>> So you guys probably know her as an actress.
But you may not know that she actually has
been an avid
environmentalist for years and years.
In fact, she was green before it was very
cool to be green.
And she's going to share with you her most
recent body of work called
The Kind Diet.
And she's going to talk about her journey
through the experience of
going from the vegetarian to a vegan and how
that's changed her life
and her perceptions of the world and the community.
So with that, I will keep it short and welcome
up Alicia.
[APPLAUSE]
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: Here's the book.
So I -- this book is -- I just want to, well,
thank you for all for
coming.
That's so great and having me here.
I'm really honored to be here.
And I'm really, really -- oh, I'm going to
take that.
[PAUSE]
I'm so excited about what I'm going to talk
to you about, so I may talk
really fast because I get really excited.
But basically I'm not -- this is not a book
for vegetarians, so you
should know that.
This is book for anyone who is eating whatever
the American diet is
right now.
So if you're feeling like I don't want it
be vegetarian.
Why am I sitting here?
It's exactly who I want to be talking to,
just so you know.
This -- I guess I'll start by telling you
just sort of what happened to
me.
And in the book I go into great detail but
I'll give you sort of the
brief version or I'll try.
Which is that I -- about 11 years ago, decided
that I could no longer
hurt animals.
That was my thing.
And at that time, I, you know, being in Hollywood
people were saying
you know that I had it lose weight and all
this annoying stuff.
And -- and at that time, I was very rebellious.
So the idea of being healthy was a no-no.
I was not -- I didn't want
it be healthy.
Nobody talked to me about being healthy.
If I lose my career, that's fine.
Like I don't want to know anything about this.
So, so when I made this decision for the animals,
it was really -- like
I had no idea if I'd ever have a good meal
again.
I had no idea if I would be healthy.
I just thought this is what I have to do in
order to look at myself in
the mirror knowing that I loved animals so
much.
Blah blah.
So what happened was about two weeks into
being vegan -- cause I didn't
-- I just went straight vegan.
Cause I had known enough.
From about age 8 to 21, I was flirt.
You know, I would decide to be vegan or vegetarian
for a few weeks
because, you know, my brother would make animal
noises of the animals I
was eating.
So I'd be vegetarian for like a month because
he'd be going -- making
lamb noises.
And then I'd forget because I was 8.
So basically, by the time I was 21 and I made
this hardcore commitment,
the reason I did it was because I saw how
animals were raised for food.
So that really got me.
But about two weeks into it, I'm thinking
 -- I never knew, I thought
maybe I'd be really unhealthy. I didn't really
care, because again, I
didn't really care about my health at the
time at all.
So when -- when I -- all of sudden people
started saying to me, You're
glowing.
What's happening?
Why are you -- and you look different.
And the biggest thing I noticed right away
was that I felt this huge
weight lift off of me.
Like I just felt lighter walking through the
world.
And that's sounds really weird but once you
experience it just it's
this amazing thing.
And I couldn't figure out if that was, you
know, the well I'll let you
read the book to get more details because
I could go on forever.
But the point is that I started to have these
amazing, amazing
reactions from people and inside of myself.
My nails started to get really, really strong
and thick.
I started to lose weight.
And weight that I was happy to lose.
It wasn't a problem.
And my -- my hair was getting stronger -- like
everything was just
growing and I was getting really healthy.
Oh and I was -- I had allergies and I had
an asthma inhaler.
And I had to have allergy shots twice a week.
And suddenly I stopped going to the allergist.
And I didn't think of it.
And the allergist said to me by e-mail, hey
Alicia, I haven't seen you
in a long time.
What's going on?
And I was like oh my God.
It's been like a year or something I haven't
been there.
And I said oh I stopped eating all this stuff.
I go, I guess that's why I haven't come.
Cause I was experiencing zero symptoms.
And he said to me, oh, I hear that a lot.
I was like, you hear it a lot that people
change their diet and then
don't have to come for shots and inhalers
anymore?
He said yeah.
Why didn't you tell me?
And he just laughed, and by like in e-mail,
he was like ha ha.
So anyway, basically my life changed and I
went on this -- I started
to -- I thought this was a miracle.
This must just be really good karma or something
for my decision.
But I started to research it and realize that
there's all kinds of
doctors out there, and there's all kinds of
medical research and
science supporting this way of living.
And that this is actually a healthier way
to be.
This wasn't just some fluke that happened
to me.
That people like Bruce Lee, and people like,
you know, amazing athletes
that I highlight in the book who are bodybuilders
who don't care -- who
didn't necessarily care about the environment
or animals or anything
like that.
They just wanted to be the best performers
that they could be and feel
their best.
And they adopted this lifestyle.
And so I started to figure out that this was
not just some like -- you
know, emotional, like, moral thing that I
was experiencing.
This was an actual healing modality.
And started to see that, you know, Colin Campbell,
Joel Fuhrman, and
Dean Ornish and all these doctors who are
doing incredible work healing
cancer and heart disease and diabetes over
and over and over again.
They just -- their voices aren't as loud because
there's a lot of
forces out there telling us to make -- in
order for them to make money,
they're asking you to eat all kinds of nasty
things that are hurting
you.
So my journey's been incredible.
And when I was about 25, I was doing a play
on Broadway with Kathleen
Turner and is was super fun and it was snowing.
And I had kind of gone through a little bit
of a raw kick.
The raw food kick.
I don't know if you've heard of the raw food
kick, but anyway I was on
that.
And -- but it was snowing.
And I was trying to eat mangos, and mangos
don't grow if the snow.
And somebody pointed that out to me.
Because at the same time my husband came home
and said that he really
wanted to start this thing called the macrobiotic
diet.
And I was like, I don't need to be macrobiotic
 .
Because I thought those people eat fish, and
I'm already vegan and I
don't need more rules or whatever.
And I actually didn't feel like I had rules.
But I was just sort of being stubborn as we
do sometimes when your
husband says something.
And so I was just like -- and he -- oh and
especially, cause he also
aid that he'd read that Gwyneth Paltrow was
doing this.
And I was like well, just cause Gwyneth Paltrow
says, you know, like
what about me?
Why don't you want to do that?
But Gwyneth Paltrow is a very smart lady.
And so is Madonna and all these women that
are doing this.
Anyway, I was being resistant and I went to
New York.
And I was doing this play, and he was coming
to visit me for Christmas
and his birthday -- his birthday's on Christmas.
So I took him to see this macrobiotic counselor.
Because everything always happens at once,
right?
So he says Gwyneth Paltrow wants to do this,
and then I'm in New York
and the director and Jason Biggs are making
fun of me constantly
because of my diet.
And saying any time I was tired it was like,
well, you better eat some
meat, you know?
And I was just really frustrated and I was
literally running around
trying to find green juice and mangos and
all this stuff and it was
freezing.
And so I met this girl Temple who -- who I
had known for years and she
looked amazing.
And I said what happened to you?
Like, her transformation was so extreme.
She was glowing.
Her hair was amazing, her body was amazing.
Everything was on fire with this woman.
And we walked 50 blocks home and she told
me about macrobiotics and I
was like, oh my God.
So when Christopher came into town, my husband,
I decided to give him a
counseling session with this macrobiotic counselor.
And I sat in the back while he was getting
his thing, just like this is
so lame.
But he was seeming to love it.
And finally she turned to me and she said
I don't know why you're so
resistant.
That acne you have -- because I had just got
 -- and she didn't say it
nasty like that.
But she was really loving and sweet.
And she just said, you know, you could really
heal that acne.
And the reason I had acne was because I had
gone off the pill a few
years earlier because as I was getting healthier
through being vegan, I
just noticed why am I putting -- not to say
you shouldn't take birth
control pills, but this is my journey.
I just was like, I don't want to put this
weird pink pill in my body
every day.
This is weird.
And so I stopped doing that.
But my skin started to erupt because you know
birth control pills are
doing all kinds of crazy things to our bodies.
And so anyway, that was happening to me.
And I -- what am I talking about?
Oh, okay.
So acne.
Sorry.
So I got this acne.
And she says I can clear acne up.
Now I'd had it for like two years and it was
so frustrating.
And, you know, I still had the glowing skin,
my skin was really, really
glowing from the vegetarian diet or the vegan
diet,
But there were just these breakouts that were
happening from the pill
detox.
And so I was blaming it.
And it was that but there was soon to discover
other reasons.
So the macrobiotic counselor says to me I
can heal this and I can give
you more energy.
And she already told me that mangos don't
grow in the snow.
And I was like, okay, this is all starting
to make sense.
And she said, you know, a mango is designed
to cool you off in the
heat.
That's why it's in hot climates.
It's a tropical fruit.
So that started to make sense to me.
And then on the environmental aspect, I'd
already become an
environmental-conscious person.
So now she's talking about the energy it requires
to fly all that food
all around the place.
And I started to understand the local aspect
and having food be
seasonal and local.
And I was just like, this is amazing.
So I decided to try it.
And again, I'm reluctant.
But about two weeks in, my skin is, like,
clearing up magically.
And all I really had to do, the adjustments
that I made because I was
already vegan, the adjustments were to kick
sugar -- because I eating a
lot of sugar -- and white flour and processed
foods.
And right now you're probably going, you just
took away all of my food.
How am I supposed to eat?
And you have to know that I'm a foodie and
I love food.
I get so -- you know, I'm obsessed with food.
There's no part of me that became like a,
you know, boring eater.
I love to taste food.
And that never changed.
And in fact it's become -- I'm more of a foodie
now.
And I feel like I have more of a sophisticated
palate now.
Because back in the day, when I ate regular
American diet, I sort of
though, oh, should I have chicken, fish, beef,
or pasta?
Like those are sort of my brain choices.
I don't know about you guys but that's sort
of how I thought.
And you don't really think beyond that very
much.
Maybe a little bit.
Maybe I'll have a burger instead of that.
But you don't really have a huge array of
foods to choose from.
And when I started to become vegan, I started
to learn all these
different cultures' foods and all these different
tastes that I never
tasted.
So my food thing grew.
And I started to taste differently, too, because
my tongue was freed up
from all the chemicals and all the things
that were, you know, kind of
coating it -- the dairy and the processed
stuff.
So anyway, even those it sounds like I've
just taken all of your food
away, what I want to guarantee you is that
if you go on this journey in
this book, inside here I've got amazing recipes
that I promise you, you
will not feel deprived.
Because I have to tell you that even those
I did give up these things
-- I was on a steak and doughnut diet before
I went vegan, just so you
know
It's pretty much all I ate.
And I can show you pictures of me.
And it doesn't look very good on you.
But I ate that and so I understand.
I loved pork chops.
I loved bacon.
And I ate all of those things.
But I don't love -- like, I know they tasted
good but everything else
I'm having now tastes just as good or better.
So it's not about taking away something good
and only having things
that don't taste good, it's about taking one
thing that tastes good and
another thing that tastes good, and one of
those things is really bad
for you and really bad for the planet and
has really serious
consequences that are really destroying our
planet and your body.
And the other thing is just doing nice, happy
things.
It's just nice and happy for your body.
It's nourishing for your blood.
And so if you have a choice and they both
taste good, wouldn't you want
to pick the one that doing good things for
you?
So that's what I'm here to say is that this
is a no-deprivation diet.
And the reason I call it "The Kind Diet,"
is kind of a trick is because
the actual definition of diet in the 1600s
was a day's journey.
A way of thinking, and I want to restore that
word back to its nice
place.
Because we all think of diet as like deprivation
and calorie counting
and misery.
And I want diet to be a way of thinking and
a way of life that isn't
about restriction.
It's about freedom.
Freedom from your brain being all consumed
with what you can and can't
have.
Because of how it's going to effect you on
a -- you know, how big or
small your body's going to be.
But more about how do I eat that will heal
me and nourish me so that as
I get older, I actually feel like I'm getting
younger.
And I know that sounds insane because most
us think of getting older
was slowly falling part.
But I promise you that I'm getting stronger
and feel more alive than I
ever have before.
And I think that's a pretty amazing thing.
So I just wanted to share all that with you.
And is there anything else I need to tell
you about that?
Yeah, that it's really simple and I lay it
 -- in the book, I sort of do
it in this way where I give you sort of the
inspiration of what you
might want.
Like either you give want to feel better or
have more energy or be free
from, you know, taking all these prescriptions,
and you needing coffee
to get through the day.
You know, I don't need coffee.
I like the taste of it and every blue moon
I'll have a sip, but I don't
need coffee.
And I never really drink it at all.
And I don't take antibiotics, unless like,
you know, I get in a dog
fight. I got in the dog fight one time, I
was -- I wasn't fighting
with a god but I was trying to break up some
dogs.
And I got 26 stitches in my legs so I needed
some, you know, I needed
some antibiotics that time.
And some pain pills for that day.
But, you know, I -- I just think of medicine
as something is a last
resort.
I don't take any -- I never need to, I don't
really get sick anymore.
If I get sick it's like for 24 hours and it
passes really quickly.
I know how to eat so that I'm -- and if I
do get sick, I know it was --
and not like I'm blaming myself.
But I go, oh, I know what I did, I ate that
that's what did this.
So I always kind of, it's bringing the control
and power back into your
life.
So we're not these slaves to our doctors.
Like, we're these, you know, sort of victims
where we go, help me.
I don't feel good, and I need all this.
And it's like the doctor is just going to
give you medicine.
And just going to give you -- or cut you open,
if you're really
unlucky.
And really all of that is preventible -- in
most cases, it's
preventible.
So I'm really excited about that.
So anyway, what I was saying is if you are
interested and inspired to
do -- to feel your best or you care about
the planet.
How about the planet?
I mean Google seems very interested in the
environment.
And I don't know if you guys know this but,
you know, to produce one
pound of beef, one 16-ounce steak, it requires
the amount of water that
could shower you for six months.
That's crazy time.
You know, I really save water but six-months
showering water for one
piece of meat?
Like, that's a big deal.
And the amount of oil we're using.
We're using 20 to 28 billion gallons of oil
a year alone in America for
our meat consumption, for beef.
So that's an insane amount of oil.
So when you're looking at trying to restore
our planet, and the
precious resources that we're just dwindling
away.
The coal, like I said the water, the oil,
the rainforest, it's pretty
much out of control.
So if you're concerned about the environment
or you care about the
environment, what I've done in the book is
each -- I have four nasty
categories of food.
And those foods, you go through each of them
and we say why it's nasty
to you, you know, health-wise.
Why it's nasty to the planet, and then why
it's nasty to all the other
creatures and we just go through each of those
things.
And then you go through the kind foods, and
talk about what foods are
not only not nasty but actually nourishing
you.
And this is way we used to eat.
This isn't like a new thing.
All of this is just taking uh back to your
ancestors' way of eating.
It's a more natural, more simple, more delicious
way of eating.
And it's eating with purpose.
Because you have to -- it's your fuel.
It's like buying a beautiful Porsche and then
shoving it with like the
worst fuel ever.
And that's what doing most of the time.
And you need to protect yourself, so you can
feel your best.
So I go through that and then I give it -- it's
a very easy how-to
book.
It gives you step-by-step how to do it.
And there's three different plans.
You can be a flirt, if you want to, which
means no commitment.
You don't have to get married.
You're just trying it on.
You know you can date your local vegetarian
restaurant.
You can date some new recipes in the book.
Just see how you feel and start adding the
good foods and ridding
yourself of the bad foods.
And then knowing that it's not all or nothing.
So the more good choices you make, the better
off you'll be.
You'll feel better.
You'll notice a difference and the planet
will thank you.
And if -- and then after doing that flirting
thing for 30 days, if you
wanted to you could move on to the next section,
which is more
committed.
Going to try this.
And then when you're doing that, if you fall
off, it's okay.
You just get back on.
I think this all -- this whole all or nothing
approach really allows us
to do nothing, you know.
And it's a good excuse but if we keep trying.
Maybe you want to be an aspiring vegetarian.
You're just going to try to move in that direction.
Or maybe you just want to stay a flirt forever
but you keep adding and
being open.
So it's really just about opening and softening
your -- what it diet
will do also is soften your heart.
And make you feel more grounded and connected
to the universe, and not
have anxiety and feel really purposeful.
And that's -- those are magical things and
there's magical foods in the
book.
I go through foods that are literally magical
and how they effect you.
And what they can do for you.
And there's frequently asked questions so
all your nutritional needs
are a hundred percent met in here.
And we just tell you exactly what you need.
And how to answer all those questions about
iron and calcium and all
those things that you might be concerned about
 -- Omega-3's, B12,
everything is addressed in here.
But the bottom line is you don't need supplements
when you eat well.
The only supplement you need on this diet,
if you do this diet, is a
B12 supplement.
Because we have depleted our soil so much
that there's no good bacteria
in it anymore.
We clean things so well that we don't have
the good bacteria.
And the B12 lives in bacteria, and so when
you eat meat, it lives in
the organs of the animals.
So that's kind of gross.
But that's where you're getting it is.
So there's vegetarian form that we used to
get from the soil.
And so when I'm making food from the garden,
if there's a little dirt
on it I leave it on, because I figure, yay,
bacteria.
Yay B12.
Because I know that everything was cool in
that garden.
But I don't do that when friends come over,
it's only for me.
So don't worry.
But anyway, I think that's everything I that
cover --
Oh, and then there's this amazing website
that I have up and running
right now called thekindlife.com.
And that is for anyone who's curious, wants
to know more, wants to
engage with a community.
It's kind of like -- you know, it's a community
basically for you to
engage with other people who are interested
and curious.
And people come on and say I've just been
doing it for three days and
it's amazing.
Or I need help or whatever your deal is and
there's all kinds of people
helping each other.
And it's pretty exciting.
And we're constantly updating it with new
information as it comes and
all my groovy -- I find all kinds of amazing
products.
I really love, you know, good make up products.
And hair and make up stuff.
And all the things that you could possibly
need but in an
environmentally sound, cruelty-free manner
that happens to be also be
delicious or fabulous.
So that's when we're putting on the site.
Like clothing and stuff like that.
I think that's everything.
If you guys have any questions I'd love to
answer them.
[PAUSE]
>>The hair and nails getting stronger that
you mentioned is that
vitamin K?
Which I understand vegetables to have a lot
of -- or green vegetables
at least.
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: Well, some people say
that the white marks are
calcium marks.
I didn't even talk about the marks.
You know those white marks you get on, and
some people say, oh, it's a
lack of calcium.
And then other people, more macrobiotic approach
 -- by the way, the
macrobiotics, I just say one thing because
I just remembered.
Sorry.
That in the book I make -- I sort of -- I
don't -- we have a superhero
diet.
If you decide you want to be a superhero,
if you're already veggie or
you've already gone through the steps and
you want to get there, the
superhero thing is like the ultimate.
And I call it that and not macrobiotics because
macrobiotics can be
complicated for some people.
So this is like the Cliff notes, all you need
to know version for now
unless you want to go further.
But anyway, in macrobiotics, they say it's
sugar.
So most people say it's calcium, macrobiotics
say it's sugar.
Either way, they're all gone.
That I know.
So I think that if it is the calcium, it's
because you're suddenly
eating so many leafy greens.
And you're eating a lot of seaweed which has
massive amounts of calcium
but maybe it's vitamin K, too.
I'm not familiar.
>> Okay.
Also it seems like you've said that there's
a lot of synergy between
what's good for you and what's good for the
earth.
Other than the B12, are there any, like, conflicts
or foods that are
really one and not the other?
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: No, that's the beautiful
thing.
It's amazing to me.
That's the thing that moves me so much, that
the same thing that is
healing the planet is healing our bodies and
also healing the animals.
Like what an amazing thing.
Mother Nature took care of everything at the
same time.
>> Do you think there's like an evolutionary
reason for that or --
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: I do.
I mean, Einstein said so.
And I do.
I think that -- I think that this is naturally
the way we were.
I think that people were not so gluttonous
and trying to get theirs.
And why you're trying to get yours, you're
missing out on everything,
you know.
And I feel like this convenience thing, this
sort of moving --
I mean there are some things that really wonderful
that are convenient
but some things are just so overwhelming and
distracting.
Like at first, e-mail was so awesome.
But now, it's like swallowing me.
I don't know what -- I need help to get out
of the, like, how do you
have boundaries with e-mail, you know?
And so it's a similar thing with the food.
We've made all these things so convenient.
And we're just destroying everything, you
know.
All your grandparents tend to be so inspired
when you kind of come with
your glass jar.
They're like I used to do that, you know.
>> Thank you.
Oh, and try Gmail filters.
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: Gmail filters, okay.
I will, thank you.
I'm just becoming technically savvy, so I'm
very far away from getting
there, but thank you.
Yes?
>> I feel like eating is a very big part of
socializing in our society.
So do you have any advice for reconciling
that with family and friends
who just don't understood this way of life?
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: Yeah.
Well I go into that in extreme detail in the
book because that has been
my journey for sure.
And eating with family-in-laws, and I guess
that's called in-laws,
right?
And, and just eating with friends over the
years.
Yeah, I found really easy ways to deal with
it.
Some of those ways are, you know, just making
it fun and light.
Because I first went this way, you know, I
wanted to scream.
When you read this information, it's like
I just wanted to go around
screaming at everybody, "fire."
You know, like, cause it is.
There's a huge fire.
It's like you want everybody to know what's
going on.
But I realize nobody wants -- nobody really
listens to you when you
scream fire.
So I just found the best thing for me was
to care of myself and feel my
best.
And really keep it -- mind my own business.
And keep contributing to the world in the
way that I know how, and keep
improving upon my own choices.
Every time a new choice presents itself that
I could make a better
choice, I do.
And in that process, people just come to you
and they ask you and they
want to know.
So family members who I used to try and tell
them, now I don't tell
them anything and they're just like I want
to know everything.
And you're like okay.
Calm down.
I'll tell you or just read the book.
So it's really -- there's a lot of ways to
socialize.
And there's also ways, I mean I go through
it all.
It's adjusting to your friends, like, hey
can we go here?
This would be really fun.
So kind of a more neutral territory or just
going there and finding the
best things for yourself at that place.
And then Thanksgiving -- but basically it's
like chapters.
So I don't want to bore you right now.
But yes, it's all there.
And this community will help you with that
to.
The Kind Life community because they have
great ideas and tips for all
over -- all over America.
And all over the world.
>> Thank you.
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: Thank you.
>> Hi.
So spending lots of time with some of my friends
who enjoy raw food,
and we go out to eat, I've often found that
sometimes it's a little bit
expensive.
And unfortunately, as the structure is set
up now, buying a pound of
chicken is way cheaper than a pound of apples.
So how do you kind of reach out to the population
that might not be
able to afford this lifestyle?
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: That's a great, great
question and I'm so happy
you asked that.
First of all, financially -- well, I want
to talk about raw too.
But financially, this is really, it doesn't
have to be more expensive.
If you're going to go eat at fancy raw food
restaurants, then yeah.
And I actually am not a huge proponents of
a raw food thing which I'll
explain to you why in a second.
But basically, you know, the poorer people
of our communities used to
always be the healthiest because they ate
local, fresh fruits and
vegetables, grains, and beans.
And the fat people were the kings.
You know, the rich kings were always the fat
ones because they were
eating all kinds of meat.
So it's a very interesting indication of where
health lies.
And so, you don't have to have lot of money
to eat this way.
And basically, if you follow The Kind Life,
the things that are the
most expensive in this book are the desserts.
Because I don't like sugar.
But I also explain to you that you can use
sugar if a budget is the
issue, you can use sugar.
I just can't in good faith tell you to have
it because it's not good
for you.
But there are alternatives and there's cheaper
 --
You know, the ones that are really expensive
is like the maple crystals
which is like maple syrup turned into like
a granulated powder.
That's the more expensive ingredients.
But buying Earth Bound's butter instead of
regular butter, it might be
a little bit more expensive, but that tub
is going to last you forever.
And when you're buying Veganaise instead of
mayonnaise which -- these
are like, you have to get these ingredients,
because they're so great.
It might be a dollar more or something -- I
don't even know the price
difference, but I know it's not a lot .
And I know that where you really save your
money is doctor visits.
I don't go to the doctor.
Prescriptions and time off work, you know.
You have so much more energy that you get
more out of your life.
So if, if you're -- I think after living this
 -- and by the way, steak
way more expensive than beans and rice.
You can feed your family on beans and rice
for very inexpensive.
But I also give you much more interesting
and exciting recipes than
just beans and rice.
That's why it can kind of level out.
But you can do this on any kind of budget
that you want.
You can do it really cheap.
And you can did on a more fancy level buying
truffle oil and going
crazy.
And buying things in bulk makes a big difference.
Or sharing with friends and buying in bulk,
cause that's also better
for the planet.
But ultimately you're going to save on life
force.
That's a big price to pay.
And you're going to say -- so if your grocery
bill ends up being the
same, you gain more.
I actually think it ends up saving you money
on your life.
In terms of raw, the reason I ended up moving
away from raw was because
like I said, I was looking -- I don't think
it's absolutely the most
sustain -- you if love raw, fantastic.
But for me, I think it's very difficult to
ask someone who's used to
eating steak to suddenly convert to like sun
burger.
Do you mean?
I feel like let's transition people in a direction.
And also I think it's -- macrobiotics is so
ancient.
And it's such an amazing thing from China
and Japan.
And they -- they just have a way of looking
at the body and going
what's going on with your eyes.
It's very diagnostic, it's really scientific.
So it's different than raw food, which is
a beautiful concept.
But isn't really actually healing specifically
your organs.
And, you know, and I also, like, raw food
it's like blenders.
And, like, dehydration.
And that energy just feels like -- like this
to me a little bit.
And whereas macrobiotics is really balanced
and really rooted.
And really about healing on a global level.
So for me, that's the direction that I sort
of -- and also by the way,
it cleared my skin up and made me skinnier.
And so I -- duh -- like that better.
Whereas raw food, I was kind of like, you
know, plumping out a little.
Because I eating nuts and it's so extreme,
so much nuts, so much fruit,
so much honey, and agave and all these things.
And so I just felt a little bit unbalanced.
>> Thank you.
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: Thank you.
>> Thanks so much for coming.
I totally agree with your mission.
I've been vegetarian for ten years.
I stopped wearing leather this year which
was the last step.
My question is sometimes when I go to restaurants
or I travel, I end up
eating really weird, random food that's probably
not that healthy for
me, it's a --
You if go to Asia, there's fish sauce or something.
Or if you go to a
steakhouse, there's a salad with no protein.
I was wondering if you had any recommendations
for traveling or
restaurants menus?
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: For sure.
So in the book, again, I do go through in
detail how to eat out, how to
go travel, and what I do is I go to happycow.com.
Wherever I go, I was just in Paris.
And I expected, you know, how am I going to
eat in Paris?
It's all cheese and foie gras.
Like, what am I going to eat?
But there were amazing little veggie places
all over the place.
And they were adorable.
And they weren't hard to find.
It's kind of everywhere when you start to
look for it.
So you just have to do a little planning.
And so I go on this -- in the book, I describe
this whole thing that I
talk about planning for the next day.
Because once you make it your priority, which
clearly you have, but you
know for all of us who are so busy.
I mean I don't -- I'm so busy I don't even
know.
I wish there were like ten of me to be able
to do what I'm being asked
to do.
And I'm sure everybody can relate to that
feeling.
But I found that I can't be good at anything
I do if I don't eat well.
So I have to make that my first priority.
And I really discovered that through macrobiotics.
Because I used to sort of just like be running
around trying to figure
it out on the go.
And it's like rather -- I'd rather not watch
that show on TV or make
plans to do this one thing and just take like
ten minutes before I go
to bed, and go where am I going to be for
breakfast?
Where am I going to be for lunch?
Where am I going to be for dinner?
And how did I get the best choice for myself
possible?
So when I'm traveling I make things like my
rice krispie treats, which
I bring like into London.
I make like a big batch and they sit in my
suitcase.
So that if I'm on the go and I need something
really quickly, I have
it.
I also bring miso paste.
Really good quality miso paste like I had
this morning because I didn't
to have breakfast because I was coming here.
So I just hot my little miso paste and some
hot water.
It just sort of -- just so you know, miso
is one of those magical
foods.
Not the kind you get at a regular Japanese
restaurant because they put
of junk in it.
But the kind you get at the whole foods store.
It's like pure miso paste, and it's, like,
loaded with enzymes, loaded
with -- it's like a natural immune booster.
It's good for your immune system and almost
like a natural antibiotic.
It just does wonders for your body.
So I like to have that when I'm traveling
as a quickie.
And I bring -- and sometimes I bring, like,
I bring nori.
I love to bring nori with me.
That way, if I have leftovers I can always
wrap my leftovers in my nori
and that makes everything delicious.
Noir is the best thing on earth.
Those sheets of nori that you get at a sushi
restaurant.
So yeah it's really, really manageable.
And this community will also dial into you.
You can say, oh, I'm going to Alabama.
I don't know where the world I'm going to
eat.
And somebody in Alabama will come on, and
you can help me out -- and
somebody will come on and go, I live in Alabama.
You got to go here.
You know what I mean?
So it's out there.
>> Hi.
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: Hi.
>> I wanted to first thank you so much for
coming.
I'm the biggest fan.
I love and own Clueless, et cetera.
But --
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: Thank you.
>>Alex is one of my good friends.
She's obviously been a vegetarian for a long
time.
I'm an convert at least to pescetarianism,
five months ago today.
But one of the big things for me at least
is exercise.
And I wanted to find out for you, you know,
they always say diet and
exercise.
How have you changed your exercise?
Or what do you do to be healthy not from a
eating standpoint?
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: Well the amazing thing
about The Kind Diet is it's
so flexible.
So it's like, if you love exercise, you can
keep exercising.
If you hate exercising, you don't have to.
Like this diet, when I was -- when I first
started doing -- I mean,
like I said, I lost weight from going vegan.
And then I lost weight from doing like the
macro thing even more.
And I never had to -- I never had to exercise
in that process.
Whereas before I was doing this diet, I had
to exercise a lot.
And people were always harassing me to exercise.
They are like you have to do this much, and
you have to do this thing.
And it was just so un-fun, you know.
And so for me, exercise has become something
that I've slowly learned
to appreciate.
But for me.
Not to appease anyone.
Not to get to a certain goal.
But just more like, my husband's really taught
me that sweating feels
good.
I mean that sounds really weird.
Sorry.
I don't mean it like that.
But I mean --
[LAUGHTER]
That was really weird.
But I mean, he always was saying like I bet
you would really like to
run.
Or you know spin or whatever.
And swim and I was like -- you know.
But over time, I do really love those things.
I don't make as much -- I make my number one
priority my food and
exercise comes after that.
But I often don't -- my work comes before
exercise.
So I feel -- but it probably shouldn't, according
to husband.
But in terms of like, you know, my life and
my priorities, if I eat
well, I don't have to worry and that's the
amazing thing to me.
Cause I see people in the gym and I'm kind
of -- I hate gyms.
So I don't like that, but I go to like a spin
place sometimes.
And I see these women who come in day after
day, and they're not
getting slimmer, and their skin still looks
gray, and they don't have
glow to them.
And so they're working out like maniacs but
nothing is happening
because they still eat the cheese, they still
eat the meat, all those
things that are clogging their organs.
So like maybe it's keeping them from being
like 400 pounds or
something.
But it's not really doing the magic they want
it to do for them.
So I think you don't have to exercise -- it
depends on your thing.
If you want to be an -- I mean, in the book,
there's all kinds of
amazing athletes that, you know, have done
this because they want to
have better performance.
So this works for athletes.
And it works for a person who hates exercise
and really doesn't want to
do it.
So you can kind of use it however you want
to.
I do think that we all need to walk more,
you know.
I think we all need to like walk.
And ideally, with your feet, bare feet, like
feel the earth.
And feel the grass, and you know, enjoy what
this earth has.
But even just tennis shoes work, too, if you
can't walk on grass.
Because there's not a lot of grass any more.
But, you know, getting a good walk feels great.
So that's what I kind of do.
And the dancing and yoga and anything you
feel like.
>> Well, I want to thank you for coming.
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: Thank you.
>> 
And I wanted to ask you about these like -- have
you heard of, like,
Medifast?
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: Medifast?
I don't think I have.
>> So it's one of these programs where you,
you know, you sign up and
you, you buy their food you know.
And you go on like three times a day and get
weighed or whatever and
you sit on their program for quite a while.
And you know, then like after a year you can
lose 75 or a hundred
pounds.
I just wanted to ask you about that because
I know people that have
done Medifast.
And like, they lost 75 pounds over a year.
And then they moved and they got off of Medifast,
and then they -- they
gain it all back.
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: Yeah.
>> And, you know it's -- it's you have to
buy their prepackaged food,
you know, and you blend it.
And you drink their shakes five times day
and then you have one meal a
day.
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: I don't like the sound
of that.
>> I just wanted it ask, you know, like cause
this person now, you
know, I know him.
And they want to lose their weight again and
they're thinking about
getting on one of these Medifast programs
again so they lose the weight
so --
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: Well, I'd recommend that
 --
>> I was just wandering what to tell them
to help them --
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: So what I would recommend
that read this because
this will free them for that brain thing of
like -- I mean the whole
idea of going somewhere where they weigh you
three times a day?
Did you say?
>> Three times a week.
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: That doesn't sound very
good either.
And then the whole blending thing constantly
and the processed -- it
doesn't sound like real food.
And sure, I don't know what is in there, but
I know that the real food
is what we're looking for.
It's to get people back to eating nourishing,
delicious, real food.
And if it takes a little bit of time, just
a little bit, to make that
effort to find it or make it yourself, it's
worth it.
And then you don't have to be on a diet ever
again.
And you can go to France, and you can go to
Italy, and you can go
wherever you want in the world and be free.
And not have to have your little Medifast
shake.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Thank you.
>> Thanks, Alicia.
I wanted to say at that as someone who got
a copy of your book and
bought one and went through some of the recipes,
it was so much fun to
just sort of explore parts of the grocery
store that I never really
knew existed.
Asking the people there, the people that worked
in the store, sort of,
if they know about these products and sort
of having them investigate
too because they actually didn't know these
products existed.
But the greatest thing I think about the book
and maybe you can speak
to this too is just sort of how it can be
a project.
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: Yeah.
>> And just sort of a collaborative thing
for friends to do on a Sunday
afternoon.
Get some friends together and cook some things.
Like, I made your peach cobbler.
I told you about that earlier.
But it's so awesome.
It's so tasty.
And I would never have known that it didn't
contain butter or any other
dairy or anything fattening in it.
So it was pretty incredible.
It's better than like a diet book that I've
tried that kind of makes
you feel -- I don't know.
Cheap like you're -- you're skimping out on
something.
This doesn't feel like that.
So I just want today speak to that or if you
have any comments.
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: Well, thanks.
I think that the ingredients that you're talking
about maybe are like
umeboshi vinegar, which for some of you might
be familiar. Maybe your
moms had it or -- umeboshi was that what you
were looking for?
>> It was like kuzu and shoyu.
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: So kuzu and shoyu is -- really
what shoyu is it's
soy sauce.
We all know what soy sauce is but shoyu is
just a cleaner version of
it.
So it's not with all the yucky stuff in it.
And -- and kuzu is a seaweed that -- well,
well no sorry.
Agar agar is a seaweed.
Kuzu is a seaweed, too, isn't it?
I can't even remember.
Let me see.
I have to look it up.
>> I know it's a thickener of some kind.
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: Yeah, it looks like crack.
It's really awesome.
I want to show you a picture of it.
>> It does come in little plastic baggies.
That's true.
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: Okay, look.
This is kuzu.
Doesn't it look like powder, you know?
But it's so good for you, kuzu, it really
is.
It's not crack, I promise.
But it's so good for you.
But it's -- it's in the macrobiotic section.
So you might have to like move over to the
macrobiotics section.
But even in like regular groceries stores
these days like Ralph's and
things -- there's this amazing new product
called Gardein.
Not that new.
But he's developing newer products and he
has this, you know, fake
chicken.
But it's not fake like processed, gross chicken.
He uses quinoa and all kinds of great things
but somehow it turns into
this amazing chicken breast thing.
And my husband's been making it, grilling
the -- sautéing the chicken
cut up with onions and then putting it on
these pizzas.
This is for when he -- I try not to have this
kind of food around me
too often because I'll go crazy.
But it's really yummy for if you have -- well,
you guys don't have
kids.
I mean, maybe you do.
I don't know.
But kids and husbands and whatever.
Because it's just fun foods.
So it's -- Amy's makes these amazing frozen
pizzas and she makes them
with no cheese. And they are like whole wheat
crusts and things like
that.
And you can take the roasted vegetable, Amy's
pizza, and put this
chicken that is from Gardein with grilled
onions on top.
And he adds more cheese to from Earth -- a
few great new cheeses out
there but Follow Your Heart makes really a
great one.
And then he makes a milkshake on the side
with, you know, rice milk and
things like that.
And ice cream.
Not, you know, regular ice cream but Rice
Dream ice cream.
And they're delicious.
And you can do so many great things.
And I'm so glad that you're loving the recipes.
And I'm glad that you feel like it's a project.
That's how I feel.
I feel like everywhere I go is an adventure.
And I love engaging with the waiters at the
restaurants and saying what
would make you sad if I didn't have while
I was here?
And sometimes they're like -- don't want to
talk to you at all and they
just look at you like you're the most annoying
person ever.
And sometimes they're so excited.
And they're like oh my God, you have to get
this.
And then you're engaging in a fun conversation
with someone.
So I really think of life as a big adventure
and projects.
So taking the effort to take care of myself
and the planet and these
creatures, all at the same time, is so much
fun.
And it's such a pleasure.
And putting something in a compost bin thrills
me -- we have a compost
at home.
And you know seeing the lizard that -- Larry
the lizard, who waits for
us every day at our compost thing.
I believe it's the same guy.
It might not be.
But we like to believe he is.
Looking up at me like it's so much fun, and
so yeah.
I think it's all really exciting and I'm so
glad you feel that way.
>> Thanks.
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: Thanks.
>> Hi. I was wondering if you could talk a
little bit about, you know,
why and how you decided to kind of make a
transition in your career to
focus so much on this stuff as both a spokesperson
to write the book
and -- and what are your plans, you know,
in the future with this?
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: Well, you know, I became
famous when I was really
young.
And it was really scary and weird and freaky.
And I wanted to -- I kind of got really isolated.
And I had these passions that were starting
to grow about all this
stuff.
And it was just a way for me to focus -- to
kind of -- I was just
called like I felt like this was more important
than everything I was
experiencing.
So in some ways I kind of, you know, turned
away from what was
happening.
But I hope I can, you know, it's sort of like
this -- I never -- I was
always sort of being restrained from talking
about this.
It was often like stop talking about -- like
you know, cause it was
sort of like that was all I wanted to talk
about.
And -- but I think now that I'm a woman and
I really know what I'm
talking about, and I really know from experience
of this being for so
long, the decision to write the book was that
all these -- I'd helped
all these people.
I have a lot of friends who couldn't poo.
They were like constipated and they didn't
poo for days.
And I was like you have to be pooing every
day.
It's terrible.
And so when you change their diets, suddenly
they're going to the
bathroom every day and sometimes twice and
three times.
So I saw such great results.
And I also had a friend -- not from -- I wasn't
like studying their
thing, you know what I mean.
And then I had other friends who had ovarian
cysts.
There was this one girl who had ovarian cysts
and she was going to have
to have surgery in one month, and I was like
I can please just have
this month of yours?
You can have your surgery, but let's see what
happens in this month.
She did it, and after that month when she
went to the doctor's, they
checked and she didn't have to have them.
They were already shrinking.
So when you see those kinds of results firsthand
 -- like I know those
are happening to people all over the world.
Like all the doctors I mentioned who are curing
heart disease, cancer,
and diabetes and all these things.
I knew that was happening but when my littles
hands were able to be
connected to that and help people, that's
unbelievable feeling.
It's so remarkable.
It blows my mind.
And so, they kept telling me, you have to
write a book.
And every time I'd give them my information,
it kind of came in the big
pamphlet or it was sort of like this big epic
file on the computer.
And finally one particular person was like,
you need to write a book
right now.
Like stop this nonsense.
Stop kind of like spending all this --
I was spending so much energy as a activist
for so long helping so many
different people but it was so exhausting
and not organized.
This is the organized sense of -- and I can
reach more people.
And so that's really what I'm doing.
But I've been doing, even those you haven't
seen me in film, I've been
doing plays.
I love the theater and kind of went back to
the root of what it all
was.
So I play again and I found why I wanted to
be an actor in the first
place.
Because I started to hate acting and I found
that I love acting.
And I love theater and that's really what
I want to do.
So I want to be in movies, too.
But I've just been doing bunch of theater.
And so I did David Mamet plays.
He directed me in a play that's fantastic.
David Mamet's a genius.
I'm doing Donald Margulies play.
And I'm doing a play on Broadway this year
with Laura Linney.
And so I'm going to continue to act, and I'm
going to continue to
hopefully help change the world with this
book and the website.
And I also made these -- these bags that are
really cool that are going
to be at Target and Walmart and places like
that, that are totally
environmentally sound.
They're made with recycled PET -- they're
basically cosmetic bags that
are made with hemp, recycled PET and vegetable
dyes.
And then there are make up brushes that are
all beautiful and they feel
really good.
And they're made with bamboo and recycled
metals.
So we're trying to just create.
Wherever we see a need, wherever I see a need,
I'm trying to fill it as
best I can in my own little way.
And that's kind of what I'm doing.
>> Thank you.
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: Thanks.
>> Second question.
So we at Google are very lucky because we
have chefs that make us
incredible food every day.
Vegetarian, so friendly.
Meat, also.
I just was curious what you thought about
the food here and if you had
talked to any of our chefs.
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: Yeah, I did.
I loved Elizabeth.
She's so sweet.
And she was chef over at Slice.
And she, I loved that you had coconut water.
That was fun.
Although, I do think that it's traveling a
long way to get here.
We don't have coconuts growing here.
But it's a fun treat.
So I had one.
Because it's delicious.
And I mean I don't know if you ever had coconut
water but it is tasty.
And then I had those little energy bars which
were really yummy.
I would think that would be a dessert or a
snack.
And, she made some recipes from my book that
were delicious.
So I could tell you that, the arame turnovers
are amazing.
Arame is a really important seaweed to get
into your life, if you get
it in.
And so I'm sure if you ask her to continue
making the arame turnovers,
she would here.
They're so good for you.
And try to get some seaweed in your life.
It's good.
I like the food here.
It was really good.
I mean, I would love -- I was talking to the
guys, and it would be so
amazing if I -- you know, they have that sort
of art piece project of
how the food is -- there's that one vending
machine where there's the
stuff and it shows you kind of how much it
would cost.
It's the one place you have to pay.
But that kind of inspired me to think, wouldn't
it be amazing if here
at Google, you guys had all your plant-based
food for free.
And then you did the actual cost of what it
actually costs
environmentally, for your health, and all
that for all the other
products.
So that you can make that choice and it would
make everybody a lot
healthier.
>>Well, Alicia, thank you very much for speaking
with us today.
It was an awesome talk.
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: Thank you.
>>Thank you very much.
ALICIA SILVERSTONE: Thanks so much.
