Realfoodology - 57: It’s Normal to be Healthy with Neka of Urban Remedy
Episode Date: September 22, 2021On this episode, I invite Neka Pasquale founder of Urban Remedy which is a company that specializes in certified organic, non-GMO, gluten free and vegan offerings. Neka joins me to talk about the diff...erence between GMO and Organic agriculture, the low fat movement, why fad diets are not the way to go, why you should trust organic food, the terrible US Food Pyramid and she even helps us understand if juices and smoothies are good for us. Check out Neka:https://urbanremedy.com/our-story/ Eating Animals (Documentary)https://www.eatinganimalsmovie.com
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On today's episode of the Real Foodology Podcast.
Everything we put into our body creates a chemical reaction in our body.
And in my opinion, you're either eating things that really cleanse your body or clog your body.
Hi guys, welcome back to another episode of the Real Foodology Podcast,
where I'm just trying to bring us back to real, true health.
That means prioritizing real food, getting good sleep, getting exercise,
getting out in nature every day, getting sun and vitamin D from the sunlight, and just prioritizing
our health so that we can feel good in our bodies. And in today's episode, we talk all about how you
can do that. More specifically, we dive into real food and food as medicine and just what we need to
be doing to really prioritize our health and how we should be eating.
We dive a little bit into GMOs or better known as genetically modified organisms,
which were introduced into the food supply without any studies of the effects on the human body.
And still to this day, companies are not required to label or disclose when they use genetically
modified foods in their
foods and in their products. So the only way to know whether or not you're consuming GMOs
is to either purchase certified non-GMO foods or to buy organic because by law,
organic food is not allowed to contain any genetically modified food. Today's guest is
such an inspiring woman. Her name is Nika Pasquale, and she and I
just related on so many different levels. I really enjoyed this conversation. She is actually the
founder of Urban Remedy, which started out as something that she was cooking out of commercial
kitchens for friends and clients. And eventually she turned it into a shop where she sells
certified organic smoothies and juices and prepared foods. All of
her food is incredible, by the way. And she has since expanded to stores across the nation and
also many different healthy retailers. So like Whole Foods, if you're an avid shopper at Whole
Foods, you will probably recognize the little kiosks that she has where it shows all of her
juices and her smoothies and her prepared foods.
I buy her salads pretty often when I go to Whole Foods and also her low sugar green juices are some of my favorite green juices on the market. They are so good and they're all organic,
which I love because I can really trust that everything that comes from her is 100% organic,
which means that I am reducing my exposure to toxic pesticides like glyphosate.
I'll link in the show notes where you can find her, where you can find Urban Remedy.
Maybe hopefully there's a shop nearby you in your city.
And I hope you guys will check them out.
As always, if you're enjoying the podcast, if you could leave a five-star rating and a review,
it would mean so much.
It really, really helps the show.
Thanks so much, guys.
Let's get to the episode.
Did you know that most cookware and appliances are made with forever chemicals? Yes, that means your nonstick pans,
your air fryers, your waffle makers, your blender could possibly have PFAS. And yes,
even our beloved crockpots and pressure cookers. I have actually been talking about this for so
long. Back in 2006, my mom came to my dorm room and made me get rid of all my nonstick pans
because she was concerned about me being exposed to something called Teflon.
Teflon is a coating that is used on nonstick pans and a lot of these appliances that I
just named.
So I've avoided Teflon, nonstick, PFA coated appliances, pots and pans, you name it, for
a very long time.
And the only option for a very long time was just stainless steel pots and pans, you name it for a very long time. And the only option for the,
for a very long time was just stainless steel pots and pans. So I was really excited when a
company like our place came out because they started creating really beautiful cookware and
appliances that are like pieces of art. Every appliance that I have from our place, I legit
want to store it on the counter. And I'm the type of person that does not want anything on my counter because I like it to look really just clean and
minimal. But I'm so obsessed with all the our place products that I have so many of them displayed on
my counter because they are legit pieces of art. Our place is a mission driven and female founded
brand that makes beautiful kitchen products that are healthy and sustainable. Other products are
made without PFAS, which are the forever chemicals and also made without PTFE, which is Teflon.
If a company is not outwardly stating that they don't use these chemicals,
then if they are using nonstick coating on their appliances, they are absolutely
using forever chemicals. And there's been increasing global scrutiny for their impact
on the environment and our health. And recognizing this impact eu plans to prohibit pfas by 2025 our place has always been pfas free and they offer durable toxin-free ceramic coatings
ensuring a healthy safe cooking experience and let me tell you you guys they are changing the
game with non-toxic appliances they have a blender they have an air fryer they have a crock pot not
to mention their amazing always pan they have a crock pot not to mention. They're amazing always pan
They have a perfect pot
Which is just the perfect size for soups and they also just came out with a cast iron that i'm loving as well
And I more recently replaced all of the bowls and plates in my kitchen because I really needed an upgrade
My other ones were so old so I got some from our place and they are so beautiful.
The ceramics are beautiful. The colors are amazing. Like I said, everything is like a piece
of art. If you want to try any of the products from our place, go to from our place.com and
enter my code real foodology checkout to receive 10% off sitewide. That's from our place.com code
real foodology. Our place offers a 100 day trial with free shipping and returns. This is really exciting. Organifi now has kids stuff. They just released two kid products. One
is called easy greens and it's a refreshing green apple juice where kids will never know that it's
packed with veggies. And the other one is called protect. It's a delicious wild berry punch,
like the Kool-Aid that we used to have as kid, but without any sugar. This is really exciting.
And if you've listened to the podcast for a while,
you know that I'm a huge fan of Organifi
and most specifically because every single product
that they make is glyphosate residue free.
So you know that you're gonna be able
to give these powders to your kids
and know that they will be able to consume them safely
without any glyphosate in it.
So let's break down each one.
The Easy Greens is a nourishing and delicious blend
of superfoods and veggies that
provides essential nutrients, probiotics, and digestive enzymes to bring balance to kids
growing bodies without fillers, additives, or junk. It helps to fill in nutritional gaps,
aids in growth and development, supports digestive health, has a rich micronutrient profile,
and includes digestive enzymes. This would be a great way to sneak in greens for your little one
without them actually knowing that it's healthy for them.
And the second one, which is the wild berry punch similar to Kool-Aid, is called Protect.
And it is to support your child's daily immune health with food-derived nutrients that work
to strengthen their body's first line of defense.
I know just through girlfriends of mine that have children that when your kids are going
to school, going to daycare, they're coming home sick a lot more
often just because they're getting exposed to different kids and different viruses when they're
out in the world playing with kids. So this would be a great way to help to support your little one's
immune health. It's organic and it's also made with real whole food ingredients. It has a delicious
berry taste and it's low sugar and it's gentle enough for kids to take every single day. And I
really love the ingredients in this one. It's orange and acerol cherry, which is a powerful source of vitamin C and antioxidants,
astragalus, elderberry, and propolis. These are all really great for overall immune health.
If you want to try the products that I talked about today or any of the Organifi products,
go to Organifi.com slash RealFoodology and use code RealF foodology for 20% off. Again, that's Organifi. It's O-R-G-A-N-I-F-I
dot com slash real foodology. Okay, Mika, thank you so much for coming on today. I'm so excited
to have you. Thank you. I'm very, very excited to be talking to you today. I was reading your bio
and I was like, oh, we're interested in all the same things. I know. I feel like we're already
connected and we're
just now connecting, which is pretty crazy. So I'm so glad that we finally get to connect.
So before we get started, why don't you tell everyone a little bit about what you do and
kind of how you got started? Yeah. So I'm an acupuncturist by trade. So I've been an
acupuncturist for many, many years. And, um, the way that I started,
I'm assuming you're asking about urban remedy. So, um, the way that I started urban remedy was
very much by accident. I, um, I love food and I love cooking. I'm half Italian and half Jewish.
So I've always been, I started cooking at a very young age. And when I was in acupuncture school, I started studying food is healing, the food is medicine
part of Chinese medicine, which is a really foundational piece of the medicine, and started
learning about the healing benefits of food.
And in Chinese medicine, just like we have an herbal materia medica, there's a food
materia medica because every food has a taste and a temperature and an organ it's associated with and a healing property. And so I was so excited to start
learning about food in that way because as somebody who loves to cook, I was like, God,
I could make like these PMS cookies with herbs or I could bake these like, you know, healing chicken
soup and things like that. So I started kind of doing those things and, you know, taking
extra classes in the food part. And then I eventually started my practice. And when I started
my practice, well, probably like two or three years into my practice, once I kind of got it
going, I started treating a lot of people that had a lot of chronic inflammatory disorders like
prediabetes, lupus, arthritis, things like that, and really was started really
connecting the dots on our diet and inflammation. And at that point, I was also taking a lot of I
was really lucky, I got to study with Dr. Robert Marshall, who started premier research labs,
and he was a huge influence in my life. And so I started learning more about like the energetics
of food beyond Chinese medicine, meaning, you know, you can buy, you know, blueberries,
like regular blueberries, and they still have a lot of antioxidants are good for you. But then
you could get organic blueberries, and then you could get like organic beyond organic blueberries.
And just how when things are grown in the sunshine and clean soil with regenerative farming the energetics of those
foods are so much higher and it really raises the frequency of the body and the body's capacity to
heal and so that was super fascinating to me and then I started doing retreats with my patients
where I started taking people away for five whole
days and doing all live raw food, juicing and detoxification treatments like infrared sauna
and foot baths and yoga and meditation and intention work and stuff like that. And really,
you know, after my first retreat that I did, I saw people have an 80% reduction in pain,
people feeling like they had more energy than they've ever had. And it kind of blew my mind that like in that short amount of
time, people could have that much of a change in, you know, like their pain or their energy levels.
So that's what, that's kind of like how it started. And then it's a longer story, but you know,
I started doing that more and more and, um,
people started wanting the food that I was making more and more.
So I kind of started doing that on the side. And then probably like a year or two later, that's how urban remedy was born.
I was like, I could have a full acupuncture practice.
And then on top of it, I was like going to commercial kitchens twice a week, making the
foods and juices and selling it locally.
And then it just like grew and grew and grew into San Francisco. And, and then eventually, um, I stopped. It was funny because,
um, the night that I opened, I started, I was having a little party for my urban remedy website.
It was just like a side thing. And that night I actually found out I was pregnant with my son.
And so it's just a really interesting story. Cause like the night I was birthing my urban remedy, I also found out I was pregnant with him. And so it's
just been kind of a crazy journey, but yeah. So then I stopped my acupuncture practice and then
started doing urban remedy full time. And really just, honestly, I got my first location, which was
in San Rafael. It's still there and people it's, it's not the best location and people come in and be like, Oh, good luck. Like, I don't know if people are going to come in here. And I
was so nervous. And, you know, I thought I was going to be the place for like, you know, Marin
hippie weirdos like me. And, and it was just within six months, we like outgrew that kitchen.
And so ever since then, it's just been growing and growing. And I never in my wildest dreams
thought, you know, we'd be national and, and kind of had the growth that we've had. Yeah. So that's how it started.
Yeah. That's amazing. Well, I was telling you before we started recording, I'm such a huge
fan of urban remedy. I've been buying your juices and drinks for years and I love that we can find
them at whole foods. Thank you so much. It's really cool. Thank you. Yeah. It's so cool to
have seen how much you've grown. I remember, um, so I used to travel for work and every time we were in San Francisco, we would always make a
point to go to Urban Remedy before you had any in LA. And so I was so excited when you opened
stuff in LA too. It was cool. Yeah. I can't believe sometimes I'll go into Whole Foods and
I'll look and see our kiosk and I can't even believe it. I'm like, I can't even believe
we're here. I still can't believe I'm still like, how did this happen? But yeah, it's very exciting. It's really awesome. So I read that you were initially pre-med. So how
did you go from pre-med to this realization that food is medicine and really started to like treat
your patients with food? Yeah. You know, I was always really interested in healing. And so
I, you know, my parents were total hippies when I was growing up, when I was always really interested in healing. And so, um, I, you know, my parents were total hippies
when I was growing up, when I was little, we lived off the land with no electricity. So I kind of
grew up being exposed to a lot of different, um, kinds of healers and things like my mom was always
interested in that stuff. So I was exposed to a lot of that. And I have, you know, I think at heart,
I am a healer and that's kind of my real passion
and calling. And so at the time when I was going to school, I did my pre-med and I was going to go
to naturopathic medicine school. And then in California at that time, it was actually illegal
to, you couldn't get licensed as a naturopath. And so I remember that. Yeah.
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And so I chose Chinese medicine because in California, you are a primary care physician
as an acupuncturist. So I was actually really interested in alternative cancer therapies
many, many years ago before I started school. And, um And I realized that as an acupuncturist,
you could actually do a lot of the treatments. But once I became an acupuncturist, I really,
you know, that I delved deeper into like the standard of care. And really,
you actually can't, no, no doctors can really do a lot of alternative treatments when it comes to
cancer. But, but that's how I started studying. That's why I started studying functional medicine such a long time ago. Cause I was always really interested in like
detoxification and you know, how the body works and optimizing, um, the, your health. Um, and that
was a lot, that was, that was got a really long time ago before functional medicine became so
popular. So I also got to study with like Robert Bland,
who started, um, metagenics many years ago. And so it was, it was really fun to be a part of that
when I was all kind of just starting. That is really cool. I know. I feel like that era was
a very exciting time for this whole movement of real food and organic. And not to say that it's
not now, but, um, I, you know, I don't know if you feel this way, but I felt like there's
a little bit of a different energy around it now. Cause it kind of feels like people are less
receptive maybe just cause I don't know if we're like so indoctrinated into this like big food.
And there's so much like, um, at least in my experience, I feel like there's kind of this
like animosity and pushback now a little bit to like the organic and clean movement.
There is. Yeah. And I think people get really confused about like organic especially
with the non-gmo certification a lot of people think oh if it's non-gmo certified it's probably
clean and there's a lot of like you know confusion and I think that in you know what's happening
right now with COVID obviously um there's just like this real division on um how to be you know, what's happening right now with COVID, obviously. There's just like this real division
on how to be, you know, as healthy as you can be without, you know, talking about that. But
actually, we're not talking about COVID, or we're not talking about a treatment, but just like,
really promoting true health. And so there's been a lot of like, squashing of health information,
because of the, in my opinion,
the pharmaceutical companies. Um, but that's something I'm really passionate about is really
innate healing and the body's capacity to heal itself when you give it what it needs. And so,
um, that's something I love talking about too. Yeah. Well, and this is why I'm so glad that
we're connecting because you and I are very similar in that way. You know, I mean, I started Real Foodology 10 years ago with the understanding
that we just needed to get back to real food. Yeah. And so this is why I love your message of
food is medicine. And I kind of wanted to ask you to explain that a little bit to my listeners. Like,
what does that mean to you? Yeah, I think, you know, out of all the years that I've been a practitioner and I've
been doing this, I've always been very passionate about organic. And I started Urban Remedy about
10 or 11 years ago. Well, maybe really 12 years ago, but full time, probably like 10 or 11. And
I knew that I wanted to be certified organic right away. I was like, not even a question.
And so I learned the hard way.
I had this little company, and then I went through the organic certification project.
It took so much time and so much money, and I never, ever knew that it was going to be
so difficult to do that.
Now, years later, I understand there's like this weird thing between
like, there are people, there's companies that like do some organic, they say, oh, we're organic,
and they might do a few organic things. And it's rare to find companies that are 100% organic,
which we are, which, which is part of like our integrity and commitment to the customer that
you're never going to get food that's genetically modified or sprayed with glyphosate or things like that. And I think I just went off on a tangent.
Wait, tell me your question again. Oh, I love it. Oh, I just wanted you to talk about food as
medicine, but I love, I want to dive into GMOs and glyphosate and all that too. So it's great.
Yeah. So, um, so when I look at health, um, like the, the pieces that you need to be really
healthy, you know, my message used to be really mostly around food and it still is.
I mean, I think that's the foundation.
Everything we put into our body creates a chemical reaction in our body.
And in my opinion, you're either eating things that really cleanse your body or clog your
body.
I always try to keep it simple.
Like ask yourself when you eat this meal, is it going to cleanse you or clog your body. I always try to keep it simple. Like ask yourself when you eat
this meal, is it going to cleanse you or clog you? And it's okay to eat stuff that clogs you
sometimes because we, you know, we love to eat delicious food. But I feel like food is like a
very big piece of the puzzle. And then there's other things that are really important as well.
Like, you know, good sleep, being in nature, getting sunshine. And they're all, you know, really simple things that
are free that, you know, we have the capability to incorporate into our lives. But I feel like,
you know, as a society, we've gotten so busy, you know, just running around, like if you're a parent,
like just dealing with all your stuff with your kid or going to work and all this stuff. So we
don't really take the time to sit and enjoy, you know, our beautiful organic food, take 20 minutes during your day or 10 and 10
minutes just to like sit and get the sun in your eyes and, you know, go for a walk in nature. These
are the foundational things that actually, you know, help our bodies to do what they're meant to
do, which is to be innately healthy. And so, so I think food is a
really big part of that. So I think like yesterday, my son went to the neighbors and, um, he came back
with like some Trident gum and he was chewing it and it had like, you know, aspartame in it or
something. And I was trying to explain to him without, without making him feel weird and being
weird about food, but like, this is why we don't chew this kind of gum. And so, um, you know, without creating a kid who's going to like, which he already kind of does,
sometimes we'll go to somebody's house. He's like, is that organic? And a part of me loves it. And
I'm like, that's so great. And then I, and then I'm like, oh, people are going to think that it's
a little weird, but, um, it's part of it too. We are, he's going to grow up and be so grateful
for that. My mom loves to tell this story all the time. When I was a kid, one of my best girlfriends got Burger King like three to
four nights a week. And I would just throw tantrums because I wanted Burger King. I really
wanted the toys. I just wanted, you know, to have the chicken nuggets and whatever. And my mom has
always been really healthy. Like she was making every meal from scratch, buying organic before
organic was even like really a thing. And now she loves to be like, aren't you glad that like I started you out right. And I'm like,
you know, okay, I am, but you know, so he'll, he'll grow up and be really grateful.
And look at what you're doing now. Yeah. Look at where it brought you.
That's so cool. I know there's really a balance because, you know, we, and I think, you know, with everybody,
you don't want to be too one way or the other because then it just makes your life really
difficult, you know, but you want to, as much as you can eat, obviously organic.
Like I, I don't, I pretty much just eat organic, but it's really hard.
You know, I think like even going out to dinner, there's not a lot of places that you can go that serve restaurants that are 100% organic, even here where I live, where we have a lot of farming and stuff around here.
I know.
I mean, to be honest, that's the thing I find the hardest because I'm very strict about what I bring into my home.
Everything I buy is organic.
But when I want to go out to eat and I want to go out and spend time with friends and be social, it's pretty hard to find places that serve organic food, which is really upsetting.
I know it really is. And there's so many great restaurants and yeah, I'm always the person that
goes to eat and I'll be like, um, can you, what kind of oil do you like put your French fries in
like for my son? And they'll be like, I have no idea because actually nobody talks about them.
Most of the time it's like canola or, you know, some sort of vegetable oil.
But to find but I always like encourage people like it's good to ask the questions and to ask that because the more that we ask, then the more the chefs are going to be like, oh, people care, you know, what you're frying in or what you're cooking in.
And it's like it's just like voting with your dollars.
Exactly.
It's so true.
I tell people
that too. It's like, we want, we need to demand more and demand better from our food system.
Yeah. So you started talking about this and I want to talk more about this. So let's talk about
organic versus non-GMO and why we are so particular about organic food and why you believe so strongly in only serving organic food with urban remedy? Yeah. I believe, I mean, one, it's just the cleanest food that you can get.
And it's the one way that you can assure that what you're eating has the lowest amount of pesticides,
if any pesticides on it. And it's a way to, like I said, vote with your dollars so that farmers can continue and to really help the earth and the soil, which is so important.
As we all know, I, you know, I started reading about GMOs, you know, many years ago and got really interested in it.
I've done some podcasts with Jeffrey Smith and he and watched some of his films over the
years and and other people. And I just knew that I didn't want to eat anything that was genetically
modified. I was like, I I'm just not interested in this. And so it's been interesting, like going
through like the whole labeling in California for GMOs and whatnot. And that really kind of led me into like my research into like big ag
and just how, you know, these chemical companies that were spraying, you know,
selling glyphosate and creating a system of, of illness, you know, which related to what I was
doing in my practice where, you know, I was treating people that would have an autoimmune disorder or some sort of inflammatory disorder. And then once I
moved them to organic food and stopped the genetically modified food or the clogging food,
the food that raises inflammation in the body, I would see people get better. So I was seeing that,
you know, I was seeing it in my own little microcosm of my practice.
And then as I did more research into the why, I started learning more about what it was doing to
the earth and to the soil and, you know, how it was affecting the water systems and affecting,
you know, the people that work on farms and that were picking the food that was sprayed with all
of the stuff and the communities where this was happening and how it's degrading our soil. And so, you know,
I just feel like it's such a big, it's such a big topic and there's such a wonderful solution
with organic and regenerative farming, which is, which is so easy. But it's like, we got into this
thing in the United States where we wanted to make food as cheap as possible. But it's like, we got into this thing in the United States
where we wanted to make food as cheap as possible.
And it was like corn, soy, you know, and wheat
that are heavily sprayed.
And it was like making as much processed crap as we could
and then making, you know, the corn into corn syrup
and then sweetening things with that.
And then, you know, going into like telling everybody,
like eat a low fat diet, you know,
eat this low fat diet, you know, make sure you're eating low fat and you're going to lose weight.
And then everybody, you know, heart disease went up, cancer went up, diabetes went up.
And so, yeah. And so, you know, I saw that in my practice and then was really learning about it,
you know, the whys and like delving deep into all of that and just realizing like it's all just
about profit and it's not about keeping people healthy and it's not a conspiracy theory and it's
nothing like that. It's really just the way, unfortunately, you know, our country has kind of
backtracked over the last hundred years. So I just wanted to support a system that was going to,
you know, support the health of people and the farms and help educate people on the subject.
Because a lot of people don't even really understand it.
And it's like, even when you talk about, like I did a podcast with Dr. Shade from the Organic Center, and we were talking about organic and GMO and what's the difference.
And it's even like, you know,
it goes into meat and I know you went into this when you interviewed Anya, but, um, you know,
it's like how the animals are treated or the dairy is treated and how like, just by moving to like
organic dairy, you can make such a big difference in your health. If you eat dairy, you know,
just by choosing organic eggs, it's like those that many chickens
or cows won't, won't have to suffer because if you're, if you're choosing non-organic,
most of the time, the, um, way the animals are treated is so sad and so terrible.
And so just, you know, not supporting that as well.
Well, and I love to say this because it makes people squirm and it makes them think if you
are buying conventional eggs, conventional dairy, conventional meat, you're buying meat and eggs from sick animals.
Yes.
It's really just there's no other way to put it.
Yeah.
Because they're, you know, they're very in small confined areas.
They're being fed GMO corn and soy, which is only there just really to fatten them up.
Oh, and then they're getting injected with hormones to also fatten them up. And then we're wondering why we're having all
these health issues and why everyone's fattening up and getting autoimmune disorders and all this
stuff. And it's, it's interesting because you can actually look if you Google this and I'll
probably put this in the show notes, but when we started introducing GMOs into the, into the food
landscape, as well as pesticides, you can basically look at a graph and see like the more we started introducing GMOs into the food landscape as well as pesticides,
you can basically look at a graph and see like the more we started using them,
the rise of cancer, diabetes, autoimmune disorders.
And the funniest thing to me that I hear a lot of people say is,
oh, well, with GMOs, we use less pesticides.
This could not be further from the truth.
And it drives me nuts. Yeah.
Because we know, we now know that a lot of these genetically modified foods, like for example,
corn actually contain the pesticide in the actual seed. Yeah. And it makes it so that you can spray
a shitload, sorry for spraying a pesticide on it. And the pesticides are not going to kill it. It's
just going to kill all the weeds and the soil and everything else around it. So there, so it creates dead life and dead soil.
And yeah, and you can't wash it off. You know, that's where it gets really scary.
And I totally agree with you. I mean, I think it's, it's difficult for me because I'm like you,
like an activist around this. And I think a lot of people just want to eat and don't really want to think about that,
but it is so important, you know, when you make your choices. And I hear so many people that say,
oh, I only eat like grass-fed meat or I only eat, you know, whatever, but they really don't
because a lot of it will be like, oh, you know, and they don't ask the right, they don't ask the
questions. But I think like that is how we can really make changes by people asking the questions and really demanding or choosing places
that, you know, just serve organic fruits and vegetables and nuts and seeds and grains. And,
and it's such a great, you know, I think also as a parent, um, you know, not exposing your children
to, you know, all of those pesticides is so important because that's
like, think about it. You know, I mean, it's like all of the toxic burden that kids have,
you know, starting now is my cousin's daughter just had, Oh God, maybe I shouldn't tell the
story, but anyway, she had a kid and I was like, is she doing organic baby food? And she's like,
no, she just, I told her, but she doesn't believe in organic. And I was like, well, that's the one thing that's so important. And then it came out,
I think just recently that a lot of the baby food had like arsenic or heavy metals and pesticides
and all this stuff in it. And, um, yeah, I think it's starting your kids on organic as critical
and not non GMO, but organic. Yeah. Well, let's talk about that. So why,
what is the difference for people listening between organic and non-GMO and why do you
want to go for organic? Yeah. So non-GMO just means that the seeds used or the product,
depending on what it is, or the products used are not genetically modified, which is great.
That is great, but it doesn't mean it's still sprayed with, you know, it could
be sprayed with glyphosate and Roundup. It could be sprayed with, you know, a million of the toxic
chemicals that are approved in the United States. It doesn't have anything to do with animal
welfare, which organic does it. You can use like sewer, sewage slush, you know, for part of the watering. Um, there's so many different things,
but it's really, you know, it is a lot of people think it's the same, but it's very different.
Organic is definitely the highest standard. If you want to eat clean food, that's not sprayed
with toxic chemicals. And a lot of times people, it's so interesting. Like we'll post something
about the difference between like organic and non-GMO. And there's so many people out there that want to like kind of fight it and
then are like, but in organic, you can still use, you know, this toxic pesticide and you really can't
unless you've gone through like, it's very rare. And unless you've gone, you know, and tried all
of the natural kinds, then there's like a 1% chance that you might have to use something. Never would it be glyphosate or something like that. Um, but there's a lot of
people that try to hate on the organic. It's very interesting. I know it's so funny. And it's funny
you bring that up. Cause I was actually going to bring up that argument as well. Anytime I post
about organic food and I'll say, you know, this reduces your exposure to toxic chemicals like
pesticides. There's two arguments that I get from people, either one they'll say, well, every food
is made of chemicals. So you're, you know, like you're being dumb and I'm like, okay, well, but
now we're, we're talking and like nuances here. And then the other one is what you just said,
where people are talking, they're like, well, you still use pesticides in organic food.
I'm like, well, of course you do.
But there's a very small list that are allowed to be used in organic farming.
And it's very rare.
Yes.
But yeah, I mean, and everything is made up of some sort of chemicals.
I mean, there's phytochemicals and there's antioxidants and all of those things.
So it's just a way of kind of skirting the subject.
But one thing that I have learned in my,
I've been lucky enough to join some meetings
with scientists from around the world
about organics and GMOs.
And there are real campaigns against researchers who support organic or who are writing anything negative about, let's use glyphosate or Roundup as a really good example.
You could Google glyphosate and you can see 20 or probably more studies come up on that there's, you know, there's no chance of it
causing cancer that is totally safe. You could use it in your garden and spray it around.
And if you look at who's done those research studies, it's usually funded by Monsanto.
But then, you know, now you look at, you know, 50 years later and there's been all these lawsuits
where people have gotten cancer from exposing themselves to it. And so it's a very divisive topic where you can search.
It's very easy to back up your argument because there's so much information on both sides.
And that's where you start to have to use critical thinking and just ask yourself, like, why would I even want to eat something that was sprayed with something like that if there's a possibility? So when you choose organic, and I could say this by, you know, having a food company,
it's really difficult because we have to, you know, they come in and you have to be
certified.
They come in and they don't tell you what they're testing.
And you, they literally trace every single ingredient back to the farm.
So like every single ingredient you use in every
single batch of every single thing that's made has to be traced to the farm that it's from.
And that farm has to be obviously certified organic. And it's a very in-depth process.
And in some ways, it's a little bit sad because it makes it difficult for certain companies or
farmers to be certified organic because you need a lot of people to manage the process. Um, but it is a very, I would say
as much as it can be the most trustworthy option in terms of, you know, buying something that you
want to be clean. Yeah, I agree. And you know, every time this conversation comes up, I get so
upset because I'm like, people shouldn't have to pay to prove that their food is healthy and clean.
They should be paying for poisoning people with the conventional produce and conventional food and all the stuff that we're spraying on it.
Yes.
Because coming back to what you said earlier, I think a lot of people just don't really understand.
A lot of people don't really understand this is happening.
There's a lot of confusion because like you said, you can find studies that back up
any narrative that you want to believe. But again, you brought this up and I think it's a really
great point to make is that you've got to start using your intuition and start asking yourself,
okay, but does this make sense? Like, let me just, let me just scale this back for a second. Okay. I
know I have studies on both sides, but would it make sense if I'm spraying something that we know is very highly toxic on food,
that it's probably not going to be super good for our bodies, you know? And that's kind of where I'm
at. Totally. And people don't realize, like, sometimes people go like, oh, I don't like that
organic. And I'm like, well, what do you think organic is? And they'll be like, oh, you know, I don't know what they say, but it doesn't make sense.
And I'm like raw vegan or whatever.
Yeah.
And I'm like, organic is literally just the way we've been growing food since the beginning
of time.
It's like, usually it's on a system where there's, you know, multi different kinds of
crops, you know, that work together and, you know, where there's pollinators
and, you know, it supports the system of nature, which we innately are anyway. And so when you're
spraying these toxic chemicals, it's nothing that has ever been, you know, used in our history. And
so these are things that we're learning the hard way that are poisoning our soil and poisoning
people and truly making us sick. And I would love to see that graph that you have.
Oh yeah. I'll, um, I'll send it to you afterwards.
Yeah. Cause that's a great, you know, that's just a really great way to just see. And even if you
look at the rates of heart disease and diabetes and everything, well, if the low fat, you know,
diet worked and eating all of this processed corn, sorghum, wheat, then people,
we should be having a reduction in cancer and heart disease and diabetes. But instead,
you know, there's this big increase and it's really sad, you know, just big agriculture and
the sugar industry and, you know, the grain industry, you know, the effect it's really
having on people's health because people think the standard American diet is, you know, the effect it's really having on people's health, because people think the standard American diet is, you know, a diet made of health. And you, I'm sure, you know,
with your background, you know, look at the food pyramid, you know, that the FDA puts out.
Oh God, you know, it's so bad. Yeah. Yeah. So at the top of the list, they say that you should
have, I might get this number wrong, but I think it's like six to eight servings of grains and that's like on top.
What?
Okay.
And not to mention all these grains, if they're conventionally grown, are being sprayed with glyphosate.
Yes.
I mean.
And to not mention like, and then how much money are they making on all of these crops, these huge crops, the biggest crops that we have in the United States. And isn't it interesting how like the sugar and the corn syrup and the grains, you know, you look at that, how
the FDA is so like intertwined with the big agriculture and it's just a very, it's yeah,
it's not a system of health. No. And you know, what's so infuriating is that, you know,
the conversation comes up a lot that eating healthy and eating organic is really expensive. But do you know why? I'm sure you know why, but I don't know if a lot of the listeners know why. The only reason that is is because our government is literally subsidizing these super unhealthy foods, meaning that they pay farmers to grow more corn, soy, and wheat. And so that's why it's in literally everything. You
can't pick up a box of food in the grocery store anymore without it having, it usually has that
label and it says may contain soy, corn, and wheat. It's because we are paying farmers for
that. And it's the only reason why these foods are cheaper. That's it. Our government is literally
paying for it. And well, we are with our tax dollars. It's so true. I love your message. It's really good. You're talking my language.
I'm totally on the same page. Yeah, no, it's, it is, it is really, um, it's really, really sad.
And I think, you know, the only way that we are finding our way out of this is by like, look at the growth
of the organic industry. It's booming. And so there is something that's happening where people
are understanding, you know, the benefits of organic. And that's why it's so important when
you're going grocery shopping and buying stuff, something might be 25 cents more. Sometimes it
might be a dollar more, but just think about what you're, you know, it's what you were just saying.
It's like, you're not only investing in your own personal health, but you're investing in a change and making a change.
And if you look at big companies that now have like Dannon or, you know, General Mills or, you know, people like that, those big companies, those companies now are investing in organic.
And, you know, General Mills is like helping some organic farmers turn organic and the meat part will fall into line. I feel like that that is just a little bit behind, you know just so funny how it's all connected to, right? Because
and when you look at regenerative farming, and I've done a bunch of podcasts about that. So if
you're listening, and you don't know what regenerative farming is, I would just refer to
that. Actually, one of them was with your friend Anya. But when you look at that, and when we try
to go back to essentially regenerative farming is like going back to nature. And the animals play a
huge role in this too, because we
need them as part of the whole ecosystem to really grow like good, healthy, organic food.
And one of the most beautiful things about regenerative farming is that it just puts the
animal back where they belong on the land, you know, grazing out in sunlight, eating as nature
intended. And I think that's such an important part of the conversation. And it's
pretty mind blowing to me that we haven't made more progress in the animal industry because of
how horrible we know that they are treated in factory farming. And I feel like everyone across
the board agrees on this and how we haven't fixed it yet is. I know it really is. I know they're
just I was just talking to somebody there. they're trying to change pig farming in California, where I think they are even making the sale of pork illegal if it doesn't come from like pasture raised pork.
Yeah, I'm not sure I need to look more into it, but I was just having that conversation.
And I know we did that in California with chickens a year or two ago, but then I heard a lot of the chicken farmers just moved to Oregon or moved out of the state.
So it needs to be, you know, more of like a national initiative probably.
But yeah, no, I agree with you.
I think anybody who's interested in learning more about that, if they haven't seen Eating Animals, it's such a great film because it's not, it's not
a vegan film. It's not a like anti-meat film at all. It's just talks about, um, you know,
raising animals and factory farming and really educates extremely well on that. And so, um,
it's a little bit hard to watch, but it's very informative without having a severe bias.
And that's, uh, it's a book from Jonathan Safran
for, right. Or is it a different person? Well, this is a, this is a film that I saw probably
like three years ago. And one of, one of urban, one of our investors at urban remedy, um, helped
fund the film. And so I saw it and I'll, I'll send it to you. And I know it didn't get
released. You can rent it, but yeah, I'll give you the information that, yeah.
We'll put that in the show notes too. Cause I read a book called eating animals and that was,
I mean, man, that was probably 10 years ago and that's what really started me on this whole
journey. Cause what I realized is what, you know, it helped open
my eyes to what we were doing to animals in this country. And I was like, okay, I do not want any
part of this and how do we fix it? You know? And, and part of how we fix it for people listening
is like, you keep saying you put, you vote with your dollars, you start buying organic meat.
I know it can be really expensive, but there are places that are selling
it now. I know you can get it at Costco. I've seen organic meat at Walmart. I've seen it at
target. I've seen it at trader Joe's and even whole foods. I was, um, buying something. I don't,
I personally don't really eat much meat, but I was looking on, I was buying something from
Instacart and I saw beef came up and I always taught, I always ask Anya, cause I I'm so curious
like about whole foods and you know, they have the ask Anya, cause I I'm so curious, like about whole foods
and you know, they have the different grades one, two, three, and four. And they had like
pasture raised grade four, which I think is the highest you can have, which is the best.
And it was literally just 50 cents more than like the regular conventional. So it's really
actually is not that much more expensive. I know. Yeah, it's true. I, uh, I was doing
this little, like many series on my podcast where I was. I, uh, I was doing this little, like many
series on my podcast where I was remaking, um, I need to do another one soon actually, but I was
remaking like really popular fast food meals with all organic food. And I was buying it from places
that were super accessible. So instead of going to like Whole Foods or Air One or something like
that, I was going to like Walmart or, um, Ralph's or stuff like that. Cause I wanted to really make it accessible. And I was really shocked. Like it was like what you
just said, I could find organic grass fed beef for like, it was like 50 cents to a dollar more
than the conventional. And I ended up realizing that I was, I could make all these like organic
fast food versions of stuff for way cheaper than if you go through the drive-thru line.
It's pretty crazy. It was all organic. Do you know, we, what just opened up by my house is
the Amy's drive-thru. I don't think they have any down South, but, um, it's so incredible. I mean,
literally it's, it's, it's not, you can't get meat, but you can get, my son loves the burgers.
You can't even tell that they're not meat and everything is organic. It's so incredible. They've done such a good job. Yeah. So we need to get more
of those. I've heard of like little one-offs around the country, but we need like somebody
has, it's just a really good idea. If somebody would open like a fully organic fast food,
there's a couple of little ones, but like a really big one. I know, but we need like something
national. I know it's so cool. And for people listening that don't know what the, the Amy's drive-through is like
those canned soups and the frozen meals and stuff that you can find at the grocery store. They have
a fast food place in NorCal. I've been meaning to go actually, maybe I'll, I'll come up and visit
you and we can go. Okay. Yeah, we'll go. It's right by my house. There's two, they have two
locations and it's so good. And there's always like a super line out the door or through the drive-thru.
I wish we had one at home.
Yeah, it's really, really good.
So I'm going to pivot just a little bit because I want to talk about this because I feel like
there's a lot of confusion around this. So I want to talk about juicing versus smoothies,
because I know you have both at Urban urban remedy and there seems to be so much
confusion around it because anytime people ask me, it's like this either, or people seem to think
like, Oh, well you should only juice or only have smoothies. So can, let's talk about that a little
bit, the difference and why you want to do both. So juices versus smoothies. I mean, in my opinion,
I don't look at them as the same category.
And I think, you know, we all have very different constitutions and different needs and different need states and our different, you know, phases of our health goals.
And so it really depends on your health goal.
Like sometimes juicing, and I've just experienced it so many times, can be so incredibly healing
for people.
And usually the argument about
juicing is, oh, I'm not getting fiber and I'm, you know, not getting, you know, and I'm so hungry
and it's like all sugar, you know, and those are the things people say about juicing. Well,
there are certain times or certain things we're going through. If we have been exposed
to like a toxic burden or if our bot, like if our body is a poor detoxifier or something like
that, there's times where like drinking a lot of green juice, it like rapidly infuses your cells
with like vitamins and minerals and hydration. And it gives your digestion a break, um, so that
it can take a break to heal itself and take a little time to like reorganize and regenerate.
Um, I, there's nothing like it, but I don't think that
it should be something that you, you know, obviously you're not going to live off juice
for the rest of your life, but it, it, it can play a very healing role. You know, I mean,
even when my mom was pregnant with me, she got pneumonia and she didn't want to take any
antibiotics or anything. And she literally just drank a ton of carrot juice and it went away.
And so she, we always talk about that, which is funny that I have a company that does juice now.
Um, but there are a lot of, you know, one of the things that I would use to treat people that had
really bad acid reflux, um, or ulcers is cabbage juice. And so there's, there's a lot of like
little, you know, if you really understand like the benefits and what's in each different
fruit and vegetable, you can really, you really can use it as medicine. I mean, if you look at
like even what the, um, the medical medium with his celery juice, which I, I can't drink that
much celery juice, but, um, I've heard of a lot of people though, that it's really helped. And
some people it hasn't, and some people it has, but there's nothing, if it, if it's, if it works and you're Elaine and you're doing it and you're
seeing a reduction in inflammation, then like, it's great for you, you know? And then with
smoothies, I think smoothies are great. Um, you know, it's a great way to like have a nutrient
dense, you know, food item, you know, that you can put like all different kinds of like healing
powders and adaptogens and protein and, you know, blueberries and things like that. I mean,
I think sometimes smoothies can end up being, can be extremely sugary. But I think it just
depends again on like what the person's goals are. Like it might be great for somebody that
really needs to gain weight or you can do like a low glycemic smoothie and it could be something that balances your blood sugar.
You know, I think it just depends on the person, but I usually, when I'm doing smoothies, just
probably because I'm an acupuncturist, I try not to make them too cold. Um, even our smoothies at
urban remedy, like I'll get one and I'll let it sit out just for like 10 minutes, just so it's
not freezing cold. Cause it's a little bit easier to digest. Um, but I love juices and smoothies and they're so easy when you just,
when you're hungry and you're just, you either don't have time to make a meal or you're on the
run. It's like a great way to like have some nutrient density into your diet. Yeah. Yeah.
I totally agree. And I agree with everything that you said, cause that is kind of the biggest
argument is people say like, Oh, well in juices, you don't have fiber. And I'm like, well, but you know, the,
for me, I've always told people that you want to do both, you know? Um, because with the juices,
you are literally flooding your body with so much nutrients because the way I try to explain it is
I'm like, think about how many vegetables go into one juice. You would never be able to consume all
of that in a day.
Yes. And so you're just flooding your body with all this nutrients that you otherwise wouldn't
be exposed to. And then with the smoothie, then you're getting the fiber and you're getting
everything else in there. And it's more of like a meal. It's super nourishing because you're not
going to be able to make a meal out of the juice. And so I'm always like, it's not either or it's
both. Totally. And if you're like, if you have a cold or you're going
through something and you do drink a lot of carrot juice, it will have a higher amount of sugar,
but you're getting so much beta carotene and vitamin a to boost your immune system. So you
have to look at like the medicinal benefits versus what you might be worried about, which would be
like sugar content or, um, you know, the lack of fiber, but it's like, you know, the main thing is,
in my opinion, like anything that you eat,
you don't want to just do one thing.
So you don't want to just do juice or do smoothies.
It's like, really, there's so many amazing foods.
And if you're eating seasonally, you know,
in the winter, in the fall,
you might eat more root vegetables.
And in the summer, you're going to eat more
like watermelon and cucumber and things that are cooling.
And it's like, you know, eating what's local and in season and all different kinds of things.
Like a little bit of grain is fine, you know, you know, not to be scared of the different kinds of foods.
And I'm not into fads and, you know, like keto or low carb or, you know, or lectins or, you know, there's, you could get so, I've seen so many people
get so into one way of eating and it just makes eating not fun. You know what I mean? And not
enjoyable. And then you have a lot of fear around eating. And we've had people call an email urban
remedy and say, you guys use lectins. And if you don't stop using lectins, like you're going to be sued,
you're killing people. And I'm like, Oh, what? You know, there's Oh, yeah, no, a few people have
done that. It's really interesting. But I do think for some people, like not eating lectins,
really works for them. But for other people does it but it's just like you could get so into all
these different things. So I don't really my whole thing is like eating colorful fruits and vegetables and whole grains and foods that have different colors and
textures and foods that you enjoy and you love the taste of. And like, that's what eating is about.
And if you're doing that, then you're, you know, you're getting everything that you need in your
diet. I agree. Oh, I love that. I'm so glad that you brought that point up because I'm very similar.
I don't really subscribe to any sort of diet. I mean, I'll, you know, kind of dip my toes into like paleo and keto and stuff, but dipping my toes in meaning like I'll have like a keto cookie
or something. It's not like I follow it. Yeah. But I feel the same way because also like I have
found at least personally in my own life that the more I restrict and I don't allow myself to have certain things that one, the more miserable I am. And two, then the more I just
want those things, you know? And so I'd rather just for me, it's more like, okay, did nature
give this to us? Cool. Then it's a green light for me, you know? Yeah. And that's where, yeah,
like back to our ability to heal. It's like when we try to do these like biohacking things and all of these things, which are
so popular now, in my opinion, like you don't have to hack.
Like your body doesn't want to be hacked.
Like your body really just wants like gentle, loving, nurturing, like food, like I was saying,
clean air and water and exercise.
That's like just a gentle
foundation that you give your body where your body can be this healing machine. Your body already is
a healing machine. So you're just like giving your body what it needs. You're like, you don't have to
be so hard on your body. You know, you don't have to exercise so hard, like you need movement,
but you don't have to push yourself to your exhausted and your, you know, wasting away.
It's like, you're, it's like everything that we need is there. So for people that are listening, who are just kind of
starting out and they're kind of struggling where to begin, and they're really intrigued by food as
medicine and they want to get better, what would be some, maybe some tricks or tips you could give
them or kind of tell them where to start? Yeah. So I think that if you're somebody
that doesn't feel good, if you're somebody that's in disease or disharmony in your body,
you have a chronic illness, um, or you just plain old feel tired or foggy or whatever.
Um, it's kind of the principles, principles I was just talking about. If you can, you know,
give yourself two weeks and choose all organic food like we were talking about.
So everything's certified organic.
And if you take two weeks and really remove all the processed stuff, so like the white sugar, the white flours, the cereals, cookies, crackers, and all that kind of stuff, and just eat like a whole foods diet.
I mean, which is such a delicious diet.
Like you could have purple sweet potatoes and you could have, if you eat meat, just choose like organic grass fed or eggs and then just eat a lot of colors. I always tell people,
just make it really simple. Go to the grocery store and try to get the rainbow of colors,
like raspberries or red radishes and like orange peppers or sweet potatoes and yellow peppers and,
or yellow apples. And, you you know you could keep going on
blueberries and try to just really eat the most colorful foods those are the most nutrient-dense
foods for your body and those foods also help to heal your body they're high water content
and so they help your body get into the healing phase and then also you know so it's eating
nutrient-dense plant-based diet where you're mostly eating plant
foods, but you can incorporate, you know, if you need extra protein or that's a part of your diet,
then, you know, that's great. And then, um, I also would cut out dairy the first two weeks,
just cause it tends to be inflammatory for some people and gluten. Um, and then, you know,
make sure you're drinking clean water. Um, that's really important.
Like try not to drink water out of plastic.
And, you know, I'm, I think mineral water is the best water for you or spring water.
And then, you know, make sure you're going to bed early and getting a really good night's
sleep.
Cause that's when your body truly heals itself and regenerates and restores all its systems
and detoxifies.
And so just try to go to bed a little bit earlier and make sure you're sleeping. I mean, that's really critical to health and then moving your body. Even if you
go on a 20 minute walk, you know, just, you know, especially like going outside and walking in
nature and just like looking at beauty, you know, just staring at beauty helps to rewire our brain
and to be more positive and, you know, experience gratitude. And so, you know,
if you have time to like go walk in nature, just sit in nature, just listen to the birds chirping.
And I, and I don't mean this in like a hippie dippy esoteric way. Um, you know, I mean,
it's really part of who we are as humans is, you know, we are nature. And so just, you know,
as we're finding out like the trees
and all of the roots of trees and the mycelium, they all talk to each other. There's like a whole
world in nature that we're a part of. And so just going into nature and, and, or going and sitting
on the beach and just listening to the ocean, those are things that help our body regenerate
and heal. And again, all the things I'm mentioning are free besides
buying your food. Incorporating these simple principles into your life can really radically
and drastically change your life in a pretty short amount of time. So that's why I always say
food is so important and it is how we feed our body and get our energy. But if you're just eating
all, and you could eat organic and
eat really unhealthy. You could eat organic and eat all processed food, but it's organic.
And then you won't be having the glyphosate and as much pesticides, but you're still eating highly
inflammatory food. So it's looking at the types of food that you're eating. So you want to eat
food in its natural state as much as possible. And then, you know, back to what I just said,
if you're eating an organic diet, but you're super busy and stressed out, you're not sleeping,
you're drinking coffee in the morning for your energy, you don't feel good, you're tired,
you're irritable, your cycles are, you know, not regular, you have PMS, those are all signs that
your body is not in harmony. And so you can easily change those processes. And it's,
it is very simple, but in our lifestyle, it is difficult, you know, to make time to do those
things. But those are the things that I found that are the simplest things actually are the
things that help to heal us at a deep level. And our bodies are capable of healing.
I mean, we're taught in this society
that it's normal to get cancer
and it's normal to have diabetes.
And like everybody knows somebody that has X, Y, or Z.
And guess what?
Your body, you don't have to have those disorders.
You don't have to have inflammatory,
chronic inflammatory disease. Like your body is capable of healing beyond anything that you've
ever dreamed. And so, and it's easy to do it once you start doing it, but it is difficult in the
modern society that we live in. But I always like, I just think it's important to mention that.
Cause I think, you know, with all the TV commercials and everything about drugs, like we've kind of come into this place in our society where we think it's really normal to be sick.
And so I try to remind people it's actually really normal to be healthy.
And that's our birthright.
You know, I love that.
Yeah.
Well, it's you know, like you said, there's a now in this country, there's a pill for every ill.
Yeah.
And we've gotten so disconnected from nature.
We've gotten so disconnected from our innate body, our ability to heal, our body's ability to heal.
And we've become so disconnected from ourselves and from nature.
And what was I saying?
Oh, I was just saying that when I traded in my workouts for hikes every day, it really made a difference in my life. Um, just exposing myself to the
outdoors every day. And now it's a priority. I mean, I do it every single day, no matter what
I go outside for at least an hour and I walk my dog. That's so doesn't it make such a difference.
I have a tree that I love to go sit under and I just go sit under this beautiful tree. And it's
like, when I do it, it just feels so good.
And I'm like, God, I just feel like I get recharged.
Yeah, you do.
And we really do.
We get recharged from just exposing ourself and being in nature, you know, exposing yourself
to it.
So this brings me to my last question, actually, that I ask everyone.
So what are your health non-negotiables?
Meaning no matter how busy you are, you prioritize
these things to make sure that your health is in order. So for example, for me, I go on my
hikes every day and it's like non-negotiable. I go every day. Yeah. Um, for me, it's my non-negotiable.
Well, I only eat organic. So that is a non-negotiable for me. Even if I go out to eat,
I am, that's, you know, a hundred percent and I, it changes for me over time, depending on kind of
where I'm at. But right now my non-negotiables are spending some time in nature. And sometimes I get
really busy with work and being a mom and I, I don't, I don't do it every single day, but I do
it at least every other day.
And so being in nature, I just feel better.
And you know what I've been doing lately also
is making sure that I'm getting my vitamin D
and getting sunshine.
So like this morning I woke up and the sun was rising
and the sky was all pink.
And I just went and sat in the sun and watched that.
And it was, I felt so good all day today.
It's just such a great way to start your day.
And I really do try to get good sleep.
I try to go to sleep on time and as much as I can because sleep is so critical to not
only our mental health, but our physical wellbeing.
And so, yeah, I would say sleep, eating organic, being in nature.
My other non-negotiable is drinking clean water.
Like I get this water called live water. It's a spring, sorry. It's a spring water, um, that I really like
where it's like raw. So it's clean water and where I live, unfortunately, like today there's not clean
air because it's all smoky, but, um, clean water, organic food, sleeping and spending time in nature.
I think those are like my foundational things. And, you know, sleeping and spending time in nature. I think those are
like my foundational things. And, you know, I've gone through times where I've, you know,
like studying functional medicine and being acupuncturist and, you know, where I'll take a
lot of supplements. I'm like, oh, I need to take this, this and this. And, and then I've noticed
sometimes where I've stopped all of that and just done my foundational pieces. I actually feel
better. Like I don't, you know, it's really easy to get caught up in having to take stuff to feel better. But what I've learned recently is
by sleeping well and being in nature and eating clean food and being in the sun,
that really gives me pretty much everything that I need to feel better or feel good.
Yeah. Oh, I love that. Well, for everyone listening, where can they find you? We're at urbanremedy.com. It's
our website and we have stores across California, but we're also national. So we have kiosks
nationally on the East coast or in New York and Washington DC and the Northwest. And all of our
locations are listed on our website, which is urbanremedy.com. And then we also, you can also
order online as well. Cool. Well, thank you so much for coming on. This has been such a great
episode. Thank you so much. So I'm so nice to meet you. And I want to stay in touch because I feel
like there's more stuff we can do with our similar interests. Yeah, fully agree. Yeah. I would love
that. Thanks for listening to today's episode of the real foodology podcast if you liked this episode
please leave a review in your podcast app to let me know this is a resident media production
produced by drake peterson and edited by chris mccone the theme song is called heaven by the
amazing singer georgie spelled with a j love you guys so much see you next week