Programming Lions

Ep.102 Unfiltered w/ The Real Alex Clark

• Matt Morstad • Episode 102

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Alex Clark, the creator and host of the top 10 worldwide health and wellness podcast Culture Apothecary joins us. We cover a wide range of topics, including concerns about food safety, the appropriate age for kids to use social media, the impact of blue light on sleep and health, and the controversy surrounding artificial fragrances. Alex shares her thoughts on the rising rates of autism, the influence of social media, the importance of maintaining a balance in masculinity and femininity, and the societal push towards more independence and risky play for children. Tune in for an engaging conversation on healing a sick culture physically, emotionally, and spiritually.


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00:00 Introduction

00:04 Alex Clark's Mission

01:12 Food Safety

02:22 Importance of Outdoor Play for Kids

03:31 Kids and Social Media

06:30 Impact of Blue Light

11:02 Artificial Fragrances

15:19 Low Testosterone in Men

16:52 Modern Feminism

18:25 Degenerate Culture

20:32 Masculinity Crisis

24:33 Healthy Alternatives

27:07 The Impact of Junk Food

28:55 Body Positivity

31:29 The Rise of Autism

35:38 Mental Health in Youth

42:14 Homeschooling

44:28 Encouraging Independence

47:29 Conspiracy Theories and Final Thoughts

Welcome to the Programming Lions Podcast. Do we have a treat for you today? Alex Clark joins us, the host and creator of Culture Apothecary, a top 10 worldwide health and Wellness podcast where she interviews experts on healing a sick culture, whether that's physically, emotionally, or spiritually known for asking all the questions the listener is thinking. Alex has built a reputation around interviewing guests and experts with counter-cultural beliefs, no matter how controversial they are, and she's known for speaking your mind. So we've got a lot of fun stuff to cover. Let's go.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

Alex, welcome to the Programming Lines podcast. We're excited to have you join our show. We've been big fans of the work that you do for a long time. How are you doing today?

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

I'm super excited to be here. This is like one of the coolest asks I've gotten to do, to be interviewed by two middle school boys, so you don't get asked that every day. I'm very excited to see what you guys have cooked up,

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

so much is going on nowadays and I wanna ask you what I, issues are the most important to you.

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

Man, there's so many things, right? I see all of the different chemicals that are allowed in our food in America, and that really matters to me. Getting those out having the same. Standards for our food in America that other countries have. Why do kids in America get to eat cereal, for example, with all of these different chemicals that make you sick, can affect your behavior, make it hard to pay attention in class. We serve this cereal in our schools and other countries don't. So, we've had RFK Junior. As our Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Trump administration, and he has officially made it so we are gonna be banning those food dyes. So that was a huge issue for me. I protested at the Kellogg's headquarters last fall to try to get them to take the food dyes out of their cereals on their own. But it ended up taking us to force them to do it, I guess. Which tells you a lot about Kellogg's, but that is an issue that matters a lot. It matters a lot the different types of chemicals that we spray on our crops, which become our food. There's a lot of really dangerous chemicals that are cancer causing and, and things like that that we still allow. And then another thing, which is kind of random, but I'm really passionate about. Talking to parents about letting or encouraging their kids. To be outside more and kind of risky play. Having playgrounds that are, are kind of crazy, scary, spooky, you know, all of those things like other, I'm being funny, but like other countries have crazy playgrounds that are made from like junk and crazy things to climb and, and really risky stuff. And we kind of got rid of that in America and I think that was a huge mistake.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

Yeah, there's, I read a book, I think it's called Free Range Kids, and it's a great book, just kind of talks about like, it is important for kids to take risks'cause that's how they sort of build patterns in their life and understand, you know, safety and things like that. But obviously like risks with measure. But yeah. And well those are great. Those are all great causes. Max is a little depressed. He's a big fan of Red 40, so I don't know, like he's a big, big red 40 fan.

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

You are not gonna miss it.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

Probably not. No, probably not. Yeah. So I'm curious'cause now I see a lot of kids, like even in Max's grade, he is in his, you know, he's like a lot, he's like two grades younger than me, have like cell phones and things, and I personally think is wrong. But I'm curious what you think is like the proper age for kids. Probably probably get like, you know, cell phones or like social media account, those types of things.

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

I don't think kids should have social media until they're 18 years old. That's controversial. I don't think that while they're living in their parents' house, I think they should have a dumb phone, which means like you can text and call, but it doesn't have access to internet and things like that. Maybe there's an argument to be made between 16 and 18. Limited. Types of social media on the phone. I lean towards a phone where you can call you know, as you're driving you can text things like that. But otherwise, no social media until 18 because it. It is hard in the moment as you're a kid to be one of the only people without it for sure. It's also hard feeling like maybe you're missing out on something, but then when you get a little bit older, like when you are in your twenties, you're gonna say like, oh my gosh, I had like the greatest childhood ever because I wasn't on any of that stuff. You know, the, I think in hindsight you will realize. That, and I think what's so sad to me about Generation A is I don't think that you guys are having as epic and as adventurous childhoods as you should in a lot of cases.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

Yeah, and I mean, we see this a lot, right Guys, you guys went to a camp the first year you were there, nobody had phones. You're all playing together, making up your games. Oh, that's so fun. The next year a couple kids had phones and they all like just went to the rooms. You know, doom scrolling. And so it really changes the dynamic of how kids, you know, just do simple things like make up games and use their imagination, go outside, touch grass, all of that. So I think your point's pretty valid. We we don't have phones yet, boys, but but we are on social media, but we, so we do this on, in sort of a guided method together, but granted it's for a good reason. Yeah. Right. We're not watching cats on skateboards. Yes. It's like, you know, yes. Cool things, right, like politics and stuff, which are interesting and useful, but it's, it's alarming to me, surprising to me how many young kids are in our feed commenting or DMing us and they're young, like 10 to 12 to 13, 14 years old, and they're heavy into social media and they're not on the same like guided tour as we are in a family channel. So, I don't know. I can't I can't imagine what that will. Do to kids over time, but nonetheless, I think your take is really good there. Yeah. So the, the next question that I have is basically like, a lot of people don't know this, but I've heard it before from my mom and she said that blue light is making people gay. Do you think that is true?

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

Okay. Blue light isn't making you gay, but it might be making you fat. me explain. Now there's something else that, there's an argument and that's you know, being dramatic in a funny way to grab attention. There's an argument to say that air fresheners in your car or cologne that you spray on yourself is making you gay, but we'll get to that blue light might be making you fat. So. Not directly, but kind of indirectly. When you stare at your phone or your tablet or your TV at night, that blue light is actually tricking your brain into thinking it's still daytime. So that means that your body is not going to be making enough melatonin. That's the hormone that your body produces when it thinks it's nighttime to help you fall asleep. And then when you don't sleep well, your body gets out of balance and you start craving more junk food. Your hunger hormones get messed up, so your body is storing more fat, your metabolism is slowing down. Basically blue light at night makes it easier to overeat and it makes it harder to burn off what you do eat. So the good news is. You can build what's called a strong circadian rhythm, which is the natural rhythm of your body when it knows it's daytime, when it knows it's nighttime, it knows when to wake up. It knows when to sleep. We call that our body's internal clock. We call that our circadian rhythm, and your circadian rhythm tells you it's time to wake up. It's time to eat. It's time to sleep. And the coolest thing about that is when you get your circadian rhythm working correctly, you don't even have to set an alarm in the morning. So if you start going to bed at the correct time, your body will automatically wake up when it's supposed to. I hardly, like, I hardly ever use an alarm anymore. My body knows what time it is, when it's time to wake up. And the way that you create a strong circadian rhythm is by getting sunlight in the morning. So. The first thing when you wake up, you should get a, your drink or your breakfast or whatever, and you should sit outside and you should eat your breakfast or just walk out on your porch for a second and like look at the sunrise coming up. Ideally, you wanna wake up within 30 minutes of either at sunrise or within 30 minutes of sunrise and go outside. That special light that is going on when the sun is rising is a natural way that tells your body it's time to wake up. That sets your body's clock for the day. Then at nighttime you wanna avoid big lights, so the big lights at bright lights in your house. I would turn all of those off. You should only be using warm. Lamps or candles or fire. When you think about like caveman times, how did caveman, how did caveman know to wake up in the morning? What time to wake up without an alarm clock, and what time to go to bed? They were up with the sunrise and they were going to bed, you know, right around sunset. And in the summer versus winter, it's gonna look different, right? The sunsets later in summer than it does in the winter. So you have, your body will adjust based on the time of the year that it is. But if you can go to bed around 9, 9 30. That is ideal. And then you know, trying to, then your body will wake up, closer to around like 5:36 AM naturally. And also you have permission as a middle schooler. And then as you get into high school, you have permission to sleep later. Your body actually needs more sleep at those ages, especially as you're going through puberty. So, that's just an, an aside, but to get your circadian rhythm going. You wanna make sure at night those big lights are off, you are eating an earlier dinner. So if you can eat between like four and five 30, that's actually a better time to eat dinner. And then making sure that, you know, an hour before you know that you're gonna wanna go to bed. So maybe starting at like 8:00 PM you don't have. Your phone, if you're on your phone, it needs to be on the red light setting so you can make your screen look red instead of blue light. Turn off TVs. I wouldn't sleep with the TV on no tablets or anything. And then, you know, if you do wanna watch tv, have blue light blocking glasses, you can wear little glasses that just. Look cute, like eyeglasses or sunglasses. You can watch TV that way and then the blue light won't make it hard for you to fall asleep. So that's a long answer, but I'm super passionate about all of that. The short version is, does blue light make you gay? No. But it might make you fat. And the second part of that is air fresheners might be making you gay. And that's a dramatic way, not literally, but that's a dramatic way to put it. Artificial fragrance. So if you look at anything, a candle, your body wash, your deodorant, your face wash, and if it says fragrance or perfume, you should throw it away, especially as you're entering puberty. You should never, ever have any of those things in your house or in your car. So the little tree air fresheners that hang in your rear view when you're in a car, you wanna throw those away because those raise estrogen, especially in men. So for the boys, estrogen is a hormone that is typically associated with women that makes you, if you're a man and you have high estrogen levels, that's making you more sensitive, more emotional, it's lowering your testosterone. Testosterone is the hormone that makes you really manly, that makes you strong, that that gives you energy. You know, all those things that we associate with men. It's lowering those traits and raising the more female ones. I'm dumbing this down a lot, but in short, you do not wanna have any artificial fragrance, so you wanna use natural candles that only use essential oils or are made of beeswax. You want to use body washes that have natural real fragrance in them, not synthetic or fake, like essential oils. And then as far as air freshers and stuff, you don't need those things deodorant. You want non-toxic deodorant. And there is some, you know, cool brands that I can recommend, talking to middle schoolers or teenage boys, I would say no artificial fragrance in the home. And same with, with that age of girls. It's very important not to have that stuff in, in a home with girls because young girls who are constantly surrounded by plastics. So drinking out of plastic water bottles, heating up leftovers in the microwave with plastic containers using scented body watches, makeup, perfumes, deodorants, those things can make a girl start puberty too early. So that's why you have eight or 9-year-old girls going through puberty that shouldn't be happening either. So, it just a good

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

it makes sense because how plastic it sense because you see, yeah, girls are going through puberty earlier and boys are going through puberty later these days. Isn't that right?

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

I dunno about boys going through later. I don't know if I've heard that, but, but I do know that girls are going through it earlier than they should be.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

Yeah. Well, that's, those are all good, good, good tips. Fortunately notes, mom is a devout listener of your show, and so we have incorporated a lot of this already into our lives. But I think there's a couple things. There's a couple things I'm gonna go look at boys. Okay. So, yeah, she has, she actually is, she's gotten rid of a lot of plastic things in our house. Yeah. And she switched'em out with like glass. And a lot scented. A lot of scented stuff. We have a, yeah, we use like a, yeah. A natural brand for deodorant and things. I think it's one, one you've talked about on your show before, so, yeah. But those are, yeah, those are good. Good. And the circadian rhythm boys, we're gonna get on that one. Yeah, I like that. Okay.

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

You can do, you can do you know, so you wanna wake up within 30 minutes of the sunrise. And Gus said also, like right now, in Phoenix Summer, where we live. It's obviously that's like the coolest time of the day, like, you know, to be a little bit cooler. So it's a great time to get outside. But at, in the evening, if you can do a, a walk after dinner as the sun is setting and get those light rays into your eyes, that will also help you sleep better. Like you'll have the best sleep of your life, which is so important, especially for you guys, going through puberty about to go through puberty. The having that extra sleep and better quality sleep is gonna be crucial because that's when your body is trying to. To grow and change. It needs all that energy and, and deeper sleep to be able to do that. So, it would be really important, I think, to get those infrared light rays in morning and evening.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

Yeah. Do you like look straight at the sun or do you like, look like around it?

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

Yeah, no, that's a good question. I mean, kind of around like, looking at it, around it, I mean, don't like hurt your eyes, you don't wanna stare at the sun, but kind of in that direction is good. But being out with, with direct light in general is great.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

All right, so before we somehow got to Sun Ray and stuff, right? So I'm wondering what are some signs to you of kids or men that now have lower testosterone? Than being liberal.

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

I was just gonna say thing is a man that Democrat, other signs, I mean, extremely, easily offended very emotionally volatile, so they get set off very easy, like things upset them easily. That's more of a female

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

max, are you okay right now?

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

That's more of a female trait. Men or boys, like men should be more steady and calm and be able to take charge of a chaotic situation. They shouldn't bring chaos to an already chaotic situation. You definitely shouldn't be running from danger. You should be looking at who's around you as a man to wanna protect them, other people from danger, right? That's, that's that courage and that bravery and that mass. Masculinity that we need from men. When you see these crazy stories in the news of people being, hurt in public, assaulted just terrible things and everybody's standing around on a train, just videotaping it and no men are willing to step in. I mean, that tells you right there that we have something seriously wrong with, with the

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

Mm-hmm. It's crazy. It is crazy. Everybody just films it instead of like actually doing something. Yeah. Instead of like going in and like saving a day, you know? But no. So yeah. Now moving away from gayness, right? What are some things that young women do today that you are scared for? Like considering young men

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

I think narcissism being very me focused, thinking that everything revolves around you as a woman, that you come first. I think that's a really. Dangerous slippery slope for women because we were really biologically made to serve others and pour into others. It doesn't mean that you can't do things to take care of yourself, obviously, but it does mean that like you should know how to nurture somebody else or serve somebody else, and, that when you become a wife and a mom one day, ideally, you know, God willing, that you will be able to kind of put your husband and your children first, like that's kind of your role. So it's, it's not realistic. I mean, to have a healthy, happy family and marriage if everything has to be your way all the time. And I think that culture today tells. Young girls that that is the case. That if it, well, if it doesn't make you feel good or it doesn't serve you, then you, you know, you need to do what's best for you. Sometimes we don't need to do what's best for us. Sometimes we need to do what's best for others in our family, especially, right? We have to put somebody else above ourselves, and I think that that message is really driven home to young girls.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

Yeah. Yeah. Empowerment kind of has limits, right? I agree. Yeah. So nowadays society is in a degenerate spiral. So what do you think can pull us out of that? That was a degenerate spiral. A degenerate. Yeah. Degenerate. Degenerate, degenerate,

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

Yeah. A relationship with Jesus would be one. You know, you're, you're in a degenerate spiral, the less close you are to God, I think. And so we've really seen that take hold, especially in the west, in America. And. We reward that behavior. I mean, part of the way that's rewarded is through social media views and clicks and likes, and this ability that everybody can be famous and like the more obscene or degenerate you are, that usually gets a lot of views and clicks, which is super sad. Obviously you've got girls making millions for posing nude on OnlyFans and stuff like that, so like. That's you know, there's a marketplace for it. So you have to kind of tap into the hearts and minds of the people that are willing to consume and pay for content like that that fuels a degenerate culture and, and really try to appeal to them and change their hearts and minds, and really, we can do that again, that would only be Jesus. So it's evangelizing and telling people about. Your own relationship with God and, and just trying to witness to them, I think.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

Hmm. That's great advice. I would fully agree. We see a lot of de DeGeneres since we have a social media platform and everything. Oh yes. And it's almost like the degenerates want more degenerates around them so they feel better about their. Degeneracy degenerates. So it, it is definitely, like Max said, a bit of a vortex sucking people in. And so I guess that's what the devil does. And so I think your advice about faith is a good one. Yeah. So we've been seeing. Things online and also this is just like in general instantly stir you more trans things and stuff. So I'm curious for you like, now masculinity is supposedly bad for most people, yet men wearing dresses is okay. It doesn't make any sense to me. Can you like help explain why that is

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

Right. It's like they're trying to make us all one gender. Like there's no girls, there's no boys. We're all just the same. We're all just equal. And that kind of gets into like a deeper philosophical conversation about Marxism and things like that, but I would say. We don't need less masculinity or toxic masculinity. We need more, like I said, we need the men that are willing to stop the fight on the train. We need people who are willing to, men that are willing to run into a burning building and save somebody like and that is an amazing aspect of masculinity that should be celebrated. And I think. That there is such a thing as toxic femininity that women can be just as toxic as men as well, but you never hear anyone talking about toxic femininity. Right? So that would be a big thing that we need to work on as well. I think that this, like this, idea that everything that's wrong with culture today is due to men is just unfair. We're all sinners, we're all flawed human beings, both men and women equally have a huge, you know, part to answer for in the downfall of Western culture. It's not one or the other. I think that we've seen a backlash to all of this with young male voters. So we're seeing this data come out of high schools where boys that are graduating high school are now overwhelmingly identifying as Republican compared to, I mean, even five years ago, five, 10 years ago. So you have like a complete reversal happening with. Boys where they're seeing like we've been demonized and told, it's basically bad to be who we are, biological men that everyone's trying to turn us into. Women we're tired of this. We're tired of being blamed for all of all of culture's faults. And so what would be, you know, the rebellion against that entire worldview? It would be voting conservatively. And the good news is, is I think that. The more conservative boys get, I think that girls will follow. So women naturally want to follow strong men. Biologically, we will follow the strongest male in the room. So if you have a bunch of high schoolers and all the boys are turning more conservative, I think you're gonna start to see the pendulum swing where girls are gonna start to follow suit. We're just gonna be a little bit slower than they are, but I think it'll get there and, and we're slowly starting to see that happen just a little bit, but it's gonna take time. So we just have to keep encouraging the boys have strong character, have integrity, be strong leaders, and putting God first. And live on, strong principles and all of those things. And I think that the women follow.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

Yeah. Mm-hmm. I mean, like, probably, but it makes sense if they, if they wouldn't Right. You know? Yeah. Then. If they're that and we're this, then they won't be able to, you know, come to and make more children for the next generation and that would be very bad. So I hope they may follow, we're seeing a bit of that today. But yeah, I think the pendulum is gonna, hopefully we'll see it swing back. I see some social media even around this where. Women are looking for liberal men, and they're having a hard time finding any liberal men that they're actually attracted to or interested in. And so this is becoming very evident and apparent to to a lot of young, women that are dating or looking for a good relationship. And so, ultimately, yeah, this might, this might sway some people over, but we didn't get here overnight either. And so we're not gonna get back overnight, but it'll, it'll take time as you said. So, yeah. So. What is one like everyday grocery people like normally use, but you would not recommend to any of your fans? It gets destroyed immediately. Yeah. Hmm.

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

Ooh, I am gonna say, and I. Okay. I hate to say this because I love it, but bagged popcorn,

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

Oh yeah.

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

You should never eat microwave popcorn. Those bags that they cook in are filled with chemicals and it's infiltrating the popcorn kernel and you are eating it. And when you open that bag and breathe in those chemicals, they're, I mean, we actually know there's evidence scientifically of people having lung issues and, and respiratory issues because they eat. Microwave popcorn a lot. They call it popcorn love. So,

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

popcorn lung.

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

yeah, it's, it's like,

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

oh my goodness. That's insane.

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

it's,

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

don't wanna do that anymore. Yeah. Yeah. We used to, but now we, yeah, our mom bought just kernels, so then now we just put it into like, yeah. On the stove and we just cook it. So now it's way better, I guess

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

yeah.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

actually kind of taste even better. Yeah. It.

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

The, the popcorn that you make on the stove is perfect, and if you can get organic, I would definitely do organic because corn is gonna be one of the highest sprayed crops with glyphosate, which is a neurotoxin that again, causes cancer. So you would wanna make sure that your corn is organic, if you can, if you can, you wanna make sure everything is organic, but definitely if you're gonna choose to eat corn. So I would look for unpopped. Popcorn you can make on the stove that's organic. And I would never eat movie theater popcorn or microwave popcorn.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

Mm wait. Movie theater popcorn.

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

I bring my own snacks. I bring my own snacks In the movie theater, I, I put in my bag an op and my favorite candy. You can pop your own popcorn at home and put it in a bag with good grass fed butter on it. You can season it with a lot of salt, like real salt. That's super good for you. I mean. It is not convenient to, to have to go home, eat at home, pack your own food before you go to an amusement park, before you go to a movie theater. It's obviously not convenient, but it is. So to me it's worth it because I feel what it feels like to eat fake dead food versus real food. It's like, no question. I would rather take 15 minutes to pack my own lunch or snack than I would wanna just be sick, you know, feel like crap for 24 hours. So it's your own prerogative obviously. If you twice a year go to the movies and have movie theater popcorn, you're gonna be fine. But some people get, are really sensitive to that bad food and, and they really notice when you stay away from it for a while. If you eat it after a long time, you might feel really, really sick and it's just not worth it for you.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

Yeah. Yeah. Remember, remember when? Remember when you had Burger King for the first time in a couple years? Will I do not? Well, that was actually the first time I've ever had Burger King. Yeah, he was. That was disgusting. It's so disgusting. We eat, we eat pretty clean. We eat pretty clean out crazy. The next few days I was farting like crazy. It was, I mean like it even tasted bad. It was, I don't understand why people like Burger King, but hey, the chicken nuggets and the french fries. Mm. Dso Yeah. But, but you know, you know what typically happens when we eat. Stuff like that, which is rare, fortunately for us. But then it goes down. It's like, Ooh, that tasted good. But then 30 minutes later, we're all looking at each other like. Ugh. Like, there's a brick in my stomach. I don't feel good. I like wanna take a nap. It's so to your point, there's something in it that you Yeah. Just doesn't agree with the body, especially if you're not conditioned for it. And then some people get conditioned for it and they're on a different cycle, you know, like even when I eat the Burger King in the very beginning, right? The first I had was like, Ugh, this doesn't taste very good. You finished it, you know, we are like in the middle of the desert. And that was like the only because like we were doing a road trip thing basically, and that was like our only source of food that we'd be able to have for like the next three or so hours. So I was so hungry and I ate it because why not? I told you people survive without food for weeks. But you, you've was hungry. Said you were starving. I get because you hadn't had food for like two hours. I'm hangry. Okay, dad, you know that from personal experience. Let's get back to the podcast. Let's get back. Let's get back. Let me ask something about body positivity. Do you believe it's like, okay, or is it a marketing scam for big pharma? What gives.

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

It's 100% a marketing scam for big pharma, so. I believe, I believe it was the Washington Post did a huge expose last year. They found out that Big Pharma was paying talkers, tens of thousands of dollars to be making videos, saying things like it's. Not okay for your doctor to tell you that you need to lose weight. Every size is beautiful. Your weight shouldn't matter. You can be healthy and still be morbidly obese. Those talking points are absolutely from big pharma and big food. Obviously big food wants you to eat their food and be addicted to it, so they don't want you to, to get on a health journey. The effects of eating that food and how sick you get and all that. Then Big Pharma wants to have a solution to give you, you know, for your type two diabetes or you know, they have ozempic that they wanna give kids as young as six years old. So, so it, it is it and a scheme and it's so sad. Some of these influencers who have been famous in the last like five years for talking about body positivity. Like they are like crazy, like, you know, 300 plus pounds and telling people like, I'm gonna eat whatever I want. Come watch me eat. And that's like what their content is is just like eating all day and stuff. Several of them have died.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

That. Yeah, that's, that's, I mean, that doesn't surprise me. Remember the other day, boys, we were doing sort of reactions to a few tiktoks, and one of them was, oh yeah, remember that guys? You wanna tell Alex about it? It was this giant like cookie that's disgusting. Like ice cream bar. It was probably like this. It was an entire roll of cookie dough. This big. Yeah, it was an entire roll. And he was like, I tried to find something sweet and this is the only thing I had, and he ate the whole thing. It was a log of cookie dough like. Like the whole thing you'd make into multiple batches of cookies, ate the whole thing right there on screen and, and it is not even fun to watch. Oh my gosh. It was disgusting. I wanted to pu it got good. I think it made a good visa though, so Yeah. Person's a huge influencer. Yeah. It's weird. Like how, who enjoys watching somebody who's like, and then they dipped it. Remember guys, they dipped it in Frosted Yeah. Into whipped cream. Yeah. That was even worse.

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

I mean, you're, it is just literally watching people, you know, harm themselves.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

It's really self-harm.

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

Yeah.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

It's wild. It's unbelievable. I've going on to the next question, right? So I've actually once heard that like back, you know that back in your day, right? Back in my day or whatever, it used to be more like one in like 2000 kids had autism. Autism, right? So, but nowadays it's like one in 30 kids or something that are autistic, right? And judging by this rate because it's like, I've going, whoop, whoop, right? There's a lot more people, autistic. Everybody by 2060 is going to be autistic. So I'm curious what you think about that, right? Because it seems like a lot of people are now having autism or getting diagnosed with autism, right?

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

Yeah, great question, and I have talked about this a lot. I, I've actually been saying that when I've spoken at different high schools and colleges is that you are very quickly looking at a future where it's going to be hard to find someone to marry who doesn't have autism. There is something going on, whether that is. The food that we're eating, the vaccines that we give our children, zero to 18 years old, there's over 70. Some states require over 90 to attend public school. It's what we're spraying on our crops and on our fields that are making our food spraying into the air. There's something going on in our environment that is causing an explosion of autism. There is an argument to be made. It could be one of those things. It could be multiple, it could be all of them, honestly. It could be a little bit of all, which is kind of what I tend to think it is. And in America, I believe it's one in 36 children is now being diagnosed with autism. It was like one in 10,000 in the eighties. That is a very short amount of time to now have one in 36. That is crazy. And in the state of California. One in 12.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

Wow, that's interesting. California.

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

It it is.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

I wonder if it suspicious, I wonder if it also has ties to over-diagnosis. Like I know there's a lot of self-diagnosis now these days with when it comes to autism, but you to your point, it's like it is hard to unpack because there's so many variables. I don't know,

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

Well, I think it's interesting that in California you don't have the opportunity to have a religious exemption on the childhood vaccine schedule. You, you have to, in order to attend public school, you have to be fully vaccinated, so, hey. I'm just throwing out, I mean, this is what we know you know, this administration that we have in the White House is looking into all these different things, right? So President Trump said, I wanna know, you know, what is causing autism? Is it, is it what we're spraying? Is it what we're eating? Is it what we're injecting? Is it all like, so there's a lot to uncover, but what I will say. Because a lot of people that are very like bought and sold hook, line and thinker on the conventional medicine model will say, well, the reason we have all, you know, all these kids being diagnosed with autism all of a sudden is just because we know how to test for it better. We've just increased our testing standards. Okay? One, that is not true. We've not updated the autism testing for decades and decades and decades. Okay? Second thing is, if. Testing is what has improved, and this is why we see, a larger number of kids being diagnosed with autism. Why is it only certain generations? Why don't you see. Our grandparents age or older people walking around the mall wearing helmets, headbanging, drooling, being like incoherent, right? You don't see that in older generations. If all it was was testing, nursing homes would be filled with adults who are headbanging and, and screaming and punching walls. You don't have. Only happening in, in Gen Z, basically, and Gen A it, it's your, the young generations are who are seeing this explosion. So what has changed between Gen X to Gen A that has caused such an increase? And there's a few things you can look at there, but it is co a complete lie to tell people that the reason those numbers are so high is because the testing has improved. That is absolutely not true.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

Yeah. Yeah, I've heard a theory myself that. Like,'cause some schools, you know, right, like if you have autism or whatever, you're able to like actually go to a specific place maybe that could help you on the test or things like that. I've heard some theories that actually it's where like, parents diagnose their kids with autism to basically give them more advantages, right? Less chances to like fail and stuff. Do you think that might be true?

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

Y that is a very interesting theory. Kind of like a Munchausen I've got a special, you know, gifted child. So we need more attention and special accommodations. I, hey, I am not, I'm not opposed to that theory at all. I, I think that's definitely plausible. We really reward, neurodivergence or elevate that as in it's, it's like not okay to just be normal. I think there's a lot of pressure on Gen A to not be normal.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

Right.

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

have to have something wrong with you to be special and belong, right? You have to be a member of the L-G-B-T-Q community. You have to have autism, you have to have a DHD. You have to be mentally ill. Illinois, the state of Illinois, this week as we're recording this, they said that I think by third or fourth grade, it's gonna be requirement for public schools for every single child to go through a psychiatric evaluation. Why? Because they wanna tell parents your kid has some kind of mental illness. Why so big pharma can come in and tell'em they need to be medicated and due to that medication, you're gonna need another medication for, for various side effects. Because there is no

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

is getting deep.

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

there's no prescription drug that exists that doesn't have side effects. So then you have to start taking a bunch of things and then as, as boys especially, you're doled down. You have no passion. You have no strong feelings about anything. You don't ever really get super sad, but you also don't feel super happy. You don't feel true joy. You've got kids your age that are walking around just kind of like living life in black and white. Basically, it's, it's. It's in gray. It's not even in color, like, because part of the human experience is that you need to be able to feel the full spectrum of emotions. Sometimes those emotions are gonna be uncomfortable. Sometimes it's gonna be really sad. Sometimes you're going to be really angry. Sometimes you're going to be scared. It's normal to be anxious a little bit or scared before you do something different, right before you do a podcast or you go. Speak in front of your class or you're gonna go, you know, play like a really important basketball game. It's okay to feel nervous, experience like really high, high is an amazing joy and be so excited. But you've got kids who are put on a DHD medications like Adderall or Ritalin or whatever, you know, from eight years old, and they stay on those drugs until they're in their. Thirties, and these are the men that we are losing. These are the men that grow up, that have been on these drugs since they were in third grade, who are like, I have no passion about life. I don't really like girls, but I don't really like boys. I don't really wanna leave my house. I don't really have any friends. I don't feel like I know what I wanna do with my life. I don't understand what my purpose is because your brain has been chemically altered since you were a child. That is scary to me that Gen Alpha is gonna grow up. Who are they going to be as adults when they've been medicated their entire life? That we have no idea what that's going to be like. That's gonna be a new thing. Your generation is being experimented on without your consent, your full consent, and you should be very upset about that. And you should be raising alarms, which is good that you're doing this fast.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

that is very scary. You got, wow. That is, yeah, that is scary. Like people on medication and then they're still doing it in until thirties and then they're, it's almost like they're different. It's you, like you said though, like they said, you said you're like, they're altering their brains. That's like a kinda like, they're kinda like doing mind control basically. Yeah. It's like, it's almost like there is a bigger grand plan to sort of enslave us all through. Big industry and, and make us into like little profit machines of some sort. But yeah, it's interesting because like, I think about this a little bit and I think why, you know, if, if I'm like fairly functional, why would I even wanna get tested for this stuff? Because at the end of the day, I still have to function. Society with other people and learn to either, control my, my highs and lows or whatever it might be. I, I'd say I'm a little OCD, so I just have to figure out how do I live with other people that aren't as organized as I am? And ultimately you have to learn how to get along in society. So I don't know if we're doing people a great service by telling them that they've got an excuse to not. I realize and work through their idiosyncrasies in terms of how they socialize. So yeah.

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

You're, no, you're onto something. We're, we're handicapping people mentally to, to tell them, oh yeah, you're not smart enough. Or you have, like, the odds are stacked against you. It's gonna be really hard for you in this world. We do the same thing. With, with kids that are of a minority race, right? You tell a black kid in school, mm, you know, everything is is stacked against you in America white people are more advantaged than you. They will have more than you. And then you wonder, like, why, why do they feel like they can't get ahead? Like you've been telling them that it's impossible. You've been telling them the system's already rigged. There's no use. When you tell people that they're just gonna fall in line. And, and, and that's wrong, right? We all, especially in America, we all have. No matter what, equal opportunity to make whatever we want of our lives, no matter, what struggles you have or the color of your skin or, or anything like, you can do incredible things. So, yeah, it's a really sad disservice to tell kids, oh, you can't sit still in class. You know, you're a boy. You're, you're, you're a 10-year-old boy. You don't understand like, why it's not fun to sit in a desk for seven hours. We should probably just medicate you to make that easier. But it's not, but it's not natural for a 10-year-old boy to wanna sit at a desk for, for seven hours a day. That's not natural. Boys wanna run and go outside and build things explore things and experience danger and risk, like I said. And so. Maybe a boy would have fun, more fun, learning if he got to like walk around and learn while he's like building a fire or, or using his hands or whatever. Being outside in nature while he is learning, it's just like, but instead we just medicate these kids and it's just, it's so sad.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

Yeah. Well, and I think a lot of parents are waking up to it. Obviously, you know, you're, you're aware of the explosion in homeschooling trends, and so I think a lot of parents are waking up to it, and that's gonna be something that government's gonna have to deal with, with, you know, a lot of parents just moving away from it because they've had it.

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

Are you guys homeschooled?

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

No, I want to be homeschooled. Yeah, he's working on this and a few people here do not necessarily have agreed to that yet. I mean, it's because, listen, I just got into middle school and going into middle school there's new things like walkers you have to walk to your next class, new periods and all of that. So that's why I wanted to, you know, keep on, I didn't wanna do homeschooling for like one more year because I wanted to, you know, try it out. I've the, I mean, I've literally done research and stuff on it, like right, like what I need to do for research books like math and stuff. I want, I've done everything yet. You know, you guys are just like, ah, just wait till winter break and then we can decide. It's put me on notice here. Yeah. I am

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

Yeah. Look, every kid is different and, and you guys seem really smart and capable and, and, way more mature than other kids that I know. Your age. So, I think that's important. Like, every kid is different. Some kids are gonna thrive in a public school setting and they're gonna have the personality to go up against, you know, their woke teachers and be able to call out crap in the classroom and say, I'm not doing that. I'm not falling for that. Every parent knows their child, right? So, you know, like, hey, like my kid can handle, you know, x, y, and z. But they couldn't handle this. And so I think for every family, it's a case by case basis. I will say, I think it's for public school in particular. I think it's probably very few, very few. Christian conservative kids. I think that, like long term from kindergarten through high school are, are gonna fare well in that setting at this point. It's so stacked against them, but there will always be exceptions. And then, as far as like private schools or other, you know, charter schools and all that, hey, there's an, there's an argument for all of those. So it just depends on the kid and the family, I think.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. My last question, so you ask your guests, so we're gonna ask you here, so. What's one remedy to heal a sick culture physically, spiritually, or emotionally?

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

Good question. I'm gonna say specifically for this podcast, I kind of alluded to it at the beginning. Giving young kids more independence, building opportunities, letting your kids go places by themselves, letting your kids go into the store or the little restaurant and order something by themselves and come back out letting your kid ride their bike around the neighborhood without you right there next to them. Those are the different things I think we should be allowing more kids to do. So hopefully you boys will be like, yeah, I'm all for that. Parents listen maybe a little bit like, I don't know about that, but yet we're, we are creating a generation that like doesn't know how to do anything and they have no confidence to do anything. So like you, you wanna shelter your kids' hardcore. From, you know, zero to 18 years old, and then you wanna send them off to college and just expect them to like understand how to navigate the world where they've never been in the world.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

Right.

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

a huge issue. You literally have kids in high school that are like scared to go into a Chipotle across the street by themselves. You have an epidemic of teenagers opting to not get their driver's license, like they're too scared to make decisions or be brave or know how to assess risk, right? Like you have to be comfortable. Before you start driving, part of driving is that you have to know how to assess risk. You, you are aware like, what's that car doing? What's that car doing? Am I okay to to change lanes here? You're like aware of multiple things going on, but if you've never been put into situations if you've never experienced that in any other way, like how are you gonna know, be comfortable driving and a lot aren't. So they're just not high school boys that don't know how to tie a tie. Just like a myriad of things and, and then we just expect them overnight. Poof. You should know how to be an adult so like a 6-year-old and it's also based on your child, so some six year olds and you know, your. Are not gonna be capable of going into like a mom and pop ice cream shop while you wait in the car and order their ice cream. They're just not, you will have a five-year-old in some cases, or a four-year-old that could do that. It just depends on the family and the kid. But giving those situations, even if you stand outside the door, like you can look through the window and see what they're doing. You're like, you're gonna go in, this is how we count money. This is how you're gonna order, you know, this is a place we go to all the time. We know the person that works here like. All those things. This is what in Free Range Kids, Leno, Eskenazi. S SC talks about. And then also Jonathan Het wrote The Anxious Generation, which is another phenomenal book on this subject. And talking about one, raising screen free kids and how to do it in your community and get other parents on board. Two, how to find those independence. Building opportunities to give your kids so that they can build self-esteem and confidence.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

So I am addicted to these very interesting things called conspiracy theories, and I am curious what you think is the best or most crazy conspiracy theory that you believe in. Dun, dun, dun. Oh.

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

I think pigeons are drones because I've never seen a baby pigeon. You never have. They're always adults. Where are they coming from?

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

wait, what?

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

There's no baby pigeons walking around. When you go to like a big city or a park or you're, you know, you're in the city. All the pigeons that are around everything, there's never a baby. Where are the baby pigeons? They don't exist. So I think the birds are cameras.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

Wow. But how does it make it that advance that's like, it's like perfect flapping, perfect walking. Like how, I mean,

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

I.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

Maybe like the only thing, the only thing which I think could possibly prove that that's wrong is where. Anytime, you see like a dead bird on the ground or like, you know, a dead pigeon on the ground. In cities, there's blood and no electronics or anything. It's basically just a normal body. Do you think it's like half and half feathers or like 25% of like robo pigeons, maybe. Hmm. Eh. Yeah, that's, I you're, it is a really good point. I haven't seen baby pigeons. I just figured they grew up really fast or something. Like they grew after. I've never We're gonna, looks like, yeah, we got a lot to think about here, boys. I. Oh my goodness. Oh, wow. Well, this was a lot of fun. We'll wrap it up, but we want to thank you so much for coming on. For our audience, what's the best way to get in touch with you and your content and your, your mission?

ALEX_CLARK-Alex_Clark-webcam-00h_00m_00s_459ms-StreamYard:

Yeah, so I host one of the biggest health and wellness podcasts in the world from a conservative perspective. It's called Culture Apothecary. We're healing a sick culture physically, emotionally, and spiritually twice a week. Mondays and Thursdays at 6:00 PM Pacific, 9:00 PM Eastern, and you can listen to Culture Apothecary anywhere you get your podcasts or watch it on YouTube by subscribing to real Alex Clark, and I'm real Alex Clark on Instagram as well.

ALEX_CLARK-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_305ms-StreamYard:

It was great visiting with you. This was a really fun conversation. Yeah, we wish you the best of luck yep. Thanks for coming on. Thank you.