September 29, 2017
Podcast from: https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/podcast/ben-greenfield-2017-spartan-world-championships-special/
[00:00] Introduction
[07:25] About Shanna Mota
[09:34] Mindset Detox
[11:28] Instilling That Positive Mindset
[17:15] Organifi Products
[20:43] Organifi's Turmeric Powder
[22:14] The Ingredients In Organifi
[32:48] The Meaning Of “Anti-Aging”
[36:39] A Book To Help With Mindset Detoxing
[41:28] End of Podcast
Ben: Hello. What's up? It's Ben Greenfield. Hey, I have a pretty special series, a doozy full of series of interviews for you coming up today and on a whole bunch of other days this week. I'm churning out the podcasts this week because I just got back from Lake Tahoe. I got a chance to hang out with some of the world's top athletes, and biohackers, and inventors, and physicians, and more down at the Spartan World Championships. Even if you're not an obstacle course racer, you're going to dig today's show. You can access the show notes where I have a special video for you over at bengreenfieldfitness.com/sparta17. Yes, as in Sparta 1-7. Like the movie “300” where they all talk with Scottish accents even though they're supposedly from Greece. Anyways though, we digress.
So in that video that I posted for you at bengreenfieldfitness.com/sparta17, I actually have a fascinating discussion, this is at the top of the page that you see there, about legal ways to dope your blood, legal ways to get nitric oxide up like Viagra for your whole body without actually taking the little blue pill, how to max your ATP and what are called your erythrocytes levels using some pretty fringe formulas that are out there.
So when you visit that page over at bengreenfieldfitness.com/sparta17, you're going to want to watch my interview there at the top of the page with this guy named Craig Dinkel. Craig, you may have heard on previous podcast episodes. He's like a total whiz when it comes to formulating very potent and unique supplements. I got a bunch of discount codes for you over there too on some of the stuff that Craig and I talk about. So that is what is bringing into today's show, that video and those supplements which I consider to be not only some of the best supplements for altitude, but some of the best supplements for sex, and for nitric oxide, and for recovery from jetlag, and for enhanced blood flow, and for just about any situation where you want more blood. So check it out, bengreenfieldfitness.com/sparta17. Alright. Let's move forward, shall we?
Ben: Hey. What's up? It's Ben Greenfield, and this is a bit out of the ordinary but I happen to be sitting here with my trusty podcast sidekick Brock Jason Skywalker Armstrong. Brock, how you doing?
Brock: I'm doing well. Hello, hello everyone.
Ben: And you could get sick of that lulling Canadian accent over the next few days…
Brock: Pshhha!
Ben: Pshhha! Because Brock, and myself to a certain extent, but Brock to a much greater extent, we're going to bringing you some amazing interviews over the next several days because we are at Spartan World Championships.
Brock: Spartan World Championships!
Ben: So here's what to expect. First, if you're not an obstacle course junkie or an athlete, don't worry. We are right now here surrounded by some of the top fitness, health, biohacking, nutrition, and even personal productivity and lifestyle minds on the face of the planet who Spartan CEO Joe De Sena has flown in to be here, and Brock and I have decided to get the microphone in front of them and take a deep dive with them into their top secrets that we can deliver to you. And we're also of course, since we are surrounded by some of the fittest people on the face of the planet here, we're going to be interviewing some of the most hardcore men and women that exist when it comes to their insider training tactics, their nutrition secrets, their recovery hacks, and a whole lot more. So basically you are going to be getting lots of podcasts over the next few days. Don't worry. If you don't have time to listen to them, you can save them, and I believe there's even a handy save function in Apple Podcast, most podcasting apps.
Brock: You don't even have to…
Ben: Save 'em for later. The next time you're bored on a drive, or you have a few extra gym sessions, or you're out on a long hike, you can basically listen into a lot of these extra episodes we're going to be pushing out over the next few days.
Brock: You can bathe in them even.
Ben: You can bathe in them. Literally. Like a float tank. Or Epsom salts.
Brock: Metaphorically.
Ben: Yes. So we are, in addition to a bunch of podcasts you're going to get right here on the podcast feed, doing a bunch of short video and audio interviews over on the Facebook page. And if you don't know the Facebook page URL, it is, Brock, take it away.
Brock: facebook.com/bgfitness.
Ben: So go to facebook.com/bgfitness if you want extra photos, amazing, entertaining, and educational content for you in addition to what we're giving you right here on the podcast.
Brock: I call it edutainment.
Ben: Edutainment. Did you make that up?
Brock: No.
Ben: Okay. Now we may not have our usual show notes, I'm going to warn you…
Brock: Yeah. ‘Cause I'm illiterate.
Ben: Because Brock is illiterate, and dyslexic, and lysdexic.
Brock: And Canadian.
Ben: And Canadian. And frankly we're going to be so busy interviewing people, we're probably not a lot of time to sit down and make for you show notes. But we will make for you plenty of extremely helpful content and we promise mad value if you just listen in the next few days. Again, we're not going to bore you with the ho-hum I-eat-Red-Bull-and-Snickers-before-the-race-and-my-top-recovery-tactic-is-compression-socks.
Brock: Nor are we going to bore you with a longer intro than we've already done.
Ben: No. This is getting a little bit long in the tooth. So I will be racing, and I will be not only racing but likely out there leading other racers through the course after I've done the race myself. So you're going to need to get used to Brock's Canadian voice and his beautiful shaven ballerina legs.
Brock: You betcha!
Ben: Which you actually can't see on an audio podcast, but I can vouch that they are quite beautiful. He'll be the voice you're listening to, and seeing if you're on Facebook, all weekend as we make you a part of what is widely considered to be the Super Bowl of obstacle course racing and is the crown race to discover who the fittest person on the face of the planet actually is.
Brock: Spartan World Championships!
Ben: Unless you're a Crossfitter, in which case it would be the Crossfit Games. So get ready of plenty of action, get ready for plenty of action, over the next few days. And if you want to have the most fun with this, stay tuned to all the live content and the conversations over at facebook.com/bgfitness. And keep a notepad for your own friggin' noggin.
Brock: Make your own show notes, guys! C'mon! We've been holding your hand for too long now. It's your turn.
Ben: Take notes on everything that we bring your way. We promise we're going to make this a lot of fun for you. So that being said, listen in 'cause here we go.
Brock: Welcome back to the Ben Greenfield Fitness Podcast, everybody. And of course you can tell by my voice I am not Ben, I am Brock. This is Brock Armstrong, the co-host from the Q & A episodes if you don't recognize the name or the voice. And we're here live, well I'm here live, Ben is off doing press conferences or something probably now. He's awake by now. When I left he was still asleep, but that was at 5:30 this morning. It's been an early morning here at Lake Tahoe at the SpartanUp Podfest, which is part of the 2017 Spartan Race World Championships where there's so many people. I had no idea that there are so many international racers, there's so many national racers, there's so many people here competing for the Spartan Race World Championships this weekend and it's pretty cool. It's only, what is it? 9 AM and people are running around with huge smiles on their faces, having a lovely time. And one of the people that is running around with a big smile on her face is my guest, Shanna. And you know what? I'm just going to let you tell the people what you do and why you're here, and then we'll jump into some interesting stuff. Let us know why we should be listening to you.
Shanna: Perfect. Well I'm really excited to be here. It's a little chilly, right? My fingers are frozen.
Brock: Well, I'm from Canada so I'm wearing shorts. I don't know if you noticed.
Shanna: I did not. I'm from San Diego, so…
Brock: Yeah. The total opposite.
Shanna: But, yeah. My name is Shanna Mota and I do a lot of stuff.
Brock: Alright! Awesome! That bodes well.
Shanna: But to focus on, I'm a holistic nutritionist and a yoga teacher. I also teach meditation. So I do wellness retreats and online detox programs. And I've also partnered with Organifi.
Brock: Wait. Online detox? So is it like the detox program happens online, or you detox from being online? I sort of sound like I'm joking, but I'm not. ‘Cause that is a thing, right?
Shanna: Yeah. So the detox program is run online. It's a 30-day mind-body detox. So food, mindset, all that good stuff.
Brock: Mindset detox.
Shanna: Oh, yeah.
Brock: Nice!
Shanna: Getting rid of all the negative thoughts.
Brock: Tell me more!
Shanna: So with my yoga teacher training, one of the things I really focus on is mindset. Because even if you're eating a really healthy diet, if your mind is not healthy and you're not putting positive, uplifting thoughts into it, then it can be just as toxic as eating McDonald's.
Brock: Yeah! I'd venture to say more toxic even.
Shanna: Or more toxic. Yes. So I like to focus on the mindset component as well because I find that with the mindset component, it creates longer lasting results with the food and that part of it.
Brock: Well especially if you tie them together. So if you're having good, healthy, not necessarily just positive, 'cause that sort of seems like you're putting a bit of like a false spin on it, but having healthy thoughts, and that gets associated with the food, I can see how those just sort of play together. Like when you're doing one, the other pops up. Am I right?
Shanna: It's exactly that. And it's not just putting, like being positive, and smiling, and putting on a false mask. It's really about we talk through things, issues that people are coming up with in their lives that they're facing and learning how to shift the mindset around it. So it might be something tragic or a challenge that you're facing, but you can always shift it to learn the lesson and grow from every experience.
Brock: I think that's really important. People talk about being positive, and positivity, and you scroll through Facebook, or Instagram even worse, any given time and you'll see pictures and pictures of sunsets, and kiddies, and stuff hanging in these positive sort of phrases and stuff. And yeah, those are really nice and can sometimes resonate with you, but you can't lie to yourself at a certain point. You can't tell yourself that you're being positive or that everything's okay when it's not. So how do you get into that mindset? How do you find a way to not lie to yourself, but still encourage that positive mindset?
Shanna: Yeah. So one of the things with my message and everything I do put on social media, I do have a lot of sunset photos, I have a lot of smiling pictures…
Brock: I wasn't raging against the sunsets themselves.
Shanna: However in the captions, I talk about what's real. And I think leading with authenticity is the way to go. So I talk about the difficulties I've been through, I talk about the struggles with myself and my clients, I'm very open about that. And being vulnerable encourages other people to be vulnerable. So vulnerability breeds vulnerability. And the more that we can open up and accept everything that it's a part of us. The good, the bad, the dark, the darkness, the hard times, it's all contributed to creating the person that we are today. And so it's really looking at everything with gratitude and saying thank you. Thank you for giving me this lesson. Thank you for teaching me this.
Brock: Yeah. I had a thought while you were talking about that. There's a fine line between, when you're really open with yourself and you're sort of interacting with people and revealing your personal struggles, do you find that there's a danger of defining yourself by your struggles rather than, I guess maybe I'll explain this a little better. I'll start over again. If somebody walks through your life saying, “I'm an anxious person,” or “I'm often a depressed person,” you start to believe your own self talk that becomes the story that you're telling yourself and that you're telling the world. So how do you get around that while you're still being authentic and open with your clients?
Shanna: Yeah. So it's not about identifying with that and having that trait or that experience. Create your identity. This is a part of me and this is something that I went through, and then here is what has come out of it. So I was anxious, and now I've learned through meditation, through yoga, through all of the tools and modalities, I've learned to control that anxiety with my breath and now I stand in my power and I'm a strong person. So again, that mindset shift.
Brock: So it's an aspect of you. It's not you, or it's something that you have experienced, not something that you're defined by?
Shanna: Exactly.
Brock: Yeah. I think that's a really powerful message. And for those of you who are listening, if you noticed us both sort of getting a little bit distracted, it's because Ben Greenfield just walked in to his own podcast. So I'm going to scooch over a little bit and let him take over.
Ben: I've decided to crash my own podcast and say hello to Shanna from Organifi.
Shanna: Hi, Ben.
Ben: How are you guys doing?
Shanna: So good to see you.
Brock: Awesome!
Ben: Amazing. Cool.
Shanna: How are you? How's the training doing?
Ben: I am well. I just crawled out of the Lake Tahoe pool where I was swimming with my boys and realizing that, what are we at? 8,000 feet.
Brock: I don't know. [0:14:25] ______ .
Ben: A lot of little bit of oxygen sucking going on. Anyways though, it's very lively here at the village. There's like internet, like outside, there's an entire contingent of Spartan athletes from Japan.
Brock: Oh wow.
Shanna: I saw the Brazil crew too. It's all the international…
Brock: I just interviewed a competitor from Belgrade, Serbia, and a guy from Italy.
Ben: Yeah. You know what I've been most impressed with, and sorry to completely derail whatever you guys were just podcasting about.
Brock: It wasn't really…
Shanna: Just really profound things.
Ben: I've been impressed that as I walk around, it's very healthy here. There's like bone broth booths, and I just swung by the executive meeting where all the CEO's are meeting and it's sponsored by Now Foods, which is like an almond flour, I just had a doughnut dipped coffee made out of all-organic, gluten-free baked materials. Yeah, I mean Spartan's kind of, when I used to hang out in a lot these Ironman triathlon expos back in the day, it was all Gatorade and Powerbar, and this is actually kind of refreshingly nice to see a lot of healthy kind of, I guess I'll give it the Ben Greenfield thumbs up on at least the nutrition I'm seeing around here. So, yeah. Is there an Organifi booth? Is there green juice booth?
Shanna: We don't have a booth here. I'm the representative.
Ben: Well I brought a little bit of the red juice powder.
Shanna: So did I.
Ben: Get my beets on.
Shanna: Yeah. And the cordyceps helps to increase ATP, so it's going to be good for endurance. So you should probably take it before you race.
Ben: Yeah. Cordyceps is actually one of the things, you hear about these Sherpas that guide people up Mount Everest, a lot of them will use these adaptogenic herbs and shrooms like cordyceps. Which is technically a fungi. Not a shroom, I believe.
Shanna: I love shrooms.
Ben: Yeah. I love shrooms too.
Shanna: I know you do.
Ben: That's right. Just don't do the race on magic mushrooms. I do know of one person here who will be racing on magic mushrooms.
Shanna: I think I know who that person is.
Ben: Yeah. Probably. Alright. I'll let you guys take it away. It could be you. Yeah, unknowingly.
Brock: I'm going to be racing it…
Ben: I'm slipping them into your coffee tomorrow morning. Alright, you guys. I'll let you get back to the magic you were making.
Brock: It was magic.
Ben: Alright. Cool.
Shanna: Thanks, Ben!
Ben: Alright, you guys. Have fun!
Brock: Now where were we? Oh, I think we had tied up that topic. And I totally derailed your introduction of yourself too because I got so excited about the idea of a mindset detox, or an online detox, mind detox? Oh, I don't know. Let's bird that off. As you and Ben were just talking about, you're here representing Organifi. And Organifi is a green and red juice powder. Are those the two products?
Shanna: So we have more!
Brock: You do?
Shanna: We do now!
Brock: Those are the two that we talk about on the podcast a lot. But without turning this into a commercial, because we know people out there have heard a lot of stuff and you don't necessarily want to tune in to an infomercial, but at the same time, I think it's important that we just sort of talk about what you're doing 'cause, like Ben said, there's some really interesting and healthy stuff happening around here this weekend.
Shanna: Yeah. Absolutely. So Organifi, I'm sure you guys, if you guys are listening, you've heard the ads. Because we do…
Brock: Probably heard us talk about the green and the red juice, and we make fun of the fact that those are not very inventive names.
Shanna: They're not. They're actually straight to the point.
Brock: They really are.
Shanna: You know, a two year old kid could identify it.
Brock: And I guess that's a good thing.
Shanna: It's been working so far.
Brock: I guess. Okay.
Shanna: So I would call Organifi, it's a superfood supplement line and our staple product was obviously the green juice, the green juice powder.
Brock: Everybody loves green juice.
Shanna: They do. And I know Ben does. We just launched the red juice this year, which is super exciting. And then we have…
Brock: But you haven't launched them in Canada, so I've never tried it.
Shanna: We ship to Canada.
Brock: Do you?
Shanna: Yeah.
Brock: Okay. I take it back.
Shanna: But we're still working on it…
Brock: So it's my bad that I haven't tried it then. Not yours.
Shanna: We're still working on the shipping prices though. They can get a little expensive.
Brock: Yeah. Anyway. Okay, so red and green.
Shanna: So red and green. And then we have a plant-based protein powder that has digestive enzymes, healthy fats, whole food grade vitamins. So that's exciting too. And then we have a turmeric and a probiotic.
Brock: Okay. But everybody makes protein powder with those things in it. What's different about yours?
Shanna: This is true. I would say the quality and source of our ingredients in any product, it's all organic. We don't use any fillers or any additives. The vitamins come from whole foods versus being synthesized in a lab. So they're actually extracted from whole foods, which is a big thing. It's not something we can really promote on the label, but it's something that we know and we talk about.
Brock: What is it, the FDA? Is that the organizing body or the body that sort of determines what you can put on your labels?
Shanna: Yes, correct.
Brock: Okay. As I understand it, there's only so many and very few claims that you can actually make on your product labels. Is that what you mean when you can't actually point that out?
Shanna: Yeah. And even just spacing as far as graphic design, it's really hard to add. There's so much you want to add to tell the customer, but that's what we have everything else for online, and websites, and all these interviews so that we can talk about the quality and sourcing of our ingredients.
Brock: Okay. So I derailed you once again. So the protein, and then what was the next thing?
Shanna: It's a turmeric capsule and a probiotic capsule.
Brock: Okay. So turmeric, you're going for the anti-inflammatory properties of turmeric?
Shanna: Correct. That was the pain point behind creating the product. So all of our products that we create, we survey our audience first to discover what their pain points are, what they're suffering from, and then we create products to solve those problems.
Brock: Okay. My mom has pretty bad arthritis in her hands, and her back, and a little bit in her neck and stuff. So she got on the turmeric bandwagon and she tried one of the capsules for a while. It was pretty expensive. So now she just takes the root and she just sort of grates it up on her food. Is that better? Is that worse? How does that compare to what you guys are doing? Like why wouldn't you just buy some of the root and just grind it up on your food?
Shanna: Right. Ours is full spectrum of turmeric, and we add the black pepper. Have you heard of the black pepper effect?
Brock: Oh, yeah. Well actually I've heard of that in conjunction with cannabis.
Shanna: There you go. So the black pepper just enhances the benefits. I think it's like times four or something, four or five. It just enhances benefits. So my mom, same thing.
Brock: Our moms are so smart.
Shanna: She's been taking the turmeric capsules and she says it doesn't 100% alleviate the pain, but it dulls it enough that she can, 'cause she's a writer, she's always on the computer. It dulls it enough that she can actually work without pain.
Brock: And that's important.
Shanna: So that's important.
Brock: That's good. Cool. Okay. Now I know there's a bazillion ingredients in the Organifi, but most of the ingredients in there are pretty run of the mill, pretty normal, and we're not going to really get into those. But I know there's a few in there that our listeners may not have actually heard about or know much about, and so we're going to circumvent all the stuff that you guys, all you smart cookies out there listening already know. So what are these ingredients that really sets Organific apart? And we're going to start making this sound like a commercial. I'm doing a terrible job. I keep saying it's not going to be a commercial, but I'm commercialing like crazy here. Screw talking about Organifi. Let's talk about some really cool ingredients.
Shanna: Some really cool ingredients that just happen to be in it.
Brock: That just happen to be in this product…
Shanna: And Ben actually did want us to go over some of the stuff, so we're in integrity here.
Brock: We're following the boss's orders.
Shanna: So one of the cool things is ashwagandha.
Brock: Ashwagandha.
Shanna: Ashwagandha. I know. It's a really cool…
Brock: It's a cordycep?
Shanna: So ashwagandha's actually an adaptogenic herb.
Brock: Adaptogen. I always get those confused 'cause they tend to be together.
Shanna: Correct. And we have cordyceps in our other one. That's the other one we're going to talk about.
Brock: Okay. Let's not get ahead of ourselves then.
Shanna: But ashwagandha's an adaptogenic herb and what adaptogenic, I'm sure Ben's talked about this, but it basically…
Brock: Yeah. I think he talked about it in terms of managing stress?
Shanna: Yeah. So adaptogenic herbs regulate to your body. So whether you're, like let's say with hypothyroid, hyper or hypothyroid. If it's too high or too low, an adaptogenic herb will balance it to the middle regardless of where you're at.
Brock: How's it so smart?
Shanna: I don't know. It's amazing!
Brock: That's crazy. So with ashwagandha in particular, it works on the stress hormone cortisol. So whether you're high or low, it can support you. So if you're low it can support in giving you more energy and bringing it back up. If you're too high, which let's be honest, most of us are…
Brock: Yeah. I was going to say I don't think very many of us are too low in cortisol, but it's possible.
Shanna: It has shown in clinical studies to reduce cortisol levels. So that balances and manages stress, can support with better sleep, so all the good stuff that that comes with. So it's kind of like meditating, taking ashwagandha.
Brock: Nice. That's like the shortcut. Actually after I said “not very many people are low on cortisol”, I immediately thought, “Okay, people with adrenal fatigue.”
Shanna: I was just going to say that. If they're flatlined, I've seen those flatline results.
Brock: And we do, I know we've got a lot of listeners out there who have, like we're all type A personality that drive a little too hard and often dig ourselves into holes. So ashwagandha, I'm pretty sure that's actually the main place where Ben has talked about it in the past.
Shanna: Absolutely. This is the thing with superfoods. There's like 100 other benefits as well, but I want to talk a little bit about moringa because Ben asked me to. Have you heard of moringa?
Brock: I am thinking it's not what I think it is because I think I'm thinking of merengue, which is a dance.
Shanna: No. It's not merengue. However, it comes…
Brock: Not the South American dance?
Shanna: However, moringa does come from Central America.
Brock: Oh, nice! Where merengue was born, as I'm guessing?
Shanna: So the cool thing about moringa, so moringa is also referenced as the “tree of life” because, again as a super food, it has so many benefits. And it has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory properties, all these incredible things. But the cool thing for me is, so my mom has lived in Nicaragua for 10 years and she has a moringa tree in her backyard. And for so many years, before I knew what it was, she's been taking the leaves and making a tea out of it. And over the years, she has hypercholesterolemia, so her cholesterol has always been above 350.
Brock: Join the club.
Shanna: Yeah. So it's a familial genetic thing.
Brock: Yeah. I've got that as well. That's why I'm nodding knowingly.
Shanna: And she refused to take the statin drugs.
Brock: Me too.
Shanna: Yup. So as I got into nutrition and we started, she got into it and started studying how to heal the body with superfoods, plants, and all these things. So in the time that she's done this moringa tea, her cholesterol has gone down 100 points. So in one year of doing the moringa tea every day, so it's down…
Brock: And she's just going out into the backyard, picking leaves, and like drying them? Crushing them up? Something?
Shanna: So she'll boil the leaves in a tea and then she puts it in the refrigerator, and she'll have like iced moringa tea.
Brock: That's awesome. So we all just need to go and buy a moringa tree.
Shanna: Yeah. Or organifi.
Brock: Yeah. Or the product that shall not be named.
Shanna: So with moringa, it's shown to lower blood sugar, reduce inflammation, obviously balance that cholesterol level. It reduces arsenic toxicity, something that came up in the research. Random. Joint problems, better digestion. So it's just these singular ingredients have so many benefits that it's incredible to put them all together.
Brock: So speaking of things popping up in the research, so when you list these benefits and stuff, how were these determined? Like did they find a whole bunch of people that just had like a weird cluster of symptoms and then like, “I don't know! Let's give 'em moringa and see what happens!”
Shanna: Yeah. So all the ingredients that we use, well most of them have clinical trials on them showing this. So I have not gone in depth into the clinical trials, but usually it's a study where they bring the people in who are experiencing something. They give the moringa and then they show the results. So kind of a standard study, and yeah, it's pretty cool.
Brock: So it's more likely that, like somehow historically there were some claims, this tends to be the way things go. Like thousands of years ago, somebody said, “Hey! You know what? I feel better,” or, “My foot fungus gets better when I put my foot into this thing.” That gets carried on, and then sort of in modern science we're like, “Hey, I wonder if there's something going on with that foot fungus and that muddy thing that they were putting on thousands of years ago.” And they either totally debunk it or they actually go, “Hey! There's something to this is.” So that's probably how they went about it.
Shanna: I would say that, especially all these, because a lot of these things, and the cordyceps, and the reishi, all these, these are ancient Ayurvedic healing plants. So it's something that they've been using for years and years, and like you said, modern science. So like the moringa studies we use came from 2009, and it's 2018 and people still don't really know what moringa is. So I think it is that. It's they stumble across these things and then, yeah. And then they start doing the studies.
Brock: And I think that's really one of the most important things in my mind is that it's not just something that people are like, “Oh, we've been using this for thousands of years. We should keep using it.” Because we did some crazy crap to ourselves. I was listening to a podcast the other day where they were talking about erectile dysfunction and sort of the treatments that they've done. Did I just inadvertently label myself as somebody who's having erectile dysfunction 'cause I was listening to a podcast about that?
Shanna: Nope! Not necessarily.
Brock: Anyway. They were talking about some of the treatments that they were doing through the ages, and one of the treatments was insane. They took baby alligator hearts, ground them up, and then spread it on the penis to cure erectile dysfunction. Clearly that's not going to work or help anything. But I think, like I just sort of look back at like a lot of the sort of holistic, the pseudo-holistic I guess, or pseudo-science that's going on out there is a lot of the time the words “people have been doing this for centuries” is used as a way to sell something, or try to give it credence, or try to make us think that, “Oh. Well it must be right.” Where that's not necessarily, well it's probably not at all a good reason to use something if there have been clinical studies have been done recently or done properly, then okay, yes. These are things that we should keep using, like ashwagandha, like moringa.
Shanna: Exactly. And that's what we look at when we're selecting ingredients as well.
Brock: So we're not going to be having any baby alligator heart paste spread on us at any point…
Shanna: I don't think so. I don't want to be around if you're doing that.
Brock: Can you imagine trying to remove the baby alligator hearts…
Shanna: But like who thinks, like where do they even…
Brock: Yeah. There's some…
Shanna: It's fascinating.
Brock: There's a guy named Pliny the Elder from like, oh man, it's like 5,000 BC or something that didn't, or maybe not 5,000 BC, about 500 BC years. I mean he's a very interesting guy who basically has this book that cures everything and it's always like the beak of a sparrow, and the dung from an owl and you shove it in your ear or something. It truly is, like we really didn't know what we were doing as humans so long ago that we were just totally throwing darts.
Shanna: Yeah. Although the cool thing that we can take from that is showing how everything in nature can heal us, right? Like a lot of things…
Brock: Or it has the potential to.
Shanna: The potential to. Yes, the potential to.
Brock: And that's what we had to work with, so that's what we went for and not necessarily, didn't always work, but our heart was in the right place.
Shanna: Yeah. I like that. Very good one.
Brock: Anyway, okay. So ashwagandha, moringa. What's the next one?
Shanna: I would say cordyceps. Just 'cause I know Ben's a huge fan of the mushrooms, the fungus, all of that. We've had many conversations about it.
Brock: Yes. Yesterday, I think that was the first thing he did when he got off the airplane was put some lion's mane and reishi into his coffee.
Shanna: Right. Perfect. So that's in our red juice.
Brock: Alright!
Shanna: Which is perfect. So mushrooms are actually getting a lot of attention right now. You do know Four Sigmatic, it's another amazing brand.
Brock: I wasn't going to name them just out of respect.
Shanna: I don't even mind. I love their products.
Brock: That's what Ben was putting in his coffee.
Shanna: Yup!
Brock: And actually I used to do the lion's mane coffee from those guys, but it gives me heart palpitations. Like it works just a little too well for me.
Shanna: Well that's showing, yeah, the power of it. I mean with mushrooms, so cordyceps is also considered an adaptogen. It's also known as the caterpillar fungus. Does that sound enticing?
Brock: Well, it sounds cute. I like caterpillars.
Shanna: Caterpillar fungus. I don't know how to pronounce the actual name, but it has a long history in traditional Chinese and Tibetan medicine and it grows out of an insect host instead of a plant. So that's interesting. You know that makes, it's just sounds not appetizing now. So don't listen to anything I just said. It tastes amazing.
Brock: I have no problem with that kind of stuff. I grew up on a farm, we spent a lot of time in the farm in Saskatchewan so we ate a lot of weird stuff and we butchered chickens. That doesn't bother me at all. I will eat bugs happily. I’ve eaten worms.
Shanna: Wonderful.
Brock: Hopefully our listeners out there aren't squeamish about that kind of stuff. ‘Cause really, come on.
Shanna: Yeah. Well the good thing is when you blend it with other yummy ingredients, it actually tastes good. But cordyceps had been shown to being anti-aging, anti-inflammatory. It's also…
Brock: Anti-aging? That's one of those terms that always make me, “What?” Like what does that mean?
Shanna: Yeah. With that one, I think it's just, when they have anti-oxidants, they use that claim anti-aging because it's supporting your body and fighting those free radicals that can then prevent or reduce your risk for cancer and all those other things which we can't make any claims. So I'm not making any claims here. But it's definitely something to know about that. And then the thing I know that Ben finds exciting is that the cordyceps can increase indurance by strengthening ATP production. So taking it before, that's why we said taking it before his Spartan race, and mushrooms in general can give you that energy boost that you're looking for.
Brock: Oh, yeah. And ATP, I mean we can only actually manufacture a certain amount of ATP per day. I think it's like 25 grams or something, I think 25 milligrams, I can't remember the measurement but there's a only a finite amount or a certain amount that our body manufactures on a regular basis. So does it increase your body's ability to actually manufacture beyond what it normally would?
Shanna: Correct.
Brock: Okay.
Shanna: So it's interesting.
Brock: Yeah.
Shanna: Yeah. It's really cool. And then one of the studies that I saw in our research was they had rats who were swimming and they gave them cordyceps. And it showed…
Brock: That's so cute!
Shanna: I know. I just think of these little guys going.
Brock: Little water rings.
Shanna: Yeah. So not only did they fatigue slower when swimming, they were able to swim longer and their biomarkers for stress were reduced. Which is interesting 'cause sometimes…
Brock: So they were having more fun when they were swimming too. And that's what we want, our little happy rats.
Shanna: We're sending Ben out tomorrow, a little happy Ben running on his mushrooms.
Brock: Yup. That was a whole different scenario playing out in my head there for a second.
Shanna: And then of course there's a lot of studies with cancer, and I know I don't like to dive too deeply into those because it's a touchy subject. But just know that there have been amazing studies done in those anti-cancer or even treating cancer with all these mushrooms, the reishi, the cordyceps, and all of that. So it's pretty fascinating research.
Brock: And I know we both agree that we shouldn't go far into this, but I just want to go a little bit far into it. Is it actually, are they monitoring the cancer cells when that's being applied?
Shanna: Correct.
Brock: So they're actually looking specifically at the cell and seeing what effects it's having on that cell that's growing out of control?
Shanna: Correct. So the reversal of that or the reduction of that. And it's really fascinating, again, but I think we should get into that. Especially as a brand, we can't. But I encourage people to start doing their own research and looking at some of the studies that are being done. It's definitely too early in the history of it to make any claims, but it's pretty powerful stuff, these little mushrooms.
Brock: Yeah. Cool! Okay. So those are…
Shanna: Those are the ones, I mean I'm sure you guys have already talked about turmeric. So that's a good one.
Brock: Yeah. We did a little bit with our mums being so smart and taking that stuff. Yeah! Well, that's really cool. Before we wrap up, 'cause my, oh, my timer stopped at four minutes so I'm sure we've been talking for longer than four minutes, but I see our kind host keeps peeking in and I don't know if that means that you're supposed to be moving on to your next one, but what I want to ask you one question before we move on, and I've got five different questions to pull from. Which one am I going to ask you? I'm going to ask you the book, the book question. If you could recommend one book that has really changed your life and changed like maybe, how you work, like your work with Organifi or your work with the mindset stuff, actually more interesting would be the mindset stuff I guess. Is there a book that you could recommend to the listeners that would really help them get a leg up on the stuff that we were talking about with the mindset and sort of detoxing your brain?
Shanna: Oh, shoot. There's so many coming to mind actually.
Brock: Well you can pick more than one. I won't hold you to just the one…
Shanna: So I'll pick a few. And I'm blanking on the author, which is why I was going to look it up.
Brock: Sure! Yeah.
Shanna: “The Surrender Experiment”.
Brock: “Surrender Experiment”?
Shanna: Yes. That was a powerful one. “The Five Love Languages”.
Brock: Oh, okay.
Shanna: I love that one too, by Chapman.
Brock: Heard of that one. I haven't read that one, but that's…
Shanna: ‘Cause relationships, I'm really interested in relationships too and communication with relationships.
Brock: And it's not just focusing on relationships in the traditional sense of like your partner, or your wife, or your husband, or whatever. It's like relationships like us here. Like we just met, well not for the first time, but we really met properly for the first time earlier today and it would apply to us.
Shanna: It would! So the book focuses on your partner. However, it can be translated to business, to everything. And so a cool thing at our company actually we all read or we take the test, the Five Love Languages test to know everyone's love language because that's how you know how people receive love.
Brock: And does it give you like a number score, or a color score, or?
Shanna: So there's five love languages. So it's Words of Affirmation, Physical Touch, Quality Time, Gifts, and what's the fifth one. Quality time, Touch, Acts of Service. So it's all about how we give and receive love. And in any, every interaction, it applies. So even at work, if you want to, if someone needs acknowledgement or they want praise, that could look different. So for one person maybe it's getting them a gift card and getting them a gift. Some people want that quality time with their boss or the CEO. So it can translate to all relationships and I think it's pretty fascinating.
Brock: As you described that, I was, “I think we did that it at a company that I worked for previously.” We did have that set up, but I honestly completely forgot what mine is. I definitely wasn't the gifts 'cause…
Shanna: Yeah. It's not mine either. So mine's acts, but how you give and receive love is also different.
Brock: Yes!
Shanna: So I receive love in acts of service. So my husband, I mean he does everything and that's how I know he loves me. He could buy me gifts and I would be appreciative, but that doesn't like really resonate deep within me. And then the way I give love is words of affirmation and quality time with people.
Brock: That sounds like me too. Yeah.
Shanna: Yeah. It's a fun one!
Brock: Alright! Well thank you so much for sitting down with me this morning. Especially, it was sort of a wacky morning. I think you ended up getting here earlier than you were supposed to so I'm very appreciative, grateful. My heart is filled with gratitude. And I have gratitude for the Spartan Race director Joe De Sena for setting up this Podfest here in Lake Tahoe for the 2017 Spartan Race World Championships. And this weekend is going to be super cool and we've just barely scratched the surface. So I hope you have a great rest of the weekend. Are you going to do some racing?
Shanna: I'm not racing.
Brock: Yeah. Me neither.
Shanna: I'll be cheering.
Brock: I'm going to be cheering like crazy. I wish I was racing, I've got some plantar fasciitis that's bugging me but, yeah.
Shanna: I'm just lazy. No. I like yoga and barre. Spartan Race is a little outside of my…
Brock: Like barre workouts?
Shanna: Yeah.
Brock: Are you a dancer previously? I am.
Shanna: I'm not. Definitely not. Look at my body. I'm clearly not a dancer.
Brock: Well look at my body. I don't look like a dancer anymore, but I was a ballet dancer for a long time.
Shanna: No way?
Brock: So barre classes are very, very near and dear to my heart.
Shanna: That is fascinating. I'm glad I just learned that about you.
Brock: You have to look at my calves later.
Shanna: I'm going to right now. ‘Cause you have shorts on.
Brock: I do, yes. Everybody else is wearing parkas and I'm wearing shorts. Alright, thanks for listening everybody. This is the Ben Greenfield Fitness Podcast signing out without Ben.
Live from Lake Tahoe at the 2017 Spartan World Championship's Podfest, sidekick Brock Armstrong (with a brief appearance by Ben) chats with Shanna Mota about mindset, detoxing your thoughts and the 4 ingredients in Organifi that go beyond your regular superfood. Find out more at bengreenfieldfitness.com/organifi and use code “spartanben” for 20% off.