Are You Getting the Nutrients You Think You Are? Chef James Barry on Food Quality, Organ Meats, and Mindful Eating
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There is a version of healthy eating that goes wrong in a very specific way. You buy organic vegetables, you shop at the farmers market when you can, you try to avoid processed food, and you feel like you are doing the right things. But the broccoli you bought last Saturday has been sitting in your refrigerator all week. The fish you bought "fresh" traveled from a processing facility three states away. And the organic label on the bag may have been issued by a certification body that has not physically inspected the facility in over a year.
This is not a reason to give up. It is a reason to think more carefully about the gap between what we believe we are eating and what is actually in our food.
Chef James Barry understands this gap better than almost anyone I have spoken with. A professional chef for 20 years, he founded Pluck, a seasoning product made with freeze-dried organ meats (liver, heart, kidney, spleen, and pancreas) blended with real salt and organic spices. His goal is to make it easy for people to eat one of the most nutrient-dense food categories in the world without needing to learn how to cook a beef heart. He also hosts the Everyday Ancestral podcast, where he talks with farmers, chefs, and food producers about the gap between modern food systems and the practices that actually nourished people for most of human history.
We sat down together for this conversation, and it went in directions I did not fully expect.
THE FOOD WE GREW UP WITH
Both James and I grew up in households where food quality was not a priority, partly because of budget, partly because of what was available, and partly because we did not know what we were missing. James's father was retired military, and the family shopped at a base commissary in Las Vegas. The food was cheap, which meant the meat was cheap. James grew up heavily salting everything because, without really understanding it, he was trying to compensate for the lack of flavor that comes from low-quality ingredients.
He did not realize his mother was not a bad cook until years later. The ingredients themselves were the problem.
I had my own version of this. I grew up in a household where dinner was declared ready by the smoke detector. It was only later, as I became more intentional about food, that I started understanding what food is actually supposed to do for the body.
What we share now is a commitment to sourcing that our younger selves would have found completely foreign. James makes a point of going to the farmers market with his wife every Saturday. I do the same in Austin. The difference in quality between food purchased directly from producers (wild-caught fish, pastured meat, locally grown seasonal produce) and what comes off a standard grocery shelf is not subtle. It is measurable.
FRESHNESS AND NUTRITIONAL VALUE
One thing James mentioned that I keep coming back to: broccoli begins losing its nutritional value the moment it is harvested. If you buy it at a grocery store after it has traveled, sat in a warehouse, and been on the shelf for several days, and then you let it sit in your refrigerator for a few more days before eating it, what you are consuming may be largely fiber. The vitamins and phytonutrients that made it worth eating are substantially diminished.
This is not hypothetical. The research on post-harvest nutrient degradation is well established. And it explains something many of my patients experience: they believe they are eating a nutrient-rich diet, but their lab work tells a different story. Supplementation does not always solve this, particularly when the gut is inflamed or the digestive system is operating under chronic stress.
The solution is straightforward. Buy fresher, more local food whenever possible. Pay attention to seasonality. Understand that a bag of pre-cut, pre-washed vegetables that has been sitting in plastic packaging for a week is nutritionally very different from produce you bought at a farm stand yesterday.
SEASONAL EATING AND ANCESTRAL RHYTHMS
James has been thinking about seasonality in a way that goes beyond freshness. He made a point I find genuinely thought-provoking, though he was careful to note he is not an expert in the research behind it. The idea is that eating food that is out of season and out of your geographic region may not align with the rhythms your body is adapted to.
A banana shipped from Ecuador to Massachusetts in January was picked before it ripened. An unripe banana has a different nutritional profile than one allowed to ripen fully on the tree. And there is a broader question about whether eating outside your season works against the ancestral rhythms that govern how your body wants to operate at different times of year.
James acknowledged this is speculative. But the practical takeaway is not: eating food that is actually in season where you live, sourced as locally as you can manage, is almost always going to be more nutritious than the alternative. And it tends to taste better, which matters more than people acknowledge. We are more likely to eat well when we actually enjoy what we are eating.
His podcast, Everyday Ancestral, is built around this kind of question: what can we learn from the past that we are in danger of losing? Not a rigid Paleo prescription, but a genuine curiosity about practices and foods that worked before we got as far from the source as we have become.
WHAT I AM SEEING IN MY PATIENTS' LAB WORK
Here is what I see in my practice almost every day. I test patients routinely for environmental toxins, including glyphosate, the herbicide that has been used on conventional crops since the late 1950s. I rarely see a result of zero. Glyphosate is present in our soil, our water, our air, and has been found in breast milk. The people who have the lowest levels have made consistent, deliberate choices over many years to minimize exposure. And even then, because of how pervasive the compound has become in the environment, it is nearly impossible to avoid entirely.
What James described so well is that the same principle behind his product (consistent small additions of something genuinely nourishing, accumulated over time) also explains why chronic low-level environmental exposure is worth paying attention to. Microdosing something repeatedly is how it accumulates in biological systems. That can work in your favor with nutrients. It can work against you with toxins.
I also test for heavy metals: arsenic, cadmium, mercury. I test for phthalates and BPA from plastics. And because the majority of my patients are women, parabens matter significantly. Parabens are found in cosmetics, lotions, and many personal care products, and they can interact with estrogen receptors in ways that may contribute to hormonal disruption over time. The message I give patients consistently: pay attention to what goes in your mouth, but also to what goes on your skin.
If you want a practical starting point for reducing dietary pesticide exposure, the Environmental Working Group's Dirty Dozen list is worth bookmarking. And stop drinking from plastic when you can. Glass and stainless steel are better choices. This is a change anyone can make today.
THE ORGANIC CERTIFICATION PROBLEM
James shared an experience from when he was starting Pluck that is worth knowing about. He was looking for a certified gluten-free kitchen to use for production. The owner of one such kitchen told him that the annual certification inspection consisted of the inspector walking to the front desk, signing a paper, and leaving without entering the facility.
This is anecdotal, but it reflects a broader reality: certifications are only as reliable as the systems that verify them. And adjacent farming practices (a certified organic plot sitting next to a conventional one where spraying is happening) make cross-contamination possible and common. I am not saying never to buy organic. I am saying that the label should inform your choices, not replace your judgment. Know your source when you can.
ORGAN MEATS AND THE NUTRIENT DENSITY ARGUMENT
James identified three barriers to organ meat consumption that keep most Americans from eating them: people think they are gross, they do not know how to cook them, and they do not know where to find them. Pluck is his answer to all three. It is a seasoning blend, used exactly like salt, that adds liver, heart, kidney, spleen, and pancreas to whatever you are already cooking. Your food tastes better. You get the nutritional density of organ meats without the preparation challenge.
As someone who works with patients managing significant inflammation, I find the idea of getting micronutrients from real food rather than adding more tablets or capsules genuinely compelling. Food-form nutrients tend to be more bioavailable. For patients who are already dealing with gut inflammation, adding more burden to the supplement regimen can be counterproductive. Pluck is something I have incorporated into my own kitchen and mentioned to patients as a realistic way to increase nutrient density without dramatically changing how they cook.
From a recovery standpoint, this matters. The body's ability to heal depends on having adequate micronutrients available. Organ meats are one of the most concentrated natural sources of B vitamins, zinc, CoQ10, and other compounds that support tissue repair and immune function. Eating them in a form that is easy and palatable removes one of the main obstacles to getting those nutrients consistently.
MINDFUL EATING: THE FOUNDATION THAT MAKES EVERYTHING ELSE WORK
The part of our conversation I most want people to take away is also the simplest. James described a food pyramid that inverts the usual framing.
At the top: eat foods with flavor found in nature. Real food, not "natural flavors" as a label ingredient (a term that can mean almost anything in processed food), but actual flavor that comes from quality ingredients grown well.
In the middle: eat nutrient-dense foods. Not fortified, not ultra-processed, not stripped of what made them nutritious in the first place.
At the base, the foundation everything else rests on, is mindful eating.
Here is the clinical context for why this matters. The autonomic nervous system governs how your body responds to its environment. When you are stressed, rushed, or anxious, the sympathetic branch is dominant. This is not a state in which your digestive system is operating at full capacity. Blood flow is directed away from the gut and toward systems that need it for a stress response. Stomach acid production is affected. Enzyme activity is affected. The entire cascade of digestion is compromised.
When you take a moment before a meal to breathe, to sit down, to express gratitude in whatever form is authentic for you, you are inviting a shift toward the parasympathetic state. Rest and digest. That is the mode in which your body can actually process the food you are giving it.
James's practical recommendation: take a breath before you eat. Say grace or a moment of gratitude. Then put your fork or spoon down between bites. Wait until you have swallowed one bite before picking it up again. These are small changes. They produce real differences in how you eat and how your body handles what you eat.
I spent years as a surgical resident eating standing up in under five minutes. Old habits do not change easily. But the difference when you slow down and eat with intention is not subtle. And for anyone preparing for surgery or in active recovery, this difference is clinically relevant. Your body's ability to absorb and use nutrients depends significantly on the state your nervous system is in when you eat.
THE SHARP FRAMEWORK AND THIS CONVERSATION
Everything James and I discussed maps directly onto the pillars of the SHARP Framework (Strategic Holistic Accelerated Recovery Program) that I use with patients:
Sleep: James and I both pointed to sleep as the highest-leverage pillar. When sleep is disrupted, every other system suffers. Nutrition does not absorb properly. Stress compounds. The body cannot do its repair work. If you are working on your nutrition but sleeping poorly, you are not starting from a position of strength.
Hormones: Environmental toxin exposure, from parabens to BPA to phthalates to glyphosate, can affect hormone regulation. This is a direct clinical concern for the patients I work with, including those navigating implant-related health questions.
Absorption: The entire nutrition conversation in this episode is an absorption story. Seasonal eating, food quality, organ meats, mindful eating that supports parasympathetic digestion. All of it affects whether your body can actually use what you are consuming.
Restoration and Preparation: The practices James describes are restorative in the most fundamental sense. They support the body's ability to regulate itself, heal, and maintain the systems that keep you functioning well.
If you are preparing for surgery or recovering from a procedure, these principles are directly relevant to your outcome. The SHARP book goes deeper on all of these pillars and how they interconnect. You can find it at drrobssolutions.com/products/sharp-by-dr-robert-whitfield.
RESOURCES
Watch this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX7YoXcuSZQ
Learn more about Pluck: eatpluck.com
Everyday Ancestral podcast: available wherever you listen to podcasts
Follow Chef James Barry: @eatpluck | @chefjamesbarry
Environmental Working Group Dirty Dozen: ewg.org
The SHARP Framework: https://drrobertwhitfield.com/sharp
Implant health information: https://drrobertwhitfield.com/breast-implant-illness
Pre- and post-surgery essentials: https://drrobssolutions.com/collections/pre-post-surgery-essentials
Schedule a consultation: https://discovery.drrobertwhitfield.com/form
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SHARP FRAMEWORK SECTION
The SHARP Framework is Dr. Robert Whitfield's proprietary protocol for surgical recovery and whole-body wellness. SHARP stands for Strategic Holistic Accelerated Recovery Program. It addresses Sleep, Hormones, Absorption, Restoration, and Preparation as interconnected pillars that determine how patients heal and how they feel long-term. Learn more at drrobertwhitfield.com/sharp, or read Dr. Whitfield's book at drrobssolutions.com/products/sharp-by-dr-robert-whitfield.
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MEDICAL DISCLAIMER
This content is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before making changes to your diet, supplement regimen, or treatment plan. Individual results vary.