Transcript
MARGUERITE (00:00)
I've been seeing how there is some lab-grown chocolate on the horizon.
Like this is gonna be
The new West and Amanda drama in the non-toxic world.
they replaced glyphosate with diquat diramide, which is a lot worse than glyphosate. So make it make sense. It's maddening.
one thing that I've been on the hunt for for the kids are cleaner fabric, like safer fabric in their bathing suits.
So took her to a holistic vet. And so these are the some of the things that she suggested.
Welcome back to Unapologetically Crunchy. Hey Marguerite. Hi. How you doing? Good. How are you? I'm good. A little bit sweaty and tired. ⁓ As usual. Yeah. So let's get into it because this is gonna be a fun episode. All right. Sh a short but sweet fun episode. Cool. Okay. So, and what when I say sweet, I mean I've been seeing some rumblings of something, and I keep meaning to ask you.
And I want to get your opinion. Okay. And this is something sweet. Yes. And this is something so personal to me because I eat it a lot. I know what it is. I got two guesses. What? Chocolate or cheese? Let's go. Which one? Chocolate. All right. I was right. Okay. Too much chocolate. Too much chocolate. Okay.
I've been seeing how there is some lab-grown chocolate on the horizon. Okay. I don't even know how to respond to that. I'm not surprised to hear that, but like, what the hell? I know. Okay. So let me explain. Why this is happening, first of all, is cocoa farming is in crisis. So West Africa grows most of the world's cocoa and they lost up to 40% of their harvest between 2023 and 2025. Okay. And that's due to weather, disease,
deforestation. So that's why prices hit record highs. And so scientists have been warning that a third of cocoa trees could be gone by twenty fifty. So big chocolate companies are scrambling everywhere for alternatives. this is what they came up with. Okay. So what exactly is it? Okay. So
Basically, scientists take cells from a real cocoa bean and grow them in a tank with sugar, water, vitamins, and minerals. All right. Continue. No farm or no tree needed. Yeah. jeez. So once it's growing, it keeps growing. And then so theoretically one bean becomes like an endless supply of cocoa. That's crazy. Endless supply of chocolate.
So who's doing this? Because I thought we bought our chocolate from like a pretty good safe company that wouldn't go down a lab-grown route. please explain. Okay. some may already know this, some may not be very happy to hear this, like me. but here are some of the companies that are doing this. So Mondalez, they're investing in lab-grown cocoa butter and they own Cadbury.
Green and black, even the organic one. and my personal favorite. Don't say it. Hugh Kitchen. no. Yes. and so Mars is also using the CRISPR gene, which is like editing on cocoa plants, and they own Snickers, MMs, Milky Way, Twix, Dove Chocolate. It's basically all the chocolate out there. Pretty much. Yeah. And then Lint. Very gosh, yeah. Another big one.
Yes, they're investing in lab grown cocoa and with Link comes Ghirardelli and Russell Stover. Okay. So eventually on chocolate bars we'll see with bioengineered food or whatever it is. I don't know what the labeling is gonna be. I don't think there is any labeling requirements right now. This is weird. Don't hold me to it, but I'm pretty sure that's what I read. Okay. But these companies are saying that it tastes the same. No, probably. They're saying that it has the same texture and they're even claiming
That it has more beneficial compounds than regular chocolate, I guess, called flavanols. So that's a term I've heard, but I know nothing about flavanols. I don't really either. I have to look more into Yeah, we'll look into it. But I don't one thing sorry to stop you, but one thing I don't really understand is like our obsession with food, needing to taste good or taste like something we've already had before. Yeah. Food is fuel. Like it's not supposed to be something that is so sweet or gives you that rush. It gives you that rush through the energy it's giving your body. Right? So like
Instead of continuing to try to make everything taste so good and be so sweet and match something that we already knew wasn't best for us, can we just back up please and like just have regular plain old food? Yeah. Just stuff that's good for you in general? Well, and I'm glad that you bring that up because cacao is like an ancient food. And I've noticed it seems like there is a little bit of an attack on these ancient foods. The ones that are good for you.
Yeah, that are starting to be grown in a lab. I mean, we've seen lab grown meat. Yeah. We've seen lab grown coffee. Yes. Seafood. Everything. Now chocolate. Everything. What's the deal? I know we have a lot of people to feed, but we can do this in a better way. Absolutely. And like my relationship with food changed quite a bit when I went through like pretty strict dieting to help with you know, curing some of the effects from long term celiac. And now I don't view food as like some exciting experience. You know, once in a while, sure. But on a day to day level it's like
That's just fuel. That's just me like recharging my body or going to the gas station to fill up a car. I gotta say I agree and I know exactly what you're talking about because I kinda felt that way when I had to go on AIP for four months. It's like I wasn't thinking about my excitement of eating, which is great to be excited about food. Don't get me wrong. I love, love, love food and I love eating. But I totally understand that experience you're talking about because I have a similar one. It's just like, Okay, I just gotta get this in my body because I'm gonna feel good and I just don't put any thought into it. Right.
It's just like taking your vitamins or something. Yeah. It is. That's what it is. Really? So this would be the new drama. Is that right? This is the new drama apparently. And then so there's great news. There are good brands to stick to. So one is Raleigh based. Okay. And it's Spring and Mulberry. Yes, great. They're sold in Whole Foods. I think they're sold in some other big stores, but I definitely know Whole Foods. Okay. And it's actually dark chocolate. the girls that own it
have a lot of integrity. Yeah. And it's actually sweetened with dates. So that's fun. No, it's perfect. Yeah. And they have different flavors. I think they have four different flavors. And they're also independently tested for heavy metals, regeneratively farmed. So you know we love that. Yeah, of course. And then I haven't tried these two because like I said, I'm always getting Hue or Spring and Mulberry, but these look really good at my first glance was conscious chocolate.
And then this brand, I actually saw them in a local health food store, is called Pasha P-A-S-C-H-A. Okay. So those are good brands to check out. So with the the lab-grown chocolate, lab grown chocolate, lab engineered chocolate, that's in the works, right? So just something to pay attention to, or do we need to think about switching brands or it's in the works, so don't be scared to eat chocolate or anything like that. This is just kind of like know what's coming. So this is in the works.
So apparently the main US lab-grown cocoa company self-declared their products safe through a loophole in Graz, generally recognized as safe through the FDA, where companies basically approve their own ingredients. the FDA has not signed off on it yet. And so there are zero long-term studies on this, obviously. We don't know if eating this regularly is going to harm us in any kind of way.
There's no require to label it. So it could end up in your candy bar with no indication on the wrapper. ⁓ No, that's not okay. So you can just throw anything in there. Yeah, basically. Okay. I think this is safe and they're good until somebody catches up to it. Apparently. And so the first products targeting US shelves are supposed to be happening around late 2026. Okay. So it's not far off. Definitely keep your eye on it. Yeah, definitely. I feel like chocolate's such a big part of a lot of people's lives. Like this is gonna be
The new West and Amanda drama in the non-toxic world. I don't know a whole lot about that. I don't even want to go there. If you know, you know. I know. I've seen a lot of it. Heard a lot about it too. I love it. So yeah, just something to keep an eye out. But don't be worried about eating chocolate. I'm still gonna be eating my chocolate. Let's live. But this is just something to keep on our radar. Yeah, of course. Always something.
So, anyways, what else is going on? So we just went for a walk. Just got back from a walk. It's 100 degrees outside. I Can barely breathe out there. I know. I love sweating all the toxins out though. Yeah, I know. It feels good. It's always been a a thing that I've done without knowing is like if I felt sick or a little bit off, I'd like go sweat and feel better. Yes. Getting that those toxins out just feels good. You know what somebody told me when I was in my early twenties? They this person that I used to be friends with, he would go out and drink.
And like get super drunk, just super inebriated like we all did in our twenties. And he would go to work and be fine. And I'm like, How are you not hungover? And he was like, I worked out. I sweated it all out. And I would be like, I don't even know how you can work out when you're hungover, but I never forgot that. Yeah. So it's It works. I used to do similar. I I wasn't big on working out, but I would like put on
Sweatpants and a sweatshirt and go for a run, or like just ride the exercise bike or something like that. That's so funny. Just sweat. My ass was laying. My ass was laying on the couch watching Gossip Girl eating some like really good carpie food. Good cheesy pizza with chocolate. Yeah. Anyways. Okay, so anyways, it's hot AF. Yes. At least where we are in North Carolina. So it made me think about some natural ways to cool the home.
Okay, perfect. What are some of your ways? To cool the home? Yeah. I like to keep the door open in the front and the door open in the back once in while. Just let it air out. Okay, so you know what's crazy about that? I actually didn't not even realize that. it's creating that cross ventilation. Yeah. So I guess like cool air flows in one side and then it pushes the hot air out of the back. I would have just thought that like hot air is getting in and our AC is working really hard. So that's pretty cool. Don't do it too long though. Just just quickly. Yeah. Just let it cool off.
That's a good idea. I want to do that every afternoon. Yeah, definitely. and what else you got? Okay, so the obvious blocking direct sunlight with shades or blinds during the sunniest hours. I don't love doing that though, because I need sunlight in the home. I know, that's a tough one because you do want sunlight, but when it's a hundred degrees, the AC can't keep up all the time. Like the house just gets a little bit hot and so it's hard. And having that sun blow through just makes it feel even worse. So true. just crack crack the blinds a little bit or
I don't know. This is a tough one. Yeah, yeah. Maybe just like in a couple rooms or something. Yeah. well, also, not everybody works from home. So if you don't work from home, that's probably easy. Yeah. True. Okay. This one really surprised me, and it might surprise you guys too. I had no idea that certain plants can decrease air temperature as much as 10 degrees. I don't believe that. That's what they say. Please explain.
So the moisture that they release, helps maintain indoor humidity and the human comfort zone. So of thirty to sixty percent. Okay.
So the best cooling plants, and good news for us is we already have a lot of these in the house because I love plants, is aloe vera. Okay. The snake plant, Boston Fern, and the spider plant. Yeah. So that's four. Those are all easy to take care of too. They are so easy, but so single plants don't really move the needle much, but grouping them does. So like if you have maybe four or five of them close to each other, that'll be your best bet. Okay.
So that's pretty cool. That's really cool. For all the people who love plants and low maintenance plants, try it. Why not make them work for you, even if it's just a little bit? Yeah. And they purifier air too. Some even soak up EMFs, absorb EMFs. So and they're pretty to look at and they're life. I love having plants around. Me too. And then of course, swapping out synthetic bedding or throw pillows for linen or cotton in the summer. They're more breathable. Natural fibers breathe and release heat, and synthetics trap it.
Yeah, I like that one. 'Cause you get in the summertime it's so hot and you turn the AC on or something and then you bundle up and then you end up sweating. Like it's like you can't ever win when you're inside, right? But Lighter lighter sheets kinda helps. Yeah. Totally. That's good one. Yeah. And then I think this is cool 'cause it's kind of the vibe that I'm going into more like
Slow, chill, not like the white and gray that we've been doing the last ten years, is bamboo blinds. Okay. They fit that nice warm crunchy vibe too. Yeah. so they filter sunlight out, but they still allow ventilation. So that might be a good option too. If you guys are looking for new blinds or curtains. Yeah, take a look. I don't know too much about it, but it sounds sounds like it would work. Yeah.
So I noticed you're a little bit tired today. is it that obvious? A little bit. And yesterday too. Yeah, I don't know. I've just been very, very tired. I've had a headache on and off. So, anyways, I have been listening to some high vibe music to help get me out of that funk. How's it going? It's going good.
So I'll wake up and usually I wake up feeling pretty good and energetic, but lately I've just been waking up like I got ran over by a truck. Yeah. Even though I'm getting eight hours of sleep. Yeah, where it's just hard to get up, legs don't wanna move, arms hurt. Yeah. It happens some once in a while. So anyways, when I've been, doing all my responsibilities in the car, I'm like, you know what, I'm not gonna listen to anything other than high vibe music today.
And unapologetically crunchy podcast. Definitely. Play it through on the on YouTube, everybody. No, but I'm just That was funny, sorry.
anyways, so yeah, I've been listening to high vibe music and it really has completely turned my mood around. I love it. And like sometimes I do, you know, I have been listening to gossip podcast once in a while. I like my weekly gossip podcast on all my Bravo stuff. I gotta be in the mood. I always rotate between that or personal growth, learning something, or music. And so yeah, the high vibe music has been really awesome. And if you guys want, I can give you my playlist.
I'll post the playlist. Yeah, definitely. Because it helps turn my I can wake up being like blah, you know, toxic positivity where I'm just like, no, I have to be positive, positive. But here, I don't even have to try. Yeah. Music is just insane. No, then there's so many good songs out there, so many good artists. Yes. That are positive and have positive messaging, but also like uplifting music. Yeah. And like you put that playlist together and it just sort of picks up on you. And you're eventually you're just smiling and happy. And you're especially words that are positive.
Yeah. Like even like affirmations I play a lot of that in the car with the kids and I just think it is subconsciously kind of wiring your brain. So move over Taylor Swift. Yeah. I'm not a Swifty, I'm sorry to say. Taylor Swift can make you happy, but these are a little different. Yeah, Taylor Swift has some good songs, don't get me wrong. But I like this better. So I'm here for it. Yes.
and you know, it has been hard too because our three and a half year old, my poor baby, has been going through a lot of temper tantrums. Yeah, a little sleep regression too. Yes, sleep regression. So that's been hard for everyone, including her, and just working with her big feelings. so anyways, it got me thinking about the somatic exercises that we discovered a few years ago that really helped kind of regulate our nervous systems. And so I have been
always teaching the kids to do that. So I thought maybe I would share some things that I feel like are working. Let's do it. Okay. So we all know breath work. Yeah. it's like one of the best things ever to do, but it's really hard. Like sometimes kids are not gonna want to do that. And obviously you don't want to do it in the middle of a temper tantrum, but after when we're talking about it is better. But sometimes they're like, yeah, yeah.
Yeah. Our kids at least. I definitely believe in the middle of a temper tantrum, that's not the time to correct. Like get them through the temper tantrum, talk to later. In the breath work, it is hard. When they do it, it's it's amazing. Yeah. Right? When you see them using their tools, but it's one of those things that it's tough for them to pick up on that and realize that that's something they need to do in the moment. Like this just not their way their brains work. But if you continue to stay consistent with telling to use their breath to calm themselves down, it does
eventually become part of their toolbox that they'll use. It does. We've seen it happen a few times and it's amazing. Yeah. But I also think too, like you just don't give up. Right. But you know how some things work for adults and some things like we resonate with like different things. I mean it's the same for kids. Right. So I noticed too like our daughter, she really likes butterfly hugs. Yeah. She's like, I need to do butterfly hugs next time. Yeah. Or, you know, humming is a really good one too. Yeah, definitely.
And but you know what I notice always works, always for us, of course, adults, and always with the kids, whenever we're like, Okay, this is not working, you know how we're just like, Let's go outside. Right. Nature baby. Getting them outside always works. Nature, nature. That if you're stuck inside too and you have a T V nearby, there's some low stem kids yoga. Yeah. Where they'll even use like Bluey or some of these other characters and they just put a still of them up there in a position with a countdown and the kids will mimic the position.
Wait for the countdown and they flip to the next one. Mm-hmm. They love that. They do that's a great way to get them stretching and like creating awareness of their body and kind of helping them get through some stuff. Yeah. You know what I just found too? I just found so you know, our daughters are still a little bit too young for this, but our son is, five. So I'm gonna start kind of teaching a little bit more mindfulness and like meditation to kind of get him into that.
And I actually found a really good YouTube channel that's super low stimulation. I'm gonna post it too, just in case anybody else is looking for it because I'm excited to try that. Let's do it. Yeah. And of course shaking. Shake out that stuck energy. It's fun too. Yeah. Shake it out. Wiggle wiggle. Yeah. Another thing that we're kind of like, ⁓ that's been weighing on my heart is Stella. Mm-hmm. Our pommy. Yeah. Pom pom. Old girl. She has a collapsed trachea.
And this is why I'm so upset about this. So my last Pomeranian that I had, her name was Trixie, she passed away ultimately because of collapsed trachea. And so whenever, you know, after that happened, I waited time. And then when we got Stella, I was like, okay, I already knew all the things in my toolbox, you know, no collar, make sure she has a harness, you know, all the things. And
Still happened. Sh it still happened and it happened really early. Yeah. So we've just kind of been managing it, but it's getting bad. It's like keeping us up. It's kind of sad. Keeping the whole family up. Doing the best to to keep her comfy and make her feel good. But she's definitely struggling with it. So I took her to a holistic vet. Yeah. Because, I took her to a regular vet and I didn't love the path that they were going on. So took her to a holistic vet. And so these are the some of the things that she suggested. So
the HMR lignins and melatonin combo because it's it's primarily known for Cushing's disease, treating Cushing's disease in dogs. not the collapsed trachea specifically, but the trachea collapse can be caused by Cushing's disease. So it was kind of like a root cause kind of thing. Yeah. and then to help her sleep at night because she will cough like all night. and that can be really hard for her and for the entire house.
And then marshmallow root, it kind of can create a soothing coating over her mucous membranes to help ease the throat irritation to reduce coughing.
So those are some holistic things that we tried. but I don't know. it's so developed with her. It is. It's not working great. Yeah, it's tough 'cause she's about eleven, so she's still got some years in her. Yeah. but it's it's definitely hard and with there not being any other solution other than like expensive surgeries that may not even be good for her. We're just doing the best we can.
Yeah. A couple things tend to help. It helps her at least relax. Yeah. You know, if we can help her relax and she's not getting up and running around and getting anxious, it helps control some of the coughing and everything else. But you know, she's still a happy dog. It's just sad to see. Yeah. Yeah. And I just wanted to bring it up just in case anyone else is going through this because it's extremely common, not even in just Pomeranians, but all small dogs. Yeah. And there's some other things, you know, like I mentioned, the
Harness versus collar, weight management. Weight management's a huge one. I was about to say that. She does get tend to get a little fat here and there. Catching food from the kids and stuff. So trying to actively make sure that she keeps her weight under control. Yeah, that's really hard. Yeah. And then anti inflammatory support like omega threes, turmeric, curcumin. and always check with your vet and stuff. every dog's different, just like humans. But
Hunting something that's soothing on their trachea and obviously avoiding any environmental triggers like smoking or fragrance or harsh cleaning products or dust. And then this is one thing that I have not done and I looked into it is getting a humidifier when she sleeps. So I think that might be able to help. And obviously just reducing stress, but that's a tough one too, because she gets excited. Yeah. No, that's the hardest one. I think that's the most important one too.
Yeah. Because we've seen that when we can keep her calm or we put her in like a nice quiet space, she's fine. Yeah. Or she'll be fine for longer. But with kids running around, the people coming to the door, people walking by out front, you know, whatever, we're always moving around over here. Yeah. She is too. So it's tough. Yeah, I guess it was really interesting to me because it did make me think, when you bring your pet to the vet, it's they always ask about their diet and lifestyle. Yeah which they should. And it just
always makes me think how crazy that is because that's never the case when you go not with for human. No. Unless you go into a functional doctor, but like just the regular doctors that we go to, most of the time it's not even questioned at all. Yeah. Because it's more about treating the symptoms. So I do love with vets that they, at least start where the obvious point you should where you should. Right. But yeah, I don't know. If you guys have any tips or anything
Please DM me because I really, want my want my doggie to be okay. Me too. Yeah. I love old girl. Yeah. Anyway, so on a happier note, it's summertime. We're having fun. We're getting in the water. And one thing that I've been on the hunt for for the kids are cleaner fabric, like safer fabric in their bathing suits. Okay. So it is very hard to find it.
Because it and obviously it makes sense. Like the stretchy material is gonna do way better. Yeah. cotton, that's gonna weigh down and it's gonna, you're gonna have a heavy bathing suit. Yeah. We don't want to be walking around like it's just uncomfortable. Yeah. So, anyways, I did find a pretty clean brand. So, I thought I would share it. It's called Pure Earth Collection. it definitely costs more as anything does with quality. I mean, it's a more expensive fabric, so it's gonna cost more.
Hannah Anderson is more widely available and has better options. So that's good. But Pure Earth Collection, I was very happy to come across that brand. And they have adult bathing suits too. ⁓ cool. Adult bathing suits also makes the cost more worth it because you're typically not really changing drastic sizes every year. Yeah. so you can use your bathing suit like year after year.
But it's pretty cool that they do have some kid options and they have cute little patterns. They have family matching men's. So I wanted to put that out there 'cause a lot of people are always looking for that. it's a great that's a great point, something to look into 'cause they're in the in their bathing suits all the time now. And they're getting wet, sticking to their skin and everything else. So it might as well be something lighter and a little bit more safe. Yeah. But but also
If you're like not into that and you're like, no, it's just easier to grab a bathing suit from like Target or something like that. There's other things that we can do that kind of make the whole water play a little bit more non toxic for them. I like to use vitamin C spray before they get into chlorine. It neutralizes chlorine and that works really well.
And also organic cotton towels. which I'll show you guys ours too. I found them on clearance, in the wintertime. That's the secret. Hot tip. You do good on that. Yes. I just now Target has a whole aisle of organic cotton towels too. Yes. I don't think they're water there's like bath towels. okay. But you still I mean who cares? You still could do that. Yeah. and sunscreen.
Great episode around sunscreen coming up. Yes. Non toxic sunscreen, of course. Before you buy another bottle of sunscreen, you gotta listen to our episode next week. Yes. It's such a good one. What a great brand, great family. Yeah. Great product. Yeah. So I'm excited about that. so yeah. And then okay, the crunchy crime of the week. All right, bring it on. Which is something that is like maddening.
It's okay, I'm sure that you guys have heard me talk about regrettable substitution. I've talked about it a few times. And that is when a brand takes a concerning ingredient out of something only to replace it with something that's equally or if not worse, more concerning. Right. and so we're seeing that in Roundup. I think there's a lot of confusion when it comes to Roundup because glyphosate was taken out of the consumer roundup, the Roundup that's sold at the stores.
it's still in it's still an agriculture roundup, so it's still showing up all over our food. But for the roundup in the stores, they replaced glyphosate with diquat diramide, which is a lot worse than glyphosate. So make it make sense. It's maddening.
But yeah, we just wanna try and bring some awareness to it because I notice, everyone's very focused on glyphosate with good reason. We obviously need to be focused on glyphosate, but it's not the only chemical. So while we're at this and while we're working so hard to get glyphosate out of here, let's bundle it up with all the other chemicals that are also harming us and harmful for our health. Let's not replace it with worse chemicals. Exactly. Well, say the name of the chemical again. It's diquat dibromide. So
Should somebody become the Daiquat Dybermide girl now and go out there and get I don't know. Maybe. Let's do it. I mean, is that what it's gonna take? Then seems like it. Like at least we got something changed, but hey, regrettable substitution for sure. Yes. And there's so many different examples of it that I think just really important to be aware of. Yeah. So yeah. I hope you guys loved our episode. Sorry, I'm a little tired today. No, it's good. You hung in there.
I appreciate you doing that. Short and sweet, but good topics. I love it. Hope my energy was good. Yep. And we'll be back next week with our non toxic sunscreen episode. Yes. Which is great. A lot of really good information. Very helpful information to understand the importance of it, especially this time of year. Yes. It's a very good time to be learning about this during the summer. Awesome. Thank you guys for tuning in. Thank you so much for your support and listening to us. All right. Peace, love, and crunch.
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