Energy Drink Truth Bombs & the Witch Hunt for Just Ingredients | @livehealthillie

Summary

Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark: Energy Drink Truth Bombs & the Witch Hunt for Just Ingredients

Hosted by Turning Point USA, Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark invites expert guests to share remedies for healing a "sick culture" physically, emotionally, and spiritually. In the July 29, 2025 episode titled "Energy Drink Truth Bombs & the Witch Hunt for Just Ingredients," host Alex Clark welcomes Illy Balai (@livehealthillie), a holistic health coach, to discuss critical issues in the health and wellness industry.

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1. Illy Balai’s Journey into Wellness

The episode opens with Alex Clark introducing his guest, Illy Balai, a holistic health coach and owner of Live Healthily. Illy shares her personal journey into the wellness space, driven by her struggles with chronic health issues.

Illy Balai [04:46]:
"I was sick and dumb. That's how I got into wellness. I just had no clue what route to go, where to look."

Illy recounts her experiences with various health professionals who couldn't address her chronic migraines and other symptoms, leading her to become her own researcher. This pivotal moment transformed her approach to health, emphasizing the importance of understanding one's body and nutritional needs.

2. The Myth of "Everything in Moderation"

Alex and Illy delve into the problematic notion of "everything in moderation." They argue that this mindset often sabotages individuals' health rather than supporting it.

Illy Balai [08:52]:
"If somebody is telling you you can enjoy some of the worst foods moderately, they actually just hate you."

They highlight how ultra-processed foods are highly addictive and comparable to substances like nicotine and alcohol in their impact on the brain, challenging the relatability and effectiveness of moderation as a guideline.

3. The Prevalence and Impact of Magnesium Deficiency

A significant portion of the discussion centers on magnesium deficiency, which Illy identifies as a widespread yet overlooked issue.

Illy Balai [04:53]:
"I actually had a severe magnesium deficiency that was causing my migraines."

Illy emphasizes that magnesium deficiency is common due to depleted soils and processed foods, leading to various health problems, including hormonal imbalances and chronic fatigue. She advocates for increasing magnesium intake through diet and supplementation as a fundamental step toward better health.

4. Critique of Marketing Practices in Wellness

Illy criticizes the deceptive marketing tactics prevalent in the wellness industry, pointing out how many brands make false or exaggerated health claims.

Illy Balai [06:36]:
"Most people don't get the truth about the ingredients. If you put anything on a box, you can say pretty much anything you want."

She warns consumers about brands that promise miraculous health benefits without scientific backing, leading to disappointment and distrust when products fail to deliver the advertised results.

5. Unrealistic Health Expectations and Mental Health

The conversation moves to the unrealistic standards set by wellness influencers, which can negatively affect individuals' mental health and self-esteem.

Illy Balai [10:51]:
"Health and wellness influencers are setting people up to fail."

Both hosts agree that expecting perfection in health routines is unattainable and counterproductive. They advocate for meeting people where they are, providing realistic and achievable wellness goals to foster long-term health improvements without undue pressure.

6. Accessibility of Healthy Eating

Alex and Illy discuss the misconception that healthy eating is prohibitively expensive, offering practical solutions for maintaining a nutritious diet on a budget.

Alex Clark [34:02]:
"You can still eat real food on a budget. You can go to Aldi, they have organic produce now."

They highlight affordable options like Walmart and Aldi, which offer organic and grass-fed products, debunking the notion that eating healthily necessarily requires a hefty financial investment.

7. The Dangers of Energy Drinks and Excessive Caffeine

A critical examination of energy drinks and the prevalent belief in caffeine deficiency underscores their potential harm.

Illy Balai [17:37]:
"Everyone thinks they have a caffeine deficiency. And a caffeine deficiency literally does not exist."

Illy explains that excessive caffeine consumption leads to energy crashes, increased cravings, and overall depletion of the body’s natural energy systems. She advocates for starting the day with a nutritious meal instead of relying on stimulants to fuel productivity.

8. Prop 65 and the Targeting of Wellness Brands

The episode addresses California's Proposition 65 and its disproportionate impact on wellness brands, labeling them unfairly.

Illy Balai [27:29]:
"Prop 65 has actually been nicknamed the bounty hunter law. So you have all these law firms in California suing wellness brands."

Illy argues that Prop 65 is often used as a tool to target legitimate wellness companies, creating unnecessary legal battles over naturally occurring heavy metals in products. She emphasizes the importance of understanding the law's loopholes and the distinction between naturally occurring substances and harmful additives.

9. The Inaccuracy and Bias of Food Scanner Apps

The hosts critique the reliability of food scanner apps, suggesting they may be biased or manipulated by brands.

Illy Balai [41:15]:
"There's been a lot of speculation that there are brands paying for better scores."

They caution listeners about the potential for these apps to distort consumer choices, urging reliance on comprehensive ingredient research rather than solely on app ratings.

10. Criticism of Popular Health Food Stores

Trader Joe's is specifically targeted for offering rebranded junk food under the guise of health-conscious products.

Illy Balai [43:10]:
"It's all just rebranded junk food. It's filled with so many artificial preservatives and unnecessary ingredients."

Both hosts express disappointment with Trader Joe's offerings, arguing that despite its reputation, many products are highly processed and laden with harmful ingredients, contrary to the store's health food image.

11. Maintaining Health on a College Budget

Practical advice is provided for college students aiming to maintain a healthy diet despite budget constraints.

Illy Balai [45:11]:
"The first thing you need to do is get rid of a lot of the things that you think you need."

Tips include buying real food from affordable stores like Aldi and utilizing dorm kitchen facilities to prepare nutritious meals, emphasizing that healthy eating is achievable even with limited resources.

12. Importance of Clean, Non-Toxic Products

The conversation highlights the necessity of using clean, non-toxic skincare and activewear products to support overall health.

Illy Balai [49:07]:
"We have over 600 products. I look at them and most brands only have like two or three."

They discuss various non-toxic brands for makeup, skincare, and activewear, encouraging listeners to prioritize clean ingredients to avoid endocrine disruptors and other harmful chemicals.

13. Adrenal Health, Stress, and Fertility

Illy shares her personal struggles with infertility, linking it to stress and hormonal imbalances caused by inadequate nutrition and chronic stress.

Illy Balai [56:43]:
"They ran three markers on me and they're like, everything looks amazing. Go right to the finance department."

She criticizes IVF clinics for their high costs and superficial assessments, advocating for comprehensive health evaluations that include hormone levels like leptin to address underlying issues affecting fertility.

14. Recommendations for Clean Brands and Resources

Illy recommends specific clean brands and resources, emphasizing transparency and quality in product selection.

Illy Balai [91:16]:
"We have brands like Captain Blankenship, Look Organics, and more on our website."

Listeners are encouraged to visit Illy's website, Live Healthily, for a curated selection of vetted, high-quality, clean, and low-tox products, simplifying the search for genuinely healthy options.

15. Healing Culture Through Nervous System Health

In closing, Illy underscores the importance of regulating the nervous system as a cornerstone for overall health and cultural healing.

Illy Balai [93:49]:
"Nothing matters more than your nervous system."

She advocates for practices that support nervous system regulation, such as proper sleep, reducing screen time, and nourishing the body, to foster a healthier, more balanced society.

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Notable Quotes:

• Illy Balai [06:36]:
  "Most people don't get the truth about the ingredients. If you put anything on a box, you can say pretty much anything you want."

• Illy Balai [08:52]:
  "If somebody is telling you you can enjoy some of the worst foods moderately, they actually just hate you."

• Illy Balai [27:29]:
  "Prop 65 has actually been nicknamed the bounty hunter law."

• Illy Balai [41:15]:
  "There's been a lot of speculation that there are brands paying for better scores."

• Illy Balai [56:43]:
  "They ran three markers on me and they're like, everything looks amazing. Go right to the finance department."

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Conclusion:

In this enlightening episode, Alex Clark and Illy Balai expose critical flaws within the health and wellness industry, from misleading marketing practices and the dangers of processed foods to the systemic issues affecting affordability and accessibility of genuine health solutions. They advocate for informed consumerism, realistic wellness goals, and a focus on underlying nutritional and hormonal health to foster both personal well-being and cultural transformation.

Listeners gain valuable insights into navigating the often confusing landscape of wellness products, understanding the importance of nutrient deficiencies, and recognizing the broader societal challenges that impede public health. This episode serves as a compelling call to action for individuals to take control of their health journeys with knowledge, integrity, and practical strategies.

Transcript

[A]

Do you have as strong of feelings as I do about Trader Joe's that we hate it when people say everything in moderation? I don't think they're being relatable or meeting people where they're at. I think they're sabotaging them.

[B]

If somebody is telling you you can enjoy some of the worst foods moderately, they actually just hate you because we wouldn't tell an alcoholic that they should have a beer every now and then.

[A]

Do you ever crave a baconator, though?

[B]

I could throw up at the.

[A]

She is one of the funniest and most savage friends I have in the health and wellness space. ILI Balai, or Healthilly on Instagram, is a holistic health coach and owner of Live Healthily, a storefront that sources only the cleanest wellness brands and children's book author of Yummy Colors. Her mission is to teach you about wellness and keep it simple with a lot of humor along the way. Illy does not care about burning bridges or making enemies if it means standing up for what is right, which is what I love most about her. She is my number one person that I text when something complicated is going on in the health space and I want it to be broken down. For me, this episode is really just two friends geeking out on health and wellness and frauds in the industry while also sharing our favorite tips and tricks along the way. We watch on the real Alex Clark YouTube channel or culture Apothecary on Spotify. If you're new here, please pause leave a five star review if you are not new but it's been a while. We want your reviews too. That's a quick free way to help the show out and make sure that we get to keep the show free for you. Join the Keith Servitus Facebook group to make like minded friends of the show and discuss what you've learned. Follow me on Instagram at Real Alex Clark or the show at Culture Apothecary. Please welcome my friend Illy Balai AKA Live Healthily to to Culture Apothecary.

[B]

I literally have tears in my eyes. No actually if you see my eye, can anyone just let me know if my eyelash starts peeling off? Cause I swear like if I keep crying at this rate I'm gonna have a dangly ass eyelash. It's gonna be halfway through my cheek throughout the whole like is that an eye sea lash or a caterpillar? This is why I love Illy because you are my favorite person in the Maha movement that I met. We just became friends right away because there's nobody as, like, cert insane as.

[A]

Me until I met you.

[B]

Yeah. And so I just have so much fun with you. And. Yeah.

[A]

I mean, this is why I just immediately liked you.

[B]

Like, awesome. Perfect. Two peas in a pod. Two peas in a pod.

[A]

Okay, so did you get into wellness because you were smarter? Because you were sick?

[B]

I was sick and dumb. That's how I got into wellness. I just had no clue what route to go, where to look. When it came to why I was so bloated, why I was covered in stuff, cystic acne all over my jawline. When I was put on birth control, being told that that would get rid of it. I had no idea why. I had chronic migraines every single day. Waking up, like, thumping, like, couldn't. It was, like, visually hurting me. I had no idea why I was always bloated, even after drinking water. I just had no idea. And I just kept believing the system. I went to specialist after specialist. I remember going to a neurologist, and I think this is actually what radicalized me and turned me into my own, pretty much researcher for my own health. But I went to a neurologist with chronic migraines after going to an ob GYN and a endocrinologist, a GI doctor, a dermatologist to kind of figure out each little aspect of my health. Like, okay, one person for acne, one person for this. So I ended up at this neurologist. It was the last kind of straw that I was going to, you know, figure out. And I remember them doing all these brain scans on me to figure out why I was having these migraines. And I remember vividly him and coming back into the office and going over all my results, and he's like, you have perfect health. Like, this makes no sense. I wake up almost every single day at the age of 23 with a splitting migraine. What do you mean, everything is normal? And he sent me home with prescription Percocets.

[A]

Oh, my gosh.

[B]

And I was just that at the age of 23 years old to get sent home with, you know, kind of an intense prescription. Although having completely normal labs literally just changed my whole perspective on the medical system. I just had to seek out something else. And that is when I started doing my research and trying to be an informed consumer and just actually learn about my health. And now, you know, a couple years later, I actually went back and going. Going through a lot of the lab work that I did have. And it turns out that I didn't have a Percocet deficiency. I actually had a severe magnesium deficiency that was causing my migraines. Oh.

[A]

Everything was based on magnesium.

[B]

Such a severe magnesium deficiency. Like, I was so depleted and I actually feel like I linked it to being on birth control for so long because birth control depletes a lot of essential nutrients. So the fact that he so willingly was about to put me on a really hard drug essentially when all I needed was probably some magnesium capsules that I could get at CVS literally blew my mind.

[A]

Do you think that's what most people struggling with migraines are dealing with is magnesium deficiency? Like, instead of popping an ibuprofen or an aspirin, if they just pop magnesium, they probably feel better.

[B]

I think a lot of people are magnesium deficient. It's probably one of the most common deficiencies. It used to be really prevalent in our water, which now we know our water is stripped of everything and it used to be really prevalent in our soil and our soil is stripped of everything. So that's probably one of the one also it's so highly researched. So everybody knows magnesium is great. There's like multiple forms of it. So I think a lot of people are magnesium def. Like, people are lacking minerals. That's why we're. We all feel insane and have no energy. We're just lacking any type of real nourishment and minerals. You don't really get from ultra processed foods. It's really from these super nourishing foods that come from the ground, that come from, you know, living creatures.

[A]

You are so no BS ever when it comes to wellness. Like, that's what your Instagram is so great for, is obviously education and you teach people stuff. But you're also just like, I'm going to tell it to you straight. I don't care if I burn bridges.

[B]

Which is very bold.

[A]

I mean, I don't even know that I am that brave because yeah, you could like really mess up connections and things like that, but you're like, I don't care. I just want to say that. I just want to, you know, tell people what it is, what I think. What do you think is the most evil or corrupt aspect of the health and wellness space?

[B]

I think just the marketing in general. I mean, I've seen brands straight up lie about their marketing and not. And double down on it when they're called out on it. I've seen brands delete comments over and over again going back on things that they said that they would never do, and then here they are doing it. So marketing in the wellness space, as somebody who is in it, and I'm trying my best to be the good parts of the wellness space is something that I'm constantly reminding people that you can put anything on the front of a box, on the front of a bag, you can say pretty much anything you want, and if you get caught, then, yeah, you're screwed. But most people don't. You can say this cures this or does that for the most part, and you'll get away with it. We see it every day on TikTok. We see it every day on social, on, you know, Instagram, and people fall for it every time they think that some greens powder is going to cure their ibs, you know, and they're being told all these things are going to balance their hormones and heal themselves. And then when they're on this supplement for months and months and months and they're not feeling better and they go back to the company and they're like, hey, like, I don't feel any better from this. You promised me all these results. And the company just block, delete. I don't care. We have another customer somewhere else.

[A]

Yeah, I guess I see that a lot. And I also, I know that you call out a lot of people in our space that you feel like are making people feel bad. Like, if they're not perfect enough when it comes to health and wellness, then they're out. And I don't know, I think that's interesting because you're, to me, I know how you eat, I know how you live, I know your routine. And I'm like, you are so unbelievably clean and very intentional about what you're putting on your body and in your body, and yet you're like, stop making people have unrealistic expectations about what, wellness.

[B]

Yeah, I think because I started, you know, I started as a college student trying to figure out, like, what's good for me, what's not. And I think we always have to meet people where, where they're at in a realistic way. Like, I. There's kind of two sides of the spectrum. I feel like there's people that are everything in moderation. And you can have the, you know, the alcohol every weekend. You can have the ultra processed protein bar, like, every time you have a good workout. And, you know, you could keep that bowl of candy in your house and just binge on it for the, you know.

[A]

So I don't think when people say everything in moderation, I don't think they're being relatable or meeting People where they're think they're sabotaging them.

[B]

If somebody is telling you you can enjoy some of the worst foods moderately, they actually just hate you. Like, there is no way that that person is actually looking for your best interest. Because we wouldn't tell an alcoholic that they should have a beer every now and then. We would never do that. Meanwhile, we know that ultra processed food is addictive. Like, we have science to support that. We know that it literally lights up areas in the brain the same way that, you know, nicotine does. Like, we know these things that smoking a cigarette and consuming alcohol are lighting up the same pathways of ultra processed food. It's very, very similar. So the fact that we continue to tell people to sabotage their health over and over again for the sake of a holiday or a weekend or a birthday, we're just continuing to allow people to destroy their health little by little, and then they never are able to make these connections about why I'm always bloated, why I've had acne for my all of my adulthood, you know, why I have migraines, why my hormones are a wreck. Like, oh, I don't know, because I've been eating everything in moderation for so long and I've been told by all these professionals that that's okay and that's normal.

[A]

So like, I think that sets people up to fail. I don't think that that's helpful. Yeah, when people are like, well, do you have to be perfect to be in this space? Or Alex Clark wants everybody to be perfect. I'm like, no. First of all, I just think I'm like, we're all adults here. Don't we have common sense? I mean like, I'm traveling right now and I didn't want to pack like a whole entire shampoo bottle and stuff. So like I'm using the shampoo and condition in the hotel. But I did bring my own body wash and then I have my non toxic toothpaste with me. But you know, I ate at a restaurant last night. It wasn't. I only ordered real food. I got oysters and I had scallops and all that. But I don't know what they cooked the scallops in. It could have been seed oil, I don't know. But like things like that, I'm like, those are the little things that obviously it's not perfection. That's unrealistic. But yeah, I mean, kind of talk to like where you feel like health and wellness influencers are setting people up to fail and like, what's a reality for what imperfection in the space can look like while still being the healthiest non toxic you can be.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, I think there's levels, right. I think for many people, at least for me, I could speak on myself when I first was, you know, I had. My hormones were all over the place. My gut was a freaking wreck. I had to get really strict with a lot of the things because I had no idea what was causing all the distress in my life. So I got really strict. I was, I wasn't even taking supplements. I took a year off of supplements because I'm like, I don't even know what to take. I don't even know if I'm taking quality stuff. I was only consuming real food. I ditched all ultra processed food. Like anything that you find like at a gas station is not, I mean to this day I'm very strict about that. And I just really got down to the nitty gritty of like, okay, I'm going to eat basic, you know, high quality meat. I'm going to make sure I'm eating my vegetables and having my fiber and have a very balanced plate. And I really did that. And that's when I really started to see a shift and I was able to build on that, right? So then I was able to kind of test the waters with, okay, is it, you know, is it really dairy that's causing all my problems? Because I think in the wellness space we're told like, we can't eat, we can't have dairy, we can't have, you know, whatever else. You have to be vegan, you have to be carnivore. Most people just need to eat less ultra processed junk. Like, let's start there. So I think for most people, I think if we can live a life where we're not consuming nutrient void, chemically laden foods, you're gonna feel like 80 better than the average person of America because 60 of Americans are eating mostly ultra processed foods. So I think that's the first thing that I always tell people is. And then everything else is pretty much, I feel like on you, right? I, at least for me, I eat only real food. I'm not gonna go, you know, and have Cheetos. Like, it's just not for me.

[A]

Yeah. The worst thing, like the word, when people say like, do every fast food or whatever, I'm like, the closest I get to that would be Chipotle. Okay. Like I am in a pinch. Like there is nothing, like I have filming all night. And you know, that's the only restaurant that's open. Like, and then I'll go and I'll just get like rice and steak in a bowl and corn or whatever. And like, you know, that's better than McDonald's to me. So I do that.

[B]

I think people can't fathom that once you get to that place where healing feels so good that you don't want anything to sabotage it. But not in an obsessive way, like, oh my God, I can't. Because we see that too a lot in the wellness space. And that is like true orthorexia, like because people want to throw that word around. But that's like a really serious diagnosis where your day to day life is disrupted because you have to live a certain way, right? Like if I came here and I go on vacation and I'm, you know, packing all my own food and I can't enjoy a dinner out with my husband that is disrupting my way of life, right? Because I can only eat the food that I brought in this glass container and everything so perfectly, you know, that is obsessive. But I also have seen people who are in such an autoimmune flare that that is the way that they need to live. Right? So it's like, like only you can really find that balance. But I think for me, I've drawn the line at I do not drink alcohol. I haven't consumed alcohol in four plus years and I do not consume ultra processed foods. And I'm a lot like you. Like the closest I'll get is a borderline fast food like a Chipotle which, you know, they've improved their, you know, ingredients a lot.

[A]

Non GMO besides, you know.

[B]

Yeah. And then I just make it myself, right? Like I try my best and I think also when I travel, I do try to travel to places that have, you know, better options and things. But we've gone on road trips where the only thing around is like a Starbucks or like a Panera Bread or McDonald's and Wendy's and like what are you going to do, you know?

[A]

Do you ever crave a Baconator though?

[B]

Never craved. I don't even think I've had. I really crave anything actually. I mean, early days I could have downed a row of Oreos. Honestly, if someone catches me on a good day, I might, might slip one. But Oreos are my jam. But I just don't crave that anymore. Like it's not. There's always an alternative, right? Like that's how I feel. There's always an alternative. But you can't explain it until you've gone through it, you know, like, until you've gotten to that other side. Like, I want to give people hope that if you feel like you're being consumed by ultra processed foods, like, if you go 100 off them, there will come a time where you just think it's disgusting.

[A]

That's how I feel.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like, when people are like, do you ever just crave, like, chick fil A? I'm like, literally, no, never. A lot of it actually makes me nauseous. Not like, oh, that sounds good to me. Once you're away from it, it, like, it tastes like, was awful.

[B]

Yeah. I used to every day after personal training because I had personal train for like eight to 10 hours a day, literally.

[A]

What?

[B]

Yeah, I was wrecking. Yeah, I was like, wonder why my hormones are all messed up. I'm working eight hours a day, eight to ten hours a day. Like, just personal training. And afterwards I would always treat myself with Wendy's. And now I could throw up at the thought. Like, throw up at the thought of eating Wendy's.

[A]

When I was in Telluride, Colorado recently, I kept hearing the same thing from locals. You know, make sure you're drinking electrolytes. Really, really, really serious about the electrolytes. I had no idea because I've never been there. But at that high of an altitude, your body gets dehydrated fast. Luckily, I always travel with my Taylor Duke's wellness electrolytes. So I was on lock there. These are the only electrolytes that I trust. No sugar, no dyes, no fake sweeteners, just clean, functional hydration with real ingredients. They're packed with magnesium, potassium and sodium. Everything your body actually needs to be able to absorb water and see, stay balanced, hydrated, especially in places like Telluride. So I've been obsessed with their new lemon tea flavor. This is like, I don't know any other company that has thought of this flavor. It is crisp, it is citrusy iced tea, but with a wellness booster. Drink it by the pool. I mix it in my water in the afternoons and genuinely feel a difference in my energy and focus. Hydration girl summer activated. So now I've got to pick a favorite. Between lemon tea and then my beloved strawberry lemonade. Of course, they also have mango, orange, guava, grapefruit, lemon, lime. You can use my code Alex Clark for 10% off@taylor du wellness.com. that's Taylor swellness.com code Alex Clark. You know that tight, dry feeling your skin gets after a day in the sun, that's your body asking for help. And Adele Natural Cosmetics is exactly what I reach for. Their aloe vera spray is my first line of defense. Pure cooling hydration that calms skin instantly. No chemicals, no junk, just natural, fractionally distilled aloe made to soothe without preservatives and their essential moisturize. Oh, it's so good. It's lightweight but deeply replenishing. So it's really, really good for those hot, sticky days or people that don't want super heavy moisturizer in the summer. Heavy creams I know can be a lot. Everything that Adele makes is handcrafted in central Texas by a family who is Christian and conservative. And they also really care about being all natural. They just partner with US based farms for clean, ethical ingredients. And they're driven by faith and purpose, believing beauty comes from the heart. I love knowing that the products that I'm using are good for my skin and good for my soul. Visit Adele Natural Cosmetics.com use code ALEX for 25 off your first order. That's Adele Natural Cosmetics.com code ALEX. What are some of your hottest takes right now on why Americans cannot get healthy?

[B]

Because everyone thinks they have a caffeine deficiency. And a caffeine deficiency literally does not exist. We are literally fueling ourselves with so much caffeine. Like you're starting your day with a cup of coffee that's poured with like 14 pumps of syrup up. And that's what people think is getting them through the day. And it's all just false energy. People are just depleted.

[A]

Do we need to be having something else first thing in the morning?

[B]

A meal, like that's like what actually fuels people in the morning. Like, we were just literally thinking that, just consuming so much caffeine, like, first thing in the morning, like America literally runs on Duncan, you know, like that is. That is the slogan, you know, grosses me out.

[A]

Those videos that Bobby Flav City or whatever Bobby Parrish does.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

And it's just he shows like, how much sugar is in. The whole thing is just sugar.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And like a teeny tiny smidge of water. It's basically a cup of all sugar.

[B]

Yeah. And everybody's drinking energy drinks and everybody's. Yeah. Because if it's not the difference, like, oh, I don't really drink coffee. And then they're downing like four or five energy drinks a day or like even one really. Like if you feel like you need energy drinks or just any sort of caffeine. And some energy drinks can have 250 milligrams of caffeine. That's way more than a cup of an average cup of coffee that you can make at home which is about like 80 to 90 milligrams.

[A]

What is wrong with energy drinks?

[B]

A lot of things. I mean the first thing is you're giving yourself a false sense of energy by just like spiking your cortisol. So the first thing that you do when you wake up and you just, you're supposed to actually gradually increase your cortisol as you wake up. So that's why you're not going to wake up like bright eyed and bushy tailed. Like it should be like a very slow nervous system reset as you wake up. So people want to prematurely spike that and then it's going to cause a crash later on in the day. That's just always what happens. So people are dreading their lives by 1, 2 o' clock and then they need either another cup of coffee or they try to switch it up and they do an energy drink which is much stronger. And the second thing is the ingredients in them are absolutely horrific. It's almost like drinking a soda or it's really soda with like added caffeine. So you have brands that will add artificial sweeteners like Sucralose and Ace K and they'll act like this is just so gut friendly and good for you and it's, it's the best way to get energy in the middle of the day when in reality we're actually increasing people's cravings and we're completely ruining their gut microbiome.

[A]

So it's actually possible that energy drinks could be making you fat in a weird way. Yeah, because it's increasing your cravings and needing other things.

[B]

Yeah, I mean anything. For me, my real hot take is that any brand that, that is claiming it's a wellness brand should not have any type of artificial sweeteners in their products at all.

[A]

Yeah, I would agree with you.

[B]

Yeah. But you have brands. For example, there's a huge brand right now that has a very popular quote unquote wellness brand with a very popular quote unquote podcast. And they have been claiming for years that they're a wellness brand. It's splattered all over their website. It literally says join the wellness club and this is your wellness stack and wellness this and wellness that's. And almost all of their products are ladened with artificial sweeteners. And really people are being lied to.

[A]

And nobody calls them out on this.

[B]

Well, I did and I got severely Punished for it.

[A]

What do you mean, severely punished?

[B]

So there was a. There was a situation where the. I. You know, I've been following this brand for a while because it's always brought up. I've been doing product reviews for six years now. So people always send me brands, and they'll say, hey, is this brand really clean? And most of the time I'm like, no, because most things that are marketed as clean usually aren't. So this was one brand that I kept seeing over and over again. Because, of course, with a wellness podcast and you have all these big names in the wellness industry, you're going to assume that this person knows what they're talking about and this person knows what they're doing. Right. Like, that's just good marketing. Right. But unfortunately, if you look a little deeper, there was a situation where on this podcast, they had someone show up on the podcast, and the interviewer asked, what is the worst ingredient that you can find in a product? And he went on to say, titanium dioxide, which, yeah, it's. Titanium dioxide is a colorant. It's white. It's like how you whiten products. So it's in a lot of supplements. It's a lot of capsules, like anything that's, like, pressed, sometimes chicken nuggets, sometimes chicken nuggets. And in this case, it was in a protein bar. And this brand that was doing the interview had it in their protein bar that just launched that day. What? And meanwhile, they're interviewing this person like, this is the worst ingredient that you could have in any product. So all I did was I screen recorded the podcast and then just put up the ingredients of the protein bar that just launched, pointed to it, and I said, am I missing something? And when I tell you I've never seen a product get taken off a website so quickly, like ghost. Nothing was said. There was no statement there. Nothing was addressed. Anybody that saw my video, because I had, like, almost like 2 million views on that video, everybody was being blocked from the comment section. So if you were talking about it, you were just being deleted and blocked. So that was the first situation where I was like, this brand.

[A]

So they pulled the product, though.

[B]

They pulled the product at that moment. So they were. But without a trick, they didn't reach out to you.

[A]

Be like, hey, you know what? Thanks so much for bringing this attention. You're totally right. This was a total oversight on our. You know, on our part, and we are making things right so that you could then post, hey, hey. The brand reached out to me. They are admitted like, we made a huge mistake. I don't know how this slipped through the cracks. We're redoing it. Nothing. It was just. Just silence.

[B]

Silence. Yeah. It was just silently pulled and it act. I don't even think it's ever come back. I don't think. Yeah. So that was like the first, like, weirdness. The second weirdness, which I think is even worse in my opinion. But the second situation was they launched an energy drink and they were touting that it's gut healthy, it has apple cider vinegar, and it's just good for your gut. Like the first of its kind energy drink. Right. So they went on their podcast to explain, you know, how they created the energy drink, all the amazing things. And they were. They brought up a study about why they were. Because people were asking, why are you guys using sucralose, which is an artificial sweetener in a. In your energy drink? Like, I thought you were a wellness brand, right? Because a lot of people share the same sentiment as me. As, you know, wellness brands shouldn't have anything artificial. Right. I feel like that's pretty baseline. So they were kind of addressing why they chose sucralose. And they. They decided to use the comparison like, well, we chose sucralose because we wouldn't want to choose acesulfate potassium, which is kind of like a sucralose sister. Right. It's like another artificial sweetener. And they said that Ace K is much worse and that they stand on the fact that they would not use that artificial sweetener, and that's why they chose sucralose. So what I did was I screen recorded that part of the podcast and I went on and posted all the other products on their website that contain acesulfame potassium, even though they just claimed that that is the much worse artificial sweetener. And they would stand on the fact that they don't contain that. They wouldn't use that ingredient. But it was already in other products that they. That they were using, just not this current one. So what happened was they pulled that part, that section of the podcast out of the episode, and they kept the rest of the podcast and they got my video with now millions of views taken down for copyright infringement because I somehow was able to get video content that wasn't public anymore.

[A]

Diabolical. And so then did they. Those products were still available.

[B]

They're still available today.

[A]

Okay, do. I'm just. I'm trying to give benefit of the doubt. Is it possible that maybe there is a, you know, separate people in this company who are putting the ingredients together to make the products. And then you've got the owners who are just kind of like public figures, and they just don't really know what's going on. And so there's miscommunication where the owners like, oh, I don't want that ingredient. And then there are other people putting it in. They just don't know. And if so, do you feel like that's negligence? Like, it's your product, you should know about the ingredients?

[B]

Yeah, I think there's a lot of things because. Right. It's not just about, you know, not knowing what's in your product. Right. Like, that's. I feel like you should. Like, even for my own brand, I have over 600 products. I. I know, like, how these products are made. Like, I look at them and you guys, they, like, most brands only have like two or three. Right. So I think the first thing is that most brands, if you're going to be the face of a company and you're going to tout that you are the founder and this is what you do, you should know your products and you should at least know how they're sweetened. I feel like that's a pretty common thing, that you should know what's being used. And clearly they do, because you're able to do a whole podcast episode and bring studies. Right. That you know what these ingredients are to an extent. On top of that, you know, sucralose alone has been found to alter the gut microbiome. So touting that an energy drink with this ingredient is gut healthy doesn't really feel accurate to me. And the second part is that it's also recently been found to potentially increase people's cravings. So if you're trying to be on a gut health journey and you're trying to, you know, new wellness brand and you're trying to, you know, it fix your calories and fix your diet, and you're drinking this energy drink every single day, and now your gut is worse, may feel worse, or, you know, your cravings are increasing, you're gonna be super confused. So, like, that's the first aspect of it is, you know, the research behind why the wellness space doesn't use these ingredients. And the second part, too is kind of like, to your point, yeah, maybe there are people in the company that don't reflect the same values maybe as the people at the face of the company. But I think that also comes down to, at the end of the day, how the customers are receiving it, because to me, I would not Want a company that feels like they have to hide the reasonings that they're doing things.

[A]

Yeah, I feel like that's an integrity issue.

[B]

Yeah, it's big integrity. And especially the wellness space is already filled with so much junk, you know.

[A]

Okay, so speaking of wellness brands and controversies, what is going on with my girl Carl and call just ingredients being called out for this Prop 65 stuff. What does it mean?

[B]

Yeah, I mean, Prop 65 is weird, like Pandora's box.

[A]

Is this a scam?

[B]

Prop 65 is definitely not what people think it is. So what? At first glance, Prop 65 is a law that's just in the state of California that says if your product tests high in lead or higher in lead than their standard, it must have a label on it that says that this product contains more lead and it could be linked to cancer and you're pretty much putting yourself at harm for consuming the supplement. But people don't know is that there really is no proper regulation for props 65, meaning that let's say, for example, I am consuming a brand. I can go test that brand in my kitchen and if it doesn't test what the brand is claiming that it does, I can just put a lawsuit in. And they, it's up to them now to fight me with all the proof. That means they have to go back to the science. They have to prove to me in a court of law that their product is actually great. Which for many brands that can cause that could be hundreds of thousands of dollars. The second aspect of that is you don't need to be a professional. So it doesn't have to be a professional lab. So what this has created is the Prop 65 has actually been nicknamed the bounty hunter law. So you have all these law firms in the state of California that just do this and they make hundreds of thousands of dollars just suing pretty much wellness brands.

[A]

Why wellness?

[B]

Because they're using natural products. Which comes to the third loophole is that Prop 65 doesn't decipher between naturally occurring heavy metals versus stems, that some that could be contributing be contributed from, you know, pesticide use. So they don't separate the two. So if something is naturally occurring that's high in heavy metals, like for example, salt, like we've seen so many salt brands be like hit with. You guys are high in lead. We live on a floating rock. Like, where do you think metal is coming from? Like, obviously things are going to be high in heavy metal. Prop 65 is so low that most products in the supermarket, most produce in the supermarket right now exceeds the level of Prop 65. So how is this an accurate baseline?

[A]

So you think there is a witch hunt essentially to go after just ingredients and that they're using unbelievably unfair standards to hold up against her brand?

[B]

Well, I don't. I think there's just a witch hunt against wellness brands in general. Like, I almost never see these people testing, lead testing, you know, the crappy brands like the Doritos and the Cheetos. You know, I mean, also they probably are testing low because there's no real ingredients in it anyway, so maybe that's why. But I think there is just like a massive witch hunt with just wellness brands in general. So if you can't decipher another crazy thing is Prop 65 doesn't apply to fast food chains and vaccines.

[A]

Well, there you go. And that tells you everything you need to know. So what really aggravates me is you've got people that are allegedly on our team that are not disclosing the information that you just said, this context within the Prop 65 conversation, and then they're saying, you know, just ingredients is lying to you. They're heavy, they're heavy metals and blah, blah, blah, and you shouldn't, you shouldn't purchase from them. And I just feel like there's a little bit of an unfair conversation kind of being waged here.

[B]

Yeah, I think for any brand in the wellness space, they should be obviously cognizant of what types of products they're creating. Right. Because we always have to be aware of heavy metals. But most people that are touting heavy metals don't really understand how they work in general. Like, for example, tuna, like everyone's like, don't eat tuna because it's high in mercury. But tuna is also high in selenium, which naturally competes for mercury in the body. So it's made perfectly. You know, obviously you don't want to like dowse yourself in tuna like tuna only diet, you know, but nature has, is always made perfectly. So that's why heavy metals in isolation through pesticide use can be really harmful where in a natural setting with optimal minerals, they naturally push out heavy metals. So this is why, like for me, I always advocate for a mineral rich diet so we don't have to fear monger heavy metals all the time. Right. Like, it's great to have a coa and it's great to have a standard, but at the same time, when you know that there's a lot of money involved in potentially suing people over something like that. When sweet potatoes have more heavy metals than most protein powders, like, we really have to think about where we're getting our information and what we're actually scared of.

[A]

So, you know, do you trust a brand like just ingredients still?

[B]

Of course. I mean every brand, like most of the brands that I work with personally and I get to talk to many of the CEOs like, like regularly. I, I trust our brands. Like, I know that there's good people behind brands and they're not doing it on purpose. They're not like I'm sprinkling, you know, heavy metals in our products, you know, so I, I love, I love Carolyn and she's great. And it's just really unfortunate. I've seen so many brands get slammed and sometimes they can't beat the, the allegations, they can't beat the rumors. And you know, once you get a Prop 65 warning, there's so much legal action that goes on behind the scenes, so much money and it could be really detrimental to a small business.

[A]

Is it truly too expensive to be healthy in America?

[B]

It depends. Like you're either going to pay the cost up front, you're going to pay the cost later. So it's like you get to choose. But I think most people, we keep telling them that it's too expensive to eat healthy. It takes too much time to eat healthy. It's don't even bother pretty much. I mean we see it all the time, just eat whatever you want. It's not a big deal. It's, you're here for a good time, not a long time and people don't even bother looking. I mean, I just post the price of eggs at Walmart. Basic eggs, right? We're not talking pasture is organic, just basic eggs. Right? It was like under $3 and people are like, I've never seen those prices in years. And they go on to check and they're like, oh, it is, it is that much like, are you guys even walking through the produce section?

[A]

No, they're not. You know, my hot take is they're not. Yeah, they just automatically go straight to.

[B]

The Cheeto aisle, go to the Cheetah.

[A]

They go to the frozen aisle more specifically and, or they go fast food or they doordash and they're not actually walking the perimeter of the store and buying the real food. And what I like is that you are still going to be eating healthier and living healthier if you are buying the non organic, non pasture raised version, non grass fed version of your meats eggs. You know, cheeses, milks, whatever. It's still better to have that than it is to just have, you know, soda and pizza rolls.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, an egg breakfast is always going to be better than cereal sugar.

[A]

I just, I feel like sometimes people use it as an excuse. Well, I can't afford organic or pasture raised, so I'm just eating what I want anyway. I'm like, you can still eat real food on a budget. You can go to Aldi, they have organic produce now you can, they even have grass fed meat and they've got pasture raised eggs. You can go to Walmart. Walmart is the largest distributor of organic food in the country. I mean, so that is a mass. And of course going to your local farmers market is going to be the best too. Yeah, but I don't know, I guess, how accessible do you think it is? Or unaccessible? Are there changes that need to be made?

[B]

Well, I just found out recently I was kind of going back and forth with a follower of mine and we were looking into this and actually 93% of Americans have access to some sort of food delivery system, like, thank you, technology. You know, like if you're able to get Uber eats, you're able to get your super, your groceries Uber to you, you know, if you really don't have access to a supermarket. Right. So I think we're not even looking at how much technology has evolved over the years because I think if you're able to get Amazon, you're also able to get, you know, a lot of non perishable items off of Amazon. Right. Like, I think I see people all over social media touting how much, how much garbage they're getting off of Amazon so they could organize their house and their refrigerator looks like something out of, you know, I don't know, a Barbie doll house, but you can't get, you know, a bag of rolled oats. Yeah, you know, like what are we talking about here? So of course there's going to be, you know, food deserts in America, but the research that we have right now doesn't really add up because if 93 of Americans have access to food delivery systems, but then we're being told 17 of Americans live in a food desert. How does, I don't know, I'm not really that good at math, but I feel like that's math. The math ain't mathing.

[A]

What is your rebuttal to people who say, okay, so you care about, you know, people in poverty being able to have access to food, but then you're Also involved in the Maha movement. And the Maha movement is trying to cut SNAP soda off of snap.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What's your response to that?

[B]

I mean, I feel like at the end of the day, if you can afford soda, like then you should want that on your own dime. Like the whole point of SNAP is to support families through nourishment. If you can tell me the nourishment that you're getting from a soda, by all means we should keep it. But there's zero nourishment in any type of soda. Like, even the healthier ones, I would say probably don't even need to be on snap. Like a soda is a soda. We should be giving water, we should be prioritizing organic fruits and vegetables. Like that's what should be on snap. And I feel like, why wouldn't everybody want that?

[A]

I don't think a lot of people realize too, because I just found this out recently. Most states you can use your WIC program, your food stamp program at the farmer's market.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So that's something interesting. And you know, they've got organic fruits and vegetables and grass fed meat and all that kind of stuff. And, and usually all farmers markets have a sign that say, we accept wic.

[B]

I think about this a lot because obviously as somebody who tries to talk to, you know, the majority of Americans, you're always gonna have people edge casing, right? Like they're going to go to the absolute edge and be like, well, what about this? And what about people in poverty? It's like I'm really talking about the 60 of Americans that are obese in America. Right. Like that's who I'm talking to. The people that you see at your supermarkets filling their, you know, carts with all different types of ultra processed junk. Junk food. I mean, I just did a video on a woman who was like, this is what I got. For a hundred dollars. There's no food and no dinners. Yeah. Because you spent a hundred dollars on just snacks. Yeah. So you have. She's like, I don't even have dinner to give my kids. Because you only bought snacks. I don't know how else to put that for you. Like if you want to give your children dinner, maybe buy a turkey. Right. Like that's, that's kind of like what we're dealing with today. So people always want to edge case and take it to the absolute edge, which is fine because I. There's, but there's so many aspects. For me it comes down to like four core principles. Like the first core is knowledge, right. You need the knowledge. You need to at least know that you want to do better, Right. The next is going to be accessibility. You need to know that you can do better and you need access to those things, right? So if you have those two things, then come the finances. So if you know better and you have the accessibility and the finances, that's amazing. And then the last one is support. You need people in your circle to support you, whether it's yourself or others. Right? Because that could be really hard for people. You have celebrities who have all the money, all the access and probably all the support because they have trainers and dietitians and then you look at their food and their refrigerators and they're filled with ice cream and Oreos and pancakes and all this ultra processed stuff. So they don't have the knowledge. Where I have people who, I have women all the time, moms of, of. I have moms Dming me, moms of three, moms of five, sometimes single mothers still working, and they go, I live off of Snap and I have all the knowledge and I may not have the finances, but I try my best to get whatever is accessible to me. And those are the types of people I'm talking to. I want to create a, you know, a world where people can look at their options and genuinely want better instead of going straight to the snack section and assuming that that is always what's going to be cheaper. Yeah, it's going to be cheaper in the moment. But what about your children? You know, you have growing children that you really need to, you know, make sure that their, their brains are healthy, their bones are healthy, you know, everything in between. So, like, those are the types of moms that inspire me so much because they're like, hey, I'm literally living off Snap and I try my best to go and buy the, the cage, the caged eggs. And, you know, they may not be the best option, but I know at least my kids are getting, you know, a little bit of choline.

[A]

What should people know about the most popular food scanner apps?

[B]

Oh, that they just do not trump your brain. They, they just could never. Like, these food scanner apps that people are getting so obsessed with are just not accurate. I mean, at the end of the day, you can only scan what's available to you. And I think people like it because they don't have to think, right? And when you stop thinking, that's exactly what they want. You know, they don't want you thinking about any types of options that you're, that you're trying. I Mean, even for me, like, if I go into my local Target or Walmart, I can scan all day, but if I don't have good options, I'm going to feel stress having to pick something bad because the scanner told me that it's bad. Right. So if I don't really have a lot of decent options there, you know, I'm getting stressed. You know, I could imagine if I'm like, oh my God, there's no clean shampoo or there's no, you know, good snack options here. Everything has canola, everything has sunflower on. This app is telling me how bad it is. I'm going to go home stressed and pissed off, you know, like, do something.

[A]

Do some of these food scanner apps allow brands to pay them so that their product will be recommended?

[B]

I would think so. I mean, I don't know 100%, but there's been a lot of speculation that there is, there are brands paying for better scores.

[A]

I'll tell you this, the Yucca app will tell you beef tallow is bad. I think it labels it as a saturated fat.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, I've done my brain versus the Yuck app so many times and it's, it's kind of mind blowing the things that they allow on that app because they'll, they, they allow brands like Cetaphil, which is. Has a lot of endocrine disruptors in that and they think it's like a hundred, like it's a great product. I recently did one where I saw that it will say that essential oils are bad. Which essential oils? Of course, like, if you're allergic, it can maybe cause skin irritation, but if you're not allergic, it's really not an issue. But it won't say that fragrance is bad. And fragrance can hide, we know, like hundreds of different types of parabens and endocrine disruptors and phthalates that brands don't necessarily have to disclose use. So how are you allowing that?

[A]

Somebody asked me the other day, on a scale of 1 to 10, how important is it really that I avoid fragrance?

[B]

For me, it's a 10.

[A]

I said 10.

[B]

10 out of 10. That's the one thing I tell people. Get out of your house. I mean, I work with brands all the time that'll say that they use, you know, natural fragrance and then they're very open about what is actually in that. And it looks great to me. Right? I'm like, wow, this is amazing. And it's a proprietary blend. They don't want somebody, you know, really copying their thing. But we don't have that opportunity when we're at an app. When we're at a store and the app is telling us that it's bad. Right. Like we don't have the opportunity to go and email the brand really quick, like, let me just see what's in it. So I always just say people, like tell people, just avoid fragrance. It is the best thing that you're going to do for your hormones, for your thyroid, for your pets, for your kids. They should not be inhaling things that you have no idea how it's, you know, being treated. Really. Because you have no idea what they're putting in there.

[A]

Do you have as strong of feelings as I do about Trader Joe's that we hate it? Do you hate it?

[B]

Because I don't like Trader Joe's.

[A]

I don't like Trader Joe's either. What's your reasoning?

[B]

I mean, they. Okay. They have beautiful flowers. Yes. Right. We can all agree we have some united front that Trader Joe's has great flowers and they also have like, good. I don't know about your Trader Joe's, but the produce section is like pretty decent. But almost everything has inflammatory oils. It's just re branded junk food. That's all it is. And it's always old people in there because they like the ready made meals. And I understand like the convenience of it. It. But it's all just rebranded junk. And it's filled with so many artificial preservatives and just unnecessary ingredients. Like, there's no reason for all of that. I mean, it looks appealing because they have all different types of flavors and combinations. But for me, it's not where I go to shop. Yeah.

[A]

I mean, the purpose of Trader Joe's. I don't care what anybody says. You're not only going there for their produce. I, I think that they offer a good produce selection and I think it's a lot of times cheaper.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But, but beyond that, you stop lying to yourself. Stop. Be honest.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It is the ultra processed food in that store that hooks everybody. And it is good as in it tastes good, but it is filled with crap. And they'll be like, well, they're. They don't have artificial dyes.

[B]

Okay. Okay.

[A]

They don't have artificial dyes, but they have five other things.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So that's. I'm just like, people are obsessed with this store and I just think it is so unbelievably overrated and unhealthy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And they have great customer service. This chick Fil A. And that's also just as bad.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, I try to do, you know, swap videos and Trader Joe's or things that I would actually buy at Trader Joe's. And it's very, very, very hard. Like I see things all the time and I'm like, oh, like this looks so good, but it's just filled with inflammatory oils and just like preservatives, carrageenan, like things that I just don't want in my food. And people just, I think if 50 of the store is frozen, like everything's in the frozen food section, it's probably not the best for you.

[A]

How would you implement all of this health and wellness knowledge if you were about to start college and live on campus with a strict budget?

[B]

Oh my God. Just minimize, minimize, minimize. I think so many people think that they need so much. I think that's the problem with social, like wellness social media is we tell everybody that we need everything, you know, we need all the supplements and all the things. And I always tell people that the first thing you need to do is get rid out of a lot of the things that you think that you need. Like there's no reason you need five different cleansers and five different, you know, toners and skincare items. Like my skincare routine is probably three things and I'm like, good with that. We don't need all of the things, but I think especially moms who are buying their daughter's things for college, you know, like, it doesn't have to be the most expensive stuff. There's amazing, you know, teenager friendly skincare brands that aren't, you know, that you're going to find at Sephora and they're, you know, filled with the synthetic fragrance and the endocrine disruptors, especially like at that age. And I think especially for people in college, whether, you know, girls or boys, to don't get in, not to really get into the alcohol hype too. Because I think once you start getting into the alcohol hype and going to the frat parties and the sorority houses and you start getting into drinking culture, your health is going to take a turn. I think everybody that I know that was in college, we all had terrible health. Like, yes, we ate terribly, but we drank on like Tuesdays and Thursdays. You know, like, we were always just part of drinking culture. And you know, we have like an intern now that is just graduated college and she's like, I didn't drink in college. I'm like, is this the new generation? Like the new generation just not drinking anymore?

[A]

She is Embracing sobriety more than any other generation, I think, which is great. What I say to college kids is, and I know a bunch are about to start school. That's why I want to bring up this conversation because I do get asked this sometimes is, I think one, if you're living on campus and in a dorm, sometimes your dorm will have a kitchen. Like no one uses that. Yeah, but you could, you could ask for a mini, you know, pots and pan set and then you could Aldi Walmart again, doesn't have to be organic if you can't afford it. Just getting real food ingredient food and then cooking meals. One, if you have access to the kitchen, use it. Two, if you are going to be eating on campus at their little restaurants and all that in the food court, then it's the real food items. Try not just try to do like, you know, protein and vegetables and rice grain, those types of things. And I would say avoid all the fried stuff for sure.

[B]

You know, I mean, I feel like I would like to see a little grassroots movement of all these college kids doing potluck style dinners.

[A]

Well, I also said, I mean this is going to take a special type of kid.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But also I said, you know, here's the thing. You are paying that school. They're, you are the paying customer. If all of these kids rise up and say, this is bs, we deserve better food options. I am paying to go here. You should give me access to better, real organic food. I feel like a lot of schools would start listening if you've got enough kids on campus rising a ruckus about it.

[B]

Yeah, no, I agree. I think more kids that, I mean, yeah, it's just so hard. Like I'm hoping that the parents that are sending their kids to college will be the encouragers of doing something in that way. For me, it's. I, my heart hurts when I see all these preteen and teenage girls stuffing their baskets at Sephora with just endocrine disruptors and you're lathering it all over your bodies in your, you know, those are the years where your hormones are really developing. You know, you're getting into the years where you're probably gonna start thinking of kids after college. Right.

[A]

This is why the gen a drunk elephant obsession at Sephora is so dangerous.

[B]

Oh, 100. Actually, I was gonna do a video on drunk elephant and a lot of these brands at Sephora because Sephora also has a quote unquote clean section. So does Target. A lot of brands are trying to create clean sections and they're just nowhere close to my standard of clean. Like many of them will allow fragrance which if you aren't willing to disclose what that fragrance is, then it probably shouldn't be in the clean section. And all these girls are thinking like maybe I'm doing myself some justice by getting something in the quote unquote clean section and it's still filled with potential endocrine disruptors.

[A]

So what, what actual clean brands are at Sephora?

[B]

If I, if there are any. Let me think. Yeah. Makeup wise Kosas Ilia, rms. RMS is probably my favorite one. Those are like the top three that.

[A]

I think Origins truly clean. Or maybe they do fragrance.

[B]

I don't think they are totally caudaly is not clean.

[A]

Ooh.

[B]

Yeah. That is not a clean brand.

[A]

So I, I mean I'm, I don't hide this. I, I mix and match. I do some non toxic makeup up some non toxic skincare.

[B]

I also have five years to completely like I'm only wearing clean makeup right now, but it took me like five years because I'm also picky about the type of me like I wanted to stay on my face.

[A]

Like I tried to mix and match.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So the only place in my life that I make upset that I make exceptions when it comes to like clean standards are like hair, beauty stuff.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

And I get that it's in clothing.

[B]

You're really good about natural fibers and clothing. Like I'm wearing 100 cotton right now.

[A]

Yeah, she. Ellie is.

[B]

But I've only just started that. Like this is six years into my journey and I'm like, okay. I feel like I just got bored of like I'm like, what else do I. Yeah, yeah. What else do I do? Maybe my clothes.

[A]

See, she took six years to get there. Like you don't have to do everything at once. You can just see what fits, what's, what chapter my life am I in? What can I afford? What can I do? Is there any changes I want to make? But yeah, I mean I love fashion. I love, I love, you know, I'm obviously on camera. So it's a mix match. When there is a product that I like, there's a dupe and it's clean and it works and I like it.

[B]

I mean I go to a hair when I get my haircut at the hair salon. Like I don't bring my own own shampoo and conditioner and I know some people do that.

[A]

Yeah, I don't do that either. And I in, you know, I color my hair and everybody wants to know, well, is There a non toxic dye. I have only ever heard of one salon. I'm sure there's more, but I just don't know. Probably there's one salon I know of in Orlando that I don't know the name of it. So don't DM me and ask because I don't know. There is a salon in Orlando. A makeup artist told me one time that is totally all non toxic dyes.

[B]

Oh my God.

[A]

I'm sure someone will find it. But so that's, I'm sure there's more.

[B]

I get people that DM me and they're like, I know a non talk and I think it's going to be more popular. I think if somebody wants to start a business, that might be a really good one. But yeah, there are things like not everything that I, I mean I started with undergarments because I feel like that was the most important is like swapping out my undergarments. Like I don't want to be sitting in polyester all day. That was the first thing that I did. And then I shot like. And this is another thing, like when you actually look, you're like, oh. Because I always thought that, you know, natural clothing would just be, you know, flowy dresses and I would just look like a hippie. Nothing wrong with hippies, but that's just not my style. And it's, I, I found out that there's actually so many chic outfits and a lot of great brands that are starting to prioritize natural fibers.

[A]

Well, if you go to Revolve's website right now, they have a tab that's like, shop all of the items on our website that are 100 cotton or natural fibers or whatever. And it's all like very cute trendy stuff, but it happens to be natural fibers.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

So yeah, I mean there are options.

[B]

There are, yeah. For sure.

[A]

Ever sat around a campfire breathing in the great outdoors and then woke up with bug bites from the night before? I've been there. And so if thousands of others who've turned to active skin repair, parents love it. One mom said she spritzed it on her toddler scrapes and even the family dogs. And she said it seems to really heal them. Well, it's this magical hypochlorous acid that your body is using as its own healing molecule. And she said, look, this is packed into a non toxic, non stinging spray. It cleanses, it soothes, it speeds up skin repair. Whether you are dealing with insect bites, minor scrapes, rashes or irritations, active skin repair Works like a charm. You can do the gel, you can do the spray. Over half a million users cannot be wrong when they say this is the greatest product that they've introduced into their family's life. It is safe for sensitive skin, eczema, rosacea, you name it. Trust me, you're going to want this in your backpack, in your medicine cabinet, in your purse, in your diaper bag. Head over to ActiveShipRepair.com and if you use code ALEX you can get 20 off your first purchase. That's ActiveSkinRepair.com code ALEX for 20% off. Off even my audience. I mean ask the cute servitors Facebook group Active Skin Repair. Is it worth it? Everybody's going to give you a resounding yes. My friend had one of those days recently, you know, where you're just like walking into a room and you're forgetting why you're putting your phone in the fridge. You're calling your kid by the dog's name. Total mom brain. She looked at me and she said, I do not know what's wrong with me lately. And I just knew. I'm like, girl, you're running on empty. So I went and got her some of my favorite Paleo Valley grass fed organ complex, which is my nutrient insurance. So this is a freeze dried blend of liver, heart and kidney from 100 grass fed pasture raised cows. No weird taste, no cooking, just real deal organ nutrients in a capsule form. And unlike other brands that only use liver and then they blast it with heat, Paleo Valley gently Freeze dries all three organs to preserve fragile vitamins, minerals, enzymes and CO factors. So you're getting natural sources of B12, iron, CoQ10, selenium, and by the way, freeze drying is like the best way to preserve nutrients. So this is everything that your brain and body crave. It is legit. It has changed my energy, my focus and now my best friend's ability to mom without melting down. So if you want to try it, go to paleovalley.com Alex use code ALEX for 15 off. That's paleovalley.com Alexcode Alex, here's what I think is really interesting about you. You've been married for a few years now. You desperately want to get pregnant. You haven't been able to get pregnant yet that you refuse to do ivf.

[B]

Yeah, I'm at the point where I was so disgusted with the IVF clinic and the mentality around it. It completely turned me off. And I think especially in the wellness space we're always told like do, you know, go the medical route? And I haven't gone the medical route in, you know, five years prior. Right. Because I was severely damaged from it. And I never got solutions. So, you know, a. Almost a year into my conception journey, I was like, you know what? I'm. I am going to take advantage of modern science. You know, why not? Why wouldn't I take that opportunity? I've seen a lot of, you know, my friends and family that have gone that route and they have their beautiful babies now. Like, why wouldn't it? My first appointment, and this is somebody. I've done two years of preconception prep, meaning I, you know, we did, we went. I go to therapy, make sure, like, I'm in a proper mental. Mental space because I'm not gonna be a little crazy. So that was the first thing. I've been doing all different types of functional testing. I did a Dutch test, I did an organic acids test. I did a vaginal microbiome test to get, you know, tested for urea plasma, because that was a super common bacteria that could be found in the vaginal microbiome that could be led. That could lead to miscarriages. So I was like, let me get tested for that. Let me get my oral microbiome. Because your oral microbiome is very connected to fertility. A slew. I probably had like eight or nine things. Things. And the last thing I didn't get to do was a physical exam to make sure all my tubes were open. And you can only really do that at an IVF clinic. So I went there. Matt and I, my husband, we went there. And the first appointment, I think we spoke to the IVF doctor that was supposed to be working with us for maybe 10 minutes. And it was 10 minutes of pretty much sex ed telling us how babies are made. I was like, okay, ma', am, I am 31 years old. I don't goes. I think we passed that point, you know, I think I know how it goes. But that's like how they started. Ten minutes of that. And then I, I was actually ready that day to do the ultrasound. So I was able to go do my ultrasound. They saw that had plenty follicles. I happened to go when I was ovulating. I tried to time it. So they're like, you have great follicles. Uterus looks great. And immediately from that, put my pants on and I do the walk of shame right into the finance department so they could tell me how much, how much IVF would call. Boss.

[A]

What'd they quote you?

[B]

$30,000.

[A]

What was your reaction?

[B]

I literally almost threw up in my mouth because I was so disgusted that that was. That was my consult. That was my consult appointment. And you're already telling me that I'm pretty much going to need ivf and you haven't seen any of my blood work. You haven't seen any of my seven to ten tests that I haven't looked at anything. They didn't look at anything. They just looked up my hoo ha for two seconds. They're like, everything looks amazing. Go right to the finance department.

[A]

Wait, that's. That's interesting. I wasn't expecting you to say that.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay, so then what happens next?

[B]

So after that, I ended up having to do my hsg, which is a deeper procedure, which they pretty much, like, pump saline through your uterus to make sure that everything is draining properly. You don't have any adhesions or anything that could potentially be blocking, you know, sperm getting into the egg. So that came back all great. I didn't have anything like that. So I was like. Like, thank you, God. And then I just never called them back. I was like, I got what I needed. And then this is where I had, like, a. Like a inkling to do a little bit more testing. I know everyone's like, I did so much, but I had never done, like, a comprehensive blood work. And they didn't even do that. They ran my LH, my FSH, and my T3. They ran three markers.

[A]

That was it.

[B]

That was it.

[A]

To tell somebody they need to spend $30,000 on IVF.

[B]

Yeah, I was. Yeah, I was disgusted. Did.

[A]

Oh, my gosh. I didn't know it was that bad.

[B]

Yeah, so they ran three, and apparently I went to a really good clinic. So I don't want people like, you know, like, yeah, you went to a.

[A]

Back alley, some white van.

[B]

Yeah. You know, they're like, here you go. Oh, spread your legs, girl. No, it was none of that. I was like, a very beautiful. They had awards all over the place. Like, I obviously did my research, and, yeah, it was terrible. So they ran three blood mark. Three little blood markers on me. Yeah, it was just terrible. So after that, I actually ended up doing Function Health because I was, like, doing kind of a. They're like, here, try it. I was like, okay, cool, I'll try blood work, whatever. And it's like 100 markers. And I was like, you know what? Screw it. I'll try it. And then this is. I actually just got interviewed about this specific thing. I took all of my. My Ultrasounds, my testing that I did, and my blood work that I just had from Function Health. And I literally uploaded it into Chat GPT and I was like, why aren't I getting pregnant? Like, with all my blood work work? And this is where I discovered that my leptin was low.

[A]

Chad, GBT told you.

[B]

Chat GPT told me. Dr. Chatty.

[A]

What. What is leptin?

[B]

Okay, so leptin is a hormone that's produced by your fat cells, and it is technically your satiating hormone. So it's not checked on average blood work. It's definitely not checked at the IVF clinic. Most clinics will never check it because it's your satiating hormone. It pretty much tells your brain that you're full, that you're fed, and that you have enough. Enough energy and resources to function, but most importantly, reproduce. So mine was low. And I only found out because I did function, which was so interesting. But you can just go to your doctor and ask to get your leptin checked. And what happens is, so obviously, if your body is not producing enough leptin, it's pretty much telling your brain, like, hey, we don't have energy. Like, we don't have any resources. And some of the symptoms could actually be like, you don't have an appetite. When you wake up in the morning, you tend to eat like a kind of like a little bird. Like, you eat and then you're hungry again. Like an hour later. You eat and then you're hungry again an hour later. Like, your body's, like, desperately craving energy in the form of calories. If you're under weight, that's usually a pretty big sign. And at that time, like right before we started trying, I was underweight. And then when you're underweight for a long time and you're undernourished and you're going. You're super stressed, you're maybe overworking, maybe you're over exercising. You're not getting enough calories. Calories in and you're not getting enough calories in. Your body will start to hold on to the fat because it thinks that you're in famine. You're, like, in survival mode.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So you kind of go into hibernation mode. You're, like, storing fat, you get sluggish, you get tired, and your body's going to shut down. Reproduction, essentially. So I was so confused why my progesterone was low, like the first six months.

[A]

Was your estrogen low?

[B]

No, I had, like, pretty normal.

[A]

My progesterone and estrogen are low. I Will say a year ago, it was the last time I got a Dutch test. Yeah, I need to do it again.

[B]

For sure.

[A]

I should have done it six months ago, but I just haven't had time.

[B]

Time.

[A]

I keep traveling and I don't want to pee on cards.

[B]

Yeah, it's a lot. I did it traveling once. It was a nightmare.

[A]

Yeah, see, I didn't want to do that, so I keep putting it off. So anyway, I need to do it this month, but. Or maybe next. But anyway, with the Dutch test, my estrogen and progesterone were low. Basically, my Dutch test revealed I was like, my body was operating as if I had an eating disorder. Now, full disclosure, I do not have an eating disorder.

[B]

I've seen you eat, girl, but I.

[A]

Probably don't eat enough. And I am very, very prone to skipping meals, especially breakfast or lunch. If I'm filming like this all day, I don't have time. I don't have time to eat. And I'll just eat a big dinner. And so, like, I was doing that. If I had time to sit and like, home, cook a meal, breakfast, lunch, dinner, oh my gosh, I'd be the first person. But with work schedule, it's just hard. And so I think I skip meals a lot and stuff. And I think that my body, I wasn't eating enough. Definitely not getting enough calories. I mean, working out now, working with a personal trainer. She's telling me that you've got to eat more calories. You're not eating enough. I'm like, I'm trying, like, hard, and it's so hard.

[B]

So hard.

[A]

I'm trying to up the protein. I'm trying to get enough calories. So. Yeah, it's a whole thing. So.

[B]

Well, is this is why I don't listen to gym bros when they're like, just cut your calories. Because when I. I can tell you now, in hindsight, when my leptin definitely tanked, I moved to a new state with my husband. Okay. I was trying to build a business. I was planning a wedding and a honeymoon. And I'm like, obviously on social media, like, like always creating content, you know, doing whatever. And I was so stressed that I. And I'm not a stress eater. So that may be like, that's amazing. No, it's is terrible for your hormones to. To not eat anything when you're stressed because stress literally works off of whatever you have. Like, it works off nutrients that you have. So if you're like, this is how people become, like, energy. Like, like a Caffeine drink junkies is because you're undernourished, you're not eating enough, and you have high stress. And this is like the perfect storm for low leptin and energy problems.

[A]

So it could be causing your infertility and you don't even know.

[B]

Yeah, exactly. So I. Now I'm like, on this movement, I'm like, everyone get your leptin checked. And it was just so shocking me because obviously IVF clinic is not. They're barely checking anything. I don't know. They're like.

[A]

Do you think that IVF clinics prey on women?

[B]

Yes. I think IVF clinics are one of the most predatory businesses out there.

[A]

And I, you know, I. Obviously, number one, I think they. They prey on emotionally vulnerable women who are desperate for a child, who, like, in your situation, it's like, okay, I whooped your vagina $30,000. And then it's like, okay, like, all they did was check 3 biomarkers, which is insane to me. Me. So you've got that aspect, which makes. Which makes me gravely angry. We agree on that. I have a pro life component to it. So there's. There's a whole thing with me personally in the IVF industry that I disagree with, but I just don't believe that as as many women are using ivf really need to.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I feel like some of them are being duped because they're not getting certain things checked and. And all that. You know what I'm saying?

[B]

Yeah. I mean, I've made so many videos now just talking about how I believe that IVF is so predatory now, going through that system. And don't get me wrong, I think it's definitely needed. I've known women who literally have blocked tubes, one ovary, you know, low, very low sperm count, all of these things. And, yeah, ivf, that's what IVF is for. Right. It's for those situations. But I've said this before. If you are underweight or overweight, you do not have unexplained infertility. You have a metabolic issue. That's what you have. You need. You have overweight women going into IVF clinics saying, yeah, we don't know why you're getting pregnant. Pregnant. And then you have these women who are eating like little birds all day, and they're going in like, yeah, you need ivf. No, duh. You barely have any energy to sustain yourself.

[A]

Right. Let another person.

[B]

Well, I. What really pissed me off is as I was going more into what leptin actually was, I learned that Because I don't have enough energy to like, like produce essentially like proper progesterone and to do all these things. They probably would have tried to synthetically give me progesterone, which doesn't always guarantee full gestation. Right. Doesn't mean you're, it's going to take you all the way to the end. And I, that means I also would have had multiple rounds of IUI or IVF fail because I, you're literally forcing something to happen that my body's like, hey, where I'm telling you we have no energy. Like, I'm giving you the signs, girl.

[A]

Like, and then they're gonna bleed more money out of you because you have.

[B]

To pay for more rounds. I mean, they're using this quote, unexplained infertility. Because you like a doctor's lack of resources to figure out why you're not getting pregnant does not mean that you were infertile.

[A]

Hold on a minute. So do you think that the phrase unexplained infertility is.

[B]

It's a hundred percent a lazy doctor. Lazy doctors have unexplained infertility. If you're running three markers and you're only shoving a wand up me, how are you telling me that I'm infertile? How are you, how are you getting the full picture of my health? Right. Like, you know, and I think also what people need to understand is there are plenty women getting pregnant under suboptimal conditions too. Right. We get, we have women getting pregnant that are morbidly obese.

[A]

I had on Mary Ruddock earlier this year and I asked her about that because her whole, she loves working with people on fertility and stuff. And I said, well, how do you explain, you know, how a meth addict on the street is able to get pregnant in some like suburban, organic, you know, stay at home, wife can't, who's living this totally non toxic life. She's doing all the things. She loves your page. She loves my podcast, you know, she's doing all the things, you know, theoretically.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then the meth head gets pregnant. And she said, because the meth head is, is she's not stressed. Yeah, she doesn't care. She just wakes up, she's just living life. And she said that suburban. And mom was worried about is this organic? Is this in a plastic jar? But she is living in stress, trying to get pregnant. And I was like, I mean that's interesting. She was a fascinating guest. Maybe there's something to that. But also I'm just Like, okay, but also she's putting literal poison chemicals in her body. So I don't know. Yeah, that is kind of interesting.

[B]

I have a very unconventional. People have to be very open minded when I say this, but I, I've always said that pregnancy is not a health marker. The ability to get pregnant does not automatically mean that you are healthy. I mean we've seen this so much, so much in society. We have people riddled with toxins, metabolically unhealthy with pcos, endometriosis, all the things, mental health, even disorders able to get pregnant. It's not saying anything about them, but those are, that's proof that we know that you can get pregnant under suboptimal conditions. From an evolutionary standpoint, I think if your body doesn't have like, like a, like a, like a fail proof, right? Like if something goes wrong, it says mayday, we probably should not get pregnant right now. Then you're not bringing, then it's not a truly healthy body, right. I think it's actually healthier if you are a conventionally healthy person, right? You're, there's nothing quite really wrong with your hormones. You live a pretty non toxic lifestyle. You try your best to exercise and do all the things. If your body is able to say actually something is wrong and it's able to compute that and say, hey, probably right now is not a good time to get pregnant, we need to tweak something else, then you are much healthier than the person who is getting pregnant doing meth on the side of the street. You get what I'm saying? Like I feel like your, your body's ability to not signal that there is an issue or signal that it's not an optimal time to bring life into this world, world is unhealthy. And I think we really need to change the dynamic and the way that we really think about quote unquote infertility, that it's not always an unhealthy woman, right? Like you can be, you know, a conventionally healthy person with no real diagnosis or no real crazy. Like I don't have any thyroid problems, my thyroid's in good functional range. I don't have any major hormonal problems. I've never been diagnosed with PCOS stress. You know, there's nothing obvious that's unhealthy. But I think when women automatically get pregnant they think, oh, I'm the epitome of health, I am super fertile. But I don't think those two are always the same.

[A]

Ever been up at 3am stressing over looming work deadlines, your heart racing, replaying that one email in your head. I totally get it and it's exhausting. And I also do this with interviews that I know I have coming up. I'm just like rehearsing in my head questions over and over. That is why I love Utsy Naturals family of sleep supplements. They've got a family of sleep aids. Whether you're struggling with falling asleep or staying asleep, they've got a unique formula to suit your body. Totally all natural. My personal favorite is their fall asleep supplement. It's packed with 100 milligrams of magnesium. Whoa body. That's going to relax your mind, your muscles. They've got got valerian in there, lemon balm, passion flower skull cap. These are all clinically shown herbs to increase GABA activity and calm stress after a long day. I take two capsules of fall asleep about 30 minutes before bed on heavy deadline nights. And then within a week I noticed I was falling asleep faster even when I'd been grinding emails till midnight. So no grogginess in the morning. I don't experience that. Just steady productivity and calm focus. It's non habit forming. It's made in an NSA SF certified US facility with a 90 day empty bottle guarantee. So it's totally risk free. Give the whole family of sleep aids at OTSI a try. Go to utsy.com Alex to save up to 25 sleep pasture deadlines, not pasture alarms. That's utsy.com Alex code Alex. So I'm on a road trip to Austin, Texas. Yeehaw. Vibes are good. Playlist is fire. And then I finally stopped at BUC EE's for the very first time. Everybody's always raving about it, right? And okay, you know they're not wrong. The bathrooms were immaculate. The people were so friendly. That Southern hospitality that you love. The snacks. I mean the selection was massive. But here's the thing. I could not find a single clean snack in sight. We need a non GMO organic section in BUC EE's ASAP. Luckily I had my Vandy crisps with me because this is not my first rodeo. Now here's something that most people don't realize realize up until the 1990s all chips and french fries were cooked in America in beef tallow. Real traditional animal fat. And then big corporations switched to cheap highly processed industrial seed oils. And today those seed oils make up 20% of the average American's daily calories. Yuck. It's like jet engine fuel in your body. Recent studies have linked them to inflammation, poor metabolic health and all kinds of long term issues. Issues. So that is why I like my Vandy potato chips. They make delicious crunchy potato chips with just three simple ingredients. Heirloom potatoes, sea salt and 100 grass fed beef tallow. That is it. No junk. And the beef tallow isn't just there for flavor. It's actually loaded with nutrients that support your skin, your brain and hormones. Animal fat is good for you. A snack on Vandy chips. I feel light, I feel satisfied, I feel energized. I don't feel bloated, sluggish, greasy, gross, gross. Like I do with that regular gas station junk food. And they're 100American made. Okay? Zero compromises on these chips at all. Honestly, they are the best potato chips that you will ever have. And because they're made with beef tallow, they're super satiating. You're not going to crush a whole bag and still feel hungry 10 minutes later. You're actually going to feel full and fueled. So try the original Vandy potato chips. Their French onion flavor, their herbs to province with rosemary and thyme. They taste like a trip to the French countryside. Or their smokehouse barbecue chips. If you want to give Vandy a try, try go to vandycrisps.com Alex Clark with code Alex Clark for 25 off your first order. That's vandycrisps.com, alex Clark code Alex Clark for 25 off your 1st order of VND chips. Have you done any investigative work into crumble cookie?

[B]

Hey, crumble is a disaster, okay?

[A]

So let me tell you something about crumble.

[B]

Okay? Okay.

[A]

My hot take. There is not a more dangerous, chemical laden, poisonous cookie or treat on the market in America than crumble cookie.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

I genuinely think looking at their ingredients, I feel like drinking gasoline. This is extreme. Don't actually do this. I feel like gasoline might be safer. I, I, I, I. It is like shocking when you look at their ingredients even compared to like a couple coke. And people are so obsessed with those things. I mean I think they taste like play doh chemical.

[B]

Yeah, I never had one actually but.

[A]

Oh my gosh, you've got to look at this. And here's what's nuts. So somebody did like a house tour, a viral house tour on Instagram recently and they were like let's tour the, the crumble cookie owner's house. And he lives like right outside. They're all in Salt Lake. He lives right outside of Salt Lake City and it's this massive mansion and he, he is showing off their wellness room and they've got all of this cool, this cool wellness stuff, whatever. This guy's a bajillionaire. And I commented on that post and I was so disgusted. I was like, this is so evil.

[B]

Yeah, that's terrible.

[A]

I call crumble cookie. Cancer cookie.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And you've got this guy who is getting so rich off of poisoning Americans and then he has the balls to create a wellness health room while he's poisoning America. I mean this was so Sackler family. Family coded to me. And I just. There's. There's no company I think right now that I despise more.

[B]

Yeah. I mean that's how I felt about that energy drink company. Like you have a whole wellness podcast and to being like, I live non toxic and I do all these things. And then you're literally selling people sucralose filled energy drinks. But yeah, I think crumble cookie is one. Yeah. I saw their wedding cake cookie. It has 72 grams of sugar. I don't think people realize that's. That's only a quarter of the cook cookie.

[A]

Oh my gosh.

[B]

People like a serving of crumble cookie is a quarter of the cookie. Like you can go look that on their website. So. And people are doing full mukbangs. Full mukbangs of crumble cookie. Every single week. There's a tick tock accounts dedicated to getting the new flavor of the week. And they try a six pack of crumble cookie and they're consuming probably half of each cookie. Do you much sugar that is in one sitting?

[A]

It's disgusting. I'm telling you.

[B]

Yeah, it's disgusting.

[A]

If I can get my audience off of anything that they're still holding on to, it's. It's gotta be.

[B]

That sounds rfk about banning.

[A]

Yeah, literally. I. And you know crumble's gonna come after me that whatever. But I would tell my audience, I'd. I honestly would be like, if you have to do. I would drink a diet coke before I would eat a crumble cookie. That's just my unvarying.

[B]

I mean it has way less ingredients. That's what I'm saying.

[A]

And they're both awful. But like crumble is on another level. Okay, my audience, two questions I get asked constantly. I do not have answers. What is your favorite natural fiber bra and underwear brand? And what is your favorite non toxic workout brand?

[B]

Oh my gosh. Okay. Braun underwear brand. It's funny because I actually just got all my bras and underwears from quints have you heard of them?

[A]

Yeah. Is that where Courtney got our pajamas for her bachelorette party?

[B]

Was it? Yeah, I actually think so. Those are really nice.

[A]

I like that company I got them from.

[B]

And then also booty. Booty. B O O D y Booty makes good undergarments that are like non toxic. Also packed. Actually recently tried packed.

[A]

I use, that's what I use is packed.

[B]

Yeah, packed is nice too. I have like a combination of like those three. And then for activewear I just did a like a blog with like 16 non toxic or like there's no truly non toxic but like low tox activewear brands. You need a little bit of like some of them have like 5% spandex, you know, so you need a little bit of stretch because who the hell is, you know, unless you want to just be in a, in a loin cloth, breaking back, working out in a loin cloth. That's a be fully non toxic. That's ancestral. Yeah, that's ancestral living. Here we go. Just a loincloth workout. Yeah, I'm down for. And just coconut bra. What? Caveman spongebob.

[A]

Literally.

[B]

Yeah. So a mix of that. That, yeah. This just made me reminded me of when he went to go lift the marshmallows on the stick.

[A]

Oh, that's me. That's me. When I just started my workout journey, I told her that. I said I'm spongebob weightlifting. I mean it's funny. I know. And what was so embarrassing and you know what? I know what you people are doing. When I started posting on my stories like my little weekly, like I'm with my personal trainer and here's like a highlight of what I did. I know there's so many shares on there and I knew they were making fun of me because my week spongebob me game. It's like, because it's like I'm, I'm, you know, my weightlifting is like 5 or 10 pounds right now because I've never lifted weight, I have no strength. So like I'm building my way up.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I've gotten good. Now I'm on £15.

[B]

They gave you the blow up muscles.

[A]

Yes. And sometimes I have to do the little machines and do no extra weight. The machine is heavy enough for me. I can barely lift my arms. So I'm getting there. But I know what those people are doing. You ever post something and you see like why is this getting so many shares? They're all making fun of you. I hate that.

[B]

In a group button.

[A]

Yes. I hate that. So I knew what they were doing. But yeah, I was like, I totally am spongebob with the stuffed animals on.

[B]

The stick and all that. Yeah. So some activewear brands that are trendy, I would say right now are like low tox. Obviously made the label. I actually just got two of their things right now, but they're like super high price points. So if you really just want to go off, you know, and splurge, Namari is another one that's popping off right now. I have like a whole blog with like, like 16, but there's like so many Indigo Luna. They don't have like, it's more like yoga wear. But if you like, you know, cute tube tops and stuff. Studio K. Okay. Really cute stuff. Studio K is really cute stuff.

[A]

Where can people look at the blog that has all 16 of them?

[B]

Oh my God. All my. Yeah, livehealthly.com blogs. They're like all there. I, I needed to make it because I got asked so many times. I mean I actually that's like the one thing I haven't.

[A]

Live healthy. Health. Illy I L L I E. Yes.

[B]

So my blog is there and I also have like my leptin blog. So if you also want to know all about le. Their leptin life. Yeah, they're left in life, they can also do that. But yeah, so activewear is just tough. So it needs a little bit of spandex. But you try to find ones that are like a little bit right. Like you're getting like a 3 or 5%.

[A]

How do you know if your adrenals are zapped? And what sorts of changes can you make lifestyle nutritional to really support adrenaline health?

[B]

So this is like what I've been focusing on for the past two, three years. Honestly, I didn't know anything about adrenal health. I feel like we always hear about cortisol, Cortisol, cortisol and then nobody tells you. Okay, how do you make cortisol, like cortisol face? You're fat because you have cortisol. This all these things. Cortisol is not the enemy. People like, we cannot fear Cortisol. Cortisol is what literally wakes you up in the morning. It gives you the energy to get in a workout, do the things that you need to do in a day. The issue is that, that if you're constantly spiking your cortisol with stress and you're also spiking cortisol with synthetic things like energy drinks, etc like those, that's the problem. And also you're just like not getting Enough light, all the things. But essentially your adrenal glands is what creates adrenaline but also cortisol. So it's the same kind of pathway if you're always. If you're always in stressful situations. And people don't realize there's multiple asset, like aspects of stress. It's not always just emotional. Could also be physical. Overworking yourself and, you know, working out too hard and undernourishing yourself. So your adrenal. Your adrenals will essentially keep pumping out cortisol. And over time, everyone thinks they have high cortisol, but if it goes unaddressed, it will almost always turn into low cortisol. And this is where I think most of Americans have hit zombie land. They're living in zombie world right now. So, you know, you have messed up cortisol if you wake up in the morning and you feel exhausted. Like, you feel like you didn't even sleep 8 hours, hours. It doesn't matter how much you sleep. You still feel tired if you wake up. And you don't really have an appetite, which is also similar to low leptin. Like, low leptin, you don't really have an appetite. So I like. And leptin also works with stress, so it kind of makes sense that they're both kind of similar things. Like, you can have low. I have low leptin and like, a little bit higher cortisol. So that makes sense. You are holding on to weight. You're not. You know, it's harder for you to.

[A]

Lose weight if you sleep a lot and wake up still tired. And if you wake up and you're not hungry, that's your body telling you what you have.

[B]

Higher cortisol.

[A]

Interesting. Okay.

[B]

Your adrenals are shot pretty much.

[A]

Okay, and then how do you fix that?

[B]

The first thing is, I think a lot of people focus on wanting to calm cortisol, but we don't necessarily want to start by suppressing cortisol with all these calming herbs.

[A]

Herbs.

[B]

Most people are already. When you have very high cortisol for a long time, you end up tanking it because you're not nourishing the adrenal glands. Most people don't know that the highest concentration of vitamin C is in your adrenal gland. So that's essentially, it's using vitamin C and essential minerals to produce a cortisol response. Most people aren't even drinking enough orange juice. Right. Like, I'm not saying to drink orange juice, but vitamin C via, you know, supplementation. And that's kind of eating Oranges or eating oranges, which most people don't want to do do. And that's how I got into adrenal cocktails. So I had a practitioner that was telling me to drink adrenal cocktails. I've never heard of this before. It was super big in the wellness space though. And it's essentially orange juice, coconut water and a sprinkle of sea salt. And this is going to help nourish the adrenal glands so that you have energy in the front end of the day so your cortisol will naturally decline at the end of the day. That's a healthy cortisol response response high in the morning, low at night. What we're seeing with people is it's low in the morning and it's high at night and people aren't sleeping at a normal time. We're going to bed at 12 o' clock in the morning. Because you're doom scrolling on tick tock. Probably a good chance that you're wired and tired. Right? Like you feel like I can go to sleep but I'm just, my mind is going a mile a minute, I'm exhausted. And then you finally get to sleep and you wake up and you're still tired. So people try to take like sleep supplements at night thinking that more sleep is better for them. But when your body is already in this like very low, low energy state, more calm isn't the answer. What we need is to fuel those adrenal glands. So I was doing adrenal cocktails for a while, but I'm just like you, I'm always on the go. I work, you know, all the time. So I'm like, how am I going to make this and put it in a little Stanley cup and bring it with me? Like it's impossible. So that's when I ended up creating minerals and chill, which is just a powdered version of that adrenal cocktail.

[A]

Oh really?

[B]

It's just that. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Oh, interesting.

[B]

Yeah. So, okay. I love me so much, but yeah. So once I found out that the vitamin C is the factor, I wanted to make a hydration supplement that actually helps with adrenals.

[A]

So maybe you could get rid of cortisol face if you start drinking that.

[B]

Well, I hope so. But most people have cortisol face. It's probably not the actual cortisol that's causing it. It's usually like the all the other symptoms that come with the cortisol pa because when you have high cortisol and you don't sleep well you have more cravings so you're eating more sugar, you're craving more carbs. So it's usually. And your body also starts to hold on to inflammation. Usually it's the symptoms that come with higher cortisol that people will have those other issues. So for me it was more of like a backend approach instead of calming people and putting them on all these sleep supplements and being like okay, more sleep is going to be the answer. Adrenal cocktails are there for that midday slump, that midday pick me up. So instead of grabbing an energy drink, you're going to actually just nourish the adrenal glands that are going to have a natural dip in the middle of the day, which is completely normal. But instead of spiking that and having an even further dip and then just being wired and tired, we're going to gently nourish the adrenals so that they can continue to exert, exert energy essentially.

[A]

Why is a dysregulated nervous system more toxic than seed oil pills?

[B]

Well, when you are under stress, everything else shuts down. Your body does not prioritize hormone balance it, it starts to hold on to inflammation, it suppresses the immune system. So if your body is under so much stress, it doesn't matter how well you eat you, your body is not functioning from a state of how do we optimize for the day? It's literally only going on to how do we survive? This is why so many stressed people start to lose their hair. Hair. They can't put on any muscle. They're struggling to eat throughout the day. They constantly need energy drinks like they don't sleep well. Like there's so many other factors. So that's why when people stress over things like seed oils, which I don't stress over them, I just don't, I just avoid them in a way that make feels good for me. I'm like, I love avoiding seed oils. It's not like a stressful thing for me. But I would say nervous system regulation. Like we are. So we are doom scrolling all day. We're seeing things that we're not supposed to see. See, we're waking up on our blue light device. Then we go into a gray office all day and then looking at another blue light device. Then we come home in our gray cars and we see another blue light device when we get home and we scroll on that until we go to bed. And then we wonder why everything that we eat hurts our, hurts our tummies.

[A]

Do you turn off all of your big Lights once the sun sets.

[B]

Yeah. We have like little sconces in the house and we, I turn them off and I put my phone on. Pure red.

[A]

See I just, I say it's Pooh bear time.

[B]

Yeah. Cuz he can bring back the, the, the Scrooge candle. That's what I'm saying.

[A]

And he's got his little nightcap, his little nightgown and I'm like it's poo time. I think that's a cute thing to tell your kids to get them excited about. No lights, no screens, you know, after a certain time or we're going to put our blue light glasses.

[B]

Adults need that. We need to, we need actually I think exactly how we put children to bed. We need to start putting ourselves to bed. Read ourselves to bed obsessed. Put the lights low, take a nice warm bath. Magnesium. Calm ourselves down. Like people use their bedtime to doom. Scroll on tick tock and learn about, you know, the news and like the Egyptians pharaohs. Like that is not the time to get your history lesson.

[A]

You know, last tick tock. A friend sent me this girl said I can't go, I've got to go to therapy. And she's just laying on the floor next to a dead roach.

[B]

That's my night him, my nighttime routine. And we have water bugs in Florida. So there's always like one little. That's yeah, that, that bring. We have to hide the way the same way people will do a whole nighttime routine for their kid. We need to do that for ourselves and we'll have much better energy and we won't be so dysregulated.

[A]

I always see parents online talking about how their kids are constipated. So they're giving them Miralax. Why would you never give a child Miralax?

[B]

Well, Miralax is a petroleum based supplement that is actually not supposed to be taken long term. Like doctors know this. But they have no other way to address why children are constipated. And this is why I would go back to the beginning of what we said. Most people are magnesium deficient. Y so actually a better alternative than something that is a petroleum base. Giving your child over and over again is obviously assess their diet. Most children are not eating enough fiber. And the second part is probably start supplementing magnesium whether it's a topical one. Topical magnesiums are great, great for kids because it's easier on their stomachs and putting it directly on your skin absorbs really well. So you kind of bypass because some people get a little, you know, you can get very diarrhea e if you take too much magnesium and you're not used to it. So I actually love a topical magnesium and that's just a much better alternative. Like we shouldn't be going. If you're, if you're taking your child to a doctor's office and the first thing is he wants to put him on Miralax and he's not asking about diet or supplementation of, you know, magnesium or anything like that. That's a huge red flag.

[A]

Here's another reason why your kid might mysteriously be struggling with constipation that I just learned. They are a mouth breather.

[B]

Oh my God. Yeah. Mouth tape is.

[A]

Instead of putting them on Miralax, take them to a myofunctional therapist and figure out what's going on that's causing them to have this inability to breathe through their nose. And a lot of times that's causing constipation in kids. I just learned that. So interesting from a holistic dentist I just interviewed. Absolutely fascinating stuff.

[B]

There's so many other ways and things that people could go and other routes and we're just being thrown right into the wolves. We're like straight to the end game.

[A]

The other thing I have to ask you about before we wrap here, the tanning oil I use, I got it from you. I learned about it from your store. You carry it in your store. Tell us about this special clean, non toxic tanning oil.

[B]

This is like one of the only tanning oils from the tanning club that I found. So their whole line isn't clean, but I found that one product like last year and then all the other products that they have, they expanded on. So it's like a newer brand. But most tanning oils are also mineral oil based, which is like petroleum based. So finding a tanning oil that has just better oils, I mean, I remember spending summers in Albania. I would literally sneak into the restaurant and grab olive oil packets and just squeeze them on my body like a little salad and just bathe in the sunlight. And like that's, I feel like how it should be be. But yeah. So on Live Healthily, which is my website, we have over 550 products that are all clean. It's essentially a marketplace for vetted, high quality, clean and low tox products. So.

[A]

Oh, and it's so good. Everything from candles to tanning oil, whatever. It's like my one stop shop.

[B]

Yeah, and that's exactly what I wanted to do because like so many other people, I don't know what to Believe I don't trust the claims that people make. And I also wanted a place where I can actually shop in one place where I pretty much created it for myself, essentially. I feel like those are sometimes the best ways to go. But even, like, I would go into Whole Foods and Whole Foods, I'm sitting there, you know, looking at every product. I'm like, what is actually good in this place? Isn't this supposed to be like a health food store? Like, what are we doing here? I couldn't even find, like, a face wash that I liked at Whole Foods. And then obviously, we know most things on Amazon are counterfeit and the supplements people are getting. So I just did not know where to go. And it's overwhelming coming. It's exhausting. It's tiring. So I found a lot of happiness, really, looking for these brands that people have never really heard of, that are marketing their products truly, that are clean. You know, we have just ingredients. We brought on Taylor Dukes Wellness, so. You did. Yeah, we. We just got the order in today.

[A]

What?

[B]

I know.

[A]

No way. Taylor.

[B]

I know. Thank you.

[A]

When are you gonna be on my Girl Illy store?

[B]

Yeah, so we just got that. That's fresh. Fresh off the print. So, yeah, we just.

[A]

Like my main podcast sponsor, she.

[B]

She's. Yeah, she's incredible. And those are like, those are the brands. Like, those are the brands that we're talking about. And we have so many great. You know, you have a champagne conditioner, shampoo conditioner. Yeah, we have to carry on there.

[A]

Because I get asked this also all the time.

[B]

So we have this one brand called. We have Captain blankenship. We have 100 pure. And my personal favorite is this brand called Look Organics. They're out of Canada. The owner is like the chicest person that I've ever seen in my whole life. She's cares so deeply about ingredients, and it's like a giant container of shampoo, which I feel like you never find wellness brands. They're always like these like little itty bitty things. So Look, Organics is a brand that we sell.

[A]

Did you. Did Under Luna not pass your test?

[B]

We just haven't brought them on yet, but they're on. They're on our radar.

[A]

I like, I was impressed by them. So when people ask me about shampoo and conditioner, I've said, I haven't tried any of those yet. I need to try that. Yeah, you just mentioned. Mentioned. I really liked Under Luna probably the best. And then that Raua or whatever.

[B]

Yeah, so they actually don't Wholesale. They only do brick and mortar.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So that's like the other thing. But under Luna does wholesale, and we'll probably end up wholesaling them at some point. It's usually like, request based. Like, we get a lot of requests of people being like, I really love this brand. Is it clean to your standard? I. If it is, like, we'd love for you to have it. And that's how most of the brands that we have on the website are. I do a lot of digging myself, so that's how I kind of found Tanning Clean Club, like a year and a half ago. We also have men's products. We have this great man's men's line called Jack Fur, Another one Jack Henry. And they make amazing. Like, I got. First off, if you are on a preconception journey or you want to have babies, you have to swap your man's fragranced products too. Yeah, like, that's super important because you're. You're inhaling it. He's inhaling, and it's affecting his testosterone. Men can have thyroid problems too. So that was really important. So my husband gets to test all of those products. And those are fun. But yeah, so from everything from supplements to candles without synthetic fragrance, we have amazing brands like Fontana, those nasty, you know, car fresheners. We have an alternative for that. So really anything people want, like, are looking for. We really hope that it's like the first place that people go to, you know, swap out whatever products they're really struggling with, because we don't. We want to take the. The struggle out of it, like, make it as easy as possible. People. Trust me, I'm very transparent about things. The brands are transparent. So it makes it really easy for me. Me. But that's really the main reason that I created it was more for myself. And then we saw that other people were like, wait, I actually don't have anything like this. Like, I don't even trust Amazon to get my stuff.

[A]

I ask every guest, if you could choose one remedy to heal a sick culture, physically, emotionally, or spiritually, what would it be?

[B]

Probably nothing matters more than your nervous system. Like, if you feel that the things that you were doing are causing you mentally more harm than Good, good. And in a. In a. I think also in a balanced way. Right. Like, there's a lot of things I don't want to do for my health. Right. Like, sometimes I don't want to work out. I don't want to do those things. But I know for my nervous system afterwards, I'm going to feel so much better. So that's not like an excuse to be like, oh, like I don't want to do that because it doesn't make me feel good. Like in an enabling yourself kind of way. Like, we have to be honest with ourselves. But I think if we do it in a way that we can really reframe and say that there are benefits to the things even that we don't feel really great that we want to do, but we know in the long run it's better for us. For us, like, we really have to focus on what is going to be better for our nervous system in the long run. Like eating well, having that routine, getting off of, you know, social media before bed. Like all those things in the long run will always benefit.

[A]

Tell us about Yummy Colors.

[B]

Oh, yummy. Yeah. So Yummy Colors is my children's book. I wrote it actually at the beginning of our preconception and because I thought it would happen way faster. And I have so many moms that follow me and they're like, how do I get my kid to eat fruits and vegetables? And I really have to think about that. As somebody who doesn't have children yet, I'm like, how would I get a child to eat their fruits and vegetables? And I feel like we don't give enough credit to how smart kids are. They are so curious. They want to know why things are the way that they are. What are these things good for? So I created, I wrote a children's book about the benefits and fruits and vegetables based on their color. So it's about like how oranges are like the orange fruits and veggies are good for your eyeballs, which makes you a better spy. Like, it's really fun and so cute. It's like really cute.

[A]

Such a good baby shower gift.

[B]

Yeah. So we have so many moms are like, I got this as my first baby. I mean we, I have it on my like our future nursery. I'm like, this is gonna be such a surreal moment when that happens where you get to like read your own book to your own baby. But yeah, so when I wrote that, it was really for all the moms out there. Like, how do we make this fun? Like, I don't want to just shovel food into my kids mouth. And it was just like a really fun way, way to be able to educate kids at night time. And the colors are beautiful. The illustrations are like watercolor and stunning. So hopefully helps somebody out there.

[A]

What is your Instagram healthfully?

[B]

H E A L T H I.

[A]

L L I E And you have to follow Illy because you're gonna learn a lot and you're gonna laugh a lot. And she's just one of my favorite people to recommend for people to follow. So I just love you so much. Thank you for coming on.

[B]

Thanks for having me. This has meant so much to me. Thank you.

[A]

You're all obsessed with Illy now, aren't you? She's like literally the goat. Her store is seriously incredible. And what I really love about her is, like, she knows every single brand basically. Like, it is very. It has been like very rare for me to ever bring up a brand to her. And she's like, I don't know that one yet. Like, she knows them all. She knows what's clean, she knows what isn't. And she is so, so serious about the litmus test that she puts brands through. So I would check that out. If you're overwhelmed by like, what is clean, what isn't, what candle brand should I use, what should I not?

[B]

What?

[A]

Laundry detergent. Sturgeon. That's a really good place to find a bunch of things in one fail swoop area. Please leave a five star review. Tell us why you love this show, why you love this episode, and why people need to make Culture Apothecary their number one. Listen, we're on a mission to helicit culture twice a week, every Monday and Thursday, 6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern. I've got new guests on bringing their own remedy to do just that. Subscribe to us Real Alex Clark on YouTube. Follow me on Instagram at Real Alex Clark. And you can shop show merch. Tpusamerch.com code AlexClark will get you 10% off. I'm Alex Clark and this is Culture apothecary.