#420 Samantha Christine: Back to the Basics for Better Health

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Where people are going wrong from a health and wellness perspective is it almost seems like they're making nutrition their God, where they're so singularly focused on their biohacking practices and the food that they're eating, et cetera, where what a lot of what we talk about with Meat Mafia and even with Noble is like, just figure out what you should be eating and what you should be doing to feel amazing and have great energy so you actually can go out into the world and do amazing things with your life.

Welcome to the Empower Podcast, where wellness meets real life and empowerment becomes your way of being. I'm your host, Sam. Okay, guys. Today's episode is a heavy hitter. We are joined by Brett and Harry, the dynamic duo behind the Meat Mafia Podcast two guide, flipping the modern nutrition script and helping people reclaim their health with real no-nonsense strategies.

We dig into what it actually means to eat for optimal health, covering everything from carnivore [00:01:00] versus animal-based diets, raw milk and seed oils to stress-free, meal prep, quality protein, and the non-negotiables of wellness. Brett and Harry share their own transformations, how they took control of their health, and how you can too in a simple way if you're tired of the confusion around what to eat, how to feel better, and how to stay consistent.

This episode is your blueprint. Let's cut the noise, get back to the basics and take ownership of our health. Brett Harry, welcome. Thanks so much for having us. Thanks for having us. I'm so excited to sit down with you guys today. Um, for me, like as a nutritionist, I think it's really cool to bring people on that have different ideas and perspectives and what you guys have built and your stories behind it is so cool.

So first I just wanna take some time to dive into your stories because I feel like it obviously led you both to where you're at now and what you are doing and what you preach on. So can you give us a little bit. Insight behind Meat Mafia and where your story started. For the listener that does know, [00:02:00] know about us, I'm Brett, and then I'm joined with Harry.

We're, uh, business partners, best friends. We've, we've, uh, known each other for about 10 years and, um, our two businesses are the Meat Mafia Podcast, which is our media company, which is really focused on just improving the way America Eats and just thinks about health. Mm-hmm. And obviously animal protein is a huge part of what we've talked about for the better part of three years.

And then we also have a supplement company called Noble Protein, which is a grass finished beef based protein powder. So instead of whey or plant-based source, there's actually a way to, uh, take beef protein and turn into a really delicious, uh, bioavailable, uh, supplement. So that's what we've been doing for the last couple years.

And Harry and I really, it started, we played college baseball together. And for me personally, I just justified everything I was doing from a health perspective under the lens of. You know, I'm performing, I'm playing baseball at a high level, therefore I must be healthy. Mm-hmm. So, because I'm lifting weights and training hard and drinking, you know, pre-workout and stuff like that.

Mm-hmm. Look a certain way. Exactly. Right. Like, I had no [00:03:00] concept of, you know, tracking calories or micronutrients or stress or things like that. And everything really just came to a head for me in college because. You know, just I was living the classic collegiate lifestyle of like binge drinking on the weekends, eating a lot of processed food.

I was really just stressed out playing baseball. I used to, you know, just love playing and having fun with it into college. I just felt a lot of pressure to perform. And, um, I think I have, I also have some, uh, family history of autoimmune issues. And then going into my senior year of college, I just got really sick.

My gut basically just, IM imploded with inflammation. And, um, I got diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, which is an autoimmune disease that really just affects your colon, where you just have so much stress, so much inflammation. You just get these ulcers that metastasize all over your gut and your insides, and so you immediately get diagnosed with that disease and your doctors tell you that you're gonna be on drugs and meds for the rest of your life.

So that's basically the diagnosis that, um, you're, you're predestined to. And I [00:04:00] remember my doctor telling me that it wasn't anything that I did wrong. I just got the bad stroke of a genetic lottery and that I was just gonna have to be on these drugs. And the best that I could do is manage it and temporarily put it into remission, but I would never be cured of the disease ultimately.

And that's just what I thought. My life was gonna be. And so I go back for my senior year of school. And I will say that I think the drugs really helped when I was, when I was super sick. And I think they can help a lot of people that are incredibly inflamed and kind of past that point of no return. But, um, everything changed for me when I was about 25 years old.

And, uh, this is about 2019, right before COVID, and that's when the carnivore diet started getting more popularized. Mm-hmm. These crazy people that were on social media and posting on Reddit and YouTube, essentially following this all meat removal diet. And they were saying that. People that were struggling with autoimmune diseases like ulcerative colitis, Crohn's, rheumatoid arthritis, uh, eczema, psoriasis.

Yep. They were following this diet and curing something that was supposed to be [00:05:00] incurable. Right. And I remember thinking to myself, well, if these other people can do that, why would I not try it for two weeks if it, if there's any chance of me not having to get infusions and spend all this money, um, to just try and stay in remission?

If diet and lifestyle could cure it, why would I not try it? And so I did it for, I remember trying it for the first couple days. Immediately felt drastically better. My stomach just calmed down. My energy levels felt great, my skin got better. I was just like kind of popping outta bed with great vigor and drive, and my mental clarity was amazing.

And once you develop that intuition of feeling great, once you realize like, oh, wow, the foods that I'm eating are positively impacting the way that I'm feeling. And you develop that intuition, you just want to go all in. There's no going back. And that's kinda the personality that I have too. And so I, I followed a fairly strict carnivore diet for about two years and, um, actually ended up getting off all the drugs and medications that I was on.

How quickly into that diet that you have to go off the drugs or [00:06:00] were you able to, it, it took me about two years. And what I'll, that's, I get a lot of dms about that. People that are on biologic medication that are right. Like, yeah. Time don't wanna injections. Yes. And I, I, I think mine was 50 k an injection covered by insurance, thank God.

But if you're, I mean, if you're. Not, if you don't have good insurance, you're gonna be crippled for life. And so there's a lot of people that don't want to be on these drugs for the rest of their lives. And what I've noticed is that your, I don't think your doctor is ever going to push you to get off the drugs, but I think if you have the mindset of, Hey, I'm actually the CEO of my own health.

I understand my intuition, I understand my blood work, and you push. Him or her. Mm-hmm. There is a chance that you're actually able to get off of it. So I, I was the one that proactively went to him and said, look, I feel amazing. This diet is working for me. I'm very disciplined with it. I'd love to explore getting off of this.

And his response was, you should have a colonoscopy. Let's make sure that you're inflammatory markers actually look good. Mm-hmm. And then once he actually saw, wow, he has no inflammation, no [00:07:00] micro inflammation, it was all gone. He was, yeah. It was literally completely gone. Um, so they would never tell me that I'm medically cured, but in my mind I'm like, well, there's no ulcers here.

I haven't, you know, had a major flareup since I've gone off the medication and then I've just never really looked back. Is anybody else in your family trying this same diet and lifestyle that you have kind of cured on your own? No one in my immediate family has gone carnivore. Okay. But one of the things that we were talking about before we recorded was just like our collective excitement around RFK and the MAHA movement.

And I've noticed with my mom, you know, a lot of the work that Harry and I have done plus this, this whole movement, you know, she's thrown the vegetable oils out, she's cooking with olive oil and buying beef talo love that. And prioritizing grass finished meat. And your parents are, are the hardest people to try and get, you know, especially when, you know, as, as a child, you're like, I just wish that you guys understood this 'cause you would feel so much better.

They're stubborn, it's, they're resistant, absolutely. But they're starting to make changes, so they're not full carnivore. But I've been starting to see things like around the pantry and stuff where I'm, I'm [00:08:00] optimistic and it's like those small marginal gains over time. So I was in the pharmaceutical industry for 10 plus years.

I was in sales pushing biologics, injections, and my holistic journey started about a few years before I switched careers. But I really started seeing. Th that there is an unmet need when it came to a diet and lifestyle approach before the pharmaceuticals. I'm so thankful for pharmaceuticals. I think there is a place for it, but I think that we too quickly reach for them.

Definitely. Which, you know, the story you just shared about your own health journey, like that's just a testament to showing what you said, taking being the own CEO of your body and like taking initiative, like what that can do for you. I think that a lot of the times when these providers and doctors are saying no medication first, it's maybe because they don't feel like the actual patient will take initiative and be their own CEO.

And I think that really is because there is such a lack of education. So I think that with the social media movement of like more awareness and [00:09:00] education, RFK, like all of these things coming about, I really am hoping, and I feel optimistic. There will be more people wanting to become more proactive in that sense.

It's scary to say, Hey, my doctor is telling me this and I'm actually gonna veer off the path of what he or she is telling me. Right? But I just remember thinking to myself, I'm like, I'm doing what they're telling me. I don't feel as good as I think I should feel. So if I keep following what he, what he's telling me, I don't think I'm gonna get to where I wanna get to.

So I probably need to look at, at some alternative measures. And I remember going to Whole Foods in the Upper East side of Manhattan 'cause that's where I lived. And I remember buying a a pound of a rib eye. And looking at it and thinking to myself, like, before I cooked it, I'm like, am I gonna die like eating two pounds of meat a day?

Because that's how manipulated, right. I was around nutrition, like cholesterol. Yes. All the things we have high meat, saturated fat, like all the things. Meanwhile, in college, I'm eating hot Cheetos and drinking 10 beers every Friday and Saturday. And I think, yes, you know, grass finished meat is gonna kill me.

We're just fed the wrong things. And what Harry and I spend a lot of time [00:10:00] talking about is just intuition versus like whether you're following a vegan diet or a carnivore diet or a keto diet, or you're getting blood work done. Like are you, the things that you're doing, do you actually feel good or not?

Like are you actually taking domain over your own body? Because if you're doing this a, this approach and you don't feel good, why are you continuing to go down that rabbit hole? Absolutely. I feel like there's a really big pushback against kind of like the online, just like health space right now. Yes.

Where it's like, I don't wanna optimize it like as much. I just want to, I really want to just be healthy and not always be neurotic about. Like my health goals and things like, I just wanna focus on the 80 20 of what's gonna work and what's not. Tell us about your journey, Harry. Yeah, so I, um, similar to Brett had like that same mindset, you know, when I was in middle school, high school, just, you know, I got introduced to the gym and working out through sports and was really focused on the training side of things.

Had some incredible mentors who taught me. Like what, what to do in the [00:11:00] gym, how to train, how to prepare for baseball. And these guys were like ordering eggs from the Amish in Pennsylvania. Um, going and picking up raw milk. And I, I didn't partake, but I was like, you know, these guys are like crushing it, physical specimens, you know, I'm gonna keep eating the way I'm gonna eat, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna trust their judgment in the gym.

So really, like through that, really developed a love for training and carried that with me. But my diet led me to have like in high school cystic acne, got on Accutane. Mm. And then looking back, like realized once I got to college that I had this love for training, was playing baseball. And then I started to dial in my diet and saw so much.

Just in, in terms of just those benefits of like better energy, saw my training improve massively. So I'm like, there's so much here that I missed and I wish I had just been focusing on this when I was struggling with, you know, whatever the, the root cause issue was for having that, that acne at the time.

It's like, to me, looking back, I'm like, it was entirely diet related. I think back about it, and I'm like, my mom was so good about [00:12:00] putting food on the table that was healthy with like a hundred percent best intention, but then when I would go to school, I was eating like the garbage, you know, I was like having nachos, having subs and chips and all that.

I'm like, well, that was the, that was the problem. I was eating that every single day and so. That kind of just spurred this curiosity around nutrition and got into my corporate job, um, within, like, I was working for five years at a company up in Boston and really just like slowly just started seeing my health, like take this little bit of a slide where it wasn't major, but I'm just like all, I'm kind of just like, like really developing this like corporate, like non-athlete role.

Like, feels like very foreign to me, having been an athlete my whole life. You know, I'm sitting more, I'm, I'm inside more. My lifestyle has just totally switched. I'm eating more processed food and like quickly saw myself being like, man, I'm not really like, happy with just like where my health is at right now.

It wasn't anything extreme. It wasn't like extremely obese or [00:13:00] overweight. Um, didn't have any crazy problems COVID hit and I was like, all right, I need to make a change. And so I started eating animal-based diet, carnivore diet, just like through that elimination process, like within four weeks. Just realized that I was like, what was I doing?

I just got the chills. Yeah. Yeah. So was it COVID that kind of like, changed the game for you guys? Like y'all were able to have more time to just be more intentional or? For me. Okay. Yeah. 'cause I was, I mean, I was commuting an hour each way, and so we were just like in lockdown. I get two hours back in my day, start sleeping a little, like sleeping more intentionally better.

Mm-hmm. And then cooking all my meals, um, sourcing, like, I was sourcing from a, a place up there called Walden Local, which they source from local farms. They give you some recipes. Amazing. I was just like, I'm not gonna let this be the moment where I like. Go on Zoom and drink with my buddies, like, I'm gonna get my health in order.

'cause I feel like there's just kind of that like, you know, blessing of a moment in time to like, you know, focus on myself. [00:14:00] So I honestly just took like the most simple approach I could. I walked a bunch, I ate better, I got in incredible shape, felt amazing. And so once I kind of hit that goldmine, I was like, this is kind of like the path I'm going down.

I, I need to figure out a way to lean into this more, figure out how to get into this space. And I'd always had, you know, from the training days, always had an interest in nutrition, always had an interest in training. So there was clearly like this underlying, you know, health and wellness theme like early on in my life I just hadn't really connected the dots or thought much of getting into that space.

So that led us down to Austin. We were running a Ironman together. How do you guys think that the carnivore, animal-based diet. Helped you When it came to the training for the Ironman, it was almost more of a mental and spiritual shift, to be honest with you. Like I think what Harry's alluding to in particular, like I think where people are going wrong from a health and wellness perspective is it almost seems like they're making nutrition their God, where they're so singularly focused on their [00:15:00] biohacking practices and the food that they're eating, et cetera, where what a lot of what we talk about with Meat Mafia and even with Noble is like.

Just figure out what you should be eating and what you should be doing to feel amazing and have great energy so you actually can go out into the world and do amazing things with your life. Love that as a tool. Yes. But I do think a lot of the meat, like the amount of animal protein we were eating helped massively with recovery.

Yeah. Like I remember training because the, the hardest part about the Iron Man is not the race itself. It's just these crazy long training blocks where you're like, all right, so I'm gonna do brick workouts all week, and then Saturday I'm gonna go ride my bike for like six or seven hours, and then Sunday I'm gonna go ride it for another two hours and then do a brick workout.

I remember the weekends where I would eat steak or like good quality fish or chicken versus the days that I would just do like a protein shake or have like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or something like that because I'm just trying to bang calories afterwards. It would be night and day different.

And then I actually. Just crude. My buddy Matt Johnson, this past fall, he did a run across Texas where he raced 850 miles across Texas. I [00:16:00] his meal, his recovery meal was grass finished ground beef and rice every single day. Mm. The, he only did not have that meal once because Chick-fil-A donated a bunch of, uh, chicken sandwiches.

Of course. Yeah. The, the next day he was an absolute mess and in shambles. Oh wow. And then he went right back to the meal and was great. So it's kind of cool where like Harry and I have had done our own tinkering, experimentation with the endurance stuff and then seeing Matt do that. I'm like, it's just concrete proof of like, this stuff is very simple and it's simple for a reason, because it actually works.

It doesn't need to be complicated. But I think to your point, like you said, you know, you kind of shifted your mindset looking at food differently, fueling differently, and then you were able to think better of like career wise, like all these other things in your life that kind of like fall into place because.

You don't have that inflammation, you can feel better and think better. Everyone's used to like, you know, some level of energy and output. Right. And I think people who are performing well, like they're always pushing that upper end. Like, they're like, how can I continue to [00:17:00] get this extra alpha and margin out of my body, outta my mind, outta my spirit?

Because I believe that, you know, I can treat my body better. I feel like when you're not really thinking about taking care of yourself, you just fall into that. Like, uh, I don't know if there's any, you know, better feelings. I'm kind of good with the way I am and, um, yeah, just I think taking that like experimenter's mindset of I'm gonna just go experiment with my diet.

I'm gonna go experiment with a new workout routine. I'm gonna go experiment with a workout class. Hmm. And just try to like build a little momentum. If you're stuck and looking for some level of transformation, you do need to make. Big shifts in these areas that can create that energy and momentum to like build that next step.

Can you explain to some of the listeners that maybe were listening and like, I have no idea what the difference is between like carnivore. Animal based, is it the same thing? Like how do you classify that anything like ketogenic right? [00:18:00] Is you're eliminating all carbohydrates and you're using fat as your source of fuel.

So like animal, animal proteins and things like that, that that will ultimately serve as your source of fuel. And so carnivore is the most strict version of that where you're only eating animal-based products. It's primarily red meat because carnivores believe that red meat tends to be the most nutrient dense and the most bioavailable meat that's available.

But it's red meat, chicken, fish, eggs. You're cooking in beef tallow, you're cutting out fruits, you're cutting out vegetables, you're cutting out all starchy carbohydrates and sugars, and you're just focusing on those like really bioavailable animal-based products. And then the animal-based diet, which, uh, Dr.

Paul Saladino is really popularized is all of those animal-based products. And then you're throwing in, um, sugar like fruits, uh, into that as well. Vegetables, fruits, honey. So with no ve carnivore and animal ablate based. No vegetables. No vegetables. Okay. Like a lot of people just assume that Harry and I are carnivore, especially me, just because I had this drastic healing journey and I'm, I'm not, [00:19:00] honestly, I, I think it's an unbelievable tool and I think you're, if you're incredibly sick and have autoimmune issues cutting out anything that might be triggering Right.

That inflammation is fantastic. So it doesn't have to be something you do forever. No. Like it could be like a tool that you do for a few months to Yeah. Maybe just see, so my brother, he has, um, psoriasis all over his body. Mm. And what's crazy is he got it later in life, but it definitely is genetic. My uncle has it too.

My mom, um, he went full carnivore and it cleared up immediately. That's cool. So like, I've seen that firsthand and I mean, it was truly amazing. And at the time I was in the pharmaceutical industry selling a psoriasis pill. Yeah. So I was like, okay, how do I go in here and sell this pill when I just see like this amazing miracle and T cho a.

Going full carnivore, like what that could do from an inflammation standpoint, if you're animal based, carnivore or whatever. Tell us and talk to us about the difference of the quality that you're choosing and and your own journey. Were you guys always choosing like the raw milk and like local farms to get your [00:20:00] meat and eggs from?

Or did you guys just go to the grocery store and get, you know, regular, the cheapest eggs or the cheapest meat? You know, there's grass fed beef. Mm-hmm. Grass. Grass fed, grass finished. And then there's grass fed, grain finished. And I think like looking at it on a spectrum like yes, grass fed, grass finished is lower inflammation, I think that's like been proven out.

But I think if you're looking to make like incremental steps, like just starting to eat more. Red meat, protein dominant meals is gonna be good for you. So, okay. And not worrying too much about, like, the specifics of what it is Yeah. Where it comes from and, you know, this, this stuff's an evolution and like I would say for episode one of the podcast to episode 400 plus, now we've, I think we've calmed down a lot where we just wanna focus on like, getting you in the game.

If you're someone that's on the sidelines and you wanna make those changes, and a, a phrase that we use all the time that our friends, uh, Ann in Weldon, they have this ranch in West Texas called Holy cow beef. So they're a grass finished beef ranch. It's the good, better, best model. [00:21:00] Where good is just all red meat in general.

Even if it's just like the cheap meat from the outer aisle of the grocery store, it's still better than like the hot Cheetos and the processed food in the inner aisle. Uh, better is like grass finished meat from a grocery store. And then best is grass finished meat from a local rancher. Someone that's maybe like, you know, five to 20 minutes away from you that you have a direct relationship with.

You shake their hand, you're on a first name basis, and then you're kind of supporting the local economy. They're, they have regenerative practices, but a lot of that stuff is a progression. I think the issue with a lot of health and wellness content out there is that you have these influencers that are trying to go viral, and they're telling you that if it's not grass finished and regenerative from day one, like it's terrible for you, which is so crazy.

Why do you think that is? I think that. Fear porn honestly sells. And the more that they can be, they can be polarizing, um, and be a little bit click Beatty, it's probably gonna help them. Yeah, that makes sense. Help them with the virality. That's just my personal opinion. I agree with, to be honest with you.

Agree with, and I don't mean that in a jaded way and like, like Harry was mentioning, [00:22:00] there are a lot of benefits to eating grass, finished meat over the grain fed stuff, the cheaper stuff, the Adderall, the grocery store. But I'm telling you like firsthand, when I healed my stomach, I was 24 years old. Um, I didn't have a huge budget for food.

That's what I was eating and I was learning how to cook in an air fryer. Yeah. And then over time it's like, alright, you know, two years down the road I'm finding local farms to buy from. You get to that point later. Yes. But you don't have to start there. I think that's such a good point. It's a, it's a progression.

It's like just start by like prioritizing, you know, two, two pounds of protein a day if you're a man, some fruits, some vegetables, and like just cook your own meals. Take Absolutely. And then just let it evolve over time and see where you end up with the social media and all these fearmongering things.

It's like, oh my gosh, it's so overwhelming. It's so intense when it's like we can make it simple. And I love that you have that approach. One thing that I was gonna add too, just like on the grass fed versus grain, grain fed thing is I think if you're eating grain fed meat, just go for the leaner cuts.

'cause a lot of the toxins. In, you know, animals is stored in the fat. Same with us. So if [00:23:00] you can just get a, a 93 7, you know, from any grocery store that's, you know, decent quality, um, 93 7. Okay. Yeah, that's the one I normally go to. Just like, yeah. Less fat. And then you, you can drain it in the strainer afterwards too.

What about eggs? Like, what's the appropriate or the right type of eggs to buy? Man, chickens are tough. I feel like we've, uh, we've written about this, uh, early on a bunch, just around like what's happened to chickens genetically. Like basically we went from having all these different heritage breeds in the early 19 hundreds and now we've really only breed one type of chicken and they're bred so much that.

It's like most people are eating the same egg from the same type of chicken. So I think eggs are one where you really want to know where you're getting it from. Okay. Um, so pasture pastured birds who have been on the pasture their entire life, um, and have just like had free range to rum, I think is huge.

So when I go to the grocery store, I get. Organic pasture raised like free range, all the thing [00:24:00] eggs. Mm-hmm. Is that like the best type to get Yeah. Versus if obviously like going to an Amish farm and getting it right off Yeah. Would be the best. Yeah. But like if you are in the grocery store, is that the type you should get?

Yeah, I think that's great. I think the thing pasture raised. Yeah. The toughest thing with the grocery store, it's really like. There you read like these labels and it's still tough to verify every question you have. You're like, you're like, all right, it's, it's pasture raised and it's like vegetarian fed, but like, are you guys still using corn and soy in the feed?

Right. 'cause they don't put that on the actual package. It's very, yes. But still like being like what you're buying is still fantastic and you know, maybe you could take it a step further down the road where you actually find somewhere local, right. In Nashville. And you notice, and I do, well we do have a farmer's market and we go there every once in a while and I'll get like the raw milk.

Yeah. And from the Amish and eggs and like, it's crazy what I notice more than anything you can tell, like when you crack the egg open. Mm-hmm. Like how much more vibrant the color is. Yes. Just because there's so much more like nutrients and minerals in there versus like, you know, cheaper eggs at [00:25:00] the grocery store.

Yeah. Raw milk is an interesting one. How have you felt starting to drink it? I started incorporating raw milk last year and I remember when I first opened it, I was like, I feel like I am drinking like straight up cream. Like this is so thick, like milk mustache. To like, to the most. And it was, um, very delicious and I didn't have any kind of like sensitivity, which is really cool.

Mm. So it's one of those things where I haven't had, like, I haven't noticed like an immediate difference in how I feel, but I think like long term, just from like the nutrients I'm getting, it's better with it not being pasteurized too. It doesn't surprise me that you can actually digest it. 'cause when you pasteurize it, you pasteurize out the lactase enzyme.

Hmm. So that's the enzyme that breaks down lactose. So those two together in the, so that's why raw milk's, why interesting. Yeah. You can actually digest it. Or at least like that's most people's case. Why do you guys think raw milk has been demonized and just like that entire industry? We wrote about this a lot early on in, in our kind of like health, getting into the health sphere.

And it's like right around the 19 [00:26:00] hundreds, the US was going through this really. Like interesting phase where these cities were booming. Urbanization was becoming this massive trend. So everyone was moving away from farmland and into the cities. They were becoming dense. And so we needed to figure out the food part of the equation because refrigeration like wasn't really a thing at the time, so mm-hmm.

You still needed some level of freshness for people to like, be able to actually eat the food before it went bad. So the solve was, milk was still just a very high percentage of people's diets. So, um, they moved cattle closer to the cities, or, you know, kept cattle closer to the cities in the back of bars and breweries.

So they would basically just keep these cattle not moving at all. They'd be in like a room like this, they'd be like, you know. 10 cattle in a room like this, not moving at all their entire life for like, that's so sad. Yeah. Three years. And they're just fed this waste. And cattle are supposed to be [00:27:00] eating grass.

They're supposed to be moving happy cows, good milk. If they're just sitting in a room like this, they're, they're gonna produce what ended up being called swell milk, which is like this, it, it was purple. They used to, in order to get people to actually drink it, they would diet it with like chalk plaster of Paris, um, do all sorts of things just to make it so that people, you know, would drink it.

Um, lo and behold, people got really sick from drinking it. Mm-hmm. And so that's when people started thinking, all right, like, which, which direction we do, do we take this? Do we standardize this entire process and try to like, make it so that we increase the standards so cows aren't. Having to live like this or do we just pasteurize the milk and like basically just burn out all a lot of the nutritional benefits, the enzymes, the healthy bacteria out of the milk.

And so that's kind of where it started was like this health problem where a lot of. So mostly kids were drinking the milk, and so infant mortality was [00:28:00] like crazy high. No, that's heartbreaking. So that, that's like where the shift happened was like, we need to figure out to solve, let's just pasteurize this milk.

And then people just started being like, oh, raw milk is, you know, it just, it just pasteurized milk just became the thing and it became easier. So it became an industry and then more like, do you think it's money driven as well? For sure. Yeah. I mean, especially with some of these like plant-based milk companies too, I think that there's, um, a set of companies that really view food almost like technology or things that they're trying to patent as well.

Mm-hmm. Um, and I think one of the things that we've learned is that, you know, maybe you don't need to look at food through the lens of technology. Maybe we actually cracked the code a couple hundred years ago and we actually, like, the secret to the future is actually just returning to the past as well.

But I mean, in any situation, if you have a. 40,000 products at the grocery store, and most of those products are controlled by about 10 companies that are all publicly traded. It's like their responsibility is to deliver a profit to their shareholders, so they are gonna cut corners and do things like that [00:29:00] to, you know, make the most, most money.

And we can debate the pros and cons of that system, but it's like, you know, it just kind of is what it is for the most part. What about vegans? What are your thoughts on vegans? I have a lot of thoughts. That's such a generic question, but you know what I mean? I mean, it's, it's tough because I do think a lot of them, a lot of vegans and people that are going plant-based, their hearts are actually in the right place too, right?

Like, I, we, we feel the same way. No one wants to actually see like a beautiful animal actually die. It's, it's terrible. But then, but I think the issue with a lot of people that are plant-based vegan, or just 99% of consumers in general, is that. We've never, 99% of us have never actually gone out and met our local rancher or gone to a farm before.

One of the things Harry and I did early on when we first started Meat Mafia and started writing and podcasting, and we wanted to just immerse ourselves in the space, is we just said to ourselves, we need to go out and meet the people that are actually growing our food and making milk and things that we're enjoying.

And I think once you go out and meet the ranchers and see the way that the [00:30:00] animals are actually being treated, and you learn about the way that the soil and the grass and all these different plants and species are being regenerated and being brought back, you realize how much these farmers and ranchers care about the animals.

And they also care about you as the consumer as well too. And so I think we view eating meat really as like this amoral thing where. No one wants to see an animal die, but I think there's ways to purchase your food from people that are gonna take the best, better care possible care of that animal. Um, and ultimately you're gonna be able to nourish yourself with the right nutrients.

Because we've had one of the common themes with our shows. We've had so many people that were plant-based, particularly women. That were losing their hair. They were, they had lost their periods, their hormones were shot to hell, and they were trying to do the right thing. Their body was just legitimately malfunctioning as a result of not having these like, crucial nutrients that are only coming from meat, and they start incorporating animal products [00:31:00] again, and their hair starts getting really thick.

Their skin is amazing. They're getting their period back. They're able to actually conceive and give birth, like these life-changing things that are actually happening. And I'm sure you've encountered it too. Um, but we've just seen so many stories about that. So it's tough because a lot of these people that are vegan, they're trying to do the right thing.

I think it's just, um, wrong practices to get there. Like I was just, I was out on my, my buddy's ranch, or he's a land manager out here in, uh, dripping Springs. He has this saying one bad day mm-hmm. Where he has sheep out there that. Live the best life possible, and then they have one bad day. Yeah. And I think like from a humanitarian standpoint, it's like, I, I kind, I understand the vegan argument too.

Like I, I really, I think if, if we could all live without harming any other life, like for sure, for sure. But you know, there's, I think the humanitarian argument, the planet, the argument about around the planet and then the nutritional argument, which vegans kind of like set up camp around where it's like veganism is better than meat.[00:32:00]

Uh, from a nutritional standpoint. Well, I don't think that's true because a lot of the nutrients, you're missing a lot of like critical nutrients in a vegan diet. And then I think from like a land regeneration standpoint, you can't do that without cattle, without ruminate animals working on the soil. So like there's a huge argument there to be made, and I think the humanitarian one is.

Is I think, the most difficult one to really, uh, connect with. 'cause it is, you know, I think it's a, a really challenging thing for most people to, to deal with. But you know, I think when you think about it through that lens of one bad day, these animals are living the best life possible and then, you know, they are continuing forward like this, this abundant life that we get to benefit from.

What, like types of meats, what cuts, like what has the most nutrients that we should be prioritizing from a nutrient density standpoint? Like. If you look at a graph, a lot of the organ meats have the most nutrient density, 'cause they're relatively small, but [00:33:00] they really like pack a punch. Like beef liver has a ton, but I don't think you need to eat a ton of that to get all the benefits.

And I think for the most part, people should just prioritize like grass fed beef if they can. I think eggs is an incredible source. Mm-hmm. Of all the different micronutrients. Um, I think dairy, as we've talked about, has great enzymes. It's, uh, rich in calcium. Um, like I, I don't know. I like, I try to. I, I think mostly like if the animal is eating what it's supposed to mm-hmm.

Like, you're gonna be getting all the different micronutrients that come up from the soil. We were big red meat eaters. 'cause like when you look at the graphs of like, creatine and all these different Yes. Nutrients you could be extract and minerals that you could be extracting from your food. It's, it's pretty high off the charts.

We also like love red meat. It's one of those things where there's so many different types of cuts and different types of dishes that you can make too. But then also, like the bioavailability of meat is pretty incredible. Mm-hmm. Like, and [00:34:00] that was a, when I, when I was going through my healing journey, I didn't know what bioavailability meant and how, why that's so important.

Like your ability to actually like, digest, absorb, and process the food that you're eating. Mm-hmm. Um, and so when you look at a lot of animal products on a graph in regards to bioavailability versus plant-based sources, it's like off the charts higher. Mm. So a lot of things, like a lot of these vegan arguments, you'll see these, um, these charts where it's comparing like.

Green leafy vegetables versus meat and why the nutrients are way higher, but it's kind of irrelevant because the bioavailability is actually a lot lower. So like you might be getting a certain amount of vitamin in from that spinach, but if you're not able to, I digest it and absorb it. That the, the number, you know, the amount of that nutrients actually a little bit irrelevant too.

And I'm not trying to compare animal foods versus, versus vegetables, but like that's a lot of the arguments that you see against meat, but just the bioavailability, that's why carnivore works so well, because it's so digestible and so absorbable. You can just eat animal products and you can [00:35:00] honestly feel really good and flourish off of it.

So to your point, when I think of just like going full blown carnivore, I'm like, what about the vegetables and like the fiber and like antioxidants that you'll find right in a lot of these fruits and vegetables. Like what's your thoughts on that? I feel like fiber is one of those things that's like.

Extreme. It's like a very contentious topic as well too. When I was just eating animal products, like my digestion felt incredible, my inflammation went away. And then I'm also at a point now where it's like I eat vegetables almost every single day at this point. I eat starchy carbohydrates, I eat a lot of animal protein.

I eat fruits. Like I'm getting a decent amount of fiber in now and I feel great when I consume it. So I've almost done both. Sure. And I feel like just the common denominator for me has always just been like eliminating processed foods outta my diet. Mm. And just eating, singling real food sources. And I don't mean to make it so basic, um, but I've literally done no fiber and good, like a lot of fiber and I feel good doing both.

It can be that simple. And that's [00:36:00] okay. Harry and I have always taken the informed consumer approach. And for someone like listening to this podcast, like if you wanna know like. Every single type of like, vitamin and nutrient. Like you should probably listen to like Dr. Paul Sino, or if you wanna know the pros and cons of fiber.

There's people that, I'm almost like the simpleton where I've just absorbed all this information and I, I've just experimented a lot. I'm like, Hey, this works really well for Brett. This actually does not work well for me. And I've like, like when I was healing, I literally kept a food journal. I was like, all right, these foods, I feel great.

These foods, I feel lethargic and I have to go to the bathroom after I eat them. And then I figured out the playbook of what worked for me. And then I kind of fell in love with that healing journey. And like, every, every little day, just seeing those marginal gains towards healing. And then I'm at the point where I'm at now, and I think it's like, how do you develop your own process and obs, you know, absorb the information that's out there, just simplify it and just like, just get in the game.

Honestly, one of my favorite PO podcast conversations that we've done, like we've done over 400 podcasts Wow. With a guy named, uh, bill Schindler. And so he talks about [00:37:00] preparation being the poison and like if you can prepare your foods in a way. I think the carnivores conversation around fiber is super interesting, but it's like at the end of the day, they're talking about.

You know, antinutrients causing certain like effects within the body. So like there's nutrients in plants that are defense chemicals that are meant to essentially protect the plant from being eaten. And so if you cook it the right way, it, you don't really have as many problems. And so I think from that standpoint, it's like you don't necessarily need to have an aversion to fiber, um, which is what Brett's saying through his own experience, where it's like if you prepare it the right way and eat mostly like co either cooked veggies or like you just know how to, you're fermenting vegetables or whatever the preparation is, that helps break down some of those antinutrients.

Mm-hmm. You can actually eat that stuff and not feel like, you know, not feel any of the negative side effects of it. I feel like yeah, have vegetables and fiber is like a tricky one for sure. How do you keep it simple with just all the information that's out there? I [00:38:00] feel like wow. Like, especially for women, I feel like they're like, do I eat a lot of protein?

Do I not eat a lot of protein fat? No fat? Like how do you keep it simple with all? Yeah, so you know, I'm a macro coach too, and so I am a big believer if you're starting out, just track your protein. I think for a woman, one gram of protein per pound of body weight is a really great spot to hit. You could even go to like 0.8 to one, um, gram.

But um, I think that's a great goal. I think when it comes to carbs and fats, I know that my body responds bo better to higher fat, lower carb. I've always been that way. Now when I'm training. It's a little bit of a different story. I do like to increase my carbs in kind of nutrient time. That's like getting very specific, but I think that it's for, if it's a woman starting out, protein's the biggest thing.

And then I always say like experiment, like go for weak, more higher carb. See how your body responds. Go higher fat. The next kind of switch it up and see what your body responds to the best. I think we're all bio individual, in essence we're we all respond differently. A [00:39:00] lot of the times my plates. Are just like three food groups.

Super simple. And it's the easiest to meal prep too. Like I'm a big believer in meal prep, especially when I look at my community, these moms that have like kids and trying to run a business and like all the things. It's a lot. Yeah. So meal prep's key and it doesn't have to be complicated. So that's why I think when you can simplify the food, it's more of a sustainable lifestyle.

Spending so much mental energy on food is so exhausting. It is. Like it doesn't have to be. Yeah. Yeah. I would love to touch on like allergies. So have you guys heard of Alpha Gal? Mm-hmm. I had Alpha Gal. Really? What is that? So basically it's when a tick has previously bit a deer or another type of mammal that has like hoof and they bite a human and there's some type of, like something in the blood that gets transferred over into your body, basically it, it causes an allergic reaction to red meat.

Wow. Any animal with hoofs. I thought that was just something on the internet. I didn't think that was real. No, I had it. It is real. And I had blood work and everything. Yeah. So. [00:40:00] Basically a few years ago I was having a lot of like stomach pain. I would like break out in hives. Um, I would eat a meal and then notice I would look eight months pregnant.

Got blood work done. And I actually went to an integrative doctor at the time who had kind of worked with other patients that had Alpha Gal and it's pretty prevalent in Tennessee, just with all the deer. So she did my blood work and she was like, you have Alpha Gal. I'm like, what is that? She's like, basically it's when you have an allergy to red meat from a tick bite.

Um, while I did a lot of research on it and I had to stay away from red meat. Anything with hot. So bacon, pork, like lamb. So I really only ate chicken and fish. All my symptoms went away, which is great. But at the same time I was like, well, I don't wanna live like this forever. I actually did some acupuncture to help cure it.

Really? Yeah. So are you all good now? I'm all good now. That's, I did some [00:41:00] acupuncture, I slowly added it back in. Red meat is something I can't eat every single day 'cause I still have a sensitivity to it. Um, like my levels are still a little bit high, but I can definitely eat it and incorporate it a few times a week without any issue.

But it was a wild ride, so I would just How long was that journey? Two years. I've never met anyone that's experienced that. You're the first person that we've ever met in person. Yeah. Not a you. I'm here to tell you Alpha Gal is real. You guys are obviously such big proponents on like choosing a healthy lifestyle through nutrition.

So how do you navigate that with supplements when you like do your blood work and see where you might be deficient? Do you go to food first? Are you okay with adding in supplements? What does that look like for each of you? Like after doing 400 episodes of the podcast, I think when I started I was pretty, uh, dogmatic about like, you don't need supplements, right?

You could just eat real food for everything. And I think the more that I've just kind learned about how our environment has shifted over time and a lot of like just the mineral [00:42:00] depletion in our soils, I think that helped me open my mind up to understand that like no supplementation is actually a good thing.

Mm-hmm. And it doesn't need to be. This like ancestral approach versus like the Brian Johnson blueprint in the future trying to live forever. There can be this kind of incredible blend of like the past and the future as well. Like we do have incredible food technology and supplements that exist that can extract these things.

And then you can also like be trying to incorporate really nutrient dense foods as well too. Mm-hmm. So I feel like there's, there's a good blend and um, I feel like I just try and cycle everything to be honest with you. I think our, our protein powder is, is the one thing that we naturally keep in a lot.

But, um, like I love base supplements, pine pollen and they make Bute, superba and Sheila G when I have, when I do have mini flareups for my stomach, there's a brand, uh, this company called Ching D makes this indigo supplement that always helps put my stomach into remission. Interesting. Um, and BPC 1 57 for my stomach as well.

The oral version of it. It works. It's like a miracle worker for your gut [00:43:00] too. So just like, I don't know, just constantly tinkering and experimenting and finding what works for you. Definitely. Like I was in a bad flare up a couple years ago. And, um, I was just, I had a doctor, I was like, I really think that you should experiment with Indigo and you should take it with BPC 1 57.

And for whatever, I was open to it. 'cause I just was like, for whatever reason, I cannot get outta this flareup. And if I had stayed dogmatic, it was like, no, I'm just gonna just do bone broth and steak or whatever. I don't, you know, it definitely helped with my recovery for sure. Um, and I think I threw some beef gelatin capsules in there too.

So I think there's a ton of efficacy for certain types of supplementation and I just, I like to cycle everything too, and not take anything too long. Right. Yeah. But that's, that's a big one. I'm the same way. What about you? Yeah, I fall in the same camp where it's like. You know, I try not to live my life in a test tube where I'm like, you know, fixated on having a hundred supplements that I'm taking a hundred percent of the time.

But I love cycling different supplements. I like trying the ones I feel like really do give me some added benefits, like Brett mentioned based supplements. Um, our protein powder is like probably one of the only things that I [00:44:00] eat on a consistent basis. Mm-hmm. Just 'cause it has the, uh, an organ complex in there, collagen and colostrum.

So it, it really hits like a number of different micronutrients as well. You know, I'm, I'm open to supplementation for the same reasons. Bread is where it's like, you know, we know that our soils are depleted, that we do need some of these extra, um, minerals from supplementation and that's fine, but focus on real food first.

Like, if you can make the real food changes Absolutely. Make the real food changes. Mm-hmm. And some of that can just be as simple as incorporating one food like type of food back into your diet and boom, like, you know, you fix that depletion in a few months. Do you guys do protein powder every day? Pretty much every single day.

Yeah, same. I take like four scoops a day. Wait, how many grams of protein is that? Um, 21 grams of scoop. Four. Four. So. What? You're a good, a good amount. I'm to get you get a day. I'm trying to get 200 grams. Oh, okay. Great. I actually have a macro story I think you'll love too. Oh, share. Let's go. So I got, so I got married, uh, three weeks ago.

June 21st. Congratulations. Thank, that's awesome. And it was, it was cool [00:45:00] because I was about a month out from the wedding. And I'm like, I don't feel, it's funny 'cause I'm in the health and wellness business, but I don't feel as healthy as I should feel. Right. And so I, I started working with this coach in New York.

His name's Tommy Matico and he's a big macro guy, so he got my macros dialed in and a lot of it was like eating kind of like the same three to four meals a day. Yeah. Um, it's boring when you're really in it. It was boring. Like it was like a protein, it was like protein shake, uh, good quality chicken breast, vegetables and rice, simple for lunch and dinner, and then like a Greek yogurt bowl with protein and some frozen fruit in it.

And I'd never really done the low fat calorie counting macros. And it was a, it was an awesome test of just like experimentation, monotony and lo and behold, and then he would program my workouts too. You're right. And just kinda like falling in love with that, that process and that consistency. And even like just a month of doing that.

Like day one to day 30. It was night and day different. Oh, I'm sure. And I don't know, when you were talking about supplementation and experimentation, like that stuff is [00:46:00] amazing. But I even think just doing that experiment of, you know, good quality foods, working with a coach, understanding calories in calories out, and having someone to program your workouts and just like training hard and like giving your best to that workout.

You do that for a month and you actually can transform. And I think the biggest part is consistency with absolutely. With all that. Like, you have to be consistent and it's like, there's no magic pill, there's no like blueprint of like, this is what works for everyone. And that's why like a lot of the times with my clients, it's like the first few weeks we're just like figuring it out together.

Like I had them track their macros without me giving them anything for a week just to see where they're at. A lot of the times they're protein deficient. We look at what they're eating, cut out processed foods, replace with just whole foods, keep it simple on that point. Um, program, program them a, a program that's built in a progressive overload.

Um, and you know, that might take some tweaking to figure out what exercises they like, what they don't like. Now, from like an internal health aspect, like a lot of the times I feel like whole foods and cutting out the processed [00:47:00] foods helps so much when it comes to energy level and just like all the things, making sure they're hitting their protein.

Like that's a big thing with energy. But like after a month, if clients don't feel ideal still, that's when I usually bring in like blood work. I'm like, let's get some blood work. Yeah. Just to kind of see, or if like, starting off the bat, if it's like brutal, I'm like, we should probably go ahead and get some blood work to start off.

Usually about the time, once we figure things out and they're consistent for a month, it's like night and day because a lot of it's inflammation. So when you. Do all these things and you cut it out, you're like, holy cow. Absolutely. It's amazing. Definitely. But that's so cool. Yeah. It was. Did you feel like great on your wedding day?

It felt, yeah, it felt great and it's just like, yeah, the, just the ability of, the feeling of, Hey, I don't feel great right now. Right. And then you just start, you feel a little robotic and monotonous. Right. I've never like put all my calories into an app before. Logging every single rep in the gym. But it's similar to like wearing a smartwatch.

It's like you're doing it for a period of time, you're getting the data and if you do it, you know, I did it for 30 days and I felt amazing. And finding a good coach that's actually accountable to for sure. That's like [00:48:00] monitoring your stuff. That's it's, it's the, it's a blend of it, the accountability, and then you're actually like figuring out how you should be eating and how you should be training and then it just becomes a lifestyle.

I would love to ask you guys what are some like non-negotiables when it comes to ingredients and foods that you. Stay away from, I, I try to like fully avoid seed oils if possible. If it's like, you know, out a dinner and you're at a restaurant where, you know, they're cooking seed oils, I'm not gonna like, you know, make it the, the, you know, worst thing that's ever happened to me.

Right. But at the end of the day, like, if I can avoid them a hundred percent, I'm going to, I think like oils are, are just an area where it's, you talked about inflammation. I just think that there's, there's such a source of inflammation that if I can avoid them, uh, I just feel way better. Mm-hmm. When I, when I don't, when I'm not consuming those things.

And, and basically every packaged good that people walk past in the grocery store today, now there's like a whole movement away from this, but like, there's a lot of seed oils and a lot of packaged foods. So if you just start by eliminating packaged foods, [00:49:00] you're good. Yeah. Um, yeah, seed oils are, are probably my number one, one.

Um, and you know, like, I think for the most part, like so much stuff is taken off the table when I'm like. During the week, 90% of my focus is just eating real, real foods, real whole foods. I'm like, right. I don't even need to think about what my do's and don'ts are. Right? Like I just eat those things and, you know, seed oils can creep into those things just based on the preparation.

So yeah, just I, I think that's one that I try to be mindful about. Are you weird about seed oil? I, I think I'm the same way. I'm trying to, I'm trying to figure out how to articulate this too, where like, one of the things I was gonna say to you is like, oh, I'm trying to stay away from sucralose. But for a good example is like if I know I'm gonna go to the gym and hit a hard workout and I don't have like a good quality pre-workout, like Promix, I love their, their pre-workout.

There are sometimes where I'm gonna like crack a Celsius in the morning and drink that. Yeah. So it's disingenuous for me, like, it's almost like I try and earn, or like Harry was talking about the, the fair life. Every once in a while if I'm out and about, yes. I'm like, all right, I cranked to work balance.

I need proteins balance. It's like earning some of those products [00:50:00] that can help you achieve that goal, yet they might not be the most ingredient and friendly thing, like kind of just working those things in and earning that. I, I'm literally on the same page and a few years ago I used to be like. No anti everything.

Like I was very gung-ho. Yes. I think it was just because I was so hyped up with what I was learning in like in nutrition school. Yes. And I went to more holistic school and so, um, but now I'm like, okay, balance is so important. Like we have one life to live. And it's like the majority of the time, if you're fueling intentionally, like those moments where you do grab the Celsius or you do grab a protein bar that maybe has some gums in it, or sucralose or whatever, like it's not gonna kill you at the end of the day if that's all you have.

And you know it's gonna help you get to your goals and you're gonna feel good like. It is what it is. Yeah. I feel like most people are battling the consistency battle. So if you have a, a product that you love that is like healthy for you, has 21 grams of protein or like, it's just something that can get you from point like zero to one.

Yes. And get you moving. Like that's I think most of my story around just like [00:51:00] momentum. There was always like a product or a thing that like bridged the gaps for me. Mm-hmm. And I think that was really like important to realize, like most people are kind of just trying to get that, those first steps going if you're trying to optimize Yeah, a hundred percent.

Like. Eat the real foods, cut out, like all the little things. Um, but I think obsessing over it too. It definitely can start to like work against you. Yeah. I think in the age of nuance, a lot of people are stepping over dollar bills to pick up nickels. That's one of the things that Stan Efforting talks a lot about, and Austin is a, is like the epicenter of this kind of like animal-based movement.

And I see a lot of people at the gym that will talk about, you know, hey, I'm cutting out seed oils and I'm eating all the steak and fruit and honey. In the back of my mind I'm thinking to myself like, but you don't, you don't look. Metabolically healthy. And I think you're, you're so focused on like tinkering with ingredients and cutting these things out.

But like, you're not walking 10 to 12,000 steps a day. You're not lifting heavy weights. Like I, for [00:52:00] me and my non-negotiables are like, lift heavy weights, try and walk at least 10,000 steps a day, get some life in, prioritize, protein, sleep, six to eight hours a night. And if I do those things over a long-term period of time, I'm probably gonna feel really good.

My non-negotiables are more on like the do side of things where it's like, go take the walk, go get sunlight. Like, try to make sure that those things are incorporated in my day. 'cause if I'm doing those things, like Chance are like, I just feel way better, I'm making way better choices around food. I'm just at peace with just, you know, if I do go out and eat a meal that's not like perfect for me and fit everything, like I'm gonna have the energy the next day to go hit a workout.

So, yeah, I think it's more so like. Not putting as much pressure on like, oh, oh my gosh, I'm scared of everything. And just doing, just continuing to pour into the, the right things. It's all about balance. This whole space is so fascinating, and once you start to feel really good and you start doing your own education, you're listening to podcasts and mm-hmm.

You know, you're at school learning about all these things, it's almost like you have to swing all the way to like this [00:53:00] one end of the pendulum just to gradually like loosen up the reins a little bit over time. Absolutely. But it's like this incredible journey where you know so much and now you know what works best for you and your kids, and like you're actually enjoying life.

Like on Sunday, I had a pizza and I enjoyed every single bite of it. I didn't feel guilty. I had pizza on Sunday too. That's, there you go. That's a, that's a sign where five years ago I would've been, I would've, you know, there. Yeah. I used to pack my own dressing to go out. Like I was, that's how you know. No, my friends know you were in it.

I would pack my own dressing. I would like. I was like the most annoying to order. And every once in a while I still will be like, Hey, can you replace, like, use butter instead of seed oil? Absolutely. You know, but like, if it's a whole thing and they don't, I'm like, just don't worry about it. Having kids and like a family really helped me 'cause I, mm-hmm.

I realized how precious life is and how short these moments are. And it's like going out, you know, I'm thinking like my beach trip where we go and get ice cream like past me would've not gotten the ice cream. 'cause I don't know where it's sourced and the cane sugar and all [00:54:00] of that. But now I'm like, I wanna get ice cream with my kids.

Like, that's okay to do that too. Yes, yes. I remember hearing a clip, uh, and Paul Enos taught so many people about nutrition. I remember him saying that he's never gonna eat a Christmas cookie ever again, or a cookie ever again. What? And I'm like, I have a lot of respect if that's how you wanna live your life.

Like for me, I'm from New Jersey. I have an Italian mom. She makes unbelievable Christmas cookies, home cooked meals, pasta. If I was to tell her that, like I would just, that's just not how I wanna live my life. So I think it's just. What kind of life do you wanna live? What are the end goals for you? Mm-hmm.

And I don't know, I think, and just navigate that way. Yeah. And when I think about my community specifically and the listeners that are tuning in right now, I think that they would probably say the same thing and align with that like 80 20 balanced lifestyle. I'm more so like 90 10. Yes. But like that's in a very aggressive statement to be like, I'm never doing this forever again.

You know? Mm-hmm. Yeah. And it's like for the people that are intentional in that sense, like good for them. But that's a hard one for me. I love the idea of [00:55:00] just building up, like investing so heavily into that 90, like being so good at that 90, that the 10 can just like, just chill. Yeah. Like yeah. You've built up some margin in the way that you live your life.

Absolutely. Because it's like that 90, it's like you're fueling yourself and you feel good from it, but like. You know, for me that 10 is I like my Botox and I like my Chick-fil-A. Guess what? We all, and we all have that. We all have that 10. We all have, whether we say it publicly or not, we all have different for everyone.

Everyone's got that 10. Yes. And I used to, I think soc starting out my social in that world, like I used to be so like hesitant to like share that, but it's like. I have to Yes. Because it's like we're all like that. That's okay. Yes. So for the listener that's tuning in, whether they're like a young woman in a busy career or a young, or a mom who has kids and they're wanting to take that next step and kind of take ownership, and I love what you said earlier, like be their own CEO of their body.

Like, what's some simple things that they can do starting today to better their health? Honestly, [00:56:00] just starting by getting more steps in. Hmm. And so I eat three, I eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner every single day. And being able to take like a 10 to 15, 20 minute walk after every single meal is such an easy way to just stack those steps in.

We are the same person. Really. I say that, I'm like, go walk after you eat guys. Yes. How many steps a day do you aim for? I try to get at least 10,000 steps in every single day. And it's, and I think the three meals, stacking those after is like a great way to, to hit that goal. And then, you know, sometimes I'll decide like, Hey, I haven't called my grandparents in a long time, so I'll call my grandparents or my parents.

Sometimes I'll literally leave my phone behind and just like actually think and take in the outside habit Stack is awesome. Habit stack. And then, you know, you're, if you're like a busy mom, you're like, oh, this feels good. I'm, you know, walking 10,000 steps a day. That's maybe an additional 500, 600 calories burned.

Yep. That alone, you'll start to feel really good. And then maybe the next thing after that is like strength training. But I literally think just starting by walking outside, particularly after you eat those meals, it's gonna help you with digestion. I know it sounds so [00:57:00] basic, but do that for 90 days and see what happens.

It's doing so much too that like your metabolic system, your lymphatic system, which is gonna help your body perform and work better. It's also so meditative too. Like I think you, when you start moving your body more at like that really low state, your mind is just like freed up to like start processing.

A lot of the things that are kind of just like sitting there but not getting like the attention that it needs. Like, you know, you've thought about something and you kind of forgot about it and then you start walking, you're like, oh man, I really needed to give that more thought, but I just, yes. You know, log logged it away somewhere.

So I think like I feel like movement is just, it is medicine. I agree. At the end of the day, I come up with my best ideas, like business brand wise when I go and runs and I can just think and. I come back and I'm like, pull up my notepad and just like write all these things down. 'cause it's like gives your mind a moment to just like connect with yourself.

Yeah. Which life's so fast paced these days from work Kids technology. I mean, think about how many times we just [00:58:00] pull out our phone without thinking and go on. It's like just have stillness is so important. Yeah. Do you run without your phone? No, I run with my phone 'cause I like to listen. Wait, you listen to music and stuff?

Yeah, I listen to music or podcasts, like the people that run without music. I'm like, you guys are built different. I wish I was like that. Can you guys do that? I have before. Okay. That's, I go through phases. Like right now I'm in a phase where, similar to you, I've just been spending a lot of time researching dopamine in general.

Mm. And I actually, I've never read Cal Newport's book Deep Work. It's been around for 12 years, I think. And I had a friend that recommended it and just the ability to. To like, just put away all these things that you're consuming all these inputs and actually just focus on the stuff that you want to do.

Or it might even be like this meditative time running to get these business insights like that in today's world in 2025 is a superpower. So I've been, I've been actually spending a lot of time like getting off of my phone. Mm-hmm. And just focusing on tasks that are high signal to what Harry and I are trying to do, like for business, for life.

Mm-hmm. Because I was just realizing all I'm doing is just consuming 24 [00:59:00] 7. And so I'm not doing the things that I want to be doing on a daily basis. 'cause I'm just getting this constant dopamine hit that I should be getting, you know, being outside or exercising or like sitting down and writing a blog post for our business.

I, I'm kind of losing that ability to focus 'cause I'm just stimulated 24 7. So that's been. A big thing the last couple weeks for me right now is like rewiring and repairing my dopamine. I'll have to read that book deep 'cause I feel like I might deep work. We'll put that in the show notes. Uh, my one hack would be just learn a recipe for yourself and like something that you like to cook and just like learn one healthy recipe a week for a month, and you have four in your arsenal.

Oh my gosh. And then you can just like fall back on those as you continue throughout your multiple year long health journey as you start to just like lean in and yes, get, get better at it. Like having four meals in your back pocket that you like to cook. I love that that. All right. Are you guys up for a fun like rapid fire question game?

Let's do it. Let's do it. Yeah. Y'all get ready? Okay. Might, we might hit some controversial [01:00:00] topics. Should women eat as much red meat as men? Yes. Why? I think in proportion you should be trying to get a gram of protein per pound of ideal body weight, whether you're a male or a female. Artificial sweeteners, are they harmless?

I don't think they're harmless. I think that over time they can definitely do damage on the gut. Yeah. Yeah. Moderation in moderation. Yeah. Moderation for sure. Super foods, thoughts? Bone marrow. Ooh. I've never had bone marrow. Are you serious? There's some great spots in Austin. I'll be, I'll be honest, I've been like a little nervous.

I've never had liver either. I've had like capsules, but I've never done. Actual liver. It's definitely an ex, an extreme, I think. But I think there's notices, benefits, bal vinegar. Love it. Throw a little balsamic vinegar, smoke sea salt, chop it into a small piece raw and just shoot it. It tastes, it's good.

Raw. It's like tartar almost. Yeah. All right, let's go. I'm gonna send you a video, but like you're saying like these trendy superf foods, like kale and qa. Yeah. I think it's bullshit, honestly. Yeah. And like the, okay. Hey, no, you heard it. Let's go. Alright. Counting macros. Overrated or underrated? I think it's [01:01:00] underrated.

It's macro season, macro summer. Shred calories and calories out, right? Like thermodynamics matter. Like if you're, you can drink all the raw milk and meat and fruit, but if you're eating too much food and you're not burning enough calories like you are going to put on weight. Absolutely. When you have more protein or more muscle mass too, you actually burn more calories at a resting MM rate.

So yeah, there's so much to it. Win the macro game gluten-free versus non-gluten free. I eat sourdough bread, but I, I think it's legit. I, I think that like. The processing of grain in the US is the, like affects a lot of people. Yeah. Most people are dealing with like this synthetic grain that disrupts their gut.

So I think it's real. In school we learned that everyone has a sensitivity to gluten. Just some have it greeter. Than others to where they actually feel and see the symptoms. Mm-hmm. That's crazy. Gluten-free bread sucks though. That's the only problem. Yeah. It tastes like cardboard, but yeah. Not ideal.

Right. Sourdough, intermittent fasting. I used to do it a lot. I actually feel [01:02:00] better when I break my fa. I have some type of a breakfast in the morning. Mm-hmm. A lot of times I'll just do two scoops of our protein powder with ice, water and frozen fruit. Yes. And then I go to the gym. I feel a lot better that just a little something.

Yes. I tell my clients that too. I'm like, it, you can literally take a bite of banana. Like it doesn't have to be a lot, but sometimes your body just needs a little something to help balance those cortisol levels. I like, uh. Prolonged fasting for more like the spiritual side of things and like how long do you go?

I'll do like a few days. Um, he does long fast. What like two, three days. Wait, we need to pause the rapid fire game. 'cause I need to know. Okay. So you'll go for how long? I just up a three. I just wrapped up like a three day one. How do you feel throughout and then like once you end it? Um, the first day is usually like very much like the challenge.

And then once you get through that, I think it, it becomes a lot easier. Um, like the second day, like this past one that I did, I was like pretty irritable. So it's like I, I think for me though, it's like more on the spiritual side of things where I'm like, I just feel like I learn a lot [01:03:00] about my relationships to basically everything.

That's amazing. And yeah, try to like lean into more scripture during that time period and just like find a little bit more stillness. So it's like much more of like a centering thing for me. Mm-hmm. Um, getting back to center one food you'd ban if you could. Sea oils. Yeah. Yeah. Sea oils. High fructose corn syrup would be another.

That's a good one. Oh, that's a good one too. I know. I feel like RFK we didn't really talk, I think we talked a little bit about before, but like I'm so excited just to see what he's gonna do. I mean, what he's already doing. It was huge for you, right? You were saying in 2020? Yeah, so back in like 2020 when COVID hit and like everybody was getting sick and like the vaccines, I was like, there has to be a way that we can approach like diet and lifestyle to help mitigate the sickness in a sense.

And like that's when honestly, a lot of my passion of what I'm doing now started, but I did so much research from like literature and a lot of it came from him and like just listening to him speak and share his thoughts and like scientific facts. [01:04:00] You can't make up. I think we're just craving a politician that like really practices what they preach and yes, just seeing him, the lifestyle that he embodies, the fact that he's like talked about this movement for a really long time, regardless of what you feel about vaccinations or whatever, just someone that actually wants to clean up the food system and pull out of these extra additives out and ingredients, like for the sake of our children's health, like someone that has young kids.

It's so encouraging. For me it's dyes. Dyes. Like I, I'm a big one on dyes and I think having kids too, and like I have a DHD and um, I'm pretty sure my oldest has it. He hasn't been diagnosed, but like, he's literally me as a child. So I'm like, I feel like I see some of the same stuff, but anytime that I give my kids dies, like if they go to a birthday party and they have like a cupcake or whatever, like they act so different.

Really like behavioral meltdowns, just like out of control. Um, like it's, it's, it's pretty crazy and um, it's just not healthy. I mean there's so many other countries that have. These dies [01:05:00] banned. I'm like, why are they not banned here? That is a red flag. Just to begin with, this has been talked about a lot on like, I think RFK and all like Cali means, but it's like if there's these other standards that are like more scrupulous and like higher in other countries, like why aren't we just like replicating following this?

Yeah. Yeah. Especially from these big companies perspective because it makes the food taste better. Look better. Yeah. Mm-hmm. People are gonna buy more of it. The money machine machine. More Americanized. At the end of the day, that's what it is and it's really sad and unfortunate that's the case, but hopefully with RFK getting in there, you can see some changes that are much needed.

So. Alright. Well I've just enjoyed this so much. I feel like we talked about so much too. We really did covered everything, but I really am just happy because I hope that the listeners who are tuning in today just feel more empowered with what they heard. And I think my biggest takeaway takeaway is you can start simple.

Oh yeah. And it should be fun too. And it should be fun. Yes. Like it's, I feel like one of the things that Harry and I [01:06:00] love about fitness and nutrition and health is. In a lot of ways it's like the fairest pursuit ever where I remember playing baseball and being like, I could work so hard, but there might just be this kid that is just more talented than me.

Where I feel like fitness is such a fair pursuit where it's like if you put in the reps and you learn how to eat and train properly and, and go, you know, walk 10,000 steps a day or whatever those principles are for you, like you're gonna see progress in regards to the way you look and more importantly the way that you feel.

And what does that version of you look like that does the right things for a long period of time. Like our business was built on the back of us just like getting into the best shape and health of our lives. And so I think that's what's so encouraging is for the person that's listening to the show, it's like, what if you just started shopping at the outer aisle, the grocery store and eating the right things?

And what could you turn into in a year? It could be amazing, like more energy to play with your kids or get a promotion or like whatever that looks like. We're talking about life changing stuff. Progress is isn't linear in the sense that. Everyone's journey looks different and where you start out might not be where you end up, but it's like we all like still have work to [01:07:00] do.

Like I'm still working on myself. I don't, I don't have it all figured out. And obviously from this conversation, like I've even taken a step back and been more balanced in a sense. So, um, I think there's some really great takeaways since this conversation. So thank you both for sharing your story. Would love for our listeners to know where they can find more about you guys.

Your podcast, your supplement company, noble Protein. So can you share a little bit more about where we can find you? Yeah, so you can find us on socials. I'm Meat Mafia Harry. We have Meat Mafia Media, which is our, our Instagram handle. Um, we are on all streaming platforms, so Spotify, YouTube, if you guys wanna go, follow us there.

Um, and yeah, we're posting podcasts every week. So we have one going out a week. Uh, we used to do three week, but we've got one going out a week. Uh, you did three a week? Yes. Oh yeah. Early on. That's a lot of work. It intense. 30. What did we record? 38 podcasts in June. 31 month in 2022. Oh my goodness. Yeah, we were just getting going.

We had no idea what we were doing. Yeah. Yeah. And then look at where you guys are at now. I mean, your podcast is incredible and thank you. Just, you just thank you guys by yourself. [01:08:00] What you have to offer is so amazing. But like your guests and they're, I've just really enjoyed listening to them. You thank you.

And then our supplement company, noble. It's the Grassfed Beef protein powder company. We were talking about just noble origins.com. And then we have a chocolate flavor of protein, and then a vanilla flavor of protein too. And then I am Meat Mafia Brett, on Instagram and Twitter. Awesome. And for Noble, we'll give you guys a, a promo code too for Empower, uh, for 20% off.

So yeah, if you guys want to use that. Oh, for sure. Yeah. I'll put all of the, all the details in the show notes too and um, yeah, to where they can find you in social handles and all of it, so. Awesome. Well, thank you guys for coming on. We'll have to do like a round two. Yes. We need to have you show too. We gotta reverse the mic, so that would be really fun.

I would love that. All right, well thank you guys. Thanks Sam. Thanks Sam.