#308: "Broc and Roll" with Rip and Carrie - Overcoming Social Pressures of Staying PLANTSTRONG
Let’s face it—choosing a plant-strong lifestyle can sometimes feel like swimming upstream. Whether it’s side-eyes at the dinner table, skeptical coworkers, or relentless comments from “nutrition experts” on TikTok, the pressure is real.
Rip and Carrie at the 2023 Austin Marathon
In this episode, Rip and his producer, Carrie Barrett, share that it's not just doable—it’s empowering.
Drawing on decades of personal experience and thousands of conversations in the PLANTSTRONG community, they offer real-world strategies, mindset shifts, and a big dose of confidence to help you stay strong, no matter what’s coming at you.
They share:
Why social pressure is one of the biggest obstacles to a plant-based lifestyle
How to handle criticism from friends, family, and strangers
The power of treating your lifestyle shift as a personal experiment
Why ridicule often says more about them than you
Tips for finding (and building) plant-based support communities - Plantstrong Facebook Community, Forks Over Knives, Healthy World Vitality Plan, Plant Based Nutrition Support Group (PBNSG)
The importance of having a strong “why” - write a “why” every day and put it in a jar. Journal about your daily “why” and reflect on its importance
How to set boundaries and stand up for yourself with confidence
Learning to give yourself grace on the journey
Conviction and confidence are your greatest allies. Stand tall, stay true, and remember—every time you say “yes” to plants, you’re saying yes to your health, your values, and the world.
Episode Resources
“Getting Along Without Going Along” by Dr. Doug Lisle
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PLANTSTRONG Meal Planner - https://home.mealplanner.plantstrong.com/
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Full Episode Transcription via AI Transcription Service
I'm Rip Esselstyn and you're listening to the PLANTSTRONG podcast. We are smack dab in the middle of summer travel season here in the good old US of a, and I hope that you're all enjoying yourselves. Exploring all kinds of new places, and if you're on the road, you're keeping it planned strong. Not long ago, my producer of the podcast, Carrie and I, we released a short episode on how to stay planned strong while traveling and eating out at restaurants.
And oftentimes a break from routine can pose challenges. Like vacations during summertime, but we like to think of these things more of an adventure than anything else. So today we are back with another Brock and roll. That's right. Not rock and roll Brock. And roll with Rip and Carrie. It's one of our minisodes that discuss another hot topic, like how do you deal.
With all of the social pressures and the ridicule of being a whole food plant-based person, I know it sounds crazy like. This lifestyle, one that's abundant in fruits and vegetables and whole grains and beans, and is all about being a better steward for the planet. And being compassionate towards animals is constantly under scrutiny.But it is. And so Carrie and I we're here to help. So how do we deal with the social pressures and the constant jabbing that we get? Let's find out right now.
Hey everyone. I wanna welcome you to another episode of the PLANTSTRONG podcast. However, this one is a little different and Carrie, who is and has been my producer of the PLANTSTRONG podcast. Now going on five years, we've decided that we wanna. We're gonna tackle different themes, questions, topics that we feel are pertinent based upon kind of all the feedback that we're getting, uh, from both you and the the world at large.
And we're just gonna dive into them. And these are gonna be kind of mini episodes that are. Somewhere between eight to 12 minutes in length. Um, so they're very, very much, um, very easily digestible.
Yep. By all of you. And we'll be riffing back and forth a little bit. I think that with your. Almost 40 years.
Mm-hmm.
Of experience on a whole food plant-based diet. In my now almost 17 years, we have a lot of advice to offer. I think we have a lot of anecdotes that have worked for us in certain difficult situations, and in working with so many of the thousands of people that you've worked with through the years, you have seen what can work.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
And. What bubbles up for us a lot at PLANTSTRONG are the same barriers over and over and over that we all have and that we still deal with. Mm-hmm. Not a day goes by that somebody doesn't make fun of you. Rip be for being a whole food plant-based advocate. And after 40 years, you've learned to navigate that challenge quite easily.
Yeah. Yeah.
But you'd be surprised how many people, if they are doing it, they're not doing it to my face anymore.
Yeah, yeah, you're right. Well, now everyone's a keyboard, Jackie, right now there's trolls online and
Yeah. Right.
Yeah.
So, but, but, so let me, uh, turn it over to you. So what. What's gonna be our first topic?
Well, I, what I'm doing here is I'm looking at a survey that we did at PLANTSTRONG where we wanted to get feedback from you on where do you see the struggles when it comes to either sustaining this lifestyle or beginning this lifestyle. And this was far and away the most mentioned objection or barrier.
I call it an opportunity, and that is the social challenges and the lack of support that people have when they go to make a big change like this. So many struggle with being the only plant-based eater in their family.
Mm-hmm. We hear that a lot. House divided. Many find it challenging to go to parties or restaurants and It is just temptation for them to say, oh, this is too difficult. Mm-hmm. I can't do it. Mm-hmm. So rip. When you were first navigating this, and now when you are working with people over and over and over again, what are some of the tips that you give to people when it comes to these social pressures?
Mm-hmm. Well, I think the first thing is, is you really have to have a thick skin.
Yeah. Yeah.
Right. And, and just don't, don't take it personally. It's people. They just, unfortunately they don't, they don't know any better. And for the most part, I would say the vast majority of Americans are nutritionally illiterate.
And we all know that there's so much noise and confusion swirling around out there right now with all these different dietary tribes and. I mean, obviously I'm biased, but I think that the tribe that is rooted in the most science and truth is a whole food plant-based diet for a multitude of reasons that we've talked about dozens and dozens of times on the PLANTSTRONG Podcast.
So first and foremost, just don't take it personally, know that this person that is. Questioning you that is in your face. This cousin, brother, sister, maybe even parent that is calling you to the carpet on what you're eating. They probably have the best of intentions, but they don't have the best of knowledge behind what you're doing.
And so, you know, I think one of the best things you can do is take the Doug Lyle approach where you kinda let him know, Hey, you know what this is. Uh, this may be silly, but I've kind of, I've, I've kind of given myself, um, I've made a promise to myself that I am gonna try this for 30 days and then see what happens.
And that way it kind of takes the heat off yourself. It's an experiment. You're not proclaiming that I'm gonna be doing this for the rest of my life.
Mm-hmm. Yep.
And, uh, and I think that's a good, a good thing. So, so anyway, so for starters, yeah. And I think that when somebody is coming at you hard, it says more about them and their insecurities than it does about you and so by. Attacking you by questioning you, by saying, oh, this TikTok handle says that so and so diet is better or that you're gonna be deficient. It really calls into question. I think their, uh, self-esteem and their lack of, I dunno, confidence I think in themselves. And so truly. That's the one thing I have always tried to lean back on is like when somebody is putting me down or making some harsh judgment or saying, oh, they tried this and it didn't work for them.
To me, it's coming at a place like they're not attacking me. It, it really is. It's, it's more about them. It says more about where they're at in their life and you know, I don't ever try to throw science at anyone unless they very specifically ask. Mm-hmm. I am not. Out to convert the world to my way of living.
I think in your experience, unless somebody comes that is very interested, it just doesn't work. Mm-hmm. You know, to get, to get preachy, so to speak. And you can typically tell pretty quickly if they're genuinely curious and asking heartfelt questions or if they're actually trying to. Somehow, you know, blow a, create a hole in your, in your submarine. Yeah. And, uh, and, and try and sink you.
Yeah.
Um, you know, you mentioned, um, people saying, oh, well yeah, I went vegan for, you know, 30 days and oh my God, I couldn't believe what happened to, you know, this or that, or my energy levels, uh, sank or anything like that. And I, you know, my father. Tells people that inappropriate application of the method is no reason for its abandonment.
And so it's amazing how many people think and, and we have seen this time and time again. They think that they're doing the PLANTSTRONG program correctly. And then we ask them, send us a, a journal, a food journal of everything you've eaten for the last two weeks so that we can review it. And just see if we need to do any course corrections. And if you're actually doing it a hundred, a hundred, 10%. And what we find is we're lucky if they're doing it 50%. Wow. And so, wow. Wow. And so it's almost like a combin, a combination lock, right? Mm-hmm. Where you have to get, you know, all of it together and then that lock un opens and you're gonna see the magic of increased energy, Weight loss, bringing down cholesterol levels, uh, LDL, all the, you know, blood sugar levels plummeting, all these things. Mm-hmm.
And when it comes to lack of support or feeling like you don't have a community of people to lean on first I would start with finding an online community. Either in person or on Facebook or wherever.
Uh, there are so many groups out there. Uh, go Plant Strong has one. We have a an online Facebook group that is free and open to anyone where we celebrate progress over perfection. Yeah, I would start, I would start there, but there are myriad support groups, tons that you can, that you can fall on.
We just interviewed Um, Bev and, and and Don?
Yes. Yes. And can you remember what their group was? Uh, healthy World Vitality Program. Oh, yeah. Out of, uh, out of Sedona, Arizona. But it's for people that are even outside Yes. Of Sedona. That just happens to be where they started the uh, That support group.
And for $40 a year you can be a part of this vigorous. Support group with ongoing education and resources. So I would start there. If you don't feel like you have community among loved ones, you've gotta seek it out. The other thing I would say is when this lifestyle can gets challenging, and I think at the beginning it will obviously, I. Would every day write a list of why's or even if it's just one, why a day? One thing that I used to tell athletes when I would coach runners and triathletes was when it got hard and it did get hard, uh, to every day put their why in a jar. So every day you're writing down, um, to. You know, to be a better mom or whatever, and put that why in a jar.
And on those days when it gets really tough and you have no motivation and you are feeling low pull, pull one of those why's out of that jar. Mm-hmm. And then write about it. Spend time with that. Why a reflection?
Do a reflection on that. Yeah. And it just puts you back in that head space of, of this is important to me, this.Is bigger than any mockery I might get at the next family party. Yeah. I like that. It's bigger. It's bigger than a, a hard day.
Yes. Right. And you're gonna, you're gonna overcome that. And then I find that the more times that you can Perry, right? Mm-hmm. Deflect those hard moments, those hard conversations, those hard days Over time, the easier and easier it gets.
I, I wrote that same thing in my notes, Rip and we did not share notes before this, but I just said you have to go to the well a lot and it does get easier and easier and easier.
Gimme an example of a time over your 17 years when you've had a hard day.
Well, uh, one of the Uh, topics that we will cover, if not today, in a, in a later episode is when I first went whole food plant-based. Uh, we were traveling, I think I was, you know, maybe six months in. And so I was really, really trying to be perfect and we were traveling to Germany for a fun vacation and. Because I was so rigid, uh, I sort of sucked the fun out of it.
Yeah. And I wasn't totally proud of myself, but it, it was a time when it was important for me to, to be steadfast.
Hmm.
Because. I didn't wanna get six months into this journey and then just, uh, say, oh, forget it. I'm gonna let it all go to pot while I'm on this trip.
Mm-hmm.
What I've learned since then is to be flexible is to, is to, okay, great.
If I have to go to, to a restaurant and there is oil on my vegetables, like, okay. You know, just you. You'll be fine. Yeah. Just get up tomorrow morning, eat your oatmeal, and you'll, you'll move on from it. Mm-hmm. So that is something too, when you are feeling challenged Yeah. Is just to give yourself a little grace Yeah In this journey.
No, I think that's a whole topic mm-hmm. That we should say for, for another episode of this. But speaking of which, you know, our time's just about up. Oh my gosh. Well, and, and, and I wanna, and I want be. Well, I like to be cognizant of let's, let's keep these kind of, you know, short and, and sparkly and, and, uh, informative.
I like it, but let me leave with one thing. And I, I've been, I have been given this advice a lot, which is stand up for yourself.
Mm-hmm.
Hmm. And I had to learn that through therapy the hard way. But if someone you feel is attacking you or questioning you or belittling you, it is okay to say that is not okay.
Mm-hmm.
You cannot, please don't treat me like that.
Mm-hmm.
And I had, uh, decades of being bullied because I was the youngest of five kids. The only girl I was. You know, an overweight girl growing up and just awkward. And I had made fun of a lot and it wasn't until I was in my late twenties rip that I started going to therapy and to unpack some of these issues.
And my therapist then said, well, have you ever told anybody have, just stop that it's not okay. And I hadn't, I hadn't stood up for myself so. To round out how to handle these social challenges and lack of support, one of the things I will tell you is it's okay to stand up for yourself.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I like that.
Thanks. That's really. That's a really nice way to end this. Okay, Carrie, thank you.
aYeah, you're welcome. And for our, for our audience, I will summarize these points on our episode webpage so that you'll have a nice bullet pointed list of some of the things that we've talked about and maybe even some more bonuses and links out to talks like the talk from Doug Lyle.
Mm-hmm. Uh, he's got a beautiful talk on how to, how to go along without getting along. How to get along, get along without going along. He has a beautiful talk called How to Get Along Without Going AlonYes, and uh, we'll, we'll put a link to that as well. Alright. Hey, PLANTSTRONG
You got it.
I would say two of the key words from today's episode are conviction and confidence.
And as Carrie and I said, it is absolutely okay. To stand up for yourself when the questions and the taunting begins. If you need a few resources for inspiration, we'll be sure to drop them in the show notes for you. I want you all to enjoy your summer, and remember, no matter where you are or who you're with, always, always keep it playing strong.
See you next week. The PLANTSTRONG podcast team includes Carrie Barrett, Laurie Kortowich, and Ami Mackey. If you like what you hear, do us a favor and share the show with your friends and loved ones. You can always leave a five star rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And while you're there. Make sure to hit that follow button so that you never miss an episode.
As always, this and every episode is dedicated to my parents, Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr. And Anne Crile Esselstyn. Thanks so much for listening.
