Podcast 546: The Mysterious Healing Power of the Venus Flytrap

SCOTT: Maintaining a robust, balanced immune system is essential for long-term health and vitality. And we're going to be delving into a very special group of products that does exactly that right after this. Welcome everybody. This is the Life Enthusiast Health Shots podcast. Restoring vitality to you and the planet. And I'm your co-host Scott Paton. Joining us as usual, Martin Pytela, health engineer, and a very, very special guest that I'll let Martin introduce right now.

MARTIN: With us today, Mr. Will Rudolph, general manager at Carnivora Research. The company that has licensed an amazing product. Nature has made it for us, but scientists have discovered the understanding of it. But let's find out now. Hello, Will.

WILL: Hi, Martin. How are you? Hi, Scott.

MARTIN: We're good. We're happy to have you here.

WILL: Oh, thank you.

MARTIN: When you called and said, "How about Carnivora? " Would that not fit with the Life Enthusiast message?” I looked it over. I read the history of it, and I thought, “Absolutely.”

WILL: Yeah. Great. I can give you some background if you'd like.

MARTIN: Sure.

WILL: To start, Carnivora, it's an immune supplement and it was originally developed in Germany 50 years ago by Dr. Helmut Keller. And what it is, Carnivora is the 100% pure extract of a species of the Venus flytrap plant called Dionaea Muscipula. So, it consists of 17 compounds, and they're all naturally occurring, and they're all compatible with humans and animals. And what we can state is that Carnivora does, it responds to abnormal cells in the body without any harm to normal cells. But it also works to wake up a person's own dormant inactive immune cells, like neutrophils, white blood cells and natural killer cells, for example. So it builds in a circumstance where the immune system is underactive. So it builds a strong immune defense in a circumstance like an autoimmune challenge where the immune system is actually overactive. It works to bring it back down into homeostasis. So, it's really an immune modulator, and that's why anybody with really any challenge, health challenge, can take this product.

MARTIN: Yeah, you couldn't have said it better, right? Kind of technical. I would like to try and translate it into plain human speech in this way. We have recently had a brush with immune system suppression. When the coronavirus came in, we now know that there are two parts to the immune system. The cells that go hunting down and killing things, they're called natural killer cells. And then there are the regulators, the ones that are watching these killers and pulling them back. And there is a pre-specified ratio between these. And when you tweak the ratio the wrong way, you end up with trouble.

WILL: Right. I think what you're referring to, Martin, is the T and B cell ratio, which is the thymus and the bone marrow. And Carnivora works to get that into its proper balance. So, like you said, with what's going on these days, that can get out of whack. And Carnivora is going to work to bring that back into balance.

MARTIN: Yeah. I found that it was stress, whether mental, emotional, or physical, or external with the immune attacks of various sorts. And the pollution of the environment. All of which will act as a negative influence on all of this.

WILL: Oh yeah, I would agree with that. Absolutely. A lot of influences on the immune system are environmental, like you said, and then some of the things that are going around. Absolutely.

MARTIN: Yeah. So I was thinking that the people that should be paying attention most right now are the ones who have either an immune system problem known as the autoimmune collection. All of which are, well, they're painful. They give you tiredness. They give you inflammation. They give you loss of function in various ways. And then of course, another massive immune disorder would be the tumors in the body.

SCOTT: So I had a question for you, Will, based on what you've just been saying because Martin and I manage and are admins for a Facebook group “Fibromyalgia Support, " and we have over 180,000 members. So, one of the problems they have is that they're constantly in pain. They don't have any energy. They have brain fog. Nothing works right. And I'm just wondering if, I assume that they have an immune disorder of some sort causing their pain. Would this be something that they should be looking into?

WILL: Yeah, absolutely. I do have to first state that as a health supplement manufacturer we don't diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease in the United States, but we would recommend it for any health challenge because of the nature of what Carnivora does, including what you mentioned. And in a circumstance like that, in terms of dosing, we have a couple of different recommendations. So, if a person is generally healthy, looking to maintain that, we recommend a maintenance dose of just one, three, one capsule three times a day, six days a week, and that's a dose you can take continuously indefinitely. 

But in a circumstance like what you mentioned, we recommend our protocol where you would start at that one, three times a day. But then you would increase the dose weekly. The next week you'd go to two capsules three times a day. The third week, three capsules three times a day. And then the fourth week is when you actually attain the high dose of four capsules three times a day. And then that's the dose you can maintain for however many weeks or perhaps months it may take to hopefully address that kind of a challenge. 

And then once you do reach your potential health objective. We actually recommend adding a couple of months at the high dose beyond that point just to really ensure that you're past your goal and then bring it down. And then you bring, reach a point where you bring the dose down, and you graduate it down to the maintenance dose that you can stay on at that point.

SCOTT: And of course you're paying attention to your body, and if you're dropping it down and all of a sudden you notice your brain fog is back or your pain is back, then ramp it back up. And so you're basically paying attention to what's going on in your body.

WILL: Yeah, you want to monitor your progress and be your own dose doctor, and whatever you're feeling. And, some people in terms of reaching your goal, some people do blood work; some people do scans. In a circumstance like this, it might be just how they feel physically.

SCOTT: It's going to end up having to be that because the doctors can't find anything wrong. The big comment they all say is, "My family thinks I'm crazy. My doctor thinks I'm lazy. My boss thinks I'm nuts, and there's nothing wrong with me because they do tests and say look at all of these things; your blood is fine. And if your blood is fine, you're fine, and that's the end of the story. Which is not true, right?

WILL: Right. You hear that all the time.

MARTIN: You probably have some stories from the field that you have heard over time as this would play out, right?

WILL: Oh yeah. We, Carnivora is over 50 years old now, and people call up and, of course, we read the disclaimer every day, multiple times, but,

SCOTT: I thought you did a very good job on the disclaimer. I knew it wasn't your first time.

WILL: Yeah. So, we have a lot of practice in that statement, but you can really use it for anything, and if you can think of it, Carnivora has been used for it. We've heard it all. And some very serious challenges. The range can go from minor things. I think I can say something like a cough. I don't think that's necessarily a disease. So, I might be able to state that, but people call every week with that.

MARTIN: I don't know Will, if we are allowed to say symptoms and then we eliminate or at least turn down the severity of that symptom, right? So, if the symptom is a pain or heat or sensation of swelling or this and that and whatever, all of which are accompanying the dysregulation of the immune system, this will make it better.

WILL: Yeah. If people, I would say the vast majority of people, if they follow that protocol, they tend to do well.

MARTIN: Yeah. Could you describe the physiology of it, or how does the plant work?

WILL: Well, yeah, it consists of these 17 compounds from the Venus fly trap plant and, if you saw the list of those compounds, you would recognize a lot of them as amino acids or enzymes, antioxidant type compounds, but there's a couple droserone and hydroplumbagin that are unique to this plant, and you really don't see in anything else on the market and they really give it its unique immune enhancing capacity, I think. That's what I would point to. There are 17 compounds that work together in synergy to get this immune effect.

MARTIN: Yeah, I was thinking, just visualize this, right, there's this tiny little plant. It looks like a little clamshell that sits open with a little center piece of bait in it, and then it's waiting for some poor idiot fly to land on it, tempted by the smell of that bait, and then clack, and all of a sudden the fly is in the trap. But what's amazing is that the plant is digesting the insect but not digesting itself.

WILL: Right. It's a differentiation, and that's what piqued Dr. Keller's interest when he first saw that plant in action. He was originally, I think he was on vacation in Maine, and he happened to come into a flower shop, and the Venus Flytrap plant was doing just what you said. Then he went from there, he went to Boston University and started studying that, and then he eventually went back to Germany. I think he had a little bit more freedom in Germany, and he opened his clinic over there, and that's how Carnivora came about, really.

MARTIN: Yeah, Germany has a very different policy. They let the doctors do anything that the doctor deems useful.

In the United States, we have this thing called the ‘standard of care’ where the insurance company dictates to the system, to the doctors, what they are allowed to do and say. In Germany, it's the other way around. The doctor drives the bus.

MARTIN: Yeah. All right. So in practical terms. Yeah. Well, you described it. Ramp up, run through the course until your symptoms subside, and be well.

WILL: And bring it back down and then just maintain. Yeah, that's the objective.

SCOTT: This might be a good time to take a look at some of the products. So, why don't we take a look at the carnivore capsules to start?

MARTIN: Yeah. How do you guys make it? Is it made in the United States?

WILL: Yeah, everything's done here in Connecticut. We don't outsource anything. And that's our, that's a bottle of capsules, the Carnivora capsules, they’re veggie capsules. There's 100 in a bottle. So, at a maintenance dose, if the person is taking the maintenance dose, it's going to last five weeks on that dose. One bottle.

MARTIN: Yeah. It's 12 a day, you'll be done with a bottle a week, right?

WILL: Well, it's 10 days. So it's three a month. Yeah. At the high dose.

MARTIN: Right. And boy, even at the $40 current price, that's such a small drip in the bucket relative to the size of the problem that it solves.

WILL: Yeah. And if you think about the medical costs involved with things. It really is.

MARTIN: Well, I was just trying to compare it to say, to the prescription cost of something like, I don't know what people take for their trouble. Well, better not name any of those things that people take.

WILL: Yeah.

SCOTT: So, it's got interesting things in it. It's got the Venus flytrap as you were talking about, and then quercetin.

WILL: Well, quercetin those are the compounds that comprise the Venus flytrap plant. The 17 compounds. So it's nothing we've put together. It's just a 100% pure extract from that plant in its natural state.

SCOTT: Right.

WILL: So we don't even refer to them as ingredients because it implies that it's a formula that we put together.

MARTIN: Yeah. But it's nature. It's the creator that put it together. Yeah.

WILL: Exactly.

SCOTT: And I just want to point out there are instructions. So if you're, if you get it, you can’t remember what we said that we include all the instructions and also some scientific references.

WILL: Yeah. great. Yeah.

MARTIN: Right. So, we have it in capsules, and that's awesome. And then of course you'll have the companion product with it that's called the lymphatic. What do you call it exactly?

WILL: It's lymph drainage. Yep. That's a picture of it right there.

MARTIN: Right on. And so this is a companion. It's totally different. It's a homeopathic product, which again, leave it to Germans to do that, starting back in 1775, Dr. Hahnemann, and going on from there.

WILL: Yeah.

MARTIN: Homeopathy was doing just fine and is doing just fine outside of the United States.

WILL: Yeah. This product comes in a 2oz bottle. And it's like you said, it's a homeopathic liquid with a dropper, and it consists of about 25 ingredients, and you may have the list of those.

MARTIN: Yeah, we do.

WILL: Yeah. So, a lot of complex sounding names.

MARTIN: Yeah. Those are many, like this is a compounded product with,

WILL: Yeah. And it's specifically formulated to stimulate and cleanse and drain the lymphatic system. So you can use it as a standalone product, but a lot of people find it helpful to use it with Carnivora. Especially if you're on the buildup program, if you're attempting to address an immune challenge, because at those higher doses of Carnivora, you're likely to have a higher degree of abnormal cell die-off, and so you're putting a little bit of a burden on the lymphatic system, and a lot of people have compromised lymphatic systems as it is.

SCOTT: As it is. Yeah. I was thinking that.

WILL: Yeah, because if you're not moving or exercising or doing saunas, things like that, you can get stagnant, and I think I've heard you mention on a video before, Martin, that stagnation is really the enemy of good health.

SCOTT: Yeah, absolutely.

WILL: You want that flow, and that's so this is our offering to assist with that.

SCOTT: So, if you were someone who had a lifestyle of getting up at 6:00 in the morning and 7 o'clock getting in your car and driving for an hour and then getting out of the car and going into an office and sitting for four hours before you have lunch at your computer and then at 1:00 sitting for another four hours after lunch and then getting in the car and driving back home for another hour. This would be something that you would really want to have on an ongoing basis.

WILL: Yeah. And you've perfectly outlined it, Scott. The reason is that people's lymphatic systems are just stagnant. And they're not in good shape.

SCOTT: You need to walk.

WILL: Yeah, even walking, you gotta, but sitting down and all those things you mentioned really lead to that. But the lymphatic system really is an integral part of the immune system. And it works hand in hand and it parallels the circulatory system, and where the circulatory system pumps thousands of liters of blood a day. The lymphatic system is a few liters. 

MARTIN: It’s driven strictly by movement. The interesting bit I wanted to highlight is the homeopathic. It's a vibrational product. It's an energetic product. You don't actually take physical substance other than the carrier. You're actually just taking the energetic imprint of what these ingredients are.

WILL: Yeah, that's a perfect way to state it in imprinting on a water-based product. It's difficult sometimes to get people to understand how it works. It's a little bit easier with Carnivora. It's an herbal product, got the compounds and is pretty straightforward, but homeopathy works the way you just described.

SCOTT: Which I think just reminded me that every time I drink a glass of water. I should before that be thinking some very good thoughts towards the water and doing my own little imprinting.

WILL: Yeah. Dr Emoto from Japan wrote a book: you can write the word love on your bottle, your glass bottle, and it'll infuse that water with positivity.

MARTIN: Yeah. But even this simple innocent habit of doing a quick prayer before a meal. We all should be blessing the meal, and we should all be blessing the hands that prepared it.

WILL: Yeah.

SCOTT: And we used to do that, a few decades ago and just got out of it. And I think that's another example of doing things that don't help us when we don't realize how much what we were doing was helping us.

WILL: Yeah.

MARTIN: And perhaps we didn't understand why. Like the difference between spirituality and religion is that with religion, all you have is the ritual. With spirituality, you actually have the understanding of why you're doing it.

WILL: Yeah. Absolutely.

SCOTT: Yeah. And we have one more we want to take a quick look at.

MARTIN: Yeah. That third product is related to people living with inflammation, where the product is actually turmeric-based. Scott, can you pull it up?

SCOTT: Sorry, I thought I was

MARTIN:  Yeah, this is a curcumin blend actually. Will describe it. Go ahead.

WILL: Yeah, it consists of four products. Turmeric, which like you mentioned, curcumin is the active ingredient there. And then we've added burdock root, ginger, and then some black pepper to enhance the absorption or delivery in the body. There's 90 capsules in a bottle. The recommended dose is just two a day. You can take it at one time or split that dose up. So it's a 45 day supply per bottle. In terms of the benefits, it's primarily used as an anti-inflammatory, I think, particularly for joints and joint mobility to improve those things. But it also has digestive benefits. It can help maintain healthy cholesterol levels, things like that.

MARTIN: Well, it's interesting in the pharmaceutical world, they have two types of, they're not supplements, they're drugs. Anyway, one of them is the aspirin style of lowering the systemic inflammation, and the other one is the co-enzyme no, COX, that's cyclooxygenase, COX2, where that is lowering the inflammatory action in the joints. And turmeric is the original, what shall we call that? When a painter makes a painting, there has to be a model of which the painter is making the painting. Well, in this case, the model is the turmeric, and the painting in the pharmaceutical world is the COX inhibitor. Nature's original creation. That works on the specific cyclooxygenase enzyme. So when we limit that, we are limiting the discomforts in the joints.

WILL: Yeah. Absolutely. And yeah, get the system into balance so that you're not inflamed like you said.

SCOTT: So, one of the groups of people we've been talking to a lot lately are runners. So, for our runner viewers out there, do you want to make a couple comments that will motivate them to add this to their regimen?

WILL: Well, I would definitely recommend it for people running, with the, I guess, the impact that they're experiencing on their feet and joints and knees and things. I think turmeric could be a huge benefit to them for that purpose.

MARTIN: Yeah. Anyone who's having a challenge opening a can of pickles, or jar of pickles, I should call it. That's your signal. You need turmeric.

SCOTT: And what about recovery? Because a lot of times they'll run 10 miles on the weekend, having not really done very much during the week, because don't forget, they're getting up and they're driving an hour, and then they're eight hours in front of a computer and driving another hour.

WILL: Yeah.

SCOTT: But the recovery should be helpful as well?

WILL: Yeah. Recovery before and after. I would take it consistently. Absolutely.

MARTIN: And the sidebar in there, the pepper is in there to get your immune system in gear. And the burdock is there to help your gut to stay calm.

WILL: Yeah. And ginger is also beneficial to digestion. We feel it's a nice well-rounded product for a lot of reasons.

SCOTT: It is. I really like everything you've got in it.

MARTIN: Yeah. The ginger is a stimulant to get you going, and the burdock is to calm down any possible digestive trouble. But this product is very much focused on the creakiness of your body. When you're stiff on rising. Or when you're feeling just hurting in movement. 

WILL: Right. Absolutely. Whatever age is it that you start to experience that, we would highly recommend it.

SCOTT: Awesome.

MARTIN: Yeah. Well, we have described the manufacturing, we have described the products. What else are we missing, Scott? Are we?

SCOTT: I think we've covered it all. I was going to ask you, Will, if there were any last words that you'd like to let our listeners and our viewers know.

WILL: Well, I just would mention that Carnivora is a, it's a completely harmless, completely non-toxic product. Anyone of any age can take it. I mean, little kids can take this. 100 year old people can take this, and you can take it with any medications. It's been around for 50 years. And you can take it with any treatments, even toxic treatments that people might be doing. But any medications or any other supplements, foods, anything else anyone's doing, it's perfectly fine. And it's been used worldwide for 50 years now for just about any type of health challenge you can think of. So we would recommend it for anybody, regardless of age or what their circumstances or their health situation. Even if it's dire, we would recommend it. Or if they've been given a prognosis that it's dire, we would recommend it for that.

MARTIN: Yeah. You mentioned taking it with toxic things. I'm just immediately thinking of somebody taking chemotherapy.

WILL: Yeah.

MARTIN: There they go. They can take it, and this will upregulate the immune system which, that's how they monitor the immune system shutdown, checking for whatever that's called.

WILL: Well, a lot of people do take it with that treatment because that type of treatment is so toxic and so damaging to the immune system, Carnivora can come in and maybe fill the void there and help you with that. So, we would highly recommend it for anyone in that situation, either if they've chosen to take that treatment.

MARTIN: Yeah. Right on.

SCOTT: Right. Well, Thank you, Will, for taking time out of your day to share all this with us. It's been enlightening and really helpful, and I'm excited about adding it to my regimen. And Martin, any last words before we sign off?

MARTIN: I feel confident that this product line is very much in harmony with all that we do at Life Enthusiast. We keep telling the world that we look for products that are still made with passion, with the view of quality over cost, and yet this is not particularly expensive and delivers phenomenal results.

WILL: We appreciate that Martin, and that's why we reached out to you because of your standards and the level of your products. It's not an ordinary array of products. They're special. So we reached out to you for that reason because we thought we could make a good partnership with that.

MARTIN: I look forward to that. Yes. Thank you Will.

SCOTT: Thank you all.

WILL: Thank you, Scott.

SCOTT: Thank you everybody, for watching, and this has been the Life Enthusiast Health Shots podcast. Restoring vitality to you and the planet. We'll see you next time. Bye for now.