Podcast Episode 196

with our guest Doug Evans

The Sprout Book: Tap into the Power of the Planet’s Most Nutritious Food

196.Doug_Evans_Final_Audio.mp3

Doug Evans [00:00:00] No one was like taking the baton, you know, and leading the charge. So I thought that I would organize, you know, some of the brightest minds, you know, of science, of nutrition, of medical and health and recipes and industrial design and product design and farmers. So I’ve just been spending the last five years not only writing and sharing about sprouts, but working with how this can become more accessible, more affordable.

Brilliant Miller [00:00:43] Hi, I’m Brilliant, your host for this show. I know that I’m incredibly blessed as the son of self-made billionaires. I’ve seen the high price some people pay for success and I’ve learned that money really can’t buy happiness. But I’ve also had the good fortune to learn directly from many of the world’s leading teachers. If you are ready to be, do, have, and give more, this podcast is for you.

Brilliant Miller [00:01:06] When I started this podcast years ago, the central question was what does it mean to live a good life and how can we do it? That’s a question that I’m interested in personally and I know that many people are interested in, but it’s hard to know where to start. My guest today can help. His name is Doug Evans. He is a pioneer in the natural food industry. He recently published a scrapbook Tap into the Power of the planet’s most nutritious food. Privileged to have him here in the studio in person today. And we talk about all kinds of things related to sprouting. Why? To do it? How to do it? Favorite Recipes. What Doug’s Health journey has been like and why. If you’re looking to improve the quality of your life, if you’re looking to feel better, if you’re looking to have more energy, if you’re looking to have the capacity to give more of the gifts that are perhaps latent within you. I think that what Doug is talking about can help. So you can learn more about Doug and his work at Dougevans.com. You can find him on Instagram or tik-tok. But I do hope that you’ll look into what Doug is sharing and that you will use it to improve the quality of your life. With that, I hope you enjoy this conversation with my friend Doug Evans.

Doug Evans [00:02:17] Mr. Doug Evans, Welcome to the School for Good Living podcast.

Doug Evans [00:02:20] It’s a pleasure to be here, Brilliant.

Brilliant Miller [00:02:22] I’m glad you are. Will you tell me, please, what is life about?

Doug Evans [00:02:27] I mean, life is about whatever you choose to make it about under whatever circumstance and whatever hand you’re dealt. Like life is the meaning that you give to it.

Brilliant Miller [00:02:42] And what have you chosen to make your life about?

Doug Evans [00:02:46] I mean, for me, the first part of my life was just figuring out, like, why am I here? What’s going on? Managing those voices in my head. Now that I’m clear, I look at how I can make a contribution, how I can make service, how I can make the world healthier, people healthier, how I could, you know, contribute to more compassionate living. And so the vehicle for that, for me, you know, other than my voice is I’m speaking for the sprouts. Speaking for seeds.

Brilliant Miller [00:03:27] Well, I know you’ve written the book that we’ve got right here, The Sprout Book: Tap into the Power of the Planet’s Most Nutritious Food. And we’re going to talk a lot about that. But, Doug, I don’t know that I’ve told you this, I don’t know if you realize that you are the answer to a prayer for me personally.

Doug Evans [00:03:42] Tell me.

Brilliant Miller [00:03:43] Yeah. So last year, in 2022, I did an inventory of the previous year I had lived, and I realized that it was not satisfactory for me. I wasn’t as happy or as healthy as I know I could be. And I made a commitment that 2023 would be the best year of my life. So I’d go from this kind of lackluster year to the best year of my of my life, and I didn’t know how I would do it. You know, I didn’t have a strategy. I only had an intention. And it was only a few weeks into the new year and our common friend Elliot, I was on a call with him. And I called him right then and he introduced me to you. And my life already has changed in some pretty significant ways just from the last few weeks of interacting with you.

Doug Evans [00:04:29] Wow. Well, thank you. And I guess there are no coincidences and you are attracting, you know, what you need to attract in your life.

Brilliant Miller [00:04:37] Yeah, I think so. And I think you and I have a little bit of a similar background from the standpoint of people that we love. People who are close to us made some lifestyle choices or maybe had some genetics and ultimately ended up in a pretty bad place healthwise.

Doug Evans [00:04:54] Yes.

Brilliant Miller [00:04:54] Right. And for me, it was my dad when he prioritized his work above almost everything in his life for a long time, ended up with diabetes and many other ailments, had his legs amputated below the knees, and seeing him in that way changed me forever. Made me certain that I did not want that ever to happen to me. And not only did I not want that for myself, I wanted to support and encourage others to live a healthy life. And I know you had, like I said, some similar kinds of experiences, parents and siblings. So tell me about your your journey to to eating well and to living good living.

Doug Evans [00:05:33] Yeah. So we grew up lower middle class with food scarcity, so there wasn’t a lot of food in the house. Everything was dished out in rations. And then when I was in the army, I overate, processed junk food. And then when I had money and I got out of the army and I had freedom, like I was using food as a reward system for me. So I was overweight, not obese, but overweight that I was eating really food that was triggering the pleasure centers in your brain. So everything was processed, refined meat, dairy, animal products, added oils, sugars, sweeteners, salt.

Brilliant Miller [00:06:19] Pretty typical American diet.

Doug Evans [00:06:20] Yeah, exactly. And then, you know, I was slowly and comfortably, you know, becoming overweight. So I was about 36lbs overweight, but still functioning. I would be tired in the middle of the afternoon. But then when my aunt got diabetes and they did a double amputation of her feet below her ankles, that was a real like. Huh? Like, you know, oh, my God. Like, do we have genetics, do we have genetically diabetes in our family? And then she died of diabetes, and then my uncle died of heart disease. And then my mother got stomach cancer and died and my father got heart disease and died. And then my brother became overweight, obese, diabetic, atrial fibrillation, hypertension, and had the first of three strokes and a heart attack. So I just thought like, hey, we’re screwed. Like, I’m screwed. Like, I have bad genes, you know? And then. You know, they say when the student is ready, the teacher will come. So in the most unforeseen circumstance, like New York City nightclub, middle of the night, you know, randomly, you know, hitting on a woman and turns out she was a vegan. And I never heard the term vegan before. I thought it was short for vegetarian or slang. And she explained to me about some whole food plant-based diet. And she was moving and curious about raw. I was like, Oh, wow. Like, what are you talking about? And I couldn’t even fathom. A day without pizza, pasta, meat, chicken or fish. I just couldn’t even imagine that dairy cheese. You know, I remember like, buying, like, the blocks of cheese. I’m just biting into them.

Brilliant Miller [00:08:18] I often say that cheese is how I know God loves me. So I, you know, I went ten years not eating meat. But veganism is another level. I don’t know that I’ll ever go there, but I’m interested to learn more about your experience.

Doug Evans [00:08:32] Yeah, well, so in a two-week period, I went cold cucumber, so I stopped eating all cooked food, processed food, refined food, meat, dairy, animal products. And I went from, like, eating all that junk to vegetarian, vegan, raw, vegan in this two-week window.

Brilliant Miller [00:08:55] How did you do it? I mean, I heard you say there was a woman involved.

Doug Evans [00:09:01] No, the woman kind of lit the match. But I was the fuze and like, I rapidly acceded where she did terribly, not in a competitive form with her, but I was grasping the information. And it made so much sense that everything that you put in your mouth was this life or death decision, you know? And so when I became cognizant, awake and aware, then I could no longer in good conscience ignore that information. It’s like when I hear you right now saying like, Oh, I don’t know if I could ever be vegan. Yeah. If you with your brilliance, like delved deep into the data and into the sentiment values, into the global implications of climate and environment, it would be incomprehensible for you to deviate. And, you know, I think that’s like the point for me. It’s like not even like a choice. Like last night you had you serve this beautiful dinner and then, you know, they passed out crack on the table, right? Sugar, chocolate-covered almonds, chocolate chip cookies, you know, refined like raw chocolate bars.

Brilliant Miller [00:10:29] Which I didn’t eat because you didn’t either, by the way. I’ll think if you weren’t there, I think I would have.

Doug Evans [00:10:34] Yeah, well, I’m looking at it now and like, my mouth was salivating like a teenage boy in a you know, in a strip bar. And I’m like, looking at it and I’m saying, I want to eat the whole plate. I want to eat all of it. And so then I’m like, Oh, every temptation resisted makes me stronger, you know? There’s no fucking way. Like, I’m not going to touch it. Yeah. And then afterwards, like, I’m in the kitchen and I’m like, Oh, is there anything else for me to eat? And then, like, I’m touching my stomach, I’m touching my thighs, and I’m like, Wow, I’m not hungry. Like, I have enough nourishment. I don’t need to do that. No. And so, so much of the mind like, is playing tricks on you and to constant test. But for me, when I understood, like the atrocities, like there’s no like, I don’t want to make this about veganism per se, but like, there is no humane way to kill a being that wants to live. Right. And there’s no difference between your cat, that sweet little cat that’s scratching up your beautiful chairs, you know, or the dog or the horse or the cow or the deer. Like these are beings and want to live now and, you know, to become, you know, like a killer and to take a knife or gun or electric prod and then tear them apart is just an indication of the state of affairs and global consciousness of war, separation differentiation. Yeah.

Brilliant Miller [00:12:24] Yeah, I think you’re right. And I do think that we will look back in time and realize that some of the things we are now doing are things that they’ll just no longer be socially acceptable. That’s my theory. Yeah, right. But I want to go a little bit of a different direction on something you said, which in the book you make the statement that the most powerful tool you have to change your brain and your health is your fork.

Doug Evans [00:12:52] That’s right.

Brilliant Miller [00:12:52] Right. Food is not just calories or energy. Food contains information that talks to your genes, turning them on or off, affecting their function moment to moment. And as you talk about food being this not just calories or energy, but not all food is equivalent, as we well know, right? That’s right. And you have discovered, as have many others. But I think you’re lighting a fire around sprouts specifically. Now. I had never really thought of sprouts at all. It’s not something I shop for. It’s only something I’ll eat if they’re available. But if I ever did, it was maybe a garnish, you know, or something like that. But I’ve been on a face time with you around dinner time, and I have seen your entire dinner as sprouts. Right. Tell me about how and why did you develop such a deep love of sprouts?

Doug Evans [00:13:47] So I was turned on to sprouts and sprouting 25 years ago, and I felt the power of them and the energy of them. Right. And the miracle of them. And I somewhat like just pushed it to the side. And when it became available, like, I would eat it. And then when I moved to Wonder Valley Hot Springs in 2018, right. I bought the land in 2017. I moved there 2018. I realized not only was I in the Mojave Desert, I was in a food desert, and that in order to eat the way I want to eat, fresh, ripe, raw, organic fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, seaweeds and sprouts like that’s the framework of what I’m willing to eat. I would either have to drive an hour and a half each way to go to Whole Foods or further. If I wanted to go to farms or I’d have to figure out how to be sovereign, how I could grow my own food. And turns out it’s really difficult to grow to have an organic garden in the desert or anywhere, for that matter. Right. And it could take weeks or months or years or never to get that thing going. And then while I’m hallucinating in the hot springs, looking at the galaxies and galaxies and beyond, I’m seeing the constellations of the stars twinkling. And I got the download from the universe that was so simple, and I think you’ll remember this for the rest of your life. Sprouts are vegetables. Right. That was number one. Number two, sprouts were vitamins and minerals and nourishment. And number two and number three, sprouts were a medicine that could treat both chronic and acute illnesses. And I didn’t really understand, like what this all men like. This was surface-level boom. And then the next day, it kind of unleashed me into this kind of obsessive searching for information about sprouts. And sprouts are really a label for a seed that is germinated and it’s becoming a seedling and like a little grain and it’s growing. It’s beginning its journey. And it turns out that this seed. Is a complete dormant living organism. Right. May feel like a pebble. Or you could break your tooth on it. But if it has an endosperm, it has an embryo, it has life force in it, sitting almost like in hibernation, in dormancy. And with as little effort as little water, you remove the enzyme inhibitors, the trips sends the lectins, and you trigger the germination process, which causes this seed to burst into life. And then it’s growing at a rapid speed where it may grow to four, six, eight times its volume in one week. Without soil, without sunshine, without fertilizer, it’s sequestering carbon from the atmosphere and it’s growing its dry mass. So it’s not just growing water volume, it’s increasing its dry mass.

Brilliant Miller [00:17:44] How does it do that?

Doug Evans [00:17:46] I mean, like it’s just a miracle.

Brilliant Miller [00:17:48] Yeah. In fact, that’s another statement from your book. It feels magical, but there’s no actual magic involved. It’s nature at its best.

Doug Evans [00:17:56] That’s right. And the fact that we get to eat that. Like. And what people don’t know is that every single sprout contains every single amino acid to form a complete protein that sprouts contain micronutrients, phytonutrients, polyphenols, bio flavonoids.

Brilliant Miller [00:18:19] I don’t even know what prebiotics means.

Doug Evans [00:18:21] This is the essence of what the human body thrives on. So you could be a sproutovor. You could be a sprouttarian. You can incorporate this superfood into your diet. And it turns out that sprouts are probably the number one food for regulating insulin levels in diabetics. Sprouts are the number one food for weight loss because they are high fiber, low fat, low calories, and super nutrients. So while you’re consuming the sprouts, you are naturally doing a caloric restrictive diet while the body is burning off its excess fat and its sludge. And you’re seeing these transformations. But it’s so antithetical to how the food industry works. Like, you go into Whole Foods, there’s 30,000 products on the shelves. 99.9% of those have additives, have preservatives, have been cooked, have been processed, have been refined, have added sweeteners, flavors, artificial flavors, natural flavors and preservatives. And to me, not worthy of consumption by this guy. And so when I thought about sprouts and I lived on sprouts for 30 days and I didn’t know what was going to happen, but what happened is literally I reconstructed like every cell in my body was influenced by this super nutritious living food now. And like, that was just the beginning. So now, like you asked me, like, what about Sprouts? So I’m not recommending or encouraging you to just eat only sprouts. Although you would thrive, right? You would thrive, but add sprouts to anything and everything that you’re eating, added sprouts before or after every meal or with every meal, and you’re going to start to see a transformation. Because what happens if you’re eating food that is processed, that has added salt oil and sugar, It’s highly addictive and it’s devoid of true nutrients?

Brilliant Miller [00:20:56] Yeah, You know, a few years ago I read a book, not even sure why I picked this one up, but it’s a book called The Secret Life of Plants. And in the book, the author made the point, if I remember correctly, understood it correctly, that the reason that many processed foods will stay good for years is because they’re devoid of life. Anything that has life in it will decay like a plant, you know.

Doug Evans [00:21:21] Right.

Brilliant Miller [00:21:21] Or even once we slaughter meat and so forth, that will decay very quickly because the life energy is leaving. But it’s why a Twinkie or even like a McDonald’s hamburger can sit on a shelf literally for years and not look any different at the end of it and not even necessarily decay. So this idea that if we’re eating something that’s rich with a life energy and I know some of that can start to sound woo woo, but then there’s another part that makes perfect sense. It was like, Hey, this thing is full of life, and if I eat that, that life will become me. Doug I’ve heard you say that in order for the body to really extract or maximize the nutrients in our food, ultimately it has to turn it into a liquid.

Doug Evans [00:22:00] It has to. It has to be liquid. So if you think about breast milk is able to totally satisfy the nutrients of a rapidly developing human being. Right. That if we’re eating things that are predominantly water-based, nutrient-based like fiber, there’s two types of fiber soluble and insoluble fiber. Soluble fiber gets absorbed. Insoluble fiber helps create a healthy movement, but it also is food for the microbiome. And this is a whole other rabbit hole that we could go down, but we have more nonhuman alien RNA DNA in our microbiome than there’s human DNA in the whole body. So you have like 5lbs of foreign alien living organisms in the body and you feed that fiber and it’s really happy. You feed it junk and it controls the brain. I mean, we have the stomach, brain, gut-brain connections are very, very powerful and very true. That’s a whole other rabbit hole that we can go down. But what happens is these cravings come not from like someone who’s weak or they have bad thoughts in their brain, like what you eat in the microbiome will control your behavior and make you eat more of the poison to feed it. And that’s why when people talk about cleanses and detoxing and water, fasting and dry fasting, the point is to kill those bad microbiomes and give yourself a fresh start.

Brilliant Miller [00:23:44] Well, let me just ask you about that a little bit, because I my sense is. I’m a skeptic in a lot of ways. Right. And I know there’s so much information there. So the question I’m trying to get to is, how do you know what to believe when it comes to health or what to eat or how to do it? Like, how do you personally pursue that?

Doug Evans [00:24:05] I feel that. We all know, there’s like an intuitive knowing, right? And if you like intuitively, just go into silence. And be present and ask yourself a question like, you know, what happens is this cognitive dissidence that occurs and the separation between where our food comes from and when we eat, it just becomes kind of standard and matter of fact, like, oh, here’s a burger, you know, here’s some chips, here’s here’s a hot dog, you know, here’s some cereal, fortified good marketing. But if you think about that, like, I can’t imagine you going to, you know, the field and tearing into a live cow, right, and eating it alive, you know, with your bare hands and eating the flesh, you know.

Brilliant Miller [00:25:12] I would use my teeth.

Doug Evans [00:25:13] Yeah, but even still, like, I can’t imagine you wrestling with the cow. Like, it’s just crazy. And I can’t imagine you as a grown man, you know, on your knees, suckling off of, you know, cows, teeth, like drinking the milk hairy like teeth. I mean, you may like just not happening, but what happens is they put in the glass, they pasteurize it, they put it in a box. They put, you know, fancy marketing on it, you know, and it’s subsidized by the government. It fits into the whole part. There’s lobbyists.

Brilliant Miller [00:25:50] The food pyramid includes it that we’ve learned from the time we’re kids.

Doug Evans [00:25:53] So, you know, it’s all like about brain. But if you ask yourself, like. What? What’s good for me? Like, what should I. And if. If you know. That if you’re of uncertain, like you’re not certain what to do, you can experiment and you can ask yourself, What do I think is the worst thing that could happen if I followed Doug’s protocol? Like, if I just listen to Doug, I surrendered to Doug, right? And I did it. What’s the worst thing that can happen? Well, I think you’d be hungry, right? Like, that would be the worst thing. And then you could always revert back to your old way of life. But if you were to incorporate it and all of a sudden you were to see the results and feel lighter, feel more energetic, like lessen the brain fog, tap further into your brilliance, then you would look forward to eating sprouts. You’d look forward to eating fresh, ripe fruit in season. Local vegetables grown in organic soil. Like it just makes sense. Like, do you want to eat a monarch crop where they’re using genetically modified seeds? Like the problem isn’t so much of GMOs is that they’re modifying the seed. The problem is with the GMOs, they’re modifying the seeds to be pesticide resistant so that when they’re when it’s growing and there’s insects on it, they can spray as much pesticide as they want on the plant. And the plant will survive, but the insects will die so they can get a greater crop. And so what happens is the consumption of pesticides, glyphosate, in particular, is known carcinogen, and they’re spraying it like it’s everyday normal things that are going on. So if you ask yourself what to believe, you don’t need to ask anybody else you can just say. Do I have a glyphosate deficiency? Right. Do I need this? Like, you know, where does the cow get its protein from? Right. From eating grass. The amino acids in the grass, like that’s where they’re getting it from. So if you want to go to the source and you want to be optimum, you want to be efficient, you want to be brilliant, you go right to the source. And it turns out what makes Sprouts really powerful is seeds are really, really powerful, but seeds have enzyme inhibitors on them, seeds have a hard shell, seeds are condensed energy. When you soak them, you germinate them. You sprout them. They become more bioavailable, like take a simple lentil right part of the legume family, a lentil. When you sprout a lentil, you double the antioxidant levels, you triple the vitamin C, and you quadruple the soluble and insoluble fiber. Wow. So you’re getting like you have a lentil. Lentils are healthy. They’re part of the plant based diet. Vegan diet, vegetarian diets around the world. When you’re eating sprouted lentils, it’s like, whoa. It’s like a whole new level. And. If you eat them without salt oil or sugar, Right. They’re crunchy. They have a flavor, they’re nutritious. You won’t overeat them. Yeah, usually just enough.

Brilliant Miller [00:30:02] Well, that’s a point that I have lived this long and it has never occurred to me. Right. I think my mode up until now has been to eat until I’m full. Right. But one of the things that you’ve helped me become aware of is the simple possibility of not eating until I’m full, but eating until I’m no longer hungry.

Doug Evans [00:30:20] That’s right.

Brilliant Miller [00:30:21] Right. And I know that’s easier with some foods than others. Right. Because if I’m filling my belly with processed foods and all this stuff we’re talking about, that’s not so good for us. By the time I feel full, I’ve way overdone it in terms of not only unhealthy content, but calories. Right. But what sprouts I hear you say like you’ll be eating sprouts. You can’t overeat sprouts.

Doug Evans [00:30:42] Yeah, you can’t and you won’t. And like the consequence of overeating sprouts is you all have like a gargantuan, like, orgasmic poop. Like, that’s what will happen.

Brilliant Miller [00:30:55] I’m not sure if I want one of those or if I want to stay away from that.

Doug Evans [00:30:59] I don’t think there’s any religious limitation for feeling the sensations of your prostate and your colon in that level. But it’s really satisfying. Like it’s really satisfying to have that release, you know, And turns out, you know, animal products have de minimis amounts of fiber, which is why there’s a level of constipation, you know, in them. And then if you think about the number one over-the-counter drugs are antacids, Pepto-Bismol. I can’t even think of the Tums, you know, Alka-Seltzer because of all the acid that’s forming in the body. When the body is trying to break down these solid forms as opposed to fruit or sprouts that go through the stomach into the small intestine, into the colon, and you’re extracting the nutrients and you get a good fiber, rich poop. Now, I mean, it’s just like it’s so intuitive, but what happens is you don’t listen and act on your intuition. You know, when you are a subject of someone else’s marketing campaign.

Brilliant Miller [00:32:21] Yeah, well, plus, people are busy, right? And a huge factor in food is convenience. Another factor is cost. Right. Another factor, of course, it goes along with conveniences, availability. So like what’s easy? Then there’s the whole thing of what do I understand, right? Where I don’t even though I’ve read your book, I don’t understand from experience how to grow my own sprouts yet. And I understand it’s not complicated, but it does take some effort and maybe even more attention to staying on schedule over rinsing and, you know, making sure that I’m using the appropriate substances or not using, you know, things that have dyes or chemicals. But I guess where I’m going with all this is what from your view, like if somebody if you could tell somebody something in a minute to get started. Yeah. What do you say? Like how do people begin?

Doug Evans [00:33:12] I mean, I would say, you know, without self-promoting the book, right. Sign up for my free newsletter at the spout. BBC.com I’m sharing constant information and responding interactively on Instagram. It’s just Doug Evans I’m creating content on Tik-tok, and it’s kind of crazy. I was never even on tictok. I never like, I thought Tik-tok was like, you know, dog videos and things. And so six months ago I opened up my TikTok account and like 25 of my videos went viral with million views each, like just going off and so sharing information. But basically the essence is you want to get high quality organic seeds. You want to get a vessel like a mason jar, and they make tops that screw on to them. Or you could use cheesecloth and a rubber band and then you want to use the best water that you can have access to. So I prefer filtered water, spring water, distilled water. And if all else is not available, tap water and just use the best resources you have. And there’s a chapter in my book called Junkyard Dog, where I was taking things out of the recycling bin, out of the garbage. You know, I’m boiling them, sterilizing them and using them as vessels for sprouting. And the amazing thing is like. Not everyone can be a farmer. Not everyone could be a gardener. Not everyone has a green thumb. But everyone can be a sprouter.

Brilliant Miller [00:34:57] That’s awesome. And I just want to read a couple of comments that were as I was preparing for this interview and I watched some of the previous interviews you’ve done and I read some of the reviews people left on Amazon about your book. Here’s here’s one. I bought Doug’s book and recommended it to everyone. It’s fantastic. And my favorite read this summer. I’m currently sprouting broccoli seeds, sunflower seeds, red clover seeds, pea shoots, and growing carrot microgreens. I happily made the investment in the materials. I’ll need to have fresh fruits and greens in my home all year round, regardless of supermarket supply. I also love Truleaf. This person mentioned. I also love Truleaf market for organic seeds and stocked up. My husband is getting on board and adding them to his sandwiches and drinking them in smoothies. Thank you Doug, for this wisdom. So I realize you probably didn’t even read that comment.

Doug Evans [00:35:50] Read. I don’t read any of that. Isn’t that awesome?

Brilliant Miller [00:35:53] That was in the comments of the interview you did on the Spartan podcast. Wow. But how great that there are people who are looking for this. And as people when they find it, they’re acting on it and it’s making a difference in their life. And I know from my experience it’s not the kind of thing that I just read in the book, and I’m like, Oh, I have all this stuff in the cupboard. I’ll just get it out and use it. So it is a journey. But as I just wanted to share that with people listening to hear like, Hey, there are other people that this is working for. And then also to share with you, because I realize you probably didn’t read this woman’s comment, but now what an awesome thing.

Doug Evans [00:36:25] Yeah, I feel so good. I feel so good. And you know, April 2023, my Sprouting masterclass comes out at commune. So one commune will tor.com slash sprouts. You could sign up for the Sprouting Masterclass. And look, my vision is to in a wake the world up, you know, to sprout. And that if you think about in the flyover states there’s food insecurity, there are food deserts, that there’s no longer an excuse for people not to have high quality nutrition available for pennies a serving.

Brilliant Miller [00:37:05] Yeah, that’s awesome. And I do want to ask you about your favorite recipe, because I understand you took the advance the publisher gave you for this book. And instead of like buying yourself a new car, which, you know, it wasn’t huge, but you spent that whole thing with a recipe developer, correct? Right. To create 40. Is it 40 of recipes in this book that are, I can attest, are delicious. Some of them II think I’ve experienced. But what’s your favorite?

Doug Evans [00:37:36] I mean I think that the easiest thing is simplest recipe is take garbanzo beans, organic garbanzo beans, sprout them for three days and then add some pickle juice, pickle brine and a pickle in a blender and make it dip.

Brilliant Miller [00:37:57] Wow.

Doug Evans [00:37:57] And then take anything, you know, more sprouts like you could use other sprouts and dip into your sprouts and use that as a dip or crudités or a homemade flax cracker or even, you know, a regular cracker to get it. Like the idea is, you know, consuming them. So that’s one thing. The other thing is like just, you know, less of a recipe, more of a function. Take your broccoli sprouts, freeze them into ice cubes, and every time you’re making a smoothie, you have fresh broccoli sprouts on demand. Like we didn’t even talk about how broccoli sprouts can have a hermetic effect to create heat shock proteins in the brain.

Brilliant Miller [00:38:41] I have no idea what you just said. What?

Doug Evans [00:38:44] Hormosis. This is like when we do the ice bath. You know, you. You’re lowering the body temperature, and the body’s working hard, you know, to respond to get the body back to homeostasis. Right. Or if you’re in a hot bath, hot spring or sauna, the body’s working hard to cool itself.

Brilliant Miller [00:39:07] Sure.

Doug Evans [00:39:08] So when you’re consuming certain sprouts, they are medicine that the body is actually increasing body temperature internally, heat shock proteins which are causing the body and the brain to work very hard. And then turns out that is able to reduce symptoms of autism. It’s able to detoxify benzene from the lungs, it’s able to regulate insulin levels all through this, you know, magical properties of. The of the plant being so powerful. Um, to operate. So if we think about where to get started, get some organic sprouting seeds. Get a jar or tray and, you know, start adding water following directions is you know, probably, you know, forget about me. People have been spouting long before me. Sure. I was just the guy that was mano maniacal, who had the time on his hands and who had the vision to think big, to think that sprouts were more than a garnish. They were more than a hippie food. They were more than something you’d find in Asian cuisine, but that sprouts were something that could become a thing now. And so that became my thing, to make sprouts a thing, which is like, you know, why flew here? Yeah. You know, to do this podcast, to share this message.

Brilliant Miller [00:40:47] And I’m so glad you did. And I do want to ask you about the sprouting company. Will you talk a little bit about what it is and what your vision for that is?

Doug Evans [00:40:56] I mean, it’s really basic. It’s that the fact is that sprouts have been underserved. They’ve been like the stepchild of nutrients, you know, and of food. And I just, you know, hallucinated that no one was like taking the baton, you know, and leading the charge. So I thought that I would organize, you know, some of the brightest minds, you know, of science, of nutrition, of medical and health and recipes and industrial design and product design and farmers. So I’ve just been spending the last five years not only writing and sharing about sprouts, but working with how this can become more accessible, more affordable, where the current tools for sprouting, you know, a mason jar was designed for canning.

Brilliant Miller [00:42:04] Right.

Doug Evans [00:42:05] Right. And people out of necessity turn that into a tool for sprouting and I look at that and the critic in me. Um is able to see what could be a little bit better. Well, it could be a lot better and what to do. So that’s just something that, you know, low key. I’m just working on seeing how I can make it better. And I’ve been, you know, sharing more information as it comes. But it’s really about community. Like creating a community around the world to support sprouting. And it’s beginning right now just on social media. Also, like I never used social media until I decided to publish content around sprouting.

Brilliant Miller [00:42:56] Yeah, that’s awesome. Well, Doug, just the last few questions for you before we wrap up, I want to transition the conversation briefly to an exploration of writing and the creative process. Right. And talk a little bit about your journey of taking your passion and your enthusiasm and all of your ideas and experience related to this and putting it between the covers of a book, right? Which I know many people, many people dream of writing a book, but it’s only ever a dream. But. But you did.

Doug Evans [00:43:25] Yeah, I would say I almost gave back the advance from the publisher and quit because the book was so hard for me to write, like the resistance was so hard for me to write. And like, I would sit down and I could talk about Sprout for 5 minutes or ten mins or an hour at a time, but the contract was for 60,000 words.

Brilliant Miller [00:43:54] That’s a lot of words.

Doug Evans [00:43:55] It’s a lot of words. And I have a lot of education, just not academically and not, you know, using the typewriter and the keys like this was just foreign to me. I was, you know, guy from the street. And so like for me to have the discipline and then I said, I’m going to sit and I’m going to write a minimum of 500 words every day, like and, you know, I could digress and go down the rabbit hole and I’m going to write 500 words a day. I’m not going to get up to go to the bathroom. I’m not going to eat, I’m not going to drink, my phone is going to be off. It’s going to be me and the screen. And I don’t care if I look at the word count in Microsoft Word, you know, every other second, right. Until I hit 500 words, But I’m just going to write the book. And I did that 500 words every day until the book was done.

Brilliant Miller [00:44:55] Wow. Well, and maybe that’s part of what you meant when a couple of weeks ago I asked you about this. I was something I’m personally curious about. Right. And when I asked you how did you do it? And one of the things you told me was I had to channel my inner Goggins, your inner David Goggins right? Tell me a little bit more about like where that idea came from and why and how you did that.

Doug Evans [00:45:16] I mean, I did that when my wife now, then girlfriend, basically said, you’re like a college student procrastinating. And that just triggered me because I’m like, I’m not a college student. I don’t need to procrastinate. Like I’m the master of my fate. Like, I just need to dial in and give myself a plan and then execute my plan like you asked me to do the ice bath this morning, 40 degrees. And you know, you said, oh, bring a swimsuit or I’ll do the ice bath at 6:30 in the morning. I’m like, That’s the last thing I want to do. Yeah. But I’m like, Oh, no. Like, I don’t want to do it, but I’m going to do it now and then I’m going to do it with love and joy and pleasure and make the most of it. And I apologize for waking up your whole house like screaming at the top of my lungs in. But it felt good.

Brilliant Miller [00:46:12] Yeah. Now it was awesome. It was great. Okay. And the last two questions I have, One is about your place in Water Valley.

Doug Evans [00:46:21] Yeah.

Brilliant Miller [00:46:21] So you have a number of homes, residences, two airbnb’s in a little community.

Doug Evans [00:46:27] In Wonder Valley, Hot Springs.

Brilliant Miller [00:46:29] Is beautiful and I’ve had the privilege to visit. I was able to sit in a carved. Is it marble? A marble tub?

Doug Evans [00:46:35] We have some that are marble, some that are granite, yeah.

Brilliant Miller [00:46:37] It was fed by about 115 degree hot spring water. Yes. Underneath the Milky Way. Yeah. It was beautiful. If people want to learn more about that or they want to experience that for themselves, which they do.

Doug Evans [00:46:48] Wonder Valley Hot Springs on Instagram has some beautiful pictures or the website at WonderValleyHotSprings.com and basically Wonder Valley is this little town that has wonderful, amazing Sunrises, sunsets, the darkest stars, the darkest skies, the brightest stars. And people come from all over the country, if not the world, to stargaze where? Minutes from Joshua Tree National Park. So there’s spots in the park that are just, like, breathtaking. And so I just chose to live there. And then opportunistically, I was like, Oh, well, we can buy this piece of land over here next to us here and across the street over there next to us. So we just put together this little community and put it up on Airbnb and on our Web site and, you know, and we get to live there and I get to invite, you know, people there, my friends. And, you know, we’ve had, you know, some of the most amazing people in the world, you know, come visit.

Brilliant Miller [00:47:59] Really, really special place. I, I got there. And that first night I thought maybe this is where I’ll come and finish my book.

Doug Evans [00:48:05] Oh, yeah. I mean, it is. You know, you were in the writer’s cabin.

Brilliant Miller [00:48:10] Yeah, that was awesome. Well, Doug, what advice or encouragement do you leave anybody who’s watching or listening to this?

Doug Evans [00:48:18] I think that wherever you are, if you’re able to hear this, you already won. You won the ovarian lottery like you are here and now. I want to just encourage you that you can choose whatever path or whatever destiny that you want and choose love. Choose generosity. Like play the game to see who could be the greatest giver when you’re right and give to yourself, too. Yeah, right. And if you live with that, life just becomes just a joy.

Brilliant Miller [00:48:58] So awesome. Okay. Well, again, my guest today, Doug Evans, author of The Sprout book. You can learn more about Doug on Instagram. You can visit him at Dougevans.com. Yeah, right. And with that, Doug, thanks so much for being a guest and making time to come hang out here in Utah.

Doug Evans [00:49:17] My pleasure. Brilliant. It’s the best ever. So glad to be here.

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