Kevin:  [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the over 50 health and wellness show. My name is Kevin English. I'm a certified personal trainer and a nutrition coach. And I'm so happy that you're here with me today. We have a fantastic show in store for you. Catherine Arnstein is here and she's going to share with us the secrets of the world's best super food algae. But before we get started, I want to let you know that this episode is brought to you by the silver edge.

The silver edge is my online personal training and nutrition coaching business. Where I help men and women over 50, get into the best shape of their lives so that they can show up as the strongest, healthiest, most vital versions of their selves. If this sounds like something you're interested in, hit me up. I'd love to start a conversation to see if it makes sense to work together.

You can email me [00:01:00] at coach@silveredgefitness.com and we'll set up a 30 minute call to talk about your goals. Okay, enough of that. Let's get on with today's show!

 

When you think of superfoods, what comes to mind? Berries with their high antioxidants, often top this list or perhaps dark leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables with their phytochemicals. Salmon and olive oil sometimes get thrown in the superfood category due to their high omega-3 fatty acids.

And what about mushrooms? Bee pollen. Acai and gogi berries. Chia seeds, fermented foods. Maka green tea and kombucha. All of these are great choices. But what we're going to talk about today is next level, super food. Get ready because we're going to talk about algae. [00:02:00] My guest today is Katherine Arnstein. Catherine is the CEO and chief science officer of energy bits. The first company in the United States to launch a premium brand of algae for health conscious consumers.

Catherine is an expert in algae nutrition, a wellness thought leader. and experienced entrepreneur and sought after speaker. And as you'll hear in this episode, Kathryn's passion for algae is contagious, inspiring and thought provoking. And i wonder just where this passion for algae got it start

Catherine: I tell people I didn't find algae. It found me, I was minding my own business.

But then about 12 years ago, 12 or 13 years ago, my younger sister  developed breast cancer. I just want to assure everyone right now that she did heal completely.

And she's 10 years cancer-free so happy ending there. But  as she was preparing for chemo, her oncologist advised her to change her diet to an alkaline diet because they said it would [00:03:00] help her with her healing. Now they didn't tell her what an alkaline diet was or why it was good for her. So the first call she made when she got home that day was to me because I'm her big sister who loves her.

And also I'm just a really good researcher. I can find out anything. So here I was an MBA, knew nothing about nutrition. I said, I don't know what this alkaline diet stuff is, but I will find out and we will make this happen. And it turned out the alkaline diet was predominantly foods that were plant-based because of the chlorophyll and the phytonutrients that have been proven scientifically to help build your health and your immune system and your blood.

Now this was 12 or 13 years ago. I, nobody was talking about plant-based nutrition. So I had to kind of do a deep dive and, as I gave her foods to eat and foods to remove from her diet and she did go through chemo and completely healed. As I mentioned, as I read more and more science about this, I thought, man, this stuff is pretty powerful, scientifically documented.

Why doesn't anybody else know about it? So, I'm just the kind of person that is very action oriented after I found all [00:04:00] this research that I need to do something, so I gave up my 25 year corporate career and I went back to school. I needed some kind of nutrition education. So I went to a place called the Institute for integrative nutrition in New York city, which taught holistic health.

Then I got a health coaching certificate. Graduated in July, 2009. And then, well now what, so I thought I've got this information. Why don't I teach it? So I put a curriculum together, teaching plant based nutrition. I'm sorry, this is such a long-winded story, but my epiphany about algae didn't happen until I started teaching plant-based nutrition.

And here's my epiphany, which I'm sure your listeners will appreciate. So, you know, Hey, we've been told by our mothers to eat our vegetables, all our lives, right? So when I was teaching the importance of eating vegetables, I wasn't telling people anything they didn't already know, but what I did find out, and this is where my epiphany happened is that even though people knew they should eat more greens, there were too many obstacles.

They were heavy to carry home from the grocery store. They took a lot of room in your fridge. They took a long [00:05:00] time to clean, to cook, to eat. Lots of times people's kids would need them. Their husbands would need them. There were just endless, endless reasons why people were not doing what they knew they should be doing.

So I thought, okay, how can I get green nutrition into people? Cause I know it will help with their health or their longevity, their energy, if I can't get them to eat vegetables so that I've got to find something that's fast and easy and scientifically proven to do all that. So back to the drawing board, I looked at everything I found for my sister in a deeper dive, nothing was working out and then boom, I got to algae that's when the miracle happened.

That's when I was like Alison Wonderland falling down the rabbit hole because I found out that first of all, algae is the most alkaline food in the world. And that's what started me on this journey.  I also found out that algae is the most nutrient dense food in the world.

A couple of key points there. algae is food. It is not a supplement. It is a crop that is grown in fresh water. It does occur everywhere in the oceans and [00:06:00] rivers and stuff, but  and it was showing. Kevin a picture of an algae farm there about size of 10 football stadiums put together. But it is not a supplement.

I have to reinforce that because supplements are made from artificial ingredients in factories and your body can absorb them. Algae is food, so your body absorbs all of it. And it's the most nutrient dense food in the world. Even a quote from NASA confirms that they say that one gram of algae has the same nutrients as a thousand grams of fruits and vegetables.

And we'll talk more about that later. So a alkaline be nutrient dense, C endorsed by international organizations like the United nations who endorsed spirulina algae since 1974, they had a global conference confirming it had the highest protein in the world. Yes. Algae has three times the amount of protein is steak.

So. If you're trying to get easy access to protein and you want to be sustainable. algae is your answer. And it's endorsed by the United nations for that reason, as well as the NASA [00:07:00] folks.  algae has also been scientifically documented. It has been studied for a hundred years. There are not just five or 50 or 500 or 5,000 or 50,000 studies on algae.

There are a hundred thousand studies documenting some of the benefits. So, yeah, but the problem is, so I just like to talk to other scientists. So nobody has really brought all this science out to the consumer level. I'm probably the first person and I don't even have a science background, but that probably has worked in my benefit because I'm coming at this from the same perspective that you would be, because I need to find out I need to research the science and then I have to explain it in non-scientific terms.

And as if that wasn't enough, turns out that algae is not only been used for centuries around the world, but it's a huge agricultural crop in Asia. It's almost as big as the beef industry is here. So in, in Japan, they don't take supplements. They take chlorella algae, which is one of the algaes we're going to talk about today.

Every single day [00:08:00] it is a multi-billion as with a B agricultural crop. So there's nothing new about algae, except it's just new to you. So algae, I, as I learned about it, I thought, my gosh, it's nutrient dense. It's endorsed by all these international organizations. It's scientifically proven. It's it's been working for 60 years in Japan.

The only problem with algae it seemed was that nobody had explained it to people here in America. Nobody had packaged it in a way that made it less weird. And the PR the quality was poor because most of it came from China. So I thought, okay, I've seen what this stuff does. I am going to spend the rest of my life, teaching people about algae, because it's the answer to just about everything.

And you're going to learn some of those  w what the everything part is. And it's also the most sustainable crop in the world. Even the movie seaspiracy that came out recently, they talk about how the fishing industry is destroying the ecosystem of the oceans, including all the fish.

And what is their conclusion? The answer they [00:09:00] say is to eat algae. So word's getting out, maybe I'm having an impact.

Kevin: Okay. So Katherine says algae found her. Her sister was diagnosed with cancer and advised to eat an alkaline diet,  which led Catherine to plant-based foods with their high chlorophyll content and phytonutrients. And as she said, she fell down a rabbit hole. But before we go further into what algae is and why it's so good for us. I asked Catherine to talk to us a little bit about ph and why an alkaline diet would have healing benefits

Catherine:  So  everyone knows about their body temperature needs to be 98 0.6 or three or something to be healthy, but there's another number that you need to be aware of.

It's called your pH. And  it measures the pH measures, the balance of acidity and alkalinity in your body and, and the alkaline [00:10:00] count  is different for different parts of your body. Your blood needs to be 7.34. Your stomach needs to be very acidic to digest foods, your cells, your, your cellular  pH needs to be right in the middle as well.

And so what's so important about that pH well, As you mentioned    actually   scientists back in 1918, I believe in Germany, his name is Otto w a R B E R G, who won a Nobel prize. By the way, for discovering this, he found that  cancer and other diseases can only exist in an acidic environment. So what causes that acidity?

Well, it's a combination of bad foods. Things like processed foods, dairy there, they have an acidic  effect on your pH in your body, in your body. And at the cellular level, you need to maintain that neutral pH because that P that determines the ability, the availability of nutrients to get into your cells and feed those [00:11:00] mitochondria that  give you the energy and to have the toxins that are in cell.

Dispersed out through the cell wall and chlorophyll, and we'll talk about chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is one of the best things you can do to facilitate that. Now, if toxins cannot get out and nutrients can not get in, that causes an imbalance in your pH at the cellular level. And that imbalance always leans towards acidity.

Now people who get cancer, it doesn't happen overnight. It's a very slow growing process. When your cells are too acidic, they lack the ability to communicate with one another. They start multiplying and dividing in a damaged state, and it's a slippery slope from there, and that leads to disease. So when you have your proper pH, if facilitates.

The movement of nutrients in and toxins out by the way, your body can heal itself at any stage, but you need to give it what it needs to be able to do that. And there's all sorts of [00:12:00] organizations like the Hippocrates center in Florida , that have taken very, very sick people that, you know, stage four cancers and fed them very green, nutrient dense meals  done a red light therapy, massage meditation, basically taken all the stressors out of their life and they have a remarkable  success rate of helping people.

So that's the cellular level, but I also want to talk about your pH of your blood. Because when you have a healthy have healthy blood, you're going to have a healthy body healthy immune system. And that blood pH needs to be at what 7.34, which is smack dab in the middle of the alkaline acidity  range from zero to 14, 14 is the most alkaline and zero is the most acidic.

And your blood needs to be 7.34. Now  when you eat acidic foods  here's what happens. You mother nature is so clever when she developed, when we [00:13:00] had our hemoglobin, who knows what caused it to grow. But anyways, our hemoglobin has a negative charge around. And why is that important? your hemoglobin is what carries oxygen in your blood, and you need oxygen to thrive and survive.

And so  that hemoglobin needs to be round and you don't want it to clump, so it can carry that oxygen. And so it has this negative charge on it. So if you've ever held up magnets, To one another and you feel how, you know, how they repel one another. So when you have that negative charge on your hemoglobin, they repel one another and they can move effortlessly through your blood vessels and carry oxygen to your brain and to your organs.

And so everything works really well. But when your body, when your blood becomes to a city, either from eating acidic food, or actually when you work out, cause you release lactic acid and by the way, COVID COVID virus cancer, these are all acidic. So what it does to your blood is it strips off that negative charge cause it's acidic and now the blood, the hemoglobin can no longer repel itself and it [00:14:00] clumps.

And this causes difficulty for your body to carry your hemoglobin to carry oxygen because they are distorted and shape. They are thick. So they can't travel. This often leads to blood clumping, and it causes it contributes to your  disease state. So  because algae is so alkaline and full of chlorophyll, it can restore that pH almost instantly.

So once again, your blood can be  have the negative charge on the hemoglobin. They don't clump, they don't cause any  they are able to carry the oxygen. And so it just restores all of your,  blood properties. Now on the COVID thing, I'd like to point out that they've been finding from  lots of cadavers, I guess they've been finding blood clumps all over the place because the COVID virus is not just an  A lung disorder, breathing disorder, it's a blood disorder and it inserts itself into your hemoglobin and kicks the iron atom out.

So not only does it strip off that negative charge, it causes your body to [00:15:00] no longer have the avail ability to carry oxygen. Cause the iron atom is gone. This is why people are, have such breathing difficulties and very often  aspire because their organs stop. Their heart is usually the first one because there's no oxygen to feed the organs.

So  anyways, that's the issue with pH for your blood and for yourselves there's slightly different issues.  But it's a very important part. I know I was so grateful that my sister's doctor, her oncologist, who happened to be a woman, by the way  mentioned this importance of nutrition to her  and the alkaline nature, because it ensured that her blood would be healthy to help her with her, restoring her health and healing the cell wall through the chlorophyll and the phytonutrients.

So  and again, this is all science-based, this is not fabrication, smoke and mirrors. It's been studied since Otto Warburg back in 1918. And it's  it just has not been very [00:16:00] well understood by the public.

Kevin: Are you with us so far? It turns out that proper pH is critical for cell wall health. And we care about that because that's what enables nutrients to get into our cells and allows toxins to be eliminated. Similarly, our blood has a delicate pH balance. And when it becomes too acidic or blood tends to clump in our ability to deliver life-giving oxygen to our brain and organs becomes compromised.

Okay. So let's get back to the super powers of algae. Catherine mentioned that algae is a food, not a supplement. But i'm guessing most of us are familiar with spirulina and chlorella if we know them at all are from the supplement aisle of our local health food

Catherine: It's so unfortunate that  almost all algae companies and it's been sold in America for 50 years, but they all put a supplement [00:17:00] panel on the back and they sell them in the supplements category in America.

It's a food it's known as a food. It's people see a growing as they drive to work, they know that it's a vegetable. So there's been a huge.  Disservice done to the north American and anyone actually outside of Asia  because the nobody has properly explained algae. And that's one of the things that I'm trying to do.

So yes, you'll probably still find it in the supplements category, but I just want to assure you, it is not a supplement. And just to confirm that, by the way, the white house passed two years ago, the first algae agricultural act, because even they know that algae is the most nutrient dense food in the world.

And 99% of it is grown in Asia. So they're trying to encourage farmers here in America to grow algae because they know it's necessary for our cause our food supply is so damaged. So this means they can start giving farmers grants to grow algae, just like they do corn or wheat and all the other crappy stuff that is so prevalent [00:18:00] in artists, our daily diet.

So here's the thing about algae, first of all, It was the first life on earth, almost 4 billion years ago. Now you got to say to yourself that would be something special. It was here before anything else before algae earth was just gas and water. I have no idea what caused spirulina to grow, but it did. And algae is by the way, responsible for 80% of the oxygen on earth.

It is not the Amazon rainforest. It is algae. And so after about a billion years of algae growing there, wasn't a Val oxygen on earth for other life forms to grow. Chlorella was the next one. We'll talk about it in a minute. And after that, then more, more life forms started to grow and all that sort of stuff.

So algae was here way before we were number two. Algae is everywhere. It's as I said, it's a food crop. It's its own food category because it's not a fruit and it's not a vegetable. So there's two main types of algae and I'll just go through them. One is called macro algae and the other one is called micro algae.

We're going to be talking about micro algae, but let me tell you what macro is first. It's that big [00:19:00] stringy stuff that washes up on shore in the ocean also known as Dell adults. Kelp seaweed has very high fiber, lots of iodine because it comes from the ocean, but virtually no nutrition, but it's still really good for you.

So, and there's a great company. I started using their products. They sell kelp noodles and they're fantastic to use instead of pasta with sauces and stuff. So anyways, that's, that's, macroalgae, we're we're talking about is micro-algae now it's called micro-algae because. Drum roll it's microscopic in size, something like 10 or a hundred cells of micro-algae could fit on the head of a pin.

And it's everywhere. It's in the oceans, the lakes, the rivers, your soil streams, your aquarium, your swimming pool, and there's tens of thousands of strains of this type of micro-algae.  And they're fine for the fish and for the whales. It's what you know is where all the fish get their mega three from, but they are toxic to humans.

So the only two types of algae that are currently really consumed in [00:20:00] large quantities by humans are the two we're going to talk about that we sell. One is spirulina, which is known as a blue-green algae. The other algae is chlorella. Which is green algae. Now the spirulina is called the blue-green algae because it has two pigments in it.

It has the chlorophyll, that's the green one that makes all plants green. And it has another one called phycocyanin, which is a beautiful shade of blue. And it's like the GNC and has lots of healing properties that people are just starting to learn about. So there's two completely different types of algae and they do completely different things in your body.

Kevin: okay, hold up. Before we start deep diving into spirulina. Catherine mentioned briefly that our food supply is damaged. And i wanted her to elaborate on this i mean those of us that are health conscious and are eating our broccoli in our kale we're getting optimum nutrition

Catherine:  So two things  one is [00:21:00] equally disabling to our food supply, and this is why people are getting sick because we're not getting the nutrition that we need. So  as you know, big corporations like Monsanto have taken over   and  two things have been going on first  farmers.

Monocrop, which means they S they grow the same crop in the same soil year after year after year. And they're using these seeds that are GMO to withstand the fertilizer because they need so much fertilizer to grow because there's no, there's no nutrients left in the soil. So even if you are eating organic  you are not getting the same nutrition because the soils are just frigging, depleted.

Topsoil is gone.  If you don't have nutrients in the soil, there's not going to be any nutrients in the vegetables. So you can eat all the, you can eat a room full of arugala if you want or kale but the reality is you're getting fiber. And you're getting calories, but you're actually not getting the nutrition that your body actually needs.

That's why I say algae is your last shot at getting [00:22:00] proper nutrition. So that's number one, number two, because we've had so much damage to the ozone layer and there's so much CO2. What they've been finding is that all the plants, anything that's growing has  more sugar and fewer nutrients than before.

So it's that double whammy. The soil from the bottom up and the sun from the top down is causing us to have very depleted  food supply on top of that.  A lot of our food now comes from far, far away, whether it's Mexico or Argentina and they. Harvest  or before the completely finished  growing, because they need so much time in transport   and the way that the plants grow is, you know, they have to get to fruition to get all the nutrients to the, to the fruits or the leaves. So by cropping them, before that happens again, you're getting fewer nutrients and then they get transported and stored in warehouses. By the time they frigging get to your plate, there's virtually nothing there.

So  [00:23:00]so I, I very sorry to tell you that even if you are eating green and you are eating organic, you are still not getting the nutrients that your body needs to function at an optimal level. It's sad, but that is the truth. And it's even worse for fruits because  we have developed such as sensitivity and desire for sugar.

So they have cross bred all the fruit to be loaded with sugar. I hardly ever eat any fruit anymore, virtually none.  Cause I have a sugar sensitivity and I just, I, you know, I get sick from eating it. So I just, it's a sad reality.  And you know, the, the, the other reality is that the American government has been funding the soy and the corn and the wheat industries for decades.

And. I hate to tell you, but there is no nutrition, not only is therethere are no nutritional value. Are you in any of those? They're almost all GMO crops and they are damaging to your intestinal lining to your gut biome and to your health. They cause [00:24:00] inflammation. They cause acidity at the cellular level, which we talked about at the beginning.

There is no redeemable facets to corn, soy, or wheat, other than the fact that maybe they taste good for a second in your mouth. But the reality is that one second causes years of damage. And   I'm just urging people to think longer term because. once you're sick. I mean, your life become it's turned upside down and every, every moment you're trying to avoid pain, you're trying to regain what you had before and you don't need to be in that state.

You just have to do a little bit of discipline and education so that you can end there's wonderful flavors out there that you can use. Other things like kelp noodles instead of pasta.   we're at a wonderful time in this journey because there are so many little companies like mine that have started out of a passion for something that happened to them or their family.

And there are endless options for you now that are healthy. You just need to [00:25:00] find them. And these podcasts help a lot.

Kevin: that's very well said. Thank you for sharing that. I think that might surprise a lot of people that aren't aware of, kind of that big agribusiness, what it's done. And those big companies are not selecting produce on nutrient and they're not breeding that next year.

Batch of vegetables to be nutrient dense, ma they want them to be shelf stable, to be transported long distances warehoused, and have several weeks of life in them in a grocery store. So point well taken. Sorry. I sidetracked you there, but I think that was well worth the time let's hit it. I want to hear about algae.

I want to hear about spirulina and chlorella and the properties of both and what they do and how they can help us be

Catherine: healthier humans. Great. And I do want to let people know that  they're both needed and they both do completely different things and we recommend you take them at different times of the day.

So let's, let's get into that. So spirulina, as I mentioned was the first life on earth. Now [00:26:00] it is technically a bacteria. Now, why is that important? That's because it does not have a cellular wall on the cellulous wall on the outside. And that's important because. Gets into your bloodstream almost instantly.

That's why when we first started, we were a sports nutrition company because the triathletes and the marathon runners and eventually NHL players and Olympic teams discovered us. And they found out that it gave them both energy physically and focus mentally and did not upset their stomach like carbs and sugar did.

And if anyone's a re a marathon runner or triathlete, you know, about that stomach distress and the cramps that you get, and it's not a pretty picture algae because it has no sugar. And because it gets into your bloodstream so quickly, spirulina algae  gives you everything that you need for your sports or just for your date.

And the reason the way it does that. By the way, because spirulina is so energizing, we call our algae spirulina algae energy bits, because we thought that was a whole lot easier for people to remember. So  how does it give you energy? Well  spirulina has the [00:27:00] highest concentration of protein in the world.

As I mentioned, the it's been endorsed since 1974 by the United nations, as the answer to world hunger because of this high protein. Now not only does it have three times the amount of protein as steak. All the protein is already in amino acid form. And the reason why that's important is because 15% of your it's 15% of your energy is directed towards digestion.

So if you don't need to digest anything and you don't have to break down the protein into amino acids, that's like putting money back in your bank, that's putting money into your energy bank. So it gives you back energy. That's not having to be used for digestion and spirulina has 18 of the 20 aminos, including the, the  I think it's eight that are    that your body cannot make.

So it's a complete protein.  So you get all this rich protein absorbed instantly, and spirulina is loaded with B vitamins. If anyone's ever taken an energy drink, they know that it's the B vitamins that give you energy because they convert protein and glucose into energy. [00:28:00]  Other ways that spirulina give you energy is because it helps your body release.

Nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is known as  a vassal dilator. And what that means is it opens up your blood vessels so that blood can flow and bring more oxygen and nutrients to your brain, to your body, to your organs. When you're an athlete or doing anything, especially men know about this in the evening  you need, you need blood flow.

So spirulina helps you with that.    Spirulina is also loaded with essential fatty acids. Like omega-3, as we mentioned earlier, this is where the fish get their Omega three from  you don't need to take fish oil. In fact, I would encourage you not to almost everything is rancid by the time he gets to you.

And of course it's causing so much damage in the ocean for people, you know, fishing, you know, buying the, getting the fish to create fish oil. You can get your, all your Omega three that you need from algae, and it never goes rancid. In fact algae never goes bad either. So it's loaded with that. And now, and omega 3 is essential for your [00:29:00] brain health  reducing inflammation.

Spirulina also has boron, which helps with your signapses    helping facilitate thought and, and it's loaded with all the electrolytes. So spirulina has 40 vitamins and minerals loaded with protein gives you natural energy, no spikes in energy, just really clean, steady energy, kind of you just feel alert.

That's about the best way to describe it. Satisfies your hunger. It's great for intimate and fasting. You could take five or 10 tablets in the morning. There's only one calorie per tablet.  You could have 20 if you want for lunch.  And  anytime of the day when you're tired or hungry or before a workout.

So they're all the, both the spirulina and the chlorella, which we'll talk about in a minute are ketogenic, which means there's no carbs. And they do not decrease your ketones and it doesn't increase your glucose. So you don't break your intermittent fast when you have them because they get absorbed so quickly and are so efficient.

So it's truly what I call efficient nutrition because of what it [00:30:00] gives your body. And because there they are so nourishing, you could replace your multi-vitamin, your Koku 10, your fish oil, your magnesium potassium. There's about five. Vitamins that you can just wipe off your counter and you certainly don't have to buy anymore  when you are taking spirulina on a daily basis.

So it's, it's pretty sweet stuff. The only downside I will point out to spirulina is it doesn't taste, right? So you're best off swallowing them or putting them in a smoothie. I would not suggest I eat mine, but you know, I'm hardcore. And you know, these are my, my, my children. So, but the reality is they don't taste good.

So, you know, just skip the chewing and pop a bunch in your mouth. They're great for children, parents, grandparents, there is not been a single. A negative impact of spirulina on the books for a hundred years. So  it doesn't get any safer, pure, you know, we're proud of ours cause we it's so pure and safe.

We were the [00:31:00] only algae sold by doctors nationwide.  Other companies use high heat to dry it, which kills some of the enzymes and they don't package it as clearly or grow, grow it as cleanly as we do. So we do third-party lab tests by the way, to prove that the nutrients are there and there's no toxins. So when you buy ours, you'll need less of it than other companies because it is so concentrated.

But in general, spirulina is a go-to   for nutrition.

Kevin: Yeah. And that's been my experience as well. So used your energy bits, the spirulina, as well as the chlorella, but in terms of that energy, it's  the energy that you get, you had mentioned, it's not a spike. It's not like drinking coffee, certainly not like drinking a horrible energy drink now, commercially available.

It's more just a, I'm not even sure how to describe it. It's kind of a sublime sort of lift to your day.

Catherine: Describe it as you just feel fresh. That's about it.

Kevin: You feel fresh. Okay. You know, I like that you feel you get that fresh feeling, right. And to [00:32:00] your point, I also chew them up, but it will, it'll stick to your teeth and turn it, turn your mouth green for a little while.

It's not particularly tasty, but you had mentioned the little bits they are. They're very small. You could very easily take a handful and wash them down if you objected to the yeah.

Catherine: And the reason why they're chewy is that high protein than, than that high omega-3.  But, yeah, so it's, it's so good for you, but it, it not only replaces your vitamins, it can replace your sports nutrition.

It can replace protein. I live on this stuff and my grocery bill has just shrunk because I, you know  I'm very, very busy and I don't have time to eat well, not if I never have time to eat during the day. And so I just, you know, Wolf down some of these and I'm good to go. And, and there is not a single negative downside, no chemicals, nothing.

And it's still, it's a raw food. So  so it's, yeah, I'm very proud of.

[00:33:00] Kevin: Okay. To recap. Spirulina has a ton of health benefits. It's high in protein with a great amino acid profile and it's quickly and efficiently absorbed. It has B vitamins that give us energy and facilitates the release of nitric oxide that increases performance. It's high in omega three fatty acids. In fact, this is why fish is so good for us.

But there's another reason why people might want to consider spirulina. And that has to do with skin health and

Catherine: Well, actually there's two  aspects to the beauty.

One is  we recommend the spirulina.  We actually have a second brand called beauty bits the second brand of spirulina, because I found after the first couple of years, women weren't  buying the spirulina and it, my girlfriends, this is the truth. They say, well, you got to make it pink and give it a cute name.

And because  you know, I started this company cause my sister and women's health is important to me. And because spirulina contains. [00:34:00] Such high amounts of protein and antioxidants that are important for your skin health. I thought, okay, I'll make a second brand and call it beauty bits so there are two brands of beauty bits of, of spirulina.

Someone made a very interesting observation recently and they said, oh, we've got a boy spirulina and a girl spirulina.

Kevin: And at the

Catherine: end it still has the K2 in it, not as much as the chlorella, because the K2 is what pulls out the excess calcium that can be damaging to your, to your elastin. Now, the other thing I want to mention with regards to the spirulina  is that, you know, in the last five or six years, I was delighted to see the awareness of collagen growing now.

And there's a great company called vital proteins that has been responsible for most of that. And I'm so grateful to them, but I need to point out a couple of things. First of all, I don't know if people understand that collagen is made from ground up bones, animal bones, fish bones. And if you have any interest in sustainability, that's not sustainable as number one, algae [00:35:00] is sustainable.

Number two, algae has virtually identical amounts of protein as collagen.  But it also has chlorophyll, which we already described discuss the importance of chlorophyll and 40 other vitamins and minerals. So if you're currently taking collagen, I would invite you to up-level to algae. You'll get everything that you get from the college and plus a whole bunch more.

Plus you'll be helping mother nature  get back on her feet.

Kevin: I want to come back and talk about the, the value  price you had mentioned. I can, you know, I can take out supplements. This is this, I think early on you said that one. I can't remember how you said it. Like one gram of algae has got the nutrient value of a thousand grams of other fruits and vegetables.

So we'll put a pin in that for now, but I do want to come back and explore that in a little more detail, but yeah, let's go. Well, I wouldn't do the chlorella first. Cause I think both of them are going to fall into that same key. Right? They're both going to have that same value proposition hit us with some [00:36:00] correct.

Catherine: So chlorella, which is  spirulina. His brother showed up on earth a billion years after spirulina.  And the two of them I say are the power couple.  And they do completely different things. So they compliment one another beautifully. So  as I mentioned earlier, spirulina does belong to the bacteria

family. Chlorella does belong to the plant kingdom  because it has a cellulose wall where spirulina does not now. And the other main differences member, I said, spirulina has the highest concentration of protein in the world while chlorella has the highest concentration of chlorophyll in the world. So I want to unpack both of those key points.

Let's do chlorophyll first. What's so freaking important about chlorophyll. Well  first of all, as I mentioned, it's alkaline and we've just already talked about the importance of alkaline.  But, and we'll send some, some notes for this to be posted with the, with the podcast, but I'm showing Kevin a picture of the chemical composition of your hemoglobin and the chemical composition of chlorophyll.

And [00:37:00] Kevin will confirm they are virtually identical. The only difference is that in your hemoglobin, there is that iron atom that we talked about, the carries oxygen and in chlorophyll is magnesium. Why is this so important because chlorophyll builds your blood. It's virtually identical chlorophyll has been used for centuries, even up as recently as world war two, to heal people.

When in world war II, when they ran into blood for transfusions, they would give them liquid chlorophyll because they healed just as fast. Chlorophylls always. Also been used topically on injuries because it kills bacteria. So when you have healthy blood, you're going to have a healthy body. You're going to have a healthy immune system, healthy organs, everything works better, and there is nothing better for your blood than chlorophyll.

But as I mentioned earlier, virtually nothing has chlorophyll in it. Chlorella algae has a thousand times more chlorophyll than Chinese greens. It has 400 [00:38:00] times more than a rugala. It even has 25 times more chlorophyll than liquid chlorophyll because liquid chlorophyll is generally made from alfalfa sprouts.

And I know there's a lot of growth in chlorophyll drops these days, but I tell people why would you take chlorophyll drops when you can have chlorella algae, which has 25 times more chlorophyll plus 60% protein plus 40 other vitamins and minerals. So if you're taking chlorophyll, Uplevel and take chlorella, all right.

The other important thing about chlorophyll is that it's a fat-based pigment. Why is that important? Well, as we talked about earlier, all of your health issues start at the cellular level where your mitochondria are and the key to keeping your health, your cells healthy is making sure that your cell wall is permeable so that the nutrients can get in and toxins can get out.

And one of the best ways to do that is with chlorophyll, because it is a fat based pigment. I'm going to show Kevin a picture of the spirulina that has two pigments in it. [00:39:00] And the blue one does that disperses beautifully through water because it's a water-based pigment. And now I'm showing them a picture of the chlorella, which has only chlorophyll.

And he will show you and confirm that the chlorophyll does not disperse. Through water because it's a fat based pigment and this is, and so it's a fat that heals your cell walls. So the way I describe how important that is 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 your cell walls. It keeps everything moving in that should and everything that shouldn't be there moving out. And that is what's so cleansing. When people say they're doing a cleanse with vegetables and greens, this is one of the key things that is going on is the healing of that cell wall so that you can cleanse.

So that's, so chlorella is the best way to cleanse your cell walls because it has the highest. Chlorophyll concentration in the universe. [00:40:00] It's called chlorella because of the chlorophyll. The other key thing I mentioned is that it has a hard cell wall, which is why it belongs to the plant kingdom.

What's so important about that cell. Well, well, there's three main things. I'm going to tell you about one. The most important one is that for decades, centuries, this chlorella has been used to remove toxins. This is, it's known as a chelator, it pulls out anything that shouldn't be there. Lead mercury radiation, aluminum.

If you're getting a COVID virus, you definitely want some chlorella to pull out the excess aluminum.  It was used by the United nations, after the Chernobyl disaster to pull out radiation and in Asia, after the Fukushima disaster  the entire global supply of chlorella was bought up because they also know that it's the only thing that pulls out radiation.

So it doesn't matter what it's led, any heavy metals. We work with biological dentists who use it to pull up mercury after they've taken fillings out of their  patient's [00:41:00] mouth. They take it as well. So it's very, very, very important for removing toxins. That's number one. Number two, that hard cell wall has fiber in it.

And you have to be living under a rock to know that you need fiber to feed your  bacteria in your gut biome. So  chlorella, because it has a cell wall. So this wall has the fiber, not a lot, but enough to feed the bacteria so that they can release what's called short chain fatty acids, which   restore the gut flora and make sure that your gut is, is healthy.

And that heart cell wall come combined with the  chlorophyll   explain why   chlorella has been used for decades for healing, IBS and Crohn's disease.  The hard cell wall  removes the toxins, the chlorophyll heals the cell wall and it's  it's just very, very cleansing now.

So that's why chlorella is known as a wellness and recovery. algae. Remember [00:42:00] spirulina is an energizing and nourishing algae chlorella is completely different. It's a wellness algae. So because it helps you recover from your day or recover from toxins or recover from, oh, it identifies lactic acid as a toxin and pulls it out.

It also identifies alcohol. So we decided to call our chlorella recovery bits because I thought it would make it much easier to understand what it does.  And as if that wasn't enough of the, on the healing attributes, we've seen the chlorophyll and the hard sell.

Well, there's so much more about chlorella that makes it a wellness. algae, first of all, It has the highest amount of RNA and DNA in the world. This is important as you get older because your RNA and DNA get damaged  particularly at the mitochondria level. And this will help restore that because when your RNA and DNA is damaged and it replicates in a damaged form, this contributes to aging  chlorella also has    the highest amount of tryptophan in the world tryptophan is the precursor to melatonin and serotonin.

Serotonin is the neuro [00:43:00] transmitter that makes you feel happy and melatonin helps you with your sleeping. So  we generally recommend people take the chlorella at night before they go to bed. Remember I said, spirulina, take it in the morning because that's when you want energy and you're hungry and you want focus or before a workout.

Take your chlorella before you go to bed because your body does a detox and repair while you are sleeping. So if you have chlorella in your body, while that is going on, you will have a much better detox cleanse. Repair. Chlorella also has something called  chlorella growth factor that speeds up the, the growth of healthy cells.

It has vitamin K2 that moves excess calcium out of your soft tissue. Like your blood vessels are realizing half of heart disease, which is arterial. Sclerosis is actually due to the hardening of the arteries. And guess what's hardening excess calcium. So chlorella will  has [00:44:00] the daily requirement of K2.

That is the nutrient that moves excess calcium out of your blood vessels and into your bones, by the way, it also moves out excess calcium in your skin, calcium damages, your lastin. And when they last in damages, it collapses and causes wrinkles. So chlorella is very much a health and wellness, algae healing, algae recovery, algae.

You can take it for just immune support.  It also contains all the nutrients, 40 vitamins and minerals that build your immune system. People don't realize that you're immune 80% of your immune system is in your gut. It's those bacteria that are creating cells that will attack and remove  pathogens like the, the COVID virus.

But they can't make those cells. T cells, B cells, killer cells, macrophages white blood cells. They can't make those cells to defend you if they don't have the nutrients. And there's a list of nutrients like zinc and B3 and chlorophyll that the medical community has identified. And they're [00:45:00] all pretty much in the chlorella.

So it makes it really easy to stay healthy. When you have chlorella now  so you should be taking it at night. You can take it through the day as well. I have them all day long. I just not to scare anybody, but I probably have 150 a day because I love this stuff.  And, and actually chlorella tastes pretty good.

Well, compared to spirulina, it's very dry tastes more like a sunflower seed or soy nut. So  if you eat it with a macadamia nuts or, or almonds or sea salt  it becomes a snack. And so if you can enjoy it as a snack, it's much more pleasurable.  As I said, athletes, take it after a workout or before they go to bed to pull out lactic acid, they take the spirulina before and they take the chlorella.

Afterwards. And  if you want it for wellness purposes  10 would be sufficient on a daily basis, but if you want the detox benefits, you need closer to 20 or 30 a day. Now the fact that they taste pretty good, it makes that a [00:46:00] whole lot easier  to, to endure. I couldn't go to bed without having my 30 or 40 chlorella tablets.

I wouldn't feel complete.  So the two of them work completely differently in your body. They, you take them at different times of the day. You can take them together, alone with food instead of food, with water and your smoothies, chlorella taste great in your, trail mix. They're truly remarkable  vegetables  if, well, they're technically called a sea vegetable, but as I mentioned, we don't grow them in the sea.

We grow them in fresh water.

Kevin:  So we've talked a lot about the power of algae. Let's go back and talk a little bit about the price and the value.

And the reason I want to bring this up is because I feel like it's important, right? Because people are going to go out after this, they're going to click and they're going to go to your website and they're going to go, oh, $120. What it is. $120 for a canister of energy bits, my goodness, but talk about what that is and what that replaces.

[00:47:00] And just so we get an idea of what that value

Catherine: equation looks like. Well  first thank you for asking.   so as I mentioned, spirulina and chlorella both have been sold in America for 50 years, but, and you can go to target and you go to Walmart and, but I can assure you that almost all of those  are made in China with lower quality strains of algae in less pure, clean growing conditions.

They've used high heat to dry it because they need to get to market fast because they're a volume what's called a volume supplier and we're a value supplier.  They probably have binders in them to keep it, you know, or fillers. They, if they're in a capsule, that's probably made of gelatin which if you're in sustainable, that's made from bones again.

So  in contrast, you know, I wasn't planning on starting a company. I just wanted to help my sister. That's all I wanted to do. And then as I learned more. I thought, well, I can help more people. So I got myself some education. And then when I saw the problem, people were having, getting [00:48:00] proper nutrition into them.

I thought, well, I gotta, I gotta do something about that. And then that's when I stumbled into algea. So I didn't come about this journey with the goal to build a billion dollar company. Although I'd like to now, because I have big visions to donate it and create a foundation and an algae Institute and all that sort of stuff.

But so every decision I made as I was building the company and continued to build the company was, was based on cleanliness safety, purity value for people because let's face it, what you put in your body. Ultimately, every single thing you put in your body is either going to help your health or. Or  hurt it, there is no in-between, it's just, it's that simple.

So if I'm pursuing algae as a way to improve people's health and nutrition and their longevity and performance, it has to be in my books 110% pure and nutrient dense. So, because we use the highest grades of algae, we use triple filtered, spring, [00:49:00] mountain water to grow it. We don't use high heat that preserve the nutrients and don't kill the enzymes.

We don't use any binders. There's nothing in our algae except algae. We do third-party lab test to prove that  and we packaged it in a way that's  both sustainable and also protects the algae because  it's in UV protected bags. So when you use our product, first of all, You can be a hundred percent sure it's safe.

If you're going to share this with your children, your pets, your grandparents  and you want it to both either nourish, maintain or improve your health. You've got to be a hundred percent, 110% sure. It's safe. And so why would they only algae sold by doctors, functional medicine  practitioners like Dr.

Will Cole and Dr. Pompa.  And we've got endorsements from also from athletes there's 50 on our website, because also when you're a professional athlete, you cannot put something in your body that could jeopardize your career with [00:50:00] like, with toxins and all that sort of stuff. So  we have athletes that endorse us because they've used it and they trust us and they've seen the lab tests.

So the purity factor and safety factor cannot be ignored.  And I would like to point out that there is huge costs to being sick. So other than, paying the 50 to a hundred or 500,000 in cancer treatments, why not spend a little bit. Upfront. Now that will say you from ever having to experience that, not to mention the emotional damage, the injury for lack of loss of employment.

And it's just a terrible, terrible experience. And sadly, virtually all of us have either a family member or, or a close friend who has experienced cancer and it's so unnecessary. So the purity is critical. The concentration is also critical. So because it's so nutrient dense you'll need less of ours than you would from somebody else's brand.

So  [00:51:00]  and just sort of point that out because  we have this quote from NASA that says one gram of algae has same nutritional value as a thousand grams of fruits, vegetables. I did the math because in our large bags on our website energy bits.com, we have a thousand tablets in the bag. So  in a ways to think eight ounces or something.

So I did the math and realized that well, Each bag of our thousand tablets has the same nutrition as 551 pounds of vegetables. So that's 551 pounds that you didn't have to buy. Cook clean. Or even eat and it's $3, a pound 551 pounds of, of  vegetables would be about $1,500. So our one bag is $120.  But we have a 20% discount code, silver edge that you can put in  in the coupon box.

When you check out.  That works on everything all the time. So don't panic.  But you're getting very dense [00:52:00] nutrition. And so when you get the density  blended with the purity and also my own personal commitment that, you know, I've been at this for 11 years now, I've never even paid myself. I'm just want people to feel better and be better, and they can be with algae.

So I'm very, very committed to this journey. And just to put the context in a simpler form, each one of these tiny tablets has the same nutrition as an entire plate of vegetables. I'm going to say that again, cause it's hard for people to visualize this. If you either don't like vegetables or your kids won't eat them or you don't have time to buy them, carry them home and cook them.

You're off the hook. Cause one tablet. One teeny tiny tablet gives you the same nutrition as an entire heaping plate of vegetables, you know, half a pound or a pound of vegetables without any effort at all. Boom, that to me is what everybody should be focusing on. So, you know, if [00:53:00] you're concerned about your nutrition, your longevity, your performance, your productivity, and you should be, this is the answer.

And I've made it as simple and safe as possible.

Kevin: Yes you have. And   our listeners can't see, but Catherine was just holding up a picture there of a giant plate of raw vegetables and then another plate with just one little tiny energy bit in it. And they're the equivalent in nutrient density.

Now, Katherine, I've got a confession here. I am a certified nutritionist. I'm a personal trainer and I just have a passion for health and wellness. I have this podcast over 50 health and wellness podcasts. I don't like vegetables. I know I need to eat them and I dutifully do my best, but algae is to your point.

It's my best friend, right? If I can replace a plate of vegetables that I'm just going to plow through, because I know I have to, I know I need to, this is a much better way, and I'm getting more nutrient density and I'm not going to eat it as one little energy, but I'm going to eat [00:54:00] a handful of them. Yeah.

But yeah, so folks out there that are looking for ways to get more nutrients into your body, this is a great, great way. And I just thought it was important for you to kind of talk about that value.  You know, I can't remember the amount of what was it, 500 and something pounds. Vegetables the equivalent in one nutritional.

Yeah. In one bag. So I think that's important too important to understand. So well, Catherine, obviously you've got this, you have a passion for algae and algae.

Catherine: Angie. I like the algae Vangelis. Never heard that one yet. Yeah.

Kevin: Folks can't see you, but you're lit up and you're very passionate about this subject.

Let me ask you this.  What's what's next for you? Well, we're

Catherine: just, we're trying to get more visibility because  you know, even the movie seaspiracy that got a lot of visibility  about protecting the oceans.  Even they've come out, they came out twice in the movie and said, you, you know, the answer is [00:55:00] algae.

So the awareness of algae is growing. And I just want algae to get more mainstream. Like it is in Asia.  We don't know about it cause we just didn't grow up with it. But it doesn't mean it's. Not important. I mean, there's lots of nutrients that we're  we're starting to learn about that were big in other countries.

So for me, I want to build the platform so we can launch other products based on algae.  As I mentioned, I want to be big enough that we can start a foundation and. Give this stuff away.  There's so many people that are nutrient deprived. We, I would like to start an algae academy so we can get certification and, you know, helping people teach more about algae.

There's a whole 30  did something similar. There's ketogenic certification. There's all sorts of other kinds of certifications. So I mean, this isn't my life. This is my life path. And so I will do anything, but I, anything I can to help people understand the value of this. And so we can start growing it here and, and helping [00:56:00] other countries around the world grow it.

I realize it's going to take a while.  But the, for me, the first part was education. And because I do such a deep dive on the science and we provide the science to medical professionals and we do the third-party lab test. It's important that people know this is not smoke and mirrors. It's just never been explained to you properly.

So, as I said at the beginning, algae, isn't new. It's just. New to you. But  I'm doing everything I can, we just need to get a little bit bigger so we can contribute to other great organizations that are helping people be healthier naturally  who are interested in the sustainability movement.

We are too. And we're part of it. So  I have at least probably another 11 years anyways.  And thank God for algae because if I didn't have it myself, I don't know what I would use for my energy or my health. There are no sick days when you're entrepreneur. So  very [00:57:00] blessed and I, you know, look after myself  I'm in the, not only am I in the over 50 crowd, I'm in the over 60 crowd.

So, and  you can't see me, but. Kevin can vouch that. I probably don't look like I'm over 60 and my spirit, my spirit is definitely in the younger category and I credit a lot of that to the algae. So it's exciting time for me.

Kevin: Yeah, I think it's  certainly it sounds like it's an exciting time for you to, I think hopefully it's an exciting time for algae.

And like I said, I feel like it's that kind of mushrooms both seem to be on the rise here as these new kind of super foods and they could do so much. So Catherine we've already mentioned your website, energy bits.com and what are there other ways that people can? Sure.

Catherine: And, and you know, if you're not  if you don't feel you're ready to button, you know, plunk down the.

You know, it's $96 with a 20% discount code. You can, we have a sample pack on our website [00:58:00] and we also sell through Amazon. So we sell them little poaches with 30 tablets in them for $4. So it's a great way to just experiment. $4 is very affordable. And if you have prime shipping, it's free.  And we are very active on social media.

We have  our Instagram handle is energy bits. We also have a separate one for beauty bits and our Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest is energy bits. And we do lots of giveaways and contests. So, and there's lots of science there as well. So come and visit us there.  If you have any pressing questions, we're always, we've got lots of signs.

Like I said, I've written about 500 papers. I'm also the chief scientific officer. I speak at a lot of conferences. I'll be at the biohacking Congress in  Miami in  in October speaking on the secrets and science of algae for biohacking. So stay tuned. Yeah. So we're very, very excited to be doing what we're doing.

And I'm very grateful to you, Kevin, for your [00:59:00] podcast and helping people learn about some of these more natural products that don't have mainstream visibility yet. But hopefully in our case, we will one day

Kevin: that's right. We'll just keep, we'll keep amplifying this message here. All right. And folks I'll drop all of that.

The website, the discount code, all the social media places into the show notes. So make sure you go there and check those out. Well, Catherine, I just want to thank you so much for coming on the show today and sharing your passion, your wisdom, and your knowledge with us. And I just encourage you to keep up the great work, keeping evangelizing the algae nutrition, and I wish you all the best

Catherine: in all your future.

Well, thank you, Kevin, and you to it's all, you know, all of us together can turn this boat around, right?

Kevin: Well, that's our show for today. Folks, you can find all the show notes [01:00:00] with links to everything we discussed at www.silveredgefitness.com/episode59 slash episode 59. You can also join in the discussion there. And I'd love to hear from you. Thoughts comments, opinions. All are welcome. If you enjoyed this episode. Please give me a review in whatever platform you're listening on. And please considering sharing this episode with a friend.

So until next time. Stay strong