The Truth About Health Metals + What’s Really Safe To Eat

Summary

Realfoodology Podcast

Episode: The Truth About Health Metals + What’s Really Safe To Eat

Host: Courtney Swan
Guest: Carolyn Call (“Just Ingredients”)
Date: September 9, 2025

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Overview

In this episode, Courtney Swan is joined by Carolyn Call, the force behind the popular “Just Ingredients” Instagram account and product line. Together, they address the pervasive confusion around food safety—especially concerning heavy metals, Prop 65 warnings, and what truly constitutes “safe” and healthy food. Carolyn shares her deeply personal journey from debilitating depression to thriving health advocate, and provides actionable advice for anyone daunted by today’s food landscape. The conversation is candid, empathetic, and rooted in practical wisdom, empowering listeners to make informed, realistic changes.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Carolyn’s Remarkable Health Journey

• Battling Severe Depression: Carolyn opens up about her struggle with depression nearly 19 years ago, an experience that led her to contemplate suicide. After conventional healthcare provided only band-aid solutions, she sought root-cause healing.
  • Notable Quote (05:32):
    Carolyn: “Depression is your body screaming for help… It's just your body talking to you and there's something off.”
• Functional Medicine & Recovery: She eventually worked with a doctor practicing root-cause medicine, uncovering numerous nutrient deficiencies and health imbalances.
  • Magnesium, Vitamin D, B vitamins, cortisol issues, neurotransmitter deficiencies, liver function, and food intolerances were all found to be contributors.
  • Quote (09:14):
    Carolyn: “After a year of working with her, then we started tapering off the antidepressants and within a two-year span, I then was off the antidepressants and feeling amazing.”

2. Nutrition’s Role in Mental Health

• Critical Nutrients: Carolyn identifies four key deficiencies commonly linked to poor mental health: methylated B vitamins, fiber, omega-3s, and magnesium.
  • Quote (11:12):
    Carolyn: “Your mind and your mood need those B vitamins. So I think that’s a culprit.”
  • Vitamin D is also highlighted as a widespread deficiency.
• Gut-Brain Connection: Courtney stresses the importance of serotonin production in the gut and the systemic impact of nutrient depletion.
  • Quote (10:26):
    Courtney: “Our happy hormone serotonin is quite literally made in the gut...”

3. Making Practical Changes – Baby Steps Matter

• Gradual Swapping for Healthier Choices: Carolyn shares how she overhauled her kitchen bit by bit—starting with removing artificial dyes, then high fructose corn syrup, and going ingredient by ingredient.
  • Quote (23:16):
    Carolyn: “I’m always telling people: just make one little change at a time, because eventually they all add up.”
• Lifestyle Upgrades: Simple habits—daily walks in sunlight for vitamin D, prioritizing exercise and whole foods, and ingredient-savvy baking—yielded dramatic improvements.
• Realistic Mindset: Both emphasize progress over perfection, consistency over rigidity, and enjoying real treats using high-quality whole food ingredients.

4. The Modern Food System – What’s Changed?

• GMOs & Glyphosate: Carolyn details how the late ‘90s and 2000s ushered in GMOs (specifically modified to resist glyphosate), resulting in undetectable—and unprecedented—chemical and heavy metal exposure in the food supply.
  • Quote (34:44):
    Carolyn: “The Cinnamon Toast Crunch today has the GMO sugar... So when people say to me, ‘Well, I ate that growing up and I was just fine’—you didn’t. Because in the 70s, 80s, 90s, we didn't have all these GMO crops and so you didn't eat that.”
• Ingredient Label Evolution: Companies have quietly changed recipes, switching to GMO-derived sugars or adding artificial preservatives, dyes, and flavors—without clear label reforms.

5. Healthy Swaps & Family Strategies

• Teaching Kids by Example: Let kids try “junk” at friends’ houses—eventually, they often learn through experience how these foods make them feel.
  • Quote (40:22):
    Carolyn: “My one son...came home and he felt so sick. He’s never had [McDonald’s pancakes] since.”
• Consistency Over Perfection:
  • Quote (38:17):
    Courtney: “It’s about consistency, not perfection... I’m not worried about you eating out every once in a while... I’m more worried about the daily choices in your home.”

6. The Birth of “Just Ingredients”

• Educator First, Entrepreneur By Demand: Carolyn started her Instagram account to help friends and neighbors make better choices—not to launch a business. As her audience grew, she created products to fill gaps in the market.
  • Quote (42:12):
    Courtney: “Just Ingredients, I feel like, was born out of the fact that you couldn’t find any healthy options at the grocery store. So you’re like, I’m gonna make my own.”
• Product Philosophy: Every item—like their popular protein powders—uses real ingredients (no “natural flavors") and is rigorously vetted for quality and transparency.

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Deep Dive: Prop 65 & The Heavy Metals Controversy

What is Prop 65?

• California Law: Sets extremely low limits on contaminants (lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium) in products, but notably exempts produce and several other categories.
• Loopholes & Predatory Practices: Carolyn describes how the law is manipulated—both by companies slapping Prop 65 labels defensively and by legal firms aggressively suing brands over minuscule variances.
  • Quote (46:16):
    Carolyn: “Prop 65 is a law that is only in California... It had good intentions, but now people aren’t really using it with good intentions.”
  • Quote (56:13):
    Carolyn: “Companies are really in this tight line... If I stuck a label on [a safe product], I could get in trouble for that as well.”

Are Heavy Metals in Whole Foods Dangerous?

• Context is Critical: Foods like strawberries, cacao, and potatoes naturally absorb trace metals from soil. When consumed as real food, they also deliver essential “cofactors” (calcium, zinc, glutathione, B vitamins) that aid in natural detoxification.
  • Quote (47:11):
    Carolyn: “The real food contains cofactors to help your body eliminate the lead... You don’t see people walking around with lead toxicity who are eating a ton of strawberries.”
• Real Risk Factors: Actual lead poisoning typically comes from environmental sources like old paint or contaminated ceramics, not whole foods.
  • Quote (52:43):
    Carolyn: “Doctors… have never found someone with lead poisoning because of food. It is purely from paint… not from eating too many strawberries or spinach.”

Transparency & Testing Recommendations

• Always ask companies for COAs (Certificates of Analysis) showing heavy metal test results.
• Be wary if a company refuses to share; look for “NSF certified” or comparable third-party testing.
  • Quote (59:12):
    Carolyn: “If people are concerned, that’s where I would start—asking for COAs. But at the same time realize, they’re never going to get lead toxicity from eating too many strawberries, spinach, carrots, potatoes...”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On food system changes
  Courtney (36:25):
  “They have sneakily changed the ingredient labels under your nose… These are not the same foods that you were buying when I was a kid.”

• On healthy swaps for baking
  Carolyn (25:30):
  “You don’t have to eat a kale and sardine diet... Let’s make [cookies] with real food ingredients like they always have been.”

• On emotional healing
  Carolyn (20:10):
  “The first time I laughed after I was weaning off antidepressants…I was like, I can never go back to what I used to be.”

• Heavy metals panic
  Courtney (51:37):
  “If you’re getting like a Hershey’s bar where they barely have any real cacao… it’s probably going to be low in heavy metals, but then it’s not going to have all the good benefits from the dark chocolate…”

• On the root cause approach
  Courtney (62:35):
  “...Go find a doctor that will help you with your root cause. If you have symptoms, it’s your body speaking to you...”

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Key Timestamps

• 04:49 Carolyn’s story: depression, seeking healing, and the journey to wellness
• 10:26 Nutrition, mental health, and the gut-brain connection
• 12:34 Essential nutrients commonly deficient in Americans
• 23:16 How to start swapping out processed foods: practical tips
• 33:14 GMO and ingredient changes in the food system (1996-2008)
• 37:31 Strategies for families: consistency, not perfection
• 42:12 The birth of Just Ingredients: educator to entrepreneur
• 46:16 The Prop 65 “drama,” testing standards, & lawsuits
• 50:48 Are heavy metals in whole foods cause for alarm?
• 59:12 How to vet brands: transparency, COAs, and reasonable thresholds
• 62:03 Final advice: find the root cause, holistic health is possible

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Actionable Takeaways

• Start Small: Focus on one ingredient or category at a time for healthier swaps.
• Read Ingredient Labels: Don’t trust brands based on reputation alone—always check up-to-date labels.
• Ask for Transparency: Seek out COAs and third-party testing for supplements and processed foods.
• Don’t Panic Over Whole Foods: Understand that trace heavy metals in real foods are rarely a health risk, especially when eaten as part of a nutrient-diverse diet.
• Prioritize Consistency: Daily choices matter more than occasional indulgences.

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Where to Find Carolyn

• Instagram: @just.ingredients
• Just Ingredients Shop: Recipes and product info
• Podcasts: The Just Ingredients Podcast
• Other Platforms: TikTok, Facebook Group

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Summary

This episode takes listeners past sensationalist headlines and social media fear-mongering into a compassionate, facts-based approach to food and health. Carolyn Call’s story underscores the reality that what we eat—down to the smallest details—profoundly shapes our physical and mental well-being. She and Courtney offer clear roadmaps for small, sustainable change in our toxic food environment. They demystify hot-button issues like GMO proliferation, heavy metals, Prop 65, and product transparency, equipping everyone to advocate for themselves and their families in the grocery aisle—and beyond.

Transcript

[A]

On today's episode of the Real Foodology.

[B]

Podcast, I always wondered why God gave me a second chance at life. And as soon as I started educating people on a healthy lifestyle, I was like, oh, maybe that's why I was given a second chance.

[A]

Hi friends. Welcome back to another episode of the Real Foodology podcast. As always, I'm your host, Courtney Swan and today's guest is Carolyn Call. You may know her behind the Instagram account Just Ingredients. She's also created a whole line of amazing products. She has things from two tooth powder to protein powders to electrolytes. I'm a huge fan of her account and then I'm also a huge fan of her products. Hector and I love her protein powders. We drink those almost every morning. And I just love her desire to really create healthy for you products. And she goes above and beyond with her testing. There was some drama that was going on actually with her company online and there was some lawsuits happening and I wanted to get to the root of this and hear from her specifically what was happening. So we talk all about that. We talk about Prop 65, what that means when you see that label on your products and what to do about it. We also talk about her journey and how she got started into all this, which started 19 years ago with really severe depression and what she did about it and what happened when she reached rock bottom and how overhauling her diet completely improved her life and her overall mental state. So if you could take a moment to rate and review the podcast. I always ask you for this. I know, but if you haven't done it yet, it really does help the show and it means so much to me and it takes literally two seconds. Also, if you're loving this particular episode, just make sure that you tag me reelfoodology and also tag ust ingredients and we will hopefully see it and share. You guys, thank you so much for the support and I hope that you love the episode. I am currently on a detox protocol because we found mold and some other things. So I am getting in the sauna like three to four times a week right now and I've really been having to up my hydration and perfectly timed. Element just came out with a new flavor lemonade salt. It's limited time and it is so good. It's salty, it's tart, it's refreshing. It brings you the best of summer wherever you are. It's formulated with Element's science backed electrolyte ratio and this lemonade salt delivers optimal hydration to keep you feeling refreshed, energized, and ready to take on whatever adventures summer throws your way. You can mix it up with water, add it to your iced tea for a salty Arnold Palmer, which sounds really good. Or you can get creative with a pitch mixture of salty lemonade and fresh fruit. You could even make mocktails with this or add it to your morning matcha. Here's the deal. It's only available for a limited time, so you're going to want to make sure that you get it while supplies last. So to get a free 8 count sample pack of LMNT's most popular drink, mix flavors with any purchase. Go to drinkelement.com Real Foodology that's drinklmnt.com Real Foodology Swapping out my cookware was one of the first things I did when I started caring about living a healthier lifestyle about 20 years ago. Traditional non stick cookware is loaded with forever chemicals. There was a study by the Ecology center in California that found 80% of non stick pans contain Teflon which is forever chemicals otherwise known as pfas and these can be released into your food, home and body. This is why I love our place pans. They make high performance toxin free cookware. Their products are made without forever chemicals like PFAs and PTFEs so you can cook confidently without wondering what's in your pan. Except for what you're cooking of course. And what's cool is their cookware set will upgrade your kitchen in one fell swoop. This set includes two multifunctional always pans and two perfect pots in mini and full sizes. I have all of these. I love them. I cook with them almost daily and they replace a bulky expensive stack of cookware with just four pieces. You can sear, saute, fry, bake, boil, roast, steam and more. And when you buy the set you save $150. When you buy this cookware set with the bundle and save option. I love the I love the performance and I love the way that all their products look. So if you want to try our place today and get a cookware set which is the four piece cookware set that I mentioned earlier, go to fromourplace.com real foodology and use code real foodology for 10% off site wide. They have 100 day risk free trial free shipping and returns so you can experience this game changing cookware with zero risk. Carolyn thank you so much for coming on today. This has been a long time coming.

[B]

I know we've been trying to plan it for a While and I want you on my podcast.

[A]

So.

[B]

Yeah, we do that.

[A]

Yeah, we will definitely do that. I'm so excited to have you here. We were actually just talking right before we started recording and I would love my audience to hear a little bit about your story because it's really. I think a lot of people can resonate with it. Your struggles with depression especially. I feel like, was that a postpartum depression or do you want to just tell your story?

[B]

Yeah, I'll tell you about it. So it was about 19 years ago now, which is so crazy.

[A]

Wow. It's just.

[B]

So when I started talking about it, it was like 15 years ago. Now we're 19 years ago. I found myself with really bad depression. And at the time I had a one year old baby. And so I would go to like the OB and different OBs and they would say, it's not postpartum depression because your baby's over one now. They've changed that. But back then they were like, no, it's not postpartum. So I dealt with this for a little bit, but I kept thinking to myself, like, my body hasn't always been like this, so something had to have triggered it. So I would go to doctor after doctor looking for help, and they would tell me all the time, there's nothing that we can do about depression. Granted, this was 19 years ago. So unfortunately there's still doctors today that are like, we don't really know how to treat depression. We'll just give you an antidepressant. And so back then they would say to me, well, all we can do is give you an antidepressant. And don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against antidepressants. They can be life saving for a moment, but it's important to find the underlying root cause of depression. And so I would go to these doctors and I would say to them, will this antidepressant heal me? And they were like, no, it will just help you. And I was like, well, I'm looking for something to heal me. And that's when they couldn't give me anything. And so my depression, there were days that I couldn't get out of bed. There was days I had to fake it and just get out of bed. There were days I was angry and frustrated and days that I just couldn't even make decisions or do normal daily tasks. And so depression does look different for people like that. And so I felt like I went through all the myriad of emotions with depression. And after dealing with this for Over a year and getting no help from doctors. There was just a really bad stint. And people would say to me, like, you'll find the light at the end of the tunnel. And I remember so clearly sitting in a rocking chair and thinking, there is no light at this end of this tunnel. Like, it is just dark as can be. And it got worse and worse. And one day, honestly, I had lost all hope. I was like, I can't live my life like this. This is terrible. It's not good for my kids. It's not good for my husband. Like that. Those are the thoughts you start having. And I'm like, enough is enough. Like, I'm done. I can't. If there's no hope in this and I have to live my whole rest of my life like this, I'm done. And so I actually attempted suicide. And thankfully, by the grace of God, miracles happened and my life was saved. It failed. But at that moment, I realized I reached rock bottom and I truly need to go find help. And so I had to search for two years to find a doctor. So at that point, I did go on antidepressants because I was like, I have to have something. Like, if that's gonna save me, you know, from doing this again, I'll get on the antidepressant. So I got on an antidepressant, but I actually hated it because I felt like I was seat belted in my emotions. It kept me from being really sad, but it also kept me from experiencing happiness and joy and laughter. And so they would try to change the prescription or change the dosage. And we tried all these different things, and I just didn't like it. And so for two years, I went looking for a doctor, like, help me, please, to heal with depression. And finally I found a doctor. And she was like, I can help you heal from depression, but there's no magic pill. It's not an overnight fit. Like, are you ready to really work hard at this? And I was like, I am so desperate. You have no idea how badly I want to heal. I will do whatever you tell me, you know? And so I went on a health journey with her, and she taught me that depression is your body screaming for help, that it's just your body talks to you and there's something off. And so we did, like, saliva tests and urine tests and blood work and just found a whole, whole variety of issues that were all contributing to the depression. And it was little things to bigger things. It was simple things like low in magnesium, low in vitamin D, not absorbing My B vitamins, to some cortisol issues, to some neurotransmitter things, to some liver issues, to some food intolerances. And so it just was this whole thing of like, yeah, you're not fueling your body properly, therefore your body can't do its best for you. And so went on a health journey with her. After a year of working with her, then we started tapering off the antidepressants and within like a two year span, I then was off the antidepressants and feeling amazing. And at that point I realized, okay, I never want to fall back into that. I've got to learn everything I can about my health and food and what fuels the body and what doesn't fuel the body. And at that point started making major life switches with what I did. Because I actually grew up in a home where I went to school on Frosted Flakes. Every morning I took, I think, a bologna sandwich on white bread, you know, to for lunch and at dinner, a lot of times, I don't know, had a frozen meal and who knows if I ever had fruits and veggies during the day and things like that. So I grew up in like a household of eating the American Standard Diet and didn't know that that was anything wrong. Just thought that's what people did. And so anyways, had to learn all that new info after that health journey with the doctor so that I would never fall back to that depression. And I can proudly say that I have never fallen back into that depression just because I've learned how to feel my body better.

[A]

That's so amazing. And that's such a, that's just such an incredible story because we hear so much about this, especially now online. Everybody's talking about mental health and for good reason. And I think more and more people are struggling. And I can't help but to think that there's definitely a connection with what we're eating and how people are feeling. I mean, we know that our food is what's fueling our body, fueling our cells. I mean, our happy hormone serotonin is quite literally made in the gut. And if you have gut issues and you're not able to make that serotonin or get it properly to your brain, it's obviously going to have an effect, right?

[B]

Yeah. There's like three things that I think a lot of Americans are missing that are contributing to mental health. I mean, I have to say with mental health there are a million root causes. Right. It's like with cancer, there's a Million root causes. But I think there's three things that people can really look at, and one is B vitamins, especially methylated B vitamins. And those are coming right from a lot of leafy green sources, things like that, B12, obviously from meat. But I feel like people aren't gaining enough leafy greens to get their B vitamins. And you literally cannot feel good if your B vitamins are so low. Like, you're. Your mind and your mood need those B vitamins. So I think that's a culprit.

[A]

Yeah, for sure.

[B]

We know the fiber feeds the good bacteria, and the stats show that we're not getting enough fiber. Americans are not even getting close to enough fiber. And so how does your gut do the things it needs to do, like build the serotonin and regulate the hormones and help with the neurotransmitters if we're not getting enough fiber? So that's second. And then three, most Americans are low on omega 3s. And again, omega 3s are so important to bring down that inflammation. Depression can easily be a cause of inflammation. But then those fatty acids are so important for the cells, for our neurotransmitters, so many things in our brain. And so I think those three things really play a part. And a fourth, I should say magnesium.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

I think we're all deficient in magnesium, and magnesium helps regulate that nervous system, you know, so, yeah, we're deficient in a lot of these key nutrients just by what we're eating.

[A]

And I think vitamin D, too. Most Americans are deficient in vitamin D, and we know that there's a connection with the gut, with the hormones and with serotonin and vitamin D levels. There's so many different things that we can connect to low vitamin D levels. So I think you're spot on with that. And most Americans are deficient in a lot of these essential vitamins and minerals and nutrients that we need in order for our brains to work. And to me, it's so crazy that it's taken us this long to understand, oh, wait, so what I'm eating affects my hormones and my gut, and then that's going to affect my brain health. Like, it's wild to me that it's taken us this long.

[B]

Right. Well, what's wild to me is that people still don't believe it.

[A]

I know.

[B]

I have people that fight me on this, on Instagram all the time.

[A]

All the time.

[B]

Like, it doesn't matter what you eat. Food's not going to affect you.

[A]

Oh, it's so maddening. It's because a lot of them are getting this from their doctors and their doctors just tell them, well, depression is just a chemical imbalance in the brain, which is really wild. Actually a couple ago we found out that it came out that that study was actually debunked and it was not true. Apparently the pharmaceutical companies were trying for years and years and years to prove in their scientific studies that depression was just a chemical imbalance in the brain. They never were able to actually prove that that was true.

[B]

It's so crazy. Well, and depression can be due to inflammation, but it can also be due to hormonal issues. You could just have a off balance of it and estrogen progesterone ratio causing it to. It can be due to minerals or different vitamins. I mean there's a whole slew of things. So to just say it's only one thing is really hard.

[A]

I'm currently on my trying to conceive journey and it's actually coinciding with my longevity journey at the moment. We know that a lot of the things that we do for longevity and things to protect our mitochondria and our cells really has a lot to do with conceiving as well because we, our eggs and our fertility will only be enhanced by taking care of our cells and our mitochondria. And one of the ways that I'm doing that is taking a supplement called Timeline Mitopure. What's really cool about mitopure is it has this ingredient in there called urolithin A and this is a precise dose of the rare postbiotic which works by promoting an essential cellular cleanup process that clears out dysfunctional mitochondria, AKA your cells battery packs. And not only is this addressing longevity, but my hope is it will also help me with having a really healthy outcome with trying to conceive. And a cool thing too is I've been really going hard in the gym. I've been doing a lot of strength training and a lot of booty workouts and lifting weights. And one of the amazing benefits of taking Mito pure is actually it helps you feel stronger in your workouts and it helps to recover quickly from working out. I don't get as sore as I used to since I started taking this and I'm feeling more energy and I just, I'm feeling like more energized and healthy from the inside out. And this is exactly what I wanted to do in order to support my cellular health. We know that cellular health is the foundation of well being and longevity and Mito Pure really just helps to recharge your cells, support your goals, and help with all of your systems to work better. So if you want to try Timeline Mito Pure Today they're offering 10 off your order of Mito Pure. So make sure you go to timeline.com realfoodology that's T I M E L I N E dot com real foodology make sure you check out their sugar free gummies. They're my favorite. I look forward to them every day. I love that they don't have any sugar and they're also helping with my longevity and trying to conceive journey do you know what your body's first layer of immune protection is? Most people think it's the skin or the white blood cells, but it's actually your gut lining. When it's functioning properly, it lets in nutrients that your body needs and it also keeps out things like toxins and bacteria. But here's the problem. This barrier can start to break down a condition often referred to as leaky gut or increased intestinal permeability, which is something a lot of Americans are dealing with right now. And it's super common. It's way more common than you think. Leaky gut is associated with symptoms like bloating, fatigue, brain fog, or food sensitivities. Even if you're eating healthy, one thing that contributes to it is undigested foods sitting in your gut for too long. And that often comes down to not having enough digestive enzymes. Your enzyme production can slow down for a lot of reasons like aging, constant stress, antiacids, or a diet low in fiber and high in refined carbs. Without enough enzymes, your body struggles to break down food. That leftover food irritates the gut lining and puts more pressure on your system. That's why I take Mass Zymes, which are a full spectrum digestive enzyme blend. It helps break food down more completely so your gut isn't under constant stress and it supports gut barrier health over time. If every meal leaves you bloated and uncomfortable, mass times could be the simple fix that your gut has been waiting for. If you would like to try them today, go to bioptimizers.com real foodology and use promo code Real Foodology and you will save 15 off. And while you're there, also get some of my other favorite products. They have something for gluten. If you have any issues with eating gluten, you can take this and it can help you digest the gluten better. There's also also magnesium Breakthrough, which is another product that I love. So make sure that you go to bioptimizers.com realfoodology and use promo code real foodology. They even offer a full 365 day guarantee. There's zero risk to try it. And if you subscribe, not only will you get amazing discounts and free gifts, you will make sure your monthly supply is guaranteed again. Bioptimizers.com Realfoodology yeah, and it's everybody's bio individual. And this is why I'm constantly encouraging people to go find doctors that are practicing root cause cause prevention. You know, like you said earlier, I'm glad that antidepressants, that they exist because I think in really, really extreme situations where somebody needs a quick intervention right then and there, I think it's a great way to bridge the gap. But I don't believe that it's a long term fix. We need to actually get to the root cause. And so I encourage people to go and get testing done like what you did to see what deficiencies they have.

[B]

Yeah. Someone gave me a great analogy that antidepressants are like a cast. When you break your leg you wouldn't wear that cast forever, but you're going to wear that cast while it heals and while you find some help or you know, you're still gonna eat nutritiously to help with that healing, things like that, but eventually you're gonna get the cast off. And so antidepressants can be sort of the same way. Like let's wear em as, you know, wear em as a cast, take em to help you survive. I mean they were life saving for me, you know, and so I'm grateful for em. But at the same time I think some people think that they have to then be on them the rest of their life and that's not true. You can find the underlying root cause so that you can take that cast off or wean off of the antidepressants.

[A]

Yeah. Cause how sad. I've heard this many times you've mentioned this and I've heard this many, many times from friends of mine and just online that when people are on antidepressants they feel numb to everything in life. And to me that makes me really sad because I want everybody to be able to experience the full scope of emotions and how beautiful life truly can be. And that means that we go with the lows and the high and again like it's a cast. But then how can we get to the root cause so that we can really help them live a better life? So that they can thrive. And I know this is something you're super passionate about. Why you started just ingredients and you ended up on this whole path. So I'm curious, what were things maybe swaps or, like, things that you started doing that really, that you started to see a difference in your mental health? It really helped you along that path.

[B]

So talking about being seat belted in the motions, like you said, I have to tell you that I remember the first time after I was weaning off the antidepressants, the first time I laughed. I have just a clear memory of it. And I was like, oh, my gosh, I haven't laughed in two years or even more than that. I'm like, that felt so good. And that was the moment.

[A]

Oh, brings tears in my eyes.

[B]

That was the moment that I was like, I can never go back to what I used to be. Like, I have to do differently because I can't believe how amazing a laugh feels. And so. But with your question of what swaps do you think played the biggest role? People ask me that all the time, and it's really hard for me to say because I actually was on the antidepressants while I was making all of these changes. And then we slowly weaned off the antidepressants after I had made all of the changes. And so since I was sort of in that numb state, I don't know which thing helped me the most. Yeah, that makes sense. But I did a lot of things from started exercising. I just started walking every day. Like, I had not made exercise a priority, and so I made exercise a priority, which to this day is my number one thing. Like, if I go too long without exercising, I can feel like the depression start to creep in. And so that is a huge contributor for me. Another thing was vitamin D, like you said, I started walking outside during. While the sun was out to try to get my vitamin D, but then just eating whole foods. I was eating so much packaged food that eating the whole foods, like, my body almost felt like it was getting cleansed out. You know, like a clean cleaning job, a detoxing job, and it probably was.

[A]

But yeah, you're scrubbing your insides.

[B]

Yeah, it just felt so good. So I think those three things obviously played the biggest role. But to eat whole foods, I still had. I had three kids at the time. They liked their goldfish and their pancakes in there, but we were doing Bisquick, you know, and things that weren't real foods. And so I did go by ingredient to swap things out. So for Instance, my doctor was like, go home and just see what you have artificial dyes in and go see where what things are in, and then make that swap of finding a better choice at the grocery store. And so I'm, like, looking at popsicles and otter pops and things in the pantry, but then I was like, hand soap. Like, we're washing our hands, what, seven, eight times a day, and we're just rubbing in this artificial dye into our skin. And so that one was, like, eye opening for me. So I swapped out all of the things in the pantry with artificial dyes and felt like I got really good at knowing where artificial dyes were hidden. And then I would move on to the next ingredient. So then I moved on to high fructose corn syrup. And I was like, oh, it's in ketchup, and it's in Ritz crackers, and it's. Oh. And all these things. Okay, let's swap out of. Make those changes and swap to other products that don't have the high fructose corn syrup. And then once I got really good with that and felt like I had mastered high fructose corn syrup, then I moved on to the next ingredient. So I didn't just, like, go into my kitchen and throw it all away and be like, hey, I'm starting over. One, I didn't have the money. Two, I mentally couldn't do that. And so that's why I'm always telling people, like, just make one little change at a time, because eventually they all add up.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah, you made such a great point there. And it's great for people to hear that, because that's. That's one of the main questions I get is where do I start? I'm so overwhelmed. And I just say, just start with one thing. And I think what you brought up is great. And I was thinking about my path and my journey through this, and I had a similar one. I think I started with high fructose corn syrup. And what's interesting, and it helps you because you're focusing on one thing, but as you're focusing on this one thing, a lot of the other stuff just gets tossed by the wayside just because a lot of those products have a lot of those crappy ingredients all in there. But, like, I think my first one was high fructose corn syrup. And then just by not buying any products with that, you're also going to toss out a lot of other, you know, preservatives and horrible things. Because if a company is using high fructose corn Syrup. They're also using the other terrible artificial preservatives and.

[B]

Yeah, artificial flavorings, usually. Things like that.

[A]

Exactly. And we live in such an amazing time where there's pretty much a swap for everything now, which is so cool.

[B]

There is now.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Back in the day, there was no. It was tough. Yeah. It was crazy. You had to, like, go to Whole Foods, where now you can go to Costco, to Kroger, to Walmart.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And so. And back then, 15 years ago, like, you were thought of as sort of crazy. Like, what in the world? Like, why are you so picky about what you eat?

[A]

Oh, everyone thought I was insane. Everybody looked at me like I had four heads. But I always tell people, just ride the wave because eventually people will come back around. Because all those people that thought I was insane are now texting you, going, wait, what? You were onto something. What was that thing you were telling me about? Yeah, so we're just, you know, we were early adopters to it. But this is what I love so much about your Instagram, too, is you have. You are so good at showing people swaps. Like, I love, love when you do, especially around, like, the holidays, for example, you know, or like, any holiday. Like, you're great at going, okay, if you buy this normally, you know, for Easter or whatever, get this instead. What would you say? I'm trying to think of, like, maybe some easy swaps that we could tell people. Or maybe what is your. When you're doing these swaps, what is your. Your mind frame around that as far as, like, do you just have ingredients that you think about that? You're like, okay, I don't want any of these ingredients in here. And so this is what I'm looking for. For instead, like, what is kind of your parameters around that?

[B]

So I'm always looking for things made with just whole foods, obviously, and without the artificial ingredients. But let's take maybe, like, baking cookies. Okay. Because everybody's like, I can't live those extreme diets. And I'm like, I can't either. I've got six kids now. I'm like, they want cookies. Especially, like at Christmas, you're going to make cookies for Santa, you know, and have those fun traditions. And so I'm like, you don't have to eat a kale and sardine diet. You can still, you know, have fun things, but let's make them with real food. And so, for instance, like, baking cookies, there might be baking powder in there. Well, let's get the baking powder without the aluminum in it. Right, so that's one easy swap butter. Let's maybe choose grass fed butter. So there's an easy swap salt. Let's maybe a sea salt that's got some additional minerals. Let's do that flour. Well, you could do kamut flour, you could do oat flour. Organic. You can do anything but bleach. Like let's. Why are we using bleach flour? Right, we don't need bleach flour. So make that easy little swap eggs. You can do some pasture raised eggs in there. You know what I mean? So every little ingredient you can choose the better choice of. And then your cookies aren't the cookies that you would find at the store that are full of the artificial dyes, artificial flavors, artificial preservatives, artificial sweeteners even, you know what I mean? They're made with real food ingredients like they always have been.

[A]

Exactly. I actually just saw in your stories this past weekend, I watched a video of your kids making you like these. Was it a seven layer cookie?

[B]

I finally showed my one guilty pleasure because I get asked all the time, do you ever like cheat, they say, or ever eat something not nourishing?

[A]

I get asked that all the time.

[B]

I really don't like, honestly, my body just doesn't feel good when I do that. And I've just learned how to make everything with better ingredients anyway, so. So it's never like a cheat to me. It's never like a temptation to me. But these seven layer cookies are the one thing from back in my day when I didn't live a healthy lifestyle that I still like. And so Mother's Day and my birthday.

[A]

I love that are the two times.

[B]

We make it and everybody sort of laughs. So I'm like, I'll just put it on my story and show people. This is the one time I eat junk. But at the same time, like we try to buy, well, we do buy like the graham crackers that are organic so they don't have the glyphosate. You know, we'll use the grass fed butter, we'll use organic walnuts. I mean we try to use the better choice ingredients when making it.

[A]

So if you follow me on Instagram, you know how particular I am about skincare. In fact, I've only used the same products for about the last six years on my skin and my skin has never been clear. And you know how much I love Clearsnim, their hydrating barrier cleanser. It's called Gentle Clean, is the best face wash that I have, have ever used. I have kind of drier skin. And whenever I use their face wash, it gets all of my makeup off. But it doesn't leave your skin feeling dry and stripped. It somehow still leaves it feeling kind of dewy. They just, they nailed it with this face wash. I cannot speak highly enough about it. And also their skin spray all day. It's their hydration mist. I'm just using this all day. I have one in my travel bag, I have one in my purse, I have one in my car and I'm just using it all day to just maintain that nice dewy look. They have so many amazing products. I could go on for hours about everything that I love on their website. 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So stack my 20 off code real foodology on the 10 off bestseller bundle, go to cure nutrition.com real foodology and use code real foodology. Again, that's curednutrition.com real foodology. Or you can also just use code real foodologyurenutrition.com yeah, well, that's what I was gonna say. Like I still noticed that, yeah, you were using organic graham crackers and I, I could, I couldn't see any of the other brands. But, but this is what I think so many people still struggle to really understand and this was what helped me along my journey because similar to what you said earlier, I'm the same way. I can't just eat things that don't taste good. And obviously, I mean, I'm a kid of the 80s and I grew up eating Dunkaroos and Frosted Flakes and all that crap too. And some of it's nostalgic. And obviously I want to have a cookie sometimes and this is what I tell people all the time. I have never felt more free in the way that I eat because I actually don't restrict anything. I just don't eat junk. Like if I want a cookie, I'm either gonna go to the grocery store and find one that's just made with real food ingredients or I make it at home and I buy exactly what you just said. You know, pasture is eggs and organic flour and I have to be gluten free. So I make them gluten free and I just, I get all of the normal real food ingredients and then make amazing cookies. And they taste great. They just don't have all the preservatives and the additives and the food dyes in there that we don't need. And then I don't feel restricted at all. So I just. Yeah, it's crazy. Okay, so one thing that I do want to talk about that you have posted about a lot on your Instagram, is from around maybe like 1996 or so to 2008, our food really drastically changed. What are some of the main things that happened in that time period?

[B]

Yeah, so I know you've talked about GMOs and glyphosate and so GMOs. There's five that I really care about. And I know you talk about the five that I'm concerned about, the five that are genetically modified to withstand the glyphosate. And so but those came about starting like late 90s, early 2000s. And so for instance, the sugar beets being modified. Right. Sugar is in everything almost. And if it says just sugar on the label, most likely it's from the sugar beets. And 99% of the sugar beets are made GMO now. And so you can just assume that it's a GMO sugar. But that has the glyphosate. And we have all the testing showing that the glyphosate is getting into the food chain. And so you talk about it, I mean, it's harmful on the gut. It's actually they're finding out, affecting neurotransmitters and contributing to mental health. And so there's a lot of different health issues that are just terrible with this glyphosate. But it's awful. Came in the late 90s and that the sugar beets were around 2005, 2006, that they really became, became popular. And so when I grew up eating like Cinnamon Toast crunch in the 80s, and when you did, we were eating just the sugar and just. Is there corn in.

[A]

I think there's corn. I know. I was just trying to think. I'm like, what are the ingredients? It is interesting. But yeah, if you look back at like, you know, in the 80s ingredient list versus the ones now, they didn't have all these artificial ingredients.

[B]

Right. So the Cinnamon Toast Crunch today has the GMO sugar. So when people say to me, well, hey, I ate that growing up and I was just fine. We hear that all the time. I'm like, no, you didn't. Because in the 70s, 80s, 90s, we didn't have all these GMO crops. And so you didn't eat that. And so. But then also a lot of artificial sweeteners became popular in the 80s, the 90s, and so. And we're finding out new studies all the time on artificial sweeteners. Some have even been recalled and then brought back on the market. And so again, in the 70s, you weren't eating those artificial sweeteners in the 80s, things like that. And so, yeah, that phrase of I ate that growing up and I was just fine. I was like, you did not eat that. They have switched their recipe. That recipe in Cinnamon Toast Crunch, whatever. Frosted Flakes is not the same as it used to be.

[A]

I just have to say that comment drives me so nuts. I see it all the time from my parents generation. They're like, well, yeah, I grew up eating all that and I'm fine. Kids are just hypochondriac these days. And I'm like, but you didn't eat the same thing. Right? I will never forget this when I was, I think in high school when my mom started really understanding this, because my mom is the reason that I am the way that I am. Maybe I was in college somewhere around then when my mom started waking up to the fact that they had changed a lot of the ingredients in a lot of these foods that she had grown up eating. She literally flew to Kansas, which is where my grandma lived, her mom, and she took her through her pantry and said, you can't buy these brands anymore. I know that you've been buying these brands since I was a kid and you've trusted them, but they have sneakily changed the ingredient labels under your nose. And you're not reading the ingredient labels because nobody trained us to read the ingredient labels. And these are not the same foods that you were buying when I was a kid.

[B]

Well, and the ingredient labels didn't even change because they just kept it as sugar. Yeah, but now it's GMO sugar.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

And I tell people, like, these companies were really smart. They didn't throw out those older recipes. They actually turned them into the organic cereals. So, like, General Mills owns Cascadian Farms. And so they just took that Cinnamon Toast Crunch recipe from the 70s and 80s, and now Cascadian Farms makes it, but it's organic and you pay double the price for what we used to get back in the 70s, 80s and 90s.

[A]

I never even thought about that. That's so cool.

[B]

So they were Smart. These businesses, they didn't just like, these recipes, didn't just then go to pot. They transformed them into new organic products.

[A]

Oh, my God. Okay. I never even thought about that. That is crazy. They also just weren't using all these preserv. Artificial colors. All the things that they're using today, they weren't using those back in the day. And I would say that's too, like, how. How our food has changed so drastically. So what would you. Where do you think people. If they're just feeling, like, overwhelmed, where would you say people should start?

[B]

So I always tell people to figure out a plan that best works with their. Their like, personality and what they can handle. So I tell some, like, moms, like, what's the number one thing that your kids eat? A. Maybe start with that. Because I had this one lady who was like, oh, my gosh, my kids eat so many fruit snacks. And I was like, well, there you go.

[A]

Swap those out.

[B]

Swap those out for ones that are made with just real fruit, no added sugar, no artificial dyes, et cetera. Or maybe you just want to change one thing every time you go grocery shopping. Or maybe that's even too much for you and you want to just do one thing a month. But whatever. Figure out a plan that works best for you. Mine was I figured out all the artificial dyes and then the high fructose corn syrup. You know what I mean? So just make a plan that works best for you.

[A]

Yeah, I think that's really smart. Start with the things that you're eating consistently and consuming a lot and that your kids and your family are consuming a lot. I think that's a really good place to start. Because that, I mean, I tell people all the time it's about consistency, not perfection. I'm not worried about you eating out every once in a while and having a little bit of canola oil. Do I think it's terrible for you and we shouldn't be consuming it at all? Yes, But I'm more worried about the consistent choices that you're making in your home every single day, the things that you're eating every single day. Because that's where it really starts to add up.

[B]

Well, that goes right along with this question I get all the time. And they're like, what do you do about your kids when they're at their friend's house? Or your older teenage kids when they go out to, like, McDonald's or something with their friends? And that's the thing is you can't expect perfection. You can't Expect perfection in your diet, in their diet, in food itself. But I can expect consistency. So I know that when they're in my house, they're consistently getting a good breakfast, a good lunch, good dinner, good snacks. So when they do go to their friend's house, I have no control over that. We have to stop stressing about that. You literally have really no control. I mean, you can talk to the parent, obviously, or the friend's parents and talk to them, but really you don't have much control. So you let them enjoy the food or try to help them make good decisions when they're at that friend's house. House, they come home, you provide the better of choice meals for them.

[A]

Yeah. And I think too part of that is like, well, one, it's like you teach them all these principles and then you hope when they go out into the world that they are making better choices and decisions. And then it's also a great learning experience for them too. If they come home and they're like, oh, I ate all this junk at my friend's house and now I feel like crap. It's like, as the parent, you can help them connect those dots, you know, where you're like, oh, remember when you ate that stuff? Then you come home and you don't feel good.

[B]

I have to tell you, they do learn. Like, having older kids now, I'm like, I promise you guys, they learn. But you have to let them have those learning experiences. Because my one son was like, I want McDonald pancakes so badly. And of course, we never went to McDonald's and he never had them. So I kept saying, well, when you turn 16, you can drive there and pay for them yourself with your friends one day. So he did. He got double order. He figured out, I can't remember the exact amount, he figured out how many grams of added sugar there was. And it was over like 120 grams of added sugar in one sitting. We're supposed to only get like 25 grams max of added sugar a day. He came home and he felt so sick. He's like, mom, my head is pounding. My stomach hurts so bad, I feel miserable. Needless to say, he's never had them since. So they do learn. And sometimes it's just a great learning experience for years down the road.

[A]

Exactly. I mean, I had to go through that my own experience. I had to go through that in my own experience after my mom teaching me all this. And then I went to college and I gained weight and I was lethargic and I just started connecting like When I was eating these things and I was feeling terrible in my body, and then I was able to recourse because I remembered all the things that my mom had taught me. So, you know, we just have to trust that they're gonna be able to make those decisions for themselves. So I love. So you created a brand called Just Ingredients, which I love. I love your protein powder so much. This is what we consume in our house.

[B]

So good.

[A]

And I. I want to. I want to address this, because I get comments about this all the time, and it drives me insane when people are like, oh, how convenient that this person is talking trash about these, you know, these types of foods, but then they're selling you something, and it drives me so insane because I don't know how people can't see that just Ingredients. And I'm not just saying that. They just do this to your brand. I see it with my friend Bobby. I see it with so many different amazing entrepreneurs that created these food companies as a way to combat all of this shit that's on our shelves. And so I just don't understand how they don't see that. That you just. Ingredients, I feel like, was born out of the fact that you couldn't find any healthy options at the grocery store. So you're like, I'm gonna make my own.

[B]

Yeah. So crazy enough how this came about is about six or seven years ago, I felt like everyone around me, talking neighbors, community members, church members, extended family members, everybody was dealing with either, like, anxiety or depression or some autoimmune condition or migraines, chronic fatigue, adhd, like, you name it, they were dealing with it. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, there's so many sick people around me. And I was like, I wish I could just go into their homes and cook for them for one month or, like, grocery shop for them for one month. And I know they would feel better. And I was like, but. But obviously you can't do that. So I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna start a little Instagram account, and my goal is just to get 2,500 followers. So if I get 2,500 followers, I could teach them just how to make better choices when grocery shopping. And so that's how it started. And so I just started with teaching, like, buy this ketchup at Walmart rather than this one. They're sitting right next to each other. One has the high fructose corn syrup in it, one does not. And word just started spreading. I didn't do any marketing or anything. And. And people were sharing posts. And when we got to a hundred thousand followers, I was like, oh, maybe I have like a customer base. And so I tried it out with these, like, little digital downloads. I still have them. They're now free, but back then they were like 99 cents. And it was like, top 10 things you should look for at the grocery store if you're having a baby. These top 10 things I would buy, and they sold really well. So I was like, oh, my gosh, okay, I have a customer base. I'm going to finally start making products then that I can't find on the market that I want. And so protein was one of our first products because I had three teenage boys at the time, and they would bring in protein powders that they liked the taste of, but I hated the ingredients. So then I would bring in protein powders that I liked the ingredients of, and they would hate the taste. And there was no winning. And so I was like, I've got to go make my own protein powder. And so I found a food scientist and then made it with all the certain ingredients that I wanted because I was like, if I'm going to do this, I'm going to put in there what I want. So it has all, like, chia seed protein in it. For the Omega 3s, it's got pumpkin seed protein. For the tryptophan, it's got collagen in there because I wanted it for the hair and skin and nails and things like that. So amazing. Anyway, so I did end up making products that will nourish the body. But my mission has always been to educate others on living a healthy lifestyle so that they can live a life full of energy and happiness. Because if you're dealing with depression or you're always sick, like, it's really hard to live the life that you're meant to live. And so I always wondered why God gave me a second chance at life. And as soon as I started educating people on a healthy lifestyle, I was like, oh, maybe that's why I was given a second chance. Who knows? Maybe it was to be a mom to my six kids. I'm sure there's lots of reasons, but my mission has always been to educate. So when people do say that about me, I'm just like, you know what? They don't know my full picture. If they take took 20 seconds to look at my Instagram, they would see that I'm educating on something different every single day. It's never just my product after my product, after my Product day after day. It's never that.

[A]

Yeah, no, it's just so frustrating. I mean, your entire account was created on just educating people. I mean, I can very much relate. That's what I set out to do, you know, 15, 14 years ago, too. So I just get so frustrated when people make the comments like that. Because. Because, yeah, of course. This is literally what entrepreneurs do. They see that there's a problem and that they haven't been able to find a solution for it. So they create the solution. You know, it's incredible. And I love what you've done with just ingredients. And I actually, I want to talk about this because there was a lot of stuff going around online about a current thing that you were dealing with with your products. Like, and there was something about Prop 65. And I just. I really want my listeners to understand what the flaws are with Prop 65 and how it can leave a loophole in there where people can take. Take, you know, like predators can come in and basically take advantage and get money out of you.

[B]

Yeah. So let's talk about Prop 65. Prop 65 is a law that is only in California and it's sort of a crazy law because it had good intentions, but now people aren't really using it with good intentions.

[A]

And it's being taken advantage of.

[B]

It's being taken advantage of for sure. So Prop 65 tests how much lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium is in product products. Their levels are very, very low. It's very hard to reach those standards. It's so hard that they excluded produce from Prop 65, because potatoes, carrots, spinach, all those things that are grown in the earth.

[A]

Cassava, I bet, too, yeah.

[B]

Will Never pass Prop 65 because they contain too much lead. But crazy enough, we have way less lead today than we did in the 70s and 60s and things like that, which is just a little interesting fact. We all freak out about lead, but we actually are consuming way less today than we were back in the day. So anyway, so produce has been exempt from the Prop 65 Unless you make a product with produce. So make that make sense. You can't. And so I'm learning that a lot of people use natural flavors and don't use a real strawberry one. It's cheaper, it's easier, but also because then it doesn't have the lead. Strawberries contain lead being grown in the earth because the lead comes from the crust of the earth. But the cool thing, though, because you don't see people walking around with lead toxicity who are eating a ton of strawberries. The missing key that people don't talk about is that the real food contains cofactors to help your body eliminate the lead. So it's got cofactors like calcium, zinc, zinc, glutathione, B vitamins, things like that that will help get the lead out of your body. So amazing. Anyway, so we have protein powders that use real food. We do not use any natural flavors because natural flavors is a hidden term. I mean they can hide anything under that term, as you know. So we use real strawberries, real cacao, things like that. So we have to try to get those levels under Prop 65 levels, which are really stringent. I think we do an amazing job. We have tested every single ingredient in our protein powder and we figure out who's causing the highest number. And at one time it was the pumpkin seed. So we brought in pumpkin seed from literally all over the world to find the lowest amount of lead in that pumpkin seed and we now use that one. And so we are very careful always testing our products, things like that. But what happened is in our chocolate it will test as like 0.44 on one batch and 0.45 on a next batch and 0.49 on a batch. Well, one batch tested as 0.51 and you have to be 0.5 or under. And so we got caught with that one being 0.51 because it went out without a California Prop 65 warning on it. And so we did get a little hand slap for it or others can say a lawsuit for it. And so so now those that go to California do have the label on it. Some people that worries them. To me, it doesn't worry me at all because we're using real food. So it also has all the co factors in there to help eliminate that. If you have an artificial protein that is all artificial foods and things from the lab and those can test really high in lead as well. Because artificial foods can test high in lead. That's more concerning to me. And so it doesn't concern me that a couple of our proteins, the strawberry and the chocolate, might just barely go over that Prop 65 level. And so our chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, snickerdoodle, Quite a few of our things are NSF certified and NSF is one of the third party testing labs that is known throughout the world. There's three real big labs and NSF is one of them. And so we took our products to NSF and they test for over 350 different contaminants, heavy metals, mold, Bacteria, I mean, you name it, they test for it. And we passed NSF standards because they don't believe in the Prop 65 standard because it's so hard with produce that they lift it just a little bit. And so we pass NSF standards so athletes can have our products, things like that. So I truly believe we're one of the cleanest protein powders in the world, just because I know the time that we, that we've spent bringing in each individual ingredient, testing those ingredients, putting them together.

[A]

That's amazing. And I'm so glad that you explained all that because, you know, I get a lot of questions from people. I will tell you, it drives me nuts because in the health and wellness world, there has become this obsession with heavy metals. And as someone who tries to educate people and I give them healthy swaps and I say, hey, buy this instead of that. Or, or, or I'll just simply show on my Instagram, like, hey, I'm. I'm eating this today. Like, Hue chocolate is a perfect example. Somebody did a test of them years ago. Apparently it's really high in a bunch of heavy metals. But what people don't understand is any good dark chocolate, because cacao pulls heavy metals from the soil, is going to be higher in heavy metals. Just period, end of story. If you're getting, like a Hershey's bar where they barely have any real cacao in there, it's probably going to be low in heavy metals, but then it's not going to happen. All of the good benefits from the dark chocolate, right?

[B]

The antioxidants, the CO factors to pull the lead out, all the nourishing things that come from dark chocolate.

[A]

And it drives me nuts because we hear all the time from people that are outside of the wellness world and they're like, oh, I could never live in that way. You guys think that you need to live in a bubble and everything's a toxin and this and that. And this is where I push back on the heavy metals. Thing is, look, we can't live in a bubble. It is, is literally impossible. And do you want to now not be eating strawberries and not be eating cassava and not be eating carrots, Potatoes, carrots, potatoes. Like, everything that's good for us. And like you said, we have those CO factors in those foods that allow the body to then detoxify and get rid of those contaminants. And I really believe in testing, not guessing. So let's say that you get blood work back and you do have really high levels of a Heavy metal. Then you can reassess your pantry, get some things tested, toss some things out that are higher in that. But I would prefer to live in a world where I just want to eat as much whole real foods as possible. And it's. You're going to be playing whack a mole if you're, like, trying to figure out, like, oh, my God. Well, this is high in heavy metals, and this is high in heavy metals. It's like, it's just a part of living in our world.

[B]

Do you want to hear something interesting? So I've talked to numerous doctors about this, and the doctors that I've spoken to have never found someone with lead poisoning because of food. It is purely from paint. Like, in their homes, you know, the paint before the 80s that is just toxic, and they're not removing it correctly. Like, some people are just scraping it off, trying to repaint and get rid of it. And they're breathing it in and inhaling it. It's from things like that or even, like, eating off these ceramic plates that are just full of lead. Things like that that are causing it, rather than the food itself. And so these people have taken. And if you ask these people on the Internet. Cause they'll claim, like, oh, my kids were so sick, they got lead poisoning. They got the lead poisoning from paint. They did not get the lead poisoning from eating too many strawberries or eating too much spinach or eating too many potatoes. Never do. We don't even know of people like that. So we've messed up the narrative of this. Yeah. Lead toxicity is a concern for sure. Yeah.

[A]

It's serious.

[B]

But it is in the. It's in paints. It's in those types of things in your home that you're breathing all day long. It's not in. And the lead toxicity concerns are not from the strawberries.

[A]

Yeah, well. Cause if that was. If it was as big of deal as we're making it out to be, then literally everyone would have lead toxicity.

[B]

We all would. From eating fruits and veggies. And especially the crunchy people who love to eat the fruits and veggies would be all very high in heavy metals. And so I went and got my heavy metals tested. In fact, we did. Like, all of my employees. Mine were the lowest out of, like, all the employees there. Wow. And so. So, yeah.

[A]

Yeah. And look, our bodies have detoxification pathways. They have a way to get this stuff out. And. Yeah. It's just. It drives me so mad because there's, like, this crazy obsession with it in my opinion right now online and I just wanted to address it. And also I just want to say one more thing about the Prop 65 that I had just learned. And it's the reason I wanted to talk to you about this because I don't think many of my listeners know this. So you kind of briefly touched on this. But Prop 65, in my personal opinion is, I don't want to say it's a full blown scam, but it's a little bit of a scam because there's many things that don't, that don't actually apply in a Prop 65 that should. Like for example, vaccines are out of Prop 65 and we know that they're adding mercury to it and produce is another one. And there's a whole list of them that I'll add in the show notes that I wish I'd written down. But there was a bunch of them that are completely excluded from that label, which I think is crazy. And then another thing that I just learned that a lot of these food companies just preemptively put a Prop 65 label on their product because they're so worried about getting sued by people because there are these predatory companies now that just go after companies if they don't have it on there. And so they, this is just what I have been told is that a third party company, like apparently there's this one company that just fully exists to do this to companies where they will seek out a brand, they will send out a product from the brand and get it tested personally. And then if it doesn't match up what the brand says that theirs is, which it's not always going to match up because if you're picking produce every week it's going to be a different level based on like, you know, where it was sourced from or maybe you just just changed sources or whatever it is, if they don't fully match up, then that company can now sue your company and saying that you're making false claims. So I heard that a lot of companies now, because they don't want to be taken down by predatory companies like that, they just put a Prop 65 label on it and just say, you know what, we're protecting our business so that these people don't come after us and sue us.

[B]

Yeah, it's sad. So people are doing that. But here's the crazy part to this. You want to hear the what's even crazier? So well, one, they go test it, but you can test heavy metals a whole variety of ways. And so when you go to nsf, they will test, like, by vapors, but. Or vapors and gas and steam and water, but then also dry. Like, they do a whole analysis of it where these people can just do a $200Amazon test, you know, and be like, oh, you don't pass Prop 65, and then sue you for it. And then you have to fight that you're testing shows that you do pass it, things like that. And so how you test it can differ things like that. But the crazy part is. Here's the crazy part I was going to get to People started just slapping Prop 65 labels on everything, right? And so someone came after me and was like, why didn't you just prop 65 everything? Then like, you're lying. Just put it on everything. Well, here's the problem now. Now they're coming after you and suing you if you put it on a product that will never not pass by Prop 65. So if you just blanketly slam them on every product, then you can now get in trouble for that as well. So now companies are really in this tight line of like, well, I can't ever put it on my lemon lime electrolytes, because those will never not pass. They're so low. Like, limes and lemons are just so low that those will never not pass. So if I stuck a label on that, I could get in trouble for that one. And so it's this crazy line that we have to walk. And so. But you might put it on the lemon lime just in case someone has a crappy testing kit that shows something high, you know, and so. But people in California, like, this warning label isn't even a concern to them anymore because people are slapping it on everything. So you go to the park and you'll see it on the play equipment at the park. We went to Disneyland last month, and literally, as you're walking into Disneyland is a big Prop 65 warning label. And they're like, things inside the park may, you know, not pass. Well, if we're slapping this on everything, who's even looking at it then? And when is it even really warning us that there is something of concern? And so it's missed its intention, I think, by now.

[A]

Totally. I think it started with good intention, but now it has become something that's really not helpful for people. As someone who lived in California for a decade, by the end of it, I was just like, oh, okay. Another product that had, like, I just didn't even care about it anymore because it's on everything.

[B]

And you can't trust it. You're like, is that label on there because it truly has lead or it's on there because they're afraid they're going to get sued?

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

So you have no idea. Or is it on there because it really does have high amounts of cadmium and we really should be worried about it. You don't even know anymore.

[A]

I know. That's the problem. So what, what do you suggest that people do as far as like when they're looking for products? What do you suggest that they do as far as like trying to find the healthiest, best products? Like, what should they look for that they're testing? I guess. Should we not be worried about Prop 65? Like what's kind of your one?

[B]

I think people should realize because I was really concerned about it for a while and then when I started talking to doctors and realizing that the lead toxicity is coming from paint and things in the home, crystal dishes and paint on baby bottles and things like that, that's to me more of the concern than the real food. But at the same time, I think companies should be transparent and just show you their coas because on their coas will show their heavy metal amounts. And maybe you choose like 0.5 is the California one for lead. I've seen COAS that are popular brands that have lead of 7 point something. To me that's too high that I don't want to consume. But if we're right around that 0.5, even under, under 1, I am fine with that. Like that's just nature. That is literally the strawberries, the cacao. When you're at seven point something for a healthy drink, something's happening. Something's happening in the processing, the manufacturing, the water. Something's being added in there. And so then that's when I would be of concern. So I would just say ask the companies for their coas if they don't want to provide their coas. That's also when I get a little hesitant of like, like, well, do you have a seven something lead? And that's why you're not wanting to show the COA. So our COAs are just on the website so anybody can click on them and see. And yeah, if people are concerned, that's where I would start is just asking people, asking companies for their coas but at the same time realizing they're never going to get lead toxicity from eating too many strawberries, spinach, carrots, potatoes, those things. And stick with the whole foods that have the co factors that your body, bodies have Known for thousands of years. How to deal with this lead. It's from the crust of the earth. Like, this is not our day's problem. Our bodies have dealt with this for thousands of years. So eat the real food that the body is meant to have.

[A]

Exactly. And just because people love to put words into my mouth that I don't actually say, I just want to be very clear to say. I am not saying that I don't think heavy metals are not an issue. I think that they're very, very serious and important to pay attention to. I'm just tired of. Of this, like, over exaggeration of fear around all of it and around things that we can't actually really control.

[B]

Well, okay. And those that are over exaggerating and causing fear, let's also realize that there's a motive behind that, because you. It's really easy to sue other companies for Prop 65. It's a big scam out there that many, many people are doing. And so that is one of the reasons they're over exaggerating it so that they then can go sue the company.

[A]

Exactly. Yeah. So I just wanted. I'm so glad that we addressed because I really want people to understand that. Okay, so in the essence of time, is there anything that we haven't covered that you think is really important for my audience to hear?

[B]

I would just say I have a lot of followers that are dealing with a health issue. And so, I mean, we sort of mentioned this. But seriously, go find a doctor that will help you with your root cause. If you have symptoms, it's your body speaking to you. Your body is amazing. It's just trying to tell you, hey, check this out. Go get help with this. And so find that doctor that's just not gonna slap a band aid on it. And the band aid's okay, maybe for a minute. But let's find the underlying root cause so that we can then nourish our body and fuel it properly so that it can do its best in return for us.

[A]

Yeah, I love that so much. Just encouraging people to get to the root cause of whatever it is that they're dealing with and to not believe the myth that we've been told for so long that, oh, diet, lifestyle, all that doesn't matter. It actually really makes all the difference in the world for me.

[B]

It was my whole life. Yeah, it depended on that.

[A]

Well, I'm so grateful that you're here with us because your work is amazing and you're helping so many people, and I'm so grateful for your time.

[B]

Thank you so much.

[A]

Yeah, so thank you so much for coming on. And if you just want to share with everyone where they can find you and where they can find all of your amazing products.

[B]

Yeah. So we're on Instagram and it's just dot ingredients. We also have a just Ingredients Shop page on Instagram that that's where we show all of our products and recipes to make with our products, things like. But on my page it's just all about health and wellness. We also are on TikTok trying that same Just Ingredients. Just Ingredients shop. We have a Facebook group. I've got a podcast as well, the just Ingredients podcast. So anything basically just ingredients.

[A]

Amazing. I love that. And please, if you have not tried her products yet, definitely go check them out. I love the protein. I also love that your electrolytes have no natural flavors.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

Yeah, they're all awesome. So definitely go check them out. And thank you so much for listening, guys. Thanks for coming on. Thank you so much for listening to the Real Foodology podcast. This is a Wellness Loud production produced by Drake Peterson and mixed by Mike Fry. Theme song is by Georgie. You can watch the full video version of this podcast inside the Spotify app or on YouTube. As always, you can leave us a voicemail by clicking the link in our bio. And if you like this episode, please rate and review on your podcast app. For more shows by my team, go to wellnessloud.com See you next time. The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual medical and mental health advice and doesn't constitute a provider patient relationship. I am a nutritionist, but I am not your nutritionist. As always, talk to your doctor or your health team first. Are you ready to rock middle age? I'm Dr. Tina Moore, Gen X truth teller and holistic physician on the Dr. Tina show, one of Apple Podcasts Podcast Top alternative health shows. I share what actually works for metabolic.

[B]

Health, hormones and strength.

[A]

Backed by decades of clinical results, not trends. From loving the gym and hitting your protein goals to peptides and microdosing GLP1s, it's all done the right way, not the hype way. Because menopause doesn't have to suck if you're fit. New episodes every Thursday. Produced by Drake Peterson and Wellness Loud.