Realfoodology - Is Banza Pasta Safe, GMOs, Monsanto + Affording Organic Food | Zen Honeycutt

Episode Date: July 16, 2024

EP. 203: I'm thrilled you're joining us today for a crucial conversation with Zen Honeycutt from Moms Across America. Whether you're familiar with her work or not, today's episode will explore the complexities of our food systems. I've followed Zen's advocacy for years, and her insights into GMOs, government regulations (or lack thereof), and the true impact on our health are more important now than ever. Join us as we discuss everything from Bacillus thuringiensis to practical tips on affording organic foods and prioritizing real, wholesome nutrition. This is a conversation you won't want to miss! Topics Discussed 02:58 - The difference between hybridization & genetically modified foods 04:37 - What crops are genetically modified  15:04 - Zen’s backstory  22:52 - Lack of government protection  23:45 - Marketing GMOs  26:14 - The issues with GMOs  28:03 - Bacillus thuringiensis  30:32 - The third type of GMO  34:01 - The health of the average American  35:20 - “GMO means less pesticides”  36:36 - Understanding the problem  42:54 - Monsanto & Bayer  43:43 - Zen’s run in with Monsanto  52:45 - Most common foods to be cautious of  58:41 - Affording organic food  01:03:41 - Antibiotics  01:05:57 - GMOs and our food system  01:09:01 - Budgeting for whole real foods  01:10:51 - Zen’s health non negotiables Check Out Zen Honeycutt Website Data Donate Show Links: Poisoned Foods Of North America  Sponsored By: Beekeeper's Naturals Go to beekeepersnaturals.com/REALFOODOLOGY or enter code REALFOODOLOGY to get 20% off your order.  Lumen Use code REALFOODOLOGY at  lumen.me to get $100 off  BIOptimizers MagBreakthrough Get your free bottle of magnesium breakthrough while supplies last at magbreakthrough.com/realfoodologyfree Organifi Go to www.organifi.com/realfoodology and use code REALFOODOLOGY for 20% Off ARMRA Colostrum Get 15% off your first order at tryarmra.com/realfoodology 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 Edited By: Mike Frey

On today's episode of the Real Foodology podcast. Oats very high in glyphosate. However, that could be changing because there is now a North American distribution center for oats that no longer accepts glyphosate sprayed oats. So that is really good news. We don't want people to have to buy organic to be able to not be poisoned.

We want everybody to not be poisoned. Most people cannot afford organic. So if you're buying oatmeal, it should not be poisoned. Hello, friends. Welcome back to the Real Foodology Podcast. I'm your host, Courtney Swan, and I am so happy that you're here today. Today's guest is Zen Honeycutt, and she is from Moms Across America. You may already be aware of her company, and if you are not, you are going to get well versed in it today. And I'm so excited that I finally got her on the show. I have been following her work for a very long time. We talked about this a little bit in the show, so you'll hear more about it. But essentially, when I started really diving into what was happening with our food system,

I started finding the works of people from Robin O'Brien, Vani Hari, otherwise known as the Food Babe. And they were really speaking out against genetically modified food and glyphosate that's being sprayed on our food. And as you guys know, I talk about this all the time on my Instagram. We talk about it constantly on the podcast because I think that this is one

of the most important conversations that we should be having as humans right now while we are here on this planet because it is affecting all of us. No one is immune to it. Everyone is being affected by this because we are all human beings that need food to survive. Food is our most basic human need outside of water. And this is something that's really affecting our food supply and we're being poisoned. And I know that that sounds outlandish. It sounds conspiratorial. It sounds like I'm going overboard and being too crazy about this. But unfortunately, it's the reality of the situation

that we have large corporations that have taken over our food system and they are in the back pockets of the FDA. They're in the back pockets of the USDA. They're lobbying in Washington because they want to keep their profits. And unfortunately, this is all about profit. It's not about human health. So it is our responsibility to not only educate ourselves, but also to put our money into the companies and the corporations

that are actually trying to do right by us and that are creating good food for us. Also farmers. If you have a farmer's market in your area, go to the farmer's market and connect with the farmers that are growing your food to know how they're doing it and make sure that you are not being poisoned by these harmful pesticides and genetically modified organisms. If you're confused about what GMOs are, we talk about this. We talk about how hybridization is a very different process than genetically modifying is. We also talk about what foods you should be most cautious of, what foods are being sprayed the most with glyphosate. And we talk about the work that

Moms Across America is doing, how you can be more involved. So definitely check out their website, check out their social media, because we all have to be involved in this if we want to see change. Now there is confusion about the difference between hybridization and genetically modifying. And I actually didn't define this in the episode. So I do want to take a moment to talk about this because I see this all the time. People will say, well, we've been genetically modifying our food for thousands of years, which is not true. They're talking about hybridization. Yes, we've been hybridizing our crops for a long time, but we didn't actually start genetically modifying our foods until the late 70s, maybe early 80s. And they didn't actually start genetically modifying our foods until the late 70s,

maybe early 80s, and they weren't actually introduced into our food supply until the 90s. So there's a big difference between them. Genetically modified crops have a new gene incorporated into the genome, while hybrid crops are just intermixing of the existing genes and species to achieve the right variety. So hybrid plants originate from breeding techniques that have long been used by humans and genetically modifying organisms are a more modern invention that are created in a laboratory. And what they do is they insert specific desirable genes into the genetic material of a plant. So for example, there was a famous instance where they added a fish gene into tomatoes to increase the fruit's frost tolerance. Now, this is something that would be genetically modified,

which are unnatural. It's a high-tech method that is in a laboratory, and it's used to create untested organisms that would never emerge in nature, versus hybrids are the product of just guided natural reproduction. So hopefully you understand the difference between the two, and just know that hybridization is something that we've been doing to our food for a very long time. Genetically modifying has only been introduced

into the food supply in the last like 30 years. And one more thing I wanted to address that we didn't have time to talk about in the episode is what actual crops are being genetically modified. So as of the time of recording this, which is June 19th in 2024, the following products in the United States have been made into GMOs. And that would be corn, soybeans, canola, sugar beets, cotton, potatoes, papaya, summer squash, alfalfa, apples,

and pink pineapple. Now it doesn't mean that every single one of these foods that you pick up are GMO, but if they are not organic and they're not labeled non-GMO, the likelihood of them being GMO is very high. Also in animal feed, most GMO crops are used to make animal feeds. So a lot of the conventional meat that you're buying, not organic meat, but conventional meat, it is generally to be assumed that they are eating genetically modified crops. Another reason to get organic meat, because if you're buying organic meat, they are not legally allowed to be fed genetically modified crops. And then just other products that would contain genetically engineered ingredients would be carbonated soft drinks. So

like sodas, milk, meat, tofu, frozen foods, canned soups, aspartame, and derivatives of GMO crops like cornstarch and sugar. So sugar is mostly made from the genetically modified sugar beet. Cornstarch is generally made from genetically modified corn. We also know a lot of artificial sweeteners like dextrose, for example, and erythritol. If they are not labeled as non-GMO or labeled as organic, they are most likely made from genetically modified corn. So that's just kind of a little overview if you were wanting to avoid these crops like I am. And we talk more about that in the episode as to why I do that. And also too now, finally, food activists, thanks to the work of people like Vani Hari,

Robin O'Brien, obviously Zen, who's in the episode today. Thanks to their work, we fought so hard in the last 10 years to make these foods become labeled because what was happening before, when I first started Real Foodology back in 2011, we were adamantly fighting for labeling of these foods because we just had to guess. We just had to do the math, the mental math of like, okay, this product contains corn. It's not organic. So it probably is made from genetically modified,

but I'm not entirely sure. So I just have to assume. So then I need to buy organic. But now there was a bill passed that required these foods to label when they contain these genetically modified ingredients. And we talked more about in the episode, but you'll see it on the back of labels. I just saw it recently on the back of Honey Nut Cheerios, and it said that this food product was made with bioengineered food ingredients, or maybe it said it contained, I can't remember the exact wording, but essentially it'll say in really small print, if your food contains genetically modified foods. So I would definitely look for that on labels as well. I know that this is a ton of information. It could be a little overwhelming.

It could be scary. But just remember that knowledge is power. And you can choose to do one of two things. You can choose to allow this to scare you, to put your head in the sand, throw your hands up in the air and say, oh, I give up. There's too much to do and I can't do it.

Or you can use this information to empower you and say, okay, thank God I have this education. Thank God I'm not unknowingly consuming these foods. Now that I know I can do better. And that's another thing. Let's not dwell on the past. Let's not feel guilty or feel angry or upset because you know what? We can't do anything about the past. And we're all humans on this planet trying to navigate and do the best we can with the knowledge we have at the time. And we're doing the best we can. So just remember, you're doing the best you can with the knowledge you have at the time.

And when you know better, you do better. And I find this information incredibly empowering. I have chosen to allow this to empower me, to help me navigate the grocery store and make better decisions for myself and for my loved ones. And we just have to remember that there's only so much we can do. We're doing the best that we can. And just by simply putting your money into food companies that are doing right by your health. So buying organic, buying locally, finding those farmers and ranchers that are growing our food and creating healthier food products that we know are actually going to be nourishing for our bodies and not poisoning us. There's a

lot of these amazing people that are doing this. So putting our money into those people does a lot and it goes a long way because we have the buying power. We are the ones that are driving the trends. Organic is becoming bigger and bigger every single year. Food companies are taking things out of their products. They're creating healthier for you products. And that's all because of what you and I and all of us as a collective community are doing because we are demanding better. And when we demand better, we get better with our food system.

So try not to lose hope. There's a lot of amazing things happening in the food system. And just remember, knowledge is power. And we're all doing our best out here. I hope you guys enjoyed the episode as much as I loved recording it. If you could take a moment to rate and review the podcast, it not only means a lot to me, but it really, really helps this show. And I just want to take a moment to say I appreciate you so much for listening.

I appreciate your support. Thank you for all of your DMs. Thank you for the tags on Instagram. It really means a lot. I try my best to respond for all of your DMs. Thank you for the tags on Instagram. It really means a lot. I try my best to respond to all of you guys. If I don't get back to you, just know that I'm so appreciative of you and thanks so much for listening.

Is it just me or is everyone dealing with crazy allergies this year? I know I personally have been dealing with more allergy symptoms than normal and I feel like everybody I know has. So one way that you can combat this a little bit is to work on strengthening your immune system. My favorite products to use for strengthening my immune system are from beekeepers naturals. I will not leave the house meeting like anytime I travel without their propolis immune throat spray. It's the perfect

travel size for your backpack, purse, or carry-on. It's also TSA approved. So every time I travel, I take it with me. I have it in all my purses, all my travel bags. Propolis is known for its antimicrobial and antifungal properties. So it makes it perfect for supporting your immune system and soothing your throat daily. Plus it tastes really good. I really trust Beekeepers Naturals and all of their products and the cleanliness of them. I actually know the founder personally. I've also had her on the podcast. If you guys want to go back and listen to that episode, it was so insightful and it was so interesting to hear all about their products and also the sourcing of it and how incredibly

amazing Propolis is for overall health and for our immune system. All of their products, including the Propolis spray that I was talking about, are made with clean ingredients. They're also third-party tested to ensure that they're pesticide-free, which is better for us and also better for the bees. Also certified keto, certified paleo, and gluten-free. I also really love their travel vitamin C liposomal packets. So I bring those everywhere with me as well because when you're traveling, you're exposed to a lot of germs and I tend to get a little bit more sick when I'm traveling or run down. But I've found that when I bring the propolis spray and I take the vitamin C every day that I don't know the last time that I got sick, honestly. So I like to bring them so that I can take them

preventatively. The high dose vitamin C is supercharged for immune support and rapid delivery. It delivers antioxidants like flavonoids, polyphenols that fight free radicals and combat oxidative stress. While vitamin C, zinc, iron and B vitamins also support the immune system. Also, it has 1000 milligrams of bioavailable vitamin C, which is also known to support glowing skin and muscle recovery. I love all of the products that Beekeepers Naturals make. Truly, I have every single product in my medicine cabinet right now. And that's what I love so much about them is that they're a health and wellness company that's reinventing the medicine cabinet and making them healthier for us. So make sure you go to beekeepersnaturals.com slash realfoodology or enter code realfoodology

at beekeepersnaturals.com to get 20% off your order. I want to introduce you to something that's truly revolutionary. It's something called Lumen and it's the world's first handheld metabolic coach. Lumen is not just a device. It's actually a personal guide to understanding and optimizing your metabolism. And by simply breathing into Lumen each morning, it analyzes whether you're burning fats or burning carbs, giving you real-time insights into your body's fueling needs. But Lumen goes beyond just measurement. It provides you with a personalized nutrition plan for the day based on your metabolic data. So whether you're gearing up for a workout or winding down for bed, Lumen offers tailored tips to keep your health game strong. You're probably wondering why does this matter? Well,

because your metabolism isn't just about your weight management. It's the key to better energy levels, improved fitness results, and even better sleep. Lumen's recommendations are designed to enhance your overall being with every breath you take. And here's the best part. Lumen adapts to your body's changes. Whether you're tracking your menstrual cycle or navigating menopause, it's like having a metabolic coach in your pocket, helping you to stay on track and on top of your health throughout every phase of your life. If you are ready to take charge of your metabolism, go to lumen.me slash real foodology to get 15% off your lumen. That is l-u-m-e-n dot m-e slash real foodology for 15% off your purchase. Remember, your body deserves the best. Discover Lumen and unlock the potential of your metabolism today.

Thank you so much to Lumen for sponsoring this episode. I'm so grateful to all of my sponsors. I'm very excited to have you on because I really want to talk about the work that you're doing and talk about what's happening with our food system and how people can be inspired to make change and how we can fix this. So thank you so much for coming on. Awesome. Thank you for having me. And I really appreciate your listeners taking time out of their day to listen to this information. It's not going to be comfortable information, but it will be empowering and it could really alter your whole life and your family's life as well through altering your health. So I'm excited.

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. Well, that's the thing. I think that's the number one thing that we all have to realize living in this modern society is that no one is coming to save us. No one has our back. And I say this in a good way. It's like an empowering way. Like knowing that there's a lot that you as an individual can do for yourself,

but knowing that you can't just rely on, lean on the fact that like, oh, if it's on the shelf, it's totally safe and fine to consume. Like we just have to wrap our brains around that, that we need to be more cognizant of it and really be careful of the choices that we're making and be empowered by that.

Like know that there's certain things that we can do to help our health. So knowing all that, first and foremost, for a lot of people that may not be aware of your work, how did you get started? So I got started because like millions of moms and dads out there, I was struggling with my children's health. I was a small business owner, stay at home mom, you know, with three children under the age of about eight at the time. And all three of them had anywhere between 19 to 21 different food allergies and intolerances. So cooking was really challenging. And the kids were always breaking out in rashes and had earaches and colds and all kinds of

sickness. And we were spending $10,000, $15,000 a year just on co-pays with taking the kids to the doctors. One had a life-threatening allergy. He almost died from a pecan in the food stuffing and the stuffing at Thanksgiving evening. And so food seemed treacherous to me, like going to a social event. I was serious and on edge. And, you know, people even commented that I was not very warm. Like I was, I was a stressed out mom all the time, especially at social events. Cause I was worried my son was going to grab a cookie off the coffee table that would have a nut in it and die. I mean, it was, you know, it was very challenging and I didn't know why this was happening. And, you know, my husband at the time and I did not have any of those types of food allergies when we were kids. And we didn't know anybody that had any of those issues either. So I got started because there's a saying that sort of sums it up. It says a worried mom does better research than the FBI.

I kind of took on that, you know, persona. And I mean, I didn't know it at the time that that's what I was doing, but I just started researching and I learned about GMOs, genetically modified organisms in the food supply. We can go into all of that. And I later learned about glyphosate and decided at one point I had one of those aha moments where I was like, okay, I'm going to, I'm the one, like, like you said, Superman's not coming. Aaron Brockovich wrote a book about that and nobody else is going to fix it for us. And Jeffrey Smith and Robin O'Brien, who I learned about GMOs from, they could only do so much. I couldn't just leave

it up to them. I'm the one to transform the food supply is what I took on. Not me as an ego person, and I'm the only one. I'm not going to wait for somebody else to do it. It's not somebody else's job. I'm the one that's going to do something about this. So I did and I started Moms Across America, which is a national coalition of unstoppable moms. We're a 501c3 nonprofit. It's been around for 12 years now and love our moms. They are fierce, determined, knowledgeable, loving, empowered moms all across the country. And we joined and the idea I had was to raise awareness with as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time, coming from like being a waitress for seven years. You know, you have to be efficient, you know, and being a mom, you've got to do 12 things at once.

So I wanted to be effective. And I asked, I came up with this idea to join into 4th of July parades because they're local, they're affordable, they're easy, they're family friendly, they're fun, they're effective in reaching thousands locally and millions nationally on a single day. And I was really excited about this idea. And a lot of other people were. I called it Moms Across America March to label GMOs. And the event was called MAM, like for Moms Across America March. And, you know, our little slogan was, yes, ma'am. And, you know, and empowered moms, healthy kids was our motto. And so we wanted to carry these banners joining into the 4th of July parades and

just have, you know, Uncle Harry elbow his wife and be like, Mary, what's a GMO? Why are these moms marching about it? And she'd be like, I don't know, look it up. You know, Google it. We had balloons that just said Google it. You know, Google GMOs. We want to spark curiosity. And when people did find out what GMOs are, which I'll go into in case anybody hasn't yet, but they would research and they'd find about Monsanto and Agent Orange. And why is this, you know, this company that made chemicals that killed people in wars,

why are they making seeds? Why do they own a huge portion of the seeds in our country? this company that made chemicals that killed people in wars why are they making seeds why do they own this a huge portion of the seeds in our country and why do they also own you know chemicals that they spray on plants to kill the plants that that are grow you know or don't kill them you know they're genetically modified why why is this happening so i just wanted to spark curiosity and i did and we then had 179 groups joining to that first 4th of July parade in 37 states and 600 leaders created over a thousand events in the next five years. So I believe that our moms have been spearheading sort of, you know, at the

forefront of transitioning the marketplace to organic. And we also initiated the first glyphosate testing in America, which I'll go into later and got Costco to stop selling Roundup and, you know, like a bunch of different really cool things that all came out of really the love for our children and the determination to protect them and keep them safe and create healthy communities. If there is one mineral you should be worried about not getting enough of, it's magnesium. Magnesium is the body's master mineral, which is involved in over 600 critical reactions, including hormone balance, stress management, sleep quality, even digestion is influenced by the presence of magnesium. There are two big problems here. One, magnesium has been largely

missing from US soil since the 1950s, which explains why it's estimated that up to 75% of the population may be deficient. And most supplements contain only one or two forms of magnesium when in reality your body needs seven. The only magnesium supplement on the market that has the full spectrum of all seven forms is called Magnesium Breakthrough by Bioptimizers. That's why I'm so excited to tell you that I was able to arrange a killer deal for you. You will not find this deal on Amazon or even the company's own website. This deal is exclusively for my audience, Real Foodology listeners. I'm so grateful that you're here. And it's also for a limited time while supplies last. Right now you can get a bottle of magnesium breakthrough for free. So go now to magbreakthrough.com slash realfoodologyfree and get your bottle

of magnesium breakthrough for free today. Again, that is mag, like M-A-G, breakthrough.com slash realfoodologyfree. Modern living is so hard on our bodies. We get exposed to so many things on a daily basis, whether it's pollution in the air or our tap water that has pharmaceutical drugs and pesticides and fluoride, chlorine, heavy metals. There's pesticides in our food. There's BPA also in our food,

in the plastic containers that's holding our food. I mean, the list goes on, right? And I don't say this to scare you because I mean, there's only so much that we can do. But one of the things that I think is really important that we do is we protect our liver. We take things that not only protect our liver, but also support the detoxification pathways of the liver. One of the ways that I do this is I take liver reset from Organifi. It has trypfala in there. It also has dandelion extract and milk thistle and artichoke. These are all things that are known to protect the liver. And we want to make sure that we're protecting and taking care of our liver because all of these

toxins are being filtered out through our liver. And this also helps with the removal of excess toxins and helps to support the detoxification pathways of the liver. So I'm a huge fan of all Organifi products. Everything is organic. Also, glyphosate residue free, which we know is huge. If you guys want to save on liver reset or any of the products that they have on the Organifi website, make sure that you go to Organifi.com slash real foodology and you are going to save 20%. That is so amazing. I just have to name it because it is so frustrating. What's happening right now is that it takes a group of really well-informed moms to actually get the needle moving on all of this. Because this is such

a great reminder for all of the listeners, there's so much money involved that we have to be the ones to really move the needle on this because the three-letter agencies that are supposedly supposed to be protecting us from this kind of stuff, they're just not. And that was really my biggest lesson in learning what was going on with our food system was knowing that even though we have these three-letter agencies in place that are supposed to be protecting us from this kind of stuff, they're just not. There's a lot of meddling happening. There's a lot of lobbying happening. There's a lot of money involved. And unfortunately, they do not have our best interest at heart. They have money as their first and foremost concern. So it's amazing

what you guys have done. And I think first and foremost, let's talk a little bit about GMOs because it's actually mind blowing to me that there's still so much misinformation out there about this. I started diving into GMOs around the time, like I was telling you before, when I found Vani Hari around 2011. And there's so much misinformation. Even now when I talk about it, I'll get comments from people that say like, oh, we've been genetically modifying our food for thousands of years. And your watermelon is genetically modified and all this stuff. And I'm like, no, that's hybridization. There's a huge difference. So let's talk about it because I think there's a lot of confusion. Yes. Well, you're exactly right. And the problem is

a lot of these people that are arguing with you are college students who are being brainwashed in college with funding from Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta, Dow, DuPont, who give millions of dollars to our public universities and private universities and brainwash these young people who have good intentions. And the original invention of GMOs, many believe, was noble. They claimed it was to feed the world. Other people do believe, as I'm inclined to believe, that it was really more to sell chemicals because once they could no longer sell their chemicals in World War II, the same companies, Bayer and BASF and, you know, extensions of Monsanto and all that, they couldn't sell their chemicals in gas chambers. They had to create a new market for their chemicals. And that was to declare war on bugs

and weeds. They told farmers, you know, you don't need to plow, you don't need to, you know, burn or pull weeds or whatever, you know, all those other methods that they were doing before. You can just spray this chemical, which is totally safe. It's biodegradable. Glyphosate, you know, is one of the safest things out there. And they literally cooked their science to claim claims that their chemicals were safe and sold them, first of all, to farmers to kill weeds. And then they realized it was killing the crops, too. So they genetically modified the crops in order to resist Roundup. That was one of the main first types of GMOs. And it's called HT or herbicide tolerant, otherwise known as RR, Roundup Ready. And so they can spray

the entire corn field or soy field or sugar beet field with Roundup and the weeds will die, but the crop will not. The crop is intolerant to it, right? The problem is, is that the residues on that crop will get into our food supply and they don't wash, dry, or cook off. Roundup is absorbed, taken up into the plant. Same thing with if it's sprayed near grapevines or almond trees or citrus trees, it's taken up into the fruit or into the seed or the nut, right? And we are not Roundup ready, right? So we are consuming this chemical. And glyphosate is a carcinogen, an endocrine disruptor. It causes nervous system damage. It causes neurological damage. It damages sperm in four different ways. It's very harmful to sperm and it androgynizes

baby girls. It lengthens the anal genital distance, which is a masculine trait in baby girls. So we don't know what else is doing to the rest of the reproductive organs, but it causes all kinds of endocrine disruption and reproductive health, miscarriages, birth defects, increased risk of postnatal death, all kinds of things like that. So it is a very harmful herbicide that Dr. Don Huber, one of our advisors says is going to make DDT look like mouthwash. And 80% of GMOs are engineered to withstand it. And just to put that in perspective, 85 to 90 to 100% of soy, corn, and sugar beets, sugar beets is 100%, of our crops are GMO. So a huge portion of the crops grown in America today are GMO, and 80% of those are engineered to withstand glyphosate.

So 280 million pounds a year are being sprayed of glyphosate herbicides otherwise known as roundup or ranger pro on our food directly on our food and it does not wash dry or cook off this is a major issue it is the biggest contributing factor of chronic disease in america today but no holds barred this is not a conspiracy theory this is what's happening in america. And the second type of GMO is called BT or Bacteriotherogenesis. And it's a bacteria taken from the carcass of a dead grain caterpillar. And it is genetically engineered to constantly reproduce more toxins. So on its own, when it's not genetically engineered, it is toxic and it is used in organic food, but it will dissipate in about four hours. So butterflies and bugs and humans can all interact with that plant that's been sprayed with Baxirithaerogenesis, right? But when it's

genetically engineered, it constantly reproduces more toxins and it explodes the stomach of the corn rootworm that eats the corn, for instance, whether it eats the stalk or the leaf or the root. Any cell of that plant will have Bt toxin in it that's genetically modified to reproduce more toxins. So it makes holes in the stomach of the corn rootworm, and then those toxins get out into the body, and it kills the bug. Doesn't that sound like leaky gut to you, which is happening? I was just thinking that. I was like, oh my God, so much of our population has leaky gut.

You must be a genius. You must be a rocket scientist, right? Oh, but no, you can't just learn that off of the internet, right? Don't do your own research. That kind of thing is what people are being told. You're not a doctor. Yeah, we're being gaslit. Yeah, you're not a scientist. You don't know what you're talking about. Well, you know, I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to put two and two together and to figure that out. We have doctors telling us that pretty much every kid in America today has leaky gut.

We have an increase of allergies by 400% since GMOs were introduced. And what are allergies? Well, allergies are sparked when those undigested particles in the gut get out through those leaky gut little holes into the system, the blood of your body. And the body says, wait, there's a foreign invader here. And it creates inflammation and it identifies that wheat or that corn or the soy or the egg as an allergen. And let's be real, we've been eating these foods for thousands of generations. It's not the food, it's what's been done to the food and it's what's happening to our

bodies and how our bodies are not able to react to this assault that's happening from GMOs and from the related pesticides and herbicides. So those are the first two GMOs. One's genetically engineered to resist herbicides that we then consume. And the other one is genetically engineered to be a pesticide, every part of his plant that we also then consume. Now, the third one doesn't have anything to do with GMOs, I mean, pesticides or herbicides.

The third one has nothing to do with pesticides or herbicides. It has everything to do with genetically modifying that organism for a desired trait. Like for instance, pink pineapple or apples or potatoes that don't brown. Now keep in mind, they're still rotting. You just don't see them rotting. You could smell them rotting. Isn't that great? And then they can use them in the restaurants. Their simple hot potatoes are used like in McDonald's french fries, that kind of thing. So I believe they are. I may need to correct that fact.

I think they were at one point. They may not be now. But they can be used in restaurant french fries. And you would have no idea is the point, right? They don't say whether or not those potatoes are GMO. And also salmon that's genetically engineered to grow four times fatter, four times faster and be sterile. Now, I don't know about you, but I've got soccer and sports and inappropriate media and homework

and things going on with my kids to worry about. I don't need to worry about off target mutations and my kids eating something that's genetically engineered to be sterile, right? Because that's what's happening. With these organisms that are genetically engineered for a desired trait, there are thousands of off-target mutations happening within that organism. So not just the sterilization thing happens, right? Like other things happen within the body of that fish or within that mushroom or the soybean. And I don't want to have to worry about those off-target mutations or those other traits that are being

impacted. So I think they should not only be labeled, they should not be in the food supply. And what has happened recently is the law that has passed where companies have to at least say made with bioengineered ingredients. So you're seeing that now in Whole Foods, in grocery, every all kinds of grocery stores, you're seeing these little teeny tiny words in the back of the label saying made with bioengineered ingredients. Now, they're not saying genetically engineered because activists like our moms and OCA and Beyond Pesticides and Friends of the Earth made such a stink about genetically modified organisms or

genetically engineered foods over the past decade or two that the General Manufacturers Association and all these food brands decided we don't want to use that word because that will scare the consumers. We're going to use the word bioengineered instead. And we're taking the word bio because in Europe, bio means organic. Oh my God, I know. It makes me so mad. It's a euphemism, right? They're using a euphemism for genetically engineered. These sneaky bastards, right? They are really, they're trying to confuse American people and make it look like it's something that's acceptable and okay and has no potential risk

to them. They're not declaring which ingredients are genetically engineered. They're just saying that the product itself is made with bioengineered ingredients. So if people are mad, they should be. But they should also know that these ingredients have been in the food supply already now for about 28 years, since the late 1990s. And myself and many scientists and doctors would agree that these changes in the food supply, the GMOs and the related pesticides and herbicides are the primary reason for the huge spike that we have in physical health problems, mental health problems, and reproductive health problems today. Yeah. Wow. So there was a couple of points that I wanted to make from various

topics that you brought up. First and foremost, what you just said is so incredibly important for people to understand because I hear all the time from people online. They're like, well, I grew up eating this way and I'm fine. Now, first of all, I would argue, are you fine? Because half of our population is obese at this point. We only have about 7% of our population that's metabolically healthy. I could go on with the stats, but I feel like most of my listeners are pretty well-versed in that.

Also, we have to remember that we are just now really starting to see the effects of these foods. And 30 years ago, like you said, we were not genetically modifying our foods. We were also not spraying our foods with pesticides. So yeah, a lot of my parents' generation, now they're starting to see the effects of it, but they went through childhood not eating all these foods.

So they were relatively better off than we were. But now we're starting to see with my generation and below, especially the kids, I mean, the kids are really suffering. I don't remember the exact statistics, but the amount of kids that now have food allergies, asthma, autoimmune conditions, eczema, psoriasis. I mean, you name it. Like they're just, the kids are not okay. They're struggling, you know, and we have to look at what has been happening. And like you said, it's not the food, it's what has been done to the food in the last 30 years.

Now, another thing that I hear a lot from people is genetically modified is amazing because it means less pesticides. Now, this is insane to me because first and foremost, they have been genetically altered to withstand the pesticides, which means that they're spraying more pesticides than ever because they want to be able to spray more pesticides. Not to mention, we are consuming a pesticide. For example, when you eat genetically modified corn, if it's BT or Roundup Ready, you are consuming the actual pesticide. For example, when you eat genetically modified corn, if it's BT or roundup ready, you are consuming the actual pesticide. And like you said, we know what it's doing to the stomachs of bugs, of these insects. What is it doing to our stomachs? And then one last thing that I wanted to point out that I think is also really incredibly important is people are talking

more and more about how our food these days does not have as many vitamins and minerals as it used to. And I know that it's multifaceted, but one of them being that we're spraying our soil so heavily and our plants get their nutrients from the soil. And we know that things like glyphosate act like an antibiotic on the soil. So they're killing off all the good and bad bacteria. It's also doing that to our own guts as well. So outside of all of the other concerns that you brought up earlier, a really big one too, I think, is that it's killing off all the good bacteria. And then we wonder why everyone's immune systems are shot,

you know, and I think there's other reasons for that as well, but I think it does play a huge role. And so I just wanted to lay all that out for people because I really want people to understand like how big of a problem that this is. Yeah, it is. And, you know, they were originally right that for instance, the P.T. toxin corn that had the pesticide built right in,

the farmer didn't have to spray those pesticides on those crops, right? Because the pesticide was built in. So they didn't spray as many pesticides. That actually is true, but that doesn't have anything to do with herbicides. So just because the bugs ate the corn and the bugs died, that doesn't mean that they weren't spraying herbicides to kill the weeds around it, right? So some corn and soy, especially, are genetically engineered to both have the pesticide built in and be herbicide tolerant. And the farmers are spraying a lot more money so that they don't have to spray as many chemicals, that kind of thing. But over time, the glyphosate is causing the weeds to be resistant. So they end up spraying

more and more. There's like 37 different weeds now that are completely resistant to glyphosate because Mother Nature finds a way, right? To quote Jurassic Park, right? So, you know, these weeds are now resistant to glyphosate. So actually, the farmers are spraying more and more, which of course does in turn destroy the soil more and more. And like you just said, the organic matter gets destroyed. They then have an erosion problem because when you have less organic matter, you've got like clay that you're dealing with and you've got water, you know, soil that just washes off the field. It's not, you know, so you have this whole, like, are we going to create a whole nother dust bowl issue in a decade? Um, which is real if, if things don't turn around. So there are other problems and that's the, this, the major problem I have with this is that we have a chemical company that creates poison, creating problems and then profiting off solving quote

unquote, solving those problems. And that's what they're, yeah. So that's what they're doing. You know, they then create a first state, you know, they create the seeds, right. That's plant. And then they create the chemicals to grow those seeds properly. They quote it, right? And then they're destroying the soil. So then they create genetically modified microbes is what they're doing now. They're like, buy the microbes for the soil, the bacteria to put in the soil to regenerate your soil, right? And try to make money off of that. And then they sell the drugs after they make us all sick. They sell the drugs that make us better. We have a, one of our advisors, Mark Dula is a regenerative organic farmer, and he's like a fifth or sixth generation farmer. His dad was a chemical agro

chemical farmer, you know, monocrop, you know, I think soy and corn, you know, some, one of those monocrops and his dad died of cancer, like horrible cancer that was like eating away, you know, his flesh to his bones. And when they got the chemo drugs for him, it said bear on the package, the same name of the company that sold his dad, the chemicals, you know, bear slash Monsanto that made him sick in the first place. And that's when Mark Doolittle decided we are switching over. We're not going to do this anymore. I'm not going to do this to my sons, my son and my daughter and my wife and myself. And so they switched to regenerative organic farming and we tested the beans from that farm. I think it was only like three or four years after they switched over. So, you know, they had done a lot of remediation and

things like that, but even though it was not that long away from a decade of chemical farming. Their soil was regenerated to such an extent that their beans tested anywhere, I think it was anywhere from seven or eight to 30 or 40% higher in certain nutrients. So their beans were higher in nutrient density than the other organic and conventional beans that we tested. And so this can happen, we can turn things around and corporations know exactly what they're doing and they're benefiting off of the problems that they're causing. You guys know I'm always on the lookout for ways to strengthen my immunity, especially more than ever right now as we're going into fall and winter. And on top of that, I've been traveling a ton.

So I was really excited when I discovered Armra Colostrum. I've actually been taking Colostrum for a long time. It was something that my mom put me on years ago because of its immune defense properties. And when I discovered Armra, I was so excited because it's really good high- sourcing and it really works. Colostrum is the first nutrition that we receive in life and it contains all the essential nutrients that we need in order to thrive. Armra is a proprietary concentrate of bovine colostrum that harnesses these 200 plus living bioactive compounds to rebuild our immune system barriers and fuel cellular health for a host of research-backed

benefits. This colostrum strengthens immunity, ignites metabolism, it fortifies gut health, it activates hair growth. I have personally seen this. I've had a ton of new baby hair growth, also activates skin radiance, and it also helps power fitness performance and recovery. On the immunity piece, there was actually a study done that showed that colostrum is actually more effective than the flu vaccine, which is wild. Look it up. If you don't believe me, there's science and research behind this. It's pretty profound. Armra fortifies gut health and ignites metabolism so it can help combat bloating and help you feel lighter. The colostrum naturally fortifies your entire gut wall system, replenishing your microbiome, repairing the gut wall architecture,

and blocking irritants that can trigger symptoms like bloating, constipation, and IBS. It also enhances nutrient absorption, stabilizes blood sugar levels, and accelerates fat burning for a revved up metabolism. Pretty crazy, right? And as I said before, it can reactivate hair growth and help growing skin. It reduces inflammation, especially like puffiness in your face and neck, stimulates stem cells to produce collagen and increase elasticity for plumper skin. Now, the cool thing is we have worked out a special offer for you guys, my audience. Receive 15% off your first

order. Go to tryarmra.com slash realfoodology or enter realfoodology to get 15% off your first order, go to tryarmra.com slash realfoodology or enter realfoodology to get 15% off your first order. That's T-R-Y-A-R-M-R-A.com slash realfoodology. Yes. Okay. And that was a full circle moment. And what I wanted to tell the listeners that are maybe not as well versed in this topic, Monsanto, in an effort to ditch their name that had been tarnished, they sold to Bayer. And now Bayer has the rights to Monsanto and all their seeds and Roundup and all that. And Monsanto, I mean, because they, you know, they really got under heat in the last like five, like eight, 10 years because of people like yourself, like Vani Hari,

who were raising the alarm on what was happening with GMOs and with these genetically modified crops. Monsanto creates a lot of these seeds and then they also create Roundup, which we know is glyphosate. And so Bayer actually came in and bought them out and tried to kind of like push it under the rug because everybody had become well aware

that Monsanto was pretty evil. And actually speaking of, I wanna give you a chance to tell your story and your run-in with Monsanto. Cause I actually, I've seen Common Ground a couple of times. I am obsessed with that film. The makers of Kiss the Ground did another film called Common Ground for those listening that don't know about it yet. And I remember, I remember this so vividly and maybe like, maybe around like 2014 or so, I remember when Vani Hari was talking really aggressively about this because she was going really hard about GMOs on her page

and about Roundup and really trying to sound the alarm. And there was a concentrated effort on Monsanto's part to completely discredit her, bring her down. And what was crazy about it is that they found the internal emails that Monsanto was sending internally in the company saying, we need to go after this girl. And they would send troll farms to basically regurgitate all the same kind of comments so that anybody that would go across her page and read, they'd be like, oh, okay, this is actually not true. And they were all kind of saying the same

kind of crap that they were regurgitating. And I know something similar happened to you. And I want you to share that story because I think this is such an important part of your story and your company and also what's happening because people need to know the concentrated effort that's happening right now in these large corporations to hide this stuff from the general public. Yeah, well, they did not like it when Moms Across America sent them a letter before the 4th of July praise. We wanted to be nice and let them know, hey, we're raising awareness about this because your products are poisoning our children. And we think you can do better. We're asking you to segue your resource and development to products that can clean up the oceans, clean up trash, do whatever, solar,

whatever it is that can be beneficial for the planet. And they, I didn't know this until years later when the Monsanto trial discovery came out, those, those emails that you're talking about regarding Banihari. Well, they had an email in there that they sent to each other. It was internal. There was a board member, a pediatrician. No, was he a pediatrician? I think he was like an advisor type pediatrician who was talking to two professors at universities that were advisors to Monsanto. And they said, you know, you know, basically they sent the letter, they followed up with a response to my letter and said, we need to beat the shit out of these moms. Here's your, here's your target. You know, here that here's your target. We need to beat the shit out of these moms. And one of

the professors responded, well, we can't do that. That wouldn't look good. We need to send in third parties. So the third party group is what you're talking about. Those troll that, that was an actual program that's documented that Monsanto created called Leave No Stone Unturned. And they had about 250, if you want to call them shills or trolls or whatever, just really mean people that went after myself and Bonnie Hari on the internet, on Facebook pages, on messages, you know, emails through my website. They posted porn on Sunday mornings on my website to lower the safety level of the Google tracking. So then Google would say, we're not going to promote you. People won't be able to find you on the interwebs, right? Because you have this unsafe track record on your website.

Also football, things like that, football games, things that were not acceptable, they posted to my website. I had death threats and many strange things happening, like an intern that came in that was kind of like a spy that sort of destroyed an event we had afterwards. My whole family was sprayed by a helicopter with pesticides on the second day of our toxin-free, our national toxin-free tour. And I can't prove it was them,

but I'm very suspicious because other activists had told me that planes have flown over their homes and they're over their children and sprayed them with pesticides as well. And you could see that we were there. I mean, we were on a top of a hill with no trees. I was wearing a red shirt with a white hat. My family was in a greenhouse

that didn't have a roof. There were holes in the panels. And our Moms Across America RV with giant letters. I mean, it's like a 26-foot words of Moms Across America about 100 feet away. So you could absolutely... The guy knew we were there and he was spraying us intentionally. And so my son was under one of the panes of glass that was not there and it rained down on him. And within about 30 seconds, his nose was bleeding. And he was angry for a couple of months. We did everything we could to detox him, but he ended up developing Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which is a connective tissue disorder. It prevents your body from healing properly. And he has all kinds of other health issues now. It has, I think, permanently, hopefully not permanently, but it has definitely affected his life and his trajectory. And he's a very positive

person. I think I know he'll do well anyway, but the attack on my, I believe that was an attack on my family. And there were other things that happened, you know, within, in my life at that time too, that was just really altered my marriage, you know, my relationships with people. When we initiated the parades, they were, they went after the other two women that ran groups that were supportive of us, and they convinced them that we were paid opposition and turned them around. And so those groups didn't support us. Things like that. They had trolls go into our mom's groups and turn very good friends against me, published

articles of things that were slanderous. So they will do whatever they can to protect their profits. But what they don't realize is that that won't stop us. It really won't. And even my kids who I believe have had negative effects from my work say, Mom, you got to keep doing this. It's too important. So, you know, we'll we'll keep going., it was for a couple of years, about two or three years. But when it first started, I went down, I lost so much weight. I lost like 17 pounds in a

month or two. I was so stressed out and sick. I got down to 113 pounds and like I was size zero, you know, and I was so sick and it, you know, it didn't stop me, but it definitely affected, you know, my relationships, my marriage, my, you know, health, my, you know, things that I was able to do. And, you know, for many years I was doing this volunteer too. I was not making money off of it. Like people claimed I've had to recently, you know, have it actually be a job and, you know, to pay the bills. But, you know, there's literally no organic food companies that are funding us. You know, we're not doing this because I'm getting sponsored by organic food companies to do this. We have just

supportive donors and individual, you know, foundations that believe in like, you know, it's kind of important that we have a safe food supply. So I mean, it's the most important thing, you know, and I, that's where I just, I'm like, where, how do I start with this? With people, when I hear people say like, who cares, we're going to die anyways. And you know, there's just all these ways that people have gaslighting and, and all this stuff or, and saying that we have all these other things we have to worry about, but food and our health is literally the foundation of our lives on this planet without health. I mean, think about like when someone is sick, literally the only thing in the entire world that they wish for and that they want is to be in a

well body because without being in a well body, you don't have the energy to do the most normal mundane tasks of your life. And if you have kids, you want to have energy to be there for your kids. You want to have energy to do the things that you want to do in your life. And so nutrition and health and the foods that we're eating are at the actual literal foundation of our entire lives. Even when it comes down to mental health, you know, like you had mentioned earlier that you think that this is part of the reason why we're dealing with so much mental health issues in this country is because our guts are completely destroyed. We know that our gut is our second brain. There's a literal direct connection between the vagus nerve and our brain. We know that the

health of our guts is also affecting our mental health. So this is so incredibly important. I also just want to take a moment to say, I'm so sorry that you and your family went through that because I mean, that is just awful. It's atrocious and people need to hear it, right? Because they need to know the depths that these companies are willing to go. And people need to hear it, right? Because they need to know the depths that these companies are willing to go. And also when I hear stuff like that, it only lights a fire under my ass and makes me more emboldened and empowered to be like, I am not putting my money into these companies that do not give a rat's ass about our health. They just do not care. And so it's so incredibly important what you're doing about sounding the

alarm. I do want to talk a little bit about what, well, first of all, I want to ask you, what are some of the most common foods that people need to be really cautious of? Like, for example, I know oats and chickpeas are really highly sprayed with glyphosate, but what are some other ones that people need to be really aware of when they're navigating the grocery store? Well, first of all, you're right. Oats and chickpeas have shown to have the highest levels. And this is from thousands of tests, by the way. So there was a lovely activist named Tony Mitra. He's an Indian activist, but he lives in Canada,

and he bugged the Canadian government for so long that they finally tested 7,800 samples of food from North America and actually some from China and Mexico. China and Mexico had 40 to 70% lower levels of glyphosate than we did. So North America is eating the highest. Yeah. North America is eating the highest levels of glyphosate and some food categories like the chickpeas. And I think some types of wheat were like a hundred percent positive for glyphosate. Even organic was somewhat contaminated, just a tiny bit contaminated, mostly from drift or rain or things like that.

But it was about, I think, 40% to 60% of all of the samples were positive for glyphosate. It was a very high number. And that book can be found. It's called Poison Foods of North America on Amazon. I think there's a free version that you can just observe, but the actual book is very expensive because it's tons of data. So you can look at the book Poison Foods of North America available on Amazon to look at this testing. What we have found is that the chickpeas and anything hummus related, especially if it's dried,

is going to have high levels of glyphosate, some of the highest levels. Chickpea pasta. Yeah, chickpea pasta, banza. We just tested gluten-free samples and the chickpea pasta from banza was the highest that our lab had ever recorded in human foods. It was like 208,000. It was over 2,800 parts per billion of glyphosate. That is a very dangerous level of glyphosate. Now, they will say it's not because the EPA's allowable levels is 5,000 parts per billion, right?

So it's under the 5,000. But we know that- They're in cahoots. Yeah, and we know that 0.1 parts per billion can cause sex hormone changes and kidney and liver damages in animals. So we know that that level is not safe for consumption at all. And so chickpeas, very important to eat organic. If you want to make your own hummus,

buying canned chickpeas is a better option than buying the dried or buying hummus pre-made. So the testing that the EWG just recently showed, there were only three brands that had no glyphosate detected at all. And those are listed on their website. And there were three types of canned chickpeas that all had no detectable level of glyphosate also. So I would suggest the canned chickpeas. If you crave hummus, just make your own. Very easy to do. Very easy to do. And then oats, very high in glyphosate. However, that could be changing because there is now a North American distribution center for oats that no longer accepts glyphosate sprayed oats. So that is really good news. The oats is going, that's going in the right direction, which is our goal. We don't want

people to have to buy organic to be able to not be poisoned. We want everybody to not be poisoned. Most people cannot afford organic. So if you're buying oatmeal, it should not be poisoned. So that's a good news thing happening. And then lentils, mung beans, peas, any type of beans or legumes can also have high levels of glyphosate. There was a man that sent in his urine sample to the lab that we use, and he had like 31 parts per billion of glyphosate. There was a man that sent in his urine sample to the lab that we use and he had like 31 parts per billion of glyphosate, like the highest levels that they ever saw in a human. So they said, you know, they called him and said, well, what are you eating? And he was like, I don't know, I eat pretty healthy. I eat, you know, this type of vegetable,

that type of vegetable. I eat mung beans every day. They're like, wait, mung beans. And he said, yes. And they said, are they organic? He said, no, they're dried mung beans. And they're like wait mung beans and he said and he said yes and they said are they organic he said no they're dried mung beans and i cook them up and they said try not eating those for a few days and get retested and let's see what your what your levels are and i don't know if it was three days or a week it was a short period of time but his levels went down 50 percent in a few days to a week of eating of not eating them just the mung beans so you know and that was in a few days to a week of eating, of not eating them just among beans. So, you know, and that was in a short period of time. What would it be, you know, two weeks or a month later, it might be down to practically nothing, you know, with that trajectory. So, because the body can get it out of, you know, you can get it out of your body.

So essentially any grains, any, you know, oats, peas, beans, I'm sorry, any great like wheat, oats, barley, yeah, or any peas or beans or legumes. So any type of protein powder that's made out of peas or lentils or soy, if it's not organic, you're going to see high levels of glyphosate in that. And, and any other like black bean burgers or soy products, vegetarian and vegan. If you're not eating organic and you're a vegetarian, you're a vegan, you are exposing yourself to the highest levels of glyphosate out of any diet that you could be consuming, even a junk food diet. So that's something that's really important for me to let our beloved vegans and vegetarians know. They need to be eating organic. So another way to avoid glyphosate

is just to switch over the products that you eat the most of to organic. So if you can't afford all organic, but you eat a certain bread every day, or pasta every day, or oatmeal, those types of foods, cereals, any type of breakfast cereal that you eat, any crackers that you have, those would be the ones to switch over to organic. And I know people are going to say it's expensive, but at this point, what it comes down to is you're either paying the farmer or you're paying the doctor. Yeah. And we have found that you spend,

we spend far less money on the tens of tens of thousands of dollars a year on doctors because we are eating organic. I say we can't afford to not eat organic. So I will cut budgets in other places. We don't do expensive vacations. I buy most of my clothes consignment. I buy household products consignment, yard sales, things like that. Like, I just don't spend the money on new things the way that a lot of Americans do. I don't care about a new phone unless it's like absolutely totally broken, you know, and don't spend ridiculous money on other things. My money goes towards the food. That's the primary budget. Yeah. I mean, that's the thing is it's kind of one of those situations where unfortunately it's just the reality of the situation that we're living in.

And similar to what I said earlier, you want to do everything in your power to not get sick because once you're sick, all you're going to want is be well. And then you're going to be spending so much more money than you would have if you had just spent on the back end instead of having to pay for it later. And not only that, not only are you paying for it exponentially more in money, you're paying for it in your own health. You're paying it for it in your body. And so for me, I feel very similarly. I would rather spend more money on my food and be cognizant of that. Also, you know, so many people will think nothing about dropping, you know, a hundred, $150 on a Postmates order.

And I don't know how everybody's doing Postmates for every meal. It's so expensive and you're not getting organic food. So cut back on the food delivery and go to the grocery store and prioritize buying organic foods over doing food delivery and going out more. And you'll see that you save a significant amount of money. Yeah. Convenience really is the death of us. I call it the disease of ease. Fast, cheap, tasty, salty, ready, all of that. I never order food delivery like Uber Eats or any type of food delivery. And I never eat at fast food restaurants. I haven't for decades. I know it's a little bit more inconvenient, but I cook meals on Sunday or, you know, prepare and or I plan ahead and cook meals during the week. And I will just make sure

we have things in the fridge, like I'll pre cook a bunch of sweet potatoes and then just grab a sweet potato, some leftover chicken and some leftover broccoli for lunch. Throw that, you know, in my in my glass Tupperware and bring that with me to my coworking space where I work at, or, you know, I work, eat from home, you know, have sardines and, you know, organic crackers and salad or something like that. You know what I mean? I just, it's so much faster when you have food already in your fridge that you've thought out, you know, this is what I'm going to have. So the number one thing to do to save money in purchasing organic food is to have a meal plan when you have a meal plan and you only go to the grocery

store and buy what is on your meal plan you spend 50% less according to some people who are all about budgeting and all of that so planning out your meals and when you do that I I have gotten my teams involved like hey Bronson do you want to plan out the meals for this week? And guess what? He's cooking almost every dinner because he knows what meal is up for, you know, to be cooked and he's excited about it. And also I'm more likely to have my teens come home and eat with me because they're like, oh, it's pizza night, you know, where we have organic pizza or, you know, we have grass-fed, you know, organic burgers and, you know, all of that stuff, you know, where we have organic pizza or, you know, we have grass fed, you know, organic burgers and, you know, all of that stuff, you know, so we have, we're still eating American

food. It's not like we're eating kale all day. You know, we're still eating the foods that we love. They just are organic and we've planned it out and we've saved money to eat that way. And we learn to cook a lot more. Now, do we eat out once in a while? Yes, we do. I would say it's like every once every other week, maybe, you know, definitely for some special occasions, but we eat at places where we know they have like a hundred percent grass fed burgers or pasture raised pork and chicken. I never eat chicken out unless I know it's pasture raised organic because it contains about, I think, 80% of the bacteria that cause UTIs is found in chicken. And it's because of the antibiotics and the arsenic and like all that stuff that's in chicken that's, you know, confined animal factory

operation, you know, raised. And so that chicken can cause UTIs, which then cause people to take antibiotics, which then cause torn tendons in the shoulders or Achilles heels. I was in chronic pain for a year and a half, I believe, because I ate chicken at an airport. I ate chicken at an airport, got a UTI, took the antibiotics, even though I was resisting it for a very long time. And then six months later, I got the torn tendons in the shoulders and was in chronic pain for a year and a half. So there's side effects from these foods that I think a lot of people aren't even considering. That antibiotic that you probably took was something called Cipro, I bet, or it was one of the fluoride-based... Fluoroquinine. It was a fluoride. They call it getting floxed.

Yep. Yep. So actually, I don't want to spend a lot of time on this cause we're, we're almost running out of time, but this is so incredibly important for people to know. So, um, I have a doctor friend who was actually paralyzed from taking, um, one of those fluoro, I don't know how you say it, type of antibiotics. Just for everybody listening, I actually tell whenever I go to the doctor and they always ask, like, are you allergic to anything? I always say I'm allergic to that type of antibiotic because I actually, like 10 years ago, maybe was put on that antibiotic for a UTI. And about two days in, I was like, Ooh, I don't feel like something feels really, really off. And I called my doctor and they're like, okay, stop taking that immediately. And then all this stuff has

started coming out later that it's actually incredibly toxic for our bodies. Yes, we need antibiotics when we're in a dire situation, but there's other antibiotics. Do not take this type of antibiotic because there's a ton of people that are getting paralyzed from it. Yeah. Fluoroquinones is the type. It's a category of antibiotics. So you have to ask them what type of antibiotic it is and honestly look it up before you take it. Just do your research on all these different medications. You don't have to take them. There are herbal remedies, there's Chinese medicine, there's acupuncture, there's meditation, there's all kinds of things that can support you in your health. And yeah, I would highly recommend looking into alternative ways. Yeah, absolutely. That's so incredibly important. So just to kind of wrap up,

so we've given people some good tips. I really want to understand a little bit more and for my audience to understand, how are we getting so much of this in our food supply? So they're obviously spraying the wheat, they're spraying the chickpeas, but a lot of people have started coming out and reporting that even in organic food we're finding glyphosate. And this is also a reminder for people, if you can, there's different oat companies that are making glyphosate-free. There's a pasta company named Jovial that's making gluten-free, glyphosate free. What's happening there? How are we finding glyphosate is just in everything? It's like in

placenta, it's in human breast milk. Why is it even showing up in organic? And just for people to know as well, the reason that we're pushing so hard for organic is that legally they're not allowed to spray glyphosate on organic food. Yes, absolutely. So buying organic is your best bet for avoiding glyphosate and GMOs because organic does not allow GMOs, does not allow glyphosate. Non-GMO project verified only regulates for GMOs. So it has nothing to do with glyphosate. Okay? You could buy non-GMO crackers and they could have high levels of glyphosate. It's just not what they do. So there are certifications called BioCheck and Glyphosate Residue Free from Detox Project that do tests for that. So if you can find those labels, that's great. But the reason why glyphosate is contaminating so much of

our food supply is because it's used so often. It's the most widely used herbicide in the world. It's used 280 million pounds of it a year, are used just in the United States alone, sprayed on crops that are genetically engineered to withstand it, first of all, which is 80%, as I mentioned before, of our commodity crops like corn and soy and sugar beets are engineered to withstand glyphosate. And there are other uses for it. It's used in between vineyards and almond trees and citrus trees, right, as a weed killer. And it uptakes into those seeds and plants. And also it's used as a drying agent. Now, some farmers will say, oh, we use it as a pre-harvest weed killer. It's the same thing. It's just a euphemism. They're using it as a drying agent and it will dry

out the entire crop before harvest because it's a chelator. It grabs onto and makes unavailable the vital nutrients of any living thing it touches. That's one of the way it functions. In addition to killing off the beneficial gut bacteria that you mentioned earlier and destroying your gut microbiome, right? In addition to being a carcinogenic and destroying your hormone imbalance, right? Although it functions in many different ways, but one of the ways is that it dries out the plant. That's how it kills it. And it's also how the farmers, why the farmers use it to dry it out before harvesting so they can harvest faster. So that's why those residues are in the crops and they're so prevalent. Now, that isn't happening in organic food. However, the drift could be happening from rainwater, from irrigation water coming

down in the rain, it could be in the soil, there could be an organic farm that used to be a conventional farm, so it's uptaking the glyphosate from the soil. There could also be fraud. There have been instances of of marked especially in soybeans that come from turkey they start out in turkey it's a conventional soybean container you know ends up in the ship in longport oh all of a sudden it's magically organic and worth two million dollars more so 80 of the soy that americans consume in organic food is imported. So there is a higher chance of having contaminated fraudulent organic foods when it's imported, obviously, especially in large quantities.

And it's not being regulated. So I would highly recommend avoiding processed foods that are organic as much as possible. Eat whole foods as much as possible. And it's much less likely to be contaminated with glyphosate. And it doesn't have to be USDA organic. If you know your farmer, you can look them in the eye. You buy at a farmer's market and you know that person does not spray toxic chemicals.

I would trust that. It doesn't always have to be organic certified. Yes, that's a great point. And also going back to a budget, if you're prioritizing whole real foods, you're going to have a lot more money to spend because the packaged foods are actually what are really killing our budgets. They're incredibly expensive. Yes. Especially for what you're getting. The amount of money you're spending, for instance, for like on the food content that you're getting for a bag of chips or crackers is it's like, you know, it's probably coming out to like $16 a chips or crackers is it's like, you know, it's probably

coming out to like $16 a pound or something. It's like a ridiculous, you know, for actual weight of food and content that you're getting, it's, it's incredibly expensive. So just consider cutting back on that processed food. I, we just never have soda, you know, around or candy bars, you know, things like that, packaged, um, baked goods. Like we just don't buy donuts and things like that. I know that doesn't sound fun, but you can make really delicious desserts and granola bars and your own French fries. And we actually figured out if you buy a five-pound bag of potatoes, cut them up and make your own French fries at home with healthy baked or with healthy oils and paprika and salt and pepper,

you make them delicious, right? You can. For four people, if you did that just twice a week, instead of eating out, you would save your family $947 a year. Wow. Yeah. That's a significant saving.

You can save a lot of money by eating organic food at home versus going out and save the going out for like, you know, I don't know if you have to do it just dessert or, you know, just coffee or just, you know, like just birthdays or something like that. And frequent the places that have pasture raised and organic food. Make it special for that. And you can also go out and bring a picnic. Do you know what I mean? Like you could get something and just have a picnic to go out. So get creative and involve your kids. Have fun cooking. I love that so much. So in the essence of time, I want to ask you one

more question before we go. It's a personal question that I ask all my guests and I'm so excited to hear what your answer is. What is your health non-negotiables or what are your health non-negotiables? These are things that no matter how crazy your day is, no matter how crazy your week is, you really prioritize these for your own health. Oh, that's a good question. Well, first of all, I meditate, I would have to say every, almost every morning, I would say like 99.9% of the time, unless I'm traveling or something, but I work in meditating every day. If, you know, even if it's not the first thing in the morning, I work that in. And, um,

for me, I guess another one is, is good filtered water or the water that I have on my property, you know, is good water. So that is really important to me. I will not drink the chlorine water at restaurants, places out like that. And I start my day also with positive affirmations. I think it's really important, your mindset, your energy. It's the only thing we really have control over. We don't have control over the stuff that comes at us from social media, which I have to interact with because of my job. So the way that I retain my energy is to think positively, to speak positively, to act with integrity, correct myself when I made a mistake, you know, be authentic with people about that. And to try to retain my energy by doing energy

work. I've started doing Qigong and, and really focusing in on my own energy. And I think if everybody did that, we would have a lot more balanced, sort of happier people walking around and of course, eating organic as much as possible. Yeah. I love those so much. So for people listening, please let them know where they can find you, where they can find your work. And also if there's anything else we didn't address that you feel like people really need to hear. Sure. Yeah. You can go to momsacrossamerica.org and because there's a lot we didn't address, please go to our data page and our blog and look up our test results for school lunches, fast food, baby formula, gluten-free food, loaded cereal. And please support us if you would like to see more testing done

like this. If you think the FDA is not doing their job and you appreciate that a group of moms has taken matters into their own hands and you could give us $3 a month or $10 a month or $20 a month or $300 a month, like some people have done, please do that because we will put that money to good use. We wear about six different hats each here. We have a tiny team. And we will continue to get more testing done. And you can also join us on Moms Across America, our Moms Connect call on Monday nights. It's not a show.

It's a conversation. And you get to ask questions. And we learn from you. People learn from each other. And that's on Monday nights at 7 p.m. And if you sign up for our newsletter, you get the invitation on Mondays. Okay, amazing.

Thank you so much for your time. This was such an incredible episode. You're a wonderful interview and I really appreciate your dedication to getting this information out to your audience. Thank you very much. Thank you. I really appreciate that.

Thanks. Yeah, take care. Thank you so much for listening to The Real Foodology Podcast. This is a Wellness Lab production produced by Drake Peterson and mixed by Mike Fry. Theme song is by Georgie. You can watch the full video version of this podcast inside the Spotify app or on YouTube. As always, you can leave us a voicemail by clicking the link

in our bio. And if you like this episode, please rate and review on your podcast app. For more shows by my team, go to wellnessloud.com. See you next time. The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual medical and mental health advice and doesn't constitute a provider patient relationship. I am a nutritionist, but I am not your nutritionist. As always, talk to your doctor or your health team first.