796: Is Our Food System Failing Us?

Brian Nichols  
is the current food system failing us? My next guest says yes. And that's why she's on a mission to transform how we produce, distribute and of course, consume food. Yeah, let's talk about that. Instead of focusing on winning arguments, we're teaching the basic fundamentals of sales and marketing and how we can use them to win in the world of politics, teaching you how to meet people where they're at on the issues they care about. Welcome to The Brian Nichols Show.

Well, hey there, Brian Nichols here on The Brian Nichols Show. And thank you for joining us. For another fun filled episode. I am as always your humble host joining me live from our cardio miracle to beer in lovely Eastern Indiana recharges your heart health naturally with cardio miracle. It's scientifically designed to boost nitric oxide and energize your body benefits, improve circulation, lower blood pressure, and of course, better sleep visit Brian Nichols show.com forward slash heart start your heart health journey today and save 15% along the way, use code TBS, at checkout. And by the way, you quite literally have nothing to lose because there's a 100% money back guarantee. So one more time join the 10s of 1000s of others, including yours truly who have started the cardio miracle journey over at cardio miracle.com use code TB and ask for 15% off your order at checkout and in the world of nutrients and talking about the stuff our body actually needs. Let's talk about our failing food system and how we got here. And frankly, how we can help remedy the situation

we find ourselves in today to join me and discuss all that and more. Joining us today Sonya Gomez from abundant acres. Welcome to The Brian Nichols Show.

Sonia Gomez  
So happy to be here. Brian, I'm excited to dive in.

Brian Nichols  
I excited to have you on Sonya and I'm excited to dig into Yes, a very, I say touchy subject that really impacts a majority of Americans, millions of folks out there facing food uncertainty every single day. But also it seems like we have you go to the grocery store store tons of food that we can eat. But we as a country are the most unhealthy that we've been in decades. So Sonya, there's a big area we have to dig into and figure out how we got here. But before we do that, do us a favor, introduce yourself and also what was your passion into getting into this topic about food deserts and and making sure we have the right food to help us fuel ourselves? Absolutely,

Sonia Gomez  
thanks. So you know, my my journey with this really started as a child, I was really lucky because my family was really focused on alternative health. My mom's a holistic health practitioner, studied for many, many years on all of these different healing modalities. So she kind of raised me up that way. But I didn't really realize how important the food you consume was until I was 17 years old and a near fatal surfing accident. You know, injured myself to the point of triggering this neurological syndrome. And doctor after doctor medication after medication, nothing was touching the pain that I was in. It wasn't until I worked with a holistic neurologist who really taught me about the inner workings of my body and did a comprehensive test that identified that I was having a sensitivity to herbicides, pesticides, and traditional fertilizers that were being used in conventional farming. Now, imagine the number of people who are affected every single day with, you know, out of the blue auto immune autoimmune conditions. I know that if you're listening to this podcast right now, you or somebody you know is dependent on some sort of medication to manage their daily health. Hey, really quick,

Brian Nichols  
I don't mean to interrupt, but like raising my hand right here, I experienced this firsthand. I had a gluten allergy or so I thought because my dad had had it for years and turns out because my family of farmers and being in a very rural area, we were surrounded by crops which were then covered in survey says glycerophosphate, right. So that also been getting out of that environment. And now cleaning up my diet, knowing where the food's coming from. My gluten allergy is pretty much gone away. So right there exact like there are people who they don't even realize what's impacting them until to your point, you start kind of digging into what's going on our food did me interrupt continue? Sorry.

Sonia Gomez  
No, that's okay. And this is a perfect point. And I appreciate the addition there because that was my big awakening. Is that until you have somebody who's willing to ask you questions that no one's ever asked you before and unfortunately, the medical system fails us when it comes to that they address the symptom and never the core of the syndrome as a whole. And so we're diving into those doctors who really introduced me to my body and gave me a path forward so that I can feel and function better her every single day, that was my big awakening and everything started in the food. So I tapped into my local food economy started to figure out what my body liked and didn't liked. And that's when I started to respect and receive food as my very first medicine.

Brian Nichols  
I love it well, and let's identify the problem, right, and that is, yes, food is, is poisoned, more or less, you go to the grocery store, and you go into any sections, beyond the outside perimeter, you know, all the processed foods, that's what can be garbage. You go even to that the produce is in such in the in the fruits and vegetables, like all that it's gonna be layered on with chemicals and stuff. So we talk about maybe bringing this back to a local mentality, I saw this, I go to my local farmers markets, right. And I noticed the quality of the food drastically better, right? Just drag. It's not even it's night and day. And one of the things that kind of struck me was I went to buy apples from the local farmer. And as you walk towards their table, mind, you were outside, right, you walk towards the table, and all sudden, you get hit right in the face this big aroma of freshly picked apples. I'm like, Wow, that's pretty amazing. Because it right, it's a nice smell. It's it's, it's, but it's natural. Whereas I go to the grocery store. And that smells gone like the apples don't smell like anything. Now if I take a bite of the apple, it might be super sweet and super juicy. But there's no fragrance coming from it. And then that just kind of sets off some alarm bells in my head. So you talk about a local food economy a local, we can think about that in the world of our farmers markets. But what what is the direct impact in your experience of having more of that local food economy, that direct connection to where your foods actually coming from, in addressing some of these issues that you've outlined earlier? Yeah,

Sonia Gomez  
so I'm going to share with you what my thoughts are on the local food economy and why I think that this is so important. But first, I want to answer your first question, which was, what is the big problem here, I know like part of our audience is going to be thinking about food security, that the unreasonable cost of food, the broken supply chain, how politics have had impacted food quality and availability, I also want to be careful not to throw too many stones to the farming community, because hey, guess what, they're the persons bearing the weight of American burden right now when it comes to feeding our families. And so they have been doing what they've been directed and guided to do all of these years. The only problem is, you know, we all know from being on this show. One big company is in bed with the next big company is in bed with the next big company, and it affects our practices and procedures every single day in the way that food is being produced and distributed in this country. So those are some of the major major problems that we're dealing with. On top of that, it affects the end result. And so we are dependent now on micro farmers producing what we're calling real food and distributing it, distributing it to our local food economy through farmers markets, or through CSAs. Or, you know, even the smaller boutique grocery stores. The challenge continues to be though, and the question continues to be for American families, how can I protect and provide for my own family? What can I do today, that will make a difference for my family tomorrow? If nothing happens, if every if our worst nightmare comes true? What are some of the simple steps that we can take, and one of the first things you can do is dive into your local food economy, attend your farmers markets, find out where your local farmers are, find your garden obsessed neighbor in the neighborhood and start to create these alliances and find out what you can do to support them being more successful, if you're not going to put dirt on the ground and seeds in the soil. If you want to make a bigger difference than that and really start to think about how to protect and provide for your family so that you're getting the best quality of food but more importantly, safeguarding your future, then we can dive into some simple things you can do right now that will make a massive difference in the end result that you have, whether everything goes to hell, or everything stays the same, and we continue to be blessed and, you know, blessed citizens of this country?

Brian Nichols  
Well, and let's just let's carry on, right, like, what does the role of technology play in helping a person achieve that type of goal?

Sonia Gomez  
Yeah, so the role of technology allows us to find things out so much faster. However, when you pair technology with real world experience, now you really have the superpower that you need to make a big difference. You might be thinking to yourself right now you know that you're nervous or scared at the very least unsettled by the political unrest and extreme divide that's happening that's happening in our country, no matter what side of the spectrum that you sit on. I don't I'm I'm not sure that I remember, in at least in my lifetime, a time where positions were so polarizing secondarily to that the amount of fear mongering that's happening is starting to influence and keep you awake at night. You know, the things that you're thinking about the way that you're investing in your home, the way that you're thinking about protecting and providing for your family. And so let's talk about how you can leverage, you know, both technology and technique to start to build security on your property. And so the first thing I'll share with you is, you know, doing the research on the on the computer. Now, you might have already been doing this using the World Wide Web. However, two things are going to happen to you. Number one, you're going to get stuck in search mode. You're going to Google you're going to start following gurus and podcasts and getting advice and different systems and opportunities to deal with this by analysis. Yep. And you'll be in stuck in search mode and analysis paralysis, exactly. The second thing is that you might get overzealous, you're like holy cow, like chicken, little The sky is falling, I have to do everything right now. I need chickens. I need goats. I need gardens, you know everything in your backyard, and you might invest too quickly without a plan in place. And now you're in homesteaders overwhelm. You want to kill all the birds and and freeze all of the goats right now, because everything is either failing, or way too overwhelming to manage. And that's where abundant acres comes in, we really, we really try to organize. And we partner with technology. As you said, we partner with technology, we've built an incredible team, and really streamlined from planning to preparation to what plants are going in the ground, and more importantly, how to manage it. So it produces for you and your family over and over again, having that kind of systematic approach to your property will help you build equity, create security, and ultimately allow you to provide abundantly for your family season to season, year to year.

Brian Nichols  
Wow. All right. So let's let's dig into that, right? Because I know the audience is like they're chomping at the bit tell us more. But this is something that for maybe somebody who's in a big city, or that this is completely out of their worldview, like they've never lived in the country, or they've never gone to a farm, like I grew up on a farm, right. So I knew what this was like. But there are a lot of folks who this is alien to them. There's that famous tweet, I forget the reporter, but you know, he's a left wing reporter from DC, flying over the Midwest out to California. And he takes a picture, innocently enough of the ground below him. He's like, Wow, it's amazing that the ground just turns into these perfectly shaped rectangles. How does this even happen? And it's like my bro, those are, those are farmer's fields that they're planting the food that you will then consume, when you go to the grocery store, buy the food does not grow and magically appear at the grocery store. Folks, there's a process that goes to that. But going back to what you outlined here, Sonya and that is, let's set up a system, a situation, a system where each individual person, each individual family can become more or less their own food ecosystem. But I hear that I'm sure a lot of other people hear that and much like you outline, they instantly get overwhelmed. They're like, Oh, my God, where do I even start? Now, part of my work, like my business brain is saying, Well, maybe you don't have to do everything at once, maybe you can specialize in an area that you're really, really good at, or something that you have found yourself to be good at. And then you can use that bring value to the table where other folks out there in this local food economy, maybe they're having trouble, right. So maybe you you're really good at raising chickens, and you have a bunch of eggs that you're trying to get rid of now, but you're not really good at that the planting of the you know, the plant that corn or the vegetables, whatever it may be, but somebody else in your local food community they actually are. So now what we're doing is beyond just creating a system where folks are autonomous, and you're able to create your own food ecosystem, now you're creating to your point earlier in economy where we can work together, and it's much more conducive to not just actually addressing the the main needs that people have. But it gives you real time data that you can better adapt and figure out where you're where you're doing well, but also what you're lacking, and look into that economy to see where you can then either find somebody to help fill the gap or figure out a way to start bringing in either new technologies, new resources, whatever it may be, to then start filling that gap. So I think there is definitely a sense of overwhelm. But it's maybe a process of not having to do everything all at once yourself, leveraging those around you.

Sonia Gomez  
Absolutely. And I agree 100%. And if we really put things into perspective, this is going to get broken down into a couple of different categories, right? The majority of people right now are sitting at their table wondering how the heck they're going to make it through Christmas by, you know, their how they're going to get the groceries, how they're going to get the gifts and be on the other side with some sort of with some semblance of sanity on the other side of that right. And so they may be completely disconnected from the source of their food supply. There's other folks don't worry, there's solutions for you too. There's other folks who are living in suburban on the fringes of the urban community. They're recognizing that there's a whole foods or a Publix or a chain grocery store, you know, every five minutes in your city streets. However, when you walk in there, you're Seeing the quality of food completely degra gated, you're feeling like oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm going to spend this amount of money on something that like, doesn't look great. And then finally, there's going to be people that have, you know, a quarter acre, half acre, maybe even, you know, 1015 25 acres in their backyard. Each one of these categories has a different set of considerations on how they can tap into and protect their food supply, I should say, secure their food supply. So if you're in an urban environment, depending on where you're located in the country, every single place has a farmers market or boutique marketplace, you can tap into that find out who your local farmers are, who they're sourcing from, and start to develop relationships. That way, you can also use your window cells, your balconies, your well lit areas in your home place and start getting individual pots and putting lettuce or herbs into those pots, urban area check. If it does nothing else, it will start to give you a connection to your food, what it takes to cultivate it what it takes to go from soil to table. Now for those of you who are in the suburbs, in the burbs, like my Midwestern family likes to call it, they're from Michigan, and I'll never forget walking into their backyard and seeing Hey, you have a, you have a completely open three quarter acre lot here, the whole backyard is completely open and dedicated to grass. And I told my cousin Don't be a grass hole, you should be growing food, not lawns. And so we immediately started to work on a plan where he could start to dedicate portions of his property. And what we discovered is that inside on less than an acre, you can sustain a family of four plus four plus one if you develop, design and develop your systems properly. Now, what is this going to do for you, it's going to give you the ability to produce higher quality food, it's going to get the same money that you would be spending on land care or lawn maintenance can be dedicated to producing something that's actually of use for yourself and your family. And then finally, it ensures that the quality of your food, no matter what happens in the political environment is secure, stabilized and abundant. Creating the can and that's probably the biggest transformation that we see when we're working with people is that now all of a sudden, we're not disconnected from the one of the primary necessities that we need for not only survival, but thriving. Food and water are kind of basic necessities for being a human being who's alive, right? So if you create what we're seeing when we're working with our clients is they're cultivating yes, they're they're growing food, but they're actually cultivating a connection first to what they're doing then to the land, it taps into their higher power, their kids are getting off the computer and into the garden, and the family is coming alive again. And then these are the things that you don't expect. But the things that ended up being the biggest blessing. Yes, you have peace of mind. Yes, you've changed, you've made these small changes. Yes, you've shifted, you know, a portion of your yard and lifestyle to producing something that's actually useful. But the blessing of that is that we're reducing the anxiety and depression and disconnect in our family, we're pulling us together around one cause one purpose, and we're being able to see the fruits of our labor literally on the table. So it's pretty good. Pun intended. So it's pretty remarkable to see and for folks like you and I who might have grown and grown up in the wide open spaces. When we think about the the chemical exposure and how it's affected our health. Like I said at the beginning of this interview, every single person listening to this show right now, either themselves or know somebody who has been diagnosed with a life altering disease has been committed to medications for what seems like the rest of their lives. And they have not been taught or told that there are better ways, alternative ways to heal your body, to change your mind, and to provide and protect for your family. I

Brian Nichols  
love it, Sonya. So we're going towards the tail end of the episode here and we do a little segment called Final thoughts. And I guess the best way for me to kind of put a bow on this episode from my perspective is that this isn't just about food, right? You You hit the nail on the head, this is about food. This is about your health. This is about your family's health. This is about your mental health. And all of this kind of comes together what you're putting in your body for fuel obviously will dictate how well your body runs on said fuel but going into something you outlined, that has really been missing. And we've seen this I think over the past 2030 years especially. And that is this kind of collective loss of sense of purpose, both from a societal stand point, but also from that individual standpoint, so many folks are just aimlessly floating through life with really no, no guidestone no rhyme or reason. They're just kind of going through the motions. And they're living, but are they right there? They're going through their day to day life. But are they getting value? Are they eating the right foods? Are they building the right relationships? Mentally? Are they doing okay? And you look at the numbers that the actual hard data we're getting? And the answer is resoundingly No, no, things aren't going good. So what this approach is offering is not more of the same old same old recommendations, but rather a fundamental change in the way that we approach not just our food, but the way we approach our overall collective health. And it's not just for you as an individual, but you as a part of something greater. In this case, it is your family, the family structure, which has been so forgotten over the past few years. That is, at the end of the day, the most important aspect of our society, if we want to see ourselves continuing forward to pass down what we've been able to accomplish to the next generations. But if we refuse to focus on yes, that most crucial aspect of our success, the family, then we will turn into the next Roman Empire which I know for 90% of the gentleman listening Of course, that's gracing your your memories and your thoughts at least once a day, per the internet meme. Sonya, that's my final thoughts for we had today. What do you have for us on your end?

Sonia Gomez  
You know, some of my final thoughts are about about where we are in life and where many people are in business in the business of life, right? We think about our, our faith, we think about our family, we think about our finances, because everything has to do with our future. And a lot of the folks that I'm working with are really thinking about legacy, what am I leaving to the next generation, from the you know, from the legacy farmer, to the everyday urban, you know, urban citizen, wherever you are located, you're thinking about everything that you do on a daily basis is with the thought process and intention to build a better future for the people that you love most and leave something of meaning behind. And so we started abundant acres to help empower you mind, body and spirit to give you a plan that gives you predictability, because there's so much uncertainty right now, from every angle, you're you are being hit with fear mongering you are being you are being manipulated and pushed in one direction or the other. And what we aim to provide you are simple, simple tactics that will make a huge difference in your physical, mental and spiritual health and well being. We give you a system, a systematic approach that partners with Mother Nature, to create synergy. And we want to create eco synergy in your environment, remove the harmful chemicals, because guess what you don't need them. We want to improve your health and well being by creating a connection with where you're sourcing your nutrients, and then ultimately give you the tools and tactics you need to protect and provide for your family and build a legacy that will last for generations. So my you know, when I think about when I think about the people, I want to leave you with this story, you know, we never intended to build this business. This has been a lifestyle of ours. We're I'm a mother of four, my husband and I have always lived on five up to 50 acres and developed our own food systems and had our own herbal medicines at home. And, you know, I've been an advocate for the alternative health industry for 12 years. My My story has reached 10s of millions of people worldwide. But we started abundant acres because there was one family who had never grown a garden but love to be in nature, whose kids were suffering from autoimmune conditions whose wife was having digestive problems. And they came to us in Colorado and said we want we want chemical free environment in our home. We're sick of not feeling good. We want our bodies and our family to be healthy. We need help. And so we came out here to Florida, we tested the soil, we found high levels of contamination that were being used by the landscape companies. And we ended up designing what's now an 18,000 square foot food forest and today, just six or just eight months later, that family gets to see their kids running out the back door and picking berries off the vines. They're they're planning a family food brand because of the abundance that's being produced on their property. And they're on three acres in the middle of downtown Florida. You know, so I just want to encourage you that no matter where you are in your journey no matter what feels most important to you, you will be blessed with abundance when you do the first thing first which is change your mind. Change your mind about how much you want to give How much power you want to give politics, how much power you want to give your government how much power you want to give all these outside entities and recognize that everything you need starts with you. Everything that you want starts with you. Whether you're in an apartment building, or living on 500 acres, there is a systematic approach to helping you build health, happiness and freedom on your land. And we can help. So if you want to find out more about us, go to abundant acres.com. If you want to follow me on my crazy journey in building this business, and finding out more about how you can build freedom in your life and legacy for your family, check me out at Sonia gomez.tv. And I'm super excited to be here on the show. Brian, thanks so much for having me here. And I can't wait to have you on my show.

Brian Nichols  
I'm looking forward to it. And by the way, so on your you said something that it kind of struck a gold quote, backup from the recesses of my mind. When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I thought it was difficult to change the world. So I changed I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn't change my nation, I began to focus on my town. And I couldn't change the town. And as an older man, I tried to change my family. Now as an old man, I realized the only thing I can change is myself. And suddenly I realized if long ago I changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family and my family and I could have made an impact on our town. And the impact we could have had could have changed the nation. And if we could have changed the nation, I could have indeed changed the world. So you want to change the world. Start with changing yourself first. Folks, if you enjoyed today's conversation, which I know you did, go ahead and give it a share. When you do tag yours truly at be Nichols liberty, you can find me on Facebook as well as over on x.com. As for the podcast, you can find the show over on your favorite video as well as audio platforms. For video we're on YouTube rumble Ben Swan sovereign as well as uploading all of our episodes in their entirety to x.com. And by the way, if you are checking us out over at Sovereign congratulations, you're seeing today's episode before anybody else as your sovereign exclusive. And then for podcast listeners, you can go ahead and find the show at YouTube Music Spotify, Apple podcasts, wherever it is you get your podcasts. But all I ask is hit that subscribe button, because we have over 800 episodes here of The Brian Nichols Show. And if you want to go through and listen to a few of them, I mean goodness of the 800 episodes, I guarantee a few of them will at least leave you educated, enlightened and informed. But when we talk about health, we've had a couple of quite a few conversations here on the show about health Mia my personal health and wellness story going from 395 pounds and losing a bunch of fat. We've had folks in the show who've gone through whether it's you know cancers, autoimmune diseases, talking about food scarcity issues, we talked about our late great friend Gary Collins talking about his three legged stool and one of those parts of your stool being you gotta make sure you have your physical health taken care of as well. So there's so much that goes into this. So please go ahead and check out the archives. Lots of great episodes and dig through, including today's episode with Sonya Sonya, thank you so much for joining us and folks, please go ahead support abundant acres but more importantly, start looking in the mirror and changing yourself before you want to change the world. With that being said Brian Nichols signing off. You're on The Brian Nichols Show for Sonya Gomez. We'll see you next time.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai