The Story of Alitura with Andy Hnilo

I had a very strange childhood, had.

The worst case any doctor had ever seen. My job is to keep healing. So that is the story.

We all have remarkable stories within us. Stories of adversity, challenges, triumphs, and ultimately of healing. This is yous Health, you story. The podcast Imagine waking up in a hospital bed with severe injuries, including a compound jaw fracture, after being struck by multiple cars. Our guest today, an accomplished actor and model, faced this reality and had facial scarring that impacted his work. He turned tragedy into triumph by prioritizing nutrition in his recovery journey and by pioneering a groundbreaking, transformative skincare line rooted in pure, clean ingredients that provide natural healing. This is the story of Alatura with Andy Nylo. Andy, so great to have you on, man.

Hey, so good to be here. Casper, how are you?

I'm doing great. And listen, we were talking about this before even recording was the fact that our pads have kind of intertwined a little bit. And we've always been in the same industry, but like so many, you kind of pass each other, say hi and everything, but we never actually connected. So this is amazing that, you know, a couple years after we probably first crossed paths, we're sitting here talking to each other. You in Sedona, beautiful Sedona. Me in New York, being able to do this. So thank you.

Yes. Well, thank you so much for having me. I believe one of your teammates, Courtney, is a customer of ours. She's an awesome person. Tell her I said hello, please.

I absolutely will, Will. You know, you created an amazing line here. We actually tested at our center. We have different ways of doing that. And doctors look into a bioenergetic and ingredient listing and saw it was really great product tested, regenerative and all these things. But before we even get into the line, let's go back to how it all started, because as I mentioned, you went through a horrific tragedy, but you did turn that into something. But what was that even like? Do you even remember what happened that night? Or did you just wake up in a hospital? What was that whole journey like?

There I was crossing the street on Melrose after leaving, leaving a restaurant, looked down at my phone and started. Took a step out and then boom. I got clipped by a westbound heading Land Rover. I lost consciousness, got hit into the eastbound lane and run over by a tundra. Both cars pulled over. My clothes were getting cut off me in the middle of the street. I was coming in and out, and I vaguely remember the ambulance right over to Cedars Sinai Hospital and waking up with chest tube, inserted a morphine drip and just my jaw, just my chin was protruding through the bottom of my mouth at a compound fracture of my j. This whole section from my chin to just beneath my left ear was in. Is the resident maxillofacial surgeon at cedar Sinai Hospital. Dr. Rosenberg couldn't do the surgery, so we had to find a private doctor. Dr. Joseph Brujerity and Dr. Rosenberg assisted put me back together. Titanium plate up top, one on bottom. I'm just extremely grateful to be alive. People don't survive accidents like that. Interestingly enough. I don't know if it was just a shock from like the trauma or something like that or probably having my family around me, but I was just, I had a, I wasn't down for that long, you know what I mean? I just, it was like I had my ankles, knees, shoulders intact that I was obviously extremely disappointed about my reflection being unrecognizable, having no teeth, jaw wired shut. But I just knew that, put together a plan of going on walks, getting circulation going, getting the nutrition through a little straw in my mouth and just day by day working on getting back as quickly as I could. But in that process, wow. A lot of self reflecting and just looking into something that turned out to be my lead to my purpose, which is aloe terra naturals, that's for sure.

Let me ask you this because so many people that go through like disease that I speak with see it later on as this blessing of transformation. Even though it's such a struggle. Do you look at that moment as also a transformative moment? That of course was a horrific and very painful moment. But was that a transformative moment in your life?

Absolutely. I mean I, I, you know, I wanted to be in the entertainment industry and that's such an unpredictable route. Waiting for the phone to ring. I just had this subconscious feeling that I was underachieving in life. But I was working as hard as I could towards a direction where I thought I was going to, you know, that was my dream. I mean that accident rocked me right towards something that had been staring me in the face my entire life. Previously I had skin issues in college and I became obsessed with ingredients. I met with a Chinese herbalist in Berkeley, California. Went to Cal. I had very bad back acne and just little cystic sores that were so frustrating. The first thing you see in the morning, especially when you have like relatively clear skin. But just that one mosquito bite or a couple, that was my thing. And it just, you know, walking out. Think we had a day off. I was down on Shattuck And I met with a Chinese herbalist. I bought my first. It was, I think it was. What was it? It was aqueous silica horsetail extract for hair. I was just. But I, I had a conversation with this gentleman explaining the importance of building your blood. I learned about adaptogens at 18, you know, and so. And I went from Neutrogena clean and clear to Dove soap. I mean it had five ingredients. Two of them were coconut derived surfactants. I use that from head to toe. And I think I was still using per plus or whatever. But at 18 or 19, when you start to see those incremental results, start to clean up your diet a little bit. I mean, I wasn't perfect, but going from dorm food and then switching it up and going from like going to the spinach aisle with tun. Eat this, not that. Remember the Men's Health magazine? Anyway, I was really into it at a very early age. But I, you know, I wanted to be a ball player and then be an actor. But I mean it was. Both went very well. It's just so interesting that, you know, years later, looking back, I mean, I couldn't imagine doing anything else than those two things. You know, acting, modeling and then being an app. It was just what I loved. And just I was working very hard towards those avenues as a career. And then now I just, I kind of look at that and it was fun. I can't imagine doing anything else and I don't want to. This is. I have, well, yeah, complete control over formulating products that I couldn't find on shelves. Seriously, at the time, I just couldn't. There was always some type of hole in a product, whether it was a preservative that I didn't like, a filler that didn't. I mean, just go. To me, it just. You can go above and beyond with everything. You know, you can go organic on ingredients. It costs more. Sure. And if you're doing it for yourself, what else you can afford it. That's the thing. I didn't have that much money, but it was just, just. I don't know. That's where I spent my entire paycheck. It was on the food and supplements that I would put inside of my body. Even before the accident. I just felt that that discipline of feeding the machine as well as I possibly could at the time and taking care of myself with, you know, discipline and working out and all that would lead to success, you know what I mean? And just that paying attention to all areas of what I was consuming and putting on top of my skin just, I mean it's just looking back and then now it's just, it's my life. I'm. But it truly is even that, you know, not even on the business side. It's just 24, 7 really. I mean this is exactly where I'm supposed to be. And having skincare, you know, for, you know, when we started off a year into it, being an athlete or whatever, I was hesitant, kind of, you know, a little shy about it owning a skincare line. But now it's just like, you know, you go, you demo products that say spring training for the, the Cubs and A's and you see some of your, you know, the people you've seen on tv, they walk by and then they come back. I mean we all want to look and feel good and just it's okay to take care of yourself and, and I know exactly what energy I'm giving emitting personally and professionally when I leave that door because of that self care and that routine that I do daily that is just predictable energy and moods that I can rely on.

And like you mentioned so much of like skin care, anti aging and beauty is, is just a reflection of what's going on inside. It's just a reflection of the health of the body that's actually visible. We never see if the liver has become strained and what it looks like. Right. But we do see when we have eczema outbreak or some sort of outbreak on the skin because possibly your liver is overburdened and the toxins need to go somewhere and the skin acts as that extra excretory detoxification organ. So it's a lot of, I feel like what we're talking about anti aging and beauty is just an extension of what we're trying to do in medicine and everything else, which is optimize health in a way. A lot of what you're doing is optimizing health through these ingredients in natural. Now you said and I saw you bootstrapped this whole thing with like 20k and you're just like, all right, let's start somewhere. How do you get there? Because you want high quality ingredients. And I know this because I've formulate supplements and most people like hey, you got to have it under X amount of money, the cost. I'm like it's impossible with good ingredients, you know, and they want you to make the margins as much as possible. Then you got to cut corners. Then you're going to have a sub optimal product in the end. And that's not what it's about here, you know. So how did you go from hey, I have this much money to let's create a line of ultra high quality skincare products.

Well, I actually booked the Oakley global campaign. So I used money, capital, my own capital in addition to Dave's loan that he gave me. So I was able to luckily people responded to the product. I took the profit from that and then created our moisturizer. I mean this was all done out of a small 660 square foot apartment. I mean I had a chance, an opportunity with Dave. He put it on his website. We shot another couple podcasts. But luckily people, because it was only on his website for a year. So luckily people returned to my website and then, you know, I just kept pounding the pavement, staying, keeping it very simple. It was me. I remember because I was working a lot with Oakley at the time and so people who saw the podcast, was it Frank Haro, Dan Lyman, if you're listening. Thank you. They would, yeah, people would come up and help me bottle the jars because we had to scale up for Bulletproof's release on their website. But it was just so interesting because it was. Luckily people responded to the product and came back to mine. And then people were asking for a follow up moisturizer, what I would recommend. And then I made our moisturizer and then from that people were wondering what to use at night. I mean this wasn't just a streamlined process. Every single one of the products, I mean the moisturizer took 22 tweaks, 11 tweaks into it. We didn't have because we were going to go USDA certified organic at that time, but we couldn't because a lot of my ingredients were wild crafted. So in order to get that 100% we're at like 95, 96 across the board with the exception of oil cleanser and night cream because you can't. Pearl powder and kale and clay are tough to certify as organic. But that's the thing. Just starting from scratch, blank canvas. Luckily I met a very good chemist named Susan Raff. Susan Raffi, Anthony Maxfield just mentors to me. That meeting with seriously. And if anybody did this to me, it's the same thing. You cannot deny passion and interest, especially when it comes from a good place. These like that manufacturers and chemists. That's why it has to be face to face because it's unrealistic like you said, to come to anybody with like this ingredient deck of first wild milking grass fed colostrum. It's $18.10 to make now. I mean, 35 when I first. I mean, because I didn't know my cost of goods, So I charged $35 free shipping, right? So, I mean, you ship to Sweden for $23 in cost. 18. I mean, do the math on that. I mean, it's a little embarrassing, but I just. I was living in that excitement of people wanting something that I used. I mean, for a year and a half after the accident, that's when I was tinkering with the formula, you know, getting that, like, legitimate double take from a friend of mine, Christina Rodriguez. So what do you do? Because she saw me right after the icu and then that. Just sharing something, but getting little. I never thought it was going to be a business or a product, but for about a year and a half, getting that, like the meeting with the smaller esthetician or makeup artist to maybe throw it in her kit. But I'm sorry, it's just a little too strong. But I would dial down the vitamin C a little too. Too earthy. Dial down the kelp powder 50%. And so that year and a half after the accident was really just. It was fun because I was recovering as I was back in the industry as well, working more as an actor than I was before. But I still had this magic and this interest, and I knew what it did for me. But long story made short, yeah, 2013, I troubleshooted. Dave asked for his email address. That's how I got on his podcast. And the rest is history. Just basically sharing what I did to recover. Last 10 minutes, he asked what I did for my skin, because I wasn't telling him that, you know, your bulletproof coffee got me out of bed in the morning, really motivated me to get in the gym and recover. Thank you. Which is true. And then they asked what I did for my skin. We hadn't talked about it, so, like, you know, because it was like one of the top podcasts on itunes, I was seriously a little hesitant about sharing that. But luckily, just I did. You know, it's just. It's a lot of fun for me. I mean, having that control. And in my opinion, I mean, there. There's Oa May Lindstrom, Am Regiani. I think I'm missing one. There are good brands now that really do care. I think primally pure, but it's just, we have that control. And as you mentioned before the podcast, you know, you're on your travels. I believe it was to Africa. Like, I. I just. I'm so close to Egypt in Peru, in Italy and Greece. So like just this past year traveling, my next thing that I want to do is I want to make a product called Turandera. That means the healer. And I want to take medicine from all these different areas around the globe. I mean you. Because everybody has a remedy mass in, in Greece.

Yeah, great.

Yeah. I mean it's just get the medicine and tell the story. Now you're supporting other remedies and other time tested remedies from our ancestors. That's the interesting thing. I, I want to stay out of the lab and synthetics as much as I can. I mean it can tie it into plants and if I can tie in the organic component and really tell the true story of an extract and yeah, I will include it. That's the difference. We, we like the cutting edge like anti aging skin science with the organic as close to nature as possible component and then tying them in together, that's, that's what I believe is a little bit unique about us. But the most important part is the medic, the medicinal aspect of what we're putting on top of our largest organ and not having like turning around the bottle and taking pride in watching that people's eyes light up when they look at the deck. That's not, I'm not kidding either. It is night and day difference and it costs us more. Our body lotion is 2975 out the door to make and we sell for what, 89. And you wholesale that it's not, not ideal but Brazilian acai butter, meron glass, Australian sandalwood, lemongrass, Madagascar vanilla. These aren't cheap ingredients but it's. I will go to that level we have. It's just. I live for the reaction, man.

Yeah, yeah. No, I mean it's amazing to hear the approach because you know, you look at it, it's this entrepreneurial, passionate approach. You're so invested in it. You're combining that with ancient wisdom, which is absolutely the way we should go is to look at how other ancient civilizations who knew so much more than we do about certain things applied it. And then you're going with experience of not just yourself and others. I feel like too much of what's happening in both medicine, health care is. It starts with the marketing. Right. It starts with what's profitable, how can we cut costs, how can we do this? What's you know, building up. Let's add these two because people are trending on it in Google Analytics. It's like. And then you end up with something that yeah will make you money. But. But doesn't really do much to heal at all. And you took like this opposite approach, which I truly appreciate and love to see in medicine. Because the end result is a healthier person, not a successful company in the process. You make a successful company by helping others. But too many put the dollars first in health and medicine and you didn't do that. Now I know it's incredibly hard to source good stuff. Most people like just give me the cheapest stuff from China. I don't even care about seeing a coa like, like, let's just go and put it in there. Say it's amazing, right? Who's going to test it? FDA isn't testing it. No one else will. How do you go about then sourcing? Because obviously you're looking for the best stuff out there, but it's not always easy to find.

It's Jing Herbs. That's the thing. After the accident, I met with George Lamrou from Jing Herbs, Juan Teagard from Dragon Herbs. Crosby wears Sage Cal Sage Dammers Truth Calkins jaw wired shut. Just picking their brain on just certain ingredients that would help me recover some of the ingredients that I added to like this morning tonic I would use into the clay mask. And you're right, they are expensive. But it's. I mean, if you explain that in your marketing and just. I really, I just looked at it if it caught like, I mean, that's really why I charged 35. I mean, I didn't know. I didn't know enough about business. I didn't write a business plan going into this. I created. I love it, by the way.

No, the business kind of screws it up. Like I have a business background. Sometimes I have to let that go because it's too, too analytic. It's too much looking at a number instead of an actual human result.

Man, thank you. That's exactly how I feel, man. And like, it's just, it's. I was told from someone very close to me, you know, early on, a couple months into that, that we would, you know, it's not profitable enough to scale. And I just, man, I was, I was already. I was acting. This was extremely fun for me. And then it started to kind of take off and then acting. I completely put it to the side. It's just, I mean, I, I serious. I wanted to make it affordable for everyone and almost want to just put our cost of goods out there just because our bottles are more expensive than entire formulas. Miron glass bottle and pump 282 out the door for our body lotion. Like that's just the bottle pump, no lip, nothing, nothing inside. But the product is more effective. It blocks out artificial light, it maintains the bioactivity of the live cold pressed organic ingredients inside of it. Which is medicine for you. I mean it, yeah, there's just, it's fascinating to me finding out the little intricacies that a lot of that the preservative shelf stable. I mean you go to these manufacturers early on in the process and just learning on the go, which is how this happened. But it's just like you said that not necessarily with the testing component but the, the ingredients that they've had on their shelves, there was just no story, there was no heart from it. You know, I love the fact that we get all of our bee products, Royal jelly, beeswax honey, propolis pollen from a family that holistically raises bees in Hawaii. And now I'm finding out more specific in this area there's a specific hop that does not like protects the bees or something. There's so much more. But all this came to me before with that and then like retroactively I'm learning even more and more about just the sourcing component of the people who I ended up working with our center tech colostrum, first four hour milking grass fed colostrum in Cheyenne, Wyoming. You have to be obsessed with what you're using for yourself. I had that like reputation of being the weirdo with the supplements. I mean really though, I mean you should see my covered even my teammates and all stuff. It's just now looking back it all made sense but just. Yeah, there are cheaper sources, dude. I just, I wouldn't be able to explain it. You'd be able to read it off me, you know what I mean? Like if I, I didn't include that same first four hour milking grass fed colostrum that I used in my own recovery. It's just we're smart as human beings. Yeah, I didn't even think about it obviously. But yeah, you probably could get a much cheaper colostrum. But now it's not medicine and now you're lying to the people. You're not using the same one. One is your formula. It's just you read me like a book and I actually have no problem just that's a fact. But I mean I'd love, man, we can just feel. Yeah, I'd love just being able to share my complete truth with our ingredients.

It's very honorable. In a system like medicine, health care, wellness, anti aging, biohacking, all these really all the same, in my book, to be transparent, you know, and honestly put quality first because you know that in this field, like no other quality determines results. In the field of, like skin care, you actually see the results. You know, it's not like you're slowly kind of regenerating certain organs or the cellular, like, function that takes time. It's very nuanced, as they say. And you have to really be in tune with your body. But in skin care, it's visible. You're looking in the mirror all the time. And absolutely, that is a reflection of what you're applying to it and applying inside of your body. And one of the products that I really enjoyed using was probably your best seller. I don't know, you could tell me the. The Clay MA mask, how did that come about? Because most people would say, well, that's such an ancillary type feeling product for beauty and skin care. Whereas you made it kind of this pivotal product.

Absolutely. So I, when I was, yeah, acting every Sunday night, I had, I went from Aztec healing clay, which is one ingredient, bentonite clay, and then use that for years. And then I actually found a different source for that. In that source, it was green clays.net, they. I mean, Jason Eton, he just has written books and books and books on clays and just the properties. And I mean, that's where I found out about. I like kaolin Rasool. And then I would experiment. I mean, it's very cheap. And then also I could. I was just creating the beginnings of my little clay mask that actually at the time when I had roommates, I go in, mix it up, you know, let it dry in my room, go in, shower real quick. It was something I was definitely hiding. But then after the accident incident, I obviously had that in my back pocket. I would think, you know, just theoretically that was going to bring an influx of microcirculation to the surface of the skin, hopefully get some scar tissue loosened up, remove some of the swelling impurities from the CT scans and X rays and heavy metals that I had, you know, my jaw was wired shut and just the toxins from going through all of that and subtly exfoliating. And then experimenting. When I had my morning tonic, breaking open a capsule of pearl powder, putting in there, oh, some of the colossal. Because I had a little jar of that super expensive. But I would. It just. The particle size blended very well. So did ginseng as well. Spirulina did. And so some spirulina, I went kelp and just trial and error a Lot of things didn't work. But basically what I was doing is adding many things from my tonic into the mask and just seeing if it, you know, because if it's that good internally for you, you know, you skimp in your largest organ. I really feel like you can treat it like another mouth. But however, I mean, many things didn't work, but the ingredients that did, man, I mean, it's just like a superfood meal for your skin in four clays. American ginseng, first four hour milking, grass fed colostrum ground freshwater pearl powder, organic hell powder 10 ascorbic acid, high potency form of vitamin C. So like, you're getting good circulation, good reintroducing trace minerals that we lose as we age. I mean, and then the colostrum component, I'm sure you're seeing how popular it's, it's getting now. But I mean, that's Crosby, though. Crosby told me about that. That's the thing though, you got to be a sponge. I mean, there's so many.

Well, that's the thing. I always said best people to create these types of products aren't the experts. They're the observers that talk to all the experts. Because the experts always have a little bit of an ego, I would say, of saying, here's the one. I know, here's the compound that's going to change everything. It's the David sinclair's of the NMNs that are just like, that's the one. Instead of people being like, well, nmn with this and this and reserv and everything as an observer and then experiencer, that's a little bit different. So, so the way I see you kind of looking at all this and not having any attachment to any singular ingredient, you know, and not being like, let's market the hell out of this little ingredient here, put it in and kind of, you know, put things around it and it'll do really well in the sales pitches and everything. Like, you didn't do that. Which is an amazing feat because I see, I look at this ingredient list, I'm like, that's interest. That's interesting. Like, oh shit, this is a really good product.

Thank you, man. That's exactly. I mean, it's an album. Album. It's an album for me. You know, YouTube, Coldplay, I mean, a lot of things got cut on that editing floor. A lot of ingredients didn't make it. I mean, I appreciate you saying that.

And I love hearing that it's an album because, you know, back in the day, I know Growing up, it's like you had to add 10 out of 12 hits basically for me to buy that CD. I wasn't buying it for the one single that came out and everything else being a terrible song.

Dude, I did that same thing me and my brother, me and my brother were doing. Dude, it's 7 out of 11 and that's a good right there.

Oh yeah, that was amazing. That's why I appreciate like old school like hip hop Iraq. Because I could listen to the whole album through and be like good, good, great. It wasn't like, oh, I got to skip over like most of this. So yes, make supplements and products like albums of the past. Another really interesting product from you guys is the gold serum. Tell me about that one because again I know the powers of kind of gold in the body and different ways. But I'd love to hear how you came about, you know, creating that one.

Yeah. So basically after the moisturizer I wanted to create like a concentrated seal serum. We added what's basically a 95. It's a, you know best from cutting edge anti aging skin science with like plant derived vitamin A which is a retinol alternative that we source from France. It's alfalfa derived and organic. We have copper peptide, brain collagen, CoQ10 and astaxanthin. I mean that's astaxanthin. I'm finding out more and more now thanks to a lot of other companies that are promoting it now. I mean it's incredible. A very potent antioxidant. But the base though, it's just, just, it's just like this liquid gold. I mean I'm not going to throw the company under the bus but I mean seriously, some, a lot of companies add yellow five artificial colors to get what we got. I think it's Koki 10. The like the bright kind of oranges. Yeah, but we got the color. It adds like a little not. It works out that people liked it but we had to dial that down because it was gives you a really like rich glow. Astaxanthin's like this. The bright is red too. So we got that naturally. It's as a sandalwood frankincense, a collection of organic botanicals. And we're using rose hydrosol as our base. No water in the formula. Organic rose hydrosol. That to me that is my masterpiece. I would say that in the clay mask there's nothing I'm more proud of than the gold serum and clay mask.

Do you have a certain protocol or process that you Go through in order prioritization, maybe even seasonally, or if you see something coming up that you'll switch it around, don't. With the line.

No, not really. I just. We try to keep it simple with like the just cleanse, exfoliate, hydrate repair to the people that haven't. You'd be surprised. Like a lot of people just don't know how to do it when they should do it. And so that, you know, that's fine, fine explaining that, but just also simplifying it because I can get, as you probably know, I can get a little wordy. So we just want to keep it nice and simple. Cleanse with the pro cleanser, exfoliate one to three times a week. Take a day or two off take to let full cell turnover occur with either the meteorite scrub or the clay mask. Both do an incredible job. I use both of those and then follow with the gold serum and then heal and seal in your results at night with the night cream. Like just keeping it simple with that. And then obviously we have a lot of. I mean, we have 16 SKUs now, so. Yeah. Does that answer your question as far as like. Yeah.

And I, I believe that simplicity is the key. I used to work with a line of biological medicines out of German that were created 1921 based off like Paracelsus input and other like alchemical geniuses of the past. And their line has always been 21. That's it. And for a hundred years now, it's always been like one for each organ. And it's not about symptoms, it's about looking at the body and synergizing. Right. So they're like the simpler the better. Whereas all the competitors every year were adding like 50 SKUs and trying to sell more. And they were like, we don't need to sell more or we just want to keep steady growth, small, steady. 100 years later, it's a bigger company, but established and never changed. It never even changed the formulas. Right. I always respected that because they did what you did. They tweaked for like 20 years and got it to where they're like, we're good and we're not adding anymore. We're not doing anything different. We're just going to keep up the same high standards of production and where we get and handpicking the ingredients from the Italian album at certain times of the day. And it was amazing. It was really a work of art. And it's like they never changed or complicated it. Whereas most places like to complicate things. Right. And Then sell you more and use this one and do this one and add this one in it's. And it becomes too much. So I love the simplicity.

Yeah. No, wow. Can you email me that company?

Yeah, yeah. We used to distribute for them in the United States and then the FDA got involved. We were like, we're out. You could get them in Germany still. Saluna. I'll throw him a pitch. And Christoph Prohler, if you're listening, he did an amazing job with that. That company.

So, yeah, I just want to read about them. I want to read.

No, it's an amazing story. How much goes into it. Yeah, yeah. And that's what I learned. It's like the simpler the better in some ways. You know, again, business gets in the way. You want to add more and be like, let's do this, let's do that and keep going. When if you just look at what you have and kind of roll with that. And it's not to say you can't add or be dynamic. You can in the way you utilize things and maybe add on, but that's not the goal. The goal isn't to just grow, grow, grow. It's to adapt and evolve and constantly be seeing. They see it as a process where each time they run through this, they're reusing things and going in again. And it's like a regenerative cycle, like an alchemical process where you go around and round. So it was fascinating to learn about alchemy through that and, you know, all these interesting things of how the universe works and even the cosmic influences on plants and all these. Very cool. So I kind of see that a lot in what you're doing and. And keeping it that way. As far as tips outside of the usage of products, like, what would be your recommendation as someone be like, I want more radiant skin? Like, what should I be doing? Is it sweating more? Is it drinking more good water? What would you say?

Oh, sauna.

You're a big sauna fan?

Big sauna guy? Yeah, big.

Are you a cold guy too? Like, are you sauna and cold merge. You're doing both?

Absolutely.

Okay.

Yeah. It's not. Not the most comfortable to somebody that hasn't done it. But I mean, I would say that's number one for me, is on a. And cold immersion. Staying consistent with that if you can daily.

And I'll throw this in there, not to interrupt, but if you are really against the cold immersion altogether, because I know so many people, I can't do it. Do the face dunk.

Right.

And just A small bowl, ice in there. Put your face in the morning. And I even spoke with Dr. James D. Nicholantonio. You're getting a reaction. If you do your palms and face, the whole body will sort of get a similar reaction as to the whole body being there. And you'll still have the visual kind of effects of capillary, you know, small and increased circulation. So it's a starting point for those that are really against like jumping in a freezing ice tub like and spending a few minutes there.

Yeah, it's jolting. Just baby steps, you know, just working your way towards that.

Small steps.

Yeah, definitely effective. Let's see. I, I intermittent fast and my diet is pretty clean, but I like really good. I eat meat, so grass fed, rib eyes, big cruciferous vegetables. Diet's very important to me. Good fats, avocado, almond butter, coconut oil. So diet's very important to me. Getting sunlight at least. I mean this may sound, you know, 30 minutes to an hour a day. I would recommend probably 15 to 20 so you don't get in the burning state. I just love the sun. It's my portal. I love sunlight. But then again I understand some people are sensitive to the sun, so may want to be careful with that. So sauna, cold immersion diet, sunlight. I mean it just. We really do have to pay attention to the household detergents. You know what, we're washing our pillows and our sheets with the dishwater detergent. That's. But you're absorbing that as well.

Absolutely.

Please pay attention to the, the household products that you're using. If you can go organic, they're very effective. A lot of them are white, organic white vinegar based. You can go ozone around, you know, in certain areas. Optimizing your household products. Get a shower filter. That's what it was. I remember just talking to you before the podcast. Shower filter. That was one of the things that was a little debatable. But there are very good shower filters and ideally, optimally you would get a whole home filter. But maybe that'd be down the road. Just right now the shower filter's fine. Let's see. Just. Yeah, activity. I mean getting good activity. I mean my mornings start off like a cold shower. Grounding, breath work. Norma Tech Red light. I know it sounds like a lot, but it got the little 963 frequency music playing in the background. Then you see the sun climb up over the mountain. It's just my life is so much better since I do that. So coming up with a mortine or a morning routine that it's just I know what I'm going to feel like afterwards and that's just important to stay consistent with your energy.

Well, it's again, I connect that health to skin are on the same line there. What you're doing and the small daily actions you're taking are going to completely impact those. And it's consistency, right? It's like when people say, like, oh, why should I stop doing this? Or using a certain brand I really like. It's not that bad. It's not like one of these donuts is going to kill. Like. No, it's the consistent. It's the donuts, the air freshener, it's the fragrances and everything. It's, you know, just stepping outside into some toxic air. You know, everything around us is in some way become a bit of a toxic toxin. So it's death by a thousand paper cuts sort of approach. It's not that the one don't do it. It's just that you're adding in more negative than you are positive. And so for anyone that's looking to just take their first step, just take one small little step, right? Maybe it's just the grounding in the morning for you like them and then moving into like a different routine that adds into it because you'll get that kind of momentum going for healthy actions. And when you see the reward, as we were talking about, like how you feel afterwards, you feel connected, you feel more of a purpose, you feel invigorated. Like people are missing that and they don't know why. And I have to say it's because they're not in the right path and following what is a healthy, I would say, routine in their life. So everything you're saying is like taking you on that path to a higher level of consciousness and evolution and finding your purpose. It's all connected.

Absolutely it is. And it's like you said, even just. I know it may sound like a lot to the listeners, but just you have one thing and then you start to build on that and you start to see how. I mean, just add them in incrementally at your pace as you can can, but man, yeah, just developing that consistency like you said, it's life changing for sure.

Absolutely. Andy, what are you excited about? Looking into the future of healthcare Beauty all, you know, this wellness industry. Is there anything like on your radar that you're saying, hey, this is pretty exciting, or are you just staying in that, hey, it's exciting to be in this grateful, spiritual like journey right now?

Hey, I mean I don't want it. I mean, it's true. I'm 14 months sober from alcohol. We have a flagship store. Thank you, brother. We have our flagship store in Sedona, Arizona. Like, I'm. I'm not like one of those complacent, easily satisfied, but I'm just very grateful right now, man. Like, I just. We have. And we have such an opportunity out here, like Sedona every weekend, the tours. I mean, it's a sacred place on this planet. And so there's a lot to do. And so I'm excited about just that. I mean, because we have a couple locations. We have one in uptown, one right next door that could potentially be a wellness center. And then just, you know, the challenge of getting. Getting meeting, a new city meeting, you know, introducing people that we're alatura and, you know, 10 years, it's just so. It's awesome because we have a lot to share and say, and so it's just. It's growing into this community meeting, you know, growing into a retail space for the first time, learning that. And as far as. Yeah, things. Just continuing to share our truth. You know, when I first started this, I had a podcast, and I was able to get people on and people. But, like, I. I want to do more of that, get other. Other people, you know, other guests on and just. Just connecting with people. I love doing it outside of just business and skincare. So I'm excited about, like, doing that. And, man, I'm just. I'm in a really grateful space right now. I am truly. So I just. I'm excited about a lot.

And that's the thing. The foundation of, like, health and happiness are the simplest things. People think it's like the products and how much money you're gonna have. Like, no, that has nothing. Those are nice little things.

Things.

And yes, the gadgets, all the products are wonderful. They can be catalysts to help you with certain things. But if you don't have a foundation of gratitude, of purpose, passion, like those other things don't mean that much. Right? So just speaking to you, I see that. I see that coming off you and everything, and it's. It's a wonderful thing because you could get so caught up in seeing all the negative in the world today. You know, just looking at your phone, we just see it. We compare each other. Like, you know, we look at all the negative. Are we on the brink of war? Is everything bad going on out there? It's like. Like you can still find something to be grateful for. A lot of Things to be grateful for. If anything, just reconnect with nature. You'll forget about all that shit and just be like, I feel good, you know? So I think at the core of everything, it's like, I've heard that so many times from guests. It's get the foundations down first. If you're truly struggling, if you're struggling with health or your skin or anything, get the foundations. Apply these high quality products that also kind of have those same approaches to everything with more natural going at the root. Cause is really high quality and that's the way to live. Like that's what we should be striving for and not the kind of material side of everything. And always be looking at the negative. So, Andy, any final remarks before we go? Is, is there anything you'd love to share and bestow upon us before we head out?

No, I just. I feel great. It's really good chatting with you and getting to know you and I just, man, I'm. I'm excited to stay the course and just, I'm. I mean, I'm just a happy human being, you know what I mean? Life has changed. It's a little bit more simple now. I don't know too many people around this area going to bed before 9, waking up early. It's just things have changed. I'm in a much different say.

I'm envious of you, man. I'm gonna move out to Sedona, be your neighbor, dude.

It's just, it's different. It's. There's something about this area.

Freaking love Sedona. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, I just. Yeah, things are good, man. Things are very good.

Well, I love to hear that and I love that you're spreading that with others by creat this throughoutura and just sharing your story. So thank you so much. Where can people learn more about you and the product line to go shopping for it?

Yeah, our website is alatura.com a l I t u r a dot com and that's Latin for feeding and nourishing. Just wanted to share.

Okay. Yeah, yeah, I was going to say where the name come up. I always like to hear that story, so that's good to know.

Yeah, yeah. So it was going to be Golden Glow.

Really?

Yeah. Golden glow. Both T's capitalized no W. All one word.

Wow.

I mean, 2013, long, long time ago.

Dodged a bullet there.

Yeah, big time. And then I'm on Instagram at Alatura Naturals and we'd love to give your following a Coupon code for 20 off the entire store if they want to try any of the products.

Awesome. Yes.

And also. Yeah, my email is andy alatura.com if anybody has any questions about our products or wants any tips or. This is my life. I love what I do and I'm sure you can relate. Yeah, just I'm on Facebook, Instagram, Andy. Nilo.

Yeah. And I have to say again, we test a lot of products here and my father's found ways in our clinical staff to really try and get to the core of like, is this a good product? Really? Not what they're saying. Not just an ingredient listing, but again, bioenergetic. Looking into it, researching everything. And, and we saw that with Altura and it was just like, oh cool. Like because it's rare. It's rare these days to find good products. So again, congratulations on making an amazing line.

Hey, thank you for saying that and sharing that. That we, we love. Yeah, we want to get more of the clinical studies and all that. You know how it is just kind of short staffed. But it, you know, like you also said by that other company, it's just slow and steady wins the ra. I mean I have no problem, you know, continuing this marathon. I love it and it's fine. You know, we're not, we're not rushing anything. This is, it's about quality and treating our family. You know what I mean? Under our lift up, you know, see how they're doing. We're good. It's just like you said. Yeah. Please send me that company. It's awesome.

I will. Absolutely. No, and thank you so much for this, Andy. Really appreciate it. Love connecting with you. Let's stay in touch. Right?

Do it. Let's do it.

As you heard here and he's been nice enough to share that special 20 off all electora products for listeners. So head over to alatora.com and use use InnoMed I N N O M E D20 and until next time, continue writing your own healing story.