Food Babe Interview with Vani Hari!

Have you ever seen fast food and wondered, "What's in this thing?" We certainly have! So has Vani. Eating healthier and simpler caused her to start advocating for better foods, and for even unhealthy companies to clean up their acts. Without further ado, it's our pleasure to welcome Vani Hari, founder of the Food Babe Blog, and our new in-store wellness brand Truvani! 

FY: Hello Vani, tell us a little bit about yourself.

Vani: I began my food journey like most people, by following the standard American diet. In my early 20’s, I was a successful management consultant and was either in the office eating whatever take-out was available, or I was on the road eating every meal out. Although this lifestyle allowed me to fit in with my peers and work crazy hours, it also took a huge toll on my body and I became very ill. Over the holiday season, I found myself in a hospital bed. I was sick, overweight, and ready to change! I made a personal promise that from that point on, I was going to make health my number one priority.

FoodBabe.com was born in April 2011, from my years of learning, investigating and researching how to live a healthy lifestyle in this overly-processed world. As I learned more about the habits needed for a healthy lifestyle and what dangerous ingredients to avoid, my friends and family begged me to start a blog in order to share everything I had uncovered. My first investigation was into my favorite yogurt chain. After the CEO responded to my writings by yanking some of the misleading marketing, I have continued writing about the injustices and corrupt practices of the Big Food industry.

I lovingly call my readers the Food Babe Army. We are a powerful group, committed to demanding and actively creating change in the food industry. Not only do we care about our personal health, but we care to educate others. Together, our mission is to create a healthier world full of the most nutritious, safe, and wholesome food to feed ourselves and our families. We create public awareness about what is in food, how to make the right purchasing decisions at the grocery store and how to live an organic lifestyle. With the help of the entire Food Babe Army, the investigations and petitions on FoodBabe.com have influenced several of the largest food corporations to change, including Kraft, Chick-fil-A, Chipotle, Subway, Anheuser-Busch, and Starbucks.

Since making these big industry changes, I knew I had to make an impact from the inside out, so I started my own brand Truvani with two incredible partners. We believe in real food without chemicals, products without toxins and labels without lies.

FY: How did you feel with the huge response to your Instagram and all the positive subsequent change it brought to our food industry?

Vani: It’s crazy to think that someone who had no experience with social platforms, now has a following—but it can all happen when you hit a nerve and share your passion with the world. I love social media, because it has helped me create this massive community of people that not only care about their own health, but also want to create a safer, more sustainable food system for everyone. There’s a lot of power in sharing. Knowledge and transparency are an important prerequisite to change, and social media has made this all possible.

FY: What are some of your favorite “clean swap” products?

Vani: I’m thankful for many organic brands who are doing the right things, and use real food ingredients to make their products. Some of these are staples in my house like Tolerant Pasta, Food For Life breads, TruRoots sprouted lentils and quinoa, and Made In Nature dried fruits.

FY: What led you to starting your own brand: Truvani?

Vani: After years of being an activist, I learned that big companies don’t change fast enough. Unfortunately, most of them don’t value health over profits. I lost count of how many times I’d fallen in love with an organic product, until a big conventional company bought it out and changed the ingredients. They started cutting corners by adding “flavors”, “gums” and other unnecessary ingredients to cut costs. I’d finally had enough.

As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” And he’s right. We will never get a truly safe and healthy food supply by simply demanding that Big Food change. That’s why I decided to go head-to-head with Big Food by launching my own organic line of products, Truvani.

At Truvani, we don’t take shortcuts. At our core, we believe in real food without added chemicals, products without toxins, and labels without lies.

FY: What do you hope to see with Truvani in the next few years?

Vani: It’s hard to believe that after creating our first product only three short years ago, that we now have 20 products. We've been developing new products like crazy and right now, I feel that the sky's the limit. We will soon be delving more into personal care products, because I believe that what you put on your body is just as important as what you’re eating. We also have some exciting new food products in development that I can’t wait to share soon!

FY: Do you have any advice for those looking to make the switch to a cleaner diet?

The best advice I can give is to start reading ingredient labels and stop looking at the front of packaging for information about the product and its health benefits. I read ingredient labels closely. It’s the best way to know what’s truly in a packaged food and whether it’s good for you. This may take time and prolong your trips to the grocery store, but if you care about your health, it’s well worth the time and effort. Plus, practice makes perfect; the more you do it, the faster you’ll get.

In my cookbook Food Babe Kitchen, I take this a step further and walk you through three simple questions to ask yourself that will dramatically improve your food decisions. It all begins with knowing what is in your food. You don’t have to make a full-time career of food activism and investigating like I have. You just need to ask, and answer, three simple questions about food:

1. What are the ingredients?
2. Are these ingredients nutritious?
3. Where do these ingredients come from?

I believe that if you can select food based on your answers to these three questions, you’ll put yourself and your loved ones on the path to a healthy lifestyle right away. Plus, you’ll be fighting back against those guilty parties who are trying to contaminate our foods in the name of profits.

Vani Hari Bio:

Named as one of the “Most Influential People on the Internet” by Time Magazine, Vani Hari is the revolutionary food activist behind foodbabe.com, co-founder of organic food brand Truvani, New York Times best selling author of Food Babe Kitchen, The Food Babe Way, and Feeding You Lies. For most of her life, Vani ate whatever she wanted—candy, soda, fast food, processed food—until her typical American diet landed her where that diet typically does, in a hospital. Despite her successful career in corporate consulting, Hari decided that health had to become a priority. Her newfound goal drove her to investigate what is really in our food, how it is grown and what chemicals are used in its production. The more she learned, the more she changed and the better she felt.

Encouraged by her friends and family, Hari started a blog called foodbabe.com in 2011. It quickly became a massive vehicle for change. She has led campaigns against food giants like Kraft, Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, Subway and General Mills that attracted more than 500,000 signatures and led to the removal of several controversial ingredients used by these companies. Through corporate activism, petitions, and social media campaigns, Hari and her Food Babe Army have become one of the most powerful populist forces in the health and food industries. Her drive to change the food system inspired the creation of her new company called Truvani, where she produces real food without added chemicals, products without toxins, and labels without lies. Hari has been profiled in the New York Times and The Atlantic, and has appeared on Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, CNN, The Dr. Oz Show, The Doctors, and NPR. Vani lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with her husband Finley and daughter Harley.