The Clean Body Podcast

The Healing Powers of Mushrooms with Om Mushrooms's Dr. Sandra Carter

• Lauren Kelly • Season 1 • Episode 3

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Did you know that the first mushroom-forming fungi dates back 1.5 billion years to the Mesozoic era? Or that 80% of the earth under your feet is mycelium – the root system that mushrooms grow from.

Get 20% off any Om Mushroom purchase by using the code CLEANBODY20 at checkout.

Today on The Clean Body Podcast, we speak to Dr. Sandra Carter, the founder of Om Mushrooms, about the healing powers of superfood mushroom powders. A seasoned health and integrative medicine expert with more than 30 years of academic and professional experience in the field of holistic integrative health, Carter is dedicated to improving health and wellness at the individual, community and national levels through the benefits of functional mushrooms.

As the co-founder of Om, Carter’s key roles span spearheading creative ideation, directing product innovation and development, guiding market expansion, conducting research and development and more. Under her leadership, Om has quickly become the fastest-growing brand of organic whole-food functional mushrooms, alongside its B2B entity, M2 Ingredients, a supplier to many top CPG brands. Carter’s relentless passion for sharing the intrinsic benefits of functional mushrooms has driven the company to widespread success and recognition in record time. 

During this episode, you'll learn...

  • 06:03: Dr. Sandra Carter’s personal journey to health and wellness
  • 10:06: Effects of Cordyceps on athletic performance
  • 12:46: What Beta-Glucans are & how they impact immune function
  • 14:29: What prebiotic fibers are & how they improve probiotic function
  • 16:27: How long it takes to see results from adaptogens 
  • 21:13: The difference between mushroom elixirs and mushroom powders
  • 24:05: How mushroom powders are produced
  • 31:41: Why white button, shiitake and portobello mushrooms must be cooked
  • 32:56: How to ensure you’re buying clean mushroom powders 
  • 35:22: Health benefits related to specific adaptogens 
  • 54:24: How to safely give adaptogens to kids
  • 01:00:52: Why the best ideas stem from boredom

For more on Dr. Sandra Carter and Om Mushrooms, visit https://www.ommushrooms.com

For more on Lauren Kelly and The Clean Body Project, visit www.thecleanbodyproject.com. 

The mycelium stage of the mushroom is sort of the routing stage and it on the planet earth. It can last for hundreds of years and spread over hundreds of acres. And it plays an extremely important role in providing communication and transportation across our, our forests and, and across all of the soil that you're seeing around. Welcome to the clean body podcast. I'm Lauren Kelly, a certified nutrition therapist, and soon to be specialized holistic cancer coach with a certification in cancer biology from UC Berkeley. I am so grateful that you're here. This podcast introduces you to the souls and brains behind some of the cleanest food beverage and lifestyle products on the market, because what you put on in and around your body matters from cookies, bread, and mushroom superfoods to adaptogenic lozenges, clean medicines, organic mattresses, and fluoride free toothpaste. We'll explore how the brands came to be how scientific studies drove decisions about ingredients and materials. And most importantly, how the products support all the physical and mental microscopic miracles that occur in your body every minute of every day. Thank you for being here. Let's get this started. Hello. Hello. Welcome back for episode three of the clean body podcast. I'm Lauren Kelly, your host. And before I tell you all about the interview we have for you today, I first have to thank you. We released episode one and two last week and the overwhelming positive feedback and excitement we received was absolutely incredible. I was floored, astonished, thrilled, and it just made the, all the work and this process and this journey. So worth it. Not that it wasn't worth it before, because I've thoroughly enjoyed making this podcast for you all. But anyways, thank you so much for all your support. Thank you for coming back and being here or thanks for finding us for the first time. So let's jump into it today. We are talking to Dr. Sandra Carter and H N pH PhD, basically just super smart human. She is the founder of mushrooms and we dig into all things, mushroom superfoods, mushroom powders versus extracts, all of the magical powers that mushrooms hold. And when I say magical, I'm kind of serious. So for example, a couple of fun facts here. Did you know that the first mushroom forming fungi dates back 1.5 billion years to the Mesozoic era or that 80% of the earth under your feet is something called mycelium. We talk a lot about my Sealyham and it's the root system that mushrooms grow from bringing it a little closer to home. Studies have found mushrooms to be genetically closer to humans than plants, which is just wild. They breathe in oxygen and exhale, carbon dioxide, just like us. They produce vitamin D when exposed to sunlight, just like us and our human bodies Harbor between nine and 23 strains of fungal species while mushroom superfoods are gaining popularity and notoriety right now, a lot of people refer to them as adaptogens. Their medical powers are not new science. And we get into all of that. Sandra is a seasoned health and integrative medicine years of academic and professional experiences in the field of holistic integrative health. She's dedicated to improving health and wellness at the individual community and national levels through sharing the benefits of functional mushrooms. But I will let Sandra tell her own story because it is just such an incredible one. If you like this episode, don't forget to subscribe. So you don't miss any of our upcoming interviews. Next week, we will be releasing one with kind root and adaptogenic lozenge, and you'll know all about adaptogens. At that point, we also have a live Q and a coming up April 25th at

11:

00 AM. Pacific time, 2:00 PM Eastern time. We will be featuring some of the guests that we've interviewed in the first five weeks of the podcast. Check out our Instagram page, the clean body project. For more details on that, leave her review, share with your friends and family. We're trying to spread our message far and wide. Thank you so much for all the listeners that are here right now for this episode on mushrooms is giving you 20% off your next purchase. So you can go to own mushrooms.com and use the code clean body 20 for 20% off without further ado. Let's jump into it. We have Sandra here. How are you? I am wonderful Lauren. Thanks for having me today. I am so excited to have you. I have been having my lions mane powder all week long. I actually found some interesting new ways to use it. I've been putting it in my overnight oats. Oh sure. Oh yeah. Yeah. I, I know a lot of people who combine it with oats or even eggs in the morning, like one of my sisters puts it in her eggs regularly. So yeah, it's just something that I always say is chameleon. Like it takes on the flavor of whatever you put it in. Yeah. I've never tried it in eggs. I'm going to have to do that tomorrow. That's going to be a weekend project, but before we get too far into just discussing all things, mushroom power, I want you to share your story, how you got into this health and wellness industry that I know we both love so much. And what inspired own mushrooms. Sure. Well, I would just say in my personal personal journey, I have always been interested in health and wellness and fitness. I was an athlete in both high school and in college, like college sport, um, and early on just had such an interest in how both food and exercise and then sort of that integrative health approach can affect, um, your, your current health and hopefully your future state as well. So I, um, started out with a master's in exercise physiology from Miguel and I, I taught exercise classes and oversaw major programs for many years. And then I went to UCLA, um, school of public health, and I have a master's in public health. And I worked with their, um, center for health enhancement and put a lot of corporate health programs in all over, um, the LA area. Um, and then I was recruited to USC school of medicine and, um, I received a PhD from there and, um, I focused in on community health. And so looking at overall, uh, heart disease, risk reduction. Um, and, and after that, I ended up moving to Tahoe. So not what I thought was a career move at the time I was married. Um, but I became an administrator at the local hospital and was able to start, um, a center for health and sports performance. I was involved in starting it at a cancer program, very much involved in a lot of our community health. And in 2008, my daughter was going off to NYU, to New York and I was ready for a change. And I always came down here to San Diego to scripts integrative medicine conferences. And, um, I was introduced to Steve Farrar or my cologists and the conference was on supplements. And I started really researching mushrooms and all of the incredible amount of research, very, very credible research on these products and realize that there really weren't a lot of products on the market. This is back in 2009. Um, and I could see that there was an opportunity to innovate and to really help educate, um, because mushrooms are very familiar to the Asian cultures, right? Very, very much a part of their traditional Chinese medicine. And in Japan, you know, so much tremendous research out of that country on mushrooms, but in the Western world, this was sort of something very, very new. And so I, I love the, I love working with natural products and their benefits and it, it just was sort of that right time in my life. And I, and so I started the journey. Well, Lake Tahoe is not a bad place to be. It's actually one of my favorite places on the earth. So that is pretty magical. Talk a little bit. I love that you say mushroom and the nutrition and the use of it for health has been around for so long. So many people think this is a new science, a new discovery, and it's not, uh, I said in my introduction, it goes back billions of years to when the first mushroom was found. But talk to me a little bit about your first couple experiences with using mushroom powders or mushrooms, superfoods, and just something that impacted you, or has stuck with you about the experience of using the products over the years. Sure. Well, I've always had a pretty regimented diet, I would say. And so when I introduce something new into my diet, it's easier to see and to attribute a change to that one, one variable or one new, new item in my diet. And so, um, as you know, cortisol or, or Lake Tahoe is at very high elevation, it's at 6,200 feet and I love all the outdoor activities. I was cycling a lot, uh, hiking, a lot kayaking, you know, taking advantage of beautiful nature. And when I started taking cordyceps, I really noticed that I could train much better and I could recover better and train better the next day. So that was really the first thing that I noticed I did in my recovery was, was really different. But importantly, my endurance and ability to keep higher intensities was much better at that elevation. And then just sort of a fortuitous thing was my hairstylist said, Sandra, what are you doing this different because your hair is it's growing so fast. You know, your lawyer, lawyer loyalty, your hairstylist, right? I mean, and they know you and hopefully, you know them well also. And it was true and that is actually a reflection of immune function, right. You know, people take that beauty from within often beauty from within starts with your gut health and mushrooms have not only, um, beta glucans, but they also have prebiotic fibers, digestive, enzymes, um, so many other nutrients that help improve your overall gut gut flora and the microbiome. And that then is reflected in your ability to take up the important nutrients that you're hopefully consuming and that results in better nails and skin and hair, uh, and overall health. I have been trying to grow my hair for a very long time. So apparently I need to mix up my mushroom powder to get that hair growth going. But yes, I let's dig in a little bit to the nutrition. You dropped a lot of information there about beta glucans and, um, prebiotics, which I didn't know that mushrooms had prebiotics. And first I have to say, it's insane to me that so many doctors today are still not recognizing the impact that foods and what we eat and what we put in our body. And even on our body have on our overall health. You know, if you, my neighbor got open heart surgery, and the first thing they brought him was a sloppy Joe and I, I was texting him like, do not eat that. You know? And so it's this incredible mind shift of what you put in your body. It's not only going to improve the performance. You have athletically and improves your cognitive function and improves your physical appearance. It's all just so important. Three 60 and are connected. But these beta glucans and prebiotics, what let's dig into the details about those a little bit, what exactly do they do for your body and how do they support optimal health? So beta glucans are it's, it's a complex molecule. And, um, there are different foods that have beta glucans, oats, and yeast for instance, have beta glucans, but they are simple. They have. So if you think of a line, they have maybe a few little keys on them. Well, mushroom beta glucans are very complex. They have a lot of keys and those keys can fit into your, your cells and activate your immune function. So it's like it turns it on. And so it causes this cascade of activity that helps with your own immune defense. And that's something that's really important. It's not that you're bringing something in artificially or in, you know, extreme amounts, it's working with your own cells. And there is so much more research now related to how we can utilize our own immune function to, to battle various conditions. And so mushrooms are a great example of that. And, um, so all mushrooms have different forms of beta glucans. And when you combine more than one, you get an array of different types of beta glucans. And so that your, um, immune system can be activated in different ways. And what's important also in that is that, um, the immune cells turnover very rapidly. So it's not a one and done, you just don't take something and then say, I'm good. You know, that's why we talk about, you know, making this your daily routine. Um, you need to always optimize those new cells to be battle ready. And so, you know, that's part of our mission is developing products that easily fit into your, your daily routine. And then when it comes to prebiotic fiber. So, you know, you're going to hear a lot about prebiotics in this coming year. Probiotics have really, you know, become center stage in the last several years. And it's so great for me to see people paying attention to that. What I call your long duration immune system. It's not something you go, Oh, I think I'm getting a sore throat and I need take something. It's something you need to pay attention to every single day. And that relates to not only your ability to fight off, you know, things that are coming into you that might make you not feel well in the short-term, but also to chronic disease as well. So very important that you're paying attention to your overall immune function prebiotics, which come as a form of a fiber in mushrooms, act as a platform for healthy and diverse probiotic development. So if you don't have a prebiotic and you're taking all these probiotics, they don't have an ability to flourish. And there's been research that has shown that with the addition of a prebiotic, that there's more stability you often read about probiotics and how stable or unstable they may be with a prebiotic, they have more opportunity to have stability and therefore to produce over a longer period of time. Yeah. I love that. I always say that healthcare is what happens in between sick care, because you need to do your healthcare as a preventative measure. And this is something I learned firsthand when I was diagnosed with melanoma. You know, I can't, you can, you can change your lifestyle and get intravenous vitamin C and vitamin D and up all of those things. But if you want to prevent secondary chronic conditions from arising, it's a lifestyle change. And so, yeah, like you said, it's, it's gotta become an everyday thing. And a question that I received from a follower was how long does it take to see results? If you are taking it daily? That's a great question. And, you know, with many, many kinds of products, it depends on what your health state or your say your fitness state is at the time you introduce something new. Um, so some people will see, um, results in as little as two weeks. Um, but generally for a natural product, you, you suggest people taking it on a daily basis for three to four weeks. And we have been involved in studies related to sports performance and dose response. And so taking two grams of a product every day resulted in significant results improvements in max VO, two and an endurance, um, over 28 days. And if you double dose to four grams a day, you saw, uh, an improvement within 14 days. So there's definitely a relationship to your dosage and to your outcomes. Um, but, but generally speaking that is the time, um, if you have a very poor diet or, you know, you will probably see results sooner because you're, you're going to be able to see the results. Um, if you're someone who is already eating 99.9% a clean diet, um, then it might take a little longer before you start to see some of the improvements. Yeah. Uh, another audience question kind of related to that was if we know the massive health benefits of mushrooms, why aren't more doctors suggesting that for certain names? Well, that's a great question and a little bit complicated. Um, so in the world of regular, the regulatory world, there are foods, the regulations for foods, regulations for supplements. And so our own products fall in those regulatory requirements. And then there are drugs. And if you are going to speak to any kind of disease or preventing a disease, treating a disease, you are considered a drug and therefore you must go through many, many medical trials. It's very expensive, very, very long time. Um, certainly again, in Asia, in Japan, there is a tremendous amount of research, uh, usually related to some isolated CA compounds, alpha glucans, for instance, or, or various other compounds. Um, but I think you will see more and more the introduction of, of different types of products that can be used as adjunct or aftercare. I do think that, uh, now in most medical schools, there's much more attention to nutrition to sort of that holistic approach to health and wellness, to, to stress management, to exercise. Of course. Um, so I, I think our younger physicians now are becoming more aware, but, but in answer specifically to your question, there's a lot of criteria around what a physician can recommend. Um, certainly just as part of a healthy diet, they can, and we see it all the time, a lot of natural paths recommending our products, but in terms of sort of thinking, you're going to treat something that's a whole other area of regulatory compliance. Well, I think that's a good transition into some myths that you and I had actually talked about when we spoke previously. And so I just want to get your take on some of these misunderstandings or myths about, um, mushroom, superfoods and powders. Um, first question is some people believe them to be dangerous, toxic, um, threatening. Um, and so I think it's called Miko phobia. I think that's what I read. Actually. Yeah. Fear of mushrooms. So. What's kind of your response to that when you hear. That. Well, um, I mean that, there's some reality to being fearful of mushrooms. If you're a forger, right, you want to, there are mushrooms are my college's. Steve says all mushrooms are edible. Some only ones meaning that, you know, point there are poisonous mushrooms out there. Um, so you need to be aware of where you're getting your mushrooms from. Um, but that shouldn't, there's over 5 million species of mushrooms. So to generalize all of the mushrooms as having hallucinogenic or poisonous properties is not really accurate. And so, um, so we know of course from the research that's done on these individual species, what the health benefits are. And of course we have studied as well, a lot of the safety related to the products. What about the difference between elixirs and powders? There's a lot out there on the internet and it can be kind of confusing to. It's really confusing. Um, I take, uh, this is how I correlate it. Would you rather have Apple juice or would you rather have an Apple. An Apple? So, um, I, I'm a big believer that mother nature was really wise when she developed this planet and all of these incredible foods and botanicals as well that we have. And although, you know, a lot of people pay attention for instance, to the beta glucan that can be con um, really concentrated in an Alexa research has shown that there are micronutrients, there are other bioactive compounds that really are important in the activation process, and that it's not necessary that you need an enormous amount of that one complex beta glucan. It's better if you have it in harmony with all these other micronutrients that the digestive enzymes and the, um, the prebiotic fibers, they all play a role in how that works with your own system. And so when you're developing an elixir or a, an extract, often you are either denaturing or discarding, you know, the vitamins proteins, um, uh, prebiotic fibers as well, and just isolating one single compounds. So for some people in some situations that might be ideal, but I would say for most people having more of a whole food approach, um, to your products I think is, is, is more beneficial. And I'm definitely seeing more and more research related to that. Not only in mushrooms, but also in things like cranberries, lots of great research that a whole cranberry is better extract. Wow, I'll have to look into that, but yes, I live my life by the whole food ethos. That's essentially why I started this podcast because there's just so much in grocery stores that have, you know, coloring and fillers and preservatives and all sorts of ingredients you don't necessarily want for your body. You know, every once in a while, you'll be fine. Your body can handle it and detox, but on a daily basis, you probably want to look out for those. But I would really love to hear about the life cycle of own mushrooms, where they start, how they get there. I think some people listening might think, well, Oh, mushrooms is a powder. So it is still processed, but it's not processed the way they might be thinking. So let's kind of talk through those steps of how all mushrooms come from, you know, where you grow them to the grocery store. In the beginning, Steve traveled all over the world and found these different species of mushrooms, which all have immune benefits, but many of them have their own unique benefits as well. We keep our master cultures and cryogenic storage. And then when we're ready to plant a crop, we, we take a portion of that, the tissue, and we expand it. And then we develop what's called our own spawn. And so we can then plant a whole crop of mushrooms are mushrooms start. Um, they're growing on organic gluten-free oats and the oats provide the nutrition for them. And most of the mushrooms we grow in nature are wood decaying. So they're used to having cellulose and lignin, like really something tough to digest. And when they have to work hard, they exude more digestive enzymes, which you can see in the growing bags. And so, um, the mycelium stage of the mushroom is sort of the routing stage and, and on the planet earth, it can last for hundreds of years and spread over hundreds of acres. And it plays an extremely important role in providing communication and transportation across our, our forests and, and, and across all of the soil that you're seeing around. Um, and when it gets to a certain point, then it, it, it, uh, goes into another stage that produces what's called the fruit body, which is what pops up on your lawn for a few days. It spores for reproduction purposes and then disappears, but that mycelium lives on. And so the mycelial stage of the mushroom has developed a very strong immune function in order to battle viruses and bacteria. Um, and so we want to capture both that mycelium stage and the fruit body stage, and the way to do that is by growing it on a nutritious approved substance. So oats of course have their, their B vitamins and lots of their own nutrition as well. And our mushrooms are grown in a growing bag. They're hydrate. The oats are hydrated. They grow in a growing bag all the way through their full life cycle. And then when we, um, reach the end of the life cycle, the entire amount of both of my psyllium and the fruit body is slowly dehydrated. It goes through an activation and a steam activation step to loosen up the cell cellular chitin minus walls. And then it's a milled into a powder. And that all happens here. And many of products are packaged here, all our poaches and our, our tubs and so on. So we have full transparency of everything that we do and full control. And we grow, we have what's called a controlled growing environment. And so our team of my colleges and growers know what is needed for each one of the individual species. So we can manipulate lighting and temperature. The oxygenation of the room mushrooms are like us. They breathe in oxygen and they exhale carbon dioxide. So really important to have lots of air flow, um, and we can manage the temperature and lighting throughout their life cycle to really optimize, um, the mushroom itself. And to also make sure that you have something that's consistent because, um, you know, from, with weather or, or other things that, you know, it's, it's important to make sure that you have consistency from lot to lot. Okay. I have so many questions. I was taking notes during that. First of all, I, that was a question I was going to ask is how the mushrooms are grown. And even you mentioned lighting, um, how that impacts the final product, because we know now that what animals eat and what they're exposed to and how they're treated impacts the final protein that we end up ingesting. Um, same with plants and soil, the soil matters, and what's sprayed on the matters mushrooms. Uh, as you hinted are very much the same with the oats that you grow them in. I think lighting is fascinating. How does light lighting play into their nutritional profile? Um, so just, um, explain a tad more about why the way that these mushrooms are cultivated actually impacts the nutritional benefits the end of the day. Well, it w really helps they respond in all very uniquely. Um, for instance, our court assess, which I have a little bit here, very bright orange, very, very bright orange. Um, during the very initial stages of it, we can manipulate the lighting and by manipulating the lighting, um, it helps to what we say it takes off it, it just helps propel the growth of the mushroom, um, should talkie is a mushroom that during its life cycle, we can change the temperature and the lighting and that propels it into more of a fruiting stage. And so it's, it's interesting to me how there are, I call them triggers for these different types of mushrooms and how that activates them to be more robust. And so, um, again, our very knowledgeable team just, they know they know their mushrooms. And so we're able to deliver that. That just put connected some dots for me, because I did read that mushrooms, first of all, are closer, uh, genetically to humans that plants, which blew my mind and that they also produce vitamin D when they are exposed to sunlight. Yes, absolutely. So even if you went to the grocery store and you took your mushrooms and you put it in your window cell, you'll convert, um, the precursor for vitamin D to vitamin D too. So yeah, they, mushrooms are amazing. And, and it's, it's, it's fascinating for me that I would say, you know, 20, 30 years ago, mushrooms were more known for what they didn't have low calorie or hate low sodium. Now we are just learning so much about the nutrition composition of mushrooms and their overall, uh, health and wellness benefits. It's fascinating. Now you did mention that you heat them during the dehydration phase, and I'm curious why you do that. You said you, it breaks something down, but what exactly is it breaking? Well, there's two reasons that we do it. One is to loosen up the kindness wall. So the cell wall, just to make the beta glucans and other nutrients more available, more bioavailable. But the, the other main reason is to just dehydrate. So the mushrooms come out at 70% moisture, and we need to bring it down to 6% moisture in our facility. It's a total clean room environment. And, and I can speak to why you want to make sure your mushrooms are grown in a clean environment, but we don't need, what's called a kill step at the end. Um, some companies will treat all of their products with a very high temperature kill step at the end to bring down the microbial load, because in the supplement world, we have to meet certain risks, certain levels. We don't need that because we are ensuring that we have such a clean environment throughout. Um, but it it's. So we bring down the moisture level. And at the same time with the steam activation, we loosen, uh, the cell wall. I had also read again to thoughts of research before this, that white buttons and portobellos and, uh, Shataki mushrooms. They actually need, they should be cooked before consumed because of that cell wall. Um, or it has compounds that are carcinogenic. You probably could explain this better than I could. Um, but we could go into that. Well, um, if you think of how a lot of those, um, mushrooms are grown, they're grown in not very clean environments, right. And they're grown on some pretty gnarly stuff. So you don't want to just eat a raw mushroom, right? You want to make sure that it's well cleaned. I'm not saying those they're all mushrooms are all beneficial, but you do need to make sure you clean them well, and then, yes, it's good to, to, you know, cook them a little bit. You don't need to cook them overnight, right? You don't need. And then that kind of speaks to the issue of you. Don't extract a mushroom that you're eating that's on your plate. You can saute it, or you can throw it in a stir fry, but you don't need to do anything else to it. So, um, but yes, you should, you should definitely cook those mushrooms. And you do want to make sure that you, you clean them well. So for our listeners who are listening to this episode and thinking about going grocery, shopping for mushrooms, what are some things, obviously we want them to buy own mushrooms because they're clean whole food source, but what are some things they should look for on packaging that can potentially indicate if it's not the best source that they could be getting? Well, I always look for, um, the complete name of the mushrooms. So we S also supply our, our pro our mushroom powder to many, many of the other brands out there. Uh, our company has become very well known for very high quality. And so we, we supply other companies as well. And so often when I go in and sometimes I don't know necessarily who's purchasing our powders and I'll look at a product and look at the back label and see if it's labeled correctly. So it should say cordyceps sinensis or quarter set military terrace, or it should say reishi ganoderma Lucinda. If it doesn't, if it just says ratio, my TA, it doesn't give the whole name. That's not, um, the correct type of labeling. It also should give you the, the part of the mushroom, if it's my psyllium and fruit body, or just fruit body, um, and also what it's grown on, if it is mycelium. So if it's not giving you any of that information, the, the quality team that's responsible for that product and the regulatory team, aren't really paying attention to everything they need to. And so, if they're not paying attention to that on their label detail, they may not be paying as much in terms of where the mushrooms are coming from. Wow. That is something I did not know. I'm obsessed with the nutrition labels. I take three hours in the grocery store because they look at every single label and I had never known that. So that's a super good tip. You mentioned earlier that mushrooms they're essentially adaptogenic, right? So you, you called them the lock and key. Um, and every body is so different. Not everybody, I guess, everybody is so different, but, uh, so for people listening right now, how do they discover which mushroom powders are right the greatest impacts for their unique genetic makeup? Well, I think, you know, starting a place of, of thinking about what is it that's best? What do I need right now? Right. And thinking through that, um, if you're looking for overall wellness, health, and wellness, you might a blend of mushrooms that like we have master blend right now that has just gone literally off the charts. There was a tick talk last weekend that now has 1.2 million views and growing every day and beating my tech doc game. Good job. So it is going, but it's got all 10 of our mushrooms and our mushroom extract in there. So that's a perfect product for someone just being introduced, if you have a special focus need. So for instance, if you are someone with auto-immune challenges, so your, your immune system is actually overactive, right. And it has that tendency, and that's all related to your, your DNA composition. Um, then reishi mushroom is known as a balancer. It can not only potentiate a weak immune system. It can, downregulate an overactive immune system. It's a, it's a great adaptogens that way. And so, you know, really sort of knowing what is right for you and having, I always say there's a mushroom for that. So certainly lion's vain and, and helping you with your, your cognitive health and your, your, your focus and your, you know, mood. Um, so I think it's, it's really looking at what your, your, your needs are and finding the mushroom that will best, or the blend of mushrooms that will best fit those needs. Well, let me throw two needs out at you just thinking about COVID-19 and coming out of this pandemic and what people are going to need to support their bodies, because goodness knows being stuck at home has not been easy. Um, is there a, a mushroom powder that supports weight loss? Since I know that's something a lot of people struggle with. Yeah. Well, okay. So this is my risk. My answer would be there's th there's, there's sort of two approaches to that. You could, you could talk about my talkie. It has an ability to help with blood sugar centering and insulin regulation and use of, of fat and how you metabolize fat when you're exercising. I would say a great, um, product would be one of our products that contains a lot of our core disrupts. So we have an energy product that I drink every single day. Everyone in here knows that. And, and the reason I think that's important is because when you're lethargic and tired, you're not moving. And, you know, movement is equally as important to weight loss as is your food intake. So, and, and nowadays, especially I was in an interview last week with someone. I said, you know, if we look at how little people move now, right? And, and COVID exacerbated that because people aren't even having to get into their car to go to work, right? So you get up in the morning and flip, open laptop and put on a top and your pajama bottoms are there and, you know, away you go and, and you hardly move all day. So I think having something that really helps with natural energy cordyceps helps increase availability of oxygen. And there's some really great research out of UCLA, uh, Dr. Cooper who looked at aging seniors so much older than me and, and, and who were depressed and who, you know, had really, um, low quality of life. And he gave them cordyceps. And when the results show that they had much higher levels of vitality and energy of quality of life, it improves their overall mood and took down their level of depression. And that was simply by providing them with good old oxygen. Right. So that, you know, both for your brain, for your, your active muscles. And so I think, you know, in, in thinking about weight loss, you want to maybe start with thinking about what's going to help me move better. And we know that, um, caffeine, isn't a way to necessarily increase, you know, that, that type of energy, it's more short duration. So having something that gives you that long duration energy, so you can get through your day, go for a walk in the morning or after work or during work, whatever it is you're doing. I think that's a great start for, for helping, helping to live that healthy lifestyle. I think also you brought up a good point that there is a mental aspect also, right? So if you are feeling lethargic can be both physical and mental. If you're feeling depressed or you're having anxiety around your weight or the lack of movement you've had that, um, that's going to play into your weight loss journey. And I'm just trying to, like, I'm basically mapping it out in my head, right? So mushrooms, when you consume them, they're good for your gut health, which is where a lot of your neuro-transmitters are made dopamine and serotonin. And so is that how mushroom powders are impacted. Senior mood, beautiful. Lion's mane mushroom here today and today. So there's great research from Japan, onlines, Maine, and, you know, that helps with the synthesis of a nerve regeneration factor and the role, the, um, the research is related not only to mood or sorry to memory and cognition, but also to mood and depression. And so, you know, sort of helping with that, you know, rewiring I'll call it. So, you know, you are able to be focused and alert because, you know, when you are depressed, it certainly creates this feeling of, Oh, you know, I just don't want it. I want to go back to bed. Right. And you want, it's a circular issue. Um, so you want to feel energized both in your thoughts and in your, your physical body as well. Um, so I think, you know, having something that is really, again, in a helpful way, um, not a drug, keeping your brain very clear, I'm very active. And your thoughts very clear in combination with your natural fuel is, is some, is a great natural way to kind of get you out of that, uh, call it the, the, the funk that a lot of people are feeling right. And, and so I, you know, movement and getting out into nature is, is so vital right now. Like you, I'm someone who, when I consume something new, I can tell the difference very quickly. And this earlier this week, I was dealing with a lot of brain fog, and it's one of my least favorite things in the world because I work very hard on eating clean and healthy and moving my body. And so, and I have brain fog. I'm like, what the heck body, like, come on. And so I switched to lion's mane, and I swear in two days, like I was feeling so much more alert and able to focus and actually see something through to the end. So it is. We hear that all the time I'm, that is as a single mushroom, that's our, our bestseller. And we thought with COVID, you know, more of the immune property kind of mushrooms would take over, but no lion's mane continued to grow and grow and grow in terms of the sales. And at the same time, of course, immune also grew and grew and grew. But, um, yeah, I think people, uh, war and more are realizing how important paying attention to your mental health is. Um, and again, you know, with, with COVID that, that was really, um, put us all to the test, you know, being maybe not being able to do many of the things we're used to doing, not being able to be with people that we love to be with. Um, so I think that it takes a little bit of an extra effort to kind of get through that and, and keep alert and excited and, and interested in life. So aside from weight gain and mental health, which are two massive trends throughout COVID, um, the, the other one I was going to point out that I think is we're going to be seeing a lot more in 2021 is addiction, alcohol addiction, and an increase in people trying to now find their way potentially out of that. Um, let me see. 2020 sober curious was a big trend. I was very sober, curious, and now pretty much sober and it worked out. Um, but are they, would you suggest the same mushrooms because of their mental properties, if someone is, you know, maybe trying to stave off those cravings for alcohol as we come out, this, those. Are, those are great questions. And, and I think my answer in large part is yes, I think reishi, which we talked about a little bit earlier as an adaptogens people use ratio for stress. It helps, unfortunately not get rid of stress. It just helps until we react to stress, right? So instead of having that fight or flight mechanism, it can help you react in a more calm manner. And so that helps with the focus as well. Um, and, and just with overall stress management. Um, but I think, you know, when w many people kind of, because they were cooped up at home and had their routine kind of ripped away from them, they fell into a bad habit of, Oh, it's five o'clock somewhere and right. Starting to drink middle of the day later in the day, every day. And, you know, although it was had. Those days too, no shame, I. Mean, a lot of people were in that boat. And I think now, um, it's kind of that shake it up. I've got to shake it up. I've got to do something to change that behavior, right. And, you know, it takes 21 days to get that habit in place. But instead of reaching for that, that wine in the middle of the day, have something healthy, have something that's going to give you some energy and make a plan to, with a friend with a personal trainer, you know, make a commitment to someone to say, Hey, I'd like to meet up with you today after work at five 30, let's just go for a walk, just, you know, make it easy. Don't have a goal that's not unattainable, but those kinds of behavioral changes along with some other very healthy foods or, or, or drinks will help with breaking that habit, um, of, of, of addiction and poor, you know, uh, with too much alcohol intake overall. So I think there's, there's ways to get to that by, uh, replacing some of the, uh, the wine or the beer or whatever it is you're drinking, and then making commitments where someone else will help hold you accountable. Um, I think that's also extremely important in, in getting to, to a new behavior. I just want to point out too, as you were speaking, you said that reishi helps you get out of the, um, fight or flight mode, which means you're going into rest and digest mode. And so if listeners are having any giant didactic digestion issues, constipation, or diarrhea, I know nobody likes to hear that word, but it's a normal human thing. Um, it sounds like reishi might be a good option for them. Yeah. And I would say women in particular, you know, you, you, a lot of anxiety and stress is expressed in our GI tracks. And so IBS and, and, you know, other issues are, are often a cause of as a result of rather stress and how we're reacting to stress. And so, yeah, having an, again, a natural product where you're not feeling numb, you know, you're very awake and alert and not changing your personality, but just helping you manage through. Um, I find I, when I have reishi, because my days are busy, lots going on, and it just helps me along with lion's mane to have that focus and things just seem to kind of line up and I attack the day in a way I go. And, and, uh, I notice when I don't have them on a daily basis, I, I feel like I'm a little bit, you know, distracted and not accomplishing as much as I generally would. I definitely feel that too. And curious, can, I know we've talked about gut health and you just mentioned IBS. And I was also thinking SIBO, small intestinal, bacterial overgrowth, which a lot of women don't even know that they have. Um, but do mushrooms help with something like bacterial overgrowth in the gut? Yeah. Um, yes. You know, they can help balance the flora that sort of prebiotic fiber really helps with the healthy probiotics, um, and so make, and that is what's really going to combat and manage the bad probiotic, bacterial flora. And so, um, yeah, having that prebiotic platform will definitely help out there. Then something else that can help out the guy is bone broth. And I know that, Oh, mushrooms now has a bone broth, a product that has the super foods in it, which I intermittent fast. And I just found out that I'm drinking bone broth during your intermittent fasting is actually really great to replenish your body of vitamins and minerals and nutrients that it's lacking during that fasting period. And I immediately thought of super foods and I was like, Oh gosh, I need to go get home mushrooms mix. You know, because I was just dumping my lion's mane into my own bone broth. I bet their product will probably be better. Well, you know, it's already, pre-mixed. It's pre-mixed and you know what? I am loving our bras. So we have both a bow, a beef bone and then a chicken, uh, and then we also have a veggie meso and a mushroom for the vegans of the world. I have them by my computer all the time, because often now with the way we work on zoom, we forget to give ourselves breaks, right? So you're going, you don't really want to be eating a salad in front of someone, but I can put it into a little Yeti mug of hot water and have, you know, seven to 10 grams of, of healthy protein, all these wonderful mushrooms, really great mommy, savory flavors to them. Um, and I, it takes away my sort of hunger cravings, and I feel nourished and satiated. And so they are for me, they're life savers right now, as we, you know, I we're busier and busier all the time. And, uh, so I just love having them super, super convenient. And I really feel like I ate something not only healthy, but something really, really tasty as well. Yeah. I am obsessed with bone broth when I did use to enjoy a couple too many glasses of wine on some nights, bone broth was my go-to and the next morning. So if you guys are still drinking new listeners, that's cool next morning, just have your own mushrooms, bone broth, and you'll be feeling much better. And I know you guys have other drinks as well. You have hot chocolate. And just tell me about some other products that you currently have, or you're excited about coming out in the future. Yeah. We have a delicious hot chocolate that, and it's, it's interesting when we were, we were going through our product development. There were some of us that were a little concerned that it might be kind of seasonal, you know, Oh, well people only drink, well, it is not been seasonal right through the summer. It continues to grow and its interest and people are sending us great recipes of how to use it. Not only hot, but also cold. So they're putting in, in their protein smoothie with some peanut butter and, you know, all, all these great things. So, um, we have a coffee, we have a coffee latte and a macho, which is the macho tea. If you're a tea person, having those nourishing beverages, you know, keeping your hydration up we know is so, so vital. Um, so though that's a great line of products. The bras, uh, have been phenomenal. And, um, you know, I, I mentioned our master blend earlier. I'm going to mention it again because it has just really resonated. We also have a straggle list and Gingko biloba and Holy basil in that product. And so that combination, I think right now for people is, is, you know, having adaptogens with adaptogens and it really a great combination. Um, and you know, one of the things that has been really important to our company has been to leaders in innovation. Um, when I started the company, um, I noticed that most of the mushroom products out there were just capsules and, and we do have capsules and, you know, I take them, especially if I'm, you know, traveling or, or busy. And it's just the easiest thing for me. Um, but we were the first to come out with powders in poaches. I didn't know that. Yes. Yeah, we did that. Um, at the time, um, you know, people were starting to juice again. I say again, because in the eighties we were also juicing smoothies then, but then it came back again, you know, uh, early this decade. And, and so people were, um, juicing a lot and it was an inexpensive way also for people to take our products because I heard from many people, Oh, I love mushrooms, but they're really expensive if I buy the capsules. And, and so I only buy them, you know, during certain times of the year. So, um, this was, uh, a great way of being able to introduce the products to people who, you know, had a great routine, whether it's, you know, putting it in their juice or their smoothie or, or other beverages or their, their oats. Um, and we've really continued, I think, to lead a lot of that innovation and, and certainly our, our broths are, are right in the, the, the leading front, I think right now of, of finding ways for, for people to introduce mushrooms and keep, uh, various ways of having them conveniently in there as a part of their everyday life and a part of their family's everyday life as well. So I was just going to ask if it was safe for kids. Yeah. I mean, most of the mushrooms that we grow are being used in Asia and, um, they're part of the family meal. I mean, my tea, a lot of mushrooms are culinary. Some are not culinary like reishi or Turkey tail, very Woody or chaga, um, very bitter. Um, but you know, you would want to, um, make the, the dosage, uh, in alignment with the weight of the child. Um, but a lot of people are adding our bras to their family meals. So the noodles or the rice, or the stir fry, a soup, you know, you can just add it all in, and it's a way of really helping the whole family get the benefits of the product. So would you say the hot chocolate is safe for kids or over a certain age? Yeah. I mean, I think, yes it is. I would, um, you know, it has a little bit of, of, well it's chocolate, right. So it's going to have a little bit of, it's going to have a bit of caffeine now, I guess it's not going to have any caffeine I'm reading the label. Um, yeah, it, it, it is safe for children. That's great. Well, this has all been wonderful. I have four quick hit questions for you to wrap this up. So, first one, what does having a clean body mean to you? Okay, well, to me, it kind of goes back to what we were, um, speaking about earlier. I'm a big believer in having a very diverse, um, diet of natural foods that, you know, if you're a meat eater, um, make sure these are our animals that are well cared for, and that, you know, aren't living in cages. Um, if you're eating vegetables, you know, look for, for products that are, um, hopefully local and, and grown in a very clean environment, um, one that, you know, we didn't talk to is the importance of mushrooms coming from areas that are very clean because they're bio accumulators and can accumulate, um, toxins and so on. So for me, um, you know, I often think about my grandmother, who my parents are British, and my grandmother used to go to the farmer's market, right. You know, every single day and get the family's food. And I think the more that we can eat fresh food, a variety of color, a variety of different foods and whole grains as well. Um, then you're getting all those important micronutrients, as well as the macro nutrients and, and eliminate as much as possible, all those additives. So reading labels super important. Um, if you don't need added ingredients, um, then then try to try to buy a clean product. What are a couple other routine lifestyle and diet habits you have that you couldn't live without? For me, connecting with nature is just, it's so important. And, um, I, uh, lived in Tahoe for 25 years and, you know, just love being in the mountains and hiking, being on the Lake and kayaking and cycling, all the things I talked about here in San Diego. I love going for walks on the beach and hiking by the beach and feeling the positive ions from that ocean. So that really nourishes my soul as much as it does good for my physical wellbeing. I find it very meditational. I think that sleep is I'm so happy to see people realizing how important sleep is to mental health and overall immune health as well. We need that eight hours of sleep. And then the last thing I'd say is making sure you're connecting with people you love. And, and hasn't, COVID really taught us how important that is. And I think, um, there is again, just a plethora of research related to the importance of connecting with people and people that have social support in their lives versus people who isolate themselves. And so thank goodness we have zoom. And so I can connect with my family in Canada, or, you know, wherever my daughter's in Tahoe. And so you can connect on FaceTime or zoom and kind of feel like you're sharing. I'll go shopping with my daughter, even though I'm not with her. Um, but I think that human connection is so important for our overall health. And, um, I think that by virtue of us all being slowed down right now, it's helping us understand how important that connection is and how much meaning it has in our lives. Well, everything, you mentioned time in nature, sleep connecting with one another. It decreases cortisol. So it decreases our stress, which also has a connection to inflammation, which has a connection to chronic illnesses. So it's all interconnected, as I always. Say, what. Are they a new wellness or wellbeing trend? There's always so many, but what's a new one that you've recently learned about or become. Interested in. Yeah, I would say the one thing I'm paying attention to more, it's not new and it's just more that meditational unplugging. Um, because we are, you know, I've got my watch and my phone and my computer and, you know, people are reaching out to us 24 hours a day now. Right. And I was speaking with someone last week and, uh, I was saying, you know, it feels often that there is never a time when you say Oh, done for the day, right. The days almost feels like it's never done because there's always someone reaching out to you from somewhere. So I think having paying attention to times when you can be reflective and quiet and hear your own inner voice, and that can be going on a walk, or it can be sitting in silence and, and, and doing breath work. But I think that is, is really important because I do feel we are so overstimulated and don't have the luxury of quiet in our lives very often. So, so I am yeah. Embracing that this year. I find that sometimes my best ideas and strongest creativity come from moments of boredom. So you got to set that time aside. We know why that is it's because both sides of your brain can speak to each other. So great research on that. Yeah. So they do, um, ECG is looking at brain activity and when you are quiet or in a meditative state or in your shower or on a walk, both sides of the brain. So the more logical and the more creative side can talk to each other more effectively because you're not burdened by one single lobe. And so that is when those great creative aha moments come out. Got it. I could start podcasts solely about the gut and the brain, because the powers that they have just blow my mind. They're so incredible. Um, last question for you. What other brands are you loving and support. Right now? Well, I've been a fan of purely Elizabeth for a long time. Um, I met Elizabeth at literally the first trade show, natural PR. I love the natural product industry. It's a lot of women, but just the sort of open-heart, uh, nature of the industry. Um, people really do share and help you out. And she's created, uh, you know, a whole array of great products that she started in her kitchen. And so I, I love her, her product range, and she's now diversified. She started with granola and, and now she is pancake mix and, you know, just a whole array of great products for the family. I also, I, I love Soulja. Um, uh, they're right here nearby us in, um, in San Diego and our mushrooms are in some of their kombucha, but that's not just why I love them. I love them because they have some great cold press greens and other products that add so much, their flavors are great. Their products are great. They're great. Clean labels. And, and it's just convenient. I mean, I think most of us love the idea of doing our own juicing, but we don't have the time to, to manage it. Right. That's a lot of cleanup. Oh, well, I mean, yeah, you have to go buy it. Then you have all the massive cleanup. W C J has some great products. Uh, I mix our mushrooms into them and shake them up in my, my bottle. And I it's just feels easy and I just feel really great when I'm drinking them. So yeah. So reach out to them. Uh, drinks are tough. Drinks are tough to find clean labeled. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Deal so so much. Um, before we finish this up, how can listeners get in touch with you interact with the brand to get their hands on? Absolutely well, own mushrooms.com uh, reach out if you want to, uh, have a question for me or for our, my Steve, you can email me@sandraatownmushrooms.com. Our products are, you know, they're pretty much all over the country right now in terms of all the natural product food stores and, uh, you know, whole foods and sprouts and Jimbo's, and, um, now, even in CVS, you'll find them and Raley's, and, um, so, um, yeah, lots of great ways to find us, but we have a lot of, lot of great promotions right now on our own website and lot, lots of great giveaways as well. All right. Well, thank you so much, everyone. Head over to own mushrooms.com. Sandra you're wonderful. I've appreciated every conversation, which is only two so far, but we will have. Speaking with you today. Hey, everyone. I hope you enjoyed that interview with Dr. Sandra Carter. Don't forget. All mushrooms is offering 20% off to the clean body podcast listeners. Just go to own mushrooms.com and type in clean body 20 at checkout, to get the discount. As a reminder, this podcast is for educational purposes. Only. It is not a substitute for professional care from a doctor or otherwise qualified health professional. This podcast is provided on the understanding that medical or other health services. If you're looking for help in your journey, seek out a qualified practitioner. If you're looking for other information on the clean body podcast, go to the clean body project.com or follow us on Instagram at the clean body project, or you can follow myself at holistic Lauren Kelly, we'll see you next week.