Ep 130 – Overcoming Health Challenges With Alice Robeson

TRANSCRIPT:

Dani

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Vegan Proteins Muscles by Brussels Radio. My name is Dani and I’m Alice and this is episode 130. So you probably noticed that that was not Giacomo or Athena who just chimed in there. This is Alice. Today we are sort of introducing Alice to the audience here. And Alice is one of the newest additions to the vegan proteins team, the Vegan proteins family.

She is our newest coach to be working with us and we are so, so, so, so excited to have her on board. I have been telling everybody that you’re going to be like a dog with a bone in terms of getting people their results and I 100% think that that is going to be true. So met Alice a while back. She actually kind of came into the vegan proteins universe doing our fat loss challenge and crushing it and winning it.

And the whole time we were talking about how she was like very, very interested in doing this and becoming a coach. And some. Something about her just spoke to me and I was like, I think this is a good move. I think this is a really good move. And she went through our internship and just absolutely like knocked that out of the park, like doing research beyond what the internship sort of called for.

And I was like, oh yeah, this, this was a very, very good move. And now she’s a full fledged member of our coaching team and we wanted to introduce her to you guys. So without further ado, we have Alice here. So Alice, why don’t you tell people a little bit about yourself, a little bit about your background and all of that.

Alice

Sure. So beyond the fitness and nutrition coaching, I am a natural bikini bodybuilder. I, you know, outside of my amazingly rich and blessed fitness life, I feel I’m just a southerner through and through from, from Yorktown, Virginia. I’m Christian. A Buddhist hodgepodge thing and what that really means to me. I guess all that is just for me, you know, having strong family ties for one. I also like to go out and just talk to strangers and at least acknowledge other people around

me when I’m in public. And it’s just sort of like a. Out of respect and a general just love for people. That’s just part of who I am. And sometimes I tell people like, no, I am rated PG or my life is like a Disney movie because I just. Politeness and respect is really important to me. I rarely cuss. It’s just how I was raised. One example, I guess, of this is I’ve always wanted to work out at a.

Dani

Why?

Alice

Because I Love that family atmosphere. Some hobbies. I’m obsessed with cooking, healthy cooking, really, which is. I feel hugely different. And going for daily walks and hiking whenever possible. Also something that impacts me greatly and impacts my veganism is my ulcerative colitis. I deal with that disease, and it impacts my daily life. And really, one of the major influencers in me going vegan.

Dani

Yeah, that’s. I’m really. I’m really looking forward to kind of chatting about that and how that impacted your veganism or did veganism impact it or vice versa. So I’m excited to talk about that. But, yeah, I was talking to Jock about this, and Jock was like, I kind of want to do this interview because I want to learn more stuff about Alice. But I was like, no, I’m going to do it.

But, yeah, it’s interesting hearing you sort of explain some of these things from your perspective. Pieces that I certainly knew and have been able to put together. But here it put your way, like, oh, I’m Southern girl. I’m pg. I’m like, wow, it’s so funny that you and I, like, get along as well as we do, because I’m like, I am not those things at all.

But I will agree with you 100%. Politeness and kindness and all of that really does mean a lot to me, even though in real life, not really on the podcast because I don’t want them to get taken down. But in real life, I kind of swear like a sailor. I just always have. But, like, being polite to people, I think. Like, to me, if someone is not polite or kind, that is, like, the biggest red flag immediately. I’m not even really interested in, like, knowing that person beyond that point, so I

can kind of get that. And I also do like the vibe of. Of a YMCA as well. Actually, both of the kids go to. They don’t have a gym, but it is a ymca. That’s where they, like, spend most of their days, actually. But I want to hear a little bit more. So you mentioned, like, you’ve always wanted to train at a Y. So what got you interested in fitness, like, in the first place? Because I know you were already way into fitness before you kind of came in, into our radar. So what got you into it?

Alice

Well, really. So I’m. I said I’m extremely close to my family. So growing up, we got into high school, and my mom decided that she wanted to take us as a family to go to the gym together, and she took us to a ymca. And that was something that everyone just got really into. And we kind of held each other accountable and got in there and it just really.

I got comfortable with the gym environment really quickly, I think at a much earlier age than most people do. Not that I had specific fitness goals or anything, it just. I’ve always been very interested in health. My father’s a doctor, my mom was a nurse before she had kids. And so it’s just something that, you know, I always am sort of preoccupied, I guess, with things that I can do to make my health better.

And that only intensified later when I got the colitis. So. But it’s always been part of my personality

and I developed this gym consistency, like, right away and just loved it and really enjoyed weightlifting, although it was not really, if I looking back, it’s sort of silly to be called calling it weightlifting in the first place, but I don’t know, it was just something about like lifting the weights and counting your reps I found really soothing and just really positive.

And so it’s just something that I’ve been very consistent with my entire life. And I’ve considered myself sort of a gym rat my whole life. But it wasn’t. No, bodybuilding came a little later.

Dani

So how, how old were you when you started, like, even though you said it’s kind of silly to call it weightlifting now, but how old were you when you started actually, like, lifting any kind of weights at all?

Alice

I’d say 14 or 15.

Dani

That’s amazing. That is like, absolutely amazing. That is one of my big is. I don’t have a whole lot of regrets in my life, but one of them is that I didn’t start sooner. And I think that that is something that a lot of people in the fitness space or even in the vegan community say, like, oh, my one regret was that I didn’t start sooner. But you can’t start a whole lot sooner than 14 or 15 in terms of lifting weights.

And I think it’s totally fine to not be starting right out of the gate, sort of doing it the quote unquote ideal way, because I think you have to get into it in a way that is comfortable and feels good for you. And maybe if somebody had come at you like a drill sergeant on day one, maybe you wouldn’t have enjoyed it quite as much as you did. Maybe, who knows, you might have liked that.

Alice

But I might have because I’m just like that, very serious.

Dani

Yeah. But I did wish that I had.

Alice

A trainer of some kind that would have been like, all right, do these things to start building some more

Muscle and because if I’d had that direction, I know what kind of leg up that you could have in bodybuilding.

Dani

Right, yeah. I’ll say this, though. So when I started training, like, lifting, I was probably around 19, I think, and I hired a trainer right away, and she did teach me how to lift, like with dumbbells and machines. But I know one of the things that you sort of bucked up against was the barbells. And actually this coach never had me touch a barbell ever.

But also, in hindsight, I, you know, I meet a lot of people now who are like, the barbell is the only place that you can make real consistent progress. And it’s like I lifted for quite a few years before I ever really, like, worked with a barbell, and I made really good progress. So that’s kind of my favorite thing about bodybuilding is there’s so many ways to get there that it doesn’t just have to be one way. But yeah, still some instruction right out of the gate probably would have been

helpful. Even just like learning how to push, like, how to find rep ranges and like, what it feels like to actually be a couple reps away from failure, I think can be helpful. But yeah, so that’s like, that’s a long time you’ve been consistently lifting. Now. Were you vegan when you started lifting or sort of. When did that happen? What was that sort of journey like?

Alice

So I became vegan in 2018, and it was sort of coincided with my ulcerative colitis. There are lots of layers to it, of course. So I got diagnosed with colitis back in 2009. I was 19. So it was much later that I became vegan. But I was also inspired by my brother, who was the only other vegan that I knew for a very long time. You know, now it’s about way more than health to me. But back then, you know, and this is still mostly true for today, like, when you research ulcerative colitis on the

Internet, there’s just like so much confusing and misleading information out there, basically. Like, you know, tons of people claim that, you know, the diet, your diet causes and affects your disease. But, like, gastroenterologists mostly disagree with that. Like, like many others, it’s all. It’s only looking at, like, a small piece of the picture and it’s blowing a small truth out of proportion, if that makes sense.

Dani

Yeah. So just for people who don’t know, since it sounds like the ulcerative colitis came before the veganism, let’s talk what is Ulcerative colitis. And what was it like to be diagnosed with that?

Alice

Yeah. So ulcerative colitis, basically, my immune system attacks my colon, it causes me to bleed, and it makes a person extremely sick without getting too TMI on everybody. The Crohn’s and Colitis

foundation says that it’s a chronic, degenerative autoimmune disease known as inflammatory bowel disease, basically. And if not properly treated, it can cause pain, a diminished quality of life, and it can eventually lead to things like malnutrition, even cognitive

impairment, and hospitalizations and surgery. So it gets worse over time. And also in a very high risk category for developing colon cancer. The longer you have the disease, the higher risk it becomes. What was your second question?

Dani

Well, so I have another question, actually, before we get to the next question, but. So is ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s, are they similar, or are they just the same thing?

Alice

They’re not the same thing. They’re both considered an inflammatory bowel disease. Crohn’s disease attacks the entire digestive tract.

Dani

Okay.

Alice

And colitis only affects the colon.

Dani

Okay. All right. See, that’s good to. I didn’t even. I knew that they were similar, but as you were saying it, I was like, oh, maybe they’re actually the same thing. So that’s good to know. What was it like? I can imagine. But what was it like actually being diagnosed with that? Was that, like, a hard path for you to sort of figure that out?

Alice

Well, yeah. I was only 19. I was terrified to go to the doctor, terrified to get a colonoscopy. I put it off for an irresponsible amount of time. When I started having symptoms so much to the point where I had been bleeding for so long that my hemoglobin was, like, down to 6, and it’s supposed to be, like, 12 in a healthy range or higher, ideally.

So I had to have blood transfusion. I had to have all this extra stuff done because I waited. And it

would have been a lot easier if I had just been an adult and gone to the doctor right away, of course.

Dani

But I imagine at 19, like, the symptoms of ulcerative colitis are probably kind of, like, mortifying at the time. Like, that’s probably not something you want to talk to a lot of people about. Do you think that was part of what made you kind of hold off getting treatment, or were you just afraid of what they were going to say?

Alice

Yeah, it’s. You definitely don’t want to bring up negative stuff often, and you’re going through that, and you’re in the thick of that.

Dani

It’s.

Alice

It’s not something that’s easy to admit when you’re going through something that hard. And it was very scary. My significant other at the time kind of knew what I was going through, but I didn’t really understand really what I was going through. He just knew that I was up all night in the bathroom and not really sleeping.

Dani

Yeah. Yeah. And, like, there’s the cognitive impairment of that of, like, not sleeping well probably for months on end. Probably put you in not, like, the sharpest state of mind also. But once you went in and they were able to do the colonoscopy, like, was it just like, oh, this is what you have? Like, right away?

Alice

Yes, right away. And just to be clear, like, it got so bad to the point, like, when my hemoglobin got so low, like, the reason I was forced to go into the doctor is because I couldn’t make it up the stairs to my apartment. I was so anemic.

Dani

Oh, yeah, that sounds. That sounds awful. That. And honestly, that’s not even something that I would have considered a possibility. I would have assumed, like, oh, the stomach, the pain basically got so bad that you finally sought treatment. Didn’t even occur to me that somebody could lose kind of so much blood that they could become that anemic that.

From. From that. From ulcerative colitis. So that is good to know. Are there any, like, early warning signs that you would say, like, oh, if you’re experiencing this thing, maybe go get checked out for ulcerative colitis in case anybody’s listening?

Alice

Definitely blood in the stool. That’s usually the number one thing. But also, if you just are sick all the time, you know, if you are. I mean, we’re all eating the typical American diet. That’s unhealthy. But if you are having, you know, really sort of unhealthy streak of food and, you know, you get sick beyond what’s sort

of normal, and it continues beyond what’s sort of normal, and you experience that pain, like, there’s a good chance you’ve got some. Something going on digestively. Mm.

Dani

So, yeah, once. Once you got the diagnosis, like, what had to. What had to change from there?

Alice

Really? Just medication. They don’t really stress anything about your diet when you first get diagnosed. They just throw you on a slew of medications and hope for the best. And really what they don’t tell you is that it is a degenerative disease. Degenerative disease. And although they’re giving you these pills to start out with. You know, it’s likely that you’re going to need to get more and more like complex and expensive drugs over the years.

Dani

Do you become like, do you kind of build a tolerance to some of those drugs or.

Alice

Yeah, yeah, they no longer work. You’ll start out just on immunodepressants and maybe something like which is supposed to just sort of coat your colon with a, with a medication. But over time those don’t work anymore and you just have to advance to more and more complex things and eventually end up on biologics, which is what I’m on now.

Dani

Yeah, I mean it sounds like a real pain actually. I mean, I don’t think anybody wants to be on medication and I think I’m curious to hear what got you started down the path of like looking into what you were eating. But I do think it’s important to note that sometimes medications are necessary, but they don’t.

That doesn’t mean they’re the only avenue to help fight a disease or improve your symptoms. So what got you interested? What, what piqued your curiosity of like, oh, let me take a look at what I’m eating and see if that helps.

Alice

Basically discovered Dr. Frank Jackson on the Internet and he was a gastroenterologist, I believe he was a gastroenterologist. He passed away now. But his website, it’s funny because it’s originally about trying to sell, what is it the, I can’t think of the word. He’s trying to sell a product. But a lot of his website is also dedicated to educating people about ulcerative colitis and various other things.

Prebiotic. That’s what he’s trying to say. So he’s trying to educate people about how inflammation affects various health conditions. And so there was a large section on ulcerative colitis and basically he mentioned one of the first things was eating meat like an animal fats, basically that you shouldn’t, if you have ulcerative collage, you shouldn’t be eating more than like I think 50 grams of protein in a setting.

Well, he said of meat, he didn’t say of protein in his setting, but basically the size of a deck of playing cards or the palm of your hand. And then he kind of sort of broke down like, oh, you don’t actually need animal proteins in order to get your proteins. It can be plant based proteins as well. And of course that’s not the only thing that he said can impact the colitis.

He also talked about the high fat stuff, eating high fat and low fiber, trying to boost your omega 3s and lower your omega sixes and just building up that good gut bacteria. But, like, that was kind of the first thing that, like, maybe I should consider mixing the meat. And then I had my brother, who at the time, I told you, was the only other vegan I knew. He always really inspired me. He was always sharing his love of the vegan lifestyle. So I had a lot of respect for that.

And so now I was feeling like, okay, maybe I have a good, good reason to go vegan now, now that I’m learning about this. So I made the switch. Of course, I’m trying to solidify all the good reasons for going vegan, you know, a lot. I vividly remember watching Earthlings at the time and, you know, really wanting to solidify it in my life for all the right reasons. But that was sort of what first got me interested.

Dani

Yeah, I think health as a catalyst for people going vegan is super, super common. But most of the people that I know that have been vegan for a long time, that went vegan for health reasons. Now

they’re like, yeah, but now it’s like all the reasons. Now it’s. And Giacomo actually was the same thing. He went vegan strictly for health reasons. And now, you know, it’s ethical, it’s environmental, it’s all of the things.

So I’m always. I’m a fan of whatever avenue gets people interested in veganism, basically. So, I mean, was that transition a challenge for you? I imagine your brother was probably super pumped that you were interested in doing this. There’s nothing more fun than when someone else decides they’re going to go vegan and you’re like, yes. So how was that transition for you?

Alice

It wasn’t. It’s never easy. Right. But I mean, at first it was like a miracle cure, basically. It didn’t necessarily stay that way, but, you know, I think. Who’s it? Dr. Michael Greger. Think you’d be happy and sad upon hearing this, but, you know, again, the disease is degenerative, so it gets worse over the years.

The being vegan didn’t control the colitis forever, but it did for a time. So that was exciting. I am now taking it, taking biologics on top of being vegan, but I consider my vegan diet to be part of my treatment for my disease, if that makes sense.

Dani

Yeah, yeah, I totally. I mean, that totally makes sense to me. And it seems to me that it would be kind of common sense and Kind of shocking to me that a doctor didn’t even talk to you about this sort of thing when you were diagnosed, that if it’s a disease of part of your digestive tract, your colon, that what you are eating that passes through there would absolutely have some kind of an impact on it.

So it’s just kind of wild to me, especially at 19. Like, I guess I can kind. I mean, I wish doctors would talk about this sort of thing all the time. But if someone’s diagnosed and they’re, you know, much older, talking to them about their lifestyle and diet might be like yelling into the void. But at 19, like, you were so young. Like, I feel like that should have been something that someone said sort of right away.

Like, let’s at least take a look at your diet and see if there’s any, like, straight up red flags in here that we can pull out that will improve your life, like, significantly and quickly. Were you, like, frustrated about that? That no one talked to you about it at all?

Alice

I’ve always been frustrated about it. And the comeback is that supposedly everyone’s diet is going to affect the disease differently is their argument for that. You know, I listed Those things that Dr. Jackson had identified, but I guess not every gastroenterologist agrees with that. And there’s no, like, way to say, okay, you can’t have these foods. It’s more along the lines of, you know, a lot of people get symptoms after eating really high fat, especially high saturated

and trans fats. And even being just being vegan, Like, I couldn’t control my disease by being a junk food vegan. I have to be relatively healthy. I don’t have to be perfection. But there is a degree of, you know, eating healthy that’s combined with not having the animal fats as well.

Dani

Yeah, but like, you couldn’t just eat French fries and be good to go. Like, you’d probably feel like crap, right?

Alice

I could have some French fries. Yeah, but eating a whole plate of them, I’m most likely going to be literally punished afterwards.

Dani

Yeah, probably. Probably not a great idea. Do you want to learn how we help our clients lose body fat efficiently? Well, on Wednesday, August 9th at 6:00pm Eastern, I am going to be hosting a live free webinar teaching the five keys of vegan fat loss. If you show up to this webinar, you’re going to learn the exact tactics that we use to help our clients lose body fat while keeping their muscle without losing their minds.

And if you show up live, you will also get a free copy of Our vegan pre workout guide. I will leave the link to register for this in the show. Notes of this podcast spots are limited so make sure you sign up right away and I’m really looking forward to seeing you there. You mentioned earlier that ulcerative colitis, when it gets really bad, can lead to things like malnutrition, which makes sense because you know, there are certain things that are absorbed in the colon that if the colon

isn’t like working properly, you just wouldn’t be able to absorb it. Now when I hear that like, oh, there’s a possibility of malnutrition and then you basically by going vegan, I mean there’s tons of positives, lots of more micronutrients, but a lot of times it is a decreased calorie density when someone transitions to a vegan diet. And if one of the risks is already sort of malnutrition, I would think that some people might think it’s even riskier to transition to a vegan diet

just for health. But now let’s add on top of that that you are also interested in body building, like building tissue, adding muscle to your body, which under perfect conditions as a natural meaning non drug enhanced athlete is already very challenging. Like all of your variables need to be as close to perfect as possible in order to make progress.

Now you take the fact that your colon is practically fighting against you like on a regular basis and also may not absorb everything that you eat. Like what got you interested in bodybuilding? Like what made you think this was a good idea? I guess.

Alice

I read a book and I can’t remember, I think it was, oh, it was Derek Trees book over a cruise and I have been sort of researching a little bit on the Internet about it and after I read his book I just really wanted to take a deep dive into it. And so I very quickly stumbled upon Robert Cheek and Robert Cheek ended up directing me to you and vegan proteins. And I mean, so yeah, the colitis definitely impacts the bodybuilding at certain times.

There have been times where I’ve been trying to build while on, while dealing with a flare of my disease and basically it makes it near impossible, right. If I’m having symptoms while I’m trying to build, it definitely adds this layer of complexity. But when everything is managed and I’m on the correct medications that can help me live symptom free, I have been able to build, thankfully.

Dani

Well, I know for a fact you’ve been able to build and then cut while maintaining your muscle and you’ve been really, really Successful, truly, like building and reshaping and restructuring your body, like, very deliberately and very intentionally. And I definitely think part of that is going to come down to just, like, your discipline and your consistency and your dedication to all of these things.

We’re talking about, like, getting your training in, consistently pushing hard, eating the right foods, eating the right amounts of foods, et cetera. But do you feel like there’s anything. So making sure you’re on, like, the right medications that are helping you is one thing that has been helpful to kind of not having setbacks while you’re doing this.

Are there any other things that you feel like you have done, whether it’s with your training or your diet or your lifestyle or your mindset or anything that have helped you be as successful as you’ve been with bodybuilding so far?

Alice

I think all the other things are the same things that everyone else would do. Just knowing what you’re doing, knowing how to push yourself in the gym, building that consistency, having the right support system, all the things.

Dani

Yeah, I. I think so. Do you think, like, you have. How do I put this? Do you think that you have some sort of, like, mindset edge that other people might. It might benefit them to have a similar mindset edge? I think you do. That’s why I’m asking. I think you do have, like, an edge over a lot of people when it comes to mindset. That I think is really helpful to you, and I’m just curious if you feel that way.

Alice

Kind of silly, but I think that me having. I do actually have OCD personality disorder. And I think that some of that really does helped me to focus and I guess hyper focus on my goals and really, you know, be committed and really check the box. Like, you know, it’s harder for me to miss a gym day than a lot of people. I think sometimes because I have this extra layer of something nagging me and extra layer of motivation, I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

Dani

Yeah, I don’t think that’s silly at all. I mean, I know I’m sure on its surface that doesn’t sound like the best thing. And I am 100% certain that there are drawbacks to that. But I think you could say that about a lot of different, either personality disorders or even like certain mental illnesses. Like, even within some of them, there are benefits. There’s reason why people develop some of these things. It’s because there are benefits to some of them. Even something like anxiety.

Right. Anxiety sounds terrible, and it has its drawbacks. But like, there are some pros to anxiety, being that a lot of times you’ve planned for a lot of different things. So when they happen, you’re like, I know what I’m going to do. When you look back, you’re like, wow, I wasted so much time worrying about 10 things that didn’t happen. But that one thing that did happen, like, I was ready for it. So, yeah, I don’t think that that’s silly at all.

Alice

I do think that everybody needs some degree of, like, neuroticism in order to be a bodybuilder.

Dani

Yeah. Yeah. Was it you? I can’t remember if it was you or if it was Athena that I was talking to about the, like, Ocean personality test. Was it you?

Alice

Yep.

Dani

Yes. Okay. So, yeah, that’s one of the. I guess it’s very, very subtle. It’s not something that I say to my new clients where I’m like, here, take this personality test so I know what kind of person you are. But when people fill out their, like, initial questionnaire, I’m definitely thinking about these things. So if anybody’s interested to look it up, it’s.

Ocean is the acronym. Let’s see if I can remember all these off the top of my head. You kind of get weighed on a scale for these five different traits. O is for openness to experience. C is for

conscientiousness. E is for extraversion. A is for. See, this is the one I always forget. I can’t remember. A and N is for neuroticism. And depending on where people fall on each of those scales, you can kind of tailor your, like, coaching to that person a little bit more.

Oh, I think A is for assertiveness. That’s it. Yeah. So I think you do kind of need a little bit of neuroticism. And I find that people kind of fall, and on one side or the other of, like, kind of too much neuroticism and we got to pull them back a little bit or, like, not enough neuroticism, and they need to be, like, pushed.

Like. No, work harder. So I guess that kind of brings me to, like, you first of all, like, what. What does coaching in general, like, from your perspective? You now have two perspectives as, like, somebody being coached and somebody coaching. Like, what. What does coaching in a fitness capacity, like, mean to you?

Alice

Well, me being a coach, it feels to me like this is my contribution to the vegan movement. You know, I’m very privileged that I get to coach exclusively vegans and those transitioning to veganism. And I Love that closeness that you get. I love that relationship building that you get. That’s. Deep down what ultimately drives me are those two things when it comes to me being a coach, for me, being coached similar.

Yeah. That human connectedness is very valuable to me. And that’s ultimately like the ultimate form of accountability for me. Just having that person there cheering you on. I know what huge difference it can make in setting goals and reaching your goals. So I want to provide that. I want to be that for someone else as well.

Dani

Yeah, and you are going to be. I mean, you are. You are being that for people right now, and you’re going to be for. Even more uncertain of it. It’s a. I think, like, it’s a. It’s a challenge. I mean, every job is challenging, right? Every job has its challenges, I should say. But I think that some of the challenges are so worth it. Like, as you start to see people really, like, start to not just reach their goals, because, yes, people come to us and they want.

They want six packs and they want big round glutes and they want all of these things. And it’s like, we can do that. That’s. That’s, in my opinion, like, that’s the easiest stuff, honestly. Getting somebody to look the way that they’re kind of hoping to look or moving in that direction. Easy. Getting people to sort of shift their mindset to become the person that they want to be in that regard. Challenging.

Alice

Yes.

Dani

Um, and it’s. It’s a really, really awesome feeling when, you know, when somebody. When a client is like, willing to meet you and put in the work that you are willing to give them. Like, I just feel like it’s super awesome when that happens and when someone can completely kind of do a 180.

And we see it happen in vegan proteins, community, like all the time. You know, it doesn’t happen overnight, but there are people that a months later, they’re like. They’re like a different person living a.

Alice

Different life and mental transformation. The inner transformation.

Dani

Yeah.

Alice

Being able to literally handle more on their plate. Watching a person grow their bandwidth, watching people transform their lives.

Dani

That’s a great way to put it. Watching people grow their bandwidth. I mean, we just saw it with Eric. Like, Eric Deborah is another really great example of people that. It’s like, looking back, I’m just like, wow, you have come so freaking far. It is amazing. And I feel like the right environment is key for that. It’s like you said, like, building your support system. And unfortunately, most of the world is not vegan.

Alice

Right.

Dani

So finding that community in person, probably not going to happen unless you live in, like, a major city. And even then it’s kind of iffy. So I guess I just feel super lucky and, like, thrilled, really, with the way the vegan proteins kind of community has grown and not, like, both with our team, like you and Athena and Christina, and also, like, the actual community itself has been really, really awesome. And yeah, I’m curious to hear, like, what, What. What would be like if you had

a sort of, like, perfect client? This is a. This is a loaded question. Here we go. If you had a sort of, like, perfect client. And by perfect client, I mean, like, a client that came to you and you’re like, oh, I can. We can do this. Like, we can totally help get this person from point A to point B. Like, what sort of stuff. Do you feel like you are in your zone when you’re helping people with that sort of stuff? Does that make sense? Did I say that correctly?

Alice

I think so. I feel like it’s just someone who’s willing to be vulnerable and, you know, open up and share with another person and someone who’s looking to, you know, make changes in their life. I think that’s really the only two things you need is, all right, I’m ready to connect with somebody so that they can help me be the best me, and I’m ready to make those changes. Like, that’s really, I think, all you need.

Dani

Yeah, I think so, I guess. Well, it kind of goes into that first one, the being vulnerable. I would also say being honest, which I think is hard for people at the very beginning, to be super honest, which I get. It’s like, I don’t want to tell you everything. Like, I don’t even know you.

Alice

Yep.

Dani

But the more you build up that sort of relationship, the more honest people become and the better, like, everything kind of gets. Yeah. Have you experienced that at all? Sort of people, like, almost sharing. Sharing what they consider to be their sort of sins during the week, like, oh, I did this, or, I did this. And it almost feels like they’re testing the waters to see how you’re going to respond to that.

Alice

Oh, absolutely. And, you know, you can tell when people are scared to kind of reveal their whole truth, and that’s fine. You just do the best you can to encourage that person and point out the things that they’re doing well and help them grow to the point where, all right, you can trust me.

Dani

Yeah.

Alice

And you can trust yourself as well. It’s really a Lot about trust too.

Dani

Yeah, I totally agree. Is there anything else that you wanted to sort of share with the audience? Anything at all?

Alice

I don’t know if this is a good thing to share or not. You know, I was really nervous just coming out and sharing about my colitis because I feel like there come with that comes a lot of sort of predetermined ideas. People in this culture can be very judgy about food and the way a person eats. And I feel like when I tell people I have colitis that people are just going to be judging, like, oh, that means you must have grown up eating a terrible diet and you know it.

That was something that I struggled with for a really long time. The reason I am now comfortable enough to share that is because I have a better understanding to where it’s not just the diet. You also have to have that genetic factor that means you’re pre disposed to have colitis. So I’m eating the same, you know, crappy American diet that everyone else is really, or at least I grew up eating that way.

And the only difference is I am actually sensitive to it and I have a physical response to it, whereas other people, you know, they’re missing that genetic element. So. So yeah, it’s something that’s interesting for me to talk about right now because that’s always been very sensitive for me, but I feel a lot more just confident in it now that I have a better understanding.

Dani

And yeah, it reminds me of that saying where it’s like genetics, genetics loads the gun and lifestyle pulls the trigger or something like that. Like without that genetic component, it probably just, I mean, it couldn’t have happened. Right. Without that genetic component. But see, to me, when it comes to sort of being ill or dealing with an illness as a vegan, see, this is where I get like, kind of like, ugh, do I want to share that I’m dealing with this because somebody is going to

think it’s because I’m vegan. That XYZ thing is happening and those people absolutely exist. And I know because anytime I get sick, someone is certain to point out, like, well, if you weren’t vegan then you probably wouldn’t have gotten sick. And it’s like, I have no. I mean, I feel like I have reversed a couple of serious illnesses that I had before I became vegan, including polycystic ovarian syndrome.

I might technically, very technically still have it, but it hasn’t shown up in an ultrasound in almost 20 years. So I don’t think I do. But then There are other things, kind of like your colitis, like my endometriosis. That’s not going to go away. There’s nothing. Even if they did surgery on me and

scooped me out like a pumpkin, it could still just come right back, like, so it’s not about being vegan that caused it, but also being vegan will not cure it. But being vegan certainly seems

to help it a bit. And I feel like a lot of people have this misconception that veganism is even whole food, plant based, oil free, salt free, sugar free, like whatever brand of veganism is hot today is going to cure every disease. And I feel like that’s a really dangerous precedent to put out there and almost just sets veganism up to fail when that’s like a ridiculously unrealistic expectation to place on any diet. You know what I mean?

Alice

Holy. You can’t and you can’t erase, you know, a lifetime of, you know, different eating patterns, what you’ve already put on your body. By making this change now, now you can improve your health. You know, there’s plenty of people that talk about, you know, reversing diabetes with, and I mean, you name it, there’s so many different diseases. But I mean, you get what I’m saying.

Dani

Yeah, I do, I do. And I, there are certainly some diseases that I do think can be reversed via diet, but I feel like people think veganism is just some like panacea that’s gonna cure everything. And I mean, I have people in my DMs being like, oh, if you want to cure your endometriosis, you have to water fast.

And I’m just like, where do you people come from? Like, it’s like low key, insulting to try to tell somebody who’s battling a certain illness, oh, you just need to X and then you won’t be sick anymore. And you. There’s some choice words that I would like to say to those folks that’s.

Alice

Very corrupt and very manipulative. And I mean, ultimately those people are trying to sell you some kind of water fast product, right? Yeah, that’s what it’s about. That’s not actually any concern for your endometriosis or your health.

Dani

Yeah, I try to say, like, oh, these people just, just don’t know. They just don’t know any better. They don’t actually experience this. They’re trying to help. They’re just misguided, I guess. So I usually my kindest response is just to not respond at all, actually. But then I get to come on this podcast and talk about it, so I feel a little bit better.

Alice

Absolutely.

Dani

Right. Yeah. All right, well, this was awesome to have you on, and I’m certain we’ll have you on again to talk about, like, various topics that come up. We. I cannot believe this is going to come out, I think, at the beginning of August, and we only have, like, three months of podcasts left to record for the whole year. And then we need to get the whole team together. You and Giacomo and me and Athena and Christina and maybe even Priya and, like, sit together and come up with 52 podcast

topics and YouTube topics for next year. I’m, like, a little nauseous just thinking about having to sit down and do that, but it’s going to. It’s going to be fun, and we’ll be able to get more of you and more of Athena. And I think Christina is going to make in some, like, yoga appearance appearances also, which I’m super pumped for, so.

Alice

That’D be great for her.

Dani

Yeah. All right, well, thank you so much, Alice, for coming on. If there’s anything that you guys want to hear about or you have questions for Alice, just shoot them to our email. Coacheganproteins.com if you are interested in working with Alice, do not sleep on this. Like, she’s going to be a rock star coach, I am telling you.

And she will fill up and she will not have spots. So if you want to work with her, go to veganproteins.com and you can go to the coaching page and just fill out an application right there and we’ll see if we’re a good fit or if Alice is a good fit for you. Once again, my name is Dani and I’m Alice. All right, we will talk to you soon.

Alice

Again.