Red light therapy for gut health and digestion

This interview with Dr. Zulia Frost was recorded on June 27, 2023 and transcribed using Sonix AI. Please check against audio recording for absolute accuracy.

Zulia Frost: Electrical sound waves using light, using magnetic fields. Because this all is a part of our body already. We embrace that and we all healthy living long without pain and happy.

Peter Bowes: This is the final episode in our series, looking at how exposure to red light can enhance our health and help us heal. Hello again. Welcome to the Live Long and Master Aging podcast. I’m Peter Bowes. This is where we explore the science and stories behind human longevity. Dr. Zulia Frost is a medical doctor and the clinical director at Recharge Health Creators of a targeted red light device known as FlexBeam. Dr. Frost, welcome back.

Zulia Frost: Thank you so much, Peter, for having me today. I’m excited.

Peter Bowes: So we’ve discussed many issues in relation to the human body and red light. We’ve talked about sleep, we’ve talked about injuries both from the perspective of aging and those aches and pains that develop with time and also injuries as they apply to athletes. What we’re going to focus on today is the gut, the stomach, the microbiome and our digestion. And I think there there are so many issues that affect people throughout their lives, not necessarily only associated with aging, but so many people have gut related problems that affects many aspects of their health. I was wondering if you could maybe just start by laying out for us what those issues are and then we’ll get on to how red light therapy could potentially help us?

Zulia Frost: Well, you’re absolutely right. The problem with the functioning of the gut is quite big. And why? Because I’m sorry to say, but we live in an age where, you know, food is actually polluted, soil is depleted. So we don’t have sufficient amount of nutrients and choices for food. We mean there is epidemic of sugars. We know everywhere globally. So, you know, people don’t have regular healthy eating routine at large. And I must say that also every single one of us have at some stage in life quite severe stress and stress, believe me or not, has direct impact on functioning of the digestive system because in our gut, in our intestine and colon, we have receptors for epinephrine, which is a hormone for stress. So every time you get stressed, the bowel literally physically contracts spasm and does not allow the food properly to be processed and digested. So of course, when the gut is in the stress mode, the PH balance is changing, the gut microbiome is changing. Microbiome is a the state of the balanced state between pathological or good bacteria. Yes, there is a opportunistic bacteria as well. So you have all these families of like like a zoo in your gut, so to speak. So when you stress what is happening, the body becomes really acidic and the bowel microbiomes start reducing and pathological start proliferating.

Peter Bowes: And a lot of people think, well, it must be something I’m eating and that it is all focused on diet. Is that necessarily the case? You’ve touched on stress, which clearly isn’t directly related to what are we putting in our mouths? But again, as we’ve talked about in previous episodes, there are multiple issues here at play that could actually affect how we feel. 

Zulia Frost: Oh Absolutely. You know, even there are pollutants, pollutants, but also we kind of choose these pollutants. I mean, people smoke and what’s happening, smoke also gets in your digestive system, people drink. Some people drink excessively. I mean, like anything in life, in small quantities. Good. But when people go over the top, that can affect but even pollutants like, say, electromagnetic pollutants, you never know. You never kind of think or consciously process that they actually static electricity severely, severely debilitate the gut. So static electricity can be a cause for horrible skin, pimples in the skin. And of course, our diet is far from perfection. We just consciously, as I said, it could be conscious or unconscious or just people trying to escape into this reality of this stressful life. And when you turn on news, you watch all this negative views, you’re just trying to escape from that horror. And so you maybe start binging, you know, all this these habits and just doing one diet is not enough. You really need to address the whole you. You know the way you think. Stop stressing yourself. Because clearly, if you’re stressed, you. You cannot. You know, you can’t do anything about it. Yes. Might as well just stop worrying about it. But of course, people can’t think that straight when they in stress mode. Also, you know the thoughts, how thoughts affecting our digestive system a lot. When you go to Japanese restaurant, the ambiance, they are like little fountain, very delicate. Just relax our digestive system and we can assimilate food much better. And then you go to some fast food restaurant where the music and noise is actually not very good for you.

Peter Bowes: I feel more relaxed just listening to you describe that almost makes me want to go to a Japanese restaurant and hear… And you’re absolutely right. I mean, the fast food restaurants are frenetic, they are loud. There’s lots of activity. And the whole experience not that I’ve actually been to a fast food restaurant for a very long time, but it is a stressful experience for many people. We’re not going to dive too deep into different types of diets in this conversation, but one area that does interest me is protein source and the difference between vegan diets, vegetarian diets and well, you could say keto diets or at least diets that are very rich in protein. Clearly each individual will respond very differently to a different diet. And there’s no one solution. There’s no one ideal diet for everyone. But from your perspective, have you noticed significant changes, especially as it applies to gut related issues and that nagging pain that some people can get in their stomach related to the kind of protein that they’re eating?

Zulia Frost: Oh you raise really important topic. First of all, I totally agree there is no best diet for everyone. I personally recommend my patients to do genetic DNA testing because the genetic testing at least gives you some clue if your body lacking on enzymes, some genes associated with breaking down fats, why should you be on keto diet? You cannot your body cannot take it or opposite. If your body experience problem with breaking down sugars or problem with detox. Yes, if you go for carbon hydrate diets, that would actually do a disservice to you. So you really need to look into this aspect. There was a very interesting study done in Japan when they put people on Japanese diet and over a period of time watched them and the results came up. Very interesting. 60% of people improved their weight. They lost weight, 30% they didn’t change and 10% actually got worse. So this is telling you how individual we are. Protein is super important for us. We need protein in our diets. I had many patients who came to me and they’ve gone into wrong diets based on their body type and that is – only exacerbates the problem because we need body mass, especially when you’re going through aging process, you really need your protein. So it has to be sourced somehow.

Peter Bowes: So whatever diet we’re on, how does red light apply to our gut and our digestion? How can we use red light to feel better?

Zulia Frost: I would 100% recommend people to use flex beam on the stomach and actually given a protocol. If you look my suggestions online in the support protocols, you will see every single one when it comes to digestive disorders, especially like IBS, IBD, you know, just regular routine, daily, daily, daily. You need to stimulate your intestine and colon with light. Why? Number one, because microbiome is light sensitive, light sensitive. There are few studies actually come up recently which talk about the positive good bacteria thriving when exposed to near-infrared light. So this is already giving you the importance, how important you have. And then of course, we kind of mentioned a little bit when we talk through melatonin, that near-infrared light stimulates production, particularly in the gut, stimulates production of subcellular melatonin, which is powerful antioxidant. So this antioxidant is important for us because it clears the oxidative stress out of the cell, the clearest like waste. A horrible toxic substances out of our cell. And of course, it improves the blood circulation. We talk about that. So if you have better blood circulation, you can reduce that muscular spasm, which comes when the gut is reacting to food and stop food propelling through the peristalsis. So there are so many, many useful uses of FlexBeam.

Peter Bowes: And let’s just talk about the practicalities of using flex beam on the stomach. Clearly, we eat several times a day. We have a full stomach. We have an empty stomach for certain number of hours during the day. Is there an optimum time to apply red light?

Zulia Frost: It’s fine. You can apply it virtually any time. I prefer, of course, to use it while the body is most active after the food. But if you have a problem with digestion specifically and you lacking that blood redirection to your intestine, then you definitely need to use FlexBeam after the food because naturally throughout our physiology helps to draw all blood once you eating over there in your stomach. So that’s why lots of people crash after lunch. Yes. They say, Oh, I want to sleep because all blood from the brain, not all, but, you know, blood drawn to your stomach because there is lots of activity going on, you digesting, you’re breaking down your food. You need that blood there. So, of course, if you use it and you experience problem, use it at after you’ve eaten.

Peter Bowes: So over the last few weeks, we’ve talked about lots of different applications for red light therapy, for FlexBeam, whether it be the stomach and digestion, aches and pains, injuries or sleep using it before we go to bed. Is there a limit to which we can actually use red light therapy during the day because we actually want to use it to improve our sleep? We want to improve our injuries and perhaps we’ve got a stomach issue as well. My logical mind suggests that we can’t be using it for everything all of the time.

Zulia Frost: That’s absolutely right. And I’m so glad you brought this question, because people do ask this a lot. Of course, our body can focus and, you know, work with energy at certain period of time. You can’t do all the protocols at once, but you need to choose what is the most pressing issue for you. Start with this. So let’s say you have a problem with your digestion. Yes, you have constipation, you have poor food absorption for 3 to 4 weeks. Just focus on your stomach and you’re going to be using vertical position over the stomach where the middle module goes over the your navel. So this is correspond to really major acupuncture points, which would be helpful. And then you put like a … I always call technique cross, you put in over the navel again your middle module and then you apply to position on the back because we need to stimulate digestive system from the front but also from the back. So maybe you do this four weeks Monday to Friday or every other day, and then you start switching into your, for example, better sleep, which by the way, they always will be positions on the stomach energy production. Again, we have two positions on the stomach. So in every important protocol of longevity of the, you know, maintaining your energy, you will always find positions on the stomach. Why? Because it’s foremost important.

Peter Bowes: You’ve just covered so many different aspects of health, not only in this episode, but our previous episodes as well. And there may well be skeptics watching this saying, Wow, this almost sounds too good to be true, that there is this little device that we can use at home that is portable, that we can move around with that professional athletes are using now quite extensively. That seems almost to be a – well, I was going to say cure it’s not necessarily a cure for everything, but it seems to have beneficial effects for so many different potential problems that it just sets people thinking, hmm, is this too good to be true?

Zulia Frost: Yes, because, you know, the work is not the device device only provide light. That’s our body does all the work and that’s why it’s such a diversity of the effects. Because what you do, you work with energy in the body and different tissues have different cells and each cell would benefit from that energy. So whatever you target in your body is going to be benefiting. That’s why I mean, it’s almost like a systemic effect from light. It’s the same if you out there in the sunny, wonderful day, all your body is just singing from it and you know, you feel happy, you feel re-energized. So in a sense, what Flexbeam is doing, is recreating that same environment for you. But of course, the device is simple. It does not do work. The body does. To your point, is it good to be truth? I’ll tell you, I joined the inventors I mentioned about them Arjen Helder, who invented this device. And I was skeptical myself, you know, But seeing the results day by day, but me creating case studies, producing, they’re actually designing clinical study to evaluate it. I am now fully, fully convinced this is a device wonderful, useful, no side effect. And it works. So I’m converted.

Peter Bowes: I can tell. And I can also tell that you’re extremely enthusiastic about this. We’ve had several conversations now and your enthusiasm really comes through. You started in the first episode by telling us about the very serious accident that you’d had, and that really changed your frame of mind towards technologies like this looking for new solutions. What inspires you today as you get out of bed every morning and you talk about this to many people, you travel the world and you educate people about all of these issues that we’ve been discussing. What is it about it that still motivates you?

Zulia Frost: It’s really, really, really important question because I sincerely, sincerely want to help the world finding solution. Because once in my life I was on the receiving end and I was so in so, so much pain. I cannot comprehend this. I do not want anyone in the world to even experience tens of what I experienced about pain. That was really, really. Painful process. But it brought me to the point in life where I have the solution and I really want people to get it and use it, and it’s there at your fingertips.

Peter Bowes: This is the Live Long and Master Aging podcast. Our guest is Dr. Zulia Frost, the Clinical Director at Recharge Health creators of a targeted red light device known as FlexBeam. What’s next for this technology? Clearly, it is technology that is continuing to evolve. If we were to just look into a crystal ball and look ahead maybe five or indeed ten years, what can you see?

Zulia Frost: Well I see that people start embracing this side of I call it in my head bio physical medicine. So we not only subscribe to drugs, drugs are useful as well. Everything has one place. But if you understand that we energy bodies, you know, we our body thrives on energy. We should use this different energies to tune the body, tune different cells into action and gain health through this. So I see personally that there will be hospitals which are fully using various equipment, electrical, sound, sound waves, acoustic, it’s called. Yes, I see this, of course, using light. I see this using magnetic fields because this all is a part of our body already. We have those energies in the body. So in my future we embrace that and we all healthy living long without pain and happy.

Peter Bowes: Well, you’ve just hit on the central thrust of this podcast that we aspire to live long and to master aging. And I’m just curious as we conclude these four interviews that we’ve been doing about red light, what are your own aspirations are in terms of living long and looking ahead to the decades to come? Is longevity something? I think it clearly is from what we’ve been saying, But is longevity something that you focus on as you imagine the years ahead and in terms of what you’ve learned, especially about this technology, how do you apply that knowledge to your own everyday life?

Zulia Frost: It has to be multifaceted. It has to be multiple approach. I personally believe and whatever advice to my patients, I do it myself. So I would say always be active, eat well, have pure thoughts, you know, feel gratitude for what you’re experiencing. Yes, I love all the elements. I love the sun. I love the nature, I love the winds, everything. So embrace these elements into your life and use it. I mean, activity, daily activity must we must wake up. We must stretch. We must bow the sunrise. We must prepare self for today fully functioning day. Consume food with gratitude. Because nature gave us this food. Yes. Whatever food is that it has to be with gratitude. Go through the day and give people positive energy. Positive affirmations don’t get stressed, angry and insultive to someone. Just be happy with yourself in the first place. Extend love to everybody because that’s a fundamental energy of the universe. That’s my take on it. So I think, generally speaking, enjoy your life because if you don’t do what what I’m saying, if you don’t do physical activity, you you’d be your energy will be wrong. So I think in fundamentally if you want to meet your old age happy without pain, you need to do this all.

Peter Bowes: Well I think they’re all really great thoughts. I’m going to follow your work. Dr. Zulia Frost with huge interest, really enjoyed all of these conversations that we’ve been having. Thank you very much indeed.

Zulia Frost: Thank you so much for having me and having the opportunity to pass my message, which comes from my heart.

Peter Bowes: It’s my great pleasure. And if you would like to try it for yourself. Recharge Health is offering LLAMA podcast viewers and listeners a discount on the purchase of a FlexBeam unit. Use the code LLAMA at checkout. You’ll find full details in the show notes for this episode, either on the platform where you are now or our website, which is LLAMApodcast.com. That’s LLAMApodcast.com. Live Long and Master Aging is a Healthspan Media Production. We share ideas here, but we don’t offer medical advice. If you have health concerns of any kind or you’re considering adopting a health related regime, you should first consult your doctor.