Meet Jim O’Quinn of Bro Pro Vegans

Who says plant-based lifestyles are just for women? Meet Jim O’Quinn, founder of Bro Pro Vegans, a powerhouse community breaking stereotypes and helping men embrace plant-based living.

Appearing on The Glen Merzer Show, Jim shared his journey from a meat-loving diet to thriving as a vegan for 28 years. His wake-up call? An audiobook by Tony Robbins highlighting the devastating environmental and health impacts of animal agriculture. "The yield from one pound of cow doesn’t compare to the edible crops you can grow instead," Jim recalled. Motivated by a desire to fuel his body better and contribute to a healthier planet, he never looked back.

Jim's mission is to tackle a critical issue: men are vastly underrepresented in the vegan community. "Only 20% of vegans are men," he said. "Bro Pro Vegans aims to change that by creating a brotherhood—a safe space where guys can talk about health, fitness, and even awkward topics like prostate health, without judgment."

This isn’t just another gym group. It’s a hub for men of all backgrounds—athletes, doctors, plumbers—united by their desire to live compassionately and healthfully. Through Zoom meetings, resources, and future retreats, Bro Pro Vegans offers camaraderie, practical advice, and an inclusive space for men to connect.

For Jim, veganism isn’t about deprivation but discovery. His meals are hearty and creative—think burritos packed with refried beans, Spanish rice, and spicy toppings. And the results speak for themselves: vibrant health, boundless energy, and even overcoming lifelong medical issues like mitral valve prolapse.

Jim’s vision? A world where veganism isn’t the exception but the norm. "One day, I hope we don’t need terms like vegan or plant-based," he said. "It’ll just be how we eat."

Want to be part of this movement? Visit Bro Pro Vegans and join the brotherhood today!

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DISCLAIMER: Please understand that the transcript below was provided by a transcription service. It is undoubtedly full of the errors that invariably take place in voice transcriptions. To understand the interview more completely and accurately, please watch it here: Meet Jim O'Quinn of Bro Pro Vegans

Here's the transcript:

Glen Merzer: Welcome to the Glen Merzer show. can find us across all your favorite podcast platforms. You could find us on YouTube. And please remember to subscribe. It doesn't cost you anything. And you could find us at RealMenEatPlants.com. I've been off for about the last month, partially the holidays and partially I had hernia surgery. Went to the same hernia surgeon who I interviewed. You could find On my list of videos, Dr. Jonathan Yunis once again didn't even have to take an aspirin. He's that good. My guest today I've never met before. His name is Jim O'Quinn. He's the founder of Bro Pro Vegans. That's BRO, PRO, vegans.com. Jim, welcome to the show.

Jim O'Quinn: Thank you very much, Glen, for having me. I'm really excited to be here. 

Glen Merzer: So, Jim, first of all, I have to tell you, I got a haircut this morning and I had seen pictures of you on the Internet and I thought maybe I'll just shave my head in your honor. And then I thought, you know, I don't even know you. So it would be a way to go for that. But how long have you sported that look?

Jim O'Quinn: Oh. I shaved my head. It's been progressive. So I've been smooth like this for about three years. And then prior to that, it was the stubble look. And then prior to that, it was just short. So, yeah, all my brothers are bald too. So it's like, it goes in the family. 

Glen Merzer: you, do you get strangers approaching you wanting to just rub your head, maybe make a wish or something?

Jim O'Quinn: You get a smack in the back of the head by a brother here and there, but that's about it. That's it. Okay.

Glen Merzer: So tell us your story. When did you become a vegan and how did this begin to take over your life a little bit? 

Jim O'Quinn: OK, well, I'll step back one second. I'll be 53 tomorrow, which is a nice. 

Glen Merzer: And there isn't a gray hair on your head.  So nothing, nothing.

Jim O'Quinn:  It's really working out well for me. Yeah. So but 53 and I've been vegan now for more than half my life. So in 1996. I listened to audio tapes, cassette tapes in my car with Anthony Robbins and it was the Living Health Book. And I think that was what it was called. It's been so long. And listening to that audio book just totally transformed my way of thinking, the way the food industry works, health and all of those things all put together. And I went cold to just cut out all meat.

Glen Merzer:  I'll interrupt you here to say I read about Tony Robbins because I didn't know that he had been vegan. Well, he used to be vegan, I think for about 12 years. Probably he recorded something during his vegan years. And then he decided to add some fish and he got mercury poisoning and almost died. that'll take time. 

Jim O'Quinn: Yeah, exactly. 

Glen Merzer: About adding fish. 

Jim O'Quinn: Yeah. So and then from that point on, I've stayed vegan for 28 years now.

Glen Merzer: Yeah. And how has your vegan diet evolved over those 28 years? Did you get stricter about anything in the beginning? 

Jim O'Quinn: I was fanatically strict because of the listening to the audiobooks, because what he had told in there was things like food combining back then the misinformation of, you need to combine your proteins to get complete proteins nonsense. But that was that was common knowledge back then. So I was diligent on making sure I had that and mixed this with this. And he also pointed out, don't drink water with your meal. It dilutes your food. So I wasn't drinking water. I wasn't miscombining my food. I didn't have this with this. So I'm six feet tall. Prior to being vegan, I was about 145 pounds, very thin, lean, but muscular within four or five months of going that direction with that very strict adherence to everything he was saying, I went down to 135 pounds. So I was not healthy. And my wife at the time said, well, she's still my wife, when we first got together, she's like, you got to do something. You're getting really sick looking. So I introduced more food. I gave up on the whole combining stuff. And from that point on, I've just maintained a nice healthy weight. And now that I've always been a fit athletic person in the weight training and calisthenics. So I'm trying to gain size now and it's working because of this plant-based diet. I can gain a whole lot better than I did when I was a meat eater, which is very bizarre in so many people's mindset that, you know, meat is so mandatory to gain muscle. I'm 170 pounds now. And my body fat is as low as it was when I was like when I started this whole thing. So that's saying something. 

Glen Merzer: So you gained about 25, 30 pounds of muscle over the 28 years. 

Jim O'Quinn: Yeah. Not fat. Like a lot of people just gain age tends to be that burden to gain weight. But yeah. So it's been mostly muscle. 

Glen Merzer: And are you strict about things like oil and sugar? in your diet? 

Jim O'Quinn: Well, I grew up with a lot of sugar around me. So that was definitely part of my lifestyle, having candies and sweets and stuff like that. So I only recently been cutting that out and it's starting to kick in. It's starting to make a difference. But again, being vegan for so long, I don't know any difference in regards to I've never, I'm never without full energy. It takes a hell of a lot to make me tired. cutting out the energy, putting out the sugar, putting it in, I don't get those supposed highs and lows, the crashes and all that. I never understood what people were talking about when they say these things. Or, you know, food coma. What are you talking about? Mental fogness. can't, there's no clarity. What are you talking about? These are such strange concepts to me because I think strongly because of the way I live and the way I eat, those don't apply.

Glen Merzer: So what's your daily diet like? What do you like to have for breakfast, lunch, dinner?

Jim O'Quinn:  I change it up. So I love oatmeal. So I like soaked oats. And one of my favorite go tos is just soaked oats with soy, silk, soy milk, a little bit of apple cider vinegar, not apple cider vinegar, but apple cider as a sweetening and flavorful component. I put in a whole big heaping amount of ground black seeds or chia seeds whatever kind of nut I have on hand or seed. And then I cut up a whole apple. So I eat large portions. Like I've measured it out just to make sure I know what I'm doing. But on average, my oatmeal all put together like I just described would equal about four cups. That's my breakfast. And then lunch would be about two big burritos, something like that. And then my burritos would be refried beans that I make, Spanish rice.

all the fixings on top like avocado lettuce, hot peppers. I like things hot and spicy. So I'd have two of those. And then snack would be probably like three module dates with Wow butter and a glass of- 

Glen Merzer: With Wow butter?

Jim O'Quinn: Wild butter. Over here in Canada, we have a really fantastic product. It's soy, soy nut butter, but it's manufactured in a way that has no peanut contact, no other tree nuts in that. So kids here, can have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without being the peanut butter. It tastes the same, looks the same, and it smells the same, but it's soy nut and it's completely safe for kids who have an allergy. 

Glen Merzer: How do you spell the name of this product? 

Jim O'Quinn: W-O-W. Wow. Wow butter. Wow. Yeah. Wow nut butter. Is this available in the States? 

Glen Merzer: I really don't know. I know that they have it here and there's a crunchy version and a smooth version and it's incredible. It's been here for...I don't remember if it's been at least six years, but it's something to look for. 

Jim O'Quinn: You'll love it. 

Glen Merzer: Well, I never heard of wow butter. This is a whole new food to me. 

Jim O'Quinn: Yeah. So the equivalent would be peanut butter on two, on three module dates and then a cup of soy milk. That's my snack. Dinner would be, like a green goddess bowl. it's like five different greens in there, pasta and a pesto sauce, that type of thing. And some crumbled vegan feta.

Glen Merzer: All right. So it sounds like you're eating delicious food and a lot of it. Yeah. And what was it that Tony Robbins said that made you think 28 years ago, I think? Yeah. Made you say, I'm changing my life and I'm going to eat vegan style. 

Jim O'Quinn: what didn't he say? He just picked at every single aspect of the food industry.He touched on agriculture and how it's destroying the rainforest, it's destroying lands all over the world. He was saying the yield from one pound of cow is not even remotely close to what you can get in regards to edible crops that you could have as a replacement based on the feed that they have to give them, the water that they have to give the animals. It's ridiculous. So that triggered something in my brain then. But then he also talked about if dairy, for example, the amount of pus that's inside the milk and the hormones and the chemicals, and it's just disgusting. And at the time I had a friend of mine who worked in the industry that they made chocolate milk. And she was telling me what they would do in stores where expired milk wasn't thrown in the garbage. They would take it off the shelves. The people who worked for the company would go into the stores, reclaim the milk repasteurize it, add flavoring to it and package it as chocolate milk and put it back on store shelves. And I'm like, okay, not touching that even more now, you know? So it's like, and he just pointed out how the cholesterol affects your heart. And at the time I had a heart issue and my... The doctor said, this is your lifelong thing. You just got to monitor it, monitor it. You got to be careful with what sports and activities you have. And, you know, I was worried about it for a long time. I didn't even think about it. I thought this was my life sentence and I'm stuck with it. But then my wife has suggested, why don't you go and get your heart checked again, see where you're at now that you've been vegan for so long. And sure enough, completely gone. 

Glen Merzer: Could I ask what that issue was?

Jim O'Quinn: Mitral valve prolapse and a heart murmur. 

Glen Merzer: So it went away with the vegan diet. 

Jim O'Quinn: That's my understanding. Now, no doctor is going to say, yeah, that's exactly why it went away. But he just said, you don't have it anymore. And I'm like, okay, that's cool. And that was one of the things I had. And then when I was young, I had a kidney disease as well. had nephronic syndrome where my proteins don't get, metabolized properly. And I was excreting them through urine. too much. So I was very, very sick. I was hospitalized for three months and 

Glen Merzer: at what age?

Jim O'Quinn:  I was a little kid, but I was in, I was in and out of the hospital for years and that left, some structural damage. The doctors did say with regards to when I was supposed to be developing and growing, I didn't have the materials. My body wasn't synthesizing the proteins correctly to build what it needed to build. So it had issues, but I think that this lifestyle has been very advantageous to making me. fix those missing spots, the structure that might have needed to be filled and grown, because I've got everything working in perfect order. All my blood work is always top notch. 

Glen Merzer: And the kidney function is good now? 

Jim O'Quinn: Everything has been perfectly fine. 

Glen Merzer: So you've overcome the kidney problem too? 

Jim O'Quinn: Yeah. But I overcame the kidney problem a very long time ago. It's the residual effect that I I've had throughout my life because of it, like other things like digestive issues, this issue, that issue, all of those things run away with this lifestyle. 

Glen Merzer: Now, before you heard Tony Robbins speak, were you a big meat eater? 

Jim O'Quinn: yeah, I was proud of it, too. Like I would go buy myself an entire two pounds of ground beef and a taco kit, the one that comes with 12 shells and the salsa and the spices. I'd make that whole thing and eat the whole thing by myself for a dinner, that type of thing. I would go to McDonald's and I was known for getting a quarter pounder with cheese, a Big Mac and a six pack of nuggets, a large fries and a drink. I'd finish that off in 15 minutes, but that was my go to. So this is who I was prior to. 

Glen Merzer: So that's who you were. Then you hear Tony Robbins speak and he says any number of things that were absolutely correct. Yeah. About the environment and about health. Yeah. And you decide that's it. I'm vegan. You go vegan and then he starts eating fish. What what got into his mind? Do you have any idea that made him start eating fish? 

Jim O'Quinn: Oddly enough, I just bought his newest book called Life Force, and in it he goes back and talks about how he was vegan and that he. He felt as though, I think he said he wasn't finding the energy and the strength he needed to be on stage presenting the way he normally does. So he started to introduce meat again in the form of fish, but he wasn't just eating salmon. He was eating swordfish and shark and all the big fish. So his mercury poison level was through the roof. Like it would kill a rhino kind of through the roof and In the book, he talks about the newest technologies and the tests and assessments that they have out there now to one, see how much toxicity you have in your body and these different methods on how to take it out. And he encourages to go here, go there and get these tests done. But he warns about the large fish. He warns about the poisoning and the toxins that come with it. Whether or not he's cut that out, I do not know. And if he did, did he say, okay, well, I'm just going to go on the chicken? I don't know. but it's interesting. 

Glen Merzer: Well, he needs to go back on the vegan diet. And I don't know what stopped him from feeling enough energy, but it doesn't affect you and me. that's a little a little mystifying to me. So tell us about bro pro vegans, BRO, PRO vegans dot com. What what what was the Incentive for starting that. What's what's the idea behind it?

Jim O'Quinn: For sure. So I've always been a round peg trying to fit in a square hold society. So I never could relate to so many of the guys in regards to who I worked with, hung out with and knew, you know, go out for steak and beers and stay out late. Don't bother with the family and all that. I'm a very strong family guy. I'm also very health conscious, very fit and I don't drink alcohol, don't drink coffee, don't smoke, don't do drugs. I've never done any of that in my entire life. 

Glen Merzer: So- Well, I had one cup of coffee in my life. You're not missing anything. 

Jim O'Quinn: I know. Trust me. My wife loves coffee and she has all these fantastic mugs and this cool coffee machine. It's like, looks so appealing. I'm like, got to try it. I take a sip. No, thank you. Can't do it. Nope. Just not for me. Yeah. So I always had a hard time being able to, you know, sit and hang out with guys who I worked with and such, because they're like, let's go for steak and beers. And I'm like, well, I'm cool with that, but I'll just have my carrot sticks and tomato pasta. Cause back then it was like, that's your options. There was very little to choose from and I didn't have an issue with it, but you can, it's funny, cause I don't know about you, but every time you mentioned somebody, you're vegan, people put their back up and they get a little testy with you because they know they shouldn't be eating meat. And I'm this person there kind of like reminding them that of that. So I would get a little bit of, you know, flack when it came to the way we would talk and that would get made fun of and joked around and everything. it's like, okay. All said and done, I thought, I can't be the only guy out there who's living this lifestyle with this kind of ethics and mindset. So the pursuit in my earlier years was to try and meet other friends who I can relate to in that respect. And I found a few here and there, but work keeps you busy and everything. I thought this year, and that was a year ago. I really, really want to explore this further. I want to unite. I want to create an alliance of guys who are all on the same page, who are all on the same mission for the planet themselves, their family, all these different things. So I thought of Bro Pro Vegans. And the reason I came up with that name Bro Pro, you've got bro science thrown around. I'm always in the gym and you got bros helping bros, know, how to do these different things. And I thought, well, that's me. I'm the bro. I want to share all the knowledge that I've accumulated over 28 years of being vegan. But I also want to have pros. I want a professional trainer, a doctor, whoever to also share their knowledge with myself and with other guys. I have so many questions all the time about everything and I want to get correct answers. I don't want to have big pharma. I don't want to have industrial people who are under their umbrella of their paychecks and where they're getting funding from telling me information that's not accurate. I want to find the real answers to the questions. And I know other guys have those same questions. So BroPro was based is based on finding the correct knowledge, cutting through the clutter, the crap and the misinformation that's spread out there. Like, okay, go ahead.

Glen Merzer: Well, when you use the term pro is I'm taking it, there's a broad definition of pro. So if somebody wants to join and he's a plumber or a gardener or works in a manufacturing plant. Are they pros in some sense that you're, you know, rather than being a professional in terms of being a doctor? 

Jim O'Quinn: Absolutely. That's the thing. We all have our special abilities. Everybody has a unique quality characteristic, life experience, something. I also base this on simple things like what razor do you use? Do you use an electric or do you use shave? When do you recommend? Because if you're going to go out and buy something, You need a garage door, you need a razor, whatever. Do you do research first? Do you ask your best friend, your neighbor, your brother, or whoever? You tend to look for those references first. So that's where this all comes from. I would love to have a plumber as part of the group because I want to pick their brain. I want to know, seriously, why does my pipe bang like this when this happens? And instead of having somebody on me out of spending a ton of money or whatever and just do all the wrong things, it would be great to have a brother who can honestly say, yeah, yeah, yeah, don't worry about that. You just do this, this, this, and this. Because that's where that friendship comes in. And that's what I want for BroPro. So we are all friends who help one another, support one another, teach one another from all aspects of life. 

Glen Merzer: Now, this organization clearly is geared for men. I've come across the statistic that only 20 % of vegans are men. I think we all know that women are right more often than men are. That apparently applies to nutrition as well. So is part of the idea, the idea that men need extra support and camaraderie and being vegans because we are a more distinct minority even than women vegans? 

Jim O'Quinn: Absolutely. That you touched on a very valid point. There are so few of us out there. So that means there's even less resources for us. You know, it's like going, you're just not getting the information that's relevant for a man. And that's what I want for this. So erectile dysfunction, prostate cancer, things like that. I want information shared freely and openly about this. It's a little awkward for a guy to be themselves when they're talking in a room and there's other, and there's women in there. It's a different dynamic. The more I research, the more I meet guys, the more I talk to guys, the more vital a group like this is. So you have non-vegan groups out there and that's also very, important because men just have lost the ability to become, friends. The statistics are crazy and I won't try to remember the numbers, but it's sad because 20, like a hundred years ago, you might say, one man would have five really close, near and dear friends. Now they don't even have one, a lot of guys. They'll have acquaintances, but they won't have a true buddy. And I want to fix that. want to make that back to the old school way of things where you just pick up the phone and say, hey, Glen, how you doing? How's your hernia operation? Did everything go well? And genuinely want to know and be there and help that type of thing.

Glen Merzer: And so it's easy to join. just joined myself. All you have to do is go to broprovegans.com and sign to join. There's no cost. Down the road, are you anticipating costs? How is this going to evolve?

Jim O'Quinn: Exactly. So to go on the website and get a little bit of information and to start connecting, there's no charge, but there will be a subscription based component because the goal is to have a large database of relevant, very, very impactful and useful information on there in short videos under three or four categories, primarily fitness, nutrition, and overall health and wealth. So those would be the categories we're going to have videos of myself sharing my knowledge and other professionals as I mentioned earlier. So the goal is to have a pick and play concept. A lot of guys already know a lot of things. I've been working, like some guys that might've been working out for 30 years, like myself, I kind of know this stuff, but I also still love to learn new things. I used to only do weightlifting. Now I'm doing mostly calisthenics because it's a whole new area for me and it's so much more interesting right now for me. So that's the point to have a room wide variety of incredible information on there. And it makes sense to have a subscription for it. So monthly, you're going to see new things popping up all the time. So that's part behind there. 

Glen Merzer: Will people be able to sign up for free, get a certain amount of information for free, and then choose down the road whether they want to sign up for a paying subscription or just continue to get some content, but not all the content? 

Jim O'Quinn: Yes, exactly. There'll be three different tiers to it. there'll be, you know, I'm one of those try before you buy kind of guys. You know, I want to show exact samples of what you would see in the content. So you see the quality, the content, whether it's relevant to you. And if you like it, the subscription would be for a month. And then there would be also another subscription component where I'm still working on it but it's going to be more event oriented. So the evolution of this is to not just to help educate and inform guys of all sorts of things that will make their lives better from the inside and out all around, but it's the friendship side that is vital. And I want to be able to help connect guys together, whether they're local community groups, provincial or state groups and then international groups. So we have pockets of BroPro Vegan Brothers all over the place, sharing information, meeting up in different locations. And then the goal is to have quarterly big get togethers. So they would be places a little bit out of the way, but you'd want to travel there for like a weekend retreat, that type of thing.

Glen Merzer: So you're in Ontario yourself. 

Jim O'Quinn: That's right. 

Glen Merzer: So these these get togethers might be sometimes in Canada and sometimes in the northern part of the states. 

Jim O'Quinn: Yeah, it could be all over the place. They could be in Miami, Florida. They could they could be anywhere, Colorado. I don't know. We're still working on the logistics behind all that.

Glen Merzer:  OK. Yeah. Now, over your left shoulder, Jim. is a telephone that looks like the telephone I grew up with. What's the story behind that?

That was my wife's 14 year anniversary, wedding anniversary gift to me. Part of our big other thing, but I wanted that nostalgic. I wanted something from my office that was fun and exciting from my past because I loved as a kid that rotary dial. And it was so cool. And we were in an antique store and the gentleman who sold me the sold us this said this works. And sure enough, I brought it home, plugged it in and I called one of my clients on this phone and I couldn't stop smiling. I wasn't even talking properly because I was smiling so much because it was so nostalgic and so cool. 

Glen Merzer: Remember pay phones? 

Jim O'Quinn: yeah. I saw one the other day and it was the weirdest thing.

Glen Merzer: It just seemed normal when I was a kid to put a dime in a payphone and make a call. And now probably couldn't find a payphone if you searched the country. So what I have found, and tell me if this is what you've found too, is that I have met, in fact, probably most of my friends are not vegans. more and more as I get older, it becomes important to have vegan friends. non-vegan friends are less likely to invite you over for dinner because it's annoying for them to try to cope with someone on a vegan diet. I don't think it's that difficult, but they worry about it. And like you said earlier, maybe they feel somehow judged by vegans, even if we don't say a word. Maybe they suspect in the back of their minds that it's not really necessary to put pigs in crates for their lifetimes and then slaughter them in order to eat a meal. And so when people like us don't require that in order to thrive, maybe it bothers them. In any case, seems that as I get older, the need for vegan friends gets greater and the need to be part of a community of vegans. The vegans have become, a way, my people. Whatever ethnic group or religious group I was born into has become irrelevant to me. Where I'm from, it's become irrelevant to me. But what has become more and more relevant is how I eat. is that part of the impetus behind pro-vegans that the real deepest friendships may need to be with people who share the same way of eating?

Jim O'Quinn:  I believe so. It goes back to things that you aspire to talk about the most. Somebody who's a hockey fanatic, somebody who eats, sleeps and drinks that sport. They would have no fun hanging out with me just simply because I am not a sports guy. I never have been and I don't know the lingo. I don't know anything about it. So it doesn't make sense. So that We could talk about everything else, but the core to their identity, the core to their excitement, what drives them and stuff is hockey and it's not mine. So it's a short-lived conversation that we'll have overall. Hanging out with guys who are on the same page. Now being vegan opens up this huge range of topics. Like you can talk about everything from the environment to the health, the fitness. I mean, it just never ends. So you now have dialogue for days and it's a good thing. So I love that. that I've noticed that all the guys who I've encountered who are plant-based or vegan have a very compassionate side. They're very open-minded. They're very understanding and they respect life and all the different aspects. So now you've just taken subject matter, and then ethics and morals and thinking, and you put them all together. Now you got a room full of people like that. my God. I mean, this is fantastic. But part of Bro Pros, and I've talked to so many guys about this, I would love, and my hope and expectation is in the future, the word vegan, vegetarian, plant-based just doesn't exist. Just doesn't exist. It doesn't make any sense. The only word that does, that person eats meat. That's a meat eater thing over there. What is that? You know, and that's it because we're all only eating plant-based food, period. There is no more animal agriculture. It's all gone. And I would just love not to have to be this different society that stands out from all the others. I want us all to be one and just be all on board with the same goal and mission to have the best, healthiest lives, take care of this planet and all that lives on here.

Glen Merzer: Yeah. That's the challenge because there are more of them than there are of us, but they have to join our team. 

Jim O'Quinn: Yeah. To answer one of the things you are not to answer, but to add on to, I don't really get invited to over to dinners very often either because of all the things you just pointed out. So I flip it. I invite them. And I love leading by example. I love showing them all the people who come over for dinner. Christmas was a great example. Had the whole family over. My side of the family are the only plant-based. The rest are all meat eaters. They know if you bring your own meat, if you're coming into my house, don't ask me to make or buy anything meat-based. You can bring it. I'm not gonna stop you. But I made this big vegan chicken pot pie. Gone. And who ate it? The meat eaters. So. They get to see, that tasted amazing. They love my potatoes. They love my salad. They love this. They love that. So I love to lead by example and show them that it's not all carrot sticks and plain buns when you're vegan. I mean, the sky's the limit with regards to what you get to enjoy. And I want them leaving here saying, damn, that was good. I'm going to try that myself. Know?

Glen Merzer: Now, it's your goal to… have get togethers with the Bro Pro Vegans in person. Of course, you will have membership from all over the world, so it'll be a challenge and probably you'll need to get to a pretty high level of members before you get to the point where it's easy for enough people to agree to come to a certain location. What about virtual meetings? Not as good as in person, but still could be good for people to meet each other. Are you planning to do any virtual meetings of your membership? 

Jim O'Quinn: That's how it exists right now. So it's when you sign up, you get invites, Zoom invites through email, and it's usually set for Wednesdays at four o'clock. It's just one hour out of your whole week. And whoever shows up shows up. And there's usually a topic to discuss, things very much like what we've been discussing. What did you do? What was your stumbling points at Christmas? Or when you're out with your at work, what do you normally do? What's your work around with regards to everybody wanting to go eat a dead animal and you're not? So it's fun to hear everybody's life story. So these Zoom calls are intended right now to facilitate dialogue to have us talk and kind of visually at least see one another to a degree is definitely not as good as in person, but it's what we've got for now. And ideally as more and more people join, we'll start noticing that, wow, I'm just down the stream from you. I didn't know that. Perfect. Guess who's going to go out for a coffee. You know what I mean? Let's go kayaking, polar plunge, all these different things. That's the goal.

Glen Merzer: Yeah, it's just that I don't know if you and I would join the coffee group. 

Jim O'Quinn: Well, I always do. I say, let's go for a coffee and I end up getting a smoothie or some other thing. 

Glen Merzer: Do you know if anyone is doing the same thing for women? Sisprovegan kind of thing. 

Jim O'Quinn: Well, there's so many different women's groups and there are a number of things I've seen on Meetups. and other websites. I don't put them in, I don't record them in my brain in regards to who they are, what they are, but I do know they're not specific always just to women, but to everybody. They're like, this is the vegan group, whatever. And they're fantastic, but they're this, they're not exactly what I'm doing. I'm catering to that small little poor niche of guys who have no support who feel lost and isolated. They want to do good for themselves. And how many times have you heard this story? I went vegan. I felt fantastic. I lost 40 pounds, no more sleep apnea. My skin looked great. you're part of the team. Great. And what did you do? You went out and got a bacon double cheeseburger and went right back for whatever number of reasons. And I feel bad every time I hear that story. And I want that not to be the case because they've been able to connect with guys who could support and have fun and do things with and all that. yeah. 

Glen Merzer: All right. Well, to the men who are listening, I joined. So I'll see you at the Wednesday meetings, guys, if you join too. And to the women who are listening, encourage the men in your life to join. 

Jim O'Quinn: That's the reason for this too. The men who need to be forced into this are going to be voluntarily living this lifestyle. And then they can go back to the wives and say, Hey, hun, I'm making this vegan chicken pot pie. It's so cool. 

Glen Merzer: You know, have you become a good cook? 

Jim O'Quinn: Oh, I've always been a cook. I've been cooking since I was seven years old.

Glen Merzer: So, Oh, you started young and you weren't cooking the right things at that time. I'm sure. 

Jim O'Quinn: Oh no. But you'd learn how to cook and then you learn to evolve how to cook correctly. 

Glen Merzer: Okay.And do you find that when you eat foods that are very simple, that don't require a lot of cooking, that it's often just as satisfying as when you make a recipe that requires 10 steps? 

Jim O'Quinn: yeah, absolutely. I'm totally happy with a baked sweet potato or and broccoli, done. I'm good. I don't need any sauces on there. I'll just need some salt and that's it. So I'm as happy as a clam, whether it's some elaborate thing that took me three hours to make or took me 20 minutes to make. Doesn't matter to me. 

Glen Merzer: I'm the same way. I don't need sauces. I just like to eat simple food. And tell us your vision. If enough people join, where do you see this going? 

Jim O'Quinn: in a nutshell, there'll be this extensive, incredible website filled with all the content you could ever possibly need to fulfill all your questions. all your desires and everything. It was right there to become the healthiest, happiest person you can be and trust in the fact that the content on there has been vetted so that it's real information, science-based, but not crappy science-based where it's just too convoluted. It's too messed up, just factual. So it's a great resource, just like Dr. Gregor, know, nutritionfacts.org, that kind of thing. So having a site like that, people can go to having this connection of like-minded men who are a connecting with each other and hanging out and developing these incredible friendships through the group, outside of the group, and then having these incredible adventures and retreats and activities that they all get to do in small pockets or in these huge groups. So I can see we're in Colorado up on the mountains. There's like 150 guys. It's all organized perfectly. It's the most life-changing, exciting time of their lives. They come out of that retreat feeling like a million bucks, thinking completely different, energized so high that they can live the next six months on that high. till they have the next retreat and just carry on like that. So those are the kinds of things I envisioned for this and having lifetime friendships, meeting some people that you can talk to when you're 110 and say, remember when you started that, we joined up at BroPro and you're sitting there, hiking the Himalayas at 110 together, that type of thing.

Glen Merzer: But I don't have to hype the Himalayas. 

Jim O'Quinn: No.

Glen Merzer: I have other plans for my 110 year. 

Jim O'Quinn: OK, well, that's what you got to share. 

Glen Merzer: Well, I'll share that. you know, I'll be playing chess or something. OK. Well, Jim, it's been great meeting you. I have joined. I'm going to I'm going to say to anyone listening, if you're a guy, join.

Jim O'Quinn: Thank you. 

Glen Merzer: Take care.

Jim O'Quinn:  You too.