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Writer's pictureXimena Diaz Velazquez

Unlocking Fitness Without Meat: Insights from Plant-Powered Athletes



In the latest episode of the Real Men Eat Plants podcast, Bryan brought together a powerhouse panel to debunk myths and share their success in achieving peak physical condition on a plant-based diet. The episode featured Karina Inkster, founder of Vegan Fitness With Karina Inkster and Team; Robert Cheeke, founder of Vegan Bodybuilding and Fitness; Maxime Sigouin founder of Fit Vegan Blueprint; Geoff Palmer, founder of Clean Machine; and Mike Young founder of A Plant Based Diet Org—each a pioneer in the vegan fitness community.


The Power of Plant-Based Fitness

Karina Inkster, with over two decades of veganism under her belt, emphasized the sustainability of a vegan lifestyle, integrating fitness with longevity. Geoff Palmer, a four-decade vegan veteran and bodybuilder, discussed innovations in vegan nutrition supplements that support physical fitness. Their stories underscore the effectiveness of plant-based diets in maintaining vigorous health and fitness regimes.


Bodybuilding on a Vegan Diet

Robert Cheeke, who transformed his physique from 120 to 220 pounds through vegan bodybuilding, shared insights from his new book, "The Impactful Vegan." Cheeke's journey illustrates that substantial muscle gain is entirely possible without animal protein, challenging the prevalent stereotypes about meat and muscle mass.


Specialized Vegan Fitness Programs

Maxime Sigouin, a highly accomplished fitness coach, entrepreneur, and athlete, highlighted the adaptability of vegan diets across different ages and fitness goals. His program has helped hundreds globally, proving that a well-structured plant-based diet can significantly enhance physical health and body composition.


Promoting Longevity and Health

Mike Young, an advocate for a lifestyle deeply rooted in health, longevity, and environmental sustainability, focuses on health span and longevity, demonstrating that veganism isn't just about fitness but also about sustaining a high quality of life well into old age.


Ethical Considerations and Global Impact

Each guest not only shared their personal health journeys but also discussed the broader ethical and environmental implications of a vegan lifestyle. This aspect of the conversation highlighted how individual choices can lead to global impacts, particularly concerning animal welfare and environmental sustainability.


Five Hot Takeaways and Lessons:

  1. Longevity of Veganism in Fitness: Karina and Geoff exemplify how long-term adherence to a vegan diet contributes to sustained health and athletic ability, debunking myths about the necessity of animal protein for longevity and muscle maintenance.

  2. Impact of Veganism on Bodybuilding: Robert Cheeke's transformation and achievements in bodybuilding underscore the potential for significant muscle gain and athletic success on a plant-based diet.

  3. Holistic Health Benefits: Mike Young discusses the broader health benefits of a vegan diet, emphasizing not just fitness but also longevity and disease prevention.

  4. Innovative Vegan Products: Geoff Palmer introduces innovative vegan fitness supplements, demonstrating the growing market and effectiveness of plant-based supplements in supporting intense physical training.

  5. Ethical and Environmental Motivations: The discussion also touches on the ethical and environmental reasons for choosing veganism, linking personal health benefits with global sustainability.


Throughout the episode, listeners were treated to practical advice on transitioning to a plant-based diet, detailed discussions on nutritional strategies for various fitness goals, and motivational stories that highlight the transformative power of veganism.


This episode is a must-listen for anyone curious about the real-world applications of vegan diets in fitness and beyond, providing both inspiration and practical guidance. Whether you're a seasoned athlete or a fitness newbie, the insights from these plant-powered professionals prove that achieving peak physical condition is wholly possible on a plant-based diet.


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Podcast Episode’s Transcript

Please understand that a transcription service provided the transcript below. It undoubtedly contains errors that invariably take place in voice transcriptions.


Bryan (00:01.746)

All right, everybody, welcome to another episode of the Real Men Eat Plants podcast. I am Bryan, your host, and the best way you can support us and our podcast is to click that subscribe button or like and follow us on whatever platform you're consuming this on. I wanted to say today we are going to be pumping up the volume on plant powered fitness and talking about fitness without meat. And with me today are some incredible guests who are thriving in the fitness world all on a vegan diet. So we are gonna talk about trying to debunk some myths, share their success stories, and give you the scoop on achieving peak physical condition without the meat. So let's just take a couple quick seconds and introduce some of our guests. Ladies first, Karina, you wanna kick it off for us?


Geoff Palmer (00:49.611)

Thank you.


Karina (00:50.348)

Well, thanks Bryan for having us all here today. Happy to be here with everyone. I am Karina Inkster. I'm coming to you from Pell River on the Sunshine Coast of BC in Canada. I'm a fitness and nutrition coach working with vegans online. So our vegan team of awesomeness is all around the world. I've got a small team of coaches working with our clients. I've written five books. I've been vegan for 21 years.


And I did my master's degree in gerontology focusing on health and aging. So our approach with fitness is to help our clients kick ass, to build habits that they still maintain when they're 103. So I also have a podcast, which is syndicated on radio and is available on all of the podcasting apps, of course. And when I'm not writing or working out or training for half marathon swim, music is the other piece of my life. So I perform and teach.


accordion didgeridoo and piano and I direct the accordion fest in my city that happens every year. So random fun fact there for you.


Bryan (01:58.13)

Awesome Karina, we're so excited to have you here with us and provide some additional perspectives there. Jeff, you want to go next?


Geoff Palmer (02:05.419)

Sure. Such a wonderful group of people here. So fun. It's like I got a family, family and heroes all together at once. I'm Jeff Palmer. I am the founder of Clean Machine, also the founder of the World Vegan Bodybuilding Championship, the first all vegan bodybuilding championship in the world. Robert Cheek was our emcee for the last one. So I had a wonderful group of people there.


also, with clean machine, I, brought, several truly innovative products to market to help people get fit and lean. I have been vegan now. I'm in my 40th year of being vegan for decades.


Bryan (02:53.939)

Awesome, Jeff, we appreciate you being here and I really like that shirt you got on. That's one of our other podcast people. So if you're ready to debate me on a little bit of plants versus meat, check out that podcast. Robert, how is the book going? We're so excited to have that coming out and help spread the word some more. Tell us what is going on with you.


Robert Cheeke (03:14.068)

Yeah, first of all, thank you so much for having me on. I am the least tech savvy person under age 45 in the Western world. And so if my connection cuts out, that's just that standard operating procedure. Nothing I can do. That's how it works with me. I should just stick to lifting weights and writing books. So yes, I have the impactful vegan. It comes out June 25th. It is the best work that I have ever done.


in my life and my previous book was a New York Times bestseller translated into nine languages worldwide. That's the plant -based athlete. I grew up on a farm in Corvallis, Oregon and became vegan in the late 1900s, December 8th, 1995. Specifically, I became vegan for the animals and I embarked on this bodybuilding journey with the intention of showing people that I could build my body without the use of animal protein. And so I've dedicated the last three decades,


to doing that and I achieved the American dream of putting on 100 pounds, growing from 120 pounds to 220 pounds at my peak as a multi -time champion vegan bodybuilder and now the author of count them one, two, three, four, five, six books with The Impactful Vegan coming your way June 25th, 2024. Thank you for having me and hopefully my connection will stay strong just like these biceps.


Geoff Palmer (04:33.963)

I'm going to go ahead and close the video.


Karina (04:41.572)

you


Geoff Palmer (04:41.899)

Yeah.


Bryan (04:43.187)

Thank you Robert for sharing that and I look forward to reading that book when it comes out here. Max, hey!


Maxime Sigouin (04:50.49)

Yes, thank you. Thank you for having me. You can tell Robert's been doing this for a while. That was beautiful. How is it? Beautiful introduction. Yeah, my name is Maxim Siwa. I'm founder and CEO of FID Vegan Coaching. We're one of the world's top whole food plant based body composition coaching programs for people, you know, between 45 and 80 years old. I host the FID Vegan podcast and we've helped almost 800 people now in 20 different countries in the past four years alone. And so, yeah, just on a beautiful mission to help people thrive on plants.


Bryan (05:21.202)

Love it. Thanks for being here Max. Great to see you again. Mike.


Maxime Sigouin (05:24.345)

Same here.


Mike Young of aPlantBasedDiet.org (05:25.702)

Hey, my name is Mike Young. I'm 54 years young and I'm the founder of AplantBasedDiet .org. We're a 501c3 that's focused on health span and longevity. And with this amazing group that we have here, I may be the one that's more less in the gym and more into like purposeful, intentional exercise with regular routines. I do go into the gym occasionally, but I can't beat those biceps, Robert. Those are awesome. Let me also say that we...


I do have a book that's free called Live 250 because we're focusing on health, span and longevity. We also have our own event called Health Optimization Cruise. And one other thing is we did develop our own standard called Healthy Vegan Food, all of which kind of goes in with all this. But I love the fitness. Fitness is so important and I'm so thankful to be here today with you all.


Bryan (06:15.059)

Thanks Mike, we appreciate you being here.


Maxime Sigouin (06:15.383)

Wait, let me just drive him in there. Mike, you said you're 54?


Mike Young of aPlantBasedDiet.org (06:18.63)

54, yep, born in 1970.


Maxime Sigouin (06:19.895)

God, man, I thought you were like 35.


Mike Young of aPlantBasedDiet.org (06:23.01)

Well, I guess my program is working.


Bryan (06:23.463)

See?


Maxime Sigouin (06:26.966)

Yeah.


Bryan (06:27.252)

 And so I do want to call out Torre Washington. You got to come on this show sometime soon here and Brent Hagood with One to Save Many also was going to be here, but he had something come up. So we hope to have Brent you back, but go check out Brent with One to Save Many and V Gains. It's another great little company out there. So, I really wanted to try and unpack sort of three big topics today. Obviously the health, the environment and the planet and,


I mean the animals, sorry, and really start off with the health. Because I really think the health, you know, I used to work in the emergency room software business for a little bit, building some emergency room software and triaging people was the software's job. Are you, you know, do we have to take care of you right away or can you sit in the waiting room for an hour or two while we take care of the more important people? And it was that question that I got to interview a ton of emergency room doctors. And part of that was just me asking them, like, what's the trick to staying out of


of the emergency room and stuff. And they always said diet and exercise are the two most important things, which makes total sense. and so I think we're all on the right diet in my opinion, but I wanted to get your perspective on the nutrition that we need to fuel our bodies for, for the exercise that we need to do. And then I wanted to talk about how important movement is just in general, and then maybe some tips along that front. So, tee this up to maybe Jeff, you want to kick us off?


off with something there.


Geoff Palmer (07:57.803)

Yeah. So obviously with obesity at epidemic rates right now, that's a major concern. And it is the combination of poor food that we're putting in our mouth and the lack of exercise. Interesting, the American Diabetics Association just put out a study recently that found even their own ADA diet didn't get people to the place they needed to be. And it was mostly whole food plant based.


said, but when they added strenuous resistance training, almost 90 % of the people that didn't get off of insulin did get off of insulin. So I think we're, you know, our community tends to be very food focused and rightfully so if we can solve the diet problem, that's a big part of it. But I think we're losing sight of the other side of it, which is.


The vast majority of Americans are sedentary. They're not getting regular exercise. And that's a really big miss because it only takes 30 to 50 minutes a day. And I hear people say, you know, I don't have time for that. Yet I see them on their phone hours a day. I see them watching television for, yeah, I streamed TV for two hours last night. Well, if you got two hours just to sit on your butt in the couch and watch TV, you sure as God.


Bryan (09:09.458)

Ha ha ha.


Geoff Palmer (09:19.947)

I can carve out one of those hours for some exercise. That's my take. Also, I'll leave you the last thing that a great study showed that aerobic training is not the same as resistance training. The resistance training preserves muscle mass. And if you preserve more muscle mass, you actually can burn more calories and keep your weight in check longer, easier over a longer period of time. They found that diet alone,


reduce some body fat, but it also reduce muscle when you're restricting calories. When you restrict calories along with aerobic training, you lost a lot more fat, but you also lost a lot more muscle because you're not feeding the muscle and you're using aerobic style training. But then when they tried the restricted diet with the resistance training, they lost more fat than other, all both of the other groups.


and they preserve more muscle, meaning that once they go off that restricted diet, they're gonna be burning more calories, because they have more muscle to burn those calories. So it's easier to sustain that. Resistance training is so key for overall health.


Bryan (10:29.778)

I love it. Well said, Jeff. You always drop some awesome truth bombs on us for sure. Robert, do you want to weigh in on that? What was the secret to gaining almost a hundred pounds throughout your journey? You mentioned earlier.


Robert Cheeke (10:41.14)

Yeah, absolutely. I do want to weigh in on that pun intended. First of all, we have to look at what our actions are. If I asked you what you ate yesterday, you wouldn't be able to recall it. 99 % of people have no idea what they're eating. They have no idea what their calorie intake is, what their calorie expenditure is. They have no idea of the calorie density of a given meal or portion size. Any person you meet on the street, you could ask them, even if they're kind of fitness minded.


Geoff Palmer (10:45.035)

you


Robert Cheeke (11:08.34)

tell me about what you ate yesterday. They wouldn't be able to recall it. They just don't know. They would remember the things they want to remember and conveniently discard the things they don't want to remember. So before we go back into my 100 -pound weight gain, which I know is everybody's dream, let's take a look at the current state of the reality that Jeff touched on a little bit. The average American, the average adult American consumes 3 ,540 calories today.


That's unbelievable. It's no surprise, and this is not to body shame anybody whatsoever, this is simply to sound the alarm that our current system is not working. It's no surprise given that calorie intake that 73 .6 % of Americans are overweight, 42 .5 % are obese, and 80 % of us in the United States consume fast food once per week. 37 % of us consume fast food every single day.


and 20 % of us report consuming at least one meal a day in our car, in our vehicle, which is often indicative of a fast food meal. So we also have this idea of drinking eight glasses of water, sleeping eight hours a night. And along with that is this goal of walking 10 ,000 steps. Most people don't even get near that to Jeff's point. We're not moving anymore. So even if the calorie intake was high, we could burn some of that off by movement.


that's not happening anymore. If we can change those things, and these are, I write about this, I talk about this, I give people practical steps on how to do that, then we can change our outcome. So, but let me just take you back really quickly, just to answer your question directly. I, from a young age, became aware of calorie density and nutrient density, largely from getting into the bodybuilding world. I also understood at a young age that the most important were,


word in the world, perhaps besides love or something like that, is consistency. You are the sum of your actions. That literally defines who you are. What you do defines who you are. And so I created plans where I worked out five or six days per week, still getting adequate rest. I ate, I'm very privileged in the Western world, I have access to six meals per day. I ate adequate calories. I ate in a calorie surplus combined with resistance weight training.


Robert Cheeke (13:30.964)

and I built muscle mass over time. I was consistent. I acknowledged what was working, what wasn't working. I tweaked it and I made forward progress and went from a skinny farm kid who was a long distance runner who had no business in the sport of bodybuilding to becoming a champion vegan bodybuilder because I understood some of those nuances. And I'll leave it to someone else to go into the specifics of, you know, the nutrient return on investment that we get.


vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, protein or whatever, but that was the core of my approach was awareness and then application. Basically, you've got to show up. And if you show up, unbelievable things can happen, including just recently, I lost 25 pounds in about five months because I ate in a calorie deficit. I increased my physical activity. I was consistent with those things and results happened just like that.


where I was able to achieve the New Year's resolution that is the real American dream of weight loss and fat loss. And I did it very enthusiastically. So that's how it has worked for me without going into too many details because we have many other amazing people to share their examples.


Bryan (14:46.644)

Awesome. Well said Robert. Karina, I want to turn it over to maybe you and Max to sort of talk to us about like you're running the fitness program. I'm sure you see the stuff that Jeff and Robert talked about on a regular basis. So hit us with some of those details and facts and weigh in on what Jeff and Robert said.


Maxime Sigouin (15:03.72)

Yeah, ladies first.


Karina (15:03.816)

Absolutely. Yes. Thanks, Bryan. Well, I do want to make one point though, and that is veganism gets conflated with health a lot. And even as a fitness coach, I'm not vegan for health reasons. I'm vegan for ethical reasons. So, I mean, technically you could sit around and eat fries and Skittles and Oreos all day and be vegan, right? Is that going to help you with your long -term health goals? Probably not. So yes, a well -rounded whole foods based


plant -based diet does have health benefits, but it's not why I'm vegan and it's not why our clients are vegan. And I think people who come to a plant -based diet only for health tend not to stick with it long term. This doesn't mean that, you know, I mean, we all as vegans want the whole world to go vegan, of course, right? But we're also realistic humans at the same time. So this doesn't mean someone down the road can add...


reasons for being vegan. I mean, I started completely from an ethical standpoint and now it's about the environment and other humans and health and athletic performance and everything, right? So there's always a catalyst or a door that opens for someone. But I just wanted to bring that into the discussion that I don't want to conflate veganism with health. It's not a weight loss diet. It's not a health diet. It's an ethical standpoint. Just throwing that out there. That said though, it does help with recovery from workouts.


And your own nutrition, and maybe Max can talk about this a little bit, is entirely dependent on your training schedule, your goals, your lifestyle. So for me, I used to eat 3 ,500 calories a day and actually weighed less than I do now because I trained people in gyms for eight hours a day and I needed that energy. So people knew me as the one who was just stuffing my face constantly because 3 ,500 calories of vegan


mostly whole foods is a crap load of food from a volume perspective. So you need to look at what your needs are. We can't really make blanket statements, but if you're someone who cares about long -term health, to Jeff's point, resistance training is going to be extremely useful and you need to fuel for that. And you need to make sure that you're eating enough volume of food. So right now I've always strength trained. So that's always a given, but I'm also


Geoff Palmer (17:03.475)

Thank you.


Maxime Sigouin (17:05.027)

Yeah.


Karina (17:27.072)

stepping up my swimming. I'm an open water swimmer. I run a open water swim club in my city and we're training for half marathon open water swim, which is 5k. That's pretty long. That's going to take two hours probably. And you need fuel for that. So we're looking at ways to increase the calorie density of our foods, which is not what the average quote unquote average, you know, North American person is looking to do because


And as we know from what's already been mentioned, a lot of folks are working on leaning out, not trying to maintain, you know, 3000 calories a day. But the point is you need to look at what your goals are, what your training is, and then fuel specifically for those things. And maybe Max can talk a little bit about what that might look like.


Maxime Sigouin (18:15.681)

Yeah, for sure. So like you mentioned, it depends on what the goal is. I have a huge background in Ironman and triathlon. And so how you feel yourself for that is different than when you're prepping for a bodybuilding show when you're looking to kind of put on some muscle. I just, in fact, before we started recording this, interviewed Harvey Lewis, the third. You guys familiar with him? He ran 450 miles in 108 hours straight.


Robert Cheeke (18:39.86)

Yeah.


Karina (18:39.997)

Amazing.


Maxime Sigouin (18:40.032)

Every hour on the dot they had to run. There's no like sleeping for far like straight and he's vegan as well And he was talking he was talking about like we're eating you're eating chips We're eating Oreos like you kind of have to when you go to that extent And so yeah, depending on what the goal is would change how you're fueling yourself on my side what got me into Into the vegan world originally was I needed to get skinny because I was a bodybuilder Like Robert, but I need to get on the opposite side. I needed to look stick thin and lose all my muscle


because I got into high fashion modeling and I need to fit into some really small pieces of clothing so that I could have some jobs and make some money. But then my grandfather got sick with cancer. Fast forward several years, my late partner gets diagnosed with breast cancer. And to me, that's what sealed the deal of like, I'm going to be vegan. I'm going to be whole food plant based. I don't want anyone to have to kind of go through this. And then when my late partner passed away, that's kind of when Fit Vegan started and I was like, okay, I'm going to help people not end up in that position. And so regardless of.


of.


what brings people to this world of eating plant -based, eventually it becomes about all the other reasons, right? Like you came in for health or animals or environment. As you kind of get exposed to eating whole food plant -based into that world, like you start to care about the animals, you start to care about the environment, eventually it becomes about like all these beautiful things. And so to me, it was the health that kind of drove me into it. Because when my late partner went through cancer, she transitioned to eating whole food plant -based. Inflammation went down, the size of the tumor went down.


she started to have more energy and the doctors gave her a year to live and she lived four and a half years with a really good quality of life. Obviously, cancer is very complex, right? Nutrition is not always just a thing that needs to happen to heal. But like that allowed her to extend the quality of your life and the duration. And so to me, like, that's why I want people to eat this way. And then if you combine everything that everyone else said of like, hey, being a calorie deficit, hit your protein, do some resistance training in combination with the quality of food.


Maxime Sigouin (20:40.494)

You get the body that you want, you have the health that you want. And then just to kind of layer in my own personal belief is if you have a fit and healthy body, it's the foundation upon which you can live an incredible life. And then so it brings in you feeling like you're living to your fullest potential that you're actually happy. And those psychological shifts make a huge difference in your health. Cause if you're depressed, your health is going to be affected very differently than if you're happy and you feel like you're fulfilled and you're living to your fullest potential.


Bryan (20:54.053)

you


Maxime Sigouin (21:10.397)

So yeah, it's my little two cents in there.


Bryan (21:14.097)

I love it. Thank you. It was very well said for both of you on that front to add that couple pieces of info in for us. I do want to let Mike, maybe you can help summarize your thoughts from hearing all these cool athlete types weigh in for us.


Mike Young of aPlantBasedDiet.org (21:27.718)

Yeah.


Mike Young of aPlantBasedDiet.org (21:31.27)

Yeah, I think hopefully can bring it all together. Our organization is called the plantbaseddiet .org. We know that plant based isn't necessarily vegan. I just want to let everybody know we are a 100 % vegan organization with an ethical stance against hurting animals. So we fit both categories, which is I know a little different. The other thing is my phone. I use my phone to keep track. I always want to get, my goal is always purposeful exercise, work into the daily routine. I notice only I check my phone.


during this earlier conversations here, I only have a thousand steps, I have 11 ,000 more to go. But I want to work it all in and part of that is I'm actually standing up. See, I'm not sitting down. I almost never want to sit down because I do believe that just as a lot of people pointed out here, people don't move. I can relate to both sides of this coin because I'm a former long distance runner. I didn't run super long races, but 38 miles was the longest I ran and I understand that...


that challenge there of trying to get enough calories when you're doing that. But then I understand the other side of the coin where the average person isn't moving. So that's a big concern. I also, I'm sympathetic to the fact that just because something's vegan doesn't mean it's health promoting and that's why we developed our healthy vegan food standard. Let's see, what else can I say? Really, I, the strength. Okay, I do also believe you wanna have some basic strength.


The reason why is because as you age, one of the biggest reasons why people lose health in a dramatic way is slips and falls. And if you are doing enough strength exercises as you age, you know, I'm over 50, so I need to do more strength exercises as I age, that balance is in there. You tend to not fall. And if you do fall when you do hit, you're more resilient. So that's important. Another little...


little tidbit I wanted to mention is that my book is called Live 250. Just as some of you all had pointed out, the average person has a lot of bad habits. My book talks about the bad habits, but the basis of the book is that the average person lives about 75 and probably does almost everything wrong, except for us here. This group here is different, right? But I'm talking about the average person, the average Joe, the average Jane. So what would happen if you tried to do almost everything right?


Mike Young of aPlantBasedDiet.org (23:50.054)

That's why hypothesis is that I believe you should be able to double your lifespan and health span. Health span meaning fun. Fun, enjoyment, go out, do whatever you want to do. That's my wish for everyone.


Bryan (23:54.195)

Thank you.


Bryan (24:02.323)

I love it, Mike. Thank you. And that really segments into, I think a little bit about what Robert was talking about a few minutes ago as well, because I think like my struggle is I probably watch a half an hour of TV a day kind of a thing. And maybe that half hour I should be working out, but I work so much and I'm so busy with stuff I have going on that I don't squeeze in the exercise. I'm having so much fun doing the stuff I'm doing, but I don't squeeze in the exercise like I should, or I have more fun doing other things besides the exercise.


lately. So I'm just curious about the I want to do like a quick lightning round around motivation and consistency like you were talking about Robert like how do you guys motivate your clients and what is that spark that you have to get energized into somebody that doesn't want to work out as much as this group does per se. So lightning round Max you go first.


Maxime Sigouin (24:55.316)

Ask them to pick a goal that's fun for them and then train them for that goal.


Right. So a lot of times a lot of people we work with is like, I would like to be able to do pushups and pull ups and I want to be able to go hiking with my kids or my grandkids. And so I was like, okay, well, you know, we need to work on your cardiovascular capacity. We need to work on your legs. Upper body strength is needed for some of these things. And so just on a personal note, got back into basketball. I was getting tired of bodybuilding training. I was like, let me train like an athlete to get better at basketball. Then it became fun. Then it's like, I want to show up to the gym. I want to go and work out. And so it's like,


same thing for the clients is pick something that fun and then do training around those goals so that way they're excited to show up because like, wow, I can do a pull up now I can do five strict push ups, right? I went on a hike with my daughter and I was able to do the whole hour and I wasn't out of breath while they were out of breath in their 20 years younger. So picking something that's fun and training them for it.


Bryan (25:52.691)

Thank you, Jeff.


Geoff Palmer (25:54.955)

I do it to inspire. Like Karina, I'm vegan for the animals. It was a spiritual change for me. I just, I had a breakthrough from suicidal depression. And when I had that breakthrough, I said, that's it. Someone helped me not suffer anymore. I'm not going to commit suffering to anybody else. And I swore off that, but I dedicated the rest of my life to helping others because I realized as human beings that are causing the vast majority of suffering in the world.


especially to the all the rest of the species. When I was at a veg fest, somebody said, my God, you got huge arms, 17 inch arms. How do you get that? Because they saw I had a vegan shirt on and they said, my boyfriend's not gonna believe that. I said, yep, all natural, 100 % drug free, 30 years drug free. And they're like, wow.


Karina (26:39.238)

You


Geoff Palmer (26:45.739)

And it clicks, it's like, hey, wait a minute, here's an opportunity to inspire people, especially men who are under this fear that they're not going to be able to build muscle without it. And, you know, I'm willing to take on anybody about the plants versus meat thing. All essential amino acids are made by plants. Animals don't even make them. So all muscle is made from essential amino acids. That means all muscle is made from plants. It's like, just stop feeding it to the animals and leave them out of it. It's...


It doesn't make sense on a logical aspect. It doesn't make sense on an interesting show. Real quick, last thing, I know we're supposed to be lightning round here and not very lightning, but I do want to say meat is an addiction. What is an addiction? An addiction is something that can harm yourself, harm others, and you do it anyway. That's exactly what eating meat is. We know it is cause of cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis.


cancer, et cetera, et cetera, diabetes. We know this. This is not arguable anymore. There's amazing amounts of research. This is an addiction and we have to start treating it like an addiction. People get immediately defensive about that when you suggest that. And we've got to get past that just like any drug addict would. And meat kills more people than all the drugs, alcohol and tobacco combined. So this is the big addiction that's really killing people. And not only that.


Look, I'm 61. My mother, my father, and both of my brothers never even reached my age. They died before then. I don't want to see other families suffer. That's what drug addicts do to other families. They crush them, they hurt them, and that's what we do when we eat things that cause our own ill health too as well. That's why I do what I do.


Maxime Sigouin (28:36.911)

Let me just add, just love to add, I had the opportunity to train with Jeff in Florida and his biceps are the biggest billboard for veganism. Because I think I had like five or six people stop us while we're working out. Like, how did you get those biceps? First plug, 40 years vegan. So thank you to Jeff's biceps.


Bryan (28:36.947)

Love it. That's some...


Bryan (28:45.875)

You


Geoff Palmer (28:52.491)

Yes.


Karina (28:55.136)

You


Bryan (28:56.467)

Very, very nice. Robert, hit us with your motivational moment.


Robert Cheeke (29:03.22)

Yeah, to me, nothing inspires motivation like results. I mean, whether you're learning a language or learning a new skill, I mean, nothing keeps you going like positive results. Even many of you on the screen have seen me for the last decade, weigh between 200 and 220 pounds, for the last decade solid. But only two of you on the screen, Karina and Maxim, saw me recently. I got down as low as 185.


recently and I was about 190 when I saw you last week, Karina, actually like three days ago. It was like a few days ago. And what happened was I actually struggled to lose weight for a little while. You know, I was very content being 200 to 220 pounds for a whole decade. It was my like Jeff and my billboard for veganism. I gained 100 pounds on this following this particular program and this lifestyle. And that was something that I was very proud of. But I also wanted to lean out a little bit.


Karina (29:35.005)

Yeah, I know.


Robert Cheeke (29:59.092)

and lose weight. I tried a couple of times and didn't have a lot of success. And then I found an approach, calorie deficit, increasing activity. I got a Fitbit, I'm tracking my steps, over 10 ,000 steps every single day, oftentimes 20 ,000, sometimes 30 ,000, even over 40 ,000 one day at least. And what happened was I was dropping 2 .6 pounds per week where I was having so much success, I actually had to slow down. I mean, how often do you...


come into a situation where you say, you know what? One of the healthiest things in the world is walking, movement. And I actually have to walk less because I'm excelling too much at this goal. I'm actually too successful at weight loss. I started to get a little bit nervous. I started at 212 and about four and a half months later, I was 185. And I was like, okay, time for a change. And so I started lifting weights again. I'm about 193, 194 right now. But that was just one example of how


results inspire you to keep going. I mean, practical stuff, Bryan. And this is for you, Bryan. I want you to listen to this. This is for a one person audience. I would do things like check my email on my phone while walking. You have to be careful. Make sure you don't step in a hole, fall off a curb, hit a limb, a tree. But you can do this at home. I mean, I'm being serious. I check my messages from my phone while walking. I post on social media real quickly, you know, a little.


Bryan (31:20.595)

Yeah.


Robert Cheeke (31:26.836)

Facebook, Instagram, while walking. I have phone calls with my, perhaps my family, my parents or a friend, or even a business call. I've had a call with Max Sim, where I leave audio messages for Max Sim. I'm walking, I'm moving. This adds up. I was doing 5 ,000 steps a day or less, much like many of you sitting at a computer, doing lots of work, writing my books, answering emails, doing business stuff. And now I average,


closer to 15 to 20 ,000 steps per day. That's unequivocally true. That's documented. That's well tracked. Many days just this week over 20 ,000. Yesterday was 26 ,000 steps. Part of that just included recycling boxes and including some products from Jeff that I got recycling the empty boxes and mowing the lawn. These are little things. And I was still able to get a lot of other stuff done. I also walk between sets. Many of us can leave a water bottle.


or something else, set of keys or something we hope doesn't disappear by our sweatshirt, by our gym equipment and go walk in between sets. Don't just sit there on a bench and just hang out and take up space. Like move in between sets. I did that yesterday at the gym for a 90 minute workout going back and forth to where my phone was to update my app for that set, how many reps and then back to go do shrugs and back across the gym to record it back.


Maxime Sigouin (32:28.359)

Yeah.


Robert Cheeke (32:51.956)

That's a way to get activity. And when you see that progress, and I don't care what it is, whether it's making money, losing weight, learning a language, learning a skill, the more that we achieve results, man, that is some serious motivation. That's how I wrote this thing. Two pages every single day. You write two pages every day and soon you've written a book. It's really,


That easy. Same with exercise. You go every day. You start losing weight, gaining muscle, if you're eating the right things and have the right sleep and rest and recovery and protocol. That's what does it for me. Go get those results. And Bryan, I want to hear that you're sending an email and don't step into a pothole or a manhole and fall down somewhere. But that you're getting like...


Geoff Palmer (33:38.235)

Thank you.


Bryan (33:40.25)

I I just I yeah, I can't the 90 -minute thing is what does it for me? I did get my 10 -minute row in three times this week You know what I mean? I'm getting my my rows in and I do do some walking meetings But I agree with you Robert So I want I know we're gonna need to have this whole group back again and continue this conversation We got about 20 minutes left I want to make sure we finish out the lightning round and talk about one other big topic. So Karina hit us with your motivational advice


Karina (34:08.398)

I love talking about motivation because I think the people who have achieved long -term results have trained themselves to operate without motivation. So we tell our clients, if you, yeah right, if you rely on motivation, you are setting yourself up for failure. So yes, of course it's important, like Jeff mentioned, to keep our deep -seated why in mind. So for him it's, you know, this deep -seated motivation to inspire or maybe,


Bryan (34:19.348)

You can tell Robert has.


Karina (34:37.358)

You know, Robert wants to show the world that you can gain a hundred pounds of muscle on only plants. Like, yes, these are important whys, but they are not going to keep you consistent enough to see results. You need another layer on top of this deep -seated why, and that is habits and systems. So a book that I would highly recommend is James Clear's Atomic Habits. It's one of my favorite books ever. He says, you do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.


Bryan (34:43.603)

Ha ha ha ha.


Karina (35:07.659)

So when we talk about systems, we are talking about habits, daily practices, exactly what Robert just shared about walking. So he's now checking his email, making family calls while getting movement. These are the things we're talking about. So for example, I have three training partners for lifting who keep me consistent way more than if I was just working out on my own. I started teaching music so that I'm more consistent with my own daily practice for performances.


and I created a swim club so that I'm consistent with my own swimming, right? So it's really about changing your environment to support your goals. And motivation is fickle. Some days you have it, some days you don't. If you want long -term results, you have to train yourself to operate without it.


Bryan (35:51.956)

I love it.


very, very well said. I love that book, Atomic Habits. I haven't, I think I read it a couple of years ago, but it's a great, great reminder of what you can do with the power of the system. Like you said, I want to, I want to pivot over to the environment and the animals, you know, and try and tie that into the fitness side of it a little bit here. And I think the article that made me the, the maddest this week was CNN came out with a big, huge headline on Apple news and all this stuff about how we've had 12 months of


consistent climate temperature increase. We've broken the climate temperature record on the planet for the 12th month in a row. We're definitely heading in the wrong direction on that front. And I read through the whole article looking for the one thing I was hoping to see in the article about how animal agriculture is one of those driving forces that's causing the problems that we're seeing on this planet. And again, the whole


article talked about the UN and the 12 month thing. I wrote a little blog about it on our website. You can check that out. But I rewrote the article as if it should have been done the right way from a vegan perspective. But it was really about fossil fuels and some of the standard stuff we see in the media today kind of a thing. And not one mention of the harm of the animals and the animal agriculture itself. So I wanted you to sort of unpack how each of you are sort of incorporating


the environment and the animal suffering pieces of this, the ethical side of this into your businesses and some of your thoughts on how we can help change this world by not only voting with our wallets but with the food we're putting in our mouths and stuff like that. So Mike hit it out of the park with the first thoughts there.


Mike Young of aPlantBasedDiet.org (37:42.822)

Well, as I mentioned earlier, we are a totally vegan organization. We're dealing with health, span, and longevity for the most part, but that also deals with the environment and with the animals. Our slogan is for people, animals, and our planet. So we want all to benefit. As I mentioned earlier, we want to have fun. We want to enjoy life. I don't think that making any animals or the environment suffer is anyone's idea of fun.


I think that in order for folks to be able to do what they want, they have to reduce the limitations. And when you start doing activities that, like you said, you know are causing climate issues, problems with the environment, it's going to limit what you can do yourself long term. And we expect everyone to be here long term, so we're long term thinkers. We want to make sure that the next generation or when we're over 100 that we can still enjoy the same things today that are then that we do today.


And of course the animals getting back to them. No the reason for for really us focusing on what we do is that we don't want to harm the animals and we don't want to harm ourselves and We want to enjoy life and that's kind of how we would look at it is that Yes, there are whenever you harm your health you are also harming the animals in most cases and definitely harming the environment so Let's just let's just enjoy life and do the best we can is how we look at it


Bryan (39:08.594)

I love it. Jeff, what's your thoughts?


Geoff Palmer (39:11.179)

So both from an ethical standpoint of view and from an environmental standpoint of view, one thing is not talked about enough and is the number one biggest risk for collapsing our environment right now is fish. 90 billion land animals are killed, but that's nothing compared to the almost three trillion fish and sea life that are killed. We've wiped out over 50 % of all life in the entire oceans and seas.


And we're fast -tracked to do that completely, a tipping of the balance. You know, people say, so what? What if we wipe out fish? We just won't eat fish anymore. Well, that's not the actual real problem. When the fish collapse, the phytoplankton then collapse. They over bloom and they rob all the oxygen out of the water and then no plant can survive in the ocean. 70 % of the oxygen you and I are breathing right now comes from phytoplankton in the ocean. We wipe out the fish, it'll...


collapse the phytoplankton population, we wipe that out, the vast majority of land animals, including humans who can't afford to buy their own oxygen, will also suffocate to death. It will be a horrible collapse and we're just decades away from that? That's something to take seriously. So I'm writing a book right now on the grand lie that fish is a health food. It's a lie that's been propagated by a bad testing method.


that just came out as a study by the Fish Oils Association saying that you should get your blood tested for omegas. We now know that's absolutely false. You do not need preformed EPA or DHA. No human does, no herbivore does. We're an herbivore. Our physiology says so. It's the grand lie of the fish oil situation of those trying to sell fish and fish oil. And it's...


killing the planet, it's killing the environment, and it's killing more animals than any other category combined. So that's been my passion is to debunk this whole myth about preformed EPA and DHA. It's even got vegans and vegan doctors. And I'm sorry to say Dr. Greger is even still peddling the myth that we need preformed DHA. And it's a lie. It's wrong. We have the science that proves it's wrong. I've worked with some of the top researchers in the field showing.


Geoff Palmer (41:32.587)

that 47 times more DHA is produced inside the body than the bloodstream, yet the fish oil industries are still telling people they got to get their blood checked so that it gives a false reading that they need DHA. You do not. No herbivore needs it. As a matter of fact, DHA increases LDL cholesterol and results in more heart attacks and strokes, and it's proven to increase the risk for AFib, which increases your risk for heart attack by 63%.


Bryan (41:49.65)

Well.


Geoff Palmer (42:01.419)

It's just a lie and it's a lie that's wiping out animals, destroying our environment faster than anything else humans are doing right now.


Bryan (42:09.938)

Well, well said. I think the Sea Spirits Sea movie comes to my mind or Endgame 2050 was another amazing one. Like we might not make it past 2050 if we keep to what we're doing to the oceans, which is bad for Mike, who's going to live to 150 on that front. Robert, we got 10 minutes left. Robert, I want you to hit us with your environmental and ethical side of things with the impactful vegan angle.


Maxime Sigouin (42:25.712)

Yeah.


Geoff Palmer (42:25.803)

you


Robert Cheeke (42:35.924)

Yeah, absolutely. Well, speaking of 2050, Jeff, there have been 11 peer reviewed papers that show we're going to have an increase anywhere from 62 % to a staggering 242 % more animal agriculture by 2050. This is just unfathomable. This is just unthinkable and unimaginable. And to Mike's point, you know, we're going to we're going to be in a very dire situation if we continue on that crash course. And like Jeff said, there's so much


riding on it, whether we're even going to have fresh air to breathe. The biggest obstacle to this, some people might think the biggest objection to veganism is a worry about getting enough protein or the taste, cost and convenience of food is not quite on par, you know, with what it is eating animals. Unfortunately, the biggest obstacle to veganism is I don't care.


we have a community, a population of apathy. It says, you know what? And I think I maybe had this conversation with Jeff or maybe some others in some recent podcasts where I actually disagree with the popular quotes that say some things along the lines of, if slaughterhouses had glass walls, we'd all be vegetarian. I don't think so. To Jeff's point earlier, I believe it was Jeff who said this, many people know.


that animals go through suffering and slaughter to be turned into our food. And they just turn away. It's out of sight. It's out of mind. And to parallel that to something else, most of us just turn our back to things like sweatshop labor or the fact that, you know, back in the, I think it was the nineties or early two thousands, there are four million people left, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, working 16 hours in the fields.


just so they could have a job in Thailand in sweatshops because that was better. And most of us don't think about where our clothing comes from or other products we use that involve all kinds of exploitation. But the more we're thoughtful about all of that, the more we're thoughtful about where our food comes from, how we vote with our dollars, the decisions that we make, the decisions that we don't make. That is how we vote.


Robert Cheeke (45:00.628)

and express our voice for the future that we want to see. 2050 could be a very scary time. 10 billion people at that point, up to maybe 240 % more animal agriculture. That could be very problematic. But we're also in a, I think Karina might talk about this, Jeff might talk about this, and certainly Maxim talks about this, we're in a sick care system. And I know Mike talks about this. We don't have a health care system, we have a sick care system, and we're running out of...


of money, of hospitals, of space. We've got a problem here that comes back to the decisions that we make every single day. And so what I'm doing with the Impactful Vegan is I'm trying to unpack all of that and help people understand the consequences of the decisions about what they put on the end of their fork and what they put on their plate. And that extends far beyond our own culture, our heritage, our religious beliefs, our habits.


and what we learned from our parents, the ego that we come from, this privilege that we come from of having dominion over the choices we make as if they don't have consequences for other individuals. And so I'm trying to get that conversation going and get that conversation to spread about how we can be more thoughtful in our decision -making to live a more compassionate world. And I'll go ahead and leave that there.


Bryan (46:25.649)

Thank you Robert, well said. Maxim, I know you may have to jump here if we run a few minutes over and stuff, so I want to give you a chance to respond to that and weigh in.


Maxime Sigouin (46:37.414)

Yeah, for sure. So on my side, I see it as what I'm doing is I'm building.


And I say I say this respectfully, of course, many billboards for veganism. So through every person that I help get healthier and transform, they become kind of that shining light in their community. Just like I made as a joke earlier, Jeff's bicep when he walks into the gym, like he becomes that beacon of light in that community. And people are like, wow, what are you doing? You look so great. You're so fit. You lost so much weight. And so I know that if I can help one person to kind of become that beacon of light and they start other people start to ask what they are doing, then it opens the door and people tend to be more


If they are the one asking about it versus if they're being told and so if we can get more people to just eat 50 60 70 80 90 100 % You know more plan base that's gonna reduce the amount of animal suffering that's gonna reduce the impact on the environment and so to me I'm looking to build these little Lighthouses in each community with all the people that we get to transform and by default the animals benefit by defaults the environment benefits by default everything else starts to improve and I'll just add one


last point when Robert and I recorded for his new book on my show, he brought up a really good point, which I thought I was going to bring up now is you talk about convenience, right, making it easier for people to eat plant based because like Robert said, most people don't care if they had the opportunity to see some people wouldn't care wouldn't be fazed by it. But if it was more convenient, more affordable, and it was you know, if it was 10 times more expensive to buy meat, and it was very hard to get, most people wouldn't go through the trouble of it, they would just buy


whatever is convenient. So I think a factor of helping the animals of helping the environment is kind of like the businesses that are coming up in the plant based food industry to kind of make these foods more available and accessible to people, especially in the center of the United States, but where else in the world is like I'm in LA. Very easy. A lot of great restaurants here you go to on the east side kind of the same thing, but you go in the center of the states and it's a lot more challenging to find a vegan restaurants or vegan options. So the convenience point by giving credit to


Maxime Sigouin (48:45.251)

to Robert for that one.


Bryan (48:48.113)

Well said, well said. Karina, weigh in with your thoughts.


Karina (48:52.615)

Well, on the ethical standpoint, my whole team of me and two coaches and my podcast head honcho, we're all long term ethical vegans. So that piece is just in the background. It is a given in everything that we do and the folks that we work with. It's very obvious from all of our material online, from our website, from our application process, that we're looking to work with folks who are on the same page. They don't have to be completely vegan, but somewhere on the plant based spectrum is


the similar to Maxime's client base that we're looking to work with. And of course, our business supports lots of nonprofits. We have for years now, for example, a monthly donation that goes to a wombat sanctuary of all things in southern Australia. We do occasional online events that, you know, benefit the Humane League and things like that. So I feel like from a business perspective, there are things you can do to align with your


Geoff Palmer (49:39.339)

Thank you.


Karina (49:52.578)

ethical standpoint, much like Robert said, we're essentially voting with our dollars. And so in that sense, what you put on your plate, voting with your dollars about the food that you're buying or the food that you're putting on your plate, again, we're very privileged here in that we have a choice, most of us here, I assume, as to what is going on our plate in the first place. But that's one of the most substantial actions you can take to either support or destroy our environment.


And I think more people need to realize that even if the environment is the thing that brings people in toward plant -based eating, hopefully they'll branch out to other reasons down the road. But the international panel on climate change does recognize that consuming a completely plant -based diet is a key mitigation strategy for climate change. And so I think this information we all kind of inherently know, but we could probably be better at disseminating this.


to the general public using our platforms to talk about these pieces of info. I have a podcast guest who was on the show a while back, Dr. Gregory Tague. He's a scholar and an author. And in his book, he writes, there are no boundaries between health slash illness and sustainability slash climate ruin. Only choice is about which side of the equation one desires. So the point is they're linked. What you put on your plate is a vote for your own health.


and the health of our planet. And I think that's pretty powerful for a lot of people. So we need to keep in mind in all of these discussions that individual actions do make a difference. This is what we're doing with being vegan. They help the animals, they help the environment, they help other humans, they help our own health. And so we can affect consumer demand and we can affect the environment on an individual level. I do think we need systemic change as well, but that shouldn't preclude doing what you can.


Bryan (51:49.394)

I love it. As you were saying all that, Karina, and it was just so well said, I felt like we should just rename Earth vegan. You know what I mean? Like Earth should be vegan. So very well said. I know we're going to be running out of time here. Maxima, if you want to say goodbye, how do we get in touch with you and what's your favorite chili recipe as we wrap up?


Karina (51:56.127)

That would be nice.


Maxime Sigouin (52:00.857)

Yeah.


Maxime Sigouin (52:09.049)

Okay, I'll wrap over just one final thought I appreciate you putting this together because the one thing I want people to notice as they're listening to this is Everyone came to veganism from a different angle Right. And so whatever angle people came in for they're they're doing work within that space Obviously, it's about all the other reason but predominantly it's for the animals for environment It's for the health and it's it's important to have people that are Advocating for all these different aspects because the people listening gently might not care about the animals yet But they might care about the environment or they might care about the health


So all the work that you guys are doing is super important. I appreciate you guys for doing that Where you guys can find me fitvegancoaching .com Everything's on there. If you go down below the link to our podcast YouTube channel Instagram, everything is on there My favorite chili recipe. We just I just did one with my wife. It was black bean TVP onion garlic bell peppers and some taco mix salt and pepper and I think I was pretty much it. Yeah, it's up on our Instagram We made a video about it. So thank you


Bryan (53:08.913)

Awesome. Thank you for being here. Mike, hit us with your chili recipe and one more time, how can people get in touch?


Maxime Sigouin (53:08.923)

for having me guys.


Mike Young of aPlantBasedDiet.org (53:21.734)

chili recipe. I'm the chief foodie officer so I eat. I can't give you a recipe. I'm not generally a chef but I will eat and I love any chili that's completely vegan. I would devour it. I'm a big eater even though I may not look like it. I'm a huge eater. How you can get in touch with me is a plantbaseddiet .org. That's our website. Everything's on there including an email list. Sign up if you want to find out more about what we have going on. So thank you.


Bryan (53:49.873)

He's got some amazing tours and cruises and stuff lining up for us vegans as well. So thanks Mike for putting some of those together. Jeff.


Geoff Palmer (54:00.331)

Boy I got a lot of websites. Okay, you can go to our website for athletes at team clean machine You can look us up on Facebook and IG at clean machine fit You can check out our website if you're interested in the products that we sell at clean machine online You can check out our YouTube channel where I have all my podcasts that I do weekly podcasts at 4 p On Thursdays had some great guests Karina I would love to have you on by the way saying like


Karina (54:29.279)

I'd love to speak with you.


Geoff Palmer (54:30.603)

Yeah, and so I do weekly podcasts. A lot of it is covering the latest research, which I'll be covering on the fish oil lobby this week. So shortly after I get off this in about half an hour, as a matter of fact. And then you can check out my personal page where I get a little bit more, let's say, assertive in my posting.


with my vegan messaging on my personal page at Jeff, like it's spelled on the screen, G -E -O -F -F Palmer on Facebook. That's where I live mostly. Not much on IG, but I do posting there too.


Bryan (55:08.401)

Thanks Jeff, I did look it up while we were chatting here, almost 400 million pounds of seafood are pulled out of the ocean every single day. It's just like shocking to hear that number every day. Yeah, 160 billion pounds yearly. So we have got to change the world on that front. Robert.


Geoff Palmer (55:17.387)

every day.


Geoff Palmer (55:26.699)

And 35 % of that goes into the garbage, never even makes it into somebody's mouth.


Bryan (55:30.737)

Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. Robert, congrats on the new book. Where can we get a copy of that? How do we get in touch with you and tell us some of your favorite chili recipe?


Robert Cheeke (55:43.54)

Yeah, thank you. Thank you for having me and thank you to my internet connection and wifi and for sticking with me for the most part today. I'm grateful for that. You know, I've been vegan for three decades since the late 1900s and I don't know that I've ever made a vegan recipe. I'm very lucky, very fortunate that my wife makes essentially 100 % of the meals that we enjoy. I slap a few things together.


I've named things like a yam witch, you know, just like a couple yams or something in the middle of boom, yam witch, it's all ready to go. But that being said, I do have a three bean chili, maybe with tempeh recipe, don't quote me on it, in one of my books, it's actually from my wife and that's in the Plant Based Athlete. So, you know, any kind of chili scene carne would be something that I would gravitate towards. That's chili without meat for the non -Spanish speakers listening.


And I would encourage people to go to ImpactfulVegan .com and download a totally free introduction plus chapter one of my new book. It's a 31 page PDF you can get anytime on ImpactfulVegan .com. We just soared up the Amazon bestseller rankings to number one in multiple categories when I was with Karina in Vancouver. And it's, I mean, it's out June 25th. It's so soon, super excited about it. And like I said, it's the best.


book that I've ever written and I hope that you will check out The Impactful Vegan and perhaps leave an honest review online once you've done so. So find me impactfulvegan .com which there will also have all my social media links.


Bryan (57:25.009)

Thank you Robert for joining us. Karina, how do we get in touch with you and do you have any secret ingredients in your chili?


Karina (57:32.974)

Well, thanks so much, Bryan, for having me here and Jeff, Robert, Mike, Maxime. Great to be on the call. My husband does most of the cooking in my household, so which is kind of hilarious because I have a cookbook, but he next leveled my chili recipe. And so in The Vegan Athlete, to which Robert wrote the foreword, by the way. So he wrote the foreword to my first book, The Vegan Vitality, way back in 2014. And then the second edition came out in 2021 with the same foreword.


Bryan (57:47.377)

Hehehehe


Karina (58:02.35)

by Robert. Anyway, so in those two books, there's a chili recipe in the vegan athlete. It's updated and it is called Murray's chili because Murray's my husband and his secret ingredient is refried beans. It has other beans as well, but the refried beans gives it a really kind of good texture. And the other secret is to fresh grind your cumin every time you make your chili. So we have cumin seeds and he grinds it fresh every time you make a pot of chili.


just for that extra little kick. And you can find me and all things vegan training at KarinaInkster .com. The podcast is there. You can also go to NoBullshitVegan .com and I'm on Instagram. I'm on Facebook, basically just to show people that we're a real human team, but we don't do a ton on social. We're mostly a Google based business. So if you were a potential client Googling vegan fitness coaching, we're usually on the first page of Google.


So we do a lot of content, we have articles, we interview awesome folks, and I would love to have Mike and Jeff and Maxime in that realm. Robert Cheek actually has his second podcast episode with us coming out on Tuesday, FYI, so it's coming out soon. And thank you for having me here, it's been fantastic.


Geoff Palmer (59:21.995)

Thank you.


Bryan (59:26.578)

Thank you, Karina. We appreciate you jumping in and hanging out with us.


Were you gonna add something else?


Karina (59:35.47)

No, I think there's just a little delay in my internet connection.


Bryan (59:42.834)

Okay, so... Yeah, no worries.


We appreciate you being here Karina. Thank you so much for sharing that insight I I think my favorite secret ingredient is to take the poblano peppers and char broil them You know just get a little little film on it On that front and then chop those up and stick them in the chili along with the other secret ingredient is chocolate You got to put a little bit of chocolate powder in in your in your chili because I think those two things make the chili just amazing and I have taken


Geoff Palmer (01:00:09.835)

More like.


Bryan (01:00:17.043)

second place in my chili competitions where I've submitted my vegan recipe. So hopefully next time first place, you know, but when you tell them there's no meat in it, I think it biases them. So anyway, I want to say a big shout out. Thank you to all our guests today for sharing your expertise and experience and stories. It's clear that you can achieve great things in fitness while adhering to a plant -based vegan diet. Thank you all. Remind you all to subscribe, follow,


Check us out on social media and help us spread the word before all the fish are taken out of the oceans And we'll be back soon. So stay green and keep pushing your limits everybody. See you next time