Neil Dudley: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Pederson Natural Farms podcast. We’re so excited you’re here. We look forward to sharing all about this beautiful industry of better-for-you food, meat, protein. We call the podcast the Pederson Natural Farms Podcast Powered by Protein because we’re going to talk all things bacon, sausage, ham, consumers, customers, vendors that support our business, employees that make us what we are, and peers, people that are in the industry competing for your attention and your dollar. And we think that’s healthy, and we’re proud of them, so we want to share about them as well. Thank you so much for joining us. Be sure you tune in, don’t tune out, and remember, grab life by the bacon.

All right, hey everybody out there in YouTube land, I want to say hi. Also on the podcast today, we’ve got a really awesome guest. Welcome to the Pederson Natural Farms podcast. If you’ve been here before, thanks for coming back. If you’ve never been here before, thanks for coming. I’m excited for this to be your first episode because the lady we have on is an expert in her field, she’s a beautiful person inside and out, and there’s all kinds of fun things we’re going to get to talk to her about. Maria Emmerich, welcome to the show. 

Maria Emmerich: Thank you so much for asking me to be on; it’s an honor. I love your products.  

Neil Dudley: Well, and we love that about you. We’ve certainly partnered in a lot of ways. So, anybody that follows your Instagram or Pederson’s or any social media, you’ll realize that we work with Maria a lot. And I think it puts us in a great place to talk about stuff together. She’s going to be really familiar with our products and she’s got a great story to talk about the ketogenic diet. So maybe just quickly, everybody listening, we’re going to get into the ketogenic diet. We’re going to talk about her thought process and why she puts her kids in her videos and how cute they are and what all that means in reality. And also, let’s talk about Craig a little bit and what he battles. So, first thing’s first, tell everybody quickly what got you into this space? Like why would you not be in, I don’t know, something else?

Maria Emmerich: Well, when I was 16 years old, I was actually twice my size. And I went to the family doctor because I was one of the best athletes in school, but I was just really one of the biggest ones. And the doctor told me I had PCOS which is polycystic ovarian syndrome, which is basically a type of type two diabetes that affects female fertility. I was given an acid blocker, I was given an antidepressant, and I was given something for irritable bowel syndrome. So, I was a total mess. And that very same week, I took my dog who was a beautiful golden retriever to the vet, and the first question the vet asked me was what are you feeding her? But the doctor told me it was nothing I was doing wrong. It was just the cards that I was dealt in life. But let me tell you, I worked at a coffee shop where I made my own- I would go before high school and I would make the scones and the muffins and the cinnamon rolls, and then after school I would go back and whatever didn’t sell at the end of the day, I got to go home with. And so, I was making extra cinnamon rolls just to make sure I would have some to go home with. And that’s what I ate. And no wonder why I was sick, I was living off of caffeine and carbohydrates and sugar. And this was, well, it was about 25 years ago. Yes, I’m that old. And so, there wasn’t Google. I couldn’t search what causes PCOS because the doctor saying you can’t have your own children was kind of like, ooh, yikes. That was pretty scary to me. And so, finding out, looking up what causes PCOS, it’s excess caffeine, sugar, and carbohydrates. I didn’t want to live off of chicken breast and broccoli so I just kind of started recreating my favorite foods into being low carb, sugar-free. Now I love the protein-

Neil Dudley: In that introduction, I totally forgot to let everybody know you can go read books this lady has written on this topic. So, we’re not going to be able to get fully into everything. I mean, I just know you’re going to leave this conversation wanting more. So go check out Maria’s books. We’ll put them- we’ll put links to her books in the show notes and also other resources you can- You coach people in how to get healthy through their nutrition, right?

Maria Emmerich: I do, yep, every day. I was up at 4:30 talking to somebody in Australia. So, I help people all over the world. But I have a free website. If you go to ketomaria.com, you can find thousands of free recipes there. So, you don’t have to buy a book, but thanks. 

Neil Dudley: Well, use the resources, that’s what I say. If you are looking to feel better, if you feel like nutrition can play a role in that- if you feel like it doesn’t play a role in that, listen to this stuff. I think you’ve got to kind of maybe audit your position on the topic. So real quick, all the recipes are awesome. Tell maybe the listeners why you like Pederson’s products. I mean, just tell us a little bit of why. 

Maria Emmerich: I could go on and on and on. But my first experience with you was I was looking for- I told my dad to go- it was Thanksgiving, and I said, Dad, would you go to the grocery store and get Italian sausage? Because I’m going to make Mama Maria’s meatballs- or no, it was Mama Maria’s stuffed mushrooms, and I needed Italian sausage. And my dad, he doesn’t totally eat keto, but he’s very respectful of what I do. And he called me, he’s like, “Maria, I’m at the store. I cannot find Italian sausage that does not have sugar.” And I was like, “Really?” And I said, “What about like chorizo?” Like, let’s mix it up. And he’s like, “There is no chorizo without sugar.” All of these things, meat should not have sugar in it. But they all do. And that was my first eye-opening like, oh my gosh. And so, when I was searching for Italian sausage without sugar, the only place I found was you guys. And so, I am hooked because you don’t have sugar in your bacon. You don’t have sugar in your hot dogs. You don’t have sugar anywhere, which is really rare to find. And so, we are forever a Pederson loving family. 

Neil Dudley: I don’t think sugar’s necessary. It was a- now, my whole career, it’s not like I’ve never had sugar in products. It was a thing we learned. That’s one thing I think is exciting about life is you can learn oh, we could do that better, ooh, we could- a lot of things. Pederson’s isn’t exactly where we want to be today, but we’re trying to always improve. I think there’s always that chance of getting a little better. Taking the sugar out of the products certainly fits into a group of people’s eating habits and healthy lifestyle, and we’re so glad to play that role.

Maria Emmerich: We all know sugar’s bad. I think it’s good for everybody to- sugar, it’s like an iceberg. 

Neil Dudley: I got to stop you for just a second. I don’t think we all know sugar’s bad. I think companies are putting it in there to keep people eating more and more. We even battle it internally at Pederson’s – ooh, we need this to be more indulgent, more- and it tends to be this kind of crazy thought, I’ll put sugar in it. No! Like if you don’t know sugar is bad, you should know now and start telling your friends. I get a scared at times because we’re in this space and we’re around people that it gets real easy to say and think we all know sugar’s bad. I think we’re here to get that education out to if you don’t know that, you got to learn it. Okay, sorry to-

Maria Emmerich: Sugar and vegetable oils are like the biggest- if you can cut one thing out of your life, that would change your life entirely, I mean, more than what people realize – chronic pain, just mood issues, focus, whatever it is, like you’re going to become a better person if you do cut it out. And sugar is like an iceberg, you don’t even realize all of the hidden sugars you have. We know that the cakes and the cookies and the sodas have sugar. But most people, when they’re eating it, they don’t realize it’s in the Italian sausage. It’s in meat. And I even worked with a chef who worked at a very like fancy restaurant. And they said they actually inject some of the steaks with sugary, briny- It gives it a brighter flavor. Like you said, they come back to that steak restaurant because it tastes better. 

Neil Dudley: Yeah. I feel like sugar is an addictive thing. I mean, people get addicted to it and just crave it and want it. And that’s one reason it gets in all the food because it’s a little trick the companies- I’m raising my hand too. I want to sometimes, right, because we’re trying to find a way to keep customers coming back for more. The truth is taking the sugar out has been our secret to keeping customers coming back for more. And it’s been really a fun journey. 

Maria Emmerich: It’s really hard to find products without sugar. And that’s why I just know when I go to your website, I am safe with ordering anything there. And so that’s just where we go. Even your ham; I love ham. Ham is impossible to find, even these so-called name-brand natural, whatever, that people think are all good, the only ham I have found that’s without sugar is yours. And so, I love to go to- when we go to Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas, I always bring your ham to my family, and my parents, they’re so grateful because it’s the best ham and there’s no sugar. 

Neil Dudley: I mean, I loved how you air quoted natural there because we’re even talking about trying to get natural out of our name. Like Pederson’s Natural Farms. It almost- now 20 years ago, it made a lot of sense. But as the world evolves, as the market evolves, it starts making less and less sense to keep that word in there because it’s almost, it kind of turns people off, I think. 

Maria Emmerich: You know what, that’s why I don’t even want to be called keto anymore because- I’ve been doing this for 25 years. A long time ago, I was the crazy lady. Like, what is this? Now, everybody jumped on the bandwagon. You have keto bars and keto drinks and all of this stuff that I don’t want to be associated with. So, I don’t know what to call myself, but I don’t know, keto’s been getting a bad rap lately, like you have to drink butter in your coffee and all that. And it’s like, no, no, no, no, no, no, if you focus on quality protein, that’s where you’re going to find feeling better, you’re going to have great hair. A lot of times, I don’t know if you’re familiar, a lot of people do fat bombs or fat fasts or egg fasts, that’s when people fail. And I always say where’s your protein on your plate because you need protein for your thyroid, you need protein for your hair. Protein is the building blocks to everything when it comes to your body focusing, working properly, and most people, they way under eat protein.  

Neil Dudley: Sure. It is confusing. Like who do you listen to? Because you can find somebody out there that will say the exact opposite to Maria. 

Maria Emmerich: Hey, you know what, the proof is in the pudding. You look at my results, I don’t even- I don’t even care. You come here, you want help, and I will get you off medication, I will get to the body composition you want, whatever it is, your moods. Everybody does say something different, but the proof is in the pudding. 

Neil Dudley: That’s right. I encourage people, you have to go find out for yourself, go live it, go try it. Don’t- you can’t just blanketly think vegan is right for everybody. Carnivore is not right for everybody. Speaking of which, you mentioned that Craig has gone carnivore. Let’s explore that a little bit. What caused that? 

Maria Emmerich: I think it was about five years ago, he just, he wasn’t himself anymore, and he was always in pain and he blamed it on an old football injury. And I was like you know what, dude, you’re not even 40 and you can’t- you’re in your forties, he was in his forties, and you can’t- when you see pictures on social media of me fishing and hunting and camping, he’s never with me. I’m with the kids. I take them fishing. He doesn’t because he’s in chronic pain, and looking into it, his traditional line blot test came back negative. Well, that’s a 90% inaccurate negative. He did the proper [IGeneX] Lyme test, and it showed that he had Lyme disease and he probably had it for a very long time. I used to kind of think like what’s this Lyme disease stuff? Like it’s totally overblown. But now I see my husband and he’s a totally different person. And the only way he can manage the pain, even if he gets some vegetables, he has a lot of pain. I know it sounds really weird, but someone made us burgers, and they put some like coleslaw on top and he was kind and he ate it, and he was in pain for two days after that.   

Neil Dudley: Really? So, he eats straight animal protein?

Maria Emmerich: Yep. And that’s when he feels the best.

Neil Dudley: Is it mainly red, white, doesn’t matter?

Maria Emmerich: He likes red meats. He prefers that. He does like fish and stuff too, but red meat. I mean, we eat steaks every day. And some people are like, oh, you’re lucky. Well, you know what, we don’t spend money going out to eat. And it’s way cheaper-

Neil Dudley: Now, do you raise your own beef? Let’s shout out to the beef people. Who would you recommend for beef?

Maria Emmerich: Beef? Well, I guess, I can show you, I usually go bow hunting and I get venison. I bow hunt, and last year I shot a big buck and what’s interesting is I posted a picture of my- it was a huge buck, and I was very proud because I was out there morning, night, all the time. It’s not easy to bow hunt. People think that it’s some easy thing. I was out there for a long time, years before I got this big buck. And when I posted it, I think I lost a thousand followers on Instagram in an hour. And people messaged me. They said you should be a civilized human and buy your meat at the store. And you know what? We don’t have a four-wheeler. I have a husband that can’t help drag out a deer. So me and my little boys, we don’t have a four wheeler, we’re dragging that deer out, and they’re like, mom, this is such hard work. I said this- we quartering it and bringing it back. And I was like this is how people ate. You need to respect your food. 

Neil Dudley: That is a level of understanding with the process and the feeling of it, all those things I wish we could find a way to give people. I have- I’m trying to write a blog from my perspective of what I think humane treatment of animals is because I think it’s such a wide range of opinion of what humane treatment of animals is. I hope someday-

Maria Emmerich: That deer led a beautiful life out here in the acorns and the oak trees. Like if I showed you, they lived a beautiful, long life. And I honored that deer and we ate all of it. Like even my dog, we feed my dog raw beef or raw venison. We honored that animal and it fed us for months. Like don’t be all judge-y- 

Neil Dudley: And it can be a great- it’s a great nutritional food to sustain human life, which I think is important, so you can be happy and share what you know and help others. I mean, it’s just a cycle. It’s a cycle that I think is beautiful and awesome. And I feel a lot of people just don’t understand it. That’s all really, it’s how can we get the education out there? 

Maria Emmerich: Right, but I grew up doing it. What’s that?

Neil Dudley: I’m sad. I’m sad when- the truth is I feel a little sadness taking the life of an animal to be my food, but I get over it pretty quick too, because I’m like, oh, there’s still lots of great things to this. 

Maria Emmerich: If you’re worried about the environment, and I know like a lot of people worry about that, if you think about all the corn and the soybean fields like that is ruining the environment more than like a properly raised animal.

Neil Dudley: Yes, ma’am, totally agree. Hey, what’s it like out there on that paddle board next to those whales? Holy moly, I would be pooping my pants. 

Maria Emmerich: That’s like the coolest experience ever. Yeah, if you haven’t seen it, you should check out, I posted some videos. People in Maui call me the whale whisper, and whenever I’m out on my paddleboard, they just, they like come to me. There was a baby whale – I don’t know if you caught that video – a baby whale came right- my son was on the paddleboard with me, came up and basically touched our paddle board. And I said, you know what, Micah, wherever the baby whale is, the mom’s in between us. And he goes I want to go home. And soon enough, the mom came up in between us and basically just pushed us away from her baby. And my husband got it from overhead. He was taking video from overhead, so that was pretty cool. But they’re gentle giants. I don’t fear them at all. There was a great white shark attack about two miles away from where I was on the board. 

Neil Dudley: It’s a risk. I mean, going out of the house doing anything-

Maria Emmerich: If I died from a shark attack, I’d die happy. 

Neil Dudley: That’s crazy though. I mean, it would be like a really small chance that could happen. 

Maria Emmerich: [inaudible 18:11] attacked by a shark. 

Neil Dudley: Right, we’re getting lucky- well that wouldn’t be really lucky for you. 

Maria Emmerich: Right, but that’s okay.

Neil Dudley: Okay so, you mentioned Lyme disease. I agree, it’s a really kind of hard to understand, the symptoms are really weird, widespread, you’ve mentioned inflammation. What would you think or say to Hashimoto’s and AIP? What about those? 

Maria Emmerich: I will say that every person I work with that has Hashimoto’s that does exactly what I tell them to, they go into remission and the doctor’s like you don’t need medication anymore and they’re stumped on why. We’re eating all of these very inflammatory foods that are causing autoimmune responses like gluten and dairy. And in this keto community, nobody wants to give up dairy and like certain supplements can help with healing. And then when the doctor’s like I guess you don’t need medication anymore, that’s awesome. Because guess what, I worked with a pharmacist, she hired me to work with her for health reasons, and I always ask people are you taking any medications or supplements? And I want to know everything they’re taking. She goes, oh no, Maria, I know that every prescription I write puts a little bit of poison in a person. And I was like at least you said it, not me, because that is- when you can get off medication, not only is that really helpful to the environment because the pharmaceutical companies are really polluting the environment, that’s good for your own body and your own healing and getting rid of that auto-immune response is huge. 

Neil Dudley: Absolutely. I just think there’s a lot of people battling things that are hard to define. They’re hard to put a finger on or a thyroid issue, Hashimoto’s, Maria and what she teaches you can help you with those things. I hope so much if you’re listening to this and you know a friend, you have anybody- there’s a chance that everybody that watches this YouTube video or listens to this podcast already knows Maria and already knows all this, but for the one person who doesn’t, please check it out. I personally have to check it out. I mean, I’m into CrossFit right now. I get to- I want to do it five days a week, well, I’ve had to back off to three days because my back’s hurting. You know why? I’m not eating very good right now. I mean, it’s just a fact. I’m not proud of it, but I think people should know I’m not perfect. It’s not a thing- nobody ever will be. So, you just- it’s a journey.

Maria Emmerich: It is a journey. And that’s why I liked how you talked about your company, bringing it back to Pederson’s, and how you’re always growing and making it better. That’s how I was and still am. Like once I accomplish a goal, I try to pick a new goal and try to add in different ways to make myself healthier and stronger and better. And it doesn’t always have to be about health, maybe it’s being a better mother, maybe it’s being- always trying to grow and evolve and become a better person or a better company, I think that was really cool what you said about Pederson’s. 

Neil Dudley: Well, I think consumers will hold us to that standard. 

Maria Emmerich: I will.

Neil Dudley: That’s right. You will. All of our friends will. I feel responsible to people that partner with us to keep growing, to keep getting better, to actually do what we say we’re doing. I’m not saying any other companies don’t feel that same way, but I certainly do. It is part of the cowboy code. Right now my family outside of this house, I’m at my mom and dad’s house because we’re next to- we’re in the middle of having our 60th Registered Horned Hereford bull sale. So, in just about 30 minutes, I’m going to walk out of here and go get in a sale ring and show the bulls off and hopefully sell them to a bunch of people. Matter of fact, well, I don’t know if they’ll keep it up on Superior when this actually launches, but it’s online. You can go watch the sale on superior.com. It’s a cattle auction website. 

Maria Emmerich: I feel honored that you took the time to talk with me today. 

Neil Dudley: Oh, I wanted to talk to you – your mission and what you do is so great. I feel honored to get you on the podcast because the whole goal of this is to tell about this industry through people we know because we’ve been doing it for a long time that consume our products, retailers and e-commerce sites that buy our products to sell to other people, vendors that support, it’s just employees, peers, other people that we battle with for people’s dollars. And I think that’s just so valuable and vibrant and fun. So, I wouldn’t mind- I just don’t mind at all getting on here and talking to you because your story is great. We haven’t even- It’s just sad to me too, we can’t talk about all of it in this one conversation; there’s so much there. 

Maria Emmerich: There is. We could go on forever. 

Neil Dudley: That’s right. Do you have a hot topic, a hot button topic that’s front of mind right now particularly?

Maria Emmerich: I guess, I think that we need to look at our future and our children because a lot of people are like, oh, my kids are thin, they’re active, they can eat all the sugar they want and never gain weight. Well, that’s not really a good way to let your kid- because at what age is sugar bad? Is it age 18 you expect them to cut out sugar? Is it age 20? Like you said- 

Neil Dudley: Well, their habits are already built.

Maria Emmerich: They are built. I’m glad that I was 16 and had to change my habits because now my friends that were in high school, they’re looking to me, they’re like help, Maria, I’m 40 and I can’t eat the sugar anymore, but they’re so addicted they can’t get off of it. Where my kids are 11 and 12 and they don’t know any different. They love the food. When they do have sugar, they get violently ill to the point where they never want to eat it again. So, I guess we are in charge. They don’t have a driver’s license. They don’t have any money. So, you as parents, you as grandparents, you as aunt and uncles need to realize if you’re giving a two-year-old a French fry, shame on you.

Neil Dudley: Yeah. Well, you’re talking to me because I do it. And it’s okay. I need- somebody has to hold us accountable, me included. And it’s tough because I’m not there all the time, so whoever’s watching the kids, my parents – my parents don’t eat good. Where do you think my eating habits came from? I mean, so, it’s a chain of events that somebody along the way wants to at least try to make a correction of some sort.

Maria Emmerich: I mean, what I’m getting at is a two-year-old doesn’t know what a McDonald’s French fry is until the adult gives it to them. And so, I’m just saying like is it necessary? I don’t know. I get a little triggered-

Neil Dudley: It’s easy. That’s why people do it; that’s why I do it. It’s easy and I’m lazy. So, stop being lazy people. Neil, you included. It’s true.

Maria Emmerich: Here’s the thing, Neil, nobody’s busier than I am. Nobody is. I’m up at 4:00 AM working. I wrote three books this year. I consult clients every day. I’m teaching a class this weekend. I have- like I was on two television shows. 

Neil Dudley: You don’t buy that excuse in other words.

Maria Emmerich: I was on two television shows. I find time to cook for my family. There is no excuse.

Neil Dudley: Yeah, prioritize it.

Maria Emmerich: Prioritize it. I am a better person and I can never accomplish everything I do if I ate the McDonald’s French fry. 

Neil Dudley: Now, I want to touch on this. So at least a couple of things, being overweight and how our society treats people like that and how peers will make you feel, do you have an opinion or perspective on that? And then, infertility, I know that’s a really touchy subject. I can’t imagine how it might feel to a woman. I’m lucky we were able to have kids. But I think it’s worth talking for other people that experience that same thing and what that experience was like.

Maria Emmerich: So, I love what you brought up. I had a client who had type one diabetes and she was 105 pounds. And she said, Maria, I wish I would gain weight when I cheated because I’m going to kill myself. Because we’re a vain society. To you, she looked healthy, but inside she was having strokes and she was only 35 years old. But because it didn’t show up externally, she didn’t really see the need to change, even though she knew she was probably going to die. She ended up changing. But we do, we judge people by what we look like, even though someone who is overweight, it’s not how many fat cells you have, it is how stuffed they are. So, you can have someone who’s 50 pounds overweight – getting overweight is actually a protective mechanism. There’s people my size that can have type two diabetes because they don’t have a lot of fat cells, but they’re extremely stuffed . So, you can’t necessarily judge someone from the outward appearance, but I’d be lying if I’d say it’s not happening. I was judged. I remember Jerry, I won’t say his last name, he sang Fat Girl in a Little Coat to me in front of everybody in high school. 

Neil Dudley: See, my girls are going into junior high- 

Maria Emmerich: That was 25 years ago. 

Neil Dudley: And it still is raw for you. I have the same experience. It’s not over weight, but it would be over zits or something. Everybody gets made fun of for something. Like humans, why do we have to be that way? Just love on everybody. Yes, everybody’s different. Isn’t that so beautiful. I’m not great at it. 

Maria Emmerich: That’s why I try to teach my kids that. I mean, they are from Ethiopia. They do not look like me. They look different from the people that are around us. And I try to teach them to be strong and appreciate their differences and realize that life would be really boring if we were all the same. 

Neil Dudley: It’s some innate thing or some part of how we raise our kids, where that jealousy comes. And then I don’t know, if you figure it out, if you know how to like twist the left ear twice and slap them on the right cheek and that goes out of them, then that would be a great combination.

Maria Emmerich: It’s one of the reasons that we do homeschool. I mean, my husband homeschools the boys. I mean, it’s one of the reasons. 

Neil Dudley: Sure. Do you want to explore that process of how they became your boys? 

Maria Emmerich: How what?

Neil Dudley: Your sons are your sons. Since you didn’t have them, how did that work? Or what was that like? 

Maria Emmerich: I was like you, I didn’t take my health seriously. I was- 25 years ago, I was changing my diet, but there were still French fries here. There was still wine here and there. I wasn’t completely keto. I was doing my best, but the pizza would call my name and I would go towards it. And it took my fertility, like it changed my reproductive system. Food can do that, and it did do that to me. And so, I was married at a very young age, I couldn’t even drink alcohol. And so, I told Craig, I said, do you want to adopt? And he’s like absolutely. And when they said which child do you want, he said both. And so that’s why we have two boys, double and trouble. And they are not birth brothers, they’re from different families, but they both needed homes. And so that’s how I became a mother. But that’s why I’m so passionate because food can change fertility. I work with women all the time going through fertility treatments. I actually work with one of the best fertility doctors in the entire world. I just wrote a book with him about- He wrote the intro, I wrote all the recipes to help with fertility. Because guess what, cholesterol makes healthy hormones. So instead of fearing cholesterol, we should realize cholesterol is making healthy hormones and that chronic high insulin levels, that is what causes PCOS and a lot of these fertility issues. So, I would just say I’m very blessed. I ended up with the coolest kids in the world. Sorry to all of you because I have them. But I know that desire, I was there, I wanted it. If you want it that bad, the pizza is not worth it. 

Neil Dudley: Right. I think it’s just a great story to tell because there’s somebody out living a similar thing. I think there’s beauty in adoption and being that mom and dad you didn’t have to be. I mean, there’s a song even about it or a country song. But I just appreciate you so much, appreciate you being such an open book, allowing me to ask questions that I know are not always the easiest thing to explore and just tell people, but I think it opens a window into your experience that somebody else can relate to and hopefully help them because really that’s what this is all about. I hope somebody got to learn about you and now can go learn even more. They understand that Pederson’s is a company out here honestly and genuinely trying to do the best we can. We’re imperfect as we are. So, thank you so much. 

Maria Emmerich: Well, thank you very much for having me and go have fun at the beef auction. 

Neil Dudley: Yeah, you bet. I will. I’ve been on a horse all day, and of course, that is my- instead of paddle boarding with the whales, I ride horses with the bulls. That’s just the way it is. 

Maria Emmerich: Where you go first is you go to ketomaria.com, and if you want to do it on your own, I have resources for that that are free. If you want my personal help, I have resources for that, too. I’ve written over 20 books, most of them are also dairy free. They’re all gluten free, too. And most people say the food tastes way better than any takeout food you could buy. Like I made bourbon chicken for Halle Berry, and she was like, damn, this is good stuff. So, you can eat good. It took me 10 minutes to make it. Come on, people, who doesn’t have 10 minutes? Because guess what, it’s going to take me longer to drive to a restaurant to get takeout and bring it home. I mean, even Chipotle which we kind of think of as healthy, we did a comparison where my husband jumped in the car with one kid, I kept one kid with me. I made Chipotle at home, and he drove to Chipotle, which is only like three miles away, and it was at like 2:00 PM so it wasn’t very busy. And by the time he came home, we were done eating, we had everything cleaned up, and we had leftovers and it was way cheaper than buying- and we used your beef, organic beef that was way cheaper than buying the Chipotle. So it’s not cheaper. It’s not faster. It’s not healthier. Let’s just put that out there. 

Neil Dudley: Awesome. That’s a great way to end it. Everybody, check out the show notes, go learn more where you can. And thanks for joining us. Tell your friends about this podcast if you found any value. We want to get the word out. And Maria, I just can’t say it enough, thank you so much. 

Maria Emmerich: Thank you very much. Mahalo. 

Neil Dudley: Hey everybody. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Pederson Natural Farms podcast. If you don’t mind, go hit that subscribe button and check us out at pedersonsfarms.com. Thanks for listening.