Female empowerment & why a healthy plant-based lifestyle is the portal into spirituality and self-fulfillment - with guest Dr. Silvia Odorcic, MD

In Episode #6 I interviewed Dr. Silvia Odorcic, MD and we discussed why being healthy with a plant-based diet is the ultimate portal into spirituality & self-fulfillment. We also talk about the unique needs of women while on a plant-based diet.

In this conversation we also discussed:

- Dr. Silvia’s journey to becoming plant-based. 

- Her experience with lifestyle medicine and focusing on PB diets with patients. 

- Reasons why some that go plant-based struggle and end up going back to meat and dairy.

- Strategies to be engaged with the plant-based community. 

- Female empowerment and crafting your legacy. 

Quote: “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

Mahatma Gandhi

Resources:

- Best way to connect : IG @dr.Silvia.md

- Two evergreen courses available right now: 

- Supercharge your Marathon: https://www.drsilviamd.com/supercharge-your-marathon

- SuperCharge your Nutrition: https://www.drsilviamd.com/supercharge-your-nutrition

- Going Vegan or Vegetarian: data about assisting and retaining vegans (Faunalytics Study)

Want to support the show? Help us by subscribing and leaving a review on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts. It only takes a few minutes and helps more people find the episodes.

About your host: Dr. Travis Cox - BA, DC, MSc is a Doctor of Chiropractic with a focus on Functional Medicine and plant-based nutrition. He is the creator of PBandHealthy.com and host of the Plant-Based and Healthy podcast. Connect with him on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @yourvegandoc #pbandhealthy. And remember, individuals inspire and communities create change!

Audio credit: Thank you @katetrajanmusic for your lovely voice on the intro/outro and @craigritchiemusic for the super catchy music track for the intro/outro... many thanks!

Transcript

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

Welcome to the show, Dr. Silvia.

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

Thank you, Dr. Travis, so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

Absolutely. So let's get started. I'll go right into the first question. So imagine in your mind's eye that you're in a plant-based and healthy time machine and I want you to go back to when you first decided you want to be plant-based and just touch on those details for our listeners to know what your journey was like.

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

Yeah. I'd love to. So for me, it was just a quick overnight thing. I don't think that's a common thing for most people, but, I, one day was actually cutting the fat off of some chicken. By the way, the fat in the chicken you can't cut it off, but I was doing that and it happened to be Netflix was on and I thought, "Okay, I'm just going to watch this documentary What the Health." And I went for it. I watched it and it completely blew me away because as someone that had just finished their medical training it was a complete shock to me all of the information that was there that spoke to the power of plant-based nutrition. I hadn't learned any of that in medical school. So after having seen that video, I went straight to Google and I just went down the rabbit hole of all the evidence behind plant-based nutrition, and pretty much overnight decided that I wanted to get rid of animal products in my diet in order to prolong my longevity and live my best life.

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

Wow. Yeah, no, that's great that you saw this video of this documentary and realized, "Hey, there's a better way to eat healthily." And, of course, going down the rabbit hole online. Did you have any issues, or obstacles you had to overcome in transitioning to being plant-based?

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

So I think for me the main thing was just as a physician I wanted evidence. I didn't want to just dive into something because, of course, I was nervous what effects could this have on my health? And when you start Googling, it's like there's just a sea of misinformation that you have to swim through in order to find the gold nuggets. I remember that first night just even Googling is soy milk good for you? I got all this conflicting information, so I was nervous about it. I approached, actually, my family doctor and told her what I had done and the conversation shocked me. Even looking back now it was very uncomfortable.

I told her I'd gone whole-food, plant-based. And she basically said, "Can you just please for the love of God keep fish on." Like keep fish in your diet. I remember thinking like, "Based on the evidence, it didn't say I needed fish." So I asked her and I trusted her. Why would I need fish? And she said, "Well, for your Omega-3 you can only get it through fish." I left her office feeling even more confused. I think that the main obstacle was just piecing together the evidence so that I knew deep in my heart that this was 100% the right thing for me to do. And before I could teach anybody else, or my patients, or my clients, or whoever I worked with I needed to know that this was a safe and effective way to live.

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

Totally. Now that's really interesting because you're a physician and you went and saw your family doctor, and even then there was like you mentioned that misinformation around you needing to eat Omega-3s in fish only. What was it like having not been taught, or learned the information that's out there in the literature around the health benefits of eating whole-food, plant-based, and, of course, kind of discerning some of these myths, or misinformation knowing that you should know that as a family doctor for your patient's sake, no?

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

Yeah. Honestly, Travis, I'm going to bring up The Matrix. I don't know if you've seen the latest one. It's really good. I love Keanu, but I literally felt like I woke up from a dream. And I was like, "Have I been missing a really big piece of this puzzle?" Because as an ophthalmologist, I was trained that's my primary specialty in addition to lifestyle medicine. As an ophthalmologist, I was trained, okay, look at the eye. Diagnose disease. A lot of our patients have diabetes, a preponderance of them, and they get diabetic visual problems.

And we were taught to treat, of course, the symptoms through laser, through injections in the eye, but really there was literally zero talk about, well, we should be talking to the patient about what caused their Type 2 diabetes. The evidence is there. We know that literally 100% of the cause of Type 2 diabetes it's lifestyle related. So when people change the way that they eat, the way they move their bodies, decrease their stress, Type 2 diabetes should not exist in our society. And if we look around, unfortunately, it's becoming the norm. That is not a norm that I want to live in. I don't want my family, my patients to live in that norm. I think it's time we start revolutionizing that.

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

Totally. And it sounds like you had the choice of the red pill versus the blue pill opportunity with the reference of The Matrix here. And I'm trying to remember which one was which, but I think you took the red pill.

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

The red pill. We got to go in with the red pill, Travis.

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

And, of course, when doing that you have, of course, all this information that's out there. A lot of misinformation trying to get advice from health experts, family doctors, et cetera. And it's not quite there. So reversing that mentality when going into practice, like you said, and having a majority of patients with vision issues having Type 2 diabetes, what was that like trying to have that conversation with them to say, "Hey, a lot of this is lifestyle. What can we do together to make that better?" How did that go with your patients in your practice?

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

So I'm going to be completely transparent with you. I tried my best. Ophthalmology practices are volume-based and sometimes we can see upwards to 50, 80, even 100 patients a day. And there really isn't hardly any room to have a real in-depth conversation. This is something that's foundational to our health and it deserves an in-depth conversation. And so sometimes I would give the patient just a quick list of some documentaries they could watch, Forks Over Knives, What the Health, Game Changers. Sometimes I would say like, "Have you heard of The China Study by Colin Campbell?" And it would just be a minute or two where I would just touch on nutrition and say, "Nutrition has a monumental impact on your disease and can help you with your eye and all of it." But, again, in that context it was very hard to integrate that into an ophthalmology practice.

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

I could see that for sure. So what would be in a perfect world what would that practice look like if you had the opportunity, you had the time, you had that chance to explain more, or maybe dissect some of these patients' lifestyles more, what would be ideal for that scenario?

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

So what would be ideal is actually approaching a lifestyle medicine physician, and, yes, they do exist, so. Part of my research led me down the rabbit hole and at the end of the tunnel was the sign that said lifestyle medicine. And I thought, again, "What is this thing? Never heard of it. Is it even legit?" To make a long story short it is a board certified specialty, and you basically learn about nutrition, fitness, stress reduction, and decreasing substance abuse, predominantly alcohol and tobacco, and how those factors can decrease chronic disease, and, basically, allow you to live your most expansive life. So I went ahead, I took all the trainings. I became certified in lifestyle medicine. It's a growing specialty in Canada, but it's more prominent in the U.S.

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

Got it. So, basically, someone that needs to seek that out, if they're having challenges with their health, of course, and they realize, "Hey, maybe whole-food, plant-based is for me. I need to see a lifestyle medicine physician." And people like yourself are board certified and know their stuff.

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

Yeah. I mean, really, I think you need to approach a physician that is comfortable with understanding whole-food, plant-based nutrition. I got to talk quickly back to the story I told of my doctor. I appreciate her. She's done so much for me, but really unless you're keeping up with all the novel developments, and doing all the CME, and all of that stuff, I mean, she was trained decades ago, so it's just not something in her repertoire that she was able to talk on confidently. And you really need to approach the people that have the knowledge. So when they ask you, like, "If I eat too much fiber, will I get a massive bloat, or will this really decrease my cardiovascular risk, or how can I decrease my LDL so I don't get heart disease?" And like all these things, you'll just have it top-of-mind and be able to answer with clarity and confidence. And that requires some very niche and specific knowledge.

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

Totally, absolutely. Well, thank you for doing that. Obviously, your patients I'm sure thank you whether they verbalize that or not, but, of course, it is a definite need in our community and our society in Canada. And, of course, people that can access it that's awesome. I'm glad that you've done that, took the leap.

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

Took the leap. You got to do it.

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

Now understanding more of the nuances within the plant-based community because you and I are both plant-based we were talking about this the other day if you can just touch on some of your experiences, and insights into some of the experiential downsize of going into the plant-based community from someone that's not there yet.

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

Yes. I love this question. For me, the way that it unfolded was I just went to Instagram, basically, and I ended up connecting with whole-food, plant-based practitioners and influencers. And that's how I found my family. That's how I found connection within the community. Of course, it's not the same with everyone. Some people struggle to find that, but I would really look at all possible avenues. I don't know if you've got stats on the percent of people in Canada that are vegans. I think a recent one I remember I don't know if this is a Canadian stat, I think this was an international stat, or a UK stat, but it's small. It's less than 3%, or less than 2%.

You really have to find people that understand what you're going through and connect with them. To be frank, social media is, I think, the way to go because unless you know a neighbor down the street that happens to be vegan, or a family doctor that understands whole-food, plant-based nutrition that I think is a great way to go because you can access all these incredibly motivated, positive, intelligent, and just expansive individuals, and it's just a click of a button.

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

Yeah, totally. And it's about 2% of adults in the U.S. based on a Faunalytics study back in 2014 that are vegetarian, or vegan. So 2% that's pretty low.

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

That's pretty low.

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

That's a very small population.

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

Yeah.

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

Yeah, but the community does exist, and, of course, there's many resources amongst the vegan and vegetarian community, but, interestingly, just touching on that Faunalytics study, actually, there's two, one in 2014, and one in 2016, but I'm just going to read a stat here and get your insights on this. 84% of former vegetarians and vegans said they were not actively involved in one of these vegan communities whether it was on social media, or an online community of sorts. Well, obviously, they're former vegetarian and vegan. So it seems like that's a big reason why a lot of these former vegetarian and vegans left the plant-based community. And do you see that there's a gap to bridge there, or somewhere to make that better?

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

Yeah, for sure. I mean, that's a really high statistic. And, again, I don't know if that study shows the reason behind why they left. I mean, there's many reasons. I think one of them is not feeling a connection and maybe not having enough support that's key, right? Maybe not having a physician that understands you. Not having anyone in your social circle that can be like, "Hey, we know you're vegan. We're going to bring something vegan to eat at our next get-together." Always feeling socially awkward, nobody wants that, right? We already have enough issues to deal with, like who wants that as an extra thing, but I think, Travis, let's flip it around. Let's think of it in a positive way in the sense that anybody that's doing something different is they're going to have eyes on them, okay?

And any leader, look at MLK, look at the huge leaders, right? They're going to get a lot of pushback. They're going to get a lot of resistance because they're going first. Anytime you go first and you join a movement, you proclaim a viewpoint that is different from the norm you're going to get pushback. I think part of it is also showing people how to be embodied in their leadership. It's time for people that truly believe in this and that know this is what they want to do, how they want to live their life, how they want to eat to step up and say, "I'm going to show how amazing this lifestyle is no matter what."

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

100%, yeah.

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

No matter what people say. No matter the comments I get on my Instagram, the trolly comments, or whatever. No matter the family member that continues to question, why am I vegan, or asks about my iron status, or whatever it is, just keep pushing through because that's how you're going to blaze a new path. And when people see you embodied in your leadership they start to sort of, well, number one, the comments start to decrease, right? And number two, they start to think like, "Wait a second, this person is happy. They are confident. They are healthy. Maybe I want a piece of vegan pie," or whatever, right? I think the way is just to lead by example and see what happens.

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

Totally. Yeah. I think you touched on a couple really good points there. Of course, you're doing something that's against the norm. I mean, in our culture in North America eating whole-food, plant-based, obviously, is a low percentage. The majority of people don't do that. I mean, I was raised eating meat and dairy. So to switch, even with my family, it was a bit of get the weird, strange look. "What do you mean you're going vegan? You're eating only plants. What's wrong with you?" Of course, if you're going to get that, of course that feedback whether positive or negative, but it's going to be a bit of a struggle, I would say in the beginning in the transition.

And, yes, sticking out in a crowd whether it's within your social network of friends, or your family, or your coworkers, and it's not easy just to go to a restaurant order off the vegan menu. All restaurants aren't the same in that regard. It takes more planning and takes like you said, persistence, and some of that leadership mentality to say, "Hey, I'm doing something that's not the common path." And you need to be able to kind of get through those barriers of that pushback and lead by example so you can bring more along with you in a positive way.

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

Yeah, I totally agree. And I love how you touched on planning. Actually, that just sort of crossed my mind as you were speaking is part of it is just planning out your answers. So when you're journaling, or when you're meditating, or you have that 10 minutes to yourself, just sit down and either think back to the questions that really triggered you that really pissed you off, or really made you freeze in your tracks where you didn't know how to respond. Start writing those questions down in your journal and come up with one to two lines. You're not going to go on a whole spiel, but you want one to two lines that will be delivered very clearly, and very confidently to whoever you're speaking to. If health is your primary reason just put it out there. "I've lost 20 pounds. My cholesterol is better than ever, and I feel fitter than ever. That's why this is the lifestyle for me. Do you want to learn more?" Right?

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

Totally.

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

So that's something that I also encourage patients and women that I work with to do because when you have that clarity in your own mind it's a lot easier to communicate with others.

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

That makes sense. I mean, it's funny you say that because when I first went vegan it was I do it for health reasons, but it seemed like a generic kind of response. So I think my feedback I had from my friends and family when they heard that was like, "Well, you're healthy. What's wrong with you?" Kind of thing. So I think that the more specific, like you said, having that kind of written down, or kind of rehearsed just so that you feel comfortable explaining that to people, and if it aligns with your values, and it's important to you anyone that cares about you is going to, of course, understand and support you, at least they should. And if they don't then maybe reconsider that relationship because, of course, it's not supporting you with your values and what's important to you. And you did mention that in brief. I'm just going to touch on that again. You mentioned that you work with a lot of female clients, or did I mistake that?

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

Yeah, no, that's correct. When I first started, I'm getting out on Instagram about a year and a half ago, I was doing a lot of the sort of lifestyle medicine, posting recipes, posting infographics. And that was really helpful for my audience and my own journey, but now this year I've sort of stepped into a new sphere, and really my mission has ignited and it's centered around women and women's empowerment. And I firmly believe that our health is absolutely foundational to our success in all areas of life. So when you are strong and fit in your body and you're feeding your cells with the nourishment that it needs, you will see that spill over into all other areas of your life. You'll be able to communicate better in your relationships. You'll be able to have clarity around what you want to do in your life. You'll be able to step into your leadership. This year I'm focusing on women and really feminine leadership based on a foundation of health and lifestyle.

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

Yeah, that's huge. I mean, that's so important, especially, within a plant-based community, too, because in my experience most of my vegan friends and people I follow on Instagram, et cetera, that are vegan they're predominantly female. And, of course, in this day and age, we still have a lot of racism and sexism. And, of course, female empowerment is huge. So to blend that together in the plant-based community, or beyond is so important. And in my experience, too, working with females as patients that like I said being plant-based, there are some more unique needs in certain circumstances whether they're trying to get pregnant, or lactating, or raising kids, and just trying to age healthily, so I think that goes so well together. Do you mind just sharing a story working with female empowerment female leadership with your clients?

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

For sure. And thanks for touching on sort of that what women go through separate from men. I mean, each of us, obviously, has our own needs and timeframes in our life, but as women we are expected to raise a family, have a career, be a spouse. There's a lot of things going on. We have menstrual cycles, obviously. We go through menopause, all these things that men don't experience. And so there definitely needs to be a unique perspective towards females, but I think part and parcel of becoming healthy is why do we become healthy? So this is something that I was speaking to one of my women last year at the tail end of last year. I was like, "Why are you doing this?"

And she was like, "Well, I want to lose 25 pounds. And I want to get rid of the processed vegan junk food that I'm eating." And that was great. I love that objective. We ran with it. Within two weeks she lost 10 pounds already. We kept going, we lost the weight. So those are sort of metrics. Those are more objective things that people think of, but when we got towards sort of the tail end of that, I asked her, why do you really want to be healthy? Health is not an end in of itself. This is what I tell the women I work with too. Health is a means to an end. It's a vehicle for us to do whatever we're put on this planet to do. So what's that thing that you need to do before your lap in this lifetime is over? And so that sort of opens up the door to larger conversations.

And for many women that are just so busy, they're stressed, you don't have time to think about that, but when you get your lifestyle in order you become strong. You have clarity and you have time to actually think about the bigger picture, the bigger questions. And so that's what I'm all about. I'm all about the bigger questions and how can we craft your legacy? If there's only one thing that you can leave for humanity before your time here is over what is that one thing, and how are we going to accomplish that? And so that's where the shift has been in some of the offerings that I have out and how I lead the women, but first we do the foundational work. And once that's in place, it's like a pyramid, right? Once the nutrition, the fitness, the sleep, the mindset, once that's in place, we get to the pinnacle of the triangle. And the pinnacle is like, why did God, universe, source put you here? And that's a big question we got to answer.

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

Yes, that's very true. And I love that explanation of that health is a vehicle to achieve those other bigger items in life. Not necessarily the end point, which is, I think what a lot of people do, they chase that, hey, I'm going to go to the gym. I'm going to eat this way so I can become healthy, not be healthy and stay healthy to be able to move onto the bigger, more important things, so that's a very interesting perspective and very appropriate, too.

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

And on one last thing before we leave that question is like, when we chase those objective metrics and there's nothing wrong with that, right? We want to fit into that dress. We want to see the numbers on the scale. We want our LDL to be a certain level. That's great, but that's not going to be sustainable in the long run if you only want to hit that metric because over time you're going to be faced with stressors, with changes in your life, with things that are going to try to knock the wind out of you, so to speak, right? And then you're either going to slide back into your old habit, take the easier route, or whatever, and that metric might disappear.

The question is how to keep that metric stable for the long run and add other metrics on top and add other? And that involves sustainability and consistency. And to be honest, the only way you can do it is if you put a huge mission out there, and you just blaze a path towards that mission like there's nothing stopping you and you'll do anything that it takes to get your health in order so that you can accomplish that mission.

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

Definitely. Yeah. I love that. And I think a lot of times, I mean, I'm relating to this, but a lot of times is the mental block of trying to clarify what that goal line is, or what that mission is then you can see the path that's already there by just kind of pushing the leaves aside, if you will, and then like you said, "Blaze a path, sprint down, get as far as you can." Right? That's awesome. I'm just curious with yourself and your patients is there a plant-based health tip that you swear by?

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

Oh, my goodness, that's a hard one. I think if there was one motto, or one tip that I swear by it is to nourish yourself with as many whole-foods as you possibly can, and to decrease the processed foods. And I know that's hard because we're all busy and we just want to reach for that processed food, those crackers, whatever, but if you can minimize that to the lowest degree the processed foods and just focus on the whole-foods. Just choose berries, choose whole fruits over processed foods, or instead of chips go for seaweed snacks. Yes, they're salty. Yes, they have a bit of oil, but they're better than chips, right? Go for nuts. They've shown that just a handful of nuts decreases your risk of chronic disease, especially, cardiovascular disease.

So if we can make these mental shifts and just think whole-foods as best as you can. Obviously, there might be times when that's not possible, but stock your pantry, plan for it like we talked about, get the whole-foods in and start loving those berries because I don't know about you, Travis, but if I don't have my berries every day I'm freaking out. I'm like, "Where are my blueberries at?" There's something about those berries that I crave. I don't know if it's the anthocyanins, or what's in those berries, but.

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

I have mine too. For me, it's berries and greens. If I don't have my daily dose of greens, berries, and actually nuts and seeds, then I'm like, "Okay, I can't think straight. I got to find that source. I got to do that." Right when I get home is find my berries, or whatever it might be.

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

Yes, totally.

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

Totally. So I hear you. I like that, too, is planning because if let's say for me I commute to work. When I'm there I'm not easily going to be able to run home and grab my berries, or nuts, or what have you. So if I don't plan my meals for the day when I'm at work I'm hooped. I'm based at the whim of either not eating, or going to some fast food, or trying to make some time to go to the grocery store, but usually just ends up being not eating. So I like that idea to have planning and then you're not going to just reach for what's easy to grab in the cupboard whether it's processed food, or not the healthy option, right?

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

Yeah, I love that. And when it comes to willpower studies have shown that really we have none. What else can I say?

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

It's sad, but true, yes.

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

How else can I say it, right? I've noticed for myself when I have the quick processed foods around they'll be gone in a flash because it's just so easy.

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

It's too convenient, yeah.

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

Right. So my rule is just don't buy it. I know if I've bought it it's like I can just splash a label over it saying eaten already. If I buy a bag of chips it's literally eaten because I know that within 24 hours I'll eat the entire bag, right? So for me it kind of stops at the grocery store and that's what I teach my women too. And the patients I work with is like, "If you bought it, you're probably going to eat it."

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

Totally. So that was a health tip for plant-based eating, but what about for one that wants to let's say, like you said your ideal client is a female in feminine leadership, feminine empowerment. What would be one tip for a female trying to go blaze that path to expand their consciousness, or their mission with the goals they're trying to achieve in life?

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

Wow. That's a huge question. I don't know if there is one path. I mean, certainly there isn't. I think if I look back at the women I've worked with and look at my own experience it's just to be persistent, and never give up because really this life is just a beautiful journey, and we're going to have peaks and we're going to have valleys. And there's going to be times when it's really dark and crappy and we don't know how we're going to get up. And there's going be times when we're elated and we're having the best month, or the best year of our life. And just to really accept all of it. If we can accept the duality of life, if we can be on that peak exhilarated, and accept that just as much as we can that feeling of sadness in the valley, I think that's where the beauty lies and just feel all your feelings and be with them.

Journal, meditate, walks in nature. Do the things that just make you feel most alive. I think if there's one thing you can do is just constantly follow the little breadcrumbs that are leading you to that amazing alive place. And you know what it is because you know the things that make you feel dead inside, right? We've all been there. Whether it's your nine to five and you're sitting there, or it's the traffic that you're sitting through for an hour, find the things that do not make you feel alive and start to shy away from them. And when you feel something that makes you feel alive, feel it fully, get into the gratitude of it, and keep following that path, and bring more and more of that into your life.

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

Wow. That I think nailed it. That sounds perfect. And I like that, too, staying persistent and just accepting like you said the duality of the good and the bad because you can't resist, you can't avoid the bad. You can't always be experiencing sunshine, rainbows, and smiles, so that's really helpful. Thank you. I guess what would be your advice you'd tell someone when they're just starting that transition into a plant-based lifestyle, and not necessarily a tip, but just what would be the quick advice for when they're just embarking on that journey?

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

I think if you're just starting is educate yourself because the more that you read about plant-based nutrition, the more recipes you Google, the more people you talk to that's where you'll start to get that confidence. And just start small. Honestly, even if you're like, "Oh, I want to go plant-based, but I'm terrified." Start with one day. Can you do meatless Mondays? Just try one and then start small, right? Let's say you like beef bolognese. Well, let's just try lentil. Let's do a substitution. You can Google a vegan bolognese. Oh, okay. You use lentils for that. Great, let me try that. Ooh, mushrooms, chopped walnuts. Let's try that instead of the beef. Once a week, oh, my gosh, that is totally doable. It is amazing. And then reward yourself because the book Atomic Habits, they show that when you pair your habit with a reward that kind of gives your brain that dopamine hit and allows you to continually build that habit.

So after that meatless Mondays be like, I get 30 minutes to hang out with my husband, or my wife, or my spouse on the couch and we just get to chill, or whatever it is for you. I'm giving myself an hour bubble bath, and no kids around like kids are gone, we're going to do candles. We're going to do crystals, incense, all the things. Start small and just reward yourself along the way. And you're going to be amazed at how far you can go because what we do in a week or a month, it might not seem like a lot, but when we look back at the end of the year and make a list of all the goals we hit, all the things we did you look back and be like, "Holy smokes. I made massive gains this year." And each year it will amplify and amplify and amplify.

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

Just before we wrap up, I'm hoping you can share an inspirational quote with our listeners.

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

Oh, I'd love to. So one of my favorite quotes and thank you for bringing this up because I hadn't thought about this for a while is a Gandhi quote. The quote goes like this. Live as if you're going to die tomorrow, but learn as if you will live forever. I just love that because it speaks to every day that we wake up we get another chance. And if there's nothing that you can be grateful for when you wake up in the morning and you have to say your little gratitude, just say, "Thank you that I woke up today" because not everyone will.

So let's just live big every day and keep learning, keep growing, keep expanding. It's all about self-growth because that's where you're going to find the magic. That's where you're going to find your mission. And you really want to live a life that is rooted in a legacy. When I work with women, I tell them you're now 95, or if you're plant-based maybe you're 105. I don't know. You're sitting by the fire in a rocking chair and you're thinking back on your life and what would you be really, really sad about if you didn't do in this life? Think about that. And when you have that idea go out and do it today because we don't know how long we have, so just live it all and live your biggest.

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

So true. That's so incredibly insightful. Thank you for sharing that. And thanks for being on the podcast today. I really appreciate you joining us.

Dr. Silvia Odorcic (guest):

Thank you, Dr. Travis. This has been so much fun and I really, I appreciate all the work that you do. You have amazing evidence-based nutrition and you're doing such important work around this movement in this community, so I want to thank you.

Dr. Travis Cox (host):

Well, my pleasure. Thank you.