The Melanie Avalon Biohacking Podcast Episode #264 - Catharine Arnston

TRANSCRIPT

(Note: This is generated by AI with 98% accuracy. However, any errors may cause unintended changes in meaning.)

Melanie Avalon:
Friends, welcome back to the show. I am so incredibly excited about the conversation I am about to have. It is with a repeat guest, which is always so, so exciting for me. And it's with a guest that I have met in real life twice, which is also really exciting for me, even more exciting in the backstory on today's conversation. So friends, you've heard me talking a lot about spirulina over the past few months, on and on, because I made my own version. And I am just so, so passionate about the nutritional benefits and the health effects that you can get from this super incredible algae supplement. And the reason I came to spirulina and chlorella, which we are going to talk about, is because I had Catharine Arnston on the show probably about two years ago now or so. For her company, Energy Bits, she makes herself an incredible spirulina, an incredible chlorella, an incredible blend, which is super cool and super unique. So her products are amazing. I was taking them every single day. I had her on the show, like I said, a few years ago and was just blown away by her knowledge when it comes to these products and what they can do for us. And she's just so inspiring. She's clearly majorly inspired me. And she's just such a fabulous, wonderful human being. It really has been a pleasure meeting her in real life. We met at Dave Asprey's biohacking conference a few times. So I knew I just had to have Catharine back on the show, especially after seeing her recently. So Catharine, thank you so much for being here.

Catharine Arnston:
Well, Melanie, thank you. And that's so kind of you to speak so highly of me and algae. Algae is for everybody. So I applaud you for launching your own line. We have to get this out to the world because as your listeners will find out, it is the most concentrated attrition with nutrients not found in any other food categories that help protect and restore our health, our longevity, our beauty, our energy. And all you have to do is swallow or chew a few tablets every day or add them to your smoothie, but you do need to take them every day and the results will stun you. So I'm so glad to be here. And I've spent 14 years now digging through PubMed on finding all these amazing scientific papers that document all the benefits of algae. We'll talk about spiruline and chlorella today. They're the two main ones. So it's all science -based, but I think there's almost too much science and nobody knows where to start with it. So I did. And I've hopefully done a lot of the heavy lifting so I can inform you and other people about it. Then they can follow on their own research. But yeah, 14 years of PubMed research is a lot of research. And I'm more in love with algae today than I was even 14 years ago because I've learned even more. So it's pretty cool.

Melanie Avalon:
I love that and my audience is very science -based and I as well when I was working on my own formulation was going through the PubMed rabbit holes and really was surprised by just how many studies there are and they're so impressive and just one other quick comment. So when I decided to make my own because I really wanted to make it because I was just so passionate about it and so much about it is from what I learned from you and I was really worried and I was like I hope she doesn't see me as you know like trying to take away from her and I called you to talk to you about it and you were so like kind and just really radiated this idea of just you know wanting to educate people in abundance and you know the more we collectively share the word about everything the more everybody benefits and I just so I just want to really thank you like the genuineness and the kindness that there is here is just so amazing and I really really appreciate you for that. Well thank you and I appreciate you for the 14 years of research you've been doing out of curiosity so all that research you've been doing have there been any like memories or moments you have where you found a study that you were just so excited about because of some of the unique benefits that it talked about?

Catharine Arnston:
Two in particular, and they do relate to spirulina. One relates to cancer prevention and one relates to mitochondria protection and longevity and stopping Alzheimer's and heart disease and just about everything. And it's because there's two nutrients that are found in spirulina that aren't available in any other food groups. Highly, highly documented, scientifically proven, but just not known by the public, or frankly, even many people outside of a very narrow medical community. We can start there if you want. Oh, sure.

Melanie Avalon:
Sure. Can I try to guess what they are? I mean, I'm probably not going to get them, but are they something like, what is it, super oxide dismutase? Super oxide dismutase is one of them, absolutely. Okay, one. And then another one that's not in other things, like RNA or something?

Catharine Arnston:
No, no. And I'm going to spell it out for people because I want people to be able to research this themselves because you'll find out that everything I'm telling you is true. It's the blue pigment found in spirulina, which is called a ficocyanin, which is spelled P -H -Y -C -O -C -Y -A -N -I -N, does not exist anywhere else in the universe in any food except spirulina. Spirulina is called a blue -green algae because it has two pigments. This blue one, which is called ficocyanin, and the other pigment is chlorophyll. Now, chlorella, which we'll talk about as well today, only has one pigment, which is the chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is what makes plants green. And as we go down this rabbit hole of the two pigments, the other interesting thing about the difference between the two pigments is that the blue ficocyanin is a water -based pigment. This is really important because a lot of the healing attributes of ficocyanin are water -related, so it's your blood. For example, ficocyanin has been proven to stop the growth of blood vessels to tumors. It has a capability called antiangiogenesis. Angiogenesis is the growth of your blood vessels. So antiangiogenesis is the prevention of the growth of blood vessels. So you want to prevent the blood vessels from feeding the tumor. When you shut off the blood supply, you shut off, slow down, and shut off the ability of the tumor or cancer to grow. So ficocyanin, and we'll talk about this also because, and this relates to the cancer -killing capabilities. The ficocyanin in a healthy cell speeds up in what's called the electron transport chain, which is the way cellular energy is generated. It speeds up this molecule called cytochrome C. Cytochrome C is a water -based molecule. So it's married to the blue ficocyanin, which is also a water -based pigment molecule, compared to chlorophyll, which turns out to be a fat -based pigment. The reason why this is important is a number of reasons. You need healthy fats to build your cells, cell walls. All your cell walls have something called a lipid membrane, including mitochondria, although they have two membranes. But the lipid membrane, you need to keep it healthy with healthy fats like omega -3 and vitamin A and D3, so that it can accept nutrients and in, and toxins can flow out. Well, turns out chlorophyll is a fat -based pigment, so it heals your cell walls just like an omega -3 or a D3 or a vitamin A. And this is one of the reasons why chlorophyll is so cleansing to the body, because it's healing that cell wall. But as you're going to also find out in that electron transport chain, and we'll do a deep dive into that electron transport chain because I really want people to understand how your mitochondria work, how they generate cellular energy, because cellular energy is like the electricity that keeps you alive. It performs everything in your body from neurotransmitters to breathing, to sleeping, to digesting, to cellular turnover. Everything is due to cellular energy, and so making sure you have enough cellular energy is the key to life, key to health, key to longevity. And in this thing called the electron transport chain, which is the process by which cellular energy is produced, there's a little helper molecule that you've probably heard of called CoQ10. Well, it turns out chlorophyll, especially when your body is exposed to either red light or sunlight, the chlorophyll molecule recirculates the CoQ10 molecule, which is the helper molecule in this electron transport chain. And CoQ10 is a fat -based molecule. So here's Mother Nature at her best. She's given us two ways to speed up the production of cellular energy through this electron transport chain, and I do want to dive into helping other people understand what that is. And the two pigments that facilitate that, one is the blue pigment called phycocyanin, and one is the green pigment called chlorophyll. Spirulina has both of them, and they are paired perfectly with the fat -based CoQ10 molecule that is in the electron transport chain and the water -based helper molecule that's called cytochrome C, which is a water -based molecule. You couldn't ask for more incredible dynamic symmetry harmony than that, and these two helper molecules are critical for ensuring your ATP production maintains very high levels. So I just want to start with that, that these two pigments have incredibly different characteristics, and they have different job descriptions, and they work beautifully with your body and with your mitochondria and everything down to this electron transport chain thing. But part of that miracle of this phycocyanin, the blue pigment in spirulina, is that it has the ability to detect if there is a healthy cell or a cancerous or a senescent cell. This is why I call spirulina intelligent food. A, you have to be intelligent to take it, and B, it knows what to do in your body, right? I mean, how perfect is that? Mother Nature gave us something that can determine, it's like coming to a fork in the road. This phycocyanin, when it gets into your body, it gets through the mitochondria cell wall, and we'll talk about that in a minute, then it gets into the electron transport chain, and it's like in a fork in the road. On the left, it would either, if it's in a senescent cell or a cancer cell, it does one thing. If on the fork on the right is a healthy cell, it does something else. So let me tell you what it does in a healthy cell, and then I'm going to tell you what it does in a senescent or a cancer cell. In fact, you know what, I think I'll back up a little bit to explain how cellular energy is produced, so that you'll understand this process even better. As hopefully people are learning, the mitochondria, they're known as the powerhouse of the cell, they do so many other things, but they do generate all of the cellular energy for your body. And the best way to give you a high -level understanding of how important mitochondria are in the context of your health and your body, I like to use the comparison, I say, well, compare your body to a new office tower. In the office building, you have individual offices, and that's where the work is done. In your body, you have cells, and that's where the work is done. Now, in the building, the thing that allows the work to be done are the lights. If the light bulbs aren't on, you can't very well do any work. And in your body, the things that allow the work to be done in the cell are the mitochondria. Now, in the building, when the lights go out, maintenance comes and replaces them. Easy peasy. You can keep continued doing your work. Now, in your body, when the mitochondria, which are the light, effectively the light bulbs in your body go out, you don't have maintenance people there to fix them. The mitochondria either get damaged when the lights go out or they die. And so, what happens over time, as you age, you have fewer and fewer mitochondria because the lights have gone out slower and slower over time. And this is what leads to chronic disease. This is what leads to brain fog, advanced aging. It gets even worse because in the analogy of the building and the body, in the building, the light bulbs are fed by electricity. But in your body, the mitochondria are not just the light bulbs, they are also the electricity. So, it's a double whammy when they go out. And why do they go out? Well, it's because they are damaged in the process of this cellular energy production, which is called ATP. So, the way that the... And this ATP is produced through this thing called the electron transport chain, which I'll get to in a minute. But when you are born, you have an antioxidant called superoxide dismutase. It's in your body just like melatonin is produced by your body, just like glutathione is produced in your body, hormones. Mother Nature is so intelligent, she provided us with all these nutrients to ensure that we can stay healthy. Now, one of the main things that the superoxide dismutase does is that it neutralizes a very damaging free radical called superoxide. This free radical is the type of free radical that is produced as a byproduct of cellular energy, this ATP. And the reason why it's particularly damaging is because it has three unpaired electrons. Now, normally, a free radical only has one unpaired electron. And normally, antioxidants, which have extra electrons in their molecule, donate the electron to the free radical to neutralize it so it doesn't cause tissue damage. But in your mitochondria, there is a particular free radical that is a byproduct of ATP, and it's called superoxide. And the reason why it's so damaging is that it has three unpaired electrons, unlike your average free radical that only has one. So, getting this free radical neutralized so that it won't cause tissue damage is very, very important. And fortunately, this antioxidant called superoxide dismutase is up to the task. And the reason why superoxide dismutase is so critical and so effective at reducing free radical damage of the mitochondria is because it can pass through the mitochondria's inner membrane. Your mitochondria are the only cell in your body with two membranes. I earlier mentioned that the first membrane in all of your cells is called a lipid membrane. And the mitochondria has one of those two. And I will explain later why the mitochondria have that inner membrane and where it came from. But this inner membrane that's in all of your mitochondria is impenetrable by most of your traditional antioxidants. So, vitamin C can't get in there, vitamin E. There are only a handful of antioxidants that can get into that inner membrane of the mitochondria to protect your mitochondria from this free radical damage. One of them is this one called, and the most powerful one is called superoxide dismutase. Another, the second most powerful one is called glutathione. And the third one is actually chlorophyll. But let's go back to the superoxide dismutase. So, what happens when your body is creating this ATP? Well, free radicals are produced as a byproduct. Now, the problem is in that inner membrane of the mitochondria, this is where the mitochondria have their own DNA. You may not know this, but your mitochondria have their own DNA. There's only 37 of them, and compared to your regular DNA where there's 22 ,000 or more. But these 37 that are inside the mitochondria, they control absolutely everything. They control all of your other mitochondria or all your other DNA. They control all of your cellular communication. Think of them as an air controller at an airport. There's not many air controllers at an airport, but they have a very serious job. They control everything that comes in and out of the airport. And if they're not on their game, planes would crash. Same with the mitochondria DNA, because when they're not on their game, the communication gets distorted, your cell walls start not accepting hormones and different enzymes, and your DNA gets damaged. So, protecting your mitochondria DNA is the most important job you have, because when they go astray or then they get damaged by free radicals, everything goes to pot. So, the reason they get damaged is because they're so close to where the ATP is being produced, which means they're so close to where the free radicals are being produced. But this thing called superoxide dismutase, which your body generates for you from the moment you're born, it acts like a big golf umbrella. If you've ever been caught in a rainstorm, whether you're golfing or shopping, it doesn't matter, and you have one of those big golf umbrellas, right? You don't care. I mean, you can probably get six people under one of those big golf umbrellas. So, even if you're stuck in a rainstorm, you're good to go. That's the equivalent of what the superoxide dismutase does. When the free radicals are released, the superoxide dismutase acts like a big golf umbrella. It neutralizes it and turns it into harmless water. So, the mitochondria are no longer damaged. Perfect, right? So, your body does this for you from the moment you're born until about the age of 30. And like many other hormones and nutrients, your body slows down the production of superoxide dismutase after the age of 30. And by the age of 40, you have virtually none. So, by the time you're 40, that big golf umbrella is about the size of one of those totes, city umbrellas, right? You can sort of get a little protection, but not a lot. And then, by the time you're 40 or 45, that golf umbrella has shrunk down to about the size of a cocktail umbrella. Effectively, it's gone. What does this do? It causes your mitochondria to now be exposed to the rain of free radicals that are a natural byproduct of ATP production. And this is exactly when aging hits. This is when weight gain, brain fog, chronic diseases, heart disease. This is exactly when all of these issues start hitting us. And I believe it's because this is exactly when the mitochondria has lost its protection of having this antioxidant called superoxide dismutase, which is found in the highest concentration in spirulina. Second highest is in chlorella. Now, I know we originally were talking about the phycocyanin, but now we'll circle back to that. But I want you to understand why the mitochondria are getting damaged, and it's because of the free radicals that are being released as a byproduct of the ATP production. And so when you have, you put back the superoxide dismutase, which unfortunately, by the way, is an enzyme. And so almost all the lesser expensive algaes that are out on the market other than us, and hopefully from you as well, we don't use high heat. So our algae is actually considered raw. And the reason why this is important is because superoxide dismutase, in addition to being an antioxidant, is an enzyme. And any temperature over 114 degrees kills all enzymes. So if you go to Target or Costco and you buy spirulina in a tablet or a powder, I can almost promise you that they used high heat to dry it because these lesser expensive, lower priced algae have got to sell more, and they have to sell quicker. So you cut corners, and one of the corners they cut is they use high heat to get the product dried and out to market. That deactivates the superoxide dismutase. It's like buying a car, but there's no engine. So while there may have been superoxide dismutase in the original spirulina, if it was exposed to high heat, that superoxide dismutase has been deactivated. You can also get it from raw or fresh spirulina, but that's very expensive. It's hard to travel with and tastes terrible. That's one of the things that distinguishes us from a lot of other companies is that our algae is raw because we don't use high heat. So our superoxide dismutase is alive and well and can get into the body and get into the mitochondria to give you back your golf umbrella. Basically, that's what it does because when your mitochondria are protected from this rain of free radicals, they can grow back, they can multiply, your lights come back on, there's more ATP being produced. So now you can turn things around. The great news about your body is whatever health condition you are facing, whether it's a good one or a bad one, it's not permanent. We just need to restore the health of your mitochondria so they can start generating cellular energy again for you so they can start regenerating themselves. The way I describe cellular energy is sort of like money. When you have more money, you can do more things and you have more choices. When you have more cellular energy, you can do more things and your body has more choices. Another way to think about it is if you had a dinner party and you forgot to get dessert for everybody, but you had one leftover cupcake maybe from a dinner party the previous week and you had 10 guests. So you try to slice that little one cupcake into 10 little pieces for your 10 guests and nobody got a very big slice and nobody's very happy with you. Well, your body's the same way. If you aren't generating enough cellular energy, no body part gets enough ATP to behave and live optimally. Your brain and your neurotransmitters aren't getting enough cellular energy. Your lymphatic system isn't getting enough cellular energy. Your digestion, nothing is getting what it needs. So when you can restore the ability of your mitochondria to generate more cellular energy for you, it's like giving everybody their cupcake back. Everybody gets what they want. Everybody, every body part has what it needs. Now, every body part can work optimally and your cells are constantly regenerating themselves so they can regenerate in a healthy fashion. On the other hand, if you haven't been giving yourself spirulina to protect your mitochondria, and a lot of the symptoms of damaged mitochondria don't even show up for 10 years. This is why they call it silent inflammation. All that inflammation is going on. Ninety percent of it is going on in the mitochondria and as a result of this free radical damage. But you don't even know it. Your symptoms don't show up for 10 years. You're pretty good until the age of 30, but the symptoms, you could still be having damaged mitochondria when you're in your 30s. You just won't have any symptoms. The symptoms start manifesting in a big way when you're 40 and this is when your mitochondria have been damaged and decreased for a long period of time and so it takes a while to turn it around. But as long as you understand that the mitochondria are essential for your life and essential for generating this electricity that keeps you alive and that they need to be protected and this superoxide dismutase that's found in spirulina in the highest quantity if it's a raw spirulina and the second highest is found in chlorella, it naturally can give your mitochondria back the ability to protect itself from all this free radical damage. I guess I ended up talking about superoxide dismutase before phycocyanin, but this is one of the most powerful nutrients that you can find in algae and you can't, it's almost non -existent in other foods, certainly not with healing properties like this. And by the way, there's 25 ,000 studies found in PubMed that confirm that superoxide dismutase prevents inflammation, protects you from heart disease, protects you from Alzheimer's, protects you from just about shortening of your telomeres, protects you from anything. What the world doesn't know yet is that it's found in the highest concentration in spirulina and here's the other cool thing, spirulina is not even a plant, it's a bacteria, it's called a cyanobacteria. Why is that important? Because there is no cellius wall for your body to break down to get access to all the nutrients including this superoxide dismutase because they've tried putting superoxide dismutase into supplements, but it doesn't work because they get damaged in the gut through the digestion process, so it doesn't make its way to the mitochondria. But because spirulina is a bacteria, it gets absorbed so quickly into your bloodstream and directed immediately to the mitochondria, it has high efficacy. In fact, we're just starting next week a clinical trial, we're doing a pre -trial and then we're going to do a longer trial. With a really cool company we met when we were at Dave Asprey's show, the company's called Versaea and they have a company called MeScreen, M -E -Screen, and you can go online, mescreen .com. And they have developed a test for testing your mitochondrial health and oxidative stress. And so what we're doing with them is we're working with a small group of people, over 55 who haven't taken any algae, and we're testing their mitochondria health. It's just a very simple blood test that you mail in. You could do it on your own, you could go on their website and buy it, I think it's $400 for a test. So we're testing people's blood before they start with the spirulina. Then we're giving them spirulina every day for a month. We're going to test after a week and the test again after 30 days. And I can almost promise you that the results will show reduced oxidative stress. And so now we'll have real markers. We're going to write up a case study, we're going to submit it for publication. I'm actually on Dave's podcast in September and I know he's eager to get the results of this test. But this will be the first time that we as a company will have our own data using our own product to show how the high efficacy of spirulina to improve mitochondria health. One of the main things is through the activation of superoxide dismutase to protect the mitochondria from this superoxide free radical that is uniquely produced at the mitochondria level and is very damaging but can be prevented when you restore mitochondria, the superoxy dismutase, into the mitochondria. So pretty cool, right?

Melanie Avalon:
Wow. Oh my goodness. So many things. First of all, congrats in advance on doing that study. That is no small undertaking. That's incredible. I can't wait to see how that goes. And I'm sure, yeah, like you were saying, I'm sure the results will be very favorable. This is super random. But do they talk in any of those studies about the superoxide dismutase in the spirulina about the purpose of it in the spirulina, like for the actual spirulina? Do we know?

Catharine Arnston:
I'm not sure if I understand the question.

Melanie Avalon:
There are all these nutrients in spirulina, like spirulina I'm assuming doesn't have membranes like the way we do, isn't digesting food. Why does spirulina even have superoxide dismutase in it? Do we know?

Catharine Arnston:
Spirulina is what's called a cyanobacteria, and cyanobacteria was the first life on Earth 3 .8 billion years ago. This is all documented in science. It's called endosymbiotic theory. It was discovered by an MIT professor back in the 60s. She was ridiculed for 10 years, and then all her peers realized she was correct. If you go into any scientific paper looking at the origins of your mitochondria, what you will find is exactly what I'm telling you right now, and it's a longer way to answer your questions. So cyanobacteria like spirulina is a single cell organism, and it started growing. Nobody knows why it started growing, because before the cyanobacteria started growing, there was just gas and water on Earth. No oxygen, no life, zero. When it started growing, because there was no oxygen on Earth, it was what's called an anaerobic cell. Now, this anaerobic cell generates ATP like every cell does, and a byproduct is oxygen. After a billion years, there was enough oxygen on Earth for other cells to grow. This is when aerobic larger cells started growing, and one of them was chlorella. Now, what happened, however, was the aerobic cell was not generating ATP as well as the anaerobic cell, and so what happened was the larger cell engulfed the smaller cell, the cyanobacteria like spirulina, and instead of digesting it, they coexisted what's called endosymbiotically, and that small anaerobic cell, cyanobacteria, became your mitochondria. It's all documented in science. This, to me, explains why everything that's in algae can get into the mitochondria and has amazing healing properties because they're family. Your mitochondria literally evolved from spirulina. Well, from cyanobacteria like spirulina. I can't say for sure it was spirulina. Nobody else can either, but this is also why I've started referring to spirulina. You'll love this as spiritualina because it was the first life on Earth, and so what these cells did was they captured sunlight and generated energy, and they still do. Mitochondria capture light like red light and generate energy, and we'll talk about that when we get into chlorella. We, as humans, are light forms. We are just a more evolved version of plants. It just is what it is because that's what these cells do. Mitochondria, and this is, by the way, is why the mitochondria have two membranes. When the first little anaerobic cell was absorbed by the larger aerobic cell and became mitochondria, it started out by itself, right? When it got absorbed, its original cell wall didn't disappear. It remained, and that's why mitochondria have two membranes. They have the original one, and they have the second membrane which was put around it, which is a lipid membrane like all the other cells in your body, but that original membrane did not disappear, and that original membrane does not have what's called porins. In your lipid membranes, you have something called porins. These are little channels that allow antioxidants and proteins in and out of your cell walls, but the mitochondria do not have them, and so this is why most antioxidants cannot get into the mitochondria, but they do have receptors that allow these nutrients that are found in spirulina, the superoxidizomatase, the glutathione, melatonin as well. These are all part of the original cell that came into life form on Earth 3 .8 billion years ago. We, by the way, have only been on Earth about two million years, so spirulina predates everything. You can't get more paleo, more ancestral than spirulina. There is nothing that is older than spirulina. Nothing. Crazy, right?

Melanie Avalon:
So, I thought that was a really random question, but I'm so glad I asked it because that really helps explain why this algae, the cyanobacteria, has seemingly all of the nutrients that we need because we originally are coming from something similar to it if not, you know, it. That is so, so cool.

Catharine Arnston:
And here's the other cool thing, because it came from the water, from the ocean, it doesn't have any of the, what's called anti -nutrients of plants. A lot of people go carnivore because there's lectins and oxalates, lots of plants like spinach and kale and these are sharp proteins that damage your stomach lining and cause autoimmune and lots of other stomach issues. So a lot of people just eliminate plants, even Dr. Gundry, who I've been on his podcast a number of times, he loves us and he loves our algae because, and he recommends it for the same reason. There aren't any lectins or oxalates because algae came from the water. It's never been a land plant. Plants develop these lectins and oxalates to protect themselves from bugs and predators, but algae came from the ocean. So it's never had to develop them. So paleo people, carnivores, listen up. You want to be adding spirulina particularly and also chlorella to your daily diet because it will give you all the nutrients that you're missing and none of the anti -nutrients that you don't want. But we do want to protect your health and also let's face it, a lot of people that are carnivore have terrible breath and chlorophyll, spirulina and chlorella have the highest chlorophyll in the world and it kills bacteria in your mouth, in your colon, everywhere. But anyways, I just wanted to point that out that in addition to having everything that we need to live forever, it has none of the things that we don't need.

Melanie Avalon:
That is amazing, wow. I'm super curious, so you're talking about how it has all these incredible benefits for our mitochondria. How does that relate to the dosage required for that? So if we take some spirulina, like does it go into all of the mitochondria throughout our whole body or how does that work?

Catharine Arnston:
Well, your body is really intelligent because it's cellular energy. So the short answer is yes. It's almost like when you're arriving at a hospital, if you're in the ambulance, you get priority care instead of having to sit in the waiting room if you just walk in. So your body will direct the nutrients to where the greatest need is. And this is the great thing about cellular energy as well. When your mitochondria create cellular energy, your body is so intelligent, it will direct it to where it needs to go at that moment. This is why when you take spirulina, which is known for giving you energy mentally, physically, it's not a stimulant. Stimulants like caffeine, chemicals, or sugar speed up molecules. The analogy I make is like it's putting paper on a fire. And you get a burst of energy, and then you ultimately get a crash. But with spirulina, it generates cellular energy. So it's like putting a log on the fire. And it doesn't just speed up molecules, it creates energy. And then your body goes, oh, so if you're working out, you took 15 or 20 spirulina tablets before a workout, you will have a great workout. You'll have more energy, more focus. You'll be able to run further or lift longer because that's what your body is doing at the moment. It's going, well, I've got some dessert, I'm going to use it. But if you are using spirulina and you're just going to sit on the sofa, that's okay too. But you won't get a burst of energy like you would from sugar because it's just cellular energy. It will just go, well, maybe I need to do a little cellular repair. Or maybe if you have heart disease or cancer or your immune system is weak, it will direct the cellular energy to where the greatest needs are. It's like having, like I said, because of what it does at the mitochondria level and we'll talk about this phycocyanin in a minute. It's also like having the firemen in there. It will go to where the biggest fire is and work on that. That's one of the reasons, quite honestly, why it is so powerful for brain health. Here's why. You have the highest concentration of mitochondria in your brain. There are 2 million mitochondria per cell. Think about that. 2 million mitochondria per cell. I should circle back to where you might point where it goes where the greatest need is, which is true. But because you have the most mitochondria in your brain, because your brain uses 20% of your energy, you will see the biggest impact on brain health, mood, focus. It does things like, well, it improves your mitochondria and your cellular energy, but it also protects your telomeres. Spireline also is loaded with essential fatty acids, which is also important for brain health and a lot of other things. Your greatest concentration of mitochondria are where your greatest energy needs are. Number one is your brain, 2 million per cell. By the way, your retina has almost as many because your retina is literally part of your brain. They use now, they diagnose heart disease by looking at retinal damage. Because if your retina is damaged, other organs are also going to be damaged because it all comes down to mitochondria health. Heart disease is one of the biggest ones. Your brain and your retina are number one for concentration of mitochondria. You know what number two is? I'm not sure. Women's eggs.

Melanie Avalon:
All day.

Catharine Arnston:
Yeah, that makes sense. Because it takes a lot of energy to make a new person, a new body, right? And so a lot of fertility issues are because of damaged mitochondria. So that's number two. By the way, while we're talking about women, all of all of your mitochondria DNA, and that's the that's the key thing is the mitochondria DNA, not just your regular DNA, it's the mitochondria DNA, all of your DNA can have

Melanie Avalon:
from your mother.

Catharine Arnston:
from your mother. Your regular DNA, half from your father and half from your mother, not the mitochondria. And I love this because as you're learning, hopefully, the mitochondria control everything. And they don't get any credit. They're working behind the scenes. I thought, so typical of a female, right? We're working hard. We're behind the scenes. We're getting no credit. And so it's so classic that the mitochondria come from your from your women and all any DNA tracking is done through the mitochondria because of that. So number two is women's eggs. Number three is your heart. There's about 8 ,000, 7 to 8 ,000 mitochondria per cell in your heart. The fourth one is your muscles. There's about 5 ,000 mitochondria per cell in your muscles. And after that, it drops dramatically. Your fat cells, skin cells, they only have anywhere like about 1 ,000 mitochondria per cell or less. So you can see that the mitochondria health is so critical and concentrated in where the greatest energy needs are. And these are where our health issues really hit us hard. And this whole brain fog, Alzheimer's, dementia, with people over the age of 50 and 60 and 70, I would just like to airdrop this stuff into every nursing home that's out there because even one tablet will give them probably more nourishment than they have all week. And that's just the super oxidizmitase. And we haven't even talked about the ficosyanin, which is also very healing, particularly for the generation of this ATP. So anyways, it's unbelievable what this stuff does, but it has to be raw. If it's heated, you lose all the capabilities of this SOD super oxidizmitase to go to work for you.

Melanie Avalon:
And does it cross the blood -brain barrier? It does. Yep.

Catharine Arnston:
Yeah, and that's why, and we did a small clinical trial of our own last year with a nonprofit group called The Grey Team. Their goal is to stop suicide rate of military veterans, which has inched up to over 35%, getting close to 50%. Heartbreaking, heartbreaking. So this group, they're in Florida, they're doing everything they can, devices, nutrients. So we did this very small clinical trial with them. And we took a number of, just five of their veterans who had been discharged for over 10 years because of post -traumatic stress disorder, brain fog, one gentleman had multiple sclerosis. And all we, we did a brain scan before we started the test. And then all we did was give them one pouch of our spirulina tablets called energy beds, 30 tablets a day. They were instructed not to do anything different. Just live their day out like they had already been. And we had devices that measured their sleep score and their HRV and all that sort of stuff. So after 30 days, we did another brain scan and virtually all the inflammation was gone. In 30 days, we, it probably would have been gone after a week, which is why with the me screen, mitochondria health, we're going to test after a week because this does not take long. So, so if it didn't cross the brain barrier, it would not have had this powerful result. It was just so evident that it was working. People's mood improved, there's sleep improved, one person's HRV improved 50% in a month, which is almost unheard of. So absolutely it crosses the brain barrier. And it's not just the ficocyanin or the, sorry, the superoxygenetases, all the other nutrients that are found in spirulina. Again, remember, it's a cyanobacteria, no cellius wall, nothing for your body to break down to get access to. And this is why it's also great for, if you're fasting. I do intermittent fasting because it does not, has zero carbs. And because it's absorbed, if you chew it, it's absorbed like instantly, sublingually through your mouth. And if you swallow it, it's maybe 10 minutes, but it gets into your bloodstream so quickly that it's not damaged in your gut through digestion. And this is why it's safe for every single age group, newborns, babies, children, teenagers, pets, grandparents, lots of babies aren't, they're not able to digest foods yet. But in Japan, this is the, in water, they give them, this is what they give them to keep them alive if they can't digest mother's breast milk. And so, and lots of people have compromised digestion now, especially as you get older, you have, you don't have as many enzymes in your digestive tract or you have autoimmune or just eating plants causes stomach distress. Never happens with spirulina because there's no fiber. And because it gets absorbed so quickly, so it can get into your body, into your mitochondria directed to where it needs to go to do all the good stuff. So it's, it's the, you know, I say ours is the safest, purest, most concentrated food you'll ever put in your body with nutrient and healing properties that are off the charts. And it's not a drug. Spirulina and chlorella are grown as food crops. Yes, there is algae, thousands, tens of thousands of strains in the ocean and in the lakes and in the soil, but spirulina and chlorella are harvested in fresh water as food crops. It's a multi -billion dollar agricultural crop in Asia, Japan, Taiwan, we grow ours in Taiwan, India. It's almost as big as the beef industry is here. And they have been taking spirulina and chlorella daily over there for over 60 years. But 90% of it's, 99% of it's grown there and 99% of it is consumed there. This is why nobody here knows about all these healing properties, even though they're documented in almost a hundred thousand studies, because it's not grown here. So you don't see it when you're going to school or going to work like they do in Japan. You can't ride your bicycle to school without going by an algae farm or take a train or a car to, to work without going by an algae farm. Here we have corn and wheat and tomato patches and crappy factories that make donuts, but no algae farms, well, there's, there is a small amount in Hawaii. I will say that that's unique. And actually it's quite mild because growing algae is not like growing broccoli. Turns out growing algae and for human consumption, like we do and what you do is more like making wine and the production process is everything it, whether you use, we use triple filtered spring mountain water because, which isn't, why is that important? You may ask because algae will absorb whatever's in the water ever, ever, ever get algae from an ocean or a lake. There was a company that used to grow algae in Klamath Lake and I have scientific papers that prove there's micro toxins in the algae because algae will absorb whatever's in the water and you cannot keep micro toxins out of wild bodies of water. It just is what it is. And we do a whole set of lab tests to prove there aren't any micro toxins in our algae because we grow it in super fresh water. And then we don't use high heat to dry it, which preserves this antioxidant called superoxy dismutase. And we're going to, we haven't even gotten to the blue pigment called phycocyanin, which is also deactivated by high heat. So you need to be sure that you're getting a high quality algae to ensure that you're getting the maximum benefits, maximum active nutrients from, from the product and a lot of these cheaper CVS, Costco companies, they grow it in China, they cut corners, they use high heat to get to market quickly. You lose these, these really powerful benefits because cancer and heart disease, those two diseases alone represent 75% of our chronic disease deaths, 75%. So because we can reduce inflammation with superoxy dismutase, the mitochondria, we can help reduce this terrible heart disease that is rampant. And when we get to phycocyanin, you'll be stunned to find out what it does to protect you from cancer. And we haven't even touched on Alzheimer's or any of the other illnesses that are rampant. And apparently one in two people now will get cancer in their lifetime. That's unacceptable to me, absolutely unacceptable and should be unacceptable to you. I started the company because my sister had breast cancer and her oncologist told her to change her diet to an alkaline diet, which we can get into because algae is the most alkaline food in the world. But that's what started me on this path was I just wanted to help my sister get over her cancer, which she did. And then I learned more about alkaline diets, which I gave up my 25 year corporate career, started researching plant based nutrition, which led me to algae, which is the most alkaline nutrient dense healing food in the world that nobody outside of Asia seems to know about. Gah!

Melanie Avalon:
It's so, it's so incredible and you know, we're talking right now about the specifics, these amazing specifics of, you know, superoxidismatase and we're going to talk about phycocyanin and like that alone would be enough to, I think, convince people to get it. But on top of that, you know, people think so often that we need multivitamins and things like that. When I was making my spirulina, I was, I was honestly shocked because we got back the nutrition panel for the serving size and I was like, is this right? Like, it really has all of this.

Catharine Arnston:
Yes. It's crazy. 40 vitamins and minerals, highest protein in the world, 64% protein in ours. That's three times the amount of protein as steak or chicken or fish, highest chlorophyll in the world, 500 times more chlorophyll than arugula, 25 times more than liquid chlorophyll. This is your one -stop shop. You can eliminate most of your supplements, definitely get rid of fish oil. It's mostly rancid by the time you get it anyways, and I tell people, where do you think the fish get the Omega -3 from? Yes, they get it from algae. So, save the fish, save the ocean, save yourself. You can get rid of CoQ10, biotin, collagen. There's more collagen in Al spirulina than there is in collagen powder. How sweet is that? Right? So, there's like six right there, and they all expire at different times. They take up all that different space in your counter. There's also magnesium, potassium, but be aware that the numbers are going to be lower than what you're going to find on your supplements. The reason for that is everybody in the supplements industry knows that your body only absorbs about five or ten percent of what's in those supplements because they are made from extracts. Many of them are artificial, and they are mixed up with high heat in a factory. What did I just say about high heat? It deactivates nutrient value. Your body can't recognize these extracts because they don't exist like that in nature. So, you're taking all these different individual products, and your body is only absorbing five or ten percent of them at best, and they all expire differently. Sometimes they may counter each other. I say taking different supplements is like listening to a bunch of grade three soloists. They're not on key. They don't know what they're doing because they're just learning. There's no harmony. When you take algae, it's like listening to an orchestra. All the harmonies are there, all the factors and co -factors, the enzymes and co -enzymes. They all work together just like in a beautiful orchestra. All the harmonies, the conductor, in this case is Mother Nature, although the Mozart wrote the music for the orchestra, and we're the conductor because we grow it so carefully to ensure all the notes are harmonized and utilized to create this beautiful symmetry for your ears. That's what food does. We are from nature, and so is food. As long as you stick to whole foods and algae is a whole food, you will ultimately be doing yourself a favor. The problem is, even if you are eating whole foods, you're getting about, again, ten percent of what your grandparents got. Why? It's because the soils are so damaged now. There's so much glyphosate, overcropping, monocropping. Their plants are grown in faraway countries. They're harvested before they are ripe, so the enzymes and nutrients aren't even in the leaves or in the fruit. They harvest them, stick them on a ship, put them in a warehouse for days. Then they go to the grocery store where they stay in a warehouse for days. By the time they hit your plate, you've lost 90 percent of the nutritional value. This is all documented in science. We're between a rock and a hard place. Even if you eat organic, glyphosate blows into the wind and it crosses into the different crops. I love vegetables. I love arugula, but when I travel, I know if I eat a salad, it's not going to be organic. I know I'm just going to be getting crappy pesticides into my body, which is why we're going to talk about, once we finish the phycocyanin, we're going to swing over and talk about chlorella because it has the ability to pull out toxins of any kind. Heavy metals, lead, mercury, radiation, glyphosate, pesticide. It literally gives your body a shower from the inside. This is why you need to take chlorella every single day because every single day you are exposed to toxins. No matter how careful you are with your lifestyle choices, it just is what it is. I refer to spirulina as your nutritional insurance because it gives your body all the minerals, macronutrients, micronutrients, protein, chlorophyll that your body needs. Any thing else you eat is bonus. Maybe you're just doing it for fun or social reasons, visual reasons, but you're getting the nutrients your body and your mitochondria need. Chlorella, when we get to it, is your health insurance because what it does is it pulls out these toxins that interfere with your body's capability to have a strong immune system and function properly, and the chlorophyll kills bacteria. Spirulina is very much a nutritional insurance. Chlorella is very much a wellness health insurance. They work completely differently. We recommend you take them at different times of day. Spirulina, because let's face it, when you get up in the morning, you're tired, you're hungry, you want to get out the door. That's when we suggest you take spirulina. Have it again for lunch. Have it again in the afternoon. Have it again before a workout. There is no upper limit, although we generally suggest 10 tablets at a time to feel anything, but our NHL players, they take 75 spirulina before a hockey game. If you're an athlete and you want a good workout or you're doing a triathlon, take 30 before you race, 10 minutes before you race, and then take another 15 every hour to keep your energy and focus high. Chlorella, as you'll find out, you can take it anytime of day, but we definitely recommend it before bed because chlorella is a detox repair algae, and your body goes through a detox repair cycle when you are sleeping. If you have chlorella in your body when you are sleeping, you'll be getting your beauty rest and it'll be like having the cleanup crew in there getting rid of all the junk in your trunk. By the way, speaking of which, it also stimulates peristalsis, also known as bowel movement, and you need to get rid of the stuff your body didn't want. A lot of people, that's why they use fiber, but you don't need fiber when you take chlorella because it stimulates peristalsis, pulls out the toxins, and it has fiber in it. It has fiber in the hard cell wall which feeds your gut biome so they can generate what's called short chain fatty acids. So you can see how they work quite differently. Spirulina, man, it's so much more than a superfood. It's a super hero, super everything. I call it super duper.

Melanie Avalon:
So crazy, and so I'm sure listeners are dying to know about the phycocyanin specifically.

Catharine Arnston:
Okay, so back to the mitochondria. It's sort of like a little miniseries. We're talking about the mitochondria and the generation of the cellular energy. So how exactly is this stuff called cellular energy produced? Well, I'm going to walk you through. So when you eat food, your body digests it into smaller molecules, into a glucose, and then the glucose enters your cells. And there's this thing called the Krebs cycle that pulls different molecules off. So then what you're left with are something called electrons. And the way the actual cellular energy is produced in the mitochondria is in that inner membrane. Remember I talked about the inner membrane? There's these molecules, there's four of them, and collectively they are referred to as the electron transport chain. Now the way the electron transport chain works, it's very similar to a relay race. And now we're in the middle of the Olympics, so I'm sure there's still a relay race in the Olympics. But nonetheless, in a relay race you have a set of runners. I think it's four usually, and there's four of these molecules in your cell membrane. And each runner runs a distance and then passes the baton to the next runner. And then that runner runs a distance, passes the baton, and yada, yada, yada. And hopefully that team crosses the finish line and wins. Well, the way that your cellular energy is produced in this thing called the electron transport chain is very similar. Except instead of runners, you have these molecules, and there's four of them, one, two, three, and four. And instead of a baton being passed from one runner to the next, it's electrons. And so the key is in the production to get ATP, this thing called the electron transport chain with the four molecules, they need to pass the electrons from one molecule to the next very efficiently. Now, if they're passed efficiently and quickly, at the end, you get maximum ATP. And if you have maximum ATP, that also means that the electrons were passed very efficiently. Now, in this electron transport chain, which I alluded to earlier, there's two helper molecules. One is called cytochrome C, and one is called CoQ10. The CoQ10, and so think of these little helper molecules, sort of like maybe the shuttle bus at an airport. You may be at the airport, but you can't get on your plane if you're at one of these large airports, and you have to take the shuttle train or the shuttle bus to get to your particular gate. So these little helper molecules take these electrons and make sure they get shuttled to the next molecule. The first shuttle bus is called CoQ10, and I think it goes from molecule one to two. I got my little cheat sheet here, I don't have it, but I'm pretty sure it's one to two. Anyways, and the CoQ10 molecule is a water -based molecule, and chlorophyll acts to speed up that helper molecule very effectively. So it gets the, yes, it goes from one to two. So it helps move the electrons along so you can get more ATP produced. Then the other helper molecule is called cytochrome C, and it's a, sorry, it's a fat -based molecule, sorry, CoQ10 is fat -based, so it's chlorophyll. Phycosyanin is a water -based molecule, and its helper molecule is called cytochrome C, and it almost is like having a Tesla. So when you have, and so it speeds up the electrons, so when you have anything that's speeding up the production of this ATP process going from all these little helper, these molecules in the electron transfer chain, you just get more cellular energy. And spirulina has both of them, and the most important one is this phycosyanin, because it speeds up that cytochrome C molecule. Now, it's not just the speed, but it's the fact that these molecules are closely tied to one another. So think of the, if the runner and the runner often drop the baton, and they're kicked out of the race, right? Because they couldn't get close to the other runner. Same thing with these molecules in your electron transport chain. If they are not close enough to pass the electrons from one stage to the next, and there's four, what happens is the electrons get dropped, and they can't make it, so now you're not getting enough energy, because the electron, instead of pass going to the finish line, which is called ATP production, they get, they leak out. Now, this has two effects. Number one is you have less ATP production, because the electron couldn't finish its race, right? It's like the runner dropped the baton. Number two, and this is even worse, those dropped leaked electrons don't disappear. What happens is they become free radicals. And when there are more free radicals in your mitochondria, what happens is the mitochondria start to expand, and eventually they explode, and this process of exploding is called necrosis. And this is when your mitochondria get really damaged, and it's terrible, because all the free radicals that were in this exploded, bigger mitochondria leak out now and cause damage to all the other mitochondria in the neighborhood. So, and so, as you have leaked electrons, by the way, carbs cause the most leaked electron, processed carbs, and dairy, sugar. So, this is why if the first thing you do is get yourself on a diet that eliminates as much of processed carbs as possible, that alone will reduce leakage of the electrons, because when the electrons leak out, they become free radicals, make the mitochondria expand, which makes the runners effectively, the molecules, further and further apart from one another, so they can't pass the baton, which is the electron, to one another. So, it causes more leakage and less ATP. So, see why it's a downward spiral? Then, if you introduce algae, which is so efficient in generating ATP for the fact that there's no carbs, because it's carbs that are killing us. Honestly, carbs are killing us. They are. I'm sorry. They taste delicious, but they're killing us. There's no carbs in algae. When you take algae, it's like having intermittent fasting. It allows your efficiency of the electron transport chain to improve. A, you get more cellular energy. B, you have virtually no leaked electrons. And C, you've got these nutrients called superoxide dismutase, which are healing the mitochondria. Happy ending, right?

Melanie Avalon:
Beyond incredible

Catharine Arnston:
you couldn't make this stuff up, and it's all in science. It's all in PubMed. It's taken me years to figure this out. So now you know what's happening in the electron transport chain. It's moving up a ton along, which is effectively electrons. If they get passed along effectively, you get great ATP production at the final end, and you get very few leaked electrons because the efficiency has been so high, and you protect your mitochondria. Now, let's circle back to ficocyanin, that blue pigment in spirulina. As I've already mentioned, it speeds up the helper molecule called cytochrome C, but only if it's a healthy cell. This is why I call spirulina intelligent food. You have to be intelligent to take it, and it knows what to do in your body. So if you have a, if this, if you're in, you have a senescent cell or a cancer cell, check this out. What that ficocyanin does is it identifies that it's a senescent or a cancer cell, and instead of speeding up that helper molecule called cytochrome C, it ejects it. And that cytochrome C molecule pathway is that it kills the cell, kills the cancer cell, proven in science. I want you all to Google ficocyanin and cancer treatments. I'm p -h -y -c -o -c -y -a -n -i -n. The chemotherapy companies are using ficocyanin now in their treatments. Raise your hand if you want chemotherapy treatments. Yeah, nobody raise their hands. Who wants chemotherapy treatments? Nobody, because it is so damaging to your health and the rest of yourselves. And the way they can determine, one of the ways they determine if the chemotherapy treatment is working is they measure your blood for cytochrome C molecules, because if you have high amounts of cytochrome C, they know that the ficocyanin that was in the treatment was effective because it kills cancer cells. Ta -da. Mother nature has provided us with our own and safe version of chemotherapy. It's called ficocyanin. But again, it is damaged and deactivated by high heat. So if you are using algae from Target or Costco, and I can almost promise you they used high heat to dry it, so you're not getting this particular capability of the ficocyanin to detect and kill cancer cells. And I have a particular science paper here where they took cancer cells and they put them in a petri dish and dyed them purple. And then they put ficocyanin into the petri dish and they did time release photography. And from the shots, from the photos in this particular study, you can see lots of purple dots in the first petri dish when they first started the test. And 24 hours later, after the ficocyanin was put in the petri dish, virtually zero cancer cells. And what's interesting to me is I looked into the study to find out how much ficocyanin they used to do this. And I realized one of our spirulina tablets, energy bits or beauty bits, they're both spirulina, one tablet had 4 ,000 times more ficocyanin than they used in this experiment.

Melanie Avalon:
Whoa, that's crazy.

Catharine Arnston:
Oh, crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Mother Nature. She has her back. And but who knows this, right? Nobody.

Melanie Avalon:
What's crazy to me is some of the higher powers no because you know and i think in the nineteen seventies the u n declared it's really no is the best food for the future and we know that nasa has been working with it but it doesn't seem to filter down into is not filtered down.

Catharine Arnston:
At all. There are lots of very narrow groups that know about these healing properties, but they're not going to share them with you because the medical community, the pharmaceutical community wants you to continue using their medications, which some cancer treatments can cost up to a million dollars. So this is a gift to us from Mother Nature. It's no surprise to me that these nutrients are so concentrated in spirulina and spirulina was the first life on Earth and you could literally live on this stuff. I'm not recommending you do. We want people to have a more balanced diet, but that's why I call it your nutritional insurance because it will give you what you need effortlessly. If you can swallow water, you can get the nutrients you need in seconds. If you like the chewy, earthy flavor of spirulina and you can chew it, chlorella is less chewy because it has less essential fatty acids and it actually tastes delicious. I eat mine with pistachio nuts and it's like my favorite snack all day long. Anyway, so that's the scoop on two unique properties of spirulina if it's raw and grown carefully. And again, as you pointed out, there's still 40 vitamins and minerals, still very high concentration of protein. It doesn't matter whether you're paleo, keto, vegan, low carb, low cal, carnivore, algae is for everybody, especially spirulina. Chlorella, because it's a detoxing algae, there are some people that have some detox reactions and they don't last forever but it puts them off. But spirulina is not a detoxing algae. Cleansing, yes. Detoxing, no. So if anyone was ever trying to choose between spirulina or chlorella, I always start them with spirulina. Also, you'll notice the benefits immediately. Because let's say you had 20 or maybe you had 30 for lunch. Your hunger will be gone for four or five hours. Your focus will be great. Your energy will be great. It's not like a stimulant though. I call it quiet energy because again, it's cellular energy. It's working at the cellular level. It's just there's no drama. No drama. You just feel better. You're just, oh, okay, not tired anymore, not hungry anymore. How great is that? You can get on with your day. You can do what you want to do without a lot of struggle. A lot of people are busy like me. I don't even have time to eat during the day. Doctors, truck drivers, teachers, moms, they're busy. I have to eat in a quiet environment because it helps with your digestion and I get indigestion if it's too busy. So if you don't have time to do that or prepare a meal for yourself, spirulina is perfect. It can fill the gap until you get home or get to have time to eat a proper meal. And by the way, kids love to chew them because they turn their tongues green. They think it's hilarious. And we tell moms, you'll never have to worry about your children not getting the nutrients they need when you give them spirulina and orch. Same with guys. Guys hate vegetables. Guys, you never have to eat another vegetable again if you take spirulina and chlorella. I recommend you take both because spirulina will give you all these other nutrients and chlorella will stimulate bowel movements, which is important because you have to eliminate what's not used by your body. And no gas, no effort, nothing, nothing. So it's effortless nutrition. I just keep reinforcing that. And it's fast food. I mean, this is the future of fast food. As you mentioned, the United Nations in 1974, you can Google this online as well. 50 years ago, they declared spirulina the answer to world hunger because it has the highest concentration of protein in the world and is a sustainable acre friendly crop. How amazing is that?

Melanie Avalon:
For NASA, aren't they looking at growing it in space?

Catharine Arnston:
Yes. And they were focused a little bit more on chlorella because it is the fastest growing organism in the world. And we have a quote from NASA saying, one gram of algae, doesn't matter which one, has the same nutrition as a thousand grams of fruits and vegetables, one to a thousand. And it's because spiruline and chlorella are called microalgae because they're microscopic in size. And you can get something like a million of them on the head of a pin. So when you concentrate all the nutrition of these microalgae into one of these tablets, one tablet has the same nutrition as an entire plate of vegetables that you didn't have to clean, cook, eat, throw out, have gas, shop for. Your grocery bill will plummet, plummet, and you'll gain back hours in the kitchen. So yes, they've been feeding it to the astronauts. The other reason why they want chlorella in particular is because it releases so much oxygen. They want to generate oxygen on space stations. So and both both algae. Oh, wow. That's great multitasking. Yeah, yeah, no kidding. And it has something called chlorella. Now I'm not we're talking about chlorella has something in it called chlorella growth factor, which speeds up the growth of your cells. And it is the fastest growing organism in the world. So it does the same thing for your cells and it stimulates your own stem cell release. This is why we recommend the chlorella before bed or after a workout or after meals, particularly before bed because that's when your body goes to this repair cycle, detox cycle. And it also chlorella, by the way, has the highest tryptophan in the world, five times more tryptophan than Turkey. And tryptophan is a precursor to melatonin and can cross the brain barrier. So one of the again, your body stops producing superoxidismatase after the age of 30. And it stops producing melatonin as well. It slows it down by the by 40. You have very, very little. This is why older people have such a hard time sleeping, because their body isn't generating that melatonin that will help them get into a deep sleep. So they're not getting the repair cycle. And when you aren't getting the repair cycle, you're not your stem cells, there aren't enough stem cells, your senescent cells increase. This is also why a lot of people I recommend are increasingly going to biohacking centers for cryotherapy and red light therapy because those also help remove senescent cells because when you're in the cryotherapy, all the blood rushes to your core, your body thinks it's dying. And so it activates the death of the apoptosis cycle, which is programmed cell death. Well, actually, autophagy is programmed cell death. But apoptosis is a healthy cell death, not that awful one called necrosis where the mitochondria explodes. Apoptosis and autophagy are very organized cell death. Think of it as like someone who's had a long job, a long career somewhere, and now they're retired. And as they enter retirement, they hand off all of their projects, all of their knowledge, all of their reports to the other people in the office. Everybody's happy. They say goodbye to the person who's been there for a long time. Well, in apoptosis and autophagy, what happens is the cell knows it's had its day, it's done all it needs to do, it's reproduced multiple times, and so it divides itself into all these little mini cells, mini mitochondria. The protrusions are called blebs, and the blebs turn into actual mitochondria. But there's no explosion. It's like the young person has been accepting the project from the old person who's retired. Thank you very much. I'll take all that nucleus. I'll take all those mitochondria. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And you get more cell generation, more healthy mitochondria created when you have this explosion occurring, which is called necrosis. It's because the mitochondria are so damaged. There's so many free radicals. They explode and release all the free radicals to the neighboring cells, which cause, this is why cancer grows so quickly, because it's causing this necrosis process, because that cytochrome C molecule is being injected and killing the cells, which, you know, everything kind of, well cancer cells, so does the treatment to remove them. So when you go to the cryotherapy, you're getting healthy cell death. So you're getting rid of the mitochondria growth. And when you take the spirulina before a cryotherapy treatment, you're going to get a better result because there's all this great nutrition in your body when all the blood is pulled into the core. And then when you step out of the cryo, spirulina is also a vasodilator, all the blood rushes to your outer limbs and brings all this great nutrition to the rest of your body. It's like having a river release and bringing all this fabulous oxygen and nutrients to your brain and to your body. So it's really great to use spirulina before a cryo or a red light treatment. And then we tell you to take a chlorella, which we call recovery bits, after your treatment. Why? Because when you have this programmed cell death, which is good stuff, there's still going to be debris that's been released. And chlorella is the cleanup crew. It will absorb all of the toxins, all the metals that might have been stuck in those awful senescent cells, cleans them up and pulls them out. Then you don't have to be stuck with circulating garbage. I tell people, if you don't use chlorella to get rid of the junk in your body, because honestly, the average adult has 700 toxins in their body now. Think of a fishbowl. If you don't clean your fishbowl after a week, right, it gets murky and poor goalie usually dies. So that's what your body looks like visually, literally, when you aren't using chlorella. It's just a murky, dirty, mucky, unoxygenated environment. And when you start using chlorella, it pulls out the toxins, reoxygenates your body, because chlorella has the highest chlorophyll in the world. If you look online, and normally I would show this, the chemical composition of chlorophyll is virtually identical to the chemical composition of your hemoglobin. At the hemoglobin. Identical, right? What does chlorophyll do? Build your blood.

Melanie Avalon:
Doesn't it have there's one something that's different magnesium instead your blood?

Catharine Arnston:
has iron in the middle, the chlorophyll has magnesium. So in your blood, that iron atom is what carries oxygen. But here's the thing, up until even as recent as World War II, they have used chlorophyll. Doctors have used chlorophyll for centuries because it builds blood. And even in World War II, if they ran out of blood for transfusions, they would give the injured liquid chlorophyll and they would heal just as fast because of chlorophyll. But here's the problem. Our vegetables are so yucky now. There's no nutrients, no chlorophyll, doesn't matter if you eat a room full of arugula. Our chlorella has 500 times more chlorophyll than arugula. So whatever room you're sitting in, you could fill that to the brim, to the ceiling with arugula and probably 30 tablets of chlorella would have more chlorophyll than that entire room of arugula. It's why it's called chlorella because of the chlorophyll, chlorella, right?

Melanie Avalon:
Yeah, I've seen some of those studies with the blood restoration with the chlorophyll and it's really, really fascinating.

Catharine Arnston:
and chlorophyll kills bacteria. So in your mouth, in your colon, everywhere. And the other thing about chlorophyll and algae in general is it is alkaline. And I started this whole journey rabbit hole into algae because my sister had breast cancer and her oncologist told her to have an alkaline diet. And thank God she did, because then I started helping her and it brought me to algae. So why is an alkaline diet so important? Two things you need to know. First of all, a German scientist by the name of Otto, O -T -T -O Warburg, W -A -R -B -E -R -G, won a Nobel Prize in the 30s for discovering cancer. Cannot exist in cells if they are slightly alkaline. Cannot exist, period. I think this is one of the reasons why my sister's doctor wanted her to have an alkaline diet. Because if your cells are slightly alkaline and this range goes from zero to 14, and your cells need to be 7 .1, that indicates there is healthy oxygen in the cell. And again, oxygen is a byproduct as is water from cellular energy, ATP production. And if this mitochondria have been protected by this thing called superoxy dismutase. So as long as there's oxygen in the cell, then you can help keep disease like cancer out of the cell. So that's number one. And algae is the most alkaline food in the world and so is chlorophyll. Also, back to the blood, your blood has to be even more alkaline. It needs to be 7 .34. Now, your body is so intelligent that if you and when you eat processed foods, which are very acidic, dairy, which is very acidic, sugar, very acidic, you would die because it would change, so acidic would change the alkalinity of your blood. But your body's smart. And so what it does when it gets hit with all this acidic food or even motions are acidic, it will pull minerals out of your bones, your cells, your organs and into the blood to neutralize the acidity and bringing you back to that proper higher pH of 7 .34 so that you don't die. But if you do this over and over and over again, it reduces the power of your immune system, which is the other reason I believe my sister's oncologist wanted her to have an alkaline diet because when you have an alkaline diet, you have a stronger immune system. And of course, chemotherapy really plays havoc with your immune system. By the way, with the hemoglobin and this alkalinity issue, the hemoglobin in your blood, they carry oxygen in your cells. And so oxygen is critical for everything, your heart, your brain, absolutely everything. Now, to ensure that it can carry the oxygen efficiently, you mother nature again, very intelligent, put a negative charge around each of the hemoglobin. So the way I can best describe it is, if you've ever held up a magnet, a couple of magnets, you know how they repel one another, have you ever done that? I'm doing it with my hands right now as I think. Even if you do it yourself, you can feel the energy from your hands. So each of your hemoglobin has this negative charge, so they repel one another so they don't clump, which allows them to A, move through the blood vessels very efficiently and get into all the tiny capillaries throughout your entire body, that's number one. And number two, when they are round, they can carefully and efficiently carry the oxygen atom that's inside them. Because the hemoglobin is sort of like bubble wrap around the oxygen so that you can get to where it needs to go. But if you strip off that negative charge, which acidic food does, now the hemoglobin are no longer repelling one another because the negative charge is gone, so they clump. Now they can't carry the oxygen very well, which causes decreased oxygen to the cells, which caused them to be more acidic. See how it all feeds together? And also the oxygen cannot, because the cells are so big, they can't get into the tiny capillaries. Again, a decrease in oxygen. And you never want a decrease in oxygen. This is what leads to cell death, chronic disease, inflammation, and when you have that oxygenation, this helps keep the cell at a pH that keeps these diseases like cancer out. And it was all proven in science by Otto Warburg. So all roads to me lead to algae. It just is. And all roads for your health lead to mitochondria and algae became mitochondria. Well, effectively became. There's a couple of little side turns along there, but I feel pretty comfortable letting you know that. Yeah, so that's why I'm in love with algae and why I want everybody in the world to start using it because the average adult is taking five medications. I take none. The average person is taking 10 supplements. I take algae. I do take vitamin C. I will point out I do take vitamin C because there's not a lot of vitamin C in either the spiruline or chlorella. But I'm probably twice your age, Melanie. I'm very active mentally, physically. I sleep well, I poop well. And I've taken my spiruline and chlorella every single day for the last 14 years. And I think it's kept me alive.

Melanie Avalon:
It's so amazing and i mean i can attest to that meeting you know at the conference you're just cuz i mean that conference is like all day every day for a few days and you're just go go going like all the energy and glowing and it's really really incredible and like you like you're saying i just wish we could just put this in the food supply like just have everybody you know be having it just amazing.

Catharine Arnston:
It is frustrating a little bit. I know so much. And there's so many barriers for getting this message out, which is why I'm so grateful to you for having me on your podcast. So because what I've learned, and you've probably found this as well, people just don't know how their body works. I didn't either. I didn't either. I knew nothing about nutrition until I started helping my sister. And it's not just nutrition. It's like, how does the body work? We know how our cell phones work, and we know we have to plug them in, or they won't work the next day. Think of your body. You have to plug your body in. And the best way to do it is with spirulina, because it regenerates your mitochondria. So you can have all that cellular energy. It's like plugging your phone back in. But who knows? Nobody knows how their body works. But if you read the manual of how something works, A, it takes the fear and mystery away. And now you have a roadmap. It's like following a recipe. Just know what you need to know. And once you know, you can't unknow.

Melanie Avalon:
First of all, I'm so grateful for all that you're doing, sharing this really, really valuable information to so many people, and you go on so many podcasts, and I just really appreciate that time and energy spreading all that awareness. And then you have these incredible products, and you're so kind to have provided a discount for our listeners. So if listeners go to energybits .com, you can use the coupon code MelanieAvalon, and that will get you 20% off, which is so, so amazing. And like you were saying, so you do recommend, if people are completely new to this, that they start with spirulina and then chlorella, or what about the blend option? I love that you have the blend, that's so unique and so cool.

Catharine Arnston:
By the way, we have two versions of spirulina. One is called Energy Bits, and it's in a blue package. The other one's called Beauty Bits, and it has a beautiful pink rose on the cover. I designed all the packaging, by the way. The reason why there's two spirulina is because, I've mentioned, I started the company because of my sister having breast cancer, so women's health has always been really important to me. But I noticed after the first couple of years, women just weren't buying the spirulina. I asked my girlfriends, like, what do I have to do to get women to buy this? And they said, I'll make it pink and give it a cute name. So because spirulina has more collagen than collagen powder, so it builds your skin and your hair and your nails, I did make a second brand and call it Beauty Bits. But I'm not trying to trick anybody. And it's the one I have on my counter. I'm a girl, too. It just is what it is. We like things that are pretty, so they're both identical, but different packaging. So that's spirulina, very nourishing, energizing. Think of it as brain food, mitochondria food. Chlorella is in the green package because it's a green algae and has a plant on it because it is technically a plant. It pulls out toxins, builds your immune system, kills bacteria, helps with your gut. And by the way, one of the toxins, because I know, Melanie, you love to have a glass of red wine. So one of the toxins that chlorella pulls out is alcohol. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you can have your cocktail and stick your, but you're going to need 20 or 30 chlorella before bed. You will feel fresh as a daisy the next morning. It doesn't matter what age you are, because as you get older, the alcohol affects you more negatively because your body turns it into toxins. So this is your answer. You can have your cake or your wine and eat it, too. So chlorella detoxing health and wellness. Spirulina, you'll notice the benefits almost immediately because it is that energizing algae, but again, quiet, no drama energy. Chlorella is the detoxing health algae. Take it at night before bed. 10 tablets of chlorella will give you the wellness benefits, but you need closer to 30 tablets for your detox benefits. And then we have this fourth brand, which we call Vitality Bits, which is a blended algae tablet. And it's just for people who just want simplicity. They don't want to think about spiraling in the morning and chlorella at night. But I would encourage people not to start with that one. And here's why. Most people I find tend to either like one better than the other. And if you start with a blended algae tablet, you'll never know which one is your favorite. So after you've tried both of them, if you decide you like both of them and you want to have the benefits of both of them, then move over to the Vitality Bits tablet. And that will save you. But then you'll need 10 Vitality Bits in the morning and 10 at night or 30 at night if you're having wine or a workout and you want the detox benefits. But it's food, remember. And the other thing I want to remind people is algae is not new. Remember, first of all, first life on earth, 3 .8 billion years ago. And it's been used for centuries. The Egyptians used it 2000 years ago. The Aztecs in Mexico lived on spirulina hundreds of years ago. And in Asia, they've been taking it daily for over 60 years. So just like you didn't know about chia or kiwaw or matcha or bone broth or collagen powder, even though those have been used for centuries in other countries, same with algae. It's just that nobody has told you about it. And until recently, with myself and Melanie, provide you with a really clean source. Algae is here to stay. It's going to change the world. We just want and need people to be more aware of it and be able to choose a very clean source because you want all the benefits, right? Honestly, it's going to save us. And God bless algae.

Melanie Avalon:
Ah, and God bless you for all that you're doing, spreading all of this. So again, listeners, I cannot recommend all of this enough. It's literally, I just wish everybody could have this in their food that they're eating because it's that powerful, that incredible. So again, go to energybits .com and use the coupon code MelanieAvalon to get 20% off. Wow, thank you. I was really looking forward to this because it's been about two years and I was wondering what topics we were going to touch on and I just, I loved that deep dive into, I learned so much. This was so amazing.

Catharine Arnston:
Yeah, it was pretty deep. So thank you everybody who hung in there. And I'm trying to save you having to read the thousands of PubMed articles that I read. But once you understand, it all makes sense. That's the beauty of truth. When you hear the truth and it makes, you know it. You know it at a deep core level. And mitochondria health is everything. And spirulina and chlorella are everything for your mitochondria. It doesn't get any simpler than that. Don't cheat yourself by keeping this out of your life. Run, don't walk and start taking this. And I promise you, mother nature's got your back and so do we. This will make a change, a positive change or protect what you have. Protect what you have and regain what you lost. Can't beat that.

Melanie Avalon:
Well, one very last question for you, and it's just because I ask every single guest this on the show, and it's because I realize every single day how important mindset is. So with all of that, what is something that you're grateful for?

Catharine Arnston:
Well, the obvious is algae. For you and the community, because I didn't know what biohacking was when I first started, but I love this community. Everyone is passionate. Everyone is science -based. It's like going to camp when we go to these shows, and we have to turn this ship around. Collectively, every single person is making their contribution to making this shift occur in getting back our health and taking back the power over our own bodies. Please don't abdicate and give your health care over to a doctor unilaterally and assume that the prescriptions are what you need. Explore other options. There's lots of other options, and when it comes to algae, what have you got to lose? So I'm grateful for this community, and I'm very grateful for algae.

Melanie Avalon:
Well, thank you again so much, Catharine. Thank you for your time. Thank you for all that you're doing. I can't wait to hopefully see you. Hopefully see you next year at the conference. Yeah, you got it. Yeah. We'll have to stay in touch and come back again in the future. You bet. Thank you, Mel.

Catharine Arnston:
any further than you do.

Melanie Avalon:
Bye.

Catharine Arnston:
Bye.