The Bossticks - The Real Reason People Don't Eat Well & What You Need To Know To Fix It - Ft. Elizabeth Stein Of Purely Elizabeth

Episode Date: September 20, 2024

#754: Join us as we sit down with Elizabeth Stein, the Founder of Purely Elizabeth, a better for you granola made with real ingredients. As a certified holistic nutritionist, Elizabeth tells her story on how she came up with the idea of healthier granola, from crafting the perfect granola in her kitchen to launching nationally in Whole Foods. In this episode, Elizabeth discusses disrupting the CPG industry, pivoting a side hustle to establishing a business, morning routines, & her current fave Purely Elizabeth recipes! To connect with Elizabeth Stein click HERE To connect with Lauryn Bosstick click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE To Watch the Show click HERE For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM To Call the Him & Her Hotline call: 1-833-SKINNYS (754-6697) This episode is brought to you by The Skinny Confidential Head to the HIM & HER Show ShopMy page HERE to find all of Michael and Lauryn's favorite products mentioned on their latest episodes. Visit purelyelizabeth.com and use code SKINNY for 20% off sitewide. 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.

When you're starting, you have to be super involved. You have to be in every single aspect of the business to understand. understand it. But I think that there comes a time where, you know, you need to let your team run with it. And you still need to be super involved because it is your baby. There's no way you're ever not going to be. But I think really being able to find amazing people who can lead. And so I would say I've had an amazing team from the beginning, but we were lean for so many years that probably, you know, if I had a bigger team earlier on, could have, everyone could have taken a breath. I feel like when I'm addressing you, I want to call you purely Elizabeth

instead of just Elizabeth. I'm sure everyone says that term. Fair enough. Yeah, some people just call me purely. What is going on with the granola on the market right now? It is so like just not it. Your granola is like just really different vibes. Thank you. It's like I looked at like something. like a Nature's Valley, Schmaters Valley, the other day on the plane. And I'm like, what is in this? I used to think that was healthy when I was little. Yeah. Times have changed for sure. Times have changed. I think we've really tried to do something different and like change what granola is. Thank God. Let's go back to why you decided to disrupt the wellness space. What was your epiphany with why you decided to move in? So I can say that I have.

had this big epiphany and wrote a business plan and launched the company. Really, it was that I had gone to nutrition school back in 2007 at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. And in that program, learned about all of these unknown superfood ingredients like GSEEDs and coconut oil. And while I was working with clients, you know, when it came time to recommend products to buy, nothing was healthy. And somewhere in my head I thought, God, there needs to be a better option that has better for you ingredients, culinary taste. But ultimately it was like in the back of my mind and not something that I thought I would launch with. I went to a local triathlon to promote my nutrition practice and tried to get clients. And the night before the race, on a whim, I made a batch of blueberry muffins that contained all of these better for you ingredients.

and more people cared about these muffins than they did my nutrition practice. So that became the aha moment, pivoted on the spot and told people that when they signed up for my nutrition practice newsletter, I would let them know when the products would be available. Do you still make these muffins? I do. Unfortunately, do not. I just got intrigued by the muffins. Okay, keep going. So I left that race and thought, like, God, I had known nothing about starting a CPG brand.

I'm going to put this on the back burner. And for several months, I did put it on the back burner. And then I decided, you know what? I'm going to make this a side hustle and we'll see what happens. And so I went back the following year. This is now 2008. And a couple months before the race that I had done, I enrolled again to have a booth there and thought this will just be my side hustle.

And I bring three muffin mixes and a pancake mix to sell. And I end up selling out at the race and then getting contacted a couple days later. from Daily Candy, which at the time was like the equivalent of going TikTok viral. And they featured us in their newsletter blast and had $10,000 of orders in three hours. And that was how the business began. Well, I love stories like this because one of the things that we were talking before we started the episodes. Like you've been doing this for 15 years. And it sounds like it's something that if you were to go back 15 years, you may have not thought you were going to be doing.

Right. Absolutely. You kind of just fell into it. And I like one of the themes of. this show for the longest time is, you know, this started as a side hustle. Just this small show started a side hustle that's now built a lot of stuff. But I like this because it's a story of, I don't want to say anyone, but basically almost anyone with an idea and some tenacity and some drive and some brains can go and kind of change the whole destiny of their lives. And I'd like for you

to go back maybe to the early days when you were thinking about this as a side hustle because I think so many people get scared to kind of take the leap and do the thing. Maybe if you could just like think back to what that looked like for you originally. Yeah, I think you make such a great point. And I think it's such a great example of anybody can do this. I think looking back, I was doing this nutrition program. And in that nutrition program, it really gave me the foundation for, I think, two things. One was living life with intention and really wanting to choose what my destiny was. Like I wasn't just living in the motions. And in my nine to five job, which I was unhappy. at. I really wanted to take control and do something that I was excited about. And at the same time, I was also starting to do marathons and triathlons. And I was someone, I was always athletic, but like, I hit in the woods during lacrosse practice because I didn't like to run. And my boyfriend at the time convinced me that I could do a marathon and triathlons because so much of it was mental. And so

I was pushing myself out of my comfort zone, feeling the fear and doing it anyway and doing these races. And that was starting to prove to myself of like being able to do hard things that this idea of starting a business all of a sudden became not as difficult because I was starting to prove, you know, when you get out of your comfort zone that you can do it. I talk to a lot of people who want to start a business and they don't even know how to go about it. And they're confused about the manufacturing side and like how to get the product. And what I kind of tell everyone and I would love to know your opinion is you figure it out. You just, if you really want it bad enough, you figure it out. How did you figure it out? You're a hundred percent right. It is all

about just figuring it out, having that growth mindset. I knew nothing. Like I didn't know what a distributor was. I didn't know what, uh, I didn't even know how to scale a recipe. I mean, looking back after that daily candy thing happened, we were literally feeling. We were literally orders in red solo cups, putting in like a teaspoon of flour at a time because we didn't know how to scale up a recipe. And so it was all about figuring out and going like step by step to, you know, talk to people in the industry. I mean, in particular in CPG, everyone is so nice and really willing to share that information. So I met Justin from Justin's nut butter and other entrepreneurs in the space who, you know, little by little, I gathered information. And even, you know,

looking back 15 years ago, you couldn't find a lot of this information on the internet didn't even exist. So even finding like a manufacturer was hard to do. But it was just sort of chipping away at what were the questions that I had and making that list of like very simple, small steps to make it not feel so daunting. What were the first things you did? And I think sometimes also people get hung up like, I don't have any money. And I think that I understand like there's money at some points you might need a little bit of money. But in the early days, when you were resource strapped, what were some of the initial things you did that you could do?

I think early on, you know, I didn't even have a commercial kitchen. So I was really making it at my mom's house. Wild. The reason I asked this is because I think so many people rest on like, I don't have money. And then that's like the reason they don't do something. That makes sense? Yeah, for sure.

And so I used credit cards at the beginning. You know, it was how do we scale this in a very, small way that can be manageable. And so whatever that looks like for your particular business, for me, it was we were actually selling online at the beginning. And it wasn't as though I stocked all of this inventory and therefore had to get money in order to do that. It was like little by little what was manageable to get started. What are the things that stand out along your 15 years? Meaning, like, was there someone who posted in the beginning? Was there a spike in sales? What are the little moments that stand out that have made up the big 15 years? I mean, certainly the daily

candy thing certainly put us on the map right away. And then from there, little by little, we started to get into a couple of local stores in New York and Philadelphia, and then into a couple of Whole Food stores in the Mid-Atlantic region, which is where I was making the product at the time living in New York and having a commercial kitchen in Philadelphia. After about a year and a half, we'd done into three Whole Foods regions. And at that time, they worked very regionally, where it's much different today. You mostly just get in nationally. But one day, I got an email from Whole Foods that said, we are plusing you out nationally

into every one of our stores because we're losing, essentially we're losing sales by not having you in every region. And that was truly the life-turning moment of the business. And I remember being on the subway getting this email and reading it and just starting like hysterically crying, knowing that this was totally about to change the business and that it was just a huge milestone. So that always is one that is truly memorable. From a business perspective, and I think about this a lot, when you get that email and you're a small business, as exciting as it is, it's also daunting because you have to put a bunch of of money up front. How did you manage to figure that out? You know, I think this was still, so this is 2013, and it was still like pretty early on in our infancy. I mean, we were probably

only doing like three or four million dollars in sales. And so it was still sort of like inch by inch, I was still figuring out. I mean, I would say at that time, I still didn't know what I was doing by any means. And so I didn't even know what that meant, to be honest, of, okay, here's what it was going to look like to have to support getting into Whole Foods. And here's how much it would cost. And so it was just little by little again that we started to move in the motions and being able to support it. So I didn't end up raising money probably until about two years after that. So really was bootstrapping at that point in time. What are some mistakes you see early CPG founders making now that you've had all of this experience and you've had all this success?

I definitely think of one, and I did it myself for sure, is just launching with so many products. You know, that's one of my biggest mistakes. And all the time I said to myself, God, if we only were like in one category or if we only had so few products, it would be so much easier. But I see people all the time after just a couple of years being in business launching several skews and getting into different categories. And it's like, we're still just mastering the granola. today. And that takes time. It took 15 years. Yeah. No, I think it's like, and one thing that I've observed investing in some of these companies is sometimes if you take capital from a group that's maybe not as aligned with you as a founder and sales start to slow, they push you to do things like that

to increase the revenue. And it can kind of get away from to your point, like maybe the mastery of the single category or product. So I get, I get, I get, why people do it, but I think you have to be, to your point, really careful getting too far over your skis. I mean, it's like, at the core of what we do, it's like, it's the same kind of format and podcasts and show for eight years running, and then you kind of see what may be stems on that, but it's like the same thing trying to perfect the main thing over and over. Does that make sense? Yeah, 100%. And I think sometimes it can end up being that, you know, sometimes you need to pivot. Like, I started with muffins and then ended up pivoting to granola.

So had I stuck with muffins, I wouldn't probably be in business today. So I think sometimes it's trusting your gut of like what is that next thing that you're interested in? Is that really the thing or is it what you currently have today? How does one go from not doing what, knowing what they're doing to pitching investors? What does that look like? You said it, it was two years after you guys launched in Whole Foods. What's the, what's the behind the scenes of that? Oh my God. Yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot. And I think at the time, I actually was so fortunate because we weren't, well, while we needed money, we weren't looking for money. And so that's always one of the best tips

that everyone says is like, you don't want to be pitching people when you need money and certainly meeting people. And so at the time, I was very fortunate in that I had met our investors casually out to dinner, having sake bombs and sushi. Best way. Best way. You know, didn't think anything of it, just saw that they were other industry people and ended up really meeting them in an informal way and starting to have a business relationship with them. And so when it came time that we were seeking money, we already had had our first date, so to speak. And as I think a lot of people would say, you know, it's like dating. And so you want to make sure that you're spending time with these people who are investing in your business and making sure that you're aligned with them, right?

I have a funny story. A friend of mine runs a fund, but he does it out of Vegas of all places. And he says all the people that come there to invest in the fund, he takes him out in Vegas. And he's like, after that, he's like, okay, now we really know each other. He's like, now we can see. It's a great tip. He gets to know them. Really? That's amazing. I love that. People are like, you're doing this in these settings where it's like in these stuffy offices and in these like really formal places. And he's like, you don't really get to really see the true person. He's like, I. He's like, I don't really get to really see the true person. He's like, I'm like, I see the true person and decide, like, are they coming in or not? That's amazing. It's pretty funny. Yeah, I love that. So you met them over Sockybombs, and then the second meeting, you already felt like you guys had the first date. Exactly.

And then after that, you know, so many parts of this business, I feel like have been so meant to be being in the right place at the right time and really knowing what to do with it. And so it felt like this was one of those moments. And it ended up that we pitched, that I pitched them. and the rest was sort of history in that deal. How do you know once you get the money from the investors, how to put it into the business in a strategic way? Like, how did you know what to do? You know, I think it was at the time we saw where the areas of growth were that we needed.

And they were both helpful from their end and certainly me being the day to day knowing where we needed to push. And so it was both a combination of, hey, we need to be pushing into more retailers and getting awareness out for the product, but also having a balance of it. Because if I think back to that time, we weren't in stores nationally other than Whole Foods. And so you don't want to be spending money either from a marketing perspective when you don't have that national distribution. As a founder, as someone who started the business and probably had their hands in multiple areas of the business, if not all the areas of the business, as you've grown in the business, how have you decided who to bring on what to hold on to what to let go of? Because I find that to be one of the more challenging things for as a founder and as someone who runs a business, is like figuring out what to let go of and what to keep for yourself.

It's so hard. Like so hard. I feel like it's taken me 14 years to get. Are you more of like a control person or? I find that I finally now am able to, I wouldn't say like fully let go. But while I always wanted to have like my hand and everything and I still do, it's now like we have such a team and an infrastructure in place and people who are far smarter in subjects than I am that I can feel like they know what they're doing. I'm almost sometimes being in the way, to be honest, I feel. And, you know, I'm still in all of the meetings, but really taking more of a backseat and letting them run with it, which feels really great to be in. How do you think about your time? Like what do you allocate your time on at this point in the business?

Like I said, I'm still in most of the meeting. So I'm still definitely a huge part of that. And then it's trying to take, you know, a step out and really be above the day to day. and being the bigger strategy of the business, right? It's like so much of it over the last 15 years has been heads down. How do we think about the day to day? That how do you take a step out and really think about it from a 10,000 foot view? So I do try to now not get into every meeting and have that time to think more strategically.

Also just building other parts of the brand, whether it be I've got a podcast. I'm working on a second cookbook right now. so other parts of the brand that excite me right now. Because your products are so wellness-based, do you have a big point of view on wellness? Do you have things that you do every single day that you can't live without? Absolutely.

What are those things? So I definitely non-negotiable is moving first thing in the morning. Like any kind of moving or is walking? No, I mean, I need to like, I've got certain things I need to do. So I love it. Let's get the list. Give us everything. All right.

So I get up through all my supplements. What time you're waking up? I'm waking up at like 5.30. Woo! But I'm going to bed by like 8.30, right? So I sleep is like number one importance to me. Nice. Get up.

I do like to start my day with little joy. I have two dogs, Portuguese water dogs. And so like playing with them first thing in the morning. I'm looking this up while you're talking. If you can think of what Obama's dog look like, they're black and white and kind of like a doodle vibe. but super cute. Yeah, like a doodle. Yeah, like 50 pounds each.

That's a big one. Yeah, that's the size of mine. Really? Yeah. So we have the two dogs. We have some fun in the morning. Wait, is this one, sorry, is this one shaved or do they, or does this? That one looks a little shaved.

Okay, on the back. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Mine's not. Okay, sorry. I want to get on tangent here. And then I am doing strength training, a combination of strength training and some walking. Some days I'll add in Peloton.

Like. And then what about food? Then, oh, and I'm getting up at 5.30 also because I like to have like a very slow morning. Okay. Right. So I don't feel like to be rushed. Although inevitably by like 8.50 I'm like running to my car to get to our office. So somehow I get rushed in the morning.

Don't come to my house if you don't like to be rushed in the morning. Don't step a toe in my house because I opened my eyes and he's like, hello. It's me. Yeah, but that's because she's so, I think there's a middle ground. No, there's not. Women wake up with less testosterone in the morning. This is a fact. I need to just wake up slow.

I like to be felt up before I'm fucked for the day. Give me a beat. See, everyone, every woman likes to go slow. Yeah, but it's very slow. It's a very slow pace. Well, then go find a guy to date because this is me. Honestly, sometimes I do. Yeah, so how much time do you like to take in the mornings?

I take, I take it. This is like a good three and a half hours that I have. I like a minute. Three and a half hours is good. But see, if you got up at 5.30, Lauren. I know, I'm not going to wake up at 5.30. That's really early. It sounds like that works for her prototype.

Matthew Walker talked about the show. It's totally my prototype. Yeah, it's her prototype. We can't get the day going at 12. I don't get the day going at 12. No, I know, but, you know. I get the day. I wake up at 7.

Okay. I don't really like you to talk to me until 12. I'm waiting hours. Okay, this is not an hour. If I had like an option, like kind of like an in-and-out order, like I'd click probably 11 a.m. I'd click probably 11 a.m.m.m. Well, it's really chatty.

Go ahead. Go ahead. Keep telling him how you like to take it slow in the morning. Yes. All about being slow in the morning. What are you eating? I am eating. I change it up every day.

Not like a 100% creature of habit. But right now I'm doing a overnight oat situation with protein and cottage cheese. So I take our classic cinnamon oatmeal, blend it with a little protein powder, cottage cheese. Sounds good. And then I am making, or like I've already made some sort of a fresh fruit

like compost, putting that on top and a sprinkle of our granola. So you're kind of like chefish. I'm chefing. Yeah, so it takes time in the morning. Yeah, this is, I like this. But you can make them the night before.

Right, I say overnight. I actually don't do it overnight. I just let it sit for like 30 minutes, but it would probably be better if you did it overnight. Let it sit where you let the oatmeal sit. In the fridge. In the fridge. Okay. I, your granola with Greek yogurt. Yes. And this is, I said this, I've said this on the podcast before, wild blueberries with a little bit of raw honey from the farmer's market. Yeah. Is the best protein hack and also the fiber because I feel like you have a lot of grains. Yeah. Totally. Totally. So it just makes you like gets things moving and it also fills you up. Totally. What's your favorite Greek yogurt to pair it with? I like A2. It has to be A2.

I don't have like a brand. It's just A2. What's the one with the little sheep on? Like the sheep's milk one was pretty good. Oh, yeah. You know what I'm talking about? It's like bells. Yeah, maybe like...

I also like the raw yogurt from the farmer's market too. But it's so good with your granola. Absolutely delicious. What are we... What are ingredients that you're seeing in other products that you just cannot believe they're in? Because I gave my daughter like a bite of a donut the other day and it was it was like she went crazy. And I'm assuming there was like red 40 or some shit in it. What are these ingredients that you're like can't believe they're on the shelves? I mean, the coloring is crazy. It's actually funny you say that. I was just at the airport starving in the United Lounge and they had those wasabi peas. And I was like, oh, I'll eat a wasabi pea. Like there's nothing else to eat. And then I looked up what was in wasabi peas. And it was yellow number 40 and blue number seven. And I was like, why? Why does that need to be?

It's a pea alone. It's a pea. So I think it's those unexpected ingredients, especially that it's, you're taking something so simple and adding crap to it. What about the superfoods that you guys use? What are the superfoods that are like you're at your core that you think are really incredible? I know you mentioned chia seed. Yeah.

So we use chia seeds. We use quinoa, coconut oil, coconut sugar. So to me, it's all about using the better for you fats, a better for you sweetness. and then these more like nutrient-rich seeds and grains that really add diversity into your diet. Like I like to think about my diet as how do I add the most amount of plants and seeds, like trying to get 30 in my week. So it's all about like that diversity of these ancient grains. I have a struggle every day finding different ways to incorporate things for kids. I know you have this cookie granola, which I think that, can I see that?

I don't you try that. I haven't tried that one yet. The oatmeal raisin. The cookie granola is going to be a great manipulation at my house. Totally. Because I think I can say I call it cookie. I have cookie water. Oh, what's cookie water? Cookie water is electrolyte water.

It's like a sweet electrolyte. I think it's by good on you. Candy water is Kianaminos with creatine. Watermelon water is Armora colostrum water. So I have a little manipulation. We just get them to get like the supplements that we take. Like in watermelon water or candy water But we keep no

You know artificial Oh my God Fruit juices or sodas or anything like that in the house And so it gives them the ability to drink water But maybe cleaner Wait I haven't tried this one This is the best Thank you Michael you got to try this

How do we manipulate I don't think I even have to manipulate my kids with this one I think you could just say Here's some cookie granola That is so good It tastes like a cookie So it's really a mixture of taking my favorite cookie recipe and then I married it with our original granola. Total experiment in the kitchen.

And it came out of the oven. I was like, wow, this tastes pretty good. So I think that's what's so interesting about your business. You're still doing the slight edge. You're still in the kitchen, cooking the product, marrying things that you really like. I think that makes your business really unique. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you asked earlier about the parts of the business.

I think that I enjoy. And certainly like the product development side is one of my favorites. So I definitely love to say like, what am I using in the kitchen? What ingredients are exciting me right now? And, you know, as a brand, it's interesting because there's been some times that we've shifted, like we've, to start, we're always vegan. And then I started taking collagen years ago. And we introduced collagen into our products. And as we look now, it's like, what are those things that it's always going to be about where my diet is and not necessarily like as a brand what we're doing. Let me ask you another question. And I think about this all the time when we talk to successful entrepreneurs that have been doing it for a while. What do you think some of the biggest mistakes you personally made in the beginning

or throughout the business have been? I'm thinking for the founders that are just getting started, like maybe some things that they could think to avoid. Probably the question that you asked earlier about what, you know, how involved or not involved I am. I think that's something that is a fine line right? It's like when you're starting, you have to be super involved. You have to be in every single aspect of the business to understand it. But I think that there comes a time where, you know, you need to let your team run with it and you still need to be super involved because it is your baby. There's no way you're ever not going to be. But I think really being able to find amazing people who can lead. And so I would say I've had an amazing team from the beginning, but we were lean for

so many years that probably, you know, if I had a bigger team earlier on, could have, everyone could have taken a breath. 14 years or 15 years into the business. How are you thinking about the future? I think about this a lot with my own business. Like, I like to think of where I want to be in five years of the product line or 10 or 15. Where are you now? Like, what are you looking to sell?

Are you looking to just keep creating really great products? Do you want more retailers? Like, how do you think about that? Yeah, I think, you know, from the beginning, I always envisioned that we weren't just a muffin company or a granola company like a food brand. It was really trying to create more of this wellness lifestyle platform. And I was really, honestly, taking my background as a holistic nutrition counselor where I was helping the 10 clients that I had. And all of a sudden, I was like, wait, here's a platform to be able to help so many more people on their wellness journey. And so as I think about, you know, where we're headed and going, I just want to lean into that more and think not only from a product perspective, but just how we can continue to like really support people's health.

And I think a lot of that starts with education and something that I hope we can kind of continue to be that resource. Out of all the people that you've helped with wellness and diet, what is something that just drives you nuts? Like you can't even take it that you see over and over. God, there's so many things. I think my number one thing, and I have nothing to do with this industry, but like when people don't get enough protein and they're hungry. Yes. You're hungry because you don't have enough protein. But that's like a broad one.

What's the little things? I mean, I think it's probably just like eating, like it's the education piece, I guess. Like you think that people know. And then it's super surprising when you see people eating certain things, certain packaged foods that are terrible. And you're just, like, shocked that people could be eating that. You know, I think a lot of things that are loaded with sugars, for example, that people may be buying because they've been buying whatever that product is for years. And just they're not even turning over a label to look at it and see because it's just been part of their grocery shopping forever. So I think that's a big one.

Well, there's that TikTok that goes viral now where it says like, oh, like, I forget exactly like it was. It says like, oh, I used to eat McDonald's fries when I was a kid. And it's like the fries then and it lists the ingredients. and these beef towel and all the things. And now they list the ingredients today. And it's like a completely different list of ingredients that they use in modern times. And I think a lot of the products that we grew up with have gone that way where the ingredients list keeps getting deeper and deeper and longer and longer with more and more shit.

And people just think, oh, it'll be fine. Like, I used to do that. You know, like, I look sometimes at the labels of the stuff that our kids have. And it's just, like, insane. Like, I'll, like, give them in and I'll, like, give them a bite and I'll throw the whole thing away without them looking. I know. That's what I do. I hate to say I throw food away, but it's almost like you can say it's not even food in the first place. It's just junk. It's total junk. And you're doing them a total favor. I think soda is a big one. Like I can't believe when I'm out that people still drink soda. Yeah, that's wild. I like, I do like a sip of a Diet Coke. If I'm having a burger. I was going to say, like when my dad orders a Diet Coke, I'm like, Dad, no. I used to get in fights with my dad. He would be like, the diet soda is not bad for you. And he would make these arguments about Asperatamor. How do you say aspiratine? I'm like, Dad, it's. I'm like, Dad, it's.

better to get that instead of a glass of wine. I'm like, it's better to get the glass of wine, in my opinion, than the diet goes. Well, there's this huge push on alcohol right now, which I get. Like, yeah, alcohol is maybe not so great for you. We've, the data's out on that. And we've, we've absent from alcohol a few times. We've tried it. But at the same time, like, a lot of those people that still say no alcohol, they're drinking sugars and eating the crap. I mean, you're better with a shot of tequila than with that other stuff. I couldn't agree more. I love shot of tequila. I'm not going to lie. I mean, you got to have balance, right? I'm a firm believer in balance.

If someone is struggling, they're listening to stick to their wellness and health goals, what's a tip that you would give them? I think one of the biggest struggles, probably when it comes to eating healthy, is it being like boring, right? You're wanting this thing that tastes better is more exciting. And so it's all about like really being able to get in the kitchen if you can or get someone else in the kitchen for you, your partner, whomever. and make it fun and exciting. It's like mixing flavors and textures. I'm really into different textures in your food because I think, and we actually do that really with our product is all about texture.

But, you know, if I'm making a salad, it's not just like lettuce and vegetables, but adding in sunflower seeds and hemp seeds, different components that really become satiating and exciting and like a great taste. Do you want to know what I like about your product? It's really weird. No one's ever said this to you, I bet. But. Oh.

So. I am really not into giving my kids too many smoothies because I don't think that they're using their jaw enough. Like I think you have to use your jaw, especially when you're a baby and a toddler. Like the second my kids, when they were like teeny tiny could eat food, I was like, here's real food. But what I like about your product is when they're eating it, it's like a crunch. And so it's like working out their jaw. Is that weird? No, definitely no one's ever said that to me. That's the new slogan.

That's going to be the new slogan and I love it. It's good for like, like, we evolved chewing things. Right. We need to be chewing. Just drinking smoothies and like having ice cream or like whatever they, you know, whatever they like. I think chewing especially on your granola, it's like the crunch. Do you know what I mean? Yeah.

And I don't know if you guys have seen this TikTok going around, I guess, about like chewing gum for these boy teens. What? that it's supposed to be good for their jaws. It is. So instead of the the gum for the teens, we could be promoting the granola for the teens. It's funny because it's pictured

like the caveman or like some of these like the manly man like that's like if you were going to look at a like a character of like what that would look like is they always have these big jaws. And it's like there's something to be said it's because they're using the jaw muscles and so many people are having airway

and mouth issues and jaw issues and getting these surgeries to fix it because they're not using the jaw muscles to have the proper structure. Because our diets have gone to all these soft foods. Me and Michael bought tree sap gum. So African tribes in Africa, they eat. It's mastic gum.

They eat tree sap because it, I don't know if this is the only reason, but it works out the jaw. So they're chewing. So this tree sap gum, it tastes like nothing, but I'll like chew on it. We have to put what it's called. Masticum. No, I think it's called like. Starts with the G. Garbo gum.

But anyway. No, I mean, I think that in general, just like getting kids to chew a little more. How weird is it that we have to have these conversations, but we knew. I mean, we had someone come on the podcast. It's like you need to be chewing your food. Well, and that's a big thing just in general, whether you're a kid or not. But like so much of as we eat, we're just shoving the food down our throats and really for our digestion and to be satiated. Like, we need to slowly chew our food.

What are all the products that you have in your line? So we have granola. We've got oatmeal and cups and sachets. And then we have cereal as well. And what's your favorite personally? My personal favorite is the cookie granola. That's fucking good. I like one another piece right now, but I'm not going to chew into the mic.

And we're coming out with the peanut butter one in January. And that one is like a nutter butter. And it only has six grams of sugar. She's already analyzing the whole battery. I'm already analyzing it or has a what is it handed to me for a second? It says on here. here. It has all the different like seeds, almond butter. I love how you guys put prebiotic fiber in there. I think that's so great. Maybe you could go off on while you do that. But this also has organic chia seed,

cinnamon, vanilla extract, sea salt. I mean, you really care about the ingredients. Maybe outside of flavor, how do you decide on which ingredients to use? Like, do you start with, when you're making a product, do you start with, okay, I really want to incorporate this ingredients, then build around it? Or do you go flavor first first and then incorporate? It's definitely different, like product by product. In this particular product. It really was, like, I took the recipe that I have to make a great cookie, which is almond butter, almond flour, coconut sugar, and then I married it with the granola. So in that case, it was that start with this base of deliciousness and then added in the flavors. But sometimes right now we're working on some new granulas to launch in 2026.

Like, what year are we in right now at the lunch, 2026? And that is definitely thinking about function and flavor together. And why, you have to tell us why the chickory root for fiber? For fiber. What superfoods are flying under the radar that we should know about? You know, it's funny because they're, you know, throughout this 15 year journey, there's been certainly so many things that have come and gone. And we've definitely come in, I think, oftentimes before the rest of the market.

Like we launched mushroom granola bars back in 2014 and we discontinued them because we were way ahead of, yeah, and we had butterfly pea flower and spirulina and all the things so long ago. And right now I'm sort of feeling like everything is out there. Like we've got mushrooms. We've got the adaptogens. So there's nothing that I can actually say that is like super under the radar that's exciting me at the moment. Or I guess superfoods you think people should be incorporating daily or weekly that maybe they are not incorporating enough of.

I would say I'm like personally, I feel like I'm on a kick with Ashwaganda right now. So as I am personally trying to have less stress in my life and lower my cortisol, that is one of the areas that I think we could all probably be utilizing more ashriganda and just stress lowering herbs. They call it nature Xanax. I just got some from the farmer's market. It does really work. I think that the thing for 2025, like what everyone's going to be talking about, because this year's been a lot about sleep. So much of people have talked about sleep. I think the next year it's all going to be about the nervous system.

Yeah. I think we've gone so far with the phone in our face or the video games up our asshole. I'm playing Wukong right now. It's great. That I think that people are going to be focused on getting their nervous system more about it. I take Ashwangana in my smoothie every time I make a smoothie. Oh, there you go. So you're taking Xanax in the morning?

Well, I run a little bit anxious, as you may or may not be able to tell. So, yeah. Can we do a code in the giveaway for our audience? Yes, we can. Okay. Also, if you guys are going to try a product, I've been eating the original forever, I love it. But the cookie is really good.

Yeah. It's really good. The cookie granola is like fucking amazing. So can we give away like a bunch of different products? Yeah. We can try? Of course. Okay, you guys, all you have to do is tell us your favorite takeaway of this episode

on my latest post at Lauren Bostick. And then follow at Purely Elizabeth on Instagram. We have a 20% site-wide code. That's so nice. I will be using my own code for the cookie. You can go to Purelyelizabeth.com and use code skinny. That's amazing. And you would tell them to start with the cookie granola if they had to start with one?

That's my favorite right now. Yeah. But I also am kind of intrigued by the oatmeal. You got to get both because the combo together is delicious. What is there different flavors of the oatmeal? So we have a classic cinnamon, which makes a great base. We have a banana, which seems to be everyone's favorite as well. It's banana nut.

Okay. And then a blueberry flax and a dark chocolate. So a secret good combo is the dark chocolate mixed with a banana. Also, you could probably use that for like muffins and stuff. Yes, for sure. So what can we expect to see next from you? We've got a peanut butter cookie granola coming in January. and then some fresh new oatmeal

in the middle of next year. I love, what I love about your brand and you mentioned it early on is that you're laser focused on the category that you're in. And I think that you're so right about so many entrepreneurs want to do all these different things

and it's misaligned because it feels like they're trying to do everything and not one thing really well. And if you look at the great companies that have sold, they start with one thing and they do it really well and then they expand out. Or even the great companies that haven't sold on are just great companies, right? They've just done the one thing over and over and over. Yeah. I think it's really cool what you're doing. I have been a fan forever. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Thank you so much for having me. Been such a big

fan of yours. Where can everyone find you and your podcast and everything? Purelyelisbeth.com. We're on Instagram at Purely underscore Elizabeth and then Live Purely podcast. And you have, this is cool, you have partnerships with Goop Kitchen and Alfred's, yes, who I both order from on Postmates. Well, we have a delicious yogurt parfait at Alfred. And then our Goop partnership just ended, but maybe it'll keep going, but we had an amazing banana bread on the menu there. Elizabeth, thank you for coming on the show. Thanks so much for having me.