The PLANT STRONG Podcast is for people who want real answers about food, health, and longevity—without the noise, fear, or extremes. Maybe you’ve been diagnosed with a chronic condition and want a path forward that actually supports healing. Maybe you’re an athlete looking to fuel performance and recovery. Maybe you’re a parent trying to escape the ultra-processed food aisle and feed your family real, nourishing meals. Or maybe you’re simply tired of being confused about what “healthy” actually…
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Originally recorded for Complement 's Plantapalooza in 2024, this timeless conversation with CEO, Matt Tullman, explores how sport, community, fun, and whole plant foods can support lifelong fitness. Rip shares his journey from elite swimming and triathlon to pickleball, mountain biking, family adventures, and master’s swimming. He also explains how accountability partners, simple routines, and…
Rip sits down with OB-GYN, women’s health expert, and author of Generation M , Dr. Jessica Shepherd, for a candid, empowering conversation about perimenopause, menopause, hormones, nutrition, sex, sleep, strength, and what it really means to thrive in midlife and beyond. For too long, menopause has been framed as a decline — something to dread, hide, or simply suffer through. Dr. Shepherd is here…
Dr. Daniel Chong has spent years helping patients understand their true cardiovascular risk and take meaningful action to prevent heart attacks and strokes. In this episode, Rip and Dr. Chong dig into the confusing, often polarizing world of cholesterol and heart disease. Is LDL cholesterol really important? How low should it go? Is ApoB a better marker? What about calcium scores, lipoprotein(a),…
Dr. Kendale Ritchey is a podiatrist in Knoxville, Tennessee, a former University of Tennessee swimmer, and a self-described “recovered barbecue-aholic.” For nearly three decades, Kendale lived with recurring episodes of intense abdominal, chest, and joint pain, along with fevers and debilitating inflammation. Then, after watching Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead and Forks Over Knives with his wife Connie,…
At 17, after adopting a high-protein diet filled with meat, milk, protein powder, and processed meats, Dr. Yu experienced his first gout attack. The pain was so intense that he still remembers waking up at 4:00 a.m. feeling as if someone had slammed a wooden board into his toe. But gout was only the beginning. Over the years, Dr. Yu developed recurring, mysterious inflammation throughout his body…
Dr. Melissa Mondala joins Rip to talk about women’s health, autoimmune disease, anxiety, perimenopause, metabolic health, hormones, and the power of whole food, plant-based lifestyle medicine. A family medicine and lifestyle medicine physician, Dr. Melissa shares her personal journey from struggling with GERD, IBS, fatigue, and serious health challenges to discovering the transformative power of…
Ever eat when you weren’t really hungry and wonder why willpower wasn’t enough to stop you? This week, Rip talks with Dr. Jud Brewer - neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and author of The Hunger Habit - about cravings, emotional eating, and the science behind food habits. Rip and Brewer explore the difference between true physical hunger and what researchers call “hedonic hunger” — eating driven by…
Nelson Campbell joins Rip Esselstyn for a deeply personal and powerful conversation about his new book with Dr. T. Colin Campbell, The Whole Truth: The Hidden Agendas Behind Decades of Health Misinformation—and What to Do About It . Nelson reflects on growing up as the son of one of the most influential nutrition scientists of our time and watching his father’s groundbreaking discoveries meet…
Barbara Court is almost 75 years old, full of humor, full of heart, and living proof that it is never too late to get Plant Strong. After joining PlantStrong’s free Real30 Challenge, Barbara committed to eating 30 different whole plant-based foods each week and moving her body for 30 minutes a day. In just a few months, she lost nearly 15 pounds, brought her A1C out of the pre-diabetic range,…
The newest AHA and ACC guidelines for treating dyslipidemia are here — and according to Dr. Kim Williams, they mark a powerful shift toward prevention, earlier testing, and whole-food, plant-based nutrition as the foundation of cardiovascular care. Rip welcomes back Dr. Kim Williams, past president of the American College of Cardiology, for a practical and deeply encouraging breakdown of what…
Rip sits down with Terri Edwards — founder of EatPlant-Based.com — to talk about the recipes, habits, and simple food swaps that helped her completely transform her health. After years of struggling with joint pain, high cholesterol, insomnia, adult acne, and weight gain, Terri discovered the power of whole-food, plant-based nutrition after watching Forks Over Knives in 2013. Within weeks, she…
In this special episode, Rip shares a preview of Vital Signs: Real Food. Real Medicine. Real Change. , Plant Strong’s upcoming CME-focused conference for healthcare providers who want to bring the power of whole-food, plant-based nutrition into real-world clinical care. This is not just another conference. Vital Signs is about helping doctors, nurses, dietitians, health coaches, and medical…
