Introducing the guest

Sharmin introduces the guest for the day, Diane Randall, a whole living consultant and wellness advocate. She provides Diane's background and credentials, highlighting her expertise in plant-based and vegan living, holistic wellness, and her published works.

Diane's journey to plant-based living 

Diane shares her personal journey to adopting a plant-based lifestyle, explaining how she had chronic health issues in her 30s that led her to make significant dietary changes. She discusses the physical, mental, and emotional benefits she experienced, and how she gradually transitioned to a fully vegan lifestyle over time.

Balancing physical, mental, and emotional well-being 

Diane explains her holistic approach to health and wellness, emphasizing the importance of balancing physical, mental, and emotional well-being. She shares how she incorporated spiritual practices and personal development into her journey to achieve overall harmony and balance.

Transitioning to a plant-based/vegan lifestyle 

Diane discusses the challenges of transitioning to a plant-based or vegan lifestyle, particularly around navigating social situations and dealing with family members who do not share the same dietary choices. She emphasizes the importance of setting boundaries, having courage, and being intentional in the process.

Inspiring others and sharing her expertise 

Diane shares an inspiring story of a friend who initially resisted her plant-based lifestyle but eventually embraced it, and how Diane approached the situation with patience and understanding. She also discusses her approach to working with clients, meeting them where they are and guiding them at their own pace towards their wellness goals.

Connecting with Diane Randall 

Diane provides information on how listeners can connect with her, including her website, book, and upcoming workshops, and expresses her willingness to return to the podcast in the future.

Welcome to the transforming lives front end podcast. I'm one one of your hosts, Sharmin and Mitzy is here also with me today and we have a guest but before we continue just join me in taking a few deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth and as you take that breath in just relax and be present exhaling out all of the stress the tension anything that didn't serve you today just let it go take another deep breath in focus on the breath exhale let go be present and join us for the next 30 to 45 minutes as we experience Diane

and Randall, and join me back into the room. Thank you. Thank you for and grounded with us. And today we have a guest who is a whole living consultant and wellness advocate with over 20 years of experience.

Randall is dedicated to helping busy professionals attain overall well-being. She specializes in fostering harmony, holistic wellness, emphasizing self-care and advocating for a plant-based lifestyle.

Diane empowers individuals to make healthy choices daily by sharing her extensive knowledge and personal journeys. of living a plant-based and vegan lifestyle.

She holds a master's degree and multiple certifications. She leverages this solid educational foundation to support individuals seeking personal change, providing them with the tools to lead healthier and more balanced life.

She's also an author of Jumpstart Your Life, Find Your Motivation to Change Your Life, one step at a time.

And a whole life nourish plant-based living with a holistic approach. Diane has been featured in the New York Times and Consulting magazines.

She has been on the Oprah Winfrey Show. show. And she extends her teaching through hosting workshops, engaging listeners to her podcast, Plant Based Curious.

Now join me in welcoming Diane Randall, a powerhouse of knowledge and inspiration. Diane, welcome to the Transforming Lives panel podcast.

@11:26 - Diane Randall

Thank you for having me.

@11:29 - Sharmin Prince (ifioma@gmail.com)

You are so welcome. Is there anything you would like to add to your bio?

@11:36 - Diane Randall

Oh, you covered it.

@11:39 - Sharmin Prince (ifioma@gmail.com)

You covered it. So thank you. I have a question. What led you into the plant based lifestyle?

@11:51 - Diane Randall

What led me into the plant based lifestyle was having chronic conditions at a young age. If I fast forward back to maybe 25 years ago, I was a young divorced mom with two children.

I had high blood pressure, high cholesterol. Even though I thought I was eating healthy, I actually ended up getting a scope test.

And I'm going to fast forward this. And the doctor said I had Crohn's disease. He thought I had Crohn's disease, but he was going to send a sample of the tissue to the pathologist.

Turns out that wasn't what I had, but it was enough to get me to change my life at least the way I ate, because I knew I was headed toward heart attack stroke, high cholesterol, and those things, because...

Prior to that, I just had many years of having gut issues and being sick, being on blood pressure medication in my early 30s, as well as cholesterol medication.

So that's what drove me to being healthy. Now I wasn't vegan at the time. That came a little later because I was just trying to improve my health.

So it's been a journey. I evolved. It wasn't something I did overnight. I educated myself on what it really meant to be plant-based.

Because when eating healthy, I guess it wasn't defined enough for me because I was still sick. I still had gut and those other issues I just mentioned.

So being plant-based has allowed me to evolve in a way that I never could have imagined or saw coming.

I didn't set out to be plant-based. I was just trying to be healthy. But I've learned so much. I've evolved a lot.

And I feel that my health improved because of it. So that's why I do what the work I do today with the holistic wellness and sharing information to people that are interested in learning what it means to be plant-based and vegan.

@14:30 - Sharmin Prince (ifioma@gmail.com)

Wow. Thank you. My follow-up question to that. In your holistic approach to health, how do you balance physical, mental, and emotional well-being?

@14:46 - Diane Randall

That's awesome. That's an awesome, awesome question. Because what I've learned, at first it was just all physical. It was just all physical.

But what I learned over the years, was that, okay, I'm working on a, I'm working on myself physically, but there's still a mental element here, because I had a lot of depression when I was younger.

I had a sister that, that, that, that passed away. She, she was murdered. So that's also set me on a path to figuring out, how can I be happy?

How can I just be able to look at my life and be happy? Not just physically, I recognize that there was something mentally going on as well.

So that set me on a journey to trying to understand, okay, what is missing in my life? So what I discovered and uncovered was that the mental goes with the physical.

I've done many, that was, I started from reading books, recognizing that my healing was from the inside out, not outside.

So when I learned that through going to workshops, listening to different spiritual teachers, and also eventually taking lots of courses in spiritual development, also a lot of courses in personal development, and also getting a master's degree in spiritual psychology.

All that supported me in figuring out, okay, a whole life means the mental, physical, and spiritual is in balance.

And I tell you, I continue to learn and evolve, but that's what it means to have a whole life.

It is figuring out, what does it mean to you to be whole? I mean, the spiritual part could be planning, it could be tending a garden, could be sitting in silence.

It goes to the level of death that you read. It could be a prayer. It could be anything that brings you total peace from the inside out.

@17:07 - Sharmin Prince (ifioma@gmail.com)

Thank you so much for clarifying, because I would have wanted you found on the spiritual aspect. Oftentimes when we hear spirituality, we automatically align it with religion.

So I'm happy that you actually clarified and gave us a little definition.

@17:30 - Diane Randall

Yes, yes, because to me, know, I was raised Catholic, you know, but what I've uncovered for myself is that it's whatever brings you peace mentally, physically and spiritually.

It whatever your definition of that is, it's not for me to tell you what that is.

@17:55 - Mitzy Dadoun www.YourAITeachers.com

I have a question for you, because you mentioned of course, and I think it's true for most people, kind of an evolution of sort of how things come about.

And I'm wondering sort of the evolution from vegetarian or plant-based to vegan, because vegan is quite a bit more stricter and sort of thing.

And I'm just, if you could sort of talk a little bit about that part of the journey, because I'm curious.

@18:22 - Diane Randall

Okay. The first I'll say is, I think a lot of people confuse what it means to be plant-based and vegan.

Okay. The plant-based is more about the food. The veganism is about the commitment to the environment, to animals, the environment animals.

And just committing that animals deserve a life. The environment deserves to be protected. And the climate needs to be

protected. That's what veganism is. I was plant-based like I said at first and that was just eating foods that were grown in the ground that didn't have a mother or a face.

When I say the veganism came later I for some reason and I feel that becoming plant-based I was able to step back a bit and I saw animals in a different light.

I saw a documentary of a sheep that was brought a mother sheep that was brought from one farm to another farm and the sheep was let out of the truck that had brought it to the farm and the sheep actually when they took the sheep to the barn it kept running back to the truck and in that moment I recognized that the sheep was looking for its baby and and that's what really got my

I'm sure I've seen plenty of movies with animals before, but that particular moment I connected to animals and when I say I connected is I see that they love their young.

They hurt. They feel sad just like me. That's what I saw in that moment. And ever since that day, I don't eat animals because there has to be a deeper level of connection.

When people say I've gone vegan, okay, sometimes it just means that they've changed their diet and going vegan. Because we come into this different portals, some people come in through veganism to save the animals or to respect the animals and commit to the environment.

But all it means is you're not eating animal products. healthy. It just means that you're not eating animal products and you're committed to protecting the earth as much as possible.

Whatever you can do to support the climate change and support the environment. Not leaving a clear footprint on the earth.

That's really what it means.

@21:23 - Mitzy Dadoun www.YourAITeachers.com

So you mentioned that you sort of started upon this journey because you were having health issues and that was sort of what.

So when you became plant-based, can you talk a little bit about sort of how quickly or slowly you started to notice physical differences and what types of physical, mental, emotional differences you noticed as you continued on the path?

@21:52 - Diane Randall

What I can tell you is I started slow. I initially started just not not eating me, know, not eating, drinking coke, not eating, I mean small stuff at first.

But then when I started having more health issues, I, my friend showed me a, at the time, DVD. And that DVD was called Eat.

And in that DVD, it showed people who are correlated between the food and the heart attacks, diabetes and all the other chronic conditions.

I knew that, I knew that on a certain level. But in that moment, I saw it, that that was correlated to issues that would probably cause me to have issues down the line, because I was definitely headed that way.

So what the plant face did for me, and this was immediate, when I decided that this is it, I'm only going to eat foods that are planted in the ground, beans,

Goom seeds, you know you can make everything the day out of plants. What I know first thing I noticed is I felt lighter because when I would eat I'd feel stuffed, I'd feel full, and if I was at work at the time I would need a nap because I ate so much as an example.

But what happened was I started feeling lighter and I noticed right away that I had a lot more energy, a lot more energy.

And then I noticed this was probably like three months. I noticed within three months I didn't have anything sweet and keep in mind I was a sugar addict.

I needed something sweet every day. So about three months had passed and I'm like wow I haven't had anything sweet.

What happened is my sugar cravings went away and that's lasted till today. Till today, I have no cravings for like sweets and the next, sorry, no, no, sorry, go ahead.

And the third thing that happened was, and this was in a short amount of time too, I went down a whole pant size really quick, so quick that it blew my mind so much I was scared to buy a smaller size because I thought it was temporary, this couldn't be true.

But it was and from that time, I've just evolved, evolved. I would join meetups and groups to learn how to eat.

What does it mean to be plant-based? What does it mean to be vegan? I would attend workshops, so that's how I've learned so much over the years is really seeking out the information.

Because back then, especially, it was very hard to find plant-based food or vegan food. Like it is now, it's pretty easy now, going to learn how to cook, going to cooking classes, learning what to eat in restaurants.

I mean, it's been a journey, it's been a journey, but it's been well worth it. And I would say 21 years have passed, and I don't have chronic issues.

So I'm definitely connecting that to my plant-based lifestyle, definitely connecting it to that.

@25:41 - Sharmin Prince (ifioma@gmail.com)

Thank you. I'm smiling because I just completed a veganism course on one of those websites. I learned about Donald Watson, who actually coined the word.

And the roots of that, and I'm sure if he was alive today, he would not have envisioned where, where the vegan lifestyle that veganism has become a lifestyle.

So, I mean, I have so many questions because I've tried being vegan, but I like fish. And I would be vegan for 3 months and then I would eat to be sufficient.

I don't know if I, if I don't have the discipline, maybe you can help me.

@26:37 - Diane Randall

It's, it's not about discipline or willpower. It really isn't. It is, if you ate fish after 3 months, there's no judgment.

You can always start the next day. I always say every day is a new day. When, when I started, I was a meat eater and fish was the last thing I let go of over time.

over time, evolved. And I think part of that was the more I learned, the more I was able to it wasn't even a I just always say I evolved out of eating meat.

Yeah, and it's not something you say, boom, I'm done with this overnight. And for I'll tell you for a long time, if I would want a burger, I would make sure I ate a black bean burger.

know, I had to have an equivalent for what I gave up because my brain still wanted the hamburger for a long time.

It's still it's still wanted what it wanted. But I learned how to have that plant based equivalent ready so that when my brain because your brain is in control.

Okay. When my brain wanted that burger, I made sure I had a black bean burger, still had my burger though, still had the foods that I liked but I had the plant-based equivalent.

That's what I did early on. mean, when I had no discipline, I just, when I got those cravings of what I was used to, I wanted to make sure that I had the food that would support me in that and I had to have it close at that time.

@28:27 - Sharmin Prince (ifioma@gmail.com)

I like that practice. My issue that I have with the plant-based or vegan diet is the soy, you know, and I try to substitute and then I'll be, you know, like, I don't want to eat tofu, I don't want to eat any soy products, so I'm just going to eat my fish.

@28:57 - Diane Randall

So yeah, and if you don't like soy, you don't have to There's, there's, there's several alternatives like tempeh, which is a protein, it's a protein alternative.

And it has mushrooms have a consistency of meat oyster mushrooms, lions main. Yeah, now you can make lions main taste like a steak, and you can make it taste like fish.

@29:29 - Mitzy Dadoun www.YourAITeachers.com

I have two questions in relation to as well. being, I'm allergic to sesame seeds, poppy seeds and tree nuts.

So a lot of the protein that is provided in a plant-based diet is from those types of sources. So when you're allergic to those things, and I can't have hemp seeds, can't have psyllium, I can't, so so many of the substitute flowers or the bean burgers and things

you're talking about they have ingredients in them that will kill me.

@30:05 - Diane Randall

So the other question secondarily is the whole thing of anemia because anemia runs in my family and my sister tried being a vegan and so did her kids and they were always having severe issues with anemia.

Okay here's the thing and I'll tell you this if you're not eating a balanced diet you will have issues.

You get protein from leafy greens, you get protein from beans. If you can't eat seeds you can't seeds but the protein comes from green leafy vegetables, beans, no seeds, grains, I don't know if that's similar to what you're talking about but the leafy greens has more protein than any meat that you can eat.

I've never gone to the doctor and the doctor said you need more protein. Never. When the cows, if you notice chickens, cows, pigs, they do not eat meat, they eat plants.

And basically, they eat the plants and we eat them for protein, but they're just in the middle. They eat the plants for protein.

So I say, I just took out the middle animal and I just go directly to the source, which is the leafy greens.

Yeah, I haven't had any vitamin deficiencies, but I can understand if you're not, because I've heard people say that.

You know, if you're not eating a balanced diet, so if you're just eating vegan food and vegan doesn't necessarily mean it's healthy.

But if you're eating, if you're eating a well-rounded plants, fruits, vegetables, vegetables,

@32:00 - Sharmin Prince (ifioma@gmail.com)

Beings then you won't have any problems and you're getting more protein than you need and fiber Diane I'm just gonna switch gears a little here How do you empower busy professionals to embrace the holistic wellness and make lasting changes and sometimes even change their demanding schedules and those high stress environments that we tend to thrive in believing that this is the way that this is who we are it's who we are and that's where I came from and and what I my work is to meet you where you are the first thing is that you acknowledge that you want more

@33:00 - Diane Randall

Peace more empowerment more balance in your life is something that you acknowledge. You just don't know how to go about it So that means to me that you're willing and ready and open to a conversation and basically We talk about that We like a questionnaire.

We have a Conversation and by the end of that conversation. I know What you want what's important to you in this moment?

So it's basically Understanding that you want to change your life is and create a life that brings you whatever you want So that that was a reason for my first book jump start your life because it's acknowledging and identifying What do I want in my life?

How can I set the priorities and actions? On a daily basis that would support me in creating what I truly want.

And it is a practice once you identify. And what I do is I have people and it's like a 10 areas of life.

Okay. So maybe I want to improve my health. Maybe I want to improve my career. You know, it is you identifying where exactly you want to make a change.

And then we take that change and I have you look at your current priorities. Do your current priorities support what you just said you wanted?

And usually the answer is no, because we're busy, because we get up and we do what we do to get ready for work.

then we come back in the evening. So it's looking at those priorities to really see if there's anything we can change since we've now identified what we want to improve.

So if we're saying our health, so it's if you're looking at your priorities, it's taken away those things that don't support what you want for yourself.

It's finding time in those priorities to fit in what you're saying is important to you or what you would like to do.

And the next step to that is writing, let's say a short paragraph of who would you be if you had that life?

What would it look like? Who would you be talking to? What would you be doing? And it's writing that out and it has to be at least 70 percent doable and true, you know.

So close to doable and the next step is to write an information based on that essay and what you said you wanted and taking those essays just a few short words and putting them on your mirror, putting them on your closet, putting them in a spot maybe on a posted note where you can see it every day.

So if you are reminded of what you say you want and then from that we create actions actions that will support that particular part of your life you said you wanted to improve.

It could be one action yet in the book and in the class that I would teach you have to have two actions to support that goal because what you want to do is.

have a real something realistic by the time we finish our work together. So if it's health we want we want at least a two actions two actions to a plan of how do I improve my health and it's just a basic and if people have said Diane this this is too much you know okay let's break it down even further you know instead of actually going in the gym maybe it's a phone call to ask questions about the gym if that's what you want for yourself and it's it's it's really bringing what you want to create for yourself from your head from acknowledgement into reality.

@37:50 - Mitzy Dadoun www.YourAITeachers.com

When you're taking people down the the path of making these changes is. you know, I've often heard that if you want to change something, you know, change one habit at a time and replace whatever that was with something new.

because otherwise you kind of feel like there's a void. So, for example, if it was that you would always eat in front of the TV, you find something like crocheting in front of the TV to stop yourself from eating or something along that line.

So when you're sort of taking people through this transformation, can you talk a little bit about your process of how you kind of work with that?

@38:37 - Diane Randall

Well, it's based on that questionnaire, that conversation or those conversations that we've had. So, like you just said, if it's about my health, then I've told people, do you have a streaming app?

Can you fast use more on demand than real TV so that you can fast forward through the commercials? Or today, it's easier because a lot of the on-demand programs don't have commercials unless you're using the prime or something like that.

But there are certain ones that don't, and it's finding the ones that don't. It's like, what do you need to help you to be successful in this process?

And it's a practice. It's a practice every day. People, you know what? ate a burger, like Sharmin says she ate fish.

Okay, that's fine. Tomorrow's another day. And it is a practice. So yeah, it is setting boundaries around what you say you want, and we go through what does that look like.

Because if you go visit on Jody for Thanksgiving, okay, how am I going to handle that? So it's walking.

through all of that. It's setting boundaries for yourself. It's being intentional. That's my main word. Now you have to be intentional about your life.

So if you know that sitting in front of the TV and a commercial is going to trigger you into eating something, then you are taking responsibility for not allowing that trigger to move forward.

And even if it happens, it's you understanding and knowing that this is a trigger for me. I cannot sit in front of the TV and watch these food commercials anymore.

So it's just you taking that responsibility for your own transformation and I'm here to support you.

@40:48 - Mitzy Dadoun www.YourAITeachers.com

You know I think you brought up a really good point which was that figuring out what are those triggers for you because for everybody whatever those triggers are is different.

That's right. And you touched on something also that was one of my big questions, is that whole eating is such a social activity.

you sort of get close to someone, they say, when you break bread. so again, just because it's easy, I'll use myself as an example.

I used to go, when I first started going and visiting my mother-in-law, mean, she loves to bake and cook.

mean, that's her joy is to make these amazing meals and feed her family. And so with my allergies, it took her a long time, for example, to understand that, no, it wasn't like, in I didn't like that, but I cannot eat the thing with the nuts because it'll kill me.

But then if it was something that she knew I wasn't allergic to as an example, like the banana cake, which was awesome.

@41:49 - Diane Randall

How do you, that sort of dealing with people with that, you care about, you don't want to hurt them, but the

And they have another family and things like that? Well, I'll tell you, this is a huge one. And this was a huge one for me, OK?

Initially, when I talk about setting boundaries, it's also having the courage, OK? When I first became plant-based, I would go around my family Thanksgiving.

I did feel like an outsider. I felt left out. I was even questioning, wow, do I need to even come anymore?

know, I was going through those things. But what I recognized was I have to be true to myself. And my boundary is I do not eat animals.

know, I do not eat meat. No, I'm telling you mentally. This is where the mental piece is more mentally.

Because you're right. Food is love. Food is, you know, people cook with love. They want to share it. here's.

What I said to my, this is my journey, my goal, and it's not that I'm being selfish. I'm honoring what I said I needed for Diane to be a human being on the planet and to serve in a way that doesn't harm anyone, even including the animals.

So I just learned to try to be intentional, not try, but I was very intentional. I would let the person know that I was plant-based and vegan.

I would take a dish, even though 90% of the time, nobody touched it, but that was okay, but that was something I could eat.

I always took something I could eat. And I didn't really feel bad about hurting feelings because nobody asked me what I wanted.

You know what I mean? Nobody really asked, I'm going to cook a plant-based meal not that they had to.

But I really had to figure it out for myself and I'm not then that's not to judge anybody. It's really your journey to figure it out But that was my boundary that I wasn't going to eat Regular or traditional food because that's not something that I was going to do anymore.

I Was in a whole different space and my family understood and they're still not plant-based and You know, but it's okay.

They respect my boundaries and I respect them for what you know, they eat what they do and it just takes time it just takes time and You know, it's not about hurting Anyone's feeling it's just honoring what you say you want and what you need as as as you know Taken on eating differently and not not necessarily making people feel

like they have to join you because they don't you know and my family they'll go to a vegan restaurant but when Thanksgiving rolls around they're still you know cooking the way they cook and it's it's fine but what I what I don't do when this took a long time is I don't per take in the Thanksgiving food anymore because over time I just got to the place where I didn't want to do that anymore and I just learned how to honor myself and what I want and what I need to be true to who who I say I want to be and I'm not saying that was easy because mentally it's a lot you know but you just take it one day at a time one meal at a time one conversation at a time these people will try to talk you out of it

But like I said, you have to have courage. You literally have to have courage and be intentional. If I can tell you three things, being intentional, having courage, and setting boundaries around what you say you want to create for yourself.

Because if you're changing every time you go around of people, family members, then you're not really being true to yourself.

And this is where you practice that. You communicate that to your family. Nine times out of ten, they understand that for you.

It might not be for them, but they understand that for you. Most of the time, they receive it.

@46:40 - Mitzy Dadoun www.YourAITeachers.com

And I think you brought up a good point because I think in some ways it's similar to religion. Sometimes there's people who, know, there's all kinds of different religions and everybody loved and enjoyed what there is.

But then there's certain segments who are always trying to convert somebody else into. whatever their way is. maybe part of that sort of thing with veganism, with being a vegetarian is early experiences of that sort of massively trying to convert everybody to be like that.

So then you kind of like almost get your backup versus what you're saying is like, this is what's right for me.

And these are my grounders and what I need. And I'm happy to educate you and let you know, but if this isn't what's right for you, that's okay.

@47:29 - Diane Randall

That's right. Because the in your face vegan doesn't work. It just, it just makes people mad. Nobody wants anything put, it's no different than the religion being pushed down your throat.

It's no different. But what I do is I feel I'm a role model for myself. And in that, I have inspired more people by just focusing on what I do and what I eat when I go out,

I'm around people. I have had more questions just being that that's been more empowering than, you know, I never thought being in someone's face about what they should be doing because it's all a individual choice.

And guess what? You may not get there in this lifetime and it's okay. It's okay.

@48:26 - Sharmin Prince (ifioma@gmail.com)

Diane, thank you so much for sharing so many nuggets. Can you share an inspiring story or success story of a client who, on the one, significant transformation on the year guidance and what key factors contributed to that success?

@48:50 - Diane Randall

Well, I have a friend and I'll just share that journey because that was the hardest. She you know just like all of us we grew up eating animals and and and you know eating what we eat actually she would get so angry with me you know because when we would go to restaurants I'm eating one way she's eating the other we almost ended our friendship because there was such a divide when I switched I wasn't fun anymore or I was high maintenance you know all these things but you know it was really really hard so what I started doing was just communicating with kindness that that why I was eating the way I was eating and what that did for me and I would say for a month she she heard me but she didn't really say anything

And one day, she called me and she said, well, I've been, you know, trying some of those dishes you, you like, you know, I mean, she came, she was really hardcore about, you know, just being interested, you know.

But what was so tough was because we were, know, it's like oil and water almost sometimes when you, when you decide to change.

And a lot of people don't want you to change because not only does it change, you change, they have to change to, to just be with you.

So we went through that for months and months and months. And I would say slowly, just by me trying to be the bigger person and just saying, you know, this is what I chose to do.

It's better for my health. It's better for the planet. And, you know, if you can understand that, then I understand that too.

So what happened was. she started changing herself because guess what she wasn't in the healthiest way either at the time you know and she started slowly coming around slowly coming around and I I didn't say too much about it because I saw her and I didn't like applaud her or anything you know for a while because I felt that if I acknowledge her then that might you know stop things dead in the water but over time she she transitioned she transformed herself she she became more vegan at first than than plant-based so like I said you come in at a different portal and today we've gotten past all the I'd say anxiety all the triggering and

Now she's a big advocate for animals, animal rights. And even with my clients, I take it really, really slow.

There's no race here. You are where you are. Just because I can't became plant-based doesn't mean that you're going to become plant-based.

Maybe you're, maybe you start with the environment. You don't want to harm the planet anymore. That's where you start.

Everybody has a different starting point. And with my clients, it's for me to try to understand where that person's starting point is and meet them right there and then talk to them from that point about where they want to be.

So if it's the environment, it may be providing education on the water, the climate and different things that are going on, pointing them to different statistics because there's science behind all this stuff.

So, and that makes it real for people. So yes, you have homework. to understand. Don't just listen to me.

I'll provide the baseline information but it is your job to be intentional about learning more about the environment and learning more about how you can really help lessen your footprint in the environment.

So there's that and then there's just practice every day and then it is if you have questions you call me and we meet you know on a regular basis or however you want to meet and if you if you have questions or if you feel like oh my gosh I use plastic okay it's not beating yourself because you use plastic and it is you are where you are at the time it's about it's a process and it's about evolving I remember people would say oh you have a leather purse you know and and one day I whatever

I said, you know what, this is where I am in my process, you know, because trying to think that you can just turn into a vegan overnight is insane, because what you learn is everything's made out of an animal, things you wouldn't even dream of is an animal.

So you evolve as much as you can evolve one thing at a time, and it's not about putting pressure on yourself.

And that's what I instill in people I work with as well. It's not about pressure, it's not about blame, it's not about discipline, you know, it's not about any of that.

It's a practice, it's a practice.

@54:42 - Mitzy Dadoun www.YourAITeachers.com

Could you please let our listeners and viewers know how they can get in touch with you, best case, you know, because obviously you have some great information and I'm certain people are going to be wanting to reach out to you.

@54:54 - Diane Randall

Okay, my website is www.dianrandoconsulting And I released my book about a month ago, a whole life nourish, plant-based living with a holistic approach.

And it is about my journey. It is about a lot of things that I've learned. I put it all in one book to support people in how to live plant-based and vegan if they're interested with a holistic approach.

@55:23 - Sharmin Prince (ifioma@gmail.com)

And you also mentioned courses, or a course, can that be found on your website?

@55:33 - Diane Randall

Well, the course, I do workshops. Yes, the workshops, I have a workshop tab and I do workshops. do. So they can come to my website and click on workshop to see what I have available.

And if there's something out there they're interested in, then they can send me an email or contact message.

@55:57 - Sharmin Prince (ifioma@gmail.com)

Thank you so much, Diane. Thank you for... Being here, thank you for sharing your wisdom, your personal journey, and we hope that you will join us again, because you still haven't scratched the surface.

There's so much more to you, and we would like to see you back at some point.

@56:23 - Diane Randall

I would be happy to come back. So thank you, Sharmin, and thank you, Mitzi.

@56:27 - Sharmin Prince 

I've really enjoyed our conversation. Thank you. Thank you. This is the Transforming Lives Panel Podcast.