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PLANTSTRONG Podcast

Ep. 26: James Wilks-The Ultimate Game Changer

PLANTSTRONG Podcast

Rip Esselstyn

Alternative Health, Nutrition, Health & Fitness, Medicine

4.8 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 23 January 2020

⏱️ 45 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

"I hate being lied to," says James "Lightning" Wilks, when asked why he was compelled to make The Game Changers documentary.

Together, with a vast array of experts and science-based research, Wilks set out to answer the question, "What does the evidence and the science show in the search for truth in nutrition, especially as it relates to athletic performance and recovery?" The result, after seven years of research and filming? The Game Changers documentary.

Rip and James caught up with each other at a premiere of the film at Monmouth University hosted by Jon and Tracey Stewart. In this backstage conversation, they discuss the worldwide impact this film is having so quickly after its release. In fact, it has already become the #1 selling documentary on iTunes and a popular selection on Netflix.

Rip and James dive right into some of the results and the longstanding myths this film busts, including:

  • Virility in Men
  • Iron and Soy Consumption
  • The Amount and Type of Protein our Bodies Actually Need

The Game Changers is definitely one of the most influential and informational documentaries about the power of a plant-based diet and it's never too late to make a shift in your own approach after you, like James and Rip, learn the truth about nutrition.

And, as Wilks suggests, thanks to a philosophy from Bruce Lee:

“Research your own experience. Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.” 

 

Episode Resources:

Game Changers The Movie

Support for this week's episode comes from  Wild Earth Dog Food - use promo code: PLANTSTRONG for 40% order

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

It was impressive. You know, I liked it particularly. I'm a big sports guy so seeing all the different

0:10.7

athletes and all. It was really nice and refreshing to see all the different like the different

0:16.7

football players and the different marathon runners, right? Everybody talking about the same kind

0:21.3

of things where it is, no, it's not about me, it's not about Dari, it's not about any of this stuff.

0:26.5

And how plants are like a good and complete fuel for your body and how it's that much more effective.

0:33.1

So I don't know, that was really important to me. So I mean for me it's inspirational because

0:38.1

to watch what the human body can do and see individuals that have achieved kind of the greatest

0:42.6

from that perspective, but then also see kind of common people kind of intermingled in the film

0:47.7

as well and watching them achieve things. I think it just goes to show that if you put your mind

0:52.1

into it and you're willing to try something even for what was it seven days where the firefighter

0:56.2

experiments like you can achieve great things.

1:03.4

Hello my plants, strong pals. Rip here and you just heard comments from people who attended the

1:10.4

one night, the atrical premiere of the game changers documentary and it just so happened

1:16.8

that it perfectly corresponded with when we were throwing the heart of the hero campaign

1:22.0

in Pittsburgh. And so of course we naturally included free passes for all of the participants

1:28.8

in the seven day rescue challenge as they were taking their plunge into the plant-strong lifestyle.

1:36.7

Being an executive producer of the game changers comes with its perks, one of which is I got to see

1:44.6

every iteration of the film before we kind of reach the final version, but nothing, but nothing

1:51.6

takes the kale like being in a packed movie house and watching and listening to people's reactions

2:00.1

for the first time. Nothing. James Wilkes and I were able to spend some time together

2:07.5

before and after the private screening of the game changers that was thrown by John and Tracy

2:12.8

Stewart. And I want to share this very special conversation that I had with James where we discuss

...

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