In this episode of The No Diet Podcast Tierney and I vow to get better at interviewing. Listening back to multiple episodes has caused me to re-evaluate the way we approach interviews and ask better questions. Admitting our weaknesses is a part of our growth in becoming the team we ultimately want to be. It starts with me (Ritz) first.

As always in the reflections series, we peel back the label and provide our behind the mic thoughts on the episode and creator of the product. Enjoy:)

The No Diet Podcast Show Notes Ep. 141 – Reflections: Volume 3

• Asking the tough/probing questions…How can they improve and get better as an interviewer? (1:15)
• Reflections: 5 Previous Product Reviews/Thoughts: (6:54)
• • Maxine Heavenly (7:19)
  • Superior Switchel (9:24)
  • Wise Ape Tea (12:46)
  • mBreakfast (16:22)
  • Drink Cacoco (19:33)

Related Links/Products Mentioned

• Ep. 138: Everything You Need to Know About Coffee, with Purity Coffee's Founder, Andrew Salisbury - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-no-diet-podcast-beneath-the-label/id1219160968?mt=2
• Ep. 118: A Family Recipe, Reimagined with Maxine's Heavenly Founder, Tim Miller - https://ritzfit.com/118-a-family-recipe-reimagined-with-maxines-heavenly-founder-tim-miller/
• Ep. 126: Superior Switchel: The True North of Hydration, with Creator Melina Lamer - https://ritzfit.com/126-superior-switchel-the-true-north-of-hydration-with-creator-melina-lamer/
• Ep. 131: The Evolution of Wise Ape Tea with Founder, Joe Scola - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-no-diet-podcast-beneath-the-label/id1219160968?mt=2
• Ep. 124: mBreakfast Organic Superfood Powder with Creator, Charles Barber - https://ritzfit.com/124-mbreakfast-organic-superfood-powder-with-creator-charles-barber/
• Ep. 122: Sippin' on a Euphoric Molten Chocolate Vitality Elixir with Drink Cacoco Founder, Liam Blackmon - https://ritzfit.com/122-sippin-on-an-eurphoric-molten-chocolate-vitality-elixir-with-drink-cacoco-founder-liam-blackmon/

People Mentioned

• nicole (@satiatedblonde) • Instagram
• Wise Ape Tea (@wiseapeco) • Instagram
• Crucial FOUR (@crucialfour) • Instagram

Ritzfit Nation - This is the second installment of our interview with Mason Taylor. If you missed part 1 (ep. 139) then make sure you go back and listen to it. In that episode, we run through all 17 Superfeast tonic herbs in less than 20 minutes.

This episode covers 3 main topics:

1. Why Mason believes there's a time and a place for mushroom products to be grown on grain and why he chooses NOT to grow on grain.

2. Why are mushroom supplements so hot right now?

3. Is it ok for babies, children, and pregnant women to take mushrooms? If so how in the world to we incorporate them?

4. What's the difference between dual-extraction, Wild harvested, and Wold crafted?

Shop Superfeast.au

Follow Superfeast in Instagram @superfeast

Not a Ritzfit member yet? We take the guesswork out of buying healthy products. All products verified by ingredient experts!

Shop FREE for 14 days!

Mason Taylor runs a powerful tonic herb brand called Superfeast. Superfeast offers powdered extracts of tonic herbs and medicinal mushrooms (which are technically tonic herbs but this seems to confuse everyone, so we'll keep 'em separated for clarity).

What is a 'powdered extract,' you ask? Great question. A powdered extract is basically the end result of taking a bunch of herbs and boiling and/or tincturing them for a while. The powder comes about after the resultant extract is dried and pushed through an ultra-fine sieve. Our extracts are 10:1, which means it takes 10kgs of herb to make 1kg of our extracts.

In the episode - 17 Superfeast products and all of their benefits.

1. Neural Nectar 2. Shitake Mushroom 3. Tremella 4. Turkey Tail 5. Mason's Mushrooms 6. Reishi 7. Jing 8. Lion's Mane 9. He Shou Wou 10. MSM Powder 11. Beauty Blend 12. Wild Chaga 13. Schizandra Berry 14. Cordyceps 15. Eucommia Bark 16. Astragalus 17. Deer Antler Velvet

This episode is one big giant Ritzfit Rapid Fire Round! I asked Mason sprint through the benefits limiting him to just a couple minutes per herb! Enjoy :)

Shop Superfeast.au

Follow Superfeast in Instagram @superfeast

Not a Ritzfit member yet? We take the guesswork out of buying healthy products. All products verified by ingredient experts!

Shop FREE for 14 days!

They're on a quest to improve people's health…through coffee.

Toxins in food and the environment, to stress and lack of work-life balance, can make us sick–and often we don't know why. With so much conflicting information out there about what we should be eating to achieve better health, the decision process can be confusing and overwhelming. It often causes people to just throw up their hands and give up.

Habit change is hard. And even when we do make changes, we often don't know whether or not they're helping or causing us more problems.

Andrew Salisbury was inspired to start Purity Coffee for this very reason.

In this episode...

The argument that coffee causes adrenal fatigue? - 3:52

Why most coffee beans are being overroasted - 5:37

The first step of sourcing 8:42

How Purity keeps their coffee so fresh and so clean - 11:32

Mark's experience with Purity coffee - 13:30

Different ways to prep your coffee and their health benefits -18:51

The three compounds in coffee you must dial-up and how to extract them - 21:37

How to shop for coffee if you're not purchasing Purity - 24:45

Which roast should we buy? - 29:23

What exactly is Purity looking for at every stage of their testing process? - 29:55

Shop Purity Coffee - use code "NODIET" for 20% off your first order

Follow Purity Coffee on Instagram @purity_coffee

Try Ritzfit FREE for 14 days

In today's Q&A episode of The No Diet Podcast - Our caller, Jen, asks about the filler ingredients found in protein powders. She has a problem with companies calling themselves clean, yet they still include these pesky ingredients in their products. We couldn't agree more!

In the episode - Tyler Jean and Ritz talk fillers, stabilizers, stevia, heavy metals, and of course their personal recommendations.

Interested in asking your own question for the podcast?

Visit speakpipe.com/ritzfit and record from a laptop or desktop computer now!

Resources & Reccommendations 

Equip Foods Supplements

Clean Label Project

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Today's question comes from Glenn who is curious about a label who saw in the grocery store. He saw a tortilla chip brand who labeled their chips as being baked in Corn oil OR Sunflower Oil. Glenn wants to know why and how companies are allowed to do this, and what exactly does it mean?

I love this question! It's all new to me as well, Glenn. To help me answer the question - I have brought to the show Tyler Jean, the newest member of the Ritzfit Qualitative Ingredient Forensic Team!

Take the guesswork out of buying healthy products. Join Ritzfit FREE for 14 days. All products sold on Ritzfit.com are approved by ingredient experts like Tyler.

Bonus - Prices are insane!! See you beneath the label...

Follow Tyler on Instagram @functional.foods

Brands mentioned

• Jacksons Honest
• Siete

When Brad Searle was looking for a tastier and healthier alternative to the raw and roasted nuts he saw on the shelf, he felt hopeless. Would he ever find nuts that tasted great, didn't upset his stomach and didn't break the bank? The answer was yes! Brad remembered the sprouted nuts Mama Searle made for him and his family. Every trip home from college, he took bags of these amazing snacks with him to share with friends (or not!). And so the idea for Springbound Snacks was born! After many iterations to create an equally healthy and tasty snack, they're proud to say they nailed it. Enjoy the snacks, and stay nourished!

Try Ritzfit FREE for 14 days!

Instagram - @nourishingnutz

Springboundsnacks.com

Over beers one evening, brothers-in-law, Drew and Luke discovered that they both had been making and experimenting with their own sauerkraut recipes. They each had their own affinity for the fermented food.

Luke's quest for quality kraut came from a desire to reconnect with his family heritage – German and Slavik on his father's side and was inspired by the way his Oma made her sauerkraut.

Cravings for his hometown ethnic foods motivated Drew to make his own sausage, pierogis and sauerkraut after moving away from Cleveland after college. Growing up running his mother's Cleveland-based farmers markets pushed him to use the highest quality ingredients available.

After experimenting with various recipes and fermenting techniques, they realized the sauerkraut they were making was surprisingly better than the usual suspects being offered in the grocery stores. Their fresh, crunchy, unpasteurized, probiotic sauerkraut, like grandma made, just wasn't available on the market. So they decided to create one – right where Drew grew up – at the local farmer's markets. It took a year of fine-tuning, with the help of constant feedback from customers, friends, and family before they were ready to launch their brand label line of sauerkrauts. What better place to start than right here in Cleveland, where people know good sauerkraut.

To us, Cleveland embodies a spirit of quality, hard work, and authenticity. These are all traits that we reinforce every day when we produce our sauerkraut and run our business. We are proud to embrace the city of Cleveland on our labels.

Join Ritzfit FREE for 14 days

Show Notes Ep. 134 – Drew Anderson of Cleveland Kraut

The man behind Cleveland Kraut, who is Drew Anderson? (3:05)

How did he get involved with sauerkraut? (3:58)

Drew shares the process behind his products and the sourcing of them. (8:55)

Do they have plans to get the "Certified Organic" label for their products? (12:02)

Mark shares his experience with the product line and Drew shares their top sellers. (15:06)

Peeling back the label: What does the fermentation process look like? (17:14)

How to spot POOR practices and shop INTELLIGENTLY for kraut. (21:15)

Drew introduces the product line and their ingredients. (23:50)

When you are holding the products in your hands and looking at the label, what one thing makes you the proudest? (33:45)

Featured Guest

• Drew Anderson (@TheGiantDrew) | Twitter
• Cleveland Kraut (@clekraut) • Instagram

Related Links/Products Mentioned

• Cleveland Kraut: Crafted Fermentations - https://www.clevelandkraut.com/
• Clean Fifteen - https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/clean-fifteen.php
• Flash pasteurization - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_pasteurization
• Regular Consumption of Sauerkraut and Its Effect on Human Health: A Bibliometric Analysis - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4268643/
• Sauerkraut: bacteria making food - https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/lab-rat/the-science-of-sauerkraut-bacterial-fermentation-yum/

People Mentioned

• Michael Symon (@chefsymon) • Instagram

After first encountering sipping chocolate in Oaxaca Mexico in 2012, Jonas founded the bean to bar dark chocolate company, Firefly Chocolate, in 2014, with the mission of inspiring awe and wonder through cacao. Always with a focus on health, he initially launched 85% dark chocolate in a variety of flavors, sweetened with low glycemic coconut sugar. He also pioneered a bio-regional wild harvested chocolate bar, celebrating bay nuts, a food used by the native peoples of the SF Bay Area.

Jonas crafts unsweetened ceremonial grade cacao that is used in cacao ceremonies around the world. He hosts cacao ceremony monthly with his men's circle, during which they drink cacao and then practice embodied wrestling.

Become a Ritzfit member FREE for 14 days!

In the episode...

• Where did the name Firefly come from? (4:25)
• Where did his passion come from and did he see himself becoming a chocolatier? (6:00)
• Mark and Tierney share their favorite blessings from the various chocolate bars they received. (9:15)
• The importance of the sourcing of the ingredients and where they come from. (12:19)
• As a consumer, how can we pinpoint the proper sourcing of cacao? (15:28)
• Is his product scalable right now? (17:06)
• What does his process look like making his cacao into chocolate? (18:40)
• What does the sugar content look like in his chocolate blends? How to shop for dark chocolate in your local grocery store. (21:15)
• Are his products designed as a drinking chocolate? Why not use cacao powder? (24:15)
• Jonas introduces the product line and how customers can use the blends/products. (28:18)
• When he is holding his products in his hands, which one makes him the proudest? (36:30)
• Can you get high from consuming too much chocolate? (39:10)

Featured Guest

• Firefly Chocolate (@firefly_chocolate) • Instagram
• Firefly Cacao (@cacaoceremony) • Instagram

Related Links/Products Mentioned

• Website: https://ceremonial-cacao.com/
• The Importance of Regenerative Agriculture in a Warming World - http://socialcapitalmarkets.net/2017/11/the-importance-of-regenerative-agriculture-in-a-warming-world/
• How Bean to Bar Chocolate Is Made - https://cocoarunners.com/explore/bean-to-bar/
• Heavy metal concentrations in cocoa beans - http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/979/1/012011/pdf
• What's the Difference Between Ceremonial Cacao & Regular Cacao Powder? - https://medium.com/@romanypope/whats-the-difference-between-ceremonial-cacao-regular-cacao-powder-56937616119e
• Nutritional Difference Between Roasted & Raw Cacao Beans - https://www.livestrong.com/article/461877-nutritional-difference-between-roasted-raw-cacao-beans/

No Diet Podcast Show Notes Ep. 132 – Noelle Kovary

• Who is Noelle Kovary and what does she do for a living? (3:30)
• What is Ayurveda? (5:15)
• What inspired her to get into this practice? (9:15)
• What are the exact reasons people are coming to her and are they seeing results? The difficulty switching from Western to Eastern Medicine approach. (14:40)
• Why she describes herself as a "good witch doctor hell-bent on healing the imbalance in people's lives." (17:30)
• How can one figure out their doshas? (20:17)
• What is the importance of balancing your doshas? How long does it take to re-balance? (23:25)
• What types of foods can we consume to balance our doshas? (26:40)
• RitzFit Rapid Fire Round! (31:40)

Join Ritzfit FREE for 14 days!

Featured Guest

• Ayurveda & Lifestyle Leader (@noellekovary) • Instagram/Twitter
• Website: http://www.noellekovary.com/

Related Links/Products Mentioned

• What Is Ayurveda? - https://nccih.nih.gov/health/ayurveda/introduction.htm
• Gitelman syndrome - https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/gitelman-syndrome
• The Key to Perfect Health - https://chopra.com/articles/the-key-to-perfect-health?_ga=2.66035182.1196036163.1530061558-1920554481.1530061558
• Dosha Quiz - The Chopra Center - https://chopra.com/sites/default/files/DoshaQuiz.pdf
• Vital Proteins: Collagen Protein Powder and Beef Gelatin - https://www.vitalproteins.com/
• SmartSweets - Kick Sugar, Keep Candy! - https://smartsweets.com/
• Functional Tea Variety Pack by Wise Ape - Member Savings $16 - https://ritzfit.com/
• Hemplete - Whole Food Vegan Hemp Protein Bars - https://hemplete.com/
• Align Therapy Podcast - https://aligntherapy.com/podcast/

People Mentioned

• Abraham Wolke (@abrahamwolke) • Instagram
• Jeannette Ogden (@shutthekaleup) • Instagram