Arlene Is Alone with Carleigh Bodrug

Carleigh Bodrug, the creator behind PlantYou, joins Arlene to talk about how her father’s colon cancer diagnosis set her on the path to plant-based eating and a career built around helping others. She opens up about grief, vulnerability, and the deep link between the food we eat and our health. Join us for a conversation that goes far beyond the plate.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

People don't talk about grief that much. And when you think about it, it's something that all of us go through. Like even if you have your mom here till she's 90 years old, still your mom. Right. Like when people lose someone, it's like the world just keeps moving, which I mean, what else is it gonna do? But I think it's about sometimes how often, you know, you see people post on Instagram that they had a baby, like just as often somebody, family member is passing away, and it's just like sometimes I don't think we talk about it openly enough, and it can feel very isolating.

SPEAKER_04 0:43

Hi everyone, it's Arlene Dickinson. Welcome to this week's episode of Arlene Is Alone.

SPEAKER_03 0:48

Carly Bodrug is the creator behind Plant You, one of the largest plant-based communities online. Her path to plant-based eating started with a diagnosis. After her father was diagnosed with colon cancer, she learned quickly that food we eat is directly linked to our health. And that knowledge reshaped everything. She built her following by making vegan cooking feel simple and approachable, and grew it into a best-selling cookbook and a movement of millions rethinking what they eat. But this conversation goes well beyond food. It's about being vulnerable, sharing our grief and loss, and why helping others is a great purpose to build a life around. Settle in for a great one.

unknown 1:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:44

Got it. Got it. Perfect. Nailed it. Nailed the name because she gets it wrong from everybody else, so I wanted to make sure I said it right. And Carly, if you I mean, I'm sure you know her because she is so big on social media. Plant you, all about vegan diets and how to eat, like not just well, but feed your family, feed your soul, feed your body. I love everything you do, Carly. I've been watching you for so long. And we reached out to each other on social media, like quite a few years ago now, I think it has been, hasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 2:14

I know. When you first reached out to me, I had the biggest fangirl moment. It was like a screenshot sent to the family group chat because I grew up watching you. So like such an inspiration and a really cool moment for me. But yes, and then we've messaged and I'm like, oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_05 2:29

Yes, we've messaged back and forth, and you launched one of your cookbooks, and I loved it, and we we were talking about that. And and also just I just think you have such a um when I watch you on your stories, because I know how hard it is to be personable and upbeat and everything, but you are so genuinely real on everything you post. Like I really enjoy following you because I feel like it's so authentic. I feel like you are you, like well, I hope so.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

I try to be because I mean it would be a little bit uh difficult after so many years, as you can imagine as somebody who's uh public facing to be anybody but yourself, right?

SPEAKER_05 3:07

But but there's lots of them. You're really good at it, and then you meet them and you go, Ah, that's not who I thought you were gonna be, right? It's so disappointing when that happens.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Yeah. I think that from the beginning I wanted to show up authentically. And you know, at the end of the day, I try to always just come back. I have like this mission in the back of my head that I want people to eat more plants. So every kind of t post that I do and everything that I'm talking about, I'm like, okay, come back to why what you want and why. And I think when people sort of are mission-driven in that way, hopefully there comes from a place of authenticity.

SPEAKER_05 3:45

I say that all the time to people when I talk, they say, Oh, it's all about finding your passion. And I was like, No, I think it's more about finding your why. Yes. I mean, you're you have to love what you do, but you can love what you do, and it could be not that good for anything that you care about, right? You can still love, you know, I can love playing pickleball, but it's not gonna fulfill my life. I need to, you know, so I think you need to have and I don't love playing pickleball. I I sprained my ankle, so I can't play pickleball, but pickleball's fun, but that's a whole other story. Um, so you why why why this? Like what made you get into being a vegan in the first place?

SPEAKER_01 4:19

Yeah. So I grew up, and we were just talking in Innisville, Ontario, and my parents had a hobby farm and grew up on what I would describe as the standard American or standard Canadian diet. So we would have meat at the center of our plate for every meal. I don't think I ever growing up had a vegan meal and often actually thought of it like, oh my goodness, I could never be vegan. And when I was probably about 11 years old, my dad was diagnosed with stage two colon cancer, and he went through chemo, uh, the whole bit. He's still here today, thank goodness. Um, but obviously that had a profound impact on me. And it was really interesting at the time, they never mentioned diet as potentially being a contributing factor to that. And it wasn't until 2015 the World Health Organization came out with this kind of breaking news that now red meat and processed meat were now classed as group two and group one carcinogens. And that was sort of like a light bulb moment for my family, especially because uh colon cancer in particular can have a genetic component. So started thinking about what we were eating. And my college friends laugh now because I was the worst eater at the time. I was probably about 21, 22. Came to college with like a mini freezer pack full of tater tots, mini pizzas, all of the good stuff. And I sort of switched on a dime. Like I was like, okay, I want to start eating plant-based. And what happened was really interesting. So I didn't know how to cook because I had been living off of this processed food, so had to teach myself from scratch. But then on top of that, suddenly I had had lifelong issues with constipation. I don't know if what you want to do. Yeah, I don't think you're the only counts put poop on the podcast because Lord knows there's been enough shit said on here so we can have poop on YouTube.

SPEAKER_05 6:12

I I think you're not the only person that will have constipation issues in their life.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

So as a society, we talk so much about protein, and I'm not here to say that protein's not important, but 95% of North Americans don't eat enough fiber. So I started eating plant-based, and all of a sudden all of this stuff went away. Yeah, and I felt great. And then I sort of say that going plant-based is a little bit like opening Pandora's box because then I learned about like the environmental implications of animal agriculture and what animals are put through, and just felt like a fire burning uh in my soul. And at that point, I was actually working as a radio host up in North Bay on a radio station called The Moose, and I sort of started a blog on the side. I was like, okay, I'm gonna, you know, I think it was natural for me because I was already in journalism that I started accounting my journey going plant-based, and you know, now I'm sitting here with you.

SPEAKER_05 7:08

So Well, you're sitting here with me, but you're sitting with but how many millions of followers do you have now? Yeah, it's a lot.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

On Instagram, we're about 5.7 million, and we've got like, you know, all the kind of social channels, but what is that like I can't I mean I don't have like I think combined with all my channels, I'm over a million.

SPEAKER_05 7:27

I think I'm a million two now. Five point seven, like that's I can't even imagine the pressure every time you do something thinking about all the people that are watching you. Yeah. Does it get to you ever?

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Do you ever feel like it was such a slow like I think I've been doing this since about 2018, 2019. So, you know, you're 500,000, you're like, whoa, a million, whoa. And now it's five million. I don't know that it computes. Does that make a sense? It does. Did you celebrate five million though? Did you do anything, or did you just go, oh, five million, I gotta keep going. You've got to keep going. I have that like that it kind of, you know, not so good trait about myself that it's uh the goalpost is always moving. Yeah. Um, I don't know at this point to me if it's about the actual number. Because I feel like a lot of people it's the engagement. I feel like a lot of people have like, you know, an audience of a hundred thousand, but they're super fans, they're really engaged, they're really listening to your influence. And you know, I'm not saying that I don't h have that, but I'm not sure that the number at this point matters at this scale.

SPEAKER_05 8:38

Yeah, yeah. But so do you know if you have a hundred thousand like super fans, do you know them?

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Do you Oh yeah, there's people that have been like messaging me for years that I like always recognize in my DMs or people that come if I have a book signing. It's been a little bit of um a weird experience, I guess, because I really shot up during COVID, and that's when my book first book came out. So there wasn't like a lot of public facing. Yes, not a lot of public facing things. So I haven't done a lot of, you know, outward things, but I definitely recognize those people who have been sort of messaging me for years, and yeah. Is now being a mom, it's like the greatest thing ever. Yeah. Like I feel like I have the greatest support system. If I ever like have a question about anything, the people are in my DMs ready to provide like their expert advice in the best way possible.

SPEAKER_05 9:38

So and you just became a mom not that long ago.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

Yeah, he's about to turn 11 months. Eleven months. Um today, I think, actually. Eleven months today. Yeah, yeah. And what's his name?

SPEAKER_05 9:48

Weston. Weston. Oh, I love that. So he's that's a very strong name. Yeah, we call him Wes. Wes. Yes. Okay. So are you gonna have well I I don't think it's I maybe you're not supposed to ask but if you're all right. Oh you can ask. But you have more for sure. You want more for sure?

SPEAKER_01 10:01

Yeah, yeah. Like spend the past ten. Oh gosh. Um, not probably two. Probably two. I can't believe that you had four before 30.

SPEAKER_05 10:12

Me either, Carly. I was like 27 by the time I had four kids.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

So I just cannot like people always ask me, they're like, How are you doing it with the baby? And I'm like, okay, it's it's I mean, I have very supportive, good support system, but I was thinking about you and I'm like, how on earth did you go from having four children to like this mega career?

SPEAKER_05 10:37

Uh I think the same way you're doing it. I we kind of I'm also the goalposts are always moving for me too. And I'm one of those people that wants to get up every day and live my life fully. Like I I want to be productive. I don't know how not to be productive and I enjoy being productive and you know, a day that's busy doesn't matter to me, but a day that I felt like I've accomplished something matters to me. And uh I don't know. I think I didn't have a choice when my kids were little. I had to I had to figure out how I was gonna, you know, feed us and pay for myself myself and you know, my kids were uh between my ex-husband and myself, and so it was it was complex, it was complicated, and it kind of forced me into the reality of facing what I could do and what I was capable of doing. So I I think we all are like that at some point. We have to look deep inside ourselves and say, what are we gonna do to to make it in this world, right? Yeah. F four four four is incredible. Four was a lot. There was times where my my youngest daughter, and she's here. Hey Marina. Hey, my my youngest daughter, we used to get dragged around the house. The other kids called her baby. And honestly, she I I don't know how she survived because I was so busy, and I the poor kid was like dragged by she was like a doll, like a literally I had no baby. It was just a baby. We called her baby, and it was a baby, like, and the kids would like treat her like she was a rag doll. I thought, okay, well, she's okay. She's made it, she's all right, and she but you know, I mean, it's funny because the first kid you're so overprotective, and then yeah, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Are you Oh, I'm crazy. I mean, he's had this like uh breathing heart rate monitor on him since he came home. Like, we're checking it every night. He was in the NICU for a week with breathing issues. So at the beginning, it was it's fine, but like then you know it sparked like anxiety, like what if he's gonna stop breathing in the night? But now I talk to my husband all the time. I say, you know, the second one, we would be so much less crazy.

SPEAKER_05 12:31

And by the fourth one, if you have that many, you'll go, we baby'll be dry. Don't put baby in the corner. That's where that came from. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. But Marina, you were a good soul about it all, you know. You didn't know yeah, she had no choice. I I always think back when I look at myself as a mother, I think back about um there's two things that I focus on a lot, which is how could I have been a better mother? Because we always are self-examining ourselves, thinking, Oh, I could have been a better mother here or there. But I think about food a lot. And I think about, you know, 'cause we didn't have a lot of food. Um, and so we grew our own vegetables and I did a lot of canning and freezing and making my own bread and I did all those things 'cause you had to, 'cause you couldn't afford, even though back then l bread was ten loaves for a dollar. It was like, you know, it was cheap, it was you know on sale, right? You could get bread very cheap. Um, it uh it food became really central to survival. Is that part of your story too, or like why besides your dad getting sick? Were you did you grow up with food being a really important aspect of your life?

SPEAKER_01 13:36

It was an important so grew up as a middle class family. My dad was a firefighter, my mom stayed at home for most of uh our lives. So there wasn't that I would say scarcity aspect, but definitely my parents cooked a lot of processed food and it was kind of just rush, rush, rush, you know. And that was the thing. I and I think that they had no idea the impact that food had on health. Like I think this is a newer idea.

SPEAKER_02 14:07

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

And um now I look at it more as kind of nostalgia. Like I think a lot about how, you know, we would have chicken wings on Thursday night and watch Survivor. And like it was like, ooh, that's not healthy, but at the same time, those like memories are created th through food. So now I try to take kind of the positivity of those experiences and think about what I want to do for my own family in terms of creating kind of tradition through it, if that makes sense. It does.

SPEAKER_05 14:39

I mean, the the thing that interested me about vegans is that it's like somebody who's quit drinking or somebody who's quit smoking or somebody who's vegan. You always know pretty quickly that they are one of those things because they don't tolerate anybody else doing anything but what they think should happen, like quit smoking, quit drinking, and eat better, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Like these are are you one of those kind of obsessive? You know, um, I think at the beginning, and I think most vegans, I've been vegan for 10 years now. I think at the beginning most vegans are like really, you know, impassioned, but you learn very quickly that the road to convincing somebody to, you know, even eating more plants is not by being militant about it. And I mean that's like most things in life. So I'm very laxed. And the sad truth is that like nobody around me is vegan. My husband's not vegan. No, my sister's not vegan.

SPEAKER_05 15:31

Um you you just put up with this.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Um Yes, I working with Carly now for quite a few years. I uh I'm much more plant-based than I used to be.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

That's my goal. Okay. You know, at first with my husband, well, we were together before I went vegan, and then I sprung it on him. Um, I really wanted him to go vegan. But like I learned quickly that like if I just cooked plant-based meals, that's what he was gonna eat. So I just have to not worry about what he does.

SPEAKER_05 16:02

So you don't make him a separate meal?

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Oh no, no, no, no. No, even if he wants to. He'll he eats plant-based in the home. Like he's totally good with it, but like I just, you know, control trying to control it is not the answer. The the answer. You know, of those five million people that follow me, how many do you think is vegan? Maybe 0.05%, I bet. So they're gonna have to get healthier recipes. They're looking for healthier recipes or ways to integrate plants into their meals. Right. And I feel like I can have more impact by moving plates. So getting people to try a plant-based meal, make maybe participate in Meatless Mondays, try one of my recipes. I think that can have more of a wider impact than like convincing one person to be a perfect vegan. What about why? Yeah, that's a complicated, uh, gonna be complicated. We don't know yet. Right now we're just doing our best, but we are testing allergens, so like eggs, fish. I mean, I'm not. My husband is taking on that that role. So we'll see what happens. What I really don't want to happen is him to feel restricted or um rebellious. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 17:10

And yeah, do the opposite simply because you're making them do one of those.

SPEAKER_02 17:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

I think probably the way I think I will approach it is that we'll be vegan at home. And if he's going to a birthday party and he wants a slice of cake, have adder. Have at her. Because I don't I don't know that I think I'm cautious of creating resentment, and then additionally, potentially even like a complicated relationship with food, right? Yeah. I don't want to label food good and bad before you have a full understanding of that's smart.

SPEAKER_05 17:42

That's really actually very mature of you because I remember my cousin Gail, who you know, her mom and dad did not like her to have candy, so the minute that she could have it, she would eat it. You know, like and and I think that's what happens. And then you go overboard because it's suddenly you're you're almost sneaking it. So I think what you're doing is actually really smart, you know, let him make it. We'll see how it works out. Yeah, whether or not uh do you think you'll ever eat uh no, ever. Never.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

No. You know, people, it's funny because of my online thing. Everybody sees me as the vegan, but like as part of my day-to-day life, it just doesn't even other than my work, it's not something I consciously think about because I've been vegan for so long. Yeah, like I know if I go to a restaurant there'll be like one or two items or I can have fries, or like I don't like you know, yeah, constantly think about it or have to at this point. It's very easy for me.

SPEAKER_05 18:36

Yeah, I mean, I think the world is evolving, you know, um whether it's you know, you you used to see like the the overly pre-processed and manufactured plant-based alternatives that really weren't healthy for you either. I mean when with you and I watch your videos, what you're doing is really healthy food. I mean, your salads, the one that you did the other day in the big tall jars. Oh, yeah, like I was going, I want to do that because it looks so good. But how do you come up with? I mean, we don't talk too much about this because I want to a little more about your life, but how do you come up with the recipes? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

How many do you have to come up with, first of all? Well, for cookbooks, we try to do 140, but that includes salad dressings. You know, I came in with my first book and it was 140 recipes, and now it's like that's what you have to do with the precedence. And I'm like, oh man, that's a lot. I don't even know, like I can't even come up with two, like they're two-year product projects, but a lot of them are inspired by uh food with animal products. So like my sister and I will, you know, if you go to a restaurant and you see, I don't know, like a swarma wrap or something, oh, how can we do that with tofu instead? Or I'll um because my goal ultimately is to get people to eat more plants, I'll think about okay, how can I take like a base recipe? I just posted a recipe today for like a dump and bake pasta and meatballs. And I thought, how can we add plants to this? So if a mom is making this, add a handful of spinach, add broccoli. Uh so just thinking about ways that we can kind of inject fiber into basic meals. Because fiber's so important. Fiber's very important to me personally and what I want to try and get people eating. Like, I get anxiety about the thought if I post like an unhealthy recipe. Like sometimes we'll post like, and I get anxious thinking now the scale and the impact that somebody's gonna eat that and it's not good for you. So, like, I think um probably that has something to do with why I'm vegan too. It's just like anxiety about the harm that you could be causing people. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 20:42

Are you an anxious person to begin with? Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah. How does it show up? Manifest? Um, I have a lot of health anxiety, definitely. I think probably the cancer and you know. Um, so that is like an ongoing issue that I seek therapy for. I'm trying to think of how else it manifests. Definitely, like these cookbooks, I get so anxious about. Oh my goodness, like putting you've put out books, so you know so anxious.

SPEAKER_05 21:11

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

It's a different kind of level of like are people gonna like it, they're they're gonna read it, what are they gonna think about it? Yes. And whatever else. Like it's just um it kind of I kind of, you know, get off on a tangent in my mind with that.

SPEAKER_05 21:31

And does it and how do you how do you manage that? How do you manage the anxiety? You were anxious when you came here, you said. Yes, nervous when I came here.

SPEAKER_01 21:39

Um, how do I manage the anxiety? You know, you just gotta power through. Yeah. And then I mean, that's not good probably therapy advice. For me, I power through. I think that I have seeked therapy and that has helped from I think like the health anxiety perspective. And started crocheting recently.

SPEAKER_05 22:02

Oh, really interesting. I w I just bought a crochet. Sorry, go ahead. No, no, finish.

SPEAKER_01 22:07

No, I was gonna say I'd suggest that to anybody who's anxious because what I find is like you can't really be, you know, ruminating about your cookbook when you have to be thinking about your next thread. It's true, right?

SPEAKER_05 22:18

My grandmother used to crochet, but I literally just like late last night, because this is when I do my online shopping, like all of us do because I can't sleep. I bought a crocheted Birken bag. It's like it's the coolest thing ever. Some and it's a guy, I don't even know where he lives, I don't know what country he's from or anything. But I I was l looking at him and I thought, this he's just like this guy who cr he crochets on camera and he makes these like you know replica bags, you know, and it was like it wasn't expensive. And I thought, you know, well, that's one way to automate the magnets crocheted. I really loved it. I know you can't have it. It brain is already thinking, how am I gonna get my hands on that? That sounds pretty good. Um, I'm always surprised by how many people who have lots of followers and who are so public with their lives deal with anxiety. Like I have it. So many people that I've interviewed and had sitting in that chair have expressed that anxiety is just a part of their lives. And I and I I think it's it just speaks to the human spirit that even though we are nervous about things or we get anxiety, we can overcome it if we use therapy or or techniques. Like I have to use techniques when I get when I start to feel anxiety. What do you do? Oh, I have to I like I have to slow down my breathing, like significantly. I I have to breathe in, you know, in like I go in four, hold four, out four, in eight, hold four, out, you know, whatever the numbers are, depending on how anxious I am is how long I'll hold my breath for and just try to calm my mind down. I'll count things, like if you count five things in a room and you just say them over and over again. I'll say, Okay, horse, apple, table, light, you know, and then I'll just say that over and over again. And also I watch funny videos. Funny, you know, humor helps. So watching something on TV.

SPEAKER_01 24:07

That's funny you say that because my husband and I um will watch reality TV when we go to bed, and I find it's the only thing I can watch before bed. Like I don't to settle you down. Yeah, like I can't, you know, watch a documentary or something. Like I need to like chill. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 24:24

Do you let people write into your life though? You you're it's in your home that you're doing this, right? You don't have a studio?

SPEAKER_01 24:30

Well, we have a studio in my home now. Okay. Yes. So our home had like an in-law suite. Yeah. So we turned it into like a studio space. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_05 24:38

But still, there and y I mean, you went through your pregnancy very publicly. You went through everything publicly. Where's the line for you about what you will share and what you won't share with your audience?

SPEAKER_01 24:49

I mean, you know, that's a good question. I think that as much as I do share, there's like 99% that I don't. Yeah. And I just try to be really cognizant about other people's privacy. You know, I would never ever film my husband doing something and then post it without him seeing it. Yeah. There's gonna be like five million, whatever how many people watching it. I don't show my son's face. Yeah. So just trying to walk a line of privacy in where I think that the respect lies for other people. For me, I'm kind of an open book. Like I don't care as much, but I think for the people around me that I'm cognizant of it.

SPEAKER_05 25:33

That's because you're just so used to it now. You talk to the camera. It's funny on the show this year we had um some uh a couple people pitch and the girls were they were younger and they did like they had set up a camera and they were pitching, like they were pitching to um their social media audience, and they were so good when they were talking to the phone, but yet when they stood up to talk to us, they just couldn't do it. They couldn't have that human interaction. Like they they could talk to the phone, but they couldn't talk as well to people. And it was really fascinating to watch and observe how you know the lens becomes um inhuman in some respects. You don't think about there's a person at the other end of it. You do, because I can always tell you're connecting, you you really connect with your audience, you connect in a real way. I think it's because you're being yourself.

SPEAKER_01 26:23

Yeah, and I try to think of uh whenever I'm talking to the camera. My sister's good at this. Sometimes she'll just be like, act like a normal person. Like that's a good thing about working with your sister is she'll like she'll tell you. But I think I try to think about like I'm FaceTiming with my friends. Yeah. And it's really cool because I think a lot of people who are on social media have maybe this relationship with their audience where people have crossed boundaries or they've been really rude. I r really truly have a really nice audience. Yeah. Like they're very nice. Yeah. I don't get a lot of like, you know. Yeah. I do sometimes, but mostly, like, there's so nice such nice people. You mean there's five million nice people out there?

SPEAKER_05 27:09

Well that's that's how polite I that makes me feel better knowing there's five million million nice people out there still. We gotta hope so. You know, do you ever do you ever feel like when you go maybe this is just something I think, but I often will like go into an appointment. Like I I did sprain my ankle and I went to Fizio the other day and I walk in as as Arlene. Like just I don't even think about the show. And I don't think about until, you know, like you they start, there's you can tell they're nervous and think, why are you so nervous about just you know helping me with my ankle? And then you think about it afterwards. You're going to grocery store and I like well no makeup, I look like hell, you know, I don't care. And I don't because I I somehow don't translate myself that way. And yet, and then you see people taking pictures of you quietly or doing things, you get that a lot. You must get that a ton more than I do. Oh, no, not a ton more than you. But do you feel like do you feel like like yeah, just be yourself?

SPEAKER_01 28:05

That's uh uh definitely a source of anxiety for me. More so like exactly what you said. Like, I'm not a fancy person. Like I will go out looking, you know, sweatpants, run to the grocery store stuff, definitely get anxious about like I'll get a text a message after on Instagram. Oh, I saw you out. I'm like, what was I doing? What was I wearing? Did I have food on my mouth or on my face? Did my hair have this huge mat in it? You know? Um, so there's more the anxiety about like people's perception of me, I guess. I hope it matches what they have built up in their mind online, although that's not even possible, right? Because you're never going to kind of satisfy mesh mesh that. Uh, I was talking to my therapist about this actually, and she said, remember that they are focusing on their interaction with you just as much as you're focusing on your interaction with them.

SPEAKER_05 29:02

Yeah, they're they're probably ten times more nervous than you are thinking about how they're showing up. Where do you see this going? I mean, you're still young. Like, where do you see this? Is this like is this the career? Or is this the moment in time, or what what is this for you?

SPEAKER_01 29:18

Definitely the career. Like, I love what I do and I don't foresee departuring from it. Like, I'm still I have like three more cookbook ideas already percolating. Like it's like I love it. Like I love it. I've just couldn't imagine doing anything else at this point. Where do I see it going? I don't know. You know, it's become so much bigger than I imagined, so it's hard to kind of imagine where. And then additionally, now that I'm starting a family, it's like where how do I balance both and how big do I want this to get? And you know, those questions.

SPEAKER_05 29:57

It is a it's an interesting, it's an interesting world. And is AI going to impact you at all? Oh, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 30:04

Like, I think that I'm seeing AI cooking videos that are like fooling me. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_05 30:11

They used to be so easy to see and know they're changing a lot.

SPEAKER_01 30:15

Very sophisticated, and then additionally, it's really impacting food bloggers. So we generate a lot of our income from our food blogs. So people go to our website and there's like we're we're hosted by an ad network that puts ads on our site, and we generate income from that. And what's happening is Google is changing. Google is showing like AI overviews. So say you were to, you know, Google plant-based salad recipe, and my salad recipe would normally come up. Now it's just taking my salad recipe and putting it in an AI overview so they don't have to go into the website.

SPEAKER_05 30:50

Oh, so then you don't get the traffic to the website.

SPEAKER_01 30:53

Mm-hmm. It's changing a lot.

SPEAKER_05 30:55

And I think it feels unfair to creators, like it totally does.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

But I guess Google's probably trying to compete at a level with like a chat GPT and stuff like that. So I mean, it makes sense what they're doing because I think probably a lot of their search traffic is going to those AI um search has changed completely. Yeah. So it makes sense what they're doing. It's very unfortunate from a creator level. I'm hopeful that maybe a solution can be sought. But I think where my kind of mind goes is that if this is serving the customer better, like if if having the recipe come up right away is serving the person who's searching for it better, that's what's ultimately gonna win. So where does that leave food bloggers? I don't know. How do you make money doing that? Yeah. We try to, I'm always trying to, you know, have multiple sources of income so that if one falls by the wayside, we can keep kicking. How's your dad's health now? How's Dad is good? Um he so my mom passed away, you know. If we're gonna talk about my mom, I'm gonna cry. Um my mom passed away, what's it been two years? Two years, which is insane. Yes. And my mom and dad were together. She passed from lung cancer. So a lot of cancer in the family. Um, so he's doing well under the circumstances, and he's cancer free. So that's good.

SPEAKER_05 32:21

How long were they married for? Forty-five years. Forty-five years. Oh, that makes me sad just to think. That's a lot that's a lifetime. Yeah. And that's for him.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

They were together since they were like twenty, yeah. Oh wow. Yeah. And then for him to actually then big change because he's still in the farmhouse that my mom and ha him had. So like it's a big, you know, horrible.

SPEAKER_05 32:40

Yeah, full of memories, full of everything that that uh that wow, wow, wow. And and lung cancer. I had a friend that died from lung cancer. It's hard, it's a hard cancer.

SPEAKER_01 32:53

Horrific. Yeah. Like, and I always, when I get a chance, um, thank you, remind people that in Ontario, and this could be Canada too, if you're over 55, if you know anybody that's over 55 and smoked for over 10 consecutive years, it doesn't have to be, you know. Could have been when they were 20. Yes. Yeah. Yes. You can get a CT scan. Don't get an X-ray.

SPEAKER_02 33:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:16

The lung cancer was missed on my mom's X-ray. Get a CT scan. And um, you know, early lung cancer, there's such a stigma around it because of the smoking. And um, it's the deadliest cancer. Like it kills more people than any other cancer. And um, it's devastating. It's devastating. Like it's and what people go through in terms of treatment for cancer is just you know, that changed my view on the world seeing what people my mom fought for two years. So seeing what people have to go through to stay alive or is just Was she home? Yes. Yeah, she was oh i yes. Um it was just such a such a fight. She like she did not want to let go at all. And very active, had had quit smoking ten years prior. Um, so came out of, you know, real shock, very healthy at the time, and then And were you and your sister the caregivers of her vision or Yeah, um me and my sister and my dad, you know, and this like it reminded me also from a social media perspective that like you really just have no idea what's going on with people because I never shared. Like this was my mom's private health information, but like I'd be like, you know, at chemo with her posting a video, throwing a broccoli stock up in the air. Like it was like a weird kind of dual life that I felt like I was living at the time, and you're kind of on your toes the the entire she was terminal from um the day she was diagnosed, basically, but you kind of always are like holding on like new treatments.

SPEAKER_05 34:55

My father passed away from cancer. Yeah. Totally understand what you're saying. You always think there's hope, you always think there's gonna be something.

SPEAKER_01 35:01

And there is for some people. I mean, there's amazing uh trials coming down from immunotherapy and stuff like that, but it was uh very aggressive.

unknown 35:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:11

I'm sorry to hear that. That's I it and also probably just renewed your interest in kind of food as medicine too, right? Like like but it's also it is lifestyle. It is not, you know, trying to take it is trying to take care of ourselves in every aspect. Um my friend that had uh lung cancer, same thing, was a smoker many, many decades before she uh she had lung cancer. Yeah, it was a marathoner, you know, like it's super super healthy.

SPEAKER_01 35:39

I know my mom uh was so healthy at the time that was diagnosed, that's the hard part, right? Like you just said and I think it definitely you know, I'm 33 now. She was 31 when I passed. I think it before she was diagnosed with cancer, even though my dad had cancer, my sister's type one diabetic, like there's definitely health stuff in my family. I think I was so naive to the horrors that some people go through in life. Like, and it just totally shifted my world in like such a profound way. And I just like now remind myself that you just have no idea what people are going through. Like I I was able to operate as normal, but like it was a nightmare.

SPEAKER_05 36:23

Yeah, you don't understand what's going on in their lives, you don't understand what they're what's going on around them. Um it is it it it's it's disappointing to me that people can't get to a place where they have more empathy and understanding that we all are struggling with our own stuff, right? Everybody is, no matter what they look like on the outside. I always say you can't judge uh people's insides from what you see on their outsides, you know, like so true. You know, like they may look perfectly put together and so poised, but inside they could be going through the worst possible imaginable trauma or challenges. And it's it's it's kind of all of us. I think trauma is generational, it it's hard to get rid of it. Then you have illness on top of that that can make it even worse.

SPEAKER_01 37:07

The other thing I think about is like you people don't talk about grief that much. And when you think about it, it's something that all of us go through. Like even if you have your mom here till she's 90 years old, but still your mom. Right. Like when people lose someone, it's like the world just keeps moving, which I mean, what else is it gonna do? But I think it's about sometimes how often, you know, you see people post on Instagram that they had a baby, like just as often somebody family m member is passing away, and it's just like sometimes I don't think we talk about it openly enough, and it can feel very isolating.

SPEAKER_05 37:48

I think that's very true. I I that's why I'm I really appreciate you talking about it because I think we don't talk about it enough. We don't share that you know, we're all gonna die. We all are gonna go through that. Um and and grief is not something you should contain. I don't think. I think grief is meant to be released because it just otherwise it just sits with you and it it's it's um it's it's a I don't know how to describe it. It's a weight. It's a weight. That's a perfect way to describe it.

SPEAKER_01 38:18

It's a weight.

SPEAKER_05 38:19

Yeah, yeah. Does mortality ever come into your head? Like, do you think about mortality now? More so because of what happened with your mom?

SPEAKER_01 38:26

Yeah, oh yeah. Like I think it's kind of like what I said in the na being naive before and then watching her pass and passing was not um, you know, peaceful, unfortunately. So like I just now it's like real. I think before you just think, oh, that's in the future, not something I think about. Now I think about it. And in some ways that's a good thing, I think, because I'm so much more cognizant that this could end at any moment. Like I think I'm trying to be so much more present with like my family and my son and be a better person.

SPEAKER_05 39:03

Yeah, yeah. Do you were you with your mom when she passed? Mm-hmm. So that's helpful that you were at least here, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's uh and and I'd like to get your sister in here just to I I feel like you should come on here and and and and just because you're big you're a big part of the story, right?

SPEAKER_00 39:20

Yeah, yeah, I guess I mean it's furniture.

SPEAKER_05 39:23

Does she ever go on camera?

SPEAKER_01 39:25

Oh no, she doesn't.

SPEAKER_05 39:26

I mean by choice, I think some people know who we're talking to.

SPEAKER_01 39:30

She's a huge part. Okay, so interestingly, when my mom was diagnosed with cancer, like I said, it was kind of terminal from the beginning.

SPEAKER_02 39:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

Um, she left on compassionate leave from her job as a vet tech. And at the time I had just signed my second book deal for scrappy cooking. Knew it had to be, I had to write it within the year.

SPEAKER_05 39:48

Well, could you chair?

SPEAKER_01 39:50

So all of a sudden, your mom is diagnosed with terminal cancer. I gotta write this book. And I remember I started searching for ghost writers. I was like, I'm not gonna be able to do this. I can't do this. I can't even think about anything else. I've lost a bunch of weight, I wasn't eating, like it was devastating. So, anyways, she ended up working, joining the team then. You did. Yeah. So that would have never happened. We always have these, we always have all of these different um things that have happened because my mom got cancer, which is like so twisted. But there's like things that fell into place in life that wouldn't have otherwise.

SPEAKER_05 40:32

So your sister wasn't working with you up until that point. Oh, yeah. What were you doing?

SPEAKER_00 40:36

I unregistered budget technician. Okay. Uh still registered, but uh not available. I'm not available to be hired by anybody. Uh and I had been doing that for 10, 15 years, but um she needed help and yeah, yeah, I was drowning. And I also needed a break from from the job that I was doing, and it just all went into place. One got sick, and uh yeah, it was we be get well, we need each other.

SPEAKER_05 41:04

You were a close family, yeah, very close. Very, very close and still a very close family, yeah. Still, yeah, yeah. But the fact that you found each other through that in even a deeper way, that's says a lot, right? I mean, it's easy for sisters to not be close.

SPEAKER_00 41:18

Um we talk about that all the time. We say, like, oh my mosh, if what if uh mom had never gotten answered you know, how she could she had a baby, like she was I got pregnant right away because I was like this is shocking. Yeah, but uh I had been with my my husband for like uh twelve years and we had been doing, doing, doing, oh not the right time, not the right time, not the right time. Sandra was a big mom, and it was like, okay, well that was now the time. Did your mom eat your baby?

SPEAKER_01 41:47

Yeah, yes. Yeah, like we were able to get her out to all her appointments and you know, really be I I so grateful for the job I had at the time because I was able to like, you know, had I worked a normal nine to five, I wouldn't have been able to like be with my mom if she had like three days of consecutive treatment every two weeks, I think. So yeah, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_05 42:09

The healthcare system is incredible, isn't it? Like it yeah, as much as we complain about it in Canada.

SPEAKER_01 42:13

Oncologists, oh my gosh. Yeah. That man like was an angel. Yeah. Talk about like, you know, those people like people who work in cancer care or the nurses and um even the people who put prick her arm and everything were just angels.

SPEAKER_05 42:30

Yeah, yeah. And they deal with it every day, just and they see it every single day. I don't think I could ever work in pediatrics for that reason. I I don't think I could ever ever do it, right? No like ever. I mean, I I think it's um and I and thanks thank you for coming in. I know we I we we didn't plan it. We had our poor camera crew was rearranging everything behind the scenes as we were changing the the setup, but I think to me, when people listen, Carly, you are you are you are way you were so humble and you have such a huge following and you make a difference when people say you're gonna make me cry now. I always cry on every single episode. But I'm glad I'm not the only one. I know I cry easily too, and I think it's okay to cry. I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I think it it's it's it's your body kind of allowing you to feel and I think that's a good thing in today's world, especially. Um, but um I think it's important for people to see that behind you is a family, is it behind you is your husband, your your son, your sister, your dad, you know, your your the the the passing of your mom and what that did to you because it's so easy to get caught up in a social media world where everything does look perfect.

SPEAKER_01 43:40

Totally.

SPEAKER_05 43:40

You know, and it's not always perfect, right?

SPEAKER_01 43:43

Yeah. Not at all. And uh, you know, I don't think we could have, you know, had I not had her leave her job, maybe the book will maybe I would have hired a ghostwriter and those wouldn't be my recipes, and like maybe the book wouldn't have done well, and like there's just so much. That came from that, that's so interesting when we think about it.

SPEAKER_00 44:03

And when I started you were working in your kitchen, like in your home. Yeah. If you needed help, it's like hiring somebody to come in that you don't know to help you try and cook a year up in the volume. Yeah. Oh, big time. I can't believe it. Like that still surprises me every time, right? Because wow ja to eat or just won't ja you book them for whatever. And she gets recognized just constantly. It's just always it because I see her as my sister. Yeah. It's a bit of a shock.

SPEAKER_01 44:34

It's to your point. Like it's like family support. Like even um my husband's on paternity leave right now. Like people keep saying to me, How are you doing it? I'm like, well, my husband is awe.

SPEAKER_02 44:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:46

Like I this is support. And not everybody is in that position. So I'm like super grateful.

SPEAKER_05 44:51

Yeah. I could I could tell how much she loves you just by what she was saying. That's why I wanted you to come in and sit here because it was so obvious to me that you kind of are connected in more ways than just supporting each other. You really are like really connected to each other. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:06

She said before we came here, she's like, Oh, I'm not gonna be on camera or anything. I said, Oh no, don't worry.

SPEAKER_05 45:12

I I I've never done this before. I've never, you know, everybody everybody brings somebody with them, but I just was listening to you thinking, oh, I don't know. Like I feel like I want to understand what it's like to be her sister, you know, because I can be a friend on social media and it's so it's so great to have met you in person, but it's so clear to me that you have this this you know, this family behind you that has made you who you are. And yeah. What do you what would you say to her? What do you think she needs to hear? Oh gosh, if you ever said have you ever told her that or uh No, not really actually.

SPEAKER_00 45:45

I just kind of pop her off a letter some time.

SPEAKER_01 45:48

Not usually We're like a very like um blunt family. Are you like we'll be yelling at each other, yeah. Like she's talked me off of many like stupid ideas. Like it's a good back and forth. It's always good because she's not vegan and she also has a three-year-old. Yeah, it's such a good testing um ground because she'll be like, oh, Mackenzie, which is her daughter's name, is gonna love this. And like as soon as she says that and she's like a busy mom, like totally my target, um, I know it's like good. Yeah, it's gonna service my audience well. So that's like a big I'm also very in a sense.

SPEAKER_00 46:29

Like she doesn't like something I'm like no normal person is anything. The vegans, maybe, but the rest of the world is this, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:38

We've I'm proud of how and this is much to do with her working, how much more um particular we are with the recipes that we put out. Because I think when I was a like a one-man band at the beginning, it was just like survive, like get this out. Like there wasn't a lot of quality control content. I mean now we're just like I think it's a recipe first, content second, which is like really where I want to live.

SPEAKER_05 47:06

What's your favorite recipe that you've ever made?

SPEAKER_01 47:08

Oh my goodness, that is a hard question. Right now, it's um a green curry that went into this book. Like we were obsessed with this recipe all winter long, and I'm making it this week. So green curry, tofu kale, green peas over rice. So good. Green it's called green curry in a hurry. It's green curry in a hurry.

SPEAKER_05 47:30

Yeah, just because it's quickies, yeah. The new cookbook is all about it's called cookies. The new cookbook is called quickies for a reason. It's like, what's the longest anything will take you to make?

SPEAKER_01 47:40

You know, we have like a variety of styles of cooking. So it's uh there's like a dump and bake chapter, so like the prep will take you like five to ten minutes, but then they'll bake in the oven. But most recipes will be about 20, 25 minutes.

SPEAKER_05 47:53

Okay, so it's coming out in September. Oh, thank you, Mark. You need to go and buy it. Everybody who's watching this, go and buy Carly's cookbook. Um, she is a phenomenal human. Um, and her sister is pretty awesome as well. They're they're both that's a great family, and I can really feel the family, uh, the love and the pride that you have for each other. It's it's lovely. I always ask people if they want to say anything to this camera, if they want to say anything to the uh I mean, you're used to talking into the camera. Oh gosh, I don't know what to say. You wanna any last words you want to say to people about life, about anything?

SPEAKER_01 48:28

You know, I think in this day and age, the biggest message I would have for people is to be kind to each other. Like it's crazy what I see sometimes people spewing online and I just hope that I can be part of like a movement for kindness, whether it's to people and also animals. Like I think whether you eat animals or not, like we can all um even just be like more grateful for food on our plate and each other because that's what we need right now. It's crazy out there.

SPEAKER_05 49:02

That's the best message ever. So listen, wherever you are on your journey, I hope that this conversation that we've had today helps you um do the things that you want to do in life and be kinder to each other and to the animals around you. Bye everyone, see you soon.