The Bossticks - Dr. Autumn Smith On Healing Naturally, Eating Well, & What Actually Matters In Your Food

Episode Date: February 20, 2026

#942: Join us as we sit down with Dr. Autumn Smith – co-founder of Paleovalley & Wild Pastures. Paleovalley was born out of necessity after Dr. Autumn Smith endured over a decade of severe digestive issues that no expert could resolve. Alongside her husband Chas, she discovered the transformative power of an ancestral diet, which not only healed her IBS but launched her career in holistic nutrition. In this episode, Autumn breaks down the importance of high-quality meat, what you need to know about processed meats & misleading labels, the truth about organ meats, & what to actually look for when shopping for meat.   To Watch the Show click HERE   For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM   To connect with Paleovalley click HERE   To connect with Dr. Autumn Smith click HERE   To connect with Lauryn Bosstick click HERE   To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE   Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE   Head to our ShopMy page HERE and LTK page HERE to find all of the products mentioned in each episode.   Get your burning questions featured on the show! Leave the Him & Her Show a voicemail at [phone].   This episode is sponsored by Paleovalley  Head to http://paleovalley.com/skinny, or use code skinny at checkout for 20% off your first purchase.    Shop Wild Pastures and get 20% off for life, an extra $15 off your first purchase at http://wildpastures.com/skinny.   Produced by Dear Media  

The following podcast is a dear media production. She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. Fantastic. And he's a serial entrepreneur. A very smart cookie. And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you along for the ride. Get ready for some major realness. Welcome to the skinny confidential, him and her.

If you are looking to find the highest quality meat, if you are looking to learn more about processed meat, if you want to know more about reading labels and the truth about organ meat, then you have to listen to this episode. Dr. Autumn Smith is back. She is the co-founder of Paleo Valley and Wild Pastures. I am passionate about this brand because this is one of my favorite brands when it comes to protein. I am obsessed with how they have a chocolate bone broth protein. It's actually genius. I asked her all the questions that you're dying to know about how to find high-quality meat, mislabeling labels, and the truth behind the meat industry. And let me tell you, Dr. Autumn knows her stuff.

You're going to see that. Let's welcome Dr. Autumn to the show. This is the skinny confidential, him and her. I have a conundrum. I am very passionate. This shouldn't surprise anyone about what I feed my children. I try to be really intentional. I do not try to be perfect. I'm 80-20. I let them have the birthday cake and we have all the

sweet things in our house. We just try to do swaps. But when it comes to what I'm feeding them on a day-to-day basis every single day, I try to be really thoughtful because they're eating it every day. And every single day, we pack a sandwich in their lunch. And the bread is fresh sourdough and we'll do like avocado mayo or sometimes regular and mustard and we do turkey or ham. And so I'm on insombed. the other day and I see this thing come up that the brand of ham and turkey that I'm giving them every single day is worse than cigarettes. The guy is saying this is the worst meat to give your children. There's microplastics in it. It's the like he's like throwing it away. So dramatic. What kind of cigarettes is they smoking? Yeah. What?

Anyways, so this is the conundrum and I think you're the perfect person to answer this. if you want to make a sandwich for your children, where would you get your meat? You're the one to ask. I am. I mean, I have meat companies, right? But I'd also look for like local, I think local meat. When you can get close to your food, I think that's as good as it gets. And if you can do like a grass fed, grass finished beef or a pasture raised, like truly pastured, that's clean, that's like off the farm.

Like that, that's where you get it, right? Okay. But what if like it's just, it's like deli meat? Where do I get like a, I can't go like. You go to a local butcher. Yeah. And I hope that becomes a thing, right? I just think like we have this illusion of choice, right, when we go to a grocery store.

But the truth is like in the meat market, there's like massive consolidation. So 85% of the beef market, for example, owned by four different companies. And they have many different companies under their umbrella. But like a lot of them are doing 90% of what you find in the grocery stores factory farmed. You know, some of them have different labels that make you feel a little warm. and fuzzy, but a lot of them are actually still factory farm and kind of just dressed up with labels. So I hope one day we see a system where we get to know people again in our community, those in our bioregion. But if you have to go to Whole Foods, go to sprouts, you know,

get the best you can do. A lot of times we can talk about this grass fed doesn't always mean grass finished, right? It doesn't necessarily mean no antibiotics. You know, the labels, it's really misleading and it's kind of hard to figure out. And pastures, pasture raised is kind of not to find either, right? And you saw like vital farms just kind of got in trouble. Did you hear about that? Yeah, I want to talk to you about that. With the eggs. Yeah. And by the way, everyone, this is your second time on the show. You were on about two years ago. Everybody's got to go back and check that one out. But this is a perfect time to talk about the vital farms controversy, which we will, but I just want to know my to do list. My to do list is I go to a butcher, a local butcher or at

Whole Foods. And I go to the counter and I say, I'm looking for ham. Is ham okay? They're saying ham isn't good now. You know, I see, there's so much nuance there. Right. They put all these processed meats into one bucket. It depends on how the meat is processed, right? If it's like a traditionally fermented or cured ham, that's different than something that's been highly processed and has all of these artificial additives and is older and is raised on a factory farm. So you can't really say all processed meat is the same. I just did a whole podcast about this. Like R.B.6, they're fermented, right?

That's different than a slim gem, right? That has gluten and sugar and maybe encapsulated citric acid. I'm not sure how they're preserving it exactly. But no, I mean, I think you get as close as you can. Go to the butcher. What do you have this grass fin, grass finished? How is your ham prepared? Is it a traditional preparation?

I think you just got to ask the questions. I wish I could give you more of a simple answer. And that's kind of why I'm here. And that's why I felt kind of called to create the products that gave people those alternatives and options easily. But it isn't always easy. What happened with vital farms? Every single person was buying them.

all thought we were having grass fed, grass finished, da-da-da-da-da-da-da, all the fucking, I mean, it's like a scroll, it's like pasture-raised, organic, da-da-da-da-da-da. We thought it was all the things, and then we come to find out it's not. What was your opinion on that? Well, it's funny. I actually went to the lunch the other day with the CEO of Vital Farms, and he is deeply passionate about the humane, the humane treatment of animals. And I think I have a very nuance to take, because what I studied for my dissertation is exactly

this, like the omega-6-3 ratio in food. So what they got called out for was linoleic acid. Are you guys familiar with it's an omega-6 fatty acid, right? And a lot of people believe it's toxic by definition, but when you heat it, it is. When you eat too much of it, I think that it can become more pro-inflammatory, right? It leads to the production of compounds that are pro-inflammatory, but it's also an essential nutrient, right? So what people I think are surprised by is the amount of linoleic is kind of dirty. But when they're not out on pasture a lot, which maybe they aren't. I don't know how often they're going out on pasture or what percentage of their diet is coming from corn and soy. That's the problem. People, I think,

were surprised by how much of the diet of these animals were coming from corn and soy. And that is the lever that makes that linoleic acid level higher. Are you eating vital farms? You know what? We actually get our eggs from Angel Acres. And are you familiar with that company? And they're actually the company that I think did the, you know, put the testing out there. They're really clued into this omega 6 to 3 balance. And again, my dissertation was on that. And so I've been really kind of thinking about it a lot. And so I'm not. It's not that I wouldn't. And I think we have to like take dietary context into consideration. So do you think people are maybe overreacting? Because what I mean, I'm not following the egg controversy that closely.

I got to be, I got to be honest. I'm like inspector gadget. But, you know, I see people are passionate about it. And I, you know, see some of the headlines. Like is it in your opinion from a scale one to ten how bad this revelation was. Is this? Yeah, I'm not surprised by it because I'm close to this. I know that chickens actually do need grains. They do eat grains. Even the chickens that we raise, they eat grains. It's kind of how often are they on pasture? Right. I think a lot of people think, oh, these are pastured eggs, so they must be out on pasture all the time. That's just not true. And unfortunately, I think that they have more grain and soy or corn and soy in their diet. That's the one that really moves that balance up. So for me, I'm not that surprised. I was like,

like a five kind of surprised. I don't think linoleic acid is necessarily toxic on its own. I think because of a lot of seed oils and because we've changed the way that we raise our animals, animals don't need a lot of corn and soy all the time, but we've done that. We've changed the way that we raise our animals. And so now all of their omega balances are very high. And so I do think repeated consumption of all your animal products like that in addition to seed oils, I think that's probably not a great thing. But it's like one egg in isolation, you know, is going to be send you over the edge? Is it toxic? I don't think so. Yeah, my favorite is like the people that are screaming about the eggs and then they just got done with like a three-day drinking bender. I'm like,

the egg's going to be. It's not going to hurt you. And also, we grew up in the 90s and when I start to think of some of the snacks that we had, I was like, we made it through that. The egg will be, you know, it'll be fine. Yeah, it's like there's so many nutrients in an egg. Like, it's way better than a donut. Like, and they're saying that there's the linoleic acid level is comparable to canola oil, right? But they're very different fruits. This is what I would say to you. I agree with you. And I'm all about having McDonald's and like on a special occasion, I'm all about it. But here's what annoys me specifically is when I'm doing something every single day. Yeah. That's where I want to look into it. I don't care if I have eggs that aren't cage-free, whatever the fuck, on a random Tuesday

when I'm out to lunch. What I care about is it's in my house every single day and my kids are eating it and you're eating it and I'm eating it every single day. That's where I'm I think it becomes problematic. No, no, no, I get it. It's just hard for me as a general person to ever imagine a world where I would be spending time screaming about eggs. But then again, that's just me. To each it sounds.

Yeah. And like you said, I think it is important when it's your staples. I think it's something you need to consider thoughtfully, for sure. But also, if you have it once in a while, is it going to be the end of the world? I leave it to more passionate people to. No, he leaves it to me to handle. And then he's like, oh, my wife, like, gets the best. and he just sits around.

I think what I, I think what the most of the people want to know and where I try to like, my life is, okay, if it's not the, tell me what egg it is. Or if it's not the butter

you were yelling about it. So he wants me to go to the research. I just want to know what the, you know, which is why we talk to people like, tell me, okay, is it, what is it, angel farms?

What is it like to be a man where things just appear? Like, the best water appears. It's pretty good. And your, and your magnesium appears every single month.

And all of a sudden, new tooth brushes and toothpaste. I really actually want to know what that's like to have things just appear. It's pretty nice. But I will say it's also the reverse where things just randomly disappear. Well, things are going to just, it's all about. And so. It's a given to take. I'm a constant edit. You better, believe it. What is a red flag when it comes to meet for you where you're like, no way? Oh, yeah. I mean, definitely any sort of antibiotic use. Right. I think that is a huge issue. And I think that's really rampant. Also, I really prefer animals that are pasteurized. So this is what my dissertation was about. And meat is like a photograph of the land. Like with our dissertation, we studied,

you know, on a nutrition label, you see like 13 nutrients that we've traditionally tracked. But with this new technology called metabolomics, they're actually able to look at like 30,000 nutrients. So there's 30,000 compounds in beef. And many of them changed dramatically based on what that animal's consuming, what kind of plants it was exposed to the health of the soil and on and on. I like the more diversity in the pasture we found, like the more omega-3 fatty acids, even the longer time that they are able to graze. So for me, I like to see animals in their native pasture, like living their life happily. So anything with hormones, antibiotics, or that's just in a factory farm eating grain and soy, that's a red flag for me. In your opinion, what are the most nutrient-dense

foods the majority of the population should focus on? Oh, gosh. I think, see, and I think meat's been demonized, so meat is definitely, and I know you guys are big advocates of that too. So beef, but definitely organ meats as well. Liver, heart, kidney. She's all about it. I'm I'm on the, I'll have the liver. The heart starts to scare me a little bit. But the heart's like the gateway. I know how to cook a heart. Don't you forget it?

No, you don't. Sondra helps me. No, you don't. Yeah, our nanny helps us. No, yeah. Sandra knows how to cook a heart with me. It's milder, right? And it has all that koku 10.

Do you feel that energy? Okay. When you, I mean, I don't know. I feel the energy of liver immediately. When you eat liver, you feel energy right away. I don't know if it's the iron. You feel it. Do you have to be careful with how much of each of these organs you consume?

Like in how frequently? Oh, yeah. You don't want to eat it every day, right? You don't want to eat it. There's a massive amount of vitamin A, like in active form, retinal, right? So, yes, you want to have, I'd say, like, two, three ounce servings every single week, three to four ounce servings. So when people hear you say organ meat and they're like, oh, I would never touch that, like, maybe describe, you mentioned Kokey 10, but what are some of the direct benefits you think men and women will notice? Well, just like, that was like, I did, like, Lauren, I did a happy dance the first time.

I was like, wow, something in that my body really needed it. 1934, some scientists won a Nobel Prize for the finding that beef liver actually cured pernicious anemia. And you see so many people worldwide have iron regulation issues. And it's not just because they don't get enough iron, right? Is the copper? It's the B12. It's the vitamin A. It's the synergistic kind of presentation of the nutrients that actually makes it very effective. That's why bodybuilders, endurance athletes, my brother's been having like liver shakes for decades. And he used to do marathons. He's going to say Lauren is right. Just put it on your grave, Michael. You're going to come to me and say, can I have some of your liver?

No, no, I'm in the liver and organ meat camp, but I think a lot of people that listen and watch are skeptical. Especially there's a new wave of people that have either maybe been vegetarian or been practicing veganism that are now starting to be, that are moving towards trying and introducing meat. And I think the first thing is like, okay, maybe I'll have a burger or steak. The jump to eating liver and heart is a big jump for a lot of those people. This is what I'll say, have a bite and see how you feel because you're going to feel it right away. Yeah. So that's what I'm trying to get to is explaining to the. maybe those individuals that are hesitant, like, because here's the other thing.

We talk on the show all the time about autoimmune disorders or bloating or gut issues. Yeah. And we've also had so many stories of people coming on and start talking about incorporating these things in their diet and ridding themselves of those ailments. Yeah. Well, yeah, and I go for the capsules. My husband tried to sneak it in every which way all the organ meats, like tripe in a hamburger. I was like, no, this just doesn't work for me.

And so you can definitely do the capsules. But I think, to be fair, like there was research that looked at the nutrients, most people are deficient in, right? B12, vitamin A, calcium, zinc, iron, and the foods that had the highest levels of those nutrients, which I think is a specific concern for vegan and vegetarian people in particular. And it's liver, it's heart, it's kidney, it's like giblets, it's like all those odd bits. So if you want to eat like the least meat possible or just make it, you know, and get the most bang for your buck, I think organs are the way to do that. And if you can do it in capsule form, you can start with tongue, you can start with heart, you can start with chicken liver,

much more mild chicken liver is. You guys do a capsule? We do. Oh, I got to try your capsule. You do. That's a good place to start. This is what happened to me intuitively. I was pregnant with my first born.

And I was, I went to Bel Campo. If you know, you know in L.A., they're not open anymore. And there was liver on the menu and there was tongue, too, I think. And I was like drawn to it, which I had never had it before in my life. And they brought it. And I tried it. And intuitively, I felt so good from it. And I thought I was like, is it because I'm pregnant and I needed certain things? I feel like there was gaps and it filled in the gaps of the nutrients that I needed. 100%. Is that B12? Is that iron, copper, vitamin A. Yeah. Vitamin A is so important.

And it's like the richest natural source of vitamin A and B12 on the planet is liver, specifically. And like I said, iron, it's really hard to come by. And it's, it's really hard to come by. And it's, it's, It's actually an anti-aging food. I don't know if you've heard there's a trial that gave, I think it was three servings of liver, actually three times a week. In addition to other things, like a lot of leafy greens, and it was a whole dietary protocol. Well, they were actually able to reverse biological aging because of its ability to donate methyl groups, essentially. Like, liver is a great methyl donor and can positively affect gene expression. So I think liver organs should be in everyone's diet.

If you've done a Yeagerbaum before, you can do a little liver. A Jaeger bomb. Or what's it called Yeagerbombs? Oh, yeah. Like the shots? Sometimes I think you're the coolest. And sometimes I'm like, what a dork. How do you call it?

A Jaeger bomb. Yeah, that is what he's called. If you can drink a Yeager bomb, you can have a bite of liver. I don't want to hear you say Yeagerbomb anymore. I love that that took me back to my L. many days. I don't think it's that gross compared to that. No, no.

And the way you feel will just, it will just be worse. And especially because it's so rampant, micronutrient deficiency. See, like we all 90% of us have these deficiencies that are like significantly reducing the quality of our life, even if we don't know it, right? Like brittle nails and hair and skin, dull skin and just like catching every cold that goes around, feeling tired. That's like nutrient deficiency. And so why are most people deficient in vitamin A? Vitamin A. Or honestly most people.

Why are many people deficient in vitamin A? I think a lot of it is because we've heard this that we can just eat carrots and sweet potatoes and get enough vitamin A. But the vitamin A in that is 12 times. You have to have 12 times more of that type of vitamin A. you do the retinol, the preformed vitamin A that comes in animal products. And I think people are afraid of animal products. I mean, I think we've had them demonized for so long. Maybe like not so much today, but like historically, I think that's a real issue. So this is random, but again, you're the perfect person to ask. I recently learned and tell me if I'm wrong that four of the

top cheeses that we all eat, like the most famous cheeses, the big brands, are controlled by the pharmaceutical industry. Oh. Is this true? That's a good question. You don't know. I'm not actually sure. I thought I would ask you. But it doesn't, it wouldn't surprise me. There's some really interesting linkages in these big food corporations in the supplement world. And it wouldn't surprise me, but I cannot confirm. Okay. How do you personally pick out your cheese and what do you look for? You know, I want grass fed, grass finished, and raw. That's what we get. We can get that down at sprouts, if you're going to do the store. We also, we live in Colorado. So we've got farms. Like, Literally, just a drive down.

They've invited my son to go milk their cow, like 6 a.m. I mean, just we have the luxury of being really close to our food. But I would do grass-fed, grass-finished. And why does it have to be grass-fed and grass-finished? Yeah, because this is the omega-balanced thing. So it's, and what my research looked at is the fatty acid profile of meat specifically. And it changes. So more omega-3s, less omega-6 fatty acids, right?

conjugated linoleic acid. I don't know if you've heard of that, but it's, yeah, it's cardiovascular protective, maybe anti-obesity effects. And so what that animal eats is ending up in its tissue, in its cheese. And like I said, you can actually have plant compounds in cheese and in meat that I think can positively impact health. And there's one researcher named Dr. Fred Prevanz. It looks at like satiety. Like are we not feeling like full from our meat because all of these phytonutrients have been kind of bred out because we're only having corn and soy in their feet. So we could get, you know, thousands of plant compounds plus more omega-3s, less omega-6s. There's even research, and this wasn't in cheese, but the saturated fatty acid profile changes in positive ways.

So mineral profile changes. I mean, vitamins, I mean, it's just, yeah, so our research specifically looked at beef, but I do know that dairy can also change dramatically based on the way the animal's fed. And I think those, like you said, those daily decisions, those matter, right? More omega-3s. 90,000 people die every single year from omega-3 fatty acid deficiency. And so if you're eating something on a daily basis and you can get like three times the omega-3s, which is what we found in her research, if they're, you know, fed grass, their whole life rather than grain. I think that that really adds up and that matters. You know, we recently took our kids to a dentist that we love. She's so fabulous.

And she said it's so important that your kids are chewing food. Yes. What have you seen with people who are just giving their baby baby food or her actually getting the baby to chew when it comes to meat? Ooh, I haven't seen a lot. I mean, I don't work with a lot of babies, but I do imagine that they'd be far better nourished to have a lot of animal products. It's the first thing we gave our son. And I do see, unfortunately, many children who are not nourished, who are eating just baby foods and not incorporating animal products. egg yolk was the first food we gave our son. And then when we eventually, he was kind of rejecting it. And then we went into bone broths and eventually brought in meats. And for him, he's been very, very healthy. When you did meats, what did you do?

Just selfishly, I want to know. Yeah. We would just kind of like, we would cook them down and then sometimes even puree them. But we would put like, it seems like that bone broth for some reason really prepared his digestive tract because I remember early it was like kind of dicey whether or not we could get him to take a food. But we started giving him bone broth on a daily basis. In a bottle? No, just like, sometimes like just like a little spoon.

It wouldn't be a ton. Okay. He's just like every day, a few times a day, we would give him a little bone broth. Okay. And they would kind of puree the meats in the bone broth and then kind of give it to him just a little bit at a time. And he did. Yeah. And he was very, very, very vibrant little boy.

My kids, what I do with your meat sticks, everyone needs to try this is you cut them up. Oh, yeah. And they just eat them like a little bite. Oh, absolutely. Now they just say give me a meat stick. They ask. It's so great. Well, that's a cool thing too.

It's because they're softer, right? Because they are fermented. And so they have like a tenderness and it is, they're seasoned really well. And even if you do the terriarchy, that's like the kids favorite because it has a little bit of honey. So that was always Mavericks. And then I also did a trick. I don't know if I told you this last time. It's called chocolate water.

No. Yeah. So chocolate water. Tell me. Do you want some chocolate water? Chocolate water is your chocolate bone broth protein. in a little bit of raw milk with a little bit of water frothed up

and they think they're having a chocolate shake and they ask for it every day and it's 20 grams of protein and then I'll do two scoops and we like it so much that I get it delivered to hotels I told you off air which I think is amazing

it's the thing I never miss a day of either with that chocolate bone broth it's life changing for me also when you're not starving Like sometimes I get home from work and I just maybe had some food and I just have a little bit of your chocolate bone broth powder in water. It's so good. Which by the way, and I want to talk to you, I want to talk about glycine in a second. But, you know, I've weight lifted throughout my life. And a lot of the guys in the gym that weightlift, it's like a secret that everybody knows is if you get hungry, you get a craving late at night or you're like throughout the day and you want to like have a poor snack. If you just do a quick protein shake with water, that goes away and you become satiated real quick. So it's like. Yeah. And my entire life, if I ever get in a position where I'm like, oh, I want that ice cream or I want that sweet or a candy, if you do that real quickly, even in water, which is not the best way, it's not as good as milk. Immediately you don't want to eat that. So it's just a swap like that

that I think is much better that people can utilize. It's amazing. And there's that protein leverage hypothesis. Have you guys heard about this? Yeah. No, I haven't. Oh, you haven't. Like essentially, like, your body is looking for amino acids. We're like eating in search of amino acids. And once you hit that amino acid kind of like maximum, your appetite kind of turns off. But that's why people are eating carbs and fat and, you know, just other snacks, potato chips. And they just can eat and eat and eat because those amino acids are missing. So yeah, if you have a craving, you come in hot with some amino acids right away. I mean, you're done.

You feel good. And like with that bone bar, there's no sugar in there. And there's, like you said, 15 grams of protein. Do you want to use monk fruit in there? There's a little monk fruit. I'm going to say this and I've never said this to anyone. Oh. I am very picky about my protein powder.

And your protein powder to me is number one. that I've ever had. And I've tried a lot of protein powders. I'm going to say it is the best protein powder. It is the protein powder I give my children. I love your protein powder. Thank you for saying that. I really do.

Genuinely. But please save a couple bags for us after this episode. You guys will just have a shipment. I really do. I'm telling you, I buy so many bags of it all the time. I like that bone broth is so interesting to use as a protein. It's so smart. Yes.

Tell us, as Michael mentioned, Glycine. Well, so here's my, my understanding of glycine is an amino acid. I started taking it at night before bed for recovery after working out in the gym. And then I noticed that my sleep was just way better and I felt better in the day. But I don't really know any of the science other than I've seen somebody talk about it. I was like, oh, I'll try it. And I like it. Oh, my gosh. Well, I've gone on the nerdiest deep dive. And I just started my own YouTube channel. And I was like, I'm just going to, I've been talking to these biochemists, like Dr. Joel Brin, specifically. And I was like, I'm just going to put this podcast out there because it's

nerdy. People, I mean, it's like 230,000 views, thousands of comments. People, Wow. You want a contract? I'll sorry. You're outside right. But what it is, yes, that's what most people know about glyc. Right. Is that it's good for sleep. It's kind of a calming neurotransmitter in the brain. So it kind of like takes you down a few notches. There's also been really cool research around its metabolic benefits, right? It can improve A1C or you know your blood. I've noticed when I wear my continuous glucose monitor, if you drink that bone broth, it pulls everything right back down really, really quickly. But the coolest part is. So there's a paper came out in 2009. And what they found was that the amount that we make, if you're over 100 pounds, isn't tied to

how much you need. Right. So it isn't considered an essential amino acid. So people are like, oh, it's not that important, but we can make it, but we just don't make that much. So Dr. Joel Bryn, so I think we're working with like an 8 to 10 gram deficiency, according to some people. Now there's a researcher. He's been researching for 50 years named Dr. Joel Brint. He just wrote this book The Glycine Miracle, and it's so good. I read it twice. He's been studying amino acids specifically like 15 years. So what he found out? And this is so interesting because, you know, inflammation is tied to almost every chronic condition today. He found out in macrophages, which is our immune cells that kind of like come in, they're like the first responders, right?

If those immune cells have enough glycine, and this is more glycine than you need to build proteins like collagen, which glycine is a very significant part of, if there's enough glycine around, they don't overreact. Like, they don't, in response to like an injury, like, you won't get that same level of inflammation. And he did this self-experimentation where, you know, he fell down and he doesn't get the, you know, he doesn't get the inflammation. He doesn't get the sunburn. And I would have said, okay, you know, those are awesome anecdotes. But on these podcasts, like, so many people experience the same thing. I don't have back pain anymore. I'm sleeping great. Like, people are going crazy. So it's that first step. It's like, it shuts off that inflammation. It's this really nerdy

thing like the glycine-gated chloride channel. It allows chloride into the cell, which keeps it really negative so that the cytokines and those kind of immune molecules that can cause damage, they're not sent out when they don't need to be. It's like if a cop showed up at a traffic stop and then just started shooting people, right? It's like that's what can happen with your immune system if you don't have what they call that hyper-polarization, that chloride going in there and keeping everything calm. So what he believes is that we're all operating on this deficiency, which is just creating this rampant inflammation. There's also another step in the inflammatory process, kind of the last one called pyroptosis, where they also discovered that glycine can prevent that kind of like cell burst that creates that, again, massive damage.

So I think the implications of this, we've always been throwing our bones in the trash, right? We started eating muscle meats primarily instead of putting the bones in the soup. And that's a relatively recent change. but he thinks that that inflammation. And the bones were a good source of glycine. They are. And guess Koreans love bones. They,

and their skin are so beautiful. That's really crazy. I am taking a peptide for skin. Yeah. And in it, the main ingredient is glycine. And I didn't know that. And I swear to God,

since I've been taking that peptide, my sleep has been better. And I never correlate it to what you're saying. Well, you mentioned even sunburns, too. And this is going to sound crazy. But like, I haven't had like a real sunburn. in a while. And as you were saying that, I'm like, I wonder if that's a correlation of

of that. See, and that's what people are saying in the comments, too, we're like, because I haven't had sunburns in a very long time, but I do a lot of things, right? Like, I don't need C2S. A lot of people attributed to that, but a lot of people are saying the same thing. Like, they think the glycine, if you do like a carnivore diet, and then you add a lot of glycine, if you're eating a lot of animal products with the glycine that for them. Is three grams, the right amount? Or? He says eight grams. Holy, wow. Yeah. So that can look like, and that's a thing, he has his own kind of supplement thing. You can take glycine powder like two to three servings of bone broth a day. Like you could do that

gelatin also a great if you want to make kids glycine like rich gelatin gummies you can do like a little honey or like some fruit powder and some gelatin and like you know make them a little more you can do that for yourself. So gelatin also like ox tail the more collagenous cuts like slow cooking you know regularly just having those more grass fed pasture raised meats. He originally got into it because researchers found that methionine and muscle meats when you you restrict it? Have you heard about this? So researchers know at least in animal models, if you cut down the amount of methionine from muscle meats that animals eat, they live 30 to 40 percent longer. But that's hard to do, right? Because it's also a good source of protein. And they

also sometimes their growth is restricted. So what Dr. Britton did is came in and said, okay, well, what if we add the glycine in? And then he did, he found that that extended the life, 10 to 20 percent. And I don't know if you've heard about the research around Glynac. Have you heard this too? So this is another like glycine kind of like tangent. I'm just trying to keep up with all the big words you're saying. I'm so sorry. That's what I mean. Like it is so nerdy.

No, but I think so weird. The audience are like it. I want to, yeah, we keep going. And here's the takeaway though. The takeaway is just like we eat the whole animal, right?

You make sure that you're not just eating muscle meats. And if you bring bone breath, collagen, all that stuff back into your diet, like it doesn't need to be nerdy. Like we just need to be eating, considering that differently. Why?

So again, so again, I started taking it for recovery and sleep. Why does it help you sleep better? Did they... This was early. They found that it... Like, they did a lot of research in schizophrenia.

But essentially, it's kind of like a calming neurotransmitter. So again, the same kind of properties it has for the immune system where it calms and keeps it quiet. Same thing for your brain. It kind of just takes it down. It's just a calming neurotransmitter. And can you take it every day? And it drops your body temperature. Yes.

You can take it. Because for some reason I thought I was like, I was doing it like every other day at night. And you can't. I mean, yeah. For me, I like to just kind. If I'm not eating it, then maybe. Maybe I will supplement. But usually I try to always get everything from food form.

But Glynec, too, it's glycine plus nacetyl cysteine. They've done some recent trials with that supplementation. And they've reversed. It was kind of like groundbreaking, like almost all of the hallmarks of aging. Where do you get the mix of that? You can get it. It's like it's a different kind of supplement. It's just Glynak.

It's just glinac. There are two amino acids. So glycine and an acetyl cysteine. If you've ever taken an acetyl cysteine, it's like for mucous buildup or, you know. NAC. Yeah. I take that pretty much daily. But, yeah, a lot of people do.

And it's, I think more people are deficient in glycine than cysteine, because it's an easier amino acid to get. But yeah, I think for some people, if you're deficient in both, then it could be also an awesome option. So, but if you're somebody who suffers from consistent chronic inflammation, glycine could be a really good tool to use. And I can't give medical advice, obviously, but I think, wow, like if we could just eat something that could keep our immune system calmer.

And that's the thing that he calls it like the trigger lock. It's not like it's going to shut. off inflammation that you need, right? When there's an infection. Like, you're still going to have that healthy inflammatory response, which is why I think makes so unique. You can take things that dampen the inflammation, but then they dampen like all of the different types of the inflammatory response. So, no, I think it's, I'm so excited about the implications because I just, everybody suffers from inflammation. If you wanted to get Glynec, NAC, yeah, and Glycine together, is there a certain blend that you like from some brand? You know, Glycine and Glynec, both

contain glinaq contains glycine. So yeah, you can get pretty much anything. I've tried and I don't often take it because I have a lot of glycine on a regular basis, but I have tried the pure encapsulations, which I mean, I slept like a baby. What's the foods that you mentioned ox tail? Bone broth. Bone breath is, you know, because it's, the glycine is in the bones and in collagen. So it's like 30% of the amino acids in bone and collagen. And so that's why if people aren't eating that, then they're missing out on this kind of, you know, potentially huge benefit. So gelatin, collagen, bone broth, those are the main, the good main sources. You can find it in plants. You know, soy will have it, but plants contain far smaller amounts, you know, certain seeds,

pumpkin seeds, but ox tail, you know, these kind of like tougher cuts with more collagen. I would say to get it, I would do gelatin if you want to stick to food. I would do bone broth regularly as regularly as possible. If you want to supplement with collagen, that's great. And then do like slow cooking regularly. Just like get it in a crock pot, get those tougher cuts. It's actually very budget friendly anyway. Eat them regularly and see what happens. Oh my goodness. That's a great tip. I have my essential amino acids every day. They're the ones with like nine essential amino acids. Are they in there already? Here's that's the funny. It's not considered essential. It's not considered an essential amino acid. It's considered a conditionally essential amino acids because your body can

make it. Got it. But the amount that we make, you know, for proper college and turnover, it's not adequate. They're saying, like, we need like 12 grams a day for like proper collagen turnover. Imagine all that turnover that happens when you're breaking your body down and building it back up and if you want beautiful skin. And yeah, so you're probably not meeting it. You're definitely not meeting it with essential amino acids because glycine isn't essential. There's so much to do. I know. I mean, but if you just eat the, the whole animal and kind of eat, you know, embrace the more traditional methods, I think, I think you're good. What are you seeing with GLP1s and your business?

I mean, I haven't really seen much for us. I think people, just the protein conversation in general has really helped our business, but I haven't seen a lot as it ties to GLP one. I thought you were going to say maybe the protein sales won up because people are so into protein. Well, here's the thing. They definitely are. And our sales are good, but there's so many. Have you noticed how there's so many different people doing the protein, putting the protein in

everything. So I think we're holding steady and we're definitely growing. But I think also the offerings are just growing too. It's just like everything. Protein is in everything, right? Highly processed products. And so, but yeah, I think that people who are very mindful of quality and, you know, definitely are coming our direction. What are the red flags in a protein powder, things to avoid? And you're like, pull out my scroll. Yeah. So first of all, protein powder is notorious for heavy metals. I don't know if you guys have seen this, but oh my gosh. I know a buddy of mine's going to listen to this and we were talking and he was like, he buys like the big GNC tubs and I was like, no, no, no.

Yeah, you can't do it. Check it out. Yeah, Consumer Labs does a lot of that testing. Check it out. And check it out. And specifically on the chocolate for some reason, those seem to be worse. And actually the plant-based protein powders seem to be worse and have more heavy metals, which, so heavy metals.

We want to be very, very mindful of that. And also, like, what is up with all the additives? It was like all the gut, I mean, like, protein powder, most protein powders already give you like gut rot, gut ache. But if you're having, you know, obviously the artificial sweeteners and all of that, I just sucralose and those are just not something that I really like. And the quality, you almost never, it's very rare to see like a healthy animal protein powder. You know that 100% grass fed and grass finish is becoming more popular, but that is also a deal breaker.

I mean, you're just, again, we are what we eat. We are what those animals ate. And so I definitely don't want to concentrate that down. and also be mindful of the processing. Like we use water and the protein, right, it's agglomeration rather than like spray drying or, you know, using solvents and acids, you know, to take like, if you're going to take like a hide or a hoof down into a powder, which is what most collagen powders come from, rather than like a bone in water.

You got to be very mindful of the way that it's processed to. And pesticides. I mentioned this last time, but like pesticides, we test for like 60 different pesticides in our powder. But yeah, it's really overwhelming, isn't it? And it's sad that it has to be this overwhelming. But you just find people who care and paying attention. And Consumer Labs does all of this testing. You see so many people doing this kind of testing, right?

It's hard to find a brand that you really, that has a lot of integrity behind what they're doing. It's sad as it is. And listen, there's a lot of great brands out there. So I don't want to paint a picture. Like there's a lot of people doing it right. But I like finding people like yourself where there's a person. because as an operator

I know you and the reputation you want to have and so like you're not going to put things out that are they're saying like you know

Paul Saladino is a friend on the show and like I know he's like like it ties back to somebody it always worries me a little bit where I'm like

there's no mission or a person and I'm like well how do I know then what the company is because there's no face right and so I think when it comes

to things like this where in the especially in the supplement industry you can kind of get anything made and done these days Like you want to make sure that there's efficacy and that there's quality behind it.

It's so true. And a lot of these supplements and protein matters that are made by marketers, you know, unfortunately. So I totally agree. You just have to find people you trust and that are willing to show you their testing. You have a well-rounded diet, but are there certain, we talked about glycine. Are there certain things you're reaching for that you're supplementing for that you know you're just not getting in the average American diet consistently?

You know what? It's funny. I don't really supplement. Like if you look at our product line, it's like all whole foods because I'm a true blue believer in like I don't think you can recreate a food, the complexity of that matrix in a supplement. So what I do instead is I start with fermented foods almost every day because I think that's like one of the most powerful things that you can do. There's also really cool research around that where did you hear about the Sondonberg study where they gave them either fiber or fermented foods? And the researchers actually thought, okay, the people eating the fiber are going to have better outcomes in terms of microbial diversity in inflation. But they actually found fermented foods, like blew them away.

Like what? Kim Chi, sourcrow. So what I do every day. I have sourcrowded from the farmer's market that you haven't dipped in to. You got to dip into that sauerkraut. Those fermented foods, even yogurt. I mean, yogurt, kaffir, you can go skir if you're like, have like a local dairy operation. It's even been shown to like social anxiety and college students.

There's something about those fermented foods. So I eat fermented foods every day. I do the organ meats, you know, and I just, I'm. build my diet around high-quality animal products and fruits and vegetables. And then when I go the doctor and I find out I'm deficient in something, I'll really try and craft my diet around how I get that in. And you know, I will. It's not like I never take supplements. I would if I were deficient. I just try to avoid them because I just don't think you can recreate it that easily. What are the 10 most nutrient-dense foods on the planet? That's what we were talking about

with Dr. Tai Beale's research when he looked at all of the nutrients that most people are deficient in in a middle and low-income countries. And the surprising finding for most people is like there was one plant food in there. Now, we were looking at like vitamin A, calcium, vitamin B-12 and folate and specific set of nutrients. But their organ meats, their heart, their liver, their kidney, way at the top. Like, liver is way at the top. And if you look at the chart, grains, you couldn't even eat enough grains to get the nutrients that you could from like this amount of liver. It was crazy.

Eat a little bite. Eat a little bite. Beef, eggs, goat. dark leafy greens. Sardines, wild fish, of course. You make fun of me for eating sardines. I don't make, I have sardines other day. Oh. Antichovies, yeah. Antoies. You've heard about that sardine diet where people just eat sardines. Have you heard about that? No. Oh my gosh. People are doing just a sardine like sardine fast. And I think what's cool about it. That breath isn't going to be great. We got to do other things than sardines. That's a lot.

I haven't done it. I haven't done it. Yeah, but there's like a lot of really high quality sardine companies that are coming out now that do like nice sardines. Like for a while If you come to me and tell me that you're going to eat only sardines That is divorce with a capital D It kind of comes in that tan tin package Michael I'm the one that bought that Those are French sardines or maybe Italian

And do not even get Don't approve of our sardine spot But yeah there's like some good start But back in the when we were kids Like the sardines were a little dicey Yeah Oh yeah I'm not there yet

My husband needs him daily But if you think about like an anti-inflammatory combo is like that will have glycine in it like fish skin sardines yay omega-3s yay so many people are deficient and I mean there's something to it that's a good one are noticing I think if you eat blueberries and sardines weekly you're going to be in a good place I agree I think the more omega-3s you can get if you can get wild fish like sardines and anchovies like you're set so yeah it's high quality animal products it's organ meats it's fish okay and it's like dark leafy greens what fish because you know they say that's fish sardines salmon mackerel herring

You know what? I found, and this might sound weird, there's like little cans of herring with just like pepper. And it's good. It's really good. We got invited to Flamingo Estate, which is gorgeous. It's so pretty. And Martha Stewart was hosting the event and she started the event out. What a name drop, Lauren. It's a name drop. It's like, it's very relevant to what I'm going to say. Martha Stewart started her event out just so everyone knows with mackerel. Yeah. And at first you're like, huh? mackerel, but it was so good. I'm telling you.

Martha's mackerel. I love it. No, I eat macro regularly. I'm telling you. It's like one of these forgotten foods that is like such a gold mind of omega-3 fatty acids and mineralists. No, yeah.

Mackerel and hearing. Martha's mackerel. She should start a brand. Five simple ways to get 100 grams of protein a day. Let's do it. Okay. Okay. So this I like to do the 30-30-30-30 rule.

Okay. And then 10. So you just, you know, three eggs in the morning, turkey sausage, right? Every meal has 30 grams of protein. You just build it, you know, four to six ounces. And then you just snack, 10 grams of protein, right? Hold on.

Have two meat sticks. Three eggs in the morning. Yeah. Turkey sausage for lunch. Yeah. No, turkey sausage, because three eggs is going to have about 20 grams protein. Okay. So you're going to need to add a little extra.

You're going to have a little bacon. Maybe a little turkey sausage. Oh, wait the side of the turkey sauce. And then why? And then maybe for lunch we'll have like five or six ounces of steak. Okay. Oh, we love a good steak. And then maybe a salad.

And then for dinner, we have maybe, you know, five to six ounces of salmon. What if I do a, sometimes I'm just not hungry at night. I do your protein. Well, yeah, that's my second. So I like, this is a whole food version, but my protein powder is, that's 30 grams of protein right there. Okay. So that's what I do because like you, I'm assuming, I have a hard time eating that much meat, even though I'm such a huge proponent of it. Yeah. So what I do is I start my morning with the bone broth. This is the first thing I eat. Actually, it's very good for the gut anyway. and then I just do it in a nightcap like you do with your glycine before bed.

That is also a source of glycine before bed. And so that's 30 grams of protein and then it's much easier. And the other thing I always like to do is eat your protein first. That way you're just not filling up on anything else. It's a lot easier to get that when you do that. That's what I never understood in the restaurants is they serve this bread first. Not Martha. Well, that's because they want to eat more.

Martha served mackerel. Yeah, but the bread fills you up and then it makes you not want to eat the stuff that's good. I always think like it should be in reverse. I would agree. if they were looking out for your health, you know. Yeah. I think, yeah, but yeah. I find myself as I get older,

not doing any of that kind of stuff anymore. I always just like wait till the bread. You even notice that? I just go to the, I wait till I get to the protein, and then I reverse go back into the bread if I want it, but I try to do the thing first. You should just try to eat your liver once a week

and you'll be in a much better space. Because I noticed, I didn't even want to eat the nice food. Will you try liver since she says, I will try and I've eaten and I've had it. I just am not like chomping it down left and right like you. Okay. But again, I think what's, What's interesting is, it's been interesting for me to watch her get introduced to animal meats and proteins in these things because I think like this is, again, if you grew up in like a gym culture, these are things you just kind of have to. We were doing it probably for the wrong reasons because we were trying to like build muscle gains. But then as now the world is adopting more of these things, I've realized like, oh, it's probably just been a good diet to live by in general all these years. Like every morning I have three.

or four eggs. And then I go into some kind of protein in the middle of the day with maybe a little bit of lettuce. And then at night, it's primarily a steak or a fish or, like, that's my whole life. That's perfect. And I don't think building muscle is a bad goal. I think it's one of the best things you can actually do to, like, live a healthy life. But yeah, I agree. I build my meals around. And I was someone who really avoided protein as a youngster. And I think I suffered. Yeah, emotionally, mostly. But next time you're here, I have to get you Moose Farm's Carnitas kit. Oh. It's so good. I get it at the farmer's market. We have it twice a week.

What is it? So it's at Barton Creek Farmers Market on Saturdays. It's called Moose Farms. And we get the carnitas kit. It's carnitas meat, a little bit, tiny little tortilla and some green salsa. And we eat this twice a week. They also make an elk pizole that you can like, like the other day we came back. We're traveling all week. Then you get home and it's late at night. And it's just this, it's a pizole and you just like it's a bunch of elk meat and garbanzo and bunch of it's really good. It would be approved by you. Incredible. I have to tell you, you guys, I think you should all try the chocolate bone broth protein. That's what I would start with if you've not tried the brand. I love to froth it up. That's my tip of the tip.

And I like to do it with raw milk or water, like I said. And then I'm a huge fan of your meat sticks. I just had two before I went on the podcast. I like the venison ones. And you gave them a code. Yes. Okay. We can do paleo valley.com slash skinny or you can use code skinny at checkout for 20% off your first purchase. That's so nice. You're also offering the audience 20% off for life. I will be using that. And an extra $15 off your first purchase at Wild Pastures. Yeah. Wild Pastures.com slash skinny and tell us just a little bit about both the brands so they have context. What are your favorite go-toes right now with your brand? Oh my gosh. The bone broth is my favorite. Chocolate. Okay. Caramel. Here's a little fun tip. Oh, I haven't tried that. You've got to. If you take a scoop of the chocolate and then put a

little of caramel. It's like a caramel mocha. So you put that in your milk or you put that in your coffee. It's actually delicious. And again, no sugar. Our superfood bars are another one of my favorites, right? No sugar also has that collagen and the glycine in there. And our meat sticks, I mean, the summer sausage meat sticks are just, they're just amazing. They're the meat sticks that like don't hurt your gut. They're just, like I said, tender. And so Paley Valley is just that company that I had IBS for 10 years. No doctor knew how to treat. I was a total mess, you know, mental health issues. And then when my husband was like, let's figure this out because we're going to get married and we deserve better for you and food changed my life. So all of the things that I've used,

the Oregon meats were a second product. I mean, it's been on the market for like 12 years because I realized those nutrients were something that my body desperately needed. So that's all of the superfood bars, the bone broth, the meat sticks. You know, we have so many cool products coming out too. Fish row. All of these like whole food. Yeah, fish row is amazing. But so many other fun ones. And then while pastures, was when our son was born, we realized, you know, the state of agriculture in America today that we're losing top soil. It's being depleted. Some people, nobody knows how long it will be before we run out, but some people say like 60 years until maybe our children can't even grow their own food. And so we became really passionate about how do we support the type of agriculture

that rebuilds the soil. We knew so many farmers and ranchers because A, we're from Montana, and B, we had all these meat sticks. So they wanted to do regenerative agriculture, but they didn't know how to find the market. So we're like, let's, we'll find the market for you. And so it's only American raised, regeneratively raised meats. Can you send me some of your meats? I would love to. Please. You are going to, our summer sauce, like our breakfast sausage is to die for in our steaks. All you have to do is put a little onion powder, garlic powder, some paprika. It's, they're incredible. Is there any organs? Yes, we have a primal blend now. Like you were talking about. I'll check it out. Check it out. Okay. Yeah, I would love to send you some stuff.

And we're going to do a giveaway of all my favorites that I've told you I love and maybe some of your favorites. All you guys have to do is follow at Paleo Valley on Instagram and then tell us your favorite part of this episode on my latest post at Lauren Bostic. And everyone can go to paleoValley.com slash skinny and wildpastors.com slash skinny to get the discount.