The Dr. Josh Axe Show - Glyphosate Lawsuit, MAHA, & the New Food Pyramid | Courtney Swan

Episode Date: January 29, 2026

Why do so many people feel sicker today than their parents did, despite having more health information than ever? The answer may have less to do with aging and more to do with what’s quietly changed in our food supply. In this episode, Courtney Swan of Realfoodology joins me to break down what’s really in our food, why the U.S. plays by different rules, and how we can raise a healthier generation starting now. Watch The Dr. Josh Axe Show every Monday & Thursday on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@drjoshaxe?sub_confirmation=1  🎧 Early Access! Our podcast listeners get every episode early, and you can tune in and be a part of our exclusive listeners below →  Spotify Apple Podcast Order my NEW BOOK, The Biblio Diet → https://bit.ly/4oPEP3t Watch my free training on how to naturally balance your blood sugar and reverse your symptoms → DrAxeDiabetesClass.com  Discover practical steps you can take today to start healing your thyroid naturally → DrAxeThyroidClass.com  If you’re ready to start feeling like yourself again and balance your hormones, take my free class → DrAxeHormoneClass.com  Uncover what’s really going on in your body with advanced biomarker testing for hormones, thyroid, and metabolism— plus a 1-hour consultation with a Senior Health Advisor! → MyBloodWork.com  CONNECT WITH DR. JOSH AXE Instagram Facebook TikTok X LinkedIn Website Sign up for my newsletter Ask me a question CONNECT WITH COURTNEY SWAN Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realfoodology/?hl=en Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@realfoodology?lang=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Realfoodology/ X: https://x.com/realfoodology?lang=en Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@Realfoodology DISCLAIMER This content is strictly the opinion of Dr. Josh Axe and is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice or to take the place of medical advice or treatment from a personal physician. All viewers of this content are advised to consult their doctors or qualified health professionals regarding specific health questions. Neither Dr. Axe nor the publisher of this content takes responsibility for possible health consequences of any person or persons reading or following the information in this educational content. All viewers of this content, especially those taking prescription or over-the-counter medications, should consult their physicians before beginning any nutrition, supplement or lifestyle program. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What are some of your rules in teaching people how to read food labels? Whenever you're trying to decide if you're going to put something in your cart, just simply ask yourself if my great-grandmother was to time travel and join me in the grocery store right now, would she even know what this is? What are your thoughts on the new food pyramid? My first initial thought was I cannot believe that our government just said eat more real food. People are taking that and saying, okay, now the dietary guidelines are saying, just have a total free-for-all.

Just eat all the red meat and eat all the butter and eat all the eggs that you want. And that's actually not what the dietary guidelines are saying. We never heard Obama say it. Trump never said it his first four years. Biden never said a word. And I just kept sitting here going, Americans are really sick.

And this is a big deal. We're talking 74% of our youth, 18 to 24, are ineligible for military service. Like, we're starting to talk about national security threat. And everyone ignored it until finally Trump and Bobby Kennedy gone on a political stage and they said, Americans are sick and we're going to fix it. And I mean, just that alone to me.

What do they say in the step program? The first step is admitting we have a problem. On today's episode, I've brought in an expert nutrition. She's a master as in nutrition, Courtney Swan. And we're going to be talking about how to heal your hormones, how to get pregnant if you're so-called geriatric, which is 35 and older. She's 41 and pregnant, which is so amazing. Some of the things she's done in the wisdom she's bringing there. how to balance women's hormones. We'll get in that today. We're going to talk about the most

dangerous chemical in our food supply and what you need to know about it. We'll talk about reading food labels. This is really important. They're sneaking some things in, even in health food stores you need to be aware of and so much more. Welcome to the Dr. Josh Yack's show. And Courtney, welcome the show. Thank you so much for having me. Well, it's so fun. You know, we're on a text thread together with, you know, Callie Means and Vonie Hari and just a number of other, you know, health influencers, Alex Clark, where we're constantly, it's probably the text that I'm on the most that's kind of like beeping on my phone. But there are so many changes constantly happening in health care today. You know, we've talked about everything from, I want to talk about glyphosate today.

Yeah. I want to talk about a lot of the changes that have happened and what the Maha movement has done so far. This year, what the up-and-coming changes are going to be. Some of the things we think RFK Jr. is going to be working on changing here. And just also, you know, some of the health miss. I also want to talk about women's hormones. I know you're pregnant. Congratulations.

Thank you. So excited for you there as well today too. So there's a lot to discuss, though. But I want to start off with glyphosate because this is a chemical that is really harmful to everybody. Yeah, it's still something that's rampant in being used everywhere. And I know right now that a lot of these companies, most people don't realize this, that there is a push right now. for glyphosate to be protected, these companies to be protected against the side effects of glyphosate.

Tell us more about that. Yeah, so I keep saying that we're in the fight of our lifetime with this right now. And this has been an ongoing fight for a long time, just to be clear, just to dispel some myths, I'm seeing some stuff online from people saying, oh, of course the administration would let this through. Unfortunately, we've been fighting this for a long time. So I started Real Foodology 14 years ago,

and one of the main reasons that I started, My platform that I started on were two things. One, we need to be eating real food, more real food. And the second one was my concern about glyphosate. So this has been a fight that we've been fighting for a long time. There's a company called Monsanto, and they were bought by Bayer back in 2018. And they create their hero product, which a lot of people know is Roundup, but Roundup is essentially glyphosate.

And in 2015, the World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer, actually sounded the alarm on glyphosate and said that it's a probable human carcine. Now, just to be clear with that probable thing there, when they put that on there, they're not definitively 100% saying that it causes cancer, but what they are saying is that we have enough data to show that we are pretty positive that it does. So it basically, what that means is it was essentially a statement in 2015 that we know that this causes cancer. Now, fast forward to when Monsanto was bought by Bayer in 2018, shortly afterwards, they found

themselves in litigation after litigation with many farmers that were claiming. that they were getting non-Hodgkins lymphoma by using these products on their farmlands. And just to back up a little bit, glyphosate is an herbicide that's widely used in our food. And it's so ubiquitous now. You mentioned this that we are finding it in women's placentas, we're finding it in breast milk, we're finding it in sperm, we're finding it in Americans urine. In fact, there was a study that was done a couple years ago, and they found that around 81% of Americans have glyphosate in their urine.

Wow. We're finding it in rainwater. and, you know, we can get to this later. I don't share this to scare people because I don't want everybody to put their heads in the sand and be terrified of it, but this is a really big deal. And what's happening currently right now and what I said is that we're in this fight of our lifetime is that these companies, primarily Monsanto Bayer, so what happened when they were going and, you know, getting involved in all these litigations

with the farmers that were suing them because that they're getting cancer, these farmers are winning time and time and time again. So Monsanto has spent about $11 billion. Bayers spent about $11 billion now in these litigations. So they finally decided last year that they were going to go to the federal government and look for immunity. Now, what this means is if your audience is aware of what the 1986 vaccine liability shield is, it's essentially the exact same thing. So in 1986, the vaccine companies were getting caught up in a lot of litigations and they went to the federal government and they said, hey, we are not going to be able to continue making these vaccines if you do not give us some sort of immunity shield. So what that means is that if your child or yourself gets harmed by getting a

vaccination, you cannot hold these companies liable. So you can't sue them. So now in 26, we have several chemical companies that have all gotten together. Montanto Bayer is kind of leading the charge on this, but there's also, you know, Kim China, Saginta, all these major manufacturers of these chemicals that we're using on our farmland. They are going to the federal government and they are looking for a immunity liability shield, liability immunity shield, meaning that if I or you or a farmer using their chemicals were to get cancer from their products, we cannot hold them liable. Yeah. Wow. And it has ramped up so much recently in just the last. I was literally before we recorded,

I was checking my text thread that I'm in with a bunch of really amazing women that I'm working with right now on this coalition on this. Kelly Ryerson, Glythe-Sate girl, Alexandra Munoz, who is a toxicologist, Alex Clark, Bonnie Hari. We're all working tirelessly to try to block this because what's happening at this very moment is they tried to slide this into the appropriation spending bill last week. It was under something called Section 453. We were actually able to successfully block this. Now, I think a lot of people probably understand this by now, but a lot of companies will slide

in a little thing into a really big bill. So let's say it's like 200 pages. in hopes that it will just get voted through. They don't even know that it's on there and then it gets voted through. So one of the things that the chemical companies are trying to do right now is they are trying to be very sneaky and slide into bills where people don't know. So we were able to successfully block it going into the spending bill. There is wording in the farm bill right now that's going to be voted on.

And probably I don't want to be quoted exactly on this, but I think in February is when they're going to vote on the farm bill. So that's already in there. Another way that they're doing this is they decided to go to the Supreme Court. and last Friday, they took this to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court voted on whether or not they are going to just take the case on themselves, meaning that Bayer Monsanto is going to present their case to the Supreme Court, and then the Supreme Court's going to decide whether or not they're going to give them this liability shield.

So as of right now, it's now Monday. We were supposed to find out the results of it, which is why I was checking my text, but we have not heard back yet and whether or not the Supreme Court is going to take that case. Well, I think it's important to understand that I know I've done entire shows on this. I've talked about frequently glyphosate. It is incredibly harmful to the human body. Probably the area where it's the most harmful is the gut microbiota. You know, it actually changes and alters your gut microbiome in a very negative way.

It's very toxic to the liver. So your liver and your gut are going to be harmed by that. And I want to mention this. I also, I care for a lot of patients with a number of different issues. Hypothoridism 1. You know, in order to convert T4 to T3, this active form of hormone, you need your liver and your gut. That actually is what's converting T4 to T3. So people with hypothyroidism, it's going to hurt dramatically, people with gut and GI issues,

increased risk of cancer. So glyphosate is the most, it's in Roundup. I think it is the most commonly sprayed chemical herbicide used in all of the United States today on things like corn and soy and a lot of our food supply. And anytime you're eating produce, for the most part, that's not organic, it's going to be sprayed with Roundup, which is glyphosate. So it is absolutely everywhere. I think they also use it today on golf courses.

Yes. They're spraying it in children's playgrounds or in schools. And so it's incredibly toxic. And so what's happening, as Courtney is mentioning, is, you know, these companies are trying to get immunity to where you can't even sue them and they're completely protected. And so it's something we all need to be aware of and speak out on. And if you, in watching this podcast, I'd encourage you to share this so people know what's actually going on here with Glyphus,

and Courtney, thanks so much for just being on the front lines of trying to block it and make changes. So grateful for that. Thank you. And actually, there's one more thing that I actually, I forgot to mention, and this is probably the most important part of this case, actually. So there was something that we are referring to as the Monsanto paper or the Monsanto report, that Monsanto, it was just retracted, actually, by the journal that printed this because they were able to prove that Monsanto ghost wrote this report. Now, what's really important to know about this report is this is the report that the EPA used as their evidence that glyphosate does not cause harm to the

human body. Now, again, I'm going to repeat that. Monsanto ghost wrote this report to make it look as though glyphosate is not as detrimental to our health as it actually is. And then they took this around to all of our, you know, governing bodies, for example, the EPA. And they said, look, like, here we are, we're proving that it doesn't cause cancer, it doesn't cause harm. And this journal actually retracted this a couple months ago. And they said that, you know, they found out that Monsanto Ghost wrote this. And it's actually not correct science. So if the Supreme Court decides to take this up, they are taking up a case based on fraudulent science.

Wow. It's a really big deal. And one thing people don't realize, you know, there is a study on studies. And it said that about 50% of studies are false. and the reason being is there's been so much cherry picking of data, too small of groups, but also just a bias placed into that

of paying scientists or hiring people that are going to make the study says what it wants. So when we even hear that glyphosate has been shown to likely cause cancer, the fact that it's not absolutely that it causes cancer is only because so many studies have been funded by these pharmaceutical companies to try and prove that it doesn't.

By using bias research. Exactly. And I would say that when you look at the results of all of these court cases that they've been in since 2018, every single time they've sided with the farmers and the people that are claiming that they got cancer. Because in the court of law, there has been enough evidence to prove that these cancers were caused by glycosate. That alone tells you enough that we need to know. Yeah, yeah. Well, this is obviously something big that we'll all be fighting with you on.

So thanks so much. You know, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has done so many great things in the month. movement. I've been really encouraged to see some of the things he's done. One of the things that recently came out was the new food pyramid. What are your thoughts on the new food pyramid? My first initial thought was I cannot believe that our government just said eat more real food. Yeah. For context. Praise God. For context for people that are new to me and my work, I created my brand real foodology 14 years ago. I made up that name simply because I was in school getting my master's of science and nutrition and I needed an outlet to share everything I was

learning. And when I was coming with ideas of what I wanted to name my business, I just kept coming back to real food. Because I kept thinking, what's going to be longevity forever in the nutrition and nutrition in the health space? What am I always recommending to people? Get back to eating real food. So I just was blown away that we have a government that's now saying we need to be eating more real food. That has been my guiding force for the last 14 years. And it really is my overarching messaging message to everybody is that just at the end of the day, if you're eating more real food, you're going to see amazing effects in your health. So that was, I was very, very excited about that. And actually, overall, I really don't have very many large criticisms about the food pyramid or the

new dietary guidelines. Pretty good. I love that they came out and that they said that there's no amount of added sugar that's healthy for people and especially for children. In fact, I don't know if people know this, but in the prior dietary guidelines, they actually said that a certain amount of added sugar is healthy for children under two, which I just think is crazy. Let's see. What else did I love? You know, one thing that I wish that they would differentiate between, so they came out and they said that they're not villainizing red meat anymore, which again, I'm really

excited about that. They also came out and said, they're not in support of ultra-processed foods, and we need to be limiting that, which is amazing, because the dietary guidelines before that, they really were a marketing playbook for the ultra-processed food companies. And in fact, if you look at the 2020 dietary guidelines, the committee had 95% of the committee had conflicts of interest with big pharma and big food. And then when you look at the dietary guidelines, they were written largely by industry. And there was no wording whatsoever about avoiding ultra-processed foods. In fact, a lot of the guidelines, one of them being, you know, eat low-fat, really gave the food companies, what's the word, I guess leverage to create all of these low-fat products that then had amulsifiers and fillers and other things to,

make up for the fact that there was no fat in there anymore. There was lower in fat. So all of those I'm very excited about. I do wish that they would differentiate between quality of meat and say, you know, move away from conventional versus grass fed organic. Exactly. So I think there was. It's hard to do everything on a food pyramid.

It is. But I'm with you. It is. Yeah. And I've seen some pushback as far as the guidelines around saturated fat. Yeah. People have been fighting about it. That's been the single biggest pushback is that.

Exactly. And, you know, I've been seeing. from some people saying, oh, well, it doesn't make sense because they're saying to eat red meat and they're saying to eat more eggs and, you know, they're saying that butter is back on the table, but then they're saying limit to under 10% of saturated fat. And I will admit I'm not an expert on this specifically, but I would say go check out. Max Lugavir has been talking about this a lot. And I don't know if you've been seeing his post, but he actually outlined what a week's worth of eating would look like if you're eating eggs, butter, meat, and still trying to stay around 10% saturated

fat. And he showed people what that looks like. And I think that what the discrepancy here is people are taking that and saying, okay, now the dietary guidelines are saying, just have a total free for all. Just eat all the red meat and eat all the butter and eat all the eggs that you want. And that's actually not what the dietary guidelines are saying. They're saying within this realm, be careful about your saturated fat, which I have a little bit of a different opinion on that. But I think it's nuanced. They're just saying you don't need to avoid them entirely, which before we were saying, you know, avoid red meat, avoid butter. And what happened is that then everybody was going to ultra-process foods instead and they were going to things like

canola oil. That's right. Yeah, that's exactly right. Well, I, yeah, I'm a fan of it as well. You know, it's interesting. Your brand's Real Foodology, the first book I ever wrote, when I really started my career, my first year was focused on eat real food. So I wrote a book called the Real Food Diet Cookbook. Because it really is one of the most basic things of, like a lot of people, they're not eating food today. If you're going to a fast food restaurant, you know, I remember there was a lot of these fast food chains.

They were putting out certain like milkshakes. And I remember looking at a what's in a like McDonald's strawberry milkshake. Here's the crazy thing. There were not strawberries in it. Zero strawberries at all. It's like strawberry natural flavor. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, these things aren't real.

And so anytime you're eating something that's not real, it's going to be detrimental to your house. So I do think that's the first step in the right direction is you're eating mostly food, getting rid of ultra-processed food. So this is just a major, major upgrade here to the, you know, food pyramid of eating six to a – think about the old food pyramid. Six to 11 servings of grains a day. It's crazy. And then sugar being actually on there is something. you should be eating for certain demographics. And the fact that people are criticizing what, again, the saturated fat thing is debatable.

That's the only thing. I agree. And that's the one little criticism. Outside of that, it's, it's pretty, it's pretty wonderful. Yeah. And you said this on my podcast that we just recorded, and I'm going to reiterate this. The saturated fat one is really tricky to put an overarching blanket statement for every single person. Yeah.

You just, you need to work with a practitioner that knows what the. they're doing and that can do blood work and know exactly what your numbers look like and then tailor the diet to you because it's going to look a little bit different for different people. And if your CRP is really low and your A1C is really low, then it's not going to be as much of a concern for someone that's maybe, you know, overweight and diabetic. Yeah. Yeah, you hit on those markers. Yeah, it's really, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, uh, APO B and it's, um, A1C. If those are fine, you can eat more saturated fat. Do you have hormone imbalance, weight loss, resistance, low energy, and sleep problems,

and you're tired of being told your labs are normal when you know something isn't right? This new test flips the script and my team knows exactly what to look for. I'm currently offering a simple at-home blood test that actually test for the right things, targeted biomarkers, including hormones, thyroid, and metabolism. Plus, a full hour. work with one of my senior health advisors to review your results and discover ways that you can work with the Health Institute to finally find lasting healing. If you want to check it out and grab one before they're gone, just go to mybloodwork.com now. So the MAHA movement's been really, I don't think people realize how impactful it's been. It's been incredibly impactful. And people

like you and Vonnie Har and so many others have done such an amazing job. Will Cole and many others. And I've been really blessed to be a part of it. And so what are the things that you're most encouraged about that's what's happened in the Maha movement has been able to impact? And what are the things in the future you think we're also going to be able to make changes with RFK and that partnership over the next three years? Yeah. So things I'm really excited about. One, the food dies. And I want to speak to the critics for a minute here because we also did get a fair amount of pushback in this.

And what I keep reiterating is the food dyes should have never been there in the first place. And I understand the criticism that we're getting because many people are saying, well, okay, if you take the food dyes out of fruit loops, it's still going to be able to process foods. Yes, that is very true. And we're not saying that fruit loops are now going to be healthy without the food dyes. But what I keep going back to, and I think people are not understanding the direct impact that this is going to have on so much of our population, over a million children are being fed every single day with our public school system. that are getting food dyes. And we know that food dyes are having an effect on hyperactivity in children. Talk to any person that is teaching right now.

And they will tell you that the kids are bouncing off the walls. And it's a combination of things. It's the sugar. And it's also the food dyes that they're getting every single day. So that's going to have a remarkable difference on just, if we can just limit the amount of toxic burden that's happening on these little bodies, I see a win regardless. like just getting the stuff out of the food and having them be exposed to less things, that's a huge win.

Nursing homes, same thing. Hospital, same thing. Military food. So it's going to affect actually a lot of our vulnerable, not calling the military vulnerable, but everybody else, a lot of the vulnerable of our population, we're going to be getting the food dies out. So I see that as a huge win. They should have never been there in the first place.

And I'm very excited about just seeing that we're having some real things actually happen in the government. We talked about this on my podcast, but, you know, I think people forget. that we got into this mess in 70 years. We're not going to clean this up overnight. And I get it because I'm a similar personality where now that we have Bobby in there, we're all kind of like, yes, we've been waiting for this opportunity for so long. But I kind of have to taper my expectations a little bit and remind myself that, you know,

the government is a little slow with this kind of stuff. A little. They're very slow with this stuff. Yes. And I will say this is the fastest I've ever seen them move. Oh, yeah. And that I'm very excited about. Yeah, yeah.

And, you know, and I would be remiss to not say this. The thing that I was really impacted by was right when Bobby Kennedy and Trump, you know, got into office, I've been doing this work for 14 years. I have been sitting waiting for a president just to admit we have a problem. Just someone to stand up on stage and say, we are sick. We need to change this. We never heard Obama say it. Trump never said it his first, yeah, he never said it his first four years. Biden never said a word. And I just kept sitting here going, Americans are really sick. And this is a big deal. We're talking 74% of our youth 18 to 24 are ineligible for military service. Like we're starting to talk about national security threat. And everyone ignored it until finally Trump and Bobby Kennedy gone on a political stage and they said, Americans are sick and we're going to fix it. And I mean, just that alone to me. What do they say in the step program? The first step is admitting we have a problem. We admitted we have a problem. We admitted we have a problem.

problem publicly. So that I'm very excited about. What else? The dietary guidelines, absolutely amazing win in my personal opinion. I think we've already gone over that. Some things that I'm really excited about that I am hopeful will get fixed. Bobby Kennedy was talking about how the formula has not been re-evaluated since. Oh, infant formula. Yes. Oh, my gosh. One of the absolute worst. I mean, think about the most important time of your entire life is developing as an infant. And these infant formula formulas are toxic. Oh, it's horrible. They're terrible.

It's terrible. I mean, the first two ingredients are generally, when you get away from water, it's corn syrup solids and canola oil. That's right. It's just crazy. And then it's a bunch of synthetic vitamins, most likely, you know, not bioavailable for the body. Not to mention they're putting folic acid in there. And if the baby has mt hFR, they're not even going to get folate from that. So it's a mess.

Yeah. Yeah. I have frequently talked about how important breastfeeding is. and if you can do it, do everything you can. If you can't try and get breast milk. And if you can't, West Day Price had a really great formula. Yes. They put together it was like, you know, goat's milk and then all these other ingredients

to make your own at-home formula. And that's a, that is just such a better option than what today's infant formulas. I'm so glad you brought that up because it's just so bad today. It's a travesty. Yeah. Well, and you look at too. So we were just talking about the dietary guidelines. So the dietary guidelines are going to have a huge ripple effect on

what we do with WIC recommendations, SNAP recommendations, funding, where we put the funding, what kind of foods that we're going to really push forward. And, you know, I look at, because when I talk about formula a lot on my page, and I'm similar as you, I'm such a proponent for breast milk. And I get in trouble every time I say this, but I just believe the breast is best. I just do. I think it was God's perfect design. It works perfectly in sync with you and baby.

And there's this hormone exchange that happens where your breast milk creates certain properties that your baby needs. It was funny. I was sitting down with my, we were spending Christmas in Florida. And my sister was there and Chelsea was there. My wife, Chelsea. And Chelsea was nursing our two-year-old.

And then my sister had said, oh, like, you know, I miss that because she hasn't breastfed for about six months now with her because her oldest is like three and a half or four or her youngest. And because they were just sharing like, you know, that oxytode, that just connection you feel to, to the baby at that time. Well, and I think, you know, it's unfortunate because we don't teach this a lot. I didn't learn any of this in school, by the way.

And I took nutrition courses. I took prenatal nutrition courses. And there were certain things that they just didn't teach us at all. But there's this symbiotic relationship that happens where at night, breast milk actually has melatonin in it to help baby go to sleep. Wow. And if the baby is sick, your body can sense it and it creates more antibodies to help their immune system. Like there's certain things that happen that, that science, just we will never be able to replicate that. Yeah. Yeah.

And so that, I just feel like with formula, and, you know, I would be remiss to not say this, my heart goes out to, and I'm so empathetic to women that are unable to breastfeed. And that's a real reality. And it's horrible. And I know that women feel guilt over it and they really struggle with it. And I pray that when my baby's here, that I'm going to be able to breastfeed and I'm going to fight like hell to be able to do it. So formula needs to be there. But we really, really need to clean it up. Yeah, it needs to get so much better.

And by the way, we don't say this to make anyone feel guilty. If you get breastfeed, listen, all we're called to do is do our best. Yeah. So if you can't, then let's find the best formula for you. The problem is the formulas are so bad today that they've got to get better. Exactly. And, you know, and this is not women's fault. You know, I think they feel so guilty after they find out later, oh, man, like I get all these messages from women that are just like, I'm kicking myself because I gave my baby this formula and I wish I hadn't.

And, you know, hindsight's always going to be 2020 and your baby's going to be fine. You know, it's just like we have to move onwards and upwards. And once you know better, you do better. And you just have to forgive yourself the past, you know. But so that's another thing I'm very, very excited about because we need to clean up formula. And I brought up WIC and SNAP. And, you know, a lot of the issue that I'm seeing right now is, you know, lower income families that are on WIC. And they aren't able to breastfeed for whatever reason.

And they're getting this formula that's recommended by. WIC and I mean it's the worst of the worst. And I don't think a lot of people know this, but the reason Bobby Kennedy is doing this reevaluation is because we have not evaluated baby formula since 1984. It was the last time that we evaluated the standards for it. And if you think about what we were doing back then, we were really demonizing animal foods. That's right. And we were propping up, you know, canola oil and margarine and saying that this is heart healthy

and it's really good for us and we need a higher amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids. And now what we know is that too much polyunsaturated. saturated fatty acids can actually cause inflammation. So we really need to go back and restructure how we build baby formula and really put an emphasis on putting healthier fats in there. Yeah, that's good. So I'm very excited about that. Another thing that we had brought up, we talked about briefly, Bobby Kennedy is hopefully going to change the requirements for doctors where they're going to need to take some sort of nutrition course. Yeah. I've heard him talk about this, just to be very clear. I don't know that there's any standard put in place or any plan as of yet, but I hope that

something he's going to tackle. And I really hope that we start pushing medicine towards a more root cause preventative model versus the sick care, you know, model that we have right now. Absolutely agree. Absolutely good. Because right now it's just so pharmaceutically, I mean, really, that's it. Doctors learn how to diagnose condition and prescribe a drug for that condition. That's what they learn. Yeah, exactly. So really hoping that gets changed. And then you asked me what I'm not excited about right now. So kind of in alignment with what we talked about at the very beginning with what's happening with these agrochemical companies.

Unfortunately, we are having a bit of an issue with the EPA right now. There's been a rollback of Phaas, which is known as Forever Chemicals, in our drinking water. So they're rolling that back right now, the regulations on that. They just, they said they approved two new Forever Chemicals or PFA-based chemicals that we can spray on our food. another one we're really not excited about. And it's very confusing because the EPA is coming out and saying,

well, we're, we're maha, and we're doing this for maha, and we're trying to create all these maha regulations. And they're telling us that these new pesticides that they're approving are actually not Phaas. But what they did was they actually went back and they redefined what a PFA is. And so now they're saying, oh, no, these don't actually go into the classification under of it. And so I, myself and many other activists have been very critical. of what's happening at the EPA right now because they're they're telling us one thing and they're doing the opposite and then they're kind of telling the general public, oh, no, but we're not

doing that, but they're just redefining what it means to do that. So I've been very critical and not happy about what's happening with the EPA. And you think about, you know, I was thinking about this really heavily over the weekend with the dietary guidelines. There is, it's, it's amazing that we're pushing for more real food, right? But what that is ultimately going to look like is as we start steering people away from ultra-processed packaged foods and we're steering them more towards more whole, unprocessed real foods, they're going to be exposed to more pesticides if they're not buying organic. And again, I don't say this stuff to scare people. I say this because the EPA needs to regulate this more. Yeah. The average person applies over 100 endocrine disrupting

disrupting chemicals before breakfast, just from everyday personal care products. That's why I want to spotlight a business that's taking a totally different approach, Primely Pure. It's one of the first brands that treats the skin like the microbiome it is. Instead of formulas loaded with synthetics, Primely Pure goes back to what humans used to do for centuries, real recognizable ingredients from plants and animals, including grass-fed tallow. TALO is incredibly skin-compatible.

Its fatty acid profile mirrors your skin's natural barrier, helping restore balance, support the microbiome, and deliver deep nourishment without any endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Their less as more approach has earned a massive following, especially their deodorant in tallow-based creams and balms, which actually work with your body, not against it. If you're ready for skin care that supports your health instead of adding to your toxic load,

you need primely pure. Your skin and your whole system will feel the difference. Use code Ax 15 to get 15% off your purchase at primly pure.com because when your skin thrives, so does your health. One of the things I think you've done a great job at real foodology, especially in the early days, is teaching people how to read food labels. I'd like to talk about that for a minute because I think for a lot of people,

I used to do shopping tours with patients. So we would go to Whole Foods. up and down every aisle and I'd say, hey, here's what to look for. Because even a place like Whole Food, sometimes I'd get like, okay, animal crackers, these are not healthy. White bleach flour, canola oil, all this other junk in there. And so what are some of your rules in teaching people how to read food labels? I also want to mention, too, I always find it's funny, the veggie chips where people think

that they're vegetables and they're actually just like potato starch with like some spinach dusting on top. It's just, you know, they really try to trick us. Okay, so I will tell you, so I have a couple little guidelines that I utilize that have made it a lot easier for people to navigate the grocery store. The first and foremost one is that I would say whenever you're trying to decide if you're going to put something in your cart, just simply ask yourself if my great grandmother was to time travel and join me in the grocery store right now, would she even know what this is? And I think that's a great indicator of just number one going, okay, so a Twinkie, my great grandmother is going to go, what is that? Like, I don't even is that food. I don't, is this, like, food for the livestock?

I don't know. So that would be number one. Second of all, don't ever take what the front of the label says as the end-all be-all. You have to think about that as a billboard for the company. This is an ad campaign that they are trying to use to sell you the product because you'll see things like low fat, low sugar, gluten-free. And, you know, if you have to eat gluten-free, that's fine. But I'm just saying don't use that as a guiding force that, oh, this means it's going to be healthy. Right.

So then you want to turn around the back and the first thing you want to do is you want to read the ingredients. Your first red flag is if it is really long, chances are you're probably going to want to put that back on the shelf. You know what they do in a lot of those really long labels too? Like I did there was a, we were at a health food store in Park City here this last week and I flipped it over and it's like any and this was. You know, this was still even a brand that was trying to be healthier. But it was like coconut sugar and honey and maybe. simple syrup and so they had all of these others in there. But they do this a lot where it's like three different types of sugar to push it lower on the

label so it's not the first ingredient. Yeah. They do that all the time. Yeah, because the order of the ingredients on the label are based on how much of that ingredient is in there. And this is what's unfortunate is these food companies have gotten very sneaky and they know that consumers are starting to catch on to some of their tricks. So they're trying to come up with new ideas because a consumer. Because if I look at a package in the first ingredient is sugar, I'm going to want to put it back.

That's right. But to your point, exactly what you just said, it's like, oh, it's, you know, I don't know, brown rice first. And then they have all these other sweeteners underneath. But, you know, it just tricks your brain to think that it doesn't have a ton of sugar in it. I mean, everything I buy, I read the label. Yes. I mean, there's not a single thing I read where I don't look at the label.

You just, you have to now. You can't trust that companies are doing greenwashing. I mean, they will put a picture of cows. grazing in grass on the front and try to trick your brain into thinking, oh, this is healthy. That's right. Exactly. And then you turn it around and it has natural flavors, that's canola oil. And it's just, so you have to just disregard the front of the package. You have to read the ingredients. And then I'd say this is my number one easiest tip to follow and will never steer you wrong. When you're reading that ingredient label, you don't even have to know what some of these things mean.

If there is an ingredient in there that you could not physically go by while you're in the grocery store, if you're looking at this and you're going, okay, this is B, H.T. Am I going to find that on aisle 6? No, you're not. That is a clear indicator that you want to put it back on the shelf. You always want to make sure that every single ingredient in there is something that you would either have stocked in your kitchen or something that you know that you could readily buy in the grocery store already. So what do you think? So like when you think about a health, I want to talk about health food store specifically today. Yeah. What are the least healthy things that people typically buy today in the health food store? Well, a lot of packaged stuff. So I would say packaged crackers, packaged cookies, you know what, bread. So bread is a really big one. We have been conditioned to just think bread is a loaf of bread, right? But if you look at the ingredients in most store-bought bread, it is loaded with whether it's preservatives or they add a ton of sugar in there.

There's a bunch of different ingredients in there usually that do not even deserve. They don't need to be in bread. And this is another thing, too, is you've got to take a step back and think, okay, what is bread made out of? It should be, you know, maybe four or five ingredients, right? Flower, yeast, salt, maybe some honey. I mean, that's about it. Yeah, yeah. And then if you look and you read it at all this other stuff in there, and I mean, we can go into enriched flour if we want to, but there's so many things that we're adding that are unnecessary.

And that's when you start getting into the realm of ultra-processed, which I think we should talk about. So there's different ratings. Obviously, there's completely unprocessed whole food, which would be, you know, let's say an apple, for example. And then if you're looking at something that's processed, that would be, let's say, apple sauce. Almond butter. Exactly. Where, you know, it's very close to the original thing and maybe they've added a little bit of honey or something, right? And that's okay.

I think a lot of people start getting confused and they start hearing processed and they think, oh, my gosh, I can't have this. Bread, a loaf of bread that they would have made in biblical times would be considered processed. Yeah. Because there was a making, there was a process that had to happen in order to make it into bread. When you start getting into ultra-processed foods, that's what we want to avoid. That's when you start seeing things like natural flavors, BHT, mono and diglycerides, which are an emulsifier. You start seeing all these additives in there that if you were just cooking this at home, you would never use these ingredients. You would never recognize that.

What's the problem with emulsifiers are also things like your gene and a lot of these thickening agents? Why are those an issue? Yeah, well, okay, so a lot of people will maybe remember this. A couple of years ago, food companies were required to take out partially hydrogenated oils because we figured out that they were trans fats and they wreak havoc on our metabolic system. So they took those out and what companies started doing is they were replacing the partially hydrogenated oils with mono and diglycerides, which are essentially another form of trans fat. And what these emulsifiers do is they take a food like, let's say like mayonnaise, for example. If you've ever made homemade mayonnaise and it sits in your fridge for a couple days, it'll start to kind of separate, right? Like certain things that they start to separate. So these companies put these emulsifiers in there so that when it sits in your fridge for a month, it stays intact the whole time. It's like, you know, when you're trying to put water and oil together and it doesn't fully mix, you add an emulsifier in there and it makes it mix. And this is a symptom of a larger

issue that I think people need to understand is that a lot of these things that we're putting in our food products are more beneficial to the food companies and to these food products that are sitting on the shelf all the time. It helps them stay shelf stable for longer. There is no health benefit to you whatsoever. In fact, it's just so that these companies can make more money and they don't have to worry about their products sitting on the shelf. And we've also created this unrealistic expectation for Americans that our food needs to be

absolutely perfect. God forbid I have to stir my mayo before I put it on my bread. Or God forbid I have to mix something a little bit because it's separated. But we've created these unrealistic expectations. and what's happened is that now we have created what normally would be a typically decent, healthy food like mayo if it's just, you know, the standard ingredients, I would say it's pretty healthy. But then we start adding in things like monodyglystorides to emulsify it and we add in canola

oil and we add in a preservative. And then that's when you start getting into the ultra-process territory that you want to avoid. So what was eating like for you growing up? Like did you, were you kind of born into this? Were your parents pretty healthy or is this something you had to kind of learn along the way? because I know like my help my my family growing up my mom she brought in this at the time a juicy juice at the time was only 10% juice so we thought like we tried so we thought oh we're drinking all this fruit juice we're doing really good right now and and then we did some home cook you know western or midwest you know casseroles that sort of thing so and tried to get some veggies and things but it was mostly like iceberg lettuce so you know we we grew up trying but definitely was not hitting the mark at all but how I How was it for you and your family growing up? I love sharing this, actually, because so growing up, I was very fortunate to have a mom that was, I mean, my mom was Maha 30 years ago, 40 years ago before it was even a thing.

Yeah, in fact, I actually remember as a kid complaining to my mom because she would take me to all these, because, I mean, you know, you think about, I'm 41, so I'm, you know, 30 years ago. She's taking me to these little health food stores that I used to tell her all the time, I'd be like, oh, mom, these, like, stink. and like, all my friends are getting dunkeroo's, and you're taking me and getting me these weird, like, off-brand cereals. I got to say, I had this conversation with Will Cole, because his dad was a functional med doctor growing up. And so, like, he was talking, he was saying the same thing. Like, my parents were having me do, like, greed juice shots when I was five years old.

I always love here because that was not me, but I love that this was. Jordan Rubin, too. His dad was like that. Yeah, it's so funny. Well, and it was, it was. You were like the 1% because then, I mean, now a lot of people do this, you know, then there was nobody doing this. There was nobody doing this.

In fact, like, I was kind of embarrassed to have, like, friends over and stuff sometimes. Sorry, Mom. Because I would go to friends' houses, and they would have a full pantry. I mean, you think about, like, I grew up in the 80s, and I just think of, like, peak dunkeroo's, pop tarts, Doritos. Oh, yeah. And my friend's pantries would just be loaded with all this stuff. So I would go over there and I would, like, binge on all of this, not proud of it now. But, you know, as a kid, like, you know, 13 years old, all you want is sugar.

And so I had this interesting dichotomy where I was actually pretty unhappy with my mom growing up about this because I had a very close girlfriend, my best friend, who lived in an exact opposite lifestyle as me. So I would go to her house. I would love to have sleep over there because, I mean, we'd be eating all the junk food all weekend, you know, watching movies eating junk food. And her parents would get us Burger King for dinner. And she'd get Burger King two or three nights a week for dinner. And I would come home and I'd be like, Mom, I want Burger King. You know, they have the new toy that I want and I want the chicken nuggets and, you know, whatever, right? And we would get in these huge fights over it, actually. And my mom now, it's so

funny because my mom is her favorite thing, not in a rude way, but it's her favorite thing to bring up now. She's like, aren't you glad that I didn't let you eat all that burger king? And now you know what you know? And I am, I mean, I'm forever grateful. And I always, I like to remind parents, because I know a lot of parents are really struggling with this right now because their kids are going to school and they're getting fed, God knows what, and they're going to birthday parties. And I just feel like parents and kids right now are just, under assault with these ultra-processed foods and they're really fighting these battles. And I think so many parents are concerned that they're going to create like an eating disorder

in their child or that they're depriving their child. And I will tell you that I'm one of those kids that despite getting in fights with my mom and being upset about it, I had a come to Jesus moment in college where I grew up not sick at all. I mean, you talk about like I think maybe I had antibiotics once my whole life growing up, never had ear infections, never had had issue, like just never had any issues. I go to college and I just have a free for all. I'm like, woohoo, I'm out of the house, I'm eating fast food. Because at the time, I had not fully made the connection, right? Like, for me, it was more like, oh, I'm living in this household and my mom's not letting me have these things. And I didn't fully grasp the concept of it. And by the way, my mom

was making everything from scratch. I have memories of myself sitting on the kitchen counter and my mom hand-cranking pasta that she made with like Italian flour. I mean, just incredible. Like making her own bread. Like she really, I mean, she made everything from scratch. In fact, when I went to college, there were fast food chains. I had never even tried before just because, you know, when you're a kid, I didn't really have money to go out.

So I'm not saying I never had fast food, but it was just rare because my mom would be like, no, you're coming home. We're not going to give you money to go to Taco Bell or whatever. Yeah. Like you're going to eat at home. So there was a stark. difference from when I went to college and I just had this total free-for-all. I mean, I gained so much weight within a year. I was so, I mean, I looked back at photos. I was so inflamed.

I had cystic acne I'd never had before. I started dealing with just little things. I'd never dealt with it. I couldn't focus in school. And I'm so grateful because I had the opposite effect that many people go through, which is I think many people finally start waking up to, oh, this is not normal. I shouldn't be feeling sick all the time where I never got sick. And then all of a sudden in college, I'm like, oh, I do not feel well. And I know what it's like on the other side to feel better. And I started making this connection with what I was putting in my body. And I started realizing, okay, I think my mom might actually be on to something here and did a full 180.

And so I'm just here to remind parents that it may feel like a battle right now. And you may feel your kids might be fighting you. And just know that you're up against a beast of a marketing campaign with these ultra-processed foods that really want to get your kids addicted to these foods. and I'm just here to tell you that it may be hard right now, but your kids are going to be so grateful when they grow up and they realize that they're not dealing with the issues that a lot of other kids are. I can't think of like, you know,

I know several people that kind of grew up, Jordan Rubin one, Will Cole yourself, that grew up in those sort of households. And all of them are just eternally grateful, you know, even though it was hard when they were, you know, kids. I know, because I, you know, having a two-year-old and our five-year-old now you know we uh you know we send you know we send we pack her lunch every single day you know it's extremely healthy and um it's not to say you know we're i will say schools are a little bit

more conscious now at least the one we send her to because like if they're having a certain birthday party sometimes you know um parents are conscious of that and they actually have healthy cakes or cupcakes or something or better options so yeah but it's uh it's a you know i applaud all parents out there who are navigating it because it's more work it's what you're It's work. It's tough. It's definitely work. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm about to enter into that myself. And I'm, my husband, I've started having conversations. I mean, you know, we're down the line from that. But like, how are we going to, how are we going to face this?

You know, because I hear from parents now that, I mean, they're getting it at birthday parties. They're getting it at school. They're getting it, you know, everywhere. After school activities, it's sports activities. It's hard. If you want practical science-backed guidance for living a healthier, longer, more vibrant life, you need to check out the BioHacket podcast. It is hosted by my good friend Amman Hassan and it brings a thoughtful, compassionate perspective to wellness that so many women have been looking for. Every week, Amman breaks down the latest research in longevity, hormones, and metabolic health in a way that's clear and easy to understand leads to important conversations around women's health, fertility,

and the steps women can take to protect their energy, balance their hormones, and support long-term well-being. She talks with top doctors, scientists and health experts about natural healing, nutrition, lifestyle choices that make a real difference and sits down with entrepreneurs and thought leaders to explore how they stay strong, grounded, and resilient, and their personal lives and their work. If you want to show that speaks directly to health challenges, women are navigating today while offering hope, clarity, and real solutions, tune in to BioHack it every Thursday wherever you listen to podcasts. It is one of the most educational and uplifting shows in the wellness space,

and I think you're going to love it. So another thing I wanted to ask you about, because I see this a lot more now. I was having this conversation with my parents. And, you know, I'm 44, and I have a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old. So I had kids, you know, a little bit later in life. And I know this is how, I mean, on, I don't know that this is statistically accurate, but I would say, I don't know, a lot of people are having kids much later on in life now. And so I have so many women I'm friends with that I know that are, you know, trying to or are having kids in their

40s. Yeah. How has that been for you being 41 and about to have your, you know, or on your way here to have your first baby? Yeah. Well, I first want to say, you know, so there was a couple things I felt like that happened to me in my 20s and 30s that I have, I have no, let me be very, very clear. I have no regrets about what I've done in my life. I'm very passionate about speaking out about this where I feel like women in my generation, we were really pushed into our careers and really given this narrative of like your worth is based on your work and, you know, climb up the ladder. And it could have been different for for different upbringings. And, you know, maybe you've brought up more in the church, which I was, but I just, I really, there's a whole other

story there. But basically, I really threw myself into my work. And I'm so grateful. I mean, I look around at everything I've been able to create. And I mean, I'm so grateful for it. But there is a part of me that I would say around 34, 35, where I started kind of going, oh, man, why didn't I really try to focus harder on finding my partner because I was so focused on my career that I think some of the other stuff kind of went to the wayside, right? And so I unfortunately and too i just unfortunately i just i was unable to find my partner until a little bit later in life and so because a lot of people asked me well why did you wait so long to have kids and i it was not by my purpose well the other thing is you got to find your right partner right i mean you got

find your spouse like and chelsea and i like we have we have about a six and a half year age gap so she's 37 about to turn 38 but that's the other thing right you have to find that because when did you get married we got married we got married uh last year in june okay so yeah okay but it was one of those things where we just like knew, you know? And I really, the last couple years, I really, I mean, I just, I did so many things differently. I mean, and I prayed so hard. I put myself through therapy to really deal with a lot of like things that I felt like maybe were hindering me. And I just was really surrendering to finding my partner me. And this is kind of what I mean. And I think everything happens for a reason. But I was so, I was so hyper focused on my career that I gave no space for my person to even come in.

and I think that was part of what I needed to shift some of how I was working and showing up in the world to really allow my partner to come in. And I'm so grateful and I would never take any of this back. I mean, I found the most amazing man and I'm so happy. And I'll tell you that part of my upbringing and finding health and wellness when I did and my mom really setting the foundation for that, I say this all the time. I am so incredibly grateful that my mom gave me that gift and that I never went on birth control. I did a lot of things for my health where I look around and I see so many women are struggling to get pregnant right now. And I want to be very clear because I know this is really sensitive subject. I am by no means saying that it is anyone's fault, that you're doing something wrong. I'm just saying that what I've noticed now being older and being pregnant is that the medical system treats you,

they just put a blanket statement on you and they just treat you like you're geriatric. There is no, there's no room for, okay, well, what is your health look like? What is your metabolic health? Are you overweight? What does your blood work look like? It's just automatically they're just like, oh, you're geriatric just based on your age. And I've really been pushing back on this. Do you know the number of ages of being geriatric for?

35. Yeah. That is insane. I've had some doctors say it's 30, which is even crazier. Oh, my God. And then there was a famous singer. Was it Kelsey, ballerine? I think it was that just had a post, I guess she wrote a song, and then I saw an Instagram post

about it. I believe she's 32. She's 32 or she's 34. And she just wrote a song about how she missed her opportunity to have kids. And I'm over here going, I just got pregnant in 41 and I'm having a baby. I just, I'm really pushing back against this narrative right now. There's this narrative in the medical system that at 35, you're geriatric, you're going to have a horrible pregnancy, you're going to have a really hard time getting pregnant. Also, the narrative is, oh, good luck getting pregnant after 35. And I'm here to tell you that if you do the right things, you really take care of your health. Again, you can't control everything.

And who knows, there could be other things happening that you just have no control over. But I really believe that if we tell women how incredibly important it is to take care of your health and make sure that your metabolic health is in order. Yes. Really take care of your inflammation and your A1C and get off birth control as soon as you possibly can. Regulate your hormones. There are so many things that you can. control and that you can do.

Yeah. Yeah, I totally agree. You know, my perspective in working with a lot of women in fertility is we just, we really need to nourish your body. Like I tell me, we got to do everything we can to allow your body to feel safe, secure, warm, just really well nourished. Yes. And keeping the stress levels low is so key as well because I think some women are so busy.

Every moment of the day, they're doing something. So if you can create some margin and really just to do your point, nourish your health, you know, your odds go up incredibly. And I'll tell you to you, I want to say this, something that I noticed, if you are going to pregnancy a little bit later in life, once I shared on my social media that I was pregnant, it's really interesting. I've been noticing so many women have fear around it because the medical system is hammered into them that after 35, you're geriatric and you need to be concerned about this, that, and

that and that. And I actually avoided the allopathic conventional medical system entirely. I don't want to deal with it at all. I have a midwife. And we're doing it very, we're doing that route. The midwife route, I don't even have an OBJN. And I'm probably good people are going to freak out on me about that. We didn't.

We just had a midwife, Chelsea. And we've had two at home pool births. Yes. Yeah. And I just want to tell women that for me, this has been the most amazing experience that I've had. And I am blown away by the messages I've been getting. And this is not a judgment. This is purely an observation is that I think the medical system really praise on women's insecurities and fears.

And when you're pregnant, you're incredibly vulnerable because you are so concerned about this life that you're growing. And you want to do the best that you can and you want to have a healthy pregnancy and have a healthy baby. And I can tell you that avoiding that medical system and just going the midwife way, my age has not come up once. There has not been a single concern. that there has not been a single, well, because of your age, we're concerned about this and that and that. Every conversation we've had has just simply been, okay, next step, you know, we're going to monitor you. We're going to do blood work. If we see anything we're concerned about, we're going to deal with it then. But there's no, like, ramping up to, well, you know, just because of your age, it could be concerned about this.

And I live in such peace and I don't have fear around all of this because I'm not having the medical system tell me that something's wrong with my body just because of my age. It's so powerful. It's so powerful. One is very much aligned with God's design and one is very much aligned with them thinking they are God. I mean, one of the issues I've had with the entire mainstream medical industry is they have a God complex. I mean, we've seen this with so many doctors with so many people in the industry. They literally have a God complex. They feel like everybody should worship and bow versus what you're sharing is a lot more aligned with. Hey, let's let's let God's amazing design do its work. Let's support it. Let's live with hope. Let's live with people. peace as the Bible talks about versus living in a state of fear and anxiety. I mean, this is something I saw through the whole COVID thing. It's like, we're going to strike fear into the heart of everybody. A lot of times, I remember when my mom was diagnosed with cancer, it was, you have a 40% chance to live, or my brother-in-law, a 1% chance to live. So all that being said, you know, I see this all the time with people, is these sort of, you know, the medical, the medical industry is this sort of fear-based tactics versus hope.

and love and encouragement, so I'm so encouraged to hear. That's been your experience with the midwife. It's been amazing. And I just want to be very clear because I don't want people to take things out of context. It's not, I'm not saying that we're not monitoring me and doing anything. I mean, we still do everything that you do. I mean, we were just talking about I'm going in for anatomy scan next week. Like, I'm getting scans. I'm getting blood work. And she's told me many times, if something comes up and you happen to be high risk, we'll deal with it then. So it's not like we're just going la la la like we live in you know rainbow land we're taking it seriously but there's no fear being instilled in me just because based on my age and I just I the messages I was getting

from women I just it made me so sad because the medical system is really instilling a lot of fear that I think in many cases is unnecessary yeah and I think women too forget because the medical system really hammers us into us we forget that this was how this is what our bodies were designed to do that's right that's right right right right right right right That's powerful. Yeah. I think living with that in mind and knowing God is for you, not against you, you were designed to be healthy. You just need to align your lifestyle and your diet with the Bible and what we know to be healthy.

Yes. All right. I want to do some rapid fire questions here. Here's the first one. What are the three ingredients people need to most look out for when they're reading food labels? I would say first and foremost, look and see what type of oil they're using. If they're using something like canola oil, cottonseed oil, soybean oil, chances. are that's going to be an ultra-processed food just by nature of having that oil in there already.

You want to look for things like olive oil, avocado oil, butter, even coconut oil would be great, too. Number two, this is kind of a blanket statement, but I would say really just be cognizant of how much sugar is in there and be cognizant of what type of sugar it is. You really want to avoid the ultra-processed forms of sugar like corn syrup, corn syrup solids. Look for things like, Like, I mean, this might be a little bit controversial, but if it's just cane sugar, that's way better than having corn syrup. Maple syrup would be, maple syrup and honey would really be your top options. But just see how much sugar is in there. And then number three, I would say mono and diglycerides.

These are an emulsifier that you've seen a lot of ultra-processed food-like products. And they essentially are trans fat. What are your top pieces of advice for women trying to get pregnant in their 40s? First and foremost, I would say, this is what I did personally, cancel out all. of the noise. You are going to hear so much from experts in the medical field. They're going to tell you that your chances of getting pregnant are really low. They're going to tell you all these scary stats. They're going to tell you, you know, what it looks like for a woman in their 40s and, you know, the average population. Anytime I came across information like that, I would turn it off

and I would tell myself, that is not my story. And I would repeat that over and over again because I did not want to let that noise get in the way of what my personal journey was. And I really didn't want to let fear in. Also remember and trust your body that your body was designed to do this and your body was meant to do this. So just remember that and trust yourself. And then I would say to really just focus on eating whole real foods as much as possible, really nourishing your body because a really nourished body that doesn't have nutritional deficiencies and it's really getting the nutrition and exactly what it needs is going to be more fertile, whether or not what the medical system will tell you that nutrition and diet has nothing to do with it. It has almost everything

to do with it. What are the top five food you'd recommend for women looking to balance their hormones? Yeah. So if I think balancing hormones, I'm definitely thinking really good healthy fats that are going to support healthy hormones. So extra virgin olive oil would be a great option. Butter is actually, I think, a health promoting food. If you do okay with dairy, I would actually say dairy, I think, is a fertility promoting food if it's organic grass-fed A2 from really good sources. And I'm not just saying have a free-for-all with dairy, but I really think that it can have some hormone and fertility supporting properties. Salmon, I think salmon would be a great one because it's really high in omega-3s and

omega-6s and it's a good fat that's also really satiating and full of protein. and I would say avoid refined carbohydrates and go for more things like oats, sourdough would be a great option, a little bit of rice. Avoid really starchy carbohydrates and go for things like sweet potatoes would be another great option. Because one of the things I think that really is going to make a difference is your blood sugar, your A1C, and really making sure that you're not spiking your glucose throughout the day and sending it on a roller coaster. You want to make sure that you're avoiding those refined carbohydrates. rates. And then lastly, I would say, you know what, I would say meat. I think red meat would be great for hormone balance and for fertility. That's so helpful. Well, Courtney, thanks so much for

coming on today. It's been a pleasure. I just, you know, I, again, I've been so inspired by all the things you've done in, you know, trying to get glyphosate banned and getting the food dyes ban on all the things you've done. And just so grateful for you and all your hard work and the things you've done. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Yeah, let let people know where they can find, find more out about you and all the great things you're up to. Yeah, so I'm mostly active on Instagram, which is at Real Foodology. I also have a podcast, which you were just recently a guest on. So definitely go and check that out. It's on all major podcast platforms. It's called Real Foodology. And actually, you can find me Real Foodology pretty much across the board on X, TikTok, website,

realfoodology.com. And yeah, that's it. Thanks so much for coming on today. Thank you so much. This is so fun. All right, hey, I want to say thanks to everybody for tuning into this podcast. Remember, each and every week we're diving deep into the science and principles of how you can heal physically, mentally, spiritually, and take your health and your life to the next level. Thanks again here to Courtney Swan for sharing all of our wisdom with us today. And if you're watching on YouTube, let me know what is the biggest piece of advice or the thing that Courtney shared that you walked away with, maybe something surprising when she talked about glyphosate in the Supreme Court or infant formulas or getting pregnant. and her 40s. We'd love to hear from you. Again, thanks so much for watching and taking part. By the way, the number one thing you can do here to support the show is to subscribe.

This allows me to bring on really high-profile guests like Courtney and others. And sometimes the show can get shadow banned because we talk about things that are very controversial, like cancer. And even things like glyphosate, actually, sometimes can get shadow banned. So do me a favor and subscribe. So it always shows up in your feed. Thanks so much for watching. Thanks for sharing. I'll see you on the next episode.