Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 1210 | Is Your Sunscreen Poisoning You? | Bethany McDaniel

Episode Date: June 25, 2025

On this Wellness Wednesday, we sit down with Bethany McDaniel, founder of Primally Pure, to discuss her journey to building a thriving non-toxic skin care brand rooted in regenerative farming. We explore how her family’s farm, Primal Pastures, inspired her to create effective natural deodorants and other products like beef tallow-based balms and zinc oxide sunscreens, challenging conventional beauty norms. Bethany shares insights on the toxicity of common skin care ingredients, the importance of mindful sun exposure, and balancing entrepreneurship with motherhood. She also reflects on how her faith guides her business, the power of creation-based wellness, and navigating controversy with bold marketing. Share the Arrows 2025 is on October 11 in Dallas, Texas! Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sharethearrows.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for tickets now! Sponsored by: ⁠Carly Jean Los Angeles⁠: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.carlyjeanlosangeles.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ Good Ranchers⁠: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.goodranchers.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠EveryLife⁠: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.everylife.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ Buy Allie's new book, "Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion": ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://a.co/d/4COtBxy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ --- Timecodes: (04:40) From farming to deoderant (15:44) Launching Primally Pure (17:15) SPF (27:30) Beef tallow (30:15) Managing motherhood and work (38:47) How Bethany’s faith is intertwined with her company (44:20) Biohacking (54:10) Starting to make changes --- Today's Sponsors: A’del — Try A'del's hand-crafted, artisan, small-batch cosmetics and use promo code ALLIE 25% off your first time purchase at ⁠AdelNaturalCosmetics.com⁠ Pre-Born — Will you help rescue babies' lives? Donate by calling #250 & say keyword 'BABY' or go to Preborn.com/ALLIE. Shopify — Shopify is the commerse platform behind millions of businesses around the world. Get started with your own design studio to turn your big business idea into profit. Go to ⁠shopify.com/allie⁠ to sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling with Shopify today! --- Episodes you might like: Ep 741 | How to Realistically Live Toxin-Free | Guest: Taylor Dukes https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-741-how-functional-medicine-saved-my-life-guest/id1359249098?i=1000595318788 Ep 810 | Detoxifying Your Life: Birth Control, Cleaning Chemicals & Fake Food | Guest: Shawna Holman https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-810-detoxifying-your-life-birth-control-cleaning/id1359249098?i=1000614201869 --- Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alliebethstuckey.com/book⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Relatable merchandise – use promo code 'ALLIE10' for a discount: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey

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That's fellowship homelones.com slash alley, term supply, see site for details, fellowship home loans, mortgage lending by the book, nationwide mortgage bankers, DBA Fellowship Home Loans, equal housing lender, NMLS, number 819-382. The great sunscreen debate is sunscreen toxic or is it necessary to protect you from skin cancer? This is a very controversial topic that we will be waiting into in detail today with Bethany McDaniel. She is the founder of primarily pure, a holistic skincare and wellness brand. We will be talking about so much how she balances running a thriving business with being a present wife and mom, how she interweaves her faith in the work that she does and how we can look to God's creation

as a guidebook for how we can build a life that is truly healthy. We've got all of this and more on today's episode of Relatable. It's brought to by our friends at Good Ranchers. Go to Good Ranchers.com. Use code Alley for a discount at checkout. That's good ranchers.com code Alley. Bethany, thanks so much for joining me in person. This is so fun.

I know. Oh, this is awesome. Thanks for having me. Yes. Okay, we have so much to talk about. But I've been using primarily pure products for a very long time. I think I started with the, it's like the baby bomb or the everything bomb, right? What is it called?

It's probably the, I mean, we have both. Okay. You probably started with the baby bomb because that's been around for longer. And I think I remember you posting about that a long time ago. That's still one of my favorite products ever. Yeah. It's amazing. It's the best.

So I started following you then. And then, of course, like your value. values just shine through in what you do. And that's why I wanted to talk to you because there are so many different facets of your life and how you run your business and your podcast that I think will encourage this audience so much. So let's back up to before we even started talking about primarily pure. I want to hear about you in your life. Tell me how you grew up when you became a Christian, all that good stuff. Yeah, I grew up in a Christian home. So actually, everybody in my family is in the world of Lutheran churchwork and education.

Really? And I was kind of the lone black sheep that didn't go into Lutheran church work or Lutheran education. Okay. And I got a lot of kind of questions from family members. They weren't really sure what was going on with me. It wasn't that I didn't have the same faith and believe. I always did.

And I'm really grateful for that upbringing. but I just didn't feel called to it. And so I was always interested in writing, in communicating, in being an entrepreneur. Even from a young age, I was always, like, peddling things. Like, I was the kid putting flyers on my neighbor's doors for, like, these kid shops that I would put on, where I would, like, sell these keychains and cookies and, like, things that I made. Okay, so an entrepreneur from the start, for sure. The writing was on the wall for you.

Yeah, it was. And I was even like, I was even making skincare products, very toxic skincare products at the time. I was putting Crisco, mixing Crisco with food dye and putting that in like Easter eggs and selling it as lip balm at my kids shops. So that is not being sold now through primarily pure.com. It's not. It never will be. Okay. Okay. Just talking. But my parents really did like support my, my interests and my uniqueness within the family. and I'm really grateful for that because that really gave me the confidence to believe that

anything is possible. And yeah, that's kind of how I grew up. I went to college at Concordia University, a private Christian university here in Orange County and studied communications and creative writing. I thought at that point maybe I wanted to write for a magazine or be a part of a nonprofit. My brother has Down syndrome, and so I always felt really passionate about supporting people with special needs. And I went on to, I did both of those things. I wrote for a few different magazines. I worked for Special Olympics, Arizona. And I don't know if we want to get into the whole story right now, but. Sure. Okay. So after. I just love it. And I just want to pause and say, I'm listening to Utah. We have so many similarities actually in our story, and I just love that

God is allowed our path to cross. So yes, please keep going. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. So I was working at, I'd gotten married, my husband and I got married, and his family had started a regenerative livestock farm called primal pastures right around the time we got married. And sorry, what is regenerative livestock? So regenerative farming is just a way of farming that mimics nature. And so rather than putting animals in a confined animal feeding operation, where they, you know, in the case of chickens, are indoors, constantly crowded together, just really living in their own manure. It's raising animals outside on pasture, rotationally grazing them so that their manure fertilizes the soil.

And then oftentimes plants are also raised in that same environment, just as they are in nature, so that the soil is more fertile. And so they started a farm, a livestock farm, raising these animals regeneratively. And that really opened my eyes to a whole new world of well-more. and eating and ditching toxins and chemicals, just stuff that I hadn't been exposed to before. And I was really like bought into it right away.

It just kind of clicked and made sense for me. And so that was kind of happening, but it wasn't a full-blown business at the time. We were living in Arizona. He was teaching high school. I was working at the Special Olympics. And then the farm was kind of picking up momentum. We eventually moved.

moved back to California where the farm was. And we were all living in one house. We were living because the farm was at his parents' house at the time. So you were living with his parents and y'all were all working on the farm together. And this was what year? This was when we moved back, it was like 2013, 2014, I think. Okay. Yeah.

And so we moved back. The farm was on two and a half acres at his parents' house, 1,700 square foot. house. We were living there. That's family bonding. It was intense. His sister and her husband had quit their jobs in Orange County and moved back in with their one-year-old son. The other sister quit her job in New York and moved back in. So there was a bunch of us living in this tiny house, like going out, doing farm tours.

We were processing chickens together in the backyard, like assembly line style, just figuring it out from videos that we had watched on YouTube. Amazing. I mean, I was literally like gutting chickens, like taking organs. Like my brother-in-law was always like the one slitting the chicken's throats. It sounds really graphic. But I mean, this is what people used to do, you know? And it's only weird because we're so disconnected from our food now.

Yes. So it was like those were never fun days, but I'm grateful for the experience and it was cool to have that learning. I'm sure that you learned so much during that time. And you didn't grow up on a farm. No. And so this was a completely new experience. Were there moments where you're like, wait, hang on, what am I doing right now? Yeah, there were. And at the time also, I was starting to make skincare products. So I was like in the kitchen making deodorants, you know, and there was a lot of people living in the house, like a lot of people that needed to cook meals. And like, there was just so

many things to navigate throughout that whole process, like tension between the siblings that like me and the other in-laws were like, oh my gosh, this is, this is insane. It's just a lot, but I bet you learned so much. So tell me, living in that house, working on that farm, how did that lead to you making deodorant in the kitchen? So it actually started back when we were in Arizona because the farm had kind of already started at that point. And I was really like just into all of this, into all of this stuff. And deodorant, when I started researching more about the chemicals in our skincare, personal care products, deodorant really stood out to me because of just how toxic conventional deodorant is. I was determined to make a non-toxic replacement that actually worked because there

were a few natural deodorants on the market at the time, but they didn't work. And I feel like natural deodorant just got such a bad rap because the ones that were out there were terrible. Yeah. And no one wants to stink. At the end of the day, if you have to choose between aluminum and smelling good and non-aluminum and smelling terrible, most people are going to choose the toxic option that helps them not sweat. Okay, can we talk specifically about the deodorant? I know we're a little bit jumping around because I want to hear the rest of your story and how primarily peers started, but this subject, there's actually a lot of debate. I didn't know there were so much debate about aluminum. I thought we all kind of knew aluminum in deodorant form. It's really not good

for you. You shouldn't be, you know, putting it on your glands and your lymph nodes in your armpits. But some people say it's such a small amount. It's no big deal. We have aluminum in our food. So obviously you were researching this at the time that you decided to create this effective natural alternative. What did you actually find about the toxicity of antiperspirants in your research? Yeah.

I mean, my opinion is that aluminum is toxic. It's a heavy metal. And it's been linked to Alzheimer's disease. And so I think you could say that about any toxic. that, oh, it's in such a small amount in this product or in this food or whatever, but with things that are within our control, like, why not eliminate what's in our control? There are so many things that we don't have control over in our modern environment, but our personal care products, our food, things like that, we have a say in.

And so I don't think that we should be intentionally adding to our toxic buckets just because it's a small amount. But it's like a small amount applied every single day for people. entire lives to a very absorbent part of the body. And not only is aluminum toxic in and of itself, but it blocks your pores. So it stops us from sweating. Sweat is so important. It's such an important way that our body gets rid of toxins. And when we're inhibiting and blocking that process, we're stopping one of the main ways that our body was meant to detoxify. And we don't want to do that. And so conventional deodorant also has parabins. In one study, parabins were found in 98% of breast

cancer tissues that were sampled. So fragrance is another one. I mean, there's just a lot of things in conventional deodorant that we don't want to be applying in such an absorbent part of the body every single day. And yes, when people ditch their conventional antiperspirant, they are extra smelly and extra sweaty. And we always tell people, just give it like a few weeks because once your body detoxes, that kind of normalizes and you will still sweat.

You will still sweat with our deodorant, although it does have. Aero root powder that kind of helps to absorb some of that moisture. You'll still sweat at the end of the day, but that's actually a good thing. It's not something that we want to get in the way of. And most people find that the smell completely levels out as well. And I honestly don't feel like I sweat that much. Like I know you said sweating is important and I, you know, I believe that too. And what I've researched and seen, and it's just kind of like common sense. Obviously, your body is shedding the things that it needs to shed and it works to cool you down. Sweating also works to cool you down. None of this is a paid advertisement. This is just true. I've been

using this for a long time. What I love about it is that it goes on really well and that it smells good, but you're saying that it doesn't use any, like, of the fake stuff. So like what's wrong with a fake fragrance? What's wrong with the fragrance that we see in most of our products? Yeah, the problem with fragrance is that you don't really know what's in it. So fragrance is a blanket term. It's protected by the FDA as a trade secret. Companies do not have to disclose what's, in their fragrance, but it can contain thousands of different chemicals. Yeah, there's thousands of chemicals that are protected under the umbrella term fragrance. And so we don't really know what's in there, but the EWG did a study, and they found that

it was either 74 or 76 percent of what's actually in fragrance are hormone-disrupting phallates. And phallates are what companies use to make fragrances and scents sticky. Like if you've ever been in a house that has a ton of like glade plug-ins or something and then you leave that house and you still smell like that, that's because of the phallates. And these are known hormone disruptors. So we don't really know what fragrance is and what we do know of it isn't really good. I know how much y'all love relatable merch and our Share the Arrow's merch. It's all made possible by Shopify, Shopify, make selling your merchandise and run. running your online business really easy. So if you've got a new online business and you're like,

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That's Shopify.com slash Alley. So when we hear hormone disruptor or endocrine disruptor, I'm always wondering like what exactly that means. Like do we know exactly like what hormones they are disrupting and what that looks like in our bodies? I think when we think about our hormones, it's such a precise signaling mechanism within the body. And so there's so many different hormones.

And they act as an orchestra. and they work together synergistically. And I'm not sure, like specifically what gets disrupted or how are the exact mechanism, but they can be easily disrupted by these, you know, petroleum-derived chemicals. And once one thing gets thrown off, it's like kind of like dominoes. Like they just all, they work together so precisely that when one thing is off, it kind of affects everything. Yeah.

And it makes sense, especially. especially when it comes to deodorant because you're literally putting it like on your lymph nodes. It's also like your drainage system. Okay, so you started more than 10 years ago making this natural deodorant in your in-law's kitchen. How did that go from, how did you go from that to a full-blown, primarily pure company? Yeah, it was somewhat of an accident. I mean, I started making deodorant. well initially I started because I was using just coconut oil and baking soda and that works to

prevent odor but I wanted my husband to do that and he wasn't into that idea of like smudging stuff on his armpits so I was like okay I want to create a stick form of this and went through like so many different iterations like probably close to 200 iterations to finally get a formula that that really worked and and once I had it I just wanted to share. share it with people. And so I was giving it to friends, giving it to family members. And there was a lot of interest. People were wanting to come back and get more. And I launched it to the primal pastures community at the time. I started selling it at farm stands, started selling it on their website. And I was really blown away by the response and that really fueled me to keep going with it. And I was working on other

skincare products at the time as well. And so started offering some of those. And then a little, gosh, maybe like six months in to selling on their website, sales had just grown so much that I separated primarily pure, kind of made it an official business of its own, got its own website, and then just kind of like hit the ground running from there. Yeah. And now you have so much and sell so many amazing products and you're still developing new products all the time. And one of your latest products is SPF, right?

Do you call it a sunblock or a sunscreen? Sunscreen? Does it matter? Are they the same? Yeah, I don't know exactly. I think sunscreen is maybe like the official term. It's considered a drug by the FDA. Okay. And so, yeah, they consider them sunscreens, I believe. Okay. Let's talk about SPF because y'all have billboards that say like, sorry, you're going to have to probably tell me the exact wording, but it's like sun isn't poison, but your sunscreen is. Yeah. Right. But then you are advertising your SPF. So it's not like an anti-SPF advertisement, but it's being treated as that. So talk about the response to it. Then we can get into what the product actually is. Oh my goodness. The response has been so funny to me because we knew, we knew this would stir the pot.

And that was the intention with it was to make a bold statement, get people's attention. You know, there have been so many bold statements for decades from the side of slather sunscreen all over your body every second of every day so that you won't get skin cancer and die, that we knew it was going to take some boldness from the other direction to kind of switch the narrative, which is really our goal. Like sunscreen and sun exposure is, there's such nuanced topics. It's way more complex than just like wear sunscreen so you don't get skin cancer and die.

And so our intention was really to spark conversation around what safe and responsible sun exposure is the importance of sun exposure itself and also adopting a more mindful approach of the types of sunscreens that we choose to use. And so that was the intention. But the response has been insane. I mean, there's a lot of misinterpretation of the campaign itself. A lot of anger, like some crazy, people are saying some crazy things on social media. There was one post, that I reposted of a very unhinged woman telling me to go to hell for saying this and for having these billboards. I saw that.

I think you posted that on your Instagram story. People have been posting it to their Instagram story, tagging all, saying how awful it is. There was this outlet called Beauty Independent. They quoted some doctor who was a dermatologist saying rather than use this fearmongering approach of toxic sunscreens in general, why not focus on the positives of your product instead, which you do because there's one of your signs, and we'll put up all of these pictures, but it's like our SPF, which is primarily pure, poison-free SPF, and bad SPF. So you're just trying to contrast.

You're not saying you should never use sunscreen. You're saying you should make sure that they're good ingredients. And, you know, in trying to protect yourself against skin cancer, don't put things on your body that are also causing cancer. Like, it just seems kind of logical to me. Yeah. Yeah. I think for the people that it resonates with, like it hits home and it definitely repels a lot of people as well. And we knew that going into it and that's okay. But just looking at the statement itself, like the sun isn't poisoned, but your sunscreen is. Like, how have we gotten to a point where that is such a controversial thing to say? Like, we have demonized the sun and demonized creation so much. And, And I would argue, like I know I've been accused of fearmongering, but I would argue that people

have fearmongered the sun for so long. And we're just trying to like bring some perspective to this whole thing. Yeah. What is your perspective on sun exposure and the need for SPF? Because there are some people, and I've heard them referred to in like a joking and like a pejorative ways, like the sun worshippers, who think that you should have uninhibited exposure to the sun at all times that sunburns can't hurt you, that sunscreen is the only thing causing skin cancer. I'm not in that camp. I hate getting sunburns. I do use SPF that isn't full of the

toxic chemicals. But I also agree that the sun is important. It's important for life. It's important for vitality. It has so many health benefits. So what do you think about those two perspectives? Yeah, I think meeting somewhere in the middle is the most common sense thing for me. And so understanding that the sun has benefits, it gives us vitamin D. It helps with our moods. Like we all feel it. When we're outside in the sun, we feel better. It regulates our circadian rhythms so that we're more awake during the day and that our bodies are ready to sleep when the sun falls at night.

So I think there's so much to living in tune with the sun. I think that's how we were designed to live. But I also think there are risks to uninhibited sun exposure. I mean, sunburns are not fun. I don't think that anyone should be going outside and trying to burn or not being aware of their bodies and their skin's threshold for burning. And I think that we need to protect it. We need to first, like, understand our skin.

And it's different for everyone. Different people need different amounts of sunlight. but going outside at the right times of day, not being outside for too long, covering up with protective clothing when needed, which is actually an even better option than using SPF, and then using sunscreen too for those times and those long stretches in the sun where maybe covering up isn't an option or finding shade isn't an option. So I think it's just about having like a full perspective of the whole thing and using common sense. So we should be looking for SPF with zinc oxide, right? Is there a particular percentage that we should be looking for? Because I've seen like

zinc oxide 20 percent. And I'm like, well, what's the rest of it? What's the 80 percent? And so it's a little confusing. Yeah. So 25 percent zinc oxide is actually the maximum amount that the FDA allows for in sunscreens. And that's what ours has. And then the rest of it is, I mean, we use, we use tallow, we use coconut oil ingredients like that to fill the rest of the formula that just kind of nourish. and balance the skin. Because if you just slathered zinc oxide is a powder, if you just slathered it on your skin, it wouldn't stick to you.

Okay. It would just kind of fall off. Yeah. But yeah, we use non-nano zinc oxide, and so it protects the skin with a physical barrier. The non-nano is referring to the particle size of the zinc. So there's non- nano, and then there's micronized zinc. Micronize zinc absorbs into the skin.

Non-nano has a larger particle size that sits on the surface of the skin, acting kind of like protective clothing almost. and obviously it doesn't last forever. You have to reapply it. But in my opinion, zinc oxide is the safest option for sun protection. There are a lot of chemical filters out there, but the FDA now does not recognize any of them as being safe. The EPA also just came out with a study

and found that only 25% of sunscreens on the market are both safe and effective. So these chemical filters, there's a lot of issues with them. They absorb, and then they are in the blood. at much higher limits than is considered safe. A lot of them are known to be hormone disrupting and carcinogenic or cancer causing. They actually create a chemical reaction in the skin when the sun hits it to protect, well, quote, protect rather than providing that like safe, tried and trude physical barrier. Right.

And I just don't understand why that is dubbed a conspiracy theory or why that's controversial at all. For those of us who are saying, okay, yeah, we should protect ourselves from the the sun in a way that makes sense. But there are good ways to do that. And then there are these really harmful ways to do that. I've seen a lot of people say that that's fearmongering. That's a conspiracy theory. I just, I really don't understand that, especially for people who say that they trust science. They love science. Yes. Well, this is science. Yes, I know. The fear mongering thing really gets me because I'm like, this is just sharing information. Like if it makes you feel afraid, maybe like figure out why and dig into it yourself.

But just to say that any type of information that contradicts what you believe is fear mongering is like such a lazy argument. Yeah. Let's talk about beef tallow because this is also apparently controversial. I did not know that. I love beef tallow, as I said from the beginning for lots of things, not just for skincare products, but to, you know, fry your potatoes, all different kinds of things. It's great for.

but I saw someone say just the other day on Instagram, it was like, I don't even know what they said. They were like, beef tallow is like death cream. You're like using the death of cows or something on your face. I don't even know. But you obviously, you were a part of a regenerative farm and you understand the benefits that livestock bring us in a variety of ways. How did you discover the benefits of beef tallow? why do you all use it in so many of your products? Yeah, it's been wild to see how much of a trending ingredient tallow has become

because when I started Primally Pure, I knew about tallow because of my family's farm. And it was a really interesting ingredient to me. And the more I researched it, the more it just resonated and made sense to me. I mean, this is something that people have used for generations and generations to nourish and protect the skin. It's really bio-compatible with our own. skin and the sebum that our skin makes. Talo actually means sebum in Latin.

And it's full of essential fatty acids. It's just, it's so nourishing and amazing. It's in, it's the main ingredient in the baby bomb that you mentioned. And a lot of our customers, especially those with like eczema or psoriasis, find that tallow, our products with tallow are the only thing that nourishes their skin well and doesn't cause it to react. Zero irritation. Like I'll just say, again, not.

an advertisement, but I use it to take my eye makeup off. And like you, it's so gentle that you can literally, like, not that I would recommend this, but like rub it in your eyes. And I have zero. And I've used it as like, diaper cream. Like, it really has never caused like any irritation. And I'm like a little sensitive actually. Yeah. Yeah. Same. And in the beginning, I remember thinking like, man, I don't know if we, I don't know if people are ready for this. I don't know if people will get this. Yeah. So I don't know if I should use it. but I did and I'm so glad I did now. And we actually did a billboard campaign last summer that had like a picture of this really cool like painting picture of a cow and then they said beef fat on your face makes

you hotter. Yeah. And that got some controversy, especially from like the animal activist groups. Pita had some nasty posts about us. But the sunscreen stuff has been wild. Like way more controversial. Yeah. My goodness.

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How you, there's so many questions that I have when it comes to being a business owner who is also a mom of three. I get questions all the time about how do you do what you do and, you know, be present for your kids and all of that. And you've talked about that before. So tell us how you do that. How do you navigate being a present mom and also having this thriving business that demands so much of your time? Yeah. I mean, not perfectly. I'll say that right away.

like it's not hasn't been a perfect journey i really started having kids like soon after i started the company and so i've really been growing primarily pure and raising my three kids kind of all in unison and in the beginning i mean it was it was tough like early on because i was still doing so much within the company but when i became pregnant with our oldest daughter and after i had her it really forced me to delegate things and hand off the things that other people could take on, whereas previously my perspective was like, I'm the only one that can do these things. And I don't know how long I would have held on to that if I wasn't forced to let go. And so looking back, motherhood has sharpened me as an entrepreneur so much because it's

forced me to trust others and to only show up in the areas where I can be most effective within my company and then kind of let other people do the things that better fit their strengths. And it also forces me to be as effective as I can with my time. Because if I'm going to spend time away from my kids, like, I want to make the most of that and be really effective with that time and not kind of like, I don't know, be lazy or just not like do the best that I can with it. And so I feel like it's sharpened me in business and in all areas of life, really, and taught me a lot about time management.

And it's really fun, too, to include my kids and what I do. I was just telling you before we started recording that I brought my oldest daughter with me to record a podcast episode in Kauai with Bethany Hamilton. And she was able, she actually just wrote a book. We kind of, I kind of helped her, like, publish this book that she wrote about catching lizards. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. That is awesome.

Which was super fun. She just has this mindset of like, anything is possible. And so she gets ideas and she just like goes and goes all in on it. I love that. She's like you. Yeah. Yeah. So it's been cool to like see that in her and just to see her excitement for primly peer.

And my kids like help me test products and they're always excited when our formulator sends like new products to try. So it's cool. The older they get just being able to to pull them into it. Yeah. You'll also go on some pretty extensive trips. Like we were just talking about the road trip that you did all across America. That sounds like it's one of the ways that you invest a lot of concentrated time in your family. For sure.

Yes. My husband's really good about this, like taking us out of our current environment and giving us new experiences and new memories to make as a family. And so, yeah, for the last two summers, we've done, gosh, like six. seven week road trips across the U.S. And it's actually been super fun. We have a sprinter van, which makes it more enjoyable. And, yeah, we're just, we're doing things a lot when we're home. Like, you know, my husband has a lot going on and with the farm, not anymore as much, but

used to. And we just have a lot of, like, family activities with extended family, a lot of events and just a lot. And so summertime is kind of a lot. time is kind of a time where we can slow down and just invest in making memories together as a family. And does your husband work with you full time? Or does he have his own thing? So he has his own thing. He was with primal pastures and then him and my brother-in-law Paul branched off and started Pastor Bird, which is a company that just does chicken. Primal Pastures does direct to consumer all types of

livestock. And then Pastor Bird is just chicken and they're sold in grocery stores. They're in sprouts in not quite all 50 states yet, but they're in a lot of stores throughout the U.S. and they were purchased by Purdue Chicken. And so my husband was the VP of Operations for Pastored Poultry at Purdue for five years and then recently left that position. And this next season of life is going to be a little bit different and interesting because he's going to start coaching basketball at Concordia, where we both went to college and where he played basketball.

So it's a real movie? We're not moving. Okay. We're figuring out how we're going to navigate that. Yes. Yes. Every season brings something new, especially when you're kind of entrepreneurial. Yeah.

But it's also how y'all are able to like have so many adventures as a family too. Yeah. Yeah. I really appreciate the flexibility with where Primely Pure is at now. I have such an amazing team under me. And I'm able to kind of like pick and choose the areas of the company that I want to be involved in and organize my work in such a way to where if I need like long stretches of time mostly off with my family, I'm able to do that. And so it's at a good point now.

How many employees do you have? I believe 126. 126. Yes. And are you CEO? No. You're not CEO. I'm not CEO anymore. So I was CEO for many years. And then my husband's best friend that he played basketball with came on as kind of a consultant because I just needed I needed some help. Yeah. And then after a few years, we were co-CEOs because he just started to get really into it and passionate about it and was really like thriving in what he was doing within the company. So we were co-CEos for a while. And then I think it was when I was pregnant with my third. I asked him if he would be the CEO so I could step into more of a founder role. And so that's where I'm at now. Okay. And what would you, what advice would you, what advice would

do give any business owner, but maybe especially like a female business owner. When it comes to running a company, managing people, even though you're not the CEO anymore, obviously you have a lot of experience with that. I think like the interpersonal relationships of hiring and firing and giving feedback and all of that to me is like the most difficult part because they're people and, you know, balancing, wanting the company to do well. and therefore all of your employees to perform well and like giving grace and understanding. So just talk about that, what you learned leading a company.

Yeah. The people stuff is the hardest. It is. A hundred percent. I mean, and it's the thing that keeps you up at night, at least for me. Like, how is this person feeling after that conversation or just like, what can I say to help them, you know, put this in perspective or whatever it is? It's so hard.

And I love my team and now it's so fun, like, working with them but not actually being the one to manage anyone because managing people, I mean, I think some people are naturally more gifted at it than others. But it's hard when you're actually doing tactical stuff and creative stuff to kind of like switch your brain into these different gears of like, okay, now I need to put my people managing hat on and now I need to put my like doer hat on or now I need to be creative. It's really tricky. And I think that recognizing, like if you're at what,

recognizing that if you're ever in a point to, you know, let someone else take some of those pieces on, that it's okay. I find that even with employees that I've had, people are reluctant to kind of give up responsibilities. I know I was too when I started the company, but it can be so freeing to acknowledge, like, this isn't my strong suit. I'm going to hire someone under me to help manage. these people more effectively that maybe is like more gifted at it than I am. And so acknowledging that, I think is huge. And then just in general with running a company, growing a company, I try to look at it

in terms of like just doing it for the glory of God and not for myself. And I've found so much freedom in that perspective. There's a book called When Striving Cease by Ruth Chow Simmons. And she talks a lot about this dichotomy between striving and stewarding. And when we can operate from a place of like stewarding what God has given us, rather than like just striving for success or for, you know, personal growth or whatever, it's just there's so much more freedom in that. And I've found that it's just so much more fun and really takes the pressure off when I can operate from that place.

That's a really good perspective. Can you talk a little bit more about how your faith is intertwined and what you do? was a business owner. Yeah, I mean, I just looking at the story of how primarily peer started, where it is today. Like, I look back and I'm like, that was not my doing. Like, I, I worked hard and did my best with what I was entrusted with, but I just see God's fingerprints like all over that. And so, again, it's like, I have to keep that in mind if I want it to be fun and enjoyable. and just like every day think about it from the place of doing my best with what God has trusted me with and honoring him and operating in a way that is biblical and responsible as a human being.

And then when I make mistakes, it's like if I'm making mistakes out of like my best intentions, there's not that like guilt and shame that comes with it rather than if I make a mistake and I'm like, oh yeah that was like I wasn't operating from a good place yeah um so it's just I don't know how people do it like without faith I feel like just taking all that pressure on yourself on a day to day basis can be so overwhelming and stressful and I've been there before where I have like tried to like push through and just do it out of my own strength but I think it's just like a constant renewing of the mind and remembering like who's really in control who really has allowed this to to happen yeah and put the pieces in place

Just trusting in the sovereignty of God just give so much peace. I remember when I was in college and I was going through finals and I was really disappointed because I didn't get a grade on a final that I wanted. And I had a friend at the time and her name was Grace, which is very fitting. And she said, do you really think God's plan is going to be derailed because of this grade? And it really shifted my perspective and she probably has no idea that that one text had an effect on me and I think about it or at least the principle behind it, all the time and you can really apply it to anything. Not that our actions don't matter. Not that

we shouldn't care if a mistake is made and certainly we should care if we sin and all that. But when you think about all these little things, because it's so easy to get stressed out, especially when you're running a business or have a brand or a podcast or whatever, you get down into the nitty gritty and you just want everything to be perfect. You're switching hats, as you said. But when you zoom out and you think, okay, gosh, like is this going to matter a year from now. Is this really going to affect something that happens five years from now? Is this going to really affect the things that truly matter and last in the long run? And so often, and I'm talking to myself because I am like re-learning this every day, so often the answer is no. And that doesn't mean

the details don't matter and that little things don't matter because they all add up and they do, but just trusting in the sovereignty of God that he has written out all of our days before any of them came to be and one thing going wrong is can't derail him. It's not going to thwart his will. And like that just gives a lot of peace. And as you said, if you don't have faith in that and you think everything truly rides on you being perfect, that is a ton of pressure. It's exhausting.

Yeah. In the beginning, like I didn't understand what it is to be an entrepreneur. And to be an entrepreneur is to face new different challenges like on a very regular basis. And I just thought like, okay, every time something bad was happening or every time we faced a problem or an issue, I'm just like, I would like mourn it. Like, like, why is this happening? This is so hard. I get that. And like now, I mean, very quickly, I realized that wasn't a sustainable mindset.

And like the challenges are inevitable, especially when you're like doing something that is new and different. But having the perspective of like, what can I learn from this? There's always something to learn, whether it's you who made the mistake or whether it was something that just happened that was out. outside of your control. There's always something to learn and there's always growth in it. Y'all know how much I love Adele Natural Cosmetics. I have been using it for years. Their moisturizing foundation is amazing. I had never used a moisturizer in a stick form. And I was afraid it just wouldn't give me the coverage that I need. But when I'm not in the studio, it is my go-to. It's the perfect amount of coverage. And especially if you're getting to the age

like I am of like having fine lines, you don't want that powdery look that kind of like settles in your creases, you want something that's going to make you glow, that's going to make you look happy and healthy. And their moisturizing foundation, their blush, their bronzing stick, it all works exactly like that. I use their skincare every day. I use their moisturizing essential cleanser. I absolutely love it. I will never go back to that like sudsy chemical, fake fragrance stuff because I love Adele. Go to Adele Natural Cosmetics.com. Use code Alley for 25% off your first time purchase, adele, naturalcosmetics.com, code alley. Continuing on the, like, your personal life, I want to know what it looks like for you

personally health-wise. Like, I know that you've talked about biohacking and the things that you do and have done in your own health journey, because you had your own health journey and you lost weight, you cut down on inflammation and all of that. And obviously, that's something that you've maintained. So, like, what are some staples in your life that you do to not only make sure that you're spiritually healthy, but also physically healthy. Yeah. So I think you mentioned biohacking, and biohacking can be controversial. Yeah, I don't even know really what it means.

It just means like optimizing your own biology to the best of your ability. I don't think it's that controversial. Do some people take it too far? Of course. But at a basic level, we are up against so much in our modern world. we are in this environment where we are exposed to so many unnatural things that are not normal for our biology or how people have lived for thousands of years. And so it just makes sense to me that we need to do a little bit more to support our bodies

in this day and age. And so I think biohacking aside for a second, at a foundational level, the things that I kind of don't skip out on are eating well. and for me that means I prioritize animal protein at every meal. I just feel best when I am getting enough protein. And then like healthy fats, healthy carbs as well. I kind of I eat all of that. I eat kind of a paleo-style diet.

So meats, fruits, vegetables, some nuts and seeds, potatoes, white rice is not necessarily paleo, but I eat it. And then I also do raw dairy. And so that's kind of how I eat. only do raw dairy, like only raw cheese and raw milk? Pretty much. Okay. Yeah.

That's been kind of a newer thing in the last maybe year that we've all started doing. And we were fans. We love it. I was told that I would like raw milk because I don't like regular milk. I haven't my entire life even as a baby, never ever liked it. And I tried raw milk and I, no. Is there something about no? I mean, my husband likes it.

He really likes milk. One of my kids loves milk. But I just, oh my gosh, I don't think I'm lactose intolerant, but milk tastes sour to me and always has. Interesting. But I like other kinds of dairy. Yeah. So maybe I can biohack with some raw ice cream or something.

There's like raw milk yogurt that we do a lot of. My kids love it. It has like maple syrup in it. It's really good. Yeah. Is that the, is that ice cream for bears? No. No.

It is, okay, there's... Well, not the one that I'm talking about. Okay, there's like this very... I don't know if that's raw milk or not. I don't know if that's raw there. Okay, it's not. Everyone's shaking their head. Okay.

But it's healthier. It has, like, healthy. Is it like an A2? Maybe. Nope, it's not A2 even. It just has honey in it. It's like honey and... Got it.

Honey is the sweetener. I think that's, yeah. Yeah. Okay, so you do the raw dairy, the animal protein. Do you avoid sugar, like, processed sugar all together? Do you ever have... have like cheats or treats? Yeah, I pretty much avoid refined sugar. So we do a lot of like honey, maple syrup. Not that I won't ever have it. I mean, like we were just in Hawaii and one of our

favorite shaved ice places in Hawaii uses organic cane sugar and like fresh fruits and vegetables for their toppings. So I'll eat that, you know, as a treat. I wouldn't go to the shaved ice stand that has like red 40 and high fruit does corn syrup. Yeah. And I wouldn't give that to my kids. Like we were even in a situation in Hawaii where all of their, the family that we were with was having them. And I just chose the one that didn't have dyes. And it wasn't as fun. But I don't really care. I don't really care that they're missing out on food dyes in those situations.

So. Okay. Let me interject and ask a question about that because I bet a lot of parents are wondering, how do you have those conversations with your kids? I mean, maybe they just know by now. But when you're like, no, you can't have that cupcake or I know your friend is having that. but you can't because we've already, with our oldest in preschool, well, so-and-so has this in their lunch. But now she's always asking, does I have bad ingredients? Does I have that ingredients?

Bad ingredients. That's so funny. My kids say the same thing. Yes. Okay. So how have you taught them about that? Yeah. I mean, I'm like very honest with them.

I kind of just explain like why exactly why we don't eat these foods. And I'll even talk about like the problems that they can be linked to, like behavioral problems. Yeah. And these conversations are just like very normal in our household. And so now when they do ask for things, like sometimes they do push back a little bit, but they know. Like they, the boundaries are clear. I think it's a really slippery slope when, when you kind of deviate from those boundaries

because then they know that there's like a chance they could get it. And the next time, like they'll push more. Like we've experienced that with certain things that we were a little bit wishy-washy on for a little while. Yeah. Like French fries was one that for a while we would like, when we would go out, they could have french fries and then we kind of put the kibosh on that even um so it's harder when you when you kind of like deviate from the rules to because they they want to know what to expect

i know and it's hard yeah and so but i i think like i want my kids to be okay with making different choices from other people not just in what they eat but in all aspects of life true and it's something that they're going to have to face throughout their lives um with with diet with life style with, you know, moral stuff. Like, I want them to be really comfortable, not doing what everyone else is doing. And so even if it makes them a little bit sad in the moment, I'm kind of okay with that. And then I also, like, I'm not totally, like, stringent and fully, like, I bring treats for them when I know there's going to be treats.

So I'm not like, no, you can't have anything. Yeah. There's always, like, other options. Yeah, that's good. Yeah. Okay. In addition to the other healthy things that you eat, do you do some? do you do red light therapy do you do all of the above, cold plunging, grounding, circadian rhythm

maximizing, all of that. Yeah, yeah. I do do all of that stuff. And it hasn't been like an immediate thing like I overhauled my lifestyle and just implemented all these things at once. Like yeah, I've been on this journey for 12 years now. And so naturally I've just like added things as I've gone. And I really see it as kind of a fun thing. And every time I don't like add something. if I'm in a stressful season and it feels like too much. Like there are seasons where I just keep things as they are. And then when I'm ready to tackle something new, I do. But sauna was one of the first health investments that we made.

And it's, ugh, the most still my favorite, like, if you want to call it a biohack, biohack. Yeah. It's the best. Do you have one in your house? Yeah. That's great. Yeah. And it's just so beneficial for sweating out toxins.

There was a study out of, I believe, Finland, where they studied people that had done the son. I mean, almost everyone does the sauna in those countries. Yes. But they took groups of people. They followed them for 20 years. People that did the sauna once a week. People that did the sauna four to seven times a week. And people that did the sauna six or seven times a week.

And with each group with more sauna use, there was an exponential increase in life expectancy. Oh, wow. And it just makes sense. It's like we're exposed to so many toxins. Like we need to do something extra to help our body get rid of those toxins. The stats about health in America right now. are terrible. I don't want to end up as those as one of those statistics. I don't want my husband, my kids to fall into any of those categories. And if you don't want to, you have to live differently.

You can't just do what everyone else is doing and expect a different result. And so that's where I see these biohacks fitting in just to kind of make up for what our modern lifestyle is, is lacking in in terms of quality of life and health. And like you mentioned circadian rhythm. That's another really important one. I think artificial light is going to be huge in the coming years. I mean, it already is, but even more so to the same level of food. So much of our body's functions are governed by signaling that light gives us. And God just created it so perfectly with the sun and the moon and light and darkness.

And we have really messed that up with all the artificial lights that we're exposed to from screens, from lights in our home. and so to me it's like it just makes sense to wear red like glasses at night like why would you not last sponsor for the day is preborn preborn resources pregnancy centers across the country to make sure they have the equipment the tools they need to serve pregnant moms in need to help them make a life affirming decision for example they provide these sonogram machines and the women who walk into these clinics can get a free sonogram that confirms their pregnancy to see how far along they are a lot of them just left the plan parenthood who didn't give them a sonogram and told them, no, you just have a clump of cells. All you have to do is take this

pill. But sometimes women, they just want a second opinion and they want to know what's true. And so they walk into these centers. They get the sonogram. They see their baby on the sonogram screen. So often they see the moving arms and legs. They hear the beating heart and they make the life affirming decision. That is why preborn exists to make sure that pregnancy centers, that pro-life organizations have all the tools they need to help women save their babies. Go to preborn.com, be a part of their story, be a part of saving lives. You can donate today using my link. That's preborn.com slash alley. Preborn.com slash alley. Someone's listening to this and they're like, all right, I'm on, I'm on like level zero. I haven't done any of this, but I want to start. What would you say is the best first

to start when it comes to just taking charge of your health and like you said trying to as much as we can avoid being one of those negative statistics yeah i think um food is huge i would start with like just the simple basics of eating well like prioritizing protein to satiate your body so you're not then like overeating on carbs or other things just to fill up like protein fills you up and it gives you energy. And so prioritizing healthy, if you can, like well-raised, animal-based protein at every meal, I think is huge, getting out first thing in the morning and exposing yourself to natural sunlight. I mean, that is going to set your body up for success throughout the whole day. It's going to turn on your awakening hormones so that by the time it's nighttime, your body's natural sleep hormones

will kick in like they should, and you'll get a better night's sleep. Sleep is obviously so important. So I think, you know, I mentioned Sana'an and other things, and that's huge. Like, I recommend doing that if you can invest in that. But even if you can't, there are so many basic things that we can do to support our bodies. Grounding is another one. It's free. It's legitimate. There are scans showing inflammation, pre and post grounding.

And there is a significant difference. And so I, and this stuff, like, may sound weird to some, but to me, it's not weird to think that, like, God would give us the tools for. for healing within creation. And so, like, why not maximize those, especially since they're available to us. They're free. Yeah. You know, as you're talking, I'm like, well, it kind of just goes back.

If you just read, like, the first couple chapters of Genesis, you see the basics of what we need. We need to know our creator. We need to be within community relationship with one another. You got Adam and Eve. You've got their relationship with God, the Father, who is in eternal communion with himself. And then you've got a relationship with nature.

which is supposed to be one of us working together. We need purposeful work. We see that in the command to work the ground and work the garden and to keep it. We need the light and darkness. He made us to need sleep. He even modeled rest for us when he didn't need to and resting on the seventh day. And so everything you're saying that people call a conspiracy theory, it's really just kind of like creation order and going back to what we see in the Garden of Eden

and taking an advantage of like the gift of common grace that God has given us through his creation. A hundred percent. Yeah, I know. I always get so dumbfounded when people say this stuff is weird or extreme. I'm like, yeah, this isn't weird. Like the way that most people live is weird. Yeah, like all the things. You'll get history. Yeah, all the things that we've done to our modern environment is weird. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, Bethany, people can find your products at primarily pure.com, right? Easy enough. Tell people about your podcast and where they can find that. Yeah, we have a podcast called Grounded Wellness. We record it outside on our regenerative farm. It's a lot of fun and that's available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube. Okay, YouTube as well.

Yeah, you need to watch it in addition to listening to it because it just looks so beautiful and perfect for what the brand is. So thank you so much for just following God's calling on your life and being a very unique and effective voice in this space in addition to just making really good products. It just like really matters to be able to find a company that you feel good about supporting, but also that has products that are really effective. So thank you. Thank you so much, Ali. I appreciate your support so much. Thank you. And I've been listening to you for a long time now and really love your perspective and everything that you're putting out there into the world. So thank you. Well, thank you. I appreciate it.