Hayley Hobson: Hello, my friends, I'm Hayley Hobson, and I am so glad you're here. Welcome to the 10 out of 10 podcast where I help ambitious women like you look and feel younger. So you can achieve a 10 out of 10 lifestyle and unlock financial freedom. So today we're diving into a topic that affects all of us, nutrient deficiencies in our food and in our soil.
Hayley Hobson: Because modern agricultural practices and depleted soils have led to a decline in the essential nutrients in the food that we eat. And you know what this means for our health.
Hayley Hobson: Really nothing good from fatigue to chronic illnesses, to accelerated aging. These hidden deficiencies literally impact every aspect of our well-being, and as the woo woo wellness and longevity queen that I like to call myself, I am always searching for new and innovative ways to revive my own body with the nutrients I need, and then, of course, share my finds with you, since I'm no gatekeeper.
Hayley Hobson: And that way you can feel great on the daily as well, not to mention look younger than your chronological age really is. So today I've re-invited a special guest to come on the show and share how we can use supplementation to bridge the gaps in our food, and of course support our body's needs, so that we age gracefully, or, better yet, age in reverse. So allow me to introduce our guest.
Hayley Hobson: Alex DaBell, Alex is the director of nutraceuticals and innovation for Doterra Global, and he holds a master's in science, a master's of science in psychology, physiology, and developmental biology, and a bachelor in science and biology, both from Brigham Young University, like lots of big degrees there. This guy is a genius.
Hayley Hobson: Alex is also pursuing a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine, studying metabolic regulation, biochemistry, nutritional epigenetics, and various aspects of essential oil chemistry on health and wellness.
Hayley Hobson: Alex has worked with many colleagues around the world to design and develop the majority of Doterra's global nutritional product offerings, some of the highest quality products available in the world for this 1 billion dollar company. So I am so grateful that he is here to answer all of our questions today. Welcome, Alex.
Alex DaBell: Thanks, Haley. That was a generous introduction. It's always great to.
Hayley Hobson: Well, it's true. You are smarty pants.
Alex DaBell: I appreciate it.
Hayley Hobson: And such a good person to have on the show. So I wanted to jump in right away and just, and have you share a little bit about the nutritional deficiencies we see in our food and our soil.
Hayley Hobson: And that's part one and the impacts that they can have on our health.
Alex DaBell: Yeah, this is such a big and important topic. I don't know that people really appreciate it. A lot of the health, either the benefits or the shortcomings that we experience are tied specifically to our diet. You know the things, the things that we should be consuming but we're not, or the things that we shouldn't be consuming but we are. And so really getting it right from a dietary perspective can really go a long way in helping to improve our overall health outcomes and our quality of life. So people, I think people recognize the challenges that they deal with from a health perspective. But they don't necessarily understand the genesis of that. And I think if they'll consider you know the role that the diet plays in this, they'll have better success. So that means getting those micronutrients that you need, and making the good food choices to avoid the types of foods. The ultra processed the types of macronutrients that we really should be consuming less or none of. And so I like to remind people that the need for certain micronutrients. Actually, it was first discovered from the disease states that people.
Hayley Hobson: Can I interrupt you for a second when you use the word micro and macronutrients? Can we just back up for a second and sort of define that for people who may not even know what that is.
Alex DaBell: For sure. Yeah. So macronutrients are the proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. Those are what you typically see in like a nutrition facts panel. And then the micronutrients are the vitamins and the minerals, and they have prescribed, you know, recommended daily allowances that people should be consuming on a regular basis, and then I would classify even things like enzymes, probiotics, other phytonutrients those are. Those are micronutrients. And you know, micro and macro, as it implies, they're just lesser or more major amounts of those nutrients. So. But yeah, the deficiencies. I think some of the earliest I guess recognition that people need these micronutrients at certain levels came from just observing populations that were deficient.
Alex DaBell: And it really highlighted. When people don't have certain vitamins, whether it's vitamin C and developing scurvy or maybe deficiencies in vitamin B, and they have metabolic disorders or things like not getting enough iron, and leads to anemia or zinc deficiencies, and you have an impaired immune system. These are the types of challenges that people would observe. And then, even before they understood the biochemical consequences of being deficient, they're able to go back and say, Okay, these are the dietary choices. And then this is what we observe is happening. These 2 must be related. We need these micronutrients to have our best quality of life and overall health. And so people are understanding the mechanisms now more with scientific advances, and then they're able to ensure, you know that they're getting those in their diet, that they're consuming the right products and the right foods on a daily basis. So.
Hayley Hobson: So. The one thing that I notice is that no matter how much we talk about, you know getting in good nutrition, I feel like there is this this I don't know if it's like a mental block, or if it is like a well that won't happen to me. Sort of mentality. Because is it? Or maybe it's just a food addiction that we have in our country? I don't know but people are not as committed as they. I want to use the word I will use. The word should be in getting active ingredients that quote unquote work in our bodies, and I know that there's all different levels of like, how well we can eat. And I might be extreme. And how clean I eat, and maybe you don't quote unquote. Have to eat that clean, and I know there's other ways to supplement our bodies, even if we are, you know, having chips and dip for dinner, or wrapping up for breakfast. But what do you think is, do you have any opinion on why people are making the or not optimal food choices that they are.
Alex DaBell: Yeah, I think I think there are a few reasons why. Maybe one of the most obvious is that people don't understand the consequences of their poor food choices. I think also, in some ways the deck is stacked against the average person. They don't necessarily understand the harm that comes from consuming the wrong types of foods. And so they're motivated, maybe by the cost of different foods. You know, you can get really cheap food that is really cheap. And when you cut the corners like that, you're really cutting the corners on your health and your wellness, your longevity, your quality of life. And so when people they'll buy and consume foods that are inexpensive, that maybe on the surface they're designed. They're actually, you know, strategically designed to taste a certain way that tells your brain. It activates the reward centers of your brain. and it's like an addiction. It's like a drug more than a healthy food, and these foods are, you know. designed in such a way by the I guess the the industrial food complex to kind of you know, set people up to be to want and crave those types of foods, even though they, you know. any objective scientist could tell you. These are not good foods for you, but people. you know, based on the way they're designed, they get a reward in their brain, and then they consume more of that. And so you can look all around the country. You can see the disease states and rates throughout the population. And it's not. It's not hard to understand that much of the health challenges that people face all around the country are originating, you know, in the kitchen or the foods, the types of foods that they're eating.
Hayley Hobson: Yeah, it's kind of crazy, because it's like theoretically, you know, people know. And I guess unless you have your own personal like demise in your health, which is actually what happened to me, and it's why I shifted and I changed things around. I got to a point where I just was so sick my body was so inflamed that there was no other choice but to make a change. And but if that doesn't happen to you then, yeah, that's a good. That's a great answer. Because I really didn't know, like the food addiction. And that whole thing that happens with your brain. So thanks for sharing that. So what I'm hearing you say just to sort of recap is, there's key ingredients that many of us are deficient in, and although we may be getting our proteins and our fats and our and our carbohydrates. And there's micro nutrients that we're not getting into our body that are having a very detrimental effect on our body and all systems of our body, whether it's our cardiovascular system, whether it's just inflammation in our body, whether it's our digestive system, whether it's our brain activity we are if we're lacking in those ingredients, we are going to see significant, potentially significant. Maybe some people can get away with it potentially significant deficiencies in our body over time. So can you give an example of some of the effects on the body with all of the studies that you've done.
Alex DaBell: Yeah, yeah, there are. I mean, of course, there's the the stark or kind of the dramatic examples that people develop really serious diseases. But even before that I think people will start to recognize it, when, if they're paying attention and they're listening to their body, they'll recognize, you know what I don't feel as good as I used to. I don't have the same energy levels that I used to. Maybe my brain, my memory, just my cognitive function is not quite like it used to be. Or maybe I'm not sleeping as well as I used to. My metabolic balance is is out of whack, and that's showing up. You know, in how I feel, how I move, how I look, and all of those things. I think if people are paying attention to their own body and their own health state. They'll recognize when something is kind of out of balance before it becomes a more dramatic health issue. So maybe you recognize your immune system is a little bit compromised because you're getting sick a lot more often. And when you're sensitive and paying attention to those types of details. You can catch things before they become a big issue. And I've shared the example before. If we consider our bodies are almost like a vehicle. We need to maintain the vehicle on a regular basis, like if we never change the oil in our car or rotated the tires, we would have really significant issues, but they wouldn't be noticed right away. But when they become really noticeable, then they're much bigger problems. You know. You you burned up your engine or your tires are completely out of balance. So with our bodies, we have a similar situation. We want to be proactive in maintaining these micronutrient stores so that we don't become deficient and then have to deal with those larger health challenges later on. So the saying is that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and that is certainly the case when it comes to the diet and the micronutrients and the macronutrients that we should be consuming.
Hayley Hobson: So what are some of the How do we? How do we get some of these ingredients in our body, I mean, do you just suggest we eat more. Do you suggest that we just buy all organic food? I know that you suggested that we like watch what we eat and we not eat the crappy processed foods that are in our body. But what other ways can we start to get those ingredients in our body? And then what are the shifts in the results that we can see? Let's just hypothetically say, for instance, somebody considers themselves healthy like, we've got no major health problems going on. I shared with you that I had a personal health problem, and some other people might have, you know, belly bloating, or maybe they're underweight or overweight, or maybe they're not. You know, they don't have the clarity and focus in their brain. Or maybe they've got problems sleeping, or maybe their hair is getting thinner. I mean, obviously, there's lots of reasons why you want to eat clean and well and get these ingredients into your body. And over time you can see some shifts in some of those things that are happening because of nutrient deficiency. But what are some of the things? What are some of the ways that we can get them in. And what are some of the ways? We may not see deficiencies happening, because I, personally, didn't know I had a deficiency until I had a deficiency, and it was too late.
Alex DaBell: Yeah, definitely. And this way, education is really empowering. If people understand, you know what's going to help them out. Then a lot of times. They'll make the right choices, and our bodies are resilient, you know. You probably heard kind of the 80 20 principle that you know we don't have to be exactly perfect in our behaviors and the different patterns and things. But if we're making good choices most of the time, then our bodies are designed to be resilient enough to deal with that men. So the good choices, as you mentioned, you know, we want to avoid environmental contaminants. So things like organic foods, avoiding, you know. the pesticides and the metals and the environmental toxins that are, you know, unfortunately, very challenging to avoid in today's world. But the best we can do there to eliminate those from our diet from being exposed to. That's certainly going to help us out. And then a lot of it starts with healthy food choices. So I like to think of like real food, real food choices, things that you could get from your garden. You know, those types of foods are better for you than something that is like super ultra processed and contains ingredients that you don't even know how to pronounce. Yeah, those are not real foods. Right? We want to stay with the the natural plants that we can, that we can get so other sources, other other ways to obtain these types of micronutrients in their healthy natural forms. Besides just healthy food choices, we can look to well designed high quality supplements. So there are certain nutrient forms from botanical sources that include things like fiber and a lot of highly processed foods. The fibers have been stripped out of them, and fiber is a really really important macronutrients, carbohydrate and non-digestible carbohydrate. It's really important for our bodies to be able to metabolize the foods that we consume properly. So if we're consuming than the raw, natural ingredients, then our body will respond better to them. and where we do have gaps in our diet. Then, like I said, supplementation helps to close those gaps.
Hayley Hobson: Do you think that people should supplement, even if they don't have gaps in their diet? Because I, I mean, I'm a Vegan, so I probably have some nutritional gaps, but I do really feel like I stay away from processed foods. I eat pretty clean, I mean, I'll have a cookie every once in a while, you know, I made a big, huge salad today. It was like a Mexican salad. Put some tortilla chips in it, so I mean like, let's say I'm not perfect, but I mean I don't know that I have major gaps, but I'm still supplementing.
Alex DaBell: Yeah, I know, Hayley. I know you're far, far above. You know the average choice as far as people's diets. yeah, there there are. you know I think of insurance. So insurance is one of those things that you hope you never need. But when you need it you're glad you have it. And so, in a way. we think of nutritional deficiencies. I think of it almost like health insurance. If we were, if we were making the perfect dietary choices. We were consuming the right macro and micronutrients in the right amounts every day from the right, from the ideal sources. Then maybe we would be able to check, you know, if not all, the boxes, most of the boxes. But unfortunately, in today's world, like people are not living that kind of a lifestyle, and so closing those gaps becomes even more important because the gaps are bigger. So I think of, even though the name supplementation is meant to imply that it's added to something. Well, it should be added to a healthy diet. And then you're supplementing you're boosting the benefits of those dietary inputs now with these gap fillers. and really the cost benefit. The return on the investment from something like a high quality supplement is just a no brainer like it's it's pennies on the dollar for the amount of value that you get for what your adding on top in the way of a high quality supplement. So it's something that I recommend to everybody, because usually people aren't doing quite as good as they think they are. And so if they were to test their blood on a regular basis and get an objective analysis of where their health is and where their nutrient levels are, they would, it might be, eye opening to realize what those gaps are and how big they are, and and really the the way that a supplement can help to close those gaps.
Hayley Hobson: I heard something a long time ago. I don't remember where I heard it, or how long ago it was, but it was something crazy like in order to get the actual nutrients that you need in your body. You have to be eating like 60 tons of vegetables, like kind of like walking around all day like an elephant. I was just in Africa, and I was amazed that the elephants walk around all day long and all night. They never stop eating. I heard that they only sleep somewhere between one to 2 hours a day, and the rest of the time they are literally eating, and that's what I heard that happens with us now, because of our soil being deficient like you can't even get even if you eat clean like I do. You literally can't get enough calories in your body.
Alex DaBell: Yeah. Yeah. And it's it's unfortunate, you know, a lot of our food sources and and the industrial food supply. They're not incentivized to deliver healthy options to consumers. They're incentivized to get, maybe volume or the quickest turnaround in the growth of certain plants. And so the nutritional value of these plants that are used in the food supply has declined over the years right? Because just the system is not set up to reward nutritional value, it's rewarding other things like speed to market, or the size of a fruit or vegetable. Not the nutritional content. So yeah, we're the deck is stacked against us in that regard.
Hayley Hobson: Yeah, crazy. I mean, I have a lot of say things to say about the food supply in our country and the motivation behind it to make a buck and you know, I think there are some good things coming our way with the new administration in terms of food and drug, but we'll see. We'll see.
Alex DaBell: Yeah. Fingers crossed.
Hayley Hobson: Yeah. So let's talk about your personal suggestions. Of course, backed by science, I know as I read your bio, you've got a lot of background. You've got a lot of education, you're not. You're furthering your education with a PhD. So, backed by science, what what is your personal suggestion in terms of getting these basic ingredients, and maybe not so basic to some people and micronutrients in your diet.
Alex DaBell: Yeah, the idea of supplementation. It's been around for a while, and that's a good start, right? But we want to make sure that we're actually, you know, consuming the types of the forms of nutrients in a way that our bodies can actually absorb them and utilize them. And so over the years, really, the decades, there have been new technologies, new ways of really capturing the value from plants, for example, and then delivering that in a way that your body can actually absorb it and use it. And we've we've kept an eye on those types of technologies of those superfood botanical sources. For example, just a little side note there, a superfood. I think it's interesting. I used to think and wonder what is what makes something, you know, classified as a superfood. And it's really because of the nutritional content of that food that that makes it classified as a superfood. So when you combine and you consume these superfoods, you get like more bang for your buck, as far as the nutritional content. So really keying in on those types of superfoods or botanical sources, and then being able to take advantage of those natural nutrients and consume them in a way that your body can utilize is something that's available today that maybe wasn't available. you know, in the recent past there's new technologies being developed all the time. That's one of the things I'm passionate about with education, with my career is being able to kind of mine where all the research has come over the decades and what we can do next that has never been done before, and and provide value in a way that hasn't happened before. So we've we've been busy doing some of that stuff at Doterra. It's pretty cool to see the results that we've been able to design in our product offering.
Hayley Hobson: Can you share any of that? Just as there's too like, I know that there's so many supplements out there. And I'm I'm assuming that the majority of products out there actually don't even work. But I'm assuming there's also a lot of really good products out there, and I know that you, because you're involved in the formation, have seen all the behind the scenes like, what can you share to give us a little bit behind the scenes of why you think this product, or what you've been developing, or what you've developed is superior.
Alex DaBell: Yeah, so it would be wrong. And just, you know, just plain wrong to suggest that there aren't any quality products in the marketplace already, and there certainly are, and some groups do, a better job than others at designing them, and the quality of ingredients that are included. There are some great products from competitor products out there. So but we've we've kind of looked around and and noticed that there's a bit of a gap in an offering that we put together a solution in this space. And so we've designed a product called VMG, it stands for vitamins, minerals, and greens. And it's it's really it's a combination of these superfood botanical extracts that have this natural vitamin and mineral content that we're able to deliver in a unique way. And I can talk more about that. But really the source, you can't have a good quality product on the back end. If you don't have high quality inputs at the front. So you need to have the right types of ingredients with the right micronutrients and micronutrient forms that you want, or else you can't have high quality products like garbage in garbage out. So if you want to have a great product, you have to start with great ingredients. And we've done that with this product with VMG. I can tell you a little bit more about the the some of the things that make it unique. If.
Hayley Hobson: Yeah, I definitely want to hear about that. It's a.
Alex DaBell: Okay. I don't know if we're going to stop there. No, just kidding. Leave you hanging on a cliff. But so it's not enough. We say there's there's a popular saying, that is, you are what you eat. But we've actually, you know, if you really think about it, you're not even necessarily what you eat, you're what you absorb. And so absorption is really a non-negotiable. When we talk about diet and being able to absorb the nutrients that we need. They have to be delivered in a delivery mechanism that allows your body to absorb and retain those nutrients. And so, as the science and the technology have come along. We've provided the. you know, the highest quality, nutrient forms from botanical sources in the most efficient and effective delivery mechanisms. So these liposomal delivery mechanisms. The reason we chose to deliver these micronutrients in little liposomes with essential oils included in the components is because they aid in the absorption of the micronutrients, the absorption and the retention of the micronutrients. And if we can't absorb them, then we can't benefit from the value that they're providing. We talked earlier on about all of the different health challenges that people might be able to avoid by tending to these micronutrient levels, and if we are able to absorb them from the gut, from when we consume them, then we are way better off than simply having them pass through our bodies. A lot of vitamins are water soluble, and what that means is they are readily eliminated from the body. Right? Our bodies, majority of our bodies. We've got water all over inside of our cells, and we're constantly filtering our blood, and we are removing water, soluble nutrients. And so, if we're not able to retain those water, soluble nutrients, then they are eliminated from the body, and when they're eliminated, then we can't benefit from them. So by providing these in liposomes, our body retains the micronutrients longer than if they weren't delivered in micronutrients. And we've done some competitor testing actually in the blood levels of certain nutrients. And we see the nutrient forms in our VMG product are retained sometimes up to 8 hours longer than competitor product nutrients. That means your body is able to actually benefit from it. So we've in addition to the retention. I mean, you can't retain what you don't absorb. We've done some head-to-head competitor, bioavailability or absorption studies, and we see for example. we looked at iron, which is a really important mineral. People are familiar. The iron is associated with red blood cell formation. Red blood cells are important for carrying oxygen all throughout your body. If you don't have good red blood cell counts and function, then you feel tired, right? You get fatigued. And so we wanted to look and see if we're delivering iron in these liposomal format. How much better are we able to absorb and retain the iron compared to a key competitor, and we saw a 600% increase over the non liposomal delivery for iron. So that's fantastic. We also looked at vitamin E vitamin E is a fat, soluble vitamin, and we wanted to see if we see similar increase in absorption rates. And we saw a 540% increase of vitamin E fat, soluble vitamin over the non liposomal delivery. And then also we looked at vitamin C vitamin C showed a similar increase in the absorption and retention compared to competitor products. So we've we've really taken advantage of the latest scientific technologies to be able to deliver these natural botanical forms of vitamins and minerals in an efficient manner that your body can can and take advantage of them.
Hayley Hobson: So what I'm hearing you say is just to sum up so far is number one. We need both macronutrients and nutrients in our body. We're not getting them out of micronutrients we need in our bodies, because number one soil may be depleted and food companies have different visions. In other words, mass producing foods versus getting us quality foods, and we just don't even have access to all the quality foods and nutrients we need. I also hear you saying that? We don't know about some of our nutritional deficiencies unless we're constantly monitoring our blood. So what we could be doing proactively is is using a supplement in order to get our body to a state where there's no catastrophic emergency going on later, we could use it proactively, and most of us are not eating a balanced diet, and we can't get enough food in our diet anyway. Then what I also hear you saying is that you have been doing a lot of testing, and although there are fabulous nutritional supplement companies in the market, because why would we ever say that there aren't when there's so many brands out there. You know that one of the reasons that nutrients are not absorbed in our bodies through supplements is because they're water absorbed and can't get into our cells the way that they should. And also there's the the delivery system just is not effective. So you are particularly working with a specific supplement that you've done a lot of testing on, and you're proud of. You should be number one. The quality of the plants in the ingredients, and number 2, the absorption into your body, and therefore the ability to retain the key nutrients that are in the that are in the supplements.
Alex DaBell: Yeah, that was beautiful. Summary I as you were as you're recapping these highlights that we've been talking about. I was reminded of of an important one. I think people would appreciate in understanding, you know, because we pride ourselves at Doterra about, you know, taking advantage of the gifts of the earth. The way that nature designs things right is superior to anything that is just put together in a laboratory. And so we've in this in this case in this instance. With this product, we have a really unique differentiator from what people might recognize is available in the marketplace. I don't know that I've seen. I saw one and one other product in the marketplace that is similar in this regard in that the vitamins and minerals coming from these plant sources. They're not isolated compounds. They come with all these phytonutrient companion components that are coming from the botanicals. And so we have identified 330 different phytonutrient compounds that are included in our VMG product, that that are not part of other. You know multivitamin products, for example, because they're synthesized isolated compounds. They don't have all the other natural botanical phytonutrients that we have in VMG.
Hayley Hobson: So, for example, what? So can you give some of the key ingredients that probably other supplements do have, and then some of the key ingredients that you know. For a fact, other brands don't have.
Alex DaBell: Yeah, absolutely. So we've looked at flavonoid content. For example, that is really only found in botanical sources. We've looked at different Peptides. People are hearing a lot about Peptides, and we've got a number of a couple of dozen different peptides that are available in these phytonutrient sources. We've got different carotenoids people are familiar with, you know, Beta, Carotene and lutein lycopene, even Astaxanthin. These are carotenoids that are in our VMG product. That wouldn't be in isolated vitamins, for example, that are just maybe like a a vitamin, A by itself, without any other phytonutrient companions. There are enzymes. We've included probiotics to help with the absorption of the nutrients as well. So really, from a holistic kind of a whole broad, spectrum, nutrient form, we're providing just an unrivaled spectrum of nutrients in this product that that really I don't think anything else in the marketplace comes close to it, actually. And I've seen a lot of different products. I've I've helped to design develop a lot of different products. And this one is truly unique.
Hayley Hobson: Yeah, that's amazing. I I also think it's a easier way to ingest for people than I guess. The pill fatigue that a lot of people have these days. What I've noticed is I. My husband has obviously been watching me take supplements for the last. I would say 20 years, and I could never really get him on board, and when VMG came out he's been making his green drink every single morning. No bail like literally every single morning he's taking. I don't know what shifted, but him just pouring that package into water is easier for him than taking pills.
Alex DaBell: Yeah, that's awesome. My wife's the same way. She's not. She doesn't love taking pills, you know, capsules or tablets or things like that. But with this product she loves to drink this, and I've heard from a lot of other people who, it's so easy to share. It's so easy to, you know, combine it with a smoothie, or for people who don't like to swallow pills. It's a new way. It's a better experience to use this type of a product.
Hayley Hobson: Yeah. And for me, personally, I like to get as much hydration into my body during the day. So it's just another way to drink something, and it's flavored.
Alex DaBell: Yeah, it tastes great.
Hayley Hobson: You know you touched on the liposomal delivery a little while ago, and essential oils in the product. I want to just go a little bit deeper into that if you can. Is there anything that shouts out to you? That's significant that you want people to know, because I know that that definitely distinguishes the VMG from any other product in the market. Nobody is putting essential oils in their liposomes.
Alex DaBell: Yeah, yeah. And people have asked. And it's a very logical question. You know, why these specific, essential oils and the reason being essential oils as natural complex substances. These are really, they're produced by plants, and they have unique chemistry. These constituents from essential oils that your body will recognize those lipophilic constituents, and what the research has shown and what we've demonstrated through our own studies on this product is that when we include essential oils in their constituents. With these nutrients we see an increased absorption of the micronutrients. So it's all it goes back to that bioavailability and the importance of being able to absorb what you eat. If you can't absorb it, you can't benefit from it. And so we've included these essential oils in the formation of the liposomes and liposomes. If people are familiar with the way a cell looks, it's almost like a basketball. You could imagine a sphere that goes and wraps itself around a nutrient form. And then with this bilayer, this lipid bilayer. Imagine, like a basketball, then your your body is able to recognize that lipid bilayer, that liposome and absorb those nutrients more efficiently. So that's why we chose to deliver those nutrients in their liposomal format with the essential oils, because really you get a higher return on that investment with the increased bioavailability, the increased bioretention.
Hayley Hobson: Wow, that's that's I mean, that's significant. I mean that enough is probably a reason for people to try this. I'm like trying to convince my dad like dad. The stuff that you buy at CVS is not good. Please.
Alex DaBell: Yeah, I mean, people love taxes. Right? I've thought of this from like a tax perspective. Imagine, if you were. you're only able to keep 20% of the money that you generated and earned. Right? You're taxed 80%, and you only got to keep 20%. That sounds ridiculous, right? But the typical absorption rate for micronutrients in a standard multivitamin is like 20%. So you're basically throwing away 80%. And so if you can increase your absorption rate and flip that on its head. And you're absorbing 90%. That's a much, much better return on investment.
Hayley Hobson: Yeah, 100%. Okay, I've got 2 other questions for you about VMG, because I have an audience. And I'm into this myself, like, I'm really into the biohacking and reversing the biological age space. Like, I really feel like we have the ability these days to reverse our anti-aging process, or some people call it anti-aging, and although I'm definitely not opposed to aging up, I call it, rather than getting older. There are ways where and I mean, I, personally, am 55 years old, and I actually feel like I'm in my thirties, like I feel better today than I have. You know, in the last several decades. In fact, I was sharing some with somebody last week, like last year is my best year, like I feel the best. If I'm in the best shape of my life. My business is great, my relationships are great. My bank account is great, like. I am really happy with this process of aging up, and at the same time I would love my body. To continue to feel like it does today, versus with the aches and pains and inflammation and metabolism slowing down. And I mean, that could be a whole other conversation just deteriorating like I watch other people as they're getting older. They have a lot of signs like literally from their face to their body, that they're aging, and I don't feel that maybe I'm delusional, but I don't feel it, and I don't see it so is that, can you speak to how VMG could have a play in that?
Alex DaBell: Unfortunately, you know, part of being alive is, we are struggling this, this battle, this continual battle to fight, this aging right, this second law of thermodynamics and physics right, that things tend to a state of more disorder. And this is really the aging process. And so we're always fighting to keep order inside of our cells, inside of our tissues, inside of our organs. And and we're fighting that aging process and to be able to do that effectively. Like we need these cofactors. We need these nutrients, our cells, you know. I share with people. The term vitamin actually derives from the original description was a vital Amine meaning. Your body needs these Amines. And so all these different biochemical reactions that are going on inside of each of our bodies inside of our cells on a second by second basis. They require these nutrients to maintain the cell health, the tissue health, the organ health. And so when we're not tending to these needs. Then things start to fall apart and break down faster. And over the years, over the days, weeks, months, and years, those deficiencies, the things that break down they start to accumulate. And your body, you know, if you're it, will look more like a junkyard than a nicely well maintained property, I guess, and so we need to be proactive about that, instead of letting things accumulate over time. And I think this is really known as the triage theory of aging and disease. If you let things accumulate over the years, then they start to get out of balance. And you see these problems show up. So the fact that you're not seeing those is a testament to the proactive care maintenance that you're making sure that your body has the nutrients that it needs. So I think it's a great example of the benefits that people can expect when using a product like VMG, that you're getting all those nutrients that you need.
Hayley Hobson: Yeah, you know, another thing that's kind of funny is that I think that. Well, I know that sometimes when you take, or maybe every time you take something new in your body. You're not going to see results immediately, like. you know, when I think about my journey with health and wellness. It really started when I was about 25 years old, and I was already dealing with a lot of intestinal issues, GI issues, inflammation, irritable bowel, inflammatory bowel allergies I mean you name it insomnia, depression, anxiety. And so I really started working proactively on my health way back then, which was, you know, like, I said 30 years ago, and you don't always see what is happening because it's happening on a cellular level until maybe you stop taking what you're taking, which, by the way, I did do that twice during my journey with Doterra, I actually went off of all my supplements twice, just to see what would happen, and I was not happy with the results. So I went back on. But I was having this conversation with somebody today about weight loss, which is also an issue for lots of women as they age up. And our, you know, our metabolism slows down, and you may be trying this. You may be trying this. You may be trying this. It may be, not quote unquote working. And so I was having this conversation with somebody, and I said, Well, how how many times did you try? How long did you try it? It actually wasn't about weight loss. Now that I'm thinking about. It was about hair like hair thinning. and she said, Well, you only tried it 3 times, I said, well, I want to share with you a story. I have lost 9 pounds over the last 10 months, and I didn't even know I was losing it until you know, a couple months in, because I was. You know, it was already thin, to begin with. but all of a sudden, over the last couple of months my clothes have literally been falling off me, and, by the way. I have not done anything different in my diet. I have not changed the way that I'm eating. I have not added new foods. I've not taken away new foods. I've not added anything to my exercise routine. I've not changed my exercise routine, but what I have done is been very consistent, which I wasn't in the beginning with our metabolic product. The metapower assist before meals, and the collagen product with the NAD anti-aging molecules and NMN resveratrol liposomal vitamin G and of course, the VMG. And I've also been doing a little bit of work on my cortisol levels, and I've also been adding hydrogen hydrogen water, which is an anti-inflammatory to my space. So the only new things really have been the absolute consistency with the assist, the hydrogen water, and the cortisol. But it's incredible that it took this long to see the results. So most people give up after a week or 2, or even a month of purchasing something, because they don't see the results, but they don't realize that they've been. They've been treating their body the way that they've been treating it for 20 years. 30 years 40 years plus, and it really does take time to reverse the damage. In my case I think it was a decrease of inflammation. a reduce of stress. So, therefore, again, a reduce of inflammation and the ability for my body to finally shed what it didn't need to hold on to.
Alex DaBell: Yeah, no, it's it's unfortunate that that people aren't more patient and recognizing. Well, you may have been sloppy for years and years, but then you want things to turn around in 3 days, like you need to be consistent, for sure, and it takes time, like you said at the cellular health level. Our cells don't turn over every single day right? Depending on the cell type. It may take 12 weeks to have a different cell type turnover. And so it requires time and consistency to see those results, because your body is is making those efforts to repair itself. But it doesn't happen overnight.
Hayley Hobson: Yeah, totally. All right. Well, thank you for that. So as far as aging, we just, we have established that getting these ingredients in your body does revert, does reverse the damage and reverse the inflammation and reverse the biological age. So, besides the success stories that I have been sharing with you about my personal journey with these specific supplements. Is there anything else any other success, stories or testimonials you want to share that you think would support before we wrap up.
Alex DaBell: Yeah, I mean, we. We have seen similarly. So this, this concept of biological aging and turning back the biological clock, we actually looked at methylation patterns on the DNA of of study participants. We saw that biological clock turning back, based on methylation patterns of DNA by about 5 years for participants for the participants. And so that's absolutely exciting to see. This is after 6 weeks of using the product. So some consistency we didn't do a follow up yet with them after using the product longer. So that'll be interesting to see that data point. But yeah, this is this idea of maintenance, of really tending to our health, making good lifestyle choices and coupling those with high quality products. You know, supplementation are really patterns for a healthy life that really, people can get in the best outcomes. And so we strive to to tell everybody about that, to teach about that. And and of course, to provide those types of products that people can benefit from. And and so it's from a successful, you know. testimonials and people sharing the experiences that they've had with our products. It's one of the most rewarding aspects I think of. What I get to do is just hear the difference that our products are making in people's lives. It's very rewarding to hear about the changes that they're experiencing. And and some people have shared like you shared some people, really. They never even give the product a chance, maybe because of the way that it's delivered, for example, in pills or things like that. And so we wanted to provide a new option for people, but some people are sleeping better than they've ever slept before. My wife, actually she showed me some a few pieces of her hair. and I thought, This is interesting. What what's going on here? And she showed me this was, I don't know, probably not quite a year ago. But back when this product was first being developed, and she was using some of the product, and she showed me some of her hair that had fallen out, and she had noticed change in the color of her hair that it was. It was much darker. She had had some hair that was a little bit more gray, and the the hair strands at the roots had turned a lot darker. And so that was fascinating. So that was a cool experience that she's had in using the product. Then, yeah, people just having energy like they haven't had before, because their cells are working better.
Hayley Hobson: Well, that's incredible. I would love to add a little volume to my hair. If you can share.
Alex DaBell: I'll I'll give you some of my volume, and.
Hayley Hobson: I've noticed the 2 things like, well, I did. I have noticed that my nails are growing longer and stronger. I have noticed that my eyelashes are growing more. I have noticed that my body's leaning out. I've noticed that I have more energy. My sleep is deeper. I'm actually needing less sleep like I used to think that I needed 8 hours of sleep, 8 or 9 hours of sleep. And now I do really well if I get like 7 hours and 15 or 20 minutes, and it's good quality. I'm getting an hour and a half to 2 hours of REM, an hour and a half to 2 hours of deep like, I feel really good. But the one thing that I still feel like I want to up level is like, and maybe that's just okay. This is the age that I'm at. But my hair is definitely does not look like my daughters anymore. And they're full 15 year old, voluptuous big head of hair. And the other thing that I've noticed in my body is I was I was playing about a year ago. You're gonna laugh. I was playing air hockey in a like a bar with my friends, and I pushed the Puck forward on my very 1st shot. I did something. I tweaked my shoulder, and it has been not good since. So it's better like I literally couldn't even lift my arm. For months I've been getting a lot of work on it, and I have been using like PMF therapy which is sitting behind me. I've been getting a lot of body work. I've been using all my nutraceuticals. But I did get an MRI about 2 months ago, and they told me I had frozen shoulder, and what I heard was that frozen shoulder is very common, as women are going through perimenopause and menopause. And I'm just curious. This maybe not be a VMG conversation. But I'm just curious if you would recommend anything for hair growth and anything for frozen shoulder.
Hayley Hobson: Yeah.
Alex DaBell: Well, I mean, you make me think of our Meta Power Advantage product, you know, from a from a connective tissue. And and of course, those joints and things like your shoulder, your knees that require high mobility when we're able to have good supportive ligaments and and tendons and collagen in those areas of high mobility, then that really helps out. I'm also thinking from a hair perspective hair and nails and skin. You have components like biotin and vitamin C that are really important in the synthesis and the regeneration and maintenance of those different types of tissues. So that's why we included those nutrient forms in our Meta Power Advantage product. And so really, the resveratrol, the collagen, and all the different tripeptide types. along with the biotin and the vitamin C liposomal vitamin C are the reasons and and the science behind supporting those. I guess benefits. So keep using your Meta Power Advantage and and work on that frozen shoulder. Hayley.
Hayley Hobson: Okay, I will. All right. Thanks, Alex. So thanks. Thanks for sharing honestly like, thank you for sharing so much of your knowledge. It's it's a very important topic, at least to me, and this conversation I feel like has made it very easy to digest for regular people without all the degrees that you have. So before we wrap up today, I want to drop you guys a link if you want to check it out to the superfood pack supplement that Alex has been talking about. I made a hyper a little pretty link for you, Hayley Hobson, HAYLEY. Hobson, HOBS. ON. hayleyhobson.com/VMG, so if you just go there, you can check out all the nutrients, and if you're tuning in right now, and you happen to be scrolling on Instagram or Facebook. You can go to my account at Hayley Hobson. That's me. You can just literally drop the word biohack anywhere on my page, and I will know that that means that you're interested in hearing more about the nutrients, and I will. DM, you, I'll send you a DM. Back. So check your DMs again, and we can chat about all of your nutritional needs or potential deficiencies. And if you've loved today's conversation. I would I would love you to share the episode with somebody that you love. The gift of health is always meant to be shared. So until next time, my friends, I will see you online and thank you, Alex.