The Healthy Food Revolution with Ocean Robbins

Transcript of The Healthy Food Revolution

Dr. Cates: Hi there. I’m Dr. Trevor Cates. Welcome to The Spa Dr. Podcast. On today’s podcast, we’re discussing the healing powers of food and how we need to change the way we look at food. My guest today is ocean Robbins, who is the grandson to the founder of Baskin Robbins and today you’ll learn why his family ended up changing the way they look at food and how he’s been on a food revolution mission. Since childhood. Ocean is co founder and CEO of the 500,000 member food revolution network. He’s author of the bestseller 31 Day Food Revolution. Heal your body, feel great and transform your world. Ocean founded youth for environmental sanity and age 16 and directed it for the next 20 years. He has spoken in person to more than 200,000 people at a time, organize online seminars, reaching more than a million and facilitated leadership development events for leaders from 65 nations.

Dr. Cates: He has served as adjunct professor for Chapman University and is a recipient of numerous awards including the National Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service and the Freedom Flame Award today. Ocean shares his story and what led him on this path. He talks about the real problems with the food industry and how they’re impacting our health. We even discussed genetically modified foods and if eating organic is possible or even a good idea, if 100% of our food should be organic, we’ll talk about that. Also, ocean shares, some practical tips to help you get on track in a sustainable way with healthy eating, so please enjoy this interview.

Dr. Cates: Ocean, it’s great to have you on The Spa Dr. Podcast, welcome.

Ocean Robbins: I’m thrilled to be with you. Thank you so much.

Dr. Cates: Yeah, so you come from an interesting family and background. Your grandfather founded a little ice cream company called Baskin Robbins. Can you tell us about your family background and how that impacts what you’re doing today?

Ocean Robbins: Sure. Well, yes, it’s true. My dad, John grew up with an ice cream cone shaped swimming pool in the backyard and 31 flavors of ice cream in the freezer. He was groomed from his early childhood to one day join in running the family company. But when he was in his early twenties he was offered that chance and he said no. And he walked away from a path that was practically paved with gold and ice cream to, as we jokingly say in our family, follow his own rocky road. He ended up moving with my mom to a little Island off the coast of Canada. They built this one room log cabin, grew most of their own food, practiced yoga and meditation for several hours a day and named their kid ocean. They almost named me kale. And this was before Kao was cool. So on behalf of my future social life, I am so grateful they took the more conservative route when they named their son.

Ocean Robbins: But we did eat a lot of kale and cabbage and carrots and veggies from the garden. And as I got a little older, my dad researched the food industry in which he had grown up and wound up writing bestsellers like Diet for a New America, which inspired millions of people to look at their food choices as a chance to make a difference in the world. The media called him the rebel without a cone and as fate would have it, my own grandpa Irvine Robbins wound up being one of the millions of people who were inspired by my dad’s work. My grandpa Irv wound up, um, facing serious health problems. He’d lost his brother in law and business partner, Burt Baskin to heart disease when my dad’s uncle Burt was 54 and now my grandpa was facing diabetes, weight issues, heart issues, and his doctors told him he didn’t have long to live unless you read a book and followed its advice and they give him a copy of Diet for New America.

Ocean Robbins: My grandpa reads it. He follows this advice. He ends up giving up sugar and processed foods. He goes way down on his meat and dairy consumption gives up ice cream and he winds up reversing his diabetes. We’ve ever seen as heart disease and losing 30 pounds. He badly needed to lose, his golf game, improved seven strokes, and he lived 19 more healthy years. So we’ve really seen in my family that food matters and that when we follow the standard American diet, we get the standard American diseases. But we’ve also seen what can happen when we make a change. So in my own life, I founded a nonprofit when I was 16 I was inspired by my dad’s example and work and ended up working with young leaders in 64 countries around the planet focusing on peace and justice and sustainability. And what I saw as I traveled the globe is that everybody eats and that the American way of eating and living and growing food is being exported around the planet. And with it, waistlines are expanding and hospitals are filling up and more and more people are getting sick. And so I ended up deciding to focus directly on food after running the nonprofit for 20 years. And I joined with my dad in 2012 to launch Food Revolution Network. And now our goal is healthy, ethical, sustainable food. For all.

Dr. Cates: Well, that’s an amazing story. Um, I, uh, I think by the way, I have a weird name too because I was raised by parents that were very health conscious and you know, I want to say I’m embracing a certain like healthy kind of Bohemian lifestyle and, my first name being Trevor. So I get, I get the name of, you know, Ocean being your name, I love that having a unique name. But you know what, I think that maybe, you know, with us, you and I had this kind of opportunity to, to grow up with parents that already had this mindset of eating healthy and growing healthy foods, the importance of that. But most of America doesn’t have that opportunity. So yeah, most of America is the opposite of that. So how do we, at this point for other people, how do they shift to this when that’s been their life?

Ocean Robbins: Well, the reality is that we are surrounded by what I call a toxic food culture. I mean, all around us, our convenience foods are fast foods. What’s normal around us is eating a food system. If participating in a food system that predictably leads to chronic illness. I mean we think it’s normal that 14 million people die of heart disease on this planet every single year, 8 million of cancer. We think that’s normal, but it doesn’t have to be. It may be typical. It doesn’t have to be the norm and it certainly doesn’t have to be your fate. We have tens of thousands of studies published in peer reviewed medical journals, which tell us in no uncertain terms that we could prevent probably 80% of cases of Alzheimer’s, 80% of cases of cancer, 80% of cases of heart disease, and probably 90% of diabetes just with changes to what we eat and how we live. Simple changes to diet and lifestyle and so cumulatively the impact of reversing or preventing these diseases is absolutely enormous. The United States right now is spending 19% of our gross domestic product on disease symptom management. We call it healthcare, but it’s really not health. It’s really managing symptoms of disease. 9% of our GDP is going to treating or dealing with the impacts of obesity in the United States. Right now, 70% of our population is overweight or obese. It’s crippling our economy. It’s sapping the spirit from our lives. It’s, it’s, it’s threatening the future of our children.

Ocean Robbins: And so what I’m saying is the status quo is not good enough. And the good news is it doesn’t have to be. We can do vastly better. We can prevent or reverse most of the major chronic illnesses of our times, and we can step into greater health, vitality, energy, vibrancy, than most of us ever even knew was possible. And it starts with the food on your plate. So how do you get going if you want to be a part of the food revolution? Well, the first thing to do is to recognize that it’s not just about, say, a little bit less trans fats and McDonald’s French fries. It’s not just about making food that’s a little bit less bad. It’s about saying yes to healthy real food, food that loves you back. We want to love food that loves us back. So I like to start by focusing on crowding out the bad stuff with the good add more whole plant foods to your diet, less sugar, less processed junk, and less animal products. When you do that, you will reap tremendous benefits. Of course it takes more than a meal. It takes a sustained lifestyle change. And the key thing here is you do not want to depend on willpower. You want to depend on habits. So how do you create the healthy habits to help you thrive? That’s the unfortunately there are answers.

Dr. Cates: Excellent. Please tell me what, what are those?

Ocean Robbins: Okay. All right. Well I wrote a book called 31 day food revolution, which is really all about this and every single one of the 31 chapters and with simple action steps you can take to apply to get results in your life. And as I was researching that book and building on decades of work, empowering leaders and creating sustainable habit change with people all over the planet, what I kept seeing was that to the top stop three obstacles people face are time, confusion and money. Time is we’re busy, we’re stressed out. We don’t necessarily have the time to reinvent our lives or to come up with a whole new dietary pattern. So here’s what I want to say about that is that it gets easier. You know, you have to create some time to create new grooves. But once you’ve got the groups, the key thing is that you want to be on autopilot, eating healthy food. So you want to clear up the bad stuff in your kitchen so you’re not tempted. You want to come up with a plan every week. Cooking quantity, shop from the list. Don’t fall prey to impulse purchases. Plan ahead by like making, you know, a big pot of something and make friends with leftovers,. You know, make a big pot of legumes and then you can use them in four different dishes during the week. It can be, you know, burrito is one day and they can be rice and beans another day and they can, you know, be used in, you know, enchiladas another day and you can make all kinds of different stuff, right?

Ocean Robbins: So repurpose, reuse, plan ahead, cooking quantity. Make friends with your freezer, shop from a list shop once a week or even once every couple of weeks for your staples, and then get your fresh stuff from a community supported agriculture program or a farmer’s market or your weekly shopping so you’re not spending a lot of time driving to the store, waiting in line waiting to check out all that kind of stuff, which stops time and energy. Recognize that although eating out seems like a time saver, it often isn’t because you’re driving to the restaurant, you’re parking, you’re waiting for the food. It’s pleasant, absolutely. But in terms of sheer raw time, Oh well planned life, but a good home cooked meal can actually be a lot more efficient. Pack your breakfast and lunch the night before so you don’t have to be stressed out in the morning if you want to get off to work or you’ve got things to do, it’s nice to have it ready to go. Have a nice little container with your food ready to rock. Get rid of getting too caught up on the typical roles of like, Oh, this is a breakfast and this is a lunch and this is a dinner. You can do that stuff if you want. But I’ll, I’ll tell you one of my secrets to a healthy breakfast. Sometimes I have inner leftovers for breakfast. I’m not kidding, and I might sound crazy or strange, but you know what? Who says that you can’t eat a nice bunch of legumes and some quinoa and a good Curry sauce and some steamed veggies with breakfast. He can, you know, so the reality is find what works for you, but be willing to step outside the box a little bit and it gets easier and easier.

Ocean Robbins: And the next thing barrier is money. And they’re, I say the simple answer is a avoid the wasted calories. The most expensive calories you will ever eat are the ones that make you sick. Because last time I checked, cancer was pretty expensive. So was diabetes. And so it was feeling like crap all day long. So when you choose to eat healthy foods, then you’re avoiding a lot of money spent on disease. Also, avoid the foods that eat too. You eat too much of the average American gets 500 excess calories. So when you eat more simple wholesome foods, you feel full sooner. Your body knows when it’s satiated. You fiber actually is part of what tells your stomach enough. We’re full, so let your stomach can get that sensation by eating enough fiber and you’ll find that you consume less calories overall. That’s another savings cut out the food waste. When you plan ahead, then you don’t have to waste a lot of food. The average American family wastes $2,000 every year on food that literally just goes bad in the fridge. Collectively in the United States, we waste half of the food we grow never gets eaten. So when you cut down on waste, you can save serious money. And then base your diet around the real staples and the real superfoods. You don’t need 30 a dollar a pound Himalayan goji berries or you know, fancy dancy things. You can base your diet around legumes and whole grains, quinoa, buckwheat, millet, vegetables, but they don’t have to be super fancy vegetables. I’m talking like cabbage, onions, carrots, sweet potatoes. When you base your diet around these kinds of things and take advantage of the health, giving power of spices to add flavor instead of using sugar, oil and salt for your flavor, you can do your body a good turn and you can live very, very well and very vibrantly on remarkably little money.

Dr. Cates: It is S it’s so true. I love everything that you’re talking about and I think that a lot of times we’re afraid to make that first step. And so what you’re talking about is really how to get that, to make that change, to have the encouragement to have the understanding of why this is so important and why you want to do this now to protect your health down the road. And so it was your experience. How long do people, does it take before this becomes kind of intuitive or just like, okay, I get why I’m doing this and and it makes sense and it gets easier.

Ocean Robbins: You know, it varies for every person. How long does it take to make sustainable habit changed? But I’ll tell you this, when water flows into a groove, over time it becomes a gully. Eventually a Creek, eventually a river bed. Eventually you can get something like the grand Canyon, but it doesn’t happen overnight. So grooves are built over time and changing habits will take some time. Um, but here’s the thing, when you create a new channel for water, the old channel channel isn’t gone. But the new one is where the water’s flowing. So I think the right use of willpower is to create healthy habits and then you’re on autopilot and you sink back into them and can focus on other things in your life. None of us want to spend our whole life focusing on food, but if you have some bad habits, you have to spend some time focusing on food in order to create new habits.

Ocean Robbins: And then it will get easier and easier. Some people find it within a couple of weeks. It’s getting pretty easy. But here’s the I want to warn you about. It’s always easy to slip back into temptation when you’re in a toxic food culture and you have a lifetime of bad habits behind you. So don’t think that it won’t take some vigilance and some attention and some time to get back on track and reboot from time to time. But you can do it and as long as you’re committed and clear, the pathway becomes ever cleaner and easier to, to execute. So that’s the core thing is that just know it’s going to get easier and easier. And if you’re struggling a little bit, don’t feel bad. Just love yourself and you know, keep going. Like, like if a child falls and skins their knee, you don’t be like bad child, bad child, you know, so you know what? If you slip, if you pig out on the bag of potato chips or you’re on the wrong end of an empty package of cookies, or you go to the relatives and wind up pigging out on some stuff, you know you shouldn’t just just love yourself and get back on track. And I remember, okay, I have compassion for what I just did and I’m going to keep remembering that my life matters. And recognize that self care and self love need to be the primary emotions you associate with healthy eating. Not asceticism, not self-hate, not trying to deprive yourself because if you are trying to punish yourself and that’s the energy your psyche takes around healthy eating, then guess what? There’s going to be a rebel inside is going to say, Hey, you can’t control me. I’m going to fight back and not be controlled and dominated and oppressed. And that little part of your psyche can actually become remarkably powerful. So wholeness and integration starts with loving all of the parts and remembering that your whole body and your whole being is on a healthy eating path. Everybody gets to be a part of the party. Everybody gets to move forward and you know what, your rebel is going to be happier too if you’re healthy and well.

Dr. Cates: Yeah, I think that is is a great point. And self care, I think a lot of people listening to this podcast watching podcasts, they are caregivers for other people and, and, and it’s important, right to remember that if you’re not taking care of yourself then you aren’t going to be able to show up as easily to help care for all the other people, your children, the other people in your family. Maybe if you’re a practitioner, you can’t take care of other people as well if you’re not doing that self care. Taking a little bit of time to make a plan for that. Well that being said, I know that some people, especially women will tell me, well I’m going to make this change for myself, but other people in my home are continuing to eat, you know, the chips and the, you know, the sugar processed foods. Do you have any tips for people that are, you know, it’s, you know, they’ve got a home with other people maybe aren’t totally on board yet.

Ocean Robbins: Absolutely. We all deal with that, right? Like not everybody in our lives lives the way thinks the way or eats exactly the way that we might like them to. So how, how any family navigates differences around food is probably going to have something to do with how you navigate differences around anything else, whether it’s politics or religion or any other hot topic. And, uh, I say some of the principles are loved. People remember that it’s love and family that brings us together. And uh, that should always be more important than the things that divide us. So, remember they, the human being underneath Martin Luther King said you have no moral authority with those who can feel your underlying contempt. Sometimes you want to move towards more of, of a buffet style. So if you’re having burritos, for example, or making pizza, you know, different people will put on different toppings or different things inside the burrito. So if one family member is vegetarian and other one’s not and they’re coexisting in a harmonious way, well maybe everybody can put on the beans and the rice and the tortilla and whatever else and the salsa and guacamole. But then one person is putting some meat or some sour cream in theirs and the other person isn’t. And you can coexist happily and harmoniously, you know, one person that really wants it, they can and their salad will make the salad without it and they can add that. So there’s things like that that people can do that can kind of coexist in a respectful way. Obviously if one person wants to have cake, well they can just do that and the other person doesn’t have to.

Ocean Robbins: For some of us, it’s hard to be pulled by temptation or we don’t want to be party poopers and no one wants to feel like the Grinch on Christmas. And so, um, my best advice is, uh, treat yourself and your loved ones with respect. Don’t make it come off like, I’m better than you. Um, make it come off like I’m taking care of me in the way that makes sense to me. I respect me and I ask for your respect and I respect you. You know, and if you can hold that tone for real and remember that everyone has to be the author of their own food lives and you may be making a choice that feels a lot more enlightened and conscious and healthy than somebody around you, more power to you stay with it. Remember, that’s leadership. Not everyone will follow you, but you get to follow you to thine own self, be true. And then others may choose to join along. Um, but always respect and honor them. And if you have somebody who is, let’s say they can get their own grave with their knife and fork, let’s say you’re seriously worried about the impact of their choices and you care about them, it’s okay to have a conversation that starts from yourself. I think. So rather than saying you should do differently, it’s more like I’m concerned. I want you in my life. You know, long term, I love you. I want to have you in my life. And I’m concerned that, that I might not, you know, and you know, you might be thinking, some people might be thinking, Oh gosh, I’m suffering and miserable and taste is one thing I’ve got left. And I don’t want to give it up.

Ocean Robbins: For a lot of people who are having a really hard time in their lives, food is one of the safety nets they, they fall into. And my answer to that is that there’s actually a lot more pleasure in health and wellness than there is in any taste on the tongue. And not only that, but the, the data is that, um, people who eat the standard American diet have lost half their taste buds by the time they’re 80 years old. So in the long run, cardiovascular health is directly linked to taste. And if you really want pleasure in your life, it helps to improve circulation. That affects every aspect of pleasure by the way. And then you’re just more alive and vital and you have more sensation in your body and that includes your tongue. So choosing to eat a wholesome, natural diet does mean a shift that tastes buds will take some time to adjust. But the good news is that they will, and in fact even your saliva will change. Studies show that within a couple of weeks or sometimes as few as five tries, people’s actual experience of the taste of vegetables can change. So a person who’s never eaten kale and tastes it will probably find that it tastes very bitter, for example, the first few times. But if you stay with it, your saliva develops some proteins that learn how to respond to that flavor and you actually experience it differently. It becomes more sweet and less bitter. So stay with it and watch your world open up and your taste buds evolve.

Dr. Cates: Yes, I am. Fantastic. I love those tips. And so when it comes to choosing food, you’re talking about getting more produce, getting shopping locally and, and farmer’s markets. And those are fantastic. What are your, what are your thoughts around how important organic and GMO free foods are?

Ocean Robbins: So, um, a lot of people ask what’s a GMO? And I say, you know, they have confused because they think it means God move over, but it doesn’t, it means to medically modified organism and um, it’s GMOs were, were developed with the promise that they would bring the world more bigger yields, more drought resistant crops, better nutritional value, better flavor and lower pesticide use. But so far, 25 years into the mass cultivation of GMO crops, we don’t have any of those results. In fact, they are bringing us no better yield, no improvement in water requirements. They are bringing us no better flavor or nutrition and they’ve led to a net increase of more than 500 million pounds of additional pesticides on our plants. What GMOs are giving us is crops with one or both of two traits. They are pesticide producers, which means they literally produce the insecticide BT in every cell of the plant.

Ocean Robbins: This is not something you can wash off. It’s in every cell. So certain bugs that they take a bite, their stomach splits open and they die. I’m good for killing past, not necessarily good for human digestive tracks. Um, and the other trade is that they are resistant to herbicides. Like glyphosate, the primary active ingredient in Roundup from Mount Santo now owned by Bayer. And uh, glyphosate is a probable carcinogen. It’s a no one endocrine disruptor and it’s been patented as an antibiotic so it can literally kill bacteria. So what’s the impact of eating all this BT and all this and glyphosate with, cause we now have cops that are being sprayed directly on the crop with glyphosate. Well we don’t exactly know, but I will say that there is a direct correlation between the spread of GMO crops and the growth in glyphosate use in our food system and the number of people hospitalized with allergies to foods about a five fold increase in food allergy rates in the last 25 years. It’s kind of alarming. Now. Correlation doesn’t equal causation, but when you see a correlation this strong, you’ve got to wonder is it possible that it’s the food.

Ocean Robbins: And the other piece that you asked about is organic. So organic certified foods are by definition non GMO plus more. They’re also free of a lot of other pesticides. There are about 900 synthetic pesticides that have been approved for use in the United States right now. Organic agriculture allows a few but only 25 and they’re carefully screened so it’s much safer in terms of pesticide residues and um, it also means that they were grown without these of chemical fertilizers, which means farmers are more dependent on manure and organic inputs instead of chemical fertilizers. So there can be more minerals in organic food. The studies are murky on this, but a lot of them are showing more vitamins and minerals in the food. They also practice a bit formesis, which is what happens when when plants are bitten by bugs even a little bit, they produce a risk. We are responses to those bugs. Some of the chemicals they produce to fight off the bugs turn out to be the very chemicals that are most powerful antioxidants and flavonoids that are beneficial for human health. So, and that’s partly because they stimulate our own immune systems in an interesting way. There they are. I’m mildly, mildly toxic. That’s why they fight off the bugs, but they, that that actually is what stimulates us. And so it turns out that’s part of why these vegetables are so healthy and those levels can be higher in organically grown crops than crops that are protected from any bugs by poisons. So, um, there are some good reasons to go organic if you can’t go organic then to go non-GMO. If you cannot go non GMO certified, which is sort of the gold standard of non-GMO, then you want to avoid corn, soy, canola cotton, which is used in cotton seed oil and sugar from sugar beets because those are all the primary genetically engineered crops. But certified non-GMO and certified organically grown are really the best labels you want to be looking for. And of course organic is best of all.

Dr. Cates: Yeah, I know. I think as we, when you know, as we ask more for these things, when we’re going to the grocery store, we go out to eat, we ask these questions and more people get kind of demand this kind of food, we’re probably gonna see more shift. It’s like we see more restaurants offering gluten free options or, or vegetarian options or things because people, because people are asking for, people are demanding in because it’s becoming a, you know, sort of standard on in a way, or more standard than maybe it to be. So that’s fantastic. Now I have heard some people say that eating organic and going and GMO-free is not sustainable before our growing planet. Have you heard that?
Ocean Robbins: Well, of course we hear that. Um, so here’s, here’s the thing. Um, GMOs have not brought us any increase improvement in yield or drought resistance or any other net benefits. So sure, in theory, we might someday genetically engineered crops that are more productive or require less inputs, but we haven’t got there yet. So, you know, I wish folks all the best scientists all the best and coming up with that, but let’s be real here. It hasn’t got us those results. It’s bringing us poisons. Basically. Um, GMO crops are being developed by poisoned companies and it’s a great business model for them. Um, the thing with organic is it does produce a slightly lower yield in the short term. I mean let’s not lie about it, about 10% lower on average, give or take depending on how it’s done because some of those synthetic fertilizers in particular generate greater, faster plant growth.

Ocean Robbins: However, nutritionally not so much nutritionally organic, Don right is more nutritious and in the long run, let’s talk about soil for a second. The United States it like many countries around the world has a top soil problem. The UN estimates that worldwide we are going to run out of farmable soil in 60 years had rates of current top soil depletion. We are literally, running out of soil. Now if you go from three feet of top soil to one foot of topsoil, you can still grow food. If you go from one foot to zero, you cannot. What’s happening is it’s going down, down, down. It’s getting depleted all over the world. And some point we start hitting zero UN says by 2050, we will have one quarter of the arable farm land on this planet per capita, per person. That we did in 1950 so this is concerning. And some people say, all right, then we need to use all the poisons we can so that we can maximize yield to feed a growing population. But I say that’s the wrong approach. I say the right approach is why are we losing our top sale and how do we regenerate it? Because here’s the wonderful thing, if you’re concerned about climate change, then let’s remember this. We can pull carbon out of the atmosphere and into our soil with good farming practices. And what we end up with is a win win, we get more top soil and we have less carbon in the atmosphere, I’d call that very good news for our planet and the future generations. So how do we do that? Well, organic agriculture is a start. And then there are things, there’s something called regenerative agriculture, which goes even a step further, which is ways of measuring specific practices that will help to re carbonize our top soil.

Ocean Robbins: So these are steps we can take. There are many specifics to it, but the bottom line is I don’t think that future generations can afford for us not to move in in organic direction. If we want to have soil for them to grow food, we’ve got to do it. We’re burning down our children’s future right now, washing it away on our rivers and streams by producing soil that is dead. It doesn’t have life. So then it washes away when the floods come and when the rains come, and by the way with climate change there’s going to be more of them. So it’s time to take action. It’s time to preserve top soil for future generations and organic food is a big way to start. Now I recognize it can cost more. That’s why I say for everybody, do the best you can. Focus on the things you can do. You know, just cause you can’t do everything doesn’t mean you should refuse to do that, which you can. Environmental working group publishes the dirty dozen, which is a list of the most pesticide contaminated foods. And also they have the clean 15, which are the least pesticide contaminated foods. Google it, check it out. You want to be specifically focusing on going organic with the crops that are the most contaminated with pesticides. If you’re concerned about your health. And those are things like apples and strawberries and peaches and nectarines also kale and leafy greens. As a matter of fact, all of these things can, can be beneficial to your long term health and wellness when you go organic with them. Um, and if you can’t do it, don’t make the perfect into the enemy of the good, better to eat nonorganic kale and an organic doughnut any day of the week.

Dr. Cates: Right, exactly. I think that’s such a good point to make. Cause people will say, well if I, if I can’t get organic, maybe I shouldn’t, you know, like, no, you still need to eat your vegetables. Those, those vegetables are still going to be better than the processed food any day. Even if they’re not organic. So, you know, I know it can be overwhelming for people. So where is a good place for people to start? What do you, what do you think that first step is?

Ocean Robbins: Well, first step is wherever you are, take a step and you’ll get momentum and then take the next step and keep going. You know, there’s always room for all of us. If you’re a super healthy eater, there’s probably steps you can take. And if you’re doing everything perfectly, then focus on enrolling people you love, you know, being the change in the world. If you’re, if you’re a standard American diet eater, then like, yep, get rid of the bad stuff, you know, clear out your kitchen and make space for what you love and grab a copy of 31 Day Food Revolution, which can walk you through the simple steps you can take and help you put it all into action. Because that’s why I wrote the book to help you, guide you on the path so you can make healthy eating a reality in your life. And, and reap the benefits for the rest of your life. You know, we all deserve to look good and to feel good and to do good. And with the right food choices that can all be possible for you.

Dr. Cates: Absolutely. It definitely starts with food and I really definitely believe as food as medicine and the power healing power of foods as a nature pathic physician. That’s something that definitely have been incorporating with my patients for the last 20 years and, and will continue to do that. So I really appreciate your message. Where can people find your book? Where is it available?
Ocean Robbins: Oh, we can get it on Amazon or wherever fine books are sold or you can go to 31, the number 31dayfoodrevolution.com. Again, that’s 31dayfoodrevolution.com and yeah, you can, you can find out, connect with me by going to food revolution.org that’s our website. We have 20,000 visitors a day, all learning about health and food from us. And, um, and you know, what you find, you connect with me and with our mission every time you choose real food over processed junk, every time you say yes to your body and your wellbeing, every time you listen, when you’re full, every time you support farmers who are growing real food and companies that are producing real food and marketing meal food. So you’re part of the food revolution. And I welcome you and I thank you and I celebrate you and I stand with you

Dr. Cates: Right and I know you’re talking about the power of gratitude and so, um, thank you so much for coming on today and I mean I think that we have so much to be grateful for. I know we’ve talked about some of the things people to be concerned about, but we do have a lot to be grateful for as well. So thanks for coming on today and, and for all your information.

Ocean Robbins: My pleasure. Thanks so much for the opportunity.

Dr. Cates: I hope you enjoyed this interview today with ocean Robbins. To learn more about Ocean. You can go to the spa dr com and go to the podcast page with his interview and you’ll find all the information and links there. Also, I invite you to join The Spa Dr. Community so you receive our upcoming shows and we always love to hear your feedback. We love to hear your and see your reviews. So if you want to head over to iTunes or wherever you consume your podcasts and leave a review about the spa doctor podcast, we always love to get your feedback. So again, you could do that on iTunes or wherever you like to watch or listen to your podcasts. And if you haven’t already taken the skin quiz, it’s a great tool to help you figure out what messages your skin is trying to tell you about your health and what you can do about it. Just go to theskinquiz.com for that free online quiz and also I invite you to join me on social media. The Spa Dr is all over on YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, so you can join the conversation there and I’ll see you next time on The Spa Dr. Podcast.