The Quality of Food Matters in Autoimmune Detoxification

Introduction and guest background 0:00

Welcome back to the reverse Autoimmune Disease Summit series, everybody. I'm Doctor Kisha and you're joining me for the fourth iteration of the reverse Autoimmune Disease Summit series. And we're talking about this time the autoimmune detox. And I'm so excited. I ran several years ago. I don't even know how long ago was ago. Autumn. The in 2016. Yeah. The Women's Vitality Summit series. And you guys were our sponsors for that. And, it was the first time I was introduced to you. So that's been some years now.

So I'm so excited to bring you an old friend, Adam Vladimir Smith is the co-founder of Paleo Valley and Wild Pastures. She holds a master's degree in holistic nutrition. She's a certified eating psychology coach and is a certified FBA and practitioner. Her passion for health began with her own struggles with irritable bowel syndrome and anxiety. Despite a career as a professional dancer and celebrity fitness trainer, Adam's own health was in shambles. Desperate for a cure, she and her husband Chaz stumbled upon the paleo diet in 2011, and within a month of beginning it, her health was completely transformed.

Adam then made it her mission to share the information she learned with as many people as possible. And she's the co-founder of Paleo Valley, which is an organic, whole food supplement and paleo snack food company that prioritize nutrient density and food quality. In 2018, she took things a step further and launched her second business with her husband, Wild Pastures, which is a regenerative, pasture based meat delivery service. Wild pastures makes supporting sustainable agriculture and local small farms easy for consumers.

She lives in Boulder, Colorado with her husband and their son, Maverick. Welcome back to the Summit Series. We're not doing women's vitality this time, but we are because 80% of all autoimmune diseases are diagnosed in women. So so, you know, it's it's like this food thing, I think, not to be gender biased or specific. Research shows that women make most of the consumer decisions in any given family. And, you know, so when we're talking about food supply, I think is such an important message to get across to that, to anyone that has a family and also for themselves, for their own individual health.

And so you're here, as you know, in an autoimmune detox

Toxins in the food supply and animal agriculture 2:36

summit to talk about our food supply. And what does this have to do with anything, you know, what are the toxins in our food supply and what do we need to be made aware of? And I'm so excited to talk to you about this. Thank you so much, old friend, for having me. I love being on the Vitality Women's Vitality Summit. I'm excited to be here, and there isn't a topic I'm more passionate about because changing my food literally changed my life, so I'm excited to hopefully share some of the insights I've gathered in the ten years.

Yeah, so there's a study, that just popped in my head and it generated a whole, forks over knives, right? Like, really talking about meat being bad for you. And I think what I would like to start with is that we have such black and white thinking when it comes to anything, I think. And in our country culture, it's like, that's good, that's bad. You know, instead of getting all the information, which is, yes, meat, the way that we raised it in, in the way that we've done it in the last 20 to 30 years has really, really made our culture toxic.

And we can point to it as being problematic and things like cancer and heart disease and autoimmune disease, that it's not the meat, it's the way that it's been raised. So what are the toxins inside of our food supply that are making us sick? And without saying, oh, you should just be vegetarian or you should just be a carnivore, it's like, no, there's so much more to this, right? Absolutely. I love that you brought that up, because that was one of the biggest factors for me and my mental health challenges and irritable bowel syndrome.

I avoided animal products like because I thought they were bad. And because of that, I was on this blood sugar roller coaster. I was using all of these processed products. I mean, I had no idea. And so that was one part of it. But what I one of the most pressing issues I see with animal agriculture specifically now, there hasn't ever been a culture that has not eaten some kind of animal products. And I think that's important to recognize. Also, nutrients in animal products are more bioavailable.

And I know some people are doing this for ethical reasons or, and and that's a different thing. But when it comes to health in the environment, I think animal products are really important. And even more so, the way your animal products are raised is very important. So one of my biggest issues is antibiotic resistance, right. So if you eat an industrial animal today it's definitely usually raised with antibiotics. Now in back in 2013 the FDA came in and said I don't think it's a good idea for antibiotics to be used in animals to promote weight gain.

Right. But what they didn't do is really regulate it. So it's still being done under the guise of, okay, we're just preventing infection in these animals now. But when antibiotics get into our food supply, most of them are actually being used in animal agriculture. It increases the risk of antibiotic resistance. And that's a big deal. Like by 2050, it's estimated that that could kill more people than cancer. And you know that it's not doing anything good for our microbiome, right? Antibiotics in our food are destroying our microbiomes.

Our microbiomes play a large part in whether we do or do not develop autoimmune diseases. So what we know is that conventionally raised animals, according to a consumer labs report, are about two times more likely to contain antibiotic resistance bacteria. So what we want to do is just support farmers and ranchers who are raising animals without antibiotics. And this isn't cruel. A lot of times what they do with these programs is if an animal gets sick, they get treated with antibiotics, and then they're removed from that program.

And so animals are still being treated well, but a lot of farmers are not doing it in that way. There's other things growth hormones, ractopamine all of these things that are actually not allowable in other countries are still being done in America. So those are one things, animal products, the quality of them, not only what you're not getting, but also in terms of the nutrient density that you will be getting when animals are raised on pasture or with really responsible non-GMO feeds if they're pigs or chickens, which sometimes happens.

The other really cool thing is with the way we raise animals and with the way we're farming today, we can actually reverse this epidemic of hidden hunger. So the amount of nutrients that you have is a really big predictor of how well your immune system works and responds and is modulated. And for the last 50 years, our nutrient levels have been on the decline. And that's again because of the way that we're farming and because of the way that we're raising animals. And so if we can come back to regenerative practices and restore the soil biology, that actually the microbes in the soil are what brings the nutrients to the plants.

And so if that's not happening because of fertilizers or because of chemicals or because of tilling, then the animals that are eating the plants, they're nutrient, nutrient dense. The plants are not as nutrient dense. And then we're not as nutrient dense or mono cropping and mono pasturing too. We don't get that like chickens coming along after cattle have been there, you know, and adding in a different view and then planting a plant in that pasture and having a crop there like this is biodynamic farming, right?

Exactly. And biodiversity, we don't want these things all siloed. We don't want the industrial agriculture and the monochrome, industrial. So we need to bring it all together. And there's a lot of really cool research around generative agriculture. I can share if you want. But while we're on this note, just like finding a regenerative farmer in your area and being really curious about the practices that are being used is really important, because we only have about six years of topsoil left, and so we need to rebuild our soil for future generations.

And the other things I'm really concerned about are just around, you know, what's hiding in our food and the extensive lobbying practices that kind of keep us in the dark before we go there, because this is going to be a really important subject. I just want to put a plug for, if you're local to the Seattle area. Jubilee Farms is has a biodynamic farm, like, so it's like you can go online and look for these local farmers, by using the term biodynamic, which is what I did after hearing a talk,

Regenerative farming, soil health, and local food sovereignty 8:51

you know, similar to this and going, oh, I'd never knew this. Like, we don't know this stuff, right? Oh, wait, how can. Yeah. Like, we have lives. We're in the middle of a pandemic. We're like, survive and we're in a lot of us aren't farmers. And so it's not something that, you know, we've been needing to have language around. So, you know, we've gotten away from family farms and family gardens and family, right? As, as we give it over to the agricultural industry. And that's we got to reclaim some knowledge around this.

This is really, really important. Yeah. And I just want to give a few other resources, like Local Harvest is a great one, eat Wild is a great one. And then our business, Wild Pastures is a meat delivery service. And so we're finding farmers and ranchers doing the right things in their bio region. But yeah, and it's really scary to think that just if something goes wrong with these really centralized and industrialized farms, like we could be cut off from that. Like we need a local, we need food sovereignty, we need a local food supply.

And so supporting those around you is really, really an important piece of this for sure. Yeah. That's such a good point. Oh my gosh. I feel like because in the Seattle area, you know, I think every area in the world has its own threat to communication with the rest of the world. So obviously San Juan Island is an island. And so the ferry system breaks down and there it is. Right. But but Seattle itself and the Pacific Northwest coastline, you know, they're always talking about the tsunami that's going to eat Seattle.

And so you can kind of think about all the different reasons in your region that Mother Nature can bring something that cuts us off from our food supply, you know? So this becomes really, really important. It does. Yeah. Yeah. Farmers markets go there. Yeah. I'm really involved in your local food scene. So important. And there's also like a lot of greenwashing when it comes to labeling of animal products. And we can get into that too. But yeah biodynamic dynamic farms if you can find a regenerative farm, even if you find grass fed, that term isn't always regulated.

But 100% grass fed is generally better for eggs, pastured and chickens. And pork. Those are definitely the things. But yeah, getting to know your farmer is the best thing that you can ever do. And I learned this really cool trick when I was in California, and I didn't always have time to, like, drive out to the farms. One of the farmers told me, if you go to Google Earth, if you talk to the farmer at a farmer's market and you look him in the eye and say, where's your farm? And then they can tell you about it, tell the location, you can actually look and see, like, are there animals on pasture?

Are they being rotated or not? It's a way that you can kind of get more access even if you don't have direct access. Okay. So let's talk about well you brought up greenwashing. Let's let's go ahead. I've never heard that term. I'm curious now. So oh explain that I can pretty much guess what it is. But let's let's hear it. Oh, greenwashing is just rampant in the industry. As a food manufacturer, I just like it makes me so angry because companies, large companies know the people are kind of waking up to the power of food as medicine, and they're becoming more interested.

And so they'll just use their packaging to kind of like hint that, you know, like they find the buzzwords. Basically, they say something like cage free for chicken. Okay. Yeah. So cage free. That sounds pretty good. But what that only means is that you have access. You could be in this huge barn with cement with thousands of other chickens, and you never go outside. But cage free means you have access. There might be a small door off in the distance. Okay, so cage free. That's one of them. Basically all vegetarian fed is another one.

If this is for chickens and pigs, like they're not vegetarians, this is not necessarily a good thing, right. Humanely raises another one. A lot of times this isn't regulated. You want certified humane. And then grass fed a lot of cows. Every cow is going to be grass fed for the beginning of its life. What you need to ask them is, are they ever fed grain? Because that's the one. Even companies, the products out there, right. Yeah yeah yeah, yeah. So they have some grass, but then they also are fattened up on grain.

Oh I get it. Okay. Yeah. And no one's regulating it. And so it was like oh okay. Well and that's what happened with their collagen bone rough powder because we were very familiar with the people supplying collagen. And we knew that everyone's saying grass fed, grass fed. And we're like, well, this know a lot of this is import. That's not happening. And we called them and it wasn't. But I don't think everyone has a malicious intent. I just don't think they know to ask. And I don't think they visit, and they actually dig deeper.

But and this happens with foods too, like aside from animal products, when it comes to like, hidden sugar or like kids cereals or whatever, you know, like low fat, it's like, but what else is in here? And why are we allowed to hide sugar under 60 different monikers? And why can sugar be listed in five different ways on a label, just so it doesn't actually show up as the first ingredient, even though it's in the highest proportion? So greenwashing is just basically that, food manufacturers, it's like a first date or like, you know, it's that version of you, you show people the first time you meet them, not the truth of the matter.

Maya Ducey did, whole pantry detoxing your pantry, and she talked about some of this and so I, I'm it's so important, like the these things that you're bringing up. Right. The tricky ways that manufacturers use their labels, you know, put us back to sleep. I know it's all okay. It's all okay. You don't need to inquire any further, see? And I want to make it mirrors. Yeah. And I want to make it really hard to read. And it's going to be small wish together. And the font is going to be illegible. And, yeah, it's just on and on.

But yeah. So let's talk about those ingredients. Like, I would love to hear your journey because you've started two businesses inside of this industry. Yeah. And I'm super curious. About like your, your experience of doing that. Yeah. I mean, you were a dancer, dancer turned farmer, right? I get your health journey, like. But what's the experience of actually becoming a food manufacturer and what you've run up against and how it it how hard is it to get the stamps on your label that you have there, you know, that are not green list?

Yeah. It's really hard, let me tell you. It's if it weren't, if I didn't have the experience that I had with food actually transforming my health, I can see how these bigger companies. Oh, we'll just make one compromise here and. No. Oh said, we'll make one here because. Because of our bottom line. And it doesn't seem like that big a deal if it didn't matter to me so much because it transformed my health, I would probably be in the same boat. But it did. And so I'm not. And so we always prioritize health over profit.

And I'll just tell you the story of our first product as like a really good example. So I did come out of the fitness world and I was traveling around the world a lot and I realized, okay, well, when I went on tour, actually, I went on a world tour in 2012 and I just discovered paleo and, I was like, okay, well, I just know these grass. I need grass fed beef sticks. I need a protein source. I'm in a different country every day. And so I had Chaz, my husband, bring over, a suitcase of beef steaks, grass fed beef sticks to Paris.

We visited me and I ate them and still got this, like, digestive upset stuff. And I was like, what is happening? And so I when I got back to the United States, I looked into this. I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to have to become a food manufacturer because I want to maintain the way that I feel now, and I want to be able to feed my child this too. And so what I found out is there's an ingredient called encapsulated citric acid in the beef sticks. And what this is, is it's actually made with citric acid, often derived from mold, and then the citric acid out to drive from corn.

And then the hydrogenated or encapsulated part is they encapsulated in trans fat or hydrogenated oil. And they make these little beads that when you put the beef together, you put the beads in the meat

Greenwashing and misleading food labels 16:58

and then it melts in there. And that preserves the project or product because it drops the pH. And they were telling me, oh, it's not a big deal. You can just label it citric acid like nobody even bats an eye at that. And I'm like, but we're still potentially eating hydrogenated oils and GMOs. And for me, that's just not going to work. And so I literally had to call hundreds of people hundreds of manufacturers and no one wanted to ferment them, which is the alternative I came up with because I knew our ancestors had been eating meat forever.

Because it takes four times longer to ferment something. It is not lucrative, but we did find one. We found one manufacturer willing to do it. And so that's just how we made our beef. Six and even though pause for a second because they are delicious and the mouthfeel between a very famous beef stick I used to use around the same time, and then the one you introduced me to is radically different, because you can actually see and taste those little nodules. They don't melt completely. Yeah, yeah. And and years don't have that.

And they, they taste good and they feel good inside of your body. So you can actually really tell the difference between these two ways of doing things. Absolutely. It's not like a jerky. It's like a moisture with the snap. It's like kind of like a hickory smoked summer sausage. And it's interesting because I was telling people about this, you know, since we made our beef sticks a long time ago, there was actually a recent paper that came out, showing that people seem to be reacting to this ingredient, and with inflammatory conditions.

And so I know and I think a lot of people who have autoimmune conditions are kind of the canaries in the coal mine are in it. Yeah. And it's like, for us, this matters. For me, this matters. And so yeah, that was our beef sticks. And every little product we've made kind of has a story around it. And it takes a really long time. And, and we run out of things often because I'm just not willing to say oh well this ingredients good enough. Just replace it or oh don't worry, we don't care about sourcing domestically anymore.

We'll just import it because that's what a lot of other companies do too. They just import. We're really committed to the environment as committed to the environment as we are to our own health. And I would like to say that that's why you find things out of stock on my website to everyone. Sometimes because the press not willing to cut the corner. And so we have the ingredient that's organic and sustainably harvested is not available. That makes the product unavailable for a little bit, you know, because I'm not going to go throw trash in there.

Yeah. Now that's that's tough. It makes people frustrated. It does make people frustrated. But I know and I just went to a conference the other day and I had some people like, where is this product? And I was just like, so sorry. Like I just can't compromise. And given that food manufacturers and processors have been shut down because of the Covid, people are generally understanding. But that's the case. It's not an easy road as a food manufacturer, and definitely I didn't come with a knowledge of this.

So luckily I've been able to find some people way smarter than me who have worked for the really large companies and, you know, just help me along the way. Yeah, because Covid has actually put a hitch in the get along for supply chains. Right. And and so and I do think people are more understanding about that. But it can be very frustrating. So it's yeah, I appreciate hearing your journey through this. And I would just like to put a big plug in for cranberry orange turkey sticks. Oh my gosh, I'm so glad you love them.

We made those just for our IPI community. I have a lot of friends with autoimmune disease and they were like well, or autoimmune conditions. And one of them works for me actually was like, we need something in this community. So yeah, we have an original and a turkey cran or a cranberry orange. And I think the cranberry is much better. But yeah, the turkey is specifically for autoimmune. Oh, they're so good. Everybody. They are so good. And you know, I was also, Covid has changed this and I'm never going back to this place in my life again.

But I was on an airplane aisle every week. You know, I was traveling all over, speaking and on stages and in a different place all the time. And your, you know, Paleo Valley snacks actually sustained me. And people would say, well, if I travel, I can't find something to eat. And I would say, well, actually, you can use you can. It's easy. You know, I travel with half of my suitcase internationally is a check on bag. That's food, you know, like you can only do this. And then that space that food was in when I come home is a souvenir.

I did it, it. So some, some, sustainable, art form that, you know, is going away on the planet because of industrialization. I'm always looking for that when I'm traveling internationally, like, you know, in fact, you can see behind me, like, different kinds of art that that people have been doing with their hands that machines are taking over. I also am really into supporting usually women that are doing that. Right. Yeah. So you can you can really, really dial in what is important to you and, and shop with your value system and not be asleep anymore.

And I think that's really important. Yeah. I think we have to do it. Our food system needs a major overhaul. I mean, in terms of just our economy, our health, the future of our environment. And yeah, we all have a choice. Three times a day we're voting. We are. You. We are a do it or not. Yeah. Yeah. So so what what are some of those what are some of the other things that you would think about when you think about food supply, that need to be detoxed that we can do locally. What are some other things that we can do?

Yeah. I just think, like I said, yeah, connecting with your local food supply, growing your own food supply, but also things like just being a really diligent label reader. So like something like grass status or, you know, like natural flavor. Anytime you see that, know that grass status is not actually regulated.

Building clean food products and sourcing challenges 22:58

There's 10,000 different food additives only half of them have grass, that is. But only 5% have actually been tested for safety. And you see natural flavor everywhere. So yeah. Right. So yeah, I would just always avoid anything and everything with natural flavor and just create an awareness around the fact that a lot of this, there's a lot of consolidation in the food market. Like you walk into your grocery store and it looks like there's all these little mom and pops and new food things. The truth is, a lot of these big companies that are Big five owned all of them.

Yeah, they do. And they know consumers want these little mom and pops. And so but then they come in and actually change the products a lot of times after they're acquired. And and so yeah, I think we just all need to be more interested and just to do a little digging, you don't have to do like an all day session, just like, hey, what does this company about? Who are they? Just getting getting a little more familiar with all the foods that we're consuming. Knowing about the trans fats can be hidden in our food.

Still, if it. Because if it's under half a gram per serving, they can say no, no trans fat, and asking questions about your animal products, and looking out for hidden sugar, which isn't everything. And so but mostly just getting involved in your local food system, I think is the way to go, for sure. I was curious, have you ever seen that? I'm sure you have. Like who? Who owns all of the food brands have ever seen that? Yes, I have gone to share my screen right now. I just pulled it up. Just in case people have not seen this before, I love that.

Yeah. I'm so passionate about that. That's great. Right here everybody. Oh yeah. And then I forgot I wanted to tell you one other thing, but oh yeah, Nestlé, Pepsi, Coke, Kellogg's. And just know these companies have a very rich history of, voting against human health. Let's. Yeah, yeah. And using all of their money and power to influence, things at a policy level, not least companies out here that are on the periphery are often the ones that you see on Whole Foods shelves. You know, that you think are healthy, organic companies, you know, that have been gobbled up by these great big ones.

So it is a worthwhile exploration. And like Adam just said, it doesn't take much. This was just a quick little Google search that I thought, oh, I wonder if I can find that chart really fast for people to see? This is Business Insider, you know, and it's talking about like Kellogg's and and what they own. Right. And then you just can go through and it goes on and on. General Mills and how, how much is owned by these companies. And they do they look for profitable mom and pop that have started out as mom and pop that are getting profitable organic food companies that you think you can trust.

And you could and then they get bought. Yeah. And unfortunately, I think like epic is a good example. They were recently acquired and I just noticed they have been some like changes to their supply. And of course there would be because what happens, why that's so dangerous is when it's all consolidated like that, you have the power of what's being in our food supply and the voice of a few big, big wigs in companies. Like, it's just a few executives making decisions about what goes into your body, rather than someone that you look into the eye of every single day, that you know, at the farmer's market that cares about your community and the well-being of the environment around you?

Yeah. It just scares me. So, yes, getting to know. And then the bottom line is the dollar, you know, it's not health. And people will kind of go to sleep to that concept that capitalism, the structure of our entire country, is built on capitalism, which I'm not saying is a bad thing, but what I am saying is it makes the focus not be health, makes the focus be monetary gain, which again, not bad unless it clobbers health of the entire society, which is what it's doing. It's out of control with no checks and balances.

And so people will think of like, well, what about the EPA and the FDA? But, yeah, yeah, I mean, the FDA has allowed the kinds of foods that these guys manufacture, like little boxed sugar cereals and Doritos and Pringles and some of the things you saw that their candy bars to be placed in vending machines in our school systems. Right. You know, I mean, this is not on the side of health for us and our children. It's on the side of making money. And so you just have to like instead of feeling betrayed by the government and feeling upset by that, you have to say, well, this is actually the model that our country is built on.

So then the onus is on me. Yes, the onus is on me. It is not up to the government. It is not up to the government to regulate things for you. It's up to you to know what's on the end of your fork and in your glass. Like you are responsible, not anybody else. And so I think this, this idea is like in the matrix or outside the matrix, this idea that the government has got your health at the core of its central, you know, central decision making is wrong and also an unrealistic expectation like so we have a bunch of executives making decisions about our health.

Of course we do. It's capitalism. So then that means we have to be responsible. Yeah. Yeah, I'm really excited too, because it seems like the younger generations and we're just getting more and more excited, and people are learning the stories about the companies. And so I'm very, very, very encouraged. But yeah, like you said, we can't wait for policy. We can't wait for our governments to protect us because they're just not going to. And we can't expected of them. No, that's the other thing. It's like it's like expecting your insurance company to pay for preventative medicine.

That's ridiculous because the insurance company is like a Las Vegas gambling casino. They get like, the whole model is based on you pay us money, and then we really gamble that we don't have to pay anything else. That's the whole thing. Yeah. It's the. Why are you pissed off? Like, this is just this thing. You don't want to pay for your preventative medicine. This is the way the model is built, right? It's on making money. And so, you know, the anger that people feel, I just kind of go, but hang on, you know, like, why are you expecting something different?

This is not how our country works. So therefore it's on you. You have to budget money yourself for your health, right? Your insurance is not supposed to be paying for the things that are actually going to make you healthy. They're going they're in bed with the pharmaceutical industry who wants to make money, right? So, you know, it's kind of like just open your eyes and see it for what it is, and then you won't be mad. Yeah.

Food, mood, and autoimmune health 30:18

And make a different choice or a different choice. Exactly. Yeah. Like when it comes to the one thing I kind of feel is egregious is that, you know, we're marketing to our kids all these big food manufacturing, all of its egregious. I'm not saying it's not. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No I yeah that's what we're saying. But we still have the power to not let them watch that. You know, like programing and just kind of shield them from it. So we do even in the midst of this, these egregious, egregious efforts, we still have a little bit of control.

So yeah. Yeah, my whole thing around like autoimmune disease is undigested anger. You know, that comes from 10,000 years ago with Vedic medicine. And so, you know, I, I like trying to kind of point to the places that we get angry and it's like beating our head against brick walls. Instead, we can go around the wall, you know, it's say, okay, like, see it for what it really is. Don't have an expectation that it's going to be any different than it is. And let's walk around the wall and do something different and take full and complete 100% responsibility for our own lives.

Right? Oh, no. That's it. It is all egregious. I don't want to ever think you think anyone thinks that? I think just because you shouldn't expect something different, that it's not egregious. But no, I think it was very clear. I was just saying, but the one thing I need to watch on that wall and I will and I did because I made new products. You did, I, I love that focus on undigested anger. My whole last year has been devoted to those types of practices and being okay with my emotions and learning to self-regulate.

But I only had that because I had this stability that I got from the food first. So yeah, I have that bandwidth now, but I think that's really important. I love that you're doing that too. Well, the point you just made is an important one. You know, when I teach my health coach students, I always say you have to do the emotional work with your client, and you also have to regulate their hormones, their adrenals, their microbiome, their immune system. So it will stick if you don't do them both at the same time.

One or the other, it won't stick right. The bandwidth is what I'm pointing to. And so what is the connection between food and mood? I have that in my cookbook. I'm like, food equals milk, guys. Yeah. So profound. I was I didn't mention this before, but I was actually kicked out of my parents house before I even graduated high school because my mental health it was I was so all over the place. I was up and down. I kicked holes in walls. I was a mess. And it wasn't until I realized, okay, I'm not eating animal products, I'm just eating a bunch of processed foods and this matters.

But at that time, they just tried to put me on psychiatric medication. It made me feel like a zombie. I had like one thought an hour. It did not work for me. But as a byproduct, an unanticipated advantage of my dietary overhaul. I felt like a new person. Emotionally. I would never have been able to do the things I have done today. But basically, the three things I always tell people is, find the foods that are creating inflammation in your body different for everyone. For a lot of people, it's gluten, a lot of people, it's bad oils.

You know, sometimes it's dairy, just like find your inflammatory foods and also be blueberries and coconut oil. Depends on how bad you got. This can be, sadly, it can be a vegetable, you know, like, yeah, it can test. Don't guess. Yeah, exactly. Test. Don't guess. And a lot of times what they're finding, especially with depression, is that it's just an inflammation in your brain rather than a chemical imbalance that should be treated with the pharmaceutical. And second is just like certain nutrient deficiencies like B12 specifically can have really important implications.

There was a study, case study, actually, of a woman who was hallucinogenic, and she became catatonic and knowing what to do with her. And they actually got her a B12 injection. And she had a full recovery over the next few months. And so just something that simple. And the last one is just like, balance your blood sugar. It really matters. People like, they know depression is highly implicated with high blood sugar and, and, bipolar issues and, binge eating even. I've seen a lot of research. So anyway, you know, prioritizing breakfast protein, high quality animal products and all that is really important for your mental health.

There was a documentary several years ago that I watched, I think it was called The Medic. I think it was called The Medicated Child. And it I think and it was about bipolar disorder being, diagnosed in children younger and younger and younger and younger ages. And so they were following this little girl around, who had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. And they're doing sort of like a snippet in her life and talking to her and her mom and dad and her psychiatrist. And as they're following her around with a camera, they they follow her into a convenience store where she fills up a white plastic bag with all of these high fructose, like, and these.

And she's sucking on a lollipop and she's talking to them, and they're not commenting on that at all. The whole thing is around meds. And, you know, I'm like, is nobody seen the red food coloring? And I just can't serve that, that she's like putting a funnel in her mouth and shoveling down, you know, and and you know, of course it was affecting her and all of the things the ways that you were describing is your experience of kicking holes through walls and being out of control. And, you know, yeah, it's like this connection was not made in this documentary, but it was so apparent for anyone that had that, that set of lenses on that could see it and just be like, oh my gosh, you know, and so that, that part isn't being talked about enough, you know, like, what is the impact?

And, you know, you can watch the documentary called King Corn and see why we have so much high fructose corn sirup in our food supply, like what's going on behind the scenes with that. But, you know, it's it's like this, this food and mood thing. It really does make a huge impact. I tell a story sometimes of I have four kids, and with the birth of my third, child, all of the three of them got chickenpox and she's a newborn. And then my till my two boys had chickenpox, and my husband decided to go out of town and go on a bike riding trip that had been planned for a year with his friends.

And then they got chickenpox right while he was gone for oh no. And so I'm sleepless. I'm nursing. And then the other two were awake and this whole thing. Right. And then our basement floods. Oh, and this was before, I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. So I was still on. I was a sugar addict. I was a vegetarian at the time. So I was like this too. And and I just remember holding my newborn and the two boys were on the couch just there, and I was in the kitchen and she just squirted, and I was I just gotten off the phone with my husband saying, please come home.

Our basement just flooded, you know, and him saying, oh my gosh, I'm still like three days away, you know, and and me hanging up and and me. And then she just like, let diarrhea go everywhere. And it was all down my whole body. Right. And I remember just bursting into tears and reaching down with my, well, my toes and opening at the bottom drawer in our kitchen and grabbing a couple of dish towels, putting it underneath to catch the flow, and then just kicking that drawer shut, like just kicking it.

And the the front of it fell off. And my oldest son, who at the time was probably 5 or 6, looking in at me and saying, mom, you shouldn't hurt the furniture. And, and I just, I remember having so much shame and going in and sitting on the couch and I'm like, covered in crap and and sitting down next to him and going, oh my gosh, honey, you're so right. I'm so sorry. You know, and and like resetting from that his little face. Right. And and when I look back at that woman and who was going through that and the bandwidth that wasn't present because of this.

Yeah. Because she didn't have, like, grounded nourishment and sustainability. The draw from because she had blood sugar spikes and lows and like, I was exhausted. I can totally forgive that woman for that moment in time. You know, looking at the sugar addict that she was, the autoimmune disease that was coming to forward, like all of these things that were happening. And I can now see with 2020 hindsight, the impact that food had on my lack of bandwidth in that moment. Right. 100%. Yeah, exactly.

My story and I had a similar one with caffeine. I just when I was a fitness trainer, I thought, oh, I'm just going to drink green tea all day. It's so good for me. And and then at night I would just, like, crumble over into a ball and I would cry. And we were like, what is wrong? And one of my friends just randomly challenged me like, just get rid of the caffeine for a little bit and just see what happens. We're going to do 30 days. I was a different person. So it's not only sometimes it's what we're drinking too, but I didn't need a presence.

I just didn't need to be stimulated all the time. So yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah. These these are stories from mamas. Everybody. Yeah. Being a mom is hard enough. You need all the bandwidth you can get. We all have those moments that we're not our best selves. And if you're nourished, it's it's just better. Generally just better is better. And in psychology we call it vulnerability factors like those vulnerability factors would have been has been out of town basement flooding, chicken pox, no sleep. You know like all of those things.

But a big one, the big vulnerability factor that wouldn't be looked for was diet. Yeah right. Diet. And so how often is that the hidden one that we're not realizing that we're pointing to all the external circumstances in life and saying, well, that's why that not realizing like, oh, diet. Okay. Yeah, I know, because we always want to make meaning out of what we're experiencing. Right? Yeah. Or blame something else like yeah. Once did I mean like, oh my gosh, I'm feeling oh I'm like irritable all of a sudden.

It must be my husband. Geez, why do I do this stuff? And then like, you know, I'm just my blood sugar just crashing and then I'm inside

Wild Pastures, Paleo Valley, and mushroom product tips 40:38

meaning somewhere else. Right? Right. Exactly. And I want to blame all these other things for my response, when actually, you know, I'm just like I was saying earlier, like, we are 100% responsible for our own reality. So the external factors, you know, are, are there, but we know show up to the external factors that that an important lesson for me too. So you definitely agree. Yeah. And armed with a good dietary protocol that is matching our DNA is matching what our immune system's asking for is not causing inflammation, you know, will keep us hormonally balanced and regulated.

Our blood sugar, you know, can then be in can be in a good collaborative response loop with our thyroid, our pituitary, our ovaries, right, as well as pancreas. And everybody's getting along together and functioning and makes us get along with the external environment a lot better. Because especially during a pandemic. Right. Yeah. Right. So what are some of the, kinds of things that people can look for, like, like wild pastures when you say meat delivery company, what is this? Yes, it's wild pastures.

That was our response to when we, my son was born. And then I realized, oh, we have 60 harvests left, 60 years of topsoil. And we had been meeting all these farmers and ranchers when we were sourcing, meat for our beef sticks. And so we learned about the different flavors of grass feeding. So, we found that some farmers were going, like, above and beyond and doing things in a regenerative way, which just means like, you know, not tilling, which disturbs the soil and releases carbon and not using chemicals and moving animals around on pasture and using cover crops and building biodiversity on their in their farm.

And also restoring soil biology is a number of practices. And so we only source for regenerative farms in America because a lot of people, a lot of these other meat delivery services, they're doing some things similarly, but they're bringing it in from other countries. But we have a really unique opportunity to heal America's microbiome, which is our soil. And so that's what we want to do. Just create bio regions with farmers who are doing the right things, but didn't know how to market themselves or didn't want to.

So we're just basically like the middleman and we're a meat delivery service. You can get beef, chicken and pork and fish, you know, wild fish and you just go to wild pastures.com. And we are in Denver and two day shipping outward and Phoenix. And we just got a property in Southern California. And we're heading to the East Coast really soon. So, we're growing really quickly. And so then and also Seattle. Yeah, we're going to come to the Pacific Northwest to, that is on our map as well. So that'll be the next one, probably.

But we also are looking at like Atlanta, Orlando area so we can get on the East. But but yeah very very soon. And then yeah, Paleo Valley, we have a number of other products that you could be using. If you have autoimmune stuff. And we're just really all dietary agnostic, even though we're like a paleo company, we have all kinds of products, some that are good for vegetarians, some that are good for, you know, omnivores and some that are good for carnivores. And wherever you land on the spectrum, we have something for like adding your green powder to smoothies.

I'm so glad you say that, because a lot of greens powders. Reason we made that one is because of cereal grasses. And that usually makes up the bulk of powders because it's really cheap, but it contains lectins like we derma gluten, which is really bad news. Some people think it's is as dangerous as gluten. Now ours does have spirulina. And so I know for some people and people can't do that. My office manager, Nikki, can't do spirulina. She's always looking for a green powder that doesn't have is very clean.

And it's hard. I know, I know, and so I just want to put that on the radar. But it is the world's highest quality source of spirulina. They go like, above and beyond with their testing. They actually adhere voluntarily to European standards, which are a lot stricter than they are here. So but I'm glad you like it because I love it. And the bone broth protein powder is great for AP people because I know pea proteins out egg protein, whey protein a lot of times, and ours is actually made from 100% grass fed and finished cows.

And it's the whole bone. Rather than like using acid or enzymes in high heat to extract, the collagen from hides, which is traditionally what's done. It's actually a bone broth, protein powder. So. And it's tasteless. So, That's wonderful. So I'll take a blender and cram it to the very top with organic greens, you know, and then add the green powder and then a hunk of ginger and a hunk of turmeric root. And then I put in my protein powder, and then I add a little fiber. Flax usually seeds, and then grind that up and drink it.

And, and that's a very fast thing that I can do if I'm in a hurry. And it makes it super simple and highly nutrient dense. So I appreciate your attention to detail, because this body loves it all. Oh, man. Yeah. Maybe they call us ingredient snobs. Yeah, that's really funny. I mean, I like I have I kind of like that term, but I also don't like that it kind of seems elitist because we are as, committed to making these accessible and keeping the costs really low. So, yeah, I kind of like it kind of go, yeah, love hate relationship with that nickname for sure.

Well, what have we not talked about that you wish we did when we're talking about food detoxification? I covered it pretty well. I think we covered it pretty well. There's also I mean, one of the thing that I think your community might benefit from knowing is when it comes to, like, mushroom products. Have you ever talked about that and the fact that a lot of them are grown on starches and that starch ends up not talked about? That's okay. I'll just say really fast. So a lot of times there's like three stages in the growth of a medicinal mushroom, which can be beneficial.

They can be immunomodulators. There's the spore, there's the mycelium, and then there's the actual mushroom. You know, a lot of them because it's more cost efficient and faster. They take it when it's in the mycelial stage. And that mycelium is grown on grain, oftentimes rice, or oats. And then they can't separate the mushroom from the grain. So all that grain just ends up in the product. A lot of times people have tested it's about 50% of the product is grain. And if you have a problem with grains, I think that's just something people need to know.

And so what you want to do is make sure that the mushrooms you get, we have a blend. That's awesome. But also just if you want to go somewhere else, make sure they're standardized for beta glycans rather than polysaccharides because alpha glucan. Now this is sciency and nerdy, but alpha group cans are also polysaccharides, but they're the starch and they don't have the same medicinal qualities. So you want organic, you want, standardized for beta glucan content. And, you don't want to see things like oftentimes if you see made in the USA, that will be the same way the mycelium or like my ciliated biomass, all of those terms kind of clue you into, okay.

This might be a product that just includes grains. Am I saying there's no value to those? But you just want to know that if you're someone who needs to be really careful about consuming. Really good tip that I didn't have any idea about. So I really appreciate that you're going to dive deeper into that now. Yes. Thank you so much for spending the time and for sponsoring the reverse autoimmune disease Seminar series. This time through. We're just delighted to be able to bring you in front of all of the people that are here, so that they have alternatives that are healthy for them.

You know, it's a pleasure, Adam. Thank you for letting me. I love all of your work. All right, everybody, until next time, be well.