We are Our Own Healers with Benjamin Alter, ND: PYP 342

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Benjamin Alter, ND, treats his patients as if they actually have the power to heal themselves. This power introduces a wonderful and frustrating messiness into the scientific pursuit of truth. It's hard to control for. It's hard to randomize for. And it's hard to replicate. In fact, science has dealt with this messiness by, at best, pretending it doesn't exist, and at worst, actively denigrating people's subjective experiences of illness and healing. In our conversation, Ben and I talk about his definition of health, and how it connects to freedom. Read more »

Reconnecting with the Healing Power of Plants with Joe Cross: PYP 334

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Joe Cross was, in the words of his first film, "Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead" when he embarked on a 60-day experiment to escape the pain and discomfort of a lifestyle-induced auto-immune disease. His transformation story, chronicled in that 2010 documentary, has inspired millions of people to start juicing, and to add more plants to their diets. In our conversation, we catch up on the decade since he became a famous wellness advocate. How has he weathered that kind of public scrutiny? Read more »

We are Nature with Josh LaJaunie: PYP 328

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Josh LaJaunie returns to the podcast for a fifth (?) time, for a conversation about our relationship with nature. We talk about the beauty and grandeur of nature, and the ways human beings benefit and grow from being exposed to that loveliness. And also about nature’s dangerous and scary and yucky and itchy and hot and humid and freezing and soaking and uncomfortable aspects - and how we need those experiences in equal measure with the pleasurable ones. Our sport, ultrarunning, is an invitation to both faces of nature. To the beauty and grandeur, and to the hassle and discomfort. To the nurturing and the threatening. We also explore the lessons nature holds for us; in trees and eddies, in cycles of live and death, growth and service. Read more »

Charles Eisenstein on Climate Reductionism and True Planetary Healing: PYP 309

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Charles Eisenstein has been challenging my thinking for about 15 years now, but never more so than with his latest book, Climate: A New Story. Basically, Eisenstein argues that focusing all our environmental activism on reducing greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming is a bad idea. As a card-carrying member of the enlightened, scientifically-literate, progressive wing of the American populace, of course I know that human-created climate change is the single greatest threat to our civilization, and that the biggest thing we can do to combat it is to reduce our carbon footprint, individually and collectively. Read more »

Community Innovation and Global Solutions: PYP 294

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This past Saturday, I set up my portable recording studio in Cary, North Carolina, to live-podcast the PCRM Kickstart Your Health NC Triangle event. I chatted with Neal Barnard, MD (not pictured, because he moves too fast to photograph ;), Eric O'Grey (PCRM donor coordinator and elegant man-about-town in a fashionable sweater and gold tie), Whitney Sewell of Farmer Food Share (not pictured), Delphine Sellars of Urban Community AgroNomics (top center), attendee Carol Thibodaux of InfinitePossibilitiesTN.com (bottom center), food vendors Shane MacKinnon of SmallSeedbar.com (top right) and Yachdiyel Webb of SoulyVeganCafe.com (bottom left), and Suzy Amis Cameron of OMD for the Planet (bottom right, next to yours truly). Read more »

Darren Morton on Happiness, Meaning, Longevity, and Smiling Baseball Cards: PYP 259

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Darren Morton, PhD, is a Fellow of the Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine, which means that not only is he wicked-smart about how to live a long and healthy life, but also he shares his insights in a cool Australian accent. His latest book, Live More Happy, is a treasure trove of theory and practice of How to Live a Happy, Healthy Life. Read more »

Scott Stoll on Disrupting Healthcare with Plants: PYP 244

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Scott Stoll, MD, understands the power of Believing You Can. Which is a good thing, because he's made his life mission a task that would seem daunting to most: to transform the healthcare industry into one that actually practices health care rather than disease management and mitigation. Read more »

Exploring the Pathless Land of Truth with Jeff Stanford: PYP 239

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Jeff Stanford combines a scientist's mind with a vegan's heart and a mystic's soul. He's co-founder of the Stanford Inn by the Sea in Mendocino, California, an eco-resort complete with a fully vegan restaurant, The Ravens. Sid Garza-Hillman, who's the nutritionist at the Stanford Inn, suggested that Jeff would provide fascinating content for the podcast, and Jeff did not disappoint. Jeff's a longtime spiritual seeker, an old-school "back to the land" hippie, and a philosopher. And an advocate of a vegan diet, from all the usual perspectives as well as some that are uniquely his. Read more »

Radically Self-Reliant Veganic Gardening with Will Bonsall: PYP 224

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Will Bonsall is my new hero, and I say that without exaggeration. Check out the short video clip at the top of the Links section below to see half of the reason why. The other half of the reason take a bit longer to explain - hence this full-length podcast episode. Will is the visionary gardener whose half-century of experimentation and iconoclasm can help us save human civilization from collapse. His method, which he refers to as "gardening without borders," takes into account all the inputs and outputs of a garden or farm, in contrast to the usual methods of conventional, organic, and permaculture production. Read more »