The Rich Roll Podcast - Superfood Superman Darin Olien On Barùkas, Breath & Brain States

Episode Date: July 30, 2018

What's it like to explore the planet's hidden corners treasure hunting for the world's greatest edible food sources? Meet the Superman of Superfoods. One of my most popular guests, Darin Olien (@superlifeliving) returns for his third appearance on the podcast to delve deep on next level nutrition insights gleaned from his extraordinary adventures as a renown exotic superfoods hunter, wellness advocate, supplement formulator & ardent environmental activist. Over the last twenty plus years, Darin has reconnoitered secluded pockets across the Americas, South Pacific and Asia questing for better, more natural pathways to ultimate wellness. After communing with thousands of rural farmers across the developing world, Darin has arrived upon his latest superfood obsession: the baru nut — an exotic incredibly nutrient rich superfood known to the indigenous tribes of the Brazilian Cerrado for millennia, yet virtually unheard of anywhere else. Crazy delicious bordering on addictive, the Barùkas (derived from the Baruzieta tree and commonly referred to as “baru”) tastes like a mashup of almond, cashew and peanut, but better. Not only does it boast an insane nutritional profile packed with micronutrients (loaded with magnesium), fiber (more than any other nut) and protein (6g with all essential amino acids), it's also lower in calories (25% fewer fat calories than other nuts) and requires far less water and input resources to produce. Darin's discovery led to an epiphany that he could help preserve the Cerrado (a tropical savanna ecoregion three times the size of Texas) against the current and very real threat of cattle industry deforestation by employing its indigenous communities to harvest the native baru and importing them to North America — a win win to preserve precious environmental resources and simultaneously introduce the developed world to the healthiest nut on the planet. Thus was born Barùkas. Today he tells the story. This conversation is a literal superfood show and tell (don't miss it on YouTube). It's a tutorial on the underappreciated Brazilian Cerrado. It's a look at the hows and whys behind his new company, Barùkas. And it's an advanced placement course on the importance of breath, brain states and finding life purpose. An inspiration to me personally, Darin is a guy who walks his talk. From the foods he consumes to the lifestyle habits he practices, he is the thriving embodiment of what it means to truly own and take responsibility for your health, your life and the planet we collectively enjoy. For the visually inclined, you can watch the full conversation on YouTube at bit.ly/darinandrich Enjoy! Rich

My why is way beyond superfood hunting because I suffered as a kid. I was having issues and challenges as a kid. I realized finally that what I was putting in my mouth made a difference in my brain, made a difference in my body, made a difference in my outlook. So that was in my DNA. body made a difference in my outlook. So that was in my DNA. So to be able to go out and find these things and preserve these things that have been used for thousands and thousands of years for really good reason. It is my mission for these nutrients to get to people so that those people can thrive. Period. That's Darren O'Lean, this week on The Rich Roll Podcast.

The Rich Roll Podcast. Hey, everybody. How are you guys doing? What is happening? How are you? My name is Rich Roll. I am your host. Welcome to my podcast. Got a great show for you guys doing? What is happening? How are you? My name is Rich Roll. I am your host. Welcome to my podcast. Got a great show for you guys today. Today's episode is a literal superfood show and tell with the superman of superfoods himself, my good buddy, Darren O'Lean, making his third appearance on the podcast. In case you missed it, Darren first graced this platform, this program back in episode 153 and then again in episode 268, both of which are amongst my most popular, most listened to episodes in the history of this show. So if you skip them the first time around or perhaps you're new to the show, I would definitely go back and check him out. And for those of you who are new to the show, Darren is the first ever health and wellness expert to be

coined a quote unquote superfood hunter. And what that means, we're going to explore in depth in today's conversation. He is known uniquely within the health and wellness community as many things, an exotic superfood expert, a supplement formulator, and an environmental activist who has spent the better part of the last two decades or so traveling the planet to discover new and underutilized medicinal plants. He is the author of a book called Super Life, The Five Forces That Will Make You Healthy, Fit, and Eternally Awesome, which is a really great health and lifestyle primer you should all pick up. But Darren's latest discovery, his latest obsession is the beru nut. The beru nut is this exotic, crazy delicious, almost addictive, and incredibly nutrient-rich super nut

that comes from the berucas tree in the Brazilian Sahado that sort of tastes like a mix of almonds, cashews, and peanuts all mixed up together, but actually a lot better with less calories, less water footprint, and this insane nutritional profile packed with protein, fiber, minerals, and all kinds of good stuff. So Darren decided to begin supporting the indigenous inhabitants of the Saharu to harvest this nut, to import it, and ultimately to begin selling it under the label of this new company that he formed called Barucas. And today he's going to tell us all about it. It's a really super cool story.

But first... Super cool story. But first... We're brought to you today by recovery.com. I've been in recovery for a long time. It's not hyperbolic to say that I owe everything good in my life to sobriety. And it all began with treatment and experience that I had that quite literally saved my life. And in the many years since, I've in turn helped many suffering addicts and their loved ones find treatment. And with that, I know all too well just how confusing and how overwhelming and how challenging it can be to find the right place and the right level of care.

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Search by insurance coverage, location, treatment type, you name it. Plus, you can read reviews from former patients to help you decide. Whether you're a busy exec, a parent of a struggling teen, or battling addiction yourself, I feel you. I empathize with you. I really do. And they have treatment options for you. Life in recovery is wonderful, and recovery.com is your partner in starting that journey. When you or a loved one need help, go to recovery.com and take the first step towards recovery. To find the best treatment option for you or a loved one, again, go to recovery.com. Okay, superfood hunter Darren O'Lean. Today, like I said, we pick up where we left off

in the second episode that I did with him. We dive deep into a wide variety of exotic superfoods and their nutritional properties. Darren actually does a literal show and tell with some of his favorites that he brought to the program. So if you wanna actually see what this stuff looks like, you can watch the episode on YouTube. And I guess I should just point out as a public service announcement, because I'm not sure everybody knows this, but about seven months ago, we started filming the podcast. So this

and many other episodes of the show are available on YouTube at youtube.com forward slash richroll. Anyway, in addition to all of that, Darren also takes us on an exploration of the Cejado, which is this gigantic tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil. It's basically three times the size of Texas, but much lesser understood or appreciated in comparison with the Amazonian rainforest. We talk about how he began working with the indigenous communities there to protect and preserve their precious ecosystems, and why he decided to begin importing this Baru nut and introduce it to the developed world.

Oh yeah, we also talk story on life purpose. This is a good one, people. This is me and Darren O'Leary. It's harvested, it's dried out in the middle of nowhere in these kind of tents with high sun heat. And then it takes about three months for those to get that way right do they have to be dried or they just come like this uh no you have to dry them before you can process them

right on well we're rolling welcome to the studio hey we're talking about this maca root bulb that i'm that i have in my hand that you know i've been i've been eating maca root bulb that I have in my hand that I've been eating maca for a long time. I had no idea that this is what it looks like. And that's black maca. So, the people think that the characteristics of the black maca have a lot of more aphrodisiac kind of potency and there's less of it. So, you typically have the yellow maca. That's kind of the biggest. And then there's red m it. So you typically have the yellow maca. That's kind of the biggest. And then there's red maca. So then there's some fertility with women. And at the end of the day, most of what's inside,

it's usually what they're trying to get into is that on the outside layer, that's where some of the differences are. But the evidence isn't that strong. I really believe that just taking maca in general to where some of the differences are, but the evidence isn't that strong. I really believe that just taking maca in general is gonna get- In whatever form.

Yeah, it's gonna hit. Yeah, I didn't even know there were different varieties of it. That's amazing. And these are all from Peru, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So for those that are listening, it's gonna be show and tell day with Darren.

He brought a case full of his wares, all kinds of exotic super foods in their original state. So if you're used to just listening to this podcast, you might wanna check out the YouTube version so you can see what all this stuff looks like and we're gonna get into it today. So awesome, man. Good to have you.

Third time on the podcast. Yeah, man, third time's a charmer. That's right. And we didn't even talk about what we're going to talk about today. But, you know, we've gone over your, you know, for those that are new to the show, we have done two podcasts. The first one was really kind of about your backstory and sort of superfoods in a general sense in your book, Super Life. And then the second one was kind of water focused as I recall.

And so today we're just gonna take it wherever we wanna take it, I guess. What have you been doing? I mean, since we last spoke, you've gone on a couple adventures. I know you went to Brazil. Several times. Yeah.

Well, you know, when you superfood hunt, you may go with one intention, try to find something or try to follow up on something. in a new area or ecosystem inevitably on that trail of sometimes hundreds of hours from hiking to bikes, to water buffaloes, I've literally been on water buffaloes before, you come back. And so when I was in Brazil years ago, I was there on the Amazonian side, which is kind of technically upper Brazil, like northern to mid is mostly Amazonian geographical area.

Rainforest. Yeah. And so I was looking for other things. I was looking at certain types of palm, acai, of course, this and the theobroma family, this thing called kapuasu, which is- What is that? I've never even heard of that. It's like a, it's in the cacao family,

but it has a higher fat content, some other properties that are similar, fat content, some other properties that are similar, but don't have the same energy producing stimulant, but delicious. I've never understood why it never really came about because I've played with formulating with cacao and Kapua Si, and it's utterly mouthwateringly delicious. And was that something that you were not aware of before you went on that first adventure to Brazil that you stumbled upon? No, I had been aware of that from the Peruvian side. So, I was aware of the capuaçu is a Portuguese word, so it's primarily in the Brazilian side. So, I had heard of it it and then i had gotten samples i

had done some research um but ultimately during that trip i had a brazilian reach out to me and tell me about this thing that i had never heard of before in the sahara and i'm like what's the sahara right and like it's a tropical savannah which is kind of a cousin or the lower half of Brazil. I guess the Southern part of Brazil. And I was like, whoa, that's a Savannah. Like that's fascinating. And he talked to me about this, this Badawazeta tree that comes from there and this thing called

brew nut. And I was like, you know, I'm smiling and humbly smiling going, no, I've never heard of it. Like you're the guy who's supposed to know all this. Of course. Right. But that's the beauty. I can never know it. It's like the planet is so big and there's so much diversity. Like the humbly I picked a fantastic career that I can learn for the rest of my life. And so, of course, then I was completely fascinated. And so, he ends up sending me samples. I started doing some research before they got there. And I was like, whoa, there's some high nutrient value to this nut. And as soon as I taste it, whoa, I was life had altered at that point. The Peru nut. Yeah. Because of this. Because my hat of course goes on many different ways from just the adventure

of finding something new to the curiosity, but also you put the hat on of what can I do with it and how can I get it to people, especially if it's highly nutrient dense. Right, and at the same time, supporting the communities that produce it. Yeah, we'll get into that. That's a massive part of it, massive.

Well, talk to me in general a little bit about the Sahado and the differences between Sahado land and rainforest land, because we hear a lot about the Amazonian rainforest and the deforestation that's taking place to provide cattle grazing and growing feed for cattle. I think it's like a football field, a second or something like that, that's getting cleared. You don't hear much of anything about the Sahado.

Yeah, the Amazon's about the last I heard it was about the landmass size of France every year is being decimated. And the Amazon saying like, let's just say that it's got the highest PR, right? They are promoting it and a lot of working groups are trying to protect it, right? But what is the Sahado? And so I was very much fascinated by that. And as soon as I ended up there, I saw it.

And so now you're looking at a landmass that is about three states of Texas. It's over a third of all of Brazil. That's like saying- That's incredible. And Brazil is, you know, US and Brazil are about the same size. So the Sahado is like over a third

of what the United States would be. That's unbelievable. It's huge. So it's sort of sub-equatorian, right? Below the equator. Yeah. The rainforest is more equatorial right yeah um and it's i presume a more arid yeah yeah i mean it changes it's such a vast area uh we've been

looking at it from bolivia to portugal to to brazil and it changes a bit for sure and the diversity changes and the population of certain botanicals and trees and birds and, and fruits and all that stuff changes here and there. But ultimately think of it as like a little bit of a desert-y feeling for the most part with a very interesting biodiversity. And the, which one of the the things which was very fascinating, we were, this is the kind of thing

you can't find out until you're there. And one of the things was, number one, we're driving through it and you're fascinating and fascinated and also holding back tears at the same time because you're literally seeing deforestation. So it's impacting the Sahara similar in a way that's similar to the rainforest. Right. And think of this.

So only in the last 40 years, no one really knew other than the people living in there what the Sahara was. They didn't really do anything with it. That was kind of it. Brasilia resurrected kind of in the center of it. Once that happened, it gained this attention. And then all of a sudden you're like, oh, this is kind of a poor cousin to the Amazon with less vegetation that's above ground.

So it seems to be a little easier to- Justify. Yeah, to destroy. So here's the thing. So in 40 years, the landmass that's that large, they have destroyed it. And the stats are between 50 to 79% of that whole area. Has been deforested.

Only in 40 years. Oh my God. So that gives you- So how does that, sorry to interrupt you, but like, how does that occur? What is the mechanism behind how it goes down? I would assume, I'm envisioning relatively poor indigenous inhabitants

who are then offered a check, you know, that they can't refuse because there's no other way to better provide for their family and they just relent. I mean, is that how it happens? For sure. I mean, so think about, there's kind of this, so from an economic, from a ecological point of view, the Sahadu is kind of buffering and tempering the Amazon. They're cousins.

They have a symbiosis, right? And so, when that's getting disturbed, it causes a lot of instability in the Amazon as well, which then further accelerates everything. Amazon as well, which then further accelerates everything. The deforested part, you might be whacking it above ground, but here's the interesting thing. Some people, experts in country, in Brazil, say that the vegetation is because of deep tap roots, because of huge droughts that the plants and the barrozeta tree and these plants have deep, deep tap roots. So they're hitting deep aquifers. So they have a vegetation below ground that's equal if you flipped it up as to the breadth and the width and the height of the Amazon. So you're not seeing the biomass that's being destroyed from the root structures.

Right, so there's this incredibly robust, beautiful vegetation with extraordinary biodiversity, but it doesn't meet the eye. Right. It's below ground. You have 90 million species of insects. You have hundreds of species of mammals. You have tens of thousand plant diversities.

You have a diversity that's comparable to the Amazon. And what are the sort of alpha land mammals in that area? If you were trekking through there, what are you seeing? Well, the funny thing is we had a, because of the sad situation where you have literally this line that's drawn between what's the de forested and then the forest or whatever is left in that and we had a situation where we were going through an area and then out of the forest runs this

anteater that's the size of a California mountain lion it Wow. It's huge, like huge, like nose. And so we actually, in our ultimate wisdom, we try to kind of like, he's out in the open kind of vulnerable. So we kind of like got jumped out of the car and kind of tried to get him back in the forest. I don't know whatever that was doing. It was just our instincts.

So, but it's everything from different types in the forest, I don't know whatever that was doing. It was just our instincts. But it's everything from different types of foxes and things like that. There's no large, like super predators, but you have a, when you have insects, when you have birds and you have few hundred different types of mammals and 90 million insects, you have the inkling of an incredible, powerful ecosystem. Right. And who are the interests that are behind the deforestation? Is it American big cattle grazing companies?

Is it Brazilian companies? Like who's, who's doing this? Who are the perpetrators? I tell you, Brazil is so, I think they make us look not as aggressive with meat production. They are so aggressive. You, what I was hearing is that you literally, when you buy land, they force you as a mandate to have cattle. Like you can't really- It's a precondition of actually even purchasing property. The undertow is that is we want economic stability, but the subtext of that is that's cattle, right?

So they're pushing this on people. And the meat consumption in Brazil is just- Right, so it's staying in country. They're not exporting. Oh yeah, they're doing a lot of exporting. And how much of it is for cattle grazing proper versus growing the feed for the cattle? I don't know the exact stats, but it's a ton.

I mean, the soy, corn, it's three things. The cattle are either on it, the land, the stripped land, or you're growing the feed for that cattle. And it- It's a monocrop culture. Yeah, I mean, and when you literally see it and now having eyes of the medicinal plants and the Baruca nuts and all of that stuff,

I can see the economic stability in that, right? I can see like, oh, that's important, right? And you don't have to do this unsustainable thrashing of the land and burning of it. You have a gift right there in the ecosystem. And so that kind of gets down to like well you have to have an economic engine you have to be able to make a business work in order to go back to those people and back to what you said before which i didn't quite get to and that is without a doubt in our Baruca project, there is no way that we could even have this business if it wasn't 100% supported by the indigenous people.

Because they're on the land and the landmass is massive. So we've spent years meeting the chiefs, meeting the head villagers, traveling around the areas, setting up the infrastructure because this is a nightmare for a business. It's a nightmare. It's a wild collected. There's no monocropping brew nuts. It's not happening any person of an you know an entrepreneurial brain who doesn't understand uh indigenous work and understanding the real fair trade of how to make these people very happy and their wild collections and uh support them it's a if you plant a tree, guess what?

You plant it, it's going to take 15 years for you to even get the fruit from it. So it's not like, hey, good idea. Let's jump into the brew trade here. And so you have to spend a lot of time organizing all of the infrastructure that it takes. organizing all of the infrastructure that it takes. Yeah, well, you're literally inverting the paradigm from one that sees the forest through the trees and instead flip that to see the tree in the forest. You know what I mean? Yeah.

And having to overcome the momentum of what has sustained that culture for so long to come in and say, look, there's a better way. There's a more sustainable way that will empower you long-term and feed your children for generations to come. But me, Darren, white guy coming down to Brazil, you're going to have to trust me. You know what I mean? That's a huge obstacle to overcome. And you know how many times, Rich, I've been in that situation? Like so many times, someone at some point has offered them something for their land or some sort of deal, whether it's

in country and they want to sell the nuts or it's some other medicinal plant, some other country. I've been in that situation so many times. And here's the thing that when you show up, it matters a lot. When you sit down and be with them and eat lunch with them and spend time with them and get to understand them and see what they need and really come about it from that perspective and then are super consistent what we say is what we're going to do and we're going to keep doing that because they have had so many i'm talking people in general i'm talking about small farmers around the world small collectors around the world it is the same thing um that they have people who've promised them the world and then when it actually came they didn't have an economic

stability or they didn't have a business they wanted a business but they didn't have the the understanding of how to run it or whatever the case is they may have had a good intention but ultimately these people go out and do a bunch of work and then they don't get paid for it. And so then they get, you know, it wears them out over time. And so then you're the next guy showing up. But for us now, it's been, you know, in terms of Baruca, you know, it's been two and a half years. So we, we basically said, listen, and this, by the way, I think all business should be done from the foundation and the ground. I think that's, that's where a customers are getting smarter because I've always

believed like treat people as if they know, even if they don't, you know, and, and that's from a consult, a customer point of view. So, you know, it's, it's, it's treating these people like, what do you need? What do you, what's fair to pay you? And then we'll pay them a little more with some incentives along the way, because you cannot, it's like the the lottery you can't just give them a bunch of money they need to grow into that i know farmers in peru that i've known for a decade and when the chinese came in and overpaid a hundred times for this stuff because the and i'm referring to maca um these farmers, I understand, they have to take the money.

And the Chinese were coming in with suitcases full of money and then stealing it through the old drug routes, because this is technically illegal to leave the country in its raw state. Oh, wow, I didn't know that. Yeah. That's interesting. And so then it just becomes, it doesn't become a long-term enterprise.

It's just a scorched earth situation. Totally. And then those people, usually with all of that money that they're being paid 100 times more, what happens is it's a lottery situation. So they make a whole bunch of money. They don't understand it fully because they're indigenous people and they just know how to work and stuff. So when you get a ton of money that it's caused family problems and the same problems it causes here, or they're human.

So when you work with them, you understand what they need, what's fair, just above that, and then incentives along the way. Like, listen, we will pay you a fair amount over what you're used to paying and for the next 20 years. Yeah. It's the consistency, right? It's creating an infrastructure and a long-term plan that can weather, you know, whether it's drought or a crop fails or something like that. Right. Cause we've talked about this, like that's what's sort of sidelined a lot of these other plays to go down there and develop businesses with these indigenous plants

that they don't have the infrastructure or the kind of human resources and long-term view to kind of weather those patterns. And so then a crop fails and then you can't pay. And then there's, you know, too much of it or, you know, whatever, like how do you maintain that level of consistency so that you engender that trust? Totally. Because, you know, I'm just envisioning the small farmer. It's like, oh, here's Darren. He shows up like, well, why should I, first of all, why should I believe you? I've been burned, you know, a million times over and the cattle industry is offering me

this check. You have to convince me why I should say no to that big check that's guaranteed that all my friends are taking. If I don't and I go your route, perhaps I become a pariah in my community or I'm taking, why should I shoulder this risk? Ultimately, you're going, at least what you have on your side is common sense and sustainability of the environment. Oftentimes these people live by the land, they live on the land, they live very simply. So they're usually in a situation that's dire. So therefore they'll take these, you know, situations so they can live, they're living kind of day to day. So when you show up more than once and you have your teams that come back and show more, show up over and over again, and you say, listen, don't cut all these down.

Do as much work as you want. And we'll pay, we'll buy. This is what we say. Do as much work as you want and we'll pay, we'll buy. This is what we say. We'll buy everything you're willing to collect for the next 20 years. And the way it works is these villages have like receiver ships, right? Where, so the various farmers collect the Baru nuts and they get deposited into like one location. And then you kind of gather all of those collections up, right?

Yeah, there's tons of locations and tens of thousands of families. So it's not agriculture in the traditional sense of them, like clearing a plot of land and growing these trees, it's just gathering what is already sort of native to the land. So this is it. So that's a Baru nut.

This is a Baru nut. So this is the thing with these things, they have this incredibly hard shell on them, right? This is almost Peru nut. This is the Peru nut. So this is the thing with these things. They have this incredibly hard shell on them, right? This is almost like a stone. Yeah, yeah, very much. So those that are listening, it's about an inch and a half long, about a little over maybe an inch wide.

Yep, so on the outside, it's a fruit layer. So technically it's a seed. So there's one nut per fruit. So you can hear it. Right, if you shake it. If you shake it, you can hear it. Right, if you shake it. If you shake it, you can hear it. One nut, technically called a droop. And the nut is like a centimeter long, right?

It's smaller than a peanut. Right, well, yeah, it's about a gram. It's a gram per about average 25 grams per fruit. Right, and so the traditional way of extracting the nut from the shell is what like a sledgehammer well yeah the interesting thing traditional traditional meaning is far back is and again you don't find this out until you're actually there and you talk to enough people that have been involved in this stuff and villages and stuff and so what they used to do is they, so the only way you can collect these,

you can't, there is a tree, but you can't collect it early. It literally, because the seed is not complete. It has to drop. It has to fall on the ground. So this is all fallen fruit. So when it falls, then they collect it, right? So indigenously, thousands of years, they used to take it. And so, at the end of an embered evening of fire, they would throw a bunch of these on the fire.

And when the fire would go out and they'd wake up the next morning, all of these were roasted. and they'd wake up the next morning, all of these were roasted. And so then they would eat more easily be able to break this very hard shell open and then crack it open. It was a roasted nut because the anti-nutrients that are in here and it's raw state, because it's like a good question people always ask,

like, well, I wanna eat them raw. And I'm like, well, but you can't because they're not made that way. So like there's a group of foods obviously that you can cook that bring out the nutrients. So we did all the tests after roasting and that's where the nutrient superiority really just blew us away.

Right, so let's take a step back. Like you're the super food hunter, you've been spending, I don't know, 20 years going down into these exotic locations and forested foraging for crazy exotic superfoods. And you got a whole bunch in front of you right here, everything from maca, what is this huge? This is baobab.

Right there, baobab. So this is baobab from Africa and Madagascar from a baobab tree, which is a sacred tree. It looks like the size of a small coconut. Yes, it's a little ornamental, right? It hangs and it drops. And the funny thing is, it's already dried powder. Some people ask, well, how do you get dried powder? It's actually already dried.

So you break it, and this is what it's like inside. And there's a seed. And then you just separate the seed and the powder and literally put it in a bag. And you're getting tons of vitamin C, calcium. Yeah, there's a seed in there, so don't crunch on it, but you can. All right, I'll eat it after. Yeah. so don't crunch on it, but you can, yeah. All right, I'll eat it after.

Yeah, so this is a very important food in Africa and Madagascar, never really took an off. I think it's because it's, you know, again, you're talking with villagers, you're talking with, you gotta, I sat down with presidents of the village in the middle of nowhere. And you have to organize these things. So it's, you know, I'm one person. So some of these things I have to just, you know, manage my time and my resources to figure that out.

time and my resources to figure that out. You know, what I'm getting at is, you know, somebody who has created this encyclopedia of these foods and their nutritional benefits, you've made this decision to like zero in on the brunette and like really pioneer the introduction of this nutritious superfood into the, you know, Western world, the developed world marketplace. So why the Baru nut? Like, what is it about this nut that made you go, all right, I'm just going to put all my energy into this one thing as opposed to, you know, the Baobab or one of these other ones. Or Babassu or Moringa. And then Moringa's got a whole other story. But, you know, it was several things.

It was the nutritional profile compared to any other nut is far superior, right? So what is the profile? So it's got three times the fiber of any nut, which is just ridiculous, right? And we're all lacking fiber. The protein is superior than any nut. It's close to a peanut with protein, but it's got all the amino acids, which also is not heard of in a nut. So complete amino acid profile.

Complete amino acid profile. The antioxidants, which is incredible, 370 plus percent more than almonds. So it is just this power. And then the micronutrients, copper, zinc, calcium, magnesium, just wickedly high in. And then you have a third less calories from fat than any other nut.

So you have this. And then on top of just the wow of the nutrients, which was hitting me, as soon as I tasted it, I was like, oh my God, there's no American barrier to entry because it tastes like a peanut. Some people say it tastes like popcorn went to bed with a cashew. It's just this incredible, incredible taste profile on top of the nutrients, on top of the taste. on top of the nutrients, on top of the taste. And then, you know, why we're talking so much about the environment is because it's so intimately connected to preserving this huge landmass.

And for me, Rich, when I've been out so much in the world, I am under no delusion that if we want to do sustainable things, it's not going to be necessarily from the government. It's not going to be from some great organization that's going to solve all of our worldly problems. It's literally, I see deforestation from village to village. Deforestation doesn't necessarily just happen by some person coming in and wiping out the landmass of France. It's small things added up over time. And we know this by creating value back to the Batozeta tree and proving to the indigenous people that we stand for you, we stand for the environment, and we say what we are do to prevent uh economic environmental destruction yeah if you want to combat a negative market force you have to create and produce a countervailing uh sustainable market force with uh with equal heft and power, right?

So this is the seed, literally, the seed of doing that. And how do you, I have a bunch of observations, but first of all, like, how do you ensure that this endeavor will continue to protect these people, preserve the land and sort of empower them to preserve their indigenous lifestyle. And to the extent that they can put up a stop sign to the them and seeing who they are, what they are, what are their problems. And are they like, what is the organizational structure? Is it just a loose affiliation of villages and farmers? Is there like elders that you have to go to? Like, what is it? Like when you go in, you're like, all right, who's the guy I got to talk to?

Yeah. I mean, the amount of quote unquote meetings and interviews we've had from the head researchers to the, we go to the universities. Who's studying this? Who's doing their doctoral thesis? Like we've had meetings with all these people. And then we're like, okay, who's the guy that's done the organization?

Who's also all the processors that have been trying to make this work in country? Who are all they? Who's the head organizers? And now who's the head chiefs? Because ultimately, yeah, it's these chiefs that are having some sort of political understanding of what's going on. get exposed. You got to have conversations, exhaustive over and over and over and say the same thing. We are here. And then over time, you find those people that have the same values. You find people that have not done things well because everyone's human. You have failed NGO reforestation projects. You have all kinds of stories that you're seeing. And so you're at the end of trips, you just got downloaded in a PhD of what this real situation is. And so now kind of the aftermath of that is,

oh, that guy does this. So if we're gonna plant trees, which we are, right? He's the head of the nursery, understands graphing, he understands the strength of the tree, he knows the numbers, he knows how to distribute them, he knows all of that, so that of the tree. He knows the numbers. He knows how to distribute them. He knows all of that. So that's the guy. And then, okay, that chief, she's completely on board.

It was a woman too, badass. One of the chiefs was a badass woman, which is so cool. She was like in her 30s. Right, wow. And just completely, I was just stunned. Very smart, very articulate. And how do you prevent them from pulling them off the trees before they're fully ripe and then delivering you,

you know, a batch that's not gonna work? Well, that's our quality control, our standards, which is all, you know, the Brazilian standard won't work. And so we've had horrible situations where you're seeing, and this happens a lot indigenously, they're just processing this stuff and cracking it and throwing it in bags that were once fertilizer. And you're going, oh yeah, this won't work for them.

Well, this is endemic in the superfood industry in general. And we talked about this a little bit before. The moringa, the nutritional benefit that you think you're getting from the moringa that you're buying at your natural food market probably isn't delivering on the promise. Go down the list. That's the case of most of them because there isn't this kind of quality control. There isn't enough regulation to ensure that the processing methods are are what they should be and there's an uneducated or undereducated public to be able to differentiate so so much so that i mean i think your your estimates were like basically it's all

garbage like with a very few exceptions when you go to you know spend your hard-earned dollars and these things are expensive to make sure that you're actually getting what you think you're getting. Yeah. I mean, I mean, Rich, my, I never, the only reason I started superfood hunting is because, and that wasn't even a term I gave myself for sure. It was because my father was an agricultural professor from in Minnesota. I grew up around farmers. I grew up around some sense of the business around it.

And by playing with these things and formulating with them and looking at them, how would you not have the morality and ethics of showing up and seeing where they're from, how they're handled, what's the, all of these said superfoods are just a catalyst for these nutrients to get to people so that those people can thrive, period. That my why is way beyond superfood hunting. Because I suffered as a kid. I was having issues and challenges as a kid. I realized finally that what I was putting in my mouth made a difference in my brain, made a difference in my body, made a difference in my outlook. So that was in my DNA. So to be able to go out to me and find these

things and preserve the quality and preserve these things that have been used for thousands and thousands of years for really good reason. It is my mission to make sure that when people are, they're hard-earned money and they're not getting quality, they're not even getting active compounds that they were meant to get by buying these, that's a shame because they're then walking around going, no, it didn't do anything for me. Right, it's downright fraudulent and you're entering a marketplace like standing on the shoulders of an industry that for decades and generations has thrived in an environment of non-transparency.

Yeah. Right? era, you know, a generation of people who grew up on the internet and expect a certain level of transparency, demand it from the corporations and the, you know, the companies that they choose to, you know, purchase their products from. And there is, I've, I'm seeing like a renewed sense of responsibility from business owners, startups, you know, not just in food, but across the board to provide that level of transparency and to connect the consumer with the, not just the processes, but the people that are on the ground who are creating the products that they're patronizing. Yeah. And, and drop the transparent, like drop the wall. Like here they are. These are the real things. Guess where I had to go, you know, to get it.

I know you guys. So it's like, we have this joke, Darren and I, like, I'll go to like the fancy Erewhon market, which is like the natural foods market out here where everything's super expensive and I'll peruse the superfoods aisle. You know, there's just aisles and aisles of like, you know, every product you can imagine and plenty of things that I've never heard of. And I'll take pictures of, like, this happened with Moringa. I was like, okay, I need to get, I want to get the kind Moringa. And so, I'm taking pictures of all the different options at Erewhon. I'm sending you, what about this one? You're like, no, don't get that one. What about this one? What about this one? It's probably okay. Yeah. And I feel like there needs to be some oversight and

standards because I'm more educated about this stuff than the average consumer. So what if you're just like, hey, I heard Darren, he told me I should get this. It's cool. You go to whatever is available to you and you're either overwhelmed with the options or there's only one on the shelf, if that. And you're like, well, I'll take that. And you showed me the difference between like a pure Moringa, which has this deep green. Oh, there you have it. You have it. Like, look at how beautiful that green is. Look at that.

Smell that. So it's a bag of like. That's yours, by the way. Wow, that's amazing. So did you hand harvest this? Yeah, that was done in conjunction with the Navajo Nation in Arizona. I have a friend who does operations in the NAPI, as they call them. The NAPI, as they call them, the Navajo Nation, are doing a big push to move from straight-up mono pesticide agriculture to organic and stuff. So that was like a pet project.

But it was one of those things that I had to kind of buy my time, and I didn't have enough time to, to, uh, fully get into the production of Moringa at the moment. But you have kind of, you, you do, you're kind of doing this on the side, right? Like you got to plot a land out in the desert where you're. Yeah. Yeah. But proving, so I wanted to prove like, listen, here in the United States, I can grow and find an area that moringa will thrive right so we did and um i got a bunch of really really competent um harvesters who had a lot of experience in the in the organic world and we did this little pilot project and and once we harvested it it's friends of mine who own some companies, we did a little, I convinced them to let me use their processing line. And we did it. And the nutritional value blew me away.

I pulled this top wholesale one that they sell to most of the companies out there. And then I pulled the top retail one. I'm not going to name these names, but, and I, I did the nutritional value of this and, and it was two to three times most of the micronutrients. And so that,

that, that goes back to what I'm saying, like, and part of what I want people to get the nutrients so that goes back to what I'm saying, like in part of what I want people to get the nutrients so that they can combat this modern day stressful world. And that's a whole nother conversation in this underwhelming nutrient food that we have so that you're not pulling around this suffering you know i want people to

freaking live that's why i'm doing this stuff like i'm fascinated by it but ultimately i want people to consume the greatest foods in the world so they can not just exist but they can actually you know thrive and have enough energy to kick some ass and live the kind of dream life they want. Yeah, I think that's something that gets lost in the conversation about nutrition. It's not just about like losing weight or, you know, promoting longevity. These are great things, but, you know, if you can rejuvenate yourself to a point where you truly are thriving in an optimal state, then the conversation needs to be about what you're going to do with that, right? And I think something that gets underserved in the conversation about

Darren is that I think, you know, like you're very clear and you said this to me many times, like, I know what I'm here on earth to do. Like, I'm very clear about that, but this is really like a spiritual odyssey for you, you know, and you're coming from like this profound spiritual place of now you've done a lot of work in that arena. And so it's much more than just like, Hey, healthy food. healthy food yeah well he's you know talking about addiction hitting my life you know when my dad I've said the story so I don't need to get into it but in 2005 when my dad passed away from 30 years of sobriety and started drinking again it was when you when I lost my

father there was something that hit me so bloody deeply through that pain that i was like darren uh sorry audience quit fucking around you know what i mean it's like you quit dabbling in this stuff you've been to these things you've seen things take that knowledge and do something with it. And that to me has never left me, it never will. And so it expresses itself in Superfoods, it expresses itself on other projects, it expresses itself in, you know,

why I called my book Superlife is because ultimately underneath all of it, Rich, I do want people. I want myself. I want you. I want the camera guys. I want people to live a super life. Like I really do. Like, cause the ladder

is just pain, suffering and existing. And we're all gonna hit that, but getting and cultivating the skills and getting the nutrient value so that you have more tools to deal with it and think straight and then figure out the other things that you need to support yourself. If that's finding a guru, if it's finding a practitioner, if it's listening. I mean, here's the thing about purpose. It's so easy to blow it off because it's a whisper. And that whisper is often taken over by a megaphone of all the other crap the world tells us we should do. You know that,

right? Your freaking story is right down the center of that. You're this, you're a lawyer, you're studying this. Like saying, oh, like, who is that? So I get that. And I listened to my father say this when I was nine years old. I could barely see over the dashboard of the car. And I asked my dad, don't know, asked me how I did. I said, what do you want in your life? And my dad said, I want to sail because I was in the Navy and I always want to have a boat. I want to be in the sunshine.

And here we are in Minnesota. I want to motorcycle again and sunshine. And here we are in Minnesota. I want to motorcycle again and feel the wind on my face. And so he had a few other things. I heard that. And then I spent the next 30 years with that man and him not fulfilling that stuff? Do you think that his addiction and his sadness and his pain and his anger of A, all the things that that came from, from his childhood, but also not fulfilling his purpose that he revealed to me and the gift that he gave me was I heard it, but I am going to actually do it. And somewhere in me, I heard that, but I am gonna actually do it.

And somewhere in me, I heard that and I felt that. Right, well, a couple of things. First of all, highly abnormal for a nine-year-old kid to ask his dad like this profound question about his life. So there's something about you that is unique in that regard. And the fact that you remember it, like it was such a memorable event in your life that created like a compass and a sense of direction and then second to that

is the simplicity of his responses to that question like i like being on the water i like the sun it's like it's not like oh i need a mansion and a jet or like, it's like very basic things that really, I mean, the boat, you know, we can talk about that. But beyond that, like what he really wants is like that sense of freedom and what he feels like on the water, right? 100%. And those are not necessarily tied to socioeconomic status. They're achievable goals. You know what I mean? And the fact that for whatever reason, he became a prisoner of his conditions and was never able to access those very basic human needs. I mean, that's what I like.

One of the reasons I moved, I like the sun, I like the water, I like the mountains. Here we are. Yeah. And there's tragedy in that in some regards. It's sad. The cool thing about our relationship, my dad was angry, drunk, sober. The scar on my chin that maybe the audience can see was when my dad got sober for the first time after. He accidentally catapulted me in the garage from a slamming the

door he didn't know i was there um in a drunk drunken stupor and it catapulted me into the sea of beer bottles on a concrete floor and like a bowling ball uh I slammed into them, broke them open, and my chin nearly got cut off. And this was four. Yeah. The symbolic nature of you crashing into beer bottles too. Yeah, exactly. Like empty ones or full ones? They must have been empty.

Yeah. Right? Got to save those. Got to collect those. Yeah. A trophy to the extent to which he imbibed yeah and then that that's when he got sober for the first time scared him but uh you know he got scared again and his demons came back but the cool thing about our relationship was uh there was nothing that was on the left on the table um the as we were adults and we bonded incredibly like he did get a motorcycle at one point and ultimately got rid of it for some other

weird ass reasons that ultimately um he kind of didn't feel he deserved it and all this stuff. But before he died, there was nothing that I wasn't honest with him about and nothing he wasn't honest that I know of that he wasn't honest with me. So you guys were good. We were good. And what do you think triggered the relapse after that many years in sobriety?

Well, I think it was an undealt with pain. So keep in mind in 1941 or two, when he was born, he was the youngest of three and his oldest brother who was 20 years old, he was one, he was 20 and he got killed in World War II. So their golden child, I think he was dating an actress, he was doing really well, he was charismatic, he was dating an actress. He was doing really well. He was charismatic.

He was all this stuff. And then the grief of that was the Petri dish of how my dad grew up. So there was this, and then he grew up with two engineer brothers, very linear. One worked at Boulder at the Atmospheric Research Center. And the other one worked, boulder at the atmospheric research center and the other one worked was a head one of the head engineers for the alaska pipeline these guys were smart like i felt stupid around them like like like they can go uh read off uh photographic memories and like

all this stuff and my dad it's got two parts, very smart, but also very empathic, right? So he's just like, who am I? I'll be a professor. So he was a professor for a while. He's like, wait a minute, I wanna connect with people. So became a counselor. Wait a minute, I don't wanna live in Minnesota. And so he was just kind of a tennis match inside of himself.

And ultimately, it just, he wasn't fulfilled. Right. And he felt trapped. Yeah. Yeah. And that's heavy for you, you know, to carry that around, but to be able to process that and use it as, you know, an example of mistakes you don't want to make in your own life.

And to kind of, like I said earlier, of mistakes you don't wanna make in your own life. And to kind of, like I said earlier, gauge that compass to- 100%. Forge your path. 100%. Let's get back to the Barucheth stuff, Barunah. So you've got like, so you make this decision,

like I'm gonna make a business this decision, like, I'm going to make a business out of this. Like I'm going to empower these people and I'm going to bring this thing that no one, you know, in America or North America, the Western developed world has ever even really heard of. I mean, from a marketing perspective, that's a challenge. Yeah. And I can't imagine the infrastructure. I know you've been laying like the infrastructure for the past couple of years down there. So like you've got like boots on the ground

and trucks and like processing. You figured out how to like crack these things open, right? Faster. Make your own machine to do that. Like how, is it like some kind of, what is it? Like a press? Well, there's several. There's several different cracking mechanisms.

There's a hydraulic one that's just mimicking a blade coming down and cracking it, like cracking it right here and just breaking it. And you can increase that speed. But indigenously, like I said, way back then they were thrown on the fire. But as of recently, they'll just take a machete and try to break that open. Can you imagine how uh repetitive and inefficient that is not to mention scale yeah and it's exposing it to all kinds of you know pathogens and stuff so we we have employed engineers around the world who are constantly

still um we want to get it up to a very high efficiency but we've collapsed it down into being pretty efficient um but we're also now with the fruit right so i had this idea when we're out there so this fruit layer right right the actual seed the the the seed that encases the nut yeah so it's the yeah so it's fruit, which is a droop. So the fruit layer is actually, if you, you can actually taste on it. So that little. So he's got like a mason jar. So it's like a trail mix.

So this is the ultimate alchemy of trail mix. So I've had the Baru nut, but I haven't had the fruit. So have it with it. How amazing is that? So when I was out there, I saw- Dude, that's crazy. The fruit almost tastes like graham crackers. It's crazy.

Isn't it? That's really good. With super high fiber, again, with tons of antioxidants and very low sugar. Right. So when I saw this and we saw a five-year-old Baruch fruit and I looked at it as if it was a day old. And I was like, how is it that that fruit does not break down at all?

And I ate it and I was like, it tastes like a fresh one. How is that possible? What's going on in the preservation and the resiliency of that fruit? So in the car, in a nine hour drive through the Sahara at one point, I grabbed a bunch of these, took a pocket knife and I started peeling all these. And I'm like, I'm bringing this back to the States. I'm going to test this stuff. And that's when the micronutrients and the

antioxidants and the fiber, I was like, and then I got back and I did some dehydration and all this stuff. And we're like, holy cow, a perfect synergy of a trail mix. What is the nutritional profile of the fruit? Yeah, so it's like I said, a ton of the antioxidants, a lot more fiber, vitamin E, which is great, calcium, magnesium, vitamin C, like credible. and then this is just discarded so again you're looking at a sustainable structure here is like why would we throw that away when it's got such a high nutrient value and so that's you know when we're going to launch the kickstarter we're launching

it with the idea of of introducing the the fruit, the ultimate, the super trail mix, right. Um, together, um, because there's, I'm always, I'm always blown away at alchemy, alchemy in nature. Uh, when you see it with medicinal plants and you see the synergy, another great example of that is coffee fruit, coffee bean and the fruit. And if you dry those correctly together, the benefit of the bean with the fruit is exponentially greater than anyone on their own.

So for example, the antioxidant level is through the roof. Like the fruits discard, that's another thing. Like it's the coffee. Why are we doing that? How come we're not eating the coffee beans? Because it's the coffee. And as soon as it's harvested, it goes, it ferments right away.

Right, so that's the difference between this. Cause this doesn't, it stays. There's a preservation. And when you start looking at nature nature will tell you like adaptogens too like adaptogens being in severe environmental stressors the beautiful alchemy of that is wow if we consume them it helps us deal with stress. How crazy is that, right? From chaga to cordyceps to ashwagandha to astragalus to rhodiola to schizandra, all of these different types of adaptogens. So when I look, I'm looking through the lens of that experience. And so I'm like going, there's an alchemy here.

There's not only you just experienced the taste alchemy, right, but now there's a nutritional superiority of consuming both together and you're getting that much more of a complete, again, fulfilling my deepest desire of now I just got rich more nutrients than he had before. And a very direct one-on-one way. For sure, For sure.

Yeah. For sure. The mental health piece is so important. I mean, here we are, we're in the wake of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, both making the choice to end their lives. And I think it's kind of created an interest in having a conversation that we really need to have about the importance of mental health. And I said this on social media recently, like mental health isn't everything, but it's pretty fucking close, right? And in my experience, I experienced this at our retreat recently. You get a bunch of people together

who are seemingly very high functioning or are very high functioning. And it looks like life is good. And you create a safe container where they feel like they can be vulnerable. And all you have to do is poke them. And then you realize like we're all struggling in various ways and we're not

really dealing with these issues to the extent that they demand yeah right so what in your experience is the relationship between some of these foods and these other practices that you're adept at and have been exploring on the mental health equation it's a great question rich and something that you know again with my dad being uh unstable was intimate in my life and um i you know here's the thing. I think that my dream would be to have people have better knowledge of, access to, and the ability to take care of the foundational bases. And that is sleep well, get out in the sun, drink good water, eat a bunch of plants, move your body, eliminate modern day stressors, toxic loads, EMFs, stuff that's real. It's not hokey pokey. It's real stuff affecting us um in the worst condition take medication from a

qualified i would say functional medicine doctor who understands nutritionally and biochemically um and and then put yourself into positive stressful situations that evoke the body turning on kind of its natural instinct of accomplishment, of overcoming. So I think in all of those situations, if you do not have a foundation of those things, it's like trying to push a boulder uphill. If I'm running around, it's very clear on the evidence in water alone. If kids don't drink water and they go to school, don't drink water and they go to school, their test results are in the toilet.

I forget the exact stat, but it's like a 30%. I've actually studied that, that impact of water on scholastic performance. Oh, huge. And I have some in my book, I forget the exact, but it was like a few hours, like a glass of water increased their performance by 20 or 30%. Really? Yeah.

Dehydration, bro, is like so destructive that in the reptilian brain won't even allow you to think of the thirst. Because you have 7 to 10% of Americans not even drinking an ounce of water a day. 7% to 10% of Americans not even drinking an ounce of water a day are just going to their coffee and existing and living on adrenaline. That is their up-and-go molecule in their body that was only meant to get away from a lion, but they're living on it 24-7. You are frying your hormonal system. You're frying your central nervous system, i.e. brain. And we expect to then respond to this modern day overachieving situation when you're basic. And also the other thing I said is proper breathing, right? What I didn't say is your basic needs of you're going against your basic physiological need. So when, when at the root of autism,

they've found dehydration, lack of nutrition, these kinds of situations. So I always look at, which is why I didn't write a superfood book. I wrote a super life book about foundational stuff because I told the publisher, I don't want to write it on superfoods because I don't want to be put in a thing like this is going to cure you or take you away. No, I want you to understand that there's foundational things that you can do that 99% of the people on the planet are going to thrive in if you take care of that. So all of these other things and even medications are like showing up to a forest fire with a little squirt gun. Yeah. If you're, you could be, you be, look, here's this beautiful moringa. You could be eating this and brew nuts all day

and the maca and whatever. But if you're an asshole and you're not sleeping well and you hate your boss and you're just not being mindful about these or intentional about these other areas of your life, you're not gonna be healthy. You have to understand and appreciate the delicate balance of all of these systems

and addressing them holistically. And I think it starts with this realization that most of us, the vast majority of us are living our lives reactively when we have a choice to live intentionally. And don't misunderstand. That doesn't mean you up and quit your job the next day. But how do you approach your sleep every night?

Are you just dozing off to television shows at two in the morning and waking up at five or six because you weren't conscious about how you're managing your time? Or what's the first thing that you're grabbing in the morning like are you reacting and just in a pattern or a habit that you've always practiced or are you making conscious decisions about how to improve those little things that don't cost money but require some conscious energy totally yeah and i think I think one thing I became aware of is if you don't intend your life, if you don't set in motion what it is that you want, guess what? That choice is going to be made for you. Yeah. I know what that's like. Yeah. You'll be reacting to your life. And so many people are like, I just got through the day. Oh man, like, oh, but you're doing nothing to grow the part of you that wants to cultivate the life that will give you joy.

It's not easy. the life that will give you joy. It's not easy, but if you don't give your energy to it, then that wolf inside of you goes hungry. And then the other wolf who is just reacting all the time is hungry. So now you're just addicted to that weird ass life getting by next thing you know, you blink a year, five years, 10 years years and you're like what

am i doing what is the life that i want i i mean i spend every morning i have to it's almost like i'm dysfunctional i know let's let's walk through the daily routine of darren because it's something to behold like what do you get up at like 3 30 every day i did today did you yeah it's something to behold. Like what do you get up at like 3.30 every day? I did today. Did you? Yeah, it's usually four. What time you go to bed? Eight.

Eight. Yeah, it's usually pretty much eight. This is the melatonin drip in my brain I can feel. I'm like, but so, you know, sleep again, it's a foundational thing. You mess with that, there's no amount of superfood that's gonna get you over the recovery and the rest and what your body needs to restore yourself.

So that is for sure, without a doubt, I don't compromise on that. It takes me a lot to break the eight o'clock world. Yeah, no social dinners, no. I mean, listen, of course I will. Yeah. But I also like, I will hedge my bet. Okay, let's go earlier.

But so, you know, that, and then I wake up and go for the water. You know, I got my apparatuses making my water. We won't get into that right now. Yeah, we talked about that at length on the last one. Right. And we were talking before the podcast with Julie because we got to sort out our water situation

here at the house. We got to get you set up. Yeah. Get a whole house system. Yeah, we got to get a house system and then get our water. Get some hydrogen action. So that, and then I make some sort of super elixir

with several medicinal plants, tons of adaptogens. And that's kind of my, the start of the ritual, right? So then I'll go in and my dog Chaga, it kind of gives an indication of- Yeah, where your head's at. Where my head head my favorite superfood is so chaga comes in he lays down get a second sleep i come in and i then i do a meditation um i use some uh sometimes i use some brain and some frequency technology.

And then, so I'll meditate for about 30 minutes and then I'll just move right into kind of a stream of consciousness writing that is just really centered in the meditation. And then I will, you know, sometimes that is working out a problem if I have one or something on is on my mind and the other, it will always end in where I'm going and what I'm doing. And I may have said the same thing a thousand times, this project, that project, like I am

always starting my day with that in my consciousness. I believe in- Will you journal until you arrive at that level of clarity or do you stop at a certain page limit or time? No, I mean, it could be five minutes. It could be another 30. It's usually in that zone, but I'll get there pretty quick. I've honed my, this is what this is about and my tuning fork

of ultimately where I'm going is pretty sharp now, but it feels good. It feels good to tune into that which I want to create. So I always love, you know, I start with gratitude. I still, a lot of things I'm grateful for. And I kind of warm up in the writing with all of that because I don't want to come out of, I need to do that and therefore I'll arrive and like all that stuff. I want to do it because I'm excited to put it in the world and generate. Right. It's more about like, what, what is the headspace I want to be in and what is the energy I want to cultivate that will propel me in that direction? So, like this guy. And I'll employ the universe, man. I have no qualms about universe.

Get that agreement signed. And anything that doesn't allow that to sign, just destroy that. Like, I will be that. Like, I will employ the universe as my assistant to just go. And listen, for the highest good, right? So I- You put a little of that energy to work to land this incredible abode, you know, this ranch where you now live on and hidden in the woods of the Malibu mountains. Totally hidden. Yeah.

Around mountain lions, bobcats, hawks, owls. Is that bobcat still coming by? Oh yeah, man. Really, he's coming ways in your yard? No, oh, the bobcat, yeah. The bobcat hasn't for the last six months, but the mountain lion showed up a couple of weeks ago. Big, big male mountain lion.

What does Chaga do? He didn't see that one. He saw the female mountain lion. I've got an active place. And he wanted to go after her and I pulled him off, but that was good. It's good for him to not be afraid, but not good for him if he's actually gonna fight.

Yeah, that's not gonna end well for him. No, but it's humbling because I live in the forest and I live in nature and I am not about to change that. I'm not about to make a footprint to scare these things away. I am a part of them and they're a part of me and we live here together. I'm just walking around with a 90-pound German shepherd and a machete in case. Yeah. Well, I want to follow this thread through of your morning routine and your day routine, but I want to pause and reflect a little bit on this

idea of living intentionally and with like a focused purpose to make the point that it's not like a one-time thing. Like this is an evolving journey, right? And you've recently gone through kind of a renaissance in your own perspective about how you're directing your career. Like you're a very enthusiastic guy. Like you get super excited about these projects and you had this kind of moment of reckoning not too long ago where you realize

like that enthusiasm left you spread too thin and committed to too many different projects. And you had to kind of like pause and go, what am I doing? And you ended up kind of cleaning house in order to get focused on the things that are most important. And this is somebody who, I mean, how long have you been practicing the meditation and the journaling? Right. So it's not, it's not like, oh, I'm clear. Like this is always changing and evolving. And there are still blind spots, right? Well, every step you take in the world

opens up a different door. So it's not like I can journal about the same thing cause a different door open maybe that week, that month. And I didn't know, I didn't see that. The universe has got this more than me. And so, yeah, it's humbling, Rich. You know, like there's a zillion things I wanna put in the world

and I get super excited about it. And I have every intention that I'm gonna do it. And when I kind of sat with this reality that I'm like, oh, I'm not moving this forward. I'm actually suffering and bleeding a little bit financially and my time and emotionally. And I had to get rid of an incredible team. I had some incredible women that were championing my, you know, what I was doing. And it was the hardest, it was one of the hardest things to kind of go, I have to do this. I have to take a time out. And that reassessment to then refocus

on the things that ultimately mattered, I was losing a little bit going, oh, I should do this. Oh, I should do, well, because other people are doing that. And I'm like, that was hurting me. And that was humbling. So I had to, yeah, I had to switch and, you know, taking a break from the Instagrams and all of that stuff and just going, you know what? I am really clear my big cultivation here is. So all this little stuff that will come, come what may right now. And I'm putting some energy into massive projects right now

and I'm so fired up, but also now grounded because it's a lot of work to put something in motion and to put teams together and to you know ultimately some of these things are going to ruffle some feathers when they get out there in a really good way but uh i'm really excited yeah so how many people do you have involved in the in the baroonot project barucas yeah so barucas it's uh i have a really really good badass uh uh kind of i mean he won't say he's he's the coo but he is and uh so uh seth is just incredible one of the he's traveled with me in a lot of countries so he understands so much of what's going on.

He's in a place in his career where he doesn't need money. He just wants to do it right. I said, awesome. And then- Yeah, I met him. He was super cool. Like he said, he's retired like four times or something like that.

And I threw this at him and he couldn't stop himself. And then Rodrigo, this is the Brazilian who ultimately introduced me and was questioning, he's like, could we do this? Like, I'm Brazilian, I wanna help with this thing. And then he's turned out to be- He's the guy who tried to do it on his own?

Well, yeah, they had seen this thing and they were thinking that it was possible but they didn't really know and i think that's why he reached out to me he goes well if anyone's gonna know if anyone's gonna help uh it's this guy so um and then so he's turned out to be just a badass just works hard and cares and and then and then just Justin, who I've worked with, and Seth was worked with a few times, everyone's just in the right spot, and we're just all about doing it right.

Let's plant trees, let's make this sustainable for the people, and let's get out the greatest nut on the planet. Why are you doing a Kickstarter? Well, because, you know, we're, again, we're in this engineering thing where the nut's one thing to crack, which we're spending time, resources, and money to do that. But it's also now how to shave this efficiently. The fruit off of the nut doesn't exist. So we really want to raise the awareness. And if there's any capital, great. Let's do that. But it's ultimately the biggest, personally,

the biggest reason we want to raise money so we can plant trees like right now. Because 15 years giving these trees out to the indigenous people so that they replant them in the wild, we want to get millions of trees. And that is ultimately why we're creating this Kickstarter. So how much are you trying to raise through that?

I don't know what we're going to set, but we're going to get some eyeballs on this thing. And I urge everyone to like go out and tell your friends and family, because this is really rubber meets the road, voting with your dollars. By you ordering some of the trail mix, you'll get an incredible experience with great nutrition,

but you're literally helping an environment and you're helping the indigenous people directly. Because like I said, if we're not in the symbiosis with the people and the planet, this project wouldn't even exist. So that's ultimately our biggest goal. Yeah. Every consumer is empowered with the ability to shift and change culture by voting with your dollar, right? So you can go and buy what you've always bought. And that ultimately is supporting, you are voting for those companies to succeed.

So who are you voting for? Are you voting for somebody who is damaging the planet and poisoning children? Or are you investing in the future really and investing in true sustainable agriculture that's empowering indigenous people? And also at the future really, and investing in true sustainable agriculture that's empowering indigenous people. And also at the same time, nourishing your body in a profound way.

So you rolled this thing out. And when did these first become available? Because they've been, they're at Air One, like you can buy it. They're at Sun Life, Khalil's shop, friend of the podcast. So I'm seeing them around and what's great. I mean, first of all, I haven't even said it. They're like incredibly Life, Khalil's shop, friend of the podcast. So I'm seeing them around and what's great, I mean, first of all, I haven't even said it, they're like incredibly delicious, dude.

They're so tasty that they're addictive. And even like my daughter, Mathis, she goes to Sun Life and she buys them. She's like, oh my God. She's like, that's your friend, Darren's company. I can't, like if I eat them, I have to eat like the whole bag. Like I can't stop eating them. They're so good.

And she's finicky, you know, like she's not easy to please. So, you know, for an adolescent, you know, teenager to enjoy a food that's super good for you. That's like, that's such a win, you know. That's what we found. The kids would, you know, our friend Neil Strauss, right? Yeah. So he sent me a video of his son, 10, two years old, crying on video. Danny, give me Barucas.

I want Barucas. Give me Barucas. I'm like, I died laughing. died laughing. So the thing is, again, the no barrier to taste entry for Americans, plus the nutrients, plus good for the environment, that's why I did it. That's why I focused on barucas to like, this called me, this wasn't even my, this wasn't even a choice. I had to do it. Yeah. It's not like, like maca is an acquired taste, like moringa is very exotic, but the burruna meets the American palate

like where it's at because it does taste very, it's like a better tasting version of a peanut. It's better, I think it's better. And to know that the nutritional profile like blows a peanut away and is better than an almond. I love almonds, but the water input for almonds is insane. So I feel like I have this weird pang of guilt every time I'm eating almonds or making my own almond milk.

Yeah, well, it's the amount of water they use for one year of cultivation of almonds is as much as all of LA uses. That's crazy. All of LA. Yeah. I mean, it's not as bad as beef or dairy, to be clear. But like in terms of the plant kingdom, I think it might be the most water intensive plants to grow. And they grow them like crazy here in California,

an area where drought is a very real thing. And this is wild. There's no outside water. It's what it taps into and the aquifer and what rains on it. Like that's it. And just to be fair, it's not without its carbon footprint though, because you got to import these things from Brazil. So we can't, can you grow them here or is it something about the Sahadoo and the-

Yeah, it's a very, very particular biome. We haven't found that it would thrive and you would take you probably two to three cycles of the tree growing. Let's say it matured in 15 years. It may die off in the next 30. So you don't really know. But I'm a firm believer that when the planet has chose a particular area to grow something, then there's a reason for it. And I like to, my view is outweighing the carbon footprint is allowing for the indigenous people to thrive,

for the planet to be, to the Sahara to be resurrected, and for people to have better nutrients. And it's a prophylactic against the encroaching, you know, deforestation of the cattle industry. So our calculation is that there's far, far outweighs the footprint of that. And again, we're very, very conscious of utilizing it in the most sustainable way.

And that's why we've taken two and a half years to get it to where it can be talked about and shared now. Are you like, you're selling these from the website right now? Yeah. And you get them nationwide or where are you shipping worldwide? Like where?

We're starting to open up the world, but we're a little far from that. But certainly nationwide, Baruchas.com or Amazon. And do you want to maintain the direct-to-consumer model? Or is the intention that you'll have this in retail grocery stores? Yeah, we're not opposed to that. I like the idea of people getting it directly because it just allows for efficiency, economic efficiencies. But, you know, a few retailers want it.

We're not going to say no. We have some big, big distributors, big, big. And I'm not going to name them now because we're under agreements and stuff. But we have some of the biggest that want them right now. And again, there might be a lot of people coming into this wanting it, but to actually have a sustainable supply is very, very, very difficult. There's no end to like what you can do too. You could make butters out of this. If you try to make a milk out of it.

Yes. Yeah. Milk's insane. Butter is insane. Neil Strauss's wife made remember those uh do you have those peanut butter cups with brew in them like crazy so we we have that's got to be part of the plan right and then we have a himalayan salt dusted nut that is just out of your mind delicious. So yeah, we have some plans. It's exciting, man.

Totally exciting. Yeah, so what do you think the timeframe is to get this into mainstream awareness and everybody's pantries? I'm hoping in the next month, man. In the next month, wow. Yeah, I think we're, I mean, I wanna get attraction straight away because we're coming into harvest season.

You guys are sitting on a bounty of, can you fulfill demand? We can fulfill a lot of demand right now. And we wanna know more of what that demand is so we can go gather like right now, like an infinite amount. So yeah, we're able to, like right now, like an infinite amount. So yeah, we're able to, you know,

what we've been doing is we're sitting on a large supply for this very reason too. Right, right. That's exciting. Yeah, yeah. It's, you know, it's just, again, I'm in this place in the career. I'm not doing it for the money per se. I'm doing it because it's the right thing to do.

And again, there's nothing gives me greater joy than to see you eat those and to see other people eat them because I know all of what we've discussed today is real. And it's something that we've worked very hard and you're getting something incredible for your body. And that to me, I knew the moment I started superfood hunting and I started giving my formulas away to people, that just is like the biggest, puts the biggest smile on my face. It's cool, man. Yeah.

Well, I wanna wind this down, but before we kind of close the book on this, on this subject, theme of of mental health because it's it has been i mean look it's been weighing on me heavily and i haven't spoken about it very directly but you know anthony bourdain represents this kind of person that was almost magical. Like he, he, you know, he transcended the silos in which we now find ourselves.

Like he could communicate with a Trump supporter just as well as he could communicate with an Obama supporter. Like there was no political divide when it came to his sort of fan base. And as a guy, I mean, he lived a life very similar to yours. Like he was a food hunter. He was an explorer of cultures, you know, and he devoted his life to visiting these indigenous cultures all over the world and took the time to commune with them, to understand them, to literally break bread with them in an effort to make the world a little bit smaller. And what you've done is I see a lot of similarities.

And I feel like we need more of that now. We need more of these people who can bridge the divide and help us communicate better. And on a personal level, he was the expression of every guy's dream. He gets to travel the world and he eats this amazing food and he gets to share it and make these amazing TV shows out of it. And I think that is part and parcel of why it was so impactful when he made the choice to depart the planet in the way that he did. And if there is a silver lining in that, beyond just celebrating his life,

it's that we can have a conversation about focusing on mental health, trying to invest in our wellbeing beyond just fitness or weight loss to get really real with something that I think ails most people in our anxiety-ridden, overly stressed, scroll-obsessed culture that is leaving us depleted and depressed and despondent in many cases. So to the extent that you can leave us by

imparting a little bit of wisdom about how some of these foods that you've explored could help benefit people's mental well-being or some lifestyle practices that people can begin to incorporate into their own lives that might begin to you know address you know provide a little bit of comfort and ease not and And this is not to say like Western medicine doesn't have its place in the conversation about depression specifically, but more to the point that we have more control over these things than I think we've been led to believe.

I agree 100%. And just to touch on that, Anthony Bourdain is will be missed because of that spirit that he had and for what he did and without a doubt I was impacted for 10 years people

had to be like a sort of beacon for you yeah when you have people like him and you have like Dan Buechner and you have people that have hit the trail you don't think that I'm like on you have Chris Dan Buettner and you have people that have hit the trail. You don't think that I'm like on, you have Chris Killam, right? Medicine Hunter, like all these people are people that I totally respect because it's almost like a blue collar rubber meets the road. Like, so you're seeing this truth in what they're finding and then they're sharing it. So he was doing that.

And I respect that. And, you know, someone that, you know, people have been wanting to do a superfood hunting show for 10 years. So I've always looked at him as he was just a guy. Yeah, he was the guy doing that. I think back to your, you know, I alluded to it before in the foundational side of it. I think breathing is a very, very powerful thing that you can do. And I'm not just saying like breathe. I'm saying like nose breathing, shut your mouth, breathe through the nose, do that multiple times a day. If you do it before you eat, which would help.

Once you start breathing through your nose, it turns your stress sympathetic nervous system. It turns, starts to turn that off and turns- Immediate state change. Exactly. So the parasympathetic, and then you can get into, you know, the Oxygen Advantage is a great book that talks about that.

You should get that guy on the podcast. He's fascinating. And Brian McKenzie is doing some interesting stuff. Who did he partner with? Some guy from Stanford. Or he's doing some research on this. He's doing, I'm not gonna reveal too much, but he's doing some stuff that will be accessible.

Also a big shout out to him. He just had a severe neck injury and surgery. So we just wish him uh well um but thinking about him a lot um so yeah he's doing a lot obviously wim hof uh he was a renegade into the mainstream yeah huge way um and then laird laird hamilton gabby reese i mean all their you know friends of mine and um but realizing powerful, like I've done DMT, I've done ayahuasca, I've done things like that. But when I realized that, oh, it really is the breath.

It isn't the, you know, there's a place for psychedelics and all that stuff in our culture. There always has been. For me, I'm like, I see that door that's open just through breathing exercises every morning. I didn't say that in my morning thing, I do breath work. So I do all nose breathing and I do some inhale holds, some exhale holds and stuff like that.

And that- Is there a specific protocol that you adhere to that people who are listening can find somewhere online or is there a tradition? Like where can people learn more about? Well, there's certainly a lot of tradition, but again, Wim Hof has some stuff. xbtlife.com with Gabby and Reese have a lot of stuff on it.

I have a very simple thing that inhale for five count, hold for five count, exhale for five count, hold for five count, and then five count, hold for five count, and then just keep repeating that, right? And it will completely shift your brain and your state and do it all through the nose. These are ancient practices. It's great how it's now come back around

and now the performance guys and all of these different types of people are like, oh, wow, the breath stuff. I mean, this is ancient tummo breathing from the monks that would go out naked and put sheets of cold, wet cloth on there and they generate so much heat, they dry the damn cloth off. So breath is huge in changing the brain state.

And then you have, obviously food, and you and I both agree, go for plants and eat as many as you can get the nutrient rich ones. And there's a place for superfoods, right? The place is because of our modern day, stripped out food and overstressed. We need these damn plants to counteract that stress. Obviously move, exercise, move your body.

These change, I mean, I remember in my master's program in psychology, one lady was kind of freaking out, like going through a process and blah, blah, blah. And the PhD teacher said, I hear you. Could you just run around the class? She was like, oh, well, what? Just take a little jog because that little jog that took 10 seconds changed her complete state, right? So we underestimate how powerful these foundational things are um and then i would think and then quickly is i would also eliminate electromagnetic fields as much as possible turn

off your damn wi-fi at night don't sleep with that you don't need it you're not looking at your turn off that state of stress get out in the damn sun with no sunscreen. If you're- Shame on you. If you're freaked about the sun, at least do it in the first few minutes without sunscreen because a nine SPF sunscreen cuts down your vitamin D production by 99%. And your vitamin D production is behind the immune system,

cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, like all of that stuff. So these are, again, these are very, very basic foundational things that when you do these things, it sets your mind straight. And then I would say, yes, in the superfood world, there's some cool things you can get into. I don't know what the availability is, but I do know that it's starting to be out there. So the coffee fruit, and that is clear science. Friends of mine developed that. I was down in Veracruz, Mexico, looking at the process and looking how they figured out how to use the fruit and the bean. And the cool thing that they found out, and they did clinical trials on on this is that alchemy increased the biogenesis of the brain. So it increased BDNF, brain-derived

neurotropic factors, just by taking that alchemy alone. This is not drinking coffee. This is a dried bean with very little caffeine and the fruit. And that alchemy turned on neurogenesis. You eat it like a nut or is it like a powder? No, it's a powder. And now there's some companies that are starting to have it in there. And then, and then tumorones and curcumin with the tumeric are also showing to have BDNF.

So there's zero evidence to support at any point not taking turmeric right right so just consume turmeric and that's something some herbs and if you can like get the raw turmeric root yeah you know at the market don't buy the powder because you don't know how that was processed yeah unless you know that you know unless you know where it's coming from or a reputable company, you can do that and then get a higher concentration. And then if you have some severe inflammatory situations, which a lot of people do, then get concentrations of curcumin,

which will help the inflammatory thing. But, and again, then, you know, there's several super foods you can use for helping the brain, but again, water. Right. Start with water. Get your water in. Yeah, and I think, with electrolytes. I think it's important to contextualize super foods.

Like if you're eating a junk food diet, but you're, you know, then you've finished the day every day with turmeric, you know, it's not gonna match. It's better than. These you're, you know, then you've finished the day every day with turmeric, you know, it's not going to match. These are like, you know, these are the sprinkles on top of the cupcake. Right. But your foundation has to be solid. Yeah. But, you know, I see both. Some people start with a bunch of superfoods eating crap, and then they start to feel better and then they start eliminating. I've seen both sides, right. Or the other side, right? So you're eating good and doing everything right,

and then you're adding the superfoods in, and oftentimes your sensitivity, you'll be able to feel it. But I wanna get away from feeling, because it's like that apple a day keeps the doctor away. You're not eating an apple going, yeah, I'm gonna run up a mountain. No, it's the same thing. You're not eating an apple going, yeah, I'm gonna run up a mountain. No, it's the same thing. Like consistency with superfoods,

drinking your, shout out to Tarot and four sigmatic mushrooms on a daily basis. Like that's an easy way to incorporate some of these superfoods and just consistency because we're getting bombarded with stress and adrenaline and toxins. So let's get as consistent with healthy eating, lots of plants and a bunch of superfoods.

What do you say, there's a sort of countervailing argument out there. Like there's no such thing as a superfood, there's just food. Right, well, yeah, Well, of course there is. So, you know, let's use a very extreme example. And so calorie for calorie, you're getting a difference as opposed to a bologna sandwich, as opposed to, you know, leaves of moringa in a salad, right? So superfood really is per calorie, how many nutrients you're getting per caloric intake. So when you look at something like Moringa, you're getting 35 antioxidants and calcium, magnesium, potassium, and they call it a vitamin tree for God's sake. So, so an ounce of that

compared to an ounce of a, of a donut is, is not even remotely the same. So, so that's where the, you know, get the nutrient density in so that you can get what your body needs to counteract the. I think that's a good reply. You know, I think sometimes the word superfoods gets bandied about a little too liberally. But in truth, these are foods that are incredibly nutritious. Their nutritional value exceeds that of the typical food that you're coming across. And they need not be super exotic. I mean, you're sort of in that world. Well, like blueberries.

Try to get some wild blueberries, eat those every day. They know that that is doing some phenomenal things around with the stem cells and things like that. And we know that that is not to mention antioxidants. So it's like, be consistent. Like it's not rocket science. Don't get caught into fads that kind of take you away

from these incredibly nutrient-rich foods because you're buying into this weird-ass fad. Right. Speaking of fads, I'm going to get creamed for saying this, but the final question, the 800-pound gorilla in the room. Yeah. Will the burruna kick you out of ketosis? That is so funny. That is so funny. That is so funny. Depends on how many carbs you had that day.

I guess. You know, there's this sort of percolating movement around a plant-based ketogenic diet. There might be something interesting there. You know, the more I hear about it, the less dismissive I am of it. I mean, listen, this could be a whole big conversation, but let's just say that there's applications for it,

where it gets gnarly in terms of true ketosis, actually being in ketosis. And I think Tim Ferriss even mentioned one day, he's like, yeah, I think in my looking at this 98% of the people doing ketosis are actually not in ketosis. So they're kind of living this kind of ketosis like life and eating this way. So you're not actually in these ketone burning,

fat burning zones. You're just eating a very low carbohydrate diet. Yeah, and the danger is the low micronutrient thing that I see, that's the crazy side of it. When you can't also eat a high protein diet because there's insulin that the body needs in order for the protein to be utilized too. And that's what people don't understand.

Like protein utilization needs insulin, just like carbohydrates need insulin. So true ketosis, you have to actually peel down protein quite a bit for your body to actually then go into ketosis. But, you know, so from a sustainable long-term plan, ketosis is a really bad idea. Again, there's certain, you know, conditions that ketosis may be able to jump you

out of and help you through. And there's some evidence to that, but it is by no means meant to be taken on as a lifestyle. Yeah, I had Walter Longo on the podcast. Yeah, I love that. Who's the leading scientist in the field of longevity. And he was very clear. I mean, this is a guy who's probably gonna win

the Nobel prize. I think he was pretty close to already winning it. And he was unequivocal that like eating a ketogenic diet is the worst thing that you can do for longevity. And we could do a whole podcast on this. I don't wanna get weeds on this. Maybe we should do that and we will do that. And we got do a whole podcast on this. I don't want to get weeds on this. Maybe we should do that and we will do that. And we got through this whole podcast without the word vegan coming up once.

It didn't even, well, you did say eat plants. Yeah, because it's like, you know, I think like you, like I have my personal reasons for eating that way and I thrive. And some friends of mine who are not eating this way say that I'm some sort of- You're the outlier. Outlier or that, oh, because you have access to certain superfoods that no one else would have access to. My thought is like, okay, that's not not entirely true but if you look at food from a

nutrient density responsibility then yeah i think it's a it's a poor choice to eat meat for the demand that your body has to go through in order to break it down and use anyway, just from that, let's just, just from that point of view and you know, 20 to 30% of that said meat, whatever you eat is, is undigested and putrefying. So therefore you're having toxins, but anyway, it's a Pandora's box, but yeah, it's an inefficiency from my point of view. I wanted to eliminate the middleman. Like, why would I spend so much energy breaking down flesh of another being when I can have baruca nuts and moringa has got tons of the amino acids

and the amino acids cycle and recycle in the body, which a lot of people don't talk about. The body is really efficient. It doesn't want to get rid of amino acids. So it wants to save them. Yeah, that's something that Brendan Brazier talks a lot about, like net energy gain, the amount of energy that the demand

that you're placing on your body to digest a steak, for example, it takes a toll. So where do you come out? Where do you net out in terms of what you're gaining versus what you have to expend in order to metabolize something like that. For sure. But we can talk more about that again,

come back anytime, my friend. Thank you. I'm super excited about the Barunut, Barucas is the name of the company. I should say in full disclosure that you were kind enough to allow me to be an affiliate of the company. I should say in full disclosure that you were kind enough to allow me to be an affiliate of the company. So I'm really excited to be aligned with you in that way. I love supporting my friends and I love supporting even more than that. I love supporting friends who

are trying to do good and creating new paradigms for how to do business right. So I applaud you for that. And I'm proud to be aligned with you on this mission in my little way. So if people are excited about getting their hands on a package of Baruna, it's like, how do they do that? Barukas.com, B-A-R-U-K-A-S.com or Amazon. Right, cool.

And if you wanna support the podcast, you can go to Baruchas, B-A-R-U-K-A-S.com forward slash richroll. It won't cost you anything extra, but these guys will know that you came to them through the podcast and the podcast will be rewarded so that I can continue to pay all the people that help put on this show and continue to deliver the best podcast that I possibly can for you. So I'd appreciate it if you do that. And then please support the Kickstarter.

Yeah. And the Kickstarter. So as of the date of this recording, it's not live yet, right? Right. But by the time we put this up, it will be. So I will put a link to the Kickstarter in the show notes on the episode page at richroll.com, and I'll share it on social media and all that kind of stuff. So I'm excited to support you in that as well. We appreciate you. Right on, man. Yeah. In the meantime, if you want to learn more about Darren, you can pick up his book, Super Life.

It's in paperback now. Audio, all of that stuff. You're the voice of the audio, part of it. Part of it. I was like, I tapped out. I got to go. It's work, man. It is.

It is. And is superlife.com still a place for people to go? And baruchas.com. Baruchas.com. Yeah. Cool, man. All right. We'll come back.

We'll pick a subject and deep dive on it because i could talk to you for hours and hours and hours for sure all right thanks man much appreciate it cool peace lads baruchas let me tell you guys something that darren o'lean he is a national treasure always love talking to him hope you guys enjoyed that do me a favor check out the just launched Barucas Kickstarter. Darren and his team are going to use the money that they raised to innovate new equipment, but most importantly, to plant 20 million trees in the Brazilian Sahado, which as we discussed in the podcast, is an area very much threatened by cattle industry deforestation efforts. It's a great way to help support these indigenous communities. It's also a cool way to be one of the first people to get

your hands on his new trail mix product. And they've got all kinds of cool incentives and giveaways, including a superfood hunting trip with Darren, which is pretty exciting. And I guess I should say in the interest of total transparency, as you guys know, Darren and I are good friends. We go way back and he was kind enough to make me a Baruchas ambassador of sorts. So if today's chat left you intrigued and wanting to give the Baruchas thing a try, which you totally should, the best way to do that is to go to baruchas.com forward slash richroll. That's B-A-R-U-K-A-S.com forward slash richroll, or just enter richroll at checkout and you will get 15% off your first purchase, which is great. And it will benefit the show, which is awesome if you want to support my work.

And also let Darren and his team know that you heard about Baruchas here first. So a win-win across the board. Do me another solid and let Darren know that you heard about Baruchas here first. So a win-win across the board. Do me another solid and let Darren know what you thought of today's conversation. Hit him up on Twitter or Instagram at SuperLifeLiving. And as always, check out the show notes on the episode page at richroll.com to expand your experience of today's conversation beyond the earbuds. We're also up on YouTube, and that's a great way to experience Darren and his show-and-tell efforts with respect to the superfoods today. And also on the show notes, I've got links to the Kickstarter, and I've got links to Barucas and all that kind of stuff. So

it's an easy place to find all the links that we discussed today. If you're looking for additional nutritional guidance, a great way to do that, to solve that equation for yourself is to check out our meal planner at meals.richroll.com. We've got thousands. We've got this incredible library of thousands of plant-based recipes, all customized based on your personal preferences, like what are you allergic to? What foods do you like? Do you not like? How many people are you cooking for? All that good stuff gets factored in to this algorithm. So you only see the recipes that work for you. We also have unlimited grocery lists. We have grocery delivery in most US cities that's totally built into this product. So when you decide you

want to prepare a certain recipe that gets added to a grocery list and all the food just gets delivered to your door, which is amazing. We have incredible customer support, customer service, seven days a week, people who really know what they're talking about available to answer all your questions, no matter how silly they may be. And what I'm most proud of is that this product is available to you for just $1.90 a week, which is amazing. For more information, go to meals.richroll.com or click on meal planner on the top menu at richroll.com we just crossed the one year mark with this product we served over 250,000 plant based meals last year we're looking to double that this year people are really enjoying this product so if you have yet to check it out do it i you'll like it. If you'd like to support my work,

please subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts or on whatever platform you enjoy this content. But most importantly, just tell your friends. That's the best way. Word of mouth. If you've enjoyed an episode, a particular episode or the show in general, just sharing it with your circle of friends. Super powerful and really appreciate that. You can also support my work on Patreon at richroll.com forward slash donate. And as always, let me thank everybody who helped put on the show today because I do not do this alone.

Jason Camiolo for audio engineering, production, show notes, interstitial music, a lot of behind the scenes stuff. Blake Curtis and Margo Lubin for filming and editing today's show, as well as creating the graphics and theme music as always by Anna Lemma and portraits by Reese Robinson. Thanks for the love you guys. See you back here next week with another great episode. Until then, enjoy your life, treat yourself well, eat good food. Be a part of your community. Move your body.

Enjoy the summer months. Peace, plants, and hostages. Thank you.