Josh Campbell is the creator and CEO of human improvement – also known as hi! – a protein powder that improves lean muscle, accelerates recovery, supports gut health, reduces cravings, boosts mood, and more. There's only one caveat... the main ingredient is crickets! In this episode of The Clean Body Podcast, you'll learn why crickets are a sustainable and powerful source of protein, how other conventional protein powders are creating inflammatory responses in your body, and even causing weight gain, and why celebrities are rushing to support the cricket movement.
For 50% off a 20 count box purchase of human improvement, use the code CLEANBODY at checkout.
For more on human improvement and Josh Campbell:
For more on Lauren Kelly and The Clean Body Project:
Josh Campbell is the creator and CEO of human improvement – also known as hi! – a protein powder that improves lean muscle, accelerates recovery, supports gut health, reduces cravings, boosts mood, and more. There's only one caveat... the main ingredient is crickets! In this episode of The Clean Body Podcast, you'll learn why crickets are a sustainable and powerful source of protein, how other conventional protein powders are creating inflammatory responses in your body, and even causing weight gain, and why celebrities are rushing to support the cricket movement.
For 50% off a 20 count box purchase of human improvement, use the code CLEANBODY at checkout.
For more on human improvement and Josh Campbell:
For more on Lauren Kelly and The Clean Body Project:
You've got double the amount of iron than spinach has. We've got seven times more B12 and salmon and a naturally have a full amino acid profile, which is kind of crazy when you think about it, just uncom of those big facts. And so when we started doing the research, we were like, holy smokes, these insects have kind of everything we need all jammed into one place. Welcome to the clean body podcast. I'm Lauren Kelly, a certified nutrition therapist, and soon to be specialized holistic cancer coach with a certification in cancer biology from UC Berkeley. I am so grateful that you're here. This podcast introduces you to the souls and brains behind some of the cleanest food beverage and lifestyle products on the market. Because what you put on in and around your body matters from cookies, bread, and mushroom superfoods to adaptogenic lozenges, clean medicines, organic mattresses, and fluoride-free toothpaste. We'll explore how the brands came to be how scientific studies drove decisions about ingredients and materials. And most importantly, how the products support all the physical and mental microscopic miracles that occur in your body every minute of every day. Thank you for being here. Let's get this started. Hello, everyone. Welcome back for a, another episode of the clean body podcast. I'm your host, Lauren Kelly, as always. I am so grateful to have you here, especially today for this episode, because it's freaking cool. We're kind of going to be talking about bugs, but before I get there, there are a couple things I need to tell you. There's some bad news. I need to deliver your protein powder and your workout products probably suck. They have a lot of ingredients that have been shown to negatively impact the human body. I want to share a couple of those with you today. So the first one is artificial sweeteners. Obviously this is found in a multitude of products, but although they have no calories, artificial sweeteners like sucralose have been shown to stimulate appetite, increase sugar, cravings, and even promote fat storage and weight gain. Even worse. They've been linked to cancer in animals, which brings me to ingredient. Number two carrageenan. Now carrageenan found in a lot of workout products also found in Starbucks Seuss, feed eggs, just saying it's a thickener and emulsifier, but it's been linked to digestive issues and cancer as well. Now, many protein powders and workout products also contain non-organic milk and whey protein, which are commonly sourced from cows who were likely fed really bad food. Given artificial growth, hormones, antibiotics, and exposed to synthetic pesticides, which all makes them pretty sick. Then their meat is sliced up and processed and we drink it or eat it. And whatever was happening in their bodies when they died, that energy gets transferred to our bodies, alas, to other ingredients, to be on the lookout for when you're choosing workout products, cellulose, gel, and gum and synthetic vitamins. Let's talk about what those are. Cellulose gum and gels have been linked to weight, gain bodily inflammation and digestive problems, synthetic vitamins, which I know, I know they're vitamins. They're supposed to be healthy, right? Well, they're different than whole food vitamins. Instead, synthetic vitamins are made in labs by men from a variety of sources like coal, tar petroleum, GMOs, and therefore they're believed to be absorbed differently and used differently in the body than those that you would get from foods that come from the ground or mother nature. So with that, let's get to why we're all here today. I am talking to Josh Campbell, the creator and CEO of human improvement, a protein powder that actually does its job without all the questionable ingredients. One packet of human improvement called high for short has 22 grams of protein. Five grams of fiber, zero grams of added sugar and contains only organic protein sources. Its unique formulation, which is made up of 13 ingredients. Max builds, lean muscle supports, gut health, reduces cravings, boost, mood, and energy and improves recovery. The only kicker which an even think this is a kicker. I think it's pretty cool. But the number one ingredient is dried ground up crickets. Okay. Don't stop listening just yet. I've tested the protein many times now and I swear, I swear it's delicious and it lives up to its healthful claims. Plus it contains other protein sources as well from organic fermented, yellow peas, organic brown rice and organic pumpkin and spoiler don't call me a fortune teller, but crickets might just be the protein of the future. Give it a shot. Don't knock it till you try it. I was kind of scared to try it as well. Honestly, the thought of drinking crickets freaked me out, but it's not what you expect during this conversation. We explained the health benefits of crickets and compare human improvement to other conventional brands. Some of which you probably have in your pantry right now and even freaking better human improvement is giving the clean body podcast listeners 50% off when you order a 20 count box of chocolate, vanilla, or a mixed pack of protein powder, that is a steal, a huge discount. Big thank you to human improvement. You can get that discount by using the code clean body at checkout. All right, I've talked a lot. If you liked this episode, make sure you rate review, subscribe, share it with a friend. Let's hop into it. Josh. Welcome to the clean body podcast. Thank you so much for being here. I'm really, really excited for this episode. All right. It's an honor. Yeah. So I know I kind of told you this right before we started, but I learned a lot of things. I've learned a lot of things throughout my training to become a nutrition therapist, but insects and their impacts and health benefits on our body and history is not one of them. So you were definitely going to be the expert here. I'm going to be leaving all the questions and answers to you will not be chiming in with my expertise. Oh, well, perfect. I think we've, uh, you know, we first started looking at, uh, sustainable protein sources that are both great for the planet and great for your body. We were shocked to see that insects have really never been touched in north America. It's a huge opportunity. Yeah, because everyone's scared of them. I mean, I think it was spiders. I'm going camping this weekend. I'm like going to cover my body and tick spray, but crickets are different. But before we get there, I want to get to know you a little bit. So I know that you have quite the history already as an entrepreneur and also being in the health and wellness industry. So I would just love to hear how you got to where you are today and what your personal journey has been with health and wellness first, you know, for me, I played I'm from Canada. So you'll hear my accent come out from, from time to time. And during this, this, this podcast and you know, I played rugby growing up. Um, I think the only kid that actually didn't play hockey, but, um, has a super athletic background. And then as I've gotten older, I've found, it's obviously like I can put on muscle and fat very easily and which is challenging when there's so many great foods to eat. And so understanding that nutrition is so much more important than actually weightlifting or doing cardio. It was kind of a game changer for me. And I didn't even learn that until coming my mid twenties. And so, um, you know, I've been really fortunate to, to escape the world of finance early on. I call myself a recovering accountant and jump into the world of, of building brands. Typically the habit, usually a negative stigma associated with them. Um, and then using the power of brand and marketing to really take something that, you know, societaly was, was not popular and make it really relevant. Yeah. I love that you bring up that nutrition is so much a bigger piece of the puzzle when it comes to achieving optimal health. I usually say it's like the 80 20 rule, right? Like 80% of it is your diet and what you're putting in your body, not just food or drink, but also like, you know, your mental and emotional health and stress and anxiety that you're feeling every day. And then 20% of it is getting that movement and that really important for even just mental health, but diet and nutrition is such a big part. And I think that's a really big lesson that's missing in our modern day. Just acceptance of what health is. They tell you to go to the gym and sweat and stress yourself out and like hate your workout the whole time, but you'll be healthy, which is so not true. It's, it's so true. And I, I know I used to run a lot of marathons and I would notice that I would gain weights while I was training, which is, which is bizarre. And cause you're eating all these carbs. I got the carbo carbo carbo-loading, you know, like your body really doesn't need that. And so I think that's a great point. It's not about just forcing, forcing kind of garbage into your body, running really hot and expecting great risks. Yeah. I mean, it's even like now when I go to the gym and I'm absolutely hating whatever I'm doing, I'm like, okay, that's it. Then I'm done for the day. I'll go do some crunches or I'll go, you know, like play around in the pool or sit in the sauna. It's not, anything is better than nothing. And if you're just hating what you're doing the whole time, it's actually not doing you any justice. I could not agree with you more. I think that's why, you know, we're lucky to be in California where we can play outside all year round. I think, you know, you're in Arizona. So we have the benefit of being able to be outdoors and active all year round without inclement weather for the most part. And I think they kind of bringing play back into it is, is something that as you grow up, um, becomes less a priority, but it's probably one of the most critical things we need. Well, that is also where creativity stems from, right. Stems from boredom. It stems from play time where you can just relax and let both your left and right brain kind of do your thing and inspiration comes to you. So that's a perfect segue into what you are doing right now because when I first heard about it, I was like, this is insane Creek it protein batter. I'm not sure that I can jump on board, but I very actually quickly jumped on board. So that's a lie. Um, but so before we get into crickets, I want to know why protein powder or did what, I guess what came first, the cricket or the protein powder. Oh, that's a good question. Um, it's a bit, a bit of both at the same time and, and to be honest, cricket came first. And so this was a couple of years ago. I was running, um, a large consumer goods business here in California. And you know, I've been really fortunate to build some really cool brands over the years. And to be honest, you know, I was getting old and I was like, you know what, what's, what, what dent am I going to leave in the universe? Right. And I was thinking, you know, God, there's this, if you can crack kind of this nutritional code, that's a game changer. Right. And that's going to help people around the world. And so this is another time when, when beyond food and or possible foods beyond meat, we're getting huge valuations. And I tried the product. I was like, it's okay. It's a veggie burger. Like, it's great. But it's, you know, I looked at the side panel. I'm like, hold on a second. This is heavily processed food. So, but am I like, and so at the time I had a food science team reporting to me and I said, Hey guys, like, you've been doing this for 30 years. What am I missing here? Like what what's going on? And they're like, oh yeah, it's just a veggie burger. It's a better veggie burger. It's a great product for compared to what it was. And it's helping people reduce meat consumption, which is all good. But the equivalent they said was like, it's like, if you're thirsty and meat is Coca-Cola, they're giving you diet Coke when all you want is a glass of water. And so that was eye-opening to me. I said, well, well, what's the most efficacious protein source, you know, for the planet as well as for your body. And they that's easy. We've known for thousands of years, it's insects, but don't, don't even try no one in north America is ever going to jump on board with insects. So I said, oh, I love when someone tells me no, that means you're onto something interesting. And a big stigma that people don't want to investigate. I'm like, perfect. This is gold. I've built my career based on, on taking trends and transforming them. And so I started looking at the insect industry and it was really interesting to see it was this bifurcation of kind of hobbyists, um, people that were, were growing insects, uh, in their homes, in some cases in small farms. And then you had people that had, you know, MBAs that were launching businesses, but had no experience actually building a business. And so it was exactly the same thing we saw in the essential oil business. We saw it in coffee years ago. Um, and we most recently saw it in the cannabis industry as well, again, hobbyists and kind of big business coming together, but no one knew how to build brands. And so I was like, this is awesome. This is like ripe for disruption. And so I pulled together a team, we actually acquired a company called Crick nutrition out of Canada. And the reason we started with protein was a couple fold, you know, with the vision to move the world to sustainable nutrition, we thought, okay, where's the easiest entry point. You know, you've got people that are creating chips with insects in them. You know, there's a novelty play of course, there, but nothing sustainable. And then you've got bars, right. Which are pretty heavily sweetened bars and in many cases. So, and the kind of biggest thing is all the products had big insects on them, which is insane to me. Right. And so there's really kind of got of bending this edge to try it versus like saying, Hey, it's actually a great product for you. And by the way, we actually do it with insects. Right. So if you look at jellos a wonderful example that I like to bring up. And so, you know, if jello launched today using the same formula folks in the insect industry were doing, they'd say, Hey, we've got a high sugar product meat from ground up cow bones. Do you want some? And of course, no one would ever want that. Right. And so, uh, you know, college and most recently did this, right with vital being kind of the big catalyst here, taking a product that we knew from the beauty industry, making it into a food product and kind of espousing the benefits of it. And so we did that. We started the protein because quite frankly, it's a, it's an industry, right. For disruption, a category, right. For disruption. Um, you know, I use protein, whey protein growing up for years and I always felt kind of tired and bloated with it. Uh, but I just thought that was normal for what protein was. And then I moved to Vancouver and of course you have to do yoga when you go to Vancouver, all of Lulu lemon. And of course, um, Houma Vega, you've got to use Vega protein, which is one of the big, first plant-based proteins. And I felt like crap. I just felt awful after having it. I was tired. Um, I would get really gassy. I would get stomach cramps. And so I actually got some tests done and said, oh, you can't process legumes properly. That's, that's why it's not great for you. I said, by the way, you know, unfermented P there's a lot of issues around the quality of the ingredients. So we said, okay, you know, as a consumer, I know there's a lot of issues around here. Let's look at the marketplace. And we saw very quickly that as you know, as yourself and probably many viewers and listeners know it's the, the protein industry is really designed for men, right? Bulk, uh, they've got a bunch of words that people don't understand what they mean. It's highly intimidating. And we said, well, hold on, we've actually got a powder product. That's the cleanest on the market. We took all the gums and fillers and sugars straight out of it. And then we paired it up with a beautiful visual identity, um, as you can see, kind of from behind me. And of course in my hand, um, that actually looks stunning as super inviting. And isn't about bulking up, right? It's actually about being healthy. And so many people don't get enough protein in their diets. So that was, that was, you know, it was a few kind of impetuses all coming together that we said, okay, you know, if we're going to move the world to same with nutrition, we've gotta use insects to do it. Let's start with a category that is absolutely right. To have an innovative product come into it. So many things you just said that were like making my heart flutter just made me happy to hear. Um, but the way I actually found you initially was because I have a lot of athletes who do follow me and I had a couple specifically reach out to me. I had posted something about all the crap that's in protein powders and how inflammatory it is and how so many people are having these feeling fatigued or, um, having hormonal imbalances or feeling inflamed and bloated and gassy, or even having these like skin breakouts, you know, and it's because there are those fillers and gums and artificial coloring, artificial flavors, so much stuff in these protein powders that athletes are using. And we think of them as some of the healthiest people on our planet, but really they're putting in just junk into their body every single day. And so I had a couple of reach out to me saying, well, what should I use instead? And I was like, well, it's like really good question. I know, I don't know if I have an answer for you. And so that is how I found human improvement from figure out well, what is a healthier option? And I love that human improvement is flipping the script on what protein powder is, not just incorporating women into this world, but making it about achieving health, not achieving the bikini bod or bulk, because especially after we all just went through a pandemic and we put so much mindfulness on our wellbeing, I think that's a huge problem in the fitness and wellness industry altogether, you know, gyms can no longer be about the bikini bod and bulking. It needs to be about your health and achieving health and feeling good about what you're doing and also educating yourself about it. And so I think, you know, human improvement is ahead of the curve in so many ways. Um, and it's really exciting, but I do want to, I love that you gave us your firsthand experience with protein powders. I'm sure you've learned a lot about protein powders journey. So for who are listening, who do use a lot of those whey based or soy based protein powders, what are some things that you've learned about them through the years that, um, drove decisions you made for human improvement in what not to include as an ingredient in the final product? Well, we look, most people don't realize this, but there's a handful of companies that pretty much make most of the supplements you're seeing them on the market today. Right. And so we took a very holistic approach and said, okay, ideal, the best, the base case is eating whole foods bar none. Right. That is the ultimate solution right now, if you're traveling and you've got active lifestyle, it's really hard to do that. Right. And so, so how do you take that as kind of the, the, the ultimate goal is to be able to consume on a daily basis and move it into a portable product. Right. That's the first approach we took. So you'd probably want to know where you're buying your product. You want to know the farms, you're getting it from right. And you'd want to understand, well, you know, why are people putting things in? Right. So we started asking questions because we're not from the industry. We thought, okay, well, well, okay. The, you know, our, our partners were formulating saying, yeah, you don't need this. You don't need that. We said, well, why would someone put gums in it? That's very easy. It, it just makes it suspend better. It visually more appealing. Great. Okay. Well, we don't need that. Let's, let's take it out. Right. Or what, I mean, doesn't sugar is probably the most addictive substance. There is a lot of artificial sweeteners and artificial, or in sugars put into a lot of products. They taste good. We like sweets, right. Humans are designed to like that, right. That's why you've got birthday cake, protein bars that are out there. And so we really diligent about going through each of the steps and saying, okay, what is the bare necessity to have on here? And then what, what, what is just basically cheap that we can throw out, or that does something that's not functionally derived. And so that was the process we went to. Then we went and said, okay, who are the partners? We're going to bring on to do this. So for example, when it comes to cricket, like we've been to the farm, we know the owners very, very well. Um, and we source only organic proteins for our product. And for us, that was absolutely critical. So it's not made in a factory that you've never seen somewhere overseas. Like we know everyone kind of in our supply chain for that and can speak to it. Um, you know, and, and quite frankly, that's, you know, it's not an inexpensive product for that reason. If you're buying protein for like $9 a tub, there's a reason why it's that inexpensive, right. It it's, it's kind of, and I pay for it later. That's what I always say. You'll pay for it later. When you have to go to the doctor because of a health condition or a chronic condition that you've developed, because you've been putting all this cheap stuff in your body for so long. Exactly, exactly. The reason why whole foods are more expensive and like products are so cheap. Right. And that's because the system is designed for that. And it's really inexpensive to make. So our product costs are significantly more to make than a lot of the products that are out there right now. Yeah. Um, I was really curious about sourcing crickets because, you know, when anything, a new trend pops up and it has potential to disrupt a ton of large corporations who make a ton of money in an industry, they're going to do what can to dispel it and try to make it sound pad. So it, wasn't hard to find articles that were like, we don't know bugs and insects carry viruses that we humans. Um, and so I'm curious like what your knowledge is with crickets. You said everything is organic, which is fabulous, but what kind of diligence goes into that and what you've learned about insects and worrying about, you know, passing on viruses to humans or any of that. So it's a good, great question. And obviously with maybe to start with COVID, I don't want to get into it, but then we heard a lot about viruses coming from animals overseas, right. At the start of it, which was just crazy. And so when we started looking at it, I was blown away by understanding kind of that, first of all, the, there, one of the cleanest kind of protein sources there are, right. So if you look at what goes into a cricket it's water and organic feed, right? The cricket acts as a catalyst to unlock a lot of the vitamins and nutrients, nutrients that are already existing in that food source. And so for us, there's a couple of major folks that are doing work around cricket. Um, you know, we, we partnered up with Entomo farms up in Canada because we, again, we love the team there. Um, some of the cleanest operations we've, we've seen, and they were willing to work with us to make sure it was certified organic, which is really important for, from our standpoint, you know, when it comes to the disease factor. That's a really interesting one, especially when you compare to like, what else? Like, what's the alternative, right? So you're looking at genetically modified crops that are coming in, right. And it's all kinds of really interesting things we see here in the U S around, like how you disclose, you know, what's been put on the planet and it's, it's really by design, difficult to understand, um, where your plant proteins coming from. And then on the, you know, the animal-based side, like Gilly, whey protein, this cattle is one of the most, uh, kind of, uh, uh, I guess adjusted, we'll say, um, or chemically enhanced, uh, products, I would say. Yeah. I always joke if anyone's ever in California, um, and thinks, you know, meat is great. Just drive up the I five from, from LA to San Francisco and you see one of the largest cattle farms there, it is, it is gross. And so you think about it stinks. So you've got to manage your disease big time when it comes to that. Right. And whatever kind of meat it is, livestock mammals got diseases, right. Um, you also have, you know, poop and pee that come out of that and you have to manage that as well. You've also got blood, like, it's a pretty gross process when you think about it. And so insects don't have any of that. Right. So if you think about, um, you know, the fact that first of all, insects don't transfer or disease, doesn't transmit through crickets to humans. So that alone means it's, you don't have to add a lot of the other, uh, pesticides and chemicals and hormones and things like that to them. So ours, aren't the D we don't get anything like that. They're, you know, they're, again, they're organic, so there's no need to have any of these types of medicines, quote, unquote, kind of put into them for that. Um, and then you're looking at, you know, the deprecation of the crickets is actually called frass and it's a great fertilizer, right? And so when you process, the crickets is incredibly clean, it's incredibly safe. And there's a huge lobby trying to stop that, right? If your business is billions of dollars a year, and you're getting heavy government subsidies and employ a lot of people, you're not going to want someone to come in and disrupt that with a product that's actually way easier to create way healthier and requires a lot fewer people to do, right. It's a big incentive not to do that. It's all a really good point and so accurate. You know, there's so much fear and anxiety around the unknown. And I think cricket, protein powder and insects is an unknown. And so people just feel safer being like, it's fine. I'll just have way it's from cows. And it's like, no goal, go do your research about cows and the treatment of cows, if they're not grass fed. And even then, but for people that swing the opposite direction, I heard you on a different podcast, talk about almonds and how everyone is doing, like, you know, almond flour, almond powder, whatever it may be. And they think they're doing something so sustainable, but it's not sustainable really at all. So I'd love to hear your perspective on that as well. I want to get one thing before I, before I forget. And, and you say, you know, there's a big stigma around insects. You're absolutely right in north America and Western Europe, 2 billion people a day consuming sex as their primary protein source. So it's not that, you know, the world hasn't broken up. Most of the world has actually woken up to this and is using it is just here in north America. We really haven't seen that. And actually it ties in nicely when it comes to almonds. I mean, California is a funny example of this. If you've ever again driven and the interior, you'll see these massive aquifers that are there. So most, you know, California is, is this big growing area in the U S it's not designed really to grow almonds. Like it's not, the system is not set up, it's a desert for the most part. So the amount of water that needs to go into produce almonds is pretty ridiculous when you look at the fresh water usage. And so I would encourage everyone to, to go quick goals, which you can see all the facts there. There's a wonderful couple of documentaries that have And again, we think it's super healthy and great for the environment. And you start to do what just one level of quick research, and you realize very quickly that it's not. So let's dig in then to the health benefits and sustainability of crickets, why we're all really here and listening to this. So I know on your packaging ever right downstairs, I had a smoothie this morning, which by the way, I am a really good cook and I am God awful at smoothies. I am so bad. I'm making smoothies. And so, um, having high in my house, I hadn't had protein powder in years until I discovered high. And so now I'm like, wow, geez, I can not make smoothies, but do you think it would be really easy, but I try to like pack every nutrient that I have in my kitchen into this smoothie. And it just turns out it's a real struggle, but anyways, the packaging is, go ahead, hard to eat healthy. Like that, to be honest, it really is. And so we are, our whole job is like, how do we make it easy? Like we know consumers. I'm like, you know, I could say active, but I'm lazy. Right? There's an easy way to do something. I'll do it right. Am I going to go and get all your whole foods all the time and make sure I manage it to keep it fresh? Absolutely not. Right. And so we just like, how do we make it kind of foolproof? You can rip mix and joy, and you've kind of got everything taken care of from you a hundred percent natural. That's, that's really the, kind of the core benefit of the, of the product is like it's thoughtless. Yeah. I always just take it three steps too far. I'm like, oh, this will probably taste good. And I'm like, wait, let me add some walnuts. Let me add some chia seeds, this, and then the texture is like sand. And I'm like, why did I do that? But now I need my protein. So I drink it anyways. Um, but the packaging downstairs, it talks about it being, um, really healthy for your gut and for your digestive system. So what is it about crickets? You were kind of explaining that crickets are a catalyst for everything that it's consuming, which is so interesting. It made me think of crickets as like enzymes. Like it's really just preparing the nutrients for you to consume for your body to then absorb, which is really interesting way of So let's dig in a little bit more to the health benefits of crickets and how, like, I don't know when you see a picture of a cricket, you're not like, wow, nutrient dense little creature right there. You, no, it's totally true. So, uh, I'll, uh, you know, from a high level, they're kind of like these little, like I can, catalyst is the best way to describe it. And so within kind of the weight equivalent, they've got double the amount of iron than spinach has. They've got seven times more B12 and salmon, and they naturally have a full amino acid profile, which is kind of crazy when you think about it, just uncovering those big facts and especially, I mean, obviously everyone listening to this kind of has a good sense of what those are. And so that was really interesting to see. Right. And you think about it also contains chitin, which is kind of a more Hardy version of collagen. So you think of collagen in humans, right? Well, mammals have collagen and the fat cells, right. And that the Cricut then has a exoskeleton, right? So the chitin is what creates that if the proteins that actually create that exoskeleton. So it's actually much stronger than, you know, what the collagen comes with. And so when we started doing the research, we were like, holy smokes, these insects have kind of everything we need all jammed into one place. That's crazy. Um, so what are some of the health benefits besides gut and digestive health that you would list out for human improvement in cricket products? Yeah. I mean, obviously the protein, the protein is when everyone kind of goes to me like, oh yeah, you mean, we all know we need protein. We all don't get enough protein, which is a big thing, which is why we crave, you know, foods that we shouldn't be having a lot of times because we're under, we're malnourished in that sense. The other is fiber. This is the kind of the secret piece. That, again, I didn't even know when I was a younger athlete in that is such a key piece that if you're having protein on its own, it's kind of like, kind of going to a rock concert. I'll just describe it this way and proteins like the guitarists. They're awesome. But on their own, they're kind of boring. It really, you really need to have like fiber, your B12, and a full amino panel to really round out that kind of rockstar performance of it, and actually help you build lean muscle, right. Reduce excess fat in it and stay energized. And so all these different elements kind of work together naturally to do that. And so the other big one is B12, right. Um, which you can't get in plants on their own. And so you've, you've, you know, that's all people that are, plant-based struggle with having that, which is where you often hear about low energy. Right. A you're probably consuming not enough calories if you're, if you're just starting off on a plant-based journey and two, you're probably not getting enough B12 and iron in your diet again, if you're just starting. So cricket actually does that all for us naturally. So what we see is when people try cricket protein, first of all, they're like, holy cow, I feel full without being bloated. Right. So, so heavily satiated. Um, they're also feeling energized if you've had, you know, work in a protein shake, you'll often feel tired after it. And that's because your body is struggling to process a lot of that, quite frankly, crap that you've just put back in your body. Right. And then of course the immuno acid are critical to help rebuild all your tissues, particularly muscle, um, that are there. So, you know, there's, there's the kind of tons of other scientific benefits, but from a highly perspective, makes it feel great. First of all, highly energized on it. Um, highly bioavailable. And again, you mentioned gut health, big, I mean, a lot of people talking about gut health today. And so Cricket's a natural source of prebiotics, which are great, which of course the probiotics need to work functionally. And so we always recommend people start, you know, ticket for a week and you'll start to really notice the benefits of it. You'll have more energy, you'll sleep better. You'll have much better kind of processing of the rest of your foods throughout the day. And it's a combination again, of the, of the fiber count, as well as the, a as the probiotic prebiotic. So you but I was going to ask since, you know, athletes that I know, um, specifically kind of inspired me to find high and do this episode, I was going to ask what the actual benefits are for athletes or really active people compared to using, um, other protein powders, even plant-based protein powders. You kind of answered that already in that, um, it's just easier on your body and your body can actually like heal and build muscle or lose fat and focus on the positive impacts you just had on it by doing your active work, rather than trying to detox your body of all the poor ingredients you put into it. Anything you want to add there, anything I missed? Uh, the biggest thing we're hearing from athletes in particular, um, is the lack of bloating. Um, so you can actually have this product. Like when I, before we actually launched into it, I tried all the test versions, woke up, had a coffee. I did a soul cycle class, had a cricket protein smoothie. And then I went for a three hour trail run. You could never do that with protein, right? So it naturally doesn't bloat you. And so we, whether it's athletes are looking for quick recovery and feel energized and not lethargic after great way to do it for those that are really concerned about their figure, right? Again, we're getting into pool season right now. You can actually have a, not have a bloated stomach, right. Or feel kind of gross after having, which is very, very common, um, with athletes, the other big one, and we get a lot of guys coming to us with this is you don't get the farts, right? So whey protein is pretty brutal on your gut system. And if you are an athletes having multiple protein shakes a day, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about here, right? It's, it's really challenging from a gas perspective, as well as an indigestion perspective, right? Getting cramps and things like that, all of that goes away by, by switching over to cricket protein. I've also found that a lot of just the average human, not crazy athletes, they actually aren't aware necessarily that they're bloated because they've been dealing with being bloated and having body-wide inflammation for so long. And they just think it's normal and it's a part of aging and it is not, it is not the way that you're meant to live. And so I would definitely encourage people to give it a try for a week, like remove some, start looking at your, your ingredient labels. And if there are artificial flavors or just weird sounding ingredients in there, swap those out, try high nutrition and to see if, how you feel after a week, because I've had clients, you know, they changed their diet and they're like, oh my gosh, I never realized how inflamed I was. And I'm like, yeah, because you lived with that for so long, but that brings me to a frequency question, because you said use it every day for a week. See how you feel. Would you, um, suggest every day for like an average person, who's just looking to try high and get some, um, on the go protein in their body when they don't have time to make a meal, or is there consistency that that users should follow? No, it's a bit of a nutritional insurance. It's the kind of way we like to describe it. So we have a lot of people that, that will use it only after a workout. And it will double up the amount of protein they're taking with it though, two packets and go a lot of people, um, take it for traveling now that we're getting back on airplanes again. And so we've got a couple of our team members today are traveling and they're, they actually throw a little bit of the protein in their coffee at Starbucks, like an iced coffee and shake it up. Try that. I haven't tried it yet. I'm a little scared. I don't know why. Honestly, it's the ultimate like frappuccino cheat on the go cause it's it, especially the vanilla packet is that one, like, this is my go-to when I travel, I get it. I get a venti Starbucks iced coffee, make sure there's no sweeteners and I throw, pack it in. I shake it up a little bit. And it's like a healthy frappuccino is loaded with protein and that'll be a great meal for me, uh, kind of between flights. Um, yeah, but when a country question, you know, it's, it really depends on where people are starting on their journey. If you're kind of an average, unfortunately is not a very high bar. Uh, and unfortunately the days we're living in, but if you have some, if you've been eating relatively healthy and are aware of which you're putting your body good chance, you're on the kind of the upper end of kind of what average would it be? What I would say. And for that I, every day is a great way to do it. Um, the biggest thing people notice is the amount of fiber that's coming into it. So if you've never consumed protein powder and you have like three packets, it's not going to be a wonderful experience for much fiber into your system. You'll, you'll be very clean water. Exactly. People don't realize how much water you have to drink. So I would rec I always recommend, um, you know, if you're a smaller person and you've not really had a lot of experience, I use a half a packet, um, in your smoothies and blended in over time. It's not so much the protein, the people are surprised, honestly, it's the fiber count that that, um, is the biggest shock to people if they're not used to consuming, um, w uh, recommended fiber count in their, in their day. Um, but we have people that have three a day consistently and swear by it. And we have people that use it kind of every other day as part of it. Um, but it really depends on where, where people are at in their health journey. It seems like too, it would be such a great product for people who are even diabetes or obesity because of the fiber content in the packets. It helps manage blood sugar and stave off cravings for, you know, unfavorable food for those conditions. So I just think that's also, we're talking a lot about athletes, but there's a lot of health benefits here for people who are dealing with other chronic illnesses as well. I couldn't agree with you more. And if you look at some of our social posts and things like that, you'll notice we're celebrating the everyday athletes. Like, yes, we have ultra marathoners that swear by our product, but we also have people whose athletic journey starts with literally walking the dog around the block, right. Everyone's at a different point. And there's, there's no reason why nutrition, isn't the most important part. Again, whether you're at Olympic level athlete or you're just starting your journey, like start with a strong nutritional foundation, and that will make everything better for you. So we, we have, we, we've definitely, you know, what many protein brands go, you know, performance, performance, performance. We've kind of got a product that is a top tier performer, but we'd much rather engage with that audience. That's like, Hey, my journey today is running a 5k. Like I've never run before. That's my goal. And we love to see that happen because that's where we really make real change in the world is through those types of people in the journey. Well, and there are a lot more people on that journey in this world that need help. Then, you know, the niche groups who are really who are targeted and products are created for, and a lot of capacity. And so I think that's great that you're creating for the average human, as well as the elite athlete, because it's really just about the human experience and finding optimal nutrition, whatever that means for you before I move on to the other protein, um, powders that you have in your product, because crickets are not the only protein source I do just want to hit on the sustainability of crickets, because that is such a fascinating conversation in the, um, how much less water, how much less land all of it compared to anything else that is being sourced for our food today. So could you just break down the sustainability of it's a great, does a great question. That's, that's really why we started the journey around it was from that standpoint. And so you're looking at water usage. I think it's, we're at 99%. First of all, gas emissions, our greenhouse gases are a big factor, right? Not a great way they come into the world, but that's actually a, one of the biggest polluters actually is greenhouse gases from livestock cultivation. So crickets use 99.9% less of that first. All right. We're about 98% less land usage on it, you know, and just, just to give some people a quick comparison in terms the same pound of cricket protein, it takes about one gallon of water. That same amount of beef would be 2000 gallons of water. So it's pretty, I mean, it's there, there's no way we can sustain as a human race and the planet eating meat in the same way we're doing it today. It just doesn't make sense. And so that's why, you know, w we had early discussions on with the team at space X that there's like, okay, works. You're going to Mars. How do we do this? We're not bringing cows to Mars is not going to happen. Right. Insects are really the great option to do that. Right. And it's like, how do you get over that stigma first to do it? But the science is pretty clear around the sustainability factor. And the cool thing with them is, um, you know, if you look at kind of everything we've done, not only just crickets broken through our packaging, we cut out all the air. Like, we're not sure we don't ship in tubs. So we don't ship air. We ship in really dense boxes. Um, our packets, while they are plastic, they're actually recyclable. We're the only Sasha that's recyclable. And we use 90%, less plastic, uh, than a traditional tub for the same amount of products. You were just checking all the boxes. What we, we worked really hard to, uh, uh, to make a product that was a great for the body and great for the planet. Yeah. I do want to say, you mentioned that it's just about getting over the stigma and for everyone out there, I am as like insect phobic, as you can pretty much get, like, I hate bugs. I hate, I don't, I'm not a person that likes, I don't kill bugs, but I'm terrified of them and would never choose to voluntarily eat them. But I have literally no problem with drinking human improvement now because of the experience that I think the protein powder provides, it's, you know, you don't feel like you're drinking bugs. And so it's actually way easier to get over that barrier in your brain, a when you know what you're putting in your body and how beneficial it is for you B when you know what good you're doing for the planet and the earth, and also supporting a really cool company. And then see, just like, I don't know, just take on the experience, try at one time. And I swear to God, like, I'm an advocate because I am not one to eat bugs, but I'm completely fine putting human improvement in like, soothing. Well, thank you for that. Yeah. We, we realized that the there's there, I mean, let's be real, like people, all the questions we get are, what does it taste like? Right. So that was one of the things we really worked hard to create a great product from a nutritional standpoint, but one that actually tastes good, right. Making unhealthy breath that tastes good is really easy. That's, it's not hard, right. That's why there's so many companies out there that do it. Um, but for us, you know, one of the misnomers also is that it's just cricket, protein and cricket pudding is part of our blend, but we actually have a blend of four organic proteins together that actually make up the product. And it's, it's that balance of other plant-based proteins that actually kind of round out the nutritional profile and in a big case, the taste and texture profile as well, you went right into exactly where I want this conversation to go next. So, which is the other protein powders that are in high nutrition. So you have pumpkin protein, brown rice powder, protein, and fermented yellow pea protein, which I thought was just super interesting, but let's break down the health benefits of each of them and why you decided those were the ingredients for your product. Yeah. So I mean, the key value, I mean, the key we're looking for in each of them was actually the protein, right. And which obviously helps bump our, our serving size up. So about 22 grams of protein, our traffic, 21 grams per serving in our vanilla, the other factor was how sustainable are they kind of coming out of it. Right. And so you're looking at those elements, right? Obviously pumpkin brown rice protein is very, you know, pumpkin less so, but brown rice is a pretty common protein we're seeing today. Um, you know, and certainly fermented pea. We see a lot of pea protein that's out there, but not a lot of fermented protein. And the reason we went with fermented protein was to basically unlock more of the benefits that were within it to actually have a Again, like personally, I can't have a lot of pea proteins, um, that aren't fermented is just, it just choose me if it makes me feel really crappy all day. And so having it fermented is this one step further to make it more bioavailable, um, for our, for our consumers or anyone that's trying the product. Yeah. Well, I think, you know, the fermentation process breaks down some of those enzymes that is hard for some people's body to digest or to break down themselves. So it just like takes it one step further that makes it easier and just more convenient for humans to digest when they don't have certain enzymes in order to do it. But I was really excited when I saw it fermented yellow piece on the powder, on the powder. No, I think he could pick up a really interesting point is that so many people think, oh, here's some healthy things and people don't realize that unless your body's able to break them down, it doesn't do you any good. It goes in one end and out the other. Right. And I think that's where a lot of this greenwashing has come into it and people are saying, oh, here's all these healthy things in. But if you just, it goes right through you. You're not going to get any of the benefits out of it. And I think that's one of the most frustrating parts we were adamant to make sure it didn't happen with what we're doing is like, we want to basically create this great all-in-one solution, but actually make it available to be processed by the body. Otherwise it's just a big waste. Absolutely. That's such a big conversation I have with friends and family and clients about, you know, you can be taking these supplements and you can be having these grains and all of these wonderful foods. But if they're not sprouted, if they're not fermented, if they, the, the supplements you're taking, aren't protected in a capsule that can make it past, you know, the acidity in your stomach can actually be absorbed. You're basically just throwing your money at a big corporation and getting no benefit out of it. You know, I mean, you mentioned cheer earlier on that you put in, and that's one of the, one of the common ones that I hear people saying, I throw this cheat and I'm like, okay. But, you know, did you forget it? Was it, was it ready to be processed or are you just, um, you know, just throwing a lot of money down the drain? Okay. Yeah. That's a huge conversation right now. Um, and even something I just learned probably like a year ago, I used to just put raw chia seeds in various things on top of my yogurt or whatever. And that can actually be pretty detrimental for certain chia seeds are so small and they can get lodged in your stomach and cause a lot of pain and a lot of problems. And so definitely the best way is like soaking them in water or, um, grinding them up into like a real powder for your smoothies is okay from what I've researched. Um, and I haven't had any issues, but yeah, you're right. Anything with grains, with nuts, with seeds, you really want them to be sprouted or fermented. So you you're doing the best you can for your body. And you're absorbing all the nutrients that you could possibly be getting, but it is a little bit harder, right. And people need to make, we need to make health as accessible as possible. And not everyone is going to want to sprout and ferment their seeds and nuts before they eat them. That, that, that's very true. Yeah. And I think it's kind of on, on the companies and retailers to make sure that they're educating it properly and vetting some of those things before they, they come in. But, uh, that's the, that's the journey we're on. Um, at human improvement, you talked about greenwashing, which just the truth of being in the industry and, you know, it is, as soon as you create something disruptive and it starts gaining popularity and becoming trendy, all of these big corporations are going to try to jump on it and copy the same thing, but do it in a cheaper and easier way so they can scale faster. And so I kind of wanted, I don't know if there's any watch outs that you would give, you know, there's not a lot of cricket products on the market right now, but I would assume I really think high is going to blow up and be huge. And that means that other companies are going to come after you and try to create their own products, but they're not going to be as high quality coming from big corporations. So is there a difference in you use organic crickets, but would there be a difference in a company that isn't sourcing high quality crickets for say bars or chips or protein powders? Yeah. I would always encourage them to ask where they're sourcing them from. And there's a lot of great producers of crickets. So I don't want to dispel anyone. Who's, who's not in that camp. There's also a lot of facilities that are not great and we've seen a lot of them and we're pretty horrified at what we saw so much like a comment around beef. Like there are some great beef producers, right. If you choose to have that in your diet, there's also some pretty horrible ones as, and so asking the questions around, okay, where's the source? Is it a farm that, you know, do you have that relationship? Um, that's really important. Um, asking, you know, for us, the organic standard was kind of twofold. A, it checks a lot of boxes from a consumer standpoint because it simplifies things for consumers, not everyone's going to say, okay, tell me the whole story about how these stores, right. But they can quickly say, oh, organic. Okay. I know that this isn't, this isn't right. Um, you know, the other, the other thing is actually reading the ingredient panel, right. Asking questions as to, okay, why are their gums in here? Like why is that being put in your, why are we adding even organic cane sugar is a, it's a very common one we're seeing now. Right. Um, people think, oh, it's organic. It's healthy. Like, well, it's still sugar. So not necessarily, um, those are the kinds of the big watch-outs for it. And, you know, we, we hope that we are able to be a big catalyst to bring people more people to consume against sex. Like that is our ultimate goal. Again, to move the world to sustainable nutrition and to do that, we need more people coming into the space, creating great products, and we just hope that they all can kind of keep that bar high and not try and do really inexpensive things that are cutting corners. And for the most part, we've, we've, we've been pretty pleased with where the industry is going and we've got some big facilities coming on as well. Europe is really leading the way actually. So north America, we need to step it up a little bit, um, in terms of some of their production capacities that are coming on. Yeah. I'm just really curious about this. So if someone was growing crickets, because it's so easy to quote unquote, grow crickets, um, and I'm not sure there's any science to back this up. And so this can just be like a informal conversation about this, but if someone was feeding the crickets poor food and like poorly sourced water that I like fluoride and all the chemicals that often some of our water can have, would that then change the output of the actual cricket used in the, in the product? I would assume that it would absolutely. I think that's, that's, you know, again creates feel like a catalyst so garbage in garbage out, right. You've got to have a really great input products for them to come through. Right. If you look at, you know, one of the reasons we love crickets from an environmental standpoint is they're so efficient with the inputs, right? Where obviously everything else isn't. And so there's not a lot of margin for error. Um, if there, if there are, um, chemicals and things like that being put in, if you're not giving them organic food initially to go into it, you're you're not going to get a great high quality product at the end of it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's good because I really do think her kids are going to be blowing up. So make sure they're organic. Look at those ingredient labels. There's no gums nose, no fillers, please, no artificial coloring or artificial flavors. That is I hate that stuff. And I do tell people that if you're going to eat sugar, you know, eat real sugar, don't eat the sugar alternatives, but you definitely need to watch your sugar intake as well. So just because it says organic cane sugar, please don't be eating products that just have a ton of organic cane sugar in them all day long. Um, but I know that high has a lot of really fun things and campaigns going on and some new, um, celebrities, which I'll be totally honest. I'm like, so out of the scene with like gen Z celebrities and stuff. So when you sent them their names to me, I was like, cool, cool. Who are these people? And I looked them up and they are huge. And I was like, wow, that's super impressive. Um, but I'd love to just hear like, what's going on with the brand. What do you have coming up? Um, and yeah, well, I mean, first of all, thank you for that. And, and I, there's a, been a few too where I'm like, I'm like, who are you at? What's going on? I have a million followers, like more power to ya. Um, we've got some, some talking some great fans, quite frankly. Um, because if you look at kind of the verticals like fashion or music, those are two verticals. First of all, that typically nutrition is never part of the conversation. Right? And if you look at, you know, Kilroy is a big fan of our products, um, right now, and he know he's going through his journey, you know, he's, he's actually gaining weight. He's trying to get in shape for touring coming back on. And so he, he loves the products. Um, and we've got a great relationship with his team. And then on the fashion side, AMI song, I've been a fan of for years and years and years. And she's had a really interesting journey. Um, again, coming from fashion, being a model, right? You're under the scrutiny all the time. And so she's loved the product. Um, first of all, again, because it is a whole nutrition source, you're not getting the bloating or anything like that. And our narrative is not like get skinny ever, ever, ever. That's not what we're saying at all. It's like be healthy, right? What that means to you, first of all, the physical standpoint, and then which we didn't really touch on yet mental health, right? That's a such a critical part. And they're so tied together like great gut health is critical for great mental health. And so having partners like these, helping to tell our story really helps break down the stigma around insects and basically gives people permission to try products, to be their best selves and actually be helpful. Yeah. I mean, I break that down and many, many episodes that your gut health and everything is interconnected. Everything that you do will change your physical and mental health, but gut health is so connected to your cognitive function, which is depression, anxiety, insomnia, fatigue, because that dopamine and serotonin is made in your gut. And those are your happy hormones. And so when you have a poor, when you have poor gut health or leaky gut is what people call it now, then you're not producing those happy hormones and they can't be transported to your brain in order to help you live a higher mental health life. Um, and so any products that are truly, you know, organic and they are gut healthy, um, they will always impact your mental and emotional health. And they're always something to invest in. I'm curious if you have anything to add from the mental health perspective? No, I think, I think it's something that's been underrated now, you know, in the last, I would say the last 24, 36 months, we spent a lot more attention to it as well. And I would say around that, like for my personal journey, if I'm ever feeling depressed or overwhelmed, I'll go for a jog. And I always feel better after I always hate to Gleason the shoes up, but I always feel better after it. And I think, you know, if, if the world was able to eat a little healthier and be a little more active, we would have way less conflict in the world, way less depression, people should be generally happier. Right. And so that's kind of the one piece of advice I'd give it whether or not you choose to consume human improvement, take care of yourself, right? Get active, take that walk, take the dog for a walk around the block, sign up for that 5k, just get some movement. There you'll feel immensely better. Something I'm crazy about talking about is the bacteria in our body as well. We have more bacteria in our body than we do cells. And so I always think about like eating to make the bacteria in my gut, microbiome happy as well. And so, you know, human improvement has prereq prebiotics, which is food for the bacteria to create these like really healthy fatty chain acids for your body that all have, you know, we're getting really complicated now. And I don't want to get too complex here, but consuming foods with prebiotics, really focusing on that gut health and the bacteria and the foods that you can put in your body to create a great environment for your bacteria to live in because the bacteria in your body is really creating a lot of everything that you feel the way your body physically feels, the way your mind feels, any brain fog your bacteria has just as much to do with that as your genetics and your cells. And they're influencing all of that. So I'll stop being nerdy. But no, I mean, I love you. I think we probably geek out on this for a few more hours. Um, no, I think it's an underrated thing. People are looking for that quick fix and it really starts with just eating the right foods like this, the simplest thing it's, it's the least cost prohibitive thing as well. Um, and I wish, yeah, I think that's the kind of the key takeaway people could just do that. I think the world would be a much better place and eat a wide variety, you know, because now people have such narrow diets that they're bacteria variety is so also narrow. They have so few bacterial strains and that is where you see a lot of health complexities as well and problems. Um, you want to eat as many, uh, a whole variety of nutrients so that you have this really diverse bacterial environment in your body because that is what's going to create that optimal health. Right. I think the biggest thing is, is there's so much misinformation out there. Everyone's looking for that quick to point, the quick fix on it. Um, you know, if more information was, was all that was required, I think we'd all be billionaires with six packs. Right. Um, but that's not the case, right. It's actually just taking the initiative and doing it. Right. That's the hard part is actually doing the work right. Making, you know, thinking about what you're eating, being prepared for it. Um, you know, and not just saying, okay, maybe tomorrow, tomorrow I'll do it. Right. I guess that's the, that's the thing we see most people struggling with. Yeah. And I think it's about shifting that mindset though. It's something we talked about in the beginning, this like just narrative within fitness and wellbeing that it's to get a bikini bod or it's go sweat and stress yourself out. Or it's really not about that. It's about making small, sustainable steps every single day to make a lifestyle that is going to be good for you. I've been on my health journey for years and I still fall off the bandwagon and that's okay too. You to forgive yourself when you fall off, but it's just creating this. It's not counting calories. I don't personally believe in necessarily counting macros. I think that's fine if people want to do it, but it's creating this like difficult process to achieve health. And I think just focusing on the products you put in your body and slowly you learn to intuitively eat because you understand what hurts your body and what helps your body. And it's just a process that you need to have like patience and forgiveness. It's not about that quick fix overnight. It's a long game plan. And you know, you mentioned earlier that you were getting older and I wanted to scoff at you when you said that, or you were getting old. And I wanted to say, you are maybe chronologically older, but because of the way you live your life, you're probably biologically much younger than you think. And that's the goal is to treat your body in a way that you can have this youth and vitality for a really long time. And so it's not about the six pack, it's just about achieving health and feeling. I L I couldn't agree with you more. I couldn't agree with you more. Well, it has been 50 minutes already, and I do want people to know how they can get product and get in touch with the brand. But before I do that, I have three quick hit questions for you. So the first one is what does it mean to you to have a clean body? For me, it actually starts with mental health first and foremost, right. That, that is number one. Um, so, so number one is that, uh, number two is feeling good. It's not about body fat. It's not about muscle. It's about how do I feel? And that for me always starts with like right diet and getting my Headspace starting off in the right direction. What are some wellbeing habits that you have that you couldn't live without? Oh gosh. How long, how long do we have on this one? Um, you know, for me, it, for me not taking time, honestly, um, uh, I am a chronic non meditator. I do my own version meditating, which is running. So for me, that's my outlet. I love it. It's a transmit to me to turn my brain off and reflect. Um, the other one is, is hiking and being active with friends. So, um, for me, I'll share kind of candidly, I've kind of three pillars that I kind of live my life by, which is doing inspiring work, um, working with inspiring people and staying physically mentally fit. That's it. So if I can find activities that do all three of those, I was, I would say like snowboarding with friends, talking about business. I'm in, I'm in my dorm. I might happy place. So I try to include as many of those per day, per month and per year as I can. I love the pillar of doing inspiring work. And I think that's something that's really hard sometimes for some people to find. What's your advice for people? This is left field. This is not a quick hit question. What is your advice for people that feel like they're stuck in a rut and they're not inspired by their work? What would you, what kind of advice would you give them to try to get on a path where they can live a life that they're really excited about? Well, I think, I think there's two things. There's, there's what you have to do today, which is like, listen, um, when I was younger, I was, I was working in a fast food restaurant. Did I love it? No, I love aspects of it because I was learning things. Right. Um, but was, that was definitely not the career I wanted and working there really reinforced that. So I think separating what you want to do aspirationally versus like what the task is today is really important for people. The other thing I'd say is that you're not your job. So many people identify what they do with who they are. And that is so far from the truth because they come from the world of finance. Like that was very much apparent. And so those are kind of two kind of pieces. I'd give advice right away. And third is, life is really short. Like if you don't love it and you're not having fun most of the time, there's always times you will not have fun. Didn't change, like it's on you and don't complain about it. Right. Just do it. I love that. My mom always gets really mad at me because ever since I had my melanoma diagnosis in my twenties, my whole ethos is like, I don't know if I'm going to be here tomorrow. I could I just read the news that a Broadway actress died because a scooter hit her. Like, you just don't know what's going to happen in this world. So it's really important. And it's not always easy, but every moment you never know when it will be the last moment. So living as just authentically and, and happily, I think happy is kind of a hard word, but con Contentful and satisfactory as you can, is always the goal for me. Uh, I love, I, I push it one step further. We have fun like life. If you're not laughing every day to the point you're almost crying, like do something else. Like you got to change the situation and, oh my goodness, don't complain about it. That's a personal pet peeve of light, really about flipping that script in your head as well. That little voice that is like always talking to you and, and, you know, expressing how it feels. And sometimes negatively, I have a new habit that when I am working out and I'm not loving it, I repeat the word joy in my brain over and over again, because really I'm have a body that is capable of doing this work. And I'm so grateful for it. And I have the time and I have the resources. There's no reason for this brain pesky or voice in my brain to be telling me that, like this sucks, this is terrible. You know, like really changing your perspective can change so much about what you see. I could agree with you. More could agree to more. All right, I'll go back to the quick hit questions now. So the last one is, what other brands are you loving on right now? Oh, gosh, I have to say, um, four Sigmatic. I'm a huge fan of what they're doing in the mushroom category right now. Um, I think they've been great pioneers in, in changing a narrative, um, into kind of, you know, again, super sustainable products Um, and you know, friendly. Awesome. And I'm, and I love coffee. Like, um, this is a bit of a problem. Like I love love coffee, and the team has been able to get me switch off of coffee for most of the time, um, by switching to functional mushrooms. So love that. Um, another big shout out HIO is a great team. I love, they just launched. It's a functional mushroom based beverage and their whole goal. You know, couple of great founders from UCLA, um, you know, had alcoholism in their families and big challenges. And so their mission was really to, to not get people, to stop drinking completely, but to reduce the amount they're drinking. Um, so I would definitely check if you're on the west coast, there are independent grocery stores right now. You can always buy online. Um, those that those are two brands I'm really loving, um, at this moment. Those are awesome. Well, thank you so much for all of this. So how can listeners get their hands on high products? How can they interact with the brand and get in touch with you as well? Yeah. Um, so at human dot improvement on Instagram is the best way. You'll see all of our latest content there. Um, we have an amazing team that's putting out stuff that I always inspires me. Um, and by hi.co or by how.com, um, is also our site where you can actually go and purchase product. We're also all like everyone, we're on Amazon as well, if that's an easier route to go, but if you want to geek out on all kinds of cricket facts, if you want some of the best smoothie recipes, we've got a museum of smoothies, which is that, uh, by high.com as well. They're great. They're great from, we have a lot of great celebrities that have created their own products as well, that love them. So, um, and it's a really fun museum of smoothies tour, um, that if you have a few minutes to, uh, do whilst multitask on a zoom meeting, I'd recommend checking it out. That's great. And you do, um, do you like one-time delivery as well as subscriptions, right? Ordering was so easy because you had the apple, all I needed was my thumb print. It was beautiful. Thank you. Yeah, I know. We've tried to make it as easy as possible. We know it's a, it's a tough journey, um, eating, right? So as soon as you, whether it's buying on Amazon buying on our side, we just launched with great partners at fast AAF. So if you're are in LA San Francisco, Miami, or New York, you can get it delivered in less than two hours to your house as well. No, no delivery charges. So we're trying to make it as accessible as possible. Yeah, this is really random, but I usually hate emails from brands that I order. And I have to say, I have actually thoroughly enjoyed especially when you're waiting for your product to arrive. So I just wanted to applaud you for just overall a really great customer experience that you have developed and are delivering. And I'm just really excited to see where you guys go and grow well, thank you. We've got an amazing team and I couldn't be more proud of that. I get all full credit. I tried my best not to get in the way of what they're doing as much as, and we should watch out for your wine line. What's it called? So gay wine. So gay Rosetta. So a good friend of mine and I, um, after, after a few too many ross, um, launched a wine called [inaudible] and he requires a little bit of context for, so Tim Chan's a good friend of mine is an editor at rolling stone and billboard magazine and growing up in a very conservative family, Uh, it was tough. And so his really his vision was to transform that, that, that term, oh, that's so gay that we've probably all heard growing up, um, to something that was a net, not a negative, but rather a positive. And so this is really his mission. I'm, you know, I'm supporting it as, as, as partner in this, um, to, to do it. So if you're looking for a great poolside rosacea, uh, so Gaye, rosie.com, really excited to try that. And we might have to set up like a joint interview, real sugar. There's zero sugar by sounds like we're going to be doing another episode soon. Well, thank you so much, Josh. I really appreciate you. You've got so much going on and I just really appreciate you taking the time to educate us on all things crickets, and I'm excited for everyone to give it a try. I want to thank you so much for the time. Thanks for everyone for listening. And, uh, yeah. Let me know if you have any, uh, any questions in the meantime. Hey, everyone. I hope you enjoyed that interview. Don't forget. You can get 50% off a 20 count pack, just go to buy high that's B U Y H i.com and enter clean body at checkout. As a reminder, this podcast is for educational purposes. Only. It is not a substitute for professional care from a doctor or otherwise qualified health professional. This podcast is provided on the understanding that medical or other health related services. If you're looking for help in your journey, seek out see you next week.