Rip Esselsytn, and other advocates and ambassadors of the whole foods plant based diet, helped me regain my life 18 months ago. I went from obesity and depression to health and fun, because I learned how we’re supposed to eat as humans. So, when I found out Rip Esselstyn was giving a talk at my local Whole Foods Market tonight, I rode my bike out to meet him.

Rip looks just like he does in all his videos and promotional materials. He’s very kind and helpful, and spent a lot of time speaking individually with people after his presentation. I had a lot of questions for him, but I didn’t want to monopolize his time. I asked in the Q&A what he thought about fruit smoothies. He thought that juicing was a fad, and hoped that people would eat their foods whole, instead of pre-processing them with blenders.

I asked him if he knew about Durianrider, and of course he did. I didn’t go any further than that, seeing how he’s not a fan of juicing.

I recorded about 10 minutes of his talk, before my memory filled up on my old phone. You can watch it on my YouTube channel.