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Brian
Sunscreens are kind of like a modern scam.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
I feel like the skin cancer numbers just keep going up every year the more we're using sunscreen.
Brian
Our ancestors got hours and hours of sunlight a day. That daily dose that we get from the sun, it's refilling our antioxidant reserves. It's charging us with the redox stuff. It's doing so much. The number one nutrient in our lives is light. We're not designed to get blue light. Your energy production goes down, your electrical systems are not working as well. It's just really toxic. A lot of people deal with SATs, you seasonal affective disorder. And the medical recommendation for that are SAD's lamps, which are LED. Blue light. It's kind of like crack. You get charged up and you're like, whoa.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Brian, I just want to say thank you so much for coming on the Real Foodology podcast. I'm so happy to have you on. This is going to be such a fun episode.
Brian
Thank you for having me. I'm really grateful to be here.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
So you have a personal story and why you created sauna space in the first place. And I wanted. I want my audience to hear a little bit about that. And how did light therapy change your life? Life?
Brian
Yeah, my, My mom recommended that I use a sauna and specifically this type of sauna. And I, I was, I was. At the end of my college career, I was doing rental real estate. I wasn't like, I didn't have chronic illness per se, but I, I w. I didn't have a lot of energy and I had acne on my back and I didn't sleep well. You know, I, I would. I had trouble falling asleep, and then I would wake up, like, still tired. So I knew something was going on. And my mom was like, you're probably just toxic, Brian. She's a naturopathic focused physician, so she's always been super cool like that. Growing up in Montana, she was doing supplements and vitamins in the 80s, like a long time ago. So I said, oh, okay. And I checked out this type of sauna. It actually dates back to this guy, Dr. Kellogg, in the early 20th century. And he was.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
It's not the same Kellogg as Kellogg's cereal, right? Because I think he was a doctor too, wasn't he?
Brian
Yes, it actually. Is it the same him and his brother? So, yeah, he. They were. He was trying out a lot of natural healing modalities to. He was against petrochemical medicine. He was for natural medicine. So he was doing cold therapy, vibration Therapy.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Cool.
Brian
And he was making. And he was doing a lot of weird things too, like the whole brand cereal things, like sort of a different story of how male libido is considered to be like a big problem and masturbation.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
So that's why he created corn based cereal.
Brian
So he created these Corn Flakes, like, calm men down. And it was his brother who. Who actually took it. And they had a big schism because his brother said, let's add sugar to it. And that became Frosted Flakes. And so the company, Kellogg's Corn Flake, you know, that's the brother who went big on that. Dr. Kellogg, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg was based in Battle Creek, Michigan, at the sanitarium. And he wrote this book called light Therapeutics in 1910. So 100 years ago, this guy is testing the use of incandescent light basanas. It was called the electric incandescent light bath. And he tested it on. On over 50,000 chronically ill patients. And he wrote this whole book on it. And it's amazing. Like, curing everything. Chronic illness, skin issues, depression, you know, problems of the mind, problems of the body, and also even like trauma wounds, like snake bites and other stuff. So really amazing. And I was like, huh. And I was looking at it and I was like, I'll just build my own. And so I built my own. And I used it right before bed. And I, like, slept like a baby. It was amazing. And I was like, huh, there's something here, mom. And I continue to use it for six months, everything cleared up. And that was like my own healing story was. It was so powerful. And I wasn't quite interested in doing anything with it at that point. But I also realized without any business background or anything, like, there's this type of sauna technology is not commercially available. Like, nobody's making this, this type of sauna. This forgotten concept of using electric light bulbs. So. So that was kind of the start of it. And one day, a few. Really, a few customers in. I had this lady who called me and she's like, crying. She's so. But crying from. From a place of joy. And she started telling me the story how she developed, like, some autoimmune symptoms and other things, fibromyalgia. And she lost her. She couldn't go to work, she couldn't leave her house. She was very troubled. And she said, brian, in using your sauna you made for me for like, just a few months, I have my job back and I have my life back. And I was just like, whoa, this Is like, what am I doing in this rental house? And so I dropped my tools and I dove into this. What became sauna space.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
That's really cool. I love hearing those stories, too, of how they change people's lives. And so you've mentioned a couple times this type of sauna. So let's explain what this is, because I was telling you earlier that I've never seen anything like this before. So I can imagine my audience probably hasn't either. And the first time my husband and I turned this on, we were like, oh, wow, it's getting heat. Because I've tried the red light bulbs before, like the chicken coop lights. Maybe some of those heat up too. But the one that I got, there's one I got off on Amazon. My. My friend Paul Saladino had me order one, and that one definitely didn't heat up, and that's what I was expecting. And then I turned this on, and I. I told you earlier, I felt like I was basking in the sun in front of it. It was the best feeling ever, because you're getting that red light and then you're getting the heat from it. So explain what, what it is.
Brian
Well, this is. So this is incandescent light, like you said. Incandescent light bulbs. Incandescence is how nature produces light. The sun is incandescent, and like the bonfire is incandescent. So that's why I call my light bulb the fire light bulb. It's a special light bulb that I've developed that has a specially designed filament that's emitting more. It's. It's running hotter. It's emitting more light therapy and more radiant heating wavelengths and basically more near infrared. So it's trying really closely to mimic the sun spectrum, but without blue light and ultraviolet light. So most people don't know this. The sun is not mostly visible light or ultraviolet light that tan that. That causes a tan, but it also is ionizing radiation. So it's also kind of damaging to our. It causes stress to our cells in our body. But most of the sun's power is in the near infrared band. So it's infrared light that we don't see. But, like, over 70% of the power is right there. So I designed this bulb to mimic the sun in that way, and that's why it feels like the sun. And when you're out in the sun, that sort of warmth from the inside, that cozy feeling, it's not just the heat. It has to do with these light therapy effects that most people know is red light therapy. But most of the sun's energy is not red that we see. It's near infrared that we don't see. So this is what makes us feel good. So biologically coherent light light that we're designed to get naturally is always incandescent with a big focus on near infrared and also some mid infrared, some far infrared. It's called full spectrum light. And so that's kind of what I started with. I was like, this is amazing. It's heating the body, but it's not just producing heat really fast and making you sweat, like, super fast. It's also having these light therapy effects in the body. And we're. We're very much. Light is so important to our lives. We're, you know, saying that we're light beings is not a metaphor. Like, we absorb light, we have auras, we have these things called biophotons where our cells actually produce their own light. And even in the more we study, the cells, like the mitochondria communicates with the nucleus with near infrared photons and wavelengths. And we're all, like, electric on the inside. When we go down deeper and deeper, controlled by electricity and voltage, which is what light is. So light is this central component to our lives. And when we use, when we bring this type of light into our lives, like, we feel good, we feel, we feel whole, we bring. It brings us back to ourselves. And nowadays we don't have this type of light in our lives anymore. Nobody has fireplaces at home. The average American gets like, eight minutes of sunlight exposure a day. So we're starving, you know, we're starving of the light that we used to have.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Yeah, I mean, I feel that very much. I remember because, you know, when I was younger, I kind of felt for the mainstream narrative of, oh, you need to avoid the sun, Slather yourself with sunscreen. And I started waking up over the years, just thankfully, because of my exposure to so many different people like yourself and talking about these health modalities. And I learned that the sun was actually not unhealthy for us. And I was living in LA at the time. And actually during COVID I remember I would just go lay outside like a lizard for like an hour or two in the sun. And I remember. I remember making the connection, thinking, wow, this makes me feel. It makes me feel like my cells are alive again. And I started really craving it. And it is really sad. I think people are finally starting to wake up to this notion that the sun is actually not harmful for us and we need it, it's almost like it charges us. Like, do you feel like it's safe to say that it like charges our mitochondria? It's almost like a battery charger.
Brian
Absolutely. There's this, this notion of redox potential in the cells. It's kind of complicated, but basically all the cells are supposed to have negative 4 millivolts of electrical potential. So it's like a battery that's charged up. And when we get lots of blue light or we have acidic lifestyles, the voltage goes down and even becomes positive and it's very damaging. You know, our, when we go, we go down to the cellular level, that energy exchange, bringing in energy, utilizing energy, transferring energy, is, is what keeps us healthy and makes us strong. So when we get lots of near infrared light, it's not just doing these red light therapy effects that, you know, we can talk about or producing heat in the body. It's also recharging our cells. It's, it's renewing and re refilling our electrical potential and ourselves. And that's like everything when we have that, the, when we have that high redox potential and the negative redox potential in the cells, everything moves around in the cell really easily. Nutrients are delivered, waste is brought out, like, and when that stuff slows down, all the cellular signaling slows down and becomes like non optimal. And it really screws up everything.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Yeah, it really does. And I feel a difference. When I don't get enough sunlight in my life, I feel a huge difference. And I was telling you that I was using this last night and I felt like I was basking in the sun, the sun. And it felt like it was just a nice little recharge. So how cool to have a modality like this that we can utilize. Because you know what I was thinking about when I started talking, when I started learning about all this a couple years ago about the sun, and I was like, don't fear the sun, go get more sunlight. I would get a lot of messages from people in Oregon or you know, like in Portland, for example, where they're like, what do I do? It rains half the year here and I don't get sun. And I feel like this would be a perfect thing for somebody to buy that lives in Oregon that doesn't get a lot of sunlight.
Brian
Yeah, yeah. Our ancestors got hours and hours and hours of sunlight a day. And so that daily dose that we get from the sun, it's refilling our antioxidant reserves, it's charging us with the redox stuff. It's doing so much and it's probably the number one nutrient in our lives is light. It's more than any food we eat, our relationship to light and how much light we're getting. Natural light is so important and even I'm not a healthcare provider, I can't diagnose things. But a lot of people deal with, in the northern latitudes, they deal with sads, Seasonal Affective disorder.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Yeah.
Brian
And the, the medical recommendation for that are SAD slams, which are led, blue light.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Oh, they're led.
Brian
Yeah, they're all, they're all, they're all blue light. So it's, it's kind of like crack, you know, like you, you take it and you get charged up and you're like, whoa, that's not really what we're missing. Yeah. What we're really missing is again, 70% of the sun is near infrared. Infrared. So when people get lots of near infrared light in the winter, which you can get from, from the fire light and from our saunas too, which use the same light bulbs, the same technology, you feel renewed, you feel it's that, it's that, it's, it's, it's, it's the next best thing, you know, to the sun.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Yeah. Let's talk a little bit about sun exposure because I think there's, there's still a lot of fear and misconceptions around it, especially, particularly, you know, skin cancer. I get a lot of messages from people, people still that are like, Because I, I don't, and I, I say this very publicly, I don't really wear sunscreen. I, I, I'll wear it a couple times a year if I know, like, let's say I'm going out on a boat and I'm going to be on a boat for like eight hours. But I still, I wear linen, I wear hats, I do other things. But let's, let's dispel some of the myths around sun and, and skin cancer and what's happening there. And is there a connection with the high linoleic acid in our diets?
Brian
Oh, yeah, absolutely. So our ances got like so much sun. The two things that, that influence our sun exposure nowadays is one, we don't get enough so we don't have any acclimation to the light at all. And two, yes, we have high seed oil diets. So that's, and there's nothing wrong with vegetables and fruits are actually wonderful and beneficial for us. But it's the processed cooking oils that it used to be a few percentage of our Dial. And now it's like 40% of our fat intake is if you're eating a standard American diet. It's the seed oils. The seed oils make it so that the sunlight, the ultraviolet light, really quickly oxidizes those fats in our skin and in our mitochondria and in our cells. And it causes oxidative stress, it causes free radical production and damage in the body. So it's that, but it's also our exposure to sunlight. Like we're supposed to get sunlight every day. If you go out in the morning, especially the morning light when the sun rises, there's very little ultraviolet and blue light. It's almost all near infrared and red. And that's the, that's the, we're supposed to wake up with the sunrise and gaze. You can actually wake up. And when the sun hits the horizon, you can watch it for like between five minutes and even and 30 minutes. And you can accustom yourself to this, to sun gazing. That's its own kind of thing that people do. But that morning light prepares us for getting more and more ultraviolet and blue light. In the middle of the day when the sun's at its zenith, there's a lot of ultraviolet, a lot more blue than in the morning. But the near infrared light has a photoprotective effect on our cells. It like protects them and galvanizes them for ultraviolet light damage. So that's like one thing is getting a lot of morning light and just getting a lot of sunlight each day. You get a sun callous, you develop, you can, you can utilize the near infrared and you can also protect yourself from the ultraviolet light. But ultraviolet has some good benefits. You know, it causes a vitamin D response in the body. Blue light is also important during the day. It causes melatonin production in the pineal gland. So your blood based melatonin release at the end of the day is like prepped. But more than that, it's, it's the, the, the near infrared light itself produces melatonin in the body and glutathione. These are like antioxidants, really important antioxidants. So when we have this daily relationship with the sun and we get a lot of sunlight, the redox potential, the, the inflammation reduction, we get the, the antioxidant benefits. They all make everything work really well in the body. And when they're working well in the body, you don't get as much sunburn. And I don't wear sunscreen either. There is a point where you've had enough and you wear A hat or you wear like, you know, some linen clothing. And interestingly, if you wear really like white cotton or white linen, it will reflect most of the ultraviolet light, but it lets the near infrared through. That's so it's like kind of this cool thing where you can still get the benefit of the long wavelength infrared that's, that's promoting all this healing in the body and protect yourself naturally without sunscreen. The sunscreens are, are, you know, there was just never a thing in history that's all a big, that's kind of like a modern scam.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Well, that's what I always say is, I always ask people that are really Adam adamant about sunscreen. I'm like, what do you think our ancestors did? And they, they didn't have rampant skin cancer numbers. I feel like the skin cancer numbers just keep going up every year the more we're using sunscreen. And our ancestors didn't have a problem with it. And I think to your point, they were spending a lot of time outdoors, their bodies were getting acclimated to it. And they also weren't eating 40 to 60 or I think it's like 20 to 40%, depending on how much you eat of the seed oils. Their diets weren't comprising of that much linoleic acid, so they weren't tipping over the ratio of omega 6 to omega 3s, which is, I think is a huge problem as well. And to your point, just anecdotally for myself, I don't eat a lot of seed oil. Well, I don't eat any. I don't eat canola oil or anything like that. But my diet is very low in inflammatory oils and I built up a, you know, sun callous, if you will, especially when I was living in la. I never burn.
Brian
Yeah.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
And so, and I think if you're, if you've been in the winter for the last couple months and then like we have been and now the sun's coming out more and you're spending more time. You can download the D minder app. Do you ever use that or do you know about it? There's an app called DMinder and it actually will tell you, you can set a timer and it'll tell you like, okay, you've gotten enough sun to where you won't burn. It'll tell you the right window of time to go sit in the sun as well. And it'll tell you, you can say like, I want to hit X amount of vitamin D. And then it'll give you a timer that goes off and say, like, okay, you're at the point where if you stay longer, you might get burned. And you've probably gotten enough vitamin D. And so I feel like for people that are learning that threshold, it's a great option to just download that app and use it.
Brian
Yeah, it's. It's definitely. There's something to be said, though, about getting the morning light. Like, if you look at. Yeah, it's some interesting new research on improvement of eye health with near infrared light exposure.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Joe Rogan's been talking about this a lot.
Brian
Yeah, I forget. The gentleman's.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
The.
Brian
The doctor's name was on Andrew Huberman's podcast recently. He's done some beautiful research into this. There's you. You. Basically, you can prevent worsening of eyesight, improve eye health and eyesight itself, but much more so if you get near for a light exposure in the morning, you don't get the same results with the light exposure in the afternoon.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Interesting.
Brian
So there's something. There's something special about the morning light. And you can get midday sun. That's okay. But we're really designed to get it after. And with morning light.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Let's talk a little bit more about that because. So my husband and I have been on this. Well, it's funny, before we got pregnant, we did a very specialized detox protocol together with our practitioner, and we were just detoxing various things. Like, I had some glyphosate in my body, and we just wanted to make sure we were really clean before we got pregnant. And then, ironically, we moved into a moldy home, and now we're having to deal with the detox of that. But we can talk about that in a second. But one of the things that he really kept hammering into us was get up with the sun, watch the morning sunrise, because this will really help with your detox. And admittedly, I was really struggling with this because I struggle with my sleep and getting up early to that point. But can you talk a little bit more about how that interplays and just light in general, how does that help with the detoxification pathways in the body?
Brian
Yeah, so we usually refer to our brain and our spinal cord as our nervous system. It kind of has like a. Honestly, it makes me anxious to use that word. So a better way to call it is the electrical system. It's. It's the way our bodies control, again, is by electricity. And so in the morning, when we get sunlight and we're also grounding, we get this. Like, we. We get the redox potential is reprogrammed in the cells. So they're like the cells are optimized electrically. And also the grounding effect infuses the body with millions and millions of negative ions, which again is lowering that positive voltage, returning us to that negative 4 millivolts, hopefully. But the sun or the near infrared light from the sun or from our firelight bulbs, it has this interesting effect on, like I mentioned before, on melatonin, glutathione. So melatonin is probably the body's number one antioxidant. And 94% of the body's melatonin is not produced in the pineal gland. It's produced in the cells. It's produced subcellularly when near infrared light hits the cell and near infrared light, it goes a lot deeper than red light. So the sun being mostly near infrared and us getting that exposure on our naked bodies not being covered, you know, by, by too much clothing, it, it refills this antioxidant reserves right there at the cellular level, right where all the, the action is going on. All the reactive oxygen species that are being produced and the oxidative stress that comes from the mitochondria producing energy, it's all neutralized if you have a lot of melatonin in there. So that's one thing. But near infrared light also naturally stimulates glutathione production. And there's a lot of people that take that, recommend taking glutathione before you get in the sauna because it's this amazing binder. It's, it's also an antioxidant. It has this binding effect. It's really amazing. But you don't really need to take a glutathione supplement if you have lots of near infrared light exposure because the body will produce it naturally. So these are ways in which it's really interesting doing light there, doing near infrared light therapy while you do the sauna. Because the sauna, the sauna really is the most powerful way to detox. I mean, hands down, no supplement and really no other modality compares to the, the detoxification effect that comes from heating up the cells and getting the heat shock protein response. Yeah, but it's really buttressed and supported when the light therapy is going on at the same time because of this antioxidant effect. And also like the production, there's more energy being produced by the cell. There's also nitric oxide released out of the cell. And this, again, this activates the immune system and the nitric oxide cycles in the body. So there's this really powerful like activating and accelerating effect of detox that happens when you, when you, when you bring the near infrared light along at the same time.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
It's really cool. You're the first person that I've ever really, I heard talk about that. Like I said, our doctor said get morning light and stuff, but he didn't really explain a lot about the connection with light and detox. I thought it was more just, you know, for grounding. I did not realize until I heard you talking about how light can help with detoxification that it was actually part of the detox protocol, which sounds silly, but it's like in my mind I think, okay, heating up the cells, sweating, that's how we get the, you know, the detox and how we get stuff out of our body. But it's really fascinating and I talk a lot about this just in general because unfortunately our modern diets and our exposures to a lot of things and you know, the glyphosate, all the stuff that we're being exposed to that, you know, we're not promoting fear around, just, you know, so that we're aware, so that we can start doing things to, to promote our bodies to be healthy and be in that detoxification state to get rid of everything. So you've talked a lot about the importance of red light. I'm assuming that there has to be differences in the quality of the red lights that you buy. I'm assuming if someone just buys a random, you know, light on Amazon, it's not going to be great quality all the time.
Brian
Yeah, well, I mean, most of the red light therapy that's available in terms of devices is LED based. So it's a, it's, it's a little circuit that produces a fluorescence of one wavelength. So it's like kind of like it's one note on the piano. And I like to say, you know, if you go to your friend's house and they're going to play a song for you on the piano, you get there and they only play one note, you're immediately going to be like, well, where's the rest of the octave? Where, where's, where's the song? It's the same thing with light. There's this orchestra of light and it has a cacophony effect just like food in its natural form. It's not about just the vitamin C, it's about the interplay of all the metabolites that we're getting in their natural state and hopefully in their like live fresh food state, you know, like, like fresh food is alive. Incandescent light and natural light is alive because it has all the wavelengths in this natural proportion that the body is supposed to get. We're, we're never, you know, vitamin C is helpful. You can take vitamin C, but if you're, if you're getting the natural inputs that nature provides, like incandescent light and grounding and whole fresh foods, you don't get sick. You don't need these like, sort of fractionated like, like limited portions and of, of what you would normally get in nature. So all the, almost all the LED red light therapy is, is, is, is usually red or near infrared. It's usually 660 nanometers or 830 nanometers. So it's, it's just one wavelength and a really high power output. And if you've ever used an LED red light, most people report it feels like really clinical. It's like this really harsh red light. Whereas when you turn this on, it's, you see, it feels, it feels nice how it looks, but there's a feeling that comes with it, just like when you're in the sun. So that's really the big difference. We're really the only ones that are kind of taking this different approach. The majority of the what's going on is all LED based. And it is, you know, some, those products are great for some people. In some circumstances, like, they're really great. But with like an LED red light, for example, you use it very temporarily, use it for like 8 minutes or 10 minutes. Whereas this, this is our glow, this portable light, you can use it all day long. You can use it like an LED red light for targeted therapy to, to deal with any issue or symptom you're having. But you can also just keep it on all day long. And you're bringing that natural spectrum indoors. And your electrical system, you know, your nervous system is like, there's something it really likes about, it's really calming. And the more you have that light in your house during the day, the more human you feel.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Yeah. Yeah, well, like I told you, I've noticed. I, I noticed a difference. And because I have a bunch of, as you were saying that I'm scanning my brain right now thinking of all the different red light devices I have in my house and I'm like, I kind of feel like those all might be LED based, but I don't know, I'd have to look into it because I did. I felt a huge difference because we hear a Lot of. There's a lot of talk right now, I think, about red light therapy, right? Everyone's talking about, you know, you need to get more of it and the health benefits of it. And I admittedly, I've not really felt a huge difference until I used yours because like I said earlier, it felt like I was sitting in front of the sun. And I have not had that experience until yours, which is really cool. So we've talked a lot about LEDs, but I want to dive in more specifically about why LEDs can be harmful for our health and for our bodies. I remember a couple years ago getting into, like a little tiff with my dad, trying to explain to him, because he was so excited, he's like, I'm replacing all of our light bulbs in the house with LEDs. And I was like, no. I was like, dad, don't do it. You want the incandescent lighting. Why? How? If my dad was here, why. How would you explain to him that we actually don't want LED lights in our home?
Brian
Yeah, well, LED lights, the general lighting for the home, that's LED lighting, is all mostly blue light. And we're not designed to get blue light. Again, it's like to go back for a second to our discussion about the sun, when we're getting, when we're getting the sunlight, we're getting ultraviolet. We're getting some blue light that causes free radical production in our cells. It causes stress to our cells. But we're getting this overwhelming dose of near infrared and red that completely reverses all that. All the antioxidants, all the inflammation reduction, regenerative effects. So it's balanced light indoors. The. All the LED lighting is blue only light. And if you take. And you can, let's see them. In the research, if you shine blue light on animals, like worms on humans, like, we all are, like, crawling away from it, you know, crawling to the ends of the earth to escape it. Blue light has this effect of, of like dimming and like destroying your mitochondria slowly. So your mitochondria are slowly dying. You know, if they're only getting blue light and you feel that, like your energy production goes down, your electrical systems are not working as well, and it's. It's just really toxic. So it is visible light and there's a lot of it. So. And everybody switched to it because it's moderately more energy efficient, but not tremendously so. But it. With the switched LEDs, we remove the near infrared and red component, mostly the near infrared component, from the lighting. And. And when we're indoors. Yeah. So we're blasted with blue light. And especially it's terrible after dark. So when the sun sets, we're not getting any more blue light. And when we. When we get. When we don't get more blue light, the pineal gland releases the melatonin and we get prepared for sleep, and our nervous system relaxes. But after dark, with our phones watching tv, our nervous system stays in sympathetic tom dominance. It stays really jacked up, and the blue light is just absolute. It's absolutely horrible for, like, our hormone production for our sleep. Like, as a man, if you have a lot of blue light exposure after dark, you can wake up the next day and have, like, half the testosterone level you're supposed to have, which you can recover from.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Wow.
Brian
If you just switch your habits. But day in and day out, screens during the day, TV and phone at night. People wake up in the morning, and the first thing they grab is their phone. Or they're like, oh, no, they're not. They're not doing that. Right. They're keeping their phone in airplane mode. But they go to the bathroom, they flick on the LED lights, and that's the first light of the day. If you get near infrared light, like the sunrise in the morning, which you can do with our product, even just for a minute or two, it programs your hormones and your body for, like, the day. If instead you get blue light, it messes your. Your hormone production up for the day. It leads to fat retention, and. And it leads to, like, overeating. And it's just, like. It's so stressful to us. But because we're in this modern life where we're really distracted, we're overworked, we're super stressed out, there's not an awareness. You know, we're not conscious of this issue, but, you know, now that everybody has switched led, people are waking up to it. Like, you walk into a house, It's. It's all LED and it's all bright, especially overhead LEDs, like, after dark. And it's just painful.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
It's so painful.
Brian
Yeah.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
I feel like a vampire that goes on the sun when it's just all LED lights. Especially at night, I'm like. I'm like, ugh, turn them off. We've actually. We just moved into a new home, and we're gonna start working on changing all the light bulbs out in the ceiling. But what I had in our last home that we just moved in is we had a bunch of lamps that all have these, like, amber light Bulbs in there that we use at night. Because I can't even just going in the bathroom to wash my face at night. I felt like the same thing. It was like, like, oh, I can't do this. And so we have little, you know, like amber light bulbs for washing our face and stuff before we go to bed at night. And I can't tell you the significant difference that I've felt in my life since we've done that. It's helped with sleep. It's just helped overall with my nervous system. So I think we. It would be safe to say that LED lights are junk light, essentially. Right. It's like junk food, but junk light.
Brian
Absolutely. It's exactly what it is. It's really junk light. It's low quality light that's really toxic for us. And, and in most homes, that's like the only thing that's available now. A lot of the LEDs are built in where you can't even unscrew the bulb and put an incandescent bulb in.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Really?
Brian
You know, this isn't a running ad from REI because it's mostly walking and occasionally flying. It's hitting your favorite trail with your favorite people who showed up for the same unhinged reason. And it's not just about fast snow times, but finding the funnest times, because this isn't running, it's trail running. Get your gear for the trail in store or@rei.com.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
oh, man.
Brian
So, yeah, like the, the ones that are built in. So, so for people, you know.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Yeah, yeah.
Brian
It's not easy to just go get. And you can still get incandescent bulbs, but it's just not easy to, to replace them anymore. It's not, it's. It's increasingly, like, difficult.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Well, the irony too, is that now everyone. So we have all these LED lights and now everyone's wearing like, red light glasses at night. And we're just trying to do all these things to mitigate the effects of just these horrible light bulbs that we have in our homes. Is there ever a time that blue light is good for us?
Brian
Yeah, during the day.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Okay.
Brian
Yeah. With. And, and, and with a near infrared.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Okay. So more like naturally not. If, if we can. We should avoid having LED lights in our home, I would assume.
Brian
Yeah. Even if you're, if you're working at the computer during the day, there's a couple things you can do because that is, again, blue only light. You're not getting the near infrared to balance it out. So you can wear blue blockers. You can use screen Filters that are software where it lowers the amount of blue light that's emitted from the screen. So the screen looks more like orangey and red. Like night shift on the iPhone.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Yeah.
Brian
And you can use our glow as well. So the, the glow cancels out the measurable blue light and flickering light effect that we get from screens, you know, and that's why we get screen fatigue. And like, it just, it feels uncomfortable working at the computer. So these are like some really cool ways to, to harmonize the indoor lighting environment. Still work at the computer during the day? Yeah, you're supposed to get blue light during the day. It does have some beneficial effect, but as with all things, it's really designed to come in its natural form.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Yeah, absolutely. Well, it's cool. I'm happy that people, more and more people are waking up to this because I think we're all starting to really feel the effects of it, of just our modern lifestyles and things need to change. So if, if someone starts paying more attention to this, maybe they get rid of the LED lights in their home and you know, maybe they're using this in the morning. What can someone expect to feel? What would the difference be that you feel in your life if you don't
Brian
have any LED lights in your home and you just have this and natural lighting and you're getting sunlight in the morning at least and doing some grounding, you will feel definitely, I would say you feel more human, you feel more grounded, more present, more yourself, more aware. The LEDs, they stress us out, they put us into sympathetic dominance. They, they're just, they're, they're super, super toxic to our mitochondria and everything. So immediately you're going to feel just an energy shift and a mood shift. And these are things that are a little more qualitative, you know, like you just, you feel things, you feel more grounded, you feel more centered. Those are like general effects. But when you use this on the body, you get a lot of amazing benefit people. If you look at the light therapy research, there's probably 8,000 studies or more now and it's, it's. So light therapy is the use of red and near infrared light to heal damaged cells and optimize function of healthy cells. So it's. Every cell of your body has mitochondria in it and particularly your, your electrical system. So your brain is supposed to be nourished with near infrared light. Red light doesn't go through your skull, by the way. It's only near infrared that does. When we use this, we get people immediately feel like pain reduction if you're dealing with like joint issues or things like that. And, and improvement in mood, improvement in focus, improvement in, in like mental cognitive function for sure. But there's also, there's, there's the, what are called the mitochondrial effects. So you get this cascade of healing in the cells. When you get near infrared light and it's absorbed by the, the light receptor protein in the mitochondria, you get like regenerative effects in the cells. There's inflammation reduction that happens and there's actually anti aging effects. And the way that works is the, the, the light therapy causes the cell to like read it, the DNA better, the transcription factor. So the, the way the cell rebuilds itself is improved. So that's literally anti aging. It's not just about your skin, it's about the deep organ tissues of your body. And when you couple that with like the antioxidant production and the other stuff that's going on, you also get increased tissue oxygenation and increased blood flow because the nitric oxide release out of the cell, it dilates your blood vessels. And when you have more blood flow you have more nutrients coming to the tissues, more waste is able to be carried away. And that's like the essence of, of healthy tissues and healthy cells. So it doesn't really like whatever your issue is that you're working with near infrared light and red light's going to help it out. It's and, and then if you're healthy it's going to increasingly optimize the function. Cuz we don't want to just be not sick. You know, we want to be optimal. We want to be like really well, we'll be thriving. We want to, we want to be in our highest expression. And so the, the, the light is that could continually feeling us on that journey.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Amazing. I'm glad you brought up the, the aging aspect because that was going to be one of my questions because I have a little, I have a bunch of different red light devices. I have like a little box that I use for my face. I have a mask. Although I was told recently that the masks don't work. And so I'm probably going to get rid of that one because I just was told that they're not powerful enough. Would something like your light have the same effect or I would assume would be a better effect on, you know, because a lot of women listening use it for wrinkle reduction. And we're not making any guarantees or promises but do you think that it would help with the anti.
Brian
Oh yeah, like your skin's definitely going to look better.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
I mean, you have glowing skin. So I'm like, whatever you're doing, sign me up.
Brian
I'm doing a lot of this. The skin is a window into the health though of the, of the inside of the body. So if we're toxic on the inside, our skin reflects that. So yeah, you immediately get improvement in the skin and the glow. But over time, especially when you use the sauna and you're, you're cleansing the body, removing things that don't belong, your skin will really start to like reveal that reveal like the true you. And so the skin, you know, directly you get collagen production and, and, and healing and optimization of the skin. But over time, yeah, as you clear toxins from the body, the skin will look more vital, more full, more plump. I mean you'd just be looking more, more yourself. So. Absolutely. People are using it for the radiance, you know, the glow. But it's also, again, it's supporting this inner incandescence. We're all like really powerful. Our bodies heal themselves. It's not about, you know, like, I'm not healing you when you buy my product. You're healing yourself and you're just more than anything, you're reminding your body of how to take care of itself. It like works really well. And that's what I love about love that our approach to light therapy is we're working with an understanding and a respect of the body's intelligent systems. It wants natural light. It doesn't want just one, one wavelength, it wants like all of it in its natural form. So yeah, people get a lot of benefit in that regard. But it's all about the anti aging in, in the organs of the body really more than anything in the nervous system. Like, let's get those mitochondria working better. And that's what's like super powerful about the sauna is that sauna is one of the only known therapeutics that increases your health span. So the years of your life that you're healthy, right, you don't want to just live long, you want to live healthy. And detoxing the body and working with near infrared light too through like the way we do it with sauna and light together, you get this like renewal of the body that you feel, you feel better, you sleep better, you have more energy and you're going to live longer. And you're also going to reduce your risk of brain problems of like dementia and stuff because you're taking this, you're not taking a targeted or like an isolated healing approach. You're looking at the body as a holistic system that's divinely designed and you're rebuilding it from. From the inside out, from the bottom up.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
I love that you're speaking my language. We're working with our bodies and it's intelligent design. And like you said, respecting that it knows what to do. It just needs to be given the right tools to do what it needs to do. Our bodies are very intelligent and we have. I have a lot of respect for our bodies being able to do what they need to do to. Given the right tools. Um, I was curious if. And I, I. A lot of people are nervous to answer questions like this, but if it would be okay to use this while pregnant on my belly. I mean, I already did and he loved it, but just. I get a lot of questions from women and I know a lot of people are nervous to answer that type of questions, so.
Brian
Well, you know, you always. I always have to say you need to consult your healthcare provider before you do anything. And also use your intuition in ter. Practically speaking, you can use it on the, on the whole body. For women who are pregnant, if you're using it like on your belly, you would just use it for limited time, you know, five or 10 minutes at a time. That's okay.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Yeah.
Brian
And the sauna, you know, some. We have. I have a friend actually who has our sauna and she used the sauna every day, sometimes more than once a day through her entire pregnancy. And she has the healthiest baby. Like, it's amazing. So I can't particularly, you know, I can't individually recommend that for anyone, but in. If you think ancestrally, like, if you look at Scandinavian culture.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Yep.
Brian
Everybody's using sauna from a very young age, including pregnant women. And pregnant women are also getting, you know, ancestrally, a lot of sunlight. So it's very beneficial. And if you have any concerns in that regard. Yeah, you just use it for a limited duration, but you can use it definitely for longer durations, like on your feet, on, on. On your legs, you know, on your back, like, like so forth. And a little bit on the face, too. Like just in the morning, just a couple minutes on your face. It will, it will mimic the sunrise. Especially if you're in those northern climates where you just. There's no sun or it's so cold out you don't want to go outside. You can mimic the sunrise with this light. It's really fascinating.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Yeah, I mean, I'm inspired. I'm going to start using this every day now when we wake up and just have that be my first dose of morning light because I will. Well actually after the baby's here we will probably be getting up with the sun, let's be real. But right now trying to get as much sleep as I can. Let's talk a little bit about the differences in how saunas are made because I don't think a lot of people are paying attention to this as far as the materials that they're using. And if you're you know, sitting in a hot box heating up terrible materials and ingredients, there's a potential for exposure to things that you don't want to be exposed to. And I know that this is something that you, you very much care about with your products. So how do you create your saunas differently in that regard?
Brian
Yeah, well it's all handmade in Missouri actually in the USA and it's all with organic materials. So yeah, when you have, when you have like man made materials like plywood and composite woods or plastics and nylon polyester, things like that, when you heat them up, they off gas chemicals. That's why we shouldn't be drinking out of plastic water bottles. And like our exposure to plastics and petrochemicals is one of the biggest toxic burdens that we have. Like you know, Benazotti calls them the obesogens, you know, endocrine disruptors. That's all the petrochemicals and all the plastics. So yeah, when you're in the sauna, I would say ultimately any type of heat therapy that you're doing with whole body has, is going to have great benefit. But you want to avoid, yeah, exposing yourself to, to plastics and petrochemicals and that's kind of the like you, you can take a hot bath and have an amazing heat, heat shock therapy benefit if you stay in there long enough and you get kind of a sweat going on. But what's in the water, you know, if you're not using like very well filtered water, that's not unfortunately nowadays the safest, most effective way to do a full body detox.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Yeah.
Brian
So with our products it's all solid, you can see it's all solid basswood. The hardware is all stainless steel and, and the covers. Our sauna is a portable tent style. So and it's also breathable which kind of is really, I feel it's really important in terms of like the mold issue that's going on that you know, we can talk about. But it's all Certified organic cotton. The grounding mat that's inside is, is. It's just natural bamboo that's toasted in a kiln. So it's not treated, nothing is treated and all of it. So the covers are machine washable. It's a very manageable, like easy to use product that's easy to set up. But yeah, it's, it's also not just that sort of left brain argument, like let's use natural materials. It's also we're human beings, we want, we don't want things, we don't want just a good therapy. We want things to be beautiful. When we go in to any experience, we want the aesthetics to be natural. We want the Zen, we want that Zen feeling. So we in, in, in sauna spaces design, I've always wanted you to go inside and like feel really at home. And so it's not just about the function, it's also the form and it's that all natural elements around you and there's no track lighting and there's no Bluetooth or anything like that. It takes away all of those distractions and really creates a Zen den that gives you the opportunity to have maximum healing in the shortest amount of time.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Yeah. So let's talk a little bit more. You mentioned mold, and I've brought this up a couple times because my husband and I unfortunately have been on the several detoxing journeys the last year and more recently we were exposed to toxic black mold. And we both are noticing the effects. Now that we're out of the house, we're like, oh man, we have some lingering symptoms of certain things. I unfortunately am not able to do much right now. I'm basically just doing upping my glutathione, doing a little bit of sauna here and there. Because I meant to say this, but to your point, yeah, the Finnish and Scandinavian women have been doing this for ever and so doing a little bit of sauna, but outside of that I'm not doing much. But what would be your, from your expertise, what would be your advice as far as what to do if you've been exposed to black mold? So for my husband specifically, you want
Brian
to get rid of the mold source? For sure. Like if it's in your home, you can remediate that. You can use air filters, you know, like Jaspers and stuff like that. You can add ultraviolet light components to your H Vac to, to basically constantly be cleaning the air and. But yeah, first you want to address the exposure issue and then. Yeah. What do you do with what's inside the body. The answer is sauna. It's in its detoxing. So when you, when you cleanse using sauna, it is, it is helping support the, and accelerating the body's ability to remove anything that doesn't belong. So it's definitely petrochemicals and heavy metals, but it's also, it's also mold and other like, bacterial pathogens and things like that that don't belong in the body. So you want to hit the sauna a lot, basically, and you can use sauna. So if you look at the longevity research, the sweet spot is probably three sauna sessions a week at least. And every time you get in the sauna, you want to sweat out like a pound of water. You want to raise your core temperature up at least 3 degrees. Some of the research indicates that the maximum heat shock protein production is like 102.2 degrees Fahrenheit. So that's kind of like, you know, very technical. But basically, when, when you get in the sauna, you don't want to just have a light heating or a light sweat. You want to get in there and have a powerful sweat. When you do that, your body is cleansing everything, including these, this, you know, any kind of mold growth you have, which even if you don't have black mold exposure, people have candida and yeast and mold issues due to, you know, disrupted microbiome in the gut and light. It's interesting, there's a relationship between getting a lot of sunlight, near infrared light, and having a healthy microbiome. There's some interesting old, older research where in some indigenous populations, they like, were measuring their microbiome and they were in, in the control group, they're eating their, their regular diet, and then in the test group, they're eating like candy bars and junk food and, and soda pop and stuff. And because they're getting so much light, their microbiomes were not disrupted at all. So that's wild. So it's, it's a complex thing, but like, one of the best things you can do if you have a lot of mold exposure is, is to detoxify. And again, sauna therapy at least one day a week, ideally like three days. I use my sauna like four or five days a week. Like, even though I live in Florida, I get lots of sunlight. The. It's one thing probably to mention is there's a difference between the firelight sauna experience, what we do, and the sunlight. And that difference is the intense sweating. So if you don't have that intense sweating, you haven't heated up the body enough to, to accelerate and like put into high gear. Cellular detoxification, activating lymphatic system and like really getting the junk out of your body. And it's not just mold. It's all the heavy metals. The petrochemicals is also nanotech that we're exposed to a lot. It's also microplastics. One of the best ways to remove microplastic from the body is sauna. So it's, it's like the, the benefits are just manifold. It's, you don't have to worry about, like, how do I detox? Do what, what therapy do I use to detox? This toxin sauna deals with all of it.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Yeah, yeah. I mean, my husband and I are huge fans of the sauna. We, I, yeah, I, I miss being able to go in and do long sessions right now because my doctor was like, well, it's probably best to not go too long when you're pregnant, but I can't wait after I have this baby to get back in there because we're big fans and just to be clear for the listener. So obviously the light that we have here, it's called the fire light, right? Is that what it's called?
Brian
Yeah, this is called the glow. The glow infrared therapy light. This here, the, the light bulb is called the fire light bulb. That's what powers all of our, our saunas and our light therapy lamps.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
And then, and this, this heats up. But this is not the same thing as the actual sauna that you have. It's like a whole little sauna tent. Do you want to explain the difference between them?
Brian
Yeah, the difference is you to heat up the core enough that it sweats, you need to be in some type of enclosure that it's. With our sauna. It's the light heating the body up so you don't have to preheat it. You just pop, get in, turn the lights on. On. And with our super saunas, our, our, our version of sauna that has more lights it has seven lights. It, your sauna session only takes like 15 minutes. In 15 minutes, you've raised your core temperature three or four degrees, you've sweated, you got this huge, awesome sweat response and you're done. And the reason that happens is because you're in this, you're, you're in the tent and the air is just a little bit above body temperature. If we're out here in the living room using this, the air is cooling us down. The, the room temperature air. And it's just not enough, it's not enough heating effect to, to produce this heat response in the body that causes the sweat. So that's really the big difference is with the sauna, you get this holistic, you get this whole body hyperthermia. And that is the, probably the core aspect of, of healing in terms of like the products that, that we offer. But the glow is amazing because it's your companion all day long. You can absolutely use it for targeted relief. And for people who can't handle asana, people are very heat sensitive. They have a lot of autoimmune systems and other things. They're just super, super sensitive. They can start out with this and slowly shift their homeostasis and strengthen their body enough to be able to withstand sauna. And our sauna, it's really cool because the light is heating you up. So the air doesn't have to be super hot. A regular sauna uses the air. A traditional sauna, it uses the air to heat the body. So they're usually 180 degrees or hotter. And the air heats you from the outside in with ours. In contrast, the light heats you from the inside out. So you don't need the air to be hot. Which means if you're really sensitive, like you can't handle a regular sauna session, even though your body really needs it, it needs the detox. So our approach is a lot gentler and more soothing and more chill and relaxing. But the sweat response is super fast. You don't have to wait for it. So it uniquely provides access to sauna therapy in a safe, gentle way that the traditional saunas don't for people who are just not healthy enough to use it.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Wow, that's really fascinating. I was just thinking about how, man, I wish I had found your sauna sooner. My mom was actually one of those people and unfortunately she passed away in February from cancer. And I, I think this is all connected. I begged her for years to look into why she was so sensitive to heat. So sensitive to heat that. And she wouldn't really sweat a lot. And I kept it just, it kept. There were a lot of red flags to me in that where I was like, something's going on with your detox pathways. Like you're, you shouldn't be this sensitive to heat. Anyways, long winded way of me saying, I wish I had found this sooner and I could have gotten her more into detoxification. And you know what? I could have, should have. But yeah, it's interesting that there are people and I say this just for anybody listening, that if there is anybody in your life that is particularly sensitive to heat like that, and they're not really sweating, to me, that's a red flag that something is not working properly in the body. And not to face it with fear, but, like, look into it with curiosity, because there could be something that's not fully, like a blocked detoxification pathway.
Brian
Yeah, it's. If you're not sweating, you're not using one of your four primary detox pathways. So breath, the urine, the bowels, or those are the three things that are kind of more or less all the time running and working. The fourth way to detox is sweating. But it's the. It's the only one that we have to intentionally activate. And when we do, the organ is like the largest organ, almost the largest organ in the body, and just has this powerful, powerful detox pathway when we sweat. And it also. It has to do with the lymphatic system, too. So the lymphatic system is. It's like the sewer system of the body.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Yeah.
Brian
And it gets clogged up over time. And we also store emotions, you know, in our lymphatic system and our fascia and stuff like that. And so if we're not sweating and moving things through movement, through vibration, we slowly get more and more stagnant. And when we get more toxic, the body is constantly, like, looking, where do I hide these toxins? I can't detox them fast enough. I need to put them somewhere. So it usually puts them in our fat, obesogens and. And obesogens. And so when we're. When we're wanting to. To lose weight naturally or. Or metabolize fat, it's a detoxification process. So going to the gym and working out is great, but it's just as important to be using the sauna to continually promote detoxification. I'm a firm believer that probably the biggest contributing factor to disease in terms of physical stuff, not emotional stuff, is toxicity. It's toxins that are disrupting the harmony of our internal environment, and they're coming from our external environment. So we need to address our exposure to things. With having a lot of things you talk about, like what we're eating and the products we have in our home. And then we need to really take detoxification seriously, not as something you do once a year, like a juice cleanse, but just a part of living. Well, is it's like having a detox lifestyle?
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Yeah, absolutely. I'm curious to know. And I bet the listeners are too. What is your approach to all of this? So your home LED lighting, Do you avoid screens at night? Do you wear blue blockers? Do you do the red? Like a lot of people have that. I have this too, where you do this three times and then my phone turns red. Yeah.
Brian
Color filter.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Yeah. So what are all the things, little protocols and stuff that you do personally?
Brian
Oh, there's a lot of little things I do. The. For me, the most important thing has been emotional healing and self love and loving yourself. And when you, when you, when you continually focus on that and that's a journey, it's not something that happens in a day. You really, you get a lot of discipline and a lot of gratitude from taking care of yourself and you become really strong. So the things that I do in the morning, like I wake up and I go outside on, on the ground and I'm grounding and I also jump, you know, for a couple minutes on the balls of my feet just to wake up my system. And then, and then, yeah, I usually have. My morning routine involves taking. Sometimes I take chlorophyll, which has this interesting photodynamic effect with near infrared light where it helps build blood and it helps with healing. It just like does all these really cool things. So you can, you can take different forms of chlorophyll before you get into the sauna. Space sauna because of the near infrared light. But even before that I usually take something like that and then I either naturally vibrate doing things outside or I get on my vibe plate and kind of get that into my whole body. Sometimes I take methylene blue as well as also photodynamics. So you. After that's distributed into the body over like half an hour or so with, especially with the vibe plate session, I get into the sauna and I just do a quick 15 or 18 minute session. I'm always listening to either some meditative track or some healing frequencies. Sometimes I do meditation or prayer in there. I always change it up. But while I'm in there, it's. I'm really focusing on being present, you know, the mind, the mind is so powerful and it can be a powerful tool and it can be absolute bane to our existence, you know, and it takes us out of the present. We're worrying about the future, regrets of the past and we're not present, you know, quite often. So I really try to focus and using. Focusing on my breath is very helpful and just being there and feeling the light like re energizing me and fueling Me and returning me to myself. And, like, there's a. There's an energetic component to it. For me, it's actually quite spiritual. I get out of that. I just.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Whoa.
Brian
I, like, feel so good. I feel myself. So either right before I get in the sauna or right after, I usually take a binder. And we offer a lot of binders on our website. Ozonated activated charcoal, global healing, you know, doctor Groups, toxin, binder. These are. When we take a binder, you know, we sweat a lot of the toxins out when we do a sauna, but some of it does go to our gut. And so when we have a binder ready to go in there, it's just further supporting this process of elimination that we have so highly recommend that some people like bentonite clay as well. There's different binders that are. I prefer natural binders. I don't like to use synthetic chelators. Again, we're taking with the body's natural intelligence. And then afterwards, I rinse off in the shower. I use my exfoliating brush on the skin. Sometimes I use a. My wife likes using this glove.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Oh, yeah. It's like, like an exfoliator glove.
Brian
It's like an exfoliator. When you go like this and it really, like, your skin starts to, like, peel off. It's crazy.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Wow.
Brian
But all of that is. You're, you're, you're just further activating lymphatic function. There's also, you can also do this, this new thing I've been introduced to, which is clapping, where you, you can do with your hands, you clap your lymph nodes. Oh. But you can also use this, like, clapper thing that you like. You're basically, like, beating yourself with it in your, in your lymph nodes. But what you're doing is you're, you're, you're, you're getting that. You're getting the lymphatic system functioning so that any of that stagnation, you're just knocking it out and it gets to move. And when we've had the light therapy and the sauna, the whole body is just, like, open and ready to, like, cleanse and revitalize. So all these things synergistically put you in a totally different state. So for me, I love using in the morning because it just calibrates my day. The rest of the day. Like, I use the sauna. This morning we're staying at our friend's house and they have, they have our sauna. So super grateful for that. And I just I feel like 120%. If I, you know, one day fine, two days fine. But if I don't use the sauna frequently, I, I'm definitely, my cognitive function is only like 80, maybe 85%. But when I do do that, just, you're just superpowered to have a lot of energy and, and you start to make. This has to do with this idea of body, mind, spirit. So in the beginning, toxic. Our mind's like all, all foggy and like, forget about like, like spiritual anything. Like we're just, we're, we're in a like a low frequency state.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Yeah.
Brian
But once we continue, we start cleansing our body, our mind clears up, we get this clarity of mind. When we have that clarity of mind, we start to look at our lives and we're like, especially, you know, when I use the sauna in the morning, I'm like, no, I'm not going to have a croissant. I'm not going to, you know, I'm going to do my morning routine to the, to the fullest. So you're, as your mind becomes really clear, you start to have a spiritual awakening because you're, your life aligns with your authentic self. As we get rid of the things inside of us that aren't us, we can be more ourselves, more authentic selves and we get more into our higher highest expression. So for me, like once I get out of the sauna, you know, sometimes I have work to do. I have an in harmony meditation bed. So you like lay in it and you, you vibrate to healing it like vibrates with healing frequencies. It's amazing. Like wear headphones. I've used, yeah, this, the owner, Craig is like, this is such a cool product. I use that. And then I'm also like making sure I get a lot of sunlight. So I'm really grateful to live close to the beach. So my wife and I usually walk the dog to the beach in the morning, put my feet in the water just for a little bit, at least as much as possible. Lots of sunlight, lots of ocean. The ocean is another way of reprogramming that redox potential. Just the, the most powerful negative ion effect you can get for the body is bare feet in this, in the wet sand at the ocean especially because we have, we have all this emf, man made EMF around us all the time. So even if we're in the city and there's like all this emf, we can kind of ground pretty good in the grass, you know, in the park, but it's not nearly as powerful as the ocean. So it's this renewal effect that occurs. But all of it starts with that, that self love. When you do that, your. Your everything else kind of comes naturally. And through this process, your intuition awakens. And we're. We're superhuman. We're like divine beings and physical bodies and our bodies are constantly telling us through emotional communication and, and through feeling. And if you really embody that, you're you, you. It's easy to choose what's right in alignment with your highest expression, you know, and the things you choose are things that raise your frequency. You always want to raise, raise, raise your frequency. So all these things are helping to do that. So that's kind of like a snapshot of what I do. I also do mobility workout. I'm always trying to, like, open up the pelvic area, open up the joints, like, make sure I don't get stagnant or stuck. You know, our bodies are meant to move a lot. And that's another thing. We're just kind of sitting around at the computer. We're not moving enough.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
I'm definitely not moving enough. As I'm gearing up to have this baby, I can feel myself slowing down. But that's a whole different.
Brian
Yeah.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Life journey. But, yeah. Wow. I. Everything you were just saying, you were speaking to my soul. Especially when you were talking about that feeling of putting your feet in the sand. It just took me back to the days when I lived in la. I used to walk my dog on the beach almost every day, and I would just go barefoot. And there's that feeling that you get where you just feel so grounded and connected to the earth and connected to yourself. It's like a. I don't even have words for it. When you were describing that, I was like, oh, I want to go back to that. It's a beautiful experience. Yeah. Well, that was amazing. I love that so much. I just. I want to know if there's anything else that you feel like we haven't covered. I got through all my questions that I was very excited to ask you about. And if there's anything else that we feel like the listener hasn't heard yet about red light therapy or sauna.
Brian
One thing I would say is just there's so many the. In the modern world, in the modern lifestyle, there's so much focus on using the mind to solve things. And that's the way we are in the west. And the way. The way we're educated and the way we live our lives is like, think logically through A solution. And yet that's only like half of our brain, right? That's like our left side of our brain, Our right side of our brain is connected to the infinite field. It's, it, it feels, it knows things. We have this, we have this amazing programming that we can tap into. And, and so I'm bringing that up because people overthink. What's the best thing to do for my health? What do I need to do? And there's not enough embodiment. And so any practice that you can do to quiet your mind and get into your body is so beneficial in training and awakening and remembering the super intuitional knowing that we have of like what's right for us. And as much as like I can give you a protocol, this is the my perfect day. And you have your perfect day for each person that looks different and day to day that will look different. So training ourselves to, to, to awaken the sense of embodiment is so crucial and so important. So these are all great tips and, and there's great protocols out there and your, you know, your guidance and like food and diet, like so amazing. Like all that stuff is important, but most important is to take that and let that inform our own perspective individually and to really feel into what, you know, whether we're ordering food or whatever we're doing. Like, does this feel good? And, and awakening that. Because the human electrical system is so sensitive. Like that's where you know people who are really well connected, they're like telepathic, they can read each other's minds. There's, we can actually do these things and it's this subtle electrical sensation that we have in our body where we can sense ourselves and we can sense our environment if we can get our mind to quiet down. So that's why I love our products. Some of our experience, it just, it's so calming to the nervous system and bringing us back into the body. And it's just a, it's so essential to like getting quiet and figuring out who am I and what does my body need, like long term. And my life, what I need my life and like what do I need now, today, in this moment. And there's other things too, like breath, work and going to sleep on time and engaging in connection time, you know, with your loved ones, with your family instead of tv and just live your own experience.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
You.
Brian
We all have amazing, like our lives are miraculous in each moment and the more we can feel into that and let's think about it just, you know, the better we're all gonna be.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
I completely agree, and I'm so glad that you brought this up. This is something that I'm so incredibly passionate about. I am actually finishing up my book right now. And not to give too much away, but a lot of what I speak about in my book is that the cleaner you get in your body, your mind and your soul, the more tapped into your inner knowing you get. And I think we've lost this sense of intuition because everyone's looking for this outside advice now. You know, we go on Instagram and we can DM our favorite, you know, influencer expert and say, oh, you know, what do you recommend I do about X, Y and Z? And we all do it. I'm not even passing judgment. I've done it, too. But I try to remind people that are listening, and also when they're in my DMs and they're asking very specific questions, I often ask them, what does your intuition say? Because, you know, we all know. We all know. It's not like I'm sitting on some pedestal or you're sitting on some pedestal where we know so much more than everybody else. We've just. We've gone down a path that has connected us more to our intuition. And so maybe to outsiders that have not gone down that path yet, maybe we seem like we know more than they do. We're just connecting with our inner knowing. And I think helping direct people back to their inner knowing is probably the best thing that we can do for everyone, because at the end of the day, it's all going to look a little bit different for each of us individually. There's, of course, you know, the generalities of we need the, you know, filtered water and. And good light and stuff. But really tapping into that inner knowing, I think is such a valuable thing that all of us should be striving to do.
Brian
Yeah. Beautifully said.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Yeah, thank you. Well, please let everybody know where they can find you if, If. If you want to be reachable and where they can get Sauna Space products.
Brian
Yeah, we're on Sauna Space is the website, and you can call us during the weekdays and chat with us on the website. Also on Instagram and YouTube @SaunaSpace. There's a lot of great content on Instagram if you want to dive into the EMF stuff and how our product works and other things. So we have a lot of great content also on our website. If you're interested in the research, I have a research archive on the website. Or just what is this light like? What does the spectrum look like, you know, it's all. There's incredible learning resources on the website as well as all of our products and yeah, and if you happen to be in Columbia, Missouri, you can stop by and check it out. It's all made there.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Amazing. If we're ever there, I want to stop by and see how the, how they're made. That'd be really cool. Yeah.
Brian
And there's also a code.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
I actually have it written down. Definitely jump on this while you can. For the next week, Real Foodology listeners can get an exclusive 15% off when you go to sauna space and use code Real Foodology at checkout. I highly recommend getting this light. I'm going to start using this every morning, like I said, as a, you know, a wake me up light exposure. And thank you so much for coming on. This has been so much fun.
Brian
Thank you. Grateful to be here. Yeah, it was lovely.
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
Thank you so much for listening to the Real Foodology podcast. This is a Wellness Loud production produced by Drake Peterson. Theme song is by Georgie. You can watch the full video version of this podcast inside the Spotify app or on YouTube. As always, you can leave us a voicemail by clicking the link in our bio. And if you like this episode, please rate and review on your podcast app. For more shows by my team, go to wellnessloud.com see you next time. The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual medical and mental health advice and doesn't constitute a provider patient relationship. I am a nutritionist, but I am not your nutritionist. As always, talk to your doctor or your health team first.
Brian
Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. Now I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited Premium Wireless for $15 a month is back. So I thought it would be fun if we made $15 bills, but it turns out that's very illegal. So there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment
Host of Real Foodology Podcast
of 45 for 3 months, $90 for 6 months or $180 for 12 month Plan required 15 per month equivalent taxes and fees. Extra initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes. Me slow when network is busy. See terms.
Episode: Why LEDs Are Wrecking Your Sleep, Energy & Hormones
Host: Courtney Swan
Guest: Brian Richards, Founder of SaunaSpace
Date: August 4, 2026
This episode dives deep into the essential role of light—especially full-spectrum, incandescent, and near-infrared light—in human health, and the physiological and hormonal harm caused by our modern reliance on LED lighting. Brian Richards, founder of SaunaSpace, shares his personal healing journey, the science of light and saunas, debunks mainstream sun and sunscreen myths, and lays out practical strategies for improving wellness, sleep, and detoxification by restoring healthy light environments. Both host and guest challenge conventional recommendations about blue light, sun exposure, and even the materials used in wellness devices, weaving in impactful personal stories and actionable advice.
This episode serves as a powerful call to rethink our relationship with light, urging listeners to restore ancestral light patterns in their lives and challenge the hidden harms of modern lighting—for healthier sleep, hormones, energy, mood, and detoxification. Blending science, history, and embodied wisdom, it argues that with the right light (and resilient intuition), we all have the capacity to regenerate, heal, and thrive.