Inspired with Nika Lawrie

150+ Pounds Lost On A Plant-Based Diet with Ashley and Yuri Barber

• Nika Lawrie, Ashley Barber, Yuri Barber • Season 2021 • Episode 16

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 Ashley and Yuri Barber are vegan weight-loss coaches, hosts of The Strong AF Podcast, and co-owners of Vegan Strong And Fit. Together they have lost over 150 pounds since transitioning to a vegan lifestyle and now they are passionate about helping their clients lose weight with a holistic plant-based approach to weight loss.

Ashley and Yuri share their story, what inspired them to make the change to a plant-based diet, and how you can do it too in this fantastic episode. 

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Nika Lawrie:

Hey and welcome back to the show. I have phenomenal guests for you today. So today we're going to hear this incredible story from Ashley and Yuri Barber. They lost a ton of weight and really took on the vegan approach to health and wellness. They're going to share their incredible stories with us today. So, ashley, yuri, welcome to the show, thank you so much.

Ashley Barber:

We're glad to be here.

Nika Lawrie:

So you guys went through this really cool transformation recently and you changed a lot of your lifestyle habits. Can you kind of give us the backstory about what happened, what you guys did and kind of what got you to where you are now?

Ashley Barber:

Yeah. So Yuri actually came to me and he was like actually I heard this great podcast and you have to listen to it. Like we have to do this, and it was basically about clean eating and, um, not even a vegan lifestyle, but more of a pescatarian lifestyle is how it started off with. So do you want to talk more about that?

Yuri Barber:

yeah, I was. I believe we were me and our kids. We were leaving the y and I was listening to a podcast and the lady said chicken is the devil and that kind of got my attention so I started really listening and they was talking about the benefits of a vegan lifestyle and transition that started from pescatarian and then went to vegan and I just figured, okay, I can, I can give up certain meats, but I didn't think I would ever just be all in vegan so he was telling me about this.

Ashley Barber:

We listened to the podcast together and he was like, ashley, we have to do this. So I was like, okay, um, I'm willing to do this, but if we do like, it can't just be another one of those diets that we tried. You know, we're not, because this is a big change, so we're not like giving all this up and then going right back to it. So I was like, you know, if we're, if we're giving up the meat, we're really giving up the meat, yeah that was a shocker right there, because I was in my mind.

Yuri Barber:

I was thinking thanksgiving or something like that. We can we taste turkey, we could have a slice of turkey, or something like that.

Ashley Barber:

I was like no, if you do that, I'm not doing this. Did you guys make it through the holidays?

Nika Lawrie:

We did. Yeah, wow, because that's always my thing too is is I don't know if I could make it through Thanksgiving. It's like my favorite holiday, so you'll have to tell me how you guys made it through without turkey.

Ashley Barber:

I think the best part was starting early. You know like if we would have started closer to the holidays it would have been really difficult because you would still be having those cravings. But we started back in March and so that drastically helped because you know we had already gone through those cravings and things like that and we had gotten used to the lifestyle by the time the holidays came around.

Nika Lawrie:

That makes sense, absolutely yeah, gotten used to the lifestyle by the time the holidays came around so that makes sense, absolutely.

Ashley Barber:

Yeah, yeah, so, so, so you guys started as pescatarian and then transitioned to vegan, or what did that look like? Yes, so we we probably did this the most unhealthy way that you could have ever done it, um, because we we don't like to waste food, right? So we basically went through everything that we had in our house that was meat and basically gorged on that until that was gone, and we were absolutely sick of it. So we didn't really have a desire for the meat after that anyway, because it was just like, oh my gosh, this is awful.

Yuri Barber:

And then, on top of that, we got all of our favorites out of the way the chinese foods, the, the chicken wings and then it's like, yeah, we're done with this, we've had enough.

Ashley Barber:

Yeah, yeah exactly so we basically made ourselves sick of it. And then, um, when we were eating fish, we weren't even eating that, you know, at every meal or even every day. It got to the point where we were eating fish and seafood maybe once or twice a week and it's like okay, if we're living off of plants the majority of the time, we don't really need the seafood in our diet anyway.

Nika Lawrie:

Yeah, yeah.

Ashley Barber:

So we just decided to go ahead and fully transition off.

Nika Lawrie:

And so what was the hardest part through that transition? I mean, did you struggle with cravings? What was the hardest part? Simple question.

Yuri Barber:

For me, I would have to say maybe like the detox. Because, pretty much when we started, I gave up caffeine sodas coffee any sugars and stuff 100% immediately.

Ashley Barber:

I had to gradually ease myself in. So he basically cut out all meat, dairy, everything at the same time. I kind of transitioned my way in, so I went off the meat and then I went off the fish and then I went off the dairy and then we got to more of a clean lifestyle as well, cause I mean, you can be vegan and you can still eat very unhealthy. So I started cutting out the sugar and things after I was already off of all the other stuff. So, um, I still had all the detox symptoms, but mine wasn't as drastic as it was mine felt like like flu-like symptoms.

Yuri Barber:

I was just migraine, yeah, just sore and tired how long did that last? It lasted maybe, maybe 72 hours oh, that's not too long, man.

Yuri Barber:

Yeah, it was long enough yeah, I remember being at work talking to my supervisor like man, I just need to go home. And he's like man, just just eat you some meat. Man, just go, just go, just go get you a burger or something like no, but I don't even want it, it's just a detox wedge. And then a couple days later I woke up feeling the best I've ever felt in my life, with so much energy, just clear mindset, just ready to go yeah, so did you guys also clear out the majority of processed foods?

Nika Lawrie:

it kind of sounds like that went out the door a little bit too.

Ashley Barber:

We basically cleared out our entire pantry and refrigerator. We do have three kids, so we have a nine-year-old, a three-year-old and a two-year-old. So they've transitioned as well. Theirs was even slower than mine was, but we're all vegan now. Their transition was a little bit slower and they are not, you know, fully clean, so they're not fully eating. You know they're still having some processed foods, some sugar, but that's really the exception to what they eat. So we don't keep a lot of that in the house. The majority of that is if we go out to eat somewhere. Yeah, yeah, and that's the easiest way to do it, because if you have it in the house, so easy to just go grab.

Nika Lawrie:

Yeah, how did you guys stay motivated, like what was the original other than the podcast, what was the original motivating factor and what's kept you kind of keeping strong in the process?

Ashley Barber:

Health issues was definitely the driving factor for us. Health issues was definitely the driving factor for us. So Yuri had extremely high blood pressure. Not too long before, maybe just a couple of months before that, we were in the ER because his blood pressure was like 180 over 150 something.

Yuri Barber:

Yeah, it was. It was extremely high when you're hooked up to EKG machines and all this other stuff. Eventually you're going to get the message and make and all this other stuff. Yeah, eventually you're going to get the message and make some kind of a change.

Ashley Barber:

And at 30 years old too. And his brother is only five years older than him and just a few years ago he had a heart attack. And then his dad had a heart attack just a couple of years ago as well.

Yuri Barber:

And a stroke. Oh my goodness, I'm sorry. Yeah, with both parents being diabetics and having high blood pressure and stuff like that, it was definitely the health reasons that made me commit.

Ashley Barber:

Yeah, and I think that in my mind it was Yuri's health issues that also made me commit. But at the same time I've had chronic constipation. Since I was in elementary school I've been hospitalized. I've seen multiple doctors had like tubes run down my throat and everything for this, and just never really given a reason or an answer. They just basically told me I had to live with this for my entire life. Yeah, so this wasn't, it wasn't really a driving factor for us to change our lifestyle, because I just always assumed that's how it was going to be. But since switching to vegan, I've not had those issues at all.

Nika Lawrie:

Yeah, it's amazing because so often it you know it's. It's can be the cheese and the dairy, it can be the meat, or it's from the processed foods and all the salts in our body. We don't have enough fluids and stuff running through, and so that's such a huge thing that so many people struggle with. And since it's such kind of a taboo conversation, you know nobody really wants to talk about it, but it's an important thing, yeah, but it's amazing that that changed for you. I'm really excited for you guys. So you guys have seen pretty major health improvements. You guys also lost a good amount of weight as well correct.

Ashley Barber:

Yes, I've lost over 75 pounds.

Nika Lawrie:

No more constipation.

Ashley Barber:

Thank you and also had my blood work done just a couple months ago and my numbers have been the best that they've been.

Nika Lawrie:

that's incredible, excited about that. That is so cool.

Yuri Barber:

Congratulations and then I'm slowly approaching 100 pound weight loss. I was on high blood pressure pills and stuff for migraines. I haven't had a migraine, probably going on a year Wow.

Ashley Barber:

My blood numbers are good. No-transcript.

Nika Lawrie:

That is just fabulous. Congratulations both of you. That's amazing, yeah. So have you seen it spread to any of your family members? Have they started to kind of see the change in?

Ashley Barber:

you guys and take any interest, think a lot of them have the same mindset that we had in the beginning of this, that we could never fully go vegan. But, as the way that we coach our clients and the way we talk to our family too, is, you don't have to fully transition. If you add more fruits and vegetables into your lifestyle and you add more plant-based meals, then you're slowly reducing the meat consumption and the animal consumption, and even doing that is a drastic improvement. Yeah, I love. Sorry, go ahead.

Yuri Barber:

Especially for Thanksgiving, we had everyone over. We had just vegan food. My mom, my brother, his girlfriend, her boyfriend. They were all like, oh my goodness, this is vegan. Are you sure? I don't think it's vegan. My mom was just sitting here joking I might become vegan and they were all like, oh my goodness, this is vegan, Are you sure? My mom was just sitting here joking, so I might become vegan yeah.

Nika Lawrie:

That's awesome, though that's the one thing I love is that people don't realize that, like, clean eating really is delicious and your taste buds actually change. So you don't have the same interest, like once you go back and eat you know fast food or something that's highly processed or meat like it just doesn't taste the same and you don't have that same desire for it at all.

Ashley Barber:

Exactly. There's a chef close to us in Charlotte. She's a celebrity chef, chef Joya, and I love. One of the things that she was talking about over the holidays is she was saying that even the meat eaters don't want their chicken to taste like chicken. That's why they season it. It's not about the meat, it's about the seasonings and the way that you cook it.

Nika Lawrie:

That's a really good point. I never really thought about that. It's totally true. Like plain chicken really isn't that good, that good. That's funny I loved. Also, you said about kind of doing the the you know, start with something. I'm drawing a blank on the the documentary, but there was a documentary came out last year and one of the things to take away from it was all or something. And it was. It was talking about changing to the vegan lifestyle, giving up meat. I wish I could think of that. I'll find it and put in the show notes. But I love it because they talk about all or something. Either you make the full shift and you do it like you're E, or you do the steps, like you did Ashley, and do something and then eventually you can make that shift. So it's not about cold turkey right away, but it does work, obviously if you're willing to go through the 72-hour detox. Yeah. So what were some of the most helpful things that you implemented, like some of the changes that you did? What were the most beneficial ones?

Ashley Barber:

I think it sounds really basic and something you hear all the time. You're like, oh my gosh, I don't want to hear this again, but water is the main thing. Okay, because, um, so many of us are dehydrated and we don't even know it. Oh, absolutely, we feel like we're alive and we're doing fine, so we think we're okay. Um, but dehydration can cause so many symptoms like memory fog, uh, memory loss, um, dry skin, dry skin, yeah, um, memory loss, dry skin. And it also gives you hunger pain.

Nika Lawrie:

So many times people are overeating because they feel that they're hungry, but they're really thirsty yeah, that's one of the first things I teach my clients as a health coach is dehydration. Actually, it fools your brain into thinking that you're hungry, opposed to thirsty. So, yeah, I try to tell them all the time if you feel hungry, drink a glass of water first and see how you feel and then make the decision afterwards.

Ashley Barber:

Yes, I love that and everybody should be drinking. I don't know if you're listeners or also international, but in pounds you should be drinking half of your body weight in ounces every day.

Nika Lawrie:

So at least, yeah, yeah. So are there other things that you guys did, other than the water, that were really helpful.

Ashley Barber:

Yes. So in the beginning, don't worry about feel like the, the clean eating or things like that. Like, if you're transitioning and you're transitioning for any reason, right, you want to stick to things that taste similar. If you're transitioning and you're transitioning for any reason, you want to stick to things that taste similar to what you're used to. You don't want to just go off and make these crazy recipes because you're most likely not going to enjoy it and you're going to go back, and you don't want to make things too complicated either.

Ashley Barber:

So vegan is just like anything else. It can be really simple, it can be really complex, depending on how you want to do it. It can be cheap, it can be expensive. It just depends on exactly what you're making. If you're looking for all these processed vegan items, you can get them, but it's going to be expensive. So you can keep it simple, you can keep it tasty and just keep it to the types of things that you like. If you know that you don't like certain fruits and vegetables, don't add those into your diet just because you're switching to vegan. It doesn't have to be anything crazy. Just start off slowly making changes that appeal to you. So, like our kids love pancakes. We didn't take pancakes away. We just make them out of chickpea flour now. So they're protein, they're healthier and they love them.

Yuri Barber:

And then another thing we added, which is sea moss. Is what it, what the name is? It's moss out of the sea. It gives you 92 out of the 102 minerals that the body needs. It's so many health benefits. It cleans up mucus from your body, it helps with inflammation. And then with our kids, like Ashley was saying, we could add that to their pancake and they wouldn't even notice it, especially with our three-year-old. He has eczema and asthma, so that's helped him out a great deal.

Nika Lawrie:

That's fantastic. Yeah, I love that you brought up just food from the sea because you know it's such an underused nutritious food or type of food. I'm a big fan of algae. I think it can really help. You know it's got tons of nutrients and vitamins. It's got um a lot of stuff that'll help kind of boost your energy. So I love that you guys are doing the, the CMOS too.

Ashley Barber:

Yeah, and one thing that vegans, um a lot of times, are deficient in is B12, and you eat your B12.

Nika Lawrie:

Yeah, yeah, I think, I think everyone is deficient in.

Ashley Barber:

B12. Not everyone, but yeah but pretty close.

Nika Lawrie:

Yeah, yes, yeah, and it's such a big it's plays such a big factor in our daily energy. Everyone in you know, especially in the States talks about feeling exhausted all the time and big reason I don't think we have enough B12.

Nika Lawrie:

So I love that you also talk about you know, like you mentioned earlier in the show, about how fad diets haven't worked for you in the past, and I love that you brought that up, because one of my biggest pet peeves is fad diets, as people are constantly going on this roller coaster. You know from one to another and they do, you know, they do the, they lose the weight and then they gain it all back, and then they lose the weight and they gain it all back and that's so unhealthy for the system. Yeah, so I love that you guys made a lifestyle shift. Can you talk about the difference between, you know, doing the fad diets in the past and then actually making the lifestyle shift to going vegan?

Ashley Barber:

sure, we've done, so many we've we were on that roller coaster for a long time of our life. Um, for me, my journey started very young. My grandma was always into the fad diets, especially Weight Watchers. That was like her thing growing up, and so since she was on the diet, she would take me to the meetings with her. I was like seven years old going to these Weight Watchers meetings oh my gosh.

Ashley Barber:

Yeah, I guess it kind of put that mentality in my mind that even though I wasn't at the time, that I was overweight and that I needed to lose this weight, and so that kind of started very young for me, and so I just thought dieting was what you do. You know, you eat whatever you want to during the year, and then you get to a point and you diet it off, and then so I just kind of had that cycle embedded into me from a very young age. And then, as I got older and you would hear different things. So calorie deficit was eat 1200 or less calories. Um, it was keto and, uh, low carb and just all of these other things that we have tried.

Ashley Barber:

And the thing is, they're all going to work in the beginning because you're in a calorie deficit. Yes, so you are immediately going to lose weight Most of it will be water weight and then the next thing that's going to come off many times is going to be your muscle Muscle. Yeah, because your muscles actually need the carbohydrates to fuel them and to grow. And if you're not fueling and you're feeding your muscles, then when you're losing weight, you're losing muscle mass, which means your metabolism is also drastically dropping.

Nika Lawrie:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I love that you bring that up because you know my other pet peeve is the counting the calories. Is that? You know that if you look into the history of how that came into American culture, it's kind of really distraught and devastating how it became such a thing that we look at and there's a huge lack of education around the fact that you know, yes, you will lose weight in the beginning with counting calories, but that is not going to sustain that weight loss over time and it really is about removing the sugar, removing the processed foods, removing you know for you guys, for instance, removing the meat, and so really looking at those shifts as opposed to just counting calories.

Ashley Barber:

Exactly, and we love to teach our clients about healthy habits. However, a lot of them are still on that calorie mentality and I don't mind providing calories and macros, as long as I'm teaching them why we're using macros and the healthy habits that go along with that, because the one great thing I think about using macros is that you're teaching them about the different fuel sources that their body needs and they're not just focused on the calorie count and they're not just going to go eat this Reese's cup and then not eating anything else.

Ashley Barber:

So as long as they're eating within those macros, they're not going to be eating as much processed and unhealthy foods.

Nika Lawrie:

Yeah, I love that too, cause, you know I have the same thing. Clients come to me that are so focused on the calories, you know, and when you sit down and look at it, I'm like a can of soda and, you know, two cups of broccoli, you know, maybe close in calories, but they are not the same thing when our body actually digests them and takes them in and stuff. And so, yeah, I think that's such an important thing to help people focus on and also understanding that not all fats are bad and not all carbs are bad, and really kind of educating around the goods and the bads that come with that Exactly.

Ashley Barber:

Yeah, and I think there's so, because everyone preaches low carb and keto. Everyone's like terrified of carbohydrates, yeah, and it's something that we shouldn't be. The same way with fat People are terrified of the word fat, um, but our body needs that to run. Those are the three essential um macros is proteins, carbohydrates and fat, and if our body doesn't have that, it's not going to function properly. Correct, yeah, and the way that advertisers go about this, just it frustrates me and it baffles me because we change. Oh okay, the fat right now is low fat, so we're going to take all the fat out of this product, but we're going to add 10 times the added sugar in here to make it so it's still not good for you, right?

Nika Lawrie:

Yeah, I know, I mean, I've always thought yogurts were yogurts is below my mind, because I'm like you know they're as much sugar as the can of soda, but they're low fat, so they're healthy. And yeah, yeah, I, I the same thing. I have such a pet peeve with that stuff, and then it also makes you feel like it's your fault. It's your fault that you're unhealthy, it's your fault that you gained weight, when reality is that the industry has pumped all of this crap into our food and then sold it to us as healthy, and so we don't understand why this stuff is happening to us until we really deep dive into the research and information.

Yuri Barber:

That's one of the things we always preach to our clients is to read the food labels and see what's actually in there, instead of just going by what the front of the package says, actually flipping around and seeing what is red 40. What is all these?

Nika Lawrie:

other stuff you can't pronounce.

Yuri Barber:

And I always say if you can't pronounce, and I always say if you can't pronounce it, why are you eating it? Why are you feeding it to your children?

Ashley Barber:

I live by the exact same rule, yeah what's that ingredient that's in the little debbie cakes. That is also in the paint that you work with titanium dioxide yes, they.

Nika Lawrie:

So they use titanium dioxide to whiten things and so you know, you'll see it in yogurts, You'll see it in ranch dressing. It's really common in ranch dressing. So, yeah, I mean it's bizarre that this stuff is put into our food and we have no idea Exactly. Nobody's told us this stuff. Yeah.

Yuri Barber:

It's even in your toothpaste. The fluoride toothpaste has it in there.

Ashley Barber:

Yeah. So I mean he has to work with these chemicals, right, and so he has to wear a respirator around these chemicals at work. So if you have to wear a respirator when you're working with these chemicals, why would you ingest them?

Nika Lawrie:

seriously. Yeah, the other ones that get me too. Um is, uh like natural flavoring. We have no idea what actually is a natural flavor it could be anything.

Nika Lawrie:

Yeah, yeah, exactly yeah. And then the same thing goes, for I know it's separate, but fragrance or perfume is the same kind of thing like in, you know, body wash or lotions or stuff. It could be up to 80,000 different chemicals and none of these have been tested on on humans, and so, yeah, it's. It's a huge, really scary thing when you start to look at it, so it is I love, I love.

Nika Lawrie:

I live by the same thing. If I can't pronounce it, or if I don't know exactly what it is, I won't eat it, yeah yeah, my co-workers pick on me all the time because I'll be sitting over there.

Yuri Barber:

I'll grab a drink and they're like are you about to drink that? I know I'm reading. Like, what are you reading? I want to see what's in it. This Mountain Dew has 75 grams of sugar in there.

Nika Lawrie:

Right, yeah, mountain Dew, I'm sorry, if it glows in the dark, it should not go in your body. So what has been your biggest takeaway through this whole process?

Ashley Barber:

You know, before it was like lose weight quickly, lose weight quickly, lose that quickly. You know it was always that end result. You want to see immediate results and through this process, what we've learned, or what I've learned is that it really is a journey and it's not something that you need to rush through, because it is a lifestyle change and the most important thing to me is learning why and how to fuel your body and being able to pass that on to our kids and generations to come.

Yuri Barber:

Yeah, that's the big thing. Like with programs we come up with and everything On our journey, we're continually learning so much and making mistakes and sharing it with people. That way they don't have to make the same mistakes because we've already learned from it, and just passing on all the knowledge that we consume and, like she said, pass it on to our children, where they can pass it on to their children, and so on and so forth.

Nika Lawrie:

Absolutely. What are some tips you have for someone who wants to make a similar change, that you know feel scared or overwhelmed kind of in the beginning?

Ashley Barber:

um, don't rush it. Just take your time and go as slow as you feel that you need to. Uh, everybody's pace is different and you don't need to go at somebody else's pace. So you may be looking out to someone and maybe you have a mentor whether it's a friend, colleague, um, someone on a podcast, someone that you follow online but your day one is not the same as their day 100 or whatever day that they're on. You know it may be further along in their process.

Ashley Barber:

You don't just need to jump in head first, because the chances of you sticking to that are very slim. Go at your pace and don't beat yourself up if you make a mistake, because we're all going to do it, you know, and it's. It's those things where maybe it's not intentional, maybe you uh didn't realize it had some sort of product in it, some sort of ingredient in it, and that's fine. Maybe it was. You just gave into a craving and then it's fine too. Don't beat yourself up about it and just move on, because if you sit there and you dwell on it, then you're gonna have a really hard time to continue your journey yeah, yeah, I think it's important to know too that it's always a journey.

Nika Lawrie:

it's, it's, you know, it's like life there's not really a destination. It's always kind of on that journey, yeah.

Yuri Barber:

And for me I always just tell them, just like you said, take your time. And my big thing is, especially if your goal is weight loss, I wouldn't say just don't step on the scale every single day and just depend on that number, because at the beginning you're going to lose weight at a rapid pace. You may weigh one week. The first week you've lost 10 pounds, then maybe the next week you've only lost two pounds or something like that. You can let that negatively affect your mindset and stuff like that. That's why we always tell our clients to measure. That's, that's the biggest. Yeah, measure your weight loss and stuff like that as long's why we always tell our clients to measure.

Yuri Barber:

That's the biggest way to measure your weight loss and stuff like that. As long as you're constantly seeing changes in inches loss and stuff like that, you're right on the path.

Nika Lawrie:

Yeah, because it's so important to realize that a lot of times weight loss comes from the water weight that you lose in the beginning, or also your body tends to plateau for a while so it can kind of readjust, and then also understanding that you're going to gain muscle too while you're getting stronger and healthier, and so that's going to increase your weight instead of Exactly yeah.

Ashley Barber:

And even things like if you don't get enough sleep that night, if you have something stressful going on, your hormone changes, especially for women. All of that fluctuates in our weight.

Nika Lawrie:

Absolutely. How big did support play into that? Obviously, you guys kind of had each other, but was that really an important factor to it?

Ashley Barber:

I think that was very important for me and I don't know that I would have been able to have done this on my own, and that's why we try to provide such detailed support for our clients, because it's very difficult to make lifestyle changes if you're around people who aren't looking to change.

Ashley Barber:

It's not impossible, it's just a little more difficult. It's not impossible, it's just a little more difficult. So, one of the biggest things that I recommend and this was huge for us because, I mean, we started our journey because of health reasons, right, but our vegan lifestyle has changed and now it's about the animals and the environment as well because, you know, we didn't really understand, like we kind of had an idea, but it's one of those things that you know out of sight, out of mind, right, yeah, so until we actually started watching a lot of documentaries about this and learning and, um, just researching and reading more, uh, it was. It was one of those things that I don't know that we would have stuck to it had we not learned more about the why. Because now that we know everything that we know, it's like you can't go back, you know.

Nika Lawrie:

Yeah, no, it's so true and it's such an underreported thing about the impact that it has on our planet and the you know the hardships and kind of disgustingness that happens to the animals, not just with them being killed, but like their entire upbringing, their entire life is locked in cages and you know it's, it's gross.

Ashley Barber:

So, yes, yeah, there's a lot of people out here that are, you know, aiming to help those who don't have enough food. There's a lot of people you know living in poverty, who who don't help those who don't have enough food. There's a lot of people you know living in poverty, who, who don't have food, don't have access to food, whether it's here in America, whether it's in other countries. But the thing is, we're using so much land to raise animals and raise produce for the animals, where we could be using that land to just raise food and eliminate world hunger.

Nika Lawrie:

Yeah, it's said that because so many cultures are becoming meat eaters or omnivores and stuff now that we're going to outpace the land needed just to feed the animals, let alone food for everybody else too, within probably 10 to 20 years. I mean, that's how quickly it's changing, and so there has to be a major shift for people to focus on different eating habits and lifestyles.

Ashley Barber:

Exactly, and one of the biggest questions that we get is like oh, if you're vegan, I don't understand why you eat mock meats, right? Well, a lot of people don't give up meat because they don't like the taste of meat. Yeah, I give up because of these other reasons, these ethical reasons, the environment, the animals or whether it be their health, and these mock meats are a substitute to help them with that transition, and so that's why we don't ever knock those meats. It's not something that I would suggest you have on a regular basis, because they do still have a lot of processed foods in them.

Yuri Barber:

Yeah, and if you can afford it, oh my goodness, yeah, if you can afford it, go for it.

Ashley Barber:

They are, yeah, but I think it's a great thing to have, because it does help so many people who have those cravings for meat to be able to transition off of that.

Nika Lawrie:

Yeah, I definitely think it helps with the shift. But same thing when I kind of made some shifts in my life and tried the fake meats or vegan meats, whatever you want to call them when I started reading the labels, those scared me as much as eating a meat, so yeah, so I'm always a little hesitant about them Exactly, but I do think it's a good like in between while you're making the shift.

Nika Lawrie:

It definitely helps in that sense. Yeah, exactly, yeah. So I know you guys have started coaching and helping other people. First, I just want to recognize you guys. One for the transformation that you've made for yourselves and your own lives, because that's so amazing and so inspiring and just powerful. So congratulations on that.

Nika Lawrie:

Thank you, yeah. And then I also want to just recognize you for the, the role models that you're being for your children and for your other family members and just making that kind of ripple effect and helping to change a generation to come of healthy eating, lifestyles and habits and stuff, and so that's an amazing thing too. And then, lastly, I want to just say how cool it is that you guys are now coaching other people and teaching this and so making even a bigger ripple effect there. So what comes now? What are you guys looking forward to in the future?

Ashley Barber:

We've got some big plans for this year. So I recently got certified as a fitness and nutrition expert. Congratulations, thank you. So we've got a fitness and nutrition expert Congratulations.

Ashley Barber:

Thank you. So we've got a few things coming up. Don't want to give too much on that yet until we kind of get some more played out, but we do have our 28-day weight loss transformation program. So we don't have a date yet on the next enrollment, but it will be coming up soon. We're getting ready to wrap up the one that we're currently in. We're on our third round of this. We've had some great results from our clients, so I'm excited to see the results for this one as well.

Yuri Barber:

Especially with that program. It's always a challenge because mainly, well, 100% of our clients with that one are omnivores. When we have our discovery call, that's the one thing he's like I don't want to be vegan, I can't give up meat and this and that.

Yuri Barber:

So we take that somewhat as a challenge, just like, okay, you think you may not want to be vegan but, after you start feeling as good as you're going to feel once you go through the detox and start introducing yourself to these fruits and veggies, then every now and then we'll get one. That's like I'm thinking about transitioning, yeah.

Ashley Barber:

Yeah. So we designed a personalized meal plan for you. So if you were eating a lot of meat right now, then we're not going to just drastically cut you off. Eating a lot of meat right now, then we're not going to just drastically cut you off. We're going to gradually reduce that and add more plant-based meals into your program. So we don't necessarily take things away, we add more in. Yeah, I love that way that we help our clients. So our first client that we worked with, she's actually transitioning to vegan now client that we worked with.

Nika Lawrie:

She's actually transitioning to vegan now. Oh awesome, that's so exciting. I love that. You said that you add more in. I've done a couple health coaching programs to do different certifications and one of the programs that I went through talks about crowding out, and the whole idea is that you crowd out the bad or unhealthy stuff by just bringing in more good stuff and over time you make that transition and so you don't. It's not about just you know giving up everything that you love.

Ashley Barber:

It's about bringing in good stuff. Yeah, cause when you're adding all that in, then you're not going to be hungry for the other things that you were before.

Nika Lawrie:

Absolutely yeah.

Yuri Barber:

So many fruits and veggies out here that people have never even heard of or even tried, and then, once we introduce them to that they're like oh my goodness, I had no idea that there was such thing as oyster mushrooms or these other wild fruits and veggies too.

Ashley Barber:

one of the reasons that we crave so many processed foods and sugary foods is because we talk a lot about the macronutrients you know the proteins, carbs and fats but we don't talk a lot about the micronutrients. And that's the biggest thing. Because when you are filling your body with these satiating, micronutrient dense foods, such as your broccolis and asparagus and different things like this, and you're kind of eating the rainbow, then you're not going to be hungry for those other things, because the reason you crave those is because your body isn't getting what it needs, so you may be eating high calorie foods or large meals and you can still feel hungry because your body's craving those micronutrients it's not necessarily saying my stomach is empty.

Ashley Barber:

It's saying, hey, you're not giving me the nutrients I need, so I need more.

Nika Lawrie:

Yeah, a lot of times you'll see that with people who will eat, you know, say like a drive-thru cheeseburger or something, and then they're hungry. You know, say like a drive-through cheeseburger or something, and then they're hungry, you know, half an hour later, even though they just ate a ton of calories, they didn't get the nutrients their body needed, and so it kind of drives that cycle for sure. I think the other thing you brought up a really important point, the other thing is our gut health and how much the you know the microbiome plays into cravings for sugar and cravings for maybe unhealthy options coming in just because those bacteria feed off of the sugar, and so it sends a signal to our brain saying hey, we're hungry, feed us more sugar, feed us, feed us Until you can kind of clean out and reset that microbiome with some healthier bacteria. It's a hard cycle that you continue to run through.

Yuri Barber:

That sugar is. That's one heck of a drug. There's been studies where they've done it on mice, where they give them what's it? Cocaine and sugar and they prefer the sugar over the cocaine, and I know for me in general, or was it? It was for Christmas we went to this vegan pastry place. And we had certain sweets and we could tell there was a lot of sugar in it, because you taste it and it's like you're not used to it.

Nika Lawrie:

It's so sweet, it's like oh my goodness so sweet, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's so sweet. It's like, oh my goodness so sweet, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's funny because probably two years ago you wouldn't have even noticed. You know what I mean Exactly. It's like drinking a soda. Once you stop and you start drinking them, you're like, oh my God, how did I drink this before and before? They tasted normal. I drink them every day, kind of thing. And so, yeah, it's interesting. How much is actually in our foods that we don't realize until we cut it out? Yeah, exactly, yeah, yeah. So where can listeners connect with you and find you online and potentially work with you as a coach?

Ashley Barber:

Yeah, so so we have uh, our website, veganstrongandfitcom, and, um, if you're interested, you can actually go ahead and grab a free five-day meal plan, uh, veganstrongandfitcom slash meal plan, and you can also connect with us on Instagram and Facebook at vegan, strong and fit.

Nika Lawrie:

Awesome. So I have one last question for each of you. So it's the same question, but I want you guys to answer separately. I want each of your answers.

Yuri Barber:

You go first, so I can think about it.

Nika Lawrie:

Okay, what advice do you have for someone who wants to make change either in their life, in their community or around the world?

Ashley Barber:

Yeah, so I think that you can't make change around the world unless you start with yourself, right, so learning who you are, what you want to do and then figure out how you're going to do that. But a lot of times we focus so much on helping others and putting ourselves out there that we're not focused and taking care of ourselves first. Yeah, and we can't help others if we're in a bad health state. Right?

Ashley Barber:

Yeah so just like in the airplane where they say put your oxygen mask on first before you help others. It's the same way in our life. So the biggest thing that you have to do is you have to make a change in your own life first, and I think by doing that the rest will come, because it just gives you so much clarity and so much more energy that you can do more.

Nika Lawrie:

Absolutely. I love that and I totally agree with you. Definitely, Gary. What about you? What is your advice?

Yuri Barber:

I would say come up with a plan. That's the main thing, Because if you don't have a plan, then you pretty much plan to fail If you don't know whatever goals you want to achieve, whether it's weekly, monthly, annually. Once you have that plan where you know what you're doing day in, day out, that way you can stick to it and the sky's the limit.

Nika Lawrie:

Love it, totally agree. Well, I want to thank you both so much for just your advice and fantastic information and sharing it with the listeners. I think it's phenomenal, so thank you, thank you for joining us, thank you for having us. Yeah.

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