← Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark
Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark
How To Heal Your IBS In 30 Days (No Meds!) | @Paleovalley’s Autumn Smith
01:11:30
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- [00:00]
A
So when women eat a meal and we have what's called a food baby, that little bit of bloat after eating, is that not normal?
- [00:08]
B
No. Day after day, having a food baby, having that food sit in your stomach or having pain, that's not how we're supposed to live.
- [00:14]
A
You were struggling with IBS and actually were able to completely heal yourself in 30 days.
- [00:19]
B
I was so fit, but I was not well, never overweight, and yet my mental health, my physical health, I looked pregnant after meals, and I kid you not, in 30 days I was like, Whoa.
- [00:53]
A
For years, Dr. Autumn Smith lived with crippling anxiety and relentless digestive issues until she was told, like so many others, there's nothing you can do. But instead of giving up, Autumn took one last shot at healing. And it changed everything. Within just 30 days after doing this one thing, her IBS was gone, her anxiety lifted, her energy surged, and for the first time in years, she felt fully alive again. Today, Autumn is a functional nutritionist and the co founder of Paleo Valley, one of the cleanest, most nutrient dense snack food brands out there, rooted in whole foods and regenerative farming principles. Five out. What is so special about bone broth, protein powders, why most beef stick brands at the store are gross and not as healthy as you think, why your kids multivitamin may not be doing much for them, and the secret label that you should be looking for on your meat? Watch this on the real Alex Clark YouTube channel or culture Apothecary on Spotify. Thanks to Wirefi for letting us film in their studio due to a family of elves who are squatting in mine. Please welcome Paleo Valley co founder Dr. Autumn Smith to Culture Apothecary. What is the one thing you wish every mom knew about getting their kids to eat better?
- [02:00]
B
That it doesn't have to be really hard that you just. What we do is we pretty much have healthy options just at home and then we have Fun Food Friday or we have other times that we highlight foods that he might want to eat outside of those parameters. But I think just when it's available, it's the choice, right? It becomes an easier choice.
- [02:19]
A
What's Fun Food Friday?
- [02:20]
B
Fun Food Friday is where because our little guy, right, we're obviously, we have a pretty food like whole food diet centric. But he gets a little bit embarrassed because, oh, I don't get to eat all the foods that everyone else does. So whatever he wants to eat on Friday.
- [02:35]
A
So he just says, like, today I want this and you go get it.
- [02:38]
B
Yes, on Friday.
- [02:39]
A
So what if he says McDonald's or something?
- [02:40]
B
Well, and he has said McDonald's one time and we did. I went and got him a gluten free bun at a store because he has gluten bombs and we let him eat that. I don't want him to not ever have the experience, but I don't also want it to be his norm.
- [02:53]
A
That's an interesting little trade off there that I haven't heard anyone else doing. I know that. I don't know if you know who Kate Johnson is, Nurse Kate, Benny Johnson's wife on social media. But. But Kate, they do something where Friday is like pizza ice cream Friday and they walk to like a local pizza parlor, get ice cream and they just have whatever that conventional pizza is so kind of similar so that your kids don't feel too restricted. Because I think that's a criticism that a lot of moms in the more like whole food crunchy movement get is that you're setting your up to fail because they're going to go crazy once they're allowed to choose other options to eat once they're out of the house.
- [03:29]
B
Yeah. And luckily I lived that life because my mom was rather strict with me. And what my sister and I would do was sell flowers or rocks that we found in her yard and we'd go buy like eight candy bars and eat them or hide them under our bed and just binge, binge, binge. And then when I got to school, three cookies were a dollar for breakfast. And so yeah, I've lived that. I know what that's like. So I want him to have, you know, feel some sense of control and that he will be able to experience all the other things, but also not to make it something that he does every, every day or what are three.
- [03:58]
A
Ingredients in, you know, so called healthy snacks that mom should really look out for?
- [04:03]
B
There's one ingredient called encapsulated citric acid and it's the industry standard when you're making a meat stick and it's made from seed oils and then they coat it in actually it's made from GMO corn and then they coat it in ultra processed seed oils and then they put it in the stick and then it just melts into the stick and it drops the ph and preserves it, but it's just, it remains in the stick and it's a small amount but it's used and it's just labeled sometimes citric acid or encapsulated citric acid. So that's actually why we made our beef Sticks and had something totally different. But that's one of the ingredients. Of course we have seed oils just in general. That's something I always avoid. And just sugar, it's everywhere. You know, you can have things like BHT carcinogen. Those are also often in meat sticks. Gluten is everywhere. There's just so many different ingredients. But I think encapsulated citric acid is the one that I would watch out for.
- [04:52]
A
Are a lot of organic snacks really still junk food in disguise?
- [04:56]
B
Yes. And plant based. You know what I mean? They take, you know, organic doesn't necessarily mean healthy if it's still ultra processed. Right. And a lot of organic still has, you know, organic forms of sugar, organic forms of seed oils. I mean it's better because we're avoiding the use of pesticides and things like that. But I don't think it means healthy.
- [05:15]
A
Yeah. And you can get caught up in like you see the front of the box and it says organic, it says non gmo. And so you don't think to still turn it around. And look, you can't always take what's on the front of the box at face value. Really? You never should.
- [05:27]
B
No. That's like the first date. Right. You're getting the picture of what everybody wants you to like the best. Foot forward right there. But if you turn it around, you have to look at all the ingredients too and the breakdown of those ingredients and which ingredients are first and, and even, you know, like how much sugar does it have, how much protein does it have? I think you have to do a little bit more digging and if you just go whole foods. I know that's hard sometimes because we live in a convenience based society, but whole foods are always gonna be, I think, your best bet. And that's what I try to like build our diet around at home.
- [05:56]
A
You were struggling with IBS and actually were able to completely heal yourself in 30 days.
- [06:00]
B
Yeah, it was insane.
- [06:01]
A
How did you do that?
- [06:02]
B
I started having IBS when I was 10 and no doctor knew what to do with me. They just told me to take Beno and Gasex, which I did to no avail. And then I started having mental health issues as I got into my teenage years because we know there's a link between the gut and the brain. I didn't understand at the time antidepressants, you know, I got all of the traditional treatments and kind of got into so much pain emotionally and physically that I then turned to substances. I actually got kicked out of my parents house before I even graduated high School, I was really struggling, still made things happen. I was dancing professionally, moved to la. And my story really changed when I met my husband because though I was able to kind of like still make things happen and go to school and become a fitness trainer, I was really suffering. And he could see past that facade, you know, and was like, whoa, you live like this? And I was like, I do. You know, I always have. I, I didn't have any hope. And he is a problem solver. Got on the Internet and saw people were having luck with diet and I was like, that's so silly, you're ridiculous. But you know, at that time it was like back in 2007, people weren't really talking about food causing digestive issues. So we just took the processed foods out of our diet. That's all we did. We were living in la, we shopped at the Pasadena Farmer's market, we got high quality animal products. And I kid you not, in 30 days I was like, whoa, what was that? All my digestive issues were gone. And it took about another year for me to really figure out the diet that would improve my mental health. There's a few other pieces to that puzzle, but yeah, after a year I was like, wow, this is profound. And so I was working as a celebrity fitness trainer, and I love Tracy Anderson and had so much fun with, but I thought I gotta go back to school and really understand what just happened and how that was possible when nobody else offered me any hope, you know, as a youngster.
- [07:45]
A
So you went to school and then were you figuring out the correlation of totally removing ultra processed foods healed me? Like that's what the problem is.
- [07:54]
B
Yeah, it was. Well, because I was always fit. I mean, I was like working as a celebrity fitness trainer. I was so fit, but I was not well. I was still struggling, never overweight, and yet my mental health, my physical health, I looked pregnant after meals and my husband couldn't believe that I would endure that pain. I'd wake up in the middle of the night with debilitating pain. My skin was breaking out. I felt like such a fraud. You know, I was trying to be out there as a fitness trainer and like kind of someone representing health. It's just I didn't have it.
- [08:21]
A
So when women eat a meal and we have what's called a food baby, that little bit of bloat after eating, is that not normal?
- [08:29]
B
No, I mean, it's probably, it can be, I guess, if you're, you know, still eliminating regularly and it's just like, oh, you have a Little bloat. You know, maybe you ate too fast. Maybe you have a food that you can't break down that well. Maybe you need to. Digestive enzymes. But no, day after day, having a food baby, having that food sit in your stomach or having pain like, that's not how we're supposed to live. That's not how it's meant to be.
- [08:53]
A
So when you healed your ibs, did all of your mental health issues also clear up?
- [08:58]
B
Yeah, it did after about a year. What my missing piece was, because when I went to Whole Foods, I was still hitting the fruit juice pretty hard. The dried mango, you know, I was kind of. My blood sugar was still all over the place. But then once I did a version of low carb. Have you heard about all this metabolic psychiatry stuff?
- [09:18]
A
No, tell me.
- [09:18]
B
Oh, I'm so. This is pretty amazing. So once I stabilize my blood sugar and I think my body started to be able to use ketones too. Because your brain operates on. It's a hybrid engine. Right. A lot of us are just running on sugar. But if we can teach our bodies to use ketones as fuel for our brains too. What researchers are finding now is that a lot of our mental health issues might be based in this inability and even neurodegenerative issues for our brain. It's kind of starving for glucose because what happens if we become insulin resistant or, you know, unable to process glucose in the body? That same kind of resistance can happen in the brain. So you can be having glucose, which gets into the brain easily, but the insulin isn't able to get in there to help the brain use it. So it might have glucose, but it can't use it properly. And so there's really cool research. Like Dr. Sethi out of. I think she's out of Stanford, did a recent clinical trial with keto and schizophrenia and bipolar. I mean, really serious mental health conditions that were improved, not only the symptoms, but also the metabolic issues. And that's important because a lot of psychiatric meds come with, know, weight gain as a side effect. There's actually this really cool channel I just found, and her name, I think, is Lauren Kennedy West. And it was living with schizophrenia, and now it's living well after schizophrenia.
- [10:37]
A
Okay. I have been fascinated by this healing schizophrenia stuff that I've been seeing a lot of.
- [10:45]
B
It's wild.
- [10:46]
A
Okay. I have to check her out because I'm really, really interested in that. I just think it's so. I. I think that's one of the most just interesting, you know, psychological issues to kind of dive into.
- [10:56]
B
Yeah.
- [10:57]
A
It's just crazy what they have to live with. And my heart just goes out to them. I've, like, done. I've watched those videos where it's, like, point of view. Like, this is what it's like to live with schizophrenia.
- [11:07]
B
Yeah.
- [11:07]
A
You, like, see all the stuff and the voices and everything. I'm like, this is insane.
- [11:11]
B
Oh, yeah. I've had friends who've suffered, and my aunt was actually bipolar. And there's another man, Ian Campbell, using keto for bipolar, too, and stabilizing those symptoms. And then there's a woman named Dr. Georgia Eat. If anyone's interested in this link between diet and mental health, I. I encourage you to get very familiar with her work. She was actually a Harvard psychologist, psychiatrist, and they didn't like that she was using food. And so she kind of left Harvard and she wrote a book and she says, for, you know, binge eating disorder, which you would think, why would you use a diet that's quote unquote, restrictive for that? But it seems to help end anxiety and depression. And sometimes people don't even need to go full keto. She says more serious conditions, Alzheimer's, you know, schizophrenia, bipolar, it might be something that you really need to monitor and your ketones need to be high enough. But for anxiety and depression and things like adhd, even low carb can really help people. So I think it was when I shifted to lower, lower carbs. Not no carbs, just lower carbs than my mental health. Like, I was able to give my brain a chance to repair and find a stability and just like a calm that I, like, had not known before. I was this restless spirit and kind of always agitated and couldn't sit still and. And then all of a sudden, it's like my brain just switched into a new mode. I was like, whoa. So that was the year after.
- [12:26]
A
I've also heard that being vitamin B deficient can contribute to depression.
- [12:30]
B
It's crazy. B12, specifically, there's a lot of, like, studies where lifelong vegetarians or a few case reports where, you know, they went in and they had all the big guns. Electroconvulsive therapy and, you know, all the traditional psychiatric interventions.
- [12:44]
A
Lobotomies.
- [12:45]
B
Sure. And hopefully not. Yeah. But then they, like, finally had a B12 injection and their brain turned back on. So. Yeah, I mean, we have so many different levers we can pull with diet that just aren't traditionally being looked at. But my goal, my hope one day is that food is the first, you know, pharmaceuticals, they can have their place, I think for certain people. But I think food should be the foundation and we need to address that first.
- [13:11]
A
So once you healed yourself, when did you and your husband decide, let's start Paleo Valley, like, let's create an entire snack company kind of combating all of this garbage information that we've grown up with.
- [13:22]
B
So that was interesting because I, right after I like reclaimed my health, JLo, Jennifer Lopez was like, hey, do you want to go on a tour with me? Because I was her fitness trainer at the time with Tracy Anderson. And I was like, I felt like, you don't say no to that. So I said, yeah, I do. And for seven months we toured everywhere around the world. And it was in that seven months I couldn't find snacks all the time. I just didn't have access to them. We were in Argentina or you know what I mean? And I didn't get to leave a lot of times because I had to be there with her. So my health started to backslide. I started to get digestive issues again and start to feel kind of, you know, just moodier. And I was like, ugh. So when my husband came over to France, I said, bring me all the grass fed meat sticks that you can find. I just need high quality protein. That's the hardest thing for me to find right now. And he did. But then they still, something was up with them. Something was up with those meat sticks. And I thought, what the heck? So when we got back to America, I was like, you know what, we need to create option for people who want to travel and don't want to cook every meal in the kitchen, even though I think that's great if you can. And so I was like, let's start with a meat stick because I think people are under eating protein. I definitely was, I think that was one of the main contributors to my mental health issues. You know, amino acids are the building blocks for our neurotransmitters. So anyway, I was like, I never thought I'd go from JLO to a meat stick, but I did. I was like, I feel like this is my new calling. And so I found this ingredient called encapsulated citric acid, the one I talked about at the top. And I was like, why are people using encapsulated citric acid when it has these ultra processed ingredients? And. And I sincerely believed that was maybe why my stomach was still hurting. And so I called 100 manufacturers, found one willing to ferment them because that's how you avoid the use of ingredients. I was like, well, our ancestors ate meat, you know, they obviously had to preserve it. It was via fermentation. And that's why, like you said, our meat sticks taste so differently.
- [15:09]
A
It's the only meat stick I will eat. I think all meat sticks are absolutely gross except Paleo Valley. And that's just the truth, because when you guys sent them over to me, I mean, I told my sponsorship team, I was like, I will try this, but I'm not going to advertise it if I do not like it.
- [15:25]
B
And.
- [15:25]
A
And that's just with anything, you know. And so I try. I was like, this is the only meat stick I've ever liked. And the chicken ones especially blew my mind. Like, those are my favorite ones of all.
- [15:35]
B
Me too.
- [15:35]
A
Okay. Yeah, the chicken ones are so good. So explain what you guys are doing then in this fermentation process, because not only does that, I think, make them taste better, but it's also way healthier for you, right?
- [15:44]
B
Absolutely. And it's something we've been doing for, you know, hundreds of years, this process of fermentation before refrigeration and before these kind of chemicals came into use. So all we do is we take the meat, we blend it with organic spices, and then we add like a probiotic bacteria and then a starter culture, so like some sort of carbohydrate that it can eat. And then these, these bacteria get to work, and then they create lactic acid as a byproduct and that drops the pH. So whereas manufacturers are bringing in citric acid right in these little balls, we just let the bacteria produce the lactic acid and that stabilizes it. And more importantly, as importantly, it makes for that juicy texture rather than that really tough, like, dried out texture.
- [16:24]
A
That's what I don't like.
- [16:25]
B
Yeah, I know. I. I don't like it either. That's why it's, like, juicy. It's more like a summer sausage or like one of those kielbasas. I have this Polish friend of mine who's like, oh, it' like our Polish sausages. That's what it tastes like. So very different. And yeah, I think it's much better, but it is much better. I'm biased, for sure.
- [16:46]
A
My guy friend was in line at the grocery store just trying to buy kombucha, frozen waffles and enough cheese to send a message. His description, when this kid in front of him turns around, looks him dead in the eye and says, your breath smells like a grownup. He said he thought, first of all, what the hell does that mean? Second, he's right. He apparently had morning breath that had evolved into something legally actionable. But he didn't have toothpaste on him because, I mean, who keeps toothpaste on them? Okay, that's why I told him, well, you know, the ultimate breath hack is just having Zebra toothpaste tablets on you. Zebra makes these little toothpaste tablets. You chew them. No paste, no mess, no medieval powder dripping around. It foams up like a magic trick and suddenly your mouth smells like you haven't made every bad life choice available to you. No fluoride, no hydroxy appetite, just clean natural ingredients. And kids love them. That same judgy grocery store child, his mom should order a pack for her little future dentist there. Go to yay zebra.com use code Alex for 10 off. That's yayzebra.com code Alex to try their non toxic toothpaste tablets My small group friend tried every serum for glowing skin and shiny hair, but nothing stuck. When she started adding Cowboy Colostrum daily, she noticed brighter complexion, stronger nails and fewer colds. She said it's like inner skin care. Cowboy Colostrum is harvested exclusively from the first milking 4 to 6 hour colostrum from grass fed US raised dairy cows delivering maximum levels of natural growth factors, immunoglobulins and antimicrobial peptides. Key bioactive shown in research to support skin repair, hair strength, immune resilience. Most brands dilute or strip their powder, mixing second or third milking and removing fat. And Cain Cowboy never compromises. Cowboy's colostrum is whole and untouched, preserving its creamy texture and full nutritional profile. Like me.
- [18:30]
B
Just kidding.
- [18:30]
A
That was inappropriate. Unlike that other colostrum you see all.
- [18:34]
B
Over social media is what I should have said.
- [18:36]
A
Cowboy Colostrum prioritizes calf welfare. Only surplus milk is collected after the calves are fed. Their serving size of 3 grams is higher than most and they often recommend 6 to 9 grams for immune support, skin recovery or during training. Their vanilla flavor literally tastes like a milkshake frost into your coffee or water. It's free of additives. I like the unflavored for my smoothie because it's like more of a fruit flavor anyway. So I don't want vanilla. No artificial sweeteners, no fillers, no natural flavors. Just pure nourishing whole colostrum. They also have chocolate. Cowboy Colostrum is your daily ritual for immune health, gut comfort, radiant skin and hair strength. Ready to unlock the key to better health? Head to cowboycolostrum.com use code Alex for 25 off. That's cowboycolostrum.com code Alex, speaking of protein, what is a huge myth about protein? You wish more people knew.
- [19:25]
B
There's two, and the first one is, I've been a little bit obsessed with glycine, if you want to go there. Is that okay? Yes. So glycine is this amino acid. It's kind of like the unsung hero of the amino acid world. So in our protein conversation, we see on a nutrition label, like the word protein, right? But what I want people to know is proteins contain different amino acids. Those different amino acids build different things, but they also act as signaling molecules, so they tell the body to do different things. Now, glycine is found in the other bits of animals. So right now we eat a lot of muscle meats, right? But we used to eat the whole animal, and now we're throwing the connective tissue and the bones in the trash. And because of that, experts think we're suffering from a glycine deficiency, which they believe makes us age more rapidly. So I'll break it down for you, but glycine is like the Swiss army knife of anti aging. And this paper came out in 2009, and I think there was research before this, but that we make about 3 grams of glycine a day, and we eat about 3, but we need about 15. So. And it's not tied the amount we make to how much we need if you're over 88 pounds, and most people are. And so we are suffering with this 10 gram deficiency every single day because we're throwing the bones in the trash rather than in our soup like they used to do. So some of my favorite things about glycine is a. It's a building block of collagen, right? The most abundant amino acid in collagen. So if you're looking to, you know, help wrinkles or joint pain, gut issues, very important for that. It's also one of three amino acids you get in glutathione. Have you guys talked much about glutathione?
- [21:05]
A
Tell us everything.
- [21:06]
B
Glutathione is like our master antioxidant. And as we age, the levels decline. And so they recently did this trial where they gave older individuals and some younger individuals glycine and N acetylcysteine, another amino acid, and they called it glynac to replenish these glutathione levels. And it improved almost every hallmark of aging. Right? So mitochondrial health, endothelial function, metabolism, cognition, you name it. So if we can have more Glutathione, we're going to prevent oxidative stress, which is one of the main theories of why we age. And so. And if we have glycine in short supply, which most many of us do, we're not going to be building as much. The other cool thing is back to this mental health piece. It's calming, like we've known in the central nervous system. It kind of works as, like a gas pedal and can kind of keep the brain nice and calm. If you take 3 grams of glycine before bed, it will drop your body temperature. You can produce more serotonin and helps you sleep better. They've also used it in OCD and schizophrenia. And they even discovered a new glycine receptor that they think might be helpful for depression. Metabolic health. In one trial, you could take lysine, and it reversed insulin resistance, essentially, and reduce inflammation. But the thing I think is the most important is its ability to act as a trigger lock for inflammatory molecules like macrophages. Oh. So, yeah, this is where it gets really, really cool. And there's this guy named Dr. Joel Brind, and I've been reading his book. It's called the Glycine Miracle. And he was an amino acid researcher starting in about 2007. So this has been his. His area of focus. And have you ever heard of methionine restriction?
- [22:43]
A
No.
- [22:43]
B
Okay. So what they discovered a while ago and have repeated in several studies, is that if you reduce the amount of methionine in an animal's diet, you can extend their lifespan by like 30 to 40%. And methionine is found in those muscle meats that most of us are eating. And glycine is needed to help the body get rid of methionine. So Dr. Joel was like, well, what if I give the animals glycine? Will that help reduce or extend their lifespan? And he found that it did about 10 to 20%, but it wasn't actually changing the levels of methionine in the blood. So he was like, there's gotta be another mechanism. So he went into the literature and found this group out of North Carolina that had. That had discovered that glycine essentially goes in and keeps your immune cells calm. So our immune cells, called macrophages, are like our first responders when we get an infection or when we get injury. They're kind of like if you get into a traffic accident, they're the cops who show up. Yeah, there's two modes they have. One, it's called the tend, kind of like a Mother or a nice cop would do, come in, bring the people to clean up the mess, take, you know, support everyone. But then they also have another mode number two and that's called rend. That's like if the traffic cop came and just started shooting people up, just brought out the guns, didn't ask questions, just created mayhem and all this collateral damage. That's another mode that our macrophages can go into. And what they discovered was having enough glycine, and this is four to five times the amount of glycine you need just to build proteins. But having enough glycine actually kept that those cells quiet through this really nerdy mechanism called a glycine gated chloride channel. Just allows chloride into the cell, keeps it hyperpolarized or like keeps the, the voltage correct or low enough that the cell doesn't overreact and cause all this collateral damage. Dr. Brend also believes that we shouldn't have inflammation as a result of a fall or an injury. That yes, infection, you want those macrophages to go nuclear or to go crazy, but that our bodies might be reacting inappropriately just to simple injuries because of this glycine deficiency, which I think, you know, allergies, autoimmune disease, neurodegenerative disease, heart disease, there isn't really a chronic disease today that doesn't have inflammation or chronic inflammation at its root. And so I just think the implications of that, that we have this deficiency that most of us aren't making or eating because of the way we're eating the animal now, that we could potentially have an overreactive immune system because of it. And he has multiple examples of his own health, like where he got a sunburn and he just knew it was going to be terrible the next day and then it wasn't. And then he fell and he hit his head and he's in his 70s and then he, the next day he went out dancing, you know what I mean? So he firmly believes that most of us, our immune systems are struggling because they don't have that trigger lock.
- [25:36]
A
So should we be supplementing with glycine, like just a glycine supplement or eating certain foods?
- [25:41]
B
Well, here's what I do. And there's multiple ways to go about this. So if you can recorporate, reincorporate the whole animal, right? Skin, bones, connective tissue, just eating more, even more grass fed meats will have a little bit more of that collagen in there, but also bone broth. If you guys, I don't know if you eat Bone broth, or you use it. But that's where I would go. I would have bone broth. Collagen supplements will also contain glycine, though they're a slightly more processed version. And then just to give Dr. Brind a shout out, he actually has something called Sweetamine that he created that you get like the 8 gram dose. So there's lots of ways to do it. Do it through food, do it through bone broth, do it through collagen, do it through sweetamine, whatever. I think it's just important to recognize, like, we have this conversation that's like, oh, if it's not a complete protein, then, you know, kind of it not worth it, or maybe like, lesser than. But what I think we need to understand is that different amino acids do different things. Yes. And we've changed dramatically the way that we're eating today. And so I just think we need to respect the power of glycine and look more into that research and see what can happen if we correct that deficiency.
- [26:46]
A
So is that the first protein myth that people need to understand? What's the second?
- [26:50]
B
The second one is when it comes to animal products, I think we have to respect. There's pretty profound differences based on the system from which they came. And this was what I studied for my dissertation. Again, never thought, like, beef would be the subject of my dissertation, but it was, and it was fascinating. And what I got to do was team up with a team at Utah State University. I don't know if you've heard of Dr. Van Vliet. No. He's fascinating guy, doing a lot of really cutting edge, pioneering research in this space. But he wanted to categorize. Okay, let me back up. The whole project started in partnership with a man named Dan Kittredge at the Bionutrient Food Institute. Have you heard of this? Their goal is to create a handheld meter because he really. His. His parents wrote the organic standards, and he sees, you know, in order to change the way we make food, we have to change the incentives. Right. Right now we're prioritizing yield. How much food can we grow? Rather than like, what is the nutrient density of that food?
- [27:48]
A
Right. Like getting into subsidies and stuff.
- [27:50]
B
Yeah, exactly. And the nutrient density of our food is lower than at any point in history. And so he's like, what if we built a handheld meter and people could take it to the grocery store and scan it and see the nutrient density of this piece of lettuce versus this piece of lettuce? It would change the way everybody's doing Food. Right.
- [28:06]
A
How would it know that?
- [28:07]
B
That's. That's where we get with this project. So in order to do that, you have to define it. Define nutrient density. So it's like a scanner, and I think they use maybe like a brick score. There's different settings that you can do to kind of like when you try to find fatty acids with a spectrometer or, you know, chroma chromatography, There's a lot of different ways that you can use like a little handheld meter and it can use light or other things to identify different compounds. So that's kind of how it works. But in order to create that meter, you first have to define the nutrient density across the entire spectrum of different foods. And they started with beef because it's one of the most produced foods worldwide. They thought, okay, let's define this nutrient density. So we took over and this project is ongoing. So it's still going 100 different producers, everyone from a feedlot to what they call feedlot lite, you know, and then to maybe organic and then grass fed, and then all the way up to regenerative. And they submitted three samples, and they submitted soil samples, and they submitted forage samples. And then they looked at tens of thousands of different compounds with this new technology called metabolomics, where instead of like on a nutrition label, you have like three, 13 nutrients. Right, right. There's. There's like 40,000 compounds in beef.
- [29:23]
A
Oh, my gosh.
- [29:23]
B
Exactly. That's why I think it's really important to do this kind of research to kind of further elucidate how profoundly different the changes can be. And so then, yeah, we just looked at what nutrients are changing and where the patterns are. And the most fascinating thing is a. And this isn't what we studied in our paper, but I just think it's cool for listeners, phytonutrients that you typically associate with plants. Right. They can be in very high amounts. When the animals fed on a botanically diverse pasture. Oh, wow, that's. Yeah. So like they found in one study, the lamb liver had as many phytonutrients as like an eggplant. You know what I mean? So substantial amounts.
- [30:04]
A
So good news for us that hate vegetables.
- [30:06]
B
Exactly. You can get some of those same compounds. And not only that, but you can get compounds that you wouldn't otherwise consume. Right. That a coward eat. And then they kind of end up in their milk. So it's like.
- [30:16]
A
But this would have to be a truly grass fed, grass finished cow.
- [30:19]
B
Yeah.
- [30:19]
A
It couldn't just Be some, you know, factory farmed beef.
- [30:23]
B
This is the point. Yeah, yeah. Because it is like they are like a photograph of the land that they're raised on. So those compounds in the grass and that can improve diversity. Right. Of your diet, which we know for the microbiome and such is such a good idea. So, yeah. So we found Phytonutrients and Dr. Van Vliet and Fred Provenza do a lot of research around this. And the cool thing is, and this is something I think people might relate to if they've tried this different type of meat, that these compounds can improve satiety. Right, right. They have anti diabetic, antidepressive, you know, genetic. They change the expression of genes and they might make you feel more satiated. And in fact, I think that's why when I eat this type of meat, I do. So phytonutrients is one and then the fatty acid profile, that's what I focused on for my particular research paper. And the most, I think what I like do to, to be the biggest takeaway for people is that beef can actually be a good source of omega 3 fatty acids. And 84,000 people die every single year because we don't get enough omega 3 fatty acids. And yes, I think people should eat more fish and that's very important. But also, if every time we ate beef in our particular study, eating one grass fed steak was the equivalent in omega 3s of eating three grain fed steaks, which is a pretty big difference. Whoa. And there's a paper showing that for people who don't eat a lot of meat, this came out of the UK or fish, that beef is a significant, can be a significant contributor to Omega 3 status. For people we know. Omega 3s for our brain, for our cardiovascular system, for our eyes, they have a number of very, very important benefits. And although people have argued and still do that it's a small absolute amount, you know, but when you take it in the blood and people do this, they measure. They have one group eat grass fed beef and one group eat grain fed beef. The levels of omega 3s in the blood and even the red blood cells are significantly different, just even after a few weeks. So I think that's very important given that many people prefer not to eat fish, don't have access to fish, grass fed beef will have a much higher omega 3 level. Like I said 3. Like eating one steak is the equivalent of three grain fed steaks. And I think it was around like 50 milligrams. It might have been higher. I Always like to err on the conservative side, but it's a significant amount. And when you eat liver, if you eat, are into eating the whole animal, I don't know if, if that's a thing you talk much about a little bit.
- [32:37]
A
What happens when kids do not get enough high quality animal protein?
- [32:41]
B
Oof. I think this is what happened to me. Animal protein is grounding, right? So not only I think that a lot of our kids are living on this blood sugar roller coaster and we think it's just normal to have them go up and down and energy levels all day, but I, it's not. And so animal products provide like a stabilizing effect. Like I said, high quality protein, they're going to grow better, right? There's been studies to show where you supplement with meat, Their cognition improves. I acids are the basis of our neurotransmitters. And so and Also, you know, B12, vitamin B12 is very important and it's only found in animal products. Like I said, omega 3 fatty acids. I think that's something that so many of our children are needing more of and that can come into play there. Vitamin A, I mean there's just an array of nutrients and the most important thing is they're in the most bioavailable form. Look, I love plants, right? I get it. I eat like half my diet of plants. But when it comes to bioavailable nutrients in the form your body recognizes, high quality animal products are the ones. And we taught our little boy, he eats the protein first, right? We just start there and then hey, eat your other stuff too. But like protein's going to provide stability and just like a stable mood and energy levels for your whole day.
- [33:53]
A
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- [35:43]
B
This is years ago.
- [35:43]
A
I was about six years old. We're doing ayahuasca. We're talking about why everyone's depressed, infertile and shaped like a beanbag chair. And the shaman goes, it's the seed oils, Alex. He said, everything you eat, everything. It's engine lubricant disguised as salad dressing. And that is why I became a health and wellness podcaster. Ladies, gentlemen. And 20% of your calories are from this industrial sludge and your brain knows it. You eat a bag of regular chips and five minutes later you're googling how to dissolve a liver stone. That's why I eat masa chips. It's a tortilla chip, but made with beef tallow like in the good old days when your food didn't hate you. Just three ingredients, organic corn, sea salt and 100% grass fed beef tallow. No chemicals, no bloating, no crying in a Honda Civic at 2am it's crunchy, it's clean, it actually satisfies you. You don't end up eating the whole bag and texting your ex about your microbiome. Although I know how tempting it is. This go to mazdchips.com use code real Alex Clark for 25 off your first order. That's masachips.com code real Alex Clark for 25 off YOUR first order. Why are organ meats such a game changer for women and kids?
- [36:44]
B
Oh my gosh. Okay, this is what this is. See our Products come from my story. And I started to get tired when I got pregnant and I don't do caffeine. I was like, ugh, what am I gonna do with this? And I looked into the research, and organ meats were the most nutrient dense. And I was like, oh, that's, that's, that's too bad. But my husband started sneaking them in, and I could still taste them. But what I did see, it was like a light bulb turned on for me. Another level of like, whoa, like a power up in a game or something like that. You're like, I just feel so incredibly different. Like, what just happened?
- [37:15]
A
Just more energy, just thinking clear.
- [37:17]
B
More energy. I would do like a happy dance. There was just kind of like a. A vi. Like a vitality that, like, just. It was. It came back and I was like, oh, I was definitely deficient in something that this is giving me. And there's, you know, the algorithms, like the food compass and all these other, like, nutrient density rating systems. Well, Dr. Thai Beal did one, and what he looked at, because all these algorithms, it's like, well, what are you prioritizing? Are you penalizing animal products because they have saturated fat or, you know what I mean? So what he did is said, what are the nutrients that most people are deficient in worldwide? And that as a basis showed us that organ meats, heart, liver, kidney, goat, you know, these are the most nutrient dense foods that most people can benefit from worldwide. When we look at what we're deficient in. So I think again, this is one of those missing pieces, because so many people are deficient in things like B12 and vitamin A, which liver are the biggest natural sources of those two nutrients, also zinc and iron. So there was this really cool research in 1934 where these three researchers got a Nobel Prize because they found out that liver could actually cure pernicious anemia. And because. Not only because of iron, because it's not like it has a ton of iron. It has iron, it has copper, it has vitamin A and it has B12, which is really important in pernicious anemia. So I have had so many people tell me I've eaten liver and my. My iron issues, they're gone. Or I was getting iron infusions and I brought liver back into my diet and I. I don't have to have.
- [38:46]
A
Them anymore now in any other culture. I mean, I feel like eating the whole animal or whatever. It's pretty much normal. It's celebrated. I mean, you can go to any, like, fish market in Asia and Like, the fish have eyes and stuff. And nobody. Nobody, you know, is all weirded out by that.
- [39:00]
B
Right.
- [39:00]
A
In American culture, that's very weird to us. So I think for my audience, a lot of women hear these suggestions, like, we need to be eating organ meats, the whole animal. Brain, heart, tongue, liver. And we're like, I can't. I just. I can't do it. So then what is the best solution? Because I know that there's a lot of organ meat supplements on the market, but not all are created equal.
- [39:25]
B
Yeah. And that's what we got into it, because, like I said, my husband tried to sneak it in. I was like, no, the flavor, no hard time.
- [39:31]
A
The only time I can do that, I can. I like the blended ground beef with organ meats. You know what I mean? Like, force of nature does that really well. So I can eat it when it's like that. But I have not been brave enough to just, like, cook tongue or something. I haven't.
- [39:47]
B
I know I'm not there either, and that's why we did. But, yeah, primal blend, that's a good place to start. Right. Also, chicken liver, much more palatable than beef liver.
- [39:55]
A
Okay.
- [39:55]
B
Also, if you want to. You want, like, the gateway organ. It's heart. It's a little bit less.
- [40:00]
A
Like, my chiropractor was just telling me about this. He was like, alex, we started cooking up Elkhart for my kids. They are obsessed with it. Like, he said, it is the best tasting organ. And. And I was like, really?
- [40:15]
B
Heart?
- [40:15]
A
I wouldn't have guessed that. But I guess way it cooks up, kids really like it. It's like, one of the easiest things to eat. It is.
- [40:21]
B
So if you want to start somewhere and it has CoQ10, it's kind of like some people actually believe, like, heart disease is like a deficiency of CoQ10. It's this really important nutrient that is really hard to get from food. So heart can do that. And also soaking it in milk before you cook it. So if you. I. It. It just seems to take the flavor just down a few notches.
- [40:39]
A
Okay.
- [40:39]
B
For beef livers in particular, we tried that. I also did. I used to freeze it and then take little balls and put it in my mouth and just swallow them.
- [40:47]
A
Like a pill.
- [40:48]
B
Like a pill.
- [40:49]
A
Now, with the soaking in milk, because my audience likes very specific instructions.
- [40:53]
B
Yeah.
- [40:53]
A
How long do you soak it in milk? Is it completely covered?
- [40:56]
B
Yeah, I was soaking in milk just, like, a few hours.
- [40:58]
A
Okay.
- [40:58]
B
Before you'd cook it.
- [40:59]
A
Okay.
- [40:59]
B
That's what we used to do.
- [41:00]
A
And Then how do you cook it?
- [41:01]
B
Oh, I don't. This is what you learned? This is what I've learned because my husband would cook it for me because. Yeah, for me, it's just not something I could do, unfortunately. But there are great cookbooks on it. If you're someone who's interested. Highly recommend, like, you do it. If you can actually cook it and prepare it. But I remember he would just cook it, you know, just basically, like, saute it. You can do liver and onions. I know Sally Fallon has some great recipes for liver and onions in her nourishing tradition. That's exactly right. Or like she said, you can mix it in with, like, a beef, like a hamburger. You just mix a little liver in there, and you can make, like, liver burgers or like a 10%. I remember he used about 10%. That was kind of like a ratio that I could tolerate. So I guess I do have a few ideas how. How to cook it. I just didn't often do it myself.
- [41:48]
A
So what's going on with the majority of organ meat supplements on the market?
- [41:52]
B
Yeah. So you really want to be careful about where those organs are coming from. Right. Because the liver is this organ that can kind of detoxify substances. And if you're getting it from somewhere, there's like, hormones, antibiotics, or other things. You just really want a healthy animal be. And based on how it's raised, too, like what it's fed. Right. The metabolic health of animals are directly impacted by how they're fed. If they're fed a lot of grain, they have more triglycerides, mitochondrial stress, things like this. So I don't think a lot of companies are taking that into consideration. The other thing I think is important is I really like my stuff to come from America rather than being imported. I feel like there's just like another layer of control. And a lot of them are coming from other countries or they're giving you really tiny doses. I've seen these supplements where it's just like, very small amounts, and you want something that's, you know, has a high potency. And for me, I also like a blend. You know, I like it to have more than one type of organ, because every organ is kind of a reservoir for different nutrients that that organ needs. And so it really becomes more of a multivitamin than any singular organ on its own.
- [42:59]
A
That's what I really like about Urals Organ meat supplement.
- [43:01]
B
Yeah.
- [43:02]
A
Is that it has a ton of different organs in there. It's not only liver.
- [43:05]
B
Yeah. And we. We actually used to have brain in it, but it would just make people too scared. And so we took that out. So it's just heart, liver and kidney. They were scared of brain. Yeah, I think people were because of that, that BSC scare, you know, mad cow disease. Right. Which, you know, the, it isn't a concern anymore today. But at one time it was. And I can understand people for being a little hesitant, but yeah, heart, liver and kidney, and also grass fed finished animals, you know, from America. That's kind of how we do it. And it's, it's unique. And we were actually one of the first out there. There's only one other one on the market this little doctor was selling when we decided to do it. I'm just glad that it's becoming a thing. Right, so get your organ meats however you can get them, eat them, take them.
- [43:46]
A
What is the best way to get collagen?
- [43:48]
B
Well, I love bone broth. That's because bone broth is a little bit different than collagen. Right. Do you know, so the bone broth that we make or that you can make at home is traditionally made from bones. Right. And then you add water and then you cook it down and it kind of releases all those amino acids and the, you know, the minerals. If you can do that, that's more of like a whole food source because it's gonna contain electrolytes. It's gonna contain compounds like glucosamine, chondroitin, hyaluronic acid. These are like very joint supportive nutrients and the amino acids. Right. So collagen is different because it's often made from animal hides. And then it's just a very extensive process using solvents to get those hides down into a powder. And that powder will be primarily proline, hydroxyproline and glycine. Those are the most abundant amino acids in collagen specifically. So it'd be more like if you have a whole team over here, like a basketball team, it's like, like that's a one player, like a really good player on that team. But if you're going for something more whole food, I really like to get it from bone broth and just kind of match how we've been getting food and nutrients for, you know, millions of years.
- [44:54]
A
Well, and that's what I like about protein powders that are grass fed bone broth. Protein powders. Yeah, because you get the protein, obviously, but then you also have collagen in there because of the bone broth. Broth.
- [45:07]
B
Yeah.
- [45:07]
A
And people get really freaked out when they see bone Broth protein is. They're like, ew. Well, what's that gonna taste like? I'm like, it tastes like whatever the flavor. I mean, if it's chocolate, it's vanilla. It doesn't taste like anything bone.
- [45:17]
B
No.
- [45:17]
A
Or beef at all.
- [45:18]
B
Exactly.
- [45:19]
A
It's totally hidden in there. But that's what I like about that, is because it's like protein but special.
- [45:24]
B
Exactly. It's a totally different amino acid pro. And people have been saying, oh, no, you don't want to eat it because it's not that complete protein. But like I said, said glycine is one of the most abundant amino acids in there, and it can taste delicious. Right. I take it very seriously. Obviously, I couldn't choke down the liver, and so it tastes like hot chocolate. Dr. Drew is obsessed with our bone broth, specifically because it tastes nothing like bone broth. And I think that's really important to bringing this kind of nutrition to the masses, because I just don't think people are going to all sit and simmer bones for 48 hours. And then, you know, and there's some days where you don't want to taste something beefy or something chickeny. So, yeah, just adding it. We have a chocolate and a caramel and vanilla, and you can use it all sorts of different ways. I love Dr. Drew.
- [46:08]
A
I grew up listening to Loveline.
- [46:10]
B
Me too. Yeah, him and Adam Carolla. Oh, they rocked my world. I love it.
- [46:14]
A
He's like, I've never had him on the show yet. He's a dream guest for me. That's so cool that he likes Paleo Valley.
- [46:20]
B
Oh, I can probably help you out with that.
- [46:22]
A
Oh, we're gonna hold you to that.
- [46:23]
B
Oh, my gosh. I would love to try him and his wife Susan. They're some of my favorites. They're exceptional.
- [46:28]
A
It's so many people have said that about them that they're like anyone that I've talked to knows them. They're like, oh, we love them. Like, so. That's so fun.
- [46:34]
B
Oh, he's amazing. I love an incredible person, so I'll help you out.
- [46:41]
A
I was on a plane recently sitting next to a guy who works in fragrance formulation. I lit up. You know what that is? A guy who literally invents the smell of crisp arctic morning by mixing petrochemicals in despair. So I ask, you use this stuff at home? He laughed.
- [46:58]
B
Hell, no.
- [46:59]
A
I use natural soap. And that's when it hit me. We are the test subjects. The elites bathe in tallow in real lavender while you're scrubbing your armpits with radioactive blue goo from a bottle. That's why I switched to natural sloth. Beeswax candles. Their soaps, their candles and room sprays are all non toxic, made safe, certified and made with actual ingredients that you know and love. Like beeswax, essential oils, and of course, a little love love. Plus it's all handmade in Texas by a veteran owned team who actually cares if your kid grows a third eye from the room spray. You'll smell good, feel clean, and your house won't be a ticking hormonal time bomb. Go to naturalsloth.com use code Alex for 15 off. That's naturalsloth.com code Alex. Tell us your secret morning electrolyte hack.
- [47:46]
B
Okay, this is my favorite thing ever. We made an electrolyte supplement because again, our whole motto as a company is we want nutrients from food. And so it's like sea water, you know, and potassium from coconut water. Anyway, when you're sleeping, you. You become dehydrated slightly, you know, and so first thing in the morning, I like to replenish those electrolytes. So the magnesium and the potassium and all of that. So what I do is I take my tea. I'm obsessed with tea. I gave up caffeine a long time ago. So it's usually herbal. And then I add a scoop or like a half a scoop of our electrolytes into it and it gives it this sweet, satisfying, just kind of nourishing like flavor and feel. So it just, it's something I literally look forward to every single day and feel so much better after I do it. What flavor I have experimented. So what I do is if you're someone who likes a chai in the morning. Yes, the orange is ridiculous. If you combine the orange with the chai.
- [48:40]
A
Whoa. Okay. Yes, I'm tracking.
- [48:42]
B
Yes. And then if you like blueberry, the lemon, it's a blueberry lemon deliciousness. I love this company called, I don't know who owns it, Friendship Tea. They have this blueberry.
- [48:53]
A
Whoa.
- [48:53]
B
Wow. Or the Earl Grey is kind of really nice too with the lemon. And then my favorite though, if you're someone who really likes sweet, is the watermelon. It pairs well with almost every tea. Like right now I drink this spring dragon longevity tea in the mornings, which I love. And then I just add the watermelon. You can also do it with just green tea. We know the benefits of green tea all day long if you need just a little something sweeter. If you have cravings or you want More of like a snack. You add that in, it's sweet, it's delicious, it's satisfying.
- [49:21]
A
I feel like you could even create a iced tea refresher. You could do cold with electrolytes in the summer. This is. I love this idea. Yes.
- [49:31]
B
I'm so glad. Oh, it's changed my life. Because I'm someone whose brain in particular, I benefit a lot from more extended periods of not eating. You know, just like I like to go 14 or 16 hours and that having that in the morning. Yeah, it feels like I'm. I have something to wake up and look forward to.
- [49:48]
A
When you're buying meat, what label should you look for?
- [49:51]
B
What's important to know is that we don't. The fsis, the Food Safety Inspection Service at the usda, it's affidavit based these terms. So it, there's very rarely like a third party inspection where someone goes in and says, okay, what are you guys doing here? So that's good to know. And there's been reports that 85% of those affidavits are lacking sufficient substantiation. Right. So the process is. Process has problems, but ones that I think are most interesting. First is Made in America. Have you heard about this?
- [50:19]
A
No.
- [50:19]
B
It's called country of origin labeling. So as it stands today, you can raise an animal in another country and then bring it over and then you can basically like just change the plastic wrap or harvest or like process it in America and it gets a Made in America seal of approval. Now that's going to change as of 2026, but it's still OP like something you can do voluntarily. It's not.
- [50:44]
A
Who decided that? Is that something that RFK is working on?
- [50:47]
B
Yeah, I think. Well, I think it was actually before. Okay. So they have been pushing hard for this American farmers for a very long time because what happens is these big meat companies, they import meat from other countries, undercut our opportunity to get it from America. And then people don't know. They don't have the ability to just decide because it looks like it was made in America. So people have been working on that for a long time and it will change as of 2026, but again it's not mandatory. So I think always just like knowing like where is this race important? Second one is grass fed. So the labeling around, the regulation around grass fed label is gone as of 2016. And all animals, all cows begin their life on grass. And then it's what happens in the last like 30 to, or sorry, 90 to 120 days. The way that they're fed, that's what kind of the fatty acid profile that ends up on your plate. So a lot of them begin on grass and then are grain finished. And there was an interesting paper done in 2019 where they looked at 12 different grass fed suppliers in America and then they looked at their Omega 6 to 3 ratio, which can often tell you very clearly whether an animal is fed grain or not. And a lot of them were definitely, definitely fed a lot of grain.
- [51:56]
A
So what does that do to us, health wise, when an animal is grass fed grain finished?
- [52:01]
B
This is where Van Vliet's research is going now. So he's doing human trials to determine that and I'll tell you the findings of his in a second. But there was one trial that looked at kangaroo meat, wild meat that ate its species, natural species diet, and then versus feedlot meat. And what they found was when the people ate the feedlot meat, they had higher levels of inflammation after a meal.
- [52:24]
A
I'm not shocked.
- [52:25]
B
Yeah, so there's that. And they didn't do a beef to beef comparison because that was kangaroo to beef. But VanVleet is doing that now. What he's found is he did this study where he took people from a standard American diet to a whole foods diet. Right. And then also to a regenerative diet. Like what happens if we only eat organic produce, regeneratively raised meats and all that. Is there still a significant improvement in inflammation? What he found was the biggest needle mover is obviously moving from the standard American diet to a whole food diet. That was the most dramatic reduction in inflammation, but there was still a trend towards reduction in inflammation from a conventional whole food diet diet over to a regenerative and organic whole food diet. So the omega 6 to 3 ratio is kind of an area where a lot of people think this really matters. So Omega 3 and Omega 6 are polyunsaturated fats. A lot of people lump them into one category. But Omega 3s, are those Omegas from fish? Right. They come from leaves. When animals eat more plants, they have higher levels of omega 3s and omega 6s also important, but. But also the ones you find in seed oils. And when animals eat grains, they're going to be higher in omega 6s. So a lot of researchers believe that this ratio is really important. So when we eat animal products with a lot more omega 6s to omega threes, like we want one to one ideally. But like pork can be 30 to one, more omega 3s and even eggs, if they're conventionally raised 20 to one.
- [53:52]
A
Do you eat pork?
- [53:53]
B
I do, but it's always pastured, you know, so I'm very choosy. We had a, we had worked with a pig farmer actually who ran his own experiment and he said he took this specific breed and put them on grass or half grass, half grain and then, or grain. And he took that 30 to 1 ratio down to a 5 to 1 ratio. So. Yeah. And the cool thing, the interesting, another takeaway from our beef study is that beef, even grain fed, had a ratio of around like 10 to 1. Whereas again, pork, most of the pork you're gonna find in the store is gonna have that 30 to 1 and eggs are 20 to 1. So sometimes even beef from a feedlot could be better if you're specifically looking at that ratio. So beef is kind of like a better food in terms of its Omega 6 to 3 profile than other types of meat. So my guess is eating meat over time, especially over time.
- [54:44]
A
Right.
- [54:44]
B
That's important because you can't always see that from these small scale trials where they're looking at shorter periods of time. I think it could profoundly influence inflammation. And you're going to get, you know, more of those omega 3s. Right. And in, in our paper too, we found more minerals. I think it was 6 times the selenium, 3 times more calcium, 2 times more copper, and like 1.5 times more iron. And the other cool thing that I didn't even talk about is we even found an increase in the omega 3 fatty acids when animals spent more time on pasture and when they had more plants in that pasture. So I think there's so many flavors. Right. I think organic's important. I think grass fed is great. But I think we, the ideal scenario is regenerative. Is regenerative. Is regenerative. I think that's what we're going to find and that's what's, what Van Vliet and his team are doing is validating, exploring what are the differences in grass.
- [55:36]
A
Fed, which I think is really helpful for my audience to hear because I do, I talk about that a lot. Like, you know, it's obviously just real foods. Even if it's conventional, that's still, you know, start there if that's what you can do. You know, so regular ground beef, even if it's not grass fed, grass finished is still going to be better than a hot pocket.
- [55:54]
B
Yep.
- [55:55]
A
And then, you know, above that, definitely organic, grass fed, all that. And then the top tier, if your budget allows, if you can afford it or have access would be regenerative organic?
- [56:05]
B
Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. I have a very level head about this. I think that there are benefits of regenerative meat above and beyond the other types of types. But yeah, like you said, meat in general, better than a donut any day. So. Yeah. And then also back to the labels. The other one that I really like to put on people's radars is the cage free and free range. You'd think that that would mean they're raised on pasture in a way that is, you know, natural for them. But they're often in a warehouse with thousands of other birds and they just have a little door somewhere where they may or may not know exists or may or may not ever use that could just go to a like one.
- [56:39]
A
Of those magnetic fairy doors. They just stick it on the barn. They're like, there's a door there it is. And that would.
- [56:44]
B
Yeah, exactly.
- [56:44]
A
That would count for the label.
- [56:46]
B
Exactly. It's so scary. And just that natural really means nothing. Yeah. And in my world, AGA certification, so organic will have a third party certification, but organic can still be fed organic grains again. And if you're looking at that nutrient profile, the meat. And some people have said, you know, screened porches have been, you know, something that they've accepted as outdoor access. And so organic isn't perfect either, but it will be third party verified.
- [57:09]
A
So what's aga?
- [57:11]
B
The American Grass Fed Association. So this is my favorite, this little tip is look for that standard because these people, every 15 months they go in and they check out what the operation is actually doing, right? And they have kind of a bent on environmental stewardship as well. So they don't only care, you know, if the animal's eating grass, but also are they using the environment, using the animals in a way that improves environmental health.
- [57:35]
A
What are some of your favorite hacks for snacks to make for kids? Lunch ideas and dinner ideas.
- [57:42]
B
My favorite snack ideas for kids. I often do this when we have play dates. I have an only child and so we have play dates every day, all day. And what I do is I make these little trays and I'll cut up some, you know, grass fed cheese a lot of times and then some almonds and some olives and our meat sticks and some watermelon and some like just other fruit. Cherries have been a big thing or peaches in Colorado this time of year. So. So I just kind of make them a whole food, little snack tray that I just keep out for them all, all day long.
- [58:11]
A
That's cute.
- [58:12]
B
Yeah. And then we really like our meat sticks. And I take these little skewers kind of, and I'll do like an olive, a meat stick and a piece of cheese. And I just kind of make. That's like a little snack or like a meal idea. Other lunches that I like to do. He's been really into guacamole lately. Okay, so go out. I'll make some fresh. Yeah, fresh guacamole for him. And again, a lot of meat sticks. Or just we use fish. Like he loves tuna fish. So tuna salad and some avocado, things like that. Dinner ideas. We have a pretty locked down dinner routine at our house.
- [58:45]
A
Okay.
- [58:46]
B
So my husband is an ex. He. We use our Wild pastures meats. And then he just. He does the meats and then I do the side of veggies or whatever. So we do ribs one night. Incredible recipe I can get from him if you need it. It's really simple. It's just honey and sugar. Everything we do is very sugar free. And then we'll make these like homemade potato chips. We just slice our potatoes, we cover them in tallow and we bake them. Amazing. He makes these really awesome chicken tenders too, just from a little gluten free flour and then puts it on there. And then with those, we'll have usually like Brussels sprouts or something like that that I'll just do with like a honey and a sriracha and maybe some nuts. I love Brussels sprouts.
- [59:25]
A
Okay, I'm coming to your house for now.
- [59:27]
B
You should. Oh, but my favorite. I gotta show you. This is the easiest, most delicious steak ever. And you just take like a grass fed steak and we just put like onion powder. And then I can't do garlic. So if you like garlic, you can. That'd be great too. Onion powder and then just a little paprika and then a little salt on all both sides. And then you just cook it for like, I think it's like 2 minutes and 45 seconds on each side.
- [59:48]
A
That's it.
- [59:48]
B
Insane.
- [59:49]
A
What cut of steak?
- [59:50]
B
It's insanely delicious. We'll do like a ribeye usually. Yeah, that'd be great.
- [59:54]
A
Ooh, I'm gonna try that tonight.
- [59:55]
B
I've gotta try it. It's so delicious. And. And then we also have like a pork. We do this like blueberry and honey kind of like sauce for a pork loin. Ooh, it's incredible. So those are our meals at dinner. And then at breakfast we usually do some sort of like, we actually make like a Bone broth kind of ice cream that he can feel like that he is very rich in protein.
- [60:18]
A
Ice cream for breakfast.
- [60:19]
B
Yeah, but it's, like, very rich in, you know, protein. And we get raw milk down the road. And so it's still, like, a very satiating like. And he feels like he has a treat. That's so cute.
- [60:30]
A
I love that.
- [60:31]
B
Also been getting into this skirt. I don't know if you've heard of it. It's like this Icelandic yogurt, and it's so delicious. And you. What we do is we put frozen blueberries in there and then coat it in honey and stir it up. And it's amazing also, if you just take a glass and you put, like, blueberries in it, and then you cover them just a little bit with milk, and then you stir it, it becomes kind of like a slushy. So that's another one of our favorite family snacks.
- [60:55]
A
These are great ideas.
- [60:56]
B
I'm glad you like them. This is just what we do every day.
- [60:59]
A
No, and that's what people like to hear. They like to just hear real moms, what are you doing? What are you using? You know, what are you cooking for your family?
- [61:06]
B
Yeah.
- [61:07]
A
That always does super well.
- [61:08]
B
And you gotta know, it's so simple. Like, we do not have fancy meals, even though, like, food is our livelihood. Keep it simple. Oh, have you heard of that bowl where you do, like, the ground beef and you do the sweet potato, and you do the avocado and the cottage cheese, and then you cover it in hot honey? Yes. Okay. I just want to make sure. Because that's also delicious. So much protein.
- [61:29]
A
I bet kids would really like that.
- [61:30]
B
They do. He does. So that also works really well for us.
- [61:33]
A
Could your child's multivitamin that they take every single day actually be making their deficiencies worse Potentially?
- [61:40]
B
Right. Because we undervalue the complexity of whole foods. Just like I was telling you in our research. Right. 40,000 compounds just in beetroot beef. We just started identifying nutrients back in, you know, 1900. We have so much to learn. We don't have the right reverence for whole foods and the way they deliver nutrients. And so, yeah, I think multivitamins, when you look at the trials, a lot of them don't show much benefit. Right. I think it's really important to get your nutrients from food. And some nutrients actually show harm, like in isolation. So if you do, like, A, calcium, that can increase the risk of heart disease, or vitamin A and vitamin E in certain populations, like smokers, even B vitamins have been shown to increase the risks of cancer in certain populations. And so. Yeah, and it could be the way that they're derived. It could be the fact that they're outside the food matrix and our body doesn't know what to do with them. Could be that they're getting stuck and we're not processing them and somehow they're accumulating in the body. We don't really know what it is. But I do think food has to be the first multivitamin, unfortunately, because it's just, it's going to contain far more nutrients that we're aware of in the forms that are most bioavailable. Our body's going to know exactly what to do with it and it's not going to go to waste. Right. And we don't want to buy things that potentially wasteful.
- [62:53]
A
Right.
- [62:53]
B
That being said, I think there's particular instances you go get your child tested and they have a specific nutrient deficiency and they have some digestive issues. Yeah. Maybe you can use a targeted supplement that's very high quality some. But in general, I think for most people to get the most bang out of their buck, it's doing something like reincorporating the most nutrient dense foods in the world and just making sure they have high quality nutrition on a daily basis.
- [63:16]
A
If somebody has never tried anything from Paleo Valley, what are the three things that they should try first?
- [63:21]
B
Oh, my gosh. Chocolate bone broth. It's my number one, I'm telling you. And then I also like to add a little of our caramel sea salt. So it's like a chocolate mocha. Chocolate caramel mocha.
- [63:33]
A
Okay.
- [63:34]
B
You can add it to your coffee, you can add it to water, you can add it to any type of milk. It is something I look forward to and drink twice a day, literally. That's the one that Dr. Drew's obsessed with with because he was carnivore for a long time. And when he finally was like, oh my gosh, I can have this chocolatey, delicious drink and it's not like off the program. So that's. That's number one. I also think the meat sticks, like you said, they're just very, very different than every other meat stick you're going to have. And a protein heavy diet was never something I did. It's just I don't really, like, crave meat, but I benefit from it. And kids, you know, for kids snack, like a high quality protein is amazing. And like I said, it's juicy, it's tender, and it comes in like Teriyaki flavors. Chicken, pork. We even have venison for anyone who's venison. It's one of my favorites and the third one that's so hard. I mean, if I was gonna do a supplement, it would be our essential C. Like 90% of US vitamin C on the market is made from GMO corn. Ew. You didn't know? Yeah, no, it's very interesting. That was another one of our first products. So. Yes. So it's basically corn syrup fermented through this extensive process and then it's just made into ascorbic acid.
- [64:45]
A
What?
- [64:46]
B
Yeah. That's just like the outer shell of the vitamin C kind of complex that you'd find in whole foods. And so our essential C complex is the three most potent organic sources of vitamin C in the world. Amla berry, acerola, camu Camu. And it's just in a powder. So it's.
- [65:00]
A
Now I put camu camu powder in my smoothie every single morning. I love it. I feel like that's helped me, like not get something sick for a long time. I've only been sick once this year. It was a little cold in January. I've not been sick since.
- [65:11]
B
Oh, gosh. And this is one of my other favorite topics to educate people about is that we've been taught like, you just need 75 milligrams or 90 milligrams of vitamin C and you're good. But mammals who make their own vitamin C, we lost that ability. They significantly increase their production in times of stress and illness. And if you're live on planet Earth today, those are definitely things that are in your life. And so I like to have it it throughout the day like you're doing. So if you're gonna eat food, fresh fruits and vegetables, awesome. You're gonna have some vitamin C. But I still think there's a place especially because it only lasts about four to six hours in the body and you don't make it. So you need to take it. And so I think it's like kind of like a little insurance policy. So eat fresh fruits and vegetables and then take like a whole food based vitamin C. There's also really cool research where they used camu camus, specifically camu camu juice. And then they pitted it against an equivalent dose of ascorbic acid. What you'll find in almost every vitamin C product on the market. And they found that only the whole food version was able to reduce inflammation and oxidative stress. Whoa. That ascorbic acid was not. They also Found in another trial that I think is particularly fascinating that 90, like 95% of the antioxidant capacity in an apple was due to something other than vitamin C. Right. So again, speaking to that, that, you know, whole foods have all these other phytonutrients that are dampening inflammation and that have so many other benefits that are under recognized when we're going for a more synthetic and isolated version of that nutrient.
- [66:39]
A
Here's something that I think is tea. So I have to travel a lot for this job. I try to film here in Phoenix, which is where I live most of my episodes. Like, we're filming in Phoenix. Sometimes, though, I am traveling and I'm filming on location in other cities and states. So, you know, there's a lot going on. And so you're in a new place trying to find food to eat, all of that. Even when I'm traveling, I am the first person to tell my team, hey, this is where I'm getting dinner. Whoever wants to come, you're welcome. Like, I'm finding the places that are better quality, you know, organic, if possible, et cetera. Okay.
- [67:12]
B
Love it.
- [67:13]
A
The women on my team, because I have a bunch of guys and a bunch of girls, the women on my team pretty much always will go where I want to go, and they will eat the way that I want to eat. When we're traveling, traveling, the men on my team, my videographers, do not always stick to my suggestions. And they're the ones that are be that are, you know, to be fair to them, they're working longer hours, you know, really physically demanding camera, all of that setting up, tearing down. So they're the ones that are more likely to be like, I'm just tired. We're just going to Wendy's or whatever. Almost every time we travel extensively, my girls on my team were never sick. And those guys are always, like, deathly ill. Like, their immune systems are just trashed after traveling and eating all that food. And I'm like, I'm literally showing you.
- [68:00]
B
The proof is in the pudding.
- [68:02]
A
Like, you gotta be listening to my suggestions. Not to be fair to them, though, they have made a lot of changes since working on my team, but we still have areas to improve.
- [68:11]
B
I love that little call out. And I noticed the same thing. I almost never get sick because I eat in a way, you know, that's supportive. But when I was eating more of the standard American, always sick. At least yearly, I would get these sore throats. And like you said, there's so many things creating inflammation and also so many things that can prevent that inappropriate inflammation in whole foods if we just learn to use them.
- [68:33]
A
Okay, so we're getting your vitamin C. Where can people buy Paleo Valley? Can you get it in stores?
- [68:38]
B
Paleovalley.com, amazon, also in stores. Coming soon. This year is our new adventure into retail. I know. After 12 years we're finally venturing out into retail stores. We're excited about that.
- [68:51]
A
Paleovalley.com they can use code ALEX. They'll get 15% off their order. And there's tons of stuff you guys have spices to use when you're cooking.
- [68:58]
B
That are organic Superfood bars for kids. I didn't mention that, but that's another one that my son loves. And it's in lemon and you know, red velvet and chocolate and apple cinnamon and even seasonal flavors like pumpkin spice stuff like. So the superfood bars are exceptional too. And we have a whey protein powder with colostrum too.
- [69:16]
A
Oh cool.
- [69:16]
B
So yeah, which is kind of like a two for one deal. And very high quality colostrum. And like you said, spices, there's apple cider vinegar complex. There's a neuro effect which is medicinal mushrooms for the brain. And then we. Yeah, wild pastures too. We do frozen meat delivery. We have a restaurant.
- [69:32]
A
And my code will work on all.
- [69:34]
B
Oh yeah, no, just the, just the Paleo Valley.
- [69:36]
A
Okay, just the Paleo Valley. What is the restaurant?
- [69:39]
B
We have a restaurant. Speaking of seed oil free. So in Boulder, Colorado, we have Wild Pastures Burger Company.
- [69:45]
A
Oh, neat.
- [69:45]
B
Yes. So no seed oil, no sugar. All regeneratively raised meats and then organic produce, gluten free buns, of course. And then they're like keto milkshakes and stuff. So it's. You gotta go. It's. It's really great. And we're sticking to our values. We've had. We don't even have soda. Like we have no sugar in the place. All the sauces are house made and they're delicious. Like people. It's got quite a loyal following because I think once you get the seed oil free, sugar free kind of vibe, people really, really are into that. That.
- [70:13]
A
And where can people find you guys on social media? Sh.
- [70:16]
B
Everywhere. Instagram, Facebook. We're getting our legs under us for Tik Tok.
- [70:21]
A
That's a hard one.
- [70:22]
B
Yeah, it is. But you can find us everywhere on social media too.
- [70:25]
A
I ask every guest if you could offer one remedy to heal a sick culture. It could be physically, emotionally or spiritually, what would it be?
- [70:32]
B
Yeah, I think we just need to get back to Whole Foods and addressing the way that we're raising them because if we don't, we will always be be kind of managing symptoms of this deficiency disease or of insulin resistance or some diet related disorder. And so yeah, that's my hope for everybody because that was the most monumental change that I've made in my life and I just want everyone to experience that.
- [70:55]
A
Dr. Autumn, thanks for coming on Culture Apothecary.
- [70:57]
B
Such an honor.
- [71:02]
A
Cannot recommend these beef and chicken sticks enough. Use code alexpaleovalley.com for 15 off. We're on a mission to helicit culture. Twice a week, new guests bring their own unique remedy. Mondays and Thursdays at 6pm M. Pacific, 9pM Eastern. You can subscribe on YouTube. You'll find all my episodes there as well as vlogs and extra content. The show is on Instagram at Culture Apothecary. And so am I at Real Alex Clark. I'm Alex Clark and this is Culture Apothecary.