 Happy Halloween and Aloha everyone. Welcome to, I was going to say Lillian's Vegan World but I think I'm going to change it to Superwoman's Vegan World today. Welcome to the show, I'm Lillian Cumick, your host and I just realised that I have never actually introduced myself on my own show. I think people understand that I'm Lillian of Lillian's Vegan World but anyway, so welcome to the show. It's Halloween today here in gorgeous sunny Honolulu. We're coming to you live from the Think Tech Hawaii studios in downtown Honolulu. Today I'm so so happy to have two of my dear friends on the show as guests and I would love to introduce them both. Welcome to the show. Aloha, David and Iris Haji. Are you brother and sister or are you married? I didn't even know you had a job until today. David and Iris, thank you so much for coming on the show. I wanted to get you on for a fun one because you and I, you guys and I are always laughing through some fun times. So I would like to tell everyone how you and I, you both and I met. So we were walking down the street one day. That's a lie. So as most of the viewers know, I'm a vegan chef and cooking instructor and also vegan lifestyle coach from Sydney, Australia, but I did spend 30 years in Japan. Anyway, I just moved to the islands to Honolulu last Christmas. So coming up to a year very shortly and David and Iris have been so awesome and been coming to some of my events. Which events have you been coming to? I've been to your cheese demo, your Japanese dinner. Yes. Last night the seven course vegan and Italian. Italian, yes. Which and you've done also the vegan Serbian. Oh, that sounds very good. Kind of unique, I guess, dinners that you've come to all of which are vegan, meaning plant based. So no meat, no fish, no dairy, no poultry, no fowl. Also no honey and figs. So that's, yeah, that's what pretty much what plant based food is just no animal products whatsoever and no animal byproducts. Now, are you guys on a following a plant based diet? Yes, I am. Iris, yes. Okay. And how did you start your journey on this healthy lifestyle? I attended the Ekahi Ornish program for nine weeks. And the reason why I went to it was, you know, for health reasons. Yes. And I saw a lot of results. And I told David that because insurance paid and, you know, there was a time commitment and whatnot that I didn't want to, as much as possible, I wanted to stay on plant based. Yeah. And why is that? It's just makes me feel better. You know, I'm full, but I'm not overstuffed. Okay. It's a it's a different. So how long ago was it that you went through the program? It's been about a year and a half, almost two years. Okay. And that's fantastic to hear that you are still maintaining the plant based diet because it is difficult. I mean, it's not, it's not easy to suddenly, you know, go from eating a regular American diet or a diet that you're used to say, you know, living in a place like Hawaii to a completely vegan diet. I'm sure it's quite difficult. But as you just pointed out, there are so many reasons why you should really keep trying to stay on it because the results just keep coming to you. I mean, year after year after year, I think people just they change their whole body and their health. Also, their, their wellbeing, like the way that they think about food and become much more aware of food. So today's show is going to be interesting because we are going to talk a lot about food, plant based food and some fun, fun facts and trivia. So David, before we go on, are you also on a plant based diet? No, but I've sort of like turned it toward that. It's really, I can tell the benefit as far as energy level and just, you know, not being tired and, you know, always full. Yes. That's one thing that a lot of people notice. They become less sluggish, especially after they eat. You know, I noticed that a lot of people, especially coming up to the holidays when you're, you know, everyone's sort of stuffing their faces and getting all that holiday food in, which is great. I mean, I love to eat too, but you don't get that sort of down or after eating plant based food where you just get into a food coma and you need to lie down and breathe, which is what I see a lot, you know, with people who are just eating lots of animal products. So that, that is true. And it's good, good to know that you're being encouraged to, I guess, eat more plant based given that you're with, you know, living together. Who does the cooking at home? Me. I was okay. So then you would, you would be more cooking, more plant based or? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Because, you know, he goes to work and yeah, can eat whatever he wants. Yes. That's, that's the good thing about it. I mean, everybody, you can't make someone become vegan. And the point of my show and what I do is not to force people into veganism, not by any means, you know, everybody has to make their own choices. And if they decide that they want to do this on a more, you know, serious level and cut out the animal products, I, you know, I encourage it because at the end of the day, I never, I have never in my life met a vegan that said they don't feel good. So there's got to be some, yeah, some truth there. And lucky for you, David, today, I'm superwoman and I have special powers. So I'm going to turn you vegan today. There you go. That was quick. Okay. So how about some fun, vegan facts and trivia? All right. First of all, there was a new report from the personal finance website, Wallet Hulu, that actually just ranked Honolulu 35 or 35th out of 100 cities in the US that are the best city to live in if you are vegan or vegetarian. Number 35 out of 100. So that goes to show that Honolulu is kind of, and I see it as well. I'm starting to see more options on not on recipe restaurant menus that are not vegan restaurants. So, yeah, it's a sign that Hawaii's into it. And discovering that. Oh, look, they never had this before. There was vegan option. Yes. Yeah. Well, I can't remember the percentage and I don't want to quote something that's incorrect. But most of the folks, not most of, but a lot of the vegan meats out there, the impossible burgers and the beyond burgers that are selling out, they're not all consumed by vegans. Like it's something like around half or just under half, if I remember correctly, that are being consumed by people who are not on a plant based diet. So people are starting to enjoy these options. So that's a good sign. All right. Vegan in one year spares about the life of 30 animals each year by going vegan. This was a shocker for me, this one. And all of these facts are according to various websites, but I did choose a lot from, in particular three, choose veg, do something.org and the flaming vegan. So I've, and pretty much everything else I'm seeing is reflecting, you know, the same sort of information. Right. So about 150 billion animals are killed and slaughtered annually for meat consumption in the world. So that's, that was quite shocking for me to hear. Here's another interesting fact. Being vegan cuts your footprint by about half. And I have big feet. By about half. And again, whichever source you get the information from, pretty much is coming to about, about half, a lot of studies are showing. All right. Approximately, did you ever think about how many vegans or vegetarians there are in your country in the States? All right. So approximately 5% of the US population are either vegan or vegetarian and that comes to close to 16 million. And about half of that percentage are vegan. Again, this is a very, you know, sort of rough estimate. No one knows for sure, but they're saying about in the States alone, 7.5 million. That's a lot of burgers, impossible burgers. It sounds like a lot, but when you think that it's only about 2.5% of the population, still got a long, a long way to go. But it's, it's good news. Here's something that I think everybody kind of has heard before that vegans tend to have lower rates of cancer than most meat eaters and vegetarians. So vegan women, this is according to do something.org. Pardon me. Vegan women had 34% lower rates of female specific cancers like breast cervical and ovarian cancer. And the similar results were found in men with prostate cancer. 34% less, that's a lot. So there's a study done by a Nobel Prize winner, Elizabeth Blackburn, and she found that a vegan diet caused more than 500, 100 genes to change in three months, turning on genes that prevent disease and turning off genes that cause cancer, heart disease and other illnesses. I thought that was amazing. So she's interesting to Google Elizabeth Blackburn, a Nobel Prize winner. So she had a, she did a lot of studies and yeah, incredible. So it's just, okay, another fact, shockingly every hour in the US, 500,000 animals are killed every hour, every hour killed for their meat. 500,000 animals, every hour, every day. Wow. That's a lot of animals. All right. Here's one that I thought, not interesting again, everything's kind of shocking for me. But anyway, another fact, Costco, how many chickens do you think they sell a year? I was listening to the radio and heard this million. A million, you think? What would you say, David? I'd million. I mean, I love it. Okay. Get this 60 million per year. And on that note, we're going to take a break and be back with more fun, vegan facts and trivia. See you after the break. Thanks to our think tech underwriters and grand tours, the Atherton Family Foundation, Carol Monli and the Friends of Think Tech, the Center for Microbial Oceanography Research and Education, Collateral Analytics, The Cook Foundation, Dwayne Kurisu, the Hawaii Community Foundation, the Hawaii Council of Associations of Apartment Owners, Hawaii Energy, the Hawaii Energy Policy Forum, Hawaiian Electric Company, Integrated Security Technologies, Galen Ho of BAE Systems, Kamehameha Schools, MW Group, the Shidler Family Foundation, the Sydney Stern Memorial Trust, Volo Foundation, Yuriko J. Sugimura. Thanks so much to you all. Welcome back again to Super Woman's Vegan World, where we talk about veganism and the plant-based diet. I'm here with my awesome guests and dear friends of mine, Iris and David Haji. David, did you notice your wife's title on the screen? Yes, I did. Okay, I just want you to keep that in mind when you go home today. Okay, so guys, we are talking about these are really not fun facts, are they? So we'll go into some fun ones. And while we're chatting about some more vegan trivia, I would like to show you a video of what I've been cooking up this month in October in my cooking classes and my dinner. So if we can show that video while we run through some more fun facts, that would be cool. So here are some things that you can buy on a, sorry, that you can eat on a vegan diet. While we're doing that, while we're doing that, let's talk about that you didn't know it's vegan. Alright, so here are some vegan foods that a lot of people actually don't know a vegan. And we refer to these sometimes as accidentally vegan. The biggest one that I think freaks or surprises a lot of people who aren't vegan is that Oreos are vegan. I really don't know anything about Oreos. I do have them in several flavors in my cupboard. I don't know why. And they disappear magically. But the thing is, it's the ones that are made in America that are vegan because the ones made in Japan, let's say, are not. They do still have to be careful. Alright, another food that's vegan accidentally vegan, Ritz crackers. I'm not sure about the ones with the fillings. So I have to I do have to say, we might have to check with that. But the plain Ritz cracker. I assume your eyes just lit up when I told you that. Are you like going to be dreaming of a little red box tonight? This is my vegan gyoza or dumplings made with king oyster mushrooms. So that's that's another thing that you can eat on a vegan diet. I actually have about 200 recipes on my Lillian Vegan YouTube channel. You can also find lots of vegan recipes and tips and stuff on my Facebook channel. Also Lillian Vegan and my webpage. Again, Lillian Vegan. Superwoman today. All day. My husband is going to have get it tonight. I'm going to use all my superpowers to do all the things that I want to do. Alright, so getting back to bed. She didn't know it's vegan. Yellow cook, cook and serve vanilla pudding and pie filling. I've never tried this, but I didn't know that was vegan stuff like that. Here's another one that I thought was interesting. Campbell's Mushroom Gravy. The canned gravy. Are you like going to go on a bit of a shopping spree after this? Here's something I use a lot for bases for my little party pies. Crescent rolls. I think we've done a recipe together in one of my classes. Vegan. Fritos corn chips. I love those little scoopy things. They just remember everything in moderation. Children. Duncan, Heinz, whipped frosting and classic cake mixes. Vegan. Again, I'm not telling anyone to go out and buy all these things because they're all processed. There's a lot of stuff in there you can't even pronounce and that's always a scary thing. But this is just for some trivia to let you know what things are. How about this one? Kettle Brands Potato Chips Maple Bacon Flavor. Now David's eyes just slid up. Maple Bacon. I know. And even more interesting or surprising, Betty Crocker Baker's Bacon Flavor Bits Vegan. I've never tried, I mean, on this list I'm telling you about I've tried the Crescent Rolls Oreos, Ritz Crackers Hershey's Chocolate Syrup. I was very excited when I found that out a couple of years ago. Kellogg's Pop Tarts in Unprosted Strawberry, Blueberry and Brown Sugar. Pepperidge Farm Pastry Puff Pastry Sheets. This is another thing that I do use a lot. They are accidentally vegan too. Vegan puff pastry is very, very difficult to make. Very time consuming. I don't see myself making it anymore. Now that yeah, there's actually a few other supermarket brands that are also also accidentally vegan. Red Bull, The Drink. Because not all energy drinks are vegan by the way. Some of the coloring that they use for coloring is which I'm going to go into later. So another accidentally vegan product, Goya Flan Custard. It knows that popular here. Nesquik. Isn't custard like an egg? Yes. Yes, that's right. So that's why all of these things are quite surprising to find out that they are in fact plant based, made from plant based ingredients. The other one was Nesquik Chocolate Syrup. Smuckers Marshmallow toppings. I don't even know what that is, but it seems to be popular with a lot of vegans, maybe in the States. Yeah. Nutter Butters. The cookie. Oh, I like that. Permission to go ahead and pick out on the Nutter Butters. And here's another thing that I loved. I don't eat it anymore, really, but Sarah Lee cherry pies and the apple pies are vegan. Favorite cherry. Do you like cherry pie? Really? Really? I actually make really good cherry pie for special people. All right, so we're going to go over to the other side of this and talk about some gross ingredients in your food that you didn't know you were eating. I think one of the things that happens when people sort of transition from a regular American diet where they do consume animal products is once you do make that transition, you become more aware of what you're eating. This was definitely the case for me. I grew up as a vegetarian, so a little bit easier. My transition was. But yeah, one thing I noticed I was just reading labels. I learned how to read labels. People still don't do that. And when I was doing my lifestyle coaching in Japan, one of the first things I taught my clients was how to read labels so that you know, you're not eating anything that, you know, just because you, you can't pronounce that you have no idea what it is doesn't mean it's vegan. So you have to be very careful. Here are some things in food that are quite scary. So car mean is a cockney or beetle beetle. This crushed up these crushed up beetles create the red dye effect that you see in a lot of candies that bright red color. So it's also found in meat, sausage, red marmalades, jams, gelatin, desserts, juices, soft drinks, sports drink, icings, toppings, confections, dairy products, Starbucks patrons in 2012 were quote unquote, enraged to hear that the chain was using the, the beetles, the calm car mean in this strawberry flavored drinks, which they have since stopped doing. So avoid the red stuff. Reds never going to be the same for you. What's your favorite jelly bean flavor? It's not definitely not ready. I don't know if it exists in the jelly beans, but yeah. All right, here's another one. This is actually an ingredient that you do see on labels quite a lot. They refer to it the companies that use this product often on the labels write cellulose instead of sawdust, which is what it actually is. And it's found in many prepackaged shredded cheeses, not vegan cheeses. Yeah, and it prevents the shreds from sticking together. And one thing I have I have had a lot of people say to me, why is the vegan cheese always so sticky like the pizza cheese that you buy in supermarkets? I don't really buy cheese. I make my own. But it kind of does have that sticky sometimes slimy feel to it. It's because it doesn't have all those additives and preservatives and stuff that makes it not sticky. But I don't want to be eating sawdust. So look out for cellulose. Good to know. The other thing is dried fish bladder. This is used as a finding agent. When you make wine to filter or Yeah, to filter the wine. It's also the other name they use is icing glass. It's fish bladder. And it's yeah, it creates the golden color of beer as well. But it's also used when making wine. So a lot of vegans are careful when they drink wine. Let's have a look at a couple of pictures while we're chatting. What have we got Eric? This is my next my next class. It's my next cooking demo. It's going to be vegan sushi. You can get all the dates for that on my web webpage or Facebook page, Lillian vegan. This is what we did last month or this month in October, the vegan party food. And I do want to show you this one again, because this is my newest, my latest recipe for the vegan egg, the yolk which is made from pumpkin. I use kabocha and then the egg white is made from rice flour. So I will be doing this in an upcoming event sometime in the near future. There are so many things to go through. I haven't even gone through half of what I was expecting to talk about. But if I can, if I can give you anything from today's show, it would be just to be aware of what you're eating, read labels and make sure you know what you're putting into your body because you do want to stay healthy and happy. Thank you so much for coming on the show. I hope you enjoyed it. Yes, thank you. Thank you. Happy Halloween and I look forward to seeing you both again. And to everyone else out there, I look forward to seeing you again next time on Lillian's Vegan World. Happy Halloween and be safe. Aloha