Interview with Marilu Henner

 

Name: Marilu Henner Born: April 6, 1952 Chicago, Illinois, USA Height: 5' 7" (1.70 m) Hair Color: Red Eye Color: Blue Occupation: Actress, Producer, Author Official Website: www.marilu.com

Marilu Henner was kind enough to take a few moments out of her busy life to share some thoughts with us. Below is a transcript of some of our talk.

Marilu Henner is probably best known for her wonderful role as Elaine on the hit sitcom "Taxi". She has starred in film, television, and on stage. For more information on her career as actor and producer, see marilu.com and us.imdb.com.

Marilu is also an author, penning the following books: The 30-Day Total Health Makeover Marilu Henner's Total Health Makeover Healthy Life Kitchen Healthy Holidays I Refuse To Raise A Brat Healthy Kids marilu's books The 30-Day Total Health Makeover Here's a couple of Marilu's most recent TV appearances: The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Monday 8/8/05 The Tony Danza Show, Thursday, 8/18/05 8/9/05 Jeff Rogers interviewed Marilu Henner for Celebrities for Health J: Today is Tuesday,... M: August the 9th, can you believe it? My kids go back to school four weeks from today. I just can't believe that. J: Wow, back to school? M: Back to school already! They've been off from school for two months and now they're back! J: Oh, yeah. The summer just flies The whole year is flying. M: This has been a real travelling summer for me. It always goes fast when you travel, I think.

J: Where have you been travelling?

M: We took a big 10 day road trip in a car. Just the four of us: my kids, fiancé, and I. We went to all the national parks. We went to a bunch of national parks in the western part of the United States, and then I went to New York to drop my son off at camp, up in the Catskills. In 5 days I was in 11 states, when you figure it out!

J: Oh, wow!

M: And now I have to go back again. This weekend we went to San Francisco. It's been a very busy summer. And Earlier in the summer I shot five specials for the Discovery Channel and Fit TV.

J: Oh, nice!

M: It's based on my books, and what it is, it's called "Shape Up Your Life". It starts October 10th and the whole thing about it is people have this image of where they are and where they'd like to be. And the two seem so far apart that they do nothing!

J: Right

M: I'm always saying to people: "No, you just have to take your life, tweak it a little, and you're actually closer than you think! You're not stuck in that rut. You just don't even know the potential that you have in your own life."

J: Right! And do you find most people have no idea of what they're doing to their own bodies to get to that point?

M: (sighs) Oooh... People are clueless! And the more information that comes out, the more paralyzed they become, because they don't know who to listen to. It's like my girlfriend says, "I wake up and I'm on weight watchers, at lunch I'm on Atkins (Jeff groans), by night I'm on" whatever. But see, for me, my health journey started almost 27 years ago after my mother died of arthritis. She was 58 years old. A few years earlier my father had died of a heart attack at 52. And after my father died I ballooned up to 174 pounds. I put on a lot of weight. I found myself eating my feelings and I really struggled with that. And then, after my mother died I said I'm not going to eat my feelings, I'm going to eat up information instead!

J: Excellent!

M: So, I became a real student of health and went to medical libraries, I went to doctors, I went to nutritionists, I went to health food stores and got books that I never heard of before, authors I never heard of and I started reading. What happened was that because they had died of heart disease and arthritis, I started with those diseases and started reading about those specific diseases, what foods do you eat, etc., etc. What happened was, the more I started to read, the more I realized that certain lifestyle habits and changes aren't just specific to those diseases, although there are certain things you can do to target them, but I realized that it's really about curing the patient and not the disease. It's about targeting your immune system. It's about developing healthy lifestyle habits and making dietary changes that ensure the health of the person, because if you've been dealt a certain genetic hand, those diseases might target you if you're not in a state of health, but I knew that I had to change my life. So, I ended up changing it in 10 different ways, which is what I wrote about in the Total Health Makeover. And the 10 steps I took had to do with reexamining my relationship with chemicals, as in the chemicals in the food I eat. I was a two-gallon a day Tab drinker. You know, two gallons of Tab a day drinker.

J: Oh, my!

M: And so I gave up chemicals, caffeine and smoking, sugar, meat, dairy products, learned about food combining...

J: And over what period of time were all those changes?

M: The more information I was taking in, the more I would experiment, but it took me about 8 years to put it all together, because there was no information back then, in 1978.

J: You mentioned you were looking in medical books, among other things...

M: Oh, I also took a human anatomy class.

J: One thing I've realized is the medical profession... they're trained a certain way and even they are raised...

M: The worst! EXCUSE ME! They don't even have to have hours of dietary instruction. They don't even talk about food.

J: Right!

M: There's no requirement in the medical profession. Most doctors have had zero to four hours. And I don't mean four hours in four hour classes, I'm talking about ONE four hour class!

J: One class, one semester.

M: Yeah, not even one semester. One specific class!

J: I recognize it didn't discourage you, but did you find that going to the medical books was not how to find the answers?

M: It was definitely not how to find the answers, but it did teach me something about human anatomy. And the more I made cross references with the health food store books that I was reading, the more it made sense. I kept thinking, "oh my gosh, my colon is 27 feet long? No wonder I'm not supposed to have dairy products! No wonder I'm not supposed to have meat!"

J: Exactly!

M: You know, I have this tiny little stomach with a certain amount of hydrochloric acid in it. I have the teeth not of a canine animal, but of a grinder, etc., so the medical information I was receiving from studying human anatomy was perfectly coinciding with what I was reading about the way we should be eating. You know, from the vegetarian books. So, I studied all the different types of diets and I'd experiment on myself. I'd try something for a while and see if it worked and I found myself taking this journey and gleaning from each, you know, each thing I read I was always trying to glean the best information, especially to incorporate into my life. And if something worked, I'd say "oh my gosh". I kept calling it my Helen Keller "wawa" connection! I had, especially, a real epiphany with dairy products. That was the biggest one. I'd have to say of all the things, of all the steps that I took to improve my health, giving up dairy was absolutely the number one!

J: That is a big one!

M: It's a huge one! And it's funny, because, you know that whole campaign that they have right now? People will say: "how come kids are sick?" "How come people are obese?" I go "it's the cheese!" "How come we're so tired?" "It's the cheese!"

J: I've gotten so discouraged by those commercials. I flip stations, but they're all over the place!

M: Oh, they're all over the place. And the whole "milk mustache" thing... oh, it makes me ill! It makes me ill! Especially because I know some of the people who are in it, and I know, first of all, the kind of crap that they eat in their real lives. It's so ridiculous. You know, I spoke in front of Congress last September about the dietary guidelines and about dietary supplements.

J: Was that with PCRM [Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine]?

M: Yes, they were there. The first day I was there for the dietary guidelines. They had published them they, sort of put them out there for people, and anybody could come in and make their comments. There was only one other man who was a private citizen, and the rest were people from organizations like PCRM. Amy Lanou was there from PCRM, and also there were four people from the dairy industry. Four! And they just kept getting up and filibustering and talking, etc. etc. [Jeff groans] We also had a guy from the Lard Institute, the Salt Institute. It was unbelievable to watch people get up and say...

J: How healthy their products are?

M: Olive oil is not good, lard is so much better! It went so far as to... and the whole dairy thing. Dairy makes me sick. Literally. The whole idea. The way it owns our school lunch programs and our health.

J: That's terrible

M: It's terrible. And they jump on the band wagon that says "calcium is good for the body." They jump on it. But not saying that milk is the worst calcium carrier.

J: Well, at best, the body might equalize with the amount of calcium it gets and loses by consuming dairy products.

M: Right. Exactly.

J: It's pointless. People give so much to the kids, especially, like you say, through the school lunch program, then they have so many kids with ADD and things like that.

M: It's disgusting. I think what we are doing to our children is nauseating anyway. Here we pump them full of chemicals, hormones, dyes, sugar and everything and we expect them to sit still in school with their little 40 to 80 pound bodies. And then when they can't, we say this kid has ADD and ADHD and lets just pump them up with Ridilin now.

J: I recognize with all the colds and flues and other diseases, the first thing medical science does is give us medications.

M: Right, it's curing the disease, not the patient. You know, my kids. It's so funny, I did the Craig Ferguson show last night, and somebody was saying to me "well how do you deal with your kids?" And I said "I think they only eat sugar when they come to TV show green rooms!" Because, my son had a cookie. Contraband, right? Because, otherwise, they don't eat dairy or sugar. I said "But you know what? If my kids are home, they never eat anything but healthy food. Nothing! They don't eat meat. They don't eat dairy. They don't eat sugar. They were raised vegetarian." I always say that they are so much healthier. I said "Joey, when was the last time you were sick?" He said "I don't even remember." You know why? He picked up an ear infection in New York when he was three years old and that was the last time he was sick!

J: And he's how old now?

M: My kids don't have medications! He's nine and a half. My kids never get sick! They never get sick! My son had a reaction to poison oak, because he went hiking. He went hiking with his older step-brother. I took him in to the pediatrician. The pediatrician said "when was the last time you guys were in here? You missed your yearly checkup. It's been two years." I said "Oh my Gosh, I didn't even realize it." He said "Your kids are never sick! I never see them!" So he says "bring the little one in too", so I brought them both in for their "yearly " check-up. He said these kids are in perfect health. Their cholesterol is super low, They can't even register my kids cholesterol, because the cholesterol test doesn't go under a hundred and my kids both have cholesterol under a hundred.

J: Wow, that IS low!

M: That is low. But that's great! I mean, they are sooo healthy!

J: Are they able, on their own, to make the best choices?

M: They do. In fact, they... they're kids, so sometimes they'll have a little birthday cake, but almost invariably, scrape most of the frosting off, because it's too sweet for them.

J: Wow! I've really come clear with the cause and effect relationship of foods we eat and how we feel, but if they're able to make that connection on their own, then they can control themselves.

M: Well... yeah. They definitely know it. My older one also has some allergies, like to peanuts and stuff, so he's got to be careful. He always asks "what's in this?" Also, my son read The China Study. Have you read that book?

J: No, I haven't, but I've read about it.

M: It's a brilliant book! It's a brilliant book! I give it to everybody, all the time. It's so good! If anything should convince you to become vegan, it's The China Study!

J: Now you've mentioned a lot of travelling, do you find it challenging, when travelling, to stay on your diet?

M: You know what, I've lived like this for so long, that I just bring my food with me or I know how to order. If I'm on an airplane I order the vegan non-dairy. The world is definitely changing, thank God, so it's getting easier to eat healthy.

J: With the internet, I know there are some great sources. I link to sites that have guides. You can look up countries, states, cities...

M: Oh, yeah! We did that on our road trip and we ate in one of the best vegetarian restaurants I've ever been to in my entire life, called Sage's.

J: Sages,.. I've heard of that. Where is that?

Salt Lake City. Oh, it's fantastic! Anyway, so you just look up on the internet and they tell you. In fact, it was really great. Because we went to the Grand Canyon and we looked up a place and they told us right there you can get soy cheese pizzas and stuff like that. I don't even like the soy cheese. We were able to go to a place that had pizzas that they could make with soy cheese or even without the cheese. People were amenable to certain dietary things.

J: I know when I travel... I eat only raw foods, so I look up health food stores, primarily, but also on occasion there are raw restaurants and those guides make it much easier.

M: Oh, I know! There's a great one in Las Vegas. The best one I've ever been to is in Las Vegas!

J: Oh, the two raw restaurants? It changed owners and actually now have two restaurants. [Go Raw Cafe] They had one of the best raw lasagnas I've had.

M: Yeah, raw lasagna! (laughs) I find raw food too cold. I don't know whether I've just been so influenced by macrobiotics or what. But I think it's too much for the body to have to heat up all the time. And you live where?

J: In Seattle.

M: Oh, especially in Seattle! It seems like raw food is too... in a cold climate, especially. I don't mind raw food during the summer or during warm weather, but I think it's too taxing on the body. That's just my belief.

J: There are actually some dishes where they warm them up in a dehydrator. A little warm, but not hot. If you're a fan of raw lasagna, the best one I've had since then is actually in a restaurant in Toronto, called Ra Ra Raw.

M: Oh... (laughs)

J: It's now my favorite raw lasagna!

M: Oh, that's cool! Sometimes, I think, they put too much garlic in raw foods. That always seems to be the predominant flavor. And I'm not a big garlic [fan.] It repeats on me so much and I don't know whether its my years of dancing or whatever, but somebody would have garlic and be sweating next to you on the ballet bar. I would hate that part.

J: I think it's not the best food for the body. When I make my own food I don't use, typically, onions and garlic.

M: Yeah, the savory things are too strong.

J: Now what part of the world do you live in?

M: Los Angeles

J: Do you do bi-coastal work?

M: Oh, I live in NY a lot of times. I do Broadway a lot. I've done a few Broadway shows in the last five, ten years. 3 years ago I was there, 5 years ago I was there, And 7 years ago I was there, I ate at Josie's Restaurant a lot. Do you know Josie's? Vegetarian. Most of my meals are totally vegan

J: You've mentioned your own health changes. I overcame high blood pressure, I no longer get migraines, I was on prescriptions for those. Do you have anything like that?

M: I dropped 54 pounds. I lowered my cholesterol over 100 points. I would get sore throats twice a year and colds. I'm never, ever sick. Never sick, and my kids are never sick.

J: Had you been on any medications?

M: No, not really. I took my cholesterol from 237 to 132. It's always in the low 130's I always feel at optimum. I don't know what that doesn't feel like!

J: That's key! A lot of people don't know, because they don't know what optimum is, until they get there.

M: I always say to people "When was the last time you felt healthy?" and "Do you even know what healthy feels like?" Most people don't even know what healthy feels like.

J: They've been in the same condition, gradually getting there, for years and years, or decades even.

M: Right. But, somehow, the medical profession manages to keep us in that nice state of dis-ease , and they don't want to kill us, because then we won't, you know...

J: We won't come back at all. And I understand a lot of them mean well. I'm sure at some level they know there are other ways. My own father was and MD. He's no longer with us. I always wondered what he would think of the route I have taken over the years.

M: What was it that got you into it?

J: Actually, when I look back, one of the first things was caffeine. Because I got into that, because everyone else was doing it in high school and it was tough getting up in the morning, but I started realizing that I would wake up so groggy in the morning, it dawned on me, it wasn't because I needed caffeine, it was because of the coffee I had had on the previous days. So, I made that connection: that was actually causing my low energy in the mornings.

M: Right. Of course!

J: And I noticed that cycle and irritability, so I got off that. Later on I considered [the effects of] drinking milk, even though I had had an ulcer at one time, and I started noticing I was getting gas. I realized it was from the milk, so I stopped drinking the milk. Then I noticed I was getting less headaches, less colds and flues. That kind of started, or continued, that journey of looking at the cause-and-effect relationship. So, later on, I was really noticing cheese and how that caused more colds and flues. I'd be more apt to get a cold or flu on a week where I had cheese a couple times. I realized that the colds and flues were just my body trying to purge something from the foods I was eating, so that was a big lesson, where just cleaning up my diet solved a lot of problems in my health. I continued that with cutting out meats and all the dairy. The last thing to go was actually Ben & Jerry's.

M: Oh... the last time I had ice cream... I can tell you exactly when it was, it was in October of '82. I had some ice cream in Italy. Gelato. And before that it was actually in 1979. So, I had it once since 1979.

J: Do you use some of the vegan ice creams now? M: Yeah, I'll get Soy Delicious or something like that. J: I'm not sure if Emily mentioned, I wrote a book called Vice Cream. M: Oh, no. J: It's a book of recipes for gourmet dairy-free ice cream.. M: Oh, that's great! I'll have to get it. J: I was using Ben & Jerry's. and I loved the richness, but I just felt so lousy. When I went vegan I wasn't happy with the Soy Delicious and Rice Dream. They were good, they just didn't... M: They didn't have the consistency.

J: Yeah. So I thought there must be a better way. That's when I started using cashews and coconut milk and things for a base.

What would you say to others to encourage them to become vegetarian or vegan?

M: Well the one thing... No matter what diet you are on, no matter what diet you think you're supposed to be eating, the one thing that is consistent with all diets, is vegetables! There isn't a diet that says vegetables are bad for you. Some diets might say "oh, fruits aren't great" or whatever, but nobody is saying vegetables, so we already know that vegetables are the healthiest thing that you could possibly eat!

J: That's a good point!

M: And there isn't a diet anywhere that says that's not true! It's a great wet food. It gives you a nice base for digesting all your other foods, etc. I think that people need to experiment. I always say you have to fall in love: learn to love the food that loves you.

J: Ahhh, that's good!

M: And that's what we do on the website [www.marilu.com]. We teach classes online: like 30 coaches who teach with me and I'm always trying to transition people from the overly processed, overly chemicalized, "extreme" foods that people are used to eating. I always try to get them into a more plant-based way of eating, because you can taste the flavors. You have to retrain your palate to accept the flavors of natural foods. I think that, if somebody is looking to experiment, I would say try to give up one of the health "robbers": meat; dairy; sugar; caffeine, one of those health robbers for three weeks. Try to do that and then go back to it for a day and see how you feel. If you can make the connection between your food and health and how you feel, it's going to have impact!

J: Excellent!

M: I'm always telling people, I recommend cheating after three weeks, so that you can tell the difference.

J: Like a dietary "challenge".

M: Yeah.

J: That's the way to do it!

M: I got my stepson to do that. He was this little chubby boy. He came to live with my ex-husband, years ago when I was with my ex-husband. My stepson came to live with us. He was a little chubby. He sat in front of the TV all the time. Didn't want to move. His skin was breaking out. He had an inhaler. He'd have to put ketosticks in his urine every day. And he'd get allergy shots. I said "he's only allergic to dairy! I can look at his face and see that." So I gave him the challenge and I said "just give it up". He ended up giving it up. I had to go and do a job. He gave it up for six weeks and he never went back to it. Now he's this incredible vegan cook. He's totally vegan. He's older now. He's actually in Chile helping Chileans develop organic farming. He's creating a whole organic farm system in Chile. He totally got into this! Because it completely changed his life! He gave up the allergy shots. He didn't have to do the inhaler anymore, nothing!

J: And he never challenged it at the end of those six weeks?

M: No, he tried it and he didn't like it and he was only 13 at the time. He never went back to it. Now, he's in his late 20's.

J: I wish I had done that. I grew up on allergy shots. Yeah, not much fun.

M: That's definitely dairy products.

J: In your career I know you've had a lot of projects. What has been your favorite project or role?

M: I loved Taxi. Taxi was more than just a project. It was kind of my life for five years so, definitely, Taxi would rank first. And I think, probably, doing Broadway, doing Chicago or Annie Get Your Gun.

But writing the books is really my fav... well, first of all, being a mother. That's my number one favorite thing!

J: That's great!

M: Yeah, no question about it. You can make movies. You can make music. You can make speeches or whatever, but until you make people... that's the ultimate as far as I'm concerned!

J: In your roles... I know a lot of them may be set in stone... but do you ever have flexibility where you can demonstrate some of your diet or your health practices?

M: Oh yeah! A lot of times I'll throw in something, especially if it's a movie or sitcom or whatever. Plus the shows that I just did called "Shape Up Your Life". Those were all based on the book. I meant to tell you about that. My whole thing in that show is showing people that health is fun! Each show starts out with a different feel piece. For example, do you know what Pink hotdog stand is here?

J: No, I don't.

M: This is a very famous hotdog stand. So, you think I'm there to take away their food and I say "not yet, anyway!" I'm here to get them to multi-task with their health. I'm here to get them while they're waiting in this long line to exercise! So, I get everybody in the Pink's line to exercise, while they're waiting for their hotdogs! They also do vegan dogs. They do Yves hotdogs, which is good! Then we go to Anaheim stadium for the Angels game.

J: They have soy dogs, don't they?

M: Uh, huh! But at the game, I get them to do 7^th inning yoga, instead of the 7^th inning stretch!

J: Oh, really!

M: Uh, huh! I get the whole group to do 7^th inning yoga! I also gave out edamame and grapes and wheatgrass. It's really funny! And another time, I go to Venice beach and I teach people how to skin brush.

J: Ahhh, do you use the brushes or the loofah pads?

M: No, not loofah, sauna brushes. Loofah is too scratchy on your skin. This is a dry sauna brush.. Another one, I go to the zoo, and I say "OK, here's a sign that says 'please do not feed the animals, they need a special diet to stay healthy. Your food can kill them." So I say "this is the food that the animals are eating and it's all root vegetables and fruits and nuts." And I say "this is the diet of most of the people here today" and it's a whole plateful of all the junk that you get from vending machines, cotton candy, or whatever. I say this is a diet that keeps them healthy this is the diet that will kill them! Shouldn't we come with signs? What about our kids? Shouldn't we come with signs?

J: That's a good point!

M: Then I go around asking people. What food would you pick from these trays? And, of course, everyone is picking all the junk! And I say "what do you think would happen to the animals if we gave them [the food]?" "Oh, they'd get sick, they'd get fat, they'd get cancer, they'd get stomach problems." One little boy said "They'd turn purple!" (laughs) And the kids are eating it!

J: That's a good way of making that point. That's excellent! I take it they get the point!

M: Yeah, they get the point!

J: Now, I know a lot of people are influenced by characters on TV and they see a lot of this poor eating, do you wish there were more vegan/vegetarian characters on TV?

M: I wish that they could have a vegan character that people weren't making fun of. Or even if they made fun of, I wouldn't care, as long as that character looked better than everybody else! People have made fun of me for years! I remember when I first started into this and I'd bring brown rice and nori rolls and carrots, and I'd roll it up, or cucumbers and umeboshi paste and stuff like that. People would go "what the hell are you doing?" And I was the one that could stay up till 4 o'clock dancing!

It's so funny, my kids bring sheets of nori to school. They love nori! I pack it in their lunch box.

J: Just to snack direct or to make things?

M: Yeah, they eat it like it's chips or something. They love it! I wrap everything in nori, (Jeff laughs) salads or whatever.

J: Once in a while I make some raw nori rolls. Not a frequent thing, but it's good!

M: They love it. They really do. They really do. My kids sometimes do a class online. They're guest speakers. They talk to the parents about how they can transition their kids. When we have sleepovers the kids don't even know it's healthy food! One time I did a thing at school and I had edamame. A mother called me up and said "what were those green M&M's that you gave my kid?" (Jeff laughs) They weren't M&M's; they were soybeans. She went "no, no, no... my son said that they were green beans and I assumed they were green M&M's." And I said, "no they weren't!"

J: Oh, no (laughs.)

M: "My son never eats vegetables." I said, "well, he ate these!"

---

M: You know, I go around the country giving speeches about cancer and about health. I'm always saying to people, if you think about your body as a field of soil and a weed sprouts up, the tendency is "oh, let's just cut that weed out" and that's it. But if you don't completely change the soil and re-fertilize it, give it different nutrients, etc., you're bound to get another weed. That's what people do, they get cancer and they think "OK, let's just cut it out and let's get back to normal. Let's get back to the diet sodas and dairy and all the junk, and the heavy meat, and the sugars, and all that. They don't realize that maybe "normal" is what got you into trouble in the first place.

J: That's right. It's about changing the perception of "normal"

M: Yeah, exactly.

J: Do you have a favorite organization/charity, especially health oriented, that we could link to? That you're involved with, that you support?

M: Well, I do a lot with scleraderma, because a friend of mine died from it. Scleroderma Research Foundation.

J: What is your favorite restaurant? (anywhere)

M: My new favorite is Sage's. I'm telling you! It is so good! (In Salt Lake City) I had the best vegan meal I have ever had! Oh my God, it was so good! The food was incredible!

J: I'm going to have to check into that.

M: My kids were licking plates! (laughs)

J: Really? That is good.

M: I said: "what are you doing?" They said "this is so good!"

And I love Josie's... In New York. And here I love Enaka, Real Food Daily, Cheebo does great stuff! And that's a hipster place! You can bring other people in there and eat great vegan meals, because they do serve other foods.

J: I've been to Real Food Daily. I used to go there every time I'd visit LA.

M: You know what else is great? The Green Temple.

J: The Green Temple?

M: Oooh, it's fantastic! That's probably the best vegan restaurant in Los Angeles. It's actually in Redondo. It's totally vegan.

J: Now, have you been to Juliano's Raw?

M: Oh, yeah. I know him. He and I have the same publisher.

J: And Au Lac? That's in Huntington Beach.

M: No, I haven't been there.

J: I can send a link to that. It's excellent, excellent!

M: And you'll add a link to my site?

J: Yes, definitely!

M: We do great classes there! We have a great class starting next week, called "Sayonara Self-Sabotage". It's all about self-sabotage. We have a big class coming in September.

J: There are a lot of authors out there, vegan speakers, do you have a favorite?

M: I like Robert Cohen, he's a character!

J: Oh, isn't he!

M: He's telling me It's my responsibility to link everybody together, because health doesn't have a big profile. It's a lot of little, small-interest people, because nobody's getting rich by doing this. It's the diet doctors that are getting rich. Anyone who's saying "eat more fruits and vegetables" and "it's really in us to heal", they're not getting rich, because people don't want to hear from that. They want some magic formula.

J: That's right! The one's who benefit are the one's who are selling the things that are contrary to what we are teaching.

M: Yes, exactly! He always says, "Marilu, you're responsible for bringing everybody together. That's my goal.

J: He does a good job. He spreads the word. He's a good speaker too!

We [celebritiesforhealth.com] had put our interviews on hold for a couple of years and we'd like to do a lot more, because it is a great way to influence people. I know you haven't met all the millions of people who've seen you, but it's like you're a friend to them. So, when they see that you are doing these things that are helping your life - I'm sure you realize this already - that certainly does affect people. So, THANK YOU for that, by the way!

M: Oh, sure! Are you kidding? I feel like I was put on the Earth to do this. I really do! Especially after my parents died. I went "OK, their deaths are not going to be in vain. I've got to figure something out and share it with the world! I do want to say one thing. I always say the people that are having trouble with their weight or their skin or their energy, they should know that I call those people natural healers. They should know that they are a natural healer. Anyone who's having trouble with their skin, their weight, their health, their energy, they really are a natural healer, because their body is telling them that something is wrong. If they make adjustments, they're not going to believe how much their body is going to thank them! Their body will respond SO quickly! I could look at myself in the mirror at 174 pounds with bad skin and constipation and say something is not right here! And I'd better figure this out!

J: They can make that choice to improve... or if they make the other choice and use medications to stop the very symptoms, they are stopping the body from communicating with them, then it just shuts off that healing process!

M: Totally, it's like a singer who anesthetizes their voice before they go out. Eventually they're going to develop nodes. You're eventually going to develop a bigger problem by just masking what is wrong. Your body is screaming at you at that point. I always say, "it's not about measuring weighing, counting, the same old points, grams, carbs, fats, or whatever, of the same old crappy food. It just isn't! No matter how you cut that stuff up. It's still that food! So, you're better off just changing it.

J: That's true! Some people are just raised a certain way and they're taught by these people they respect that this is how we eat, so it's a big challenge.

M: I know! God forbid. I deal with this all the time. I deal with family influences. All the women on my website saying my mother-in-law thinks I'm poisoning her son and her grandchildren, because I'm not letting her "have dairy products." Or they feel I'm taking their meat away from them; they're not going to have enough protein.

J: It's fear-based. They're afraid. It's too bad! I do appreciate you talking to me today. Thank you, Marilu. I really appreciate it!

M: OK. Take care!

Related link:
Here's a review of The Green Temple from Vegetarians in Paradise.

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