Baking Beyond Gluten to Delicious Health with Margie Traxler of Grain Free Mama’s

Episode Overview

Episode Topic:

In this episode of NutraPreneur, we engage Margie Traxler, the founder and CEO of Grain Free Mama’s to discuss the transformative world of gluten-free baking. This episode delves into how Margie’s innovative brand is reshaping the landscape of healthy eating by offering delicious, nutritious baking mixes devoid of gluten, grains, and sugar. Discover the unique fusion of scientific insight and culinary artistry that has propelled Grain Free Mama’s to the forefront of the gluten-free baking industry, setting new standards for taste, quality, and health benefits. Join us as we uncover the story behind this revolutionary approach to gluten-free baking and its impact on the nutraceutical sector.

Lessons You’ll Learn:

Throughout the episode, there will be invaluable insights into the world of gluten-free baking, where Margie Traxler’s expertise shines. You’ll learn the intricacies of creating a successful brand in the competitive health food industry, the importance of innovation in product development, and the transformative power of diet on health. Understand the challenges and triumphs of launching a gluten-free baking business, and how Grain Free Mama’s has navigated this journey with a commitment to health, quality, and flavor. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the intersections of health, entrepreneurship, and gluten-free baking.

About Our Guest:

Margie Traxler is not just the CEO but the heart and soul behind Grain Free Mama’s, a brand that’s redefining the standards of gluten-free baking. With a rich background in science and a profound understanding of dietary needs, Margie’s journey is one of passion, innovation, and commitment to making a difference. Her personal experiences and scientific approach have led to the creation of Grain Free Mama’s, where gluten-free baking meets gourmet taste and nutritional integrity. Learn about her inspiring journey, her vision for healthier eating, and how her brand is making a significant impact in the gluten-free baking world.

Topics Covered:

This episode covers a wide array of engaging topics centered around gluten-free baking and the health food industry. We delve into the origins of Grain Free Mama’s, exploring the challenges of creating gluten-free baking mixes that don’t compromise on taste or health benefits. Discover the innovative strategies Margie Traxler employs to educate and engage customers, the importance of ongoing research and development, and the future direction of gluten-free baking. We also discuss the broader implications of dietary choices on health and well-being, offering listeners a comprehensive view of the potential that gluten-free baking holds for transforming lives.

Our Guest: Margie Traxler- A Culinary Excellence in Gluten-Free Baking

Episode Transcript:

Margie Traxler: My goal, my vision for Grain Free Mama’s is not just to slow down the incidence, but to help to reverse that trend and even eliminate it. Type two diabetes is curable, and it’s not curable with chemicals and pharmaceuticals. It’s curable by diet choices and lifestyle choices. And that’s what people need to know.

 

Bethany Jolley: Welcome to NutraPreneur, the Neutral Industry podcast. I’m your host, food scientist and nutraceuticals consultant, Bethany Jolley. Each episode, we’ll be exploring what it takes to thrive in the nutraceutical industry. From conversations with successful nutraceutical entrepreneurs to venture capitalists to tech executives whose innovations are reshaping the nutraceuticals industry, we explore the innovations and trends that are shaping the next generation of nutraceutical businesses. Welcome back to NutraPreneur, the platform for groundbreaking insights in the nutraceutical space. We’re excited to welcome Margie Traxler, founder and CEO of Grain Free Mama’s. Margie’s journey, combining her scientific expertise with culinary artistry, led to the creation of Grain Free Mama’s, a brand dedicated to healthy, delicious baking mixes free from gluten, grains, and sugar. Margie, thank you so much for joining us today to share your story and your insights.

 

Margie Traxler: Oh, thanks for having me. I’m delighted to be here.

 

Bethany Jolley: So first, I think it would be great for you to take us through some of the initial challenges and your motivation behind starting Grain Free Mama’s.

 

Margie Traxler: Well, I’ll start with the actual story of how I got started. So in 2004, my then six-year-old daughter, my youngest, just bent over screaming one night, so I thought it was her appendix. We rushed to the emergency room and all the tests came back negative, and then they were like, “Well, we can take her appendix out.” And I’m like, “You know, we’d like to keep her body parts.” So we left really with zero answers. Other than that, it wasn’t her appendix. Well, my sister, who was studying to be a natural nutritionist at the time, says, might be a combination of foods. So I was like, okay, that was helpful. But I was like, well, how do I know? And in Canada, they have like physio paths. So they have naturopath-type people, but they have combination, traditional, natural medicine people. It’s really hard to find that in the United States. So we found the best candidate for us. We lived in Las Vegas, in Florida, and so we flew across the country to see this doctor in Florida and five minutes in his office, and he says, well, when little Anna Mae eats wheat and sugar, it’s making a toxic little punch and it’s burning holes in her intestines. And I just remember at the time going, okay, well, that would explain the screaming. So having been raised with standard American, southern, and northern European North American diet, she was like thought her eating life had ended at age six and all I could think was, what am I going to feed my kid? What, are you going to feed me a kid? But, you know, as a mom, you’re going to put on your best face. And so I was like, I don’t worry about it, Mae. We’re going to go out and find the best-looking gluten-free product that we can and it’ll be good.


Margie Traxler: So we went to a big, well-known natural market that was right by the doctor’s office. We’re walking down the aisles and my first impression there was, in that moment, that the grocery store went from a friendly environment to a dangerous, hostile environment. So I’m walking down the aisles and I’m like, can’t eat that, can’t eat that, can’t eat that, can’t eat that, because the edible grasses, which is the flowers of gluten and non-gluten grains, corn, rice, and cane sugar are in everything. They’re the cheap fillers that we put in products. And so our life turned upside down that day. So I found the best-looking, gluten-free product that we could. And we get outside the store, we stand toe to toe, we each get a thing and I’m like, okay, one, two, three, take a bite and the stuff explodes like sawdust in our mouths. And her eyes started watering and her chin was quivering and it birthed the passion in me. I stuck out my pinky finger and I said, Mommy’s a scientist, Anna Mae. Pinky promises, one day we will provide the products and the resources that we wish were available for us today. So I was never looking to create a gluten-free item. My products are not gluten-free. They shouldn’t be in the gluten-free aisle. They should be right in the traditional aisle, right next to the stuff that’s making everybody sick. And because that was gluten-free is only part of the answer. And that’s why people are just less sick. And in America, we’ve accepted that actually all over the world less sick is acceptable. That’s not acceptable. So that was never acceptable to me. Secondly, my kids are possibly some of the pickiest eaters on the planet. And so I studied cultures, countries, and incidents of disease. And then from that, I picked out ingredients. And then my goal was twofold. Once I left that office, I was told that, oh, well, she could develop 5 to 6 autoimmune diseases before she dies. And I was like, not my fill-in-the-blank children. And also peer pressure works both ways.

 

Margie Traxler: I’m like, we’re not going to envy everybody else’s food. They’re going to envy ours. And so left with that mindset. That left me open to research and create foods that could be eaten for a lifetime, that were healthy, and that didn’t have the inflammatory responses that baked goods do. So that’s what led me. And I had two aha moments, first, we went gluten-free and we were less sick. Then we went gluten, grain-free, a little bit more less sick, and then we went gluten, grain, sugar-free. And I went, oh my gosh, we’re allergic to grass. 10 to 30% of the world’s population is allergic to grass. And yet our baked goods are based upon edible grass ingredients. And they’re the fillers and all of our products. They’re the fillers. Here’s something that’s really crazy. They’re actually the non-active ingredient in a lot of allergy pills. Why would you put a grass ingredient in an allergy pill for grass? So there’s so many conundrums and things that went in. And what I did was I used my scientific knowledge, and my background, to look at all the different things that people had discovered and put them together. So that was the number one thing.

Margie Traxler: Then the second big aha moment when got to starting the company was that, so I started experimenting and making different things, and then all of a sudden my kids started asking for more and more food in their lunches. And I’m like, are you guys really that hungry? And then my daughter pipes up and says, no, mommy. All my friends want to eat my food because their tummies feel better. And then I knew that I had hit on that. And that was really those two things were the fuel, that got me going. We went from edible grass-free, which was gluten grain, then sugar-free, cane sugar, and corn sugar-free. Then we also went botanical nut-free because of the molds that are in nuts. And a lot of these new keto products that are out there, like we went nut-free 15 years ago way before. Also, I’m ahead of trend in a lot of things people now are talking about. Butyrates are really good for the gut. Well, I formulated muffins and cookies for my kids 12 years ago that have resistant starch in them, because I knew that butyrate would help to heal what had been happening. And so. But it was because my approach was different. I was never looking to create a product that was better. I was looking for a different way to make baked goods that could be safely consumed for a lifetime.

 

Bethany Jolley: Right. And it’s both fascinating and terrifying when you look at the labels and see what those ingredients really are. As you said, there are a lot of fillers that people aren’t aware of that could be contributing to a lot of the health issues that people are having.

 

Margie Traxler: Yeah, I think that, if you read the ingredients on my labels, you would anybody would recognize all of them. They’re not written in scientific language, they’re not written in the other stuff. But the things that I discovered, Bethany kind of led me on a trail. So first, I started with the product, but I would always tell people, okay, it’s product and education, but I was always working on the product side and then I was trying to push. But then all of a sudden especially during the pandemic, I went, okay, people need the education piece to understand the value of the product and also to understand digestive distress, that is in a lot of settings. It’s not polite conversation, so people don’t talk about it. And Americans think, well, I can eat the wheat in Europe and it’s better. It’s just American wheat. That’s not true either. People during the pandemic, I had so many people calling me from Italy, England, from all kinds of places, because they just have different chemicals in their things. So if you’re an American, you go over and eat a gluten-free product. In Europe, you don’t have a toxicity level to those chemical ingredients. And so at first it seems like you can digest it better, but it’s not true. You just haven’t reached its toxic level yet.

 

Bethany Jolley: And you said your background and your experience in the restaurant industry contribute to the unique approach of Grain Free Mama’s.

 

Margie Traxler: Yeah. So I was married for 22 years and we went from 1 to 15 restaurant lounges. So I’m very well versed. That vast ground in business is invaluable to me now, building a different business, but also it showed me the behind-the-scenes of the restaurants and how hard it is for people who have food sensitivities and food allergies to eat in a restaurant because those little filler like I actually my true allergy is soy, believe it or not, which is really hard to get away from because soybean oil is the oil of choice in America, and even though it was originally soy was considered the food for pigs because it wasn’t fit for human consumption. But it was, those kinds of things made it harder, but it also gave me a leg up in creating products and creating things that people can use. We’re first entering the market with baking mixes, but then we’ll go to frozen shelf-ready items too because not everybody wants to bake at home, but it’s the best entry-level to get into it first. The gluten-free space with shelf-ready and frozen is littered with products that have a lot of false advertising on the front of the package, you could say.

 

Bethany Jolley: I think education, as you said, is important. And so considering the increasing awareness about food sensitivities, what strategies have you implemented to educate and engage your customers?

 

Margie Traxler: During the pandemic, I wrote a book. I had started it before the pandemic, but it’s the actual food breakthrough adjust your diet, transform your life book. What I put in that book was I put myself back in 2004 and just tried to remember what I have to learn about basic nutrition to be able to make the changes. The thing that I think is a good starting place for people to understand is that you can only make healthy choices that match the level of your nutrition knowledge. So if you’re trying to make healthy choices with a low nutrition knowledge, that leaves you prey to any marketing scheme. And that’s where people go from this to this with no success. And so I wrote the Food Breakthrough book, and then I just came out with the Food Breakthrough and also a cookbook, accompanying cookbook. Everything can be made dairy-free, edible grass ingredient-free, soy-free, and botanical nut free. It’s all in there. Sometimes you get into these specialty cookbooks and it you have to buy all these weird ingredients to make them. And then it takes like there’s so exotically beyond where the common man wants to eat if you know what I mean. Like, they’re like five stars, and everything in my book is quick and easy to make. It’s simple. You can branch out from that and go as fancy as you want, but you can also eat it, and make it simply and quickly.


Margie Traxler: The other thing that came out of the pandemic was the need for a community, a place where people can meet, where they can learn together, where they can have a safe voice. The problem with social media is you can go into these groups on social media, but there are trolls and these trolls, if you have people that are bashing you or basically calling you a liar for what you believe, that is so detrimental to your mental health and also your eating health, and so created a place at the table. Because when you find out you can’t safely eat the standard American diet, you no longer have a place at the table. If you’re going to go out to eat with your friends, they’re like, okay, where should we eat? Where does she eat? All eyes turn like, well, where can you eat? And it’s such a statement where you feel like you don’t fit in. And so that’s what a place at the table was created. There are online classes in there. I’m just starting a new series a video series on how to go from taking a kitchen and a mindset that was steeped in standard American or Northern European or whatever diet and going to a healthy mindset.

 

Margie Traxler: So it’s actually going to be a real hands-on virtual course. And then it will be on record for people that want to take that, too. So the final piece that kind of the biggest education component came when you find out that you have autoimmune disease or food sensitivities or food allergies, even you often like when you’re out, they’ll go, oh, let’s go out to eat. And all eyes are on you, well, where can you eat? And you feel like you no longer have a place at the table and it can be very lonely. It can be very discouraging. And that’s where a lot of people just choose to eat whatever at the expense of their health. No one wants to have to choose between good health and good food. So the community is called a place at the table, and it’s a place where we come in and we peel back all the clever marketing and teach people and educate people and show them, for example, with an appeal. Here are the positive pros for appeal. Here are the cons of the appeal. Here’s the thing you get to make your own choice.

Margie Traxler: So it’s education without bias, but also a place for people that they can communicate without trolls. It’s a polite environment. So if people are going to come in and want to be critics and stir up a lot of garbage, this is not the community for them. But if they want to come in and have a place where they can share what works for them, they can learn what works for other people and they can pool that knowledge together. And in the long run, I see it as a place to, if grain-free mamas or good products are in a place, they can then all have a page where, hey, when you’re out, when you’re traveling, this is where you can find things. And that’s an opportunity too, for people in the industry that want to let our community know, here’s a safe place for you to eat. So it’s a place where they can thrive and grow and feel belonging. And that’s important because when you feel like you belong, you can take on tough challenges. You can change your assumptions that you were born, that you were just seen growing up with food, and instead turn over to a very healthy mindset.

 

Bethany Jolley: Yeah, absolutely. And that’s a fantastic resource and even something that I’m going to be sharing with some family and friends who have food sensitivities or allergies, and I’ve seen them feel that way where they can’t come to a restaurant because their child, they’re worried about them getting sick or themselves, and it really excludes them from everything. And it’s sad to see.

 

Margie Traxler: It’s isolating. And on there, there’s a recipe section, there’s isolation. One of the things that if you go into the community and look one of the members had posted, hey, I saw this really good zucchini carrot muffin recipe, but how would I make this grain-free? And so I was able to take that and create a grain-free alternative that then I put that recipe in the community. So it’s a place where people get answers to questions they have. They can get the help they need. So yeah, I’m really excited about it. It’s really a fun place. And that has just barely launched. So I’m excited about that. You can get to that through our website too.

 

Bethany Jolley: This episode is brought to you by nutrapayments.com. If your business needs credit card processing that fully integrates with most major neutral software platforms, offers the lowest industry prices, and has built-in features like recurring billing, zero-dollar trials, and chargeback prevention, then visit us at nutrapayments.com for a free online quote. Moving on to talking about innovations in healthy baking, as you said, there are a lot of products that are out there that are gluten-free, the most traditional kind of options that are out there. But how does Grain Free Mama’s stand out in terms of taste and health benefits?

 

Margie Traxler: So they’re not a gluten-free product. I started out and I did have the gluten-free certification and I thought, that’s so stupid. There’s no option for them to have any gluten in them because that’s a really stupid spin. So I got rid of that. And so they’re edible grass ingredient-free. So there’s absolutely zero gluten in them. So gluten-free you can have up to 20 parts per million gluten and a gluten-free product. That would be like this if I handed you a plate of brownies and these brownies smelled delicious. But then I lean over and I say to you, there’s just a little tiny bit of dog poop in there. But you know what? It’s less than 20 parts per million. You’ll be fine. Are you going to eat them? No. But yet people consume gluten-free, and then they go, oh, I’ve been cross-contaminated. You know, you’re contaminated by the food you’re eating. So that’s a big differentiation. Also, edible grasses act like traditional wheat products. So that taste and texture. But when you don’t use wheat in them, what ends up happening is those products are inferior.

Margie Traxler: Grain Free Mama’s products have a taste and texture. They’re super moist. They’re light in digestion, which is different. But a big differentiating factor is that they have a saturation factor. So edible grasses have an addiction factor. So that’s why when you eat pancakes, you’re starving. An hour and a half later, Grain Free Mama’s products keep your blood sugar steady for a long time. So you eat smaller amounts because you’re satisfied, not because you’re stuffed. So you stop eating because you’re satisfied, which allows you to stop eating with a reasonable amount of food, a much smaller amount of food. You’re satisfied, and then your blood sugar stays steady. And so that saturation factor carries with you for hours. So that’s totally different than the gluten-free and traditionally made baked goods that are out there. This is a totally different way to make baked goods that I believe is going to revolutionize the way that we eat baked goods worldwide.

 

Bethany Jolley: Yeah, absolutely. It definitely sounds like it. You’ve already shared with us your daughter’s story and your personal family story, but could you also share with us just a success story where Grain Free Mama’s products significantly impacted a customer’s health or lifestyle?

 

Margie Traxler: Yes. So Carla came to me and she would get hives and her skin was itchy and just felt so bloated, always exhausted and tired. And she was like, I kind of wonder if I should be gluten-free. And I was like, I think you have a full-blown grass allergy. Do you have seasonal allergies? She said, yes, I said, that’s your problem. And people that have eczema and all that stuff, they put that cream on it. It never because all it’s doing is it’s not taking care of what’s making it. These magic pills that we have to help people. They’re not helping. They’re just taking away your ability to recognize the symptoms. So what happened with her was she started eating the crates and the pizza, and all of a sudden she was like, oh, my gosh. She goes, Margie, when I go into a restaurant, even if I’m not eating the wheat if somebody brings out a biscuit and puts it right next to me, my skin starts itching and I’m not even the one eating it. She didn’t realize how allergic she was. And isn’t that the way grasses work? You don’t have to be eating the grass. You just have to stand next to that grass and you get that allergic effect. So for her, she just her quality of life has skyrocketed.


Margie Traxler: She’s not having the hives, she’s not having the eczema. And the thing is, it’s a process. So for her, she would go back and eat it every now and then and get a little sicker and eat it and get sick. And that’s one thing. When I first went to that doctor with my daughter, I was like, oh my gosh, how am I going to make sure she never eats it? And he goes, oh, don’t stop her. If she wants to eat something, tell her, and remind her of what happens when she eats. She’s six, right? Just remind her what happens. She’ll figure it out. And I was like, yeah, not quite sure we’re going to get there, but okay, I’ll believe you. I’ll try it. Sure enough, she had a chicken nugget after we got back from Florida one time, and then it was never worth it to her again because it was her choice. So that’s the big thing. I think I would tell all people that I could eat all the wheat and sugar and grains that I want to eat, but I just don’t want to. It’s not that I can’t eat it, I just choose not to.

 

Bethany Jolley: I think a lot of people don’t really see it that way. And is it worth feeling that way all the time, or would you rather eat something different and feel much better?

 

Margie Traxler: It looks it when you’re going to change it, making that changeover. At first, it is worth it sometimes, but then after it’s not. But in the moment it is. And what happens is every pattern we have, whether it’s an eating pattern, a thinking pattern, a walking pattern, a talking pattern, whatever, these are well-worn paths. And so what we decide is that path isn’t good. We’re still going to walk down it, but we’re not going to walk as far before we go. Not a good idea and then not a good idea. And then finally we’re like, not a good idea. I’m going to go that way. And that’s part of the thing in the community, the books, the products that I encourage people is that don’t go to prison. I’m not the food police. Let yourself go through this process and it will never be a struggle.

 

Bethany Jolley: Exactly and for your product line, what role does the ongoing research and development play in the evolution of new products that you come out with?

 

Margie Traxler: Well, one of the roles, hard and fast that I made with myself is that this, a lot of the new products that are out there, they’re manipulating what occurs naturally. They’re taking their isolates. Isolates are not a good idea. So they’re getting all these. They’re pulling out the parts of things that the body recognizes as a whole, not as a part. So I don’t do that. I want to use the most natural ingredients in the most natural way and combine things without using flavor and natural flavors. I like what I’m using to have its own flavors. So I don’t supplement. I don’t add extra things, I don’t fortify things. I don’t do that kind of stuff. So when I’m looking at it, I’m in a lot of ways running contrary to the way that food science. I’m a natural food scientist, not a traditional food scientist. And so I want to combine things that like to be together and what’s happening with the foods that we see in the store traditionally and non-traditionally is they’re forcing them, trying to hold them together with chemicals. That is not how I believe it. So everything I’m doing is very innovative ahead of the market, ahead of the trend. And I continue to do that.


Margie Traxler: My newest product that I have created, that I’m going to be going to market within 2024, is roti bread, and it is delicious. And it’s not waxy. There are all kinds of gluten-free, but they’re waxy. They don’t have it. You eat them and you get this aftertaste in your mouth, like not for human consumption. And none of my products have that. The taste and texture are all spot on. And so that’s a very important part of what I’m doing. But they’re also the cleanest products on the market. But they’re cleaner than what a consumer could make for themselves. But they’re all natural. How long has nature been here before us? Yeah, regardless, depending on your beliefs, at least 7000 years, if not billions, how long is it going to be here after we leave? So we have this little tiny lifespan and we think we know better than nature? I don’t think so. We haven’t been able to trick nature yet. These products that we’ve come out to in ten years, they just oh, they cost cancer. Well, of course, they cause cancer because we’re combining something good that occurs in nature with chemicals. That’s never a good mix.

 

Bethany Jolley: No, that’s a great point and really a philosophy that all brands should follow, but they don’t currently. So it’s great that you’re doing that. And it sounds like the products are fantastic.

 

Margie Traxler: Yes, when I go to the store, people are being told to go grain-free. Oh, you got to go grain-free. Oh, you got to go sugar-free. You hear this from the doctors. And I had somebody go, how come you know more? And I’m like, well, a doctor studied nutrition for six weeks. I’ve studied it for 30 years. What do you think now is smart? I think it’s only right that we have healthier options available and then let the customers choose. But right now, that’s not the case. We have clever marketing. You look at the front of the package and it promises all these things, and you turn it around. And if you read both sides which most people do not. It’s false. It’s lying propaganda. And why is that okay? Everything on the front of Grain Free Mama’s matches up with what’s on the back. And because I believe in truth and honesty, that’s the only way that we’re going to make a dent. My goal, my vision for Grain Free Mama’s is not just to slow down the incidence, but to help to reverse that trend and even eliminate it. Type two diabetes is curable, and it’s not curable with chemicals and pharmaceuticals. It’s curable by diet choices and lifestyle choices. And that’s what people need to know. That’s why education is so important.

 

Bethany Jolley: Yes, it is. And it’s good that we have passionate people like you out there that are able to educate consumers, because even I’m learning so much from our conversation, and it’s really interesting to hear your perspective. And I think your journey overall just really highlights the importance of food in overall health. So how do you see Grain Free Mama’s contributing to a healthier society?

 

Margie Traxler: Well, I’m going to throw a few statistics out because I think that will help you to understand. So people have autoimmune diseases worldwide, the most current statistics say that approximately 4% of the world’s population has at least one or more autoimmune diseases. That’s the people that have been diagnosed that have gone in for a diagnosis. In America, we have 390 million people, 50 million people have been diagnosed. You and I both know a ton of people that are not diagnosed. So think about that. 50 million people. That is 14.7%. I think there are 2 to 3 times more people who are not diagnosed. But then if you go back to the statistics that I told you for allergies, seasonal allergies affect 10 to 30% of the population worldwide. That is huge. We’re talking billions of people. I think that’s at least 2.5 billion people worldwide. And so if I can get an ear and talk to these people and this you tell me how big of an impact is that? It’s huge. It’s an enormous population base. And I believe that was what I was put on this planet to do. How do people affect change? They affect change with their pocketbook by voting. And in the store, there’s always the gluten-free, sugar-free keto section. I call it the aisle of death. I’m not going to put my products on the aisle of death. That’s horrible tasting products. I’m like, no, put me in the traditional place where I’m never coming in the stores, right?


Margie Traxler: I’m actually a component of direct-to-consumer because I can offer the best price that way. I can give the people who need it the best. Hey, autoimmune disease and food allergies do not know an income bracket. And yet the good healthy products are ultra-premium for those same people. And it’s wrong. So I believe good health is a right, not a privilege. So in that, I’m like, put me out there, give me a voice. I was so happy to come on, and I really appreciate you putting me on here because it’s getting the information out there if you are allergic to grasses. And in springtime I’m going to go, hey, Bethany, go out in that field. You’re going to go, oh, Thank you. Go fetch that out. But yet we’re eating grasses three, four times a day. And then we wonder why allergies are so bad. I think I’ve reduced my seasonal allergies by 95% because I don’t eat them. If you breathe them in and you get a sinus infection and sinus inflammation, what are you getting when you eat them? Inflammation. And you hear all the doctors today, oh, the problem that we have is inflammation. Well, the highest inflammatory foods are edible grasses, pork, and dairy. Those are highly inflammatory foods. You just reduce those. And so many people within 6 to 8 months are going to turn their health markers around. Their body will just fix them. But they have to know to be able to do it.

 

Bethany Jolley: Yeah, and I think a lot of people just don’t realize that or they’re just listening to what their doctor says, which I’m not saying go against your doctor, but their doctors might not have all of that information as you said, six weeks in a nutrition class isn’t going to give you all the information.

 

Margie Traxler: Well, and I think too like America is founded, we’re one of the only nations in the world that does not have socialized medicine. What that means is good health is considered a privilege, not a right. But you go to all these other countries. Health is a right, not a privilege. So in America, the things that the FDA approves, all that kind of stuff, these politicians are not evil. It’s not some big conspiracy. But in order for them to stay in their political position, they need money. Well, the money is coming from the people who have the money and the people who have the money, those groups are not individuals wanting to be healthy. They’re the pharmaceutical companies. They’re the big food manufacturers, and they’re not trying to have this. The food manufacturers are not going, let’s see how sick we can make people. But because they’re a company, companies cook differently than individuals do. But I founded my own company, cooking for individuals.


Margie Traxler: That’s a big differentiation between Grain Free Mama’s versus a lot of other food companies I’m a people-first company, a health-first company. So it’s important that individual consumer who’s consuming my products is my number one concern. Until we have companies that stand up in that agreement that are going to get rid of the quote. If it’s a natural flavor, why can’t you say what it is? Seriously, the only reason you’re calling it natural flavoring is if you put it on the package, people are like, I don’t want to eat that. So I’m just like, hey, label it. Just tell us what it is. Then people can make their own choice. But if people want to see healthier food on their shelves, they have to quit paying for the garbage.

 

Bethany Jolley: Absolutely. And you’re a leader in this industry. So what advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs in the health food sector?

 

Margie Traxler: I think that people are becoming more and more aware of health because they have to. Incidence of disease in America, six out of ten people in America have some kind of health crisis that is basically related to how they eat. So the old you can just get away with it, that’s not there anymore. It’s not. And the companies that want to make it go with the old pattern of we’re just going to do it for a profit, put the cheaper filler ingredients in there, they’re going to be a flash in the pan because what you’re finding now is that the truly healthy companies are starting to take hold. And as more of that happens, the bigger companies and the bigger grocery stores are going to have to pay attention to these healthier food companies. It’s taken me longer to get it going because I’m not willing to sell out, and I don’t believe that’s in the best interest of me. If I was doing that, why would I even have a company with how I believe it would be stupid?


Margie Traxler: So for the entrepreneurs coming up, first off, don’t just be looking to make a gluten-free product. Don’t just be looking to make a keto product because even with the keto diet, most Americans don’t eat enough vegetables anyway, so when they eat high protein and high fat, there’s going to be all kinds of liver and kidney problems coming out. So those are flash-in-the-pan things. It needs to go back to good health and good health, the way it naturally occurs. Growing plants, we need bugs and dirt when we grow our fruits and vegetables, and we need to keep that whole ecosystem alive. And we are not the center of the universe. We’re part of the circle. So for entrepreneurs coming up, know who you are in that place and create value not just for now, but for decades.

 

Bethany Jolley: Yes, great advice, and thank you once again for joining us today. This has been so educational and just I loved hearing your story, and today’s episode provided a fascinating look into the world of healthy baking and Grain Free Mama’s revolutionary approach. Margie Traxler’s story is a testament to innovation and dedication in this industry. So for more information about Grain Free Mama’s and their products, check out the links that we’ve provided. Remember to subscribe and share your thoughts on social media. Join us next time on NutraPreneur. For more exciting discussions about the future of nutraceuticals, stay informed and inspired. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of NutraPreneur. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and better yet, leave us a review as it really helps us grow the show.