The School of Greatness - 757 How the Food Industry Is Feeding You Lies with Vani Hari

Episode Date: February 11, 2019

STAND UP FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN. It’s much easier to eat whatever you’re craving without thinking much about it. It takes energy and intention to figure out what’s actually in our food. But making the effort to understand the ingredients we put in our body will help us take our life to the next level. So why is it so hard? The food industry is doing everything they can to keep chemicals in their food in order to increase shelf-life and keep you wanting more. Unless you’re making the effort to eat well, you’ll be convinced by their marketing lies. On today’s episode of The School of Greatness, I talk with an amazing woman who has bravely taken the giants of the food industry: Vani Hari. Vani Hari aka “The Food Babe” is a New York Times best-selling author, blogger, and activist. She investigates what is really in our food, how is it grown and what chemicals are used in its production. Companies such as Chick-fil-A and Kraft have changed their ingredients based on her campaigns. Vani says that we need to know all the ingredients in our food, we need to know if they’re nutritious, and we need to know where they come from. So get ready to learn about the lies the food industry tells us on Episode 757. Some Questions I Ask: Why does the food industry need so many chemicals? (24:00) How do you know what’s real and what’s fake? (26:30) Is all organic food good? (37:00) What are the standards for ingredients in your company? (42:00) In This Episode You Will Learn: How Vani’s efforts helped change the ingredients used by big companies (12:00) How Vani dealt with attacks on her character (16:00) The dangers of “Astroturf Campaigns” that try to prevent change (18:00) Why the “coconut oil is bad” headline was a lie (20:00) About the Three Question Detox (30:00) About the “48-hour Toxin Takedown” (36:00)

This is episode number 757 with New York Times best-selling author, Vani Hari. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro-athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. Winston Churchill said,

courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. And courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. Today we have Vani Hariyan, who is a revolutionary food activist, New York Times bestselling author, and was named one of the most influential people on the internet by Time Magazine in 2015. She started the Food Babe blog in 2011 and now is a founder of Truvani, a startup offering real food without added chemicals and products without toxins and labels without lies. And in this interview, we talk about how Vani deals with the negative backlash of creating

these massive global food campaigns. Also, how to determine what's real and what's fake when credible sources post false facts about your food. This is something that's really scary, guys, especially in America, because there's a lot of credible sources out there that share false facts about your food that could be really harming you and your family and your friends. We also cover how to know if your food is truly organic, because sometimes when it says organic, it's not, and that's scary also. And then the three simple questions to ask yourself when you want to eat better. We cover a lot of these different strategies and tools and reveal a lot about the food industry you probably didn't know.

So get ready to have your mind blown in this interview. Make sure to share with your friends, lewishouse.com slash 757, and tag myself, at Lewis House, and Vani over on Instagram as well. Welcome everyone to the School of Greatness podcast. We have my good friend Vani Hari in the house. Good to see you. I'm excited you're here. You were back on three or four years ago, I think, right? For your last book. Four years ago. Four years ago? No right yeah last book four years ago four years ago no way yeah yes Wow okay yeah a lot's happened since then you got a New York Times bestseller you had a baby you got a two-year-old baby now right you launched a new business called Truvani which is doing incredible and you've got a new book out called feeding you lies which I think is the most

brilliant book title ever. How to Unravel the Food Industry's Playbook and Reclaim Your Health. This thing is out right now and you uncover all the lies about food, right? That's right. All the lies that the food industry tries to feed us and tell us which is actually healthy for us

but when it's actually really bad. That's right. My mission has always been about educating the public about the chemicals in the American food supply. In my first book, The Food Babe Way, it was all about the chemicals. How do we get the chemicals out of our diet? And this book actually takes it a step further and goes behind the scenes and shows you exactly the playbook that the food industry uses to continue selling us these

chemicals, to continue to confuse us about what's truly healthy so that we continue to buy their products. Really? So it's like false marketing. Absolutely. It's the packaging, it's the marketing, the language, the words they use. The things you read on social media, the things you see in the media. They'll have a fit, like healthylooking woman or man on their packaging just to say this is how you're going to look, even though it's not good for you, whatever it may be, right? That's right. It's all marketing. A lot of it is, yeah. Even if they have the ingredients that show that there's all these chemicals and bad stuff in it, they're saying other things on the front.

That's right. On the face, it looks nice, but on the back, it's like all dirty. Yeah. A perfect example of this is Diet Coke, right? Oh, yeah. Diet Coke, diet, right, is part of the name, right? It makes you think that you're going to stay lean and trim and that you can get away with eating zero calories and still enjoying this buzz from this caffeine and the sweetness

from this drink. But what's really happening behind the scenes in your body is you're consuming artificial sweeteners that trick your brain into thinking that, hey, I'm receiving some nourishment because this thing is sweet and it tastes like something that has calories and nutrition. But in actuality, you're not getting any of those calories. So your body's like, wait a minute, I still need some nourishment. I still need nutrition. And so your body continuously craves additional food. And so you end up eating more than you would otherwise do. And so you end up in this yo-yo cycle of dieting and never being able to break free. How many chemicals are in a diet code, you know, or how many ingredients? Is it a lot or is it? It's not a ton of ingredients, but the ingredients are awful. They're bad. Yeah. I mean, one of the ingredients is caramel

coloring, right? I mean, caramel coloring is not the kind of that you would make like when you burn sugar. Um, but it's made in a laboratory, you know, there's been studies that show that it, you know, animal studies have shown that it's linked to cancer. You know, this is a caramel coloring. You definitely do not want to be consuming on a regular basis in a drink. Have you been seeing the commercials for Diet Coke? No. There's these amazing commercials I was watching a couple months ago that was like this kind of chill looking girl. I think I saw two of them. One was a guy and a girl. It was like this cool, casual girl who's like, life's short. Have a Diet Coke. Like, have one because you can. It wasn't like this. They was kind of almost saying like, this is bad for you. Life's short.

Just enjoy some Diet Coke. Like, have fun. Like, do this, do that. I mean, they're losing the battle right now. I mean, in terms of... They're not trying to say this is good for you anymore. Yeah. Well, they've gotten away with a lot of different things. And there's many different stories that I share within the book that show how the Coke industry, the soda industry, whether it's Coca-Cola or Pepsi, they have tried to change our perspective about health and diet in this country. They've said, you know what, it's not about sugar or carbohydrates, which our food is mainly made up of. It's actually about fat. You should eliminate fat in your diet. Or, hey, why don't you exercise more? And there's been evidence where not only

have they colluded with the CDC and other government officials, they've colluded with professors at some of the highest degree universities in our country to try to persuade the public that we have a problem with the fact that we don't exercise enough when really we're consuming too much sugar and too many empty calories, which is their products. Wow. So how many of these companies are actually living by this kind of feeding you lies mentality? That's a good question. You know, the majority of companies that are, you know, the legacy big food companies, the Kellogg's, the General Mills, the Campbell's, the Coca-Cola's, the Pepsi's, the Mondelez, the Kraft Heinz. Those are the ones that have really gotten away with, and I don't want to say murder, but they really have.

is that they're using the same playbook as the tobacco industry when it comes to determining what people crave, what makes them addicted to food, and what makes them continuously buy them. The majority of chemicals that have been invented in the last 50 years or so have been invented for one reason, to improve the bottom line of the food industry, not to improve our health, not for our nutrition, not to make us healthier, not to help us achieve our health goals or to avoid disease. They've only been there to improve the bottom line of the food industry. So you just think about that. So when you look at an ingredient list and you see all these different chemicals in there, they are not serving a purpose for your nutrition or your body or to make you feel really great. They're just serving the interests of the food industry. And this example can be shown in a really unethical way when you look at our food versus other food in other countries.

So, for example, McDonald's french fries. Here in the United States, they're made with a slew of different chemicals. One of the chemicals is dimethylpolysiloxane. It's the same ingredient in silly putty. It's also an ingredient that is preserved with formaldehyde and an ingredient that the FDA has not truly even studied or approved to be in our food system, right? How can it be in McDonald's if it's not FDA approved?

Well, it's a gross, it's generally regarded as safe, but the ingredient itself is actually deemed safe by the food industry themselves, not the FDA. So there's this underlying assumption that our ingredients are being managed and tested and safety tested by the government, right? But the FDA doesn't have any of the mechanisms to do that. So they rely on the food industry themselves to say, hey, this stuff's okay. Now in Europe, they have different standards. They say you need to prove this stuff safe before you put it in your food. So in Europe, when you look at McDonald's French fries, they use three basic ingredients. Really? Potatoes, oil, and dextrose, which is just sugar. And then you can add the salt after you fry it. So you can actually determine how much salt you

have on McDonald's french fries in Europe. But here in the United States, totally different scenario. And I think one of the most unethical behaviors is when big food manufacturers, especially American food manufacturers, start to change their products overseas to meet regulations and not change them here. So a great example of it is the... So American food companies change stuff overseas because they have to. Right.

Here, they'll cut corners to save money. Yeah. And a great example of this was the Kraft petition that I started to remove artificial food dyes from mac and cheese. In Europe, if you use yellow five and yellow six in a product or any of these artificial food dyes, you have to

put a warning label that says may cause adverse effects on activity and attention in children. Now, this warning label is mandatory by the government. If you use these ingredients. Right. But here in the United States, you can get away with using them. So instead of putting the warning label on Kraft mac and cheese in Europe, Kraft said, you know what? We're going to change the ingredients. We're going to put beta carotene and paprika. That's what we're going to use over there, but we're not going to change them here in the United States. So they know that their product could cause hyperactivity in children, but they choose not to change it because our government allows them to get away with it. And I feel like that's the most unethical food practice ever. Because as a company, as someone who is serving food to you, to people, you have, I think, an ethical obligation to say, you know what?

I should serve it the least harmful as possible to people. I shouldn't know this information about different regulations and just ignore it for different populations because I can get away with it and make more money. Wow. Crazy. Now, you did a campaign against Kraft a while ago, right? That's right. It received over 300,000 signatures. Kraft changed. Yeah. Kraft has now removed artificial food dyes from their mac and cheese as well. They did? Yeah. So they moved the yellow five or whatever? Yeah. It's gone. Oh, really? Yeah. It's gone.

So 300,000 names. They removed one or two ingredients? Yeah. They actually rechanged it. And it was really funny because the way they launched it, of course, they removed one or two ingredients or? Yeah, they actually, they rechanged it. And it was really funny because they, the way they launched it, you know, of course they wouldn't give the activist credit or, or, you know, the, the people out there that were demanding this, all the parent parents that wrote in and wrote letters instead, they said, oh, this is like new and improved. And you, you've always just the same mac and cheese you've always loved, you know? And so they, they really just made it like we heard your voices. Yeah. It wasn't like, you're the same mac and cheese you've always loved, you know, and so they really just made it. They weren't like, we heard your voices. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It wasn't like, you know, the customers wanted this. Right, right. You did this with Subway as well. I remember you doing a campaign and like a video about how it had like

a yoga mat ingredient in there or something. That's right. So that's another example of an ingredient. It was called azodicarbonamide. We dubbed it the yoga mat chemical.

I don't know what that means. What is it? Like, what are these chemicals, you know? Yeah. It's a chemical that's used as a dough conditioner. So, you know, when you look at a piece of bread that's been manufactured and you see all those little itty-bitty holes and they're, like, in this perfect realm. But if you bake a bread at home or something has a big hole in the middle and if you get really good bread from a restaurant that they bake there, it's, like, all, you know, it's not uniform. Well, azodicarbonamide makes it really uniform. So when you're a fast

food giant and you want your bread to all be the same and made exactly the same so people know what they're getting when they get there, you know, it does cheapen the process in terms of it makes it faster to produce as well. That's what they were using. And this ingredient was not only banned in Europe and other places around the world. You would get fined like several hundred thousand dollars in Singapore if you use this chemical because of the interactions it had with not only it being up in the air and you can inhale it, but also when it's broken down, it turns into a carcinogen. And so knowing that Subway was using this chemical here in the United States and not elsewhere across the globe, because Subway was the largest,

no longer the largest fast food chain because of this campaign. They were the largest. They were the largest, yeah. Bigger than McDonald's? They were. They had more stores than McDonald's at that point. No way, really? Yeah, they did.

Four years ago, they did. They had more stores than McDonald's. They were worldwide. But they were choosing, again, to service these cheaper, more alarming chemicals here in the United States. And so these campaigns weren't about taking out this chemical or that chemical and suddenly having these products be super healthy. It was about showcasing what is in your food, making people become aware of it. And not only have people become aware of it, there's this amazing trend happening in the marketplace where people are wanting organic and natural foods now. And it's a continuous marketplace that continues to

grow because people are becoming aware about what these chemicals are and they don't want to consume them. And it's just a beautiful thing. So we're in this amazing food movement. And through this change and being a catalyst for this change and being a voice for this change, I received enormous pushback from several experts and quote-unquote experts. Didn't know that they were hired experts at the time. I had my hunches that they were hired by the food and chemical industry. And I received a ton of backlash online for these

campaigns and it came out of nowhere. And at the time I really didn't know how to handle it. And the only way that I knew what to do was just to like sit here and like not listen to it. So like I canceled Google alerts because not only- So much negativity. There was so much negativity. And I realized that my mission shouldn't be driven upon what people say about me, whether it's positive or negative. So when something would happen positive in the press, I'd ask my mother and my team not to send it to me. And I'd ask also anything negative, don't send it to me. Because really'd ask also anything negative, don't send

it to me because really my mission should come from within, right? It's really the reason why I'm doing this is not so that I can be popular or be featured in some mainstream magazine. It was so that I can get this message out. I want to talk about the chemicals. I want to talk about the food industry. I want to talk about how people's lives can change and not feel like a zombie anymore like I used to feel in my early 20s when I was eating all of this processed food. And so as a result of me being an activist and me getting into this kind of spotlight environment, I mean, right after the book came out, you know, after I was on this podcast, my world just, like, blew up. Really? You know, Time Magazine reached out. We're like, you know, we're naming you one

of the most influential people on the internet. And I was just like, what? Right. What? Like next to Barack Obama? Like no, you're crazy. Jimmy Fallon, like you're crazy, right? You're crazy.

And I was getting these kind of accolades, right? But I also at the same time was being pressured and pushed by this agenda, this media agenda to paint me as pseudoscientific or someone who doesn't understand chemicals or someone who just is being a fear monger, trying to make people afraid of these chemicals in this processed food. And they wanted to paint me as this. And so I found myself in this kind of like media frenzy of all these people wanting to interview me, this. And so I found myself in this kind of like media frenzy of all these people wanting to interview me, but for the wrong reasons. And so I started to just take a look at what was driving some of these interviews, who are the people behind these requests, and then

who are the antagonists in the story that they were interviewing. And it became very, very clear that there was a campaign that was being funded by the food and chemical industry, driven by several different PR firms to attack me as a messenger of change and to do whatever they could do to get me to stop. And not only did they want to do whatever they could do to get me to stop. Yeah. And not only did they want to do whatever they could do to get me to stop, but they also wanted to confuse the public so that when anybody would listen to something I would say, they would try to question it and say, well, maybe she's just being a little outlandish about this. I remember seeing this.

Like on Twitter, there was tons of responses to everything you put out and people just spamming everyone and all that stuff. Right. And that was actually an AstroTurf campaign. And actually, this is a tactic that's not only used to take down activists, but it's used to take down ideas in the public. So when the food industry wants you to believe a certain thing, or the chemical industry, or a big conglomerate, or any type of industry,

they will hire not only AstroTurfers, like groups of online trolls, really. Just to try to get you to shut up. Just to try to get people to shut up or to make people who are trying to change the status quo feel stupid about it. So they'll do whatever they can to try to get you to stop sharing the truth. And so not only will they bully you online, but they'll go into comment sections of mainstream media articles and try to fight with people in there and try to showcase fake comments to take the side of the food industry, to take the side of the corporations. And not only are there these online troll groups, but they're really being driven by these front groups that

are, they look like third-party independent groups, right? They have these long, fancy names, these councils. Associations. Yeah, they have these long, fancy names, but really they're just, they're really there being funded by Coke and Monsanto and all these other giant food and chemical companies that are trying to drive the agenda. And one perfect example of this that happened recently is, I'm sure you saw it, headlines everywhere, coconut oil isn't healthy. It was on the front of the USA Today. It was everywhere. And as a person who's been studying

health and nutrition now for over 10 years, I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. How is it not healthy? Yeah. And it was every, I mean, I'm not talking, it was just in USDA. I mean, it was on everything. And it was because the American Heart Association was the one delivering the message. And people believe this association. Little do they know that the AHA seal used to be on Trix and other cereals that were terrible for your health. But they've had their seal.

Their seal, you know, you can buy their seal basically and put it. I mean, it was on Subway. It was on a lot of different fast food chains. But not only that is, you know, people see this American Heart Association and they just automatically believe it. They don't even know that a lot of it's being driven by the food and chemical industry and that their experts are being paid secretly behind the scenes from the corn and the canola industry. Crazy.

So the corn and canola industry is driving this message that coconut oil is unhealthy because they see coconut oil sales take over their sales because people are becoming aware of, wait, how is corn oil produced? How is canola oil produced? Oh, it's produced with hexane and a very carcinogenic gas. And oh, it's inflammatory causing in my system. It is an abundance of omega-6 fatty acids. And no wonder I need omega-3 in my life and why my body's so out of whack and why I'm experiencing depression and Alzheimer's and all these other diseases because of this reason, right? So you

see that you look something, you know, you see a headline and you just automatically believe it. I mean, it was so believable that my mom is texting me and she's like, mom, she's like, Vani, I told you so. I didn't like coconut oil anyways. Like she's always been like, she just likes good old fashioned butter, which is good. But I've always told her, like, if you fry something, fry it in some coconut oil versus like canola oil or corn oil or soy oil. And she's like, look, it's all over the paper. And she's even believing it. And meanwhile, if you don't look behind the headline,

you don't look into who's driving this message and the experts who are being paid to promote this agenda, you are going to suffer as an individual because you're going to believe this information. You're going to make these choices about your health and what you're feeding your family, and you're setting them up for failure. And so this is what Feeding You Lies is about, exposing these tactics, exposing this playbook so that you as the consumer, you become a health investigator yourself. You can see beyond a headline now after reading this book, you can see when you see

slews of comments believing one thing that just, you know, your intuition is like saying, no, I don't know about this. You can kind of dig deeper and say, whoa, is this an astroturf campaign? And I give you tactics on how to handle that if that happens to you. You know, if you're leaving a comment and people are bullying you about a certain belief or view. leaving a comment and people are bullying you about a certain belief or view. And not only that, but there are specific lies in there that affect us every single day at the grocery store. When you see a label that says gluten-free and you're on a gluten-free diet, it doesn't mean that that product is safe. It doesn't. It might be gluten-free, but it might be filled with all these other chemicals. That's right. I mean, the food industry loves a good diet, right? They love anything that they can use to market processed food

in a different way that is fashionable and trendy. And the trendy thing right now is gluten-free, right? Actually, the next one is keto, right? And you even see like SlimFast getting into keto products and their products are garbage. It's absolute garbage for your body. I mean, they're full of synthetic chemicals, vitamins and minerals, different artificial sweeteners that make your metabolism just completely shut down because it starts to

create leaky gut. And you have all of these chemicals that really shouldn't be part of your diet when it's really as simple as the three-question detox that I talk about in the book. Why doesn't the food industry just have organic foods? Why do they need so many chemicals? Is it just because it makes it cheaper and they can make more money and that's the only reason? Maybe taste, maybe more sugar or something. Well, I mean, it's really about shelf life. Like how long can we keep it on the shelf, right? And then how addictive can we make it so that people keep buying it?

Wow. And the most addictive ingredient right now in our food supply is flavors, added flavors, because these flavors are not found in nature. Ooh, it's a quick hit, yeah. Yeah, even if they say natural flavor, it's not a flavor that is found in nature. They are, even if they say, yeah, even if they say natural flavor, it's not a flavor that is found in nature because when you eat the best blueberry you've ever found in nature, it's coupled with fiber and micronutrition and vitamins and minerals and everything for you to have that, that amazing taste together that sends a signal to your body that it's satiated.

It feels great. You're, you're getting nutrition from this. You're not signal to your body that it's satiated, it feels great, you're getting nutrition from this, you're not going to like overeat it, you're going to eat a few and you're going to feel really great. Now, if you eat chips that are laden with these flavors or yeast extract or some of these other tactics that the food industry uses, you're going to eat more and more of those foods. Yeah. And those foods are processed dead garbage that is used to, they're literally using garbage to sell to us so that we just keep eating it. And it's really not providing nutrition to the body. And so. That's why you need more of it because there's no nutrition.

Yep. So it's so addictive. You just want more to fill yourself up, right? And then you're getting that brain hit from that chemical. Yeah. That's like, oh, this tastes so good. Because it wouldn't, you know, without these flavors, that food wouldn't taste good. Yeah. It just wouldn't.

You'd be kind of like, oh, it's not that great. Yeah. Synthetic, but it tastes good. Yeah. Unfortunately. Yeah. And they're using, I mean, they're using the exact same science that they used with the tobacco industry to make cigarettes addictive. They're using those same scientists to make food addictive too. So we have to be aware of this, right? If we're living in a nation where we're undeniably sick, we have skyrocketing disease rates here.

We have a problem and we have to pay attention and thank goodness for social media and thank goodness for activists and people out there. You know, I love the people who follow me online because not only do they care about their own health, they're willing to like spread this message. And that's how we happening in the food supply, these changes wouldn't be happening in terms of people asking for higher quality food. Right. I want to take a moment from this interview and share with you guys about my Inner Circle program.

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is all about. And if you're interested in growing your business and getting the best training in the world every single month and online coaching from me, then go to innercircle.lewishouse.com and commit yourself to living a greater life in business today. Again, go to innercircle.lewishouse.com and sign up today. And now let's get back to the episode with The challenge is the fake news, you know, with USA Today and all these other credible news sites posting these things. How do you know what's real and what's fake when the more credible sites are getting caught up on these headlines also? Yeah, I mean, it's really sad because I think a lot of journalists were unaware of what was happening. A really great example is I was interviewed to be in The Atlantic, and they did a profile piece on me. And Dr. James Hamblin, who I love his writings, and he's a really fantastic writer for them.

He's a doctor. He went to Harvard. And one of the antagonists in the story is he interviewed a professor from University of Florida. And when he was asking me for direct comment about this professor, I said, listen, I'm pretty sure he is working with Monsanto and the chemical corporations, and you need to look into this. And, you know, he asked him, plant four blank, are you working with the chemical corporations in Monsanto? And he denied it. And then six months later, on the front of the New York Times,

it's revealed that this guy is taking money from Monsanto through the Freedom of Information Request Act. And this is stuff that wasn't disclosed. And these were experts interviewed that were people who were trying to say that my message is too outlandish, that I don't, you know, there's no scientific backing behind anything that I'm saying. And the worst part about it is they tried to attack me as an individual versus attacking the actual ideas that I was bringing about because every single campaign, there was scientific evidence and nonprofit organizations who have scientists that work for them backing up what I said, whether it was the NRDC, the Consumers Union,

the Environmental Working Group, or the Center for Science and Public Interest. Every single one of those agreed with the removal of these chemicals that I was proposing or the transparency that I was asking of companies like Starbucks. One of my big campaigns was on Starbucks and actually- Pumpkin. Yeah, pumpkin spice latte. We went to Starbucks together down the street. Yeah, we asked them like-

You were like, show me the bottle. You were looking at all the ingredients. I'm filming it for you. Yeah, yeah. And I loved it. We were like on a little hunt. It was great. And not only did Starbucks respond to that campaign and remove caramel coloring from the pumpkin spice latte, they finally disclosed the ingredients in all of their drinks for the first time in history as a result, because that was the basis for that campaign was the fact that people were buying all of these drinks at Starbucks left and right, and they had no idea what was in it. And for years and years and years, Starbucks got away with just

not disclosing what was in it. And the worst thing about it is not only did they have the same kind of ingredients like that are in Diet Coke, but they were getting away with being like this high living, you know, more premier coffee establishment, but they were using the same ingredients as Dunkin' Donuts and others once you found out it was actually in them. Both addictive, yeah. Yeah. They're very addictive. Tastes so good.

That's why I don't drink them anymore. It's just too good to be true. It's too much sugar. Now, what are the questions? You said there's three questions we should be asking ourselves to detox? Yeah, so this is a challenge that I propose. For anyone that really wants to change the way they eat. Don't worry about going on a new diet. Don't worry about the latest health

trends. Do these three simple things. Just ask yourself these three simple things and see where it leads you after a week. And so the first thing I want you to ask you, so there's a plate of food in front of you where you go, you're determining what to eat. The first thing I want you to ask you. So there's a plate of food in front of you where you go, you're determining what to eat. The first thing I want you to ask yourself are, what are the ingredients? And if you can identify all the ingredients in what you're eating and you know why they're there, and maybe you identify some things that aren't supposed to be there or things that you don't know what they are, well, then I don't want you to eat those things until you know and you figure it out. And it's as simple as a Google search or coming to foodbabe.com and looking at our additive glossary and determining if this is something

that I want to put in my body. Okay, what are the ingredients? Then I want you to take a chance and say, all right, here are the ingredients that I'm eating. Are these ingredients nutritious? that I'm eating, are these ingredients nutritious? Are these going to actually serve a beneficial part of my daily life? Are they going to actually help me feel great, give me energy, give me vitamins and minerals, help me avoid disease? Are there ingredients in here that are really going

to serve my body? Are they nutritious? Now, one of these ingredients may be like sugar, right? You might have identified, okay, I know what sugar is. What are the ingredients? I know what sugar is. What are the ingredients? I know what sugar is. But now you're like, is sugar nutritious? Well, we all know the answer to that, right?

There's no nutrition in sugar, right? It just tastes good, yeah. It just tastes good, right? It's addictive. It's more addictive than cocaine. It causes your immune system to break down. It causes liver disease. I mean, there's so many

different things, diabetes, heart disease. So you got to make a choice then. Are these ingredients nutritious? If you just ask yourself that, you may eat a little less of that sugar. I think you will. And then the third question that I want you to ask is where do these ingredients come from? And you may still look at that sugar component and be like, well, where does this sugar come from? Wait a minute, this is white refined sugar that I'm eating in this donut or whatever, or whatever you're eating. I'm not saying you're gonna eat a donut.

And you might be like, well, how did it get white? First of all, because sugar cane out there is like green and brown. And like, how did it get white? Well, they're bleaching it, right? Where did this ingredient come from? Or maybe it's a piece of meat that you're eating. It's a piece of beef and you realize, okay, what are the ingredients? It's a piece of beef. Are these nutritious? Yeah, beef has a lot of nutrition. But now you're

asking yourself, where does this come from? Is it coming from a feedlot in a factory farm where the animal's being pumped full of growth hormone or antibiotics to make it fatter and to grow faster than it should and eat GMO corn and soy, eating things that it's not supposed to be eating. One of the stories I tell in here is that old Skittles is being fed to cattle and it's completely true. Really? Yeah. Old candy is fed to animals in this country to feed, fatten them up. Wow. I'm not saying every single farm does that, but I'm saying that there are some. Wow. And so you really need to know where your meat comes from. And if you're, you know, you are what your food eats too. So find out where your meat is coming from. Find out where your food is coming from, how it's produced before

you eat it. And if you ask yourself those three simple questions every single time you eat, you will not only learn so much about how you're eating and what you're eating, you'll start to really question your own diet into, I think, I hope, into a way that provides you the avenue to research and learn more about what you want to eat in this world. And I think that is the ultimate key to feeling great, is to know what you're eating. That's it. Yeah. Yeah, I'm very picky with what I eat,

and I eat like the same three places every week, and now it's just like salad, veggies, and like a little bit of meat. I try to take the Mark Hyman approach where it's like mostly vegetables, some fruits, seeds, nuts, and some meat. Yeah. You know, every now and then. Yeah. I think if you just live by those simple principles and you make sure you know where it's coming from and that there's not adding chemicals on there, then you're going to do pretty well.

Yeah. I mean, that's how I feed my daughter. That's exactly how I feed my daughter. Yeah. Like the vegetables. Yeah. I start with vegetables and then we go with like a little bit of meat, maybe some seeds and nuts, and then fruit. You know, and that's it.

Although I realized that I was eating so many almonds and having so much almond milk, almond butter, and snacking on almonds all day that I was starting to get little eczema breakouts. Oh, really? Yeah. From almonds? I think it was from almonds because I was eating so much of it.

I was having like two smoothies a day with almond milk, eating almonds, almond butter on apples and bananas. Just like all almond all the time. Yeah. Because I heard peanuts were bad for you, right? So I was like, okay, let me do this almond thing for a while. And now that I've cut back on that, he's like, just have some other nuts. Have like coconut butter for a while. Like just pull back on that.

I haven't had any of those breakouts. Oh, that's really good. And he's like, coconut butter for a while. Like, just pull back on that. I haven't had any of those breakouts. Oh, that's really good. And he's like, it's probably a nut, you know, overdose. And so some of these things that are healthy, you've got to be aware that they might also affect you in some ways if you overdose on them. Yeah, and that's one of the reasons why, like, you'll never see me prescribe a certain diet, right? Everyone's different. Everybody's different. But the principles of the three-question detox reign true no matter who you are. Yeah. And what's the 48

hour toxic takedown? Yeah. So the toxin takedown is all about in 48 hours, you know, you read this book, you're like, oh crap, my pantry's full of this stuff. I need to figure this out or I need to change. I've been buying the wrong things. I've been feeding into these lies, right? And I need to do something about it. And I need something drastic. So that's the 48-hour toxin takedown at the end of the book. And I just break it down for you.

In 48 hours, here's what you're going to eat. Here's what you're going to do. Here's how you're going to clean out your pantry. Here's what you're going to do. Here's how you're going to clean out your pantry. Here's what you're going to need to watch out for. And then that will just, boom, get you set up so that then you can start the three-question detox from scratch and say, all right, here's how I'm going to live my life from now on when I decide what I'm going to eat. Yeah. And what about organic food? Is all organic food good? Or are some of these organic companies now using the organic name, but also having other ingredients on the back end that are not, you know, that are chemicals as well?

Yeah. So. Can you get away with that if you say organic? Because it has to be fully organic. Yeah. There's different levels of organic, right? It's, yeah. So there's 100% organic, which you'll see the USDA certified seal on as well. That's something that you can trust, right? Yeah. 100% organic, it should be okay. Yes.

And then to use the USDA certified organic seal, only 95% of your ingredients have to be organic. And so the other 5% can be other non-organic approved items on the list. So there's a long list of approved non-organic items that are allowed in organic food. One of those ingredients, by the way, is carrageenan, which is being questioned right now. And they're proposing to take that off that list, which is great because that's one of the ingredients that you'll find in the nut milks that actually can disrupt the gut and affect your metabolism. and it's also linked to cancer too.

So the other piece is that it could be 70% organic. So to use the word organic, you only have to use 70% organic ingredients. So the other 30% can be anything under the sun. So that's the one that I'm most concerned about, is when you see organic on the label with no USDA seal, you really got to turn it over and look at the ingredients and make sure all the ingredients are good. Now this got me, I fall victim to this all the time because I see the word organic sometimes and I'll just grab and go sometimes.

And even me, who I'm the best label reader in the world, right, like know everything, I feel like I know a lot about labels. You studied those for years. Yeah, right? Got me, you know? So you really have to pay attention to that. The other thing that happens too is that big companies like to buy up a lot of smaller organic companies. And when they buy these organic companies, they change the ingredients a lot of times. This is actually one of the reasons why I started my own food company, Truvani, because of this reason. I was tired of it happening and it happened with my own turmeric supplement that I was taking. Wow. So you were taking a supplement, another company bought it and then changed the ingredients. Yep. Really?

Yep. So I said, no longer. I'm going to make it my mission to make sure that I create my own products that I truly believe in. And that's what I did with Truvani. And it's been an amazing ride. It's, it's, we've, we have five products now. It's so fun to see everything come to life. We have literally the, I feel like the cleanest vegan protein powder on the market. I mean, it has five ingredients. It's just incredible. Five ingredients. It's funny because Derek Halpern is a good friend of mine as well who's working with you on Truvani. He was saying to me one day, he was like,

it's almost so hard to create a product because Vani is so particular on what is allowed in. We can only allow a certain amount of ingredients that you can't find some of the stuff you need to make these products. So it's the top of the line. It's one of the best quality. And we could put out so many other things quicker, but we're not allowed to because of the standard that Vonnie has. So you have this high standard, trustworthy products. It's amazing. Our friend Mark Sisson just sold his company, Primal Kitchen, to I think Heinz. Is that right?

That's right. For a couple hundred million dollars. And I think that was one of his concerns. Like, are they going to try to take the ingredients and change them? And he told everyone, I think, in a press release that they aren't and that he's going to be on the team for a long time. And I think that's a concern that a lot of people have is these companies that we love, these foods that we love get bought up and then we don't know what's going to happen to them. Right. And it all depends on who's in charge of the ingredients, right?

If Mark stays in charge of the ingredients, I have really good faith that that's going to stay clean because I love Mark. I love what he's doing. His ketchup is amazing. It's the only ketchup I'll let my daughter eat. Really? So, yeah. I mean, it's no sugar in it. It's incredible.

Behind it's probably like all sugar, right? Yeah, it's all sugar. It would be great to see Primal Kitchen at every burger bar across America, like everyone dipping their french fries in that. It would be incredible. It would be amazing. It would be great. But, yeah, I'm really stoked about that because I would love to have better ketchup available.

I love ketchup. There you go. It is so good. So, yeah, I mean. You guys are on a mission now to build Truvani and have a standard. What's the standard for ingredients for you guys? So it's got to be things that we don't use any unnecessary additives. That's one. You know. What's that mean? What's an unnecessary additive? So a lot of companies will use additives so that their product has a certain

appearance or the product flows better in a machine because it's being mass produced or mixes better, right. Or it's used for a shelf extender so that they can keep it on the shelf longer. And so they make more money. That's been one of the battles going back and forth with, with different manufacturers is like, Hey, we're not going to use these preservatives. No, sorry, we're not going to use vegetable glycerin. Even though it's kind of an okay ingredient, it's not something I would cook with in my kitchen, right? We're not going to be using that. We're not going to be using natural flavors that are there to trick the person into believing that real vanilla is in their protein powder, right?

No, we're just going to use real vanilla bean. Yeah, it costs a lot of money to have organic vanilla bean powder in our product. But I want people to have the real thing. I want people to eat real food. So our mission is real food without added chemicals, products without toxins, labels without lies. And that's what it's all about. And, you know, what's interesting is, you interesting is when bigger companies do buy up smaller companies, a lot of these products do change. But one of the biggest trends that's happening right now is the non-GMO label.

You see non-GMO products everywhere, right? You see the butterfly label or another non-GMO signal. And this was as a result of a campaign to get the federal government to label our products, whether they were genetically engineered or not. And what's really sad to say is that people see this label and they say, hey, it's non-GMO. It's safe to eat. is that, yes, it doesn't have food that's made from seeds that are created to withstand heavy doses of these chemicals like Roundup, but it also still has Roundup or other pesticides because there are a ton of conventional crops that still use Roundup and these other synthetic pesticides. Roundup and these other synthetic pesticides. So one of the reasons why I wanted GMOs labeled was not so much the genetically in-modified seed that was being patented. I wasn't really so concerned about that seed. I was concerned by the fact that it was created to withstand those heavy doses of chemicals, right? I didn't want the chemical load in my body. I didn't want that constant exposure

of glyphosate, which is the main ingredient in Roundup, in my body because it's linked to cancer, right? So I am kind of saddened at the fact that there's this huge industry of non-GMO foods, but people don't recognize that it also needs to be organic in order to safeguard yourself from these synthetic pesticides. So you should be looking for organic and non GMO together Yeah, yeah, you know, it's safe, right? Yep. That's yeah, and this is the information that you know I detail out in this book, you know, I had to go through some serious Lawyer reviews. Yeah, you told me about to get this information out and you know You will see everything footnoted and notednoted to the end of the day. It's amazing. Everything you guys need is in this book. Make sure you guys check it out.

Feeding You Lies, How to Unravel the Food Industry's Playbook and Reclaim Your Health. Got a couple of questions final for you. I don't think I asked you this last time. It's called the Three Truths. So imagine it's your last day on earth as many years away as you want it to be, but you have to pick a day and it's your last day. You've done everything you want to do. You've accomplished everything. You've taken down every food company that tries to poison people. You've raised your family.

You've done it all. And you get to leave three lessons behind for the world. Three truths that the world will remember you by. But you've got to take all of your other information with you. So they don't have access to your work or your books anymore. But they have these three truths. What would you say are yours?

Eat from the earth. Find out why you are here. And go do it. Be present. That's a good lesson lately, right? Yeah. Being a mom, what does that tell you about being present? Wow. I mean, it's everything.

It is absolutely everything. There's nothing more important to my daughter and to her well-being than for me to be present with her. Yeah, that's powerful. How long have I known you now, Vani? Six years. Six years? I think so. Is it really? Yeah, I think it's six years. Do you remember when we met originally? I think it was at... Where was it? Was it at Gracia's Madre? Was it here six years ago? Yeah. Was it? Yeah. No. Yeah.

Really? Who did we meet with? Do you remember? We were with. No, we met. Me and you met at, oh, man, I can't remember. At Ryan and Samantha. Was that right?

Yes. I thought we met at, like, down at, like, some hotel lobby, like, maybe there was another time. I can't remember. But six years ago, huh? Crazy. Five can't remember but six years ago huh crazy five and a half six years ago maybe it's true i'd been in la i just moved in la you just moved here yes yeah six years ago yeah we walked up and down sunset and went to starbucks was that the first time we hung out i think so wow gosh okay maybe we had talked on the phone before that yeah

i can't remember i just remember us like we were were best buds. We were, it was great. It was great. And we were, and I was, we took on an investigation hunt and all these things. It's been a pleasure getting to know you over the last five, six, four years, how long it's been. And I want to acknowledge you, Vani, for constantly showing up and doing this work, because I know what it's like to get attacked and get like people trying to take you down. It's not fun. Because I know what it's like to get attacked and get people trying to take you down. It's not fun. And the fact that you continue to show up and create work like this and spend years of time researching and studying and applying facts and data to back your information, it's really challenging to do.

And you're helping a lot of parents. You're helping a lot of kids and human beings who might be suffering from misinformation. So I acknowledge you for all the work you continue to do and that you are a great mom in the process of living your dreams. So I acknowledge you for all of it. Final question for you. People can find you on at foodbabe.com, thefoodbabe.com. Yeah, just foodbabe.com. Foodbabe.com is at thefoodbabe on Instagram, foodbabe on Facebook. And Feeding Your Lies, go pick up the book right now. It's on Amazon and bookstores everywhere you want to get it.

Final question for you is what's your definition of greatness? I would love to go back to my original interview with you and see what I said. Do you remember what it was? I can't remember. Gosh. I don't know. I wonder if it's changed. Yeah, it probably has. Okay. Now that you're a mom. Right. I don't know. I wonder if it's changed. Yeah, it probably has. Okay.

Now that you're a mom. Right. It has definitely changed. Live every day like it's your last. Yeah. I mean, really, the definition of greatness is like living every day like it's your last. Because you'll have no regrets, and you will love and be present and do what you need to do. And you'll, I think, live with the most integrity. There you go, Bonnie. Cool. Thank you. Appreciate

it. There you have it, my friends. I hope you enjoyed this interview. Bonnie Hari, the food babe. If you did, make sure to tag me at at Lewis Howes, and tag Vani Hari as well. Let her know what you thought about this over on Instagram. And share this with your friends, lewishowes.com slash 757. We also just hit 400,000 subscribers over on YouTube. So thank you to all our subscribers over there. If you haven't subscribed yet to the YouTube channel, this is where we release all of our videos every single week and other things that aren't on the podcast, inspirational videos, motivational videos,

and resources. Go to youtube.com slash Lewis Howes, subscribe today, or you can go to the show notes right here, lewishowes.com slash 757, and you'll see the video with me and Vani, and you can subscribe right there. Let's get it up to 500,000 soon. I appreciate all your support. Big thank you again to Vani for coming on. For me, food has become an integral part of my life. As I continue to get older, my body changes and evolves, and I need to make sure that I'm optimizing my health to the best of my ability. And that's why we need to know what's in our food and what we are intaking in our body, because what we intake, we output with our energy. So make sure that you guys consume this information.

Share it with a friend who you think it might be helpful. Share it with a mom who's got kids who cares about their kids' health and their family health. We want to get this out there in a big way. Again, as Winston Churchill said, courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. If you see something wrong in the world, make sure you stand up and speak out about it. Make sure you use your life

to impact other people around you who might be struggling with something, whether it's their food or something else. This is your opportunity to make an impact. I love you all so very much. And as always, you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. to make an impact. I love you all so very much. And as always, you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Hello?