Functional Health & Biohacking:The Ultimate Guide to Energy & Wellness with Biohacking Blondes

Hey there, I'm Claudia von Boeselager, a former investment banker turned entrepreneur, longevity coach, biohacker, and mother of two. Once burnt out and overwhelmed with chronic health issues, I've transformed my life and helped thousands of people do the same. I've even reduced my biological age by 17 years. Yes, I'm 26 again. Now I'm here to share the tools, strategies, and inspiration to help you live healthier, happier, and longer. On this podcast, I interview world-leading experts in health, biohacking, mindset, and performance, and share personal stories and learnings to bring you the latest insights and tips. Think of this as your go-to space for real talk about all things health and optimizing your life. Ready to unlock your best self? Let's dive in. This is the Longevity and Lifestyle Podcast.

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Today.

Welcome, Alex and Molly, to the Longevity and Lifestyle Podcast. I'm so excited for our episode today. And for you, dear audience, so you know, this is part 1 of 2. So part 2 you will find on their wonderful podcast, Biohacking Blondes, available, if I'm not mistaken, on all podcast stations and channels— Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc. Beautiful. So I, I'd love to start with maybe for my audience, just to give a quick synopsis of your background and how you both became passionate about biohacking, health optimization.

Sure. I can start.

Hi everyone.

I'm Molly Siegel. I am an FDN practitioner. That stands for functional diagnostic nutrition. And I do all the fun things. I do blood work. I do GI map stool testing. I do hormone testing with Dutch and stress and hormone panels. So I sort of do a lot of the functional work and I can prescribe diet, rest, exercise, stress, and supplements for anyone who needs sort of a deeper dive into to their health.

How did—

was the question how did I get started in general?

Yeah, what inspired you to go down this interesting route, right?

So many years ago, so I have a 10-year-old daughter right now, and when she was born, it sort of sparked a lot of interest in nutrition because I was like, you know, I was like breastfeeding and then I was like, oh, I actually have to feed this person now. What am I going to feed her? I had been like a vegetarian and I did all these weird things that I thought were healthy, trying to be healthy, as we all have done, right?

Yeah.

I think my parents were like very— my parents are like from the Midwest and they had like very rare steak every night for dinner. And I think that's why I was like, and then I realized And then I realized later on you could actually cook it and it would— and it tastes better. But so I would always been somewhat health conscious. But then when I had her, really became like I started to read books. I actually read Dr. Perlmutter's book and we had interviewed him on our podcast and I told him that. I was like, I loved your book. It sort of was my launching point into nutrition. And then I learned all the things. So gluten, dairy, like, wow, who knew that they could cause all these headaches or issues that other people were having? I just found that really interesting and inspiring. And, and that's kind of— that was like my entry point. So I became a health coach at first and then I moved into being a practitioner now.

So, but I love—

and also the functional perspective too, which I love, right? So I'm always sort of preaching like you need to look at things from a functional perspective. And maybe just for my audience, can you clarify like what's the difference between a functional and nonfunctional practitioner?

Sure.

So, well, there's all different kinds of practitioners, but What I do that's different is I look at the body as a holistic person. So we do many tests, not just one blood test, right? You look at, we look at blood work, we look at stool tests, we look at a hormone, a stress and hormone panel that looks at cortisol and all of your sex hormones. We look, we do food sensitivity testing, and then we bring it all together and we say, okay, this person, let's look at this person from a whole person perspective. So You know, let's take away all the stressors that we can, like remove, you know, food sensitivities, remove stressors, like let's focus on stress if their cortisol is like really high or if it's too low, what can we do about that? Give them supplements. And so what I do, I don't prescribe any drugs. I don't prescribe surgery. I can refer out if I feel like that's something that might be necessary in particular cases. But everything I do is holistic. So it's just food and supplements and sort of getting your lifestyle straight and all the biohacking fun stuff too.

Amazing. So I'll let Alex kick off, but I'd love to ask you after about some success stories, like what you've seen, because I think obviously people listening to the podcast in general know about this approach, but the transformation that is still possible through the holistic approach, I think some people are so indoctrinated into it has to be pills and Pharmaceuticals, and it's, you know, you're, you're never pharmaceutical deficient, right? So I'd love to kick off on that and some success stories if you can share. But Alex, first let's hear from you.

Yeah, and I will say to tie on to that, that's kind of how my journey started because I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's after my first son was born. So this is now 18 years ago, and I was very, very, very sick. So couldn't get out of bed, dizzy every single day. And when I saw the best functional— the best, not functional medicine doctor, but doctor and specialist in London on Harley Street. He told me that this is the way I'm going to be for the rest of my life, up and down. Okay. And I— that didn't sit very well with me. So that's where my journey started. That's when I was starting to— this can't be right and looking for different answers. So I was visiting with acupuncturists, naturopaths, etc., etc. And it wasn't until about 7 years into the journey when I found a functional medicine doctor in London and she ran all the blood work, and we're talking heavy metals, molds, parasites, the gamut, right? And deficiencies and, you know, intolerances, etc. And she found that I was sky-high in all of the above. So, you know, red, full of mold, full of heavy metals, etc., etc. So we started detoxing me, and it was revolutionizing for me because all of a sudden my dizzy spells, which I lived with every single day— I was literally on a, you know, sea, a rough sea every day, and more less and felt very unwell. And they literally, after a month of doing the detoxing, they were 80 to 90% gone. So this—

just to repeat that, like, let's just highlight that. After one month, and how many years had you suffered? One month?

I had suffered 7, 8 years by that time, and it was every single day. So, and from that point, things have just gotten better and better. And 3, 3 and a half years ago, we relocated from London to the US. And it was when COVID happened, we moved to Florida and I saw the whole need of everyone was so afraid. And I said, you know what, we know how important the immune system is and looking after the immune system and the vitamin D levels in your blood can, you know, the mortality rates goes down with like 90% if you have sufficient vitamin D levels. So I ended up creating my flagship product, which became the Scandi Labs Immune Formula Plus, which is a liposomal product with vitamin C, D, K, A, E, and elderberry. And it was kind of a message in a bottle that I could put into people's hands and say, you got an immune system, you can work on it. And then a conversation could start. So from that, I launched off to biohacking, which my neighbor here ended up buying all the equipment for her home. So you're talking red light beds, tubs, and ozone and PEMF, etc. And I started using it and that took my health, my energy, my sleep, my hormones to a whole different level. So that's how I'm now— I call myself You know, I'm running Scandi Labs, which has become a health and wellness company, but it's also— I'm also calling myself a biohacking concierge. So I went in and partnered with all these companies that are carrying this equipment, and I now put it into homes and to private clinics. And it's because I'm so passionate. I saw the results in my own well-being. Like, I am, you know, I'm almost 50 now, but I feel like I'm 20. I feel better than when I was 20. So that's kind of the message to people. And it's not to be cocky, but it is totally to to tell people that it's totally achievable because if I could, you can. So yeah. Yeah.

And I think so many people in this space, I mean, myself included as well, of chronic sinusitis, chronic fatigue. I mean, the doctor kept coming with new things. They're like, oh, this is chronic, this, you know, leaky gut, etc. And I was just like, you know, are you kidding me? Like, how long is this list? And I was like, what is it going to be in 10 years and 20 years if it continues down this route?

Yeah.

And I mean, I'm the, like, you know, A-type wanting to do everything. I don't need to sleep. Stupidly thought in my 20s I can sleep when I'm dead. I mean, started my career in investment banking doing 100+ hour weeks and then serial entrepreneur and like, oh, it'll all be fine. And I'm listening to the doctor and it was just so far and I'm like, who is he talking about? I was like, that can't be me. But, you know, when you have that personal experience or a loved one who has that personal experience and I mean, I've shared with my audience, but I, you know, my mother has dementia, my father has cancer, and these are all preventable things if we catch them on time. And that's the beauty of it. So I think, you know, what we share is how to inspire people to realize, like, you can do something too. You don't have to go down the path of chronic disease and pain and suffering. Boom.

Exactly. And to also just add to that, both of my parents died of cancer 5 years ago and 10 years ago. So that really spurred my journey even more of a push to get this message out to the masses, right? And I wish I knew then what I know now.

100%.

Okay. Yeah.

So I mean, even your mother's dementia, which many people are like, oh, you know, there's no drug that will fix it. Yeah, of course there's no drug that will fix it. However, there are many lifestyle interventions. You have to do the testing. I've had Dr. Dale Bredesen, who I'm sure you're familiar with, on as well. And there are protocols which make sense, similar tests to what you had. You know, if your toxic load is high, if you have, you know, black mold exposure, your vitamin D is too low, magnesium, like you name it, there's certain factors, insulin resistance, et cetera, that Dr. Bredesen has identified 38 underlying drivers. Like, if you get on top of those and you solve for them and you stay in optimal ranges, you don't need to have a neurodegenerative disease.

Like, correct.

This is amazing. Like, hello, like, don't go down that route. I see what happens otherwise. It's so painful.

How, how is she doing now, your mom?

She's unfortunately late stage because by the time I found Dale, basically she was already at a MoCA score of 11, and his clinical trials have shown being able to reverse— so For those unfamiliar, the MoCA score is the Montreal Cognitive Assessment score, which is just a bellwether sort of where you are. Perfect cognition is at a 30, and with ongoing dementia, cognitive decline, it will decrease down to 1.0, right? Um, and so she was already in the 11. That said, with my mother, there were underlying factors but also head trauma incidents. So she had a very, very bad fall in, um, January 2020 that expedited things. She was 8 weeks in hospital in the US, which is almost like unheard of, but she was recovering, and then COVID hit. So all the normal normal support and things that she would've had were just, um, not allowed because they said, as long as, if it's not life-threatening, then we won't do all the extra physio and interaction and stuff like that too. And so I think that just completely changed the trajectory of her recovery to just down spiraling. And so, I mean, now we're trying to help her to relearn how to walk. I'm quite optimistic and also looking to relocate to Florida. And if we're there, then I can do a lot more and get her into the hyperbaric oxygen chamber and doing different things as well. So to be continued, but thank you for asking.

Well, you got to come down and see us. We'll hook you up on wrap here. We know everywhere to go.

Yeah, I love it.

Totally. I have to say my aunt had the same thing. She had dementia, but she had a bad fall and she slipped on a curb and hit her head and it was really, you know, and made the disease much worse over a very short period of time. Like within a couple of years, it was like, that was it. So it, it really—

careful with the falls.

I know.

And the thing is, my mother in January 2020 was still going to the gym 5 mornings a week.

Wow.

And so it's like, it's not like she was a couch potato and didn't do anything. Like, she was active. There were, looking back now, early signs of her writing things down more, asking things, maybe mentioning something, but you're just thinking like, okay. So again, knowing what I know now, I would have been much more on top of it. Like, we have to check everything.

Where—

what do we need to adjust? So Through Dale's tests and things like that, Bredesen, we found out that the two main drivers were the head trauma and lack of HRT following her hysterectomy in the '90s. And those were her two main, and then a little bit of insulin resistance, things like that too. But again, like, it, it's, it's the, the combination, the bouquet if you will, of different factors. And it's, for some people they're like, it's overwhelming, but it's like, just, just do and check it and check it properly, and then you know, and then just that's your baseline, and then you can optimize it from there and you can tell if something's off and fix it again.

So yeah, but Claudia, I mean, I think that's the driver of what you do, what you do, and what we do, what we do, because it's to get the message out. Most people don't know this. This is it. 90% of people have no idea. They just follow their doctor. And if I had followed my doctor, if you guys had followed your doctors, you'd be stuck. You'd basically be still very sick. So I think that's the whole point, and yeah, that's why we're passionate about this.

Yeah, 100%. And I mean, I have a lot of doctor friends, and obviously the challenging thing is that we are in the space, so like we assume everybody knows this, like what? But then you start talking with friends outside and they're like, totally, what are you talking about?

Yes, totally. You don't know.

I like how Claudia will walk up to people and she'll be like, she'll be like, oh, like, you know, the red bed, and people are like, like, what?

Like, you paint your bed red?

Like, what are you doing? And she's like, you've never heard of a red bed? She's always like so like upset that people don't know about every— all this stuff.

I know. Well, look, the more vocal we are, I guess, and sharing, then the, the more people will know. They're like, of course I have one, I ordered it yesterday, right?

So exactly, exactly.

Yeah. So Molly, I'd love if you share some of your success stories from the holistic perspective, right, of some clients, etc. Obviously you, you for yourself and your health, right? But, um, maybe you can share for my audience as well.

Sure.

Well, I went in to become an FDN practitioner because I was not getting the help that I wanted. And I was a health coach, and I felt like I didn't have enough tools in my toolbox. So I did the FDN training. And for me, it was big because I was having a stress and hormone issue. So totally saved my life, saved my family's life because I was going crazy. So I had hormones will do that to you.

Yeah.

I mean, I had a hormonal I had very low estrogen. My mother had gone into menopause in her late 30s, and there were a lot of issues with stress management and all of that. And through FDN, I was really able to get myself much more level. So just for myself personally, selfishly, I went in to do that to heal my own issues. And now I'm able to manage all my own HRT and all of that stuff, which gives me so much feel so powerful. Like, I feel like instead of going to all these places that they were like, you're too young to have a hormonal problem, you're too blah, blah, blah, or like whatever. And I'm like, I feel like shit.

I'm thriving.

Yeah.

Like, what?

So anyway, so in terms of other people, I mean, like major weight loss, I mean, you know, 30, 50-pound weight loss is usually where it starts with most of my clients. Can you explain why?

Is that purely nutrition or is because you're healing the gut or what's going on there that such amazing numbers are coming up?

Yeah, so it's like, it's whenever I get a client, it's a perfect storm of problems, right? It's some sort of gut infection on their GI map. So typically it's like an H. pylori or a Candida infection. So we go in and we detox that. Even before we do that, we open up their detox pathways. So we open up the liver, we take some liver supplements, try to get them to sort sweat more and that kind of thing. But with each person, it's a little different what it— where it is that they're lacking. Like sometimes I have clients come in and they're like, I work out 7 days a week and I'm super, super blah, blah, blah, but I eat McDonald's and I eat Chick-fil-A every day. Okay, so we got exercise down. Perfect. Like, we don't have to go into that lifestyle world, but like, you know, then we talk about nutrition and our macros and just making sure— the way I teach nutrition is I make sure that at every meal you're having a protein, a fat, healthy vegetable, and, you know, just like a healthy carb, like a, like a potato, like a sweet potato or something like that. Teaching people really how to eat is the biggest thing that I do. I think that once you learn that, you have that, you know, fishing skill for life. You, you, you can sit down and be like, okay, this meal is missing this, this meal is missing that. Okay, perfect. Now I have a perfect meal. I don't have to worry about being hungry. I don't have to worry about not feeling satiated. You know, I have these clients, they like sit with a bag of chips. They're like, I just ate a whole bag of chips. I should be full. It's like 1,000 calories, right? And you're like, you're like, well, okay, what, what macros did that cover? And they're like, oh, okay, just starch.

So I was thinking about that.

Yeah. Like somebody told me, and I wonder if you know this, Molly, just if I may interrupt, somebody was explaining that the seed oils and I haven't research this myself, but basically the seed oils— and like, because they're so highly inflammatory, but they essentially cover the enzymes that are the receptors to let your brain know that you're actually full. Have you ever heard this concept?

I have heard a little bit. Yes, yes. So that's interesting too, right?

So that's—

you're eating— not only are you only eating a starch, but you're eating it with the seed oil that's like making you hungrier.

You have no receptor. You eat a whole bag of Doritos or whatever, and you're I can't believe I just ate a bag of Doritos and I'm so hungry. Like, you know, how is this possible? I actually need to do some research into this.

But yeah, that's really interesting. I've never— I haven't heard that. That's— wow, fascinating.

Yeah, it's funny. There's stuff on seed oils now coming through, and I even— I'm even seeing now in my feed now people saying like, oh, there's no background on seed oils being bad for you and blah blah blah. But there's such an array of seed oils too, and it's like people bulk it in. It's like saying meat is bad for you, and you're like, okay, there's like grass-fed meat, there's like conventional meat. Like, what are we talking about? I So anyway, I see all these like different things popping up now. People are very defensive about their seed oils. I don't know.

It's weird. So important though, is I mean, I teach that like, you know, the only ones to really focus on for cooking— I found an odorless organic coconut oil, odorless, obviously, because otherwise everything's going to taste like coconut. And coconut, not that much. Yeah, exactly. And macadamia nut oil is great for cooking as well. And then just for salads and things like the organic cold-pressed olive oils. What else is there? There's the avocado oil as well, but it's like a very limited amount of oils. And then obviously I use like the grass-fed butter for certain things as well. But everything else, like literally I'm telling my kids, they're 8 and, you know, 11, bless them. I'm always like preaching different things and they're like, but no one else knows this from my friends. I'm like, yeah, I'm like, pass it on. And we did a YouTube video, how seed oils are prepared. Because everyone's like, oh, it's a sunflower, like the pretty sunflower, like this must be good. Oh yeah, have a look. Like, I encourage everyone listening and watching, please Google and even watch with your kids or family members, like, how are seed oils prepared? And it's through the process of preparation that they're oxidized, so they become highly inflammatory in the body. But they add petroleum-based products to it. I've forgotten the chemical terms. If you actually think what is actually in there, it is I honestly— your stomach turns.

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And knowing that is like the 100% reason why not to use it at home. But then you have to also think, and this is where I have struggle going out to restaurants, being like, what are they cooking this in? Like, is this covered in seed oil as well? So I feel like I'm a little bit antisocial.

You have to go to True North and a few other places, but those are the only ones that don't have seatbelts.

Exactly.

But Claudia, you live in London though, so wait till you come to the US because you are still— I mean, I lived in London. London is easy. It's easy to find. Here it's actually kind of a nightmare because the difference between the UK and the US is that in the US they constantly try and kind of cheat you, meaning they're trying to think that you are being healthy, but you're actually not. So I was in Publix yesterday. My husband was too at a separate event, and he came back and he said, you know what, I am struggling in there. I'm looking for what is least unhealthy. So not like you, you're actually struggling every which way you turn. Even the olive oils in the US is They cheating for you. So like the olive oils are not just pure olive oil, they're diluting them and they don't have to tell you. I don't know. Crazy. Do that in Europe, you see. So yeah, we are really in a struggle here.

No, but I literally, I have two places in London where I go to get a Spanish Brindisa, like brand olive oil that I really like, that I know. And it's in the can. It's not the typical one. Yes, it's at a premium. But again, I don't cook with it. I just use it for like salads and like, you know, even when I, after I cook the meat, I put it on on it as well. Um, and it's hard to find. And even in restaurants, you know, you can ask, it's like, oh, does it have this, that, and the other? They're like, yeah, there's an oil on it. It's like, well, yeah, they don't know what it is. Okay, it's good. I was like, it depends on the oil. Yeah. So anyway, we do what we can.

Yeah, exactly.

It depends what we do with— so ladies, I'd love to hear some of your key, you know, health optimization strategies, your routines. Like, what are you doing to be in such a beautiful, optimal Do you want to start?

She's, she's got a big stack.

I got a big stack. Okay. Yes.

Let me know.

Yeah, it starts in the morning. First sunlight, reset the circadian rhythm. Very important. I'm outside here in Florida, easy. And then I get myself on my PEMF mat every single morning and I run either transform or synchronize. So there are 5 different programs. I run one of the 2 and I do my Wim Hof breathing on the cloud mat. So that's first. And then I get kind of the kids ready and then I ground on the beach every morning with my dog. So I walk for about an hour with my husband every morning and then I come back and I do work. Okay. So, and then I make sure to get movement in after that. And then I go and I do probably every other day my biohacking stack over at my friend's house. So that is is hyperdissolved oxygen and ozone in a tub. So I'm submerged in the oxygen and the ozone. And because of the nanobubble technology, it goes through the skin. Oh, it's amazing. And again, I'm actually getting this project out to the world now. So it's in Thailand, it's in Japan. We're getting a lot of projects in Europe, which is very exciting. So that's that. And then with that, I do the red light bed and I stack it with methylene blue. So, methylene blue in there. And then, I, every other day when I don't do those two things, I do intermittent hypoxia training machine. And I have that in my house. So, that takes you from rioxia to hypoxia in intervals, right? So, rioxia is basically when we are at sea level and then you climb up. So, sea level for 4 minutes, then it you climb up to Mount Everest and you spend 4 minutes in thin air. You're breathing in a mask, right? And then you go down, up and down. I do about 4 circles of that and that stresses the, the mitochondria. So it creates more ATP. But it's incredible too, because I'm involved with stem cells as well. And it's incredible to do before stem cell treatment to optimize the treatment as well. So that's an amazing, amazing stack. And what I've noticed with that and my husband too, is that your exercise is like like I am setting records in my running and my— like, oh my God, like I'm setting records. I'm like on fire. And that really has helped me with that. So yeah, yeah, that's really incredible.

And it's literally up to Everest altitude. That's almost 7,000 meters.

Wow. Correct. Yeah, that's what it is. Yep. So it becomes harder to breathe and you set it, the settings with the SpO2 cutoff. So, you know, if you get too low with the oxygen in your blood, it will supply more, right? So you're not dying on the machine.

You're not going to like pass out.

Yeah. So, so that's that. And then, and then throughout the day, yeah, try and eat as clean as possible, obviously. And I also believe mindset is very important and community is extremely important. So that's that. And then the blue blockers, which I should use more than I do. They're laying here and I should use them more because it's really important before when it gets It's dark outside and you got all these blue screens, which is really bad for you.

So yeah, a little technology hack. There is a free app called Flux, F.L.U.X. You install it on your computer and it will automatically— it picks up. You just tell it where you are in the world, and if you travel, it will adjust, and it knows when sunset is, so it will change from blue light to that warm yellow light. You don't even need to do it.

Yeah, I love that.

Oh yeah, I gotta do that. So yeah, but still sometimes when you walk around the house, I guess because we don't have the lights adjusted just yet. Yeah, it's coming.

Exactly.

Yes, I have those. I have those antique bulbs that like are very low and people come to my house and they're like, why is it such—

back in the 1800s?

Yeah, I'm like, no, we're in the 1800s.

It's like, yeah, it's romantic. Just be like this.

I know other people who are more aggressive and they only have red light on at night, and that's actually kind of weird to creepy to me. Like, that's like too much.

But, you know, you laugh at me. I was literally the other night, like, a friend was saying that her husband reads with the red light, and I was like, oh, okay, interesting. I've literally was like looking on Amazon, like, should I buy one? Bearing in mind I have two different red light devices, one is like also portable. I was like, you know, should I buy just that head torch thing, or should I use the other light in case I were to wake up at night or nighttime and stuff too? But anyway, that's on my contemplation of the red light, um, to also help me fall asleep faster. So if you did your reading with the red light as well, but I'm not quite there yet.

I know. Well, it makes you fall asleep so fast. Like, I— like, we were trying to do a podcast the other day with those glasses on, and I was like, I am so sleepy. Like, I can't— totally. You need the yellow ones during the day, because if you put the red ones on in the middle of the day, you're like, whoa, and it messes your circadian rhythm again.

I guess. Yeah, as well.

Yeah, it's wild.

Well, I don't do as much as Alex, but in my day, she has a lot of energy. But I always start my day with journaling, which to me is like a big release of stuff, and it gets me kind of organized and gets my mindset right. I literally have this journal with me everywhere I go. I don't leave the house without it. And then I try to get out in the sun, but it depends on what is happening with my daughter. So, so, you know, they kind of can flow by, but at some point in the day, I'm doing, you know, 30 to 60 minutes of exercise. I'm always doing a yoga class. It's not as like what I know when, you know, when you have kids, it's when you have young kids especially, you know, it's a little bit harder to find free time.

I'm sure, you know, I know I've got an 8 and 10-year-old, but I try to incorporate them into my practices. Like they've done like BrainTap. They've done different things. Yeah.

Awesome. No, I love it.

It's great.

It's great. Yep.

Little biohacker. Actually, I was talking to Alex. Remember we were talking about this just the other day, how I use the BrainTap? I actually use the BrainTap in my transition between work and then picking up my child from school.

Amazing.

Because I find that transition between work, biohacking, go, go, go, boom. And now you're into mommy mode. It's very jolting. All of a sudden you're like, oh, Mommy, where's my pencil? Mommy, where? And then you're like, oh, let me get out of this world that I'm in and all this stuff. And now I'm looking for pencils and I'm looking for whatever and I'm driving gymnastics. So it's like, for me, the mindset, just like Alex was saying, is so important. And using those tools more than anything, I think I recommend the most for people, even if it's just not a BrainTap. BrainTap just gets you there so fast, which is what's amazing about it.

But have you guys tried the visor, the NeuroVisor? I'm obsessed with that now.

Yeah, I haven't tried that one specifically, but I almost did it at a biohacking conference. How is that one better?

It's more powerful.

Yeah, they train. So what BrainTap does is that it trains like a certain brainwave, like alpha or theta or delta, right? So you're like being trained within that one also because of the acoustics as well. Whereas Visor is looking more around brain signal variability, which I think is such a cool concept. It's relatively new in terms of people getting to know about it. It's like the HRV for your brain. And so what it's doing is like actually with the pulsating light, which is a quick entry point to your brain, is creating a bit of like brain training chaos because the lights are always flickering, they're different. And so it's like a mental brain workout, and you would notice the effects not only directly after, but they, they are ongoing thereafter as well. I've interviewed the founder a couple times also on the, uh, podcast. Podcast. Garnet Dupree is amazing, like super knowledgeable. Um, and what was really interesting as well, last year MIT brought out research around pulsating light and to show that it's actually clearing amyloid plaque in the brain. So light, pulsating light, it's clearing the amyloid plaque in the brain, and they're actually trying to go through FDA approvals for a device as well. So it's around mental fitness and stimulation. I think there's a good— it's just a bit different to what BrainTap is focusing on, but super powerful.

And do you think they are like really good in conjunction with each other, like using both of them, or you prefer one to another?

I mean, I'll tell you, Alex, if I had all the time in the day, I'd be like going from one biohacking device to the next.

Yes, of course. Yes.

That's the tricky part. And actually, with a colleague, we're working on a brain AI thing about brain training and stuff too and discussing it. So more to come at a later point. But I think that it is— yeah, it's really exciting. I think it depends what you're looking to train, where you are. And this is obviously assuming someone's maybe a little bit more advanced and has the different devices, a little bit more technical. But if I just had those 10, 11 minutes, I would tend to just focus on the visor, the NeuroVisor. That said, there are programs in the BrainTap that I really do enjoy if I want to specifically train the, you know, accessing alpha brainwaves or even like delta theta. That said, you can do it with the pulsating light as well. So and there's people that are much more expert, expert on this than me, but that's sort of my humble opinion in this regard.

Okay.

Amazing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, ladies, before we finish here and we go on to round 2, which everyone can find on the Biohacker Blondes podcast, and it's very suitable. We've got 3 blondies here, so And we were— you were discussing mindset, and I think that this is so important, and especially when people hear the term biohacking and they know about protocols that, like, Bryan Johnson are doing, and they think it's all about the supplements and doing this and that. But mindset, let's talk about that. And what is mindset for you, and how do you cultivate a growth or positive mindset? I'm curious.

Well, for me, like, it really is the journaling that gets me positive in the morning. I'm, I'm doing a practice now where I also do a prayer at the end of it, which also I find is very positive. And I hadn't been doing that before. So, you know, just like thinking, you know, having gratitude for everything in your life. And, you know, that's a big one. Just starting to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I think that sets you off for a really positive day.

What else?

What do you do, Alex? What else has your on your—

well, Wim Hof breathing is really— huh, what's that?

What did you say? Positive. I said you're a very positive person.

Contagious positive.

Yeah, but I also grew up that way, so I had a little head start, I would say. My mother was some incredible human being, really. She's— she was so fabulous. She was a Norwegian Viking, and I'm from the Viking stock, so come on, we just do it, right? You just It's a mentality, and I'm trying to teach my boys, you just do it. Okay. We don't even like, okay, you feel tired? Well, just do it. But there is a negative flip coin to that too, because that's also why I probably have Hashimoto's because exhausted. Oh, screw that. You just do it. Go out and run anyway.

Right?

You push it. So I push myself a lot and it's a mindset and it's obviously, you got to learn to balance that. And I'm still working on that because I am— I run positive. I run high, I would say. I think the breathing is huge. And also, I think books are very big in the sense of how you can change your mindset. So like my husband, he got me onto a Navy SEAL book and I read that, which I— it resonated with me. It's called— it's the Mark Divine. Mark Divine is the Navy SEAL. And I think it's— shoot, what is it called again? Oh, I have it here. It's actually under my Oh, it's here. Perfect.

We can, we can, we can link it in the show notes for people interested.

This is it, Unbeatable Mind.

Woo! Oh, I love it. Good one. Yeah, good name.

This is a very good one. It's a very good one because— and also, yeah, what's that?

I said there's nothing like a Navy SEAL. I mean, think about what they have to go through.

That's what I mean. And listen, if they can do it, I can do it. Like And again, I think also, Claudia von Boeselager, the thing is you evolve over time. So everything that happens to you in your life, that is also part of it, becomes you. And it also changes your kind of resilience. I'm big into resilience, right? Trained resilience and doing hard things. It's a good thing. Okay.

Yeah.

Things shouldn't always be easy. It shouldn't always be easy. Okay. Go out and walk in that hard, cold rain. Like, make it hard, you know? I think that's really important. And Americans like to take the shortcut of always having the easy way. And easy way is not always the best way. And also, you gotta have some toughness in order to appreciate the good. Yin and yang. You can't just have it good. You can't just have it easy. You can't just have it, you know, sunny and beautiful. You gotta have some harshness to it too. It's balance.

I love it. And where we saw each other last at the pneumonia conference, we had Andrew Huberman speaking there as well, and he was sharing that there was research around centenarians and part of their brain— and I'm gonna butcher the, the name, um, the anterior cortex. I, um, it's wrong. I believe it's in the base of the brain somewhere. I don't know if either of you know this actual name, but it was more advanced than your other people, and basically it was trained by putting yourself and uncomfortable, or things outside your comfort zone. So you're exhausted from work, you come home, and you still go to the gym. And so it's like that, always just pushing yourself. And I agree what you're saying, Alex, you need to find the balance so that you're not burning yourself out, which we've— we've been there. Um, but doing the uncomfortable things that are— you know they're good for you, you know you should do them, and not allowing that inner voice of like, oh, look at the sofa and Netflix Netflix and like, oh, I want to do this.

Yeah, no motivation problem in the US as well. And I was just listening to Mel Robbins talk a little bit about that, and she, she has this like theory. If you guys heard this, the whole 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and then I've heard it, but maybe you could share it. Yeah, so if you're not feeling motivated, because I think it can be hard to be listening to this podcast maybe and being like, wow, these people are so motivated, they get up so early and they do all these and like, you know, like, I don't think everybody can relate to that necessarily. So it's like, understandably, you know, like, like a lot of people are really unmotivated and, or they're tired or maybe they're sick or whatever it is. But like what she explains is if you, let's say, let's like the example of laying in bed and your alarm goes off and it's like you hit the snooze button, right? And you keep hitting the snooze button because you just don't want to start your day. She came up with this analogy of like you're, you're a rocket ship. So you have to lay in bed and you say 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and then you get up and you go. And she says that actually it's the, you've already made the decision to go when you start counting. So you get always do it like it, like it's this amazing thing. So if you're feeling unmotivated in any capacity, like just sit there and be like, like, oh, like I don't want to write this email. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Okay, go.

Just do it.

Just get there.

I just say it to me, it's more simple than that. I say you just do it. It. Just do it. Just do it. Take it for what you want. Even think about it. Just bloody do it. That's how I work, and that's what I tell to my kids. Just do it. You don't like it? Okay, fine. It's gonna pass. You just do it. Nothing is constant. It changes always, right? Yeah.

And Mel was talking about actually the—

the—

because that's the Nike tagline, just do it, right?

Right.

And she said that that's so fabulous because— and it's the most famous tagline and everyone wears it on their shirts and they do, you know, everything because of the word just. And the word just is like, you know, just mean you gotta, you gotta just get out there.

Like, and even—

and it sort of acknowledges the fact that it's hard, but just do it anyway. Like, just do it anyway. Like, you know, so it's kind of a cool— it's a really cool phrase and it's why it's so popular. And it's like the best tagline.

Can I just say something? Can I just say one more thing? Yeah. It's also to find Find something small in everyday activity that makes you tick and burn. So, makes you really excited. You know, whether it's, you know, for me, it's exercise, right? I always look forward to that. So, that's kind of like my driver. And you can always like, you look forward to something and also have a mission, have a passion, have a, you know, something that's driving you. That's really important.

Right?

Yeah, I do.

And I'd even add to that that if you have a purpose that's bigger than just yourself, it's not like, oh, I'm trying to save for a bag or, you know, something, but actually I'm here to make a big impact in the world and like help people, whatever. That's the why that will get you out of bed, um, even in those dark, cold nights. You're like, I don't want— or mornings, whatever you have to get up at. Correct, correct.

The purpose, the why.

Yep. Yeah, amazing.

That's the whole reason for the podcast too. I mean, that's why you're doing it, I'm sure, and that's why we wanted We like to talk. We just talk into the screen and it's like, we're just like, please listen to us, anybody. And that alone is just a reason to do it, just to feel like we're— I have random friends from high school who call me and be like, I've been listening to your podcast.

I'm like, what?

Yeah, it's just kind of cool to like— and they're like, oh, I never knew about this or that. Thank you so much. And you get a lot of that. That kind of feedback, which is just so— it just makes you really feel happy and want to keep doing it, you know.

Yeah. Molly, Alex, what— how can people find out, like, where— what you're up to? Where can they follow you, check out websites, etc.? We'll link everything in the show notes.

Yeah, so I'm at molly-seagal.com, so you can book a, a consult with me. I do, I do free 20-minute consultations and we talk about whatever your health issues are, and then we can, we can sort it out and do a bunch of testing and all of that. And then I'm at Molly Siegel dot wellness on Instagram.

And we're obviously the Biohacking Blondes on Instagram.

Yes.

And myself, I'm— my website is ScandiLabs.io. So Scandinavian Laboratories. And then, yeah, and Alexandra Cochran too on Instagram as well. So ScandiLabs on Instagram really is the mainly.

Yeah, beautiful.

Super.

Do you have any parting thoughts or message for my audience, um, before we sign off here today and go on to part 2 on your podcast?

Just do it. Just do it. And life is not stagnant, it's forever changing. So if you're in a tough moment right now, it's, it's always changing. We're always evolving, and things can change in an instant. If you wanted to.

Yeah.

And just make the decision to change, and that is just going to start to propel you forward, even if it's just one small thing, getting to the gym or lifting a weight or just like baby steps to get there. And then you'll get excited about something, whatever that is, even if it's like sewing or what, I don't know, like whatever you want to do, get excited about it and then share that with the world.

Beautiful. Thank you so much for coming on. So much fun to have you both. Thank you to your audience for listening in. And make sure to check out our part 2 on the Biohacking Blondes podcast. Talk to you then.

Thank you.

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