Thank you for joining me on my 100th episode! I’m joined by Charlotte Cruze, COO and Co-Founder of Alice Mushrooms, a company serving up decadent chocolate mushrooms in support of humans’ mind-body connection. Charlotte shares how working with adaptogens helped create products that aid sleep and focus, two of the primary challenges that hinder health and vitality.
In this episode, Charlotte Cruze describes the need to find solutions in response to the pharmaceutical industry. As the COO and Co-Founder of Alice Mushrooms, Charlotte believes healthy food should be a source of happiness and health. When her co-founder had an idea to mix mushrooms, fast-acting nootropics, herbal supplements, and the delicious benefits of chocolate together, they created a healthy product that is powerful, purposeful, and accessible.
Charlotte shares how Alice Mushrooms contain adaptogens, which pair immediate boosts to cognitive functioning with long-term benefits for a healthier, more joyful way of life. By finding a natural solution to everyday challenges like sleep and focus, each chocolate has the ability to regulate the nervous system and bring homeostasis to the body. Charlotte illustrates the approach, ingredients, and benefits behind their two products, Nightcap and Brainstorm, and the ways specific mushrooms provide immense benefits to nourish brain cells. Plus, we discuss the level of consciousness mushrooms can bring to help heal and nourish our daily lives.
Listen in to learn more about how the power of mushrooms can bring homeostasis in support of the mind-body connection as a source of vitality, health, and happiness.
In celebration of my 100th episode, join me next week for a five-part series of solo episodes inspired by the recently published book, A Well-Lived Life, by Centenarian Medical Doctor, Gladys T. McGarey.
If you are enjoying these conversations, help me hit 100 reviews in celebration of my 100th episode! Please subscribe and spread the love by leaving a review and sharing it with your friends. Thank you.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, or on your favorite podcast platform.
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Dana Frost 00:07
Welcome to Vitally You, a podcast created to introduce you to the tools that will be your roadmap for feeling younger while growing older. I'm your host Dana Frost, a wellness expert, life coach and energy medicine practitioner. Here's what you can expect conversations about vitality from the inside out with guest experts in the field of health, culture and spirituality, and solo episodes along the way from me where I do deep dives into the topics of aging, heart intelligence, energy, medicine, and your innate capacity to heal. If you want to feel younger, while growing older, this is the place for you. Hi, everyone.
Dana Frost 00:53
Welcome to the Vitally You Podcast. I'm Dana Frost, your host and thank you for joining me for my 100th episode. In today's episode, I have one of the founders and the Chief Operating Officer of Alice mushrooms Charlotte CruzE. Alice mushrooms is a company serving up decadent chocolate mushrooms so you can feel supported sleep and focus more about today's episode in a little bit, but first I want to share something special. In celebration of my 100th episode, I am hosting a five part series of solo episodes starting next week, using the recently published book by centenarian medical Dr. Gladys McGarry. Now, let me provide you a little bit of the backdrop. 10 years ago I read her book, Living medicine the dwelling place, I was inspired and found confirmation of my experience that the healing journey is complex and multi dimensional. It's not just physical but includes the lived history and interpretation from the person.
Dana Frost 01:59
To glasses eyes, we see a physician of times gone by when physician and patient had an active, ongoing relationship. And there was no insurance company dictating protocols. Now Gladys has seen the arc of the medical community and care for over 100 years. She was raised in a family of physicians. She brings a unique history having lived in India as a child and lived through the exponential cultural changes and traumas of the past century. Her experience is simply unparalleled. So this summer, I had a moth infestation. Oh, I know. Gross, right. And the carpet in my home office was impacted, which meant my office was in upheaval for two months. It was a disaster zone. It just, it was chaotic. I couldn't use it. It was just crazy. So three weeks ago, while I was putting my office back together, I literally touched every one of my books. And I stopped on hers to review my highlights.
Dana Frost 03:10
Curiosity got me and I wondered hmm, is she still around? So I googled her. To my surprise, she's still alive. And she published a book this year. So you can imagine I quickly ordered her book. It's called the well lived life. She is now 102 years old. And there are so many gems in this book that I thought talking about them is an excellent way to celebrate my 100th episode. So please join me over the next five weeks to sit at the feet of the Wi centenarian Gladys McGarry. Now, I have sent a request to her team you can imagine inviting her to join me on a podcast I haven't heard back but I'm hopeful. And wouldn't it be amazing to have her on the podcast. So I'm gonna put a link in the show notes to her book, in case you would like to purchase it and accompany me through it.
Dana Frost 04:07
So back to today's episode and the topic of mushrooms. Now, when I returned from Bali this summer, I was meeting with a client and she was sharing her update and she said she had been taking chocolate mushrooms for focus, and that they were making a significant impact. And I said tell me more. And she did and I decided to try them for myself. Now you might remember me talking about mushrooms as nature's ally in healing humanity and I really believe in the power of mushrooms and they are literally calling out to us to support the modern humans. So after experimenting with LSD, mushrooms, and by the way, these mushrooms are totally legal. I reached out to their team to learn more about the dosage of the active ingredients. I I wanted to know, is there actually enough l theanine to bring the calm for sleeping? You know how much camera meal is in it? I really wanted to know a little bit more. Charlotte, the CEO and today's guest pretty much instantaneously replied. And she explained the specific ingredient details are proprietary.
Dana Frost 05:19
And then I said, Well, fair enough. I was sufficiently intrigued and asked Charlotte to share Alice mushrooms with you. So Alice Mushrooms wanted to support two of the primary challenges that hinder vitality and health. Those two things, disturbed sleep, and the inability or decreased ability to focus. Now these challenges are suffered by all generations. Unlike other times in history, today's young people also struggle with sleep and focus. And we know that sleep and focus are two Hallmark challenges for the menopausal woman. Maybe you know, I don't know, I think I've talked a lot about my sleep, but sleep has been my menopausal kryptonite, geez, my sleep meter is always shifting, and I layer so many modalities, and most of the time they work but I find every once in a while, I'll get a hiccup. And I'll need to switch things up a little bit.
Dana Frost 06:18
There's just not one magic bullet. And they're not suggesting that I was mushrooms are a magic bullet. But they really work because they have adaptogens. They're working in the inner terrain over a period of time to bring homeostasis to your system. And I just find layering modalities is super effective. Now, I want to say that when I'm in a quiet environment with no light pollution, and largely surrounded by nature, I sleep like a baby and I don't need any support for sound sleeping. This happened to me in Bali. So I have been using our snack cap and I am impressed. So let's get started. I had a delightful conversation with today's guest and I kept thinking she has to be the age of one of my daughters and talking with her just felt very familiar.
Dana Frost 07:12
I really enjoyed it and I eventually discovered that she actually shares my oldest daughter's birthday, and they are exactly the same age. Charlotte Cruze is an east coaster whose Alice journey began after leaving a successful career in digital media advertising to pursue her lifelong calling to help others feel their best. She enrolled in New York University's Food Studies master's program, learning about the flaws and access issues within our food systems and the vital importance of educating consumers about what they eat. Eventually, she ran operations for Quinn, a New York City based organic on demand meal kit service and led growth for tbh. A better for you vegan Nutella alternative.
Dana Frost 07:57
As a former picky eater and microphone, Charlotte believed that food, especially healthy food should be a source of happiness. As a longtime yoga practitioner, she felt deep appreciation for the mind body connection. And as a newly minted food and wellness authority. She understood the power of mushrooms, and wondered how they might strengthen that connection in a way that could make people happy. And chocolate became the answer. So please join me in welcoming Charlotte to the show. Welcome to the show. I'm really excited to have this conversation with you today.
Charlotte Cruze 08:32
Thank you so much for having me. I'm really happy to be here.
Dana Frost 08:35
Yeah. So Charlotte, one, I want to thank you I think something that made a big impression on me, Charlotte is when I sent you an email through the Atlas mushrooms website. You answered really quickly, like, I was like, Oh my gosh, it's Charlotte, one of the founders. And she's answering and I was I'm really impressed with that level of commitment to your customers. I want to acknowledge that I was impressed and thankful.
Charlotte Cruze 09:02
Thank you so much right now. I mean, our business, we're less than a year old. We're still so new. And being so close to customers has been so important to us. And I love it. My business partner Lindsey loves it. It's something we want everyone at our company to have a touch point on because that's what it's all about really. And running a business can be hard and like remembering that it's actually people that you're serving and that you're speaking to. It's just a great way to ground yourself.
Dana Frost 09:31
Absolutely. And I you know, I was thinking about that because you are a startup and it's so evident that you've had exponential growth for a startup. And so I can imagine because I have heard you mentioned that your team is very small. You recently hired someone, although you do have a publicist and, you know, as a functional nutrition and lifestyle practitioner and a life coach, you know who I work with women. I was like, Oh, I hope that they take care of themselves because I know that when you're in that growth stage of something we're in, it could be, you know, it could be a growth stage, because you're in a startup that's gaining traction, it could be a growth stage, because you're in the middle of you're raising a family. Or it could be that you're midlife. And you're, you've got kids on one side and aging parents on another side, or you've had some traumatic incident in your family, and you're doing a lot of heavy lifting. We know that women do a lot of heavy lifting. And so I was just thinking about you, from that lens of Oh, wow, I can imagine what these two women are experiencing in terms of their the growth of their company. And so keep taking care of yourself.
Charlotte Cruze 10:41
Yeah, we make a real effort to do that. It's Lindsey lives. She's in Venice Beach, my business partner, and she gets on the beach every day. I'm in New York City. So it's not as picturesque as the beach, but I do what I gotta do here. But yeah, we really Valley. Yeah.
Dana Frost 10:58
Well, I will say New York City, Central Park, I have to say there's some amazing energy in Central Park. I don't know if you're anywhere near it. But when you need to round yourself, that land is very powerful.
Charlotte Cruze 11:13
Yeah, I honestly don't make it up there. Enough. I live downtown. And I'm always just intimidated by the hike up there, which I shouldn't be. It's so quick, but subway ride. I spent all evening on the West Side Highway. I love being out. Yeah, that's great.
Dana Frost 11:27
That's great. Well, speaking of women, and heavy lifting, and these different phases that we have in life, so you know, this podcast is Vitally You feeling younger, growing older, and that that can be at any stage in life, because what we know is that younger women, and even younger men are having more complicated health issues. at younger ages, when I was in my 20s, I rarely heard of anyone in my cohort of young women having autoimmune disorders, rarely heard of breast cancer among young women. And now we know that, that that that is just common.
Dana Frost 12:06
And so anything that we can do to support our health from the inside out, I'm just such a fan of and so I want to I want to share with the listeners how I discovered Alice mushrooms. And you know this, but I think it's an important contextual story, because I invited you to the podcast, and thank you for saying yes. And many times when I have a guest, it's because their publicist has contacted me. Anyway, so thank you for coming. So I went to Bali for three weeks, and I came home and I had a session with one of my clients. And we were doing just the general check in and she said, all my goodness, a friend of mine introduced me to these mushrooms for focus. And it has totally changed my days. Now this is a woman who is on psychiatric medication has been on psychiatric medication for a number of years. And we've been really trying to bolster her health from the inside out, and with a lot of success. And I said, Tell me about it, I want to know about it.
Dana Frost 13:13
And she sent me the link, and she said there was mushrooms and you know, I take one for focus. And she goes, it's just amazing how it is helping me keep my thoughts clear, allowing me to focus and stay on track. And that, to me was a huge testimony to have an impact on her. And so I immediately ordered I know, it wasn't really immediately I was kind of getting myself grounded back at home, but I ordered them and I ordered both. But I was really interested in nightcap because that's been my decade's worth of challenges managing sleep. And yeah, you know, I've been successful on many different levels with different modalities, not pharmaceuticals. And so I have had this experience with a nightcap, where I am sleeping more deeply. And I noticed it gets as I take one and I don't take them every night because sometimes I forget. But more often than not, I am taking one. And I really notice my sleep is deeper. So I just I'm really curious to for you to tell us about Alice Mushrooms, and how you started this company and the interest in mushrooms as a modality.
Charlotte Cruze 14:27
Yeah, I mean, well, first, thank you for sharing all of that. It's so cool to hear those stories. I'm so glad it's helped you. I'm so glad it's helped your patient. I think. I mean, that's just incredible. That just lit me up made my day. So thank you for sharing that. Our story is interesting. So Lindsey, my business partner she had the original idea for the brand. Her background comes from pharmaceuticals funnily enough. So she'd been in pharmaceuticals for better part of a decade and just started to get a little bit exhausted. of the industry and really wanted to start looking at addressing root causes instead of BandAids.
Charlotte Cruze 15:06
You know what she was watching people get hooked on, things become dependent on things. And that cycle of dependency is just, you know, if it's something that you really truly need, that's great, but it can just be a little scary if it's not something that you fully need. So she started looking at natural alternatives got really into mushrooms, this is kind of around like early pandemic timing, and realized something that I had also independently realized the other side of the country never having met, that all these mushroom supplements, we were getting so excited reading about the benefits of them. But everything on the market was a powder, a pill, a tincture, all felt pretty reminiscent of pharmaceuticals.
Charlotte Cruze 15:46
And something that Lindsey learned when she was in pharmaceuticals is how delivery method directly affects patient compliance, basically, meaning people aren't going to take it if it sticks to take. So that got her wheels turning of okay, how can we make this indulgent? How can we bring joy into this experience, then the second thing that was really important is this balance of instant gratification with long-term benefits. So Lindsay and I are very similar and that we love instant gratification. And mushrooms don't offer that functional mushrooms particularly. And that's because you have to take a medicinal dose of whatever functional your mushroom mushroom, you're taking daily, for about three weeks to allow the nutrients time to compound in your body and start taking effect.
Charlotte Cruze 16:33
And so that's great. But then when you think about people taking the run of the mill, mushroom supplements that are out there, which is a powder that doesn't taste very good, you try it for three days, you don't feel it. Okay, I'm probably going to stop. So that's when she had the the idea to mix mushrooms with fast-acting nootropics and herbal supplements. So fast forward, she's kind of playing mad scientists in her kitchen with a homeopathic doctor on Reddit buying chocolate at the grocery store and melting it down and mixing it in bowls, you know, and trying to figure out what works.
Charlotte Cruze 17:05
And then once she kind of realizes this has legs, that's when the two of us met through networking. So I'm in New York, she's in LA, we both had this kind of distant mutual friend that neither of us knew particularly well, but knew we were both looking for something. He put us on a phone call. And we kind of said, okay, and we worked together for about three months before we even met in person. And my background, I was in digital marketing working at publishers for a while a little bit of journalism.
Charlotte Cruze 17:35
And then similarly to Lindsay was kind of like this is not serving me, I can't come up with another ad campaign to sell a Timex watch to a guy on Wall Street serving my soul. Food was really what what I wanted to be involved in. So I went got my Master's in Food Studies at NYU, and then was working on some early stage consumer brands. So we really took that marriage of food and pharmaceuticals teaming up together. And then we took a year, year and a half to put the final touches on the formulations locked down sourcing and get our manufacturer put the brand together. And then we launched October of 2022.
Dana Frost 18:11
Wow, it is just coming up on a year anniversary. That's really amazing. The growth. I mean, if I think about my you know where my client is, she found out about it. And I guess that it's spreading like wildfire.
Charlotte Cruze 18:25
Yeah, it's surpassed every goal or dream that we've had. So far, it's been the experience of a lifetime.
Dana Frost 18:31
So how did you decide? I mean, I love chocolate. And I think it's a great delivery method. How did you decide on chocolate as the delivery method and I want to say I love this distinction between making, making something that doesn't feel like a pharmaceutical because we have to disconnect this loop we have that we need a pill to fix something, because we don't need to be fixed. Number one, I think that that's the, you know, a false belief that the medical community has fostered. I'm not saying it's purposefully but this idea in our culture that we need to be fixed. So I love the delivery method being distinct from a pharmaceutical. Yeah, I
Charlotte Cruze 19:17
love that that really aligns with our philosophy. I think chocolate made sense for a few different reasons. One, chocolate is our favorite food. So more excuses to eat chocolate, the better to it was the idea that everything that we're putting into this supplement should have a purpose. And for example, if you're using a gummy, there's a lot of ingredients in a gummy that you're not really interested in don't serve a purpose. The cocoa plant is an incredible substance and cocoa has so many benefits cardiovascular mood, so many antioxidants that the ability to also have our delivery vehicle be something powerful in and of itself was really exciting. And then it's joy. And it's accessibility, I think we wanted to make this experience like you're saying, taking care of your health shouldn't feel like a chore, it should feel like something, a treat that you're doing for yourself, because that's what it is, we say all the time, indulge, don't endure. Because we were so sick of enduring all of these treatments.
Charlotte Cruze 20:23
And we wanted to make mushrooms accessible. And I think for so many people, even people in my network as well, you know, Lindsay and I were building this business, and we have friends who are scared to take our chocolates, because they're like, is this gonna make me trip? They don't know what it is, they don't. And this is, you know, in Venice Beach, or in downtown New York, where you think, you know, that's where kind of the culture shifts, and the conversation shifts a little more quickly. So putting our mushrooms in something that already felt so safe and accessible for people, you know, Oh, I already eat chocolate every day. I love chocolate, chocolate feels safe and accessible. For me. That was a way that we saw we were going to be able to bring new people into the fold. Because if, for example, you're taking a new pill, that's feels a little What is this? I don't I don't understand this. But chocolate is it's familiar. And that was really important to us.
Dana Frost 21:13
I love that Charlotte, I think that that is brilliant. And we know that cacao has so many benefits. And again, it's put you're putting something in your body that comes from nature. And so your body recognizes it and is able to do something with it. It's not foreign. It's it's, you know, it's a part of the natural world. So one of the things that I was concerned about taking it at night, I was like, Oh, is this gonna stimulate me? Because chocolate cacao can be stimulating? There's a little bit of sugar. I don't know how much sugar I remember I wrote to you. And I said, how much l theanine isn't it? And I was curious about the L theanine the amount because l theanine, I know is very effective for me in the evening to call my nervous system. So I wanted to know and and I know you said it was proprietary, I didn't really necessarily need to know the precise amount. But I was I was more like, is this going to be enough? You know, if I'm going to invest in it, right? If I'm going to invest money in, in this chocolate every night is is there a sufficient amount of chamomile l theanine? It's Reishi. Am I right?
Charlotte Cruze 22:18
Yes. Reishi, magnesium and zinc.
Dana Frost 22:20
Yeah. And I can only say that it's working for me, and I'm not stimulated. So is there any information you have in terms of, you know, your research around the formulation of why I'm not stimulated? When I'm having this chocolate at night with it has chocolate and probably just I'm assuming a tiny bit of sugar, I'm assuming it's not much.
Charlotte Cruze 22:41
Yeah, we have each square of chocolate, it's organic, dark, really clean chocolate.
Dana Frost 22:47
Delicious.
Charlotte Cruze 22:48
Thank you have organic pain. So it's a really small amount of sugar. And then the other thing is, you're taking a small bite. I mean, for people listening who haven't tried it, it's like the size of your thumb. So I've looked up, you know, it's less than a gram of caffeine and that amount of chocolate because it's really only three and a half grams of chocolate provided mixed in with the rest of the actives. So it's not enough really, to move the needle in terms of stimulating you. And I love that you asked that because we get that question all the time. In terms of chocolate before bed. This seems counterintuitive.
Charlotte Cruze 23:26
And it really you know, we worked after we worked with our homeopathic doctor that Lindsay worked within our kitchen and we worked with a team of professional formulators, biochemist, doctors, and they gave us I mean, we still have them, these tomes of literature that are so big of every ingredient we could possibly put in there. All of the science behind that how they interact with each other. And you know, formulating it took two years for us to nail down because it was no small feat, and then you try to make that taste good. And that's a whole other conversation.
Dana Frost 23:59
While while I admire your fortitude, okay, so is there any so you know, the the nightcap works for me? I think that your branding is brilliant. I mean, the the aspect of your marketing, your branding, your customer service, I mentioned all of those things are on point. Is there anything else about nightcap that you could share for our listeners, and I brought up the point about the stimulation because women who are perimenopausal or menopausal for longer than a year, they tend to be very sensitive. And I am very sensitive. And so I wanted to point out that I noticed I wasn't stimulated by it just to you know, that doesn't mean another woman isn't going to be but it was a really important data point for me, in terms of recommending it. Is there anything else about Nightcap that you would like to share?
Charlotte Cruze 24:51
Yeah, I think the way that we formulated Nightcap was really intentional. And sleep particularly is something that So many people struggle with and you can struggle with it for a multitude of reasons. It can be because your body won't relax, your mind won't relax, your thoughts are racing, you're stimulated because you've been on your phone too late. I mean, it's, there's so many reasons why you might not be sleeping well. And so that's what we really love about how we formulated Nightcap. So like I mentioned earlier, functional mushrooms take a long time to you know, about three weeks to start working after you take them daily. So that's where Reishi comes in, which is the functional mushroom, we use a nightcap. And Reishi is known as the mother mushroom.
Charlotte Cruze 25:36
Because basically, it can do almost anything. It's just, I would say, if you're going to start with a functional mushroom start with reishi, because it can, its breadth is so wide, and Reishi can help with immunity and help with liver detoxification. But why we love it is because of its ability to work like an adaptogen to down regulate your nervous system and promote healthy sleep cycles over time. So that's kind of taking that long term approach of okay, how can I just generally find a little bit more homeostasis in my body and have better sleep cycles every night because we've all been there like one night a bad sleep begets another night of bad sleep, and it's a cycle. So that's our long term plan, nightcap. And then when you look at the other ingredients, Kameel we love that you know, think about chamomile tea, it's just a really nice way to get your body or your mind ready for bed to calm down. It's so soothing and our nightcap. I would love to hear your opinion on this but it has a camera meal flavor profile, I think. body cam Amelie tastes that almost feels like bedtime, I think.
Dana Frost 26:44
I agree. So interestingly, one year ago, in July, a friend of mine gave me a large bag of Reishi tea, I don't know if you know the tea company out of Milwaukee Reishi tea have huge bag of their beautiful chamomile flowers to make he and I have been hooked on it ever since. And so I was you know, really, I have a cup of chamomile tea, but these really high quality beautiful flowers that I put in a tea bag every night. And so I do feel like I've had this flavor for chamomile, because I've been doing it every night for a year. And I did get that little hint of it in the chocolate. So yes, to answer your question.
Charlotte Cruze 27:29
I love that about it. It almost is like Sleepytime tea and chocolate for me. But then you have magnesium in there, which is really there for body relaxation. Magnesium is great for your muscles. It's what part of what gives you that heavy feeling when you're getting ready to go to bed or you just want to be in bed. And then l theanine incredible for the mind, calming the thoughts, slowing those those systems down. And zinc. I mean, it's great. I think it's great for a lot of reasons. But zinc is kind of our powerhouse for staying asleep, because we wanted to help people who not only need trouble, or have trouble falling asleep, but wake up a lot in the middle of the night. So that's kind of every ingredient in there has a real purpose to tackle a different issue that someone may have. You get this well rounded. Well, I
Dana Frost 28:17
love that. And then now what let's talk about focus. Isn't that what it's called the day one. It's called Focus.
Charlotte Cruze 28:25
It's called brainstorm a brainstorm. Okay,
Dana Frost 28:28
brainstorm. Yeah, let's talk about brainstorm. I have the little thing. I haven't used all of it. It's not one that I need as often so and I know, because I know that you do need to build up, you know, so even though I have it, I just don't use it regularly. Because it's not one of my one of my challenges, but that's the one that really made an impact on my client.
Charlotte Cruze 28:50
Yeah, it's interesting. So many people, we started to notice this, they're a fan of nightcap. They're a fan of brainstorm. And there's a there's a lot of people who are fans of both, but we've developed these followings for one of our products, which has been cool to see. The way you know, I think some people need help with both some people just need help with one. My mom is a brainstorm lady, and I have her on a subscription or brainstorm and she doesn't, you know, she's like, I don't even I cap and that's great. And we formulated brainstorm, obviously very similarly to nightcap. The mushrooms in there.
Charlotte Cruze 29:24
There's lion's mane and quadriceps. So lion's mane is the mushroom of the mind. It's one of the most incredible brain supplements you can take. And the reason it's so incredible is because it has the ability to cross the blood brain barrier and directly nourish your brain cells. And that's something a lot of supplements can't do. And that's really because the blood brain barrier is your brand's Fort Knox and it's tight and it is anything in your blood that got into your brain. That's a no go. You want to keep your brain safe. But then the problem with how tight your brain security is, is that it can keep out a lot of the good stuff. So the compounds in brainstorm are so molecularly light, they can kind of sneak past the security guards and your brain and actually get in there and nourish your brain cells.
Charlotte Cruze 30:07
So it helps with memory cognition, focus, helping you regrow brain cells connecting new neural pathways. If there are a lot of studies around it happening right now as it relates to memory loss, Alzheimer's neurodegeneration, I think we're going to learn a lot more in the next few years about just how powerful it is. It's a supplement for those things. We have Cortis apps, which again, this is like this mind body approach brainstorm for the mind. And then Cordis apps is kind of the mushroom of the body. So cortisol is helps helps your body use oxygen more efficiently. So it increases your blood oxygen levels.
Charlotte Cruze 30:44
And if you're an athlete, or someone who wants better stamina, that's really amazing, because there have been studies that have shown that it helps you train longer and farther and increases that time to exhaustion that you need. So that's kind of that fatality that you're going to get. It's also agree aphrodisiac and sexual stimulant. There's so many incredible things about Cordis apps that are just added bonuses. And then alongside those mushrooms we have Phosphatidylserine, which is a fatty acid that can either be sourced from soybeans or cabbage That's really incredible for brain health. Instantly improving your cognition, clear headed thinking. And then we have gharana, which is a very nicely caffeinated, very sore from Brazil. And I say nicely caffeinated because I can't have coffee, caffeine, like I freak out, I get jittery, I get scared, the whole thing. And I can have the caffeine in this and feel really smooth. And just that nice boost that I've always kind of wanted to get some coffee but never been able to get.
Dana Frost 31:51
Yeah, I loved it. I saw that I lived in Brazil for eight years. And so I'm very familiar with Gwadar. Yeah, I'm really familiar with it. And I've said that that was an interesting little connection that I made. So what are you hearing from people about brain cap? Because I heard you one thing I want to bring up I heard you talk about for focus for college students. Yeah. And was there something that you mentioned about ADHD and college students or being on Adderall or something and this helping them Yeah, taper off.
Charlotte Cruze 32:24
It's been a wild time to start this brand during the Adderall shortage. Because people are looking, you know, who are typically are reliant on Adderall, they can't get it, and they're looking for things that will help them and also a lot of people who came of age in the Adderall era, particularly my generation, you know, you start giving kids something when they're 14, and then what happens when they're 30 years old and at work and can't work about it? So there's this kind of mass interest right now and getting off Adderall and finding a natural alternative to it. And that's been one of the biggest drivers for us with brainstorm is people writing in saying, this is the only thing that's helped my ADHD, I've been able to focus better. I mean, it's been unbelievable. And it's kind of funny, you know, we'll have people emailing like, when's my next shipment coming? Like, I have a test, I need this. And it's, it's so fun for us, because it's like, oh, these people are starting to rely on something that's really good for them.
Dana Frost 33:25
Absolutely. Oh, my gosh, yes, I have goosebumps. And I, I have to tell you that. So I have five kids, they're all raised. And they're probably, you know, one is probably your age, but one of them. So many of her friends were on Adderall. And she, you know, said she had focus issues. And she's, you know, super creative, and she really wanted to go on Adderall. And I just refused. Because I knew based on everything that I had studied, I knew the impact long term. And you know, my husband also when he was younger was recommended that he go on it wasn't Adderall at the time. I don't Ritalin I think it was.
Dana Frost 34:05
And I do think we become so dependent on pharmaceuticals, that we miss learning these aspects of our personality, that are actually our superpower and valuable and make us unique and and some of them have been ramped up because of technology. You know, our attention span just naturally is getting shorter because we're stimulated all the time. But my belief and philosophy and encouragement to her was get to know yourself and how to hone your purse sculpt your personality to work for you. And it forced her to do that and it's amazing. I mean, she's, she's, she's really amazing and but I was like do not become dependent upon something outside of yourself and that I'm pretty radical. So I'm not you know, this is my podcast so I can say what I want to say I am really radical against pharmaceuticals. I'm not saying there's not a place for them. But really, I much prefer to do the internal work, heal the trauma, we have so many things to help us with that.
Dana Frost 35:12
And mushrooms, one of them. So I'll say this, I had a an experience with mushrooms, a very deep experience with mushrooms in 2021. And it really showed me that mushrooms are here to heal humanity. And they are our great one of our greatest allies. They're not from the plant world. And they've you know, they've got this whole ecosystem happening. And they're really here to heal us and to help us and support the human because we need it at this time in history. So this is another one of my fascinations with your product is I think you've tapped into a very powerful healing agents that were the way that you're using it in terms of being adaptogenic, and helping us over time and healing, what's happening inside and helping us with our neural pathways. In a way that is not quick, it's not a quick fix, it's this long term, turning over the soil and working in the soil of our internal terrain.
Charlotte Cruze 36:19
Totally, I love that. And I think I mean, not to get too woowoo on our side, but Lindsey and I are always, we've had so many moments through this business, you know, running our own businesses, there's a million ups and downs, but we have this kind of weird feeling that the mushrooms are looking out for us.
Charlotte Cruze 36:34
And I firmly believe in a level of consciousness and mushrooms as a species or as a kingdom, rather. And they do want to help us and every time that we've almost made some terrible mistake, or we've almost done X or Y has happened, we've felt this kind of like help, almost where it's just been like, that was so close to happening, but didn't, or this bad thing happened. But it actually is okay, because, and we just have been saved so many times. And I mean, that sounds dramatic. Nothing that crazy has happened to us. But it's this feeling like because we're working to spread the voice of the mushrooms that they're they have our back.
Dana Frost 37:18
Oh, wow, I have goosebumps. I love that. Thank you so much for sharing that. Because every time somebody shares something where the mushrooms are helping them, it's validation. Yes, this is the way walk ye in it. Yeah. Yeah, that's really, really beautiful. Okay, so we are ending our time together. Charlotte, is there anything else that you would like to share? About Ellis mushrooms? Um,
Charlotte Cruze 37:46
you know, I think I think we've done a good job covering it. I think really, at the end of the day, it all just comes back to finding joy in your daily life and your routines. And how can you make your body and your health feel a priority and also make that feel joyful. And that is something that mushrooms help us do. That's something that chocolate helps us do. And that's just, that's really our main goal through all of this when you're distilling it down to the nitty gritty core.
Dana Frost 38:15
Yeah, that's really beautiful. And I want I want to say, just to clarify for the listeners, the mushrooms and Alice mushrooms, they're not psychedelic, so you're not going to go on a trip, I just want to make make that clear to everyone and their legal. So just to you know, give that little soundbite there. Okay, so, I have a question that I asked all of my listeners at the end of the episode Charlotte, what does feeling younger while growing older mean to you?
Charlotte Cruze 38:40
Oh, well, I love that. I think I've been thinking about this lately, because as I get older, I'm about to turn 31, which I still believe is very young, but turning 30 Just was a, you know, that's a big milestone. And I still feel like I'm 17 inside. And I think I actually read an article in The Atlantic a few months ago. I don't know if you saw it about people's ages, they feel in their head and a lot of people get locked in these pages. Mine is always going to be 17. And I think it's that feeling of like always being playful. I always just want to laugh and kind of cut up. And that's something my husband and I like our entire relationship is built on laughing together. And I think feeling young as I grow old is like always laughing in the way that I did when I was like goofing off in class as a 16 year old.
Dana Frost 39:34
I love that. That's beautiful. Thank you so much, Charlotte, thank you for being a guest this week on the Vitally You podcast.
Charlotte Cruze 39:39
Thank you so much for having me.
Dana Frost 39:42
Thank you everyone for joining me on the Vitally You podcast. Do not miss your Alice mushroom 20% discount with the code vitallyyou the link is in the show notes. And I want to invite you to leave a review if you haven't and thank you to the 59 Listen Those who have left a review now. I would love to hit my 100th review during my 100 Episode five week celebration, and I have 41 to go so please if you haven't left a review, make my heart sing by leaving me a review and if you are intrigued by the Vitally You podcast, please join my email list and you'll receive my free ebook tips for daily vitality. The link is also in the show notes. And as always, I am streaming love from my heart to yours.