Realfoodology - Ending Processed School Meals: The Real Food Movement in Public Schools | Nora LaTorre

Episode Date: May 6, 2025

247: Did you know public schools serve more meals than any restaurant chain in America? And yet, many of those meals come from fast food giants instead of farms. This week, I’m joined by the CEO of Real Certified—a company on a mission to change that. Through their initiative Eat Real, they’re working with school districts to replace ultra-processed cafeteria food with fresh, locally-sourced meals that kids actually enjoy. In this episode, you’ll learn how Real Certified is empowering parents, partnering with real farmers, and making it easier than ever for schools to serve real, nutritious food. If you’ve ever looked at your child’s lunch tray and thought, “There has to be a better way,” this conversation is your answer. Topics Discussed:  How can parents help improve school lunches in public schools? What is the Eat Real program and how does it work in school cafeterias? Why are ultra-processed foods still being served in American school lunches? What are the health impacts of poor nutrition in school-aged children? How can schools transition from processed food to real, locally-sourced meals? Timestamps:  00:00:00 – Introduction  00:05:08 – The Eat Real Mission Explained 00:09:47 – Problems with U.S. School Lunches 00:13:10 – Kids’ Health: Behavior & Fatty Liver 00:22:16 – How Schools Source Better Food 00:26:41 – Reforming School Lunch Programs 00:32:45 – District-Level Support for School Meals 00:38:06 – Teaching Kids About Healthy Eating 00:40:25 – Why We Need to Rethink Nutrition 00:44:07 – Real Food Transforming Schools 00:48:41 – School Food Funding Challenges 00:50:44 – Scaling the Eat Real Program 00:51:45 – Prison Food & Public Health Costs 00:56:02 – Fast Results from Nutrition Changes 00:59:35 – Courtney Swan’s Healthy Restaurant Picks 01:00:01 – How Parents Can Get Involved 01:02:25 – California Bill AB1264  01:06:43 – Final Thoughts: Helping Kids Thrive Sponsored By: LMNT | Get your free Sample Pack with any LMNT drink mix purchase at drinklmnt.com/realfoodology Our Place | Use code REALFOODOLOGY for 10% off at fromourplace.com Timeline | Go to timelinenutrition.com/REALFOODOLOGY and use code REALFOODOLOGY for 10% off Paleovalley | Save at 15% at paleovalley.com/realfoodology and use code REALFOODOLOGY MANUKORA | Go to Manukora.com/REALFOODOLOGY to get $25 off the Starter Kit, which comes with an MGO 850+ Manuka Honey jar, 5 honey travel sticks, a wooden spoon, and a guidebook!  Cozy Earth | Go to cozyearth.com and Use code REALFOODOLOGY for 40% off best-selling sheets, pajamas, and more. Trust me, you won’t regret it. Check Out Eat Real: Website Instagram Facebook  Nora’s instagram  Check Out Courtney LEAVE US A VOICE MESSAGE Check Out My new FREE Grocery Guide! @realfoodology www.realfoodology.com My Immune Supplement by 2x4 Air Dr Air Purifier AquaTru Water Filter EWG Tap Water Database Produced By: Drake Peterson

On today's episode of the Real Foodology podcast. How do we just help kids and families relearn nutrition and make it easy for them and then make it really simple and turnkey? And that's why we focus on schools because it's such a natural place for kids to learn. Hello friends, welcome back to another episode of the Real Foodology podcast. I'm your host Courtney Swan as always. And today's guest is Nora Latour, who is the CEO of a company called Eat Real Certified. You may not know this, but public schools are the largest restaurant chain in America.

And I think it's no secret that America's school cafeterias are not serving healthy, nutritious foods. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Not only are many of these kiddos just getting ultra processed foods all day in their school lunches, but a lot of these school cafeterias also have McDonald's, Starbucks, Subways. They have a lot of fast foods in there as well. What Nora's doing with Eat Real is taking these school systems and their food systems and connecting them with real farmers and local food systems where they can actually provide real whole foods for the kiddos. And it's so freaking cool what they're doing. And her excitement

about all of this was so much fun to listen to. So it just made me so happy. So many of you all have over the years sent me DMs asking, how can I get involved? I'm seeing what my kiddos are eating in the school lunches and it's atrocious and I want to be able to change it. I want to fix it. And same, I've wanted to do this forever and I just felt like I didn't know where to start. I didn't know who to send people to and it's so freaking cool that now there's a company that's actually doing this. I don't want to go into too many details because you'll hear all about it but I just I'm really really excited about it because we finally have a solution. We finally have a company that's taking care of this.

It's also really easy for the parents that want to get involved and want to get their school system involved. So listen to the episode. If you are one of those parents that's like, I really want to change my kiddo school lunches and I don't know where to start. They have a whole system in place where you can get your school lunches on board. And it's so cool. The kiddos are eating Whole Real Foods. They're loving it.

And she kept going on and on about how good the food tasted. And it's just, it's so exciting. So I don't want to give anything else away. I just want you to listen to the episode. As always, if you are loving this podcast, if you could take a moment to rate and review it, it takes you about two seconds and it really does mean a lot for the show and it helps the show grow.

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Nora, thank you so much for coming on today. Thank you for having me. Yeah. So we were talking just a little bit before we started recording and I just was telling you that I'm so excited about what you're doing. And it's so amazing because it's super action oriented and it's really hitting an area that is not only very much needed, but something that I'm super passionate about. I remember years ago, I mean, this was like 10 years ago, Jamie Oliver had a show about trying to clean up our food system. And I was so excited. I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then by the end

of the show, he was like, well, I tried. And I was like, no, we need to keep trying. We need somebody to do this. So can you tell my listeners what you're doing with Eat Real and the food system? Yeah. And it's so perfect because Eat Real, Real Foodology, like just both really focus, I think, on the power of real food. Yeah. And at EatReal, we're leading a children's health nonprofit where we believe every child deserves a healthy, delicious future on a livable planet. And we all are really focused on helping kids unlock their full potential through real food

and live out their dreams. And so the reason we exist is that we actually found it by some of the top doctors in the nation. And they just saw how sick kids were getting and they were really alarmed. And this was 13 years ago. And so they said, it's the food and people aren't talking about how it's the food. And yes, there are other drivers. It was kind of before the rise of screens, but it was the food. And they saw the rise of ultra-processed food. Today, 67% of kids' calories are ultra-processed calories. It is nuts.

I don't think people understand. It's more than the majority. It's just like they're eating way more ultra-processed food than real food at this point, when forever we survived off real food. And so they just, but they saw how it was affecting kids and they were trying to kind of ring the alarm bell. And then I joined as CEO, I was a new mom, and I learned about American health collapse,

this phenomenon that kids are on track, and as a new mom, it was like really upsetting to me, but kids are on track to experience 693 fewer sunsets than their parents. Or that's almost two years of life expectancy decline that we're handing to our kids. That means they're going to have shorter, less healthy and less happy lives than us. And this is like, you know, the decline of progress then, because we always fight for giving our kids a better life.

And so, and when I learned about that and I learned what these doctors were doing at Eat Real, I thought like, this is the cause of my lifetime. This is, I want to get behind this. I want to help scale it. I want to do this work. And we went through an exercise just over five school years ago. I count my life in school years, not just as a mom, but now working in school food. But what we saw was that if food was the biggest problem

and preventable ultra-processed food diseases, related diseases and lifestyle diseases were driving this decline in life expectancy, they're the number one driver. Poor nutrition globally is the number one thing taking years away from people and healthy years away from people and from our kids. And so if food is the biggest issue, we're like, what is the biggest lever within our

food system? And so we did a whole analysis week one when I was brand new CEO, brand new mom. And we looked at all the different parts of our food system. And we saw that the best leverage point was the largest restaurant chain in America, which is our US public school system. Isn't that nice? Yeah, they're bigger than schools. US public schools are bigger than Subway, Starbucks, and McDonald's combined.

They serve seven billion meals a year to 30 million kids. So it's like when you just think about the sheer volume and that then you're affecting kids early in their lifetime and affecting their development and their ability to learn, we're like, this could be game changing. And Eat Real has an award-winning program where we actually stand next to schools and we help them overhaul the food system quickly. And we stand next to food service directors and heroes in towns across America.

And we help give them the playbook and the data and the support to make school food and school restaurants the best restaurant in town. And it works. And I was like, five years ago, I went and had school lunch and it was so delicious. And they were removing at that point 10 pounds of sugar per student per year. They were cutting toxic ingredients. They were sourcing local regenerative items, grass-fed beef, organic chicken. They were sourcing just local vegetables. It was so delicious. And we were working with 50,000 kids. And then

fast forward, now we're working with half a million kids. And in the next year, like this, by the end of this year, we can reach a million kids in 20 states. Like, it's happening fast. It's happening around the country. It's like, and it can happen everywhere. Oh my gosh. Wait, this is so cool. Okay, so I'm like, I have so many questions. Where do I want to take this first? Okay, I think first of all, let's start with like how bad they are. Like what were you seeing? What were these doctors seeing in the school lunches?

Because I think the general person, especially if they don't have kids or if they don't understand enough about food, what are we seeing in school lunches that are so bad? Yeah. Well, first of all, just like zooming out on kids food in general, right? Like for the 67% of kids calories are ultra processed calories. And then kids in America today eat a bathtub of added sugar a year. A bathtub? Like you can't unsee that after you like, after you hear it.

I'd like a bathtub. And actually it's more than that. So I want to like maybe at this point, like one and a half bathtubs. Yeah. And it's been going up and they're want to like, maybe at this point, like one and a half bathtubs. Yeah. And it's been going up. And they're... It's in everything. It's not just candy and cookies.

It's like literally in the salad dressings. It's in soup. It's in the sauces. And it's over 70% of products that has like an added sugar in it. And so, and there are over 262 names for just added sugar, not even looking at free sugar or artificial sweeteners. Yes. So it's just like, it's hidden. It's hidden everywhere. It's ubiquitous. It's everywhere in our kids' food especially, right?

And it's being pumped to them. And so we just see the state of food. And I think in food, I'm from Minnesota, and you're from Colorado, right? Okay, so in Minnesota, it was very beige growing up. of food. Maybe that's when my school food obsession started. But like, it was like in a lot of places it hasn't changed much. But that was like pretty new. Like ultra processed food really started to rise in the 70s and the 80s. And actually millennials, we missed a critical growth spurt in the 80s and we're shorter because of that, because of like, because of what we were eating and our environment.

So I like it was starting to affect us, right? Our health span was starting to be impacted majorly. But what's happening with for American kids is that it's just intensified for them. And so, across the country, kids just don't have access to that real food that they need. And that's why we really think schools are this really powerful point

where kids need real food to focus and to learn. Like there's so much research out there that shows that as you improve nutrition for kids, you improve their academic scores, you improve their performance, like their kids health, their metabolic health when they even just removing added sugar for 10 days, their metabolic health can improve. Like kids are little and they can regenerate quickly too. And so there's a lot of hope in that, yes, food and school food probably hasn't changed much from what I described or maybe what you grew up on too, or what was in your local

school. But like we can make changes quickly in schools and kids' health can improve quickly. And for our littlest kids, we can make sure that they have learning food, like food that really helps them. We call it growing food in my house. Growing food, that's so cute. Well, that's a really big one. So I get a ton of messages, DMs all the time in my Instagram from teachers that will tell me, they'll say in the last 10 years, they'll be like, I've been in this for 20 years,

or I just recently got a message. And she was like, I've been in the school system for 10 years, and she goes, I have never seen behavioral issues like I'm seeing today compared to 10 years ago. And there's this, there's some dissenting voices saying, oh, well, we're just getting better at diagnosing. And then the teachers are literally witnessing it

and they're going, no, no, we're not. We're actually having more behavioral issues. And it's the sugar, it's the dyes, it's the fact that they're just not eating real food anymore. And I don't think people understand that. I was actually talking with my team before you got here is that like a lot of these schools now don't even actually have chefs or cooks anymore.

They just literally have someone that tears open a bag, they dump something in a fryer. And so even if the kids... Or just partially thawed. Yeah, that can happen. Exactly. Exactly. Like partially thawed too. And so what it may even look like they're like getting food, you know, it's like chicken nuggets and mashed potatoes or whatever, but the mashed potatoes were literally a powder that they added water to and they have 30 ingredients when it should be three ingredients, you know, potatoes, butter, salt. And then, you know, they're getting chicken nuggets, which has

a laundry list of ingredients. So it's like they're not actually eating food anymore. And you brought up such a great point about their development. Like, they're in their most critical years of developing their brains are developing, their bodies are growing, their cells are, you know, doing everything that they're supposed to be doing and they don't even have the building blocks to do everything they need to do. Yeah, yeah. It's the type 2 diabetes is up in kids, which is a preventable ultra-processed food related disease.

It's up 67% in kids since the pandemic. So it's soaring. Obesity, if you know, if you imagine back on recess and you're holding hands with five of your friends, three of those friends will be obese by the time they're 35 now. So in eight years, we'll have three out of five 35-year-olds being obese at the time when you're thinking about preconception, conception, childbirth, et cetera. And so our obesity is soaring, fatty liver disease. This is crazy.

Yeah, people don't know as much about that one. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Thank you for calling it that. This actually blew my mind when I figured this out because this is a disease that largely did not even exist. Like, absorb that for a second. This disease didn't even exist like 50 years ago. And before, it was just called fatty liver disease

because alcoholics were getting it because we were only seeing it out in alcoholics. But now… They actually called it alcoholic fatty liver disease. Yes. So now because it's showing up in kids, they're calling it non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. They saw it in alcoholics. And kids aren't having alcohol.

Exactly. But they're adding added free sugar and other ultra processed foods. And then now we're seeing fatty, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease showing up in kids. It's crazy. I like, and it's increasing a lot. Chronic kidney disease, autism, ADHD, we're learning a lot more about the brain gut microbiome and how over 95% of our serotonin is made in our guts. And it's like, you know, we can either feed our kids happiness and mental health and help feed

that happiness hormone and get their, have them having good microbiomes, or we can be feeding them sickness and then they're in the doctor's office and not in the playground or not learning and focusing. And we, I do talk to a lot of teachers, like especially as we help schools make the changes and move towards more real food and get out those ultra processed foods and make

swaps. And they're like, I just interviewed, I just walked with one after school breakfast and it was like delicious protein rich. It was like egg bites they had, you know, all different, you know, even like a really protein rich breakfast burrito. And so I was talking with one of the teachers and I went back to her classroom and I said, you know, what does real food breakfast mean to you? And she said, you know what, Nora, it means that my kids are focusing better in math. Wow. And like, and that's huge. And we're about to have some really good research coming out

on this, which I would love to share with you when it's out. But we hear from teachers who are on the front lines every day that it is helping their kids focus. I just heard from another teacher that during mat time when the kids are sitting down listening to books on the mat that her kids are actually able to sit still now and focus and listen to story time. And so, and then one other teacher said like, real food breakfast meant that she hadn't heard one, I'm hungry. And like that and then one of the teachers said like real food breakfast meant that she

hadn't heard one, I'm hungry. And like that just breaks my heart. But like if your tummy's grumbling, if you if you're hungry, you can't learn. It's like you like how can you even focus so the fact that then they're feeling nourished enough to really, you know, be thinking about learning and not thinking about food. Well, and if you're just having like, let's say, fruit loops for breakfast, I breakfast, I mean, that's quick, fast carbohydrates that are not going to last you longer than like an hour. Like, if I had a bowl of cereal and then tried to podcast all day, I would be starving. I'm bouncing. Like, how do you sit still? Like, you can't spike a kid and then it's like, I'm a mom.

You can't spike a kid. You can't give kids sugar and then expect them to like sit still. Like, you just can't. But just, yeah, thinking about that. So we did a quick analysis and we found that in the standard American breakfast, and there was standard American diet, the sad diet, just by breakfast alone, kids, American kids, typically have, they can have if they have a standard breakfast like that, four times the amount of added sugar they should have the entire day. So like, and if you're talking like, you know, adults, females having 25 grams and kids having 12, maybe 13 grams of sugar by just breakfast, they can be way beyond the daily max amount. And so, you know, and

then we want them to sit still and learn. So that's just like a muffin with a ton of added sugar, which you can do swaps in muffins and still have a delicious muffin. Like our schools are doing it. They're having like amazing local fresh fruit instead inside the muffin. And it can be like delicious still, but then also like a flavored yogurt

and then an orange juice. And we're just not setting our kids up in the morning. We're setting them up on a cycle of highs and lows and throughout the day. And so we're just, we really have to get kids real food back throughout the day and especially in the morning, you're pointing to breakfast because it sets up their entire day.

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Kids depend on school meals for 30 to 100% of their calories. And for low income kids, it's upwards of 100% of their calories. Because if you look at school breakfast, school lunch, and then in certain communities, there's also dinner that's provided. So kids really need real food at school in order. And that's why we believe that if we can get kids real food at school, then that's how we start to restore health in America upstream and stop disease before it starts. We can stop these diseases.

We can reverse and reverse some of these diseases in kids. We don't need to be testing azempic on six-year-olds. Like, let's get kids real food as the first try. And then we can reverse disease and we can prevent disease. Exactly. Okay, so what are you sourcing for the kiddos? Like, where are you getting the food sourcing? And then also, too, what are your stipulations around it,

like pesticide-free or dye-free or what are the little like boundaries you have around it? Yeah. Yeah. So we don't cook the food for the schools. We're literally to do them to fish. So we stand next to these local food heroes over multiple years and we do an assessment on our science-based standards, which leverage the best science out there. We're actually doing a standards review right now. And so looking at everything from NOVA, one of the processing kind of spectrums that goes from minimally processed to ultra processed. We look at, we have a sugar standard, a protein standard. We're looking at healthy fats. So that's like looking at those really, really healthy fats, getting it look

more local and seasonal sourcing, organic regenerative sourcing. So we look at everything from nutrition to local and sustainability across their whole food system. So that's like, that's looking at a school's menus, their recipes, their purchasing. And so we work, you know, it's really about trust with those local heroes. They're opening up their books, they're showing us their database,

they're showing us all, like my team was just in Georgia and they were in their freezer looking at what boxes, what was on the ingredients labels, et cetera. So people are really open to wanting to understand and get a baseline for what's happening in their school district and have an independent baseline. And so we give that to them and we give them this 14 page report. We're like, you're rocking it in these ways and here's some top opportunities. And then to get EatReal certified, which we actually will certify a school, and we have green level, silver, gold, platinum.

And so it kind of gamifies and has a range that schools can work towards year over year of reaching this higher level, kind of like Michelin star meets lead, but for a school restaurant. Awesome. And it's like, yeah. So we really help the school do that. And so we have these rigorous, and also harmful, getting harmful ingredients out, these rigorous standards that we look at their food. But it's not a one size fits all in that every school food system and every, our 90,000 public

schools are organized into just about 13,000 school districts. And every one of those districts then has tons of schools under them. And so every single one is set up differently. Some have central kitchens, some have the kitchens have been taken out, some of the schools have kitchens, some don't. So the infrastructure is all over the place. So how do some not have kitchens? Are they just really re-eating?

Yeah, or they'll have a food service company that just like trucks in the food. Whoa. Yeah, so we have a lot of work that just like trucks in the food. Yeah. So we have a lot of work to do, but we can do it and we can do it fast and it can happen fast and it works. It really works. It works and we measure it. Right.

So we can see this is the baseline before and then we help the schools make the changes. We're not actually sourcing it, but we're like, okay, here's one of the biggest regenerative organic protein suppliers. We work with this amazing company, Cream Co. and they're getting grass-fed ranches from my friend Carrie Richard from her ranch up in Nevada City to tons of schools and a bunch of other ranches. And they're actually having to get more ranchers to go and convert to grass-fed. And then those cows are grazing on a hundred types of native grasses.

They're getting tons of omegas. It's like the happiest farms and farming families you've seen. I love being on those ranches. And so then we'll connect them with different supplier options. We'll get all the school districts in our program. They call themselves EatRelease. Oh, cute. And they get together on calls and they'll trade like, who are you using for this? Like who are you using for satsumas or like whatever it is that they're sourcing. Or I was just having school breakfast or school lunch last week, so good, in Sacramento before

I went to the Capitol. And they were having, they work with a local food hub, Spork Food Hub, and they're sourcing from one food hub, and it's farmer-owned, from 70 local farms, organic, like largely organic. It's like organic, local, delicious. They had sunchokes, which I did not have until recently. It was like, they had artichokes that they were giving to their kids and this is a pretty big district. And their kids were getting, they like had designed it into like

just a beautiful array of vegetables and they had like a taco bar with the big heaps of guacamole healthy fats and like it was just like it was so so scrumptious um in seconds it was so good it was so good uh but that's just an example of how then we'll work with a school to work with local suppliers and we'll kind of like make connections but we're not actually sourcing it or buying it for them. Okay yeah so that was what I was trying to understand so does a school reach out to you or do you guys go to a school and say, hey, we'd love to revamp it or maybe do parents reach out to you and say, hey, we want to change our school?

All three. All three. Okay. Whatever that is. All three. Yeah. All the above. Yeah.

So our eat-realies recruit other eat-realies. So they tell their friends about like how cool. And what's powerful about our program is that it's really helping drive up participation because the kids actually prefer the food and they eat it and they love it and the parents are happier like if you know that there's not going to be a side of pesticides or tons of toxic ingredients or you know a real a real delicious burger that a kid can have that you that from ingredients that you can recognize and that you trust. You're going to say yes to having your kid have school lunch and the kid is going to

want to have school lunch. So that's what our schools are seeing. They're actually increasing the number of kids eating school lunch and they're increasing their revenue. So some of our schools have gone from in the red to in the black, which is wild. And they're just they're like really it's a really effective program for the schools and for the communities. And so sometimes it's those school districts that are like, this really works for a school food. It's a better school food business model and other school districts should try this.

And it's really helping me engage my community and source for my community and keep those dollars local. Like everybody's happier. And so they start to tell their friends about it. And so when we launched cohorts that we launch now, because of all the momentum, we're launching two cohorts a year, which is really cool. So what's happening is that e-realies are encouraging other school districts to get involved, which is cool because it's like we're making

school food cool. It's a club. Like these people are leaders. They have huge jobs. They're sourcing for the biggest restaurant. Like it's a really hard job. You have to feed, you know, a thousand kids in an hour through like, It's hard. But they're getting their friends involved. Then my team has done a research project where we've analyzed all the school districts in the country. And we've kind of picked 200 that are in red, blue, purple states, winter states, all throughout the country, the South, like small districts, big huge districts to show that we can do this anywhere. And so we're starting to do outreach strategically or ask our e-realies for introductions or,

you know, just starting our community organizations and leaders and people on podcasts, whoever wants to get involved. We're like, you know, there are certain states that we're looking at. And then we also, parents do reach out. And so this one parent, Lynn Choi, she reached out and she said, Nora, you know, I'm really tired of like, I'm driving my kids' school lunch right now. And I'm happy to do this. But I would love for him to have a healthy school lunch.

And I would love for his friends to. And within 12 hours, she had her school districts signed up. She reached out to them and she emailed. She reached out. I sent her a template email and people can go to our website and follow us on social media and ask for the template. But she reached out and she just said, you know, to the food service director, the nutrition director, that's who's the key decision maker, the hero. And so she said, you're doing an amazing job.

Thank you for your work. You know, really, it's about celebrating them and honoring how big their jobs are and important. And she said, I have this free resource, eat real, can I introduce you? She introduced us, we got on the phone and then they're involved. And that was actually Capistrano and Kristin at Capistrano Unified is just rocking. And she has the prettiest food map I've ever seen.

It's just like, she's totally gone from like, maybe more typical school lunch. And now she's sourcing from local farms all around her. And it is delicious. I had had school lunch there not too long ago, and Lynn was there, the parent was there with us, and we were handing her her eREAL green certificate, and it was so cool. So parents can move mountains, and we're having parents start to reach out and build the movement with us. And it's really helpful, especially if we go from a place of positivity, like we're here to help, and we want to support them on the journey, we want to celebrate, etc.

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Exactly. That's the thing. And I'm so glad we're doing this interview because I hope that parents out there, I mean, this is one of the top messages I actually get from parents is I want to change my kids' school lunches and I don't know how. And so now we're giving them a resource where they can reach out to you guys and get this started. And something that I've heard you say a couple times that I'm just so taken back by that I really want to take note of is that you keep talking about how good these school lunches taste. That to me blows my mind because I remember when I was in school, we were like, oh, what

I mean, who was Adam Sandler literally has like a song about the lunch and the slop that we would get. And I mean, if that did not describe school lunches better, I don't know what did. And so how cool is it that now we're not only feeding kids like healthy, nutritious food, but it actually tastes good. And I think this is what so many don't understand is that so much of our food in the traditional food system sense is so like dead and devoid of nutrients. It's disgusting.

Yeah. Yeah. Like real food. And then you start tasting real food. Yeah. And it tastes delicious. And it tastes delicious. And this is also, I wanted, I was going to ask you about this.

So because I was curious if it was harder to get kids to eat healthier because I know there was a lot of criticism after Michelle Obama's rollout of the nutrition program, the school lunch program. And look, every time I mention her name and I say that the school lunch program is not great after everyone comes after me, I'm like, just y'all, like we can hold two things at once and it can be objective. Just point blank. A lot of the criticism after they started changing it under her, they were saying that kiddos were throwing away their lunch and that there was so much food waste happening because all the kids were like, oh, I don't like this because I think they took like the sodium out and like it was still like ultra processed foods.

So my question is, are you seeing kids throwing out the food or are they still loving it? Yeah. So and some of those Harry standards did reduce obesity for children living in poverty like 47%. So when we upgrade our systems, it works. So that does happen. And it's key to make it delicious. And it's key to make it hyper local and to really support that school food hero at the district level, at the state, but then also the districts, really who know their students, who know what food trends are trending, who talk to their students every day.

So it's a really critical moment for us to double down on the power of school lunch and invest in school lunch. It's about getting those school districts more resources, more support like EatReal, more community like we're kind of a nonprofit community partner. Like they need more grants like farm to school grants so that they can not only, you know, that there are high standards, but also that there are some Kickstarter grants, if you will, where they can, you know, we've seen it where like with some of the farm to school funding that's coming from the USDA or historically came from the USDA, those grants are game

changing for getting this moving and getting it local and extra delicious in a way that kids really love it, that's relevant to the community and to the students, and that's engaging them. And so those grants can help them, that school district then, buy from a local mountain farmer or from the family ranch and their kids go to the school too. And then that's on the menu and it's not just a random item,

but it's from Johnson a random item, but it's from Johnson Family Farms of the Street, etc. And so it's really important to have a multi-pronged approach as we make these changes and to really support our school districts in serving delicious meals. And that's through a combination of investment, of support, of celebration. It's really important to celebrate it. And to, you know, our schools are doing student taste tests all the time. Like I could, I mean, I could go on about,

like the school lunch is so good and it's happening. I'm going to school lunch next week in Georgia. We, I had it in Sacramento last week. Like I was just up in one of the biggest islands in the United States, but off of Seattle, I took a ferry to Coupeville Unified. And that's a thousand students, three schools. And they had a school farm and they're growing lettuce and then they had kimchi on the salad

bar and it was so good. And pickled jalapenos and the kids were eating that. And so it was like a huge variety. That's also a part of it. It's like you have to give kids variety. So a lot of time that's when we work with the school district. Don't just serve them that one thing, but give them three options that then they choose.

And then they're not, you know, throwing out the food that they've been handed. They're getting empowered to pick and try. Yeah, I do want to try that pickled jalapeno. I don't want to try the kimchi today. I want to try the frozen raspberries from the school farm. I like want to try the, oh my gosh, they had this broccoli that had garlic and salt and pepper. It was so good. You could smell it walking into school. It was the brightest green broccoli I've ever seen. But you know, this is happening throughout the country and it's really about supporting that hyper local school food hero.

Amazing. Okay. The only reason that I brought that up is because I do see criticism sometimes where they say, oh, well, she already tried it and the kids are throwing all the lunches. And so I just really wanted to emphasize that like when you... Real food works. Real food in school works and kids love it and it's delicious. Yes. Yes. Okay, good. And it's improving their outcomes and it's helping reverse American health collapse. Oh, that's so amazing. So is there... It's our best chance. I think it's our best chance right now to reverse the childhood disease epidemic.

Absolutely. There's no question to that because we know that it's being largely driven by food. Yes, people can argue that kids aren't moving as much, but it's absolutely the food because you look at, you know, you can just look at photos from like the 70s and our society and people did not look the way that we look now. And we also were not dealing with all the chronic diseases that we are now, it's being driven by our food. You can't out exercise a bad diet. Exactly.

Yeah. So the food and it's ultra processed food. Exactly. Is there any part of your program that gets kids involved at all? Because I was curious if there's anything where like maybe kids have like a garden at school and they teach them, maybe they have cooking classes. I don't know is there anything? I love your questions. Yeah, because it takes it like we're not a one size we're like not a like a magic wand where we we fix everything right. It's then it's like it's not like oh it's all of a sudden overnight

perfect. When people work with eat real or they become eat real certified it means that they're on a journey and that they're working hard to serve their kids the best food. And so we do encourage and help our school districts again again, because we're about helping them help the students. And so we encourage them to do a lot of nutrition education. We think that it's really critical, even on the menu with the different icons of what things mean and educating kids about that this is local, that this is organic regenerative, et cetera. That's so cool. They put up a ton of...

We really want them to help the lunchroom become one of the best classrooms. And so you start to see that in our schools and them doing a lot of different initiatives. They do a lot of taste testing. Some of them have school farmers now. They've gotten like one school has farmer Max, and he was like a graduate, and he's like teaching the kids about cucumbers versus to me, like what's seasonal right now?

And so different things like that. And then we partner our program next to a school garden program. Amazing. There are some amazing school garden nonprofits out there, plus a curriculum partner. And then we connect our schools with different curriculum research partners. And so really, we help our schools have a comprehensive nutrition education approach and take action to get their kids that nutrition education. We're not doing it. Our team's not doing it, but we're helping them do it. That's so cool. I really hope that that is going to be happening more in schools because I brought up Jamie Oliver's show,

but I will never forget that there was a day that he filmed in a kindergarten with kiddos. And I don't know, did you ever watch that show? I don't think I saw that one, but yeah. So basically if people don't know because this show was like pretty old, but Jamie Oliver, if you remember him, he's a British chef and he got wind

of how bad American school system was with the food a long time ago and he did a TV show, I mean, it had was with the food a long time ago. And he did a TV show, like, I mean, it had to have been at least 10 years ago. And this was right when I was starting to really go through, like, I had just created real foodology. It was when I was, like, really getting passionate about our food systems. He inspired so many people like you, and I love that. Oh, yes.

Yeah. Yeah, he's amazing. And it really will be... And he's a dad, and he's, like, a really sweet guy. And he. Oh, yes. Yeah. Yeah, he's amazing. And it really will be a… And he's a dad and he's like a really sweet guy. Oh. And he's an amazing chef. Yeah. And you can tell he really cares.

And there was an episode that he filmed where he sat down in front of kindergartners and he was just showing them simple things like here's a cucumber, here's a tomato. And he would ask the little kiddos, you know, and granted they're like five, but I was horrified watching this because the class didn't know what anything was. Like he was holding up various things like, you know because the class didn't know what anything was. He was holding up various things and they didn't know. He's like, what is this? And they're like, uh.

I was definitely exposed to some more real food than the average kid maybe, but I probably wouldn't have passed that test in some ways. You know what I mean? I maybe had a cut up tomato, but had I seen it, my parents did have a little garden. But early on, I don't know how, I mean, that's still the case is like we've been really disconnected. We go in the grocery store and we go to packaged fruit aisles and that's what we see. And we have to reteach ourselves what real food is. And I think like, for me, I had to reteach myself about nutrition and learn so much. And I think how do we just help kids and families relearn nutrition and make it easy for them and then make it really simple and turnkey.

And that's why we focus on schools, because it's such a natural place for kids to learn. Yes, absolutely. And I say this all the time on the podcast. And that's why we focus on schools, because it's such a natural place for kids to learn. Yes, absolutely. And I say this all the time on the podcast. I just think if my mom did a great job with cooking and she cooked everything from scratch to the home. But again, even in the home and also at school, nobody ever made the connection for me like, hey, the things that you're eating and putting in your body quite literally build the cells

of your body. They grow your hair, your nails. It's like what you eat is like what you end up becoming is, you know, layman terms for it. Yeah, you are what you actually become. Yeah, your body is what you eat. Yes. And no food becomes you. Like that's like it's crazy.

But it's so when I finally figured that out, I had this like light bulb moment. I read this book when I was like 21. And quite frankly, when I first learned it it I was mad that no one had made that connection for me before and I also was like This is literally the simplest thing on the planet Why why didn't I make this connection before and why are we not making this connection? For kiddos because it could have saved me so much grief with my body with my relationship with food Like just like there just was so many things, you know, and so I think about our kids could be feeling better with my body, with my relationship with food, Science is changing pretty quickly, but there are some just known things that we can do that we can make it simple.

And it is as simple as enjoy and learn to love real food. And when you do that, you are setting your kids up for success. You can be healthy. You can be vibrant. And so it's just how do we make it easy for people? And then how do we do systemic shifts and change the whole game so that it's easier for people? Yes. Oh, it's so cool. I just love so much what y'all are doing.

So do you have a specific story of a transformation of a school that just like was really cool and that you want to share? So many. That's so fun. And I can't wait to share some news that we have coming up. Yay! But we have gone from 50,000 kids to half a million, and then we're about to reach a million. So we're going to have a thousand examples across the country of this, and a thousand schools that we're working with plus,

and as parents get involved. And I just can't wait. Determined moms make things happen very fast. So I'm like, we're going to... Yes! Well, I think we'll have a lot more examples soon. One example, just so I know what's'll have a lot more examples soon. One example just kind of a good,

just what's kind of a good before and after. Morgan Hill unified and I was just with Michael. He was just helping introduce the highest standard ever in America's history that would protect kids from the worst forms of ultra processed foods, AB 1264, maybe talk about that later. But Michael was just with me and I have had school lunch at his district quite a bit. And he removed 34 pounds of sugar per student per year.

He had to bring in a wheelbarrow to the school board meeting when we were giving him a Z-Rail Green and then he stacked it up. And it was taller than my three-year-old at the time, now my little guy's four, but it was so tall. I tried to lift it, 34 pounds, I can lift 34 pounds, but it was heavy. And it's a huge stack. And he did that in a way with delicious swaps. So swapping the yogurt, flavored yogurt for Greek yogurt with local cut fruit and just reducing frequency of certain items

or working with his bakery, local bakery to get that better muffin with the real fruit in it and not the like three types of sugar etc. So that's one of just one of the changes. Then he started, he went from five local farms that he was sourcing from to, I think, almost 11. He's sourcing grass-fed organic burgers. He's sourcing Strauss organic bulk milk. Oh my God, that is my favorite ever. Everything that Strauss makes is chef's kids. It's so good.

They're all the happiest cows. And the milk is amazing. And the kids are loving it. And that was actually cost neutral for him. I think it actually saved him a little bit money to make that swap because he went to bulk. And he has like a sourdough focaccia with kale and grass-fed beef crumble. That is so good. He cut toxic ingredients.

He swapped out a ton of plastic. He removed like half a million plastic water bottles and just went to Reusables. He has a hydroponic lettuce farm. He's starting, then he started a greenhouse. Now he has a farm and he's like, this is so cool. He's like, he's next level. And like, but these are our Iberias. I have examples of Iberias like this around the country that are making this happen. And so, and it's absolutely delicious. And then he just got a chef, this really cool company, Brigade,

former head chef of Noma is placing chefs in schools. And so now they're like cooking up all these test recipes and stuff and working with the kids. So it is, his salads are so, so, so good. And one of the football players walked in, only salads were left. And he's like, I have a big game tonight, I don't want a salad. And Michael's like, it's what we have right now. We served a lot of kids today. They're really liking the school lunch. He's

like, no, no, no. Michael, the food service director, is like, just try it. And so he tried it. And that night he rocked his game. And he came back the next day. And he's like, I guess I'm a salad guy. And he loved the salad. He could get really good fuels from the chicken salad. And so, in that part of that salad was local and then part of it was grown on site from the school farm, harvested within 24 hours and served with the kids. So that's just one example. And I have more examples from that.

They have a cauliflower tiki masala that's so good. It is delicious. And they're just letting kids try all sorts of different types of foods. Yes. And that's also huge too, is delicious. And they're just letting kids try all sorts of different types of foods. Yes. And that's also huge too, is the variety component of it, which is so important for kiddos. And they're looking at what's trending on TikTok? What are kids liking? Oh, let's do KBQ tacos. Or let's try that spice. Or I had curried carrots that were the best carrots

I've ever had last week. So just trying different things. And yeah, maybe the kids are not going to like it day one, know 15 times of exposure and a kid's palate can expand and so now we have parents writing in like what was that recipe if you served at school lunch or I wish I could buy school lunch on Monday night and then have it to serve to my kids from our schools like it's that good like it is so good. So what does it look like from a is it mostly private schools is it mostly private schools? Is it mostly public schools?

Is it both? How are the schools getting funding for this? Because I would imagine if I was the listener right now, and I'm thinking this too, is this just like super wealthy private schools that are able to afford this? Or how do we get this into public schools? This is only public schools. Wow.

We have 1,000 examples of only public schools. We'll be working with charter in private soon. But today, we only work with public schools. So these are all public school examples. And Michael, what's powerful about Michael's story is Michael's school food business, which they actually have to operate as profit centers. They can't pull from the teachers' budgets, et cetera.

They were in the red $700,000. They were losing money. They were losing $700,000. Now he has $3 million in the bank. So he's making... It's like a better business model because now the kids trust it. In Morgan Hill Unified, that school lunch is amazing. Like they're eating more of it. And so, you know, if you have 10,000 kids that come...

I think it's nine, but... 10,000 kids that come to your school lunch, or come to school, but only 5,000 are eating lunch. If you can get that up to 8,000, then you can make more revenue. And so some of his changes, he's saving money, and then he can invest in some higher quality ingredients too. And even if he increases his food cost 5 to 10%, which he isn't, he's able to make these swaps and these changes in a very cost-effective way.

He can make more revenue. So it's actually a better business model for school. And then with that revenue, he can upgrade a kitchen, he can get a better combi oven, or they get tilt skillets, or they can then they can also work with local government to get grants to get that central kitchen or to get another delivery truck

or whatever it is that they need. And so it is possible quickly to shift the food, make the menu better, make it a better restaurant, increase participation, increase revenue, and then reinvest and continue the journey. Oh my gosh, that makes me so happy because that was my biggest thing as I was like, okay, how are yeah, how are they affording this? It's cost effective, it's feasible, and kids like it better. Wow. Yeah, in public schools. This is so cool. Yeah. Is there a point that y'all will ever go to the colleges too? We could. We get asked, you know, or we get asked about hospitals or you work in prisons. I was going to say hospitals, nursing homes.

We are just launching a school district where there's a prison right next door where a lot of the kids, there's a kind of a school to prison pipeline and we're working on, you know, could having better food. Explain that really fast because school to prison pipeline sounds like the kiddos are going to... No, a lot of that means that those a lot of those youth, they literally are at risk and they end up as a local prison. It's like a high risk community. It's heartbreaking. And so like, how do we stop that from happening and if they feel more nourished, can it improve behavior, can it improve student performance, get them a better shot at, you know, advanced

either education or career track etc. And so, you know, we're launching a bunch of research projects with different top academics and we want to be studying this extensively. Like how does it impact that? How does it impact mental health? How does it impact sick days and truancy and all of it. So you know, it's interesting, there was a study that I just read about briefly recently that they found that when they started feeding prison inmates better food, their violence went down. Yep.

Yep. Which does not shock me at all. Yeah. But probably that study, if we're talking about the same study, was just sometimes just nutrients, like just vitamins, like if people just get more nutrients, then it can decrease your antisocial behavior and other incidences. So yeah, there's a lot to research, but it like early, like there's enough research that shows that it can be game changing for people and especially for kids. Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, this is so cool. It's fun too. And it works and it's like, I think it is our best chance. I think it is like our greatest hope is helping and supporting schools. And our schools can do it and districts can do it, but they do need additional support.

So this is the moment where we need to double down on farm to school grants, where we need to double down on farm to school grants, where we need to double down on school infrastructure, on cutting complications and doubling down on programs like community eligibility provision, which allows for low income communities to help kids have access to school meals. So we definitely need to be, this is the moment where we have to invest in the power of school meals. So we at EatReal can work with these districts, but the change happens so much faster when we work with them in tandem with additional support. And that's at the state and the national level.

I was literally just going to ask you that. Okay. So I was like, is it local or federal? States can do it. States can definitely lead. California, where we are right now, has invested over a billion dollars in school meal infrastructure, like trainings, grants, local farming sourcing grants. And we're seeing a lot of states start to do that. When I was up in Washington, they're starting to do more. Virginia, there are a bunch of states that are starting to do it more, which is really cool. So state leadership and governors can really take action for sure. And it's, you know, with this health epidemic, we spend 12.9% of our GDP on sick care.

And I know we both have talked about that. But it's trillions of dollars a year. Like, over $3 trillion a year is spent on preventable, ultra-processed food-related diseases. Like, $3 trillion. And then it's not just the money, it's like people's lives and their dying a painful, expensive death. And I was just interviewing a doctor and he's

like, cirrhosis is like the most painful way to die and it costs like a million dollars a patient. Like we just, oh, people and people, and this is, this is affecting families. Like I think everyone can think of a family member that has, you know, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer. This is affecting American families throughout our entire country. I want to see a stat. Every family can think of someone that's going through this, and we can prevent it, and it doesn't need to be this way.

And so we spend all that, we spend trillions of dollars a year on sick care costs, and we have to spend some billions to stop the trillions. And so I think it's like we got to spend a few bills to save a few trillions. Like if we're really honest. And we're already spending billions of dollars a year on our food system at the federal level. So through the farm bill, through subsidies, through different programs. And there's a way that we can take those billions that we're already spending and optimize them and encourage real food.

There are great programs like Double Bucks programs, which gives people, you know, if you buy, if you could buy this product, food product, or you can buy a real food product, or real food item, real food, you can just buy a product, a food-like product, or you can buy real food. And if you buy the real food, you can get double the dollars. So there are some really powerful programs that we already have. We're already spending billions and billions of dollars, hundreds of... We're spending so much money on food already at the federal level.

So we could just be spending that money and putting it towards more real food. And we need to then also invest in spending a few billion on getting real food to kids. And especially through schools, it's worth the investment because it is our best chance of saving trillions of dollars. That's why I'm like, and we have to think, we have to make the investments and then quickly we'll start to see the gains, but it is a longer term play. Absolutely. But we just have to, we have to be focused on what the return is, which is a healthier thriving population. And also we'll see our GDT or our health care costs go down

and we'll see so much that we're suffering from right now go down. And this is what we need to focus on because I think for so long we've been and I get it because it's hard to be able to zoom out and see like the long game of all this. But it's like we've just been seeing this Like we just see keep growing right and then we're not actually like seeing that these real solutions may be harder to implement in the beginning But over time and they may take a little bit longer to like turn this around But once we start getting that momentum and we see it actually happening and make changes then we'll be like, okay This is worth it. Yeah, like this'll be like, this was worth it.

And you'll start to see your family feel better. You'll start to see your kids feel better fast. Like it's, you start to feel, we're hearing so many stories and people come back to us and tell us so many stories about how it's improving their kids' mental health, how it's improving their family's mental health, their own stress.

Like it is life-changing. And it can happen really fast too. I've told this story before, but before I started my podcast and everything, I was working on the road as a nutritionist for a pop star. And the band that I was touring with, one of the reasons that they had brought me on was because their tour manager,

so they were actually from Sweden and their tour manager after a year of touring with them, reached out to me as a friend of mine and he was like, hey, I know you do nutrition. And he's like, you know, my band's kind of struggling, especially the singer, because, you know, they feel like they're eating the same foods that they ate when they lived in Sweden, but you know, when they're touring around the US

and they think they're eating healthy, and you know, their pants aren't really fitting anymore, everything, like they're feeling bloated and inflamed, and they're just like not feeling great. And we want to have somebody come in and like kind of revamp everything. So I come in and I just go on one tour with them. One tour is like two months, right?

And I clean up their rider, which was like, this is something that we've we give the venue ahead of time so that by the time you show up, it's a list of foods that they'll have in the green room for us. And then they'll put some stuff on there that we put on the bus. And and on top of that we get cash from every venue to then order food somewhere and so what I did is I would find these like really healthy clean organic places to order from whenever we were in a different city and then on days off I would plan dinners at these like really amazing restaurants and what's cool is that now I have this whole like resource of rest restaurants from around the world because

we traveled everywhere but the coolest thing about all this is that the first two months I was with her So I was with her for four years, but the first two months is after that first tour Her parents came up to me and said oh my god What did you do to them are they not partying anymore because like let's be real man Everybody's drinking every night and like everything they're like they all. And like, she keeps talking about how much more energy she has and she feels amazing. And my point is that like, it doesn't even take that long. And her band after that first tour was like,

please don't ever leave us because we feel so much better. Like we feel less inflamed, we feel less bloated, our pants are fitting again. And it just like, I felt like to me, I didn't even do that much, right? I just came in and was like, okay, we're gonna eat at this healthy organic place and like, we're gonna get the Doritos off

and we're gonna get you like healthier snacks in the green room and that's all I did. And in two months, so it doesn't even have to be that long. That's so cool. And you feel the difference, you see the difference. Yeah. Their family saw the difference, that's so cool. It was really fun.

And then they're like, you have to stay for four years. What a cool chapter of your life. That must have been so much fun. It was so much fun. It was honestly amazing. Yeah, I got to like travel the world and then I got to be in charge of the food for everything and it just was so cool. I want your restaurant list.

Are you going to put out your international restaurant list? So I have a portion of, actually I do, I have it all on my website, but to be honest, it needs to be updated because it hasn't been updated in a while and I just have not had the time and capacity to like go through it all. I need to just hire someone to do it. But yeah, so I have it. Okay, so you can't sell by sell those London on Vitality and so I'm going to need your London list at least.

Oh yeah. Okay. Oh, I just was in London recently, so I have a whole list I can send you for sure. Is there anything else people really need to know? Like maybe you kind of mentioned it, but for, let's say there's a parent listening and they're just like, oh my God, I want this for my school system. How do they get involved? Is there anything else people really need to know? different toolkits. So that's one way. We're going to be updating our website right now. So it should be pretty easy to like in the next month to find out our toolkit that is actually the email template. And they can actually follow us at EatRealCertified on Instagram and in social platforms. And so they can DM my team and say, hey, can you

send me, you know, Courtney mentioned on Real Foodology that there's a toolkit and a template that I can use to get my district involved. And so they can send us a message or check out the website and get a turnkey way to reach out. And it is, or they can just send a really positive email to their food service director, their nutrition director, and say a little bit about them. Keep it short emails. They're very busy people. They get a lot of emails.

So short email. Introduce yourself, make it personal, say thank you, and we're all about gratitude and then say, you know, I heard about eReel. Can I introduce you to their team? And then just you can introduce them to, which person on my team? My team is so busy over because they're launching in 20 states. Yeah, but you could have them email sue at erail.org. And then she can, you know, then she'll follow up with them right away.

She'll be on it. So yeah, it's that easy. Thank you. I want to introduce Erail and then ask them if you can introduce them to Er real and then introduce the suit at e real.org This is so amazing I mean, I know I've said this so many times but I just like you said you were all about gratitude

I just want to express so much gratitude for what you're doing Because this is so needed, you know this but this is so needed and it's something that I have been so concerned about for so long and needed. You know this, but this is so needed and it's something that I have been so concerned about for so long and never it just felt like for so long like everybody just didn't really know what to do about it. Right. Like I get messages all the time from people saying, you know, I want to clean up my kids food system. What do I do? How do I get involved? And forever I was like, I don't know. Like I'm trying to figure it out myself. And it just felt like such a behemoth. And so finally, thank God you guys are addressing this. We're helping you figure it out. We're figuring it out.

We'll figure it all out together, and it's going to take all of us working on it. So thank you for your passion for it. I will say there's one other way that people can involve that's a little bit timely, and I might ask for your help personally too. So there's a new bill called AB 1264, and we just helped introduce it two weeks ago in California. Assembly member Jesse Gabriel was a champion of it, but it has cross the aisle support.

We have incredible lawmakers that are backing it. There are a few that I think have been influenced by Big Food, and we need people's help. And so we're going to be doing a lobby day. So if you want to come, it would be really, really helpful. You're in California? This one ends in California. Yeah, yeah, yeah. As long as it's not around my wedding, I'm here. So if you want to come, it would be really, really helpful. You're in California? This one ends in California. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

As long as it's not around my wedding, I'm here. Yeah, okay. Yeah, no, I think it's before. Okay, perfect. So it might be a little bit hectic, but we'll see if it works. Or we can get you a letter that you can send, etc. But we really need people to raise their voices and raise their voices with eReel. So people sign up for our newsletter, they'll see calls to action about it, and they'll

get updates on how AB 1264 is going. But it's not a slam dunk yet. And even though we have incredible support, and we've seen a title shift, and people are getting on board, and what AB 1264 does is it's the highest standard ever introduced, and it would block the worst forms of ultra-processed food from kids' foods in schools. So it would allow over 5 million kids in California to benefit. And the idea is that then we could also run this in other states

and help other states do this. And around the world, there's already interest in it. So we think that this could be a huge national and global movement to make this move. And so I think that that would be really helpful if we can get people's eyes on this one. And it's really timely, it's important, we think it will be replicable, and it will take people raising their voices.

So there will be a call for support for letters, and then we're going to be doing a small lobby day too. And is this something that people outside of California can still show support for? Like, can they send in letters? Can they sign a petition? On this one to start, it'll be for California mostly and then but we'll we'll be asking for other ways of supporting around advocacy so people can

definitely they'll be it'll be we'll make that really clear that's a good point. Okay yeah because that's another big message DMs I get all the time from people I'm so passionate about this I want to get involved how can I get involved you know from sometimes it's from a political level sometimes it's Another big message DMs I get all the time from people. I'm so passionate about this. I want to get involved. How can I get involved? You know, sometimes it's from a political level. Sometimes it's literally to work with your company or whatever it is, you know? And so I always want to give people resources on how they can help with that kind of stuff. Is this something that...

Yeah, and the states start like just what we saw with the food die bill. So we helped pass the first food die bill first. It actually happened in school food first in California. And then we helped testify in West Virginia. We helped pass the first food die bill first. It actually happened in school food first in California. And then we helped testify in West Virginia. And then it's been going state by state, which is amazing. And then the FDA took part of it. We'll look at them.

Hopefully they'll be starting to do more. Marty is on it. And so we're hopeful that then this can be similar. And so other people, there will be lots of ways for them to get involved. And is there a hope that once this one, because it's gonna get passed, once this one gets passed, then will other states hopefully follow? Okay, so this is why this is a big deal.

And then it's replicable nationally. So it's actually going to define what are the worst of the worst ultra processed food, which hasn't been done before. And then it's also going to hold, it's not going to put the responsibility on the school district, rather it's going to hold the vendors accountable, saying don't sell that into our schools,

which is really powerful because it's just the most harmful ones that are really toxic for kids. And I can see those large, I can already see those large companies trying to lobby their way into not getting it passed. Yeah, which is this exact same thing is happening right now with the immunity bill with the glyphosate and it's a whole thing right now. But kids want it, parents want it. It works for school districts. It's better for our kids and it's better for our future and it's better for our country. And it works when people stand up for it. Yeah, absolutely. Well, I think it's going to happen. And any way I can be involved and

help you guys, we can make a video or something. I'm going to do that too. Great. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah, but just thank you. And thank you for your involved and help you guys. We can make a video or something. I'm going to do that too. So great. Thank you. Yeah. Breakdown. Yeah. But just thank you. And thank you for your leadership. And thank you for being such a vibrant champion of real food

like you glow. And then and you share so much about and make it so easy for people to learn about real food and the why behind real food. So just thank you for your leadership too. Thank you. That means a lot. I'm just so passionate about it.

I mean, at the end of the day, I just want to see humans thrive. You know, I've seen what it can be like, and I've seen, I've been through the whole process of feeling like shit and eating like shit, and then I've gone to the other side and I'm like, come here, it's so much better on this side, and I just want, I just want to see humans thrive. You know? How do we give our kids more sunsets, and then how do we give them not just a longer

life but a healthier life and a happier life and like help them just thrive today, right? This is about thriving and feeling better immediately and then also a lifetime of thriving. So yeah, I totally agree with you and just thank you. Yes, thank you so much. Okay, one more time because I know you've dropped it before, but where can people find you? What's the website?

Oh yeah. So we're at eatrealcertified.org, nonprofit. They can also donate if they want to. We're a small and mighty nonprofit, and we're trying to reach a million kids in 20 states so they could give once or give a monthly donation. And every dollar means so much to us and really helps us say yes

to as many schools as possible this fall. They can find us at Eat Real Certified. I'm nourishedwithnora on Instagram, or I'm noralettore on LinkedIn. And yeah, that's how they can connect. Amazing. Thank you so much. Yes, thank you. This is awesome. Yay.

Thank you so much for listening to the Real Foodology podcast. This is a Wellness Loud production produced by Drake Peterson and mixed by Mike Fry. Themesong is by Georgie. You can watch the full video version of this podcast inside the Spotify app or on YouTube. As always, you can leave us a voicemail by clicking the link in our bio. And if you like this episode, please rate and review on your podcast app. For more shows by my team, go to WellnessLoud.com. See you next time.

The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual medical and mental health advice and doesn't constitute a provider-patient relationship. I am a nutritionist, but I am not your nutritionist. As always, talk to your doctor or your health team first.