BREAKING NEWS! The Launch of VegTech: The Global Vegan Impact and Innovation Index with Elysabeth Alfano

Thank you so much, Justine. It's so good to see you again.

Likewise. I got to ask The Running Nutritionist, what a great title, how'd you come up with it?

Yeah. Well, it's a play on words. I mean, I'm certainly a runner. I have been a professional triathlete and competitive runner for almost four decades now. But Running Nutritionist means running a lot of things, running in work, running in life, running the kids around, it used to be when they were also small. And just as a working woman, we have to do a lot of running, a lot of tap dancing, a lot of running. And it was just a natural fit for me, obviously, as a nutritionist to be The Running Nutritionist. So that's been me for a very, really to the core for most of my adult years.

Yeah, I think it's a great title. I think it really talks to who you are. I think a lot of things that people don't know, they know you as a nutritionist, but there's so much more. You have products, you have a book, you consult. I'm not sure where we should start, but I'm gonna start with the obvious. Because right in the corner of the photo of the picture, for those that are watching this video, you can see her product there. Lisa, can you talk to us a little bit about that product that you're showing us?

Yeah. So that CHI Energy is really an extension of who I am. The word CHI means energy. And if there's anything I really am is a ball of energy. I won't stop. I take advantage of every moment in life and living the life because I've been through enough in this life to know, it goes pretty fast and to want to make the most of it. My athletes, my clients, myself have all been challenged by finding that right snack. Often organic snacks like my own have lots of things in them. They have lots of sugars from the natural dried foods, or they have a lot of fat from the natural nuts which are very, very healthy for you. But when you're competing, you want a nice, clean, easy to digest product, or the result is a very very bad experience on any especially long distance course marathon ironman, what have you. So these are organic vegan, I am vegan, gluten free, allergen free, no sugar added, superfood infused. I work with local forms. One of them dehydrated their broccoli sprouts when incorporated to all the four varieties of bites. Broccoli sprouts are rich in sulforaphane. Big long word, but basically an antioxidant, so lots of goodness for varieties, specific fuel for different purposes. Whether you hit it in the drum or want to go on a long run and you just want a quick snack. I am protein, some others are lowering calories. They're really delicious. They also sort of play on that tropical fruit theme and Miami theme, so I have a cafe called Lychee Bites. So Cafe Con [inaudible] is stable here in Miami but I have the Cafe Con Lychee Bites, Tart Cherry for recovering bytes. I have the Empower Variety. They all have meaning, they all have purpose. It was a long road to get to this place.

But that's what I think it was gonna lead into that. What inspired this business?

I've seen thousands of clients over the years from working with the Olympic teams. I was the US Olympic Sailing Team Nutritionist for Beijing. I was a University of Miami sports nutritionist for a decade. I work with special forces with the US military, Navy SEALs, Green Beret, and just a whole hell of a lot of really amazing servicemen and women who serve us. So it was really the culmination of working with all these folks, serving all these folks, listening to them and hearing, again, those challenges that they had. Unfortunately, being a professionally trained chef, my other one of my other hats, I had been trained by some incredible chefs. Chef Jamie Simpson of the Vegetable Institute. The Chef Gordon in Ohio said, you've got to do something, you need a product. Because again, you could say so much, but people need food. So I always bring vegetables from my own private farm, I bring snack products. So I needed to come up with something that really captured what I'm talking about, what they need to perform well on the job or on the marathon course. And so with the training of some great chef, Malka Espinel, was a world renowned pastry chef who consulted on the project. We would meet every week to test drive the French infused flavors, the no sugar added, the gluten free, all of these presented their own challenges. And taste is number one. If it doesn't taste good, athletes are pretty tolerant of disgusting things as long as they could race fell off of them. But for the general public, it's got to be yummy and delicious. So hence, CHI Energy sending CHI Energy, starting a cheap movement, I picture this RV that all across America will join the CHI movement, get CHI energized. I just want to share, we all need positive CHI in our lives, especially now in such a crazy world that we live in.

I definitely agree. When you were building this business, and this was different than being a nutritionist, it was different than being on an Olympic training, it was different than anything you had ever done. You're going out there and being an entrepreneur in a different way and building a product. So what was one of your greatest challenges in doing that? It took a different skill set.

Well, I think the challenge for me is I've got to take it much more seriously than the next person. Because while it's an extension of me, it also reflects me professionally. So the labeling has to be spot on. Everything I say about the bite, there are no promises. There is not one food that makes you a great athlete or helps you to perform well, it's part of a programme of whole food and whole living lifestyle. It's got to be a part of things, it's one piece of the puzzle. So legally and professionally, I need to be very careful in how I present these bites. I think that's more of a challenge than the very talented mom in the kitchen creating this delicious bar cookie and sort of selling them, finding somebody to label it. I have to represent the product professionally. The product has to be professionally done. So every aspect of it, I have to be very careful. I take very seriously what I advise or guide people to do. There are a lot of bars and a lot of snacks out there that are great for a lot of people. This is not the only one, and there might be other ones for others. And I'm good with that. This is just my product,

Are there other nutritionists or other doctors that have put out products? How do you compare yours to others, and what differences do you see?

I'm such a kumbaya person. Even at my website, I'll say, hey, listen, this might not be everything for you, and I'm happy to send you somewhere else just like I would as a nutritionist. I'm not the nutritionist for everybody and I'll say, hey, I know somebody great in the city that you could seek. There are those bytes, bars and snacks that you have all those delicious healthy nods, and dried fruits, and fibers which you need for a healthy gut, but that you don't need when you're at the 80 mile mark of a marathon because you're going to be using the portagens that are therefore not decorations, but you know how to use them. You want to run your race. So there are different intentions for different bites and bars on the market. If you're hiking up a mountain that has very different needs, if you're sailing in the ocean, or golfing, or playing tennis, or a gymnast, or diver, I've worked with more than 20 sports, everybody has different needs.

I couldn't agree more. I think that everybody needs to eat for their body. It's the same way that people have different allergies and intolerances. And my next question was actually going to be about functional food and medical food, and where this fits in or doesn't fit in because it's a fairly new category that people are talking about. And I'm just wondering, from your standpoint, where you see this fits that category or does it.

So I am an integrative and functional nutritionist. I actually went to the University of Miami Med School when I was the director of the graduate program in nutrition there. And they had a clinical nutrition, integrative and functional Clinical Nutrition programme. They're also attended, as you know, I'm certified in culinary medicine. So being trained in all those different areas, I am thinking of that next level. I wanted to get just like I would with a client, let's just get the basics in your body. Let's just get good nutrition in your body, and then let's take it to the next level. So if you do have these allergies, or gut issues, or risks for certain chronic diseases, maybe you have heart disease in your family, or cancer. I had a lady the other day in my office with fertility issues. So you're addressing or I'm addressing as an integrative and functional nutritionist, all the pieces of the puzzle. And so this is one piece, but my thoughts as I take the next steps, hat number four, as a licenced psychotherapist dealing with a lot of folks with sleep problems and new disorders, and what kind of functional ingredients can be included so that we could mean some of these folks off of medications if it's appropriate, and get them on to some more natural sources of anti anxiety booths, if you will. Good nutrition in the body has been shown to minimize or decrease the intensity, the scope of depression in some individuals. And so there are ways, same thing with cholesterol levels and diabetes. And so there are functional ingredients that I'll be able to infuse in the next, sort of the next round. And hopefully at that level, I'll have some partners that will also join me in this CHI Movement.

Wow, I'm so impressed and so excited for what you're building. It's just amazing because it talks to every idea that I have in how food integrates with our body, how we feel, and the world in how it's expanding. And we're hoping to change for food, and you're building the path for a better immune system. And if people get to better understand what they put in their body, they'll feel better, both emotionally and physically. So look at you leading the path, I love it.

There's no doubt. When I first got into this business, almost again, 40 years ago, I knew there was something up with these plant based foods. I've been a vegetarian since I'm 15, and I'm much older now. I knew there was something up with the colors of foods, the shells of a pea. We didn't talk about different types of fibers. We didn't talk about the management of blood sugars, with fiber. We didn't talk about bio activities. I mean, I can't tell you how much my form in the backyard of my home helped me get through COVID, like my body felt alive in such a very stagnant time in all of our lives. Sort of like circling and not landing at the airport, we were all waiting. Thank goodness for my farm and Netflix, then I got through a COVID. And thank God. I know a lot of people had COVID. It seems to me, and the research suggests that those who do get COVID will respond better if they are healthy. It's not guaranteed, but it can't hurt. It can't hurt us for the next round or whatever variant will come our way. I just felt very blessed that I fell into this because I had no intention of being a nutritionist, quite honestly.

Yeah. No, I think what you're doing, your background is amazing, it allows you to tap into so many different things. And really, it really is integrative in a completely holistic way. I hate to use that word holistic because it's so overused, but you've built a product using so many different talents and skills to be able to build something that's really thoughtfully done and allows people to really focus on this one thing, you're wanting thing, as you said. So people can, it may not be right for them, but it really talks to that athlete that's training or has a need to build up that stamina and eat for that need, so to speak. May not be right for me, but it's right for them. And you support all the people out there building all those other products that suit them. And that's amazing.

I'm so like we are the world kind of person.

But we're gonna bring that into the video. Bring that in.

I just love people. I love everyone and I've never been in this for the money. I was studying to be a professional musician. And when I was 18, I was hit head on by a drunk driver, and it ruined my potential career as a flute player. Well, in the months that I was wired up and my face was all broken pretty much, I was pretty depressed. I said, well, how am I going to get it? Well, how can I help others get well? And that's when I decided to go into nutrition. But I also felt like I really needed that psychological piece because we don't eat just to eat. There's a lot of emotion that goes into food. One of my books did research in that area on performance nutrition for tackling stress, is that it looked at hundreds of people that went through all different types of stresses, and what foods and why? What helped them to get through these stresses in life. Fast forward four decades into this career path you asked me, well, what was one of the challenges of launching the bites? The week that I signed the commercial kitchen contract in March, I was hit in my car by a fugitive on the run. He was going 70 miles an hour, he hit me in an intersection. I was spinning, flying, getting hit by him as he, anyway, it was godsend in a way because I feel like I'm here and able to talk to you, and I was pretty broken up again, concussion This is like the first week I'm finally, we're launching a website that every life is good, and I worked so hard, and it was like, but that's my testimony. That's why I'm saying like, all the hard work and everything I do, and everything I represent, and how I got through, and built, and healed from that is because of good nutrition. It's not magic. You don't just get through a major, two major traumatic accidents in life. So I don't want you to think like I've just glided through, picked up degrees, but my life has been about making the most of the moment because you don't know where the next moments are gonna be. And so I love being educated. I don't think there's ever an end to learning. I just really love life. Life is not perfect, but I do the best I can, and I hope that I make a difference in other people's lives as well.

Thank you for sharing that story for us. I really appreciate it. I remember that you shared with me originally how inspiring I thought it was. Really appreciate you sharing that. But I want to just ask you, what advice do you have for any entrepreneurs that might be watching or listening to this podcast? Any advice you have for new entrepreneurs launching a new product or business?

Don't do it for the money. I mean, I think you have to start with passion. There are going to be ups and downs. The first time I looked at an Excel spreadsheet with projections, I cried. I just absolutely cried. I love numbers when it comes to nutrition, but not money because I don't want to deal with that end of things. I just want to do what I do for the love of doing it. So I think you need passion, you need to be somewhat of a marathoner, a runner, even though you might not be a runner, you need some sustenance, you need to be ready, it is 24/7. You will be up at night, it will wake you up at night. And so you need to be ready for that. And just because you're Lisa Dorfman or whoever you might be, you might be fabulous with a ton of degrees, you might be the best chef in the world, look at how many best chefs have businesses that don't work out. And it's okay, it's just the project that didn't work out, it's not you. It's a learning lesson in life. But this being an entrepreneur has many twists, curves and detours. It's pretty crazy stuff, but I've met so many great people. Look, I've met you, like I feel so blessed. Regardless of where this all goes, I feel like I've nourished a lot of clients, a lot of new clients. And as they move into the retail space and on the road, I hope to make a difference in this world and touch a lot of people along the way.

Thank you. To just go off of what you said, I would say that some of my failures really spearheaded some of my greatest successes. And without those failures, I would not be where I am today.

It's a learning lesson in life. Even in marathoning, you have great races and you have not such good races, and you will learn from them. It's all good.

All good. So Lisa, for everyone that listened to the podcast today, is there a discount code we can offer them?

Of course, it's the holidays. We have to save money so we could spread the love a little bit more. So two for one and the CHI Bites, for sure.

Okay.

Just Justine. You're in. It's like kind of the bouncer at the door. Yes, just say Justine.

Lisa, thank you so much for joining me. And if any of our listeners or people watching today wanted to get in touch, what's the best way to connect with you?

Instagram @therunningnutritionist, The Running Nutritionist. CHI Energy Bites official is where you could find the bites. So right now, the best place since you have a national, and probably international audience is online, at my website, chienergybites.com. And yeah, @therunningnutritionist. I read all those messages. And I really am, I'm so grateful for all of you. And you, especially, thank you so much, Justine.

Thank you so much for joining us. And thank you to our guests for watching today or listening today. We're here every Tuesday. And again, as always, we're sponsored by NextGenChef.