174: Food Lies and Reclaiming Health with Vani Hari

Namaste, it's Sahara Rose. And welcome back to the Highest Self podcast, a place where we discuss what makes you your soul's highest evolvement. I am so excited to bring to you this episode because it features a very important woman who I personally have looked up to for many years. And this woman is the food babe, Vani Hari. So you may be familiar with her because she's literally turning the fast food and processed food world under itself. So she speaks about the truth, the harmful ingredients in processed foods and the stuff that the food industry is trying to hide, which is a lot. She has been extremely successful in doing this. Some of her accomplishments were to remove the compound in Subway bread that is the same material as yoga mats. Yes, that is true. It's. She has also helped remove the artificial ingredients in Starbucks pumpkin spice lattes. A lot of, you know, people think those are super healthy, but they're not. She has had many, many companies from McDonald's to Kraft to Chipotle disclose their ingredients, and a lot of them are now shifting to have some non GMO options, which is great. A lot of companies have stepped up and offered these different alternatives such as Panera and different beer companies, et cetera. But a lot of companies simply have been trying to shut her up. And she has a lot of pitta energy. You can feel it in her voice. But she's really not afraid to go against these massive food companies that have billions of dollars at stake. And when she's sharing the truth and people are now no longer buying their poison, well, that's dollars that they are losing. So she has received death threats, drive bys, rape threats. She's been slandered to such a high degree that it is incredible to me how brave she is, especially as a mother, to know that there are people out there who. Whose jobs are literally to slander you. I mean, she. The stories that she writes about in her new book, feeding you lies, which I highly recommend we're going to be talking about in this interview. It's crazy. You know, they set up fake Wikipedia pages about her. They even wrote a fake book about her saying that everything she's is a lie. I mean, these companies hire publicists to go out there and give negative media on her, to try to burn her down in every way possible because she's sharing the truth and she's still doing it. So it's inspiring and incredible for me to see someone with such passion, such courage, such Durga strong energy to be out there and be advocating for all of us. So I highly Recommend checking out her book, feeding you Lies just came out in February. And in this conversation, we're going to be talking a lot about the food industry and the stuff that they don't want you to know, but more importantly, how you can make the right choices, not be given into fear. Because she's not about spreading fear, she's about spreading awareness. And through awareness, you can make the right food choices for you. And I even asked her in this episode, if you were stuck at a convenience store and there is nothing open, what would you eat? Or if you had to go to fast food restaurant, what would you get? So I asked her the questions that I was personally thinking about too, because we've all been in those situations where we're like, literally, what can I eat right now? And she answers honestly, authentically, and offers some really good advice. So without further ado, let's welcome Vani Hari to the Highest Self Podcast. And before we get started, check out these brands that make Highest Self podcast possible. This episode is brought to you by uvada. Uvada is a modernized ayurvedic supplement company that takes certain issues that we have, such as mood, joints, immunity, digestion, and creates these custom little packets exactly for us, infusing ancient ayurvedic herbs with modern vitamins and minerals. I take the mood formula daily. It is great if you work a stressful job, had a dream, renal fatigue, ever suffer from anxiety or even depression, and it really heals you from a fundamental and holistic level. So if you want to try it out, head over to Uveda. Y-O u v e d a dot com, use the code Sahara and you'll receive 35 off your first order. And they now ship to almost every country globally. So check it out. If you live internationally, they may be shipping to your country too. And they just added India. Guys, welcome Vani to the Highest Self podcast. It's so good to have you here.

Thank you so much for having me here. It's been a long time in the making in terms of like just talking to you and I'm just so excited.

Ah yes, I'm so excited as well. So the first question I'd love to ask you is, what makes you your highest self?

Using my voice for good and not being afraid, afraid to do it and.

You crush it in that. Are you a pitta dosha, by the way? Do you know your dosha?

I do. It's vata all the way. Like hardcore vata.

Because your personality, that strength, that fire, even when I was reading your latest Book like, wow, you're so fearless. You have a lot of pitta to you too, at least in your mind.

Yeah, I think, like, I'm like vata, but I'm like, I have a secondary focus on pitta.

Yeah, definitely.

Yeah.

So for people who are not familiar with the Food Babe, can you explain to us some of the victories that you've had banning dangerous ingredients from major fast food chains?

Yeah, absolutely. So I didn't set out to be a food activist. I was just a very sick person that figured out how to become healthy and start to use food as medicine. And as a result, started a blog called foodbabe.com and that blog, actually, I wanted to call it something totally different. I wanted to call it Eat Healthy, Live forever dot com. And my husband, who's the tech geek in the family, thought that was a horrible name and said, you know, what about Food Babe? It's available for $10 on auction. And I was like, okay, well, like, I'm not going to call myself the Food Babe. That's just weird. I never felt like a Food babe for most of my life, and so it just felt very bizarre. But I actually hid behind this name because I was still working in the corporate world as a financial consultant doing something complet different than writing about food and teaching people about what ingredients are and what's in food. And as I was blogging and doing this passion on the side, I slowly started to realize there's a huge community of people out there that not only care about their own health and what they're eating, they care about other people's health and changing the food industry. And I started to share different things that I started to learn about what I was eating. And I started to ask questions that maybe had been asked before, but not so publicly in terms of sharing the information that I received in terms of what's in this Subway sandwich I'm eating or what's in these famous drinks at Starbucks, the pumpkin spice latte. What are the ingredients that I'm putting in my body? And I started to ask these fundamental questions about all the products that I was consuming that I had been consuming most of my life and things that I thought were healthy that actually ended up being not healthy. And I started to do a thorough investigation into fast food chains in the food industry and different popular food products. And as I did that, a Pandora's box of information started to open up. And, you know, one of the first investigations I did was actually on Chick Fil A. And Chick Fil A was Something that was considered like a healthy alternative to like McDonald's and other, you know, fast food places. And I thought it was healthier too, until I realized that it had close to 100 ingredients in a typical chicken sandwich. That one of the ingredients was first ingredients on the label was msg. And I wrote about this and shared what I discovered. And I think what really inspired me to eventually quit my day job and do this full time was when Chick Fil A decided to reach out to me and invite me to their headquarters to consult on changes that they wanted to make as a result of this widespread awareness that I had brought about their products. And it was that moment that I was taking off time of work to like go and consult at this fast food place. And I was like, okay, like, this is crazy. This is really what I'm meant to do, like is to change the food industry. Because not only did they listen, but they did something that was dramatic. Within two years, they made the announcement that they would be one of the first fast food chains to remove the routine use of antibiotics in the production of their chickens and their meat. And that has a huge profound effect on not only our environment in terms of reducing unnecessary antibiotics that could lead to different superbugs that humans can contract and we can't fight off with antibiotics, but also just inspiring the rest of the food industry and the rest of the fast food industry to do the same. And so to just solve one of these human health issues that we're experiencing. And so that was just an amazing thing that happened as a result of that. And when I finally did quit my job, it was a really hard thing to do because as an Indian person, you know, you are expected to have like, you know, your income and your 401k and your health insurance. Your parents are very demanding and they want you to be super successful and to give all that up. You know, a 13 year career was very hard because I was literally making zero money doing foodbabe.com and so when I did make the decision to do it, it was cold turkey. But when I did, it was just incredible because it freed up my entire energetic pattern in my body. I was just able to give so much more to this cause. And one of the first things I did when I had 100% full focus on investigating the food industry is I started to look at products being sold overseas versus products being sold here in the United States. And I realized that food manufacturers, United States companies that sell their products worldw worldwide were actually making better and safer versions of their products for other people overseas, but serving us the more toxic, controversial ingredients here in the United States because the lack of regulation that we have with our fda. And one of these examples was Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. And Kraft Macaroni and Cheese here in the United states uses yellow 5 and yellow 6. In the UK they were using paprika and beta carotene. Because in the UK they looked at the studies about artificial food dyes and they said, you know what, there's a risk factor here. So we're going require food manufacturers to put a warning label on products that use artificial food dyes. And it's going to say may cause adverse effects on activity and attention in children. So there's a link to hyperactivity in children when they consume these artificial food dyes. So we're going to protect our citizens and let them know that this is happening when they buy this product. But here in the United States, we don't have that of a rigorous regulation around food additives. A lot of the food additives, I would say the majority of them are tested and safety tested by the food companies themselves, themselves. And there's not any third party oversight on a lot of these additives. And so the food companies get away with a lot. And I felt, though, that a company like Kraft, who sells their products all over the world, is one company that has to change their products for another country. They should change their products for everybody, no matter who they're serving, because they have a moral obligation and an ethical obligation to do that because they can make their products safer and better for everybody. And they weren't doing that. And so I started a petition and the petition went viral and it had over, I don't know, 300,000 signatures. And I stormed and I say, storm the craft headquarters and delivered these petitions. And it wasn't unannounced. I went on live television, on their local Fox station and other big Chicago news stations, covered this whole thing. And they eventually let me in and I sat down and had a conversation with Kraft. And that's actually how I opened up my last book, the Food Babe Way. The Food Babe Way was all about the ingredients in food and how to get them out of your diet. And my new book, Feeding youg Lies, is actually about the playbook the food industry uses to continue using these practices. And these practices make us completely confused about what we should be buying. And so it's really about becoming your own health investigator so that you can see beyond headlines and see beyond these tactics that the food industry uses. So Anyways, not only did Kraft end up changing, they ended up removing artificial food dyes. We inspired several other big, huge, multi billion dollar food conglomerates to follow suit. Not only has Kraft done it, but General Mills is doing it. Nestle's doing it, Mars is doing it. I would say in 10 years it'll be very hard to find an artificial food dye in America like it is in the UK right now. I think it'll be the same across the board, using safer, non synthetic ingredients to color foods.

Oh, that's amazing.

So that's just one example. But we've had lots of amazing changes within transparency too. I mean, a lot of people don't know that Chipotle, who is probably one of the cleanest fast foods out there, was actually hiding a lot of their ingredients from us. They wouldn't actually release their ingredients. They weren't transparent about it at all. And luckily a petition that was started on my behalf and the campaign that I started on foodbabe.com led to them finally releasing their ingredients and eventually removing all genetically engineered ingredients from their menu items and also leading them to change their ingredients in their tortillas and other things to become less ingredients and just better ingredients in general. And along with Starbucks, I love the whole Starbucks campaign where we got them to finally reveal what they're putting in their drinks. For the first time in history, their competitors, like Dunkin Donuts, et cetera, would put their ingredients online in their drinks. And Starbucks didn't do this for the longest time. And it wasn't until pressure that I did when I released the ingredients in a pumpkin spice latte. I actually convinced a barista behind the counter to show me the ingredients on the label of the different packages and take photographs behind the scenes and eventually get this information out. Because they refused to really tell me what was in a pumpkin spice latte. Meanwhile, that's their most popular drink. Millions and millions of people buy this drink and are consuming this drink. And they didn't know, and I didn't know that they were actually using caramel cholerine class 4, which is considered a carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. And thankfully they've removed that caramel cholerine and changed their pumpkin spice latte formula as a result of that campaign. But also now their ingredients are listed online so people can know what they're consuming.

Oh, that's so good. So a lot of people listening right now. They are the type of people who are eating healthy. They know these kind of foods are bad for them. But I think the natural flavors are the thing that's kind of getting our community. So can you share with us more about natural flavors and also Lacroix water? I don't know if you've ever posted about this, but I'm seeing like everyone is addicted to Lacroix and has the natural flavors in it, if you have any insight.

Yeah, absolutely. So one of the things that food companies do is they want us to get hooked on their junk food. And the way they can get us hooked on their junk food is by using these different added flavors that they add to processed food. Now, the food on grocery store shelves without these flavors would taste. A lot of them would just taste like garbage. They wouldn't have that punch, they wouldn't have that memorable flavor that you go back for when you buy a product. They wouldn't have the taste of anything real because they're using a lot of fake processed additives to make a lot of these processed foods. Now some of these products use natural flavors to create, you know, different skews and different amount of variety within their product lines. A great example of that is one that you mentioned, Lacroix water. And you know, this is something that now they use. They say they use the essence of these different fruits and vegetables they put in their drinks. I don't think they do vegetables, but fruits. But, you know, they use the essence of these fruits. But the problem with using an essence of a fruit or even a laboratory made chemical to put in water is that they're using the one millionth best part of the taste of something that they do find probably in nature. Now there is a lawsuit that they are experiencing right now where different people have accused them of using artificial ingredients in that essence product that they label as natural flavor. So I don't know, I have not tested it. I just know that they're experiencing this lawsuit. And I know that for me, it's very important that I consume any type of flavors that come truly from nature, like something that I make myself. So, like squeeze a lemon in water or flavor water with orange slices. There's something about the nature, the natural component of these juices and ingredients that prevent you from craving and kind of hijacking your taste buds every time you consume something. And the reason people crush cases of liqueur water all the time is because there's this pop in your brain, this bliss point that they hit every single time where you want to keep consuming that drink and you won't drink anything else anymore. And so they do this to create that addictive behavior. And so I personally know about these tactics that the food industry uses. And I have a whole chapter actually dedicated in feeding you lies about natural flavors. And a flavor cheat sheet that takes you through what an artificial flavor is versus a natural flavor, what a natural flavor is, versus something that says blueberry flavor with other natural flavors. What an organic, natural flavor really means, what natural flavors mean when you buy a USDA certified organic label so that you can become the expert when you see these different flavors. But, you know, for me, it's very simple. When I see these added flavors, I just put the product back on the shelf because I know if they can. You know, the thing is, with someone like me who just eats a very minimally processed diet, I mean, I'm talking maybe one or two processed foods a week, you know, like very little processed food, maybe one a day. Like, that's something that, I mean, I can't even describe. Like, you know, simple Mills makes these really great crackers. And I give a couple to my. To my daughter. She really likes those. And the only reason she even started liking crackers is because of my husband, who loves it. Yeah, they're made with almond flour and they're whatever. But she sees this coming out of a box and bag. She thinks it looks really cool, and so she wants to try them. But anyway, I let her have a couple or whatever, and I'll eat a couple of those. That's the most I'll do kind of thing. I'll eat some chips, some corn chips every now and then with salsa or whatever. But I don't eat a lot of processed foods. But if I do, and I know I want something really good, I'll go to those chocolate bunnies from Annie's. But the problem with that is those have natural flavor. I just cannot stop eating them. Once I have a couple, I just want to eat bowl after bowl until the box is gone. And it's because they've engineered it for me to love it. And that's fine. And I know that, but a lot of consumers don't know that. And that's part of the issue with a lot of these processed foods and these ingredients that sound very normal and fine and they don't seem like toxic or, you know, they're not going to, like, give you cancer or anything. Now, I don't know if natural flavors, the ingredients and natural flavors that they make in these laboratories are linked to cancer. I do know that seven artificial flavor chemicals that are allowed to be put in products when you use the Word artificial flavor are actually linked to cancer. And those have been banned by the FDA as of last October. And food companies have up to two years to remove these cancerous, risky ingredients. And so these are products that the products that use these type of chemicals are like things like Skittles and Snickers and things like that that Mars and other big candy manufacturers use. So it's really. It just goes to show you how screwed up the food system is when something gets. Something that has a cancer risk has been in our food supply for so many different years and just now is getting banned. And, oh, wait a minute, you have up to two years to remove that. Meanwhile, kids everywhere are still consuming these products.

It's so crazy. And I think with the natural flavors, when you see the word natural, you're like, oh, there's nothing wrong with that. It's natural. And the fact that it's just a blanket term for pretty much a chemical shitstorm is really scary for people.

Yeah. And it's not even about being scary. It's just about like, I get called a fear monger a lot, which is really funny to me because talking about ingredients, understanding what they truly are in food, understanding the food science behind why they've created These chemicals, like 99% of the chemicals created in food in the last 50 years have been invented for one sole purpose, and that is to improve the bottom line of the food industry. We just have to be truthful here, and if this truth is scary to you, so be it. But I'm not out to try to make anyone scared of these ingredients. What I do want people to recognize is what they are and how they affect your body when you consume them.

Totally. And I think it's just a good idea that like, I do the same if I see natural flavors, I just put it away. Can you share us like the whole thing happening with Rxbar right now?

Yeah. So Rxbar was just bought by Kellogg's. And this is a company that I was really excited about actually at first. You know, many years ago, the Whole Foods CEO, a co CEO, Walter Robb, he's no longer the co CEO, but Walter Raab called me and he said, hey, Bonnie, what are the next things that you are going to see in ingredient packaging? I want to know where your head's thinking things are going. And I said, hey, you know, you're going to start to see the ingredient label on the front of the packet. You know, processed foods out there list line by line the ingredients of what's actually in their product on the front, not in the back, in some really small fine print that it is now. And he said, oh, really? You know, and this was actually one of the things that RXBar was doing, is they were putting every ingredient that. Well, almost every ingredient on the front of their package. And so I was just so thrilled to see this. And so when I picked up the product for the first time and I saw it, I was just like, I called this out. I knew this was going to happen. And then, lo and behold, I turn it around, and then they sneak in natural flavor, and they don't put it on the front of the label with the rest of their ingredients. I mean, they literally list every single one of their ingredients line by line on the front of their package. And then they write the words, no BS at the end of each type of product. And then on the back, they're actually adding natural flavors as well. And so I felt like that was extremely misleading. And so that's actually one of the examples I give in my book about how food companies are lying to you.

Totally. And I think that they're going through a major lawsuit. Do you know if bulletproof bars still have the natural flavors? I remember that was a thing happening, too.

I haven't looked into those.

Yeah, I've heard. And people were wondering, like, if Dave Asprey's all about health and wellness, what are these natural flavors? But he was saying that certain ingredients have to be listed under natural flavors, even if they actually are natural. So it's almost this term that there's so much under it that you just don't really know.

Yeah, some companies, what they'll do is because they're using some. The thing is, I have to tell you, I started my own food company, Truvani. And the things that I have learned about what the food industry gets away with and what they can do and what they can't do has been tremendous in terms of my learning about what's actually happening in the food industry. I thought I knew a lot before I started my food line. And then, wow, did my eyes just become so open to just the corruption that's involved and the cost cutting that happens. I mean, even organic companies have to cut costs, because it does cost a lot to put real vanilla in your product. It's funny. That's one of the things we do in our vanilla protein powder. But you'll see no other vanilla protein powder on the market that uses just real vanilla. They almost always have the natural flavor or the organic vanilla flavor or some other kind of flavoring added because they don't want to put the cost associated with real vanilla powder. I understand that. Because they want to, they want to make money.

Totally. Yeah. And that's really what it comes down to. And, and so much of your book is just about the lengths that they go to to protect their money. We take a quick break from this episode so I can share with you an amazing opportunity. Are you interested in having a career focused on health and wellness? Well, if so, then the universe is calling you to become a whole holistic health coach. I am offering this incredible deal, a discount of $1,500 off my Alma mater, Institute for Integrative Nutrition, which is the world's largest nutrition school. With guest teachers such as Deepak chopra, Chris Carr, Dr. Hyman, Dr. Andrew Whale, and so many others. It is split between six months of health coaching programs teaching you hundreds of nutritional theories, including Ayurveda as well, well as six months of business coaching. And as an additional bonus, I am offering a webinar where I will teach you how to use social media to create a thriving career as a health coach. On top of that, I have created a private Facebook community just for the highest self podcast listeners who are becoming health coaches to connect with each other, meet up with each other and support one another on this journey. So if you're interested, send an email over to Sahara S A H A R aatfeelfresh.com with subject IIN again saharaatfieldfresh.com with subject IIN and I will personally send you back the email that will allow you to get a 1500 dollars off discount as well as my business coaching webinar and the private Facebook group. I'm so excited for you to begin your journey as a health coach. Guys, I'm really excited because I just got my modern fertility test in the mail. It feels like Christmas for me because as you know, I'm obsessed with hormonal health. Struggling with hormonal health severely in my early 20s, which is what has led me to discover Ayurveda. So I was really stoked when I found out about modern fertility. So essentially it's this at home test that you take yourself. You just prick your finger, send it over to them and it can tell tell you so much information about your hormones. Best of all, they allow you to work one on one with a fertility nurse. So you have a customized discussion about what your fertility results really mean. Now, this is not just for people who want to have kids or don't. It's important for any of us to just feel empowered to know where we stand fertility wise. I personally do want to have kids maybe in 4ish years. So I'm really excited to know know where my hormones are at, what it is I need to work on. So I have this time to heal my body holistically. So if you're ready to take the fertility quiz and get 20 off your first kit, head over to modernfertility.com Sahara again, head over to modernfertility dot com Sahara to take the fertility quiz and get $20 off your first kit. I will definitely keep you posted on how taking the test was for me at home. Okay. If you're anything like me, you buy green juice, spend way too much money on it, and then forget to drink it and it sits in your fridge. Ever happened to you? No, just me. Okay, well, I got your solution and it is called organifi. So organifi is an gently dried superfood mix that has real green ingredients like moringa, chlorella, mint, spirulina, beets, matcha, wheatgrass, ashwagandha, turmeric, lemon, coconut, water, all dried up. So all you have to do is add water? Yes. You do not have to use a blender, you do not have to spend 12 on a juice, you don't have to go shopping, anything, and you get all of your super foods in one drink. They also have an amazing red juice, which is like a tart, sweet little brew, as well as organifi gold, which has our favorite turmeric. So I love these. They're all USDA certified organic and I literally travel with them and have them at home every day. So head over to Organifi.com O R G A N I F I and use code Sahara for 20 off. Again, Organifi.com and use code Sahara for 20 off. Your delicious green juice magic. So I want to talk about coconut oil because everyone was all about coconut oil and then suddenly the media deemed it as unhealthy. And you, you talk about this in your book as well. So can you share with us why that happened?

Yeah, absolutely. So this was just, it was so crazy. So not too long ago, there were headlines everywhere, on Facebook, on mainstream newspapers, on cnn, everywhere, that coconut oil is not healthy. It's never been healthy. I think it was what the USA Today said. And this was blasted everywhere. And so much so that my mom is like texting me and she's saying, hey, I told you so. Like you, I never liked coconut oil. She's always been like a ghee butter person, right? So she just never liked my, I just always told her, like, you can use any other kind of oil other than butter. Just use coconut oil, please. And so it was just, it was so funny to even get a note from her. And so I realized it really hit the mainstream once, you know, my mother's calling me. At first I was like, I immediately knew, just based on the training that I've been through in terms of calling out fake health news, I knew that this had to have been either funded, this study had to been funded by some other oil based conglomerate, corn, soy, canola, or that there is some competitor of coconut oil trying to take them down, or there's some industry reason or some even government collusion happening here because our government subsidizes corn, soy and canola oil. And so I was like, there's got to be something here. Well, then I started to look into it and it was the American Heart association that was putting this recommendation out saying that people should not consume coconut oil. They were doing this based on cherry pick data out of a study that looked at overall saturated fat and putting coconut oil in the same bucket as all saturated fat. If you really do look at the science of coconut oil, coconut oil is way different than just other saturated fats. It's a medium chain triglyceride. It's, it acts in the body, it's completely different. Your liver processes it differently. And lo and behold, the experts that were looking at this study, one was being paid by the corn industry and one was being paid by the canola industry. This just goes to show you, when you see a headline or you see information about something that you're consuming or you thought was healthy and is not healthy, now you have to look a little deeper. You have to look and see who's making the recommendations. Who are these experts, who are they, what is their interests? Are they truly independent? Are they third party? And a lot of times they're not. And the food industry has figured out that the public will continue believing these lies if their mouthpiece is these third party independent resources like they, you know, quote unquote, these associations like the American Heart association or experts that are being paid under the table, that work for different universities. And this is something that happens to all the time, almost every single day in the media when we're consuming health news. And so it's really important for you as the consumer to look at the study, who's it funded by? Who are these experts claiming this? And then you need to put on your common sense thinking cap too. Of what truly are the benefits of consuming extra virgin or raw coconut oil is something that is like so pure and natural versus a corn, soy, or canola oil that's coming from largely genetically modified crops that are seeds that are patented to withstand heavy doses of Roundup chemical, which. Roundup has a chemical called glyphosate in it, which is linked to cancer, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the World Health Organization. So this is first coming from a crop that's very unhealthy, and then it's being extracted using. Using hexane, which is a carcinogenic gas. And then it's being bottled and shipped in mass quantities. And then when you look at the overall component of what's left in that oil, a lot of these oils, the corn, soy, and canola, have an imbalance of omega 6 to omega 3 fatty acids. And so this is one of the reasons why Americans are so deficient in omega 3 fatty acids, because all of our food is coming from like three or four major crops that are heavy in omega 6. And so then we have issues like Alzheimer's and vitamin D deficiency and all sorts of other things happening when we don't get our Omega 3s. So this is something that we really need to pay attention to and we need to take note of and learn about. And that's why I want people to be reading, feeding you lies, because I want you to see beyond what's happening. And I don't want you to think that you don't have power to figure this out, because you do. And you don't have to be a scientist or nutritionist to know how to eat. Nutrition isn't complicated. The only people that have actually made it complicated are the food scientists that have created these products.

That is such a good thing to say, because I think a lot of us are confused, because one day, cholesterol is good for us, it's bad for us this, that. And as you said, these are just the funded studies that are happening. If you just eat real foods from Earth, apples don't really have a whole lobby campaign going for them. So just keep it simple. That's gonna be the best option.

Absolutely.

So I'd love to know, if you were on a road trip and you had to stop at a convenience store or fast food restaurant to eat, what would you get?

Yeah, so this happened to me recently. So we were coming back from the in laws day after Christmas, and it was gonna be a long road trip. And I didn't make a lot of stuff for the car. And so we stopped at Chipotle, and even my daughter ate there. And we ordered, like, a big plate of, like, lettuce and different sal and black beans and a big giant scoop of guacamole. And we just chowed down on that. And she loved it. She loves black beans, she loves guacamole, and it was enough to fill her up and fill me up, and that's what we ate. Now, if I had to go to a convenience store instead, I would try to look for a grocery store if I could. And thankfully, with smartphones, you can usually find a grocery store. And grocery stores obviously have everything that you need. You can get fruit and nuts and. And whatever to hold you over into your. To your next meal. A lot of grocery stores, if you get a good one, like Whole Foods or something or an Earth Fair, you can even get a great salad or whatever. So.

Okay. And if you were at a convenience store, what I often do is I just get, like, almonds.

Yes, sure.

Like, or sometimes they have, like, bananas.

And I did that. Yeah, I did that recently. We were in Anguilla, and they just, you know, there's not a lot of organic food there. So we went to a, like a conventional, like, shop. Like, it was almost like a grocery store, but not quite a grocery store. And, you know, the healthy. One of the healthiest things there was just like pure raw almonds. Now, they weren't organic, but hey, they're raw almonds and they were perfect. So I just ate those.

So what would you decide if it was in between an inorganic piece of fruit, like an apple or blueberry, that you're eating the skin or having, like a bar that's made with organic ingredients?

It depends on the bar.

Right.

If it's got. If it's got natural flavor in it, I probably wouldn't go for the non organic apple or. Yeah.

Are there any bars that you love?

There is a part. People call it the Birdseed bar because it tastes like birdseed. But I like it. There's a raw crunch bar that's a local place in Charlotte that makes them, and you can get them online. But I think the binder is like honey, and they don't use any funky flavors. And they're handmade. They're really good. But, you know, it's so funny with a bar. You know, we've been actually, we've been really, really trying to create a bar at Truvant, and it's been very difficult, very difficult to find the right ingredients and to have the right shelf life. And everything of, like, real food. And so I'm just. I'm not a huge bar person. I like making homemade bars because they just taste so good. And that's probably why I like the handmade raw crunch. But you know, what I like to do is just make a big, interesting batch of trail mix. So, like, doing like, the different bins at the. The. At the health food store and going with, like, some raw coconut flakes and some goji berries and some pistachios and maybe some Himalayan raisins, which those are like candy, you know, even chocolate chips sometimes or, you know, and almonds and walnuts and pecans and like, just making a real interesting mix of trail mix and just making little baggies of that or whatever so I can grab and go out of the pantry. That's what I'd rather do.

That I love that. So good. And what is your go to food that you make if you're, like, traveling on a plane, going internationally?

So I always make a couple meals to have on plane flights, especially if the plane flight is long and even if it's not that long. Now that I have a daughter, I realize that, you know, flights can get delayed. You could get stuck in an airport with really crappy food. You can get stuck on the tarmac or on the plane for various hours. So I always bring at least two meals with me. And so one of the things that I love to bring is actually just I make like, a Ezekiel tortilla wrap with avocado and tomato and lettuce and pickles and mustard and whatever. I just make, like, you know, I make it without meat, so I know, like, nothing's gonna spoil. And I stick it in my. You know, I wrap it up and I'll eat that. For my daughter, a lot of times I will make. She loves, like, like, cold pasta and things like that. We love this one ingredient lentil pasta called tolerant. And so they make these little macaroni shapes out of it. And it's organic lentils, and it's amazing. And so I know the protein in that and the fiber in that will fill her up, so she loves that. I'll bring, like, cold peas, and I bring, like, tons of fruit, and I'll even bring, like, a whole avocado and things like that on the plane because, you know, if you don't eat it, you can still eat it later, but it's great in terms of filling it up.

And speaking of those lentil black bean chickpea pastas, I've always wondered, how could they get the bean to turn into pasta without adding anything else to it?

That's a good question. So that's one thing I did look into, because it's something that my daughter eats, and I'm, like, very curious. So that's. That's a processed food that I eat. So in order to make that, they actually make it into a. So they cook it, make it down into a paste, and then they roll it out like dough, and then they make it the same way you would make any other kind of pasta. Pasta.

Okay. So. And then it just stays like that. They don't have to add anything else?

No. Again, it touches machinery and other things. So it is a processed food, but there's no other additives. Yeah.

Okay, that's good to know. So a listener, a person on my Instagram had a question. If you could tell us about citric acid.

Okay. So citric acid is the majority of citric acid that you'll see on product labels isn't the same citric acid that you think that you get from, like, squeezing lemon or lime or orange or something. It's actually coming from the fermentation of GMO corn. That would be the majority of citric acid, you see. And so they're getting citric acid from GMO corn because it's the cheapest way to get acid out of anything and use it in a product. A lot of times they will add citric acid for shelf preservation. So to increase the shelf life of a product, you'll see citric acid added to a lot of baby food foods, hummus. And hummus, it's a preservative. And so for people who have indigestion or have issues with their gut bacteria and things like that, I would stay away from products that have. The only processed food you're eating in a day is that hummus shouldn't be that bad. But if you're having that hummus and then you're having a couple other products and some other things that have citric acid in it, and you're eating a heavy processed diet, it could have. You could have an issue with indigestion, other things in terms of your gut health. So one of the things that one of my advisors on foodbabe.com, jonathan, Dr. Jonathan Aviv, he has a book that he talks about the esophagus and esophagus health and all of that, and acid reflux and things like that. And he's looked at the citric acid levels of certain products, and the acid level is just way out of control in terms of when you compare it to whole real natural foods in the acid, acid that occurs naturally.

That's so true. And I also noticed I was doing a lot of flax milk, coconut milk, the cardoned ones, not the ones with carrageenan, but they had guar gum and some other fillers. And I was noticing I was getting really bloated and I took that out. Now I just use coconut milk powder and I don't get bloated anymore. So can you speak on some of the ingredients that are in our non dairy milk products?

Yeah. So you know, a lot of these ingredients, like carrageenan, gar gum, xanthan gum, maltodextrin, they're all there for like an emulsifying effect. And these are some of the ingredients that are not allowed at truvani like in any of our products. And because some of them are actually being linked to cellulose is another one are linked to intestinal inflammation. They're being linked to messing up with your metabolism. And so you don't metabolize food as good. I mean, the same way they emulsify and keep things together in a product, they're doing the same thing in your stomach. So think about that. When you can't break down the nutrients or break down the things in your digestive system because you're consuming too many of these emulsifiers, you should think about that. And there was an interesting video that I posted many years ago on the blog about what happens when you eat some of these emulsifiers. They actually took a video camera and put it down someone's body like they ate a, like they had a little video camera. So you could actually see what happens in your gut when you're eating these emulsifiers. It's fascinating, but it's totally different than when you don't eat the emulsifier. So it kind of, it scared me about those. So these are items that are not going to like kill you, right? But if you want to feel the best you've ever felt and you want to just again not be bloated or even have the off chance that you could be bloated, I mean, I would really suggest either making your own nut milks, which is very, very easy. You know, one of the recipes I have is for cashew milk. And cashew milk is like so easy you don't even have to strain it. You literally soak the cashews for four to five hours, rinse them and then throw them in a blender with 4 cups of water and you have the most luscious, thick, delicious milk. And you can like froth it for like a cappuccino or a latte. And it is so good. You can make golden milk lattes with it. I mean, it's just, it's so. And you don't have to do anything. And then with coconut milk, I love coconut milk powder. That's one of my favorite products. I travel with that a lot with instant coffee so that I don't have to have non organic coffee on the road. But with coconut milk, you can use coconut manna or coconut butter and just combine that with water in a blender and make coconut milk really easily too. And you don't have to have any other ingredients, which is just awesome. Awesome.

So totally. It's super, super convenient. And yeah. And if anyone has any nut stuff, then coconut would be a good option. So I would love if you could speak on the difference between non GMO and organic, which is a really great topic you get into in your book.

Yeah, absolutely. So there's this huge movement towards eating non gmo. And I can say that, you know, I was also probably one of the marching band leaders of eating non GMO back in the day. But the more I learned about the food industry and the more I learned about what that label actually means, it doesn't mean a lot to me anymore. There's an entire industry out there that has this label on it, non gmo. And why are you eating that product? I would say the majority of people who really know about what GMO is and what it isn't understand that the real risks of consuming genetically modified ingredients has to do with the amount of chemicals being sprayed on those crops, because those seeds are patented to withstand heavy doses of Roundup. And so, yes, the seed has been genetically engineered. And it's something that there are studies and questionable things about certain, certain seeds and what they're patented to do. And we probably shouldn't be consuming some of them, but there's some that are like, you know, that may not have, as, you know, that big of a risk. But the biggest risk that I see, and I've never been against biotechnology, it's really about these chemicals that are sprayed on these biotech crops. That's what I'm most concerned about because of the cancer risk and the widespread use of them. And so when people are buying non GMO food, I don't think they really understand that even non GMO food is also being sprayed with a lot of these chemicals and synthetic pesticides. And Roundup that's made from Monsanto. Because close to 80%, if not more of our crops that are conventional are being sprayed with Roundup or some other type of synthetic pesticide that's linked to all sorts of health issues. So when you look at a non GMO label, it doesn't mean that you're not eating Roundup. You are definitely eating Roundup, probably. And so it's really important for people to recognize that there is a big difference between non GMO and then USDA Certified Organic, which USDA Certified Organic prohibits all non GMO products, but also prohibits synthetic pesticides so that you will not get the levels of synthetic pesticides in your diet if you buy USDA Certified Organic organic product.

So just look for that sticker. It's so necessary. And you talk about how there's different labels for organic, like made with organic materials. Can you touch on that a bit?

Yeah. So there's definitely different labels for organic. So, for example, if you just put the word organic anywhere on the label of a product, at least 70% of the ingredients have to be organic on that product. So but that means 30% could be other stuff. Now, a company that does this a lot is like Newman's Clif Bar. You'll see this a lot in those type of products where only like a certain percentage of the products, the ingredients are actually organic. So then they're using all sorts of other ingredients. Then you have another level which is, you know, USDA certified organic, which is 95% of the ingredients are organic. And then there's a long list of ingredients that they can use that that are allowed in organic foods that may not be organic. And one of those products is natural flavors. Then you have 100% organic. And that means that every single ingredient other than like sea salt and water have to be organic.

So good and so important to know these distinctions. And you have an amazing chart in your book that makes it really simple for us. So can you share with us where listeners can find your book, connect with you, and just learn deeper from all of the amazing insight and work that you're putting out into the world?

Thank you. So the book can be found in any bookstore online. You can order it today. You can also go to feedingyou lies.com also, I'm giving away a amazing guide. If you order the book, it's called the Product Lie Detector. It's an incredible resource for you to look at, call out labels, and show real products in different categories around the grocery store on what you should be buying. Also, you can come over to foodbabe.com and check out all the latest investigations. We actually did one recently on nut milks, so you can go check that out and read the blog and subscribe to get a weekly newsletter and the latest in food industry news.

Well, thank you so much for being such a relentless force of light and for going into a place that in your book you talk about really the struggles and the confrontation that you've been met with. But you continue to share this wisdom with us so altruistically and we really just appreciate what you're doing for society.

Thank you so much. I really appreciate you having me on and I was just excited to share this with your audience.

How epic is Vani? She is so full power. She's so informative, she is so fearless. She really carries that Durga, that pitta warrior goddess energy and we're all so lucky to have her because she's really advocating for to make all of our lives better. So thank you Vani. Check out her book Feeding youg Lies. So if you loved this episode, I would love to share with you the first half of my unreleased book Eat Right for your Mind Body Type which is different from my book Eat Feel Fresh. It is my unreleased, never to be released book because it is now part of my Eat Right for your Mind Body Type program. I would love to send it to you absolutely free. All you gotta do is leave me a review in the afternoon iTunes store. Take a screenshot and email it over to me@saharaetfeelfresh.com Again take a screenshot of the review and email it to me@saharaatfieldfresh.com and I will send you the first half of my unreleased book Eat Right for your Mind Body Type. Namaste.

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