Ava Mannino | Mitolife Radio Ep #167

SUMMARY KEYWORDS
eat, eating, beef liver, feel, good, body, buy, health, nut butters, day, supplements, almond butter, sugar, consume, add, started, smoothie, people, magnesium, called

Matthew Blackburn 00:19
You're listening to Episode 167 of Mito Life Radio. I'm Matt Blackburn and today I'm interviewing Ava Mannino, on metabolic eating, and nutrition in general. On my show, I share a lot of really advanced technology, and ideas and complexity, and all of the advanced stuff, the technology, the supplements, knowing how and why to use different things. That's all fun and very effective. But I think taking a step back to the foundational part, a lot of people just don't know what to eat. We're so confused. And there's diet culture, and there's countless influencers promoting their agenda, and their health message, which is usually out of balance. It's either keto or carnivore or vegan, or alkaline diet, or whatever it is, it's a very restrictive program. So I like having people on the show like Ava, that share a more open approach. That really reduces stress. Because people forget when you start to restrict gluten, or dairy, or oxalates, or lectins, or whatever the new enemy is - sugar, salt, fat, everyone's restricting something, and there aren't enough people talking about restoring balance. And with balance, that means that you're not restricting any macronutrient. You're not low carb, you're not high fat, you're not high carb and low fat. It's a balance. And it's experimentation, and most importantly, keeping it fun and low stress. And in this interview, that's what Ava talks about. So she shares her journey, which is kind of similar to mine, we both didn't have a debilitating health condition that got us interested in health we just started studying. She talks about the bloating issues that she used to have. Her history with nut butters, and what she did to get back into balance. So this was a really fun, laid back interview. If you're overwhelmed, and just don't know where to start. This is a really good one to start with because it's foundational, we're talking about macronutrients and calories and minerals, and all of the basic stuff that you want to get down before you start getting into advanced protocols and supplements. So enjoy the show. Here is Ava Mannino. All right, we are here with Ava Mannino. Welcome to the show.

Ava Mannino 03:24
Hi, Matt. I'm really excited to be here today.

Matthew Blackburn 03:27
Yeah, this is gonna be fun. You've been posting a lot of really cool stuff on Instagram, and just really informative practical tips for people. And I see you're a fellow fan of the adrenal cocktail. You've been on that for a while?

Ava Mannino 03:50
So it's been about like, three months of on and off drinking it. Sometimes the adrenal cocktail, sometimes just orange juice. But yeah, I've been posting a lot of those infographics about pro-metabolic eating and all of that for like six months almost. And I kind of transitioned my niche into focusing on healing your metabolism and what that entails, which is really your overall health.

Matthew Blackburn 04:17
Mmhmm. Yeah. What was your background with dieting and trying different practices and protocols and were there health issues that you were dealing with?

Ava Mannino 04:32
Yeah, so I was always really health conscious as a young girl and definitely had some sort of disordered eating like, sadly a lot of women do growing up and very - I was eating super healthy, just as early as high school and then I really just transitioned into a way to just have a reinforced relationship with food and really change that from unhealthy to healthy by baking and cooking. So I kind of just took it into a different direction. And in college, at the end of my freshman year, that's really when I started to get really into the cooking and baking aspect of it because it was like my therapy with food, like taking it from being the enemy to being my, my love. And so right now that - that's where I'm at, I used to just cook and bake healthier things in the kitchen and post them. And that's really how avocado aficionado started, like six years ago, and I transitioned it into a place where I'm educating people on things that they should really know about that they don't just basic facts about common brands, foods and drinks. And that's really how I transitioned my blog from being a space of healthier cooking and baking options to that.

Matthew Blackburn 05:52
That's awesome. Yeah, I demoed at Costco for several years and it was always interesting to see what people put in their carts and just to listen to the conversations of people walking by and it's, I think it's really cool that you got into baking because people just have this blanket idea of like, "Oh, if you eat cookies, you're gonna get fat. Or if you eat, you know, cake, you're gonna get fat." But if it's homemade, it could actually support your health right? If it has the right ingredients?

Ava Mannino 06:22
Yeah, oh yeah.

Matthew Blackburn 06:22
I guess it'll have to be keto.

Ava Mannino 06:26
No, no, it doesn't have to be keto. I never - I never deprive myself. I eat my cookies like almost every day and bake, bake my healthier cookies. I don't - I don't deprive myself of sugar and carbs.

Matthew Blackburn 06:38
Did you ever get into that?

Ava Mannino 06:40
It's just really fun for me. No, no, I was always aware of it. Like, you know, paleo, vegan, keto, I always like use those to my advantage on my Instagram, but I never committed to any of them. But they were fun taglines to attract people to come to your page.

Matthew Blackburn 07:00
Mmhmm. That's cool. Well, let's see. So you didn't really, you didn't have like a crazy chronic health issue that was kind of like me, you're just kind of stumbled upon it. And you just started researching and experimenting?

Ava Mannino 07:19
Yeah, yeah, I really didn't have any like crazy issues, although I did have some bloating issues, like during 2022. That's like really when it started and I was like, so frustrated, confused, like, Why? Why am I bloating so bad when I'm eating healthy, I'm exercising. And really, I think it's because I was just so stressed. And I was over exercising, lifting really heavy, like I was just coming out of a phase of where I was lifting heavier weights, and my body just couldn't handle that. And I ended up getting into a way of like, sort of, not an aggressive fast, like I would fast lightly like I would stop eating earlier in the day. And I think that that and then you know, starting to eat again by like 9AM or 10. So not like crazy fast but I think that that really helped me like soothe my stomach and you know, the gelatin and bone broth. I think just taking all that kind of just soothed my stomach and eventually my bloating stop from that. And I'll do it to me and I was taking - I dont take that anymore, but really just that that combination of things helped help my bloating issues, which was a relief. And then when I really got into pro-metabolic eating or whatever, like fruit and fruit juices and not depriving myself of the thing, those things in salts, I really just saw a transformation in my body and also not exercising so intensely, like I'm still exercising but just exercising the right amount with the right amount of weights. I feel so much better, and I look better than I ever did.

Matthew Blackburn 08:52
Yeah, I can relate. I was doing a one hour eating window for six months, and I was deadlifting with the hex bar and it was like, I don't know, it was a lot of weight. I looked like I was starting to look like Arnold, I was super jacked but I was like bloated and like, like I wasn't fully digesting my food. It felt like it was just a rock sitting in my stomach. And yeah, it's interesting that people are looking for like the best probiotic or the best glutamine or the magic bullet to cure their bloating but like you said, it just could be over exercising could be not eating fruits, not enough salts. So many things, right?

Ava Mannino 09:30
Mmhmm. Yeah. Yeah, it was trial and error like when you're desperate and you really want to like fix an issue with your health like you will try so many things but luckily, I never really fell for those gimmicks of like the greens and the Greens powders and anything absurd like that. So I'm lucky I had - I had that knowledge of - intelligence not to.

Matthew Blackburn 09:55
What did you grow up eating? Was it like standard American like Cheez-It's, Wheat Thins, that sort of stuff?

Ava Mannino 10:04
Actually, my mom was always rather health conscious. So I'm lucky like she never she never wanted me to have soda. We never had soda in the house. I ate like, I did eat like the typical snacks, but I don't recall like ever eating like things having all those Doritos, Cheetos in the house, Pop Tarts like those were not allowed in the house. I think she always was rather more health conscious. And you know, I remember like when I was packing my own lunches when I was older and old enough, like middle school, like I would eat like carrots and cucumbers and seaweed. So I was, I was a young girl who was eating very health conscious at that young age. So I think that that definitely helped. Having that advisement.

Matthew Blackburn 10:49
You never got into like, nut butters like almond butter.

Ava Mannino 10:53
Oh the nut butters, yeah, we know we fell for the PUFAs we really did that - that was one of the things that wasn't looked at as a typical bad food for you. So I definitely fell for that in college. You just reminded me, I used to like down the almond butter for dinner as a freshman and sophomore. So I was, I don't even know how I didn't gain like 100 pounds. But I was eating so much almond butter. Luckily, that stopped as well when I got into this realm or modality. I completely stopped with the nut butters and I think that that helped so much my digestion. I was eating sunflower seed butter every day. I thought I was so much better because I wasn't eating peanuts. Little did I know it's one of the worst.

Matthew Blackburn 11:40
I got hit with both. I grew up eating peanut - I think, peanut butter and honey sandwiches. And then when I got into health, I was going through like one or two jars of like almond butter a week. Like were you on that level? You know when you're eating? When you say you were downing almond butter? Was it like a jar at a time? Because I would - I was almost to that point.

Ava Mannino 12:02
I wasn't, I think - I think maybe like in two weeks, I would finish the jar because I hated the food in college so bad. I just hated it so I would not even I would get like lunch. I would make oatmeal in the morning, buy lunch at the school and then I'd eat almond butter for dinner. I don't know why I thought that was okay. But I did. And you know, I think that eventually it caught up to me when I was having like chronic bloating looking like pregnant at the end of the day for no good reason.

Matthew Blackburn 12:35
Yeah, no, I can relate. I've had my finger on the pulse of like the raw food community, you know, raw vegan or whatever. That's how I got started, like more than a decade ago and there's this educator in the field that's that keeps getting like hospital bedridden. And he was slamming the nut butters. And I'm wondering if there's like, I suspect there's a connection between eating a lot of nut butters, which are totally unnatural, so concentrated and getting like irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn's disease, all these diseases that people are getting of the intestinal tract. It's like, how much -

Ava Mannino 13:17
There's definitely a connection, 100%. Yeah, there has to be I mean, everybody, because all these nut butters weren't around like like 10 years ago, it was just peanut butter. And now and now there's a butter for every nut and every seed.

Matthew Blackburn 13:33
Yeah, yeah, I think people like there's nothing like it's not evil. But if it's something that is really unbalancing like that, in my opinion, then you should just like have it as like a side right? Or just a little bit on bread, once a day is probably not going to kill you, but the way that people are consuming - over consuming these things are probably not good.

Ava Mannino 14:00
No, yeah and I used to have like, either a dollop in a smoothie or on my oatmeal, or on a banana and then it adds up. And it seems like it's such a convenient way to get in your nutrients, but really, it's not really serving us if you're eating it so much. It's just gonna inflame your body. I found that that's happened with me and I don't think like if I'm going to like make a dessert or something with peanut butter in it or tahini like I'm going to do that, I'm not going to beat myself up over it and I'll eat it. But I'm not going to just eat nut butter in a smoothie every day that's over with and done. But I will eat it once in a while. I'm not like I don't have that kind of disordered eating and more like I feel comfortable indulging in anything really if I need to.

Matthew Blackburn 14:46
Yeah, that's a that's a really balanced approach. Back when I lived in Southern California, I was like a raw chef. It was 100% raw vegan place where we did smoothies, juices and I was in the in the kitchen making up stuff and in the vegan community these cashew cheese cakes are really popular. I don't know if you've seen those.

Ava Mannino 15:09
Oh yeah.

Matthew Blackburn 15:11
It's like an insane amount of cashews.

Ava Mannino 15:12
Yeah, the raw ones. Yeah. Yeah, I'm familiar with those. I haven't actually made a cashew cheesecake but I've made my own cashew milk before cashew butter. But they're - they're heavy. They are heavy in dessert form. Oof.

Matthew Blackburn 15:30
Yeah, yeah, no I'd make these little like almond butter filled chocolates. I forget what they're called. But it's just like crack, like before you know it you've eaten like 20 then you're like okay, probably overdid the almond butter.

Ava Mannino 15:43
Yeah, it is a good combo like That's why Reese's is so popular. I mean, the chocolate peanut butters pretty epic. It is for a reason.

Matthew Blackburn 15:54
Right? That's funny. Yeah, I guess if it's not - if it's not, you know, main part of your diet just like a side. So you never got into sodas at all like carbonated drinks, or?

Ava Mannino 16:06
I did, when I was young, I loved soda but I wasn't allowed to have it a lot because that's - which is I'm happy my mom was like that with me. Like she was rather strict because she knew how bad they were like even if she didn't know the specific ingredients and it like she knew it wasn't good for me. But I did love at one point I love Pepsi and Coca Cola and Cheetos. I mean, I was a kid. So that was normal. But I definitely learned that that wasn't the right direction to go into and I think just for overall health like your hair, your skin your nails, just eating that kind of crap was just gonna do you a disservice and I'm lucky that I grew up with really good skin. But when you - when you already have that against you like eating like that is just worse. I think that for younger girls like if you just eat that kind of crap you're already setting your hormones up for Hell.

Matthew Blackburn 16:59
Yeah, then you add birth control and cosmetics and crappy water and it just adds up. Yeah, I consume so much soda growing up. I don't know if you have this by you but we have this place called a Giant Pizza King. I don't know if it's a chain I think - I think it is but it was like slices of pizza the size of your head. And I go there with my friends multiple times a week and -

Ava Mannino 17:25
Oh my god.

Matthew Blackburn 17:25
I'd have that, that and a Pepsi. But as probably getting a huge dose of aluminum from the Pepsi and you know.

Ava Mannino 17:32
Yeah. Oh my god. I never thought of it like that with the cans. But yeah, no, we didn't have that around us. But we had like all the pizza chains like Pizza Hut. Domino's, and I never I never really loved them. I liked Pizza Hut as a young kid, but I really liked like, good pizza from like a local pizza shop. Not like not the chains. I think because I'm Italian, like a very rather authentic Italian family like we didn't like eat lots of Pizza Hut or Domino's. But I you know, we were raised eating the better quality pizzas from better places around us, but I don't even like love pizza that much like I like it. I don't go crazy for pizza.

Matthew Blackburn 18:14
Yeah, there's a place when I lived in Idlewild. They put steak on pizza and at first I thought it was weird, but I was addicted to it, like chunks of steak on top of the pizza was really good.

Ava Mannino 18:25
That sounds good. That sounds good. I would eat that. Wow.

Matthew Blackburn 18:30
Did you guys ever make like homemade like woodfired pizza or have you ever tried that?

Ava Mannino 18:37
No, we didn't make it but you know, I have done that before. At my boyfriend's house they have a woodfired pizza oven. So it's pretty cool. But I just love like, I prefer pasta and chicken cutlets more than pizza -

Matthew Blackburn 18:53
What about the gluton?

Ava Mannino 18:54
That's more my style. I don't care. I don't care about the gluton, like I don't eat - I eat sourdough strictly pretty much. But if we're eating - again like if we're eating pizza like the right way like I don't - I'm gonna indulge like I'm, I'm luckily, lucky that I don't have these intense allergies, like some people that I can still enjoy these things. But for the most part, I'm not going to eat that every day or even every week.

Matthew Blackburn 19:21
Yeah, yeah. A lot of people are really anti-pasta and I think it is for like that reason you said the allergies. Are people surprised? Like when you work with clients or talk with people about their health and you say you eat pasta, like are people often shocked. And they're like, what about the glyphosate or what about the gluten, or?

Ava Mannino 19:43
I mean, I tried to do organic or like a rice based one or something like I'd like to mix it up. But really I don't think, I don't think people have to be as restrictive as they think especially if you're taking like the right supplements or whatever like yours are like, what is it Shilajit or beef liver, vitamin E, if you're taking the right things too like, you're already putting your body in the right state to digest these foods. But I don't know nobody - nobody really like attacks me about eating wheat or any of those like pastas that are wheat based. But I like, I do like the other ones that are quinoa based wood. I don't know what brand it is, Jovial? There's a lot of good brands out there. And I like to mix it up. But I think, I think my relationship with food has really changed where I'm not scared of any food anymore. Like I'm scared of candy and stuff like that's like not even real food. But when it comes to like chocolate and bread, like I can eat, I can eat a bagel, and I'm not going to be like depressed or hate myself for eating a bagel. Like at one point in my life, I used to think I can't enjoy this because I don't deserve it. Because especially if I don't work out today, like I don't deserve to eat this. So I used to be in that mindset. And now I don't feel that way anymore. Like I'll eat a bagel with cream cheese, even if its not gum free, because I don't know what they're putting in it. But I prefer a one that's gum free like Nancy's, which is my favorite. But I have a pretty practical approach now to eating and that's what I really want to share with my audience is that you can have like - you can live a normal life doesn't have to be restrictive and overwhelming.

Matthew Blackburn 21:08
I love that. That's awesome. Yeah, there's, I think there's whole podcast episodes just on wheat and gluten and I haven't found one that's not wheat - that's non-wheat, like the rice ones or whatever that tastes good. So I just go for the regular wheat ones. Like I found Costco has a pretty good one. Like that's the best tasting I found, Costco sells like, I think it's like a pack of eight. Takes me it kind of like a year to get through. But it's it's like pretty good. Organic, organic spaghetti. But, yeah.

Ava Mannino 21:52
That's great, organic too. I actually went to Costco today for fruit.

Matthew Blackburn 22:00
I haven't been in months. I kind of miss it. It's it's such an interesting store and interesting people walking around.

Ava Mannino 22:08
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. It's always busy. And I go like once in a while. It's just nice to get your produce there. Especially with inflation. And the expenses like just going to Whole Foods is like it hurts. It's my favorite store, it's my favorite.

Matthew Blackburn 22:27
Do you ever walk around and like observe what people are putting in their cart and kind of study? Study that?

Ava Mannino 22:36
Yes. Yes, I'm nosy like that. I will. I'm very - I will just observe someone's cart and I'm just like, "What are you buying these bad cereals for?" And the snack the snack aisle like they have an aisle where they have like the chocolate covered almonds. And those were good, I've had them before. But they're just putting all this stuff in their cart to feed a family. They've got this milk that has like vitamin D in it. And these eggs that aren't pasture raised, but I - but I feel for them because I know like you have - if you have to feed a big family, you can't afford some of these people to eat a certain way. But I see that people, people go there for the convenience and affordability. Because you can buy in bulk if you have like a family of five and five plus there but luckily, that's not me right now.

Matthew Blackburn 23:25
Yeah, when I was driving for like Uber and Lyft and, and just working multiple jobs, minimum wage kind of thing. I was just buying for myself, but I was buying the highest quality I can find from like a co-op. And at least half of my paycheck was going to my food. Like this is wild.

Ava Mannino 23:46
Yeah. Oh, yeah. When you like your high quality stuff, you don't like to compromise and I get it, it's hard to like you want your nice orange juice, nice milk and cheeses and meats and it adds up but it's not that - that's my that's my choice. That's how I like to spend it.

Matthew Blackburn 24:03
Hmm, I noticed you had a post. You had a post on egg whites. I know Costco sells those that - I've never seen one in person like someone consuming it, but it's kind of gross. It's like cartons of just egg whites, right?

Ava Mannino 24:18
It is. I know and I wonder what do they do with all those egg yolks that they - that they just extract it? I'm not sure maybe they're making a lot of tiramisu or something but it's a shame, it's just like they totally just like fooled the health industry like healthy like people who were aspiring to be healthy. And they just sell this, what is it like a four pack or something of egg whites there? And I don't - I don't understand. They're good but like, you know, why not just have the whole leg to get so much more benefit out of it. People are so deceived by the whole cholesterol thing. It's so mind blowing.

Matthew Blackburn 24:56
Yeah, yeah, that's what I noticed, being out and about and I try to, just not - I restrained myself quite a bit in public conversation with people, because I don't like being overbearing, and you know, you know, trying to lecture people out, I don't think most people enjoy that anyway, but they'll make a comment, you know? Yeah, I tried to keep my sugar low, or I don't need any salt or I don't need any cholesterol and I just have to like, keep my mouth shut and like, okay.

Ava Mannino 25:23
Haha ya, because sometimes it's just not worth the conversation. I know, it's frustrating, like I saw this person at Target. Look, they were observing what vegetable oil to get with, like a mom - a mom and son. And I was like, no, what are you doing? I didn't say anything. I'm like, in my, in my mind, I'm like, Oh my God, you're making such a bad mistake go away. Maybe I should push you out of the way and throw you to the coconut oil.

Matthew Blackburn 25:51
That's, that's the one for some reason that everyone's confused about, I think in the mainstream, or someone's trying to get healthy is, what oils to cook with. And I've seen that over the years where, you know, I say, I say every once in a while, "Yeah, I only cook with coconut oil or ghee." And they're like, "Well, wait, I've been using olive oil or what about avocado oil" or whatever. I guess canola would be one of the worst. But have you run into that conversation quite a bit like people confused about what to cook with?

Ava Mannino 26:27
Yeah, it's a - that's a big one, especially if you cook a lot and like there's families that probably like to cook a lot and they have some big container of soybean or canola oil in the house. It's like you were really messing yourself up like that's, that's step one. If you want to cook like get your oils established. And definitely avoid vegetable oils even. I'm just using olive oil for lightly sautéing or salads, really right now. If I eat salads, light coconut oil and ghee are my favorite at the moment. And butter especially from baking or certain cooking preparations. But yeah, I definitely feel better eating all of those two, just consuming them. And even higher amounts like I'm thriving.

Matthew Blackburn 27:15
That's awesome. Yeah, it's definitely an upgrade from the oils that a lot of us were consuming growing up, because I know I was just loaded on canola oil being right there in San Diego is just what everywhere used to cook with.

Ava Mannino 27:30
That's, it feels like every restaurant probably does that. We'll never really know. Even high end ones. How do we know what they're cooking with? Like, are they cooking with olive oil? Not sure.

Matthew Blackburn 27:42
Yeah. Right. Yeah, that's why I think it's smart to supplement people look at it as like orthorexia sometimes, they're like, and that's fine. You know, if you just want to go out and enjoy it and you don't have your supplements or whatever, let loose and eat whatever and take the hit. But I think if you're on vacation or you want to feel really good, it's better to not take the hit and like take your Shilajit and vitamin E, or enzymes or whatever, all of them and feel better, right?

Ava Mannino 28:17
Yeah, definitely. The thing is not many people know about those supplements. That's the biggest problem is such a big push for the wrong vitamins. And that's the hard - that's the biggest problem right now, is getting over that - just really becoming informed of it. But like the majority of people think that vitamin D and zinc are the best for you right now protecting your body but it's not true.

Matthew Blackburn 28:44
Did your did your parents ever give you supplements or did you get into supplements on your own at some point?

Ava Mannino 28:52
At one point when I was growing up was taking spirulina believe it or not, and I didn't really find that it benefited me in any way. I took a vitamin D at one point my - I remember my doctor said you should be taking vitamin D so I took it for like a year. And it like did absolutely nothing but beneficial probably did a disservice to me inside. But I got -then I got off of that like a year and a half ago and I've been fine but really just discovering the supplements through a bunch of influencers, including you. The beef liver and the shilajit, I really just kind of changed - I just really changed my perspective on vitamins and what you need. And I feel right now that taking that magnesium bicarbonate, which is super annoying, but I, I'm committed and the shilajit and the beef liver. Those are my favorite right now. I actually just upped my dosage to three shilajit and I feel - I feel a difference for sure. And my mom feels a difference. My mom does not feel as anxious like physically not just mentally like she feels a difference. So that's amazing.

Matthew Blackburn 29:58
That's That's really cool. Yeah, it's funny some people will say I feel nothing from shilajit and then other people will be like, is this like adderall? This feels like when I used to take adderall.

Ava Mannino 30:12
Yeah, it definitely helps focus and just clarity and I feel I just felt good.

Matthew Blackburn 30:19
Yeah, that's awesome.

Ava Mannino 30:20
No brain fog.

Matthew Blackburn 30:23
Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, I think I found it like eight years ago, eight, nine years ago or something and it took me up until last year to learn - I found a study that 90% of shilajit is calcium, potassium, and magnesium, because I thought it was like almost 100% just trace elements. But most people are deficient in those they're deficient in like all the electrolytes, right? So that could be a big benefit they're getting from it. There just like, their body's like, "Oh, finally, potassium. Finally, magnesium."

Ava Mannino 30:52
Yeah. So yeah, it's like a it's another one of those supplements that's like, naturally just giving you so much more benefit. The way beef liver does just like a bunch of vitamins and minerals, giving you that overload in a good way.

Matthew Blackburn 31:07
Mmhmm. With beef liver, did you - did you ever get into the the real thing? Like eating it raw or making smoothies.

Ava Mannino 31:16
So I found frozen beef, beef liver at Whole Foods, and I tried to make my boyfriend and - beef liver, meatballs. And he actually didn't notice, he knew there was a difference in the taste. But I didn't tell him until after he ate them that I added liver but I was - on the other hand, I was gagging and grossing out because it smelled so bad, like the irony smell of the liver. So I just got nauseous to eat more, but I didn't eat them. And I need to work on a recipe for that. I haven't touched any liver since then. But I take the supplement every day. I really need to get more into cooking organ meats because I really want to for the benefits. And I don't need to buy the supplements anymore. So it's a transition. It's hard. Like I really I'm really interested in it though.

Matthew Blackburn 32:05
Yeah, I wasn't raised on it so I feel that and I think I bought some organic, quote unquote, beef liver from Grocery Outlet. And I think it was refrigerated, it wasn't frozen. And that seems to be the big key or getting rid of the gameyness of beef liver is like, having it frozen. And thawing it out and immediately eating it, versus you know, it's already been thawed out for weeks. I think that's where it tastes really, really weird.

Ava Mannino 32:37
I'm open to trying it again. I just it was it was nasty. It is a nasty thing but it's it's a powerhouse of nutrients. So it's worth it like I'm open to that sacrifice.

Matthew Blackburn 32:52
I think the two easiest ways -- have you seen like, like, what I used to do is just cube them up and I'll do sometimes cube it up just raw and then separate the pack into like ziploc bags, or pyrex containers or whatever. And then freeze the two thirds and then eat the 1/3 right there. And you just swallow them whole like pills. And that's a pretty easy way if you want to get the real thing - so you don't taste it at all, you just, you know, it's like eating oysters or whatever you shoot them.

Ava Mannino 33:24
Oh, I would I would try that. Yeah, I think that that sounds like a nice idea. Just it's yeah, just like that. That's truly the right kind of pill.

Matthew Blackburn 33:35
And I know a lot of people I've met - my friend Paris told me about beef liver smoothies. Like just get like frozen cherries and I guess the frozen fruit can hide the flavor too. If you find the right fruit that jives with the flavor of the - and just make like a just put some liver in your smoothie.

Ava Mannino 33:56
Oh, yeah, I actually thought about that. I mean, if you just put in a frozen piece, you probably won't even taste it. Banana definitely banana for the sweetness. I don't know that the sound gross, cherry sounds a little more doable than banana. But I usually - banana is usually a good base for smoothies.

Matthew Blackburn 34:18
And you wanted to talk about green powders. You mentioned that before. Did you ever get into those like taking that the green powders?

Ava Mannino 34:27
Luckily, I didn't. But I wanted to talk about like why everyone's so obsessed with them and actually thinks that that's a good way to gain your health back. Like why do people actually think that it works - it's such a processed powder. It's just mind blowing how people are being so deceived.

Matthew Blackburn 34:47
What was that - there's a multilevel marketing company that sells green powders. They market heavily to the Hispanic community. They were - there down in California when I was there. What was it called? Not Amway, it was on that level. Not Purium but -- but yeah, there-

Ava Mannino 35:07
I don't know, I heard about (unintelligble) greens.

Matthew Blackburn 35:10
Oh, right.

Ava Mannino 35:10
Yeah, everyone thinks that they're more affordable. It's just an easier way to just get your greens in. But you're lacking so many key nutrients there and it's just so processed and it's so - tastes so gross. I've tried it, luckily never got on the trend after that, but I find that it - and it's digestive distress, you're just asking for it.

Matthew Blackburn 35:34
Yeah, and there's a lot of marketing. They're like, "Oh, it's liquid sunshine and you're getting all of your vitamins and minerals." But they never asked like, what was the quality of soil that grew these vegetables right? Oh, it's called Herbalife or Juice Plus. Have you heard of those?

Ava Mannino 35:51
Oh really? No, I haven't.

Matthew Blackburn 35:53
Those are huge.

Ava Mannino 35:54
Oh my god. Yeah, they definitely they mark it on those tactics to get people going - get them emotionally like "Oh, it's an easy way it'll help me - it'll help me get my greens in for the day. I won't have to cook vegetables or eat vegetables or eat the greens" and the ingredient list are like a paragraph long on vegetables too it's just overwhelming for the body too, so I don't - I really sometimes I'm mind blown how people are - could be so like single minded about these things.

Matthew Blackburn 36:24
And usually I noticed they slip in like D3, no vitamin D or even ascorbic acid, vitamin A. They'll just throw like the whole kitchen sink in these things.

Ava Mannino 36:37
Oh my god. Yeah, I haven't actually seen ingredient lists that add those but I'm sure they do. Oh man, so they really - they're really just deceiving consumers and they're making lots of profit on it.

Matthew Blackburn 36:49
Last time I was at Costco I saw the - one of their juices I forget if it was orange juice. They added zinc and vitamin D Have you seen that? Like in the fruit juices or the vegetable juice that they sell.

Ava Mannino 37:05
I think I have seen them they have a green juice there, I think it might have a V8 or something there, they all have - they all add a few funky ingredients, natural flavors, maybe even something and some of the newer ones now or not - well not fruit juices but just a lot of other alternatives have monk fruit in them -- and stevia which I really dislike both of those.

Matthew Blackburn 37:31
I used to hit those hard. I think that was part of my digestive distress.

Ava Mannino 37:37
Definitely, yeah. They could - they're just worse than regular sugar.

Matthew Blackburn 37:44
Mhmm, yeah, there's - if you search stevia antifertility there's some really interesting research on how it's basically birth control. The stevia leaf.

Ava Mannino 37:56
Oh my god. No kidding? That's insane, I've never heard that before.

Matthew Blackburn 38:03
Yeah, I think it lowers testosterone-

Ava Mannino 38:12
And people just think (unintelligible)

Matthew Blackburn 38:15
Right. It's healthier then -- I'm pretty sure it lowers testosterone and I mean, it - all the women now it seems like they all have cysts on their ovaries. Endometriosis. I'm like, why are these things so prevalent and low testosterone in men? Like it's probably a lot of these products that are just being shoved onto us?

Ava Mannino 38:34
Yeah, definitely. There's, there's clearly an epidemic of fertility issues for women right now. It's actually like mind blowing, like, like 28 year old girls struggling to get pregnant and it's unbelievable, I don't know why like, I mean, there's - there's just so much that goes into it though. Environment, birth control, all like food that they eat. And it's really upsetting to see that happening, especially to people that you may even know.

Matthew Blackburn 39:04
Did you ever almost get on birth control? Like the IUD or the pills or anything? Luckily, no, luckily, no. My mom was against them so I'm lucky that I had her guidance again. Yeah, your mom sounds like -

Ava Mannino 39:21
They're really - they're really bad. And also my aunt, my aunt works in medical in the medical field. So she's, she's aware of these things as well, like coming, even coming from that perspective. Like they just they just knew better like, these things aren't good for you. And if you're not - if it's not a necessity, like you don't need it, and it's like, when I was when I was 14, everyone was getting on it because it was the thing to do. Made you feel cooler. I don't know it's just, it's so sad to see that. It's like a cultural thing. It's like, it's just it makes you I don't know more womanly which is so ironic because it's opposite but I definitely think that it's just prescribed so easily to - to these girls.

Matthew Blackburn 40:06
Yeah, yeah. Recently I looked up one of the popular IUDs is called a Paragard. And is actually made of polyurethane like plastic and barium, like the weirdest combo.

Ava Mannino 40:22
Nice, barium that sounds familiar. I, and also there's a new thing called Phexxi and other form of birth control - is like a gel for women. It's supposed to be non-hormonal, but there's still obviously there's still risks. I dont know if you've heard of it? Phexxi, it's a new thing.

Matthew Blackburn 40:44
I haven't what's it called?

Ava Mannino 40:49
P-H-E-X-X-I, Phexxi.

Matthew Blackburn 40:53
Okay.

Ava Mannino 40:54
It's very, very new. It just got approved by the FDA like maybe a year ago or less. And its - it's a gel that can give you that could probably risk of like certain things down there.

Matthew Blackburn 41:08
Interesting. Yeah. Yeah, I feel like we're so behind on the times with birth control. I mean, there's, you know, there's condoms, but pullout method. There's the cycle, just aware fertility awareness method. Those are like three, three options. But there are probably some that are just suppressed that we are just not available to the public because they're too healthy for us.

Ava Mannino 41:32
Yeah, definitely. Definitely. They're hiding - they're hiding the good stuff, right?

Matthew Blackburn 41:40
And one thing you mentioned to me before, kind of switching gears, was nausea that you've experienced from traveling so you've been experimenting with mitigation strategies for that?

Ava Mannino 41:54
Yeah, I get such bad dizziness and nausea when I'm on a plane and like the pressure of being at that elevation on my head like pounds, so I'm just trying to find the right way to mitigate that maybe, I don't know if I need to just go for the dramamine or try to take the the peppermint - the peppermint on my forehead or ginger, ginger lozenges or something. But it's - it's so like, it's so overwhelming for the body. And I just need a better way to go about it. Because I'm traveling more now so I really need a better option.

Matthew Blackburn 42:33
Have you - have you experimented with anything that seemed to have a good effect?

Ava Mannino 42:39
Oh, the only thing is mindful breathing. That's all I've done so far and it's not getting very far. I'm gonna have to take medical - the medicines. I like to avoid them.

Matthew Blackburn 42:56
Yeah, you might want to look at the SOTA Bio Tuner, I don't travel without that. It's like a couple 100 bucks and it's these ear clips that clip to your lobes. And it's just a tiny device you can hold your hand and it's a - it's like, electrical brain stimulation but very gentle. And I've used it for so many things being under slept, insomnia, I can't fall asleep. Just feeling stressed or overwhelmed or whatever. And just like 20 minutes and just feels like a little tingling. Almost like a tickling sensation on your ear lobes and yeah, it's a cool - I think like that's where some devices come in-

Ava Mannino 43:36
What's it called?

Matthew Blackburn 43:36
The SOTA Bio Tuner

Ava Mannino 43:40
I'll have to write that down, okay.

Matthew Blackburn 43:43
There up in Canada, yeah. I don't travel without it just a nice little -- so might -- might calm down your brain.

Ava Mannino 43:54
I think I need it, it's just - it's so, it just stinks to have such a bad headache on when you're stuck on a plane. And there's no way to help that and you just feel like crap.

Matthew Blackburn 44:07
Yeah, I know some people would say it's probably the EMFs but it could be a million things.

Ava Mannino 44:12
Probably. Probably, I mean when yeah, there's just so much going on and there's everyone's so close together in that compact plane that you definitely an overload of that and the EMFs. Yeah. Cringe.

Matthew Blackburn 44:26
Early last year - Right. I don't know if you've seen the EMF blocking clothing but this guy, is a company, No Choice and I think I was fed up and just kind of fed up with the whole mask mandate thing and so I went to the airport and like a superhero outfit. Like I literally had the cape with the hood over my head and my face was fully covered. So it's just my whole face was silver. They couldn't see any of my face and I had a hood with the - it was like a purple cape. And yeah, I've done some fun experiments at the airport and it was full EMF blocker.

Ava Mannino 45:06
And you got through TSA?

Matthew Blackburn 45:08
Yeah.

Ava Mannino 45:10
Did you - and you got through no problem? Wow, that did you - you probably had a nice plane ride.

Matthew Blackburn 45:18
Yeah, yeah. His hoodie actually zips up all the way to the front. But there was a - it's funny it actually creates like a spike and so my post got taken down from social media because they said it was like KKK like it looked like that.

Ava Mannino 45:36
Oh my god. Oh my goodness. That's extreme.

Matthew Blackburn 45:37
So that that whole thing is - I have to find a better way. Yeah. But yeah, you might want to look into like EMF blocking like balaclava, you can buy or fully zip up your hood that might help too, but just ideas.

Ava Mannino 45:55
I've seen - I've seen that with the EMF blocking clothing would - that's that definitely, I would like me at least one outfit would probably do me justice - for travels.

Matthew Blackburn 46:06
Let's see. Do you want to jump into some Q&A questions here?

Ava Mannino 46:11
Yeah, sure. Sure. Let's hear what the people have to say.

Matthew Blackburn 46:17
Best way to tackle cellulite. There's so many different ideas on this like -- calories, watching your calories?

Ava Mannino 46:27
I think Gua Sha. I don't know about watching calories, I think Gua Sha, foam rolling and drybrushing are great tools that I use every day on my body. I think that they could definitely break through that the fascia, but I think the way that you eat definitely plays a role into your cellulite as well. Just like just like a tight, tight like blockage of skin layers. So if you could fix that.

Matthew Blackburn 46:58
Yeah, Atom Bergstrom says it's just gas. It's really interesting. He's like, it's not even solid. You could like literally, you could like deflate yourself.

Ava Mannino 47:08
Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure just breaking it up. I'm sure even a massage could even help with it. Like a massage helping with cellulite.

Matthew Blackburn 47:21
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I like that you said Gua Sha too I fell off the wagon with practicing that but I was pretty consistent. And I've had some wild experiences especially in my neck area, just like nasty thick material coming out of my pores around my lymph nodes. Have you been using that for a while?

Ava Mannino 47:45
Ah, probably since 2020. I really started using my Gua Sha I'm pretty, I'm consistent with it every night I love to do it. I took a nice paced massage my neck. And really for my - for my legs. I use the foam roller more than the Gua Sha but if I had really bad cellulite, I would use the Gua Sha on my legs. I mean, that's where the most common areas for cellulite.

Matthew Blackburn 48:12
Yeah, and lowering cortisol probably too, right?

Ava Mannino 48:19
Yeah, that and that also helped with stomach - stubborn stomach fat, the cortisol -- managing all of that, just managing stress in general from life. And that helps help with your hormone health.

Matthew Blackburn 48:35
Yeah, absolutely.

Ava Mannino 48:36
And Acne.

Matthew Blackburn 48:40
Yeah, I just took like a week off coffee. And that felt so good because I hadn't done that in like months or years. And doing that in combination with the adrenal cocktail. My body is like brand new. It's pretty cool.

Ava Mannino 48:54
You really think so? Wow. Are you gonna go back to coffee?

Matthew Blackburn 49:05
Oh yeah.

Ava Mannino 49:08
Coffee is one thing I can -- I can step away from but I really don't want to. I just love it so much.

Matthew Blackburn 49:17
Yeah, I think the key is not overdoing it. Like I never got to the point of drinking like five six plus cups a day. So I know there are people like that where just every few hours they're going to Starbucks or whatever. And that's when you know you have general imbalance or problems.

Ava Mannino 49:37
Yeah, definitely. I definitely don't have that issue either. I have - I have the self control with that. So like two cups a day once in a while. Usually just one a cup a day for me.

Matthew Blackburn 49:50
Mmhmm. Let's see, "What are your go to easy, daily meals?"

Ava Mannino 49:54
Mmhmm a really, really easy one is sourdough with eggs, avocado, or sometimes adding some ricotta on it. That's probably my go to. And I love - I know this sounds really gross but I love baked and buttered with salt. I've been obsessed with that. That's probably like a typical keto snack, but it tastes so good. It's like caramel and I love that as that as like a little snack. I love the carrot salad with coconut oil and vinegar and salt that's been really nice as well. It's so easy to make, I usually just grate a bunch of carrots at the beginning of the week, just so I don't have to do that because it's that's the annoying part. Or I think like turkey slices on sourdough again, like that if I'm not really getting to the kitchen to cook, if I just - I just put anything on toast that's healthier to get protein, fat and carbs in there. And so fruit bowl or smoothie as well.

Matthew Blackburn 51:05
That's awesome. "How do you find motivation to workout?", someone asked.

Ava Mannino 51:12
I think it's because it's a mental thing for me like I mentally feel so much better about myself and I feel more accomplished for the day if I get a workout in. And I like my favorite time to workout is mid day. So I really I think that you know, I don't - I don't make that effort to get up at like 6AM and workout, but I like to squeeze it in during the day. So I enjoy it. I enjoy working out at this point, as well as the fact that it makes me feel good. Like I do a form of exercise that works for me, that doesn't make me feel like it's a chore. So that's really how I am right now with working out but I have gone through phases where I am not in the mood or I'm - my body's not ready for it or I feel like I'm dreading it. So working out is just about committing to it. Also, if you want to have - if you want to look a certain way or feel a certain way you have to put in 45 minutes a day or 30 to 45 minutes a day. That's the commitment.

Matthew Blackburn 52:16
Hmm, that's great. Yeah, I'm really fortunate to be out here alone because I'm forced to move. I don't have a choice.

Ava Mannino 52:24
Yeah, you're always probably moving around.

Matthew Blackburn 52:28
Mhmm. Um, yeah, the 24 hour fitness thing. I remember growing up seeing that and even before I was into health, looking at people you know, when I'm going into a Vaughan's at like 10pm and they're on the elliptical or whatever I'm like that can't be healthy. That's probably not a good time to be like that's probably time you should be winding down right and getting ready for bed.

Ava Mannino 52:55
Yeah, I know. I don't like to work out that late in the day either. It's definitely just not - you're not setting yourself up for a good night's sleep. Circadian rhythm and it's your - what you're putting yourself out of whack. You're just going to be energized for hours.

Matthew Blackburn 53:12
Yeah. This is a good one, the differences - or "What are the differences between different types of sugar and their effects on vitamins and minerals?" Have you dove into like the white sugar thing, or?

Ava Mannino 53:29
I've read about it but I really right now my favorite is maple syrup and honey. And those I enjoy in desserts coffee, honey on toast with ricotta or cottage cheese, I'd say it just makes you feel fancy adding that honey into the savory meal. But I think maple syrup is my favorite and it's just your body's preferred source of energy are simple sugars. And I haven't dove into the white sugar thing but I have seen that it could be a tool. But I personally don't consume it right now but I'm open to it. But for me maple syrup is the best - that works best for my body and the honey.

Matthew Blackburn 54:11
Yeah, over the years, I've heard people make the argument. You know, like the four white devils. Think they demonize dairy, they put milk in there, but they're like white salt, white sugar, and white bread. I'm like, "It's all context, right?" It's like, yeah, you have your minerals coming in elsewhere. You don't need to get minerals with every meal. Like your body is not going to freak out.

Ava Mannino 54:37
Yeah, I mean, there - everyone has the wrong idea about sugar and salt. And it's just - it's mind blowing that people actually think that you need to avoid salt if you have certain conditions like that's literally going to save you. And it sounds like increasing my salt intake has completely helped me

Matthew Blackburn 54:59
Same here. Yeah, I noticed that immediate, like, if I'm forced to fast, just life, whatever, and I take some salt, my stress just immediately is like boom. Like I'm taking down multiple levels and stress.

Ava Mannino 55:13
Yeah, it's - it's part of life. We thrive off of it.

Matthew Blackburn 55:19
Have you seen the recent video by the Clinton's doctor, Dr. Mark Hyman? Where he says, sugar turns your brain into crème brûlée?

Ava Mannino 55:31
I haven't seen that one. But I've seen him - I've seen him shit on, on sugar all the time. Like he demonizes it. I don't know, man. I don't know how I feel about that guy anymore. I unfollowed him a while ago, and there's still people like in this realm of health that still follow him and support him.

Matthew Blackburn 55:53
Yeah, he made the analogy. He was like - he's like, if you ever been to a kid's party, and the kids are eating ice cream and cake, and they're bouncing off the walls, it's not a bad scene, just putting all the blame on sugar. I'm like, kids are - kids are supposed to do that, right? They're supposed to be running around and -

Ava Mannino 56:14
Yeah, I mean, it's - yes, sugar can amp them up, but it's not like it's not a bad thing. He has a whole different perspective but and then another agenda I'm sure. Being their doctor.

Matthew Blackburn 56:29
Yeah. Yeah. Hillary has a pretty pretty high body count, I think at this point.

Ava Mannino 56:37
Oh boy.

Matthew Blackburn 56:40
Let's see. "How do you eat pro metabolic without gaining weight?" So yeah, recommended exercises?

Ava Mannino 56:53
I think just finding the right exercise for you, whether it's walking or some moderate weightlifting and staying consistent with that, like four days a week, that's my favorite. And then you know, eating - I eat mindfully. But I also eat - I eat at certain times of the day, like I'll start earlier now I like to start eating by like 8:30 - 9 and I eat, I try to eat a balanced breakfast that sets the tone for the day. Coffee, and I eat like balanced meal, I listen to my body to see am I full or not? Because I used to have a really tough relationship with that like finishing my plate because no food should be wasted versus, "Oh, am I actually hungry or am I am I full?" So I really - I really come to understand like my hunger cues. So I think understanding your hunger cues and you can, you could still eat cheese, proteins and proteins of choice just really balancing it out and not to be honest, like I know people look down upon this but like eating dinner earlier rather than later. I know people say it doesn't matter. But I feel that it really does matter. Like if you're going to eat dinner at like nine o'clock at night. I really do think you're doing your body a disservice. And people think that that's not true, but I do, I think your digestive system. The earlier you eat, I really do think the better it is for the next day.

Matthew Blackburn 58:20
Have you experimented with that? Like in the past, like eating dinner late? And then eating earlier?

Ava Mannino 58:26
Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah, I definitely have because when I'm - when I'm with my boyfriend, he gets home later from work. We eat dinner later. But when I'm home, I eat dinner so much earlier and I just definitely feel better eating earlier in the evening. And then just stopping at that - like stopping by 8pm. But there are nights where I'm like eating my dessert 10 o'clock at night and I'm just like, "Gotta live life." But I definitely feel better and I don't look bloated in the morning, I stop earlier. I do like people think that that's such - they're like carbs at night doesn't make you fat. But like you might have some digestive issues at night, from eating late.

Matthew Blackburn 59:10
Yeah, yeah. What's your typical desert?

Ava Mannino 59:15
What do you think?

Matthew Blackburn 59:15
Like, is it - yeah, I think it's something that you should experiment with, for sure. And yeah, eating dinner right before bed probably isn't a good idea. I mean, after I eat like I know if I lay down. You know, I feel the difference in my digestive process.

Ava Mannino 59:34
Yeah, of course, of course.

Matthew Blackburn 59:36
Being vertical. Yeah, I think it's definitely an individual thing. Yeah, yeah I was gonna ask do ice cream?

Ava Mannino 59:45
Yeah, so right now Häagen-Dazs is my favorite ice cream. But you know, I have the self control to not eat a whole pint. I stopped after a few bites but I - right now for my baking I make like double chocolate chip cookies or chocolate chip cookies. And those are my - I love cookies. I like to make my own muffins or cupcakes. So I learned to like have like one cupcake, I don't have three, then I'm going to feel like crap. Like I found the fine line between enjoying dessert and having it every day versus binging on it. So that really also changes the game for me with just enjoying sweets. And I make them again, I'm making them all myself. I'm not buying any of them. So I make everything and I don't consume almond flour as much anymore too, in which I used to always bake with it. Right now I do organical, wheat, or gluten free one and I add coconut flour. So I'm just experimenting with other desserts because I use them a snacks sometimes too during the day. I don't just limit them to dessert. So it's another option for food for me sometime during the day.

Matthew Blackburn 1:00:58
That's great. Yeah, it's a good point about moderation and whether it's, you know, recreational stuff, alcohol, tobacco, cannabis.

Ava Mannino 1:01:08
Yeah.

Matthew Blackburn 1:01:09
The overuse is usually where the problem is and people just don't know where to stop with things. Yeah.

Ava Mannino 1:01:19
Yeah. I mean, I definitely had my times where I love to, like eat like lots, like bunches of slices of cake. But I really - I found a fine line now where I'm like, okay, I'm good. I could stop. And I know people feel different ways about moderation but I love - I love dessert, and I'm not going to stop eating it. And I still feel good and look good and I found that I could still eat it and eat it like almost every day if I need to, because I make it myself so I know exactly what I'm putting in it. No funky oils, using butter or coconut oil and using the right flowers - using sugar. So it's all good.

Matthew Blackburn 1:02:01
Yeah, yeah, cuz all the stuff you buy in the store, it's probably going to have canola oil, maybe fortified with iron. Even throw like ascorbic acid in there as a preservative.

Ava Mannino 1:02:13
Yeah, soy lechitin they love that one. That's in a lot of chocolates, too.

Matthew Blackburn 1:02:21
I've noticed that. Yeah. And even um, gummies like the even the healthier. gummies give me a stomachache. It's like, when I started eating gummies I would buy the ones - the organic ones and if I eat a whole bag, like, oh, it's like a brick versus like homemade.

Ava Mannino 1:02:37
Yup. Well, you know, what's that really trendy brand that's healthier? Smart Snacks or something -

Matthew Blackburn 1:02:44
That's the one I used to use, yeah.

Ava Mannino 1:02:46
It took a tooth out of my mouth. They weren't - they were not chewy at all. They were hard as a rock. It was sticky, too sticky.

Matthew Blackburn 1:02:55
Right? Yeah. I think something's you have to make at home. Like, yeah, I'm working on coming out with a gummy for Mito Life. But it's it's tricky to make something that's like shelf stable for a while, you know?

Ava Mannino 1:03:13
Yeah. Some gelatin would do good in there. I don't know. Yeah, that is that is tough, but I'll be buying that.

Matthew Blackburn 1:03:23
Do you? Do you make homemade gummies for the gelatin.

Ava Mannino 1:03:27
I have before. Yeah, I'm not consistent with it. But I did a few times and I really like it. They're fun to chew on.

Matthew Blackburn 1:03:37
Yeah, I started making my own -

Ava Mannino 1:03:40
(unintelligible)

Matthew Blackburn 1:03:41
Sorry, go ahead.

Ava Mannino 1:03:42
Sorry. I was just gonna say I just love - I like to just, I like treating myself a little gummies and stuff like that. Because it's fun and you know that you're doing your gut - some good service.

Matthew Blackburn 1:03:55
Yeah, I feel like it balances out my meals too. Like if I just take it with my normal meal three times a day. I definitely feel the difference. with it, so.

Ava Mannino 1:04:07
Yeah, that's awesome. I haven't taken them enough to say that but I love, I love having gelatin in the house just to use for anything like that.

Matthew Blackburn 1:04:17
How do you treat an overgrowth of fungus in the body? Your take on an antifungal diet or your thoughts on Candida?

Ava Mannino 1:04:28
Well, I haven't dealt with that personally. But I know if I know some girl that I follow @lilsipper, has a lot to say about that and Candida and IBS and all that, so I can't really speak to that to be honest.

Matthew Blackburn 1:04:43
Yeah, Atom says a Häagen-Dazs fast, cured a lady that he knows. She went on like a - it was like a three week Häagen-Dazs fast.

Ava Mannino 1:04:50
What!? What the hell. She ate ice cream? Oh my god. Oh yeah. I wanna try that.

Matthew Blackburn 1:05:02
Because the idea is that Candida becomes aggressive when it doesn't have sugar to eat. And so it'll spread throughout your body aggressively if you don't eat. You know, it doesn't have to be sugar or carbohydrates. Which is funny because that's the exact opposite of what they say, you know, say, "Oh, you need to starve it. Don't do any carbs. No sugar."

Ava Mannino 1:05:23
That's what I thought. Oh, wow. I know - you know the vanilla and the strawberry are my favorite by Häagen-Dazs. Ah, there's so good.

Matthew Blackburn 1:05:35
Yeah, I'm still on the double rainbow. I think it has like two gums in it, but it feels like it digests well.

Ava Mannino 1:05:41
Oh no, no, I don't - the vanilla and strawberry have no gums in it. I really just want to get an ice cream maker one day. That would be amazing.

Matthew Blackburn 1:05:50
Yeah, yeah, it's a little bit of work. I tried it a few times.

Ava Mannino 1:05:56
Really?

Matthew Blackburn 1:05:58
I think the key is you have to freeze. You have to freeze the container overnight, I think is the trick. Again, there's some prep work. You can't just jump in and make it you need to like - yeah. And then you have to blend it. Blend the ingredients before you put it in the ice cream maker. Those are the mistakes that I made. I didn't blend it. I didn't freeze it.

Ava Mannino 1:06:21
Yeah, I think I heard you say that on a podcast this one time. So I remember that actually.

Matthew Blackburn 1:06:28
Um, let me see, "Which supplements do you recommend women in their 40's to take?" Same ones?

Ava Mannino 1:06:40
I think the same ones I'm taking right now. Especially for - from generations that are older than me. Getting just your minerals imbalance and taking vitamins that you're lacking from your food like for shilajit, grass fed beef liver and magnesium bicarbonate. You're really just creating a foundation of a balanced diet. Like right there like that's the foundation and then you obviously have to have good quality food with that. But I think those three are the best and seeing my mom who's in her later 50's like her her transformation taking all of these as well. That's a perfect example right there that they are working and she takes the exact same supplements I take. So yeah.

Matthew Blackburn 1:07:25
Awesome. "Why does she believe pea protein is good for our bodies?" I used to live off of it.

Ava Mannino 1:07:36
Oh, well. I do have a few posts, including the pea protein I use once in a while and smoothies, Nuzest, I know that it's technically a PUFA. I mean, I like - I still think that it helps with some gut issues for me, I don't consume it every day. But because that's one of the only brands that has no funky ingredients whatsoever. It's literally like three ingredients. I have no problem consuming it. In addition to like bone broth, collagen or gelatin like I have a balance and those three work for me. Maybe someone else will have an issue with pea protein, but I never actually got into whey protein because I was - I was brainwashed by the vegan industry with pea protein so I never even bothered getting into it. But I made it out okay with pea protein, the vanilla one by Nuzest. I don't know if you're even familiar with that brand, but that's the brand I have been consuming.

Matthew Blackburn 1:08:34
Hmm, that's great. Yeah, I used to go to like natural health conferences, and I would try shots of you know, I was back in my sampling days, I try every sample from every booth. And I never found like a you know, protein smoothie that that felt good. I always just felt bloated, but I think it's another experimental thing where you have to try different ones and probably just stay away from soy protein isolate, right?

Ava Mannino 1:09:03
Yeah, yeah, well, the one that I buy, I mentioned her earlier @lilsipper is her Instagram handle. She created her own with that company, and she designed specifically for people with IBS issues. So it's designed to help you and your gut issues so it's more friendly for your digestive system. That's the only reason I bought that one and I still have a bottle in the house but I don't consume it every day. I just haven't as an option.

Matthew Blackburn 1:09:32
Mmhmm. We have a few questions on tahini. "Why does she eat it?" Got the PUFAs -

Ava Mannino 1:09:38
Who's creeping on my page that hard! I haven't posted tahini in a while have I? Actually, I have - I have actually. Well, alright, I think if my answer so - life's about balance and the tahini cookies I make or legit so I make them because you have to live life and tahini, I don't consume it if it's not in that cookie. So if you have that cookie, you'll understand why. I understand that has a - yeah, has a high PUFA content, I understand that so I don't consume it a lot.

Matthew Blackburn 1:10:20
Yeah, I think I only eat that when I get like Mediterranean food or something.

Ava Mannino 1:10:26
Yeah, that's so - that's so yeah, it's usually Mediterranean restaurants in the hummus or just tahini itself. That's the problem with some of these communities. Everyone's so like, all or nothing.

Matthew Blackburn 1:10:42
Yeah, especially with the PUFAs thing. That's something that I've seen in the last few days where, like, someone asked me with my grain that I give my, my goats. Like, isn't that going to increase the PUFAs in the milk? I'm like, they've - obviously never worked with animals.

Ava Mannino 1:11:03
Yeah. People like are like they have these opinions and it's like, I - you can't be perfect. It's impossible. You have to compromise somewhere. And if the goats have to eat that it is what it is. Hopefully, their digestive system does some magic.

Matthew Blackburn 1:11:21
Well, yeah, in ruminants, yeah, they convert unsaturated fats into saturated so and it's - and PUFAs aren't even evil. You know, they're in everything. They're in eggs, and they're impossible to to avoid. So I've been kind of meditating on it the last week or so. Like, I think PUFAs was their biggest benefit is there like anti freeze? Like that's actually found an article, that's how deer use it. They actually consume moss - it's lichen, let me see, here I found it. Yeah. Yeah, reindeer -- geese. The other moss has a lot of arachidonic acid, which is natural anti freeze so prevents them from getting super cold. So yeah, it's so -

Ava Mannino 1:12:18
Wow, how are the deer near you? How do they look near you? Because the deer is around here are very unhealthy looking. Are they more - are they a little thicker?

Matthew Blackburn 1:12:28
Oh, yeah they're robust. Yeah. They have a lot of food around here to eat and I'm always chucking out old you know, oranges and stuff, so.

Ava Mannino 1:12:40
Wow. Because the deers around this area are very skinny. They're so unhealthy looking these poor deer. And then when you're in busier areas, you see them on the side of the street ran over. It's really sad.

Matthew Blackburn 1:12:55
Wow. If you ever want to do an experiment, buy a salt block. Think they're like 10 bucks or so like a big white salt block and put that out away from the highways or whatever. And that's what I put out on the lake and it attracts the elk, the deer moose, and they lick the salt and that's like - it yeah, it's super supportive for for wild animals, so.

Ava Mannino 1:13:23
Wow. That's amazing. Oh my god, you get the whole you get the whole forest. The elk, the moose? That's amazing.

Matthew Blackburn 1:13:32
Yeah, yeah. In the summer the moose actually swim in my lake. They'll jump in because they use it to cool down. And there really -

Ava Mannino 1:13:41
Oh my god. Wow, that's so cute. I've seen that. It's so adorable. The moose. Wow.

Matthew Blackburn 1:13:53
Yeah, it's nice to see while they-

Ava Mannino 1:13:54
Are you scared of them? Is it like a scary thing?

Matthew Blackburn 1:13:57
Yeah, they're huge. The bull that comes around the mail is giant. I don't know how many pounds I mean, the one that was here last year -- he seemed like he was a good seven - 800 pounds, maybe half the size of my truck. And yeah, they only get aggressive during rutting season. Same with deer, like we watch animal attack videos, and a lot of them are when it's like mating season and you know, the males are competing for the females. That's when you really have to watch out. And then with bears, it's like when they're coming out of hibernation and they're hungry. Yeah.

Ava Mannino 1:14:37
Soon enough, right soon enough you'll see that happening?

Matthew Blackburn 1:14:42
Yeah, yeah, that's why I keep a gun next to me pretty much all the time because my beehives off my deck and so if a bear comes I could just pop - I mean I wouldn't kill them. I have non lethal rounds my shotgun so I just give them a little love tap. That's the - that's the plan.

Ava Mannino 1:15:01
Oh man, well, you have to have a plan in case you're in the wild. Kind of.

Matthew Blackburn 1:15:09
Yep. Do you think you'll ever get into keeping like chickens or bees or goats or animals?

Ava Mannino 1:15:16
I would like that. I would like that. It sounds nice, but it also sounds like a lot of upkeep. And you really have to be in an area where you have that kind of property or land, but having my own chickens would be amazing, to have like fresh eggs every day, or I don't know how often do you eat fresh eggs? Do - you have chickens? Right?

Matthew Blackburn 1:15:35
Usually every day. Yeah, I started with 10 and most of them got eaten.

Ava Mannino 1:15:42
Oh my god.

Matthew Blackburn 1:15:42
And so I'm down to three hens.

Ava Mannino 1:15:47
That's terrible! Oh man.

Matthew Blackburn 1:15:50
By wild animals. There's one-

Ava Mannino 1:15:52
Who ate them, like?

Matthew Blackburn 1:15:54
I think there's coyotes here. There's wolves. There's pretty much everything. And so you know raccoons could pick them off. And one morning I woke up to my rooster. had half of his feathers plucked out. And I think what had happened is something he tried to drag them into the woods to eat them and he broke free somehow. But he fully recovered like grew back all -

Ava Mannino 1:16:22
That's unbelievable, man, you need the rooster he? He's necessary for that whole ecosystem. Wow.

Matthew Blackburn 1:16:32
Yeah, yeah, I recommend chickens. Even if you have a small backyard. I've kept chickens before when I rented, even. And, you know, you can kind of get in trouble with the landlord if they're not aware or they're not in support of it. But I mean, if you only have hens, which is what I've done in the past, they're quiet and no one really knows. Just keep them in a little coop in your backyard and it's it's fine.

Ava Mannino 1:17:00
Let them graze, hopefully they get to graze a little too.

Matthew Blackburn 1:17:04
Yeah, in the winter you have to do or it's ideal to do dehydrated bugs. So I've been feeding them like grubs because they - you know they haven't had insects in five months or so. Just grain, grain fed chickens. Let's see, What are your thoughts on constipation like when someone has constipation? What are your go-to's?

Ava Mannino 1:17:31
So drinking just drinking enough water is the trick or maybe you need to uptake your magnesium or make sure you're taking the right magnesium those are the best tips like if you have a healthy - if you're in good health water should be able to help you go to the bathroom but I mean from my experience, yeah, I think and then magnesium if you're struggling magnesium is the best way to fix that.

Matthew Blackburn 1:18:00
Yeah, I agree. Have you done the floating yet? Sensory deprivation floating in the magnesium

Ava Mannino 1:18:07
I actually did try floating, I don't really like it because I'm just not meant for that because I - my mind can't stop but I have tried it there's a wellness pod in New Jersey that I tried. It's really great. It's called mindful waters and she has like the cryo and the sauna and the float tank, which is, it's nice I liked it but I didn't try - wait you said with - yeah, they have the magnesium like powder in the pool or something. Yeah, so it burns if you have cuts. Well actually that's definitely relaxing for some people.

Matthew Blackburn 1:18:47
Yeah, yeah, I had my friend Mandy on to talk about the nervous system and she was saying like, that could be stressful for someone's nervous system that's in a certain state and so you might need like music or even light but just I think music alone in that chamber could help a lot of people just to give one input of stimulation to suit the nervous system

Ava Mannino 1:19:15
Yeah, definitely depends on your - on who you are as a person if you, if you're going to enjoy it or not. Like if you're a very frantic person it's going to be more challenging to relax -- in that state but it's a thing for a reason it benefits people and keeps you calm and kind of like you could get out of your head a little.

Matthew Blackburn 1:19:35
Did you use the the cryo chamber at that spa?

Ava Mannino 1:19:39
No, no, I'm too - I'm not ready for that. I'd rather sweat for an hour in the sauna. Then go into cryo.

Matthew Blackburn 1:19:49
It's the stand up one right with like the the gas.

Ava Mannino 1:19:54
Yeah, yeah. I haven't tried it. Do you - have you tried it? Do you like it?

Matthew Blackburn 1:20:00
I would - I'd like to try it. Yeah, I think you only go in there for like 90 seconds or two minutes. But I just kind of laugh because we're about to enter a cold spell here the next couple days, we're almost December, but it keeps dipping and going back up. And I'm just like, I could just walk outside naked and get the same benefit.

Ava Mannino 1:20:21
I'm sure over there you've have. For free.

Matthew Blackburn 1:20:27
What's that?

Ava Mannino 1:20:29
I said for free, too. Because, you know, those wellness spas are more expensive.

Matthew Blackburn 1:20:35
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Did you ever almost get into like the ice baths? Wim Hof stuff?

Ava Mannino 1:20:42
No, no, luckily, no, I didn't. I hate being cold. So I didn't - I wasn't open to those modalities of help. But I don't know, I hear a lot of controversy about getting your body really cold anyways, and all that good. I'm sure for certain ailments, it can help.

Matthew Blackburn 1:21:01
Yeah, my Russian friend Leo, you know, cuz he grew up with the sauna thing. And that's - they do hot cold therapy. And, you know, everything's such a fad. Now with all this biohacking stuff and he was saying it should just be in and out, you know? Like, I used to sit in my stock tank, with my hands out and meditating for 15 minutes. And that's totally unnatural. You know, it's just, it's just a test of willpower at that point. I think that's the biggest benefit. I think people are just trying to see how machismo they could be.

Ava Mannino 1:21:41
Yeah, ego, your ego, if you feel cooler if you stay in longer, like male dominance or something like?

Matthew Blackburn 1:21:52
Um, let's see, "How can girls improve their menstrual cycle?"

Ava Mannino 1:21:57
I think you know, it depends on on where you are you on a pill? Do you have irregular periods? You have to really like - how, what's your diet like? And think just those basic things about your life, you know, if you have an irregular period, and that's something to think about, like, are you eating enough? What's your what's your life, like work balance, social family dynamics, every - anything can literally affect your period, if you're exercising too much. There's so many factors. I haven't had any issues with that, luckily. But it's something I know people who don't get their periods for like two months at a time because some women have really irregular ones. I'm not a fertility expert, but I can say that it starts with nutrition and like a mineral imbalance for sure.

Matthew Blackburn 1:22:54
Yeah, yeah, that's great. I think a lot of the time it could just be they're not eating enough carbs or protein. And yeah, start there.

Ava Mannino 1:23:05
Yeah, definitely need to be eating enough in general just to protect and support your hormone health.

Matthew Blackburn 1:23:13
Mmhmm. Kind of going back to what we talked about with eating before bed, think this is one of the last questions here. "Reasons for waking up with a headache, even if I have a balanced snack before bed?"

Ava Mannino 1:23:32
I would say you're grinding at night like I have TMJ issues and I sometimes I can't, my jaw hurts to open to a certain angle. When I open it in the morning, like my jaw gets so bad. So it's definitely probably not something you're eating. Or you could just be dehydrated or you're literally just like grinding at night. You're stressed out in your dreams. That's a thing.

Matthew Blackburn 1:23:58
Wow. Have you experimented with like the nasal dilators? Or the mouth tape?

Ava Mannino 1:24:06
No, but I've always been a nose breather. So I don't think my mouth breathe and I've always been in nose breather since I was a baby. So I'm, I'm good. At least I think!

Matthew Blackburn 1:24:19
Your boyfriend's never complain that you snore.

Ava Mannino 1:24:23
No, no, no, no, no, he doesn't snore either. So we were quiet sleepers and I never had a snoring problem. I always kept my mouth shut at night. So then what was already at an advantage. And you know, it's funny, you know, like you always thought oh, you've posted breathe in through your nose out through your mouth. And now they're saying, now I hear like, "Oh, don't breathe through your mouth at all." It's like, thank - thank God I was on the right path.

Matthew Blackburn 1:24:51
Yeah, I think for like intense workouts, I like what Josh has to say for that. It's like, makes the analogy of like switching gears in your car. Like sometimes He might kick it into fourth gear and mouth breathe, but it just shouldn't be chronically.

Ava Mannino 1:25:07
Yeah, that's a good way to put it. Like, if you have to, if it's really strenuous, I get it, but the majority don't.

Matthew Blackburn 1:25:15
Hmm. Well, that was awesome. Anything else you wanted to chat about?

Ava Mannino 1:25:26
Um, well, I - yeah, I do. I do. I just want to mention that I'm writing an online course on metabolic health, and that it's coming out in the next month or two. So everyone to be on the lookout for that. Just about how to support your metabolism and all of that.

Matthew Blackburn 1:25:48
Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, that would be super useful for people. Because that's, that's a huge point of confusion, I think.

Ava Mannino 1:25:56
Yeah, yeah. Just to like, give a nice blueprint of like, where to start and meal ideas, and really like, what does it really mean to support your metabolism for health. Overall health.

Matthew Blackburn 1:26:08
Yeah, and it's kind of amazing that we even have to talk about this now. I mean - because all these crazy diets, right, like keto, intermittent fasting, like people have just gone through the gauntlet of all these diets. And I've noticed people just can't drop the diet term. They're like, Oh, pro metabolic diet, or the Ray Peat diet. It's like, they must use that word diet. It's like just ingrained.

Ava Mannino 1:26:40
Yeah. I know. I know. And it's not about diet. It's just about like, just an approach to to helping assist you and your needs. And that's, that's really the goal. So I know, we've been so brainwashed into dieting as a society, like people think that that's just the only way out. It's not.

Matthew Blackburn 1:27:04
Well, that's great. Well, Ava, thanks so much. This was this was fun. And I think, yeah, people will learn a lot just from hearing your journey and and what you did to rebalance. Your Instagram is @avocadoaficionados. So stay tuned to that page for the release of that.

Ava Mannino 1:27:28
Thanks. Thank you, Matt. It's been great chatting with you.

Matthew Blackburn 1:27:32
Yeah, it's been fun. Stick around as we close out the show. Thanks, Ava.

Ava Mannino 1:27:37
Sure.

Matthew Blackburn 1:27:37
That's a wrap for today's show. I hope you guys got some practical information out of that and inspiration. Ava has great recipes on her Instagram, whether you're baking, or cooking up some butternut squash or chicken, or making pancakes, really easy, healthy recipes. So if you've been confused about what you can eat, head over to her Instagram, and I'll put the links to everything below - her website. There's a button you can click work with me and send her an email if you want to work with her one on one to get the foundation down and clear the confusion around food and nutrition. My website is matt-blackburn.com. I have recipes up there for gummies and pancakes. I have blog posts, that's where you can read my CLF protocol which is overdue for an update with my new information on vitamin A / retinol and its effect on protecting from lipid peroxidation. So I'll update that and do a CLF version 2.0 very soon; I'm actually working on an e book in detail about calcification, lipofuscin and fibrosis and that should be ready really soon. So that's exciting. And if you click on shop on my store, you can see all of my recommended products. And I have a good variety there of different things both affordable and investments. But I think it's all an investment and you'll never regret spending money on your health. All the stuff I have has taken me a decade to accumulate over the years and a lot of things I bought used at first. My first rebounder trampoline, I bought used on Craigslist, my first sauna, same thing. And so it's just a matter of prioritizing and maybe going out to eat less or going to the movies less or canceling subscriptions that you don't need to prioritize your health. And I think devices and supplements can be a really powerful way to fast track recovery. Because we've all been, as I call it, "Poisoned by the system" They fortified our grains with iron filings, while at the same time lowering the RDA for copper, which balances out iron overload and allows copper to be loaded into ceruloplasmin, which is like bioactive copper, while at the same time, they took away our retinol sources, like butter, and milk or dairy free options, and nut milks, and margarine, fake butters. So it was a perfect storm that was created, I believe, by design and if you don't have copper, in its active form, you can't make energy, you can't utilize the oxygen that you're breathing, to turn it into water and to make ATP. So the first step is not starving yourself. Not drinking coffee, on an empty stomach, without carbohydrates in your system, not skipping meals, not restricting animal protein, or saturated fats. And then you could start to deeply heal with these ideas of excess iron being stored in the tissues -- ceruloplasmin deficiency. And then you start looking into vitamin E deficiency vitamin K2 deficiency retinol. And now you're really accelerating the healing journey. So I've been having a lot of fun, it's constant research and connecting dots. And no one has the whole picture. If they say they do, they're lying. We're all discovering this together and there's always new dots to connect, and important ones that actually powerfully affect people's lives and the way they interact with others in relationships, and how creative they can be and how productive they can be. All of that is dependent upon our health or physical health. It's really important, and there are weakest link steps that you have to go through. So if you're under eating calories, eat more calories, if you're under eating carbs, eat more carbs, and on and on, until you get to the level where you can start to really balance your fat soluble vitamins, treat the severe vitamin D toxicity that they created. And the resulting magnesium deficiency because both vitamin D supplements and iron overload both deplete magnesium. And so many things do it, it goes on and on. With the connections between vitamins, minerals, and enzymes, you could spend your whole life looking into those connections. My brand is called Mito Life, you can find that at mitolife.co. We're working hard to bring back the desiccated oyster and we have a freeze dried beef liver product coming out that I'm really excited about that's different from all of the others. There's nothing like it. And the Mixed Tocopherol Vitamin E will be back soon so keep an eye on that. But thank you so much for your support. There's a new episode released every Friday. I am @mattblackburn on Instagram, and my YouTube channel is Matt Blackburn and that's where I have the Mito Life Academy. And so you can pay $10, $15 or $25 a month to get access to private videos where I dive deeper into these topics. And there's also a live private Q&A once a month. So thanks for listening. See you guys next week and stay supercharged.