April 22, 2023

From podcast: https://bengreenfieldlife.com/podcast/qa-455/

[00:00:00] Introduction

[00:00:34] Podcast Sponsors

[00:05:30] Updates

[00:09:30] Whether Or Not Erythritol Is Actually Going To Kill You

[00:18:58] Strength before cardio or cardio before strength?

[00:27:19] Extra virgin olive oil versus regular olive oil

[00:34:12] Podcast Sponsors

[00:40:28] Effects of diet containing astaxanthin on visual function in healthy individuals

[00:44:40] Opinion on MSCs (Mesenchymal Stem Cells) and exosomes are going to revolutionize healthcare. 

[00:49:24] A diet for a mid-40s male who quit drinking alcohol a few years ago?

[00:58:40] What's the best diet for Hashimoto's?

[01:07:43] Closing the Podcast

[01:08:33] Upcoming Event

[01:10:40] End of Podcast

Ben:  In this episode of the Ben Greenfield Life show. Is erythritol actually bad for you? Strength before cardio or cardio before strength, the best way to use olive oil, and a whole lot more.

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

Hey. So, one of the biggest issues when it comes to aging, aging poorly that is, is what's called senescent cell accumulation. Senescent cell accumulation. Senescent cells are often referred to as zombie cells. They're not all bad. As a matter of fact, they serve a purpose just like inflammation serves a purpose. But, if they remain in your body long after their functional lives, they can waste your energy and resources. And, senescent cell accumulation could contribute to things like slower workout recovery and joint stiffness and discomfort and the kind of sluggish mental and physical energy might associate with middle age. Now, senolytic ingredients or so-called senolites are these evidence-backed molecules to help your body naturally eliminate senescent cells. So, we're talking about things like fisetin, Piperlongumine, Senactiv, and a whole bunch of other research-backed ingredients that help combat senescent cell accumulation.

So, this new product, you don't have to take it very often, it's a couple times a month, you pop a few capsules and it nukes your senescent cells. That's a good thing. It's called Qualia Senolytic. They pack nine vegan non-GMO gluten-free senolytic ingredients into one formula. And, that provides you with the most complete senolytic support of any formula that currently exists on the market. And, they're going to give you a 100-day money back guarantee and an additional 15% off if you go to neurohacker.com. That's N-E-U-R-O-hacker.com and use code SENOBEN. That's S-E-N-O-BEN at neurohacker.com. And, that's how you can get your senescent cells, those zombie cells nuked.

You're probably familiar with the fact that the average adult should get seven to nine hours of sleep each night. I realize that's not always possible. More and more people are forced to make lifestyle changes to get more deep sleep, especially, but the good news is that quality matters just as much as quantity. So, when you're in bed sleeping, you want the quality of the sleep even if you're not able to be in bed seven or eight or nine hours to be as high as possible. The first half of the night is when your deep sleep window occurs. And, that's when things start to drop, your heart rate, your breathing, your blood pressure, muscle activity, your body temperature. And, since that temperature drop is such a crucial aspect of the deep sleep stages, finding ways to activate that sleep switch can help to increase your levels of deep sleep. So, that's where this thing called Sleep Me comes in. Sleep Me is the system that circulates cold or hot if you need it as an alarm clock, water to circulate underneath your mattress. So, it's a hydropower temperature-controlled mattress topper that fits over your existing mattress no matter what kind of mattress you have to give you your ideal sleep temperature.

I'm pretty straightforward. I just said that bad boy 55 degrees and sleep all night and occasionally, I'll switch it to warm water if I need an alarm. I don't want a blurring alarm clock. The warm water function is amazing. You've probably heard of sunrise alarm clocks that make natural sun. This is like that. Works just as well though, it's weird. The warm water just wakes you up and makes you not feel tired like you do when an alarm breaks you out of your sleep stages that might not be ideal for getting broken out of early in the morning. So, it's called the Dock Pro system. This new system that they've made, it's super slick. It'll even tie to your phone. You can set schedules. It's really cool. I guess literally and figuratively in this case.

So, here's how you can save up to 25% on the purchase of any new sleep system from Sleep Me. And, this offers available exclusively for my listeners only for a limited time, sleep.me/BenGreenfield. That's sleep.me/BenGreenfield. And, that's where you can get that ultimate discount on the Sleep Me. Enjoy.

Lucy. Probably saw that smart drug movie called Lucy, was like that other one called Limitless. Well, there actually is kind of sort of the equivalent of the smart drug and it's called Lucy. It's an oral nicotine company, a modern oral nicotine company that makes nicotine gum and lozenges and pouches for folks who want the best most responsible way to consume their nicotine. It's an adult product. You pop one. You get focus. You get clarity. You get better word recall. And, they taste amazing and they aren't chock full of Franken fuels like a lot of these gums out there are. So, the lozenges, I think like the cherry ice one is amazing. I really like the pomegranate gum. Those are probably my two top flavors. I use them in moderation as you should too because this product does contain nicotine and nicotine is an addictive chemical. But, if you want to experiment with how you feel on nicotine, one of the old school nootropic brain-enhancing compounds that's out there, you want to do so without doing things like, I don't know, smoking, you should check out Lucy's products. So, you go to lucy.co, Lucy, L-U-C-Y.co. And, you can use promo code BEN20, BEN20. Use promo code BEN20 at checkout at lucy.co. And, you're going to get a big discount. So, check them out, nicotine gum, nicotine lozenges, nicotine pouches, but clean ones. So, lucy.co and use code Ben20.

Well, folks welcome to today's show, today's live Q&A on Twitter Spaces. We do these a couple of times a month. If you happen to follow me on Twitter, twitter.com/something, something, I believe it's BenGreenfield, you will be able to hop on and ask your questions live as we record these episodes. In addition to that, these are the times when I get a chance, guest-free, to be able to fill you in on some of my own thoughts on the latest newsflashes and health fitness, biohacking, spirituality, and life optimization in general. All the shownotes for today's show are at BenGreenfieldLife.com/455.

Now, I have to admit normally you might notice a notorious absence of this. I have a podcast sidekick, Dr. Jay T. Wiles, typically joins me, but he's having some internet issues and apparently, he's a luddite and doesn't know how to fix his internet. So, it's just me solo today. But, that's okay, I am as the old–what's the show with Kim Jong-il where he sings about being ronery? I'm ronery today. I believe it's American something, something with the puppets.

Anyways, I'm a little bit sleep-deprived. I just flew in from Sedona late last night, got to bed about 2:00 a.m., and got up at 5:00 a.m. to chop wood and carry water so to speak, carry wood, chop water, I don't know. I had a fantastic event down in Sedona. Some of the replays of that you can find on my Instagram channel. Did a breathwork workshop at the wonderful Shine down in Sedona as well as a VIP dinner catered by me and my family in which we chopped and cooked and boiled and baked for about 10 solid hours and served 30 VIP guests. A fantastic dinner. We had a little pickleball meet-up at the orchard in Phoenix. Fantastic little pickleball facility there. Now, I am home here speaking to you.

In case any of you want the full calendar of where I will be next coming to your city, you can go to BenGreenfieldLife.com/Calendar. That's BenGreenfieldLife.com/Calendar. I could probably give you a quick preview here though. I'm going to be headed down to Hawaii here in a couple weeks to do some bow hunting. And also, we'll be headed down to California to take my sons through a little kind of miniature Navy SEAL hell week for civilians to bring in their 15th birthday with a bit of a rite of passage. I'll be mostly doing some private events throughout April. And, the next big public event that you might be able to take apart in is coming up in London, the Health Optimisation Summit in London. I'll link to that if you go to BenGreenfieldLife.com/455. Fantastic event over there. We're also going to have a separate VIP event at a place called HUM2N. So, check that out.

The other thing I should mention to you in case any of you are interested is I am actually in the process of selling my complete 10-acre biohacked health oasis here in Spokane Washington to move across the border to Idaho to be a little bit closer to my aging parents. So, if you're interested or you know someone who is interested in picking up a home that's been completely optimized for air, light, water, electricity, building biology, guest house, greenhouse, barn, goats, chickens, pool, cold pools, biohacking elements, obstacle course, the works, even a luxury tree fort, you can check out all the details at biohackedspokanehome.com. That's biohackedspokanehome.com. The home is going to be available starting summer of 2024 giving you a little bit of time to check it out and make some plans. And, I will have seller financing available on that. So, that's interesting.

But, let's go ahead and get on to the even more pressing issues, and that is today's newsflashes including whether or not erythritol is actually going to kill you. You might have seen the study that has a lot of people who are sugarphobic or low carb or keto or like to use alternative sweeteners running for the hills. The title of this paper was “The artificial sweetener erythritol and cardiovascular disease.” 

Now, you may have seen the headlines come out that erythritol is significantly associated with cardiovascular events. Now, I'm going to walk you through this so that you can better wrap your head around this and also be able to have a fantastic chat at your next cocktail party about whether or not the erythritol is actually a big deal because everybody seems to be talking about this one, sugar alcohols in general. 

So, this was a recent study. It appeared in the journal Nature and it investigated correlations between various, what are called, plasma metabolomics, sugar alcohols most notably. And, the primary sugar alcohol that was investigated in that study was erythritol. They specifically wanted to see if there was a link between erythritol and cardiovascular disease.

So, here's what's important for you to understand about this study. Erythritol is something that you may often see added to food products, particularly food products that are using alternative sweeteners, many drinks, a lot of ketogenic products, a lot of health products and health supplements, in general. If you look at the label of your protein powder, I don't know, your anti-aging powder, your energy drink, et cetera, you might note that erythritol is a primary ingredient. Even gum has erythritol.

Now, what a lot of people don't realize is that your levels of erythritol inside your body, what would be called your plasma erythritol, that can indeed be derived by you chugging erythritol or putting some form of erythritol into your gaping maw. However, you can also endogenously produce erythritol yourself. Your body has the capability to produce erythritol from either glucose or fructose. That's very important for you to understand because erythritol can naturally occur in many fruits, for example. It can appear as a food sweetener and your body can make it.

So, what this study looked at was two different cohorts. One in the U.S., a little over 2,000 folks in the U.S., and one in Europe, about 800 people or so in Europe. They followed them for three years. They did not actually look at the intake of erythritol or other carbohydrates, they simply looked at the level of erythritol in the body. So, from the get-go, it's not clear in this study how much of blood erythritol was derived from actual erythritol intake and how much of it came from the body's own endogenous production of erythritol. 

Now, what this correlation analysis found was that the folks or the highest quartile of blood erythritol levels displayed significantly more cardiovascular disease events and a higher cardiovascular disease risk than the lowest quartile of blood erythritol levels. Now, it's well known that correlation does not necessarily imply causation, and the authors of the paper acknowledge this fact. But, what the headline news picked up and what you may have seen was that the erythritol sweetener may increase your risk of heart attacks and stroke. That's a very alarming conclusion, but it's unfortunately very misleading. And, it's quite typical of media sensationalism in need of more careful analysis and attention.

So, red meat is going to kill you. What was the source of the red meat? What was the context in which it was consumed? Did it come slapped in between two buns and a greasy bag of French fries or was it grass-fed, grass-finished red meat from a local regenerative agriculture facility? Or, were the eggs that you're consuming accompanied by French toast and waffles and maple syrup every morning from chickens that were fed corn and grains their entire life? Or, are your eggs from a backyard chicken that was eating insects? There's a lot of subtle variables that media typically tends to ignore. And, this is a perfect example of that.

So, what this study found was that, yeah, high erythritol levels were indeed associated with a higher incidence of heart attacks and stroke, but it did not discuss the relevance of endogenous production of erythritol from glucose and from fructose. There's a conversion pathway in the body. It's called the pentose phosphate pathway. And, you don't need to necessarily be that familiar with physiology to understand this, but basically, what that pathway allows for is for the body to produce endogenously erythritol from glucose consumption or fructose consumption. Meaning, that excessive intake of sugar or excessive intake of glucose, fructose or starch can in fact lead to the same high blood levels of erythritol that the news headlines are leading you to believe would be had from consuming erythritol from exogenous consumption of erythritol. So, this positive association between plasma erythritol and obesity and cardiometabolic disease only indicates that high blood levels of erythritol are indeed associated with those events, but it doesn't mean that the erythritol came from your diet or came from those say health foods or energy drinks that you were consuming.

So, elevated blood erythritol is, in many cases, a mere marker of excess intake of caloric sugars. And, what's kind of shocking and somewhat paradoxical is that many people who read these news headlines might quit consuming foods that are low in sugar or low in glucose and fructose, eliminate dietary erythritol from their diets, and actually cause an increase in endogenous production of erythritol due to excess sugar consumption and this dysregulated pentose phosphate pathway that can be triggered by a diet that's rich in sugars. So, that's the first very concerning part of this study is it doesn't differentiate between exogenous and endogenous erythritol consumption.

Now, there are, in addition to that, many benefits that have been looked at when it comes to erythritol, including its antioxidant potential, improve what's called flow-mediated dilation which can lower blood pressure and improve cardiovascular health. It is non-glycemic. It's non-caloric. Meaning, the majority of erythritol consumed is excreted in your urine unmetabolized. It has no impact on blood lipids. It doesn't seem to cause GI distress in most people unless they have something like small intestine bacterial overgrowth. And, it has a beneficial effect on oral health. Namely, it can reduce plaque and reduce the pathogenic oral bacteria that can also be associated, again, paradoxically with cardiovascular disease.

So, the issue here is that they simply didn't differentiate between the exogenous and the endogenous erythritol consumption. And thus, the only thing that you can say about this study is it might justify the need for a future study that actually looks at consumption of foods that are rich in erythritol or consumption of products or supplements that are rich in erythritol or consumption of erythritol itself and the long-term impact on cardiovascular disease risk. At this point, I highly suspect that what they're seeing in this study is high levels of blood erythritol induced by high starch and high sugar or high glucose and fructose intake and not the actual consumption of low-sugar or low-calorie foods that have erythritol added to them. 

So, you don't need to throw all your erythritol out into the trash or give it to your enemies to cause them to drop dead of a heart attack, you instead simply need to pay attention to the research. I do recommend that you pay attention to an upcoming podcast I have on heart health and cardiovascular disease in general with the folks at Fountain Life, a place where I went through, a pretty rigorous cardiovascular disease testing protocol. I would also recommend you go back and listen to the previous podcast I did, which you can find at BenGreenfieldLife.com/HeartHealth. That's BenGreenfieldLife.com/HeartHealth, in which I visit a facility in California and did every test that I think a guy in their middle age or a woman arguably in their middle age could do to see what the status of their ticker is. Meaning, we looked at nitric oxide production. We looked at EKG scores. We looked at plaque scores. We did a calcium scan. We did a whole battery of tests, even like an ultrasound electrocardiogram to look at everything that's going on in the heart. And, that would be a good one for you to listen to if you want to go beyond just a basic blood panel of lipids, for example, to assess cardiovascular disease risk.

So, hopefully, that that kind of opens your eyes just a little bit more to this idea that the erythritol study is something that needs a lot more investigation before we blame erythritol for heart disease. So, I'll link to that study in the shownotes in case you want to take a gander at it at BenGreenfieldLife.com/455.

The next thing I wanted to mention was a very interesting article written by a friend of mine Brady Homer. He actually checked out some of the research on whether you should do cardio before weights or weights before cardio. And, this is something that I think a lot of people get confused about this so-called interference effective training or the fact that sometimes your endurance adaptations might be inhibited by strength training or vice versa, your strength adaptations might be inhibited by endurance training.

So, what he looked at was basically the idea of training sequence and whether an optimal training sequence actually exists because there was a recent article that came out in the Journal of Strength Conditioning Research on this so-called interference effect. So, I'll explain this to you. There's two terms that you need to be familiar with: Concurrent training and interference effect.

So, concurrent training, performing strength and endurance training within the same workout or within the same workout program is known as concurrent training. And, many people who want to engage in more effective or more time-hacked or time-efficient training, including myself, will often combine endurance protocols with strength protocols. My workout this morning, for example, I had a single set to failure for chest press, deadlift, squat, shoulder press, row, and pull down. And, in between each of those sets, I was doing two minutes on the Airdyne Bike and then one set of a core type of plank-esque activity. And, that's a perfect example of concurrent training.

Now, the other term that you need to be familiar with is what's called the interference effect. And, there's a long-standing debate in exercise physiology about the existence of this so-called interference effect. So, the interference effect is the idea that endurance training might inhibit or impair the adaptations to strength training or that strength training might inhibit or repair the adaptations to endurance training. For example, could cardio actually kill your strength training gains or inhibit hypertrophy? The impact of endurance on strength is a pretty well-investigated area. What happens is endurance training generally improves your aerobic capacity, your red blood cell volume, your mitochondrial density and number, and the activity of all the aerobic or what are called oxidative enzymes, but it can reduce muscle size or reduce muscle cross-sectional area, which of course is readily apparent if you look at say the body morphology of a marathon or versus a sprinter.

Now, strength training in contrast, that increases the level of glycolytic enzymes, which are responsible for burning more sugar instead of fat to generate ATP strength. Training also recruits more muscle fibers than endurance training. It increases muscle strength, the muscle cross-sectional area. It doesn't do a whole lot for mitochondrial capacity or for blood vascularization or capillary development, but there are definite benefits of course that cannot be denied to strength training.

Now, the thing is that what I've just described you dictates that the molecular pathways that mediate the adaptations to endurance versus strength training are in competition. So, some people have hypothesized rightly so that performing both strength and endurance training at the same time or during the same workout or in the same workout program would require sacrificing the adaptations to strength. 

So, there was a recent meta-analysis that was done, and this appeared in the Journal Sports Medicine. And, what this recent meta-analysis suggested was that concurrent endurance and strength training actually does not compromise muscle hypertrophy or maximal strength development. Then, what Brady gets into in his article, which I'll link to at BenGreenfieldLife.com/455, is does the order matter? So, if you can increase aerobic fitness and strength by doing both endurance and strength in the same workout, does the order matter? Like cardio before weights or weights before cardio?

Well, there was another recent meta-analysis that was published in the journal Frontiers in Physiology, which actually gives us the answer. So, what they looked at was 19 studies. And, each of those studies looked at the training sequence, meaning endurance followed by strength or strength followed by endurance. And, they looked at the impact on VO2 max or maximal oxygen uptake and strength. Now, some of the studies looked at or actually, all the studies looked at both orders of training, endurance training before strength training or strength training before endurance training typically in people who were training two to three times per week. 

Now, first of all, when it comes to your maximum oxygen capacity in what's called your VO2 max, which is arguably a pretty good indicator not only of overall aerobic fitness but also of longevity. There are certain things associated with longevity. Grip strength would be one. Walking speed would be another. The ability to get up and get down from the ground using as few limbs as possible would be another. Well, VO2 max is also pretty well-correlated with overall longevity or decreased risk of mortality.

So, what they found in this meta-analysis was that for strength, particularly lower body strength which is what they look at a lot in these studies, the training sequence actually matters. Performing strength before endurance is superior for increasing lower body strength. That was especially notable in older participants or female participants. But, in general, amongst most participants, performing strength before endurance is superior for increasing lower body strength. So, if your goal is to maximize strength, then you should not exhaust yourself with cardio beforehand. If you're doing Tabata sets, high-intensity interval training, steady straight training, whatever, you should save your cardio for after your strength or in a different workout than your strength if your goal is to maximize strength development. Now, if your goal is instead to improve VO2 max or aerobic fitness, it doesn't appear that the order of the training matters at all; cardio before strength or strength before cardio.

Now, there are a few things that Brady brings up in this article that you should pay attention to. One is residual fatigue. Meaning that if you're doing high-load strength training before your endurance training, then that can leave you so fatigued that your performance and your adaptations might suffer. So, you might not get as good an aerobic response if you're going super high load with the strength training. Conversely, a long run or a long bike ride, for example, might also leave you too tired to complete a strength training session afterwards. In which case, it's best to separate your strength and endurance training based on the research by right around three hours. And, in that case, fatigue won't be a limiting factor especially if you are fueling after your workout. 

And again, I'm not one of those guys who's into dropping your bar as soon as you finish a set at the gym and going straight into your post-workout nutrition and hunting down desperately the closest whey protein and fructose-infused shake you can find. Instead, for most people, just by eating ad libitum based on your appetite, your body's completely ready for the next workout within 24 hours. The only case in which you really need to prioritize post-workout nutrition is if you're trying to get swole and put on as much muscle as possible or if you're going to work out again within the next eight hours. But, in most cases, the post-workout nutrition window is a little bit too emphasized.

That's really the main thing to understand is that if there is an interference effect, it's likely very small when it comes to endurance versus strength training. And overall, what you should remember, and this is a big takeaway, if you want to maximize strength development, do strength before cardio. If you want to maximize aerobic fitness, then it doesn't really seem to matter. And overall, you aren't hurting yourself by combining strength and cardio in the same session. So, I get that question a lot and hopefully, that clears things up for you.

Okay. So, another interesting article that I came across that I thought was super helpful because this gets confusing to a lot of people is the idea of olive oil. And, there's two different types of olive oil that I think confuse some people: Extra virgin olive oil versus regular olive oil. So, let's get into this.

Extra virgin olive oil or EVOO, let's call it EVOO so that I'm not having to use too many syllables in today's podcast. So, EVOO, EVOO is basically the creme de la creme of olive oils. It's got very high nutritional value. So, it's made without heat or chemicals that are typically used to produce other cooking oils, which is why it isn't typically lumped into the same deleterious category say like canola oil or many forms of safflower oil or sunflower oil. EVOO is simply made by crushing up olives into a mash and then spinning or kneading the mixture to separate out the oil. So, it's often labeled as cold-pressed to signify that it's produced at low heat. 

So, in general, the healthiest oils are minimally processed and EVOO definitely fits that bill. It also contains a high amount of polyphenols, which are naturally occurring phytochemicals that have antioxidant, anti-inflammatories, and even prebiotic properties. Meaning, it can feed the good bacteria in your gut. It's got vitamin E. It's got vitamin K. And, in addition to that, a lot of very heart-healthy monounsaturated fats including oleic acid, which is also one of the fats that are used to comprise the myelin sheaths in your neural tissue along with DHA. So, I mean, extra virgin olive oil and fish or fish oil are two of the best things to consume for a healthy brain. In addition, they've found that the EVOO has very, very good cardiovascular benefits and anti-carcinogenic benefits.

So, EVOO is also though very strong in flavor. As a matter of fact, when I interviewed T.J. Robinson–I interviewed him recently about vinegar. That was a fantastic podcast. I'll link to that in the shownotes. But, I've also interviewed him a couple of times about olive oil and he says the best test of a good olive oil is whether you cough when you consume it. And, that is because a good olive oil is very high in what's called oleocanthal. It's kind of this peppery flavor that makes you cough when that oil hits the back of your throat. And, that can be the sign of an olive oil that's very high in these antioxidants and polyphenolic compounds. 

EVOO also has, and this is contrary to popular belief amongst many, it has a pretty decent smoke point. Meaning, it can handle somewhat high heat up to about 350 degrees Fahrenheit. So, if you're cooking with EVOO, you definitely want to avoid heating it to the point where you see the pan smoking, but it can handle a lot of baking and a little bit of broiling and some of the stovetop cooking without it getting degraded that much. So, it's got a slightly lower smoke point than regular olive oil. But, all of the powerful polyphenols and antioxidants in extra virgin olive oil can actually help to protect it during the heating process if you're using it during cooking. But, I would not actually exceed about 350 degrees or so if you're using extra virgin olive oil.

Now, regular olive oil is different. So, regular olive oil or olive oil that isn't marked as extra virgin olive oil and is often just marked as pure olive oil, that's a mix of unrefined virgin olive oil made by pressing the mashed olives a second time and then olive oil that's slightly more refined lined with heat and chemicals. Now, olive oil has a lower phytochemical content compared to extra virgin olive oil, but it's still very high in oleic acids, very high in monounsaturated fats and has also been studied to be an everyday cooking oil that's actually pretty heart-healthy. 

Now, as a guy who's working on a cookbook now and who's done another cookbook, I can tell you that the one thing I don't like about extra virgin olive oil is that it has a very strong flavor that drastically affects the flavor profile of whatever meal that you're preparing with it. In addition to that olive oil, not extra virgin olive oil, holds up better at higher temperatures. Meaning, you can go all the way up to 470 degrees before you reach the smoke point of a lot of olive oil. So, it has a much higher smoke point even though it's slightly lower in polyphenols compared to extra virgin olive oil. The fact that it has a higher smoke point and it doesn't drastically affect the flavor of what you're cooking, if you're into the flavor profile dictates that having regular olive oil on hand is also a good idea. It's not going to be something you would lump into the same category as canola oil, et cetera, although, and T.J. Robinson and I get into this when I interviewed him a lot of olive oil is not actually pure olive oil, it's often cut with canola oil. Sometimes it's stored in plastic. Sometimes the container that is stored in is clear allowing it to get exposed to light and heat. So, you do need to be careful. You still want a glass, slightly dark or translucent bottle.

The takeaway here is that if you're cooking and you want to use olive oil, you want all the heart benefits of olive oil but you don't want the intense flavor of extra virgin olive oil or you're cooking at above 350 degrees, you should go for pure olive oil or, and I think this is a good one to have on hand because it has a lot of the same benefits, but I think it's a little bit less refined, avocado oil. So, if you have in your pantry avocado oil for the slightly higher temperatures and an extra virgin olive oil for the slightly lower temperatures, you've got two of the best oils around. And you don't have to mess around with all the texture issues and the flavor issues in something like a coconut oil or a Macadamia oil. Both of those are good oils but they've got different flavor profiles.

Now, the other cool thing is that extra virgin olive oil, another good reason to have it on hand, is that it's amazing for skin, for moisturizing and for topical personal care product use. Matter of fact when I travel, a lot of times I'm lazy and I don't take a lot of my personal care products on the road with me but when I get to a hotel, if it's a hotel with a restaurant, I'll often call down to the restaurant and ask them if I could have some extra virgin olive oil and I'll use that as my moisturizer. I'll put a little bit in my hair. I'll smear it on my skin. And, sometimes I'll tell, I don't think it's a little white lie, it's technically true, I tell them that I have some allergic issues with the lotion that's in the bathroom so I would like extra virgin olive oil. If you categorize allergic as me simply not wanting to smear Franken fuels on my body, that's technically the truth.

So anyways, I thought it was a really interesting article and I've kind of scratched the surface of what this article gets into when it comes to olive oil versus extra virgin olive oil. But, you can check out the article at BenGreenfieldLife.com/455. It was a good one that appeared on the website MindBodyGreen.

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They're designed by my friend, Robb Wolf, who's that real healthy, real smart guy, smart formulator. He's been using for a while. He's a biochemist and New York Times bestselling author and Navy SEAL Resilience Committee member. And, he works with a lot of really, really smart folks, and U.S. Olympians, NFL, NBA, NHL athletes, the Special Forces, a bunch of tech leaders. This stuff is big with the Twitter crowd like Dick Costolo and a whole bunch of people using LMNT. You can even make a dynamite no sugar margarita with their citrus salt flavor. So, there's that too. Not that I endorse high amounts of tequila, but I'm just saying.

So, here's how you get a free gift. Like I mentioned, DrinkLMNT.com/BenGreenfield. That's DrinkLMNT.com/BenGreenfield. You can try this stuff for yourself. Make your margaritas. Use them on the plane. Use them when you get up in the morning in a big glass of water. They're just absolutely versatile and amazing. So, check them out, DrinkLMNT.

So, here's the deal. You've probably heard of earthing or grounding. And, clinical research has shown that this stuff works getting in touch with the planet. The problem is we cannot walk outside in our bare feet like dirty hippies. Maybe you work indoors and you have difficulty getting access to the earth or the ground to earth or ground and so you're missing out on all the electrons you absorb when touching the planet. Those electrons neutralize free radical damage. They squelch inflammation. They restore healthy endocrine function. They enhance cellular gating and circulation, which improves the cellular uptake of nutrients and oxygen, the hormones and maximizes the removal of cellular waste. The list goes on and on. 

But, what this company Ultimate Longevity has done is they've created all these mats, mats for your mattress, for your pillow, blankets, things you can stand when you're at your desk. They originally designed them for sleeping, but they can be used anywhere. You can travel with these ground therapy mats, including the ability to be able to put on your bed while you're sleeping, I'd say like a hotel if you want to be grounded, give you six to eight hours of uninterrupted grounding. And, more time means more beneficial electrons means greater results. It's a full-body grounding process which maximizes the electron transfer way beyond what you get from just your feet. So, you get healing electrons at the time when your body does most of its healing and repair if you're using the sleep mat, which means during the entire night of sleep.

So, over 20 peer-reviewed research studies have been published on the health effects of grounding. We're talking inflammation, sleep, pain and stiffness, circulation, wound healing, HRV, vagal tone, serum electrolytes, thyroid function, blood viscosity, blood glucose, even things like depression and anxiety and tiredness and fatigue and mood are all affected by grounding. Ultimate Longevity is the place to go for grounding products. Here's the URL to visit for an exclusive offer, ultimatelongevity.com/ben. That's where you can get grounding mats for your mattress, your pillow, your blankets. A whole bunch of valuable grounding and earthing tools to help you bring down inflammation, jump start healing, increase energy. So, this is how you can biohack your relationship with the planet Earth. ultimatelongevity.com/ben is where you want to go.

I'm often asked what is my go-to desert island supplement if I could take nothing else. Well, it's essential amino acids. I've been using them for almost a decade now. So, you probably know that the human body is mostly water, what you probably don't know is that everything else in your body is 50% amino acids. They're the building blocks of life, essential for health, fitness. They naturally boost energy. They build lean muscle. They enhance athletic recovery. They stave off the appetite even if you're eating a low-calorie diet or you're fasting. They're fantastic for pre-workout, for during the workout, for post-workout. And, the essential amino acids that I use are backed by over 20 years of clinical research. They're in perfect ratios. They essentially match what your body needs and what the muscle composition of amino acids actually is, which a lot of other amino acids do not do, especially branched-chain amino acids but many other essential amino acids as well.

So, this is a stuff by Kion. Kion Aminos have the highest quality ingredients, no fillers, no junk, rigorous quality testing, and they taste amazing with flavors like lime, berry, watermelon, probably my favorite, mango. They're amazing. You just put a little bit in water. You can add them to smoothies. They are one of the top supplements that my wife and I take each day. And again, it's been a staple of my diet for years and years. And, I swear by this stuff. 

I've had friends start to take these and literally report that they feel they're on some kind of a steroid. Now, there's no steroids in the Kion Aminos, of course, but it is amazing how you feel when you step up your intake of essential amino acids. And, I'm shocked that more people don't know this secret, so Kion Aminos. You can get 20% off monthly deliveries, 10% on one-time purchases. And, it's very simple, you go to getKION.com/Ben. Get-K-I-O-N, G-E-T-K-I-O-N.com/Ben to get my fundamental supplement for fitness, recovery, appetite, and much, much more. Kion Aminos. Check them out. You got to get on the essential amino acids bandwagon. You will be absolutely shocked at how you feel on these things. So, getKION.com/Ben.

Another very interesting compound that I want to get into before we turn to a few live questions with Q&A from Twitter Spaces is astaxanthin. So, astaxanthin is often found in many oil-like compounds. As a matter of fact, the fish oil that we do at Kion, we use astaxanthin and also rosemary oil as two of our protective compounds to keep the fish oil from degrading or becoming rancid.

Now, this recent study that I looked at, it really caught my eye because so many people are spending a long period of time looking at computers or looking at screens. And, I'd seen some indications in the past that astaxanthin can have a neuroprotective impact on the eyes. But, this recent study looked at a diet containing astaxanthin not necessarily taking astaxanthin supplements but just a diet that was rich in astaxanthin, and they found that if you get around 9 milligrams of astaxanthin a day, that it has a significant impact on visual acuity and the ability of the eyes to be able to hold up during work-induced visual stress. Namely looking at computers and looking at screens. So, if you look at the average astaxanthin supplement, typically it's around 1 to 2 milligrams, so you'd have to take more than what you'd find in a lot of astaxanthin supplements. But, if you're spending a long period of time looking at screens, it actually appears that astaxanthin could be a pretty good addition to your supplementation protocol.

Now, furthermore when I interviewed Sandra Kaufmann who wrote this fantastic book about anti-aging, which she rank categorized some of the more powerful and proven anti-aging compounds out there, astaxanthin was near the top of the list. So, there's a lot of other benefits to consuming astaxanthin. And, for those who don't know what it is, it's basically a marine compound. It's produced mainly by microorganisms like bacteria and microalgae and yeast and you'll find it in salmon, trout, shrimp, lobster, fish eggs are really high in it. Anything that has this reddish-orange hue, unless it's farm salmon that's been dyed, usually that's due to the high astaxanthin presence in these fishy marine type of compounds.

Now, oxidative damage and neuroinflammation are related to a pathogenesis of a wide variety of neurodegenerative disease including eye health. And, what they found not only in this most recent study but in previous studies is that astaxanthin is one of the most powerful ways to decrease the reactive oxygen species that are released in neuronal cells, and that can cause things like mitochondrial insults, cell membrane damage, and neuronal cell death.

So, there's a lot going for astaxanthin as far as it's anti-inflammatory and antioxidant potential, but for people who are working and using screens, I think that consumption of astaxanthin, especially getting up to the range of around 9 milligrams per day, based on what I saw in this recent study, is a pretty good idea. So, it's not only great for longevity but it's also really, really great for the eyes. There's a lot of other studies on astaxanthin for protecting against Parkinson's disease, neurodegeneration, ALS, cerebral ischemia, TBI, concussion issues. So, growing body of evidence about the impact of astaxanthin on neuronal health. And, I think that a diet rich in some of these dark reddish-orange fish is a really good idea. And then, I think throwing a little bit of extra astaxanthin on top of that is also a pretty good idea. So, chalk one up to astaxanthin, chalk one up to extra virgin olive oil, and then don't throw out your erythritol.

So, those are most of the newsflashes that I wanted to cover today. And again, you can check out more information if you go to BenGreenfieldLife.com/455.

So, that'll being said, now we're going to have some fun and I'm going to take some live questions from our fantastic audience on Twitter. So, if you are on Twitter right now, simply raise your hand and I'll take you live and we'll take your question and I'll reply to it.

So, we got Mesenchymal Stem Cells. I'm going to add you as a speaker. Go ahead and ask your question.

MALE SPEAKER:  Yeah. So, I'm not sure if everyone in the audience knows what mesenchymal stem cells are, but I first saw mesenchymal stem cells, I'm going to say MSCs for short. So, I first learned about MSCs when Joe Rogan interviewed Mel Gibson back in 2018. Mel Gibson apparently cook his 92-year-old father down at Panama where it's legal to get injected with umbilical cord MSCs, umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells that they take the MSCs from the umbilical cord. And apparently, Mel Gibson says his father just came back to life and then his father lived to the age of 101. And, I think that the stem cells are probably the reason he did not die at 92.

So, that's how I first learned about MSCs. And so, I've been obsessed ever since. I think that MSCs and exosomes are going to revolutionize healthcare. What's your opinion on that basically? Do you think this stuff is super powerful?

Ben:  Yeah. I think that MSCs, and typically when you look at stem cells or stem cell sources that are higher in MSCs or stem cell sources that are perhaps lower in MSCs but combined with exosomes, have great capacity for self-renewal. They maintain a high amount of what's called multi-potency and they differentiate into other cells in a pretty robust manner. Stem cell sources that are really high in MSCs seem to have a really good impact on immune cells. There appears to be some research on suppression of tumor growth. They help to produce a lot of anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory compounds like nitric oxide, prostaglandin, interleukins, et cetera. And, they might even produce antimicrobial peptides, which could allow them to have pretty good antimicrobial or antibacterial activity. 

It's one of those things where I think that you can get a lot of the benefits of MSCs by combining stem cell sources that might be slightly lower in MSCs with exosomes, which are cell signaling molecules that can allow the stem cells to be a little bit more potent. But, the fact that they can differentiate into bone cells, into cartilage cells, into muscle cells, into fat cells, and the fact that bone marrow, which is where humans typically store their MSCs tend to deplete in their MSC volume or concentration with age; and after certain injuries and disease dictates that from an anti-aging standpoint, if you are increasing your bioavailable pool of MSCs on a regular basis with something like a stem cell injection from a compound rich in MSCs. And, bone marrow is kind of the original source of MSCs. It's the most frequently utilized source. It can be a good anti-aging play.

For example, I go down to Dr. Harry Adelson‘s clinic in Park City, Utah. I've been doing this about every five years. And, I just do a full body stem cell treatment that includes getting a bone marrow extracted from my hips, this bone marrow soup combined with exosomes and now what are called VSELs injected into my body. And, I think it's one of the best ways to increase longevity and one of the best anti-aging strategies that's out there. So, yeah, I'm a huge fan of bone marrow-derived MSCs in particular. You can also get some MSCs in amniotic fluid, umbilical cord tissue, the Wharton's jelly and the umbilical cord blood. Those are also pretty decent sources of MSCs. 

Interestingly, I don't think I've released the interview yet, but I interviewed a guy named Adeel Khan. And, he talks about how if you're using MSC Rich compounds for something like healing a joint, you still have to lay down a matrix on which those MSCs can build or grow. And, I think what he recommended in that interview which I'll release soon was a hyaluronic acid matrix. And, I know some doctors will also use a placental matrix for this. So, sometimes just injecting the MSCs by themselves into a joint or even just doing a full-body MSC infusion I think is not enough. Typically, I'd combine with exosomes or combine them with some type of matrix on which they can be laid down in the joint. But yeah, I mean, I'm a big fan of MSCs. And obviously, since your handle on Twitter is mesenchymal stem cells, I assume you are too. But yeah, it's a great question. I'm a fan of them.

I'm going to bring Ben Williamson. Ben Williamson, unmute yourself. You can go ahead and ask your question, Ben.

Ben Williamson:  Hey, thanks for taking my question, Ben. So, for context, I stopped drinking a couple years ago. And, I just had a birthday and one of the things I do at my birthday is go around the table and do [00:49:45] _____ continue with my friends from their perspective. And, one of my friends who's an avid listener of yours was saying the gains you've gotten since stopping drinking [00:49:55] experience or particularly been around memory and access to memory in terms of long-term access to memories that I can recall in a way that I would never be able to when I was consuming alcohol even infrequently. But, he prompted me to say you should take a look at doing a 30-day fast to eliminate accumulated toxins and just other unhealthy aspects of our daily living. And, I wanted to ask you, if you were going to recommend a 30-day program, be it Whole30 or carnivore diet, something just to kind of show what's possible and do a 30-day biohacks and experiment, what one would you recommend for me? Mid-40s now.

Ben:  It's an interesting question and brings up kind of a compelling topic around alcohol in general. And, that is its effect on memory. I mean, we hear about THC and its impact on the production of reactive oxygen species and mitochondrial damage, particularly neural tissue. And, I think that's one of the impacts that THC can have on memory. I don't think anybody's going to deny the fact that that recall and particularly short-term memory is impacted by cannabis, particularly THC-rich cannabis. But, alcohol can have a similar impact on frontal lobe function and it can actually impair what are called frontal lobe mediated tasks. And, that can impair memory, particularly long-term and chronic alcohol consumption seems to disrupt the ability to form new long-term memories and can impact the recall of long-term memories or the ability to keep new information active in short-term memory.

Now, a lot of times what these studies are looking at are kind of higher amounts of alcohol consumption.  That's one thing that I wish would be broken out more in research is the difference between an average of five drinks a week and those five drinks all occurring on a Saturday evening versus say five drinks a week and those five drinks being spread out over a glass of organic wine with dinner each night and some of the epidemiological data behind alcohol consumption and longevity. If you actually break it out and look at it, it's not benders on the weekend, it's a very small amount of alcohol consumed on a daily basis. But, sometimes all the alcohol consumption in terms of the average number of drinks per week kind of gets all thrown into the same bucket. So, the volume that you consume at any given time is important, but alcohol-induced amnesia is definitely a thing. Anybody who's blacked out knows that, but even slightly higher amount chronic consumption of alcohol can impair of the hippocampus.

Now, I think that that lays out a pretty good case for not only modulating your alcohol consumption but also considering some of these alcohol alternatives like I have a podcast coming out soon on the use of ketones, particularly 1,3-butanediol. There's a company called KetoneAid that's making these ketone alcoholic drinks like pina colada and Moscow mule and gin and tonic and champagne. They even have a beer. And, they give you a lot of the socially lubricating relaxing inhibitory neurotransmitter effects of alcohol without a lot of the side effects. And, I've been using those quite a bit. I honestly am having a glass of wine maybe a couple nights a week now and have shifted to ketones primarily in the evenings. I'll just take a can of ketones and pour that over ice, squeeze a little bit of lemon. Sometimes I'll put some electrolytes in there like LMNT to protect electrolytes and make myself a little homemade ketone cocktail. And, the cool thing also is it seems to satiate the appetite versus alcohol, which sometimes seems to make you want to eat a little bit.

So anyways, though, if you were going to do a full body cleanup, a detox protocol, a couple of things to think about. The first is I am a bigger fan of long-term chronic detoxification protocols spread throughout the entire year that keep you from having to do one big detox in say January. And, what I mean by that is, for example, I have Wednesday detox days where every Wednesday I do activated charcoal or some kind of a binder. I use the Quicksilver charcoal binder and then I do a coffee enema, usually about a half hour after the binder. And then, I go do a deep sweat in the infrared sauna. And, that's just once a week that I get this full body cleanse. And, I've been doing that for a few years. And, I used to do that whole some kind of a big January detox fast type of event. And, I really have found that when I test things like metal levels, toxin levels, et cetera, that I seem to be pretty clean when it comes to the need for detoxification. So, that's one thing to think about.

But, let's say that you do need to do a longer-term fast or longer-term detox, there's a lot of different options out there. There's the vegetable juice fast. There's the bone broth fast. There's the elemental diet where you're just drinking liquid shakes. But, I think that because it's a culture that has used body cleansing and fasting for such a long period of time that ayurvedic medicine and ayurvedic diets seem to work really well for a lot of people for cleansing.

A while ago, I interviewed a guy named Stephen Cabral about this thing called Panchakarma. And, panchakarma is this pretty intense specialized diet that includes basically the consumption of a whole bunch of different things like ghee, olive oil, lemon juice, et cetera. And, I mean, it's pretty intense. And usually, that's only about five to seven days or so. But, for example, on the first few days, you're drinking warm ghee in the morning and sometimes adding a little bit of salt to that and then another ayurvedic detoxification compound that's a little bit of a laxative as well called triphala, T-R-I-P-H-A-L-A. And then, for the next few days, you're eating what's called kitchari. And, kitchari, you can look it up but it's basically a blend of lentils and bean sprouts and pretty easy to make. And, that's what you eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Although, you're also adding in certain teas that are specific to your dosha. Meaning, you would get your dosha test with your vata or pitta or kapha. Like vata, you'd be drinking ginger and cumin, and coriander. For pitta, you'd be drinking cumin and coriander, and fennel. For kapha, it's more ginger and cinnamon and clove. There's some different types of massages that are included either self-inflicted massage or going to a massage therapist who specializes in ayurvedic detoxification massage.

Then, as you get close to the end of the panchakarma, a lot of times you're doing a high amount of olive oil ghee and lemon juice to further cleanse the liver and the gallbladder. And, some of the more intense forms of panchakarma even include things like high amounts of milk consumption followed by vomiting or throwing up. And, I think that's a little bit intense. I think it's a little much. But, the idea of an ayurvedic cleansing or detoxification protocol, I think, is really good. 

And, even though it's not 30 days long, there's a guy in Boulder, Colorado, Dr. John Douillard who has what's called the Colorado Cleanse, it's a 14-day long. It's called a 2-week Colorado Cleanse. I've had a lot of people do that one. I've done it a couple of times and I mean, it cleans you out as clean as a whistle and it's all based on this ayurvedic approach. And, when you do something like that and combine it with trampolining or vibration or rebounding, lymphatic massage, deep sweats in the sauna, some form of an enema like a coffee enema, you can clean yourself up pretty well. So, I think that ayurveda would be the way to go if you want a pretty good done-for-you cleanse.

Of course, there are other options like the bone broth cleanse, the vegetable fast, the fasting-mimicking diet, and elemental diet. They're all going to have a similar effect in terms of cellular autophagy and relieving stress in the gut and allowing for some detoxification to occur. But, I think top of the totem pole would be an ayurvedic cleansing or rejuvenation protocol. And, that panchakarma one would be one to look into along with Dr. John Douillard's Colorado Cleanse. So, that answer your question, Ben?

Ben Williamson:   Yeah, it does answer my question. Thank you.

Ben:  Alright, cool. Cool. We got time for one more question. If we got another person who's interested in asking a question, you can go ahead and raise your hand and come on up. Okay. Troy. Troy, I'm going to add you as a speaker. Alright, Troy, go ahead and ask your question.

Troy: Okay. Ben, you're a legend. I've been following you for the past three years. I just have a quick question. My partner has been dealing with Hashimoto's autoimmune disease for pretty much her whole life. Now, we've kind of looked up some different protocols for her, but what would you say that the best diet is for someone that's dealing with Hashimoto's?

Ben:  For those of you who are unfamiliar with Hashimoto's, basically it is a thyroid issue. And, it can actually be a pretty significant issue because if you leave it untreated, you can do a lot of damage to the thyroid. So, it's also called chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis. And, it's an autoimmune disorder. Your immune system produces antibodies. Those attack your body's own healthy tissue. And, in this case, particularly, they attack the thyroid tissue. And, if you look at people who have hypothyroidism or low thyroid activity, there's some estimates that 90% of that can be related to Hashimoto's disease. And, it's not just the thyroid gland that's the problem, it's the entire immune system. It's an overreaction to the entire immune system.

So, your thyroid gland produces T4 and T3. And, the production of T4 and T3 depends on the communication between the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland. So, normally, your pituitary gland is releasing thyroid-stimulating hormone. And, that is the signal to your thyroid glands to produce T4 and T3. But, with Hashimoto's, that doesn't happen because of the autoimmune issues and the fact that the thyroid gland is basically under attack by antibodies. And, if you were to get a thyroid panel or a thyroid test and find that you had say low T3, low T4, high TSH, et cetera, and you didn't see elevated thyroid antibodies, that would be an indication that Hashimoto's might not be the reason that you're having hypothyroid issues. In that case, it might be you aren't eating enough carbohydrates or enough calories, or your diet isn't rich enough in things like selenium and iodine, or perhaps you have a very, very high fluoride intake, or you're getting exposed to a lot of chlorine and other things that can cause some thyroid issues. But, typically, if thyroid antibodies are elevated, it's a pretty good sign that this is autoimmune related and you see fatigue, depression, anxiety, muscle aches, stiffness, swelling, almost all the things that you'd expect to see with the body kind of slowing down because thyroid is almost the gas pedal for the body.

And so, if you step back and look at it, well, what you'd want to do is actually decrease the intake or the exposure to compounds that could be causing the production of these antibodies. The main thing would be immune-reacting foods. So, some of the biggest culprits when it comes to hypothyroidism, one would be gluten. And, a lot of people say, well, it's not the gluten, it's the glyphosate on the grains. But, in this case with Hashimoto's, gluten can be a big issue. In addition to that, just grain foods in general, especially grains that haven't been soaked, sprouted, fermented, et cetera, that can also aggravate the issue even more just because a lot of those also have compounds that can trigger this immune reaction. Vegetable oils, refined oils like safflower oil, sunflower oil, canola oil, corn oil, et cetera, those can also be inflammatory and can trigger that immune reaction. If you look at a paleo autoimmune diet or a more intense autoimmune diet, you're also eliminating nightshades, seeds, nuts, most dairy products, and a lot of soy. But, for Hashimoto's, the top of the totem pole would be gluten and grains as far as what to avoid.

Now, at the same time you're avoiding those, you want to consume foods or compounds that help to support the thyroid. I'm a big fan of thyroid glandulars like desiccated thyroid glanders, Thyro-Gold is one product. Another one would be Ancestral Supplements. They have a full spectrum thyroid that includes not just what you get from Synthroid, which would be something like T3, but a full spectrum: T1, T2, T3, and T4. So, some type of thyroid glandular consumption, I think, is a good idea. And again, I'm not a doctor. I don't want you to misconstrue this as medical advice, but these are just some things that I think are smart to think about if you're dealing with Hashimoto's.

So, in addition to thyroid-supporting compounds like desiccated thyroid and eliminating gluten and grains, and if you really want to go all out, soy, nightshade, seeds, nuts, most dairy, I believe those are the biggies. You'd also want to consume things that help to balance thyroid function. One would be fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids. I'm a big fan of the color of the fish. I'm a big fan of some of these Ora King salmon is amazingly high in DHA. It's called the wagyu of the sea. That's one of the best high omega-3 fatty acid fish. There are other fish out there, but good clean preferably wild-caught fish or fish is farmed. It's been fed a healthy diet. I like this company called Seatopia for stuff like that. I get sashimi-grade fish sent to my house from Seatopia a couple of times a month and it's amazing clean fish, very high in both EPA and DHA.

You can buy seaweed powders that you can use as a seasoning for food. It's like Kemp, Dulse, et cetera. Those are natural sources of iodine and secondarily selenium. Dr. Thomas Cowan, Dr. Thomas Cowan's vegetable powders, they have one that's a super-duper clean seaweed powder that you can literally sprinkle on your foods throughout the day. That's also very supportive for the thyroid. Some research seems to indicate that probiotic-rich foods like kimchi, kombucha, natto, which is technically a soy product but it's fermented, so similar to fermenting and soaking and sprouting grains, it's less of an issue. Sauerkraut, fermented vegetables, those can help to repopulate the gut with good bacteria and help to heal the immune system. Sprouted beans and legumes and sprouted seeds, again, well you want to avoid most raw consumption of seeds and nuts, flax seed, hemp seed, chia seed, a lot of those seeds that are high in omega-3 fats, those can be supportive during an autoimmune flare-up or during an issue like Hashimoto's.

Bone broth is also something I'm a huge fan of because so many autoimmune issues are linked to damaged gut lining. And, if you look at bone broth and the fact that you're getting collagen, different amino acids like proline and glycine that are supportive for healing the gut, nutrients that are good for the gut like calcium and magnesium and phosphorus and silicone. I'm a big fan of bone broth as well and any of the foods that help to heal the gut like glutamine, colostrum would be another one. Those would also be a really good idea.

There's even a guy I recently interviewed out of Australia named Kyal and he has this thing called Gut Repair Formula. And, a lot of times people with immune system issues also have compromised guts in addition to supporting the thyroid and eliminating foods that will cause thyroid damage, doing things that would actively heal the gut. It's also a pretty good idea. A lot of people with thyroid disorders are deficient in vitamin D, so not only sun exposure but also supplementing with a good vitamin D, vitamin K blend, because vitamin K helps with vitamin D absorption as does magnesium. That's a pretty good idea as well. Some adaptogenic compounds can help with autoimmune flare-ups. Ashwagandha would be a really good example. Rhodiola and reishi are also really, really good as adaptogens. Then, maca would be another. So, you can throw adaptogens into the mix as well.

And then, any time that the body is dealing with autoimmune issues, typically you see–and, Dr. Neil Nathan talks about this in his book, I think it's called “Toxic” or Toxins, I forget the exact name. But anyways, he talks about cell danger response mode and the sympathetic nervous system response that the body can kind of get stuck in and the need to do things like pay attention to high EMS environments, like a lot of exposure to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, et cetera. Light pollution like bright fluorescent, LED, overhead lights. Sound pollution. Air pollution. Basically, cleaning up the personal environment and paying attention to air, light, water, electricity. I have a whole chapter in my book, “Boundless,” about how to kind of clean up the personal environment because that will allow the body to heal if you downregulate a lot of the stressful components that are in the average modern person's environment.

So, those are the major things that I would think about when it comes to Hashimoto's, but basically, you're trying to shut down the immune system flare-ups, you're trying to support the thyroid, you're trying to clean up the environment, and then you're trying to heal the gut while eliminating a lot of common food triggers. So, that's kind of the basic overview as far as where I'd start. Is that helpful, Troy?

Troy:  You're the man. I appreciate you.

Ben:  Awesome. Well, thanks for the question. I'm going to put all the shownotes over at BenGreenfieldLife.com/455 or you can also ask your questions, give more comments, give more feedback, look at some of the studies that I talked about, and dig in a little bit more. If you're listening to the recording afterwards, pay attention on Twitter or you can get notifications for when we bring this thing live on Twitter. I also send out a newsletter every week in which I'll tell you where you can go to participate in the live podcast. And, if you enjoy the show, leave a review, leave a review wherever you're listening to the podcast. That really helps out the rankings, gets the word out and helps to support the show.

So, that all being said, again, BenGreenfieldLife.com/455 is where the shownotes reside. And, I want to thank everybody for listening in. Have an amazing week.

I am coming to London June 16th through the 18th and I'm going to be a part of the Health Optimisation Summit over there. And, if you go to BenGreenfieldLife.com/Calendar, you can check out that event. Fantastic. Kind of like biohacking meets wellness meets massive health technology expo. But, while I'm there, I'm going to be in London with my whole family and we're actually going to head to Italy afterwards and cycle through Italy. But, I decided to put on a very special private, intimate VIP event with me while I am in London. It's at this crazy place called HUM2N, HUM2N, like human except of the 2.

So, HUM2N Labs, they are a creme de la creme biohacking facility. I mean, the best hyperbaric chambers, amazing selection of IVs, super nutrient cocktails, cryotherapy, red light therapy. We're basically going to party and biohack and do a Q&A with me and the fine proprietor of that facility, Dr. E, who's a wealth of knowledge in and of himself at that event. It's Monday, June 19th, so it's going to be private networking, live Q&A, great food, great cocktail/mocktails, experiential biohacks, a variety of healthy gourmet foods is just going to be really amazing. You're going to get a swag bag too. Your swag bag includes super nutrient IV, cryotherapy, red light therapy, and hyperbaric oxygen. That's worth 750 pounds alone. Then you got the H2Mn supplements. They're going to give you their brain sharpener and their super blend protein. You get a travel voucher to take you to and from the event, meaning using a company called Uono. They will bring you to and from the event if you have trouble finding it or don't want to drive.

So, there's a lot more that go into those swag bag too. But, right now, I have to tell you, this thing is going to fill up fast. It's in London, June 19th, and you get there by going to BenGreenfieldLife.com/HUM2NLondon. That's BenGreenfieldLife.com/HUM2NLondon. And, that will allow you to claim your spot at this fantastic event. So, BenGreenfieldLife.com/HUM2NLondon.

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. 

Have a question you'd like Ben to answer on the podcast?

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Listener Q&A

Q: I think that MSCs (Mesenchymal Stem Cells) and exosomes are going to revolutionize healthcare. What's your opinion on that? Basically, do you think this stuff is super powerful?… 44:41

Ben Recommends:

Q: What would you recommend to a mid-40s male who quit drinking alcohol a few years ago? Say, a 30-day program diet, carnivore diet, or a 30-day biohacking experiment?…49:33

Ben Recommends:

Q: What's the best diet for Hashimoto's?…58:20

Ben Recommends:

Upcoming Events:

• Health Optimisation Summit: June 17th – 18th, 2023
  

Join me at The Health Optimisation Summit in London! This is your chance to be part of a community of 2,500 like-minded people and learn from world-leading health speakers. You'll be able to fast-track your health journey, discover cutting-edge secrets and hacks, explore the latest tech and gadgets, and find the cleanest and healthiest supplements and nutrient-dense foods. Don't miss out on this incredible experience! Use code BENGREENFIELD for 10% off regular and VIP tickets. Learn more here.

• HUM2N Event: June 19th, 2023

Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to learn from the best in the field and take your biohacking journey to the next level. You’ll get the chance to be involved with a private network of biohackers, a live discussion with myself and Dr. E, a live Q&A, an experiential biohacking experience, tasty food, and a chance to win some mind-blowing prizes! Learn more here.

• Keep up on Ben's LIVE appearances by following bengreenfieldfitness.com/calendar!

Special Announcements…

Endure: Check out Ben's latest book. A sequel to the wildly popular book Fit Soul, Endure is written and inspired by the author Ben Greenfield’s personal temptations, struggles, and failures, and informed by what he’s studied and learned along the way, will serve as a key resource and guide for that very preparation.

Check out Ben on Instagram for epic posts and photos about his morning, day, and evening routines, recipes, and much more!

Follow Ben on Twitter for daily news flashes and the latest health, fitness, and anti-aging research.

Join Ben's Facebook page for conversations with listeners and even more useful information, posts, and support!

Also, you can now find Ben on Gettr.

Episode sponsors:

Neurohacker Qualia Senolytic: Take this cutting-edge formula just 2 days a month to help your body eliminate senescent cells, which is KEY to optimal aging and feeling younger. Give your body what it needs to fight senescent cell accumulation* with Qualia Senolytic at neurohacker.com, and code SENOBEN  scores you an extra 15% off. 

Lucy Gum: If you are looking for a cleaner and tastier alternative to other nicotine products, Lucy is for you. To save 20% on any order, head over to lucy.co use discount code BEN20.

LMNT: Everyone needs electrolytes, especially those on low-carb diets, who practice intermittent or extended fasting, are physically active, or sweat a lot. Go to DrinkLMNT.com/BenGreenfield to get a free gift with your purchase!

Ultimate Longevity: Ready to hack your sleep and stay grounded while recovering? Head to ultimatelongevity.com/ben to get your hands on grounding mats for your mattress, pillow, blankets, and other valuable tools to help you bring down your inflammation and jumps start your healing.

Kion Aminos: Aminos are building blocks for muscle recovery, reduced cravings, better cognition, immunity, and more. Go to getkion.com/ben to receive 20% off on monthly deliveries and 10% on one-time purchases.