Remember that big deal about how the bread at Subway contains chemicals found in yoga mats?Then there was the story about how fast food French fries contain a chemical used in Silly Putty. And the whole to-do about how there’s actually no pumpkin in the Starbucks pumpkin latte.The person behind these semi-salacious, headline grabbing campaigns is this week’s guest, Vani Hari – aka Food Babe – the outspoken and often divisive food activist behind the wildly popular FoodBabe.com blog.I met Vani at a dinner party this past summer and found her not only delightful but also razor sharp, fiercely passionate and tenacious when the subject turned to food — particularly what big food manufacturers don’t want you to know about what’s in our food. Her message? To empower the typical soccer mom with the information to feed her family right and the courage to stand up for greater transparency and accountability from companies that produce what ends up on our plates.FoodBabe.com, which exceeds an astounding 2.5 million unique visitors per month, along with the mobilization of Vani’s passionate Food Babe Army following, has been incredibly successful in getting gigantic companies like Subway, Kraft, Chipotle, Chick-fil-A, and even Anheuser-Busch to not only remove certain harmful ingredients from their food but also steer them toward more healthful policies.Therefore, it should come as no surprise that food companies are terrified of her. Her voice and legion of supporters pose a significant threat to corporate profits and business as usual. This makes her a target. Attacked daily, it’s not uncommon for her to receive death threats. But that’s what happens when you really put yourself out there, on the front lines.The fact that she soldiers on is super ballsy. She is a warrior. Totally punk rock. The Erin Brockovitch of food.Congressman Tim Ryan calls her Vani “a one woman consumer protection agency.” And I for one have tremendous respect for anyone who demonstrates her level of courage and advocacy.Vani and I were supposed to sit down in person in New York a couple weeks ago but the big storm that never was left her with a cancelled flight and compelled me to break my cardinal rule and host this conversation on Skype. I never do this, but I think Vani’s message is potent and important and it didn’t appear we would be in the same city at the same time again anytime soon, so I took a chance and I’m glad I did.This is a great talk. A talk about how all of us, irrespective of our personal dietary proclivities, can live a cleaner, more organic and healthier lifestyle in today’s overprocessed, contaminated-food world.This is a talk about corporate responsibility and corporate transparency.This is a talk about government oversight and regulation of our food, our food companies, and the ingredients that find their way into our food.And most importantly, from my perspective, this is a talk about the inherent power and responsibility we hold as as consumers to be advocates; to raise our voice and be heard; to hold the people behind the food we eat more accountable for how its made and what goes into it.I sincerely hope you enjoy the conversation.Peace + Plants,Rich

America's #1 killer, heart disease currently kills 1 out of every 3 Americans; 70% of Americans are obese and getting fatter; and Studies forecast that by 2030, 50% of Americans will be diabetic or pre-diabetic.The great irony in all of this is that, as Dr. Kahn so astutely points out, 80-90% of all chronic health problems can be resolved via pretty simple diet and lifestyle alternations.The tricky part is translating these lifestyle alterations from theory to practice. I understand that it can be difficult for many, particularly when there is so much confusing information out there concerning about heath, nutrition and diet. So confusing in fact, that it becomes incredibly challenging for even the most savvy consumer to separate fact from fiction and truth from hyperbole.Just because good news about bad habits makes for tempting clickbait doesn't mean the information is reliable — its usually not.To help sift through all of this, I once again sit down for a heart to heart (pun intended) with cardiologist Joel Kahn, MD — you can listen to our first conversation (RRP #44) here.A Summa Cum Laude graduate of the University of Michigan's prestigious Inteflex program (a 6-year undergraduate / graduate program that developed doctors fresh out of high school), Joel has served as Clinical Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) at Wayne State University School of Medicine since 1993. He's authored over 130 articles on heart disease, is a frequent lecturer on heart disease and its prevention, has performed thousands of cardiac procedures, and has been advising patients on heart healthy programs for over 20 years.Not only does Dr. Kahn know what he is talking about, his basic message is elementary: if you want to experience true long-term wellness, then you must focus on implementing sustainable long-term preventive protocols into your lifestyle. This starts and ends with diet and active lifestyle.The specific thrust of this conversation focuses on separating truth from marketing with respect to certain zeitgeist trends in nutrition science. To wit:Is butter really back?What are the health impacts of a low carb / high fat diet?What are the risks (and benefits, if any) of trendy practices like putting butter and oil in your morning coffee?Is everything we thought we knew about saturated fat truly wrong?Who was Ancel Keys and what is the import of his nutritional studies?What is the true impact of dietary cholesterol on arterial and heart health?Finally, and most importantly, what specific dietary and lifestyle protocols does this veteran cardiologist recommend to maintain optimal heart health in a culture in which heart disease has become a wildly out of control pandemic?You'll want to tune in to find out.Amazingly informative, this is straight talk from a solid guy. An awesome and trusted and educated and experienced and entertaining guy I am proud to call my friend.I sincerely hope you heed the call and enjoy the conversation.Peace + Plants,Rich

What can mined from the abyss that separates ordinary from extraordinary?Although he's never pedaled a single stage of the Tour de France as a professional cyclist, Mike Cotty has done things on the bike that would make even Jens Voigt (the consensus hard man of the pro peloton) cringe.Here's a taste. Last summer Mike rode his bike 1000 kilometers non-stop across 21 mountains in the Dolomites, Eastern Alps and Swiss Alps, from Conegliano, Italy, to Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France. That's over 21,000 meters in elevation gain. That's 54 hours of riding without sleep. That's like riding 8 to 10 stages of the Tour de France without stopping.How is that even humanly possible?Mike also rode 684 kilometers for 30 hours straight across the Pyrenees from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. A feat rivaled only by his 33-hour, 677 kilometer ride that ascended 16,000 meters of elevation gain across the Alps.Obviously I wouldn't characterize Mike as normal. Far from it. But there is a very relatable everyman aspect to Mike's story that captured my fancy.Mike's path has hardly been linear, but today he is not only an extraordinarily accomplished athlete, he is a respected filmmaker, brand ambassador, media & marketing consultant and entrepreneur. Through his company Media-24, Mike creates compelling content and develops marketing strategy for top tier organizations like Mavic, Cannondale and the Cannondale-Garmin professional cycling team. Mike's latest passion project is The Col Collective, a high quality online video resource dedicated to helping inspire and educate cyclists to reach the summit of the most spectacular mountain passes in the world.Mike's is also a path without ego, well grounded in a true desire to educate, positively impact and inspire people to overcome their own barriers. All these elements make for great conversation about passion. About pushing past that voice in your head that wants you to quit. About what is required to break through seemingly insurmountable barriers. And about the self-discovery incident to attempting something personally unprecedented.This is a conversation about the value and importance of hard work over the life hack. About the pain, suffering, joy and pride that comes with embracing the journey. About living in balance with nature. About faith, having a strong conviction about yourself and the path ahead. And it's about what's required to turn your passion into your profession.I sincerely hope you enjoy the conversation.Peace + Plants,Rich

This week's episode is a bit of a departure. But like Frost's road less travelled, it's a direction well worth pursuing.My podcast was borne from a love of the art of the long form conversation. Authentic expression is a predominant theme of virtually every episode. And I sheepishly admit to a slight obsession with talented people at the nadir of their creativity, expressing their specific life purpose with unapologetic conviction.Sam Jones is the embodiment and ethos of all these ideals and more. Lauded photographer, documentary filmmaker, award winning music video director, magazine publisher, television creator and podcast host. Oh yeah, he's also married with kids.As a photographer, Sam is the go to guy for top tier magazines such as Vanity Fair, Esquire, Rolling Stone, GQ and Time for creating timeless portraits of luminaries, A-list actors and musicians like Barak Obama, George Clooney, Robert Downey Jr., Bob Dylan, Jack Nicholson and Dave Grohl.All of this is super cool of course. But quite frankly it's not what motivated me to want to sit down with Sam. What really captivated me about this talented artist is Sam's newest venture, a multi-media, multi-faceted project he created entitled offCamera.It's photography. It's a magazine. It's a television show. It's a podcast. It's journalism. It's entertainment. It's art – the art of exquisite portraiture achieved through images, words and conversation.Simply put, Sam performs up close and personal, uninterrupted long-form conversations with today's most prolific cultural icons – people like Matt Damon, Sarah Silverman, Robert Downey Jr., Jeff Bridges, Laura Dern and more. Each conversation is filmed for initial broadcast on DirectTV's Audience Network and subsequently available on the offCamera website as well as on iTunes as an audio podcast. Accompanied by a formal portrait, the interviews are also reformatted in print to comprise a printed magazine.After listening to Sam's intimate dialog with Robert Downey Jr., I was left to ponder this question: where else could I possibly listen to (or watch) someone like this converse for a full hour on the particulars of life and art?Nowhere. You can't. Blame our soundbite obsessed world, but conversations like these are extremely rare if not altogether nonexistent in publicly available form. Complemented by his extraordinary attention to detail and quality, these are all reasons why Sam's work is such a gift to us all.I have been so moved by offCamera that I felt compelled to turn the mic around, point it at Sam and get to the bottom of his story. Thank you Sam for your willingness to engage me in a dynamic conversation that explores the intersection of art and commerce; the importance of authenticity in the expression of one's creativity; and what can be learned from working with the most prolific musicians, actors, filmmakers and artists in the world.In the words of Sam,“it has taken me a lifetime to develop my attention span, and I want to use it.”Me too Sam. Me too. I sincerely hope you enjoy the listen.Peace + Plants,Rich

If we want to repair our broken health care system and move culture towards true, long-term sustainable wellness, then medicine must embrace a a new approach to healing. An approach that's so new, it's old.Less reductive, more holistic.Less diagnose & prescribe and more all-encompassing, functional and preventive.Let’s kick start that conversation. This week's guest is nutritionist, acupuncturist, herbalist, Reiki Master and expert Chinese Medicine practitioner Heather Lounsbury, author of Fix Your Mood with Food*.Although she gave up meat nearly 30 years ago for ethical reasons, Heather was a junk food vegetarian with zero interest health until hers hit the skids. Moody and constantly fatigued, she began experimenting with nutrition and was astonished to discover the extent to which she could modulate her physical and emotional vitality relative to the types of foods she would eat. This realization lead Heather to pursue graduate degrees in nutrition and Chinese medicine. Today Heather is a well respected clinical practitioner with over a decade of experience treating patients with a wide variety of mental, emotional and physical issues.Her basic message? Live natural. Live well. Food has a far greater impact than we recognize on not only our physical health but on our mental and emotional health as well. Not only can proper diet (amplified by additional holistic healing measures) alleviate stress and elevate your mood naturally, it can prevent and often reverse a wide variety of chronic infirmities, including heart disease, elevated cholesterol, digestive issues, diabetes (diabesity!) and more.Over the course of our conversation we discuss:How pain and digestive disorders can be holistically managed and alleviated;How holistic healing practices can be used to treat mental health & addiction issues;The importance of progress over perfection;The role and function of certain herbs on physiological functions;Primer and origin of food allergies;Thoughts on GMO’s, Omega- 3 EFA's & Supplementation; andAddressing the social barriers that impede healthy eating.Lots of good stuff to chew on this week. I hope you enjoy the conversation.Peace + Plants,Rich

Welcome back to our second spin around the listener Q&A merry-go-round!Due to popular demand (and all the great questions flooding our inbox), we're happy to once again banter on the subjects, issues and topics you want addressed.In this episode Julie and I cover a ton of ground, name dropping resources like an over-caffeinated publicist. Here's a top down view on the landscape:* The importance of the morning ritual to optimize your day;* Inspirational and educational books, websites, podcasts & other online resources;* Resources to facilitate your shift to a Plantpower lifestyle;* A few (very brief) thoughts on high carb / low carb / gluten and nutritional density;* More brief thoughts on certain foods to avoid and others to embrace; and* A few closing thoughts on running volume.No need to break out pen and paper. Due to the hard work of my trusty right hand Chris Swan, everything is detailed, itemized and hyperlinked for your convenience in the below show notes. So just sit back and enjoy.Special thanks and shoutout to everyone who submitted questions. Keep them coming!Peace + Plants,Rich

What if the path you think you're meant to be living isn't your path at all?I grappled with this mental and spiritual Rubik’s cube for decades. Only now — at 48 — do I feel like I have any insight whatsoever into this quandary.Not so with today’s guest. After a drunken car accident at age 19, Jake Ducey had an epiphany: maybe, just maybe, the traditional promise of the American Dream isn't my path to happiness and personal fulfillment. What did he do with this realization? He up and quit school, walking out on a collegiate basketball scholarship to instead light out and travel the world.Along the way, Jake chronicled his journey, distilling his insights down to a book entitled Into the Wind . Undaunted by being turned down by every publisher, he nonetheless self-published his book. And without any marketing budget or publicist, Jake still managed to self-promote Into the Wind to Amazon’s top 300 – no small accomplishment.Jake subsequently piqued the interest and mentorship of people like Chicken Soup for the Soul* author Jack Canfield and Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus* author John Gray. He became a TEDx speaker. And at 23, Jake became the youngest author to land a motivational book publishing deal at a major publishing house (Tarcher/Penguin).The Purpose Principles* – hitting book stores this week — is the product of Jake's journey to date, drawing on the stories of success, failure, and the common threads among some of today’s most successful and influential people to illuminate a plan for living your best life in a changing world – a theme not inconsistent with this show.I’ve hosted more than a few impressive young and precocious twenty-somethings on the show over the last two years because I love getting the millennial perspective on life. I like young people and as a parent of two teenage boys and two soon to be teenage girls, I truly want to understand what makes the next generation tick. What is important to millennials? What is the lens through which they perceive their environment? And how will this perception frame and shape the world they will soon inherit and steward into the future?But let’s face it – at 48 I'm likely older than Jake's father. So is there really anything (anything at all?) that this 23 year old (or any 23 year old for that matter) could possibly teach me? Maybe I'm being a snob (probably). But it's a question worth asking, isn't it? What kind of insights could such a young person possibly have that would legitimize a book of any legitimate merit or substance?

Welcome to Part 2 of our second annual Best of the RRP Anthology series. If you haven't already, I suggest listening to The Best of 2014 Part 1 first.Once again, this is a compendium of some of my favorite conversations of 2014. Our way of saying thanks. Our way of giving back. Our way of trying to catapult you into the new year armed with the information and inspiration required to make it your best year yet.Once again, it's worth reflecting upon the incredible year that was 2014. My blessings are many. My gratitude is overflowing. This is my way way of saying thank you. I appreciate you. Here's to an extraordinary 2015 — the year we manifest our greatest dreams into reality. Join me, and let's do this thing together.Peace + Plants,Rich

This is the time of year for celebration. This is the time of year for giving back. This is the time of year for gratitude.This is the time of year for reflection.So let's do all those things. Welcome to the second annual Best of the RRP Anthology. This is our way of reflecting back. Our way of expressing gratitude. Our way of giving thanks for taking this journey with us.I pride myself on bringing a wide variety of personalities, opinions and attitudes to the show. When I look back over 2014, even I am surprised by how many incredibly interesting and unique people and perspectives I was honored to entertain and share with you. Second listens brought new insights. Another reminder of what a gift this show has been to me. A gift that gives and keeps on giving.A compendium of some of my favorite conversations of 2014, the next two episodes of the podcast are certain to catapult you into the new year inspired.If you’ve been with me all along, these offerings will bring certain insights back into the forefront of your consciousness as you contemplate your trajectory heading into the new year. If you're new to the show, then these episodes will definitely inspire you to peruse the catalog and listen in full to some of the guests and or episodes you may have missed. Links to the full episodes excerpted in this anthology are enumerated below.It has been an incredible year. My blessings are many. My gratitude is overflowing. This is my way way of saying thank you. I appreciate you. Here's to an extraordinary 2015 — the year we manifest our greatest dreams into reality. Join me, and let's do this thing together.Peace + Plants,Rich

High performance psychologist Michael Gervais discusses the importance of mindfulness in sports and life. Topics covered include navigating high-stakes environments, understanding the essence of a person, benefits of Mitopure for energy, the mindset of extreme athletes, and managing emotions in high-pressure situations. They also explore optimizing sleep and gut health, interrupting negative inner dialogue, building a culture of high performance, living life on your own terms, and future topics.