SHAWN STEVENSON: Welcome to The Model Health Show, this is fitness and nutrition expert, Shawn Stevenson, and I'm so grateful for you tuning in with me today. On this episode, we're going to be talking about fatal conveniences, things that appeared to make our lives easier, to save us time, but might be having significant detrimental impacts on our health. We're bringing on somebody who has a vast array of knowledge in this subject matter, and I think that what you learn today is absolutely going to blow you away. Now, I'm just getting back from dabbling in a few fatal conveniences myself. I took some time off for the first time in a couple of years, and obviously, a lot has been going on in the world, a lot of transpired, but also a lot of things have come from this mission and from The Model Health Show, we've crossed 500 episodes of the show, we've repeatedly been the number one health podcast in the country. Eat Smarter has come out and become a national best seller, is now getting translated in different languages.

Sleep Smarter my first book, we just crossed, I believe, our 21st translation, foreign publication as well, so a lot of really great things have been happening and just been on the move, moving and grooving, but I haven't really taken time off, like a consistent, like, let me step away from work, I've just been feeling so compelled to research and to teach, and so... But I know, of course, the benefits, but sometimes it could be hard to put these things into practice. So, I took some time off, did a little bit of a staycation, because as you probably know, moved to Los Angeles recently, just in time for a whole lot of crazy to kick off. Moved my family from St. Louis, Missouri, Ferguson, Florissant, Missouri, Wildwood, we stayed in Wildwood for a little bit, to Los Angles. California is a big, big change, big jump, and it was just in time, just a couple months prior to crazy kicking off in full steam, you know?

So, I was invited into California with a lot of different changes taking place, and at the beginning portion of moving here, I was working on Eat Smarter, obsessively. So, we didn't get a chance to actually explore and to see much of California, the state that we moved to, so I did a little bit of a staycation, went down to Huntington Beach. Shout out to everybody in Huntington Beach for all the love. So many folks were coming up to me, people who listen to The Model Health Show and just showing so much love. And I got to tell you, at the edge of California, to get to Huntington Beach is not that long, if there's no traffic at the edge of California, you're talking 30 minutes, and it's like a different universe. Some people gave me a heads up that it would be like that, but it really was. Life was "normal" there, in a sense, people were just out, businesses were open. There wasn't any restrictions on you coming in with your naked face. There was naked faces out. And it was just kind of really strange to see that the science, you know, just going a few miles was very different, because it's all based on science, right? All the mandates, restrictions is based on science.

Anyways, it's a little tongue in cheek, but it was very interesting to see and it was great to see being embraced, because I haven't had the opportunity to really get out much and of course, we see the love and the support via social media and all those things, but to be able to engage with people, to see folks, to give hugs and to connect, and to hear people's stories and their voices was definitely refreshing. So, shout out to everybody in Huntington Beach for all the love. But taking that time off and dipping my toes into the ocean, getting some more sun exposure and getting some fresh air and all those good things, well, we got to understand we live in a different reality, where even when we travel, a lot of the time, whether we're traveling by an airplane, we've got to understand what are the things, what are the different biological stressors that might be taking place with that. But whether or not we were jumping on a plane or whatever the case might be, when we get into a new environment, what we tend to do, even if we're in a beautiful, serene environment, many of us would bring in our tech along.

So, we're jumping right into that Internet universe. What could that be playing as far as an impact on our health? What role could that be playing as well? We're just jumping on our laptop, for example. So, we're going to talk about that today as well. So, these fatal conveniences and those words are pretty strong. So, our guest today is going to out-picture and kind of expand on why it's such a strong language. And I think, again, it's really going to surprise you. But I'm just so grateful for you being a part of this mission, we've got some powerful, very, very powerful masterclasses and guests coming up, and we're really working hard behind the scenes to help to shift our culture towards something that is more real and sustainable, that has a foundation of real health. Because unfortunately, that hasn't been a big topic of conversation with all this transpired. Nearly... We're going on nearly two years now, in getting our citizens healthier, improving the health of our immune system, and making us less susceptible to all manner of infectious disease and chronic diseases.

That hasn't gotten much spotlight at all, it's as if it doesn't exist in some domains and we're going to make sure that that is brought to the very top and the forefront of our attention. It's going to... Again, it's going to take a lot of work, and truly, it's going to take all of us stepping up and demonstrating what's possible, demanding better for ourselves, for our families, and for our communities, and walking in the direction and holding a vision for what's possible regardless of all the craziness that's taking place. What do we want our world to look like? What do we want our family structures to look like, our communities to look like? We get to write that right now, or we can pass the pen off to someone else. And I don't recommend that one. So, really excited for what we have coming up and just getting ready and pumped up for the journey ahead. And as you know, a big part of that is making sure that we're fueling our bodies, that we're not only sitting back and waiting to see what happens with our health and with our immune system, we're proactively fortifying and supporting our immune system with things that are clinically proven. Also helping to regulate and manage and reduce our presence of chronic diseases as well, with heart disease being the number one killer in our society. It's just on a roll. It's a dynasty of death.

It's a dynasty at this point. And this past year, 2020, we had almost 700,000 people pass away from heart disease, and you barely hear a whisper about it. On average, it's about 630,000 per year, but it took a jump for some strange reason in 2020, and yet it's not really talked about. Well, what are some of the things that we can do? Well, one of the things that we talk about in this episode, funny enough, and you'll see why, we talk about Chaga mushroom, C-H-A-G-A, right? We talk about this mushroom in the context of immune support, but also Chaga has a lot of clinical evidence regarding, well, a really interesting study, and this was published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology. And they published a fascinating research showing that Chaga, C-H-A-G-A, Chaga medicinal mushroom significantly decreases the expression of something called nuclear factor-kappa B or NF-kB. And this activates inflammation in the body, it's one of those inflammatory activators. And as you are very much aware of, inflammation is a huge driving force of the side effects from this particular infectious disease that is top of mind, but it's also a major driving force of heart disease, and that's what they were analyzing in this particular peer-reviewed study, is looking at something that can help to regulate what's at the core of our body's inflammatory response.

And Chaga is actually, here's a little fun fact, it's prescribed as a treatment for cardiovascular diseases in other countries, as well as there's a growing amount of utilization and peer-reviewed evidence on the effectiveness with Chaga in regard to cancer treatments as well and helping to drive and to optimize the performance of our natural killer cells, which are a big role player in our immune response. And our natural killer cells are really... They're malleable and trainable. They can become more effective at killing foreign invaders, including invaders that can take place from within in regard to cancer, for example. So really, really powerful, Chaga, and it's been utilized for thousands of years, and today, more and more research is coming out affirming how remarkable it is.

And funny enough, we actually talked about Chaga, and you'll see why 'cause it's going to... Really it's a curveball. It's something unexpected. We talked about Chaga in this episode, and one of the things that my special guest highlighted is that it's also one of the highest, most concentrated sources of antioxidants, of anything ever discovered. I'm a massive fan of Chaga, and I have Chaga just about every day. In this incredible formula, an elixir with Chaga, I have Chaga and cordyceps or Chaga and lion's mane, and also organic coffee as well, and that has a tremendous amount of benefits for the cardiovascular system as well.

You see study after study after study affirming that moderate coffee consumption is incredibly beneficial for the cardiovascular system and also longevity, so reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and increasing lifespan, so really cool stuff there, and you'd better know where to get it at this point. Make sure that it's organic, none of these crazy pesticide residues, any of that stuff that should not be coming along with things that are there to vitalize and support your body. You want to avoid those other things that are detrimental to our health. So organic and also the organic medicinal mushrooms and they're dual extracted, which is incredibly important, so you're making sure you're getting the hot water extract, alcohol extract, so you're actually getting all of these incredibly important and beneficial compounds out of the medicinal mushroom.

This is only from Four Sigmatic. Go to F-O-U-R-S-I-G-M-A-T-I-C.com/model. That's foursigmatic.com/model. You're going to get a special discount off of their amazing mushroom coffees, the Chaga and lion's mane or chaga and cordyceps, or you can just get the elixir. If you're not a fan of coffee, you can get the Chaga elixir. You got lion's mane, you've got cordyceps and so many incredible things to choose from. So, head over there, check 'em out, foursigmatic.com for a special discount as well, and on that note, let's get to our Apple Podcast review of the week.

ITUNES REVIEW: Another five-star review titled, "Truly the Best Podcast Ever, Go Listen," by Tat Marie. "I've been listening to The Model Health Show for years now. The information that Shawn and his guests share on his podcast are so empowering. The way he provides the information and backs it up with factual evidence and in a way that can easily be understood is so awesome and refreshing. As a 26-year-old woman, it is so great to receive this information for free and be able to share it with my friends and family. I'm constantly sharing the podcast to my socials and with those that I feel will benefit from the information provided. Thanks, Shawn and team. Keep sharing the powerful and empowering info and putting goodness out in the world."

SHAWN STEVENSON: That means so much. Thank you so, so very much for taking the time to leave me that review over on Apple Podcasts. Please keep them coming. If you're yet to do so, please pop over to Apple Podcasts and share your voice. It means the world to me. And listen, our special guest is just going to keep up-leveling things, and on this episode, we've got my really good friend, Darin Olien, New York Times best-selling author, and now Emmy Award-winning show on Netflix, Down to Earth with his co-star, Zac Efron. Darin is doing some amazing, amazing things, and he's going to be talking about a special series that he's been creating and the science around this and the insights and kind of pulling back the curtain and looking at these fatal conveniences, is one of the most important things that we really need to, again, pull back the veil and take a good look at and also look at how can we pivot, how can we upgrade things, so let's jump into this conversation with the one and only Darin Olien. Darin, my brother, welcome back to The Model Health Show.

DARIN OLIEN: I'm stoked to be here, man.

SHAWN STEVENSON: You brought along our first furry guest.

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Chaga is in the building right here. So, if anybody hears a little rumbling, little husky. Husky base is Chaga. Can you tell us a little bit about Chaga?

DARIN OLIEN: Chaga is four and a half, German shepherd from Germany. I got turned down from an adoption because of the size of my land, crazy, don't get me started. I tried to get a German shepherd and they was like, "Your property is too big." I was like, "What?" So, I found Chaga, he's got a first level of training, so he's got some protection, and you realize it's just his instinct as well too. So now I've been just taking him everywhere with me, orienting him outside of the property. He's had a lot of experience with the wild already, mountain lions, full-on, face-to-face bobcats, coyotes, and me. And so now just kind of getting him to be comfortable indoors and buildings and stuff like that. So yeah, I'm stoked and it's just, there's such a bond that it's actually harder and harder to leave him. So, it's cool.

SHAWN STEVENSON: That's awesome. That's so awesome. And of course, I've been to your place and yeah, it's a little rugged out there, and you got that awesome dome set up that you're staying in, and Chaga's right there, just so alert. Even when he walked in, he was scoping everything out, making sure everything's kosher for you, then he laid down.

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah. He smells everything. He checks everything out when it's cool, now he's out.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, yeah. So awesome man, thank you for bringing so... And I asked you this also, why did you name him Chaga?

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah, well, as soon as I met him, he was six weeks from Germany. I saw his coloring, and it was instant, that's what Chaga, the mushroom looks like on a birch tree. It's dark on the outside, barely looks like a... It's not a traditional mushroom-looking thing, it's kind of like this conch of the strange, kind of a tumor-looking thing off of the birch tree. So, it's dark on the outside with his coloring and then red and orange underneath and that's what he looks like, so I was like. That's Chaga.

SHAWN STEVENSON: That's awesome, and it's...

DARIN OLIEN: And it's one of my favorite mushrooms.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Right. It's funny you would say tumor-looking thing because there's so much peer-reviewed evidence on chaga versus cancer and increasing NK-cell activity like 200, 300% and all these incredible things.

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah, and there's a symbiosis with an injured birch tree. There's that use the anti-stress, the adaptogenic properties. Yeah, and it's one of the greatest antioxidants on the planet.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Facts.

DARIN OLIEN: And then when you also look at the use of it, literally throughout all major dynasties dating back from the 10,000 years in the traditional Chinese medicine, and the Vikings and all of these things deep into Mongolia and Russia, all of these major kingdoms used Chaga mushrooms.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Special man, and this is if again if you're not tuned into that, it's as if it doesn't exist in a sense for a large percentage of the population. Which is one of those story things, there's so much historical evidence, but also now, we have so much peer-review, and this is a big reason why I leverage science because it's just affirming so many things that our ancestors knew already. And so, you're a renowned superfood hunter, you're the very definition of what that is, and so chaga is one of the many things that you've explored, and you brought some wonderful things to the market. Like Barukas as we talked about earlier. But I wanted to bring you on today because truly it has been a breath of fresh air, which it might be a little bit of a pun, because of what we're going to talk about today with your Fatal Conveniences series. It's one of my favorite things to pop on and check out, and I love the little introductions to those Fatal Conveniences that you put on Instagram, those are really fun and engaging as well. So, what triggered you to want to... First of all, what is a fatal convenience, and what made you want to start talking about it?

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah, it's just quickly, a fatal convenience is one of those things in our world that you use, cellphone, deodorant, shampoo, laundry detergent, paint, disinfectants, hand sanitizer, blue jeans. It's literally things that you don't think about, you use them every day, but as we've scaled... And as we've commercialized and as we've capitalized, there has been places along the way where we've chemicalized these things, and so as we use them, there are things we're using every day that are actually undercutting us and our health. And the origin is very interesting because it had like layered effect on me.

So my father, if you really want to see the story to really understand why it affected him so much, he had what was called the chemical sensitivity disorder before any of the stuff ever was known, it was in the late '80s, early '90s, where all of a sudden my dad a perfume, a smell, a cologne, a shampoo, a deodorant any type of artificial smell neurologically and immunologically would throw him off. And he... And when he would tell you, and he'd be fogged out, this is a bright tenured professor, he would start complaining and the headaches and he kind of was like... When we first heard about it, I was like, "It got to be in his head." This sounds weird, right? What do you mean? And over time, he would then teach us as a family, then I graduated college, I'm now in Colorado, and in the early '90s, and so he keeps saying like, "Hey, if you're going to come back and you got to use these shampoos and these deodorants if you want to be around me and you can't wash your clothes in the... With these things, and these are the criteria to hang out with my dad.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Wow.

DARIN OLIEN: So, as we started... And then he stopped being a professor, still worked at the University of Minnesota, and then was a counselor. He went back to get a second master’s degree and then he... So, what happened was he started needing to educate the people on his floor, he'd send out these letters saying, "Hey, sorry, could you please not wear all of these things? They're kind of toxic and poisonous to me." And again, it was like, you know, pushing a massive boulder uphill, no one heard of this stuff, and it's a real thing and chemical sensitivity and make VHS tapes and give them to everybody, and then see these reports and all that stuff. And then over time, as I kind of desensitized myself and using these non-toxic products, I then became sensitive to the invasion of the perfumes and the colognes and all... I would like holy... And I would feel weird because I wasn't using them anymore.

So, the long story is, how and why some of that setup happened to my father. He was a naval operator, he was a keeper of the dragon, they called them, he was working on atomic bombs. So, he was in the Cuban Missile Crisis on an aircraft carrier, getting ready to drop the bomb, right? And so, he... That was his career in the Navy, and of course, he comes out and his thyroid is trashed. So then in their bright idea, he drinks another radioactive fluid, and it destroys the rest of it, and then he's on medication for the rest of his life, 'cause he has no thyroid. And I really believe that endocrine-disrupting situation really compromised him in a massive way. So, that's the Genesis story. And then as I kind of continued down that path, the first Dr. Mohsin Hermanish, who's kind of a sixth-generation farmer, but researcher and Ph.D., he dropped this bomb on me 20 years ago. And he said, hey, you know that cell phone you have, showed me all the studies back in the day, that's a fatal convenience, and here's the studies, and you put it up to your head and it disrupts, 'cause we're electrical and the DNA is working on electromagnetic sending in the RNA.

He's like, beyond chemistry and biology and all that stuff. And here's the studies to show it. And I was like, wait, what? And so, as he was starting to... Also, he educated me on a bunch of stuff and nutrition, had me look at certain things differently, that term just was like... It anchored in like, Oh, now electronics and EMFs, and then my father's history and this whole thing. And as I was exploring doing a podcast, this was popping up like, I don't want people to unnecessarily suffer. And that's... You know, listen, I... Only 'cause I listen to you so acutely now more than ever because you're going... I mean, you just do such great work making it palatable for people and doing such incredible research and unleashing that and unplugging that for people, so they understand it. And there's been many times where I'm like, I'm saying that I'm inspired by you as I'm looking through the stuff because you articulate it so well.

So, this practice now of kind of digging underneath things has been... It's weird because, on the one hand, I'm saying it, I'm such an optimist, optimistic person, that to realize that so many things that we're doing is hurting us. And when you realize that over time, when you've discovered something, formaldehyde, and a blue gene or whatever, and the FDA writes about it, they know about it, or the EPA in this case, but they don't do anything about it. And so, I'm like, I'm scratching my head going, "Okay, so it's a known carcinogen, here's the studies." You wrote an article on it, almost letting out the idea that you're less guilty or something, but yet you're not regulating anything. So, then these big things of like, oh, 60 to 90 untested chemicals are being emitted in our atmosphere every year in our environment. And then you're like going, Wow. So, do I think agencies are doing a good job? No, no. So, we then have to become our own watchdogs for these things, because they're... You know, you can eat all the good stuff you want, but you're being undercut by toxins, and then it's like sides of a coin, right?

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

DARIN OLIEN: So anyway, that's how it started, and now I'm just... I'm curious about it.

SHAWN STEVENSON: You know, it's so interesting because I've been bringing up this point as well. I would love if these regulatory entities really were looking out for us, I would love if that was the truth.

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah.

SHAWN STEVENSON: But the EPA has approved like 40,000 different chemicals for use in pesticides. It's like, it's insane. Like, in the Environmental Protection Agency, suppose... We're a part of the environment as well, they're supposed to be looking out for us. And now, chemicals like Chlorpyrifos used as a pesticide, well-documented, increased incidents of miscarriages, developmental issues for babies. The list goes on and on, but it's caught up in red tape, because companies... It's cheap, they get it down to a certain price point where it's easy to... The yield of the crops and all these different things, these manufacturers, they're...

Your health is not their concern, that's the big thing I think that we need to get. And also putting our trust in these regulatory agencies like, "Oh, it's FDA approved," or it's the EPA, whatever. That's just not the reality of things. And so, the point that I want to make is, for me, I'm very big on just look at the results. We have the highest rates of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's, ADHD, kidney disease, liver disease. The list goes on and on that we've ever seen in history. And we're supposed to be so evolved that we'd figure some of these things out, why is everything so bad? And what you're bringing up is it's not just one thing, it's this total... And many of these things are convenient things that we've really in a shadow way, just bought into, we don't think about it, that are all contributing to this pinnacle weird soup that we live in today.

DARIN OLIEN: And no one, no one knows the cumulative. No idea. And so, with even these regulatory things, doesn't mean anything, really doesn't... Their regulation of their bisphenol A or their Phthalate A it’s that show up almost in every personal care product that undercuts the hormonal system and disrupts it and contributes to liver and kidney disease, and cancer. No one knows. So, it's like, Okay, cool, well, you seem to try to regulate the shampoo, but what about the deodorant? And what about perfume? And what about the cosmetics that you're putting on your face? And so, can it be overwhelming? 100%. But it's like everything, you just have to go one thing at a time.

And I think the whole thing that I'm trying to do is I'm revealing a fatal convenience, but then I'm really trying to spend time with a solution to get like, "Hey, you don't have to not use the cell phone or the laptop, or dental floss, that super glide stuff has Teflon on it, shown and proven already that it contributes to cancer of the kidney. So just because it's convenient and it slides through, it's got Teflon and Teflon is the most permeated chemical in the world, period. So even that non-stick pan, throw it away right now. Throw it away, just... Now, I use this bamboo dental floss and I just put it on the water before I use it, I'm like, Okay, now it works pretty much the same, it's like you just find these little techniques instead of going... 'Cause once you know, I'm like, "Yeah, I don't know but I want to put Teflon in my mouth."

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, and it's such a sensitive place as well.

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah, you're going to absorb. I don't want to cook my food in it, convenient for it not to stick, but is it worth that convenience for just punching you in the kidney cancer guts?

SHAWN STEVENSON: This is... And I'm just going to be 1000 with you, some of these things, I was even... I guess a part of me was like, I don't know if I want to talk about these things because of the fact of for many people, it's not for me personally, but there are recesses of my mind that would still do this, but some people just feel like I just don't want to know, I don't... Just don't tell me so it doesn't freak me out, and it would be this concept of ignorance is bliss, that's a really twisted way to look at things because it's not bliss, it's stacking conditions against you. So at least we can be enlightened about the things, we don't have to be neurotic about them, but it is your responsibility to know, and we have to stop taking things at face value because we live in a very different world than what we evolved in.

So, one of those things is... And then again, we’re keeping it 1000, one of those things with the fatal conveniences that you've highlighted is mouthwash right now. I'm a big fan of people not having the stink in his breath when they're talking to me in close proximity, I would prefer to not have to deal with that, and so I'm a fan of oral hygiene, all that good stuff. But the way that we've gone about it, wow, this is a little bit scary. Can you talk about this fatal convenience of mouthwash?

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah, it's fun when I do these things because you look at the history and the real... Throughout, literally from the Egyptian times, we all want a good breath, so it's not changed, we don't want to... And actually, there was a point where they were using... I don't know why, but Portuguese, some had great urine, for whatever reason, but people were using urine and it's a very... Actually, very sanitizing thing. So that history has been there for a long time.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Let me get this straight, people were using not just any urine but Portuguese urine, was the ideal for the cleanliness of the mouth.

DARIN OLIEN: It's like anything from the dastardly deeds of even shark finning for the Chinese. For some reason, they get thinking that that's doing anything for their health, so who the hell knows? I was just looking at the history, getting fascinated, like, let's just unpack this because you start to see like, 'Oh, once these guys got a hold of it, they still had menthol and eucalyptus at its core, they're still using things that weren't disturbing the microflora, keep in mind, the mouth is the second largest population of good bacteria, of all bacteria, but of good bacteria.

SHAWN STEVENSON: The oral microbiome.

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

DARIN OLIEN: And so, think about that, your digestion, it's happening. And then it takes that turn, where Listerine started and all these other ones, and so when you get that alcohol base, you're just now at that proximity, you're just starting to wipe out the bacteria and so all of it. So now the dependence on that, and keep in mind, you have to peel the layers, and no one wants to do that work. So, it's like number one, if you're having bad breath, it's probably going on in the gut, it's probably food selection, it's probably an indicator. I mean, I don't know about you, but when I've stood in front of people, they're literally dying, not that their breath is so bad, but my senses are like, they're dying.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And we say that too like something died in there. But yeah.

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah, yeah. But I think instinctual-ly, we actually know that whatever they're doing, they're not thriving, and so it's a very deep thing, so the microbiome down in the stomach is being affected then ineffective enzymatic activity, and then when it's in the mouth, you've just annihilated and now you just keep doing that. And so, it's getting progressively worse.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Because that alcohol is acting like a total destroyer of microflora.

DARIN OLIEN: Exactly.

SHAWN STEVENSON: It doesn't care if it's good or bad.

DARIN OLIEN: It doesn't matter, and that's where over sanitization of any kind is not a good idea, like even the hands and the hypochondriacs in this day and age, it can cause a lot of problems, and so wiping that out only exacerbates that whole thing, and now you have on top of it again, these fatal conveniences of multiple punches, so now you've got yellow number... What was it? Listerine was always that faint yellow that was their signature...

SHAWN STEVENSON: Are you talking about that Brown issue in Listerine?

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah, literally looked like urine.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Listen, that stuff. The first time I had it was at my grandmother's neighbor's house, Mrs. Sweet, her name was Mrs. Sweet, and she had some brown Listerine, I don't know why I had it. And I had some and I felt like, oh, this is what it tastes like to be 50 years older, like instantaneously, like that would be a good slogan for them, Listerine, brown Listerine. If you want to know what it tastes like to be 50 years older, drink this today, or if you want to feel... Now I'm just spit balling some ideas here, about brown Listerine's ad it is so terrible. If fresh breath isn't enough, and an exorcism is needed instead reach for brown Listerine.

DARIN OLIEN: 'Cause you got a demon.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Do you enjoy self-flagellation? Beat your microbiome to a pulp with Brown Listerine.

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah, yeah. You're dealing with a pH and acidic environment, anaerobic environment, and on top of it. So again, there's multiple part, once you start chemicalizing things and not obeying nature, then that acidity changes. So once that die-off happens from the microflora, that acidity changes, and so now it becomes more acidic after about 5.5 pH. Now it literally, the second wave of that is just eating your enamel, so now you're literally kind of under-cutting that, not to mention the yellow number threes and the green number six's is... Or if I've got those mixed up, I don't know, but those as well, are carcinogenic and connected to cancer, so you're like, how many different... And some of these fatal conveniences dude, I just have to literally...

I mean, I'm working on a book right now where I can kind of dig, dig, dig deeper, but some of these things are so many, I just have to kind of go, "Okay. What's the top three things or one that we can focus on that, that is going on, so I can distill that down to go... This is bad enough, so let me just focus on that and tell people how gnarly this is," but when you start picking it apart, and not to mention the overuse of it, just destroy all of these little things that aren't so little... Think about over 20 years, 25, all that stuff. You can't survive. It's like a forest fire coming through and wiping out the ecosystem all the time is every time you swish with that stuffs.

SHAWN STEVENSON: You know what's hitting you right now is the fact that the digestive process really does start in the mouth, and so you're encoding your food with your DNA and RNA, you're encoding your food with your own enzymes which your body is producing, getting that food familiar with your system could our devastation of our oral microbiome be leading to autoimmune issues and all these digestive distress issues that are again, skyrocketing today as well but we don't attribute it to things like this, and it likely definitely plays a large part.

DARIN OLIEN: It has to... Like again, every... You know this, every zone in your body is a different zone, it's a different thriving ecosystem, it's got its own balances, acids, alkalines, all of these stuff, so is your mouth. So, you're bringing in acidic thing every day, in multiple times a day, and you've changed the environment. Now, those amylase enzymes, not to mention, you've already killed the bacteria, and now the amylase that you need for carbohydrates to start that process is no longer there. It can't thrive, it can't do its job. And so, we're just playing with this is... We're throwing things at it, just our whole American view of health is so flipped. It's literally almost the opposite of what you should be doing. You know what I mean?

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

DARIN OLIEN: So that's where I'm like, "Of course, I like good breath, but let's just make sure that you're eating well." And eucalyptus is still great, peppermint, still great. Clean up your diet, eat... Chew on some mint leaves. There's a million different things that you can do to not expose yourself to harm.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Instead, we reach for that brown Listerine. I forgot about the brown Listerine, man. Of course, I know the more cool mint type, but that brown Listerine changed my life, alright? It made me feel like... Have you seen the preview for M. Night Shyamalan's newest movie? It's like where people go to an island, and they get old really fast.

DARIN OLIEN: No, I haven't seen it.

SHAWN STEVENSON: It felt like that. I felt like I started to decay. And I just thought of another slogan, because I think it came out in 1879, from listening to your fatal convenience on it. "Do you fancy capital punishment? Don't give them the chair, give them brown Listerine, executing people's microbiome since 1879." Alright?

DARIN OLIEN: Exactly.

SHAWN STEVENSON: So, it's so crazy that these things are... Again, it just becomes a normal part of our life. It's a fatal convenience. Fresh breath, kill... Get everything sterilized in there, which that is the wrong approach. We're not looking to be sterilized, we're looking for cleanliness, for balance. But the last thing that I want to mention and throw it back to you is that when we're devastating this oral microbiome, we're creating the susceptibility for pathogens, for more gnarly things because we don't have that protective... The force field.

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah, and that's the... You think about that. I remember saying this in my book when I had this moment. I'm like, "How vulnerable are we, opening up our mouth and putting stuff in?" From out here to in there. And now we're talking about the very start of that process. And you've divorced nature, you've doubled down on chemistry that hasn't even been vetted, for the most part. We're going back to that stat where what, 9000 total of the 60,000 chemicals created every year are tested? And of those tested, they're pretty compromised in their testing to get the results that they want and all of those things. So, it's like, "Listen, you can... Hell, you can grab a spruce leaf and start chewing on it. It's fricking great for your mouth. And there's no side effects." So yeah, you are literally creating a dangerous scenario. You have... Germ theory, terrain theory. So, think about just that first place, where you've now... Germs, we all know this, or maybe some don't, but germ theory, it's the basis of American Medical Association, that, "Oh, we're going to catch something." Whereas Antoine Béchamp, back in the day, who was one of the greatest microbiological researchers of our time, he said, "No, no, no, the environment that a bacteria or a virus comes into knows what it needs to survive."

So, if it has an environment where it will and can survive it will hang out and proliferate. If it doesn't, it takes off. It'd be like, okay, you go to the Arctic right now and you're going to be like, "Hell no. It's freezing, I don't know where my food is. I'm out." It's the same thing. The intelligence of life at its core knows how to thrive and survive. So, if you've now changed your terrain, you've made it acidic, anaerobic, now you've invited other types of bad, not so beneficial microbes and viruses to come into that very opening that you've now said, "World, come in." So, it is... So yeah, can we be dramatic about it? Hell, yeah, we can be dramatic about it. Stop doing these things that are literally undercutting your... And my whole thing dude comes down to, I just want people to have a freaking great life. It's what it all comes down to. So, listen, don't do that, do this instead. And the cool thing is, if we have a bunch of us become aware of these things that are harming us, that naturally says don't do that, and then we're not going to pay for those anymore. We're going to pay for these healthier ones. And then that whole world's going to increase, and the other guys are going to be forced to change and get out of this whole thing.

So that's the undercurrent as well, is you get to feel better, you get to have a healthier life not being punched in the kidney with these chemicals, or liver, or whatever, and you get to start feeling better. And so, it's just this whole thing. So, we can't... In this day and age, we can't just pretend we got to just eat perfectly. I believe this to my core. I saw my father suffer. We also have to learn how to get away from the chemicalized food, processed foods, personal care, EMFs, the experiment that we're doing with no oversight. I don't care what agency and letters there are, there's no oversight, not for this magnitude. So, it's on us. We're having this conversation. It's literally on us. You're doing it, you're peeling back these layers so that people can understand. This is what's going on. But I like that because I too grew up with the delusion that I thought everyone had... Governments were supposed to do what they're supposed to do, the UN's supposed to do what they're supposed to do, and I see a lot of failure. And so I'm like, "That's cool. Now, we got to... Let's do it." And again, I always go back to this example too, where I was like water. So, I'm in the middle... Literally, to this day, I can see the scene. I'm in the middle of Africa...

I'm looking at baobab. So, baobab, Madagascar, Western Africa, Southern Africa, incredible baobab tree. It's incredible superfood but it comes from these crazy places. And I was there it's funny, whole funny story but then I got involved with Rain Catcher, this organization doesn't exist anymore, but a very simple way of filtering water. And I just saw this kid getting this water that was just horrific. And there was animals and feces and everything else. They needed water and he was walking back, and I'm like, "How is this possible?" And there's more NGOs than you can possibly imagine in Africa. You can possibly... There's more resources in Africa, food and precious metals, and like, "So okay, well, it's not working out. They're not solving problems." And then I'm like, "Where's the UN? Where are these... " So I'm sitting there going... I'm watching Russian Roulette play out right in front of me. And I'm like, "Let me clean that water." So, I take the jerrycan, dirt water. I don't mean to go off on the water but I'm making a point here. Many people throughout those areas never seen what clean water looks like. So, I clean this water, I show it to him and, boom, they have clean water. And there's no moving parts, they don't have to... It's the filter.

And so, it goes back to the same thing full circle. It's like, I'm seeing it. Its people are being affected. I saw my father being affected. I'm seeing research. I'm seeing people, I'm seeing chemicals and stuff that are clearly disrupting hormones and causing cancer. So, what, am I going to turn away from it? It's right there. Am I going to turn away from the kid? I'm sitting here with a filter. No. So that's the thing underneath it all. It's like, I don't know why these organizations... Listen, that being said, there's some great people in those organizations trying to do great things. I've met them. They're wonderful. So, I don't want to come off saying, "All of these people and organizations suck." I don't think they're being effective as they can be. And I think we lose track of boots on the ground. And we lose track of diapers on a baby that are full of plastic. It's a really, really, really bad thing. Laptops on a mother who has a baby is proven to cause impediment to an unborn baby, and the mom. So, these things need to be shared because people are suffering unnecessarily.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And there's... Man, that's powerful. And the beautiful thing is, you just directed it back to us. And we are so powerful but if we're not aware of that ability to choose, to learn, to educate ourselves, we relent to have other people in organizations making choices for us, which they're basically laying out what the American Dream looks like or civilization looks like, by basically poisoning a baby from day one with all these abnormal things that we're putting onto their bodies, to the abnormal formulas, and the list goes on and on. But to take a step back, even with... We started with mouthwash being one of these fatal conveniences and you mentioned something like even with the hygiene aspect of flossing by using a bamboo floss, just wet it a little bit or getting toothpaste... Just start, take a step that doesn't have artificial chemicals and dyes and parabens, and just get something a little bit better. And we actually had on Katie Wells, Wellness Mama, so she's got some great brands that are utilizing again simple things, essential oils, natural ingredients. But we've got to understand this there's a transition with that because you're not, basically, destroying your oral microbiome with Listerine anymore, so it's not going to be the same when you use coconut oil and a little bit of peppermint essential oil. That's what I do, and I'll do the swishing with that for a bit...

DARIN OLIEN: Oil pulling.

SHAWN STEVENSON: What's referred to as oil pulling, you know what I mean? And helping to clean house in there, a little refreshing but not like Megatron devastation taking place, you know what I mean? So, what are some other things that we could do as far as oral health?

DARIN OLIEN: Well, yeah, that one's a good one. Obviously, the oil pulling that goes back 20,000 years, basically, at Ayurveda. So that's largely maybe the most, the oldest healthcare system. And I would, again, go back to what you're eating, so those kinds of things.

SHAWN STEVENSON: That's making your teeth.

DARIN OLIEN: Huh?

SHAWN STEVENSON: It's what makes your teeth.

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah.

SHAWN STEVENSON: The food that you eat.

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah, exactly. And the Microflora. So, what...

SHAWN STEVENSON: And the smells coming out of you.

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah, yeah, big time. So, ask your partner what do I smell like? What is it? And that can be an indicator. But simple things like... And again, you go back to... I don't use any swishing stuff aside from oil pulling on a somewhat consistent basis. I just go back to healthy tooth brushing and healthy toothpaste without propylene glycols and whitening stuff and all of those things. So, there's a lot of... And literally just a little colloidal silver...

Is great antibacterial. Add it in some water, swish it around. And if you want the zing, you can put a drop of peppermint in there, and really, even tea tree, alright? And swish it around, swish it out. These things are incredible, and they don't have side effects of undercutting your entire health. And have been used again for... Tea tree's incredible. I even use it on surfing, brushing up against rocks, and cutting yourself, and it's fantastic. So yeah.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Awesome. So just to reiterate, just take a step.

DARIN OLIEN: Take a step.

SHAWN STEVENSON: So, whether it's switching out your floss, maybe swapping out your mouthwash or your toothpaste. Just take a step. It doesn't have to be perfect, but let's just reduce our exposure to these fatal conveniences a little bit at a time. And I love that you started with that. I want to ask you about the next one, which I just went to a friend of mine, he's a comedian and he was doing a set, and he kept on putting Chapstick on during the set, and he was making jokes about it as well. And I had saw your fatal convenience of the Chapstick. And it was a great time, it was incredibly funny. But at the same time, I was like, "Man, that's one of those things that Darin was talking about." So Chapstick. And I know, again, some people are like, "What about my Chapstick? I'm not giving up my Chapstick." I'm not... Just relax. We have to be informed.

DARIN OLIEN: Just inform yourself.

SHAWN STEVENSON: That's the thing.

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah, it's weird because let's just stay away... At this point of the... Whatever chemicals are in there. So first off, you're undercutting the natural signals of your lips, first. So, your lips are creating new cells underneath, and then each layer is drying out, and then it comes out. And if your lips are being... Lips are super sensitive, right? They're like this little receiver of the environment, as well as your nose from an olfactory standpoint. So, if it's dry, then your body turns on that cycle faster. So, then that... So, this is all... Like when you hear it, it's like, "Duh, it makes sense." So, it turns that on and then turns that over. Of course, hydration plays a role, 'cause I too have been on an airplane and been traveling, and I'm like, "Oh my God, I haven't even drank enough water." And you can definitely fall into that and then all of the coconut oil or something. But that being aside, as soon as you start putting that layer on, now you're literally turning off that signal, 'cause now the lips aren't perceiving it. You've created a barrier of your lips receiving that signal, so it shuts off that cycling process of creating new cells.

So now, all of a sudden, it's not cycling. But as soon as that wears off your lips are extremely dry because there's nothing happening. This natural cycle is not happening. So, then you go back, and you hit it again and hit it again, and hit it again, and then you literally become addicted, and your lips become addicted to it. The major chemical side of this thing is parabens, alright? So, these things... God, there's just certain chemicals that show up in so many things. Phthalates show up in so many personal care products, parabens show up. And this is, again, it's a known carcinogen. So, you're...

SHAWN STEVENSON: Again, known carcinogen. Cancer-causing agent, that's what it means.

DARIN OLIEN: Bingo. And you're like... Just sit with that for a second. "I'm going to put this on my lips? And why the hell is it in my Chapstick?" So that's an obvious no, no. So, you're... So, it's trying to... And not to mention, I think it's up to six layers deep. It's a very penetrating compound. And so, it's affecting... And I haven't even looked into what it's doing from a vitamin D perspective, but how is it disrupting the chemicalizing of the skin itself? It's penetrating so deeply. So, your dermis, epidermis, and you're going into all of that stuff you're affecting that and bringing a known carcinogen deep into your lips. So, what are the links of cancer as it relates to Chapstick and... I don't even know yet.

So those are the things that... The biggest thing you're, again, you're undercutting your natural cycle of your skin production on your lips specifically, and then you're putting a known carcinogen. It's just a prescription for disaster. And then you get to this point where you literally, "I'm so addicted to putting it on" that it's tough to break that cycle. But you have to get through that little uncomfortable bit of letting your lips cycle through and rehydrate themselves and get some of that new skin cell out in front. So yeah, maybe it's a little inconvenient for a week, but then you'll break the habit of this. And listen, if you're in a gnarly situation, there's shea butter and coconut oil. And I have had to use those.

I remember traveling for Down To Earth in Australia, we were in the middle of some heavy heat and dry, and ocean, and there’s definitely moments where I was like, "Wow, I need something." But I would never, ever put a commercial product on my lips. There's this organic coconut oil that I take everywhere with me anyway. So that's what I would use. And easy to not use in terms of that... The commercialized thing, I would just stay away from. And there are some beeswax or bee companies doing some cool stuff with propolis. And I think even they're throwing some vitamin D in there as well. And so, there's some companies... And you might even be connected to some.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Beekeepers?

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah, Beekeepers.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Oh, yeah, yeah, big fan of Beekeepers.

DARIN OLIEN: So, Beekeepers are doing some good stuff. Yeah, so that wasn't even meant to be a plug, but I have heard they've been doing some great stuff. And that's, again, that's... You know, as listeners here, it's great to know that there's companies that are following nature and following physiology, chemistry, biology, and using these natural products that go with it. And then, "Oh wow, I can still use this, I can still... Makes my lips feel great, but I'm not undercutting my own chemistry and biology of what my lips need to do, what my lips need to sense, and most importantly, the disruption and the hormone disruption and the cancer potentiation that you're doing with this stuff." I mean, come on.

SHAWN STEVENSON: That was so powerful. That was the thing, the truth, the idea that was new to me was the fact that the constant dependence upon the Chapstick, it's preventing your lips from doing the thing that it would be doing to produce the skin cells necessary to have the texture and the balance that is needed because it's not getting a chance to do it because you've created this addiction. And so that's one aspect. And the other aspect being that putting these things on our lips, of course, what you put on your skin you're also eating, and that's literally on your mouth, it's on your lips in the first place, so you're definitely getting you a nice helping of that stuff. So, preventing the lips from doing what they're designed to do, but also this is a game-changer, your lips are giving you feedback for what you need. They're sensors, your skin overall, but really your lips in a more intense way in a sense, is giving you feedback about potential deficiencies in things, or your body's thermal regulation or whatever the case might be. Just like, "Shut up, lips," throw this, throw this Carmex on there.

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah, yeah. Immunity levels and whatever else. And that's the thing. I'm working right now on the book, and I'm getting it to a lot of... I've done a few, but I'm getting a lot into the women's cosmetics side of things. We're just talking about lipstick; I mean we're just talking about Chapstick. Imagine now...

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, right. It's a little bit crazy.

DARIN OLIEN: So that's a whole another opportunity of change.

SHAWN STEVENSON: I don't know how many times people have licked their lips during this part of the show.

DARIN OLIEN: I know, even me.

SHAWN STEVENSON: We got a bunch of LL Cool J's out there right now, listening. But yeah, it's just, our bodies are amazing, our bodies are able to adapt and to be in balance, but we live in an abnormal condition where we're not allowing our bodies to reset homeostasis. We're constantly masking symptoms. So, what are your dry lips trying to tell you, or your cracked lips or whatever case might be? And like you said, there's a transition point where you're allowing your body to rebalance itself. You got to trust the process, you can use some natural things like you mentioned, and many good companies are stepping up to upgrade things, remove a lot of the toxic chemicals and use things that are proven, that have historical background, and also some peer-reviewed evidence as well. So, it's really powerful stuff. So, we covered mouthwash, we covered Chapstick. Now, I got to ask you, this was the one I was like, "I don't know, I don't know if we should talk about this one." And this is flying, commercial flying. Why is this a fatal convenience?

DARIN OLIEN: Well, there's two layers to that actually. The scanner, which is one part of it, the TSA scanner, and then the flying. There's so many actually, and I kept it pretty brief in that one, but there's so many different aspects to it. Because we're up higher, we're getting hit with more cosmic radiation, that's not the UVA, UVB. UVA largely gets taken care of, before it hits the earth, but we're getting more of it. So, it's very carcinogenic, that type of radiation. So not to mention that, so it's very stressful on the body, but you're also in a low oxygen environment, and the pressurization creates fluid build-up and thrombosis, and blood clots. And so, if you're not healthy and you don't have good circulation, it's literally dangerous to get on a plane. There's certain things I could say about the state of the world right now, that make it even more dangerous, but I'll probably refrain from opening up that can of worms.

SHAWN STEVENSON: For now.

DARIN OLIEN: For now. But yeah, it creates a whole... So, there's a stress response, there's low oxygen environment, there's cosmic radiation.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Can we stay on this cosmic radiation part, for a second again? That might sound cool, like silver surfer or whatever, you might be... No. Humans if we... Just to be rational about this, we're not designed to be up there.

DARIN OLIEN: No.

SHAWN STEVENSON: That's something...

DARIN OLIEN: Thirty-five to 40,000 feet.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And it's been... As far as... The ability to do this on a semi-consistent basis is literally just recent decades, just a few decades. And so, have we adapted to that? Have we evolved to be able... No. We're not even remotely close to that. And that's the thing for us to understand. And what are the ramifications? We don't know, but we do see higher rates of certain things taking place with flight attendants, with pilots, for example. And so... But this is a place for... One of... My youngest son's godmother, she's been a flight attendant for like 40 years, but she's also so invested in health, she's done so much, and she's seen people come and go for many years. And so, we want to double down on your personal health care if you are required to be traveling a lot. We've got to keep in mind that this is a very abnormal thing, and that radiation is a real thing.

And also, and this is what I want to lean into a little bit more, essentially, the recycled air aspect, and the massive lack of moisture just when you get up there, the air you're accessing, and this is why you become rapidly, significantly dehydrated. One expert, I remember, from a few years back, was giving an analogy of it being three times... The air being three times more dry than the Sahara desert. And so, you're having a direct 1%, 2% drop in your body's baseline hydration level, which that in of itself can damage your DNA, lead to cognitive decline. And also, there's something in the mix here, if people want to think about what are the symptoms. Of course, you'll probably feel a little bit more fatigued, you'll probably of course may be more irritable, you get drunk faster.

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah, absolutely.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Talk about that. How is that happening?

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah. Well, because of the poor oxygen, the slowing of the metabolism. Yeah, you put this poison in your body, it's a four-alarm fire of trying to get this poison metabolized out of your body. Keep in mind, people, that alcohol is a poison. It raises this alarm in the body, so when your body is under that level of stress, it quickly moves alcohol to its number one, because now you've just ingested a poison, on top of all of these things. So, your body's ability to deal with that gets compromised quite a bit. And not to mention, it just adds to... And that's the funny thing is, I don't understand when people get on a plane, they let go in a certain sense, they just start drinking more, or they just eat all this kind of food, which I always bring food. People are like, "Oh, you can do that?" I literally, I have a backpack, I've made a salad, I've put it in a mason jar and like...

SHAWN STEVENSON: I'm bringing food or I'm not eating.

DARIN OLIEN: Exactly. It's a great fasting.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And by the way, some researchers, the Salk Institute has really been pioneering so much of the workaround circadian medicine, and one of the things they've talked about, that they're confirming the data is when you're shifting time zones, one of the ways to help your body to adjust quicker, because this can throw off your body's clock. Again, it's another thing we're not designed to do is, "Let's pick this human up and plop them somewhere else." You're not traveling by horse and buggy, this is within an hour, or whatever the case might be, you can be in a totally different location.

And so that can throw off your body's connection with the environment, with life. And so, one of the ways to accelerate you adapting to the new environment is, fasting, which is again, this is cutting edge research and it's something so simple. But so, again, sorry to interrupt, but also bringing your food and/or fast. And so, when they're coming by with that tray, they got the cookies and the chips and the sizzling pudding pops and all the... They got all the goodies, it's just like, just say no, you don't know what it's spiked with. I don't know if people are going to get that layered joke, that's layer. Anyways, you got me now.

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah, and you add on top of it, the processed food, and the sugars and all of that stuff, and the thing that I try to double down on, the hydration as well, during that time. I bring a glass bottle and just for my own placebo, I take their plastic bottles and pour it in mine, I shake it up and I just try to help that scenario. But what you brought up with the circadian rhythm is very, very real, and especially when you have five hours, six, 10, these things that now it's really... Can mess you up. So again, the more diligent you are, while you're in the air, get up, move around, do some breathing, nose breathing only, try to create the scenario 'cause the nitric oxide naturally releases from your nose, so the oxygen you are taking in, is going to be more available, while deep breathing in the alveoli. And then, not to mention, that dry bloody air coming in, at least it's going to be moisturized a little bit through the nasal passages.

So, again it's just these little things that are so powerful when you add them up, when you're in this weird, like you said, this weird artificial environment that we definitely have not adapted to. So, you just want to... This whole thing, all of these things, are just the ways that, "How can I minimize the level of stress?" And I love that, 'cause I haven't seen that study with fasting. I've done it many times instinctually, or that I didn't have food and I always feel better. And I love that there's a study on that, I'm going to have to grab that study from you. So yeah, it's just minimizing all of this stuff. And then if we want to just touch on the scanner thing, since we're in the airport mode, these TSA scanners are so interesting to me, that this millimeter, non-ionizing radiation, the interesting thing was, there was a bunch of... And you'll find this weirdly interesting. As I was digging, there's a few doctors having statements of going, "I'm concerned." I'm like, "Okay." Like, "I'm concerned about these millimeter waves. Thank God we're not using ionizing radiation," 'cause at one point, we were full X-rays. So that TSA thing that you go in, and it scans your body, it's using non-ionizing, but keep in mind, non-ionizing, it's a type of microwave. Hello?

SHAWN STEVENSON: Alright, we want people to hear that part. It's a type of microwave.

DARIN OLIEN: You're going into a microwave. So, when you have a TSA agent and you ask them a question, "Not Safe." It's what all they say, they don't know anything about anything. You're going into a microwave, it's a millimeter/voltage of EMF, it's like a concentration EMF generator. Enough to look through your freaking body and to see if you have anything. So, here's the easy thing. EMF, heavy EMF exposure, we know that there's a lot of stress, cellular stress, pushing the calcium out, creating a lot of osmotic pressure, and calcium changes and DNA strain and stress and damage. So that's... We know that. So why would you put yourself in that position? You have an out, you literally have an out. You can opt-out. I have never... And I've traveled a lot...

SHAWN STEVENSON: A lot.

DARIN OLIEN: I have never been in one of those things, ever. So as soon as I have the Global Entry and the pre-screen, all of that stuff too, so that helps. Those are helpful.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Sometimes they don't even have scanners for those, a lot of times they don't.

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah, you just walk through the regular...

SHAWN STEVENSON: Metal detector.

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah. But clearly, international, blah, blah, blah, and you're going to run into these scanners. So, all I do is go... Look at the guy who's going to walk you through or walk you in, I said, "I want to opt-out." They look at you a little funny, and they said, "Okay," and then they yell to the guy, "We got a male opt-out," because the male has to be with the male and the female has to be with the female. And so, then you just wait patiently.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Then a really highly qualified PSA agent comes.

DARIN OLIEN: Highly qualified.

SHAWN STEVENSON: To give you a personal scan.

DARIN OLIEN: Personal pat-down scan.

SHAWN STEVENSON: So, this is great. I've been that guy as well. It's just sometimes you don't want to be that guy because everything is just... Is normal, which is abnormal, it's people that are just funneling through this instant microwave. But here's the thing too, because the thing that comes up for me is, "Oh, it's just like that, it's just a quick second." But within a quick second, these waves shoot through your body, through yourselves, it could literally damage your DNA, it's not a joke. But, to what degree? I don't know. But once we start stacking these things on top of each other, again, and getting more and more away from being human, and these are... We're tinkering with things that we've never had exposure to, in our evolution. We're tinkering with these things under the guise of protecting our citizens, for example, which again... Yeah. Talk about that.

DARIN OLIEN: It's so crazy. Most of these new ones were implemented from 9/11. We pushed all this in and we're like, "Listen, who's going to say no? So yeah, let's get these new... Let's stop all this stuff." Guess what hasn't been thwarted anything. These scanners haven't stopped any known attack since the beginning. So now what, 20 years later? So, they don't want that inform... 'Cause as I was digging, number one, there was very little on-record study, specifically on the TSA scanner. But there was a bunch of these statements of guys, they have concerns. So, I couldn't find any real, real studies. But then you could go, "Okay, it's microwave, it's this, of course. And then there's some studies that show, but... " They were avoiding that kind of thing. And then, what they really don't want you to know is that they've virtually been ineffective at stopping anything.

And you know what one of the bloody statements of one of the manufacturers and the guys in the airport security head guy said? He said, "Well, it's a placebo. Well, it deters people." Are you kidding me? So now, we're going to go into a microwave, and the best answer you got is, it's good at deterring people. Guess what I could do? I can give you a dog. My dog, he's intimidating, a 90-pound German Shepherd, and no one has to go in a microwave. Just have a German Shepherd sitting right there.

SHAWN STEVENSON: It's a deterrent.

DARIN OLIEN: That'd deter.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Again, these are all these fatal conveniences, and it appears that these things become normalized. And it seems to make it more convenient, so we don't have to hold up the line, we don't have to take more time, whatever the case might be, getting to where we're trying to go, but at what cost. And so just for us to just be aware of these things, I'm so grateful to have on to talk about these things. I want to ask you about a few more of these, and the next one is... Oh man, this one is... It's crazy, cough syrup. Let's talk about that. Why is that a fatal convenience?

DARIN OLIEN: Cough syrup, that surprised me. Because I'm like, "Okay, I'm assuming codeine, we're going to find codeine in there." It's a dilator, bronchodilator, had bronchodilators all the time if you have bronchial issues. Number one, the cough drops and cough things, but again, this goes way back. You've been dealing with... No one wants a freaking annoying cough, but there's a very real reason why we're coughing. It's a protectant to get rid of these irritants that are bothering us, to surround them in fluid to get them out of the body. So coughing is a normal thing. But there's a certain point where it can then start to cause some damage too. So, then we're like, "Okay, how do we deal with this?" So, the history is fun to understand. He's just checking in; my little child is checking in after his nap.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And you were sharing that in The Fatal Convenience, and I love this because... And I love that you mentioned that earlier, about our vibe and our connection, but I was listening and getting some of the history and it was just like, "That's what I would do," because I'm interested in, "Where did this start?" And so, in the beginning... Well, again, we don't know how far back this goes, but some of the newer injunctions of "cough drops", were... Again, some of them are based on natural things. But then we start to get into the more chemical nature and before you know it, once we open that door, things can get scary quick. So, you mentioned the codon being one of the things. And then again, it has this biological effect, but what are the other effects that it can have?

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah. And the codeine is a scary one because you can use that. And I think the most... The biggest scary thing the way I was looking at, is this new compound, I forget the big name but it's DMX. So, this is used by children because...

SHAWN STEVENSON: It's DXM.

DARIN OLIEN: Oh, sorry. Yeah, so it's DXM, I forget the whole...

SHAWN STEVENSON: I was like, "Dog, DXM."

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah, DXM. And this is interesting, the way our thought process is when we're creating these things. So DXM, originally, we're like, "Let's use menthols, eucalyptus, honey, lemon, warm water. Let's use those things to soothe and coat and all of that stuff." The DXM, they go, "No, screw it. Let's just go neurologic. Let's just go all the way and try to change the neurological mechanisms of your body coughing." So, you're like, "What the hell?" And I literally had no idea that this existed because I'm... I go in with a... I know that there are some problems. And this one blew me away. And of course, as soon as you use it or abuse it, you start getting some issues. So, kids started using this and you start getting high, hallucinating, and then it derails and literally can... And then you start combining it with the...

SHAWN STEVENSON: Alcohol.

DARIN OLIEN: Alcohol, the codeine, and now you're just experimenting in this pharmacological soup that, in its core, is disrupting neurological mechanism of coughing. So, this is a very, very dangerous chemical that is in our cough syrup, for God's sake. So that was the alarming side of this, and you realize how many kids are suffering, you realize how many psychotic breaks that it can cause, and neurological issues. And I was like, "That's cough syrup. That's cough syrup, man. What the hell? How can we... How can we... And that again, dude, when I'm recording these things, I sometimes, after I've already done the research, I've already written it out and I'm recording it and I hear myself saying it, I end up getting pissed. I don't know if they're editing some of that stuff out, but I get pissed sometimes, 'cause I'm hearing myself say this. And I'm reading stats of children suffering and pregnant women being affected, and kids who aren't even born, being... Two hundred chemicals are in the umbilical cord of every "Normal child" being born to this day, and that was 15 years ago that research.

So, we have chemicalized all of these things. So, it's... Yeah, man, it's... So, I go back to this whole thing. I can't believe it, almost to the point where I can't believe what's going on in the world today, but I can't believe that we've allowed it. And again, if I can share something that, a mom who's controlling the household, who's buying the stuff, cannot buy the stuff with that in it, can buy some natural compounds, natural medicines to use instead, and not literally have this stuff around their children and being ingested, then that's worth all of it.

SHAWN STEVENSON: This is a big one. It's a fatal convenience in every sense of the word. A lot of kids have some serious neurological damage that's... And this is something that's just on store shelves like it's nothing. And to what point? And so, I think it's important, and you did highlight this, nobody wants to experience the coughing, and that if there's something that we can do to help to... Well, what we want to do is help our bodies to pass that threshold of discomfort by getting better faster, because the coughing is a natural reflex and your body's trying to heal itself, it's a part of the process. But there are things that can help to make the process more graceful. And you mentioned the bees earlier, so with Beekeeper's, they actually have... Because we're also getting close, as of this recording, to cold and flu season, which is going to be this year, just wait and see, just wait and see. But they have an incredible... And this is what we have in our cabinet, it's called B.Better cough syrup, and it's based on, listen to this, pure buckwheat honey, elderberry, chaga, bee propolis, and olive leaf extract.

And the reason that this matters, but does it work, randomized double-blind placebo control study revealed that honey was able to outperform placebo and significantly reduce cough frequency and severity at night and improve sleep quality. And you're not getting the Blue No.1, the FD&C Red No. 40, the high fructose corn syrup, propylene glycol in the cough syrup, the list goes on and on, the sweeteners, the saccharin, all these crazy things. So, you're getting something that is natural, that has been utilized for thousands of years, incredibly effective, and just to help to support the body's process along the way. And really quickly, I didn't know we... It was just an opportunity to mention this because I actually saw it today, but... I was just hanging out with Michael Beckwith, and one of the things that I saw as we were just kind of rummaging through my superfood cupboard, and Elderberry, which is in here as well.

And it reminded me of this study, and this was a double-blind placebo-controlled study, and this was published in a peer-reviewed journal, Advances in Traditional Medicine found that after 48 hours of treatment with elderberry, coughing was relieved in 31% of patients versus a placebo. And this study also noted significantly reduced fever, headache, muscle aches, and nasal congestion within 24 hours of treatment with elderberry. It's in there. B.Better cough syrup. This is one of my favorite companies, Beekeeper's Naturals is doing stuff the right way, they're testing for... They're doing the extra thing that you know isn't being done, which is actually using third-party testing and testing for pesticides and heavy metals and all these things that are in a lot of bee products out there, the conventional ones that don't care as much.

And so, go to beekeepersnaturals.com/model, that's B-E-E-K-E-E-P-E-R-Snaturals.com/model, you get 15% off everything that they carry. I'm a big fan of their superfood honey, but this is one thing to definitely have in your cabinet is this B. Better cough syrup. And like I mentioned, man, this one here, when I listen to this Fatal Convenience, it really hit me just how deeply it's embedded in our culture, utilizing cough syrup for the high. And then I was thinking back to my childhood and just like, parents even today, just to get that kid to just knock them out or whatever the case might be, "Put some 'tussin on it." Use some Robitussin, some Nyquil, whatever the case might be. And this stuff is really, it's designed to intercept your brain, your brain activity, it's not a joke.

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah, it's not a joke. And I love the other side of it too, with the Beekeeper's, you literally have no side effects. It's flowing with nature. It's been used forever. I even have elderberry on my property, and so it's like... That stuff's been around for a very long time. And honey, it's like, how much more soothing can honey be? Yeah. And I love that. So anyway, hats off to that company for doing the right thing.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Well since I got you here if we can get in one or two more of these fatal conveniences. You've dabbled in this one a little bit, you've mentioned the laptops. But let's talk about that because it's literally called a laptop, so they're telling you, "Put it on your lap." It's a lap dance. Laptop, lap dance. Why is this a concern? Why is this a fatal convenience?

DARIN OLIEN: It comes down to reproduction, that's boom, straight, it... Literally, both male and female. So, there's, aside from the EMF, the heat... Testes outside of the body are there for a reason, to regulate temperature. Testes inside of the body, which is why they're outside of the body, changes our testosterone. So, if we heat... If we have a laptop and the laptop... Just feel your laptop, it's hot. Two degrees higher changes the motility level and plummets your ability... So, motility is basically the production and the utilization of sperm being effective, so motility just plummets. So, it's literally undercutting the very Darwinian evolution of men. And again, we talk about getting hit from all these other angles, all these personal cares, all these other things are also hitting you from an endocrine-disrupting standpoint. So, this is a physical heat thing, as well as cellular DNA RNA damage of the EMF that is on your lap.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And this is verifiable. It's a real thing. People just have no idea.

DARIN OLIEN: 100%. And yeah, you don't want to... I see people all the time with their friends, and they throw their phone like this on their crotch. I literally reach over there, and they're good friends. They're good friends and I just grab it, I say, "Dude, what are you doing?" An EMF signal is just going right to your nuts, and women too, so all of these other estrogen fertility studies linked to women having these laptops on... So, EMF heat seems to be the thing. Again, they don't want the EMF stuff out there much, they always go to the heat thing, and most of the studies are on the heat. And so, FCC regulations are so old, they're not even trying to update the EMF frequency damage. So those regulatory bodies are ancient, so they're just allowing all of this, there's no safety data, there's no... The intensity of frequency, it's only getting worse for 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G, 5, it's only getting more and more intense.

And so, as a device is gathering signal, you become a hotspot, pun intended. So, all that reproductive disruption, cellular, cellular disruption. So really bad idea on multitude of ways, especially if you're trying to get pregnant. The really easy fixes, I use this company, this isn't even a plug, I don't do anything for them, Safesleeve. So, they have a lead sleeve that you can put on your, under your laptop or your device, whatever and it blocks, and they have data, clinical data, it can't... The EMF can't go through it. And also, space. So, it really drops after nine inches, so the heat obviously then is not on the... Then the EMF really drops after about nine inches, so I have these... I mean, there are stand-up desks you can use and stuff like that, but I'll lay down on the couch, and then, I'll have my tray that I can... Like, it just goes over and then I'm here, and ergonomically, it's even better too. So, that's a fatal convenience too, the positioning of just being at a computer.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

DARIN OLIEN: Right? So, at least you're... Now, you've taken care of that, and you've gotten the EMF off of your body and we've gotten the heat off of your body, so this one's pretty easy to do. My God, I see it. I just see people like no clue.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Just don't think about it man. You know...

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah. That's the point.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Alright. Again, simple things we could do. Distance, like you mentioned. There is the safesleeve.

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah, and I have one for my cell phone.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

DARIN OLIEN: So, like same thing. So, this is a safe sleeve. Yeah, and this isn't even a plug for them, but it is a plug. There's the lead on this side, so like, if I have the phone on, I put that on this side of my body, but I, usually, when it's on my body, I turn it off anyway.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, same. If I'm not using my phone, my phone is away from me.

DARIN OLIEN: Yes.

SHAWN STEVENSON: You know? And like for the show, I'll have my phone by me, but even at home, when I get home, I take... Wallet, keys, phone, everything is somewhere, unless I need to use it. And these are simple things because again, I would say we don't know the ramifications, we don't! We don't know the depth of it, but we do have some pretty sound data that is very concerning because again, we're playing around with technologies and tinkering with different waves and frequencies and not understanding our bodies. We evolve, we have... Even every... Different organs have different frequencies and when we are exposed to things that can disrupt those things, we... Some concerning things start to happen again. We're stacking more conditions against us and wondering, "Why are there higher rates of cancer? Why are there higher rates of mid-brain tumors in children, who are just growing up with a cell phone up to their head?" I talked about this in Sleep Smarter, in my first book, and some court data.

You know, this was... Folks in law firms trying to sue, but now they put warnings on the phones, for example, but it's just... We don't care because, it's so convenient to just unbox your new phone, put it up to your head, or whether it's your Wi-Fi headphones or whatever the case might be. We should talk about that as well. So, there's so many more of these fatal conveniences that you highlight, and map out, but also provide solutions for and this is what I really appreciate, it's like, "What can we do, to kind of pivot, to upgrade things?" And we'll definitely have you back, once this new book of this concept, really out-pictures and they talk about more of this and really excited and just so grateful to have you, in the game right now and do it and doing what you're doing, it's incredibly inspiring.

And you're somebody that I definitely... We just have... We're linked up man and we got a lot of work that we need to do, of course, in the world right now, but I'm also saying, same thing, I'm very optimistic, but right now we've really got to tune in, focus on getting ourselves as healthy as possible so that we can really drive the mission forward, but if you could, can you share where people can connect with you more? Get more information on Darin, your book, and also just what else people need to know right now? The world is kind of bananas. You know, so yeah.

DARIN OLIEN: Bananas, bananas. Without a doubt. Well, Darin Olien on all platforms. And, Instagram, Twitter, darinolien.com. I've been doing, Darin's Deep Dives on Instagram on Mondays at 12:00 PM Pacific Standard Time. I actually talked about this. Sometimes I just turn on, I don't know what I'm going to talk about. And this one was important for me too. And that is, "The world's crazy. It's easy to go down all these rabbit holes, easy to get sucked in, regardless of what you believe in any... In all fashion." The thing that I would say to people right now is... And what I said on that one, I said, "Listen, what can you do? What can you do for yourself? What do you want? What do you want the future to be?" Write three things down, I'm challenging all of you right now, like, write three things down, what you want and then three actions to those, because we're saying, you got to do something.

But literally, let yourself dream. Like, we look around going "Wow! Those things are all failing around us. The world's not what we thought it was." Okay. What do you want it to be? Let yourself dream and then, put action to that. Give yourself the authority in your life to take an action on what that dream is, and every day do that. And you'll find you'll be magnetized to other people that want to do that same thing. So, even me. Like, I just go, "Okay, I got to keep focusing on the world that I want to create, the things that we can do." Take care of your house always, right? Take care of that house and take care of your... Literally, your house, of your family and your children and your community. And then, what you want to do? So, I really believe that that's medicine, because... And then taking action on that now helps you now. And then it starts laying those bricks of the future that we want to... We all need to build for each other.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Boom! Darin Olien, appreciate you brother. Thank you so much for coming.

DARIN OLIEN: Yeah, thanks, man.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And thank you for bringing Chaga.

DARIN OLIEN: Chaga boy! He's out.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Chaga's out like a light. Darin Olien everybody. Thanks for tuning in. And listen, if you got a lot of value out of this episode, make sure to share the love, share this out with your friends and family on social media. And of course, you can tag me, I'm @shawnmodel on Instagram and tag Darin as well and share what you thought about this episode. Sharing is caring! And of course, you could send this episode directly from the podcast app, right to your friends and family and just people that you want to share some insight with and some inspiration. I appreciate you so very much for tuning into the show today. Take care, have an amazing day I'll talk with you soon.

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