85- Making Informed Supplement Choices with Kate Mahoney

Announcer: 00:01 Welcome to the summit for wellness podcast where we help you climb to the peak of your health. And now here is your host Bryan Carroll.

Bryan: 00:16 Supplements. Are they necessary and does quality matter? These are just some of the questions people ask when it comes to using supplements. We have been trained to take a pill to fix our problems and this mindset has transferred over into taking supplements as well. While they can be helpful, they should be used to supplement a healthy diet. What's up everyone? I'm Bryan Carroll and I'm here to help people who have an injury or illness that holds them back from enjoying the outdoors. And today we are going to be talking all about supplements. A few years ago there were some supplement companies including Costco that were hit with lawsuits for mislabeling what is in their products. You may have thought you were buying something that is good for you, but the supplements didn't actually have what the label claimed it did. So I am bringing on Kate Mahoney to talk about the supplement industry and she is fantastic at spreading consumer awareness around supplements.

Bryan: 01:13 We'll be talking about manufacturing practices, quality of product, nutrient bioavailability and much more. She isn't here to represent any specific company. She is just here to provide good information for you. So let's jump into my conversation with Kate. Kate Mahoney has been a passionate advocate of holistically addressing health since experiencing the profound difference working with the whole body made to her own health and the health of her loved ones. She has been professionally supporting people's health with a therapeutic use of food and supplements for a little over 15 years and as board certified in holistic nutrition with the N. A. N. P. thank you so much Kate for coming onto the show.

Kate: 01:56 Hey, thanks for having me Bryan. It's really great to be here.

Bryan: 02:00 Of course, and we're going to be diving into the world of supplements here in a moment, but I would love to learn a little bit more about your background and your experience with the supplement industry. So can you dive into that for us?

Kate: 02:12 So I have been working with health holistically for a really long period of time and it got to the point where I felt like food as much as I knew about it and as much as I was working with it therapeutically was just not making the differences that I wanted or needed in my health journey. And I decided to look into utilizing supplemental nutrients therapeutically to see what kind of benefit that might have for me. And I entered the world of being a health and wellness consultant in order to facilitate that. I was really lucky because in my experience as a health and wellness consultant, I was given many, many training opportunities during those five years. The company that I worked for, they actually brought in a variety of different specialists in different areas. So we had specialists coming in and talking about raw material quality manufacturing practices, nutrient bioavailability.

Kate: 03:19 We also had specialists coming in and talking about and addressing things like joint health, greens, powders, such a variety of topics. So I had five years of education from some of the leading experts nationally about supplements. And what was really helpful about that was it gave me the ability to make, not only empower choices for myself, but to be able to look at a product and to be able to tell a lot about whether or not this was going to be something that would be beneficial or helpful for someone to take as in would it be worth your money to spend on. So that's a lot of what I did as a health and wellness consultant was helping people to make empowering choices with their health.

Bryan: 04:13 And I think we need to throw this out there. You're not here as a representative of any kind of supplement company. So this is all completely unbiased opinions that we'll be talking about in that this episode, which is great because then you know, you, you're more open to taking a look at some of those things you mentioned, like the manufacturing practices and the raw material quality. So the biggest question that we always hear is, are supplements even necessary? And can't we just get all of the nutrients that we need from food?

Kate: 04:48 That is such a great question. Before we go into that though, I want it to go back to what you just touched on, which is just like you said, I choose not to affiliate myself with any supplement company or product at all because I want to feel very good. It's part of my ethical core to be able to talk about things freely and openly. Although I will say I will not bad mouth any company. So there will be times when people will ask me directly about a company and the furthest I will go is I choose not to use that in my practice because I don't want to bad mouth anybody. That's just my own integrity. And that's my personal choice. But that's also a personal choice as to why I choose not to have affiliates with different companies. Because even if I truly believe in their work and I know that they're doing every front, everything for the right reasons, it doesn't change the fact that I still want to be able to talk about that openly without having any underground or hidden agenda at all.

Kate: 06:01 So now that I've been able to speak to that, but to actually get to the question that you asked, which is are they necessary, and I have to say it really depends on the individual because the truth is there are a lot of people in this world that justify making dietary changes and lifestyle changes can have a huge beneficial impacts on their health. And I know that you and I being nutritional therapy practitioners with active practices have seen that happen over and over and over again. The impact that those really small dietary and lifestyle tweaks can make for people. However, that is not true for everybody. There are some people whose health has deteriorated so much that by adding in therapeutic nutrients, by way of supplements for a short period of time, it can actually help to accelerate the healing process or get their body over a hump and a little bit of a faster manner. So what I like to ask my clients that I'm working with is do you want to do slow and gradual and gentle or do you want to get results quicker? Because if you want to get results quicker, we may need to look at utilizing some of the therapeutic nutrients in your protocols from time to time. Otherwise we can completely just keep things focused on food and lifestyle changes and the choices up to them as far as what it is that they would prefer.

Bryan: 07:53 And that's a really good method too because you run into people that come to you that you know, they've been to different doctors or clinicians, practitioners that push a lot of pills and then they get put off by it. So if you leave that option up to them, then they're making the choice one way or the other.

Kate: 08:12 Exactly. For me in my practice, it's very, very much about always empowering people to make the choices that are right for them. It's not about me dictating. I am merely someone who is going to walk beside you, as you make the choices that are going to be supportive to you, that are right for you at any given point in time. And I know that you practice a lot the same way Bryan is as we like to say, meeting a client where they're at.

Bryan: 08:45 And so now let's let's take a look a little bit at a supplements. So one of the key areas that you want to look at is manufacturing practices.

Kate: 08:56 So can you talk a little bit about that? Oh man. So this is such a deceptively important subject. And the reason why is because I kind of like to say that manufacturing of practices equates to or is also known as welcome to the world of excipients. So a lot of people are not familiar with that word, so I'm going to explain it a little bit. And excipient can be generally one of three things. So it can be used as a filler to add bulk to a product because sometimes there are supplements or nutrients that we're taking in such my new quantities that if we were to actually just be taking the nutrient by itself, it would be about the size of a grain of sand. So companies will add bulk to a product in order for there to actually be a tablet that someone is taking. And that's what we're looking at when we talk about microgram amounts is very, very tiny amounts of nutrients. And a lot of companies will do that so that people feel like they're getting their money's worth. But there are also companies that do that because it's much easier for people to be able to work with a tablet than it is to like work with a grain of sand.

Kate: 10:23 So that's one of the uses is has a filler. Another use of excipients is as a finders. So these are ingredients that are added to a product that bind the ingredients together to form a tablet. And the very last most common use of an excipient is as a flow agent. Now, these are ingredients or fillers or excipients that are used in manufacturing processes to keep product from clogging the manufacturing equipment so it doesn't need to be cleaned as often. And let me tell you, most of the below agents that are used are some of the things that are the most harmful. Now the reason why companies do that is because, how can I say this tactically? So there are certain companies that are very much in the supplement industry for profit and the way that you can tell what those companies look like is they make everything, I mean if it is a supplement that is on the market, they will have a product of that supplement.

Kate: 11:40 They have a really wide umbrella. Most of those companies though that are making everything, and this is something we're going to touch on a little bit more next, is they don't necessarily have the raw material quality standards for one thing, but for another thing, they're using their manufacturing equipment over and over so quickly that they're adding a lot of flow agents to their product to make sure that they don't have to clean their equipment as quickly in between processing. I mean there's the reasons for flow agents, let's just say, in my opinion, they're not very ethical.

Kate: 12:25 So let's talk about some of the common excipients that you're going to find in settlements. One of them is going to be making a museum stereo. Now one of the things about magnesium story is that it is required to have an MSDS that is a material safety data sheet on that product. Are there many magnesium stereotypes that are out there that are actually less harmful to the body? Yes, and you need to contact a supplement company directly if they use magnesium stearate in their products to find out the sourcing for that. And if they are an ethical company, we'll get into this a little bit more later. They will have absolutely no problem providing you with the information on where and how they are sourcing things. They're making ECM stereo, like what is the raw material that it is derived from. Another one is Silicon dioxide, which also has an MSDS report.

Kate: 13:29 Now the thing about Silicon dioxide is that it's, it's actually a little bit deceptive because it's not silicone dioxide is different than silica or solicit ya, which is actually really finely ground courts. Crystal silicone is something that is known to have a lot of counter indications when it comes to internal use and that's why it has the MSDS report. So there are some very finite spellings having to do with the different ingredients and just doing your research and being a conscientious consumer can make a huge difference for you as far as making informed choices as a consumer. So another one is going to be cellulose and a lot of times such a Tarion capsules are made out of cellulose. And I want to talk about that really quickly because that is commonly derived from corn fiber and currently 89% of the corn that is being grown in the United States.

Kate: 14:40 And this is information that I got off of E U S D S I'm sorry, USDA website is that 89% of the corn currently being grown is GMO. So that means if you are taking supplements in a vegetarian capsule and you have not done your due diligence to contact the company and find out and make sure that they are verifying that their vegetarian capsules are non-GMO, you're probably inadvertently consuming GMOs. And the very last one that I wanted to touch on is dextrins and the dextrins are primarily derived from corn and potato. The reason why that's really important is because there are some people who are actually sensitive to the nightshade family. And we also now have GMO potatoes too, not just corn. Now we have to keep in mind that a big reason why these products have been genetically modified is so that they can withstand extraordinarily high levels of manmade chemicals like the herbicides and the pesticides. That is the biggest reason why they're being genetically modified. And that means that the raw material is going to have those high levels of manmade chemicals in them. And last but not least, it's also important to note that dextrins can additionally be derived from wheat. So if your wheat sensitive or celiac, that can be something to be aware of. And just an example of what dextrins are, those would be things like dextrose or maltodextrin or things like that.

Bryan: 16:24 And when you're talking about magnesium stair rate, is that the same form an as magnesium as what you would take in like a magnesium pill or is that different?

Kate: 16:36 Well, it should not be. So that gets into that's something that we're going to be talking about a little bit more later on when we talk about nutrient bioavailability. So there are different forms of nutrients and some of them are going to be better utilized by the body or what's known as more bio available to the body. Magnesium steroids and making museum oxide are a couple forms that are not bioavailable to the body. It is not a form of magnesium that the body can utilize. And if you do research on that topic, you'll be able to find out why and how on a chemical and molecular level because of what is combined with the magnesium, why the body can't break it down, why it can't utilize it, why it's not usable by the body. So figuring out what forms are going to be most usable and what forms our cleanest is really, really important.

Bryan: 17:47 So do most have these fillers in them or are there pretty much all of them?

Kate: 17:54 Most of them. I would say the majority. There are some that do not and they are few and far between. And that's, that's actually something that I cover a little bit in a different presentation that I do, which is talking about what my favorite companies are and why.

Bryan: 18:12 Is there anything else that you want to touch on with the manufacturing practices?

Kate: 18:17 I think those are the biggest takeaways for people to be really aware of in order to be able to make good informed choices for themselves.

Bryan: 18:26 Okay. And so what's the next most important area of supplements that we need to touch on? Is that like the raw material quality?

Kate: 18:35 Oh yeah, that's a really, really big one. I like to say that this area is also known as what are your supplements made of. So as we kind of talked about a little bit in the manufacturing practices, raw material can be a huge problem for people with sensitivities. And fortunately there are some practitioners that are trying to inform the public on this. A really good article has been posted by one of our, well actually a couple of our colleagues, Mickey Trescott and Angie alt on their website, autoimmune wellness. They have an article that specifically addresses hidden gluten grains and night shades in not just supplements but also pharmaceutical medications. And we also need to talk about what is the most common raw material used in supplements. Do you have any guests for that?

Bryan: 19:37 Hmm. I have no calcium.

Kate: 19:40 So think raw material. So if it has to be like a food or a substance naturally found in nature first, what do you think would be used? Possibly

Bryan: 19:53 [Inaudible] it's probably one of the, the GMO products we have some sort of, so

Kate: 20:00 Corn is going to be the most commonly used raw material used in supplements and soy is going to be number two. And the reason why is because you can literally take this raw material which is easily accessible and available because of how much of it is being grown in this country. And you can work with it in a lab to not only derive specific things out of it on a chemical and molecular level, but also combine those different molecules to create chemical reactions so that you can get specific forms of nutrients. And as I kind of touched on a little bit, the percentage of GMO crops being used in the is shocking. And the whole reason why is for it to withstand any amount of herbicides and pesticides used while growing. And my question to people is, is that what you really want to be putting into your body? Because if that's what's being used as the raw material, if we're going to be using nutrients therapeutically, isn't it more important to ensure that you're using a high quality product, sourced from quality, raw material in a form that's going to be bioavailable to your body to ensure that you're actually getting the benefits that you need and that you want from taking that products.

Bryan: 21:42 So is corn used in soy use in that pretty much like all the mineral type products that are out there and potentially even some of the like EFA type products out there and multi vitamins and I guess that's a wide range of supplements.

Kate: 22:02 So for the EFH, the biggest way that they might possibly be used is as part of the soft gel in addition to the gelatin. Or it could be used as an emulsifier. It could be used as a preservative or vitamin E purposes. And that was specifically just for the EFA so that you face are not necessarily going to have as much. But what I have to say about EFA is is that that is an entirely different topic. That is a huge can of worms. I will tell you there are reasons why I choose to no longer use fish oil products of any kind. In my practice, there used to be one product, one company that I felt really, really good about the products that they were making and they were bought out by a larger company in a larger corporation who did away with a lot of the very, very finite techniques to ensure that this fish oil was going to be safe for people to take.

Kate: 23:14 And you could tell the fish oil was no longer good because it tasted rancid. You should be able to chew well. First of all, you should not ever swallow essential fatty acids supplements. You should chew them up. And the reason why is because that digestion starts in the mouth and if you are swallowing and essential fatty acid supplement, you're basically setting yourself up inadvertently for leaky gut because those undigested fats that have not become the emulsification process in the mouth are not going to be broken down enough to be able to deal with being further emulsified by the bile in the duodenum of the body, which is the very, very beginning of the small intestines and the thing is most essential fatty acid supplements. If you chew them up, what do you want to do?

Bryan: 24:12 Spit them out.

Kate: 24:13 Yeah, and see that is literally your body telling you this is not good for me. What I always tell my clients is I say, if you choose to work with an essential fatty acid product, different than the ones that I use in my practice, that is completely your choice. But you need to take on the responsibility of chewing them up. And if you want to spit them out when you chew them up, that is your body telling you that that is not a good quality product and you should not be taking it. When you chew up an essential fatty acid product, it should taste good to you, just like the food does. So for official oil products, if it tastes like anything different than fresh fish, when you chew it up, you should not be taking it.

Bryan: 25:08 So four essential fatty acids, this is off topic a little bit, but do they have, do they have filler oils that they mix with the, let's say fish oil [inaudible]

Kate: 25:20 Some companies do. And that is yet again another reason why I choose not to use fish oil products in my practice. I encourage my clients to actually get their essential fatty acids primarily from real foods. So the nuts and the seeds and the actual seafood and things like that is going to be the best, most fresh and non rancid way for you to get your essential fatty acids. And that's, that's just what I prefer to do in my practice because I have literally gotten to a point where I keep finding official oil product and I really want to believe in it because of everything that they're touting as far as their marketing. And I put it in my mouth and I bite into it and let me tell you, I have to spit it out. And that is the clearest indication to me that despite everything that they are doing or say that they're trying to do, it's not enough and that's not a product you should be taking.

Bryan: 26:26 So to pull this back to the raw material quality there's a lot of companies that they talk about, you know, they have, they source from higher quality material and that's part of the reason why they cost so much for that type of supplement. Does cost of a supplement indicate quality or not?

Kate: 26:47 That is such a good question. So my answer would be yes and no. You can not subscribe to a belief that just because a product is expensive means that it's good. But in turn, if products are cheap, are they good? Usually not. There are some products that are going to be the exception to that. So what is most important to figure out the quality is to actually contact the brands themselves and to ask them how they source their raw material. And I can tell you that if a brand is doing everything for the right reasons in the right way, and I'm going to talk about this a little bit more later, they will have no problem providing you with the lab test results showing the efficacy of their raw material and that it is free of things like herbicides and pesticides. They are proud of the fact that they do their due diligence to source quality raw material. And if you have a brand that is telling you no, I'm sorry we can't share that information with you. That is proprietary. All I can say is move on.

Bryan: 28:15 Is there some some specific things that people should be looking for when it comes to raw material quality? Like, so you mentioned GMOs, so you're trying to find products that aren't using corn or soy. But what are some other,

Kate: 28:31 Not, not necessarily. So there are some people who are going to have to stay away from corn and soy because of dietary and reactionary reasons. But the truth is most of the manmade material that is on the market is going to be made from corn and soy. That's just the truth. Unless it is actually food derived, which we can get into a little bit when we dive more into the nutrient bioavailability. It's going to be made like 95% of the products on the market that are manmade isolates that have been created in a lab. If the raw material is going to be corn and soy. So what you mostly want to do is contact that company and find out if they have any verification, not just a marketing printout of a letter saying yes, we are committed to only sourcing non-GMO raw material, but that they can show verification and proof that they are tracking every shipment of their raw material to ensure that it is certified non GMO. And there are companies that do that. Okay, well let's, let's dive into the nutrient bioavailability then. What exactly does that mean? That is a good question. So I like to say that this is also known as how well can your body use your supplements. Which one do you think about it? That's a pretty important question, right? That's them. Most important. I know.

Kate: 30:09 So this doesn't do something that I touched on a little bit, which is that most supplements are manmade Islip. So let's talk about what that means. So manmade icelets are unfortunately going to be the cheapest to make and use, which means that they equate to being poor and low quality. It also means that they are generally speaking, not going to be bioavailable to the body. What that means is if the body literally will not recognize the nutrient because it is not in the form that is naturally found in food. Now the last thing that is important about this is that manmade isolates do not contain the synergistic components that are found in food sources and traditionally prepared foods. And how that affects our ability to use them is that the body may not be able to benefit from the nutrients because it's actually lacking the cofactors to use it.

Kate: 31:12 So do you want me to provide an example of what I'm talking about with that, Bryan? That'd be great. Okay. So an example that I like to use about this is B vitamins. That's something that a lot of people use. So manmade B vitamins will actually put an extra burden on the liver due to a body meeting to convert those manmade icelets to a usable or bio available form, which actually robs the body of other nutrients that the body needs, just to convert them to usable forms. So that's really energetically and nutritionally taxing on the body to take a manmade form of B vitamins. Now, here's the really cool thing though. There are some companies that will take the manmade nutrients and they will go an extra step with them and they will actually do something like culation or coenzyme nation or one of the other factors that will cause that manmade isolated nutrient to be more bio available to the body because it is closer to the form that isn't actually found in nature and with B vitamins, that is called co intonating.

Kate: 32:37 So as I talked, these are manmade icelets that have been converted to the usable form found in nature and are therefore recognized by the body that makes them readily bioavailable. Now the thing about that that I want to touch on is that co Encinitas is very, very different than methylated. There are people with something that is known as the MTHFR gene mutation, which has a lot of different varieties. And for those people who aren't sure what I'm referring to, you're welcome to go ahead and do research on that topic. But individuals with who have an expressed gene mutation with the MTHFR are not able to methalate their B vitamins. So it's important for them to actually take B vitamins that have been taken even a further step in the process of Cote intonation in order to methylate them. But I want to be really, really clear that if you do not have that MTHFR gene mutation, methylation is actually a completely natural and healthy process in the body. So it's important for your body to be able to naturally do that methylation process on its own if it's able to. Therefore, if you have not been tested for the MTHFR gene mutation, I highly suggest for people to go for the coenzyme related forms of B vitamins rather than the methylated. Otherwise you are depriving your body of a natural and healthy process.

Bryan: 34:23 Is there any supplements that have the coenzymes and methylated at the same time?

Kate: 34:29 There are actually. But primarily they tend to be professional products that can only be purchased through a certified or licensed practitioner.

Bryan: 34:42 Got it. Okay. Yeah. And then so you were talking about the synthetic made type of nutrients. What are more like food-based or food grown type of nutrients?

Kate: 34:55 Oh, that is a great question because the truth is there are some supplement companies that are kind of using those but buzzwords and they do have legitimate purpose behind them. So first we'll go ahead and talk about food based food based means that a nutrient is quite literally derived or extracted from food. So an example of that would be vitamin C instead of creating a ScoreBig acid in a lab by fermenting corn dextrose, which I'm telling you all ascorbic acid on the market people is made from fermented corn dextrose. So just be aware of that. And even if it's something like a kelated or buffered form of ascorbic acid, you're still dealing with that raw material of ascorbic acid before it was buffered or keylated coming from fermented corn dextrose. So instead of being a manmade isolate of ascorbic acid, which equates to vitamin C, you're literally deriving the vitamin C from something like oranges, which is going to include the other bioflavonoids and synergistic phytonutrients to make that vitamin C more active in the body.

Kate: 36:19 So a lot of people have gotten used to in the supplement industry. Thinking of that more of something in a supplement means it's quote unquote better or that you're getting quote unquote more for your money when in truth that is not necessarily the case. You will actually get more benefits and more from your money. If you use something like a food based nutrient, which looks like it has less of the nutrient but your body will be able to utilize it so much better because it has all of the synergistic cofactors. In addition to that, vitamin C literally being in the form that your body needs to use to make the most of it, which is phenomenal. Like they are. Some of my favorite supplements are the food based ones.

Bryan: 37:15 So if you're getting a food based supplement then you probably really want to make sure that that company is using a good sourcing for the, the materials that they're using in those supplements. Correct.

Kate: 37:29 Yeah, that's exactly right. When you're doing food based or food derived, it's going to be even more important for that company to make sure that they're doing the testing and verification to ensure that their raw material has some of the highest quality standards on the market. And there are companies that are doing that, so just know that they're out there. One of them just so people have an ability to look in a really good example that of that is known as naked foods. The thing I love most about that company is that they provide full transparency. If you go to their MegaFoods website, they literally have, and this is so cool, like it, I find it so exciting because this company is based on full transparency. So they have every single part of their process live 24, seven from their lab to their fermentation that to their processing machines, their manufacturing equipment, to their packaging.

Kate: 38:38 Every single part of the process is fully transparent. And if you call them up and ask them to provide the lab test results for the quality sourcing of their raw material, they will give it to you in a heartbeat. Because they are very, very proud of what they do. So that is a really good company. And like I said at the beginning of this podcast, I am not affiliated with them, but I will be very blunt that they are quite frankly my favorite supplement company on the market. And all of their products are verified to be gluten and soy free, which is Oh and wheat free of course, because gluten free. So that's something that's really important to me.

Bryan: 39:22 And are they available for consumers or do people have to go through a practitioner for MegaFoods

Kate: 39:29 Woo, that is such a good question. So yes, they are available for consumers. They are something that you should be able to easily find online at different health food stores. But what's really cool is that nega foods has actually been working at partnering with practitioners as well. So what's great is that practitioners can have access to the products at a wholesale price and sometimes they may actually be able to provide a little bit of savings directly to their clients by purchasing through your practitioner. And the other nice thing about that is that the products that you get are generally going to be a lot fresher as well because the practitioner will just order directly from the company and it'll be shipped straight to you. So that's something I'm really excited about when I found out that MegaFoods was going to be opening up accounts for practitioners, I was like, woo.

Bryan: 40:31 [Inaudible]

Kate: 40:32 Okay.

Bryan: 40:34 Well since, since you talked about freshman, so can you briefly touch on like shelf life or stability and freshness of products? Like how important is that?

Kate: 40:47 Ooh, well that is a tricky subject and there's no like one umbrella statement that really covers that adequately because the truth is it will depend on the product. And that in a nutshell is what I can really say. Different products are going to have different shelf lives. And it also, I know I'm kind of fumbling around this, but the truth is that there are so many variables when it comes to that question. It's hard to sum it up in a nutshell. So I apologize for not having a better answer than that, but there it is.

Bryan: 41:27 I think it's also a politically correct way of answering that question.

Kate: 41:33 So there is

Bryan: 41:34 One other thing that I wanted to touch on which we hadn't had a chance to talk about yet, which is other than just food based, there's also the delineation known as food grown, which is like one of the things that the health peak in me just completely like loses my shizz nit about. Okay.

Kate: 41:55 So I wanted to talk about that really quickly if that's okay with you. Yeah. Okay. So food grown is a different definition than food based. And I wanted to give people some context about that. The reason why there are companies that do food grown and nutrients in their practice is because there are some nutrients that exist in such trace amounts in nature that they cannot economically or financially, feasibly or in any sustainable manner, easily be extracted from food. Therefore they can't be food derived or food based. So how do companies get around that and still get nutrients that are going to be in the form found in nature so that your body recognizes that nutrient as what it is and can use it easily and science is amazing cause they actually figured out a way to do this and it's what's known as the food grown delineation. So I want to give you all a little bit of context about that. Food grown is when manmade icelets are added to a healthy culture such as, for example, Saccharomyces boulardii. Now the Sakyo Macy's Ballardi will then consume the man need isolate nutrients. And what's great is that when it does that, it actually converts the manmade isolate in to the form naturally found in food. So it becomes sued grown because the healthy culture converts it into the form found in nature. So it's very, very biochemical for the body.

Bryan: 43:46 Interesting that that went a completely different direction than I thought. I was thinking on the low light, the same lines of vegetarian fed chickens where they're just given like grains food grown was, Oh it came from, you know, corn or something like that.

Kate: 44:08 Now, there are some companies that unfortunately are starting to try to do that and say that their things are food grown so you are still going to want to have a conversation with the company to find out what are are your processes for growing the nutrients. Because there are like, I'm one of the professional lines that, and I are both really familiar with Bryan, which is Biotics. They are doing that but they're doing it in a way that is gluten free, grain free, based on organically grown look at news and that is phenomenal. So they're actually taking these manmade isolates and you're adding them to the fertilizer compost mix that's being used while these greens and lagoons are growing and this is what they do with their minerals. And then when they actually harvest those greens and lagoons, they have them in a key laded food grown matrix and then they fermented in order to make those nutrients even more bioavailable to the body and break down all the fight tic acid that's naturally occurring in those lagoons so that our body doesn't have to compete for the minerals, like what they're doing with their minerals.

Kate: 45:30 They're one of my favorite mineral products on the market because of what they do. It's like it's very high tech and geeky and super awesome.

Bryan: 45:40 Yeah, I didn't know they were doing that that, so that's super neat.

Kate: 45:43 I know, isn't it like I could just geek out about this stuff all day.

Bryan: 45:50 Well, I know we're, we're running out of time here and you've got to get rolling. So how can we wrap this up in a way that people can take this and make better, more empowered choices?

Kate: 46:01 I love that question. So I think one of the most important things to keep in mind is to use your discerning mind as a consumer. If you actually take the time to do your research and to reach out to contact the supplement companies themselves. What you're going to want to do when you ask direct questions is number one, are they answering my questions directly and forthrightly? Or number two, are they talking around my question and not giving me a direct answer? That tells you a lot right there. The companies that are doing things the right way for the right reasons will be able to answer you forthrightly and directly because they have absolutely nothing to hide. So keep that in mind as you do your solu thing and more power to ya because that's the exact purpose for why I love to do talks like this, this because it's really important for me, for consumers and people out there to be able to make empower choices about the products that you choose to use for both yourselves and your loved ones. So hopefully you find this information helpful.

Bryan: 47:27 Awesome, Kate. Well people can find you on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn at Kate Mahoney, N, T P and we'll have links to those social profiles and your website in the show [email protected] slash 85 thank you Kate so much for coming on and walk it walking us through the supplement industry cause there's definitely a lot more to it than just what we see on the shelves in the grocery stores.

Kate: 47:53 Yeah, you're very welcome. I'm so happy to have been on.

Bryan: 47:58 As you can see, there's a lot that goes into making a high quality supplement and like I mentioned previously, these products should be used to supplement a good diet or a specific protocol for your health. And taking a bottle of a random supplement may not be exactly what your body needs. So are you ready to take your health to the next level? If so, our health programs are designed to help you make lasting changes to your health. With our habit changing process. We walk alongside you on your health journey, making sure that you are successful and feel like the best version of you. To learn more, go to summit for wellness.com/ready next week we are chatting with dr Jeff Lecovin about performance, nutrition and how to get an edge up in your sports or performance. Here's a little info from Jeff. I am here with dr Jeff Lecovin. Hey Jeff. What is one unique thing about you that most people don't know?

Geoff: 48:55 Oh gee mr 1987 bodybuilding lightweight Vancouver Island. Ooh. Do you have photos from that?

Geoff: 49:05 I I, yes, I'm sure they're framed and you stare at them every day. They are tucked away in album somewhere. Nice. Well, what will we be learning about in our interview together? So we're going to be learning about performance nutrition and we're gonna look at a, a, what I call it, an evidence based pyramid approach that looks at energy, macronutrients, micronutrients, nutrient timing and supplements.

Bryan: 49:33 And what are your favorite foods or nutrients that you think everyone should get more of in their diet? Whole foods, whole foods. And then what are your top three health tips for anyone who wants to improve their overall wellness?

Geoff: 49:49 Okay. I'm going to give you more info. I gotta give you more. I'm going to give you a, I like to use the acronym speed.

Bryan: 49:56 Speed, right? Sleep. Do you have enough sleep?

Geoff: 50:00 Seven to nine hours or more depending on your activity.

Bryan: 50:05 Psychological. Okay.

Geoff: 50:06 Trust managers, stress. So do things, whether it's going for a walk or meditating, whatever it might be, that you can modulate your stress Ironman. Look at environmental toxins and your exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals and obesogens in the self care products that we use in the foods that we eat. So eating organic, I'm looking at the dirty dozen, the clean and natural self care products. Exercise. So doing a balance of exercise to include strength training, some aerobic activity and some flexibility training and also recreation and having fun and di diet, getting an optimum diet based on your needs and activities. Speed.

Bryan: 50:48 I love that acronym. I've never heard it laid out like that before, so thank you. If you are looking to Uplevel your nutrition, then make sure to stay tuned next week for episode 86 until next time, keep climbing to the peak of your health.