Today we’d like to introduce you to Geoff Palmer.
Geoff, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
As a kid, I fell in love with nature, but unfortunately as an HSP (Highly Sensitive Person) this gift that had allowed me to be so wide open and deeply connected to all that is beautiful in nature, also left me vulnerable to the harsh reality of much of human anger, sadness and pain. When my father’s death from alcohol, my mother’s onset of MS and my brother being diagnosed with Schizophrenia, my depression spiral down into “nothing matters” mindset of drugs and alcohol. Feeling overwhelmed by the losses and rapidly losing connection with everyone around me, I decided to end the pain and attempted to take my life – twice.
Fortunately unsuccessfully. Sitting in a bar, drinking to numbness once again, I saw a woman walk in that was really happy. It was an unusually intense glow, even though the mental fog of my 3rd Long Island Iced Tea. With nothing left to lose, I walked straight up to her and asked her “Why are you so happy? thinking to myself “I want what you have”. She responded with a beautiful smile – love. After talking she said, I should take you to see my friend Buddy Skyfeathers and I thought smugly, “Great, take me to your Guru”.
When we arrived he looked straight into my eyes and smiled and said, “Oh, you came here to prove me wrong.” I felt naked, stripped of all of the mental defenses that I had armored myself with. So I let down my guard and surrendered to the process. He asked me to repeat the “I created a separation between my father and myself by _________” and asked me to fill in the first thing that came to mind. I did, but finished with blaming my father each time. So he just kept saying repeat it but with how YOU created the separation. As I did, I began to fall deeper and deeper into myself, drawn like a magnet to the source of pain at my core, the truth. All of the anger at him, for keeping his love from me, for leaving me, burst out of me “why wasn’t my love enough to keep you here?” The dam broke and all the years of pain, self-abuse, and anger spilled onto the floor as my chest felt like a black hole as I soul-deep cried for what seemed like forever.
But what was behind all of that pain, sadness and anger was something I had not felt since I was a child – love and connection. It was all of my judgments of my father that was keeping me from loving him, and it was killing me. I was suffocating myself, cutting off the connection with my father I so wanted. I saw how he too was struggling with being an HSP in this world. And it had defeated him. In that moment I felt not just my love for him, for all of my ability to love myself and others set free as well. This was the moment I stopped dying and began living…and loving again. The joy was so intense I felt as if the old me had died, and I was given a new beginning.
I (floated) home and I was so full of energy I could not sleep, so I meditated all night on one thought – how can I give this gift to others? As the sun rose I felt the answer rise in me – stop harming the animals. I felt so grateful, for having the pain lifted from me, I quit the drugs, the alcohol, smoking and eating all animal products that day 33 years ago and committed the rest of my life to helping others live a compassionate, healthy life.
Not a typical vegan transformation, just what it took for me to change.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Because the change was so deep to my core, a life mission, it has always been the easiest thing in the world. When you are standing proud for a greater cause than yourself, there is only one clear choice.
In hindsight, 33 years ago, there was not much in the way of support. There were no movies, very few books, no social media, no internet at all, lol. And the products to choose from tasting like rubber or sawdust did not make the experience all that great, but I felt great making the choice anyway – because I was doing it for them, saving animals from suffering and dying just to please my taste buds.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I am a 55year old, 33yr Vegan, a Natural Bodybuilding and Natural Physique Champion, the Owner of Clean Machine Plant-Based Fitness Nutrition, author, lecturer and patent holder and NEXTY Winner (the top supplement award in the US) for “Best New Supplement” 2018. I was selected #40 of the “Top 100 Most Influential Vegans of 2017” by Plant Based News. Geoff has teamed up with Veg Fest Expos and The Naturally Fit Federation to create the First 100% Vegan Bodybuilding Competition in the World. Geoff will also be featured in 3 Vegan Documentary Films scheduled for release in 2018 and 2019.
In search of Plant-Based replacements for the most used animal sourced supplements – fish oil and whey protein, I was the first to launch Ahiflower Oil, clinically proven to be 400% more effective than flax, beating chia, hemp or any other non-GMO plant source of Omega 3. With the launch of Clean Green Protein with Lentein, Clean Machine became the first and only company with Lentein, the #1 Plant Protein – higher essential amino acids & BCAA’s than Pea, Rice hemp and even Soy! And the #1 Super Food that is more nutrient dense than Kale, Spirulina, Chlorella and even Moringa! Lentein is the first and only plant protein comparable to Whey Protein and Ahiflower is the first and only plant shown to be comparable to fish oil in anti-inflammatory and immune modulating benefits. Clean Machine has been recognized for 8 awards with at least one award 6 years in a row!
National and International Industry Awards:
1. 2018 NEXTY Award Winner – Clean Green Protein with Lentein
2. 2017 Eco Excellence Award Winner – Clean Green Protein with Lentein
3. 2017 Eco Excellence Award Finalist – Ahiflower Oil
4. 2017 Best of British Award Winner – Ahiflower Oil
5. 2016 NEXTY Award Winner – Ahiflower Oil
6. 2015 IFT Innovation Award Winner- Lentein
7. 2014 Supply Side Editor’s Choice Award Finalist – Clean BCAA
8. 2013 Supply Side Editor’s Choice Award Finalist – Cell Block 80
What were you like growing up?
I was a curious child of two academic parents, my mother a psychologist and artist, my father taught English Lit and was an Existentialist. Although the arts and humanities were in my blood, my fascination was with nature – biology. I loved the constant new discoveries about how living things worked, including a deep fascination with human physiology. This hunger for the latest information led me to a lifelong love reading studies after being introduced to the research world in college. Unfortunately most of the text was several years behind most of the current research, which was a constant frustration for both me and my professors, because I wasn’t following the textbooks.
This passion for finding the “best possible solutions” presented a problem in my working life to, especially in the corporate world. When I was reprimanded for causing one of the largest increases in sales through creative marketing campaigns, simply because my boss said “you made it too hard for us to comp that, and now I won’t get a bonus”. I realized I was not hired to benefit the consumer or even the company, just the people I reported to. I did learn a lot about the business world – the good, the bad and the ugly. I believed that you could not only succeed doing the right thing for the environment, for the animals and for the health and value to the people, but they would appreciate the integrity and the business would thrive.
After my wife growing tired of me complaining of the lack of ethics and integrity in the corporate world, she said “stop complaining about it and let’s start our own business!”
This is where I found peace, my values were finally in line with my daily activities – not work, and these efforts were now a joy.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1621 NE 1st Ave.
Pompano Beach, FL 33060 - Website: http://cleanmachineonline.com/
- Phone: 813-769-5167
- Email: gpalmer@cleanmachineonline.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cleanmachineonline/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CleanMachineonline/
Getting in touch: VoyageMIA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
