Her Husband's Stroke and Embracing the Word of Wisdom: Ali Essig's Story - Latter-Day Lights

In this weeks episode, Ali Essig shares the story of how her husband had a major stroke at only 37 years-old, and how her inspiration to follow the word of wisdom has helped to save her husband's life and transform her family's health.

Ali, a devoted mother of six and passionate advocate for plant-based nutrition, takes us on her journey to discovering the immense health benefits of plant-based diets in reducing the risk of chronic diseases. She shares her tips and tricks for transitioning your family to a plant-based lifestyle without causing disruption, as well as navigating the world of vegan recipes, and saving time and money in the process. Plus, we'll discuss the connections between nourishment and our divine purpose.

As we delve into the influences of the food industry and the role of lobbyists, subsidies, and media in shaping our diets, we'll learn how to make healthier choices and stand up against conspiring forces. This enlightening and empowering episode will provide you with the tools and motivation you need to transform your eating habits, improve your family's health, and share your newfound wisdom with others.

Don't miss this chance to learn from Ali's experience and join the plant-based revolution!

 *** Please SHARE Ali's story and help us spread hope and light to others. ***

To WATCH this episode on YouTube, visit: https://youtu.be/ez1xR6Cmja8

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To FOLLOW Ali online, you can visit one of the links below:

Website: https://www.plantwhys.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@plantwhys/featured
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plantwhys/?hl=en

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Also, if you have a faith-promoting or inspiring story, or know someone who does, please let us know by going to https://www.latterdaylights.com and reaching out to us.

Transcript

Scott Brandley: 0:00

Hi everyone, I'm Scott Brandley.

Alisha Coakley: 0:03

And I'm Alisha Coakley. Every member of the church has a story to share, one that can instill faith, invite growth and inspire others.

Scott Brandley: 0:11

On today's episode, we're going to hear how one woman's diligence in following the word of wisdom helped save her husband's life. Welcome to Latter-day Lights. Hey everyone, welcome to another edition of Latter-day Lights. We're so glad you're here with us today. We're really excited to introduce our special guest, Ali Essig. Ali, how are you doing?

Ali Essig: 0:39

I'm doing good, thanks, how are you?

Scott Brandley: 0:41

Doing great.

Alisha Coakley: 0:42

We're good. I'm a little tired today so I went heavy on the concealer. I'm just like woo, not enough sleep last night, which I'm sure you're probably going to reprimand me for what we're talking about today, mom. I assume that's part of our story. but yeah, yeah for sure I am super excited.

Alisha Coakley: 1:05

I always like to tell our guest kind of, or tell our listeners how our guest came to be. Sometimes we go to a fireside. sometimes we know someone who has a story. other times we have people that reach out to us.

Alisha Coakley: 1:17

This time it was different because my best friend, Jess. she loves following you on Instagram. She is all about health and just living in such a way that can really strengthen your body and heal it and everything like that. She's been following you for a while and she happened to see somewhere on your Instagram. I couldn't find the post myself, but you were open to going on podcasts and to talking about your experience and stuff. She messaged me and she's like you need to check this girl out. I was like, okay, i go look and I sent you a message and you got back to me almost right away. Honestly, I did not think that you were going to get back to me right away, or maybe even at all. I was like, oh, she's probably just doing her amazing thing out there, but you did.

Alisha Coakley: 2:07

I'm so excited because we have not had a story like this yet and we haven't been able to have conversations like this yet. Here you go, guys, to our listeners. If you know someone who has an incredible story, let us know. We'll reach out to them, we'll ask them. Who knows, maybe they'll be like Ali and they'll be sitting here. I'm super excited. But before we get into all of that, Ali, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Ali Essig: 2:35

Yeah, I live in the Washington DC area technically in Arlington Virginia, but it's so close to DC. I used to work in Capitol Hill. On Capitol Hill, I used to work for a congressman for years and years. My husband works as an attorney and his office building is right by the White House. In fact, when we go to visit him at work it's my kids all love to look out his window and see all of the guards that are on top of the White House with their guns dressed in black. It's really fun. We've lived out here for 15 years and this is our home now. We love it, but we're both originally from Centerville, utah, and so we have the Utah ties. But I've really made DC our home.

Alisha Coakley: 3:19

And how many kids do you have?

Ali Essig: 3:21

Yeah, so we have six kids ages. They're about seven and a half years apart. The ages right now are between 12 and four, but we had twins at the end, so that's kind of how we got them all here so fast. But it's fun, it's loud, it's chaotic, crazy. And especially in DC, everyone, whenever I walk around, they're like wow, you have your hands full, right, it's a party. It's a party.

Scott Brandley: 3:49

Have you ever taken a tour of the White House?

Ali Essig: 3:52

Yeah, yeah. So that's another benefit of living here. You always have friends. So we've done the typical Christmas tour multiple times where you get to see all the Christmas decorations, and then we've had friends take us through on private tours where we got to see the old office and all the really neat parts of the White House. So, yeah, it's great, that is so cool.

Alisha Coakley: 4:14

Oh man, I have been dying to take my kids to DC. I went way back in the I mean, i cringe doing the math, I don't want to do the math, but anyway, i was back in middle school and I went to DC And I remember it had such an impact on me Just the history, especially going and seeing the graveyard of all of the soldiers and in the Holocaust Museum, like that was so powerful And I just thought every person in America needs to come to DC. Like we should just make it a requisite, like if you live in America, you have to go to DC at some point and you have to see some of this history and some of some of the things that took place and some of the sacrifices that were made, because it was just, it was amazing. I loved it. It kind of like was the thing that sparked my love of all things history and whatever else. I'm a little jealous. I'm not jealous of your traffic, i'm not jealous of your history. We definitely pay the price.

Ali Essig: 5:17

In fact, one of my a story for another day is being stuck in a motorcade when I was in labor about giving birth. You know, and that's just that's how it is out here There's always motorcades that come by, block all the traffic because something's going on, and it's birth to my child in the car. So the traffic Did you really? Yeah, Oh no, I made it to the hospital, but barely, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, that is insane, I know Well.

Alisha Coakley: 5:43

With that, we are excited to hear a little more about your story and it takes place in the DC area. Is that right? Yeah, okay, awesome, well, we will give you the floor. Mrs. Ali, go ahead and take it away.

Ali Essig: 5:57

Awesome. Well, we, you know, are just like any other standard American, with six children, and my family and I, you know, were born in the church and my husband actually was called to be a bishop right after my twins were born. So we had six kids. I had twin babies. It was chaotic. He's an attorney And, you know, once the babies were around nine months old, I got a, you know, a knock on the door.

Ali Essig: 6:25

They'll never forget. I was actually in the shower and my neighbor was knocking on my door, on my bathroom door. I was like Ali. Ali, you have to. Your husband's on his way to the ER, you have to come out. And so I hurry and get out of the shower. And there's all these thoughts racing through my head. Like, was he hit by a car? You know what happened? Like what's going on? And she said he had tried to get a hold of me. Obviously I was in the shower so we couldn't. So we called her. She had raced over, my door was open. She came inside and she didn't know the answer either, but just said that he's on his way to the ER. I tried calling and his coworkers had left all these messages and said that something was going on with his vision. Something was terribly wrong. They weren't sure what it was. So I luckily was able to leave my children with my neighbor and I raced to the ER.

Ali Essig: 7:12

I remember opening the door to the hospital and scanning the room and then seeing my husband. That didn't really even look like my husband, slumped over in a wheelchair. He was only 37 years old, but he looked like in that moment like he was 80 years old And I could tell immediately in my heart as soon as I saw him that he was having a stroke, his you know the side of his face, and I was kind of slipping down and it's like instantly in my heart. That's what I knew. But I still questioned it. He questioned it. We didn't know what was going on, and so it took hours and hours of tests and more tests and more tests to find out what my heart knew in that moment. And my husband was told that he had had a stroke and it was affecting his vision. He, he had just been sitting down in his office one day at work when all of a sudden started seeing double and he came out of his office Like the thought really came to his mind I don't want to die in my office. So I'm going to come out, because it wasn't just the vision, like something else was going on that he could like tell was serious. And his, his assistant, saw him and was like, Oh, call, immediately called 911. And so that's kind of what brought us to that point.

Ali Essig: 8:27

And I remember thinking a million times asking the doctor is this because of stress? Like, could this be caused by stress? And the doctor was very clear. He said you know, stress can exacerbate something, but there's already, like things that are going on, there's already something going on inside your body that stress can definitely exacerbate, but that's not the root cause. So they ran more tests, they tried to figure out if it was his genetic history, if he had a heart arrhythmia, if he had a hole in his heart. If you know, there was some type of explanation why a 37 year old would be having a stroke. And everything went, came back negative. Like everything said that you know, no, there was no, no genetic history, no hole in his heart, no, no arrhythmia, like nothing. We almost wish that there was, because then we would have gotten some type of answer of understanding, but there was nothing. So then in the, in the hospital, they give you this piece of paper that basically says we don't know why you had the stroke, we don't know what's going on, but we do know that from here on out you're at a much higher risk of having another stroke, and so it's really important for you to follow a heart healthy diet, especially considering how young you are.

Ali Essig: 9:42

Now. My husband's not overweight Like we in fact, not like that much overweight, i'd say. We both gained the twin baby weight when I had twins And we had been following, actually at like, the typical macro base, like high protein diet, to lose weight And it had been working. We had both been losing weight. He had just recently lost 15 pounds And so I immediately thought like but wait, we, we're eating healthy. Like we're eating healthy. Why? I don't get it. And you know, you sit down, you kind of meet with a dietitian.

Ali Essig: 10:14

But all of it sounded so confusing and I couldn't quite grasp what, what a heart healthy diet meant. And on our piece of paper it said from here on out, you need to, you know, stop smoking, stop drinking. I'm like well, we weren't doing that. We shouldn't have been protected because we weren't doing that. But they also said you need to avoid trans fat, you need to avoid saturated fat, you need to avoid cholesterol and eat more fiber, and those names aren't not, are not foods, right? So it was hard to know how do I apply this? Like what? what foods am I really avoiding What? how do I actually put this into practice? And so we came home from the hospital. You know, we're just kind of figuring life out, you know, like trying to.

Ali Essig: 10:59

My husband still had the double vision, he couldn't drive, he couldn't work, so we're just.

Ali Essig: 11:04

You know, it took a couple of months to kind of get our foot on the ground. Just a function. And then, you know, we would often question, like what is saturated fat? Look, it's in peanut butter. It's not me who's eating peanut butter. Like we were confused and say, right, like anyone would read. So we, we decided to go to the temple and to kind of figure this out and spend some time researching on our own on what a heart healthy diet really is. And when I went to the temple and at the time the Washington DC temple was closed, so it was a three hour drive into Philadelphia and then a three hour drive back home. And as we're driving there, i'm doing some research on a couple different things and found out that the number one source of saturated fat in the American diet is actually cheese And the second one is beef. And my husband was, like you know, I could give up, like read me easily, but I don't know if I could ever give up cheese.

Scott Brandley: 11:59

Right, that's a tough one.

Alisha Coakley: 12:01

Yeah, yeah. Especially like in our faith, right, like it's just like part of our culture. It's like you just bring the cheesy potatoes, you have your taco night with all your cheese. Yeah, that's crazy.

Ali Essig: 12:16

I know, I know It was just kind of how we felt, but we go into the temple and I just felt really strongly at the time that I really needed to follow the word of wisdom completely. And I was reminded too, as I'm sitting in the temple really praying about what to do. My dad had actually passed away of a heart attack a couple of years before this And he didn't get any warning. He had his one, his only heart attack. There was no warning heart attack. And I had wished at the time that he had a warning. I had prayed, like why did you take him away without giving him a chance to change? And I'm sitting here in the temple realizing, like we have this chance to change, i have been given this second chance that my dad never did. And so I, as the one who's cooking the meals in the home and decide in this moment like God, you tell me what to do and I will do it. And it was just follow the word of wisdom completely, like 100%. And so I opened the word of wisdom in this classroom and I'm like so let's to eat. Like that we should be eating wheat. And I was kind of confused because I thought, like gluten was bad. You know, like there's so much nutrition confusion in this world, and then it you know there's some parts they're definitely confusing, and so, right, you're right.

Ali Essig: 13:34

So I took him home, pondered, I prayed, and as we do more research, you know, and as I'm telling my husband when I'm learning, and the impacts of saturated fat and cheese and all these things, and he's like, okay, i think I could, i could give it a try, and so we, we stopped eating as much dairy, right, and then so that was kind of the saturated fat aspect to me. Once I found out, okay, it's just a lot of cheese and dairy and then red meat. And then, when it came to trans fat, I was like, well, that's a lot of fried foods, a lot of. Sometimes it's naturally found in animal products as well, and then the cholesterol is going to be, you know, like the typical eggs, but cholesterol is not as important as the saturated fat, and the trans fat, like cholesterol, has more of a less impact. My husband actually, though, didn't have that high of cholesterol. He was like 175, which over 200, just to give you some perspective, over 200 is considered high, so he was still not medium zone. It wasn't super clear. He was just kind of medium high And anything below 150 is where you're in the safe zone.

Ali Essig: 14:39

So then I go deep and I'm like who, what are people eating who have cholesterol that are below 150? And it really goes back to these diets that are based off of more fruits and vegetables, that people are active. And so I realized that, you know, we're told to eat more fiber in that heart healthy diet description And at the time I was like that's fiber? one bars Like what is fiber? What is it? And I learned that fiber really is only found in plants And that 95% of Americans are deficient in fiber. The only 5% of us are eating enough fiber And really that basically means that we all need to be eating more fruits, vegetables, but not just fruits and vegetables more whole grains. So it goes back to that, like you know whole grains.

Ali Essig: 15:30

As I was reading the word wisdom, more legumes, more beans, right, more nuts and more seeds. And as I was diving into the word of wisdom and I'm searching it and it's like you know, we should be eating fruit in its season And while we live in a modern day, O don't think you necessarily need to be eating in each season I'm learning about what hunters and gatherers really do eat, like how much fiber they actually would be eating. And the Hasda tribe is one of the last known hunter-gatherers And while they do eat some meat, they actually eat, you know, around 600 varieties of plants every single year, where the average American is eating 50 varieties of plants right, they're eating over a hundred grams of fiber a day, where the average American is eating 15 grams of fiber a day. And that if we were truly hunter-gatherers and really eating in the season thereof, we would be eating just more diversity of plants, right, where we'd just be eating a variety and more than we are eating now. And as I'm looking at the whole grains, I'm realizing that if you really do include whole grains and at the time you know you think that the carbs are bad we should avoid carbs.

Ali Essig: 16:40

We're eating actually those complex carbs, those whole grains, and whether it's wheat or quinoa or oats or whatever it is, or even a whole grain rice, that it can reduce our chance of getting a heart attack by 30%. And considering that heart disease is the number one killer in America, that's huge right. And so I'm seeing all of these truths in there that were confusing at first, but now I'm seeing how nutrition and timeless nutrition is really backing it up. Not these dietary trends, but timeless nutrition, as we're eating a diversity of plants is going to help protect us from all these different types of diseases and it's going to help strengthen our body as well, as you know, reduce our risk of, you know, even just an inflammation or whatever it is that people are talking about now that we really need to make sure the plants are a priority.

Alisha Coakley: 17:30

Right. So how long did you, were you like, researching all of this stuff? you know How long did it kind of take you down the rabbit hole.

Ali Essig: 17:40

Right, right, it took me I would say it was a solid, a solid six months of just researching on my own And then, ironically, as I was researching and I following different accounts and someone on Instagram the man, dr B, who we call him, who wrote the book Fiber Fueled, which I love that book, it's so good But he had offered, actually, for any of his followers, you know, a giveaway. There was. If any of you you know enter in your information, then you can win a certification course through Cornell where you can basically learn this plant-based certification or get this plant-based certification. So I entered my information, thinking like, oh yeah, these are just Instagram giveaways, i'm never going to get it. And then I actually won it out of all the people. So I was kind of thrown into this world And as I was studying and learning more and more about these foods and how it can help prevent disease, from cancer to diabetes to heart disease and beyond and how eating more plants is key And you don't have to be a vegan.

Ali Essig: 18:46

So and that's what I always go back to, the word of wisdom too. It says eat meat sparingly. And I always question that my whole life. I'm like, why does it say that And why do none of us follow it? Right, because I feel like it, sparingly, is limited. Right, it's not the center of every meal, it's more like this side of the meal or more occasionally. Right, and that never made sense to me until I took this course And as I'm learning and sitting and it was during 2020, when all of my kids were home and it was crazy chaotic, like I'm potty training three kids at once.

Ali Essig: 19:18

Right, because my clothes it was insane, but I found so much strength and happiness as I would go to take you know do studies in this course, and I'll never forget just sitting on my couch and learning about these plants and thinking I want to share this with the world, like I want to shout this on the rooftops that if we truly follow the word of wisdom completely, we can really have the help that we're looking for, in the sense that it can help reduce our risk of so many of these chronic diseases. Doesn't mean that it's gonna completely go away. I mean we still could eat a perfect diet and get cancer. I'm not saying that, but it can reduce a lot of suffering that many of us are experiencing.

Alisha Coakley: 20:01

Yeah. So let me ask you because I mean, especially as a mom with kids, sometimes it is so hard to one get the kids to eat the stuff, right, even if it's stuff that they love, like you could be like, why don't you want to eat macaroni and cheese? You eat macaroni and cheese every day And now, all of a sudden, it's disgusting, right. So, like there's always that huge battle. But how do you go from? you know, whatever it was that you were feeding your kids before, and I'm sure it probably wasn't bad per se, right? Like you know, we try as moms to incorporate that little food pyramid, right, like you know. Like here's your meat, here's your vegetable, right. But how did that look for you? like transitioning to this new lifestyle? You know, how did your kids take to it? I don't know, do you? I have a lot of questions, so I'm trying not to ask so many at once, so let's just start with that one.

Scott Brandley: 20:53

I would even add adults in there, because I have a hard time finding that funny So maybe what's like a typical meal, like a day of meals.

Alisha Coakley: 21:02

Look like type of you know, like what do you do? I don't know.

Ali Essig: 21:07

Well, I know, let me start from the basics. So I also, after getting that certification, i went back and I actually decided to become a nutritionist and I went deeper into classes and school. So there was a lot that I tried on my own and there's been a lot that I've actually learned through deeper education. But as far as what we did, I just stopped buying meat and cheese at the grocery store. I just stopped buying it and I used up what we had.

Ali Essig: 21:29

My kids love chicken nuggets and mac and cheese. That was my typical go-to. Like most of you know and no judgment here I was one of you like I get it and it's hard and and what I've learned through a lot through my courses and you know through my certifications, is that all food has value. So if you are a mom that's feeding your kids this, there, you know there is no moral worth that's associated with food. There's no good and bad right. All food will keep you alive. if you were stranded on a desert island Like isn't that wonderful, you know like if all you had was chicken nuggets, you could stay alive.

Alisha Coakley: 22:01

Even if they're a week old and found underneath the car seat. You know like, exactly, exactly.

Ali Essig: 22:07

Totally 100%. So like no judgment at all. But you know, if you have a strong enough Y, like we had the strong enough Y where it's like I want to reduce my husband's risk of having another stroke, like we're at high risk, right. And so I kind of developed three principles. Number one I wanted it to be easy and I it seems so overwhelming, but I chose to mentally let it be easy, so like no, i'm going to make this easy. So what was easy for me was I just stopped buying meat and dairy at the grocery store and I used up what I had.

Ali Essig: 22:38

Now my kids would ask where the chicken nuggets and I was like, oh, i'll get some next time I go. You know it wasn't like you're never going to have a mevver again. You know It wasn't like no, i just. I just wanted it to be casual and easy and not dramatic for them. We had gone through enough drama with my husband's stroke and and trying to figure all these things out, and so I just tried to be more creative. So I used to eat cheese quesadillas like every day for lunch and then I thought, okay, i'm going to use up what I have. So what do I have? that's just as fast, this just is easy, and I would open up a can of beans and open up some salsa and then make it like a burrito out of that, and so cheese quesadilla.

Ali Essig: 23:18

Most of my kids would eat it. But then what I learned is that lots like kids need 15 times to be exposed to a certain food in a certain way. So if you give your child broccoli, you know most Americans give up after five to six times. But if you give a child, you know broccoli 15 times but then one of those times it had cheese on it, that actually counts as a different food. So you have to give it to them the exact same way 15 times before they are actually going to be more willing to try it. And I have seen that.

Ali Essig: 23:49

I totally say well, i have one very, very picky eater and it's amazing what she's eating. Now I'm not saying she's perfect, because she's still as far behind her siblings, who will still eat everything, but she's eating a lot more just because of the consistency. So then I started telling my kids okay, if you don't want the dinner that I made, you're welcome to make your own food. I'm not making two dinners. And so sometimes they would make it butter and deli sandwich. Sometimes they would grab cereal, and that was okay. Sometimes they'd grab it apple or carrots or whatever, and I was okay with that because I wanted it to be easy for me. I was going through enough stress at the time, right? And then how do you make your food taste good? Yeah? So again, it goes back to the let it be easy, right? So I would make the exact same recipes that I was making before.

Ali Essig: 24:36

I didn't want to start something new or try something crazy. I, you know, like we really loved cashew chicken. It was a go-to recipe we'd always make with this cashew chicken. So instead of using chicken, I just would swap it out with chickpeas.

Ali Essig: 24:50

And you know, at first you're like it's not as good, but then, like you get used to, like it's familiar, and now again, it's still a family favorite, right? So instead of mac and cheese, it took me a couple of rounds to try a new kind of sauce, but now I have this like tofu alfredo sauce that tastes amazing And my whole family loves it. Right, and it's just as fast. Or sometimes I would even, you know, just buy like a vegan pesto from Trader Joe's and make that instead of mac and cheese. But whatever it took to be just as fast and just as easy, I would just kind of be a little creative. And it does take trying recipes that are going to be bad, but anytime you learn something new, like learning how to play the piano, you're going to be bad at it before you're good at it, right?

Alisha Coakley: 25:36

And especially if you're me.

Ali Essig: 25:37

I don't cook, so Yeah, no, and you have to kind of find like what and that's another thing too. I found even like going out to eat. What can we do? because we we have pizza night every Friday. What can we do? this just as easy. What can I choose? You know, i we fell in love with Taco Bell because there's so many plant based options at Taco Bell that I used to hate Taco Bell I think it was nasty. But when you are choosing, if you ask you want to talk about, ask for no cheese, right? no, no meat. There's actually some really tasty, delicious foods. You can ask all fresco, just whatever it is be like, all fresco, no cheese, no meat. And they add in some tomatoes, they add in some yummy things to it. So I, you know, the things you learn.

Ali Essig: 26:20

I was like oh there's, there's good options out there.

Alisha Coakley: 26:24

Wow, and so what was your third? you said easy has to say Oh yeah, what's the third?

Ali Essig: 26:29

Let it be easy, it can taste good, and then to just be, just be open to it, right? I think sometimes we're so afraid of change that we are like, no, I don't want to change, but let let it just let it be, be open to trying new things, be open and be willing. I think it takes that willing personality and that's why a lot of people don't change, because they have a spouse Like, in fact, a dear friend of mine. Her dad was diagnosed with colon cancer and the doctor was like you have to eat plant based right, like you have to do it this way. And they tried for a week and he was like I don't care, i'd rather die early. That's my dad.

Alisha Coakley: 27:09

Yeah, my dad has diabetes and he will have 10 I'm not exaggerating 10 to 15 popsicles a day, a day. Oh, my sugar is going low, I got it. I'm like dad, that's not what you do, he doesn't care, he's like that's fine I'm just going to die. You know, whenever I'm going to go and I'm like, oh my gosh, but you know it's, it's true, there are some people and that's, you know, it's like people who jump out of airplanes like they like that thrill and that that rush right.

Alisha Coakley: 27:35

So if there's people that have that desire to get their thrill from food, you know, I guess it's. That's the beauty of life, right like? we have our choices, and so it's nice to know that we have options.

Ali Essig: 27:47

I was to say the option doesn't have to like. I think we assume that the option is, you know, just going to be terrible. It's like you start to learn to play the piano and you're like I don't want to be a terrible piano player, I don't want to play. Like we assume that that first experience is going to be the experience forever. And, truthfully, the way I cook plant based is a lot more delicious now than it was the first week or two.

Ali Essig: 28:08

Right, and most importantly, I you know all of my husband's his cholesterol numbers went down, his triglycerides went down, his blood pressure went down. He got his vision back. After five months He got his vision back and for us that was like it was worth it. You know, if you're healthy you have all the wishes in the world, but when you're not healthy you only think of one thing, and that is getting better. And for him to be able to see was key and he was willing, he was open for the change because of the benefits that we were hoping would come from it. So you kind of have to get to that point where you're like no, I will change, I can do this now.

Scott Brandley: 28:43

I was just going to say it's very hard to add plants into your diet if you don't eat them already, like yeah. is there any tricks to add more plants or or fruits to your diet?

Ali Essig: 29:00

Yes, yes. So number one I always tell people to grab the fruit or vegetable when you want a snack. So that helped and we stopped buying like snack foods at the grocery store too. It was get a bunch of fruits and vegetables on our counter. You want to see it right. So when we are hungry for a snack, it's like it's so hard mentally because you want to grab the packaged thing item. Right, you want to grab something that's fast, but grab the fruit or vegetable first and the package item.

Ali Essig: 29:29

So I would say start by adding in, start by counting how many fruits and vegetables you're eating. The World Health Organization has told us to eat at least five a day, and it's not as hard as it it feels. But even what's fascinating, if we all went closer to seven to eight fruits and vegetables a day, it would actually prevent 7.9 million lives annually. Like if there's a huge amount of benefit that could come from us just adding more in. So it's not about taking away but adding in. So, first off, when you want a snack, grab that apple, grab that orange, grab the banana. Second thing is to preload on vegetables. So before your dinner, cut up a veggie tray or cook your vegetables first have them done, first put them out, let everyone eat them. When you're hungry, you're willing to eat anything, right, and so eat those vegetables first. Like almost ruin your dinner by eating those fruits and vegetables. And anything works like, even if it's just grabbing an apple. You know, preload on an apple before anything that's like 100 calories or left is considering a negative calorie preloading meaning that if you eat this fruit or vegetable first, then you're more likely to eat less during your following meal because the fiber will help keep you full.

Ali Essig: 30:44

So it's again. It goes back to the gospel. It's like when we put Christ first in our life, everything else kind of seems to fall into place. You know, if we make him a priority, first thing we do is we wake up, we read our scriptures, you know we, we say our prayers and we, and then your day just kind of goes off better. And when it comes to like the natural lot of food, if we also prioritize those healing and wonderful fruits and vegetables and eat them first, then everything else kind of falls into place. Then you'll eat overeat less, right, you'll be less likely to overeat If you reach for the fruit or vegetable before your packaged snack, if you, you know, just simply add those in, you would be surprised.

Ali Essig: 31:21

And then, lastly, is to just like look at your meals, whatever you're eating, to think how can I add another fruit or vegetable to this? so a lot of it is maybe add in a fruit to your dessert even, just like adding blueberries to your brownies is going to significantly reduce the sugar spike and help prevent you know some of the negative consequences that can happen inside your body. So you don't have to hide these fruits or vegetables. I would just say, add them to what you have already. So it takes this mental preparation, just like if someone who's not a member of our faith joining our church, who's like how do I read my scriptures first thing in the morning? you know it takes some like mental thought and prep before Right wow.

Alisha Coakley: 32:01

so what is what's a typical day look like? can you give us an example of like you get up and you, you know, like how often are you eating and what are your meals look like with your six children, you know?

Ali Essig: 32:13

Right.

Ali Essig: 32:13

So so I will say we swapped out our our milk for, for kids, the soy milk, because soy milk is the most comparable to actual milk. It has all the vitamins and neutrals nutrients that they need. It's better than almond milk. My husband drinks almond milk but that's just kind of a quick tip. If you have young children, that soy milk is actually the better choice because it has more fats, more protein, very nutrient, similar to actual milk. So we have the kids can choose oatmeal or cereal. I don't mind cereal because it is fortified with iron and other things that may be a little bit lower on a plant-based diet. So I'm okay if they have cereal for breakfast.

Ali Essig: 32:53

I have oatmeal and and I tell my kids to try and add at those blueberries because anything that's blue is going to help your brain. So if you add in the blueberries it can help your brain, you can think more clearly. So adding in those those blue colors are really good for your. So if they have a test coming up to make sure that they, they know they eat their blueberries and they can add that to whatever they're eating. In my oatmeal I always like to add in more vegetables, so at first I'm just eating regular oatmeal with some peanut butter and some cinnamon, because what I've also learned is that spices have more antioxidants than any other foods when you look at them ounce per ounce. And so just adding a dash of cloves or a dash of cinnamon is going to significantly increase the amount of antioxidants that are in your foods. So I add cinnamon cloves to my oatmeal, some peanut butter, a little bit of maple syrup actually tastes good And some soy milk. You know, i've mixed it up. I've also add frozen rice cauliflower to it because you don't taste it. But you know, as long as you mask it with the peanut butter, it adds another vegetable. And then I'm always eating berries in the morning. So always berries in the morning with all of us.

Ali Essig: 34:01

And then a typical lunch is again when I was eating before, but just tweaked a little bit. So I'll have like a wrap with some hummus, a salad, right, so it's like a salad wrap. So I use the hummus instead of like my chicken in the past. Or I'll have, you know, just a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for my kids And we go out to the park with an apple and banana. Like it's nothing fancy, you know, like it's just the basic things, or a lot of times I have leftovers from dinner for lunch And then dinner is again what I was making before, but with I slowly after about I would say, a year of eating hot base, I started cooking more with tofu in the past.

Ali Essig: 34:37

I was scared I didn't like it, you know. It just takes time. So sometimes I'll add in more tofu, but for the most part we use beans instead of the typical like meat source, and so we'll make Thai food, that we make a lot of Thai food and make a lot of like Indian food, a lot of different cultures, and I have make an amazing lentil lasagna like it's so good lasagna soup that everyone loves And you would never know that it doesn't have. I bring, i bring this lasagna soup to like every function And everyone always comments on how good it is. They've no idea there's no meat or cheese in it. So there's a lot of things that you know. You know.

Alisha Coakley: 35:15

Oh, my goodness.

Scott Brandley: 35:16

What about smoothies to you? ever to do smoothies for these? Yeah?

Ali Essig: 35:21

yeah, in fact I said everyone does it a different way. I love smoothies. My kids will ask for smoothies, so I'll, you know, throw in all the, all the good stuff and then some some healthy fats for them, because younger kids need more fat than they actually need. Protein, like fat, is the number one nutrient for young kids. So I do a lot of flaxseed, you know, some avocado, some peanut butter and kind of throw that into the smoothie. I don't love smoothies, but I do use smoothies for, like an energy drink. So in the afternoon when I'm feeling like I need a little bit more of a boost, i'll actually use frozen orange juice concentrate With some pineapple, with a stock of celery and a big handful of spinach, and I'll mix that up and I'll store that actually in my fridge.

Ali Essig: 36:04

Now, the reason why that helps is because number one, orange juice even orange juice can actually help your your blood vessels to be more flexible. It's really good for strokes, like if you have had a stroke, to help things be more open and flexible. Second is the leafy greens. When you consume leafy greens and you, you eat them in your stomach It forms what's called nitric oxide, which is then going to tell your arteries to open up, so it's like another lane in traffic. When you're sitting in traffic and another lane opens up, then your blood can move more smoothly. That's what's going on inside whenever you're eating leafy greens.

Ali Essig: 36:38

And then you know, eating like even pineapple can help to just give you a little bit more of that natural energy. So if I have that three o'clock low, i'll take just a cup of that type of smoothie to give me a little bit more, more, more energy. But it's all these things that I've learned over time, right? This isn't something that and I post this on my Instagram just to kind of help other people through their process. But I tell people it's like baby steps. I'd much rather have you switch to a plant, plant based diet in a small, you know, baby step way instead of all in overnight, because if you go all in and you hate it, you'll give up, right, and you won't want to keep going Right.

Alisha Coakley: 37:16

So one of the things that I know, you know, anytime that we've tried to get out of health kick right in our family, we notice that our grocery bill just skyrockets because buying organic and buying, you know I mean it's like now, all of a sudden, we're spending all this money. But I see people doing it all the time, And I see people in all different financial categories that are doing it people who make way less than us, people who make more than us and or have more kids than us, or whatever. So what have you noticed as far as, like, the financial aspect of following the word of wisdom? Have you seen a change, or have you? Is it just one?

Alisha Coakley: 37:51

of the sacrifices that you make.

Ali Essig: 37:53

No, it's actually saves us a lot of money. In fact, on average, yeah, the average vegetarian spends like $270 less a month on groceries Because we're not buying. I mean I buy eggs occasionally, but in general I'm not buying dairy, and those are the two most expensive things in your grocery bill. Like can you imagine right now you cut that out. You know how cheap beans are. They are so expensive. That's like major source of protein. And so even tofu, when we do buy, it's so cheap. But I always I'm always hesitant to talk about tofu because people are like I don't want to do it, like that's okay, don't worry.

Ali Essig: 38:32

But like beans in general, I can buy a bag of beans for like $2 and cook it in my instant pot, right, and I have food for the week. Like I have those beans for the or you can freeze them. I mean, it's so inexpensive. It's ridiculous how much money we do save. But I'm also not buying bag of fishies you know both fish crackers. I'm not buying fruit fruit you know fruit fruit, little gummies. I'm not buying like all these little things. I'm buying the actual fruit and the vegetables. Now if you go to the store and just add in the fruit and vegetables, you'll see an increase, but when you start taking out the meat and dairy, that's where you see the decrease. So it is both Like you have to kind of. If you want to see the savings, then we do need to start eating meat more sparingly and you'll save so much money, right?

Alisha Coakley: 39:21

Well, I love that you said to add it in, because I've. There was a book that I read once that talked about the importance of starting new habits, but starting them by adding them to habits that are already formed. You know, like, for example, they were like oh, if you're, you know, maybe you are a terrible reader and you're just like, I don't know, I don't want to, I don't know how to read a book. Sounds crazy. But you know, you get up and you go to the bathroom first thing every morning and you spend 10 minutes in the bathroom, put your book by your toilet and then just read a couple pages, right, and so they were talking about how you know to attach it to something that you already do And then eventually, you can start detracting those bad habits because you already have something that you're, like, used to doing in place, and so I really love that you said that, because that it does feel less overwhelming thinking oh, okay, like I don't have to change everything right now, all I have to do is just add more.

Alisha Coakley: 40:12

You know, and I, I, I like how you kind of mentioned, like the gospel in that, right, because it's it's so true, it's like we don't have to change everything overnight. I mean it would be great if we were able to do that. But realistically, we're human and we're flawed And so it's going to take us some time and it's going to take a lot of practice and everything. But just like the gospel, like we don't have to, we don't have to all of a sudden be great at doing our genealogy and living the word of wisdom and reading our scriptures and having family home evening and and, and you know like we can just start by being like. You know what. Like, maybe, instead of listening to to music on the way to school in the morning, I'm just going to listen to my comp follow me lesson, you know what I mean. Maybe instead of watching one more episode on Netflix.

Alisha Coakley: 41:00

I'm just going to, I'm just going to flip the channel over, I'm just going to watch like a conference talk or something you know, whatever it is, So it feels more doable by thinking about let's just add something good instead of trying to take away and replace right away, Like I really, really, really love that a lot.

Ali Essig: 41:17

Well, you're going to be eating dinner, Like it's not, like people don't eat dinner. You're going to be eating anyway, And so maybe once a week, just decide. Okay, on Wednesdays I'm going to cook what I would cook anyway, but I'm going to look up vegan lasagna recipe. You know, I like that's how I just started doing. I just started searching vegan. You know, shepherd's pie, vegan, whatever it was that I was that I would use to cook And so just to get ideas, you don't even have to cook it but just to get ideas, you know to see, oh, that's how you would do it.

Ali Essig: 41:48

Or you use cashews. You like, you know, blend up cashews and that's a cashew cream and you would use that instead of like a whole cream in your soups. You know, like just kind of start to learn like what are those swaps, what are those go to swaps, and then you can easily make those swaps. Or you know, like how can you just just tweak what you're already doing Because you're going to be eating anyway. We're not not eating right. I'm not telling you you're not doing right.

Scott Brandley: 42:13

What about time Ali?

Alisha Coakley: 42:16

Do you?

Scott Brandley: 42:16

find it takes more time to cook this way Or right at first, 100%.

Ali Essig: 42:23

I'm not going to deny the fact that it you know, you, you have to think outside of your box. So again, just like learning a new skill, it's going to take a little bit of time, but then it does become second nature. So I'm at the point now. It doesn't take any extra time than what I was doing before opening a can of beans. In fact it's so much easier and faster than marinating my meat Right, and so, like I make a Sunday pot roast, for example, i make a Sunday pot roast just like I did growing up, throwing all the things, but I'll, i'll, you know, do it with mushrooms instead.

Ali Essig: 42:54

So it's even faster and even easier. Sometimes, if you know, every once in a while, I will cook with those like the plant based meats and throw that in. But in general I'm saving time because I'm not having to like really flavor and season meat like I was before. But what does take extra time is chopping up all the vegetables. So you can buy a little thing I have like a chopper that saves me a ton of time where I you know, on Amazon, where I just like chop my veggies super quick, and it's that. It's learning something new. That takes time, not necessarily the cooking process. It's the how am I going to do this differently than I've done it before? But it's not that much more time consuming, especially once you get into the habit of things.

Alisha Coakley: 43:37

Yeah, what are some of the changes that you've noticed in your family, like, especially like with your kids?

Scott Brandley: 43:42

right.

Alisha Coakley: 43:43

I feel like that's where the true results lie. sometimes is like how are our kids behaving and looking and acting and whatever?

Ali Essig: 43:53

Oh yeah, no, my husband, he's so good at pointing it out. He's like look at our children right now They're all eating salad, All of them. You know he's so good. They're all just sitting there so happy eating their salad, or they're they. They're so good at eating those fruits and vegetables. I will say when they, when you know a friend offers them another treat, oh, they're all over it. That's not like they're like no, I can't eat that. Or they don't know they're excited to have the other standard American treats. But they are eating a lot more fruits and vegetables. They are like way more than they used to before. It's kind of amazing. And even if we do have someone drop off a treat, I'm always like you're free to vegetable first, and they're, they're good, they'll eat it. They know it, You know, they know the routine now and they'll go in waves Like I have one son. That's like I hate vegetables. And then the next thing is like I love vegetables, so it's you know they go in waves.

Ali Essig: 44:44

It's not. It's not perfect, but it's the the amount of fruits and vegetables are eating now, compared to where we were before. It is pretty cool to sit back and look and be like wow, they are like they really are eating more And you have to think what?

Ali Essig: 44:58

like? why does that matter? Like, yes, they're getting more fiber, but, as you're, you know, doing more research into these things, it's like, wow, you know, eating bell peppers can help reduce your risk of prostate cancer and eating cauliflower can actually help your eyes and help reduce your risk of breast cancer. And you know, like, as you're, as you're understanding, how amazing these foods are, then you really are like, okay, yeah, this is worth it, This is worth my time and my energy.

Alisha Coakley: 45:21

Do you feel like it's helped with your testimony just learning about the foods and the way that it has effects on our body and like, how perfectly? because? because I know when we talked on the phone and we talked about how, like, certain foods will do good things with other foods and how sometimes they'll counter, they'll counteract, And that's that was the importance of having a variety, right, Like you said, like 600 different fruits and vegetables or something like that. And so how, like how has that helped with your testimony?

Ali Essig: 45:49

Right. So the variety thing is if I'll answer that and then go into. they did the biggest study known on the gut microbiome. It is huge studies. it was called the American Gut Project And what they found is that those who had the healthiest gut microbiome and you want a healthy gut microbiome because that also means you have a reduced risk of chronic disease overall because your gut is connected to to so many things in your body But they found that those who are eating a variety of 30 different plants every week.

Ali Essig: 46:16

Regardless of if they eat a little cheese or meat, if they're eating a variety of 30 different plants a week, they have the healthiest gut microbiome, and so that variety is key. So, adding in all those plants And what's interesting about the word of wisdom is just the word wisdom is often referred to as heavenly mother, like often, you know like it's, it's a female kind of in scriptures, another name for heavenly mother. And when I think of all of the plants and when I think of the earth, and I think of even just mother earth, right, like when we always, we all, all religions, kind of believe in this concept of mother earth. And if I were a mom, you know, in fact, i had this dream once that I was stuck on this other planet, like somehow I was sent to this other planet, stuck there, and by the time I could get off of this planet my kids would have, you know, died, like as the whole time changed. It's a new thing And in my mind I thought I would rather just be like a spirit and be able to see their life, to not even be alive, and be able to see their life and be a part of their day in, day out than be stuck so far away from them.

Ali Essig: 47:24

And in that moment I thought that must be how Heavenly Mother feels, that I think that part of Mother Earth somehow, in some way that it is connected, and that all of these plants and all of these fruits and vegetables that come from the earth are here to heal us, are here to help us. It's her serving us in so many different ways. And all of these you know, as you dive into just the benefits of, you know just your typical garden vegetables that you're growing. It's astounding to see how incredible these whole plant foods are for your body and what a gift it is. And so when I think of word of wisdom and I think of Mother Earth and Heavenly Mother, and somehow in my you know, I feel like that's all tied together. And then, as we're eating more of these whole plant foods that we are being nourished by our Mother Earth and we are strengthened.

Ali Essig: 48:12

And while I understand that a lot of us have, you know, our determined lifespan, I get that that. You know you could eat in a perfect way and have the perfect diet and still die young by even just being hit by a car while you're crossing the street. But I do believe that if we eat a healthier diet, we will find more joy in this life, we will have more energy and we'll be able to accomplish our divine purpose. We'll be able to fulfill our mission here on earth because we're not hindered down by this fatigue or we're not hindered down by these other you know, like other things that can prevent us from accomplishing our divine mission. So I think it's all connected in this beautiful way, especially as more and more I dive into the word of wisdom That is so beautiful And like seriously just touched my heart when you talked about that, because I get what you're trying to say.

Alisha Coakley: 48:59

It's like you know something's there but you're not really sure what exactly that is. But it and we don't. We don't talk about Heavenly Mother very often, we don't know very much, but it feels right when you're, you know, relating her to, like having this, this word of wisdom and having this nourishment And like, of course, she would be a part of nourishing us somehow right.

Alisha Coakley: 49:22

Like, like that just makes sense that Heavenly Father would put her in a, in a, in a place where she can help with that nourishment. And and if we, if we're created in their image, then you know naturally, like there's got to be something that is pure and that is beautiful, that we're able to take part in, that can still connect us with, with our Heavenly Mother. So I've literally never had that perspective before. I feel like, oh my gosh, like, if anything, i just I feel so excited about just that little, that little tidbit right there, right.

Ali Essig: 49:58

I feel like, if I don't, like you said, I don't know the answer to all things, but if I was a mom, I would want to be right here, even if even if my kids had no idea, I had no idea that I even existed I'd rather be right there with them day in, day out, nourishing them in some way, right, helping them in any way that I could. And so I, I just love that, out of all words to describe the word of wisdom, that it is wisdom and that wisdom is connected with you know another way of saying Heavenly Mother. So it's me.

Scott Brandley: 50:25

Interesting. So the insight I got from that is to be in the world, but not of the world, cause it does feel like the world is like the food we eat is so processed, everything, everything is processed, and and it made just to, you know, to give us the the biggest satisfaction, hit I don't know what, I don't know what you'd call it, but like convenience, and it just seems very worldly Like. If you compared that to you know, to nature's, uh, to what nature gives us, right, um, there's a comparison there that that's interesting. Um, my other thought was um, so do you guys eat meat? Like, how far do you take the extreme? Like, do you take it to an extreme?

Ali Essig: 51:21

Right right.

Scott Brandley: 51:22

So what do you still do?

Ali Essig: 51:24

Uh, and this is where I feel like it can be different for everyone. This is where I really love the beginning part of the word of wisdom, where it's like this is just kind of a suggestion, right, that it's. It's not like everyone is eating in a specific way.

Ali Essig: 51:35

This is not a meal plan right For all of us some general guidance, um, and so, for me and for our family, what we have found that works for us and it may not work for everyone is I just don't buy it at the grocery store. I don't buy meat at the grocery store and I don't buy dairy at the grocery store unless it's for a special occasion. So if one of my kids it was their birthday and they're like I really want to have this, then I'll I'll buy it and cook it, but it's very rare that I actually cook meat. Um, we will eat meat or dairy at a church event. We will eat it. If someone drops off food at our house, we will eat it. If you know someone is living with us and they want to make a meal from you know that they love. Like, we will eat it.

Ali Essig: 52:15

Uh, when we go out to eat, when we go on a road trip across, I'll choose. I really try to choose one just because I feel better, like, if I don't eat it, especially since it's the fast food version of animal products, um, I will. I would rather choose, like, a vegetarian option because it feels better in my body, but if that's the only option, i'll eat it, right. So it's kind of nice, that it's not an allergy. It's not like I have a gluten intolerance and I literally cannot have. You know, i have celiac disease and cannot have it. I don't have that, so I can I in the sense of gluten. But with meat we can be flexible And for me it just made it easier just to not buy at the grocery store because it saves money And it kind of sets this line that makes it so it is more sparingly, uh and you per take when someone else gives it to us.

Ali Essig: 53:01

But more than anything I really try to avoid and I and I suggest for everyone there's just so much research that shows that avoiding process meats, like if you're going to cut cut off somewhere. The, the World Health Organization has class, has classified process meats as a group one carcinogen. So to reduce your risk of colon cancer, to reduce your risk of other cancers, it's really as important to let's avoid the beef sticks. Let's avoid that, even like beef jerky. Let's avoid even just the deli meats or the hot dogs and the hamburgers. Not saying that when we go camping with friends, my kids will eat hot dogs if they're available, but it's not something that I'm buying regularly in my home, you know, so that that is like, if you're going to cut anything off, try to, you know, cut off the process, meats, the slummy, that when you're when you're getting pizza, maybe not order pepperoni pizza just those small little tweaks can make a bigger difference. When you look at the aggregate, you know the amount that you are eating when it, when it comes down to it.

Alisha Coakley: 53:58

Yeah.

Alisha Coakley: 53:59

So if someone is really inspired and they're like you know what, I want to start somewhere, but I just feel so overwhelmed. What would you say would be like a really good start for someone who wants to gain that and that information but maybe doesn't want to become a nutritionist like you? Maybe they just they're like I. Just I want to know enough to, to know what the heck I'm doing, but I feel so overwhelmed because there's so much out there And and and I. There was a book that I read Oh, I can't remember the name of it right now, but it was. It was incredible because they were talking about how the government has all of this connection to these big, you know, food production places and things like that, and how, like, they'll tell us that we need certain things, but really we don't need those things. It's just because there's like a kickback and I don't know the, I don't know the background the truth theory.

Alisha Coakley: 54:51

Yeah, You know.

Scott Brandley: 54:53

well, you know, I'm sure there is some truth to it, for sure.

Alisha Coakley: 54:58

Right, i'm sure I mean, because that's just the way that Satan works, sometimes, right, like he's got those secret combinations And and so you know, i've, i've read this and it was crazy when I thought about it, because I was like there are definitely some things that don't line up, they like don't make sense, you know. But it felt overwhelming because I was like how much of this do I believe, you know? And so where would you, where would you direct someone if they, if they were just starting out and they literally didn't know anything at all about anything, right, what would you say to them?

Ali Essig: 55:29

I'm actually glad you brought that up because in the Word of Wisdom it talks about conspiring men. And I think not. It's not people doing it on purpose, They're like fulfilling their jobs, you know. But if you look at the amount of scientists it took to make a Dorito, you know, and all of the to get you addicted. So you're not just going to eat one, You'll eat multiple Doritos. Right That they're conspiring, not because they are evil people, but I think they're conspiring because they want you to buy more. The purpose is not your health, The purpose is more food.

Ali Essig: 55:59

And and I worked on Capitol Hill I met with a lot of lobbyists. I was a legislative assistant there and I know exactly what you mean. And if you look at it, the amount of lobbyists for, for junk food, the amount of lobbyists for, you know, for animal products, compared to the amount of lobbyists for fruits and vegetables, is remarkably skewed towards the animal product industry. And even if you just look at Canada's dietary guidelines compared to America's, you'll see where you know, like on America's there's, there's always the dairy off to the septic. It's required, right. Where, if you look at Canada, where they actually are doing it based off of research and based off of what you know, the research is showing, it looks a little different, and dairy is not required on on the plate, Right? So in that sense there's definitely a part of it, But again, I don't think that it means they're evil. I just think that there is a way that is profit over health, Right?

Alisha Coakley: 56:52

And there's a lot of subsidies We can.

Ali Essig: 56:54

I could go on and on, I like if I use the word of the word, but I think it is interesting, as I studied the word of wisdom, that that conspiring men really it wasn't just meant for Joseph Smith and making you know your own sacrament wide, or whatever. I think there's so much more into that phrase if you really wanted to dive into it. Now, the second part of your question was what you know. For someone who's listened to this and feels inspired to make a change, I would say find your why. Because when you make a bad meal and you want to give up, just like I, go back to learning to play the piano. I've learned, I've tried to learn to play the piano a few times. I never had piano lessons growing up and I just didn't have a strong enough reason to keep going and strong enough Why to get through the heart. So find your why, like why do you really want to do this? so that you'll keep Practicing, you'll keep going.

Ali Essig: 57:44

And then I would say start with the basics. So I always tell people start with your breakfast. How can you make your breakfast a little bit like how can you add berries to your breakfast? What can you add into your breakfast and what's like. You have that down. Go to your lunches, because most people eat breakfast on their own, most people eat lunches kind of on their own, so it's a little easier and then go to your dinners, right? So start with your breakfast, your lunches, maybe. Now for your snacks You're adding more, eating your fruit first, before your packaged bar, I'm just pack more of those and then, when it comes to your dinner, I would just start with meatless Mondays.

Ali Essig: 58:16

Just commit to one meal a week. Start with meatless Mondays and I would cut out, if you can dare like, all of the process meats first. So what's the low-hanging fruit here? cut off the process meats, you know, maybe instead of using sausage or whatever it is like it's the process that those meats go through. Also, cut off anything that's grilled or charred or smoked, because those have a higher risk of cancer as well. Barbecue is my favorite. I live in.

Alisha Coakley: 58:47

Texas now.

Ali Essig: 59:02

But it is interesting, if you look at the research, that that any of those grill marks or the smoking of Meat, it does produce what's called HCA's, which is a carcinogenic compound, so it does increase the cancer. So avoiding these smoked, grilled meats products if you're going to eat meat, make sure it's like boiled instead, or more of like the you know and you're made in your pot roast is going to be a safer to eat for you instead, just to reduce your risk overall and then and then, like you know, pray about it, ask for strength, make sure the whole family is is okay with trying one new fruit or vegetable, and don't tell everyone that you're like We're gonna do this forever. Just slowly add in varieties.

Alisha Coakley: 59:48

Man there's. It's so much information, so much information, but it has been really really good information. I know, when we spoke on the phone, we talked about how I you know I ended up having this, this bariatric surgery or whatever done Last year, and so now My diet has to look very different because I do struggle with malabsorption and with getting all those nutrients and and stuff. And so I was really curious because I'm like how do I make this change When you know my body's not what it was before? or you mentioned people with, like celiacs, you know disease or something like that, or maybe someone who Has some other type of food allergies, and and I think that it's it's.

Alisha Coakley: 1:00:31

I think that it is important, like you were saying, to make sure that you do pray about it, that you do trust that inspiration that you're given By the Holy Ghost, but also that you seek wisdom right, that you continually try to Understand what's truth out there and what's available to you. You know, like, obviously tofu was not something that was available I don't even know what hundred, two hundred years ago, i'm not sure how long tofu's been around, but it's not something that they would have been able to use in the word of wisdom now, but just because it's not in there doesn't mean that you can't have it now. Right, and so we do. We know that the word of wisdom was written for all of us, but it was also written in a time where they didn't have all of the resources are all the knowledge, and so I think it is really important that we do Read that and reread it, and pray about it and and get that knowledge for ourselves so that we have More tools and resources that are our disposal for Heavenly Father to give us truth through. Right like he like He's not gonna explain algebra to us if we don't know basic addition.

Alisha Coakley: 1:01:34

Right Like we're not just all of a sudden gonna be like and there's all the answers You know. Like we're instructed to seek wisdom, and so I love that that's something that you did. I love that That there are so many people out there who have such a big why that they've made this a part of their lives and that they've been open to sharing it with others, because I think that that Really plays into a part of our purpose here on this earth. Right Like it doesn't mean we all have to be the same. It's just when we learn and grow and we get that wisdom and we get that truth. I think it really is important for us to share with others, and so thank you so much for coming on today And for sharing that with with all of our listeners. Before we sign off, is there anything else that you'd like to to leave with us today?

Ali Essig: 1:02:21

I think Number one like, change is hard, right, like anything, honestly, changing your diet is harder than changing your religion, because you're eating three times a day and so You know, like I recognize, that it's hard and when you're looking at change, I want you to look at it in in the way that we look at the gospel in this life, that that all this is part of our growth. You know, and how can you grow, how can you be a better person through this? So what can you learn? What can you grow? How can you impact others? How can you serve others? You know, as you're making this change in your life, and so you know, be open to it, be open to change.

Ali Essig: 1:02:56

I know there's a friend of mine who is diagnosed with cancer and just like, didn't even want to To change her diet because it seems so overwhelming. And I just say, just be, be open, like, like, like, be okay with being open. That how, how that can help you grow to be a better person, right to, to learn the lessons that you came here down to earth to learn. And, honestly, changing food is dumb and simple, as it seems, and like it, but it really can help you grow More than than you think. Spiritually, you know.

Ali Essig: 1:03:29

And then it's not just about the physical change that can experience. It can do the spiritual change and you're and just like your taste buds after 10, 10 days, your taste buds actually switch over and you change, and so what foods you don't like now, you'll be shocked at how much you'll love later on. And so just be open. I feel like I have this door that's there. There's this magical world that's behind this door And all you have to do is be willing to open it. The so many people are just so afraid. They're like no, i want to do what I know, i don't want to change, and just be open and okay, to let yourself grow into what you know, what you can become through through change.

Scott Brandley: 1:04:09

Yeah, when I was writing my book I found an article that talked about how Men and women in the church the men live on average, i think, 9.8 years longer than the normal man. Women live about 7.4 years longer And I think part of that's a big part of that's because of the word of wisdom just not smoking and drinking, right. But If we can do some of these other things, i think that can help us to be healthier longer.

Scott Brandley: 1:04:38

You know, we can have a better standard of standard of living longer in our lives and That's that's hard, but but I think what you've said is, you know, makes a lot of sense. It's just we don't think about it very often until we're forced to. My dad died a year ago, almost exactly To now be with a heart attack his first one, just like your dad and So I just went and got a calcium heart scan, which is a cool new technology. I didn't know existed, but you. They just put you in this, in the scanning machine, and they can actually check your heart and all of your arteries and everything and see if there's any Blockages or clogs or how, even how much, each artery is clogged. So there's some cool things that can do a technology and that. But you know, we do need to take care of our bodies and find that why? so that we can Find the desire to eat healthier and live healthier. So thank you so much for sharing all this great wisdom with us. We really appreciate it.

Alisha Coakley: 1:05:49

You're welcome. Well, uh, tell us, tell our listeners real quick if they are interested in following you and and learning more, because, obviously, like We only hit the tip of the iceberg today Where, where can they go? How can they find you?

Ali Essig: 1:06:06

Yeah, yeah, no problem. So I am on YouTube where I share some of my recipes Because, again, I want to make this easy and I want to make this fun, and sometimes just seen someone else cook the recipe, like, oh, that's easy spot. So I'm on my my business is called plant wise, so PLANT and W HYS. And then I'm also on Instagram where I share tips and more of the, the knowledge you know, based information, the scientific information with on there as well, and I also would love to give your listeners I have a membership that where people who want to eat plant based But don't know where to start. I basically developed a roadmap of what I wanted when we were going through it. You know what would have been nice for me to have all this information, and so I'd love to offer a 30-day membership. If anyone's interested, for free, and so I can, you can reach out to me or I can give you the link so that they can. They can have that too.

Alisha Coakley: 1:06:57

Awesome, oh well that is so kind of you, Ali, thank you. I'll definitely be hitting you up on that. Oh, very cool. Well, thank you again for joining us today. I really, really appreciate everything that you shared with us. I'm I'm looking forward to checking you out and seeing what kind of recipes I can incorporate with my family and how I can get us a little bit healthier, and stuff like that. So, to all of our listeners, we want to thank you guys as well for tuning into another episode of Latter Day Lights. Guys, we love, we love hearing from you.

Alisha Coakley: 1:07:24

Go ahead and drop a comment and let Ali know. If you guys have a question, I'm sure she can. She can check it out and she can kind of point you towards resources. So if you want to drop a comment and just let her know what part of the show really had an impact on you or what questions you have for her, I think that that would be awesome. Be sure to go, look her up on YouTube and Instagram and follow her, and if you guys have a story to share, don't forget that you guys can.

Alisha Coakley: 1:07:46

You guys can definitely apply to be on the show as well, or you can even suggest someone to be on the show and we're happy to reach out to them. You can head over to Latter Day Lights dot com And at the very bottom of the page there's a contact form there, or you can comment on any of our videos or podcasts. You know wherever we're at, we're on all the places, so you guys can go ahead and comment that way And say Scott, anything else, yeah, let's just help get Ali's message out there. Let's help get people healthy and live longer and live a better life.

Scott Brandley: 1:08:24

Yes, do your five second missionary work. Hit that share button.

Alisha Coakley: 1:08:27

That's what we call it, Yeah exactly Cool.

Scott Brandley: 1:08:31

Well, thanks Ali for being on the show. Thank you for having me Appreciate it.

Ali Essig: 1:08:36

Yeah, anytime, we are more than happy to have you come back, Maybe now that we're here.

Alisha Coakley: 1:08:40

we're here to help you Anytime we are. we are more than happy to have you come back. Maybe next time we'll have you make us some meals and send them to us.

Ali Essig: 1:08:48

I'll have you come up with a way to show Yeah exactly.

Alisha Coakley: 1:08:52

You'll have to come up with a new way to barbecue Barbecue without the grill iron Barbecue.

Ali Essig: 1:08:58

Those vegetables are so good There.

Scott Brandley: 1:09:15

Bye.