 Hello, hi everyone and welcome to Lillian's Vegan World, the only show in Hawaii where we talk about the plant based diet and vegan lifestyle. I am coming to you live from downtown Honolulu, but today's my first day out of the studio. I am recording the show from home. I'm sure all of you around the world are probably feeling the isolation blues right now. So this show hopefully will go ahead smoothly and we won't have any internet connection problems. But welcome to the show. I'm really excited today to have a guest from the mainland, someone who I met recently here in Oahu a few weeks ago. I would love to introduce you to my guest today, Woody Bell. Welcome Woody. Hi Lillian, nice to see you. Aloha. Great to see you. Thank you so much for joining us today. Woody, I was so looking forward to meeting you because I had actually heard a lot from your cousin who lives here, who you were visiting on the island just recently. So you are plant based now. You're a vegan. As of one year on March 14th. Congratulations. Thank you. I did see your post on your social media and I do have to congratulate you because it's, I'm sure it was a difficult first year. It normally is for everyone. So tell us a little bit about your journey, how you came into the vegan diet or lifestyle, what started it. Okay, first of all, I'd heard a lot about you from my cousin and Marsha. And they're, because when I, they'd been visiting over here on the mainland and I told them that I was vegan, we'd gone out to a restaurant. They said, what kind of restaurant can you eat at? What can you eat? And then they told me, well, we have this friend Lillian that's a vegan that makes all this wonderful vegan food. So I said, well, it's really simple. I can eat just about anywhere. It's basically vegetables and fruit. I just keep it simple. And so I was approaching my 70th birthday to get back to your question. Last year I was approaching my 70th birthday, which is in May. And I was getting concerned about having type two diabetes. I've been diagnosed with it in 2009 and I had been trying to deal with it with different, eating different ways and stuff like that, trying to avoid sugar. None of that was really working. And I still struggle with sugar. I have a sweet tooth and I'm glad that really dark chocolate for the most part is vegan. Yes. And also very good for you too. Yeah, it is. And so I was looking for ways to deal with my diabetes. The results, the end result of diabetes is you start losing your eyes and they can end up cutting off your feet and things like that. And when you show the pictures, I live a quite active lifestyle and I was not into being de-habilitated at all. So my girlfriend has been a vegan for a long time. Her name is V. You'll see her in the pictures. She went ahead and sent for this book and had it sent to me. And I didn't even know it was coming and it was Dr. Neil Bernard. And it was about reversing diabetes. And I start looking at this book and it's all about plant-based diet and being a vegan. And I didn't think I could do it. I used to love to eat meat and cheese. And I wasn't a real big dairy fan other than cheese and eggs and things like that. And I thought that I had eaten healthy and she was always talking about how simple it is. And so I started looking at that book and reading the book. And I also watched a couple of things on Netflix. One was called What the Health. And awesome documentary. And even though I don't buy everything in it, I was looking for a lot. I think there's a lot of really good information in it. And then I also watched the Game Changers. This was definitely a game changer for a lot of people around the world. I think it just, yes, it really focused on protein, I would say. But it really kind of answered a lot of questions that people have, you know, their concerns about the vegan lifestyle and protein. And again, all of these documentaries awesome to watch when you are looking for more information. Woody, I do want to just if you don't mind interrupt and talk about that book that you read, because this is something I think every person should read. According to the medical news today, Woody, it's estimated that quote unquote, 30 million people in the US are living with diabetes and type two diabetes accounts for between 90 and 95% of all cases. So it's basically they're saying around one third of Americans are affected by this either pre-diabetic or actually diabetic. So if you are getting any of the symptoms that you earlier talked about, you need to really go and seek medical advice. Again, before I continue, I do want to do a quick disclaimer. The content of the show is not intended to be a substitute for professional or medical advice diagnosis or treatment. So always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you have about a medical condition, or if you're wanting to really change your diet or start a new diet. That's a lot of people affected by this. It's a lot of people. It really is. And I am one of them. And I wasn't on insulin. And I was and I knew that once I was told that once you're on insulin, there's no reversing that you can't go back. That's what I've been told. And so I'd taken a couple, I've been taking a couple of medications. I'm still on them. I'm waiting for my doctor to give me the okay to get off of them for my next, when my next checkup happens, I think next month. But one thing that did happen was that my A1C's dropped dramatically within one month. With one month. And I was just amazed. I was just amazed. Reading this book and seeing all the stuff on Netflix and everything like that. The common theme is a big problem with diabetes is meat. It's meat consumption. And I had never thought of that. I thought it was sugar. I had a completely different picture of it. It was about bread. It was about sugar. Stuff like that. I love cake, things like that. Carbohydrates, yes. Yeah. And everybody's talking about it's meat. Meat is a big kind of a villain in this. So I said, okay, I've got to do something. I had a little fear in me of the diabetes. You know, I know what happens. And so I was willing to go for it. And actually, I thought I was going to have more problems with it than I did. And I was actually able to stay off the meat. I have not eaten meat since March 14th, 2019. That's amazing. Good on you. Not even a nibble. Yeah, I think you, I think you really, if you are going to really take, take care of your health and really try and take charge of your health by going on a vegan diet, you just have to go cold turkey. And the thing is it's not like giving up drugs or cigarettes. Because when you, you know, if you're a smoker, a heavy smoker and you need to stop smoking, there's really nothing else there that's going to, you know, satisfy that craving. But when it comes to changing your diet and food that you put into your body, you have to remember that just by giving up meat doesn't mean you're going to starve and not have anything to eat. You're going to learn about some really, you know, delicious ways to eat and your body is just going to appreciate it and show you that what you're doing is right. So good for you. Congratulations again on the one year mark. I'm, I'm, I did quit smoking 33 years ago and that was, was one of the toughest things I ever did. I'm sure because you go, I went cold turkey. I didn't do any vaping. They didn't have it then. I didn't do any gum or patches. I just went cold turkey and it was rough. The big concern that I had and everybody brings up to me constantly is where do you get your protein from? I know that's the big misconception. Yeah. If you don't eat meat, how do you get protein? Yeah. I think, I think there are still people that believe meat is made by animals. Yeah. So maybe you want to again, go watch or see a documentary like what the health or definitely game changer, the game changer does clear up some of those myths and misconceptions about protein. But vegan food, vegetables are very high in protein. And when you, when you get protein from vegetables, you're getting it directly from the source, not through a dead animal's body. That's right. I also liked that almond butter and peanut butter and stuff like that. Seeds, legumes. Yeah. And, and the other thing is I thought it was going to be very difficult. And actually the way I eat is very simple. And the other thing I did not, I didn't know this was going to happen, but I dropped 25 pounds and it happened pretty fast too. And I eat a lot. Okay. I eat a lot. I don't die. Yeah. Here's the other, here's the other game changer with the vegan diet. I know people are going to be surprised when I say this, but you don't have to count calories. Yeah. I don't know. Would any person who is vegan that I personally know who counts calories because you don't have to. In fact, it's not an issue. It's not an issue. The, the doctor that, that we mentioned earlier on Dr. Neil Bernard, who did write the book program for reversing diabetes, the scientifically proven system for reversing diabetes without drugs. Now he belongs to physicians committee that put out YouTube videos on a regular basis. If anyone is interested in more information about a vegan diet or plant based diet, I do recommend you go to YouTube, do Google physicians committee. They have some awesome videos that explain in detail the link between a vegan diet and type two diabetes, whether it be maintaining the condition or living, living with it and reversing it. So they, there is actually a lot of proof and a lot of studies that have been going on that do show type two, type two diabetes can be reversed with the correct diet. And when we talk about the correct diet, we use the word vegan diet, but that doesn't mean eating fries and vegan ice cream and, you know, really bad unhealthy vegan food. It's talking about a low fat, you know, whole foods, vegan diet. So we are going to take a break shortly Woody. And then when we come back, I do want to talk a little bit more about your healthy, active lifestyle, which is absolutely, you know, one of the most important things in leading a healthy, healthy lifestyle along with what you put into your body. So stay tuned, we and everyone else out there, stay tuned. We'll be back right after this break. My show is designed to teach you the simplest and most effective treatment strategies to get you out of pain. And if you or someone, you know is having pain in a certain area of the body with like a free assessment and treatment over media or in person and then come on the show to talk about it. Email us at think tech movement matters at gmail.com Or if you have a topic you would like to know more about, please email us. My goal is to decrease pain all over the world, inspiring people to take better care of their bodies to enjoy life to the fullest. I look forward to hearing from you. Welcome back everyone to Lillian's Vegan World. I'm your host, Lillian Cumick, vegan chef and cooking instructor here in Honolulu. Today I am so happy to have my guest Woody Bell all the way from California. Hey Woody, welcome back. Thank you Lillian. Nice to see you. So great talking to you Woody. I do want to get right back into our conversation. So we've covered the fact that the vegan lifestyle, I should say the plant-based diet is definitely working for you. How about meds that you were taking? Are you finding that you don't need as many meds as before? I just take, I'm still taking two meds. I'm still taking two meds. I will not get off of them until my doctor okays it. I kind of, I work with my doctor. And when I first became vegan, I went and saw her and I didn't bring the book. I'd forgotten to bring it but I told her she knew the book and she knew who the guy was. And she said, pretty much, she said, that's the guy. So she said, yeah, if you can follow that, more power to you. She was behind me all the way on that. Awesome. Yes, he does have, again, so many videos on YouTube. One in particular when I was doing a little bit of homework for this show with you Woody, I did find on YouTube Neil Bernard, the name of the YouTube video is evidence-based eating patterns for type 2 diabetes. I'm actually going to provide the link for this once our show is uploaded onto YouTube later on today. The other video worth looking at is also Neil Bernard. The YouTube channel is called Physicians Committee and it's called Vegan Diets for Diabetes and Weight Loss. Vegan diet, you are going to lose weight on a vegan diet whether you plan to or not. That's just the way it works. That's why a lot of vegans walk around looking younger, healthier, less BMI, body mass index than most meat eaters. That's just a fact. So Woody, let's take a look at some of the photos that you sent in because you just look amazing. You mentioned your, look how gorgeous she is, Vee. You mentioned that she's been a vegan for a long time. Yeah, I don't know how many years. She was a vegetarian for many years and then she went vegan many years ago. Beautiful couple. I love this photo of you guys. This is a frame up. We were attending a wedding and that's my motorcycle. It's a 2014 Indian and a couple that was getting married a motorcyclist and we were all encouraged to ride to the wedding. We did. Awesome. I think that's a beautiful photo. I was actually doing a model shoot for that hat. That's what that was. Really? Yes. And Vee hooked me up with that. There's a company called American Hat Makers here in the Monterey Bay area in Watsonville. And so they were looking for models and they wanted somebody that rode a motorcycle. And so, yeah, they contacted me and I went out and did a model shoot. That's awesome. Great. That actually does look like a poster for something. That's awesome. Who knew Woody you would be modeling at this age? Yeah. At 70 years old. That surprised me. I never thought that would happen. 70 years young, I would say. Yes. And here's what you do, Woody. I'm sorry I didn't mention earlier. You are actually a musician and do play music over there on the mainland. Tell us a little bit about your music career. Well, currently I'm in a band. We just play clubs around the Santa Cruz area where I live. It's called Red Horse, W-R-E-D-H-O-R-S-E. We play dance music, a lot of rock and roll, rockabilly, reggae, some blues. We even do a little country western. We just cover a whole lot. And a picture of me playing an acoustic guitar is I did that. I was doing a solo show with, well, I did it with a couple of other people, but I'm actually doing a solo song right there. And it was for Christmas. And I think I'm singing blue Christmas there. Oh, nice. So you sing as well, Woody? Yes, I do. Awesome. I've been doing it for years. Nice. Yeah. Let's take a look at another one. Here's your motorcycle. Yeah. Guys, you both are so photogenic. Thank you. Thank you. Honestly, I mean that. Like, you and me should be on more posters. You can hook up with some vegan companies that put out vegan products and do something. So those pictures right there is when I met you. That's in Oahu a couple of weeks ago. Yes. This is at the Japanese. Temple. Yes. At the Buddhist temple. Yeah. Yes. And it's beautiful. It's very beautiful there. V's actually 61. And I'm 70. She looks at least 20 years younger. She's amazing. Yes. She is amazing. My cousin Pete, my cousin Pete falling on the left. Let's leave it. Let's leave it on this photo for a minute. So Peter Marta, one of our best friends here on the island. That's how I met you with Pete. Yes. Through them. Yes. They're another couple that just so active and enjoying life. I mean, that's what it's about, isn't it? When we're talking about diet and the vegan diet and, you know, how illnesses can be reversed or prevented. I mean, rather than reversing illnesses, we should be preventing them and honestly, you know, nobody wants to be sick and be popping pills all their lives. So this may be woody, the times, the trying times that we're in right now with the coronavirus and everyone being isolated. Maybe this is a really good time for us to rethink or reevaluate our health. But where I'm going with this, what I'm saying is enjoying your life is the main thing. And if you're sick, you won't be able to, so, you know, do what you can to take care of your health so that you can have really awesome times like this. Pete and Marta actually really do take care of themselves. I know Pete's lost a lot of weight recently. Yes. So maybe you and I can, can give them a bit of a nudge and see if they'll, they'll try more plant based on a regular basis. I mean, Marta is so active as well. She looks amazing too. Yes. And, and while I was staying at the, I was staying with them and they accommodated as far as food. They were just wonderful. And Marsha was very concerned. She's, and I had to keep telling her, just keep it simple. The salad is wonderful. Just keep it simple. It's a, let's get back on the screen. We're a month apart in age. I'm actually a month old. Okay. I didn't know that he was so close in age, but yeah, we celebrated Pete's 70th birthday just last year. So yeah, right. Interesting. Might have to do a bit of a Pepsi Coke challenge on that one. But you know, you know what Woody? I think you noticed when you joined us to go and see a concert while you were here at the Blaisdell. I was going to bring water. Yeah. We did some tailgating before it had a, had a some wine and some poo poo's, some appetizers. Did you notice that almost everyone brought vegan food? Yes, I did. I noticed that. And they separated the vegan from the non vegan. And it was over in one car. All the vegan food was in the other car. And most everybody was hanging around the vegan car. Yes. And I, I was like amazed at that. I said, cause you and I were the only vegans there, I believe. Yes. No, there was, I think somebody else. Yeah. No, it was only us two. Yeah. Just us two. Our friends here do that every time we get together. And the food that you brought, you prepared was amazing. It was delicious. Thank you. Thanks Woody. Yeah. I might have a career doing this after all. I think you would. I got to enjoy myself without feeling any guilt and just stuffing my face. So that's part of being a vegan. Yeah, I know that that's the thing, you know, I must say whenever I talk about, or whenever it comes up in conversation that I'm vegan, people, there are people that are going to feel a bit threatened or a bit turned off or a bit funny about it. You must have noticed this in the last year as you, as you left behind your old eating habits to. I hang around with motorcyclists. I know. So they must be like motorcyclists. They're all meat eaters. I know. But the thing is you don't have to, you don't have to feel, feel threatened by someone who's on a, who's, you know, taking care of their health, eating healthily. In fact, you should be embracing that and trying to, to learn more about it, because you are changing the way you look before people's eyes. Basically, I would love to have seen a photo of you a year before you started this plant-based diet, but I can guarantee people must be looking at you going, something's different, something's changed. And it's obviously your body is just, you know, going crazy with all this, with all this healthy stuff going on. I'm actually a friend of mine recently told me, I look younger. And then of course there is the 25 pound weight loss. And it could even be more, it could be 30. That's incredible. Because I don't really weigh myself. I know. Neither do I. I don't have a scale here. Don't need it. Don't need to count calories. Eat a lot. I did have to buy new clothes. I did have to buy new clothes. A new belt, new pants. Well, see, all, all the viewers watching this, like there's a good excuse. If you want to, if you love shopping as much as I do, you get to lose all this weight and go shopping for a whole new wardrobe. Well, my son, he was the one, he noticed that he goes, you're losing a lot of weight, dad. You need to buy some new pants. Those are looking really bad. He was the one that, you know, got on me about it. He's 41. And he's in pretty good shape too. And so, yeah, I went, you know, you're right. So it was nice to buy a new Levi's, new belt, new shirts. Yes. Yeah. And they were smaller instead of bigger. I know for it. Yeah. It doesn't that feel nice. I mean, think about your, the way your self-esteem can increase when you yourself know you look better. Not only do you feel better, but you look better. It's a win-win situation to me. I look at people who are struggling with struggling on diets. Woody, who are counting every single calorie weighing every single ounce and still not quite getting there to the point where they feel like they're at their right weight and want to, you know, at that perfect weight or that ideal weight that we all kind of have. But you can diet. I mean, it's really not difficult at all once you open your mind to the fact that the human body doesn't need animal protein to survive. That's right. And that's the thing. It's when I do talk to people about, you know, they're struggling trying to diet. And I said, why don't you try being a vegan? And I try to tell them how simple it is. And they say, well, I need the protein. I need meat. And I cannot, they don't believe me. I know. Of course, I'm not a doctor. I'm not a, I'm not an expert on that. I'm just, you know, I'm a musician and a regular guy. But anyways, I also, it has given me so much more energy on stage playing. Sometimes they play late night gigs and stuff. And I've really, I've really noticed that I have a lot more energy on stage and just a lot more active. And it's easier to stay up. Yeah. And I'm sure Woody, with your riding, you ride your motorcycle a lot. I'm sure that takes quite a lot of energy out of you. So how has that affected your riding? I just got back from a 1200 mile trip. When I came back from Hawaii, I was home one day and took off and went camping with some friends and over the weekend. And it was, I was gone for four days and it was a 1200 mile ride. And I got home and I was just fine. You know, I'm saying, I have, I have absolutely no idea how far that is because the rest of us are on the metric system, Woody. That's right. That's right. We almost changed. I know. Years back, we were talking about it and it never happened. I don't know why we don't. It's simpler. It's way simpler. I know. Woody, we have actually come to the end of the show and it's been such a pleasure talking to you and hearing about your journey one year down so many more awesome, healthy years ahead. And it's been nice to meet you and see Dave again. Thank you. We had a fun time over there and looking forward to seeing you again and I'll take you up on that vegan dinner. Vegan dinner on me next time you're on the island, promise. And to all the viewers out there, thank you so much for watching. Do watch more of Lillian's Vegan World, live from Honolulu. Thank you, Woody. To everyone, please be safe in these trying times. Take care and see you next time. Aloha.