Well, hello ladies and gents, Robert Sykes, Keto, savage.com.
And today I've got a special guest, Stephanie Morial on the
line. her and I heard Cousin Jake started a company called
Tri Troupe. They make mushrooms that they
create and put in these gummies and they've got several
different mushroom strains. They've got Lion's Mane, Chaga,
Cordyceps, all the good stuff from a neurological standpoint,
from a performance standpoint. And I just wanted to dive deeper
into their story as a company, their entrepreneurial ventures,
what got them into the mushroom business and just kind of learn
more about these different mushrooms and how the active
compounds in them can be beneficial from a neurological
standpoint, Recovery, rest and recuperation.
So just kind of learn a little bit more about mushrooms so
thoroughly enjoy the conversation and get no doubt
that y'all take something from it without further delay.
Sit back, relax, enjoy the conversation with Stephanie
and we are live. Stephanie, how are you today?
I'm great. How are you?
I'm doing wonderful well, so I'm excited to chat with you all
about mushrooms. I've actually had a few people
on the podcast talking about mushrooms here lately.
One of my employees is big into growing his own mushrooms, so
this is something I've kind of been exposed to indirectly, but
am not really well versed in, so I'm excited to be enlightened by
you. Oh yeah, absolutely.
It's very exciting to start growing your own mushrooms.
I'm sure he's he won't stop talking about it.
Yeah, he he's got like the grow tent.
He's got, like, he literally just bought a house with five
bedrooms. And four of the five bedrooms
are all gonna be dedicated mushroom rooms.
Oh my God. Wow.
That's epic. Pretty intense, but give me some
back story on y'all. Like what?
What got you into the the mushroom business?
Yeah totally. So I Co founded troupe with my
cousin Jake and it all started during COVID actually he got
into a ski accident and broke his leg and on that same day was
the day of lockdown in California and I was working in
hotels and all my hotels shut down.
And so when Jay came back from skiing I offered to move in with
him and his parents help take care of his leg.
And during that time, I read this book that really introduced
me to mushrooms. And I I had taken mushrooms
before I had heard about them. But just kind of whispers.
And reading this book, I didn't realize that it was this really
powerful medicine that's been used in cultures all around the
world for thousands of years. And I felt like I had kind of
discovered this ancient secret. So it's a middle of COVID.
We're not really doing too much. And I turned to Jake and I said,
do you want to start growing mushrooms with me?
And without hesitation, he said yes.
And the rest just really organically unfolded from there?
I love it. I feel like the businesses that
are founded out of one's desire to scratch their own itch is
always the best business, and it certainly makes for the best
story. 100% and I think a lot of that was it's giving yourself
permission and time to scratch that itch.
And I was always one of those people where I was.
I was like, I don't know if I'm ever going to find my passion
and I had worked a bunch of different really cool
interesting jobs but nothing that ever really fulfilled me.
And looking back at my journey, it's it's so it just happened so
easily when you let yourself explore and be a beginner. 100
percent, 100% So for people that are not well versed in
mushrooms, when they hear people talk about them, they
automatically think of. Psilocybin.
Just automatically where their brain goes, but there.
Is 100%. A tremendous array of different
mushrooms with different, you know, capabilities.
You've got nootropic lines. You've got mushrooms to consume
from a dietary standpoint. So just kind of peel the curtain
back on what are mushrooms? How, how can they're, how can
they be efficacious? What are some different use case
scenarios for mushrooms and how can people incorporate them?
Yeah, totally. So mushrooms are actually part
of their own Kingdom. They're part of the fungi
Kingdom. So mushrooms there's.
Yes, it's so true. Even when I go do demo testing
for troop at a grocery store, people think that they're
psilocybin mushrooms, and it's not uncommon.
Everyone's mind always goes to psilocybin or what people call
magic mushrooms. So those mushrooms have
psychedelic properties that can be also extremely healing and
beneficial and I definitely believe are part of the future
of health. And then you have gourmet
mushrooms which are used in the kitchen.
Mushrooms like maitaki, enoki, shiitake.
Some of these mushrooms can also be what are called medicinal
mushrooms and these are mushrooms like reishi and chaga
and Cordyceps that can be used for as supplements basically for
brain functionality, brain protection, gut health immunity,
anti inflammation and and so much more.
And those are the mushrooms that we work with at Troupe.
And there's some overlap for sure with the functional and the
gourmet mushrooms, which is super cool like lion's mane you
can eat and is also an incredible nootropic.
So the lions can be a little bit blurred there.
But a good distinction is the functional mushrooms have also
incredible benefits for your health and Wellness.
Gotcha, gotcha. And when it comes to mushrooms,
like they, I've heard that they like, breathe.
Like when you're talking about them being pretty related to us
humans, like they have like a respiration or something, right?
Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, they they do have a
respiration and we're so close to them like genetically too.
And mushrooms have been around for thousands of years pre
dating humans. And it's just interesting that
as we grow, as the planet has changed so much, mushrooms have
always been there. Yeah, So can you kind of peel
the curtain back on? What is the, I guess the the
conditions necessary for mushrooms to to grow?
Like a lot of people you know, they'll they'll be walking
around outside and they'll see some mushrooms growing after
it's been, you know rainy. There's a lot of, you know, fog
in the air. Like what?
What is the perfect environment for mushrooms?
Cause certain areas have them natively and and some not so
much. Yes.
So mushrooms need moisture for sure.
And when you're growing them at the house, a lot of people think
that they need a lot of darkness, but that's actually
not true. We would just let our mushrooms
be in the open 'cause they need sunlight as well.
So you just kind of think of where am I finding mushrooms?
You're finding them a lot in the Pacific Northwest, you find
chaga. In Alaska, a lot of mushrooms
will grow on trees or on logs. So just kind of think of where
are you finding these mushrooms and what is the natural weather
systems over there? And it's usually moisture.
And you you definitely do need some sunlight.
And there are certain mushrooms that will totally put you out
for the count. Like you.
You can't just go pick up any random mushroom and eat it
without some precautions. Like certain certain mushrooms
will absolutely kill you. Correct.
Oh, absolutely, yeah. And I think that is part of the
reason why people are scared of mushrooms.
They're very few and far between the ones that can kill you.
But a little anecdote is I organized a mushroom foraging
event for us here in Los Angeles, in the the Santa Monica
Mountains for a troop, and we were led by a professional
mushroom forager and also chef, and he took us around to the
spots that he knows very well. We put together this scavenger
hunt of what mushrooms you would find, and there are about 16
mushrooms just in that area and we found about 12 of them.
One of them was actually poisonous and could kill you.
I believe it was called the Angel of Death or something
along those lines, and it looked very similar to an edible
mushroom. So it just goes to show you that
you definitely do want to be careful when you're picking up
mushrooms from the ground. You want to be certain that you
know what you're picking up, otherwise it can be a little bit
dangerous. And out of curiosity, you know
what the mechanism is within that mushroom that that causes
death? Like is it asphyxiation or
what's the what's the driver there?
I don't remember of that particular one which one it was.
I want to say it had something to do with the with the liver,
but I I could be wrong. Yeah, it's it's kind of scary.
Like when you don't know what you're what you're getting into.
It can be definitely worthwhile to have a guide with you that
knows what they're doing. Oh 100%.
I would never trust myself going out and foraging just because
there are just so many mushrooms out there and I like to be led
and guided in this situation for sure.
Can you talk to me a little bit about the the process of
producing your own mushrooms in house like with my employee he's
got, like I said, these grow tents, he's got them in like
bags of sawdust. He's got like a a blow hood,
like he's got all this stuff that is all Greek to me.
So what? What does that process look like
from start to finish? Yeah.
So on a very beginner scale, what you're doing is you're
usually purchasing some kind of spore and spores are these
microscopic particles that mushrooms release out and that's
how they they re populate. So it's their reproductive
system basically. So you buy these spores and they
come in in a syringe or something like that usually.
And then what you do is you do something called inoculation,
which is when you take the spore and you put it in with the food
that it's going to be eating the substrate.
So depending on the mushroom, it can be a different type of food.
So reishi usually grows on logs. Other mushrooms like lion's
mane, can grow on some sort of rice substrate.
So it just really depends on the mushroom.
So yes, you inoculate your substrate or your mushroom food
and then what happens is this mycelium starts to grow.
And the mycelium in nature is this underground root structure
of the mushroom and it also connects the mushroom to the
ecosystem of wherever it's going.
So the trees and other plants and things like that.
But in A at home growing setting, your mycelium is eating
all of this mushroom food, all of this substrate, and it's
colonizing. And what's it colonizes?
Your mushroom will you'll I'm sorry, you'll take this.
You could do two different ways. Usually you could take it and
put it in a tub and it will the mushroom will grow.
Or if you're in the bag, what you would do is you would cut an
X through the bag and then your mushroom will start to grow out
of the side of the bag. Once it's fully colonized, and
you know that it's fully colonized when it's completely
white, the grain will have turned white.
Gotcha, gotcha. Now, I know a lot of like, I'd
love for you to kind of paint a picture as to what companies are
doing, 'cause I feel like mushrooms have gotten a lot more
popular as of late. And with that, there's a lot
more companies, you know, sprouting up, so to speak, and
and selling mushrooms. And with that there's a lot of
people cutting corners and selling you know products that
are marketed as, you know, mushroom extracts that also
contain a lot of this mycelium and filler stuff which I'm
assuming is just the, the non active, you know, filler that
it's grown in. But it's not really.
It doesn't really have any beneficial properties.
Yeah, exactly. So going back to the growing
example, the underground root structure of the mushroom is
called mycelium and the part that grows above the ground or
out of the bag is called the fruiting body.
And when you are in a lab setting and you take this
mycelium, it has a lot of the grain that it was grown on,
usually some sort of rice. And so it's very, you can't
separate it. So even though the mycelium
probably has and does have some beneficial compounds, you're
grinding it up with all of this starch with all of this rice
material. So it really dilutes the
mycelium and you're basically getting a a starch filler mix
versus the fruiting body, which is where most of the
bioavailable compounds are stored.
It's a longer process, it's more expensive and you have to
extract out the compounds. So it's a a way more expensive
product and that's why a lot of companies are cutting corners
and selling you a mycelium based product and not even telling you
where their mushrooms are grown or anything like that.
And so when we got into the industry, we knew that we wanted
to be a fruiting body product and at least will extracted.
We actually have a patent pending triple extraction method
that we've been doing now and we work very closely with our
testing company to continuously develop and be testing these
extractions. So it's it's definitely
important to know if you're getting a fruiting body product
and if it's extracted and also you want to know where your
mushrooms are coming from. A lot of people, a lot of
companies get their mushrooms from China and there can be
pollutants in the water or chemicals that get sucked into
these mushrooms because mushrooms are 90% water and so
it can be dangerous to get mushrooms from China.
So we just we knew we needed to be all organic mushrooms grown
in the USI. Love it.
I love it. And I would assume any company
that's selling mushroom products would want to make known the
fact that they're using the fruiting body, so they would
likely disclose that on the label.
So if if people are looking for mushrooms and it doesn't say
anything about, you know, it being a fruiting body product,
if it's just kind of left blank, then that would probably not be
the company you'd want to go with. 100% And also the price
point, I mean, if you're getting them for 10-12 dollars, I would
definitely do your research on where these mushrooms are coming
from. And there are some big brands
that are getting their mushrooms from China.
And I I definitely think, you know, if you're putting
something in your body, it's very important to know where
it's coming from. Yeah, 100% agree there.
How does the extraction process work?
So once you have the mushroom, the fruiting body that's coming
out of this bag, Like does that fruiting body dehydrated?
Is it freeze dried? Is it like like is there an oil
base that's extract out of it? Like how does that work?
So you need to do at least a hot water and an alcohol extraction
because there are fat and water soluble compounds inside of the
mushrooms and your body is unable to digest and really
process these bioavailable compounds unless they're
extracted. So you want to make sure that
you're getting at least a a dual extraction and then we do an
ultrasonic extraction method with that as well.
So yeah, that would be one of my key takeaways is make sure that
they're dual extracted because otherwise your body you might
have some digestive issues trying to even just digest the
products and let alone your body even absorbing them.
And how how are most of these deliver?
They're like, I've seen the gummies.
I've seen just like the, you know, dehydrated pieces of
mushroom. I would assume that would
probably be a little bit less bioviable.
Like what? How are these often times
delivered? Yeah, so there's a mushroom
reishi and another one chaga. These are super bitter and and
basically like biting a piece of a tree bark.
So you're really not gonna be taking a bite into those
mushrooms, but you can get those dehydrated or or dried and make
them into tea or something like that.
But for the most part, mushroom products are coming in powders,
capsules and tinctures because if they are extracted you can
get them into those form factors.
We use a tincture because the taste of our gummy is extremely
important and the concentration of the compounds.
So we were able to get the amount of mushrooms we wanted in
a serving and also have our gummies take taste.
Delicious. And with a powder we just
weren't able to achieve that. Because if you look at a pill,
for instance, like imagine fitting that all into a little
gummy. It's pretty impossible with all
the other ingredients that need to go in the gummy as well.
And I would think like the amounts of the active ingredient
from the mushrooms in the serving size would have a pretty
profound impact. I would assume a lot of
companies are selling, you know, products that are marketed as
containing these compounds because they're trying to play
on the hype of the popularity of mushrooms, but they're not
delivering an effective dose in the first place.
Yeah. So it's actually very
interesting because right now there's really no
standardization of mushroom testing.
So you can look at a gram of mushroom powder compared to
another gram of mushroom powder and not really know.
It's hard to compare apples to apples, so when you are
comparing it goes back to those those qualifications.
You want to make sure that it's a fruiting body dual extracted
product because if it's a mycelium based product, your 1G
is not nearly as beneficial as your comparative 1g if that
makes sense. Totally, totally.
Well, let's just do a deep dive on the different types of
mushrooms because they're all going to have a different use
case scenario. So just kind of run down the
list of the mushrooms that that Y'all offer.
But then just any other mushrooms that come to mind and
where and they'd be beneficial. Like whether it's a neurological
standpoint, a performance and recovery standpoint.
I just kind of break down the different types of mushrooms and
where they would be useful. Yeah, absolutely.
So we work with the six most popular mushrooms right now.
They are lion's mane, reishi, chaga, maitaki, Cordyceps and
Turkey tail. And these are the mushrooms that
you're going to be seeing in most of the products.
So go starting from the top. Lion's mane is my favorite
mushroom. I fell in love with it because
it has incredible neurological properties, it's being studied
as a potential treatment for Alzheimer's and other
neurological diseases, and dementia runs in my family.
So I've always had this kind of fear of living this amazing life
and forgetting the people who make it so amazing.
And so, yeah, just really hit close to home.
And that was we knew we wanted to create a Lion's Mane product.
It's also great for focus and mental clarity and clearing.
Brain Brain Fog. And that's a lot of excuse me,
that's why many of our customers choose to take Lion's Mane as
well and it also helps with gut health and inflammation and so
much more. And then we have Reishi, which
is one of the most studied mushrooms.
It's the queen of mushrooms and it really helps with stress
levels, managing your body's stress response and it helps
reduce anxiety, helps with calm. It's incredible for your immune
system and because it actually helps your body get down to the
root cause and and relax, it helps you sleep.
So it's not going to make you tired, it's not going to give
you that melatonin hangover, but because your body is actually
naturally de stressing, that helps you sleep.
And a lot of our customers are having amazing, amazing sleep on
Reishi. So that is one of my favorite
mushrooms as well. And then we have chaga.
Which is the king of mushrooms and is the diamond of the
forest. They say it's one of nature's
most potent sources of antioxidants, so it's amazing
for your body cellular, healthy cellular health and turnover.
Excuse me? And it also is great for hair,
skin and nails as well. And then we have Cordyceps.
So Cordyceps is loved by athletes.
It really helps with endurance and stamina and oxygenation of
the blood. It's also really great for your
libido and for sexual health. And then we have Maitaki, which
is also a gourmet mushroom. It's a delicious, delicious
mushroom to eat and it's amazing for your metabolism and
incredible for your immune system.
And it's also being studied as a treatment for breast cancer and
I believe lastly I think I covered all of them.
Lastly, we have Turkey tail which is also one of the best
mushrooms you can take for your immune system.
It's amazing for your gut health that has prebiotic and probiotic
properties, and it is also being used as cancer treatments in
conjunction with other treatments in Japan, for
instance. And there's a lot of anecdotal
studies and people having stories about how Turkey, tail
and other mushrooms have helped with their cancer treatments.
Very nice, very nice. And are are y'all like how do
you do your dosing like you personally throughout the day?
Like what are you consuming? Are you consuming a mix of all
these at different times based off of the activity that you're
about to do, or how do you kind of structure your your personal
supplementation? Yeah, absolutely.
So I take Linesman in the morning because I love how it
gets me off on on the right foot.
And I will also take Reishi in the morning because it really
just helps regulate my stress and my body.
So I love taking those in the morning.
And then I take the Super Troop, which is our six mushroom blend,
which incorporates the six mushrooms that I just mentioned.
And I'll take that in the middle of the day as as a little midday
pick me up because it has cortisaps and lines made in
there. So it just helps get me a bit of
a boost and then I'm I'm good for the rest of the day.
Nice, nice. Is there any like when you're
preparing the mushrooms? Like if someone's cooking with
them, for instance, does that heat destroy any of the the
properties, the bio active compounds or is that not really
something people have to worry about like and it's also with
dehydration, like is that something that's going to remove
some of that bio active compound or is that not a concern?
It's not so much a concern because you do heat the
temperature. We we do some heating before we
start the extraction process, and every mushroom has a
different temperature that it can be heated to, and there's
different studies on this before the the bioavailable compounds
degrade. But when you're cooking, you
don't really need to worry about that.
Got you. Yeah.
I've had the lion's mane like as a warm a mushroom.
And also just for the the neuro, you know, neurological benefits,
But I'll cook it up, I'll slice it thin and then, you know,
saute it with some brown butter and that's pretty delicious.
Oh, that sounds amazing. So y'all doing all of this in
house, like you've got your own facility, you did all the
extraction, the growing everything.
No, we are partnered with a company that does that is
vertically integrated for the growing and the extraction and
we are working very closely with them on, you know developing
extractions and always making sure that we're getting the best
levels we can when we're doing our testing.
Very nice, very nice. Talking a little bit about the,
the magic mushrooms, the psilocybin.
So like, I feel like if you're in the mushroom game, you see
the benefits of the psilocybin and especially as it pertains
to, you know, being compared with other, you know,
pharmacological agents and Western medicine as a whole.
So like, where's your stance on that?
Where do you think that research is going?
Where do you think that is going from a societal standpoint?
Yeah, absolutely. It's an incredibly exciting
space. So much has happened in recent
years and people are really starting to shift their
perspective on psilocybin. Back in the 70s, people were
doing studies and it was pretty widely used.
And then there was a huge propaganda movement that said
that mushrooms will make you lose your mind and just really
spreading this fear about psilocybin.
And it worked. And pretty much all the studies
were shut down. And now the narrative is
drastically changing. FD.
The FDA will probably approve psilocybin within the next year
or two. There's a ton of biotech
companies, or sorry, there's a ton of companies on the stock
market that are doing psilocybin studies.
Mind Med, for instance. Compass Pathways, for instance.
These are all companies that are using psilocybin to treat
depression, anxiety, PTSDOCD, addiction, eating disorders.
So the reason why it's so effective is because psilocybin
actually enables your brain to make new connections.
So our brain is always thinking in patterns and evolutionarily,
this has really benefited us. And you know, you imagine, like,
you know, not to touch the the stove, the flame on the stove
because it's hot. You don't have to keep learning
that lesson every day. However, when it comes to our
mental health and especially addiction, you know, we are in
these constant loops. And there's a study that came
out by Johns Hopkins that said that one dose of psilocybin can
be more effective than the leading SSRI.
And an SSRI doesn't necessarily go to the root of the problem
like psilocybin would. Psilocybin actually enables you
to connect with yourself, come back to yourself and really
actually heal yourself versus these SSRIs that are you have to
take over and over and over. And it's going to shake up the
medical industry because unfortunately, especially in in
America, our pharmaceutical companies make money off of us
being sick. So it's really not in their best
interest to have us heal ourselves and help ourselves
with mushrooms. And some are definitely going to
get into the space. I believe Johnson and Johnson is
already getting into the space and is working with other
companies on testing. But yeah, I mean, it's
definitely, psilocybin has definitely changed my life.
It's changed the lives of so many people that I know and I
really do believe that it's going to be a huge part of the
future of mental health. Yeah, I definitely think that is
where the research is heading and I'm excited to see how that
shapes out going forward. I am curious to see what's going
to happen with regards to you know, patents and whatnot
because like big pharma is not going to be too keen on it if
they haven't figured out a way to monetize it.
So I think there's going to be a a patent war at some point as it
pertains to, you know, generating prescriptions and
whatnot around psilocybin as a compound. 100% And it's it's
interesting because you see this, this mushroom that can
just grow from the ground and can help us.
But it they have to. It has to.
It's going to be so complicated, honestly, and it's going to
start off being very expensive and it's really going to be
interesting to see how insurance companies are going to play into
this. And it kind of sucks that we're
taking something that's natural, but we have to Add all this
bureaucracy to it when it could just be so simple.
Yeah, 100%. You mentioned that it's affected
your life personally. Can you kind of dive into that?
Like how have you incorporated it and what did it do for?
You. Yeah, absolutely.
So yes, I have taken psilocybin many times and it's been most
effective for me on macro doses. So I as I mentioned, I've done a
very many times and I'm I really feel comfortable navigating the
experience myself. However, if you're new to
psilocybin then I would definitely recommend having
someone who is a professional or a therapist sit with you and be
there to support you. For me, I really feel
comfortable navigating it. So I did it alone and I took,
I've taken up to 4 1/2 grams and laid down, closed my eyes and
just went on a journey. And I've used to do this a few
times a year and it just you kind of just go in with an
intention. But then sometimes you get what
you wanted in terms of addressing your intention, but
sometimes the mushrooms have a different plan for you.
However, no matter what along the journey you it's all about
connecting to yourself and seeing yourself.
And for me, it's always come back to self love and just
realizing that you know, there's a there's this analogy that Jake
says that I really love that imagine you're in a car driving
and you don't wash your car for like 3 months.
Your windshield is going to be really dirty.
And when we do mushrooms, it just allows us to clean the car
and clean the windshield. And it really perfectly
describes it because sometimes you have relationships in your
life where just little things are piling on top and it can get
out of control. And now you have this negative
narrative about it, but in reality, it doesn't really mean
anything. And you actually love that
person and with yourself. I I'm so hard on myself and I,
it's almost like sometimes I would love other people.
I would give them more love than I would give myself.
And doing mushrooms just always I come back to myself and you
know, giving myself all that love and compassion and that
enables me to then show up as a better person in my life and in
the world. I can totally see and respect
that, for sure. I've never done mushrooms, so I
don't really know like I've never done a macro dose of
mushrooms that would cause any any effect like that.
So I can't really speak from experience, but for the sake of
playing devil's advocate, would it be advantageous to be able to
to have that rewiring and that that change of thinking
endogenously without having to take a substance like how do you
kind of navigate those waters? So are you saying how do we
navigate the waters without having to take psilocybin?
Yeah, like I mean for me personally, like when I'm trying
to think of you know, health and you know, self improvement, like
I like the idea of being able to do it internally as opposed to
having to take a substance or object myself to an environment
outside of my norm to correct course.
Yeah. But I maybe I've never taken
these so I don't know. I don't know what the other side
of the equation looks like. For sure.
Well, I think at the end of the day the mushrooms are just
showing you what you already have inside of you.
And it's not like, you know, they they light the path, but
they don't actually do the work for you.
And it also I always come back to everything we need is already
inside of us. So if you're not interested in
taking the psilocybin, it's not a problem because you can still
get there on your own. The mushrooms just kind of speed
up the process a little bit. And it's also just a really
beautiful journey and it's very spiritual.
But if that's not you know what you want, I think you can access
that in different ways too. And just a little bit slower
with meditation and therapy. And also slowing down I think is
really important and like having time where you just do nothing
with yourself and not even reading, not even doing a
crossword puzzle, just actually chilling, laying down and
letting your body talk to you and what is your body trying to
say? And really just honoring
yourself. And the wisdom is already inside
of us. We just have to listen I.
Definitely think we live in a day and age where we're just
constantly going, and often times that puts us in this
negative feedback loop that we can't even break free of.
And I could totally see how doing something like that would
facilitate the environment to make that happen more
efficiently. And I don't know, it's it's
weird. Like, I agree with you 100%.
Like people have this inside them and we just have lost touch
with how to access it. Like people don't know how to
listen to their body anymore. They don't know how to be at
peace with the silence anymore. Like they have to always be
stimulated by something. They always got to be looking at
their phone. And if you can just break free
of that in some form or fashion, that's when progress is made.
Absolutely. And it's unlike other compounds.
Correct me if I'm wrong on this, but mushroom psilocybin does not
have an addictive physiological effect, correct?
Correct, yes. Gotcha.
And and I guess the dosage amount is going to be totally
dependent upon each individual. They probably want to start
small and scale up, I would think.
Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean the dosage is so
dependent on the person they there kind of is this like
unspoken dosage guide of .1 grams is a microdose.
So a microdose is sub perceptual.
You should not feel it if you've taken it and a lot of people
take them before work for productivity and creativity and
it just kind of, you know, I used to do it and take a journal
and I would sometimes feel more patient and compassionate, but
it would nothing. You, you really should not feel
it if you've taken it. And then once you get to the
point 2.3, you start feeling it more and you don't, but you
don't have psychedelic properties at that point.
But once you start getting into one gram 2G, you start to have
more psychedelic effects. And then 3 1/2 grams to five
grams is called a hero's dose. And that's where you definitely
want to make sure you're in a safe place with people you feel
safe with. And for sure be intentional
about it because it's very powerful and it it is a journey
and it should be respected and at the same time it's amazing.
I but I definitely do think that in Western cultures especially
we kind of don't give mushrooms the respect that they deserve.
And when you look at countries or excuse me, civilizations that
have been using mushrooms for centuries, they really, really
respect it. And it's a ceremonial thing and
it's really thought out. And I think we could learn a lot
about that. Yeah, I have heard the, you know
the term micro dosing gaining quite a bit of popularity as of
late. But if you're not feeling
anything from it, what is the the benefit there?
Is it kind of like the placebo effect that's that's occurring
or is it just sub peripheral like what what is the the
science behind the micro dosing Evan?
Yeah. So there's not as much science
behind it as there should be and it is starting to be more of a
focus of attention. But no, it's it's definitely not
placebo, it is it's just sub perceptual.
It's such a small dose, but it the psilocybin is still having
effects on your brain is still enabling you to create those new
neurological connections. So it is definitely still
working. And also you know some really
interesting use cases for micro dosing is people use them for
migraines I've heard and period pains and other just kind of
random applications that I wouldn't have thought.
But there's there's a lot of people who have spoken up and
said that the microdosing helps for that and migraines, I've
definitely heard a lot. So yeah, it's really interesting
to see. And when it comes to
microdosing, you want to really take note.
So they really encourage you to keep a journal so you could
document how you're feeling. And you also don't want to be
doing it every single day. So you'll want to start off
maybe every other day or two days on, one day off.
Some people like to just do it on the weekdays and not on the
weekends, but you don't want to be doing it seven days a week.
Is there true to that as it pertains to the the other forms
of mushrooms too, like the the lion's mane for instance?
Would some would someone benefit from cycling their consumption
of that or is that not really gonna have the same effect?
No, because actually with the medicinal mushrooms, the effects
and the benefits compound with time, so the longer you take
them, the more effective they are for you.
Gotcha. Gotcha.
So it's like your body's gonna build up a tolerance to those.
Right, correct. OK.
That makes sense. And you said you're based out of
California, is that right? Yes, we're in LA.
What do you feel like the overall perception of mushrooms
is, both from a medicinal standpoint and also from the the
psilocybin standpoint there in California and on a broader
regional scale like this, just US in general?
Like, do you feel like the society's becoming more
accepting of mushrooms? Or like had had what?
What is the pulse on the market, so to speak?
Yeah, so I definitely think in LA especially we live in a bit
of a bubble. So there are a lot of mushroom
companies headquartered here. There's most people I know take
mushrooms in some way, shape or form.
Everyone is seems pretty knowledgeable about mushrooms.
I definitely meet some people who aren't, don't know about
them and they're open minded to learn for the most part.
I do think that this is a very special circumstance though.
When I travel out of town and go to New York or something like
that, some people still know about mushrooms, but it's
definitely not this same, the same knowledge or anything like
that as it is here. But I do feel it trickling and
just kind of like anything it it starts and then it just it's
like the my celial effect it it is spreading.
And I think people's temperament on mushrooms is definitely
changing, especially as more research and studies are coming
out, which they are. And I just look at, you know,
even older people in my family who thought that mushrooms were
so taboo and who are now taking mushrooms and different form
factors. And it just goes to show you
that it things are for sure changing.
Yeah, I mean for me, like I said it's it just seems like a a much
more holistic route, a more natural route than reaching for
a bunch of, you know, man made pharmacological substances that
are grown in the lab somewhere. And I feel like that you know,
makes sense like we should try to gravitate more towards that
holistic nutrition, holistic medicine approach.
And I mean I I've I've read extensively about different you
know shaman's in the rainforest and what they've been able to do
with just some of the the natural compounds there and it
it's crazy what all we have learned over the years like I
don't know how people figured out these different use case
scenarios for mushrooms in the beginning of time like because
like some kill you so I don't know if.
There were people. Walking around and testing these
out one by one and observing what happened.
But I feel like it's definitely interesting that this is
becoming more mainstream and less there's just less of a
negative stigma associated with it.
And I think there are certainly use case scenarios in which it
would be beneficial as opposed to traditional pharma
pharmacological rounds, especially since it doesn't have
that addictive nature that so many other drugs seem to.
Exactly. We always say that we think
nature holds the answers that we're looking for and we just
have to look and be patient. And yeah, especially mushrooms,
they hold the answers to so many, so many problems and if we
can find a natural solution, why wouldn't we use it?
And also, mushrooms represent preventative rather than
curative too they they can also be curative.
But taking mushrooms every day does help protect your brain
before it declines. It helps boost up your immune
system. It helps with your focus, It
helps with so many things before you get to the burnout or the
part where you need to find a solution for your problem.
Yeah, totally agree. Well, where are things headed
for Y'all in the future? What are you excited about?
What's in the pipeline? Yeah, we're really excited right
now. We are definitely expanding.
We are scaling up, reaching new markets, which is really
awesome. We're going to be expanding our
retail presence this year and hopefully launching 3 new
products. We are going to be staying with
gummies for a while, just expanding our product line.
We're going to be doing blends and incorporating other herbs
and adaptogens and plants. And yeah, we're gonna stay with
gummies. And then who knows, maybe in a
few years we'll branch out into other product categories.
But right now, we are the gummy guys.
The gummy guys that like it and what what all's in the gummies
besides the actual compound itself?
Yeah. So for the Lion's mane, for
instance, I mean, they all have the base, the same base formula.
So they're pectin base, so they're vegan.
There is the color and the flavor.
It all comes from fruits and vegetables and then there's
tapioca syrup, a little bit of cane sugar and citric acid and
then we just coat them with a little bit of of rice starch and
and that's it. Gotcha.
And the the company name is is
Troop, which I think is super cool 'cause I didn't realize
this, but a a group of mushrooms growing together is called a
troop. Is that right?
Yes, you're the first person that has actually ever known
that. Yeah, I did some did some
research from preliminary research.
That's amazing. Play on Y'all's branding for
sure. Yeah.
So we chose that name, obviously because of what it means, but it
also symbolizes so much of what we're trying to do, be in
connection with our troop, with our community and grow and
support, with support each other.
I love it. I love it.
So where do people go to find out more about the company, try
the mushrooms, and just dive in deeper?
So our website is www.trytroop.com.
We have information about our products.
We have so many blog articles that pretty much about anything
you would have a question on. And then we also have an
Instagram try troop as well where we just post really fun,
playful content, educational content.
You'll see Jake and I getting behind the camera sometimes too.
And we also created a discount code Keto Savage 20 for your
listeners who want to try and get 20% off.
Awesome. Well, I certainly appreciate
that and I I think it's awesome that you and your cousin are
building us together. Like having family involved in a
in AI mean that could be a lot of headaches, but it's so
rewarding at the same time, so it's awesome that you all tackle
this together. Yeah, but it's exactly as you
said. There's there's some painful
moments for sure, but because we're family and so close, we've
had to overcome them and that has LED us to become better
people, Better Business partners and has been really an
incredible experience. What is his strong point in the
business? Like what does he gravitate to
and what do you gravitate to as far as like separating things
out their different roles? Yeah.
So he is more tech website finance funnels, he's yeah all
that kind of stuff and I'm OPS and branding and we both do the
marketing together and decision making together and I run like
most of the day-to-day and and managing all of the teams and
stuff like that. Very cool, Very cool.
Well, it is super fascinating. Like I like I said, I've got
this employee that's been diving into it.
He's he's given me several of his, you know, lion's mane, the
hydrated lion's mane and cordycep samples.
And it's it's just cool. It's cool to see them grow.
It's cool to see, you know, him producing all these in house and
this. Like I said, this is all Greek
to me. So I'm going to have to figure
out what he's doing. Then I'll probably have to come
to you with some questions to get things dialed in and
optimized because. It's.
Very fascinating to me. Yeah, absolutely.
We'd love to be a part of the journey.
Awesome. Well, thank you so very much for
taking the time, Stephanie. I certainly appreciate it and I
appreciate all the content you're putting out.
Like I said, the website is legit.
You get multiple blog posts on there from an educational
standpoint, and I think that's the main thing with all of this
stuff as it pertains to mushrooms from a medicinal
standpoint but also from a performance standpoint.
Like people just need to learn more about, like have education
around it. So I think it's awesome that you
are focusing so much on that component of it.
Thank you so much. We're we're really trying.
So I appreciate that a lot. Absolutely.
Well, until next time, Stephanie, you keep rocking the
business and if there's everything I can do for you,
just let me know. Thank you so much.
Same to you. Take care.
Yeah, we'll talk soon.