Rip touches on the fact that many of his fellow firefighters had been fed the typical marketing strategy that it is not manly to have a plant based diet and that men need meat to be strong and healthy. It created spillover into the firefighters’ families when they began to gain their health and strength back from the plant based food. Engine 2 became a plant strong culture that people in the community knew of. He challenged his squad in Engine 2 to be plant based for 28 days and it led to them continuing that diet for 7 years. Rip was able to work with other firefighters and help bring their cholesterol down. Rip mentions how eating plant-based in Austin as a firefighter was tough because practically every other firefighter around him ate meat and dairy. Rip says you need 30 different types of whole plants a week and plants provide protein and fiber. He talks about how 70% of our immune system resides in our gut so eating a diverse amount of plants to get fiber will create a better immune system. Rip talks about how most of the people who are hospitalized or have died from Covid-19 have from one to three preexisting health conditions and that many of those could have been avoided with a plant based diet. Rip believes we should not pollute our bodies with meat, dairy, and processed foods so that we are never in the situation of the people he had to help. They dialled 911 in response to shortness of breath, fainting, or chest pain and this was usually because of their health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, low cholesterol, or heart disease. The people he helped were usually in need because of their diets. As a firefighter he ended up mostly doing EMT assistance instead of fighting actual fires. In 1997 Rip became a firefighter in Austin, Texas. Later on he partnered with Whole Foods to get his message out and he mentions how the grocery shelves have changed dramatically since he began to work with Whole Foods in 2009. Caldwell Esselstyn, is the pioneer of reversing heart disease through plant based diets which helped inspire Rip to begin his own plant based journey. He was a full time triathlete for over 10 years and during that time plant based foods allowed him to train harder and recover faster. Rip started eating plant based foods in 1987 and has been for almost 30 years now. Rip Esselstyn is a triathlete, firefighter, the creator of Plant-Strong, and a New York Times best selling author. Get your Plant-Strong on! Rip Esselstyn joins Elysabeth Alfano on the Awesome Vegans Influencer Series.
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