Artwork for podcast Hustle & Flowchart: Mastering Business & Enjoying the Journey
James Barry: How Ancestral Foods Can Transform Your Life
Episode 64718th February 2025 • Hustle & Flowchart: Mastering Business & Enjoying the Journey • Hustle & Flowchart
00:00:00 01:03:52

Share Episode

Shownotes

Today, I had the pleasure of chatting with James Barry, an amazing guest who accomplished something many thought was impossible—taking the healthiest superfoods on the planet and making them delicious and easy to eat. James used to be a celebrity chef and has cooked for some of the biggest names like George Clooney and Tom Cruise. As we explored the world of food and health together, James shared how he found his way into the ancient method of eating and how it can benefit everyone, especially entrepreneurs. Let's dive into the rich conversation we had about health, business, and everything in between.

Summary

James Barry discovered the key to making superfoods taste great. Once a celebrity chef, he spent years cooking for the stars and now shares the secrets of nutritious ancestral eating with all of us. In this episode, we explore the world of organ meats through James' brand, Pluck. We talked about how eating the right foods can boost energy and decision-making and ultimately bring longevity to our lives and businesses.

Embracing Change and Seeking Guidance

James spent the early part of his culinary career feeling like he was "falling to the bottom of the ocean," but he soon realized there is strength and growth in accepting guidance. With a new sense of being taken care of and surrounded by mentors, James understood that it's okay to walk in the footsteps of those who came before. "There's plenty of people that have come before me. I can just see what they did, replicate it, and apply it to my business," he said. This openness to learning created a platform for him to launch Pluck successfully.

The Role of Routine in Health and Success

James shared the importance of routine in balancing joy and productivity. By sticking to a daily routine that includes exercise, he taps into the joy which allows him to solve problems more effectively. "I wake up at the same time every day, work out at the same time, and go to sleep at the same time," he said. Routine doesn't only improve mental clarity, it helps in making tough entrepreneurial decisions.

The Origins of James Barry's Culinary Journey

Growing up with non-gourmet cooking, James found a spark when he first scrambled an egg. The path to culinary success was not straightforward. He tackled many challenges, including a career in acting. It wasn't until after 9/11 that he felt the shift towards his true passion—cooking. Inspired by the need for authenticity and purpose, James took the leap and never looked back, even when it meant a significant drop in income.

The Importance of Real Food and Ancestral Eating

James emphasizes that eating real, unprocessed foods can change lives. He has seen trends come and go, but eating real food remains constant. "There's trends, but what I've always focused on is eating real food," he stressed. James highlights the negative effects of processed foods, reminding us that food is not just about calories, it's about nutrients.

The Significance of Organ Meats and Pluck

Organ meats take center stage as James explains their importance in our diet. He talks about how being a dad inspired him to look into nutrient-dense foods for his kids and himself. Organ meats are highly nutritious and a natural multivitamin. Despite cultural barriers and lack of familiarity, organ meats were the answer. To counteract these challenges, James created Pluck—a convenient blend of organ meats and spices for everyone to enjoy. With Pluck, you get the goodness of organs without the strong taste. It's designed to be sprinkled over meals, providing a hassle-free path to better nutrition.

External Resources:

Conclusion

Talking with James Barry was eye-opening. His journey from celebrity chef to advocate of ancestral eating provides valuable lessons for entrepreneurs and individuals looking to enhance their health and well-being. Real food, routine, and openness to learning sum up the key components of success that James embodies. Pluck offers an exciting way to incorporate the benefits of organ meats into your diet while keeping it simple and delicious. Whether you're tackling a hectic business schedule or simply trying to improve your health, James' insights can guide you down a path full of vitality.

Two Other Episodes You Should Check Out

Connect with Joe Fier

Thanks for tuning into this episode of the Hustle & Flowchart Podcast!

If the information in these conversations and interviews have helped you in your business journey, please head over to iTunes (or wherever you listen), subscribe to the show, and leave me an honest review.

Your reviews and feedback will not only help me continue to deliver great, helpful content, but it will also help me reach even more amazing entrepreneurs just like you!

Transcripts

Speaker:

All right.

Speaker:

Picture this.

Speaker:

What if you could take the most nutrient packed superfoods on

Speaker:

the planet, foods that have fueled humans for centuries and

Speaker:

actually make them taste great and amazing, make it easy to eat.

Speaker:

That's usually pretty impossible.

Speaker:

But my guest today, James Berry, crack that code.

Speaker:

He used to be a celebrity chef cooked for people

Speaker:

like George Clooney, Tom Cruise, and so many others.

Speaker:

And he realized that this ancient way of eating is

Speaker:

actually the way to go in this modern way we're all living.

Speaker:

Uh, diets are kind of, they're really bad, you know,

Speaker:

they're all over the place, but like, uh, you know, we

Speaker:

break it down on this podcast.

Speaker:

So you're going to get a mix of diets and how to use this

Speaker:

ancestral way of eating that James talks about and has now built

Speaker:

this brand called Pluck Around.

Speaker:

We'll dig into that.

Speaker:

But why it's going to help you as an entrepreneur, as a human

Speaker:

to feel better, make better decisions, have a more longevity

Speaker:

in anything you're doing.

Speaker:

But James also breaks down his, his reinventions throughout

Speaker:

all of his years, even before being a celebrity chef.

Speaker:

It's an awesome story of how he even got into that.

Speaker:

So he's going to break it down and they give you a path to try

Speaker:

some of this stuff out yourself.

Speaker:

He's also hooking you up with a pretty cool discount.

Speaker:

To his products at pluck.

Speaker:

Just go to hustle and flow chart.

Speaker:

com slash P L U C K. Good.

Speaker:

Try them out.

Speaker:

It's awesome.

Speaker:

I recommend them.

Speaker:

Uh, and you're going to love James.

Speaker:

So let's get into the episode.

Speaker:

All right, James, we're doing this.

Speaker:

I appreciate you for making the time today.

Speaker:

And, um, I guess we'll just start off.

Speaker:

How are you feeling today?

Speaker:

You know, are you, are you feeling pretty good?

Speaker:

Uh, you know, just, um, I shouldn't answer that for you.

Speaker:

How are you doing?

Speaker:

I'm actually, I'm feeling really, uh, taken care of.

Speaker:

There's, there's been a lot of learnings, um, probably some of the

Speaker:

biggest learnings I've had in the four years of the business, uh, that

Speaker:

started at the end of 2024 and going into this year, it's kind of like

Speaker:

the learnings are like, what got you here is not going to get you there.

Speaker:

It's that kind of learnings.

Speaker:

And, um, and I'm feeling when they first came up, I was like, Oh, I

Speaker:

was feeling like, like I was slowly, you know, falling to the bottom of

Speaker:

the ocean, you know, weighted down.

Speaker:

why?

Speaker:

Hello.

Speaker:

But, uh, but, but now I'm like, Oh, I'm being lifted up.

Speaker:

There's, there's so many people that are available and that are really

Speaker:

helping to be guides and mentors.

Speaker:

And, uh, so I feel very, very blessed and taken care of.

Speaker:

that's big.

Speaker:

And as an entrepreneur of any sort, I mean, you are in the food

Speaker:

space, culinary space, uh, you know, a lot of us work alone, or

Speaker:

at least we feel like we're alone.

Speaker:

So.

Speaker:

It's interesting because you were telling me you've had

Speaker:

some perspective shifts and, you know, you've had some

Speaker:

outside perspective shifts.

Speaker:

Do you have some internal as well?

Speaker:

Or like, do you reflect, uh, like, do you have a process for that?

Speaker:

I mean, I, I'm definitely aware of it.

Speaker:

I, I think that, um, There's definitely an aspect of,

Speaker:

uh, imposter syndrome.

Speaker:

I've never run a CPG company.

Speaker:

So that's that right there kind of supports imposter syndrome

Speaker:

when you're entering a field that you're not as familiar with.

Speaker:

But I'm also very determined and I'm feeling scrappy.

Speaker:

And I'm just like, you know, I am gonna, I'm going to figure this out.

Speaker:

And, you know, I think I'm able to, at my age to reflect

Speaker:

back at my life and go, okay, well I've, I've done like, you

Speaker:

know, four or five marathons.

Speaker:

I've done a triathlon.

Speaker:

Like I got through that.

Speaker:

I could do this and I'm a father and I'm a husband of 13 years.

Speaker:

You're like, it's like, okay, I've endured a long,

Speaker:

long term relationship.

Speaker:

I'm, I have kids that are healthy and happy and I'm

Speaker:

like, okay, I've done that.

Speaker:

You know?

Speaker:

So I'm just kind of like, I'm trying to take.

Speaker:

wherever I can, um, and apply them when I am feeling kind of less

Speaker:

than, or when I am feeling like there's a mountain in front of me.

Speaker:

You know, I'll share, this is really interesting, just gives

Speaker:

an example, a model of how I'm pulling from everything.

Speaker:

But like, it's snowing right now where I live.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

not literally snow, but there's snow on the ground.

Speaker:

And, and I walk my daughter, my youngest daughter to

Speaker:

school, uh, every weekday.

Speaker:

And we walk sometimes through a forest and I sometimes wear

Speaker:

these shoes that really kind of slip in the snow, but I noticed

Speaker:

that if I walk through a forest.

Speaker:

In the footprints of people that came before

Speaker:

me, I don't slip as much.

Speaker:

And I was applying, I was even taking from that going like,

Speaker:

Oh, that's a, that's a, that's a business mantra right there.

Speaker:

It's like, don't feel like you have to create your own footsteps.

Speaker:

Like there's plenty of people that have come before me.

Speaker:

I can just see what they did, replicate it and apply

Speaker:

it to my business and just step in their footsteps.

Speaker:

It's still my footstep.

Speaker:

Hmm.

Speaker:

But I don't have to reinvent.

Speaker:

I like

Speaker:

I don't have to go it alone.

Speaker:

Ooh.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

I can relate both.

Speaker:

Uh, you know, specifically to the scenario you're talking about.

Speaker:

I mean, I'm in San Diego, it doesn't snow much.

Speaker:

It might though.

Speaker:

I just snowed in Florida.

Speaker:

Who knows?

Speaker:

So, but, um, yeah, but I know the fact that I know you said

Speaker:

like, you know, I'm, I've slipped many times because I don't

Speaker:

experience snow much, but walking in footsteps, you're right.

Speaker:

It's easier.

Speaker:

But at the same time, yeah, a lot of us in business just

Speaker:

feel like we're, we're kind of lone soldiers going out for it.

Speaker:

You know, we know what's best or maybe we were imposter

Speaker:

syndrome stops us from asking questions or asking for help.

Speaker:

I know that's a pretty common one.

Speaker:

I see it in my mastermind of like high level entrepreneurs every

Speaker:

time and they even admit it like, yeah, I don't like to ask for help

Speaker:

or it just doesn't feel right.

Speaker:

That, I will say, is not my issue.

Speaker:

And it's because I, I, I did have a business that I did go alone

Speaker:

a lot and I Then I didn't ask as many questions and I and I and I

Speaker:

felt the negative effects of that.

Speaker:

I felt the isolation.

Speaker:

I felt the the kind of suppression Hardship that I created

Speaker:

from not asking questions.

Speaker:

So I I'm very like I entered this business that i'm currently in the

Speaker:

um I entered it very conscious of making sure that the business plan

Speaker:

was also included in my health plan.

Speaker:

I, I was like, very aware of like, hey, our schedules are fictional,

Speaker:

like this idea that we have to do this ABC is, is completely false.

Speaker:

It's all made up because you can go around the world and you can

Speaker:

see the work week, the hours, the work day and the work week are

Speaker:

completely different depending on what country you're in.

Speaker:

So there is no streamed, like everyone has to do this.

Speaker:

It's particularly if you're working in e commerce, it's what you

Speaker:

create and what you communicate.

Speaker:

So I was very aware of that.

Speaker:

And then the third thing was that I, I was very aware that, um, that

Speaker:

I was going to enter this learning, like, like, like in a learning

Speaker:

mode of like, I was going to ask questions and I was not going

Speaker:

to fake it till I make it, I was going to be very, very transparent.

Speaker:

About that process.

Speaker:

But what's interesting is by, by having even that clarity of those

Speaker:

points I just made, it also helps me be more clear with my instincts.

Speaker:

Like I'm very, I'm like, I'm like, my ears are primed.

Speaker:

So I'm very like, I'm listening.

Speaker:

I'm looking for signs.

Speaker:

I'm looking for clarity, but I'm also coming at it

Speaker:

from a heart center place.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

You're grounded.

Speaker:

Yeah, so I'm grounded and open

Speaker:

Yeah, that's cool.

Speaker:

I just interviewed a gentleman, Kevin Surace.

Speaker:

He's a big, you know, he has like 94 patents and, you know,

Speaker:

one of the things he said was like, I just have to expand, you

Speaker:

know, put myself in a good joyous place, you know, finding joy, but

Speaker:

that allows him to be more open to the possibilities and you can

Speaker:

solve better problems that way or problems people don't normally see.

Speaker:

It kind of sounds like what you've done, you know, you've

Speaker:

allowed yourself to get that guidance and yeah, not hack

Speaker:

it alone Which is so common.

Speaker:

and what I'm also learning.

Speaker:

This is a slight step away from business, but it, I think it, it

Speaker:

will serve everyone is that, um, I'm also learning, well, we'll taking

Speaker:

what he said, like, so tapping the joy, but how do you tap the joy?

Speaker:

Like how, how, how do you co create an environment where you

Speaker:

can, can, you can tap joy and I'm finding what helps the most is

Speaker:

routine and making sure that that routine has exercise or movement.

Speaker:

to it because that does co create joy when it creates

Speaker:

happiness because the endorphins from working out Actually

Speaker:

chemically create happiness.

Speaker:

So like building that routine, I wake up at the same time every day.

Speaker:

I work out at the same time every day and I go to sleep

Speaker:

at the same time every day.

Speaker:

And that routine is absolutely made a huge difference in

Speaker:

not only my state of mind, but also getting shit done.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

No, absolutely If you're not routine with something that you

Speaker:

can control like that Then like how can you how can you adapt

Speaker:

to the world around you that's constantly in motion, you know,

Speaker:

And it just, and that's the, that's the trick, right?

Speaker:

Everyone thinks like, Oh, like if I reach, reach this level

Speaker:

of success, then it's, it's not going to be as chaotic.

Speaker:

It's like, no, it is.

Speaker:

You just have new problems.

Speaker:

Like you don't reach, there isn't a point where you're, you're like, Oh,

Speaker:

you're just gliding and you're just like, Oh, like business is so easy.

Speaker:

It's like, it's just new problems.

Speaker:

Yeah, you never made it, right?

Speaker:

Like there's no making it like you might find that summit that peak,

Speaker:

but then you're like, guess what?

Speaker:

There's a ton more.

Speaker:

It keeps going.

Speaker:

And that's the

Speaker:

really does.

Speaker:

There's, there's always something to learn.

Speaker:

You know, you have a really interesting background.

Speaker:

I want to get into because there's a lot of different angles.

Speaker:

We'll explore here.

Speaker:

And I like what we've already gone, James.

Speaker:

And, you know, you've been in food for a lot of

Speaker:

years, you celebrity chef.

Speaker:

And I'm sure you did some stuff before that.

Speaker:

I want to learn about because and then, you know, you've

Speaker:

obviously Now, CPG, you have your own products pluck, you know,

Speaker:

so I'll just shout it out now eat pluck is, um, you know, the

Speaker:

domain actually, you hooked us up with the cool coupon code.

Speaker:

So I'll, we'll mention that in a little bit.

Speaker:

But, um, yeah, I want to really set the stage because you've

Speaker:

been in food for a long time.

Speaker:

You've worked with a ton of celebrities or, you know,

Speaker:

cook food for them, probably educated them on some stuff.

Speaker:

Maybe they haven't known about, you know, people like what George

Speaker:

Clooney, Barbara Streisand, you know, some pretty large names.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Tom Cruise pretty large.

Speaker:

So I guess I, I'm curious, uh, what was your experience

Speaker:

with food growing up?

Speaker:

You know, it sounds like there was a switch that happened and

Speaker:

I'm, I'm curious, you know, why food, and, and why do you

Speaker:

go down this, this journey?

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

It's interesting.

Speaker:

I, I, my mom always laughs.

Speaker:

She's like, I don't know how I got a chef for a son because in

Speaker:

the household I grew up in, you knew dinner was ready because

Speaker:

the smoke detector went off.

Speaker:

Like yeah.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

what's she doing?

Speaker:

The cooking or your

Speaker:

Oh, she was doing the cooking and you know, she

Speaker:

grew up in, um, culture.

Speaker:

It's like where you, you cook things to death, you overcook them to

Speaker:

make sure there was no pathogens.

Speaker:

Like that's how she was raised.

Speaker:

So like hamburgers, we dubbed them hockey pucks.

Speaker:

Like that's, they were that hard.

Speaker:

You could throw them against the wall and they'd bounce right

Speaker:

back at you like a Frisbee.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

But, uh, but so to this day, it was like, It's like how

Speaker:

how did I get in this field?

Speaker:

But there was something there's some spark that happened when I first

Speaker:

learned how to scramble an egg and I think for me What didn't put me down

Speaker:

that path when I was a young kid was that I didn't see it As a job,

Speaker:

I didn't see it as a career path.

Speaker:

It's easy to for people to think that the culinary fields have always

Speaker:

been about celebrities and game shows and food shows and all that

Speaker:

stuff, but it's like You Bad stuff did not exist in the seventies.

Speaker:

It's like I grew up, there was two cooking shows

Speaker:

that I remember as a kid.

Speaker:

There might've only been one at the time, but when I was

Speaker:

watching TV in my middle school age years, I remember too.

Speaker:

And it was Julia Childs and it was the frugal gourmet.

Speaker:

Those were the two I remember.

Speaker:

And they were both on PBS.

Speaker:

Like that's it.

Speaker:

There was nothing else

Speaker:

Wow.

Speaker:

and so the path for you know Cooking was was you have to own a restaurant

Speaker:

and I was like, I don't want to do that My dad owned a grocery store

Speaker:

and he would work these long hours and I just remember like I remember

Speaker:

a certain point in my life where I would go to bed and he wasn't home

Speaker:

and I would wake up and he wasn't home So he had come home and slept

Speaker:

in between those two times and uh You know, I was a sensitive kid.

Speaker:

So I was like, I don't, I don't want to do that.

Speaker:

And, and it wasn't until it really wasn't until nine 11 that I, that I

Speaker:

re looked at my life and I was like, okay, life is life is precious.

Speaker:

Uh, I feel like that was our generations, um,

Speaker:

Pearl Harbor, you know?

Speaker:

So I was like, I need to make sure that every decision I make

Speaker:

henceforth is really heart centered.

Speaker:

It's coming from a place of mission and wanting and

Speaker:

why I'm here on this earth.

Speaker:

And so I was at the time I was substitute teaching are kind of

Speaker:

working in the education system.

Speaker:

And I was, uh, in Hollywood system.

Speaker:

I was an actor and working in that arena and I liked

Speaker:

the art of creative Uh, creating things from scratch.

Speaker:

I love the creativity that came with, uh, the film and TV

Speaker:

business, but I didn't like the, I didn't really enjoy the, the

Speaker:

LA school system, the LA unified.

Speaker:

And so I was kind of like, well, what do I, what do I want to do?

Speaker:

And I, and I looked back, well, what did I love as a kid?

Speaker:

And it was cooking.

Speaker:

So I then switched gears, went to culinary school, came out of

Speaker:

culinary school and, and how I think we all know when we've tapped

Speaker:

something, tapped in this, uh, maybe a source that's bigger than

Speaker:

us is, is this what's happened?

Speaker:

This is what happened for me as an actor.

Speaker:

I was working so hard.

Speaker:

I was putting out 200 percent and I maybe got back 30%.

Speaker:

And that's,

Speaker:

back meeting in, in terms of like what financial money

Speaker:

financial or, or, um, opportunity, anything like, uh,

Speaker:

I, I had to really create my own opportunity in that field.

Speaker:

It, it did not come effortlessly.

Speaker:

And I think most actors and people in entertainment experience that.

Speaker:

Um, but what's interesting is they just don't have.

Speaker:

The contrast.

Speaker:

So then when I moved towards the culinary field, I put out a

Speaker:

hundred percent, I got back 200 percent the manifestation that

Speaker:

happened was off the charts.

Speaker:

I would literally, I mean, Joe is crazy.

Speaker:

I would literally think I want to cook for rock bands.

Speaker:

A week, two weeks later, I would get a call.

Speaker:

Hey, do you want to be the, the vegan chef on the Vans Warped Tour?

Speaker:

Where you, you know, you tour for 60 days, uh, around the U S and Canada

Speaker:

and you cook for over 200 bands.

Speaker:

And I was like, okay, like, like it was like, it was, it was so fast.

Speaker:

And, and, and there was true manifestation happening.

Speaker:

So I, I felt like, okay, I'm, I'm onto something here.

Speaker:

And, um, And then, and then it took me to the path of

Speaker:

eventually starting a meal delivery service to then

Speaker:

eventually starting a CBG company.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

That's, that's a cool path.

Speaker:

And I love, so it sounds like you've been tapped in and

Speaker:

kind of this grounded feeling throughout the whole thing.

Speaker:

And yeah.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

So was there, I'm curious on the food side specifically, like,

Speaker:

So you said scrambled an egg.

Speaker:

That was like the aha moment.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

And you, you weren't raised in a, in a home where, you know, it

Speaker:

was a different style of cooking.

Speaker:

Like, was there a, cause I thought I read you were kind

Speaker:

of a picky eater as well.

Speaker:

Like, and yeah, yeah.

Speaker:

Like, was there a

Speaker:

I was a very picky eater.

Speaker:

I didn't have my first taco till I was in college.

Speaker:

If we went to, and I grew up in California, right?

Speaker:

So that's a big deal.

Speaker:

That is I'm in San Diego.

Speaker:

So I know.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Yeah, you know, San Diego is such good Mexican food.

Speaker:

Um, uh, I would, we would go to a Mexican restaurant when

Speaker:

I was a kid and I would order a hamburger, like that's how

Speaker:

You're one of those guys.

Speaker:

I was bad and I wouldn't even eat the hamburger.

Speaker:

I was paleo before it even, there was even a word for it.

Speaker:

So when I was a kid and we'd be going on our road trips,

Speaker:

most people back then, of course, stopped at fast food.

Speaker:

And so we would stop at like, McDonald's and it would always

Speaker:

take us longer because I would not eat a burger as it was like

Speaker:

I didn't like, I still don't like ketchup and condiments on my burger.

Speaker:

Um, and I didn't like meat and bread.

Speaker:

Uh

Speaker:

I, so what they would get is they would have to order a plain burger

Speaker:

and then I would get it and I would pull the meat out from the

Speaker:

bread and pretend I was eating because I didn't want to be freaky.

Speaker:

Right?

Speaker:

So I was pretending I was eating it and then it

Speaker:

crumpled up and throw it away.

Speaker:

So I was only eating meat from a burger and nothing else.

Speaker:

Paleo style.

Speaker:

in 10, 10 burgers, right?

Speaker:

God, if I had just known that was paleo, I could have, you know,

Speaker:

been there before someone else.

Speaker:

Yeah, it's all marketing, man.

Speaker:

But yeah, well, I'm curious, like with the, you know,

Speaker:

with the celebrity thing.

Speaker:

Uh, so it sounds like there was probably a crossover from when he

Speaker:

did some stuff in Hollywood, you know, maybe you kind of learned,

Speaker:

maybe there's a little network there, um, don't really want to go

Speaker:

down that so much, but I'm curious if there were some learnings, you

Speaker:

know, when you're with celebrities, like, you know, I guess both ways.

Speaker:

Like, was there some teaching that you were doing to them

Speaker:

about food or were you learning from those experiences that

Speaker:

you were able to take away?

Speaker:

It was pretty cool actually.

Speaker:

Um, you know, I was in my thirties when I went to culinary school.

Speaker:

So I was not a young pup and, and I wasn't easily swayed.

Speaker:

I got into it very clear and like, I, I, this is what I want to do.

Speaker:

And I want to help people.

Speaker:

Like I want to work.

Speaker:

One on one and help people with their health.

Speaker:

So the school I went to in New York that doesn't exist anymore,

Speaker:

it very much kind of fused nutrition and culinary school.

Speaker:

So you, you not only were learning how to cook things, but you

Speaker:

were learning why that cooking method was important or why that

Speaker:

preparation helped to make it more digestible and more, more nutrient.

Speaker:

or bio available.

Speaker:

So it was, it was very all encompassing around health.

Speaker:

And it was a school where a lot of, uh, people looking for private

Speaker:

chefs were reaching out to.

Speaker:

Now, I didn't know that when I signed up, but I got all of my

Speaker:

first two years of jobs from referrals from the school.

Speaker:

And that was because of how I showed up.

Speaker:

So I also was like, Some kids were at right out of high school and they

Speaker:

would like not show up they were like excited to be in new york and

Speaker:

just kind of Fluffing it off and I was like no i'm i'm here like i'm

Speaker:

here to learn and i'm only here to learn and so I showed Up every day

Speaker:

and the school noticed that and I worked hard and they were like, oh

Speaker:

well We know we can depend on him.

Speaker:

So that was a huge for me and I got so many referrals but when

Speaker:

I The story that I had with my very first Private client kind of

Speaker:

tells you a little bit about how it was with all of my clients.

Speaker:

So here it was 30.

Speaker:

I had just externed at a rehab center in Malibu.

Speaker:

And they offered me a job as, as a assistant to the chef there.

Speaker:

And it only was going to pay 9 an hour.

Speaker:

So here I was 30 years old, looking at 9.

Speaker:

Now I was making 27 an hour substitute teaching.

Speaker:

So it shows you how far I had fallen financially by just changing

Speaker:

careers and how, um, at the time the culinary arts really didn't,

Speaker:

they still don't pay very well.

Speaker:

Um, so I was I was, I mean, I was crying when I, when I got

Speaker:

offered that job, I was like, I can't survive off of this.

Speaker:

And this isn't, this is, this isn't what I got in here to do.

Speaker:

And then I got a call.

Speaker:

And it was the assistant of this, uh, CBS newscaster,

Speaker:

fairly big name back in the day.

Speaker:

And, They were like, Hey, we're looking for a private chef.

Speaker:

You come referred by the school.

Speaker:

Um, we are looking for someone to calorie count, to do low

Speaker:

fat, to do this, to do that.

Speaker:

And I was like, I heard them talk and I was like, that's not me.

Speaker:

I'm sorry.

Speaker:

I don't think I can deliver for you.

Speaker:

And here I was though, needing this job.

Speaker:

And I still did not.

Speaker:

Waiver from what I believe was right and, uh, so I just

Speaker:

said, I don't think I'm the right person for the job.

Speaker:

That's not what I do.

Speaker:

And she then said, well, what do you do?

Speaker:

And I shared, I said, well, I don't, I don't believe we

Speaker:

need to calorie count when we focus on quality of product.

Speaker:

I believe if everything's made from scratch and I'm

Speaker:

controlling ingredients.

Speaker:

That not only will, will the client feel more satiated,

Speaker:

they won't feel a craving for outside foods because the foods

Speaker:

I'm giving them is so nutrient dense that it's satiating them.

Speaker:

And, um, and I, and I also believe that I could create a balance of,

Speaker:

because most foods we purchase when they're ultra processed,

Speaker:

they're extreme, they're extremely salty or they're extremely sweet.

Speaker:

And when you can make things from scratch and control the

Speaker:

ingredients, you could find a balance and, and if you ever learn

Speaker:

about my macrobiotic, uh, diets or that eating, they, they do that.

Speaker:

They talk about if you balance sweetness with savory,

Speaker:

that you actually don't crave sweetness as much.

Speaker:

You just need a hint.

Speaker:

You don't need a lot.

Speaker:

And so it's really just about that balance.

Speaker:

And, and so I just explained it and I talked from my heart and

Speaker:

at the end of it, she said, Well, we'll do what you said and and she

Speaker:

was my she was my first private client She I had her for two

Speaker:

years and um, it was a fantastic relationship and she absolutely

Speaker:

achieved everything She wanted and and and from that moment on that's

Speaker:

how I entered every situation.

Speaker:

So even tom's people even um Even Gerard, but like, like they,

Speaker:

their people would say, well, this is how he wants to eat.

Speaker:

And I'd be like, really?

Speaker:

And then I would just ask him, I'd be like, Tom, is

Speaker:

this how you want to eat?

Speaker:

Cause I didn't treat them differently.

Speaker:

I treated them just like I would talking to you.

Speaker:

It's like, and I think that's why they liked me.

Speaker:

I was a, I was, I, I honored their privacy and B I didn't

Speaker:

treat them like celebrities.

Speaker:

I treated them like people.

Speaker:

And then I came with an expertise.

Speaker:

I wasn't just this like, Oh, I'll cook whatever you want.

Speaker:

And he's like, well.

Speaker:

I want to, I'm going to make food that's clean and that,

Speaker:

that serves you emotionally, but also satiate you physically.

Speaker:

You're true to yourself and you're taking that and I could

Speaker:

see everyone loving that.

Speaker:

you know, that, that connection

Speaker:

And that, well, that's also, that's why my, my resume started

Speaker:

to build is because people were seeing such results.

Speaker:

And I, to this day, I'm like, look, there's trends, man.

Speaker:

When I entered, Culinary when I started private chefing the big

Speaker:

book at the time was called a fat flush diet And I have in my 20 years

Speaker:

as a professional chef I have seen trends come and go but the one that

Speaker:

i've always is my north star that never changes Is just eat real food.

Speaker:

yeah, for sure.

Speaker:

That's it.

Speaker:

and you talk a lot about ancestral eating and you know, like just

Speaker:

really like, like you say, the clean foods, there's a, I think a

Speaker:

lot of more talk about processed foods now and people are starting to

Speaker:

kind of understand what's in those.

Speaker:

And there's all these different, you know, all sorts of toxins

Speaker:

that come along with that as well.

Speaker:

But like, what's the, I guess, what's the real cost if you were to

Speaker:

think, of that and the disconnection from eating ancestrally.

Speaker:

Like, with some of the stuff you're doing at Pluck, for

Speaker:

instance, with organ meats.

Speaker:

Like what's the disconnect in our modern times from

Speaker:

not eating these ways?

Speaker:

Yeah, and what's, what's the cost to us?

Speaker:

Because it seems like we're just, like you mentioned, we're

Speaker:

craving sweets or salties.

Speaker:

So, it just seems like that just throws everything off,

Speaker:

you know, in the terms, like, how we feel, how we're eating.

Speaker:

I think the cost is that what was it just four years ago,

Speaker:

maybe five Uh the the It was the first time in a very long

Speaker:

time where, where the mortality rate had actually increased.

Speaker:

So, so meaning that people were dying.

Speaker:

At a younger age than ever and I think that's you know, we talk

Speaker:

a lot about in the industry is uh Kids are canaries in the coal

Speaker:

mine if you know that reference

Speaker:

Oh, yeah.

Speaker:

You know, you bring a canary into the coal mine to give you

Speaker:

warning if there's there's uh, the air quality has changed

Speaker:

They're kind of leading the way.

Speaker:

Yeah, and and we're seeing it.

Speaker:

I mean we're seeing huge health chronic health issues across the

Speaker:

board And, uh, it's absolutely tapped in to the choices we're

Speaker:

making and not just, uh, choices that we're putting in our body

Speaker:

choices as a nation, as a, as a, as a globe, as a earth, like air

Speaker:

quality choices, uh, water quality choices, soil quality, quality

Speaker:

choices, which all then lead to food choices, which then lead

Speaker:

to the choices we make that for the things that go in our mouth.

Speaker:

I think that, um, I think that we are.

Speaker:

Absolutely at a place where I believe, and I even started a

Speaker:

podcast called everyday incestual, but I believe that looking to

Speaker:

the past that previously, I think we looked to the past and we

Speaker:

thought we have to get back there.

Speaker:

And it's like, well, that doesn't make sense.

Speaker:

Cause we live in modern times.

Speaker:

We have technology.

Speaker:

Like, why would we try to go back?

Speaker:

backwards.

Speaker:

And I think that's the big mind shift mistake we've made is that

Speaker:

it's not about going backwards.

Speaker:

It's about taking the best from the past and bringing it to our present

Speaker:

so that we have a better future.

Speaker:

And so that's why I now look at Ancestral foods.

Speaker:

So it's not about like, Oh, I'm supposed to only eat and such foods.

Speaker:

I suppose like there's the liver King and you're just supposed

Speaker:

to eat testicles and raw livers.

Speaker:

And it's like, that's not realistic.

Speaker:

Like I'll even share like one of the best diets I've

Speaker:

ever done in my 20 years.

Speaker:

And I did, I've tried a lot.

Speaker:

The best one I ever did was it's called raw primal.

Speaker:

And it's eating raw meat, raw products like raw dairy,

Speaker:

raw, raw meat, anything raw.

Speaker:

It, I felt the best I've ever felt.

Speaker:

I've heard that actually.

Speaker:

I've, I've heard of some folks trying this and I was

Speaker:

like, you gotta be kidding me,

Speaker:

It's incredible.

Speaker:

And you don't get sick if you're eating from quality ounce.

Speaker:

But here's the thing.

Speaker:

Why am I not eating that way now?

Speaker:

It's because it's not practical.

Speaker:

Like you can't go to parties.

Speaker:

You can't go up, you, what are you going to eat?

Speaker:

You know, uh, What, what is the, the, um, you know, raw

Speaker:

fish every time you eat out or something, or, you know, you just

Speaker:

like, like life is for living.

Speaker:

And I think when we create too many limitations, it's like you

Speaker:

become Brian Johnson, that guy that's advertising is like, you

Speaker:

know, like you become this kind of like very two dimensional person.

Speaker:

It's like, I, I, I want to be connected.

Speaker:

I want to feel connected to the people around me.

Speaker:

I want to inspire and I want to grow and learn.

Speaker:

And I just, I don't think you can do that when you're inside, you're

Speaker:

boxed in, but it was the best diet,

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

mean we should all be doing it.

Speaker:

Well, and I mean, isn't that the thing with diets too, right?

Speaker:

They're, they're fads.

Speaker:

It's, it's almost like if you cannot sustain something

Speaker:

for let's call it life.

Speaker:

I mean, a long period of time.

Speaker:

Then you're, it's kind of, I don't know if it's any good for you.

Speaker:

Maybe it's even worse.

Speaker:

Maybe you have some perspective on that.

Speaker:

I think you tapped it.

Speaker:

It's like, I, I have in my career, I've always looked for this.

Speaker:

It's like, I'm not looking for the magic pill or the quick fix.

Speaker:

I'm looking for the thing I can sustain.

Speaker:

Um, I always laugh because, you know, and maybe I'm revealing

Speaker:

my age, but it's like back in the day there was that

Speaker:

Suzanne Summers Thighmaster

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

I remember that I had one as a kid.

Speaker:

Parents did.

Speaker:

everyone had one.

Speaker:

And it's like, but it's also the thing that is at every yard

Speaker:

sale, maybe not so much, but whatever, 10, 10 years ago,

Speaker:

it was, you know what I mean?

Speaker:

It was at every yard sale.

Speaker:

And it's like, dude, like clearly that was a fad.

Speaker:

That was a trend.

Speaker:

And it's like.

Speaker:

I don't, I just, I don't want the thigh master of food.

Speaker:

Like I don't want the thigh master of diet books.

Speaker:

I don't, I don't want that.

Speaker:

I just, I just want things that are going to be easily sustainable.

Speaker:

If we have COVID 5.

Speaker:

0, it's like, I can still keep doing it.

Speaker:

Cause that's, you know, if anything, look at any, Epidemic or disaster.

Speaker:

It's like, what is the thing that you keep doing when you're

Speaker:

in a high emotional state?

Speaker:

That's what sustainability is.

Speaker:

So what I've found in my career, that it has, at least

Speaker:

if it's a food, it's got to encompass two qualities.

Speaker:

It's got to be both of them delicious and easy,

Speaker:

but if you hit easy and delicious, In a health food.

Speaker:

So clearly something that's there to support your health and that

Speaker:

desired outcome Then it's something you can sustain no matter what

Speaker:

is going on emotionally in your life Because why would you stop

Speaker:

it tastes good and it's easy to eat or to get into your body?

Speaker:

Well,

Speaker:

That's actually a great metaphor.

Speaker:

You can apply in so many ways of life, but food starting

Speaker:

here, it's most obvious.

Speaker:

And yeah, it's kind of like what you mentioned earlier.

Speaker:

You got the salty and sweet spectrum, right?

Speaker:

That a lot of processed foods are going either which way, either far

Speaker:

end of the spectrum, but really you can just kind of dash it with both

Speaker:

of those and kind of get that fill.

Speaker:

It seems like, yeah.

Speaker:

don't always think about this, but so there's the four tastes

Speaker:

that we, that we were introduced when we were young kids, right?

Speaker:

Salty, sweet, bitter, sour, right?

Speaker:

Well, there's a fifth called umami.

Speaker:

What a lot of people don't realize is that.

Speaker:

If you think about it, why is someone picky?

Speaker:

Like, why was I picky as a kid?

Speaker:

Well, there's emotional reasons.

Speaker:

Like sometimes your life is in state unstable.

Speaker:

And so what you're choosing to enter your mouth is the

Speaker:

only thing you can control.

Speaker:

And so that's, that's part of it.

Speaker:

It, there can be an emotional element.

Speaker:

We now also have to include, and back then we did not include this.

Speaker:

So this is also answering that question of like,

Speaker:

what's changed, but now you also have to include like.

Speaker:

Chemical differences, like is someone, is someone, um, uh,

Speaker:

autistic is, is someone have some kind of difference going

Speaker:

on inside their body that makes them very highly sensitive to

Speaker:

texture and flavor from someone that's not in that state.

Speaker:

Right?

Speaker:

So now you have to include that part.

Speaker:

Category, but then the other category is just that, well, our

Speaker:

palates are, it's a physical thing.

Speaker:

The palate is something that exists and has existed for

Speaker:

hundreds of thousands of years to achieve two things

Speaker:

to make sure that either we're nourished or that we don't die.

Speaker:

So like, if you think about it, these, this kind of communication

Speaker:

pathway that happens in our mouth established, whether we lived

Speaker:

or died back in the day, right, is this food I'm about to eat

Speaker:

going to kill me or nourish me.

Speaker:

And so it's so important when we're looking at how do we

Speaker:

make someone more adventurous?

Speaker:

How do we like, um, get someone to be more nourished is you

Speaker:

think about like, well, what.

Speaker:

Look at what they're currently eating.

Speaker:

If they're eating the standard American diet, the primary

Speaker:

flavors are salt and sweet, right?

Speaker:

So that means that their palate is off.

Speaker:

It's, it's, it's skewed.

Speaker:

If those were colors, it's skewed towards blue and green.

Speaker:

We need to bring more yellow and red into it.

Speaker:

And that's this, the, the sour and, and the, um, the bitter,

Speaker:

And then umami is a fifth kind

Speaker:

And then mommy's the fifth that brings it all together.

Speaker:

So, so that's kind of like, it can sometimes be that easy by

Speaker:

just pull, like change, shifting, pulling out some of those salty and

Speaker:

sweet foods and really heightening more of those other foods.

Speaker:

And sometimes it can be really gradual.

Speaker:

That's the other thing that I've learned.

Speaker:

Over my 20 years is that, you know, this idea in America

Speaker:

of like, go big or go home.

Speaker:

Like, you know, I'm American.

Speaker:

I drive a big truck, you know, that kind of concept.

Speaker:

It's like, like we've, we've seen it.

Speaker:

We've existed in this place of like, we go all in.

Speaker:

I work hard.

Speaker:

I play hard.

Speaker:

You know, that mentality of like, actually that is

Speaker:

not how human nature works.

Speaker:

How human nature works is the things that are actually

Speaker:

lifestyle are the things we only do little amounts of a day.

Speaker:

Like if brushing our teeth took two hours, I guarantee we have

Speaker:

some funky teeth out there,

Speaker:

very good point.

Speaker:

right?

Speaker:

It's like it works because it's a small amount of time.

Speaker:

You know, we did a couple times a day, but it's for small amounts.

Speaker:

And so I've really come to realize that the way to tap into human

Speaker:

nature and to work with human nature rather than against it

Speaker:

is actually to really focus on micro dosing or micro amounts.

Speaker:

And then focus on duration.

Speaker:

So micro mounts frequently.

Speaker:

Equals cumulative effect, but when you do that, like, like, that's

Speaker:

how I think of the product pluck.

Speaker:

Actually.

Speaker:

It's like, I think of it like if we're, if that life is the

Speaker:

faucet and our bodies are the sponge, when the faucet has

Speaker:

a drip of water, it comes in.

Speaker:

It, the, the sponge, it gets, the entire drop gets, it

Speaker:

gets absorbed by that sponge.

Speaker:

But if I open that faucet up, the in, in tons of that water comes

Speaker:

on that sponge, there's all this other water that drips down.

Speaker:

And that's what we're seeing right now in this mentality

Speaker:

of go big or go home.

Speaker:

So we're seeing that, for example, in supplements, when

Speaker:

people overdose on supplements, they're just peeing it out.

Speaker:

And that's why we call it, Oh, you're just, it's expensive pee.

Speaker:

Yeah, it's true.

Speaker:

It's happening all the time and just people don't realize it

Speaker:

That's a great analogy again.

Speaker:

Yeah, I love the analogy.

Speaker:

It's the sponge analogy and how it all absorbs because

Speaker:

it's absolutely correct.

Speaker:

I mean, just try it, but how much waste and how much, uh,

Speaker:

just overdone ness, whatever is happening, you can apply

Speaker:

it in a lot of places.

Speaker:

And that brings me to, you know, because you obviously have your

Speaker:

brand Pluck and it's all about organ meats and you mentioned your

Speaker:

podcast, uh, and everything's based in this ancestral, uh, concept

Speaker:

of these eating, uh, habits or behaviors, why organ meats and,

Speaker:

you know, like what was, was there a switch or something where you

Speaker:

realized it's, it's that like, were you feeling something or a scenario?

Speaker:

Well, the switch was being a coming a father that that's hands down

Speaker:

like I knew about organ meats Uh when I went to culinary school, I

Speaker:

I learned about um weston a price There's a book called nourishing

Speaker:

traditions and they talked all about traditional foods the importance of

Speaker:

of how it's prepared the importance of um, Organ meats eating whole

Speaker:

animal and raw milk and all these different things and why and so

Speaker:

I knew about it then but I didn't grow up doing that and what, what

Speaker:

I think a lot of times why we struggle to incorporate anything

Speaker:

is that unfamiliarity, like we don't have practice of doing it.

Speaker:

We have to have more routine with it.

Speaker:

I didn't have that.

Speaker:

And so I struggled to get organ meats into my diet.

Speaker:

And, um, And then I had kids and I was like, okay, like I want to be

Speaker:

around to watch my kids grow up.

Speaker:

And I also want to, just like every other parent out

Speaker:

there, I want my kids to be healthy, thriving, and happy.

Speaker:

So what foods are going to support that for both of us?

Speaker:

And then I just did some searching on the internet.

Speaker:

So not internal searching, but like searching on the

Speaker:

internet and anyone can do this.

Speaker:

And it's like, what are the most nutrient dense foods?

Speaker:

And every, every indicator came back, Orgamese.

Speaker:

And normally it would say beef liver, but I have actually

Speaker:

expanded way beyond that now.

Speaker:

Um, and why do they focus on Orgamese?

Speaker:

Well, of all, if you think about what's in a prenatal, like what

Speaker:

science is telling you, this is what you need to create life.

Speaker:

If you look at the list of vitamins and minerals, it's all an orgamy.

Speaker:

And what's sad to me is that when we slaughter that cow,

Speaker:

which is really, I mean, like, I'm not, I'm not inhumane.

Speaker:

Like, I believe that is, that's something we need to honor.

Speaker:

Like, we just took a life, but we took that life to feed us.

Speaker:

And that's always going to be the case.

Speaker:

Even if you're vegan, there's still something dying when

Speaker:

those plants are being harvested to feed you, right?

Speaker:

For us to live, something dies.

Speaker:

That's just.

Speaker:

Across the board.

Speaker:

And if anyone doesn't believe that, I think you need to look,

Speaker:

look a little deeper because it talked to a farmer and they will

Speaker:

tell you talk to a monocrop farmer and they will tell you it's, it's

Speaker:

like a frickin horror show when they plow those soybean fields,

Speaker:

all the different animals, insects and critters that are housed

Speaker:

in those fields get decimated.

Speaker:

So something dies.

Speaker:

about that, but you're right.

Speaker:

There's all this death happening.

Speaker:

Always, always.

Speaker:

It's just, it's whether you just want to admit it or not.

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

But so there's always something's dying to feed us.

Speaker:

But when we slaughter a cow, we are currently For most slaughterhouses.

Speaker:

We're only using 50 of that cow.

Speaker:

This is a business podcast what business would take Their resources

Speaker:

only use 50 of them like that.

Speaker:

That would be the worst business plan in the entire world So

Speaker:

we are right now wasting about 50 percent of that animal.

Speaker:

So to me, one of the most planetary things we could do is just start

Speaker:

eating whole animal because what's happening is we're only

Speaker:

utilizing 50 percent of the animal.

Speaker:

The most nutritious part of the animal is getting trashed.

Speaker:

And then what are we doing?

Speaker:

Well, we're nutrient deficient.

Speaker:

It's like a 2015 study, um, came to about 92 percent of

Speaker:

Americans are nutrient deficient.

Speaker:

And we're in 2025 now.

Speaker:

So that's probably close to 94%, right?

Speaker:

So if 94 percent of America is a nutrient deficient, but

Speaker:

we're not calorie deficient because we're an obese nation,

Speaker:

Yeah, that's true.

Speaker:

then what's the issue?

Speaker:

It's clearly the food choices we're making.

Speaker:

Well, We're, we're trashing the most nutritious part of the animal.

Speaker:

And then what do we do?

Speaker:

We turn around and we buy, uh, we feed a 50 billion industry

Speaker:

of supplements to try to, you know, compensate for what we

Speaker:

didn't get from what we ate.

Speaker:

And to me, that's, that's madness.

Speaker:

Ooh, it is.

Speaker:

And there's so much waste.

Speaker:

So it's not just that part, you know, and it doesn't, it's not

Speaker:

honoring the animal just in that, that whole side of things, but

Speaker:

it's not even honoring ourselves.

Speaker:

And, you know, I'm sure there's reasons for that.

Speaker:

You know, people, I think there's probably associations

Speaker:

to organs, you know, and just that concept of organ meat.

Speaker:

So, like,

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

I think it, I think it brings up your mortality.

Speaker:

I really do.

Speaker:

I, I think that.

Speaker:

That's definitely something I've, I've been messing around with and

Speaker:

thinking about is like when you, when you hear of a liver, you

Speaker:

think your own liver, when you hear of a heart, you think you're

Speaker:

the beating of your own heart, you know, and I think, I think that

Speaker:

that's what we're really icked out about, whether we want to

Speaker:

admit it or not, um, because most people will say, Oh, that's gross.

Speaker:

And they've never even tried them.

Speaker:

Cause they're not, it's actually not gross.

Speaker:

Like you talk to anyone that truly eats whole animal,

Speaker:

like I'll give you a story.

Speaker:

There's this woman, um, who has a website called awfully good cooking.

Speaker:

Her family is one of the most amazing families cause they

Speaker:

actually walk their talk.

Speaker:

They truly eat whole animal every week.

Speaker:

They're eating a different part of that animal.

Speaker:

They've eaten brain.

Speaker:

They've eating, eating tripe, which is the, the, um, the, the.

Speaker:

Or the, um, stomach lining is tripe and then they've also done lung.

Speaker:

I mean, they've done so many parts and this woman's kids,

Speaker:

when their, her kids asked like on their birthday, they

Speaker:

get, she said, you can, we'll make whatever meal you want.

Speaker:

They ask for menudo, which is a Mexican soup dish with tripe in it.

Speaker:

And most people go like, try it.

Speaker:

That's gross.

Speaker:

But if you actually prepare it properly and you eat it, it's, it's,

Speaker:

it's why these kids chose it, it's incredibly delicious, soothing meal.

Speaker:

Like it feeds you, um, literally, but it also feeds your soul.

Speaker:

And that's what these kids, these young kids are asking

Speaker:

for their birthdays, but no one would know that.

Speaker:

I think it's in fa as well,

Speaker:

Yes, it can be.

Speaker:

Yep.

Speaker:

Yeah, it can't be.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

If you choose it.

Speaker:

Awesome.

Speaker:

But well, so Oregon meets in general and like what you're

Speaker:

talking about, and obviously this, it sounds like this is why

Speaker:

you went on a mission with pluck.

Speaker:

And maybe you just tell me a little bit about that and how you're

Speaker:

approaching this whole scenario with your own product, because

Speaker:

it's, it's obviously what you believe in.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

once I identified like, okay, I wanted to feed my kids

Speaker:

the most nutrients food.

Speaker:

Well, I identified organ meats, but then I identified what

Speaker:

are the three main hurdles.

Speaker:

So first we have people think it's gross.

Speaker:

Second, Most people don't know how to cook it.

Speaker:

We've lost the art of cooking it.

Speaker:

And most people, if they do cook it, they overcook it.

Speaker:

And that's, that's one thing I'll just share is that when it's raw,

Speaker:

it's actually at its tastiest and as you cook it, it can get stronger.

Speaker:

And like when you overcook liver, it gets stronger, not, not less strong.

Speaker:

So

Speaker:

it's the opposite.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

yeah.

Speaker:

So people that are like, Ooh, taken back by liver, it's

Speaker:

probably cause you overcooked it.

Speaker:

Interesting.

Speaker:

and then the third one is that people don't

Speaker:

know where to source it.

Speaker:

Some people don't have access to it.

Speaker:

And so, uh, and then I guess the third is people know that

Speaker:

they should be eating it.

Speaker:

They are taking it in the form of a capsule and they just, capsules

Speaker:

are, they get either capsule fatigue or they're inconsistent.

Speaker:

You buy it one month and you forget to take it.

Speaker:

You know, we're just inconsistent with capsules.

Speaker:

And so, um, Once I identified those four hurdles, I was

Speaker:

like, okay, what do I do here?

Speaker:

And, and, and really, I mean, that's kind of the

Speaker:

uniqueness of me as a chef.

Speaker:

Like I, I've always kind of thought outside the box and I'm

Speaker:

always kind of trying to feel out.

Speaker:

I don't have, my training is not such that it keeps me boxed in.

Speaker:

Like where I'm, I only do the, you know, French cooking,

Speaker:

or I only do Asian cooking.

Speaker:

Like I'm not boxed in by.

Speaker:

A certain method of how to do things.

Speaker:

So I'm always trying different things I'm always thinking

Speaker:

like well, but what's the practical what's the most

Speaker:

practical use of this?

Speaker:

And so what I basically did was I was like, okay, we already

Speaker:

have Freeze drying and that's a preservation technique and it

Speaker:

not only does it preserve it from spoiling but it also preserves

Speaker:

the nutrients So they're already using in capsules and then we

Speaker:

have these We have dried herbs and we have seasonings that are also

Speaker:

shelf stable and made to last.

Speaker:

So I was like, well, technically when you make a pate, that's what

Speaker:

you're doing is you're taking the organs and you're cooking them

Speaker:

with different vegetables and herbs to make them taste good.

Speaker:

So why can't I just do that on a dry level?

Speaker:

And that's where I started to piece together pluck, which is.

Speaker:

Really a ancestral superfood, but it's basically taking freeze

Speaker:

dried powdered liver, heart, kidney, spleen and pancreas,

Speaker:

combining it with salt and then organic spices and herbs.

Speaker:

And so what we've created is a seasoning that you

Speaker:

microdose frequently because we all season our food.

Speaker:

So every time you eat, just sprinkle it on your food and

Speaker:

you're then getting cumulative effect of the organs.

Speaker:

We have kind of something for everyone.

Speaker:

We have three flavors.

Speaker:

That, um, all will also brighten the food.

Speaker:

Cause the umami in the organ meats actually makes

Speaker:

the food taste better.

Speaker:

So if you want to be deemed a better chef, you just put pluck on there

Speaker:

and everyone thinks you're amazing.

Speaker:

And you don't even have to tell them it's pluck just pretend it's you.

Speaker:

That's all

Speaker:

good.

Speaker:

I

Speaker:

And then we have.

Speaker:

We have a fourth product, which is just pure.

Speaker:

And that's just the organ meat.

Speaker:

So that's for those people that are like, Hey, I've been tested.

Speaker:

I'm anemic.

Speaker:

I, you know, my, my, I really need certain amount of nutrients.

Speaker:

Great.

Speaker:

We have that for you.

Speaker:

I just want you to eat it versus swallowed in a capsule.

Speaker:

Um, and one teaspoon of that is equal to two ounces of organs.

Speaker:

That's how concentrated it is.

Speaker:

teaspoon.

Speaker:

Okay, because I was going to ask, I'm like, is this enough

Speaker:

if it's just as, you know, you're sprinkling it on or

Speaker:

you're using it as flavoring?

Speaker:

What's fascinating is it really does go back to that, that, what I

Speaker:

was saying about that whole, like we have this American mentality

Speaker:

of go big or go home, but it's like, is a small amount enough?

Speaker:

Well, I should say is a small amount is small amount enough said

Speaker:

the cocaine user who just tried a little bit and was like, right.

Speaker:

So, so clearly like there's aspects of life.

Speaker:

Where when it's small amounts, just like that sponge, and I actually,

Speaker:

our body is able to absorb it.

Speaker:

Like if, so if I take capsules with too much vitamin A or any

Speaker:

vitamin, I'm going to pee it out.

Speaker:

But if I'm getting a little bit and we typically eat

Speaker:

three times or more a day.

Speaker:

So if I'm using two, let's say half a teaspoon every time,

Speaker:

even a teaspoon, I'm getting nearly a tablespoon a day.

Speaker:

Of this and what's fascinating is people we've gotten feedback

Speaker:

is people Get their their blood tested and they'll say like,

Speaker:

oh it's showing up in my blood markers I'm no longer anemic

Speaker:

or people that had skin issues.

Speaker:

My skin issues started going away or people that had issues around With

Speaker:

the birth or the the their child like this one woman um messaged

Speaker:

us and said she was on her third child and the first two she had um,

Speaker:

she She had very little milk And then she had, um, hemorrhage, blood

Speaker:

hemorrhage, a lot of hemorrhaging.

Speaker:

And she said the only thing she did different for her third one is she

Speaker:

used pluck the seasoning, not the pure through from beginning to end.

Speaker:

And she said she had an abundance of milk and she had no hemorrhaging.

Speaker:

Wow.

Speaker:

to midwives and they're like, Oh yeah, I always know if the

Speaker:

female had organ meats because the placenta is gorgeous, it's a

Speaker:

beautiful, rich color, and it's a nice size like across the board.

Speaker:

So we cannot underestimate.

Speaker:

How powerful these ancestral foods are our bodies

Speaker:

were designed for them.

Speaker:

There's this guy bill schindler He's a professor of archaeology.

Speaker:

He will tell you that that basically he wrote a book called

Speaker:

eat like a human and he'll tell you that That basically we were

Speaker:

scab we were foragers first then we were scavengers So we did get

Speaker:

some meat protein, but it wasn't until we got 30 We became the

Speaker:

predator and we got three things that we did not have previously.

Speaker:

That's when our bodies changed That's when our brains got bigger.

Speaker:

That's when we we entered the homo sapien Uh body

Speaker:

that we're in right now.

Speaker:

So this is like 300 000 years ago, right?

Speaker:

And those three things were blood Fat and organs.

Speaker:

Those were the mother nature's multivitamin that gave us the punch

Speaker:

To then evolve our brains to be bigger and our guts to be smaller

Speaker:

So we lost some ability to eat just random foods But we gained

Speaker:

a brain that enabled us to create language to create cities to create

Speaker:

all these amazing You know modern tools that we have to this day.

Speaker:

That is, I'm going to pick that book up because I've heard some

Speaker:

sprinkles of that, that concept and what you just said there,

Speaker:

but that it makes perfect sense.

Speaker:

You know, the evolution of path.

Speaker:

he's got this great quote He says we are the only species in

Speaker:

the world That looks to someone else to tell us what to eat.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

That's a good point.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

And, but it goes even deeper when you realize actually

Speaker:

there's over 8 million species.

Speaker:

So what the heck happened to us?

Speaker:

Or maybe what's right with us.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Well, who knows, but you know what I mean?

Speaker:

It's like, like, that's crazy.

Speaker:

And it, and it tells you that we did know we used to have

Speaker:

an instinct about what we did.

Speaker:

And that's why I'm a big follower or believer of

Speaker:

you got to eat your food.

Speaker:

Because when you swallow.

Speaker:

Let's say salt, a salt tablet.

Speaker:

You get a delayed response.

Speaker:

Why am I bloated?

Speaker:

Oh, I got too much of that salt.

Speaker:

But if I put salt on your tongue, your body won't

Speaker:

let me give you too much.

Speaker:

The salt, the flavor of the salt changes.

Speaker:

Like by the third or fourth time I put a dab on your tongue, it

Speaker:

literally tastes different and it kind of tastes disgusting.

Speaker:

Your body's rejecting it.

Speaker:

And that's a communication pathway that's been developed for

Speaker:

hundreds of thousands of years.

Speaker:

Why are we not using that?

Speaker:

It kept us alive.

Speaker:

It kept us so that we could evolve to who we are now.

Speaker:

Like we need to use it.

Speaker:

So you have to eat.

Speaker:

Like, so in a sense, when I'm even telling people, and I know

Speaker:

this is a business, but, but you know, here's the thing.

Speaker:

All good.

Speaker:

We're living life.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

And, and for us to be good in business, we have to be able to take

Speaker:

ourselves, take care of ourselves.

Speaker:

So here's the deal.

Speaker:

Like I would break down three main criteria for

Speaker:

what food you allow to pass.

Speaker:

Into your body.

Speaker:

First is you look for flavors that are found in nature.

Speaker:

Not natural flavors, not artificial flavors, but flavors that are

Speaker:

found in nature, meaning that they haven't been adulterated.

Speaker:

They haven't been added to the product.

Speaker:

They're just in the product because of how it's grown or, or, or yeah,

Speaker:

or just yeah, how it's grown.

Speaker:

So that would be one.

Speaker:

Two would be Uh nutrient dense foods so foods that have nutrients

Speaker:

in them not fortified foods Not foods that have been fabricated to

Speaker:

have nutrients but foods that have nutrients nutrient dense foods And

Speaker:

then the third one is the one that most people don't think about and

Speaker:

they also don't we don't talk about enough which is Now just eat those

Speaker:

foods mindfully, like don't eat rushing, don't be eating in your car

Speaker:

as you're driving through traffic.

Speaker:

Don't mindfully just grab, you know, stuff off the shelves

Speaker:

because it's cheap or yeah, don't be watching while you eat.

Speaker:

Don't, don't like be eating around people that stress you out.

Speaker:

Don't, uh, don't just mindfully grab things from the grocery

Speaker:

store because you're hangry.

Speaker:

You know what I mean?

Speaker:

It's like, like be mindful and.

Speaker:

And you'll start to see, so eating those nutrient dense

Speaker:

foods mindfully, even how you prepare them, be more mindful.

Speaker:

Take a moment before you eat, you know, to say grace, to pray, or to

Speaker:

take a breath, put your fork down in between bites, little things

Speaker:

like that, just to slow down.

Speaker:

See, your body will be able to tell you when it's full.

Speaker:

It will be able to communicate to you.

Speaker:

Do you want more or less of this?

Speaker:

Because it has the time to do it.

Speaker:

And you're letting your body work for you.

Speaker:

Yeah, it's we live in such a fast paced world And I've noticed as

Speaker:

I've gotten older well also have had kids I've sped up my eating

Speaker:

but like back in the day when I was a kid I would take my time I was

Speaker:

always like Joe's the slowest eater.

Speaker:

I'm like I chew more and I think it helps with digestion.

Speaker:

I've heard a

Speaker:

for it?

Speaker:

Cause some kids when they're slow, they get shamed for

Speaker:

it and that's why they

Speaker:

speed up.

Speaker:

I didn't take it as but I definitely yeah, it was

Speaker:

mentioned many times I was like the slowest guy at the table,

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

And so that affects us because we want to be like everyone else.

Speaker:

And it's like, actually Joe had it right.

Speaker:

Little Joe was the one who was doing it mindfully

Speaker:

and like taking his time.

Speaker:

And that was actually, I mean, that to me is a beautiful

Speaker:

example of like, you know, A lot of times we, we know what we

Speaker:

need, like it's in our bodies.

Speaker:

And when we're young, that's typically a time where we're

Speaker:

not as influenced by others.

Speaker:

And we just follow the beat of our drum.

Speaker:

And it's, I would recommend everyone think back and kind

Speaker:

of reevaluate, well, what was I like when I was little?

Speaker:

We're around these foods or around the behavior of how

Speaker:

it went with my own self.

Speaker:

And, and definitely, you know, it comes out with a, you know,

Speaker:

I've, I've two little ones, a five year old and a one year old.

Speaker:

So it's,

Speaker:

Oh, you're in it.

Speaker:

Oh my gosh.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

And I know, I know you, you have, you're passionate

Speaker:

about this as well.

Speaker:

And this is how pluck can tie in and, you know,

Speaker:

you're, you're introducing these to your kids as well.

Speaker:

So that's what I'm going to do.

Speaker:

And you know, it's not forcing it because there's definitely a

Speaker:

relationship there with food that.

Speaker:

You want to let them explore their own worlds.

Speaker:

You know, they're, they're human just like we are.

Speaker:

And we've all gone through phases of foods and you know, our

Speaker:

palates are changing all the time.

Speaker:

I forget how often, maybe, you know, but it's, you know, your

Speaker:

taste buds are actually adapting differently to, you know, often.

Speaker:

I think it'll be exciting when you start incorporating pluck with them

Speaker:

too because what the feedback we get is first of all Like, you know,

Speaker:

we all have those days that go sideways, you know, like oh I didn't

Speaker:

meal plan I didn't we're just tired.

Speaker:

Let's just order pizza, right?

Speaker:

And I usually kind of feel a little bummed out that i'm, you know,

Speaker:

not being more giving my kids more something more nutritious But

Speaker:

then what I do is I just sprinkle pluck on it and they love it.

Speaker:

It tastes good and they're like cool Thanks, dad.

Speaker:

Like love it You know, so like you can literally

Speaker:

sprinkle it on French fry.

Speaker:

You can take it, put it on anything.

Speaker:

We put it on popcorn when we have family night, you know, movie night.

Speaker:

And the kids love it.

Speaker:

Like they, many of us can't even eat popcorn without it because

Speaker:

it's so flavorful that, and you can't get that flavor for, from

Speaker:

pretty much anything else that.

Speaker:

Now a things that are normally kind of plain, like eggs and popcorn

Speaker:

and even toast, like you put it on there and it just brightens it.

Speaker:

It makes it so delicious and craveable that.

Speaker:

You'll see, you'll see your kid's palate change, you'll see their,

Speaker:

they'll actually get more interested in the food they're eating.

Speaker:

And then hopefully if, if there is something going on on bridges

Speaker:

in general, hopefully you start to see any kind of health

Speaker:

stuff go away or you see energy changes, you see clarity of mind.

Speaker:

I mean, it's, it's incredible when you start getting this natural

Speaker:

mother nature's multivitamin into your kids and yourself.

Speaker:

It's, it truly is miraculous.

Speaker:

But yet it's not a miracle.

Speaker:

It's just mother nature.

Speaker:

it's mother nature.

Speaker:

It's how it was intended and, and we're just

Speaker:

fitting right back into it.

Speaker:

So, yeah, we've been, it's a disconnected

Speaker:

world in a lot of senses.

Speaker:

So thank you, James, for, for enlightening.

Speaker:

Cause I didn't know much of anything about this world.

Speaker:

And that's what fascinated me when.

Speaker:

He said yes to doing the pod here.

Speaker:

So I know after, after this, I'm getting some pluck and I'm

Speaker:

going to get the spicy one.

Speaker:

I'm all about the spice.

Speaker:

So, you know, that's a, that'd be one of them and I

Speaker:

we have a, we have, I should send you, so you, you

Speaker:

like hot, like really hot

Speaker:

I, that's my, that's my jam.

Speaker:

Okay, you, I, you got to email me your, your address later.

Speaker:

Cause I, I just, we have a new flavor that's going to be

Speaker:

coming out and I need feedback.

Speaker:

Oh, yeah.

Speaker:

I'm your man.

Speaker:

and it probably won't be out when this podcast comes

Speaker:

out, but it will be getting closer, but it's habanero lime.

Speaker:

And I, and I'll send that to you cause it's hot.

Speaker:

That gets, it's hot.

Speaker:

I'm in.

Speaker:

Thank you.

Speaker:

Well, and a gift to everyone watching, listening.

Speaker:

James is hooking you up.

Speaker:

Uh, like I mentioned earlier, 20 percent off.

Speaker:

If you go to hustle and flow chart dot com slash pluck P. L. U. C.

Speaker:

K. and you just add the products.

Speaker:

I was testing it out and 20 percent off.

Speaker:

So and you'll learn a lot to there's recipes.

Speaker:

Your podcast is on there.

Speaker:

Uh,

Speaker:

We have a blog actually started with that just started too, that

Speaker:

I I'm really happy with is it's really putting out a lot of topics

Speaker:

that I think are really top of mind, like, you know, um, lead

Speaker:

and salt, you know, those kind of topics that I think a lot

Speaker:

of people are concerned about.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Well, soon soon to be.

Speaker:

You also have a digital mind, kind of a digital clone of yourself

Speaker:

that we're working on together.

Speaker:

Yeah,

Speaker:

And I mentioned Delphi all the time.

Speaker:

So yeah, hopefully that shows up on, on there as well, occasionally.

Speaker:

it will.

Speaker:

All right, James, I appreciate you so much.

Speaker:

This was fun.

Speaker:

Thanks for

Speaker:

Thank you.

Speaker:

Thank you for having me on Joe.

Follow

Links

Chapters

Video

Watch

More from YouTube