Neil Dudley: Hey, everybody. It’s another episode of the Pederson’s Farms Podcast where we talk about all kinds of different things which all relate to where your food comes from. We’re talking to consumers of Pederson’s products, customers of our brand, vendors that help us service our customers, employees of the company, as well as peers, people that are out there doing a similar thing to us. Oh, by the way, hi YouTube. And you podcast listeners, you don’t get to see the video, but if you watch on YouTube, you get to see this beautiful lady, Autumn Wagner. She is a, well, I guess I’ll let you tell us who you are. Just real quickly, what do you do? 

Autumn Wagner: Well, my name is Autumn, and I am a carnivore enthusiast. I’ve actually been eating carnivore for almost a year now. I will celebrate my anniversary the next month. So, I have basically, long story short, found health and wellness through eating this way. And my journey has been a long one, one that I don’t feel is finished yet, but I’m definitely well on my way. And I’m just very enthusiastic about it and love sharing my story with others so that they can find health and happiness too.

Neil Dudley: That’s great. That’s the reason we want to have this conversation. And you tell your story which you know so well – you’ve lived it, right? I mean, we all can tell our own story pretty darn good because we happen to be living it. We did live it, we are living, we are living it into the future. So, carnivore for a year. Tell us what you- I mean, I’m just curious, how would we set this up a little bit? Prior to doing that, prior to saying you’re carnivore, what was your life like? Or what was your diet like? 

Autumn Wagner: Well, honestly, we could talk forever about this. My journey has been a really long one and it started at infancy. I was born pretty sickly. I was very colicky, failure to thrive and all of that. And this was quite a few decades ago and the doctors just really didn’t know what to do or say about it. So, I basically went through childhood just pretty sickly. And back then, I was mostly struggling with the inability to gain weight, had a lot of anxiety problems, I had really weird rashes all over my body that nobody could really explain or figure out. And my parents didn’t know any better than to just feed me a normal standard American diet. And I didn’t know any better either. So, I just rolled with it. So, then I got into my middle teens, mid to late teens, and on top of everything I was already struggling with, I started developing some really bad gastrointestinal issues that are very embarrassing and not very fun to talk about when you’re a 17-year-old girl in high school. So, I really kind of kept it to myself and suffered in silence for several years and just kind of dealt with it. 

Neil Dudley: I mean, that makes me- I feel for you. I feel for anybody that has just embarrassing truths about their body functions and those kinds of things. I mean, even at a young age, it just makes life even more dynamic, potentially difficult in those years. 

Autumn Wagner: The thing that’s really sad about it is because it is embarrassing and it’s something that people don’t necessarily want to talk about, you do just choose to suffer in silence. And I was a very active teenager. I was in track and cross country and swimming, and you’re doing all these things, but at the same time, just feeling terrible and just having all sorts of embarrassing issues that you don’t want to talk about. So, I did my best to hide it. I can guarantee you, my boyfriend at the time had no clue that I was suffering as badly as I was. And I just continued on. At the time, this was before we really had, I mean, I had the internet, but it wasn’t as widely used as it is now. So I was by no means searching symptoms on Web MD or anything like that. I was just dealing with it. And fast forward a few years to after I had my first two daughters, I have twin daughters that are about to turn 18 years old and graduated from high school, but when they were born, I went to my six week post-op appointment and I remember my OB GYN asking me, well, Autumn, do you have any other questions? And I don’t know if it was just a maternal instinct kicking in or something telling me, Autumn, you need to ask about this. This is ridiculous. So, I just asked the doctor. I was like, as a matter of fact, I do have a question. And I went on to explain to that doctor all of the symptoms I was having – very frequent diarrhea, lots of pain and bloating. And as I explained this to him, the look on his face was so telling. He was like no, that’s not normal and you need to go to a GI doctor now. So that kind of started everything for me. Keep in mind, this was 18 years ago. Here I am today only a one-year carnivore. So that tells you it still took me a lot of years to get where I am today. But that was the beginning, just gaining the courage to at least speak up and say, hey, something’s not right here. 

Neil Dudley: That makes me want to ask this question – do you think it is- Do you think people should take a little time to find out or should they just, bam, go to carnivore? Let’s say you experience similar gastric issues or even skin issues, and you heard Autumn say I’m carnivore for a year now and I’m thriving. Do you think it’s smart for somebody to just dive right in the deep end, or should they- is that what your coaching is about? Like some of that stuff is- I’m just curious. 

Autumn Wagner: Number one, I think pretty much if not all human beings on this planet can thrive on a carnivore diet. I do firmly believe that. I think it is extremely nutrient dense, as we all know. You’re eliminating all of the inflammatory foods, the gluten, all that garbage out of your diet and you’re going to thrive and feel better. But when I have clients that come to me, they know that I was actually keto for several years before I went full carnivore. So sometimes they’re interested in keto and I’m willing to help them out with that. Other times they’re like I want to do what you did, girl. I like the way you look, I like the way you feel, I want that. And I’m like, all right, let’s do it. So, I think carnivore can absolutely work for anyone as long as their why is there, their motivation is in the proper place. Because if you just want to do this to lose weight and look good, it might not be the best option for you because it’s a lifestyle. This is something that I live day in and day out. And if I were to go off plan, it would not go well for me. So, I think it just depends on what your why is. 

Neil Dudley: This is such a great time for me to have this conversation with you because I just got back from a food conference, and one of the main speakers was a guy telling his story that he was about to die, bad cholesterol, bad all kinds of markers in his blood work, et cetera. And he went vegan, and he swears it saved his life. And I kind of think it probably did. I kind of- and I don’t experience a lot of health issues. I’ve just kind of been lucky. I mean, I do do a Whole 30, I have done carnivore for 30 days, I have ate keto. But I might go off the wagon and eat pizza, chocolate ice cream. And I will kind of have some- I think I’ve got some allergies to dairy, like mucus, I’ll be coughing or sniffling or something. So just some of those things are true for me, but they’re not bad enough for me to really seek out change. 

Autumn Wagner: Sure, sure. And I know people like you, my husband, for example, we call him Mikey. I don’t know if you remember the commercials back in the day, there was some food commercial where they’re like, oh hey, it’s Mikey, and he would literally eat anything, that’s my husband. He doesn’t have any outward symptoms when he eats garbage, but he loves it. So, I will say he’s noticed improvement though when he removed the garbage from his diet. And I think that’s kind of important to note too. I think some people can get away with it and they can feel like they are fine eating a standard American diet. But if they start eliminating some of those things, they might notice things that maybe they were just used to and just accustomed to knowing until they eliminate that. So, for my husband, for example, when he stopped eating the standard American diet and started eating more carnivore in support of me, he noticed a drastic increase in libido, his sinuses started to clear up, he lost weight, which he was happy about. But he could just turn around tomorrow and go right back to a standard American diet, and aside from gaining 10 pounds and maybe that libido going down a little bit, he’d be fine, whereas I would be sick as a dog and end up in the hospital. So, I think everyone’s just different. 

Neil Dudley: Let’s talk about being vegetarian, vegan. Did you ever actually- have you ever followed that eating plan or-? 

Autumn Wagner: No, I’ve never eaten vegan because I just have always loved dairy and eggs, which we’ll talk about that in a minute because I’m actually not eating dairy or eggs right now. But I grew up on a small farm actually. And we just raised our own cattle. I mean, it wasn’t commercial. We didn’t sell anything. It was just our own little homestead. And I remember this time my friend and I were outside jumping on a trampoline or something, and here comes to the butcher to take our cow, because they come and pick up the cow and you know it’s going to go to processing. And well, my parents, I always say I feel like they kind of screwed up. Well, they did and they didn’t. They didn’t in that they got me hands-on and involved in the process. Like I helped birth this cow. So I remember when I knew the butcher was there to get the cow and take it to processing, it was going to come back to me as hamburger. And I got so upset that I refused to eat meat for like two years. So, there were a few years when I was a younger kid that I was like I’m not eating that because they killed my cow and that’s sad and tragic. And so yeah, just for a little while as a kid, but definitely never tried it as an adult. But like you said, I know some people that eat a plant-based diet, and they say they feel great. And I’ve always had some hesitation because I know carnivore is a very, very nutritious bioavailable diet, but at the same time, if you’re thriving and you feel great eating that way, then I am happy for you. I think that’s great. 

Neil Dudley: I think that’s a big piece of part of the message I want to- I’m doing everything I can to find a good plant-based person to come be a part of the conversation because I am not God, I don’t know what’s right for everybody. I have opinions and experiences that lean me towards carnivore, towards humans eat meat, that’s how we were made. Although, I cannot rebuttal- you could put me in a debate with a really educated but vegan, plant-based, I don’t know, somebody that really supports that thought process. They would just beat me under the table because I don’t bother making the argument. I want people to find out what’s good for them. But I think you’re more of an expert because you’ve lived that unhealthy life and you feel like now you’ve made some decisions that lean a certain way and now you feel healthier.

Autumn Wagner: Sure. And I feel like that’s one area where maybe my opinion’s a little biased because, gosh, had I discovered this way of eating two or three decades ago, I could’ve saved myself literally just years and years of suffering needlessly. So, I think that’s my main frustration. I just wish I would have learned sooner. I feel like if more people have these engaging conversations like you and I are, and that’s part of why I like talking to people about this topic, the more we get the word out there, the more it does leave everyone to maybe look at an angle they’d never thought of before. I never thought of carnivore before until I was introduced to it by the Emmerichs, Maria and Craig Emmerich, a few years ago. I really didn’t know that was a way to eat or that it was even healthy or it could even be healthy. It sounded kind of extreme and crazy to me. But just having these conversations and getting the word out there and sharing our personal experiences I think goes a long way and really provoking some thought in other individuals. And if my story can help prevent even one other person from the suffering and misery that I went through, then I’ve done my job and that makes me really happy. 

Neil Dudley: And I think there are people that are called to make the bigger argument. Our government, our culture, our social media totally paint certain pictures. Now, if we don’t get involved in those conversations, our kids, our other people that we care about, that’s their source of information and they may only get one side if we’re not all pretty aggressively trying to tell our story. I don’t say it quite as aggressively as let’s say Shawn Baker or there’s a bunch of them out there, Robb Wolf’s another one. And Robb’s been on the podcast. Maria’s been on the podcast. And I lean towards those people. That’s one thing I’m kind of holding myself accountable for is don’t- I need to go lean the other way a little bit and make sure our conversation has all those perspectives. Tell me what made you a coach? Like I noticed just researching you a little bit. 

Autumn Wagner: So, I just became a certified keto and carnivore coach around a year ago. I think I’ve been coaching for about a year now. And it was just a gradual process. I didn’t start keto until December 31st, 2018, actually. I always remember that date. That’s the day I was like enough is enough. At that point in my journey, I had been diagnosed with celiac disease and I had been eating gluten free for about a year, but still eating all the other processed garbage and just junk and drinking way too much alcohol and just was not healthy and I knew I needed to make a change. So, I did keto for a few years, had some success and weight loss, decreased my inflammation, but still just something was missing. I could just tell that more healing could be done. So that’s when I decided, hey, carnivore seems to make a lot of sense. I have auto-immune diseases. Every time I eat plants, my joints ache so bad. I’m like crawling out of my skin and my doctors are giving me absolutely no insight on what could be causing that at all. And with just doing research and having these types of conversations and doing some reading, I was like, hey, I’ll do carnivore. So, I started carnivore. And at that point, I was so inspired because weeks [inaudible 15:50] an all meat diet, all the joint pain went away. I dropped so much weight in my first month of strict carnivore and I wasn’t even trying to lose weight. It was all inflammation that I was just dumping. And at that point, keep in mind, I had been eating clean keto, so it wasn’t like I was losing inflammation from eating grains or sugar or drinking alcohol or anything like that. It was just all those oxalates, I think, and anti-nutrients that were built up in my system that I’m intolerant to. So, I just found that so interesting and inspiring that I was like I’ve got to share this with other people. So, I went through Craig and Maria Emmerich’s coaching program, got certified, and I’ve been helping other people eat this way and heal ever since. 

Neil Dudley: Yeah, well, high five. The truth is that’s kind of a very lofty calling in my mind is doing that thing. Of course, you need to make some money, that’s part of what makes the world turn around. Some of it is just this desire to help others. 

Autumn Wagner: Right. And at the time- I was just going to say at the time I was a dental hygienist, had been a full-time dental hygienist for 16 years at the point when I became a certified keto carnivore health coach. You mentioned  we have to make money and everything, but I just, I know I was helping people in one way in a dental clinic atmosphere, but I just felt like something was missing and I wasn’t allowed to express my passion and my knowledge in the way I really felt called to. So, I actually did leave dentistry. I’m no longer a practicing dental hygienist, and I do this full time. And I have never been happier. I love it. 

Neil Dudley: Awesome. Do you make the same amount of money?

Autumn Wagner: Honestly, really just about the same amount. I’m certainly not rolling in the dough at this point, still building up my following and clientele, but I’m certainly not hurting, so it’s been great. 

Neil Dudley: You said something a minute ago or a while back that I find- alcohol. I did this 75 Hard. So, I did 75 days, two workouts a day, no alcohol, drink a gallon of water. It’s a pretty extreme thing, but I like the challenge. I just want to say I did it. And the first beer I had after that was obvious. It fogged my brain the next morning. 

Autumn Wagner: Oh yeah. I question how would I even tolerate it at this point. I don’t know how much you know about my story, but I actually struggled with some alcoholism, so I needed to quit for all the reasons. I knew that alcohol was a trigger for me and that I had a tendency to abuse, and I needed to abstain. So, I don’t drink alcohol at all anymore, but I can guarantee you if I had a sip of a beer or anything right now, I would be- I don’t even know what I would do. I would be knocked out. I just know that it’s not going to do my system any favors, so that’s just another motivator for me to just stay away.

Neil Dudley: So, what is that like? I don’t know. I’m trying to ask you how does it feel to say I battled alcoholism? I mean, I think a lot- and I kind of wish I wouldn’t say that word right. It’s almost like I’m telling you you have to agree with me. I’m just curious, I think people live- there’s a certain stigma on mental health, on physical health, addiction that I wish we could get rid of or even use in a way that was beneficial to somebody battling that. Do you have a perspective? 

Autumn Wagner: I feel like I do. Even as recently as a few months ago, sitting here and saying my name is Autumn, and I’m an alcoholic was extremely difficult. It’s not anything that you ever want to admit to yourself. And I have a pretty complicated background with a lot of substance abuse going on in my biological family to the point where I actually don’t have anything to do with practically any of my biological family anymore, due to my own choice. So that was difficult. I started to realize I had a real problem with it when my husband went through treatment and became sober a few years ago because he was struggling with alcoholism. And at the time, I was like, oh, I’m fine. I go to work, I’m good. But I was using alcohol to numb the pain that I was feeling from my illnesses that were not being addressed. I felt like crap 24/7. I was in so much pain. I literally had the energy to get up in the morning, go to work, fake a smile, take care of my patients, and then I would come home and curl up on the sofa and drink all night because I was in so much pain. I was miserable. I didn’t enjoy really a whole lot of anything, which is really sad. So, I was missing out on- 

Neil Dudley: I know that’s not easy, but it’s so almost like- and I’ve spent a lot of time listening to self-help stuff. I guarantee I’ve got problems. I haven’t figured them out yet. I don’t know. It is like lots of different things. We all do. It’s like why do these humans want to pretend we all don’t deal with these same things in some way? I don’t know why. It’s one way to say you’re better than somebody else, I guess, but I don’t care to be better than somebody else. I mean, I did when I was younger. It’s a maturity thing probably. To say I don’t, well, I used to. I probably still do on bad days, want to be better than somebody else or think everybody thinks I’ve got it all together. I don’t. Nobody that I really know does; we’re all battling certain things. I just really appreciate you just being willing to say it. I think you say it, it takes all the power of that away. I mean, so some people- you had health problems you were numbing. Somebody has trauma they’re numbing. Somebody has just an addictive personality that, oh, I want that feeling more. So anyways, for the listeners, it’s just I want you to put yourself in the bucket of you’re just like everybody else. You’re just like me and Autumn. We deal with these things. We have to pay attention to it and it’s not easy. There you go. So now I’ve preached. I’ll get off my soap box and go back to asking you some questions. So, if somebody is like really resonating with you, how do they find a way to connect with you? Where’s the best places to get in touch with you? 

Autumn Wagner: Probably Instagram. I hang out there the most, at __authenticallyautumn. You can send me a message; I’m super responsive. But I also have a website authenticallyautumn.com. If you send me an email, it’ll instantly come to me there too. And yeah, really just being in that environment and that platform really. I have people messaging me every day asking questions as simple as what do you eat in a day to, hey, I’ve been struggling with some IBD issues or this, that, or the other, do you mind answering some of my questions? And I’m like, heck yeah, let’s talk. 

Neil Dudley: So, tell us, tell the listeners, what do you eat? Like, so what is carnivore for those that don’t know? 

Autumn Wagner: So, there are different methods of carnivore. You’ve got the really strict level one through four carnivore, kind of the Emmerich approach, which is more so what I do. And then you’ve got like Dr. is it Paul Saladino? He incorporates some honey and fruit or whatever. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong carnivore. It’s just what is right for you. I have found through process of elimination, I did a very strict elimination protocol type carnivore where I went 30 days just eating meat, salt, and water and had great success with that. And then I slowly started to reintroduce other animal proteins, like chicken, fish, pork, one at a time, very methodically so I could identify any triggers. I attempted and have attempted many times to re-introduce eggs. I even ate some yesterday from Easter. Y’all, it was not good. No, I won’t do it again. I can’t eat eggs, but some carnivores can, they can tolerate it. Eggs don’t work for me. And I can eat some dairy, but I feel my best when I just eat animal proteins. So, in a day, you can expect someone like me at 5’3”, roughly 110 pounds to eat anywhere between a pound to a pound and a half of meat a day. I don’t track; weight loss isn’t my goal at this point. I’m at my goal weight and have been and maintained it for a long time now. I just eat when I’m hungry. Naturally over time, that’s turned into kind of an intermittent fasting type situation. Like I probably won’t eat today until two, maybe three o’clock, maybe when you and I wrap up chatting here, I might go have my first meal, but I’m not hungry. So I don’t purposely fast or anything. I just naturally get hungry in the later afternoon hours, and I’ll have a few meals totaling about a pound or pound and a half of meat, and then I’m done for the day. And that works for me. 

Neil Dudley: I just think people that have never done it or are hearing this for the first time, when I was doing it, I would eat hamburger patties, ribeye steaks, a lot of red meat. I just I would eat pork too, mainly because we raise pork and it was more readily available to me. But so do you stick- so when you did that elimination thing, tell us the variety you’ve been able to kind of find that works for you. 

Autumn Wagner: For me, I always feel my absolute best when I just eat beef, but I really love bacon. So, I typically, in any given day, am going to eat some sort of red meat because it makes me feel my best. I love bacon and/or pork sausage. I’m real funny about seasonings and different like additives and stuff. So, I try to stay away from anything with sugar or starch at all. So, yeah, just the beef, pork. I do really well with seafood and fish. So, I’m like obsessed with salmon and shrimp. I eat that very regularly. I eat some chicken. Not always. I actually kind of react to chicken. It’s weird. And I haven’t figured out if it’s like the source of the chicken. Some people say maybe if the chicken is eating like GMO, possibly that could be irritating your system. So, I don’t know. I eat mostly ButcherBox chicken and I think their stuff’s non-GMO. But sometimes I’ll eat chicken and it’ll just mess with me a little bit. It makes my nose run actually. It’s very weird. It is the weirdest thing, but it is just true.  

Neil Dudley: I think that nose and breathing, all that stuff, is a really quick place you can see I’m reacting to this food or this air. 

Autumn Wagner: Yeah, it’s so weird. But when you really simplify your diet, you’re able to figure those things out. And that’s why I’m such a really strong advocate for elimination protocol. Most of my clients, because they see that I have had auto immune issues and that I’ve had IBD, things like that, they come to me for help because of health and healing, they want to heal. And a lot of them think or ask should I just go and do food sensitivity testing? And my answer for that, honestly, I don’t feel like the results are always super accurate when you go and do like a blood test. Really, if you want the gold standard, you want to know what upsets your system and is causing you problems, do an elimination protocol because you’re going to figure it out real fast. And I have some people that hear what I eat in a day, which is basically beef, pork, and seafood, and they’re like, well, that’s depressing, I would rather be sick forever than eat like that. And I’m like, you know what, that’s your choice. That’s fine if that’s what you want to do. But that’s not what I want to do. And that’s not what works for me. So yeah, I have a very basic diet. Some people think it’s just sounds very boring and restrictive, but I consistently have been following the carnivore protocol for a year now, and I’m not sad. I can sit down to dinner with someone and watch them eat their steak with their baked potato and their rolls and their fries and even drink alcohol at this point. I’m comfortable with that even. And I don’t feel sorry for myself. I get myself a lovely steak and eat it and I love it. And it just works for me. 

Neil Dudley: That’s right. I think some of that is my brain works a certain way where if I decide I’m doing it, then it’s like I find this little button in there and I push it and I’m like crazy man, not going to get off of this no matter what, it’s more important than anything. I don’t think you have to be that way. It’s just how I do it. I think there are people that just can’t fathom that same food so often. It just totally runs them off the rails. 

Autumn Wagner: I’ve had people tell me they would rather die than eat like me. And I’m like okay.

Neil Dudley: You obviously must have never had the pain that I lived through because this is a simple trade. It’s a simple, easy trade. Give up a little variety in your food for totally feeling healthy and happy. And it’s probably not guaranteed. I think we all have to work on our own happiness even with the perfect diet for you.

Autumn Wagner: For sure. I’m still a work in progress. I think we all are. I’ve got lots of friends and family members constantly checking in on me right now for my mental health because my twin daughters are about to graduate high school. So, I’m like freaking out about that right now and just going through a lot emotionally with all the life changes that are going on, for example. But one thing that I can rely on is my physical health. I’ve gotten to the point where at least I’m not doubled over in pain every day and hating my life so much that I want to drink a fifth of vodka a week. So, I call that progress. Like I can live. I’m enjoying getting up and getting dressed in the morning versus just like slugging around all day and I can go out and go play softball with my daughter and I can go to the lacrosse games and the show choir competitions without having to worry about where’s the next bathroom. That’s how sick I was. So for me, again, I think the motivator, it’s just really strong. I can eat like a jerk, absolutely. I could just go right back to a standard American diet. There’s literally nothing stopping me from doing it. I just know how good I feel and it’s important to me. But for my friends that make comments like that, that, oh, I’d just rather die than eat like you do, I’m like, well, okay then don’t eat like me. I mean, you don’t have to, it’s okay. 

Neil Dudley: There is a guy, Ben, he’s been a part of the podcast. He’s part of the Pederson’s team. He did a Whole 30 and he learned things. He really was glad he did it, but pasta is a thing in his life he’s not going to give up. I mean, that’s totally his choice. I learned a lot from him. He thinks of food and he wants it to be a variety and exciting for his family. He does a lot of  the cooking for his family. So, I just totally agree with you that it’s not me, you, whatever is not a guaranteed solution for somebody else, but there is a lot of education in my story, in your story. And I want to share that with people. Now, okay so, I hope everybody goes and follows your Instagram page after hearing this because I know there’s lots of fun there. Tell me a little bit about these tattoos. I see- What’s that about?

Autumn Wagner: Yeah. So, my best friend is a tattoo artist, and I’m a worker bee. I’m always a busy body. And one of my many roles in life is to help her with her tattoo business. So, I’m like her little booking assistant. So, she and I have a good time. I’ll go into the studio and she’ll give me a cute little something there. But I’m like, I feel like this sleeve especially kind of represents my personality because I’m very much a go big or go home kind of girl. You’re not going to see me going to the tattoo studio to get like a little something right there. I’m like, no, you’ve got to cover it, girl. So yeah, I just think they’re really fun. It’s a very fun and visual way to express yourself. And like I said, go big or go home. So, I think they’re pretty, and I enjoy expressing myself in that way, so I might as well do it and do it in a big way. 

Neil Dudley: I asked- I think tattoos are a great conversation starter. They are almost like this hat. This hat, it’s a way to- Now, I’m probably not going to tattoo my face. I mean, there’s things that I wouldn’t do with a tattoo, but they’re great conversation starters. You can find sleeves on chefs and there’s great stories, or even veterans. There are great stories behind that art, so I always like to ask about it. 

Autumn Wagner: It’s fun. I used to bond with my patients. When I was a dental hygienist, they would ask me questions about my tattoos and then they would show me theirs. It just gives you a little something fun and common ground to talk about. And for people, a lot of us heavily tattooed individuals get some flack, like I’ve been judged before. And I’ve actually had a patient one time refuse to let me work on him because I had tattoos and I was like you do realize I’m a college educated woman? I’m pretty good at my job, but if you don’t want me to work on you because I have a tattoo on my arm, I guess that’s fine, whatever. But you’re going to deal with that in life. 

Neil Dudley: I’m a bad person to speak about it because I’m a middle-aged white male, so I deal with the least amount of bias in the world. But somebody that’s tattooed, female, ball and skinny. I bet you’ve had, oh, I bet she’s anorexic. I bet- how many people say- I just wish humans would not do that. We can’t stop it. We can only change own actions. Autumn, it’s been a great conversation. Time flies. We’re already way over 30 minutes. I don’t want to take too much of your time, but maybe as the last thing, since this is the Pederson’s Farms Podcast, do we get lucky enough to be the bacon you choose when you choose bacon occasionally? Or do you have any experience with Pederson’s, good, bad, or otherwise? And that’s part of the conversation. 

Autumn Wagner: I have to tell you, honestly, your bacon and your breakfast sausage, that breakfast sausage especially, is like the best breakfast meat we’ve ever had. I have a house full of children. I have four daughters and a very hungry husband. My daughters are very picky eaters, and they tend to turn their nose up at anything I make, just I don’t know why, but they do. I guess I’ve got a stigma with the whole like keto thing or whatever. I started feeding them your breakfast meats and they’re like, mom, where did you get that? It is so good. We actually had your ham yesterday for Easter. And my pickiest daughter could not stop raving about it. She was so excited. So yes, absolutely. You guys go get yourself some Pederson Farms products because they are delicious. And I love, love, love that sugar-free, I think it’s called the No Sugar Meal Prep bundle, that one’s my favorite because you just get a huge variety. Listen, I’m like a meat hoarder. I have four deep freezers that I just like throw the stuff in there, so I always have it on hand. It’s great. 

Neil Dudley: Well, I do appreciate that. It sounds a little bit like an advertisement and that’s not the point of it. I mean I did ask the question, I kind of served it up there like that, but hey, it’s just truth. And we’re partially connected, we wouldn’t be connected if you didn’t enjoy our products a little bit. And I’ve tried to bring people on that had bad experiences. Because that’s the fact – as a company, we’re imperfect. Even Maria’s on my tail right now about getting some of these starches out of–

Autumn Wagner: It is the starches in the sausage, or maybe it’s the hot dogs. I don’t know. I remember her saying something about it. 

Neil Dudley: It is the hot dog and the chorizo. And so that’s good. That’s pressure. That moves us in a direction that is a solution for a community we care about.

Autumn Wagner: Like you said earlier different perspectives, listen to your audience and hear what other people have to say. And it could lead you in a different direction that could be a good one. So, yeah. 

Neil Dudley: Autumn, thank you. Everybody, go check out __authenticallyautumn on Instagram, and we’ll find links to everything, everywhere else we can give everybody quick access to your info. And I just can’t- thanks for sharing your story. Thanks for being who you are. The world is better, it really is. 

Autumn Wagner: Oh, well, thank you so much. I appreciate you having me today. It’s been fun. 

Neil Dudley: All right, great. Have a good one. Everybody, listen next time for more. I promise it’s going to be somebody interesting that you can learn something from, so come back, listen to the next episode.