276: The Magical Power of Algae: Heal, Detox, Lose Weight and Rejuvenate!

09/25/19 • 52 min

There exists a single cell organism that contains over 40 different vitamins and minerals, but has only 1 calorie.

So what is the magical ingredient? Algae. For Catharine Arnston, this food is the gift that keeps on giving.

Catharine discovered algae it by accident. Ten years ago, her sister got breast cancer. She was lucky enough to have an oncologist who understood the diet connection and told her she needed to go on an alkaline diet. Catharine realized she needed to know more about nutrition, so she studied at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. And she learnt two things: people know they need to eat healthier. And most people don’t have the time to do that. Catharine knew she needed to create something green, healthy, and easy to take to help people improve their health effortlessly. So she turned to the one game-changing ingredient in her sister’s cancer healing diet: algae.

Did you know algae is endorsed by NASA and the United Nations as the most nutrient-dense food there is? It’s so nutritious, that the US Government has now set up a bill that encourages farmers to cultivate it.

So, what makes algae so healing?

Algae can be split into two sub categories. One is seaweed, which is grown in the ocean (like dulse, kelp and nori). It’s packed with fiber and iodine and very nutritious. But not as nutritious as the second category: micro algae. The two most powerful micro algae are spirulina and chlorella. Together, they are a powerhouse for your health. Spirulina is energizing and hunger-satiating, while chlorella is healing.

Spirulina was the first life on earth, over 4 billion years ago. It’s outlived the ice ages and the dinosaurs... So it’s got to be pretty special! Spirulina is technically a bacteria, which is great for your gut. It’s also the highest protein food (containing 64% protein, in amino-acid form), and because your body doesn’t need to break it down, it gives you instant physical and mental energy. That’s why Catharine calls her spirulina tablets Energy Bits. It also satisfies your hunger, which is great if you’re intermittent fasting. As if that wasn’t enough, studies have found that spirulina helps your hair grow faster, clears up your skin, and helps you lose weight.

Chlorella developed on earth around a billion years after spirulina. It’s a healing food, it helps your body to recover. Hence the name: Recovery Bits. It has the highest concentration of chlorophyll in the world (yes, even more than wheatgrass). Chlorophyll helps your cells to detox by maintaining the health of the cell wall. This allows nutrients to flow in, and toxins to flow out. Chlorella will also attach to toxins in your body (heavy metals, radiation, lactic acids, alcohol, environmental chemicals, etc.) and help eliminate them. It’s an intelligent food - it knows what to take out and what to leave in.

Which spirulina and chlorella, you’re looking at two perfect foods for health and healing. Catharine has blended the two together into Vitality Bits, which gives you the best of both algae in an easy-to-take tiny tablet.

Of course, when you take supplements, you want to make sure they’re absolutely pure. Catharine spent a long time researching the best place to source and grow algae to ensure her products are the purest quality. She gets her algae from Taiwan, which has the highest standards. The algae is grown in triple filtered water and air-dried to preserve all the nutrients.

You can get 20% off on any product at energybits.com with the code FoodHeals.

Being hailed as “Sex and the City for Food,” The Food Heals Podcast brings together experts in the field of nutrition, health and healing to teach you the best-kept natural secrets to being a hotter, healthier, happier YOU!

The Food Heals Podcast is hosted by Allison Melody and Suzy Hardy – two self-proclaimed natural chicks who will rock your world and change your beliefs about health! This sexy, savvy duo provides eco-friendly advice on a variety of issues including the healing power of nutrition, living authentically, turning your passion into your career, choosing the best natural health and beauty products, the benefits of a plant-based diet and so much more!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There exists a single cell organism that contains over 40 different vitamins and minerals, but has only 1 calorie.

So what is the magical ingredient? Algae. For Catharine Arnston, this food is the gift that keeps on giving.

So, what makes algae so healing?

You can get 20% off on any product at energybits.com with the code FoodHeals.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Previous Episode

275: Detox, Renew, Recharge and Rejuvenate with Lifestyle Cleanse Expert Elissa Goodman

What does it mean to cleanse? For many, the word throws up images of green juices and fasting. But that’s not quite accurate. You might be surprised to learn that you can cleanse in a gentler way. But you also need to go beyond diet if you want to really reset your body.

Elissa Goodman looks 20 years younger than her age (59), you might think she’s been blessed with great genes. But she was not the healthiest child. She had a low immune system and was always sick. She got every type of virus, digestive issues, tonsillitis, chickenpox, chronic fatigue - you name it, she had it. To make matters worse, she felt unworthy compared to her high-achieving Type A personality parents.

Fast-forward to adulthood, Elissa went to college, got into advertising, and climbed that corporate ladder because she was determined to make her parents proud. But she wasn’t following her passion or purpose. She just worked. And got sicker. And one day she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

She knew that this was because she’d been sick most of her life and that her lymphatic system was full of toxins that she’d been unable to clear. But she hadn’t thought of the emotional aspect. The doctors she saw first just talked of chemo and freezing her eggs. But one of them was different. He sat her down and asked: Are you happy? Are you doing what you love? It was a turning point.

Elissa realized how miserable she’d been in her job and how much she disliked herself. She knew something had to change. She went 100% vegan, she started doing yoga, she went into talk therapy, and do emotional release work. She got rid of her cancer, but the radiation caused hypothyroidism. Then she was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s and celiac (two autoimmune conditions). And then her husband died of cancer. It was like a cascade of traumatic life events. That’s when she decided to go back to school and learn about nutrition so she could help her daughters stay healthy.

And that was it - she never looked back. She became a cleanse expert to help as many people as possible get healthy the easy way. Like her 1-week soup cleanse, which contains 45 different vegetables, is totally vegan and free from anything processed or GMO. She helps her clients to reset their body and brain so they can rejuvenate, re-energize, heal, and maintain a new, healthy lifestyle long-term.

Here are some of Elissa’s tips to reset your body:

Juicing - a fantastic way to get all those vitamins straight into your cells
Smoothies - packed with healthy fiber which helps cleanse your digestive system
Vegetables, vegetables, vegetables - the more the better (especially dandelion greens, cruciferous veg, and celery)
Take a good quality superfood powder (Elissa loves Pure Synergy Juice Powder)

Cleansing is so important because it also allows you to step away from addictive foods so that you can crave healthy, whole, plant foods. However, cleansing is emotional as well as nutritional.

Have you dealt with your trauma? Because no matter how clean your diet, you can still get sick if you have emotional issues you haven’t dealt with. Here are Elissa’s tips to start letting go of those trauma toxins:

Find a good energy healer - you hold a lot of negative energy (toxins) in your cells (Get in touch with Elissa if you’d like to know who she has worked with).
Identify what trauma you experienced in your first 7 years.
Ask yourself whether you’re truly happy with your career / partner / friends / family.
Check out books like Mind over Medicine and Radical Remission to learn how to release trauma.
Try a meditation app like Unplug.
Journal about what you want to let go - first thing in the morning and last thing at night.
Cultivate self-love - that is one thing that’s missing from most of our lives.
Send love to your inner child.
Go to Elissa’s website to join her cleanse programs!
Read Elissa’s books Cancer Hacks and Auto-immune Hacks (how Elissa overcame cancer, Hashimoto’s and celiac disease).
Sign up to Elissa’s 7-day reset program.

The Food Heals Podcast is hosted by Allison Melody and Suzy Hardy – two self-proclaimed natural chicks who will rock your world and change your beliefs a...

Next Episode

277: Hypnobirthing Confessions: These Women Tried it - Here is the Truth!

Hypnobirthing? What’s that? Basically, it is a natural birthing technique without any medication, that uses self-hypnosis techniques to combat fear and pain during labor. The result: you’re not screaming in agony (like the typical birthing scene in films!), you’re not linked up to all those bleeping machines in a brightly lit room with doctors and nurses running around you, and you’re not pumped full of painkiller meds. Instead, birthing becomes a connective, intensely powerful female experience.

That’s why more and more women are opting out of the traditional hospital birth, and going for natural hypnobirthing instead. Like today’s co-host Laura Petersen (which you know from some of our previous episodes). Laura is a best-selling author and self-publishing coach, and she’s expecting her first child. She’s opted for a natural hospital birth using the Mongan Method.

Melissa Tucker, podcast host and marketing expert, has one of the most intriguing birth stories we’ve ever heard. After having two children the traditional, hospitalized, way, she was inspired to go natural. For her third child, she chose home hypnobirthing. Without epidurals, without drugs, and without doctors, she used self-hypnosis to keep herself calm, focused and centered. The experience was so magical, she wanted to do it all over again.

Katherine Maslen is a clinical naturopath, nutritionist, author, and host of the Shift podcast. And she too has an amazing natural birth story. But you’ll have to listen to the episode for the details!

Here are the best resources if you want to research alternatives to hospital childbirth:

Watch the Business of Being Born documentary
The Birth Education Centre in San Diego
Hypnobabies
The Mongan Method
www.evidencebasedbirth.com
Research your doctor and your hospital (some have higher rates of c-sections than others)
Listen to Katherine’s podcast The Shift.