Ep. 226 The Ultimate Superfoods: Spirulina and Algae with Catharine Arnston

Your trusted source for nutrition, wellness, and mindset for thriving health.

Today, I am honored to connect with Catharine Arnston, the Founder, CEO, and Chief Scientific Officer of ENERGYbits. 

I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet Catharine in person this past July at KetoCon in Austin. Much of her work focuses on optimizing mitochondrial function and recognizing that mitochondria are pivotal to our metabolism, longevity, brain and gut health, sleep, digestion, and almost everything else. 

In our conversation, we dive into what got Catharine passionate about algae. We speak about her transition from a corporate economic development role into a budding entrepreneur, the distinctions between micro and macroalgae, and the more than 100,000 studies that have been done- especially in Asia, that show algae are of the most alkaline and nutrient-dense foods available. We differentiate between spirulina and chlorella and explain their roles in our mitochondrial health. We also discuss how our stressful lifestyles impact our cellular health and talk about autophagy, red light therapy, immune function, and more.

I hope you enjoy today’s eye-opening discussion about the value of consuming microalgae daily. Stay tuned to find out what microalgae are and what they do to keep you healthy!

“Many people in Japan take chlorella every single day, and they have the best longevity, the lowest cancer rates, lowest obesity rates, and great skin and hair!”

– Dr. Catharine Arnston

IN THIS EPISODE YOU WILL LEARN:

  • How an issue with her sister’s health resulted in Catharine becoming passionate about algae as a food source.
  • Algae is a food, not a supplement. 
  • How do macroalgae differ from algae?
  • Spirulina and chlorella are grown as fresh-water crops. So they contain no iodine. They also have no lectins or oxalates. 
  • Catharine explains why algae are some of the most nutrient-dense foods available. 
  • Why are algae critical for maintaining mitochondrial health?
  • Consuming microalgae every day means you do not have to deteriorate as you age.
  • What makes spirulina’s absorption rate so high? 
  • The health benefits of consuming chlorella.
  • Catherine explains how spirulina and chlorella differ and work together synergistically.
  • How does chlorella differ from activated charcoal?
  • What are the benefits of having chlorophyll in your body when exposed to red light?
  • Catharine unpacks the immune-supportive aspects of spirulina and chlorella.
  • Spirulina and chlorella are keto-friendly, can be used when fasting intermittently, and are safe for people with diabetes.

Connect with Cynthia Thurlow

Connect with Dr. Catharine Arnston

Resources:

Why Algae is a Food, Not a Supplement Article

Algae Article

Chlorophyll Article

Collagen Article

 

Transcript

[Everyday Wellness intro]

Cynthia Thurlow: Welcome to Everyday Wellness Podcast. I’m your host, nurse practitioner, Cynthia Thurlow. This podcast is designed to educate, empower and inspire you to achieve your health and wellness goals. My goal and intent, is to provide you with the best content and conversations from leaders in the health and wellness industry each week and impact over a million lives.

[music]

Today, I had the honor to connect with Catharine Arnston. She is the founder and CEO and Chief Scientific Officer of ENERGYbits, and I had the opportunity to meet her a KetoCon in Austin this past July. A great deal of Catharine’s efforts and work is on optimizing mitochondrial function, and recognizing that our mitochondria are at the pivotal grasp of our metabolism, longevity, brain and gut health, sleep, digestion and nearly everything else. We dove deep into what got her passionate about learning more about algae, how she transitioned from a corporate economic development role into a budding entrepreneur. We talked about the distinctions between micro and macro algae, how there is over 100,000 studies, especially in Asia, that it’s one of the most alkaline and nutrient dense foods available. We differentiate between Spirulina and Chlorella, and the role of both of these in the health of our mitochondria, how the impact of our over harried lifestyles are impacting the health of our cells. We spoke about autophagy, red light therapy, immune function and so much more. This is an absolutely eye-opening discussion about the value of consumption of microalgae on a daily basis. I hope you will enjoy this conversation as much as I did recording it. 

Well, Catharine, I really enjoyed meeting you at KetoCon, and I am so grateful that we were able to coordinate our calendars and bring you on as a guest because I know my listeners are going to be odd, [Catharine laughs] not only your journey, but also the information that we’ve talked about. And I was kind of alluding to my listeners and some of my private groups that we were connecting today. So, I’ve got a lot of really great questions and I know that we’ll have a very mutually beneficial conversation today.

Catharine Arnston: Terrific. I’m ready to go. I’m fired up with algae.

[laughter] 

Fired up by algae and fired up with algae. [laughs] 

Cynthia Thurlow: Absolutely. It’s always interesting for context. I know you had shared with me about the story of your sister, and how that changed your navigation from your business background, which obviously you still draw upon into getting passionate about algae. But let’s start there. What changed for you with your sister’s health that really got you interested invested in learning more about this amazing, amazing food source.

Catharine Arnston: Well, thank you, Cynthia. I’m Canadian, although I lived in Boston 33 years, and like a lot of people, I vaguely knew a little bit about food, I will say nothing but wellness. But it wasn’t really a priority for me. I was well enough but I did have an MBA in doing corporate economic development, nothing to do with nutrition, or wellness. And then 13 years ago, as I had mentioned, my younger sister in Canada developed breast cancer, she’s completely healed now, I just want to assure everyone. But at the time her oncologist, which is a cancer specialist, recommended that she changed her diet to an alkaline diet, because she said it would help with their healing. Now, they didn’t tell her what an alkaline diet was, it was good for her. So, I’m her big sister and I love her. I’m also a very good researcher as I’ve since learned. And so I said, “Well, I’m going to help you with this. I’ll find out what an alkaline diet was.” It turned out to be a plant-based diet and because of the phytonutrients and chlorophyll that have been proven to build your immune system. 

I went full tilt, doing research, read about eight books and about 100 scientific papers. She did go through chemo; she did change her diet. She’s still mostly plant based but in the process of helping her, I started digging into this plant-based diet stuff. [chuckles] 13 years ago, nobody was talking about it, I’m just a very passionate, action oriented individual. When I saw the science about what it was doing for people’s health, I thought, “Man, somebody needs to get the word out. I have no background in it. I don’t know how I will do it, but I’m going to do something.” So, I did give up my 25-year corporate career, I went back to school, I didn’t have time to get a registered dietician’s degree. So, I got a health coaching certificate from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, which to be perfectly honest, wasn’t a deep dive into the science, but it gave me a credential and it gave me a little bit of familiarity with the wellness community. 

I will tell you, since that moment, I have been completely self-taught. I feel I have a PhD in algae nutrition, and can talk to any PhD doctor and understand what they’re saying and I can help them understand the science of algae. The tipping point for me was helping someone close who I loved heal, and then having my eyes opened to the number one priority of your health. It changes everything when you’re not healthy. So then after learning about the plant-based nutrition and going to school, I did put my own curriculum together, and taught plant-based nutrition. I was gung-ho thinking trying to change the world. But again, I got pushback from people because they said, “Look, you’re not telling me anything I don’t already know. My mother has been telling me to eat my vegetables since I was a kid,” but it’s too much work. Vegetables are heavy to carry home from the grocery store, they take a long time to clean, to cook, to eat, and there’s endless arguments at the dinner table. So being the passionate person that I am, I thought, “Well, if I can’t get people to eat vegetables, I need to find a way to get the vegetable nutrition into them in a way that’s effortless.” Once again, I had no idea how I was going to accomplish that but as they told me on Shark Tank, “I’m unstoppable.” 

I just went back to everything I found for my sister, and just did a deeper dive on the science and it took months before I got to algae. And that’s when the miracle happened because it turns out algae is the most alkaline food in the world. It’s also the most nutrient dense food in the world. We have a quote from NASA that says, “One gram of algae has the same nutrition as 1000 grams of fruits or vegetables.” It is the most studied food in the world. First of all, algae is a food. It is not a supplement. I have pictures of algae farms. You can’t show me a supplement farm, but I can show you an algae farm, this is a spirulina farm and this is a chlorella farm, we actually call our tablets Bits, because they’re bits of food. 

Which brings me to the other important thing is that algae comes in small tablets, and if you swallow them, or you could chew them or add them to smoothies, but here’s the best part. If you swallow one of these tablets, while we recommend five or 10, or even more, each one of these tablets has the same nutrition as an entire plate of vegetables. Problem solved. You don’t have to clean them, cook them, carry them home from the grocery store, argue with your kids, argue with your husband, you can give them to your pets, your newborns, your grandparents. This is effortless nutrition; this is fast food. There’s zero carbs, 40% vitamins and minerals, 64% protein, and it gives your body everything that it needs. You could live on this for forever if you wanted. It is so complete.

When I realized that algae was science based, “Oh, it’s been used in Asia for the last seven years.” Whereas a multibillion, that’s what the B, billion-dollar agricultural crop. As I mentioned, it’s not a supplement, it’s a crop, and the Japanese, by the way, take chlorella every single day. That’s one of the algae we’re going to talk about today spirulina and chlorella. And they have the best longevity, the lowest cancer rates, lowest obesity rates, and great skin and hair. So, it’s not all from the algae but some of it’s got to be from the algae.

I decided when I saw all the science, I saw how safe it was, and I saw how easy it was to help people be healthy or to either recover from an issue or prevent a health issue. I decided I would devote the rest of my life helping people understand what algae is, because some people have heard of spirulina, some people even take spirulina. They’re not really sure what it is. They’re not really sure what it does. They just know that it’s a “superfood.” So, I’m here to tell you exactly what it is and exactly why it does everything it does that will keep you healthy, prove your longevity. I call it a super-duper food. It’s more than a superfood. [laughs]

Cynthia Thurlow:  I think what’s really interesting, at least from my perspective, is when I was thinking of algae before, I thought about kelp, and I thought about seaweed and I thought about those products which I used to recommend when people had low iodine. 

Catharine Arnston: Yes.

Cynthia Thurlow: We’re talking about microalgae. 

Catharine Arnston: Correct.

Cynthia Thurlow: So, I think this is an important distinction that they’re all part of the same family, but these are spirulina and chlorella are part of this very special part of algae, the microalgae family. 

Catharine Arnston: Yes. Well, thank you for mentioning that because I tell people, “Algae is its own food category.” It’s not technically a fruit or a plant, because it’s water based. There are two main types. There’s macroalgae, as you mentioned, and microalgae. Macroalgae is seaweed, also known as kelp, and they call it seaweed because it’s from the sea. And it does have important nutrients like iodine and fiber but virtually no nutrition. We’re talking about microalgae which is called microalgae because it’s microscopic in size. Something like a million cells of microalgae could fit on the head of a pin. That’s how tiny it is. And microalgae is everywhere. Seaweeds only in the sea, microalgae is everywhere. The oceans, the lakes, the rivers, streams, the soil, your swimming pool, your aquarium and there are tens of thousands of strains, but the two we’re going to talk about today, and the two that you may be familiar with are spirulina and chlorella. Those are not from the ocean. They are harvested as food crops. 


Spirulina, they’re harvested in fresh water, not from the ocean. Number one, no iodine, this could be good for some people, not good for some people, but there is no iodine in spirulina or chlorella in at least in ours, which is grown in freshwater, iodine is only from the ocean. Also, whether you buy spirulina, chlorella, from Whole Foods or Target or us, they’re pretty much all grown in freshwater. So, spirulina is one type of blue-green algae, but there are lots of other ones, the ones that bloom on your beach. That may be a blue-green algae, but it’s not spirulina. By the way, I tell people, “Poor algae gets the bum rap,” because it only shows up when there’s bacteria, and it kills bacteria. So, it’s the cleanup crew. [laughs] It’s the cleanup crew in your beach and it’s a cleanup crew on your body, but you don’t see the toxins, but you do see the algae, so it’s only there to protect you. But nonetheless, these two, chlorella is a green algae. We’re going to talk about the difference between the two of them, but spirulina and chlorella are microalgae, and they are the two that are harvested in freshwater as agricultural crops.

Cynthia Thurlow:  It’s really interesting because one of the questions that I received prior to our discussion was, I’m oxalate sensitive, are these safe for me? I know the answer but I love for you to [crosstalk] those.

Catharine Arnston: Oh, my God. These are leading questions, these are fabulous. 

[laughter] 

You’re leading the witness. Well, Dr. Steven Gundry is a big fan of ours, and we’re a big fan of his. One of the reasons he is a fan is because, drum roll, algae doesn’t have lectins and oxalates. Now, let me tell you, for those who don’t know what they are, they’re considered anti-nutrients. They’re very pointy proteins that are found in land-based plants and the reason why plants have them is to defend themselves from bugs and predator’s animals because they taste terrible. And so, they keep them away from killing the plant and stealing all their flowers and seeds, but algae and they’re very damaging to your stomach lining. They will puncture your stomach lining, if you’re sensitive to them, and can lead to autoimmune because food can then pass through your stomach lining, which is very one single low level of cells into your bloodstream and cause autoimmune. But algae doesn’t have lectins or oxalates. Why? Because it’s not a land plant. It did never have to defend itself from bugs or predators. It came from the ocean; it’s technically called a sea vegetable but it’s confusing because ours isn’t grown in the sea, but that’s why there are no lectins and oxalates. 

Anyone who is sensitive to, I would point out that almonds are very high, stay away from almonds, but the good news is pistachios and macadamia are very low. So, you do have other options and pistachios tastes delicious with our RECOVERYbits Chlorella tablets. We’ll talk about that in a minute. [chuckles]

Cynthia Thurlow: It’s really interesting, these plant-based compounds, some people tolerate them, others do not. I went through a period of time where I couldn’t have any oxalates. So, I’m acutely sensitive when people are saying, “I want them navigate a lower oxalic lifestyle.” Pistachios are great. Everyone knows I’m obsessed with salt and macadamia nuts. So those are definitely good combinations, and so when we’re talking about spirulina, I’ve actually been taking this since KitoCon.

Catharine Arnston: Oh, good for you.

Cynthia Thurlow: I used to take adaptogenic herb so beneficial plant compounds like ashwagandha, rhodiola, that you can take in the morning. That I always feel are beneficial for helping to regulate the autonomic nervous system. I’ve been taking spirulina in its place. And the little bits of energy that I’m getting from the spirulina has completely surpassed anything that I was getting from the adaptogenic herbs.

Catharine Arnston: Yeah.

Cynthia Thurlow:  So, you didn’t ask me to say that, I just wanted to share it that.

Catharine Arnston: Thank you.

Cynthia Thurlow:  I’ve really been pleasantly surprised that it’s not especially towards the end of my fasting window, taking them has been really, really helpful. But let’s talk about spirulina because there’s so many benefits to– well, I’m going to let you go over all the benefits but there’s so much to spirulina beyond just providing energy and focus.

Catharine Arnston: Well, really in this toxic stressful world we live in, where our plants no longer have nutrients in them, even if you are eating them, it is your last shot at getting nourished. In fact, I call spirulina your nutrition insurance [laughs] because it gives your body everything that it needs and then some. And then anything that you do eat after that is bonus for flavor or speed or whatever you’re doing. We call our spirulina ENERGYbits, because it does give you energy. And the energy you get isn’t like lightning bolts from the sky, because it’s not a stimulant, it’s just the nutrition. So, the best way to describe how you feel is fresh, that’s it. If you are performing any kind of athletic activity or anything where you need a lot of focus, you will notice that your mental acuity is much better that you run faster or longer or you lift more or lift longer and you don’t even notice it until the end. So, it’s really what I call a quiet energy, not a stimulant, so no rush, no crash, so that’s number one. 

Now, what you say to yourself, “Well, why do I get energy?” I used to speak at triathlon clubs because when we first started many, many years ago, we were noticed by athletes, runners, triathletes, marathon runners, Olympic teams, and they love the fact that it gave them energy and focus because when you’re tired as an athlete, the first thing that goes is your focus, and it did not upset their stomach, like the gels and bars, which of course are sugar or carb, or soy based. 

When I would speak to these triathlon clubs, they would literally heckle me and they’d say, “How can something with one calorie because there’s only one calorie per tablet– how can something with one calorie give me energy?” I’m here to tell you that concept is old school. What gives you energy are things called mitochondria. They are the little generator inside of your cells. I have lots of some pictures I can show you later on, but nonetheless, they give you energy. So, the key to energy is making sure that your mitochondria– First of all, there’s lots of them. Number two, that they’re healthy and performing adequately, and that they are not getting damaged by free radicals, which you get from carbs and doing lots and eating other bad foods. 

Number one, the spirulina not only does give you energy, because it’s the highest protein in the world and it’s all in amino acids and it’s a complete protein. So, it has 18 of the 24 aminos, including the nine your body can’t make. And it’s loaded with B vitamins, which convert the aminos into energy and it’s a vasodilator, which opens up your blood vessels so you get more oxygen and nutrients and as boron that facilitates that. And it has essential fatty acids, which reduces inflammation, improves your sight and 40 other vitamins, minerals, including all the electrolytes. So, in addition to all of that [chuckles] spirulina have the three antioxidants that can get into the inner membrane of the mitochondria, and protect it from free radical damage. What does this do? It increases your cellular energy. So, if you took 10 or 15, or 20, if you wanted of these in the morning, and maybe you went out for a run, you would just have more energy for your run. On the other hand, if you just want to be a couch potato, all of that cellular energy is still working, it’s making sure that the garbage in your brain is being cleaned out. It makes sure your heart is pumping and beating at the right level. It’s making sure your pH of your cells is at the slightly alkaline levels. So, it’s efficient at the cellular level and protects your mitochondria and that’s what gives you long term energy, and protects your health long term. 

One of these antioxidants, and I’ll just mention them, will hopefully get into a deeper dive in a minute is called Superoxide Dismutase. And I know that’s a mouthful. It’s also known as SOD. And it is impossible to find in any other food. There’s a teensy weensy, teeny tiny amount in broccoli or cabbage, but they have found that it just gets destroyed during digestion. And your body makes SOD but as you hit 30 or 40, it just plummets. So, you’re not making it and you can’t get it endogenously, exogenously from food. So, the fact that spirulina, we have 24,000 IEU units in a serving of 30 tablets. So, it’s works out to about thousand units per tablet of the superoxide dismutase. They did a study and gave people hundred units of superoxide dismutase, and who were depressed and lethargic and had no energy mentally or physically and within a week, they were fully recovered from 100 units. And each one of our tablets has thousand, so you do the math. This is like having your own medical team, your own fire team. I mean, we’ll talk about what superoxide dismutase in a minute, but it takes your mitochondria and just protects it like a shield. [laughs] So it’s amazing.

Cynthia Thurlow: Well, one of the things that certainly very important is for people understand that mitochondria are the powerhouses of our cells. And through the things we’re exposed to in our environment, not just our food, but our personal environments, personal care products, the stress of, being chronologically a year older, the last two years with the pandemic, really understanding that the mitochondria are responsible for communication between cells or metabolism, brain health, gut health, longevity. They really are, should be the focus of what we’re doing and every way that we can improve mitochondrial efficiency is with intermittent fasting. But this is another way that we can improve the quality of our cells. One thing that I think is particularly important to understand is that most chronic disease states that we have in the United States are related to mitochondrial dysfunction, think about diabetes, cardiovascular disease, a lot of cancers and things like that are related to broken down machinery within the cell and so this is a really important distinction to really understand.

Catharine Arnston: Absolutely. I’m just going to show you something. There are two ways to reduce the damage to mitochondria is to reduce the number of free radicals that are attacking the mitochondria, and one of them, so here’s free radicals that are usually produced from carbs. Keto diets, produce new free radicals, but algae or fasting have virtually none. So, I mean, you can’t fast forever, but you could take algae forever. So, it’s very, very efficient way to protect your mitochondria. The other thing is, if you think that the mitochondria aren’t important, because you were mentioning about the realizing, and it’s absolutely true. All science research now is focused on mitochondria. They have realized Alzheimer’s is a mitochondrial disease, they realize heart disease is a mitochondrial disease. Here’s why? I want to show you a picture of a cell. 

In your cells you have a nucleus, and you have these mitochondria and the mitochondria are like little peanut shaped things. They are what we call the powerhouse. So, here’s your cell and inside the cell is the nucleus. There’s only one nucleus per cell, but you have these mitochondria all over the place. There are two million mitochondria per cell in your brain. Think about it. Two million in your brain. So, when they aren’t working, your brain isn’t working. There’s 5000 of these per cell in your heart, when these aren’t working your heart isn’t working. Everything these days for health and avoiding disease, chronic Illness is related to mitochondria disease, and I’m going to help you understand why the two algaes are critical for maintaining that. The rubber hits the road when it comes to health, the all-roads lead to mitochondria.

Cynthia Thurlow:  Well, it’s unfortunate because when I was learning about Alzheimer’s as a nursing student, later as a nurse practitioner student, the thought process was it was this very distinctive disorder that we didn’t know why it happened. And now we know that we think of it as type 3 diabetes, so a lot of oxidative stress, a lot of free radicals, a lot of insulin resistance, a lot of mitochondrial dysfunctions, all contribute to developing Alzheimer’s disease, for sure.

Catharine Arnston: Right. Yeah, it’s all related. It’s amazing. We’ll hopefully address some of these other nutrients but another nutrient that they’ve realized is critical for your mitochondria health, and I’ve just been going as fast as I can on the research for this. It’s one that will surprise you is melatonin. Now, up until recently, scientists thought melatonin was only made in your pineal gland. About 10 or 15 years ago, they discovered that it’s actually made in all of your mitochondria, and it’s used by all of your mitochondria. And in fact, they have realized your gut, the mitochondria in your gut, generate 400 times more melatonin than it’s in your pineal gland because it’s so important for your mitochondria health because it is a master antioxidant. Master antioxidant. Guess what? I did lab test. Spirul or spirulina has the highest concentration of melatonin of anything in the world. There’s literally one milligram per tablet, and I know a lot of sports nutritionists who used to give tart cherry juice to their athletes after a workout to reduce inflammation, partly because of the melatonin, which is anti-inflammatory. Well, spirulina has 28,000 times more melatonin than tart cherry juice. You’ll be happy to know, Cynthia, that pistachios also have a lot of melatonin in them. [laughs]

Cynthia Thurlow: Really? I didn’t realize that. The irony is, so podcast listeners may or may not know this, but I have a thought process to when I release podcasts. I interviewed a melatonin expert earlier this summer in the week before– 

Catharine Arnston: Was it John Lieurance? 

Cynthia Thurlow: Yes, I’m going to be releasing the week before this podcast will be shipped out. So that was completely serendipitous but I did not know-

Catharine Arnston: Wow. Yeah. 

Cynthia Thurlow: -that spirulina has melatonin in it. 

Catharine Arnston: Yeah. I just connected with him actually, Tara Garrison put us together. And I finally connected with him on email on Friday, and we might have him come and do a book signing at our Dave Asprey of Biohacking Conference, because I’ve read his book cover to cover. And it’s powerful. I sent him our lab test, I said, “Look at this. Your science and my algae,” it’s a beautiful thing.

Cynthia Thurlow: Absolutely. That’s fantastic. And, yeah, he is an incredible resource on melatonin. Unfortunately, I think there is this kind of prevailing allopathic medicine focus where giving melatonin or taking supplemental melatonin is not beneficial. And yet, the research that I’ve been looking at, and certainly this conversation, especially when you’re 40, we are making less of it endogenously and taking things that support it exogenously is certainly very, very helpful.

Catharine Arnston: Yes. I’m updating my presentations, because the reality is, once you hit 40, your mitochondria slides, your superoxide dismutase slides, your melatonin slides. Meanwhile, toxins are increasing, stress is increasing, and so your body is desperate for something to change that direction and you can do it, if you know what to give it. Melatonin, superoxide dismutase, chlorophyll, all of which of course come from the algae. So, we’re here to help people understand that as you age, you do not have to deteriorate. I’m an example of that. I’m in my 60s. So, you know I’m closer to 70 than 60, by the way. 

Cynthia Thurlow:  We would never know.

Catharine Arnston: It’s definitely working. [laughs]

Cynthia Thurlow: No, no, you’re aging in reverse for sure, Catharine, and I can attest to this. I met you in person and I would not have guessed you were that age range of. I thought maybe you were like within a couple years of where I am, but absolutely aging in reverse. 

Catharine Arnston: Yeah. 

Cynthia Thurlow: So, let’s talk a little bit about chlorella, because this is another microalgae that has just completely blown my mind. It’s unusual for me to start reading things and just be like, “Wait a minute, this is really great information and I cannot wait for my listeners to be able to absorb all of what you’re going to share.”

Catharine Arnston: Well. Thank you. Yes, so remember I said spirulina is a blue-green algae. I didn’t mention by the way that I forgot to mention that spirulina is a cyanobacteria. It is a bacteria. It is not in the plant kingdom at all because it does not have a cellulose wall. And the reason why that’s important is because it allows all the nutrients including the superoxide dismutase and melatonin to literally get absorbed instantly, which is why it is so 99% bioavailable, because it literally bypasses digestion, the absorption rate is so high. And we’re going to circle back to that importance of spirulina being a sign of bacteria when we near the end when I talk about it being the first life on Earth for billion years ago, and the connection to your mitochondria where it all came from. We’re all from the same family. I’m not going to give you the rest of the story until the end. 

Anyways, chlorella is a green algae and it does belong to the plant kingdom, and it is known as a wellness algae. Spirulina is an energizing, nourishing algae, chlorella is a wellness algae, helps you recover your health, recover from your day, recover from sports, recover from drinking. Now, how does it do that? Well, spirulina has the highest concentration of protein in the world, but chlorella has the highest concentration of chlorophyll in the world. And you may say, “Well, what’s so important about chlorophyll?” Well, a couple of things. Number one, chlorophyll, I’ve discovered is a fat-based pigment, and why is that important? Well, all of your health issues as we’ve already alluded to start at the cellular level, and he mitochondria inside that cell but the first step is the cellulose wall, which is made of fats, lipids as they refer to it in science. And they those cell walls need to be porous, in order for nutrients to get in and toxins to get out. The traditional way to do that is with omega-3 and Vitamin D and all the other fat-based pigments. Well, ta-da, drum roll, chlorophyll is a fat-based pigment too. And here’s proof. I used to put spirulina tablets in a bowl with water and see how the beautiful, this is the blue pigment it’s in there, it’s called phycocyanin, which has its own healing properties. We haven’t had a chance to get to, but nonetheless, see how it disperses beautifully through the water. 

And then you have chlorella over here, and it just clumps. I did this about 10 or 20 times, I kept thinking, “What is going on? Why don’t you disperse? Why doesn’t the chlorophyll disperse beautifully like the blue pigment?” Until I realized chlorophyll is a fat-based pigment and the blue is a water-based pigment. This is why spirulina and the blue pigment in it help with issues related to blood into your lymph, for example, it stops, it has what’s called anti-angiogenesis properties, which means it stops the growth of blood vessels to tumors. Chlorophyll because it’s fat based, heals your cell walls. And so I tell people, “Look, when you have dirty windows, you can’t see out and sunlight can’t get in.” So, think of chlorophyll is window washers for your cell walls, so it keeps your cell walls permeable to allow efficiently, nutrients to get in and toxins to get out, and that keeps your pH at the slightly alkaline level, which helps protect you from cancer. It helps your mitochondria, have all the nutrients they need, and so everybody’s happy. So that’s number one, heals your cell walls. 

Number two, chlorophyll, amazingly, is literally the same chemical composition as your blood. There’s the only difference is your blood has iron in the middle, and chlorophyll has magnesium. Now why is that important? Well, when you have healthy blood, you’re going to have a much healthier body. For centuries, they’ve always given the injured liquid chlorophyll to heal. And as recently as World War II, they did that too because they found that if they ran out of blood transfusions, the liquid chlorophyll would help them heal just as fast as if they’d had a blood transfusion. Chlorophyll builds your blood. I can’t just tell you that any more simply. Regardless of what food group you’re in, I mean, it’s vegan, it’s keto, it helps with carnivores, it helps with low carb, and it’s alkaline, and this gets back to, I think, also when my sister’s oncologist wanting her to have an alkaline diet. The chlorophyll is very enriching for your blood, and for your immune system, so that’s number two, build your blood, heals your cell walls. 

Chlorophylls also kills bacteria. They’ve used it topically for centuries, and also you may not know this, but all water treatment plants in North America, probably the Europe too, run the water through algae, because algae kill bacteria. It kills it in the water, it kills it in your body as well, so very healing. But on top of that, that hard cell wall in the chlorella attaches to toxins, lead, mercury, radiation, alcohol, if you’re interested in, lactic acid, if you’re an athlete, and pulls them out, chelates them completely out of your body. So not only do you get general wellness benefits, you’re getting to detox benefits. 

I read a stat recently that said the average adult now has 800 toxins in their body. And our immune systems just were not built to support and sustain that kind of toxic load. So, most people take the chlorella at night, you can take anytime a day, but your body goes through a detox repair cycle when you’re sleeping. So, why not have your chlorella at night while you’re getting your beauty rest, you can have the cleanup crew and they’re getting rid of aluminum. It also has the highest RNA and DNA in the world has chlorella growth factor that speeds up the growth of healthy cells. It stimulates peristalsis, also known as bowel movements. So, while you’re enjoying your deep sleep and getting your beauty rest, you’ve got the cleanup crew, you’re getting rid of all the stuff that you didn’t need facilitating a cleanse. 

I tell people, you have a shower in the morning when you get up with for the cleaning outside your body. Taking chlorella every day is like giving your body a shower from the inside. So, you can see how the two of them work very synergistically spirulina in the morning, afternoon, whenever you’re tired, fatigued, and just 10 tablets a day of each one would be sufficient to allow you to not only enjoy the health benefits, more is always better, but this would also allow you to replace virtually most of your multivitamins, your fish oil, your CoQ10, your magnesium, your potassium, your biotin because it’s all in the algae. Most of them have 40 vitamins and minerals, they do work differently and synergistically in your body. 

Everybody I know has anywhere from five to 25 containers of supplements on their countertop and they expire at different times, you need to take some with others. And with algae Mother Nature has crafted this beautiful cocktail of nutrients for us. They all synergistically elevate in each other. So, you don’t have to do any thinking about what to take with what. Just take up. And they’re effortless, like I said. By the way, vegetables, they often go spoil after a few days my arugula goes yellow after day three. We have to put an expiry date on them. And it’s usually two or three years, but I will tell you, they never go bad, never. Just keep them out of sunlight and they may not taste very good after the 10th year but they will never go bad. So very efficient nutrition. [laughs]

Cynthia Thurlow: No, it’s amazing. So, I guess what I know of chlorella was, I was taught that we use it as a binder. So as someone wanted to take a higher level of chlorella, what would be the corresponding dose, because I know you said 10 a day is ideal. 

Catharine Arnston: For wellness. Right.

Cynthia Thurlow: Yeah, you probably need more for a binding. 

Catharine Arnston: Dr. Klinghardt is a big proponent of chlorella, and he supports the same concept where you need enough of it, because if you don’t have enough of it, it won’t pull the toxins all the way out. I consider, it depends on your body size, the level of toxicity, but 20, but preferably 30 tablets would be your detox dosage. Now, the good news about chlorella is, I think, it tastes darn good. I will admit, 99% of people do not like the flavor of spirulina, so they usually swallow them. But chlorella tastes like a sunflower seed or soy nut. It doesn’t stick to your teeth because it doesn’t have as much protein, it doesn’t have as much essential fatty acids. When you eat it with pistachios, or macadamia nuts, OMG, it’s delicious. Now you’re having a healing snack that’s pulling out toxins and it’s tasty, put a little sea salt on there, I put sea salt on all the time. But if you still don’t like the flavor, you can still swallow them. So, what happened is, and I don’t want to tell you– Well, I will tell you, I have at least a hundred of these every day and half for the last 12 years. I love them. Remember, there’s only one calorie and it replaces vegetables and a lot of those other nutrients. But if you took, say maybe you didn’t want to do the detox all the time, so maybe you cycle in for a week of just wellness and then you say do a week or two of the 30 for detox and you go back to 10. So, you don’t have to detox all the time or maybe you just do it once a month, do it for at least a solid week. 

I will mention two things, spirulina in 80 years of documentation and articles in the NIH, not a single negative outcome from spirulina. From babies, to children, to pets to grandparents, zero. It improves your gut health, it’s unbelievably. Easy, easy digestion, because it’s a bacteria it literally bypasses digestion. Chlorella, because it’s a detoxing algae. Some people do have some detox symptoms. Now, it’s not the algae, it’s whatever you’re using to pull out toxins, because now they’re pulling out of your cells and they’re circulating through your bloodstream. Think of a drunk teenager in a bar and the bouncers are trying to get him out and he’s trying to get him out of the bar, so he’s fighting it. So those toxins the same thing that like this overactive, angry teenager being dragged out of the bar. They don’t want to go and they cause havoc. And it could be breakouts, it could be headaches, it could be a little stomach distress, but I remind people, it’s better to get them out now than to have them do silent damage, like causing dementia or Alzheimer’s. It will last maybe a week or so. Some people never feel anything, and it’s completely dependent on the individual. And then you continue taking them, and you won’t have any issue at all. But I do want to make sure people know that. 

The only other thing I would say about chlorella, because some medications do have metals in them, like vaccines, for example, have aluminum. I just recommend people take your chlorella, which we call RECOVERYbits two hours before or after your medication, because the heart cell wall means that it takes a little longer to get into your bloodstream. Spirulina, it’s almost instant. This takes a good hour and a half. As long as you take them an hour and a half away from any of your medications, it won’t interfere. I don’t have any proof that it does interfere, but I always like to be on the safe side with people’s health. So, I just want to let people know that. [chuckles] 

Cynthia Thurlow: I love the analogy. I think it’s important even when I’m working with patients, and we’re going through detox protocols explaining to them, this is a binder, if you take enough of it, it will bind to whatever else you’re taking with it. So, take it away from other supplements. I like the two hours, that’s usually my kind of take it two hours after a meal or 30 minutes before that.

Catharine Arnston: Yeah.

Cynthia Thurlow: At least when I’m speaking about generalities. One of the questions I got was, how does chlorella differ from activated charcoal? Now, I probably know the answer to this, but there are a lot of different binders that are out there.

Catharine Arnston: Yes. 

Cynthia Thurlow:  Activated charcoal is very popular, we used to use it a lot in the ER. And now people are taking it left and right when they get food poisoning.

Catharine Arnston: Yeah. Well, there’s a very, very big difference, activated charcoal pulls out all minerals, everything. Including the good ones, like your electrolytes. It is very easy to get dehydrated when you’re taking activated charcoal. Chlorella does not do that. Chlorella only binds to toxins. It’s what’s called an adaptogen, it has its own little radar and identifies what should not be there. So, all the heavy metals, lead, mercury, we work with the biological dentist to pull out tooth fillings, and of course, they’re made with mercury and so the dentist takes the chlorella as well as the patient, because there’s fumes in the air. So only pulls out heavy metals, toxins, like any kind of toxins that are generated from cells that are exposed to mold. Alcohol, your body converts it into a toxin and so it pulls it out and you’re sober and an hour and a half, identifies lactic acid. So, it only pulls out the things that should not be there and which is different from activated charcoal, and it is loaded with electrolytes. At the same time, it’s depositing important magnesium, potassium, all the important electrolytes that you need. So, you get a twofer when you take the chlorella. Well, way more than a twofer because you’re getting protein and all the other good stuff.

Cynthia Thurlow: No, it’s really fascinating. Actually, we have an appointment with a biological dentist. I don’t have mercury amalgams, but my husband does. And one of the things I’m going to suggest- 

Catharine Arnston: Oh, yeah.

Cynthia Thurlow: [crosstalk] -already doing it, is to make sure that they are both taking, because mercury has a particular affinity for the brain and there’s different types of mercury, and probably way more detail than we need to go into this conversation. But I remind people that mercury is not benign, and many of us that grew up 40 plus years ago, that was the type of dental fillings that were utilized. But now most people are trying to have them removed and replaced. And you have to go to a specialized dentist to be able to do that properly.

Catharine Arnston: Yeah. I’m not a fan of all at all of activated charcoal, because it’s so easy to misuse it. And you just can’t misuse chlorella, it’s nourishing, and it was a gift to us. And it does so much– you might take it for one reason but you get thousands of other benefits.

Cynthia Thurlow: That’s amazing. Do you like to use these products with red light therapies or, hormetic stressors. Red light therapy is very popular right now.

Catharine Arnston: Yeah. One of the great benefits of algae is it has the highest chlorophyll in the world. It’s 500 times more chlorophyll than arugula, 25 times more than liquid chlorophyll, I’ve already told you a few of the benefits, only a few of the many benefits. One of the other cool benefits of chlorophyll and it’s science based is that they found that when you have chlorophyll in your body at the same time you are exposed to red light. It could be red light therapy or sunlight. It actually generates ATP energy at the cellular level. And the way it does that is there’s something in the mitochondria, the process by which you generate energy is called the Electron Transport Chain. And it needs certain molecules, including one called CoQ10, but CoQ10 starts as an antioxidant and ubiquinol, and it turns into ubiquinol. It becomes a free radical in the process. 

Well, what happens is the chlorophyll and the sunlight, I don’t understand exactly why, reconvert it back to the original CoQ10 recycles it. So, it starts generating ATP on its own. And that’s why that picture I showed you when you fast, you have virtually no free radicals. Same with algae, virtually no free radicals. Why? Because it is loaded with chlorophyll. So, it’s like solar panel. It’s generating energy and it’s capturing it and providing it at the same time. So, it’s capturing free radicals and generating ATP at the same time. I mean, you couldn’t– it’s like winning the lottery energy wise and cleanliness wise. 

I do have a device right here. In fact, I have two devices. I use them in the morning. I do my stretches, and I have my algae in the morning and some tea and then 20 to 40 minutes of stretching and light exercise in front of my red light therapy. I generally take both of them. I like the chlorella myself, just because I like the taste but the spirulina will get into your body faster. So, we now work with cryotherapy centers all across the country because not only do they usually have red light therapy as well, but with cryotherapy it also up levels your cryotherapy treatment, why? Because spirulina is a vasodilator so, when you’re in the device, take the spirulina. Much before, when you’re in the cryotherapy which brings all your blood to your core, where it nourishes your heart and your organs. And then after three minutes, you step out, and all of the– it gives your body a chance to go through autophagy, killing all the zombie cells, but then all the blood rushes back out to your extremities. Well, we have these spirulina, A, number one, the blood is highly nourished because of all the nutrients. Number two is a vasodilator, so you get more blood and better blood, which gives you a longer, deeper results, number one. And then if having taken the chlorella prior to the treatment, it’s like having the trash, the garbage collector picking up all the garbage that was released during the period of cryotherapy. So, you want to get rid of all the junk that your body decided that you didn’t need anymore. So, you’re starting to see why I love algae so much. [laughs] 

Cynthia Thurlow: No. I mean, your passion is really infectious. That’s one of the things that is conveyed not just with you, in person, but certainly in the enthusiasm, the inflection in your voice. Now, I know all of us have been through a lot over the last two years and I know there are immune supportive aspects to algae that I’d love to, for you to kind of touch on. I know when we spoke at KetoCon, you even were talking a little bit about there’s a property in spirulina that is actually protective against the virus.

Catharine Arnston: Yes. Well, that’s great. So, they both have immune benefits. Let’s address both of them. So, spirulina, as I mentioned there, it has that blue pigment called phycocyanin, and it has amazing healing properties, yet still being discovered. But one of the most fascinating ones is that it has the ability to prevent the virus from entering your cells. How does it do that? Well, it sits on top of what’s called the ACE2 receptor cell. This is the cell the virus enters your body, most of these ACE2 receptor cells, I know it’s a bit geeky, sorry about that, are in your nose, and your throat, and your lungs. No surprise, that’s where all the disease starts. Well, this phycocyanin, is like a shield that it sits on top of those cells and prevents the virus from entering. So, it just slides right out, and prove that this works. 

The University of Pittsburgh, about a year ago developed a COVID vaccine nose spray made of spirulina, ta-da, because it prevents the absorption of the virus through your nose. So that’s just one cool way to mention that. 

By the way, COVID is more than just a lung disorder, it is a blood disorder. And they have found that virus kicks out the iron atom in your blood. This is why people are dying of heart disease from COVID. If they have other health challenges and their immune system can’t support them because what happens is the iron atom isn’t there to carry oxygen any longer. So, your blood is circulating, but it’s not carrying oxygen, your oxygen is held in your blood by your hemoglobin, and your hemoglobin is inside your cells. I refer to the hemoglobin considered as a bubble wrap because iron is very oxidative, if you’ve ever gone down to a dock and seen boats down there, they’re all rusty. That’s because there’s oxidation going on. Oxidation is very damaging. When you have the oxygen, the iron atom inside your hemoglobin, it’s like having bubble wrap around it. It does what it’s supposed to do, but it doesn’t damage anything else. 

So, number one, when there’s no iron atom, no oxygen, and that’s what leads people to die. Number two, that iron atom doesn’t disappear, it’s not vagus, it gets kicked out into your bloodstream, where it is no longer sort of protected by the bubble wrap of hemoglobin, and it’s oxidative. It causes damage, everywhere it goes and it ends up in your lungs, which the virus is already damaging, but with the added oxidative iron atom, that’s why it’s so fast because it causes so much damage so quickly. Spirulina has the highest iron in the world. 

Now, this part I have to tell you is not proven by science, but it’s my conjecture, my belief that because, A, algae is so alkaline, it can restore, and by the way, all viruses, cancer, they’re all acidic. Algae is the most alkaline food in the world, so it can help restore the pH of both your blood and your cells. Number two, maybe with all that iron that’s in the algae, maybe it could help restore the iron balance in your blood. I have no science proof about that but I’m just suggesting that that’s one of the cool things, so that’s spirulina. Then chlorella, because it has this all the nutrients that your body makes to protect you with your immune system. Your immune system is very complicated to people, and understandably and I was confused myself. I’ll give you a quick thumbnail about what it is. It’s your defense mechanism and it’s broken into two pieces. One I call your visible immune system, and one called your invisible. 

The visible is the easy part, it’s your skin, it’s your nose, it’s your lungs, it’s your gut. It’s where invaders, viruses enter your body, but your mucous membranes are there to stop to identify and hopefully stop them from getting in with help with your friends like spirulina. But if they get in, then you have a second part of your immune system, which I call your invisible immune system because you can’t see it, you can’t point to it. And what it is are cells that are made in your gut to identify, kill, and eliminate invaders. Think of it as your skin in your mouth, as your surveillance system at your house. It keeps watching what’s going on. And then the immune system with the cells that are created to identify, kill and remove the invader are like your police. They come in, they see the invader and they take them out. And what are those parts? It’s things like B-cells and T-cells, and killer cells and macrophages, but they don’t show up magically. Again, this is not vagus. How do they show up? From nutrition.

You have to feed your body what your immune system needs to defend you. You guys are all on the same team. It wants to defend you, but just like you can’t have a dinner party without food, you can’t have an immune system functioning properly without proper nutrition, And all of those nutrients, zinc, amino acids, chlorophyll, vitamin Bs, they’re all in this in the chlorella. Most of them are also the spirulina, but they’re definitely in the chlorella. So, it gives your immune system all the bells and whistles it needs to go after all those invaders and get you back on track or protect you, so that you don’t ever– so it’s strong enough, we all by the way, have cancer cells in us. But if your immune system is strong enough, it can get rid of them. 

The problems arise when your immune system is depleted, either through stress or not sleeping enough, or not having the proper nutrients and it can’t perform for you. And so that’s why you want to be sure you’re giving your body what it needs, so that you can always have a strong immune system because it will work for you. Any athlete, for example, whenever you run a marathon or triathlon, we urge the athletes to take the chlorella algae, not just to pull the lactic acid out, but to build back their immune system because running at top speed, nothing I can do, for that long, even endurance athletes, so they are ultra-runners, they run 100 hours, they run on the algae and water, and it protects them. They get the performance of the race and they protect their health after the race. So, one is a precursor to prevent the spirulina virus from entering and the chlorella also does that but also will activate your active innate immune system.

Cynthia Thurlow: That’s absolutely fascinating. So, if someone presumed they were starting to get sick, would they need to increase the daily dose of chlorella as an example?

Catharine Arnston: Oh, I would double, triple up on everything. In fact, my older sister who lives in Canada, all my family is still in Canada, and they’re scheduled to have a visit. Two days before she was scheduled to be here. Boom, she got COVID. So, I overnighted a box full of spirulina and chlorella, she took pictures of her. She opened the box and just took them standing up, because she just went– and it worked. She’s felt better within days. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s COVID, heart disease, if you have a diagnosis of any kind, or skin issues, I would double, triple up. There is no upper limit. This is not a pill. This is not a supplement. This is not a medication. This is just ultra, ultra-concentrated nutrition. 

I tell people, “We know more about our cell phones than we know about our own bodies. And you know that if you don’t charge your phone, it won’t work. You know that if you don’t put gas in your car, it won’t work. Your body is exactly the same thing. You have to give it what it needs. And as once you know what it needs, it’s easier to understand what you need to do.” You just have to know what the rules are of operation. We’re born without a user’s manual. [laughs] I consider algae the easiest way to improve your health, protect your health. Never worry about your children or your family getting the nutrients they need. As I say, I call it your nutrition insurance, for children give them one tablet or half a tablet for their age. So, if they’re two, give them one tablet a day, if they are four, give them two a day, until they’re teenagers and then they can take a full serving of 15, 20, 30. Our NHL players take 75 spirulina before a game and they take 75 chlorella after a game to pull up the lactic acid. So even the professionals, they’re elite athletes, so they’re using a lot because they have higher needs. So, any amount will be helpful.

Cynthia Thurlow: I’m thinking of the two teenagers, one of whom plays lacrosse and football, and other one who’s a competitive swimmer and trying to think of the angle in which to interject using these. Is there any research on the net impact, and I would imagine it’d be minimal, if at all, on glucometers, or continuous glucose monitors or Keto-Mojos, I know that you’re familiar with these terms, because I know the question will come up. So, I thought I would ask the expert. 

Catharine Arnston: Yeah. Well, they’re ketogenic. There’s zero carbs. We’ve been working with Dr. Dominic D’Agostino for almost 5 years. We know the Keto-Mojo people very well. We’ve been doing all the same low-carb metabolic health, keto shows as they have for the last 5 years. Both scientifically, but also anecdotally, we would have people get their blood tested by Keto-Mojo, come over to our booth, take 20 or 30 tablets of either one of the algae, come back a half an hour or later, do the tests again, zero difference in their ketones, zero difference in the glucose. In fact, tests have shown that it actually overtime will reduce your glucose, which I’m happy to say I was just on the Diabetes Summit, preventing Diabetes Summit, and as were you, and I was voted one of the top three speakers by the attendees. Dr. Perlmutter was number one, the conference organizer was number two, and I was number three. 

This is so important for diabetics, or prediabetics, doesn’t matter whether one or two, for two reasons, well, multiple reasons. But first of all, there’s no sugar, number one. Number two, it does not increase your glucose and overtime does decrease your glucose. And number three, science has shown that mitochondria disease contributes to insulin resistance. At the same time, insulin resistance contributes to mitochondria disease. So, it’s a terrible cycle to get into. Once you start taking the spirulina in particular, because of the superoxide dismutase, which protects the mitochondria and helps the DNA to be less damaged. You’ll start to be able to see some turnaround. It also satisfies your hunger, gives you all the essential fatty acids that you need. One calorie per tablet, you can take it as often as you want throughout the day. It’s truly the best food in the world for anyone in the diabetic world, and also for anyone on the spectrum. We’ve also had families write us telling us how their kids don’t have ADHD anymore. If they’re on the spectrum, it helps the kids focus. So, it’s fantastic for anyone following intermittent fasting, ketogenic diets. It doesn’t interfere with any of that, and we have both science and anecdotal evidence of that.

Cynthia Thurlow: Well, of course, that was the last question I was going to ask you is, what is the net impact on intermittent fasting? Does it technically break a fast because that’s probably the number one question that I get asked. But if you’re not having a glucose response, if it’s improving insulin sensitivity, improving mitochondrial health, the benefits far outweigh any potential issues related to that. Catharine, I could talk to you forever. So, I’ll definitely have to have you back, but I want to be respectful of your time. Please let my listeners know how to connect with you. Obviously, we’ll have all your links, including some very generous things that you have shared with us upfront, how to connect with you on social media and your business?

Catharine Arnston: Yes. Well, our main website is energybits.com, E-N E-R G- Y, b for boy, I, T for Tom, S for Sam, we call our tablets “bits” because they’re bits of nutrition. So, I know they look like a pill, but they’re not. They’re just little tablets, tiny tablets. We are very active on social media. We have our main handle is @energybits at Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest. We have a second handle for BEAUTYbits. I made a second brand of spirulina and call that BEAUTYbits. I’m not trying to trick anybody but when I first started, I found that women just weren’t attracted to the blue packaging. And I asked my girlfriends and they said, “You’ve got to make it pink and give it a cute name.” [Cynthia, laughs] Because it has more collagen than collagen powder, more antioxidants that protect your skin, K2 moves calcium out of soft tissue and into your bones. So, it does build your skin and hair and I make an example of that. I’ll tell you, I’m almost 66, so just you know how old I am. So that’s why there’s a second BEAUTYbits. Also, is primarily because I was inspired by my sister. So, women’s health is very important to me. 

These are both spirulina, but I’m a girl, and this is my favorite packaging. I design everything, by the way. But once I get these tablets inside you, we’re like a puppy adoption agency. We know they’re going to go and do good stuff for you. We just want you to buy them and get them into your body, but if you come to [unintelligible [01:00:04] code for you, CYNTHIATHURLOW, all one word, no space in between. I don’t want anyone to have sticker shock, but I do want to tell you, so a full bag of our tablets has the best value, there’s 1000 tablets. And normally they’re $125. And with your discount code that brings it down to $100. But I want you to know, I’m using that quote from NASA, “One gram of algae has the same nutrition as thousand grams of vegetables.” I did the math and figured out one bag has the same nutrition as 551 pounds of vegetables. 

Now that’s 551 pounds of vegetables, you don’t have to carry home, you don’t have to clean, cook, or eat or throw out when they spoil. So, it’s very efficient nutrition. And if you take 10 a day, a bag will last you three months. So, think of all those other supplements, you’re not going to have to buy any more, all those vegetables you’re not going to have to buy any more unless you want to. I know it will do really great things for you. So come to see us at energybits.com or follow us on social media. We have lots of science on our website. We write a very, very comprehensive blog every month. So just come and learn. Algae is going to change the world. I’m going to do my part to try to make that happen. 

My final thing I would like to share with you is that algae isn’t new, it’s just new to you. And just think about it five, 10 years ago, you didn’t know about [unintelligible [01:01:25] matcha, CBD or collagen, but they had been used for centuries in other countries. So, I’m just here to help you enjoy the same benefits that people in Asia have been enjoying for 75 years. But somebody needed to help you understand what it is, why it works, make it a little bit more consumer friendly and pretty. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with being pretty. [laughs] 

Cynthia Thurlow:  Exactly. I’m so grateful for the work that you’re doing because I’m learning so much and I love sharing your message with our listeners.

Catharine Arnston: Thank you, Cynthia, I appreciate you and all that you do, and I’m so grateful to be here and work with you.

[Everyday Wellness theme music]

Cynthia Thurlow: If you love this podcast episode, please leave a rating and review, subscribe and tell a friend.