It’s All About Food

Ellie is an animal communicator and healing expert who consults with people, animal rescues, and sanctuaries all over the world on how to save, heal, and treat their own animals. She founded The Gentle Barn in 1999, a nonprofit organization that rescues and rehabilitates not only dogs and cats, but horses, cows, pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, turkeys, peacocks, emus, llamas, and donkeys. Ellie formulated her own “Gentle Healing” method, using a combination of animal communication, energy healing, holistic healing, holding therapy, and western medicine to heal animals no one else would take and had nowhere else to go. Ellie specializes in healing puppies with Parvo, calves from veal crates, and orphaned animals of all kinds. Ellie and her husband Jay Weiner have brought The Gentle Barn national and now have three Gentle Barn locations, in California, in Missouri and in Tennessee. The Gentle Barn is one of the largest and most beloved farm animal sanctuaries in the world. It is their goal to be the voice for animals, share their stories, and open the hearts of humanity towards all living beings. For more information about The Gentle Barn, please visit: www.gentlebarn.org. Gentle is Ellie’s newest book, a heartfelt children’s book inspired by the friendship between John Lewis Thunderheart and Sky. 

Dr. Rudrani (Rani) Banik is a board-certified neuro-ophthalmologist. Dr. Banik runs a private practice based and is an Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Mount Sinai. Dr. Banik is also certified in Integrative Medicine. She focuses on the root cause of eye diseases and uses strategies based on nutrition, botanicals, lifestyle modification, and supplements. Dr. Banik’s expertise is often featured as an expert in her field, having appeared on Good Morning America, The New York Times, TODAY Online, and many more . She has been voted Castle Connolly Top Doctor and NY Magazine’s Best Doctor in Ophthalmology annually since 2017. Dr. Banik is the author of two best-selling books, Beyond Carrots – Best Foods For Eye Health A to Z and Dr. Rani’s Plant-Based Visionary Kitchen. She founded The Eye Summit™, the first online FREE educational event focused entirely on integrative strategies to protect and preserve vision.
 

Born in India, trained at the Institute of Culinary Education, Palak built her name winning Chopped and Beat Bobby Flay on Food Network. Her debut cookbook Food Is Love weaves plant-based, Indian-inspired recipes with the emotional language of food. Now, integrating principles informed by the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) and clinical collaboration with healthcare professionals, she brings that same joy into a wellness practice that helps people actually stick to the way of eating their body needs.

Urvi A. Shah, MD, MS, DipABLM is a lifestyle medicine certified hematologist, oncologist and physician scientist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Her research interests in studying the role of modifiable risk factors (diet, metabolism, and microbiome) in cancer prevention, treatment, and survivorship with a focus on myeloma. She leads the NUTRIVENTION dietary intervention trials which is a series of 6 trials in patients with cancer and precancer states. Results from the first NUTRIVENTION trial have been published in Cancer Discovery. This is the first trial that showed that a high fiber diet improves key cancer risk markers and may delay progression to the cancer myeloma in patients with precursor plasma cell disorders. Dr. Shah has published first author papers in prominent journals such as Cancer Discovery, Blood, and Clinical Cancer Research amongst others and has been an invited speaker and session chair nationally and internationally.
Dr. Shah has been supported by career development awards (National Cancer Institute [NCI] K12, International Myeloma Society and American Society of Hematology [ASH] Scholar) and research awards (ECOG ACRIN Young Investigator Translational Research, Henry Moses, Celgene Future Leaders in Hematology, NCI Early Investigator Advancement Program, Clinical Cancer Research Early Career, ASH David M. Goldenberg CRTI, 40 under 40 in cancer). Her research has been funded by multiple foundations (Blood Cancer United, Gabrielle’s Angel, Allen, Riney, HealthTree, Society of MSK, Comedy vs Cancer and Willow Foundations).
Links mentioned in the podcast:
NUTRIVENTION trial
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Randy Mosher is a food writer and creative consultant who teaches at the Siebel Institute of Technology brewing school. He is the author of five books, including Tasting Beer: An Insider’s Guide to the World’s Greatest Drink. He is currently a minority partner in two Chicago-area breweries. In this episode we discuss his new book, Your Tasting Brain: A Sensory Approach to Wine, Beer, and Other Pleasures, a scintillating invitation to enrich our culinary pursuits by understanding how our bodies turn a taste into flavor, emotion, and meaning. 

Fran Costigan, Your Oven is Lying to You! Are Veggies Safe to Eat? Long-time friends catching up on the news.
 
Fran Costigan, culinary instructor, cookbook author, pastry chef, consultant, and the Director of Vegan Pastry at Rouxbe Culinary School, is internationally renowned as the authority on vegan desserts. Professionally trained, Fran was a chef in both traditional and vegan pastry kitchens before moving into teaching over 25 years ago. Her unapologetically luscious confections lack nothing — except dairy, eggs, white sugar, and cholesterol. Fran’s vegan desserts are appropriate for everyone who loves dessert, whether or not dietary restrictions are an issue. She developed and leads the 90-day Essential Vegan Desserts Course at Rouxbe, the world’s leading online Culinary School, where she mentors international students of all skill levels, from beginners to professionals.
 
Fran’s cookbook, Vegan Chocolate Dessert: Unapologetically Luscious and Decadent Dairy-Free Desserts, is available in German, French and Italian editions, and follows the classic, More Great Good Dairy Free Desserts. A native New Yorker, Fran moved to Philadelphia, PA and is enthusiastically visiting Philly’s many renowned plant-forward restaurants. (Go Birds!) A sought-after speaker, you can find Fran sharing her passion across North America and Europe, at schools, conferences, festivals, and corporations such as Google, at resorts, spas and on cruise ships too. A professional member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, ACF: American Culinary Federation, and Les Dames d’Escoffier, Fran is proud to serve on the advisory boards of the New York Coalition for Healthy School Foods, and Main Street Vegan Academy.

Kirk Charles is on a mission to get America in tip-top shape. A NASM Certified Personal Trainer since 2010 with over 13,000 sessions under his belt, Kirk credits 30+ years of plant-based eating for his success. In 2021 he founded Fit Beyond 40, coaching the mature generation through exercise and plant-based nutrition. He's the author of two books, a former Men's Health columnist, and creator of Bike America, a 1,000-mile annual ride promoting cardio health. Kirk is a Rutgers graduate based in Montclair, New Jersey. More at https://www.kirkcharles.com/.

This episode looks at four food stories through one lens — who decides what counts as "good" food. It covers how hot dogs are made and their real cancer risk, plus vegan and carrot-based alternatives; the Coney Island eating contest and what it says about our relationship with unhealthy food; a critique of the National Food Museum's diet scorecard, which penalizes skipping dairy/fish and eating more produce; and Europe's falling meat consumption alongside its fight over labeling plant-based "burgers" and "sausages."

The podcast explores the gap between Costa Rica’s celebrated green reputation and the more complicated reality on the ground, using two personal observations as entry points: noticing less organic food in stores than 20 years ago, and experiencing a water shutoff in San Isidro. It traces the history of organic agriculture in Costa Rica — how it boomed in the late 90s but was largely export-driven, leaving little for local consumers — and explains how agroecological farming and domestic markets are now quietly growing as alternatives. It confronts the uncomfortable fact that despite its environmental image, Costa Rica is one of the world’s heaviest pesticide users per hectare, driven by industrial pineapple and banana monocultures. The water crisis is unpacked through four layers: climate variability and El Niño, aging infrastructure, growing demand, and policy gaps. A livestock segment examines how cattle ranching drove massive deforestation historically, how it still occupies over a third of the country’s land, and how silvopastoral and low-carbon farming practices are trying to change that. Everything is tied together by showing that food systems, land use, and water security are deeply interconnected — and closes with practical things listeners can do, whether they’re in Costa Rica or not.

Caryn is in Costa Rica and talks about her 21-year journey which started with buying property in the rainforest and wanting to have a farm.