Heather Crosby, creator of YumUniverse and author of the upcoming book by the same name, knows a thing or two about creating a healthy lifestyle.
At first glance, YumUniverse is beautiful and artsy and obviously focused on healthy, plant-based, gluten-free, whole food. But dig a little deeper, and you’ll discover that Heather has the same fascination with habit-change that I do, and she incorporates those critical concepts into her recommendations for meal planning or getting started with a plant-based diet.
Heather was our guest expert in the No Meat Athlete Academy last month, and today I’ve got a 20-minute clip from our seminar to share with you. It’s packed with Heather’s brilliant tips for simplifying your entire process around food — from planning to shopping to getting it on the table — without ever sacrificing health for convenience (down to the soaking of the nuts and seeds and cooking beans from scratch).
You can play the interview below, or listen to it on YouTube:
If you haven’t heard of YumUniverse, do yourself a favor and check it out. Heather has a TON of free how-to videos and articles about everything from sprouting to knife skills to a homemade natural oven cleaner (plus tons of great recipes for eating), all beautifully done in a way that makes me furiously jealous of actual artistic people.
If you’d like to hear the entire interview and watch Heather’s hour-long member Q&A video, plus get over 6 hours of audio content from me and our other guests, you can read more details about the NMA Academy.
See You in NYC or Chicago this Weekend?
So it’s not quite a world takeover tour (yet), but we’ll be at plant-based food festivals in two different cities at once this weekend, a first for NMA.
NYC: I’ll be speaking at The Seed, along with people like Scott Jurek, Gene Baur, Gena Hamshaw, Victoria Moran, JL Fields, and a whole mess of other leaders in the plant-based movement. My talk is Sunday at noon, but I’ll be around all weekend at the No Meat Athlete table, where I’ll have shirts and books. If you’d like to come, you can save 50% on your ticket with the code seed50.
I’ve also got 10 tickets to The Seed to give away for free! Just leave a comment on this post (before noon ET, Thursday, August 7th) saying that you’d like to be entered, and I’ll randomly choose 10 winners and send you an email if your number comes up.
Chicago: Wendy will be manning the NMA booth at the massive VeggieFest. Stop by and say hi — she’ll have lots of the coveted racerback shirts that we can’t seem to keep in stock. Tickets are free!
There’s a lot more planned in the next few months, too. I’ll be speaking (and running, camping) at the Woodstock Fruit Festival August 17-22. Then in September there’s Toronto and DC … both are in the works, with details to come.
Hope to see you soon!
I would love to come this weekend I’m around and close to NYC. Count me in on the drawing.
I’d love to be entered into The Seed ticket giveaway! I’ll be in NYC that weekend and am always interested in hearing more about plant-based diets. Thanks for the giveaway!
Would love to join in on the fun this weekend! Count me in on the drawing!
This vegan gal would love see you and go to The Seed this weekend!
Oh, wow! We’re right up the street from where this will be! Definitely count me in for the drawing – but if I don’t get it, I’ll probably use the discount code to get us in anyway!
I would love the opportunity to go to Seeds!! <3
Matt, I’ll be covering Seed on Sunday for work. I will come say hi.
Awesome! I am in NYC this weekend and I would definitely love to come and learn more about plant based diet. Please do count me in.
I’d love to be entered to win a ticket in NYC – that would be amazing!
I would love to have the opportunity to go to seeds!!
Can’t meet to meet all you folks at the Seed!
Wow this is perfect as I am traveling to New York tomorrow and will be there for a week!! I would LOVE to be entered in the give away to get a ticket to the Seed experience!!
Free, vegan, No Meat Athlete shirts – count me in for the drawing!
NYC…healthy food…learning…free?!?!
Yes to all. Consider me entered. Thank you for the chance!
You helped me run my first-ever event two years ago – Brooklyn Half 2012 and I am hooked (and prepping for my first marathon NYC 2014!). I would love to hear and meet you in person!
Fingers crossed!! And thank you for everything!!!
Mariko
Pick me for NYC! Thanks!
I’d love to be entered! And I just checked the schedule and I can’t believe my two favorites-you and Gena-were scheduled to speak at the same time. 🙁 I hope I can make it to this!
Please count me in for the drawing. I live in NYC and in town this weekend. Thank you for the opportunity!
The whole event sounds interesting, I would love to win a free ticket.
Count me in on the drawing for The Seed! I told my wife she’ll need to wear her NMA shirt if we go 🙂
Matt, its a great opportunity for the foodie and I must entered for a ticket in NYC .
Would love to be entered into the Seed giveaway!!
if it’s not too late, i’d love a ticket! Love NMA!
Have you already contacted the winners? If so I’m going to purchase a ticket, but I thought I’d check with you first in case I lucked out!
Hooray for quick meal tips! As a beginner vegan, I feel like I am ALWAYS chopping and cooking! Thanks for all the practical tips and info on this site. I’m just sad I missed The Seed!