EP. 42: Matthew Sipala

This weeks game changing guest is Matthew Sipala from Melbourne, Australia. 

He is the Founder of You4ia Health, a business focused on a health and active lifestyle. 

Matthew was an obese teen, battling the daily lure of the modern food system. Heavily processed, fatty, sugary and packaged food like products.

He tried multiple fad diets and calorie counting, with some results. They continually failed to address Matthew's core problem, food addiction.

Hear how he turned it all around!

In this conversation we covered:

- Matthew's childhood in Melbourne, Australia.

- What a typical day of eating looked like in Primary School.

- Fad Diets such as low carb and shake style diets.

- How calorie counting worked against Matthew.

- The moments which turned Matthew's health and life around.

- His business and podcast.

You can find Matthew @you4iahealth on Instagram and www.you4iahealth.com

Hope you enjoy the show!

EP. 41: Ben Brown

This weeks game changing guest is Ben Brown, he is a professional AFL footballer and vegan athlete, from Australia and currently plays for the North Melbourne Football Club.

After being overlooked at 3 separate drafts, Ben was taken with pick 47 in 2013 by the Kangaroos.

Since then he has become a 3 time leading goal scorer and an ambassador for some amazing organizations. He truly understands the position he holds in society and is keen to make the most of his time in the spotlight by consistently speaking up for what he believes in.

In this conversation we covered:

- Ben's childhood growing up in Tasmania.

- Playing footy and wanting to make it at the elite level.

- Overcoming setbacks at 3 drafts to become and AFL player.

- Switching to a vegan diet and insight in to how the NMFC has helped.

- Speaking up for what you believe in and aligning actions with values.

- Becoming a father for the first time.

- Much more!

Hope you enjoy the show!

You can find Ben on Instagram at @bdbrown50

EP. 40: Amanda Walker

This weeks game changing guest is Amanda Walker, the Founder of ‘Lord of The Fries’ and ‘Weirdoughs’, two extremely popular eateries in Australia. Lord of The Fries is a popular fast food chain that is 100% vegan and Weirdoughs is a 100% vegan bakery in Melbourne. Both are absolutely delicious.

In 2004, Amanda and her husband, Mark, began the business from a food truck/trailer, selling fries at events around Melbourne.

The business has now grown to be in 5 states around Australia and also across the ditch in New Zealand. 

In this conversation we covered:

- Amanda's life growing up in Canada.

- Deciding to go vegetarian in high school after doing a project on animal husbandry.

- Moving to Taiwan to teach English.

- Meeting her husband, Mark and moving to Australia.

- Starting Lord Of The Fries from a food trailer.

- Expanding to 5 states around Australia and across to New Zealand.

- Much more!

Hope you enjoy the show!

You can find Amanda on Instagram @omanda and her businesses below:

www.lordofthefries.com.au

www.weirdoughs.com.au

EP. 38: The Holt Twins

This weeks game changing guests are identical twins Robbie and Justin Holt, AKA ‘The Holt Twins’. 

Justin and Robbie grew up in England, sport mad and super competitive. They describe their diet growing up as the British pasta diet. High in carbs to fuel their competitive running.

Fast forward to life after college and Justin told his brother about the documentary Forks Over Knives. What happened next was pretty awesome!

In this conversation we covered:

- Growing up in the UK.

- Life as twins and what it was like living apart for a while.

- Their love for competition.

- Traveling to the USA and starting 2 businesses back in the UK.

- The Ultimate plant based science test.

- Life in Australia.

- And much more!

Hope you enjoy the show!

You can find The Holt Twins @theholttwins on IG and at www.theholttwins.com

EP. 37: Adam Guthrie

This weeks game changing guest is heart attack survivor, ironman and plant based chef Adam Guthrie.

At the age of 39, Adam was out surfing with a good mate in his home town on the NSW coast. After paddling up a big wave, he felt a massive pain shoot through his chest and shoulder. Thinking he had pulled a muscle, Adam went home to rest up.

It was when he got home and had started work that he felt the heart attack for real. Crushing chest pain took over and Adam had to find a way to get to hospital.

What happens after this is truly incredible and you will hear about it in todays conversation.

In this episode we covered:

- Adam's childhood and relationship with farm animals.

- One of the most pivotal moments in Adam's life, his 21st Birthday.

- Going vegetarian.

- Having a heart attack at 39.

- Adopting a Whole Food Plant Based Diet and getting off medication.

- Training for and completing an ironman in 2015.

- His family and moving to Bali with them for 3 years.

+ Much more!

Hope you enjoy the show!

You can find Adam at www.adamguthrie.com and also www.ifeelgood.com.au where you can get a free 12 month subscription to their online magazine.

EP. 36: Osher Günsberg

This weeks game changing guest is Osher Günsberg, Australian TV host, podcast maker, best selling author and all round great human!

Osher has been sharing his own personal story and mental health struggles publicly since about 2015. He recently released his memoir ‘Back, After The Break’, he is the host of The Bachelor Australia and runs The Osher Günsberg podcast. 

In this conversation we covered:

- Osher's struggle with anxiety since about 5 years of age.

- His career in the media.

- Alcohol addiction. 

- Moving to Los Angeles to start a radio show for Australia.

- Meeting his wife Audrey, and the impact she's had on his life.

- Briefly, being a vegetarian since 2002 and now a vegan.

Hope you enjoy the show!

You can find Osher on Instagram at @osher_gunsberg. He also has a brilliant podcast, ‘Better Than Yesterday, with Osher Günsberg’.

EP. 31: Pam Ahern

This weeks game changing guest is Pam Ahern, the founder of Edgars Mission Farm Sanctuary, located outside of Melbourne, Australia. 

Pam and her team are some of the greatest champions for animals in the world, and it was an absolute honor to share her own personal story as well as the story of the sanctuary. 

In this episode we cover:

- Pam's childhood

- Starting a cat and dog rescue at an early age with her Mum.

- Her successful equestrian career

- Bringing Edgar Alan Pig into her life in 2003

- Starting Edgars Mission and getting outside her comfort zone

- An amazing story about a couple of rescued pregnant dairy cows. Clara Bell & Daphne. 

- The Cooking with kindness cookbook

- Impact the sanctuary has had on the local community!

+ Much more!

I hope you enjoy the show.

You can find some extremely uplifting content on their Instagram page @edgarsmission and their website www.edgarsmisson.org.au where they have an awesome cook book available, ‘Cooking With Kindness’. 

EP. 30: Shannon Martinez

This weeks game changing guest is Shannon Martinez, Australian chef, author and TV personality from Melbourne, Australia.

She is someone who has dedicated over a decade of her life to making vegan food insanely delicious and more importantly, food that everyone is going to rave about. She is succeeding in a massive way. She has opened Smith and Daughters, Smith and Deli, released two cook books and Shannon recently featured on one of Australia’s most popular TV shows, My Kitchen rules as the celebrity chef.

The first location, Smith & Daughters which offers dinner throughout the week and brunch on weekends was nominated as the best purely vegan restaurant in the world and 3rd best on a list of vegan friendly restaurants. This was a recent vote from over 1.5 million ‘big 7 travel’ readers.

In this episode we cover:

- More on her upbringing in Australia.

- Her big decision between music and food as a career.

- How she became a chef dedicated to vegan food.

- Why a traditional eduction in cooking is her superpower.

- Not being a vegan herself.

- The Smith & Daughters story and more!

Hope you enjoy the show.

You can find Shannon online at @shannon_martinez on Instagram and at http://www.smithanddaughters.com/ where you can purchase their famous cookbooks, clothing, pins and stickers! 

EP. 29: Yoko Inoue

This weeks game changing guest is Yoko Inoue, Australian raw vegan chef, business owner and incredible human being!

Yoko grew up in Japan and at the age of just 15 years old moved to New Zealand on her own. She learned English, and also started to cook more in her new home country as she had more time outside of school compared to when living in Japan. 

Between cooking her first lamb roast in New Zealand and now, her life has taken many twists and turns. 

In this conversation we chat about:

- What it was like growing up in Japan.

- Moving to New Zealand on her own, at 15 years old.

- Major career change.

- The birth of her daughter, Layla.

- Experiencing a serious health scare and switching to a mainly raw diet.

- Opening a successful restaurant in an extremely competitive city.

+ Much more!

I have to send a huge thank you to Yoko, because you’re about to hear more of her story than she is usually willing to share. I hope you enjoy our conversation today!

You can find Yoko on Instagram @inoue.yoko and @shokuiku. The restaurant website is shokuikuaustralia.com and her podcast is called ‘Wellness Foodie’. Go and say hi to Yoko and let her know what you thought about our conversation!

EP. 28: Mike Case

This weeks game changing guest is Mike Case, English personal trainer and plant eater, AKA Vegainz Coach.

Mike is based in Sydney, Australia, after living in Melbourne for a number of years. We caught up with Mike at my family home in the south east suburbs of Melbourne for a chat. 

If you have been following Mike for a while, you may expect this to be all strength and fitness. However we go much deeper than that. 

In this episode we cover:

- Mikes background in the UK

- How he decided to live in Australia.

- Self development.

- Travel

- What’s best for our bodies in terms of nutrition and exercise.

- The world seed bank in the arctic circle!

+ Much more!

I hope you enjoy destroying some myths with Mike and I today!

You can find Mike on Instagram @vegainzcoach and also at https://vegainzcoach.com.au/.

He is a fantastic resource if you’re looking to nail your fitness and nutrition goals, you do not have to reside in Australia to work with him!

EP. 27: Andrew Taylor

This weeks game changing guest is Andrew ’Spudfit’ Taylor from Melbourne, Australia. 

After personally choosing to eat plant based back in 2016, I heard a story about a man from Australia who had decided to eat potatoes for the year in a bid to battle his food addiction.

The term food addiction is not something that we often use, and for many, this term may sound funny. Coupled with a diet of only potatoes and I’m sure there are many people out there who thought this was some kind of joke. However Andrew was tackling his problem with a solution that he thought would work and if it wasn’t to be the solution, the worst thing that could happen was that he’d be back at square one.

In this episode we cover:

- Andrew shares his story about his ongoing battle with weight.

- His time as a national long distance kayaker.

- The motivation behind his desired change.

- How Andrew sees and defines food addiction.

- Why he chose the potato as the only food he would consume in 2016.

- What his blood test results were like when eating only potatoes. 

+Much more!

I really enjoyed chatting with Andrew and also learned a lot. He was able to give me a new perspective on this topic and provided an amazing recount of his journey. 

You can find Andrew on Instagram @spudfit and also online at spudfit.com where you can his new cookbook with over 100 whole food potato based recipes!