004: Biohacking: How to Take Control of Your Health Outcomes and Maximize Your Lifespan with Mike Van Thielen

The mind not only controls the body and health and disease but also is the blueprint to our future, to our goals, to our failure or our success.” —Dr. Mike Van Thielen

Biohacking refers to the practice of using science and technology to optimize human performance and well-being. While still an emerging field, biohacking aims to empower individuals to better understand their biology and identify personalized strategies for enhancing performance, preventing disease, and extending healthy lifespans. 

This week, we hear from Dr. Mike Van Thielen, a keynote speaker and best-selling author focused on health optimization to help people discover their purpose and unleash their potential. Through his work at ClarigenZ and as an online coach, he assists patients in regaining control of their health. 

Listen in as Ann interviews Dr. Mike about the importance of finding one's sense of purpose and leaving the comfort zone in order to achieve extraordinary things. They also offer a glimpse into cutting-edge therapies like stem cells and hydrogen treatments, outlining their potential health benefits, and biohacking strategies for optimizing wellness, reversing biological age, and living life to its fullest.

Connect with Ann on Social Media:  

Website: https://seednutrition.com/Annt/home 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008572834952 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annthemasterhealer/ 

Email: Tamingdiabetes@yahoo.com 

Episode Highlights: 

03:00 Lack of Purpose— A Global Pandemic

08:16  Biohacking and Health Optimization

14:38 Leverage Your Experiences 

21:00 The Power of Stem Cells

25:34 The Benefits of Hydrogen Therapy

30:29 Is StemCell Therapy Effective?

Transcript

Ann LeMaster: Good morning everyone. Welcome to Common Sense Living Podcast where I'm going to add common sense and value to your life because I have an exceptional guest today, Dr. Van Thielen, and just a bit about him because there's a whole lot. 

Dr. Mike Van Thielen is a Medical Director at ClariGenZ Health and Innovative Medical Company with a new pill providing all the benefits of adderall without any of the harmful side effects. He is also a treating physician for Boston neuro pain and psych centers helping tens of thousands of patients with chronic pain and mental health conditions. Dr. Mike loves to give back to the community and has managed to start funding one of the paralyzed veterans in urgent need of stem cell therapy and helps veterans pro bono with their health challenges. He's a best selling author. His latest book is The IZOD Method-Unleash Your Superpower. He's a TEDx Speaker and Keynote Inspirational Speaker, shared the stage with celebrities over three decades of involvement with best optimal health practices. Anti aging and regenerative medicine, sports performance, nutrition and supplementation and biohacking strategies. Assistant Coach and therapist for the Belgian Olympic swim team for the Olympic Games in Atlanta. An entrepreneur with a proven track record of establishing and developing successful business operations. He is also featured on the cover of Biohacking Magazine Issue 22, and as an executive contributor for brains magazine. He was presented with the Korea Global Awards 2023 honoree in recognition of his creative and innovative ideas, adaptability in business and for his contributions to sustainability and mental health projects. Dr. Mike's method has been featured on Fox, ABC, NBC Google News and over 300 other channels. 

So with all that for an intro, I am honored to host you today, and I'm going to give you the floor. You can talk about whatever you want.

Dr. Mike Van Thielen: Thanks for the introduction. That's quite a mouthful. We can talk about whatever you like to talk about. But the way we started before COVID, I was a CEO of a stem cell company treating a lot of athletes including heavyweight champion boxers, NFL players, but also your average patient with neuropathy, knee pain and etcetera. But then COVID came, of course, and we had to close the doors because we were quote, unquote non essential. That's when I have to kinda take the time to look at myself and see what my superpowers were, what my passions are, what my purpose was. And while I was doing that and really not working much, a colleague, friend of mine basically called up and said, hey, we need some help. Pre screening calls for medical marijuana, because in the state of Florida, it's legal. And I said, sure. Whatever I have time, I'll help out. But it was great, because I ended up talking to hundreds of people on a weekly basis. People with stress, anxiety, depression, ADHD, PTSD, and all those types of things. And of course, there's therapists out there, and there's drugs out there. But when I talked to them, there really was a common underlying cause, in my opinion. A lot of these people did not have any purpose in life. Meaning, they're going to work day in day out, they're trying to manage their finances, their life, they're overwhelmed. They're always putting out fires. 

And so when I put myself in their shoes, if you don't know what tomorrow brings, financially or otherwise, or next week, or next month, I would be pretty anxious. I would be pretty fearful and worrying about the future. And so that translates into anxiety, depression, PTSD, and those mental conditions. And so therapy and drugs at that stage wouldn't help. So in my latest book, The IZOD Method really doesn't talk just about health because my first seven books said it was just health related. I go a little bit further because, yes, we can help with anxiety, depression, etcetera. But if we don't address the underlying cause, it's only going to be masking the symptoms, which is what conventional medicine always does. And so in this latest book, The IZOD Method, IZOD stands for in the zone on the man's. We talk about focus, productivity, freeing up valuable time, your purpose and upgrading the body in the mind. So upgrading the body and mind is biohacking. That's what the book is about. But I really decided to expand it to include purpose in life because we're born and we're told in this society. And suddenly, we're pushed in certain directions. They want you to go to school, then to college, and then you need to work for somebody till you retire. And then there's the golden years, but usually never come. Or your parents and your teachers push you in a certain direction. Because if that's a lawyer, he probably wants to go to law school. If mom's a physician or a doctor, they probably want to go to med school. So my mentees or my clients really kinda make them pause and look in the mirror, ask what is it that you want, what you're passionate about. And so many times, it's not what they're doing. They're just making ends meet, they're paying the bills, they're being responsible. But ultimately, it seems like we're all modern slaves. 

We don't have the shackles on us, but they give us enough comfort that we stay the course or their course, but we're not living our life. People heard about it, what they created for us is this comfort zone. We go to work, we make everybody else rich. We get to go online, and we get to watch TV and relax, or we get to watch a sports game. And so it almost reminds me of the Rome, Breton games. So we're being entertained, but they don't want us to be extraordinary, grow and learn those types of things because it requires us to get out of that comfort zone. And that's fearful for most people. And so today, I teach people more about the comfort zone. Because the more you know about the comfort zone and leaving the comfort zone, and the more you prepare to do it, the more likely you're going to take that step and be successful. Because it's outside of the comfort zone that we grow, that we discover our purpose, that we can be extraordinary, and that we can unleash those superpowers. So today, my superpower is to help other people unleash their superpower. Because most of us don't even know it. And that's why we need to talk about purpose many times. And some of us do know it. 

A few months ago, I was talking to a whole group of chiropractors, and they're very passionate about what they do about helping people. So I think they found their purpose in helping people with their health. But at the same time, 90% of them were barely tapping into that superpower. So I need to make them think bigger and better, and reach more people, and help more people instead of just waiting for that $40 check from the insurance company because they did a mobilization. Get out of that comfort zone. You gotta think much bigger. That's what I've been up to with my life is to help people unleash their superpowers. So my clients are usually a mix. I have many people, currently F2 cancer patients with Parkinson's patients and adrenal adrenal fatigue patients that I help. I don't have a brick and mortar clinic, I help them online. We're talking and telling them what to do, and make them accountable, and make them regain control of their health. So I help people with any type of medical diagnosis, get back to normal. Then there's people that I help optimize their health. Because we can all have been diagnosed with anything and consider ourselves healthy, but we need to feel strong, vital and fit. We need to be in control of our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well being that's called optimal health. 

And then the third step is once we're in optimal health, that would be the ideal foundation to practice biohacking. Biohacking is one of those very amorphous terms with many different definitions. But my definition is simple. It's upgrading the body, the mind and life. And from a health point of view, it's objectively reversing your biological age. What that means is, I believe today that everybody is not just the elite or not those with money. But every person, if they implement these biohacking strategies, we can easily live to be 100 years old, but be able to do the things 40, 50 years old does. In other words, still be able to travel, hike or do whatever it is that you like to do. And that's what I mean. We biologically tissue lifespan is the quality of life. And so there's very simple foundational principles that if we implement those, I believe everybody can achieve that. And that's biohacking. But in order to biohack and your body to respond to that, you need to be in optimal health. You have to go on resolving your pain, and being in optimal weights, and getting rid of any medical condition to optimal health, and then your body will respond to. Now, we can reverse our biological age and actually get younger. As our chronological age keeps on getting older, we can reverse that biological agent. So today, I'm regarded as an expert in biohacking. As you mentioned in the intro, I was featured on the biohacker cover magazine. That's what I've been up to.

Ann LeMaster: You're a blessing to the people, I'll tell you that. I'm a health nut. I'm an alternative nurse and a certified health coach, and I'm starting my Faking Diabetes differently course. Because if you do it the way modern medicine says, you'll have it, and get worse. And they're out having a drink with the doctor, the pharmacist and the pharmaceutical company all on your money. You're on 13 drugs wondering when you're going to drop over dead because you're so miserable. So my point for anybody to heal, in my opinion, that'd be the attitude. Poor pitiful me, it's just the way it is. Or Darn, I got this going on. I'm going to beat it. So I'm 74 next month, I'm gonna live to 125.

Dr. Mike Van Thielen: And that's your blueprint. I'm glad you brought up the mental SP because I just mentioned to you, there's these foundational principles. I got seven foundations for biohacking. And guess what, one is the mindset. So when I get a cancer patient, that's where I start. Because patients, especially you're a nurse, we get labeled. You get cancer, you get Parkinson's, you only live one year. And if you believe that, guess what? The doctor is going to be right. So it's our belief system. And so it's very important that we give our clients the tools to change their belief system. Because obviously, we always are pulled back by our past experiences. And many times, we label them as failures. And any negative wording will have a negative expression in real life. So with my cancer patients, the first thing that I do is, first of all, we're not going to use that word cancer anymore. We're not going to be pulled back by what happened in the past. We're here right now, so we're going to be pulled forward by the future. So let's talk about the future. 

Number one, we're going to overcome this. We're gonna go back to normal health, and we're going to see your grandkids grow up. You're going to be there when they get married. You're going to be able to continue to hike or whatever it is that you like to do. We're going to paint that picture, and we're going to be put forward by that. Because like I just said, that's the blueprint. And if you believe that you're going to overcome that cancer, or you believe that you're going to realize your dreams, or you believe that you're going to write the best piece of music ever or whatever it is, then that's what's going to happen. But if there's any doubt in your mind that it's going to happen, then the universe has two options. Failure or success. If there's no doubt in your mind that you're going to be A, B, C, or D or do A, B, C or D, then the universe only has one option. So we really got to shift that mindset from doubt and disbelief to total belief. And the closer we get to total belief, the more likely that our thoughts and our beliefs are going to translate into our actual future into actions. And especially with people that are afflicted with these terrible diseases and labeled wrongly, because that label is always there consciously or unconsciously, and it just contributes to the negative outcome of those things that we need to do. 

And then once they realize how powerful the mind can be, we as practitioners get to give them the tools. Visualization, manifestation, meditation, gratitude journaling, all these mindfulness practices that we need to incorporate in a daily routine just like exercises. The brain is still a muscle. And if we practice, it doesn't have to be hours, even if it's 10 minutes in the morning, that we really visualize, manifest or meditate. In my case, the best thing that works for me is breath work. Because when I do breath work, I'm so focused on my breath that everything else clears my mind. And that's how I get into a meditative state. So whatever it is that works for you, or for the client is what they need to make daily habits. Because as you said, the mind not only controls the body, health and disease, but also is the blueprint to our future, to our goals, to our failure or our success.

Ann LeMaster: My personal thing, what I like to do in the morning, I like to take my coffee, go outside, sit on the porch and admire God's kingdom with my cat. I sit there, just chill and think. I read something one time where you give gratitude. As soon as your feet hit the floor, and you get up, give gratitude and thanks to God for a beautiful day. I did that one day, and the fact that, wow, I'm not good at it every day. But I tried it and wow, that day was just gorgeous. Everything about it went great.

Dr. Mike Van Thielen: You set a positive tone from the first seconds.

Ann LeMaster: I think we've all had trauma in our life. What we perceive as trauma, whether we got spanked a lot, abused or whatever, by whoever, you could wallow in the self pity of that. I chose instead to think about everything that happened to me in my life. I thank God because it educated me. I can relate to that person because I've had this. This happens, or seeing it happen has been involved somehow. And now, I will write about it. Now, they speak about it. Now, I have podcasts. I didn't start this until I was introduced to it at 71. I thought, yeah. I got on the stage at 72 years old. I will do my speech, and I froze. But where do you go from that? I could have just said, all right. I'm a failure. No, I kicked myself. I beat myself up. And two weeks later, I kicked that out of my life. And we read it ourselves. Got short hair. Now see, I used it. I tell people, don't let what happened in your life happen. Use what happened to you.

Dr. Mike Van Thielen: Yeah, your experiences are lessons. Because when I first came to the United States, I had to stay for over two hours, I didn't have much. I got knocked down many times. So my motto quickly became, never lose, win or learn. So when people reflect back, it's not trauma, it's not misery, it's not failure. It's a lesson. What did you learn from it? How can you do better now? How you look at things showed 100% correctly. And so with that lesson, how can I be better? How can I help other people that are struggling with the same thing? I know the pitfalls. I know what doesn't work. I know what does work. So you can give them a shortcut with your experience, and that's what you're doing in your case. So again, ultimately, it may even lead you to your purpose just like in your case, my case because here you are. And without all experiences, you wouldn't be on stage, you wouldn't be doing podcasts. And obviously, you find a purpose. And a purpose just simply means it should be doing something good for the world, and you're passionate about it. You can't wait to get going in the morning versus I gotta go to an 8 to 5 job to collect a paycheck. We've all been there, unfortunately. That's what I sometimes ask some of the people that really don't know if they're living their purpose. Well, it's simple to find out. Because some people are doing well, even financially, and they're able to pay their bills and get a family together. But it doesn't mean you're living your purpose. 

So many times I say, when you get up in the morning before you actually get up, but you're awake, ask yourself, what are you thinking? Are you thinking that you have to get up, you have to get to work, I have to do this, I have to do that. Are you thinking, I get to get up, I get to get to work, I get to do this, I get to do that. And unfortunately, most people fall in that first category. Meaning, you're not living your purpose. You're not passionate about it. You're not ready to start the day and do something that gives you fulfillment, because that's what it's about. Something that gives you fulfillment that brings you one small, incremental step closer to your dreams, your goals and your passions. And so when they realize they're not living their purpose, we need to figure out what their purpose is. Purposes can change throughout your life phases, for sure. There can be more purposes that you fulfill, but let's find out what your passions are. And then usually, I do a few exercises with them, or talk to them and ask them some questions. And sometimes, we can reveal their purpose in a matter of one conversation. And sometimes, it takes a week, But it doesn't take long for us to reveal what their true passions in life are. And once we find them, it doesn't mean they have to suddenly drop their responsibilities in a job, stop paying their bills and take care of their family. But what it does mean is, what we can do is we can slowly start working on it. 

And so with my clients, we just free up one hour per day. And most people say, I am not free. Oh, yes, you do. Because when we go through the day, there's many hours that we suddenly free up. When you come home, you're tired and you're sitting on the couch. Or when you're on Netflix every evening and wasting your time in front of the TV, or whether you are because I am a businessman. Oh, Mike, I'm working all the time, I really don't have any time to do what you're telling me to do. I said, okay, let's talk about your business. I said, how many meetings did you have today? Oh, two. How long? Were they an hour each? I said, why do you schedule our meetings? Can you guys professionals not make a decision about a topic in 15 minutes? So for now on, schedule your meetings in 15 minute increments. Do yourself and everybody else on the call a favor. And so I freed up an hour and a half just with one conversation. So then the idea becomes, yes, you're doing it because you're responsible, you got to pay bills, and you got a family. But let's work one hour a day on your true passion, whatever that is. And it's amazing that if you do that on a daily basis, how quickly you make significant strides. And maybe at one point in life, you can make the transition and still be responsible and pay your bills. So that's what it's all about.

Ann LeMaster: I'm an example of that, because I worked three and a half years in the factory. At 31, took a leave of absence and went to the Iowa Army National Guard. Best thing I ever did for me. Whenever I think I can't do something, Sarge does. Then I got bored in the factory again with all the chatter, gossip and stuff, and I wanted more. I knew it, but I wasn't really sure. But ever since I was eight years old, because I was a sickly kid, I wanted to be the nurse that helped me when I was sick. Then I decided to start taking, just a class here and there, whatever. I did that. And I think, no, that might have even been before I went into the service. Come to think of it. But anyhow, like psychology, oh, that was an interesting one because I'm so fascinated by the brain. I love my DNA. I remember that I was asking questions, and the instructors were looking at me. I have an A, and then I have a B. He's looking at me and said, you better shut up because you're not going to pass this course. I think he was threatened by this little person coming in, which told me a lot about him. But I ended up going to school full time. Working full time. I was married to a complete asshole narcissist, and I endured it all. Graduated, and God put everything in place for me. I worked for (inaudible) at the time, and they had a program. They would reimburse you for your education as long as it pertained to business. So there was one that was a metric medtronic. I think I have a metrics class. I said right there on the door, Adam, if you want it, you go for it hard enough. When I got my license, February of 95, my father was diagnosed with glioblastoma. March of 95. He was my first patient. I felt honored that I was able to help my father and the family in that respect, and look after him all. But I was doing this kind of stuff and work as an allergy and mental health, and some of this stuff here and there. And then I got that opportunity in 71 that I said yes to. I always wondered what woulda, coulda, shoulda. So with my life experience, I want people to know that I'm a late bloomer, and I'm proud of it because I worked towards little baby steps. And sometimes, they were great big. And I had a lot of pressure on me and all that. I think I was that close to a nervous breakdown last year. But I made it.

Dr. Mike Van Thielen: Sometimes, that's where you need to go in order to get the drive into a situation to get out of that comfort zone.

Ann LeMaster: When that flood is coming, are you going to stand there and let it wash your way? Are you going to jump to that high rock?

Dr. Mike Van Thielen: That's a great story.

Ann LeMaster: Oh, keep going because you were fascinating. Tell me about stem cells because somebody else I know does something with stem cells. And I understand, Tony Robbins does too.

Dr. Mike Van Thielen: He was the CEO of a stem cell company 2005. We did a lot of athletes, NFL players. But also, we did over a thousand patients. And obviously, stem cells, according to a lot of scientists are the future of medicine. So stem cells basically repair and regenerate any damaged tissue. Whether that's a liver cell or a pancreas cell, whether it's a muscle, a tendon. It doesn't matter. It is able to stimulate all bioactive molecules that are necessary to get a repair job done, basically. But as we age, just like with our hormones for example, what people understand is that the quantity and quality of stem cells dramatically declines, and that's when we don't heal easily anymore. And that's when things don't work anymore. And normally, the body fixes it. But now it stops fixing it because we don't have those stem cells in high quantity and quality anymore. And so stem cell therapy, just like with your hormones, because if your hormones decline as you age and we get in perimenopause, menopause and postmenopausal, the hormones are out of whack. And it's a genetic programming. But if we do BioIdentical Hormone Replacement Therapy, or if we do stem cell based therapies, then we actually going beyond our genetic programming. And that's actually a true definition of biohacking. Increasing that lifestyle by replacing our natural hormones with bioidentical ones or by getting high quality, high quantity stem cells in our body because our body's not producing any more. So that's where stem cells come in. 

Obviously, in the United States, many times when things actually do work very well, they immediately get banned. You immediately can't use them anymore, because it's a threat to the big Pharma. So that many times, you gotta go outside of the country. All you got to do an off label procedure, which is not a bad thing. Because if a doctor recommends vitamin C, that's still off label. I always laugh about it when people say, so Dr. Mike, if I do an IV of STEM, it's off label. So it's like a bad word. I said, look here. There's millions of neuropathy patients in the United States. And guess what? Every doctor describes them as anticonvulsants, anti seizure medication, and those types of medications. Guess what? That's off label. These medications were not designed to treat neuropathy. They're for seizures. So when a conventional doctor does something, it's okay. But when everybody else recommends vitamin C, or an infusion of IV and it's off label, it's suddenly, oh, my god, we're doing something illegal right now. So United States stem cells really can help with any musculoskeletal issue, whether it's arthritis of your knees, or low back pain, or degeneration of the back, or plantar fasciitis, or Achilles tendinitis, or rotator cuff tears. It really works very well. Of course, stem cells have a much broader application, but then we have to go again off label. So if we would infuse or do an infusion of stem cells, we would have a great impact on the lungs, the heart and the organs. We also would have an impact on the brain, because a small percentage actually will get through the blood brain barrier. We also could inject stem cells in the nose, but it's very painful. We did it with a Parkinson's patient. Obviously, they get into the brain much easier. And then we even have applications where we can inhale stem cells. Because then, we're talking about stem cells getting into the brain. So we're talking about Parkinson's, or traumatic brain injury, or a stroke week, it can be held very helpful. 

Now today, just last week, I finished a course to be of the highest qualification in hydrogen therapy. So hydrogen now is becoming a very popular molecule. It's actually the smallest molecule on the planet. It's the number one element in the table of Mendel, the table with all the elements, because it's the lightest element. And it's not charged. We talk about vitamin C, D, zinc and all those things that everybody learned about during COVID. There's powerful antioxidants than we need, but they are charged. Meaning, they cannot enter the cell. Hydrogen can enter the cell and protect our DNA, RNA, our proteins, our mitochondria. But now, even inhaling hydrogen with many of my patients has made drastic improvements. Anybody with any type of a gut problem, Crohn's disease, celiac disease, irritable bowel in three weeks, I can fix that with the assistance of hydrogen. Anybody with any condition in the brain, like we just mentioned, a stroke or Parkinson's, that hydrogen starts protecting the cells immediately. I just have a liver failure, a patient last week and another cancer patient. And so now, I'm combining stem cell based therapies with hydrogen inhalation and hydrogen water, and we're getting great results. But even though I'm not sick, I just ordered a unit for myself because it's about prevention. 

It's about protecting yourself. It's about repairing yourself. It's about repairing your DNA because we cannot completely prevent the onslaught of all the toxins in our environment unless we live in a pristine area away from civilization. We can't. It's not just the food that we take, the man made foods and drinks, preservatives, colorings and all that bad stuff, but it's the electromagnetic frequencies and radiation, and the artificial lights, the microwave, the appliances and the routers. And so this is an invisible threat that really research has shown clearly, even though it's called non ionizing. Radiation has a detrimental effect on our health, even on a cellular and DNA level. So we need to obviously mitigate as much as we can. But at the same time, be proactive and take the nutrients, the whole foods and the supplements that will repair the DNA that has been damaged.

Ann LeMaster: Question on the stem cells, do you believe it's possible to have them on patches that you put a patch on?

Dr. Mike Van Thielen: I'm not a proponent of that. Again, our skin is supposed to be a great barrier. Not sure on how they are properly absorbed in our bloodstream, but it's possible engineer

Ann LeMaster: May be effective, but not as effective as doing it your way.

Dr. Mike Van Thielen: You put it straight. Obviously, it can be more direct. But I would say for your listeners, there's many outdated procedures out there. They're usually practiced by your regular orthopedic doctors and MDs because they believe wrongly, because scientific research shows the opposite. They believe that harvesting stem cells from your adipose tissue to a liposuction, or from your bone marrow to have painful intervention is the way to go. But anybody with common sense, and let's finish with common sense, because that's the name of your podcast. Even these doctors don't have common sense. How would it make any sense to get stem cells from your own body and then simply relocate them thinking they're going to work? Again, research shows clearly that as we age, the quantity and quality of stem cells dramatically declines. So when they get them from your fat cells, or from your bone marrow, they can't inject them directly because they didn't get enough stem cells. Again, because of your age. They let you come back later that day or the next day, because now they need to amplify. They need to multiply these poor quality stem cells, and they need to multiply them in the laboratory. It's like you have an original piece of paper and are making a copy. And ultimately, you can read it. So it's very low quality. 

So many times, these providers will brag about the fact they're going to inject millions of stem cells. But people need to realize that if they come from your own body, there are millions of stem cells, but it's like a plumber that needs to fix the roof. They don't have a ladder, and they can't climb up the ladder. Nothing's gonna happen no matter how many million stem cells you have, because the quality is very low. So when we're talking about stem cells, you need to make sure that you have stem cells from birth tissue. You need a combination of Wharton's jelly, which is a part of the umbilical cord, because that's the highest bioavailable source of mesenchymal stem cells. But stem cells by themselves can do anything just like somebody who needs to fix your roof without their tools. And the latter, nothing's going to happen whether they're licensed roofers or not. So the stem cells need other molecules, bioactive molecules, such as cytokines and collagen. So type one, two and three, and exosomes. And so when you combine the Wharton's jelly of the umbilical cord with placental tissue, which is your scaffold and your collagen and some amniotic fluids, which is rich in exosomes, then we have all the components that are necessary to repair and re engineer any damaged tissue. And that's really what we need for successful stem cell based therapy is making sure that all those components for tissue engineering are available. And if we combine placental tissue and umbilical cord tissue, in other words, birth tissue, then we have the best approach and the best product.

Ann LeMaster: I was never blessed with children, but my mentality nowadays is knowing that it comes from the placenta, okay? So you go in, you give birth, and I had done an interview with another doctor several months ago and he said, you don't cut the umbilical cord right away. You let that DNA go back and forth through the cord, to the baby and the mom, right? So they take it and throw away the placenta? No, they don't. They use it for things that you're talking about.

Dr. Mike Van Thielen: Yeah, they test it and make sure it's 100% safe, and there's no transmittable diseases. And once they pass the test, they're donated to the American Tissue Bank Association. And the tissue bank basically prepares them and sells them to manufacturers of these types of products.

Ann LeMaster: So my point is, I pay for that delivery and they're taking a part of my body, selling it, making money off it in the long run. We live here in San Antonio, we have a bunch of deer, and they give birth right? Well, what does an animal do with the placenta? They eat it.

Dr. Mike Van Thielen: Yes. That's interesting. You bring it up because mother nature wants you to eat the placenta or have it because that animal just went through trauma and the tissue needs to be repaired and regenerated. And by eating the placenta, that's exactly what's going to happen.

Ann LeMaster: Yeah, that's like common sense.

Dr. Mike Van Thielen: That's right. Mother nature tells the truth. That's what I tell people all the time. It's probably a good closing of the podcasts too. No matter what the doctor says, no matter what you read or hear, I always tell people to sit down and think about what animals in the wild do. That's going to be much closer to the truth about health than anything else. Do they wear shoes? No. Why? Because of their grounding. How many times a day do they eat? Okay, once. What do they do after they eat? Well, they go in the shade and they rest for hours because digestive efforts are important. And they're not going to be running around while they're digesting. And what do they drink? Oh, they all drink water. They don't drink coffee. They don't drink tea. They don't drink Red Bull. They don't drink juices. They drink water. Guess what? They don't even drink milk. As soon as they come off the mother's breast, there's no need for that dairy from other animal species. And if you think about it, we are drinking milk. It's intended for the young of another species. There's no purpose to that. Mother nature thinking about what two animals in the wild do often gives you the truth about.

Ann LeMaster: And that's why I was raised in the country, and I never really went to church not until I was a teenager. But I learned my relationship with God, the universe through nature, through observation. When the lease curls up, that means something. All the stuff my father was brilliant at, because he taught us that stuff. And personally, I forget what the real name of it is. I pulled it in bags and everything, and now I read how it's such a healthy food.

Dr. Mike Van Thielen: Mother nature grows. There's something to it.

Ann LeMaster: I am just so fascinated with you. I would love to be in contact with you for that matter. I would like to have you back in some time for another podcast.

Dr. Mike Van Thielen: Anytime. You can reach out to me directly or through the people that put us together, no problem. My website for your listeners is biohackingunlimited.com. All my books or mentorship programs are there. You can sign up for the free newsletter. Everything's on the website, podcasts, things like that. So biohackingunlimited.com. My phone number is on there. You can contact me through there. If you need help, there's a way you can schedule a free 20 minute Zoom call with me to see if I can help you out or give you some answers to your personal problems. So only one place, biohackingunlimited.com.

Ann LeMaster: Okay. Well, it was my pleasure to host you. I learned so much, and I'm blessed that people like you are in the world making it a better place.

Dr. Mike Van Thielen: You're doing the same thing. We can get the word out.

Ann LeMaster: Thank you doctor. And thanks to all you listeners for tuning in today. I know you learned something very beneficial, so until next time.