:23.33)
it's gonna lift all the organizations. So it's interesting because as I spoke and met people like Brian for the very first time, I said this question, I said, I've met all these people, they all have five things in common. The first thing they have in common is everyone needs additional funding. I do, everyone needs additional funding. The next thing is, is that they want a resource share. I mean, why should anybody have to recreate something? No, they should have an area that we could share our resources.
Bryan (25:39.602)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
paul chatlin (25:53.226)
People could be resources, information could be resources, but if all you'd have to do is send something to the Sage Circle Alliance, which is the name, and then somebody will respond with the answer. Boom, you don't have to spend hours thinking about it. The other thing is that everyone who's part of this is all stretched super thin. Like we are just working our butts off every day for the mission, but no matter what, we're stretched thin.
Bryan (26:06.05)
Yeah.
paul chatlin (26:20.354)
The other one is, and this is kind of a dicey one a little bit because, you know, no one likes negativity. I don't. But everyone's felt pain along the way. Like, hey, life is full of pleasure and pain. We all know that. But this has been like specific plant-based pain, because it could be you put an ad in the paper, one person shows up. That's painful. It's not more. You know, whatever it might be, we felt a little pain along the way. But what binds us all together is all 30 of these people, and I'm hoping it could be hundreds, we all are passionate, high integrity.
Bryan (26:27.95)
Mm-hmm. Yep, yep.
paul chatlin (26:50.026)
And we all believe that we all have to work together to make it happen. So this is where I'm spending my time because I know that if I create, along with Meryl Fury who is working with me from plant-based nutrition movement out of Chicago, that if we build it correctly, we could raise everybody up at the same time. That's the plan. Wish me luck.
Bryan (26:54.542)
That's right.
Bryan (27:04.45)
Mm-hmm.
Bryan (27:17.218)
Good luck, Paul. So hit us one more time. How do we get in touch with you? How do we join your community? What's the address and social media handles?
paul chatlin (27:18.738)
Thank you, thank you, thank you very much.
paul chatlin (27:26.946)
I appreciate that. Okay, so you know, everything's is just if you hit up plant based PB and SG, you'll get all the social media pieces. Okay. If you want to reach us directly, and I'm gonna do something I don't usually do. Hey, by the way, on my last podcast, I showed how to inject my stomach with a cholesterol drug. Guy, Guy said I've never seen that month. That was Glenn. Yeah, no, you know, he said no one's ever done that. I said, I'm gonna do it. So I'll give you another one. I'm going to send I'm going to give everyone
Bryan (27:45.532)
Ugh.
Bryan (27:49.158)
Okay.
paul chatlin (27:57.266)
www.pbnsg.org and that will go to a connect where me and the myself and a few employees could answer. You have something that you want to you know be part of you want to have a quick conversation or talk. Paul at pbnsg.org. Give me a shout.
Bryan (28:17.946)
Awesome. So reach out if you're starting your business, want to get some advice from somebody who's been doing this for a long, long time and join that community. There's lots of like-minded individuals there looking to change their lives and stuff. Thank you so much, Paul, for being on the show with us. Any...
paul chatlin (28:34.046)
Oh, I appreciate it so much. And let me just say one last little item with that SCA Sage Circle Alliance. There's going to be a component, which is going to be an environmental component. I've wanted personally to do it forever. But when I look around and now that I'm a father of three boys and grandkids, and I look around, it's scary a little bit to me. So we have to touch the environment.
Bryan (28:52.191)
Mm-hmm.
paul chatlin (28:59.082)
you know, to just make awareness. So that will all be part of it. So, but thank you. This has been great. I've really enjoyed it.
Bryan (29:04.03)
Yeah, I mean, it's so true. There's wildfires everywhere. There was four tropical storms in the Atlantic and one in the Pacific all at the same time. It's just mind blowing. So yeah.
paul chatlin (29:12.734)
Well, and I witnessed last year, I've got a place in Fort Myers and I was, I saw firsthand what Ian did and that's scary stuff. I mean, I think we're getting as many as we used to, but they're just so much more intense. And, you know, we have a part, we have a play in this us humans. We do. And we have to do our part for our kids. You know, we just have to.
Bryan (29:19.102)
Yeah. Phew!
Bryan (29:26.423)
Yeah.
Bryan (29:35.25)
And people, people don't realize because they shift the numbers, but Glenn's absolutely right. Animal agriculture is a strong leading contributor to it also. Well, that is all the time we have for this episode of Plant Based on Fire. Thank you again so much, Paul, for being here and sharing your thoughts and insights and experiences with our community until next time, everybody. Keep those fires burning.
paul chatlin (29:42.926)
sure is.
paul chatlin (29:55.146)
Thank you. All right.