There is a growing awareness around food quality, but most of the attention still goes to the obvious things. Processed food, fast food, sugar. Those are easy to identify.
What’s much less obvious are the foods that look healthy.
The ones labeled organic, free range, nitrate free, or sold in stores that people already associate with better choices. These are the foods that tend to get a free pass, even though they are often where the most confusion exists.
Looking more closely at everyday staples like butter, eggs, chocolate, wine, and even cooking tools reveals that the difference between supportive and inflammatory is often in the details most people aren’t taught to look for.
Butter Depends on the Cow
Butter is a simple food, but its quality is entirely dependent on how the cow is raised.
Most conventional dairy comes from cows that are confined indoors, fed corn and soy, and not exposed to natural grazing conditions. That changes the composition of the fat, making it more inflammatory and less supportive overall.
Grass-fed butter is different because the cow is eating what it is biologically designed to eat. That shift alone changes the nutrient profile in a meaningful way.
For those looking to take it a step further, ghee offers another option. Because the milk solids are removed, it tends to be easier to digest and often better tolerated by people who are sensitive to dairy.
Egg Labels Are Misleading
Eggs are one of the most misunderstood foods when it comes to labeling.
Terms like cage free and free range create the impression that chickens are living outdoors in natural conditions. In reality, cage free simply means the hens are not in cages, but they can still be confined indoors in large numbers. Free range only guarantees access to the outdoors, not that the chickens actually spend time there.
Organic refers to the feed, not the environment. Even then, the feed is often still based on corn and soy, which contributes to a more inflammatory fatty acid profile.
Pasture raised is the label that more accurately reflects natural conditions. It indicates that the chickens are outside, moving, and eating a more natural diet.
The difference is often visible. Pasture-raised eggs typically have deeper colored yolks and stronger shells, both indicators of better nutrient density.
Chocolate Has Been Redefined
Chocolate, in its original form, is simple. It comes from cacao and requires very little to become a finished product.
Most commercial chocolate, however, is heavily processed and built to meet a specific taste expectation. Ingredients like emulsifiers, soy lecithin, and flavoring agents are added to create a smoother texture and a more uniform sweetness.
Over time, this becomes the standard people associate with chocolate.
When switching to cleaner versions made with minimal ingredients, the taste can feel different at first. Less sweet, slightly more bitter, but closer to the original food.
There has also been increased attention on heavy metals in chocolate. While this can sound concerning, it reflects a broader issue. Heavy metals are naturally present in soil and therefore can be found in many plant-based foods.
The more relevant factor is overall exposure combined with the body’s ability to process and eliminate these compounds. A varied diet and supportive habits play a larger role than avoiding a single food entirely.
Wine Is Not Just Fermented Grapes
Wine is often assumed to be a straightforward product, but it is one of the least transparent.
In the United States, wine does not require a full ingredient label. As a result, many products contain added sugars, flavoring agents, and other additives that are not disclosed.
This helps create consistency in taste from year to year, even though wine is derived from an agricultural product that should naturally vary.
These additions can also explain why some individuals experience headaches, flushing, or other symptoms after drinking certain wines.
Wines produced with fewer additives and more traditional methods tend to reflect natural variations and are often better tolerated. The difference is not always visible on the label, which makes sourcing and awareness more important.
“Nitrate Free” Requires a Closer Look
Processed meats labeled as nitrate free are another area where wording can be misleading.
Many of these products use celery powder as a natural source of nitrates. While celery itself is not harmful, the role it plays in processed meats is the same as synthetic nitrates.
When these compounds are exposed to high heat during cooking, they can form substances associated with negative health effects.
The distinction is not about the ingredient alone, but how it is being used and what happens during preparation.
Cooking Materials Matter
Food quality is only one part of the equation. The materials used to prepare that food also play a role.
Air fryers, for example, are often chosen as a healthier alternative to traditional frying. While they reduce the need for oils, many models rely on nonstick coatings that can degrade over time.
With repeated use and exposure to heat, these coatings can begin to break down and release unwanted compounds.
Using materials like stainless steel or glass removes this variable. While it may require slight adjustments in cooking methods, it provides a more stable and predictable environment for preparing food.
A Different Way to Look at Food
The common thread across all of these examples is not restriction, but awareness.
Food labels are designed to guide attention toward specific claims, not to provide full transparency. Understanding how foods are produced, processed, and prepared offers a clearer picture of how they will interact with the body.
Small changes in sourcing and selection can have a cumulative effect, particularly for individuals managing inflammation, thyroid conditions, or autoimmune concerns.
Connect with Jen Smiley
App: Read the Labels (available on iOS and Android)
Website: thelabelletter.com and use code “INNA” for a discount on the Label Scanner App
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Inna Topiler CNS MS (00:01.4)
Jen, I am so excited to have you back on thyroid mystery solved Hashimoto’s and hypothyroidism reveals. Welcome back.
Jen Smiley (00:09.266)
Thank you, I’m so excited to be here. Hopefully our conversation will continue to wake up people to realize what’s inside of their food.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (00:19.65)
I love the work that you do because literally you wake people up and show them that something may seem healthy, but it’s not. And last time we talked, which was about a year ago, we talked about the hidden ingredients in healthy seltzer water, that there’s forever chemicals in there. We got into a lot of different things. We talked about why oats are bloating. We talked about some of the things with grains that people don’t realize about that go way beyond just the gluten and the lectin in it. There was so much more. And so I love this.
investigation that you are constantly doing and, you know, even healthy brands. mean, I think for the people that watch this podcast, they already know that, you know, we’re not going to eat McDonald’s or, you know, maybe they’ll eat it, but they’ll know that that’s not a good thing, right? And that there’s negatives there. But I think what people often don’t realize is that there’s all of these healthy foods, right? Even foods that are sold in
Jen Smiley (01:04.7)
Go.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (01:14.072)
Whole Foods, Or Trader Joe’s or places that aren’t your typical, you know, stop and shop, right? Or Costco, even though Costco does have a lot of organic things these days, but still, right? So it’s your investigation of this and really bringing this forth to us. And it’s not to scare us, but it’s to educate us and to show us, hey, like you’re doing good things. Great. Keep on going and just be mindful of this. And instead of this, do this. And instead do that. So first, thank you for the work that you do. We appreciate it.
Jen Smiley (01:23.634)
Thank
Jen Smiley (01:41.994)
yeah. So I would like to set out this big mission statement so people understand this isn’t about me. My goal, my goal isn’t just to help people read the labels. It is to change the entire food industry. So this is not my movement. It’s a movement of millions of label readers who are waking up to what’s really inside of our food. And you guys, you listeners, everyone watching, you’re the reason that companies are changing the ingredients.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (02:14.542)
That’s so, so important. So let’s get into it. We have a lot of different things that we want to talk about. Let’s start with butter. What’s the deal with butter? What’s bad? What’s good? What are we looking for in butter?
Jen Smiley (02:19.378)
Ooh, butter.
Jen Smiley (02:26.438)
Yes, so I always say you are what your cow eats. Most cows out there are being confined inside. They’re not getting any sunlight. They’re not getting any exercise and they’re being fed GMO, corn, no, GMO, soy and corn. Yes, that is intentional. One, it’s cheap, but two, it makes the cow fat. And so when you have this fat sick cow, what…
you are what your cow eats. What is that gonna do to us, right? It’s gonna make us sick and fat. So when you’re looking for butters, you wanna make sure that you’re finding 100 % grass-fed butter. Grass-fed cows are naturally more anti-inflammatory. They have cancer fighting, I think it’s called like CLA, I don’t know what it stands for, off the top of my head, but this is a more anti-inflammatory butter.
It’s hard to find 100 % grass-fed butter. The mainstream one right now is Kerrygold, and I think it’s like 80 % or 90 % grass-fed, and then it gets fed grains at the end. That is intentional to help them produce more milk and to kind of get them beefed up a little bit. But that’s going to be better than say your Lando Lakes brand, something like that. There’s another one.
Some of them say avocado oil on the front, but if you flip it over, the first ingredient is canola oil, then avocado oil, then it’s milk solids butter. So the goal is to find 100 % grass-fed. The best is to find ghee, okay? Cultured butter. That means they have removed all the lactose from the butter. It’s easier for digestion, and it’s a much more anti-inflammatory option.
So there’s always good, better, best, right? If you’re eating not grass-fed butter, switching to grass-fed, you’ll notice a difference. If you’re ready to take your health up another notch and be more anti-inflammatory, then look for 100 % grass-fed. I know the brand Maple Hill is one, and it even says it on it, 100 % grass-fed, and it’s organic. That’s ideal. You’re ready to take it up another notch, get the milk out of your diet, get the inflammation down, then look for ghee or
Jen Smiley (04:48.124)
Hello.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (04:49.006)
Yeah. What’s your favorite ghee brand?
Jen Smiley (04:52.774)
My favorite Ghee brand, I really do like fourth and heart because it is out there. And I think Bulletproof also is a very good one. It’s kind of everywhere. And if you’re like, how do I find this product? Well, go to Google and then just search Bulletproof Ghee store locator. Then you put in your zip code and you can see where this is located. Otherwise, if you just go to your grocery,
Inna Topiler CNS MS (05:03.566)
That’s great.
Jen Smiley (05:21.951)
and you download the Read the Labels app, you can scan any ghee and see if it’s clean or not clean. Yeah.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (05:28.204)
That’s great. That’s great. And that’s such a nice way for people to know, and then they don’t have to worry about reading the ingredients because you’ve done the hard work and you’ve read them all and you know what’s clean and what’s not.
Jen Smiley (05:36.76)
Yeah. What most people don’t realize is the food industry is spending billions of dollars on the marketing of a product, telling you kind of what’s not inside, showing you selling tactics of why you should buy it. They don’t want you to read the ingredients. And when you do try to read the ingredients, if you’re over 40 years old, it actually becomes hard to even see the ingredients, right? So.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (06:00.044)
Yes!
Jen Smiley (06:01.989)
That’s why we also created the app where you just scan it and instantly it’ll tell you if there are inflammatory ingredients, it explains which ingredients promote inflammation. Sometimes I put little notes in there like, hey, this isn’t the best butter, but if this is the cleanest you have, it’ll be okay. So it’s kind of like having me in your back pocket grocery shopping.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (06:24.526)
Which is great. Now, what about eggs? There’s been so much with eggs. mean, with all of the, the bird flu situation we had last year and now, you know, eggs are back on the shelf, but my gosh, it’s like the wild west. So tell us more about eggs because there’s the, you know, the free range and then what’s really free range, right? They have a hole that they can crawl out of from like 25 feet, which is probably not going to happen. so tell us more about that.
Jen Smiley (06:27.794)
Now.
Jen Smiley (06:36.169)
yeah.
Jen Smiley (06:39.622)
Yeah, it’s like.
Jen Smiley (06:50.45)
Yep. Yeah. So what do they have? Free range. There’s cage free. There’s organic. There’s hormone free. There’s vegetarian fed. Um, it is so confused and it’s like, why can’t an egg just be an egg? So for starters, whenever you’re animal products, again, you want to know, are my chickens being fed? What are my chickens eating? Are they getting sunlight? Are they getting exercise? Most aren’t.
So free range only means that hens have access to the outdoors. They may not ever actually go outside. It basically means that imagine like a barn or a building and there’s like thousands and thousands of hens in there. And there’s one tiny little door that they’ll probably never get out of, okay? So free range just means that they have access to the outdoors.
doesn’t tell you if they’re actually going and how much access they actually have. It could be like one little square outside. Then cage-free means they aren’t in a tiny cage. They can still be packed into these massive indoor warehouses, which is what most are. And imagine just being like packed in a crowd all the time, right? That’s not good. Organic refers to the feed that they’re eating is organic. So like this is a win.
This is the most strict rules out there. It’s not the best, but it’s a win. Hens can still be confined indoors and they can be fed organic corn and soy. So this is better, but it’s still very high inflammatory omega-6s. You really don’t want your chicken eating soy or corn. So that’s ideal. Usually you’ll find that at a farmer’s market. So a lot of people…
They talk about the maha movement, right? Make America healthy again. And I’m like, the only way that we’re really going to make America healthy again is making America local again. Going to get your know your farmers, going to the farmer’s markets, finding who’s doing the chickens, who’s doing the eggs, who’s making butter, who’s making cheese. Otherwise, we’re trusting the grocery and none of this stuff is highly, it’s not regulated properly. Okay.
Jen Smiley (09:11.974)
So how do you find a farmer’s market near you? Go to Google, farmer’s market near me. Go talk to them. Okay, that’s how I get corn and soy free eggs is through my farmer. So that is another thing. The other one is hormone free. You will see this all over poultry items. So they put it on chicken. Most people don’t realize that it is illegal to give.
poultry in the United States hormones. So it’s always hormone free. This is marketing tactics. If it says antibiotic free, well, that’s good because they can give them antibiotics, but they cannot give them hormones. Vegetarian fed is generally a red flag for your eggs as well because chickens are omnivores. They like bugs. They like insects. They’re like eating in the dirt, right?
Inna Topiler CNS MS (09:48.578)
Hmm.
Jen Smiley (10:08.324)
So if they’re vegetarian fed, you could probably assume that they are confined inside and they have no pasture access. You’re looking for organic and pasture raised. And then next level is, is it corn and soy free? Because a lot of times they have to supplement some of their feed.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (10:08.75)
Thank
Inna Topiler CNS MS (10:13.814)
Mm.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (10:26.19)
Thank
Jen Smiley (10:27.174)
But pasture raised, think of chickens out on a pasture, their soil is healthy, what they’re eating, they’re only getting access to organic stuff. And then if they’re not supplementing them with corn and soy, you found a great chicken. And then those eggs are generally a darker color. If you’re buying the cage free, the free range, the vegetarian fed, the big brands that say like vitamin A and D or omega-3s, that stuff is very light yellow.
And so it’s higher in Omega-6’s inflammation.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (11:00.398)
Yeah, that’s really interesting. And the shells are probably going to be different too, because I know like with the eggs I get at my farmer’s market, like when I crack those eggs, like I have to really crack them versus like the store ones. You like you pick up a box and you touch an egg just to make sure it’s not broken and just you touch it and it breaks. It just showing how weak that shell is because they’re just not healthy.
Jen Smiley (11:13.201)
Yeah.
Jen Smiley (11:22.47)
Yeah, for sure. Your eggs are working against you, not for you.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (11:24.462)
So yeah, now let’s talk about brands a little bit. So of course the ideal is going to a farmer’s market and getting something from a local farmer. And I think probably also depends on where people live. If they’re in a warmer climate, there’s probably gonna be more ability for them to be outside versus someone who lives in a Northern hemisphere. There’s probably less time that they could be truly pastured. I’m assuming if it’s really cold or even somewhere in Canada. So.
Jen Smiley (11:31.398)
Yep. Yep.
Jen Smiley (11:49.158)
Right. Yeah.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (11:52.18)
if maybe they don’t have access to that, or maybe their farmers markets are only, you know, like for us, it’s, you know, April to October, like we don’t have farmers markets later because it’s cold here. So if they go to say like Whole Foods, right? Because most people are like, okay, well, I’m not going to go to ShopRite or Costco. Let me go to a healthier type of grocer. Are there brands there that would be better? Because there are, I do see,
Jen Smiley (12:16.486)
Yes. Got it.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (12:18.05)
And this is where I think it gets really kind of tricky, like brands like Vital, Vital something, I can’t think of the name. Yes, Vital Farm. They say pasture, but from my research, I don’t think that those eggs are really pasture and there’s a few others. So what do you know about that? Let’s talk about
Jen Smiley (12:25.5)
Vital Farms, pass your…
Jen Smiley (12:35.536)
They are, they just get fed corn and soy. So it’s going to be a little higher in Omega-6s. So I got a couple things. If you’re at the bigger stores like Sprouts, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s may carry it. Here are your options. There’s one called Alexandria. There’s one called, well, Trader Joe’s has Organic Pasture Raised. Then you’ve got Vital Farms Pasture Raised Organic. Then there’s one called Pete and Jerry’s Organic Pasture Raised, okay?
Inna Topiler CNS MS (12:38.763)
I’m…
Jen Smiley (13:04.71)
That’s great. Can you look up farm to door delivery service? So some of those brands that ship, which are great, is Angel Acres Egg Club. There’s Miller’s Bio Farm. There’s Utopian Farms. There is, what is this one? Chino Valley, Organic, Soy Free, and Corn Free. There’s another one called Happy Hens. They’re soy free, corn free, and organic.
There’s Dutch Meadows, there’s Sunset View Farm, then I’ve wrote, I’m basically looking at my sub stack. So if you go to the labelletter.com, I write stuff about this all the time. So I have a whole article on how to spot clean eggs, which brands to avoid, which brands to get, what’s the cleanest, what’s the next cleanest, what you can get shipped. So those are a lot of brands that if you heard that, you can just go back.
20 seconds and write them down.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (14:04.174)
That’s great. And this is really helpful for people. So we give them a couple of different choices because some might be available to be shipped to some areas and maybe not others. So that is great because eggs are such a good source of nutrients, protein, good fats, everything. Right. And so, and, you know, I think for so many of us with Hashimoto’s that are listening to this,
Jen Smiley (14:11.794)
Perfect.
Jen Smiley (14:16.722)
protein and free time.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (14:24.974)
You know, we’re already gluten free. We are typically dairy free. We know we want to avoid soy and corn because those things are high in lectins. They can be very inflammatory. And yeah, some people can have egg sensitivity, but for a lot of people, they’re okay with eggs. They’re avoiding all these other things, but they’re okay with eggs. But if they’re eating eggs that aren’t good, they’re actually increasing that inflammation.
Jen Smiley (14:33.071)
yeah.
Jen Smiley (14:42.834)
So the people that should care most about soy and corn-free eggs are people with autoimmune, people who are inflamed, they have digestive problems, they’re sensitive to estrogen-mimicking compounds in soy, and people who are doing strict anti-inflammatory diet, which you should be if you have Hashimoto’s. I do myself, and I’ve had clients who have had nodules on their neck and the nodules have shrunk.
They’ve gone from five medications to two medications in three months eating this way. So, you know, it’s good to be educated about how to get your inflammation down when you are diagnosed and have Hashimoto’s, but a lot of people are lost. They go to the grocery and no one’s educating them on the labels.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (15:30.85)
And I think where the issue comes a lot of the time is they go to a health food store and that’s where they assume, I’m at Whole Foods. I’m not a shop, right? So I don’t need to read the labels because it’s Whole Foods, but that just, it’s not true.
Jen Smiley (15:36.828)
Yeah.
Jen Smiley (15:43.686)
Yep. Yeah, the food industry has created consumer confusion and the food industry has created dietitians and nutritionists to educate people on nutrition facts. And it’s disguised like what actually is occurring and what’s the problem. And it’s the ingredients.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (16:04.942)
Yeah, absolutely. Let’s talk about chocolate. We all love chocolate. Nothing wrong with a little bit of chocolate. But there are some pretty bad brands of chocolate. And, you know, of course, the other spectrum is much better one. So what are the things that people want to look out for, especially, you know, if they’re trying to keep their sugar low? Because again, like a little bit of chocolate, like a piece of chocolate after dinner is not a big deal, right?
Jen Smiley (16:09.522)
chocolate. Yeah.
Jen Smiley (16:15.506)
Thank
Inna Topiler CNS MS (16:29.363)
Whenever we’re dealing with issues, it’s not about depriving yourself of anything. We want to have treats, but we want to do it in a healthy way. So what should we look for?
Jen Smiley (16:35.57)
For sure. So chocolate is can be medicinal if it’s just cacao and some type of unrefined sweetener, right? Chocolate should be simple. It’s literally from a tree. The problem is Dove, Hershey’s, the Hershey’s Dark Chocolate Kisses. There’s one called Tony’s, Godiva Chocolate, G or Deli, Lint. These are all brands.
that use highly processed cacao, so it’s no longer beneficial cacao, it’s working against you. And then they add things such as soy lechithin, which is a GMO crop. They add things such as PGPR, which is an emulsifier to thin the chocolate during processing. That weird ingredient PGPR is actually banned in some countries. They add things like artificial flavors.
and natural flavors to give it a more amplified like chocolate flavor. So when people eat Tootsie Rolls or they eat Hershey’s Kisses, they think that’s what chocolate tastes like. And then when they taste just real chocolate, they’re like, that’s kind of bitter. That’s because the food industry has defined what they think chocolate should taste like. And that’s what you associate chocolate with. So cleaner brands that are using real ingredients of chocolate.
There’s one called date chocolate, D-A-T chocolate, and it’s literally organic cacao. It is organic dates. It’s only sweetened with dates. Organic cocoa butter, okay, and salt. That is it. There’s no soy, there’s no lechithin, there’s no natural flavors, there’s no PGPR, there’s no refined sugars. So if you see lechithin, natural flavors, or greater than four ingredients, you gotta kick that out.
Okay, real chocolate is simple. There’s another one called fine and raw. It’s organic cacao, organic coconut sugar, and organic cocoa butter. That is it. There’s one called Alter ECO. If you look for the 100 % cacao, it’s just cacao beans and cocoa butter. That is it.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (18:49.324)
Yeah. Yeah. No, that’s really good to know. And there’s also a study they came out last year about certain brands of chocolate also being high in, I think it was cadmium, right? Or was it lead? It was one of the metals.
Jen Smiley (18:59.132)
Okay, so what I tell people about that is heavy metals have always been around. Where do heavy metals come from? They come from the earth. So our soil has heavy metals, plants, everything’s got heavy metals. The issue with it is one, got like this, people are noticing it, like they’re like, my gosh, they’re seed oils, we can’t do that. my gosh, there’s heavy metals. The situation is that people,
are being bombarded with more heavy metals for a few reasons. One, we’re all sitting, no one’s detoxing. No one is actively detoxing. How do you detox? You sweat, you drink water with minerals. So a lot of people are drinking water with forever chemicals. Our tap water is the worst it’s ever been, okay? So we’re not having clean water and we’re not eating a whole food diet. So…
blueberries, cilantro, these things attach to heavy metals and get rid of them. We’re eating processed foods. So we are eating more heavy metals and detoxing less. So I tell people, eat clean chocolate with those clean ingredients. Don’t eat chocolate for breakfast, lunch, dinner, right? You don’t want to eat heavy metals all day. You want to be eating a variety diet. You want to be drinking clean water and you want to be
detoxing, which is why infrared saunas are hot right now. It’s helping people detox this stuff out. I also recommend to get a heavy metals test once a year. See where you are, because we could eat the same thing, but maybe you’re retaining more heavy metals and I’m detoxing them better. information is important. Don’t say, I’m not going to eat chocolate because it has heavy metals, because everything you’re eating has heavy metals.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (20:54.2)
That’s a good point. Yeah. And I think where some of the other brands that may be ranked lower on the heavy metals, it could be that their stuff is so diluted because there’s not a lot of actual chocolate. They’re adding the milk and the soy lecithin and all of the things that because it’s less chocolate, it’s less metals, but then you’re getting all the chemicals. So what’s better, right? I remember we were at Hershey park with my family this summer and
Jen Smiley (21:16.304)
Yep, exactly.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (21:23.0)
they have, you know, that ride that shows you, how they make the chocolate. And it’s so, yes. And it’s so funny that the way they say, they’re like, you know, Hershey’s the world’s best chocolate because we take this chocolate and then we add milk. And like the way they were saying it, I just wanted it to be like, my little guy, he’s not, he’s like, did you hear that? Hershey’s the best chocolate in the world. And I’m like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jen Smiley (21:28.87)
Like Willy Wonka.
Jen Smiley (21:42.917)
yeah.
Jen Smiley (21:49.446)
Yeah. Hey, all marketing is all about identifying. So they call themselves the world’s best chocolate and they are, you know what I mean? Like in somebody’s head, world’s best chocolate is Hershey’s for sure. Just like Popeyes is the number one chicken.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (22:06.06)
Right, right. And it is funny and interesting to your point when you were saying that people are used to eating chocolate a certain way. Like me, like I don’t eat Hershey, but like, you know, we had some from going on a trip and I tried a bite and I’m like, this, what is it even like? It’s weird. It’s like fake sweet with like, it’s just weird. Yeah. Cause I’m so used to regular chocolate, you know, and my kids don’t eat a lot of candy. don’t eat things like that. But when my son tried Hershey, because it was like one of the first things he tried is like, I like that.
Jen Smiley (22:19.024)
It’s like.
plastic.
Yeah.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (22:34.124)
And so when I give him real chocolate, he’s like, don’t like that as much. And I’m like, that’s real chocolate. You’re just not used to it.
Jen Smiley (22:38.97)
Yeah, the real chocolate does not hijack the flavors in the brain like the fake chocolate does.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (22:46.37)
Yeah. Yeah. let’s talk about wine cause we can’t talk about chocolate without talking about wine. So for a lot of people dealing with auto-immunity and thyroid issues, they already know that there can be certain chemicals and pesticides and sulfites in wine, but I think it becomes really tricky because again, the labels can be kind of deceiving. So can you walk us through what to look for in wine? What are the things that we want to definitely avoid? What are the things that are better? The brands that are better.
Jen Smiley (22:53.49)
You’re right.
Jen Smiley (23:15.666)
Yeah, so do people even know what’s inside of their wine? Like think about the labels. The labels has art, it has a name, maybe it has a region, right? That’s it. Why? Like because there is no requirement or regulation that you need to put your ingredients on the label. Like if people actually think they’re drinking grapes and that is it, you are being.
just completely fooled, okay? So take the blinders off and understand that when you drink La Crema and you drink Justin and you drink Decoy, people gravitate to this because, well, first of all, it’s big box brand, so it’s in front of your eyes. There’s many shelves with it, many rows, and they’re buying to have a lot of a display to…
persuades you to buy it, but they are adding flavorings and additives to give it a certain taste. So you gotta think about vineyards are like a garden. And if you allow nature to take its course, and so maybe some years your vegetables are gonna be a little bit spicier because maybe you got less water, or maybe it’s a little sweeter because you got more water, right?
That is what your grapes and your wines should do as well. Each year, if you’re going to a clean winery, they’re gonna be like, this year, this has given off a lot of apple flavor and this has given off a more bitter flavor. It’s because nature has determined that. The big brands do not want that. They want a classic flavor. It’s gonna taste the same every single year. In America, we allow up to 76 additives to be put into our wine.
And wine makers have argued that there is no room on the label to add the ingredients. How convenient. So what you need to do is a couple of things. If you drink wine and a lot of people get like a flush skin, their neck will turn red, their ears are turned red, they get like red face, their fingers swell, their eyes are swollen the next morning and the real
Inna Topiler CNS MS (25:17.88)
How convenient.
Jen Smiley (25:37.616)
The real determination of good and bad wine is if you have a headache the next day, you’ve drank bad wine. It’s not the wine, it’s all the crap they put in there.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (25:46.926)
So it’s not the hangover that you drink too much.
Jen Smiley (25:49.138)
Correct. Clean wine won’t give you a hangover, it just won’t. And clean wine is actually lowered alcohol, so you won’t get sloppy drunk either. It’ll be nice. But the first thing you do is, European wines, like when I go to a restaurant, I’m looking for a French wine or an Italian wine off the bat. They just have stricter guidelines. They’re adding less stuff in their wineries. You could also look for sustainable farming. That’s a little better, but I would still investigate that winery.
When you’re at a restaurant, literally look it up. Like look up the brand and be like, you know, no additive. Do they have additives? Do they have sulfites or they add in sugar? A mainstream one that’s really good is Avaline. It’s Cameron Diaz’s wine. It’s at like Walgreens Total Wine. Your grocery stores, it is organic. It’s low sulfites and it’s no added sugar. You want to look for Dry Farms. Dry Farm, they’re a supplier, but also look for Dry Farms California.
That means that they’re not irrigating. They are using just nature. If it rains, their vineyards get wine. If it doesn’t rain, they don’t. You want to look for no added sugar. That’s important. So if you’re looking at a winery or talking to a winery, hey, do you guys add extra sugar? You don’t want that. Another good brand is, I mean, I could look this up, but Dry Farm, Avaline, and Fitvine. That’s another good one.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (27:16.558)
Yeah, dry farms I’ve heard a lot about as well. So that’s great because again, you know, obviously when we’re dealing with autoimmunity, we want to do everything as clean as possible, but it also doesn’t mean that we can never enjoy ourselves or have a little treat. And of course, if someone’s going through like an autoimmune protocol and they’re detoxing, obviously, you know, we remove alcohol during those times, but long term, right? I think it’s
hard to say, hey, like never have any alcohol ever. And I think that it’s nice for people to know, hey, like if I’m gonna have something, I’m gonna treat myself, then I can have something that’s better, that I’m also not going to feel really crappy afterwards as well. So yeah, I know for me, I really don’t drink very much anymore just because I’m pretty sensitive and I notice things a lot and I don’t feel like I have the need to as much as I think I did when I was in my 20s and 30s, but.
I also know that back then I didn’t know what I know now. And I’m sure that part of the reason why I felt worse is because I was drinking all of these crappy brands. They didn’t have a lot of the cleaner brands out then too, you know.
Jen Smiley (28:20.07)
Yeah.
Jen Smiley (28:24.082)
Right. And you just weren’t aware. So another couple pro tips if you’re going to drink, alcohol depletes your glutathione. And so if you do glutathione before drinking, you won’t absorb as much alcohol A, so you’ll be less buzzed, but it will prevent a hangover. And even better than like oral glutathione, I have like a little pump sublingual, is
topical on your liver there’s studies out there that have shown people put topical glutathione on their liver and they can’t like they can drink enough that would make them not pass a Sobriety test like a DUI on Southerner, but if they put that on and they still drink the same amount they will pass the test Yeah, so that’s one thing. Another thing is I tell people if you take charcoal pills after you
Inna Topiler CNS MS (29:13.325)
Well.
Jen Smiley (29:21.532)
had a bad meal or drink, it really grabs all those toxins and pulls it out. So you’ll feel such a difference the next morning. Let me point out that if you’re gonna do charcoal pills, you can’t take it within four hours of any medication, because it’ll also wipe that out. Pro tips.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (29:39.544)
Yeah. Yeah. That’s a very good point. Yes. I like those pro tips too. I just remember in college doing drinking contests and like eating butter before drinking too. I guess we’re drunk, but I do not recommend that. Yeah. You basically either eat butter. This is where we’re, you know, going back. and not something I’m promoting these days, but back in my college days, you would eat butter or like drink oil because then
Jen Smiley (29:49.394)
That’s eating, father. Eating.
Jen Smiley (29:58.65)
It’s hilarious.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (30:06.446)
it makes you feel disgusting, then it somehow lines everything so that you’re not absorbing the alcohol. So if you were to do a drinking contest, that was one way to win that. But anyways, this wasn’t me. This is just what I heard when I was in college.
Jen Smiley (30:19.462)
yourself. I love it. That’s awesome.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (30:26.638)
Let’s talk about some cooking utensils because, you know, people are always thinking about, okay, like we want to have healthier food, but obviously what we’re cooking the food in is going to make a difference too. so air fryers have been really, really popular because it’s a way to get that texture and get that taste without obviously frying and using bad oil. So it’s such a win-win. However, there are definitely things with air fryers in terms of heavy metals and other issues. So can you talk to us about that?
Jen Smiley (30:29.787)
Jen Smiley (30:56.37)
For sure. first of all, air fryers. It’s not necessarily what it’s doing to your food. Yes, we shouldn’t you know, char our food till it’s black or make it super crispy. Steaming your food and getting your food a little cooked is going to retain more nutrients and be less carcinogenic, so to speak, but
Most air fryers, you have to worry about the lining of your air fryers. So most have nonstick coatings, like cheap pans. And it’s not about like one meal, it’s about years of exposure. It’s about cleaning those pans that your air fryers or your food is sitting on. And when they get scratches, it releases chemicals. So you don’t want that. And then a lot of people don’t realize they’re using spray oils such as Pam.
Those slowly damage your air fryers. contain lechithin, which breaks down the coatings over time. So you do not want to use that, okay? Air fryers that are good out there is they’re like a glass bowl. They are Teflon, PFAS, and PTFE, which is all these weird chemicals. They will say that. They will say, hey, we’re free of this stuff. There’s minimal.
plastic exposure. There’s like stainless steel trays and grills that they sit on. There’s another one called, that one’s called Friteer, F-R-I-T-A-I-R-E. There’s another one called Big Boss. Again, stainless racks, no traditional basket coatings. It’s a glass bowl. It’s very affordable. There’s another one called Granite Stone. Live Well is another one.
Costco let’s talk about Costco because they advertise ninja brand and Those often contain like a stainless inner pot or better build quality But it still has coated airfryer basket. It has mixed materials The most common one is a brand called gourmet. Have you heard of that? Okay. Yeah, they use the name like gourmet. I think it’s gourmet. Those are all nonstick coated trays
Inna Topiler CNS MS (33:13.922)
I have.
Jen Smiley (33:21.874)
horrible. I always tell people if it’s it’s coded. It’s all almost always coded if it has a pullout basket, or if it’s 100 under $120 or if it has the gourmet label.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (33:37.43)
Right. Yeah. Now that this is great to know, I just use a toaster oven that has an air fry setting. And then, you know, I mean, it may not be like as air fry-y as some of the others, but it’s like one, you know, not utensil, but like one device, not device, one thing. That’s the word I’m looking for. One appliance.
Jen Smiley (33:56.511)
One appliance. Yes.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (34:02.168)
perimenopause, brain fog, you know, it happens. so yes, one appliance and then, know, I do my toasting, my baking and everything. And I mean, the stuff that I air fry in there still comes out really good, but it’s just a stainless steel rack with like a little, you know, tray that you can put in that’s not coated. So that’s great. But I think it’s important people to know because so often we think, well air frying the food, I’m not frying, so I’m doing something better, but then you’re getting those chemicals. Now, while we’re talking about cooking utensils, do you, you have a favorite brand of?
Jen Smiley (34:04.082)
There you go.
Jen Smiley (34:14.482)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (34:32.142)
that’s free of PFOS and all the things.
Jen Smiley (34:35.89)
I think everybody needs to just go back to basics. Stop reading all the stuff online that’s like, we don’t have this chemical, we don’t have this Find 100 % stainless steel. Go to Amazon, they’re cheap, they’re easy, that’s what you need.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (34:52.622)
How do you cook with it? Without using a lot of oil, just because it sticks. So what are your tricks?
Jen Smiley (34:54.482)
How do I cook with it?
Jen Smiley (34:58.626)
yeah, no, I mean you need to establish your own non-stick. You need to be using ghee or butter, essentially. That’s what I do. Or if I’m going to use oil, I’ll use avocado oil.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (35:10.24)
what I use too. Yeah, that’s great. Yeah, what are your
Jen Smiley (35:11.6)
Yeah, fat keeps you full. So these fats need to be in your food. Like, it’s more beneficial to have stainless steel pan, put some grass fed butter in there and cook your egg than it is to have a nonstick pan and just crack your egg in
Inna Topiler CNS MS (35:29.006)
Right. Right. It’s going to stick anyway, even in a nock stick if you don’t put anything, you know, and then people put Pam or something low fat that then, like you said, degrades the lining of it and it just becomes a toxic mess. Yeah, absolutely. What about nitrates? I mean, I think most people are aware that nitrates are not healthy for us. And these days,
Jen Smiley (35:33.26)
Yeah.
Right.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (35:55.606)
We have so many different brands that are like, buy this bacon, it’s nitrate free. Buy these sausages, they’re nitrate free. Buy these beef sticks, they’re nitrate free. But there’s a little more to the story, isn’t there?
Jen Smiley (36:04.914)
So nitrates, nitrites, and celery powder are used to preserve our meat. But in the body, they turn into nitrosamines, which are compounds known to damage DNA in the lining of your colon. Ingredients like sodium nitrate, phosphates, potassium sorbate are linked to increased cancer risk, including breast and prostate cancer.
These things are also hiding in your mayo and your drinks. So you, a lot of things like Applegate, for example, they’ll put uncured and they’ll say nitrate free, but they actually contain celery powder. This has been classified as a class one carcinogen, the same as smoking, tobacco, cigarettes, and asbestos. So celery powder isn’t
It’s not a problem by itself. Celery naturally contains nitrates, which is why companies use them. But when food companies are adding the celery powder to your deli meat or to your bacon, those nitrates convert into nitrites and that cures the meat. That gives it that red flavor. mean, color preserves flavor. But when nitrites…
our process, our in this process to meet, especially when it’s cooked at high heat, that’s the issue. We’re cooking our bacons at high heat, right? They form the compounds linked to cancer. So celery powder’s not harmful by itself. The issue is when it’s used to cure that to meet.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (37:47.278)
So they’re not adding celery powder as like a natural preservative after they’re adding it as they’re cooking it, which helps with the curing process.
Jen Smiley (37:57.499)
Well, they’re adding it and then we’re having to cook it, right? They’re also adding it, yes, when they’re cooking deli meat, but as far as bacon,
Inna Topiler CNS MS (38:04.888)
Because a lot of that stuff is like pre like some of those pre cooked bacon or like the beef like meat steaks and that kind of stuff. It’s in all of those things.
Jen Smiley (38:12.324)
Yes. Otherwise, if you see a bacon, like real bacon without a nitrite in it, it’s brown. And you’re like, ew, why is that brown? So we’re used to seeing the retaining of the color, the red, and the deli meat, your ham and your turkey, isn’t turning a color because they’re putting the celery powder or the sodium phosphates in there.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (38:40.078)
So if someone is buying store-made, those shouldn’t contain them, Like if it’s like store-roasted turkey versus like the apple gave us.
Jen Smiley (38:50.066)
You would hope, you would hope. So some of the clean brands out there is Dietzel, D-I-E-T-S-E-L. There’s one called True Story. I did find one at Costco and I was like so shocked. It was just turkey, sea salt, and maybe that’s it. It was shocking, but it was a brand called Dietzel, Dietz and Watson, which I think is a bigger brand. I’ve been looking for bacon. I found
one at Whole Foods. It is called, it’s 365 brand uncured, center cut, smokehouse bacon, reduced sodium. It’s pork water, sea salt, and then it does have evaporated cane sugar. I usually tell people to avoid cane sugar, but when you actually read the nutrition facts, like, it says zero grams of sugar. I’m like so confused, but the little bit of sugar there is better.
than the carcinogenic celery powder in nitrates.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (39:54.35)
Yeah. Yeah. But that’s great to know because I don’t think most people look at celery powder and think it’s bad, right? It’s celery. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. But in what you’re saying, for when listening, it’s not the celery, it’s the celery powder specifically and how it acts on curing that meat. And it’s the combination. Cause if you were to eat, you know, if you were to buy ground turkey and make yourself a turkey burger and eat it with
Jen Smiley (39:59.694)
sounds, I mean, we all need more celery, right? Who doesn’t?
Inna Topiler CNS MS (40:22.324)
bunch of celery sticks that’s not going to have the same effect even though you’re eating them together.
Jen Smiley (40:25.618)
Correct. Correct.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (40:28.918)
Yeah, no, that’s great to know. And these are things that people, you know, just don’t know about, right? Because we think we’re going to healthy stores, we’re doing all these things, but we just don’t know. So I so appreciate you.
Jen Smiley (40:39.398)
Yeah, I say the food industry has taught us, the medical industry, it has taught us to consider calories, macros, carbs. No one’s talking about ingredients, processing, and solvents that are used to make this stuff up.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (41:00.75)
Yeah, but it’s so important. It’s way more important than calories and macros. Way more important. Jen, thank you so much for all of this information. And I love that you have an app that people can actually check their brands that they’re buying to see. Can you tell us more about that and more about where they could find it and where they can find you and connect with you as well?
Jen Smiley (41:05.362)
For sure. For sure.
Jen Smiley (41:21.99)
Yes, just search on the internet, wake up and read the labels. You’ll find me. Go to the app store or Google Play store and search, read the labels. Then you can download our app. can scan foods and see if they’re clean or not clean instantly. You could also check out my daily newsletters where I break down, you know, air fryers and egg labels and talking about all the ingredients to avoid and clean recipes. You can find that at the label letter.com.
Inna Topiler CNS MS (41:51.234)
Thank you so much for being here, Janet, for all of this information. I know that people are really going to benefit from this and it’ll help them to eat cleaner foods that they really need for their immune system, their thyroid, their whole body. So important. Thanks. You too.
Jen Smiley (42:02.076)
So important. Thank you. Good to see you.
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