[Transcript] – How An Olympic Champion Overcame Near Death, Healed His Gut & Shoulder & Changed The Nutritional World Forever With “Seed Oils”: An Interview With Andreas Wecker.

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From podcast : https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/podcast/how-an-olympic-champion-overcame-near-death-healed-his-gut-shoulder-changed-the-nutritional-world-forever-with-seed-oils-an-interview-with-andreas-wecker/  

[00:00:00] Introduction

[00:00:53] Podcast Sponsors

[00:03:37] Guest Introduction

[00:05:37] How Andreas was “slowly dying” due to a mysterious CO₂ leak in his home

[00:08:20] How a gymnastics injury led Andreas onto the path of consuming seed oils

[00:14:04]  Problems with the seed expeller at your local Whole Foods

[00:19:45] How a mechanic (not an engineer) literally changed Andreas's health for the better forever

[00:25:08] Healing properties of Andreas's flaxseed oil on the gut

[00:28:27] Podcast Sponsors

[00:30:58] cont. Healing properties of Andreas's flaxseed oil on the gut

[00:36:05] Why Andreas's products are not labeled “certified organic”

[00:42:00] Benefits of Cooking with Seed Oils

[00:46:37] The research behind Andreas's oils

[00:50:36] What's coming down the pike seed oil wise

[00:53:10] The Best Oils to Begin with If You're Unfamiliar with Oils

[00:59:41] Closing the Podcast

[01:03:18] End of Podcast

Ben:  On this episode of the Ben Greenfield Fitness Podcast.

Andreas:  If you touch anything in Whole Foods or anywhere else, believe me, it's killing you. It's not what they say it is. I was always this way when somebody–even my coach was telling me, “That's not possible.” I said, “Sit down and watch.” I said, “Yeah, but, it's not my plan,” like a sportsman. So, I said, “No, no, no, you can kill somebody else.” And, I dropped it on his table, and I said, “Leave me alone with this.”

Ben:  Health, performance, nutrition, longevity, ancestral living, biohacking, and much more. My name is Ben Greenfield. Welcome to the show.

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Alright, folks. It's not often that you tell me to go out and drink and smother your food with seed oils. After all, seed oils and vegetable oils seem to be getting a pretty bad rap these days, particularly, when it comes to some of the harmful inflammatory effects and the omega-6 fatty acids and all the reasons people are now nervous about eating their precious Whole Foods hot salad bar with canola oil on it.

I do have a guest today, though, who has a different take on seed oils. I actually got a chance to mess around with a few oils that he made. He sent me one of his fennel oils, one of his flax oils, and a pumpkin seed oil, and I think a black cumin oil as well. And, they were amazing, just the flavor and the complexity and the way that I felt after drinking them. I had a real, real nice surge of energy.

So, I want to dig in and see what this guy does. And, apparently, he uses something called German cold-pressed technology, where these oils are specially pressed at this ultra-low temperature that eliminate oxidation and maintain the molecular integrity. And, I'll let him explain all this to you, but it's just fascinating, the extraction method and how you can actually get oils out of seeds and do so in a healthy way. So, I just thought I'd love to geek out with this guy. Plus, he's a former athlete. He was a European, World, and Olympic champion in gymnastics. He's a former German gymnast. His name is Andreas Wecker. And, his oils are called Andreas Seed Oils.

And, Andreas was the gold medal on high bar at the '96 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. And, he actually had a shoulder injury where he tore a bicep muscle in his shoulder. And, I think that's what ended his career. But, since then, has gone on and done a whole bunch of stuff in the health industry. And, he himself had a really, really bad bout of gut issues that I want to hear a little bit more about as well.

And, Andreas, you told me right before we started recording you've also got–your voice is a little off today because you got mercury poisoning or something like that.

Andreas:  No, carbon monoxide poisoning.

Ben:  Oh, carbon monoxide?

Andreas:  Yeah. It's not a nice thing to have.

Ben:  Was that in your house, that it was leaking out or something?

Andreas:  Yes, I had a gas leak in the house for three. So, I lived there three and a half years, and I was literally dying. I thought it's a brand-new home, the first. So, the landlord put everything in it. So, I looked at the stove, and then the burner, the flame was funny. So, I called him a couple times. I let him know, and he said, “No, no, it's normal.”

Ben:  Wow.

Andreas:  So, at the end, he had the wrong [00:06:25]_____, and instead propane burners and natural gas burners. And, it was kicking my bucks. So, [00:06:33]_____ and gas is not fun. Gas is not fun. So, I was literally dying. And, of last year, I had two times ER. The doctor was making blood tests. So, in the blood, the carbon monoxide, it's normally between zero and two. I had 8.6. So, I was literally–He said, “You're dying right now.”

Ben:  Holy cow. Where do you live?

Andreas:  I'm close by to you, actually, because I'm in Bend, Oregon.

Ben:  You're not far. Do you have a carbon monoxide meter or monitor or something like that installed in your home?

Andreas:  The thing is gas leaks you cannot measure or you cannot–They don't measure any gas leaks.

Ben:  What do you mean? I thought they had–because, I've got one in my house, a carbon monoxide monitor.

Andreas:  No, if you have gas in your house, put a gas leak detector in place because I saw you have kids. You need something else because the carbon monoxide is different when you burn something or you don't burn anything. So, the carbon monoxide from gas is not measurable by those carbon monoxide detectors. So, I researched a lot because of my situation [00:07:45]_____.

Ben:  No kidding, I didn't know that. I always assumed–I think I have one. I think mine is made by First Alert. And, it says it detects gas and provides early warning. But, I didn't know that it depends on how the gas is produced.

Andreas:  No, no, no, if you'll look online, you'll research [00:07:59]_____, there's a lot of things they don't tell you. And, especially, in carbon monoxide poisoning by gas, it's not measurable by those carbon monoxide detectors [00:08:10]_____ on the market.

Ben:  Geez. Alright. Well, I didn't know we were going to be talking about carbon monoxide today, but that's probably a blessing in disguise and good to know from my listeners. I had no clue about that.

But, obviously, before you had all these carbon monoxide issues, I know you had some other health issues that you were trying to fix on yourself. And, I'd love to just hear about the backstory of this journey in gymnastics that led to the injury, and then from there, how you got into drinking freaking pumpkin seed oil and milk thistle oil and producing all these crazy-engineered oils.

Andreas:  It's not the oil. It's the technology what makes the difference. So, just short, I grew up on the east side in Germany, so I'm very familiar with communism. So, I was 19 years old when the wall came down. And, I was good in gymnastics. And, I was the first time in the Olympics in 1988. I was 18 years old, the youngest. And, we won silver with the team, and I had my first final on high bar already. But, I messed it up at the end with a triple somersault. And, I want to stay and I touched the floor with the hands. But, it was a learning process in this moment.

And then, over time, in gymnastics, I don't know, you probably have an idea because you do lot of sport, too. It's going literally on your body.

Ben:  Yeah. Some of the athleticism, though, is amazing. I took my kids to Cirque du Soleil, which obviously–

Andreas:  I trained there.

Ben:  –employs a lot of gymnastics competitors as part of their circus performers. And, oh, my gosh, everything from the body, to the athleticism, to the vertical leap, just the grace of a lot of these folks. It's nuts. I was talking to one of my friends. Actually, I think was Joe DiStefan, who's been on the podcast before. He said, if you were going to prepare a child physically and physiologically to be good at just about any sport, the top two sports he said that they should compete in when they're young are.

Andreas:  Yes, I know.

Ben:  One was gymnastics and the other one was soccer, just because of soccer combines the endurance and the lactate threshold and the sprinting and the power. Then, gymnastics, all the mobility, and the movement and body awareness.

Andreas:  It's a lot.

Ben:  So, yeah, it's an incredible sport.

Andreas:  So, you're training at the core non-stop. So, gymnastics is hot on the body. So, I started very early. And, I took 14 years painkiller because of all the pain. So, because you cannot train when you are deep in pain. Pain is always connected to inflammation. So, inflammation is causing them trouble with the ligaments and all this stuff. So, I took this on a daily basis, literally. In the morning, my coffee and my pill. And then, I was going to training. And, the second pill, I took in the afternoon. It was increasing because the body get used to it.

And, when I stopped in 2004, I thought I don't need those pills anymore. I had Diclofenac. I don't know if your familiar with this.

Ben:  What do you call it?

Andreas:  Diclofenac.

Ben:  Diclofenac, yeah. I thought you were describing a neck condition that you had. Diclofenac, the pain killer, yeah.

Andreas:  So, this is what I took for 14 years on a daily basis. So, in 2004, when I was 34, when I stopped with gymnastics, I thought that's it, I don't need it anymore. So, I stopped completely to take it. And then, in a year, I got really bad problems with my stomach and colon.

Ben:  Yeah, well, similar to ibuprofen, you get ulcers and bleeding and holes in your stomach.

Andreas:  Yes, exactly.

Ben:  And, if you combine a non-sterile anti-inflammatory drug like that with a permeable gut, which a lot of athletes have, just because your gut becomes more permeable when you're exercising, particularly, when you're exercising in the heat, that's why I tell anyone who's doing a marathon or triathlon, do not take ibuprofen, like a lot of folks in that scenario do, just because you get that one-two combo of the leaky gut and a lot of the stomach damage that those NSAIDs can do. And, yeah, it's a recipe for disaster.

Andreas:  Yeah, it's proven. So, when I stopped, of course, the body doesn't have their own production anymore. It stops pretty much with the cortisone, etc., to protect. So, I got really, really sick. So, I lost 10 in 2006. And, in six weeks, I lost 45 pounds. That was crazy.

Ben:  Wow.

Andreas:  And, I lost 80% of my blood.

Ben:  Oh, my goodness.

Andreas:  Eighty. So, when I came in the hospital, you know what they do, right, most of the time in the hospital?

Ben:  I assume, a blood transfusion.

Andreas:  They take blood.

Ben:  Oh, they took blood?

Andreas:  Yeah. So, I vanished. 

Ben:  You mean, to test your blood?

Andreas:  Yeah.

Ben:  But, at that point, you had so little blood left that, for them to take tubes out and test your blood, it just puts you over the cliff?

Andreas:  Exactly. And, when I woke up, I was in the ER or intensive care, and I had both arms running down blood. Those blood, what's it called, transfusions?

Ben:  Mm-hmm.

Andreas:  Both arms. There was some panic. It was literally in panic. So, I had about 82, 84 pounds left. So, I was skin and bones.

Ben:  That's what you weighed?

Andreas:  Yeah, that's my weight.

Ben:  Oh, my gosh.

Andreas:  I don't have much. I have right now about 120, 121. So, it's my competition weight. Actually, it is why I'm still keeping it. The thing was, for me, when I came out, I had a friend. He was an engineer and we worked on different project, but in order to get the other project, we need a good oil. So, also, he had his own creation of seed oil press. That's how everything started [00:14:24]_____.

Ben:  The seed oil press?

Andreas:  Yes, seed oil press. So, there's thousands of seed oil press out there, called expeller press.

Ben:  Yeah. Well, like I mentioned, Whole Foods. If you go to Whole Foods, that's what it says, is they say their canola oil is a cold expeller-pressed canola oil.

Andreas:  If you touch anything in Whole Foods or anywhere else, believe me, it's killing you. It's not what they say it is.

Ben:  Explain to me why the expeller press is different than different pressing method.

Ben:  I have also an expeller press, but I don't grind. So, the thing is they have the expeller, and then you have space. And, the space gets filled with the seeds, and then they start to grind. So, most of those presses have about 60 to 120 RPMs. My highest RPM is about 8. Just give you an example of difference. I have no space in between. So, there's no space. I don't feel anything up. I invented in [00:15:24]_____ with the German mechanic together in 2009 and press where I was–I later have this. That's why I have the patent. Create a new one —

Ben:  Wait. I want to stop you for a second because I may have been confused there. So, an expeller press squeezes the seed and uses friction and pressure. And, that produces some temperatures, but it's not as much temperature as would be produced during standard heat processing. But then, expeller pressing is different than cold pressing?

Andreas:  No, no, no, actually, that's the only way to cold-press.

Ben:  So, expeller-pressing is a form of cold-pressing?

Andreas:  Yes.

Ben:  Got it.

Andreas:  But, there's a law that says cold press. So, there's no temperature law. We think 140 for five seconds or whatever. But, everything that's touching 140 is destroying the enzymes. So, we don't want that. So, because an oil is a complete food, actually, when you take it as a perfect pressed product. So, the thing was, for me, I saw all these problems with the expeller when I heard also talking with people that they said, for example, we have to change all three months our expeller because it's eaten up by the seeds. And, I said, that means you're losing metal. Where's the metal going?

Ben:  You mean you're losing metal from the machinery, from the friction?

Andreas:  Yes, normal expeller pressers, that's what I mean. They have the problem. They have to replace the expellers because they get eaten up by grinding. It's like sandpaper, the seeds. And then, it's grinding and you have friction. And thus, the friction is causing the oxidation. That's the main problem. So, the oxidation is not caused by temperature. There's a professor in Turkey. He made it very clear. It's not the temperature that is causing the oxidation, but the grinding.

Ben:  Really?

Andreas:  And, I'm on spot. So, I thought, in order to get a good oil, I want it for myself because it was helping me with my Crohn's disease, so I developed in my [00:17:35]_____ clear vision of a press. And then, I was two months looking for the right engineer or mechanic. And then, I figured out, you know what the difference is between the engineers and mechanics?

Ben:  No. Is this going to be a joke?

Andreas:  Engineers want money upfront. It's real. You never get the product, what you're asking for. So, it's very, very funny sometimes to see those people how they argue and how they can do this, but they never catch your brain, really. And, I found this German mechanic, and he was different. We had connection right away. And then, we started the process. He had already a press, but he made it in a different way, like I wanted it. And, it was really fun to work with him. And, at the end, we got the press. Today, of course, I did the new one myself because there was a couple of problems with it.

But, the thing was you have to get rid of this grinding. If you grind, you have metal in the oils. And, the main problem today with a lot of autoimmune disease or what they call it, I don't even call it this because it's not really existing, but this is what caused–It's caused by metal in your body. So, where's the metal coming from? So, it must be somewhere in the food, and especially, those cold-pressed oils, mainly. They all have to meddle in. Nobody's talking about it.

Ben:  I thought they pass it through a filter or washing. Well, actually, this is what I thought was problematic, that they have to wash them with a solvent, and that helps to get rid of the metals. But, the solvent's like hexane. And then, when you're consuming the oil, you're consuming a lot of the solvents, like the hexanes, that are used to refine the oil after the extraction process.

Andreas:  No, this is a totally different process. It's also timed with alcohol extraction. It's also in [00:19:29]_____. So, it's weird. It's totally weird. And, I never had any interest. And, you can smell, actually, when the oil is off. So, for example, you probably saw and had the feeling that the oil tastes like the seeds, right?

Ben:  The oils that you sent me do. They actually have a really strong flavor. Because , for example, we subscribe to this company called Fresh-Pressed Olive Oil. So, we get three different olive oils each quarter to our house. And, me and my sons and my wife will do olive oil tastings. And, I actually had some guests over at the house when your oils arrived. So, I think we had, like I mentioned, the fennel, the black cumin, the flax, and I think it was the pumpkin seed. And, I passed them around for everybody to try. And, people were just blown away at the actual flavor. They could actually taste the seed. My favorite was the fennel, that fennel as a digestif. And, I would sprinkle it on salad. It was amazing. [00:20:25]_____ the bottle was too small. I ran out of it super-fast. But, in terms of just helping with digestion, and this amazing licorice-like flavor and aroma, that was bomb.

Andreas:  People love it. And, I have four oils nobody else can press.

Ben:  What do you mean nobody else can press them?

Andreas:  Because of the technology. I own the technology I have four patents on. And, I was waiting five and a half years. And then, finally, they came. They came, the patents. So, I got the first one eight weeks ago.

Ben:  So, this engineer or this mechanic, they produced a custom-built press for you. And, that's still what you use?

Andreas:  No, no, no, I built my own one afterwards.

Ben:  How come other people haven't just build the same kind of press if it gets rid of the same issues? Nobody's copy-catted you?

Andreas:  They don't have a certain mechanic. I had talks with German companies who claim to be having the best press in the world. So, I was in there before I met this mechanic. I talked to them and try to implement or describe what I want to work this out because, at this point, I didn't have money. So, I needed some help. And then, they said, “No, what you want, it's not possible.” So, I made things possible where the novel engineer will tell you it's not possible. So, what I have, those oils are, in the engineer language, it's not in the box, it's not possible.

But, I was always this way when somebody, even my coach was telling me, “That's not possible.” I said, “Sit down and watch.” So, always, it was a challenge for me all the time when somebody says it's not possible. I'm a type of man who is not accepting impossibilities.

Ben:  I get that. I think what you said was that you actually, at this time that you were developing this, you started actually drinking it too as an alternative to the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory you're using?

Andreas:  Yeah. So, I got rid of the medications. I was on 33 pills when I came out of the hospital. So, I had to take every day 33 pills. I got all those side effects. So, I got moon face, I had for five weeks. The number is probably, I got 200 milligrams of Prednisone every single morning in my arms. It was knocking me out for three hours every morning. So, it's insane. So, I was puffed up. I had a moon face. It was insane, absolutely insane.

So, there's no excuse for this system. So, the whole system is not able, actually, I will call it, the medical system is not able to give you natural ways to solve problems in your body. But, I think, and I start to think this way, why I give the responsibility for my body to a system which is in cahoots with the pharmacy. You know what I mean?

Ben:  That makes sense. Now, in terms of the actual oil that you used, what was the oil that you used on your gut, particularly?

Andreas:  It was flaxseed. I came off in three months on flaxseed every day, fresh-pressed, of course with the other fresh-pressed. I got the inflammation off. And, I started to come down with all the tablets. And, after three months, I was completely off of any medication. And, I brought all those pills. I had two full backs what they was giving me, brought back to the Ph.D. who put me on those. And, he said, “No, you have to take this your whole life.” I said, “No, I'm dying from it.” He said, “Yeah, of course. With your condition, you don't have a long life. You will not live long.” I said, “It's not my plan,” like a sportsman. So, I said, “No you can kill somebody else.” And, I dropped it on his table. I said, “Leave me alone with this.”

I also was releasing myself from the hospital because I figured it couldn't help me at all. So, there's a lot of things we think they have an idea, but, most of the time, don't. So, I tell people today, it's your responsibility about your body. You have to be careful where you're going if you have some issues. Most of the time, you can, actually, by changing your diet or taking good oils, can make a big change. And, that's what we see in. So, there's a lot of doctors on my list, the wholesale list, they came to me because they had people got healed from my oils. And, they couldn't do it with their stuff. You know what I mean?

Ben:  Yeah. So, the flaxseed, I'm intrigued about how that actually worked on your gut. How do you think that actually had a mechanism of action to allow your gut to heal in the way that it did?

Andreas:  It's so insanely anti-inflammatory. It's really ridiculous. It's really cool. So, this is also brain-wise, because the brain is mainly omega-3. And, flaxseed has four times more omega-3 than omega-6.

Ben:  Yeah, it's alpha-linolenic acid, right?

Andreas:  Exactly. My point was not just to produce a good oil but to keep it also. For example, your bottles you got, they didn't came refrigerated.

Ben:  No, I don't think they came refrigerated. I don't recall.

Andreas:  You don't have to. [00:25:54]_____ Miron glass. And, Miron glass is a company —

Ben:  You said Miron, M-I-R-O-N, right?

Andreas:  Yes. Well, I'm walking with them. I was the first one in the United States in 2008 who was using Miron glass for my oils because I thought I was understanding liquid. How liquid works, how frequency works, etc. So, in order to keep organic material in a nice atmosphere, and because my oils are not oxidized by the process, that means it keeps it. So, even if I take an oil after, for example, I had one bowl of black sesame I found after four years, and I thought, “Let me try and shake it up very well,” because I don't filter, it's also another thing, and it was like tasting the first thing. And, it still had the energy because Miron glass keeps the energy, too, and the frequency.

And, it was very important for me because what we're eating today, and that's why people getting sick is, there's no energy in the food anymore. So, if you don't have your garden, if you don't have your own cows, goats, whatever, the raw milk, etc., you don't get energy from food anymore. The food in the stores, what we're buying, is dead. We have in Hamburg in Germany, there's a huge–It's almost like a city. It's huge. They put oranges in there. And, they keep it under. They put nitrogen in dark. You know how long you can call it fresh oranges?

Ben:  If it's out like that, I would imagine, a McDonald's hamburger can stay on the shelf for a year without going bad, probably, a while.

Andreas:  Five years.

Ben:  Geez.

Andreas:  And, you call it fresh.

Ben:  Fresh five-year-old orange. So, these flaxseeds that you're using, where are you getting your flaxseeds?

Andreas:  The flaxseeds came from Kazakhstan. So, I'm using a lot from the Middle East. So, for example, I'm not touching anything from China. So, I have a lot from the Middle East. For example, the coriander, and also, the black cumin. Then, I have the sunflower comes from Ukraine. They have the best soil award. That's why they have also the prettiest women. And then, on the other hand, I have the flaxseed comes from Kazakhstan, those old East Soviet Union states or countries, they never had any money to put chemicals on the soil. That's why their soil is so clean.

Ben:  Hey, I want to interrupt today's show to tell you about one of my favorite websites to go to when I want to shop for all things water, like adding hydrogen to my water, adding super-duper dense sources of minerals to my water, improving metabolic health through some of the Chromax and hydrogen that they have, the ability to be able to add to water. This is a website called Water and Wellness. The guy who runs it is Robert Slovak. He's one of the top. Along with my father who's in the water, Robert's the other guy who I go to whenever I need advice on all things water.

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So, you go find your seeds in different spots, choosing the seeds that are grown in the proper conditions, then you use this special machine that you have, and you come back and you extract them, then you put him in the Miron on bottles and ship them out?

Andreas:  Exactly. And, for me, it's very important. For example, I have the farmer for the milk thistle. It's a new product from us. I get it straight from the farmers. So, that's the first seed that I get straight from the farmer. Actually, two. The first one was the fennel. So, fennel is an oil I have nobody can press. The coriander – we have to talk about, the coriander, too.

Ben:  Well, the flax is amazing, by the way. The flavor is great. I know it's hugely, hugely rich in those anti-inflammatory ALA fatty acids. I think it's got even more than, when it comes to the lignans, the antioxidants, and also the ALA, it pair. I do both, and fish oil, now, just because I get all the ALA from the flaxseed oil. And then, I get big amounts of the EPA and DHA from this fish oil that I use.

But, it's one of those things where I wasn't quite sure how much to take. I've been putting a cap-full on my salads, or sometimes drizzling it into my smoothie. How much do you take? Or, how much were you taking when you healed your gut using flaxseed oil?

Andreas:  I have 10 oils, plus the hemp. I'd say the morning is always a challenge for me. I take, because of my problem with the carbon monoxide, what is helping me really nice is the black cumin. It's also when you look up, when you research, it's good for lungs. Also, kava. Do you know that I have kava oil?

Ben:  Yeah. Well, I didn't know you–Actually, you know what? I don't remember if I knew you had a kava oil. But, I am a huge fan of kava. It's like a legal drinkable Hawaiian weed.

Andreas:  I have the only I produce for KavaPlex, which is actually, like Dr. [00:32:58]_____, I'm doing this since three years. And, I thought, keep it this way. But, I'm the producer of KavaPlex.

Ben:  Oh, you make that stuff. I think they're coming on the show soon because their kava is really amazing. Cameron George, I think, is going to come on and talk about it. He got into how that specific form of kava is very easy on the liver compared to a lot of other kavalactone complexes. And, it's like a full-spectrum kava. I like to use it for relaxation. Or, I'll sometimes put a few drops into a cocktail, to make a kava cocktail, that stuff. So, I didn't know you were the producer of that. That makes sense now. So, do they use your special machine to make that? Is it the same thing they use, like a press, for that?

Andreas:  I can press anything that has oil.

Ben:  So, if it has oil, you can press it?

Andreas:  No, there's no oil in the kava. Kava's root gets grind down a little bit. So, we have 5-millimeter big pieces. And then, I put it together with seeds, mix it, and then I press it. So, the trick is, and that's where my technology comes in, I have about 10 tons on the front. There's no grinding. It's just screeching out with a lot of force. And, that's the trick.

You know what the best solvent is? Because everybody talking, you just set it with the hexane extraction. I call extraction. It's very famous in the hemp industry, CO2 extraction. All of this stuff, it's totally destroying the product, actually. It doesn't matter what you take. So, the problem is–what is the best solvent in the world?

Ben:  The best solvent? Alcohol?

Andreas:  No, fatty acid. 

Ben:  Okay. 

Andreas:  So, if you have–I make two kava right now. I can press any seed with kava. So, we have [00:34:49]_____ and his father, John. We pressed for them a lot two months ago. And, it was really cool. So, we pressed two and a half thousand gallons with the pumpkin. Pumpkin works a little faster. The other one is the sunflower. And, sunflower stays longer in the body. So, we have a different effect from each seed, you know what I mean? Which is also nice, actually.

Ben:  But, you make your sunflower, and the sunflower earlier using as a solvent, you make using sunflower seeds and then your press, then you use that as your extraction method for something like kava root?

Andreas:  Exactly. So, I invented a recipe. I'm a chef, so I like to cook, anyways. So, I like to have ideas putting things together. And, we talked about it. And, they was asking me, what is the deal with kava? Can we do something? I said, “Yeah, I can make you an oil.” So, it's the only kava oil in the world. And, it's cold-pressed. We have it 95%, almost 95%, organic certified, but it's not organic certified because nobody flies from the USDA to Hawaii or Samoa to certify the soil. It's ridiculous. They have an amazing soil up there, and nobody gets certified because nobody want to go there.

Ben:  Nobody wants to go to Hawaii?

Andreas:  Yeah, nobody want to go from the USDA to certify their soil as organic certified soil, so that you can grow the kava as certified organic.

Ben:  So, you get the kava, but it's not labeled certified organic?

Andreas:  It's not certified. It's organically grown because I told him from the beginning, I said, I don't want to deal with any conventional stuff in my technology.

Ben:  Well, there's a lot of issues with the certified organic label, including the fact that a lot of farmers just simply can't afford it. A lot of small farmers, even if it's certified organic, they're still allowed to use, in many cases, pesticides. There's just certain pesticides are not allowed to use, but they can use. Some organic farms can use non-organic herbicides a couple of times a year and get away with it and still be called certified organic. And, you can still get herbicides and pesticides from either closed crops that are also being sprayed unconventionally or conventionally.

And, also, a lot of the certified organic stuff, it's not always full organic. It's like grass-fed beef isn't always grass-fed or grass-finished. So, you're still getting a lot of the corn and the grain and the omega-6s along with that meat. It really is interesting. So, you go all the way to the source when you look at your seeds?

Andreas:  I call this cheating on the people, because my plan from the beginning was never use any conventional stuff. Get the seed [00:37:39]_____ the seeds, prove. They have to prove to me that those seeds are clean, those seeds are certified, 100% certified organic. I don't touch any conventional stuff because I know what it is.

So, think about it. They just figure it out. Somebody, I don't know what they did. They made a test on a CBD market with some CBD oils, actually, with all of them. And, they found out that the pesticide numbers on those concentration because they make CO2 extraction or the alcohol extraction. So, it's concentrating this stuff because you have to heat it up, everything. So, they had to 400 times more than a threshold, the number of 400 times more pesticides in the product.

Ben:  Well, one got banned. Rotenone, I think is the name of it. It's an organic–If you're certified organic, you can use natural so-called organic pesticides, which also still have these potentially serious health risks. One rotenone, that got pulled off the market because it basically damages the mitochondria in living cells. And, that was widely used. It's called organic pesticide for years in the U.S. before it got banned. I don't know what they replaced it with. I'm actually not quite sure, but I do know that, again, just because something says certified organic, you still have to be super careful with it.

Andreas:  I think it's very important to understand. I'm running against the stream a little bit. So, I'm going step-by-step. I had a lot of investors coming. I had a lot of interesting people and a lot of charlatans on my butt. I had nine partners, business partners, in 13 years. And, I lost a lot of money because of them. So, there's a lot of charlatans out there, conmans who claim to have the same product.

And, the problem is you have to understand everything. So, for example, if you filter an oil, you destroy the molecular structure. So, the body cannot read it anymore, because everything [00:39:43]_____ what comes out of nature and you can pick it from the tree or from the soil and you eat it right away. It's living. So, it has the living effect. It's helping you to receive energy from food. And, it's also easier to break down because somebody is understanding what's coming. That's how God create it.

And, I try to keep it as most natural in the process, also. So, as soon as you press it in those oil pressers, not oil pressers, the oil filter process, they call it filter press, they have about 20 tons. If you put 20 tons on a liquid, you push the cluster in the liquid together in a cluster. Everything is in clusters. So, you push this together like there's no tomorrow. And then, it goes to a very small membrane. And, what is happening? When it comes out, the pressure goes. So, there's a release of the pressure. So, the cluster of molecules, they explode. So, there's no more clean information of the product. So, I don't filter because of this. I have strainers, but I don't have filtration. So, you still have to shake my bottles. There's still some sediment in the bottom, which is awesome. And, it gives a nice taste. It has a nice flavor.

You want everything. It's a fruit. We have to understand oil is just not for cooking. Of course, you can cook with it. Not with all of them. The sunflower, for example, is an amazing cooking oil.

Ben:  That's what I wanted to ask you, because you said you cook. But, isn't a lot of this stuff still prone to, even if it's not oxidized, when it gets to me in these Miron glass bottles, isn't it still a little bit of a concern once it gets exposed to high heat if you're taking these oils and cooking with them?

Andreas:  It's actually sunflower and black sesame. The sunflower oil is the best cooking oil in the world.

Ben:  Alright.

Andreas:  The colder you press, the higher you can go, and the lower you can go with an oil, the higher temperature.

Ben:  Well, possibly, somewhat like extra virgin olive oil, you get a lot of the anti-oxidants. Sunflower has a ton of vitamin E in it. And, that can offer some protection, too, once you get up to the higher temperatures, right?

Andreas:  Yeah, because you have 6 and 9, they are most stable. Omega-6 and 9, they are most stable in the cooking process. But, you can also use black sesame for stir-frying, which is very famous in the Asian world. And, black sesame, for example, is also–I figured it out. So, there was a couple of people that was asking for. And, I make the only cold-pressed black sesame on the market.

Ben:  So, what do you cook with them? Give me an example of the kind of things you like to cook or make with your oils. I'm just curious how you use them.

Andreas:  Stir fry, like Asian.

Ben:  For sesame oil?

Andreas:  Yeah. Do you know that Asian women doesn't have menopause? You know why?

Ben:  I've heard they have less. Is it due to some of the flavones?

Andreas:  No, it's the sesame. They eat every day sesame. So, the sesame seed has an estrogen in there, which is a natural thing. And, it keeps [00:42:59]_____ running. So, Asian women don't have this issue. So, I have a lot of women [00:43:04]_____ black sesame, especially, for this problem, which is funny.

Ben:  Interesting. So, how do you like to cook with or prepare foods with some of the non-cooking-based oils, instead of sunflower, sesame seed oil? That was one of my head-scratchers when the oils got to me. I'm like, “Well, these are cool, but how do I use them?” And, I just intuitively started putting them on salads. I would do a drop of that fennel oil in my mouth before I have a meal, almost as a digestif. Like I mentioned earlier, it's an amazing digestif. And, I know it helps to prevent gas and bloating and gut spasms and speed up digestion. Fennel is amazing. And so, I figured that one out, but what are few of the other ways that you, in particular, like to use these oils?

Andreas:  You can add this–For example, the pumpkin is very good on salads [00:43:48]_____ the pumpkin seeds. You put over the salad. You put a little pumpkin. I like also the hemp. The hemp oil has amazing taste. It has [00:43:59]_____.

Ben:  I haven't done much food prep with hemp oil. That sounds interesting.

Andreas:  But, not cooking. So, the cooking oils are actually only the sunflower and the black sesame.

Ben:  Due to the omega-9s and omega-6s, instead of the higher amount of the omega-3s?

Andreas:  Yeah, actually, [00:44:16]_____. So, the other ones I would not use for cooking, they taste–I don't know. You didn't have the five-seed, huh?

Ben:  I don't think I got the five-seed. What's in that one?

Andreas:  [00:44:28]_____ five-seed. This is an amazing oil. It has five seed in there: sunflower, flaxseed, pumpkin, black sesame, and coriander in one oil.

Ben:  Wow. So, you mix a whole bunch of them.

Andreas:  Pure energy. So, I have people, when you walk on the stock market, the people there, they're 24/7 awake. And, they lost this stuff because it keeps them running. So, what you're looking in food is the energy. And, the problem is, today, like I said, no food has energy left. And, that's why the whole people, everybody gets sick. Everybody, their immune system, like I said, the doctor told me, with my carbon monoxide poisoning, he said very clear, you're dying right now. And, I said, “No,” because I know that oils, for example, helping you also to help. We had people on the five-seed, they came off with their oxygen. After two weeks, they take it off because the membranes in your cells, if you look at the cell that has a double membrane or fat, it's a fat layer, each cell.

And, the problem with this is, if you feed the wrong fat, those are getting stiff, like you see old people, older people they get stiff, they cannot move. Those oils are helping actually to DNA repair. They get the right information in your body. So, the body is able.

What we're doing with those oil, or what I'm trying to do, is that the body starts to, or we trigger the body to heal themselves. But, you need the right information. So, your body, your DNA, the whole 9 yards is based on information that comes in. So, as you give [00:46:23]_____ if you're young, of course, you can deal with it. But, when you get older and you're still going to McDonald's, then you're dealing with problems.

Ben:  Well, I don't think McDonald's is going to be using your pumpkin seed oil anytime soon.

Andreas:  No, I don't think so.

Ben:  But, the thing I wanted to ask you was you say about how you've got more of, I guess, the living food. And, I get that because I understand biophotonic energy, I understand what preservatives can do to food, I understand the frequency and the vibration of a lot of these cells that are in many of the foods that we eat. But, when it comes to actual research or science, have you done any studies on any of your oils?

Andreas:  I just sent out two months ago. About two months ago, I have a one of the nice customer for me is a rabbi in New York. I told him in the beginning, he was asking. He called me and he said, “I want to buy your oils. I want to sell your oils. And, I heard about you.” And, I said, “But, you have to know I'm German. So, I want to make it clear from the beginning.” And, he said, “Yeah, that's why I'm trusting you.”

So, he has kids running right now with those anxiety because of all this crazy world right now, anxiety, depression, all kinds of things. So, I had some little bit [00:47:39]_____ oil when I was sending out because I told you, I'm making also the only cold-pressed and organic certified hemp extraction which is called CBD.

Ben:  So, you're doing the hemp as well.

Andreas:  Yes. I'm the only one who make cold-pressed. You have your video on, right?

Ben:  I do, yeah. I can see what you're holding up. Oh, it's a hemp extract. What if you send me that one? That one looks familiar. So, it's a full-spectrum hemp extract. And, you're, again, using the same technology on that one?

Andreas:  Yup. And, you know what the problem is with all those other stuffs? Just want to finish this sentence. So, I sent them two flats, so 176 bottles of this. Two weeks later, he called and he said, “Andreas, I see miracles happening here with my kids.” So, he's taking care of a lot of kids. So, he's going worldwide, and he's so freaking out about my oils. And, he's a customer of mine since, I think, four or five years now. And, he loves my stuff. And, he helped me, also, with my carbon monoxide. But, do you see press?

Ben:  Yeah.

Andreas:  So, press is the German word for pressed.

Ben:  Interesting. So, you call your CBD oil pressed or hemp oil pressed?

Andreas:  Pressed Organics.

Ben:  That's cool. That's beautiful. My wife wanted to give, and I didn't let her because I liked it so much and didn't want to give away my precious pumpkin oil, but one of our dogs had tapeworms. Do you want to give this to a dog for tapeworm? Do people use this stuff in pets at all?

Andreas:  Yeah, because it's the most powerful parasite killer, pumpkin [00:49:17]_____.

Ben:  I'm familiar with pumpkin seeds for that. I use pumpkin seeds and oregano for parasites. And, she's even used ground-up pumpkin seeds for chickens before. But, do people actually buy this stuff and use it for their pets as well?

Andreas:  I have tons and tons of people. We just finished the label for our pet oil, the CBD pet oil with the pumpkin.

Ben:  Wow. And, they'll just put a little bit, like a cap-full, on the dog food or the cat food or something like that?

Andreas:  We had already [00:49:45]_____.

Ben:  If you're still in the dark ages and using dog food and cat food, you should be feeding your animals meat because they're carnivores. But, you could put a little bit of that oil in there, too, huh?

Andreas:  Yup. So, what we're doing right now, we have a couple of companies. They're in the dog food production. And, they are very interested into adding this CBD in their products. So, it's coming up also. So, there's tons of things. I have also mushrooms. I can press mushrooms.

Ben:  No kidding. Geez. Press anything. That's nuts.

Andreas:  That's what I mean, technology, for the outside world, [00:50:20]_____.

Ben:  Yeah, so you can press a ribeye steak. Do you get anything good out of that?

Andreas:  I had tons of authors.

Ben:  Alright, I'm just going to start sending you something, turn it into like that YouTube “Will It Blend” channel and see what you can press, will it press.

The other thing is I'm curious why you don't have this. Avocado oil is so popular, and so is coconut oil. How about avocado and coconut oil? How come you haven't done something like that?

Andreas:  I can't press coconut. It's all on the way. So, the thing is you need to change a little bit on the press. Avocado, you have to grind down the big stone. But, also, olive oil. I can press olive oil with a stone, with a pit in there. But, it has to be dried.

Ben:  How big is this press? Actually, if you send me a picture–As a matter of fact, for the people listening in, I'm taking notes, if you go to BenGreenfieldFitness.com/SeedOils. I'll link to Andreas Seed Oils. And, I think he'll give us a discount or something I could toss in there, too.

Andreas:  Yeah.

Ben:  But, you've got this press and you show me a picture of it. But, you got to send it to me, so I can put it in the show notes for people.

Andreas:  [00:51:21]_____.

Ben:  That's beautiful. Holy cow. You got to send me that photo. I'll put it in the show notes.

Andreas:  So, what you can see also, it's extremely clean.

Ben:  Yeah, super clean. That looks like a medical facility.

Andreas:  Exactly. Because I have my own standards. So, even if the USDA approval Oregon [00:51:39]_____ came in, they were certifying us as kitchen, and they came in. They were total amazed about how clean everything was. But, this is what I have for my mom and the perfection that I have for my dad. I'm an engineer, so I had this always in my blood. My dad was an engineer. My two grandfathers was engineer. I learned mechanic and electric. So, I put all this stuff together in a nice way. We have a very, very clean setup. Whoever comes in and comes in the kitchen area on this site, I have two suites. We still can add. There's just two right now. So, [00:52:19]_____ presence right now. But, it's extremely clean. So, whoever comes in and see what we're doing, they're always impressed with how clean it is.

I think it's important, because, sometimes, people forget to–If it's getting dirty, over time, you don't see it. You think you're clean. But then, we have also this brushing machine and also for the flooring and everything. I was in kitchen certified organic kitchen. I couldn't breathe because all the mold on the floor and everywhere. It was a nightmare, total nightmare. So, people, like you said, too, there's a lot of certified organic products out there that actually shouldn't be certified. You know what I mean?

Ben:  Yeah, we established that.

So, how about if people, I know the difficult part, because you got 10 different oils. You got black cumin and milk thistle and hemp and sesame and sunflower, and you talked about the kava oil. If people are going to order and let's say, because obviously, these are super high-quality oils, like the five-seed oil blend, a bottle of that, I think, is 25, 30 bucks. If people wanted to buy some oils, which ones do you think would be the best ones to just get started with, whether it be for the health effects or for the flavor or both? What would be the top oils you recommend if people are going to get any?

Andreas:  It's different. You come out of this fitness area. I am coming out of the same thing. And, the thing is what you want is you want to feel young, you want to feel flexible, you want feel good energy. And, you want to have no inflammation in your body because inflammation causes aging. So, we know all this stuff.

Ben:  Chronic inflammation. Acute inflammation can be helpful, as you know, for things like muscle building. As a matter of fact, you get a kick out–Do you know a lot of bodybuilders will supplement with arachidonic acid to get more inflammation post-exercise?

Andreas:  Yeah, because it's, what's it called, taking the muscles, right?

Ben:  Yeah.

Andreas:  There was a call to the break. When we had muscle pain and we were going to the coach, “Coach, I have muscle pain,” then they said, for example, in communistic time, they tell you, muscle pain is not a disease.

Ben:  Well, cytokines and free radicals act as cell-signaling regulators. And, the idea is the prostaglandins you get if you were to huff a bunch of arachidonic acid post-exercise, will help to trigger cell signaling that leads to growth. I get a little bit concerned about the potential for more systemic inflammation with people who are supplementing with arachidonic acid post-exercise, but it's an interesting idea, at least. I would prefer myself just to workout hard let inflammation set in, not take a bunch of anti-inflammatories or cold baths to quell it, let the body mount its natural inflammatory response, and go on from there. But, serious bodybuilder, apparently, who's going for every last bit of muscle gain they can get, they actually like to upregulate that prostaglandin synthesis with excessive or additional arachidonic acid supplementations. So, that's interesting. Maybe, you can figure out how to make a healthy arachidonic acid supplement.

Andreas:  No, what you have to do is, actually, you just have to learn how to go longer after the burning. So, that's the trick. And, in order to do that, you need ATP. So, in order to stay longer, you can use, for example, the black cumin and put it in water. And then, you shake the bottle and you take it with you to the workout. So, what you will realize is how fast you're burning fat and how fast you can actually create energy in your body while you can have a huge–I have people they're saying only I train one and a half hours. I was going for three hours. And, I was not tired at all. So, what we see is, especially, with the black cumin. And, on the other hand —

Ben:  And, that's one of the ones that you have, right, the black cumin oil?

Andreas:  Yeah.

Ben:  I never tried that pre-workout. I have to try that pre-workout. So, I think, for me, if I was going to recommend stuff to people, even though I haven't tried all your oils, I could tell you the ones I really liked were that black cumin oil and the fennel oil and the flax oil. But, now I know you have that five-seed oil, since that combines a whole bunch of ones, that might be a good one for people to start with.

Andreas:  To start, yeah. It's a good starter, actually. But, it works in a different way as you take it all five separately. That's the funny part, because it is in a different type of the omega set. And, I press it in the mix. So, I'm not pressing each one separately and then put it together. I press it as a mixed seed.

Ben:  That's crazy. Although, the black cumin is pretty intriguing, too. I saw you had an article on your website called “100 Reasons Why Black Seed Oil is the Remedy for Everything but Death.” And, the list of benefits of it. And, the flavor is really cool, too. Everything from constipation to chronic fatigue to preventing damage from a heart attack and parasite cleansing, a huge, huge list of stuff that black cumin is good for. So, this is just fascinating. I need to get more of your oils, especially, after talking with you, because I tried them, but I didn't really have the full story when I was using them. What are you holding up to the screen now, the milk thistle?

Andreas:  Yeah, this is our new product.

Ben:  For the liver?

Andreas:  I [00:57:57]_____ calls. They said this is absolutely insane. Milk thistle is famous for cleansing the liver.

Ben:  Yeah, and the gallbladder.

Andreas:  Yeah. And, I took it. I have to fund myself. I go every time when we're pressing, I take my spoon and then I test oils. It's the same in the kitchen. When I took the first time, I took a full teaspoon of the milk thistle straight from the press. And, in three minutes, I felt my liver was warming up, and I felt, literally, movement. You know what I mean? Probably, the liver cleansing, was it called [00:58:37]_____? So, there's a lot of things you can do about the liver and the kidneys. All the organs have to be functioning in the right way to get out all the trash, all your chemicals. So, I still have this from the half-a-year taking medication because of my Crohn's Disease, I'm still dealing with. But, this is helping me to get off of this.

And, another thing I want to tell you, so any black seed, which means the black sesame and the black cumin, are protecting organs, just let you know. So, they are protecting organs, any black seeds.

Ben:  Interesting. I'm just intrigued with black seed oil. But, this milk thistle, too, I'm interested in, just because, especially, a lot of people that, either, beat up their bodies, use alcohol or plant medicines or anything like that, they tend to need more liver and gallbladder support. So, this milk thistle might be another one that I add in. Well, this is so cool.

Andreas:  It tastes good, too. It tastes good, too. [00:59:39]_____ stuff.

Ben:  Oh, my gosh. I may have to get more oils, then. I got to try it even more. So, for people who are listening, I'll put a link because I think you're going to give me some kind of special code that people can use, Andreas. But, I'll just link to all this at BenGreenfieldFitness.com/SeedOils. I just think it's fascinating, way different than consuming a vegetable oil. Obviously, your press is amazing. And, remember to send me a photo of that because it's pretty cool. But, I'll put that in the show notes for people.

Andreas:  Here's another one quick, just let me see this one. To make sure it's my press…

Ben:  E-mail that one to me. I'll put it in the show notes. It's a great photo of you, too. Maybe, I'll use that as the main photo for today's show.

Alright, well, cool. So, I'm going to link to all this at BenGreenfieldFitness.com/SeedOils for people who want to try them out and get a chance to flavor these things for themselves. They're amazing. And, Andreas, thanks for coming on the show and sharing this with us, man. It's just fascinating, these seed oils.

Andreas:  [01:00:37]_____. Thank you to be a part of your society, too, because I think it's important. So, I'm not a guy who's looking in the first place for money. Money is coming automatically if you have a good product and if you don't compromise your quality. And, that's what I never do. So, even if I had those “partners,” I'm just shocked how the world is just for money. And, I'm not this person, never was. So, it's important that I can help people that I see results, and that we have a good growing society of healthy people. You know what I mean? In this time right now, we had a lot of amazing, amazing results on black cumin, just let you know. I don't want to talk about it because I don't want to make any claims. But, we have changes in five minutes.

Ben:  Well, I love it, man. This is so cool. So, folks, go to BenGreenfieldFitness.com/SeedOils, and I'll link to all of Andreas' stuff. And, you can leave your questions and your comments and your feedback over there as well. And, Andreas, thank you so much. And, I hope you recover from the whole carbon monoxide issue.

Andreas:  Yeah, I will. And, you're also welcome. You're not so far away. Welcome to come over. And, we have a nice sitting down here. And, I'll show you the whole production.

Ben:  Well, Bend is amazing. I've been there since I did a triathlon there about six years ago. So, I'll love to swing back down.

Andreas:  Right now is a nightmare. Look at this.

Ben:  More pictures, more cellphone pictures that my audience can't see.

Andreas:  This is actual. Do you see the red line?

Ben:  The air quality index? Yeah, it's nuts. I remember even when I did triathlon there, there was smoke particles hitting me in the face from fire. Actually, it was the Leadman triathlon down there, which I wound up winning. I passed the guy who was in first place six miles in, but I think he was actually having some lung issues due to the smoke particles. And, I finished that race. I was hacking up black dust for a week. It's crazy. So, maybe, I'll wait till the air quality gets a little better down there. Then, I'll swing down now.

Andreas:  I cannot go on site right now. It kills me. [01:02:56]_____. Yeah, absolutely.

Ben:  Alright, man. Well, I'll let you go. And, thank you so much for coming on the show, Andreas.

Andreas:  Well, it's nice talking, nice to meet you. And, hopefully, we have a long relationship we can build here. And, that's what I always looking for.

Ben:  Amazing. Well, folks, I'm Ben Greenfield, along with Andreas Wecker, signing out from BenGreenfieldFitness.com. Have an amazing week.

Well, thanks for listening to today's show. You can grab all the show notes, the resources, pretty much everything that I mentioned over at BenGreenfieldFitness.com, along with plenty of other goodies from me, including the highly helpful, “Ben Recommends” page, which is a list of pretty much everything that I've ever recommended for hormones, sleep, digestion, fat loss, performance, and plenty more.

Please, also, know that all the links, all the promo codes that I mentioned during this and every episode helped to make this podcast happen and to generate income that enables me to keep bringing you this content every single week. So, when you listen in, be sure to use the links in the show notes, to use the promo codes that I generate because that helps to float this thing and keep it coming to you each and every week.

 

 

Andreas Wecker, my guest on today's podcast, is a former German gymnast who had a long and successful career.

A European, World, and Olympic champion, Andreas's greatest achievement was the gold medal on the high bar at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. There, he beat gymnasts of such caliber as Vitaly Scherbo and Alexei Nemov.

In 1989, Andreas was named the last East German Sportsman of the Year. He also competed for the SC Dynamo Berlin/Sportvereinigung (SV) Dynamo. Andreas qualified for the German team for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Just days before his events, he suffered a serious shoulder injury where he tore a bicep muscle in his shoulder. Injured and processing the revelation that his career was on indefinite hold, Andreas followed a rigid six-week recovery plan before pushing ahead to tour as a professional gymnastics exhibitionist. Like many other athletes, he found himself dependent on a combination of painkillers, aspirin, and coffee to cope with the lingering pain and get him through practices and performances.

In what has become an all-too-familiar story of drug dependence, Andreas's dependence on painkillers went on for 14 years—until he finally stepped away from his athletic pursuits in 2004. When he tried to stop taking the pills, Andreas noted an immediate, rapid deterioration in his health and well-being.

Over a six-week period in 2006, Andreas lost 45 pounds and 80 percent of his blood supply. Soon admitted to the hospital, doctors diagnosed Andreas with Crohn’s Disease (CD). In the following weeks, he received eight blood transfusions and immediately began a treatment plan, with hopes of reversing his body’s decline. After nearly two months in the hospital, Andreas realized that the 33 pills he was taking every single day were not improving his condition. Defeated, he acknowledged that the pills only temporarily alleviated some of the most severe symptoms.

Despite struggling with feelings of defeat, Andreas knew this could not be the only cure. The treatment plan was causing his body to rapidly change and progressively weaken. Without some sort of miracle, the next step would be major surgery to remove large portions of his digestive tract.

As Andreas saw it, he had three options:

-Die from Crohn’s Disease

-Die from the medications

-Find another option entirely

Andreas confided in a friend whose family member was also suffering from Crohn’s, and this friend mentioned an alternative that involved using fresh-pressed flaxseed oil. Intrigued and desperate, Andreas decided to try it. He began supplementing his prescribed medications with fresh-pressed flaxseed oil. Within a short period of time, he was surprised to find the pain and inflammation notably relieved.

He decided to take a chance. At the age of 36, Andreas made the brave choice to check himself out of the hospital and do something drastic to change his life. Armed with flax seeds, coriander, and a five-seed blend, Andreas began taking this combination of supplements daily. Over the next weeks, as he reduced the number of pharmaceutical pills he took every day and continued taking the flaxseed oils, the side effects from the medications wore off. After three months of supplementing, he stopped taking the prescribed medications for Crohn’s Disease entirely. Changes to his diet, combined with the fresh-pressed flaxseed oil, changed Andreas’s approach to managing his health problems. The improvements in his condition testified to the flaxseed oil’s successful repair work on his body.

Today, Andreas is the chairman and founder of Andreas Seed Oils, headquartered in Bend, Oregon, and distributed through his office in Germany. Andreas has now been pressing the world’s purest oils for over 11 years. Through his proprietary German Cold-Press technology, these oils are pressed at ultra-low temperatures to eliminate oxidation and maintain their molecular integrity. This technology is so delicate yet powerful that each seed’s nutritional molecules remain undamaged and intact, resulting in the purest and most effective oils instantly absorbed by the body. Andreas Seed Oils are entirely free of any metals, solvents, pesticides, or preservatives.

In today's podcast, we take a deep dive into Andreas's oils, how they are different, how to use them, the difference between seed oils and vegetable oils, and much more!

During our discussion, you'll discover:

-How Andreas was “slowly dying” due to a mysterious CO leak in his home…05:40

  • There was a gas leak in his home for 3.5 years
  • The flame looked funny on the stove; the landlord had the wrong gas burners installed
  • 8.6 level (usually 0-0.2)
  • Get a gas leak detector in your home

-How a gymnastics injury led Andreas onto the path of consuming seed oils…08:20

-Problems with the seed expeller at your local Whole Foods…14:30

  • An expeller press uses friction and pressure
  • Higher temperatures that result destroy enzymes in the seeds that are being pressed
  • Metal from the machine gets ground down, ends up in the pressed seeds that are consumed
  • Friction causes oxidation

-How a mechanic (not an engineer) literally changed Andreas's health for the better forever…19:45

-Healing properties of Andreas's flaxseed oil on the gut…25:05

  • “Insanely inflammatory”
  • 4x more Omega-3 than Omega-6
  • Doesn't require refrigeration when it's stored in Miron glass
  • A 4-year-old bottle tasted as fresh as when it was new
  • Produce can be labeled “fresh” for as long as 5 years after it's harvested
  • Flax seeds come from Kazakhstan
  • Soviet bloc countries never had money to spray chemicals on their crops, so their soil is cleaner than other parts of the world
  • Kion Omega
  • KavaPlex by Andreas Seed Oils

-Why Andreas's products are not labeled “certified organic”…36:05

  • No one from the USDA wants to fly to the locales where the seeds are grown to certify the soil as organic
  • Even Certified Organic crops are allowed to use certain pesticides (or be grown near crops that are sprayed)
  • Filtering oils can damage the molecular structure of the oil
  • Immense pressure from pressing tons of seeds affects the efficacy of the oils
  • Strained, but not filtered oils

-Benefits of cooking with seed oils…42:00

-The research behind Andreas's oils…46:37

  • The only cold-pressed, certified organic hemp oil on the market
  • Pumpkin seed oil is a great parasite killer
  • CBD oil that is also good for pets
  • Tech exists to press even mushrooms

-What's coming down the pike seed oil wise…50:36

-The best oils to begin with if you're unfamiliar with oils…53:10

-And much more…

Resources from this episode:

– Andreas Wecker:

  • Andreas Seed Oils
    • Sunflower Seed Oil
    • Sesame Seed Oil
    • Pumpkin Seed Oil
    • Hemp Seed Oil
    • Fennel Seed Oil
    • Five Seed Oil
    • Black Cumin Oil
    • Milk Thistle Oil
  • KavaPlex

– Podcasts And Articles:

– Other Resources:

Upcoming Events:

Episode sponsors:

Kion Flex: The ultimate recovery formula, Kion Flex is a bioavailable blend to support joint comfort, mobility and flexibility, and bone health.

The Boundless Cookbook: Optimize your physical and mental performance with nutritious and delicious Greenfield family recipes. 

Paleo Valley Beef Sticks: 100% grass-fed AND grass-finished. Keto friendly and higher levels of Omega 3 Fatty Acids. Receive a 15% discount off your order when you go to paleovalley.com/ben

Water and Wellness: The best solution for clean and safe drinking water. Water and Wellness also offers an amazing line of essential water additives such as Quinton Marine plasma which contains over 78 trace minerals and elements from the ocean to help restore your biological-terrain. Get 15% off your order when you use discount code GREENFIELD.

Seed Daily Synbiotic: A formulation of 24 unique strains, each of which included at their clinically verified dose, to deliver systemic benefits in the body. Save 15% off your first month's subscription when you use discount code BEN15.

 

Ask Ben a Podcast Question

3 thoughts on “[Transcript] – How An Olympic Champion Overcame Near Death, Healed His Gut & Shoulder & Changed The Nutritional World Forever With “Seed Oils”: An Interview With Andreas Wecker.

  1. Faisal M Fakih says:

    There was mention of a discount andreas’ oils during the podcast but I don’t see one. Is that still a thing?

  2. Chris says:

    Is there a Ben Greenfield discount code at Andrea’s Oils?

    1. Hi Chris! The discount for Andreas was auto applied since they were having a labor day sale for 30% off the whole site, so our code currently doesn't work. We´ll hopefully get this resolved ASAP!

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