363: Meet Brittany Jaroudi, A Whole Food Plant-Based Influencer

00:00:00 Brittany: So once I got kind of my stuff together and was feeling better mentally and was getting healthier, I just wanted to share this gift again. It was just like I kind of made a pact with God. Seriously, like, if you can help me and kind of again with mental health and all of it, I was very desperate and everything, I will jump in, and if you help me, I will do everything in my possible to help someone else.

00:00:25 Maya: This is the Healthy Lifestyle Solutions Podcast, and I'm your host, Maya Acosta. If you're willing to go with me, together we can discover how simple lifestyle choices can help improve our quality of life and increase our longevity in a good way. Let's get started.

00:00:45 Maya: So, friends, I'm so excited to bring you Brittany Jaroudi on the podcast. She is someone that has influenced me when it comes to learning how to cook some of the recipes that I now cook. I started watching her a while back, and in this conversation, you'll learn that she and I have a couple of things in common. So we both have been whole food plant based for seven years. We both have a master's in education, so we transitioned our skills as educators to teaching people on how they can support their health. So I was really excited to learn more about that. I discovered we both were raised in the outdoors, meaning that we were encouraged very early on to camp, to be outside, to enjoy nature. And so we're both doing it in our vans. She purchased a camper, I think she called it a scamp just before the pandemic. And we purchased our van in 2022. And so we're spending more time outdoors living this way. So I was excited to bring her on the show so that you can learn about everything that she has done. She's known as ‘The Jaroudi Family’. She started her YouTube channel teaching people how they can transition to a whole food plant based lifestyle and teaching traditional dishes in a healthier way. And now she came on the show to talk about her latest podcast that's called ‘From Our Family to Yours’. She also came on to talk about the Healing Kitchen partnership that she has with Dr. Laurie Marbas.

00:02:17 Maya: So you know that Dr. Marbas came out to Dallas when we showed the film ‘From Food to Freedom’. And so I'm excited for you to learn about this partnership that they have and how Brittany supports people know creating Healthy Recipes. And then Dr. Marbas is there by her side every week to answer those questions that you may have those medical questions. And so I enjoyed this conversation, had a lot to talk about. She's a leader in her community in Pittsburgh, so she has a support group as well. She also sits on the board of the National Health Association organization. You might have heard me talk about how Risa and I went to the conference the NHA conference in Cleveland, Ohio a few months ago, and so she's part of all of that. She recently also retired from being an art educator to doing this full time in terms of supporting the community and making this her life mission. So I had a wonderful conversation connecting with Brittany, and I hope that you enjoy it as well. Welcome, Brittany.

00:03:22 Brittany: Thanks for having me.

00:03:24 Maya: Wow, it's an honor to have you. I've known of you for quite a while, and I've been keeping up with all that you've done. And now you have really transitioned your life to devote yourself to this cause, which is, I feel like, very mission driven in terms of why you offer so much support to people that really need it. I'd love to share your story with my listeners. Please tell us. Like, I know that there's the health journey that is part of your story, and then there's so much more in terms of how you decided to get involved with the Pittsburgh group and now you're so involved with NHA and you just recently retired from your full time job. Oh my gosh, so much to talk about. But please tell us about your health journey.

00:04:12 Brittany: Yeah, so it started about over seven years ago now, and I was pretty young. I was my early twenties. I was a newlywed and had gone through a lot of health situations myself, starting off so young. So I had just graduated from my Master's program, was a new teacher and newly wet. A lot of stuff going on at the beginning, but I also was struggling with obesity. I had high blood pressure, high cholesterol. My crack of protein was 16 and just not feeling great, starting to have chest pain. I also struggled with mental health issues, which we're just recording that for my podcast tonight. Kind of that story. I haven't really talked about it publicly, but that's a huge part of my miraculous results that a plant based lifestyle has given me. But also I had really awful genetics. My mom had struggled with cancer over three times in her life, and my dad also had tons of heart disease going on and diabetes and pretty much you name anything with heart related things he's had that strokes, some really not so fun stuff. So I was a newlywed just starting off around the age of 24, 23 and just, was very sick. And so I say that it was the biggest blessing I've ever had because we were just kind of flipping through Netflix and I stumbled upon Forks Over Knives. And in that documentary they have Dr. T.

Colin Campbell and Dr. Esselstyn talk about cancer and heart disease.

00:05:53 Brittany: And then they had the producer go through and adopt a whole food plant based lifestyle and get all of his numbers into a healthy range. And they tested his things like his C-Reactive protein in the documentary and his blood pressure and cholesterol and all of his bad numbers were so much better than mine. My total cholesterol was around 242. My blood pressure was like 140 over, I think, 100 at one point. And I was on two different blood pressure medicines again at the age of like, 24. And I just saw him get him do this lifestyle and be able to get off medication and get so much healthier, and I just thought, well, gosh, if he can do it, I can do it. They talked about your genetics being a factor, but really your lifestyle kind of loading the gun. And so I thought, like, I need to do something, I'm going to do this. So this was the night before Easter, over seven years ago, and I've stuck with it 100% since then and I've lost 70 pounds, got off both blood pressure medications. My total cholesterol is now around 120. My C-Reactive protein was 0.5 last time I had it checked, so 16 to 0.5. And I also was able to affect my mental health where I no longer had the issues that I was struggling with back then, which has been life changing. And so because of that gift, I really view it as, again, the biggest blessing that's ever been given to me. I just want to help anyone else who potentially is struggling big part of my goal is to help people before they have lifestyle diseases, so you don't have to go through because most people find it after the fact. So I have such a mission to help the younger generation not struggle with that, not go through that, to find it early and to adopt this lifestyle before you have disease. So, yeah, it's just become a big mission of mine to share this knowledge I was given.

00:07:57 Maya: Right, wow. It's an amazing story. I'm sure you hear it all the time. It's incredible that at such a young age you presented with all of these symptoms and mental health having such a great impact on your life. I was wondering if we can talk a little bit about that, because you did touch on lifestyle, so you and I now know that lifestyle choices can impact our health and you just addressed it. I too have been wondering, how can we reach the younger community? And I'm so glad that you are a living example that can do that. Many times people only focus on the outer appearance, so if they are overweight and they're young, the focus is just to lose weight. There isn't that consideration of what about cholesterol and blood pressure issues? What do those things mean as we get older? What kind of complications can develop as a result? So I'm wondering if you can tell us a little bit about what lifestyle was for you before you presented with all these symptoms. Now, as you look back, were there certain foods or was there stress in your life? You did mention some anxiety, but more than anything like what kind of foods and lifestyle did you lead before all of this happened to you?

00:09:15 Brittany: Well, I didn't think it was anything out of the normal. I was thinking that I was getting kind of more of a Mediterranean style diet. Oils were included. We would go out to eat, but not like significantly often from what back then, I thought, and stress played a part of it. But also when I would go to the grocery store, it would be to find kind of like prepackaged meals, stuff in already kind of sauce that you just kind of whip together. That was easy because it was a busy time, especially like in grad school. So I look back and just a lot of that was affected by the lifestyle I was living was obviously showing the outcomes that I was having. Also, once I got up to a certain weight, I wasn't moving as much. I kind of would make excuses for things like, “Oh, I'm too busy, I'm tired, we've worked a long day.” So that was definitely a point too, where I was kind of making excuses. We had a pretty hilly neighborhood that we would sometimes go on walks for and I would make an excuse to avoid this major hill because I didn't want to be out of breath and kind of embarrassed in front of my husband, who I've been together with him since I was 15. So he's seen me in all stages of my life pretty much. So that was just points of that not being able to do vacations that we really wanted to once I adopted this lifestyle. We are so active. We love kayaking and paddleboarding and going on vacations that now we've went to the Rocky Mountains a few times in national parks and Washington State and go on these major hikes. And I don't feel any restriction of my body. It moves with ease and I actually really enjoy it versus the latter where it was something that I would have avoided at all cost.

00:11:12 Maya: That's right. I remember having a guest on the show once. She was in the documentary ‘Eating You Alive’ and she talked about how she was the main cook of the family. So she lived for that, the baking and all the things traditional foods that people eat. But she was a spectator when it came to family events because of her weight issues. And to hear it, and even though she tells her story over and over again, you can't help but to feel the pain behind that in terms of our quality of life gets diminished when we have health issues or just excess weight. So first of all, we have a couple of things in common. I'm a former elementary school teacher. I taught a while back and I know that you have a specialty in teaching. And also my transition happened seven years ago. So congratulations to you as well.

00:12:03 Brittany: Every year it seems like, oh, yeah, I have been doing this for quite a while now, and I feel like, yeah, I'm excited to hit year ten and so on and so forth. So it's amazing.

00:12:14 Maya: I know that it's a great accomplishment to go through graduate school. I did the same thing. I also have a Master's in Education, which is probably why what you and I do feels comfortable because we're just transitioning our education, our skills as educators. And I know Sally is also an educator to now working towards a greater purpose, which is taking these tools, these skills, this knowledge that has impacted our lives to now teaching the community. And that really draws me a lot to you in terms of your dedication. And I know that you're very stretched. You do so much work. But I want to go back a little bit just because I'm skipping around. I find it interesting that at such a young age, the documentary ‘Forks Over Knives’ reached you. It really woke you up, and yet it's because you had these health issues. How long did it take you to transition and then also to see these improvements that you now have in your life?

00:13:17 Brittany: Yeah, so I feel like I always call myself, like, a little bit of a unicorn because I had, like my mom was going through getting diagnosed with breast cancer, you know, again. I grew up when I was little in elementary school, she went through and had stage-4 cancer. So I saw her go through chemo and everything. And then once I was a newlywed, she was going through it again. And at the same time, I saw other family members too. Not only my dad deal with heart disease, but I had an uncle who passed really early in age. And so I feel like they were talking straight to me that if I didn't make a change now, that that was the road I was headed for soon. And it was very scary. And so I took it really seriously. And so I jumped in 100% right after the documentary ended. I announced I am whole food plant based. I went and read everything I could. I found Dr. Greger and all the different amazing doctors and books. Devoured the China Study. Devoured how to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Dr. Esselstyn. And so it just kind of snowballed from there learning. But I really stuck to the SOS free, whole food, plant based lifestyle at that moment because I wanted to see changes. I wanted to make that dramatic shift overnight a little bit. And so the results did not happen overnight per se. It took me a long time to get up to being over two. I was probably over 200 pounds. I'm only 4’11. It took me a while to get there. Took me a while to damage my blood pressure and cholesterol and all the things I was having. So I would say about probably about three months I really started to see a shift in a great way, but I would say about it took me about a year to lose the weight.

00:15:10 Brittany: And then also my inflammation, I always tell people is that every time I went to the doctor, I got that C-Reactive Protein Test taken about every three months, and it slowly came down. It wasn't like it went from 16 to 0.5 in a month. I would take it, go and get it tested, it would be 16, then it would be down to 14, then eleven, and so it slowly came down. So I had to have a lot of patience with myself. But it was very encouraging just to see that number each time be less and less. And then also immediately I felt better. That was the thing that was kind of immediate. I felt I didn't have chest pain. That went away pretty instantly. I was sleeping better, I was feeling more. My mental health got better pretty quickly. So those were all encouraging things to see. And still to this day, it's just like, I still feel so great doing this that I never want to look back.

00:16:12 Maya: I know, right? It's almost like that was in the past. That's not me anymore. It's amazing. It's almost like another individual.

00:16:18 Brittany: So true.

00:16:19 Maya: What were your doctors saying? Did you go to the same place every time you see reactive in all your labs? Probably you were doing them then.

00:16:28 Brittany: Yeah, I did go to the same doctor for a little bit. I eventually switched over to a plant based doctor here in Pittsburgh because they just got why it was so important, and the doctor was okay with it, but also kind of chalked it up to being less stressed. Know, didn't really want to give it to me, that it was really the lifestyle that I was implicating, which was so obvious. So I did find a plant based doctor here in Pittsburgh and switched to, you know, at every moment. When we went to appointments with my parents for doctor's appointments, I like to throw in the plant based little point. And unfortunately, some doctors don't always take you for what you're saying.

00:17:07 Maya:I know you probably know this, but we recently hosted Dr. Laurie Marbas here in Dallas, and so we showed the film ‘From Food to Freedom’, and she flew in for the showing. And there were lots of questions. We might have had about 120 people that showed up. I mean, people are hungry for this information and lots of common, basic questions, as you know, when people are first starting off, like, what about B12? And where do you get your protein? And things like that. However, the most important question, I think, that kept showing up is how can I find a doctor in my area that can support me in this?  And you just touched on it. You transitioned as you were making your change. You went from working with a Western trained physician to finding someone that understands that lifestyle changes and food, using food as medicine can improve your well being and your labs. So you didn't have to have this battle that some people have with their physicians where the doctor is like, well, you got to eat meat, and starts to pressure the individual to going back to a Western diet that is not the healthiest. So that was pretty cool that you had access to a doctor.

00:18:24 Maya: And a little further down, we're going to talk about that partnership that you've developed with Dr. Marbas, which is very exciting to all of us. So you touch on mental health and the more that I speak with other people that have seen improvements in their lives, the more that I remember too, some of the things that I battled with. And so I find it very interesting. You talked about chest pain. I used to have, I don't know if you pronounce it ‘angina’ or ‘angina’, but tightness in my chest. I suffered from a lot of anxiety and panic attack very much. I don't know if you ever had panic attacks, but they can feel like you're dying. Very overwhelming…

00:19:04 Brittany: Very not fun. Very not fun to have.

00:19:08 Maya: So you saw improvements in your mental health as well. How soon after did you notice? Like your anxiety was not as bad?

00:19:15 Brittany: It was pretty quickly, I think, because you're learning so much and you're like changing kind of your whole… I was cleaning out cupboards and restocking with things and listening to every podcast and audiobook and reading that. I think the beginning of starting something new is always exciting and uplifting and gives you so much hope. But I would say within the first year. And I really want to talk about it because it's such an important thing that I think most people don't talk about. There's so much of a stigma for mental health, but I struggled a lot with and it kind of came on around the same time. Of all of my blood work being kind of at its worst, my weight being the heaviest, but I had kind of an onset of pure OCD, which is ruminating thoughts. We think of OCD being like touching things and counting. 00:20:05 Brittany: It just was like from the time I woke up to the time I went to bed, just nonstop thoughts that I could not shut off, that were very anxiety prone and that caused depression and panic attacks and things that we talked about. I would love, I wish I had they could do some kind of study on it at the time. But my inflammation, for me, I think it was 100% that my inflammation caused this onset to happen, because it happened after I finished grad-school. It happened when I was a young adult, but I was only like 22, 23 when it started. It had not happened before that. It was a really onset where panic attacks were happening all the time and this OCD was happening and to the point where it was really abruptive in my life, where I couldn't get through the day without crying all the time. It really shifted kind of not my personality, but I was not used to being this way and it wasn't something I had dealt with before, so I didn't know what the heck was happening with me. I thought I was having like it was a pretty much. And that went on for three years. It wasn't just a one time thing. It was like three years. And I say it was kind of like living in hell. It was three years of living in hell and this was just a bonus to doing this lifestyle is that miraculously after I started lowering my inflammation, going from a 16 down to a 0.5, all of that started to clear up and go away. So not only was I losing 70 pounds, but also I got my mental health back.

00:21:45 Brittany: And I do attest it to how some people get lupus or MS, mine decided to sit in my brain and cause all of these problems for me and really be an awful mess. And that really is the gift. It's wonderful that I have great blood pressure now and wonderful for my health long term, but the immediate impact of just getting my life back from dealing with all of those things, it's something I want to talk more about. I haven't really shared that part of my story, but it's so important because, you know, I do believe there is a direct line of inflammation and mental health component to it. And for me, anecdotally that's what I think was going on.

00:22:31 Maya: Well, you know, I'm looking forward to listening to the episode that you will be recording on mental health. I appreciate that in the community, as our lives improve, we can become a little more vulnerable and share some of these personal struggles. I too, am starting to talk more about mental health on my podcast. And I've shared in the past that I was on medication in my 20s, antidepressants, and I struggled, like I say, with panic attacks and all of that. And believe me, I was not taking care of myself. I didn't eat meat or pork after college, but I wasn't eating the best either. And I know that as you talk about how you felt after graduate school, I felt that after I graduated from undergrad and then after graduate school, that immediate drop of like, now what? So there was some depression and like a dark period in my life where I went through that and then I experienced it again during just a lot of stuff during the pandemic. And I was already plant based, much better at managing things, but I went ahead and hired a life coach to support me in that. But I do believe, like you said, that inflammation and the foods that we eat, just that contribute to that. Inflammation can affect people. And I'm so glad that you're there to encourage younger people to make these changes. So thank you for that. Just what you say you were living in hell. It's just incredible where you are today, because when I see you, you're like a bright light, like this sunshine, always feeling. You look positive, you look happy, you encourage and sense of community. So today you're known as the Jaroudi Family. Tell us how you created all of that.

00:24:20 Brittany: So once I got kind of my stuff together and was feeling better mentally and was getting healthier, I just wanted to share this gift again. It was just like I kind of made a pact with God. Seriously, like, if you can help me and kind of again with mental health and all of it, I was very desperate and everything, I will jump in and if you help me, I will do everything in my possible to help someone else. And that really was my pact. I made it a New Year's resolution. We bought the camera about a year prior. I wouldn't say I'm very outgoing. I've become outgoing with teaching and all of that. You kind of just get comfortable talking. But I bought the camera. I waited kind of a year. It was like dabbling. Like, I don't know, is anyone going to watch this? Am I going to feel comfortable talking in front of a camera about this? But really, it was that pact with a guy upstairs just saying, like, “I want to help somebody else.” And so I started filming videos and recipes and showing people how delicious eating this lifestyle can be. We're not just all eating rabbit food all day long. And you can make it fun and your families can enjoy it and your kids can enjoy, you know, this was something to do long term. This wasn't a diet or fad to jump on, jump off.. Long term, I wanted to do this forever and how do I make these recipes delicious and exciting? And so I just started sharing the YouTube channel that way, and it grew to me then getting a website to people asking for cooking classes and just really to try to help support whoever I can to embrace this because it really gives you so much back.

00:26:03 Maya: You know, I was really impressed with the work that you've been doing. I am that person that learns from YouTube. So it was interesting. My mother was visiting me recently and she said where's your cable? Where are other channels? And I said, I don't actually have cable, mom. I watch YouTube. And she's like, what? So I'm like, yeah, you can go straight to what you want to learn about by doing these searches on YouTube. And so I started watching you a while back and you know it's interesting because many of us are not taught how to eat healthy. And you just touched on it. People were requesting help with the cooking process, whether it's like workshops or classes, whatever, you can teach. And you help people take traditional foods that they have enjoyed in the past and making them healthier without using foods that have added, that have saturated fat and that can raise your cholesterol. So I find it really fascinating that you have that creative aspect that you can actually figure it out. I think it's really cool.

00:27:08 Brittany: I always tell people, too. My teaching background is in being an art educator, so my undergrad and my graduate are all being creative. I love all the different aspects of art, and so it just kind of switched in my mind from painting and sculpting and doing all those things to being creative with food. And it's just been so fun. It's just another way, I feel like, of expression.

00:27:30 Maya: It really is. And some of us and I was just explaining this to my husband last night that I have two relationships with food right now, which is I'm a very busy person, and when I don't have time to plan, I'm stressed about cooking because I mainly cook. I don't eat out a lot either because it's very difficult. And so I have that stress. And then when I have those windows of being in the kitchen, I feel like I'm in a Zen. Like, this is my Zen moment. And I think, like you, I'm just going to be creative. What can I do with the ingredients that I have at home? That's one of the things that I've always enjoyed about watching other cooking channels is when people open the refrigerator and they're like, “Okay, let's see what we can make with this.” Now, do you have an inspiration behind the work that you do? Is there a celebrity, another YouTube channel? Anyone else that inspires you in being creative?

00:28:26 Brittany: Well, when I first started, I watched a couple vegan YouTubers just to kind of get an idea of, okay, now you have to switch kind of and in my mindset, I switched chicken. Now to me as like soy beans and jackfruit and different mushrooms. You can shred that, have that meaty texture. Or if we talk about cheese, it's not cheese, it's cashews and white beans and things like that that give us that kind of flavor or sauce that we're looking for. So I looked at and talking about pulling things out of the refrigerator. Lauren Toyota from Hot for Food. She has a vegan channel. So she was very inspiring to me. That was like she made things like called Recipe, where she would just open her fridge and really make stuff. Now her stuff is more like not SOS free, whole food, plant based. But just the way that she was able to combine things and be so creative really was like,”Oh, I want to be the Lauren Toyota of whole food, plant based.” So things like that. And then also all. Of the other people that are on YouTube that do the same thing, like Jill Dalton and Jill McKeever. I used to watch her a lot back when you know different people like that, that really kind of embody. The taking family recipes and making them whole food plant based are always inspiring to me.

00:29:47 Maya: Yes, and I was a follower. I don't watch as much of Lauren Toyota, but For Food was my favorite. And the other day I was sorting my recipes that I print out and I noticed that some of them are hers. And the same thing, just like what you said. Because she does use oil and some things like that, I sort of have to navigate a different route and look at other videos. But her sense of comfort that she had…

00:30:16 Brittany: Her personality was so easy to watch. I watched her through many houses that she's moved and I just love the way that she puts her videos together. They're just like enjoyable just to throw on and watch. So yeah, I agree. She's just a great personality as well online.

00:30:33 Maya: Absolutely. Well, this is fun. Now, you just recently retired from being an art teacher. Tell us about that transition and what are you doing now? Because there's a lot.

00:30:43 Brittany: Yeah. So I…It just over the pandemic. Well, when I started YouTube, it wasn't to be like, this is my new career. It just was to share. And over the last couple of years, it's just been too much to devote both and then have a life outside of that. I was like, working during the day and then in the evening trying to do the YouTube stuff or on the weekends. And it just got to the breaking point where it was like, I'm not giving all I want to give 100% to one thing and be all in. And I found that my passion now is whole food plant based sharing. When I got my degree, I didn't know anything about this lifestyle. And I always joke that if I could go know, I'd go back to be like a nutritionalist or even a physician just because I have so much passion for sharing it. You know, I was able to hang up the hat with that and teach a different way. And so I'm still on YouTube. We have a membership as well that we kind of share recipes and do our cooking classes through. And then I just started this really new, exciting weekly classes with Dr. Marbas. And that's fantastic because that really gives people accountability. Like every week we're meeting. I know for me at the beginning, having those groups and people to check in with, because most of us don't know anyone in real life besides maybe our spouses. I know your spouse and my spouse does this. But other than know, besides my plant based pod group that I found here in Pittsburgh, there's no family know doing this or friends. And so having those people that you can check in with every week or come to these classes and ask your questions. Really has been amazing. So I do the recipe part of the class, and then Dr. Marbas answers any medical questions that people have, and we get to cook together each week, and it's been a lot of fun.

00:32:36 Maya: Well, this is very exciting. When she first announced it, I thought, well, what a wonderful combination. It makes sense that you're both in the field of helping people. You're both in the field of using food as medicine. You have the more practical skills and experience teaching developing recipes, teaching people how to cook and feel comfortable. And Dr. Marbas does too. She does a lot of cooking on her own. But you've created that platform and that following, and she's created this approach, this way of working with patients through telemedicine, through her own personal practice. And now you're coming together to support she, and we're going to do a live she and I. I know that she's been going on a lot of lives on Instagram talking about all of this, but I'd love to hear more from you. Like, if my listeners are interested, is it part of your membership program? Is it separate? Tell us a little bit more in case my listeners want to sign up, so they're separate.

00:33:33 Brittany: So they're separate. I've started a membership community page where people really wanting cooking classes, and so I do, like, ten recipes each month, cooking classes. We actually do a relaxing art class with it too, so there's a little bit of art therapy mixed in for stress relief, so that's separate. That's on our website. And then the healing kitchen. Is this weekly call in? All the recipes are different. All of them are whole food plant based, SOS free. But those recipes are really meant to be, like, 30 minutes, quick and easy recipes. And then you get to ask any medical questions to her, which she's such a wealth of knowledge. Oh, my gosh. I even have a little notepad. Like, I'm listening to her talk, and I'm like, “Oh, my gosh, okay, writing that down.” And she's able to direct people on what labs to look for, what numbers to look for, specific things on, anything lifestyle related or anything medical. If you have a question about anything, she's like a walking Google, pretty much. She's so smart and research based. You could just tell that she's spent hours and hours and hours learning and being able to talk to people. So that's been really fun to offer those two separate things. So right now, yeah, they're both two things that we offer and something for everyone. We also were really mindful of the price, and that's something too. I always try to make stuff accessible for everyone. So my private thing is $10 a month. With her, it's $20 a month. And so we really are mindful of not making things unattainable for people that want this knowledge. And then also hundreds of free recipes and videos on YouTube.

00:35:12 Maya: And it's not just having access to the recipes is finding a community that you're part of, and you're very good at building community. Dr. Marbas… So going back to how, you know, she's like the Google of plant based nutrition, she is amazing. And I was so excited to just promote her to my community when she had her telemedicine practice. So I found it really fascinating when she was here answering questions when she said that it's okay if you still need medication, she talked about how she's still on thyroid medicine and that it's okay. Like, for some people, even if you make the healthy lifestyle changes and eat a fully whole food plant based diet, that the body may still require some support. And I felt this amazing sense of relief when she said that. And then I was with a group of friends afterwards, and I said I suffered with hypothyroidism, and I did move away from the medication, but I've been feeling like maybe I still need to optimize my thyroid. I don't know. So I know that there's a wonderful endocrinologist in Texas that, you know, reach out to and then another person know I have Hashimoto's, and I didn't want to take my medication, but hearing Dr. Marbas say, know it's case by case, of course you want to have the right doctor to work with you on these things. But many times, people in our community feel like if they're still on medication, they must be doing something wrong. But we know that that's not necessarily the case. So when Dr. Marbas said that, I felt like, “Oh, thank God.”

00:36:46 Brittany: I love the sensible approach. I mean, I think I was drawn to her too. It's just because it's, like, such a well balanced approach to living this lifestyle. It's not a lot of us, too. It's like we did not wake up. We weren't born wholly plant based. I think there's not too many of us that can say that. And so you've lived away for a long time, and everyone is different too. And I stress that too, especially with me talking about mental health is that my results I got very lucky with that being the case where I don't have to take medication, but that is not the case all of the time, and everyone is definitely different.

00:37:27 Maya: Absolutely. This is wonderful that you have this partnership. So I will include a link in the show notes for people to find out about the Healing Kitchen. Is there anything else about that part that you'd like to share?

00:37:40 Brittany: I'm so excited because I think it's something so different than what I've seen. Offered to have remeet for an hour each week, so that's a lot of weeks. Sometimes there's five weeks in a month. And to have that time to really be able to ask all of your questions, to be able to ask even any cooking questions, so really, I mean, I've never seen a doctor and somebody who does recipes be so available just to ask anything that you have come up and then to build that community. So I'm really excited to just be a part of it and to help as many people as possible. And I think that myself and Dr. Marbas, our mission aligns so well. There are so many great people in this movement, and I'm just so excited to be working with somebody that's so passionate and genuine for what I strive to be like.

00:38:30 Maya: Yeah, I agree. I just think it's a wonderful partnership. I think it's so exciting. So when I heard about it, I was like, oh, my God, we need to tell everybody. Everyone needs to know about the work that you're doing. And what I love most about it is that it's offered virtually so no one is limited unless they don't have a computer or Internet access. Most people can tune in to watch you create a delicious meal. And I'm assuming are you doing, like, a live demo or how does this work?

00:39:01 Brittany: Yeah, first half an hour is me cooking, and Dr. Marbas even gets in her kitchen, and you can see her kitchen and she's cooking, which is really fun. And then the last half an hour, the Q and A, and everything is recorded. So if there is a Wednesday, it's Wednesday at 07:00 p.m.. Eastern. If there's a Wednesday night, you can't make it, or depending on where you are in the world, you can always watch the recording. And if you ever have a question and you're not available to make the class, you can always email it in and we'll answer it. So, yeah, it's really fun to be in my kitchen, her to be in her kitchen and just to hang out and answer questions and learn. I've learned so much, even after doing this and reading so much again, she is such a well researched person that nothing really trumps her. I mean, she'll say if something, she needs to go look it up and do a little bit more research on it, but she is just a wealth of knowledge that I'm so excited just to learn more. And we did our first couple of classes on diabetes focus. So really great information with that and how to talk to people, because also, I feel like even if you're seasoned in this, sometimes when we explain to our family members or our doctors or different people why we're doing it or the mechanisms behind it, you know, that's what I love. I nerd out about all of the science part about it. So it's really awesome to be able to explain, like, okay, you're a type two diabetic or a type one diabetic. How can this help and be able to explain thoroughly, actually, how the mechanisms work to help. So it's been really fun. I just geek out every Wednesday night.

00:40:33 Maya: Yeah, I would be doing the same thing. I do have the advantage of being married to a physician, so I ask him a lot of questions, which is why I know so much. But I do read as know. So it's interesting. My mother and I talk often about her on the podcast has type two diabetes, and she lives in Arizona. And I think she's not being properly managed by her doctors because, as you said, they don't have this knowledge for the most part about using food as medicine or even recommending healthy lifestyle changes. But my mother is now on two diabetes medication for type two. And this is interesting. She was here for medical reasons here in Dallas, and she was telling me that her sugar drops so much that she has to eat candy because she becomes hypoglycemic. And so she eats the candy to raise her blood sugar. And it didn't make sense to me. I said, “Mother, I think you're being over prescribed diabetes medication if you're going hypoglycemic.” And so my husband was like, “You need to talk to Dr. Marbas and see if she'll take your mom as a patient, because it's like doctors don't understand that.” And I don't want to go into too much detail of it. But, you know, as you begin to improve your lifestyle and eat better for yourself, you. Have to be monitored because you can prove and same with blood pressure. I know for me, I was on two different ones, and I really had to monitor it because then you're taking too much. So, yeah, you definitely should, definitely be underneath the care and supervision, especially if you're changing your lifestyle and what great results people have with us that you have to be monitored. Weaned off of things.

00:42:16 Maya: So I'm going to ask you a question because I already know my listeners are going to ask this. I was just thinking, so as your members are learning how to eat healthier and they will see those improvements in their health and you just touched on blood pressure. I touched on blood sugar improvements. Will Dr. Marvis, is she available to see clients this way? I don't know if you call them clients in this way or patients, but is she able to see individuals separately in the membership program?

00:42:46 Brittany: So not as part of the membership program. She can answer any questions, but for her to be your physician, you can schedule. I know she's taking a small amount of patients just so she can devote so much time to them and then to do other projects that she wants to do as well. But I would recommend signing up as soon as possible because she is only going to have a small amount of people she sees. And we're very lucky. She's licensed in all 50 states. I don't know of any other physician that could say that. So if you're in the United States, you can see her. And like I said, I think she's only looking to take a small amount of patients. So definitely would recommend signing up and check it's all on the same site, though. You can go to drmarbas.com. The Healing Kitchen is there, as well as to be her patient.

00:43:32 Maya: Wonderful. Yes, because I already thought people are going to.. they love Dr. Marbas. Many, many people love her so much. So now, Brittany, you have a podcast that you recently launched. Tell us about that. Who is it for and who are you having guests? Is it just yourself?

00:43:50 Brittany: Yeah. So it's a very baby podcast. We're on the third episode this week, so it just started. I kind of started it as I was transitioning out of the end of the school year. It's called ‘From Our Family to Yours’. And the whole goal about it is to have guests on. I'm looking to mainly have just general people doing this lifestyle. It doesn't have to be of course I would love to have you on and some of the doctors on and stuff too, but really it's to get to know people that are I always say I'm just like an average person doing this and sharing. There's nothing not to put myself down, but I'm just a regular person. Anyone can be in my situation doing what I'm doing to help get the word out. And so I want to apply those real life people that are doing this day in and day out, talk about their journey and their struggles and their triumphs, and then also for them to submit a family recipe that I'll create and show our audience how to make it whole food plant based. And that could be anything. There has been only a tiny, tiny, tiny amount of recipes that I've said, “Maybe pick a different one and that would be ones like lunch meat or something like that.” So most of everything can be whole food plant based and tweaked. So that's really fun to share a family recipe because it's from my family to your family getting healthy. And so we're only on the third podcast, but yeah, if you'd like to sign up on our website, there is a guest form any of your listeners can sign up to be on and I'm taking them as we go. But my goal is to do maybe two a month once we kind of get up and moving.

00:45:20 Maya: Yeah, I like the idea that you're interested in taking everyday people into the podcast and helping them with a recipe. I think that's, you know, I said know I mentioned it earlier that Russ and I went to the NHA conference and all the meals for the most part were provided during the conference. And I'm assuming some of those dishes were we.

00:45:43 Brittany: So I help one of the director, really curate the menu and we try to get a wide variety of people that offer SOS free and people that are going to be there. Like furman's recipes were used, Nutmeg Notebook who was there. Some of her stuff was used as well. For mine, I had some of the things I demoed, so I demoed chickpea and rice with Italian dressing. They put that on the menu. And that was a family recipe that we tweaked. Instead of chicken and rice with a ton of other stuff, we made it healthy. So I did that one and some other family ones. There was a chocolate cream cheesecake that they made into, like, little cupcake muffins that was very popular. They kind of sold out really quickly of those. You couldn't get them. People were looking for them. But that was another family recipe that we tweaked to make whole food plant based.

00:46:32 Maya: That's awesome. Well, I enjoyed the food. I feel like I ate the healthiest…

00:46:36 Brittany: I know.

00:46:36 Maya: At the NHA Conference. And then okay. So you recently had another event that really drew my attention to that. I thought, “Oh, my God, I would love to do that”, because Riz and I just got into hiking. We have a camper van. So we do. When we go in the campervan, though, I stay in the van. And my husband likes to set up tents and rough it out like that. He just enjoys that. At our age, as we get older and make these changes, we've noticed we have more energy. And so, yes, we want to get out there and kayak and do all sorts of outdoor activities. So tell us about what you recently did. I think you had, like, 50 people that joined you in this outdoors experience.

00:47:19 Brittany: Before the pandemic happened, we decided that we were going to buy a camper and that we would pool on our Subaru. We bought a scamp. It's like a little trailer. It has a bed, it has a little kitchen. That's pretty much it. And so we got it right before the pandemic, which was really lucky because then they end up having, like, a huge waitlist. I grew up camping. My husband did not, but he loves hiking and being outdoors. So I was like, there's so much beautiful areas to see right near us. We had got done doing a bunch of big trips, and let's just take the camper on weekends. We can take our dogs and go around, and we love being outside and cooking and all the things. And so we got it, and we loved it. And I came across a campground in Maryland that was, like, the most beautiful campground you've ever seen. They had cabins you could rent. You could bring your pop ups. They have electricity sites, they have tent sites. And then they also have a resort on this huge lake. So I'm like, people could stay at the resort if they don't want to camp. And I thought, how fun would it be to rent out this place and make it like you're camping with your whole food plant based friends?

00:48:24 Brittany: And so we decided to do it two years ago, and everyone loved it. We had people all over come. People from South Carolina drove to Maryland. It was wild. And before even the camping weekend ended, people already were signing up for next year. So I was like, “Okay, I guess we're doing it again the following summer.” And so it started now. We just finished it. It was their second year. People signed up again before year three, before it was over. And it's so fun. So we make it a nice relaxing time. We get together. There's like beach hangouts, we rent water toys, like kayaks, go on hikes. There's a big potluck and it just gives everyone a chance. Like, the conferences are so amazing because you learn so much, but you really form friendships and get this community sense and just get to know people. And again, we had somebody from Minnesota come this time, a couple. And so it's so fun, like, seeing where everyone's from, and it's already pretty booked up if you are an electric site person or a cabin person. Those went super fast, even to the point where the place I rent for the pavilion, I couldn't even get the one that we just were at the day before, booked up a year in advance.

00:49:39 Brittany: So I got the one next door for the potluck. But if you have a tent camp or if you like to go and stay at the resort, there are spots, or the little town of Cumberland, Maryland, is like ten minutes away. So some people like to book a hotel or an airbnb and then just come up for the day or the weekend. And it's also fun. We end up having great weather. We had about, I think about 60 people came the second time, and it's just a great time. So it's the last weekend in July. Rocky Gap State Park in Maryland. Anyone's welcome to come. There's no fee. We just ask that you make your stay arrangements. And then everyone just covers their own food and brings a dish to the potluck and it's just a great time. So we go Friday evening, all day Saturday and leave Sunday afternoon.

00:50:29 Maya: Oh, my gosh. When I saw it, I was like, how did I not know about this? I saw it. I saw all the photos afterwards and thought, what a beautiful sense of community. I would have wanted to go. I saw Stephanie and Justin were there. They are another support group, another pod. So this is why I'm interested in these kind of things. Earlier you said that a lot of us don't have people on our team that are on board. Like our loved ones, our friends are not necessarily on board. So this is a way that we can create family, a sense of family and belonging through people that are on the same path. So a couple of months ago, maybe in March, I don't remember, we did sort of an outdoor hiking kind of experience. And we drove closer to Amarillo, so about 6 hours away from Dallas, and I had been asking a friend of ours that comes to our walks, I said, will you teach us how to lead? Because he travels. His goal is to go to every national park in the country, but he also does state parks. And so he was like, okay with his partner. So it was two couples, both of us vegan couples. And I said, “Okay, I'll handle all the food.” So he and his partner did the whole, like, led us and supported us in hiking. And then I prepared because I have a refrigerator in my van. So I took food for three days, closer to four, for four people for three meals every day, including a meal during the hike. And I pretty much ran my recipes by them, and I said, this is what I could cook in the van. That's easy and simple. And it was quite a significant experience for me. I had never done anything like that. And I said to my husband, I wouldn't mind if we did this again with more couples. Not a big crowd, but just as people are learning how to be outdoors and be physically active.

00:52:20 Brittany: If you can find a campground and just have everyone book their place, and it's so nice if you can find one with tents or electric sites or cabins. And then even our thing is everyone handles their own food. We bring our own stuff to cook. We had a great campfire with [inaudible] that we did, which was so fun that Wanda Huberman provided. So it was just so fun and relaxed, not laid back, youknow? So I highly suggest if anyone wants to take that idea and run with it, you have my blessing. I feel like the camping community and then being, like, whole food plant based is so intertwined because it's like, we love outdoors, you love being active, and what better way to do that and show people how easy cooking can be too.

00:53:109 Maya: You know? We ended up having rain like we had planned this trip at Texas. It rains, and the rangers had told us not to go into the one route or trail that we wanted to do, but we went anyway. But mainly it was just muddy. It wasn't raining the entire time. It was just really muddy. And it took us. I don't know how long it would have taken us without the muddy situation, but it took us about 7 hours, Brittany, to complete the trail. Fortunately, we had enough water and food because we prepared. But by the time we reached the van, our van was the only vehicle in the parking lot. And you would not believe this I haven't even shared photos because I'm so behind on my social media. We had four bison around our van. My gosh. Wow. It was so scary. I watch videos of what happens when people harass them. We sat there for like an hour trying to figure out how can we run this way or should we just wait for them to, so it was such an entertaining thing, but I loved it. And you said you grew up camping. I grew up in Arizona, but our dad would take us from Phoenix up north to Flagstaff in Prescott Sedona. So I'm used to the natural elements. It's like my passion also to be outdoors. And it's only been recently since I went plant based that we started to kind of go outside of Dallas, like maybe one or 2 hours and discover, “Oh, my God, there's so much beauty here.”

00:54:44 Brittany: There's so much. So we live in Pennsylvania and so it's funny, like different wildlife you'll have. I won't have we're more like bears can be an issue. Not bison. You know, but we haven't seen any bears really when we've been out. But it's so fun how close things are to you. When we first got married, we were taking trips and flying different places to experience it, which was great. But having the camper and just going to all the bordering states, like, we go to Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, even parts of Pennsylvania and New York, and there's so much beautiful things, like you know, an hour to 3 hours. So we just love been it's made us be able to travel a ton where we can just pick up and go Friday through Sunday. It's just been the best.

00:55:37 Maya: That's been us too. And I think you say you got the Camper during the pandemic, right?

00:55:42 Brittany: Right. Before the pandemic.

00:55:43 Maya: Right, before…

00:55:44 Brittany: So lucky. We bought it. And the company that we had is Camper. They have all different kinds they're built in Minnesota. Well, we had it dropped off, so they drove it. We kept debating if we should drive up and pick it up and then drive home with it, but it's a far time from Pittsburgh to Minnesota. We had them build it and they drove it. We paid to have it delivered. And literally the Pandemic had just started. So we got really lucky when they dropped it off because then there was like a huge waitlist because I feel like everyone got into camping during the Pandemic.

00:58:18 Maya: Yeah, that's right. Went back to kind of how we used to travel. Like you said before we flew internationally, it wasn't as affordable at one point, at least when I was younger. And so being in the outdoors, like locally, was what we all did to entertain ourselves. Brittany, what else would you like my listeners to know about you and what is next? I just feel like you have so much going on.

00:56:41 Brittany: Well, who knows what's next, I always say. I would have never thought a year from now that this is what everything would be looking like. What's next up short term? I'm speaking at Ethos Farm in New Jersey, so if anyone is near New. Jersey or New York and wants to come to Ethos farm days. It's a great event. It's September 9 and 10th. They have a fantastic pricing. It's super affordable, and tons of great people are going to be there. The [surezites] will be there. Rich Roll is speaking, and a bunch of others. So I'm really excited to do that. And I'm also not only doing cooking things there, but I'm doing some kid activities. So it's great. Some of these conferences are just fantastic. With the kid element, you might not think about it being like a family event, but I know the NHA has a whole kid program at their conference. Ethos has a great kid program. So really excited just to get involved with the youth as well. So that's short term and then long term, I'm just excited just to merge myself and devote all of my time to this lifestyle and sharing it. I kind of feel like I've been doing everything at like 50% speed, so I'm really excited to go to that 100%, which, who knows what it will look like. I feel like I was trying to crank out a ton before, so I'm just excited to just be able to give it all. I'm just so thankful to be on your podcast and to share it with your listeners.

00:58:02 Maya: Well, thank you. Like I said, it's an honor to have you and to share all of this with my listeners as well, because you're an inspiration. Like, you inspire people. There are people that are looking for resources and then there may be people that want to lead as well and do that, be as involved as you are. This has been wonderful. So I have a slogan that I go by. Well, I don't know if you call it a slogan, but there's something that I like to say, which is you have more power over your health than you've been told. That's something that a realization that came to me as I learned all of this. Is there something that you go by?

00:58:42 Brittany: I always go, well, what I like to tell people, especially when you're starting, is that if you ever fall off the wagon one time, you just get on the next. Don't wait till the next day to kind of start over, go to the next meal. And it's all a learning process to be kind to yourself and to others as you go. But those are some things I like to always kind of reinstate. Also, things don't necessarily happen overnight. You don't get to a situation overnight. And sometimes to resolve it, it doesn't go back overnight.

So just to be patient with yourself.

00:59:17 Maya: That is so important. And thank you for saying that because I know that not everybody in our group is 100% whole food plant based. And sometimes people are very open and honest about that and they'll talk about wanting to make those changes, but they continue to attend whatever is being offered because they're looking for the support. And so, yes, being gentle with ourselves is so important. Like, we don't have to do it perfectly. It's okay as long as you're eating, incorporating more plants, we know that we can improve our blood pressure, cholesterol and all of that with those changes. And what links would you like to share?

00:59:57 Brittany: Pretty much anything I do, you can just find it. You can go to Google and just type in The Jaroudi Family if there's any recipes you're looking for Jaroudi and then the recipe that you're looking for, it'll pop up. And then the Healing Kitchen with Dr. Marbas. Those are some big things I would say to search for, but I'm always around. I have the website with everything. I even give out my cell phone number. So if you ever have a question or need to call me, I do answer my phone, but yeah, just readily available for you guys.

01:00:29 Maya: That's so wonderful. Thank you, Brittany. Again, I was going to call you the Jaroudi family, but that's how I know you. So thank you, Brittany, so much for being on the show today with us.

01:00:39 Brittany: Thanks for having me.

01:00:41 Maya: You've been listening to the Healthy Lifestyle Solutions Podcast with your host, Maya Acosta. If you've enjoyed this content, please share with one friend who can benefit. You can also leave us a five star review @ratethispodcast.com/hls. This helps us to spread our message. As always, thank you.