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- [00:00]
Catherine
This blue pigment in spirulina proven to kill cancer cells. This is crazy. How can something with so many healing properties not be known outside of Asia?
- [00:10]
Dr. Josh Axe
What are some of those studies that we can tell the audience about and how they correlate to different aspects of health?
- [00:15]
Catherine
I need to get this information out to a larger audience. Remind people we didn't know about chia or bone broth or collagen powder until somebody in America made it mainstream and helped explain it in a way that made it understandable. This was going to be my mission. You save time, you save it's food. NASA says it has a thousand times more nutrients than any other fruit or vegetable. So you can put it anywhere. It should be its own category on the food pyramid. So we've got known by the running community, the marathon community, the triathlon community, the Olympic community. Algae, spirulina and chlorella are multi billion dollar agricultural crops in Asia.
- [00:52]
Dr. Josh Axe
Why is it that the US government and the healthcare system has not adapted to it yet?
- [00:57]
Catherine
It's taken 16 years, but we need it more than ever. People are getting so sick so much earlier. The key to life, to longevity, to living optimally is.
- [01:17]
Dr. Josh Axe
Imagine your sister gets breast cancer. Her oncologist says alkaline diet to heal. My guest today quit her 25 year corporate career to dive into research and discover algae, the most alkaline, nutrient dense food and ever on the planet. Catherine, thank you so much for being on the show.
- [01:35]
Catherine
Well, thank you for having me and allowing me to share my story and algae's story.
- [01:40]
Dr. Josh Axe
How interesting that when they said alkaline diet you were like you said, listen, I'm gonna figure out what that means and what came up for you in the earlier research of algae.
- [01:51]
Catherine
Well, I'm grateful first of all that the oncologist advised her to change her diet, but they didn't tell her what an alkaline diet was, just that it was important. So I just went on Google to find out what an alkaline diet was. And it was pretty much a plant based diet because things like chlorophyll and phytonutrients are alkaline and have been proven to build your immune system. But then as I dug a little deeper, I found a German scientist by the name of Otto Warburg who back in the 40s won a Nobel prize for discovering that cancer cannot exist in cells that are slightly alkaline because the scale goes from 0 to 14. So as long as your cells are over 7, it means is alkaline. And so I have to assume her oncologist wanted her to have the alkaline diet, not only to build her immune system, cause she did go through chemo, but also to prevent the cancer from growing into additional cells by keeping them alkaline. And she eliminated lots of acidic foods like dairy and processed foods, gluten, wine. And then she did, and she's continued to be healthy. So she completely recovered. And in the process of researching alkaline foods, that's when I discovered spirulina and chlorella algae and how alkaline they were.
- [03:10]
Dr. Josh Axe
And so from when you started the brand, right. And got into the space and did the research and launched it to market, how much of the industry has now changed for you and your experience and how adaptive are people to your product now versus when you started?
- [03:24]
Catherine
Yeah, well, the algae, spirulina and chlorella are multi billion. That's with a b billion dollar agricultural crops in Asia. They have been taking spirulina chlorella daily for 60 years. 99.9% of all algae in the world is grown in all the Asian countries. So it's Japan, Taiwan, China, India. Virtually no algae is grown here in America. Although it's one of my goals and I look out jfk. I'm coming for you because we need an algae industry here in America. So I guess to answer your question, nothing has changed because in Asia it's as normal there as chia or matcha. Well, actually that's flaxseed. Flaxseeds are here. And on, on the flip side, still nobody in the United States or outside of Asia understand what algae is. They don't know that it's not. And we sell them in tiny tablets that I'll explain to you later on that it's not a supplement, it's food. It's a whole food. It's grown hydroponically, which means it's grown in water. So the only thing that has helped a little bit recently because I've been doing this now for almost 16 years, is Covid. Covid woke people up to the importance of their health. And so they started exploring things that were green and plant based. And plant based nutrition is now very well known. And since COVID which I guess was now three or four years, we have doubled in size every year. But for the first 13 years it was a struggle. I was selling them out of my knapsack to my friends at my health club Equinox. And it's been a long haul. But I just kept going, going deeper and deeper and deeper into the science, because I thought, why does this stuff work so well? Why does ours work so much better than anybody else's? And it's all explained in the science and how your body works, which is sort of the marriage of biohacking. Biohacking is all about understanding how your body works, what it needs to work optimally, and then finding either the devices, the nutrients, the processes, the protocols to give it those things. But sadly, most of Americans and anyone outside of Asia are completely still unaware that algae is literally the first biohack. It was the first life on Earth almost 4 billion years ago. Put that in perspective. We've been here 2 million humans have been on Earth for 2 million years. Algae, first life on Earth, not just the first plant, first life. And that was spirulina, which is a cyanobacteria.
- [06:00]
Dr. Josh Axe
If you want to live longer and heal naturally, you are going to love the Dr. Josh Axe show, hosted by my dear friend Dr. Axe. Every week he shares how to balance your hormones, restore your gut, boost your energy and slow down aging without relying on harsh medications or quick fixes. He shares both ancient biblical practices and the latest breakthroughs in nutrition, herbal remedies and lifestyle medicine. And he sits down with world renowned experts to have a real unfiltered conversation you won't hear anywhere else. If you're ready to take control of your health, renew your energy and transform your body, mind and spirit, tune in to the Dr. Josh Axe show every Monday and Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts. When it comes to the newer research that you're seeing and you're speaking about, what are some of those studies that we can tell the audience about and how they correlate to different aspects of health.
- [06:51]
Catherine
Well, probably the most important nutrient that almost nobody really knows about if you're not a scientist, is an antioxidant called, it's a long one, superoxide dismutase, also known as sod. And this particular antioxidant is absolutely recorded, required by your mitochondria to protect it from free radical damage. Mitochondria are the what's called organelles in all of your cells that generate cellular energy and it's called ATP. And if people aren't familiar with mitochondria, I make the analogy to lights in a building. You can't do any work in your building if you have a power outage or your light bulbs go out. Your mitochondria are the power source and the light bulbs. And so the key to life, to longevity, to living optim, is to keep as many mitochondria alive because they're your light source, but they get damaged, particularly after the age of 40. And I'll explain why, by free radicals. And so literally as they die, it's like having the lights go out in your building, and they go out faster and faster after the age of 40, because the mitochondria die faster and faster after the age of 40. So this particular antioxidant called superoxide dismutase, also known as sod, is what protects the mitochondria because. And I say it's sort of like having a big golf umbrell. You can never stop the free radicals because they're a byproduct of life, of ATP production. But what this stuff, superoxide dismutase, does is it converts it into water and oxygen so it does not harm the mitochondria. And I say it's like having a big golf umbrella. If you have one of those big golf umbrellas and you're caught in a rainstorm, whether you're golfing or shopping, you don't stop the rain, but you stop getting wet. The superoxide dismutase doesn't stop the free radicals, but it stops the damage to the mitochondria. But our bodies stop making it slow down, making it after the age of 30 and almost. It's almost gone by the time you're 40. Just like after 40, your body doesn't make much melatonin for women, doesn't make estrogen. This superoxidis is also something that diminishes as you get older. And this causes the mitochondria to become damaged. And when they're damaged, they die. And when they die, you have less cellular energy. When you have less cellular energy, you have chronic disease, you have weight gain, you have all sorts of diseases, whether it's dementia, heart attacks. This particular superoxide dismutase is found in the highest concentration in spirulina algae in the world. There is nothing in the world. In fact, there's almost no superoxide dismutase anywhere. And there are 25,000 studies, as you asked me about science, 25,000 studies documenting the importance of superoxide dismutase. But nobody knows that it's found in spirulina algae. So it's one of my big missions is to get people to be. But it's only in raw spirulina like ours, because it's also an enzyme. And all the cheaper algae companies use high heat to dry their algae to get it to market, and it deactivates this particular enzyme, which is critical.
- [09:56]
Dr. Josh Axe
Where are you sourcing a lot of your raw material from?
- [09:58]
Catherine
All of our algae is currently grown in Taiwan. We are the highest quality standard algae. We're the only algae company that I'm aware of that sells only through Dr. You can get it through our website, energybits.com or biohacking centers, longevity clinics. We don't sell through chain stores because it's medical grade food, because of the way that we grow it and the way that we dry it. I can't take credit for algae, that's mother nature. But I can take credit for preparing it in the best way to preserve all the nutrients. And we do third party lab tests here in the United States. So all the other cheaper algaes are grown in India or China by companies that have anywhere from 10 to 100 other products. They don't pay attention, they just pump the stuff out. But because we grow it so carefully and there's only a handful of companies that can do it for us, we're almost maxed out. So I've realized that the climate in Florida is virtually identical to the climate in Taiwan. Growing algae is not like growing broccoli. It's like making wine. And so when you make wine, it's affected by the angle of the sun, the climate conditions, and of course the production process. Process. So on the climate conditions, Taiwan and Florida are virtually identical. So I have two missions. One is obviously to get algae into the mainstream so people are aware of because it also has the highest concentration of protein in the world. Three times the amount of protein at steak. The United nations has endorsed algae, spirulina algae for 50 years as being the answer to world hunger. Because there is nothing in the world with more protein than spirulina algae. And chlorella has the highest chlorophyll in the world, which builds your blood and builds your immun. But I want to grow algae here in America and create a whole agricultural industry because it can be grown here, it should be grown here. And I also want. My other goal is to get algae on the new food pyramid because it's three times the amount of protein highest. NASA says it has a thousand times more nutrients than any other fruit or vegetable. So you can put it anywhere. It should be its own category on the food pyramid. And that will help people understand that algae is food and that you need it.
- [12:13]
Dr. Josh Axe
I was wondering, with all this great research, all the great health benefits, really no downside or down, you know, side effects, I would say, why is it that the US government and the healthcare system has not adapted to it yet.
- [12:26]
Catherine
Well, number one, nobody knows about it. It's not grown here in mass consumption. So we drive by corn fields or wheat fields or tomato patches. No algae farms in Asia, like in Taiwan. You can't ride your bicycle to school, drive to work without going by an algae farm. It's just normal. So I want to normalize it here. So that's number one. Number two is there's literally too much science about these health benefits. I did a deep dive and there's almost 100,000 studies documented. 60,000 for spirulina, 40,000 for chlorella, and it's overwhelming. So one of the things I've spent 16 years on PubMed going through these papers to pull out the nuggets of information that I can then reinterpret for practitioners for consumers. I've recorded 300 videos now. They're all about a minute and a half. Algae for brain health, algae for skin health, algae for gut health. Because that's about all people will watch. It's about a minute and a half. So nobody's taken the science and made it understandable. Nobody's grown algae in a big way to make it visible. And I explain, remind people we didn't know about chia or bone broth or kiwa or a lot of other things that have been used in other countries for centuries until some, somebody in America, collagen powder made it mainstream and helped explain it in a way that made it understandable. So that's what I'm doing for algae and there's literally nobody else in the world doing this.
- [13:56]
Dr. Josh Axe
I was going to ask you, was there a moment in time when you were doing all this research in regards to your sister's health that you realized this just wasn't another supplement? But actually, and that's the point that it became your life's mission. Was it a certain research paper you read or something you came across?
- [14:12]
Catherine
It was right at the very beginning because I have an mba, I was doing business, I was doing international business. Nothing to do with nutrition. But I love my sister and I'm a good researcher and I recently got my PhD to show people that I know how to do this, how to dig into science. So I think I read maybe 50 or 60 articles as I was digging into alkaline diets. And it kept all the references kept sending me back to spirulina and chlorella. So I started digging into them and I realized, this is crazy. How can something with so Many healing properties, so much nutrition not be known outside of Asia. And I realized, like, at the very. I literally had an epiphany. This was going to be my mission. I was going to take this science. Even though I had no science background. I argued with the universe, find somebody else who has science, not me. But it would not let me go. It's like, it was like, okay, I can teach myself the science. And I did. So it was very, very early. I saw that this was going to be a very big company with a very big mission. And it's taken 16 years, but we need it more than ever. People are getting so sick so much earlier for two main reasons. Our bodies aren't being nourished because our soils are so overcropped and damaged. Even if you ate vegetables and a lot of people go carnivore, even if you ate vegetables, you are getting fiber and calories, you are not getting nutrition. And also, the vegetables are grown so far away, they harvest them before they're ripe, before the enzymes are in the fruit or the leaves, and then they go to a warehouse and then another warehouse. By the time they get to your house, there's nothing there. So we're undernourished. And the toxicity level has gone through the roof. The average adult now has in America, got 700 toxins in them. Babies are born with toxins. And whether it's glyphosate, pesticide, mold, spores, heavy metals, chlorella pulls out all of the. All these toxins and all these heavy metals. So spirulina, we call ours energy bits. It's the answer for nutrition. This puts nourishment into your body so that everybody can get what they need, fill nutritional gaps. It also, it can be used for therapeutic purposes. And chlorella, which we call ours recovery bits, will pull out the toxins. Heavy metals, glyphosate, doesn't matter, alcohol, lactic acid. And they're critical because even if you are getting nourished, if the toxins are sitting on what's called the receptor cells, it's like having somebody steal your parking spot. The nourishment can't get in if the toxin is sitting on the receptor cells. So you need both of them. And this one, chlorella really heals the gut because of the high chlorophyll. It has the hard cell wall that attaches to the toxins. The high nutrients build your immune system, which, of course, 80% of your immune system is in your gut. So chlorella is known as a gut health algae it's been used for IBS and Crohn's disease for decades. And then spirulina. Not only does it give you energy, cellular energy, mentally and physically, because your brain has the most mitochondria and because this heals your mitochondria, this is brain food. And of course the two of them are joined by something called the vagus nerve. So as one heals, you heal the other one and vice versa. So they work really well together.
- [17:38]
Dr. Josh Axe
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- [19:04]
Catherine
In as I have not, although I've had some blood tests recently and my inflammation levels were so low they basically didn't even make it on the chart. And a couple of years ago I was at one of Dave Asprey's conferences and Braintap, they have a set of tests that they can do to determine your chronological age. And so usually what they do is they test people to get their biological age, rather they test them before they do their brain tap device. But in my case they said let's do something different. Why don't we test you? Then you go have your spirulina and chlorella and come back an hour later and we'll test you again. So at the time, I think I was 67, by the way, I turned 70 this year, 7 0. And I do not take any medications, any other supplements, just spirulina, chlorella. But, you know, three years ago I was 67. Ish. So they did my test, then I had my spirulina and chlorella came back an hour later. And when I came back, my biological age was 30, according to their tests. And at the time I was 60. Yeah. So I'm gonna go, I'm gonna get some more tests done because I want to get a more updated version and get more markers. But Brian Johnson, you know, he's, he's taking, taking 150 supplements a day and spending $2 million a year. And I, with my algae. If you took it every day, might cost you. If you took it every day, maybe $1,000 a year. And that's it. That's all you have to do, and you can knock off decades off your life. At least I did.
- [20:36]
Dr. Josh Axe
And do you basically take 30 tablets a day yourself?
- [20:38]
Catherine
Well, I take probably more. I mean, I have used it every single day and I love it. And I eat mine. Most people don't like the spirulina, they swallow them. But I does it makes a difference.
- [20:49]
Dr. Josh Axe
If you chew it, swallow it, it.
- [20:51]
Catherine
Gets into your bloodstream faster because it goes in through sublingually through your mouth. So I put sea salt on it. The chlorella tastes delicious with pistachios or macadamia nuts. It's like a trail mix. You can blend it in with your smoothie, but, you know, it's pretty safe when you swallow it. And I know you had some before our show. There's no repeat, right? It's not like fish oil.
- [21:15]
Dr. Josh Axe
No, no, no.
- [21:15]
Catherine
It goes down, stays down. This is why when we first started, I had a lot of yeast, young people working with me, and they were all runners. And the runners loved the spirulina because it gave them focus and energy and did not upset their stomach. When you take gel or goos or bars, there's sugar and carbs and triathletes were, you know, pooping in their pants. But this didn't happen with the spirulina. So we got known by the running community, the marathon community, the triathlon community, the Olympic community. We had so many Olympic teams, teams and athletes using our product. You know, seven or eight years ago, I sent my team to the Winter Olympics and we had access to the Winter Village. The American and The Canadian, because I'm Canadian. And then people, the athletes take the chlorella afterwards because it pulls out toxins including lactic acid, so you don't suffer what's called doms, which is delayed onset muscle soreness. So this is great fasting. It doesn't interfere with your fast. It's great for exercising in a fast state. Every single person, instead of asking why you should be taking spirulina and chlorella, you should be asking yourself, why wouldn't I? Because it's a whole food and it's been here for almost 4 billion years waiting for people to discover it.
- [22:26]
Dr. Josh Axe
So the highest, like population in the entire body of mitochondria is actually in your oocytes and your eggs. So I wonder what the correlation between taking this stuff when you're going through an IVF cycle, you're trying to get conceive, and what the health benefits of that could be given that so much mitochondria live in your actual oocytes. So that stuff is always interesting to me to see if we increased ATP production through these healthy alternatives. Whether you're going through an IVF cycle or you're trying to conceive naturally during that duration and window how that would actually be applied to more live birth.
- [22:57]
Catherine
Rates, I'm convinced it will, it will definitely help. In fact, There's a gentleman, Dr. Kilts, who I've known for years, he has a fertility clinic. He's 18 clinics throughout the country and we're just starting to work with him now. Yes, because the highest concentration is actually your brain. It's 2 million mitochondria per cell in your brain. Second is women's eggs. It's 750,000 2 million mitochondria per cell. And the third is your heart. And then after that your muscles. And then it drops significantly down to your skin and your fat cells. Because the greatest mitochondria are where the greatest energy needs are. Takes a lot of energy to think. It takes a lot of energy to make a baby. So I know we can improve women's fertility rates with spirulina in particular. And also when you do get pregnant, then this helps you because it gives you physical energy. It's not a stimulant. And of course it will help the baby because everything that you're eating will get into the, into the embryo. And there's a. I saw a chart one day of women's breast milk and I thought, gosh, that looks awfully familiar. The nutrients in spirulina are almost identical to the Nutrients in mother's breast milk, the same aminos in the same proportions. And it has a very high concentration of an amino acid called sensitive fatty acid, rather called gamma linic acid, gla, which is important for the baby's brain. And the only place with more of this GLA than spirulina is mother's breast milk. Now normally GLA is considered an omega 6, and normally omega 6s are considered unhealthy, but it's particularly if they're heated. But because we don't heat our algae, it behaves like an Omega 3. So good for your brain, good for the baby, good for everything. So it's, it's crazy. It's almost a miracle food. And this is why I get excited, but it's also frustrated. It's like I need to get this information out to a larger audience. So I'm actually writing a book starting in January so we can get this out to the mainstream. I've started my own podcast. We're just pushing it out a little further because we've been very active in the biohacking community. I've been at Dave's show, gosh, I think five or six years. I know Dave quite well. I've been on, on his podcast multiple times. We do all the biohacking shows and it up levels every other biohack, whether it's cold plunges, red light, breathwork for all for science reasons. But it's also its own best biohack by itself.
- [25:35]
Dr. Josh Axe
I was gonna ask at what stage for you when you started looking into the research primarily to help your sister, did you think, okay, this would be a great business idea and when did the entrepreneurial gene go on?
- [25:46]
Catherine
Well, I didn't even think I was going to start a company. I just wanted to get the knowledge about this out. And then I realized again right at the very beginning, well, the only way to get it out, well, A, is getting that knowledge out. But B, I realized almost all the algae that was sold in America came from these India, Indian and China suppliers. So to get the full benefit of the algae, it had to be, be grown better, it had to have the nutrients preserved. So it all kind of came together at the same time. And that, well, if I'm going to tell people about these health benefits, therapeutic benefits, they need to have a source that's going to do all this stuff. And the stuff I, because I researched it pretty thoroughly, I went to all the shows, I talked to some of the companies.
- [26:32]
Dr. Josh Axe
Have you gone to Taiwan ever? And seen how it's growing I'm going.
- [26:35]
Catherine
In March or actually probably April this year. I have someone who works with me who's been growing the algae for almost 35 years. So they've been my representative over there. But I'm going and I'm going to take a film crew. So I'll be on the ponds and getting it dried. Yeah, so. And we were thinking of, we might even make a documentary. So we're starting to have some conversations with Netflix. And Elon Musk recently invested a billion dollars into a film company to do things that are sort of unknown or controversial. So we're going to get a Sizzler reel done and we'll see what happens. But this has to be made, the book has to come out, the movie has to be done, a documentary. And then, and then we'll, we'll have to be growing it here. So.
- [27:20]
Dr. Josh Axe
And are you guys simultaneously, as you're investing, getting the message up more, Are you guys simultaneously looking to invest in more data and testing over here in the US Are partnering with labs or companies that test for certain different markets?
- [27:30]
Catherine
Absolutely. Scientists, science is everything. Tests are everything. So we've done two small mini clinical trials of our own. They're both quite small. One we did with a local group here in Florida called the Gray Team. They're a non profit that helps, that works with military veterans because the suicide rate for military veterans is heartbreaking. It's almost at 50%. So they're doing anything they can to bring this down. So they're looking at nutritional interventions. They've done other biohacks and they've known me for a while. So this is about two years ago. They said, why don't we do a small trial? We'll take a group of our veterans who have been discharged because they have post traumatic stress disorder, can't sleep, and we'll give them the spirulina for a month. So we'll do a brain scan first and then another brain scan 30 days later. And we had them hooked up to a wafi machine which did all the biomarkers with the heart rate variable. So anyway, anyways, so we did the brain scan and it showed all inflammation, which was a solid blue color. Same thing happens with athletes when they have a concussion. You see a solid blue because you want lots of colors. And then after 30 days, they were told not to change anything. Not their diet, not their routine. All the colors are back. The inflammation was gone. And it probably would have been gone after even a week. But we didn't do the brain scan after A week. So that was one.
- [28:53]
Dr. Josh Axe
How big was the group that they did?
- [28:55]
Catherine
It was just five people. And we'd like to do a larger study. We really should have a science department. That's all we're doing are tests. So that was one little small test. Another test we did was last year actually with a group called MI Screen. And you can find them online, mi screen.com and they have developed Hemel Patel is the chief scientific officer there. He does all of the brain research with Joe Dispenza. So really great group down in Southern California, San Diego. And so with this test, we wanted proof that the mitochondria performance was improving from the spirulina. So with MI Screen, it's a blood test. Just a single drop and you can do it online. I think it's 5 or $600. It will give you all these markers about. The composition of the mitochondria, how much excess ATP they can generate, blah, blah, blah. So we got the baseline in this case. We did the second blood test after seven days because I learned my lesson with the first one. And then we did it again after the 30 days. And I have a great quote from Hemmel Patel. He said the only time he's seen mitochondria improvement this great was in another test where he had a large group of people and they had done intermittent fasting for 90 days. In seven days they got better results from spirulina. Then after 90 days of doing fasting. So I said to people, well, what would you like to do? 90 days of fasting or 7 days of spirulina? The best, of course would be to do spirulina and intermittent fasting. And then you'll sort of. That's your stack. That's a great stack. And that's what I do. I intermittent fast pretty much every day using spirulina and chlorella, though spirulina is the one that gives you energy.
- [30:43]
Dr. Josh Axe
The only thing I always say to women is we have to be careful with our intention, intermittent fasting, especially if you're into childbearing years and things like that.
- [30:49]
Catherine
Same with. Exactly.
- [30:51]
Dr. Josh Axe
Oh yeah. Coldplunch is another big one because you need to a monitor your fasting glucose. So it's not for everybody. It's amazing that you could do it. For example, I've been told the opposite. I've been told you need to get up and take in 40 grams of protein that are there because my blood sugar is so unregulated throughout the day. And so I back in the day was intermittent fasting and then when I kept on saying my blood work keeps on coming back, they're like, you can't even like do a small window the minute you wake up within 30, 40 minutes. You need to consume protein.
- [31:17]
Catherine
When I travel, I always have a huge breakfast because sometimes it's the only meal I'm gonna get.
- [31:23]
Dr. Josh Axe
Yeah, yeah.
- [31:24]
Catherine
So and I. And eggs are my go to.
- [31:25]
Dr. Josh Axe
Eggs, yeah, that's the best thing to take in in the morning. Fresh. But you know, really trying to get that protein in. So I always say it's like we can look like I look. I mean I am super petite and I've gained like six pounds of muscle in the last, the last six, seven months, which I've really been working very.
- [31:41]
Catherine
Hard to do, trying to do that.
- [31:43]
Dr. Josh Axe
But even then, yeah, my body's like, nope, you're not fasting because my cortisol response is so high. So it's. And then you get into flight fight or flight response. Yeah. It's amazing that spirulina in seven days can give you the same effect that intermittent fasting has to give you in 90 days, which is just a quick little by hawk for somebody like me who can't fast. This is like an easy go to.
- [32:05]
Catherine
Or just if you're just busy. When we go to these shows, all the other vendors like to be located near us because sometimes you're so busy you don't have time to eat. So this has 40 vitamins and minerals, 64% protein. So it sustains you whether it's for workouts for your day. If you're a busy doctor, you're driving, it doesn't matter whether you're a heart surgeon or a truck driver, you need focus and you need to have this alertness. But digestion takes 15% of your energy. And so spirulina, because it is a bacteria, which means it has no cellulose wall, it gets absorbed so fast almost instantly if you chew it and within 20 minutes if you swallow, literally bypasses digestion. So not only does it give you energy because all the protein, the aminos are individual aminos, it has 18 of the 20. It's a complete protein. But not only does it give you all that energy, you get energy back because you're not using energy for digestion. So it's a twofer, two for one.
- [33:09]
Dr. Josh Axe
When it comes to like having raw ingredients versus like consumer product, like trust every single day. Have you tried to, have you had to along the course of your journey creating the brand and stuff change like where you were getting the raw material from, discovered better places. How did you land on the place that you finally have?
- [33:26]
Catherine
Yeah, well, I did my research very thoroughly in the beginning and found that all the inexpensive, poor quality was coming from China and India and that the best, the gold standard was Taiwan. So for me, Taiwan was it. However, I will say about three years ago, I panicked because China is planning to take over Taiwan and it will probably happen. But there was a lot of news coverage. I thought, oh, my God, they're going to do it this year. And what if they, you know, stop exports? Of course, they never would because they want Taiwan to generate so much revenue for them. Why would they? But in my head, I thought, oh, I gotta find. I gotta try. I have to find somewhere. So I tried one supplier in India. I did one small batch. It was horrible. And I said, that's it. I am never leaving Taiwan again.
- [34:16]
Dr. Josh Axe
You might just have to start your own algae farm there.
- [34:19]
Catherine
I will. But that's why I thought, you know what? Because I discovered that the climate here, it has to be subtropical. Water will be an issue, but I've got some ideas about that. But here's the other thing. So I'm a purist. We grow our algae outdoors. They're called ponds, but they're spirulina. Grows in long, narrow, what's called runways because it's called spirulina, because it grows in a spiral and chlorella puffs out. So it's grown in round ponds. But there is another way to grow, especially spirulina, and it's already being done in other parts of the world. And I'm going to experiment with this as well. It's grown underground in glass tubes with LED lights. There is a company in Iceland that grows spirulina. They have five floor Iceland. They grow five floors underground only for the Omega 3. They only want it for the Omega 3. And they pull off the protein. And you know what they do with the protein? They donate it to Africa. How awesome is that? There's another company in Spain that we're talking to. Same thing. They grow it underground with these glass tubes. And they grow it specifically for this phycocyanin, which is the blue pigment, which I haven't mentioned yet. This blue pigment in spirulina, proven to kill cancer cells. Cells, Yep. Absolutely, scientifically proven. The chemotherapy companies put it in their treatments now. And I can tell you what the pathway is. What?
- [35:45]
Dr. Josh Axe
Yeah. What is the pathway?
- [35:47]
Catherine
So it gets a little geeky. Are you okay? Yeah, yeah.
- [35:50]
Dr. Josh Axe
We want to hear it.
- [35:51]
Catherine
Okay. So we talked about cellular energy, and it generates this stuff called ATP. And the way the ATP is actually created is through this process called the electron transport chain. And the way the electron transport chain works is very similar to a relay radio race. We've all seen relay races where you have a runner who pass a baton to the next runner, who then passes a baton to the next runner, and they hope to cross the finish line first. Well, the way that the ATP is actually generated is through these protein molecules embedded in the inner membrane of the mitochondria. So they're like the runner, these little proteins. Instead of passing a baton, they pass an electron. And the goal is to get those electrons moving quickly, as rapidly as possible to the final runner so it can generate the ATP. It all works beautifully when you have a healthy mitochondria, but when the mitochondria get damaged, they expand, and this causes the electrons not to pass from one to the other easily. So a, you get less ATP, and also that electron doesn't disappear. It becomes a free radical. But the great thing is, in this electron transport chain, the runners, there's two helper molecules. One is CoQ10 that people are familiar with. The other one is something they've probably never heard of, called cytochrome C. Now, in a healthy cell, that cytochrome C molecule is sped up by the blue pigment. It's like having a Ferrari. Voom. That's one of the reasons why spirulina gives you energy, because it speeds up that cytochrome C helper molecule so that the electron can be moved faster and you get more ATP, so you get more energy. However, in an unhealthy cell, a cancer cell, or a senescent cell, the cytochrome, the blue phycocyanin, detects that it's a cancer cell. And instead of speeding up the cytochrome C molecule, it ejects it, which triggers something called capases, which triggers something called apoptosis, which is cell death. Cancer cells cannot go through this process called apoptosis. So this causes it. This causes the cell to die.
- [38:02]
Dr. Josh Axe
That's amazing.
- [38:04]
Catherine
So I tell. You know, so I call spirulina intelligent food for two reasons. You have to be intelligent to take it, and it knows what to do in your body.
- [38:12]
Dr. Josh Axe
I mean, look at you at 70 years old. Like, I had no idea. When I walked in, my face just dropped. To know that you're. You're 70, you're so sharp. You're so on top of your skin. Is amazing. Your hair is amazing.
- [38:23]
Catherine
I don't have extensions. I don't use Botox. I sleep well.
- [38:27]
Dr. Josh Axe
But you're sharp. You're on it. You know, I know people in their 30s and 40s, which I'm in my 40s, who have, like, brain fog and cancering a sentence together. Half the time I'm like, is everything okay?
- [38:36]
Catherine
Yeah.
- [38:37]
Dr. Josh Axe
And, like, you're like, at 70 years old. This is what I take, and I swear by it.
- [38:40]
Catherine
Well, this is the other reason I want people to know this stuff. Yes. I'm a sample size of one, but I take. Consider no medications. 45% of people over the age of 65 have at least three chronic diseases or at least three medications.
- [38:55]
Dr. Josh Axe
Two to three minimum, especially women, is higher.
- [38:57]
Catherine
Yeah. And I take none. And also, I don't take any other supplements. I do take vitamin C when I'm traveling, and also magnesium, but when I'm at home, this is it. This is all I take. So it replaces a multi, a CoQ10, a biotin, fish oil, collagen powder. So you save time, you save money. It's food.
- [39:17]
Dr. Josh Axe
Yeah, it's food. And then how is your sleep at night with all this stuff? Great, because that's the thing I always think about as women get older, because our hormones change so drastically, Sleep is the number one thing that gets affected. Now if you don't sleep properly, regardless.
- [39:33]
Catherine
You'Re not gonna get your repair.
- [39:35]
Dr. Josh Axe
You're not gonna get the repair. You are gonna be disturbed in the day. Your brain function will suffer. How you look is gonna suffer. How you show up is gonna suffer. Your energy is disturbed.
- [39:42]
Catherine
Yeah.
- [39:42]
Dr. Josh Axe
So I'm wondering what your sleep is like taking this.
- [39:45]
Catherine
Well, it's interesting you mentioned that, because we're having early discussions with OURA ring because so many people have told us who have OURA rings that when they started taking chlorella, because chlorella has the highest tryptophan in the world, which is the precursor to melatonin. So it actually helps you get into a deeper sleep. It won't make you sleepy, but it'll help you get into a deeper sleep. They've noticed on their OURA ring that their sleep score went through the roof as soon as they started the deep sleep.
- [40:09]
Dr. Josh Axe
And REM sleep.
- [40:10]
Catherine
Yeah. Is when you do the REM sleep. So chlorella. This is why we recommend chlorella before bed. Because your body goes through detox repair when you're sleeping. And this will give you a better detox repair, and it will help you get into that Deeper sleep. Spirulina. You want energy and focus during it in the day. So we're having early discussions. I'm buying an Oura ring for my entire team and we're going to do a little. Our own little mini clinical trial. And we're going to talk to Aura because it's like, hey, listen, if you want evidence that you're. And you want your customers to see the best results, give them chlorella before bed. They will see. Because whenever you buy anything new, you wonder, is it working? I don't know. You want results. They will see results on their sleep score as soon as they start taking chlorella. So if anyone from Aura is. I have one of my team in discussion, discussions with people there now.
- [41:02]
Dr. Josh Axe
It's really interesting.
- [41:03]
Catherine
So we're going to be doing that and we're going to have our own little clinical trial. We're going to. It's going to pain me. I'm going to have to take. Stop taking my algae for a week or two to get back to a baseline. And then we'll start doing.
- [41:13]
Dr. Josh Axe
And you should track your own sleep at that time that you stop kind of taking the algae.
- [41:17]
Catherine
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's. And the other thing that I want to mention that not a lot of people talk about, but I met a company, we were at the Coffee and Chilled event, like yesterday at Art Basel. So the other thing that we need to help people with is their bowel movements.
- [41:34]
Dr. Josh Axe
Yeah, a lot of people are not taking.
- [41:35]
Catherine
If you're on medication or eating dairy or you're traveling a lot, you're stressed, you are not having regular bowel movements. And if you aren't having regular bowel movements, I tell people, what do you think is down there? Stuff your body didn't want. It's like having a garbage truck parked in front of your house permanently. We need to get the bowels moved. Chlorellis stimulates what's called peristalsis, which. Which is a fancy word for saying bowel movements. So it helps you get into a deeper REM sleep. It will give you a nice bowel movement in the morning. A second aside, I will give another little shout out to another food that helps you with bowel movements. Fresh pineapple. It's the bromelain that's in the pineapple. And I've tried in the past, I tried bromelain supplements. Fresh pineapple ladies will get. It's great for your skin, it's great for repair, it's great for bowel movements. So those two. But certainly the chlorella for sure. For the bowel movements.
- [42:27]
Dr. Josh Axe
I've just. It's been so fascinating learning about the brand and hearing your story and how you got started in it, but all these other health benefits that I had no idea.
- [42:35]
Catherine
And nobody does that.
- [42:36]
Dr. Josh Axe
It had and all the things. And you're obviously a living, breathing example of that. It's just been fascinating to learn about it. I think my community is gonna benefit so much, you know, for all the women who, like, sign up to the show and listen to it. And I'm really interested to see the research that comes out linking it to fertility.
- [42:52]
Catherine
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [42:53]
Dr. Josh Axe
And inflammation, obviously. And another thing to remember is when you have more inflammation in your body, you have a lot lower likelihood to actually conceive.
- [43:01]
Catherine
Yeah.
- [43:01]
Dr. Josh Axe
And get pregnant. Any sort of inflammation in the body is the biggest disruptor. So we want to live in a day and age and try to do everything in our power to lower inflammation in our body in every way, shape and form.
- [43:13]
Catherine
So we call it the silent killer, because it can be. You can have inflammation and there's no simple. In fact, it can start as early as 30, and then the symptoms start showing up. So then you try to address the symptoms, but you really need to address the root cause. And the inflammation is in the mitochondria. And so spirulina in particular, but also chlorella are best known for reducing inflammation. And there's endless amounts of research on that, especially the superoxide dismutase. But it's crazy.
- [43:42]
Dr. Josh Axe
I just did recent blood work and I came back better than I was in the summer, but I'm still, like, a little inflamed. So I want to do a little trial on myself, take the product for 90 days and report back to you with my inflammation.
- [43:53]
Catherine
Yes.
- [43:53]
Dr. Josh Axe
Levels. And do blood before and after to see how I net out. And then share the results, obviously, with our community, because I like to tune things in real time and say, is this working? Is this not? What's the immediate effect? How is it affecting my body? Is it better sleep? Am I feeling more clean energy? Am I feeling less crashes? So I'm going to try this little demo on myself as well.
- [44:12]
Catherine
Oh, that'd be awesome. And the way I described how you'll feel with spirulina, it's not a stimulant. A stimulant is like coffee or sugar. It's like putting paper on a fire. You get a burst and then a crash. This is like putting a log on the fire. It's very steady and you might not even notice it unless you were doing a workout or you're maybe reading a book or writing an exam because you just feel fresh. That's it.
- [44:34]
Dr. Josh Axe
That's what you told me when I took it.
- [44:36]
Catherine
Yeah. Nothing more dramatic. No drama. Absolutely no drama. And same with chlorella. You know, you can't just do a detox annually. Quarterly. Monthly. Taking chlorella is like giving your body a shower from the inside every single day because we are so exposed and we've got to get rid of all those toxins. This is. I consider this your health insurance, and this is your nutritional insurance. So this is AM, this is PM.
- [45:00]
Dr. Josh Axe
I'm excited to try this. I'm gonna do 90. I just got new blood work done. And the next time I'm gonna test is in 90 days. So I wanna see how my marker, my inflammatory markers that came back that I'm actually trying to work on right now go down during this process.
- [45:12]
Catherine
Nice.
- [45:13]
Dr. Josh Axe
And some of my health.
- [45:14]
Catherine
Okay, we're going to set you up. We'll get you all locked and loaded.
- [45:17]
Dr. Josh Axe
So what else do you think we haven't shared with the community that you think would be really beneficial for them to know?
- [45:22]
Catherine
Well, as I keep mentioning that it's food. And I want people to understand algae isn't new. It's just new to you. And as you didn't know about all these benefits of it's. Nobody does. And yet the science is there. It's been endorsed by international agencies for five decades. Why should the Asians be the only ones benefiting from it? And it's good for every age group. Your children, your teens, your pets, your grandparents. No drug interactions. None. There's no upper limit. We fuel NHL teams, NFL teams, the NHL players, the hockey players, they'll take 75 of these in their smoothie because they need lots of energy on the ice, lots of focus. And then they'll put 75 in their smoothie afterwards to pull all the lactic acid out. So you can have as much as you want if you have a health condition. A starter amount, by the way, would be like 10 spirulina in the morning or afternoon or whatever. And 10 chlorella, that's just to fill gas. If you're addressing a health condition or like, for you, I'd like to have you take the full 30. 30 is the therapeutic amount. That's something you could do, but you can have more. I've probably combined. I've had at least 100 a day. But remember, my food bill has gone down. I take no other supplements. I don't have to worry about, you know, do I take this one with fruit and this one not with fruit. Mother nature has put it all together for us. If you take individual supplements, it's like listening to individual soloists and they're playing different instruments, different music. When you take algae, it's like listening to an orchestra because mother nature has put all the enzymes and coenzymes factors and co factors so everything up levels each other so you get a much richer, better result. And the numbers are lower because your body absorbs 99% of it on the supplements. They know your body's only going to absorb about 10%. So the numbers have to be so high. And most supplements, there are exceptions, but most are made from extracts and artificial ingredients that your body can't recognize. So these things last for three years.
- [47:31]
Dr. Josh Axe
I'm also going to convince you to give a code to our community so they can try it for themselves. So we're going to issue a code.
- [47:36]
Catherine
Biohackit gives you 20% off on anything. We have fun canisters and large bags, individuals.
- [47:42]
Dr. Josh Axe
These are great to travel, travel with.
- [47:44]
Catherine
Great for travel with. So biohacketergybits.com it works on everything all the time. So don't, don't panic. And we write blogs every month, so come and learn about it. Yeah, algae. I wrote a little booklet, I forgot to bring one called the algae Love Story. I started going into this because of the love for my sister, but it literally loves your body back to health. And so I just want everyone to experience that. That for themselves.
- [48:10]
Dr. Josh Axe
I'm super appreciative that you came and educated me so much on this and told me all the incredible research and what it does to your body. And I'm excited to start taking it and trying it now.
- [48:19]
Catherine
Yeah.
- [48:19]
Dr. Josh Axe
And coming back and letting everybody know how my inflammatory markers have gone down.
- [48:23]
Catherine
Yeah.
- [48:24]
Dr. Josh Axe
And to share your product and your something that, like you said, you started to help your sister, but it's been hugely beneficial to so many other people. So thank you for creating this and all the work that you're doing.
- [48:34]
Catherine
Well, thank you. And thank you for helping me get the word out. We'll. We're going to make algae mainstream and Amen. You know, let's all love algae. Get on the line.
- [48:42]
Dr. Josh Axe
Simple, easy, crazy. Thank you so much.
- [48:46]
Catherine
Thank you. Amen.