Courtney Swan On The Scary Truth About America’s Food System, Toxic Ingredients Hiding In Your Pantry, & How To Protect Your Health

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Show

Episode Title: Courtney Swan On The Scary Truth About America’s Food System, Toxic Ingredients Hiding In Your Pantry, & How To Protect Your Health
Release Date: July 7, 2025
Hosts: Lauryn Bosstick & Michael Bosstick
Guest: Courtney Swan, Nutritionist and Whistleblower on the Food Industry

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Introduction

In this enlightening episode of The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Show, hosts Lauryn and Michael Bosstick dive deep into the murky waters of America's food system with special guest Courtney Swan. Courtney, a renowned nutritionist and modern-day whistleblower, sheds light on the hidden toxins lurking in everyday groceries, the deceptive nature of food labeling, and actionable steps listeners can take to safeguard their health.

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Unveiling the Hidden Dangers in Our Food

Michael Bostic kicks off the conversation by addressing the resistance faced when discussing food industry reforms. He expresses frustration over being mislabeled as a MAGA influencer, emphasizing the bipartisan nature of the issue.

"This is bipartisan. This affects all of us." [00:58]

Courtney Swan introduces the topic of synthetic food dyes, specifically Red 40. Michael elaborates on the current efforts to phase out these dyes by 2026, highlighting the agreement with major companies like PepsiCo and the resistance from the food industry.

"The FDA is just saying we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way." [02:52]

Lauryn Evarts underscores the impact of negative press and consumer awareness, suggesting that food companies are likely to abandon harmful ingredients due to mounting scrutiny.

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FDA Regulations and Global Standards

Michael Bostic criticizes the FDA's delayed recognition of the dangers posed by synthetic dyes and other additives. He contrasts the U.S. approach with that of the EU, which bans fewer additives but has stricter evaluation processes.

"They have a lot of money and power... they've allowed all this." [05:08]

The discussion shifts to other concerning additives like BHT, a preservative linked to colon cancer, and the staggering number of additives permitted in the U.S. compared to the EU.

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Personal Experiences and Industry Insights

Courtney Swan shares her observations from attending food industry roundtables, where the lack of regulation and self-regulation by big food companies were glaringly evident. Michael reveals his journey from a vegetarian to an integrative nutritionist after uncovering the depths of corruption in the food industry.

"The most shocking... because I had always thought, well, if it's on the shelf, then it has to be safe." [07:35]

He recounts how influential figures like Vani Hari (the Food Babe) and authors like Michael Pollan inspired his activism and eventual creation of the Real Foodology blog.

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Practical Tips for Consumers

Michael Bostic offers practical advice for consumers looking to reduce toxin exposure:

1. Choose Organic: Whenever possible, opt for 100% USDA Organic products to avoid glyphosate and other harmful pesticides.

2. Consult the Environmental Working Group: Utilize their "Dirty Dozen" and "Clean 15" lists to identify which fruits and vegetables are most and least likely to contain pesticide residues.

3. Proper Washing Techniques: Soaking produce in baking soda or using ozone water machines can help remove pesticide residues.

4. Detoxing Practices: Incorporate saunas and supplements like phosphatidylcholine to aid the body's detoxification processes.

"To soak your berries and everything else, your produce in baking soda is a great way to get pesticide residue off." [12:30]

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Factory Farming and Its Consequences

The conversation delves into the grim realities of factory farming, including the confined living conditions of animals, the use of genetically modified grains, and the widespread use of antibiotics and hormones.

Michael Bostic emphasizes the environmental and health impacts of conventional farming practices, such as soil ecosystem destruction and decreased nutrient levels in produce.

"We're spraying everything with glyphosate. We're destroying the ecosystem of the soil." [18:30]

He advocates for regenerative farming as a sustainable alternative that benefits the environment, animal welfare, and human health.

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Navigating Food Labels and Trustworthy Certifications

Lauryn Evarts raises questions about the reliability of various food labels and certifications, prompting Michael to discuss which labels consumers can trust.

"The USDA organic... but it also has its flaws." [08:27]

Michael recommends certifications like the Non-GMO Project, Regenerative Agriculture stamps, and Glyphosate Residue-Free labels as more reliable indicators of healthier food choices.

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Activism and Policy Influence

Michael Bostic recounts his involvement in policy discussions and his participation in a nutrition roundtable hosted by Bernie Kennedy and Senator Ron Johnson. He highlights the collaborative efforts with other thought leaders to advocate for food system reform.

"I want to be free and true to what I believe and true to my morals." [35:24]

Despite facing backlash and being mislabeled, Michael remains steadfast in his mission to inform and empower consumers.

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Daily Practices and Personal Choices

The discussion transitions to personal habits, with Michael sharing his daily routines, supplement choices, and favorite brands that align with his health-conscious lifestyle.

"I buy organic whenever possible... soak your berries in baking soda." [12:30]

He lists trusted brands like Simple Mills, Siete, and Sustain Life, and discusses the importance of reading ingredient labels to avoid ultra-processed foods.

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Rapid Fire and Personal Anecdotes

In a lighter segment, Courtney engages Michael in rapid-fire questions, revealing his guilty pleasures like tequila and his take on popular health trends such as the carnivore diet. The hosts also share humorous anecdotes about grocery store mishaps and family dynamics related to food choices.

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Conclusion

The episode wraps up with Michael recommending the book In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan as a seminal work that ignited his passion for food system reform. He encourages listeners to follow his podcast, Real Foodology, for more insights and practical guides on navigating the complex food landscape.

"If you could get everyone in America to stop buying one product, I would say ultra processed foods." [51:25]

Lauryn Evarts and Michael Bostic conclude by reiterating the importance of being informed consumers and advocates for a healthier, more transparent food system.

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Key Takeaways

• Awareness of Food Additives: Understanding the harmful effects of synthetic dyes, preservatives, and other additives is crucial for making healthier food choices.

• Importance of Organic and Regenerative Farming: Choosing organic products and supporting regenerative farming practices can mitigate exposure to toxins and support environmental sustainability.

• Consumer Empowerment: Educated consumers can drive change by demanding transparency and better practices from food companies.

• Critical Reading of Food Labels: Recognizing trustworthy certifications and scrutinizing ingredient lists can help avoid ultra-processed and chemically-laden foods.

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Notable Quotes

• "The FDA is just saying we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way." — Michael Bostic [02:52]

• "If you had chosen to live one way and follow the typical American diet and then people like yourself that have chosen to live this way... would paint very different pictures." — Lauryn Evarts [25:07]

• "We're not eating real food anymore. We need to get back to eating real food." — Courtney Swan [28:41]

• "Ultra processed foods... stop buying fake foods and start eating and buying real whole foods." — Michael Bostic [51:25]

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Resources Mentioned

• Environmental Working Group: For the Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 lists.
• Real Foodology Podcast: realfoodology.com
• Book Recommendation: In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

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This episode serves as a crucial wake-up call about the unseen dangers in our food system and empowers listeners with the knowledge to make informed, health-conscious decisions.

Transcript

[Lauren Everts]

The following podcast is a Dear Media Production. She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire.

[Michael Bostic]

Fantastic.

[Lauren Everts]

And he's a serial entrepreneur, a very smart cookie. And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you along for the ride.

[Michael Bostic]

Get ready for some major realness.

[Lauren Everts]

Welcome to the Skinny Confidential. Him and her. Hello everybody. Welcome back to the Skinny Confidential him and her show. What if we told you that the food you've been eating your whole life, foods labeled as healthy, may be the exact thing causing your bloating, fatigue, brain fog, skin issues. So much more. Today's guest, Courtney Swan, isn't just a nutritionist. She's a modern day whistleblower on the food industry. From hidden toxins in everyday groceries to the truth behind food labeling, she's here to help you and us take back your power one bite at a time. With that Courtney Swan. Welcome to the Skinny Confidential him and her show. This is the Skinny Confidential him and Her.

[Michael Bostic]

So I've been trying to get this message out for almost 14 years now. And I am blown away by the resistance that we're getting right now. I'm getting so many comments from people saying, oh, this is just another MAGA influencer. They're calling me maga. And I mean, look, I'll be very transparent. I actually voted for Obama both terms. I am here for Maha and I love the momentum that it's getting right now. And anywhere that we can get this on a platform and out to Americans and how we can actually address our broken food system is what I'm going to stand for. And that's what Maha really stands for. This is bipartisan. This affects all of us.

[Courtney Swan]

Talk to us about the red food dye band. Is that how you say it? Red 40. What is it?

[Michael Bostic]

Okay, so it's actually all synthetic food dye. So last week I was actually on stage sitting behind Marty McCary, who's the new commissioner of commissioner of the FDA and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. When they announced that they are so okay, so there's a lot of nuance here because everybody's saying it's not technically a ban, but what they say said is that they want to phase food dyes out by 2026. Right now they have an agreement with the food companies. PepsiCo has already agreed to remove these synthetic food dyes from our food system. That is huge. Now everybody's pushing back saying, well, it's not actually a ban and the FDA is not going to actually be able to enforce it. So they have the ability to enforce it. And they said Marty McCary the head of the FDA said that they will enforce it if they have to, but right now they're asking the companies to take the easy way out. And, and what's also happening right now is we just watched Washington, or I'm sorry, not Washington, West Virginia just banned synthetic food dyes. There's also 25 other states that are banning them right now currently. So if these food companies don't comply on their own right now, they're going to be forced to anyways because they're going to have to reformulate for all of these states that are already doing it. So essentially the FDA is just saying we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way. So if you guys want to agree to do it right now, we're going to do it. Otherwise the FDA is going to come in and, and command them to actually remove them.

[Lauren Everts]

I would imagine now with the press that, you know, when I say press, just like basically the mass information that is coming out now around dies, that the food companies would be incentivized to get rid of them regardless of any, you know, bans. Because people are now starting to talk about how terrible these things are. There's so many people like yourself and others that are bringing awareness. Like if I'm a food company and I'm an executive there, the writing's kind of on the wall, right? Like so many people are going to bring out other alternatives without these ingredients. And if you're like the one big company that's still doing it when they're getting this kind of negative press and information, it doesn't seem so smart long term to keep it in the first place.

[Michael Bostic]

Exactly. And the FDA is starting to recognize how harmful these synthetic dyes are for us. They're a byproduct of petroleum in places like the uk they already recognize that they cause behavioral issues in children and they're also, they have concerning links to cancer. So it's crazy that we've let them stay in our food for this long. And now the FDA is no longer suppressing the truth around that and they're allowing the public to actually have access to the truth. And like you said, these companies are, I mean, they would be stupid to not do that. And a lot of these CEOs, they have children, they're concerned about this too. They're learning about it and they want to, they want to do better.

[Courtney Swan]

Why is the FDA just starting to recognize this? This is mind blowing to me. I take my kids on Sunday to a birthday party, they act different you recognize that? Like, it's, it's like the writing's on the wall. I don't understand why it takes them this long to acknowledge something that's a serious issue.

[Michael Bostic]

That's the million dollar question. And this is what started all this. Because Vani Hari, the food babe, about 10 years ago, started raising awareness around this. And she, she was showing Americans, look, in places like the UK and in Canada, they're using vegetable juices to dye their cereals. And she was basically raising the alarm for people because we never realized that before then. And what's crazy is that last fall, Bernie actually had a hearing with the former. What was he, the commissioner of the fda, I believe. And you can actually look this up online. He admits to Bernie in court. He says, look, we don't have all the manpower to do this. We need more resources, we need more money. And they are, admittedly, they admitted that they're about 10 years behind the science in all of this. So why. I don't know. I believe that there's a lot of corruption, there's a lot of lobbying happening in Washington. A lot of these food companies. I mean, there's. There's 10 food companies that own the entirety of our food system. They have a lot of money and power.

[Lauren Everts]

On that note, what are things that the FDA has allowed companies to use in terms of ingredients in this country that are banned in other countries? Like maybe the big ones that people aren't aware of?

[Michael Bostic]

Yeah. So the, the food dyes would be number one. So we're phasing those out. I would say BHT is another one that I'm really concerned about. This is a preservative that see in. You often see it like Cheez Its, for example.

[Courtney Swan]

I love Cheez its. You're going to ruin Cheit for me.

[Michael Bostic]

Get.

[Courtney Swan]

I love Cheez its.

[Michael Bostic]

Get Simple Mills. Simple Mills has a cheese like the same. I know.

[Courtney Swan]

I wish it was the same, Courtney. It's not the same.

[Michael Bostic]

I know.

[Lauren Everts]

It doesn't have all the chemicals.

[Michael Bostic]

Exactly.

[Unknown]

Go ahead.

[Courtney Swan]

Ruined cheese.

[Michael Bostic]

Yeah. So I would say in general, there's just a lot of food additives. So BHT is one I'm really concerned about because it has concerning links to colon cancer and other countries are recognizing this. So if you look at the EU versus the United States, the EU bans four or, sorry, they allow 400 additives in the United States. We are allowing around 4,000 to 10,000 different additives in our food, depending on, like, what you classify as additives. But that's insane. 400 to 4,000 to 10,000 additives.

[Lauren Everts]

Big difference.

[Michael Bostic]

It's a huge difference.

[Courtney Swan]

What has been the most surprising thing to you personally over the last 14 years, where it, like just rocked you, you couldn't believe it behind the scenes.

[Michael Bostic]

So there's a couple one, a couple of them. I would say the biggest wake up moment for me was that just because it's on the shelf does not mean that it's safe and regulated. The fda, like I said earlier, admitted that they do not have the manpower to be regulating all this. And the big food companies are regulating themselves. Right now we have the foxes guarding the hen house in order to add a new additive into our food system here. And then the FDA just stamps a generally recognized as safe stamp on it. All they have to do is their own research and say, hey, we did research and we found that this is safe. And the FDA goes, okay, we generally recognize this as safe. Whereas you look at places like in the eu, for example, they have a cautionary approach where they say, you know what, we're going to exercise caution with this. We're going to study it more. We're going to make sure that it's actually okay before we put it in our food system. Whereas with here in the fda, they say, well, this is generally recognized as safe, so we'll throw it in and then we'll pull it out later. And so that, to me was, I think, the most shocking because I had always thought, well, if it's on the shelf, then it has to be safe. Right. And vetted for. But, you know, our food system right now is largely driven for profit. It's not driven with, with health in mind.

[Lauren Everts]

Yeah, we had Bobby Parrish on the show yesterday.

[Michael Bostic]

I don't know if you're amazing.

[Lauren Everts]

Yeah, he was great.

[Michael Bostic]

He's a friend of mine, but he.

[Lauren Everts]

Was talking about all the labeling and we were getting into issues like, you know, organic and non GMO and, you know, what was like the American Heart association and all these things that most consumers, if they don't go down the rabbit hole, as many of us have done, would just assume that it's, it's safe and healthy. And there's a board of doctors that have said, hey, this is good for you. And I think when you start to really unpeel what some of these labels mean and you know, what they stand for, it's scary because people are led to believe in many cases that, that these, with these stamps of approval from these organizations mean that it's healthy for you. In many cases, it's not.

[Michael Bostic]

No. It usually means that that company paid for that stamp. And. And then. Yeah, there's so much corruption with, like, the American Heart Association. I mean, they're stamping that on Cheerios.

[Lauren Everts]

So how do people know which labels to trust? And are there labels that you can trust?

[Michael Bostic]

That's a really great question. I mean, for me, the one that I trust the most, but I still have concerns about is the USDA organic. You want it to be 100% USDA organic. Now that that system also has it flaw, has its flaws, and I would love to see it more regulated. I would say that one is the really. Well, there's a couple, actually. There's a non GMO project, for the most part, I think is pretty good to know that your food's not genetically modified. Oh, there's a new stamp coming out. I don't know the exact name, but there's a regenerative agriculture stamp that I'm starting to see on foods. And then there's also another one, glyphosate residue free, which I always look for, because glyphosate is something that I'm super concerned about.

[Courtney Swan]

Okay. I tried to go down this rabbit hole yesterday with Bobby, and he was like, lauren, you gotta put a pin in it.

[Michael Bostic]

Oh, we'll go there.

[Courtney Swan]

Yeah. No, he was like. He was like. You guys both were like, you're in your tin hat. This is what I started to think. I started to think, okay, if there's almond flour in all of these things that is being replaced in all these healthy foods, what's being sprayed on the almond flour or the almonds? And he was like, okay, like, you might have.

[Lauren Everts]

No, but what she was saying, like, say, take simple mills, for example. So just pick on that brand for. It's a big brand now. Yeah, you can do that. They're not small anymore. You would look and they would have the proper labels. But then she's like, yeah, but then what? What about the crops that that almond came from? And, like, can you trust it still?

[Courtney Swan]

Or Courtney's going down the rabbit hole with me. So talk to us about that.

[Lauren Everts]

But at some point, you know, like, can you just eat nothing?

[Michael Bostic]

I know. And this is the thing. And I do want to. I do want to address this at some point, because that's part of my message of. I think so many people hear my message, and then they just throw their hands up in there in the air and they go, oh, okay, Well, I just. There's nothing to eat anymore. It's absolutely not True. But it's important that people know this because the more that we know this, the more that we can create change because we're, we're driving the trends, consumers are driving the trends. And the more that we, the more that our food system will be forced to do better. So the thing about glyphosate and the reason why I'm so concerned about it is because this is a herbicide that's widely used in American agriculture. And it is pretty much to be expected that if your food is not organic that it has probably been sprayed by glyphosate. It is an herbicide. It has been recognized by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the iarc, that it is a probable human carcinogen. It has a really insidious past. It's a similar chemical compound to something that they were using in World War II with Nazis. It was actually a similar compound that they were using in gas chambers and also for nerve agents.

[Courtney Swan]

God forbid I ask if that's being sprayed on my kids food. Michael.

[Lauren Everts]

No, no, I'm not saying, I'm not, I'm not saying you should ask it.

[Michael Bostic]

Yeah, it's beyond.

[Courtney Swan]

So go ahead.

[Michael Bostic]

So, okay, so Monsanto is the creator of glyphosate. Monsanto was bought in 2018 by Bayer, big pharmaceutical company. And now they're also an agrochemical company because they bought Monsanto. And what was happening after the war is they brought these chemicals over and they started spraying them on the farmland and they told these farmers these, it's totally safe and fine to use, but what's happening is that it was killing everything on the farm. So what they did is Monsanto created genetically modified seeds in order to withstand the glyphosate. So when they plant these seeds now, they can grow the food and then it kills everything else off and they can spray everything with glyphosate and the plants will still grow. So my concern is why are we eating these toxic chemicals that we know are creating that are causing cancer? We know at this point that it causes cancer. There's a, there's actually a ton of litigation right now. So Bayer, this is what's so insidious about the company that's creating glyphosate. So currently right now they're going state by state and they are asking for immunity from the states so that if you or I got cancer, we would not be allowed to sue them if we got cancer. Because what's been happening is they have been getting sued like crazy. They have paid out over $2 billion to farmers that have gotten cancer from using glyphosate. And they've proved it time and time and time again. And they're going, we don't want to be sued out of business. But instead of recognizing that what they're doing is causing cancer, they're just doubling down.

[Courtney Swan]

What do you do in your own home? Like, I think it starts in your home. It does with your own fruits and vegetables. Are you washing them with baking soda? Is there something that we need to know about this spray that it's on? Something we don't know about?

[Unknown]

What are you doing?

[Michael Bostic]

So I buy organic whenever possible, and I know that that's not accessible for everybody, so I also want to give a tip for that, too. If you are not able to afford all organic, you can look up the Environmental Working Group. They have the Dirty Dozen and the clean 15, and they release these every year. And essentially, it's a list of the Dirty dozen. So it's 12 foods that are for sure the most highly sprayed with pesticides. And they test them every year, and they say, like, and their berries are always on the top because they're spraying those really heavily. And they don't have a skin that you can, like, peel off. So I would say always buy your berries. Things like that organ, and then things like avocado bananas, for example, would be considered on the clean 15. And they usually have lower levels of pesticide. By law in this country, USDA organic is not allowed to be sprayed with glyphosate. So I do not bring personally anything into my home that's not organic, Period. End of story. Now, there's a lot of people that push back, and they say, well, organic is still using other pesticides and herbicides, and glyphosate is showing up in organic food. That is true. And this is why we need it to be addressed on a federal level, because it's showing up in our rainwater, it's showing up in our drinking water, it's showing up in organic food. But for me personally, I do organic food also. Soaking your berries and everything else, your produce in baking soda is a great way to get pesticide residue off. You can also get. I mean, if you have the money for it. Like, I have friends that have an ozone water machine, and apparently that gets it off, too. They'll, like, soak their berries in that. But that's what I do personally. Oh, and also, too, another thing that I really focus on detoxing as well. I know you guys are really big on the sauna I try to sauna a couple times a week. I'm taking something called body biopc. It's phosphatidylcholine. And it helps your body's cell just clean itself of everything, like heavy metals, glyphosate, all the toxins that we're being exposed to. And that's what I do personally. And then I just.

[Courtney Swan]

That's a good tip. I gotta look at the. The ozone water machine. But it is as easy as cleaning your stuff with baking soda. I. I've been on this kiwi kick.

[Michael Bostic]

Yes. Of you.

[Courtney Swan]

Like, I've just been eating so many kiwis. And the other day we got the kiwis in the house and they look like kiwis. They're like, brown. And then we put them in the baking soda and clean them and they're. They almost turn, like, white.

[Michael Bostic]

Oh.

[Courtney Swan]

And that just shows you how much shit is on. Like, they don't. It's not white skin.

[Unknown]

Yeah, it turns white.

[Courtney Swan]

It's not white. White's the wrong color.

[Unknown]

It's like a light brown.

[Michael Bostic]

It's like a light tan.

[Courtney Swan]

It's not the color that you see in the grocery store.

[Lauren Everts]

I need to watch this process that you're doing because I need to make sure you're not messing up my.

[Courtney Swan]

You should feel. He should be so excited that I'm to going cleaning all of our fruits and vegetables with baking soda.

[Lauren Everts]

I don't know. I gotta. I gotta watch what you're doing.

[Courtney Swan]

I gotta go take a kiwi, you guys, and put it in baking soda. And it doesn't turn white. It just turns, like, a lighter brown.

[Lauren Everts]

Yeah. But you know what? Your dad did this thing. Luckily, our kids don't listen to the podcast yet because they're too little. He did this thing on our walkways in our. You know, in our house to show, like, reindeer hoof prints.

[Michael Bostic]

Oh, that's cute.

[Lauren Everts]

And it's cute. Yes. For Christmas brought. It was very cute. But now there's these big, like, yellow baking powder spots on the wall.

[Courtney Swan]

Cause it's a cleaner and I can't get it in a natural way.

[Lauren Everts]

And so I'm wondering if that's what you're doing to our kiwis. And also, Brad, when are we gonna get that off my. My walkway? You know what I mean? Cause, like, yeah, it doesn't look great. I'm like, now it's kind of like, fucked up.

[Michael Bostic]

Like, we're getting a summer here. It's not Christmas anymore.

[Courtney Swan]

What do you feel needs to be exposed about factory farming.

[Michael Bostic]

Oh, my gosh. Okay. Well, first of all, in the factory farming setting, those animals are sick. I mean, they're not living a life that they're meant to live. And also, they're. To me, it's. It's absolutely horrible. This is actually. This was my gateway into all of this. I went. I actually went vegetarian when I was first learning about all this maybe 18 years ago. And I since now eat meat. But I was horrified when I was learning about all the practices. So they're in very confined spaces. Many of them are gated, like, you know, right next to each other. And they're just. They can't move. They're being fed genetically modified grains. They're getting antibiotics and hormones. They're on medicine prophylactically, meaning preventatively, because they live in such gross environment that they get sick. And so they try to keep them from getting sick proactively, and they're just not living a life that they're meant to. I mean, cows are meant to be grazing on grass. There's also. We can. We can go into regenerative farming, which is something that I'm really, really passionate about. But you need cows as part of this whole system. That is great for the environment. It's also great for our health as well. And then it's also great for the animals, too. So regenerative farming is practice where we are working with nature instead of against nature. What we're doing right now is conventional farming. We're spraying the land, you know, with pesticides and herbicides. We're tilling the land. So you see those machines where they pull up the topsoil that is damaging the ecosystem of the soil. And I've heard people say this before, experts that are in this field, they say that we as humans are only as healthy as our soil is. In this conventional practice, we're spraying everything with glyphosate. We're destroying the ecosystem of the soil. So all the bugs, the worms, everything that lives in that ecosystem that's feeding our plants. Well, now what's happening as a result? We're seeing all these reports saying that our. Our fruits, our vegetables, they're lower in vitamins and minerals, so everybody's having to take supplements. Now it's because we're ruined. The ability for these plants to get food and then everything. What is everybody else complaining about right now? Carbon. That's excess carbon in the atmosphere. When we leave nature to do her thing, naturally, it pulls carbon out of the atmosphere in this whole regenerative movement. And it's a process called carbon sequestration. That carbon is food for the plants. So then the plants are thriving. They have more vitamins and minerals and nutrients for us. And the cows also play a role in all of this with they're grazing, and when they're moving through and grazing, it helps with, like, the planting of all this variety of different, you know, seeds and grasses and. And produce. I'm incredibly passionate about this because then we're getting. We're getting back to the way that nature designed all of this and how we were supposed to be eating. And it. It produces healthier food for us. It's better for the planet because it's pulling the carbon out naturally, and it's better for the animals, too.

[Lauren Everts]

Quick break to talk about Armor Colostrum. Armor Colostrum revives cellular signaling, bolstering our health from within to defend against everyday threats. Colostrum is actually nature's first whole food with over 400 bioactive nutrients that work at the cellular level to reactivate your body's innate capacity to regenerate and thrive. This is why Lauren and I have been longtime users of Armor Colossium, because our biology was never designed to live in the environment we currently live in. Filled with EMFs, artificial light seed oils, microplastic endocrine disruptors, and so much more. What I love about Armor Colostrum is they have so many benefits that you can experience from a simple scoop of the Colossian powder. You can strengthen your immune system, you can fortify your gut health, you can ignite your metabolism, revitalize hair growth, enhance skin radiance, fuel performance and recovery, and just feel great. Lauren and I take this every single morning when we wake up. We give it to our kids, we give it to our dogs. What I've noticed since regularly taking Armor Colostrum is that I have not been getting sick whatsoever. I feel like my immune system is on fire. My gut health has never been better, and I just feel great. I have more energy, more vitality. So check them out. Of course, we've worked out a special offer for our audience. Receive 15% off your first order. Go to tryarmora.com/skinny or enter skinny to get 15% off your first order. That's T R Y A R m r a.com/skinny. So check them out. Of course, we've worked out a special offer for our audience. Receive 15% off your first order. Go to tryarmora.com skinny or enter skinny to get 15% off your first order. That's T R Y A r m r a.com skinny quick break to talk about Haya Health we spend so much time as adults, as parents trying to figure out how to take care of our children, how to get them the nutrition that they need and make sure that they're getting a whole foods diet. Doing the best that we can as parents. Here's the thing though. Typical children's vitamins are basically candy in disguise, filled with two teaspoons of sugar, unhealthy chemicals and other gummy additives growing kids should never eat. That's why Haya created a super powered chewable vitamin that our children love. While many children's vitamins are filled with 5 grams of sugar, which is known to contribute to a variety of health issues, Haya is made with zero sugar and zero gummy additives, yet it tastes great and is perfect for picky eaters. Lauren and I give it to our children every single morning. They look forward to it as part of their routine and it's something that they feel good about taking because we've explained that it's important in our house to be healthy. And if you're tired of battling with your kids, eat their greens. Haya now has Kids Daily Greens plus Superfoods, a chocolate flavored greens powder designed specifically for kids. Packed with 55 whole whole food ingredients to support brain power, development and digestion. Just scoop, shake and sip with milk or any non dairy beverage for a delicious and nutritious boost for your kids will actually enjoy. And now the same multivitamin that more than a million kids and parents love are now available with Disney's the Lion King with a new Lion King unboxing experience including Lion King bottle and Lion King stickers. And we've worked out a special deal with Haya for their best selling children's vitamin. Receive 50 off your first order. To claim this deal you must go to Hiya Health health.com skinny this deal is not available on their regular website. Go to H I Y-A H-E-A-L-T-.com skinny and get your kids the full body nourishment they need to grow into healthy adults.

[Unknown]

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[Courtney Swan]

Yep, we're going there because here's the deal.

[Unknown]

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[Courtney Swan]

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[Unknown]

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[Lauren Everts]

What scares me about some of this stuff too as it relates to factory farming and in many cases like not taking care of these animals and even some cases like I would argue like poisoning the animals to a degree.

[Courtney Swan]

Yeah.

[Lauren Everts]

What happens then is you'll have people follow diets that are primarily eating those kind of animals and then later as they get sick or something happens, studies are done to say, oh well meat must be bad for you. You know, like if I go and eat poor qualities of food that have not been raised the right way, like I'm not going to feel great, I'm going to get sick. Especially over time. If you go the other route and you have, you know, grass fed, grass finished animals that we have evolved to eat over thousands and thousands of years like you're probably going to feel pretty good.

[Courtney Swan]

You know what I mean?

[Michael Bostic]

Yes. You eat what your food eats and somehow along the way we lost that concept. And you're eating a sick animal. If you're eating a factory farmed animal.

[Courtney Swan]

I also think, think you're eating the energy of what you're eating.

[Michael Bostic]

I agree too.

[Courtney Swan]

And if something's been tortured and miserable and screaming and crying and all that cortisol that's going in the food or.

[Lauren Everts]

Just fed terrible ingredients, it's, I mean.

[Courtney Swan]

It'S just something to think about.

[Lauren Everts]

We had like a very. People could probably deduce who it was, but a very well respected doctor slash scientist on the podcast and he was citing all these studies about not eating meat. But like what I wanted to point, like a lot of the studies, I wanted to ask him, like, well, what sources of meat were they studying? But I'm listening. And then after I started to think, well, where, like where are you sourcing all of that material from? And I think, you know, his job is he's a scientist that reads these reports and studies these patients, many of these patients who have eaten in the way that we eat here in America.

[Michael Bostic]

Yeah.

[Lauren Everts]

And I'm like, well, of course some of the data is going to point to, to sickness and being unhealthy. If you're eating poor sources of food or meat and then you're studying the sickest people. You know what I mean?

[Michael Bostic]

Yes. And oftentimes with those studies they're not taking into account are they a smoker, are they exercising, what else are they eating? So there's other things that they don't even take into account for a lot of these studies. And actually there was a study that just came out, I believe it was last year or the year before. This is crazy. So if you go into the study and see what they were feeding them, they were feeding them hamburgers with the bun on, they were feeding them lasagna with the pasta. And then they were telling everybody that that's red meat. And then they were blaming it on the red meat, not on the other factors that were in there like the bread and the pasta.

[Lauren Everts]

What I, what drives me nuts in these studies is like I kind of want to see both. I want to see people that have chosen to live one way and follow the typical American diet and then people like yourself that have chosen to live this way because I think it would paint very different pictures that would be very beneficial for people like the FDA and our government to be aware of.

[Courtney Swan]

Did you even get approached by RFK and the administration. And I, I think it's important for you to, like, sort of tell the story of the last 14 years, because you didn't just, like, wake up there. So how did that even transpire when you look back at the momentum of all the events?

[Michael Bostic]

Yeah, it's so wild. I told you this right before we were filming that. I actually was kind of going over this yesterday with my godmother, who's been alongside me for the last 20 years, like, watching me do all of this. So I, I, I caught onto all this pretty early on because my mom, my mom started. My mom was making everything from scratch. We were eating organic and buying organic before it was even, like, really a thing. Like, it was wild. I'm a kid of the 80s, and so it was almost unheard of that my mom was doing this. Cause all my friends were eating, you know, processed packaged foods. So anyway, so then I go to college and I have a totally different experience where I go from eating all my meals cooked, you know, from scratch, to eating in the dining hall. That's probably Cisco food, right? Like Cisco Catering and eating fourth Belm or fourth meals at Taco Bell, which is so awful. And I look back at that. Meanwhile, I was starting to learn about everything. I said earlier that factory farming was my way in. And then I just started peeling back all these layers and going, oh, my gosh, this, this is happening with our food industry and how are they allowing all of this? And I got so passionate about it that I decided to go back to school. So my undergrad was in communications. And then I went back to get my master's of science in nutrition. And actually I went to Texas State for a little bit because I wanted to be a registered dietitian. But ultimately I pulled myself out of the program because I was seeing that the registered dietitian program was being funded by companies like Coca Cola and General Mills. And I was floored because I was also learning about all the corruption at the same time. And so I decided to go an integrative route. Meanwhile, while I was doing this, I created a blog 14 years ago, and I called it Real Foodology. Because while I was studying nutrition and I was on this track for registered dietitian, I was learning all this stuff. And then on the other end, I had found Mark Hyman, Michael Pollan, I had found Vani Hari, the food babe. So I'm learning all this stuff in the books that I'm reading, and then I'm in these classes and they're telling me the Exact opposite of what I'm learning in the book. And then I'm learning about the corruption. And so I felt like I needed an outlet to share because I felt like what I was learning, largely from people like Mark Hyman, that people didn't know that this was happening. So I'd created this blog, and then it morphed into my Instagram. And then in 2020, I created a podcast. And so my. And I. I mean, it's in my name. I created Real Foodology, the study of real food, 14 years ago, because I was. I just started to wake up and realized we're not eating real food anymore. We need to get back to eating real food.

[Courtney Swan]

So how does that then lend the administration reaching out to you?

[Unknown]

How does that happen?

[Michael Bostic]

Yes. Okay. So Vani Hari and I became friends throughout the years because I was so passionate about this. And initially when I went and got my master's of science, I thought I was. I was just gonna have clients one on one. And then when I started really learning about the food industry, I realized that I wanted to make more of on the political side and just more. I just wanted food reform. And Vani Hari, the food babe, had popped up maybe around. Around the same time. And I just started putting myself in front of her. And we eventually became friends over the years and started working together in the sense that she came on my podcast. And last fall, I. Oh, I had also had Cali Means on, which. Have you guys had him on yet?

[Lauren Everts]

Yeah, we love Cali.

[Michael Bostic]

Okay.

[Courtney Swan]

You guys have, like, similar energy, huh?

[Michael Bostic]

Oh, yeah. Like.

[Courtney Swan]

Like. Like you're on the same mission. It feels like.

[Michael Bostic]

Yes. So Callie Means. I met him a couple years ago. We got connected through a mutual friend. He came onto my podcast, and we were immediately like, yes, we're a united front in this. So last fall, Bobby Kennedy put on a nutrition roundtable with Senator Ron Johnson, and they asked me to come speak to it. So it was me speak at it. It was me, Bobby Kennedy, Jillian Michaels, who's amazing. Love that, too. Love her. Michael or, sorry, Jordan Peterson. Who else was that? Max Lugavere, Vani Hari, Alex Clark, all these amazing thought leaders. Was it Michaela Peterson?

[Courtney Swan]

So when you were there and you're at this roundtable with all these incredible people, what was your point of view?

[Michael Bostic]

So I talked all about glyphosate, because that is the thing that I'm the most passionate about. And we had all kind of. We didn't make a group chat before that, and we were all kind of deciding, like, what People are going to talk about. And I was like, I claim glyphosate. Glyphosate in Monsanto, because this is something that I am so passionate about. I want to be on a soapbox for this. So my speech was all about glyphosate, and anybody listening can go look that up on YouTube. The whole thing. It's like eight minutes. It's on YouTube.

[Courtney Swan]

When that went out to the public.

[Michael Bostic]

Yeah.

[Courtney Swan]

What kind of reaction did you get personally and professionally?

[Michael Bostic]

So, actually, that one was met with a lot of people really loved it, actually. And I was surprised because I'm. I've been in this world long enough to. I get a lot of heat. I get a lot of. A lot of heat. There's a lot of pushback. I don't know. There's something really sensitive about food. I think it's when you go after people's food. Exactly.

[Lauren Everts]

I was just talking about this yesterday. If you go after people's food, in some cases, it's like, worse than going after their children.

[Michael Bostic]

No, it is.

[Lauren Everts]

People go nuts about their food.

[Michael Bostic]

They go nuts. Look, and I'm gonna name it. It's an addiction. People are addicted to ultra processed foods, and they don't even realize it. And they don't want their addiction to be taken away from them. That's really the reality.

[Courtney Swan]

I mean, I get it. I could see, like, if someone was gonna take my margarita when I'm pregnant or when I'm not pregnant, someone's gonna pull that when I'm not pregnant. They're gonna take my margarita away from me after I just had the baby. Like, I want my margarita. I get it. I get it. The flaming hot Cheetos. It's hard.

[Michael Bostic]

I know.

[Lauren Everts]

I think with a lot of this stuff, though, like, yes, addiction. But two, like, again, in this country, like, we have a. Sometimes a challenge with personal accountability.

[Michael Bostic]

Yes.

[Lauren Everts]

And if you. If you start to face the reality that, hey, like, I'm actively poisoning myself in many cases with poor food choices for my children. Yeah. Then it's like, it hits a real nerve. And, you know, a lot of people then take it a step further and say, like, well, like, it's not affordable, but the same people are out on Friday nights at the bar slamming 18 drinks, which is also super expensive. Like, there's.

[Michael Bostic]

Yes.

[Lauren Everts]

I don't know. Like, I have sympathy on one hand for that line of reasoning, and then on the other hand, I don't. Because it's like, the situation is what the situation is.

[Courtney Swan]

Let's make this really digestible for the audience. What are things that you avoid? Ingredients like the plague on labels.

[Michael Bostic]

So I would say first and foremost, I avoid ultra processed foods like the plague. So let's define what an ultra processed food is. These are food products that have a really long laundry list of ingredients. And many of these ingredients are chemicals, additives, fillers, things that you would not recognize as being real food. Like if your great grandmother saw Cheez Its or Twinkie, she probably wouldn't know what that was. If she like was, you know, transplanted to 2025, that would be an ultra processed food. So I would say, to be honest, that's really it. Like, this is what I try to get people to understand is that there's a lot of pushback of people saying, oh well, you're just going to create an eating disorder or what is left to eat?

[Courtney Swan]

What?

[Michael Bostic]

There is so much to eat. I just eat real food. I don't even really follow a diet. I have to be gluten free because I'm allergic to wheat. But other than that, there is nothing off the table. If it is a whole real food and if it's a packaged food. This is a really simple hack for people in the grocery store. When you're reading that ingredient label, if you recognize all those ingredients on the ingredient label as a real food ingredient and you could buy all those ingredients at home, if you wanted to make this product at home, that would be something that would be considered real food. Simple Mills is a perfect example of this. They use things like rosemary to preserve it and then they have like almond flour and it's just all real food ingredients. So.

[Courtney Swan]

And do you know it's glyphosate? Yeah, glyphosate free.

[Michael Bostic]

They have organic crackers and those are the ones that I buy.

[Courtney Swan]

Okay, good to know.

[Michael Bostic]

To make sure that they're not sprayed.

[Courtney Swan]

Good to know. So they have organic crackers. I think those are the ones that we get. They're blue and yellow.

[Michael Bostic]

The box, I think those are the ones that aren't.

[Courtney Swan]

Oh, great. I just bought 20 boxes for my kids school. I literally gave, I swear to God, I had him bring like a knapsack. The ones that are organic.

[Lauren Everts]

Okay, here's a box of glyphosates.

[Michael Bostic]

I know, but we should look into because a lot of these companies now are starting to either put it on their website or they're stamping on the box that they're glyphosate free. And I wouldn't be shocked if Simple Mills was one of them. But it is like, it's good practice to think in general if something is not organic, that it is to be seen, assumed. Unless if they tell you somewhere that it is sprayed with glyphosate. I've started getting comments on my podcasts of, you know, reviews of people saying this is just another MAGA podcast, which, I mean, I, I laugh at that because I've been doing this for five years and I've been, I've been doing well, I've been doing the podcast for five years. My message has been the same for 14 years. There wasn't even MAGA 14 years ago. So for them to say that my message is MAGA is really funny. I think the, the issue is, is that we're so tribal and divided in this country that whoever is talking about it, the other side is gonna be against it. So if this had happened under Biden, I think all the Republicans and, you know, the MAGA or whatever would not have been on board because they would have said it's quackery and whatever they would make up about it. I truly, truly mean this, that I just consider myself to be very much in the middle because there's things that I agree with on both sides. And at this point, I don't want to be wrapped up in this tribalism. I want to be free and true to what I believe and true to my morals. And I don't want to be beholden to one party. So. And I feel like this is how we all should be, because if people could actually open their eyes and see what's happening right now, I mean, this is something that I have been shouting off the rooftops for almost 20 years. You know, like, I started Real Foodology 14 years ago, but for 20 years before I even started it, I was telling all my friends and my family like, this has nothing to do with Trump, with maga, with, with being Republican or being liberal. This is about Americans. This is seriously harming us. I mean, 74% of Americans are obese or overweight, and 50% of them are. Or 50% of the children are overweight or obese.

[Courtney Swan]

I need to know Courtney's take on Ozempic and GLP ones. Because you deal with health on a.

[Unknown]

Day to day basis.

[Courtney Swan]

I want to know what your opinion.

[Michael Bostic]

Okay, so I actually live in the middle of this. I don't believe that it's a. Let me be very clear. I'm all about preventative medicine and I think we need to address the root causes. I'm all about root cause and prevention Medicine. I also recognize that we are in a severe health crisis right now. And I think some people are at the point where there is nothing else that will be able to help them. If somebody is seriously morbidly obese, this could be a make or break. It's either, you know, go on the drug and lose weight and get ahold of it or possibly die of a heart attack or diabetes, you know. So I think for those, those crisis moments, I think that it can be a great tool. And then we also need to be teaching them about diet and lifestyle. What I don't like is I think that it is being used as a quick fix for a lot of people that just want to drop 5 or 10 pounds and they're not being educated on the fact that what they really need to be doing is addressing their diet and lifestyle. So are you exercising? Are you eating whole real foods? And that needs to be a part of the larger conversation. And I worry that Ozempic is just going to become another, you know, quick fix pill for people.

[Courtney Swan]

I think you're right. I think it's so situational.

[Michael Bostic]

Yeah.

[Courtney Swan]

What are your personal daily grocery go to's brands from a really micro level?

[Michael Bostic]

Okay, so I love meat sticks. I always have those in my pantry. Or Paul Saladino has a company called Lineage and they have these air dried steak. This air dried steak. That is so good.

[Courtney Swan]

I think Code skinny works, you guys. I love those. The organs. It grows your hair. Yes.

[Michael Bostic]

It's amazing.

[Courtney Swan]

Okay, go ahead.

[Michael Bostic]

I love Paleo Valley meat sticks.

[Courtney Swan]

Yes.

[Michael Bostic]

I'm trying to think of like other brands that are in my pantry right now. I love simple mills. I love the organic crackers. Siete is another great brand. I'm trying to think of smaller brands that maybe people don't know if you. Oh, if you eat cereal and especially if your kiddos love cereal. I love Lovebird and Seven Sundays. Lovebird is glyphosate residue free. And then Seven Sundays I believe is glyphosate free as well. So those are good cereals for kiddos. What are some of my other favorite brands? It's tough because a lot of the stuff I buy is, you know, fruits, vegetables, meat. Oh, I can give you a meat brand. Actually, they're out of Austin. Well, they're out of Fredericksburg. Force of nature.

[Lauren Everts]

They've been on the show.

[Michael Bostic]

Oh, they have Taylor's Amazing ancestral blend. Yes. Yes. I love that because then you're eating organ meats and you don't even realize it.

[Courtney Swan]

Yes. That's. It doesn't even taste like it. Right?

[Michael Bostic]

I know, it's great.

[Courtney Swan]

And are there any, like, brands that you go to for eggs? For certain reasons, yeah.

[Michael Bostic]

Well, so there's. I always forget the name of the brand. Cause I mean, everybody. Everybody's kind of on vital farms right now. And about them feeding them corn and soy. And so I've been trying to not buy them. They were my go to for years, to be honest.

[Courtney Swan]

I think they switched.

[Michael Bostic]

Huh?

[Courtney Swan]

Yeah, I think that they were doing that.

[Lauren Everts]

Where do we get our eggs? We got Farmer's market.

[Courtney Swan]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Michael Bostic]

So recently I've been getting them from a local farmer because we're in Denver right now. And it's funny because the egg crisis, I actually thought that it was just kind of overblown and hype. We actually have not been able to find eggs at our grocery store for, like, three months.

[Courtney Swan]

Well, the reason that you can't find eggs at your grocery store is because Michael's dad has a little bit of a problem that I'm gonna expose on the podcast. Michael. I'm gonna expose him. Michael's dad was caught in the grocery store.

[Lauren Everts]

I caught him.

[Courtney Swan]

He caught. Michael caught him opening all the cartons of the eggs and picking the biggest eggs.

[Michael Bostic]

For sure.

[Courtney Swan]

GMOs, right? He doesn't know. He thinks bigger is better. He's picking the biggest eggs out of each carton.

[Lauren Everts]

Can't believe you're putting them on blast like this.

[Unknown]

All the eggs.

[Courtney Swan]

Because when he brings the eggs home to Michael's house, I'm like, Gary, how the fuck did you get such big eggs? He has huge GMO eggs. Like, I'm talking, like three yolks per egg. Because he stole all the other eggs from everyone.

[Lauren Everts]

Somebody's getting real small eggs. And then he's.

[Courtney Swan]

Those are the good eggs, though. You want the small eggs, right, Courtney?

[Michael Bostic]

Yeah, but you know, the true. Like, I don't know what's actually happening there, so maybe not.

[Courtney Swan]

Okay.

[Michael Bostic]

My assumption would be if they're that big, that probably they're being overfed like corn and soy. But I don't know for sure. I'm not going to claim to be an expert. I'm going to get all these comments from people like egg farmers that there.

[Lauren Everts]

Was something called the.

[Michael Bostic]

Call me out.

[Lauren Everts]

You probably know this term better than me. There's. Okay. You know how we all know these older people that, like, they just eat. Like, I was talking to somebody about this and they said it's called, like, generational something where maybe resiliency or it's Essentially, like, each generation that goes on gets weaker and weaker because of the way that we feed ourselves. So, for example, like, my dad, who's older and comes from, you know, like, born in the 40s, he was raised and grew up in a time when, like, a lot of these chemical ingredients did not exist, and he, you know, ate in a different source. Then we are born, and we are the byproduct of, like, the sec, the first generation of getting exposed this. But then our kids are born, and they've been bombarded, and they carry our genes forward.

[Michael Bostic]

Well, because think about it. They're already getting it in the womb before they've even, you know, come out yet, versus, like, you know, when Donald Trump was a kid, they didn't have all this stuff in the food system. You know, like, a lot of this has largely been introduced and changed in the last about 50 years. Our genes don't change that fast. We're seeing now the effects of what we've been doing to our food system.

[Unknown]

A cashmere sweater, everyone needs one. I like it in heather gray. I like black.

[Courtney Swan]

I like ivory.

[Unknown]

And where I get my cashmere is the best. It's Jenny Kane, who actually told me about. Jenny Kane was dorit from housewives of Beverly hills. She loves their pieces, and she has a really nice eye for fashion. She has a lot of taste. And so I started perusing the brand. I. I bought one of their cashmere sweaters, and I could not believe the quality. It was such high quality and craftsmanship, and the material was beautiful. I was really impressed. So I went back and I bought two more of the sweaters. I was wearing them around my shoulders my whole pregnancy. I love them around my shoulders. And after pregnancy, I'll wear them just casually, like under, like, a white t shirt. Jenny Kane just makes getting dressed easy because everything is classic and elevated, and they just know how to create pieces that you can style up or style down. I can see why dorit loves it so much. They have a real commitment to quality. So if you're looking for cashmere that has incredible attention to detail and you want to be super stylish and have the finest materials, you have to check them out. I used my own code, and now you can use our code, too. Find your new summer uniform at Jenny Kane and our listeners get 15 off your first order when you use code skinny15 at checkout. That's 15 off your first order at J-E-N-N-I K-A-Y-N-E.com promo code skinny15 Let getting dressed be one less thing to worry about.

[Lauren Everts]

Quick break to talk about Court Furniture Rental Everyone needs furniture. Not everyone needs it forever. Furniture shouldn't tie you down no matter where you are moving. Whether you're moving to a new city to do a new job, whether you're graduating where you're looking for just a change of pace. Maybe you're looking at that new apartment or that new house. Your life is stressful enough already. You should not be stressing about your furniture. This is why we love Court Furniture Rental. Furniture rental is a convenient way whenever you get a new job, move off campus, move for a short term. Wherever you go, you can enjoy on demand delivery nationwide in custom packages that fit your space and your life. Move in ready room packages designed with your next move in mind. And with furniture rentals, you can rent what you need and return it when you're ready for the next adventure. This is such a convenient way, such a cost effective way to get furniture for your place without having that long term commitment. What we also love about Court is Court helps every house feel like a home on day one. Court makes it easy to furnish a space quickly and on your terms. They make it so easy you can select one of quartz move in ready packages. All you have to do is give a few details about your space and their experts will do the rest of the Then you can enjoy white glove delivery, setup and assembly. Plus they come and pick it all up when you're ready to move on to your next chapter, school or job. This is such a convenient way to furnish a place to make sure you have the right furniture for the right space. So for furniture that fits your needs, choose Court Furniture Rentals. All you have to do is select a delivery date that fits your schedule and Court will manage everything from delivery to set up. When your needs change, Court can exchange or pick up your furniture and even set up your next place, keeping you free to focus on what's next. Like I said, you should not be stressing about furniture. Life is busy enough and we're always on the move. So Court makes it easy. So check them out. Build your own furniture rental package today at court.com that C-O-R-T.com podcast I have.

[Unknown]

Taken Rituals Essential Prenatal my entire pregnancy and the reason I've taken it is a medley of reasons. 1. The essential prenatal was shown to help deliver key nutrients including folate, biotin and vitamin D. These were really important to me. Also, I like this brand because it's Easy to swallow. I was having like the worst food adversion and I was really sensitive to everything. And with ritual, it's like easy to swallow, it's gentle on your stomach and it has a minty essence so you don't feel overwhelmed. I take mine in the morning. It's easy, it's quick. I do two. And what I've learned since getting into like this area is that most prenatal multivitamins aren't even clinically tested, which is.

[Courtney Swan]

So crazy because it's like one of.

[Unknown]

The most critical phases of human development. So you want to pick a prenatal that knows their shit. And that is ritual. Let me tell you. I know this because I've interviewed the founder twice and they've done a lot of studies on moms taking ritual. They learned that moms taking this specific prenatal had an overall lower cortisol level during pregnancy than the leading prenatal. I'm a big fan of this brand. I don't think anyone should settle for less than evidence based support. Get 25% off your first month at ritual.com skinny start ritual or add essential prenatal to your subscription today. That's ritual.com skinny for 25% off. Did you know that most toilet paper has formaldehyde and chlorine in it? It also has dyes. I was shocked to know I found out this probably a year ago that there's all of these crazy things in toilet paper. We're wiping our most intimate areas with this all day long. My daughter is using the toilet paper, My husband's using it. I went on this, like wild goose chase to find the best toilet paper on the market. And while I found some brands that were great, I also wanted to create something better. And so that's what we've done at the Skinny Confidential. We have created a. A better choice. I was involved in every single detail of this toilet paper. We took out formaldehyde, we took out chlorine, we took out the dyes, we took out all the things that I didn't want my family exposed to. And then of course, in our very Skinny Confidential way, we wrapped it in pink. As you can see, I wanted the experience of the delivery when you got it to be very romantic and pretty. Never are you excited about getting your monthly delivery of toilet paper? And I wanted to make you excited. So it comes in the most luxurious box. You open it, it's packaged, cute, and it also has our little stamp on it. And you can put this on all of the rolls in your house and know that it's a better choice for you and your family. I am so passionate about this launch. We have been working on this launch for a long time. My team is so excited about it. It's shaking up the market, and it's disruptive, and it's everything that we want to bring to the table. So if you're looking for a better choice when it comes to your toilet paper, go to shopskinnyconfidential.com grab it now. We will sell out, but we're doing subscription, so I would definitely say to subscribe so you can make sure that you get it monthly. That's shopskinnyconfidential.com.

[Courtney Swan]

I have a bunch of rapid fire questions for you. There are a bunch. Kale or spinach?

[Michael Bostic]

Oh, spinach. But honestly, arugula is my favorite.

[Courtney Swan]

Okay. And do you. Are you saying that because you think that kale is sprayed with, like, what's the reason that you're saying that?

[Michael Bostic]

Well, so I don't claim to be an expert on this. Paul Saladino is way more of an expert on this. But the oxalates. I'm concerned about kale. And when I was consuming a lot of kale, I actually had a big issue with my thyroid. So I do not touch kale anymore.

[Lauren Everts]

I don't mess with kale either.

[Courtney Swan]

Interesting.

[Michael Bostic]

And I don't like it. It doesn't taste good.

[Courtney Swan]

No, it doesn't.

[Michael Bostic]

I like arugula.

[Courtney Swan]

What's one food you will never touch?

[Michael Bostic]

I would say ultra processed foods, but I don't consider those food.

[Courtney Swan]

What? Something like niche raspberries? You don't know about raspberries? You just learned about that yesterday. Get out. He. Are you trying to audition for the roundtable? What? Tell us about raspberries.

[Michael Bostic]

Actually, you don't even know why you're.

[Lauren Everts]

Don't trust him. Just don't trust him.

[Courtney Swan]

No, he's saying that. He's saying that because the bulletproof guy just came on and said that.

[Michael Bostic]

Dave Asprey.

[Courtney Swan]

Yeah.

[Michael Bostic]

He say something about raspberries?

[Courtney Swan]

Yeah.

[Michael Bostic]

Oh, don't. Don't fuck with.

[Courtney Swan]

But Michael doesn't know. You got to get the specifics before.

[Michael Bostic]

You actually don't even know.

[Lauren Everts]

Go down the rabbit hole of raspberries.

[Courtney Swan]

Courtney. One food you'll never touch again, I don't know, actually.

[Michael Bostic]

Should it be a real food, or could we talk about, like, an ultra processed food?

[Courtney Swan]

Ultra processed. Whatever.

[Michael Bostic]

I would say pop tarts, maybe. Pop tarts are. But I need to think of something more niche. Let me. Let me noodle on that one. I'll get back to you.

[Courtney Swan]

What's the wildest thing you've uncovered? Researching food policies.

[Michael Bostic]

You gave us some wildest thing that I've uncovered. I'm trying to think of what I haven't shared about yet. I mean, I feel like I already shared this, though. The wildest thing to me is that it's not. We're not actually really regulating our food like people think that we are.

[Courtney Swan]

That's a good one, because I think people think just because it's FDA approved.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Courtney Swan]

What's the most overrated health food trend right now?

[Michael Bostic]

Oh, the most overrated health food trend. What are some of the trends right now? Carnivore. I actually. I like Carnivore, actually. I mean, would you say vegetarian is still a trend? Cause I think that's incredibly overrated. But I don't know if it's really a trend anymore. Not in my circle. It certainly isn't.

[Courtney Swan]

Yeah, you could say that's a trend.

[Lauren Everts]

Yeah. I think, unfortunately, the vegan vegetarian movement is losing some steam.

[Michael Bostic]

It sure is, and for good reason.

[Courtney Swan]

Listen, I think if people want to eat vegan, vegetarian, go for it. But if you don't feel good eating that, you should look at that.

[Lauren Everts]

I'm just saying the trend is losing steam. If you call it a trend, what's.

[Courtney Swan]

The weirdest thing in your fridge right now?

[Michael Bostic]

Sauerkraut.

[Courtney Swan]

Okay, favorite late night snack.

[Michael Bostic]

Strauss ice cream. The vanilla with hue chocolate chips on top.

[Courtney Swan]

Oh, my God, that sounds so good.

[Michael Bostic]

It's so good.

[Courtney Swan]

Maybe I'll switch out my glyphosica. Whatever Caca cereal that I'm eating every night.

[Lauren Everts]

Eating frosted fucking Mini Wheats. Those are not good for you. They're for sure not good for you.

[Courtney Swan]

The brand, their mother's best.

[Michael Bostic]

Okay, That's a better brand. Yeah. See, and they're probably.

[Lauren Everts]

Don't lie. We were in Miami at a hotel and a dude showed up with a.

[Courtney Swan]

Box of frosted miniwear because they didn't have Mother's.

[Michael Bostic]

There's best.

[Lauren Everts]

He was standing there with a bag of frosted mini weeds. I was like, what's going.

[Courtney Swan]

He peripherals me in the middle of the night. When I'm eating, I'm in bed and I'm like, don't look at me.

[Michael Bostic]

He's like, give me the side eye.

[Lauren Everts]

I will tell on you. I will tell on you to the world.

[Courtney Swan]

I don't care. If you could get everyone in America to stop buying one product, what would it be?

[Michael Bostic]

I mean, look, I want to Go broad here. Ultra processed foods. Stop buying fake foods and start eating and buying real whole foods.

[Courtney Swan]

What makes an ultra processed food, you're saying, is one, you turn over the ingredients and there's a hundred things listed with all these things you can't pronounce.

[Michael Bostic]

Yeah, and let's go deeper than just that. You can't pronounce because some people can't pronounce, like, you know, easy words. So it's, you're getting called out all the time. So it's, it's when the food no longer resembles food. So there's all these ingredients in there, like bht. Mono and diglycerides is actually another really big one. So the food industry required the food companies to remove trans fats years ago, hydrogenated oils, and they replaced these trans fats with mono and diglycerides, sodium phosphates. There's just all these additives and fillers and preservatives that are not food and that we shouldn't be eating them. Natural flavors, even natural flavors is another one. Artificial flavors, the food dyes is another one.

[Courtney Swan]

What's your take on oat milk? Oh, God.

[Michael Bostic]

I can, I mean, can I go on for. Go for it. Okay, so oat milk is glyphosate. Starch juice is really what it is. It raises your blood sugar. You're getting rid of all of the fiber, which is the only really good thing that oats are that provide for you nutrients because the fiber helps to slow down the blood sugar spike. And if you're just drinking this starch juice and you don't have any fiber to slow down that spike in your glucose, it's going to cause a glucose spike. Also, most oats are sprayed with glass glyphosate. And then on top of that, most of the oat milks have seed oils in them. So they either have canola oil, rapeseed oil, which is the same thing as canola oil, and it's very high in omega 6s and it's incredibly inflammatory.

[Courtney Swan]

I love oatmeal, but I get the G free oats. I'm not going to try to pronounce that word anymore. I get.

[Michael Bostic]

Oh, yeah, glyphosate. Glyphosate.

[Courtney Swan]

Glyphosate free. Just cut. Whenever I say that word wrong, just put it to what you Leave it in.

[Lauren Everts]

Leave it in.

[Courtney Swan]

No, I get the point is that, that still. Is that fine. If they're, if they're free of that.

[Michael Bostic]

Yes.

[Courtney Swan]

Okay, so you're into oatmeal as long as it it's free of that.

[Michael Bostic]

Yeah. I'm. I'm kind of middle of the road with oatmeal. Personally, I don't eat them every day because they do have those anti nutrients that we call them where essentially, like plants, their only defense mechanism against being eaten is they have these anti nutrients that are really bad for us and they cause inflammation. And this is something that Paul Saldino, again, talks about a lot. But I am not of the camp of, like, you can't eat all these real whole foods. I'm very much of the camp. If it's a real whole food that I think it's good for you and safe to eat. I just personally don't like to eat oatmeal every day. But it's a really great source of fiber, and if you like it and it makes you feel good, and if you add things, like, I would add some protein and a good fat in there just to help mitigate some of the blood glucose spikes.

[Courtney Swan]

Good to know. Yeah. What's a guilty pleasure that you'll never give up? Are you.

[Michael Bostic]

Oh, yeah. I love tequila.

[Courtney Swan]

Okay. So you just.

[Michael Bostic]

I'm going to come. People are going to come for me. Yeah. I would love Mezcal, too.

[Courtney Swan]

Okay.

[Michael Bostic]

Because the wellness world is just on this, like, hate against alcohol right now.

[Courtney Swan]

You know what? The way to mitigate it, this is my opinion, is to just be yourself.

[Michael Bostic]

Exactly.

[Courtney Swan]

No matter what you do, people are going to come for you. So in my opinion, it's so much.

[Unknown]

Easier to be yourself.

[Lauren Everts]

What I say about those people, Mezcal.

[Courtney Swan]

In one hand and unprocessed food in the other, like, you can have both.

[Lauren Everts]

I love having those people that. That, you know, talk like that, you know, have that perspective on the podcast, a great podcast. But I'm never going, like, to go hang out with you socially because it's, like, super boring. Right. It's like, it's not happening. And I'm just be honest about, like, come on the show, we can talk about how bad it is for you. And then I'm gonna go with my other.

[Courtney Swan]

How many people at the round table are having a mezcal?

[Michael Bostic]

Oh, like, all of us. Like, we all had wine at dinner. Actually, I shouldn't say all of us. I'm trying to think of the people, but there were people there that were having wine or a cocktail with us, I think. Let me. Let me speak to this, actually, for a second. So this is the way I approach it. Obviously, binge drinking. Terrible for you. We shouldn't be drinking every Single night. But I. There's something about being able to go out and have a nice meal with your friends and connect socially over a drink or two. If you're having five drinks, maybe eight drinks in a night, probably something you should look at for me, tops. I'll have three. And that's like a crazy night for me. I love to have like two drinks, call it a night. I don't feel like the next day. And then I'm actually able to let loose and connect with my friends. And I think, think we have forgotten that there is value in that. And also we. We've been drinking alcohol since the dawn of time. It's like one of the first things that we created. I feel like with fermented grapes.

[Lauren Everts]

Yeah. Could you imagine being out and you're like trying to have a cocktail and wind down? I was like, let me talk to you about the food label and the glyphosate. I'm like, oh my God, dude, give it a rest. We already did the podcast, man.

[Michael Bostic]

Give me a tequila shot.

[Lauren Everts]

Yeah, like, I'm done. We already did that part, you know.

[Michael Bostic]

Yes.

[Lauren Everts]

You know, gotta enjoy yourself a little bit.

[Courtney Swan]

For me. What supplements do you like? What do you go for?

[Michael Bostic]

Okay, so I'm taking a lot right now. PC I think, is my number one from Body Bio because I'm super concerned. I actually just got my glyphosate levels tested and they were really high and we're trying to figure out why. When I was in la, they were fine. I moved to Colorado for this guy and something happened.

[Courtney Swan]

It's all the husband's fault. Beyonce.

[Michael Bostic]

Exactly. It's all soon to be husband. But so PC from Body Bio helps your body detox all these heavy metals and glyphosate and. And I just love it. And it's something I take every single day. I'm also taking glutathione. It's the body's master antioxidant. It's also great for detoxing. I have the MTHFR gene, so I take a methylated B complex every day, which has really helped me a lot with energy and function for that. Right now I'm on pur. Everybody's been attacking me about that because Nestle bought them, I guess a couple years ago. But I'm like, it's a great product and they don't have any fillers in it. So I personally like that. What else am I taking right now? I love just Thrive probiotics. I think that's a great probiotic brand and Calcium D glucarate. Oh, this is one that I don't think a lot of people know about. So calcium D glucarate binds estrogen and helps your body flush out excess estrogen. So I take that every day just to kind of maintain normal hormonal balance.

[Courtney Swan]

Is it kind of like dim or no?

[Michael Bostic]

I don't know if I would say that it's like dim, but maybe has like a similar reaction. I just know that it binds to excess estrogens and pushes them out through the liver.

[Courtney Swan]

Before you go, what is a book, a podcast that you consume that you think has really helped you with your job and what you do and learning more about the food industry?

[Michael Bostic]

Okay, so this is a really old book. It's probably about 18 to 20 years old, but it was written by Michael Pollan and it's called In Defense of Food. And that was the book that lit the fire under my ass that started all of this. And I loved it. And I would go back and read it again. It really just helped me. It talks about factory farming, it talks about how we got here with the industrialization of our food, and it just really laid out the land and helped me understand what was really going on with our food system. And Grant, I mean, it was 18 years ago, but still I would consider to be revelant now.

[Courtney Swan]

Courtney, I'm sorry my father in law is stealing your eggs.

[Lauren Everts]

He's gonna be devastated when he hears that you called him out on this.

[Courtney Swan]

Where can everyone find you? Tell us where we can listen to your podcast, consume your content, all the things.

[Michael Bostic]

Yeah, so I have a podcast, it's called the Real Foodology Podcast on all major podcast platforms. I have a website, just real foodology.com. you can actually go there and get a free grocery guide if you plug in your email. So if there's anything that I said today about navigating the grocery store that you, you're like, what did she say about, you know, X, Y and Z? You can pull that up on your phone while you're in the grocery store. And it's just a layout of what kind of eggs I look for, what kind of, what I look for in my meat, et cetera. And then lastly, I'm pretty active on Instagram. I also have a TikTok. I'm not really as active on TikTok and I don't know what's happening with them right now, but Instagram would be the best place to find me at Real Foodology.

[Courtney Swan]

Thank you for coming on the show. Next time you Come on, We'll kick Michael off, get a word in.

[Lauren Everts]

No, no, no. I am a vital part of this operation.

[Michael Bostic]

Okay.

[Courtney Swan]

All right, Courtney, thank you.

[Michael Bostic]

Thank you so much.