Inside the Conventional Chicken Industry with Esther Sprott

A note from Caroline: Making this podcast is one of my favorite things. But right now, I have to put it on pause to attend to the other parts of my life that require my attention. After this, there will be one more episode.  It's not just time commitments that are causing me to pause the podcast for now. In the process of researching these episodes, I've had many personal revelations and it's fair to say that my viewpoints have changed quite a bit. And that's what today's episode is about. It's about feeling failed by science, and by many of the powerful institutions that frame our lives. And about where I'm looking instead for wisdom.  Stay in touch with Chews Wisely: IG: @chewswiselypodcast Patreon: Chews Wisely Email: [email protected]

How do you know you’re eating sustainably caught fish? Should we be buying fresh or frozen seafood? Is trawling ethical? Farmed salmon is pumped full of what? Today we have Tara Hines, who owns and operates a wild caught Alaskan Salmon business called Sockeye Servings. She and her crew catch salmon in the summer on her boats, and then she returns to Montana in the fall to sell her catch direct to consumer, and Captain Tara is here to answer all these questions and more.  Sockeye Servings Website IG: @sockeyeservings Stay in touch with Chews Wisely: IG: @chewswiselypodcast Patreon: Chews Wisely Email: [email protected] Wisely is brought to you by Little Creek Lamb & Beef. Use code WISELY for 10% off your first order!

An interview with the happiest person I know - Sarah Reese. Sarah is my mom (!) and a radically joyful person, whether she’s in the ICU or on a golf course. Nourishment and health mean nothing if we don’t have joy, and today she is going to share her ‘laws of happiness’ to help us cultivate more of it in our own lives.  Stay in touch with Chews Wisely: IG: @chewswiselypodcast Patreon: Chews Wisely Email: [email protected] Chews Wisely is brought to you by Little Creek Lamb & Beef. Use code WISELY for 10% off your first order!

Maybe you’ve heard the news. Microplastics are on top of Mount Everest, the bottom of the ocean, in our blood, breastmilk, vital organs, and testicles. They are pervasive and the scope of their effect on our health is only just beginning to be understood. Today’s episode lays out what microplastics (and nanoplastics, goodie!) are, where they come from, and what the early science says (it’s not good). Also discussed: small, easy, meaningful actions we can take to minimize our exposure to microplastics in our daily life. Stay in touch with Chews Wisely: IG: @chewswiselypodcast Patreon: Chews Wisely Email: [email protected] LINKS: https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/browse/ingredients/704981-POLYETHYLENE/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2024/02/28/microplastics-drinking-water/ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/mar/24/microplastics-found-in-human-blood-for-first-time https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/19/bottle-fed-babies-swallow-millions-microplastics-day-study https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/reduce-laundry-microfiber-pollution/ https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/29/how-the-fossil-fuel-industry-is-pushing-plastics-on-the-world-.html https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/microplastics/ https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/05/22/1252831827/microplastics-testicles-humans-health https://www.sciencenews.org/article/microplastics-nanoplastics-heart-attacks-strokes-health https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/29/how-the-fossil-fuel-industry-is-pushing-plastics-on-the-world-.html

The commercial chicken industry is mysterious. It’s tightly controlled by the integrators - these are the companies that own and control the whole system - and it’s shrouded in NDA’s. We rarely get to hear from the actual farmers who raise the chicken. Until today! Esther Sprott, a regenerative and conventional farmer, joins us from Georgia where she and her family raise broiler chickens for a large integrator. Caroline asks Esther all of her burning chicken industry questions, and Esther answers with candor and grace.  Follow Esther on Instagram Stay in touch with Chews Wisely: IG: @chewswiselypodcast Patreon: Chews Wisely Email: [email protected] Chews Wisely is brought to you by G5 Agency!

This episode with Dr. Robert Paarlberg mythbusts from start to finish. Everything you think you know about the dirty dozen, food subsidies, the cost of whole food vs processed…just set it to the side because he is here with the data and the nuance that we need to dig deeper. You will especially love his nuance about modern precision agriculture and how we need to stop conflating Big Food with Big Ag. You can break out of your food echo chamber with his latest book, Resetting the Table. Stay in touch with Chews Wisely: IG: @chewswiselypodcast Patreon: Chews Wisely Email: [email protected] Wisely is brought to you by G5 Agency.

Mariah Gladstone (Blackfeet, Cherokee) is a botanist, a chef, and an advocate for healthy eating and indigenous foods. She joins us today for a conversation about the invisible foods all around us, what it means to re-indigenize our diets, and how food was used as a tool of colonization. We also talk about food sovereignty, the limits of the term ‘food desert,’ and the Irish Potato Famine that wasn’t.  Indigikitchen website Indigikitchen Instagram Mariah’s Ted Talk   About the Little Ice Age Sinead O’Connor - Famine Stay in touch with Chews Wisely: IG: @chewswiselypodcast Patreon: Chews Wisely Email: [email protected] Chews Wisely is brought to you by G5 Agency!

Caroline tells the story of her home birth, and her journey through the medical system leading up to her crunchy-adjacent birthing experience. This is a Patreon exclusive episode. To hear the full episode, become a regenerator at the link below. Stay in touch with Chews Wisely: IG: @chewswiselypodcast Patreon: Chews Wisely Email: [email protected]

Today we are diving into some current events, and talking about the farmer protests happening all across Europe. We dig into why and how these farmers are protesting, and what we can take away from these protests here in America. Stay in touch with Chews Wisely: IG: @chewswiselypodcast Patreon: Chews Wisely Email: [email protected] Chews Wisely is brought to you by G5 Agency! Sources: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/czech-slovak-farmers-block-borders-protest-2024-02-22/ https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/hundreds-of-tractors-line-the-streets-of-madrid-as-farmers-protest-eu-farming-policies https://www.statista.com/statistics/1414779/pesticide-sales-by-categorization-of-active-substances-european-union/ https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/outlooks/40408/30645_wrs0404e_002.pdf https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/en/data-insights/benchmarking-agricultural-productivity-performance-in-the-eu https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/16/europe-farmers-climate-green-protest-eu https://time.com/6632372/farmer-protests-europe-france-germany-brussels/ https://apnews.com/article/eu-farmer-protest-trade-red-tape-710e9bd6c6df6ecd9e598418473604eb https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/20/world/europe/ukraine-poland-protest-farmers.html

Lily Nichols, RDN, joins us today to turn everything we thought we knew about gestational diabetes (and nutrition in general) upside down. We also cover why we need to get over our fear of salt, fat, and meat when pursuing health. And then we dig into misconceptions around folic acid and B12, and whether eating seafood during pregnancy is safe. Everyone who eats will enjoy this deeply evidence based episode, whether or not you’re pregnant! Lily’s website & blog Lily’s books Lily on Instagram Stay in touch with Chews Wisely: IG: @chewswiselypodcast Patreon: Chews Wisely Email: [email protected] Chews Wisely is brought to you by G5 Agency!