Ep. 297: Jan Brown - From Toxic Diet Culture to Food Freedom
PLANTSTRONG Podcast
Rip Esselstyn
4.8 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 17 April 2025
⏱️ 57 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
From a childhood steeped in toxic diet culture and years of yo-yo dieting, to finding peace and purpose through a plant-based lifestyle—today’s guest, Jan Brown, shares her powerful story of transformation.
It all started with a post in the PLANTSTRONG Community Facebook group. Jan wrote:
“I grew up with a mom who was always dieting. I ate everything diet and low calorie, and yet I was the biggest kid in my class. My weight kept climbing once I was out of school, and anxiety and depression took over. I was on a vicious cycle of binge eating and starvation. My last known weight was 320 pounds.”
That was more than 23 years ago.
Today, Jan is a thriving wife and mother who continues to embrace a plant-abundant lifestyle. In this episode, she opens up about the pivotal moments that changed everything—including a simple book and a heartfelt letter to Dr. McDougall—and how those signs led her to a life of strength, health, and freedom.
We dive into:
- Growing up in diet culture and breaking free from it
- The emotional toll of weight gain and disordered eating
- Finding freedom through whole food, plant-based eating
- Dealing with criticism and doubt from others
- Acceptance of her new body and celebrating accomplishments and finish lines
- What truly fuels Jan’s plant-strong life today - hint: it’s tattooed on her hand!
This is a story of healing, resilience, and what happens when you finally stop dieting—and start nourishing.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Ray Besselston, and you're listening to the Plan Strong podcast. |
| 0:04.7 | From a childhood steeped in toxic diet culture and yo-yo dieting to a simple book |
| 0:11.2 | and a letter to Dr. John McDougal, everything changed, leading to a life of abundance and freedom. |
| 0:19.7 | This is the story of today's guest, Jan Brown. |
| 0:23.0 | You'll hear it right after these words from Plant Strong. |
| 0:28.3 | If you want to make plant-based living easier, more personalized, and way more delicious, |
| 0:35.2 | the Plant Strong Meal Planner membership has everything that you need to thrive, |
| 0:39.1 | and now it is bigger and better than ever. You'll get one-on-one access to expert coaches. These are |
| 0:45.3 | real plant-based nutrition pros who can help you personalize your meals, troubleshoot challenges, |
| 0:51.1 | and stay on track with confidence. Plus, your membership includes hundreds of oil-free whole-food plant-based recipes, |
| 0:59.5 | weekly meal plans, and smart grocery lists, exclusive content that you won't find anywhere else, |
| 1:05.2 | and VIP savings on your favorite brands like complement essentials, the sprouting company, |
| 1:15.8 | Ruby Cooking School Vitamix, and many more. |
| 1:19.2 | It's like having a nutrition coach, a meal planner, and a discount card all rolled |
| 1:24.9 | into one powerful membership, all for less than $2 a week. |
| 1:29.9 | Join today at liveplandstrong.com and take the guesswork out of getting healthy. |
| 1:36.8 | It was a post on our Planned Strong community Facebook page that sparked my interest. |
| 1:42.4 | Several months ago, Jan Brown wrote, I grew up with a mom who was always |
| 1:47.4 | dieting. I ate everything diet and low calorie, and yet I was the biggest kid in my class. |
| 1:54.0 | My weight kept climbing once I was out of school, and then anxiety and depression took over. |
| 1:59.8 | I was on a vicious cycle of binge eating and starvation. |
| 2:03.3 | My last known weight was 320 pounds. |
... |
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