Meet Itay Shechter

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Itay Shechter a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Itay, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

I didn’t develop confidence overnight- it came from stacking small wins and refusing to stay comfortable. Early on, I was the guy with ideas but not the voice to push them forward. That changed when I started building things from scratch- businesses, projects, even content. When you put something into the world that people either love or criticize, you realize quickly that waiting for approval kills progress.

The first time I hit “post” on content that called out big food companies, I knew backlash was coming. Instead of running from it, I leaned in. Every time I survived criticism or pushed through self-doubt, my confidence got stronger. I stopped tying my self esteem to what others thought and started tying it to whether I showed up consistently and did the hard thing.

Now, confidence for me isn’t a personality trait- it’s a skill I train by stepping into discomfort daily. That’s how I built it, and that’s how I keep it.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

My story started with my own health struggles. I was dealing with chronic conditions like rosacea, eczema, and sleep issues, and the only answers I was getting from doctors were medications and quick fixes to “manage” symptoms. Nobody was talking about root cause.

I began looking at my environment and what I was eating. To be clear, I wasn’t living on fast food, but I thought I was eating healthy with things like granola bars, chicken breast, and broccoli. What I wasn’t paying attention to was the quality of ingredients. Once I started focusing on real whole foods, everything changed. Ironically, some of the very things we are told to avoid ended up being the most healing for me. Red meat especially, when it’s high quality and nutrient dense, played a huge role in reversing issues I had been told were permanent. My energy came back, my skin cleared, and my sleep improved.

When friends and family saw those changes and started making adjustments themselves, they also experienced results, from weight loss to better energy. That’s when I knew I needed to share this message with more people. I launched the GFBEEF Instagram channel to expose what’s really in the food we eat, and to show the power of choosing real food over processed.

The heart of what I do is showing people how much better life can feel when you cut out unnecessary additives and focus on nutrient dense whole foods. Even if something is “generally considered safe,” that doesn’t mean it belongs in your daily diet. Eliminating those ingredients transformed my health, and I want others to experience the same.

What makes GFBEEF different is how we spread the message. I don’t want to just preach, I want to make it engaging, modern, and easy to understand. Sometimes that means exposing the ridiculous ways ultra-processed foods are made, sometimes it’s practical grocery shopping tips, and sometimes it’s just sharing how we raise our family in a way that’s cleaner and less toxic without giving up living in the real world.

From that, a community has grown around GFBEEF. It’s made up of people who want better for themselves and their families, and I’m grateful for every single one of them. For me, this isn’t just content. It’s a movement.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

The first quality that made the biggest difference for me was resilience. You’re going to get pushback, whether it’s from doctors, friends, or strangers online. If I had listened to everyone who told me I was wrong, I’d still be stuck with the same health issues. Resilience means you keep going even when it’s uncomfortable. The best way to build it is to deliberately put yourself in situations that challenge you instead of running from them.

The second was curiosity. I stopped accepting surface-level answers like “this condition is permanent” or “this food is bad” and started asking why. Curiosity led me to test, to question, and to figure out what actually worked. For anyone starting out, I’d say learn how to dig deeper. Don’t just take an answer at face value, go down the rabbit hole and understand the context.

The third was communication. I had to figure out how to take complex ideas about food systems, health, and ingredients and explain them in a way that makes people actually care. That’s what built my audience and community. The advice I’d give is simple: don’t just aim to sound smart, aim to be understood. If you can make people get it and want to share it, you’ll have real impact.

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?

The person who’s been most helpful is without a doubt my wife. She’s the one who supported me when I first started making changes, even when it wasn’t easy or convenient. She backed me when I decided to take what I was learning and share it publicly, and she’s been there through the ups and downs of building a brand from scratch.

Beyond support, she also challenges me. She’ll tell me honestly when something isn’t clear, when an idea could be sharper, or when I need to rethink my approach. That combination of encouragement and tough feedback has been essential. Without her, I wouldn’t have been able to grow personally or professionally the way I have.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gfbeef/reels/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gfbeef.fb/
• Twitter: https://x.com/gfbeef_