Monthly Ponderings
There's an amazing community of lifestyle-focused scientists, physicians, industry movers and shakers and others out there you probably don't know about! They're teaching us a new way to look at our health world, and showing us how to apply the six pillars of wellbeing, so we can sustainably and deliciously heal, get slim, become med free, avoid declining health as we age, and instead, live long, vibrant lives.
Below is just a sampling of what they're sharing!
Watch | Read | Listen
Some links below are associated with an affiliate account.
I only recommend resources I love and value and have used myself, so I know you will be in good hands.
May Ponderings
Taking responsibility/ownership for our actions is when true autonomy happens.
1
Documentary: Plant Pure Nation
PILLARS: WHOLE FOOD, PLANT-CENTRIC DIET. SOCIAL CONNECTION.
This documentary will give you a better understanding of how challenging it is to change a"system" when profits are more important than sustainable healing solutions.
The movie's tag line - "the truth is a stubborn thing, it doesn't go away" tells it all.
As more and more of us are wising up and leveraging the benefits of a plant-centric life the tipping point will come, just like it did with tobacco.
2
Book: Quick and Easy
PILLAR: WHOLE FOOD, PLANT-CENTRIC DIET.
Don't get sucked into the myth that plant-centric eating is labor intensive and the food doesn't taste good. Far from it! You just need to know where to go and what to do to produce delicious eats!
Deliciously Ella's cookbook Quick and Easy contains one PLANTabulous recipe after another! Seriously! Her salted espresso chocolate tart is to die for good!
Simple ingredients, easy to put together - a great way to explore what truly healthy eating can be!
3
Podcast: Plant-Based Masterclass
PILLARS: WHOLE FOOD, PLANT-CENTRIC DIET, SOCIAL CONNECTION.
This podcast is a synopsis of key takeaways from a series of discussions about plant-centric nutrition.
It's a GREAT way to meet a number of the movers and shakers in our space, and get their different perspectives on the subject.
June Ponderings
Little things .... itty bitty things.....really matter!
1
Documentary: Invisible Extinction
PILLARS: WHOLE FOOD, PLANT-CENTRIC DIET, STRESS MANAGEMENT, RESTORATIVE SLEEP.
Have you noticed that folks who've had repeated exposures to anti-biotics seem to be more susceptible to infections? That's because antibiotics wreak havoc on our gut biome.... and as we're fast learning with all the new gut science coming out, our biome is the essential driver for establishing good health and protecting us from disease.
2
Book: Fiber Fueled
PILLARS: WHOLE FOOD, PLANT-CENTRIC DIET, STRESS MANAGEMENT, RESTORATIVE SLEEP.
Want to understand how your gut works and what you should be eating to keep it operating at its best? This book is for you!
Spoiler alert - eating plants is a key part of the strategy!
Dr. B is awesome and hilarious at making the subject of gut bacteria, poop and bowel movements fascinating and entertaining. What used to be a socially unacceptable subject for conversation is now mainstream dialog - and that's a good thing!
You can also connect with Dr. B on IG for more pooptacular ponderings!
3
Podcast: Optimize your Gut to Fight Disease
PILLARS: WHOLE FOOD, PLANT-CENTRIC DIET, STRESS MANAGEMENT, RESTORATIVE SLEEP.
Gut science is advancing rapidly - giving us deeper insight into the powerful connection between the health of our gut and our ability to remain healthy, and fight off disease.
Listen to Tim Spector, the world’s leading authority on the cutting edge of microbiome research - fascinating stuff!
July Ponderings
Leveraging food for competitive advantage and career extension - oh the possibilities!
1
Documentary:
The Game Changers
PILLARS: PHYSICAL FITNESS, WHOLE FOOD, PLANT-CENTRIC DIET, RESTORATIVE SLEEP, SOCIAL CONNECTION.
Here's a documentary seriously worth your time. Be ready for a brain-boggling paradigm shift as you learn how fitness and health are not truly aligned, and a whole lot of metabolic nasties can be going on if, like I was, you're only attentive to the external results.
2
Book:Plant-Based Athlete
PILLARS: PHYSICAL FITNESS, WHOLE FOOD PLANT-CENTRIC DIET.
Here's a great book with a first hand testimonial to the power of food to influence athletic performance.
Get under the hood to understand what's going on, and receive practical advice for achieving similar outcomes.
Robert is just one of many athletes leveraging food for competitive advantage: Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams, Tom Brady, Lewis Hamilton and many more are breaking records, winning Olympic medals, and extending careers, simply by changing what they put on their plate.
3
Podcast: Food for Optimal Performance
PILLARS: PHYSICAL FITNESS, WHOLE FOOD PLANT-CENTRIC DIET, SOCIAL CONNECTION.
Many athletes who are sore after a workout or event, chalk it up to the price we pay for participating, not realizing something else is going on.
This conversation with NFL player David Carter explores how our social bias about food holds us back from our full potential..... myth busting at its best.
August Ponderings
A mind once stretched, never returns to the same dimension.
1
Documentary: The Marshall Plan
PILLARS: SOCIAL CONNECTION, WHOLE FOOD PLANT-CENTRIC DIET.
Come and meet Ed Smith, who back in the day was the mayor of Marshall, TX. He was suffering from prostate cancer, and instead of going the traditional medical route to solve his problem, chose a different path.... taking ownership for what he was eating and how he was living his life.
It was such a transformational experience, he decided to create a movement in the town where he lived.
Imagine that! In beef-loving, BBQ-worshiping Texas an entire town came together - changing mindsets, shifting cultural inertia and ultimately, transforming lives.
2
Book: How not to Die
PILLARS: SOCIAL CONNECTION, STRESS MANAGEMENT, WHOLE FOOD PLANT-CENTRIC DIET.
Here's another guy, Dr. Greger, who ended up becoming a doctor passionate about helping people make the connection between food and disease - all because of his own personal story with his grandma.
This book is a fabulous , practical read - exploring a list of diseases and explaining the connection they have with our diet and lifestyle choices.
We have a lot more autonomy over our health than conventional medicine wants us to believe. We don't have to be hostage to declining health as we age, and we can massively up our odds of not getting a disease when we make the informed choice.
3
Podcast: Why Healthy Food is a Human Right
PILLARS: SOCIAL CONNECTION, WHOLE FOOD PLANT-CENTRIC DIET.
How often do you meet a true leader in your community? Someone humble enough to have an open mind when new information comes along.
Someone committed to applying that information to solve a problem. Someone dedicated enough to then share that information with his community, and do the work necessary to drive societal awareness and change, so we can all benefit.
Come and meet Eric Adams - the Mayor of New York City.
September Ponderings
It's not the stress that kills us, it's how we react to it.
3
Podcast: Break the Cycle of Worry & Fear
PILLARS: STRESS MANAGEMENT.
Learn how to break the cycle of worry and fear with Judson Brewer, American psychiatrist / neuroscientist. Master brain-based techniques and small hacks to uproot stress, identify your triggers, so you can respond mindfully rather than react impulsively.
October Ponderings
Aging - it's not lost youth, but a new stage of possibilities.
1
Documentary: Live to be 100 - secrets of the Blue Zones
PILLARS: RESTORATIVE SLEEP, SOCIAL CONNECTION,
STRESS MANAGEMENT, AVOID RISKY SUBSTANCES, WHOLE FOOD PLANT-CENTRIC DIET, PHYSICAL EXERCISE.
Travel around the world with author Dan Buettner to discover five unique communities where people live extraordinarily long and vibrant lives.
Common themes prevail.... all revolving around LIFESTYLE principles. No magic pills, potions or procedures.... just strong alignment with natural systems that embrace the LIFESTYLE Pillars.
2
Book: The Longevity Diet
PILLARS: RESTORATIVE SLEEP, SOCIAL CONNECTION,STRESS MANAGEMENT, AVOID RISKY SUBSTANCES, WHOLE FOOD PLANT-CENTRIC DIET, PHYSICAL EXERCISE.
Our current expectation is our health declines as we age..... but that's just because we're trapped in a health / wellbeing system / model that's broken. Having a health span as long as a lifespan, and that lifespan being a long one, is all possible if we're open to changing what we're doing.
Dr Valter Longo PhD has been studying the subject intensively - and LIFESTYLE is an essential factor.
3
Podcast:
The Longevity Masterclass
PILLARS: RESTORATIVE SLEEP, SOCIAL CONNECTION,STRESS MANAGEMENT, AVOID RISKY SUBSTANCES, WHOLE FOOD PLANT-CENTRIC DIET, PHYSICAL EXERCISE.
Dive deep into the subject of longevity, specifically: listen to a suite of conversations on how to age healthfully, how to biologically promote longevity, how to embrace your innate potential for growth beyond the prescribed productive years, and how to cultivate a true life-long expansion of self.
Learn how a LIFESTYLE approach is the common component.
November Ponderings
Sleep is a critical biological function, not a sign of laziness/weakness.
1
Documentary: The Quest for Sleep
PILLAR: RESTORATIVE SLEEP
Follow the lives of four people and their sleep struggles, and listen to the experts who illuminate the science behind how we sleep and what keeps us awake.
Learn what happens to the brain while we're sleeping and how important sleep is for optimal cognitive function and more.
2
Book: How to Sleep Well
PILLAR: RESTORATIVE SLEEP
Identify the things in your life that are disrupting your sleep cycle and learn how to mitigate the impact. Get expert tips and tricks to help you get the sleep you need. Finally, learn how your waking hours work with or against your sleep, and how best to engage in your day to up your chances of a quality night's sleep at the end of your day.
3
Podcast: Why We Sleep
PILLARS: RESTORATIVE SLEEP, SOCIAL CONNECTION, STRESS MANAGEMENT.
The science of sleep has come a long way! We now know it has way more impact on our wellbeing beyond just helping us rest when we get tired.
This is a long but profoundly mind bending listen on how sleep impacts our wellbeing: brain health, emotional health, gut health, immune system health and more!
December Ponderings
Connection - going digital is not the answer.
1
TED Talk: Social Life and Longevity
PILLAR: SOCIAL CONNECTION
The Italian island of Sardinia has more than six times as many centenarians as the mainland and ten times as many as North America. Psychologist Susan Pinker, explains how their emphasis on close personal relationships and face-to-face interactions is the key.
2
Book: The Healing Power of Connection
PILLAR: SOCIAL CONNECTION
We are inherently social beings, but our modern world is making it challenging to truly connect with others. Loneliness is a public health concern: a root cause and contributor to many of the epidemics sweeping the world today. Learn four key strategies for establishing strong social connections that will empower your wellbeing to new heights.
3
Podcast:The Unexpected Health Effects of Loneliness
PLLAR: SOCIAL CONNECTION
Listen to the US Surgeon General explore the compound effects of loneliness on our health as individuals and as a society, and share with us what we can all do to enrich our lives and improve our health outcomes by having more connection, companionship, and community.
January Ponderings
When something isn't working, more of the same isn't going to fix it.
1
Documentary: Forks Over Knives
PILLAR: WHOLE FOOD, PLANT-CENTRIC DIET.
For many that have taken this journey, this was the film that got them to make the connection between food and health. It tells it like it is.... straight up honest conversation about which foods truly heal and which ones are slowly killing us. The big takeaway is how FAST our weight and wellbeing outcomes can turn around when we feed our bodies what they truly need.
2
Book: Proteinaholic
PILLAR: WHOLE FOOD, PLANT-CENTRIC DIET
Today, many of us are obsessed with getting enough protein.... more is better is what we're thinking.... gotta pile it on with every meal.
But that's marketing, not science. Come and discover some not so pleasant things about protein - one of them being its link to promoting certain types of cancer.
3
Podcast:
A Life Transformed
PILLARS: WHOLE FOOD, PLANT-CENTRIC DIET, SOCIAL CONNECTION, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY.
Josh LaJaunie's story is inspiring! Living in a place and surrounded by a culture that clearly stacked the cards against any sort of effort to achieving true healing and wellbeing.... and yet, with little means or money, he dug in, did the work, and got it done!
February Ponderings
Our bodies are not capricious - diseases happen because of something we are doing
1
Documentary: Food Matters
PILLAR: WHOLE FOOD, PLANT-CENTRIC DIET.
This documentary examines how the food we eat can either help or hurt our health, and how our health care industry challenges that notion.
Think about it.... we eat 3x day, 1,000x year, 80,000x in an average lifetime.... so why are doctors ignoring the role food plays in influencing health outcomes?
2
Book:
The China Study
PILLAR: WHOLE FOOD, PLANT-CENTRIC DIET.
Did you know our food is a messenger.... it can turn our genes on and off.... it has a major say in how certain cancers behave? We can literally "feed" or "starve" diseases, simply by our food choices! This book discusses the most comprehensive study ever taken to explore the relationship between diet and disease and is a must read.
Podcast: What's In Our Food
3
PILLAR: WHOLE FOOD, PLANT-CENTRIC DIET.
This podcast was a total mind-bender!
Get ready for a massive shift in perspectives about food and health. Zach Bush is working hard to create healthier food production systems. This conversation explores the impacts industrial farming, chemical pesticides, the pharmaceutical industry and Western medical practices have on both human and planetary health.
March Ponderings
Be comfortable being uncomfortable - that's when profound, life-changing growth happens.
1
Documentary: What The Health
PILLAR: WHOLE FOOD, PLANT-CENTRIC DIET.
This documentary will give you insight into how big biz, big pharma, big ag and governments are fully aware of the unhealthy outcomes their products and services generate, but continue to push for profits rather than offer us healthy solutions. We don't have to be hostage to any of this... we can bypass all these obstacles and achieve profound wellbeing... if we want to.
2
Book:
Super Immunity
PILLAR: WHOLE FOOD, PLANT-CENTRIC DIET.
This book will help you make the connection between your food, your gut, your immune system and your wellbeing. Get this right and the body NATURALLY heals and EFFORTLESSLY sheds weight. No magic involved..... just change what we're putting on our plate.
3
Podcast: Changing Habits
PILLARS: ALL
We can't buy our way out of our health problems like we can when we hire someone to come and clean our dirty house. WE have to be ready and willing to do the work needed if we want to truly heal and achieve optimal weight and wellbeing.
That work comes in the form of daily changes in behavior that drive the shift to true wellbeing..... namely, establishing healthier habits.
James Clear has spent the better part of his career attempting to understand and master the art and science of human habit formation and decision-making. This podcast is a worthy listen.
April Ponderings
The best food for us, is also the least harmful for our planet. In honor of Earth Day, let's explore what's going on.
1
Documentary: Cowspiracy
PILLARS: WHOLE FOOD, PLANT-CENTRIC DIET, STRESS MANAGEMENT, SOCIAL CONNECTION.
Without a healthy planet to live on, we're going to struggle to live healthy lives... and with 42%+ of our planet's functional land mass dedicated to producing food for humans, it's not hard to see that what we choose to eat matters.
Here's the good news - it just so happens that the healthiest foods for us are also the healthiest for our planet - another indicator that when we're aligned with natural systems, serious healing can happen WITHIN and AROUND us.
This documentary goes into more details - it's a good one to watch as a family - it's serious food for thought!
2
Book: Comfortably Unaware
PILLARS: WHOLE FOOD, PLANT-CENTRIC DIET, STRESS MANAGEMENT.
Here's a brain bending, eye opening read about why our food choices matter. Their tag line says it all - "what we choose to eat is killing us and our planet."
Suffice to say, grocery shopping will never be the same!
3
Podcast: Eat for the Planet
PILLARS: WHOLE FOOD, PLANT-CENTRIC DIET, STRESS MANAGEMENT.
9+ billion of us need to be fed every day.... that's no small task.
It takes land, technology, energy and more to produce our food, and with 70 billion animals going through the human food supply chain each year, and processed foods taking up a lot of space on our plates, that put massive pressure on our planet.
Tap into the many cool conversations hosted by Nil Zacharias and his team.
Eat for the Planet seeks to entertain and educate us on this subject, and guide us on how to making more planet-friendly food choices.
Every bite matters - seriously.
give a body what it needs and it will take care of itself