Superfoods are all the rage these days—the term newly coined to refer to foods with maximum nutritional benefits. While fairly recent in name, these foods have been consumed ever since. For today’s episode, Bob Gilpatrick and Rollie Culp talk about an ancient superfood known as Spirulina or the blue-green algae. Ancient Aztecs used Spirulina to improve endurance and strength. It also contains amazing antioxidant and nutrient properties. Join this conversation and learn where this superfood came from and why it could be considered the beginning of the Circle of Life. 

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Spirulina, An Ancient Superfood

The Benefits Of Spirulina

Did you know that the ancient Aztecs used spirulina to improve endurance and strength? On the show, Bob and Rollie talk about the ancient superfood known as spirulina. They identify what it is, how it forms, and why it could be considered the beginning of the circle of life. Learn about the amazing antioxidant and nutrient properties that spirulina, also known as blue-green algae, holds and what amazing health benefits you can enjoy by adding one of the world’s first superfoods to your diet. Sit back, relax, and get ready to live forever young.

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I’m Bob. I’m here with Rollie. You got your Lightning gear on. The game is on.

We’re going to clinch the playoffs.

We’re going to talk about spirulina, which is a superfood.

It’s got some popularity lately. It has been around for a long time though.

It’s all the way back to the time of the Aztecs, I heard you say.

It’s going back that far. That’s a long time. One of the things that were cool is they didn’t know what it was. They saw it sitting on a pond somewhere. Whoever thought to scoop it up and eat it, I don’t know but it’s a good thing they did.

They will grow it. It’s a blue-green alga that they cultivate in freshwater ponds and sometimes ponds that have saltwater mixed in also. They will cultivate it in a controlled environment with pure water, harvest it, dry it out, and sometimes freeze-dry it fast to preserve the nutrients. It can be used as a supplement either in powder form or put into pills or liquids.

It comes in a whole bunch of different shapes and sizes. The Aztecs would turn it into cakes when they used it. They turn it into little round cakes, dry it out, and eat the little biscuit of algae. That’s cool. One of the things you were talking about is you could use it as a supplement. Spirulina got popular when NASA decided to use it as a supplement for the astronauts up in space. It’s like ancient space-age technology.

Spirulina: When people take Spirulina in its pure form, they seem to feel relief from fatigue and also a boost in their energy and muscle strength.

It’s also the basic building block of life on Earth. Alga is very diverse. Blue-green algae are one specific type. In the water, whether it’s saltwater or freshwater, it serves as food for krill and shrimp. In turn, the krill and shrimp are eaten by fish. It becomes a base building block of life.

It’s like, “The circle of life starts with algae.”

Alga has chlorophyll in it, which gives it part of the color. There are other things in blue-green algae. The chlorophyll is dispersed throughout the cells in blue-green algae. Chlorophyll is what helps with the energy conversion inside the algae. It’s producing this chemical energy. When people take it in its pure form, one of the things that people seem to feel is a relief from fatigue and also a boost in their energy and muscle strength.

In a lot of the stuff I was reading, I liked the Aztecs. Going back to the Aztec warriors, the runners of the time relied a lot on it for its ability to increase their endurance and help them from getting tired so quickly. It has some energy creation power. Photosynthesis is the process plants use to change light into energy. This does the same thing. Alga is a plant in the water. It’s got that same process of photosynthesis where the chlorophyll comes into light.

We also know that blue-green alga or spirulina is a very powerful antioxidant. We have seen these studies about both Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease being caused by inflammation.

We have said it since we started the show. Inflammation is the root of chronic disease. These studies that you’re talking about that came out are helping to prove that inflammation is what’s at the root of it all.

Spirulina is known to have antioxidant properties that will reduce the inflammation in your body and brain.

If you can reduce the inflammation, your body can perform and repair better. What you will need to rebuild are the high nutrients it also contains. That’s another thing about it. It has a lot of good nutrient values. It’s got amino acids and vitamins B1, B2, and B3. Those are energy vitamins.

Spirulina: The spirulina is known to have antioxidant properties that will reduce inflammation in your body and brain.

It’s got magnesium.

There’s copper, iron, and even potassium.

One of the things that we know is that it also helps with blood sugar management. That alone is going to help reduce your inflammation. If you have extra blood sugar that is not being dropped down into the cells, then it’s going to cause high inflammation. We had spirulina helping to manage that blood sugar. You will have less of the reactive oxygen species that are causing inflammation. That’s a good thing. In addition to that, there are some studies that show it helps with blood pressure.

It’s some weird statistic. Forty-seven percent of the people in America have blood pressure issues. That’s a lot.

Part of the reason some people get blood pressure issues is from having high cholesterol. If your arteries are clogged, your heart has to be harder to get the blood through. We also know that spirulina can help with cholesterol management.

We talked to a lot of people. One of the things that they have a big issue with is cholesterol and doctors are telling them to get it in control. This can be another tool in the old toolkit to help naturally reduce this. We talked about spirulina. It doesn’t work as a prescription drug. You got to take it for a little while. You want to give your body what it needs to rebuild. If you’re not giving it a little bit of time, it’s not going to be effective. Like anything natural, it takes a while to work but once it gets working, it’s what your body needs. It’s not some synthetic thing that’s created in a lab.

There’s some evidence that it also helps to combat viral infections, which is important, and not only that but certain types of cancer like mouth cancer. They have found evidence that it helps with that. One thing that’s good that also comes with caution is the immune system. It’s very beneficial for boosting your immune system but there are certain circumstances where people don’t want to boost their immune system, especially if you’re on immunosuppressant drugs to subdue your immune system. You want to stay away from spirulina in a circumstance like that.

If you have an autoimmune disorder that’s causing your immune system to be too powerful, the last thing you want to do is give it more ammo.

That’s about it. That’s the basics about spirulina for people to know what it is and what it can be helpful for. Thanks for joining us. Thank you everyone for reading. We will see you at the next show.