The Ben Greenfield Life Podcast
JW joins The Ben Greenfield Life Podcast to talk about Feel Free; a small blue bottle of absolutely euphoric, energizing goodness that is one of Ben’s favorite new discoveries of late for energy, workouts, sex, a better mood and much, much more.
Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 On this episode of the Ben Greenfield Fitness Podcast,
Speaker 1 00:00:04 I found the combination. It gave me the feeling that I had, that I remembered when I had my first drink of alcohol. You had probably had the same experience if you did the, uh, extracts for any period of time. You'd see some elevation in liver enzymes. I think I get back to you just don't mess with mother nature. That's probably overkill. But I'm consuming this stuff daily myself. I wanna make sure that it, that it's right.
Speaker 0 00:00:29 Health, performance, nutrition, longevity, ancestral living, biohacking, and much more. My name is Ben Greenfield. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 00:00:51 All right, so I've changed my mind on essential amino acids. That's right. Forget everything I've ever told you about essential amino acids. All. Maybe that's a little bit dramatic. But, uh, now that I have your attention, there's actually some pretty cool information in the realm of essential amino acids, so-called eaas. I'm pretty darn stoked to, to share with you my, my company Keyon, my supplements company. We recently embarked on a huge undertaking. We worked with a third party independent research firm. We conducted a meta-analysis of all the most recent solid amino acid research out there. And lo and behold, we learned a thing or two about how to make our, probably our most popular product ever, our aminos, uh, formula. Even better. You can get 'em now. Get keon.com/ben Greenfield. The performance, the recovery, the gut nourishment, the sleep, the crushing of appetite, cravings. There's pretty much nothing essential amino acids don't seem to do.
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Speaker 3 00:03:19 Okay, so this podcast today is one that I'm excited about because if you've been following me on, on social media, for example, you've seen me, uh, occasionally, like holding up this little blue bottle and drinking it and then saying, this is the most amazing thing ever. I've got euphoria. It's my new discovery. I, I haven't skipped a dose in like, I don't know, like seven weeks since I started taking it. And, and anyway, so, so the story behind this stuff is I was down in Austin, Texas, and my friend Khal who runs this, uh, this, this wonderful series of, of coffee shops and juice bars down there, he doesn't like what I call it, a coffee shop, so we'll called a juice bar, uh, called Sun Life Organics. Uh, he, he wanders out there as I'm sitting at a table a few months ago in Austin and is like, have you tried this stuff?
Speaker 3 00:04:03 And he, and he, and he pops a bottle down in front of me and it's this little blue bottle says, feel free. And, um, the o at, at that point, the only time I'd I'd heard of it was, I believe it was Paul Czech who had mentioned that he had been trying this stuff. And I just kind of shrugged it off and, and then Khalil gave me a bottle. And as I'm prone to do, um, I just drank it, you know, that occasionally, uh, is something that has given me bouts of explosive diarrhea in the past. Just trying random supplements without, uh, asking too many questions. But I, like Khalil, he, he like, tries all this amazing, amazing stuff, sources the best stuff from around the world. So I tried it and, and I was off to record a podcast again, like the smartest thing to do, try some new supplement before you go off to, to record a podcast.
Speaker 3 00:04:43 But I took a shot of it and, uh, you know, just said like, plant-based herbs, whatever, on the, on the little ball taste tasted pretty good. And then went often did the podcast. And during this entire show, I'll, I'll link to that podcast that it was, it was the one with Brian Sanders. I'll link to that in the show notes. If you go to ben greenfield fitness.com/feel free podcast, you'll be able to find that, that, uh, episode that I did with Brian Sanders. And I just felt euphoric and amazing. I felt like it had like four or five cocktails as far as like just Lucy goosey euphoria, but without any of the, uh, cognitive deficits. As a matter of fact, I was, I was thinking extremely clearly, and I was like, huh, that's interesting. It lasted like six or seven hours. So the next day I tried it again, and the same thing happened.
Speaker 3 00:05:26 I just felt like amazing that that day I did it before a workout went crushed the workout, had to just like eat breakfast cuz I, cuz I knew I needed to have energy later on in the day, but I didn't have any hunger at all. It crushed my, my appetite. I felt euphoric. And, uh, so I just like kept using it day after day. And this feeling just kept coming again and again, again, sometimes one bottle a day, sometimes two bottles a day. So finally I asked Khali, I'm like, who makes this stuff? What is this stuff? Th this is like, this should be illegal <laugh>. Uh, and so, um, anyways, I I got a, i I got the guy's name, his name's j w Ross. And, and so, so I connected with him and I was like, dude, I need to find out more about this stuff. We just needed to do a podcast. So finally we, we have been able to align our schedules and get on a show. So jw where are you at in the world right now?
Speaker 1 00:06:20 I'm in, uh, Santa Monica.
Speaker 3 00:06:22 Okay. All right you guys. So, so JWS is in Santa Monica and, um, and, and he has designed and invented this stuff and it's such a fantastic story behind it that we gotta get into the, to this on today's show. So you can go to ben greenfield fitness.com/feel free podcast for the show notes and everything that we're gonna talk about today. But, uh, but jw, I, you gotta tell your whole backstory, man, cuz it's just fascinating. You know, you, you gave me like the cliff notes version and then I think I cut you off cause I'm like, oh my gosh, we, we gotta talk on the show. So, so tell me your backstory and, and how you got into like, designing, uh, like, you know, I guess what might be classified as an energy or a feel good drink? Cuz I don't think your background is in the, you know, in the nutrition industry, so to speak.
Speaker 1 00:07:06 No, I like, like the song, it's a, you know, long, strange trip. Um, actually started out in the, uh, oil and gas business in the eighties. Did that for a number of years, sold out of that business. Uh, uh, it was about the late nineties. Did quite well from outward appearance, appearance, but achieved, you know, everything that I thought was success, you know, times a hundred, uh, the big, you know, the planes, the cars, the, the big house, all that stuff. But I was very miserable, you know, through this process. Uh, my mentors that I looked up to, you know, had the motto of work hard, you know, play harder. And, um, my drug of choice was alcohol and alcohol kept escalating to the point that in 2008, uh, it all, you know, came crashing down. Um, and I went off to, uh, a 90 day, uh, inpatient treatment.
Speaker 3 00:08:08 So I've been thir thir 13 years ago.
Speaker 1 00:08:10 Yeah. And, and that's the last time I've, uh, I've had a drink of alcohol. So, um, treatment was, uh, life changing for me. I went to an interesting facility in, uh, Atlanta, Georgia, that specializes in doctors and airplane pilots. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, I wouldn't say it was so much the, the sessions, the formal sessions themselves, but I, I was, uh, living with, uh, three doctors in a condo there. Uh, and just the interaction with them and, you know, understanding that just because you can control everything else in life and be successful doesn't mean that you controlled everything. You know, there was one specific experience, uh, which I mentioned on a, a podcast or two before, and it was really my light bulb moment of, you know, that why treatment worked for me. And there was the movie we were watching the movie Beautiful Mind, uh, about Robert Nash.
Speaker 3 00:09:08 Yeah, yeah. That's, uh, that's, uh, Ru Russell Crow, right? Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:09:11 And at the end of that movie, he's walking along with his, you know, arch nemesis, and the guy said, you know, you look like you're doing better. And he said, do you still see them? And Russell Crow looks over and, and you know, they're walking along beside him, you know, kind of waving at him, and he said, oh, yeah, I still see them, but I've learned not to engage with them. It just hit me that, you know, I'm no different than he is. He may have a more, you know, severe version of it where he is actually seeing things. But I am acting off of all these things that I, you know, that I, uh, think, and basically I've been acting my entire life that everything that I think is real, I realize that, you know, that's not the case and I don't have to act on all that stuff. A lot of it's just noise.
Speaker 3 00:10:03 Right. Well, well, it sounds to me like what you're referring to is the idea that our, our, our thoughts or the way that we, we in interpret the world is often our own fabrication, with the best example being, for example, stress. Right? Like, in, in many cases we're stressed because of the way that we framed a situation, right? Like, me reading a really long email from somebody that I know I have to respond to really is not life threatening. It's not something that, that's actually when you step back and look at things supposed to be that stressful. But then if I make it stressful or associated with previous times of stress, all of a sudden I've turned something into a scenario that it, that it's really not because I've, I've thought it's to be true. That's why I like, uh, you ever look into Byron Katie's the work, you know, asking those questions, you know, is, is this true? Do I know this to be true? What if this were not true? And then kinda like reversing the statement that that's a, that's a perfect example, right? Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:10:55 And then, you know, the other thing I had always prided myself on was, uh, you know, making quick decisions after treatment. I took about a year and a half sabbatical to try to figure out, you know, what to do in the next chapter of my life. And one of the things I did during that sabbatical was I studied neuroscience, and I discovered that the new brain, the old brain, you know, fight or flight, uh, that, you know, that when you make quick decisions, you're, you're using the old brain mm-hmm. <affirmative> and the new brain, you know, has all the data. Unfortunately, it's a very slow processor.
Speaker 3 00:11:31 Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:11:32 Uh, and in this one of these books, it said, you know, a test of this is when someone sends you an email, it's a charged email. Just fire a response right back, but don't send
Speaker 3 00:11:46 It. I've done that by, sorry to interrupt. I've, I've done that. I've, I've written out long emails and not sent them just, just as a, it's almost almost like written catharsis, right?
Speaker 1 00:11:54 Yeah. And the next morning, come back and look at that and, and see what your response was. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and I did it a number of times, and what I realized was that I was misinterpreting or escalating things that, that didn't need to happen. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> or just making just, you know, really bad decisions, you know, that was another, you know, light bulb moment for me. And then it really, you know, it got deeper than that, uh, during the sabbatical. Just like, you know, why were you not happy? You know, you had all this stuff, you should have been happy. You weren't, of course, you know, alcohol played into that with, with, uh, associated Depression. But, um, you know, what I figured out was that it's, you know, it's, it, you know, you have to have money. It's about money, but it's more about doing something that you feel like, you know, is doing something positive for society.
Speaker 1 00:12:49 That was a pivot into an entirely new industry, which was the FinTech in industry of financial technology. And I, uh, went to, uh, Southeast Asia. I was basically lived in, um, uh, Vietnam for about two and a half years and launched this FinTech company. And it was why I was there that I got introduced to, you know, one of the active ingredients that's, um, that's in the product. I'd been introduced to the other active ingredient decades before on a trip, uh, uh, to Vanuatu. I was feeling a lot better. I was happier. Um, but I still missed that feeling, um, you know, having a few drinks.
Speaker 3 00:13:38 Okay. So, so, so you're saying that you were, so, what part of the world were you
Speaker 1 00:13:41 In? I was in, uh, Vietnam.
Speaker 3 00:13:43 Okay. So you were in Vietnam when you came across this, this first ingredient that for you post alcoholism and in a state where you were still looking for a way to, I guess, like have, what, what, what, what were you looking for? Like more energy or a better mood or what?
Speaker 1 00:14:00 I grew up in an extremely distant family. No hugging, no saying, I love you. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, and I'm not blaming my parents, it's just the way that, that they were raised and the way they raised me. And I was probably even more so than, than they were. I was just very detached from people overall. Uh, I just really looked at people as resources to, you know, extract what I could, you know, water out of it. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, I realized that, you know, there's, I just never really felt comfortable in my own skin. I never really felt comfortable, uh, talking to people, uh, unless I was drinking alcohol. So I was looking for something to give me that social lubrication that I could, you know, feel comfortable communicating with people. Right,
Speaker 3 00:14:43 Right. Got it. So, so you were, were you in Vietnam specifically, like trying to hunt down a solution like that? Or was this, did you happen to be in, in Vietnam and then you, you discovered this particular ingredient that seemed to do that for you?
Speaker 1 00:14:55 No, I was just there and discovered that mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, but you know, that, you know, ingredient, you know, didn't really, it, it gave me some of what I was looking for. And then I had, I remembered, you know, having the, the kava and p watu, you know, decades before, and the feeling that that gave me, which again, wasn't really what I was looking for, but it was part of
Speaker 3 00:15:20 It. Okay. So, so when you say you had had kava in, in Be Wetu for, there's a lot of people who may not know what either Kava or Bene Wetu is. So, so when, when did that happen? When did that fit into the equation?
Speaker 1 00:15:30 That was, that was probably, you know, it's a long time ago. It was probably 30, 35 years ago. Okay. I was just over there, you know, with a bunch of guys screwing around.
Speaker 3 00:15:40 Right. So, so, and where is Be Wetu
Speaker 1 00:15:43 Be Watu is a group of islands between New Zealand and Fiji.
Speaker 3 00:15:47 Okay, gotcha. Yeah, because I've, I've come across Kava before, uh, multiple times during my trips to Kona, you know, as you know, it's, it's, uh, I, I believe a plant that's, that's native to the Pacific Islands, but it's a very popular, kinda like social drink, you know, people use it, uh, to promote like relaxation, kinda like a social lubricant. It, it's almost like, um, gosh, what's the best way I can describe it? Well, it's, it's, it's, you know, safer, you know, like kids will drink it, adults will drink it. Like, like you drink way, way, way, way, way too much kava. And supposedly the alkaloids in it might affect your, your liver. But I would, uh, I would drink this stuff in Kona. A lot of times there. They'll drink it out like a traditional, uh, coconut shell. It's got kinda like this earthy flavor. Uh, sometimes you can find it out there in, in tins or in powders and, you know, your mouth gets just like a little bit numb when you drink it, when you use a tinture. But you get this feeling of, of kind of like, like euphoric relaxation. It's almost like weed without the psychedelic effects kind of.
Speaker 1 00:16:47 Exactly. The beauty of it also is that, you know, it's, it's not really inebriating. It's hard to describe, you know, it's, it's socially lubricating, but it's not inebriating. So, and, and the even better benefit is that you have no, uh, crash off of it or no feeling, you know, no down feeling the next day. So it, it's been used, you know, in, in the Pacific Islands, uh, you know, the same way we used alcohol here for thousands of years.
Speaker 3 00:17:17 Yeah. Yeah. It's, it is technically acting on, I, I believe, uh, a lot of the, the neurotransmitter systems kava is, which, which is why a lot of times it's used for like anxiety. Some people use higher amounts at night for sleep, even though daytime, kinda like CBD take a whole bunch of CBD at night. It can help you to sleep. You take a little bit during the daytime and it helps with just like, almost a, a relaxed alpha zone focus. But kava will decrease, uh, it'll decrease glutamate, which is kinda like an excitatory neurotransmitter. And then it activates all the, these feel good dopaminergic neurons. It interacts a little bit with, with gaba, which isn't like, like the same inhibitory neurotransmitter you'd, you'd have when you, when you have a glass of wine, for example. And, you know of, of course, the, the idea with kava, and, and, and this is, this is what I suspect is one of the reasons as we get into the, this, this feel free ingredient profile that I think that that kava works is, um, you know, if you look at, for example, like Altheine, which is something that helps to shift the brain into alpha brainwave zone and, and, and kind of remove a little bit of anxiety.
Speaker 3 00:18:20 Well, if you stack it with something excitatory like caffeine, you get all the energy of caffeine. But with like, this kind of dialed in relaxed focus that the, that the Athenian gives you. And so with Kava, you know, it, it it's kind of like, well, do I want to take a whole bunch of, let's say, Athenian during the day and get too relaxed and, um, and, and, and to kind of laid back? Or is there a way to stack this with something to where I get that laid back feeling, but at the same time get a whole bunch of just freaking energy. So the Kava component, uh, you know, well, you and I have both tried that, but basically fast forward back to Vietnam, cuz then you tried something else in, in Vietnam before I, I, uh, I interrupted and took us down that rabbit hole.
Speaker 1 00:19:07 Yeah. Why was in Vietnam, I discovered, you know, a number of different things. But one of 'em was, uh, cram, uh, which is a, a tree. It's in the coffee family. Um, and the native populations, um, take the leaves and, uh, extract a, a tea out of it. Um, and it's mainly used for, um, you know, working long days, uh, labor, uh, not only, you know, working, but actually, you know, having, you know, fun doing it. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, you know, very similar to how, uh, natives in Central and South America have used COEs for, for thousands of years.
Speaker 3 00:19:54 Yeah. Yeah. It, it, it's similar to, uh, well, I believe it's actually a little bit similar to, uh, coffee in terms of the, the, the species. It's, it's, uh, it's, it's uh, um, like an evergreen tree, but it's in the coffee family and it's all, it's all over Southeast Asia. You know, I've, I I haven't talked about crao too much on this podcast before, but it's really interesting. You're right. A a lot of these like, uh, you know, south Pacific or, you know, Malaysian workers will use it for like, just crushing 12 to 16 hour days of hard work with like a smile on their faces the whole time. In the past, I, I had mostly just used crao, like, because there's different strains of crao, uh, which perhaps you can explain, but different strains. Some, some, you know, again, kind of like marijuana for example, some strains will, are, are kind of be downers, some are uppers.
Speaker 3 00:20:42 And in the past, I'd, I'd used Crao kind of successfully for sleep, but didn't really like the way that it made me feel, you know, it kind of got some dry mouth, a little bit of nausea, some, some wobbly and in dizziness almost within, and didn't really like whatever strains I had tried in the past. And, um, and, and so for me, I kind of like briefly experimented a little bit with C Prum, but, but never, never really kind of cracked the code on how to use it effectively. And so, uh, so you, you started using it in Vietnam?
Speaker 1 00:21:10 Started using it in Vietnam, and I was using it, you know, in its native form. And then when I came back to, uh, I'd come back, you know, for a week or so, every six months, I, you know, I'd look for it here. And what I discovered was that similar to what, you know, has been done with co leaves changing it into cocaine, that they were doing the same thing here. Withum. They were taking it and using, you know, solvents or CO2 and extracting just, you know, two or three a weights out of the 50 summits in it and creating, you know, an entirely different thing. It was more about, you know, getting high. So I tried some of that and I really didn't like that
Speaker 3 00:21:51 <laugh>. Okay. So, so you're saying that the way Prum is traditionally extracted in US-based products is using what, what, what's the issue? You said harsh chemical solvents, but what would be the issue that that will cause it to make you feel not as good as whatever CRM that you had used in Vietnam?
Speaker 1 00:22:07 The way I like to describe it to people is because it's exactly the same is it's the difference between cocoli and cocaine.
Speaker 3 00:22:13 Okay.
Speaker 1 00:22:14 When they make cocaine, they take coca leaves, they use solvents gasoline, and they extract two out of 51 alkaloids. They extract the ones, you know, that really, you know, amp you up. The issue with that is, is that all those other amyloids are doing things too. Your body uses those to, to, you know, help process. And it, it lasts longer. It's not this huge spike in a crash they've done. The same thing with both kava and Withum when it got brought into the, in, into the West, is they use the same methods to create these extracts.
Speaker 3 00:22:55 Isn't another issue with c prum, from what I understand is, is a lot of it is, uh, is it's got like an, and I think this is one reason that it's been kind of frowned upon by the fda, for example. It, it tends to be really high in things like, uh, having metals, for example. I, I don't know if if it bio remediates them from the soil, very similar to what cannabis does. You gotta be super careful with cannabis. It, you know, like lettuce, it just sucks stuff up from the soils, herbicides, pesticides, metals, et cetera. So isn't that another issue with c cram?
Speaker 1 00:23:21 It, it is. And uh, fortunately, um, you know, the American c Cram Association has, um, uh, latched onto this and they're starting to, uh, you know, get legislation passed state by state that set standards for testing. You have to be certified in the state, you have to test every batch. Uh, and it also outlaws, uh, high concentration extracts and synthetics, uh, which I think is a wonderful thing because you go back to Coe and cocaine, you got people in Central South America that start in their teens and chew 'em until they're in their eighties and have no health issues. Most people that start on cocaine, it doesn't end very well.
Speaker 3 00:24:04 Yeah. Yeah. And, and that's the way I know it's traditionally used like in, in Malaysia and a lot of these, uh, these areas in Southeast Asia is just chewed. Um, I, I, uh, I've, I've gotten, uh, it in powder form before I've had it in capsule form. There, there's one company, uh, uh, my friend Mark Bell and Chris Bell, they, they do a supplement called Mind Bullet that's like a, a capsule form of crao. And, you know, from, from an energetic standpoint, uh, it, it is something again that I didn't experiment with too much cuz I could never figure out a way to, to really feel that great on it. But the other thing that had concerned me was the potential for, as you briefly alluded to, the impact on the body. If it is, if, if it's not in, I guess more of like it's fully formed or, or in terms of the way that it's extracted because, uh, liver enzymes is another issue that a lot of people get concerned. If you look up c cra 'em, that, that's one of the concerns, uh, is potential for liver toxicity. So, but you're saying these workers will use it their entire lives and, and be just healthy as a horse? I mean, is that just anecdotal or what's going on with the, with the liver thing?
Speaker 1 00:25:08 You know, I, I actually, uh, validated that myself, uh, because early on when I started working on this formulation, you know, nobody had mixed these things together before. And one of the things I was, because I was making it for myself, I was concerned, you know, is this gonna cause some kind of, uh, health issue because I'm very, uh,
Speaker 3 00:25:30 You mean you were just mixing up in your kitchen?
Speaker 1 00:25:32 Yeah, yeah. I was very cautious about, you know, what I put into my body. And one of the things that I did was I did what I, you know, much higher levels of it per day. Uh, and then I took, uh, blood chemistry and compared that to my annual blood chemistry to see if I was getting, you know, elevated liver enzymes or, you know, blood sugar change or any of that. I didn't see any of that. I went a step farther. I I did, uh, for a period of time some of the extracts and I immediately saw changes in, uh, liver enzymes.
Speaker 3 00:26:08 Yeah. And, and, and you know, I, uh, I've been using, cause I, I do a huge quarterly blood panel, but then I've been doing a few other panels. I have this one company called Base that's, that, that's, uh, wanted to sponsor the podcast. So they keep sending these blood tests to my house. So I've done probably, gosh, like eight different liver enzymes evaluations in the past four months. And, uh, you know, you told me that you had been consuming up to, at one time, like six bottles a day of feel free, I probably average one and a half to two bottles a day. And my liver enzymes, like they, they haven't changed at all in terms of, of any type of, of rising, you know, I take care of my liver, you know, I do <laugh>, embarrassingly, you know, a lot of people blush when I say this on the podcast, but I do like coffee enemas and I, you know, and take glutathione and I'm, I'm very careful with, with my overall alcohol intake and, you know, I, I do a lot of things to take care of my liver, but I, I didn't notice, and again, I realize this is fully anecdotal, I didn't notice anything in terms of liver enzymes after some, what I would consider to be some pretty significant consumption of this product over the past few months.
Speaker 1 00:27:09 Yeah. And I, and I wouldn't recommend anybody doing six a day. The reason I did that was I, I felt that eventually somebody would do that <laugh> and I wanted to be sure that, you know, it wouldn't, uh, cause issues. So I think that, you know, and then I had a series of other people kind of, you know, run the same, uh, experiment and it got the, the same results, you know, from what you're, you're talking about. If you'd probably had the same experience if you did the, uh, extracts for any period of time, you'd see some elevation in liver enzymes. I think I get back to, you just don't mess with Mother Nature.
Speaker 3 00:27:44 Yeah. Yep. And, and, and, and so for you, you were, you were in Vietnam and, and I don't think we really quite, uh, finished telling the story of, of how you went from Vietnam to mixing this stuff up in your own kitchen.
Speaker 1 00:27:57 You know, I actually had come, I'd sold the FinTech company and had come back to, uh, California and um, you know, I was kind of looking for the next chapter in life and, you know, but I still had this nagging thing of it just didn't feel comfortable socially. And I was sitting around one afternoon and it just popped into my head of, you know, why not try mixing the two of them together? You know, they've been used in, you know, they're respective native, you know, societies for thousands of years and, you know, why not do it, you know, in its native form and see, you know, mixing together and see what results you get. But that started me down a whole nother rabbit hole because as you mentioned before, there's various strains, um, you know, in producing various places and different, you know, combinations and percentages. And I basically set up an informal lab in my house, um, and experimented myself. Um, just trying different combinations of different strains, different percentages. My wife, you know, thought I had lost my mind, but I eventually, it took me about almost two year, a year and a half, I found the combination. It gave me the feeling that I had, that I remembered when I had my first drink of
Speaker 3 00:29:25 Alcohol. And what, what, what was actually in what you tried that gave you that effect?
Speaker 1 00:29:31 It was, uh, the feel free formula that,
Speaker 3 00:29:33 Okay, so, so this, this is the, this is the exact formula. So, so you can finish telling the story, but then, uh, then fill us in on exactly what was, what was, what was in, in it. Cause I'm just curious about like, ratios and strains and like, uh, you know, that, that's what I want to know.
Speaker 1 00:29:46 It's a five to one ratio, five, uh, parts, uh, cava to, uh, one part C Prum. Uh, the beauty of that again, is that, um, you know, the Cava is much easier on you, uh, even in night or form than, than the theum is. So you can mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you can take a much lower dose of Prum and they, they, there's some synergy going on that they uplift each other. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, and then there's some things going on that, that either one of 'em by themselves will not even, you just don't get that.
30 minute Mark
Speaker 3 00:30:18 Yeah. Cuz I, I, like I mentioned, I've taken both Crate a man kava on, on their own, haven't noticed anything like this.
Speaker 1 00:30:24 I'd like to say that was all by brand design <laugh>. Cause all I was looking for was something, you know, to, to replace alcohol. But what I discovered was that it has an extreme focusing capability that, you know, allows you to, you know, it is dose dependent and smaller doses. Um, it's an incredible productivity enhancement. And that's really now what, you know, people that call in and, and talk to me about, you know, what they're using it for and their experiences. Uh, I'd say more people are using it that way than as a alcohol alternative.
Speaker 3 00:31:04 Well, hello, I want to interrupt today's show to tell you about Lion's Mane, which looks like a cluster of axons and dendrites and nerve cells. If you find it growing in nature, which is really interesting because it basically acts like miracle growth for your brain. Lion's main does, it doesn't have caffeine in it. And this company, four Sigmatic, that makes a really great tasting lion's main extract, uh, they, they use no sugar, uh, no Stevia, it's all organic. It tastes really good. No, no mushroomy flavor for people who don't like mushroom flavor, even though I do, uh, it doesn't taste like mushrooms. And it makes you smarter, literally, like grows your brain. So anyways, I use it, my kids use it. My kids, they, I got their genes tested and they have a gene that makes it so they don't make as much brain-derived neurotrophic factor.
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Speaker 3 00:33:18 The only thing I haven't liked is probably because of the, the, the, the GABA hammer that the introduction of alcohol would, would cause. Uh, the only thing I've found is that if I use Feel free and then I drink at night, like I got a cocktail, I get sleepy. And so that, that's the only thing I've noticed is it seems to potentiate the sleepy effects of alcohol. But when taken separately from a cocktail, like honestly, you know, for for me it is, uh, crushing appetite cravings. Like if I just need to skip lunch and, and work through the day, like it's, it's, it's right up there with ketones as far as me not getting hungry and then workouts. Like I can, I can roll out of bed and, and feel absolutely no motivation at all to go crush the kettle bells out in the gym.
Speaker 3 00:34:04 I'll wake up, I'll stretch, I'll do what I usually do, and then if I throw back a shot of feel free, I almost have to get myself out of the gym. Like, it's one of those things where it feels like it's been like I've, it feels like I've been working out for 10 minutes and I'll look at my clock and like, I've done my whole 40 minute workout. And, and so, so I've, I've found that my top two uses would be reduction in appetite, cravings and also, uh, workouts. And, and then of course the, the productivity enhancement pieces is absolutely amazing as you've alluded to. So it's, it's doing a lot of different stuff. So anyways, back to the formulation. You said five to one ratio of kava to cram and what, and and what about like, are there certain strains of kava or certain strains of prum that you tried to see? What would, what would cause the best effect? Because obviously, you know, kind of like weed, there's so many different strains.
Speaker 1 00:34:51 Yeah, there's, there's, you know, let's take Prum for one example. There's three supposed main strains, but then there's, you know, a lot of sub or com you know, combination. And it's also, you know, how it's processed too is to, you know, how it's dried, whether it's dried in the sun or whether it's dried, you know, in the shade. Uh, there's a lot of things that change, uh, chemically, you know, and then ultimately what the function of it is. So, um, I was able to, you know, I had the luxury of the time to, you know, work through all that. And what I can tell you is that most of them, when you mix 'em together, you don't get their desired results. You get either too amped up and kind of jittery or you get what you're talking about. It's, it's sleepy time. Um, so it, it's something about these two particular strains and the percentages that create this, uh, as you said, I mean, I myself, I mean, I get up, I'll do a half a shot, go, um, go work out. I may drink now, uh, one cup of tea a day and I used to drink caffeine all day long.
Speaker 3 00:36:06 Yeah. Yeah. It seems, seems to reduce the desire for any other stimulants. Absolutely. What about the, the actual strain? Like, are, are there, are there, cuz there's like red, there's green, there's white forms of c prum and I, I mean, I don't know if you're even able to share if this is like a, like a patented, um, what, what do you call it? A, uh, proprietary type of thing and, and you know, if you don't want people to copy the, the strains and stuff that you've used, that's, that's fine. You don't have to share. But I'm just curious.
Speaker 1 00:36:31 It's a great question because, um, we're actually growing some uhum in, uh, in south Florida. And if you look at the, the tree itself and look at the leaves, a single tree can have green, white, and red veins and different leaves, uh, depending on where it's located at on the tree. And then when you go to process it to dry it, if you put it out in the sun, it will turn red. Uh, if you don't put it in the sun, it, it stays green. Uh, so the ultraviolet light is, is or light overall spectrum is, is, you know, doing some things to it. And that to me is more so, um, you know, what's causing the differences. In my mind, the, the white green and red was more of a marketing play. <laugh>, the standard old thing is you take the white in the morning for energy and green Yeah. In midday for, you know, euphoric and you take the red for sleepy time.
Speaker 3 00:37:34 Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 00:37:35 And, and I, there is some correlation to that, but, but it's not, you can, I can mimic that to some degree, all three of those on one tree, depending on how it's pro how's processed.
Speaker 3 00:37:47 Right. So, so that's, this sounds kinda like, there was an article that came out, uh, I think it was last year, about how really, like indica and sativa, uh, commonly associating indica with relaxing effects and sativa with energizing effects when it comes to cannabis is actually kind of a thing of the past in that r really there are certain forms of indica that are energizing. There are certain forms of, of sativa that can be relaxing. And ultimately it comes down to the, the, uh, the, the isolated strains themselves that are important rather than whether it's red or, or green or white or something like that with c cram.
Speaker 1 00:38:17 Yeah. It's, it's really about, I mean, I've taken it a step farther. I mean, we, we do extensive lab testing for both contaminants and also ratios of OIDs or coones. That's really what I'm looking for because I know the profile that I need to get the right, uh, uh, combination.
Speaker 3 00:38:37 Right.
Speaker 1 00:38:38 And so that's what I'm looking at to make sure that, uh, you know, we source from two specific places directly from the farms, but even there, you know.
Speaker 3 00:38:49 Yeah. Is that, is that US or overseas that you source from?
Speaker 1 00:38:51 It's, it's overseas. We get the, uh, theum comes in from Indonesia and the, uh, kava comes in from OA
Speaker 3 00:39:00 Too. Um, okay. So, so you take these strains, you mix them, and then, you know, there are certain things, and I've, I've looked into this that kind of like potentiate the effects of, for example, c pratum. Like you can mix it with toine, uh, black peppers and one that seems to potentially the effects magnesium like, like magnesium L three and eight. You and I haven't talked about this behind the scenes at all, but I've, I've already got ideas for things you could add into the formula to experiment with. But then vitamin C is one that seems to be one of the, one of the best things to combine with crao to enhance the effects. I don't know if it's happening like, like grapefruit juice to up-regulate the CYP enzymes in the liver or what, but I think, if I'm not mistaken, I don't have the bottle in front of me. But you, you do have vitamin C in the formula as well, don't you?
Speaker 1 00:39:43 We do have, yes. And that's, uh, you know, there, what you just described, there is a reason behind that and, and what I'm not a scientist by, by any means, but what I look at is how have the native populations been using it mm-hmm. <affirmative> and trying to mimic that because there's probably, there probably is some underlying science under that, but they may not know it. There's something behind that. So that's, that's what I was trying to do. And then after doing that, I started, you know, studying more of the science and I realize now that yes, there is an underlying science to it and, you know, having some of these things in there in addition to just the, the plants themselves, you know, help with the bioavailability.
Speaker 3 00:40:26 Okay, got it. So, so what is the full, the full profile? We've got c crao, we've got kava, uh, and what, what else is in there?
Speaker 1 00:40:32 So there's uh, pineapple juice.
Speaker 3 00:40:36 Okay.
Speaker 1 00:40:36 Uh, coconut cream. And that's forgetting some fatty acid slips to help again with bioavailability. And, uh, the, the sweetness comes from, uh, stevia leaf and we use, um, what's called m stevia, which is vastly different than your table would be. You won't really ever hardly see it.
Speaker 3 00:40:59 Wait, what's it called again?
Speaker 1 00:41:02 Stevia.
Speaker 3 00:41:03 M Stevia. And, and it's, how is it different?
Speaker 1 00:41:06 It's different in that it's very naturally processed. Hmm. Um, it's, uh, it doesn't have that, I don't like stevia. It has that after kind of a wan to it. Yeah. Uh, this doesn't have that and it's just the, you know, but again, you, you won't see it hardly anywhere because it, it's, it's really expensive. Partially put like, into, you know, soda pop or something.
Speaker 3 00:41:31 Yeah. Yeah. Well, well, I mean mean you, you somehow manage to make Crate Em, which traditionally is a very, very bitter taste. Palatable, which, which, you know, I, I actually just shoot it straight outta the bottle and then there's always like a little bit of a, yeah, I give it a good shake. I always put, I always fill the bottle with water afterwards and shake it again and, and chase it just to get every last little drip of goodness out of the bottle. The pineapple juice, is that for the vitamin C?
Speaker 1 00:41:53 It is, yes.
Speaker 3 00:41:53 Okay. And then the, the coconut cream, you briefly alluded to the fact that that's got, that that's basically allowing for better delivery of, of the, the lipid soluble compounds. Cause I know like Mitragynine, what one of the primary active alkaloids in C cra is fat soluble. Is that what you're trying to do to get it across the blood brainin barrier?
Speaker 1 00:42:10 Exactly.
Speaker 3 00:42:11 That's pretty cool that, that's kind of, that's basically the reason people put, you know, C eight or mc t oil or coconut oil or butter or gee in their coffees, is to carry a lot of the bioactive, uh, fat soluble compounds like the coffee stalls and the cal whales across the blood-brain barrier. Which is why when you blend your coffee with fat, you feel it so much more than black coffee. So that's probably another reason why I feel this more than I, than I would normally feel Likeum or kava. And I, I don't know if there's lip and soluble compounds in, in kava as well.
Speaker 1 00:42:41 Uh, yeah, I'd like to say again, I was smart enough to do that by grand design, but I was just mimicking again what, uh, the natives have been doing. And then after the fact I figured out that actually there, there is science behind it.
Speaker 3 00:42:56 Hmm. Any, anything else in there besides from pineapple, coconut cream, stevia, kava, and c cra. That's it. Now I, when I saw coconut cream on there, I emailed you cuz I, cuz I a lot of times work out in a fasted state and I, I do a lot of fasting and so I'm always kind of like questioning how many calories are in something and whether it's a, it's a, it's a complete, you know, a side speed bump in terms of total number of calories or whether I actually need to worry about it. And so when I saw coconut cream on there, I'm like, oh, am I drinking like a hundred calories before I, uh, go work out? But you said it's, uh, what'd you say? It's like 15 calories?
Speaker 1 00:43:28 It's 13 calories. 13 there's, it doesn't take very much. There's just a tiny amount in there. Just enough to, to jack up the bioavailability.
Speaker 3 00:43:38 Yeah. Yeah. Well, well see it, it seems to work for sure. Um, and, and so when you take a shot of this, about what time of day do you think most people are benefiting from taking this? And have you found that it impacts sleep at all?
Speaker 1 00:43:55 Most people, after doing it a while gravitate towards, you know, what I'm doing now, which is I'll do a half a shot when I wake up in the morning and I'm 59 getting ready to be 60 and, um, it's like, you know, I was 18 again. I mean, it just, I get up and I'm, you know, ready, like you said, ready to work out. Then I'll do, uh, another half kind of late mid-morning, um, just to really, you know, charge deeper into work. Uh, and then I'll do one, you know, right after lunch and then one late afternoon and I'll power through, you know, a 14, 16 hour day just like the laborers do in, in Southeast Asia. And not only do it, but you know, do it with a smile on your face.
Speaker 3 00:44:44 Yeah. I've, I've found, I've found if I take it any closer, about four hours prior to bedtime, it, I've got too much energy at night, so I'll, I usually won't take a shot after about 4:00 PM or so. So that, that's what I found to be the sweet spot personally. And then I've also found, like for taking, especially before a workout, usually I find like it's crazy how fast it hits your system. It's crazy like, like literally like I feel it within a couple of minutes, but it seems to really peak at about 20 minutes. So I'll usually time it about 20 minutes before I hit the gym. And at that point, like I, again, like I just, I have to get myself out of the gym because it's one of those things where I just won't stop pushing when I use this stuff before a workout. Which, which, which again, like, you know, workers in, in Southeast Pacific using this for long 14 to 16 hour work days on the sun. Now I understand they aren't combining with kava. I I think that addition is just un unless they are, if I'm, if I'm, uh, if I'm incorrect, let me know. But, but then the adding the kava just gives it this like slow, stable, euphoric bleed that's even more amazing.
Speaker 1 00:45:44 Yeah. And the other thing that, you know, I've never really had good sleep, or at least not since I've remembered I've done sleep studies and all that. I, you know, and I didn't really tie the two together, but when I started doing this, I started having, you know, wonderful sleep. Even more interesting. I started having vivid dreams and I know they say we all dream every night, but we don't remember it. I don't really ever remember having dreams, period. But I have, uh, incredibly vivid dreams. I'm kidding all the time. And, and I actually have had hundreds of people report that to me.
Speaker 3 00:46:23 Huh. I haven't really noticed much on the dreams, but you know, I, gosh, I, I, I have, I have pretty good dreams just about every night, so I may, maybe I didn't really have anything to fix in that department or my, or, or my penal gland is okay or something. But that's really interesting. I'm, I'm wondering what, what, what the mechanism of action would be. Uh, probably something to do with the gaba, you know, or, or, or a shift in sleep architecture from some of those neurotransmitter or dopaminergic shifts that it's making. But that's super interesting on the sleep component. Yeah. Huh.
Speaker 1 00:46:49 If you, if you have anything that you think of on that that I'd like to, I'd like to know, you know, what's, what's going on there because it's, at first I thought maybe it's just me, but, you know, I've literally had now hundreds of people reporting that.
Speaker 3 00:47:02 Yeah. We, well we have a lot of people listening in who will try this. So, so if you go to the show notes, leave your comments if, if you, if you're tracking your sleep and, and you've noticed much cuz you know that's, that, that's pretty interesting. I'd love to hear some feedback from people on that component as well. Now in terms of, uh, one thing that I think some people have struggled with with Crao would be a little bit of, of like, uh, a nausea, a little bit of gut upset with, with using too much uhum. And, and usually the fix for that, actually, uh, because I did some some research on this, is peppermint oil. Like if you get, if you get any type of stomach upset at all, you put a few drops of peppermint oil and you rub that on your stomach or you put a few drops in a little bit of water and, and you, you drink the water and it seems to just absolutely crush any of the stomach upsetting effects of cram. But one thing I notice is if I use feel free and then I have a big meal, like, like I would not do this before like Turkey day Thanksgiving, cuz I've noticed if I have it and I have a big meal after my, like I, I get like some stomach upset after. Have you experienced that?
Speaker 1 00:47:59 Um, I really have it myself, but I've, I've, you know, never really had any issues to speak of with my stomach. My, my wife, uh, is just the opposite. She has a very sensitive, uh, digestive system. Yeah. And what she's discovered is that she'll do a smaller amount, she has like a third of a bottle and then she has about a half of a bottle of bio Okay. With
Speaker 3 00:48:21 It. Oh, the bioche yogurt, the, the probiotic. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's interesting.
Speaker 1 00:48:25 And seems to, you know, she has no problem with it then.
Speaker 3 00:48:29 Yeah, yeah. Um, you, you know, that, that's one thing I should mention is, is I have talked to a lot of other people who are beginning to use this. It seems like every health influencer I talk to, like I'm getting a text from somebody, they're like, have you tried this feel free stuff? I'm like, yep, I have. And they often, many of them, especially like the smaller people or the females, they'll do like half a bottle instead of a full bottle, which is probably important too because let, let's not beat around the bush here jw like, I've also had people say this is like how much per, because it comes out if you, if you order a box of it, obviously we've got, we have a pretty hefty discount code for folks, but it's not, it's not inexpensive. If you think about it from an energy drink standpoint, what's it come out to per bottles like eight bucks?
Speaker 1 00:49:08 So from a, yeah, from a subscription stand it's, it's $8 per bottle, but, you know, yeah. What we recommend for, you know, for people to do is, is to use, is to do it a half a shot at a time that gets you, you know, two drinks for $8 basically.
Speaker 3 00:49:24 Yeah. For, for me to, to invest in, in basically the equivalent of, of one and a half lattes to absolutely destroy a workout or a day of productivity. Like, I tell people who, who say what you're doing, you're doing CBT and melatonin and magnesium before bed every night. That adds up. I'm like, I would pay happily for the entire rest of my life, 20 bucks for, for a good night of sleep. I'd pay that every day of the week. I give you $20, you give me an amazing night of sleep, I'll do it. I'll give you $8. You let me crush a productivity day or an amazing workout. I'll, I'll do that every single day. So I realize it, it's, it, it seems expensive, but it's all relative. Like compared to your juice at the cold pressed juicery, that's $16 or your, you know, your four hour energy drink that's not doing any of this for you in terms of, of the stable, euphoric energy for, you know, four or five bucks or whatever those are. I, I don't think the eight bucks is that big of a deal. Uh, if you order, if you order bulk though, by the way, do you save it all on this
Speaker 1 00:50:16 Stuff? The best deal is the subscription, uh, which again is the 96 per case, which is 12 bottles.
Speaker 3 00:50:23 Okay, got it. And, and there we have a discount too, isn't it? Like it's uh, what, what's our discount? Ben 40?
Speaker 1 00:50:30 Yes, it's Ben 40.
Speaker 3 00:50:31 And that is that 40%?
Speaker 1 00:50:33 It's 40%, yes.
Speaker 3 00:50:34 That's significant. Okay. So I'll, I'll, I'll put a link in the show. You guys, you guys can go to ben greenfield fitness.com/feel free and code Ben 40, 40% is, is a lot. Thanks for <laugh>. Thanks for doing that. I, I, when you send me a discount code, I'm like 40. Really? That's great for my listeners, especially for people like who just wanna try this out and see if it actually works. It's all, isn't Crao not even legal in six states though
Speaker 1 00:50:55 It, uh, is not. Uh, CRAO has a very interesting history in, uh, the US and the basis of it again, is all this synthetics and extracts that are, you know, like I said, really more about getting high in 2015. The fda, uh, actually was, uh, able to, uh, get it classified. Uh, so it became federally, uh, illegal, uh, within about a year and a half, hundreds of thousands of people had had, you know, started talking to congressmen and a lot of congressmen that were actually using it, they overturned it. <laugh>, uh, Congress did, which is the only time in history that that's ever happened for anything. But in the interim, there were six states that passed state laws mimicking the federal law, and those states never, um, removed that, uh, that, that law from the book. So that's why you have it being legal federally, but illegal in six states.
Speaker 3 00:51:58 What now? What if you live in one of those states, can you order, feel free or ca are you, are you not able to order it?
Speaker 1 00:52:02 You're you're not able
Speaker 3 00:52:03 To? What are the six states?
Speaker 1 00:52:05 Uh, it's Arkansas, uh, Wisconsin, Alabama, Rhode Island, Vermont.
Speaker 3 00:52:12 I think you listed five. But I, I'm sure people could easily look up as is cra legal in their state and find out. So you just have to order it, order it to a friend, I guess, or, or get a different address. Um, and, and so in terms of legality, do you, do you foresee that Crao is gonna have an uphill battle or do you think that, that it's one of those things that's, that's, that's getting looked on more friendly?
Speaker 1 00:52:31 That's the beauty of it is, and I think this is kind of, you know, we're seeing this more macro, uh, ground swell of, uh, adoption of plant medicines.
Speaker 3 00:52:41 Yeah. You mean like, like psilocybin and things like that? Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:52:44 Yeah. And even now, the, the psychedelics, you know, I think people are waking up to, you know, that a lot of these synthetics, you know, medications not always good for you long term. So they're looking for alternatives. You're seeing the same thing. Withum six states now have passed Crain regulation. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, which again, sets standards for, you know, testing, uh, for contaminants and, you know, outlaws, you know, uh, the high concentration and extracts and synthetics. There's 30 more states that that's working through the process. Um, so, you know, within the next few years you should see, you know, a lot more states that, you know, that have regulation in place, which I believe is, is the, you know, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think in this case, regulation is, is what's needed.
Speaker 3 00:53:36 Yeah. Well, with, with all the issues with, with the metals and the way that, that it's extracted and stuff that, that, yeah. It seems prudent to me because obviously it could be dangerous, uh, if, if it's, if it's not of the right variety and, and not extracted in the right way. And you, you guys, you mentioned you actually do testing on the heavy metals and, and any chemicals, uh, any, any deleterious compounds that would be in the C cram or the cova strains that you
Speaker 1 00:53:57 Use? What we do is, uh, you know, we've found that you can't always rely on the testing that's done overseas. Uh, unfortunately. So when we bring it in, we retest it, um, you know, the base, uh, active ingredients. And then we also then test again after it's bottled, uh, to make sure that there, there wasn't any other contaminants that, uh, were introduced. And, and, you know, that's probably overkill, but I'm consuming this stuff daily myself. I wanna make sure that it, that it's right.
Speaker 3 00:54:32 It, it's important. And like I mentioned with my own testing, I haven't, I haven't seen any deleterious issues pop up. You know, two days ago I had a flight back from Phoenix and I took a shot of feel free and a shot of keto nesters. Cause I don't like to eat when I fly. I just think it presents sometimes an inflammatory scenario, at least in, in many cases. I try to avoid eating too much when I fly. So I took a, a shot of feel free and a shot of the keto nesters at four, did the whole flight, got home at 11:00 PM unpacked, worked, took care of a bunch of business until 1:00 AM still wasn't hungry, still was just like flying high. I took, took my C B D and melatonin and hit the sack, you know, woke up at, at 6:00 AM the next in the morning feeling fantastic.
Speaker 3 00:55:13 But again, like the use cases for this stuff and the things you can combine it with, I mean, we talked about vitamin C and, um, and the lipids, and then kava and Crate already being in the compound. But then, you know, I've, I've had fun experimenting, like you gotta get your hands on. Uh, I dunno if you've used keto nesters before for appetite, uh, Jared to shift you into Aceta ketosis, but man, like doing a shot of keto nesters, I even put this on Instagram at one point as like a really good one-two combo for just crushing a day where you don't even want to eat shot of keto nesters, uh, like the HBM n or the, uh, the keto aid keto nesters with a shot of this. Feel free. And oh my goodness, like you, you, again, you gotta be careful because sometimes you, you you forget to eat and you work so hard and you crush your workout so well that, you know, I would imagine long term you might lose too much weight or, or, or push yourself too hard.
Speaker 3 00:56:01 But, you know, I'm having fun just combining this with stuff and, and figuring out what it stacks well with. And it just, I mean, any neu tropic I've consumed it with, it just seems to amp up the effect like twofold at least. So, you know, again, like I, um, I, I keep pinching myself that it's, that it's so good. And, um, and you know, I, I realize this, this almost sounds like a, a giant commercial for your product, but you know, whenever I find something cool, I like to share it with people. So, so it, it's pretty interesting. Are you, are you tinkering with anything else at, at Botanic tonics your company in terms of like, other products that you wanna make?
Speaker 1 00:56:35 I've got, um, some other, a couple other formulas that, um, I've come up with. One of 'em is more of a sleepy time, uh, formula and the other one's more of a even more energizing, uh, formula mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, but, um, I'd have no, don't plan it on launching those until sometime next year.
Speaker 3 00:56:58 Yeah. Yeah. Well, for the energy formula, we, we, we should talk cuz I, I would, uh, I'd like to see you experiment at least with, with, with touring, uh, with bio pairing, black pepper extract, and then, uh, yeah, mag Magnesium three and eight, those would be super interesting to amp up the, the energizing components, especially when it comes to, to the interaction with Prum. So there's a lot of fun stuff that, that, uh, that you could experiment with. I bet. Um, in the meantime though, what, what I'm gonna do is, is is I'll put our link to this stuff or people can go to ben greenfield fitness.com/feel free. Again, we got a code, it, it's Ben 40 is the code, um, jw, anything else that you wanna share with folks about Feel Free, uh, or, or any other things that we haven't covered about the product or best use while I have you on the call?
Speaker 1 00:57:42 Yeah, I, you know, I think the one thing is, uh, you know, when you Google, you Knowum, um, there's a, you know, pretty, uh, bleak picture painted. Uh, but again, the basis of all that is, is is the extracts and the synthetics. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, I keep going back to, you know, in the native populations when it's consumed and it's fully formed, it's been consumed for, you know, a long, long time and no, nobody's really had any issues mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it's just when we got a hold of it and, uh, messed with it like we did with COEs and cocaine, that it became, you know, a another issue. So I'm glad to see the regulation, uh, happening that, uh, is gonna help control that. Uh, the other thing is, you know, uh, people will ask me if, if, if it's addictive, and my response to that is, is that from my experience, anything that makes you feel good is addictive. That's probably not the right question to be asking the right question to be asking
Speaker 3 00:58:50 C coffee is, is pretty addictive last time I checked. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:58:53 It's, if I consume this on a regular basis, is it doing anything harmful to me, that's the part, you know, that I talked about earlier that I, you know, really focused on. Um, you know, because like you bring up, you know, when you ask people, you know, is coffee addictive? And they're like, well, you know, no. And I'm like, well, have you ever tried getting off of it? Because most people, once they get on it, never get off of it. Cheese is another example. I mean, cheese, um, is extremely
Speaker 3 00:59:23 Addictive. Yeah. We, we, uh, we triggers a lot of the opioid receptors and, and you know, that, that's interesting too because Cram is is often used as a way for people to get off opioid based, uh, painkillers. And it's been incredibly successful that I, I I suspect there might be a little bit of pharmaceutical interest in, uh, in limiting the availability of Prum or painting a bad picture of C Prum just because it's, it's so effective as, as a, as as an alternative to opioids. And, you know, the, the, the idea of, of it having a bad rap, you know, I, I've, I've seen that too. I've had a few people reach out to me after getting feel free and they're like, I just realized Crao is in this. Have you looked up C Crao? And I'm like, yeah, well, it, it depends. You could get an, an herbicide, pesticide laden strain of weed.
Speaker 3 01:00:05 You could get coffee chock full of mold and mycotoxins, or you could get like pure clean organic coffee and, you know, and, and, and wonderful, you know, uh, cannabis, it's like full spectrum grown organically. And, and so it always depends on the sourcing. So, um, but I, I, I will vouch for this stuff and, and it's, uh, I, it is just, it's incredible and I, and I like it. And I, I appreciate, I told you this when I, when I met U J W I, I said thank you, thank you for making this stuff cuz it's definitely made life better <laugh>. Not that life sucked, not that life sucked before, but you know, any, anytime I find something that, that's like a, a keeper for me, you know, I, I I thank whoever came up with it, so thank you.
Speaker 1 01:00:40 That's what makes it all worthwhile hearing that. Yeah. And you know, I hear that, uh, on a regular basis every week and that's, you know, back to the, you know, original part of my backstory. That's what I figured out is really what, you know for me, what life's about.
Speaker 3 01:00:57 Yep. Yep. Well, um, what, what I'll do again is I'll link to all this. If you go to ben greenfield fitness.com/feel free podcast, you can go to the show notes and if, if you wanna order this stuff, just go to ben greenfield fitness.com/feel free. The code is Ben 40 over there and, uh, i, I think you're really gonna like it and you can leave your comments, your questions, your feedback, the impact and your sleep architecture, if you have any feedback for that so that we can take a deeper dive into what's going on there. In the meantime, jw, thank you so much for coming on the show,
Speaker 1 01:01:26 Man. You bet. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 01:01:27 All right folks. I'm Ben Greenfield, along with JW Ross, signing out from ben greenfield fitness.com. Have an amazing week
Speaker 3 01:01:38 In compliance with the FTC guidelines. Please assume the following about links and posts on this site, most of the links going to products are often affiliate links of which I receive a small commission from sales of certain items, but the price is the same for you. And sometimes I even get to share a unique and somewhat significant discount with you. In some cases, I might also be an investor in a company I mentioned. I'm the founder for example of Keon llc, the makers of Keon branded supplements and products, which I talk about quite a bit. Regardless of the relationship, if I post or talk about an affiliate link to a product, it is indeed something I personally use, support, and with full authenticity and transparency recommend in good conscience. I personally vet each and every product that I talk about. My first priority is providing valuable information and resources to you that help you positively optimize your mind, body, and spirit. And I'll only ever link to products or resources, affiliate or otherwise that fit within this purpose. So there is your fancy legal disclaimer.
