Ep. 349 Unlock the Power of Plant-Based Minerals with Caroline Alan

Today, I am delighted to connect with Caroline Alan, the Co-founder and CEO of Beam Minerals. 

Coming from the corporate world, Caroline struggled until she discovered the incredible ability of plant-based minerals to support the body and restore its natural balance. She is now devoted to educating people about the benefits of mineral replenishment and the efficacy of plant-based humic and fulvic substances.

In today’s discussion, Caroline shares her journey, and we dive into why we experience such significant mineral depletions in our modern-day lifestyles, looking at hidden hunger and the role of our mitochondria. We discuss the interrelationship between mineral storage and adrenal health, the extensive background of plant-based minerals, and the etiology of cramps and hydration. We also explore the signs and symptoms of mineral depletion and explain how to take mineral products for the best results.

Join us to learn about the transformative power of plant-based minerals in our modern lives.

“Most people’s bodies are operating with only 40% of the energy needed to fulfill all the biosynthesis processes, healing, clearing, and all the required processes for normal, not even optimal, function.”

– Caroline Alan

IN THIS EPISODE YOU WILL LEARN

• Why so many people experience mineral depletion at this time
• How soil health, food quality, and human health are all interrelated
• The fundamental role mitochondrial function plays in energy production and overall health
• Why adrenal health is critical for women during perimenopause and menopause
• The origins of humic and fulvic minerals
• How fulvic and humic acids help in preventing chronic diseases
• Why Caroline advocates for using fulvic acid products instead of salt-based electrolytes
• Caroline shares tips for managing Herxheimer reactions
• How do mineral deficiencies impact sleep and exercise performance?
• The benefits of magnesium spray for foot cramps and plantar fasciitis

Connect with Cynthia Thurlow

• Follow on Twitter
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Check out Cynthia’s website
• Submit your questions to support@cynthiathurlow.com

Connect with Caroline Alan

• On the Beam Minerals website 
• Find Beam Minerals on social media @beamminerals
• Caroline on social media @themineralgeek 

Transcript

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:00:02] 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.

[00:00:29] Today, I had the honor of connecting with Caroline Alan. She is the co-founder and CEO of BEAM Minerals. She comes from the corporate world and found herself struggling, and found plant-based minerals and their incredible ability to support a return to natural balance in the body. She is now devoted to educating people about the benefits of mineral replenishment, and the specific efficacy of plant-based humic and fulvic substances. Today, we spoke at length about why our modern-day lifestyles experience such significant mineral depletions, what is hidden hunger, the role of our mitochondria, our personal journey, the interrelationship between mineral storage and adrenal health, the extensive background about plant-based minerals, the ideology of cramps and hydration, signs and symptoms of mineral depletion, as well as how to take these products in the most efficacious way possible. I know you will find this conversation helpful, informative, educational and fascinating.

[00:01:36] I’d love to really start the conversation, Caroline, talking about why in our modern-day times are individuals experiencing so much mineral depletion. I know that this has been touched on in other podcasts that we’ve done, but I think you do a particularly beautiful way of explaining this and why we should be invested and interested in replacing the minerals that are lost due to chronic stress, and soil depletion and all sorts of other reasons. 

Caroline Alan: [00:02:04] Yes, that sounds great. We can go whatever direction feels right for you. 

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:02:08] Okay. Perfect. Yeah, I would love to start the conversation there, because I think this is something that’s of particular interest to listeners and something that I think, with reinforcement, allows them to understand why we have to take some extra steps to ensure that our body is getting the micronutrient profile that it needs.

Caroline Alan: [00:02:25] Well, let’s talk about mineral depletion. I call mineral depletion and deficiency the vanguard of health. It is truly one of the foundational health issues of our age. And why is that? Well, it’s because we are all experiencing mineral deficiency. There’s actually a term for it that’s been coined by the World Health Organization. They call it the hidden hunger. And isn’t that what a lot of us are feeling, that sense that there’s just something missing? We open up the fridge at night, we’re looking in there, “God, there’s got to be something.” We’re craving salty and sweet things, because that’s what a hungry cell craves. 

[00:03:06] So, the reasons that we’re all experiencing deficiency is that there are four primary reasons. The first being that our food supply is lacking in minerals. I’m sorry to say that you cannot get enough minerals from the foods you eat. And I know there are many people who are very committed to getting their nutrients and nutrition from the foods they eat and not supplementing, but I’m sorry to say it’s not possible with minerals now. And why is that? It’s because when a plant grows in the soil, the way that it creates all of its structure is by sucking the minerals out of the soil. Even a huge cedar tree or a redwood, all of the structure in that plant is made from minerals. If you actually look around your room, the chair you’re sitting on, everything is made of minerals. Even in your body, the structure is all made of minerals. If you took the water out of your body, you’d be a little pile of minerals. That’s how foundational and fundamental minerals are. 

[00:04:05] Now, the challenge is that, in nature, if a plant grows in the soil, then later it dies and it decomposes and all that mineral content goes back into the soil. But we, in our infinite wisdom of cultivation, we take those plants away from the soil and we eat them. And then the soil over 150 and 200 years becomes depleted of minerals. So, they say that to get the same nutrition from an apple that your grandfather ate, you’d have to eat six or seven apples today. That’s how depleted. And in fact, modern scientists believe that humans today have probably who aren’t supplementing and eating really well have between 30% and 37% of the minerals in their body that they need. So, it’s very low. 

[00:04:47] So, one of the other issues is that we’re all drinking bottled and filtered water as we should be drinking, because our tap water has all sorts of pollutants and different things in it that we don’t want to take in. The problem is that most bottled and filtered water has no minerals in it. Now, there are some you can purchase that have minerals or some people have filtration systems that add minerals back. Even that can be challenging, because the question is, are you adding them back in a way that’s actually bioavailable to the body? But this challenge with the bottled and filtered water is now hitting young people. Younger and younger children are exhibiting symptoms of mineral deficiency, like coming off the sports field, cramping legs, aching muscles, heat stroke, just passing out, because they are so electrolyte imbalanced. And the problem is that flavored drinks, Gatorade, these kinds of things, they don’t work. They don’t replenish in the amounts that your body needs. 

[00:05:43] So, the third big reason is that we are all experiencing some exposure to something called glyphosate. And glyphosate is a weed killer that is sprayed on many grains that we eat. And the grains are genetically modified to live while the weeds die. The problem is that you eat those grains and you ingest that glyphosate. And glyphosate mimics one of the most prevalent amino acids called glycine, and it just absorbs directly into your body. It has many different effects, but one of them is that it chelates out some important minerals, iron, molybdenum and copper. These are really important minerals. Even copper and molybdenum, most people are like, “What? Molybdenum, copper, what are those? Do I need–?” They know what copper is, but they didn’t know they needed it in their body. But these are like fundamental minerals for many biosynthesis processes and energy generation in the body. 

[00:06:41] And then one of the challenges is that we also have this repeating, self-fulfilling prophecy, which is, mineral deficiency creates physical stress in the body, because your body literally cannot generate enough energy to fuel all of the biosynthesis. Me moving my hands, talking, looking at you, all of this requires an incredible amount of energy. And if your body can’t produce it, well, it picks and chooses what it’s going to do and what it’s not going to do, and it creates overall stress. People don’t think of anxiety or depression as a sign of mineral deficiency, but actually they are.

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:07:22] Yeah, it’s so interesting to me. I always say it’s like peeling an onion or peeling an orange. You keep peeling back a layer and you start to understand this complex interrelationship, not just with the earth and nature, but also our health and how disconnected so many of us have gotten. I think the most recent statistic I saw was that 70% of us eat a diet predominantly of ultra-processed foods. So, we’re really not eating much nutrient dense whole foods. Then you add in changes to soil exposure to glyphosates, which it’s interesting. If you look at the research on glyphosate, it has such a pervasive influence on our health, down to the gut microbiome and so many other things. Is it any wonder that we’re dealing with so many chronic health issues?

[00:08:08] And at the very beginning, you talked about this concept of hidden hunger, which is something for many of my colleagues, when they come on and they’re talking about binge eating or individuals that feel like they’re snacking the evening. And it’s really your body’s intuitive way of attempting to get the mineral or the macronutrient into our bodies that we’re missing in our diets. And so, I oftentimes will say, if I start craving salt, for me personally, that’s always my sign that I need to be more conscientious about micronutrient density. So, when we’re looking at this at a whole, what we’re really speaking to is supporting the mitochondria at a cellular level, how important it is to be supporting our mitochondria.

[00:08:51] And perhaps, we can explore how our mitochondria, which are the powerhouses of our cells, how they generate energy and what cofactors are actually necessary to be able to run our bodies. You mentioned just sitting here having this discussion, it’s so important, even at a cellular level, that our bodies have the energy that we can utilize to be able to exist in our current day to day life. 

Caroline Alan: [00:09:13] Mm-hmm. When I studied– Did so much research, and I went down the rabbit hole and I just kept getting smaller and smaller and smaller. And then I was inside the cell, and I was looking at the mitochondria and how it works. I want to give people a sense of scale. Because when you understand the scale of this, you begin to understand how important this is and how fundamental it is. So, in a single cell, if you look at your hand, in the back of your hand, in a skin cell on the back of your hand, inside a single cell, you might have between up to 100 mitochondria, okay? So a lot. But in your heart, in a single cell, you could have 5,000 to 8,000 mitochondria. In your eye, in a single cell, 40,000. And in your brain in a single cell, up to a million mitochondria. 

[00:10:01] And each mitochondria is generating these energy units called ATPs. And also in your body, you have between 37 and 150 trillion cells. So, if you imagine all those cells, and then you exponentialize that by– imagine how many mitochondria there are, it’s like the number of stars in the universe, practically. It is such a huge number. You can’t actually perceive it. And so, every moment, there’s this incredible amount of energy being generated. The mitochondria has a life cycle called the citric cycle, or the citric acid cycle, or the Krebs cycle. And in each stage of that process, there are two things that come together to fuel that process. One is amino acids, of which your body makes a lot. Doesn’t make all of them, but it makes a lot of amino acids. But it makes no minerals, and that’s the other cofactor. 

[00:11:01] So, at each step of this process, in every single mitochondria in your body, these minerals and amino acids have to come together. And when they’re not available, what happens is that cell moves into what’s called anaerobic function. It can only generate one-twelfth of the amount of energy that it can when it has all those minerals and amino acids available. If you’re in a room and you have a light, just take the light and turn down the dimmer to about 40%, we’re being really generous, and say– That’s how most people’s bodies are operating. Only with 40% of the energy that it needs to fulfil all of the biosynthesis, processes, healing, clearing, all of the processes that are required for normal function, not even optimal function.

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:11:56] Well, and it’s interesting to me that north of 40, most individuals have some degree of significant mitochondrial dysfunction. It’s actually what is the basis for a lot of the chronic disease states that we see. And for me, I think so many individuals, and I say this as a clinician and also as a human being, I cannot believe how many patients over the years, clients over the years have said to me, “Oh, I’m x age. This is just the way things are.” And it doesn’t have to be. That’s, of course, the message. But that mitochondrial dysfunction down at the cellular level is what can exacerbate fatigue, insulin resistance. There’s so many things that can be at the basis for chronic disease. But understanding that it really does start with the cells and why that’s so important to understand this very basic information about mitochondria.

Caroline Alan: [00:12:46] Yeah, and I always say minerals don’t heal anything. They’re not medicine, but they are fundamental. So, if you provide the mineral content, especially as we age and our mitochondrial function declines, and of course, there are many things you can do to support mitochondrial function, but it is also something on some level is going to happen. So, then, what an incredible boon to your system to provide an excess of mineral and amino acids as well to your cells, so that they can actually, with their lowered level of mitochondrial function, still have what they need to keep you living at a very high level. That’s been my personal experience of taking plant-based minerals is they radically changed my health from being– 

[00:13:37] I had flatlined adrenals. I had really bad inflammation in my gut, even after being gluten free for like seven years. I had really bad inflammation in my mouth with bone loss in my teeth and receding gums, deep pockets. I had receded herring sinus infections every six to eight weeks. And just, I was really in terrible health and struggling. And also anxious, because I was struggling to keep my life going. And given how I was feeling, and I just started taking these plant-based minerals. And over the space of eight or nine months, all of those things I just described, either resolved completely or substantially changed for the better. So, that’s where I was like, “Well, how could that little cup of liquid that I take every day make such a difference?” And that’s when I learned all this about minerals. And I was like, “People need to know this.” 

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:14:31] Absolutely. And I’m so glad that your pain to purpose story has been able to go on to help so many individuals. But how did you first get exposed to plant-based minerals? Did you go to a lecture? Did you get introduced to someone? How did that process come about?

Caroline Alan: [00:14:47] Yeah, I was introduced to my now business partner, Dan Howard, who had a small company selling essential oils and these minerals. And I met him and we were talking and he said, “You know, maybe you should try these.” And so, I did. They were very easy to take. I hate taking supplements in general, but I just kept taking them. And then I went to my dentist, and after a couple of months and she looked at my mouth, she was like, “Oh, my gosh, what’s changed?” And I was like, “I don’t know. I think it might be the minerals.” And then I went on a few months later to my naturopath. She had done my adrenal test, and they were one-third of the way up the chart. So, it was just one of those serendipitous moments.

[00:15:25] And then I did all this research and went back to him and said, “We need to start a company. [laughs] We have to get this word out. We have to get these products out to people, because they’re going to help so many people.” 

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:15:36] Yeah, it’s so interesting. And perhaps, we can touch on how minerals impact adrenal health. So, most, if not all, of my listeners are women in perimenopause and menopause. We know that we become less stress resilient as we get older, as we have these hormonal changes that are ongoing in our bodies. And so, in particular, because I’m one of these women, I think the focus on adrenal health is something that is critically important at this stage of life. But let’s touch on how minerals impact adrenal health and why that’s so important.

Caroline Alan: [00:16:08] Yeah. Well, first of all, the adrenals are one of the first things that is affected, because the adrenal gland stores minerals. It has a very high requirement for minerals, okay? And the other thing I always like to talk about when I talk about adrenal health, something you well know, is the adrenals, the reproductive hormones, the thyroid. They all work in this three-legged stool. And all three of them have a high level of requirement for different minerals. So, one of the best things you can do to support the whole thing is to provide these full spectrum minerals. 

[00:16:44] Now, one of the challenges is is that, particularly when you’re adrenal, when you’re struggling with cortisol production, you feel so tired and you just struggle to get off the couch. So, people then are looking, they want the coffee, or they want the thing that’s going to be the stimulant that’s going to let– Believe me, I’ve had this experience [chuckles] just wanting something that’s going to help me deal with my life when I was so adrenal. I mean, flatlined almost two years, okay? So, I understand that. And the problem is that all of those things further deplete the system, because they’re not actually providing those fundamental tools, those mineral cofactors, that are required to support the mitochondrial health. They are just getting you to push out more cortisol or more whatever it is to get your body going. And there’s a lot of fear in there too, which stresses the system further. And then there’s, of course, the sleep interruption, which happens.

[00:17:46] I do want to mention that one of the big effects of glyphosate exposure is that it affects melatonin production. So, that is one of the reasons that we’re having such a huge increase in sleep issues. So, all these things, it’s so complex. And you can’t just look at thyroid or just look at hormones or just look at adrenals or just look at sleep. And that’s the challenge is that we’re taught to look at our body like, I’ve got organs and I have bones and tissues and I have systems. And when something’s wrong with them, I go to somebody, “Well, let’s fix my adrenals, or let’s fix my thyroid.” But what I learned from doing this research is you have to look at the body as a whole. It’s completely integrated.

[00:18:30] And if you’re going to use magnesium for sleep, as an example, you might be taking mega doses of magnesium for sleep, and it works. Or, for elimination, let’s say you struggle with constipation and it works for elimination. The problem is, what you’re doing when you’re using that mega dose magnesium is you’re constantly throwing your body into imbalance, because minerals work in the body in minute trace amounts in balanced triumvirates and pairs. And so, if you throw a lot of magnesium into your body on a daily basis, your body has to balance that with potassium and calcium. So, this is part of the message that I’m wanting to bring to people is if you’re going to think about replacing and replenishing minerals in your body, you have to begin to think holistically. It’s really a paradigm shift.

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:19:17] Yeah, and it’s interesting. As someone that was trained in traditional allopathic medicine, and then pivoted and now has more of an integrative, functional medicine perspective, I always say we do a really great job. If you have an emergency or an urgency, Western medicine is absolutely the best of the best. But in terms of prevention and chronic disease management, this is where we get very myopic. 

[00:19:41] I remember when I worked in cardiology, if you came into my office and we were talking about high blood pressure, or you’re talking about your heart disease, I wasn’t thinking about your thyroid, unless it was obscenely off. I wasn’t considering all these other lifestyle measures. And so, I, 100%, agree with you that we have to think, in terms of root cause, we need to be thinking broadly, and we do need to be thinking about mind, body and spirit. 

[00:20:03] And so, with great interest in prep for this discussion, I love learning about where these plant-based minerals come from. I find this really interesting. Let’s talk about humic and fulvic minerals. Let’s talk about where they come from and let’s talk about how they can help support the body in a very unique way.

Caroline Alan: [00:20:23] Yeah. Well, first of all, so, imagine an entire rainforest, back when the dinosaurs lived 65 million years ago, and a meteor hit the Yucatan. And that meteor killed 75% of all life on earth. And all those rainforests decomposed, and all the rainforests around the earth decomposed. So, in the Himalayas, they decomposed and they became a material called Shilajit, or Shilajit that some people use. In the British Isles, there’s something called peat. In the peat box. There’s other materials called [unintelligible [00:20:58]. In the case of our products, we use a material, it’s called humate. And it is a black crystalline substance. It comes from the southwest United States. It’s one of the richest deposits of humic and fulvic in the world. It’s about 10ft to 12ft below the earth. The great thing about that is it’s not had any contact with modern pollutants. So, we take it from the earth, we bag it. 

[00:21:24] There’s also concerns about sustainability. Are we going to use that up? And there are literally millions and millions of tons of this material. And just as an example, our company that sells internationally– We have a pretty big company. It’s not huge, but it’s pretty big. We only used in a year, two tons. So, you can get a feeling for– It really is a sustainable resource. And there are other deposits around the earth. This is just the one that we use. So, for those people who are interested in sustainability, I always like to mention that. 

[00:21:57] So, we take this material called humate and we extract. We use water, an alkaline nonchemical process. And people have heard of humic acid, fulvic acid. This is just those molecules that have been extracted using hydrochloric acid. It’s not a bad thing. The only problem is that it renders a molecule that’s larger, so it requires digestion and then it also tastes terrible. So humic acid, fulvic acid, usually have a pretty bad taste. So, what we create are what we call humic and fulvic molecules, because they are not acidic. They’re very alkaline. So, these two molecules not only provide the full spectrum of minerals that your body needs, all of them. But what’s really cool is they’re formulated already by nature in the same ratios of minerals that your body utilizes. So, there’s a lot of magnesium, potassium, calcium and the macro minerals. But there are equally particular ratios of the smaller minerals that we need so many minerals. 

[00:23:06] And this is one of the things I like to remind people. Selenium, chromium, Molybdenum, boron, zinc, magnesium, calcium, the macros, there’s like 15 minerals or 17 minerals that we know of that you will have heard of. There’s lots of them that you probably wouldn’t even think of taking, like, phosphorus. It’s incredibly important for cramping. People think cramping is all magnesium. No, it could be a phosphorus deficiency. So, what an amazing thing to have these molecules that are completely situated in the proper ratios of minerals that your body needs. But what’s even more cool is they have other capacities that I call a technology. I call them Mother Nature’s mineral replenishment technology. And once I describe how they work– So, not only providing all the minerals, but the delivery system for the minerals into the cells, as well as the ability for your body to detoxify from toxic substances both intercellularly and out of your whole system. Isn’t that amazing?

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:24:14] It really is. And it’s interesting, because as someone who worked in cardiology, we focused on major electrolytes, chloride, sodium, potassium, magnesium. I always say, I was far more savvy with magnesium than most of my other colleagues in different areas. But it’s the trace minerals that I think we forget about so often. And we initially started the conversation talking about hidden hunger. Sometimes it can be these micronutrient deficiencies that drive these odd cravings that we have. I had some patients that would alternate between sweet and salty, and that was just part of their evening ritual and they would say, “I don’t want to be eating junk food in the evening after having a good dinner. But my body is compelling me to continue to seek out these foods in many ways in an effort to replace the micronutrients that they’re not getting in their diets.” So, how do we differentiate between fulvic molecules and humic molecules? Because they have different, but complementary characteristics.

Caroline Alan: [00:25:18] Yeah. So, the humic and fulvic truly are synergistic. And everywhere in nature, where one exists, the other exists. These are the result of decomposing freshwater plants. And I’m letting people know that, because if you think about the salt, either salt-based electrolytes or minerals that come from the sea, whether it’s [unintelligible [00:25:37] or it’s chlorella and spirulina, these are great sources of minerals. I’m not saying they’re bad. I’m just saying they don’t have these additional capacities that I’m about to describe. 

[00:25:50] So, let’s talk about the fulvic molecule first. The fulvic molecule is a very, very small molecule. It’s much, much smaller than a cell. And the interesting thing is, your body recognizes the fulvic molecule as a beneficial substance. The molecule itself is an extremely strong electrolyte, and it has the capacity to carry 60 times its weight of minerals and nutritional elements through the cell wall. And when an opening opens in the cell wall, your body recognizes the fulvic molecule as a beneficial substance and it gets a free pass through. Most substances require a certain receptor to get through, because the cell wall is a barrier to keep toxic substances out. But it recognizes and the fulvic gets a free pass through. 

[00:26:39] And then the fulvic molecule does something that no other molecule on earth can do. It changes its polarity. When it does that, those nutritional elements fall off inside the cell, where they’re now available to all those mitochondria in their Krebs cycle as cofactors with amino acids for energy generation. So, this right just that alone is phenomenal, truly a delivery system. 

[00:27:07] And what I like people to think about is think about back when single celled organisms and multi-celled organisms were just forming. And the design was such that minerals had to get into those cells, there had to be a method for those units to get into the cells without other toxicants to get in. And that was fulvic, literally designed by nature as a delivery system for nutrients and minerals into the cell where the mitochondria could have them available. 

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:27:36] No, I was going to say it’s really fascinating from my perspective learning about this, because this has been my first exposure to fulvic and humic molecules. But yet, since I’ve been using, particular fulvic, as someone who has dysautonomia, and I’ve started talking about this more on the podcast, seeing improvement in my heart rate variability, seeing improvement in my sleep, which I in many ways, even though I live a very healthy lifestyle, I accepted that these might just be where I’m going to be at this stage of life. And so, it’s been nice to see with something that is such a clean substance and something that’s pretty benign. And like you, you mentioned you deal with supplement fatigue. I do too, and I like to keep things simple. So, I’ve been very humbled, but grateful for the opportunity to learn more about this. 

[00:28:27] Now, contrasting fulvic is this humic molecule, which works a little bit differently, and as you said, synergistically to fulvic molecules. And this, I find really interesting, because for those of us that get concerned about these chronic exposures to glyphosate, this has a unique property. 

Caroline Alan: [00:28:44] Yeah, I realized that I didn’t quite finish the fulvic, because we need to talk about its also intercellular detox capacity. So, it dropped all these great nutritional elements inside the cell. But now it’s opposite polarity. And what now clings to it is biowaste, toxins, free radicals, heavy metals and things like glyphosate. And now it carries those out of the cell. So, this is the amazing thing about this molecule is it’s an intercellular transporter. And when it carries those nutrients in, all those other supplements, all that other food that you’re taking becomes also more bioavailable. And then it has this ability to carry these toxic substances out. 

[00:29:29] Now, what I want to remind people is your cells are your tissues. And that’s where most of the toxic elements that you’re ingesting or breathing in or whatever are going. They’re being stored. Because your body, if it can’t get rid of them, it stores them in your tissue, mostly fat tissues, okay? So, this is an incredible opportunity for your body to get these things out of your tissue. So, that fulvic molecule now comes out of the cell, and then it changes its polarity again and it drops those things off in your bloodstream. 

[00:30:01] Now the humic molecule comes into play. And these two have this amazing synergistic relationship to support cellular life on earth. The humic molecule, the way I like to describe it is like a Velcro ball, because you can imagine that it’s very, very sticky on the outside. It has a huge amount of surface area. And all these receptor sites, it just travels through the bloodstream. I like to call it Mother Nature’s janitor. It literally just works in your bloodstream, gathering up free radicals. It’s thousands of times more effective than any superfood mix that you could have in your body. Chelates with heavy metals, it’s so effective at chelating heavy metals that they use it in superfund sites, they’ve used it in Chernobyl, used it in many, many toxic areas to clear those areas of heavy metal toxicity. It also does something called adsorbing with glyphosate. So, gathers the molecule, and then it builds a biofilm around a glyphosate molecule and begins breaking it down.

[00:31:02] The beautiful thing about that, as soon as it breaks it down, even though the molecule is in your system, it no longer can have its negative effects, which are many. And when it leaves your body, it’s already also broken down. So, even when it enters the water table or our sewage systems, it’s no longer in the system in its effective way. Or, yeah, it’s negative way. [laughs] 

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:31:25] It’s so interesting. And I would imagine if people are dealing with some degree of detoxification support, do we ever get concerned about these Herxheimer reactions that can sometimes occur? Like, I know if I’m working through antimicrobial protocol with some of my patients, sometimes they can actually get these reactions, which can be quite significant. 

Caroline Alan: [00:31:45] Yes. And we have a great article we can provide, if you want in your notes of your podcast about humic and Herxheimer. If people can see me, I’m drinking my glass. I never used to get any Herxheimer responses. But ever since I had COVID, if I drink my humic or micro-boost product as a shot, after about three days, I’ll start to get a rash or a pimple, some pimples on my face. Because that’s my body basically just saying, “Yay, I can get rid of this stuff and I’m going to do it all now.” And it’s doing it too quickly. So, it’s not a bad thing, but it can be uncomfortable because there’s lots of different potential symptoms someone can have. There’s a very, very simple answer, and it’s simply, you drink it in a big glass of water over a period of time.

[00:32:30] And if you’re first starting it, you would start with a small amount. At the end of the article that we can provide, there’s something I call the slow introduction method. You just start with a quarter teaspoon. We’ve had people who are extremely sensitive with autoimmune, mold exposure, Lymes, long COVID. These are the four big ones. And just as a reference point, before COVID, we may be had in the entire time- we’d been in business for probably five years before COVID and we had maybe four or five people ever contact us saying, “I’m having some sort of potential Herxheimer response.” They didn’t know the name, but they’re having some experience. Ever since COVID we get two a week. So, it is greatly increased as a result of whatever happened during COVID. Yes, you should be aware of that.

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:33:19] Yeah. No, it makes a great deal of sense, but it’s easy to know that additional hydration is going to help lessen the likelihood that you will experience that. Using these molecules with infrared sauna or red light therapies, can you do that concurrently without any concerns? 

Caroline Alan: [00:33:38] In fact, all of the red light people that we talk to recommend sunlight and some other ones that– they love our products. So, what we recommend is before the sauna, you actually have some of the humic, because your body is going to go into detox when you’re doing that red light sauna. And after, you would take some of the fulvic. So, the fulvic is really what I call the replenisher, because it’s that intercellular delivery system for minerals and nutrients into your cell, and the humic is going to help support your body in removing those things that are being detoxified during this infrared process.

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:34:15] It’s so interesting. And then the other question I had was, are there any medications or supplements that we need to take away from these products? I think this is my clinician brain that’s kicking in just, so that I can make sure we’re sharing the most helpful information with listeners. 

Caroline Alan: [00:34:30] Yeah. Well, the way I like to frame this, because it helps people really- I like to teach people to fish. [laughs] And so, what I want you to understand is that these humic and fulvic substances are the most natural thing that you can take. And particularly with our products, because we add nothing else, they are just humic and fulvic and water. There’s no other additional lab formulated ingredients, there’s no flavors, there is nothing. And if you think about these humic and fulvic substances in nature, they had to be able to be utilized at any time, in any sequence. So, you can take them anytime. You can take them on an empty stomach. They won’t bother your stomach. They won’t break up fast. You can put them in something hot. You can refrigerate them or not, however you’d like. They are the easiest supplement you will ever take. Because they’re liquid, they’re very easy with the micro-boost to titrate, to start small and build up over time. 

[00:35:29] That’s one of the things I personally love about it, because, again, I hate supplementation. Having to remember when to take this and how to take it with food, without food at a certain time of day and all of those things. That’s what I call. It’s the car model. The car model is, “Okay, I need gas, put in gas. I need oil, put in oil,” and whatever. But your body doesn’t work like that. It wants to be infused with this full spectrum of minerals, naturally formulated in the ratios that you need. So, if you take more, you’re actually just providing more. But in the proper ratios, you’re not creating imbalance. You’re not giving your body a lot of work to get rid of excess. It’s just so beautiful. [laughs]

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:36:12] I like simplicity. That certainly helps. So, let’s talk about cramping. I have two athletic sons. My husband still does a wide array of sports. Talk to us about how these are different than the traditional electrolyte therapies. And in per se, I’m not per se talking about Gatorade, because we all know between the high fructose corn syrup or the artificial sugars, that’s not exactly the healthiest thing to take. But how do these molecules differentiate or differentiated from traditional, I would say macro electrolytes, the sodium, the potassium, magnesium? 

Caroline Alan: [00:36:47] Yeah. So, this is an interesting conversation. I have worked with several trainers of athletes, bikers, runners. I’ve worked with athletes themselves who’ve come to me with terrible, terrible cramping nearly every night with major depletion symptoms of just never feeling replenished, major dehydration issues. And two of one, they’re all using electrolytes, salt-based electrolytes. And I say to them, “Give me one month and stop taking your salt-based electrolytes altogether and just use our products instead.” 

[00:37:25] Now, with performance athletes, we have a performance pack. And it includes one bottle of our micro-boost, but two bottles of the electrolyze. Because you’re going to use the electrolytes as your electrolyte replenisher, the same way you’d use any other electrolyte replenisher. But the beauty of the electrolyte replenisher is, when you drink it, first of all, it requires no digestion at all. So, all those salt-based flavored electrolytes that you use– And even the do it yourself salt based things, people are putting salt in their water and stuff. And I say you don’t need more salt unless you’re eating a low salt diet. Your body does not need more salt when you’re using salt-based electrolytes on a daily basis. If you’re having critical acute electrolyte balance, it’s a great way to bring your body back very quickly, if you didn’t have electrolytes there, our fulvic product. If you did, you could shoot that, and within literally two minutes, you would feel better, okay? But with the salt-based electrolytes that people are using on a regular basis, what happens? It irritates the lining of your bladder and kidney over time, and then you start urinating more, and now you’re irrigating rather than hydrating. 

[00:38:36] So, you’re putting a lot of mineral content in your body. You’re irritating bladder and kidney. Your body’s working on eliminating all the excess, because these are mega dosed amounts, much more than your body needs at any given moment.  And you continue to experience depletion. So, we’ve done testing with people using something called the OligoScan, and they’ll show deep depletions in potassium or magnesium or whatever in the electrolytes they’re taking. So, even though those electrolytes, there’s some portion of them that’s getting digested and then absorbed into their bloodstream, clearly, it’s not actually getting into their tissues, because they don’t have enough of that delivery system. And potentially, they don’t have very good cell wall permeability. So, you have to have channels.

[00:39:20] If you’re in a room right now and you have one door and one window, then a certain amount of things can go in and out. But if you had four doors and four windows, now you can more effectively get things in and out. And that’s the same with your cells. One of the beautiful things about the humic molecule is it hangs out in your bloodstream and it interacts with the proteins in the cell walls and it causes the cells to open more channels. It increases cell wall permeability. How cool is that? Now you see how these two molecules work together in a technological way to support cell wall permeability in the cell, and then the delivery system for nutrients into the cell, toxins out of the cell and then the humic molecule gathering those toxins and carrying them out. It’s truly like a technology. 

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:40:10] It is really interesting. And I think something that’s important I want to emphasize is you were talking about this digestion role. So, whether it’s a powder, whether it has flavoring, it has to be first digested by the body. So, this is an important distinction. I think, for so many of us, and I probably have been guilty of this myself, we assume if we’re taking the electrolytes, our body knows what to do with them. But there’s a multistep process, whereas there’s greater bioavailability of these molecules that you’re talking about, which means that our body can use it more readily, you’re talking about the increased permeability of the cell, which means we’ll get the content into the cell as opposed to, as you mentioned, one door, one window. There’s multiple doors and windows. So, it makes it easier for the cell to draw it up within intracellularly and use it. 

Caroline Alan: [00:40:56] Yes. We all have what I call the supplement graveyard at home. It’s the cupboard filled with pills, and powders and different drinks that tasted horrible, because they were trying to cover a bad taste of the actual ingredients, things like that. And why is that? Because most of those things never digested, because most mineral supplements, they’re made from rocks, shells and bones. Your digestive tract doesn’t break those down even when they’re powdered. These things have to be broken down all the way down to their chemical components, ready to be ready for absorption. Then they have to hit a receptor site, a specific receptor site for that particular element to be absorbed into your bloodstream. Now they’re in your bloodstream, which is cool, but they’re not doing their job yet, because they have to get inside the cell. 

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:41:44] It’s so interesting. So, if someone is listening to this podcast and they’re wondering if their body needs more of these micronutrients, what would be some of the more common symptoms that are reported to you all that have been alleviated with the use of these products. I’m sure I can probably guess, but I’d love to hear it directly from you. 

Caroline Alan: [00:42:03] Well, so some of the ones that people know about are cramping. Most people go, “Oh, I need magnesium.” I do want to clarify that it could be the ratio of magnesium and potassium, it could be phosphorus depletion, it could be a lot of different things. So, magnesium isn’t always the solution for cramping, and in fact, can cause cramping, which is the experience we’ve had with many athletes, okay? So, hair loss, of course, people know that their nails will start chipping when they’re not getting enough minerals. 

[00:42:34] But there’s other things that you wouldn’t think of like sleep. So, if you think about your nervous system which is driven electrically, and all of the electrical signals in your body are powered by minerals– So, when you’re low in minerals, your nervous system is actually amped up and it creates anxiety, it can create panic, it can create depression, definitely affect sleep, both falling ability to fall asleep and waking up many times. Hydration. Feeling hydrated. People don’t think of hydration as a mineral depletion issue. But actually the feeling that you’re dehydrated is a mineral deficiency symptom. So many things. 

[00:43:18] There’s Linus Pauling actually said, “If you follow every disease down to its root cause, you will find a mineral imbalance or deficiency.” [laughs] [crosstalk] Biggest thing you can do is provide full spectrum minerals. Again, it’s not going to heal, but it’s going to provide the tools and the fuel for your body to do what it naturally knows how to do. Not in every case, which is why we have heroic medicine for specific situations. But in many, many, many, many, many, many cases, the body knows what to do if it has what it needs to do it.

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:43:52] Yeah. And it’s interesting from my perspective, there are so many women in perimenopause and menopause that struggle with sleep and probably not making that connection that at the basis could be this lack of micronutrients and such an easy way to support your body that doesn’t involve. I think when I talk to women at this stage of life, they probably have tried everything and anything and end up being incredibly disappointed, if the one thing they assume is going to fix it all doesn’t ultimately do that. 

[00:44:21] Let’s touch on bioavailability of transdermal application of these products versus ingesting them. Because I’m always a fan of transdermal or skin absorbed options, because I know from my years in cardiology, that was often the way that I could properly replete things that were specific to my patient population. But let’s talk about how our skin can be helpful for a delivery system.

Caroline Alan: [00:44:48] Yeah. So, we have our product, Insta-Lytes. And Insta-Lytes is a fulvic spray. When I talked about how small that molecule is, it’s so much smaller than a cell. When you spray it onto your skin, it absorbs in three to five seconds directly through the skin into the muscle. So, we have gone to aid stations at bike races. And bikers, they come into the aid station, literally, their legs are cramping. They are completely, like, literally bent over, and they’re going to the pickle juice. They don’t want to drink the salt-based electrolyte solutions, because the potassium tanks their stomach, but they’ll go for the pickle juice, but they hate the salt. 

[00:45:29] So, we’ve been at the aid stations with our spray, and they come in cramping and we say, “Hey, do you want to try this? It will release your cramp.” And they’re like, “Yeah, right, whatever.” And they’re like, “Okay, sure.” Because they’re really in pain. We spray it on. And literally 30 seconds later, they’re like, “Whoa, what just happened?” They’re so excited to have something. We end up spraying it all over their body, their hands from holding their lower backs, their necks get really sore from leaning over all of these things. 

[00:45:56] So, imagine being able to support your musculature by providing the mineral content directly to where you need it the most in a specific situation or even before you’re going to need it. So, people come to us with night cramps, and this is a game changer. First of all, if you’re having night cramps regularly, it means you are mineral deficient. You need to be taking them internally. And if you take them internally, at least particularly our products, for one to two months, your cramping will go away. You will not have cramping. If you’re an elite athlete, there’s a little bit more to the protocol, because you’re hitting your system all the time. But for a normal, regular person who just has a moderate exercise, that’s fine. 

[00:46:41] But let’s say you do have cramping. You take this spray. You spray your legs before you go to bed at night. Now what you’ve done is you’ve provided all those minerals, full spectrum, right to the area where you tend to get the cramping, because what is a cramping muscle? It’s a muscle that doesn’t have the mineral cofactors available in the mitochondria, in the local area to create enough energy to release the muscle. It cramps the muscle. It contracts the muscle, and then it can’t release it. It doesn’t have enough energy. But now you’ve provided all that information, you won’t get the cramp. Just spray it on before you go to bed, let it dry, go to bed, you won’t get a cramp. Isn’t that cool? [laughs]

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:47:20] It is really cool. And what I like about it– Because for full disclosure, when I worked in cardiology, I used to always recommend a product, a magnesium oil. And the first thing my patients would say was, “I like it, but I’m greasy.” And so, we would have to go through this stepwise approach, “Okay, leave it on for 20 minutes, then shower, then go to bed.” But it was just one extra step. And what I like about this is it’s not sticky, it’s not tacky. [crosstalk] Yeah, you can spray it on during the day. I’m one of those people, I get foot cramps occasionally, and I’ve been spraying it on my plantar fasciitis. And it’s been amazing to see how helpful that has been. 

[00:47:55] It’s just an easy thing to do. It doesn’t involve me rolling my foot over a can or any of these other things that the podiatrist used to recommend. Are there any plans to make a travel savvy product? Meaning, an oral delivery method that doesn’t require liquid. So, I think about those of us that travel frequently, what options are available? 

Caroline Alan: [00:48:14] We do have capsules, okay? The beautiful thing about these capsules is all that’s in them is that humate material. There are no excipients, no fillers, nothing else. Now, they’re not as bioavailable because your body does have to digest it. It is a powder. However, this humate material is much more digestible by your digestive tract than many other the rock, shells and bones, okay? Because it is plant-based material. This is the other product we actually use with athletes. You just take one pill a day. 

[00:48:47] So, with the athletes, what we do is they use one capsule of this a day and then they take the liquid products. In addition, they use the electrolyze as their electrolyte replenisher ubiquitously when they’re going on their ride or their run or after to replenish. And they’re using the micro-boost at night for the detoxification, the rebuilding, removing the detritus from the muscle rebuilding process. And that completely removes all cramping. I get report after report from athletes that they finally feel hydrated, replenished and they don’t have their cramping. So, this is just a great tool. 

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:49:23] Oh, it’s really exciting. And I have-

Caroline Alan: [00:49:25] Electro-BOOST. 

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:49:26] Electro-BOOST. I have an 18-year-old who does not like the salt-based electrolytes, and he’s been using the electrolyze prior to his lacrosse practices and is really enjoying it. Actually, feels a big difference. Please let my listeners know how to connect with you on social media, how to learn more about you and your company, as well as purchase your products. 

Caroline Alan: [00:49:45] Yeah. You can find us on social, just @beamminerals. And our website is, of course, beamminerals.com. And that’s beam like beam of light. And you can also find me. They call me the mineral geek, just because I couldn’t stop talking about how much minerals changed my life. [laughs] So, you can find all sorts of educational material on our website as well. I really encourage people to go to the education area, because there’s lots of articles. If you’re somebody who likes to geek out deeply, they’re all referenced through to scientific studies, but they’re also easily read for anybody who just is looking to find out about minerals and a particular issue that they’re dealing with.

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:50:26] Oh, I love it. Thank you again for your time today. I know my listeners will find this discussion invaluable. 

Caroline Alan: [00:50:31] Thank you so much for having me, Cynthia. It was so nice to– I love your mellow style. It makes me relax. [Cynthia laughs] I appreciate that. Thank you.

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:50:39] Thank you. 

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