what actually led you to walk down this path in life? Can you just take us to how it all began?

Yeah, thank you.

That's a great question.

Your question relates to the title of...

the podcast, The Everyday Health Struggles.

And my background as a kid growing up in northeastern United States near Boston, Massachusetts, I was a pretty healthy young person.

I didn't have a lot of health issues.

Yeah.

So what pushed you to make such a radical decision?

Thank you.

Yeah, so that's a good question.

You know, I...

I was born and raised in Concord, Massachusetts, so it's kind of in the northeastern part of the United States.

And it's kind of a famous town because there were some well-known philosophers that lived there back in the 19th century, Emerson and Thoreau and Alcott.

These are well-known writers.

Before you go, I would love for you to tell us where people can get to learn more about you and even go deeper into your work, your teachings and your books.

So what happened to you in 1980, Will, that made you… go plant-based initially or just change your perspective on what was happening?

Yeah, what it was, you know, the thing for me, I guess just briefly, I was born and raised in the northeastern part of the United States in Concord, Massachusetts, which has this whole history.

You know, it was the birthplace of the American Revolution back in the 1700s.

My forefathers, way back then, they were shooting against the British and saying, we're going to have our own country here, all that.

But then later, In the 1800s, there was the transcendentalist movement, which were these authors and philosophers like Thoreau and Emerson, Alcott, and they were experimenting not only with Eastern religion, non-Western traditions, meditation, connecting with nature um also vegetarianism actually they had the first what we would call the vegan community ever in the united states way back in the 1840s was uh with uh bronx and alcott and his and some other people and they didn't eat meat or dairy or eggs or or wool or they wouldn't even wear cotton because cotton came from slavery and there was because we had slavery back in the 18 the forties.

And so they were the, you know, they were hardcore V.

No one ever heard of the word back then, but there was this sort of this, this, but, but I didn't, I didn't know anything about that.

You've done all those other things and then the gift of that is that inner knowing where life – it somewhat becomes less complex because you you stop listening so much to what everyone else is telling you what what what it should look like yeah which is what the world wants with that the world is demanding that we are the the salvation is that we all embody that space because it's not a it's a non-competitive space to be in because you are so unique and you're not looking for others to tell you who you are or to give you affirmation

Like, what did you not yet understand, and what kept calling you toward the wider definition?

Wow, that's a very good question, uh, Nazish.

And so briefly, uh, I was born and raised back in the 1950s in Concord, Massachusetts, outside of Boston in the northeastern part of the United States.

And my father was going to be a doctor, but he decided not to do that.

He was a medic in World War II, uh, for the United States Army in France and Germany.

And, uh, he, he, um, advised me when I was a child, he said, "Do everything you can to not go to doctors.

Try, try to stay away from doctors." He felt that doctors very often made things worse.

Where does this wholeness actually live in a normal day?

So with that being said, Dr. Tuttle, could you tell us on maybe a normal day in your own life right now, what is one small practice that helps you stay attuned to that deeper meaning underneath all your ordinary actions?

Right.

Well, you know, the basic foundation, I think, of decoding reality is the state of our consciousness.

And so I wake up every morning and I spend the first two hours of the day in meditation.

And I think that's the foundation because the whole idea is that if we are not in a meditative awareness, then our mind is being run by conditioning.

And so from the time we're little kids, we're like a little sponge and we just soak up everything and their language becomes my language, their food becomes my food, their way of thinking becomes my way of thinking.

And we become like our parents and teachers and friends and neighbors and relatives and the ads on TV and all this stuff.

What is some of the meaning that is hidden inside, you know, how we eat and how we live with other beings that you wish more people slowed down to actually see, if you can say.

Dr. Tuttle, in what ways does animal agriculture undermine the health of our planet? And how does choosing plant-based foods contribute to rescuing our world?

The main thing really there's that's a huge subject, but one of the main points, we should really be very aware of is that animal agriculture is hideously inefficient it's so wasteful of land and water and resources so.

We my wife and I lived in an rv for 17 years we traveled all over North America, most of North America is.

unfortunately been enslaved to vast fields of genetically engineered corn and soy and alfalfa.

And none of it is to feed humans.

It's to feed these animals who are stuck away in these stinking sheds by the thousands or tens of thousands.

And it causes enormous water pollution, water depletion, soil erosion.

Do we really need to learn about meditation or is this just, you know, you know, something that's OK, but not that big a deal either way?

Go ahead, Dr. Tuttle.

Yeah, I get asked that quite a bit, you know, and I've been a vegan, you know, for 45 years.

In the early days, no one knew anything about B12 or anything else.

And I was fine for all those years, just eating.

Back then, it was before there were any vegan, you know, ice cream and vegan cheese and vegan hot dogs and meat and all that.

We were just eating whole organic Yeah.

And I was, I've always been very healthy.

Dr. Tuttle, would you like to start?

That's the key.

That's the key to everything.

When we put our number one priority on the spiritual path, on a spiritual awakening, we sow the seeds of happiness and health.

And that's it.

I mean, then our wisdom opens up and we begin to be guided in the right direction because we're focusing on our spiritual awakening, that we're not just merely this bag of bones that's going to end up in the dirt again.

No, we are the infinite eternal consciousness that makes this possible.

If

I'm playing the piano, if I get into a samadhi, it's like the music just starts pouring through.

Welcome, doctor.

Thank you so much, Michael.

And thank you all for joining us for The Real Truth About Health.

It's really an honor to be here.

So I'd like you to start.

I'm in the... living room of our home we just returned after a five-month lecture tour we gave about 70 lectures across the country promoting compassion for animals and healthy living and i'd like to just begin by dedicating our time together here this morning to the healing of all of our relations so let's just take a moment and just go within i'm sitting at the piano and give thanks for this precious opportunity that we have to connect more deeply with the truth that we are and know that we live our lives to be a blessing to all generations.