July 12, 2017
[00:00] Introduction
[04:00] News Flashes/Exercise And Telomere Length
[09:01] Blood Flow Restriction Training's Benefits
[12:06] Animals That Self-Medicate
[16:17] PPAR Delta
[19:40] Special Announcements/Calendar
[21:45] Rootz/Orchestra One
[24:32] Rover/Marc Pro
[28:30] Listener Q&A/Reading At Night Without Disrupting Sleep
[35:34] How To Keep Yourself Satiated During A Fast
[46:29] Increasing Oxytocin
[0:56:28] Naturally Cleaning Swimming Pools
[1:02:40] Review Giveaway
[1:06:51] End of Podcast
In this episode of The Ben Greenfield Fitness Show: The Latest On Workouts In A Pill, How Much Exercise Keeps Your Cells Young, Oxytocin Supplementation, How To Keep Your Appetite Satiated During A Fast, and much more.
Ben: Hey, want to hear cool noise? A little beepy-beep?
Brock: Always. (chuckles)
Ben: Okay. This is my Star Trek space ship sound. [faint pinging noise in the background] Did you hear that?
Brock: (laughs) That was not that impressive.
Ben: Kind of anti-climatic.
Brock: That was a tiny little beep.
Ben: But that was the sound of cognitive power. That's right…
Brock: Cognitive power!
Ben: Complete phenomenal cosmic willpower and mental enhancement via an antioxidant rich carnosol-filled oil. I actually have this essential oil diffuser. I've talked before about how I diffuse pine, and how I diffuse cinnamon, and how I diffuse peppermint in my office to enhance cognition and mood, but there's one oil, I'll give you a guess here Brock in just a second, one oil that has been shown in clinical studies to improve cognitive performance, and enhance memory, and lower cortisol…
Brock: What?
Ben: And, as an aside, thicken hair, if that's something you're looking for.
Brock: I am.
Ben: It's also something on a podcast a couple of months ago. We talked about how these folks in Sardinia actually put it in their coffee and it's associated with enhanced longevity. You know what it is?
Brock: That's not a place. You just made that up. Sardinia doesn't exist.
Ben: Sardinia really is a place. It's in Russia, or Italy, or Greece, or Asia.
Brock: (chuckles) Anyway. Okay.
Ben: Yeah. People live a long time. There are a lot of old people on bicycles over there. Anyways, can you guess what this oil is that's wafting into my nostrils?
Brock: It's wafting, is it? Wafting perhaps? I'm going to guess spruce.
Ben: Rosemary.
Brock: Crap.
Ben: Rosemary. Yeah. Also great on steaks.
Brock: Totally. That's delicious.
Ben: Yes, sir. How about you? Do you diffuse oils?
Brock: I do. I've got quite a collection of them sitting around in the living room. We do pine, and we do peppermint, and we do some blends, one called “Happy Home” that I really like, and “Unwind Your Mind” is my favorite one right before bed. Put that on, totally knocks me out, I'm asleep on the couch before I even make it to bed.
Ben: Yeah. I, for a while, used to smear lavender on my upper lip before I'd go to bed at night and I started to get really, really large amounts of chapping on my upper lip and I couldn't figure it out. I thought it was like the heat, the dry air, and then I realized pure 100% lavender essential oil, that's not such a great idea to just like smear on your lip. Apparently it eats away your skin over time. It helps you to sleep as it degrades your lips off. But anyways…
Brock: Flesh eating essential oils!
Ben: Flesh eating lavender!
Brock: I'm just going to do this voice for everything you say.
News Flashes:
Ben: Well speaking of rosemary, in today's news flash, there was actually a fascinating study done on that marker of biological aging, that notorious marker of biological aging that I'm now testing by the way twice a year because my goal is by the time I'm 40, I want to be 25, I want to have a biological age of 25. That's my goal.
Brock: I like that goal.
Ben: And right now I'm slipping behind because I'm 35 years old and my biological age, according to this company TeloYears that I tested with, and go listen to the podcast I did with them if you don't know anything about that. Just go to bengreenfieldfitness.com and do a search for TeloYears. Anyways, they say I’m 36, not 35. But anyways, there was this new study that came out that looked into how much exercise actually keeps you young. Specifically, what they did was they compared the telomere lengths from a DNA test with self-reported physical activity patterns, and they found that people who exercised had longer telomeres. And interestingly, they found that people that exercised the most had longer telomeres, which seems to fly in the face of what I've reported before, which is that you kind of achieve a law of diminishing returns. The previous research leading up to this point was if you exercise more than about 60 minutes per day if it's high intensity, or more than about 90 minutes per day if it's low-ish to moderate intensity, you actually see a degradation in your lifespan or an increase in mortality. Now what this latest study showed was that exercising more actually boosts your age by decreasing the rate at which your telomeres shortened.
But interestingly, once you delve into the actual data, what it looks like is that the threshold when we're talking about more exercise for men is about 40 minutes of light jogging five days a week, and for women about 30 minutes of light jogging five days a week. So that's compared to sedentary people and extremely low physical activity people. So we always have to take these studies with a grain of salt. If you see the headlines that say, “More exercise makes you live longer,” please don't go to the CrossFit gym twice a day. Also don't sign up for an Ironman triathlon for the goal of longevity. Not that those two things aren't a heck of a lot of fun. But at the same time, this study should be taken with the caveat that we're talking about just basic low level aerobic physical activity, which returns to what you see with a lot of centenarians and old people, low level physical activity all day long, sprint here and there, lift heavy stuff, and don't overdo it.
But what I thought was in the report that I will link to from the study, which you can find bengreenfieldfitness.com/370, that's bengreenfieldfitness.com/370, that's where we'll keep copious show notes for you, they also reported on the effects of caffeine and coffee. And they found that high caffeine consumption actually makes your telomeres shorter, but the antioxidants in coffee fights that, making your telomeres longer. And so this should influence you to perhaps drink a little bit more like a good Swiss water processed decaffeinated coffee, or choose coffee that has been roasted for a slightly longer period of time, thus decreasing some of the caffeine content. Basically what it comes down to is like these caffeine-infused coffees out there may not be as good as the lower caffeine coffees that have higher amounts of antioxidants in them. And so it turns out that caffeine in coffee, as kind of an aside in this article, have some interesting effects, and having your coffee in a lower caffeinated state, like using a paper filter for example, or choosing a darker roast, or choosing a really good Swiss water processed decaf could be a good idea if you want to have your coffee and your longevity too. And of course throw a little rosemary in there.
Brock: I'm drinking coffee right now. It was made with a metal filter. It's light roast and I'm basically ruining it all, doing it wrong.
Ben: I'm getting a guy on the podcast to talk about this. But the thing when you use a metal filter, or anything other than a paper filter or a French press, you do not filter out the cholesterols in coffee, and the cholesterols are what cross the blood-brain barrier, these cholesterols like kahweol and cafestol. And those actually allow for the cognitive benefits of coffee to be enhanced. So what that basically means is you're going to be a lot smarter, but die earlier. So pick your poison, baby.
Brock: I can live with that.
Ben: That's right. If you can accomplish more in a shorter period of time, why not? Speaking of accomplishing more in a shorter period of time, tourniquets on the arms or the legs, these things called blood flow restriction bands.
Brock: I love this stuff.
Ben: Really interesting study that just came out on these that showed that they attenuate the effects of high intensity eccentric exercise. Now I've reported in the past how when you exercise with these things called Kaatsu training devices, or what are also called blood flow restriction bands…
Brock: Or occlusion.
Ben: Yeah. Or occlusion training, there's a slight difference between the different forms of them. But essentially it's a glorified tourniquet, it cuts off some blood flow to the muscle, but it also causes an increase in growth hormone, it causes a localized increase in lactic acid which increases your ability to be able to buffer lactic acid so there's a little bit of a performance training effect, but it turns out that eccentric exercise, which is the lowering or the negative portion of a movement, that causes muscle damage and it causes inflammation. And it turns out that when you use this blood flow restriction training, you get the performance enhancing benefits and the muscle building, or muscle maintenance benefits of eccentric exercise, but you don't get the same increase in muscle damage markers or the same increase in muscle soreness. This is one of the reasons that blood flow restriction training, by the way, has been shown to be so good for an aging population, because it allows you to get all the benefits of training without as much soreness or without as much muscle damage. So actually in celebration of this latest study, 'cause blood flow restriction bands are just like pennies on the dollar at Amazon, unless you want to get like one of those fancy thousand dollar Kaatsu devices where you can control the millimeters of mercury of pressure with like this handheld device, and they're pretty slick but…
Brock: It's pretty cool.
Ben: Yeah. I worked out this morning with the, well I didn't work out. What I did, and this is a great way to use them, I just did my normal little sauna-yoga routine where I'm doing down dog, and chaturanga, and all these things that actually do use the arms and the legs, and I have four blood flow restriction bands. So I just put two of them on my legs and two of them my arms, and did my yoga routine with blood flow restriction, and you kind of have this cool feeling in your hands, and your feet, and your extremities when you finish, and then once you take them off, you get this blood flow, this blood rush, a little bit of an increase in nitric oxide. Very, very simple way to increase the efficacy of your training though, and get more bang for your buck out your training, and this is an interesting new study that chalks up yet another benefit to blood flow restriction training.
Brock: And it's also beautiful way to prepare yourself for microdosing some heroin.
Ben: That's right. Great for heroin or, by the way, and I'm getting this guy on a podcast, there's this new company that sends you to your home what are called “push IV's”. These are like Myer's cocktails, high doses of vitamin C and vitamin B. And you can self-administer these and it's very, very simple, takes 60 seconds. You put on one of these blood flow restriction bands and then go do what the folks who use heroin would do, shove the needle in there.
Brock: By the way kids, we were joking about the heroin but not joking about the IV.
Ben: That's right.
Brock: Just to be clear.
Ben: Brock was joking. Anyways though, podcast coming soon on how to give yourself an IV.
Brock: Nice.
Ben: Speaking of giving yourself an IV, fascinating article on self-medication and the amount of animals, the amount of different animals that self-medicate. Did you see this article?
Brock: I didn't. I love this though.
Ben: Okay. It's fascinating. And the article is a little bit lengthy, but it goes into all of the different natural medicinal foods that animals go out of their way to supplement with, to medicate with. Whenever people tell me, “Aww, we don't see animals in nature popping pills or taking capsules,” they actually do. In the same way that our ancestors would've used things like essential oils, or chewed on wild nettle, or nipped off a bud of St. John's Wort flower if they were depressed, we tend to see animals doing the same thing. And this article goes into the fact that, for example, we see ants using a special sap from spruce trees, and spruce trees have anti-microbial terpenes in the bark, and that actually saves ant colonies from these microbes that attack ant colonies. The ants actually harvest and use this sap from spruce trees to self-medicate. Another interesting one was parrots. Parrots actually seek out and they consume clay, the same type of clay that you'll see you know sold on Amazon, like this bentonite clay or earth, diatomaceous earth that they'll sell to people to fight off stomach issues, and candida, and things like that, parrots eat clay when their stomach is upset.
Brock: That's so cute. A parrot with a tummy ache.
Ben: Yeah, I know. It is cute. Porcupines actually eat this toxic plant to enhance hormesis and also assist with stomach ailments. There's also a really fascinating story about chimpanzees and how there's this one plant that they'll normally never eat unless they have stomach problems or parasites, and this is a plant that is poisonous in higher dosages, but in low doses will kill off parasites and chimps know not to eat it unless they have a stomach issue. This one's called the amygdalina plant that they eat. And the article goes on and on. Another really fascinating one is bees and how they mix their own secreted oils from plants to make up propolis. And they gather material from the sap of plants and tree buds, and mix that material with their own wax, and they make this propolis that of course you can find sold for human consumption, it's great for the human immune system. But bees consume it as well, especially when their hives gets infected by mold or fungus, they increase their harvesting of and production of this fungal antibiotic, propolis. It's a fascinating article and I think it's just like one of those deals where we can learn a little bit from nature and the fact that these creatures naturally go out of their way to self-medicate in a rather intelligent manner.
Brock: Yeah. It makes me think of, there's a chapter in the book “Stealing Fire” the Steven Kotler book, Stealing Fire, where they talk about animals actually, I think it was like a porpoise going and biting like a puffer fish to get the venom to get high on it and stuff. It makes me think of that.
Ben: Yeah. We see a lot of animals also tripping out. That's another thing that you'll tend to see, like dogs licking toads for the tryptamines, the psychoactive components found in magic mushrooms. That's one thing that they talk about in the book is dogs that lick toad. They talk about, I believe there's some plant that elephants eat that gets them intoxicated as well. But one of the things that comes to mind when you say that is some of the best beef I've ever had was down in Walla Walla, Washington where they get the cows drunk, the cows feed on plants, and more or less like fermented grapes, and wine, and they've got extremely low levels of stress, extremely low levels of cortisol, and their meat tastes freaking fantastic. So the takeaway message here is eat animals that self-medicate.
Brock: Nice.
Ben: I think.
Brock: I like that. Have you ever tried the beef that's fed lobster?
Ben: No. That sounds really good.
Brock: I just made that up. That's thing I don't think, but can you imagine how amazing that would be?
Ben: I would have believed you, actually. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. Last article here is exercise in a pill. So this one is really interesting. So there's this gene called PPARD or PPAR Delta, and when you take mice and you genetically engineer them to have permanently activated levels of this gene, they essentially become the equivalent of long distance runners. Extremely insulin sensitive, meaning they can shove substrates into, for example, muscle tissue extremely effectively, very resistance to weight gain, extreme levels of physical fitness, and the ability to be able to run about 70% longer than the control group of mice, extreme ability to control blood sugar, like maintain blood sugar at a very healthy level, like 70 to 80, and the increase in the ability to be able to break down and utilize fat. Pretty much everything you'd want from exercise, these mice have. And what they've found was that when they give mice this chemical compound called GW1516, GW1516, it does the same thing as activating this PPAR Delta. Now GW1516, do you know what that is? And I've caught a lot of flak for talking about this before 'cause I wrote an article about it.
Brock: It's a SARM, right?
Ben: It's a SARMs, yeah. It's a SARMs.
Brock: Selective androgen receptor modulator?
Ben: So that is the latest exercise in a pill. And I'll link to the study in the show notes. And I've caught a lot of flak because there's not a host of long term study that's been done on the consumption of SARMs by human beings. It's also banned by WADA and USADA, so you need to be careful of you're an athlete. And also when you buy it, it says on the bottle “Not designed for human consumption.” I mean go read it. I'll link to the article that I wrote on it if you want to read it. It's called “Safer Than Steroids: Your All-Inclusive Guide To Gaining Muscle, Losing Fat, And Much More With SARMs”. And one of the main SARMs I talk about in that article is this GW1516, if you want to check it out. But that is exercise in a pill based off the research that they've done. So proceed at your own risk, but it's pretty fascinating, the latest research on exercise in a pill. And you can go leave your comments and your questions in the show notes about SARMs or go read the article that I wrote about it. But frankly at this point, with the evidence that I've seen on SARMs in rodent models and some of the evidence in humans, if I wasn't competing, I would actually use it. I have seen enough data to be convinced that it's worth using. So there you have it.
Brock: Do you know anybody who's been using it? I know two people who use it.
Ben: Oh, yeah. I have a lot of clients who use it and I know a lot of people who use it, and they're getting freaking ripped.
Brock: What I've noticed is they actually got really puffy.
Ben: Really?
Brock: Like they did put on a lot of muscle, but it was a very balloon animal-like.
Ben: Were they putting their SARMs on cinnamon rolls?
Brock: Perhaps. Perhaps it was the doughnut delivery method.
Ben: Maybe they were like, “I'm taking SARMs, so I can eat more apple fritters.” No, I've never seen that, actually. I've never seen the puffiness or anything like that. Only enhanced drive.
Brock: Enhanced drive. If anybody has actually tried it themselves, let us know in the show notes over at bengreenfieldfitness.com/370 and let us know if you got puffy or if you got ripped.
Special Announcements:
Ben: So this is the part of the show where we are obligated to tell you where you can go have a lot of fun with me, with Brock, with all sorts of other Ben Greenfield Fitness listeners and fans. Here's what's coming up. Here's what's coming down the pipeline. First of all, I will be at the Asheville Spartan Race on July 29th and also at the West Virginia Spartan Race on August 26th, if any you obstacle course racers want to come out, say hello. I'll be at both of those races. And we of course keep folks up to date on typically like Twitter and the Facebook page, and we'll put links to all this at bengreenfieldfitness.com/370. Where else do we have discounts on tickets for the amazing events I'm going to be speaking at? I'm going to give you four. Number one, the Who Wants To Live Forever Conference in Iceland. That's in September. We get discounted tickets on that, so you can grab those in the show notes. The Biohacker Summit, one of what I consider to be the top of events on the face of the planet in Helsinki, Finland in October. Another great one to go to. The XPT Experience in Kauai, Hawaii, that's December 7th thought the 9th where we're doing underwater workouts, and gym training, and breath work. It's me, Laird Hamilton, Kelly Starrett, Bryan McKenzie, Gabby Reese, a whole host of fun people down Hawaii. And then finally, December 17th through the 23rd I'll be at the Runga Retreat in Panama, which is like a full week-long digital detox-style retreat. That one's also a ton of fun. So we'll link to all these in the show notes. But if you're looking for a place to fly, vacation, hang out, chill with me, and other fun folks, we've got links in the show notes to all those different events. Just go to bengreenfieldfitness.com/370.
Brock: I like how they progressively get warmer and warmer in location. Like Iceland, then Finland, then Hawaii, then Panama. It's delightful when it's winter. It's a great thing to do.
Ben: Follow me around the globe, F-up your circadian rhythm and at the same time shiver and sweat. This podcast is brought to you by Rootz. Have you have tried this stuff, Brock?
Brock: I have not.
Ben: It's like a protein powder that tastes like banana bread. It's really good. So they put all of these resistant starch, they put resistant starch in it, but then they add sacha inchi protein which is a plant-based form of protein that's super high in amino acid, a little bit of hemp protein, speaking of the bees, they put some bee pollen in there, flax seeds, chia seeds, maca root. They have like a green detox blend of kale, and spinach, and broccoli, and spirulina, and chlorella. And somehow they make this not taste like cat diarrhea. It actually tastes really good.
Brock: But does it give you the farts like crazy? It sounds like it could me just super gassy.
Ben: No. I'm serious, it tastes like banana bread. There's no chemicals or anything in it. It's called Rootz. Everybody listening in gets a 10% discount on this stuff. You go to bengreenfieldfitness.com/rootz and you use code Ben10, that's Ben10, to get a 10% discount on Rootz. And Rootz a spelled with a “Z” by the way.
Brock: Or a “zed”, depending on where you live.
Ben: Try the Chocolate Banana Nut though. It's good. This podcast is also brought to you by something we've never really talked about before, the Orchestra. But not the…
Brock: The actual orchestra?
Ben: Not the one with the tuba and the violins. It's called Orchestra One. This one's for health care practitioners and health care providers. So if you're like a doctor, or a nutritionist, or a physical therapist, or a gym owner, or a chiropractor, or a naturopath, or anybody like that, what Orchestra does, or it's actually called Orchestra One is it is like a scheduling software along with software that allows you to share documents and labs, like electronically in a very secure and encrypted way, it lets you chat with your patient or with your client in an encrypted chat room if you're not there with them, it lets you charge them when you need to with stored credit card data. So essentially it's everything that you would need to interact with clients or interact with patients, but you don't have any phone tag, you don't have any lost emails, it makes the scheduling super easy, setting the appointments super easy. It's actually a pretty slick piece of software.
Brock: Wait a second. Is it HIPAA compliant?
Ben: Yes, it is.
Brock: Of course it is.
Ben: They've built everything into this thing. Anyways, they are offering quite a generous discount for our listeners. It's six months totally free, that's $120 value for this software and here's how you get it: you go to bengreenfieldfitness.com/orchestra. It's an all-in-one solution. You get rid of all the multiple systems used for scheduling, and communications, and payments. It's bengreenfieldfitness.com/orchestra, and the code is Ben. That gets you six months free. Boom. That simple. Easy peasy. Check it out, Orchestra. This podcast is also brought to you by Rover. You know what Rover is, Brock?
Brock: I think so. I'm just guessing. Is it something for dogs?
Ben: Mhmm. Rover, come here boy. Here, boy! It's the nation's largest network of five star pet sitters and dog walkers. So you can actually get a dog person, or a dog sitter, or a dog walker, or a day care for any pet. And what they do is they'll come over, they'll the rub your dog's belly, they'll play tug of war with their dog, they'll do a middle of the night pee break for your dog, anything your dog wants. They're like the dog people. They're actually approved dog sitters, approved pet sitters, not just dogs. So you could have a cat, or I suppose they could walk your lizard, or your gecko, or your goldfish, or whatever. But they've got like this iOS or Android app, they've got detailed profiles and reviews for the sitter's home, and their pets, and their past stays, they've got premium insurance, meaning every time somebody takes your dog for a walk, it's backed by insurance, they have pet safety tags, you get 24/7 access to pet care professionals, pretty much anything you would ever want. I haven't yet hired somebody off of Rover to walk my dog, but I downloaded the app, and I checked out the website, and I went through their list of dog walkers and it's slick. When we leave town, we can now just like click on this app and get anybody who's verified, endorsed, insured to come over and take care of our dog, and it's actually extremely inexpensive and you get 25 bucks off of using this. All you do is you go rover.com/ben and you use promo code Ben. That's rover.com/ben and you use promo code Ben. Do you have a pet, Brock?
Brock: I don't and that actually caused a really big problem when I tried to use Rover because they actually called the police. I just wanted somebody to come over and rub my belly. Is that so wrong?
Ben: Yeah. That might be an issue. Yeah. They can't sit you. Nor can they take you on a pee break. They probably could take you in the backyard though for you to wipe your ass on the grass.
Brock: I don't need help with that.
Ben: Alright. We should move on.
Brock: Yes, we should.
Ben: This podcast is also brought to you by Marc Pro.
Brock: Aww. I need one of these so bad, dude.
Ben: I had Tony Jeffries at my house last night and this morning. He's the Olympic, or the 7-time national boxing champion and Olympic bronze medalist from Beijing, and he came over to my house. He flew from LA along with his business partner to podcast. And so we podcasted, we worked out, and they had some injuries, and so I showed them how you could take magnesium, you slather it all over the injury, and then you surround the area of the injury with these electrodes from the Marc Pro. And like the next morning, they were moving their joints in a way that they had never been able to move them in just like 12 hours, and all they did was like a 20 minute application of this thing the night before.
Brock: It's like freakin' magic.
Ben: Yeah. It's a delayed decaying waveform. Like most electrode stimulation devices, they use what's called a square wave form, which grabs both your fast twitch and your slow twitch muscles all at once. So it's not that therapeutic. This thing's very therapeutic, it's great for recovery, it's great for blood flow, and it can literally, like 10 times your speed of recovery, by allowing you to move a muscle in a much, much better way based on the blood flow, and the release of pain, then you'd be able to use it normally. Ton of different pro teams use it, like a hundred different professional teams. It's called a Marc Pro, M-A-R-C Pro. I think everybody who moves should use one. Everybody, especially who moves weights, or balls, or anything like that. You can use promo code Ben to get 5% discount at marcpro.com. Promo code Ben at MARCpro.com. And you know what their tag line is, Brock?
Brock: I do not.
Ben: Marc Pro. Performance starts here. Check it out.
Brock: Nice.
Listener Q & A:
Tony: Hey, Ben and Rachel. This is Tony from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. My question for today's about reading just before going to sleep and the best solution as not to disturb deep sleep. So I'm going to give you three cases, and all three cases, I'm going to be wearing a blue light blocking glass. Case number one is using my phone with a Twilight app on top of an iris app. Number two is using my paperback Kindle with a bit of light emitted from it. And number three is just using a hardcover book with a scientific light bulb in the room, like a sleepy baby. I kind of like the first two options a bit more 'cause it's easier for me to highlight while I'm bed, but I would love to see what your opinion is 'cause you're the pro, Ben. Alright. Thanks, dude. You rock.
Brock: I have the same question. I have an iPad with a Kobo app on it, I've got a blue filter on my iPad, I wear blue blocking glasses, and I still sort of lay in bed worrying that I'm totally destroying my sleep. But I really love reading right before bed. It's one of my favorite things to do to fall asleep.
Ben: I don't read a Kindle in bed at all. And I have the Kindle Paperwhite. And the Kindle Paperwhite is not bad. Like if you're going to have a Kindle, you definitely want the Paperwhite because it doesn't have the back lighting on it. But I still, unless I'm traveling and I don't want the weight of books, I rarely can be found in my bed with a Kindle. The thing that I do is I take all my physical paper books and I read those in bed, and I just have a big stack of them. So right now I am reading Dr. Jeffrey Bland's “Disease Delusion”. Pretty good book. And I'm also reading a fiction series. I read a lot of fiction at night, “The School For Good And Evil”, which my kids just finished so they gave it to me 'cause they said it was so good. So that's my one-two combo is I read fiction at night, which helps me get to sleep 'cause it's not all business-y, and then I write fiction in the morning to jumpstart my creativity, which is why I'm so creative and right-brained right now, 'cause I just got done writing about dragons eating children.
Anyways though, if you were going to have one, the Kindle Paperwhite is the one to own for reading in bed in my opinion because it's the closest thing to not disrupting your circadian rhythm with blue light. But there are a few other things that I would recommend that you do that I personally do. The first thing is the actual light in the bedroom. So there's a few different options. What my children have in their bedroom, and I actually just wrote an article about children's mattresses, children's blue light blocking devices, children's bulbs, et cetera, if you go to bengreenfieldfitness.com and you do a search for “kid's mattresses” or “kid's sleep”, you'll find that article that I just wrote. But I kind of like went through my kids' bedroom and everything that I do in their bedroom to enhance their sleep. Even the sleep masks that they use, which they do use. However in their bedroom, they have these bulbs, they're called biological LED bulbs. They're made by a company called Lighting Science. They have in their bedroom these bulbs called SleepyTime Bulbs that are very, very low in temperature, in brightness, and in the spectrum of blue light.
In my own bedroom, I have a very similar bulb also made by Lighting Science that's just a slightly larger bulb, but it's called the Good Night Bulb. And those are what are in the ceiling above my bedroom. And so when I'm walking around the bedroom, getting ready for bed, putting on my sexy baby elephant trunk boxers, putting on my coconut oil all over my chest so I look all sexy, and once I've done all of that, I hop into bed and I turn those lights off, and the actual light that I have screwed into the bulb that I will read by, it's called a Rubylux bulb, and this is a red bulb, a Rubylux bulb. And this red bulb is pure red, and I believe it may have been Dr. Mercola that told me about this bulb, I'm not quite sure. It also may have been a Facebook group I'm a part of called the, it's like “The Quantum Light And Biology” group, all these folks who just geek out on all things biohacking and light based. But basically it's about a 615 nanometer red light, I have one in my office too, called a Rubylux. And you want the one that's all red. Rubylux makes a purple, and they make a green, and they make a yellow, but you just want their bulb that's a near infrared is one option, or they're all-red LED bulb. Either one would work, but it's just pure red.
And so when you see me, if you follow me on Snapchat, because I Snapchat the books that I read at night, and you can go to bengreenfieldfitness.com/snapchat if you just want to look over my shoulder and read all the books that I read, you creepy stalker you, that's why everything is in red. And so that's what I use in my bedroom when don't have all those SleepyTime or the Good Night bulbs on. But the other thing that you can wear, and I only wear these like late at night when I'm reading 'cause they're just complete birth control for your head. They look horrible, like they're super space age-y, geeky, like full-on, wraparound, dark red goggles. They're these true dark goggles. Have you seen these?
Brock: I have. I tried on a pair and was like, “I cannot go out in public like this.”
Ben: You can't. They're called the Twilights and they're a great pair of glasses. I haven't worn them lately because I gave them away to somebody who I ran into at a conference and I loaned them to them for the night to wear at night and they liked them so much so they asked if they could keep 'em. So I just gave them to them out of the goodness of my heart. So now…
Brock: I thought you were going to say somebody needed them for their Avengers costume.
Ben: That's right. Plus they need a little bit of, like I mentioned, built-in birth control for the head. However, they do work fantastically for blocking light at night. They almost block so much that you freaking can't see, but it's not that bad. You can still read when you're wearing these things. So those are called the Twilights. I'll put our Amazon link to those in the show notes if you want to try those out. But ultimately, I just do physical books, I use that Rubylux red bulb screwed into my bedside, and then in the ceiling overhead I'll use the Good Night bulbs by Lighting Science. I'll use the Kindle Paperwhite occasionally. And that's about it. The light will decrease melatonin production, so anything that has melatonin in it can help you a little bit in getting that melatonin jacked back up. And for that, I like the stuff made by Dr. Kirk Parsley, the Sleep Remedy 'cause it's just got like a microdoses of melatonin in it. So if you have been reading at night, or watching a movie, or playing a video game, or whatever, you can just like do one packet of that sublingually, and it works pretty well at getting your melatonin just slightly elevated.
Brock: Do you just pour it right under your tongue?
Ben: Yeah. That or I snort it. With a razor blade. Off of a glass table.
Rob: Hey. I was wondering, what's a good way to make yourself fast? Sort of to not to break the fast, like to actually last 18 or 24 hours. Like do you have any mental hacks or tricks to keep yourself from munching on something? Thank you.
Brock: I really enjoyed the podcast that you did with Dr. Jason Fung. I've heard him before, and I've read his book, and man, that guy, I love all that info about fasting. That was great.
Ben: Dr. Jason Fung-bean. Yeah. It was a really good podcast. If you guys haven't listened to that podcast with Dr. Jason Fung, that basically teaches you how to go for copious amounts of time without eating. If that's something that floats your boat, go listen to that show. Now I personally, I don't do a lot of 24-hour fasts. About twice a month, I'll go Saturday dinner time 'til Sunday dinner time, and then I just like a king on Sunday night.
Brock: That's 24 hours.
Ben: Yeah. It's 24 hours, but that's very occasional. Usually all I do is I finish up with dinner, and I glance at my watch, and I just tell myself, “Okay, don't eat again for 12 hours.” That's my usual MO. And I find that to be sustainable, it keeps me happy. I like breakfast. Honestly, I like my big smoothie. I don't like to skip it, and wait until lunch, and do like the whole 16-hour fast thing. So for me it's a 12-hour fast. But when I do those 24-hour fasts, or when I have clients who need to lose a little bit of weight and who I am having and do like, in many cases, a 24 hour fast every single week, there are a few little things that we do.
The first is gum. Gum is super simple. Now I do get some questions about what kind of gum that I recommend 'cause I'm not a big fan of the sugar alcohols and the artificial sweeteners. There's two brands of gum that I use. One is called mastic gum. So I use this Krinos Mastic Gum that comes straight from Greece. And mastic is really interesting because it has a compound in it that is called, of all things, mastic that actually can kill the bacterium that's caused by ulcers, but it also enhances salivary production, it kills H. pylori, it's very good for gastric distress, and it keeps your stomach quite healthy, it also satiates your appetite, and it's kind of hard to chew, so it's good for your jaw muscles, your masseters. So you can get like a nice square jaw line that you've always been seeking. You don't have to take testosterone to get a square jaw line. All you need to do is chew on mastic gum, fellas.
Brock: There you go.
Ben: Anyways though, so I chew on that, and the other thing that I do is I use this other brand of gum called Simply Gum. It has a little bit of cane syrup in it, which I'm not a huge fan of. But other than that, it's very clean, it comes in all sorts of interesting flavors like fennel, and licorice, and cinnamon, and coffee, and I really enjoy that gum as well. So I like a really good gum for keeping the appetite satiated, and that's one thing.
Brock: So you wouldn't do something as like stevia or xylitol in it?
Ben: I haven't found any gum that really holds up that well. Even like the Glee Gum, or the Spree, Spry Gum, whatever it's called. I'm pretty picky with gum and the texture of gum. So my favorite to, the mastic gum, I'll link to in the show notes, like a chewable mastic gum. Don't make the same mistake that I did, and order it off of Amazon and get the mastic of gum capsules. It turns out you can't chew those. Get the little bottle of, it's called Krinos. It's straight from Greece, but it's kind of freaky 'cause you open it up, it's all these little crystals and you're like, “This is gum?” And then you try chewing it, and not only does it chew, you can, and this sounds dumb but it's like one of those Everlasting Gobstoppers. Like I can take it out, put it on my desk, come back to it, and just like work on a piece for days, as gross as that is.
Brock: Is it deliciously minty?
Ben: No. It's not. It's very herbaceous.
Brock: Does it taste like a gyro, or a gyro?
Ben: No. It tastes like ass. But it keeps your appetite satiated.
Brock: There you go, Rob.
Ben: No. It doesn't taste like you like sliced lamb, no. And yogurt.
Brock: Tzatziki.
Ben: Pellegrino. I do a lot of sparkling water to keep the appetite satiated. Pellegrino. I do a lot of Zevia, which is like a stevia flavored soda. And occasionally, I do a little bit of kombucha, even though it's difficult to find that a low sugar kombucha. So a lot of times, I'll just do those kombucha that my wife makes because I know it doesn't have residual sugars added to it. The company that makes the coconut water kiefers that you can find at places like Whole Foods or Safeway for example, those only have about 5 to 10 calories in a bottle, it's like a water kiefer instead of a kombucha. So you get some of the nice flavor and you get some of the good bacteria from a fermented beverage without the sugars, and it helps to keep the appetite satiated. And kind of like the mastic gum, it's a little bit soothing to the stomach especially when you're hungry. And so anything sparkly like that I like. Also choose your sparkling water wisely. For example, Perrier has a higher acidity than does Pellegrino. Perrier has an acidity closer to I believe in the sixes, whereas Pellegrino, or Gerolsteiner, or even just like the Whole Foods generic brand for example, they have a good pH. I'm sending a lot of customers to Whole Foods now.
Brock: That's because Amazon owns it and it'd be delivered right to your door by a drone.
Ben: That's right. By a drone. And anyways, the Pellegrino is the brand that I get. I get that by the caseload. And between that, and the Zevia that I get, and then just regular water along with the gum, that's enough beverage to keep me satiated, and the carbonated water kind of keeps you full.
Brock: Do you ever use like a fizzy water and then put some apple cider vinegar in it? That's one thing that I'm really into these days, especially when I'm fasting.
Ben: I don't do that, no. But what I do is I get the Omica Organic Stevia. These are little droppers that you can find on Amazon, and they have this flavor called passion flower. And if you put a little dropper of that into like a bottle of Pellegrino or sparkling water, and I travel with this as well, like when I order sparkling water on the airplane 'cause it makes it taste like soda. That's a really good brand, the Omica Organic Stevia. Especially that fruity kind of passion flower brand. They do a really good butterscotch, they do good vanilla, they even have like a plain stevia flavor, but it's a nice organic stevia without some of the maltodextrin and the other compounds that some of these powdered Stevia is like Truvia add to their stevias. So that's another thing that I keep on hand that I use, not only when I'm when I'm fasting, but just kind of everyday I use a little bit of that Omica Organic stuff, like get some coffee, et cetera. And I know that Stevia can cause an increase in your incretin hormones and a slight surge in some of the things that might cause you to become hungrier later on, ironically enough, but I find that the pros outweigh the cons in terms of stevia. I like it.
Brock: I feel like we could probably do a whole podcast on fizzy water drinks, me and you.
Ben: We probably would.
Brock: We're very passionate about our fizzy water. But we won't. Let's continue.
Ben: We haven't delved into the types of hard alcohol add to sparkling water in the evenings, or to Zevia. There's some good recipes out there. We'll have to do an alcohol episode sometime. Another couple of things: amino acids. Essential amino acids, not branched chain amino acids which can actually spike glucose because of the high amounts of leucine in branched chain amino acids, but essential amino acids. So I actually keep, and full disclosure, my company makes these, but I chew on 'em like candy when I'm fasting. I'll do a handful of them like about every six to seven hours and they keep your appetite satiated, but they also keep you from catabolizing muscle, they keep you in an anabolic state, they're great for healing injuries, they're called Nature Aminos, and this is just an essential amino acid. One tablet of these is one gram. So 10 is 10 grams, 20 is 20 grams, but it's like eating protein without spiking insulin, without the calories. So I mean like a handful of these is like the equivalent of eating an entire steak as far as your protein intake and your amino acid intake without the actual calories. So that's another thing that comes in extremely handy. And there are other companies that make an aminos. Like Thorne makes an aminos. The aminos that I have on my website, and I'll link to it at bengreenfieldfitness.com/370, you can get a tablet or you can get it in like a powder, which you could add to a water, or to a Zevia, or anything else like that, but it's called Nature Aminos. It's an essential amino acid, not a branched chain amino acid blend.
And then the final two things that I use to keep myself fasted during a fast, one is this stuff called a Hammer Fizz. It's like a little effervescent electrolyte tablet and it comes in a grape flavor, a grapefruit flavor, a mango flavor, and a lemon lime flavor, and it's essentially just like a bunch of minerals and electrolytes. It tastes really good. I bring it on airplanes too, but it's like tyrosine, manganese, magnesium, calcium, a little bit of vitamin B. It's got a slight amount of like sorbitol in it, so it does have a sugar alcohol in it. It's got a little bit of stevia in it, and by the way, it's gluten-free, wheat germ oil is, but the texturizer that they use in it is a wheat germ oil. and we've had that question on podcast before, whether wheat germ oil has gluten or not, it doesn't for those who are concerned about, I don't know, spraying diarrhea all over the backseat of a toilet after eating one of these things.
Brock: Dude!
Ben: But anyways, so it's called, it's true. Some people can't deal with gluten.
Brock: I know. That was so graphic. That was just too graphic.
Ben: I know. Rectal spasms are a thing, dude. It happens. Anyways though, so Hammer Fizz, now that everybody wants one of those, that's another thing that I'll drop into a glass of water. Don't put in fizzy water or you're going to get one of those volcano science fair explosions. And then the final thing, and I realize it has calories in it, but this is a whole thing like bone broth fasting, is I have a whole bunch of those boxes of Kettle and Fire Bone Broth in the freezer, and I'll take those out and thaw 'em out in the fridge when I know I want to have like a lower calorie day, and those are really good too. Like what I'll do is I'll keep one of those up over the stove and I'll just dump a bunch of spices in there, like salt, pepper, turmeric, cayenne, saffron, just whatever I want to throw in there, and you make like a little soup. And the other thing that you can put in there into the soup are Japanese yam noodles, which don't have any calories in them. It's just insoluble fiber. So you can essentially make yourself like your own super healthy homemade version of Top Ramen. And when you throw a bunch of miracle noodles in with a box of this bone broth and a whole bunch of spices, it's an entire meal. It's like 40 calories and it tastes freaking amazing. So that's kind of like a halfway meal that's almost got no calories in it that satiates you incredibly well. So you just add miracle noodles to like one package of Kettle and Fire Bone Broth, and then you put a bunch of spices in there, dude, I'm telling you, mouth smackingly good.
Brock: And if you do jumping jacks while you're eating it, it totally counteracts the calories.
Ben: That's right.
Stephanie: Hi, Ben! Love the show, and I'm sure am happy to have Brock back on it too! I'm interested in using oxytocin. Therapeutically, I mean. Can you fill me in on how I can get some or how I can increase my oxytocin naturally? Thanks!
Ben: Oxytocin's pretty cool stuff.
Brock: It is.
Ben: Did you know that it can stimulate labor and also milk ejection from one's nipples?
Brock: Not my nipples.
Ben: You can. You can do that. You really can. You can milk yourself, Focker. It's a peptide. Now oxytocin is a peptide. And it's the love hormone. It's what you release after your orgasm, and it helps to relax and reduce blood pressure, it reduces cortisol levels, it reduces pain, it has anti-anxiety effects, it stimulates various types of what we would call positive social interaction, meaning getting it on. It promotes growth, growth and healing of tissue as well. It's a very cool hormone. And there are ways that you can naturally increase it, although I experimented with, if you go to veterinary websites, you can actually order oxytocin to inject. You can inject yourself with oxytocin, I tried this out just to see what it felt like. Proceed at your own risk. Not sold for human consumption. But a lot of veterinary websites will sell oxytocin, and you just need like an insulin syringe and you can inject it subcutaneously, right underneath the skin. And if you take small amounts of oxytocin prior to sex, or larger amounts prior to sleepy time, you can have some pretty cool results. It enhances like your feeling, and your trust, and your sense of love and connection during sex, and then it can just make you sleep like a baby.
Kind of like the SARMs, like proceed at your own level of risk because there's not a whole lot of data out there about whether or not using it in that manner, or intranasally, which a lot of folks also do, they'll do like intranasal oxytocin sprays if you don't like needles. Might shut down endogenous production, like your own production of it. I'll give you some tips here in a second about how you could increase your own production without injecting it or sniffing it up your nose. But if you want like a really amplified effect, and you're out there, and you're a biohacker, and you don't mind trying out some new, try some oxytocin, like intranasal or injection, before bed or definitely before sex. It's pretty amazing. It's right up there with THC enemas up your butt if you haven't done that. Or THC suppositories. Anyways though, I will put links to some oxytocin supplements, intranasal sprays, that type of thing in the show notes, but let's talk about natural, more sane ways to increase oxytocin. Shall we?
Brock: Yes, please! Yes.
Ben: Because there are children in minivans listening in. So there's some really interesting research on ways that you can naturally increase oxytocin. One is human touch, shaking hands, hugging, caressing, massaging, anything like that. Just basically making sure to go to your way to touch those around you. Along with eye gazing and eye contact. So one of the best things you could do is like, in bed or at some point during the morning if you have a spouse or a loved one that you live with, just like hold them and look into their eyes and you get this intense release of oxytocin. So that's one thing that can increase oxytocin.
Brock: That's why they call it the creeper hormone.
Ben: The creeper hormone. It's actually the trust hormone. It's not something you'd want at very elevated levels if you we're going to go in and like negotiate to buy a car, or like go to work and have a tough day at the office, like engaged in negotiation or anything else that requires you to really plant your foot down firmly 'cause you trust people and you tend to buckle more during arguments. So just an FYI, there are times when you wouldn't want oxytocin super-duper high, basically when you got to be an asshole. So just so you know.
Brock: That's why they call it the pushover hormone.
Ben: Yeah. That's right. A few other things that they've shown can increase oxytocin. Listening to soothing music. So that kind of makes sense. There are foods, particularly eggs, bananas, and peppers, all of those can increase oxytocin levels. So you could make yourself like a nice little egg omelette, and slice some bananas, and throw some peppers in there, something along those lines. I suppose that is something to, we could call it the “oxytocin omelette”. There we go. TM.
Brock: Delicious.
Ben: A couple other things. Laughing increases oxytocin. So you could like watch stand-up comedy, or tell a joke, or figure out a way to make yourself laugh. That's another way to increase oxytocin. Or listen to the Ben Greenfield Fitness Show for a good laugh. That could increase your oxytocin. So there you go. Don't listen to this podcast right before you buy a new car. Now you know. Sunshine and physical activity in the sunshine can increase oxytocin. That's another one. And then one of my favorite ways, something I do every single morning that has been shown to increase not just oxytocin, but also serotonin and dopamine, and this has also been shown to cause better sleep, to lower blood pressure, to decrease inflammation, and to allow for a host of other physical and physiological effects. Can you guess what this one is?
Brock: Yeah! You take your pillow and you just punch the crap out of it, and then like put it over your face and scream into it. Right?
Ben: Yup. And then you punch through a wall.
Brock: Yeah. Punch a hole in the drywall. It’s great!
Ben: There's actually this gene called CD38. It's the key regulator of oxytocin release, and it's one of the big players in social interactions, and the ability for people to feel interconnected to one another, and for people to empathize with one another. And researchers actually did a study in which they had, in this case, 77 different couples visit the lab a few times during the course of this study. And while visiting the lab, they were required to go through these series of gratitude-based exercises, listing what it was that they were grateful for about one another. And what they found was a significant upregulation of this gene CD38 and an increased production of oxytocin. And there's several other studies that have shown an increase in dopamine, and serotonin, and oxytocin in response to something as simple as expressing what you're grateful for or engaging in like a daily gratitude practice such as gratitude journaling, which is something that I've done personally for the past two years.
I wake up every morning, and I roll over, and I strap on my little heart rate monitor to check in on my heart rate variability for the day. And while my heart rate monitor is collecting my heart rate variability, and this is cool 'cause it forces me to stay in bed, and kind of relax, and ease into my day, I write down three things actually. I write down what I'm grateful for that day, just one thing I'm grateful for, I write down what truth I discovered in that morning's reading, because the other thing that I do is all read like a brief piece of scripture, or an inspirational, or a devotional, or anything that allows me to kind of like seek some truth for the day, when I know I have to write it down, I'm a lot more kind of mindful of what I'm reading. And then the last thing that I do is I write down one person who I can help, or pray for, or serve that day. So I can go into the day in a very “others facing” way instead of “me, me, me, I, I, I”. What's the Stuart Smalley quote from SNL?
Brock: “I'm good, good. I'm great.”
Ben: “Doggone it! People like me.” Like rather than starting off a day like that, I think about one person who I could help that day, or I could serve that day, or who I could call or help.
Brock: So pretty much the opposite of what I was saying then, like the screaming and punching?
Ben: The opposite of self-affirmation or screaming into your pillow. Yeah, exactly. So gratitude practice, and my kids and my wife do too, and then we gather at the dinner table at the end of the day and we all take out a gratitude journals, and I actually took the same gratitude journal that I've been using and developing myself for the past couple of years, and I've published it, I've got like 5,000 coming on a boat over from Taiwan right now 'cause I got a whole bunch of them printed and published, and I'll put a link in the show notes, like they're not ready yet, but I think they'll be ready in a couple of weeks for anybody who wants to do the same gratitude kind of practice that I personally do. I'll put a link in the show notes or you can go to christiangratitude.com is where I've got these things available. But basically that's it. I do what am I grateful for, what truth did I discover, and who can I pray for, or help, or serve today, and dude, my oxytocin goes way up. Like milk just starts pouring out my nipples. It's crazy.
Brock: So I gotta ask. I'm not Christian, can I still use this?
Ben: No.
Brock: [censored]
Ben: No. You're going to hell. Yes, you can. But I thought about just naming it like “The Gratitude Journal”, in which case I would have been sued 'cause that is. Have you ever heard of “The Five Minute Journal”?
Brock: Mhmm. Yeah.
Ben: Yeah. I partnered up with the guys with of The Five Minute Journal. So they helped me design it, and it's this beautiful, beautiful hard cover design laid out in a really gorgeous way with some little tricks thrown into it to help you stick to your gratitude journaling practice, like there's a commitment part of it, and this whole introduction that walks you through exactly what to do each day, and the inspirational quote at the top of each page. But, no. You don't need to be a Christian, but I just put that on there because I am, and really the whole thing was sparked and inspired by my own Christianity. So rather than shying away from that and shoving it under a bush, or what's the…
Brock: Shoving it under a burning bush?
Ben: This little light of mine I didn't want to basically keep that hidden. So, yeah. It's called The Christian Gratitude Journal, but dude, anybody can benefit from this thing. But if you're Buddhist or if you're Muslim, you may want to be careful where you whip it out. But anyways, it's a great little journal if I don't say so myself, and it definitely causes the release of oxytocin. So there you have it.
Jodi: Yes. I was wanting to know about your thoughts on a product called Clear Choice for swimming pools, the enzymes. And I thought I had seen where you were linked to that product, so can I get your feedback? Is it a legitimate product? Is it something you would recommend to make the swimming pool a little bit better than chlorine? Thank you.
Ben: Yeah. This is an enzyme-based pool cleaner and this one's called Clear Choice and, full disclosure, I have used Clear Choice extensively in my own hot tub and my own pool. And what it is it's a nontoxic, what's called a surfactin, which is basically like a soap and it's mixed with a bunch of enzymes and coenzymes that oxidize things like bacteria and help your spa and pool to self-purify without the use of chlorine and a lot of these other traditional chemicals that you would put into a pool. I'm going to come right out there, probably at the detriment of these folks at Clear Choice and tell you that I didn't have any luck at all with this stuff. It cleaned my pool for a couple weeks, and then it kept getting green, and I called the company, and they'd give me and tell me, “Do this, do that, buy a whole bunch more of this,” and I tried, and I spent like a year trying to clean my pool with this stuff and it simply didn't work.
So what I do now is a few things. First of all, the pool that I have, I have like one of these cold swimming pools and also like a hot tub. It's got ozone purification in it. And that's known as O3 or triatomic oxygen. So ozone is a really powerful oxidant that can destroy microorganisms, and halt the accumulation of deposits in pipes and water systems, and it doesn't require harsh chemicals. And so if you look for a hot tub or a pool that has ozone purification in it or an ozone generator, that helps tremendously with you being able to get away with using very small amounts of chlorine or very few chemicals. The second thing that's built into my pool's filtering system, and again you can ask a hot tub dealer or a swimming pool manufacturer about this, is ultraviolet, or UV sanitation. So that uses short wavelength UV light to kill or deactivate microorganisms and it essentially just destroys their DNA. Don't worry. It's not going to turn your kids into mutants, the UV light, but destroys like cysts, I know, you want mutants.
Brock: That'd be awesome.
Ben: Algae, viruses, bacteria, protozoa, pathogens that are chlorine-resistant. So it actually pairs quite well with chlorine 'cause it'll even kill stuff that chlorine won't kill. So you want like this combination of ultraviolet pool sanitizing light and then you want ozone purification, and usually you can get like an ozone generator along with a UV light built into a hot tub or built into a pool. When you're looking for a pool or a gym with a pool to swim in, a lot of gyms now use salt water pools and salt water sanitizers. And salt sanitizers, basically those work kind of similar to chlorine in that they kill bacteria, and viruses, and algae, and other radicals by oxidizing them. And it's far less of an issue than chlorine when it comes to toxicity drawing your skin, creating chloramines, which can be somewhat toxic for you to breathe in, they can contribute to asthma. And so the issue with those though is that salt is corrosive. So if you do that at your own house, you do have to know that you'll go through pipes and filters a lot more quickly.
What I personally do is I do a few things. First of all, I use very small amounts of chlorine. Like a tenth of what you're supposed to use, but then I've got the UV light and the ozone sanitizer in both my hot tub and my pool. And when I get out when there's been heavy use, I put a little bit of chlorine in, and then I stay out for a good one to two days after I've put that chlorine in. So I'm not swimming in a heavily chlorinated pool, but it's still cleaning and the filter is still running and cycling. The second thing that I do is I interviewed this guy named Dr. David Getoff, and I'll put a link to this interview in the show notes, but we talked about how to mitigate the damage of chlorine if you do swim in chlorinated pools. ‘Cause let's face it, sometimes you just can't switch to a new gym, and the gym that you're at has a chlorinated pool, and you want to train, and you want to at least mitigate some of the damage. Or you're like me and you have trace amounts of chlorine in your pool 'cause the freaking enzyme thing just didn't work for you. And by the way, if you're listening in and you've cracked the code on how to clean a pool naturally, pipe in in the comments 'cause I tried everything in the kitchen sink and it just didn't seem to work long term for me.
Anyways though, so what Dr. Getoff recommended, and I'll put a link to the full podcast show notes, is after you swim in chlorine, you do high dose vitamin C. So you can use like a liposomal of vitamin C, like 1500 to 2,000 milligrams, vitamin D and vitamin E. So we're just talking about like antioxidants, more or less. Alpha-lipoic acid, and so what you could use is like, there's this shot called Life Shotz, we have it at greenfieldfitnesssystems.com, but it's just like vitamin C, vitamin E, a whole bunch of natural wild plant-based antioxidants. But anything that has an antioxidant, you get that into your system in higher doses, and yes, I know it can blunt some of the hormetic effects of exercise, but I think the pros outweigh the cons in terms of helping you out with the chlorine.
And then there's this stuff called Swim Spray, and it's a vitamin C topical, and you spray this all over your skin when you get out of the pool, and it acts as a natural oxidant on the skin, and it can help to remove a lot of chlorine from your skin. It's called Swim Spray. I'll include a link in the show notes, but you can just get it off of Amazon for example. It's just this vitamin C-based spray that eliminates chlorine odor and irritation from your hair and your skin. So that's the way that I do things. And yeah, I didn't have a whole lot of luck, and that was the exact brand that I used, what Jodi asked about, the Clear Choice, and I got to phone with these people, and went back and forth, and I just couldn't get it to work, and you know ran into so many headaches and so much expense I just quit using it with the methods that I just described instead.
Brock: That is a bummer.
Ben: It's a bummer. It's a first world problem.
Brock: Totally.
Ben: Speaking of first world problems, we have to figure out who the heck we're going to give a grand prize to for today's show.
Brock: Alright! I think we can do that.
Ben: Shall we do this? So this is the part of the show where if we choose your review off of Amazon and if you go to Amazon, Amazon? iTunes.
Brock: iTunes. Actually, no. It's called Apple Podcast. It's not even…
Ben: Apple Podcast. Go to Apple Podcasts. If you go to Apple Podcasts and leave the show review, preferably a five star, but be honest…
Brock: Yes, please!
Ben: We're going to read your review on the show. And if you hear your review read on the show, all you need to do is e-mail [email protected], that's [email protected]. We'll send you a shirt, we'll send you a BPA-free water bottle, a sweet beanie, and possibly a few other goodies. And today's review is called “Don't Wait!” by Sean Crampton. You want to take this one away, Brock?
Brock: I do. But first, a little-known fact. It's actually Richard Gere that answers those e-mails that go to [email protected]. Little known fact.
Ben: Very same man. Yes. White hair and all.
Brock: Anyways. So Sean says, “So for years, one of my most intelligent and in shape friends that I have has recommended BGF podcasts. My friend is hyper intelligent and very critical and the fact that he loves BGF (amongst others but Ben is tops) spoke volumes to me. Of course, I didn’t take his advice right away. Not until my father (a Navy SEAL of 30 years) got into BGF podcasts and had the same enthusiasm.” That's pretty cool. I wish my dad was a Navy SEAL. Actually, no. I'd probably be terrified.
Ben: Yeah. He'd kicked your ass and do a lot of burpees growing up.
Brock: Totally. “Again, I resisted. Until one day…”
Ben: You fool.
Brock: What was that?
Ben: I said, “You fool.”
Brock: Sean, you're an idiot. “Until one day, I decided to see what the fuss is all about. I haven’t stopped listening since. My father described it best to me by saying, ‘Ben reads a book and if he thinks it’s worth discussing, he gets the author(s) on the show. The difference with Ben is that no matter who is on it is a peer to peer conversation.' I could go on but this should be enough. Don’t wait!”
Ben: I like it. Yeah. And that is what I do. I read the books, I fold them over, I get the author on the show, and if I don't like the book I burn the book and leave a horrible review on Amazon.
Brock: As you should.
Ben: So if you ever hear me not interview an author, that's why. But in the meantime, Sean, that's a great review, man. Way to not listen to your friends and eventually, after missing out on life for several years, take matters into your own hand to begin listening in to the podcast. We appreciate that.
Brock: I think this just proves that resistance is futile.
Ben: Resistance is futile. But here's what isn't futile: all the show notes, they're over at bengreenfieldfitness.com/370. We work hard on 'em, we put everything that we talk about right out there for you. So check them out. And in the meantime, Brock, toodle doo.
Brock: Toodles!
July 12, 2017 Podcast: 370 – The Latest On “Workouts In A Pill”, How Much Exercise Keeps Your Cells Young, Oxytocin Supplementation & More!
Have a podcast question for Ben? Click the tab on the right (or go to SpeakPipe), use the Contact button on the app, click Ask a Podcast Question at the bottom of this page, or use the “Ask Ben” form at the bottom of this page.
News Flashes [4:00]:
- How much exercise keeps your cells young? This is freakin’ fascinating and yes, we will discuss on next podcast Q&A!
- Chalk up another benefit for blood flow restriction training (I use https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/BFRbands).
- I find it fascinating how many animals “self medicate” – what do you think?
- The latest research on “exercise in a pill” (I’ve been talking about SARMs like for months…like here)
You can receive these News Flashes (and more) every single day, if you follow Ben on Twitter.com/BenGreenfield, Instagram.com/BenGreenfieldFitness, Facebook.com/BGFitness, BenGreenfieldFitness.com/Snapchat, and Google+.
Special Announcements [19:40]:
This podcast is brought to you by:
-Rover – For $25 off your first booking, visit rover.com/BEN and use promo code BEN during checkout!
-Rootz Nutrition – Go to BenGreenfieldFitness.com/ROOTZ and use code BEN10 for 10% off
-Orchestra One – BenGreenfieldFitness.com/orchestra and Use code BEN for 6 months of Orchestra One FREE (valued at $120)
-Marc Pro – Promo code “BEN” for 5% discount at marcpro.com
–Click here to follow Ben on Snapchat, and get ready for some epic stories on his morning, daily and evening routine! What did you miss this week? A clay mask, a park workout, a morning routine change-up, an epic post-race salad and more.
-NEW! Click here for the official BenGreenfieldFitness calendar.
-Ben will be racing on the Spartan Pro Team for 2017!
You can catch him at any of these races below and you can click here to register:
-Southeast Showdown, Asheville, July 29
-The Ascent, West Virginia, August 26
-Sep 8-11, 2017: Who Wants To Live Forever Conference in Reykjavík, Iceland. Most of us not only want to have a long lifespan, but also a long healthspan; to be fit and healthy throughout the course of our lives. As we move into this unprecedented era of human history, a question arises: how far can the human healthspan be extended, and what are the most effective ways to achieve longevity? Click here for tickets!
-Oct 13-15, 2017: Biohacker Summit, Helsinki, Finland. This event is the focal point for learning faster, performing better, living longer, and enjoying more what you wake up to do every day. Discover the latest in wearables, internet of things, nutrition, digital health, and mobile apps to increase performance, be healthier, stay fit, and get more done. Get your tickets here!
-November 10-13 Weston A. Price Foundation Wise Traditions Conference, Minneapolis, MN. I'll be speaking at the 18th annual conference that covers everything from hormone health, adrenal and thyroid health, natural fertility, degenerative diseases, to traditional diets and food preparation & more. Learn how to improve your health through food, farming and the healing arts. Click here to register.
-Dec 7-9, 2017: XPT Experience, Kauai, Hawaii. Join me, Brian Mackenzie, Kelly Starrett, Julia Starrett, Laird Hamilton and Gabby Reece, for an epic, all-inclusive performance living workshop this Dec 7, 8 and 9 in beautiful Kauai, Hawaii. Come and join us for pool training, underwater workouts, gym training, breathing instruction, outdoor workouts, recovery biohacking and much more! Get your tickets here.
-Dec 17-23, 2017: Runga Retreat, Cambutal, Panama. This retreat spans 8-days and centers around fostering heightened awareness, presence, and connection with others through a mandatory “Digital Detox” – or no cell phones, computers, and other technology. Yoga is offered twice per day, everyday. There is also an off-site adventure ranging from hiking volcanoes to white water rafting or zip lining. World-class spa treatments are available and 100% of the food are suitable for vegetarian, vegan, paleo, gluten-free, or ketogenic dieters. Get your tickets here, and use code BEN for $10 OFF + a gift.
Grab this Official Ben Greenfield Fitness Gear package that comes with a tech shirt, a beanie and a water bottle.
And of course, this week's top iTunes review – gets some BG Fitness swag straight from Ben – click here to leave your review for a chance to win some!
——————————————
Listener Q&A [28:25]:
As compiled, deciphered, edited and sometimes read by Brock Armstrong, the Podcast Sidekick.
How To Read At Night Without Disrupting Sleep
Tony says: He is looking for the best way to read in bed without disturbing deep sleep. He has 3 scenarios (all of which include blue blocking glasses): 1. Reading on his phone using a low light app on top of an iris app. 2. Using his paperlight Kindle with a bit of light. 3. Reading a hardcover book with a scientific light in the room (like a sleepy baby).
In my response, I recommend:
–Kindle Paperwhite
–The Iris software
–Rubylux red bulb
–Lighting Science Good Night and SleepyTime Bulb
–TrueDark Twilight glasses
–Dr. Kirk Parsley's Sleep Remedy
How To Keep Your Appetite Satiated During A Fast
Rob says: What are some tricks or mental hacks you use to keep yourself from breaking a 18-24 hour fast and giving in and some munching on something?
In my response, I recommend:
–Mastic Gum
–Simply Gum
–Pellegrino
-Zevia
–NatureAminos
–Hammer Fizz
–Omica Organic Stevia
–Bone Broth (Kettle & Fire)
–Miracle Noodles
How To Increase Oxytocin
Stephanie says: She is interested in using Oxytocin as a therapeutic remedy. How can she purchase some or how can she increase it naturally?
In my response, I recommend:
-My upcoming Christian Gratitude Journal
–Oxytocin sprays and supplements
How To Naturally Clean Swimming Pools
Jodi says: What do you think of the Clear Choice Natural Swimming Pool Treatment? It uses enzymes instead of chemicals. Is it a legitimate product and is it a better choice than chlorine?
In my response, I recommend:
-Podcast: How To Reduce The Risk From Swimming in Chlorinated Pools and Drinking Chlorinated Water.
–Swim Spray