Late on Friday afternoon I had a chat with someone I was just introduced to via social media and email. I had reached out to him in hopes that he could help us get our book in front of one or two people to get a review. But after learning what we do and reading the first chapter of the book he said, “You MUST come to the conference tomorrow!” I replied, “We wanted to, but it’s sold out.” He replied, “Come anyway. We will find you a seat.”

I’m always game for spur of the moment adventures. Russ needs a little warm up time. So, when I told him, oh and yeah, we are going to need our book cover printed out with a link to download the first chapter to give people, he blinked twice (maybe three times). But in true Russ form he was game to follow my lead.

What was supposed to be a casual Saturday with an afternoon bike ride turned into leaving the house at 6:20am and not getting back until after 7pm. But it was worth it. In addition to getting to spend the day with lots of other people who know the science and think like we do, we got to hear some of the industry greats speak. If you’d like to see the full lineup go here.

We are talking sharing highlights on our Facebook daily lives (like our page and turn notifications to “all” to get notified when we are live at 9:15am Eastern Monday – Friday) and I will be typing up all my notes and adding them to the community page for members of the Whole Food Muscle Club (become a member by clicking any one of the Whole Food Muscle pictures in this posts). I also want to provide a few of the highlights here (not direct quotes as I was scrawling notes).

Jane Esselstyn, RN – The most authentic way to know if someone is telling the truth: all they are selling is information, not products.

Brenda Davis, RD – Every cell of your body is impacted by what you eat. Be picky about the carbs you eat. NO refined carbs. We HAVE to stop making food the lowest priority in our day.

Dr Michael Greger – There were 7000 studies showing smoking was bad for humans before the first official warning came out. 14 million people a year die preventable deaths waiting for the plant-based diet to become normal and recommended. We have to stop waiting for “normal” to catch up with the science.

Dr Scott Stoll – Many people mistake their dopamine withdrawal symptoms as hunger. Then they eat junk (releasing dopamine in the brain) and reinforce that belief, ending up in a cycle of wanting (as opposed to liking). They eat something they “want” but don’t enjoy and then feel guilty about eating it. Such is the reality of food tolerance (when your body is habituated to eating high calorie junk food). It takes six to nine months to unlearn emotional eating.

I was also reminded of the Yale Addiction Scale. If you believe you may have a food addiction and would like to take the assessment, send me an email at Health@RnRJourney.com to schedule time to go through it and discuss the results.

Dr Kim Williams – We need to take the “die” out of “diet.” The 1918 flu pandemic was the last time heart disease was not our number one killer. Subsidized junk food is a problem. Twinkies have 14 different subsidized products in them. No wonder they are so cheap! If you’ve had a heart attack and then go on the keto diet you have a 53% increase in death risk.

Dr John Kelly – What do you want your last ten years too look like? Every cell has a full copy of your genome. What the cell does is based on genes being turned on or off. What you eat has a huge effect on the outcome of each individual cell. Cell age is not related to time. It’s related to a toxic lifestyle. Genes are inherited. So are recipes.

So much great stuff packed into one day! If you’re ready to stop talking about change and actually start making progress towards your goals, send me an email (Health@RnRJourney.com) to schedule a free 15-minute conversation to see what the first step of your journey looks like.