The Hilltop Glove Podcast

Food vs. Health | LaShaundra Whack | The Hilltop Glove Podcast | Episode #8

April 13, 2021 Skip & DJ And ? Episode 8
The Hilltop Glove Podcast
Food vs. Health | LaShaundra Whack | The Hilltop Glove Podcast | Episode #8
Show Notes Transcript

Skip, Mike, and guest host Tamyia Allen interview LaShaundra Whack. LaShaundra is a vegan chef and the owner of Whack Me Vegan meal prep. Topics covered:  vegan lifestyle, the importance of healthy eating, views on nutrition in black community, and exploring new cuisine. Make sure to subscribe to us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio, and Google Podcasts. Also follow us on Instagram and Facebook @hilltopglove.

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THG Podcast | Whack Me Vegan | Episode #8
[00:00:00] So the Hilltop glove podcast, we're skip and DJ. And what interview guests and discuss topics such as business, current events and pop culture, the motivational podcasts for the hip hop.
Good morning, everybody. Welcome to the eighth episode of the Hilltop glove podcast. I'm your host skip. Today I'm going to be joined by Mike and our guests hosts to my outline. Today we're going to be interviewing Rashonda wack owner of whack me vegan. LaShaundra how are you doing today? Good morning.
How are you? I can not complain. Great. And that's always a good thing. So if you could tell everybody a little bit about yourself. Okay. Like he said, my name is LaShondra I'm owner of whack me vegan. 35 years old. I have a [00:01:00] beautiful soon to be 13 year old daughter. I am a country girl. I am from Manning.
I don't know if many of y'all know where that's at, but it is. Yes. You blink. You might. Yeah. But I grew up very much of the earth. I I'm a tree hugger. I love outside. I love all things of the earth. I feel like everything is needed to help the whole planet keep on moving. So like my kind of people.
Yeah. Yeah. One of my interests  I like to be outside museums skating cooking, of course. Just being around family, friends. I'm pretty simple, pretty simple person. Awesome. Well Manning, I do know where Manning is, man. You guys are the monarchs, right? Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know about that.
You know, I'm from Marriott originally. Yeah. You know, that's, that's like football country, you know that towards that way, you gotta know, you know, him by [00:02:00] the teams, you know, the towns. Yeah. Yeah. We used to have some good teams. I don't know exactly how well they're doing now with COVID and all that stuff, but you still have some good teams came through me and, and back in the day.
Yeah, exactly, exactly. So I know one of things, and of course this is I'm about this episode is essentially about eating and of course, everyone decides what they eat for diff eat, or they don't eat for different reasons. Sometimes it can be cultural depending on how you grew up. And sometimes it could just be ethical concerns such as like animals suffering, or it could be like religious or spiritual.
And then often it's just simply, it's just about health and people just trying to do what's right. For them. Have you always been a vegan or is it something that you came to over time? And could you just tell us a little bit about your journey? No, I haven't always been vegan. Like I said, I grew up in Munich country.
I've cleaned it all, kind of grew up slightly on the farm, growing pigs, goats, chickens, cows. So Noah, I wasn't always vegan. This is, I'll be vegan [00:03:00] three years in November. So this is a journey that a lifestyle that has came about over time. I would say probably about nine years ago, I made up my mind to stop eating pork.
And the reason why I did that was I grew up on it everything, but I was starting to cook it on my own and was getting like really bad headaches. And so I, you know, I was like, I'm wondering where these headaches are coming from. So I was like, you know what? I'm I'm gonna cut out pork. Not realizing how much pork is in so many different things.
So you cut out. I mean, it's in Skittles, Cheetos. Pork is in, I talked to some people when you mentioned something about religious or ethical backgrounds, I would talk to Muslims to find out. Pork is in, there is some Combs and gels, pair products, different things they can't use because pork byproducts.
So you'll be surprised how much pork is in things. So [00:04:00] that caused me to cut out, Oh my, Oh my goodness. Probably 85% of what my normal diet was. And then doing that, I noticed I felt better. And one day I was like, you know what? I'm going to stop eating meat in general. Not knowing that it was going to take years later, but yeah, I did arrive, wound up working for this lady.
If y'all are looking for some good raw food, food vegan food is sprats opium, bliss. Off of two notch. I started working for her and that's how my vegan journey started. And it's been a wonderful journey in lifestyle since then. Awesome. Awesome. Of course there are a lot of terms to describe different plant-based diets and for a lot of people, those things can be confusing.
So could you take a moment just to explain the differences between what is a vegan versus a vegetarian or a pescatarian, and then like other diets that might be relevant to this discussion? Well the vegan [00:05:00] diet is no animals whatsoever. Gluten milk and cheese, right? Yeah. That's including milk and cheese as well.
All your milks and cheeses are going to be plant-based, they're going to come from a plant vegetarians. They still eat, they don't eat meat, but they still eat cheese, milk, eggs. Different things like that. Pescatarians they have where they eat seafood, so they don't eat chicken. They don't eat beef pork, but they will indulge in seafood and eggs, milk and stuff like that as well.
For your plant-based diet, that's basically vegan. Plant-based everything you you eat is from plants. It's made out of some type of plant or fruits. The raw vegan diet is where you, 90% you don't cook your food. So all your food is going to be raw. It's different ways you can make food raw. Like if you, like, let's say you wanted to do a taco, a raw vegan probably would ground up some [00:06:00] pecans or walnuts into like a meat substance and sees the way they want.
They won't cook it. And add all kinds of veggies and fruits, you know, and stuff to it. You're not cooking your food on a raw diet. And to me, in my opinion, I'm not completely raw, but that's one of the best ones feeling wise to me and my personal journey of being vegan. I've started experimenting with that myself a lot lately.
Just, just kind of for digestion help like you, you have, you have all of these, these natural enzymes and things that are, that are on the plants. And if you grow in it out of your garden, you know, I don't, I don't even wash it sometimes. You know, I just make sure there's no dust and bugs on it and it's delicious and kind of helps your body start breaking it down before you even get it into your day.
It does. And when you mentioned about, you know, homegrown, you know, plants and different things, you can completely tell the difference in the flavor and the taste and the texture of stuff you grow at [00:07:00] home versus what you buy at a store. Not saying that they're not growing it, but they're, they're adding a lot of things to it.
So, like you said, all those enzymes and stuff, like not washing it completely off and stuff, you're getting all those nutrients when you eat it raw. And you're like you said, by the time it hits your tongue, you can just feel it is healing your body from the inside out. Most definitely. One of the things I want to kind of go back to that you mentioned, I thought was really interesting.
The tacos, the raw diet tacos. I know you said, you know, you can use the peak cans for me. So what do you usually do with the actual shell or the, I guess the, you know, the outside of the taco or what does that you have to wrap? Oh, you can use romaine lettuce. You can use red leaf lettuce. Green leaf iceberg is, you know, not the most of nutrition nutritious, excuse me, out of all the green lettuce and stuff, but it can be used as a wrap as well.
It tends [00:08:00] to hold the. This stuff a little better, right? You can use all kinds of spinach wraps. It's all kind of ways you can do your lettuce wraps for your wrong base. Cool. Awesome. Awesome. Yeah, it does sound pretty good, especially when you mentioned it, because it kind of reminds me of, I forgot the name of a dish.
It's not a, it's not a vegetarian dish, but I know I missed an Asian dish where they do the ranch chicken, lettuce wraps. Yeah. Oh man. Yeah. That's what she said that I was like, okay. I can see it now. Cause I think sometimes when people. Because when people think about you know, I vegetarian or vegan foods, it's like people, you know, we're used to certain staples and our, and our food.
So, you know, like with the breads, the the breads, the flowers, you know, just certain things like starches and stuff or things that when it comes to them, normally being made or processed, they have animal products animal. So when we hear about people making something, we're like, so how are they going to like with cookies, for example, right.
[00:09:00] People like, how are they going to sort of make these cookies? If cookies need milk at this doesn't, you know, or butter at them, this doesn't make sense. All right. And it goes through your head and you're like, let's calculate how to calculate these ways. People put these, put these things together. And that was something that I got just from what you were saying.
And it's neat how once someone explains it to you and breaks it down. So you like, Oh, that makes a lot of sense how you could eat it that way. And I could see the benefits of eating it that way, too. And so that's that's something that I thought was really encouraging. That's a good point. Especially in the South, a lot of the reason we eat things is, is like comfort food.
You know, we're, we're trying to remember those, those moments in our life when that food was making us feel happy and loved and stuff. And exactly when you start changing your diet, sometimes you've got to like drop off some of these things, my wife quit eating mammals. And so like that kind of stopped me from eating it, you know, for us, it was more like you know, pigs are very smart animals, like they're smarter than dogs.
[00:10:00] And I think for her, it was much more of an ethical kind of thing that, you know, some of these creatures, especially in the industrialized food culture in America, like, like they are treated horribly for their entire lives. And, and then that negativity just kind of ends up in the food. Yeah, it's, it's a lot to that.
And like I said, I grew up with my dad raising pigs. So I was a little girl back then. So like how you said about them being smart in different things, we would take sticks and scratch their backs and rub their bellies. And it was kind of like, we were spoiling them only to hurt them, you know, eat them later.
So make about the ones who are treated badly, you know, I don't, I'm not saying it's, Oh, you want to treat your, you want to treat your hall good before you kept, like, I'm not saying that as well, but when you think about side of it where they're treated badly, you know, I can't say that I'm like most [00:11:00] vegans that are, you know, there are some vegans like, you know, who are very strong willed on the animal part of it.
My journey is just beginning. But like I said, I grew up a country girl, so I've always had a love for animals and always kind of believed that they were like us just a different species. So it's it's kinda how you take it, you know, so that's, it brings up a good point that, you know, a lot of people in the vegan community have a problem with any product that comes from an animal, even if the animal's not hurt.
Like we'll, you know, it's not really a food, but you got to keep sheep to get it. And then some people even have a big problem with honey because you are keeping the bees, you know, and from, you know, I come from kind of a, a permaculture you know, homegrown, organic background and like bees are like crucial.
Like we need more bees and I'm interested in keeping bees just to do that. How, how do you feel on, on some of these matters that are like, you know, like the animal might be cared for responsibly? Is it for you? [00:12:00] Is it just a health kind of thing or are you know, you think we shouldn't be using animals for our own devices at all?
I, I, there, there are parts of me that do believe that as well. Just like I said, how I grew up with the bees, the population of bees are, is decreasing rapidly bees pollinate and help us breathe, help us things grow. So most definitely. When I first became vegan, I didn't know about the whole honey thing.
And when I started reading about it, I tried to stop using it more. So use a Gavi or maple syrup in place for your sugar replacement. So basically with doing your research, anything that an animal that you use that an animal does, you can find vegan that a plant can do the very same thing. So like I said, I'm, I'm the type that if I, if I see a mosquito in the house, I try to fan it outside.
If from. Spider is in more house, such a [00:13:00] broom. I try to take a broom and sweep it on the, you know, on the dust pan and take it outside. Yeah. I believe that I truly do believe that animals are like us. Like I said you think about dogs, they're they're man's best friend, you know, you think about I remember Ellen degenerate said one time.
She was this was back on her vegan journey and I heard her talking about it. She said she was at this house. This is one where she was one of her lowest moment. She was poor. And she was laying in this basement and it was full of fleas, but she was like, in one moment, she, she thought she's like, even these fleas have a purpose here.
So if you can think of something as tiny as the aggravate and flee, they have a purpose. We all have a purpose here on this planet. So yeah. They're probably, like I said, I'm not as strong as some people I kind of do believe as my vegan journey continues. It probably will get more and more stronger on the aspect of that.
But [00:14:00] yeah, I like you on that Brahman path. Yeah. One of the things that I kind of just want to move forward with, and I know this is something, I guess a lot of people tend to, whenever you break room forth, the idea of being, of being vegan, be a vegetarian plant-based they bring forth the idea that when they cut the meat South to diet, right, they want to know, will they get enough protein or are they gonna have to deal with like any like nutritional deficiencies?
Because one of the things that has been taught, especially in. Western society, especially over like the past, maybe like 50, 60 years is the importance of meat in your diet. Right. So when you watch TV, you know, think about when we watch TV beef it's what's for dinner. Exactly. Pork, the other white meat, right?
Yeah, yeah, no. And then even a [00:15:00] lot of times now, even going into nowadays, like modern days with social media, with fight the whole foodie movement, you know, you have so many elements, like where meat is for front and center of the meal, you know, like you go to this awesome place up in the mountain somewhere.
They give you this big piece of meat, right. That comes straight off the farm. They use locally sourced local, and then you got all these vegetables that are around it, but really it's all about that meat in the middle. Right. So for, just for those people How would you just explain to them, are they still being able to get the nutrition that they would normally get from eating meat from just eating a balanced diet directly from plants?
Oh yes. Most definitely. Most vegans, they always bring up the gorilla and how strong and big it is and all it eats plants all day. I've seen personally, I'm a person of mine that has been on been [00:16:00] vegan for two years. They have worked out their entire lives and never got a six pack until they became there's so many different things that has protein in it, you know, lentils.
It's about 18 grams of protein per serving of that. You got Qianlong, which is a grain is some type of Substitute for rice. That's got about eight grams of protein in it, depending on how much you need. It was delicious. If y'all have not tried keenwah it is delicious and it's native to the Americas.
So it's an indigenous food, right. It's great. Right. And let's say you have a bowl of King while you put some black beans, beans have a lot of protein, about eight grams of protein per serving. So you take that Keywan, it's like 18 grams. You put those black beans on top of it. You season those you can even put some lentils on it.
And then you got this big old bowl of protein. So for those that are thinking that you have to have me in order to get these proteins. Now don't get me wrong. [00:17:00] There's your B12. You have your. That, what people think beef has in it, you know, that you can't get your B12. So you got your bananas. When I first started vegan there was a time where I got deficient in my potassium.
I could feel like my fingertips, they will be cold and kind of like numb. So I started doing my research. I read up why is this happening? Come to find out I wasn't having enough B12 or potassium in my diet. So therefore I went and bought some more bananas, some more spinach. Your green Leafs are definitely going to pack a lot of RN, calcium folic acids.
The vegan life is not boring. You do your research and it's, and this is for every person, you know some people may need to eat more, you know, to feel field and. So you, you just add more, you know, especially a person who works out now, a person who doesn't work [00:18:00] out on a regular basis. I would not recommend eating a whole lot of protein in your diet because that still can add weight to you as well.
So like I said, it's a balanced and everyone has to learn their balance and you'll get to the point with being vegan where your body will start telling you, listen, I need this. Can you go make me a green juice, please can can you go snack on some celery for me? I need some strength. I need some energy.
So it's definitely a lifestyle, definitely a journey, but you most definitely can still get everything from meat. You can still get from plants and fruits and veggies and stuff. You know, it's interesting when you, when you were saying that I was kind of remembering back to high school in like physical science and biology.
And I remember Then talking about how, you know, like the energy of all of this stuff is coming from the sun and the plants are then photosynthesizing it and turn it into some kind of organic store of that energy. And if we're eating the animals that eat the plants, then, then we're [00:19:00] getting that second hand.
And then if we were to eat a predator that ate one of those animals, we'd begin to third hand, which is what we don't really predators. Right. Because there's no energy left and right. And, and this, you know, it's something that we kind of forget about, but like the plants get at first, right. Most definitely that should be everybody's slogan.
Right? The plants, get it first. T-shirt available on the store drops promo. Oh yeah. But like you said, I think that's something that a lot of people don't understand either. Even if someone were to eat a diet, let's say just like your classic, omnivore based diet, right. There's nutrients that your body's still going to need.
Like somebody can eat a diet and they can have, you know, they could eat and they eat all the meat they want, but it doesn't mean that they're going to be getting everything else they need to get. So you still have to have the mindset of, I need to make sure that every. Nutrient that my [00:20:00] body needs in order to be healthy in order to remain strong, that I'm able to get it doesn't necessarily matter what diet that I might be purse might be on, but that's something that that's a consideration everybody should have and just meat.
Is it going to do it alone? Right. Right. One of the things I was you know, my background is in nursing. One of my favorite classes was nutrition. I would be tripping in class and I would say the creator literally created our bodies to feel itself. It just depends on what you put in it literally may did the, you know, the pyramid and telling you, you should have this amount of fruit.
You should have this amount of this, this amount of that, what coincides with this, how you're not supposed to eat. Fruits and vegetables together that the acidity in your stomach won't process both of them together for it to process through the body. Correct way. Seriously. Oh, I didn't know that [00:21:00] all the time.
Yeah. So like, let's say you want to eat as well. Do a smoothie. Some people might say, Oh, we'll put spinach, banana pineapple. Let me throw some hemp seed in there. Let me it's best. If you're going to do a smoothie, just to do a plain vegetable smoothie with no fruits in it, or plain fruit smoothie with no veggies, your body, your liver, your organs have processed it better than mixing all those different, acidities and stuff about alkaline diet and basically less acid you have in your body.
The healthier you are. And a lot of these meats and different things, processed food, carry a lot of assets, which produces mucus in the body, which makes us feel bad. So like I tell people, I'm not saying that the vegan life is the only way it's, it's the only way, but from my personal experience and the ones who have been on the journey with you [00:22:00] feel better, you're healing your body from the inside out.
Like he said, put it first plants gift. That's going to be a slug. I'm going to use that. My plants get it. Please do. Yes, exactly. And so I guess just kind of segwaying into another part of our discussion. I know one of the things that's really big now, because we do quote unquote, live in the future is we have all kinds of meat, substitutes now, and things that, you know, give us that feeling of eating a burger or steak.
But of course, no, of course a lot of these products are very extremely processed and industrialized. Just in your opinion, do you think these fo meats are helpful to people looking for comfort foods they grew up with? Or should they be focusing on trying to make healthy foods? Our new comfort foods?
I guess I do use some of the foam meets, as you say. Once again, [00:23:00] I'm gonna go back to my personal experience throughout my vegan journey, and I do eat some of the moments as well now, but when I first started, I was raw, completely raw, the benefits of a raw diets versus still eating the comfort, fold things, to give people that comfort of what you're eating.
I will save it out, prefer a person to. Indulge in these foam meats and comfort foods to get away from the meat, but as your journey continues and it, and you grow in your lifestyle and your journey, I would most definitely say cut that out too. Cause it's still processed certain certain foamies that I use different ones, certain ones.
I don't like, it may like one of the burgers I may use for my vegan burgers. It literally turns red in the pain. So like what, what di what, what you put in here to make it look like [00:24:00] this hamburger meat. So I'm visually, okay. Yeah. It's safe. It's safe. It's and it's safe. Yes. Look at how it looks. It looks like the so those types of things do bother me a little bit and I tell people my, my, my Recipes are definitely going more and more raw as I continue.
I'm doing my research. I've been so busy whack me being in once week. Once again, people ask me being in, it's been really picking up. So time is an issue, but I'm working on definitely going more to the raw stuff where I'm making stuff raw. So you're not buying this process, the, the store. And it does do the body weight better as well.
So like I said, I, the comfort part, the full meets it is what it is. Like I said, most people need that texture or that visual stimulation to make them think that I'm still eating me. And if that's what you need to get off that diet, then I'm a Pat [00:25:00] you on your back a little bit as you continue in your journey.
And that's what I tell people. Once you continue and you start the lifestyle on the vegan journey, your body is going to start not wanting things that it used to. Your taste buds suffer. You might eat something like, Oh my goodness, this is so sweet. I don't want this anymore. Your body would be like, why are you doing this to us?
Can you please go back? Can you go get that lettuce, please? It's not boring. Most definitely. Yeah. I can vouch for that personally. I just went, you know, changing the diet and you just, you start craving the things that your body needs instead of the things that you used to, like, you know, it's, it's almost like the more you pay attention to it, the more your body pays attention to it and tells you back what it needs.
It does. Yeah. I can attest to that. Also. I'm her like taste tester. I taste, I get the benefits of whack maybe again, all day, every day with Shondra is amazing. But after eating salad so much, she just reminded me how [00:26:00] much I like onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, and I love nuts. All type of nuts. I just put anything on my salad.
Like. And she has done that for me. And then I take it into my household and introduce it to the people in my household. And they're like, Oh my gosh, I didn't think I would like salad so much. I didn't realize I liked green so much. Yeah, it's been great. One of my slogan is, I mean, to punch you in the taste buds and what, I mean, we'll think food as bland is born because I am a country girl.
I come from seasoning. I come from, I want some tastes. I want some flavor in my food. So I bring that to my vegan lifestyle. I use many different herbs and seasonings. I don't even use salt anymore. If I do as Himalayan pink, salt men pre-K is so many different. Coriander is so many different seasons where you can jazz this food up and people be like, Oh my God, [00:27:00] I never knew.
I never knew. So most definitely. We're still talking about just like seasonings disease in different types of foods, but specifically fake meat or the Frank and meets earlier. Yes. You can go ahead and explain it if you'd like. Yeah. I mean, this, this is something that I've been kind of following for a while, cause kind of a nerd and not kind of totally nerd.
Basically for a while now, people have been experimented with taken like sales culture from meat tissue and grow in them into a lab into like, like a, a chunk of meat that never was attached to a brain or the rest of the animal. It's just a lab grown chunk of meat. I'm not going to bias y'all with my personal opinion on this, but I found out the other day doing research for this, that Singapore has now been the first.
A place to approve sale of this, and it's going to start hitting the market little chicken nuggets made in the lab. And you know, I [00:28:00] mean that, that kind of alleviates the ethical concerns for some people, but then your digestive health and, you know, kind of trying to eat what we're supposed to be eating, quote unquote is kind of in a different bag.
So I was kinda kind of wondering how, how you felt about those kinds. I don't think I'm with that. Think I'm with that. That's almost I mean, you, you've kind of gone into the cloning type of deal there. And I'm not a big religious person to a certain aspect, but I'm very spiritual. I very do believe in the creator and God and a higher power and man-made things are mints. Failed. Not meant to, I don't want to say that like be pessimistic and things, but nah no, tell them, that's just like the, the different meats and stuff they make.
Now. Like I asked my dad not too long ago, I said, daddy, I said, when you was a boy, when y'all was raising a pig, how long did it take for this pig? From Tommy got here to the time you, it was time, you [00:29:00] know, to be slotted or whatever. He said, at least a year they're manufacturing stuff way quicker now. So it's pretty much the same thing that they injected into these meats and stuff now to make them grow big.
What is that doing to our bodies? So that's, that's pretty much the same thing. Like you said, it may help somebody ethical wise, but what is that chemical type deal doing to your body? So no, no. You know, to each his own, but no, no. I feel like I've, I'm kind of inclined to agree with you on that one. See why?
Because it's really, you think about it. You really, aren't going to know the impact of those types of foods until maybe like 15, 20, even 30 years down the road. You really aren't going to know because it's such a new technology because essentially it is, it's a technology, it's not nutrition, it's technology, [00:30:00] right.
It's so, because of that, you aren't going to really know that impact. And so at least a generation from now, for people who may have grown up eating that, now I get reason why they're doing it because you know, you have. People have the need because they made for economic mobility purposes. You know, they say generally like people and well well to do countries who make more incomes, have a higher standard of living, they tend to eat more meat because of the costs that it takes to produce me versus, you know, vegetable, you know, vegetables, you know, plants and vegetables.
Right. Makes sense. We also got more cancer and obesity and all that. Yeah. That's the thing they don't talk about. Right. So I could see why people would feel the need. Well, we need to go ahead and make some fake meat in the lab because we're going to have more people in the world. And these people are going to eventually want nice things and those include meat, but we might not be able to give them real meat.
So let's give them this fake meat, but nobody's like you said, nobody wants to find out what is real, this fake meat's [00:31:00] going to do to them. And, and I think that's the I, the sad thing about it. But like I said, but that was just an amazing question. That was something that, that blew my mind when I read it, because I heard about it a couple of years ago, but I didn't know, like people were actually starting to put this stuff into the marketplace.
Wow. Wow. It's here. Yeah. Yeah. And so I guess just to kind of switch gears this is kind of good. Let's just kind of bring it back to the source. If you could just tell us a little bit about what, tell us about whitening vegan and what you offer. Well, when we began started pretty much two years ago, 2019, nothing towards the end of 2019.
So for COVID it started pre COVID. I would say COVID has hasn't, it's impacted it to the point where a lot of people want to know that they're getting good food and nowhere is coming from. So [00:32:00] it COVID really hasn't affected my, my business and maybe, you know, a lot of people knew how I was pre COVID.
So they kinda just, you know, trust my process and, you know, I wear mask and try to keep, you know, you do the normal things. You always do, you know, pre COVID, you wash your hands, you just do what you're supposed to do. So COVID actually probably has helped the business. Cause a lot of people have been home.
A lot of people have been doing research and a lot of people are seeing that, wanting to change in their life and in their lifestyle and how they eat. So a lot of people are being more open to being vegan. My business offers meal preps. Meaning like if you're a person that's on the go and you know, you tend to stop at this fast food restaurant real quick.
I'll make meals for you that are fresh for, you can have them for five or seven days come up and they taste just like [00:33:00] just freshly made them that way you can grab it and go. I meals Monday through Friday, my page is on Facebook as whack me vegan also on Instagram, whack me vegan. I post daily what I'm prepping for the next day.
Monday through Friday, like Mondays is usually a salad. Tuesdays is taco Tuesday. So I, I dibble and dabble with the leaf tacos. Like I did leave tacos last week. I'm trying to introduce people into the more of a raw diet that is still good. Okay. So I'm gradually easing people into it. So, yeah, that's Monday through four.
If I, if I wanted to order something, I would just go on a DMU. Is that kinda how it works? Yes. You can go on whack me vegan. It'll allow you to DM me and let me know. And most times I'll, once you DM me, I'll give you my personal number. And and sometimes I pretty much liked to chat with people. I like to know what your journey is, what you're trying to accomplish, whether this is because I'm really big [00:34:00] about doing community and really trying to make this a lifestyle for people.
It's more about it is about a business. But I want my business to make a lifestyle for people. So I'm also willing to coach people. I'm also, I've gone to grocery store to help people shop for different things. I've done several moons where I can show you where to, how to cook things. So I'll give you a list, go to the grocery store and get this.
Let me show you how to cook it. Because I want people to know that vegan is not boring. It's an easy lifestyle as well. And you'll be surprised at all the different things you can put together. And I want to show you that. So my business offers a variety of different things. It just depends on what you're trying to do.
And I'm very big on talking to a person asking them what they like, what they don't like. What'd you try to do, you're trying to lose weight. You're trying to make this a lifestyle, or are you just trying to make this, whereas I want to talk to you and try to make this a lifestyle [00:35:00] for people. Most definitely, especially in, in the black community.
So much heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, so much different things out here. That's killing us. And it's so simple about just changing a few things in your diet. To help heal you from the inside out. That's another one of my slogans. I want my food to heal you from the inside out. Yeah. And I know, and I noticed one of the things that you mentioned too, is just like your desire to bring awareness of vegan food choices to the African-American community.
And one of the things we've we've researched is course there's been a trend of the corporate people who incorporate more plant-based foods into their diets, or just becoming vegan or vegetarian. And particularly African-Americans seem to be the fastest growing segment of the plant-based population.
So people have, are sided, just the influences, the influence of musicians and entertainers [00:36:00] as kind of motivating people or driving people in that direction. I know Jay-Z and Beyonce did the thing about that in regards to people coming out to their concerts at one time. And I know there's other artists that have done things as well.
Who've switched over to vegan or vegetarian lifestyles. In your opinion, what do you think caused those shifts and eating choices and how has that shift even impacted your business? I think people are waking up a little bit and you know, when celebrities, you know, jump on, you know, some things people tend to jump on the bandwagon a little bit more.
But I think maybe I wouldn't say celebrities have more insight or quicker insights to certain things than us, but I think they kind of do so once they kind of jump on and get into a lifestyle, most people they're celebrities, people kind of look up to them. So it's like, Oh, if they're doing it, let me do it, which is good because they're introducing them to a good lifestyle.
So for me, it's helped my business because [00:37:00] a lot of people, like I said, are waking up, I think in the African-American African American community, excuse me. People are losing family members with cancer out here. Like I said, the blood pressure, the heart, the heart disease, the people are seeing the generational.
If, you know, if my mom has it been in my grandma and my granddaddy had it, then maybe I'm if it's just waking up the lifestyle and changing. To be healthier. And I think people are waking up and just wanting to be healthier and live longer, especially in the world we're in today was so chaotic. Anything could happen.
So if, if you can at least be healthy, you know, I think people are waking up to that and celebrities being big influencers. One is one of my favorite influencers is Jaden Smith. He has, he has a food truck out in LA that feeds to the homeless, which is another project that I'm working on. That's awesome.
Yeah. Another project is bringing vegan to the [00:38:00] homeless community as well. Just water is a, it's a, it's a spring water, but it's made in a plant-based container. He also works with them. I want to work with them. The water is delicious. No, I've never had it. Just water. You can make, you can make a bottle out of plants.
It's a, it's a plant-based bottle. Wow. Awesome. Yes. And it's, and you can find it at Kroger. I think whole foods has it. I haven't seen it. I think Publix has it. I haven't seen it in Walmart or anything like that yet, but it's in a blue bottle. Just water is delicious, but it's contributing to the plant-based community and hidden seize for that.
Just goes to different organizations for animals and different things like that. So, yeah, I, I applaud the celebrities who are joining and being influencers most definitely. I don't want it to things. People kind of do. When it comes to healthy eating is they S they don't really [00:39:00] associate it with lifestyle or just overall wellness, but they associate healthy.
And specifically with dieting and weight loss, meaning like people think about it, like I'm gonna eat healthy because I'm going to get my body ready for my, by my beach body, or it's new. This is my new year's resolution. I'm gonna lose weight. And so, as a result, healthy eating is seen as a short term activity.
Or what is the importance of healthy eating from a long-term perspective and what can we do to reinforce and incorporate healthier eating habits into our lives? That's, that's another thing, another question I always ask, what, what is, what is your journey? What are you trying to accomplish? And that's how people that my journey vegan started, you know, almost three years ago, but my healthy lifestyle journey started nine years ago.
At one point I was like 250 pounds. Unlike 170, now we're a size 22. I'm like a size eight now. But I [00:40:00] tell people this was a lifestyle. This was a journey. It did not happen overnight. So I expressed to people, lifestyle so much journey lifestyles so much because it can be hard. You can slip, you can fall, but if you have a purpose and a journey and a lifestyle that you're trying to reach, that's the best way.
So if you're just saying, I want to get some already, I'm just going to eat these salads today. You're, you're not you're. You need to create a lifestyle because you might lose those few pounds, but you go back and you're going to gain that weight 10 times more because you're going to go back in and it's a journey.
It's a lifestyle. And I really do implement that a lot. Or try to put big emphasis on that, that this is not something that I've worked on overnight. This has literally been a lifestyle change. And so I tell people, even if you don't eat, if even if you don't stop eating meat in general, you asked about trying to start a healthy [00:41:00] lifestyle.
If you can just make a commitment one day a week, you know what some people call it meatless, Mondays, where they don't. If you can just make a commitment, once you make the commitment, your body is going to do the rest, I promise you like Mike was saying, he noticed, once you start a lifestyle and a journey, your body's going to crave it.
So it's all about just getting started. Now, you mentioned your, your weight loss. But aside from that, like how do you feel every day? Have you noticed a significant, like, just quality of life improvement? Oh yes. Most of that I have You know, when you, when you get past 30 stuff, start to ache and carry on, you know, donut
get up in the mornings, you know, your knees a, you know, when you say, do I feel better overall? Absolutely. You think about how, when you eat meat and stuff, how heavy you feel how drained you feel? I might not can't, you know, hop up like a 19 year old, [00:42:00] but you best believe? I don't feel like I'm in my thirties.
My, my, my joints don't bother me. Energy-wise like I said, your body will start telling you if you drink green juices in the morning, like if in the morning, if you prep yourself, instead of eating a big breakfast drink, get you some lukewarm water, some lime drink that hydrate your body, drink you a smoothie after that.
Hydrate your body. It gives you so much energy. Yes, absolutely. I feel different. And if I tend to feel drained, like let's say, I don't know when the last time I got a cold, when the last time I got sick, I never was a really person to get sick anyway, even before being vegan. But the lifestyle change, your body feels the slightest little bit of difference.
Like, Oh, I'll get you some orange juice. We'll make you some orange juice. I feel a little tip. Oh, I'm feeling kind of drained today. Like I said, let me go make this green juice to give me some energy. Let me go cut this pineapple up just to refresh myself. I just feel like I just [00:43:00] need some refreshment.
Your body would send to just crave and tell you what you need. That's a very good point. Yes. But to touch on that, tell them about. Testimonials from people that have eaten your food, like changes. Yes, yes. Yes. I've had several ladies that have been on my program you know, eating my food properly and working and making a lifestyle.
All of it, meaning that outside of my food, they're still cooking vegan. Or some of them, they still may eat shrimp or something here and there. And they'll tell me like, like I had some shrimp, I was like, well, what did their stomach say to you? It's like, girl, it told me I shouldn't have had it, but they have lost.
They have lost pounds. They have lost inches. They tell me how good they feel. One of my ladies she actually is a cancer survivor. She does not only my meals, but a lot of my juices. I do a lot of uses as well. Okay. To touch on rod juices. You know, if [00:44:00] you haven't inflammation, you can drink some beet juice carrots.
Ginger, ginger is good for inflammation, and you're basically juicing all of these things, ROS seeds and all they all tell me how they'll drink juices and they don't feel the inflammation in their knees anymore, how they can walk and farther than what they used to. Like I said, several of them have lost extreme amounts of weight.
So it's a good lifestyle. It's a good lifestyle. I know often food nutrition is broken down into two different concepts. So you have more of your traditional concept, which is nutrition is based on a high intake of fiber and greens. Versus your modern concept, which is focused on high consumption of meat, fats, oils, and sugars.
Of course th these views of nutrition can be seen as, you know, either pot [00:45:00] positive or negative. And in regards to the unprocessed foods from the traditional standpoint versus to highly processed foods from moderate perspective, because just given just the history, you know, there's, you know, there's pros and cons to everything, but in your opinion how do traditional or modern nutritional concepts promote positive or negative health and outcomes?
Mike, you said there's pros and cons to everything. And I'm big on. Lifestyle and finding what works for you traditional, like you said, with the grains and stuff like that, versus all the meats and stuff, it's just tends to be healthier for the body. And you, you may have people who eat meats that may disagree with me saying that the more meats and sugars and stuff you have in the body, the more healthy, or, you know, it's pros, the cons, everything.
Often whenever we make lifestyle [00:46:00] changes we change our habits. The biggest conflict we have is not. With ourselves at times, but it could be with those that are closest to us, like our family and our friends. Yeah, I'm just thinking about journey, man. Cause as soon as my wife changes, her diet changed mine.
It's just how it goes. Exactly, exactly. And you know, that's something that a lot of people where they listened to this podcast, a lot of folk are going to be motivated. Like, you know what, I want to try something different. Right. Then as soon as they think about trying something different, you know, their significant other or their mom or somebody comes in like, Hey baby, you want to eat this?
You know? And it throws it all off or sometimes holidays. Exactly. Like it's rough. This is a Badger. Try to make that change. And it's, and it's in the beginning of November, you know? So what would you suggest to an individual or family to, I guess, assist them with [00:47:00] transitioning into either. Eating healthier or more, or having a more nutritious food life.
Yes. It's funny. You, you mentioned about the family. When I first started my vegan journey. Oh my parents. They gave me the down country. Okay. I can remember going in and they will be cooking all this food and I'd be like the jar, the jar make me something. No, no. You and your private lane now, since you don't in stuff privately, it's 9:00 AM in the morning.
My momma talking about, I got some cucumbers in the refrigerator. I want some breakfast, no grits, no nothing. So I tell people if you're, you're trying to make a decision, stay on that decision. So if you're going places and you're going to family and you know, they might not. Agree with the lifestyle change.
You may take your food with you. It's it's ways, it's ways around it to stay, to stay on that journey. It's different things, YouTube channels. Like I said Tabitha [00:48:00] Brown, she's awesome. In the vegan community community, I'm going to start on whack me vegan, getting more on my Facebook live and my Instagram live to just show people just do some research.
It's it's so many ways to stay on that journey in a lot of the restaurants are adding plant-based to their, to their menus, to, like I said, the, the world is waking up a little bit. So it's pretty easy, you know, and if people trying to sway by listen, I'm on a journey here, can you help me or no, you know, so, and then once you start feeling good and you start and they start seeing the change in you.
They going to send me be like, Hey girl, what you doing? What can you tell me more? And more people jump on with you and help encourage you. Most people. Yeah, it's true. And I think the funniest thing about it is. When you do get on that journey just to healthier eating habits or just trying to, you know, just [00:49:00] promote visible for better health.
Sometimes you may want to bring people along just to introduce people to different foods. And I think it's so funny, just the stigma, especially with in our community or, and it comes down to just trying different foods. I know that's something, my wife and I laugh about all the time with her mother or my mother-in-law cause we'll cause not aware cause we definitely aren't vegetarian or plant-based, but even with some of the wheat, a lot more vegetables than what my wife grew up in and we don't prepare meals in the same way she grew up prepared them.
And I guess in the classic soul food traditional. So it's very interesting when we prepare meals a week, certain things like my mother-in-law just gets blown away just by the foods and yeah. Like, for example, we had we had blue potatoes, right? My mother-in-law never seen a, yeah. My mother-in-law never seen a blue potato in her life.
She didn't know what it [00:50:00] was and amazing. She didn't eat it just because right. It's vitamin right. Have that conversation, explaining those things to her, you know, it's like, there's this there's a steep learning curve. So it's like, we got to try to encourage her as she's getting older, to be more mindful of her health and make better choices when it comes to eating.
Right. But at the same time, it's like, it's that constant cycle of like educating and then trying to same time trying to control people into eating for their own. Right. Right. And I try to have a lot of patience with people because I was one of those people. I remember where I came from. You couldn't tell me that I would eat zucchini.
I'd be like, what. You could tell me that I will eat. I didn't even eat onions growing up. I was like onions, no way. I love them now. Tomatoes. Absolutely not. Brussel sprouts, eggplant, all kinds of stuff that eat you wouldn't I would never, in my wildest dreams think that I would eat this stuff, but it wasn't until I tried it.
And it was like, Oh my goodness, this [00:51:00] is amazing. And that's like you said, that's just a concept of our people. What we grew up on, you know, we're just used to what we're used to. I remember one time I would go to a restaurant and my brother, he would pick at me. He said, you always order chicken fingers and fries at a wreck.
I was like, they can't mess up chicken fingers and fries. I just rather stick with what I know, just afraid to try something new. So I try to be patient with people and I ask them when I'm fixing their meals, I said, is there something you absolutely, you just cannot tolerate. I said, other than that, try it.
Don't knock it until you try it. You will be surprised. You'd be surprised. That's very true. I can attest to that. Posting pictures, posting LaShondra is pictures of her food. Everybody deems me like, Oh my God, that looks so good. What's in that. And I'm just like, yeah, you gotta try it. You know, some people don't like the texture of some things, but how do you know until you try it?
And then once I tried your food, I started naming stuff. I'm like, okay, so you put this in there. See if I [00:52:00] can name everything in the dish. They get familiar with the ingredients. Have people's like, you know what? I never ate tomatoes. And so I ate this food. I couldn't even tell it. Tomatoes was in there.
You had so many different flavor. Aha. That's what I mean to do, keep me, she will trick you. I'm telling you wait, was that I never had that before, so don't knock it until you try it. Yeah. You can have that Instagram page. And while we've been sitting here, I've just been sitting here flicking through some of these beautiful pictures of your food, getting more
also follow I am tall Shawnee. That's my personal Instagram page, but I post a lot of my personal meals that I make for like dinner and friends and stuff. That's I am tall Shani. S H a U N I and it's yeah, I try to put a lot of colors. I'm big. You said something about being a foodie [00:53:00] earlier? Yes, I am most definitely foodie.
And like you said, where they, when they make meat, the center of the plate where that's the most beautiful thing on the plate. I try to make the vegetables where that's the most beautiful thing on the plate. I mean, all these colors that catch your eye and you'd be like, I have to try this. Cause it's, it's beautiful.
Taste the rainbow. Yeah. As a matter of fact, I'm looking right now, I'm very intrigued in this fish and grits. Yes. Yes. I see the spread. Yeah. Now that that's back on our lines of the comfort food. Okay. I always say vegan junk food. Cause sometimes I just want that comfort food. So yeah, but I tell people it's not boring.
Look at the, you can, there's so many things you can do and people that's a fish that's made out of a  protein and soy protein, and he's made you take the old Bay seasoning and you put on there and it tastes just like a white and fish filet. The people that, that, that. [00:54:00] That placebo. Yeah, that's true. That's true.
It's true. Like, yeah, definitely. Like I said, that's all that I was like, I didn't even know you could do. I didn't even know you can make full fish like that being unfinished like that as awesome. Because of course, you know, you always know like burgers, like you get the burgers debate and like, I get all those things as a chicken, but I'd never seen like the deficient grits set up like that.
And so that looked really awesome. But before we go, if anyone is interested in getting in touch with you, of course, for meal prep or even just, I ask questions in regards to what we talked about today, how would they reach out to you and connect with? Once again, you can reach out to me whack me vegan on Facebook or Instagram.
You can DM me there. My personal Facebook is at LaShondra whack. You can also D me DM me on there as well. My personal I have my business line is (803) 873-1050. Feel free to call me, reach out to me. Like I said, it's not just [00:55:00] about selling my meals. It's also about educating. So even if you just have a question of your own, how do I make some veggie spaghetti?
All right, girl, I'll help you. All right. I got you. So those are the ways you can reach and contact me. And on my Facebook, on my whack, me vegan page, if I don't get to you right away, I apologize. I always see the message and I'll, I'll get that. Perfect. Well, does anybody else have anything to say before we wrap up?
No, this was a great episode. I'm so happy. I get to collaborate with my friends. This is a great opportunity for me. I appreciate it, Mike, you put us into some good education, so they too are appreciate it. You learn something new every day. Honestly, this is, this is right up my alley. I'm, I'm very into nutrition in our food and how our food is sourced and soil health and, and, you know, making sure that, that nutrition and gets into our food the proper way.
And I, I would [00:56:00] love to have you all back on. Maybe in season two and maybe, maybe have some discussions with some, some local farmers and such also that would be, it'd be a great dope idea. Yeah. That would be, that would be no problem. We appreciate you being a guest cause we're just getting started.
This is our, this is our eighth episode, so we're just building it up. We have some more guests coming up every two weeks until the end of July. And then after that we're, we're going to take a break and we're going to start back over again and if that's it this is skip with the Hilltop glove podcast.
We look forward to hearing from you next time. Peace. Bye. Stay well, that's it for today's episode of the Hilltop love podcast, make sure to subscribe to us on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, and other platforms. Also follow us on Instagram and Facebook and Hilltop gloves. [00:57:00]

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