3 EASY Skincare Swaps That Lower Toxins FAST (in 3 days!)

¡Hola!

The 2026 Chevy Equinox is more than an SUV. It's your Sunday tailgate and your parking lot snack bar. Your lucky jersey, your chairs, and your big cooler fit perfectly in your even bigger cargo space. And when it's go time, your 11.3-inch diagonal touchscreen's got the playbook, the playlist, and the tech to stay a step ahead. It's more than an SUV. It's your Equinox. Chevrolet. Together, let's drive.

Experience a membership that backs what you're building with American Express Business Platinum. Unlock over $3,500 in business and travel value annually with statement credits on select purchases from brands like Dell, Hilton, and Adobe, and other benefits. American Express Business Platinum. There's nothing like it. Based on total potential value of statement credits on select purchases and other benefits. Enrollment required. Monthly and other limits and terms apply. Learn more at americanexpress.com/businessplatinum.

Everyone knows that unexplainable "it" factor. That smile that lights up a room. That "wow." Well, it doesn't happen by itself. There's chemistry behind the charisma. Colgate Optic White ProSeries Toothpaste removes 15 years of deep-set stains when you brush twice daily for 2 weeks. How? The clinically proven formula is powered by Colgate's hydrogen peroxide complex. It works at the molecular level to gently dissolve stains deep within the enamel where your brush can't reach. It's proof that daily routine can be remarkable. That's the science of wow.

Colgate Optic White If you would have gone into a pharmacy 2,000 years ago anywhere in Asia, you would have found herbs, mushrooms, and organs and glands. I mean, that was medicine throughout all of human history.

John Oliver pulled a clip of that, of Casey Means and I drinking a liver smoothie, and he was making fun of it on his show. And I just thought it was hilarious. Like, how are we at a point, a society, when a liver smoothie makes national headlines, but like, it's totally normal to eat Froot Loops for breakfast.

What is the diet that you followed in the past that you think was contributing to a lot of your issues, like the acne and the hormonal issues, versus what is your diet like now?

Yeah, I mean, it's radically different. I was following a standard American diet.

So your diet was Eggo waffles and mint chocolate chip ice cream? Yeah. And now?

Yeah. So now I want to get your thoughts on this, but I I think it's pretty close to what you and Jordan Rubin recommend in the Biblio diet. We were never meant to apply 100 chemicals to our skin before even eating breakfast. Girls are starting skincare routines at younger and younger ages. In fact, a celebrity just launched a skincare routine marketed for children. And so this is a problem and it's starting to get worse and worse and we need to course correct because we can't let this next generation make the same mistakes that we did. Teenage and preteen girls are going to Sephora and they're spending all of their money on skincare products.

What are 5 of those toxins that people really need to— women specifically need to look out for?

Yeah, I think the one that I'm so focused on right now is—

This NBA playoffs with FanDuel, you're not just watching the playoffs, you're a part of them.

Steve's got the phone, opens FanDuel, and he's going for threes.

Be a part of the action on FanDuel. All customers get a profit boost every NBA playoff game day. 21+ in present and select states. Opt-in required. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable profit boost tokens. Restrictions apply, including any token expiration and max wager amount. See full terms at fanduel.com/sportsbook. Gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER or 1-800-MY-GAMBLER.

Reset. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. You know those friends who support your preference for podcasts over music on road trips? That's the energy State Farm brings to insurance. With over 19,000 local agents, they help you find the coverage that fits your needs so you can spend less time worrying about insurance and more time enjoying the ride. Download the State Farm app or go online at statefarm.com. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

Most people don't realize that women apply 114 different chemicals, at least the average woman, 114 chemicals before breakfast. If you want to be healthy, your skin has to be healthy as well. And did you know that your skin is your body's largest organ? However, here's a problem. The average woman today applies 114 chemicals to their skin before they even eat breakfast, and those chemicals can disrupt estrogen and cortisol and thyroid hormones and cause you to gain weight. And they can cause all kinds of problems in your body. And today I want to talk about natural skincare, how to heal your skin and live longer and age in the slowest way possible using food as medicine, lifestyle medicine, and quality skincare. And today I've brought on the guest Bethany McDaniel. She is an expert in skincare.

And in fact, she even started a skincare company using beef tallow and essential oils and a lot of other amazing ingredients. So today we're gonna be talking about how to keep your skin glowing and healthy without causing major toxicity issues in your body. Bethany, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much. It's so good to be here.

Well, again, I, I, I'm excited to talk today because I get questions all the time about skincare and I've done quite a bit of research over the years and, and, and, and looked into a lot of skincare. However, I always love having these conversations with women because I know my wife, for instance, we had her on the show. She does a really intense skincare routine, and she started this even when she was in her late 20s. And I think about this as well. I think that today when I think about millennials in particular, even Gen Z, women are starting to take care of their skin, their skin, and doing really, um, intensive skincare routines earlier and earlier and earlier because we're finding that this makes a difference when you're in your 40s and 50s and 60s and beyond. Is that something you found in terms of just, you know, and what's your skincare routine like?

Yeah, I mean, first off, you mentioned such an important statistic, 114 chemicals every day. We were never meant to apply 100 chemicals to our skin before even eating breakfast. And this whole topic hits home for me for so many reasons. One, I'm a mom. I have 3 young kids, 2 girls, 1 boy, and I think back to when I was in high school, I had acne and I went 100% the conventional route to treat my acne. I did everything my dermatologist told me to do. I was using all of the, the creams and ointments that were prescribed to me and every drugstore product that promised clear skin, I was using it. I also used all of the fun products that my friends were using at the time. Everything from Bath and Body Works lotion, to Victoria's Secret perfume. And I really think that all of that had such a negative impact on my hormones. Mm-hmm. I mean, at the time I was struggling with really painful debilitating periods to the point where I was staying home from school sometimes. I had hormonal acne, I had mood swings, and I think the products I was using played a huge role in that. Um, and it wasn't until later in life when I switched my toxic products for healthy, nontoxic alternatives. I made other changes to my diet and lifestyle, and thankfully I was able to recover. And now I have 3 healthy children. But unfortunately, that isn't necessarily the case for so many women my age. Yeah. So many millennial women are struggling with infertility and autoimmune issues and, and thyroid issues. And of course, there are so many things that play into that. And I really think that the toxins in our personal care products are a big one. And it's something that we have a say in. We don't have a say in all of the toxic exposures that we are, are met with throughout the day. But this is something that we can change. And the problem with a lot of these products is that they have chemicals, like you mentioned, that disrupt our hormones. They have chemicals that attach to the hormone receptor sites on our cells and block our hormones from getting through. So yeah, this really throws things off. And also, like you mentioned, girls are starting skincare routines at younger and younger ages. Um, in fact, a celebrity just launched a skincare routine marketed for children. And so this is a problem, and it's starting to get worse and worse, and we need to course correct because we can't let this next generation make the same mistakes that we did.

Well, you know, I'm writing it, writing a book right now. And one of the things I'm getting into in the book is how to reverse organ age, cellular age. And, and, and one of the things that I talk about in the book is this sort of evidence that we are aging too quickly when we're younger. And we see this in young girls hitting their menstrual cycle at 12 years old when it should be closer to 16 or 17. And so on average, a lot of girls are hitting their menstrual cycle 5 years early. And if you're hitting that 5 years early, that's essentially saying you are aging 5 years faster hormonally for a lot of these young women. And part of it is all the excess circulating estrogen because of the issues with the receptor sites being blocked, to your point. And then of course, high estrogen, that's going to block thyroid hormones, that's going to cause the cystic acne, that's going to cause the painful periods, that's going to cause— also contribute to even things like PCOS. So a number of these health issues from all of this excess estrogen from all of the chemicals, to your point. And skincare is a really, really big part of that. I think, of course, diet is a big part as well, but skincare an equally big part. And it's a problem.

Yeah. And I think it's, it's something that is so— it's trending so much right now. You know, teenage and preteen girls are going to Sephora and they're spending all of their money on skincare products and it's kind of the in thing. And so I think it's hard for parents who they want to make their kids happy and they don't want their child to feel left out. But we also have to understand that the most loving thing we can do as parents is to protect our children. I mean, from so many things in the world, but toxins are one of those things. And so it may be hard to say no, but I think that that's our responsibility as parents because if we let them do these things and use these products that have toxins, we are subjecting them to all of the symptoms that you mentioned, to to painful, irregular cycles, to skin issues that, you know, they don't want those things, but they don't necessarily see the connection. So it's our job to connect the dots for them. And we also don't want to set the stage for much worse problems down the road, like, like the kind of more serious issues that you mentioned. And a lot of cancers are hormonally driven also.

Well, especially breast cancer, ovarian cancer. You're absolutely right. I mean, that's a— it's a— it's a major issue. You know, one of the things that is nice about skincare is that it doesn't necessarily take a complete transformation. It's a swap. It's like rather than use these, use these instead. You know, I do think that one of the reasons why maybe diet's an even harder thing to change is, is that, you know, well, there's, there's just bigger changes that need to be made typically when things are going on diet-wise. And those are absolute changes people should be making too. And a lot of times parents need to also change what they're eating, not just the kids, because if it's in the house, the kids are going to eat it. But, you know, I think that, you know, anytime you're doing something right, typically if you want to experience, as we've used the word quite a bit now, transformation, you've got to do something very, very different, radically different. And so making these changes, I think, is really important to diet, to your skincare routine. I do want to talk about diet a little bit. What is the diet that you followed in the past that you think was contributing to a lot of your issues, like the acne and the hormonal issues? Versus what is your diet like now?

Yeah, I mean, it's radically different. I was following a standard American diet my whole life and maybe not the worst. I mean, my parents would cook us meals, but they just didn't know at that time, like, ingredient-wise. I mean, we used seed oils all the time and regular standard gluten flours and things like that. So even when I was eating the home-cooked stuff, it wasn't like, optimal, and I was also eating total junk food. I mean, I remember coming home from swim practice. I was a swimmer in high school and played water polo, and I remember getting home and my go-to snack when I got home was Eggo waffles. I would take 2 Eggo waffles and put them in the toaster, and then I would put mint chip ice cream in between them. So I'd make myself like an ice cream Eggo waffle sandwich. It was absurd.

Well, I have to stop because actually I thought we were gonna have the same, but you, Yours was worse. Wait, what's yours? Well, I did Eggo waffles and I would put peanut butter and maple syrup and do like a, you know.

That actually sounds kind of good.

Yeah, it was.

If it was like, if you made like a high quality version of that, that would be really good.

I had some friends of mine in high school and so I would go to their house and they always had waffles in their freezer. So I would go there and make it for myself and they're like, you guys. So yeah, ate other waffles. But yeah, I mean, it's, well, here's another thing that's sort of crazy. So you said you swam. I used to, for, there was a time where I worked with USA Swimming and the nutritionist there would recommend— this is, this is— she recommended everybody before and after their meets drank Nestlé Quick chocolate milk. That was like the thing is like you drink milk. I mean, because, you know, you heard this back in when I was in the '90s when I was growing up. Do you remember they had these commercials where they had a boy and he would be drinking milk and he was a boy and then he was like transformed 20 years older into like this handsome buff man. Um, the joke I used to tell my patients was I would teach lectures and I would show them. I said, I'm like, the reality is this actually happened because of all the growth hormones in the milk.

Inflammaging. That's right.

Not aging.

Exactly.

What girl's gonna go for me with a body like this? Hang in there, Tom. I'm you 2 years from now because you're drinking milk and working out. Well, I'm not changing so far, but milk's at work inside you. Oh yeah? And tomorrow the difference can show. All that protein for muscle and calcium for bones. But I'm still a skinny benchwarmer. Hey, if the sight of yourself at 18 doesn't convince you, Tom, listen to your senior year girlfriend. Hi, Tom. I'm waiting.

Milk. It does a body good.

Oh my gosh. Yeah, I remember like, um, having— I forget what we used to call them, but they were essentially like carb parties the night before a big meet or a big game where we would just like Just eat tons of pasta. I'm like, what in the world? Like, who came up with that idea?

If we have any Office fans here, they have the, you know, Michael Scott, the run for rabies when he's carbing up with the fettuccine and gets, anyways, you have to be a fan of The Office.

I remember that episode.

But so many people, I mean, what's funny is, so I studied this and I used to do triathlons, and so I studied how much should you carb up if you've got a marathon or another event? It's literally like, 5% more carbs, maybe 10. So it's not like 50, it's not this high volume. It's you incrementally do it, but people would just, you know, triple their carb intake.

And I think it was just an excuse for like a fun pasta party.

That's right.

I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. So, okay, so your diet was Eggo waffles and mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Yeah.

And now?

Yeah. So now I wanna get your thoughts on this, but I think it's pretty close to what you and Jordan Rubin recommend in the Biblio Diet. Okay. Um, and I'll kind of tell you what it is and you can let me know how close it is or isn't. Yeah. But, um, the only thing I know I'm not doing is tea from fruit tree leaves, which I want to start doing because we do— my family has a regenerative farm called Primal Pastures in Southern California, and we do have a grove of fruit trees, so I have access to them and I definitely wanna start doing that. Yeah. But animal, like well-raised animal-based protein is kind of the focus of every meal for me. I recently did cut out pork and shellfish because I was doing pork, not like conventional pork, but I was doing really like well-raised quality pork.

Yeah.

But I know you say even that is not the best. So I'm cutting those things out. That's a newer change. But I love like ground beef. Ground beef is kind of my go-to. So in the morning I might have like a bowl of ground beef with a little bit of raw cheese, maybe like some blueberries, right? Maybe some like raw milk, raw milk with cold brew. Yeah. For lunch, kind of something similar. Sometimes it's ground beef, sometimes it's ground chicken. Maybe. Yeah, maybe for lunch I would do like ground chicken with avocado. And like a little bit of fruit. Um, for dinner, maybe a pot roast with like onion and, uh, carrots, maybe some potatoes, and then like a little bit of raw milk ice cream sweetened with honey for dessert.

Amazing. It's like meat, fruit, vegetables, raw dairy. I mean, that's the—

that's the, uh, the only thing I don't really do is the sourdough bread. So I don't know if that's like a core part of it.

No, no.

Or just something that's that you're like, if you're going to do bread, do it this way?

No. You know, I think my dietary philosophy, and I think Jordan would agree with this to a degree, is that everybody needs to eat a diet that's personalized for them. And so I think some people can thrive on sourdough bread. I think some people need to be maybe bread-free or grain-free even for a period of time. But I think that everybody needs to eat and see how their body reacts. I'll give you an example of this. Like, I, I personally do well eating a, um, a moderate fat diet. I, I like— if I have too much in a meal, my, my, my liver and gallbladder get a little bit sluggish. And, and everybody— and part of this has to do with the emotions people experience. So if somebody experiences— my biggest emotion I experience is frustration and impatience. It's those sort of things. Somebody else might have worry, someone else might have fear. Different emotions, tact attacks different organ systems. So for myself, I can't go really high fat because I already have— any emotions I have that are, uh, that I have at all, they're tied to my liver gallbladder. So that organ's already stressed for me, more stressed than my other organs. So I eat a moderate fat diet, and I found that the oil I do the best with for me is coconut oil. I do really, really well with it. My wife, however, or other people, many other people They can go really high fat, a lot of butter, a lot of tallow, those sort of oils, and do really well. I think overall olive oil is an amazing oil, I mean, my favorite oil. But overall, my point that was, I think everybody needs to listen to their body, dial in what they respond the best to. But I think generally your diet sounds amazing. It very much aligns with a biblically-based diet like the Biblio diet, probably also aligns very much with the way God created you because it seems like you're responding you know, really well.

Yeah, yeah. If I stick to that, I feel really good. And the other thing I do is organ meats. So I'll get like organ meat, like ground meat blends that have it blended into it, and then I'll cook those. And I usually— I don't— I can do them with just like salt. But if I'm making it for my kids, then I'll, you know, I'll make sure that we do that on like taco night. And then I'll add taco seasoning to that to kind of hide that liver taste. Yeah. And then I'll make liver smoothies. And something funny that happened, I have a podcast called Grounded Wellness, and I always, almost always give my guest a liver smoothie and we drink it as we're recording the episode. And I make that with raw liver and organic berries, raw honey, raw milk, and mint leaves. And so it's pretty good. You can't really taste the liver with like all those other ingredients. But John Oliver pulled a clip of that, of Casey Means and I drinking a liver smoothie, and he was making fun of it on his show. And I just thought it was hilarious. Like, how are we at a point in society when a liver smoothie makes national headlines but like it's totally normal to eat Froot Loops for breakfast?

I mean, if you were in Germany, in certain areas of Eastern Europe, they would have been like, of course, we eat liver every day. Yeah, you know, and so it's, it's the norm over there. All right, well, hey, I want to watch this clip. We actually pulled the clip, so let's go ahead and play this clip from, from John Oliver.

Casey, she has an MD and is now R.F.K.'s choice to serve as Surgeon General, and she too is deeply steeped in the maha world. Here she is on the Grounded Wellness Podcast enjoying a totally normal snack. Nice.

So excited to be here on your beautiful farm. Oh my gosh, I know. And we're drinking liver smoothies. It's the first time you've ever tried a liver smoothie, and you're like, I'm almost done with it. I'm so glad. It's really good.

No, it isn't. No, it isn't. Look, I think we as a society have collectively lost our grasp on what smoothies are supposed to be. 'Cause there should not be meat in there, as that is definitionally no longer a smoothie. It is hospital food for a terminally ill hyena.

I mean, who wouldn't want a liver smoothie? I don't know, right? Yeah, again, this is common. The super— if you're living in Germany or Europe, I mean, that's the, you know, everybody adds liver to their, their smoothies.

Yeah, it shouldn't be weird, but unfortunately a lot of people are uncomfortable with it. Yeah. Do we see that in the Bible at all? Well, or do you guys include that in the book?

Well, oh yeah, we definitely, uh, I'm a big believer in, in organ meats, you know. In fact, I mean, whether it's the Bible or Chinese medicine as well, I mean, they, they would rec— I mean, if you would go into— if you would have gone into a pharmacy 2,000 years ago in anywhere in Asia, you would have found herbs, mushrooms, and organs and glands. I mean, that was medicine throughout all of human history. In fact, there's a lot of great research on like thymus gland for fighting cancer and taking that for boosting the immune system, liver for building the blood and supporting detoxification. In fact, the Gerson Protocol which today is probably still the most single popular holistic diet for cancer. That original diet was juice vegetables and juiced or steamed beef liver— for calf liver specifically is what they did. So yeah, I mean, I'm a huge, huge fan and believer. I mean, I take organs every day. I take them in tablet form. Uh, today for lunch I did a blend of— it was turkey But it was the pre-ground turkey with heart and liver in it. I do another brand called Force of Nature, and they do beef and they do heart and liver in there. And then I do— listen, no one else in my family does this. I like chicken liver. I don't like beef liver that much. I got to be honest.

Chicken liver is much more mild.

Yeah. Yeah. But chicken liver with sautéed garlic and onions and coconut oil. Oh, wow. I love that. But most— a lot of people—

I'm not quite there. I still have to hide it. Yeah, but I do, I do notice a difference with it. I feel like it— my energy levels improve. Yeah. And I just feel really good doing it.

I mean, it's amazing. So people don't realize, so, so heart glandular is by far the, the highest food naturally in coenzyme Q10 and in carnitine and in taurine and, uh, it's, uh, creatine. It's amazing for for cardiovascular function, for mitochondrial function, for our cells. And liver is like nature's multivitamin, higher in B vitamins than any single other food on the planet.

You said heart has all the— the first one you mentioned was heart. Yeah. Beef heart in particular, or any beef. Okay. Because I've tried chicken heart and I feel like that one, you can— it literally tastes like— it tastes like beef. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like, it's so mild. Very, very close. And so chicken heart is going to be very high in those too. But beef is a little more nutrient dense than chicken. But chicken definitely tastes much better. Yeah. And so now let's talk about how this has transitioned into the skincare you use. By the way, for the past 3 months, I've been using your skincare as chapstick. Actually, I really like it because it's— well, one thing that's so great about your— about what you've created is, you know, tallow seems to absorb better and hydrate skin better than a lot of these other plant-based products. Is that something you've, you've noticed and why you started using it? Absolutely.

Nothing hydrates and nourishes the skin like tallow does. And I was so excited about this ingredient when I started researching it. I became familiar with it because of my family's farm, and I thought it was so cool. It's an ingredient that's been used ancestrally for generations. It's really stood the test of time, but I just didn't know if it would catch on. And so I considered not using it in the beginning because This was back in 20— a little bit before 2015. Vegan skincare was all the rage at the time. I was really an outlier using tallow in our products, and I never could have predicted that it would be the trending ingredient that it is today, for better or for worse. There's all kinds of opinions out there on tallow. I obviously love it, and I can talk more about why, but it's really an incredible ingredient. And we didn't invent tallow, we just remembered it. And our customers, like, we get emails and testimonials all the time from people who say, your tallow products are the only thing that has helped my child's eczema, or they're the only thing that have cleared up this mysterious rash. So tallow has so many benefits. It, it actually means sebum in Latin because it's so biocompatible with our skin's own sebum. It has a really impressive fatty acid profile. It's rich in palmitic acid, oleic acid, conjugated linoleic acid, which is anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial. So there's a lot of benefits to tallow. Nothing is quite like it out there.

Well, just common sense tells us, okay, uh, plants have these plant-based oils, and, um, they're obviously, you know, keep the plant hydrated and protected in certain ways, but that's not going to be identical or the same to the exact oils on human skin. Versus you look at a ruminant animal, mammal like beef, um, they're naturally going to have very similar oils to our own skin. And so it's going to be more biocompatible to our, you know, to humans. And so it makes a lot of sense. You know, I have found that, um, I want to say I started recommending tallow in my practice— this was, I mean, this is probably back in 20— I don't know, 2009 or '10. I mean, a long time ago, because I had to have some patients that would come in with issues like cracked heels Yeah. And I would have them do like a mixture of beef tallow with beeswax and things because it would hydrate much better than anything else. And I also found that when women were going through issues like menopause, or again, if they— during that season when their skin would get even more dry and their body would dry out, the tallow worked more effectively. And I loved combining tallow with essential oils and other things to really bring even more healing to the skin, you know, whether it be lavender or chamomile or things like calendula. Yeah, a lot of benefits there. What are some of the favorite— talk a little bit more about tallow, but then I'd love to hear some of the other things you like to pair it with and how you've seen it benefit your own skin and the skin of others.

Yeah, I'll answer both of those questions. So one common criticism of tallow is that it clogs pores. And if we think about the comedogenic scale, it tests ingredients in isolation. So tallow is tested as a single ingredient. Coconut oil maybe is tested as a single ingredient. But the comedogenic scale doesn't look at the whole formulation and how how the skin absorbs and utilizes the entire formulation. Mm-hmm. And so our, I think a lot of people when they think of tallow, they think it's this pore-clogging ingredient. But when it comes to how we formulate with tallow, we are blending it with carrier oils that are low on the comedogenic scale. So it's not just tallow. Mm-hmm. And you can use just tallow. I wouldn't necessarily recommend using pure tallow maybe on your face. I would recommend combining that with other carrier oils. Yeah. And essential oils. And you also mentioned calendula, which reminds me of one of our products called Baby Balm, and this is one of my favorite products that we have. It has tallow, it has extra virgin olive oil, I think there's some jojoba oil in there, and we infuse those oils with calendula and with marshmallow root. We do a low heat infusion. It takes a while. It's really, you know, a time-consuming process for my team to do this, but it, the finished product, there's nothing like our Baby Balm. That's amazing. It's absolutely incredible. And I use it not only on my children, I use it on myself every single day. There's nothing that I've ever used that's more nourishing. Our customers are obsessed with it. And I actually have a story. I, one time my son, when he was, I think, 9 months old or so, he scratched me on my face and it was pretty deep. And I don't know if he had poop under his fingernail or what, but the thing wouldn't heal. I thought it was infected. My brother-in-law, who's a PA, thought it was infected. I was using ozonated olive oil on it. I was using apple cider vinegar, all kinds of things because it just wouldn't go away. And eventually, my brother-in-law prescribed me antibiotics. I took antibiotics for the first time in 15 years because he thought it was infected. It seemed to be very infected. Yeah. The antibiotics didn't help, and so I reached out to Dr. Cameron Chestnut, who is a very wellness-minded plastic surgeon who we've collaborated with on different pieces of content before, and he was like, just stop doing everything and use Baby Balm. And so I did, and within a matter of days it was completely gone. Wow, that's amazing.

Yeah, you know, I, uh, one of the things that I, I, I use tallow when— well, not in phase 1, but in phase 2, I had ankle surgery. And so this was back quite a few years. It was a real minor ankle. So this is something I did in high school. And then at the time when they had to go and do the surgery, they were like having to put in rods in people's. And so now they were so good at doing this really microscopic stuff. So I, so I got it done. But to help the scar heal, I did it first. It was like Manuka honey with calendula. And, um, lavender and helichrysum and those sort of things. And then as soon as it sealed up, I went really heavy on— basically I did tallow and manuka and kept essential oils on there. And you can't even really see a scar. I mean, it's unbelievable in terms of just— but most people, when they have some sort of scar, one issue, they, they, they don't keep it moist long enough. It's like, oh, after it heals up a little bit, then I just don't put anything on it. But you really sometimes, for 3 months. Yeah. You want to really heavily keep a lot of moisture there.

Yeah, I'm doing that with my son right now. He got a cut on his, on his forehead and every day, multiple times a day, I'm applying that baby balm to, to keep it moist and to help promote healing. Yeah. Yeah. Another thing that I think a lot of people don't think about when they're using tallow or any oil, any carrier oil or butter, not like actual butter, but shea butter or something like that on the skin. Is you want to use it on damp skin. So applying any kind of product like that after getting out of the bath or the shower when your skin is still a little bit damp, that water is going to help the oil absorb deeper and better into the skin rather than kind of sitting on the surface of the skin. Oh, wow. And same with the face. So anytime I'm using any of our serums or creams on my face, I'm trying to apply it to damp skin. Or we have mists that I'll, you know, mist my face a little bit and then apply the product and then maybe even do a few pumps of mist after.

And that's just going to help it to absorb absorb a lot better.

Yeah. So, so your opinion on— because, because what I've, you know, on tallow on the face, because I, I respond really well in the body. I think any oil of any type, literally any oil, I don't feel like my skin has responded well to. So I tend to do things that are more aloe honey, like those, like base there for my skin. And then again, I use tallow all over my body everywhere else. What's your experience been there and working with, with people?

Yeah, I mean, I think that everyone's going to react differently to every ingredient. So there's no like one size fits all for any of this. Some people can get, you know, some people's pores can become clogged when they're using pure tallow on their face or even a formulation that has tallow with other carrier oils. It can happen. But I do think it's a great— it's a great ingredient for most people to use on their face. Yeah, I think most people react really well to it and like I said before, there's just nothing that moisturizes and nourishes the skin in the same way. So it's really good for just creating a youthful appearance. Yeah, for creating a youthful appearance, and really good for promoting healthy skin, especially as we age.

Yeah, I, I do agree. I don't think anything moisturizes our skin better. If you truly have dry skin in an area, nothing moisturizes better than tallow.

Yeah, I use it on my face every day.

Okay, wow.

Yeah. Yeah. And I have acne-prone skin.

Yeah. Amazing.

The average person applies over 100 endocrine-disrupting chemicals before breakfast just from everyday personal care products. That's why I want to spotlight a business that's taking a totally different approach. Primally Pure. It's one of the first brands that treats the skin like the microbiome it is. Instead of formulas loaded with synthetics, Primally Pure goes back to what humans used to do for centuries. Real recognizable ingredients from plants and animals, including grass-fed tallow. Tallow is incredibly skin compatible. Its fatty acid profile mirrors your skin's natural barrier, helping restore balance, support the microbiome, and deliver deep nourishment without any endocrine disrupting chemicals. Their less is more approach has earned a massive following, especially their deodorant and tallow-based creams and balms. Which actually work with your body, not against it. If you're ready for skincare that supports your health instead of adding to your toxic load, you need Primally Pure. Your skin and your whole system will feel the difference. Use code AXE15 to get 15% off your purchase at primallypure.com, because when your skin thrives, so does your health.

You know, one of the things I found is, is that oftentimes women will start to getting these symptoms— hypothyroidism, low energy, break— skin breaking out. I mean, a number of problems. And oftentimes they don't know what to associate it with, right? Because there could be so many things. And oftentimes I do think diet plays a big role. I know stress plays a big role. But I do know sometimes that even skincare and toxicity can play a role. What are some of the most common symptoms that you see in women that are using this, you know, the wrong skincare, toxic skincare?

Yeah, I think one that very few people correlate to their skincare routines is their weight. And there's a few different reasons this can happen. So one is hormonally, when our hormones are thrown off, that can make it really difficult to maintain a healthy weight. And then two is our fat actually stores toxins. And so it does this because God designed us in such a smart way to, to where our fat knows that it needs to keep these toxins in the fat to protect our vital organs from these toxins. And so our fat stores these toxins, and the more toxic exposures we have, the more the body will want to actually create new fat cells to, to house these toxins. And so it does it as a protective mechanism, but it can make it really tough to lose that weight. And, and to also, you know, it can make it really easy to put on more weight. And that's one that a lot of people don't think about. And then there are so many symptoms that we have just come to accept as totally normal when really they're not normal, they're just common. And we've talked about a lot of them. It's the skin issues, it's the, the acne, the premature aging, or the inflammaging, as I like to say. The more toxins that our body is burdened by, that is going to accelerate the way we age and therefore how our skin ages. More rapidly. There's, you know, painful irregular cycles, infertility. I think toxins are so closely tied to that.

And those toxins, what are— maybe give us your top 5. What are 5 of those toxins that people really need to— women specifically need to look out for?

Yeah, I think the one that I'm so focused on right now is these chemical filters in conventional sunscreen. So these are things like oxybenzone, benzone, avobenzone, octocrylene. There's 19 of them that are on the market in the United States. A lot of them are banned in Europe, but there's 19 that we allow in the US. And the FDA actually just came out with a statement, I think a few years ago, saying we can no longer deem these as safe. We no longer consider them to be GRAS or generally recognized as safe. They still let them be, they're still allowing them on the market, but they came out with a statement saying we no longer know whether or not they're safe. And the only ones that we are still calling safe are the physical barriers, zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. And JAMA, Journal of American Medical Association, came out with a study where they found that, um, after 1 day of applying certain chemical sunscreen filters, they were present in the bloodstream at over 400 times what's considered to be the safe limit. So these chemical sunscreen filters are so problematic, and they work by undergoing a chemical reaction in the skin. So when the sun hits your skin, if you've applied a chemical sunscreen to it, your skin is going to undergo a chemical reaction, and the byproducts of that chemical reaction are often carcinogenic. So in the case of octocrylene, that chemical sunscreen filter ingredient produces a byproduct called benzophenone, which is a well-known carcinogen. And then don't even get me started on spray sunscreens. I mean, those, no one should be using spray sunscreens. Not only do they have these chemical filter ingredients, but they are also, they also all have benzene for the propellant. And so all forms of benzene are carcinogenic. Yeah. And it's just so offensive. I mean, you can smell them within a 25-foot radius and not only— we have to also think about not only are they being applied all over the skin, and oftentimes of young children, but they're inhaling that also. And so there's so many reasons to avoid those sprays.

There are so many chemicals. I mean, there's also parabens, there's phthalates, there's sodium lauryl sulfate— that's more toothpaste— but there, there are a lot of chemicals out there. Aluminum. I mean, there, there, there's a lot that are found in skincare, deodorant, all of these things you've talked about. Yeah.

And then petroleum-based ingredients, right? Are really prevalent. Interestingly enough, also Europe requires proof of purity for every petroleum-based ingredient because the contaminants in these products can be really concerning. They're carcinogenic, allergenic, hormone disrupting. And so Europe requires third-party independent testing to prove purity of these petroleum-based ingredients. The US does not require that. Whoa. And these will show up on the label as things like paraffin or PEG compounds or petrolatum. Which is the main ingredient in like Vaseline or Aquaphor. And oftentimes the products that have these ingredients in them are the ones being marketed to babies and children. Yeah, they're cheap, they're easy for companies to use, they're used as thickeners, stabilizers, but they're really problematic. Well, and then aluminum is one that probably a lot of your audience has heard of. Yeah, aluminum is commonly found in conventional antiperspirant. And funny enough, antiperspirant was not a thing until the early 1900s when suddenly companies must have figured out that they could put aluminum in there and stop, stop the sweating process. It essentially blocks our pores and stops us from sweating. And so they created this whole marketing campaign to make sweating kind of out a thing of the past, to eliminate sweating. But of course, like, we can't outsmart God. We're never going to be smarter than the physiology, the design of our body. Sweating is so important. It's not a process that we want to block or get in the way of.

I mean, if you just think about it, you're blocking your sweating. I mean, what if your largest area's forms of detoxification of your entire body? It's crazy.

You're blocking it. Like, how did they convince us that this was a good idea? Yeah, I don't know. So sweating is good. We don't want to get in the way of that. But odor, odor is not the, not the greatest. Like, we can do something to control odor in a healthy way. And we have a deodorant that's formulated with baking soda and it has tallow and has coconut oil and essential oils, things that help to control odor, but not, not necessarily stop sweat. But a lot of people do find that when they start using our deodorant, if they've transitioned to our deodorant from a conventional, conventional antiperspirant, they're going to sweat a lot less. Than they, they did before. Not when they were wearing the deodorant, but, um, you know, whenever they— if they would skip a day and they'd find that they're like sweating like crazy and smelling super bad. Like, once you transition to natural deodorant, um, your body kind of normalizes and you're not nearly as sweaty or as stinky as you were before. Yeah, but there's kind of that purging process. Yeah, that has to take place. But you don't even need to buy our deodorant. You can mix coconut oil and baking soda in your kitchen, and I would rather have people do that than continue to use antiperspirant from drugstores.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I absolutely— I mean, the thing for me is I don't want people to sweat less. I want them to sweat more. This is why I'm constantly talking about things like infrared sauna here on the show and exercise, because sweating is good. There's more circulation. You do want to sweat some. Now, again, if you have a deodorant that has something that's good at absorbing moisture, like a baking soda and that sort of thing, that's great. That's fantastic. And of course, I— you and I both know, too, I mean, so much of this is internal. Over-consuming carbohydrates, that makes you smell. Excess fat sometimes can contribute there as well. So keeping a diet that's high in protein, high in fiber, lots of fruits and vegetables, that's really going to help you with body odor. That's really going to help you detoxify at the highest level possible. Um, and that's what, that's what I recommend there. So when it comes to taking care of our skin, obviously we want to do that directly. But one of the things I have learned in my career very early on in functional medicine is sometimes the area where you have the problem isn't the real problem. That's not where it's starting. That's just where it's showing up. That's the symptom. And so oftentimes when people have skin issues, maybe there's liver issues, maybe there's gut issue. Those are two organs specifically. And then maybe it's adrenals. I mean, those are the ones I think really impact the skin the most. The reason I ask it is what are some other things that are at the root of skin issues that might be lifestyle related, uh, that you've seen as you've cared for your own skin and the skin of thousands of other people?

Yeah, when I started Primally Pure, I knew that the skincare industry didn't need another moisturizer. It needed a total mindset shift, and that's really what I have sought to do. Not only are the products we use so important for our skin health and of course our overall health also, but it's everything we do every day. It's what we eat. It's our lifestyles. There are so many things that go into skin health because we can't separate the skin from the rest of our body. It's an organ. Like, we can't just use, you know, great skincare products and then eat junk food and expect our skin to be healthy. It doesn't work like that. And so everything that we do plays into the health of our skin. And I think the first most important step is removing toxins. My, my friends at Branch Basics, Kelly, Allison, and Marilee, talk about this so well, the power of removal. When we just let the body heal, when we get out of the body's way and just let it do what it's supposed to do. Our bodies are amazing at healing and repairing and rejuvenating. And so as much as we can remove toxins from our lives in the form of what we're putting on our skin, the cleaning products that we're using, the air that we're breathing in our home. I love the Jasper air purifier. Yeah, it's great. It's a really good one. So removing toxins as much as possible is, I believe, the first step. And then there's food. Eating whole foods, shopping the perimeter of the grocery store, reading the Biblio diet, eating that way, I think, is going to solve so many issues. Um, if we think about health and skin health in terms of just cellular health and treating ourselves well, I think we should all adopt that mindset rather than focusing so much on, on specific symptoms. Um, whether that's in the skin or in the stomach or whatever, if we're doing things and eating foods that are going to support the body as a whole, the whole body is going to, to thrive and get better. And I think that's a lot of the problem with Western medicine. We've kind of isolated different parts of the body, and I think the skincare industry has done that with the skin. It's isolated the skin and taught us that the way we care for our skins is with the products that we use, and that's it.

And it couldn't be further from the truth. Yeah. Yeah. When I think about the biggest things that make difference on your skin, I think skincare obviously directly on there is important. I think diet is very important. I also think sleep and stress are very important because if you don't— listen, anybody that doesn't sleep well at night, you can look at their face and think that person didn't sleep well and you're looking at their face. I mean, that's where you're being able to tell they didn't sleep well.

Somebody is very stressed. The quickest thing I notice if I— yeah, on a night of bad sleep, I get up in the mirror and I'm like, what? What happened to me? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So sleep is a big one and then stress is the other one. We know this— those hormones, cortisol and melatonin, impact every other hormone in the body and either slow aging or cause us to age more quickly, which of course impacts the skin. So these things are, uh, are a really big deal. And so when you're thinking about— and I always encourage this— if somebody is trying to improve something, making an entire protocol. Like, my, my general philosophy has always been, um, if I have a patient come in with diabetes, for instance, I will not only say, hey, here's this supplement, berberine, but hey, what are the other herbs? Oh, there's Gymnosa, there's fenugreek, there's mulberry leaf, there's chromium, there's magnesium, there's vitamin D, and put together a whole supplement protocol also entire diet protocol. What are the perfect things somebody could eat? High protein, high fiber, those really essential fatty acids, certain things like pomegranate, because what it does to the mitochondria, create the ideal diet plan. And let's also do everything else right. Let's get walking, let's get exercising, let's, let's even look at childhood trauma. Let's create a whole protocol. I think the same thing is important for skin health. If somebody's saying to themselves, I want to look as young as possible, take care of all those things. Take care of the stress, take care of the sleep, look at your diet. A lot of antioxidant-rich foods, a lot of omega-3s, a lot of fiber, a lot of protein, those sort of things, collagen. And then let's look at skincare. Let's really make over what you're doing on a regular basis, and that's going to help you look and feel younger. That's really going to maximize, maximize, uh, you know, the, you know, the longevity, uh, process. Absolutely.

And I think another habit that's often overlooked is sun exposure. And I'm not talking about baking in the sun for hours and burning. I'm talking about developing a healthy relationship with the sun like our ancestors had and like we've totally forgotten. I think regulating our circadian rhythms is so important. Our circadian rhythms are so closely tied to our hormones. And so if we can live more in tune with the sun and wake up with the sun, get outside, expose ourselves to morning sunlight, You know, our bedtime routine starts the minute we wake up because when we expose ourselves to sunlight in the morning, it's gonna stimulate those hormones that help us wake up. And then by the time we're ready to go to bed at night, if we are blocking blue light, you know, in our, in our homes and wearing blue light blocking glasses if we need to, then our sleep hormones are going to cue when they're supposed to, like melatonin, and we'll sleep more deeply. And like you mentioned, beauty sleep is so important. For our skin. It's actually called beauty sleep. Yeah, it's been— yeah, it's called that for a reason. And so our sleep is so tied to the rhythms of the sun. And then getting midday sun, I would argue, is important too. Oh yeah, of course we have to do it responsibly and we have to kind of know what our threshold is for our skin type, but we need that for vitamin D synthesis. It helps with mood. There was actually a study done out of Sweden where they took a group of almost 30,000 women and they studied them for 20 years. And at the end of the study, they found that the group that avoided the sun completely versus the group that didn't had the same cardiovascular mortality as pack-a-day smokers. And that just goes to show how important sunlight is for immune health in general. Yeah, that's incredible.

Yeah. So, you know, there are studies that show that if people make a change to their skincare routine, the chemicals in their bloodstream, in their system can drop by nearly 50% in just 3 days. So we know that sometimes people making just a small change, you can see great results in a short period of time. If somebody is saying, I want to make a change in my skincare routine, what are the 3 biggest changes or products or things they can do in their skincare routine that will make the biggest difference?

Yeah, I love that study. I think it was done on 100 adolescent girls and it's just proof that God designed our bodies so well to heal and thrive when we just get the toxins out of the way. Yeah. So top 3 products, I have to say deodorant. We've gone over it, but it is such an important one and it's such a simple one. And one thing I didn't mention earlier is not only does it have the aluminum, but it also has parabens. And parabens are hormone-disrupting chemicals that rapidly absorb into the skin. They accumulate in breast tissue. One study found parabens in 98% of breast cancer tumors that were sampled. Wow. So, and we know it's hormone disrupting. And so breast cancer being a cancer that is hormonally driven for the most part, this is such an important swap for people to make. Yeah. Sunscreen, I also think is such a big one. We actually did, we launched a sunscreen over the summer and we did a campaign and we put billboards up that said, "The sun isn't poison, but your sunscreen is." And people were calling us anti-sunscreen, which was weird because we're literally launching a sunscreen. And our goal was to spark conversation about what does healthy sun exposure look like? How do we interact with the sun wisely? And what is a good SPF option to reach for for those times when we are in the sun for extended periods of time? And chemical sunscreens aren't it. Yeah, yeah, agreed. I would also say any product that is covering the bulk of the surface area—

moisturizer for sure, right?

I mean, so lotions, body washes, just because of the sheer surface area that those are going on. And then with body wash in particular, a lot of body washes contain these harsh surfactants that are really disrupting the natural moisture barrier of the skin. And I think a lot of times we think of skin as an aesthetic thing, which it can be, but it's also functional. Our skin serves a purpose. It regulates our body temperature. It protects us from outside pathogens and toxins. And when we're messing with that barrier, it just opens the door for skin issues like eczema, psoriasis, mysterious rashes, things like that. So we can protect our bodies by using natural moisturizers for our entire bodies and natural gentle body washes.

I love it. All right, rapid fire. What I'll have you do is rank on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being you love this, this is great, uh, some of the most popular, uh, skincare routines today. Okay, facial cupping, 10.

I'm obsessed with facial cupping. Amazing. It feels so good.

I, I'm actually a huge fan of cupping myself. Now, I've not never done facial cupping. I've done cupping almost everywhere else. You've got to try it. I'm going from here this afternoon. I'm seeing an amazing acupuncturist. I get cupping like once a week. Nice. But I love it too. Okay.

If I didn't give you some in your bag, I'll have to send you some because you've got to try it. Once you start doing it, you'll be addicted to it.

My wife has done it. I've seen— she might even have them, but we take another set.

It brings so much circulation to the surface of your skin. It breaks up stagnation, which gua sha does also. But I just love— personally, I love the feel of facial cupping.

Quick story, I got turned on to acupuncture because I had this shoulder issue that hurt me for like 2 years, and anytime I would reach, I would have something catch. And I had done massage therapy, a number of things, was not getting better. I went to this acupuncturist for something else, he's like, and he cupped the area too, and I literally had no shoulder pain since then. It's been 10 years— no, it's been 13 years. Wow. Zero shoulder problems. Amazing. So anyways, cupping, it's powerful. Cupping is amazing. Um, Infrared and red light facial masks.

I would say like a 9. Okay.

Yeah, I love red light. Lymphatic drainage.

Mm. Doing it yourself, maybe a 5. Having it done professionally in like a facial massage type setting where you're sitting for an hour and someone's doing lymphatic massage, drainage massage, uh, 10. Sunscreen. Oh, that's so hard 'cause it depends. But natural sunscreen with a physical barrier like zinc oxide, I would say is a 9. It's not the end-all be-all of skincare like most dermatologists want us to think.

Yeah, that's great. Ice rolling.

I think ice rolling is great in the morning. It's a great way to wake the skin up. I would say a 7. Okay. You want to make sure to do it carefully and not like go on one area for too long. And if you are using real ice, you're going to want to have a barrier in between the ice and your skin of some sort, you know, a paper towel or something like that.

Microneedling.

Without a growth factor involved, like PRP or exosomes, maybe a 5 or 4 even. With a growth factor, 9.

Yeah, yeah. Frownies.

I don't know if I can speak to this one because I've actually never tried anything like that, but the people that I know that are doing it are obsessed with it and they love it.

I know my wife likes them. I know several other people who use them and swear by them. And then I've had some people say, well, it didn't make a difference for me. So I think it just depends.

It's probably one of those. Maybe like the more often you use it, the more of a difference it'll make. Yeah, I'm not against them at all. I think they can be beneficial for people. Maybe a, I'm just gonna give it a 6 because I don't have personal experience.

Yeah. Drinking bone broth. Oh, 10.

I mean, it's so good for the gut. Like, anything that we do that's good for the gut is going to be amazing for the skin also.

10. I love it. Well, this is a great, uh, a great conversation. Bethany, thanks so much for coming on today. And I just want to say thanks everybody for listening in to this episode. Um, you know, we— I, I'm a big believer in taking care of every organ in your body, but especially your skin. And so I wanted to bring on Bethany just to share about using tallow and essential oils and these natural ingredients, because there's so many things we're using on a regular basis. Everything is— she talked about from deodorant to sunscreen to moisturizers to body wash that are adding these chemicals to our body. For women, raising estrogen. For men, that's gonna lower your testosterone. For women, it increases your risk of breast cancer and eczema and infertility and all these issues. These are such important topics. So, Bethany, thanks so much for coming on today and sharing your wisdom. Also want to encourage you, hey, check out Bethany's amazing products. The company she founded is called Primally Pure. They've got so many different products, everything from sunscreen to— I've used their lip balm, their body, you know, their skin moisturizer. I mean, so many different products. And you can check those out on primallypure.com. And she was kind enough to give a discount to anybody who wants to get a big discount on her skincare products. You can go to primallypure.com and the code is Axe15. So A-X-E-15 to get 15% off your first order. And you can surf through the site. Uh, I was on there and you can see there's so many different amazing products for skincare. And we talked about sunscreen, all kinds of different things on there. So I wanna encourage you, and, and if you want things that are more tallow and essential oil based, this is the best there is. So I wanna say, hey, thanks so much for tuning in here to the Dr. Josh Axe Show. Remember, each and every week we're diving deep into the science and principles of how you can heal physically, mentally, spiritually, and take your health and your life to the next level.

Also, don't forget to subscribe. It's the number one thing you can do to support the show.

We are so, so grateful for those of you that subscribe.

And also, we're going to start doing massive giveaways, massive.

And so if you are subscribed, you're going to naturally be entered in to win a lot of these giveaways from everything from infrared saunas to supplements and a number of other things. So don't forget to subscribe, like, and thank you, all of you, for sharing this. I'll see you on the next episode.

You can't reason with the sun. Trust us, we've tried. This summer, it's time to put that angry ball of fire on mute. Columbia's Omni-Shade technology technology is engineered to protect you from the sun's harsh rays that can burn and damage your skin. The sun is relentless, but so is our gear. Level up your summer at Columbia.com to spend more time outside and less time slathering on aloe lotion. You're welcome. Columbia, engineered for whatever.