Where did The Whole Food Dude originate from?
The Whole Food Dude started with an idea. Years ago I was fruit picking in the Tablelands in Cairns and I wanted to create a website about something I was passionate about. I had a big hard think about what I was really into – and it came down to one big thing…
Whole Foods! I’d experimented with so many diets and foods and blending and juicing and was totally passionate about it. So I created a website All About Whole Foods.
I made a couple of YouTube videos just for fun about things like Raw Chocolate and Kombucha. One day I was approached at the farmers markets… “Hey are you on YouTube?” the guy asked. He had seen my website and videos. I was kind of shocked/stoked and we got chatting. Next time he saw me he said “Hey! It’s The Whole Food Dude" and it stuck from that point on.
My journey began over 7 years ago when my dad died from Heart Disease. He had atherosclerosis (plaque and nastiness in the arteries) of the coronary artery (the main artery in the heart), a few other conditions and died from a heart attack. From that point on I was on a mission to discover who I was, what my purpose was in the world and the secrets to health and happiness. While there are many aspects of healing, health and happiness… it comes down to one big thing.. FOOD.
What we fuel or damage our bodies with determines how long and how well we live. Now it’s my goal to make prevention sexier and more fun, and for people to eat the best foods on the planet and have fun doing it, so we can all live the lives we love with more energy!
What's a normal day look like for you at the moment?
Before Breakfast: Wake up, oil pulling, 1L of Water, Bikram yoga for 90 minutes.
Breakfast: Biiig green smoothie for brekky. Normally I will have up to 10 pieces of fruit but lately they’ve been full of primarily good fats, greens and superfoods.
Lunch: up to 5 Organic Eggs with a huge salad and maybe Sweet Potato or Quinoa. OR a huge brown rice based salad.
Snack: Superfood Smoothie with a whole fresh coconut, cucumber, spinach, supergreens, vegan protein powder, essiac tea, coconut oil. This is one of my faves right now! Maybe I’ll snack on nuts too.
Might go for a run or do some freestyle movement work – pull ups, pushups, ab work, running or just continue to work on my projects
Dinner: Hmmmm it will either be… a big vegan brown rice based dish, another huge smoothie or a piece of Organic Grass Fed Steak with truckloads of salad and sweet potato.
Dessert: Chia pudding with Chia Seeds, Goji Berries (unless I’ve had meat, then I use coconut nectar. I never eat fruit directly after meat. Food combining baby!), Tahini and Coconut Nectar. This is my favourite treat at the mome. Simple but delicious.
I’ll often have teaspoons of supergreens or superfoods throughout the day too for extra nutritional boosts.
Now you've recently let your online followers know that after a long period as vegetarian and vegan, you're now eating meat again... Can you tell us a little about your journey with all this?
Well I’m 24 now and I’ve been vegetarian and vegan on and off since I was 18. I originally went vegetarian to impress a girl that I met on myspace – seemed like a noble cause at the time hahaha. From there I went vegan and was vego/vegan for almost 2 years before including animal products for health reasons. I had an eating disorder where I tried to eat SO HEALTHY that I was UNhealthy. It’s coined as “Orthorexia” in the wellness world. I was so strict and hard on myself whenever I’d eat something not 100% healthy. This was all inside of trying to have more energy, and I had no freaking clue what was the right thing to do. All the information I read about having more energy was about weight loss, so I tried to eat less. I ended up being really thin and unwell.
Getting into Paleo and Mark Sisson’s Primal Blueprint was what helped bring me back to health. This was January 2010. Since then I have experimented with all sorts of foods and diets, including anti candida and paleo, straight into vegan and high raw vegan. I’ve always been an avid juicer though.
When I was developing The Whole Food Dude I had just gone vegan for the 2nd time. 6 or 7 months in I had huge cravings for animal products so I gave into the craving and felt better. I tried eating an 80/10/10 based diet but was told by my dentists to cut the fruit because it was eroding my teeth and start including animal products. I also had the cravings for animal products and just went with it.
It’s always only Organic & Grass Fed – will otherwise only eat vegan. Ethically sourced is so important. I am predominantly plant based though. Will always go for plants first!
How are you feeling now including animal products in your diet?
Well I personally feel great. Maybe the best I’ve felt! The hard part was telling my Foodies on The Whole Food Dude page. Many of them are vegans or vegos and I was worried what they would think of me or that they’d unlike me (haha) or send me abuse. Nobody unliked my page that day and I had a lot of support from my community which was great.
Was it an easy transition for you or was it difficult?
It was pretty easy in many ways because I had made this transition before. It was also difficult mainly because of what I thought other people would think of me, and because once you’ve looked into all the ethical reasons of being vegan it can be difficult looking at meat in the same way. It all comes down to what is going to enable me to impact as many people as I can positively so they change their lifestyle for the better. If eating animal products is what is required then so be it!
Who inspires you to be a healthy dude?
Every single person that likes me on Facebook, my friends and my Family.
My health heroes (too many to list)
Most importantly the people that don’t even exist yet – our future generations.
I want to create a world that is sustainable and delicious and healthy not just for us but for decades and centuries to come.
What do you do for fun?
Make YouTube vids! Love it!
How do you keep yourself centred, grounded, and from burning out?
Yoga Nidra (best form of power naps ever!), Yoga, Green Juice, going to the beach as often as I can and I make sure I’m always doing personal development of some sort. Keeping connected to my greater vision is a great one too.
You've recently done a video titled "Organic and I know It" - a parody on Red Foo's Sexy and I Know It... what inspired you to do this?
Hahaha I LOVED making this! I had the idea one day just for fun. I was listening to Sexy and I Know It and I was like “Hah – Organic And I Know It!” Almost one year later I decided to actually make it happen and I’m glad I did. Best thing ever haha! Now I’m keen to make more vids like these (check it out here)
Quick few...
Juice or smoothie?
Straight Green Juice any day!
Early riser or night owl?
Early riser
Summer or Winter?
There are only Types of winter I like – the ones in Cairns and the ones with Snow. Otherwise I’m a summer dude.
And lastly... Whats coming up for The Wholefood Dude in 2014?
I’m the Co Host for The Real Food Revolution – an Australian wide event transforming the way Austalians Eat. 5 Major Cities, over 500+ transformed lives, 3 magical days, amazing Guest Speakers. It’s going to be huge! Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth. Lots more videos! Have so many ideas that are just dying to come out! Heaps of speaking – I’ve got a lot of speaking events all around the Country so that’s pretty exciting. Something I’ve always wanted to do. Some delicious eBooks and maybe a hard cover book (fingers crossed) could be there too.
What else is possible?? How does it get any better than that??
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