A Conversation With Elysabeth Alfano of The Elysabeth Alfano Show

Today I chat with Elysabeth Alfano. Elysabeth wears many hats…all of them vegan!  She is the host of the only plant-based radio show in the nation, The Elysabeth Alfano Show, syndicated on the Smart Talk Radio Network and WCGO-Chicago. In addition, she hosts the Plantbased Business Hour as part of her overall Awesome Vegans Interview Series

This series features conversations I conducted with individuals who have dedicated their work and lives to Vegan research, businesses, art, and society. This podcast series is hosted by Patricia Kathleen and Wilde Agency Media.

http://ElysabethAlfano.com

@ElysabethAlfano

 

TRANSCRIPTION

[00:00:10] Hi, I'm Patricia. And this is investigating Vegan life with Patricia Kathleen. This series features interviews and conversations I conduct with experts from food and fashion to tech and agriculture, from medicine and science to health and humanitarian arenas. Our inquiry is an effort to examine the variety of industries and lifestyle tenants in the world of Vegan life. To that end. We will cover topics that have revealed themselves as Kofman and integral when exploring veganism. The dialog captured here is part of our ongoing effort to host transparent and honest rhetoric. For those of you who, like myself, find great value in hearing the expertize and opinions of individuals who have dedicated their work and lives to their ideals. You can find information about myself and my podcast at Patricia Kathleen dot com. Welcome to Investigating Vegan Life. Now let's start the conversation. 

 

[00:01:13] Hi, everyone, welcome back. I am your host, Patricia. 

 

[00:01:16] And today we are sitting down with Elysabeth Alfano. Elysabeth is a radio and podcast host, an award winning media personality content producer and a plant based expert. You can find out more about her company and the work she's doing on her Web site. 

 

[00:01:33] Elysabeth Alfano, dot com. That is e l y s a b e t h a l f a n o dot com. 

 

[00:01:40] Welcome, Elysabeth. 

 

[00:01:42] Hi. Thanks for having me. It's great to be here. Absolutely. I'm excited to kind of climb through. 

 

[00:01:46] You have such a prolific history and your Vegan journey and story and all of the work you're doing hasn't just been prolific. I know it's changing on the daily, as is everyone's, you know, enterprise. Sure it is. So if everyone listening, I'm going to read a bio on Elysabeth. But before I do that, I'll offer you a quick roadmap of today's podcast. We're going to first look at Elysabeth's academic and professional history briefly to just get a platform of understanding of her history. And then we'll start unpacking the services and the podcast. This shows the work that she's done and is continuing to do on her Web site. Elysabeth Alfano, dot com. And then we'll turn our efforts toward some of like the ethos and the philosophical endeavors and the creativity behind the work that she's doing and going to work in the future at. And then we'll look at goals as to what she thinks she might be doing with her company. Again, this is an area that's changing on the daily for people. So that's exciting. And we'll wrap everything up with advice that Elysabth may have for those of you looking to get involved with her endeavors and maybe emulate some of her success. A quick bio on Elysabeth before I pepper her with questions. Elysabeth Alfano wears many hats. All of them Vegan. She's the host of the only plant based radio show in the nation. The Elysabeth Alfonzo show, syndicated on the Smart Talk Radio Network and WCG O Chicago. In addition, she hosts the plant based Business Hour as part of her overall Awesome Vegans interview series live on Jane Unchanged News Network. Before both shows became become available on all podcasts platforms, Elysabeth is also a plant based expert for mainstream media, breaking down the plant based news for the general public on radio and TV. She is a featured chef and one of the executive producers of the new groundbreaking Being Cooking series on Amazon Prime. New Day. New Chef Elysabth does a recipe development and consultation for restaurants and food companies looking to Veganize their offerings. For more information on all of this, as I said, you can visit Elysabeth Alfano, dot com. So, Elysabeth, before we climb into you, I'm really excited because you've had such a prolific career and it's kind of spanned a lot of different industries, but carried a common theme with your Vegan expertize. But before we get into any of that, I'm hoping you can draw us just a brief academic background and early professional life to kind of garner a sense of your platform as you came into this journey. 

 

[00:04:12] Sure. Oh, gosh. I'll be brief here. Basically, I went to business school and then I worked for Fortune 500 companies. And then I left that and I opened my own business. And then this would have been around the early 2000s or so, around 2007, maybe actually the economy crashed. And I got out of that business and took a little time off and in kind of re pivoting my life, if you will, I thought about the things that are really important to me that I really want to spend time on. And I thought, OK, I'm going to really shift my efforts to the plant based world. And at that point, I didn't know how deeply I was going to dove into veganism if it was going to be through journalism, only if it was going to be through business consulting. It was going to be through cooking. I'm Sicilian. You just can't keep me away from the kitchen. It's really a hobby. And I love more than anything. And that's a joy to see that come to something as major as Amazon Prime, which I didn't really see coming because I've been so focused on business my whole life and business reporting as well. So I just didn't know where it was gonna take me. But I knew when the economy kind of fell apart that it was a great time for me to look at my life and really focus on the things that I'm passionate about, and that's veganism. So that's really how I shifted over to what I do now. 

 

[00:05:35] That's awesome. Did you have it like a baptismal experience or what I mean by that is just some kind of an aha moment. And frequently you did or don't. OK. 

 

[00:05:43] So as a kid, I mean really young, five, seven years old, I couldn't eat meat, I couldn't chew it. I couldn't have explained to you the ethical dilemma for me. But I knew something was wrong beyond the fact that I didn't like the muscle and I didn't like the taste. I knew internally this was going against what I loved. 

 

[00:06:03] I loved animals more than dolls or tours or anything. It was always animals. I just wanted to be around animals and so I wouldn't eat it at the dinner table. And my parents who loved me and I love them back and everything's good. It's all wonderful. They were panicked that it wasn't going to get enough, quote unquote, protein. It's a Converse's I'm sure we'll have here. So they punished me to stay at the table and that I had to finish the meat on my plate and I couldn't do it. So I'd be alone for three, four hours at a time. And then I started hiding the meat everywhere, putting it under the table or putting it at the bottom of the garbage container or in my pockets, my pants pockets. And then my folks would find the rotting meat everywhere and then they punish me for lying. So fast forward as an adult way into my adult years. I think that's what we do. We have to eat meat. There's no way around it. We all know we've seen factory farm footage. I won't go into it. I don't have to because everyone knows it's there. We've all seen it. But we have this disconnect in our lives. We do it anyway. Even though we all love animals, no one wants to harm animals. That's crazy. So I just thought as an adult that we are supposed to live with this disconnect. And it never sat well with me and it was always a point of uncomfort ability. And I'd go out to restaurants with people. And I just see, like, you know, I was the closet vegetarian over here, just sort of ordering my non meat stuff in silence. I didn't want anyone to know where to focus on me or to even bring up the conversation. Then my nephew went to the University of Oregon. He's an athlete. He came home from the first semester of school Thanksgiving, and he said, oh, yeah, coach told me if I want to play for the team, no meat, no dairy. And I was like, you got a professional to give you permission. I'd been waiting for an adult, you know, like a real professional in the area to give me permission my whole life since I was a kid. So I was Vegan in that sentance. I really like that moment. It's so crystal clear in my head. I was vegan in that sentence. I was like, oh, me too. I'm going Vegan. I knew there was something to this Vegan thing. I'm going Vegan. So I was vegan that day. 

 

[00:08:02] I love that being given permission. Isn't it so ironic that your entire life is isn't even as a child, you know, you you knew that that lifestyle felt right for you, and yet it took this kind of obscure reference of being given permission. It's I think it's true through a lot of areas. So what did your original journey look like? You became Vegan. Did you immediately do an investigative search? And what year was that? What did the industry or the community look like back then? 

 

[00:08:28] Right. It was late. It was really late in the game. Now, mind you, I had been issuing meat my whole life, but not dairy. I didn't know how to do that. I didn't even know the ill will of the dairy industry, which I do now. And if if anyone listening doesn't know about that, I'll just say that the dairy industry is built on breaking the bond between mother and baby. 

 

[00:08:49] I'll let you do your own research from there. But that's also not something that aligns with my values. So, you know, when I learned about that, I was like, oh, hey, oh, no, I'm not doing that either. So that when I made this final decision, it was the end of 2015. So already veganism had advanced in some ways. You know, I wasn't a pioneer like many people three decades ago. Even though I was trying to find my way all those decades, I didn't make anything official until the end of 2015. 

 

[00:09:17] I would say even the change over those past five years has been really significant in the grand scheme of things. 

 

[00:09:23] You know, it's arguable that in 30 years ago, the change of five years wasn't how it's been now due to the advent of obvious media, things like game changers, forks and knives, the documentaries, all of the work being done. But it's it's a wild ride to have been on. So you kind of came together. You had this this birth, if you will, of this change into the Vegan lifestyle. You're doing this work. How did you start to marry what you came from in your professional life into what is now Elysabeth Alfano dot com? How did those things come together? And did you launch with a specific service or was it just this idea of doing a Web site? 

 

[00:10:01] Oh, gosh. So trial and error. You know, I'd love to say that life is perfectly thought out. And I did have a plan and a strategy. 

 

[00:10:07] But, you know, you kind of go from there and you see where life takes you. I had been doing celebrity interviews, so my business, as I say, with a real estate market, had tanked in 2007. All businesses were pretty slow. I thought I've always loved this hobby of journalism and I love interviewing people getting up close, just like what you're doing, getting up close, really trying to find the information that those key nuggets of information. So I was doing some food journalism and some celebrity journalism. And at that time, I just thought, I can't do this anymore. Now that I have switched over to veganism and I know all the wealth of information that needs to get out to people that isn't out there. And I'll say perhaps even specifically, intentionally not getting out there. I just felt that, you know, as someone who believes in sharing information because information is power for people so that they can make the decisions that are important to them in their lives, the individual decisions that people need to make. I wanted to be a part of that. Giving of information. 

 

[00:11:14] So I started out with just a Web site and switching over to because I was already doing celebrity interviews, so I switched over to Celebrity Vegan's, Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins, Moby, Kathy Freston, New York Times best selling author, these kind of folks. And then the more and more I got into it, I was able to just do a deeper dove and really bring together my business, you know, decades of working in business, either from Fortune 500 companies or reform myself and the plant based world, which has been so exciting. 

 

[00:11:45] Talk about, you know, just in the last year what we've seen from the business perspective. It's so exciting. And then, you know, I do have this comfortability around corporations and having worked in them, et cetera. So I know that corporations benefit from healthy employees and they also benefit from fun, engaging activities for their employees to kind of bring them together. So I do work with corporations and just, you know, work on Vegan classes if they want it. 

 

[00:12:11] Cooking classes, informational classes, nutritional classes, this kind of thing. 

 

[00:12:15] So this road from, you know, speaking to celebrities and doing interviews and just kind of pulling out some of those nuggets. It sounds like it's gone until like a heavy educational platform. 

 

[00:12:24] Do you find that a lot of your podcasts are what you're doing now is is consulting and coaching and educationally based? And if so, what core pieces like what core tenants of plant based or Vegan lifestyle have you kind of incorporated into your pedagogy, if you will? 

 

[00:12:42] Tricky business. I will say that. 

 

[00:12:46] The Vegan world is changing so quickly, and the world as we know it covid 19 is changing so quickly. And that's linked to veganism. I see a direct link there. There is a direct link there. So, I mean, I can explain that if you'd like. So everything is just happening so quickly. It's it's hard to say what is driving what at this point. So there's a thirst for knowledge and information. And usually that starts initially with people's health. It starts with what they know the best and they know themselves the best, you know. So we do what we know. We do what we've been raised to do and we start within our own, you know, square foot of where we live. So people usually want to start out with health. 

 

[00:13:30] But in the last year, we've seen that veganism. Scuse me. Plant based businesses are big business. 

 

[00:13:37] They're the big solution. Again, we can talk about that in relation to covid 19 and Pandemics and our health. Obesity, diabetes, heart disease. So it's the big solution. But if beyond meat showed us anything, it's also big money. So there's this interest I'm finding in the business world. I don't know if I bet accurately addressed your question, but as part of what I talk about, I think all information, all interviews, whether they are celebrity or business focused, they're all about information. 

 

[00:14:04] Otherwise, I don't want to say I wouldn't do them. It sounds so curt, but I really want to be a part of the information process where I'm giving people information. So I would say that they're all based on information and the colonel. The major tenant of all the interviews, regardless of the subject, is that the individual consumer is empowered. You don't have to wait two or four years to vote. You vote three times a day every time you make a decision on your plate. You vote with your dollars. And when you align your values with your purchasing power, you will really see a difference in the world, a difference that you care about for your family and your future. We're, of course, seeing that right now with covid 19. So if you want a safe future, you want to say food supply. And if you want to say food supply, you want plant based food. So it is all interconnected. But it starts with the individual and their empowerment. I agree. 

 

[00:14:57] And I think that you've kind of fleshed out a lot of really top buzzwords. And so what I want to do is crawl out. I like to ask as soon as the guests drop it, I go into it. So what I'd like you to do is defined just for you in your work and in your life. How would you define plant based in juxtaposition to Vegan? What do those two words mean to you? 

 

[00:15:20] So plant based to me means a diet and Vegan means a lifestyle. But I am seeing. I would be very hard pressed to ever say that there's a silver lining to covid 19. I really can't say that that's that's what I'm saying. But I do think people are starting to make the connection about the health of their own lives. And this has been really made strongly in the press when we look at the food supply and not being a healthy food supply and that so many pandemics, army born pandemics, I think the CDC says 75 percent of the pandemics are meat borne pandemics. So I think you're seeing people. Go from being interested in only being plant based to being interested in being Vegan, and again, for me that means diet versus lifestyle. 

 

[00:16:18] OK. And have you had any confusion? Have you spoken with clients that have had confusion? I've seen a lot of people who have. Because you're a coach and you're dealing with people and educating them. The plant based has reached into, you know, the marketing and advertising industry and they've appropriated it because of the power of the marketing dollars behind it. And a lot of people who are living a vegan lifestyle had thought originally that plant based had meant that it would be Vegan. But indeed, they're not. You know, you flip it over, there's egg whites and things of that nature. Do you think that there will be a third term involved or do you think that the word Vegan will eventually take over? The consensus was that Vegan was hyper politicized and plant based, came along to make sure that everyone was assuaged and could still eat Vegan things without being scared of becoming, you know, a hippie. However, I think that now it's been appropriated to the point that people are worried about meeting another term or a return to the word Vegan. Do you see any of those dialogs happening with people that you're coaching? 

 

[00:17:21] I do a little bit. I'll say just the fact that you're using the word Vegan in this podcast series, I think speaks really to the point that people are reformulating their vision of their understanding of what being Vegan is and what that means. 

 

[00:17:38] I know it doesn't mean you haven't showered since 1970 or whatever. You know, you have let go of the tree. You're no longer holding on to the tree and hugging it. I mean, I think people are realizing like, oh, hey, hold up. Vegan just might mean that you're in the game changers and Vegan just might mean that you're an award winning athlete and Vegan just might mean that, you know, you've got your mind wrapped around the environment. So I think that that is changing. But in terms of the word plant, based on it being appropriated by business, we're back to you must educate and advocate for yourselves. That means reading labels. So I have seen some companies do a blended product where it's like half meat and half vegetables and they call themselves plant based because they have some plants in there. And of course, this is all marketing folks, marketing, marketing, because those sausages and like products, nuggets, etc. they always had plants in them because they always had filler because they were anyway. So just you need to educate yourself because you cannot be looking to government or corporations and just hope that they have your back. So it's your health. It's your future. It's your family. I hope that this podcast gives you information. I hope that my podcast gives you information. 

 

[00:18:49] I hope you read labels and enjoy reading them so you can take back your health, because ultimately we want to take back our health and take back the health of the planet. 

 

[00:18:58] Absolutely. So I'm curious, one of the one of the services you have listed on your website. And again, I realize that this has been quickly dated over the past three weeks. However, you coach you coach restaurants. You have this, you know, forum for people to be able to reach out who are looking to expand their Vegan menus and things of that nature. I thought it was clever only because I haven't seen that kind of offering. Surely nutritionists and Vegan dietitians are doing that, but that was the first time I'd seen that service offered on someone's website. And I was wondering, I know that right now there may not be a lot of that happening. However, when you do go in. It was it. So you sound like a chef unto your own right and things like that. Do you take caucus with other people or do you just go in and experience the restaurant and work with the owner to develop around? I'm the type of food and all of those things as to what areas you can kind of help them plug with Vegan ideas. Can you tell us a little bit about how that works? 

 

[00:19:59] Yes. Well, first of all, first of all, sometimes people contact me, which is wonderful, but I often don't eat at Vegan restaurants. I try to eat it non Vegan restaurants. And I look to see what they're doing for the vegan community because this is a group that needs to be addressed like anything else. 

 

[00:20:15] And if they don't have good vegan options on their menu, then I reach out to the owners or the manager and I say, like, you know, there's a huge market you're not capitalizing on. And I can help you bring in this market and revamp at least this part of your menu and work within your theme. You know, restaurants are very themed. 

 

[00:20:34] Usually it's gone are the days of just the General Diner, but there's, you know, a take a trip to Spain or, you know, reinvasion Italy or, you know, there's always a theme. So I work within what they're trying to do. But I, you know, work with them to Vegan size it. So I just first find out really. 

 

[00:20:55] Who they are. Because I want to work with them that. And then I try to bring them up to speed to, you know, 2020, where more and more people are going Vegan every day. And that's just not hyperbole. I should have looked at this. This percentage is changing every day. But I. I want to say I'll just throw out one stat from the Financial Times. Plant based meat is up 200 percent. It might be plant based foods, 200 percent in covid time. Then it just goes to show you how many people are turning to these options as a safer food source and a healthier one as well. 

 

[00:21:27] So have you seen. There is. I mean, it's been a few weeks now, and while the dialog is still young and continuing. Have you had conversations with yourself or with your clients regarding connections that you you feel comfortable saying regarding Cauvin 19 and a vegan diet and lifestyle? Have you had new resurfacing questions within your own vegan journey? How does any of that work for you? 

 

[00:21:52] I, I think there's lots of information to share here. So I do have this conversation with my clients all the time, and I have this conversation on all of my podcasts. I mean, it's all anyone's thinking about in a way. There's so much to talk about here. 

 

[00:22:06] But I think one of the important things that people overlook is we are killing ourselves. That's perhaps not the right word. We are bending over backwards to social distance, to wear masks, to wear gloves, to stay at home. We're not. I mean, our economy is crumbling. We're not going to work, as we all know. We're going to great lengths to do this. 

 

[00:22:24] And yet only 10 percent of the planet is social distancing. So we kill 100 billion animals, 70 billion land animals. So let's talk about land animals, 70 billion land animals a year for the seven billion people on the planet. But we're not social distancing the land animals, in fact, we're forcing them to live on top of each other and factory farms. They are the majority. Those living, breathing entities are the majority of the planet. We're 10 percent of the living, breathing entities there, the other 90 percent. And we are forcing them to not social distance. So I don't. And as we know, these diseases go from animal to animal to human. So if the animals are living on top of each other, then you don't have social distancing there. And that's just a pandemic. I think we've seen that already. So that's one topic. And then. Also, just, you know, this isn't the first pandemic that we've had. SaaRs and Ebola and mad cow disease of swine fever is raging through China now. They can't get it under control. We've had outbreaks of Asian bird flu. Scuse me. 

 

[00:23:33] So, you know, I. If you want to not have meat born pandemic's, then we need to start, stop eating meat and stop, you know, paying to produce it. 

 

[00:23:47] Yeah, and the sustainability is is there again. I always tell people I sound on its simplest level, you know, the idea that covid 19 and the possibility of it being linked and born into these meat related environments. You know, if you can't sustain and meat diet that you have because of land or agriculture or water use or things of that nature, you can kind of work your way back into being confused. What will it what does it really matter? But it is hosting environments that host pandemics that take out large percentages of your population is unsustainable. We cease to exist. It's very simple. It's very cut and dry. The algebra isn't so very long, you know. So I think its truest form, it's just it's a very like open and shut moment, which I think that one of the things that is only the most hopeful thing about our humanity is that in these times we can sit back and kind of reflect and recollect. And that's what a lot of people are doing, even with their businesses, but also their health. And even just opening a conversation, a moment for a dialog to happen regarding health and that being human based experience, I think is is a good thing, you know. And so I question anybody who isn't immediately doing that. The hype, hyper ness behind it and things of that nature, I think can kind of die away. But reexamining re educating, I think is creating unlikely vegans. It's a term I use a lot that I love because it lets this population that's popping up of what you're a World War Two vet and you and your Vegan like it's just these people you would not suspect. Yeah. And and I love that. And I think it's doing more of that creation. I want to climb into some of your podcasts and your radio work. So I mentioned in the bio, but I kind of zoomed right by it. And so for everyone listening, I'm hoping you can kind of flesh out the different avenues that you're on, the names of them and the different topics you discuss. 

 

[00:25:45] Sure thing. So my radio show is the Elysabeth Alfano Show and it's the only plant based radio show in the nation. There are it's on WCO and the Smart Talk Radio Network. 

 

[00:25:55] There are some smaller Vegan radio shows, but they're really geared towards vegans. And this show, as you talk about, unlikely begins this show, The Elysabeth Albano show is really not geared towards vegans. It's been geared towards flexitarian because many people do want to feel better. 

 

[00:26:12] Many people see the news and they see not just the correlation between meat borne pandemics and their own lives, but they look at how these large slaughterhouses, factory farms are treating their workers and and how they're treating the community at large because the community is affected by the health of its workers. 

 

[00:26:34] So and they don't like that either. So a lot of people are looking to use shift, but they don't know how because we do what we know. And if you grew up eating meat, meat, you just don't know where else. How do you do it? So how do you start? So the radio show is really geared towards that market to just give them some easy tidbits, some starting points, some fun interviews. I bring back my celebrity interviews here. It's really easy access. You know, some stuff you'll take with the with you, some stuff. Maybe it's not for you, OK? Not everyone's going Vegan today or tomorrow, although they could. And how fun is that? But, you know, not everyone's going to do it. So this is just like dip your toe in the pool and sort of start swimming. So that's what that's all about. 

 

[00:27:14] How do you define really quickly. How do you define a flexitarian. 

 

[00:27:17] Sure. So there's a flexitarian and a reduced-attarian and reduced-attarian. Perhaps the show's really geared more towards them. Reduce-attarians are people who eat meat and they're just trying to eat less of it. Meatless Mondays. Oh, yes. Yes, Meatless Mondays. 

 

[00:27:32] And then maybe then they turn it into Meatless Mondays is now feel good Fridays as well, because you're not having all that meat. 

 

[00:27:37] The slowing you down. So. So that would be reduced-attarian. And a flexitarian is really somebody who primarily eats vegan vegetarian. But you know what? They're out with friends at sushi restaurants. They'll have fish or, you know, if they're traveling and they can't get something, you know, not a big deal. They're not 100 percent they they pretty much, you know, eight times out of ten. They're trying to get all plants, but sometimes they don't. Yeah, okay. 

 

[00:28:03] And then the Awesome Vegans Interview series. 

 

[00:28:06] Yes. So the also biggest influence influencer series, that's where I started. It was such an easy point to get into sharing Vegan information because everybody wants to hear from celebs. 

 

[00:28:16] So that's when I thought, like, I'm not going to push the Vegan rhetoric on anyone. I just want to share information. And it's fun to listen to, you know, the music trajectory of Billy Corgan and The Smashing Pumpkins. 

 

[00:28:29] Oh, yeah. And why did he go Vegan? That's interesting what happened there. 

 

[00:28:32] So, you know, race car driver or football player or, you know, I've got, you know. CEO Ethan Brown. When did he decide to go Vegan? And plus, what's going on with beyond it? So, you know, that's that's it was an easy entry point. And again, I would say that that was geared towards flexitarian reduce the variance. 

 

[00:28:50] But lately. So just five weeks ago, really. March 19th when covid hit. I've started a new podcast called a Plant Based Business Hour. And I'm amazed at the interest in this subject. People now know that it's the solution. And it's big business. 

 

[00:29:09] I'll also throw out some stats, if you don't mind. Sure. You had talked about the environmental aspect of the unsustainability of the meat industry. So just imagine we have all these trees and we need trees because trees pull carbon from the air. 

 

[00:29:25] And we need that as we try to address climate change. But we go ahead and cut down the trees and we make grain that is filled with fiber and protein. Do we give fiber and protein to people? No, we give it to animals and then. Tick tock. Tick tock. We have to wait because, of course, animals grow and they need water and they need land. Tick tock. Tick tock. They need more grains. We got to cut down more trees. We still don't have any meat yet. We're still waiting. We're still waiting. And then finally, we have the meat. I'm not even talking about the ethical issues. We have the meat. Do we eat all the meat? No, we don't use the bones when we use the blood. We don't use the tail. We don't use the ears. It is a wildly inefficient process. So for chickens, the best you're ever going to do is I get this from the World Resources Institute. The best you're ever gonna do is about a dime back on your 90 cents. And no business person wants to invest 90 cents to get back a dime. And for cows, it's much worse. It's something like thirty five to one. Why do I all these things? Because the good news and gosh, I wish it were happening faster. But the point is it is happening is, as I say, no business person wants to sign up for this. And this is why you're seeing Tyson Maple Leaf. These are large meat companies, J.B. S. Cargill. They've changed their names from being a meat company to a protein company, and they've started replacing their meat product lines with plant based product lines. And you're gonna see them get a huge jump in business efficiency and a huge jump in resources. An independent study from the University of Michigan says that beyond meat hamburger, it's generally for all plant based hamburgers. But they did study beyond meat compared to a regular hamburger is ninety nine percent less lands. Ninety three percent less water. No, sorry. Ninety nine percent less water. Ninety three percent less land. 90 percent less greenhouse gas emissions and 40 percent less energy. So, you know, those companies are going to reap all those benefits. And what's exciting for about about the consumer is they're going to have more options and they're going to have big ad budgets telling them this is a healthier way to go. So ultimately, it's better for the consumer and it's better for the planet. 

 

[00:31:30] Absolutely. And this is second time you've brought up. 

 

[00:31:32] I think it's really important to make that connection between everything that we consume in our lives, be it food or anything else, to the advertising and the marketing dollars going into that, because this storyline and the narrative and the rhetoric around it is shaped solely by that money and it influences the future money. Otherwise it wouldn't be a self-sustaining cycle. Right. So it encourages more spending because it's reaching certain targets. And then when you flip that on its head from going evil to good or vice versa, you get the benefits of that again. And like you're saying, I think that the true power as a consumer is choosing, you know, like you said, you have three investment options a day and that's without snacks. You know, you have these moments to really put some effort into the world. And I do believe that small efforts combined is what makes at least our nation. You know, and so I and I like that when you go into coaching. I'm curious with sometimes people as prolific as yourself and what you're doing it. Elysabeth Alfano, dot com. Do you have a niche of a person or a group or an industry that you coach? Are you kind of open to curating a program or anything to any particular entity or person that reaches out to you? 

 

[00:32:46] So I know it's sort of confusing for everybody because I do so much, but I do have this journalism side and this specialty in the plant based business area. 

 

[00:32:56] But then because it's a personal love to cook, I just get my fingers in the kitchen whenever I can, which is how I came to executive produce this Amazon Prime cooking show. And it's how I also decided to get into coaching people because I'm in the kitchen anyway, so I might as well be helping people and again, sharing information. So with that in mind, I decided to go with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Oh gosh, how I love them. And I am a certified instructor with their Food for Life program. So through this Food for Life program, what I do is I kind of develop a curriculum for whomever wants it and whatever their need is. So I do like to work with corporations because I like to affect more. One person at a time. So I do like to do through employee wellness classes or even just, as I say, exciting events. 

 

[00:33:48] You know, it can be like a one off event, an employee event around food and cooking, which is so very fun. So that's usually what I like to do. But I do work with individuals as well. And I've been asked by some colleges to teach. So, I mean, I do have a curriculum already set up. So that's that's why it's kind of there and it's easy. But I had to pick I do like corporations because I can go in and I can work with, you know, 40, 50 to 100 people at a time. 

 

[00:34:14] Yeah, absolutely. So I'm wondering with them, given that you have the new trajectory you have. Well, perhaps you do or down, but given the new state of affairs in our world right now, when you look forward to your future and what you've kind of been molding your business and what you're doing in your efforts towards what you're doing, what do you see happening for the next one to three years? And has it changed at all from what you had planned before? 

 

[00:34:40] I think things are gonna happen much faster, too, than I thought. 

 

[00:34:43] And I think that's going to be necessitated by our pandemic situation and our environmental situation. And I think you're going to see the major corporations shifting over their product lines faster than we thought. And, you know, it's a domino effect. And I have no idea when this will happen, but it will happen when you see all these corporations starting to shift to plant based options. You're going to see the subsidies shift with them. So I don't know if people know this, but your tax dollars right now go to, for example, bailing, bailing out meat and dairy when they're failing or they need extra help and they do need extra help because as it is, the prices don't make any sense for any business model. So they get subsidies every year to keep those businesses afloat. Usually not what we think of when we think of American capitalist free market society. So they're really built up on subsidies. And it'll be interesting to see if these subsidies go to the plant based items and what that will do to speed up the process of going plant based. 

 

[00:35:50] And I think that's a really critical point. I spoke with a Vegan bakery owner out of Los Angeles last week, and she was the first one. I you know, you think you know these things. I don't believe there's a documentary alive based on this subject. I haven't seen an article I don't try to read. But she was saying, you know, meat, dairy and eggs, not meat, dairy and eggs are practically and white flour are practically free. She was like as a country, as a bakery to have. She was like, that's where all the profit comes from. And she was talking about the difficulty and kind of translating that to people who didn't understand the arrowroot was not the cheapest thing in the world to get because there hadn't been like a market for those types of things. And she felt like that conversion was coming along as well in this in this sweep up that you you're talking about. But I do think it's very interesting to kind of note those things that you're saying. You know, these they're actually subsidized and ridiculously priced and so that the need is constantly feeding that hungry ghost of a machine. Yeah. And I think this switchover is going to be absolutely illuminating for the stock market, for the health of our country, of the world. What do you think that it will change with you and your work that you're pushing forward? Or will you continue with your educational effort and being part of the dialog? What will you do personally? 

 

[00:37:04] Well, I think I'll be getting involved in more business consulting. So business consulting or even business investing. I don't know how many IP shows we're going to see on the market. Quite frankly, I don't know how many beyond meets there will be. My concern is that any company that is about to go IPO is just going to be bought up by J.B. S. or Cargill or Tyson or produce that those companies can make this switch faster to a better business model for themselves. 

 

[00:37:36] So I don't know if you're going to see a lot of IPOs or if you're just going to see a lot of small plant based businesses. And then this process of buying them up. So I think I'm going to be specializing more and more in the plant based business sector and what is actually happening. And because a lot of non vegans want to get in on the action, there's a lot of, you know, non vegan investors, non impact investors, I'll call them, who are interested in venture capital or, you know, just seeing what's going to happen with the IPO. 

 

[00:38:06] And, you know, when you change your food system like this, like your baker was saying, it's not just a question of, oh, gosh, so now we need more plant based chicken patties because we've got a lot of hamburger. 

 

[00:38:16] So we'll say plant based chicken patties. Well, it's also you need different machinery to produce them. You're also looking at different farming techniques. You're looking at different distribution models. The whole you know, you're really shifting the Titanic. So I think if there's any limitation to how quickly this can change, it's because the rest of the supply chain needs to change, along with this great innovation that you have for a plant based sausage. Okay, well, now you got to figure out the rest of it up how to do it on a mass scale for the world. So a lot even things right down to like the banking system and how do you get a loan if you're a plant based business and they want to see numbers from past years of proven track record in this space. 

 

[00:39:02] But there's no space yet. So bankings going to shift a little better. You know, the whole system from start to finish is going to have to change with it. 

 

[00:39:09] That's exciting. I love a good entrepreneurial, you know, movement and moment. 

 

[00:39:14] So and I'm hoping it shakes up exactly like you're saying. And quickly. Yes. For the health and welfare of of, you know, our humanity as well as an as as for our animals and our environment. And I think that the business sector could use a little shakeup since the last bubble built and verse 10 software. It's sounds like an exciting time and an opportunity, a time filled with opportunity that those with creative or unique take. Angles will should be able to thrive. 

 

[00:39:42] Yeah. And, you know, you've got something really fun now going on in California called Veggie Tech. And it's not only in California to some great places in Chicago doing the same thing. But so you've got this whole industry coming up called Reg Tech, which I think it's really it's just fun to watch. It's fun to be a part of. I mean, the bottom line is we are living in really exciting times. 

 

[00:40:00] I mean, we are living through something that, you know, we are living through the transition of the horse and buggy to the car. The mail system to the Internet. You know, the typewriter to the computer. I mean, I really do think in our lifetime, first of all, young kids are going to look back and say, like, I can't believe they ate animals and did that. 

 

[00:40:19] I think that's going to be up a point of just disgust for younger generations. And I do think that older generations are going to really make the switch in our lifetime. So this is interesting. It's just fascinating times. 

 

[00:40:32] I do, too. I agree. So I'm curious, given your you've you've had a lot of interaction and conversation, albeit virtually with people during this time period and movement yourself, you never stop the dialog. And I'm wondering you we frequently, as people who interview or speak with people, no one ever turns it back on us and says, well, Woody, you know, what are you what are your points of encouragement? You for you yourself, when you think about things and the change in the movement of what's happening, given even covid 19. Do you have a top three pieces of advice? You give yourself a ledger, you keep yourself accountable to any of those things that kind of serve as a moment of positivity or enlightenment for you right now. 

 

[00:41:16] So personal things that I say to myself or things that I say to my clients. 

 

[00:41:21] Em for yourself, for myself. 

 

[00:41:27] Well, this is hard because I'm constantly seeing the forest and then seeing the tree and then seeing the forest and then seeing the tree. 

 

[00:41:33] So as I work on an individual level two to cover each individual company and then I read the news and. I don't know how political you want to be on your podcast, but I'll just speak for myself. I'll read the news and I'll see the chairman of Tyson taking out a full page ad in The New York Times. 

 

[00:41:53] Basically trying to and I felt as a cover up for the way that they'd been treating their employees, they wanted to take out a threatening ad saying, don't be too mad at us for how we treat employees because we're your food and you better start panicking if you don't have us on your side. 

 

[00:42:10] And I thought, well, that's crazy because that food is certainly not essential. I've been living with that that food for a very long time. I know lots of athletes who are living without their food on it. People around the world who culturally live on rice and beans. That food is not essential for one. 

 

[00:42:22] And I didn't appreciate the fear mongering for two and I didn't appreciate the cry for, hey, give me some money, which ended up coming very shortly thereafter. So, you know, I was disappointed in that. So I have to. 

 

[00:42:34] So when I have this disappointments, like I see that kind of thing happen on a large scale of misinformation, I'll call that, you know, and I hear I'm in the information business either through consulting with individual clients or just as a podcast. So it's it's frustrating to see this the machine often turn out. What what seems to be intentional misinformation, and so I have to keep my spirits up because there's so much to be positive about, there's so much that's changing, it's an exciting time. But I have to wrestle with that like one step up. And then is it one step back? I don't think it can be one step back because one step back is really like loops that step that takes you off the planet because you now are deceased, because you're in it. You know, you've got to fix the pandemic situation. It's probably not news to people. So I, I don't think we can go too, too far back. But it's just balancing. So what do I say to myself, sorry that was long answer, what do I say to myself? Nose to the grindstone. Eyes to the sky. 

 

[00:43:36] Nice. Perfect. Short and sweet. Perfect. It works. You have to pay attention to it, right? 

 

[00:43:42] Focus in on that. Yes, it on. You know, I will say something. But we kind of touched up before. 

 

[00:43:48] I just want to say to everybody as well, you know, everyone talks about the health benefits that you get from going Vegan. And I got them. I lost some weight woo hoo I was very excited about that. I have a lot of energy, naturally. And then I got even more energy when I, you know, wasn't having meat and dairy. And I didn't realize how much that stuff was just sitting in my system and holding me back. I guess I'll say, you know, I'm embarrassed to say now, but I'm probably like everybody. I had no idea that meat has no fiber. I didn't know that. Don't ask me. I didn't know that, but I didn't know that. Actually thought meat had fiber. Actually thought meat had fiber. My gosh. So meat has no fiber. You have a super long intestine. So it's just gonna to sit there and chug along. That's why it takes like two or three days to go through your system. So. So, OK, I got extra energy and lost some weight. Felt better. 

 

[00:44:35] I didn't realize how living against my own personal values. 

 

[00:44:43] So I don't believe in harming animals. I think a lot of people don't. And harming animals is not in line with how I want to live my life. I hadn't realized that that really was a weight on me. And when I wasn't supporting industries that do that, because I always knew it was out there, sure, I wasn't doing the damage to the animals, but I knew it was happening at a new is happening because of my dollars. When I stopped doing that, I really a weight was lifted that I had no idea I was carrying around. And the fact that I didn't have to live with that disconnect, even if I never thought about it, like I never really said to myself, oh, hurray, I'm not part of this factory production today. It wasn't as direct as that. It was just this general like, oh, I, I'm not working against myself every day. And that was a huge lift to have. 

 

[00:45:33] And when you lift those quiet burdens, it's amazing how streamlined every other effort can become. You know, there's so many different philosophers of all Lautz you talked about cutting the river with a knife in the river still runs. The concept is to flow with the river and yet and not completely always try to fight it with these meaningless tools. Anyway, in releasing blockages like that, I think puts us back in that zone of Genius River, whatever you want to call it. 

 

[00:45:57] So I agree. Yeah. And it was bigger than I thought. It was like I hadn't realized how big it wasn't till I actually lifted it from myself. And then I was like, oh, wow, that was heavy. That was that was holding me back. And it was really friction that needed to be there. 

 

[00:46:12] Absolutely. Well, I appreciate everything that you've discussed with us today. 

 

[00:46:17] And I kind of want to leave on that positive note because I love that kind of release of friction. I think we could all use a little bit of light and fluidity with us. And I just want to say thank you so much for speaking with us today. Elizabeth, I really appreciate your time. I know everyone is busy. Everyone's at once got a ton of time, but no time. Everyone's busy, but I. And so I do appreciate you speaking with us and giving us all of your expertize and advice. 

 

[00:46:42] So kind of you I'll just say shout out to all of your listeners. Thank you for caring. Thank you for even being interested in this topic and wanting to discover more. I'll say don't be overwhelmed. Nothing happens in a day. So just take the little baby steps that work for you. Reach out to me if you need any encouragement. And Patricia, I'll say the same to you. 

 

[00:46:59] If I can be a resource for you or help at any time on any subject. You know, just reach out to you. 

 

[00:47:05] I would never look that gift horse in the mouth. We'll be back in touch again. I would not be an offer like that without just taking you read up on it. And I thank you. 

 

[00:47:14] And for everyone listening. We've been speaking with Ekysabeth Alfano. You can contact her on her Web site. Elysabeth Alfano, dot com. And thank you for giving us your time until we speak again next time. 

 

[00:47:27] Remember to eat clean, eat well and always bet on yourself