February 8, 2024

From podcast: https://bengreenfieldlife.com/podcast/moldfinder/

[00:00:00] Introduction

[00:01:12] The interview with Brian Karr

[00:01:58] The impact of mold

[00:05:51] Key biohacking principles for general chronic inflammation

[00:13:45] Binding and Releasing 

[00:14:32] Fight or flight syndrome

[00:18:19] Being in a constant sympathetic state

[00:23:12] Sensitivity to EMF – Grounding or earthling

[00:30:37] The use of peptides

[00:34:55] Ben's recommendations

[00:37:17] Closing the Podcast

[00:38:14] End of Podcast

[00:38:37] Legal Disclaimer

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

The central nervous system can be stressed when you're methylating poorly and you have a high toxin load or mold or any other chronic stealth coinfection. And, this one's pretty straightforward, but you have to downregulate the nervous system. You have to engage in stress and meditative practices, prayer, gratitude, breathwork, for example. All the things that you would consider to be things that would tone the vagus nerve and thus decrease stress by balancing the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems. Those should be daily practices. And, from a biohacking standpoint, yeah, you can certainly upregulate or accelerate that process of restoring nervous system health.

Fitness, nutrition, biohacking, longevity, life optimization, spirituality, and a whole lot more. Welcome to the Ben Greenfield Life Show. Are you ready to hack your life? Let's do this.

Erin:  Hi, it's Erin from the Ben Greenfield Life team. The interview you are about to hear is with mold expert, Brian Karr. Ben was a guest on Brian's podcast called Mold Finders. Brian was gracious enough to allow us to share this helpful episode with you here on Ben's podcast.

They discuss longevity principles and biohacks that can be applied to health issues that stem from mold exposure. As you know, mold can affect your brain, gut, skin, and your nervous system. It creates chronic inflammatory conditions and mitochondrial dysfunction. Ben provides a host of helpful applications to many of these issues. Please enjoy this helpful discussion between Brian and Ben. You can find the shownotes at BenGreenfieldLife.com/MoldFinder. That's BenGreenfieldLife.com/MoldFinder.

Brian:  For everyone listening, a lot of times it's either me talking about specific things in your house which is not the purpose of this episode or I'm typically bringing on health experts to come in and talk more about, on the medical side of things, specific to environmental exposures, Lyme disease, cognitive decline, all these different things, right? The interesting thing about Ben and what I'm so excited to talk about with you is there are things that we can do to optimize ourselves outside of treating a particular disease that has been put upon us or symptoms that we have or something like that, and that that there are ways to do that that are not necessarily incredibly expensive either and I think a lot of this stuff people just don't really know about. 

And, what my goal and my hope is in what we could talk about today is looking at the world of biohacking but more so in the lens of how do we attack a couple of key issues, which I'll outline in a second that most of the user or the listener base here has as opposed to biohacking in the lens of longevity, right? Because I think a lot of the biohacking stuff is really set in this longevity lens, which is great. But, if we have specific things that we're trying to achieve in a short term and there's specific kind of core body issues that are going on, what are some of those larger longevity kind of principles that we can apply to something a little more specific and maybe even adaptations of those principles if someone is more hypersensitive, for example?

So, to give you some context, Ben, people that we work with in our business and then people that obviously listen to the show, a lot of them are impacted by mold, mold toxins environmental exposures. And ultimately, what's happening is that there's a chronic inflammatory condition that's getting created throughout the body. And generally, there's a mitochondrial dysfunction that's associated with that. And, how it manifests can be all over the place, so if you have chronic inflammation. But, I would say some of the primary areas that we see a lot is in the brain, so you're talking brain fog, cognitive decline, dementia, early onset, things like that. Big-time gut issues are tied into this, so leaky gut, overgrowth, parasites, things like that. And then, skin eczema breakouts, things like that that a lot of times are tied to gut in general. And nervous system stuff. We're talking more anxiety, depression, sleep, insomnia, stuff like that. So, those are kind of the four, I would say, most common buckets that I see from our clients and in turn probably people who are listening here. So, it's brain, gut, nervous system, skin are kind of the four areas, I think. But, the underlying root cause to a lot of that, specifically to who's listening here, is a chronic inflammatory issue, which in turn is causing a mitochondrial dysfunction in addition to that.

And so, with that lens, looking at it, the one other thing that I want to throw out here in this little game that we're going to play here, I guess, is this additional consideration that when someone is chronically ill and they are trying to go through treatments or modalities or things they're trying to do to kind of improve, sometimes the level of sensitivity in the person like they might be so toxic or so overboard on what's going on that, for example, sitting in a sauna is not tenable to that person, let's say, because it's releasing too much, it's too much for their body to handle. So, what I would love to try to do and talk about here are kind of key biohacking principles that can apply to a general chronic inflammatory kind of reduction, let's say, and then are there adaptations of some of those core principles that are a lesser kind of concentration or severity or extent of that item that can maybe be executed for someone like that. Does that make sense?

Ben:   Yeah, it does. And, there's a lot of places we could go with all of that, but I suppose the first thing that comes to mind for me when you bring that up is that when I work with someone and I'm looking over their blood work and their labs and also wearable data like HRV and sleep and things that are reflective of nervous system health, I often see what I would describe as a four-legged stool. Meaning that you'll tend to see a cluster of issues in people who also tend to be susceptible to chronic stealth coinfections like mold, Lyme, Eppstein-Barr, et cetera. 

The first tends to be some kind of genetic methylation deficit. I don't think that that's the root cause of every issue that exists, but you do tend to see that repeatedly in people. And, that's obviously something that can be easily ascertained via a salivary DNA analysis to see how impaired your methylation pathways might be. But, first of all, treating that is important with bioavailable sources of natural folic acid like methyl folate or methyl tetrahydrofolate. In some cases, that might be organ meat consumption or organ glandulars. In other cases, it might be a well-formulated multivitamin like Thorne or Designs for Health or a company that actually uses natural forms of folic acid. And, that would be paired with reducing synthetic sources of folic acid that especially in a poor methylator can lead to homocysteine buildup and be inflammatory. It's shocking how many so-called healthy energy drinks and multivitamins and pretty much most fortified cereals and grains are in terms of their folic acid content. But, that's kind of leg one of the stool that I tend to see.

Brian:  So, are we talking the HFR gene? Is that what you're talking about here?

Ben:  Yeah.

Brian: Got it.

Ben:  There are other methylation-based genes, but yeah that's the major one.

Brian:  Got it. And so, specifically with the folic acid one because I've dove in this a little bit lately too. So, essentially, and you could tell me if I'm understanding this incorrectly or not, correct me, but if your MTHFR, for example, is whichever one is not good that doesn't let you process properly, then essentially if you're bringing in–and, I think I read this specifically for pregnant women, you're given folate or folic acid I think generally in that sense. But, if you're someone who doesn't process it properly or can methylate it properly, then you're actually getting something that your body can't process and it creates a host of other. Is that the general idea with that?

Ben:  Right, conversion into homocysteine and elevated inflammation. So, yeah, folic acid is just generally a good idea to avoid. But, especially if you're a poor methylator, it would be something to begin inspecting food labels for will simultaneously saturating your body with natural sources of methyl folate. So, that would be the first.

The second would be if you are a poor methylator because the methylation process supports things like DNA repair, detoxification, et cetera, you will usually see accumulation of metals and toxins to a higher extent than you would see in a poor methylator. And so, in addition to methylation support, you need to consider detoxification support with, of course, the problem being that if the third leg of the stool is present, which you already alluded to, chronic inflammatory response or cell danger response, essentially the body being stuck in almost a fight or flight sympathetic nervous system scenario, many detoxification strategies that are recommended to folks tend to be at least initially a little bit too harsh or stressful and you have to begin with some very, very simple concepts. I think probably the top two or I would say three actually in this case would be movement. Not CrossFit, not high-intensity interval train, but literally walking, light swimming, stretching, yoga, et cetera. Second would be some form of G forces that allow you to address lymph circulation such as Tai Chi shaking, rebounding on a mini trampoline, or even self-inflicted lymphatic massage. 

For example, one thing, I actually do this, don't laugh I do this when I'm jumping up and down on a trampoline. You don't have to do that. I just do it because the G forces that you get from a trampoline really allow for better lymph fluid circulation and detoxification. But, there are certain lymph points that you can massage and tap to improve lymph circulation but not necessarily need hefty amounts of sweating at a high-temp sauna or hefty amounts of exercise. Those points are the collarbone right here. You can kind of massage that and tap it back kind of underneath the ears, behind the jawbone where you would tend to get a sore throat and swollen lymph glands. Again, you can massage it and tap it. And usually, I'll just do about a minute per area, then the armpit area kind of at the edge of the chest right underneath there, massage and tap. The stomach, right, massage. And, sometimes the stomach I'll do a longer period of time on because it feels really good to just slap, slap, slap, slap, slap. The inguinal and the groin, same thing, massage and slap. And then, the back of the knees is where you finish. So, you hit those six spots and that can be really useful for kind of a light self-inflicted lymph detoxification that doesn't require a lot of stress on the body.

Now, if you can handle deep sweating, if you can handle coffee enemas, if you can handle things like heat and cold therapy for more circulation. Those are definitely beneficial. And, at the top of the totem pole would be one of these heftier cleanses like ayurvedic-based panchakarma cleanse or Dr. John Douillard is a physician of Boulder, Colorado who uses an ayurvedic approach and has options for both a five-day cleanse as well as a what he calls a two-week Colorado cleanse. There are companies like Quicksilver Scientific that use a more, I suppose, modern approach. I have some clients go through their detox cube, which is about a three-month protocol. Another guy in the health sector, Dr. Dan Pompa has one called the true cellular detox, which is a combination of binders and liver detoxification pathway support agents. 

But, as you alluded to, if people have some pretty significant mold symptoms, they probably want to start towards the bottom of that totem pole with just like movement, tai chi shaking, a little bit of lymph massage, then you can get up to the stage where you might be doing sauna or an enema. Sauna a few times a week, enema on a weekly basis. Then, if you feel good, you can move on to a more arguably intense detoxification protocol. But really, that's the second leg of the stool would be somehow releasing the toxins or the metals that have accumulated within the body in addition to methylation support and avoidance of synthetic folic acid.

So, those would be the first two things that I would consider.

Brian:  No, I think this makes sense. It's the idea that you don't want to detox and flood toxin into your body if you can't get it out. And so, it's hard at the bottom and make sure your detox pathways, your methylation pathways are able to handle whatever you're then going to detox out in basically step two of this pyramid, yeah?

Ben:  Right. Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up because it is binding and releasing. And, that's why even if someone were going to do let's say the middle part of that phase like a regular sauna practice or the use of an enema. That's where binding agents can be useful like chlorella or activated charcoal, but you wouldn't want to take a binding agent all on its own without engaging in the release practices because then you're essentially just redistributing metals and toxins throughout the body. And, in many cases based on osmotic gradients, it winds up in neural tissue in the brain and that creates a lot of mental issues for folks. So, you do want to make sure you're not just taking activated charcoal, for example, you have to combine that with releasing through stool and sweat and breath the actual toxins. So, that would be another thing to think about.

The third kind of leg of the stool would be, again, what we've mentioned a couple of times would be you are in fight and flight syndrome or fight or flight syndrome. The central nervous system can be stressed when you're methylating poorly and you have a high toxin load or mold or any other chronic stealth coinfection. And, this one's pretty straightforward, but you have to downregulate the nervous system. You have to engage in stress and meditative practices, prayer, gratitude, breathwork, for example. All the things that you would consider to be things that would tone the vagus nerve and thus decrease stress by balancing the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems, those should be daily practices. And, from a biohacking standpoint, yeah, you can certainly upregulate or accelerate that process of restoring nervous system health. For example, a few things that you could try are vagal nerve-stimulating agents. For example, there's a company called Vielight. They have a red light stimulating collar that delivers red light directly over the vagus nerve at the back of the neck. There is a company called Truvaga and another company called Pulsetto, both of which have developed relatively affordable at-home devices that can stimulate the vagus nerve with the mild electrical signal that many people, especially people who have a high amount of sympathetic tone find very relaxing. There are also sensory deprivation strategies. Many people will visit a float tank or use a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to kind of put themselves into a state where the world can't get at you and you're also in a very relaxing environment.

And finally, there are head-worn devices. These are considered to be light sound stimulation devices or neuro feedback-based devices that accelerate the process of nervous system repair and recovery. A few examples of good ones would be there's one called the BrainTap, which is a light sound stimulation machine with over 800 recipes. Many of which are designed for stress control and nervous system balancing and can even be paired with breathwork. There is another relatively new device called the Sens.ai, and that is basically a home-based neural feedback unit that uses audio and visual cues to shift your body out of say high stressful beta brain wave production and in the more relaxed delta or theta or alpha production. Another similar light sound stimulation device that ties to an app on your phone is called the NeuroVizr. That one's a little more powerful than the BrainTap. Some people find it almost too stimulating. And then, that same company that I mentioned Vielight that makes the vagal nerve stimulator, they actually have cranial and intranasal red light therapy devices that can be set to a specific hertz frequency to again downregulate the nervous system using specific light cues. It's a concept called photobiomodulation.

So, as you can imagine, once you introduce some of these so-called biohacking technologies, you can get arguably better and faster results in a pretty safe manner than you might get from just breathwork or just meditation or just a gratitude journal or something like that. And so, that's what you'd want to consider for that third leg of the stool.

So now, we've got addressing methylation, we've got detoxification and we've got rebalancing of the nervous system.

Brian:  As far as the nervous system component goes, maybe to just add a little context to why it's important, maybe a little more is to talk through if you're in a constant sympathetic state, what does that do to your body? Because now your body is prioritizing different things, right? So, it's really a limiting factor in the natural healing that the body is able to do. Is that correct?

Ben:  Well, sure. I mean, imagine you're at the gym doing a hard workout or a high-intensity interval training cardio session or something like that. Well, your blood pressure is up, your heart rate is up, the liver is spilling massive amounts of glucose into the body, so you're hyperglycemic if you ever test your blood glucose during a hard work out of the gym. It's usually through the roof. You are breathing rapidly. You're in a state of hypervigilance. And, just imagine if you were driving down the highway in your car and all of a sudden your body felt like that, it'd freak you out because that amount of stress is something that the body can naturally handle in a situation in which it's briefly going to battle, whatever, from an ancestral standpoint running from a lion or engaging in the latter parts of a hunt where you're finally taking down the animal and your heart rate's up and you're shooting and chasing it down or whatever. 

But yeah, long-term chronic activation of the sympathetic nervous system as you can imagine is exhausting, especially if you're trying to sleep at night. So, that's just the strategy behind this is we want to downregulate the sympathetic nervous system. And honestly, this can be measured. I think heart rate variability, which is a measurement of the delta in terms of the heartbeat signal, the difference in time between each individual heartbeat with the idea that there should be mild beat-to-beat variation between each heartbeat. The vagus nerve is what sends a signal to the pacemaker cells in the heart to speed up or slow down the heart rate. And, in a properly tone nervous system with good sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous balance, your heart might beat at 0.8 milliseconds and your heart would beat again, that'd be 0.89. Your heart would beat again, that'd be 0.78 and you'd see good fluctuation in terms of the beat-to-beat interval. And, that would result in what would measure on a wearable such as, I don't know, ring or a wristwatch or a wrist device, a high heart rate variability. 

And, of course, as you can imagine, poor vagal tone or especially excess state of sympathetic nervous system activity or even overtraining an athlete which would be excess parasympathetic nervous system activity actually, that would result in a low heart rate variability. So, heart rate variability is a great tracking method to see how your efforts to downregulate the sympathetic nervous system are actually coming to fruition.

Brian:  So, in theory, if you're stimulating the vagus nerves are some of the things that we talked about here, then your HRV would go up in theory from very just topline thought process.

Ben:  Yeah. And, I left out one that's called water. Again, as you alluded to, that can be stressful for many people who are already a little bit too sympathetically activated. But, the fact is most of the benefits of vagal nerve toning from cold water come from the head and the neck getting cold. And so, you can literally do cold water face dunks and not necessarily get the whole body in and have an intense shivering response. So, you don't have to guilt yourself into not putting the whole body into a cold environment.

Brian:  PEMF mats. So, I have one of those that I actually have started using and I noticed I use it at night and I put it at 3 hertz to try to really emphasize the delta wave in it. It works. I mean, I get super tired and then I also noticed through, I wear a WHOOP for sleep tracking, I also noticed improvements there and it has identified that practice as a 10% positive in my recovery. Is that another way? Do you feel that's an effective way to kind of modulate your brain wave and look at it like that?

Ben:  Well, pulsed electromagnetic frequencies are going to cause a little bit more permeability in the cell membrane and essentially allow for flushing of toxins or an increase in the intake of metabolites. Sometimes it'll speed up activity of the electron transport chain. It'll decrease inflammation. It can, when you use a lower hertz frequency as you alluded to, even shift the brain into a certain brain wave pattern. And, it can work for that. I mean, I also have a PEMF device that I sleep on. It's one of the few that I could find that will stay on for 12 hours during the night. It's made by Dr. William Pawluk, P-A-W-L-U-K. That one's called the Body Balance or the Bio Balance. I forget, but you can find it on his website.

But, even PEMF can be very stimulating and excessively stimulating to people who are already in a hyped-up state of nervous system stress. And, because of that, I am totally open to the idea of, and I myself get a lot of benefit from as do my clients, the use of grounding or earthing technologies such as a good pair of grounding or earthing shoes or grounding or earthing straps that you outfit to your existing pair of shoes that allow you to absorb a lot of negative ions that build up on the surface of the planet when lightning strikes the planet or when solar radiation strikes the planet. The Earth is basically one giant ibuprofen pill when it comes to its anti-inflammatory benefits. But, for example, here in my office, I've got a grounding mat that I stand on when I'm working in my computer. Even though I have a PEMF mat on my bed, underneath the top sheet, I actually have a full king-size grounding mat and all the pillows are grounded as well. And, this can be a really good strategy for getting a lot of the benefits of PEMF with a little less of the intense stimulation. And, it actually very much relates to what I would consider to be the fourth leg of the stool I was describing, and this is the one that I think a lot of people don't catch but that is important. I mean, if you have a high metal load and you're in a state of hypersensitivity, you typically also are carrying with you some degree of electro-hypersensitivity.

And so, I think it's a really smart idea to audit your home and your working environment for magnetic frequencies, radio frequencies, dirty electricity, and AC power surges. And, I certainly have a little bit of electro hypersensitivity myself, many people do, and I feel wonderful when I'm at home compared to when I'm at an Airbnb or at a hotel because I've got dirty electricity filters plugged into each room in the house. I don't have Wi-Fi. Everything is hardwired with metal-shielded Cat 7 ethernet cable. I've got the grounding and earthing mats that I described. I've got solar panels, but I've got a dirty electricity filter on the solar panel configuration so I'm getting fewer AC power surges as the solar converts from DC to AC. 

I've had what is called a building biologist go through my home and the guy Brian Hoyer at Shielded Healing with a series of meters that measure different forms of electricity to ensure that my body is not getting exposed to a high amount of them when I'm in my home and office space. And, of course, as you can imagine because your night of sleep is the arguably one-third of your life during which the majority of nervous system repair and recovery is occurring if there were one area of your home you were going to start with, it would be the bedroom. Moving any appliances out of the bedroom, getting rid of anything that doesn't have the ability to be able to disable Wi-Fi, putting dirty electricity filters in the outlets, making sure that the lighting is flicker-free and is not LED but is OLED or biological LED or halogen or incandescent, making sure that the bed has, for example, a grounding sheet or if you can handle it, a PEMF mat on it, and making sure that anything plugged in next to the bed has been tested and is not producing a large amount of electricity while you're asleep. 

So, that's the part, I think, a lot of people miss. They'll take all the supplements and do all the detoxes but still just be in a Wi-Fi and electrical soup all day long. And, I think that can really inhibit the healing process. 

Brian:  You're 100% on it. A lot of our clients specifically and people that we interact with become sensitive to EMF. And, it's a big piece of what happens. And, for those people who have not experienced it and aren't feeling it, you just kind of feel like that, like how does that even happen? I feel fine. But, you start adding all these different exposures and different things that your body has to deal with, and the sensitivity start to increase at an exponential rate at some point when your body is just overloaded with everything. And this, even multiple chemical sensitivity, all these different things start to occur mast cell activation. A lot of that stuff happens after the root load of whatever your exposures kicks in and it just kind of starts flooding in on top of it. 

And so, a lot of this stuff is so cool because the way that you're breaking it down, there are things here that we can do that are a lesser amount of severity or concentration on the body like you describing. Hey, PEMF might actually do some detox which we don't necessarily want to do. If you're that sensitive, here's grounding as an alternative to that where you're getting benefits like that. This is all very helpful. And, I think the goal of this is for people to be able to walk away and say, “Hey, how do I maximize my recovery through this process understanding where I'm at and how many options are there, what are the different kind of levels of these options that I can do?” And, the fact that you're like this knowledge base is just spitting out these things that while you're probably walked a mile and a half while we're talking already on your treadmill is very, very awesome and incredibly helpful.

Ben:  Yeah. And, there are little things that I think, I don't know if you've talked about these things or not but to consider. For example, if you are in a chronically inflamed state or have some element of cell danger response syndrome, you are going to have a higher level of reactive oxygen species and free radicals, and thus creating a scenario in which you're supporting what is called mitochondrial uncoupling can be a smart idea. Meaning that you're essentially lowering the rate of free radicals produced by the transport chain by shifting mitochondria into essentially what you might consider to be heat production. 

An example of mitochondrial coupling strategies would be the use of bitters and herbs and spices particularly prior to a meal. Bitter melon extract is a perfect example of that. The use of polyphenols such as red powders or the dark blues and purples of the plant kingdom: red wine, blueberries, pomegranates, et cetera. I even have, instead of black pepper in my pepper grinder in the kitchen, Grains of Paradise pepper, organic grains of paradise pepper, which I use as a spice in my kitchen which is also a mitochondrial uncoupling agent. Ketones. These are kind of a newer trend in the health industry, these drinkable ketones that shift your body into a state of ketosis without the stress of carbohydrate and calorie restriction. Those are mitochondrial uncoupling agents. Cold is probably one of the more powerful mitochondrial uncoupling agents if you can handle it without excess stress. And, of course, the best way to know that as I described earlier is how does your HRV respond long term to something like cold therapy.

But, one thing to think about would be looking into mitochondrial uncoupling agents and weaving some of those strategies in your routine, and then the other that I would think about that might fly under the radar would be an approach to inflammation that a lot of functional medicine doctors have embraced over the years. And, that has been a staple of Russian functional medicine and longevity for over 30 years. And, that would be the use of peptides. And, although the FDA has recently cracked down on many peptides, in my opinion not because they're unsafe but I think because of pharmaceutical interest in them because they're very effective and safe but also very affordable. And so, they're low-hanging fruit for pharmaceutical companies to pick up is lobbying as it has done successfully can convince the FDA to classify many of them. But, they're still available. Many companies are selling them but marking them as not for human consumption, for research only. That doesn't mean you can't use them. Obviously, proceed with your own research and knowing what you're getting into. But, there are a few peptides that are enormously helpful for their anti-inflammatory effect. BPC 157 is one. There's another one called thymosin beta, TB 500. That's another. And, oral BPC 157 is still legal to get. Injectable is not legal for human consumption but you can still get it. And, these are injected very similarly to how a diabetic would inject insulin with an insulin syringe such as subcutaneously on the abdomen or the buttocks.

And so, peptides like that can be very effective and there are other peptides that support the mitochondria. One of the more powerful one is called MOTS-c, M-O-T-S-C. Another very powerful one is called Epitalon, E-P-I-T-A-L-O-N. And, in my opinion, if your pocketbook allows for it and you're willing to kind of use something that might be considered a little bit more fringe, you can go to websites like Peptide Sciences or CanLabs or Limitless Life or even go through a practitioner such as BioReset Medical in San Jose or Craig Koniver‘s clinic in South Carolina and you can get peptides and a peptide protocol. And, if you're going to use any, I'd say look into BPC 157, and TB 500 for inflammation, and then MOTS-c and Epitalon for the mitochondrial support. And, many people get results far more quickly once they begin incorporating peptides into their healing protocol.

Brian:  Can you explain what peptides are and what they do?

Ben:  They're very short chains of amino acids that directly travel to the organ or the tissue for which they are synthesized to target. So, in the case of BPC 157, that acts as a healing gastric peptide and also as an anti-inflammatory agent for joints and also as an anti-inflammatory agent systemically. TB 500 would have a greater effect on the thymus gland and also on tendons and ligaments. MOTS-c and Epitalon, those would both act on the mitochondrial membrane to support that while also decreasing inflammation in the mitochondria. 

And actually, if you take a deep dive into the Russian research, there are over 30 different peptides called peptide bioregulators. A guy named Dr. Khavinson has done research on decreased all-cause risk of mortality with the use of these and there are companies like anti-aging systems that literally sell peptide bioregulators designed to target each organ. And again, this might sound a little bit of a hefty biohack for many people or a lot to do, but just one single 10-day protocol of peptide bioregulators can be rejuvenating for the entire organ system. You're basically swallowing 30 capsules a day for 10 days in a row, but that's kind of the top of the totem pole as far as peptides are concerned. Yeah, they're just amino acid chains that target specific organs or organ functions.

Brian:  This is awesome. This is all really cool. I know we're running up on time.

Is there anything else that you feel like that we should throw out here in kind of the spirit of what we're chatting about today?

Ben:  I would imagine that people who listen to your podcast, Brian, they already have been exposed to some of your recommendations on testing, both testing the environment and testing their body. But, I would encourage people to do research and to understand that the average so-called mold eradication expert might not actually be doing the right type of testing for your environment. For example, just like a simple air test in the center of the room in a house or you might have a doctor who maybe will do a NutrEval panel or a Metabolomix+ panel for mold markers but they're not actually doing a urinary mycotoxin or even in some cases a hair analysis. So, just make sure that, I would say I would trust Brian a lot of the information he has. There's a great website called Surviving Mold, which I'm sure you're aware of as well, Brian, and good resources out there. But, I would say just make sure that you are testing intelligently, both your body and your environment. And then, armed with that knowledge, you can dive into some of these strategies I've just explained and, of course, some of the environmental and biological mold eradication strategies that Brian I'm sure has talked about in his podcast.

Brian:  Awesome, Ben. Listen, I feel this flew by. There's just so much here, which is awesome. Really, really appreciate you taking the time to talk through all this stuff with us. And, I'm sure everybody listening is very appreciative and grateful as well.

Ben:  Yeah. It's my pleasure, man, I hope it's been helpful, and keep up the good work. People need this information in an era in which we are indoors way more than I would say what we're meant to be or what we're designed to be. The mold issue is of course just a growing concern when you pair that with stress and with the cell danger response and methylation issues. I think that this is a very, very important topic for people to be aware of. So, thank you for being a resource for people.

Brian:  Yeah, absolutely. We're coming up on Christmas by the way. So, happy holidays to you too as we get there.

Ben:  Yes. Get your mold-free Christmas tree.

Brian:  Alright. Thanks, Ben.

Ben:  Alright. Thanks, Brian.

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Are you grappling with brain fog, eczema, anxiety, depression, or insomnia, but the cause of your ailments defies doctors' explanations? 

Sounds like you could have a toxic mold problem on your hands. 

Embark on a captivating exploration of indoor environmental health with today's guest, Brian Karr, who has empowered over 3,000 hypersensitive individuals to cultivate healthier living environments.

A Certified Microbial Investigator (CMI) by the American Council for Accredited Certifications, Brian is an expert at identifying mold indicators and developing strategic remedial strategies for mold growth and biotoxin production throughout homes and buildings. He is also the co-founder of We Inspect, a national indoor environmental assessment company with a laser focus on mold and biotoxin detection and management. Additionally, Brian created the Mold Masterclass, an innovative digital training program designed to teach students how to identify and eradicate mold and mycotoxins from their homes.

Notably, Brian was also a distinguished speaker at the 2020 Indoor Air Quality Association (IAQA) Annual Meeting, where he conveyed a specialized approach to mold and biotoxin remediation for hypersensitive individuals. His contributions also extend to educational articles published by the Indoor Air Quality Association.

Recently, I had the privilege of joining him on an episode of his podcast #moldfinders: RADIO (which he was gracious enough to let me share with you today) to discuss concerns related to chronic inflammation, mitochondrial disruption, and how biohacking can offer solutions for core body issues.

In today's episode, join me and Brian in unraveling the complexities of indoor environmental health, exploring how mold and biotoxins might be affecting your well-being. From detection to remediation, this conversation is a journey into creating healthier living spaces and, ultimately, a healthier you.

During this discussion, you'll discover:  

-Brian Karr…03:49

• An expert on mold
• Ben was recently on Brian’s podcast #moldfinders: RADIO
• We Inspect
• Brian allowed Ben to share the episode with his audience

-The impact of mold…05:35

• People impacted by mold and mold toxins have inflammatory conditions
• Associated mitochondrial dysfunctions:
  • Brain — brain fog, dementia, cognitive decline
  • Gut — leaky gut, parasites
  • Skin — eczema
  • Nervous system — anxiety, depression, insomnia

-Key biohacking principles for general chronic inflammation…09:04

• In Ben’s experience, people tend to have a cluster of issues
• Genetic methylation deficit
• Detoxification of accumulated metals and toxins
• Chronic inflammatory response or cell danger response — downregulating the nervous system
• DNA analysis
• Thorne multivitamins
• Designs for Health
• Reducing synthetic sources of folic acid
• Generally a good idea to avoid folic acid, especially if you're a poor methylator
• Poor methylator, you will usually see the accumulation of metals and toxins in your body
• You need to consider detoxification support
• Many detoxification strategies tend to be at least initially a little bit too harsh or stressful
• Begin with some very simple concepts:
  • Walking, light swimming, stretching, yoga
  • Tai Chi shaking, rebounding on a mini trampoline, or lymphatic massage
• Podcast with Dr. John Douillard:
  • “Eat Wheat: A Scientific and Clinically-Proven Approach to Safely Bringing Wheat and Dairy Back Into Your Diet”
• Colorado Ayurvedic Cleanse
• Cold and heat therapy, or different types of cleanses and detoxification protocols
• Coffee enemas

-Binding and releasing…17:05

• Binding agents can be useful — Chlorella or activated charcoal
• Quicksilver detox (use code GREENFIELD15 to save 15%)
• Podcast with Dr. Dan Pompa:
  • “Beyond Fasting: How To Biohack Your Fast To Accelerate Fat Loss, Stave Off Carbohydrate Cravings & Enhance Cellular Autophagy.”
• Binding cannot go without releasing practices
• Without releasing, you are just redistributing toxins throughout the body — they end up in neural tissue
• Releasing through stool, sweat, and breath
• Sauna a few times a week
• Enema weekly

-Fight or flight syndrome…18:09

• Downregulate the nervous system
• Engage in stress-regulating and meditative practice
• Vagal nerve-stimulating agents
• Vielight — red light stimulation
• Truvaga
• Pulsetto
• Neurofeedback-based devices that accelerate the process of nervous system repair and recovery
  • BrainTap
  • Sense.ai
  • neuroVIZR (use code BEN10 to save 10%)

-Being in a constant sympathetic state…25:00

• Prevents the body from healing
• Long-term chronic activation of the sympathetic nervous system is exhausting
• Heart rate variability to see how your efforts to downregulate the sympathetic nervous system are coming to fruition
• Cold water benefits for vagal nerve
• PEMF mats
• Pulsed electromagnetic frequencies:
  • Cause a little bit more permeability in the cell membrane
  • Allow for flushing of toxins or an increase in the intake of metabolites
  • Decrease inflammation
  • Shift the brain into a certain brainwave pattern with a lower hertz frequency 
• WHOOP
• Podcast with Dr. William Pawluk:
  • “The Myth About ‘Grounding,' Acupuncture Without Needles, 400% Increase In Stem Cell Production & Much More.”
• PEMF — FlexPulse and BioBalance

-Sensitivity to EMF — grounding or earthing…29:53

• Audit your home and your working environment for magnetic frequencies, radio frequencies, dirty electricity
• Ben’s home is maximally protected
• Podcast with Brian Hoyer:
  • “Hunting Down EMF In Your Office, Bedroom, Gym & Beyond: Is Your Home’s ‘Dirty Electricity' Wrecking Your Sleep, Your Recovery, Your Health & More? The Official Ben Greenfield & Brian Hoyer Low-EMF Home How-To.”
• Shielded Healing
• Dirty electricity filters
• Flicker-free lighting
• A lot of people become sensitive to EMF
• Grounding and earthing mats
• If you are chronically in an inflamed state, mitochondrial uncoupling is a smart idea
• Mitochondrial uncoupling strategies:
  • Bitter melon extract before a meal
  • Use of polyphenols such as red powders or the dark blues and purples of the plant kingdom — red wine, blueberries, pomegranates, etc.
  • Grains of Paradise instead of pepper
  • Ketones
  • Cold plunge (use code BENFORGE for a discount)

-The use of peptides…38:37

• A staple of Russian functional medicine and longevity for over 30 years
• Dr. Vladimir Khavinson
• The FDA has recently cracked down on many peptides
• There are a few peptides that are enormously helpful for their anti-inflammatory effect
• Limitless Life Nootropics
  • BPC-157 — gastric peptide and an anti-inflammatory agent for joints
  • TB-500 — thymus gland and inflammation of tendons and ligaments
  • MOTS-c — mitochondrial support
  • Epitalon — mitochondrial support
• Peptide Sciences
• CanLab
• BioReset Medical 
• Koniver Wellness 
• Peptide article:
  • “What Are Peptides? Find Out the Best Peptide Stacks”
• 10-day protocol peptide bioregulators can be rejuvenating for the entire organ system

-Ben’s recommendations…42:42

• Encouraging people to do the research
• NutrEval
• Metabolomix+
• Make sure that you are testing intelligently both your body and your environment
• Surviving Mold