101: The Power of Algae: Spirulina & Chlorella | Catharine Arnston

Catharine Arnston  00:00

As I read my 10th book, I thought, My gosh, this is powerful knowledge and science based. Somebody needs to tell the world about this. And I had no background, no nutrition training, but I'm a very passionate person. And I know I can learn things quickly. So I thought, you know what, I'm gonna do whatever I can. So I gave up my 25 year corporate career, I went back I thought, well, I don't have time for a registered dietitian degree. I already have two. So I went to the Institute for integrative nutrition in New York City, which gave me a certificate in health coaching. So it wasn't the deepest knowledge, but it was enough to get started. And from that, I actually put a curriculum together teaching plant based nutrition.

Maya Acosta  00:40

Welcome to the Plant Based DFW Podcast weekly show with Dr. Riz and Maya. Our podcast focuses on lifestyle medicine, which is the use of evidence based lifestyle therapeutic approaches, such as a whole food, plant based diet, regular physical exercise, adequate sleep and stress management to treat and even reverse the lifestyle related chronic diseases that are all too prevalent. Every week, we will feature physicians, dietitians, health coaches and everyday people who will share those stories and speak on one of these lifestyle medicine modalities. All right, well, in Episode 101, we are going to learn about all things algae. I'm really excited about this guest because last year I featured a mushroom expert, who told us about all the reasons why we should be consuming mushrooms. In this episode, you'll learn why algae is good for you, where does it come from why you should consume it. And also we will be given the 20% discount code in case you are interested in trying it out. Now, I was given a package of the energy bits that I was able to try with my smoothies in the morning and I did enjoy it. However, this is not meant to be a meal replace or we never encouraged to replace actual whole plant based foods with any sort of supplement or capsules. We encourage you to eat foods as they are and eat a lot of green leafy vegetables. But if you are interested in some of the benefits that ENERGYbits can offer, you definitely give them a try. Let's meet today's podcast guest. Today we will be speaking with Catharine Arnston. She's an algae wellness expert. She's the founder and CEO of energy bits. We're going to learn how she got started on this algae journey. We're also going to learn about the benefits of consuming algae for immune health, for energy for recovery for endurance. Also, if you're fasting or you want to lose weight, algae can be absolutely beneficial. Even if you're already plant based, there are things that we might be lacking. And so welcome, Catharine, thank you for joining us today.

Catharine Arnston  02:40

Thank you for having me here. And I'm sure algae is going to be pretty new to most people, the only familiarity they may have is that they see it in their floating in their aquarium or they see it washing up on shore. And I'm going to help you understand why you don't want to eat those types. But the ones that you do want to eat and why they will level up every single part of your body, your health, your nutrition in a fast and simple and easy and scientifically proven way. So it's it's great to be here.

Maya Acosta  03:12

Before we get started with all things, algae, tell us a little bit about yourself and whether you have a background in nutrition.

Catharine Arnston  03:19

I'm actually Canadian, but I've lived in Boston 33 years, and I was doing International. I have an MBA in international business. So I was doing international corporate work, nothing to do with nutrition. And 12 years ago, my younger sister in Canada, develop breast cancer. Now she's completely fine. She's 10 years cancer free. So I just want to assure everybody that so it was a very good outcome. They're wondering, as she was preparing for her chemo, her oncologist recommended she changed her diet to an alkaline diet. Now, they didn't tell her what an alkaline diet was or why it was good for her. But at least they told her what to do it. And so when she got home, the first thing she did was call me Not that I knew anything about nutrition, but I'm a really good researcher and I love my sister. So I said I have no idea what this alkaline diet stuff is, but I will find out and we will get through this together. So to the internet, I went to the library, I went remember those things called libraries. And I researched alkaline diet, and it turned out to be mostly a plant based diet because of all the chlorophyll and the phytonutrients that have been scientifically proven to build your immune system. And of course, she's gonna go into the chemo. So her oncologist wanted her to have a strong immune system. So she did go through chemo and 10 years later, as I mentioned, she's still cancer free now in the process of helping her. I started reading more about plant based nutrition. Now this was 12 years ago, and nobody was talking about plant based nutrition like they are now now it's mainstream, thank goodness. And as I read my 10th book, I thought my gosh This is powerful knowledge and science based. Somebody needs to tell the world about this. And I had no background, no nutrition training, but I'm a very passionate person. And I know I can learn things quickly. So I thought, you know what, I'm gonna do whatever I can. So I gave up my 25 year corporate career, I went back, I thought, well, I don't have time for a registered dieticians degree, I already have two. So I went to the Institute for integrative nutrition in New York City, which gave me a certificate in health coaching. So it's wasn't the deepest knowledge, but it was enough to get started. And from that, I actually put a curriculum together teaching plant based nutrition at corporations. And I did that for almost a year. And I gave my workshops for free. Now, the reason I mentioned this is because this is when I had my epiphany that led me to algae. So my epiphany was this, as I was teaching plant based nutrition, and the importance of it. And there's statistics that showed it 97% of North Americans do not eat the required amount of vegetables, or fiber 97%. I mean, that's a big number. So as I was teaching people the importance of vegetables and salads, they said to us said to me, we know we should eat more vegetables, but the reality is, it's too hard. They didn't have the time, they are too heavy to carry over to the grocery store. And they took too much space in their fridge, too much too long, too clean, too long to cook too long to eat, their kids wouldn't even their husbands would eat and so on endless numbers of barriers. And so I thought to myself, okay, I've seen the science, I know the importance of plant based nutrition. Yet if I can't get people to eat more vegetables, how am I going to help them be healthier, because the reason we're getting sick is two reasons we either don't have the nutrients we need, or and or we have too many toxins in our bodies and plants will help correct both of those situations. So I thought, Okay, I have to find something that's fast and easy, and alkaline, and nutrient dense, that will help people. So I went back to everything I found for my sister the previous couple of years, nothing was working, nothing was working. And then when I got to the algae, it was like Alice in Wonderland falling down the rabbit hole. Because algae is the most alkaline food in the world box checked out. Algae has the highest concentration of chlorophyll. chlorophyll is what makes plants green. And we're going to talk about chlorophyll I hope and a little bit more detail, because I'm going to tell you some really cool things about chlorophyll that I'm sure you don't know about. So it has, it has 1000 times more chlorophyll than Chinese greens 200 times more than spinach. It is the most nutrient dense food in the world. That's not my opinion. That's a quote from NASA. NASA says algae has 1000 times more nutrients than any other fruit or vegetable, one to 1000. Ladies and gentlemen, that's what I call efficient nutrition. And algae has been studied. It's the most studied food in the world. The problem is all these scientists like to talk to other scientists, right? All these PhDs, they don't know how to talk to mere mortals like you and me, which is actually why I did the thing that I didn't know anything about nutrition because everything I do, I love science, but I everything I write and design everything. And I'm the Chief Scientific Officer, so I do these deep dives, to help you understand them in a way that's much more simple. And I've got some great stories to tell you today about that. So a alkaline nutrient dense, scientifically based, endorsed by NASA, oh, also endorsed by the United Nations as the answer to world hunger because as three times the amount of protein and steak three times, right, all in amino acid and it's been used for 1000s of years. In Asia. It's a multi billion dollar agricultural crop. Now you may be surprised to know that algae is not a supplement. It is a food. It's no different than kale or broccoli. I've got a picture here of an LG farms a spirulina farm. And so all we do is we grow it in fresh water. And then we air dry it and press it into little tablets that we call bits because they're bits of food that you can add to spinach or salads or trail mix or whatever. But so it's been used for 15 years where it's a multi, it's almost as big as the beef industry is here. So the only problem is with algae, people in North America didn't know about it and the quality was really poor. So nobody branded it properly. Nobody had packaged properly. It's been sold in really Asian looking packages in America for 15 years. Like why would you buy that it doesn't give you any explanation about what it is or why it's good for you. So I decided after I'd seen the science, I'd seen how it helps people because it will help your energy, your immune system, weight loss, your skin your digestion. I mean, there's nothing that stuff doesn't do that, okay. I'm going to spend the rest of my life helping People understand what algae is, why they need it, why it will help them, their children, the environment. And I'll make sure it's high quality because up until now, most of it came from China and the quality was poor. And so I can talk to you more about why ours is the most nutrient dense, safe, pure, we do third party lab tests, we only sell through doctors in our website. So it's pretty exciting. I'm 11 years in, I probably have at least another 11 years to go. But, you know, I, the analogy I make is, you know, there's a company called vital proteins. And they're, they're known for collagen. And let's face it until about five or six years ago, nobody knew about collagen, until vital proteins found a way to help explain it. People two years ago, didn't know about stevia, they didn't know about matcha, keela. These are all foods that are very instrumental in improving your health. They're not supplements, they're not made in factories. They're they're food based, and ours is plant food based. So I'm particularly proud to be the spokesperson for algae. I can't take any credit for algae, that's Mother Nature. But I will tell you, I've done my very best to make it less weird. And to help people we do all the packaging make it really attractive. So so but it's all science based. I don't tell you anything. I don't have the research to back it up.

Maya Acosta  11:24

Did you visit any of the farms in Asia while you were doing your research?

Catharine Arnston  11:28

No, I, when  I started the company, you I gave up my career and I didn't have an income. And I do fortunately have a really great partner who has been working with algae for probably 30 years. And he's visited the farms in Asia, including the ones that that we used to grow our algae. In fact, he married we got ours in Taiwan, he married a Taiwanese woman, I do plan to go there, hopefully this year. And we'll do a video tour and all that sort of stuff. But I didn't have the money or the time to visit. And when I had such an expert already, by my side advising me, when you're building a company, there's so many things that you have to do whether it's you know, education, science, supply chain packaging, hiring marketing's the social media, you can't do it all. So you have to learn to delegate to people who have the skill set, you don't. So this gentleman has the skill set I don't. And I've relied on him, you know, for ever since we started to be my eyes and ears about the the actual production process of growing algae and selecting the best, highest reputable certified companies to grow ours.

Maya Acosta  12:49

So you were on Shark Tank discussing energy. What was that? Like? Did you benefit from any of the exposure? And how difficult was it to get on Shark Tank?

Catharine Arnston  13:00

I'm not someone who actually seeks the limelight. I'm just I just want to make a difference in the world. And frankly, all I wanted to do it first was help my sister. And I did that. And I thought well, I can help a few more people. And then I did that, and I could help a few more. So I'm not. So when people I must have had hundreds of people tell me you should be on Shark Tank. And Okay, finally all apply. And I didn't do anything special. I just went online and submitted my materials. And it was it was like a full time job getting on there because of the documentation I had to provide. And the videos I was interviewed every week for six weeks. And, you know, it's they say it's harder to get on to Shark Tank than it is to get into the Harvard Business School. So I was proud to have been selected. But I didn't want their money because these people are big egos. And when you're an entrepreneur who has a big vision to change the world, I didn't want another someone's ego, you know, coming between me and my vision. So, but I did want visibility. So I when I got selected, I left the opportunity. And it's it's true that the judges don't know anything about you until the moment you're in front of them. You're always working with the producers up to that stage. And so I knew they weren't going to understand algae because frankly, I was it was taped almost three years ago that we've aired me 25 times. So I continue people recognize me wherever I go. I think it's my fancy pink glasses, but I knew they weren't gonna understand. So I was actually not afraid which usually I you know, quite nervous but wasn't didn't have any fear there because I didn't want what they had to offer. So, you know, when they they laughed at me saying it tasted terrible and you know, spirulina I will admit does not taste very good, but I chew mine, and you can swallow it and we're gonna talk about spirulina and the other one is chlorella. We're going to talk about the differences. But there's nothing that will give you more nutrition, more energy, more health benefits, then spirulina or chlorella so when they choose them, I said, don't you And that, you know, things just went downhill after that they said, no one's gonna buy this and, and they said, We don't think you're in love with being an entrepreneur, you're just in love with algae. And my response to that was, well, if you knew as much about algae as I do, you'd be in love with algae too. So, so overall, the experience was good for me, because I got exactly what I wanted. I got on the show, they aired my segments, and they continued to aerate. And so it helps people become a little bit more familiar with algae with me with our brand. We've gone through, you know, five new websites since then three or four new packaging designs. And we're in a much better place now than we were then. But I still wouldn't take their money even if they've knocked on my door today. Because I've defied the odds. I was just actually on an entrepreneur. Call recently, and 80% of companies fail within the first two years. And something like point 00001% make it to 10 years. Well, we're in our 11th year. And I've grown slowly, because I wanted to do it right. I wanted to do it carefully. I wanted to teach people, I wanted to be sure they knew we weren't selling them something that was weird, or unscientifically documented. And and so basically, I had to earn people's trust. And that takes time. It's like love, it just takes time. And because I'm a lifer, and I, this is my dream, this is my path. This is my joy. I'm okay with it taking time.

Maya Acosta  16:40

Definitely. But um, I'm sure it also helped give you a little bit more exposure. Right?

Catharine Arnston  16:44

That's give me a lot of credibility, because it is very difficult to get on the show. Yeah, so. So who knows, maybe one day, we'll have me back. And it'll be what happened to, you know, so and so. And I'll be able to say, well, we're $100 million company now and blah, blah, blah, so And the only reason I would want to be that large is so that we can help we can do more with our money. I want to start a foundation. I'm kind of following what Daniel Lipinski did with Kind Bars, getting a you know, a healthier product out to the market, in our case, healthiest probably in the world, but also to create a foundation that can make help with change, bringing better nutrition knowledge to larger groups of people, whether it's children or, and donate the product to disaster areas, and wherever we feel there's a need so so I do have some bigger visions than just selling stuff. Right?

Maya Acosta  17:39

What is algae and why don't we know about it?

Catharine Arnston  17:42

So as I mentioned, algae is a food. It's a food category. It's not a fruit, and it's not a vegetable, it's its own category. And within that overall category, there are two types of algae. One is called macro algae, and the other one is called micro algae. Now macro algae is that big stringy stuff that you see washing up on shore, also known as seaweed, kelp, dulse. And macro algae has a lot of fiber and iodine. So it has some very good reasons for you to be eating it. But it actually does not have a lot of nutrition. And we're not going to be talking about backdoor algae. But I do want you to be aware that it's still part of the same family. What we're talking about is micro algae. Now it's called micro because it's microscopic in size. Something like 100 of the micro algae cells would fit on the head of a pin. It's that tiny, you can't see this unless you have a microscope. So and this and micro algae is everywhere. It's in the oceans, the lakes, the rivers, the soil. Yes, your swimming pool. Yes, your aquarium. And it's what feeds the fish when it sees the Oh, it's the soils, the plants, the whales, and all of those, and there's probably 30,000 or 40,000 strains of micro algae. Now the only two that are harvested as food crops for human consumption are the two that we're going to be talking today about. One is called spirulina, and it's known as a blue green algae because it has two pigments in it. One is chlorophyll that everybody knows about. And the other one is a blue pigment called phi cosine. And we're not going to talk too much about phycocyanins, but it has lots of great healing properties. But that's what makes spirulina a blue green algae. The other algae type is chlorella. And it is a green algae. And it only has one pigment in it called chlorophyll. So but these are not grown in the ocean. It doesn't matter whether you go Please don't buy your algae but maybe you will at Target or or you know, Costco that algae I can almost promise you is good. In China with less careful care and attention to the growing conditions, it might have toxins in it, but nonetheless, it's always gonna be spirulina and chlorella. And as I mentioned, they they're spirulina. Well both of them grow in freshwater. And then we we don't we are water is triple filtered Spring Mountain water that the reason I mentioned that is because algae will absorb whatever's in the water. So it needs to be really clean, and ours is really clean. And then we air dry it we don't we don't use high heat other companies do because high heat kills the enzymes. And then we pack it into little tiny tablets that we call bits. Because they're, they're bits of food that you can either swallow add to smoothies, I want to show you what they look like spirulina is a blue green algae that's this one. And chlorella is a green algae we call our spirulina ENERGYbits. Because spirulina is known to give you energy, focus, insurance satisfies your hunger. Why you may ask? Well, it's because spirulina has the highest concentration of protein in the world, as I mentioned, as three times the amount of protein in steak, animal proteins about 20%, spirulina, 64. And spirulina is technically a bacteria. This is what and so why is that important, you may ask? Well, because there is no cellulous wall for your body to have to break down to get access to the aminos it gets into your bloodstream almost instantly is the fastest of absorbed food in the world. This is why endurance athletes love it so much, because that gives them that it's got done 18 of the 20 amino, so it's it's a complete amino, it's a complete protein that has all the ones your body can't make. And it has all the B vitamins B vitamins convert glucose and protein into energy. It's loaded with boron, which helps with your brain thought. It's loaded with essential fatty acids like omega three, which helps us reduce inflammation and help again with your brain site. And it's what's called a vasodilator releases nitric oxide, which opens up your blood vessels, so that blood and oxygen and nutrients can flow faster to your brain to your muscles to wherever you need. So that's why and between the essential fatty acids in the high protein, it satisfies your hunger. So people use this for intermittent fasting. They use it for weight loss, there's only one calorie per tablet. So you could have maybe four or five in the morning. Five calories, helps you with your hunger, get you started for your day doesn't increase your glucose does not decrease your ketones. And where else can you go to get rid of your hunger, your cravings and still get all your nutrients because there's 40 vitamins and minerals. In algae. This is a replacement. This is a food based replacement for most of your supplements. You can get rid of your multivitamin, your fish oil, your co q 10, magnesium, potassium, calcium, all the algae and algae is food so your body absorbs all of it or 99.9% of it. So it's very efficient nutrition. So most people take their spirulina in the morning in the afternoon anytime they're hungry, tired, just pop a couple of tablets, you can swallow them if you don't like the flavor, have them before a workout. It they're safe for all ages, children, newborns, pregnant moms, nursing moms, granddad's pets, are your pets have loved them. And pets are smart animals are smart. So so that's spirulina, very energizing. Now remember, there are no cat, there's no caffeine, chemicals or sugar, no stimulants. So the energy you feel isn't like lightning bolts from the sky, you're not going to be like Superwoman, Neo, leaping off at all about love building in a single bound. But the way you will feel is we call, it's the best way to describe and you feel fresh, you feel like you just had a great night's sleep, you had a nice walk in the cold air, you're alert, and you're ready. That's how you will feel nothing more. You might not even notice that except you'll notice that you aren't tired or hungry anymore. You know, that's pretty good to me.

Maya Acosta  24:22

So how soon will we notice any improvements?

Catharine Arnston  24:25

Yes, that's a good, good question. With the spirulina because it satisfies your hunger. You will notice it soon as it gets into your bloodstream. If you chew it within a couple of minutes, if you swallow it, maybe 10 or 15. That's all and you'll notice that every single time it's not like a drug, we have to build up a tolerance. It's not like you have to take more than next time. Some people if you're very anemic, one or two tablets might make the difference. If you're a high performance athlete, you might need closer To 20 or 30, to feel the difference, we feel NHL teams and they put 75 of the tablets into their smoothie before a game because they need that energy on the ice for those fast spurts, and then they put 75 chlorella tablets recovery bits into their smoothie after the game, because it pulls out toxins including lactic acid. So it's because it's food, you only you will know what you need. I tell people, some people are full on a small salad. Some people need a larger salad. Yeah, there's no upper limit, because it's just food. I personally have about 100 chlorella tablets a day, just because I love them so much, and I snack on them. And we'll tell you some of the benefits of chlorella in a few minutes. But

Maya Acosta  25:48

okay, so you start off your day with the spirulina.

Catharine Arnston  25:51

Yeah, I would, you know, try five or 10. You know, if you want to, you could start with lower if you wanted, we sell them in large bags on our website like this, there's 1000 tablets in a bag. And if you took 10 a day, and by the way, in these bags, we give you a little tin, so you can fill it up and carry it around with you. So you always have some when you're shopping or hiking or doing anything. But if you took 10 a day, a bag would last two, three months. And I don't want people to get sticker shock because a bag is $120. But we have a discount 20% discount code we're gonna share at the end with her immunity. And I want you to know, we took that quote from NASA that says, one gram of algae has the equivalent nutrition of 1000 grams of vegetables. So I did the math and figured out one bag of our algae has the same nutrition as 551 pounds of vegetables. Now, that's 551 pounds that you didn't have to buy it $3 a pound for $16,000, 551 pounds, you didn't have to carry home from the grocery store, right? Cook or eat. So every single one of these tablets, every single one has the same nutrition as an entire plate of vegetables.

Maya Acosta  27:10

So you know, as a plant based community, I always encourage people to get their nutrients and their minerals from whole foods. Why would your algae product be an exception?

Catharine Arnston  27:20

Yes, and that's a very good point. So here, if someone's already embraced a plant based diet, or are thinking about it, here's why you need algae, the reality is our soils are destroyed. So even if you are eating greens, the soils do not have the nutrients in them that they used to have 50 years ago. So the plants just don't have the same nutrients either because there's nothing for them to pull up and are the plants or the vegetables are also thrown far, far away. And they're harvested before they're properly ripens. And so there's not enough nutrients that have gotten into the leaves or the fruits or whatever it is you're eating so so you're getting fiber, and you're getting calories, but you are cheating, you're being cheated on the nutrients, algae will fill that gap because it's so concentrated members 100 of those cells on the head of a pin, just imagine the concentration. That's why it's 1000 times more nutrients than anything else. So it's very efficient. So that's number one. We even if you are eating plants, I can promise you, you're not getting the same quality that your grandparents got. Number two, once we start traveling again, or even when you're out shopping or doing any kind of errands. And if you haven't pre packed, your bag is full of broccoli or whatever. And that's gets messy. And trust me I've done that. You go into any store, what are you facing a bunch of empty carbs, bagels, chocolates, sweets, all this stuff that either has terror is an anti nutrition causes stomach distress, or worse. So if you always have some algae tablets with you, it will hold you over especially the spirulina until you get home and you can have a proper meal. So it's a sort of an intervention. intervention. So that's number two. Number three, let's face it, men and children hate to eat vegetables, and yet we love them. So if you want the men in your life, the children in your life or teenagers to get the nutrients that they need without you having to argue with them all the time. This is your answer. Like just swallow a few instead of and even with your kids before they go to soccer practice instead of giving them a sugary bar protein bar, give them some spirulina I can promise you they will have the most focused best game ever and every time so it's it's it answers a lot of nutritional problems for people that aren't necessarily interested in eating vegetables and that can extend to nursing homes. You know One day, I want to get us into school lunches. So it's so that's for the people that we love who we, you know, we just get tired of arguing with them. Oh, I guess actually, one more thing I would like to mention. And I'm guilty of this too, like, because I'm a plant based person. I can't eat everything that I bought, and it breaks my heart, throwing stuff out when the lettuce leaves get alone yellow, or the mushrooms get a little, you know, soggy. There is no waste with algae. It has our tablets, we have to buy the FDA regulations put an expiry date on it. It's always about three years. But I can tell you, algae never goes bad. You can have it for 15 years. And it still will have all the same potency as when you bought it. So it's shown stable, again, very efficient. So if you want the best value for your money and for your health, that's led so those are my top four, for why even for plant based, oriented people, algae still is would fill a lot of needs.

Maya Acosta  31:06

And these stories yet Oh man,

Catharine Arnston  31:08

We get stories every day was one woman who is who is anemic. She was in Miami. She was actually a newscaster. And she took two of the spirulina and she texted us emailed us saying I had the best workout of my life. Because she was she was so anemic. And she needed the iron and all the other nutrients that are in there. As I said it gives you energy. Another woman same thing. She we sent her samples and she got them in her mailbox. She lived the country and she ripped them open while she was still in the mailbox. And by the time she walked down her driveway and got to her house. She had so much energy she that she redecorated. She painted her kitchen like it was it was insane without other people call us email us and say their children had ADHD. And they sent us pictures of the kids with an A plus on the report card. Soccer Coaches email us and tell us they had teens that were challenged at school because they couldn't focus and they gave them the spirulina and they get they had the bet that they were able to perform on the field and it made them so proud that they started performing better in school 70 year olds who were on oxygen tanks who are now running marathons, digestive issues going away. It's never ending never ending it because we're so nutrient deprived and we don't even know it.

Maya Acosta  32:35

So you touch on a couple of topics that I want to go into a little bit more but I don't know if you want to cover chlorella first, 

Catharine Arnston  32:42

Just a recap. spirulina technically a bacteria gets absorbed very quickly, high protein, great for nutritional, snack, intermittent fasting and giving you energy and focus. And by the way, spirulina was the first life on Earth almost 4 billion years ago, before spirulina. Earth was just gas and water. Algae releases oxygen when it's growing. And so after a billion years, there was enough oxygen on earth for other life forms to grow. And the next one that started was chlorella. So spirulina was first and chlorella was second. This is one of our spirulina. chlorella, as I mentioned, is a green algae. So just like spirulina has the most protein in the world, chlorella has the highest chlorophyll in the world. Now, there's a couple of things. You may say to yourself what's so important about chlorophyll? Well, there's about three I want to address. Number one, I used to read articles about how up until World War Two, even when they didn't have blood for transfusions, the doctors would give the injured liquid chlorophyll because they would heal just as fast. And I used to wonder what what is it in the chlorophyll that's making these people healthy? Well, I found out here's a picture that shows you the chemical composition of your blood and the chemical composition of chlorophyll. They are virtually identical. There is only one atom that's different in your blood. It's a heme, the hemoglobin has iron in the middle and that's what carries oxygen. And chlorophyll has magnesium in the middle. Otherwise, they are absolutely identical. Mother Nature is so smart. She gave us chlorophyll to help us build our blood. Because if you have healthy blood, you are getting healthy nutrients to the rest of your body. That includes your brain, your organs, your digestion, your muscles, your stomach, everything. So number one, chlorophyll is a blood builder and it's been scientifically documented and used that way by the medical community up until about the 30s. And then the pharmaceutical industry kind of got in there. Number two, an interesting fact about chlorophyll which I discovered is that chlorophyll is a fat based pigment. Now why is that important? Well, all of your health issues good or bad start at the cellular level and the mitochondria in the cells. So the way one of the key ways to keep your cells healthy and your mitochondria healthy, is to have permeable cell walls, and they need healthy fats to do that. So I used to hear people saying, Well, I'm doing a cleanse, I'm thinking, Well, what exactly is cleansing, and I'm going to tell you what this is. Cleansing is when you get the chlorophyll, because it's fat based, it heals your cell walls. So that allows nutrients to get in, and toxins to get out. And the best way to visualize this is you know, when you have dirty windows, you can't see out and sunlight can't get in. So think of chlorophyll as window washers for yourself walls, okay? That keeps everything humming, that makes sure everything that goes in is getting in. And all those toxins that you don't want are getting out. And that combined with the fact that chlorophyll is very cleansing to your organs as well. And when you digest anything with chlorophyll, only 10% of the chlorophyll actually gets digested in your stomach, it the rest of it travels through your liver, which is sort of like your water purification system in your body and all the way down through your colon. So it's it has this you know, think of the Scrubbing Bubbles working their way all the way down to your body. And by the way, when you take chlorella and spirulina to a lesser extent, don't be worried if your poop is a little green, because it's just proof that the chlorophyll is in there and doing its job. So that's number one. chlorella has the highest chlorophyll in the world that heals, is a blood builder and heals your cell walls. The other cool thing about chlorella is it has the hardest cell wall in the plant kingdom ever I said spirulina has none. chlorella has the hardest cell wall so hard, in fact, that it has to be cracked to production on LTE. I'll tell you something interesting about that in a minute. So what's so amazing about that hard cell? Well, well, the first easy thing to know about is that it has fiber in it because it's a cellulose wall fiber to heals your gut, your your bacteria in your biome need fiber, so they can create what's called short chain fatty acids that also heal the rest of your body. And when your gut is healthy, then you can absorb nutrition. And there's this direct connection. Think of it as a major highway between your stomach and your brain called the vagus nerve, and they communicate back and forth but most communication is from your stomach to your brain. So if you are concerned about your brain health the most, the first thing you need to do is look after your gut health, and that will affect your brain. So chlorella has the fiber that your biome needs. So now they're having number two and I think this is the drum roll. And most important thing about chlorella, is that hard cell wall attaches to toxins, lead, mercury, radiation, aluminum. It also attaches to alcohol if you're interested so you have any wine or beer or anything. Take some chlorella afterwards, you will be sober in an hour and a half and you will never have a hangover. It also attaches to lactic acid. This is why athletes love it as a post workout, because it pulls out the lactic acid so their muscles aren't sore the next day. Some people use activated charcoal to remove toxins. But the problem with activated charcoal is that it pulls out all minerals, not just the bad stuff. chlorella is not like that. It only pulls out toxins. It doesn't matter whether it's toxins from mold, poisoning, it doesn't matter whether it's toxins from your your feelings when you get them pulled out. We still have a lot to biological dentists, when they pull out their fillings because there's mercury in there and they take it they don't want the fumes of the mercury and they give it to their patients as well. The United Nations use chlorella after the the Chernobyl radiation disaster. And after the Fukushima disaster eight years ago in Japan, the entire chlorella world supply was bought up within 24 hours because everybody in Asia knows that it's the only thing that pulls out radiation. So chlorella is a detoxing algae. So when you take chlorella Not only is the chlorophyll scrubbing, washing, doing the washing windows of your cells. It's pulling the toxins. So think of chlorella as giving your body a shower from the inside. Okay, we all take showers on the outside, but what about the inside? That's job of chlorella. And you know, you can't unless you live in a bubble, you can't avoid toxins, it's in our carpets. It's in our air. It's definitely in our food. It's in our clothing. Our prescriptions are covered. metrics. And so we need to pull them out. So you might want to go through, you know, take a higher amount first to get rid of the toxins, and then you want to maintain it and own it. And then talk about another thing that chlorella does, which is build your immune system. But on the detox part, you're always going to be faced with toxins. So just so it's something that we think people need to take on a regular basis. And most people, you can take it anytime a day, something like spirulina, but most people take the chlorella at night. Remember I said they take the spirulina in the day for hunger and energy. While most people take the chlorella at night, because maybe they've had a couple of cocktails, maybe they will and they want they want, they don't want to have a hangover. The next day, maybe they did a workout and they don't want to be sore the next day. But most importantly, I'm not sure if you know, but your body goes through a detox and repair cycle when you sleep. So if you have chlorella, in your body while you're sleeping, it's like having the, you know, in big offices, they have the cleaning staff come in at night while everybody's at home. Well think of chlorella as your cleaning staff at night while you're sleeping, okay, it's pulling out aluminium out of your brain is pulling out toxins from your cells. And guess what? chlorella also stimulates peristalsis, also known as bowel movements. So, it prepares you for a beautiful bowel movement in the morning, and gets rid of all this stuff that you don't need, so that you're ready to go with your spirulina when you wake up. So it's, it's quite remarkable. And it's also got 40 vitamins and minerals, but they're different. They do different things in your body. So in addition to the cleansing and the detoxing, because of the chlorophyll and the other the other nutrients like vitamin K to chlorella is world renowned for building your immune system. Do we not need a strong immune system right now? Yes, we do. There's a lot of new there's about a list of about 10 nutrients that the medical community has identified as helping build a strong immune system and most of them are in the chlorella. The only ones missing is vitamin C. So I would still encourage you to take vitamin C, and if you live in the northeast vitamin d3, but everything else is in the chlorella, all the B Vitamins A vitamin, zinc, chlorophyll amino acids, it's got it all it's a one stop shop, you don't have to race out and buy a whole bunch of new vitamins you don't erase out and buy a whole bunch of different kinds of food to build your immune system. It's in the chlorella. And the good thing about chlorella is it tastes pretty good. I eat it all day long. I put mine I just had the equivalent of another another salad. I put the salt on it, I eat it with almonds, macadamia nuts. I just while we're talking about how efficient it is, here's a picture. If you don't have time to prepare a big salad, you get all the same nutrition. In one tablet. I've been talking to you I've had two I'm gonna have another one. I'm gonna have like the third sell. Okay, there's no stopping me. It's just because if there's so good, by the way, I have no makeup on. My skin is really clean and wrinkle free. One of the things has is vitamin K2, which pulls out health excess calcium from soft tissue including skin, blood vessels, organs and moves it into your bones where it should be. And almost everybody is deficient in K2. And so chlorella does that as well. It has also the highest RNA and DNA in the world that helps you as you get older, your RNA and DNA get damaged. And interestingly, chlorella has something else called a chlorella growth factor you mentioned about healing from injury or surgery. Part of the reason why when you take chlorella you heal faster is because of a the chlorophyll which builds your blood being the RNA and DNA which of course is necessary for healing. But it also has this thing called chlorella growth factor, it speeds up the growth of your cells. chlorella is the fastest growing organism in the world. If you've read anything about biofuel, it's always with chlorella, because they're trying to trap the the the energy of cells as they subdivide or the oil that's in it. So it does that to your body as well. It speeds it up. So it's, it's like having a doctor in your pocket. I mean, and if you like greens, you are gonna love this stuff. It's just, it's so clean, you will crave it because your body intuitively knows that it's good for you. And when you you can put it on your salads, you can put it in trail mix and have it straight up like Do with some sea salt? I wouldn't imagine going to bed without my chlorella at night.

Maya Acosta  45:05

Well, I like the fact that you said at some point that really we don't need to supplement with anything else. So a lot of the vitamins we don't absorb very well anyway. So this takes care of a lot of our needs along with the food that we eat. Can you talk about also the antioxidant power of your product here?

Catharine Arnston  45:23

Well, algae has the highest concentration of antioxidants in the world, there's something called the ORAC measurement, they don't use it as much anymore. It was predominantly developed for fruits. But it's, I don't have the chart in front of me. But I think it's something like 1000 or 10,000 times more antioxidants than even blueberries. berries are very good for antioxidants. But algae is way higher, partly because the antioxidants are because antioxidants, what they do is they fight free radicals. Free radicals are caused by any kind of activity in your body. It's just the processing. If you exercise more, you have more free radicals, it just it's and your mitochondria perform better when there are fewer free radicals. So because there's so much antioxidants in the algae, it's like if it when it gets into the mitochondria of the cells, that sort of if there are free radicals there, they mop them up, think of them it just absorb them and get rid of them. So that's also part of aging. We're all you know, everybody wants to stay as young as possible either at a cellular level or visible level. That's why we even have a brand new spirulina we call beauty bits because of the high antioxidants and the high protein that it's way higher than collagen. But I don't want to diss collagen, because it's good stuff. But this will help build your skin and your hair and your organs because of the high antioxidants which put out the flame of free radicals and so much of metabolic health issues are due the inflammatory inflammation at the cellular level you're not even aware of, but you can get tested for it. We work with people like Dr. Dominic D'Agostino, who's a scientist at the University of Southern Cal southern Florida in Tampa, and he's a member of NASA has NEEMO mission, they do a submarine mission every summer. And, and so he has bloodwork done, you know every day to because they're looking for ways to help either other astronauts or you know, anybody perform under very difficult conditions. So he's always taken our algae with him on these trips. And he's always reported back that his implant inflammation markers were the lowest ever it ever was and his something called Vo2, which is oxygen uptake was high.

Maya Acosta  48:02

Can we talk about how people use fish oil to obtain their essential fatty acids? Why is algae better than consuming fish oil?

Catharine Arnston  48:10

A lot of people will because you have plant based you might have some vegans and vegetarians on your call. You know, omega-3 is very important essential fatty acids very important for reducing inflammation. But the main source most people use is fish oil, which goes rancid after they've done testing goes rancid after about a month. And it's causing so much ecological damage because the fish are being fished to nothing. And if you're vegan, you're out of luck because it's a fit. It's a you know animal source. So I remind people, where do you think the fish get the omega three from? They get it from algae. So whether you're vegan anyways or not. Getting your omega three needs and essential fatty acid needs from algae is just a smarter thing to do. It's better for you. They never go rancid. It's good for everybody. It's good for the ocean. It's sustainable, eco friendly. So it's just a healthier choice. Number one. The other thing I want to mention is that I know we've covered a lot of material here and some people may need to listen to it twice. But you may decide that you would like to take algae doesn't matter whether it's spirulina or chlorella, maybe you're doing intermittent fasting. So I would recommend spirulina. But here's the interesting thing. You may choose to use it for one purpose, but because it has so many other nutrients, you're going to find other benefits in your life, whether it's improving your gut biome or having more energy, having your hair grow faster, or maybe you want to detox well. You're also going to find that your as your skin will clear up, your digestion will improve, your elimination will improve so I know in our scientific world we have specialists for everything we have heart doctors and cancer doctors and skin doctors and and I applaud this new approach the holistic natural path functional medicine approach, which is a holistic approach that takes the entire body into consideration. That's what algae does. It takes your entire body into consideration, you may be motivated, because of, maybe you want to, it's January, you want to lose some weight. But I promise you, there will be a whole other list of benefits that you will start to notice. So whatever your motivation is, this delivers value. Algae is one of the few things that I can under promise and over deliver on. I can't say that for everybody's algae, ours is known for being pure and safe and nutrient dense. And because we take extra care to make sure that happens. But we have never had a single person in the 11 years we've been doing this tell us they didn't feel some benefits. So yes. So it's really it makes me we sort of feel ourselves as an adoption agency. Every time we make a sale. It's like, Oh, it's going to go out there and do cuz things like puppies, right?

Maya Acosta  51:07

You've said before, and I like what you mentioned about algae that taking algae every day is like putting on your seatbelt every day.

Catharine Arnston  51:15

Yeah, it's just um, it's your nutrition insurance. We have a lot of people who are older, who they've emailed us and said, You know, they they canceled their health insurance other than the catastrophic. Because they don't, they're not they're not getting any, any illnesses. And they have much more energy than their their older their friends. It just, I can't think of anybody for any reason who wouldn't benefit from this. And because it's so simple. If you can breathe, you can take this, if you open your mouth and swallow down two, or three or four or five tablets, five or 10, however many you want. That's it. No cooking, no cleaning, hearing, no fights with your teenagers. Nothing. Right. So I know I have found something that will help people without it being a challenge. That was my goal, I want to get good nutrition into people in a way that's easy. And, you know, we try to make it as fun as possible by making the packaging attractive, I have some new new packaging coming out with little canisters, logos that you can shake it out. So and you can you can come and visit us at ENERGYbits comm if you want to try it out and make a purchase or learn or just learn more,

Maya Acosta  52:39

I have known other people that are plant base. It's interesting to me that some people continue to have IBS issues or Crohn's disease, for example. And you've said that your product can actually help with those. Do you know of cases where that has been reversed or people have improved their Crohn's disease because of your product?

Catharine Arnston  52:59

I don't have any that I can relate, necessarily, although we could certainly ask people because we, as I mentioned, we only sell the products through doctors and chiropractors and functional medicine so we can start asking them as they could share. So yeah, great to collect all that information. Each one of us has a DNA and a lifestyle, dietary, we have dietary issues. And so the best thing you can do is observe how you feel after you eat certain foods. And you know, if something makes you, you know, gives you gas, or stomach pain, that's a food you need to stay away from, or eat it in a different combination, or maybe a different time. It's quite complicated because your stomach has enzymes that digest foods at different rates, you should never eat fruit with protein, for example, because they require different enzymes and the fruit gets digested very quickly. If you eat the two of them together, the protein might sit in your stomach for a long animal protein for a longer period of time and, and ferment, which causes gas. So there's a lot of issues that go into finding good gut health and good health, good gut health will lead to good general health. And the thing that I'm so happy about with algae is it causes no problems of any kind for anyone for any reason. It's sort of like the kid you always want to invite over to play with your kids because they're clean, they're neat, they're polite.

Maya Acosta  54:35

So if people want to learn more about your product, what is the best website and also do you have a discount code for our listeners who may be interested in trying the product?

Catharine Arnston  54:44

The website again is ENERGYbits energy b for boy I Ts calm. And as I mentioned, we sell them in large bags, but you can also get them in boxes that have single servings in them. So if handier to carry around. And we have a 20% discount code. The code is PlantBasedDFW Podcast all one word, and you'll see the coupon box in the shopping cart when you check out. And that that will work on all products, anytime. And we also have a sample pack that you can use. Now, as I mentioned, number one bag has the same nutrition as 551 pounds of fruits and vegetables. But you know, if you if you're not ready $220 for a bag with a discount, it goes down to 96. But if that's too much, and I can understand that, if it is, you can buy a sample pack for $20. That gives you the four brands to try out, we have another brand called vitality bits, which is a blend of the two algae. Or you can go to Amazon, we sell everything on Amazon, you can buy a single serving for $4. And if you're prime shipping, it comes to free. So that's a great way to try it out. I also would welcome everybody to follow us on Instagram, or Facebook or Twitter. Our handle is at ENERGYbits. We do lots of giveaways and contests. So it's a great way to stay in touch with us. And if we haven't addressed your question, they can get in touch with you Or you can write us at customer care at ENERGYbits com I've written about 500 papers. So I'm very determined to help people understand doesn't matter whether it's children's health, mental health, gut health, skin health. We have a lot to share. And we just want people to be healthy, and we want to be easy to be healthy. 

Maya Acosta  56:40

Well Catherine, I can't thank you enough for all this time that you've given us and teaching us about algae. So I'm excited for our listeners to hear this information and also to visit your website and learn more about the benefits of consuming algae.

Catharine Arnston  56:54

Thank you so much. It's a real pleasure.

Maya Acosta  56:58

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