September 22, 2022

From podcast: https://bengreenfieldlife.com/podcast/qa-447/

[00:00:00] Introduction

[00:00:49] Podcast Sponsors

[00:05:03] Another Solosode

[00:07:01] The safe and proper usage of Feel Free Tonic

[00:09:22] What is Feel Free Tonic made of?

[00:12:41] Ben Greenfield's review of Feel Free

[00:18:01] II. Questions about Plant Medicines

[00:19:05] III. Clarogenics

[00:23:40] IV. Experimenting With High-Dose Proteolytic Enzymes and Ben's Thoughts on Koin Flex

[00:29:29] Podcast Sponsors

[00:31:56] V. Looking, Feeling, and Performing Amazing: 26 Health Tips from Dr. Mercola

[00:44:44] VI. Vibration training

[00:48:47] Quick Summary

[00:50:06] Upcoming Events

[0:50:32] End of Podcast

Ben:  My name is Ben Greenfield. And, on this episode of The Ben Greenfield Life podcast.

He walks up to me outside a coffee shop in Malibu, he says, “Ben, one thing I've done is absolutely transformed my skin, my hair, my nails, my recovery. I've been doing at least 40 grams of collagen a day.”

Now, I think essential amino acids are even better than collagen, which is why I do 20 to 40 grams of essential amino acids a day. If you have skin or you have joints, this would be good for you to do. So, higher collagen intake, higher essential amino acid intake.

Faith, family, fitness, health, performance, nutrition, longevity, ancestral living, biohacking, and a whole lot more. Welcome to the show.

Alright, if you enjoy using nicotine, you got to check out this company called Lucy. Alright, look, I know we're all adults here and we like to focus on relaxation and this blend of clean energy that you get from something like nicotine, but we also know that cigarettes are bad for you. So, if you enjoy using nicotine and you want a clean nicotine product not full of a bunch of artificial hoo-has, then this is the stuff for you. It's called Lucy, L-U-C-Y. They're at Lucy.co. The promo code is BEN20. They have gum. I like the pomegranate flavor. They have lozenges. I like the cherry ice flavor. They have the little pouches that you put in your mouth. I like the peppermint flavor for those. The promo code is BEN20. If you use that, that will give you the 20% discount at checkout. It does contain nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. I'm supposed to tell you that. That's me being responsible. I love it. I chew a piece in the midmorning and a piece in the midafternoon or a piece in the midmorning and a lozenge in the midafternoon. So, I cut myself off at about two, maximum three per day. But, oh my gosh, it freaking works.

So, it's called Lucy, Lucy.co. Use promo code BEN20 and you can experience with clean nicotine actually feels like.

Let's talk about ketones. I get tons of questions about drinkable ketones. I did a podcast with the folks from a company called HVMN, they make this stuff called Ketone IQ. And, they had sent me a bunch to try. And essentially, it's like this cheat code on ketosis because you drink them and you achieve the same level of brain and metabolism-boosting ketones as you get if you were fasting or engaged in excessive carbohydrate restriction. Both of which here and there can have their health benefits. But, by drinking the ketones you generate almost 30% more energy, more efficiently than sugar alone. So, it allows you to do more with less. Like when I used to use these things when I've raced Ironman Triathlon, meaning ketone esters, I would be able to consume a quarter of the normal amount of carbs that I'd normally have to consume to get me through a whole race.

So, Ketone IQ had a $6 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense, and partnerships with a bunch of researchers in ketone science. And, they created this truly kind of cutting-edge drink. It was really called Ketone 1.0, now it's called Ketone IQ, gives you a ton of energy with no insulin spikes, no caffeine jitters, no mid-afternoon energy crashes, you don't really think about food at all after you have one of these. Sometimes I get annoyed because I'll have one and then wind up at a restaurant and not be as much of a foodie as I usually am because I'm not hungry. It works out well.

So, they're called Ketone Esters. Visit HVMN.me/BenG and use code BENG20 for 20% off any purchase of Ketone IQ, HVMN.me and use code BENG20 for 20% off any purchase of this Ketone IQ stuff. That's an exclusive offer for you.

Alright. So, whole-body wellness is obviously a huge part of my life. I'm always looking for new ways to make feeling great, be easier. And, one of my non-negotiables is my daily dose of red-light therapy. For years now, I've been using Joovv light therapy devices to do that all year long. I love it because they're non-invasive, they're simple to use, no hassle with complex monitors and cables, and shoving stuff in the orifices. You just flip them on. They can boost cellular energy. They can heal damaged cells under oxidative stress. There's many other clinically proven benefits to red-light therapy. Even testosterone production for guys. It's pretty crazy. Joovv makes the good stuff, medical-grade components, third-party testing, safety marks from the nationally recognized testing laboratories. It's a safe and reliable product, and they're very powerful so you don't have to turn on the red light for like an hour and stand there. It's maximum 20 minutes a day and good to go. They even have a little wireless handheld device called the Joovv Go that's great for, well, you guessed it, being on the go.

So, go to Joovv.com/Ben and use my code BEN to your qualifying order. That's J-O-O-V-V.com/Ben. Apply my code BEN to your order and they're going to offer all my listeners an exclusive discount. So, J-O-O-V-V.com/Ben.

Well, hello. This is Ben. It's going to be a little bit of a different episode today because it is just little old me talking to you about a few hot topics that I've been asked about of late that I felt justified recording a podcast. In addition to that, I've had a giant film crew at my house. Well, they really weren't giants, they were normal-sized people, but there were several of them. They were at my house filming what we call a masterclass literally like we got into, gosh, my entire life, but not just like the usual biohacking, and here's how to make a blueberry liver smoothie. It was finances, and legacy, and purpose, and meaning, and spirituality. So, a ton of fun, but as a result, it's kind of thrown apart the schedule a little bit, meaning that this week's episode is one of those world famous, that's how I think so, solosodes.

Alright, so what I'm going to talk with you about today, first of all, just Feel Free energy drink that I've been getting a lot of questions about that I still use, but I think we should talk about it. Some questions I've been getting about plant medicine, particularly when I dropped that two-part series article and podcast about how I'm done with this whole journeying with psilocybin or recommending ayahuasca to people, things like that. I did mention the concept of a certain form of mind expansion and left and right brain hemispheric connectivity, and how to turn your brain into a supercomputer, at least briefly. I call these things clarogenics. We'd get into those in today's episode.

I'm going to talk about my experimentation with high-dose proteolytic enzymes therapy 25 life-changing health tips and a little bit about vibration platforms because no discussion on this podcast would be complete without talking about vibration. So, here we go.

Let's start with this Feel Free stuff. So, I was probably partially responsible, I'm not saying that to sound hubristic or narcissistic, I just know I helped to make the stuff popular. I did a podcast interview with this guy named JW Ross because I had been introduced to this energy drink by a friend of mine down in Austin, Texas, who handed it to me when I was iced coffee shop. I'll just bust him right now, was Khalil Rafati at Sunlife Organics. So, he hands me this little bottle, this little blue bottle, he says it's like this euphoric plant tonic that's supposed to give you the same feel-good effects of alcohol without getting drunk, but still, you maintain some lucidity. So, I'm like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever.” I just shot it because I consider myself to be immune to just about any stimulant on the face of the planet, or perhaps due to my history of bodybuilding, need tons of it to actually feel anything.

I shot it, and I headed out, I was actually walking to the podcast that I was about to record. And, about halfway through the walk, I started to feel really good. Fantastic, actually. Went and recorded the podcast, felt fantastic, great lucidity, clarity, word recall, felt on top of the world, kind of felt I'd had the socially lubricating effects of alcohol with none of the mental downsides. And, I was like, “Alright, this is interesting.” So then, I started to drink it. And, I drank a bottle every few days for a while. And then, I started drinking a bottle a day.

And then, leading up to my interview with the guy who ran the company, and I'll link to that interview in the shownotes for this episode, which are going to be at BenGreenfieldLife.com/447. That's BenGreenfieldLife.com/447. So, I interviewed this guy, JW Ross, but leading up to the interview, I got up to drinking about five to six of these things per day. I was doing some blood measurements at the time, and I was mainly concerned about whether or not my liver enzymes would become problematically elevated. Well, it didn't. I did notice when I would exceed about two bottles a day, I would get some stomach issues. I'll get constipated often once I even got hemorrhoids which wasn't fun like bleeding at your butt. I don't know if it was due to that, but then I talked to another friend who that also happened to once he exceeded two bottles a day. So, it's interesting. So, I'm not going to stop there though. You probably are like, “Oh, it's never for me, we bleed out your butt.” Granted I was way, way overdoing it. And, I'll explain that in a second.

So, the primary active ingredients in this stuff is kava and kratom. Now, kratom is one of those things that tends to be very controversial and even goes back and forth in terms of its legality for sale and introduction into compounds, especially supplements in the U.S. You can go all over the place in most cities and find shops that sell kratom, which is a coffee-like extract that comes in different strains, energetic strains, relaxing strains. It's very good for pain. Thousands of people all over the world use kratom their whole lives, especially in Southeast Asia like Vietnam, Malaysia. It's almost like coffee over there. Okay. And, this is holy for extract, problem is, and I get into this in my podcast with JW Ross which I'll link to in the shownotes, once you heavily concentrate the extract from kratom and you depart from the whole leaf extract, it can turn into bad news bears. Not only for your liver, but it tends to be really high and heavy metals and it tends to just be way, way too strong if it gets bastardized and concentrated like that. So, you could either drink a concentrate of kratom and screw yourself over or you could drink way, way, way too much of the natural stuff and also screw yourself over. Like anything, most stuff in excess can be poisonous for you.

And then, the other active ingredient in this stuff is kava. So, the kratom they get from Indonesia that they put in this Feel Free drink, the kava they get from Vanuatu, I think it is, Vanuatu. I believe that's how you pronounce that. So, kava is this also, I like to think of as Hawaiian weed. It is relaxing, knocks a little bit of the edge off of the kratom, it can give you this relaxed focus. Many people consider it to be euphoric and also allowing for the same type of heart-opening effect as you might get from a psychedelic without having to see pink elephants or go all kaleidoscope. So, kava is interesting also.

So, this drink, this Feel Free is basically five parts kava, one part kratom. And, I take a deep dive into the chemistry behind it, which I'm not going to do right now. I'm just going to get into personal experience and some additional comments about safety. Well, you know the whole science behind it in that podcast I did with the founder. And again, I'll link to it at BenGreenfieldLife.com/447.

So anyways, the other ingredients are pineapple juice for vitamin C, which allows for better deliverability of the active compounds on the kava and the kratom, coconut cream, same thing even with the stuff, a whole bottle of it only has like 10 calories, but there's a little bit of coconut cream in there for better delivery of the fat-soluble compounds of this stuff across your blood brain barrier. And then, it's just got some stevia in it, just some regular old stevia leaf like natural stevia leaf. The interesting thing is the coconut cream also kind of acts as a little bit of brain stimulant. So, there's a secondary effect of that.

Now, some people get suspicious of this stuff because if you go to their website, it's very hard to find the ingredient label. They almost hide it. I don't like it when companies do that, but I understand why they're doing it. They're doing it because it has kratom in it, and they don't want to get shut down. And, kratom can be difficult to market. I have another friend in the industry, Mark Bell, who sells his stuff called Mind Bullet, that's also a kratom. And, it kind of reminds me back when I used to run a CBD company. I'd change URLs and payment processors all the time and was always getting cease and desist letters. Kratom is kind of like CBD used to be. You know CBD, now you find everything. I think, gosh, it looks like Coca-Cola is putting into soda drinks and things like that.

So anyways, this kratom-kava combo made by Feel Free seems to work pretty well. As a matter of fact, it works really well. I still drink, people ask me. I taper down after the interview with them. I quit drinking it cold turkey for a few weeks because I'm like, “I probably overdid it and had too many bottles.” I felt a little tired for three days after I quit using it, almost like withdrawal effect, which of course like you'd get that from stopping caffeine cold turkey, stopping nicotine cold turkey, stopping just anything cold turkey. So, the slight withdrawal effects didn't surprise me. I was ready for it mentally after your, “Hey, if I stopped taking a stimulant, my body's gotten used to it, probably is going to take a little while before it gets used to not having that stimulant in my system.” But, after about three days, it went away and I quit drinking for a while. And, since then, I've just off and on stopped drinking it just to make sure that it's not something that my body is becoming dependent upon. So, I average about one bottle, I would say, every day and a half or so right now. So, I go through five bottles of this Feel Free stuff a week. And, it's a tiny, tiny little bottle, haven't seen. It's like a five-hour energy drink shot.

So, the thing is that a lot of people have written to me and they've been like, “I drank this and I felt like crap. I drank this and my stomach flipped. I drank this and I had these withdrawal symptoms and felt I needed it to get by.” And, none of that surprises me because here's the deal. First of all, if you look at kratom, very much like coffee, there are CYP enzymes in the liver that are responsible for metabolizing kratom. And, there is a wide genetic variability in terms of how that CYP2D6 enzyme is expressed. What that means is that some people will get exposed to the alkaloids, namely the mitragynine and kratom and they will not feel anything at all, and they'll have to have tons like boatloads to feel anything. Other people will taste kratom and get all wobbly and feel weird and almost feel drunk off the stuff. So, if you're a hyper responder to kratom probably like a quarter to a half bottle of this stuff is fine for you. I obviously metabolize kratom quite well, probably the same way I metabolize coffee, like I can drink five cups of coffee and barely feel anything because I'm a fast caffeine metabolizer. I'm also most likely, even though I haven't gone and checked out this part of my genetic SNPs, fast kratom metabolizer. So, based on that, if you're a slow metabolizer of kratom, yeah, you're going to feel really weird if you drink a full bottle of this stuff. And, I'll bet that's what a lot of people are experiencing.

Second, when I dug in to the reports of people who are feeling weird with it, they're drinking three, four, five, six bottles a day. If you go to the website, it says, “We do not recommend consuming more than one serving (half bottle) at any one time, or consuming more than two bottles per day.” And so, I'm getting these emails and texts from people who are like, “Hey, these three bottles of Feel Free are really flipping my gut.” I'm like, “Well, no, duh, you're drinking way more than the recommended amount.” And so, that's another issue. You could be a kratom non-responder or a kratom-poor metabolizer. I mean, you don't metabolize it, that will shape really funky. Number two, you might be drinking too much of the stuff. Number three, if you already have a compromised liver, compromised gallbladder, compromised gut, anything like this is probably going to cause you to feel funky. And, I would actually get your gallbladder and your liver and your gut checked out if you can't do so much as drink a half bottle of kava and kratom without feeling a little funky.

And, think about it this way. I mean, a glass of wine is great, has life-extending properties, wonderful antioxidants, some amount of nutrient density, but you're a dummy if you hear that and then you go drink a bottle of wine. Same thing like weed. Weed is pretty relaxed, and cannabis is pretty relaxing. Like taking a toke on a vape pen at the end of the day as you settle in for dinner with your family or whatever, I have no issues with that. But, if you decide to get blasted and go into full-on couch lock mode, it's kind of a problem. That's your problem. You overdid it. Alright, you did too much of a thing that's decent in small amounts but is bad for you in large amounts. Running is good for you. But, if you decide to go pound 20 miles after you hear me say running is good for your cardiovascular system, don't come back to me and complain later on that your knees hurt, or that you actually didn't feel good afterwards. So, the dose is the poison. The dose is the poison.

So, the ultimate takeaway for me with Feel Free is if you drink it, stop every once in a while because I drink coffee and I totally cut coffee for a week out of every month and switch to decaf, just to make sure I'm saying sensitive to caffeine. Same thing, I'll go on a trip and not take any Feel Free with me or I'll spend a few days in the weekend not drinking and go through the first few days of the week not drinking and then start up again. Probably horrible for their business for people to hear me say, “Oh, well, stop using it quite frequently.” But, that's my recommendation. And, go listen to the podcasts I did with them because it's interesting. It's like, “Yeah, if you don't metabolize kratom, well, if you have a poor functioning liver and gallbladder, if you have gut issues like leaky gut syndrome, or if you don't metabolize kratom that well, this is probably not something that you're going to feel that great with.” And then, also be aware, the serving size is half a bottle folks, half a bottle. So, understand that as well.

So, that is the dealio with Feel Free. And again, if you go to BenGreenfieldLife.com/447, I'll link to my original podcast with them as well as anything else that you need to know about this stuff.

Alright, so let's turn to the next topic at hand that I've been getting asked some questions about. And, that is this whole plant medicine thing. So, I am not going to kick anymore the horse that I kicked to death when it comes to the dangers that I recognize a company the current infatuation, it seems with plant medicine. Not only the environmental impact of stripping the Amazon with things like ayahuasca tourism, but the potential for psychosis, schizophrenia, sex abuse, the interaction with what I would consider to be dark entities that you experience a lot, particularly with elements of the plant kingdom taken in high doses. I think it's a very dark interaction or at least opens up the potential for dark interaction with the spirit world. If you go to BenGreenfieldLife.com/447, I'll link to a few podcasts now that I've done my two-part series and then a recent podcast with my friend Josh Trent.

Well, if you paid attention to the podcast with the articles I said there was one form of medicine, not plant medicine, it's synthetics, no plants involved that are often called clarogenics. These clarogenic compounds don't seem to involve as much dark spiritual energy yet allow for the same type of mind expansion altered thinking patterns that one might want for a business or personal breakthrough, merging left and right brain hemispheric activity, kind of putting the ego on the back burner that one might be looking for with plant medicine but without the side effects, particularly the feelings of others like the presence of other spirits or seeing entities or things like that. So, I was aware of some of these compounds. I'd use some of them, but I've never really experienced anything like that in the absence of plant matter like say psilocybin or huachuma, or something like that, or ayahuasca or even DMT.

Anyways, I felt as though I should probably do a little bit of immersive journalism, and look into what an experience with these so-called clarogenics was actually like, and whether or not there was any of this dark energy involved and how I thought it compared to say plant medicine. So, I recently, in the past several weeks, actually tried some of these compounds via a facilitator who's somewhat hard to find. And, if you leave a comment in the shownotes, I'm probably not going to tell you who they are or where they live. However, by asking around, you might be able to find such an individual.

Anyways though, so I had a session facilitated for me, and it was actually really, really nice. My motor function was somewhat impaired, the same way that motor function would be impaired say if someone took a whole bunch of psilocybin, or LSD, or ayahuasca, or ketamine, or anything like that; however, the experience was very controllable, particularly with my breath, I could control the entire experience with the way that I breathe throughout it. There is no dark energy at all. I didn't treat it as a divination session or a deeply religious experience, simply I treat it the same way I would treat taking a nootropic or a smart drug. It was almost as if my brain turned into a 20x supercomputer. There was a little bit of synesthesia that went along with the music that I was playing. And, I was, of course, wearing an eye mask. I journaled for several days with multiple so-called downloads, or realizations, or ideas afterwards, which was great. I could speak the whole time. I was aware of the whole time. I knew exactly what was going on in the room the whole time. There were no entities. There was no weird dark spiritual woo-woo. It was actually really, really great.

And so, I would say that despite that, I still think that we need to be very careful sending people the message that they need to say “Go do drugs to have a business breakthrough,” or especially “Go do drugs to find God,” or “Go do drugs to heal trauma.” I think that someone who is in the wrong space mentally or psychologically could go and do something like I did to let's say deal with some deep dark traumatic issue and potentially experience more trauma, or psychosis, or schizophrenia, or something that might not be that great coming out the back end. So, I would say it's really not for everybody. Even the use of these clarogenics, the same way that I proceed with caution with plant medicines. 

However, unlike plant medicines, I don't feel that they're dark or scary or have any type of negative spiritual association with them. Basically, it was like taking a smart drug and losing a little bit of my motor function at the same time but turning my brain into a 20x supercomputer. It's best I could describe it. Not like forever, I'm obviously not a supercomputer now quite obviously, but during the time that this stuff was in my system for about three to four hours, I was flying pretty fast from mental standpoint. I can tell you that.

I know a lot of people been asking me about these clarogenics and the lucidity comparisons between them and plant medicines and how I feel about them, and I would say that they're purely synthetic, they don't have any of the dark energy that one would associate with some plant matter. They're controllable, and I felt absolutely fantastic. So, there you have it. There you have it.

Let's go ahead and go here next. I want to talk about my experiment with high dose proteolytic enzymes. Now, let me give you a little background. You might be familiar with things like papain from, I believe papain is from papaya and bromelain from pineapple is being two enzymes that are digestive enzymes but they can also break down things that cause soreness in the bloodstream like fibrinogen, and so they can be very good for the joints or for recovery, the trypsin and the chymotrypsin enzyme that you would find in meat would also fall into that category. Well, there's this stuff called serrapeptase, which is an enzyme that's actually found in the digestive tract of silkworms. So, it's what the silkworm uses to eat through and disintegrate a cocoon as it develops into moth.

Now, a lot of people for a long time, this was isolated by Japanese sciences in the '60s and oral formulation became pretty widespread shortly thereafter. But anyways, it's been used for pain and inflammation due to its ability to relieve inflammation and pain and swelling. So, it's interesting, if you were to eat it with food, it will just eat through and digest the food that you've eaten. But, if you take it on an empty stomach, it helps to not only fight inflammation but what's really interesting is apparently it can dissolve yeast biofilms. So, things like candida use biofilms as this protective matrix to hide themselves from your immune system. And, this is incredibly tough to actually break down. You can get rid of the candida and still have biofilm for years, especially if you've had a long-standing infection.

So, apparently, what the serrapeptase enzyme does, it kind of drills through the biofilm membrane and leaves the pathogenic yeast or bacteria like candida exposed. And so, then if you take an antifungal at the same time like say oregano or coconut oil or even an antibiotic, it would actually theoretically work better because the yeast or the bacteria biofilm has been broken down. Now, of course, as you can imagine, you could totally overdo proteolytic enzyme intake and eat away the lining of your stomach or something like that. I think like anything, like I was talking about Feel Free earlier like the dose is the poison. However, here's what happened. I got candida, I think I got it from my wife. We're all adults here so I can say this. I think my wife had a yeast infection down there and I think that by me going down there, I actually contracted it orally, I suppose it could have been oral to oral communication as well. But anyways, I think a lot of guys can get it from their significant others, and then wind up with candida.

So, I got a candida and I thought, well, okay, I can use oregano, which is fantastic for Candida, but I know the biofilm is an issue, so I started taking high-dose enzymes. I use this stuff, Kion Flex, because Kion Flex, it's made by Kion for joint soreness and for recovering more quickly because it's got a really, really water-soluble absorbable form of turmeric in it called turmerosaccharide, but then it's got this stuff called AyuFlex, which is from a haritaki root, which has actually been used quite a bit in ayurvedic medicine to help to facilitate recovery. And then, it's got all these proteolytic enzymes in it, including Serrazimes, the same stuff from serrapeptase from the silkworm bacteria. In the case of Kion, we get it from aspergillus, which is a healthy fungi. And then, we also put this other enzyme blend in Kion Flex called ProHydrolase, which breaks down protein and increases amino acids in the blood and decreases the big peptides that can be related to inflammatory C-reactive protein levels. 

So, there's a serrapeptase and there's the hydrolase, and then these Serrazime things, which are additional enzymes. So, all of those are in the Kion Flex and I thought, “Okay, I'm just going to take a bunch of this.” You're supposed to take just three on an empty stomach in the morning or in the evening. So, I started taking 12 a day. I've talked to other people like my friends at BiOptimizers, I think it was Wade Lightheart, I was talking to him, he's taking 40 a day or something like that of protein-digesting enzymes. For some of the same reasons, I thought about taking high dose Kion Flex like the impact on biofilm, the potential impact on soreness, the potential impact on joints and recovery. And, I got to tell you, it not only worked like gangbusters in terms of relieving candida symptoms because I've had candida before faster than I've ever experienced in my life. It's not advertised for this. I don't even think it's indicated for it, but it worked for me, at least.

But, the other thing was I felt so, so good. From a joint standpoint with this high, high dose proteolytic enzyme, my stomach felt really, really good, so it wasn't like eating to the lining of my stomach. And, even though I'm not going to take 12 Kion Flex a day for life, I'm throwing it in there every now and again, like a couple days a week I'm taking giant handfuls of proteolytic enzymes, and I actually feel really, really good with it. So, it actually is interesting because serrapeptase has been looked into also for the management of upper respiratory conditions, bacterial control, and of course fighting inflammation. So, I think I'm just getting this massive anti-inflammatory dose, breaking down biofilm, giving a ton of TLC to my joints. And so, you could go read the whole article that I wrote about the new formulation of Kion Flex because this is a supplement that I helped to make but I never really took it high dose. Now, I'm taking it high dose on a couple of days a week. I think I'm going to keep doing it. It seems to work really well and I feel really good with it. And, especially if you have candida or yeast or fungus, I would totally look into it.

Alright, so that's my little experiment with high-dose proteolytic enzymes.

Hey, so I decided that this morning I wanted to make a low-carb shrimp and grits for dinner. Not for breakfast. I was prepping for dinner. I decided to use cauliflower rice, cauliflower rice and you could make cauliflower rice. It's a little bit time-consuming for a lot of that stuff like cauliflower rice, coconut wraps, rice wraps or nori, or some Paleo gluten-free or keto cereal that you're never able to find at the grocery store that's actually clean, clean beauty products, organic biodynamic wine, non-toxic cleaning products. A lot of this stuff can be a head-scratcher to actually find, but there's one place that not only makes finding it easy with amazing search functions but they have everything, plant-based, keto, gluten-free, zero waste, you name it, they have it. They're called Thrive Market. You can't even find a bunch of their stuff on Amazon. They ship at amazing prices. You find all your grocery items in one place at an affordable price, which is almost impossible now. And, if you join today, they're going to give you 80 bucks in free groceries, $80 in free groceries.

If you go to ThriveMarket.com/Ben, oh, and throw in some cauliflower rice while you're at it, it'll all come to your house with fast and free carbon-neutral shipping. They better the planet too these folks at Thrive, they're cool. ThriveMarket.com/Ben, T-H-R-I-V-E-Market.com/Ben.

Let's talk about clothing. I'm actually wearing the exact clothing I'm about to give you a fat discount on right now. They are my Vuori Banks Shorts. So, I can wear these things. I've been wearing them all weekend actually. I wear them to church. I can wear them in a workout, actually worked out, and went to church and had the same pair of shorts on the whole time. It's that good; running, training, swimming, yoga, lounging, weekend errands, apparently religious activities now. Their products are incredibly versatile. They 100% offset their carbon footprint, meaning any plastic footprint from the manufacturing of clothes, they take care of that. It's an investment in your happiness because honestly, it's hard not to feel good and look good when you're wearing these things are so freaking comfortable. You want to wear them all the time, like 90% of my wardrobe is Vuori, V-U-O-R-I. It's perfect if you're sick and tired of traditional old workout gear. Who wants that crap?

Alright, so Vuori.com/Ben. And, here's what you get, 20% off your first purchase. That's pretty huge. Free shipping on any US order over 75 bucks and free returns. V-U-O-R-I.com/Ben.

So, the next thing that I want to bring up was just I guess from a basics of looking, feeling, and performing amazing written by a person who I really respect even though he's controversial and kind of a lightning rod, were 25 tips, 25 tips. This guy had generated over 25 years of research and healthy living. And, I want to share, I'm going to do lightning round, and then I'm going to give you the URL if you go to BenGreenfieldLife/447 if you want to take an even deeper dive into this stuff. But basically, this was a fantastic treaties on the 25 top things that this guy learned over 25 years. Going to give you his name at the end. Alright, you might know by the time I get done. So, here we go.

Tip number one, time-restricted eating for metabolic flexibility. I do this, I recommend you do it 12 to 16 hours without eating every day. For me, that's 365 days a year, starting in the evening, most of us while I'm sleeping, then I have a late breakfast. For men, 12 to 16 hours. For women, namely pre-menopausal women, 10 to 12 hours every day, so good for you, so much science behind it. So good not only for longevity but also metabolic flexibility. That's number one.

Number two, ruthlessly eliminate all seed oils from your diet period. Get rid of him no ifs, ands, or buts. I've also done that and it's pretty amazing when I do get exposed such as say like the Whole Foods hot salad bar. I use, as I recently posted on Instagram, spirulina about 6 grams and/or glycine about 5 grams that mitigates the damage from vegetable oils if you do happen to have them.

Number three, incorporate blood flow restriction training regularly, which I do. As a matter of fact, when I travel, I throw these super lightweight BFR bands or Kaatsu bands in my bag, I strap them on, I'll put them on my arms or legs, do 30 push-ups, 30 squats, 10 pull-ups, few lunges, a core exercise, some elastic band overhead presses, and I'll just do as many rounds as possible that for like 20 or 30 minutes, then I've had some time left over I go on a walk with the band still on. And that's my go-to because it allows for your body to experience the same response as it might get from heavy lifting with no access to heavyweights or a crappy hotel gym. It just works. And then, when I'm at home, I have this thing called a Vasper. You can google it or I'll just put a link to it to an interview that I did about it. And, it's a 21-minute workout that is a blood flow restriction workout. I do that three times a week. And, that's just about the only cardio I do at home aside from occasionally hitting the AirDyne bike. So, blood flow restriction training if you're not doing it yet, or what they call KAATSU training, do it.

Number four, regular sunlight exposure. Way more important than vitamin D intake because matter of fact, you're probably not getting as much from oral vitamin D supplementation unless you have the gene that impairs your ability to be able to make vitamin D from sunlight exposure, which I personally have but it's not that common. Otherwise, sunlight exposure preferably early in the day, preferably for anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours as early today as you can get it. Wear as little sun screen as possible unless you're prone to burn. I totally agree with that one too.

Most of us especially men need to donate their blood on a regular basis. Iron is not necessarily good. Test your blood regularly, there is a thing that rust you from the inside out. It's called hemochromatosis. If you test your iron, it's too high, donate iron. Make sure you get enough copper in your bloodstream, such as by eating organ meats, balance out the iron, and consider also a little bit of sweating, a little bit of endurance exercise to continue to get rid of iron.

Eat adequate protein. Yes, extremely important. The amount is very, very basic, 0.55 to 0.8 grams per pound per day. That's what I do. I throw in a bunch of essential amino acids like I do 20 to 40 grams of essential amino acids a day because I feel amazing on that stuff. It's like the Swiss Army knife of supplementation but basically get adequate protein. Most people are protein phobic because they think it's going to shorten their life, and that's hoowee.

Sauna, regular sauna, perfect three to five times a week, 20 to 45 minutes. Heat stress is so good for you, as is cold stress, but this guy listed heat stress is number seven.

Number eight drink hydrogen-rich water every day. I do that big mason glass jar. When I wake up in the morning, it's one of the most potent selective anti-inflammatory and antioxidant agents that exist. I have a big glass of it every morning. And, if I'm on a long-haul flight, I pop those things in just about every bottle of water that I have on long-haul flight. 

Number nine, sleep enough. Of course, but this guy gets into keeping all electronic devices away from the bed period. And, I totally agree.

Number 10. Related to that, minimize EMF exposure. This guy actually wrote a book called “EMF*D.” I'll link to it in the shownotes. It is one of the best treatises that I know of for limiting your exposure to power lines, wiring errors, radio frequencies from smart meter, cell phones, Wi-Fi, like transient voltage spikes AKA dirty electricity gets into all that. so, I would definitely read that book and read the article because the article goes in a lot more detail.

Get rid of all your nonstick cookware. Alright, a lot of people don't think about this. But, if you cook in your kitchen, you're getting a ton of polyfluoroalkyl, PFAS substances when heated. Ton of people, even healthy people have not yet gotten rid of their nonstick cookware. Get rid of it.

Number 12, address high blood pressure. I think one of the best ways to do this again is regular heat exposure, regular sauna, especially infrared sauna. A lot of people have blood pressure, she's still don't even know it. Especially in our modern post-industrial stressed-out era that we live in because we're special snowflakes and we're more stressed out than anybody's ever been, right? I'm just kidding. Human beings have always been stressed. It's just that now we know how to measure blood pressure and we're empowered to do something about it. 

Alright, number 13. Stop tech from surveilling you by protecting your privacy. This one's kind of important. It's basically this guy is super into “Don't use Google, use virtual private networks, use DuckDuckGo as your search engine, use things like Brave as your browser.” These are decent tips, I think. I don't get too geeked out on that, but I think it is pretty important when it comes to censorship and propaganda and AI-driven social engineering to at least be aware of that stuff, the invisible manipulation of big tech.

Alright, let's take off our tinfoil hats now moving to number 14. Use melatonin regularly. Huge fan of that. Go listen to my podcast with John Lieurance to learn why melatonin is so important, so good for your mitochondria, so good for your inflammation. Mitochondrial dysfunction is a hallmark of most chronic diseases, and melatonin is very important to mitochondria more than most people know.

Related to that, use methylene blue regularly. This one flies under the radar but it's actually fantastic as a metabolic enhancer, especially when composed or when combined with infrared light. So, methylene blue, I love that tip. That's another thing, it's like the Smurf mouth thing. People in the health industry get thrown on the bus for it, but it actually works really, really well, again, for metabolic enhancement and mitochondrial respiration, and ATP production.

Number 16. And, this was the same tip given to me by a guy named Mark Sisson six years ago. He walks up to me outside a coffee shop in Malibu and says, “Ben, one thing I've done is absolutely transformed my skin, my hair, my nails my recovery. I've been doing at least 40 grams of collagen a day.” And, this guy says number 16, boosts your collagen. I agree. Now, I think essential amino acids are even better than collagen, which is why I do 20 to 40 grams of essential amino acids a day. But, whether it is collagen or other essential amino acids especially if you're aging or you have skin or joint needs or let's say if you have skin or you have joints, this would be good for you to do. So, higher collagen intake, higher essential amino acid intake.

Number 17. Be prepared for emergencies. As a matter of fact, this is a big part of the Ben Greenfield Life masterclass that I did. I taught people how to secure your water supply and what things to stock away for food and your pantry and thinking about things like weapons and self-defense and personal survival. Be prepared for emergencies. So many people are not. And obviously, I'm not going to get into this on the podcast. But, if you're not yet thinking about that, let me put it this way. Here's where to start. Get a bug out bag. Now, if you just went, you have no idea what I meant when I said bug out bag. Ben, that's first thing you need to do, okay? Got a bug out bag, or make yourself a bug out bag and keep it in a place where you can grab it if shit goes south. Okay. That right there will at least get you digging into this a little bit more and thinking about it a little bit more. I actually have a four-hour assault rifle course coming up in two days, for example. So, I'm constantly trying to add a few feathers in my cap when it comes to self-defense.

So, number 18. I love this. High-dose digestive and systemic enzyme intake. Okay, and this gets into how it's good for blood clots, how it's good for circulatory health. You may have heard of these things that people have been doing lately that might increase the potential risk for abnormal blood clotting. That might be another place where these enzymes fit in. Fasting conserves enzymes, so you naturally get a little bit of an upregulation of these fibrinolytic enzymes when you fast. But, taking them regularly, I was happy to see this guy recommend it because like I said, I've been doing them high dose regularly.

Use vitamin C protocol regularly. I'm a total fan of that. I do a vitamin C IV, kind of like self-administered push IV. I get them from FastVitamin IVs. I do one a week and then I take Jigsaw Health Adrenal Cocktail, which is like really absorbable vitamin C. I do two giant scoops of that in that morning glass of water that I have that has the hydrogen in it. And yeah, I'm a huge, huge fan of whole food vitamin C for the immune system for sepsis, you name it. It's such a lifesaver.

Hydration. Duh, everybody always says we got to drink more. I'm just going to skip that one. We know we got to drink more.

B vitamins for brain health. A lot of people do not get bioavailable forms of B9, for example, methylfolate B6, B12, B1, B2, B8, especially if they're vegetarian or vegan. A lot of people are not aware of the host of issues associated with vitamin B deficiency considering that a well-formulated vitamin B compound and you're like Thorne's Multivitamin, they do a great one. If you're not supplementing vitamin B like boy, you should. It doesn't get a lot of attention because it's not sexy like vitamin D, but you should.

Number 22, don't be afraid of cholesterol. Totally agree with that. Drives me nuts when I still see people even in the health industry writing out LDL, the so-called bad cholesterol. No, just say LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol is a lipoprotein. Anyways though, so LDL, don't fear LDL, fear instead high blood glucose inflammation and high triglycerides, all three of which can cause that LDL to become atherosclerotic and go from being sufficient for heart disease to necessary for heart disease.

Number 23, use Quercetin if you need any type of respiratory health. That one I saw this person started to post a lot during COVID. And, I would agree it helps the shuttle zinc in your cells and it's actually really, really effective against viruses. And, it's potent antiviral in its own right. Quercetin. Quercetin. So, look into it, Q-U-E-R-C-E-T-I-N, also fantastic again for respiratory health.

Number 24, care for your brain. He's got a whole list of fats in there and things for the brain. Well, I'll list them super quick and go read the article if you want. Best way care for your brain, get enough DHA, get enough EPA, get enough choline, get enough phosphatidylserine, get enough carnitine, vitamin D, vitamin B12, and MCT oil/ketones and probiotics. Forget about probiotics because your gut-brain connection.

And then, last one, astaxanthin. When I interviewed this gal Sandra Kaufmann who put together this book where she ranked prioritize the best anti-aging agents in existence, astaxanthin was near the top. You get it from microalgae. It's actually in Kion Fish Oil. Not in very high amounts, just a little bit to keep the fish oil from getting oxidized. But, I used to do 40, 60 grams of astaxanthin when I raced Ironman Hawaii because it really helps, it's like edible sunscreen because it's a skin protectant, it's a keratinoid. But, it does a lot of other stuff. So, if you haven't yet looked into astaxanthin, you're getting some if you're eating pink fish, things like that. But, if you're not supplement with astaxanthin, you should actually think about it or at least try it for a little while to see how you feel. I'd recommend starting around 5 grams or so. But, you can take up to 40 grams a day. It's pretty cool stuff. I think there's only 1 or 2 grams in the Kion Omega Fish Oil, so you'll need a little bit more than what's in there. But anyways, astaxanthin is another one.

So, I'm going to link to this whole article because it takes a deep dive into everything that I was just talking about. And, the author was, you probably guessed already, Dr. Joseph Mercola. My friend Dr. Mercola who's really smart and also very controversial and sometimes gets very, very tinfoil hottie, but I love him. He's amazing. And, he's usually right about everything just 10 years before it actually happens. Alright, so BenGreenfieldLife.com/447. I'll link to that.

Last thing I want to talk about because I was using it today, and there was a great little article that came out about it, and because I use one of these just about every day for a warm-up, and also in between my sets when I'm exercising. I thought I should give this latest study a head nod. It was on vibration training. Specifically, it looked at what happens if you stand on one of these vibration platforms before you go out and exercise hard. Now, I expected that it would result in more muscle damage because one thing that happens when you're on a vibration platform is it increases the motor neuron recruitment and the number of muscles that you use in any exercise that you do after, which is why people can say squat more or sprint faster after they stand on the vibration training platform. But, it turns out that standing on one of these things before you go exercise seems to actually attenuate the symptoms of exercise-induced muscle damage. And, it seems to result in less delayed onset muscle soreness. They mentioned in the study how they think that when you stand in a vibration platform before your workout or before you go to an exercise, it results in a more even distribution of the loads across your body. And so, that might attenuate disruptions of certain muscle fibers because you're not asymmetrically loading your body, if that makes sense.

I don't know if their theory is right, but if you have access to a vibration platform, like I mentioned, I'm on mine every day. I'll go stand up before workout. If I go poop in the morning, I'll go out there sometimes and have my cup of coffee or my water and combine it with vibration. And, by the way, trampolining could also work for that just like shaking your body, tai chi style up and down. It's been shown to assist with reducing visceral abdominal fat, which I always thought was a joke seeing women at the gym standing on vibration platform with a giant Jamba Juice in their hand, which probably isn't the right use of it. But, it does, it resulted in a 25% reduction in the appearance of cellulite on thighs. I have a big article about vibration training on my website that I'll link to because it does a lot of stuff; amazing for strength training, especially in seniors who are aging, you maintain muscle more, probably because it also increases growth hormone dramatically. I mean, there was a 400% increase in growth hormone in one study in which they were destabilizing the muscles with vibration training, which is crazy, crazy high. So, something's going on with growth hormone when you vibrate your body.

And then, there's the recovery component that I just talked about. There's been multiple studies before this one that found better recovery, but this one was a great study and just backed all those up and reminded me that I should probably mention vibration training on my podcast because I haven't been talking about a lot lately, and it's really, really good; increased production of nitric oxide, blood flow, improved circulation, improved skin tone. And then, like I mentioned, Dr. Mercola, in his article was talking about reduction of blood pressure. Well, it seems to be amazing at reducing blood pressures, specifically if you're doing a few — I love this, a 62nd set holding a static squat position with the knees bent to 90 degrees with the vibration platform on. That's what I'll do sometimes in between upper body sets. And, it's actually been shown to significantly increase blood flow and oxygenation and decrease blood pressure when you do that. Ton of results on blood pressure lowering and decreasing arterial stiffness with people who regularly stand on or use a vibration platform, either standing and doing exercises on it or just getting into an isometric squat or doing push-ups with your hands on it.

So, I use one called a Power Plate, which works really well. Use what's called vertical vibration. There's different forms of vibration, but the Power Plate moves in a more three-dimensional motion, which is actually why they cost more than other vibration platforms because they're moving in a different range of motion. But, in terms of the hertz frequency settings on it, and the rotational vibration nature of it, I totally backed that one up. That's a really, really good one.

So, I'll link to the article in the podcast that I did about that if you go to BenGreenfieldLife.com/447.

Okay, so we covered Feel Free. Don't do too much of it. And, if you don't feel great with it, understand that half a bottle is the actual dose. But, it's not going to kill you, okay, unless you're taking a whole bunch of it or you're super sensitive to kratom or you have a bad liver, gallbladder stomach function. Like I just mentioned, use vibration training. If you haven't looked into it yet, might be cool upgrade for your home gym or talk with your trainer about adding it to their gym, if you have a trainer. My updated thoughts on high-dose proteolytic enzyme, fan, not all the time, but I'm doing a couple times a week now. Six Kion Flex in the morning empty stomach, six in the evening empty stomach. Oh, the plant medicine thing. I'll give a thumbs up to these clarogenic synthetic compounds for people who are ready for that who aren't using it to deal with intense trauma or aren't already in some kind of a dark place. But, if you're in a good place spiritually and you're not somebody who's going to be triggered or anything, I'm okay with something like that for just, again, turning your brain to a supercomputer for a little while and come up with new ideas. I'll probably keep doing something like that once a year or so just to drop in and think in a new way. So anyways, that's interesting.

Again, BenGreenfieldLife.com/447. Thanks for listening in. I hope you enjoy this little solosode, I hope it made your life better in some way. I love you. See on the flip side.

So, there's two events coming up. You can go to both of them. I'm going to go to both of them. Obviously, I'm going to fly to Texas, then fly over to Lexington. The Texas event called RUNGA is October 13th through the 15th. The Wild Health one is October 22nd. Go to both. I am obviously.

You can also check BenGreenfieldLife.com/Calendar for all of the events that I'll be teaching at this year. So, I hope to see you there.

More than ever these days, people like you and me need a fresh entertaining, well-informed, and often outside-the-box approach to discovering the health, and happiness, and hope that we all crave. So, I hope I've been able to do that for you on this episode today. And, if you liked it or if you love what I'm up to, then please leave me a review on your preferred podcast listening channel wherever that might be and just find the Ben Greenfield Life episode. Say something nice. Thanks so much. It means a lot.

 

 

 

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