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.
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.