EP05: Holistic Hilda - Walking in God's Good Way

We thoroughly enjoyed sitting down with our friend Hilda Labrada Gore - or Holistic Hilda as she is most well known - for a fabulous discussion on her path to God-given foods, her favorite podcasts she's produced as host of the Wise Traditions Podcast, her adventures around the world, and how she sees God’s hand in the world around her.  She is a truly amazing and inspiring woman with so many stories to share! 

If you are already friends with Hilda, you’re going to learn some new and very cool things about her.  And if you’re just meeting her for the first time you will thoroughly enjoy hearing her story!


Resources mentioned on the show:
Holistic Hilda's Website
Holistic Hilda's Instagram
Holistic Hilda's Youtube
Holistic & Happy - A Holistic Hilda Event at Polyface Farm - June 10, 2023
Wise Traditions Podcast
 
Podcast: Biohacking our Health with Thaddeus Owen
Hilda’s Favorite Podcast:  Your Life is Your Medicine with Cassie Huckaby 
Book:  The Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Keith 
Podcast:  Holistic Health with Will Winter 
Book:  Vegetarianism Explained by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride 
Podcast:  Vegetarianism Explained with Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride 
Find a WAPF Chapter and Good Food Near YOU! 
Farm Match 
Force of Nature Meats
Hilda’s Favorite Bible Verse Jeremiah 6:16 
Book: The Bordeaux Kitchen by Tania Teschke 
Switzerland Trip with Tania Teschke  

This episode is brought to you by our wonderful friends at Simply Ghee! They offer delicious, rich, nutrient-dense ghee - providing butter that doesn't have the tummy-bothering lactose that cause digestive issues for so many.
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Episode Chapters:
06:00  The Making of Holistic Hilda
11:58  The Teeth Tell the Tale
16:35  Trading Convenience for Good Health
19:51  It's Not Just the Food We Consume - It's Also What We Take In
21:07  God Uses Nature to Point Us to Him
35:48  We Were Made to Create
36:39  Hilda's Favorites
43:12  Thank you Hilda - We Can't Wait to See What's Next!


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God's Good Table website
God's Good Table Resources
God's Good Table Blog
God's Good Table I

 Today's podcast is brought to you by Redmond Real Salt, which is some of the purest salt on earth. Unrefined, unprocessed & packed with more than 60 trace minerals. Great products, great company and really great people. So you use code GGT15 to get 15% off your order at Redmond.life. 

Transcript

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0:39

Hi! I am so happy to be here today with my friend Hilda, Hilda Labrada Gore, Hilda, it's so nice to see you. How are you doing? Good to see you too. I'm doing well, Maureen. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited. I remember when God's Good Table was a dream you had, and now it's become reality, so congratulations. Thank you. We're working on it and we're really excited about 2023. So, um, I don't remember when I first met you, but I've known you for a number of years through Weston A Price, and of course, uh, many people know you as Holistic Hilda from The Wise Traditions podcast. And we'll talk a little bit about that. I think that's such a cool business that you've got going and I wanna hear all about where that came from. But first I wanna, I want for you to tell us a little bit about yourself and your background and how you came to be Holistic Hilda. Um, so my story starts before I was born, Maureen, you might remember this, but I was born with a birth defect, and even before I was born, the doctors had a feeling this was gonna happen. My mom was exposed to the German measles and being vitamin A deficient. All these things contributed, and the doctors were like, we think. Your baby is going to be born, either unable to speak or see or hear. They told my mother. And they actually suggested she not have me at all, but I'm so grateful that she did because, so are we ? I mean, yes, I was born with a birth defect, but it was repairable and I think no one. You know, judge the value of a life before it's even come onto the planet, in my opinion, because I'm so grateful to be alive. So what happened was, um, they detected a hole in my heart between the lower two ventricles, so the blood was flowing and a direction it shouldn't flow. And. It wasn't properly oxygenating and all the things, and so the doctors were like, we need to do open heart surgery on this kid, but we're gonna wait till she's a little bigger, see if the hole gets any bigger. So they kind of monitor me for years and when I was nine years old, they literally cut open my solar plexus, you know, froze my body, sewed up the heart, put me back together again. And then they were like, okay, now you can do whatever you want. And I was like, oh my gosh. Like what do I wanna do? Well, first I wanted to thank God because I really did have faith, even as a little child. And I was like, I feel like He protected me in the womb. Yeah. And then He used the surgeon skill to save my life. So, I'm completely committed to Him. I even have a big scar on my chest in the shape of a cross to remind me I'm His, you know, . That was the first thing I wanted to do. It was probably an early magnet to draw me to God. And then the second thing I wanted to do was to take care of the body. I mean, the Bible says the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, so I wanted to take care of it. So it would last a long time, maybe because I had that fragile start. I was like, I'm gonna do the best I can by it. So first I thought Maureen, it was just all about exercise. Eat whatever you want, just burn it off, you know, get strong physically, and that's not a bad place to be, to move. Okay, that's good. But I knew nothing about nutrition until I came across the Weston Price Foundation, and then the rest is kind of history. Yeah. So how did you find the Weston a Price Foundation? And how long ago was that? So, A good friend of mine got chronic fatigue, and I think this was, I guess it was in the nineties. Um, and she was so sick and doctors couldn't help her at all. So she's like, maybe I'll start tweaking my diet. Diet. She tried Macrobiotics. Yeah, she tried, you know, vegetarianism, she tried all the things and then she met Sally Fallon Morrell at a health fair, and she thought, Oh my goodness, this woman is older, but she's glowing with health. I want what she has. And Sally was so gracious, she gave her a copy of Nourishing Traditions. She didn't comment on the fact that my friend looked orange cuz of all the carrots she was eating. No lies. She was totally orange. She didn't comment on the color of the skin. She just gave her the book. And so my friend Lisa, started to read these things and then she started kind of whispering in my ear, Hilda, what you eat matters. And I was like, huh. But because I was a Christian, I was like, wait a minute, wait a minute. This makes sense that the most whole real foods would nourish us best and what man makes is a pale imitation of that, you know? So it resonated with me, but I didn't change everything all at once. I think I was like, hmm. I was a little bit like, you know, the Chinese have the year, the dragon, the year the ox. I was like, okay, I'm gonna just change one thing a year. So for my first year was the year of butter, and then later it was like fewer processed foods and so on. It's almost like I was going through the wise traditions, principles, and I guess, I guess that was in. The early two thousands. I mean, it's hard to remember now, but I've definitely been involved for over 15 years and I started the podcast like seven years ago. Yeah. And that podcast is such a massive blessing and success. I mean, it really is. I listen to it while I'm driving down the road and I share it with others and, um, I just think it's fabulous and, and I do want to talk about that. So, but before we talk about that, I want to talk about just a little bit further, because eventually you became Holistic Hilda. Was that Oh, yes. Before or after? That's a good question. So I was a fitness professional. That was my first thing. I was teaching exercise classes three or four times a week. I was all about, Then when I started learning about nutrition, I, um, became a member of the Weston Price Foundation, and I got certified by the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, IIN to get my Health Coach certification. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So then I was like, okay. So I started coaching people individually. And then I was like, oh, this is taking a long time, because you might have, let's say, emotional eating issues and someone else had, you know, uh, wanted to lose weight or whatever. And so I felt like I was helping all these people with all these different things, and I thought if only I could help a lot of people at once. Yeah. And like what happened was, if you really wanna know the whole story, I just, I'll synthesize it, but Sally Fallon Morrell, got wind of the fact that in Kenya, a Maasai warrior had heard of the Weston Price Foundation and he said, please send someone over. We're all getting sick. This is a Messai warrior. This is the, the tribe known for their hearty resilience. They're tall and strong. You know, they win races, these Kenyans, these Maasai, but he's like, we're all getting sick. He said, I have diabetes. My wife has asthma. He had seen the physical degeneration of his own children because they had left their wise, healthy eating traditions. So he said, send someone over. So Sally put a note in the journal saying, I need two volunteers to go. And I was the first one to raise my hand. That's all there is to it. Remember doing that, yeah. Yeah. Right, right. So I was like, I raised my hand and the funny thing is Sally was like, oh, I just think. Yeah, maybe a couple people will be interested. Well, the, the office got flooded by requesting people saying, I'll go. I'll go. Because it seems like such a wonderful opportunity to meet indigenous people and to share the wise news, not, don't eat the American way, eat your way. Like such a privilege. Yeah. So I remember even saying to Sally in the early times, this was about 2015, I was like, um, Do you wanna like screen these people so you can pick who goes? And she's like, no, no, no. First come, first serve. So I was like, yes. So that meant I was in . So this is where I got the idea, Maureen, to do a podcast because I had my little phone with me and I met this Maasai elder, not the one who contacted us, but an older man in his tribe. And I was like, I wanna hear this man's story. So I grabbed my phone. I pushed voice memo record, and I started interviewing him through a translator, and I said, what did you eat when you were a child? He's like, whatever we could catch. Like it was, they were hunting, you know, and they were nomadic, and he's like, And, and, and I said, and what did you do if you got sick? He's like, we never got sick. We were so well, he said If we felt a shiver coming out, we could just drink milk from the cow. And he demonstrated like drinking straight from the teeth. Like it was amazing. And so when I got back from that trip, I said to the, to Sally and the foundation, I said, You all should lift up these voices and I think you should have a podcast and I can host and produce it. And that was the beginning of that. And I do have the moniker, Holistic Hilda. Um, a friend of mine just kind of dubbed me that one time in a studio. He's like, oh, you're Holistic Hilda. And I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, okay. You know, and then, um, I was gonna start a website cuz the foundation was like, just work for us part-time and then build your own business. I was like, okay. So I was gonna start a website and the name I had for it was horrible. My website guy is like, that sounds like an H M O. That does not sound good. I think it was like Holistic Health Network or something. It's like, no, no, no, no. And I was like, well, my friend calls me Holistic Hilda and he's like, that's it. Because its memorable, and I'm not trying to make it all about me, but my hope is that I will be a signpost pointing people in the direction of healthy, holistic living based on ancestral wisdom. You know, that is of course, God-given. So like my goal is just to use the name and the brand to point people in the right direction. Yeah. Well, and I think that you're doing that and you're doing that very well. And you touched on, um, just a little bit, um, how the principles that you and I have espoused for years. Are rooted in God's word and you're seeing that too. So you've had the real wonderful blessing of being able to travel all over the world and see cultures that are, that are eating vastly different diets like Dr. Price saw. And being touched by modern food systems in a negative way. But I wonder, do you wanna tell us about some of your travels and what you've seen and experienced? They have been. Maasai was a fabulous opening, but you've been so many neat places.. I have. I have. And it's, they've all made a huge impact on me. I feel so grateful to have experienced some of these things because I thought it was great, the work, Dr. Price did, but I was like, I wanna see it with my own eyes. Like once I went to Kenya, I was like, I've gotta keep going. I've gotta keep going. Yeah. So I've been to Australia, obviously, uh, Peru, Ecuador, recently Mongolia, and I, I guess I'll just share a couple of the highlights. So, Oh my goodness. It's hard to know where to start. But I will say in Peru, I remember going into this region called Aiha, up in these mountains. Mm-hmm.. And it was very far from modernity. Uh, now there was a little school up there. Um, but for example, the children were having chicken feet as a snack. I remember looking in the little window and seeing, oh my gosh, in the cafeteria they have a snack of chicken feet. They also had some government sent food, which who knows what was in all that stuff, but I was glad to see they still had some traditions and I remember. Their faces were so round and beautiful, which as you know, Dr. Price noted that the people who ate their traditional foods were hail and hardy, and they had room for all their teeth. They didn't have crowded teeth. They didn't have high incidences of cavities. Yeah. And he said, the teeth tell the tales. So I could see by their round faces how healthy these children were. And I couldn't help but notice days later when I was down in Lima, in the capitol of Peru, And I would see university students, and I saw the contrast of how narrow their faces were, how pale they were compared to these children, still close to their roots. So the university students are living a, a more traditional lifestyle. They're in front of their blue light computers, you know, they're kind of slouched over, they're frail looking. Whereas these little kids were like hail and hardy with the ruddy cheeks and you know, just, it was such a different thing and it just, yeah, this is exactly what Dr. Price noted too, that there is a degeneration that happens when we leave the traditional healthy lifestyle ways and Yeah. Shift to modern. Yeah. Yeah. He wrote about all of that in Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, and it's so clear because it did not take people long after moving away from their traditional diets and not necessarily even giving up all of their traditional foods. But displacing nutrients with what he called the food of modern commerce, right? Yep, that's exactly right. And if you get that book, Nutrition And Physical Degeneration, even if you don't read it, um, because Dr. Price was a researcher, so it's kind of in depth and stuff. Look at those pictures. Once you look, you can't turn back. You can't unsee it. You see the health plainly on the faces of the people and the same, right where I am. So right now, as you know, it's Christmas time and it wasn't too long ago, I was at a little, uh, choir presentation and the children were all singing and I looked at them, Maureen, and I was like, our children are sick. They look so sick. They looked pale. Some of them had glasses. You know, they have behavioral issues and some people might just say, oh, that's normal. That's kids today. Yes. It might be common, but it's not normal. Normal is a healthy disposition, a happy outlook. You know, when you're well-nourished, you're optimistic. Your mood is good, your behavior is good, and so it, it's not rocket science, but I do think whether you get Nutrition And Physical Degeneration or Sally's book, Nourishing Traditions, yeah, it's returning to the simple, good foods, God's good table that can really nourish you so that your body can have the tools to build properly. So don't think, oh, my child's seven or my child's 10, it's too late for him or her. No, it's not. It's not you any, right now is the time. As they say, you know, the best time to plant a tree was yesterday. The second best time is today. So you can go back in time, you know, but you can feed your family well now. And so when I became involved with the Weston Price Foundation, let's say about you know, 15 years ago, um, I gradually transitioned, like I said, with butter. Started, uh, getting broth. I didn't know how to make broths, so I just got it from a farm, you know? Yeah. From these Amish in Pennsylvania. And little by little I started transforming our table to have more nourishing foods and you would think, oh, the kids would complain. My family was delighted because this food tastes good too. So that's one of the secrets for, for healthy living, is returning to these gifts from God. Yeah, they truly are God-given gifts. And, uh, epigenetics of course is that study where you can, uh, track and see how past generations influenced the next and future generations. Uh, Dr. Pottinger saw that with cats in his studies. Dr. Price saw it and we can see it as well. Yeah, it's really important. One of the questions that often comes to my mind when I see people, kids especially, um, but families going out and eating junk and feeding their families this processed, devoid of nutrient, fake food. I wanna say, why do you eat? Mm-hmm., it seems like. Like a stupid question, but if you don't think about why we're designed to eat and you're just eating to fill your bellies, then you're really missing the point, aren't you? Mm-hmm.. Mm-hmm.. But you also touched on how this, uh, this So why do we need to put chemicals in fake stuff and call it food and feed it to our families? Because, God designed us to eat food, not just for pleasure, but to build and maintain health. Yeah, it's just like we get everything backwards I think. Yeah. Um, we're bombarded by advertisements that make it seem like pizza is fun. And, and, and actually McDonald's was very strategic in putting their little play centers at their fast food restaurants cuz they realize if we get the kids in here, we'll get the parents and the grandparents all coming in. And uh, yeah. Speaking of parents and grandparents, like. I know for my parents' generation, eating out was a treat. It was only occasional. Yeah. But now people lead out two or three times a week, and I think, they are just trying to fill their bellies. I think you really hit the nail on the head, Maureen, because they're rushing from soccer practice to the kids' piano recital. You know, there's so much fast, you know, fast-paced living that we're trading convenience for good health, and we don't realize it's a trade-off. It's, it's kind of the devil's, you know, game of, the word in Spanish is[you know], he's tricking us and making us think this is all good and glittery and wonderful, and it's inexpensive. You know, a dollar menu, yeah, that's inexpensive. But in the time it takes you to get the whole family in the car, to get to McDonald's, to even to run through the drive-through to get home, eat on the go. You could have used some eggs and just kind of whipped them up with some butter and had some berries for dessert. And that's a great solid, a much more nourishing meal, dare I say, than the fries and all those pseudo foods that you'll get at any fast food place. Yeah, and then the outcome, of course, is vastly different, so totally. Yeah. And I, and we wonder why our kids are misbehaving. And sometimes I think they're just freaking hungry. You know, I, I just told a story recently to a friend of mine that, um, my husband was an educator in the public school system here in DC for some time. And there was this kid that kept misbehaving. He was like stealing cookies from the teacher's desk and all this. And they found out later he wasn't trying to be bad. He was just hungry. He was just hungry. And we know cookies wouldn't last him very long anyway. But, you know, half the time when kids are acting out, it's just that their brains aren't firing properly because they need more of those healthy fats and the good protein, and they're just overloaded with carbs that, you know, disappear in a second with a lot of sugar and. And additives. Yeah. That cause the brain to misfire. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and I saw that too. I worked, I taught part-time in our children's private school for two years. Mm-hmm., and I was just appalled. It was very difficult for me to handle at times In particular when there were a couple of kids, um, really sweet, tenderhearted kids and they were medicated and they'd come in with Skittles and Mountain Dew and sit down and either fall asleep, or literally get up and climb the walls. And one was having massive meltdowns and, but they're, they're medicated. Yes. They're not being fed. They're being placated. And unfortunately, one of those kids was kicked out because he, he was dangerous. He actually became dangerous, but his heart wasn't that way. He never intended to harm anyone. He just couldn't control himself cuz he was on all this fake food. And then given medications, , we just need food, we need God and we need good food. Right, totally. And speaking of medication, I feel like, we as adults are, you know, modeling to these little ones, um, how to live, right? So sometimes we medicate ourselves by numbing out watching shows or scrolling mindlessly on our devices. Yes. And this is a type of medication and addiction. Yes. So I suggest, you know, as they say, physician heal thyself. Like, instead of like trying to fix your kid and like, oh my gosh, why is my son having a meltdown again? You know, it's like, what are you doing? How are you present? How are you engaged? So I wanna say, diet isn't just the food we consume, it's also everything we take in. So pay attention. Yeah. And don't, don't judge yourself. I'm not trying to, you know, get down on someone who likes to be on Instagram or you know, TikTok or whatever. Okay. There's maybe a place and time for that. But, just notice, observe yourself and try to engage more in real life because you may be medicating yourself as well, and maybe you need to have more nourishment in your body as well, whether it's physical nourishment with food, or you know, spiritual nourishment with the word of God and community. You know, look for what, what holes are you trying to fill by numbing out with these devices? Yeah. And one of the things that I know you do, which I've been adopting in in bite size pieces is grounding, getting out barefoot, soaking up the morning sunshine. I tend to soak up the noon-ish sunshine. But, um, that's something too that, that is important. The physical exercise. The physical movement taking in the beauty of nature around us instead of the screens whatsoever, whatever is on our screens. But you do the ice water baths too. I've seen that. I haven't gone that far. Which is totally fine. I like to say baby steps, right? Like just, yeah, start where you're at. But I will say this, I was all about the nutrition and I was all about the movement, and I didn't get the nature piece, you know? We are a part of nature, not apart from nature. Unfortunately, a lot of us work at computers or we're inside our homes all day long, and I didn't know what I was missing, you know? And the Bible says that heavens declare the handy work of God. So I suggest since we're gonna, you know, disengage from our medicating devices, like engage with nature like this is. It's a game changer. When I was in Ecuador, I met a, a healer who was talking about how healing the waters were and all these things, and I was like, oh my gosh, they're right. Like God has given us nature to point us to Him. It lowers our cortisol or stress levels. It, and that earth actually has energy that can heal us. It's like these negative ions. Yeah. That like clasp on to free radicals and help us avoid cancer. These are things that some of the guests on the Wise Traditions Podcast have told me, and they used to go over my head, but I heard it enough from different people that I like finally sunk in. I was like, oh, the Earth is on our side. You know? Yeah. I need to get out in it more. So, yes, I think it was Thaddeus Owen on one episode, I think I called it, Biohacking Our Health, that just challenged me. He was like, Hilda, get outside for two weeks, within 45 minutes to an hour of sunrise and just get some of that sunrise light in your eyes. And it shifted. My circadian rhythm made my. Sleep more profound, gave me more energy, like all the things. So I'm a big nature girl too. I mean, I, I work obviously, you know, I'm like you, I'm a podcaster. I'm doing my things inside, but I take sun breaks. I get outside often. I walk my dog, I do things to make sure I get outside. And if there's a, a mom listening or a, a dad listening who's like, oh my gosh. It just gets so harried and crazy in our household. And we were talking about how to help our children take 'em outside with you know, just be like, Hey you guys, let's all get a little sun break right now. I don't care how cold it is. And it'll kind of shift the energy and kind of help everybody kind of decompress a little bit. You'll see it's a game changer. I mean, I wish my kids were still a little, they're a little big for me to be like, Hey, everybody let's go outside. But, um, but you know, there's, there's lots of ways in which nature is for us, and I think it's because it's another one of God's gifts. Yeah. And when we think about it, up until maybe 75 years ago, people lived inside, outside. They didn't live in constant comfort with, uh, you know, a constant temperature of 70 degrees and low humidity. They lived inside and outside in nature, and they were, they were outside a lot because homes in many cultures still today and have traditionally been where you slept. Where you came in from maybe the rain and the snow and where you prepared food and sat and ate together, but it wasn't where you spent your time every day. Oh my gosh, that's so true. I was just in Mongolia. It was such a blessing. I got to go with Mary Reddick and the people live, many Mongolians, that are in the outskirts, not in Ula Batar, which is a capital city that has like, you know, whatever, 500,000 people that live there, or maybe 700,000, um, but in the outskirts and, and it's a very vast country. People live in yurts, or gers, these, you know, round structures that are very simple. And just as you said, Maureen, they simply have beds and a word burning or a manure burning stove in the middle. And um, so there's a little place to cook and a little place to sleep, and that's it. And people are in and out all the time because they're milking the yak or they're, you know, herding their camels. And so they're not inside all the time. We weren't meant to be inside all the time, so we're missing the gifts that come with nature. So yeah, I'm, I'm big on that and I'm glad to hear that you are too, because it really is a blessing and it's better for our bodies, even if you don't cold plunge like I do sometimes. Even if you just get outside and it's a cold day. If you're outside, you know, 15, 20 minutes, your body's working to keep you warm and that's good. It's good for the metabolism, it's good for the little mitochondria, the little engines in your cells. It kind of wakes everything up. Yeah. And so we need that so you don't have to cold plunge or go skiing to expose your body to the ambient temperatures and get the benefit from it. Yeah. And uh, our kids were raised on a farm, so we were outside every day milking the cow, feeding the chicken, butchering, gardening, and all of that. And now, here where we live now, I, I really miss that and I, I'll tell you, I, my spirit craves nature. I just want to be outside and I get frustrated pretty much every day that I can't just be working outside doing the things I do, but I have lots of windows, so I bring it in, but that's right. But I think it, as you're saying, it's best for all of us to spend as much time as possible and make it a priority to be outside and in our bare feet. Yes, that grounding and who was it? Wasn't there a theologian of years past who said God has given us two books, the Bible and Creation. Like it really is, it's a beautiful thing that points to the creator. There's so much curiosity and and fun play that can occur when you do these things. When you get outside barefoot, I mean, look at most adults, I don't know the last time most of them went barefoot. Maybe when they're on vacation, you know, but other than that, they're not doing it. And it's, it's very healing. It is hard when it's cold and you have to be careful cuz you don't wanna get frostbite, right?. But there are ways with wool socks, or I have a little grounding straps or sometimes put on my shoes. You know, there are ways in which to get the earth's energy, cuz it's there to give it to you, it's there to serve you. Just like food is, it's there to nourish you. Yeah. Grounding straps. Now, that's something I haven't seen, so that I'm curious, I may not. Zero shoes, right? Yes. Yeah. I like the zero shoes. So yeah, sometimes my husband's like, Hilda, you're just, I don't know what's happening with you. He's like, what's happening? Because I apply a lot of the things I hear from the experts on the show, cuz I'm like, why not? I wanna live my best and the healthiest life. So I interviewed Steven Sashin, the founder of Zero Shoes, and he talked about how, when you give arch support to the foot, it's almost like a crutch, and then your foot expects it all the time, better to like challenge it without that. So I have a lot of minimalist shoes, which is great, but they don't have a grounding feature. So what that means is the rubber is interfering with my, my body, getting the energy it needs, so I'm not really barefoot, right? So you either wear leather shoes, like moccasins, like Native Americans and indigenous people have done for, you know, eons, or you get this little grounding strap. So I bought 'em from my friend Thaddeus Owen the Primal Hacker, and I'm about to sell some on my site cuz it's just a little thing you can do so you don't miss that opportunity because Yeah, as growing up, you also, I live in the city, you don't wanna step on glass, you're kind of cautious, but these are a way to kind of, work around, you know, the barriers between us and nature. Yeah, that's really neat. Last week I was in Tennessee and it was really cold, but I went out every morning, I was at an Airbnb working, um, in between stops and um, I walked in the damp grass every morning and, um, splashed in puddles, which were ice cold. And I actually found that I liked it. Hey, I dunno that I could do the whole, yet the whole plunge, the entire body into it. Although maybe I, maybe it wouldn't be that hard, but. I don't think it would be that hard. You could totally do it, but just remember that you don't have to go that far to like get the benefit of, of cold thermogenesis as they call it. You know, some of us like to be extreme just because it's like, it's like a rollercoaster ride. Like, ah, so scary. Oh my gosh. It's also exhilarating. You know, it's both things. Um, but I don't do it every single day. Like I try to be balanced about it, you know? So, yeah. Yeah. Well, I want to know, do you have a favorite podcast or a favorite person that you've interviewed, A favorite topic that you've done? You know, all of them have been so amazing and definitely contributed to my vibrant health, I'll say. But I love the one with Dr. Cassie Huckabee, and that was in 2022, I think. Yeah, it was just this year that I interviewed her in May, I think, and we called it Your Life Is Your Medicine because she has this really special perspective saying whatever you do, it's your medicine. So it could be good, it could be not so good, you know? So let's say I spend, you know, all day, nine to five in front of the computer and I get home and I just grab a pizza and I'm, then I'm watching tv, like that's my medicine. Is it serving me though? Like these are the kind of questions Cassie asked and I just found it. Very, um, eye-opening and beautiful and a good question for us all to pose to ourselves like, how am I living? How is it serving me? And so I just thought that was great. She and Tommy John, um, he's Dr. Tommy John. He's a, he's a former chiropractor. I say former cuz he burned his degree cuz he is like, degrees, mean nothing. He's like, experience is the best book. So if someone's listening to me right now and is like, I don't know about that cold adaptation thing, or I don't know if I wanna start eating butter, you know, I've always heard that it's you know, bad for your cholesterol levels or whatever. Well try it, and you know, like my friend Thaddeus Owen challenged me. Try it for a couple weeks and see how you feel, because then you'll know N equals one. You are the most important person to know if something serves your body well or not. You know, they can always cite all the studies for any case. Like, well, vegans live longer. No vegetarians do, no meat eaters do, you know there are all these fights online? And I'm like, I just stay outside the fray cuz I'm like, this is working for me and I want people to try it out and to see if it'll work for them. They should pay attention to their own bodies and what resonates with them emotionally, spiritually, but then also really what works for them physically. Yeah. And an aspect of, of that, uh, who lives longer, so what if you live longer, if you don't live better? Hmm, good point. Yeah. And I think that when we're eating the food that God intended us to eat and not avoiding those things that are actually good for us, not only can we live longer. But even if we didn't, we live happier, better because we feel better and we can do more. Right? Totally. And I know so many stories. I interviewed Dr. Leah Keith, who wrote The Vegetarian Myth. I interviewed, I think it was Will Winter, who said he used to be a vegetarian. He was also a veterinarian, I was like, were you a Presbyterian? Like joking around. But anyway, , um, so he was a vegetarian veterinarian. and he got into a barroom brawl. I don't know if you know the story, Maureen. I don't know that one. Yeah. He got into a fight with somebody and the guy knocked him over so easily and he was like, okay, I'm done with this. Because he realized the vegetarian diet wasn't building him. And actually I interviewed Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride on the subject too, cuz she wrote a book called Vegetarianism Explained. Yeah. And she said vegetarianism is great for detoxing and cleansing, but it's not a building diet. So you might wanna try something like that for a short time to detox, but you can't long-term do well because your body won't get the fat soluble activators and the nutrients. It won't benefit from the nutrients you're taking in if it doesn't have a way to build. So, yeah, um, it's really important to pay attention to how, and you'll see how your body responds; at first people get on the vegetarianism kick. And I get why they're like, oh, this planet is dying, I wanna save it. That's a great heart intention, but maybe not. Well, not even maybe. I don't believe that stopping eating meat is gonna help turn that around. Mm-hmm.. Um, as Diana Rogers says, it's not the cow, it's the how. So we're managing them poorly and that's creating some issues, but we need to give them the good life they deserve, the animals. And that happens through regenerative sustainable agriculture. And then you can eat them in good conscience. As Sally Fall Morrell says, the animal only has one bad day. And even then it wants to offer itself as a sacrifice to you. Yeah. And so everything, for us to live, something has to die. And that's just the nature of this world that God has put us on. So anyway, that's a little side note, but I'm just trying to say like, yeah, there's, you need to pay attention to what works for your body and what serves you well, and I think yes, eating a well-rounded diet as Dr. Price found so many years ago, is really what's gonna help your body stay strong and vibrant. Yeah. What I'm curious about what you grew up with, you are, um, you are Hispanic Yeah. In ethnicity. So I'm wondering did you grow up on a traditional Mexican diet or. Thanks for asking. It's a great question. So my mom is from Mexico. My dad is from Cuba. They came to the, they met, married, and stayed. Um, and they brought some of their traditions, but they left others behind. So, my father, for example, would have real foods for breakfast. He would've eggs and grapefruit like every morning. That was his little routine. But, um, at first dinner was like arroz con pollo, so like chicken and rice or picadillo which is this like meat dish from Cuba. Amazing. That all the time. I still, I make it all the time too. I love it. I know, you know, cuz you're married to a Cuban, so I love these foods. But then my parents divorced when I was about 11 and the next thing I knew it was, uh, frozen dinners. Oh. And um, and so our diet went downhill and we did not get the building blocks we needed to be healthy. Now we were slim, my sisters and I, but also slim doesn't equate healthy either, I came to find out. Um, so unfortunately, yeah, they left some things behind. And, they were also persuaded by the low fat movement, so they thought, oh, we better get margarine and better skim off the fat from the picadillo. And you know, my mom even grew up eating tortillas made with lard, so she should have known better, but you know, again, again, and the ads kind of switch you around. So, yeah, unfortunately, yeah, they made some shifts. But I, I've returned to, you know, full fat, nourishing foods cooking in the kitchen, and I've found it's actually super rewarding. I do believe because we were made in God's image and he's a creator, we were meant to create things also and not just consume. So the problem with fast food, one of the other problems with it is, we're just taking in something. We didn't do anything. You know what I mean? Yeah. To, um, you're not investing in the meal, if you will. So I feel like it's really important to, you know, mirror our heavenly father by creating, whether it's, you know, making some aspect of your meal, it's actually super satisfying. Yeah. And to get in the kitchen and have your children alongside of you learning mm-hmm. and exploring with you, right? Yes. Um, Yeah. What kinds of foods are at your table now frequently, or what are your favorites? Oh, good question. Well, pica, picadillo was out there. Um, now what I do, because I know that our ancestors ate nose to tail, of course I've witnessed this in Kenya when they slaughtered a little goat and they were drinking the blood and eating the fresh organs and all the things, and some of that is hard for our Western palate. Right? So what I do is I. Meat from a farm where the organ meats are mixed in. Right. So I'll make, I've always done that. It's so wonderful. So I'll make hamburgers or I'll make picadillo, which is again, like a, a taco mix kind of thing with, you know, ground beef and whatnot. But I always have the organ meats mixed in, so I'm getting that benefit into my family and they don't even know it sometimes, the meatloaf, there it goes, the organ meats, you know. Um, so we love meat. I'm a very red meat kind of girl, so that'll often be on the table. We like to make sure we have ferments and if it's not a little side ferment, uh, vegetables, we'll have kombucha or something like that. A fermented drink. Um, we're not hugely big on vegetables, um, but I do like them when they're more, uh, the nutrients are more bioavailable through ferments. And we love our butter and our sourdough bread, our sourdough tortillas, we'll get those as well. Um, and broth, we just, yeah. We eat so well and we're so nourished. By the way, I will say this too. I used to be borderline hypoglycemic. Mm-hmm., so that means, I would like, um, eat breakfast, and then like two hours later I was like, I feel my blood sugar dip. I feel like kind of sweaty and almost dizzy. And I was like, what is happening? You know? Yeah. And I thought, well, I guess I'm just one of those people that needs to graze. No, no, no. When I upped my protein and fat at my meals, I found I could soar all day long. I don't need to eat, you know, more than one or two meals a day cuz I'm fine. Whereas before I was like, oh, I need to eat more. Because the breakfast I ate before I would get that crash would be like cereal with a splash of milk and a couple berries. There was nothing really hearty that was gonna sustain me in that. Right. Whereas now I'll have, what did I have this morning with my daughter? I had duck eggs with some sourdough bread and butter and some sausage from the farm and it, you feel like you've died and gone to heaven cuz it's so nourishing and so good and now I'm gonna be good till dinnertime, you know? So it's just, it's a wonderful way to live and eat. And if you think, oh gosh, where I live, I don't even know where I'd get farm fresh eggs or duck eggs. Find your local Weston a Price Foundation chapter leader. You can go to weston a price.org, click on Find Foods and local chapter. There's certainly bound to be someone near you that are even international chapters. And the only job of these volunteer chapter leaders is to help you find sources of real food; from farmers markets, from local farms, and so forth. So they're farm delivery companies like Farm match.com will help you find out who delivers near you. You can find a farmer and your life will never be the same. And it used to be I would buy. Little of my food from the farm and most from like Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. And then it was like more food from the farm and half from there. And now it's like all of it practically from the farm. And it's so wonderful. So little by little you're gonna get sucked in and you're gonna love it. Yeah. I, I love we, we raised most of our own food for most of my marriage. Um, but now we're buying from farms and I bought some meat from Force of Nature since I'm no longer raising it.. Yep. So I have the organ meat mixed in with the ground beef. Um, it's just how I do things and it makes us feel good, but you and I both really see that this is all God-given to help us to be well, um, so that we can serve instead of needing to be served, but we can go out and do the things that he wishes for us to do. So. God's word and God instruction has an impact on your life as well as mine. And you know, we're both, we talk about that, but mm-hmm. Do you have anything in particular that you think about that's really important to you about what God has to say or has revealed to us in his word about food and even the food and spiritual connection? Yeah, one of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 6 16 A, and it says, stand at the crossroads and look, ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is and walk in it and you will find rest for your souls. So, um, Matthew seven, seven I think is ask and shall be given to you. Seek and you shall find, knock on the door will be open to you. As believers, it's really important to ask questions and I'm not just saying that cuz I'm a podcaster and that's like one of my jobs when I interview people or like you're doing with me, Maureen, right now. I think we need to have curiosity. When you see a package on the supermarket shelf, before you grab it, think what's in this? Is there real food? Like if you go down the healthy aisle, there'll be all kinds of stuffs in boxes with all kinds of preservatives and artificial colors and stuff. Yeah. somebody's concocted that in the lab. Ask questions, is this really gonna serve me well or is it just gonna tide me over until the next snack or drink of coffee. So ask. Ask where the good way is God wants to answer. Like He is there for you. He's a loving, heavenly father who's not gonna give you a stone when you ask for bread. You know? So ask him for wisdom in this area. Some people say, I don't have the budget to eat organic. I can't eat this way, it's too expensive. I wanna tell you this, it's too expensive not to eat this way, it is gonna cost you your health and you're gonna spend all your money with doctors and chasing the next best treatment or supplement for your children. You wanna avoid that at all costs. You want to invest in your health with the best food possible that money can buy, so that you don't have to go down that route because it's also quite painful. So I suggest, you know, taking God up on his offer and ask him for wisdom. You will find, you will find, you will find Him first and foremost, which is the most satisfying thing of all to have that, yeah, hole in your spiritual heart filled by the Holy Spirit. So ask for Him to come to you, and He will. He is very faithful that way. But then ask Him for wisdom, every step you take in this realm of nourishing your family well, and He will answer. I agree 100%. I think that's a wonderful thought and one that we need to grab a hold of and perhaps one to close with. But before we close , I want to ask you what's coming up for you? Oh, thank you for asking hardly anybody asking what I'm doing besides the podcast podcast, which I love. So if people are looking for some of this information, just go to Wise Traditions Podcast. I think I've one episode on every dietary principle for the Wise Traditions diet. So there are 11 principles. I interview Sally Falmer morale, it's amazing. But for me, besides that, um, number one, I'm working on a book, which is really exciting. I should have it out in May of 2023. It's gonna be like, uh, a handbook of sorts for understanding what a healthy, holistic lifestyle looks like. And then the other thing is I'm gonna be traveling again with Mary Ruddick, um, that'll be in August. And I'm taking a trip to Switzerland with Tanya Teschke, the author of the Bordeaux Kitchen in July. And people are welcome to join me on that cuz my favorite thing is people. I'm like you, Maureen. I'm an extrovert. I wanna be with people all the time. So I am doing an event, now I'm remembering too, at Polyface June 10th, 2023. People can join me at that too. Because I don't wanna just talk about this stuff, I wanna live it out with others. So I hope folks will join me either June 10th or in July in Switzerland, and we'll find other ways to connect too. I'm sure. Yeah, I'd love to be in Switzerland with you as well, but hey, I really want to be, is France with Tanya, so. Ah, . I've always been a Francophile, so a Bordeaux Kitchen is on my shelf. Well, it's actually not on my shelf very often, it's usually out, hey, her experience and perspective. So that sounds really exciting. I love watching your travels. Your photos from Mongolia were stunning. Stunning. It's only because Mongolia is stunning. I was like, oh my gosh. Yeah, it was fantastic. Oh, and I hope to be putting YouTube videos up too, so I have a Holistic Hilda YouTube channel. So lots of ways people can connect and, and, and learn from my experiences. Cuz my goal, Maureen, as you probably know, is I'm a communicator. So it's not just to hold on to everything myself, but to spread it around. Yeah, that's us as well. And I can see that in you and always have known that. Yeah, so that's fantastic. Well, we're gonna keep watching. See where you go. And keep listening everybody. The Wise Traditions Podcast is really a fabulous podcast. And you know, I'll say one of the things I like about it, this is not the thing I like most, but one of the things that I do like about it is that unlike ours, which tend to go on for longer, , It's 30 minutes, so it's doable and it's very focused and so I appreciate that. Um, there's so many, how many episodes are there now? Like 400. It's crazy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Definitely worth checking out. So Wise Traditions Podcast hosted by Hilda Labrada Gore, I'm getting tongue tied. That's why I go by Holistic Hilda, cuz I'm like, that's too complicated. That is easier, isn't it, ? It is. Um, but I love the sound of your name when I can say it, right? Mm-hmm.. Anyway, we'll be watching. Thank you so much Hilda. I am just thrilled to have had this time with you and learned some things that I didn't already know about you too. So yeah, it's been great. Well, thank you. Thank you so much, Maureen. I'm so glad you started this group. I think it's really a beautiful thing to tie in our faith and our food. It all comes from one source, and so I think it's really beautiful that you started this ministry, truly. Thank you. It is a ministry for us. That's what we wish. And is there anything else you'd like to close with that we haven't already gone over? Parting thoughts or just that? Just yeah, just yeah. Seek and ye shall find. That is a really, really valuable truth from the Bible that applies just about to anything. It does, doesn't it? It does. Yeah. So, all right, well thank you again and uh, everyone will see you next time. Thanks, bye. Today's episode of the God's good table podcast is brought to you by simply Ghee Simply Ghee is my go-to fat in my kitchen. I use it every single day for everything from frying eggs, and sauteeing vegetables to making cakes and cookies and things like that. It comes in The original formula and the A2A2 variety simply Ghee provides the delicious, intense butter flavor that we all love. But without any of the tummy-bothering lactose, that is in just butter, it is made from the grass fed butter of a herd of cattle in the pristine Pennsylvania, Dutch country. So you know that it is safe delicious And full of good nutrition simply, Ghee also now has a variety. of Spice mixes that you can mix into your ghee This happens to be my favorite. it's the black garlic. I used this just yesterday on my cheeseburger and steamed vegetables. It's really, really good. 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