244 - Overcoming the Odds: A CEO’s Rise from Homelessness with Plant Chompers’ Chris MacAskill

Episode • Aug 23, 2023 • 1h 19m

Our guest today, Chris MacAskill, is the exceptionally likable geophysicist and founder of the image-sharing service SmugMug AND the creator of the very popular YouTube channel Plant Chompers. At Plant Chompers, Chris offers entertaining, science-based content delivered with wit and verve on the benefits of a plant-dominant diet. He debunks popular myths while exposing marketing tactics that encourage unhealthy eating habits. The videos are terrific, uplifting, and we challenge you to watch just one!

From experiencing homelessness on the streets of Oakland as a child to graduating from Stanford to working alongside the legendary Steve Jobs, tune in to this riveting episode to find out how Chris overcame adversity and charted his path to success and what makes Plant Chompers so unique and compelling!

“You may be able to eat some kinds of fish now still and help wreck the planet while you do it. Being an earth scientist, it’s a huge worry for me. But you’re not going to be able to do it for much longer the way we’re treating our waterways, you know. All the stuff that’s going into the waterways, which goes into the oceans, which goes into the fish, you know. So, I think we’re left with, do the omega-3 pills work? And I don’t know. There are a few things… Well, there’s algae too. I mean, the fish eat algae. So you don’t have to take a supplement. You can eat food. And then there’s the ethical part, which is fish feel.” – Chris MacAskill

What we discuss in this episode:

Chris’s childhood and how he survived being homeless on the streets of Oakland.
How he was able to succeed in school despite being at a disadvantage.
Chris’s reflections on working with Steve Jobs.
The importance of finding your sense of purpose.
How Chris copes with adversity and what it means to “focus on the mission.”
What Chris and his wife eat in a day.
The reasons why fish consumption is deleterious to human health and planetary wellbeing.
How the cattle and dairy industries successfully conditioned us to eat their products.
What inspired Chris to launch Plant Chompers?
01:01:48 “Nooch” is nutritional yeast.
01:02:28 We interviewed Stephen Guyenet in episode 39: Your Eating Habits Are All in Your Head with Dr. Stephan Guyenet