I am your host, AShira Nelson.

And this is PBS Western Reserve Forum 360 where we have a global outlook from a local view.

Today I'm interviewing Terry Murphy, the inspire and founder of Fresh Life, a plant based health food restaurant that's transforming the lives, starting with his own.

Once weighing nearly 600 pounds, Terry made a life changing decision to reclaim his health through vegan lifestyle.

Ultimate losing over 300 pounds.

But Terry didn't stop there.

He turned his personal transformation into his mission, into helping others by opening Fresh Lyfe.

Located in Maple Heights, which has been serving the community for over four years.

It has generated over $1 million in sales.

Impressive.

Through delicious, nutritious, rich meals and a commitment to tackling food deserts.

Terry, of fresh Life are bridgin wellness and access to underserved communities across Northeast Ohio.

Today, we'll learn more about his incredible journey, the power of healthy food, and how one man is using his story to uplift in a community that I am a part of.

Hello, Terry.

- Hey, how you doing?

- I'm doing well.

How are you?

- I can’t complain.

sunshine and blue skies.

- Okay, okay.

- Yes ma’am.

- So let's jump into the man Terry hisself.

So tell me a little bit about yourself and your background.

- Okay, well, for 18 years, I was an executive chef.

I work my way through the city of Cleveland.

- Okay.

- I've been everywhere from the Cavs’ stadium to Thistledown race track.

- Really?

- Yes ma’am.

- What was your favorite position?

Other than your own?

- Executive chef, and being able to work at the Cavs’ stadium.

- Okay.

- It was great to be able to work up and close with the Cavs players and realize they're really tall.

They’re really tall.

- I bet.

So were you cooking for them personally?

- Yes, ma'am.

- Really?

- Yes, ma'am.

- How did you even get that opportunity?

- I started out working for Aramark.

- Okay.

- So when you go to work for Aramark, they have levels of tiers of chef.

And I was just happened to be up there in the high kitchen, and that was just my job.

- Okay.

That is nice.

Very nice.

Congratulations.

That is huge.

- Oh, no, ma'am, thank you.

A part of the journey.

- Yes.

Okay.

So take us back to the beginning.

So how was it like for you at almost 600 pounds?

- I would say terrible.

- Okay.

- At the time, I didn't realize it.

But me always been such a handsome guy.

- Yeah - I know it sounds crazy, but, I didn't realize I was that big.

- Yeah.

- but as I think back on it now, I realized I was more depressed than anything.

- Okay.

I think I was stuck in the struggle of every day work cycle.

Being a husband.

I really was just going through the motions.

- Yes.

Okay.

Okay.

- And through that, caused the necessary predicament I was in.

- Yeah, tell me a little bit about that.

What kind of situation were you in?

- I think being a young father, jumping right into parenthood.

- Oh, okay.

- So I tell people all the time I was a kid with kids.

- Yes.

- So, I think it gives a differe mind state.

- Absolutely.

- So I had to jump in to being an adult real fast.

- Right, you weren't able to focus on you.

- Yes, ma'am.

And in reality, it was just about going to work every day, doing my best to be a good husband and a father.

So in my head, I wouldn't necessarily take the time for me.

- Okay.

So what was your breaking point or your “ah ha” moment that made you say, like, enough is enough?

I would love to tell people.

I just decided on it.

- Just one day decided?

- But the truth is, no ma’am I had a heart attack at 32.

- Which kind of forced me into - Wow.

- The lifestyle.

- Wait at what age?

- At 32.

- Wow.

- I had a heart attack.

Yes, ma'am.

- So, what was it like in that moment?

- Terrifying.

- Okay.

- I tell people all the time it was my gift and my curse.

- Wow.

- on one side, you were going through the pain of it.

Another thing, It was me as a male and being on a strong always male.

It's hard to deal with your mortality.

And to realize that could have been it.

That could have been the situation and you could have been trapped in it.

And the people you leave behind.

- Absolutely.

- From that, it kind of left me no choice.

- Okay.

- So that's when I started with the smoothies and the sea mosses and herbs.

desperately just trying to find a way.

- Okay.

at the time of going through the process, the doctors had me on 11 medications.

waking up every morning before you go to work.

Taking 11 pills, I would throw up every day.

- Okay.

- I would go to the doctor, say, doc, man, I throw up every day.

he looked at me and he told me, “Your body adjusting.” - Adjusting?

- I said, “adjusting?” - Not rejecting, adjusting?

- I looked him in the face and realized he care more about giving me the pill than actually me finding a solution.

Because I'm thinking in my head, exactly as you say, “my body's rejecting this medicine.” But he told me to continue to take it.

It was at that moment I was so frustrated I left, and that's when I started to do my own research.

That's when I came across Doctor Sebi, Yahki Awakened and realized that they were able to do things through the health and the food.

So I started with the sea moss smoothies.

Part of my problem and it was, while trying to stay on a healthy path.

There was nothing in my neighborhood that I could get to eat that was healthy.

- Okay.

- I would even have to go half an hour to Parma.

Or a half an hour to independence.

What would extra hour to my day.

I was an executive chef.

I already worked 12 hours a day.

- Oh, okay.

- So, yeah, I would think I'll go ahead and grab me or go ahead and grab.

But that's when it sparked in my head that this is something that's needed.

- Okay.

So let's talk about your neighborhood.

What is the most common things you see in your neighborhood?

- So again you always catch especially other areas with food insecurity.

we're good to get the save-a-lots We're good to get the fast food restaurants the Popeye's the chicken places, the fast food.

Where in reality we don't have any direct access to natural grown food.

The food that cures.

I tell people all the time it'd be crazy to think What kale can do for your body.

- Wow.

So why did you choose the vegan lifestyle and how did it help you lose over 300 pounds?

- Okay.

So I like to tell people.

Me, I have a thing with vegans.

Vegans are very strong for.

- Yeah, they are.

- and agressive.

- They're a little aggressive.

- Yeah.

Real aggressive.

- No judgment.

- No ma’am, no judgment.

But when you dive into the world, I believe in meeting people where they're at.

- Okay.

- By being a person that was 600 pounds.

I tell people all the time, it wasn't that I was eating big, massive meals.

It wasn't like a 600 pound life.

I literally was just eating the same food my mother, my grandmother, cooked for me.

- And that is so real.

- Yes, ma'a - And they don't understand how much our upbringing has effect because that's all we know.

- Diabetes don't run in your family, bad food choices.

run in your family.

- And let's talk about it.

What kind of foods were you used to growing up?

- Again, we're thinking fried foods.

- Okay.

- Again, we think of foods with a lot of salt intake.

Again, I tell people.

Yeah, but if grandma made pork chops, rice gravy and green beans, you still got zero nutritional value out that meal.

- How much is packed with all the seasoning salt, the butter, the lard, - Yes ma’am.

- I mean, the list can go on.

- I tell people all the time.

Listen, Big Mama wasn’t the only one who lost her foot.

We have people suffering by every day, all the time.

When you die young like that, they send you to therapy.

When you go to therapy and you sit in University Hospital or Cleveland Clinic, you know what you see coming in all day?

Us.

Over and over again.

- Wow.

- Our moms, our grandmas, our sisters, our aunties, our brothers, our uncles.

How many of these young people we see today are having heart attacks, cardiac arrest at younger and younger ages?

- Which is completely crazy.

- No, ma'am.

- So unfortunate.

I think it’s the cost of our ignorance.

- Okay.

If we took the time and we talked to each other and we said, “hey, man, that pack of ramen noodles is gonna give your kids high blood pressure.

Hey, man, we're not noticing that ice cream not melting?” - Very true.

- We don't think about the adverse effects when we see the woman who says Timmy can't have Skittles.

We think they're crazy.

- Right.

- When we don't realize, “hey man, that red dye is doing something to these kids.” - Absolutely.

- This hyperactivity into these kids.

and we don't necessarily look at the results that our food is giving us.

So when we take the time and we look at our communities and we realize “hey man it’s cheap.” But I tell people all the time health food is expensive But so is cancer.

- Man.

That's real.

- Yes ma'am.

- So how did your health change like physically and mentally?

Once you adopted them, changed just your mental mindset.

- I tell people all the time, once you get on a healthier diet I tell people all the time, you can't have a happy life with a diet of death.

So as you go and you start filling yourself with foods and vitamins that clear up your brain fog.

- Yeah.

- It clears up the way you think It clears the way you see it.

To where now after me living this lifestyle.

Listen, I used to love a steak, but if we go out with our friends and they ordering steak, I have to excuse myself.

Because the smell.

Yes, ma'am.

because the cutting of the blood, And you realize that a lot of the time.

What if we weren't meant to eat that way?

- Oh, okay.

Something I've learned across my journey, I've been from Egypt all the way to Israel.

I walk from Nazareth to Jerusalem.

Something I noticed on this journey is rest of the world.

Don't eat like us.

- Okay.

- Again, listen, when you wake up in the morning, you go to a buffet.

I don't care what nice hotel you went to at the buffet.

You're getting fruits and vegetables.

- Absolutely.

- That's it.

So we went around looking, and you will go and you will say, hey.

but it's every.

- Very true.

- They don't have seasoning salt just stayed at a hotel over the weekend.

- Yes, ma'am.

They don't have no season of salt.

Salt, pepper.

Matter of fact they use for extra season and they use other vegetables.

You're not getting any because they don't eat like that.

They're not eating eggs, pork, bacon.

It’s non-existent over there.

So when you realize the rest of the world understands this, you start to see the hypocrisy in a of America being so great.

Because in reality we would take the time to teach each other these things.

We realize how important it would be for the growth of us and us as a people.

- Very true, very true.

So what inspired you to start Fresh Lyfe and how did your personal journey influence the mission?

- I think when God gives you a purpose.

- Okay.

you live within that purpose and blessings come.

So while living in Maple Heights, I love the mayor of Maple Heights.

Listen, I watched that woman make everybody in the city money.

- She actually was a guest on this show.

- Yes, ma'am.

Yes, ma'am.

so what her going through, her progressions.

As she was trying to bring money to Maple Heights.

The companies that were are willing to come to our black community, happened to be chicken places.

happened to be fast food places?

- Yep.

- We basically got like a chicken row.

- Yes, ma'am.

Again, that's what they used to call it.

I remember watching as I watched the strong black woman try to make the city better.

People would attack her for it.

- Yeah.

So at that point of me going through my travels, I realized that in our community.

Well, Marcus Garvey had the best saying “if we want something to do it for self” - Okay.

- t's not a problem within our community if we fix it ourselves.

So at that point, one day I was sitting there, I had just watched, the people complain about the mayor.

And as I was sitting in a Subway one day, I sit and I watch the owner of that subway refuse several customers because he wouldn't accept a coupon.

And I remember sitting there so frustrated, thinking to myself about how they come into our communities has zero respect for us as a people.

Literally the next day I saw it for sale.

And it hit me like a light and I felt as if God told me, “you know what Terry, go ahead and do this.” So I went and I purchased it, and I turned it into a Fresh Life.

- Okay.

How was that process of kind of.

I mean, because you went from an executive chef, an employee, naturally, and to a business man kind of serving this community.

One second, why I, I do a quick little, middle show recap.

I am your host, AShira Nelson, and this is PBS Forum 360, where we have a global outlook from a local view.

My guest today is Terry Murphy.

Documenting, his journey or talking about his journey into how he is making an impact in his community through his experience, his transformation.

So to jump back into that, What would you say Fresh Life.

How did it kind of, transform your overall mission or no, the Subway?

So seeing that kind of go for sale, and then you like, that was your “ah ha” moment.

“I need to move on that.” How was that process for you?

- Decisive.

- Okay.

- Again, I'm a person.

I'm purpose driven.

- Yeah.

I'm always the guy to tell, that's what faith is.

I follow the steps, guide, lead in front of me.

to me, they were God telling me this is your move.

This is what you're supposed to do.

This is why you went through what you went through.

- Okay.

Once I realized how healthful could positively affect my life, it then became, I wanted to give it to my community.

They say the man closest to the grill is king.

- Okay.

That's exactly it.

- I love my people.

I love my community.

I see it's a problem.

I went through.

I'm not the only person dealing with this situation also many of my people suffering.

And they know they stomach hurt every day.

- Absolutely, yes.

- So if God gave me a solution and show me the way to be able to help and cure myself, I wanted to be able to have that for my community.

- I like that.

So can you tell us about your vision?

Is your vision from four years ago still your exact same vision today for Fresh Lyfe?

- Yes, ma'am.

- Okay.

- And reality, Imma tell people all the time I'm in a hostage situation with Jesus.

- Okay.

- Jesus, don't play with me like that.

If he gives me a mission, It's my job to fulfill it.

- I like that - We never know how God is going to use you.

So now my plan is for Fresh Lyfe, Like I say, I tell people all the time, I don't have a restaurant.

Please don't refer to me as the restaurant guy.

- Yeah.

Okay.

- I'm fighting food deserts by myself.

- Okay.

- And I want the world to be able to see me fight food deserts by ourself.

To not only prove a point that we can have in our communities, but for other people to say, listen, if we solve our own problems within our communities, we don't have problems.

If we go through it, we say, hey, we don't have health foods in our communities.

So okay, so now I'm going to build a Fresh Lyfe.

I'm turn successful and I'm gonna put one in every single community.

That say “we can't afford.” - I like that.

- Yes, ma'am.

- Yeah.

So how did you manage to grow your business to over $1 million dollars in sales?

- I tell people all the time, when you do what God wants you to do, sometimes it seems easy.

But the struggles that come along with it, you have to be prepared for, when you walk within the steps that God put in front of you, I think he makes a way.

and knowing your demographic.

- Okay.

- I'm here to solve a problem, and I think my people see it.

I tell people all the time that if you solve a problem in business, you will always be successful.

- I like that, and that is very, very true.

- So I will always like to thank my customers.

I love my customers so much because it's them that do it.

- Yeah.

- It's not really me.

It's like the old movie that say “if you build it they'll come.” - Yeah.

- That's exactly it.

- That's amazing.

So what does Fresh Lyfe mean to you?

To you personally?

- Fresh Lyfe is a guiding light.

- Okay.

- To be able to show people that you can live, a godly life.

- Okay.

- That again, no matter where you come from, I tell the young people all the time is not where you start, is where you finish.

When you go through and you work the processes.

Listen, if we go back to the natural way of doing things, the natural order of things, we love each other, we're there for each other.

We put each other first.

We put the fresh food.

I tell people in the Bible said, God provides.

What if he already gave us the cures to these things?

What if he already gave us the way to it?

If we take the time, we love each other, we build our communities and we can all live a fresh life.

- I like that.

I like that.

So how did you decide where to locate your restaurant or your your solution to our problem?

In reality, I follow the demographics.

- Okay.

- Again, as they stay in business and know your demographic.

- I like that because a lot of businesses mess up there.

- Yes, ma'am.

- They don't survey their community.

They don't survey before they put an idea out there.

So let's talk about it.

- Okay.

So, as I say, going through the time and you realize where my demographic was located.

- Okay.

Once I understood where my demographic was located, I then decided on being able to have the support of the community.

Something I employ all new businesses to do is go talk to your lady, your council people.

Go talk to your mayor.

Go talk to your school board.

Make those connections and let them understand you’re there for the community.

- I like that.

Very nice, very nice.

So what kind of feedback are you receiving from your customers that are living in this food desert?

- Oh my God.

Again, I'm speak to, I love my customers.

Any day you could come in and somebody say, oh, my God, I lost 40 pounds.

Oh my God, I lost 60 pounds.

“Hey, Terry.

I was able to put their blood pressure medication down.

high five.” That's the goal.

Listen, when they realize you love them and you love them and they love you.

I tell people all the time the proof of the pudding is, Listen, if I sold iceberg lettuce over here for my salads would be amazing.

- Oh my gosh.

Iceberg lettuce is 69 cent a head.

But I will take the time and I'll go out to the farmer's market, and I'm going to get the kale, the Romanians, the spinaches because those are the ones that actually give you nutritional value.

- Right.

- Iceberg lettuce only gives you water.

I tell my customers.

If you go somewhere and they give you a salad and it got iceberg, I need you to get offended.

- Right.

Because in reality, all I gave you was water.

I had a lady that started off as I was trying to introduce her to the salad.

She said I was eating salad for six months.

Okay, I agree you were.

But now let's talk about what kind of lettuce did you use?

What kind of dressings did we put on those salads?

- So not only Are you providing the food and nutrients, But you provide an education.

- Yes, ma'am.

- I like that.

- Yes, ma'am.

Because, again, a lot of the issues suffer from our lack of knowledge of what food does to us.

How we look at our relationships with food.

Again, if we look at it, we just need food to be able to do what God needs us to do.

So when you slow down with that and you think about back to the original of it, when we were walking through the jungles and we were walking through the forest, what are we eating?

We're eating plants, lettuce, seeds, fruits.

- Very true.

- That's why I stand as close to that as possible.

I tell people all the time, even be careful with the fruits.

If it don't have a seed in it, it's not real.

- Okay.

And I was about to ask, What is another example of, like, just some common things we could swap out?

While we think that iceberg lettuce is good for us because it's green.

- Yes, ma'am.

Yes, ma'am.

- What are some other things that we could do, like easy swaps to get more nutrition in our diet?

- I'm a huge proponent on juicing.

- Okay.

- Adding juices into your diet.

so I do typically do a three day juice cleanse once a month.

- Oh, once a month, okay.

- So I only consume juices for those three days, and a gallon of water, - I can do that, but do you sell the juices?

- Yes ma’am.

- because I don’t have a juice machine.

- Even then, right there, I tell people that's literally what I created it for because I didn't understand.

Every morning I can't wake up and cut 8 apples 16 fruits and and be able to get my day going.

So again, the same way you should be able to pull up and get some chicken.

You can be able to pull up and get a healthy smoothie.

You're able to pull up and get your juices.

You able to pull up and get your salads.

Again, to make it easier to attain for you.

- Okay.

- It’s the convenience of it.

I also would include smoothies.

- Okay.

And being able to add in as many green smoothies as you can.

Because it's a great way.

Me, I was a person when I was 600 pounds like that.

I would skip breakfast and I, you know, being a father, being a dad, you know how it is.

We run around the house, it’s hectic in the morning.

- You know, it’s real hard getting the kids off school.

So I didn't have time making me a nutritional breakfast.

But what made it easy was I was able to grab my smoothie and I could sip in my smoothie all day long.

And I realized that I'm just feeling myself.

Nutrients and vitamins all day.

- Okay, so let's talk about your menu.

So I have heard now juices, smoothies.

- Yes ma’am - What else is on your menu that we need to to incorporate into our diet.

- So Imma scream everything.

- Okay okay.

So along with the salads and the wraps.

- Okay.

We also sell sea moss.

We sell black seed oil, we sell herbal products.

- Okay.

To be able to get it into our diet.

Also, the types of seasonings we use.

I'm a person, I put turmeric on everything.

Do you really?

Yes, ma'am.

- Okay.

I mean, I don't eat meat either, but So if I'm making a black bean burger, tumeric on my black burger?

- Yes ma’am.

Yes, ma'am.

- Again, I tell people, we look at it as food for the deliciousness of it, but I tell people to take the time and really understand what the food does for your body.

Because we again, as I said earlier, it's about having the energy and the nutrition to do what God wants you to do.

- Absolutely - Everything don't have to be a delicious meal.

It could just be, I love the saying that health is wealth.

Eat to live, not live to eat.

- I like that.

I like that.

So can you talk about, how your meals help people manage through, like, chronic conditions, like high blood pressure and diabetes?

- So with all our food, we don't add any salts.

- Wait, say that again?

- We don't add any salt.

- Okay.

- So, I try to teach people about cooking without it or even if you're going and you have to have the salt.

I would prefer to use pink Himalayan salt, whether than iodized salt.

- Okay.

Educate us.

- Yes, ma'am.

Anything that's going through the bleaching process is nine times out of ten, they said it right.

If it's white, it's not right.

- Okay.

So I'm always tell people, like when I say eat the rainbow, I really want you to eat the rainbow.

- Okay I want you to take the time.

I want you to have your purple cabbage.

I want you to have your red onions.

I want you to have, the more coloful your food is, your dish is, is the best.

Years ago, my my wife's aunt was passing.

And as she was going through her health issues, Listen she stayed on [unintelligible].

It was literally nothing for her to eat.

So I will have to watch my wife go on to cook two meals and to be able to have to take it over there to her every day so she could eat.

When you realize that, a lot of our elders, all of them are on dietary restrictions, all of them on it.

That's why I love to be able to have a place to where a majority of my customers are elderly people who are looking to have that.

And I'm happy to be able to be a place where they can go find solace and find something healthy to eat that's not going to kill them.

- I like that.

So what advice would you give someone who is beginning their health and wellness journey?

To start small.

- Okay, so what does that look like?

- So, as we were speaking up earlier about how strong and aggressive vegans are.

I believe in meeting people where they're at.

- Okay.

- Now, me being a person that was 600 pounds.

I understand that it's a big difference going from eating meat to being a complete vegan.

That's why my restaurant not only offers vegan meals, we also offer pescatarian meals.

Okay, so I would I suggest this for people to start off just moving into being a pescatarian, which is just mainly chicken, turkey and fish.

- Okay.

- Any protein source without high fats in it.

- Okay.

and from then we move on.

I tell people all the time “I’ll trick you into being a vegan.” that's why we offer things like the vegan nachos in the vegan pieces.

So you can still feel like I tell people all the time, Listen, I don't want you to think you're doing a diet.

Diets fail.

- Yes.

- What I want you to do is I want you to have a healthier lifestyle.

And before I realized that, my diet became more and more healthy.

And that's when I started to notice the weight loss.

- Okay, so what's next for you?

Terry the professional.

Terry the man.

- So right now we're gearing up to open up our second location.

- So you want to do an exclusive on the location, or are you kind of keeping it under way?

- Not quite yet.

- But after opening it in a second location, we're going to move into franchising, because now, after doing our for years and business, you know, you say the average restaurant closes within six months.

- Oh, yeah.

- So we're riding off of the strength of our progress, and we want to move into being able to franchise.

- I love that, because I would love at this point now to be able to show these people the formula, the formula of it being successful And then we can go and copy those in every city and every state and again work the same programs again.

I'm proud to be a partner with the CTE program.

- Okay.

- To be able to teach the youth entrepreneurship through cooking.

- And also to be able to work with urban farms to be able to show the kids how to be able to go from farm to table, how important and a difference in your diet it makes.

- I love that.

Good luck with everything.

- Oh, no, ma'am, thank you.

- So thank you for joining us today on Forum 360, Terry Murphy’s journey from personal transformation to community impact is powerful.

It's a reminder of how one decision can change not only your life, but change the lives of others.

I am your host, AShira Nelson.

Until next time, stay well, stay inspired, and keep looking at the world from a local view with a global outlook.

Forum 360 is brought to you by John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Akron Community Foundation, Hudson Community Television, The Rubber City Radio Group, Shaw Jewish Community Center of Akron, Blue Green, Electric Impulse Communications, and Forum 360 supporters.