Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rachael Brown. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Rachael, appreciate you joining us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

After graduating with a degree in Geography from the University of Washington, I got married and we moved to Alaska. We thought we wanted to teach overseas, but fell in love with Alaska and stayed for 4 years. I ended up substitute teaching, working for a home inspector, took the course to become a realtor and had 2 kids. Two weeks into 40 below temperatures with two kids under the age of 2 had us rethinking our long term plan, and we eventually moved back to the Pacific Northwest. A year in WA was followed by a year in HI and then a move to CA–all with a new career for my husband. I became a certified yoga and pilates instructor during that time, teaching at various studios, schools and private homes and then went to massage school and helped people with chronic pain find relief through the Pain Neutralization Technique.
During that time, 14 years ago, my 5-year old nephew was diagnosed with cancer. His mom grew a huge vegetable garden, canned and preserved, used organic everything and raised animals for them to eat. She was in nursing school at the time and she had a professor ask her if she’d looked into the role of nutrition in cancer. That professor suggested she read The China Study and watch the documentary Forks Over Knives. She did, and they immediately changed their diet to whole food, plant-based, no oil. They were doing Gerson Therapy (fresh juicing) and dove in wholeheartedly to this new way of eating. Once I read The China Study and watched Forks Over Knives I was amazed (and honestly angry) that I’d never heard any of this before. We decided to test it for ourselves and in just 17 days of eating WFPBNO my cholesterol dropped 50 points.
This cancer diagnosis for my nephew, while terrible, helped us completely overhaul how we were eating and changed our health dramatically. When Covid hit and I couldn’t see my clients, I got my Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate and Food and Sustainability Certificate from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies and Cornell and decided that maybe the best way to help others make the change to WFPBNO was to write a book that would be an easy entry read. While I love The China Study and hope everyone will read it, I set out to write a quick and easy read, accessible for people without a lot of time. It was a huge honor when T. Colin Campbell (author of The China Study) endorsed my book.
My nephew is a healthy, married adult now. For Fork’s Sake: A Quick Guide to Healing Yourself and the Planet Through a Plant-Based Diet has been out for 2 years and I’ve done around 40 podcasts and continue to present live and online to groups, clubs, schools, libraries and senior centers. I donate 50% of the profits from the sale of the book to charity and 1% of gross sales goes to 1% For the Planet. It really is my best effort at helping people and the planet.
While I never would’ve chosen a cancer diagnosis for my nephew, or Covid, these horrible things helped to change the trajectory of my career, and the health trajectory of the many people I continue to reach through my book and speaking.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

90% of adults don’t eat enough fruit or vegetables per the CDC. 1 in 3 kids don’t eat a single piece of fruit a day and 50% of kids don’t eat a single vegetable each day. We have soaring rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
And yet, we have simple solutions to these problems. Simple, but not always easy.
I set out to explain how simple and easy it can be to make changes for yourself and for kids who are trapped in the health crushing SAD (standard American diet). Getting HAPPY* (Healthy And Plant-Powered, Yay!) can be fun. It can save you money and time. It can even prevent and reverse diseases and get you off medications.
My book, For Fork’s Sake, outlines the ‘why’ behind eating whole food, plant-based, no oil. Once you understand why this lifestyle is the best thing you can do for your body and for the planet I help explain how to go about actually doing it.
For those looking for more help, or one on one consultations I offer those as well. You can sign up for those at www.forforkssakebook.com
I’ve worked with people trying to get their kids to eat healthier. I’ve helped people lose excess weight and keep it off, without dieting. I’ve helped senior citizens who made changes and were able to stop taking medications. I speak at libraries, bookstores, VegFest’s, schools, clubs, and parent groups.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I always thought that when people learned better, they’d do better.
That is, until I learned about the science behind how our bodies work and how the food industry hijacks that. Even when people learn about how bad animal protein is, or that processed meat is a Group 1 carcinogen (which means it’s a definite cause of cancer) they still choose to eat it. They smell that cheeseburger, or see those fries laden with heart clogging oil and just can’t help themselves. Primal desires for fat, sugar and salt will win if you don’t understand how to work with your body to change those tastes.
I had to learn that information is not enough. You have to provide simple, alternative solutions so that people aren’t just running on willpower, because willpower will not always cut it.
For instance, I suggest eating dessert. Of course, it needs to be whole food, plant-based, no oil dessert–but there are so many delicious and nutritious recipes out there that not only taste good but are health promoting at the same time. Eating dessert helps people realize they aren’t depriving themselves. They can still enjoy food, they can still enjoy dessert. The ingredients just need to change.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start?

Thankfully I had money saved when Covid hit and I could no longer see my clients. I went back for some more education through Cornell and the Center for Nutrition Studies. I wrote a book that combined what I’d learned from our 10 years of eating whole food, plant-based, no oil with what I’d learned through the certificate programs I went through and all the books I’d read over the years on the subject. I put my saved money towards publishing my book with www.booklaunchers.com.
I wanted to do as much as possible to help both people and the planet and felt that sharing this information was the best way to help affect change. I decided before it was published to donate 50% of profits from the sale of the book to charity and 1% of gross sales to 1% For the Planet. It is important to me to give back and help those who may not be able to help themselves.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://forforkssakebook.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/forforkssakebookcom
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/forforkssakebookcom
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachael-brown-7090b6251/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIMleczDqB6rP1o2KYIr8RA