303: The SUPER FOOD That Everyone Must Have with Energy Bits Founder Catherine Arnston

Hi, I'm Natalie Jill and I help women in their 40s, 50s and beyond redefine, rebrand and laugh with aging. Welcome to Midlife Conversations. On this podcast, I do what I do best, taking complicated information that is relevant in this point of our lives now and break it down simply with actionable steps you can implement to level up your life. I also regularly interview some of the most inspiring people living their best midlife years. Now on this show, I cover topics about our shifting hormones, weight struggles, our mood and focus changes, raising teenagers, our relationships, career changes, beauty and more. If you are new here, I encourage you go back and listen from episode one when this podcast was previously called Listen up for the full transformative experience.

Today on Midlife Conversations, I've got a fascinating guest.

Her name is Katherine Arnsten and she's an expert in algae nutrition. Yep, you heard me right. Algae nutrition. Now, I would have turned up my nose before at this. I had never heard of algae nutrition. I didn't know that there was a thing. I knew I had heard of having spirulina and chlorella in our smoothies and things like that, but I had no idea the amount of benefits from algae that we are missing in our current diet. And I also did not know how this could create an alkaline environment in our body, how it can detox heavy metals, how this can truly set us up for the most epic health in midlife. And I've also not met another health, health and wellness visionary like Catherine. She is so passionate and her heart and soul behind why she created Energy Bits is contagious. This energy is contagious. I got so excited talking to her and listening. I could not stop eating her energy bits while I was talking to her because I thought, I want some of that. I want some of what she's teaching and I want some of the energy that she has. So I think you're going to really enjoy this episode and if you want to jump ahead and try these energy bits yourself, you can go to energy bits.com and use coupon Natalie Jill to save on them. Today on Midlife Conversations, I've got Katherine Arnsten and she is the founder of Energy Bits and she is what I would call, and I think she calls herself this too, a visionary for wellness. She's a wellness visionary and she's also an expert in algae, which is something new to me. I didn't know a lot about algae until I met Catherine and learned about her products and started to hear her story. So I thought it was Important to have her on here because there's some information that us as masses do not know currently that could help us tremendously with our health, especially through midlife. And I think it's important information here. So you might want to listen to this episode a few times to make sure you're grabbing it all. But thank you so much for being here, Catherine.

Thank you, Natalie. My honor. And don't worry about not knowing much or anything about algae. Nobody does. Even though, as you're going to find out, it's a multi billion dollar agricultural crop in Asia and they've been using it there for almost 70 years, but doesn't grow here. And until me, no one's told you about it. So you're gonna love what you hear because it's going to make it effortless to be, to move through the rest of your life with grace, beauty, great digestion, great sleep, no disease. I mean, almost sounds impossible, but you'll learn why algae makes it.

Yes.

Okay.

I can't wait. I can't wait. So let's, let's, let's start back. Let's take it back. I know in 2008 you had some serious life changes. Let's talk about that. Like what brought you to this point right now?

Yeah, because algae. You think, how does somebody become an algae? It's a very esoteric, narrow area. So I'm actually Canadian by birth. I've lived in Boston for over 30 years, but all my family's still in Canada and I have an MBA and I had a corporate career that was quite successful. And then as you mentioned, in 2008, my younger sister, who still lives in Canada, developed breast cancer. Now I want everyone to know that she did survive that. And we celebrate her being cancer free every year. So she's 11 years cancer free. But when she got the diagnosis, her oncologist, which happened to be a woman, thank goodness, and oncologist, is a cancer specialist, told her that she needed to change her diet to an alkaline diet because it would help with her healing. She was going to do the chemo, but they didn't tell her what it was or why, particularly what worked for her. So the first call she made from that appointment was to me, her big sister who loves her. And I'm just a really good researcher who knew. It turns out that I'm a science geek and you'll, you'll find out a little bit about that later on tonight or today. So I said, I have no idea what an alkaline diet is, but I'll find out and I did. It was mostly a plant based diet because of the chlorophyll and the phytonutrients that have been proven to build your immune system. So I found some foods for her. She changed her diet, she went through chemo, she completely healed. And as I mentioned, she's now 11 years cancer free. But in the process of helping her, me, the biznob, mba, corporate, whatever, I started reading all this plant based nutrition stuff, NIH articles. I read about 10 books, about 100 scientific papers, and this was almost 15 years ago when nobody was talking about plant based nutrition. And so I thought, man, this is pretty powerful stuff. Somebody should tell the world. And I'm just a very passionate somebody.

I like that somebody. Word.

Somebody's got to get do something, right? So I thought, I have no nutrition background, I have no idea how I'm going to do this, but I'm going to do something. So I gave up my corporate career, I went back, I got a certificate in health coaching from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. I put together a curriculum and I taught plant based nutrition at corporations, hospitals. And this is what truly led me to algae. Because as I was teaching people the importance of eating more vegetables, they almost laughed me out of the room because they said, my mother's been trying to get me vegetables since I was a kid, but it was too much work. I found out vegetables are heavy to carry home from the grocery store. They take up a lot of room in your fridge, they take a long time to clean, to cook, to eat. There's a lot of waste before you cook it, there's a lot of waste after you cook it. There's arguments at the dinner table with husbands and kids. So I thought, okay, I've seen the science. I know how important plant based nutrition is. If I can't get people to eat more vegetables, I need to find a way to make it effortless for them to get the green nutrition without any work.

Yes.

And back I went to everything I'd found for my sister. Lifted the hood, did a deeper dive in everything. It took me months. But when I got to algae, that's when the miracle happened. Because it turns out, first of all, algae is the most alkaline food in the world. That box, it's the most nutrient dense food in the world, may have two interesting quotes. One is from NASA that says algae has a thousand times more.

Vitamins and minerals than any other vegetable. One to a thousand, that's crazy. And the United nations has endorsed spirulina algae. There's two algae we'll talk about today. One is spirulina and one is chlorella. And they in 49 years ago, 49 years ago they had a global conference on spirulina algae being the answer to world hunger because. Drumroll. It has three times the amount of protein as steak. Nothing. Three times. Three times. It's ours is 64% protein. Steak is about 22%. 21. Same with chicken or fish.

And is it a complete protein?

Like it's a complete protein. It has all nine Aminos that your body can't make and it has 18 the 20Aminos. There is nothing in the world with more protein than spiruline algae. Crazy, right? Of course your skin needs algae or protein. Your organs need protein, your joints need protein, your brain needs protein. So a alkaline endorsed by international agencies, scientifically documented. There are a hundred thousand studies, sixty thousand on spirulina and forty thousand on on chlorella, documenting all the health and wellness and longevity benefits of these two algae. 100,000. We're not talking one or ten or a thousand. You can't argue with 100,000.

That's not pseudoscience. This is like legit.

This is not a trend. And this science has been around ladies for over 75 years. But here's the thing. Scientists like to talk to other scientists. They don't know how to talk to us mere mortals. And it turns out that I have a scientific mind. I love read the science and then I love helping you understand the crazy complexity of the science. But I do it in a way that makes it easy for you. So scientifically found, founded. And one thing you're going to find out is algae is not a supplement. I'm going to show you a picture right now. Algae is a food, it is a crop. Yes, algae is in the ocean and the lakes, the rivers and streams, but it's grown as a food crop. We grow ours in Taiwan in fresh water. So first of all, it's food. It's no different than kale or broccoli. Not a supplement. And it's not from the ocean. It's in triple filtered spring water. Then we air dried into powder and press into tablets that we call bits. Because food. So and the reason why it's important it's food is because your body absorbs food better than supplements. And that's a whole. Yeah.

So you're not going to deal with like what's going through your liver, I'm assuming like all the things that a Supplement would be, would be adding.

But supplements are made from extracts and they use high heat to make them. And extracts don't exist in nature. We exist in nature food. You know, vegetables exist in nature, so your body knows how to absorb it. So algae's nutrients, the 40 vitamins and minerals and the high concentration of protein are bioavailable. So. So, and it's a multi billion dollar agriculture crop in Asia. They have been taking algae every day in Japan for almost 70 years.

And by the way, how do they take it? Do they take it in a supplement form? They take it as food. Like how is it? Is there any natural food?

It has this powder. They put it into everything. Like we put chia seed into everything. So here's the best part about it all. I'm going to save the best of the last. Okay, Remember I said the reason why people weren't eating vegetables because they were heavy to carry home. They took so much time to clean, to cook, to eat. And some people got gas from it, right? You know, as you get older, let's face it, ladies, as you get older, you have fewer digestive enzymes. So gas is a big deal. Well, algae comes in little tablets like this, okay? And each one of these tablets, every single one of them, has the same nutrition as an entire plate of vegetables. Oops. Oh my God.

One tablet does.

One tablet has the same.

What the heck? Okay, so Catherine, what's coming up for me is that I've literally never heard this. This is what. Nobody has wellness space.

Nobody has. Don't worry about it. Nobody has the reason. And so. But I just want to dwell again on the fact that that little tablet has the same attrition as a heaping plate of vegetables. So while I'm talking to you, I just had a plate.

Okay, well, since I have them here, I'm going to have one too. Can you.

I chew the chlorella. Most people, there's two algae. We're going to talk about the two algae. Spirulina is a blue for people that can't see.

By the way, I want to explain. This is the size of two tic tacs.

Like two.

It's like, it's like an M and.

M. Or even just one. Or a baby aspirin. They're so tiny.

Do they have a taste to them? I'm going to try this right now.

Well, most people swallow the spirulina because it's very chewy, because it has the highest protein in the world. Okay?

So if I do a chlorella right now, Am I gonna.

Is it gonna taste like a soy nut or a sunflower seed? I love having a. Now with. Oh, it does. It's not so bad, right?

No, it tastes like a nut.

When you put sea salt on it or you eat it with pistachios or macaday or anything, it's delicious. Can you chew it or suck it or how do you. What do you do? Well, you'll need to chew it. You either swallow or chew it, because sucking it, it doesn't really dissolve that. Okay. Oh, they're good. I mean, you could if you wanted to, but. And you need. You know, we encourage people to have. Start with at least. At least five or ten a day of each types because they do different things. I'll talk about the.

Okay, it tastes kind of like. It tastes like matcha to me. A little bit like the. Like that matcha green matcha.

That's that flat green flavor. Or, you know, sushi when you have the, you know, the. The seaweed roll. Seaweed is related to algae, but it's very high in fiber, low in nutrition.

So wait, I have some questions, so I want to. I want to make sure I'm not losing here. So can. So if we were not eating these tabs right now or like, we didn't know from you, do you get this in regular food? Like, the only time you're getting this and you have like, seaweed or how are we actually getting this in food right now or are we not.

What do you mean by, like, can you eat?

Is. Does algae. Algae is a food. I'm hearing you there, but is it in an ingredient in foods? Like, are people where the.

Well, it's considered by the FDA as a food because it is an ingredient in other foods. There's some green smoothies that have a little bit of spirulina, chlorella. But the thing is, they put so little in it because it's. To get good stuff like ours. We're known for having the highest quality, most nutrient dense, safest, purest. So it's safe for your newborns. That's okay because we don't. We don't sell it through CVS or GNC. We only sell it through our website, energyfits.com and we have a discount code for you guys later and through doctors offices. So, you know, functional medicine, chiropractors, biohacking centers. And so we have to show them that it's pure and clean and safe because they are literally prescribing it to their patients. So that's why we're the only algae sold through doctor's offices nationwide. But just to get back to what you were asking about, if it's in stuff. So in Asia, because it's all. 99% of algae is grown in Asia and 99% of it is consumed in Asia. Yes. You've been able to get spirulina and chlorella, frankly, in America for the last 50 years, but nobody's ever explained what it is. Some people know it's a superfood and they put a scoop of it in their smoothie, but they're not really sure what it does. They just know it's good for them. And I will help you understand. There are nutrients found in these two algae that don't exist in any other food group or drug or supplement and are critical as you get past the age of 40. I mean, this is game changing for your health, for your longevity, for your skin, for your diet. I mean, it's really serious stuff and you can't get it from anything else. And these tablets make it effortless. They're zero carbs, one calorie. So if anybody's doing intermittent fasting, and I encourage you to do that so they don't interfere with your intermittent fast because there's zero carbs. And we've done tests with keto Mojo and it doesn't decrease your ketones or increase your glucose. If you're diabetic, this is unbelievable. If you're losing weight, this is unbelievable. There's one calorie per tablet. You could have 20 per lunch. It's probably spirulina because it's your hunger for 20 calories and you won't be hungry for hours. Yeah.

Okay, so I want to I back up. I've got a bunch of questions here, so. Okay, number one, so if I'm hearing you correctly, eating these tablets is like getting all your vegetables for the day. But I'm assuming, do you still eat a lot of vegetables on top of this?

Yeah, I, I tend to. And most people, just to be sure you understand, most people do swallow the spirulina because it's very earthy flavor.

Okay.

Very chewy. And most people do not like the flavor. The chlorella is drier and it tastes better. But most people swallow that one too. But they're totally chewable because they're food. So to answer your question, so me personally, I snack on them pretty much all day. From the moment I wake up till it's about dinner time and then I have a full dinner. I still eat vegetables Because I just happen to like them. And I eat limited amounts of protein. I eat eggs, I eat grass fed beef. So I'm not vegan.

Right.

But I'm very careful about what I eat. I eat virtually zero sugar.

Me either.

Ladies, sugar is aging. It's inflammatory.

I'm with you.

It's aging. There is not a single redeeming factor for sugar. Not.

You're absolutely right. No, I took out all, actually all added sugar and all added. I don't do any starches, starchy food anymore. All my, all my carbs come from low glycemic fruits or vegetables.

And carbs are killing us. And I can give you the science behind why. And again, zero carbs in the algae. And it's that spirulina satisfies your hunger. So. And so you not hungry for doing whatever you're doing, whether it's picking up the kids after soccer practice or going to the gym, doesn't matter what you're doing. And it feeds you at a cellular level. And so algae, because it has so much nutrition, especially the spirulina that feeds you at the cellular level, I compare it to like money. You know, when you have money, you choose how you want to spend your money. Maybe you want to go out for dinner, maybe somebody else wants to buy a new pair of shoes. Well, when you have cellular energy, like you get in concentrated amounts from the spirulina has also the chlorella, it gives your cells, it's like having disposable income to do whatever you want. So if you decide you want to go to sleep, you're going to have a great sleep. If you decide you want to go for a run, you're going to have more energy, you're going to run further or faster. And here's the thing, you won't even notice it because the energy you get is cellular energy. It's not a stimulant.

What does that mean? If you can you help with that? Because people listening don't know what that means. Like what does cellular energy mean?

So people have coffee or sugar or sometimes things with chemicals to give them a insulin burst, a spike of glucose. So it goes to their brain, that perks them up mentally or physically. So you. With algae, there is no sugar, there are no carbs, but you're. So your perk of energy comes from the nutrition that's efficiently delivered to your cells. So let me just give you a little bit of a cellular explanation. Okay, so we know we eat food, right? Well, you have little. They're called organelles. These little things in your cells that take the food that you digest. Once it's been digested, it goes into your bloodstream as smaller molecules and in the format called glucose. Now, this glucose goes to your cells, but the rest of your body can't use it like that. It's like if you go to France, you have to do. You have to have currency exchange. You have to change your money in from America and into, you know, now it's euros. Right. Well, same with your cells. They can't use the glucose. There has to be a conversion. And that conversion is done by something called mitochondria. And the thing that they convert it into is called ATP, it's cellular energy. So it's like if you go to Canada or you go to Europe, you've had to do a currency exchange. Your mitochondria are like, where the currency exchange occurs. It takes the food that you digested and turns it into a version of energy your body can use.

Got it.

ATP fuels everything that you do. Walking, talking, thinking, breathing, lymphatic heartbeat, blood flow, digestion, absolutely everything. So now you start to see ATP is everything. When you don't have good operating energy, ATP, this is when you get fatigued, this is when you put on weight, this is when you get brain fog because things aren't working properly. It's like having a bad currency exchange rate.

Right, yeah. No, that makes sense. And if I'm understanding correctly, too, maybe I'm wrong. I'm not the scientist or the doctor, but just from the reading I've done and what I've learned a lot of times in traditional disease diagnosis or symptom diagnosis, when we look at symptoms and not the root cause, what's happening then is we're given a prescription. So take for example, type 2 diabetes or pre, that might be prescribed metformin. And then, then we find there's links to mitochondria damage. There's like. It's like, it keeps, keeps going. There, keeps being a chain of that. So to me, I'm always looking for how do we prevent things on the early state? So we're not getting to that state. Cause as soon as you're on that prescription bandwagon, you're creating other problems in your system.

Absolutely. And the prescriptions, I'm sorry, and we all sometimes need them, but they don't correct the problem, they just help you live with the symptoms. I'm telling you how to correct the problem. And the problem in 99% of the cases is because your mitochondria are not functioning properly to create that ATP, that energy that you need for thinking, breathing, walking, talking, digesting, fighting cancer, whatever. So here's why you need to protect your mitochondria. Inside your cells, you have these, these little mitochondria, and they are what generate your ATP. But a byproduct of ATP is something called free radicals. Now, if you've ever sat by a new. A fawn fire or a fireplace and you got too close, sparks would fly out from the fire, right? And they could burn you. So these free radicals are byproducts of creating all that energy. Just like you have a fire, you have a smoke or sparks as a byproduct, and that those sparks damage your mitochondria, because your mitochondria have their own DNA, which are right, where all the free radicals are. So the trick to, you know, not being ill and having great skin and having great everything is to protect your mitochondria. Because when you have your mitochondria protected, you're flying high. So, like, your mitochondria are like your air controllers at a, at an airport. They control everything that goes on in your body, okay, Communication, activation, and when they're not well, your health. It's just that simple.

So how do we protect mitochondria? Because obviously. So we know a lot of prescriptions can damage it. We already know that. How. So are you saying that by. Is it all nutrient based? So like, by getting the right nutrients, we're protecting it.

Two ways you can protect the mitochondria. One is to reduce the number of free radicals that are produced. It's like having a. Putting a new muffler on your car. Sure. You reduce the smoke. So that's one. Reduce the free radicals. The other way is to remove the free radicals. So, okay, so you either reduce the free radicals or remove them.

So what does that say? Not everyone can see that holding up. So when you say because, can you go through that? Because you had some stuff on that, on that chart, and I want to make sure. So when you said to reduce it, I see that it says keto diet.

So here's how you reduce it.

Okay.

Generator of free radicals are carbs.

That's all carbs or starchy carbs and.

Sugar, added sugar, any kind of refined carbs. So we're not talking.

We're not talking broccoli, right?

Not talking broccoli. We're talking bread, processed foods, sugar, drinks with, you know, glucose. They create the largest amount of free radicals. So that's the causing the most damage to your mitochondria. To be a better solution is to adopt a low carb or if you want, a keto diet, because that has fewer free radicals. Yeah. And even better.

Yeah.

Is to take algae or do intermittent fasting, which has literally zero. I mean, you'll never get to zero, but as close to zero as you'll get. Algae or intermittent fasting or.

And you could do both, I'm assuming, right?

Absolutely. So. So that's. That's solution one. Reduce your carbs.

Which, by the way, everyone listening. This is literally what I am doing right now. Like, I. Without. Before I even talk to you. This is from my own research, being 51 and coming up with some challenges and looking at what traditional Western medicine was telling me like my own. And I'm not you, Catherine. You've got way more research knowledge than me, but I think it's, like, divine timing. I'm interviewing you here because this is the exact conclusion I came with. And I got super strict with, like, there is zero starch and zero added sugar in my diet at all right now. And I am intermittent fasting and I am close to keto.

So there you go. And, I mean, there's lots of other reasons. Those starches are also messing up your gut biome, which. Your blood sugar.

There's so many things.

And your gut biome controls your brain. It could. It's unbelievable. And 80% of your immune system is in your gut. But. And by the way, there's mitochondria in your gut. And we'll talk about how many mitochondria there are, so you'll understand how powerful this is. So, anyway, so first is to. To reduce the carbs.

Okay.

The second way is to remove those free radicals.

And how do we do this?

So here's the trouble. Now, we all know about blueberries and vitamin C being great antioxidants, but none of those can get into your mitochondria. Inner membrane. Your mitochondria are your only cell in your body with two membranes, and the only. And I can explain to you in a minute why there's two. The only antioxidants that can get into that inner membrane are three that your body makes, and the fourth one is chlorophyll. The three that your body makes are glutathione. I know these are long words, but trust me, this is all based glutathione melatonin, which you may know also manages your circadian rhythm and helps you sleep. But it's an important antioxidant and the fourth one I'm sure you've never heard of is called superoxide Disney.

Never heard of that.

Yeah. Also sod. But I. There's 50,000 studies documenting superoxide dismutase and its health benefits. So those are the three. The first three your body makes. The fourth one is chlorophyll, which obviously your body doesn't make, so. So the good news is your body makes those. The bad news is that your body stops making them after the age of 30. This is all documented. So you've got all this great protection until you hit 30. And then once you hit 30 and 40 and 50 and 60, it goes down to virtually zero. This is exactly when weight gain happens. This is exactly chronic disease.

All the changes, the perimenopause happening right.

At that age group, which is exactly. And it's exactly when you don't have that protection of those three antioxidants your body used to make. And I said to myself, well, that just doesn't make sense. Mother Nature is so intelligent. Why would she stop making those antioxidants for us at the age of 30? And I found out why. Why we have existed on Earth for 2 million years. And up until the last few years, we died at 30. It's only recently that we've started living longer. Our biology hasn't caught up with our destiny. Our body still thinks we're going to die at 30, so it just shuts down, making all those things that protect us. Yeah. And that leaves us exposed, because as you age, you also accumulate more toxins and you have more cellular damage, and the things that used to protect you are no longer gone. So this is why at the age of 40 and 50, this midlife, you have the higher toxin load and virtually zero protection from your mitochondria.

Got it. You know what just hit me as you're saying this? I was thinking about my dog and how dogs are so innate with what they eat. Like how dogs will eat bones for collagen. My dog eats grass when it's. And. And I was just thinking grass has. So they're. They are just innately in touch with that, which is wild. I'm just. As you're saying that I'm connect. Because animals do innately know what they need.

Yeah. And I'll tell you, your dog will love our LD tablets.

Oh, you can give them to our. We can give them to our dog.

Cats love them. Absolutely. Go crazy over them. But. So here's the good news. You know, your body stops making those. So you're literally exposed. Your super protection powers are gone.

Okay?

Nothing that you could do it. And there's no food that has superoxide disbutase, melatonin, or glutathione in medicinal. None. And no drugs have them. And no supplements have them, because if you get supplements, they get damaged in your gut. But here's the beautiful thing. Algae, spirulina, and chlorella have the highest concentration of all four. Glutathione, melatonin, super oxidismutase, and chlorophyll in the world. And they're all bioavailable because spirulina in particular is a bacteria, does not have a cellulose wall for your body to break down to get access to any of the nutrition, including these.

Okay, I've got a question, so just a second. So we flatline inflammation.

Yeah.

Your health returns. And spirulina has. Is known for having all these powerful antioxidants. And chlorella has the highest chlorophyll in the world, which is also very cleansing. And chlorella pulls out toxins. So now you can get rid of the two problems that is causing all of our illnesses. The spirulina, which we call energy bits, is nourishing and energizing both mentally, physically, and at the cellular level. And chlorella pulls out toxins, which we are all surrounded by. And it will help you in your rest and digest. It helps with digestion. It builds your immune system because it does have fiber. So you take spirulina in the morning to get through start for your day. We also have another brand of spirulina. I made it for women we call beauty bits. It's exactly same, but I started to come because my sister and has more collagen than collagen powder, ladies. More antioxidants than anything in the world. I'm 66 and I have clean skin. I don't have any Botox. Everything moves. This stuff works. I'm promising you it works.

Okay, I've got Catherine. I know you're so excited and I love your passion for this. I love everything about it. I've got some questions because I want to make sure. Okay, number one is there. How are people getting this right now? I know that you're kind of the cheerleader for this and you're introducing this to a lot of people, but are people currently taking supplements with these things?

Like, where. What.

Where are they? Have they been getting it?

Well, you know, as I mentioned, some companies put it in their smoothie. Smoothie it's not bioavailable. Yeah, but well, it's just in small quantities because it's so concentrated. So you're not getting the.

Sure, that makes sense.

They put it in there just to make it look green and then, you know, it doesn't really do anything. There are other companies that do put some of. And you can tell how much of anything is in any supplement because they put the first ones first in the list of ingredients. I see. There's a company I won't mention, but they have spirulina and chlorella as the first two ingredients. But the trouble is all those supplements, as I mentioned before, are used with heat which change the. It damages the nutrients, number one and most importantly, it kills enzymes. High heat kills enzymes. Now one of those important enzymes that I mentioned that protects your mitochondria. It's a mouthful again. It's superoxide dismutase. It's an enzyme. So all of those other algae companies that maybe you buy spirulina or chlorella, Costco or Whole Foods, I can promise you they use high heat.

Yes.

You draw it because they're high volume, low price products. We're the complete opposite. Were high quality, low volume. Because I'm, I built the company to make a difference in people's lives. So where are they getting it now? From cheap supplies at BNC or any vitamin shop. But I, but nobody understands algae and the nuances of it like I do.

I can tell. I can tell. Okay, next question about, I want to ask about heavy metals because I was learning recently about heavy metals and that this is the way to get rid of them. Can you help me connect that dot? Because I think a lot of people do have heavy metals and they don't know that. So how does that work together? How does this help that?

Well, you know, chlorophyll is very cleansing, but it's not detoxing.

Okay.

The key to heavy metal removal is chlorella. It has a hard cell wall that attaches to lead, mercury, radiation, aluminum, any kind of toxin, alcohol, lactic acid. It's been used for at least 50 years. The United nations used it after Chernobyl to pull out.

Radiation. We work with biological dentists who use it to pull out mercury when they take out fillings. And it's the hard cell wall that attaches to it. Now for as I mentioned earlier, if you took five or 10 of these, you know, tens better a day, you'll get the nourishment you need and you'll get the Wellness benefits. But for detox, you need closer to 20 to 30, otherwise it doesn't have enough. I see. It won't pull the toxins out. You'll still get the chlorophyll and all the nutrients. Now, the other way it detoxes you is it is loaded with glutathione. Glutathione is not only an antioxidant that protects your mitochondria, it pulls out toxins. It's considered a master antioxidant because it facilitates other antioxidants to work. And it's most concentrated in your liver. Your liver is like your sewage treatment plant. Yeah. It takes all the stuff that you're eating or you're exposed to, filters your blood, gets, keeps and holds on to all the gunk for you and. But you need to clear that out. Otherwise if you're. If your liver stops working properly, then you start having toxins circulating. And I read a statistic that the Average adult has 700 toxins in them now. So it could be aluminum in your brain, it could be heavy metals from your water pipes, or feel older, old filling. The amount of fillings, plastic. We're exposed to so many things, but chlorella has been used forever for. This is why they use it actually for IBS and Crohn's disease, because it pulls out toxins. The chlorophyll is very cleansing. It has fiber in it that feeds your gut biome. So another way I hope people understand how and when to use the different algae is because spirulina has so many nutrients that feed your mitochondria. And by the way, you have 2 million mitochondria, those little tiny peanut shaped things. 2 million per cell.

Wow.

In your brain, it has the highest concentration of mitochondria in the world. Which is why there was a book that just was released called brain energy by Dr. Chris Palmer. He's a psychiatrist at the Harvard Medical School. His entire book is about all health issues, all brain health issues. Depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder, Alzheimer's, are all a mitochondrial dysfunction. Because spirulina has the nutrients that heal the mitochondria, and because there's so many of them in your brain, I tell people, think of spirulina is working from the top down. And because chlorophyll, chlorella kills your gut and your immune system. Yeah. It's working from the bottom up. So top down, bottom up, or am.

P.M. okay, I've got some questions about, like, how many, like, specifically because clearly you've Sold me on. On, like, once. I need to take these every day. And in full transparency, Catherine had sent me these, like, probably a couple months ago. I got these from you. And I was like. I didn't. I was like, what is this? I don't even know what this is.

I.

So I sort of waited. Then when I was going to have her on my podcast, I thought, okay, let me. Let me dig into this. And it was just interesting because other things I was reading, which it was not even from you, I started reading about some of the things that you're saying. So I'm like, okay, this is wild. So then as I'm about to interview, I went and grabbed them, and then I ate them while I'm talking to you. And now I'm like, hey, why haven't I been eating these? They're sitting in my pantry. So that's a new customer here.

I tell people it's never too late to feel great.

Yeah, but how do I. Like, how do. Because now I'm going to. Obviously, if I. If I understand something, I can, like, tell the world about it.

But what. What.

How, like, how many should people be taking? Is there any reason you can't take them? Like, is this not indicated for some people?

Yeah, well, spirulina is so safe that in Japan, when babies are born and they cannot digest mother's breast milk, especially if they're preemie, spirulina in water is the only thing that keeps them alive.

Wow.

I'm the one that found out that it's because the amino profile of spirulina is almost identical to mother's breast milk, and it has a very important, essential fatty acid in it called GLA that feeds the brain. And the only place that has more of this GLA gamma linic acid is mother's breast milk, because the baby's brain doubles. So, anyways, the bottom line is it's safe for everybody. Every age. Pregnant, lactating. No.

No issues. Even if you're. You can't take supplements.

Not a single interaction with absolutely anything. Grandparents. And you can have as much as you like. It's food. Now, we suggest five or 10 a day. You know, if you're anemic and you're in, you know, okay. You might even notice a difference with two. But, you know, five or 10 will get you to a place where you're definitely feeling something. But you can also take as many as you like. We have NHL players that take 75. Oh, my gosh, 75 before a hockey game because they you know, they need the energy on the ice. They need the focus. So we were a sports nutrition company for about five years, actually. Olympic teams discovered it. Marathon runners, because it gives you energy steady, not because there's no.

Yeah, not caffeine and sugar.

Not a rush, it's not a crash. I call it quiet energy. Algae is no drama. No drama. It just gives you what you need and quietly works in the background. I mean, like, talk about a perfect sports. So you can have five or 10 a day. And now if you take at least five or 10 a day and 10 is. Or if you want to have more, have 20 for lunch, have 20 before your workout. But then you can start cutting back on your other supplements. You can get rid of your multivitamin, your fish oil for sure. By the way, where do you think the fish get the fish oil, the omega 3? From algae. They get it from algae. Right. So. And most of the fish oil is rancid by the time you get it. So it's not helping with your inflammation. Yeah. Get it from. It's all in the algae. So, you know, save yourself, save the source, save the ocean. So five or ten a day. Ten, however many you want. Okay. But definitely get your day started with spirulin. How about the other one, the chlorella, which we call recovery bits because it helps you recover your health. Now, you may not know this, but your body goes through a detox repair cycle while you're sleeping. So there you are getting your beauty rest, and you've got the cleanup crew working around the clock to get rid of toxins, to rebuild cells. And if you have chlorella, which facilitates that, you'll have a much better detox, much better cleanse. It feeds your gut biome fiber. It has the highest tryptophan in the world, which is a precursor to melatonin. So it helps you sleep.

So don't take it in the morning because you'll be.

No. No. Well, here's the misunderstanding about melatonin. It's triggered by night. Although our melatonin, it's really interesting. Melatonin.

Has been in the cells in algae for 4 billion years, but it does not make you sleepy unless it's at night.

Other melatonin, it'll make you sleep. But this is a very unusual. And I'll tell you a minute about what's so special about algae as well. But anyways, take this one at night because it helps with cleansing, detoxing your. But your brain, by the way, shrinks when you're sleeping. It has Its own lymphatic system. And this is where you get amyloid plaques. You get aluminum in there, which. Ladies, 80% of Alzheimer's are women. We need to protect our brains. I don't know why women get Alzheimer's more. Also more depression hits women more than men. So this is a big issue. We want to keep your brain healthy, and this will definitely help you do that. And it's also great for your skin. Your skin is made of collagen and elastin. Collagen is what keeps it plump. And algae has more collagen than collagen powder. And then the other thing that keeps it structurally correct is called elastin. It's like the scaffolding that keeps your skin up. And so it. The scaffolding gets damaged by free radicals or sugar or excess calcium. And this has K2 in it that moves out of the calcium it has. It's rich in antioxidants. It gets rid of the free radicals, and it definitely doesn't have any sugar in it. So both of them are great for your skin and hair. And this will nourish you and energize you at the cellular level as well as in the morning. Again, the feeling you get is just. You feel fresh.

Well, Catherine, I've eaten probably 10 of them since we've been talking. Now you've convinced me. I'm very impressionable. My tongue is green, probably. I can see it. It's. My tongue is green.

Well, I have so many. Like, literally, I, you know, most days I have about 100. And just to let you know, in case you get up to that high quantity, Although I don't recommend it necessarily. You don't have to.

No, I did have 10. I have a green tongue right now.

Well, your poop will be a little green, too.

Okay.

Don't worry about that. It's a badge of honor. I tell people. Because it shows that chlorophyll is moving through your liver and down through your colon. Got it. It's like a scrub, a dub, you know, collecting garbage as. As it goes.

Yeah.

Stimulates what's called, like, a fiber does. Like what.

What fiber does? Okay, I think everybody is convinced. Where do they get. Where do they get them?

Where do people.

Where do we go to get energy bits? And how.

What do we do? So come to Visit us at energybits.com E N E, R, G Y, B I, T S. Okay, we have a 20 discount code.

Natalie. If you use Natalie, Jill, you get it.

And we. I just want to show you a Couple things we. So we have. We sell them in large bags. That's the best value. And I don't want people to sticker shock. So a large bag has a thousand tablets in it, normally in 25, but with your code, it brings it down to 100. Okay. Using that quote from NASA, consider that it has the equivalent. What? Of 551 pounds of vegetables. Oh, my gosh. So it's efficient nutrition, and if you took skin a day, it would last you three months. That's three months of vegetables. Okay. We love.

I'm sold. Catherine, I'm sold. Everybody go to.

Everybody go to energy.

Yeah, energybiz.com use code Natalie, Jill. Because it knocks the price down. Catherine, I love your pal.

I love your passion.

I thought you're. You're so. This is awesome. I swear I wasn't trying to make a commercial, but this was like. You're so passionate. It is amazing and I can feel it.

You're.

This is what I love. I love when a creative visionary, wellness visionary is. It's truly passionate. Like, I can tell you're in it for the right reasons. And you really created this for health and to help people. And I, I just love that about your heart and, and what. It's such a. For that reason alone, I'm like, I gotta learn more. I gotta be. I, I get it.

We'll send you some more because they come.

Yeah, please send me more because now I need to have 70.

Well, it's like, once, you know, like, why would you go? Why would you not do it?

No, it's amazing.

Algae isn't new. It's just new to you. And so I'm just here to tell you about it. And once you start reading about it, you go, holy Jesus. How could I have lived all these years? Like, we didn't know about Chia or Kiwa or Macho two years ago.

Now we know about algae.

Algae up levels, all of those, like, by exponentially. So I will report back to you.

I'm going to take this. Everybody that's doing it with your green tongue, tag me and tag me and Catherine and so we can. I want to. I'm gonna. I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna. I'm gonna take this. I'm gonna do this. I want to see how I feel and, and try it out. I'm excited. I. You convince me. And because everything else you said, I'm so aligned with too. Like, I've already, like, I came to those same conclusions. So thank you for being here today. This is amazing. Thank you for all you're doing in the world and how you're helping so many people. Thank you.

You got it. Well, thank you.

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to listen in on midlife conversations as my guest. If you found this episode valuable, please share it with friends and on social media. Be sure to tag me and our guests so that we can find your share. I'm personally Natalie Jill fit on all social media platforms. Instagram is the main place I hang out. The biggest thank you that you can give me though is leaving a review and nice when I I hope, by the way, this is how others find these episodes. If you do leave me a message or a view, please screenshot it and send it to support at nataliejillfitness. Com and we have a free digital download gift for you. Our DSR Journal.

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