In this second episode of Existennial I explain my strong 👎of giving general life advice. (How-to's like how to layer rugs, keep a baby alive or pair wine with curry are guidance I appreciate.) I then talk about why I much prefer sharing ideas and sparking stuff for people with STORIES. I quote a Spanish philosopher's thoughts on being a teacher and then recap a smart psychologist's studies on "narrative identity," --> basically whether you're aware or not, we're each stringing snippets...

Welcome to Existennial, a podcast where I shoot the shit about how we shape our life's own meaning on this random-ass planet and do so without miserably copy-and-pasting someone else's life or drowning in a pee-infested pool of personal responsibility anxiety.  It's where we'll investigate intentional living through a smorgasbord of science, spirituality, psychology, philosophy, pop culture, eavesdropping, and thoughts-I-have-in-the-shower.  I'm Talia Pollock, an author, columnist, and...

This episode might come as a shock. Or it may not. Either way it’s here and you’re listening to it so how bout I stop guessing what emotion it might bring and just let it bring it! It has been the journey of all journeys to go on this ride with you. I thank you from the very bottom of my heart for giving me your most precious resource, your time and lending me your hopefully not too waxy ears to speak into all these hours over all these years.    If you have ideas for what you might want to...

She’s a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, a professional chef, a trained nutrition specialist, a food psychiatrist, the author of This is Your Brain on Food and just overall foodie brainiac. This chat with Dr. Uma Naidoo covered how the state of your mental health often starts with what you ate for dinner. As she says, “Happy gut, happy mood!” We talked about so much mood-boostin’ stuffs including how the gut and the brain are waaaay more closely linked than you thought. (Heard it here first...

Nikki Brafman is a human design expert (in fact, she’s MY human design expert!). So much about what I teach is about living in alignment, stepping up to be your best self and living a life that is self loyal. Without human design, I wouldn’t be living my best, fullest and truest life. Or at least I wouldn’t have the verbiage to describe myself. If you read my recent Mindbodygreen article I shared how Human design legitimately changed my life. I am so thrilled to have Nikki to thank for...

Miss Simi Botic is a barre instructor, a health coach, the author of Letting Go Of Leo and the smarty yoga pants wearing brain behind Unmeasured. That last one is basically a ballet-meets-pilates class… but one that focuses on body positivity and self-compassion. (As in diet culture turns of phrase aren’t allowed and body punishing mentalities will be kicked to the curb!) This chat was all about embracing movement that we love in a self-compassionate way that has nothing to do with earning...

My lady Tricia Huffman a.k.a. The Joyologist a.k.a. affirmation queen a.k.a. the s****y thought police (OK, enough of the a.k.a.s, we get it…) is my latest and greatest guest. The woman is more super than a superfood itself and as such, this lil’ chat was even more invigorating than my post-run heaped-with-greens smoothie. Tricia has a background as a sound engineer, has spent so much of her life on the road and pivoted her whole lifestyle to be one focused on joy, positive affirmations,...

We’ve heard about making our bank accounts work for us, we’ve heard about making our businesses work for us… but what about our home sweet home? Jamie Gold is a home design marvel and the author of a new book: Wellness By Design, A Room-by-Room Guide to Optimizing Your Home for Health, Fitness and Happiness and her whole philosophy is that if you wanna get healthy, start with your space. We covered so much in this episode from revamping the kitchen, organizing the damn stacks of papers (I...

This week on the pod is all about less stuff, more adventure, more freedom and the MOST fun chats with Miranda Anderson. ICYMI, I had a major move last year where Jesse, Tommy and I carted our stuff away from tiny apartments in NYC and into an amazing home in the woods where plants grace my presence the minute I walk out the front door. Behind the scenes on this whole transition was Miranda Anderson, established blogger and author of More Than Enough: How One Family Cultivated A More Abundant...

When it comes to the good ol’ socially distanced plant partying, Tara Kemp is the guest of honor. Tara specializes in something so, so important and so, so valuable that I have the utmost respect for this gal. She helps women struggling with eating disorders recover through a plant-based eating philosophy. Having struggled with an eating disorder herself (which btw, she attributes to crippling anxiety that was left untreated) Tara, who is pursuing her phd in psychosocial health, knows a thing...

My dear friend Robyn Conley Downs is a speaker, educator, entrepreneur, podcaster, and new author of The Feel Good Effect: Reclaim Your Wellness By Creating Small Shifts That Create Big Change. (She was also interviewed in episode 132.) Holding a Master’s degree in education with an emphasis in behavior change, and 4 years of public policy & health change at the doctoral level, her work taps into cutting edge science around psychology, neuroscience, mindfulness, and habits. I mean, it’s...

My friend, Dr. Lauren Cook used to be best known as “The Sunny Girl,” and let me tell you, I’m probably not the only one who needs a lil’ ray of sunshine in this crazy, confusing and turbulent calendar year. This talented and wise gem of a human is a therapist, a speaker and a published author whose main goal is to help other people live according to their values. (Easy pea-sy, slice of carrot cake right?)  Way back in the day when I first met Lauren, I picked her brain and she was generous...

Dr. Rev. Christopher Carter’s jaw-dropping impressiveness doesn’t stop at his credentials. I felt like I was in school during this interview because Christopher’s views, research, background and way of explaining Black veganism and cruelty-free eating was better than any binge-worthy docuseries I’ve ever come across during this pandemic season!    His passion for social justice, racial equality, food, animals and the environment made this such an incredibly energy-packed plant party. I...

Dr. Yami (rhymes with Mommy) has it going on. She’s a pediatrician (who only owns her own practice), an author, a health and wellness coach, a mom, a wife, the brains behind Veggie Fit, a podcast host, a speaker and a kick-ass family chef…and in this chat she really spills the *beans* on some great parenting truths that we all really needed to hear. We chatted about body positivity, not conflating inner health with outer appearances, encouraging kids to feel open minded at dinner time,...

So, you know I wrote a book right?! Well even though it’s a cooking one, I was able to stuff more words in it than I do spinach in smoothies. And in this episode, which I’m recording just before I go on my annual summer beach vacation where I’ll be glued to sand and books and watermelon for 3 weeks, I wanted to read some of the words in MY BOOK to you all about having a house party in your plants! At the end I ask you to take my anonymous super short ~ willpower ~ survey which you can do...

So, you know I wrote a book right?! Well even though it’s a cooking one, I was able to stuff more words in it than I do spinach in smoothies. And in this episode, which I’m recording just before I go on my annual summer beach vacation where I’ll be glued to sand and books and watermelon for 3 weeks, I wanted to read some of the words in MY BOOK to you all about my thoughts on the triumphant trio: CHEESE, GLUTEN, and PROTEIN .. OH MY. At the end I ask you to take my anonymous super short ~...

So, you know I wrote a book right?! Well even though it’s a cooking one, I was able to stuff more words in it than I do spinach in smoothies. And in this episode, which I’m recording just before I go on my annual summer beach vacation where I’ll be glued to sand and books and watermelon for 3 weeks, I wanted to read some of the words in MY BOOK to you all about how to turn your clean-food frown upside down. At the end I ask you to take my anonymous super short ~ willpower ~ survey which you...

So, you know I wrote a book right?! Well even though it’s a cooking one, I was able to stuff more words in it than I do spinach in smoothies. And in this episode, which I’m recording just before I go on my annual summer beach vacation where I’ll be glued to sand and books and watermelon for 3 weeks, I wanted to read some of the words in MY BOOK to you all about cravings. At the end I ask you to take my anonymous super short ~ willpower ~ survey which you can do right here :-)   If you like...

When I first met today’s guest who is the wonderful woman the world calls Nicole Jardim (a.k.a. The Period Girl) years and years ago we were in a mess hall (at an adult sleepaway camp called Soul Camp). My friends were crowding her (back when personal space wasn’t a danger) to ask their juicy Q’s about their menstruation and I looked her in the eye with my nuva ring wedged in real deep and said “I don’t need period help, I don’t even get mine!”    Well hashtag mega grateful only skims the...

Jenn Racioppi’s health journey starts off really really tough. In her late teens and early 20s, Jennifer got two gynecological cancer diagnoses which led to her having a hysterectomy, being launched into early menopause and being prescribed tons of medications for depression, anxiety and hormone replacements. Don’t worry, the story has a positive ending which basically blew my socks off. This was in the 1990s and when Jennifer ventured to San Diego in search of better healing practices, she...

Sarah Adler really makes healthy eating seem really simple. Which is really good. Because her brand and business is called “Simply Real Health.” Sarah’s a real food lover to the core. And she’s really passionate about helping others love and eat real food with ease. She’s a rockstar nutrition coach, author of two stunningly beautiful cookbooks The Simply Real Health Cookbook and Simply Real Eating Cookbook, a new-ish mom, wife, lululemon ambassador and a really lovely, inspiring real human...

Today marks three years since my mother in law passed away, and in her loving memory I’m re-airing this touching tale of how my heart-filled engagement overlapped with her heartbreaking death and how that serves as an ongoing reminder to live the crap out of my days and share my non-crap food even more. It’s also updated with two major life-impacting lessons I’ve carried with me daily since experiencing Nancy’s death 3 years ago; to-do’s that I hope you’ll be inspired to do, too.   Links...

As we welcome a new month, new season, and new scent of body wash I’ve been loving (did a little switchie from Dr. Bronner’s lavender to eucalyptus oh and boy oh boy is it sensational) I wanted to touch base with ya -- without touching ya cuz that’s dangerous -- about another little switchie switchie I’ve got going on here.   Learn why I changed my Instagram identity from @partyinmyplants to @imtaliapollock, get a refresher on what Party in My Plants [+ this podcast] is in general, learn my...

This is only the third time in Party In My Plants history when I’ve publicly had a threesome - I interviewed TWO guests at the same time, you silly goose! I had an incredible hour talking with Robby and Cyrus which you will hear about in un memento. And for a conversation focused on diabetes, which I initially expected to be boring AF, I surprisingly and genuinely laughed a lot and have smiled thinking about since. Something that I found really cool about both Robby and Cyrus is that they...