 Aloha and welcome to Lillian's Vegan World, the show where we talk about everything to do with veganism and the plant-based diet. We're coming live to you from the gorgeous Think Tech Hawaii Studios in downtown Honolulu. Always huge mahalo to Think Tech for allowing shows like this to air. We do ask that you donate, make a tax-deductible donation to any of the shows that resonate with you so that we can continue making these awesome shows and informing you about what's going on in Hawaii like the very important plant-based diet. So I'm here with my awesome guest Carlos Garcia all the way from Maui and we're here for part two with Carlos to talk more about Carlos's journey with veganism. Carlos, welcome. Aloha. I do want to introduce you to the viewers who missed part one of our show with you. You are a Maui based musician and publisher of Living Aloha magazine which was founded in 2014 and I'm sure it's going to get up and running again sometime in the future. You are also an activist and philosopher. Did I leave? Did I leave anything out? Oh there's a lot more but we won't have to go into all that. That's great that covers a lot and yeah I think it's important to take care of our home here on this planet and everything on it. Absolutely. That's what I'm about. Yeah Carlos I did leave one thing out on purpose just for a bit of a tease but I do have to mention that you were voted by Peter as 2020 sorry excuse me 2019 sexiest male vegan over 50. Yes I must say that happened. That is such an awesome title I mean not many of us vegans can say we hold a title like that so good for you and you recently have spent some time in Thailand Carlos tell us about your trip and what you did there. Wow well yeah I just got back a few days ago and my main thing was to find out what this place that had been called you know in many ways and by many people a vegan island. Well not exactly a vegan island but it was definitely very in and when you can walk the distance of two or three minutes and there are 20 vegan restaurants you've got my attention for sure and so area up on gone it's in the south of Thailand it was mentioned by some articles mentioned by a happy cow it's mentioned by you know all kind of places that it's just really great place and besides veganism it's you go get there there's massage beautiful beaches there's drum circles there's a lot of music and that music thing adds a lot for me and it's cool and great community and I you know met and started building some relationships with people so I can get more people from here to go there and experience that you know in some kind of either personal retreat or a personal occasion or retreat where there's a school and different things to do and you know it's just drawing me there again and oh I've got I just got back it's like after that I'm thinking about there yeah I love Hawaii of course you know but there's this place that you know in the in a square mile has more vegan restaurants than the entire state of Hawaii that's interesting Carlos would you say that these restaurants mainly are filled with tourists or are people in Thailand actually on plant-based diets well on the in Bangkok it was a tourist and in Gopangon the island most of the people are international there so it is very tourist did again you know a lot of the locals you know they go everywhere and met up with some night you know met some nice people that became really close friends that own a vegan restaurant that's also a music space and dance space and you know and with them we're gonna set up some kind of retreats where everything is pretty much vegan yoga retreats completely vegans several of them and so they're gonna work with us to make this happen and so I want to bring some of that spirit to Hawaii get it going similarly into the whole world actually the vegan thing you know you know that's why we're all here it's very important to us and points to the planet points to the animals it's you are breaking up a little bit Carlos unfortunately I apologize to the viewers for the the connection but we are trying to trying to hear what you're saying and it's it's fantastic having lived myself personally in Hawaii for just over a year I must say that I do find there is quite a large vegan movement here in my opinion I do see a large community here of vegans who are very supportive of each other who do try and get some events going throughout the year not as many restaurants as you were saying that are in Thailand but hopefully more and more will pop up in the future Carlos I wanted to ask you something that I get asked often and that is how would you how would you recommend or what would you recommend someone do if they are interested in learning more about starting a vegan diet or a plant-based diet well I look at it as a diet it is one living vegan is another thing me my two biggest influences were the movie earthlings that changed life and reading the book world peace diet by Dr. Will Tuttle was also a very important because earthlings the more Yes, Will Tuttle is a very influential yes very influential influential person in the in the vegan world so definitely do check out that book that you just mentioned yeah yeah and will he's more of the intellectual veganizer and information you get in there really makes you towards in the whole spirit of why this exploitation you know can't continue you know it's really sure going back to you want to get your foundation saying okay I want to eat vegan is one thing but try to find the true feeling of why we are working then it's much easier because you're gonna find it because when you you know when you look at the fact that you know ten thousand years ago when people started valuing wealth based on how many animals you owned you know that's a very that's not a good gauge of the world you know and so now we got to get away from that that these are their own lives we need to do these do this to animals in order to eat well and be healthy so getting the foundation right is so much more important than I mean it's important to get the food right but the foundation so that no matter what you what happens you're gonna find your your your information and knowing that you just cannot take that step to take advantage of another creature so that you can live another day that is the first thing we need to understand you know but there are many resources on there's so much cookbooks and websites and talks and you just have to anything and there's many years more than you can spend your whole life of information out there about why we should live vegan so mad cowboy is another important book for me and of course so what the health and those movies you know I think game change is a good one that that relates to a lot of people because it does clear up some of the questions that people have about things like protein protein deficiency that excuse me that a lot of people still are misunderstanding so definitely watch some of the documentaries read some books there as you said there are endless amounts of resources out there and yeah I mean it's yeah there's no shortage of anything out there to find out and and the food is so much better I mean there's no I don't have to tell you and that's what you do also do you know every time someone comes to one of my seven course dinners or events or if I'm cooking for friends every time I cook for them the first thing they say is I ate so much and I didn't feel bad after it well that's it's a big thing it is it's a big thing because they're making my connection that you know there's a price for eating meat yeah dairy or eggs and they're starting to understand yes that you're not supposed to feel bad or sick after you eat certain things which is something we don't experience on a plant-based diet so very interesting the other thing Carlos I wanted to mention something that's coming up a lot with people I talk about and that is when you are starting you know your journey on a vegan lifestyle or you are starting to cut out animal products from your diet learn how to say no what I mean with that is yes and if I may what I mean is you know learn how to say no no thank you when somebody offers you something that you are trying not to eat anymore and I have to say this I see it from my own eyes all the time people kind of want you to cheat or you know want you to fail sometimes when it comes to you know trying to get healthier eat healthier food start you know eat more plant-based foods and a lot of people say to me Lillian when I go out you know people they know my favorite foods they're always cooking them and I just I can't help but say you know say yes it's like learn how to say no no one's gonna make you or force you to do anything you don't want to do so I think that's something that we all really should consider and then people around you will start to learn that they can't you know they can't keep pushing your buttons and trying trying to get you to go back to your old ways if what you're actually trying to do is move on and you know start a new healthier lifestyle yeah that's a tough one because a lot of people don't want to they don't want to hurt the feelings of the person that offered the food and I'm like well I'm sorry but if you're hurting my feelings you know trying to make me eat that stuff and you know yeah that's a tough thing and you know family is the toughest one to break I don't think I have to tell you because they they know everything your family knows what you should know and you know they know that I need mental health because I'm questioning that what they're eating may not be healthy you know the cause of all the problems that they're having with their weight and with their knees being replaced and all these different things that they just don't want to make the connection to well Carlos we are we are going to take a short break and then come back and continue talking about this I think it's very important to to learn about how we can start a vegan lifestyle so stay tuned everyone and see you after the break I was the head coach for the Punahou Boys varsity tennis team for 22 years and we were fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championships my show is based on my book also titled beyond the lines and it's about leadership creating a superior culture of excellence and finding greatness I feature a wide range of amazing guests who share valuable insights about how going beyond the lines leads to success in everything you do in life I'm looking forward to you joining me every Monday at 11 a.m. Aloha welcome back everyone to Lillian's Vegan World I'm your host Lillian Cumick I am a vegan chef and cooking instructor at the end of this year I am actually going to be bringing out a cookbook so do stay tuned for that with all of Hawaii's favorites today I am welcoming back Carlos Garcia from Maui for part two of our talk with living Aloha publisher Maui musician activist philosopher and 2019's sexiest vegan male over 50 Carlos I I'm gonna have to steal that title from you one of one of these days sure probably the female might be better but yeah not that bit not the male one welcome back and thank you for joining us Carlos you're getting up to a lot of things before we started the show you mentioned a retreat a meditation retreat that you're going to be participating in on Hawaii if you don't mind tell us a little bit about that you know I've heard of people doing meditation retreats in general and then I've heard about these silent retreats and they go anywhere from a weekend to five or ten days and for some reason I applied to one that was for ten days and got accepted and it's on a while who on the North Shore at it's an organization that does a lot of different meditations and especially the vipassanas around Hawaii so you know I've known people that'll take them and they tell me it would really be great for you to be able to do that because you can you get to really take you know put a lot of the world away from you there's no computers there's no emails there's no phones and you just kind of you're away from that part of the world and you get to look at yourself and you sit meditate for eight to ten hours a day and it's something that is available to anyone there and they're actually free but you make a little donation if you can at the end but it's generally free and they supply all the food in a place to stay I think it's at a Boy Scout camp up in the North Shore of Oahu and several people have told me that something I probably need with my crazy busy life trying to do more than is physically possible all the time and so a bunch of things that steered me in that direction and it looks like I'm gonna go Wow interesting good luck I'm interested to see how it goes after it ten days is a long time to not be talking at all ten minutes for me is a long time part of me Carlos all the food is vegan most of it is yeah and I'm not sure if it all completely is but it's definitely vegetarian and so you know all of that together and it's gonna be you know on the North Shore it's like you know and delving into areas that I've never gone into which I think I might need and people have recommended it to me so yeah I think that's all I think that's awesome I think the more the longer you stay on a big or in in a vegan lifestyle and eating more plant-based foods I think I think you start to really seek out other ways to to better your health or your well-being just just naturally people on vegan or plant-based diets tend to be very spiritual very into their health very into their mental physical well-being so this is I like the way you vibe Carlos you're taking care of yourself and and that's really the most important thing to do we're not supposed to be here middle-aged in our 40s 50s popping pills every day yet the human body should be healthy enough to you know to be able to sustain some of the the pressure that we put on it and I think one thing that we can do for our bodies is to really consider what we're feeding them yeah I you know I I watch my you know my own family go through this with pills and just you know this load of pills that they have to deal with every day and it's just so awful and unnecessary you know I think they're more sick from those pills than they are from anything they might have you know so I don't even know what the point is but you know you have to handle things your own way and help whoever wants to be helped and yeah um you know and you mentioned something during our little break about did you want to know if you wanted to go into that thing about people kind of cheating you know I always go ahead yeah because to me when when a vegan when someone says that a vegan they saw them cheating or whatever whatever well that person probably really isn't living vegan they might eat vegan most of the time or some of the time or at least you know to this person but you know when you live vegan it doesn't matter it's like you know if you're gonna cheat because that that cookie there you know had some milk or eggs or whatever it's like saying to me it's like saying oh well animals can suffer sometimes you know you know mostly not but sometimes it's okay so that's where I draw that line and you know the me you know like I think just getting a little deeper is that as far as the sources of what kind of food the even what kind of programs and you know there's so many groups and Facebook groups and potlucks and many ways and cooking classes you know like you really can find that stuff everywhere nowadays and but I wanted to point out that you know getting down to that one point of like that I mentioned on the part one of this is that it all boils down to the heartbeat we appreciate our heartbeat how important that is to for us to get air to get nutrients to get all of that and we don't want to have that deprived from us so why would we do that to another creature that's what it boils down to and once we understand that it's easier to live vegan and for me living vegan it's not just about food it's not just about you know living vegan it's about you're not racist you're not sexist you're not homophobic you're not you know all these things you know so it's much more than just about food for me you have let go of all these things that society wants you to believe so that you can have all these separate worlds that don't communicate and come together we have to look at that we all have heartbeats and we want to keep that going that's an important bit of information and once we understand that and what we eat is going to be way more important and we're going to find ways to make it happen you know you could have said it any better Carlos absolutely absolutely agree nothing in my mind whatsoever is going to change the way I feel about what goes on in the animal world and will never ever justify you know a hamburger made from animal protein no way never gonna happen in my world millions vegan world but I do again encourage people to sort out information so that you know you know no more about the lifestyle exactly what you said it's not only about food it goes further and further beyond that Carlos you have some sorry go ahead I'm just gonna say that yeah I mean that's what we have to understand we have to just come together on that point because we are all you know generally good people but that system that we've been in with food has has been blocked from us so this good person is not really applying right there we need to come make that all come together you know we can't continue like this and I think that that'll make a big difference Carlos you yes I agree and I I think because we live in such a hypocritical world I think we really need to take a look at what what our morals are what our really true beliefs are because it's it seems odd for me that people continuously talk about how much they love animals while they're eating a steak oh yeah I've had plenty of friends and relatives you know say you know sitting there eating a steak while they're petting their dog saying I love animals okay yeah some animal literally where do we draw that line of hate the chicken the cow the white person the black person you know there's this line that people kind of set that they need to get rid of that and just accept everything is a beautiful thing I couldn't agree more Carlos you know you need to be protected yeah absolutely talking about beautiful things you have prepared a few pictures from your trip in Thailand let's take a look at them and you can go through them with us this one first of the monkeys oh yes this is the town called Lobur Loburley and literally the town is overrun by monkeys they pretty much have taken over and you know they're they try to get in all the shops where they get chased out but these monkeys are free in this town they they're really not most of them for the most part they're really gentle you let me walk right by them and so you don't bother you give them a little time but if you don't have a necklace or a watch or something they're gonna grab it and run with it oh this is my this is your laptop place yeah that's my laptop with a slight vegan message there yes anywhere I am airports are there at a library at the condo I was what a great idea yeah people have to see that you know and oh yeah this was my favorite cheese place in copangan that had made the best cheese I've ever had gorgeous just looking at it you can tell it's good yeah cashew cashew or almond yeah these are cashew cashew but they also had chocolates they had other concoctions but they were amazing and this is one of the most beautiful beaches that I saw in the south of in copangan and it's almost like a private little not really private but they charge admission to get into this area but it's really sweet and the beach is beautiful and the water is amazing and little restaurants right there and this is a deli Debbie the same place with the cheese and you see they've got this this is unbelievable to say that this little deli is all vegan we need this in our life here in Hawaii we need this everywhere I know that looks amazing wonderful yeah and oh boy that's a little avocado sandwich that this one place called eat co that I had just just before I saw a friend of mine off at the at the boat to leave and this is jamming with a group of Latin musicians that I met while I was there and basically I played with them any time that they play they said always come and play with us I saw some of your video footage of that on your Facebook Carlos Garcia your Facebook page Carlos we have come to the end of the show again how the time flies when we're talking vegan yeah we can do part 30 down some other people on and thank you for having me it's been a pleasure thank you and I do hope you enjoy your retreat in Oahu been a pleasure talking to Carlos good luck again on your journey and to everyone out there do do take a look at Carlos Garcia's Facebook page if you want to connect and you can always connect with me at Lillian vegan so thank you everyone for watching have an awesome day aloha