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Meet Ryan Furman of Mainly Plants in Scottsdale

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Furman.

Ryan, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Hi, I’m Ryan! I’m a certified plant-based nutritionist and personal trainer located in Scottsdale, AZ. I wouldn’t say that I’ve ever really subscribed to the traditional food pyramid health model. However, in a way, it was worse than you’d imagine. I ate for fun. I was good at it and people expected it of me (being the tallest and biggest in my family). I enjoyed showing off how much I could pack in. Prove it, you say?

I ate a 49oz steak in ONE sitting on my 18th birthday! I was 6’2″ and 145lbs soaking wet. Not to mention I ate my salad, bread, lobster bisque, AND my chocolate birthday cake. Extrapolate that type of eating over the next nine years and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I was exhausted all the time and that my cholesterol was high; despite my physical appearance being that of a fit, healthy person. I did try to eat healthy, despite my feats of eating; a large chunk of meat and a couple of steamed veggies was my usual meal. Maybe some bread and dairy threw in as well.

In my defense, I was misinformed. I thought we HAD to eat meat, that every meal should contain meat, and that animal protein was the holy grail to building muscle. I was in my twenties and taking prescription medication to reduce my cholesterol. I needed a change.

The more I learned about exercise and nutrition, the more I realized how much I still didn’t know. So, I started taking a close look into what I ate and educate myself as to the truth of what I was fueling my body with.

It took some thorough investigating and retraining of my food values. As soon as I made the switch to a plant-based diet, I immediately felt better. Within one week, I noticed positive benefits. I’ve spent my time from then until now reshaping my diet and also spreading what I have learned to my friends, family, and anyone else who would listen.

On October 13th, 2014 I decided to make my knowledge official and I got certified as a Plant Based Nutritionist through the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies (The leading authority on Plant Based Nutrition) in association with Cornell University. I also became a certified Personal Trainer through ACTION on March 17th, 2017.

I like eating, I always have. Now I eat as much as I want, packing my body full of nutrients, and I’m all the healthier for it. At 6 ‘2″, 200lbs, I’m the physically strongest and mentally sharpest I have ever been. The sleepy haze is gone and has been replaced with bountiful energy and unwavering focus. My nutrition and fitness coaching, podcasting and blogging is a combination of setting goals and empowering you with the knowledge to attain them. My goal is to help you get your body, mind, and overall health to a level you never thought possible.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Absolutely not, changing the way you’ve eaten for decades, and unlearning so much of what you’ve been taught about nutrition and food for your entire life just can’t be easy. It’s taken countless hours of research to learn what is healthy to eat, and what is it. And even more than that, it takes a lot of time to know what to look for in clinical research that dictates if the study has been skewed to fit a narrative – things like who it’s funded by, who conducted it, what type of control was used, etc. It’s a constant process of learning, evolving, and determining what is correct and what isn’t. You can find a study that supports whatever you believe, the key is being able to recognize the validity of that study.

Please tell us about your business.
Mainly Plants were spawned out of my recognition that most people just don’t know that what they are eating isn’t good for them; food is the cause and cure for so many diseases and disorders. I specialize in helping people transition to a plant-based diet, healthily losing weight, building strength and endurance, and working their way off of their harmful medications for chronic illness that they can reverse. I’m known for my direct and straight forward way of explaining things – I don’t sugar coat it. Health is something too important to beat around the bush on. People always think of vegans and those who eat a plant-based diet as being malnourished and weak; this is where I break that stereotype. At 6’2″, 200lbs, muscular and lean, I’ve set myself apart from nutritionists and trainers who claim you just can’t be healthy, active, and attractive by eating only plants.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Honesty, plain and simple. I’m going to tell you exactly what I’ve learned over the last 8 years of constant research and how it applies to your life. You can choose to take it or leave it but I’m going to be straight with you and tell you how you can succeed and how you can fail. The choice is yours in regards to what you want to do with the information. In the end, you can either feel great and congratulate yourself and be happy, or you can feel the same way (or worse) and have no one to blame but yourself.

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