PLANTSTRONG Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Dr. Ruth Heidrich is a pioneering figure in the plant-based movement and a remarkable breast cancer survivor. In 1982, she adopted a vegan lifestyle following her diagnosis of stage four breast cancer. Her journey is one of resilience and serendipity, as she not only overcame her illness but also became a celebrated marathoner, triathlete, and IRONMAN competitor.

She shares the pivotal moment when she met Dr. John McDougall, who introduced her to the principles of a low-fat, plant-based diet. This dietary shift was not just a temporary change for her; it was a lifeline that contributed significantly to her remarkable recovery and subsequent athletic achievements.

Her accomplishments are astounding—She was voted Runner’s World Magazine’s “Runner of the Year” and is the winner of more than 900 trophies (and counting!),  8 Gold Medals in the U.S.Senior Olympics, and 67 marathons including Boston, New York, & Moscow. Dr. Heidrich attributes much of her longevity and athletic success to her commitment to a vegan lifestyle, emphasizing the importance of proper nutrition and exercise in maintaining health and vitality.

Rip and Ruth also discuss her updated book, A Race for Life, which is celebrating its 24th anniversary. The revised edition includes extensive insights into the latest research and personal anecdotes that illustrate her journey, including her complicated experiences with reconstruction surgeries and implants after her cancer treatments.

Dr. Heidrich exemplifies an indomitable spirit and a compelling can-do attitude, offering insights into how challenges can strengthen rather than define a person. Her philosophy, inspired by Dr. Seuss, reminds us that in the face of adversity, we have the power to choose our response—whether to let it define us, destroy us, or strengthen us.

Ruth is a beacon of hope and inspiration for anyone seeking to optimize their health through a plant-based lifestyle. Her story serves as a powerful reminder of the profound impact that nutrition and a positive mindset can have on our lives.

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Rip welcomes the incredible Chef AJ, a beloved figure in the plant-based community, known for her generous spirit and culinary expertise.

Her new cookbook, "Sweet Indulgence," comes out on August 27th, and they dive into her journey, the inspiration behind the book, and the creative process that culminated in over 150 healthy dessert recipes.

Chef AJ also demonstrates a live recipe for her famous Frozen Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake, a delightful treat that is both indulgent and guilt-free.

They discuss the health benefits of her recipes, emphasizing the importance of using whole foods and natural sweeteners like dates instead of refined sugars. Chef AJ highlights her philosophy of making desserts accessible and tempting for everyone, regardless of their dietary preferences. She shares anecdotes from her past, including her early experiences in the culinary world and her successful transition to a whole food, plant-based lifestyle.

Throughout the episode, Chef AJ's passion for cooking shines as she explains her methods, including the use of more flavorful and healthful ingredients, and the significance of recipe structure. They also touch on memorable moments at Plantstock and the supportive network within the plant-based movement.

Whether you're a seasoned cook or a beginner, Chef AJ's approachable recipes aim to inspire joy and connection through the simple act of sharing dessert.

SPECIAL Food Promo for Podcast Listeners Only!

Use code: podcast10 to receive 10% off food orders at plantstrong.com

Upcoming Events:

Join us for our 2025 Plantstrong Retreat in Black Mountain, NC - Nov 9-14, 2025: https://plantstrong.com/pages/black-mountain-retreat

Let Us Help Your PLANTSTRONG Journey

Use Code: KALE20 for $20 off Annual Subscription at https://home.mealplanner.plantstrong.com/

COMPLEMENT: Use code PLANTSTRONG for 30% off at https://lovecomplement.com/pages/plantstrong-special-offer

Leave Us a Voicemail Question

Leave us a voicemail: https://www.speakpipe.com/plantstrong

Follow PLANTSTRONG and Rip Esselstyn

https://plantstrongfoods.com/

https://www.facebook.com/GoPlantstrong

https://www.instagram.com/goplantstrong/

https://www.instagram.com/ripesselstyn/

Follow the PLANTSTRONG Podcast and Give the Show a 5-star Rating

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In 1984, True North Health Center opened their doors in Santa Rosa, California offering an alternative way to heal from disease and lose weight. Since that time, Dr. Alan Goldhamer and his team have supervised over 25,000 water-only fasts – with results that are astounding - disease reversal, weight loss, and a return to metabolic health. 

The term “fasting” is all over the place, with intermittent fasting and fasting mimicking diets in the mainstream media. Dr. Goldhamer gives us a quick primer on all of the differences and talks candidly about the importance of diet and lifestyle changes to lifelong health.

As he stresses, a water-only fast – or any fast for that matter - will do no good if you go right back to eating the salty, oily, and sugary foods that destroyed your health in the first place.  

Dr. Goldhamer and his colleague, Dr. Tashia Myers, just released the new book Can Fasting Save Your Life? – and this is what we discuss today. 

So, is fasting a good choice for you? Let’s find out with Dr. Alan Goldhamer. 

Picture this – you’re about to be wheeled into the operating room for triple bypass surgery. One artery is 100 percent blocked and two others are 65 percent blocked. You have an enlarged heart, leaky valves, and a heart murmur, among other issues.

At the eleventh hour, your cardiologist says, “Look, we can do this triple bypass, or you can try whole food, plant-based diet.” You have no idea why, but you choose a plant-based diet. Surely it’s easier than a triple bypass.

Thanks to the work and encouragement of a certain Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr, you make the radical lifestyle change and your angina disappears within three weeks, putting you on a path to health, self-discovery, and a new purpose in life.

Today, we're sharing the remarkable true story of Paul Chatlin. Inspired by the radical shift in his health and the desire to spread the word about plants, in 2014, Paul created the Plant-Based Nutrition Support Group, or PBNSG for short. PBNSG is dedicated to evidence-based education and advocacy of plant-based whole-food nutrition and an active lifestyle to prevent and reverse disease. They provide classes, community, and plenty of support to guide people in this transformation and optimize health.

Paul is a true go-getter, working from the heart (pun intended) to help spread to good word about whole food plant-based nutrition.

Episode Resources

Watch the Episode on YouTube

Plant-Based Nutrition Support Group

Join us in Black Mountain, NC for a Transformative PLANTSTRONG Retreat - April 16-21, 2023https://plantstrongfoods.com/pages/2023-black-mountain-retreat

Join Team PLANTSTRONG and Run with Rip! https://plantstrongfoods.com/pages/team-plantstrong

To stock up on the best-tasting, most convenient, 100% PLANTSTRONG foods, including our broths and soups, check out all of our PLANTSTRONG products HERE.

Give us a like on the PLANTSTRONG Facebook Page and check out what being PLANSTRONG is all about. We always keep it stocked full of new content and updates, tips for healthy living, and delicious recipes, and you can even catch me LIVE on there!

We’ve also got an Instagram! Check us out and share your favorite PLANTSTRONG products and why you love it! Don’t forget to tag us using #goplantstrong 🌱💪

Want to live your best PLANTSTRONG life? Join our exclusive PLANTSTRONG Community of friendly, plant-loving peeps! This is a goldmine of resources, recipes, and incredible support to feed your PLANTSTRONG life.

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Mr. Bluezones is back! That’s right, Dan Buettner is back on the PLANTSTRONG podcast to discuss his newest book, The Blue Zones American Kitchen: 100 Recipes to Live to 100.

As most of you know, Dan Buettner uncovered the five places around the world where people consistently live past 100 years old. It isn’t the exception. It’s the norm.

Only one of those Blue Zones happens to be in the United States - Loma Linda, California – but, did you realize that our traditional American food is firmly “planted” in a rich abundance of plant-based nutrition?

Our indigenous and Native American brothers and sisters thrived on grains and beans. Immigrants to the US brought with them potatoes, pasta, masa, corn, beans…beautiful nutritious food.

Buettner and his team took a tasty historical tour around the US and worked with contemporary chefs to create some of these traditional dishes and, today, Dan and I talk about many of these recipes and he shares memories and stories of the chefs, cultures, and meals that have shaped the diverse people we are today.

I know we think of American cuisine (if that’s what you want to call it) as hot dogs, hamburgers, and apple pie, but our history is radically more diverse, nutritious, and dare I say – PLANTSTRONG?!

Episode Resources

Watch the Episode on YouTube

Join Team PLANTSTRONG and Run with Rip! https://plantstrongfoods.com/pages/team-plantstrong

Order The Blue Zones American Kitchen



To stock up on the best-tasting, most convenient, 100% PLANTSTRONG foods, including our broths and soups, check out all of our PLANTSTRONG products HERE.

Give us a like on the PLANTSTRONG Facebook Page and check out what being PLANSTRONG is all about. We always keep it stocked full of new content and updates, tips for healthy living, delicious recipes, and you can even catch me LIVE on there!

We’ve also got an Instagram! Check us out and share your favorite PLANTSTRONG products and why you love it! Don’t forget to tag us using #goplantstrong 🌱💪

Want to live your best PLANTSTRONG life? Join our exclusive PLANTSTRONG Community of friendly, plant-loving peeps! This is a goldmine of resources, recipes, and incredible support to feed your PLANTSTRONG life.

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This week, we present a bonus episode from our friends at Switch4Good. If you’re not familiar with the work of Switch4Good, they are an evidence-based nonprofit, advocating passionately for a dairy-free world. For too long, society has accepted the distortion and misinformation Big Dairy feeds us. So Switch4Good exists to set the record straight, for the sake of human health, food justice, and the future of our planet. They work with health experts, athletes, social justice warriors, enlightened policy-makers, and progressive corporations to promote ethical lifestyles and widespread behavioral change related to how we eat.

The Switch4Good podcast is hosted by Olympic medalist, Dotsie Bausch and former Baywatch actress, Alexandra Paul. I believe so much in the work they’re doing that I wanted to share one of their podcast episodes with you today, especially as it relates to athletic performance. 

Ryan Duff is a medical student and a recreational ultra-endurance runner, but more impressive than his academic and athletic achievements is his story of overcoming an eating disorder. Dotsie and Alexandra talk with Ryan about his struggle from anorexia to binge eating, and how he’s overcome those hurdles by shifting to a plant-based diet. 

They discuss the underlying causes of eating disorders, coping mechanisms, and the holistic impact of a whole-goof plant-based diet on your physical and mental health. As he says in the interview, “I don’t run to eat. I eat and run.”  

Episode Resources

Download the Free Plant-Based Playbook from Switch4Good: https://switch4good.org/plant-based-playbook/

Join Team PLANTSTRONG and run with Rip! https://plantstrongfoods.com/pages/team-plantstrong 

Original Episode show notes  - https://switch4good.org/from-binge-eater-to-an-ultra-runner-with-ryan-duff/ 

Ryan Duff Instagram - @unleashtheduff

Rip welcomes back our cancer-crushing warrior, Dr. Kristi Funk, for her third appearance on the PLANTSTRONG Podcast  

Dr. Funk is a board-certified breast cancer surgeon & physician, bestselling author of the book, Breasts - the Owner’s Manual, and women's health advocate. Simply put, she is an encyclopedia of knowledge and a dynamo personality, which is why she’s the perfect expert to dig into the latest in cancer prevention research.

They catch up on some of that research and discuss four healthy lifestyle habits that will minimize your risk of breast cancer and optimize your health for the long haul: 

• Eating a plant-based diet

• Maintaining a healthy weight

• Getting regular exercise

• Putting the kibosh on your alcohol consumption 

One of the big takeaways is learning about easy additions that can have profound benefits - simple things like adding in a little fruit each day or scooping a couple of tablespoons of flax into your food. These little changes can make a huge difference in slowing cancer down and prohibiting it from growing.

Dr. Funk shoots straight.  It doesn’t matter if she’s on Good Morning America, The Rachael Ray Show, or the PLANTSTRONG Podcast, she is always unapologetically promoting the benefits of plants to crush cancer. 

Episode Timestamps

10:45 Dr. Funk describes her four-plan attack to reduce the risk of breast cancer.

11:49 Exactly why is eating plants our best defense against breast cancer? What does the research say?

29:00 What about processed plant-based foods? 

33:20 Does a late-age pregnancy elevate the risk of cancer?

34:40 What is the median age of getting breast cancer and other important stats about breast cancer risk

39:10 Why in the world should people eat mushrooms? 

40:30 Benefits of Exercise - Can it really reduce the chance of breast cancer?

43:00 What is it about alcohol that is a massive contributor to cancer growth?

47:30 Why you should be a Loser when it comes to weight and a quitter when it comes to smoking and drinking 

52:30 Pink Lotus - Dr. Funk’s empowering website 

56:20 What does the research say about coffee and cancer risk?

58:20 What about drinking sparkling water?

Episode Resources

Watch the Episode on YouTube - https://youtu.be/nXrNPE1nnIQ

Pink Lotus Website - https://pinklotus.com/

Dr. Kristi Funk Intstagram - @drkristifunk

Download the Free Holiday Guidebook - https://plantstrongfoods.com/holiday 

Join TEAM PLANTSTRONG and run the Austin Marathon, Half Marathon or 5K with Rip!

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

Dawn has many remarkable stories of patient recovery, but the biggest recovery story of all is her own. You see, in addition to being a physician, teacher, wife, and mother, Mussallem is also a cancer survivor, 2021 heart transplant recipient, and as of February 2022, she's also a marathon finisher!

It's a story you simply have to hear to believe and her passion and positivity will leave a lasting impact. Not only does she acknowledge her family and faith in this decades-long journey, but she also credits her whole foods plant-based diet with her ability to thrive and train with a renewed sense of purpose and boundless energy. It's a life force she brings both to her life and the lives of the patients she works with on a daily basis. 

About Dawn Mussallem, DO

Dr. Mussallem is a consultant in the Department of General Internal Medicine at Mayo Clinic and is an Assistant Professor of Medicine. She is a diagnostic breast specialist at The Robert and Monica Jacoby Center for Breast Health and serves as Medical Director for Mayo Clinic Florida Lyndra P. Daniel Center for Humanities in Medicine. Dr. Mussallem is double-board certified, including a board certification in Lifestyle Medicine. She has over 25 years of patient-centered clinical wellness experience with international recognition in the field of breast medicine, lifestyle medicine, integrative oncology, cancer prevention, and cancer survivorship, and a unique personal experience as a stage IV cancer patient diagnosed 3 months into medical school, as well as a heart transplant recipient. She shares that her journey as a patient cultivated her boundless energy and deep purpose to help guide patients toward renewed vitality. In 2015, she founded the Integrative Medicine and Breast Health Program at Mayo Clinic Florida, a patient-centered program that works with breast cancer patients during and after a breast cancer diagnosis, introducing them early on to the importance of lifestyle optimization and evidence-based mind-body practices alongside conventional cancer treatments with a goal to reframe the cancer diagnosis as a “teacher of life,” leading patients to discover renewed vitality through healthier living. 

Episode Resources

Join TEAM PLANTSTRONG - plantstrongfoods.com/team

Watch the Episode on YouTube

Become an Organ Donor

Mayo Clinic News Network Story on Dawn

Dawn's Journey from Cancer Survivor to Heart Transplant Recipient

Running to a New Beat - Heart transplant recipient to mark 1-year anniversary with marathon

To stock up on the best-tasting, most convenient, 100% PLANTSTRONG foods, check out all of our PLANTSTRONG products HERE.

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This week in the United States, we’re celebrating Thanksgiving, which is why we decided to drop this BONUS “Friendsgiving”- themed episode featuring my Mother, Ann, and my sister, Jane. 

This recording was taken from a LIVE event we did a few weeks ago where Jane and Ann whipped up two wonderful holiday-themed dishes - Mommy’s Mushroom Gravy and Twice-Baked Stuffed Sweet Potatoes. 

Yes, you can absolutely listen to the show, or you can watch the YouTube broadcast in its entirety. 

Not only will you get two new recipes, but you can also download our FREE Complete Holiday Recipe Guide with 15 holiday-inspired recipes.

And, during the episode, you’ll also hear us mention our Holiday Pantry Bundle, which is also on sale right now at plantstrongfoods.com 

So, whether you’re gathering with family or making it a true “friendsgiving” celebration, we’re here to help make it joyous, delicious, and nutritious for everyone. …and that’s something we can all be thankful for, right? Enjoy!

Episode Resources

Watch the Episode on YouTube - https://youtu.be/ccL23gbUkog 

Download the Free Holiday Guidebook - https://plantstrongfoods.com/holiday 

Shop for Your PLANTSTRONG favorites - Holiday Food Bundle - https://plantstrongfoods.com/products/holiday-pantry-bundle 

Join TEAM PLANTSTRONG and run the Austin Marathon, Half Marathon or 5K with Rip!

Give us a like on the PLANTSTRONG Facebook Page and check out what being PLANSTRONG is all about. We always keep it stocked full of new content and updates, tips for healthy living, delicious recipes, and you can even catch me LIVE on there!

We’ve also got an Instagram! Check us out and share your favorite PLANTSTRONG products and why you love it! Don’t forget to tag us using #goplantstrong 🌱💪

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Hellah Sidibe is the first black man to run across America (fueled by plants!) and has been running every day since May 15th, 2017. That’s officially over 2000 days in a row in every weather condition imaginable! This year, he also completed the iconic Leadville 100 Trail Race in Colorado. 

And, it all started with a commitment to run just 10 minutes a day. 

Like many, Hellah hated running but started moving his body to lift himself out of a dark period in his own life. It was his way of taking responsibility for his own happiness.

Five years and thousands of miles later, running is now his primary outlet to raise money for charities, help others find inspiration in their daily lives, and demonstrate the endless power of a plant-based diet.  

On Instagram, he writes,  “Using our energy on what we’re afraid of is wasteful when it can be used on what we want to accomplish. We don’t need everyone to believe in us in order to chase those dreams and goals. Enjoy the process and get after it y’all!” 

Episode Timestamps and Highlights

6:53 Origins of his name, Hellah, and his upbringing in Mali

10:57 How tragedy brought him to the US

17:28 His dream of becoming a professional soccer player

18:40 Did he always love running and what compelled him to even start a run streak?

29:45 When did he decide to run across the country?

33:15 Adventures of running across the country 

36:00 How and why Hellah switched to a plantstrong diet

41:30 His favorite running conditions 

43:29 Does he prefer running alone, or with people?

45:00 What about listening to music or podcasts?

48:24 Favorite athletes, or inspiration?

49:30 What in the world do his parents think about this non-traditional career?

53:40 Low points on his Run Across America

57:20 His experience at the Leadville 100

1:02:23 How did he fuel for a 27-hour race in the mountains of Colorado?

1:11:25 For Hellah, what constitutes a run distance to qualify as a “streak?”

1:14:55 What does he eat in a day?

1:17:30 How does he sleep? 

1:18:00 How does he keep his feet healthy with all of this running? 

1:22:26 What’s next for Hellah?

Episode Resources

Join TEAM PLANTSTRONG and run the Austin Marathon, Half Marathon or 5K with Rip!

Watch the Episode on YouTube

Hellah’s Instagram: @hellahgood9

Hellah’s YouTube: @hellahgood

Additional Links and Resources for Hellah Sidibe

To stock up on the best-tasting, most convenient, 100% PLANTSTRONG foods, including our broths and soups, check out all of our PLANTSTRONG products HERE.

Give us a like on the PLANTSTRONG Facebook Page and check out what being PLANSTRONG is all about. We always keep it stocked full of new content and updates, tips for healthy living, delicious recipes, and you can even catch me LIVE on there!

We’ve also got an Instagram! Check us out and share your favorite PLANTSTRONG products...