Vani Hari On Taking Back Your Health: Clean Eating, Grocery Store Hacks, And Fighting For Better Food & Ingredients

23:57Jolie will give you your best skin and hair guaranteed. Head to jolieskincode.com slash skinny. You get to try it out for yourself with free shipping. And if you don't like it, you can return your jelly for a full refund within 60 days. No questions asked. Again, I don't want to go so down political aisle, but like, as it relates to Kennedy and Maha, if he would have won the ticket to be the Democratic candidate, my fear is that you would have people on the right poo-pooing this idea about Maha and the people on the left would be supporting it. But now you have people on the left trying to crash this.

24:34You know what I mean? My point is, is like, because we live in this left right country right now, good ideas get shot down just by opposition because it's like, I can't support something that even if it's a good idea that the other side is saying is a good idea. Does that make sense?

24:48Vani Hari:And that's where I've worked with now both sides of the spectrum, right? You know, I was Obama delegate. Now I'm, you know, speaking with Secretary Kennedy and others in the White House. It is a situation where we have been working on these issues for so long, and now we're given the opportunity to make meaningful change. And we have leadership that's, again, bringing these issues to the West Wing and the cabinet members and across all the agencies of government. And this amazing report that came out last week that details out the truth about the harms of ultra processed foods and the chemicals we're being exposed to in our food, the farming chemicals, atrazine and glyphosate, the two most used pesticides and herbicides in our country.

25:37Vani Hari:I mean, the report itself said pesticides 15 times. The fact that that was even in there was a miracle. I mean, the chemical lobby worked tooth and nail to try to prevent that information from getting in that report, just literally just sharing the data, not even any policy work or anything. But we're at that moment now where we have amazing leadership at the state level looking at these issues and creating bills to remove artificial food dyes and other chemicals from their food. In California, there's a bill that's going to define ultra-processed food. And in Texas here, just a few days ago, they passed a bill that's incredible that's going to put warning labels on all of these additives that are banned in other countries, that's going to spawn an amazing amount of change just within the food industry.

26:30Vani Hari:And it's, it's, what I, what I'm grappling with is how, as a human being, can you just sit back and sit on your hands and not get involved when the food companies are poisoning us, the chemical companies keep spraying all this stuff all over our food that we can't stop. I mean, you know, our food, many practices we have here in the United States, for example, the spraying of glyphosate before harvest on our wheat, on our oats, on our beans. Why the reason I buy that specific brand that tests for glyphosate is because our food is being sprayed right before harvest. They're allowed to use this, allowed to use glyphosate as a desiccant to dry the harvest so they can rotate it faster before the fall rains and other things that happen.

27:21And so it's a way for them to just farm a little faster.

27:25Vani Hari:But there's other mechanisms farmers could use that would eliminate this usage that's prohibited in Europe, by the way, because they found that the use of this is actually 90 % of the dietary exposure we get from glyphosate. So imagine if we just banned that usage of glyphosate, not just the entire chemical, which is gonna take a lot longer and a lot more resources. And we're going to have to pay farmers a lot of money to make that change. But even if we did that, that's only 3 % of glyphosate used in this country. But it would affect 90 % of the exposure we get through that. And it's linked to cancer.

28:02Vani Hari:It's linked to infertility. It's linked to endocrine disrupting chemicals. I mean, problems in your body, autoimmune disorders, gut issues, so many different things. And then I think about atrazine that was mentioned in that report. Atrazine is banned in 60 other countries. It is making people have small penises. Okay. Turning the frogs gay, as Alex Jones said. Right? That's all we need to hear. How is it making someone have small penises? And how do these guys avoid it? It's probably destroying their hormones. Yeah. I mean, it's affecting infertility. It's affecting the menstrual cycle. But guys want to know how to avoid it so they don't get a small dick.

28:39Vani Hari:So can you explain it? Well, it's sprayed on non-organic corn and sugar in this country. Non-organic corn and sugar. Yes. So what if they get like, or what I like to buy like organic coconut sugar. Is that a good one? Yeah, that would be a great way to avoid atrazine. But atrazine is getting in our water. So like, even if you buy food. So you guys are drinking small penis water? And this is. Not me, Lauren. And the only reason I mentioned that study, because I knew you'd get a rise out of it. But also it's true. And the problem with it is this is stuff we can't avoid. We can eat organic food all day long and make good purchasing decisions, but it's in our water.

29:18Vani Hari:You know, how are we going to avoid this? Can we get a filter on our water? What's the filter to get? I mean, not all filters actually get rid of Atchison. You still find little minute amounts. Here's my thing. I think you know Alex Clark. She was on this show and we talked about the frogs and the gays in the water and all this stuff, like turning gay frogs, whatever they are. And what I said, I was like, you know, the problem with a lot of these soundbite clips and shows, I'll even like pick on this one. is clips get pulled out of context. And what I think is so important is to do what you're doing and explain to people what is happening, why it's getting into the food supply, why it's getting into the water, what is being sprayed on the crops, how that is then being ingested.

29:57We were talking the other day, like birth control being the water people, you're like, what are you guys talking about? These things are happening because of the way that we consume, the way that we defecate, the way that we get rid of things, the way that we detox, all of these. And they're getting into the environment and into our food supply and into our cleaning supplies, beauty supplies. And you might not have an issue right away, but over time you have this toxic overload and that's when you start to have these autoimmune and breakdowns and gut issues and hormone issues and fertility issues and all these things.

30:26And all you have to do is look at the data. All of these things are on the rise. Cancers, lack of fertility, hormone disruptions, gut issues. and it indicates that we are not living the way that we should be living, right? And so that's my big passion. I really don't care who accomplishes that or who gets the message out more. I don't care if it's the left or the right or Bobby Kennedy or somebody else or you or anybody else that are doing these things. But I think people should just be aware that something is not going right and we need to make a change.

30:55Vani Hari:I'd like to say that the Food Babe Army, the people that have known me the longest, have watched this fight, Warren, you know, others, you see that I'm in it to try to make a change. And no matter who the administration is, I'm going to be working on this issue. Right. And but now we have something spiritual happening. I mean, we really do where never before has the president of the United States talked about chemicals and food and pesticides and talk about it during the joint address of Congress. And, you know, even highlighting a boy that has brain cancer and connecting it to what Secretary Kennedy is doing in his position.

31:34Vani Hari:This has never happened before in history. We've never had a Maha Commission report that has detailed out what's wrong with our food and the chemicals that we're being exposed to. On page 38 of that report, there's an incredible chart that shows the entire, all the chemical exposures that a human body is getting right now. That's like an assault on our system. It's the microplastics, it's the BPA, it's the pesticides, it's the food chemicals it's all of it right that's the phthalates the the bpa you know all of it is is like an assault on us and we have to do something to pull back right and and there's just as common sense things that we could do right now like for example atrazine is a is a chinese chemical run herbicide and it's a chinese chemical being sprayed on our food chinese meaning it's manufactured in China.

32:27Okay.

32:28Vani Hari:And it is being sprayed on our food and not 60 other countries. And so that automatically puts us at a disadvantage from an economic perspective for the amount of healthcare issues that we have to deal with as a result of those chemicals, but also from just a longevity standpoint. I'll give you something again that is just like, people should just like, nobody really, people don't, they kind of like, it's like cause and effect. People want free healthcare in this country. Yeah. A lot of people are not happy with the healthcare system and how we provide it. But we're one of the sickest populations on the planet.

33:01And so we're not able to afford to provide free healthcare like other countries that are not some of the sickest populations. The reason we had some of the worst reactions to COVID in this country is because we are metabolically unhealthy and unfit and we are sick as a population. And so our system gets overrun and breaks down. And then you wonder like why we don't have the same things. It's because if you go to the core of all these things, these other countries don't have the sick burden that we have here. So they're able to economically be able to maybe sustain some of the flare-ups that they have in those countries.

33:35And I'm using the word flare-ups because when someone gets sick of it, it's not the entire population. We as a country just can't sustain that. One, we're a big population. And two, there's a high majority that are just not in a good shape. And so there's no way to provide free health care in this country with the way that we're going. As a matter of fact, if we don't clean up the health care of the system and we don't get healthy as a population, the country is going to continue to go broke, right? We're not going to be able to sustain because the burden on the financial system is just so drastic that we can't keep up.

34:05From a micro level, how do people avoid what you're talking about? I want to give people— Grow your own food. Grow your own food. What if they can't grow their own food? You can. What are some things that they—some people can't. And more importantly, what if you don't want to?

34:17Vani Hari:Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah. I don't really want to grow my own food. My husband thankfully grows all our food and I just go pick and eat it. I should have married someone who could grow their own food. Should have married a farmer. But what can we do to avoid it? Are there words we can look for on the food? Because what I don't want to do is just tell everyone to feel overwhelmed that they're all going to get small penises without giving them some kind of tangible takeaway. What are the things we can look for? Yeah, I mean, I think the most important label at the grocery store is organic. That's the most important label because it automatically eliminates all of these chemicals that I've been rallying against.

34:55Vani Hari:The chemicals that American companies have taken out in other countries and not using here. Organic standards have already removed those chemicals. And we can trust organic. You know, yes. I mean, I think that it's, you know, it's still, you know, organic food. Just to be honest, I mean, the problem with the abundance of chemicals we're using in our environment, there's going to be runoff and cross-contamination issues and all kinds of stuff. But organic food is going to be the easiest way to avoid, first of all, the very toxic pesticides that are used, like that I've talked about here today, glyphosate and atrazine.

35:31Vani Hari:And then it's going to help you avoid all of those other chemicals like azodicarbonamide and caramel color level four and all the artificial food dyes and BHA and BHT and titanium dioxide. You'll avoid all of that. But then you also avoid other chemicals that they use in the production of meat like ractopamine, which is banned in other countries. But we use it here at the production of pigs. You know, we give it to pigs. It actually says on the label, do not feed the humans, but we give it to our animals and then we eat. Then there is antibiotics. Antibiotics are not allowed for use in organic food or growth hormones.

36:09So you're automatically doing better by just choosing that one label.

36:14Vani Hari:That's the only label, honestly, that I would look for. I wouldn't care about non-GMO. I wouldn't care about gluten-free. I wouldn't care about, unless you have celiac disease, right? I wouldn't care about sugar-free. I wouldn't care about any of that. I would look for organic and then read the ingredient label. That's it. What's an ingredient that we've all been led to believe is healthy, but it's not? Natural flavors. so natural flavors is on just about like 80 of the products in grocery store shelves but this is an additive that is made from the same scientist who hooked us to tobacco and the way they hooked us to tobacco is using flavoring agents to completely take over the old factory system of your brain and hijack your taste buds and hijack your brain sensors to remember a flavor and crave that flavor and create addiction, they're now using that same technology in natural flavors.

37:11Vani Hari:And it could mean thousands of chemicals under that one label because it's not required to list out those chemical names under the one word natural flavor. And it's the one thing that literally just keeps you coming back for more. And it's, you know, I talk about in one of my books, I talk about Annie's chocolate bunnies. Don't do it. Don't ruin the mac and cheese for me. No, I'm sure that probably I had a bite yesterday. Is it bad? No, these chocolate bunnies are like, you know, I eat them thinking, you know, they're delicious, but I can't stop eating them. And I'm like, why do I keep going back for more?

37:48Vani Hari:It's the natural flavor, right? That keeps me going back more. So I don't eat them anymore. And, and it's, it's, I don't want to be tricked, right? I don't want to like have my taste bugs hijacked by some chemical that the food industry uses to like play tricks on me. So I just decide not to buy anything with natural flavor. Now, occasionally natural flavor gets in my cart because, you know, I'll have a weak moment, whatever, something happens, there's a new product. I don't check the label something happens i'm not perfect i i love a donut let me tell you i love a donut i won't eat a krispy kreme or a dunkin donut but i'll eat a a really good donut from a bakery from something fresh you know you don't ever just like sit in bed and eat mcdonald's no no i would never eat mcdonald's you wouldn't no not even a happy meal once a year no no absolutely not it It would disgust me.

38:40I would eat it. I do eat it sometimes. I like a Happy Meal.

38:43Vani Hari:Sometimes. But here's the thing. Once in a while. What I think. With just cheese and meat. I just know too much. I know. I know too much. I mean, the French fries have diamethyl polysiloxane in it. But here's what I think. I think that as long as we, like, when I eat the McDonald's, I know all the shit that's in it, and I know what I'm doing, and I know I'm going to feel like shit after. And I think that then it's okay, because I know, because I've looked into it. Yeah. I think where it becomes a problem is when you feel like you're being duped, like you said, and then you eat it and you're like, why don't I feel good?

39:14I thought this was like a fresh subway with fresh whatever. How do you manage to do what you do and keep the politics out of it? Like, how do you show up to all these events and you just put your blinders on without feeling like you're supporting any agenda?

39:32Vani Hari:Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I think it's just easy because I just I'm focused on one issue and I just keep going. And, you know, I'm surrounding myself. I mean, I think we have an amazing coalition of people, right? There's all walks of life coming together on these issues. And I think a lot of people have put politics aside to work on these issues. And it's it's beautiful to watch because that's the only thing that's going to change the world. And and it's it's I think what's so powerful about what's happening. And I I really hope the people who are running for office in the future consider what's happening here, because there's a huge political base starting that is now a voting base on these issues.

40:18Vani Hari:And we're going to be expecting our politicians to be carrying this message year after year, post President Trump and others. Right. And who are going to be the next leaders that take on these issues? Because it's not going to be done in four years. Right. There's no way to undo the madness that quickly. It's going to take many, probably many decades to fix what's been done. And even then, who knows where we'll be. So this is work that's going to continue. And it's the very early stages. And I just hope that it continues because it's so important. I just I don't want anyone to ever feel like I used to feel right.

40:57Vani Hari:And I think that there is such a moment for Americans that are suffering with these diseases to get clean of these chemicals and realize a life they never thought was possible and find out why they are meant to be here on Earth and go do that work. And I don't really truly think you can go do that work and like find your calling until your brain is clear and the chemicals get out of your body and you start to feel really healthy. Like, I don't think that sick people can do what they're meant to do and like accomplish everything they want to do in this life. I know this because I'm watching my dad suffer from these chronic diseases.

41:33Vani Hari:And I know he doesn't want to be in the position he's in right now. I know he'd rather be out at the university teaching students and doing all the work that he was really passionate about for most of his life. And I see the suffering that's happening. And I think so many people don't even understand that they have a choice right now. I mean, Mark Sissons, who I know is a friend of y 'all's too, he said something so profound. He's like, you know, after the age of 40, it's like your full time job to be healthy. It's your full time job to be healthy. If you want to live a life that is meaningful and is amazing in the quality of life that you want to live when you get older.

42:09Vani Hari:Otherwise, it just goes downhill from there. You know, so we have to make this a commitment. This needs to be a priority in this country for all Americans. Otherwise, we're going to continue down the trajectory that is, frankly, just so appalling and so saddening. And it brings me to tears when I think about how many people are actually suffering. What do you think the Maha movement and the individuals involved could do better to reach the opposition or people who are hesitant about what you guys are doing? Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, I think I really think they're doing a really good job.

42:43Vani Hari:I am really impressed with the leadership that Secretary Kennedy has shown in terms of not getting involved in the dog eat dog politics of what's happening in the world where he tells the truth about, you know, the corporate interests and the special interests that are controlling a lot of the elected politicians in that he's working with. in his organ, you know, in his agency, as well as in other cabinets and how, you know, he's he's, you know, really just like trying to stay as apolitical as possible in a way, while also recognizing the amazing leadership of President Trump by bringing these issues to light.

43:24Vani Hari:Right. And and elevating his voice and putting him in that position. And so where I I draw the line with politics is like, you'll never see me get into like a Democrat versus Republican thing. What I'll always do is just tell the truth about what I'm seeing. Right. And and I think if everyone keeps doing that, then, you know, everything's up for grabs. How do you handle any criticism or comments that you get online? What's your way to deal with it? Gosh, I've come a long way. Why? Did you used to like tell us your trajectory? How did it work? I imagine in the early days, you probably got very little and people were excited.

44:03And then you'd probably start getting a bigger platform. You get more. And then you got into this and you'd probably get people that have never followed you before that are going nuts. And I imagine it's just like changed over time. Yeah, it has.

44:15Vani Hari:And I think what I went through about 10 years ago where the food and chemical lobby kind of unleashed their gauntlet on me and they had AstroTurf campaigns where they'd leave no comment left behind. Or anytime I was featured in the media, there would be like 100 mean comments or demeaning comments where they call me names like pseudoscientists or anti-science or woo-woo or misinformation. I don't have that pressure anymore. And I don't know. I just, I think I have a thicker skin. I realized that this isn't really about me. This mission isn't about me and who I am. It's about a bigger mission of like helping the world and helping humanity.

44:51Vani Hari:And so like, if they want to attack me, I just kind of look past it and just keep going. there's almost like I like a built up like a thick armor from that time period because I really had to go spiritually deep and figure out the meaning of what I'm doing and why I was doing it and and what I if I wanted to keep continuing and then having children I think has strengthened me tremendously becoming a mother doing it for them showing them what's possible and showing them that they can be unconventional and speak out and even despite all the criticism and everything you can keep going and tell your voice.

45:28Well, I think you mentioned earlier that there's like a spiritual awakening and I'll go with that, but I will also maybe point out that we're living in an interesting time where the general narrative or a lot of the information that was funneled to us for years was through very specific, large channels, right? And it was curated in a way where only certain kinds of information were able to break through those channels in certain kinds of way, right? And now we live in a time where you have channels like this and many others that are able to offer differing narratives or differing opinions to those general narratives.

46:05So if you look at it from an information overload perspective, in the past, if it came to what's in our ingredients, you would likely be beholden to whatever lobbying was done and whatever information reached those main channels. Now that can be done and then someone like yourself can say, oh, by the way, did you guys also see this? or that. And so it diminishes the power that those original channels initially had, which is why I think you start to see a lot of them in like this death row to kind of discredit many platforms like this one, like yours, like others, because it's a counter to the information that they're putting out.

46:38And what it does is it creates this situation where individuals are starting to say like, wait a minute, I don't know if I really believe that maybe some of it's true, but what about this, this, this, and this? And so it's this information overload now that people are able to say, ah, like now that I'm aware of all of this, I can come to a different consensus. Again, I just, I want to make this point that this group of wellness, health entrepreneurs, all the people that care about these issues, like we're, we're coming together in such a big way. It's, it's an, it's a movement that is the biggest I've seen.

47:11Vani Hari:And I think the reason why we're so impactful and we're not getting attacked like we used to is we just have such incredible leadership at every helm. And then I'm surrounded by incredible people that understand these issues and have been fighting for these issues. I think about like Dr. Mark Hyman and Callie Means and Dr. Casey Means and others that, you know, are just incredible voices and have been doing this work. And it's, I don't know, we have a unique time where, you know, people have asked me like, you know, gosh, you know, you're a lifelong Democrat. And to see you in the White House, you know, doing this now, it's so weird and crazy.

47:56Vani Hari:And I have also, you know, nonprofits that I've worked with for, you know, over a decade that are upset with me and sending me nasty messages, too. And and I keep asking them why, like, isn't it good for the country that now the Republicans are also concerned about this issue? Like, isn't this amazing that we have both sides of the political spectrum, the left Democrats who traditionally carried these issues, you know, the hippies and everybody. Right. And now we have the right side leading on this issue. It's absolutely incredible. And we're actually seeing change. I mean, we were getting artificial food dyes eliminated from the food supply, you know, hopefully in the next two years.

48:36Vani Hari:We have infant formula taking a look at that and looking at the nutritional data behind that so that we can have better for you infant formulas available for mothers. Now, as a breastfeeding mother, I wish, you know, everyone could breastfeed. I just know that's not a reality, but we need to stop recommending infant formula where the first ingredient is corn syrup, right? Like we need to have better for you things here in the United States. We should not expect, you know, American mothers to have to go to Europe to feed their kids. You know, we have so much momentum where, you know, we have Secretary Kennedy looking and closing this grass loophole that generally regarded as safe loophole that has allowed food companies to inundate our food supply with all these chemicals in the first place because they're self-policing.

49:23Vani Hari:They they approve the chemicals themselves and they get them rubber stamped by the FDA. He's going to close that loophole. that's that's amazing work right that's like undoing years of damage to the fact that our regulatory agencies have failed us and so just those couple things is incredible to get done in four years and i can't imagine that was just in the first hundred days imagine if we just all decided you know regardless of politics we're going to get america healthy again and we're going to all come together on these issues we would be completely unstoppable the industry wouldn't know what to do with themselves.

49:58Vani Hari:We would have new innovation like we would never see before. New companies take place. I mean, the reason why I started my company, Truvani, was because I was sick of seeing protein powder full of these additives and these gums. And they were like making me bloated and feel sick. I wanted to create something with the least amount of chemicals. And when I was creating it, I couldn't believe that some of the chemicals were used for the actual machine. For the machine to run faster, they were putting, excuse me, xanthan gum and maltodextrin and other additives like that for the machine to run faster so you can spend less time on the machine, so you can spend less on the manufacturing and you make those few pennies.

50:35Vani Hari:I couldn't believe that that's the reason why some of these additives were being added to protein powder. And I decided, you know what, we're going to do it a different way. We're going to run the machine slower, but we're going to put people over profits. Those are the type of companies we need to see in the next generation that are putting people over profits and the legacy corporations that have poisoned us to death need to die. If you could require three things in every child's lunchbox in America, what would you require? Oh, that's such a good question. I would require a vegetable, a protein, and a fat probably, but the protein could be fat combined.

51:17Vani Hari:So maybe a fruit. So yeah, that's kind of what I do in my daughter's lunch. What would you eliminate? Oh gosh, Lunchables and Capri Sun. Remember we used to drink Squeeze-Its? I mean, we used to do everything. Dunkaroos, Gushers, Shark Bites. Shark Bites were good. Quick break to talk about one of our favorite long-term partners, and that is Keon. If you're somebody who is struggling to lose weight, have you tried Keon aminos? They're going to help prevent muscle loss and help you feel full when you're cutting calories. I recently hurt my back, which Lauren put me on blast for. It was hurt for months and months.

51:58And I was worried because I wasn't getting in the gym as often as I wanted to. I wasn't getting as much protein as I would have liked. And I was feeling down about myself. During this time, I doubled up, almost tripled up on Keon aminos because here's the thing. Essential amino acids are what's inside protein that builds muscle and healthy hair, skin, and nails. And Kian Aminos ensure you're getting all the essential amino acids from protein your body needs. And these essential amino acids were absolutely critical for me when I wasn't getting as much protein as I wanted. We have had Angelo, the founder of Kian on this podcast four or five times now.

52:29He is a wealth of knowledge. We've talked all about the benefits of aminos, how they can help you lose weight and help you recover better so that you can bounce back and get back to working out, which I'm happy to report I am now. They have all nine essential amino acids. Many BCAAs that people may be taking have only three and some other brands have only eight. With Keon Aminos, you have all nine. So when people ask Lauren and I what aminos we're taking, and I know we've had all sorts of experts come on the show and recommend others, what we say time and time again and what we actually take ourselves are the Keon Aminos.

52:57They taste great, they make us feel great, and they become a huge part of our daily lives. And here's the other thing. We have an incredible offer for you guys with a risk-free 60-day money-back guarantee. Yes, risk-free 60-day money-back guarantee. All you have to do is go to getkeon.com slash skinny to save 20 % off on your order. Again, that is getkeon, Keon spelled K-I-O-N dot com slash skinny for 20 % off and a 60-day money-back guarantee. Check it out. Quick break to talk about cotton. Is there a better material when it comes to clothing, when it comes to what we're putting on our skin, when it comes to what we're sleeping in?

53:33I don't think so. summer is here and if I have the choice I am wearing nothing but cotton I'm sleeping in nothing but cotton and that's because it's breathable and here's the thing it doesn't only look good it feels good I love to stock up on cotton shirts I typically have a bunch of these white cotton this is 100 pure cotton shirts in a drawer I can pop them in anytime you can wear them with a blazer you can wear them casually you can wear them dressed down dressed up cotton is what denim is made out of it is what corduroy is made out of it is such a versatile fabric and I get excited just talking about cotton because people don't realize this is what you're putting on your skin every single day of your life.

54:07There have been so many studies on what it means if you don't put the right fabric on your skin. So for me and Lauren, when we think about what we're putting on our children, what we're sleeping and what we're putting on our skin down to our underwear and everything that we wear, we're always looking to cotton. As Lauren and I have continued to optimize our health and learn from more of these experts that come on our show, when we started to upgrade our house and optimize the way that we sleep, we switched all of our sheets and bed linens to cotton, 100 % cotton sheets, and we have not looked back.

54:34Our sleep is better. We have better sleep scores. We're happier. We're healthier. And it's all thanks to cotton. And like I said earlier, I love it because it is so versatile and long lasting. I can take this shirt here that's made of 100 % cotton. I can throw it in the wash. I can send it to the cleaner and it always comes back looking crisp, presentable, new. And that is so important to me because here's the other thing. Money doesn't grow on trees. When you invest in a piece of clothing, when you invest in something that you're gonna be putting on your body, you want it to last. Cotton is definitely going to do that.

55:01So whether I'm shopping online or I'm going into the store, I'm always looking at the tag for that 100 % cotton tag because I know that if it's 100 % cotton, it's 100 % quality. And here's another thing, we are in a hot summer. What I love about cotton is it's breathable and hypoallergenic. So you know that if you're gonna be wearing it in these hot summer days, it's gonna breathe nicely. You're not gonna overheat. You're gonna be comfortable. There is nothing worse than not being comfortable in your own clothing. And I know we've been talking about summer and the heat out there and how cotton is going to help you breathe.

55:27But here's the thing. It's not only for summer. It's versatile. It's going to last throughout the entire year. You're going to be able to wear it in the winter, the fall, the spring, and throughout the summer because this is one of the most breathable, adaptable fabrics out there. I know that listeners and viewers of this show are health conscious people. You want to do the healthiest, best thing for yourselves and for your family, which is why I love talking about cotton so much because it's natural. It comes from the earth. You know that when you wear it, you're doing the most natural thing and you're putting one of the healthiest fabrics on your body.

55:53So next time you're looking to upgrade your wardrobe, Think Cotton, 100 % Cotton. Cotton is the fabric of our lives. To learn more, visit thefabricofourlives.com and be sure to check out that 100 % Cotton tag. This episode is sponsored by Cotton. How is my skin? You know what? This sunscreen, it's caffeinated, it's mineral, and it does not pile under makeup. I applied it today with a damp beauty blender before I got my glam done, and it lays so nicely under like a foundation or a concealer. But here's the thing that I like the most about it. So when I'm off work and when I don't have to do podcasts or Instagrams or content, or I just can just be comfortable, I can wear this caffeinated sunscreen and I still get a really nice tint and a protection and it looks like my skin is all one even tone which is nice without all the makeup.

56:53It's not like a foundation. It's like the caffeine tightens your skin. It gives you a nice even tone and it just gives you a little bit of color. So what I like about this sunscreen is the versatility. So you can wear it when you're off and you're running around and you're running errands and wear it with nothing over it or you can wear it like I'm wearing today right now with foundation and concealer over it. So it works both ways. I will wear this when I'm going to the gym in the morning and just wear it throughout the day with nothing else or I will wear it with a full look. I created this sunscreen because I couldn't find a mineral-based sunscreen with caffeine in it.

57:31Caffeine tightens the skin, it shrinks the pores, and I just like how it lays on the skin. And I mixed it with a mineral sunscreen and then we made it SPF 40. So it's a real treat. I think that you guys will absolutely love it. It just comes out in a pump, fits in your handbag, and it can go through the airport. You can shop this at shopskinnyconfidential.com and it's the caffeinated SPF. Also, if you're like me and you go through sunscreen quickly, you can subscribe and the sunscreen will get delivered straight to your door so you don't have to worry about it. That's shopskinnyconfidential.com.

58:10Someone needs to take, make a brand, okay? They can call it nostalgia and they can bring back all of the things I just listed, fruit roll-ups. There's companies that do that though now. No, no, no. But you need to make one full company of all the nostalgic foods, but make them with good ingredients. I mean,

58:27Vani Hari:I feel like Unreal is... They've done a good job. We have Unreal M &Ms in our popcorn. Yum Earth. yeah we have yummer yeah the unmeals the chocolate m &ms we put in our family movie night popcorn shout out to pop smith that's we use pop smith coconut oil and butter it's the but i also look and i think this is relevant we had our friend shirveen on the show who you you know and we were i do think while it is exciting to think about government eliminating some of these practices that these companies are using to take advantage of us i i what we try to do on this show is imagine if nothing's going to change.

59:04I'm not saying you guys are doing a lot of stuff, but imagine nothing. The individual has to take some personal accountability and get informed on what they're putting on and in their body. Meaning this has not been the largest issue for me personally, because I take the time to check the labels and see what I'm doing and seeing where I'm sourcing. I joke, I'll eat a McDonald's once every blue moon, but I'm not running around being like, well, the government didn't do this for me. So now I'm just going to eat like shit all the time. And this is like, I can't stop myself from living this way because nobody stepped in and regulated this.

59:39Vani Hari:I mean, this is for the mom that doesn't know better, that doesn't have the time, that doesn't, you know, this is for the kids at school that get served artificial food dyes all day long. And teachers are wondering why their kids can't sit still. Right. This is for everyone who's getting served this food. And it's for it's for all of us too, like that are fortunate to know the truth. I mean, how many times have you traveled and you can't find one thing to eat at the airport? I mean, not one good thing to eat at the airport. It's all garbage. Right. But here's OK. Let me give you some. I'll give you some pushback.

1:00:11The mom and the dad that don't have time. I don't believe anybody don't have time. Everybody has time for what they make a priority.

1:00:16Vani Hari:What do you think about my parents who came here as immigrants, very trusting the American food supply? They made everything from scratch back home, came to America. They didn't know what had been done to the food. Right. Like it's hard. I'm not going to say it's not hard i'm not going to say there's circumstances economically and and that but the point is is the reason you you do this kind of thing and if you're a parent like it is part of your obligation to figure out what is healthy what is good seek out the information it is hard though and i think this is where we need to school we do need you can't leadership at the highest levels to make this a priority for americans and tell them the truth because for so long we have been told what is true about nutrition and food by the media that's been funded by these corporations.

1:00:58Vani Hari:And I'm not disagreeing with that. But the point is, is we have information and outlets at our disposal. And the airport example, I get that example. It sucks. But like if I'm traveling and I know I'm not going to have good options, like I figure something out and I bring it right. Like there's things people can do. And what I don't like, and I didn't like this during COVID and I don't like it now, I don't like the idea that government, big government is going to come in and fix this for me because time and time again, If they can have transparency in the truth, innovation in industry will fix itself.

1:01:27Vani Hari:Americans will demand it with voting with their dollars, right? They'll start choosing companies like Truvani and others at the grocery store instead, right? That is what the next wave is, right? It's to spawn innovation in this space. It's the fact that they're saying that our food is poisoned, and now we have awareness about that, and people are going to be making better decisions. And so it's going to spawn innovation. And so when I think about like Gandhi's quote, you want to see change that you wish to see in the world, right? Like, wouldn't it be awesome if you walked into every single airport across America and you could get just clean, whole foods, no seed oils, like amazing organic food available, right?

1:02:11Vani Hari:Like, wouldn't it be like a Sun Life or like, you know, a true food kitchen. And where this audience may be shocked is I think, I believe in capitalism and I think the options should exist for all of it and people should make if you want to eat the mcdonald's or you want to drink alcohol i'm not saying yeah i just don't like the premise that individuals can release personal accountability and that government will fix it i think it's a partnership where you're like yes we would love it if government provided these options and gave us the information but you know it's a rigged it's a rigged market i mean the fact that these american companies have already figured out how to make their products safer and better for so many other citizens and not their own American citizens is unethical and it's hypocritical.

1:02:51Vani Hari:And the fact that we've allowed them to let that happen, we're going to be closing that loophole, right? And to even the marketplace, right? And I think those things are very common sense and they're not the nanny state kind of situation that you're describing that the government would get involved in. It's really to make things a level playing field for humans. I'm just skeptical enough to see where government, like, listen, there's a lot of things that I would like to change on the fiscal side and on the economic side around policy, but I can't wait around as an entrepreneur, as an individual for the government to make that change.

1:03:23I have to be able to like work within the system and have the mindset that they're not going to do anything to help me and that I got to figure it out myself. Like, I think of the same thing I've taught, like personal health and accountability. Like if you give all that away and you just say the government will do it for me and it's their responsibility to make me healthy.

1:03:39Vani Hari:Yeah. Well, now what you're doing is you're putting someone in a situation where they have an excuse to not be healthy because the government didn't do it. But I think that that's why your platform, government aside, is so important because you are a resource for people who want to know more. And that's what you've always been. Yeah. Is you've been an outlet for mothers who don't know to come and be like, holy shit, I didn't know that there was natural flavors in the chocolate bunnies. like I think that's what's so cool about what you do yeah and and that's the key is to give people options choices swap per I hey I believe in personal responsibility and this is the one of the reasons why you could say that my language when I talk about these chemicals is a little inflammatory because I want to get people people's reaction I want them to pay attention I want them to learn this information so they can't unlearn it and they make better choices for their themselves They wake up.

1:04:30Vani Hari:Right. The reason why I compared azodicarbonamide to, you know, yoga mat and shoe rubber is because it is used in the application of those. But it's just a way for you to remember that that's a chemical that shouldn't be in our bodies, that we shouldn't be eating. Right. And and it's a it's also like I think there's just there's a there's an amazing thing happening because of the conversation happening at the national level. everybody's waking up to these ideas and they can start making better choices right here right now and they can go to the grocery store they can go to the farmer's market they can start to grow their own food growing your own food is like printing your own money the fact that i haven't had to buy cilantro or arugula or spinach in the last six months is because of my husband and the fact that he grows this food on our front porch no and what you guys have going for you is like that the other side arguing for these additives and these chemicals and the harmful agreements It's like there's not a great argument to have this other than like it drives profit, right?

1:05:29Yeah. Or makes things cheaper for the consumer. And then I think people go down the rabbit hole. What is cheaper better if it's at the expense of long term health and happiness? So, no, listen, I am always going to give a little bit of pushback because I want people to listen to all of this and make a well-rounded decision.

1:05:47Vani Hari:Yeah, I mean, I mean, we could just we could just stick with the status quo, Michael, and just let the chemical companies overrun our bodies with these chemicals that other countries don't use and just completely decimate our health. Right. I mean, that's the other option. That's clearly not a good option. But again, I think it's an awareness and it's a combination of we hope these things are going to change. You vote not only with your vote, but with your dollars that these things will change. You support innovative entrepreneurs that are offering healthier, cleaner, better for you alternatives and support those people to do that.

1:06:19But at the same time, you have to have a healthy skepticism that the government can't do all this for you. And if you live a way that you believe that they can and you don't ever make the change because you're waiting for them to go do something. It's kind of like, you know, hey, please stop spending all your money, every paycheck and running your finances into the ground and racking up credit card debt. You're like, well, until somebody teaches me about money, I gotta, you can't do it. I mean, I don't know.

1:06:41Vani Hari:I mean, there could be people waiting around for the government to make these changes, but I think once people learn this information, they start to make better choices. And that's the whole point of it. Some little facts about what your petitions have done. This is crazy. They, Subway is planning to remove chemicals from all their sandwich breads. You got Kraft to remove artificial dyes from their mac and cheese products. You got beer companies to share their ingredients from their beers. Amheiser Bush and Miller's Coors are sharing ingredients with their beers online. This one to me is really impressive.

1:07:18The Starbucks, it's in process of removing caramel coloring from all their drinks.

1:07:23Vani Hari:They've done it already. Yeah. so to me those are four things that you did without any intervention because the people did that yes yeah yeah yeah that's right the people did that but it was like it was like it was it was really cool but it was a game of whack-a-mole it was like one chemical here one product there right you know and then what did they replace it with well they haven't thankfully but thank god it's you know and this was and this is where you know i found myself at the senate back in september and having this like deep spiritual moment, being at the U.S. Senate, telling the truth about how these food companies are poisoning us with ingredients they don't use in other countries and showing the examples of McDonald's French fries in the UK, which has three ingredients with salt being optional.

1:08:06Vani Hari:And here in the United States, it's 11 ingredients, including dimethyl polysiloxane and TBHQ and all kinds of chemicals that don't belong in our body. Showing those examples of, you know, Fruit Loops here versus Fruit Loops in other countries, tricks and Skittles and Gatorade and how Gatorade there, you know, there doesn't have any artificial food dose, but we're using that caramel color that Starbucks took out here in the United States in Red 40. Showing these side by side comparisons really woke up our government leaders. And it was that moment that, you know, I stopped to pause and Secretary Kennedy was in that room as well as Senator Ron Johnson and I looked at them both in the eyes and I said to them why is it citizen activists like me and others that follow me holding these companies accountable why isn't it politicians in Washington like you right and when I said that the room went electric and they nodded their heads in agreement and shortly thereafter I took 400 ,000 signatures to Kellogg's headquarters they told us told us to get off their lawn they had a big sign in the window.

1:09:13Vani Hari:I've never been so bad in my entire life. And it was the perfect actually gift that day because it made our movement stronger and brought us together. Because they told you to leave. Yeah. And we had a thousand people on the ground. It was absolutely incredible to watch so many kids, so many moms. And they told us to leave. They didn't even let us in with the 400 ,000 voices we collected. Didn't even just sit down and just receive them. Nothing. They literally told us to go away. And we had some elected officials with us that day. They wouldn't even sit down with them. It was it was quite interesting what they decided to do right there.

1:09:44Vani Hari:And I remember tweeting shortly thereafter that Kellogg's refusal to meet with us will be the biggest PR mistake of the food industry. And it has it's played out correct because shortly thereafter, Secretary Kennedy took our unheard voices on the campaign trail and elevated them all the way up to President Trump. And then President Trump won, put Secretary Kennedy in a position of power. And then within the first, you know, 100 days of in the first few weeks of the new FDA commissioner, Dr. Marty McCary, they made the announcement that they're phasing out artificial dyes. So not only did this one campaign on Kellogg's spawn an entire movement, but it gave enough political willpower for the people in power to make a big decision on this, which I don't know would have ever gotten done without that.

1:10:34No, likely not. It would just been status quo, probably.

1:10:36Vani Hari:Yeah, it would have. And it's incredibly popular, obviously. Moms, I can't tell you how many mothers I've heard from that their children's lives have been improved by removing artificial food dyes, whether it's the ADHD medication that they got to remove or their child's eczema improved or, you know, all kinds of different stories I've heard throughout the years because I've been working on this for so long. but I just think about the mom who you know finally is going to be able to go to the grocery store and not have to read the ingredient label of you know the icing on the birthday cake and worrying about that at the birthday party or the Doritos and the Gatorade being served after the game or the Easter basket and the Halloween bucket it's on and on and on right and it's on and it's every holiday and it's I call it the holiday death aisle that comes out every single time on Christmas and birthdays yeah yeah I'm like what is this Valentine's Day and Easter and Halloween.

1:11:31Vani Hari:It's nonstop. It's all year long. It's just a big poison fest and it's got to stop. And thankfully, I think, you know, within a few years, we're going to have some of these chemicals out of the food. But, you know, it's still far from perfect, but it's a start, right? Yeah. I mean, I want to blankedly say so people are not confused about my position. I've been very supportive about what you and this administration has been doing when it comes to the stuff that you guys have been working on. And I think it's pretty incredible that for the first time in a long time, this is coming to the forefront.

1:11:59But what I do also want to articulate at the same time to this audience, especially parents, is that you and I and Lauren and others have been doing these kinds of things and making these kinds of changes in our own lives and in our children's lives for a long time. We've had limited resources and you've had to read every label and you've had to kind of dodge the things that you shouldn't touch. But I don't want people to think that they can't do these things right now as you guys are also working to get some of these other things out of the market, right? Because I think that's where people start to lose hope.

1:12:28They're like, well, I'm just overwhelmed and everything's poisoning me and I can't do anything. And there's, you know, as well as there's things right now and ingredients and companies that you can follow and buy that can help accomplish what we're all talking about here. Speaking of, I'm going to do a healthy alternative rapid fire for you. Okay. So I like to give the audience something to take away in their own home. So I'm going to list a bunch of foods and you can give me your healthy alternative if there is one. Okay. Chips Ahoy cookies. Siete. day cookies i didn't know they made cookies yeah they make really good cookies right seltzer water with your own lemon i don't know if my kids are going to go for that one we add honey so there's

1:13:06Vani Hari:a okay there's a there's a new company called fresh fizz it's going to be available at sprouts they have an alternative sprite made with honey okay and date syrup yeah craft mac and cheese i'd make my recipe for my first cookbook food babe kitchen i don't know anything out of a box with the powdered. Just grate your cheese and put it on some pasta with a little milk. Yeah. Doritos. I have also a recipe for Doritos in Food Babe family. What if we can't make a recipe for Doritos? If I start making a recipe for Doritos, I think I'm going to start churning butter in the back and milk the cow. Doesn't she have another chip that's like that or no?

1:13:41Vani Hari:Yeah, it may have a problematic or two ingredient in there, I think. Nothing. You should invent it. Can we do a Truvani Dorito? What about Mossa chips? Mossa chips are pretty good. Mossa chips are good. beef tallow yeah yeah masa chips and that the other one that starts with the v-van something but oh vandy chips yeah the vandy chips and there's another one tatamata okay tatamata's chips they sent me some chips recently and again i'm not affiliated with most of these brands but they sent me some chips to try and they use no oil zero oil which i thought was so cool but they're not a dorito formula weston a price make your own what if you can't make your own if you had to pick under your head maybe something out of europe or uh so i would go for like it's because of fda regulations that they label it as a toddler formula like serenity kids and i would just do the and i would just do it for your infant anyways yeah lucky charms lovebird lovebird yeah fruit roll-ups oh there's a company called peaceful fruits that make delicious fruit roll-ups that are organic and delicious.

1:14:45If someone wants to change their cupboard tomorrow before you go, what would you eliminate if you were doing a food babe makeover?

1:14:54Vani Hari:The easiest thing to get out of your cabinet that would eliminate the most ultra processed foods, I'm going to have to pick two, corn, soy, or canola oil and natural flavor. Where can everyone find you? Where can they find your company? You gave us a discount. You guys, her protein powder, the plant-based vanilla protein is so good. I've had it before many times. You can shop Trevani at shop.trevani.com slash skinny, and you can use code skinny for 20 % off. But where can we come say hi? Pimp yourself out yeah you can come on over to food babe.com you can follow me on on social the food babe you can come to truevani.com we have an amazing whey protein coming out very soon it's made with 100 % grass-fed milk incredible ingredients three ingredients for the vanilla it is going to be a world-class renowned way i'm really excited about that something with aaron rogers did i see that yes is that officially announced we can take it out if not yeah yeah yeah sure yeah so we got a small investment from rx3 one of his funds and and it's a good fund yes people over there yeah they're so nice and it's been incredible because it's helped us expand into target which is really exciting so we are in target now congratulations on the protein aisle it's incredible so that's really cool and i'm that's my favorite flavor this is really good that's the cherry chocolate is the ingredients just so you guys can hear this it's so transparent almonds cashews dates cherries maple syrup chocolate vanilla sea salt yeah an all organic usda certified really good yeah ingredients you would find in your own kitchen that's why it's called the only bar only ingredients you find real i think my kids like you know what i can do too i can roll it in a protein bar or in a ball oh yeah and pretend like that is good dessert it's really good congratulations on everything you're doing thank you so much thank you