029: Guide to Ultimate Weight Loss with Chef AJ

08/07/20 • 43 min

hef AJ has been devoted to a plant-based diet for 43 years. Her background includes being the host of the television series Healthy Living with CHEF AJ which airs on Foody TV. With her comedy background, she has made appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Show with David Letterman and more. A chef, culinary instructor and professional speaker, she is author of the popular book Unprocessed: How to Achieve Vibrant Health and Your Ideal Weight, which chronicles her journey from a junk-food vegan faced with a diagnosis of pre-cancerous polyps, to learning how to create foods that nourish and heal the body.

Based in Palm Springs, Chef AJ teaches how to create meals to transform health, how to deal with cravings and food addiction and addresses the emotional side of eating. She is the creator of The Ultimate Weight Loss Program, was the Executive Pastry Chef at Sante La Brea Restaurant in Los Angeles, creator of Healthy Taste of LA and the YouTube cooking show The Chef and the Dietitian. Chef AJ holds a certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition from Cornell University and is a member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. Since the start of the pandemic, Chef AJ has added Facebook and YouTube lives to her repertoire as a way to continue to serve her community.

Knowing from a young age she didn’t want to consume animals; she was able to adhere to a vegan lifestyle due to her Orthodox Jewish upbringing. She never developed a taste for animals and always had compassion for animals.

This compassion was put to the test early in her schooling to become a veterinarian. When asked to prep salamanders for testing, her reaction to the first one prevented her from doing a second one. She absolutely refused to harm the animals.

This put an end to her aspirations of becoming a veterinarian.

It all began with an Easy Bake Oven

Chef AJ got a taste for baking when she received an Easy Bake Oven at the age of seven for Hanukkah. As a self-described fat kid, she loved desserts and loved baking.

That was the start of a lifelong passion for baking. A passion that turned into her life’s work.

Although fit and slim today, Chef AJ had her own struggles with weight. Reaching 200 pounds at her highest, she was more of a junk food vegan than a plant-based eater.

Realizing that although she was vegan, the way she ate was very unhealthy. After being diagnosed with precancerous growths called adenomatous polyps, Chef AJ knew it was time for a dramatic change.

The change included learning about whole food, plant-based eating while at the Optimum Health Institute.

Since that time, Chef AJ has become a force to be reckoned with. A recognized name in virtually every vegan and plant-based circle, you can catch Chef AJ on Facebook and YouTube live weekdays at 11 a.m. Pacific. https://www.youtube.com/user/therealchefaj

Be sure to pick up a copy of her book, The Secrets to Ultimate Weight Loss: A revolutionary approach to conquer cravings, overcome food addiction, and lose weight without going hungry. https://amzn.to/3gEgwli

This put an end to her aspirations of becoming a veterinarian.

It all began with an Easy Bake Oven

Chef AJ got a taste for baking when she received an Easy Bake Oven at the age of seven for Hanukkah. As a self-described fat kid, she loved desserts and loved baking.

That was the start of a lifelong passion for baking. A passion that turned into her life’s work.

Although fit and slim today, Chef AJ had her own struggles with weight. Reaching 200 pounds at her highest, she was more of a junk food vegan than a plant-based eater.

Realizing that although she was vegan, the way she ate was very unhealthy. After being diagnosed with precancerous growths called adenomatous polyps, Chef AJ knew it was time for a dramatic change.

The change included learning about whole food, plant-based eating while at the Optimum Health Institute.

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028: Chemical Free Body with Tim James

A self-proclaimed redneck, Tim had what could be considered a successful life. A highly profitable financial advisor, Tim had the American dream of the wife, the kids, the nice house and all the trappings that come with it including being overweight, bloated, skin conditions like eczema, being tired ... a lot and yet, striving for more. It was never enough. Until it wasn’t.

His life began to unravel due to health problems when he had a revelation that poor health didn’t just affect him, it affected everyone around him.

But it was only after watching family and friends die of cancer and the untimely death of his younger brother that he finally decided to take action. Tim’s journey led him to a shocking discovery which helped his friend beat cancer and transform every area of his life.

Feeling charged with a duty to help others he started sharing his knowledge with anyone that would listen. This led him to producing his own chemical free food products. ‘Chemical Free Body’ was born.

http://www.chemicalfreebody.com

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030: Vegan vs. Plant Based

Have you ever wondered what the difference between vegan and plant based is? When I first started eating plant based, I was pretty confused. On the one hand, I didn't want to call myself vegan because I really didn't understand what it meant to be vegan. Yet, from what I understood, being vegan meant compassionate eating void of all animal and dairy.

Early into my journey, I wrote a blog post about the difference. http://plantbasedeatingforhealth.com/vegan-and-plant-based-are-apples-to-oranges-sometimes/

Now, nearly two years into my lifestyle change, I have merged vegan and plant based eating in a way that it aligns with my values. I’ve gone deeper into the lifestyle and it seems, the more I learn, the more I want to learn about being vegan.

In a nutshell, when you are plant-based/vegan, you eat a whole food plant based diet that is healthy, compassionate, and ethical. It’s really that simple.

Issues that can be addressed when people transition to a whole food, plant based/vegan lifestyle is minimizing health risks, including complications from COVID-19, healthier populations, less food insecurities, kindness to animals due to not eating factory farmed animals and so much more.

Many people think eating plant based is expensive. Actually, when done right, eating a whole food, plant-based/vegan diet can be very cost effective.

http://www.plantbasedeatingforhealth.com

http://www.plantbasedeatingforhealth.com/guide