#219: Kate Galli - Sculpting a Plant-Positive Mind and Body
Vegan Health Coach, Author and Podcast host Kate Galli
Kate Galli is an Australian-based health coach, personal trainer, podcaster, and author.
Today, she shares her journey to a plant-based lifestyle and discusses her book, The Plant Positive Journal, which focuses on self-care and creating lasting positive habit change.
In her early days as a vegetarian coach and trainer in the “bro gym culture,” Kate admits that she was focused heavily on macros and protein, sometimes eating up to 20 egg whites a day. After switching completely to a whole-foods, plant-based diet, she is now happier, healthier, and more well-rounded in her nutrition and training, focusing instead on micronutrients, fiber, and plenty of fruits, vegetables, and legumes.
Today, she and Rip emphasize the importance of leading with love instead of anger and she shares her “ABC” process for transitioning to a more positive mindset.
They also talk through her “Seven-Step Guide to Cultivating Self-Care in a Vegan, Plant-based Lifestyle,” which includes prioritizing positive self-talk, aligning choices with values, committing to healthy habits, setting boundaries and prioritizing time with loved ones, as well as the benefits of a digital detox and having realistic expectations of ourselves and others.
Overall, this episode provides valuable insights into self-care, mindset, and nutrition in a plant-based lifestyle, and encourages listeners to embrace compassion and positivity in their journey.
About Kate Galli
Kate is qualified as a Master Personal Trainer, Life Coach, NLP Practitioner and has also completed the eCornell Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate program.
Kate first got into fitness as a way to transform her body and confidence. She has spent 17 years helping thousands of individuals sculpt a body and life they love and over the past seven years has focused on Vegan Health Coaching as one of the most powerful ways to advocate for animals is to be fit, strong, and healthy.
Her vision: To create a fit, strong, happy, healthy, compassionate vegan world.
On an actionable level, Kate's intention is: to help you create the Mindset that makes your best eating and exercising choices simple and sustainable.
Episode Resources
https://strongbodygreenplanet.com/ - Kate’s Website
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Full Transcription via AI Transcription Service
[0:00]If you tuned in last week, you already know about our all-new secret weapon for your pantry, PlantStrong's organic peanut curry secret sauce mix.
Today, I want to share a list from the desk of Jessica Hegarty.
She's part of our product development for PlantStrong and together with her husband, Evan, helped to formulate this innovative kitchen helper. She has been testing myriad of ways that that you can use and enjoy our secret sauce.
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This list just keeps growing and growing, and I can't wait to hear all the ways that you are enjoying our all-new secret sauce.
You can pick up a six pack of this new pantry helper today at plantstrongfoods.com.
[1:30]I'm Rip Esselstyn and welcome to the PlantStrong Podcast. The mission at Plant Strong is to further the advancement of all things within the plant-based movement.
We advocate for the scientifically proven benefits of plant-based living and envision a world that universally understands, promotes, and prescribes plants as a solution to empowering your health, enhancing your performance, restoring the environment, and becoming better guardians to the animals we share this planet with.
We welcome you wherever you are on your PlantStrong journey, and I hope that you enjoy the show.
[2:09]All the way from Ozzyland, that's Sydney, Australia, I am thrilled to introduce you to Kate Galli.
Kate is a health coach, personal trainer, podcaster, and author of the book, Plant Positive Journal, a step-by-step guide to mastering your time and your mind while living a healthy plant-based lifestyle.
[2:35]Proved to be a very positive and beautiful conversation because Kate is so incredibly passionate, about a plant-based lifestyle, and as she says, leading with love, always leading with love.
Over the course of the 500 plus pages of the journal, you will learn how to consistently prioritize the food, exercise, and other healthy habits that build on each other to create a compounding and lasting effect.
You'll focus on aligning your values and beliefs with daily gratitude pages, and even receive delicious recipes and equipment-free workouts.
Discussing self-care, habits, and values for lasting change
[3:17]Today, Kate and I talk about a lot of things, including her journal, her seven-step guide to cultivating self-care, and what exactly it takes to build the habits and values for lasting change that we all are seeking.
Please welcome to the PlantStrong podcast, Kate Galli.
Introducing Kate Galli: A Podcast Guest from Sydney, Australia
[3:41]Kate Galli, welcome to the PlantStrong podcast. How are you doing today?
Rup, I'm awesome. It is my pleasure to be here with you. Well, it's my pleasure to have you join us.
Where, Kate, tell me without accents, where in the world are you coming to us live from right now?
You couldn't tell I'm in Sydney, Australia and apologies. That's why it's a little bit dark in the backgrounds here.
Well, so what time is it there?
It is 4 a.m. 4 a.m., okay. Well, it's 1 p.m. here in sunny Austin, Texas.
So we got quite the dichotomy going on here.
And...
4 a.m. You're in Australia. And did you say it was Friday? Yeah, I'm in the future.
Vegan Health Coach on a Mission for Compassion
[4:33]That that is wild. Well, cool, because it's Thursday where I am. Well, listen, I know that you are a vegan health coach. You're an author. You like me, you share my drive to create a a healthier and more compassionate world.
And you've been going like gangbusters for a while. You have a very successful podcast called Healthification.
Tell me, how many episodes have you done? Oh, wow. So Healthification is my heart.
I absolutely love it. We are over 830 episodes. I think 833 now, which is pretty amazing.
I mean, you're like, You're approaching like Joe Rogan with numbers like that 800. I mean, how many years have you been doing this?
I think it's like eight now Hey If only I could have the reach for that for the animals and for the planets as as Joe that does that you know It's a goal for the future Wow and what, So what inspired you let's go back to the beginning. So when did you decide that you were gonna go?
So vegan or plant-based, did you refer to it as vegan or plant-based?
[5:51]Well, sadly, I was that little girl, that child that loved animals and ate animals.
And I never thought I could even be vegetarian. And then at 16, I became vegetarian for the animals.
And I didn't want anyone to die for my food choices. And sadly, like many of us, I was ignorant to the fact that animals were still dying when I was vegetarian.
And Rupert would take me a further 23 years until I actually watched Cowspiracy and I learned that we've all been lied to and I decided that I needed to be vegan.
That's definitely the word I proudly use. And it was pretty much an overnight decision from that point and that's seven and a half years ago now.
Yeah, because I think Cowspiracy came out in 2013 or 14, but you probably saw it in 2015-ish. Yeah, 15, beginning of 16, I think.
Right. Well, that's so that's really.
[6:56]So that really moved you so you saw that documentary and literally the next day you were like I'm going all in
Anger and Determination: Going All-In on Veganism
[7:03]I'm i'm all vegan now, not just vegetarian, I'll tell you it made me really angry and frustrated right because I was believing that I was an ethical, Vegetarian that no animals were dying for my food choices, even though I was eating, Up to 20 egg whites a day and a tiny little bit of cheese And so when that veil, I guess, was lifted, yeah, it was overnight, but also I was super angry.
I felt like I had time to make up for, lives to make up for.
I was working in a pretty gym bro type of a gym where I was already the freak for being vegetarian.
And being vegan was, you know, quite, it wasn't taken well, that announcement.
I remember one of the boys saying, well, goodbye, lean muscle mass.
And I was a little hesitant, but thankfully we were both wrong.
As you know, a vegan lifestyle can be incredibly healthy.
[8:04]So what's the culture like in Australia? Because my understanding is that veganism, plant-based is pretty, It's a pretty hot, hot topic in Australia and having never been there, I'd love to get your vantage point, having been a vegan there in that culture now for seven plus years.
[8:32]You've got to check it out. Australia is amazing. I think our culture here is similar to the US in that it is incredibly fraught.
The government and big corporations, there's a lot of, I guess, maintained status quo and there's a lot of, marketing wise, there's a lot of empathy for our poor, downtrodden farmers. And to be clear, I've got so much respect for farmers. We need farmers.
I just want them to farm plants, not animals. So the atmosphere is fraught.
We've got tight ag-gag laws like you do. The media loves to portray animal rights activists as extremists doing dangerous things.
And on the positives, there's a really strong, powerful community of animal rights activists and an abundance of delicious vegan food and amazing vegan restaurants.
The Fight for Change: Pushback and Media Attention
[9:35]But I don't know, I'm curious, are you finding this, the more powerful the movement becomes, the more media attention, the more people adopt the lifestyle, it's like the pushback, the fight is even harder because maybe they're in fear of the change that is coming.
Mm-hmm. I think that's definitely the case for sure. What's the what's the population of Australia?
[10:01]Oh, I think we're around I'm rubbish at this thought it's sort of thing But I think we're around 25 million and around 5 million here in Sydney where I am Which is it's kind of neck-and-neck with Melbourne to be the biggest city. They keep changing places Okay, and I think the United States is you know, somewhere around 350 ish million, So, I mean, I'm just trying to compare populations and so you're not even not quite 10% of, of the United States.
Correct. Yeah, interesting.
Well, so tell me, how fit, how strong, how healthy and how happy are you?
Transitioning from Vegetarian to Vegan without losing fitness
[10:47]Do you know the fit and strong, definitely that stayed about the same from when I'd been vegetarian to vegan.
You know, I was, as I hinted at, I was really fearful that I'd been, I've been living, I've been a personal trainer for about a decade when I became vegan, seven and a half years ago.
And I had my body and my fitness and my strength exactly where I wanted it with a high protein, low carbohydrate, vegetarian lifestyle.
And I was really happy, right? And I thought that I might gain a lot of fat, I might lose a lot of muscle, I might lose some strength, adopting the plant-based lifestyle.
And as we said, nothing changed. So apart from being seven and a half years older, I'm in my mid forties now, I'm probably not the fittest and strongest I've ever been, but I'm still doing pretty well.
And I think it's still...
[11:45]I've watched all of my clients who've been with me for, you know, some of them 17 years now, the whole journey. I've watched them watch me make this lifestyle change. And they're really judging it to see whether it works or not. And, you know, so I hide my, hold myself to a pretty high standard. And, you know, no, no doubt, I'm the trainer that's never off sick, that I'm always doing my training, that there's got to be something to that so far as the plant-based lifestyle. So you've had some of your clients for 17 years. Would you say if you had to like guesstimate what percentage of your clients have come over to the vegan lifestyle?
[12:33]Well, so sadly I can say that zero have come over 100 percent. However, many, and they don't like the word vegan so much and they're all about plant-based for their health, whereas I'm vegan for the animals. I say, you know, with love and pride that I'm an extreme animal rights activist, you know, I think that's important. However, for my clients, they've incorporated a lot more plant foods, a lot more plant proteins, which is amazing and leaving out some of those, some of that flesh that they were so addicted to. So it's been a hugely positive influence, but not a black or white. I'm team vegan now, sadly, because you know, that came on board that many years ago with me when I was vegetarian, and I wasn't as loud about the lifestyle as what I am now. So yeah, bit by bit, gradually. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. You mentioned plant protein. So when you think of plant protein, what does that mean to you? Well, I'm going to say it's changed over the years. I was very fearful of carbohydrates and even fats early days. That was kind of drilled into me old school as a personal trainer and hence the 20 egg whites a day, you know, a decade ago.
[13:56]And so when I started, I was all about the protein powders and maybe the soy and now I'm all about the lentils, like all the legumes, multiple times a day, still the tofu, the tempeh, the occasional delicious plant-based burger made with beans and mushrooms and everything else. But aside from that, as you know, there's protein all over the place and the nuts and seeds and fruits and veggies. So it is abundant. And I will say the variety that I enjoy in my meals now so much more than when I was vego and even than when I ate meat.
Focus on whole food plant-based for optimal nutrition
[14:38]Mm-hmm. Well, I'm glad to hear.
[14:42]That over the years, you've transitioned more from, you know, the protein powders and the shakes and stuff like that stuff to more whole food plant-based, right, where you're going to get the biggest bang for your nutritional buck.
And in addition to the protein, you're also getting obviously all those vitamins and minerals and antioxidants and phytonutrients and of course, fiber, right?
You know, it's crazy to me how just in the last five, six years, we've learned of the, just the integral role that fiber plays in our gut microbiome, our immune health, and so many other things.
You know what I'm talking about?
[15:26]I 100% know what you're talking about. And yeah, I will say too, you know, early days, I was stuck on the macronutrients, the carbs, proteins, fats. And now my focus and what I advocate to my clients face-to-face and in person is much more of a focus on all the vital micronutrients that we need. And as you said, the fiber and the diversity and just that big, abundant, colorful plate of food that is, you know, both visually appealing and also absolutely delicious.
Yeah, yeah You know, I had dr. Will Bolshewitz on not too long ago and we talked about the American gut project, you know several years.
[16:12]10,000 people and The you know, the biggest outcome.
[16:18]Showed that the most important thing for a rockin microbiome is 30-plus different, Plant-based whole plant-based foods over the course of a week right? I mean, and as you know, it's not that hard to do, right?
[16:36]100%. Dr. Dolcevitz is absolutely amazing. I've had him on a couple of times as well. And while he is doing amazing work, and I mean, you can make fun of it, you know, so far as like, how many, how many different plants can I get on my plate today or in my day today and try new foods and, And even, you know, I'm finding not just new foods, but some of the foods that we used to hate as children, you know, our taste buds change and thankfully our cooking ability changes.
Rediscovering and enjoying a variety of plant-based foods
[17:10]And some of those disgusting foods as kids, as are now when we cook them properly, like Brussels sprouts, are absolutely amazing.
[17:20]Yeah, they are, although I still can't handle sauerkraut. I just have a hard time with fermented foods, right?
And they're supposed to be really beneficial for the gut, too.
I think that's something I overdid early days. I was all about the micronutrients.
Again, I worked in a kind of gym bro type of a scenario, and I wanted to prove them wrong when they thought I'd become this scrawny vegan.
And I almost tried to get every single micronutrient into every single meal and I was adding spirulina to everything and stuff started tasting a bit gross.
I was taking it too seriously and so I just, I chilled out a little bit and you know, it still works and it's a lot more joyful.
Are you a type A personality?
[18:08]People tell me I am. So I get enough people tell me I am that maybe I am.
[18:14]So you wrote a book recently, It's called the Plant Positive Journal, right?
Love that, Plant Positive Journal. 508 pages long.
[18:26]Tell me a little bit about like what's in this journal. So this is my little vegan Trojan horse.
It is a stunning journal, daily planner. It's basically a step-by-step guide to help you master your time and also your mind while living a healthy plant-based lifestyle, because my, I mean, my favorite part of coaching is helping people create the most effective mindset to make the best, most effective eating and exercising actions simple and sustainable.
So this little journal, diary, daily planner, it's bit by bit got all the most effective actions that I've found over the years with myself and with my clients just to create that powerful mindset that you have a really important, compelling goal and you've got motivation early days, but we all get those struggle streak days and we need those mindset tips to fall back on.
And it came about because I actually had a beautiful diary that had been gifted to me that I use to plan my day. It's the only way I get a lot done and it was stunning, but it talked about the moons and the stars and I didn't read the information that it talked about. I just used it it as an effective, beautiful tool.
[19:47]And I thought, how about if I created something like that, that was vegan and that it planted little seeds with everyone that was using it as a daily planner and bit by bit, you know, maybe they would take on some of this, this advice and try some of their recipes.
And, and so that's the journal. I'm, I'm super proud of it and excited to get it out into the world.
The Plant Positive Journal: A stunning, vegan daily planner
[20:09]Well, the cover to me is so classically beautiful, and it just kind of radiates this calm.
Do you have one that you can hold up there? I can.
It will go backwards. It's probably, yeah, that goes right. So I mean, like it's open on today.
I just scribble over this thing every single day, but it's got just stunning artwork in it as well.
A lot of people, a lot of professionals helped me create this thing.
The graphic designer was amazing. It's a beast.
I actually sent one off to America yesterday, but it weighs nearly a kilo.
So it's a beautiful beast. I did an online version as well, just because it's so heavy, but I really like the paper version, scribbling all over it and ticking the boxes.
So kilo is 2.2 pounds Which is quite a lot, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
[21:10]So you talk about how love is easier than hate and why You stop being an angry vegan, Can you address that?
I absolutely can and i'll say up front that it is a constant work in progress for me my first few years vegan, I was absolutely that angry vegan. I was super, I was sad and frustrated that the people around me who were generally compassionate and intelligent just didn't get it. You know, they didn't find, they didn't hear the information that I had heard, see the videos that I had seen and make the change that I had made. And again, it took me years and it took me eroding relationships, that was really it. I was, I realized the energy I was spending on always being angry and disappointed and frustrated and I kind of bit by bit I'm schooling myself to lead more with love and in compassion and I mean for the listeners who can maybe relate I even have a little bit of an ABC to help you get yourself here which I can I can share and the first one A is for awareness. You know I kind of had a chat with myself and I said the.
Steps to cultivating self-care and compassion
[22:33]Amount of energy that this is taking right now always being angry and sad and disappointed and people you otherwise love. If nothing changes six months, 12 months, 24 months what's your life gonna look like if this is the way that you're feeling 24-7.
And the B, the B is for brainstorm. I did this. I brainstormed the things that I can stop doing and the things that I can start doing.
And sadly, I stopped doing animal rights activism for a while.
I stopped holding up the screens of animals in slaughterhouses because it was just.
[23:11]It was costing me too much.
And seeing those videos online across the socials was costing too much.
And sharing them was costing too much. And the things that I started doing, I started following those really happy, joyful pages like Edgar's Mission and the Farm Sanctuaries.
I started sharing happy videos. I started sharing my delicious food.
They were some of the things I started doing.
And the C-step is a commitment. And the C is all about, I guess, commitment to yourself, but also announcing.
You know, I've stopped being an angry vegan. And Rip, you can bet that if I make that announcement, I make that commitment, and then I slide back into that natural, little, passionate, angry cape with friends or family, they're going to remind me that, hey, aren't you no longer the angry vegan?
And they're going to call me on it. And as I said, it's a journey.
So under brainstorm, you said that you stopped doing the, the, The activism, the unhappy social media stuff because it was costing you too much, costing you much.
Can you explain in what way?
I can. I can go a whole lot deeper.
[24:32]Yeah, look, I'm going to go deeper and it's a bit sad, but a bit of history with me is that all my friends and family, none of them, I've been vegetarian since I was 23 and vegan now seven and a half years and no one close to me was open to the lifestyle until a few years ago, my dear mum, after years of me emotionally blackmailing, funny that doesn't work, after years of me pressuring my parents to at least try it, to watch what the health for my 40th birthday, none of that worked until one Christmas I was right into animal rights activism and mum rang me up and she said, Katie, I'm really worried about Christmas. You're going to come home and it's going to be so fraught with your father and the food. And I really don't know what to do unless you mastermind an entire vegan Christmas and sell it to the family. And I was like, done.
I am masterminding that Christmas. I will make all the food. Can you just sell it to the family?
And anyway, that happened. I cooked six new recipes. Everyone loved it. It was amazing.
It's quite a few years ago now. And.
[25:50]The day after mom said, hey, Katie, can you put what's the health on Netflix and watch it with me?
She asked, and we watched it and mom was an incredibly compassionate person.
She was a nurse for 30 years. She really resonated with the fact that we live in a society now where we sell sick care rather than health care.
And she said, I'm gonna try this plant-based thing for two weeks.
And anyway, we basically, mum became vegan bit by bit, and we bonded over that hugely.
And I had so much respect. We got so much closer.
[26:32]And there's a really sad point to this, that in October, and so mum was the only one in my family that was supportive.
She listened to- And how big is your family? Oh, do you know, my family's actually quite small, but I include all my extended family and all my long-term friends and all my colleagues and clients.
It was just mom and I. And she'd come on the podcast regularly, Annie's Cooking Corner and all of this.
Coping with loss and reevaluating relationships
[27:01]And anyway, a few years on in October, 2021, mom died suddenly, completely out of the blue, nothing health-related or lifestyle-related.
And I spoke to her one morning, Sunday morning, like always.
And by Sunday afternoon, she was gone.
And she was the only one that, you know, A, she was my person, my most important person in the world, but also she was the only one that I shared this most important, like, goal and vision and value with.
[27:41]And it meant, it took a while initially. it meant that dad and I fought even more over this difference in our lifestyle.
But the reason I came to believe that I need to lead with love is I kind of thought, gosh, if dad died tomorrow, we don't have a really good relationship. We don't have the relationship that mom and I had.
And I didn't have any regrets when mom died, just the most sadness in the world, but no regrets as to how our relationship was.
But I would have with my dad. So bit by bit, I just, I started to, you know, lead, be more understanding, focus more on what we have in common, because there are things, rather than focus on everything that he wasn't doing.
[28:31]And how's that been going with your dad? So much better, you know, we've had some amazing blow ups.
We were always known for that. Mom was the peacemaker and dad and I would just go head to head and we would have those blow ups, but well, I mean, I guess we've connected over the saddest, most horrific thing that can ever happen, which is losing the person you love most.
We have connected over that, but you know, I guess a year or so after mum passed, when I came home to Noosa where dad lived, for the first time in his life, he had actually cooked me a full vegan meal.
And now he does that every time I go up there and like, it's beautiful that the years before that, he hadn't cooked so much as a baked potato for me, because he's the anti-vegan, but now, you know, he's reading recipes and going to effort, and it's beautiful.
What, can you remember what meal he made for you?
[29:39]Yeah, it was a tofu dish. You know, it was fine. It wasn't amazing, but the thought was amazing.
And it just, it made me want to try so much harder, you know, bit by bit.
So it's progress. Yeah, that's really, that's really beautiful.
So you mentioned sick care, right? We're all about the sick care.
Not so much about the self-care, unfortunately.
[30:09]And you have a seven step guide to helping people cultivate self-care.
Embracing the Benefits of a Plant-Based Lifestyle
[30:18]Around being a healthy, vegan, plant-based lifestyle.
Self-care starts with positive self-talk and reframing negative thoughts.
[30:24]Can you share some of those seven? I absolutely will.
And it's just something that I've noticed that we often lead, especially if we're vegan for the animals, we often, we're working so hard, we're so dedicated, we're so passionate.
And perhaps ourselves are the people, the ones that we don't look after.
So I love an acronym. So it is a self-care acronym.
And number one, the S is about your self-talk because the only person you're with 24 seven is yourself and your unconscious mind is listening.
So it's just a matter of consciously reframing that negative self-talk that you might be in the habit of making.
And bit by bit, all those reframes, it is gonna start to come up, come out more positively with time. I've absolutely had that experience.
Step number two, the ease. Let me just interrupt. Yeah.
Yeah, that is so important. And I read once that most of us have somewhere.
[31:29]In the neighborhood of 60 to 80,000 thoughts a day, 60 to 80,000. That's insane.
And close to 90% of those are negative.
Oh, no.
Yeah, so if we can flip the script.
Right? And have it be mostly, you know, positive self-talk. I think that to your point, that can be a real game changer.
So powerful.
[31:57]And how do you, I mean, what, but what are, what's a tool to do that?
And you just catch yourself going, God, I was negative. I need to flip that around.
You totally do. And it is going to seem really fake initially.
I'm a huge fan of the reframe.
So consciously reframing a way that you think to have the more positive outcome, the outcome that lets you take a more positive action, whatever it may be.
And that's what you do with your self-talk when you're like, oh, you stupid idiot.
Whatever it may be, you catch yourself, okay, it came out and you've reframed it to something more supportive, the way that you would talk to your mom or your friends or your little sister.
And as fake as it seems, if the outcome's gonna be amazing, which it is, it doesn't matter if it feels a little bit fake initially, it will get to the point where it comes naturally.
And I've absolutely had that experience.
Nice, so fake it until you make it positive.
Of course, with absolute love for yourself.
[33:02]The next step, E, is long but potent, and it is to elicit your values and beliefs and to use them as a daily decision-making filter.
So your values are those states that you are naturally drawn to, and your beliefs about yourself are basically everything that comes after I am.
And they're really, really potent.
And so maybe, you know, your values are integrity or passion or whatever they are for our listeners.
I use them every day as a filter, you know, before I say yes or no to something, because absolutely filtering your choices aligned with these values and beliefs is a powerful form of self-care.
[33:46]Number three, Al, is lock and load the big rocks that keep you healthy and happy.
So those are those huge important habits, maybe keystone habits like exercise and food prep and meditation and time and nature that you know keep you functioning effectively and keep you happy.
And I recommend jotting them down in your journal or logging them wherever you log things as big non-negotiable rocks at the start of every single week.
So in your journal, so you do that at the start of every week and then do you also try and do it every day as well?
All of it. I set weekly goals, big weekly goals with time allocated and then each day I prioritize what needs to be done aligned with those weekly goals. And stuff like exercise personally, it It happens so naturally, it's so locked and loaded and aligned with my values and beliefs as a personal trainer.
It's a non-negotiable. Stuff like meditation and journaling, I still have to write down in the little journal to remind me, because it's not yet a non-negotiable habit.
So let me, before you go on to the F in self.
The Importance of Exercise for Mental Well-being
[35:07]I want you to talk a little bit about, Because you, you...
I think you have a way of talking to yourself or talking to your clients when they lose the mojo to wanna exercise.
And for myself, it has been something that I've been lockstep with since I was probably six, seven years old.
If I don't exercise, I just don't feel whole. I don't feel grounded.
I don't feel like I've got my oogies out. I need it, right? Daily, I need...
And it doesn't have to be a lot. I mean, I've gotten to the point to where I'm okay with 30 minutes or 45 minutes of exercise, right?
So what do you say to people that are just losing it or people that like would rather take a nap than even think about exercising?
[35:59]Do you know, I always go back to, we're so keen on the actions, right?
Whereas more importantly, we need to lay the foundation, the mindset preparation components for our future success.
And aligning your values and beliefs with the goal that you're looking to achieve, I think, is the most potent thing long-term. It removes the decision-making process. So for example, for me, if I'm a person, if Integrity is a really important value to me, then as a personal trainer, you better believe I've got to look and feel and act the part if I have any sort of, if I want to maintain any sort of integrity.
So for me, that almost makes the decision to exercise or not, like it's not even a decision, it's already decided because it's aligned with my integrity.
Now for a client who isn't a personal trainer, perhaps their number one value is family.
[36:55]Or love and connection, whatever it may be, it's doing the work with them to elicit that value and to align it with the goal they're looking to achieve.
You know, obviously we would have dug in with what are you looking to achieve and what's that going to mean to you and to your family and to your ideal life.
Like they come up with a specific goal and they also infuse it with massive emotional intensity about how it's gonna change their life.
And then they connect it with their values, you know, being fit and strong and healthy to play with their kids or my clients more so maybe to play with their grandkids cause my clients have aged with me.
Or maybe it's that they're setting a really good healthy example and showing their kids how to eat and how to move.
That would be a foundational step.
But beyond that, I would always suggest that Like, it's a privilege to have the freedom and the health and the time and the money to be able to exercise.
And I ask my clients to see it as precious them time, you know, it really is self-indulgent in the best possible way.
Time for them to really focus on themselves and the good that they're doing for themselves.
[38:12]Hear ye, hear ye. That's great. Okay, should we go back to self-care?
Choosing Positive Influences for Self-Care
[38:19]Let's go back to self-care.
And F is, it's another filter. It's filter the people you spend time with.
And this is especially important for those of us that like to describe ourselves as animal rights activists.
You know, there are some people that are very draining on our energy and maybe we can't choose our family.
However, we can choose the people that we spend time with. And there are very definitely people in our lives that we can actively spend a little less time with.
They might even be clients. And equally, there are those people that we feel amazing after we've spent time with, and we can very consciously schedule a little bit more time with them into our weeks as well, because they're those uplifting, energy-giving friends.
Becoming Selective with Time and Creating a Not-to-Do List
[39:08]Yes, I find that the older I get, More Stingy I become I become with my time and who i'm spending time with super super i'm becoming so Selective, Yeah, especially. Yeah, especially with a wife and three young kids because if i'm with somebody else it's basically taking a time time away from, my 9, 14 and 16 year old and this is time that I'm not going to get back and they're going to be gone and out of the house in the blink of an eye.
That's a beautiful way to look at it and it leads us very well to step five, which is to create a not to do list because that precedes the do list, right? And so you've done that, you've kind of decided perhaps on some of the things and some of the people that you might not be spending time with because where you decide to put that not to do or not to spend time energy, that then gives you more of the time to spend with the people you love most.
[40:16]Yeah, so that's step five, create a not to do list. I like that. I like that. And can you have people on that list?
I reckon you can. It's your list. You can do whatever you want.
Yeah, just keep it to yourself, right? A hundred percent. That's like, I'm a huge fan off track, but I'm a huge fan of the anti-mentor as much as the mentor. And often I'll think of that when, if I, you know, the rare occasion I don't want to do exercise, rather than thinking of that amazing fit vegan athlete, I might actually think of that anti-mentor, that really lazy, sluggish, that person I really don't want to be. I'll think of them, and that will motivate me to take action. However, never tell someone they're your anti-mentor.
No, no, no, no, not unless it's, you know, somehow in major jest and they can handle it.
100%. Right, so for you, you don't, your anti-mentor is a lazy, slothy.
[41:25]Undisciplined. Undisciplined, sniveling, little complaining thing.
An overly privileged thing, who would rather complain than get results, and that's unattractive.
Yeah, yeah. You're all about the results.
I am, there's that Taipei supposedly, right? Yeah.
Implementing a 24-Hour Digital Detox Once a Week
[41:46]Step six, I need to re-implement. Step six is a 24-hour digital detox.
I did this for about a year, it was amazing. I would decide a time, say 4 p.m. on a Saturday, and I would go offline for 24 hours till 4 p.m. on a Sunday.
I would probably cheat by downloading some podcasts to listen to on my walk in the morning, but no social, no email, none of that for 24 hours. And that was amazing.
And how often are you trying to do the 24 hour digital detox?
Once a week, once a week.
Once a week? Yeah, every Saturday through Sunday or whatever works for you when you're having precious family time, perhaps.
And as I said, it was amazing. I have to redo it.
[42:36]I really like that. That would...
[42:40]In today's culture, I'm just thinking of myself right now, especially with everything that I have going on, the podcast and the business and all that stuff, 24-hour, taking a step away would be hard, but I like the challenge, for sure.
Yeah, it's worth the effort.
Step number seven is one of my favorites as well, R is the realistic expectations of you and the people you love.
So this is about, I guess, lowering the bar to raise your chance of success.
I found that I had really unrealistic expectations of everyone, really, especially myself, but the people I love too, as I hinted at before, I expected that they might see Firflings or Dominion like I did and make the changes that I did.
And again, that's not meeting them where they're at.
And it's leading to that fraught type of relationship I don't want to have.
And so now what I do is I really consciously focus on what we have in common.
So what I have in common with the people I love, you know, my dad and I both have cats.
We talk about our cats all the time. We don't talk about climate change or farming or politics.
So that's realistic expectations.
How many cats do you have?
[44:06]I have one, Loki boy, he's a rescue cat. He's amazing and yeah.
Nice, nice. We have a cat, he, I should say she, she is all black and we call her Pickles.
Oh, Pickles is very cute. Oh, that's sweet. Yeah. Yeah.
Tell me, what did you, so it's 4 a.m. So you haven't had probably had breakfast yet.
What did you have to eat yesterday? Can you, could you run through like breakfast, lunch, and dinner for me?
Oh, a full day, all right. My breakfast, because I start so early, my breakfast actually tend to be more snacky.
And then I have bigger meals for lunch and dinner. So breakfast tends to be like a combination of hemp seeds.
I love my hemp seeds, nuts, sometimes some edamame. So it's basically kind of easy, simple plant protein and some good fats.
And when I'm in the gym, which is only four days a week, there'll be plant-based protein powder with that as well, just a protein shake with water.
[45:12]Lunch will be a huge abundant salad, which is like lots of raw salad, veg, and then a massive amount of baked starchy veg as well, starchy and cruciferous veg.
And I dress that with dairy-free pesto that I meal prep on the weekends, and it's delicious.
And also hummus that I make myself.
And that's huge, but it's not super protein rich. So I'll usually follow it with a half a cup or a cup of edamame as well, just to get that protein count up.
A snack on fruit, apples, cherries, whatever it may be.
And then dinner, dinner varies like everyone. It might be a curry.
Last night it was marinated tofu with a whole purple sweet potato.
I love those purple ones.
And they're so good. And then a heap of cruciferous vegetables.
They happen to be brussels and broccoli and cauliflower with nutritional yeast and salt last night.
[46:21]Yeah, that's most of it, I think. Sounds delicious. Do you enjoy time in the kitchen?
I do because I temptation bundle. I think that's a Kathy Milkman habit, and it just means a little kind of tedious habit like meal prep could be.
I combine it with listening to a podcast or an audio book. So it's like exercise.
It's kind of precious me time as well. I do enjoy it.
What did you refer to that as?
Temptation bundling. So you take it like that. Temptation bundling.
Yeah. I've never heard that before. I'm writing it down.
Okay, it's really good. So it's just, if you find walking boring, so just time your walk with that podcast that you love and maybe even make it that that's the only time that you can listen to that podcast is when you get your walk on or when you clean the house or whatever it may be.
Protein intake and gym routine
[47:14]Do you, so you mentioned protein a lot and you're in the gym, you said four times a week.
Is there a certain amount of protein that you try and get over the course of a day?
Are you counting your protein grams?
[47:28]I'm not, I've gone really overboard with counting all my macronutrients in the past and I'm a lot more relaxed with that right now.
I just aim to get about 15 to 20 grams of protein per meal and also to have protein in my snacks as well.
And when a meal, like the salad, when a meal's a little bit light on, I'll make sure I have something higher protein afterwards.
But probably I get around like 75 to 100 grams of protein a day, which is more than adequate for someone my size.
As I age, I think I'm 46 now, I think I probably will consciously look introduce a little bit more protein. Yeah. And tell me the reason for that as you're aging to introduce more, because I would assume you look like you're pretty slight, very fit. I mean, can you tell me how much you weigh? Yeah, I never weigh myself really, but it tends to be between like 57 and 59 kilos. I'm sorry, I can't tell that in pounds off the the top of my head.
That's okay, we just multiply that by 2.2, so that seems to be true.
So yes, somewhere around 120-ish.
So I mean...
Protein Intake and Muscle Maintenance
[48:47]So, for people that are listening and people that are working out, are you trying to get roughly like 1.2 to 1.4 grams per kilogram of body weight?
[49:00]That sounds like not quite that much. No, like the numbers vary, don't they?
Like some people say 0.8, I'm more around the 1 probably.
And then it varies whether you do it obviously in kilos or pounds, but I've just made it super simple, you know, 100 grams is a good day. That's a day where I'm lifting weights and I've had a protein shake as well. The other days are a little bit more light on because I'm primarily whole food plant-based. However, some of those delicious vegan burgers.
[49:33]Have a massive amount of protein in them as well. So, you know, they're a massive amount of fat too, but you know, I still eat them every single week. The aging thing, that was purely because, you know, we naturally lose muscle mass as we get older. And, you know, I'm probably always going to be in the gym. I think there's no age that you should stop lifting heavy weights. However, I have noticed, I don't lift quite as heavy as what I did in my early thirties. And so I do just want to, I love the look of muscle. I just want to maintain as much muscle as possible for as long as possible. Well, I think we all want to, because something called sarcopenia hits, I think, when we turn 30 and we, whether we like it or not, we lose muscle mass if we're not conscientiously, you know, activating and working out our muscles, right?
Same thing with osteoporosis. Yeah. And, um.
[50:34]But my thing is, yes, you need to be getting the right amount of protein, and almost everybody is as long as you're consuming enough calories.
But to me, the most important thing about muscle mass, again, if you're getting the right amount of calories, is you got to hit the gym, you got to work out, right?
Because just eating protein is not going to grow your muscles.
And I just want that to be very, very clear to the listeners.
You're talking my talk. am a huge advocate of lifting heavy weights. You know it's why I got into the gym initially. I was a debilitatingly shy teenager. I was chunky on bottom and scrawny on top and you know then I learned that you can go to the gym and you can choose your curves. You can add a little bit more muscle to your upper body and you can shave away some of that chunk down bottom and you know it's not all about the aesthetics but there is like a huge confidence that that you can achieve that's applicable to every area of your life.
When you go to the gym and you hit the weights and you see that that body that you weren't so comfortable and confident with, that you can change it.
Yeah, super, super exciting. Especially when you at some point realize that you're kind of, I'm not gonna say you're kind of, you are in control of.
[52:00]Of you, and in many ways, the body that you kind of create, carve, however you wanna say it.
Yeah, yeah.
[52:11]Go ahead. The body you sculpt, absolutely. And there is no better way, or it is a very good way to advocate for the animals, to advocate for the lifestyle, is to rock around in a fit, strong body, and as much as you can to do it happily as well.
Yeah.
Early Morning Routine and Commitment to Work
[52:32]So it's approaching 5 a.m. now, your time. What time do you usually get up on a normal morning?
Normal, I do a lot of podcast interviews, so I'm always up early one or two days a week.
If I wasn't up for a podcast interview, I'd still be up at 4 a.m.
I'm an early bird. I start in the gym with clients at 6 a.m., four days a week.
So I'm up at 4 a.m. The little rescue cat Loki is bouncing from one side of my head to the other anywhere from 3 to 3.30 a.m., so early riser.
Wow. So what time do you go to bed in order to wake up that early?
Really sadly early, like 7 o'clock often. I know it's ridiculous, but if I got, you know, I went out on the weekend and I lasted to like nine o'clock or something. So, you know, I can do it. I just, I'm in a bit of a working phase of life. We all have seasons, right? And this is kind of a working season right now.
That's nice. So 9pm for you is when you get wild and crazy.
[53:43]I'm partying hard if it's 9pm, yeah. Wow. Well, you know what I'd love to do? Kate, this has been fantastic. And I love your positive mindset, your energy, obviously your commitment to raising awareness around all specks of this lifestyle. So love this conversation. I'd love to invite you back on sometime soon and we can talk about so many other things that you that you've identified like 10 tips to making plant-based living much, much easier. You also have a great, a great way of thinking about being overwhelmed and how it's basically the lazy way of thinking. And you have a whole acronym around overcoming, being overwhelmed, right? That I think so many of us today in this society our feeling. So let's bring you back and talk about all that.
[54:52]I would absolutely love to come back and talk about overcoming overwhelm and everything else.
So this has been such a pleasure. Thank you so much, Riff. It's been fabulous.
Absolutely. And so if people want to learn more about you, where can they go?
Strongbodygreenplanet.com is the best place to find me. I'm strongbodygreenplanet across most of the socials and the journal is front and center on the website and the podcast is Healthification.
So that's, I chat to passionate and compassionate animal rights activists, athletes, authors, doctors and entrepreneurs, and that is my heart. I love it, so that's where you find me.
Wow. Can you remember the first episode you did?
I can. It was Keith Bergeson from PISA. And, and he was amazing. And maybe a year after that, I had an absolute pinch myself moment, getting to talk to Ingrid Newkirk. And I've had so many pinch myself moments, but I just have so much respect for that wonderful woman. And she was so kind and warm. And the media might present her to be not that. But yeah, so many amazing moments on on that podcast.
[56:21]Well, I can't even imagine. You've done over 800 podcasts. Wow.
[56:28]Luckily, there's no end to the amazing vegans and plant-based people that we can speak to. Hey, Rip.
Isn't that the truth? Well, you're right up there with one of them. Boom!
Give me a PlantStrong virtual bump on the head. PlantStrong, Kate.
[56:52]Thank you so much, Kate, for getting up at 4 a.m. Sydney time to share your passion with us here on the PlantStrong podcast.
To learn more about Kate and all of her work and coaching, simply go to StrongBodyGreenPlanet, StrongBodyGreenPlanet.com, and of course I'll put a link in the show notes.
As you're building new habits for yourself, remember what Kate said, It's easier to lead with love than hate.
Amen to that.
Support the PlantStrong Podcast and Spread the News
[57:28]Thank you for listening to the PlantStrong Podcast. You can support the show by taking a quick minute to follow us wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
Leaving us a positive review and sharing the show with your network is another great way to help us reach, as many people as possible with the exciting news about plants.
Thank you in advance for your support. It means everything.
The PlantStrong podcast team includes Carrie Barrett, Laurie Kortowich, Ami Mackey, Patrick Gavin, and Wade Clark.
This season is dedicated to all of those courageous truth seekers who weren't afraid to look through the lens with clear vision and hold firm to a higher truth.
Most notably, my parents, Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr. and Anne Crile Esselstyn.
Thanks for listening.
