41: Feeling Tired & Foggy? – The Best Natural Fix for Energy, Detox & Hormone Health with Dr. Catharine Arnston

Katherine Arnsten, PhD, MBA, BA, is the founder and CEO and chief scientific Officer of Energy Bits, the premium brand of algae tablets sold online and nationally through longevity clinics and biohacking centers. She spent 16 years researching the extensive health, longevity and nutritional benefits of algae that are documented in over a hundred thousand scientific and clinical studies. But still virtually these mechanisms and algae are unknown outside of Asia. She and Energy Bits are working to change that. If you don't know Katherine's story, she was very much not in this field until her sister got a diagnosis of breast cancer many years ago, and she dug in deep in ways to support and nourish her through her recovery journey. And so I've had many conversations with Katherine. She is delightful, insightful, and absolutely brilliant. So excited to share this conversation with you today. Welcome to Modern Thyroid and Wellness, the podcast that explores the intricate dance between health, wellness and thyroid, unraveling the threads that weave our vitality together. I'm your host, McCall McPherson, and I'm so thrilled to guide you on this journey to optimal wellness. Katherine, thank you so much for being here. I absolutely love our conversations on screen and off screen, and I know you are just a wealth of knowledge and I'm excited to share your message and your mission with my followers. So thank you so much for being here today.

Well, thank you. It's always great to see you and I keep bumping into you, which is a good sign.

It is, right?

We're in the same circuit trying to solve the same problem. I'm so glad to add my, make my contribution to your great solution.

Yeah, well, tell us a little bit. Let's go all the way down to the basics. Tell us what algae is because you, sister, are in the business of algae, where it comes from, what the types are like. Give us the whole foundational construct of this conversation.

Yeah, well, algae was the first life on Earth 4 billion years ago. To put that in context, we humans have been on Earth for 2 million years and was a cyanobacteria like spirulina. And I tell people there's something spiritual about being the first life on Earth because before this cyanobacteria, Earth was just gas and water. So I've now started referring to spirulina as spiritualina. I love it. You know, Anyways, first life on Earth, now algae is its own food category. This may surprise some people in two ways. They may not even know that algae is food. They think of it as a supplement because we, we sell it. We'll talk about it later on, but we Sell it in these little tiny tablets. They're about the size of a bab aspirin that you could swallow or chew. So people think of it as a supplement, but it's actually a food. And algae has two subcategories. Just like food, like fruit, you have different categories, like apples and oranges. Well, in algae you have two main categories. One is macroalgae and the other is microalgae. And we're going to be talking about microalgae today. But let me tell you what the macroalgae is so you can put it in context. It's that stringy stuff that washes up on shore, also known as seaweed or dulce or kelp. Now, it's called seaweed because it's only in the sea and it looks like a weed and you can drag big hunks of it up from the ocean. Now, it's still good for you for a couple of reasons. It's loaded with fiber and iodine because it comes from the sea, but it has virtually zero nutrition. So macroalgae is seaweed. Virtually no nutrition, but lots of fiber. Microalgae, which we're talking about today, is completely opposite. First of all, it's everywhere, not just the sea. Yes, it is in the sea. It's also in the rivers and the lakes and the soil, your aquarium, probably your swimming pool. And so it's far more evident around the world. And it is the most nutrient dense food in the universe. We have a quote from NASA that says one gram of algae has the same nutrition as a thousand grams of, of fruits and vegetables. One to a thousand. There's nothing with that kind of comparison. And the reason is it's called microalgae because it's microscopic in size. You can't see it. You could get close to a million of these cells on the head of a pin. So you start to understand that when you consolidate it into these, into these little tiny tablets, you start to understand why it's so nutrient dense. In fact, on the nutrient density. United nations has endorsed spirulina algae as the answer to world hunger for 50 years. They had a global conference. You can go online and read the proceedings. And they said it was the answer to world hunger. Why? Because it has the highest protein in the world. We'll hopefully talk about this later on, because as you get into perimenopause and menopause, you need protein more than ever. And this is vegan carnivore, paleo friendly. There is nothing in the world with More protein than spirulina and chlorella algae. They have three times the amount of protein as steak or chicken or fish. So back to microalgae algae, very nutrient dense, but in comparison to macroalgae, virtually no fiber or no fiber. Spirulina is a bacteria, it's a cyanobacteria. No fiber. The reason why this is good to know is because there's nothing for your body to break down to get access to the nutrients, the protein, the chlorophyll, the enzymes, because there's no cellulose wall. And it's. You could give this to newborns, children, pets, because there's no work for your digestion to get access. So no fiber in spirulina, a small amount in chlorella, and we'll talk about that later. Because it's a plant, so the most nutrient dense, zero fiber. And because it's harvested, Spirulina and chlorella are harvested as food crops, agricultural crops. They're generally grown in fresh water. So yes, there is algae in the ocean, but this, the algae that we sell, or whether you go to Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, it's pretty much grown in freshwater farms. It's called hydrogen hydroponic. And so when you grow things in water, you can control the environment. You can't, you can't control the environment when it's in the ocean. So here's a spirulina farm, and here's a chlorella farm. So algae is a food. Two subcategories, macro and micro. The ones we're talking about, which are microalgae are food crops primarily grown in Asia. And then to go down a little deeper, when you have this microalgae, you. There are two main subcategories. So to give you a reference again, you have fruit, and then you have apples and bananas. And within apples you have subcategories like Macintosh and green. Well, within microalgae you have subcategories. You have blue, green and green. There's also red, but very not much going on with red. So you have these subcategories. Now within blue green algae you have. The main one is spirulina. And the reason why I let you know that it's the main one is that you might read on the Internet about a blue green algae closing your favorite beach. We're not talking about spirulina. It's just another member of the blue green algae family, sort of like the black sheep of your family that did something crazy. So don't worry, it's not spirulina. Spirulina is grown as a harvested food crop in fresh water and we're known for having the cleanest because we triple have triple filled with spring mountain water. So that's spirulina as one category of blue green, and that's the one everybody knows and is the most popular. An example of green algae is chlorella and again, it's the most popular. There are others, but it's the one that most people know and that is the big agricultural crop in Asia, by the way, in Japan, they don't take supplements, they only take chlorella. And you're going to find out why. It builds your immune system, it has the highest chlorophyll in the world, which is very cleansing and builds your blood. So. And the Japanese are known for having the best longevity, lowest cancer rates, lowest obesity rates, great skin and hair. And I attribute some of that to the fact that they take chlorella and spirulina algae every single day. So anyways, that's the story about algae. It's been here forever. The Egyptians used it 2,000 years ago. It fed the AZ in Mexico 250 years ago. It's been grown in Asia safely for over 60 years where it's a major agricultural crop almost as big as the beef industry. And you may be. And there's 100,000 studies documenting the health benefits of spirulina and chlorella. 100,000. There is no food that is more researched than spirulina and chlorella. So by now you're probably scratching your head going, well, if it's endorsed by international agencies, it's safely grown as an agricultural crop, it's supported with all this great science. Why don't I know about it? People know about spirulina as a superfood, but they really don't know much more about it. Well, it's because it's not grown here for mass consumption like it is in Asia. And nobody has told you about it like I am or like we do at Energy Bits now. You can't drive to school on your bicycle or to work on your car in Asia without going by an algae farm. So it's very common there. It's not weird, it's not mysterious, it's just part of life here. We see corn and wheat and soy and maybe tomato crap crops, strawberry, strawberry patches, no algae. So people are confused or they think it's weird or they think it's some kind of strange thing and it's not strange at all. It's just not familiar with you. And I tell people algae isn't new, it's just new to you. You didn't know about chia or kiwa or collagen powder or bone broth, even though they had been used for centuries in other countries until someone here introduced them to you and helped you understand what they did. So that's kind of what we're doing. And I've been doing this for 15 years now. I was so ahead of my time. But now people are interested because word is out about the fact that our soil is so damaged that there's no nutrients, even if you are eating vegetables. The processed foods are so contaminated with glyphosate and pesticides and contributing to so many illnesses. Women are suffering from so many issues in menopause and perimenopause and thyroid issues and autoimmune. And it all comes down to the fact that our food has zero nutrition in it and we are loaded with toxins. And as you're going to find out, spirulina gives you all the nutrition and chlorella pulls out all the toxins. So it's your go to, it's your SOS and it's proven and used safely, but you just need to know about it. So that's what I do.

I love it. I love it. And I want to, I want to put a pin in the part about women going into perimenopause, going into menopause. That's definitely a timestamp in the world of thyroid and obviously hormone dysfunction. Right. Talk to me about what might be changing during those more vulnerable times that make us more susceptible to thyroid hormones, chronic health issues, and how chlorella and spirulina could play a role in fixing that.

Exactly. Well, I need to go to a high level. It's just to let you know that we've been on earth, as I mentioned, for 2 million years, but we've only lived past 30 for the last 150 years. So brought you the wrong. So our bodies are programmed to prepare us for death and it thinks we're dying at 30. So as you get closer to 30, your body shuts down a lot of production of various things. The obvious one is hormones like estrogen and these things are not going to change. Our bodies will not catch up with the evolution. The fact that we, our lifestyle now allows us to live to 70, 80, 90. Some people are even making it to 100. Of course, the sad thing is those last three or four decades are experienced with degraded quality of life, chronic disease, brain fog, weight gain, cancer, so many issues. And I want to help you understand that that's not necessary. And we can get rid of a lot of those symptoms through the nutrients found in algae. So one of the other things that slows down as you get into that perimenopause menopause, age of 40 and 45, is melatonin. Melatonin helps you sleep. And as you're going to find out, or maybe you already know, sleep is when your body restores itself, repairs itself, flushes out toxins. And if you can't get good quality sleep, or enough of it, you're not getting those abilities. And you're going to find out. Chlorella has nutrients in it that help you get to sleep. But the main thing that I want to help you understand is a nutrient that you're probably not familiar with, but slows down at the same time that melatonin slows down, estrogen slows down, and it's an antioxidant with a very long name, and it's superoxide dismutase. I'm sorry, it is what it is also known as sod. Now, just like melatonin and estrogen, we have sod in our systems from the moment we're born. And but as we get to 30 and past that, that 30 mark, because that's when our body thinks we're starting to get prepared for death, we start to lose our SOD. And by 40, you have virtually none. And at 40, which is when we have perimenopause and menopause, this is exactly when chronic disease kicks in. You're all fine. In the early years, once you get to 40, things really start falling apart and it becomes, excuse my expression, a bit of a shit show. And it's actually terrifying because here we are, women, and we've had a lifestyle, an energy level we managed our, our lives with.

We could see, like, things that were reasonably close.

Right, right. And then things just start changing. It's like, wait a second, you didn't prepare me for this. Like, where's the operating manual? What's going on? This ST did before just doesn't seem to work anymore. And it's because of the loss of some of these nutrients, the melatonin is slowing down. So you're not sleeping, so you're not repairing, so tissue damage and toxins can't be removed. You're losing the estrogen. And here I want you to know, everyone knows some of the roles of estrogen triggers the release of eggs and stuff, but you probably don't know that estrogen also acts as an antioxidant for your mitochondria. And I'm going to segue in a minute to the importance of mitochondria. So, because just as you are at the time you're losing estrogen, which is a protector of the mitochondria, you are also losing this stuff called superoxide dismutase at exactly the same time. This is why women get hit twice as hard as they get into those age, those 40 and 50 years harder than men, because they don't have this loss of estrogen. So we get a double whammy of not having the protection of the mitochondria that we used to have, because everybody loses their superoxide dismutase at 40. But women are losing their estrogen as well, because when you lose your estrogen, it also helps the mitochondria create that stuff called cellular energy, also known as ATP. It helps your mitochondria go through a process of regeneration, which is called fusion or fission. It also helps the mitochondria clean itself up, which is a process called autophagy. It's like if you have teenagers and their rooms get so messy you can't even see the bed. You finally say you gotta clean up your room, and then of course, order is restored, while your cells go through a similar process, which is called autophagy. And estrogen plays a role in that, so does this stuff called superoxide dismutase. So when you lose both of those, your cell never gets a chance to clean up. And so what happens? Just like how your teenager keeps heaping clothes upon cl. Upon clothes on the floor and the bed, and it's a complete disaster. Same thing goes on in your cells. There's free radicals that can't be removed. There's something called reactive oxygen species, which is the high test free radicals, you get toxins, you get all sorts of stuff which prevents the cell from working properly and in fact, often leads to a stage of where it dies. And when you have fewer mitochondria, you have less cellular energy. And when you have less cellular energy, nothing works. Nothing works. So this is what's going on as you age. It's nothing that you did wrong. This is just the natural order. This is like, let's say you moved, you were a young child and you grew up in the south, and you had warm sun days, sunny days, 365 days of the year, and suddenly you get transplanted to where I've been living Boston, and it's winter half of the year. The child may think, what have I done wrong? I'm suddenly cold. You didn't do anything wrong. You're just. You're experiencing a different environment. Same with when you get to 40 and 50. You didn't do anything wrong. You're just experiencing a different internal environment. And we have some ways to help you manage that change so that you don't get traumatized and that you don't experience a lot of these symptoms. That is quite common in menopause and perimenopause and thyroid disorders and all that sort of stuff. And the nutrients. One of them is called superoxide dismutase, which is found in the highest concentration in the universe in spirulina algae. So I feel like I've got the get out of jail card for, for women, because nobody's talking about this superoxide dismutase to consumers. Scientists know about it. In fact, there's 25,000 thousand scientific papers confirming that superoxide dismutase reduces inflammation, prevents Alzheimer's, prevents cancer, prevents heart disease, prevents all sorts of any chronic illness. 25,000. But the scientists don't know that you can find superoxide disease in the highest concentration in raw. Has to be raw spirulina like ours. And the reason why ours is raw, and this is what makes us special, is that we do not use high heat to dry our algae like almost every everybody else. All those cheaper ones that you buy at Trader Joe's or, or Costco, I can promise you they came from China or India and they cut corners to get to market quickly, and they used high heat to dry it. And what does high heat do? It kills enzymes. So this thing, I'm going to tell you a little bit more detail in a minute called superoxide dismutase. It's an antioxidant, but it's also an enzyme. And so when you expose it to high heat, you deactivate it. Just like, let's say you go, you run home and you wanted a car and someone gave beautiful car and a really great price. And you go home and you tell your significant other, oh, I got this great deal. Well, then you find out there's no engine under the hood. So looks great, sounds great, doesn't perform. So we want to be sure that you get maximum value from your spirulina and also your chlorella. I will say you could also use frozen spirulina or fresh spirulina, because they too have not Been exposed to high heat. So they have all the activ. Superoxide dismutase and some other nutrients that I want you to be aware of. And to prove how powerful this is, there are healing centers, a number of them around the world. A big one is in Palm Beach, Florida, called the Hippocrates Institute. They've been around for 50 years and they work with stage four cancer patients. They have like a 95% success rate restoring them. And one of the things they do is give them fresh spirulina that every single day. And part of it's because of this restorative capability of this antioxidant called superoxide dismutase. However, once the someone has left there, it's really hard to get fresh and frozen spirulina. It's expensive. It expires quickly, it tastes terrible.

Right. What does that even look like? Like what? How would you even eat that?

Well, they. They mush it up into a. There's a company in Florida that makes it in jars. In fact, at the consumer health summit that you and I were both at. Duck.

Oh, they were there.

Dr. Sherry was there. She's a plastic surgeon. And interesting. Plastic surgeon. She's a vaginal plastic surgeon. Anyways, she's been prescribing this. This stuff, this raw spirulina to patients for a long time, but it comes in a jar. It has to be so shipped in a ice pack and lasts like 14 days. And it's very expensive, so it's mushy. You take a spoonful of it. So it's absolutely viable. But it's expensive. You can't travel with it. Expires quickly. So you get the same benefits from ours. Our spirulina tablets, which travel easily, they come in little pouches. You can swallow them if you don't like the flavor. That's the other thing. When you take frozen fresh spirulina, there's no avoiding the flavor. It's got an earthy kind of flavor. It's an acquired taste. No harm swallowing it. You get the same benefits. So. So I just want to let people know that there, we're not the only way to get the superoxide dismutase, but we're a very convenient, proven, medically proven way to. To get that. So. Yeah, so. So this thing that happens to you when you hit 30 and 40 is not your fault. It's just like how the seasons, plants, trees in the Northeast, they become. They don't have as much sunlight, so they become red and they fall off the leaf and then they, and they, they come back in the spring. I want to help you get through this change of seasons. I think it's a really great analogy as we go through menopause and have changes in our body. But what nobody has been given is a recipe of how to manage their way through those seasons. And so one of the recipes, because I don't cook much, so I need a recipe when I'm in the kitchen. I have two sisters, they're really amazing cooks. They don't need a recipe, they just, just throw stuff in and it's like a miracle. I need a recipe. And so in the recipe there's always ingredients. So I dutifully go out and I get my ingredients and I follow the recipe and it usually works out. So for getting through the seasonal change of life, you don't have to go through discomfort. You don't have to have these raging symptoms of brain fog and weight gain and metabolic health issues and chronic disease. You just need to follow a recipe. And in the recipe, one of your key ingredients should be spirulina and chlorella algae, particularly spirulina. And I speak from, not only from the heart, but from experience. Because ladies, because I assume it's mostly ladies watching this interview. I'm turning 70 next year, 7070 and I have been taking spirulina and chlorella since I started the company 15 years ago. I started to help my sister recover from cancer, so that was the impetus. But I have endless energy. I just got my PhD last year, so my brain is working. I have only millennials working for me. I travel non stop. I sleep well, I poop well, I think well, I move well. I can. I take no medications, I have no chronic diseases. I take only spirulina. And when you do in chlorella, and when you do, you can eliminate a lot of your multivitamin, fish oil, collagen, biotin, keratin, a lot of things that you're probably taking and cluttering your countertop with. And it's food, it satisfies your hunger. There's one calorie per tablet. If you're on a GLP1, please, please, please take spirulina because you will have muscle wasting and your cells are constantly regrowing and if you don't have nutrients to help them grow, you're going to run into problems. It's not if, it's just when, when. So I'm speaking from a sample size of 1. I will say, however this stuff works, it's Food. It works. I don't use Botox. This is my real skin. I don't have any extensions. This is my real hair. This is my real. These are my. Somebody asked me, is, are those are real teeth? Yes. There's no. There's nothing on my teeth. I'm fit. Yeah.

She does have endless energy, let me tell you. Yeah, it's impressive. Yeah. Tell me a little bit too, Catherine, about the mitochondrial piece. Like, we do talk a lot about mitochondria on here and with patients. So there. I think a lot of people are aware, maybe not everyone, but tell us how algae, spirulina chlorella, can impact mitochondrial function, protect them. How does all of that work? Because they are so key also to us aging in a healthy way. Right.

They are key to absolutely life itself.

Yeah.

So the mitochondria are these little. They're called organelles, and they're in all of your cells, and they generate what's called ATP, cellular energy. Think of them as light bulbs in an office tower. You can't do any work if you don't have any lights, right? So when the light bulb goes out, you just pick up the phone, maintenance comes along, replaces it. You're. You're easy peasy, you're good to go. Now, in your body, the lights that keep your building, your. Your body alive and open and ready to work are called the mitochondria. But it's even more complicated. They're not just the lights. They're the electricity that power the light. So as you get older, you lose mitochondria. And I'm going to tell you why you're losing them and how we can restore them. Because the thing that turns the light bulbs back on when they go out is this antioxidant called superoxide dismutase. They are your maintenance crew. Crew. And unfortunately, your maintenance crew goes on strike when you hit 40, and they never come back because this stuff called superoxidismatase is no longer being produced by your body. And so it's not giving your mitochondria the electricity, the ability to turn your lights back on. So this thing called superoxide dismutase, which is in the raw spirulina in the highest concentration, is like having your maintenance crew back on track and keeping your lights going on. We literally turn the lights on in your brain and in your body basically everywhere. You literally glow from the inside out. And we all want the glow. The glow comes from your skin, which, by the way, is your largest organ. So whatever is happening on Your skin is also happening on the inside. So how does this, why do we lose mitochondria as we get older? And what is really going on and how does this mitochondria bring them back to life? So here's the thing in your cell, and I'm going to show you a picture, but I'll also explain it. In your cell, you have a lot of different stuff. You have your nucleus and you have something sort of a fluid called systolic fluid. And you have these little peanut shaped things, which are your mitochondria. Now, I just want to tell you how important the mitochondria are because in your cells, in your brain, you have 2 million mitochondria per cell. People who have ever lived in New York and been on rush hour in the subway knows how packed that subway car can get. That's nothing compared to your cell with 2 million mitochondria per cell in your brain, your brain has the most mitochondria. This is why the first thing that will turn back on once you start getting your mitochondria working again is your brain. We literally turn the lights back on in your brain. Brain fog, gone. Dementia, Alzheimer's, it's extraordinarily powerful because the inflammation goes away. So inside the mitochondria, this is where all the action is. This is where the, this stuff called ATP, cellular energy is created. But the problem is, which most people don't know about, is a byproduct of those that ATP production are free radicals. Okay, and the other problem is your mitochondria have their own DNA. There's only 37 of them compared to your 22,000, which regular DNA, which is located somewhere else in the cell. But those 37 control all of your other DNA. They control the life of your cell, the life of your mitochondria. They' controllers yet an airport. There's not, there's not many air controllers, right? But they control everything. So your mitochondria, DNA control everything. And they are located exactly where the ATP is, which is exactly where the free radicals are. So they get damaged every single nanosecond because they're right where the free radicals are being released. Now, just as a refresher of what a free radical is, is it's a molecule with an unpaired electron. And nature strives for balance. And so if with an unpaired electron, that molecule will steal an electron from a neighboring molecule, which leaves it unbalanced and causes tissue damage in the process. Now it's unbalanced, so it will steal from someone. This is how disease occurs. The good news is there's things called antioxidants that have extra electrons to donate to the free radical to calm it down, to balance it out. So there is no tissue damage. Right. And we've all known blueberries and vitamin C. These are all well known antioxidants. Here's the problem. Your mitochondria have an inner membrane, the only cell in your body with two membranes. And that second membrane is impenetrable by virtually all other antioxidants. There's a handful that can get in there. Chlorophylls 1, Glutathione 1. And the main one is called superoxide dismutase. So normally, antioxidants would be the answer to those free radicals, but they can't get in there. It's like an ICU unit. It's in lockdown. Only special antioxidants can get in there. And the most important one is superoxide dismutase. So what does this superoxide dismutase do? Well, the most damaging free radical in your body is created in the mitochondria, and it's called superoxide. And what makes it so damaging? It has three unpaired electrons, not just one, three. So it's three times as unstable. So this stuff called superoxide dismutase, which is an antioxidant dismutase, by the way, means to reduce. So superoxide dismutase dims down, reduces the free radical and converts it to harmless water and oxygen. Boom. Saves the. The free. The mitochondrial DNA, because it's not a free radical anymore. It's water and oxygen. And the best analogy I can give to people is if you've ever been out in a rainstorm and you had one of those big golf umbrellas, right, you may not be golfing. You might be just shopping, because I'm certainly not a golfer. But when you pop that big golf umbrella up, up, Boom. You're protected from the rain, right? You didn't stop the rain, but the rain's not getting you wet anymore because you've got this. You could get a family under there. You're. You're protected. That's what superoxide dismutase does for your mitochondria DNA. It protects it from the rain of free radicals from the moment you're born until about 40. But because the superoxidis mutase is slowing down in the production as you get to 40 and your perimenopause and menop. Menopause and certainly after 50 of 0, the by 40, that big golf umbrella has shrunk down to the size of one of those city totes umbrella. So now your mitochondria are getting a little damaged. Not so bad, but not so good either. And then by the time you're 40, 45 gone, someone has stolen your umbrella and your poor old mitochondria are getting slammed with all those free radicals that they used to be protected from.

And that's probably why we have rapid aging onset for those several years.

Right? It's exactly why we have accelerated aging, brain fog, weight gain, metabolic disorders. All kinds of chronic diseases are because you have so your mitochondria get killed. Their average lifespan, by the way, is 14 days. Your mitochondria DNA compared to your life, your regular DNA, which lasts a lifetime. It's because they're always getting slammed with all these free radicals because they no longer have super oxy dismutase. So I have the answer for you. Superoxide dismutase is found in the highest concentration in the universe in spirulina algae, if it has not been exposed to high heat, because high heat, as I mentioned earlier, deactivates it. We give you back your golf umbrella, it turns your lights back on. Now your mitochondria are protected again. They can regenerate again. Everything in your body can regenerate, every member. Your skin cells, your organ cells, every, including your mitochondria. And so when you start having more mitochondria and mitochondria that aren't damaged, everything works better. Now your brain is on fire. You can fight diseases, you can restore, repair better, you have more energy. And it's all because of this protection from the superoxide. Well, the main one is the protection. And also as I mentioned to McCall earlier, there's this thing called easy water, which is very concentrated water that is loaded with electrons which your mitochondria need to generate energy. And of course the superoxide dismutase reduces the free radicals to what oxygen and what water. So in addition to supporting and protecting your mitochondria, it's giving your mitochondria back this very powerful water and oxygen, which by the way keeps the cell alkaline. You can keep disease out of cells when they are alkaline. And when you have alkalinity, algae is the most alkaline food in the world. It keeps the cell healthy. It knows that it's healthy. And if it knows, if it does get sick, it just goes through that process called autophagy. So it says it's time to clean up my, my room, Mom. So it cleans itself out. So. But having oxygen and water is critical. Our bodies are what, 70 or 80% water and a large part of that is in the mitochondria. But if you're not getting that water byproduct, but from the, the superoxidis mutates, turning the free radicals into, into water, you're losing that, you're losing that powerful water and oxygen too. So it's absolutely incredible. And this was created by mother Nature. I can't take credit for, for algae or the superoxidism taste. I can take credit for growing it so carefully that we preserve it so it can go to work for you and you get the maximum value and you don't even have to wait long. People have told us who have had dementia or Alzheimer's that literally the next day it was like their brain turned back on. Part of it's because again, spirulina is a bacteria, so it gets absorbed instantly. So all that great superoxide dismutase. We haven't even touched on the blue pigment called phycocyanin, which is proven to kill cancer cells, which is another other big issue for women as we get into our 40s and 50s. It's rampant. So there's amazing nutrients and not to mention all the high protein which we need for protect muscle wasting. And our DNA is made of, of proteins. There are proteins that are folded and you'll have damaged DNA if you don't have proper proteins. It's almost too good to be true, except it's backed with about a hundred thousand studies, but nobody's telling anyone about them except me.

Right, well, that's why you're here today. Catherine, Tell me a little bit too about. I know that with a lot of my listeners we always talk a bit about iodine and monitoring levels of iodine, specifically in people with Hashimoto's or autoimmune thyroid conditions. Talk to me about that because I know you've got some cool information about that as well.

Well, it turns out, and I'm learning a lot more about sunlight in this easy. It's called the exclusionary Water is what the EZ stands for, getting light into your eyes, Red light. So you could also use red light devices. But sunlight is free and it's strongest in the mornings, just at sunrise, it triggers the thyroid to generate important hormones. And so we often pair. But not everybody can get up that early. And if you're in a cold environment, it's Doubly difficult. So I'm very supportive of red light therapy. And we really encourage people to take the spirulina before the red light therapy and the chlorella after. So you get twice the value because again, with the red light, which is triggering the hormonal capability. And it triggers the. This ability for your cells to create this special water that generates energy through this thing called the electron transport chain. And so does spirulina. So it's like you add one and one together and you get 10. So it really up levels the effect of the, of the red light therapy. And you can get large panels, you can get small ones for your head and. But check to see which you're getting the right lights blanks because they do different things. Same with infrared. Sauna's really powerful to join the spirulina again before the sauna. So that because you're, you're. The sauna is great because it's an elimination pathway. Your body removes toxins four ways. Breath, sweat, urine, and bowel movements. And so when you're in the sauna, if you have spirulina, there's some chlorophyll in there, which is very. Kills bacteria, but it's very nourishing. And then after the sauna or after the red light, we want you to take the chlorella because it's the cleanup crew. Because when you're sweating or using these devices to improve the cellular functionality, it's going through this cleanup process called autophagy. And so it's spitting out bits of free radicals and toxins. And so you don't want them circulating around so they get reabsorbed. You want them to be mopped up. And chlorella is what I call the cleanup crew. So it gets rid of that. So for autoimmune, any kind of hormonal disorder borders. I'm very big on light, particularly red light, which will help heal the mitochondria. And when you pair it with the spirulina before and the chlorella after, you'll get this 10x effect because they are so synergistic. And of course, spirulina, as I mentioned earlier, was the first life on Earth. And so it created life and energy on Earth and in your body. And I guess maybe this is good time to show you. This is all proven again in science. It's called endosymbiotic theory. If you ever doubted the value of spirulina and chlorella, let me tell you, the first life on Earth was this thing called the cyanobacteria. And it was an anaerobic cell. And after a billion years, it released oxygen through that process called ATP. So larger aerobic cells could grow, but they didn't generate ATP as well. So I'm sure the little conversation was the big cell said to the little cell, hey, little guy, I see you're struggling. Why don't you come and join us? We'll protect you from all that oxygen that you don't like anymore and you can generate ATP for us. And that's what happened. It didn't get digested, it just coexisted. And that little cell became your mitochondria. Your mitochondria directly evolved from this stuff called cyanobacteria, which is why there is a second membrane. This is the original membrane when it was 4 billion years ago, when it got absorbed by the bigger cell. The bigger cell, simply put a lipid membrane around it did not eliminate the original cell. This is why. Interesting, that's in the spirulina and chlorella can get into the mitochondria because they're literally family. And if you want to learn about it, it's called endosymbiotic theory. All PubMed scientific papers that refer to the ancestry of mitochondria refer to this. It was a developed. The theory was developed in the 60s by an MIT professor. And no surprise, she was ridiculed for 10 years by all her peers until they realized, oops, she's right.

That's usually what happens with really smart women.

Women, Right, right. And like we're working behind the scenes. And on that note, I also want to point out out your mitochondria DNA and mitochondria DNA control everything, right? Like the air controllers, all of the DNA in your mitochondria come from the women. Our regular DNA. Half is from men, half is from women. And it just cracks me up because it's like so typical here. The most powerful thing in our entire body that controls our health, our longevity, everything came from women. And women. We work. We work in the background doing all this hard work, never getting any credit or rarely. And the saint, it's like it was baked into us from the moment. Right? Evolution. So big kudos to women. I started Mother Nature. We have all the power, right? Mother Nature is my mentor. I started the company because my sister. I'm all about helping other women be the best they can. I read a quote recently, it said, and I love this, feel free to use this and shares when you get to 50 because you're going through all these changes and life just isn't. Things just are more difficult and you're suffering. You have two choices. You can get bitter or you can get better. Yeah, right. I want you to get better. And one of the easiest ways to do that is to take spirulina algae tablets, because they're effortless to take. I will say spirulina is an acquired taste, so most people do swallow them. But there's no aftertaste, there's no repeat. If you do like the flavor like I do, I chew them all day long with sea salt, especially the spirulina, or mix it with a trail. Mix the chlorella, which is the green one we call recovery bits because it's more like helps you recover your health health and immune health. It tastes delicious with on. On salads as garnishes. And probably a good time to tell you how many to take. An entry amount would be 10 tablets of the spirulina per day. More is better. And this would give you energy, satisfy your hunger, replace most of your multivitamins. It will improve your skin, your hair, your digestion, everything. Well, chlorella is more for your digestion. And then same with the chlorella. We generally like you to take the chlorella before bed. I mean, you could take it any time of day, but your body goes through a detox repair cycle when you're sleeping. And chlorella has the most tryptophan in the world, five times more than Turkey, by the way. And tryptophan is a precursor to melatonin, which helps you sleep, and serotonin, which is your happy neurotransmitter. So when you have chlorella before bed, it will help you get into that deeper sleep easily, make you sleep. You'll just get you there. And also the amazing thing about, about chlorella, because we didn't really talk too much about chlorella yet, is that it triggers peristalsis, which is a fancy for saying bowel movements. Now, a lot of people aren't talking about this, but I know how common this is, particularly as you get older or if you're on medications and apparently 70% of Americans are, or you're eating dairy or you're eating processed foods or you're traveling, you're stressed. Constipation is a big issue. And I tell people if you aren't having a bowel movement every day to get rid of what I call the junk in your trunk, it's like having a garbage truck parked in front of your house. Right. And this, this the garbage that's down there. The blood circuit pulls all the toxins out and recirculates them. Like that's not pretty. So chlorella will stimulate that. A lot of people eat vegetables for that reason. They eat vegetables for the chlorophyll, the phytonutrients and the, the bowel movements. Well, guess what's in chlorella. Chlorophyll, phytonutrients and fiber. Fiber to feed the gut biome and stimulates bowel movements. So if you don't like vegetables or if you're traveling and you can't get your hands on them, or you're tired of arguing with your kids and your husbands about eating vegetables, chlorella is your answer. And it does all these other amazing things for, for your health. But the. So 10 and 10 will is an entry level. But for medicinal purposes and therapeutic purposes, if you have a condition or you really want to prevent it, a better number is 30 spirulina and 30 chlorella. You need the 30 chlorella for the detox to pull out all those metals in your brain and the, the fluoride and the aluminum glyphosate pesticide alcohol by the way, it detects the. Your body converts alcohol to toxins. So it will pull out the alcohol. Lactic acid. Those athletes in the crowd. Spirulina is your pre workout. We fuel NHL teams, NFL teams, Olympic teams. Spirulina before a workout. Chlorella as a post workout to pull out the lactic acid. So 10 and 10 will get you started. 30 is a more medicinal quantity. I take more than that. I don't even want to tell you how much I take. There is no upper limit because it's food. It's like, right, we'll have one egg for breakfast. Some people have four. I will tell you, the NHL players, they take 75 spirulina before a game. They put it, they grind it up and put it in their smoothie and they take 75 chlorella after. Why is that? Yeah, because on, on when you're a hockey player in the NFL. So the top, you don't get any higher. They need energy, they need focus, they need speed. That's what spirulina does. Energy, focus and speed at the cellular level. Not a stimulant. It's not caffeine, chemicals, sugar. This is like putting a log on your, on the fire. This gives you. But. And it's extended. It's, it's long term. And then the chlorella after the hockey game will pull out all that lactic acid, which. And also build your immune system. Anyone who's an athlete knows that when you train hard or play hard, it can stress your immune system. So this will build your immune system so that you don't get sick afterwards. And we know hockey players like to drink beer, so when they take the chlorella after the game, they can drink their beer and they're not going to have a hangover the next day.

I love it. Maybe I should try that, too, for my perimenopause alcohol intolerance. So I'm going to do that. Next time I have a glass of wine, I'm going to take my chlorella and see if I can tolerate it.

It works every time. It's abs. So we don't. We're not a buzz killer. I mean, the funny thing was, for a while, we got noticed by wine tasters, and they were taking the chlorella before the wine tasting. Because with wine tasting, you take a sip, you swish, and you spit. But you're supposed to maintain your faculties so that you can write a proper review. But ultimately, some trickle down, and by the end of the day, they're, like, tipsy. And so what they found when they took the chlorella before the wine tasting, no problem. It's like a Roomba. It sucks out the alcohol out of your bloodstream, never gets to the liver. So if you take 30 Chlorella tablets as soon as you're stopped drinking, if you don't want a buzz, take it before you drink. But if you want a little bit of the happy moment, and you know everybody, not everybody, but occasionally I do too take it afterwards. You will be stone sober in an hour and a half. Half. I absolutely promise you.

It was Catherine. If this works out for me, every woman I know is gonna buy your entire stock of chlorella. Like, it's just. It's gonna be gone. Because that is a universal perimenopause menopause issue. That is so sad.

It's crazy, because I like a Sauvignon blanc from New Zealand occasionally in the summer, and I love a Pinot Noir in the. With a. In the wintertime. And so I'm. I'm good to go. I got my sos. I got my security blanket there called chlorella. So. And the fun thing is in the canisters, and you only buy canister once, and then you refill it with the bags, they come with a little tin inside. So I just have this by my bedside. This way you never forget. And it's say it's very chewable. The spirulina does stick to your teeth a little bit, but even if you just swallow it, you are locked and loaded. Parties, holidays, weddings, trips to Vegas. You will flip out when you see and at the same time, you're getting 60 protein, you're getting 40 vitamins and minerals, you're getting super oxidizmutase, you're getting chlorophyll that kills bacteria, you're getting a bowel movement, you're getting your hair, your skin. I mean it's literally the full package. But most importantly, you will never have a hangover.

I'm gonna report back because I can't even do one glass of wine anymore. So I'll.

I love it.

That's so exciting.

Exciting. Yeah. This is about learning the rules of engagement. This is the recipe. Like I said, if. And I didn't know any of this either. Anyone who's listening to me now, I knew nothing. None of this. I was an MBA doing international business when my sister got breast cancer and her oncologist told her to change her diet to an alkaline diet. I wanted to help her, of course I was going to help her. And I just had to quickly, you know, do a fast forward and learning about nutrition. And I learned so much that gee, this needs to be shared. So I gave up my corporate career, went back to school, studied, went to the institute for integrative nutrition, got a health coaching certificate, gave me enough information. I taught nutrition, plant based nutrition, found out people just don't like vegetables or it's too much work or gave them gas or whatever. So I dug deeper and found something that was simple, like algae, which comes in these tiny little tablets that you can swallow or two. And it was a game changer. And that was 15 years ago. And I have spent literally every single waking moment free time in what's called PubMed, which is a online medical library, researching why this stuff works so well. And, and why does ours work so well? Because not everybody does all this stuff and I'm pretty well versed and, and my customer care team is well versed. We have blogs. If you just want to come and learn, come to energybits.com but, but once you know what your body is going through and now it goes through these seasons and it's just the way it is, you don't have. It's like the kid who moved to, you know, the cold environment when you, when the kid Got older, probably. They probably said, I'm going back south. I'm done with this cold stuff. I experience it, I know better. So now that you've gone through that, you've got some of these symptoms. You don't have to put up with them. You know what they are, but now you know where they came from. And now you have a, a great tool in your toolbox to how to prevent them. And it's not just prevention, it's correction. This is correcting upstream. You don't get any more upstream than fixing the mitochondria. This is what all the drug discovery is on. This is what pharmaceuticals are spending billions of dollars on to try to fix, figure out how to fix the mitochondria. But here's the thing. Drugs can't get into the mitochondria either because of that inner membrane. Mother Nature has provided us with a speed lane. This is the, this is the speed lane. You can get anywhere with algae, literally, if it's on, it's not been exposed to high heat. And we haven't even talked about the blue pigment or the fact that it protects your telomeres. And we'll restore your.

Maybe we'll have to do a follow up like Instagram Live or something where people can ask questions and we can just chat further.

Oh, I'd love that. Because the thing is, with anything, whether it's finance, buying a home, raising children, there are experts out there that know subject matter that can make your experience easier. Maybe not flawless, but certainly easier. And I want you to think of me as one of your, your go tos, as your nutrition algae expert. There's nobody in the world that knows as much as I do about algae nutrition. I've been on 350 podcasts, four movies. I'm here to help you. You don't have to go through that difficulty. It's like trying to buy a house. If no one's guided you, you can have a very bad experience. Or if you've had guidance, it can be a lovely experience. I want this to be a lovely experience. Transition beautifully, flawlessly. This should be the time of your life. You're confident, you've learned yourself. You know know what the crazy world we live in. You know how to turn out down the noise, pay attention to your soul, your own little voice. Create your world, have agency over yourself and take control back. And so that's what I'm here to help you do with something that's natural, provided to us by Mother Nature. Who is the best guide on life in General.

Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for the work that you do in supporting women. And I know men too, but women. And thank you for educating us and empowering us to navigate this journey in a way that is successful. Tell followers and listeners where. I know we can find you at energybits.com, but where else can we find you on social media, etc.

Yes, and when you come to energybits.com we have a 20% discount code code to share with you. The code is Modern Thyroid. All one word, no space in between, uppercase, lowercase, doesn't matter. And it works on everything. We have large bags that have a thousand tablets in them. The bags are the actually the best value. And what I want to tell you is that one bag, using that quote from NASA, one bag has the same nutrition as 551 pounds of vegetables. So it's very efficient nutrition. And if you bought a bag and took 10 tablets a day, it would last you three months. 30 tablets a day would last you a month. If you took 10 days, 10 tablets and you use the 20% discount code, modern Thyroid, it works out to a dollar a day. So it's not expensive, it's very, very affordable. So the bags are your best value. But we also have these really fun canisters, small ones and large ones that come with a bag in the them.

And I keep mine right on my desk.

Well, good for you. Me too. I carry them everywhere. And then when you run out of tablets, you just simply buy a large bag and, and, and replenish it. So you only buy a canister once, but makes it really convenient because it's got this little opening. And then we also have boxes of these little pouches that you could take with you, put in your gym bag, your handbag, your travel bag. Please travel with these. They will be a godsend. Don't drink the wine on the, on the airplane because it's crappy wine, but never so you get that 20% discount code. Modern Thyroid works on all of those products, but we also are very active on social come and see us on Energy Bits. Facebook and Instagram are the same. I will tell you one little thing because sometimes people are confused. We do have two Spirulina and the reason for that, the original one was this one blue because it's a blue green algae and it was called Energy Bits because it gives you energy, mentally, physically, whatever. But I found that women just didn't like the name, didn't like the packaging. And because Spirulina has more collagen in it than collagen powder. And I wanted women to feel comfortable. And I design everything. I created a second brand of Spirulina, and it's called Beauty Bits. It's absolutely identical. I'm not trying to trick anybody. I just want women to feel comfortable and happy. Me, it's my favorite package. Myself and I consider my. My brands, my children. So I call these two my twins because they're absolutely identical. Just different packaging. And then of course, Chlorella is the wellness algae. It's called Recovery Bits. And I have a. We have a fifth brand. I don't have it in front of me. Oh, actually I can reach it. It's called Vitality Bits, which is a blend. It's a red one. It's a blend of the two algae. So if you don't want to have to think about Spirulina in the morning, Chlorella at night, that's a. That's a great solution. But we put great content stats all. We're very medical or sorry, very science oriented on our Instagram handle. And the reason I wanted to mention that is because we have Energy Bits as the main handle. But Beauty Bits has her own little handle. It's at Beauty Bits. It's very girly. So. So you can come and check that out and you'll see the difference. We talk more about skin and beauty and hair and love it. All girl stuff. So. So come and come and check us out at Instagram. Energy Bits or Beauty Bits. But the main action is energybits.com and we're here for you. We have very wonderful members of our team who are eager to answer questions. With the exception of one individual. We're all. It's all women.

I love it. Us too, actually.

Women founded Women Run Women in the Inspired. We're hey girl power.

We are aligned.

It's our turn, right?

Yep.

Like the mitochondria, you're gonna pay it forward. Guys can enjoy the. The product too and benefit from it as well. And. But. And so can your kids and so can your pets, but I love it. Number one is you. And I want women to get through these. These changing seasons with more ease and more energy and feel great. Look great. Great, right?

Well, we're grateful for it and grateful for you. Thank you so much, Katherine. I appreciate you taking the time to share your message with my people today and your work. And I look forward to our next conversation.

Me too. Thank you, McCall. We'll see you soon, I hope.

Absolutely.