Special guests Paul Chatlin & Lisa Smith discuss how their organization Plant Based Nutrition Support Group offers communities to anyone looking to use a plant-based diet to treat their chronic diseases.
Questions Answered
- (00:33) – Introducing the Plant Based Nutrition Support Group.
- (02:25) – What is the origin story for PBNSG?
- (07:26) – How would someone get started with PBNSG?
- (10:04) – Regarding PBNSG, do you have physicians that you work with as well or is this totally separated?
- (11:46) – Who is Michael Smith?
- (13:00) – Can you tell me a little bit about your monthly gatherings?
- (15:26) – Do you have specific reach out or specific challenges involving different ethnic communities?
- (17:38) – Lisa, can you tell us about “The Black Health Academy”?
- (19:55) – So do either of you have stories you'd like to share?
- (25:41) – Regarding PBNSG, tell me a little bit about the local community support. Are you getting paired up with a mentor?
- (28:53) – What are your thoughts on the 60-day plant-based challenge?
- (34:31) – Lisa, there was a question for you asking if you were also a physician or what your history or your background was?
- (35:01) – Lisa, how did you get plant based? What was your story that moved you that direction?
- (37:53) – Where can people find you?
Complete Transcript
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(00:03)
So welcome everybody. Thanks Chris, for welcoming everyone. And thank you for joining us. We are live with some very special guests today. So we have our regular plant based crew, including Dr. Scheuer… Oh my goodness, Scheuer. Oh my goodness, Dr. Miller. I need to eat something. Dr. Fontaine and Dr. Klaper. Fantastic. But we have special guest from PBNSG, Paul Chatlin and Lisa. So thank you for joining us.
Paul Chatlin
(00:31)
Thanks for having us.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(00:33)
Excellent. And so we're going to try a different. Usually we have the speaker view, but we're going to try the Brady Bunch view today. We're missing a couple, but we'd really love to hear about PBNSG, what it has to offer and what it's about, your story. Just share with us, please, this exciting potential for support for lots of people.
Paul Chatlin
(00:57)
Lisa, you're on. Yeah, there we go. Why don't you kick it off?
Lisa A. Smith
(01:02)
Yeah, sure. So at PBNSG, which stands for the Plant Based Nutrition Support Group based out of Michigan. We're a nonprofit organization where our mission is to use evidence based data and research to help individuals reverse or prevent chronic health challenges using a whole food, plant-based, no oil diet. So it was founded by Paul Chatlin who's on today with me. I am the executive director, Lisa A. Smith, and we are a membership based organization where our mission is to educate our members on how to adopt a whole food, plant-based, no oil diet, in addition to giving them resources to help maintain that lifestyle at a high level and help them with the transition and the social consequences of doing so.
Lisa A. Smith
(01:46)
So we are so happy to be on Plant Based TeleHealth today, and to answer any questions you may have about utilizing our resources that we have at PBNSG. We are really focused on community. So one of our golden stars is that we have what's called community support groups, where people can join virtually from anywhere in the world, specialized support groups that focus on specialized topics such as heart disease or type two diabetes. And so we have monthly specialized support groups for our members where they can get the support they need with eradicating these chronic health challenges. So thank you for having us today at Plant Based TeleHealth.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(02:25)
Thank you. And Paul, you want to give us your origin story of how you even decided to get this all started.
Paul Chatlin
(02:33)
Well, you guys got a couple hours? Here we go.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(02:36)
How about the Reader's Digest version?
Paul Chatlin
(02:38)
All right. Well, really simply, about nine years ago. Oh my God, nine years ago and this is a short version. I woke up, could not take seven steps. Could not walk seven steps without severe chest pain. Went to my doctor, heard a heart murmur. Sends me over to a cardiologist locally. He does all the tests, heart catheter, heart biopsy. Comes back with all the years of experience. He says, “You probably need immediate bypass surgery or a heart transplant. I'm sorry to tell you.” But he scheduled a heart catheter for me. A couple weeks later, I'm driving home. I stopped and talked to my wife who didn't know anything about this because I didn't want to worry her. And after the tears were flowing, her boss walks in and says, “Hold on.”
Paul Chatlin
(03:22)
Turns out he was able to get me into the Cleveland Clinic the day before all the tests were locally. There, they discovered that I had a 100% block in my right artery, did not need a heart transplant. And here I am on a gurney getting wheeled in for surgery and the doctor gives me a miracle. He says, “Hey, would you consider a nutrition change and maybe you don't need the surgery today. I've only done this to one other patient in 20 years. I think you might be the right person.” I said, “Well, yeah.” Every person in my family in the age of 50 died of heart disease. So I was in my 50s. I said, “I'll do anything.” By the way, eight years ago, nine years ago, I didn't know what nutrition was, I didn't know what plant based was, very few people did.
Paul Chatlin
(04:03)
So immediately, he picks up a phone. He connects me up to Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn. I go home. The next morning, we spend an hour on the phone. That was last time I ate meat, dairy and oil, but the good news here is here I am nine years later and I have lost about 80 pounds, cholesterol's under 70. I know, unbelievable. LDL under 40. I feel great every single day and my recovery is phenomenal. So when I was on that gurney like many of us, I said, “I'm going to give something back.” I made that promise off and on my whole life when I was a bad boy, but this time I really meant it.
Paul Chatlin
(04:41)
So this time, I decided to maybe get a pay code with Blue Cross Blue Shield for a cooking class. They denied it, said I had to work with the legislature. Then I thought, “Well, Maybe I'll just have a little meeting at my house.” Long story short. It kept growing, growing, growing. And today we have about 10,000 emails. We started a membership. I think what I'm so very proud of is the fact that as Lisa said, we are a community organization for support. And about a year and a half ago, when COVID hit, we were just rolling. We had some 60 small groups all over the state, outside of the state, we were growing and we wanted to make sure that we set the bar as high as we could and then held people's hand along their journey. But with COVID, we had to stop. We did it in February before everybody else did, because our members are in their sixties and older.
Paul Chatlin
(05:37)
So we stopped our meetings. So we went virtual. And what I love about the new model is before, it was people meeting at people's houses. And let's say that there wasn't a lot of science, but there was a lot of great whole food, plant based, no oil food. So yes, I would go to all those meetings. It was great. However, now we're vertically marketed. So if you've got as Lisa said, type two diabetes, it could be obesity, you name the health issue and we've got a host that we vet out whose at the top of understanding, a doctor or professional, and we will help you and you'll be with like-minded people. We also have a whole bunch of culinary classes with all the culinary giants that you've ever heard of. And also we do once a month, community groups for the world. So we're very, very excited to be on this call today and thanks for having us.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(06:28)
Oh, this is exciting. So do any of our amazing docs have any questions for Paul or Lisa? All right, Dr. K, you said something?
Dr. Michael Klaper
(06:39)
Yeah. I'm reminded John Denver wrote a song called What One Man Can Do. And boy, here's the manifestation of one pure heart and really motivated man is influencing so many people around the world. It's just great, Paul. It's good. It's wonderful what you're doing. Thank you.
Paul Chatlin
(06:59)
Thank you for those kind words. I'll just say this. To this day, my little mind keeps saying this, “It was just the food.” I still can't believe it was just me changing what I ate for me to feel great. And then the next best thing that happened was I met Lisa and she has helped me in many different ways and has helped this organization grow. I'm a very lucky man, Michael, I'm very, very blessed.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(07:26)
Awesome. And so then how would someone get started or what would be the entry point and could they expect? What would you people to do?
Paul Chatlin
(07:37)
Well, great question. First of all, Lisa mentioned that we have I think some 14 to 18 hosts for different health issues. By the way, I want to expand a little bit. We have single parent support, we have people who are working, we have young doctors. So if you think of something, we'll find a host and we'll support you. So whatever issues you have or concerns, we will support you. And I am a host of something called Getting It Started. So great question. So basically, if let's say we go to Telehealth, they say, “Listen, we need to make some lifestyle changes”. We connect them with Plant Based Nutrition Support Group and you could find us at www. P as in Paul, me, B-N-S-G. PBNSG.org.
Paul Chatlin
(08:26)
And all we're asking people for our membership is $20 a month, that's it, just $20 and you could go to everything we have. All our speakers. By the way, here's a little secret. We've got both John McDougall and you're ready? Dean Ornish coming in January. So we're still getting our big speaker events. And yes, I'm looking at each one of you and we will be contacting you separately for a speaking event. So we have our speakers, we have a call. So you can for $20 a month, come to everything we've got. We've got five or six activities every single month, but you could check the box that you want. So if you're brand new at this, you could join me and we will just talk and I'll walk you through exactly what you need to do starting with label reading.
Paul Chatlin
(09:14)
It is truly amazing when I label read for the first time, I was shocked at how much oil is in everything we eat. I couldn't believe it. But you know what? As I reflect back everybody, the one thing I have to just say that maybe I wish I would've dove a little deeper in is the psychological side, because here we are eight, nine years later and it's gotten bigger but it's not that accessible. So you have to be ready mentally for this change because I'm not traveling like I used to, I don't go out like I use. That makes me sad sometimes, but I feel great every single day and I got a permanent smile.
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(10:01)
Can I ask a question?
Paul Chatlin
(10:02)
Yeah.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(10:02)
Yes, please.
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(10:04)
So I was wondering, it's totally amazing what I hear. It's amazing that we can have so many beautiful organization all over the country during the amazing work. So here we are with a group of physicians, I wonder in your organization, this physician referred to you, do you have physicians that you work with as well or is this totally separated?
Paul Chatlin
(10:31)
Lisa, you want this? I could take it, whatever.
Lisa A. Smith
(10:36)
We have, yeah. We have several community partners and we have ask the doctor. So on our board of directors, we have physicians who hops in into our monthly community meetings, our virtual community meetings and asks questions for our members. Then of course, we bring in a lot of these doctors as well to do speaking events. They are also to a project we have in the works, which is PBNSG U, which is our online education platform as well. So we have several physicians who'll be teaching modules in that program as well. And then we have some other community partners as well, for example, like Rochester Lifestyle Medicine out of New York, who we do specialty events with as well.
Paul Chatlin
(11:18)
And we also have ask the nutritionists. So that's another piece that we're doing. And the thing is that for us, where we're connected with you is during the day people will say, “Hey, I need to talk to a doctor.” Well, our doctors who are usually at night after they're done working. If somebody needs something right away, well, now we have you. So it's a beautiful thing.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(11:46)
It is a beautiful thing. And someone mentioned that Michael Smith, The Heart Healthy guy is talking today at 6:30 Eastern Time. Tell us a little bit about Michael Smith so someone who wants to see that and can join today and maybe tune in. Who Michael Smith is.
Paul Chatlin
(12:09)
I'm not sure.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(12:09)
Okay.
Paul Chatlin
(12:10)
I would say that between Lisa and I, we know-
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(12:12)
Everyone.
Paul Chatlin
(12:13)
Everybody's name. I'm not sure Michael Smith is talking, but somewhere.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(12:19)
Because he goes, “I am him.” Okay I don't know-
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(12:21)
Oh, that's him.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(12:26)
But regardless, so tell us, is there anything… Sorry, I'm watching Facebook comments. If you guys have any questions for Paul or Lisa, or maybe you have a special need and see if they can support you in that way. Feel free at the Facebook page on the Plant Based TeleHealth Facebook page. So please put that in the comments section, I'll be happy to look for there. And then I'm looking at different questions. If I seem to be a little bit scattered, that's why. But as far as other speakers, I know, is it Dr. Bernard's coming soon and all those type of things. So do you have a large gathering monthly or weekly, and then you have these smaller Facebook groups. Can you tell me a little bit about.
Paul Chatlin
(13:10)
Yeah. What we do is every month, we're going to have multiple speakers, multiple culinary events and a global support group along with each month, if let's say you need to want to be part of a cardiac group or an obesity group or a gut bio group, that would be something that you could attend. So literally, there's six to seven events every single month, and we've lined up our speakers all the way through most of 2022. And if you have heard of these speakers, we have them because for us, it was always tough because we'd fly people in, we'd house them. We'd always take them to a couple medical schools to talk to the young docs and then they speak. So before you notice, three, four days out of their lives, where now, all I got to say is I took seven and a half years to get Dean Ornish to come and it took COVID for him to say yes or something like that. He is going to be joining. So I think that whatever issues you have, we are here to support you along your journey.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(14:23)
Awesome.
Dr. Kim Scheuer
(14:24)
I have a question. I was wondering if you have different languages for people who are Spanish speaking or deaf or French speaking or other languages from around the world.
Paul Chatlin
(14:39)
That's a great one. When we were live, we did have sign language people at every single event. But virtual right now, Lisa, I don't think we do at this point.
Lisa A. Smith
(14:51)
No.
Paul Chatlin
(14:51)
And listen, I'm not here to plead poverty here, but boy, this is tough times and every time we add an app of sorts, there's a cost to it. I said early on, we're here not to thrive today. We're here to survive. We want to get through this issue and maybe with your help and your connections, we got to get our membership model to 400 and we're almost halfway there in a short amount of time. But until then, we have to be frugal.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(15:25)
Absolutely.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(15:26)
Do you have specific reach out or specific challenges involving different ethnic communities, Hispanic and African-American and Asian. Are the folks who are participating buying in? Are they mostly Caucasian folks or are they making any effort to each various groups there? Lisa probably has some perspective.
Lisa A. Smith
(15:48)
Yeah. The majority of our community is Caucasian, but my personal passion is communities of color, my own personal company that I started, The Black Health Academy over three years ago. We do have some working relationships with PBNSG and some things that we offer to marginalized communities through PBNSG and through my company. So, it's a dual partnership. For example, with Rochester Lifestyle Medicine, where they recently gave our grant to their 15 day jump start program, where we offer that to our PB NSG community and my members at The Black Health Academy, for example. And so we use those relationships and like I said, particularly in my work in my private companies, I work heavily with marginalized communities and I'm constantly introducing them to the work we're doing at PBNSG.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(16:34)
That's wonderful. Good for you. That's great.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(16:39)
So Christie also reached out, she says Spectrum Health Lifestyle Medicine in Grand Rapids, Michigan has three board certified plant-based physicians at our medical practice. We are seeing patients all over the state of Michigan and helping them to improve their health through plant nutrition. I would love to connect with Plant Based TeleHealth docs and reconnect with PBNSG. So Christie, I will send you my email here in a second and feel free, and then I can connect everybody. So that's fantastic. We are all about connections and network.
Paul Chatlin
(17:09)
Yeah. I actually gave a talk maybe three years ago at Spectrum Health and I may have met her at that time, but that is wonderful to have. As you said, we just got to keep on making good connections, the right connections. And one thing I could say, and Lisa is with me on this, is that there's a lot of people who knock on the doors, but we only are going to let a few in because they have to be aligned with our vision as you are with us and we are with you.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(17:38)
Yes. Great. Awesome. And then Lisa, could you tell us more about your work too. You started the program three years ago and what you would like to see or maybe who would be interested in joining, how can they do that? Where can they find you?
Lisa A. Smith
(17:54)
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you, Laurie. So my company is called The Black Health Academy and our mission is to eradicate the most common chronic health challenges which disproportionately impact people of color. So I have over 1,500 members. It is a digital education platform that houses over 90 master classes on specific conditions that impact the black community. So type two diabetes, fibroids, hypertension, heart disease, right? And what happens is the membership platform with our master classes is complimentary to the community. I also teach a monthly first Saturday a class called Get Planted, An Introduction To A Whole Food Plant-Based Lifestyle that is a 100% virtual that I've been teaching for three years now this July. And they come on every first Saturday of the month, I lecture for a couple hours about this topic, and we begin to integrate them into the plant-based lifestyle.
Lisa A. Smith
(18:45)
And then when they're ready to take it to the next level, we have two signature programs, one called Farm To Table, which is a 10 week program. And then I just released my own plant-based certification where we're certifying individuals in plant-based nutrition and high level coaching techniques, which is a year long program. And I travel all around teaching this content as well, but because of COVID, obviously we went a 100% virtual, which has been great. So we get people from all over the world every month coming to the first Saturday classes and enrolling it into the free online platform and then joining our “Farm To Table” program.
Lisa A. Smith
(19:19)
So anyone, any physicians or organizations who works with communities, primary communities of color or you have a segment of the people you serve who would like to be a part of a program with representation and people who look like them and they feel like it's relatable, which we know is really important in the health space. We will welcome. I will welcome the conversation with partnerships and alliances, and I of course welcome members as well. And so that website will be www.theblackhealthacademy.com.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(19:48)
Awesome. Thanks for sharing. That's fantastic.
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(19:51)
Can we applaud you? That's just amazing.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(19:51)
That's really awesome.
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(19:53)
Whoa, amazing work.
Lisa A. Smith
(19:54)
Thank you. Excellent.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(19:55)
Way cool, very cool. So do either of you have stories you like to share, people who've joined or new and maybe seen some transformations or some things, just maybe some stories that someone might be able to relate to or be encouraged by or inspired by.
Paul Chatlin
(20:12)
I don't have a specific one, but I would just say, people say, “Well, what motivates you?” And as an organization, as I look back, we had the medical school of Wayne State come to us and say, “Create a curriculum and we want to add it onto our platform.” Because they were doing a curriculum change. So, I took 14 first and second year medical students, it took us 14 months. It got vetted by Dr. Klaper and Brenda Davis, we presented it and they could not put it on the curriculum. They just politically couldn't do it. I fast forward. General Motors called us and said, “Our older retirees are really sick. Can you help us get them healthier?” So we then did something I don't think he's ever done. We got Dr. Bernard with Dr. Furman working together with us. Oh, hold on, it's just the earthquake. And we all realized that this could be that moment where we become a little more mainstream.
Paul Chatlin
(21:18)
So we put the program together, we presented it at the highest level. And again, they could not politically agree to it. So Beaumont Hospital and I'm just calling out names because it's the truth. I spent a year and a half going to 16 locations, eight of them twice for them just to make a one no oil dish at their cafeterias and again, politically, they couldn't do it. So on one hand it was really frustrating. So, both Lisa and I had many conversations and we said, “Listen, what can we control?” And so that's why we're doing what we're doing. But what motivates me is not the individual story. But as I look back over nine years, people have come to me and said, “Thank you. Thank you for saving my life and making me happy.” And to me, I know how tough this is. Here I am, nine years later, it's still tough. I still get tempted on certain moments. It goes away quick, but I get tempted.
Paul Chatlin
(22:21)
But what I love about it is my family, my friends, people who are part of PBNSG, they understand, they're aware. So now they can spread that awareness to others. They may not be like me or would want to be, but they're aware. So as long as we keep on spreading that awareness, there's hope.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(22:43)
Awesome. How about you, Lisa?
Lisa A. Smith
(22:46)
Yeah. Success stories.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(22:48)
Yeah.
Lisa A. Smith
(22:48)
Okay, yeah. I have plenty. One of my favorites is my own personal assistant. So, at our signature program, farm to table, I don't allow anyone to work for me who hasn't been through the program. So, I have a team of four staff and then five, including me. And so, they've all been through my program and my assistant Kelly, we reversed her type two diabetes completely off of all meds, got her A1C down. That's amazing and now she was so excited. She wanted to work for the brand. Then in this last semester, I teach the program three times a year. So in our spring semester, we had one woman who was 74 years old, dropped over 20 pounds, got all of her numbers down, cholesterol, blood pressure. And now off of medications, she was afraid of taking one medication because they had just went up and it was now going to cost her 3K a month.
Lisa A. Smith
(23:42)
And then in winter semester, another one of our students got off about four medications, one of which she had been on for 15 years just going through our curriculum at farm to table in The Black Health Academy. And another woman, we put breast cancer in remission. It goes on and on. And this is things all of you guys know just getting them to implement. But the thing that I feel like we've mastered at the academy is maintaining the results and the lifestyle after getting out of a structured program. So, we have a huge alumni community. My alumni community manager, Michelle, she went through the program last year and now she manages our alumni community. We have 100s of alumni. And so that's the part where I think we really shine because we know sometimes once that structure leaves, it can be difficult to track progress and make sure numbers stay down and medications stay away.
Lisa A. Smith
(24:36)
So yeah, we've had wonderful results and especially even with mental health, right? Individuals come through the program and we've had depression, anxiety lifted. So the stories are amazing. And everyone doesn't take Farm To Table. We charge for “Farm To Table” but when I do the first Saturday class, which is always complimentary, just people who are inside the academy for free, they've been coming to the class, following me for two years and they're off of sugar and off of dairy and all of those things and the small aches and pains. Everything doesn't have to be a disease or a diagnosis, right? Just the daily discomforts. We are eradicating those as well. So we see life expectancy increase because we track them in the beginning and track them at the end and we have this detailed health assessment that we do. So it's the most rewarding work I've ever done and feels really good to do it for my community, who as we see with the pandemic, typically suffers the most and the harshest when things like this comes up. So it's been rewarding.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(25:37)
That is so cool. Awesome.
Dr. Niki Davis
(25:39)
I've got a question.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(25:40)
Yes, Niki.
Dr. Niki Davis
(25:41)
So, with the support group, so the PBNSG. If I say it enough times, I'll get used to it. PBNSG. So it sounds like it's the support group. If you join this membership, the $20 a month, you get access to all these amazing speakers and all this content. Tell me a little bit about the local community support. Are you getting paired up with someone to be almost like a mentor and then are you able to meet with local people who are eating the same way?
Lisa A. Smith
(26:21)
Yeah. So that used to be our model, Dr. Niki, prior to the pandemic. So, prior to the pandemic, I think we had upwards of 40 plus local community support groups where individuals met in person in their community. That's actually how I came into PBNSG. I was actually the support group host for the City of Detroit. And so every month we would meet at the Detroit Public Main Library and people from the local community come in and we talk and support them in their journey to a plant-based diet. Now, since the pandemic and we're a 100% virtual, our support groups are virtual as well. So they're no longer geographically based and they're based on the pain points that people are struggling with.
Lisa A. Smith
(26:59)
So they come to virtual support groups ever every month. So if you are like, “I want to use a whole food plant based diet to eradicate type two diabetes.” You join our type two diabetes support group. So we no longer have. We used to have food at some of the support groups and everything you mentioned, but obviously for safety reasons and all of that, we're a 100% virtual now. But like I said, they're topic specific. So that's the way we were able to still streamline and get more targeted and make sure we're targeting and not just generic at every support group. When you join the membership, you get those specialized support groups is what we call them. But we do have a come one, come all support group every second Thursday of the month. So actually tonight, that is for anyone that's not targeted at a specific topic and that's the one that Michael Smith is speaking at this evening. So that one is open to the public and you do not have to be a paid member to join.
Dr. Niki Davis
(27:55)
Okay. Very good. Thank you.
Paul Chatlin
(27:58)
I'll just add something to that as well, if you don't mind, which is we had so many local support groups. So when we decided it to make it where your pain points are, these hosts would call Lisa and I and go, “What are we going to do? We don't have your support.” And I said, “Well wait, you were able to bring in 10 to 30 people in your community. They're still your friends. You could just have them over. You didn't even know these people existed until we created PBNSG small groups, but now they're your best buddies and your friends.” So now, there's a whole bunch of these groups that are still meeting and talking. It's just that because of the pandemic, we have to be really careful. Really, really careful. But yeah. [crosstalk 00:28:46].
Lisa A. Smith
(28:46)
Yeah.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(28:48)
Paul, I'm curious.
Paul Chatlin
(28:49)
I want to ask you guys a question. May I? Can I ask you guys a question?
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(28:52)
Sure.
Dr. Niki Davis
(28:52)
Of course.
Paul Chatlin
(28:53)
All the docs, here we go. So here's something that's been burning on me. All right. I've always seen the 14 day jumpstart, 15, 21, all that stuff and I love it because it's an introduction for people to eat healthier immediately and see some good results. But not being a doctor, so that of course means I have an excuse not to know that much is I've always thought 60 days was a magical.
Paul Chatlin
(29:19)
I always thought that if you get tested and you go 60 days because I always think that you could do almost anything for 60 days and they get tested on the back end and go whole food plant based. Those people like me who hated vegetables, all of a sudden, “Wow, my taste buds changed.” And the results after 60 days for me, it was 25 pounds lost. My numbers dropped like crazy and my taste buds changed. Because I went through a couple of the 14 and 21 days, and it seemed like when they got to the 13th or the 20th day, people were talking about what they're going to have the next day that wasn't plant based. So, I'm just wondered what your guys thoughts are because I've always thought that would be my suggestion to people.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(30:05)
Chris?
Dr. Chris Miller
(30:06)
I would say that's a wonderful comment, Paul and a very good observation. And I agree with you, the longer you can get people doing something, the more results you're going to get. Your taste buds are going to change. You're going to get, you're going to be developing habits. And that's really what it's all about when you surround yourself with this new lifestyle, these new foods and that becomes who you are and the longer you can do it, the better. I think the reason that everybody's made these shorter programs is because there are people who are scared to commit to 60 days. That seems intimidating, that's a long time and they're just not going to do it. And so if that means we're going to lose those people, well then gosh, let's just do it shorter. Let's get everyone involved and hopefully in that short time, they'll start to feel better, start to have energy, start to make connections and want to keep going.
Dr. Chris Miller
(30:54)
So, for every person that you're losing that's going to go back to their old eating habits after day 15, hopefully you're grabbing a lot more people in that short time and getting them to continue longer. But you're right, optimally, you would do it longer. I agree with you on that when it's feasible for people.
Dr. Kim Scheuer
(31:17)
I agree a 100% with what Dr. Miller said, but there are some people that do want to do it really quick. So you can always do, well, do a 15 day jumpstart, then do it again and then do it again. But I think Lisa had the thing to say is the maintenance of it to be there afterwards to when, “Okay, so I've done really well for 15 days or I've done well for two months or three months, but then it's the holidays and I slide back because I'm with my family.” But having what you guys offer, the continued support is fantastic. So, I think there's lots of different ways to go at it and the longer you're in it, the easier it is, but even nine years out, as you said, sometimes there's temptations.
Paul Chatlin
(32:04)
Amazing.
Dr. Kim Scheuer
(32:05)
So having that continued support is important.
Paul Chatlin
(32:07)
Yeah. And by the way, just a little hint to everybody. My big thing for anybody who's just starting is either find your five or find your 10. And when I say that and Lisa, let's not forget that one. That could be a shirt thing that we do later but find five to 10 meals that you liked that won't take you all day to make that you could repeat, repeat, repeat. So for me, I have a huge bowl of either broccoli cauliflower and/or salad is one of my meals every day. And then maybe oatmeal is another one every single day, so I don't have to spend a lot of time doing it. It's good enough and I know how healthy it is. So if I'm going to spend the other time doing some other creative stuff, then always remember to batch cook.
Paul Chatlin
(33:00)
So you've got to make it simple for your life because there are moments where I'm sitting there going like, “I do like not cooking and I'm cooking all the time.” That has got to stop. So the way I did that was creating a five, creating a 10 or just making sure I batch cook and believe it or not, I got to be pretty average at it.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(33:15)
Elizabeth, were you going to say something else though about that? The having-
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(33:18)
I think the good information is out there. Our society today wants to have things short. As an exercise physiologist in the past, when you train for a marathon, it was pretty long, three months that we would at least do some interval and get prepared. And now if you talk about exercise now to people and you look at whatever online, it's all 10, 15 minutes. Now do it as quick as we can. So it makes it a little bit difficult even when it comes to eating habits.
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(33:52)
And I think that like Chris said, the 21 day helps the person to get in and having a program after like you guys offered for the sustainability is where it's important, because it is hard to get people in. To conceive then say, “I'm going to do it.” Same thing for any exercise program. If you tell them it's going to take three months, 60 days, that seems to be too much. So we've got to have to be able to grab them in the way that society is visualizing life today to grab their attention and then to be able to insert them in the amazing program that you're offering. Fantastic. Win-win
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(34:31)
Absolutely. And Lisa, there was a question for you asking if you were also a physician or what your history or your background was?
Lisa A. Smith
(34:38)
No, I tried it a couple years ago. I went to Wayne State premed and decided I didn't want to wait that long. So I have a bachelor's in psychology, and I have an MBA. So I've been starting companies and running them since 2015. So I'm self-educated, I got a plant based certification, but I just am self educated and now I teach it full of time.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(34:59)
Awesome. That is awesome.
Dr. Chris Miller
(35:01)
And Lisa, how did you get plant based? What was your story that moved you that direction?
Lisa A. Smith
(35:05)
Working as a personal trainer? So I went plant based for professional reasons. I realized my patients or my clients as a personal trainer weren't getting the results that they wanted to get at a high level. And because I wasn't focusing on nutrition. So I began to study nutrition and discovered a whole food plant based diet was the most optimal for both weight loss and life expectancy because we know there's bunch of ways you can lose weight, doesn't mean you're getting healthier. So as I begin to study nutrition, I began to change my own personal diet just to see what it was like, what the impact would be. Luckily, I was already down to my ideal weight because I have a weight loss story myself, but I wasn't plant based. So I can't credit it to being plant based.
Lisa A. Smith
(35:51)
So when I went plant based, the thing I noticed the most is my cognitive performance. And so I really leaned into that because it was a vast difference. And at that time, I was running three companies and it was just night and day what I was able to do and perform. And so I dig deeper, became fully plant based vegan and begin to study it, teach it, go to lectures, read all the books, all of that. Gather information and went and got certified and did all that fun stuff. So here I am.
Dr. Chris Miller
(36:20)
Wow.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(36:21)
Paul, we can see why you're so excited that you found Lisa. We're excited to have her here.
Paul Chatlin
(36:26)
I can spend a half an hour straight about it. every time I got to say something. Every time I see Lisa, my heart races. Don't tell my wife, but my heart races just a little bit, okay? I mean it. And I want to say that not only is she just amazing to me, but she's my friend. She's my friend and when I have a mental problem, which I have probably more than most. I lean on Lisa, “Hey, what do you think Lisa?” And she straightens me right up and makes me see the other side of what I'm looking at. So this has been a deep like affair for a while now. She knows it, she knows it.
Lisa A. Smith
(37:06)
True. That is true.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(37:06)
We all need a Lisa in our life. Oh my gosh, that is fabulous.
Paul Chatlin
(37:09)
You can't have her; you cannot have her.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(37:11)
You can share.
Paul Chatlin
(37:15)
Okay, you can have her.
Dr. Kim Scheuer
(37:15)
We're looking to get her too. This community is getting bigger and bigger, and we have such a great group of Lisas right now, it's just awesome. And meeting you guys makes it even better.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(37:27)
Yes, it is.
Paul Chatlin
(37:28)
Thank you. And by the way, you know when it's right when you connect with somebody. We're all old enough to know that we make good connections, questionable ones, but you know when they're really good. It's inside and not outside. And that's what I'm feeling today now and that's exactly how I feel when I'm with Lisa. I feel better.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(37:53)
Awesome. I think that is a beautiful notion. And we usually try to keep these around 30 to 45 minutes and I really appreciate y'all's time. So please share with us again where they can find you and what would you like people to do? So tell us what you'd like us, our audience to do next.
Lisa A. Smith
(38:12)
Yeah, absolutely. We would love for you to start by visiting www.PBNSG.org to check out upcoming events, learn more about the organization and possibly join one of our monthly community support groups to come in here. How the community engages and just get an idea of the culture and the vibes. So again, that's www.PBNSG.org will be a phenomenal place to start. And that monthly community support group meeting is every second Thursday of the month, 6:30 PM, Eastern Standard. So that next one is this evening.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(38:46)
Awesome. And that's tonight. So go now and join up and watch, guys. Fantastic. And we will be sharing more information if you're one of our patients also too, we encourage our patients to join as well. So we thank you, both Paul Lisa for starting this amazing support group and all the work that you're doing and all your other individual endeavors. And just thank you so much. We really, really appreciate you. Thank you.
Paul Chatlin
(39:17)
Well, you're going to start seeing us supporting you as well, because this has been an area of our organization that people have connected with us, but we hadn't found the right organization to connect with. And now that we've met you and we've met you and know most of you and Lisa as well, you're going to see us promoting what you're doing to our members because they need you.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(39:40)
Thank you. No, we really appreciate that. We do need all of that. And by the way you guys, it's PBNSG. So P as in Paul, B-N-S-G.org, and that'll be on the website. Once we get this edited and uploaded, we'll also have the links below so everyone can click on that. But absolutely. And then Paul, I interviewed you, it's been a few years back on the Healthy Human Revolution podcast. If you guys want to learn more about Paul's story, I think we even cried. There were some tears rolling that day if I remember right.
Paul Chatlin
(40:14)
Like I said, when somebody saves your life. Still to this day, I always used tell people, I just can't believe, why me? Why me and then I'm 63. I feel like a kid, act like one too, but I feel like a kid and I like that feeling. It feels good.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(40:35)
Wonderful. I'm going to get Lisa on that podcast too. Go ahead, Dr. K.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(40:40)
We all know why you, Paul. You make it very clear why it was you because of all you've done because of this. So thank you all, it's wonderful to be here.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(40:50)
No coincidences.
Lisa A. Smith
(40:51)
Thank you.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(40:51)
No coincidences.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(40:53)
Absolutely. Well, thank you guys again and everyone, thanks for watching. And we'll be back in a couple weeks. Have a good one.
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(41:01)
Thank you.
Dr. Chris Miller
(41:02)
Bye everyone, thank you.
Dr. Kim Scheuer
(41:02)
Bye.
*Recorded on 8.12.21