131-Health Dangers of Cosmetics

What if the very cosmetics and personal care products you use daily are packed with harmful chemicals, some even banned in the European Union? This is the alarming truth we unravel in our conversation with Brian Vasily, a renowned advocate for natural health. We delve into the shocking disparity between EU and US regulations on these chemicals, and why you should consider a more holistic approach to personal care.

It's not just a matter of what we put on our bodies, but what permeates into our bodies. We dissect the deceptive marketing tactics used by big brands to promote petroleum-based elements in their products, oblivious to their long-term health repercussions. More than that, we highlight the importance of reducing toxins in your life, starting with the cosmetics you use, and how small changes can make a big impact on your health.

We also explore the power of engaging in intense experiences for resilience with Brian, drawing from his own journey. He sheds light on the brain's plasticity and how new experiences can positively influence it. More than just a discussion on personal care products, our talk with Brian shatters the mainstream narrative that aging equals suffering. Together, we affirm that the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and beyond can be some of the best years of your life. Tune in, transform your perspective on aging, and redefine your approach to personal care!

ReverseAgingRevolution Summit June 20-22, 2024 https://robertlufkinmdcom.ontralink.com/t?orid=49&opid=2

Live video broadcast every Tuesday at 11:45 am pst on X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitch, and Youtube to a loyal audience of over 300,000 followers.

Also available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and and everywhere quality podcasts can be found.

*** CONNECT WITH ROB ON SOCIAL MEDIA ***

Web: https://robertlufkinmd.com/
X: https://x.com/robertlufkinmd
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/robertLufkinmd
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robertlufkinmd/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertlufkinmd/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robertlufkinmd
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@robertlufkinmd
Twitch: ...

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Welcome back to the Health Long Jeopardy Secret Show, and I'm your host, dr Robert Lofkin. This episode delves into the hidden dangers of cosmetics and personal care products. The startling fact is, the average woman applies a cocktail of over 168 different chemicals to her skin every day. What's even more shocking is the disparity between the European Union and US rules regarding banned chemicals in these products. The EU has banned over 1,300 chemicals from cosmetics and personal care products, while the US has only banned 11. Our guest, brian Vasily, is one of today's leading voices in natural health and cosmetics, advocating for a more holistic and integrative approach to personal care products. He is joined by our co-host, dr Steven Sidorov.

Speaker 1: 0:58

One of the most common questions I get asked are which blood tests I rely on most heavily for myself and that's really a whole topic unto itself and I'm going to cover it in future programs. But simply put, there are about 17 or so biomarkers that I check on myself on a regular basis. Now, the way I do it is from my home, with a simple finger stick like this, and then I just mail it in. It costs less than $10 per marker and I get the results right away. If you want to try this test for yourself. You can check my website, robertluffkinmdcom under Secrets and use the code SAVE10,. Save the number 10, for $10 off. Try it. Let me know how it goes, if you like it. And now, please enjoy this conversation with Brian Vasily.

Speaker 2: 1:59

And I'm very pleased during this session to have Brian Vasily, one of today's most renowned and respected natural health leaders, and he's the founder of the popular health destination, TheArtOfAntiagingcom. Brian, such a pleasure to have you here Well.

Speaker 3: 2:20

I'm excited to be here and I appreciate it. A lot of good stuff to share with folks, so I'm looking forward to it.

Speaker 2: 2:26

Great. Well, you've been a leader in the health advocate and research area for many years, with a very strong following. How did you get into this area to begin with, brian?

Speaker 3: 2:41

Yes, I appreciate the question. So it's been 20-some years now that I've been, I guess you could say, deeply immersed in health and wellness emphasis on integrative, natural health and I've worked with so many wonderful folks and helped them become widely known names in many regards earlier in my career. But right now I'm 52, and you can kind of cut my life down the middle the first half of my life you could call it quite challenging in many regards. And yeah, there's a long, medium, short version of the story. I'm going to try to stick to the short version. But so I had a rough first half of life, in other words, and grew up in inner-city Chicago, lost some friends to games, but the biggest impact I guess I'd say is my father was a really good man until around my age of nine he turned severely alcoholic. Why? Because he did not deal with a lot of very significant trauma. Back in those years folks did not embrace counseling and did not embrace all these wonderful therapies that we have access to today. It was kind of like only if you're a crazy person. So he didn't deal with a lot of very serious issues.

Speaker 3: 3:58

Now his story, which I won't get into much, it reads like a novel and some parts are unbelievable. He was a spy for the US in World War II, just as one example, and he was in Germany as an American spy, posing basically as a German. Fell in love with a woman there who turned out to be a Russian spy, posing as a German. They were going to get married and then she one day disappeared, never saw her again. So he had trauma after trauma and he had some good stuff in his life too His wife before my mother.

Speaker 3: 4:32

They had two kids. He lost one of them who got hit and killed and he just didn't deal with this. So he really had a lot of trauma deep inside of him, took it out on the bottle, took it out on us, took it out on me in a lot of ways. So there was some early on abuse there and I myself was down a very rough track. I guess we'll say going down and moral of the story, women literally saved my life Strong mother, strong sister, certain strong teachers, really powerful women in my life early on. It's the reason I'm here today, thriving today, so fast forward. I get into the whole natural health and wellness world and becoming relatively well known earlier on for really being behind the scenes and helping others become prominent.

Speaker 3: 5:17

I don't know about six years ago maybe I was at a crossroads and there was a lot of things I could do, but I started. I've had all this exposure to great, wonderful now world renowned doctors and researchers and digging in myself, so I started to see that this overriding message out there that getting older equals becoming over the hill is this big you know, it's a joke, almost you hit 40 or over the hill, haha. And but I saw that this message that getting older equals being doomed to suffering and disease was even impacting some of these powerful women who were there for me and were hitting their own fifties and sixties and seventies and so forth, and it really I took it personally. I'm like, wow, that's horrible that this message can get into people's heads so much. You know, you turn on the TV and it looks like. You know it's a big celebration of youth and you know, even in this day and age.

Speaker 3: 6:12

You know age is kind of frowned upon and I'm like, but that goes contrary to everything that I have learned from all of these wonderful teachers and all this research. These ought to be the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, even beyond the best years of people's lives in many respects, and it doesn't equal doom, it can equal the opposite. So that's when I was inspired and decided. You know exactly what I'm going to do. I'm going to just bring all these wonderful research based concepts to people clearly and share with them how you know to live long and live well by embracing what are, you know, non-toxic, non-drug, non-surgery steps that they can take in their life. And that's the story of the art of anti-aging. Medium length version. So there, you go.

Speaker 2: 6:55

Brian, that was very, very interesting, fascinating, and you know, it kind of goes to the fact that when you actually, if you actually handle the challenges that you face in early life, they actually support greater resilience, and so you're a model. You're a model of that. Can you give us what your perspective is on aging and longevity?

Speaker 3: 7:28

Absolutely Again, these in a biological sense, certainly in an emotional and spiritual sense. The good news is that these ought to be the best years of people's lives, alright, 40s, 50s, 60s A lot of things that once matter don't matter. And the things that matter you're typically if you're doing it somewhat right, even you're closer to what really matters, having a good idea and emphasis on that. That's why a lot of people listening to this right now are embracing their health, whether they have serious challenges, whether they don't, or anywhere in between, because it matters. What's more consequential than taking control of our own health? And we now have.

Speaker 3: 8:17

I've been in especially in this natural health work, for I say 20 some I'd have to sit there and think exactly, but 20 some years.

Speaker 3: 8:25

And it's been a wonderful experience in this regard that what was once considered, you know, out there, or some of the quackery, so to speak, organic food, natural approaches, taking control of your own health, not necessarily taking, you know, what a doctor says as gold, but also digging, you know, having an understanding yourself and I've seen this, you know, increase on the trajectory.

Speaker 3: 8:53

So you know, healthy aging is really about mindset, first and foremost. If you have the mindset that getting older equals being doomed to suffering and disease and pain. Well, what's going to happen? You are going to be doomed to suffering, etc. Right, if you have the mindset that it is instead the time to really flourish and that you do have such significant control as we've seen over, you know, the last, you know 10 years especially you have such significant control over your health 100%, of course not. There are factors, you know that, beyond our control, but we have the lion's share of control over our bodies, our health fate, even down, as we've all seen in recent years, to the genetic level in terms of what we can do to express certain genes. So it's a wonderful time, truly. I know there's a lot of strife out there in the world, but actually it is a really a wonderful time to be alive and to be someone who is in their 40s or beyond right now.

Speaker 2: 10:00

Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm certainly in alignment with the notion that mindset plays such an important role in how we spend those last years of our lives. You've spent a lot of time interviewing many, many leading experts. What would you say is the biggest challenge that people in their middle-years have in this arena?

Speaker 3: 10:29

Well, I do have to throw out a single word, and then I'll expand on that, and that really is toxins. Okay, now, that's probably an overused word in a lot of regards. Nonetheless, if I had to say what's one word toxins Well, what do I mean by that? Now, I can take that in two directions. There are two types of toxins. One is the toxic messaging that I've already referred to, in other words, mindset. Again, if it's constantly coming at us, these toxic messages that getting older equals doom, it's very you have to, you have to shield yourself from that toxic messaging basically. So really, what I've seen over the years in terms of health, if that is boiled down to probably an oversimplistic statement, but none less good for conversation, it's all about what you allow into your being and what you strive, try to keep out. That's good health in a nutshell what you're consciously trying to keep out, what you're consciously allowing in. The more you have a grasp on those two things, really, the healthier. You're going to be Oversimplistic maybe, but it's valid. So the other type of toxins are very physical toxins.

Speaker 3: 11:41

Now, it's probably no secret to most people by now. We live in a world that is saturated everywhere we turn with chemicals. They are in furniture, they're in our flooring, they're in the air we breathe, they're in the chemicals that we feed our skin I'll get to that one in a moment they're in our food, in our water, et cetera. We don't really hear even enough about this problem. Our bodies and this is what I've seen over time. I used to be in a camp where and I realize some are in this camp where I thought, okay, if I do everything to optimize my body, I don't have to worry about that. I'm not in that camp anymore because our bodies are designed to do a really strong job of repelling a lot of these invaders, whether they're chemicals or biological, et cetera. However, we're not designed to combat and shield the sheer amount that the average person faces today. Now we have to be conscious as well about trying to reduce. We won't eliminate them all. Let's get that squared away right now. I don't want people worried that they have to eliminate every toxin in their life. That's impossible. There are some strong steps that people can take to reduce them.

Speaker 3: 13:03

One of the least understood and therefore most dangerous areas is in personal care products and cosmetics. Now I've been happy to see, over the last 10, 15 years, foods and people's awareness of eating cleaner grow. It's important. There's a growing awareness of water it's the stuff of life, right, and trying to go cleaner there as well, somewhat more recently, air, including inside the home, and I can touch on all of these.

Speaker 3: 13:35

However, the most dangerous right now is cosmetics and personal care products. A couple of statistics on this front. The average woman uses 12 personal care products per day. On average, she's contained 168 different chemicals. Another statistic In the European Union, in about 40 or more now other countries, over 1300 chemicals have been banned from cosmetics and personal care products. Here in the United States, 11 ingredients have been banned, just 11. It is an incredibly powerful industry. When people say how much is the cosmetic personal care industry worth, and then you hear figures like 500 billion, they're not really taking into account the chemical industry, which makes it much, much more vast.

Speaker 3: 14:31

The point is this the reason it's so dangerous is not only because it is dangerous, but because people's awareness of cosmetics and personal care products is not on par with the growing awareness in other areas. What I mean specifically? When we apply anything to our skin or we spray it around our face and it lands on our skin, you're eating a significant portion of that through your skin. There's multiple ways into the body Skin, breath and eating are the primary ways, you could argue. The eyes are one way in as well, and so a lot of what is in these products laced truly laced with chemicals that are certainly prompt inflammation, are carcinogenic or potentially carcinogenic, endocrine disruptors, ie hormone disruptors, as well as lesser evils like allergens, et cetera. All of these chemicals in these products the majority, are going into your body, some a couple levels deep, some all the way to your bloodstream, where they're shot around your body. Basically, are stored in your organs. So, to me, the greatest physical toxin threat are these chemicals in these cosmetics.

Speaker 2: 15:54

And Brian. Why is there such a huge discrepancy If there are 1300 that are found to be needed to be banned in Europe? What's the discrepancy here? Why isn't that happening here in the United States?

Speaker 3: 16:11

Yeah, well, that's a great question and let's just one word answers money. Okay so, but I'll expand out for you. What is Honestly terrifying is that the last time substantial legislation was passed in the US pertaining to cosmetics and personal care products was 1938, and in 1938 the FDA essentially told the personal car products cosmetics industry Self-regulate, you're on your own, just don't, don't, don't kill anybody. And it, and there's been attempts, but nothing Substantial has changed since that time. So what does what does a? You know what? What do these companies do?

Speaker 3: 16:53

Well, obviously they don't want to stick anything in these products that are that, literally, you could today, throw anything together, put it in a package, you know, put it on a shelf and sell it in a store. There's no oversight necessary whatsoever. Well, what don't you want to do? You don't want to put anything in there that is immediately going to have an impact and can be easily traced to your product. So they're not doing that. There's been instances, but they don't want to do that, but instead they're sticking in.

Speaker 3: 17:22

I just told you know, yes, 1300 plus ingredients banned elsewhere. There are thousands of ingredients that have potential toxicity it takes a long time in these other countries to review. Here it's all about money, lobbying and power if you want to go in that direction. That's what it's about. There's a great resistance, you know, and so it really is. Buyer beware in this case. This is why it's the most dangerous area, because you are on your own, everyone listening, with this food that you are putting in your body, and I always tell people listen. If you take nothing else away from this discussion, when you are pushing that grocery cart down, the cosmetics and personal care products out, it's a food aisle. You're choosing food, don't forget that.

Speaker 2: 18:09

So what are some of the symptoms that you've Uncovered from these different products that people are using?

Speaker 3: 18:19

Yeah, well, there's plenty of symptoms, traces, in fact. If anyone listening has mystery Symptoms, meaning I don't know the cause of this and we're talking, you know, from man. I can go on here all day to. But with sinus issues, to wear skin, you know reactions and issues that come up dizziness, fatigue, brain fog, you know all. So, or many of these so associated by the way with with inflammation, right and on and on. Again, there's really okay. So there's five basic classes of ingredients, when we're thinking about it in terms of health effects, of these Chemicals that are included in products.

Speaker 3: 19:01

There's direct carcinogens, in other words, products like formaldehyde and all of its derivatives. Quite common, quite common in Personal care products, in cosmetics. They are known carcinogens. There's not a question, they're allowed in. Why Quantity?

Speaker 3: 19:22

The argument is oh, you know, many don't do any testing. But any testing, that's done. Well, we tested it on some rats and it didn't kill him right away. You know the quantity we're using, you're okay. The problem is, if we used, for example, deodorant one day only in our life and no other cosmetics, I'd be okay with that. It's a minute quantity, I could deal with that.

Speaker 3: 19:42

But again, 12 personal care products a day, 168 different chemicals on average, day after day, week after week, month after month, decade after decade. It is going to have a massive impact on people. It will result, like you said, in a variety of symptoms and a lot of times I tell people listen, if you do Suffer and you really want to understand the cause. I've seen a lot of success with saying to people stay inside, maybe, but do without Cosmetics and personal care. Give it two weeks, see what happens. Just see what happens. Now. There's a lot of people who are very resistant because they have Relationships with some of these cosmetics. You know, women can have very strong relationships, for example, with certain makeups and it's their brand and they're tight with it. Or you know men too as well as. Do you know certain do whatever it is you use, but try, just do a process of elimination for a while and see if these symptoms you know the sinus issues, whatever don't reduce.

Speaker 2: 20:44

You know or, in some cases have heard, eliminate yeah well, I'm Hearing that a good idea for anybody who's listening, who does have symptoms, that they're Wondering how they came about, or they've tried to eliminate them and have not been successful. Certainly, the suggestion of taking a break from these products is a great idea, to just see if it makes a difference.

Speaker 3: 21:13

Yeah, it's a strong idea. And an equally strong suggestion is why Temp fates? I can go on. I get this a question all the time what are the worst ingredients? Okay, so please don't forget 1300 ingredients banned elsewhere. There are literally thousands of chemicals allowed into these products, even beyond the 1300. There's a long list to be reviewed of potential carcinogens, meaning potentially cancers. Endocrine disruptors are far and wide hormone issues. If you got them, this is this is like playing with fire by putting some you know, do you ever enzone or anti-aging creams, certain ones on your face, etc. What, what and when? I get that question like well, there, you know, there's so many. I can give you a top 10 list of common, very common, but but I wouldn't. I think I'd be doing a disservice. Parabens a lot of folks refer to that. Phallids in in products, sodium, laurel, sulfate, polyethylene glycol. I can go on and on about the ingredients and I won't hit anywhere close to the 1300 you know plus.

Speaker 2: 22:21

I Think it might be helpful for some of the most common ones that you're concerned about to to highlight that.

Speaker 3: 22:30

Sure, well, I think we're hearing thank goodness, at least it's a start right. We're hearing a lot about phallids. This is an ingredient that's included to prevent products from getting brittle, you know, so they'll many of these ingredients obviously have a purpose.

Speaker 3: 22:44

The purpose is not your health, though. It's it's shelf life or, you know, some function of the product. It's not taking your health into account. Be aware of phallids, formaldehyde, triclosan here's you might have heard back, I think it was around 2016. There was a big controversy about Triclosan, which is an anti, basically bacterial. That's included, was included heavily in hand soaps, and you know this is this is one where enough Shouting was done that attention was put on it. Well, they banned it here in the US from hand soaps, but guess what? They didn't ban it from anti-aging creams and plenty of other products. So it's still out there. Even though they know that it causes issues, it's still allowed in all sorts of other products. Triclosan the biggest, one of the biggest red flags. To make this either. I'll get to actually One really smart approach to all this in a moment, but if you're looking at ingredient labels, what I do is I turn it around and one of the first things I look for on there is does it include the pretty sounding ingredient called fragrance?

Speaker 3: 23:53

Fragrance why do I look for that? Sometimes they they make it very basic sounding scent. Sometimes they make it sound really fancy by calling it Parfume. Those three words fragrance, perfume, sense. Okay, watch for that. What is that? What does that exactly mean? Well, guess what they're not out. They don't have to tell you what that means and what they have found is hidden inside of that one word can be Dozens, in some cases hundreds, of chemicals, many of which have been found to be quite Toxic.

Speaker 3: 24:25

Frankly, and why don't they have to tell you that? Well, it's a trade secret protected legally. They will say that's our, our special secret formula to give it that fake, whatever sense. That fake musk scent, that fake sense like patchouli, that fake, you know, strawberry scent that we've come us associated. Okay, I'm gonna be a little forthright here. We've been brainwashed to associate these fake pretty smells with effectiveness. Well, that's their little secret formula. They don't have to tell you what's in it.

Speaker 3: 25:01

I put that product back and I run the other way. Frankly, I avoid that. I look for only natural, you know sense, if scented at all, in products. But let me take this back. So, instead of obsessing over the ingredients to really watch for and kind of watch for, and all this USDA certified organic today. It's not perfect, but it's the smartest thing you can watch for and thank goodness, it's increasingly available on certain cosmetics and personal care products. Now this is one thing that I've always been interested in is like wow the? You know I'm not all often a Pray, I don't often praise the government for various things, but I'm like well, somebody at the USDA realizes that this is food, because they applied the USDA certified organic label, which used to be only reserved for foods you're putting in your mouth, and they applied it to cosmetics and personal care products. They recognize this is also going into your body and it's a form of food. So now, increasingly in thank goodness, we're seeing that you can buy USDA certified organic deodorants and anti-aging creams and other products.

Speaker 3: 26:14

Not all it's not easy to do. Some of these products, like hair dyes, are just loaded with horrifying chemicals and I'm not sure how you naturally can come close to doing what those products artificially do in terms of changing hair color. But in many of the key product areas that you want to focus on, you don't wanna smell bad, so you want deodorant under your arm, thank goodness. So USDA certified organic means it's independent and this is critical Independent of the company. They can't make these claims. You have to go through what is a pretty strict process to demonstrate that this is truly non-toxic and clean ingredients included, and even those natural ingredients that are included were farmed organically no pesticides and herbicides. So it's like the one clearest signal we've got here. Now folks are listening elsewhere in the world. Echo cert, which is in Europe and elsewhere, is a somewhat of a equivalent to the USDA certified, and then some states have some of their own programs and there's other certifications, but that's the big one. If you're here in the US.

Speaker 2: 27:22

So looking for organic could be a very helpful way for people to select, discriminate what might be a little bit better for them.

Speaker 3: 27:34

Let me specify looking for USDA certified organic Because, just like the cosmetic and personal care products are unregulated in terms of what they can throw in there, there's also very little regulation on what they can say. So you hit on a point here that is worth stressing. Be careful of greenwashing. If you put one organic ingredient in your product and then you have 15 synthetic, you could still in big letters say organic and then in small letters say whatever that one ingredient is and it's fooling people. And then if you turn around like wait a minute, but there's 15 synthetic horrible ingredients like these derivatives of formaldehyde in here. Point is these terms like natural, all natural wildcraft. They mean nothing. Be careful with that kind of stuff as well. Please look for the independent certifications, like that USDA certified organic seal on product, which again means independent of the company. It was found to be truly toxin free, organic.

Speaker 2: 28:43

Yeah, do you have a couple of examples of people that you know who have struggled with symptoms and that have made this kind of a shift and noticed an improvement?

Speaker 3: 28:57

Oh man for sure. Interestingly, quite a few folks with autoimmune issues Now.

Speaker 4: 29:03

I'm not gonna.

Speaker 3: 29:04

I don't know if you're looking for me to name names here. I'm not gonna do that, but include a good friend who is an MD and she struggled with celiac and then made the move in her life, first in some other key areas and then in this area of cosmetics and personal care, and just to say her symptoms were significantly reduced by doing this. And there's been other. It's not just those with autoimmune issues, but I've certainly seen it especially prominent with folks with autoimmune and that's purely, you know, my I'm not. Again, this is not research, this is me stating this anecdotally, but I have seen a trend of those suffering from autoimmune. When they make an effort to greatly, will go cleaner, as we'll say, you know, in this regard, a lot of times, a lot of those symptoms have reduced. I myself certainly have seen a reduction of sinus issues. That's why that one sticks in my head, because that's me and I had, you know, mystery sinus issues and then years ago now, but I discovered all of this and started making a great reduction and those sinus issues largely now are gone. You know, I'm very conscious of this, obviously, and in a lot of walks of life, but I'm not perfect either and this is the last thing I want is anyone worrying about stuff like this? Because I will say this, and I always like to say this when you fret too much and you worry too much, oh my God, I've got toxic things in my home. Whether they are personal care products or furniture or the air, that worry can be just as bad or worse than the other toxins and stuff. So that's not the point here.

Speaker 3: 30:45

The beautiful thing with what I'm emphasizing, which is cosmetics and personal care it's a pretty easy swap to make. Compared to some changes that we want to make in our lives. It's not that difficult. You might pay yes, indeed, it's true, and I understand affordability is an issue, but you might pay a couple of extra bucks in this regard, but it's well worth it Whereas other changes that a lot of us might need to make losing, you know, 40 pounds we know we got to do it those are harder.

Speaker 3: 31:13

I'm not saying don't do that, but I'm just saying the nice thing about a lot of things when it comes to beyond the cosmetics and personal care, when it comes to toxic and reducing the load on our bodies a lot of those steps are relatively easy to do. So that's the good news on that front, and so I myself, you know, going step by step in that direction. I could look around my office right now. I still see a couple of things like I bet you, you know that has more chemicals in it that I want around me, but I'm not worried about it. It's just. Every step you make has more of a significant impact than most people realize, so that's a good thing.

Speaker 2: 31:49

Yeah, I think it's a very important and a very good point because there are a growing number of people with developing symptoms that they're not sure what the source of the problem is, and I know in my own area we've been highlighting the impact of stress and autonomic dysregulation as a primary factor. But when someone is stuck and exploring what might be the cause, this is certainly one area that I think you're highlighting as being important for people to take a look at.

Speaker 3: 32:34

Sure, I appreciate that. You know it's funny because we do again over years and decades. You know again, the word's strong what I'm gonna say. We do get brainwashed and it's okay. I mean the marketing arms behind. You know, some of these products are massive and that's their whole intention.

Speaker 3: 32:55

But when you pull it back, it's common sense. Most of these artificial, synthetic, potentially toxic to downright toxic ingredients are petroleum based. Right? What is petroleum? It's dug up from deep in the ground. It's you know. So. You know the whole petroleum industry is way more than the gas you put in your cars and a large part of it is all these ingredients.

Speaker 3: 33:17

Now, common sense are we, as biological beings, designed to eat petroleum? Nope, you know there's the answer. You know we're not designed to eat this mass quantity of all these petroleum derivatives. In other words, when you step back from common sense, you're like, oh my God, well, it's not gonna hurt if I start reducing my consumption of petroleum ingredients. It can only help me in many different ways. Yes, indeed, your symptoms may well subside, reduce, subside. You will also be doing a great service to your energy, your brain clarity, your longevity in the process of doing this. It's not gonna hurt, it's only going to help because we're not designed to eat. You know what gas is made from and petroleum. We're designed to eat what we all know. We're designed to eat, you know, and not that.

Speaker 2: 34:13

Well, again, that's a great new framework for people to consider that what they put on their skin is another way that they're actually taking things into their body. I think a lot of people don't realize this. They think that's a barrier there, but a lot of you're saying a lot of those chemicals actually find their way into the blood stream and into the body and into our organs.

Speaker 3: 34:43

Yes, indeed they do. I mean, in fact, that's what they're designed to do. They're designed to penetrate. You know, real quick, why do they include these ingredients in products? Well, in products. Well, some of them, as I mentioned, are to stabilize it on the shelf, to have it, you know, have a. You know it's not infinite, but a very, very long shelf life. Some are called penetrators. These are scary ingredients. Penetrators are designed to take the other ingredients faster and deeper into your body. And well, I'm not going to. Let's use anti-aging creams, for example.

Speaker 3: 35:18

I'm not going to claim that in a very short term, some of these ingredients may do what's advertised. They may temporarily reduce the appearance of wrinkles on your face, but at what cost? Ironically, they cause midterm, longer term, early aging as well as health issues. Right, but they wouldn't work if they're just sitting there on top of your skin. They have to go into your body or they have no effect. So the question is do you want a bunch of petroleum, you know derived products inside your body? Of course you don't. Again, so many have already been traced. They're known cancer causes, they're known hormone disruptors, and then plenty are in the category of potential. Why do this, now that we're conscious of this, including maybe from this conversation. Why do that? Why consume that junk right Now? The beautiful thing is, first of all, there's a growing DIY movement, do it yourself movement for personal care products and stuff, and if you embrace that, have fun with it, because there's, you know, using natural products. If you're not into that, again, the very good news is there are conscientious organizations out there putting some good stuff that is USDA certified out there.

Speaker 3: 36:36

You know, and my little rule for people is, the more it is applied to your skin, frequently, directly, the more important it is to consider changing that item. First, I keep saying the odor. Why that's going on one of the most sensitive parts of our body, a very relatively thin layer of skin down there. It's sitting there all day, every day. Some people deodorize at night too, so that's one of the very first. For example, I would say that's your most important. To switch out. I bring up anti-aging creams, moisturizers, anything that you're applying to your face. That's intent is to sit there. Change that out, you know, to clean food, which is really what is clean, cosmetics and personal care I'm not saying something like shampoo is not important, but a lot of that we put in and then we rinse out. Now there is residue that remains, so it's. I'm not saying it, but I'm saying, if you have to make a choice because of you know, finances or whatever reason, think through wherever is applied and sitting there all day or all night.

Speaker 2: 37:38

Yeah, so let's shift gears here. Just a little bit on our focus, and I've linked longevity with resilience in my work and I know you share some similar ideas, and I noticed your intenseexperiencecom website. Can you explain that and what it, what its purpose is? Wow, what a throwback.

Speaker 3: 38:05

So, first of all, I was pretty popular before all this as an impersonal growth and wellness and yeah, that's funny, you found that site still sits out there, still exists to today. I had a bestselling book out of all that that was actually translated into Chinese. I'm still not sure what they really wrote in that book because I don't read Chinese and it was pretty popular in China. I'm like what did I? What did they say? I wrote about jumping back. So intense experiences Interesting. You bring that up because that is one of the key ways to be resilient is to is and now we've seen with plasticity, you know, in our brains. It's indeed research based and proven true is to keep engaging in the new. Keep engaging in the new is one of the one of the big secrets to creating resilience and to your longevity. And you can also say this, you know, in terms of, you know physical, but by the new.

Speaker 3: 39:09

One example, a big example I'm referring to is experiences. It's all about not getting caught in a rut. In other words, and this is what does happen to many of us as we get older, we do get caught in a lot of ruts. Now, some routine is healthy for you, but you want to keep pushing that on, to look, so to speak, stepping outside your comfort zone. So the whole intense experiences brand and model.

Speaker 3: 39:34

I did a lot of research Now we're talking 15 years ago for that research and I discovered that there were nine key areas of experience that are deeply worthwhile to engage in. Meeting new people, for example, as a huge one, that comes right to mind. We get caught in these ruts of not socializing or only socializing with our little clan, and it's one of the healthiest things you could do, albeit not easy, to keep trying to meet new people, including people from different walks of life than your own, different belief systems than your own, different ages than your own. You know, engage with with the 20 year olds and you know people across these different swaths. Why it's kind of the use it or lose it with our brain, you know, and any of these challenges that kind of scare us or that pushed us outside our comfort zone in some way are fantastic for building resilience and living longer.

Speaker 2: 40:37

Right, right. I couldn't agree with you more. I enjoyed hearing you in one of your conversations referring to revving up your hippocampus.

Speaker 3: 40:48

Yeah, that's one of the expressions yeah, the another one I mean.

Speaker 3: 40:54

In a lot of my own work I use dumb jokes, you know, like why should you never trust an atom? Because they make up everything and I'm so, I'm constantly. But let me tell you laughter is one of those nine key areas of experience. It really the old expression will have all heard it's the best medicine. Well, guess what research confirms that? Some of the best medicine indeed. And if you make a conscious effort to expose yourself routinely to laughter, you are taking a mighty big step to live long and live well.

Speaker 3: 41:28

By doing that, even even my corny bad dad joke type of humor.

Speaker 2: 41:32

So yeah, that's great, that's. I appreciate that, and this has been a tremendously wonderful conversation, brian, I appreciate it, and I appreciate you bringing to this audience and awareness and being able to pay attention to a whole area that we haven't touched on in our other talks. So I really appreciate this conversation for those reasons. Can you, is there something on your horizon or something important you want to share with this audience, as well as ways that they can connect with you? Well, I just recommend anybody.

Speaker 3: 42:16

Thank you for you know opening that door. Do go to the art of anti aging dot com and you know, simply never, whatever way you choose, we have we have, you know, very popular summit there that's free to attend. If it's not during live summertime, we keep it there and I think it's really that you can sign up for. We've got a wonderful blog for a lot of effort. I'm very I'm a research geek. Okay, so I put a ton of effort into the research and making sure you know it's all checked and balance. But I think a lot of pride in our blog over there is a lot of people love as well. So something as simple as that I'd recommend everybody to go check out. You know the very popular blog there were. One thing I can promise you is it's going to two things, I guess. Right, it's well researched and I believe it reads pretty darn well. You're going to be, you're going to enjoy the read on the blog. Just pay a visit to the art of anti aging dot com and thanks for you know asking that one.

Speaker 2: 43:13

Of course, of course. I'm on the site and it's a really excellent site, so I can second that. So thank you so much, brian, once more, for your time and for these important messages to our audience. Thank you, Thank you.

Speaker 4: 43:32

This is for general information and educational purposes only, and it's not intended to constitute or substitute for medical advice or counseling, the practice of medicine or the provision of health care, diagnosis or treatment, or the creation of a physician, physician, patient or clinical relationship. The use of this information is at their own users risk. If you find this to be on the value of, please hit that like button to subscribe to support the work that we do on this channel and we take the year suggestions and advice very seriously, so please let us know what you'd like to see on this channel. Thanks for watching and we hope to see you next time. Thank you.