John Robbins

I did that at 20.

I read Diet for a New America by John Robbins.

And I decided, boom, I'm a vegetarian.

I tried that for several years.

So first thing, I want to give you a little background on my eating style.

So when I read A Diet for a New America by John Robbins back when I was 20 years old, I'm 50 now, and it was all about the treatment of animals and how cruel it was, and he was due to inherit his father's fortune.

His father was the owner of Baskin and Robbins ice cream here in America.

And he decided to leave his inheritance, leave what the corporate world he was supposed to step into because he didn't like the treatment of animals and he didn't like what dairy was doing for people's heart health.

And then eventually when I found out, my instinct was to not be part of it.

But I, you know, I read John Robbins' book, Diet for New America.

This was back in 1991.

To 1990, I mean, a long time ago.

And she talked to slaughterhouse workers.

And the thing that struck me the most was...

Differently from John Robbins' book that really talked about the industrialized food system.

And I would have said that I don't want to be part of this factory system.

Yeah.

You know, I g- I became a vegetarian because I read John Robbins' book, A Diet for a New America.

I did too.

And I-

We're all just here trying to figure things out.

I've been given a lot of really good advice, but the one that really stands out is from John Robbins.

He's the author of Diet for a New America, which is literally what transformed and changed set off the trajectory of my life and my career and everything because it connected diet with health the animals and the environment and it was the first book ever to do that so i had the privilege of working with him later on after he completely changed my life like many years later and it was such an honor to meet him and i ended up being the the um executive director of earth save international And we were sitting at an event that we were doing.

We were doing this amazing transformation program at a food bank in Sacramento.

I'm, I'm, I'm enamored with energetic signatures.

You said that line and I had never really thought about connecting that to, for actually what I go back to Jared, you remember this John Robbins.

Remember good old John Robbins? I

referenced the book the other day, yeah.

Diet for New America.

Yes.

John Robbins.

I think he died just recently, but I'll never forget his depiction of, I think it was him, that even if you're going to eat meat, which he didn't, but even if you're going to, to think about, he didn't say that, but the animal that is, you know, to get graphic, the cattle that are strung up by their leg or neck or whatever in absolute terror and they're killed there.

No can be a beautiful word, every bit as beautiful as yes.

Writers John Robbins and Anne Mortefay declare, "Whenever we deny our need to say no, our self-respect diminishes," they tell us in A Search of Balance: Discovering Harmony in a Changing World.

It is not only our right at certain times to say no to those old habits that dissipate our energy, no to what robs us of our inner joy, and no to what distracts us from our purpose, and it is a gift to others to say no when their expectations don't ring true for us, for in doing so, we free them to discover more fully the truth of their own path.

Saying no can be liberating when it expresses our commitment to take a stand for what we believe we truly need.

I was one of the new agey people.

I just went down that rabbit hole, and I started to read Rachel Carson and John Robbins and Neil Barnard on the medicine level and, you know, everything made sense to me, right? Like, it was always like, duh, how come people don't get this? And I never felt...

Like, I was a hippie at heart, but I was also a mainstream girl, and that was the whole best dressed in high school and the artist.

So I always thought, "How can I bring these worlds together and leverage, you know, consumer products, business?" I was also an entrepreneur.