Welcome back to the inspired
living with auto-immunity podcast.
I'm your host, Julie Michaelson.
And today we have such a treat for you.
I'm talking with chef James
Berry, who has created an amazing
functional food product: pluck.
Pluck is an Oregon based
all purpose seasoning mix.
That is a delicious way to get nature's
multivitamin into your everyday meals.
We discuss our shared passion for
real whole food diet and Oregon meat.
As the most nutrient dense food,
we can consume James shares, tips
and tricks for introducing this
essential food group into our diets.
And he announces his new blends coming
in January, including an AIP blend.
James welcome to the show.
I'm so excited to talk to you today
about what you're doing, because
it's going to make such a big impact,
not on, on everybody in general, but
especially on the auto-immune community.
So welcome
Thank you.
Thanks for that.
my pleasure.
So usually we start out with, everybody
wants to hear this story, right?
How did you get from being this very
successful, personal chef to creating
this amazing brand and product with
pluck and you know, some, something must
have happened to create the passion,
to bring organ meats to the world.
I know, right.
I cannot pretend that it was just like
raw talent or it's just, I'm so special.
It's like, it's so much of, it was just
luck and, you know learning to trust
instincts and falling, falling my heart.
I mean, it was nine 11.
I saw, I used to be in the the
film business and he's been acting.
I did theater as well.
And that was my main focus.
I always was passionate about food
when I was like a young kid, I think
at the, around the age of seven,
I learned at a scrambled egg and I
just, from there, I just love it.
So I always loved it, but it
didn't see it as a viable career.
I'm not sure why I just didn't and a.
And so eventually I became an actor
and I was really into that and I'm
just put my heart and soul in there.
And I was just putting out like 200%,
but I was only getting back maybe 30%.
It was one of those things.
That's that's the actor's life.
Not, not that fun.
Nine 11 happens.
And, and that was a time in my life
where I was also in a relationship that
then I realized I want to take further.
And it just started to look at
everything and go, you know what?
I want everything in my
life to have a heart.
And so that's when I then said,
well, what are the things I love?
And I re-evaluated kind of
did an audit on my life.
And I was like, well, you know,
I've always loved cooking like
from, from the youngest age.
So.
Well, what if I look
into that and do that.
And so I started, I found a school
in New York that focused on health.
So they're not, it's not like quote on
blue where you're learning, just cooking.
They were really focusing
on different diets.
They were focusing on how to properly
prepare food, to make sure that,
it's as nutrient dense as possible.
And they also specialized in
supporting private shift businesses.
Like so a lot of people would call
this school and they were looking
for private chefs and I knew I did
not want to work in a restaurant.
And I'm sure you're having a laugh since
your family, your family has a history
of working in the restaurant and you
probably know why I didn't want to work
in the restaurant as it's a crazy life.
Right.
It's.
Much better than being an actor?
Yeah, exactly.
And and so I switched gears.
I went to the culinary school and
this is where it gets interesting.
You know, if anyone listening is kind of a
spiritual or cosmic or anything like that.
So I changed gears and like I said, that
what initiate it was following my heart.
I changed gears.
I went to this school and I put
my heart into it and the school
really am not everyone did.
There were a lot of kids right out of
high school and I was in my thirties.
Right.
So I, I, and I had to, I had to pay
for this myself and it was not cheap.
And so I went in and I really
like, I showed up every day,
I got a perfect attendance.
I did everything I could to learn.
I was just a learning machine.
And.
And the school saw that.
And so any time a job came to that school
that was in LA because that's where I was
living at the time they would refer me.
And so I quickly built this resume where
I would put, I would work still hard.
I would work like a hundred percent,
but I would get back to 100%.
Like I, I started working with
celebrities like Tom cruise,
George Clooney, Barbara Stratton.
I mean, I was working with
so many celebrities and
they were just coming to me.
I don't know what I.
I don't, you know what I mean?
It was almost like the
Yeah, but you do, you were
putting your heart into it.
Yeah, So I, and I had really great
and that's, I think what would
happen is that I had really great
response and here's the secret.
I just made real food, you know, but
I but I, I, I prepared things in ways.
Like I soaked my grains in my, in
my legumes and beans, you know?
And I cultured product and I made sure
that I was not using any processed foods,
anything with additives or, or shelf
stabilizers, anything that was necessary.
Like I focused on really
healthy oils and fats.
So that's really what I did.
I didn't necessarily follow
like a specific diet really.
What's interesting is that when
people started eating the food, I was
preparing, they started, let's say
for those mothers that were trying to
lose their baby weight, they started
losing the weight, you know, the
actors that were trying to make sure
that they always were on their a game.
They started to feel really
good and look really good.
So it was, it was, it was a really great
experience, but also really telling
us like, okay, All these trends out
there that we constantly hearing about,
like what, what diet do I follow?
What's the best.
And here's what I've learned.
I'm just going to, I'm going to give
you guys like the bottom line of what
I've learned in my 16 plus years of
Yeah, I hope I hope I know
what you're going to say.
Yeah, right.
Only drink water.
No, I'm going to, I'm going
to say be a fruitarian.
No, I'm not
No, no.
No, never.
No.
So what what I've learned is that, you
know, trends come and go, but what,
what is not a trend is real food.
And so really just focus on the whole.
Foods, whole real whole foods, you
know, don't, don't choose things with
ingredient lists, choose the actual
ingredients, and you'll find that
your health will quickly turn around.
It's really that simple.
And ultimately, you know, when people
say, well, what about, you know,
not eating meat or eating means.
So like, you know, I, where I stand
with that stuff is, is I basically say.
I'm not here to tell people how to eat.
You need to follow your own path to that.
Yeah.
I mean, I, you know, you name one health
practitioner and I'll show you someone
that probably was a vegan at one point.
You know what I mean?
Like everyone goes on their
path of how they eat everybody.
And most health, health
practitioners that are the ones
now saying, you gotta eat this.
You gotta eat that.
It's because they got sick at one.
And, and, or they've tried things and
they finally found something that worked.
And so I just tell people, look, if you
want to be vegan, if you want to be a
carnival, or if you want to be keto, if
you want to be paleo follow, follow what
you want to do, but here's the one caveat.
It listen to your body because your
head's going to be the one that
tries to make the decision, but
your body never realize, never lies.
So if you start eating vegan and you
start having really bad gas and you
have digestive issues and you have
skin issues and you're bloating,
that's your body communicating that
what you're doing is not working.
So all I ask is just listen,
just to listen to your body and
then make changes accordingly.
I love that that is gold right there.
And yes, I was hoping
you were going to say.
Real food.
I was, I felt pretty comfortable
and confident that that's where
you were going to go with that.
And I love your story about, you
know, I guarantee you, other than the
weight coming off of, you know, the
various people you were shopping for.
I, you know, their cells were happy.
They may not.
Some of them, I bet didn't even
know why they loved your food.
Right.
In addition to I'm sure it was
delicious, but our bodies really do
know when we can hear, you know, what.
Whole food, real food is
anti-inflammatory in nature.
I mean, yes, I I'm an AIP coach.
There are things, you know,
we do an elimination diet.
There's certain things that are considered
inflammatory, but like you mentioned, when
you're treating food the right way and
preparing it the right way, and it's not
coming out of a bag or a box, you know, it
really doesn't get any better than that.
So it's exciting, you know,
I think that's a lot of.
A lot is you I've met you.
So I know why people were drawn to you
to begin with it's that heart thing.
But I, I do believe I I've had people
say to me, you know, oh my gosh,
I think my cells are singing, you
know, because they've been eating.
Fake food processed junk for so long.
And so, you know, I, I don't know
that I've met somebody who was
vegan that was vegan truly with
only real food, because they tend to
still eat a lot of processed junk.
And so that, you know, I think
that that's the biggest difference.
So
And I, and the, and the
process junk really.
I mean, you know, you look at any diet
and I, and I, and I kind of bring,
I comment on this a lot, and this is
one thing when we get to it about why
I'm building my business, this very
specific way, but you know, every diet
out there and every company building.
Well, what's the first thing that
when, you know, Quito becomes hot or
plant-based, you know, what used to
be called vegan is now plant-based
and paleo, what's the first kind of
subset of recipes and or products
that start to just flood the market.
Oh, it's junk food.
It's snap.
It's it's snacks and desserts, right?
It's it's like, so to me, one of
the issues that I have with some of
these trends is that gee, I mean,
you've already captured, which is,
you know, they have this illusion of
being healthy, but they're really not.
I mean, they're really, really not.
If you're eating them by in theory.
You know what I mean?
If you're eating like, oh, well
the product says taquito brownies.
So that means it's a healthy brownie.
It's like, No.
no, no brownies are just not good for you.
No matter what diet you're
following, you know what I mean?
They're just not, they're
never going to be good for you.
It's, it's a dessert.
It's supposed to be something that
you indulge a treat once in a while.
It's like, you know, on your
birthday or whatever, like.
So I can eat well.
That's like the, when the low fat
thing came out, oh, this is low fat.
So I can, I can eat pounds of it and in
spine or, you know, low sugar, but it's
jammed with chemicals, but it's great.
I remember, this is so funny.
This is going to date me a lot.
But, so I remember when organic was
becoming a thing, you know, and,
and being a chef like I, my office
was grocery store, so I was going
to grocery stores all the time.
Farmer's markets.
I was just always following the trends.
Right.
And following what are the new products?
And I remember I was in a trader Joe's.
This was so long ago, but organic
was just starting to become a thing.
And the kid in front of me at the
checkout stand, grab a chocolate
bar that said organic on it.
And he said, mom, look,
I got a chocolate bark.
Can I get this?
And the mom's like, no it's chocolate.
She said, he said, but it says organic.
That means it's healthy.
And I just had a laugh.
I'm like, oh my God, that's
the problem with marketing?
That's the problem.
Yeah.
I have a friend who always says, you
know, the front is marketing the back.
The back is the, you know, but
again, if you're not buying it out,
if I love the, you know, instead of
buying something with ingredients
by the ingredient is, is amazing.
So you shifted major shift
from acting chef school.
They know the universe is telling
you you're on the right path.
You're attracting, you know, all
these amazing people to work with.
How does one get from there
to focusing on organ meats?
I know.
Well, you know, your whole
food, real food, still a leap.
Yeah, no, it was because I didn't
grow up eating organ meats.
And and honestly, even out of
culinary school, I was not working
with Oregon meats that much.
But ultimately what I think contributed
to my creating this to my current
business and the, and the functional
food pluck is that when I entered being
a chef, I was always interested in
how do I take foods that are common?
You know, everyday comfort foods
and how do I make them healthy?
So that's always been my kind
of lens of how I look at things.
Cause I really think, you know, we're
on this planet for a short time.
We, we ultimately, we want to
enjoy our time, but, but if we
fully indulge, then we don't enjoy
our time because we feel so icky.
Right.
So I was like, how can we, you
know, meet that comfort level,
but also meet the health need.
And so I've always looked at food in that
way and I've continued to kind of draw.
Myself forward in terms of
trying to figure that piece out.
But it was when I had kids that I really
started going, okay, what are The most
nutrient dense foods, you know, up there
and how do I get them in my kids' diets?
And, and as I'm getting older,
how do I get them in my own diet?
Right.
And how do I, you know, how do
I maximize nutrient density?
And you look at any, any graph that's
showing the most nutrient dense food at.
Anyone could look this up right now, even.
The visuals are stunning.
Yeah, there's all these visuals.
And inevitably you'll see about, you
know, you'll see a bunch of foods,
but they'll always be these four
kale, blueberries, maybe fish and then
like beef, but then there'll be this
other one and it will be beef liver.
And.
He'll look at the markers for all of them.
And then there'll be some that are
missing, you know, depending on what
the marker that they're, you know,
the vitamin and mineral they're there.
They're looking at the thing.
You'll see.
One of those items doesn't have any
empty markers and all the numbers
are like way higher than any other.
And it's beef liver, and it's not
like just a little bit better.
It's like three to seven to 12 to 20
times better than all those other foods.
And you just look at those and
you go, okay, this is these.
These are definitely the most
nutrient dense foods out there.
This is mother nature's multivitamin.
But why aren't we eating them?
No one, like our generation and
younger are just not getting them
in the diet, not the way our great
grandparents and grandparents were.
They, they, they, they ate
them way more regularly.
And so we've clearly lost the
ability to cook them potentially.
Like, I think a lot of people see them as
labor is labor intensive and just like.
Overwhelmed when they think
about commander cook them.
I think there's this idea that his
perception of tastes that it's really
like they're icky or too irony or whatnot.
And then there's just
the regularity of it.
Or like, oh, do I let's say, you know,
you want to take or roommates, but so
you bought some supplements, but then
now you're taking more supplements
and sometimes you forget to take them.
And so there's this kind of, it's
out of habit, kind of, you know,
And I just, I decided to try to
figure out how to solve that.
And so I came up.
I'm basically using the ancestral food of
Oregon needs, but I'm using, I'm utilizing
the modern techniques of freeze drying.
So we have, we basically, when you
buy a supplement of that's organ
mates, it's freeze, dried arguments
and freeze drying is similar to the
dehydrating, but it's just, it maintains
the nutrient density of the product.
And it's really not, it's
not truly heat based.
So there's, there's really
little effect on nutrients.
But it preserves, it
makes it shelf stable.
It, it removes the moisture.
So you can pretty much keep
those capsules for a long time.
Right.
So that's when I thought, Well, what if
I take the stuff that's in the capitals?
And I combine it with the ingredients that
you would use it to put in like a pat,
Hey, you know, like onions and garlic.
And, but I use all shelf stable,
you know, all spices and herbs,
things that are already like, you
know, the moisture is out of them.
And so I started experimenting and I
came up with a seasoning and Oregon
based seasoning that we call pluck.
And and it's, what's cool is
that it solves all those points.
Like, you don't need to know how to cook
cause you can sprinkle it on anything.
And I mean, literally anything, you know,
like from fish to chicken to, it's not
just beef, you know, it's not just me.
Like we put it, my kids put it on
their toast, you know, we put it.
We put it on popcorn.
It's so good on popcorn pizza.
I mean, like I said, fish, it,
it just, it has no boundaries.
It really is.
It's really versatile.
So that's one thing they don't need not
know how to cook, put it on anything.
And then it ups the nutrients.
Now you're getting not only whole food
nutrients, which we discussed earlier,
the importance of whole food, but
you're getting the superfood nutrients.
You're getting these amazing nutrients
that you find an organ meats.
And then you don't have
to adopt a new habit.
Cause we already all season our foods.
So there's no kind of, oh, I need
to remember to take a capsule or
I need to start running, you know,
30 mile or 30 minutes a day, you
know, it's, it's not a new habit.
It's just simply replaced your salt
and pepper or your favorite seasoning
with this new favorite seasoning pluck.
And now you're getting micro
doses infrequent use of some of
the most nutrient dense foods.
Well, I love the creativity
and I am somebody who.
When I learned the, the, just
the importance of organ meats and
just how nutrient dense they are.
I two bought the freeze dried capsules
because and there's so many things
in there I want, I want to make
sure that we talk about quality,
but quality of the organ meat.
So I definitely, I'm going to ask
you to make sure we cover that, but.
I do think so much of
what we think we like.
I mean, you and I touched on this
before we turned the mic on about, you
know, pallets are adaptable, how it's
changed and learn and grow and expand.
And I see it all the time on the most
basic level of when, when people take
sugars and sweeteners out of their diets,
you know, I I've had so many clients.
Oh, my gosh, I never realized
strawberries were this sweet.
And I'm like, yeah, cause now
you can actually taste that, you
know, your palette has adjusted.
And as you mentioned, you know, most
of us didn't grow up in households
where the organ meats were being
cooked or if they were, maybe they
weren't being cooked very well.
No, I most likely very overcooked.
What is the case in, in, in my house.
The very limited use of organ meat.
It's, it's funny.
My, my mom, I found out as an
adult, loves liver and onions.
Never cooked it or served it for us, but
I've seen her order it in restaurants.
So I'm like, that's really interesting.
Well and maybe that's that labor.
Piece, but, but I think that we've,
we've missed at least a generation
or two of these are flavors.
You know, this is comfort food.
This is, you know, something I've grown
up with that I love and appreciate.
I have a theory about why they fell
kind of out of favor, out of use,
but I'd love to hear, you know,
what, why, why aren't we eating them?
Yeah, that's really the
question of the hour, isn't it?
So ultimately there's a few
potential things based on just
the history I've read on it.
So one is that it's kind of steeped in.
In if the, the economy
or our sense of economy.
So meaning that muscle meat
is considered more luxurious.
And so when after world war II, when
people could came back and could afford.
To purchase.
Now you have two people in the
household working after world war II.
It was a real shift of the,
of the nuclear family, right?
So you have two people working,
you have potentially more money
coming into the household.
And it was a real sign of like,
oh, we're doing well because
we can afford the finer cuts.
You know, an organ meat is considered
poor person's food because it was
the cheapest part of the animal.
So it's very steeped in that.
It's also steeped in racism and a
lot of people don't realize this,
you know, during slavery times.
When the slave owner would slaughter
a hog, for example, they would keep
all the finer cuts for themselves.
And then they would serve the intestines
and the different organs to the slaves.
And that's where you get chitlins.
Chitlins is a, is a
slave food basically, or.
Came about then it's
the intestines of a pig.
And what's ironic though, is that the
slave owners were, they, they were, you
know, thought that they were giving the
cheapest or the worst part of the animal.
They're actually giving them
the most nutrient dense.
So, you know, cheers to the people
that did get that, that could survive
that hard time in our history.
But you know, the beyond the economy
of it or the economics of it, I
think that's, that's the piece.
I think that stemmed the most,
but The other piece, I think, you
know, and this is probably more now
bringing us into the current times.
I really think that it is the, the,
that we don't know what to do with it.
You know, when you buy a
beef liver, it's, it's large.
It's really.
Now, if you've got a large piece of
muscle media, let's say like a trot.
So let's, let's compare a tri-tip.
So tri tip is about the size.
It would be flipper, right?
So you, if you get a try
to, most households are not
buying tri tips every week.
You know what I mean?
They buy it for special occasions
when let's say during the summer
and they're barbecuing, right?
It's it's one.
When you have more people coming in.
You know, or you let's
say you're big family.
Well, that's how big a
beef liver is pretty much.
And so I think it's daunting.
I think people are overwhelmed with the
concept of like, not only the texture,
because it's slimy their association
with what they think it tastes like,
but then like, what do I do with it?
And I absolutely have some solutions
for that when we want to get to that.
I do want to get to that.
Before we get to that and B I want.
Hutch on the sourcing.
Right.
It's so important.
What was your theory by the way?
Was your theory also around economics?
was, yeah, the and it is ironic.
We can point to so many other things,
but that would make this a three hour
interview on our, how our progress,
you know, is it really progress?
So, you know, all of a sudden we've
got two incomes and more better
finances, and we're, we're buying
the fancier meat and our nutrient
density totally just went down.
Well, it, I mean, that is, that
is really an interesting dilemma.
Right.
And I, and that's partially also when
I think of organ meats, I'm like, okay,
well, what I, and, and even beyond
arguments, I think of nose to tail.
Cause I think it's easy just to focus
on origami, but there's every part
of the animal used to be utilized.
For human consumption and it
still gets utilized, but it's
not for human consumption.
Most of it's going to
the non-muscle stuff is going to pet food.
It's going to feed the other animals.
And I mean, and there's some there's if
you go to other countries, like I know my
friend from Venezuela, he said, You know,
the, I is, for example, like bovine eyes,
cow eyes are very highly regarded there.
And as part of the cuisine and
it's in, and I'll tell you this.
When I met him in college,
he was in his twenties.
He was one of the healthiest
people I'd ever met.
And he grew up eating lots of seafood
and lots of nose to tail eating, and
he was phenomenally healthy looking.
And you look at now, the, the,
I was going to say fad of the
re-introduction of collagen now grass
fed collagen back into our diets.
Well, if we were eating the whole animal
and using the whole animal, we would be
Wait, you would've had it.
now.
you would.
You would've had it.
I mean, and that's, and so
that's the irony, Right.
So we, so we're not eating
nose to tail anymore.
And as you said, we're nutrient
deficient, but yet we're not
calorie deficient, we're overweight.
We have an obesity epidemic.
And so that's interesting, right?
I mean, that, that says
everything you need.
Everything right there with our diets.
What we eat is different than
the way our ancestors did.
And yet we're not, we're all eating enough
food and yet we're still new to deficient.
And so sick, you know, I mean, really it's
they keep creating new types of diarrhea.
There was, I remember growing up knowing a
handful of people with type one diabetes,
and it was rare also a handful of people.
If that with auto-immunity it was rare.
Rare.
Now, you know, we've added type two
diabetes and my space, we call Alzheimer's
type three diabetes and it's all this.
It's not, it's not just sugar,
people think sugar, but it's,
it's just the fake food.
It's the, the garbage so, so
how, how does somebody know.
Because sadly, it's very easy to go
out and get really sourced organ meat.
So, so if somebody is, you know, really
conscientious about they, they want to
include this nutrient dense food in a
way, you know, and their cause you're
going to give us tips on beyond the.
Pluck seasoning, which is by the way.
Fantastic.
And I, I I always joke in, in my world
because I do have a very restricted,
clean diet and work with people.
We do elimination diets on AIP.
I say, you know, Regular people
enjoy it, then it's good.
Right?
Because I have an eating a whole food,
real food diet for so long that, you know,
I know that a lot of people's taste buds
haven't adjusted to real flavors yet.
And so we'll, we'll talk about
some of the, the new season mixes
you've got coming out, especially
things that are gonna make the
auto-immune community really excited.
But even for those of us, I mean,
I have recovered from auto-immunity
in it and still eat mostly that way.
And, and even just, you know, your
original mix is it's just so good.
I don't eat popcorn or toast,
but I definitely am excited to
try it and more and more ways.
It's a lot of fun, but for those, since
you're going to give us tips on how to
handle Oregon, That's not freeze dried.
You know, how, how do people know?
What, where do they find it?
What are they looking for?
Yeah.
And the quality Yeah,
you know, the quality
is an interesting one.
So Diane Rogers, one of the co-authors of
sacred cow she, she recently was promoting
a a study where they showed actually
that what the cow ate did not affect
the nutrient, the nutrients of, of, of.
this was muscle meat, but did not, did not
affect the nutrients in the muscle meat.
And so that's kind of an interesting.
That's kind of an interesting
report because then that basically
opens a door towards, if you can't
afford grass fed, then there you go.
But here's the part that I don't
agree with, which is, it's not just
about the nutrient load, right?
I mean, if an animal, you know, we were
talking about earlier about the people I
used to cook for and how good they felt.
Well, some of that's also like what I'm
putting into the cookies to my energy
as I make the food and the energy
that then is transferred to them.
So if you're eating.
A conventional cow.
That's basically being raised all
cows are raised with grass initially.
So when we talk about grass fed, that
is a MIS misunderstanding is people
think that cows aren't grass or they
are there, they are, they all start out
grass fed, but they don't get finished.
Grassfed so when I changed the.
They, they then start
feeding them other things.
And I wish I could say it's just grains
and stuff like that, but it's not,
they feed them a lot of horrible stuff.
Basically they're just trying to, if you
think of it this way is they're trying
to maximize their daughter gala, right.
So they're trying to increase the
weight of the cow and spend as
little as they can to do that.
So they use.
just then just goes back to what we were
just talking about, about our overweight.
Totally.
the same thing.
That's what they're doing to the
cows is fattening them up really
fast by adding in all that other
really fast.
And, and, and with poor poor
foods, and then they're giving
you another pumping them.
They're giving them vitamins, synthetic
vitamins and stuff like that too.
And of course a lots of
other stuff, hormones and and
antibiotics, things like that.
So a lot of stuff.
you don't want, but here's the
thing is like a lot of these cows.
Would not live on this.
They could not live on this diet.
So a lot of them, they only are alive
because they get killed at a certain age.
But if they were allowed to continue
in this diet and, and allow to live
longer, they would probably die from
how they're being raised and fed.
And then you don't want to eat that.
Like you just, that's not the kind of
like, if you don't want to eat a sick.
And that's basically what the majority
of those conventional cows are if
they're being raised in properly.
And they're also confined the
confinement is really just horrible.
They're really tightly, you know,
tightly, if you've ever gone.
Gosh, I lived, I used to
live in Southern California.
And if you ever did the drive from
Southern California to Northern
California, and you took the five.
The five you had passed, it used to be
only one KFO, but now you pass three
of them and, and anyone wouldn't know
that they're there, they're passing a
keto because of the smell of the most
horrific smell you can ever imagine.
And you just look out your window
and you'll see, they're just, they're
all th there's, it's all dirt.
There's no grasslands anywhere and
they're just all piled into each other.
Just, it's just horrible.
It's absolutely disgusting.
I would say if.
Once you see it and smell it.
And I live in Colorado and so we've got
the boys, got both worlds here, you know,
beautiful ranches with grass fed and
finished happy animals and then feedlots.
And there's a, it's a running joke.
I live in Northern Colorado on the Plains.
So I live where, you know, this
is where the livestock is and.
We, I won't say the town by name.
Although if you live there,
you got to know it anyway.
But when the wind shifts.
You know, you and I'm talking
miles because I used to live about
35 miles away from that town.
And on there were still certain days
of the year where we could smell it.
And you know, this was the
area where the feedlots were.
And, and so.
You know, we would say smells
like, oh, and we all knew.
But then like you said, once
you, you drive by and you see it.
And there, you know, not only so packed
in there on dirt, you know, not a Sprig
of grass anywhere, but it's not even dirt.
It's manure, you know, they're
up, it looks like there's a little
Hills and mountains in there.
And then just standing on manure piles.
It's it's really FA I'm.
So going to dig into that
study cause I have not heard.
I've only heard contrary as far
as, you know, nutritional values
and making a three omega sixes,
especially grass fed versus
conventional breastfed and finished.
But they have that, the health and
I mean, then people say, well, you
know, this antibiotic free, you
know, what are all the cows sick?
Well, no, but they need the antibiotics to
be alive long enough to get fat on food.
They're not supposed to eat
Yeah for that lifestyle.
Absolutely.
So, so, and, and that's ultimately
why, you know, when we talk about
quality, we're talking about.
That, you know, like how has the,
how has the animal being raised?
How is it being treated and what is it
being fed and, and, you know, and, and,
and really I'm in full support of the
vegans or the vegetarians out there.
They're like, oh, I don't.
I don't want to eat meat because
how the tree and I'm like, yeah, I
don't want to eat conventional meat
either because of how they're treated.
So I'm fully in support of that.
But I think anyone out there that
thinks that, you know, being a
vegan or vegetarian is healthier
for the planet or healthier for you.
I recommend reading a book like sacred
cow because they talk, they, they
unpack all of that and they actually
show how you know, animals are what are
gonna save us, you know, not, not just
for food, but our farms, regenerative
Well quality, all of it.
yeah.
So that's really key,
so how does somebody find, so not
everybody lives, you know, I'm
fortunate where I can talk to the
person, raising the cattle and now, you
know, for sure that, you know, it's,
it's grass fed and finished in it.
I can go see it if I want, you know I'd
prefer not to meet my actual cow, but.
You know, see how they're living
and know these are happy animals.
But how,
the, that's the first that's
the first way is to go to the
farm and know farmer's mind.
You're identifying one of them right
now, you know, like, so that's.
Not everybody lives in an area
though, where they've got a local.
Yeah.
So then the next way is to go to
your local store that has sells more
consciously, you know, you see, you're
looking for basically a hundred percent
grass fed cattle or pastured If you
want to get chicken, you know if you
want to go get chicken organs, then
you want to look for pasture chickens.
But most places like a whole foods.
If you have one of those or like
one of your healthier markets are
going to sell, probably the liver.
Potentially, and you can also
sometimes find the liver in your
frozen aisle at those stores.
If you can't find it in the,
in the fresh meat market area,
I'm looking in the freezer.
Because a lot, there are some companies
that will do the a hundred percent
grasp and they'll, and it would just
be liver slices since it already be
pre-sliced for you and everything harder
to find other parts of the animal.
So, so definitely like
if you can find a couch.
That's where you're going to get those
parts of the animals that you're not
going to find in the stores, but like
the tongue the th the spleen, the kidney,
the heart, you know, that kind of stuff.
That's where you're
going to get that stuff.
And then the other place is online.
There's there are a lot of
online purveyors of grass, a
hundred percent grass fed organs.
Us wellness meats is one of them.
So there are some options.
We, fortunately, this is where this is
where technology really comes in hands.
Like, you know, cause you can order
pretty much almost anything anywhere now.
No.
Great advice.
So grass fed and pastured is
what you want to look for.
Give us a couple of, of tips.
I know we're almost, we're almost
over time, but we promise some
tips on how to, other than.
Start incorporating.
It's funny because that's why you
may remember how Geekly excited.
I got when we met and you told me what
you were doing, because it's always
about sneaking it in like that's.
Yeah.
I'm trying to convince clients
to start to embrace Oregon needs.
It's about you now it's disguising it.
It's putting a little bit, you
know, mix it with your ground beef.
So I love just that concept
of, or just put it right on it
and really, you know, enjoy.
But for those that, that.
Really want to take that next step of
like, okay, if this is that good for me,
you know, I should be, I should raise.
If I had to do it over again, I
would be raising my children on it,
but they are now in their twenties.
So that ship has sailed,
but they can use pluck.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then when they have kids I mean,
well, well that's, so that's one thing
is, is, is is going back to the pallet
topic, which is, we must remember that
our child's palette is formed in utero.
So it's formed by, based
on what the mother.
Is eating.
So you can really start
to shape the pallet there.
And then we got to re then
remember, which we already talked
about, the pallet can adapt.
It can change over time, but
that's where it's formed initially.
So like for example we, we did
a lot of cultured vegetables
for our first daughter.
And I even did some spicy stuff
just to start already start
getting her acclimated debt.
And to this day she has an
affinity for stuff like that.
And we definitely baby's first
foods, some organ meats in there,
like some liver, some heart, but
here's the tip to how to get Oregon.
It's a new diet.
So we've already named the first,
the first tip, which is pluck.
And I'm not just stroking my ego here.
I mean, pluck truly is the gateway Oregon.
It's so good.
I mean, it's really so good.
But, and it's so easy.
That's really what I'm focusing
on is like, it's just easy.
So it, it has an umami flavor to it
and a mommy's the fifth unique taste.
So it actually, what happens
is that it actually makes
everything else tastes better.
so we have this kind of campaign
going on on our social media where
it's this concept of like, where.
You're making your kind of
your meal and let's say, you're
experimenting in your kitchen and
it just doesn't taste that great.
You know, you're just
like, ah, it's serviceable.
Like my family's going to eat it or I'll
eat it, but it's just not like great.
And we're like, well, pluck it
because by just adding pluck to it.
You asked the, it will taste great.
It's just amazing because of that umami
umami flavor just makes it taste good.
And just a little story before I
go to the next tips is that I have
heard so many people share with.
That they would make a dish that
they've been making for years.
Like, like seven years they've been
making like this, this stuffed this
stuff, pepper dish for their family.
And it was like their
stock, like safe, safe bet.
You know, they would make
it maybe once a week.
They always knew their
family's gonna love it.
Well, when they got plucked,
that was the only thing they
changed was they put a lock on it.
And at the dinner table that night,
everyone was like, what did you do?
This is amazing.
What's going on?
When you've never
Yeah.
this is the best way you've done it ever.
And all she did was pluck so
easy gateway to getting organ
meats, cluck, just pluck it.
Right?
So that's one.
Then the next thing is you want to
start easing into the real organ.
The whole organs, the
organs in flux are real.
I said, In whole Oregon, the whole cause
you, cause you're always going to get
more nutrients from the whole thing.
So pluck as a microdosing,
eating an actual beef liver is
going to be a full, full dose.
Right?
So what I recommend is you purchase
that beef liver, which is going to
be big and then you keep it frozen.
So usually when you get it from.
And when, when you, when you and then
just keep it frozen, and then what you
do is you pull it out and you use a
zester or a grater and you grate it.
Okay.
So you never unfreezing it.
Cause that's the thing that's
really daunting for people, right?
We are, we already identified,
this is that we don't know what
to do with it once it's defrosted
and it just all goes to waste.
So keep it frozen, grate it.
And all I want you to do is
great at inch to your ground.
Okay.
It doesn't matter if it's
Turkey or beef or lamb.
I don't care this graded and
only do a little bit at a time.
So when you're first introducing
it, maybe only do like a, and let's
say we have a pound of ground.
Do like two tablespoons and then the next
time you do it, maybe do four tablespoons.
But what I want you to do
is keep it within that 25%.
So if I have a pound of beef
only do about 20, like I would
go anywhere between 15 to 25%.
Origami.
And sometimes you may even can only go
to like 20, but I found that if you go
beyond that is it starts to change the
flavor and the texture of the ground.
Me and then people will know, but
anything below that, so 20% or less,
no one will know, not a single person.
They will not know.
So just that.
So that's your second to third.
Is now you're like, okay, now I'm
feeling a little more adventurous
now I don't need a graded it.
Like, I actually feel like I
can, I can visually see it.
And then I would start
with chicken hearts.
So that's the first one I would officially
start with and you can shop them off.
So they don't look like little hearts
because, but chicken hearts and heart in
general is the closest to muscle meat,
but also it's incredibly flavorful.
Like it doesn't have that, that
Oregon flavor that we associate
with with the other organs.
It's because really it's when we
talk about that, we're really talking
about liver and it has an irony taste
cause it's very high in iron heart.
Doesn't have.
And, and so it's really
extra kind of sweet.
So I recommend starting with chicken
hearts and then when you're ready
to even get a beef and beef heart is
large, but you can even like, we have
a recipe on our site for turning beef
heart and to beef jerk into jerky.
And it's delicious.
I mean, I
I'm going to have to try that.
I actually have beef heart in the freezer.
I had shared with you earlier.
I know I have a dog that was
on Rocky dough for a while.
I have three dogs, all different sizes
and they had all different recipes
and it actually just became too much
of a full-time job to, to do the,
so we found another nutrient dense
keto diet for her, but I haven't.
Some yeah, good amount because this was
the basis of her diet was organ meat.
I have a good amount of, of
well-sourced beef heart in the freezer.
And
Yeah, check, check out E
E plucked.com and then.
look under the recipes and you to see
lots of recipes for organ meats and
pluck in general, but there's a beef part
jerky and it's, it's very, very good.
I highly recommend it.
So once you then graduate to heart,
then you can start graduating to tongue.
Tongue is another one.
That's hugely underused
in American culture.
But if you go to other cultures, it's
particularly like the Mexican culture.
If you go to like taco place.
So they'll usually call it langua
Well go to Jewish deli on the east
coast and you will, you will find.
Yeah, and it's delicious.
What's the thing about tongue is you
just need to get past the sheath around
the tongue and really what you, the
way you cook it is you just, you just
cook it like you would any braised me.
So let's just say you're making pulled
pork, for example, just instead of
getting the pork shoulder or the
pork butt, just you get a tongue, a
beef tongue use the same ingredients
and and then after you've cooked it.
It you'll just have to appeal off it out
of the sheet and it appeals right off.
It just, I mean, just put a little
slice and it just comes right out.
And then what's underneath that sheet
is once again, similar to heart,
it's a closest to muscle meat, but it
shreds like it just shreds so easily
and it has a muscle taste to it.
And so it will take on the
flavors of whatever you put in
the, in the slow cooker when not.
And so it's just an incredible.
Whey, they start eating that knows to
tell, you know, a way of eating, but not
take such a big leap, you know, as, as
you would, if you were going straight
to the kidney, for example, because
kidney is going to be one of the stronger
tasting organs, but those are kind of
the tips to getting the real organs.
The, the last thing I would say
is that is, is really, like I
said, like, like start small.
I talked about the grading.
If you don't have a, if, if.
Or like a little bolder, you can
actually take the ground meat And
put it in a food processor and just.
take a chunk of the liver and put
it in and grind it in there with it.
Sometimes you can, if you're at
a deli at a meat counter, you
can actually ask them to do that.
There.
That's one way.
So that way you don't even have
to bring it home and do with it.
If it's if it's, if there's the
real person behind the meat counter,
you can ask them, Hey, when you can
you grind in some of this heart or
whatever, they're selling there into
my ground beef for ground lamb and
they will they'll totally do it.
Such a great idea.
And I'm as excited as I was.
I'm now inspired to go
beyond pluck myself.
And I, again, who just has grass fed
organ meats in their freezer that
they're not doing anything with.
So that is going to change immediately.
We've already gone well over our half
hour, but I want you to tell the audience
about you've got new products coming out.
So let's, let's tell them, just
kind of tease them a little
Yeah, no, thanks for letting
me I'm very excited about it.
So the auto-immune protocol community.
Obviously that's near and dear to your
heart and we've gotten lots of requests.
And I know that you're, you know,
this community is one that knows
that you need to get organ meats
in the diet, but are struggling.
And so we have an AIP version coming up,
which I got to say was hard to create.
Cause A lot of what brings the flavor
to pluck and kind of mask the Oregon
flavor is the onion and garlic,
you know which you can use and AIP,
but then it's also the other stuff.
It's some of the peppers, the paprika,
and you know, some of that other
stuff that the peppercorns is some
of those night shades and those
seeds that really kind of support
the kind of other layers of flavor.
But what I created was a garden
vegetable flavor, and I love it.
I'm super psyched, super excited
to share that with the community
and that's going to come out in
January and we're also going to be
coming out with additional flavors.
So we have the all purpose.
We're going to have a spicy
version of the all purpose.
We're going to have the
AIP garden, vegetable.
And then we're also going to be
putting out just the Oregon blend.
We're calling it pluck pure, and
it's the a hundred percent blend.
And that's for people now,
that's where you're going to
really taste the arguments.
That's for people that are
like, I'm just going to do it.
You know, chef James said,
which I'm going to not just add,
you know, this to my Grammy.
That's, that's how you'd
want to use pluck period.
You can put it in smoothie and stuff,
but it is going to have a taste.
It's just, you're going to
want to combine it with.
something else that has a stronger.
Well, and, and we discussed that one
as well, because for, for those crazy
pet lovers you know, I, I always,
I am that person who I want my.
To get the nutrient density too.
And so I know that that's, I'm going
to be sharing that with them, that
Yeah, that's
going to love it
spirit.
That's going to be secret pluck peer.
Cause that's, that's kind of the
marketing challenge is how do you market
something that's good for you and pet
and your dog, right.
Your dog.
So it's like, So, but that is the secret
is that actually, if you have an animal
that's just not humble enough food, just
want to give them that extra nutrition.
You'll be able to sprinkle it over their,
over their food, like a seasoning, really,
but it's going to be a hundred percent
organic and they'll go crazy for it.
They
Oh, I have absolutely no doubt.
And I, I am willing to share with them.
So I'm still looking forward to it.
Before we wrap up tell listeners
where they can find you it'll
be in the show notes as well.
And I know you have a gift
for listeners as well.
So tell us, tell us where you are.
You mentioned it once, but let's.
Yeah.
So we're at each, each pluck dot
comments, EA T P L U C k.com.
And We, the new flavors will
be coming out in January.
I'd say January 1st.
So definitely follow us on social
media, you know, get on the newsletter.
We do sales a lot.
We have.
Prizes, we, we just we're
constantly doing stuff.
So it's it's to your advantage
to be part of the community.
And we, we debut recipes,
multiple recipes every month.
We have really soon we have coming out.
If this comes out, you know
if this podcast comes out in
November, we have a Thanksgiving
recipe guide that you can get.
And so and those are
going to be some really
might just have to bunk you in line, then
listeners can take advantage of that.
James.
Thank you so much to say that you've
shared gold is an understatement.
I am so passionate about nutrient
density and you know, everybody,
especially with auto-immunity or health.
People are so worried about, you
know, what do I take out, right.
What do I need to avoid?
And you know, what you're doing is
giving people such an easy way to add the
nutrient density that we need to heal.
And we need just to stay healthy.
If you're fortunate enough to kind of
get with that before you find illness.
So thank you so much for being with us.
Thank you.
And I, and I so appreciate your
perspective on plucking man.
It's it.
I really do just want to try to
help people as much as I can.
And and I do believe in my heart of
hearts, that that organ meats are what's
going to help us as a, as a community,
it's gonna help our world environmentally.
And I also believe it's going
to help our, our health,
Well, you speak my language.
So thank you.
And for everyone listening, remember
you get the show notes and transcripts
by visiting inspired living.show.
I hope you had a great time and
enjoyed this episode as much as I did.