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whentherewerebicycles · 3 years

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i have to wonder if there's an implication that can be drawn the other way around wrt playfulness and stress - not that un-playful individuals experience stress more acutely, but that people who experience stress more acutely become less and less playful. i have intense, disproportionate shame/fear reactions due to Childhood Trauma(tm) and it's inhibiting as fuck - my work with my singing teacher to relax and (though i've never framed it this way) play(!) w/out embarrassment has been (1/3)

one of the most healing things for me... so i think there's this nexus of inhibition & confidence/security & perspective/scale & playfulness & resilience. to be playful you have to be a bit silly and vulnerable and willing to take a risk on doing something "wrong" i.e. not take yourself too seriously, but if you feel chronically unsafe you'll take yourself & everything else too seriously and want to do it "right" so you minimize the perceived risk of harm. going back to my singing teacher (2/3)

the most important thing she did for me was create an explicitly safe, non-judgmental environment where it's not only ok but even desirable to "fuck up" and "look/sound stupid" and to reinforce that message multiple times. so anyway that quote just made me think that "don't take things/yourself too seriously" sits at this interesting intersection between increasing playfulness & coping strategies for emotional damage. sorry to ramble about it in your ask box lol! (3/3)

yes I think this is so so true!! all of this, lol, but especially the part about how acute stress can make it increasingly difficult to be playful. i have written a lot about working through internalized shame here in the past, and especially about the ways that shame causes you to both physically and emotionally shut down parts of yourself. (i actually gave a talk about this subject recently! it was like, a layman’s intro to the neuroscience of shame, with a specific focus on how shame responses affect people’s ability to learn & to connect socially with others in learning spaces.)

i do just want to clarify that the excerpt i posted was from a study that was very narrowly focused on answering the question: “is there a link between playfulness levels and positive/adaptive coping mechanisms in responding to stress?” the study wasn’t designed to answer larger questions about what kinds of life experiences might produce higher levels of playfulness vs. make it difficult to be playful (such as past trauma, not having one’s basic needs for security met, etc.). in the conclusion the authors note that their findings (i.e., that playful people seem to be more able to readily access and use positive coping mechanisms) means that we should be doing more research on how to cultivate playfulness and how to help people unlearn maladaptive coping mechanisms like self-blame. so the point of the study was not to blame individuals or place the responsibility on individual people (“if you could just lighten up, you wouldn’t be so stressed / unhappy / bad at coping!”). it was more like, an attempt to establish that playfulness (as a way of engaging with the world) seems to be associated with all of these positive ways of coping and managing stress, and so we might want to research playfulness more deeply and/or focus on cultivating it in college students.

so i think you are absolutely right that when we talk about playfulness it’s important not to think of it as something that something people just “have” or don’t have (detached from any consideration of people’s backgrounds, lived experiences, etc.). and we also want to avoid pathologizing its absence (“if you don’t have a playful attitude then there’s something wrong/flawed/messed up about you that needs to be fixed”). my research is focused on understanding how we can better create learning environments like the one your singing teacher has created for you -- i.e., spaces where people feel more secure and less vulnerable to scathing or hypercritical judgment; where failures and mistakes are encouraged & normalized as a natural, healthy part of the learning experience; where instructors are modeling self-compassion and deliberately not using shame-based methods; and just in general, where students are getting the kind of gentle, compassionate, consistent messaging you describe receiving from your teacher. basically I’m interested in creating classrooms that provide the stability and consistency people need in order to learn adaptive coping mechanisms that will serve them well outside of those learning spaces.

i think these questions are so important because most college instructors are VERY aware that our students come into our classrooms carrying many different kinds of trauma—whether it’s the more extreme forms that we tend to think of when we think about trauma (childhood abuse, sexual assault, trauma experienced by combat veterans or refugees from warzones), or the forms of pervasive lowgrade trauma associated with financial precarity, racialized stress, etc., or even just the “lighter” or harder-to-classify forms of trauma that rachel naomi remen calls “the cultural shadow” (i.e., the toxic dominant culture that many of us grow up immersed in). and anyone who has taught at the college level (or taught any age level) knows that as a teacher you often have to at least temporarily play aspects of counselor / social worker / person adept at navigating university bureaucracy to help keep students in crisis from slipping through the cracks. (that is obviously NOT ideal, as those roles should be filled by trained professionals! but we have all been in those situations, where you are the first line of support for a student in crisis, or sometimes the last line of support because they have slipped through the giant holes in our country’s social safety nets.)

i think there’s been a shift in recent years towards “trauma-informed pedagogy,” but the slightly watered-down version of this approach many instructors receive tends to be very focused on mitigating harm in the classroom (ie, avoiding certain things or framing material in certain ways so as to avoid re-traumatizing students). this work is obviously HUGELY important (and my own research project is v much informed by it!). but i sometimes feel like these approaches are very damage-centered, ie very focused on understanding how students are “damaged” by their experiences and how we can “prevent further damage” in the classroom space. again, wanting to adopt teaching practices that avoid retraumatizing students is a good thing!!! but i think what i am hoping my work can do is suggest that we can and should strive for more than just limiting damage. to put this another way: i’m looking for ways to go beyond asking “how can we avoid re-traumatizing students in our classrooms?” to thinking more broadly about how we (as teachers, mentors, etc) can design learning environments and learning experiences that help students grow into healthier, happier, more emotionally resilient versions of themselves—and hopefully help build a foundation of social-emotional skills that they will take with them into their adult lives.

play is not the sole "answer” or solution! but i think that for me, it’s been one useful way to think about things like trauma-informed teaching, restorative practices, and social-emotional mentoring strategies, in ways that center a more positive, joyful understanding of what happy and emotionally well-adjusted adulthood can look/feel like. does that make sense?? i think about cultivating playfulness as just one angle onto answering these questions, or as one approach or set of strategies that people could have in their toolkits as they think about how we design learning environments. it won’t work for all students or all teachers or all learning environments, and it won’t solve all of the problems in higher ed (or in a culture where traumatic experiences are so prevalent and yet are so often left unacknowledged and untreated). but i think for me at least it’s been one generative way to reimagine some of the common structures and norms that structure higher ed learning environments.

anyway sorry to use your ask as a springboard into a long “thinking aloud” post!! but i really enjoyed reading your thoughts and i feel like it’s prompted me to articulate some thoughts that have just been sort of murkily floating around in my mind for the last couple weeks. i am also so glad for you that you have a space in your own life (and a trusted teacher figure) where you feel secure & can practice and explore being vulnerable, making mistakes, being silly/playful, etc. it sounds like she is a really wonderful teacher, and it’s so cool too that you are able to describe the ways in which that learning space has felt healing or healthy for you.

#long post #to think further #!!#playfulness project #play project #mw #teaching #mentoring #edit to add: i know that trauma-informed pedagogy is also thinking about these things & i don't mean to suggest that this is #the first time anyone has ever thought of this lol #but i think a lot of young instructors especially (or older instructors who don't do a deep dive into trauma-informed practices)#do tend to get that watered-down version that focuses more on damage and less on restorative / reparative practices

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imsohealthy1 · 4 years

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TWV Podcast Episode 406: Got Water?

Welcome to episode 406 of The Complete View! This week Stacy and Sarah reply a listener query about all issues water. How a lot ought to we drink? Ought to we truly observe our water consumption? How can we test our native water high quality? All of this and extra beneath!

In case you benefit from the present, please evaluation it on iTunes!

The Complete View, Episode 406: Got Water?

Welcome to the Complete View, episode 406. (0:27)

Stacy is so jazzed about this present.

Sarah and Stacy have been speaking about it and making ready for it since this present was referred to as the Complete View.

Stacy personally is jazz palms about educating a pricey cherished one on why filtering water is a good suggestion.

To kick issues off, Stacy goes to share a bit story from their journey final summer time.

Whereas on the highway, Stacy noticed what she thought was a recent spring and inspired the boys to fill their water bottles.

Stacy principally gave her youngsters dysentery.

That is Stacy’s story about why water filtration is necessary.

Stacy ran a ballot final week and solely 21% have been on group Stacy and thought it was a innocent stream.

What Stacy thinks is fascinating is that it isn’t simply runoff water that isn’t good for you.

Oftentimes our municipal water shouldn’t be assembly the requirements.

It is very important perceive that, and past that, you will need to know what you need to be conscious of relating to water.

Sarah has a lot science.

This Week’s Sponsor

However first, Stacy desires to take a second to thank this week’s sponsor, AquaTru. (4:27)

Their reverse osmosis system has been sitting on Stacy’s counter for a month now, however there’s one particular person in the home who shouldn’t be satisfied that it’s a good suggestion.

Stacy first cherished this method due to the data that Sarah shared, however second cherished that it’s endorsed by Erin Brockovich.

Sarah has had an AquaTru for over 4 years, and what she loves about them is how totally different their know-how is.

It’s the one counter-top reverse osmosis system — in a class all its personal.

It’s not bottled water, not a fridge filter pitcher like Brita or Pur, and isn’t an beneath the counter or entire home system needing set up.

AquaTru is the one air purifier to take away the ‘endlessly chemical substances’ often called PFOAs and on the heart of the film Darkish Waters.

Most reverse osmosis (RO) programs waste 4 gallons of water for each one gallon they produce.

AquaTru makes use of a patented water conservation know-how that’s about 12x extra environment friendly than professionally put in under-the-sink RO programs.

RO is one of the best ways to filter water.

They’re giving our podcast listeners $150 off their AquaTru buy.

Listener Query

Jessica says, “new podcast title! Find it irresistible! (10:44)

Thanks for persevering with to podcast.

Loopy occasions on the earth and also you and Sarah’s voice is so completely comforting.

Anyway, podcast query! Water consumption.

I don’t assume you guys have accomplished a, ‘how a lot water do we’d like’, podcast episode.

A deep dive into this may be actually useful.

The usual recommendation appears to be both one quantity for males and one quantity for ladies, or, half your physique weight in oz.

Which is appropriate? Or is there one other reply? What about simply ingesting when thirsty?

I even have puzzled, how a lot water did our ancestors drink?

I assume the water was perhaps more durable to come back by again then so perhaps they have been ingesting much less?

That is the idea I’ve all the time made and has led to me ingesting intuitively, which has greater than doubtless led to me being chronically dehydrated 🙂

I really feel like with all of the conflicting data, it could be nice to listen to the science.

By the way in which Stacy, as a aspect observe, after a couple of yr I completed catching up on the podcast.

I do know you might be sorry, I’m not ;).

When trying to find a water-related episode, I and stumbled on an episode referred to as Thirsty Mind.

I used to be like, for certain this needs to be about how water consumption impacts our mind. Nope. Lol.

However that was an amazing episode about Matt’s podcast, referred to as Thirsty Mind 🙂 love you guys.

Thanks once more for all you do!”

How A lot

Let’s begin with how a lot water. (14:15)

This has been a debated matter throughout the medical and scientific group.

The basic 8, Eight oz. glasses a day is definitely not sufficient.

Nevertheless, this unique suggestion was based mostly on how a lot water we lose over the course of a day and was not based mostly on how a lot we really need.

The query now’s, how a lot water makes us wholesome?

The most recent analysis means that males ought to devour about 13 cups (104 ounces, or three liters) of fluid per day, and girls ought to devour about 9 cups (74 ounces, or 2.2 liters).

The rationale it’s totally different between women and men is principally a mirrored image of physique measurement and BMR.

This quantity shouldn’t be pure water consumption.

It consists of the water that we get from all sources, factoring in all drinks, and the water we get from meals.

From there, our wants would shift up if we’re extremely lively, whether it is sizzling out, sure dietary wants, and so on.

Sarah thought the hunter-gather side of Jessica’s query was very fascinating.

So she spent a while attempting to trace that data down.

Nevertheless, she couldn’t discover a good estimate.

That being stated, Sarah did discover a actually fascinating paper human evolution.

We solely discover stays of early people close to water sources, and so we all know that early people tended to congregate close to water.

Communities have been and nonetheless are centered round methods of getting water.

There was some anthropological analysis exhibiting that this may need been essential in human evolution.

Our brains use lots of vitality, which creates lots of metabolic byproducts, which need to be filtered by the liver and kidneys, which will increase our want for water to make urine to successfully detoxify.

So our capability to develop these superior brains would have relied on correct hydration, along with high-quality meals.

We are able to’t say what number of ounces of water hunter-gathers consumed on common, however we will say that it was very doubtless that they drank lots of water and sure drank intuitively.

Intuitive Hydration

Research hydration have been actually fascinating. (19:56)

Total they present that people typically as a species are fairly good at ingesting intuitively.

Research have come at this from a bunch of various methods, the place they’ve checked out what occurs when you might have given individuals free entry to water and also you measure how a lot water they drink?

Usually, persons are actually good at staying hydrated, supplied water is round.

On common individuals will drink about two liters of water per day, simply pushed by thirst.

Which might be the correct amount of water, contemplating different drinks and water from meals sources.

There have been research exhibiting that that is true in several populations.

Athletes’ efficiency is finest once they simply comply with their thirst for ingesting.

‘Comply with your thirst’ does appear to work finest for efficiency.

Nevertheless, there are a selection of issues which were proven to scale back our thirst relative to our water wants.

Which principally means you aren’t thirsty sufficient for the way a lot water you want.

These individuals must focus extra on hydration and drink with intention, versus simply following thirst.

There are a bunch of medicine which might be used for heart problems that impression thirst.

Aged individuals additionally have a tendency to finish up dehydrated and are should not have sturdy sufficient thirst alerts for his or her water wants.

Menopause causes that is girls and excessive estrogen typically.

Swimming can truly scale back our thirst.

Exercising within the warmth also can impression our thirst consciousness.

When Sarah appears to be like at this record because of this there are such a lot of exceptions that total it’s a fairly good thought to not less than be conscious of hydration.

There are unhealthy issues that occur once we don’t drink sufficient water frequently.

Stacy shared her expertise along with her lack of thirst and dehydration.

What Occurs when you Don’t Drink Sufficient?

What’s fascinating is that acute dehydration will make you’re feeling extraordinarily in poor health, however chronic-mild dehydration form of creeps up on you when it comes to the signs. (27:03)

Like so many persistent issues, the human physique is outstanding when it comes to the way it adapts to not feeling good.

You possibly can find yourself not noticing for some time.

There was an enormous number of research exhibiting that even gentle dehydration places a pressure on the kidneys, which might trigger hypertension, lowered vitality, fatigue, constipation, dry pores and skin, and extra.

What’s fascinating to Sarah is the variety of cognitive points related to gentle dehydration.

It may possibly trigger frequent complications, impair temper, improve nervousness, scale back focus, impair reminiscence, scale back cognitive efficiency and it additionally has a reasonably measurable impression on train efficiency.

The factor that nerds Sarah out is that our microbiome is delicate to our hydration standing.

It is because we have now this entire assortment of bacterial species that really stay in or connected to the mucus barrier.

Sarah defined the mucus layer in better element.

That is why insufficient hydration may cause constipation.

What occurs when we’re not ingesting sufficient, that the mucus layer will get more durable and fewer viscus.

This makes it a much less hospitable surroundings for actually necessary probiotic micro organism.

It additionally makes it a extra hospitable surroundings for pathogens.

This has been confirmed in some actually fascinating animal research.

Acute hydration would come with feeling dizzy, speedy heartbeat, speedy respiratory, excessive fatigue and sleepiness, confusion, and irritability and it might trigger issues like fainting.

You’ll see extreme dehydration in having UTIs, kidney infections, and kidney stones.

Alkaline Water

Sarah feels that alkaline water is without doubt one of the largest scams within the well being group. (34:48)

Alkaline water has an alkaline pH.

Industrial alkaline water sometimes has a pH of 8.Eight or greater with excessive dissolved mineral content material, sometimes calcium, potassium, and magnesium.

Alkaline water is thought to neutralize abdomen acid, which on the floor could sound like an superior factor for anybody who suffers from acid reflux disease.

Nevertheless, as a result of the acidity of chyme is a key sign to the pancreas to secrete digestive enzymes and to the gallbladder to secrete bile, neutralizing abdomen acid can hinder digestion in an enormous method!

So something that neutralizes abdomen acid truly hinders digestion, which might trigger an entire pile of issues.

The opposite factor is the impression on the intestine microbiome.

In case you are neutralizing these acidic molecules with alkaline water, you might be truly suppressing the expansion of actually key probiotic species and rising the expansion of potential pathogens.

Research affirm that ingesting alkaline water causes an undesirable shift in intestine microbiome composition.

One research in mice confirmed that ingesting alkaline water for Four weeks precipitated an enormous lower in probiotic Clostridium species with smaller decreases in Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, and an increase in Prevotella.

A randomized, managed cross-over intervention in grownup males in contrast the impression on the intestine microbiome of consuming 2 liters per day of alkaline water (pH 9) in comparison with impartial water (pH 7) for 2 weeks.

Whereas the alkaline water had no impact on total species range or richness, the boys benefited from greater hydration ranges from impartial pH water, which considerably elevated richness by 15% when evaluating pre- and post-intervention samples.

The advantages of alkaline water which were measured are most likely accomplished attributed to the truth that many people will not be getting sufficient calcium or potassium.

So we will profit from getting these of their elemental type dissolved into water.

Spring Water

Spring/mineral waters may be barely acidic. (38:50)

Most pure sources of mineral water on the earth are acidic, not alkaline.

Acidic water, as a result of our intestine micro organism love residing in an acidic surroundings, has been proven to enhance the intestine microbiome to scale back a diabetes-associated microbiome.

It additionally improves the expansion of probiotic species, not less than in animal research.

So it’s way more necessary to search for mineral water or so as to add mineral drops to your water.

Sarah provides mineral drops to her water earlier than she drinks it.

There’s positively profit to mineral content material, however that alkaline water shouldn’t be doing all of your intestine any favors.

Stacy has skilled this with the digestive piece earlier than.

Faucet Water

The water that comes out of our faucets originates from lakes, rivers, and or groundwater. (41:37)

Then it goes beneath in depth filtration after which disinfection.

Disinfection makes use of certainly one of two chemical substances – chlorine or chloramine.

It is vital for security to undergo this disinfection course of.

When you consider the group of microbes that stay in our intestine and take into consideration a disinfectant being added to our water, you consider the impression this has in your intestine micro organism.

Research have proven that they completely do.

The chlorine/chloramine that’s added to ingesting water not solely decreases the expansion of actually necessary probiotic species, nevertheless it truly permits the expansion of multi-resistant pathogens.

There have been a wide range of research exhibiting that feeding animals chlorinated faucet water truly will increase the variety of micro organism which might be rising of their digestive tract.

These micro organism strains are related to hospital inquired infections.

Research have proven that there’s a potential hyperlink between chlorinated ingesting water and the incidence of colorectal most cancers.

To know whether or not this impact is mediated by way of the microbiome, a research in contrast the impact of ingesting chlorinated water versus faucet water in transgenic mice vulnerable to colon most cancers.

Chlorinated water causes a considerable improve in tumor improvement within the colon, related to lowered ranges of Clostridium perfringens, a species believed to have anti-tumor results.

Apparently, mice ingesting faucet water tended as a substitute to develop tumors within the small gut.

Eradicating the chlorine/chloramine after the water comes out of our faucet earlier than we drink it, is a very good thought for our intestine microbiome.

Extra on Fluoride

There are additionally lots of municipalities in North America that add fluoride to faucet water, with the rationale of lowering tooth decay.

In episode 34 Stacy and Sarah mentioned fluoride, and the science has not modified.

The science exhibiting that fluoride is helpful for dental well being when it makes extended contact with tooth surfaces is basically sturdy.

Nevertheless, the science exhibiting any profit to oral well being from ingesting fluoridated water is principally nonexistent.

There have been some actually massive research exhibiting that fluoridation doesn’t improve the danger of something of the issues which were rumored to be true.

Nevertheless, there have been a number of research exhibiting a correlation between fluoride ranges and decrease IQ in youngsters.

This has opened up the query if fluoride can open up the blood-brain barrier, and doubtlessly negatively impression early mind improvement.

However that is nonetheless an enormous open query the place extra science is required.

We do know that fluoride appears to build up within the pineal gland as we age.

The pineal gland is positioned in our mind and secretes melatonin to assist us sleep.

We don’t know if that is what’s behind sleep disturbances, however its one thing to level to that exhibits how fluoride crosses the blood-brain barrier.

Total, extra analysis is required to make clear if there are precise dangers with fluoridation.

We do know that the advantages will not be measurable.

In a research of broiler chickens, excessive ranges of dietary fluorine resulted in decrease microbial range, considerably decrease ranges of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species.

The research additionally confirmed considerably greater ranges of Escherichia coli and Enterococcus in comparison with the management group.

In a mouse research, 12 weeks of publicity to fluoride altered the oral microbial group by selectively depleting probiotic Parabacteroides distasonis, Bacteroides uniformis, and an unclassified Bacteroides species.

Nevertheless, if we’re utilizing fluoridated toothpaste, ingesting non-fluoridated water seems to pose no threat to oral well being.

There’s a sturdy case for filtering water for eradicating chlorine, chloramine, and fluoride.

Stacy isn’t but including minerals to her water however goes to present it a attempt to is worked up.

You may get these minerals on the AquaTru.

Pesticide Residues in Faucet Water

Whereas an affordable activated carbon (charcoal) water filter can take away chlorine, chloramine, and fluoride from faucet water.

Sadly, these widespread water filtration programs can’t take away pesticide residues.

Heavy metals are a well known drawback. (53:57)

If in case you have lead in your faucet water there’s a lot data on the market that you’d perceive the significance of not showering on this degree of contaminated water.

We talked about how glyphosate impacts the intestine microbiome in final week’s episode (405).

Glyphosate publicity will increase the ratio of pathogenic micro organism to probiotic microbes, lowering Bifidobacteria, Lactobacillus, and Enterococcus whereas rising Salmonella and Clostridium.

There isn’t any dose-response.

Any glyphosate publicity is problematic.

Within the US, glyphosate has been used for over 40 years and is used largely to kill weeds that intervene with agricultural crops (sometimes corn, soy, and canola).

We all know that runoff from industrial agriculture is a significant supply of contaminants in streams, rivers, and lakes, which is the place we get our faucet water from.

Third-party testing was accomplished on 85 faucet water samples by Mothers Throughout America and Sustainable Pulse.

The outcomes confirmed that 35 of the samples had glyphosate ranges as much as 0.three ppb.

On common, 87% of Individuals have measurable glyphosate residues inside their our bodies.

For extra on how glyphosate impacts our well being, see this research.

We all know we’re getting uncovered to glyphosate and it appears to be like as if faucet water could also be a key root of publicity.

That is essentially the most compelling purpose for filtering water utilizing reverse osmosis.

Closing Ideas

Sarah is so grateful for AquaTru for giving our listeners such a steep low cost on their filtration programs.

Final week we talked about foundational rules, and Sarah considers filtering water as a foundational precept.

Reverse osmosis is the following degree factor.

Nevertheless, relying on the place you reside, when you stay in an space the place your water is more likely to be contaminated, that shifts that precedence.

Stacy and Sarah are on a mission to coach, they by no means need to make listeners really feel burdened with yet another factor to fret about.

As a substitute, you make knowledgeable choices from training and we’re right here to coach you.

Stacy doesn’t need somebody to spend some huge cash on a water filtration system with out trying totally into the analysis and which system to purchase.

It’s fascinating to Stacy that that is past heavy metallic contamination, it’s past glyphosate, that three out of 4 houses have contaminants past the prescribed measures in America.

This was a truth that after she heard it, Stacy couldn’t un-hear it.

Is that this a burden that you need to be wired about – completely not.

That is to coach you so as to plan for if you wish to make adjustments.

A terrific place to begin is to take a look at what’s in your water.

Use this website as a reference level.

So that you can remember and to begin that’s all that we try to supply.

In case you are involved about your water high quality and do really feel like a great water filtration system is an effective funding to make, AquaTru has given our listeners $150 off.

Easy go to this website to get that low cost.

Sarah needed to thank AquaTru once more for sponsoring this week’s episode and for being such a great sponsor to supply listeners with such an incredible low cost.

Thanks listeners for being part of the present.

We love listening to from you and your suggestions.

Jessica, thanks in your good complement.

If in case you have questions that you really want us to comply with up on or totally different matters that you just need to hear about, we welcome you to e-mail us utilizing the contact types on our blogs.

Please interact with us on social media.

In case you realized one thing from listening to certainly one of our exhibits, the perfect factor you are able to do is share about it.

Please additionally depart a evaluation in no matter platform you might be listening to.

Thanks a lot, listeners!

We can be again subsequent week. (1:05:22)

The submit TWV Podcast Episode 406: Got Water? appeared first on The Paleo Mother.

7 Day Detox Plan

#7 Day Detox Plan

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antionetterparker · 5 years

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Max International: Just another miracle pill scam? [Review]

Science-based products are today’s miracle pill…

Throw the word “science” around enough, and you’re automatically legitimized.

So you have to wonder if Max International’s glutathione wonder-pills are just another miracle pill scam.

There really is a whiff of snake oil and phony doctors, but we’ll let you decide one way or the other.

Max International is a wellness network marketing company founded in Utah offering health products that increase glutathione production in the body. Glutathione is real and it really does keep your body healthy and young, but is it enough to sustain an MLM?

Here’s what you need to know.

FAQ

1. What does Max International sell? Max International calls themselves the glutathione company. They sell scientifically-proven supplements that are safe and effective for weight loss, skin treatments, and better health and wellness. To achieve this lofty goal, they look to glutathione, an antioxidant that exists inside every one of the cells in the human body.

2. What are Max International’s most popular products? Cellgevity and Max GXL are their top two products. Cellgevity is designed to help your body produce its own glutathione, providing 12 nutrients that give your body the nutrients they need to do so. Max GXL has an N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) formula that helps your body maintain its levels of glutathione. Together, they help your body defend against harmful influences such as free radicals, chemical toxins, and heavy metals.

3. How much does it cost to join Max International? To join Max Associates, you’ll pay a one-time enrollment fee of $49. That gives you sales materials, a welcome brochure, and a USB to help you get started. You’ll also pay an annual fee of $25 to maintain your virtual office with the company. What’s not clear is whether there’s any cost beyond this initial investment. (There usually is, and we dug up some of the “hidden costs,” which you’ll see in our review below.) But we don’t like that Max doesn’t give full disclosure before talking to a distributor about joining.

4. Is Max International a scam? Not likely. Glutathione is a legitimate health supplement, and Max International is selling real glutathione products based on scientific research. Now, are you likely to get rich as a Max International distributor? Again, not likely.

5. What is Max International’s BBB rating? A+

6. How long has Max International been in business? Since 2007

7. What is Max International’s revenue? $300 million

8. How many Max International distributors are there? About 7,000

9. What lawsuits have been filed? In 2008, Max International sued Solution X Technologies for trademark infringement. [1] In 2010, Tripharma sued Max International for patent infringement and trademark dilution. [2] In 2011, Max International settled a with Melaleuca, who accused Max International of poaching employees and encouraging them to breach contracts. The settlement was $1.2 million. [3] In 2017, former CEO Peter Nordberg was found guilty of tax evasion for two years. [4]

10. Comparable companies: PhytoScience, 4Life

Turns out, Max International’s med cred might actually be somewhat legit, but there are definitely better ways out there to earn passive income and gain financial independence.

Click here for my #1 recommendation

Either way, here’s the full review on Max International.

Overview

Max International – or “The Glutathione Company” – was launched in 2007 by three entrepreneurs and direct marketers: Steven K. Scott, Fred Ninow, and Gregory Fullerton. They’re headquartered in, of course, Utah.

Less than a decade later, Scott is the only original founder who’s still around. The other two seem to have moved on and launched other companies already. Clearly, they really believe in the vision and goals of Max International.

Scott’s founding story starts back in 2007 when he met Dr. Robert H. Keller, who is supposedly a renowned research scientist and medical doctor. On Scott’s website, he claims that Keller is an immunologist, oncologist, and hematologist, and has written over 100 peer-reviewed articles.

They met at Chuck Norris’s home (LOL, sorry, can’t hold in the laugh on that one), and Dr. Keller whipped out some studies he’d been doing on a new nutritional formula that increases Glutathione production with phenomenal results for the user’s health.

This Dr. Keller sounds pretty incredible – dude is like three doctors in one. And according to his Curriculum Vitae, his education and training is actually legit. He got undergraduate and Masters degrees in Biology from Fordham University and then went on to get his MD from Temple University. He’s been a faculty member at the Mayo Clinic, University of Wisconsin, and Medical College of Wisconsin, among other places. [5]

Unfortunately, the company has come up against a handful of lawsuits in the past. They had to pay a $1.2 million settlement in 2011 to Melaleuca for poaching Melaleuca’s sales reps. In the same year, they came under fire for supposedly infringing upon patents that Tripharma held in one of their products, but this claim hasn’t been proven.

Max International’s mission is “to empower people to build a legacy of significant change in their lives and the lives of others.”

How much does Max International cost?

It costs $49 to become an independent distributor for Max International. There is also a $25 annual renewal fee.

Product packs vary in price based on how much product you want to keep in stock. The larger ones give you access to some extra FastTrack bonuses.

Personal Pack: $130-$179

Professional Pack: $549

Premiere Pack: $999

You also have to hit 100 PV each month to stay qualified.

Products

Max International sells nutritional products based on the concept of increasing the body’s glutathione production.

According to Steven K. Scott, glutathione is “the cell’s first line of defense and even reduces inflammation at a cellular level.”

Max International has fully disclosed all of their product ingredients, and they’ve posted a number of independent studies and clinical trials to back the health benefits they claim.

Their flagship product, Max GXL, costs $85 for a 30-day supply. Other products include a performance boosting drink, an immunity boosting supplement, a weight loss program, and skincare products.

Benefits:

A study done by nutrition faculty at Texas A&M in 2004 showed that glutathione production has the following benefits:

Antioxidant defense

Metabolism regulation

Cellular regulation

Anti-aging

Increased immunities and protection against disease [6]

Another study was published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine in 2011 in which 40 adult volunteers with acute or chronic disease were given glutathione supplements for 4 weeks. The study concluded that there were no differences in oxidative stress biomarkers between treatment groups, and measures of glutathione in participants were also unchanged.

Basically, the supplements had no significant effects on participants. [7]

Side Effects:

Some reported side effects of long-term glutathione consumption include:

Lower zinc levels

Wheezing

Unknown effects on women who are pregnant or breastfeeding [8]

Compensation Plan

Max International offers a pretty extensive 90-day training program, which is key to banking it with any MLM (see the full rankings). If you come in with no sales and marketing knowledge, and the company doesn’t take the time to train you (which most MLMs don’t), you’re not going anywhere.

There are nine ways to earn with the Max International compensation plan.

Retail Profits

Distributors make the difference between wholesale and retail price on personal sales.

Preferred Customer Bonus

These are extra commissions earned for customers that are on autoship.

FastTrack Bonus

FastTrack bonuses are offered on a weekly basis every time you personally sponsor a new recruit who buys their start-up pack.

Personal Pack purchases net you a $15-$60 bonus.

Professional Pack purchases net you a $75 bonus.

Premiere Pack purchases net you a $150 bonus.

Double FastTrack Bonus

If you sell three Premiere or Professional packs in a month to new associates that you personally sponsored, your FastTrack bonus doubles.

Team Bonus

Team bonuses are given out to you based on the sales performance of your downline in a binary structure. You get 10% of the commissionable volume that your weaker leg generates each month.

Unlimited Seven-Level Matching Check Bonus

This bonus offers up to 50% on the team commissions of anyone you personally recruited down to 7 levels.

Platinum and Diamond Leadership Pool

These are the high roller, livin’ large, penthouse-with-a-pool bonuses. If you can get all the way up to Platinum and Diamond ranks, you can start ranking in some pretty sweet bonuses.

Global Bonus Pool

This bonus comes from 2% of the company’s global CV and is given out to affiliates who have grown their team’s weaker leg as compared to the previous month.

Max Living Bonus

These are passive earnings that affiliates at the rank of Platinum or higher can earn.

Platinum: $500/month

Diamond: $750/month

Double Diamond: $1,000/month

Triple Diamond or higher: $1,500/month

Recap

Max International seems to be one of those rare nutritional MLMs that actually has real science and doctors backing their products, which not all companies can claim (hint: Vasayo). However, there really hasn’t been enough conclusive evidence to show that glutathione supplements do WONDERS for your health, especially to justify paying $85/month.

My guess is that most people are paying that just for the rights to resell products and recruit a team of affiliates – they want to get rich quick.

Look, I’ve been involved with network marketing for over ten years so I know what to look for when you consider a new opportunity.

After reviewing 200+ business opportunities and systems out there, here is the one I would recommend:

Click here for my #1 recommendation

via https://mlmcompanies.org/max-international/

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