#133: SNACKABLES - Fire Up that Air Fryer!
Rip with podcast producer, Carrie Barrett
Welcome to PLANTSTRONG Snackables, a bite-sized podcast where host, Rip Esselstyn dishes on all things plants!
Today's guest is Carrie Barrett, PLANTSTRONG Podcast Producer, longtime PLANSTRONG advocate, and a fellow triathlete. Carrie brings PLANTSTRONG stories and guest transformations to life each week on the podcast. She uses her background in radio, production, and writing to make each episode motivating, inspiring, and actionable.
Today, Rip and Carrie encourage you to have a little fun with your air fryer! If you have an air fryer and are a little scared to use it, this episode is for you. Carrie's goal? Inspire Rip to get his out of the box and use it at home!
Today, they make four simple, delicious, and economic meals that pack a nutritious punch without making a huge mess in the kitchen. Plus, as you'll hear, they clearly have a blast experimenting with new recipes, serving up a taste test, and talking about their own athletic journeys along the way.
And...coming soon...we will be giving you the chance to represent TEAM PLANTSTRONG at future events! That's right, you'll be able to show off your PLANTSTRONG prowess at upcoming finish lines around the globe.
Recipe 1:
Sliced polenta served over a bed of greens and the PLANTSTRONG Thai Carrot Chickpea Stew. You can serve it over a marinara sauce as well for an Italian flair. Air Fryer: 370 degrees for 15-20 minutes, depending on the thickness of your polenta slices and preferred crispiness!
Recipe 2:
Mini-chalupa on a corn tortilla served with refried black beans, greens, and PLANTSTRONG Firehouse Chili. Air Fryer: 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, depending on how many toppings and your preferred level of crispiness. You can also have fun an make mini-pizzas with your favorite toppings.
Recipe 3:
Simple potato skins served with nutritional yeast. Air Fryer: 350 degrees for 7-8 minutes. These cook up fast, so you could go less time, if preferred.
Recipe 4:
Hummus and apple crisp on tortilla. Air Fryer: 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Sprinkle with cinnamon and enjoy!
Do the recipes pass the PLANTSTRONG test? Find out!
Episode Resources
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Full YouTube Transcript
Rip Esselstyn:
Hello, PLANTSTRONG pineapples. Welcome to another episode of Snackables where we dish and chew on all things plants. I have a special guest for you today. Her name is Carrie Barrett and Carrie actually hails from Ohio, just like I do. Yep. And we fortuitously actually met for the first time back in...
Carrie Barrett:
2009, 2009.
Rip Esselstyn:
2009. And where was it and why was
Carrie Barrett:
Okay, first of all, can I just say hello, my cruciferous cousins. It feels so good to be able to say that, because I hear it all the time. But I eventually lived in Austin for about 24 years, but I am originally from Ohio like you and your family. I'm from Columbus. And moved to the great state of Austin. Great state of Texas and haven't left. So here's a little bit of the backstory of how we met. I was not a fit girl growing up. I grew up in Ohio, so it was very standard Midwestern diet. I'm one of five kids. I had four older brothers, so I was the runt. I was the only girl. And so we just had, like a lot of family, just a family of convenience. And meals of convenience because everyone was being shuttled everywhere. So I did not grow up on a healthy, plant based diet needless to say.
Carrie Barrett:
I moved to Austin in 1998 and was sort of at my high point in weight, low point in self-esteem. And I was in a great job. I worked in radio and I was quote unquote, living the life. But I was miserable, just miserable my own skin. And so I decided that I was going to start running. I wanted to join a running group. And so I joined a great group called Austin Fit and in 2002, so this is why I'm backing up a little bit. It took me a while, but in 2002, I ran my first marathon. So I'm actually celebrating my 20th anniversary of running marathons because the Austin marathon was just this past weekend.
Rip Esselstyn:
Was that first marathon in Austin?
Carrie Barrett:
It was. So yeah, it was something I never thought that I could do. And which leads me to this progression into plant-based living because I'd never dreamed that I could do this either. And in 2008, 2009, by that point I was way deep into running. I was doing triathlons. I had actually done one full iron man at the time. And I went and had my annual blood panel done and my cholesterol was over 300. And so my general practitioner said at the time, late 2008, he said, "Have you ever thought of becoming more vegetarian?" And I'm like, "No, ew, no, I'm an athlete."
Rip Esselstyn:
That's crazy pants.
Carrie Barrett:
That's ridiculous. I do iron mans. I need my iron, which means I need my meat. That was the connection. And didn't think anything of it from that point. But spring 2009, I see this book come out and it's written by this Austin firefighter who-
Rip Esselstyn:
Really? Tell me more
Carrie Barrett:
Let me see. This gentleman who used to be a former professional triathlete. And that-
Rip Esselstyn:
And has a total cholesterol below 150.
Carrie Barrett:
I'll let you know if I ever get there. But so I just took it, I started thumbing through the book, I bought the book, of course. I started thumbing through it. And then I start to realize we know a lot of the same people because we were in that athletic community. So a lot of the names that you mentioned in the book, the Jack Murrays of the world, the Elizabeth Kreutz's of the world. People that-
Rip Esselstyn:
Marshes.
Carrie Barrett:
Yes, the Brandon and Amy Marsh. All these people that went through your pilot program and that my mind were thriving in athletics. I wanted to emulate them. And so that same spring, 2009 Catholic guilt got me. And I said, okay, I'm going to do this program for lent. I'm going to go PLANTSTRONG for Lent and see what happens.
Carrie Barrett:
So I had I that blood panel from the fall, and then I took another blood panel after Lent and my cholesterol had dropped 60 points. I had dropped about 10 pounds. And in the middle of that period, I had done my second full distance iron man and had shaved 45 minutes off my time and have literally not looked back since. So coming back to meeting you at your house, it was literally in 2009 at one of your old school PLANTSTRONG potlucks that you would have right here where we're sitting today. And I came as a fan and as a new apostle of the lifestyle.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. And you also got... Everybody that came to these first potlucks, got a bag.
Carrie Barrett:
An Engine Two bag.
Rip Esselstyn:
Do you have your bag?
Carrie Barrett:
I do. It's sitting on your kitchen counter right now.
Rip Esselstyn:
I need to grab it because this is such a great kind of memento.
Carrie Barrett:
It is. Look at this. I mean, it has held a up, and-
Rip Esselstyn:
Only high quality stuff with PLANTSTRONG and Engine Two.
Carrie Barrett:
And I brought my food over today that we're going to be preparing. And it's so funny to even think that here I am on the PLANTSTRONG podcast to do food prep.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, I have, so a couple questions for you. So what has been easier for you? Eating plant based or running a marathon?
Carrie Barrett:
They both require to me the same thing, which is consistency.
Rip Esselstyn:
And planning.
Carrie Barrett:
And a little bit of planning. Absolutely. That's a great comparison.
Rip Esselstyn:
What about teamwork?
Carrie Barrett:
Thank goodness I have that. Because I know that's something that a lot of people don't have in their corner, which is a partner to help them or a cheerleader or a coach to-
Rip Esselstyn:
And your husband's all in all.
Carrie Barrett:
All in. Yeah. For probably now five or six years. So I was going it alone for the first few years. He, I think, like everyone in my family, every time I'd see them, they're like, "So you're still doing this like healthy thing, aren't you?" And I'm like I am, I'm doing this healthy thing. So yeah, he's completely on board. And he himself is a long distance triathlete and a marathon runner. And to me now the lifestyle is so easy and it's made easier by not just your food that are on the shelves now and completely nutritious. And like, you don't have to give any of it a second thought. But I'm amazed at the preponderance now of just choices there are out there. Healthy choices there are out there.
Rip Esselstyn:
So what happened is Carrie came over to this house, I believe it was, right here at this table when she interviewed me for her podcast, which is, I could never do that. And I think it was about maybe going plant based.
Carrie Barrett:
It was to celebrate my 10th year.
Rip Esselstyn:
10th year going plant based. And Carrie just, she was dynamic. She was fantastic. And then I needed some help with the PLANTSTRONG podcast, which had been launched for maybe half a year to a year. And so Carrie is officially on the PLANTSTRONG team. She is the producer of the PLANTSTRONG podcast and really is a integral part of making the podcast, what it is today. So super grateful for that.
Carrie Barrett:
Thank you, Rip. I love being affectionately known as your sound girl. Hey, sound girl.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, but you gave yourself that nickname.
Carrie Barrett:
I did. I did.
Rip Esselstyn:
So today, because we're chewing on all things plants, but I want to give our listeners something of value. And so you're like "You know Rip, I love my air fryer, use it all the time." And the air fryer is something that I have never touched, even though we got one as a Christmas present from James and Susie Cameron about three years ago. And so it's sitting in a shelf somewhere. And I'd love to be inspired to take it out and really utilize it. So what I want you to do today is inspire me. Why in the world, should I use this air fryer that I have?
Carrie Barrett:
And I think you're right, Rip. Because I think so many of us have this big bulky appliance that we got at Christmas or any other holiday season and it sits on our counter and it takes up some space. It's not a small appliance, but let me tell you-
Rip Esselstyn:
If it delivers, I don't care.
Carrie Barrett:
It completely delivers. Now mine did not come from James Cameron. Mine came from Mr. Amazon, I think. And we're actually now in our third air fryer, that's how much we use them.
Rip Esselstyn:
What do they just go like dead on you?
Carrie Barrett:
Yeah. I mean, we use it three, four times a day.
Rip Esselstyn:
It's a $39 air fryer. What do you...
Carrie Barrett:
Yeah. What do you expect?
Rip Esselstyn:
No, just so you know we're not endorsing any particular brand of air fryer. Cosori, whatever that is.
Carrie Barrett:
Yeah. Honestly, I have never heard of the brand before and I'm sure it's great. It's held up for us. So my husband is the one who does the due diligence of the research in the house.
Rip Esselstyn:
But to me off the cuff, one of the things that excites me about an air fryer is the fact that you don't have to use oil, which is one of our big tenants.
Carrie Barrett:
Absolutely not.
Rip Esselstyn:
And the fact that you can do stuff with things you never dreamed of and it comes out and it's absolutely delicious. It's crunchy. It delivers on a number of things.
Carrie Barrett:
I think people are just afraid to use it because the things that I hear a lot are like, "What temperature do I set it at? How long do I cook this or that?" And I don't know. I'm not writing the recipes because I treat this air fryer like I treat our microwaves. So if I want to microwave something, I pop it in the microwave and I hit a minute? And I don't know what temperature they're cooking my food at in the microwave, I just know that if I take that food out and it's not quite hot enough, I put it back in for 30 more seconds.
Carrie Barrett:
And that's how I want people to think about the air fryer. Don't be afraid that you have to get the temperature right. Or the amount of time that you're cooking it right. Just experiment have fun. Most of them, if not all of them have a pause function on it. So that if you do want to check your food halfway through, you just hit pause and open the drawers.
Rip Esselstyn:
And can you tell me what's the concept of an air fryer? Does it circulate this warm air?
Carrie Barrett:
It's a big convection oven. It's essentially it. To me, it's like a microwave on steroids. Just convection air.
Rip Esselstyn:
So a lot of people, I know our old oven, we just got a new one, but our old one, it basically had a convection mode on it. So is that basically the same thing as an air fryer?
Carrie Barrett:
I think so.
Rip Esselstyn:
We don't know much here.
Carrie Barrett:
Expert. Air fryer expert here.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, should we get into some of the... So we have four different dishes that we want to basically create for you today. You want to go through them one by one?
Carrie Barrett:
I do. And the reason selected these is, one, because it's a variety of food. You could see here on the table in front of us, we have a variety of ingredients and I've got four different things planned. And the other reason is because none of them are expensive. It's all very economical to your budget, and they're all incredibly nutritious.
Carrie Barrett:
So I think another thing, particularly from an athletic standpoint, people will ask where I get my protein or where I get this and that. And most of these meals today actually have a great combination of all of the macronutrients. So protein, carbs and even a little bit of fat in there too. I mean, we're obviously very, very low fat with the diet that we eat, but we need it as athletes who are training 10, 15, 20 hours a week. So the first thing I wanted to start with is this dish over here is just polenta. And we've got some spinach on there. So polenta, you can get pretty much anywhere. And we buy the one that's pre-rolled. And so Rip, just slice them up into...
Rip Esselstyn:
And polenta for people that don't know polenta is basically corn meal. And it's funny because we used to do polenta all the time and for whatever reason we've gotten away from it, but hopefully you're going to inspire me today to want to emulate what you do with your polenta.
Carrie Barrett:
And we grew up and this was sort of like mush that my mom learn how to make as a first generation Italian. And I'm a little bit like her in that I don't really follow recipes. And so I think I'm a lot like our PLANTSTRONG family as well. Who can get scared and intimidated by super in depth recipes. So I just remember she would cook it in butter and put cheese and it tasted great when you were 10, but not what I want now when I'm pushing the door of 50. So all I do is cut up these slices. And you can make as thin as you want, you can use a little mandolin slicer if you want. I play the mandolin. I should not cut food with a mandolin. That's when dangerous things happen. So I just slice it up into, I don't know, these are like quarter inch, maybe, slices. And what you do, honestly. Nice noise. And I'll just throw five or six of these bad boys in here and most-
Rip Esselstyn:
Oh, we're going to need a little bit more because I can tell you right now, we're all a little hungry.
Carrie Barrett:
Yeah. So we'll just fry these up and I spread them out in the air fryer. I know that there are different styles of air fryer. This is a tray that you just come out, I know some of them... Or I'm sorry, this is a basket. Some have trays. So I push it in.
Carrie Barrett:
Now I know on that camera that we're looking at the one that's right in front of us. You can't really see here, but hopefully we'll be able to get some closeup shots. On this particular air fryer we just ignore all these buttons over here on the left.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, is that because they're all meat related.
Carrie Barrett:
Those are just your meat related ones. And these are some of their presets that this particular machine has built in. So over here on the right, you've got your veggies, you've got your broccoli and carrots and some pie, some PLANTSTRONG pie, you've got some bread. I'll be honest with you, once again, I actually don't use any of the presets. As I said before, I just sort of treat this like a microwave. And I know from experience of cooking this polenta that my preferred temperature is about 370 degrees.
Carrie Barrett:
And so I'm going to push that to 370. 15 to 20 minutes for this particular batch of polenta. If you've cut it really thin, you might want to go on the shorter side of that. If you've cut it thicker than I would go on the longer end. The other preference that you want to take into consideration is how do you like your polenta? Do you want it a little more chewy? Do you want it crispy? I like it crispy. I like it when it actually gets brown and so when I eat it later, it actually crisps. So we're heat that up. And what I do afterwards is my husband and I, a lot of times-
Rip Esselstyn:
Do you want to start heating it up?
Carrie Barrett:
Yeah. You're going to hear it crank up.
Rip Esselstyn:
Is it going to make up too much... Will it be too loud?
Carrie Barrett:
It might be a little loud.
Rip Esselstyn:
If it's too loud we'll just stop it.
Carrie Barrett:
There we go. You can hear it.
Rip Esselstyn:
Oh, but you know what-
Carrie Barrett:
You can hear it cranking up.
Rip Esselstyn:
What I like about it is this is the air fryer episode. I want to have that as the kind of ambience. Wait, what's the word?
Carrie Barrett:
Ambient noise.
Rip Esselstyn:
Ambient noise.
Carrie Barrett:
The ambience.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yes, yes.
Carrie Barrett:
The ambience. So while that's cooking, here are a few options that you can do with it because you probably don't just want a plate of polenta. You can put it over a bed of spinach and you can use a marinara sauce if you want to put over that. So almost treating it like your pasta dish, your pasta replacement. We use this quite a bit. There's no sugar in that one. There's a little too much sodium in that one. But the other thing that we're going to plate it today and how I've really come to enjoy it. Thank goodness the new PLANTSTRONG chews and soups and chilies are out, is I actually serve it with one of your PLANTSTRONG soups or chilies. So that's the Thai carrot chickpea right there in front of me.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, we'll figure out what we'll do today, but that looks delicious. And I love that we've got our greens there. We've got our polenta that is kind of substantial kind of calorie rich, nutrient rich. And then we're going to dress it up with either a stew, a chili, or just plain marinara, depending upon our mood. That's great. So that's one dish. Are we good with that one?
Carrie Barrett:
Yeah. And of course, once the show's over, we'll show you all of the finished products as well and give you a little taste test of all of them. So yeah, that's the first dish and we use that for dinner. I mean that quite often is our dinner quite a bit.
Rip Esselstyn:
I'm thinking that noise has probably gotten too loud. Maybe we do exit for now. And we'll finish that... Yeah, yeah. There we go. So the second thing you're going to do is a Chalupa or a pizza.
Carrie Barrett:
Yeah. Super simple. It kind of depends on whether you want like a Mexican flare to your meal, or if you want an Italian flare to your meals.
Rip Esselstyn:
You got this over here.
Carrie Barrett:
Yeah. And honestly, we've got... Is there that knife over there?
Rip Esselstyn:
There sure is.
Carrie Barrett:
So once again, this is a corn tortilla. This particular corn tortilla has no oil in it. So it's super nutritious, not a lot of salt in it either. So be on the lookout for those. I think this one came from Trader Joe's, but there are many brands and companies that you can find. And for this iteration, I'm going to make it more Mexican flare because I'm craving a Chalupa. So you can use a whole wheat tortilla as well or any other whole grain tortilla. I just know that these cook up quite nicely in the air fryer. And right here, I've got a can of refried black beans. If that's not your jam, you can use regular refried beans. Or if you don't want refried, you can just use regular beans on here as well.
Rip Esselstyn:
That looks so that to me looks really delicious. You usually put what two in at a time, or can you fit three.
Carrie Barrett:
About two in this particular size.
Rip Esselstyn:
So that looks amazing. And then I would probably throw on some diced green onions, maybe a little avocado and then some salsa.
Carrie Barrett:
Yep. Anything that you would dress up a taco salad or a taco, or your fajitas. So once again, your firehouse chili, you could easily just, if you don't want all of the liquid from the actual soup portion, I'd scoop out some of the ingredients in there that are already in there. You've got your whole black beans and your corn and it's got to kick to it already. So you could throw that on top of it.
Carrie Barrett:
You can put more greens. I often like to buy those mini sweet peppers, the red, orange and yellow mini peppers. Slice those up, put them on top. Once again, I just put them in the air fryer. I like to default to the 350 degrees quite a bit. And because this is a super thin tortilla, I cook it for about eight to 10 minutes, take it out and see what the consistency is. If it's a little too you chewy or if you have noticed that the ingredients on top haven't quite finished cooking, put it back in for three or four more minutes and you have a, once again nutritious and just a well-balanced meal that has carbohydrate, vegetables, little bit of protein.
Rip Esselstyn:
All plant based meals are well balanced.
Carrie Barrett:
I mean, you don't have to work hard to get this. It's just funny that as athletes, it is the question that we get all the time.
Rip Esselstyn:
And don't fret for one second. You're just going to get the perfect balance of the macros, the protein, the carbohydrates, the fats. And then to boot, you're going to be getting just an insane amount of the phytonutrients, the antioxidants, fiber, vitamins, minerals, everything that we need as athletes that are taxing our body.
Carrie Barrett:
Yeah. And I'm coming at this from an athletic lens, because that's yeah, one of my quote, quote identities in life. But you don't have to think that way at all. I mean, this is just great for anyone in the family. I mean, kids love taco nights. So I know that the Esselstyns are awesome about doing their taco bars at their house. So you could set it up the same and you create your own little chalupa or create your own pizza. Similar concept if you wanted to use a whole wheat tortilla or even this corn tortilla and make it pizza style. Marinara and then pick your ingredients on top. Cook it just the same. Sprinkle, a little nutritional yeast on top.
Rip Esselstyn:
It's a little mini pizza.
Carrie Barrett:
It's mini pizza night. It's great. Great snacks, great meals. And to me, it's teaching people how to quote unquote cook without a ton of mess. So there's not much to clean up. You don't have a bunch of pots, pans and dishes. And it's simple and fun and you get to be the recipe creator at the end of the day.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. I like that a lot.
Carrie Barrett:
Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
Are we ready to move on?
Carrie Barrett:
Yeah. So that's your Chalupa, which is right now just a tortilla with a slather refried beans.
Rip Esselstyn:
That will be a lot, a lot more, very easily.
Carrie Barrett:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
So number three that I have on is potato skins. And we were inspired by a woman who we just had on the podcast.
Carrie Barrett:
She was last week.
Rip Esselstyn:
Carly Bodrug and wow, what a whipper snapper and very scrappy too.
Carrie Barrett:
Scrappy. That is her brand. That's very on brand for her. And she mentions this particular food and concoction in your episode with her. And I love that episode because it made you think so differently about food waste and all the things that we just throw away. And guilty as charged. I probably eat 12 bananas a week, easily because I love bananas.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wait, wait, wait, wait. And you're not throwing out those banana peels, are you?
Carrie Barrett:
I am not anymore thanks to Carly. I am composting. We are using it for fertilizer. I have yet to try air frying them.
Rip Esselstyn:
Doesn't she turn them into like banana peel Tempe bacon.
Carrie Barrett:
Something. Yeah. As she said, it's a line I'm not there yet.
Rip Esselstyn:
That is a bit of a stretch. But I'm going to try it. I'm going to try it.
Carrie Barrett:
But one of the things that she did mention that was a little more accessible-
Rip Esselstyn:
That we'll share with you right now.
Carrie Barrett:
... Is potato skins. And I think we've all heard in the past. And if not, we'll tell you that the potato skins are actually the most nutritious portion of the potato.
Rip Esselstyn:
I've heard that. I have heard that.
Carrie Barrett:
And these are nice washed potato skins. So all we did here was prior to the recording, we just peel a couple of rusted potatoes, just plain white potatoes. And I have sprinkled some nut, some nutritional yeast on top and I am going to follow Carly's instructions. I'm not putting anything else on these, but I'm going to throw them in the air fryer here for again, because they're nice and thin we're probably going to go seven, eight minutes.
Rip Esselstyn:
I was thinking 15 at 350.
Carrie Barrett:
No.
Rip Esselstyn:
All right. I love that. And I can't wait to try it. Are we ready to move on now?
Carrie Barrett:
Yep. So that was a good snack.
Rip Esselstyn:
Okay. So I wanted you to hit me with a dessert. And so you have a dessert prepared, an air fryer dessert, and I can't wait to hear about it. What do you got planned?
Carrie Barrett:
Well, I mentioned it on our team call earlier today and it raised some eyebrows, but I assure you it's delicious. So once again, we're going to take a tortilla, corn tortilla, whole wheat tortilla, and we're going to slather it with hummus. And you can make your own hummus of course, oil free, preferred. This happens to be the Cedar's, no fat, no oil hummus. And we're going to slather that on that tortilla. And then we sliced some apples. You can use red apples, you can use green apples. This is a little yellow apple. And we're going to put that on top, sprinkle some cinnamon on that. And we're going to heat that up for probably 12 minutes or so. I don't know. I'm kind of making up the times now.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah, you kind of lost me with the hummus, the hummus with the apples, with the cinnamon I'll try it. But I'm like, oh, if it was like a chocolate hummus or if it was a like peanut butter.
Carrie Barrett:
Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
So this will be...
Carrie Barrett:
You've never dipped apples and hummus before
Rip Esselstyn:
I haven't, I haven't.
Carrie Barrett:
It just to me seems like the perfect snack. And it is. The apples give it that tart sweetness to it, which makes it a little desserty with the cinnamon on top. So it's great.
Rip Esselstyn:
I guess I've been boring. I just kind of do the carrots and the bell peppers and the tomatoes, but never the apples.
Carrie Barrett:
Yeah. And trust me, I'm here to tell you, I love peanut butter. If I could probably choose one food in life to eat every day, all day, it would be peanut butter.
Rip Esselstyn:
Oh yeah.
Carrie Barrett:
But I like it a little too much some days. So I didn't use peanut butter here. Because there's a lot of fat peanut butter. A lot of fat.
Rip Esselstyn:
So I think what we're going to do is we're going to actually talk about maybe some athletic stuff. And then we're going to cook this stuff and then we'll come back and then we'll show you what the finished dishes look like. We'll even sample it and we'll be completely honest if it's really, really good or if it is a thumbs down. So let's do that.
Carrie Barrett:
Okay. That sounds good.
Rip Esselstyn:
So moving to sports. Tell me what are your favorite sports? Not to watch, but to compete in.
Carrie Barrett:
As a triathlete, you have to be relatively proficient in swimming, biking, and running. Of those three I love running, Rip. I don't know how you can swim so much and be so good at it. It is the most elusive sport to me. I have tried and tried and I have taken lessons. I've gone to master's classes and I will always be in that middle of the pack, washing machine at the start of a race, right where everybody is. I can't get out front and I'm not coming out in last, but man.
Rip Esselstyn:
I can tell you this. I haven't had too many races where I was caught in that washing machine where it's just elbows and butt holes.
Carrie Barrett:
Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
And it's not fun. When you're just bumping into people, you're trying to breathe. You're going into some sort of anaerobic debt. It's just not pretty. Luckily I'm usually in the front, so I don't have to deal with that. But I would tell you if you're not a great swimmer, just literally go off way on the side, don't worry about taking the shortest lines to the buoys. And that to me, it's a much more pleasant experience if you're not going for the age group win. And just enjoy yourself as opposed to getting too intense with it.
Carrie Barrett:
It can be... I feel like that's what stops a lot of potential... I mean, people that are listening or watching you right now are like, "God, I'd love to do triathlon, but the swim."
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. And you don't have a pool you're in open water. And so typically that's a whole nother stumbling block and hurdle and mind melt for a lot of people. Because you don't have a wall anywhere nearby. You can't pace yourself appropriately. You got all the people that are kicking you.
Carrie Barrett:
Yeah. And Lord knows what's underneath the water in certain bodies of water.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. We don't want our minds to go there. 99.999% of the time you're going to be fine.
Carrie Barrett:
Of course, of course. But to me, I love triathlon because I like the multi-sport aspect of it. I love...
Rip Esselstyn:
There's something about the balance of it too.
Carrie Barrett:
It's just fun because I don't get bored or overuse injuries by running too much, for instance.
Rip Esselstyn:
Huge advantages there. And plus you don't have to stay as motivated because just the balance of going swimming, oh, I'm going to swim today. I'm going to bike and run tomorrow and then I'm just going to run and I'm just going to bike. And then it's easier to stay motivated I find.
Carrie Barrett:
Yep.
Rip Esselstyn:
Like this morning I swam with my master's group from seven to eight. There were six people per lane. Just because people love the energy, the vibe, this is a really great group. We love the coaches that go there. And I do it six mornings a week now.
Carrie Barrett:
I mean, that's fantastic. I belong to the Y, the YMCA downtown. And usually it's funny because the etiquette is so different at various pools you go to. Because you just said that there are six people per lane, which means you're circle swimming, which is the proper etiquette. And it allows people to pass. It allows more people in the pool. I mean, it's really great.
Carrie Barrett:
Except again, as somebody who's a mediocre swimmer, or maybe somebody who's a weak swimmer, it's very, very intimidating because you don't want to be the one holding people back. You don't want to be and slowing the interval down. And so at the Y very few people will circle swim in the non-masters classes because they're just too intimidated. Or they don't know. So you end up splitting a lane with somebody often or waiting for a lane because people don't want to circle. So I say all that, and again, the lesson I think to extrapolate to the audience is don't let your fear stop you from starting something that sounds fun, or that sounds interesting, or that sounds new. And it comes back to what we said right at the beginning of this episode, which is just find consistency in whatever you're trying to do.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. And then I would also say, I mean, fear's okay. But just try and understand it and then push through it and then that's... I mean that's a great accomplishment.
Carrie Barrett:
I mean, that's what... Fear is to protect us from bad things happening. So I've tried to change my relationship with fear and intimidation of when I feel it. And I've got that fight or flight feeling. I try to acknowledge like, thank you. Thank you for being here to protect me. I'm going to ignore you right now. I got to keep going. I got to keep doing this.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. Well, there's legitimate fear to me. And then there's kind of false fears. We watched Harry Potter six yesterday, and there was some kind of scary scenes in there. And so our seven year old insisted on sleeping in our bed. Because she didn't want any hands coming up and grabbing her from underneath her bed. So what else, regarding maybe starting a routine for people that are out there?
Carrie Barrett:
I think back to when I had moved to Austin and as I said, I was at my low point. High point weight, low point in life, I was bound and determined to make a change. And I knew it needed to be a change for the better. So I joined a running group in Austin called Austin fit. And it was great. And it's the group that got me to the finish line of that first marathon. And I met some of the most inspirational, motivational, positive people. I didn't even know those people existed quite honestly. And yet the very first day of our very first practice I had paid my money. And our very first practice was to go run a two mile time trial. Right, right.
Rip Esselstyn:
It sounds a little aggressive.
Carrie Barrett:
I was about 60 or 70 pounds heavier than I am now. And there were at least 900 to 1,000 people there. It was a big group at the time. Huge. And we were all... It was day one of Austin marathon training. So everyone's nervous. And I got so nervous that fight or flight syndrome kicked in that I just left. I didn't even run the two miles. I was so scared Rip that I was going to come in last place or that I would be kicked out of the group or whatever worst case scenario I implanted in my brain in that moment that I just left.
Carrie Barrett:
And that was a rough week for me because I beat myself up so much from like failing at that. And I did show up though, the second weekend. I did show up, I didn't have to run a two mile time trial. We just were like doing a little run walk thing with the group that I sort of placed myself into. And that was the start to me of this journey that I'm at now 20 years later that I love and embrace every day. I can't imagine a date without movement in my life of some form. So the lesson... Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
And so from that time, how many years ago was that?
Carrie Barrett:
20, about.
Rip Esselstyn:
20 years ago, you got so intimidated that you left and you didn't do that two mile time trial. And now you've done seven Ironmans, countless marathons, ultra distance runs, you name it. I mean, you've really conquered that fear.
Carrie Barrett:
Yeah. And that is... And how I did it was, I just kept showing up. And I feel like when you're trying to make this lifestyle change as well, whether it's exercise or completely overhauling the way you eat, it starts the same way. If you mess up, great. Try it again tomorrow, keep doing it. No, one's perfect. There are days where I have gone out and I have run 10, 12 miles and I'd eaten nasty food the night, or maybe had a glass of wine too many. I mean it, I'm not Scott Jurek. I'm not like the amazing, skinny vegan, ultra running girl. I don't eat perfectly all of the time, always plant based. And I give it my best intention, but I've learned to just stop beating myself up if I do something that's-
Rip Esselstyn:
How has the Carrie Barrett from 20 years ago that was 60, 70 pounds heavier changed? Not so much getting out and doing athletic events and stuff like that. But as far as how you see yourself, maybe your confidence, stuff like that.
Carrie Barrett:
Yeah. It has definitely changed my confidence level a lot. And I believe you said this on the podcast where... Rip I know you've said this before, where, when it came time for you to write a book. When it came time for you to leave the firehouse and start your own thing. You too had that same, who am I? Who am I to write a cookbook? Who am I to start a food line? Who am I to become this healthy eating advocate?
Carrie Barrett:
And then the more you did it, and the more people bought into it because you are authentic. And then it turned into why not me? And I feel the same way in many respects. I'm not leading yet. I'm not leading a team of people. I'm not doing the things that you're doing, but when it comes time to reaching out to you for me to interview you, I was scared to death to ask Rip Esselstyn for an interview. I had seen you speak a bunch of times, I'd come to your potlucks. I have your autographed books. But when it came time to reach out to ask you to be on my podcast a couple years ago, I was like, "Oh, if he says, no, then my hopes are dashed." But then I started thinking, why not me? Why not me?
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. And look where it's led.
Carrie Barrett:
Now I'm cooking for you in your kitchen. Hummus and apples.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. Is that stuff done yet?
Carrie Barrett:
Let's try it. Let's see if it is.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. But speaking of all this, I'm sure you guys have been out seeing 5k, 10k, marathons, half marathons, where we see all these people that are wearing these t-shirts that says fueled by beef. The beef council. And so we're going to start a PLANTSTRONG kind of, I guess-
Carrie Barrett:
Team PLANTSTRONG, baby.
Rip Esselstyn:
Team PLANTSTRONG in answer to team beef. So keep your eyes out for more information on what you can do to proudly wear the team plan, strong jerseys at running events, triathlon events.
Carrie Barrett:
Anything. Any sport or activity that you engage in and that you are so proud to be repping this lifestyle. We are cooking up behind the scenes right now, away for you to proudly show off your affiliation with Rip and his brand and I feel this movement. I've been wanting it for a long time and I'm so excited that it's going to be happening.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah, we are too. And the other thing I'd like to say before we kind of wrap things up here is the great thing about, well being a human being and eating this way, but also being an athlete and eating this way is you just get to eat copious amounts of this plant, strong delectability. And I kind of let my weight be my guide as far as, oh, I've eaten too much, or I haven't eaten enough. I know my fighting weight where I want to be.
Rip Esselstyn:
And typically it's funny how I have found over the years that because I'm eating whole plant-based foods that aren't adulterated with too much salt, sugar, and fat that you just kind of eat until you're comfortably full. You kind of have a much more of a nuanced, sophisticated kind of sense of when you're done. And then you're done. You're typically not overeating as much, undereating. It's just kind of that Goldilocks. I mean, have you found that to be the case?
Carrie Barrett:
I have. I definitely have. And my husband and I were talking just in the car on the way over here, and you all always hear athletes, plant based athletes say, "Oh, I've recovered faster and I can get right back at it." And I think that's... I don't know. It's been 13 years now for me. That would be anecdotal. Yes. I mean, I'm still at it and I'm still knocking back paces that make me happy. And so I do attribute that to a good PLANTSTRONG diet.
Carrie Barrett:
However, I do know when, if we go out for dinner at a restaurant and eat a plant-based meal, I know instantly that it's loaded with oil. Because you can just feel it in your joints. And I wake up the next morning, or if it has so much sodium.
Rip Esselstyn:
You feel hungover.
Carrie Barrett:
You feel hungover. And I can't get my rings off. Right now my rings are coming off. You feel puffy and swollen and you just don't feel great. So that, to me, when I feel that way, we almost set ourselves up for it when we decide to go out to dinner. We're like, "Okay, here we go. Let's take one for the team. We got to celebrate Valentine's day." And we end up paying for it a little bit.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah, but is... And we're learning more and more and more, how many athletes are flocking to kind of a Plant Strong kind of lifestyle. Because what it can do for, as you just mentioned what it can do for your recovery time. This is the most, anti-inflammatory kind of diet that's out there. Again, you're flooding your system with all these substances that are going to fight back oxidative stress, DNA damage. As athletes we're running engines pretty darn hard.
Rip Esselstyn:
And so we are creating a lot of free radicals, a lot of oxidative stress. And so it is imperative that we fuel ourselves with leafy greens, polenta, black beans, hummus, fruits, vegetables, whole intact grains, potato skin. And these are going to take care of us and allow us to recover faster, find our ideal fighting weight for competition or just training in general. And I love too the fact that when you're eating this way, because you're eating probably on average 50 to 75 grams of fiber, you're not constipated. You're very, very regular. And so you're always feeling light and unencumbered and you're ready to get after it and go for that run, that bike, that swim. And then if you have to go, you go.
Carrie Barrett:
Do you ever.
Rip Esselstyn:
So it's all good.
Carrie Barrett:
Yeah, no, I am so grateful Rip to publicly say. And I know I speak on behalf of the PLANTSTRONG nation in a big hearty, thank you to you and your family, for everything that you do on a day to day basis to just keep spreading this message. And thanks to your father for taking the beatings. Back when he first started extolling these virtues and people didn't want to listen.
Carrie Barrett:
And I think now it's become very apparent that people are taking notice and taking heed. And you just have to keep trying. And to me, almost relish the imperfection at first. And relish the opportunity to try new things. Who goes out and gets polenta on a daily basis? No, not many people, but this is your opportunity. Who makes cauliflower in the air fryer? Not many people, but we sure do just embrace it, embrace getting to know this air fryer that you got for the holidays. And it has sat in the box. Rip, I have challenged you, and I hope I've inspired you to get yours out of the box from James Cameron. We all can't direct the Titanic, but we can all use the air fryer.
Rip Esselstyn:
So since yesterday was president's day. Yes. I think it's only appropriate that we end with a quote from JFK. And it is, "Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try." And so I just think every day, make that part of your life. To decide to try.
Carrie Barrett:
Decide to try.
Rip Esselstyn:
Something that gets you out of your comfort zone. Maybe you're a little fearful. And on the other side of that, there's so much joy. There's so much gratitude. And I think self growth. That many of us are just as we get older, we kind of shy away from yeah.
Carrie Barrett:
Yep.
Rip Esselstyn:
So, all right, there you go. Air fryer.
Carrie Barrett:
Get out there and do it. And I will see so many of you at events over the next couple of years, and as the person who produces the PLANTSTRONG podcast every week and gets to hear Rick's voice before anyone else and gets to hear his lovely guest before anyone else again, I just want to say thank you for making the time to do these episodes, to educate and inspire and really, really hone in on this mission of making plants accessible to everyone.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, right back at you, thanks for the passion that you have brought to the podcast for helping me to become a better podcaster. And I look forward to many more years.
Carrie Barrett:
All right. PLANTSTRONG.
Rip Esselstyn:
PLANTSTRONG.
Rip Esselstyn:
Here we go. This is the Thai carrot chickpea stew, going on top of our bed of spinach and our air fried polenta. That looks nice. Yeah. I'm just going to do that.
Carrie Barrett:
Yeah. Looks delish.
Rip Esselstyn:
Let's put it to the tests as Dr. Gregor would say. PLANTSTRONG.
Rip Esselstyn:
Carrie, the moment of truth. There's the Chalupa.
Carrie Barrett:
Chalupa. Nice crispy tortilla, refried black beans, a little firehouse chili on top. So good.
Rip Esselstyn:
Does it get the PLANTSTRONG fist of approval.
Carrie Barrett:
Oh, PLANTSTRONG, baby. In true Rip form.
Rip Esselstyn:
All right. Let's check out the potato skins. Wow. Those have gone down to almost nothing. Look at that. I know you can't see me. Carly, those are scrappy.
Carrie Barrett:
Go ahead. It's so good.
Rip Esselstyn:
What?
Carrie Barrett:
So good. Obviously, this is a great like snack for movie night, but you could almost use this as like a topper for something too. If you wanted some crisp on top of a meal. It's so good.
Rip Esselstyn:
You know, I think my kids would love just dipping these and ketchup.
Carrie Barrett:
Done.
Rip Esselstyn:
Here we have our tortilla with hummus, apples and cinnamon. I am not... Got to be honest. I'm not excited about trying this, but Carrie's making me.
Carrie Barrett:
You'll love it.
Rip Esselstyn:
I don't love it. It's very average. I would never actually do that again. But for people that love hummus with apples, bless you.
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