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PODCAST Anna Weatherlake: Beauty, fashion, wellness and life with less harm

Andrew Taylor - Spud Fit | March 3, 2017



 

I first came across Anna Weatherlake at World Vegan day in Melbourne last year, where we were both speakers. I've never had any interest at all in fashion, beauty, make up etc. until I heard her speak about them. I only heard 10 minutes of her talk before my boy Teddy dragged me away, but I knew I wanted to hear more of what she had to say.

 

Anna is a journalist, traveller, athlete, activist and wellness coach and also the fiancé of Australia cricket fast bowler, Peter Siddle. She's passionate and vocal about living life to it's fullest and enjoying all this world has to offer while doing the least harm possible. She's full of great information and advice, I certainly learned a lot from this conversation. I hope you enjoy it too!

 

Spud Up!

Andrew

 

Stuff and folks we talked about:

 

 

 

CONTENT:

 

WHO IS ANNA WEATHERLAKE? (00:06:08)

ON THE BEAUTY AND MAKEUP INDUSTRY (00:25:35)

PREPARING AN ALL-VEGAN WEDDING (00:35:17)

ON HER INSPIRATION AND LIFE WITH A CRICKET STAR (00:39:08)

ON ETHICAL DECISIONS AND HOME BUILDING (00:49:00)

ON DIETARY PHILOSOPHY (00:51:48)

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SPORTS, EXERCISE AND CONCLUSION (00:55:29)

 

 

Anna Weatherlake: Beauty, fashion, wellness and life with less harm

 

Andrew: Hello and welcome to the fifth episode of the Spud Fit podcast. Thank you for joining me. Uh, that voice just sound a little bit like a, an FM.DJ? Typical commercial Radio FM DJ? I didn't mean that sorry guys. Uh, there are no giveaways of Cold Hard Cash and icy cold cans of Coca-Cola on this show. I felt like I was uh a throwback to the the Triple M. Uh Fox FM commercial radio stations of the 90s with it. Hi, welcome to this Spud Fit podcast. I hope it didn't sound like that. Anyway, today's episode is brought to you by me. Spudfit.com is my website. If you didn't know me, if you haven't heard me before, uh, I did a whole year last year 2016 where I ate nothing but potatoes and I had some amazing differences in health. I cured I shouldn't say I cured but I dealt with my food addiction to the point that it doesn't give me trouble anymore. I called it the Spud Fit Academy and I've written a short, very short how-to guide on that. It's called the DIY Spud Fit Academy. It's a how-to guide for doing your own Spud Fit Academy.

So if you're interested in that then you can. Look that up on my website www.spudfit.com on how to make it happen and and how and why it's a healthy thing to do. And uh. And lots of psychological tips on how to deal with cravings and things like that too. And the second half was written by my wife Mandy and that's uh, 12 or 13 recipes, which are super healthy and compliant with uh, Spud Fit Academy rules. So, uh, yeah check out Spudfit.com or search for it on Amazon and you uh, I'm sure you'll not be disappointed. It's available as an e-book as well as a paperback by the way. Uh, second thing is it's the beginning of starchy marching now, I think it's the 2nd of March today. I should check the date. But anyway, it's the beginning of starchy marching. And what is that? That is Mandy's thing. My wife Mandy has uh decided that she wants to do her own bud. Challenge and she's going to go for all of March eating nothing but potatoes. She watched me do it last year. And so when I got out of it and now she's she tried it a couple of times last year for a week or two and her heart wasn't really in it.

But this time her heart is in it and she's really having a red-hot crack at it getting a whole month Don evading only potatoes in March. So if you want to join him with that you can do it two ways. You can do it totally on your own. Uh, and you can just use a hashtag Marchi on social media and just do it on your own and share it that way share the love and uh, you know tag me in your post if you like. That's all good. Everyone just, everyone's welcome to get involved. But if you want to take it a little step further and uh and get some help or some support more like it from me and from a group of other people that are doing it then, go to spudfit.com and click on the link to take the challenge and and you'll see how you can join our private group that supports each other. It's a really fantastic group of put a lot of time and effort into it. There's a lot of information in there and uh, yeah, there's a lot of support there, too. Last thing before I start talkin about Anna, today's guest is uh, if you like what I'm doing. If you like this podcast then please share it with your friends as the best thing you can do. Take a photo of yourself listening to it. Uh, Share it on Instagram shared on Facebook, uh, tell your friends about it and also subscribe on iTunes and leave a review. That would be really really helpful for me to I'd appreciate that. All right.

Today's guest is Anna Weatherlake. I first eard of her and I saw her speak at World Vegan Day last year. I was one of the speakers and so was she I didn't catch her whole speech because I was pretty busy being a dad, chasing Teddy around in between my own speaking engagements, but I was uh, I was fascinated by her talk and it was weird for me because she's uh,m her talkers, and her website a lot of it is about a lot of it is about makeup and fashion and beauty and things like that girly things that I'm typically, I shouldn't say girly I did during the podcast but uh, things that I'm not interested in. So generally anyway not interested in. The way she spoke about it made me interested made me want to know more. So, uh, I was interested to speak with Anna and have this conversation which I learned a lot during this conversation and there's more than just that though. She's a, she's a journalist. She's an athlete that she's an activist. She's a wellness coach. She's a traveler. She obviously does a lot of travel following her fiance. Peter said all around the world. Who is, he's a fast bowler in the Australian cricket team. So Anna's someone who spends a lot of time in the public eye.

So we talked about that we talked about traveling we talked about, uh her thoughts on on fashion and beauty and uh all sorts of areas of life that are important and I had a really good time talkin with Anna. She's bright, she's bubbly, she's uh, very well informed and uh, inspirational person as well. Uh, so I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did. Onto the show.

 

WHO IS ANNA WEATHERLAKE?

Andrew: All right, here we are. We've got Anna Weatherlake on the podcast today. Actually, I was about to introduce you, but why don't you introduce yourself Anna? Who is Anna Weatherlake?

Anna: I am a um, I run a website called earthbyanna.com, which is a cruelty-free environmentally friendly and vegan friendly website. I used to be a journalist and now I teach Pilates and spin and I am the partner of Australian Vegan Fastball with Peter Siddall.

Andrew: All right, cool. So I first saw or heard of you. Obviously, I'm not much into beauty and fashion and that sort of thing but I heard you talk for about 10 minutes at World Vegan Day when I was talkin as well and uh, and I was fascinated by your talk, I was just disappointed I didn't get to hear the whole lot because I had to go and chase Teddy round all day. But uh, yeah, so I was really interested in uh, because you know, my wife Mandy is into fashion and beauty and that sort of stuff and I've never really got it, but I started to get it a little bit from listening to you talk. I wouldn't say get it but you know? It clicked a little bit anyway, so I thought you'd be a really interesting person to talk to on the podcast. So. Uh, yeah, so you grew up vegetarian. So can you tell us about that?

Anna: Yes. I was, I've always been a huge animal lover and my dad's a doctor and he was of the belief that meat was toxic for the human diet so my sister and I was raised as a vegetarian and I went vegan about 6 and 1/2 years ago. And you know, I look back now and my family was so heavily criticized for raising me as a vegetarian.

Andrew: That's a long time ago and even these days it's still a little bit controversial. We're raising Teddy as a vegan but, you know, 20 plus, I don't know how hard you have it. 20-plus years ago.

Anna: That was 28 or 27 years ago. And that's the thing that Dad was criticized. You know, "You're gonna stunt their growth, they're gonna you know, hamper their development." And it did the opposite my sister and I were never sick. We just did lots of sport, always had great energy. We're quite tall and fit and healthy now and I look back now and it was probably the best thing they did for us.

Andrew: Great. So yeah, that was like 27 years ago that's before the internet as well. Friends and family had a concern about what your parents were doing for you then, they couldn't just jump online and exactly google search and have their fears are laid. So uh-

Anna: And I really feel that, you know, kind of the early 90s that kind of period is when, all this really processed junk food really started to hit the market, you know, and you know the KFCs, McDonald's started more more um regularly found and more mainstream. And that's when people start, really start to head down and everyone else was going up. So yeah, very luck.

Andrew: Probably around that time was when we really started to get americanized, I guess. That's when all the American music started creeping in and we started getting all the American TV shows. And uh, yeah, I'm 10 years older than you so I remember that a bit better than you. That was the time for me where, you know American basketball come on the TV like everything. We just started becoming the next extra state of America and uh, yeah, that junk food creeping in was obviously big part of that as well.So, uh, well, that's cool that you had that upbringing where, you know, you had that health-conscious upbringing and uh, what sort of, what sort of was the reaction you got from people at school as well? You know, when you're when you're 15-16 years old, you know, there's that's when bullying issues and things start happening that you have that sort of thing going on at school as well.

Anna: I was pretty lucky. I was always really into Sport and I was I've always been quite an outspoken person. So I never copped any bullying and I ate really healthy at school and I never, no one really had an issue. I think vegetarianism wasn't as scary you can say his veganism back then and I had a few friends that are vegetarian. So I didn't caught much flak but, definitely when I was younger my parents copped a bit, but it was all worth it.

Andrew: Okay, you know, I was, I was a bit of a bargain.

Anna: I think I was too.

Andrew: I remember, I can only remember one, uh vegetarian that I went to school with and when I found out she was vegetarian, I made fun of it. I was, I'm not proud of it if I could uh, contact it today. She probably doesn't remember but maybe she does, I don't know but I would apologize for that.

Anna: You know, it's funny. I remember being at school and there was this one guy at my school that he at the time, he was quite chubby wasn't really into Sport and I got an email. I would have been about six weeks ago now, sorry six months ago and saying that, you know, I've gone vegan, it's fascinating and he lost , he's lost like 40 kilos. He completely turned his life and he was kind of at school the last person you'd ever imagine to go vegan ever. Yeah. It's amazing.

Andrew: I probably ate more meat and cheese and eggs than probably anyone. Yeah. Anyway, that's uh-

Anna: It's been a great journey.

Andrew: It has for me too. Yeah. So, uh, you obviously you someone who thinks differently and that's um, really I guess that's the essence of what I wanted to have this podcast for. Is the talk to people who think differently, do things outside the square and um, people who can inspire me as well and helped me to improve and be a better person and Uh, you certainly fit that bill. So, where do you think you get your different way of thinking from? For me, I would say it's from my mother. She's a outside the square kind of thinker too. Do you have someone in your life that, maybe that comes from?

Anna: Um, I think my dad's a bit of an outside of the outside the square thinker, but I also think that having my sister be on the same journey as I am, we kind of almost inspired each other. Our biggest thing has been to kind of break the stereotype. Vegans have a stereotype that often comes with them, you know, really bad. But vitriol living, you know, we're a bit hippies kind of, and we're really trying to break that stereotype that you can. If you want the designer clothes you can have the designer clothes. You've just got to know where you look if you want the designer handbags, there's options for you as well. We're just really trying to break that stereotype that it's not uncool to be vegan. There's so many, you know, whatever high income earning or white collar workers that can be vegan too. It's just not people that are living in you know, the suburbs that, it's just trying to break that mold is what I'm trying to say.

Andrew: And what's your sister's name?

Anna: Linda.

Andrew: And does she have a website as well?

Anna: Yeah, she runs a cruelty-free and vegan friendly skin care makeup hair Care website called Nina.com.au.

Andrew: Okay, cool. I haven't haven't heard of that. We'll have to look it up.

Anna: I thought you would, get some hair products or something?

Andrew: Oh my god, i'd waste them. Maybe I could shampoo my chest though. I'll put her website in the show notes people can look that up. So. What do you think? Uh led to the you obviously vegetarian for a long time. So it's only a small step to go vegan. But what led to that change for you?

Anna" You know for me it was just um, it was ignorance. I used to be a cheese lover like I was a cheese fiend and I loved it and, I never really considered the actual what goes on in the dairy industry and I remember watching a video years and years ago and it really opened my eyes. Like I wasn't familiar with you'd, you know, the um, the mother cows having to keep having babies to produce the milk. Like I just didn't put two and two together as stupid in hindsight now, and or you know, the male cows being sent to slaughter.

Andrew: I don't its stupid, it's just something that we don't come up with all the same.

Anna: You don't think about it.

Andrew: You don't contemplate that if. Drinking the milk, then what's the calf drinking? Exactly. You just think there's enough for everyone. It's not like, i think its stupid. It's just you know, if you don't think about it, there are plenty of things in this world that we don't know just because we haven't taken the time to think about it.We just take things for granted.

Anna: Very true, and you're just oblivious to it all. And so, I can't even remember what video was and that was the real turning point for me and I said to um, My housemate at the time, I'm giving up dairy milk. I'm giving up cheese and I thought I'll see how I go and then, haven't looked back and I have been sick in years. The best thing I ever did and coming from the biggest cheese lover of all time? Best thing I ever did was ditched the cheese, and the eggs and the milk.

Andrew: Yeah. So what did you notice like when? Obviously, you can't talk about giving up meat and how that made a difference, but what sort of difference did you notice when you gave up cheese, dairy and eggs and-

Anna: I lost, I've always been really physically active all my life. And I found that when I gave up the cheese, and the dairy, little areas of weight, which I never kind of thought I'd be able to get rid of it. They just lost in those areas. I felt my skin got better. I had more energy. I wasn't getting sick and just from giving up that day. I just felt better in myself as well and I started to look leaner, all these benefits came from giving up Dairy which you know, I never thought would actually come. I thought I was just doing it for the animals, but turning around now and looking back. I actually did it for myself.

Andrew: Yeah, that's that's cool. Yeah, I the thing you mentioned about skin. I'm not really interested in my skin, how it looks and all that but my wife says I've got a pregnant glow.

Anna: You do have a glow. Coming from the top of your head.

Andrew: I got that solid panel up there. Um, so I've noticed that you're also into volunteering and stuff. Now, is that something you're always in to or is this something that's spawned later?

Anna: Yeah. I don't know. I have always been into it. But you know, I love, there's so many great organizations out there. ??? Mission, Beaver Rescue Victoria just, we do what we can. Obviously Peters, I'm very restricted with time. But, we just do what we can with the time we've got and if we can't contribute our time, we can try and contribute financially but there's so many great organizations out there that constantly need volunteers and help so we just contribute where we can and how we can.

Andrew: I imagine life is extremely busy for you. So, Yeah, just do what you can when you can.

Anna: Exactly and every little bit makes a difference.

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, excellent. So, uh, So this is not just all about food for you. Obviously, we've talked about animal cruelty. What is it? Veganism for some people they just do it for health or, some people that it's about the environment.You know, what is it for you?

Anna: It's a whole package from, I originally it was for the animals, it started when I turned vegan, it was definitely about the animals for me and then I started to do more research and I watch more documentaries, I watched cowspiracy and a few others. And then it really turned about the environment from me. People don't really comprehend the damage that cattle farming and animal agriculture has for the environment, has to the environment. So it was a really big turning point for me that made me think even more consciously about the choices I was making and, going back to the vegan part, so many people think veganism is just kind of about what's going in your mouth.

From my angle. I looked at it from a different perspective as well that it's not just that it's what you're wearing. What clothes you're choosing to wear. What fabrics you choosing to wear. What skin care makeup you using that's they test on animals. It's a really holistic approach. I think to veganism that I try to take, but now, I look at it, was started with the animals. Then it went to the environment, and now it's my health. You know, I think as you get older, it's the best thing you can do for your health.

Andrew: Yeah, absolutely. And I remember listening to Phillip while on talk. I'm pretty sure it was him anyway that talked about veganism being the Swiss army knife. It's like, it could fix your health good for the environment, good for the animals, especially there are no losers out of it and it's good for everything.

Anna: There's nothing there's nothing bad to come out of eating a vegan diet. It's just you kind of got the whole umbrella, you're benefiting your Health, benefiting the animals you're benefiting the environment. In a lot of cases benefiting your wallet. It's just fantastic.

Andrew: And not just your physical health, emotional health as well.

Anna: Mental Health and-

Andrew: Yeah. Just there are no there are no losers. It's a win-win. So, uh, yeah one part of vegan. I've been vegan for nine years now. Yeah, a lot of people think I'm new to it since I just did the potato thing, but I was eating a lot of junk food. Yeah, then I switched to my potato experiment. Um, but yeah one sort of aspect of veganism that I had never really thought about uh, that despite being vegan for quite a long time until I heard you talk at World vegan day was like, I said fashion and beauty and you know all that girly, I shouldn't say girly, I'm sure they're blokes that are into it. Um, you know, that's out of things that never really crossed my mind and you know, my wife's really interested in Beauty and makeup and fashion and that sort of thing and I just don't get it. So, um and it's not something I've ever thought about in terms of veganism until you know, I've been looking on your website and it's, I think it's really cool that you're um, you know, trying to get people to think about where their make up and clothes come from and so can you talk to us about how you got into that?

Anna: Again, I think it at the start. I was quite a bit oblivious to materials like Silk For example, you know people don't associate with silk coming from silkworms and the fact that hundreds of thousands of millions of silkworms are getting boiled every single year just to produce a fabric that something like a polyester can mimic. And that for me. I kind of sat and thought, why is my, what I'm wearing more important than a life? And now I look at the fashion industry now and its coming forward so quickly, you know, we're seeing materials like Piñatex, which is leather made out of pineapple. We're seeing-

Andrew: Really?

Anna: Yeah, it's amazing and amazing-

Andrew: Made out of pineapple?

Anna: Made out of pineapple and it's, that's not only good for the animals. It's also good for the environment because they're making it from the pineapple leaves that drop on the ground that would more often than not, they're just regularly be discarded. So they're making piñatex and they're making something called muskin now, which is leather out of mushrooms. And you're seeing all these, it's amazing. And I look at it like people always have said to me, leather is of better quality or silk is a luxury fiber. I kind of look at it as now, you know this technology that's coming through for piñatex and muskin, that is an art. And that is something that is so rare and the quality that they're creating in. That's a luxury item.

You know, not a prada bag that's made from a baby cow. These new technologies. That's luxury to me. And I even like brands like rumba for example who is founded by one of the old head designers from lanvin, which is a massive designer warehouse. He's gone out and made his own vegan shoe range now. Yeah, it's amazing stuff and then all the other brands matter now, they're just really pushing the boundaries of what fashion is. Stella McCartney, another great example so, for me, it's, going back to the veganism again. Taking that holistic approach to educating yourself about where all these fibers are coming from, which we don't need. We just don't need it.

Andrew: Yeah. Oh, they're obsolete. Almost.

Anna: Exactly and I feel that's the way the industry will eventually go, that they're, they're just producing so many great things. Technology has come so far. We don't need stuff lik e this in our wardrobes anymore or in our bathroom cabinets, we don't need products that are tested on animals. We don't need ingredients like lanolin.

Andrew: I even saw a leather football at world vegan day. It looked and felt and behaved like a good quality sharon.

Anna: Exactly. I think you've just got to break, break people's conception that you know leather is a better quality to the alternatives. It's just not true.

Andrew: Yeah, I guess uh a big part of. I can change happen is going to be I don't know what the price of these, these, uh materials are now but once it gets cheaper than leather, yeah, then like, than real leather, then cow skin. Then they'll be no turning back. Why would anyone get it if you can get a better quality product that's better for the environment, better for the animals and it's cheaper then, there's no no other way to do it.

Anna: Hundred percent. Even like fiber, and I know, Kathmandu and the North Face and the kind of outdoor brands are now moving to fibers like primaloft. Which mimic down in its entiret, It gives the fluffiness of down, It gives the warmth of down, but without the cruelty.

Andrew: Okay, I'm just learning you know? I knew you'd be a good guest again.

Anna: So all the fashion stuff. It fascinates me as well. I'm constantly trying to keep up to date with what's happening. But it's just such a growing industry almost hard to keep up. It's fantastic. I think in the next ten or so years even longer will see some incredible technologies coming into play.

Andrew: Yeah, I could compare that I think to Tesla. The cars because you know, there's there's been lots of people that have tried to make a good electric car before and they've failed because they've just been, well they look terrible and yeah, you know, they're pretty nerdy sort of crappy cars. But then along comes Tesla with his awesome Car that's just-

Anna: And they offer vegan seats.

Andrew: Yeah, they do offer vegan seats. It's just a cool car. When you're into cars, this is a cool car and you know, you can look at this, uh the fashion industry in the same way I guess. If you come along and you try to get into, you know, making vegan leather, but it's just not that good, Well, it's probably not going to take off.

Anna: Exactly. You've got to really push the boundaries I think and that's Elon Musk. I'm pretty sure he hasn't put a patent on any of these electrical, electric designs. So hopefully some of these other guys will come through and do the same now but, vegan seats? what a win. I just wish I had the bank balance to afford one.

Andrew: Don't we all, yeah? Um, so, Journalism is a thing of your past as well, which I find interesting. Is that something that contributed to wanting to make your own website so you could continue your own writing?

Anna: Yeah, and it was a case of um, about a few years ago. Peter was living in England, we were doing a lot of traveling and I stopped working full-time just so I could actually see my partner. And it got to a point where-

Andrew: Yeah coz he would have been off all around the world wouldn't he?

Anna: 10 months a year, out of the country and it just wasn't becoming good that he was away as much. So he said, "Stop working full-time and start traveling with me' and we were living in England and I couldn't get another working Visa. So I was sitting there for six. It's going like, "I'm so bored. What can I do?" So I just started Earth by Anna, and I I've always loved driving and I thought, what is a great way to you know, find a way to write what I'm passionate about? So I just started to Earth by Anna, it kept me busy over there and I really enjoyed doing it. Mind you, I've been a bit busy the last three months. So I haven't been doing as much but, I'm getting back on to and I think it's a great platform to kind of share what I'm thinking and agai,n try and break those stereotypes that often come with vegans, you could say.

Andrew: Definitely and there's a lot of time to pass on a test match.

Anna: Fun days. I've learnt to master that now. I just take a note pad and just jot down ideas all the time.

Andrew: Yeah, you get a lot of especially uh during the days when when uh, Australia's Fielding. You probably get a lot of notes down there.

Anna: A lot of napping.

Andrew: Good on ya. So, I said fashion and beauty is never really been an interest of mine. Yeah, you know, my wife is into it personally. I probably a lot of blokes would say the same that uh, You know, I just like how she looks without makeup and I don't understand the whole need to put makeup on and I don't understand fashion. I don't understand why, you know a dress could be awesome this year and not so good next year. Like you're the same person with the same dress, what happens between now and next year? So-

Anna: Old season. Old season stuff. No one wants that anymore apparently.

Andrew: Yeah. Well, I guess that's two questions. So start with, with makeup, like why why is it a thing? My wife hasn't been able to explain it to me, uh in a in a way that makes me get it, maybe you can?

 

ON THE BEAUTY AND MAKEUP INDUSTRY 

 

Annd: I don't know. In terms of women liking makeup, everyone's different but from a from a vegan angle cruelty-free angle, I just think, The older style, all the science behind testing on animals now is obsolete. We don't need to test on animals. It's just so old school. And again, I don't understand why people continue to buy products that are tested on animals when there's so many amazing brands out there, from nina.com.au, that are cruelty free, and vegan friendly. It's just, Animal ingredients are obsolete in skincare, um animal fiber is obsolete in skincare and makeup and I just, yeah for me, it's one of those things that you kind of put your hands around you years ago, "What is going on? Why are people still using these products?" But yeah in, terms of-

Andrew: I gotta, I remember seeing a comment from Ricky Gervais. Who's into the you know, not into animal testing he's against animal testing. But uh, it was something like, um, "Hi everybody. If shampoo gets in your eyes,that stings. Now stop fucking testing on animals.

Anna: It's so true though. That I can, and you kind of think of all the hundreds of thousands, I can't remember exactly how many millions of animals are killed by lab experiments every single year and you know, I don't agree with lab animal testing on all fronts but, animal testing from makeup? Which is, it's just crazy and for shampoo? And we know shampoos work now. So why do we have to keep testing? It blows my mind. Shows the viewers every ingredient that they don't need to keep testing.

Andrew: Yeah, you would think so.

Anna: It's just crazy, you'd know with shampoo and stuff.

Andrew: Oh yeah. It doesn't, when I when I shampoo my chest for, you know?

Anna: That really nice lather that you get? they probably tested it on a rabbit.

Andrew: All right. Um, yeah, so on to the the beauty side of things so why what is it that uh, why is it such a big industry? Basically, why is beauty such a big thing, you know? Yeah outside animal testing and veganism. Why is it, you know, it's not such a big I guess. It's getting bigger for blokes. Um, but why? I don't get it. What do you think?

Anna: I don't know if it's something to do with our maybe, social media and the pressure that people feel now to maybe look a certain way or look good. You could say the same, you know, with cosmetic enhancement. So many young girls are really feeling the push to, I don't know, go and get lip fillers and all this stuff that is tested on animals again, but I honestly feel

Andrew: Is that tested on animals too?

Anna: Yeah, Botox. There's no Escape for them. It's terrible. It's really bad. So all those cosmetic fillers and stuff tested on animals as well. But I think it might come back to. Especially for young girls, just feeling the pressure to look a certain way and that could be part of the reason why the beauty and makeup industry or cosmetic industry is just growing so rapidly and my partner says the same about me you look so much better without makeup. But as a woman, I like to put something on in the morning whether it's just simple as a tinted moisturizer to give me something to make me feel better. Women I feel are a bit more self-conscious than about their appearance. So, and I do think social medias had a big role to play in that.

Andrew: So do you feel like, if you've got that tinted moisturizer on or whatever kind of makeup.

Anna: I go like from a 6 to a 10.

Andrew: I mean like, internally does it make you, do you think you maybe have a better day if you're, if you feel like you're looking better, does that mean that you may be a more productive or more confident?

Anna: I think it makes me like personally, I speak for myself here makes me feel better if you know. Not my war paint, but when I go out feeling a bit more polished like ready to tackle the day more, I've got a bit of a face on. I'm not one to wear much makeup anyway so, I exercise all the time so just a tint to moisturize usually does me for the day. But yeah, it just makes me feel more awake, a bit more polish.

Andrew: Fair enough, whatever works. So back to the fashion and this idea of you know, luckily luckily said of, something can be cool now but not cool, you know next year. I've basically have never bought an item of clothing for myself in the last 15 years. Everything I've got has been bought for me.

Anna: Your clothes wouldn't fit you anymore though.

Andrew: Well, yeah, I've been shopping and um, but I've never gone. Even we went shopping. I didn't go on my own we were just happened to be at the shops. And my wife would just drag me into, "you need a new shirt" come in here and she'd make me try on a few and buy something. Yeah an apart from, you know, I'll get clothes as presents or whatever and I'm just not into it, you know. I just don't understand. You know, if I've got a, I've got a cool shirt. Like this shirt that I've got on, I've had for a few years and yeah, I didn't wear it for a few years in between because I got too big for it. It was cool when I got it and I like it now, a few years later and it's probably out of fashion now, but I don't understand.

Anna: Each to their own. But again, it's-

Andrew: What do you think is that, What drives that basically? Why do we have to have you know, this dress is cool this year and it's not next year. What do you think is behind all that?

Anna: That's a great question again. I think it almost goes back to social pressures, more so with women, I can't speak for the men but, since my partner doesn't really conform to like, if he, same thing, If he likes a t-shirt that's two years old, he'll wear that t-shirt. Yeah, but I'm the kind of the same as well. I have a denim skirt that I wear all the time which is like seven years old and for me, it's kind of just dressing with what I like. That's the way I am. I know of a few of my friends have to have the latest dress from this collection because they like that dress and it's what's cool, but I kind of dress to what I like and whether that dress is $60, $100, $200, if I like it I'll buy it. You know again I think goes back to that, more so younger women I'm finding the social pressure to keep up with the Joneses as they say. Carrying the latest designer handbag in the latest designer shoes. So not only are they keeping up with the Joneses on that but, they're also buying into more cruelty.

Andrew: Yeah, actually, this is something that's, the thought this just entered my head now, but. This um, you know, the way a lot of people will you know, you got to keep getting the next thing, get the next thing. That would obviously create a lot of waste because suddenly you've got a whole wardrobe from last year that you're not wearing. So if you're replacing your wardrobe every year, I daresay that we're probably as a, as a population going buying more clothes than get, then bought secondhand from mock shop, so we're creating a lot of waste too. Is that something you've thought about before?

Anna: Exactly. Yeah, definitely and you know, I've definitely am someone that probably has bought far too many clothes and far too many shoes in my past, and it's just, exactly what you said It. We, my sister and I go to ??? markets a few times a year and sell on our, any clothes that we don't want. But it's just consumerism. I know there are smart ways, smart things being done. Now, for example, Peter and I are about to start building a house and one of the installation we're looking at is, denim cut-offs, recycled denim cutoffs. So they cut off all the Denim and that's how you insulate your house. Yes this amazing, amazing stuff by them. Kind of not clothing related, another, you can get these blocks now that have come from New Zealand. I think it is. They're getting all the ocean plastic that's coming into the trap and making really compact building blocks out of this recycled plastic. Um, there's. Roof tiles made out of 100% recycled car tires. So we're getting smart in the way.

Andrew: This is exciting.

Anna: Yeah, they're getting smart in the way, they coming up with products but, consumerism in terms of fashion and going back to skincare and makeup as well. We feel like we need to buy the latest product with the latest science or technology behind it. And for what? Kind of, its again, maybe keeping up with the Joneses. We definitely, as a society I think, as a whole, spend far too much money on consumerism.

Andrew: Yeah, definitely. Yeah, uh now you spend a little bit of time on red carpets and doing photo shoots and things like that. Have you found anything difficult about that? Like, you know, when you've got a, when you get a designer dress made to get out of an important function. And you're going to be on TV and that sort of thing. How do you go about that? I Imagine not every high-end designer is making vegan stuff. So-

Anna: I'm very very lucky. One of my good friends owns a company called Kyha: One day Bridal. And she's just meet for quite every kind of red carpet event I go to she'll dress me and she knows how passionate I am about not wearing silk so she custom-makes everything for me with no silk, no wool, no leather. And on the photo shoots, I've made it clear if I have to do something, I won't wear any of those fabrics. Sometimes I have to bring my own shoes to things but uh, a lot of them are very understanding now that they know that I won't wear silk, wool, leather. It's easy to, easy to accommodate for it's never been an issue. So hopefully it's stays that way.

Andrew: I was expecting it to be, that it would be a hard thing that there'd be a lot of closed minds in the industry.

Anna: I don't know if people are too scared to say, No, you can't in fear of what I'll retaliate but I've never had an issue with it. Kyha, at one, she's actually making my wedding dresses as well. So she's found this, um fiber that's, mimics silk in its entirety. So some of it is made from the top my dress, all vegan dresses. Yeah, she's just fantastic. I'm very very lucky. But I honestly feel that people may be too scared to try and put me in silk for fear of what I'll say to them.

Andrew: Oh, you got a reputation that precedes you. Well, since you brought up your wedding dress, so let's talk about your wedding then. You're getting married soon.

 

PREPARING AN ALL-VEGAN WEDDING

Anna: Yeah, uh, eight weeks exactly. So all hands on deck at the moment. Yeah, very busy time

Andrew: And it's an all vegan wedding.

Anna: All vegan wedding. So we're having about, 70 people at a friends property in the Valley and it took us about, I'll be honest about, Eight-Nine months to find a venue because, Peters best mate is this amazing Chef chandelier here in Maja. Biggie Smalls and very well-known chef.

Andrew: I haven't heard of Biggie Smalls but Maja, we've had a great meal there.

Anna: Great vegan meal. So he's doing all that-

Andrew: I can't afford to go there more than just the one soup or thing there. But it's amazing.

Anna: Speaking of the price, He's in ??? Um, groom-bridal party, I don't know how you say the men's.

Andrew: Groomal party?

Anna: Groomal party, that would do. So he's doing all the food and it's strictly vegan. We're working on a menu at the moment.

Andrew: I'm sure it's going to be a good menu then from my experience of Maja. That was pretty incredible.

Anna: And that was one thing we really wanted because, we have struggled to find somebody that would let us bring, our dogs are coming as well. All four, we got four rescue dogs. They're all walking down the aisle. And we struggle to find somebody that would let us bring a team of chefs in and bring their dogs, their friends are kind enough to let us use their property. And we're also, Darren purchased your own Birch and purchase. He's never done it before but is creating completely vegan dessert station.So yeah and Sid's suits are made out of wood pulp piece, getting shoes from Brave Gentleman in New York. So all vegan shoes for um, groomal party if you can call it that. And yeah, it's for us, it's been um, only small wedding about 70 people as I said, it's about, you know showing people that you don't need to have meat at a wedding. We're so passionate about eating healthy vegan food that, we know everyone they're going to love the food and it's about blowing them away with how good vegan food can be even down the um, our friend's winery who's supplying the wine, they've created three different vegan wines for us. The vodka is vegan. I didn't only learn actually about-

Andrew: This wedding has far-reaching consequences.

Anna: Even I, only actually myself only learned that some vodkas aren't vegan. Not long ago. Yeah they use um, fish in them. Most of the cheaper vodkas like smirnoff and whatnot. I was completely oblivious. I'm not a heavy drinker anyway. All that vodka is being imported by a friend's brand, all vegan. So we've, we're really kind of pushing the boundaries with what we're doing here and just hoping to show people that you know, you don't need silk in your wedding dress to be a beautiful dress, You don't need to serve meat if you don't want to serve meat. it's your wedding, you kind of do what you want.

Andrew: Yeah, we had a vegan wedding too. It was a lot less complicated there. We had the same issue that we couldn't find a venue that was into it. So we basically, my mom and a few friends cooked up food and we're going to uh, um, A friend's place that had like a a bit of land down the ????. And just had a had a outside wedding and just-

Anna: Probably, I should have done that may be a bit cheaper. They're so expensive.

Andrew: I'm jealous of having. Uh, what was his name again the maja?

Anna: Oh Chandelier.

Andrew: I'm jealous of having him cooking food you're eating there. My mom did a great job but, sorry mommy you're not maja.

Anna: You know, that's a big thing for us. We need to blow people away with how good vegan food. They'll be a few vegans that walk out of there, we'll say.

Andrew: Yeah, cool. This is awesome. Yeah, uh, so who in your life inspires you that's the next thing I want to talk about because you're obviously. You're an inspirational person for lots of people. There are lots of people that I saw looking at what you're talk well vegan day. And uh, so you inspire a lot of people with the way that you live your life and the and your website and everything about you is inspirational. So who is it in your life that inspires you?

 

ON HER INSPIRATION AND LIFE WITH A CRICKET STAR

Anna: Look, this is going to probably sound really corny, but Sids, my partner is someone that really inspires me. You know, he grew up in the country get's like three, you know one meat, one veg, kind of family. And when he went vegan almost five years ago, he also gave up any alcohol at the same time. He hasn't drank for nearly five years, not even a drop. I'm not even allowed to put red wine in the pasta sauce and he went vegan at the same time and when he first did it, he copped so much criticism. He's someone that's very much in the public eye from every angle. He was copping at the media, his teammates, the cricket Australia support staff, every angle and he stayed strong.

Andrew: I'm a bit of a cricket fan. So I do remember when that happened. I was vegan at the time. So there was no criticism for me. I was you know, sending links to my friend and say, hey, look!

Anna: I'm glad you're on his side.

Andrew: Actually, this is an interesting, I just remembered I was at a bucks day for uh, for a good mate of mine who was getting married. I was out of the box day and there was a barbecue happening and someone offered me a snag. And uh, I said, no, thanks. And he said, what about a hamburger? No, thanks. What about any Captain offering me all this other stuff, and I normally I just say, No thanks. I didn't want to bring up veganism but because he kept offering me this stuff and I kept saying no, I'm not going to have any of it because I'm vegan. And I was waiting for the jokes and you know, all of the, not bullying but you know, the jokes and the making fun of me. I was waiting for that to come and he's reaction was cool. Peter Siddle's vegan. I was like, oh, this is amazing. I'm not just gonna have to deal with all this crap.

Anna: Well he copped at the, mainly at the start. He copped so much criticism from teammates, everyone and he's stuck. He stood strong. And now he now there's four other vegan Australian cricketers. And Sids hass kind of been-

Andrew: Wow, It's amazing. Are we allowed to say names or?

Anna: Yeah, Adam ??? is the Australian spinner. He's very passionate vegan. Very very passionate. Amazing young guy. Nick Madison the New South Wales batsman. Yeah, again, another vegan, loves animals really cares about the environment, great, great guy Sam Whiteman from WA's plant-based. And then there is Ken Richardson from South Australia as well. Very close with Adam. He's plant based as well. And Sids I feel, I can't-

Andrew: Do you think its partly from his influence?

Anna: I can't speak for all of them. But I feel Sids, I think was, Oh, sorry, Jason Gillespie as well. He's very passionate vegan. He went vegan because of his, I think his dad passed away from a heart or bowel cancer maybe.

Andrew: Something like that. Yeah, I read about that. It was some sort of illness that, that caused him to look into what might have caused it.

Anna: And so Sids, um, I don't I can't speak for all of them. But Sids was the first one to go and I feel that the other ones of almost had the confidence because they are so much in the public eye and they're constantly open to criticism that they've just been so much more open to the idea because Peter's already doing it and there was not to long ago-

Andrew: He's open the door up and made it easier for other people.

Anna: Exactly, not so long ago Peter had people come up to him that sidelines like got a, we've been about six weeks ago this young boy came up to him and said Peter, I'm vegetarian because of you and he's just, he's always so positive, so optimistic and Peter really leads by example, and I think that's so important for vegetarians, vegans, whoever, to lead by example and show others that you don't have to, any little bit makes a difference is what I'm trying to say. So he's just he's an inspiration to me. He's an amazing, amazing guy. Such a compassionate heart and yeah, he's fantastic and he's been fantastic for vegan, the veganism movement in from an Athletics or from athletes perspective, I think.

Andrew: Yeah. That's fantastic. You know what? You should marry him.

Anna: I think i'm going to.He's a great guy.

Andrew: Well, yeah. Well, we're talkin about him then how did that that come of? Was it your influence on him that made him choose to be vegan or?

Anna: Well, I was always the one doing cooking all the food and I would never cook meat. I've never cooked meat. I wouldn't know how to cook meat and so I was doing all the cooking and then he just turned around to me one day and said I'm going to give up drinking and go vegan. I was like, well, let's see how long this lasts.

Andrew: And how long was that into your relationship?

Anna: About a year? So, not too I thought, "God he's bluffing" and he always kind of say, "Oh I never ate much meat anyway," but he did and he loved his cheese and you know,, but um, then he hasn't looked back. He's unbelievable. He won, once he was on tour in India a few years ago now, and he called me. He was really upset. I go, what's wrong? and they served him a crab roll instead of a tofu role and he was just devastated. Yeah, he so did it. I think I was the influence but he's done all these research. He did a lot of research into, you know, Brendan Brazier. He's really good friends with John Joseph from the kromags is the Iron Man from ???.

Andrew: Oh, yeah. I know. Yeah, I don't know him. I know of him.

Anna: Yeah, they're really good mates. So he was another inspiration. Peter and John.

Andrew: Oh really, how did that come about?

Anna: I can't even remember. John I think contacted him on social media years, No, actually, I do remember we ran into him at a cafe in New York and he, John came out to his seat and was like, "Mate, are you an athlete?" it was at a vegan restaurant. "You're an athlete. I know you. How do I know you?" and Sids' like, Yeah, I play cricket and John's like, "That's the sport they play in Australia" and they just became really good friends. And so Sids really wants to do an Ironman when he retires. So, I think they're gonna, I don't know what they're sorting out. Oh yeah he's amazing as well.

Andrew: So I basically just know of him from the Retro Podcast.

Anna: And Sid has spoken to Rich Roll a few times about his diet. There's a lot of people that had, even though I think I'm a supreme athlete, Sids thinks otherwise, so he went to other people for inspiration from him. And yeah, he's it's been a very, it's been great to watch him do it observing from the outside, He's amazing.

Andrew: Yeah, and he's you know Australian fast bowler like in, there are a lot of people probably listening that are not from Australia, but you know, if you want to choose a manly man type of thing to do in Australia, it's to be a fast bowler, a cricket fast bowler like you know, you look through the history of Australian fast bowlers and now they are very manly, you know, big mustache. Yeah, they're like, you know, they're fearful man. Yeah frightening and uh, so for of any profession to go vegan. You know, You and I know that there's performance gains to be made from it. But the general public doesn't have, you know, there's a stereotype of veganism of makes you weak and it's not a manly thing to do. So, obviously it's a very brave thing for him to have done and yeah, I guess. That was probably some blow back from that. Like, you know, how can you be strong? How can you be-

Anna: Definitely and there still is he still copped at all the time.. It's so funny whenever he bowls really well, no one says anything about it being vegan. Whenever he may have a bad day in a field, it's because the vegan diets. It's definitely because of the vegan diet. Yeah, but any success nothing to do with it. He's only got I think, I don't know if it's two wickets or one wicket to become the most successful Victorian fast bowler of all time. Yeah, so he's just got to get there and-

Andrew: More than Merv?

Anna: About to overtake Merv.. Yeah, he's just gotta get the, I can't remember it's one or two or three. I know it's around that number and then most successful Victorian fast bowler of all time and when you watched, no will say, it's through his diet. It'll be said, they'll say because he ate meat when he was a three-year old.

Andrew: To people that don't know what I'm talkin about when I said Merv when I was talkin about the big manly, um fearsome fastball. He's the epitome of it. He might not be the yeah, big uh even as an elite, you know, the best of the best fastballers, he still had his big gut and um, you know, he was he was a manly as it got.

Anna: He used to had sausages for breakfast and ???.

Andrew: And now uh, now the the uh, shriveled, um, anemic vegans about to undertake him.

Anna: So malnourished, no strength. Back to that strengthening though Sid's found, when he made the switch to a plant-based diet that he calls himself plant-based because he has to still bowl with a leather cricket balls and it opens him up from The Crazy Ones to criticism that he's not a real vegan.

Andrew: Yeah, The Vegan Police would have something to say about that. The level 5.

Anna: Level 10 in strength. But um, he lifts more, he's stronger., he's faster, fitter than he's ever been and people have criticized his bowling speeds saying, saying that it's gone down since going vegan, but which isn't true, you know, it's because all fast bowlers eventually lose their speed a bit as they get older.

Andrew: That's what I was gonna say. It unfortunate consequences.

Anna: With age, exactly. But he's fitter than he's ever been since making the switch.

Andrew: That's cool. Well, you are more than your uh, I was going to say your husband's wife, but your boyfriend's girlfriend you're more than him, but it's nice to talk about him. But back to you. I was just looking through your website and you've got different sections and uh one of them actually, I was going to go to play it but since we talked about your home already, let's go to your home. How do you make ethical decisions? And it's perfect timing actually to have this ability and house now, uh, you can put into action everything you've got in that home section of your website, So, how does that happen other than what you've already mentioned what other sorts of things do you do ?

ON ETHICAL DECISIONS AND HOME BUILDING

Anna: We're looking up, in terms of the build. For example, we're putting a natural or a living pool in so involves. No salt water. No chlorine. It's entirely filtered by plants. So virtually, it's an ecosystem for animals. So, for example, a duck, or a seagull came and landed in that pool, I'd have no ramifications from the chemicals. So it's entirely filtered by plants. It's a system, systems that come from Switzerland. It's an amazing. It'll be fantastic.

Andrew: This is mind-blowing, I've never heard of this either.

Anna: I'll show you after this. They're incredible. So my mom's friend has a natural pool, which more looks like a giant pond and it's just fully oxygenated and cleaned everything by plants. They're incredible. No chemicals. I'll show you.

Andrew: Yeah, okay, so I'll try and find a link to put in the show notes. So other people can look at that too. That sounds amazing.

Anna: They're amazing. And we're just constantly trying to find ways that we can um, you know, use environmentally friendly materials. We did look at using the recycled tires on the roof. We're having solar heating. Any kind of little bit that we can make a difference in. We are trying to use products like rammed Earth. Instaed of, you know plastics, you know polyurethanes perhaps, and obviously no wool in our carpet. We're using synthetic carpets instead of using wool based and anything we can try and do tomaybe cut impact we're exploring.

Andrew: All right, so there's a lot you can do. This is uh, all sorts of things I've never heard of.

Anna: And you just got to look outside the box. I know, going back to Tesla they've released a roof tile now, which is like solar-powered rooftop.

Andrew: I read about that. Pretty amazing.

Anna: Yeah and one of the things we're installing in is a Tesla powerwall for, you know, it's like-

Andrew: So you're getting one.

Anna: We're getting one. Little things like that we're trying to further advance and where they're, already put, apparently it's what most people do now that installing for one day when we have an electric car like, the all the power, that will be able to install something that can charge an electric car. Apparently, that's what everyone's doing now, amazing. I'll take one of those.

Andrew: I'll take three. All right, that's cool. So, plate was in the next part of your website that's uh that, well that's the main interest for me. Yeah. Uh, so do that's obviously the plate that's about food. Do you have a dietary philosophy or a certain, you know, there are lots of different ways to be vegan. Do you have a certain way that you're more into? Like there are fruitarians. There are the McDougal starch eaters, which, that's sort of what I'm trying to do and there's the Joel Fuhrman. Uh, you know the nutritarian. There's always different ways to do it. Do you have a certain way that you subscribe to or?

 

ON DIETARY PHILOSOPHY

Anna: I wish I did but I'm kind of the philosophy have a little bit of everything to an extent, you know, Peter and I eat definitely a whole food plant-based diet for the most of the time. We are partial to the odd vegan donor and stuff, all about balance. We kind of exercise enough that we can reward ourselves as well.

Andrew: So this vegan donut that I bought you is,

Anna: Is gonna go down a tree but you know we, eat quite a lot of fruit and a lot of grains and a massive potato fan. I knew you would get along.

Andrew: That's one of the prerequisites actually. You have to like potatoes if you want to come on this podcast.

Anna: We love potatoes and um, You know eating a bit of everything from all, every plant based food group. We don't really stick to a certain diet, so to speak. But just trying to maintain a healthy diet for as much as we possibly can. Last night, we treated ourselves and had hot chips. We're going back to potatoes again. They count as potatoes, don't they?

Andrew: Uh, well, not for me though.

Anna: I would have done that diet if I knew hot chips are included.

Andrew: Hot chips are a downfall of mine. Say yeah, I'm not someone who can go and have the odd donut and you know, I've just got to be strict with myself. One doughnut would quickly become 10 for me. Yeah, that doesn't mean everyone has to be like me. You're better off not being like me if you can.

Anna: We just treat ourselves when, when we want to. We eat such a kind of well-rounded healthy diet anyway, we can afford to have the odd treat every so often.

Andrew: Yeah, I spent a bit of time looking for your instagram.

Anna: We do love food.

Andrew: Yeah. Well, there's a lot of food photos and they're nearly, nearly all of them are really healthy ones so-

Anna: Nearly all of them.

Andrew: If the ratio of healthy to not healthy that's on Instagram is anything to go by, then you're doing a good job.

Anna: Thank you. I think the amount of exercise we do probably helps the balance.

Andrew: No doubt. So yes, is there any kind of staple that your focus on then, is it?

Anna: Gosh, not, we just-.

Andrew: How about this then? If you had to choose like I did, a question without notice. If it had to choose like I did I chose to have just potatoes, forget about from a nutrition point of view. Um, but if there's just something that you had to choose to eat forever, what would you choose?

Anna: Bananas.

Andrew: Bananas, okay. That was one of the things that I considered when I was.

Anna: Well Peter eat a lot of bananas every day anyway. They call him the banana man, he you know, put six or seven or eight in a smoothie in the morning and then have another smoothie in the afternoon. So he sometimes choose to about 20 Bananas a Day and we love bananas.

Andrew: They're so good for you too. When I was researching my potatoes experiment, uh bananas is one of the things that came up. In theory, they've got everything you need as well potatoes. The reason potatoes won was because there's a little bit more evidence to go behind, like people having done it before, that sort of things. Yeah. That was the main reason. I went with potatoes. With bananas, that'd be a good choice too. They're delicious.

Anna: Yeah a bit, of peanut butter on the ends, some cinnamon. Yeah, probably bananas would be my choice.

Andrew: Yeah banana diet in a smoothie. That's pretty good.

Anna: Now I'm getting thirsty/hungry.

Andrew: So. We might just need to take a little pause just to check the car situation and we'll come back and make sure we don't get tickets .I found pictures of you playing golf, Yeah, I found, I found a video that was quite scary of you boxing. I'm not going to say, I hope I don't say the wrong thing during this interview.

Anna: Be careful, Andrew.

Andrew: Teaching spin during ???. So what is sport, exercise, training, athletics mean to you as well?

 

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SPORTS, EXERCISE AND CONCLUSION 

 

Anna: I've always, my sister and I have grown up playing sport our whole life. Like I was captain of the Victorian hockey team for years.

Andrew: Oh really? That's something I didn't find.

Anna: Played volleyball. Mainly for the junior team. I play volleyball. I still play touch rugby. We've always been-

Andrew: That was one thing I forgot to say I did say that but I forgot to write up the idea.

Anna: And we've just always been very active. I lived overseas for about a year and I kind of um, backed off on my exercise. I was only doing a bit of walking and I found my mental state really suffered. I really enjoy doing exercise for my mental state and my health and just my emotional sanity you could say. And I enjoy play touch rugby because it's great opportunity to catch up with friends and I do circuit training at F45 at port Melbourne, which another great form of exercise. I just like doing exercise. It's something you can, you know just teach, spin. I'm just about to start teaching Pilates. It's something I really enjoy doing as well. It's just it's such a and we've paid his job as well. It's just such a you know, it's part of our life. We couldn't not exercise.

Andrew: Yeah, that's how I feel about ??? too. Do you have any sort of any goals as far as like athletic events that you want to do or?

Anna: Not really. I've always said I'd love to do like a big Triathlon or half marathon or a marathon. I'm working towards that will see how I go. I'm not really a runner, but maybe I could do a half marathon.

Andrew: So you're more into, you just, you just exercise just because you're like exercising.

Anna: Exactly. I don't really have any goals, you know, I don't plan on running the New York Marathon anytime soon. I just do it because I love doing it and I feel it works well with my body and it's good for me. It's from a social aspect as well. As I mentioned the touch rugby, playing my friends. I love that.

Andrew: Yeah, I get a lot of uh emails and questions from people about what exercise should be doing. How much should I be doing? Because I didn't exercise that much in the beginning but, in the second part of the year I exercise quite a lot and uh, and I get a lot of questions about now, how often, how many minutes per day, what all of that? Um, People just want all this information about exactly what they should be doing. And my answer is always just to find-

Anna: What works for you.

Andrew: one thing you'll enjoy doing. Like the best part of exercise is to use the one that you can do consistently because you like doing it.

Anna: Exactly, something quite someone like me, I love walking by that I don't really particularly like running. I don't like running so I'm not going to go and start running and do something I don't enjoy because that's just going to determine from exercising even less. And training at F45, I love doing that. So I go and it's great because it's exercise. Find everything, something works better for someone than it does for someone else. So you should find what you enjoy doing and it doesn't really feel like exercise.

Andrew: Yeah, exactly. If it's a chore, then there's gonna come a day when-

Anna: You're over that chore. Yeah had a gutful of that.

Andrew: Yeah, if it's something you like doing then it's, you know, it's no trouble at all.

Anna: And I think it's important to work it into your routine. I'm a routine person. So I get up every morning at 6:30 or 5:30 to go and exercise. It's part of my day. Yeah, and I don't really miss that ever and it's I, work it into my day.

Andrew: That's something I'm working on at the moment because uh life has got exponentially more busy that day, yeah since this whole challenge finished and of this year, you know last year was the year of the Spud. Yes. I'm Spud Fit though. So this is going to be the year of getting fit. Uh, but yeah getting that routine happening is something that I've been struggling with of sort of trying to fit in a training session session at some point during the day whenever I can and, sometimes I don't get it done sometimes I do, but I think I'll probably I've got to take the sound approaches here were get up and get it done, first thing.

Anna: Get it done first thing and then you don't have to worry about it. I find too, if I miss a morning exercise or work out. I'm left to do it in the afternoon. I'll make excuses. I'm too tired, I've got this much to do, I've got this to do. Get it done the morning. You dont have to worry about it.

Andrew: And over the course of the day, There's so many different things that can come up to get in the way. If the first thing you do then nothing's going to get in the way.

Anna: Friends want to catch up for dinner. Just get it over and done with. That's your new goal. Morning exercise.

Andrew: It is. I'm going away at the end of the week, but then when I get back at 5 a.m start I think.

Anna: There's no reason you can't exercise when you're away.

Andrew: That's a good point. Yeah. Well that's uh that's leads into the next question. Actually. You're into, traveling's a big part of your life. So how do you keep up this Wellness lifestyle that you lead while you're traveling?

Anna: Well, um, as I said, normally I find myself I'm traveling with Peter. It's not often that we're not traveling together because he's maybe got a tour on. I will find a way to work exercise into my routine regardless of where I am. I travel with skipping rope, all the time. And if the gym does not have the facility up, because they're lightweight, easy to travel. I travel with resistance bands as well that I can you know wrap around my legs and do some side work and Peter and I both, naturally really outdoors kind of people, when we're on holidays. Just us, there's no Cricket involved, we'll go mountain biking will find stuff to do outdoors, which is fun and it doesn't really feel like exercising.

Andrew: And that way you can work your exercise into, seeing the place that you're visiting as well.

Anna: Exactly. That's and we love New York. I think we were walking about 24 kilometres a day. If we just love, we walk everywhere, because I find if you're catching Subways or trains or whatever, sometimes you miss things that you would, you don't get to see parts of the city or wherever you are that you would normally get to see if you're on foot. And in terms of food from a wellness perspective, we use Happy Cow, all the time. The happy cow app is the best thing ever. We were in Switzerland a couple of years ago, really remote town and we caught a cable car to the top of this mountain.I wasn't walking up that mountain. Cable car to the top of the mountain this tiny restaurant up there. Lo and behold they had a vegan menu. In the middle of Switzerland. Sids and I were like, oh, you know, all the vegans do that happy dance, the last thing you ever expect to see, vegan menu and the food was unbelievable. Cheese capitol of the world and we find a vegan menu.

Andrew: So I've got to see I got to get up at 5 am while I'm in San Francisco.

Anna: There's a lot of huel, you can do some huel works in San Fran.

Andrew: I haven't been there but I'm sure I can. I have heard that it's ??.

Anna: Pack your skipping rope. So easy.

Andrew: Yeah, I do have a skipping rope. I should do that. Very good, very good advice.Yea, all right. So five am starts while i'm away.

Anna: Huel runs, skipping ropes.

Andrew: Oh good. So as we've talked about, uh mentioned a number of times throughout this year,you're a busy woman and uh, you know, Busy, it's hard with leading such a busy life to maintain what this mythical, mythical thing to me called balance. You know, I try to be balanced, but I'm just, I'm an unbalanced person. I just, that's a very hard to make it work. I'm either I'm either doing something full-on or not at all. It's so, How does that work for you? How do you get balance in your life? What do you just not bother with balance? How does it work?

Anna: That's a good question. You know, I think I'm the same as you I try to find balance, but depending depending on who you're asking. I probably don't have it either. Yeah. Um, I'm kind of, all systems go kind of person and finding balance. Sometimes I find it hard to, Sid and I find time, Gosh. I can't speak. Find it hard to find time for each other. So that's a really important thing for me to, going back to the exercise again. That's just in my routine. I don't miss that but finding the balance is, you know, spending time with friends. I don't see my friends a lot anymore. We're all very busy and we all live completely different lifestyles like lawyers, real estate agents.

It's just, balance is a word I'm still trying to get my head around but I am trying. We'll see how we go this year. I said this year I'd work more on it. Yeah, but this seems the older you get, the more less time you have to find balance.

Andrew: Yeah. Add a little toddler for me. Yeah sure and that makes it even harder here.

Anna: Yeah. See my dogs are my toddler's.

Andrew: You've got four?

Anna: Four rescue dogs.

Andrew: Yeah, so they're gonna take up some time too. All right. So let's let's wrap it up then. You've uh, obviously your website. Uh, it's a big part of your message, uh, wonder if you can just you know, there's a lot of information there. can we boil it down to, you know a simple message that you know, if people want to take away one thing from this podcast with you that they can use to uh to lessen their impact. What do you think?

Anna: I think what I often try to tell people is every change, regardless of how small or You know, it has small you think it is makes a difference, you know, if you're a meat eater and you're wanting to go on the vegan journey, start by doing one day a week and then move to two, then three, every little bit makes a difference and don't be scared of change. I think that's really important. Don't be scared of change and lead by example. There is a lot of the level 5 vegans as we call them out there that often scare people away, but it's really important to encourage others. If they, not even from a vegan perspective. You've got friends that want to lead a healthier lifestyle support them and encourage them regardless of what part of their Journey on. Leading by example support and encouragement and don't be scared of change.

Andrew: Yeah. That's a perfect way to finish it. Yeah. I'm I'm one the just think that you know any any step in the right direction. Yeah, how small is a step worth taking and a step that should be encouraged.

Anna: I agree I'll going back to that. I've often all the time I've heard um, people criticize in, I'll go back to vegans criticizing others for not being the right vegan or, and it can be frustrating at times but people that are making a step. Encourage them. Yeah, you're not gonna get people on your team If you're constantly criticizing. Encourage them.

Andrew: Yeah, even if Sam Kekovitch decided to have meatless mondays, we should still applaud him.

Anna: Hey, encourage him. He probably should do a meatless monday. I think in looking he looks like he needs one.

Andrew: Yeah. All right, hopefully, uh don't sue us Sam.

Anna: Stop doing those lambmeds.

Andrew: Yeah, stop it sam. All right.

Anna: But yeah, encouragement.

Andrew: Encouragement, take little steps.

Anna: Lead by example.

Andrew: It's been a pleasure Anna.

Anna: I thank you for having me. It's been amazing.

Andrew: Thank you and uh, yeah keep doing what you do. Thank you for doing what you do and keep doing it.

Anna: Vice versa. I'm gonna try your diet this year. We'll see how long I last.

Andrew: I'll put uh, yeah, your motivation might not be as high as mine is but that -

Anna: Well with hot chips is in the mix maybe it will be.

Andrew: Well, I'm here if you need me. All right. Thank you and Spud up!

All right. That was it. I hope you enjoyed it. Uh, it was it was a really enlightening and informative chat for me.

It wasn't what I thought it was going to be. Uh, And I'm really happy about that. It was great. I had a good time talkin with Anna. So, uh, if you enjoyed it too then make sure you're looking up at Earth by Anna and she's on Instagram and Facebook to I'll put links in the show notes on the websites bud.

Thanks again Anna for for joining us. Uh, all right again, if you're interested in what I do, then the best thing you can do for me is to share it help me support me by sharing. Sharing my stuff share this with your friends take photos. Put them on Facebook Instagram tag me in them. Uh, that would be really appreciated.

Also if you can subscribe on iTunes or wherever it is that you listen to it, SoundCloud Stitch are things like that. Uh, and leaving reviews is also much appreciated. Uh, just quickly before I go again if you're interested in my book The the DIY Bud fit challenge then check it out

at www.imtcva.org.

All right. Thanks everyone another great episode coming up next week. I hope you will come back and join me again for that one. Thanks everyone spot up.

 

 

 

Thanks to my wife Mandy van Zanen for the theme music.

 

Show sponsor:

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