Marie: Hey it’s Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV, the place to
be to create a business and life you love.
One of the things I learned asking you our beloved viewers about what you’d like to
see more of is that you want to see more MarieTV viewers, people who are out there in the world
shaking things up and making it happen doing what they love.
So when I heard about this particular MarieTV viewer, this woman, who is making big waves
out there taking on the big major food corporations, I knew I had to have her on.
Vani Hari started foodbabe.com to spread information about what's really in the American food supply.
Her activism brought national attention at the Democratic Convention when we protested
in front of the US Secretary of Agriculture on the issue of GMO labeling.
Vani has taken on and gotten response from huge food corporations like Kraft, Chipotle,
Whole Foods, McDonalds, Coca Cola, and Red Mango.
She's been profiled in the New York Times, USA Today, the Washington Times and appeared
on the Dr. Oz show, Inside Edition, Good Morning America, CNN and others.
Vani, so great to have you here on MarieTV
Vani: Thank you so much Marie.
You’ve been a huge inspiration to me.
I'm so excited to be here.
Marie: Awesome!
So before we dive into it about the five surprising health foods you shouldn’t be eating, I
would love to know about your story, how less than a year ago, you were at this cushy job
and why you left to go to foodbabe.com and do it full time.
Vani: I never thought I would be blogging and taking on some of
the biggest food corporations for my daily job.
I never thought that would actually be my job one day when I started foodbabe.com which
was two years ago in response to a bunch of friends and family that begged me to share
my lifestyle with them, my recipes, how I was able to heal myself naturally.
About 10 years ago I suffered appendicitis and I could've died from this because the
initial doctor that saw me told me that there was nothing wrong and asked me to go home.
At that moment recovering in the hospital room over the holidays in December I made
a commitment to myself.
I said “to make myself my number one priority.”
I was living the typical American lifestyle before that; I had just gotten out of school,
I got a really awesome job at a top management consulting firm which I thought was my dream
job and I wanted to fit in.
I wanted to eat what everybody else was eating, I wanted to live the lifestyle, I wanted to
work the crazy hours so that I could impress my boss and get promoted and I didn't realize
what a toll that was going to be on my health.
I started to slowly teach myself the habits on how to live a really clean organic lifestyle
and in this over processed world and in this corporate environment.
Slowly but surely I started developing all these habits and my coworkers and my friends
and family and everyone around me started wondering “why is she drinking that green
stuff” and “what's going on with this lemon water thing she does every morning”
and “how did she go from being chubby and not really in shape to being in shape for
now over 10 years maintaining my weight.”
To this day one of my aunts thinks I got work done.
I started foodbabe.com in response to their wanting to know everything that was going
on especially some people at work that were watching my daily habits and sat next to me
in my cubicle and were trying to mimic what I was doing and I was teaching them a lot
and they just loved it.
They were like “you know so much about food, you really need to tell everyone and you need
to tell me so I can tell my mom and share it,” and I said “okay sure,” so I started
the blog and I remember I had 20 or 25 readers for the first month.
Marie: Probably your friends and your coworkers.
Vani: I think my mom and my best friend read it and that was about
prior to starting my blog; I was never on social media.
I actually had an intervention from some friends that said “listen, you don't know about
anything that's going on in our lives because you are not on Facebook, so you need to go
on Facebook right now because how are you going to spread your blog,” and I'm like
“that’s such a good point.”
So I'll get on Facebook and I started Twitter and I had no social media experience before
that because I was in the corporate world; it was scary to be on Facebook with all of
your party pictures and you didn't want your boss finding those.
I got on and slowly but surely I remember the first person who commented that wasn't
someone I knew and I was like “whoa, who’s this.”
Little did I know at the time that I developed this power and I really didn't understand
this power at the time until companies started reacting to my writing.
A lot of things get me energized and I'm really an activist at heart; I want to fight for
the people.
I was at this yogurt place that's an organic yogurt place or “organic” yogurt place
in Charlotte and they had all this marketing on saying it was organic, and then when I
found out what was really in the ingredients, it started with organic yogurt, but they added
trans fat, which is in a little bit of amount to eat that stuff can cause heart disease,
artificial colors made from petroleum products, artificial flavors and then other crazy ingredients
and I'm like “what is going on here, this is not truth in advertising, I need to write
about it.”
I wrote about it and immediately the president of the company reached out to me and took
down all the marketing.
It's because of not me writing about it but all the people sharing it with their friends
and telling their friends about it and being like “watch out” and it just went viral
and of course the president heard about it through their customer service hotline and
they listened and that was pretty amazing at that point because I realized, ok I have
this voice.
My name “Vani” means “voice” so I always knew that I had something to voice
growing up and I was even nationally ranked debater in high school, and I was just always
into research.
I spent every summer researching at Dartmouth College and I would bury myself; I quit the
cheerleading team to join the debate team.
At that point in time in my life in high school was one of the most exciting times and I was
able to bring that back because I was able to research and get in and fight for the people.
In a debate you weren't really fighting for the people but you're fighting for your side,
and I've always had that tenacity about me so it was coming out.
Marie: I love this.
I love your story and not to interrupt you too much but I can see the fire in you but
I think it’s so interesting also for our viewers because so many of us are multi-passionate
and there's things that we have a strong skill set for maybe early on in life and then they
kind of fall away, but it sounds like you’ve really rediscovered that ability to use all
the skills you built up as a debater and bring that into your now incredibly fast growing
career as a food babe.
Curious, take me to the point where, I know it wasn’t that long ago, you were still
blogging but you also has your job and then you made the decision that you were ready
to leave your full time job and do your new business full time.
What was that like?
Vani: My friends about a year ago said to me “Vani, you need to
make a decision, you need to do this full-time, this is your calling,” and I said “Oh,
that’s so nice for them to say that, it's so great.”
I wasn't until I really allowed myself to appreciate my own voice and allow myself to
understand this is why I was put on this planet.
It wasn't until in all actuality I found you Marie.
In December I was in Machu Picchu in Peru and I was reading a book, and you had her
on here, Danielle LaPorte, Fire Starter Sessions, watched one of your interviews with her and
I was reading the book at the same time and I just found you through a mutual friend,
and I couldn't believe that I was like number one “where Marie Forleo been my whole life,
why hasn’t she been coaching me this whole time to do my passion,” and number two,
I was on the top of Machu Picchu on December 21st, the day the world was supposed to end,
and I made the decision right there on top of Machu Picchu and my contract was ending
and I could've gotten another contract because I am a management consultant, but I said to
myself “I'm going to make this happen.”
I turned over to my husband and I said “are you willing to do this, I am giving up my
salary and we're going to do this and I am going to tell everyone what's in their food
and I want to change the way Americans are eating and the way they think about food and
I'm going to make it my life's mission, are you on board?,” and he looked at me and
he's like “what have you been waiting for?”
Everybody else was giving me permission but not myself and it wasn't until I really realized
that that's what I needed to do and it was scary.
I landed back the first week of January and I didn't go into an office, I had no boss,
I was like “what is going on, this is so weird, and I got to figure out a way to make
some money because I got to pay the mortgage.”
I started slowly just figuring out a way that met my values partnering with the right companies.
The companies I already use and by and have loved my whole life and that provide benefit
to the world in finding and reaching out for those relationships so that I could start
working with them and everyone can really live the life that they want to live.
What's so amazing is I didn't realize this at the time but if people have something that
they're really passionate about and they love and they're really good at it, you have to
cherish that and you have to find out what it is that you can do to share that passion
and no matter what, the money will follow.
I never really believed that.
I was like “I had to work hard; I had to keep my job.”
I was a management consultant for 13 years of my life and to give all that up, I was
successful too, and say bye was a tough transition mentally, and then the thought of going back
and being a management consultant totally freaks me out.
And I wake up every single day right now and I put my feet on the ground and I still live
in the same condo surrounded by the same people that I used to work with and I walked down
the street and I just smile and I'm like “Ha, ha - I'm not in that cubicle anymore.”
There's nothing wrong with being in a cubicle because there are great companies that have
cubicles but-
Marie: But for you it wasn’t the right match and for you there was a different
path.
Vani: I needed to be using my voice in a way to change the world.
I really think I was put on this planet to change the world and I really want to do that.
Marie: That actually was the perfect segway to what we’re going to
talk about next, which is the five surprising health food that we shouldn’t be eating,
but before we start, I just want to make this point.
This is about awareness so you can learn how to help yourself and your family make better
choices.
This is not about being perfect, we all have our vices, but we want to make better choices
more often.
So let's get rolling.
Vani: The first one is, and this one is a really tricky topic because
a lot of people when they go out to eat and when they order a sandwich when they go for
lunch or whatever, they order the whole-wheat bread.
The whole-wheat bread at different major fast food chains, for example, Subway, the nine
grain bread.
Everyone thinks that the nine grain bread is like the hallelujah sandwich.
You get it and you get your veggies on it and it's under 300 calories and you're good
to go.
But that sandwich has probably close to over 50 ingredients in it and the sandwich actually
has an ingredient in there along with the slew of other ingredients that is a dough
conditioner that is banned in Europe.
If you get caught using it in Singapore you get fined $450,000.
It's banned in Australia but we still use it here in the United States, and let me just
try to say this word because it's a long word: Azodicarbonamide.
Marie: It’s funny and it's not funny because to think that that’s what
we’re putting in our bodies, we can’t even pronounce it but it's going in our food
system, so we’ll lay it on there, but keep going.
Vani: The reason why it's so controversial is it gives people asthmatic
symptoms and allergies and it's really sad.
It's a really sad ingredient.
But what you can do instead, that’s the important thing.
If you are at Subway don't recommend it but if you are at Subway, get the salad, get a
whole avocado on top.
An avocado has protein added to it and that's the way to really enjoy a meal without any
major toxins and you are getting some really healthy fat with the avocado.
Marie: Awesome, so we’re going to stay from the whole grain, whole
wheat bread generally speaking and go just for a salad.
Vani: Yes, that’s right.
And if you do go for bread and you love bread, I really love this Ezekiel bread.
It’s amazing because there's no flour in it, it’s actually a whole grain so that’s
the way our body was intended to actually digest grains and it actually gives us more
energy that way because flour what it does is spikes our insulin level and promotes fat
gain.
Marie: What's number two?
Vani: Number two is agave nectar.
Marie: Oh God, I'm guilty of this one.
Tell me about it.
Vani: Agave got really popular because the raw vegans found a sweetener
that they could have that was raw and vegan, and it was as close to nature as I thought
to put in a lot of different desserts and other sweetened items.
It’s a liquid base so it replaced honey for people who are concerned about the bees
and things like that.
What they found is actually agave nectar has a higher concentration of fructose and almost
80% more higher concentration than high fructose corn syrup.
What that means is that the first thing your liver processes is fructose.
It’s either alcohol or fructose.
If fructose is going straight to your liver, your liver is not in its fat burning mode.
What that does is it promotes visceral fat and all the fat around your midsection.
What I love to recommend to people is coconut palm sugar.
Coconut palm sugar comes straight from the coconut tree, it's dried sap off the tree,
it has all the minerals and vitamins, it's a one to one substitution for sugar, it's
a low glycemic index so it's great for people who are on the diabetic spectrum were concerned
about their glycemic level, or if you're really concerned, you can go with Stevia and Sweet
Leaf here - they have the Stevia that doesn't have all the fillers and the crazy stuff going
on.
There are Stevia products that are dreadful.
Examples of those are Truvia and Purevia that are owned by Coca-Cola and PepsiCo respectively
and they have this crazy 40 step patented process to completely process the Stevia to
hell and just take a really natural beautiful plant that adds a lot of sweetness and just
destroy it, so I wouldn’t recommend those.
Marie: If we’re going to do Stevia, we’re going to do Sweet Leaf.
Where are we going next?
Vani: Alright, so the third one here, let's talk about Gatorade.
Marie: Gatorade!
Let's talk about Gatorade even though we don’t have a Gatorade to hold.
We didn’t want to bring it in the studio; it's so toxic.
Tell us why.
Vani: Gatorade is like one of those things that like my parents and
I'm sure your parents gave to you when you were sick and when you are under the weather
and you're out on the soccer field or cheerleading whatever you're doing when you were little
and your parents would bring you Gatorade because they didn't want you to get dehydrated
and it is one of the worst things ever because what Gatorade really is, is a bunch of sugar
and chemicals with salt.
And until recently it had this really controversial ingredient called brominated vegetable oil,
BVO, which is actually still in Powerade today.
It's something that's banned in other countries and is a flame retardant.
What I like to tell people is look to nature for electrolytes; coconut water is so amazing
for electrolytes and you want to make sure you get a really good coconut water though
because there's a bunch of coconut waters, and I did not know this until I started researching
it, that are made from coconuts from all over the world and they use the concentrate so
all the electrolytes are diminished.
What you want to do is go for raw coconut water and Harmless Harvest, who’s based
in New York, is amazing.
Marie: And you know what we’ll do, we’re going to put link to all
of Vani’s recommendations below so if you're listening and like “I can’t write all
this down,” we’re going to have it below the video.
Vani: Another really great electrolyte booster is celery.
You can either eat the celery or you can juice it and combine it with a little lemon, a little
apple, and that's just a great way to keep electrolytes.
The third option to keep electrolytes is Chia seeds.
Chia seeds, when they are soaked in water, they soak up 10 times the amount of water
and when you eat that, it keeps your body hydrated.
Aztecs back in the day would eat these seeds and that would be the only thing they would
have all day and would keep them hydrated, which is crazy to think about.
Marie: It’s such a power food.
I know Josh has been pushing Chia seeds on me for a while and it’s only after I meet
you and my dear friend Kris Carr.
He’s like “of course, all the ladies tell you what's good for you and now you eat them,”
and I’m like, “hey that’s how it goes,” but that’s awesome to know about Chia seeds.
Very cool.
Do we have one more?
Vani: Actually we have two more.
Almond milk.
Marie: Almond milk, oh no!
What's up with almond milk?
Tell us, Vani.
Vani: Almond milk inherently is absolutely wonderful.
Usually it's just all almonds and water in a blender; 4 cups of water, one cup of almonds
that are soaked overnight, in a blender strained, makes beautiful almond milk perfect, your
body can assimilate, and it's great.
But the almond milk that you buy at the store, nine times out of 10 has an ingredient called
Carrageenan.
Carrageenan is derived from a seaweed plant so it seems very natural but what happens
is when they derive it and they process it, it can be contaminated with degraded Carrageenan,
and what that does is when you eat it, it can disrupt the whole G.I.
tract.
All the people that have irritable bowel syndrome and other gastrointestinal issues, bloating
and other things could be caused by Carrageenan and Carrageenan is not only in almond milk
but it's in all sorts of dairy products like cottage cheese and sour cream and cream cheese
and ice cream and other things like that.
Marie: Is it important for us, because I've always purchases almond milk
from the store so I just need to really look at my labels now and if it has that in it,
it’s not getting in my little shopping cart.
Vani: Yeah, forget it.
I know that the Whole Foods brand, 365, doesn't use Carrageenan and which is great, so that's
a great option, or make it at home and that's what I do and I love it because it's two ingredients,
it's super easy, it's always fresh, lasts a few days in the fridge and it's awesome.
Marie: Perfect.
Ok, what's our final food?
Vani: Frozen yogurt.
Marie: Oh my goodness, frozen yogurt.
What's gone wrong?
Tell us.
Vani: Frozen yogurt is like an invented thing; it's not something
we've had a really long time in America.
It was invented in the late 1960s.
What they found was they wanted to make a healthy version of ice cream so they started
freezing yogurt and everyone started complaining about the taste.
They say it's tart and it's not that sweet and I still want my ice cream.
The food manufacturers listened to that and they said “Oh, we are going to add more
sugar, we're going to make it more processed and we’re going to add a bunch of artificial
colors and we are going to add a bunch of other crazy ingredients that does your body
no good.”
So what happened was that frozen yogurt ended up being something totally crazy and when
you go into a frozen yogurt place and you ask to look at their product before they put
it in the machine, it looks like Kool-Aid.
It's so processed that the probiotic content, the whole reason why you want to have frozen
yogurt in the first place, all those beneficial bacteria in your gut, they are pretty much
diminished in that powdered product.
Marie: That’s disgusting.
So what should we do?
No frozen yogurt at all or is there any good brands or should we just look someplace else
for a little sweet?
Vani: Well Red Mango actually has been paying attention to how
much probiotics are in their frozen yogurt and they figured out the freezing process
in order to keep some of the beneficial bacteria, and they are one of the cleanest ones that
I researched recently which was really great.
I would recommend going for the plain varieties so you don't get the artificial colors, you're
not getting any of the other crazy flavorings that could be in there.
If you are there, you can get the plain yogurt; you can get some fruit on top and some nuts
or something, but if you are going to go for something sweet and amazing, why not go for
the real thing?
Go for real ice cream, do a little bit of it or make your own and I love making my own
with coconut milk right here.
This is an organic coconut milk that’s available by Native Forest.
It doesn’t have BPA in the can which is so awesome, that’s another toxin we want
to avoid, that’s available in typical canned products.
All you do is you really put this in a blender with whatever flavorings you want, a little
vanilla, maybe a frozen banana, or maybe some other type of fruit and make whatever flavor
you want, and then through it in the ice cream machine; it is amazing.
Marie: That’s great.
I need to get myself an ice cream machine because that's one little piece of equipment
that I don’t have.
I love it.
Vani: For a lot of people who are trying to avoid dairy because of environmental
reasons or because they're vegan or whatever, I think coconut milk is the way to go.
Plus, coconut is a powerhouse ingredient; it speeds up the metabolism, it’s got that
medium chain fatty acid in there that really helps you build the right amino acids and
I just love it.
Marie: Awesome.
Vani, thank you so much.
Once again, all the lists of what we talked about is right below this video so you can
have it for yourself.
Vani, I just want to acknowledge you for your courage and your commitment, not only to just
being such a beacon of light, but to bringing such transparency to our food system and being
an advocate for all of us.
Thank you so much for the work you do and thank you for being here.
Vani: Thank you so much Marie.
It is a true honor.
Marie: If you want to learn more about Vani and her incredible work, please
go visit her and sign up for updates at foodbabe.com.
Now, Vani and I would love to hear from you.
What's the single biggest insight that you are taking away from this interview today.
As always the best conversations happen after the episode over at MarieForleo.com so go
there and leave a comment now.
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