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What if I told you
that I had a magic elixir?

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One that could prevent and reverse
almost every chronic disease?

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One that could solve
the health care crisis.

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One that would bring
more compassion into the world.

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What if I explained that my elixir
could help heal the planet's devastation?

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That it could save billions of animals
a year and prevent their pain?

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That it could feed the hungry
throughout the world?

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That it encourages peace,
community, and benevolence?

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This potion, it's free of cost,
and there's plenty for everyone.

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Would you believe me that it exists?

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Would you be shocked at its simplicity?

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Mesmerized by its obviousness?

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Eager to try it?

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Would you be frustrated that nobody had
told you this information prior to now?

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Like I myself was.

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When as a teenager, I randomly stumbled
into this brilliant book by John Robbins

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called "Diet for a New America".

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It changed my life for ever.

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Indeed, this elixir exists everywhere.

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It's perhaps one of the sole commonalities
we share amongst all the living on earth.

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It is readily available to most,
and I know with confidence,

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that it is the most potent possibility
we have to save our future.

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That of our species, the planet,
and life as we know it.

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OK, granted, that may
seem a little hooky, I agree.

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At first glance, my proposal
may seem implausible.

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But hear me out.

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And then decide.

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Eating a whole food plant based diet
is this magic elixir.

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The secret ingredient
to all these extraordinary outcomes.

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Sustaining yourself on vegetables, fruits,
whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds

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can and will provide
all the aforementioned benefits.

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You are what you eat.

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At a cellular level,
an immunological level,

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in a holistic sense.

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You are also connected to nature,
and other humans,

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and even other species
via the food you consume.

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You are what you eat refers to food
once it has entered the body,

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so let's break it down
to the cellular level.

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You are composed of approximately
10 to 50 trillion cells,

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give or take several trillion,
most of which regenerate.

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A constant state of dynamism,
flowing, moving, changing.

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Even the bones, we think of the bones
as dead, and stagnated hard,

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but even the bones
are in a constant state of flux.

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Exchanging, releasing, absorbing minerals.

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OK, a caveat, the brain, heart,
and kidneys do not,

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unfortunately, regenerate.

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But think of the possibilities

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if you are constantly reinventing
most of yourself all of the time.

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We now have an abundance
of irrefutable scientific data

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in the literature confirming
that a whole food, plant based diet

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is ideal for optimal health,
that eating plants can help your cells,

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your organs, your body,
stave off chronic disease,

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achieve, and maintain
your ideal body weight,

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enhance exercise performance,
and thrive throughout the life span.

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I've seen this in the last five years

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since I implemented this protocol
into my nutrition counseling practice.

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In the last year, I've had two very,
very special opportunities

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to see this on a larger scale.

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The first of which was last spring

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when, as Executive Director
of EarthSave International,

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we took 21 food bank clients,
that live in the middle of a food desert,

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and we've put them on a whole food,
plant based nutrition program.

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We taught them how to go shopping
and how to prepare their food,

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even how to exercise, but all of it
was in a very sustainable way.

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After 28 days, all the participants
finished the challenge,

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with enthusiasm, I might add,
and on average, they lost 17 pounds,

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their total cholesterol dropped 18%,
their LDL, bad cholesterol dropped 22%,

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blood pressure went from 138 over 83
to 121 over 77, without medications.

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In fact, we had an 84% reduction
in total prescription medication use.

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There was an increased sense of energy,
right, it's exciting, it's amazing!

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That doesn't happen every day!

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They had a decrease in chronic
non specific complaints

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like abdominal discomfort, headaches,
heartburn, constipation, diarrhea,

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migraines, joint pain.

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The results were astounding.

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My second opportunity was in October

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when I was invited
to be on the Dr. Oz Show.

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There, we took three women who had
high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

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We put them on the "prehistoric diet".

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They spent two days in a zoo
eating raw fruits and vegetables.

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And then, when they went home,
I added back cooked vegetables,

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whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds.

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In only four or five total days,
they lost an average of four pounds,

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they reduced their LDL,
the bad cholesterol, by 42 points.

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All three of them had high blood pressure
- it was normalized.

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Four or five days.

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(Applause)

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Yes. Thank you.

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You are indeed what you eat.

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But you are also how you eat.

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Let's break that down in a logistical way.

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Most people consume about three meals
a day, give or take a snack or two.

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Thinking about food before we consume it
is not something most of us

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spend a lot of time doing
as we rush to grab a quick bite,

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as we eat on the run,
as we forget to chew well enough,

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as we eat larger than ever portions
hence the epidemic success

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of the fast and convenience
food industries.

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We tend to eat reactively.

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Contemplating perhaps
how delicious a meal was

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or complaining of feeling full
or having heartburn.

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Further down the line, you may end up
with high blood pressure, gout,

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type 2 diabetes, all of which
are food born illnesses.

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However, what if we ate proactively?

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Conscious eating, intentional eating,
thinking about everything

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that goes into the making of your food,
all the way from the seed to the plate.

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If you plan your meals and relish
your food as you prepare and consume it,

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you are eating proactively
instead of reactively.

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I argue that eating a whole food
plant based diet is innately,

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inherently proactive,

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and that it is the most powerful tool
we have to control so may variables,

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your health, the state of the planet,
the suffering of animals, and on and on.

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It's something we can do
an average three times a day.

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Food.

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Food is culture, tradition,

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history, love, family, nourishment,

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comfort, medicine; essentially food
unifies mind, body and spirit.

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"I'm in the mood for,"
"I feel like having", "I want";

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but it is so much greater
and grander than just the self.

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Food also unifies the earth,
sun, water with you.

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The seed is planted, the sun,
the water helps it grow,

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it ends up on your plate, you consume it,

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it goes through
your gastro-intestinal tract

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and into your blood stream
where it becomes a part of you.

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And ultimately, it ends up
back in the earth

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in a beautifully, harmonious,
symbiotic and cyclical way.

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Food also unifies people.

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We enjoy meals together,
we make business deals over food,

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we teach our children social norms
and customs while feeding them.

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We celebrate holidays with festive foods,
we unite cultures with cuisine.

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Breaking bread.

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This term has many historical
and even biblical connotations,

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but simply put,
if you look it up in the dictionary,

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breaking bread is defined
as eating together.

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Dining together.

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Imagine breaking bread
with every bite you consume,

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knowing the multiple levels and layers

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to which you're interconnecting
simply with your fork.

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I challenge you all to consider not only
what you eat but also how you eat.

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To eat with intention,
awareness, consciousness.

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Change your world
and your inter connectivity with others

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by basing your diet on whole plant foods.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)