Athletic Fortitude Show
Athletes all over the world endure countless mental physical and psychological adversities over the course of their careers. We are here to bring you the solutions to those adversities with some of the top professional athletes, coaches, and sport and performance psychologists around the world!
Athletic Fortitude Show
How Algae Could Transform Your Health - Catharine Arnston
Unlock the secrets to optimizing your health and athletic performance with the power of algae nutrition. Join us as we sit down with Catherine Arnston, founder and CEO of Energy Bits, to explore the incredible benefits of spirulina and chlorella. Discover how these superfoods, rich in bioavailable protein and essential nutrients, can enhance high-protein diets like keto and carnivore, boost energy levels, and aid in weight management during intermittent fasting. Catherine's insights reveal why spirulina is hailed as the ultimate supplement for athletes and health enthusiasts alike, offering rapid energy without the drawbacks of lectins and oxalates.
Dive into the fascinating world of mitochondria and aging, and learn how spirulina supports mitochondrial health to combat aging-related issues. Catherine sheds light on the role of antioxidants, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), in protecting our cellular powerhouses from free radical damage. As we age, our body's natural production of these antioxidants declines, but spirulina offers a potent defense against this vulnerability. We also discuss the science behind algae nutrition's ability to support telomeres and brain function, and why careful processing is key to retaining spirulina's full nutritional potential.
Explore the transformative benefits of incorporating spirulina and chlorella into your daily routine, from detoxifying the body to improving cognitive health. Catherine shares her expertise on how these algae can act as nutritional insurance, providing a cost-effective solution for maintaining overall well-being. Whether you're seeking to extend your athletic career, enhance your immune system, or simply add a powerful tool to your wellness arsenal, this episode offers a comprehensive guide to harnessing the mighty power of algae for long-lasting health and vitality.
Welcome back to the show, everybody. On today's episode we have Catherine Arnston. She is the founder and CEO of Energy Bits. She is a PhD, mba, ba, and this episode is brought to you by All Black. Everything Performance Energy Drink the official energy drink of the Athletic Fortitude Podcast available in Walmart Meijer and select GNC franchise locations podcast available in Walmart Meijer and select GNC franchise locations. And on today's episode, katherine Arnston. Yeah, is it a coincidence or a good thing that I just started my keto diet again last week?
Speaker 2:Well, this would be perfect. This is ketogenic, zero carbs yeah, great for intermittent fasting too. Yeah. What is it about the algae, that kind of curbs, that hunger piece? Well, it's a couple of things. It's the high protein. Spirulina has the highest protein in the world. It's three times the amount of protein as steak. And 50 years ago the United Nations had a global conference on spirulina algae and declared it the answer to world hunger because of this high protein capability. And it's not only that it's high protein, it's bioavailable protein.
Speaker 2:Usually I give people an overview first of what algae is, but might as well just jump right into protein. So your body can't absorb protein, as protein has to break it down into the components which are called amino acids, so animal proteins all bound up, and it can take up to three days for your body to break down all those bonds to be able to absorb the amino acids. Now collagen is in what's called clusters of peptides. These are smaller groups of aminos. But the great thing about algae is not only does it have the highest amount of protein three times the amount of steak or chicken or fish all of the protein is already in individual aminos. And the reason why that's important is because it allows your body to get access to it immediately. You don't have to wait a couple of days for your body to, because a lot of times people especially get older or they're maybe having, they're on medications or they have digestive issues they have trouble breaking down the protein and absorbing it. With spirulina and chlorella, the protein is immediately available. It has 18 of the 20 aminos, including the nine your body can't make, so it's bioavailable, readily available, and we'll get into more detail about the difference between the two algae. But the thing that is really exciting for spirulina is that spirulina is not eating a plant, it is a bacteria, and the reason why that's important is there is no cellulose wall for your body to break down at all. Chlorella is a plant and does take an hour and a half to break down, but for spirulina, if you chew it like I do, it's absorbed instantly through your mouth and this is why all the nutrients in spirulina and chlorella particularly spirulina, not just the 64% protein, but the 40 vitamins and minerals they're absorbed instantly and put to work instantly. No delay, no damage in digestion, which happens a lot with supplements and a lot of other things. So what makes it satiating? Because of the high protein, bioavailable, instantly absorbed, put to work. And then the other thing for spirulina is that it has a very high amount of essential fatty acids, including something like omega-3. So that is also very satiating, including something like omega-3. So that is also very satiating.
Speaker 2:The chlorella does not satisfy your hunger, only the spirulina, which is one, and also it's one of the reasons why we call our spirulina energy bits, because it's very energizing and we'll get into that later on. So for a pre workout, you can't get any better than spirulina because, first of all, it's rapidly absorbed zero carbs. You mentioned, colin, that you started back on your keto diet. So zero carbs. So ketogenic people listen up. This is good for you. You can get all of your minerals and chlorophyll and other nutrients that maybe you won't be getting because you're not eating a lot of vegetables. You get it from the spirulina chlorella without interfering with your keto diet. It also doesn't interfere with a fast, because with fasting, as long as you keep your carbs down and your amount of protein down, you won't interfere with your fast either.
Speaker 2:And anybody who's on a carnivore diet listen up. This is good for you too, because a lot of people go carnivore because they have stomach issues, and some of the stomach issues are caused by something called lectins and oxalates. These are very sharp proteins that are found in plants, primarily what's called nightshade plants like tomatoes and red peppers, but also in kale and spinach and things like almonds, and these things puncture your stomach lining, which is protected from your bloodstream by one very thin layer of cells, and when it punctures it, then what happens is food gets into your bloodstream and can lead to autoimmune disease. Now, the reason why these things, these lectins and oxalates, are in these plants is evolutionarily. The plants, which are land-based, develop them to protect themselves from predators and bugs and animals, because they do the same thing to their tummies too. They upset them, so they stay away from the plants. Well, algae's never developed lectins or oxalates, because it's not a land plant. It came from the ocean.
Speaker 2:So if you're a carnivore, you should be taking spirulina, chlorella too, and it doesn't have any of the downside of plants. If you're a keto, you should be taking this, because it'll give you energy and focus without getting you carbs and giving you spikes in your insulin. And if you're intermittent fasting, same thing it won't take you out of your insulin. And if you're intermittent fasting, same thing. It won't take you out of your fast. And if you're an athlete, as I started to mention, we fuel NHL teams, Olympic teams, and they use this because there's no sugar, no caffeine, no carbs, no additives. And probably this is where I want to let you know that algae is a food. It is not even a supplement.
Speaker 2:I'm going to show you a picture. We grow ours. Yes, there's algae in all the oceans, the lakes and the rivers, but we grow ours in it's called hydroponically, in fresh water. Here's a spirulina farm, here's a chlorella farm. And then what we do after we grow them in these farms? We grow ours in Taiwan, which is world renowned for having the highest quality.
Speaker 2:We grow them in the farm, then we air dry it without high heat. This is very, very important because high heat damages or deactivates many nutrients, including a couple that I'll talk about. One is called superoxide dismutase. I know it's a mouthful, but this protects your mitochondria and athletes. Again, this is important because the third highest concentration of your mitochondria are in your muscles. First, highest is in your brain. Second, highest is in your well women's eggs and then your heart. But anyway, so we don't dry it with heat, which preserves all these important nutrients and I'll talk about them later on and then we press them into these little tiny tablets with no binders and that we call bits, because they're bits of nutrition. There is absolutely nothing added.
Speaker 2:The darker one here I'm holding up is spirulina. It's a blue-green algae because it has two pigments in it, a blue one and a green one. The green one you're familiar with, called chlorophyll. The other one, which you would not be familiar with, is called phycocyanin and it has healing properties we're going to talk about, like killing cancer cells. And the chlorella is the green algae and it only has one pigment in it, which is chlorophyll. So just to help people when they come to our website, we package them to help you understand where the pigments are. So blue-green algae is spirulina, which we call energy bits, and I'll talk about why. It gives you energy. And chlorella is a green algae which is a wellness and detoxing algae.
Speaker 2:So for athletes, spirulina is your pre-workout and chlorella is your post-workout. Spirulina gives you the focus and the energy. You will run faster, you will lift more, you will perform better, your endurance will be great, all without chemicals, caffeine or sugar or carbs, and it's very easy to carry with you. If you're a runner, maybe we have them in these little pouches that you can tuck into your shorts or whatever. I can't seem to find any right now. But um, they're really, really amazing.
Speaker 2:And just to show you how great they are, spiel nhl players like detroit red wings. We've been working with them for years. They'll put 75 spirulina in their smoothie before a game because they need energy and focus on the ice, and then they'll take 75 chlorella after the game in their smoothie because it pulls out lactic acid. It pulls out all heavy metals, all toxins lead, mercury, radiation, aluminum, pesticides, glyphosate alcohol as well as lactic acid, glyphosate alcohol as well as lactic acid. I'm just commenting.
Speaker 2:I'm on my way to Vegas after this conference, after this interview, not for fun, I'm going for a big wellness conference, but Vegas is notorious for being party city, right?
Speaker 2:So whether you're in Vegas or getting ready for the holidays or celebrating anything, you definitely want to be taking chlorella after, before you go to bed by the way, we'll talk about that in a minute because it will pull out all the alcohol. You will be sober in an hour and a half, works every single time and you will never have a hangover. So, but anyways. So that's a long-winded way of you know talking about protein why it satiates your hunger, but we do want to get into some of the benefits, like brain benefits, mood benefits, because these are very, very important things and people have a lot of issues mental health issues at any age, but it gets worse as you get older, at any age, but it gets worse as you get older and we can help you correct that simply and affordably and naturally from food and with the spirulina and chlorella, because they both contain nutrients not found in any other food or supplement.
Speaker 1:In fact, what is the relationship between the mitochondria and the algae and why is it so important for brain health, brain function?
Speaker 2:Great question. So let me explain what mitochondria are for those who don't know, and then we'll get into the second part of it why the spirulina in particular is so amazing for mitochondria health, which therefore is so amazing for brain health. So your mitochondria are what generate what's called cellular energy in your body. They're like a power plant or another thing. Think of it. In an office, the thing that allows you to do your work at home or work wherever you are, are the lights. You can't very well do any work if you're sitting in the dark, right? So your lights allow you to do your work. Now, in your body, your mitochondria are the lights. They allow your body to do the work that it needs. And in fact, it's even more critical. Mitochondria are not just the light bulbs, they are the electricity, and so, same as in the building, you have a big storm, the electricity goes out, your lights go out. God can't really do much without all that stuff. Well, in your body, cellular energy is necessary for thinking, breathing, your heartbeat, your muscles, to contract your lymphatic system, to sleep, to digest, to eliminate. Everything requires cellular energy. And all of this cellular energy is created by these little organelles in all of your cells that are called mitochondria. No electricity, basically no life. It's that simple no electricity, no mitochondria, no energy, nothing. And so they are the most important thing for you to preserve at any age, but particularly as you get into your forties, because your mitochondria get damaged and deactivated very, very rapidly after the age of 40. And I'll explain why in a minute. So the mitochondria they generate all this energy, and this energy, cellular energy is called ATP. You may have heard of that before.
Speaker 2:Now, a byproduct of ATP, a byproduct of generating all this cellular energy, is something called free radicals. You've probably heard of free radicals before, of free radicals before. They're basically a molecule with an unpaired electron, and so nature loves things that are balanced. When you have something that's unpaired, it's damaging, because what it needs to do, it will seek out to balance itself out by stealing another electron from another molecule, and that damages the other molecule. So there's these things called antioxidants that have extra electrons to donate to the free radicals, to calm them down, balance them out, and that's why antioxidants are so important.
Speaker 2:The problem is in your mitochondria. Your mitochondria, which are these little organelles that are inside your cells that are generating that ATP for you. They have two membranes. They have a regular membrane like all your cells, and normally antioxidants can get in and out of your regular membranes. Your mitochondria have a second membrane on the inside that prevents virtually all antioxidants from getting in there. So there's only a handful that can get in there to neutralize these free radicals that are a byproduct of creating all of this cellular energy.
Speaker 2:Now the good news is one of these antioxidants that can get into that inner membrane is called superoxide dismutase. I know it's a long mouthful, a short name, for it is SOD. So the good news is your body makes this stuff called SOD for you from the moment you're born. So from the moment you're born up until about age 30, this superoxide dismutase SOD is in there, gets into your mitochondria, because the because there's all these free radicals that are being produced as a by-product of your cellular energy. Think of it as a superoxide dismutase as a big golf umbrella. You know, if you've ever been caught in a, in a rainstorm, whether you're on the golf course or anywhere, you have one of those big golf umbrellas. You're laughing because you can get like a whole family under one of those things. They're so large. So the free radicals are being produced as a byproduct, but they don't get to the mitochondria because this stuff called SOD acts like a big golf umbrella to protect the mitochondria and basically turns those free radicals into harmless water and oxygen. Ta-da, Mitochondria are saved. They can keep generating all that cellular energy for you. You have lots of energy for your day, for your work, for your workout, whatever.
Speaker 2:Here's the bad news when you hit 30, your body stops, slows down making a lot of things. It slows down making hormones, it slows down making melatonin and by the time you're 40, a lot of these things are basically gone. This is why women enter something called perimenopause and then menopause, because their bodies are no longer making hormones. This is why people often have problems sleeping after the age of 40, because their body simply is not making melatonin anymore. Because here's the thing We've been on earth for 2 million years and up until about 150 years ago we died at 30.
Speaker 2:So your body evolutionarily still thinks it's dying at 30. And so it goes down into this retirement state of mind, slows down production of a lot of things, because it thinks you're just not going to be around anymore. There is nothing you can do about that. It's evolutionary, programmed into our bodies. So it'll take another million years for evolution to catch up and maybe say, oh, maybe I should make that melatonin for a little longer. But it doesn't, at least not now. And we're living till our seventies and eighties and nineties sometimes.
Speaker 2:But the problem is, without all these things that have been protecting us, like this SOD, when you get to your 70s and 80s and 90s, life isn't so good, because you are now missing energy, focus, you have chronic disease, your muscles aren't working. There's a lot of things that are happening to us after the age of 40 because our mitochondria have started dying and so the lights are going out in your building. But I have good news for you. The good news is this stuff called SOD superoxidismatase, exists in the highest concentration in the world in spirulina and to a lesser extent in chlorella spirulina and to a lesser extent in chlorella. So even though you may be getting all these free radicals hitting your mitochondria because you don't have it being produced, the superoxidase being produced anymore by your body, we can bring in the reinforcements Once you start taking spirulina because again, it's rapidly absorbed into your body and so it rapidly goes to work to start protecting your mitochondria again and turning all those free radicals into harmless water and oxygen. Now your mitochondria have an opportunity to regrow. Now they are no longer damaged and because when they're damaged they send wrong signals, they don't work as well. So it's like getting your lights back on. It's like watching all the lights in a building come back on after a big storm. This is why spirulina is so critical for everybody to be taking at any age, but certainly after the age of 30 or 40, to start repairing and protecting your mitochondria, Because without healthy mitochondria, nothing works well. This is why Alzheimer's, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, metabolic health issues are so rampant after the age of 40. And you mentioned mental health. So at any age, this is really important for you to know.
Speaker 2:The highest concentration of your mitochondria are in your brain. There are 2 million mitochondria per cell in your brain. That is a huge number. Cell in your brain, that is a huge number. It's the highest concentration of mitochondria in your entire body. The second highest are found in women's eggs. There's about 700,000 mitochondria per cell in your women's eggs. Then third highest is in your heart. There's about 8,000 mitochondria per cell in your heart. And the fourth is muscles. There's about 5,000 to 6,000 mitochondria per cell in your muscles.
Speaker 2:So let's go back to the brain.
Speaker 2:There's a great book by the author, Dr Chris Palmer, called Brain Energy, and I encourage you to buy it.
Speaker 2:It's on Amazon and he talks about he's a psychiatrist and he encourage you to buy it. It's on Amazon and he talks about he's a psychiatrist and he's on the Harvard Medical School faculty and in his book, which came out about two years ago, he talks about how all mental health issues ultimately are damaged mitochondrial issues. So whether it's post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, post-pregnancy mental health, anything is related ultimately to damaged mitochondria. And so because you have so many mitochondria per cell in your brain, the first thing that will come back is your brain health, is your mood, and we can get that going with the spirulina. We've had so many people who have Alzheimer's or dementia even within 24 hours of taking the spirulina, and we did a small clinical trial two years ago with a small group of military veterans who had been discharged for 15 years because they had post-traumatic stress disorder and they had still never recovered and they had sleep issues and depression issues and one gentleman had multiple sclerosis and all we did for 30 days we did a brain scan before the test.
Speaker 2:Then we gave them one pouch of 30 tablets of spirulina daily and then we did another brain scan and within 30 days the brain scans showed that all of the inflammation in their brain had disappeared and their sleep was improved. Their mood was improved. One gentleman with the multiple sclerosis his tremors went away and they were told not to change anything else. All they did was take one pouch of the spirulina. There's 30 tablets in the pouch and we've had customers write us. We actually had another gentleman write us just yesterday who was again a military veteran and had been experiencing a lot of pain and he said he's never seen improvement like what he did when he started taking the spirulina and chlorella. So we know it works, and it works because of this superoxidismutase that is protecting the mitochondria so they can regain their health. It also has nutrients in it, like that blue pigment that I mentioned earlier. It's called phycocyanin. I'm going to spell that for you because you would never know about it. It's P-H-Y-C-O-C-Y-N-I-N phycocyanin. It doesn't exist anywhere else in nature except in spirulina, and that phycocyanin has healing properties that include protecting your telomeres. Now, your telomeres are the ends of where your DNA are stored. Think of them as on your shoelaces you have those little things at the ends that keep the shoelaces from unraveling. Well, these things called telomeres do the same thing. They protect the DNA from unraveling because when it unravels it's exposed to toxins and can be damaged and that can cause health issues. So the phycocyanin, the blue pigment that's in the spirulina, not found anywhere else in nature, helps protect those DNA from unraveling. And also spirulina is loaded, as I mentioned earlier when we were talking about why it satiates your hunger with essential fatty acids. Your brain is the highest concentration of fats. You need healthy fats to be healthy, to have a healthy brain. This is why a lot of people eat cold water fish like salmon, because of the omega-3 that are in the cold water fish. So we know that and that's why some of these fish are called brain food. Well, I remind people where do you think the fish get the omega-3 from? They get it from algae. So it's in the spirulina. But the trouble is a lot of fish oil goes rancid before you buy it and certainly by the time you take it it's just because it oxidizes. There's nothing you can do about that. But it never oxidizes when it's in the raw form of algae. So you can get the omega-3.
Speaker 2:There's other essential fatty acids. In here One's called GLA, which stands for gamma-linaic acid. Technically that's a or technically that's an omega-6, but because we do not heat it to dry it, it behaves like an omega-3. So the brain health is activated by the essential fatty acids. The mitochondria are restored to health because of the superoxide dismutase that is found in the highest concentration in spirulina, and then the blue pigment also protects your telomeres. There's other things that go on to protect the brain, but these are some of the critical ones Now.
Speaker 2:I do want to point out, however, that the blue pigment, which is also an antioxidant, phycocyanin, and that SOD, that is a very powerful antioxidant to protect your mitochondria both of them are deactivated by high heat, and the reason why you need to know that is because you can't go out to BJ's or Costco or Target to buy spirulina and think that you're going to get the same efficacy as you would get from ours. Because here's the thing all of those lower priced algaes they're lower priced, so they need to sell more to make money, and so they cut corners to get to market, and one of the corners they cut is they use high heat to dry it because it takes less time so they can get to the shelves faster. But that deactivates both of these nutrients that are so powerful Deactivates the superoxidismetase and it deactivates the blue pigment. Sorry, I don't know what's wrong with my throat this morning. So we never use high heat. Sorry, I don't know what's wrong with my throat this morning. So we never use high heat, which means you get both of those in full quantity, in full active form.
Speaker 2:You could get raw spirulina, but the trouble with that is that it tastes terrible, goes bad quickly and it's very expensive and you can't travel with it. So ours is raw food. Again, it's food, but not only food. It's raw food which gives you all of these healthy benefits. Um, in fact, it's so concentrated in in in the, not only in the phycocyanin and all these things that improve your, your health.
Speaker 2:But one tablet has the same nutrition as an entire plate of vegetables. I usually get gasps of excitement from men and children, because we know guys and children do not plate of vegetables. I usually get gasps of excitement from men and children because we know guys and children do not like eating vegetables. And so, honestly, you never have to eat another vegetable again in your life if you don't want to, especially if you take chlorella, which has the 500 times more chlorophyll than arugula and 25 times more chlorophyll than liquid chlorophyll. So this is and it stimulates what's called peristalsis, which is known as a bowel movement Because you need to.
Speaker 2:It's not just what you put in for nourishment. You need to get rid of the what I call the junk in your trunk, stuff that your body didn't want, right? And chlorella does that for you. So, and the amazing thing that I want to reinforce for everyone, is that you get all these nutrients, you get all these benefits, and you don't have to take prescriptions and you don't have to cook up, spend hours in the kitchen to get all the proper proportions of different nutrients.
Speaker 2:Algae is food. It was the first life on earth four billion years ago. It's created by mother nature. I can't take credit for algae it's mother nature but I can take credit for growing it so carefully to preserve all the nutrients. But what I want you to know is that each one of these tablets, as I showed you earlier in that picture, has the same nutrition as an entire plate of vegetables. So while I'm talking to you right now, I just had a plate of vegetables. Now I chew mine, but most people do swallow them because they don't like the taste. So if you swallow them, there is no flavor, zero, no repeat, like a fish oil, which I can't take fish oil because it repeats on me. Zero.
Speaker 2:And if you're looking for plugging nutritional gaps or just getting you back on even keel for your nutrition, 10 spirulina, which we recommend in the morning because it satisfies your hunger, gives you energy and focus and gives you a great workout, gives you a great day. 10 tablets of spirulina in the morning is all you need. 30 would be a therapeutic amount if you're trying to correct a health condition or if you are having a big athletic activity like a workout or a competition or something, but 10 is sufficient of the spirulina in the morning. Again, it's called energy bits because it gives you energy and focus and it says here focus, fitness and energy. That's why we call it energy bits, because those are the things that you want and usually want them in the morning.
Speaker 2:And then the chlorella same thing. We generally recommend it at night because when you sleep is when your body goes through a detox, repair cycle, and so if you have chlorella in your body while you're sleeping, it will pull out all the heavy metals, the aluminum, the lead, the mercury, the alcohol, the lactic acid. It has the highest amount of chlorophyll in the world. Chlorophyll not only kills bacteria, but I'm going to show you another picture. The chemical composition of chlorophyll is virtually identical to the chemical composition of your hemoglobin, your red blood cells. So when you take chlorophyll you are building your blood, and when you have healthy blood you're going to have a healthier body. It's that simple. But carnivores aren't eating any vegetables, so they're not getting any chlorophyll because they don't want the plants. But there's no lectins and oxalates, so you can still take the chlorella.
Speaker 2:So chlorella before bed kills bacteria, pulls out toxins. The chlorophyll is very cleansing. It has fiber in it which feeds your gut biome and the healthy bacteria. It stimulates peristalsis, which is a bowel movement get rid of what I call the junk in your trunk. And then it also has the highest tryptophan in the world, which is a precursor to melatonin, so it will help you get into a deep sleep. It won't make you sleepy, but it will help you get there. So it's very, very important to take before bed.
Speaker 2:Now, if you took 10 spirulina in the morning and hopefully also 10 chlorella before bed, I also want you to know it's very affordable. We do have a 20% discount code which we'll share at the end. These are our large bags. They're the best value. They come with a thousand tablets in them and if you took 10 a day and use the 20% discount code, that works out to a dollar a day. If you take 10 tablets and a bag will last you 33 months. Now we have these really fun canisters. I'm going to try to reach over for one that come with a canister Sorry, come with a bag in them. But you only buy a canister once and the cool thing is it has a little opening here so that you can just shake the tablets out into your hand. So if you're buying these for your family, you don't need to have a. You know you don't want sticky fingers going into the bag. So generally people buy one canister and then they refill with the full bag. But at a dollar a day you can't go wrong.
Speaker 2:The tablets last three years. What vegetable will last three years? Right? They take nothing to get into your body. If you swallow them. It takes a second to throw back a handful and you're good to go. So it saves you time. It can replace many of your multivitamins fish oil, a multivitamin, coq10, biotin. So this replaces a lot of supplements, saves you time in the kitchen, nourishes you, your pets, your children, safe for every age, not a single drug interaction. Helps you turn your lights back on your mitochondria, helps get your brain focused, whether it's for work, for just enjoying the day, for a great workout or sport activity. And then chlorella 10 again before bed will give you all the nutrient value, the chlorophyll You'd need closer to 30 for the detox benefits. So it's effortless, scientifically proven.
Speaker 2:I call spirulina your nutritional insurance because it gives you everything you need for the day and I call chlorella your health insurance because it builds your immune system, pulls out toxins and builds your gut. So this is brain food. Spirulina is a brain food and chlorella is a gut food and they work together. They're joined by something called the vagus nerve, so they talk to one another. But they're not just superfoods. I call them super duper foods because they are so loaded with nutrients and their food. So there's no upper limit, there's no drug interactions. They go well with every lifestyle choice uh, low carb, low cal, keto, carnivore, paleo, ancestral.
Speaker 2:There's nothing older than algae. Um, by the way, they it's a? Um multi billion dollar agricultural crop in asia. They've been taking it there daily for 60 years. That's six zero um. And I would like to point out that the Japanese have the best longevity, lowest cancer rates, lowest obesity rates and great skin and hair. And why should they be the only ones benefiting from this?
Speaker 2:You just don't know about that because algae isn't grown here in America. 99% of it is grown in Asia Taiwan, china, korea, japan and 99% of it is consumed there. I tell people it's sort of like the French. They keep the best wine for themselves and export all the other stuff With algae. They've been using it forever. Well, you know, the Aztecs used it 250 years ago, the Egyptians used it 2,000 years ago. But you don't know about it because it's not grown here and no one's told you about it. So that's what I've been doing for the last 15 years. I actually just got my PhD recently because there's a hundred thousand studies, a hundred thousand studies documenting all these things I'm telling you about what algae does, all the nutrients in algae does. So it's scientifically proven, endorsed by NASA and the United Nations, used safely for 60 years in Asia. The only problem with it is that you don't know about it. So that's what we're trying to do.
Speaker 1:How long does it take to get the full effect and benefits? And then, if you stop taking some of it, how long does that take? The benefits take to leave your system?
Speaker 2:Well, it depends what kind of benefit you're looking for. If you want to satisfy your hunger and have some energy, 20 minutes Spirulina gets into your body. You know, in seconds. If you chew it, Most people do swallow it because it's very chewy because of that high protein and all those essential fatty acids. It because it's very chewy because that high protein and that all those essential fatty acids.
Speaker 2:So, and if you're not feeling the energy and the kind of energy you get, I just I want to clarify too with spirulina it's not a stimulant. Caffeine, chemicals or sugar are stimulants and what stimulants do is they speed up molecules. It's like a stimulant is like putting paper on the fire and you get a burst of energy in it, but then you have a crash. Spirulina gives you energy at the cellular level. It's like putting a log on the fire, but it's very steady. So you don't really notice it so much, unless you took maybe 30 to 10. What you will notice is that you're not hungry, your focus is better, Things just feel more effortless and the more you take, the better you will feel from that. So that's why the you know NHL players, they take 75 before the game.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was going to say too is there like an amount that you begin to lose the benefit, or is it just the more the merrier?
Speaker 2:It's just the more the merrier. Children can take half the amount of adults until they're like 12. So if they're six, give them three a day. If they're 10, give them five a day, and if you're not feeling anything, just take more. And, on the other hand, if 10 gives you great focus because we've had people who are anemic. They've had two tablets and they said they had the best workout of their life because they were so anemic Because, remember all that chlorophyll is building your blood, so it has that effect as well, and you'll notice it when you stop taking it.
Speaker 2:So the day that you stop and this is not something you take occasionally, this is something you want to be taking every single day for the rest of your life, because we are in a nutrition health crisis. We're also in an environmental crisis and scientists all around the world know that algae is the answer. United Nations knew it 50 years ago. So you might as well get on the algae train now, because it's the only thing that's going to save us. Our food is so damaged, so over-processed. There's no nutrients in there anymore. There's just calories and crappy vegetable oil like canola stuff that's causing damage to your cells, to your body, to your brains. Our soils are so over-cropped. You're getting calories and maybe some fiber, but not nutrition. Your grandparents were the last generation that got nutrition, not nutrition. Your grandparents were the last generation that got nutrition. Algae is our last shot to get nutrition. So your grocery bill will go down if you take this every day. So this is why I call this your nutritional insurance.
Speaker 2:But as soon as you stop taking it, literally the next day you'll be dragging because your mitochondria aren't working. You can't store this thing called ATP, just like your body can't store vitamin C. This is why you need vitamin C every day. You need ATP every single nanosecond, and as soon as your mitochondria stop producing that high amounts of that ATP cellular energy, you feel it. You feel it in your brain. You feel it in your brain, you feel it in your energy. It just is. And because this protects your mitochondria, it has an immediate effect, both on the good side and when you stop taking it, on the downside.
Speaker 2:10 tablets a day is sort of what we suggest for adults for plugging nutritional gaps, 30 tablets which is what comes in one of these pouches for therapeutic amounts or for improving your workouts. Remember, there's only one calorie per tablet. So if anyone's actually on a GLP-1, definitely be taking this, because one of the problems with GLP-1, I guess the benefit is you're not eating because you're not hungry, but that means your cells aren't getting nourished either, and neither are your muscles. And what we see? And same for people as they age they eat less and so they get muscle wasting. I've read so many reports recently. There is no need to decline as you age zero, but you have to nourish your body and you have to maintain your muscle mass. You need to lift those heavy, weight-bearing exercises and nourish your mitochondria. And I'll share with you that I'm 68, so I'm going to be 69. So I'm like very, very close to 70.
Speaker 2:My brain works. This is all my own hair. I have no extensions. I don't use Botox. Everything works. I sleep well, I poop well, I move well. I only have millennials working for me. They can't keep up with me. I'm the poster child for what this stuff does.
Speaker 2:I've been taking it every single day for the last 15 years. So spirulina I take both of them all throughout the day. I love to eat them with actually pistachio nuts or macadamia nuts, but 10 of each a day for, and if you had to make a choice, I would always go for spirulina first. But the chlorella is really important because of this the chlorophyll and the detoxing, because the other problem why people are getting sick and things aren't working so well is the average adult in America has 700 toxins in their bodies and our immune systems were not built to support that kind of toxic load. The toxins get into your cell membrane, they get into your brain, they get into your mitochondria and they prevent things from working properly. Chlorella pulls it out. It's been studied for decades. So it pulls all those toxins and glyphosates out.
Speaker 2:And I want to reinforce this bowel movement thing because People don't like to talk about it. But if you're on medications, if you're eating a lot of gluten, if you're eating a lot of dairy, if you're traveling, if you're not drinking enough water, if you're eating too much protein a lot of people who are carnivore, they have constipation because they're eating so much protein this will solve that for you. It will stimulate peristalsis. You'll get up in the morning. Happy day trip to the bathroom. Remember nutrition in and junk in your trunk out. These two things are what keep you healthy and will help you live long without any of those diseases, chronic diseases. Keep your athletic performance at very high levels. You know Tom Brady he's been taking spirulina and chlorella for forever and you know, I know he's retired now, but that's one of the many things that he did. It wasn't the only thing, obviously, but but anyways. The lots of very key athletes know about this, but the word isn't. The benefits have not made its way out to the consumer in general.
Speaker 1:Now, is this something that you can get all the benefits just from algae? Are there other lifestyle diet implementations that you can make to enhance this feature, or does the algae act independently?
Speaker 2:Well, just algae will plug holes in your boat. All of us are in a boat. Think of us in a boat with holes in the boat sinking. So the spirulina will plug your nutritional gaps and get your boat floating, and the chlorella will pull out the toxins and keep you floating. So, if you did nothing else, the easiest thing to do is to add algae tablets to your diet, because a lot of things that require more effort are harder for people. One of them, though, that I well, there's two that I would strongly endorse is intermittent fasting.
Speaker 2:Why is intermittent fasting so important? So what? What is intermittent fasting? First of all, it means shrinking your eating window to a smaller period of time, and what that does is it allows your, because digestion takes 15% of your energy. So when you're not eating, snacking all day long, it allows your digestion to not occur because you're not eating, and 15% of that digestive energy is now rerouted to other parts of your body. So that's number one. Also, when you are doing intermittent fasting and shrinking that window, because when you're digesting food, the food gets broken down into glucose, which goes into your cells, which move into your mitochondria for generating this thing called ATP.
Speaker 2:While you're eating all the time your poor little mitochondria are trying to keep up with all this, all these electrons and ATP production. And I saw there's this video clip you can probably see it online of Lucille Ball, who was a very famous comedian in the 50s and 60s. And there's this little great short where she's working in a chocolate factory and that someone's speeding up the conveyor belt. She's supposed to take the chocolates and put them into boxes and they keep speeding up the conveyor belt and she can't keep up with the putting the chocolates into the boxes so she starts eating them or throwing them over her shoulder. It's very, very funny, but she can't keep up.
Speaker 2:When you are constantly eating, particularly carbs, your mitochondria and this thing called the electron transport chain are constantly trying to convert all those electrons to generate ATP for you. So it gets overwhelmed and the excess electrons spill out and cause free radical damage, and so they never have a chance to get a break. They never have a chance to do spring cleaning we all do spring cleaning, right. Or if you have teenagers, you know after a week of the kids throwing their socky socks all over the place. It's a big mess and they got to go clean their room. So when you're constantly eating, your poor little mitochondria in your cells never get a break to clean up. And if they never clean up, there's a lot of excess toxins and free radicals that build up in there that can cause the cell to become diseased. And so when you are doing intermittent fasting, it's like calling your mitochondria and say, okay, clean up time, we're not going to overload you, so go in there and clean up so you don't become a toxic, sick cell. So intermittent fasting does that for you. It gives you back extra energy, it gives your cells chance to clean up and so less likely that they will become a diseased cell. So that's number one.
Speaker 2:Intermittent fasting is really really good for you. And this is why spirulina is so great to use when you're intermittent fasting, because it's hard for people to transition into that, because they're used to maybe eating a big breakfast and a big lunch and snacking throughout the day. And so when you stop doing that, you're hungry or hangry as we say your stomach is grumbling, your focus is off and you might have blood sugar plummets. That will never happen if you supplement it with the spirulina tablets. Take two, five, ten, twenty does not break your intermittent fast. So so this is a great hack to use to keep you on that intermittent fasting window.
Speaker 2:Um, I do intermittent fasting, uh, throughout the day, and I usually I'm down to one meal a day. I have dinner. I started at noon and then I pushed it to one, then to two, to three, to four. I'm now down to like five or six so I can have a proper meal with everybody. But it takes a while. So be patient with yourself and just start small. If you're normally eating breakfast at eight, just maybe have it at 8.30 one next day and then maybe eat it at nine and then at 10, and just do it in small increments and fill in the gaps with the spirulina, because it will help you stay focused and not hungry and it doesn't break your fast. So intermittent fasting when you stack it with the spirulina or the chlorella particularly spirulina really, really great results for your health and for your mitochondria.
Speaker 2:The other important thing I want to emphasize is sleep. Sleep costs you nothing. Well, it might cost you a little annoyance from your partner or annoyance from your friends or because you're not available, but you will get so much more out of it. You will get better energy. You will be able to resist things that cause cravings and you will be able to be healthier. Because when you are sleeping, if you're getting proper sleep and you get into that deep REM, this is when your body heals. This is when your body releases toxins. This is when you are able to get rid of all the junk in your trunk, whether it's in your brain or in your colon.
Speaker 2:Sleep is so restorative and costs you nothing, and you also should try to get to bed at the same time every night, whether it's 9 o'clock, 10 o'clock. Try to get to bed by 10. Nine would be better. 10 o'clock, 10 o'clock, try to get to bed by 10, nine would be better. So you can get back to more something that reflects more regular circadian rhythm, which is how your body responds to the cycles of light. Your pineal gland, by the way, is what produces a lot of your melatonin, and so when you are helping release toxins, because also calcium clogs up your pineal gland and sort of toxins, so it's not generating melatonin, so it's harder for you to sleep. And as you get older, it's harder for you to sleep because you have less melatonin. So sleep is so restorative.
Speaker 2:And again, when you stack it with the spirulina during the day and the chlorella before bed. This helps create melaton bed. This helps create melatonin. This helps release the toxins. It also has something called chlorella growth factor which stimulates the growth of your cells. It also stimulates stem cells, which are the cells that can create they can be any part of your body to heal. So those would be my two most important suggestions.
Speaker 2:In addition, taking the chlorella, doing the intermittent fasting and getting proper sleep, you will feel like a new person. If you incorporate those three and you're worth it. I mean they always say on an airplane, put your mask on first if you're traveling with children, because if you don't get oxygen you can't help your children. If you aren't healthy and energized and your brain begged you to come out for that one extra nightcap or one more game, you know you're not at your best and you will suffer and cumulatively it adds up to aging and causing disease and causing damage to mitochondria and lowered immune health. So you're worth it.
Speaker 2:I mean you got to look after you. So I would just encourage people and when there's more of you because you're feeling better, then you have more to give. But you got to look after yourself mentally, physically, sleep wise, nutritionally, and nutritionally, algae can't. There's nothing you can find with more nutritional bang for your buck than algae tablets. But you have to buy it from a good source, and there was when you stack it with good sleep and, um, reducing your eating window. Um, it's a different world.
Speaker 1:It's, it's just, it's just fantastic why do you think america has been so late to kind of adopt some of the new emerging nutritional science? Because it feels like other countries are further ahead. I mean, I think an easy example was you know, in america we crush candy all the time, but there are certain candies, like skittles, that are banned in other countries. They're not allowed to consume them. So what is it that we're doing?
Speaker 2:differently, when we're supposed to be the most advanced country in the world. Money to make these sugary, carby, empty foods, so tempting for children and adults to eat. They occupy all of the airwaves on our television. Do you know that, america, there are only two countries in the entire world where pharmaceuticals are allowed to advertise directly to consumers Only two countries. One of them, which still mystifies me, is New Zealand, but the other one is America. I'm Canadian, by the way. I've lived here in America for 35 years but pharmaceuticals are banned from advertising their drugs to consumers in every single other country except America and New Zealand. And you can't turn on TV or open a magazine without seeing huge ads for these pharmaceutical drugs. And it's all about the money. They don't care that these things are damaging your health. They don't care that it's disrupting your endocrine system, your digestive system, your mitochondria. It's all about the bottom line for them.
Speaker 2:And unfortunately our society has been trained to believe go straight to our doctors for any time. We have a health issue. The problem is twofold. We have a health issue. The problem is twofold. Mds do not receive any nutritional education at all when they are taking their training. My niece is an MD and she can verify for this. So all they know are drugs, and the pharmaceutical industry is paid for. Medical doctors go to after they graduate and they basically pay for almost all the clinical trials. So all the doctors know about that. Medical doctors go to after they graduate and they basically pay for almost all the clinical trials. So all the doctors know about is which drugs to prescribe. They don't know anything about nutrition. So that's number one and they've taken away the ownership of our health. We think that when we aren't feeling good, we go to a doctor and they tell us what to do. No, you aren't feeling good. We go to a doctor and they tell us what to do. No, you aren't feeling good. You got to sit down and try to figure out what caused that. And our bodies will heal themselves automatically if you give the body what it needs and take away what it does not. But that takes time and that takes ownership. But it's giving you back the control. And in Europe this concept and holistic health idea has been around forever and it works. In Canada because the pharmaceuticals aren't as powerful. There's more interest in more natural healing modalities.
Speaker 2:America's late to the game because we've been brainwashed by the pharmaceutical and food industry to believe that what they create for us is good for us. It's not what it is is. It makes money for them. You need to put healthy things in your body and in your children's bodies and in your pets' bodies, and the sad thing is there's very few of those things on our grocery store shelves or that we are even familiar with. But the good news is the biohacking community is growing. The conference I'm going to is for functional medicine doctors there's 5,000 of them that come into this conference. Us and doctors there's 5,000 of them that come into this conference.
Speaker 2:The world has woken up to the fact that our community, our country, people in this country are basically being poisoned to death with false food additives, and it's time people wake up to that. Thank God, bobby Kennedy might be in the secretary seat for health and human services and he's going to take the pharmaceutical and food industry to task. There's no reason why Froot Loops in America can have a thousand toxic colors in it, whereas none of them are allowed in the same Froot Loops in Europe. No reason whatsoever. It's because it takes time to pull those things out and repackage them and rebrand them. So, parents anybody who's listening you deserve better. Your body is your territory. You own your body, you own your health and my company.
Speaker 2:I started my company because my sister developed breast cancer 15 years ago. She lives in Canada and fortunately her oncologist, which is a cancer specialist, was a woman and she was in Canada, and so she told her. Her oncologist told her to change her diet to an alkaline diet. That would never have happened in America, but it was because it was in Canada and they're more informed about nutrition. And it was a woman because women tend to be more open to nutritional.
Speaker 2:So my sister called me, asked me what an alkaline diet was. I didn't know at the time. It turns out to be a plant-based diet because of the chlorophyll and the phytonutrients, and so I gave her some tips. She changed her diet, she went through chemo, she completely healed. She's still cancer-free. I learned about plant-based nutrition and the importance of things like chlorophyll and phytonutrients and antioxidants like superoxidismutase Found out algae had the most of them, was used in Asia daily for 60 years and nobody in America knows about algae or its health benefits. So I decided 15 years ago to devote my life to helping you and people here in America to learn how to effortlessly, nutritionally safely protect their health and nutrition, their family's health, their athletic career, by something so simple as algae tablets, and so it's my honor to be providing something safe, pure, easy and scientifically proven for you to gain back your health and protect what you've lost.
Speaker 1:I think what's so frustrating about the system in America is the lack of the holistic approach, like you said, in the lack of desire to find root cause problems. If you look at other industries, it's always let's diagnose the root cause, work from there, attack the root cause problems. If you look at other industries, it's always let's diagnose the root cause, work from there, attack the root cause. Kind of changing gears a little bit from an athletic standpoint. Is there any science that points to increasing the longevity of careers and reducing injuries? I look at myself. I've had five knee surgeries, I've broken just about every bone in my body. I've had several concussions and I think about how much of that was due to lack of correct diet, lack of nutrition in this case, you know, lack of algae. Is there any proof of incorporating those things can help relieve some of that pain and some of those injuries?
Speaker 2:Well, there's lots of studies. As I mentioned, there's 100,000 overall, but there's almost too much science. I've gone through as much as I can to find and find links for certain things, but as an athlete, you need to protect all of those body parts. Your bones are where calcium is stored, but it's not calcium that actually makes them flexible. What makes them flexible are minerals and protein. That's what make and then and then bones are where your stem cells are made. So a lot of people overdose on calcium, thinking that it's important for them, which there's plenty of studies, extensive studies that prove calcium makes your bones brittle.
Speaker 1:So the milk crowd can stop telling me to drink warm milk. Is that what you're telling me?
Speaker 2:Please stop taking milk. Also, please stop taking kale. Kale is loaded with lectins and oxalates and it was a big marketing game. Milk is not good for anybody. Almost 90% of the population does do not have the enzymes required to digest it and anyway, so do not. Yeah, so calcium does not make your bones strong and there's endless, endless reports. But the milk marketing board wanted you to think that and they spent $400 million on ad campaigns and they were very successful.
Speaker 2:It's minerals and bones, and here's the problem. So I know we're probably coming up in time, but your body is so intelligent, so remember I showed you those hemoglobin. Well, your blood has these hemoglobins and that's where oxygen is stored, is inside the hemoglobin. But the hemoglobin have a negative charge around them so they don't clump, so they repel one another like a magnet would repel one another. But if you eat too much acidic food and what is acidic food? Dairy, animal protein, carbs, sugar, and what is everybody eating? Sugar, carbs, right, those things are acidic and they strip off that negative charge that surrounds your hemoglobin, so they clump and if they clump too much, they can't carry oxygen and then they can't get through the capillaries. So your body's so intelligent, it goes eeks. Too much acidity, too much sugar, too many processed foods. I need to balance out that acidity with minerals. So your body pulls minerals. And where are they stored? In your bones and in your organs and in your cells. It pulls out the minerals immediately to neutralize the acidity of your blood, because your blood needs to be 7.34 exactly every single time. What does that do to your bones? Makes them porous, makes them brittle. It causes all sorts of damage. It reduces your immune system. So there's endless things that you could do to improve your health and your bones, and one of them is reducing your calcium intake, for sure.
Speaker 2:Then for your muscles your muscles need protection, and one of the ways you do that is with protein to build them. Algae has the highest protein in the world three times more than steak and you need to protect your mitochondria. Your muscles have the fifth highest concentration of mitochondria. So you want to extend your athletic career, you want to manage your mitochondria health, and spirulina has the superoxidase that does that. So your muscles are looked after. Then you need to look at tendons. What do tendons need? They need collagen. Algae has the highest collagen in the world. It has 430 times more aminos of some aminos than collagen powder, by the way, collagen powder is not a sustainable, eco-friendly food, like algae is, and you need to build your immune system when you push yourself so hard on a practice or a game that takes a lot out of your body.
Speaker 2:So you constantly need to build your immune system so that you can pop back and not get sick and not miss a game. And so chlorella builds your immune system because it has your immune system, by the way, is in your gut. 80% of your immune system is in your gut and it's generated. What it does is it builds, it creates all these nutrients that will protect you. What is your immune system? I say it's like your police force. What does a police force do? It identifies an invader, takes them out and gets rid of them. That's what your immune system does it identifies an invader, kills it and pulls it out and remembers. So if the invader comes back, it will get rid of it faster. So you need to be sure you're feeding your immune system the nutrients it needs to do the work properly. It's like you know if you had a police force and you didn't give them a car to get to the place of whatever, you're not helping them. So this is like feeding your police force so it can look after you.
Speaker 2:And then for concussions, any contact sport I think I read a piece of paper that said something like 3 million concussions a year in America from contact sports. This is at school, high school, college, professional. That's a lot, and one of the things that happens is you get inflammation of the brain when you have a concussion, and so, because spirulina particularly has nutrients in it that reduce inflammation of the brain, you can get back to sport faster. So it's and recover from any concussion that you've had that may have some lingering issues. So there's so many things that the spirulina and chlorella can do to extend your athletic career, protect you from what's going on as an athletic, because it's also very stressful when you're an athlete, whether you won the game or not.
Speaker 2:The spirulina, again, will help with that. So there's other things, of course, that you need to be doing, and I point out again, the sleep is a big one. Intermittent fasting possibly Certainly cut out the sugars and the carbs. The Gatorade Sorry, gatorade, but it's not good for you, it just isn't. Insulin spikes cause all sorts of havoc in your cells and at the mitochondria level. There's other ways to fuel your sport, and spirulina is probably the best one.
Speaker 1:I could talk to you for about four more hours, but you know I appreciate you so much for coming on today. I know my listeners and myself have learned a great deal today. Myself have learned a great deal today. If people want to reach out to you, you know they want to get some energy bits. You know how can they do so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. Come and visit us at our website. The website is energybitscom E-N-E-R-G-Y B for boy, i-t for Tom, s for Sam, and we also write a blog every month and there's lots of information. Use the discount code athleticfortE all one word, no space between it You'll get 20% off of everything. We have fun canisters that you can shake out. We have the large bags. This is the best value. We have boxes of single pouches that are great for travel in your travel bag. Gym bag of single pouches that are great for travel in your travel bag, gym bag, lunch bag, whatever. Remember.
Speaker 2:Spirulina is the one that gives you energy. It's for brain health, energy, hunger, intermittent fasting, mitochondrial health. It's a blue-green algae, which is why it's in a blue bag and it gets absorbed very, very rapidly. Chlorella is the detox wellness algae. We call it recovery bits because it helps you recover from your sport, recover from your day, pulls out the toxins, stimulates peristalsis the bowel movements, kills bacteria. You'll never have to eat another vegetable again if you don't want to, and 10 tablets of each one would be sufficient. Again, we'd suggest spirulina in the morning, afternoon for lunch and you can take chlorella anytime, but definitely before bed to pull out the toxins and the alcohol and the lactic acid. And I also just want to reinforce that.
Speaker 2:Algae is not new, it's just new to you. It's first life on earth, 4 billion years ago, been used for centuries in other countries, but there's been nobody to tell you about it or give you a product that's really safe and pure and so you get all the benefits of it. You know, if you just get the cheaper one, it's like buying a car without an engine in it. I mean, really you're not going to get very far. It might look really nice parked in your driveway, but if you can't use it it's not very functional. So don't cheat yourself by getting a cheaper version, because you won't get all the benefits. And a dollar a day it's really affordable if you use that discount code, athletic Fortitude. It really is good and it's good for every age, your children, your pets, your grandparents and your favorite athletes. So it's good stuff.
Speaker 1:And I've been popping these like candy today, so it's definitely going to be a new part of my routine moving forward. Catherine, can't thank you enough for coming on today. Listeners, thank you for tuning in tune in next week. Download, go, subscribe to our YouTube channel. Five stars only, baby, baby. Thanks guys.