Podcasts about kyrin dunston

Welcome back to another empowering episode of The Hormone Prosperity Podcast, hosted Dr. Kyrin Dunston! In this special episode, we are thrilled to have Bliss Magdalena, a dynamic priestess who lives in fully activated divine presence. Bliss brings over two decades of experience as a holistic practitioner, doula, and educator. She shares her profound wisdom on womb healing, divine feminine energy, and holistic therapies. Episode Highlights Understanding the Womb as a Sacred Space: Bliss dives into the concept of the womb as not just a physical organ but a sacred and powerful portal for healing and creation. Learn how to reconnect with this vital part of yourself.   Lunar Womb Priestessing: Discover the ancient practice of Lunar Womb Priestessing and how it helps women reclaim their divine feminine energy and power. Bliss explains the rituals and practices that can help you align with the lunar cycles.   Holistic Therapies for Womb Health: Tune in as Bliss shares her insights on various holistic therapies and rituals that promote womb health and overall well-being. From forest bathing to sound healing, she outlines practical steps you can take today.   Navigating Midlife Transitions: Bliss offers invaluable advice on navigating the complex transitions of midlife with grace and empowerment. Her stories and insights from two decades of practice provide a roadmap for finding balance and inner wisdom during this pivotal time.   Practical Wisdom for Midlife Women: Get actionable tips on how midlife women can tap into their inner wisdom and leverage the power of their wombs for emotional and physical healing. Guest Bio Bliss Magdalena is a deeply devoted, learned, and dynamic priestess who embodies fully activated divine presence. With over 20 years of experience, Bliss is a holistic practitioner, doula, and educator for birth-workers. She is also a death companion and supporter, teaching Lunar Womb Priestessing and Temple Arts Training courses that focus on holistic therapies for womb health and overall well-being. Passionate about connecting individuals with their inner wisdom and divine feminine energy, Bliss leads forest bathing, sacred site tours, and retreats, alongside sound healing concerts. Her students and clients describe her as fully authentic and fully alive. --- Loved this episode? Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review The Hormone Prosperity Podcast to help other remarkable women find us. Your feedback fuels our mission to empower women through every stage of life. --- Thank you for tuning in to this enlightening conversation with Bliss Magdalena. Remember, your womb is a portal to healing and creation. Let's honor it and ourselves every day. Until next time, stay empowered and connected. Stay connected with us for more incredible episodes that celebrate and support your health and well-being. --- Dr.Kyrin (00:00): Did you know the yoni and womb are portals to infinite wisdom and healing? Stay tuned as Bliss Magdalena helps you understand this and why your body is sacred and the key to self-empowerment. Dr. Kyrin (00:16): So the big question is how do women over 40 like us keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself again. As an O-B-G-Y-N, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Dr.Kyrin (01:10): Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me today as we talk with bliss, Magdalena womb priestess about so many things that you don't know about your womb as apor, powerful portal of healing for your health and your spirit, your mind, and your body. This was something I wasn't aware of as a gynecologist. It was the hugest missing link in my education and training and working as 30 years as a board certified gynecologist. So you are sure gonna wanna know about this information. And Bliss is an absolutely beautiful soul who was I was connected with through another womb shaman. We're gonna talk a little bit about that and her path to being a womb priestess, what that means, how you can become one too. We talk about the womb being a portal to other dimensions and the power that it holds. Dr.Kyrin (02:12): And our body's sacredness. We talk about sacred sexuality, tantra, all kinds of things. Temple arts, she is a wealth of information. She's actually working on her PhD, which we didn't have a chance to talk about, but we had talked about that at during another private conversation that we had. She has a beautiful training coming up that I'm going to be TA participating in and you're welcome to join me. We give that information as well. I'll tell you a little bit more about her and then we'll get started. Liz is a deeply devoted, learned and dynamic priestess who is living in fully activated divine presence. She has over two decades in practice as a holistic practitioner. She's a doula, an educator for birth workers death, companion and supporter. She teaches lunar womb priestessing and temple arch training courses and holistic therapies. She enjoys leading forest bathing, sacred site tours and retreats and some healing concerts. Dr.Kyrin (03:11): And her students and clients describe her as fully authentic and fully alive. I would say amen to that sister. She is a beautiful soul. Please help me welcome Bliss Magdalena to the show. Thank you. I'm so excited to broach this topic on the podcast. It's not something we've talked about ever and it wasn't something that I was aware of even being in women's health for over 30 years as a gynecologist until I went to Dubai this past year. And so I kind of wanna say this for everybody listening before you dismiss it, before you say, oh, I don't wanna hear about this, you need to hear about this. You know, as a board certified gynecologist for over 30 years, I promise you you need to know about this. And this is one of the most vital and important missing pieces in your health program in what you're doing to create brilliant health in your life that you don't know about and you are not going to hear about in a lot of places, particularly in the us. Dr.Kyrin (04:17): So I promise you, you need to hear this. So I want you to listen. I, I literally had that thought when I started learning about this. How have I been in women's health my whole life and didn't know about this? So my experience in the US when it comes to womb health or womb steaming was there's this place in Atlanta that's a Korean bathhouse and they have all these different saunas and steam rooms and they have awo steam room there. And it's basically this little room in the corner where they have a TV and they watch Korean soap operas all day long and it's not a spiritual space in any way, shape or form or a nurturing space. And they line all the women up against the wall and put the herbs in and you're watching Korean soap operas the whole time. And I did it once 'cause I wanted to know what it was and I said, this is a waste of time. Dr.Kyrin (05:12): I had zero experience improvement or experience with it. And it's funny 'cause I was actually interviewed by a magazine, I forget which one about my opinion of womb steaming. And so it's in print that Karen Dunton said that it, it's not, has no medical benefit. I said that because I didn't know then what I know now. So in Dubai I said, well this is a different community. There are a lot of healers here. Let me go to a womb steaming. And it absolutely changed my life, right? It was 30 women in a, an oval in a room with a beautiful altar with a very spiritual guide. And we did the real deal and portals opened up for me and healing and visions and knowings and my wombs started clearing. And I've since been on a further journey with that and worked with a couple womb shamans and read books on the subject and realized that this really is the path that I have on as a gynecologist only I didn't know it. Dr.Kyrin (06:17): And the universe is like, surprise, here's your next phase of development. So I look to learn to people like you. So I'm so blessed to have you on the show today. And I just wanted to share that because I know if there's anyone listening who's even heard of wound steaming or yoni steaming or anything about wo healing and you've experienced what I had experienced before, you're probably gonna poo P it. And I want to tell you that that's not the real thing. , you need to really hear about the wo real thing. And if you've never heard of it, I encounter women at the time in the states who have never, they have no concept of what we're gonna talk about, then you really need to listen up. So I'm wondering if first you can share kind of how you got on this path, bliss, how did you come to this path of being a priestess and training other women and understanding what you know? Bliss Magdalena (07:07): I was lucky enough to be raised in an all female household. My mom is a priestess of Ishtar. So when we were together, this, I've always been initiated in these concepts of body positivity, in feminine power, in sexual power and sexual magic. And really in us holding this portal place as conscious creators in our lives, which our power and our ability to generate and magnetize and connect is actually coming from our physical health as well as our emotional and psychological health. So those things have never been outside of the sphere of my experience. So I've, I've always been meditating, I've always been connecting with the divine. I've always been working particularly with touch and the body and with natural herbs and natural oils. So for me, those are my gifts. And initially I went into practice as a holistic practitioner. So I've been all around the world. Bliss Magdalena (08:16): I've trained in all these different places with different teachers in traditional healing modalities from around the world. And also in naturopathy. In my twenties I was managing health food shops and I was practicing as a nutritionist and a naturopathic therapist in addition to the touch therapies that I was doing. And throughout my life, my spiritual practice has been tantra and sacred sexuality. So it would've been nine years ago now that I found my true teacher. You know, I'd done a lot of trainings in Sacred Union and sacred sexuality and tantra, but I went on a pilgrimage to creep with my teacher, Katinka Suan of the Path of Love Mystery School. And really keker is everything embodied in one package as a sacred sexual priestess. So she was practicing tantra, but she had also worked as a doula and she was integrating the traditional lineage of the lon goddess mysteries. Bliss Magdalena (09:27): She had combined that with her tantra practice and her healing work. And so as soon as we met, it was immediately like, oh, well there's someone else who's doing what I'm doing, you know, which was really great because for so long I'd been keeping that under the radar. So I'd been a priestess, but I was calling myself a holistic practitioner, if that makes sense. And I had all of these credentials where I was working with people in medical settings in hospices. So I was doing clinical therapy work, but I was really finding my heart and finding that space where I felt like it was truly my vocation in the sphere of sexuality, relationships, and reproductive health. So I was working with people before, during, and after pregnancy as a fertility therapist and a doula and a postpartum supporter. And so that was where I first came across yoni steaming was in the postpartum phase. Bliss Magdalena (10:26): And actually the research that's been done there has been one scientific study which has been published about the only steaming, which is about women in the postpartum period. So it's something that is deeply regenerative to the tissues around the vagina. And if you have torn during your labor, it's something that will stimulate that granulation and that healing process. But the thing that's most important about it is that it's non-invasive. So no one is touching you, no one is looking at you. It's something that you can do therapeutically to support your body's natural healing process without any invasive procedure is something that you can do for yourself. And I think that is the thing that's most empowering about this, you know? So yes, I mean you only steaming as a postpartum healing modality is something that it facilitates the release of here, this, you know, this kind of post birth material from inside the uterus, it boosts the circulation, which increases the healing response to the area. Bliss Magdalena (11:34): But because it's deeply relaxing to the connective tissue, it actually helps your uterus to reposition itself. So this is amazing, you know, particularly if you've had a traumatic birth. But the thing that's amazing about yoni steaming is it's not just a postpartum modality. And so during my priestess training, ka tinker introduced this to us as a temple art. So this was something that we were doing in a circle of women as part of a red tent where you are actually activating a portal for yourself in sacred space. And so you can yoni steam at any age, you can yoni steam, whether you have had a womb removed. So one of my friends, when I was teaching yoni steaming, we did a, a really big yoni steam online, and one of my friends had was recovering from having a hysterectomy. And so she was steaming with me. Bliss Magdalena (12:32): And you know, her recovery was so miraculous. It really, it makes such a difference because it's relaxing this connective tissue. So this is having a somatic restoration and rebalancing of your nervous system that's coming from this feeling of warmth and safety and not having any kind of invasion. Like no one is, no one is touching you, no one's coming inside you, no one's opening you up with a speculum. But you are naturally opening because of the warmth of these vapors and kind of settling down into a conscious loving awareness of your womb and your yoni. So yeah, I mean, I'm a huge advocate of this work. So I think it's really great that you've raised this as a topic at the beginning because I think everyone should know about it. And I feel that it's had a really bad press because people have a misunderstanding about the context of yoni steaming. Bliss Magdalena (13:33): So for me, I see this as a personal healing process. It is a modality that is particularly helpful if you've had past invasive medical procedures or if you've had sexual trauma because it's something where you don't actually have to undress apart from taking your knickers off, you can just wear a long dress or a long skirt, and then you're actually wrapping yourself in more blankets. You know, it's something that it can be done alone. I believe that it's safer if you have a practitioner there with you, because we can help you to hold the space. We can make sure that you're not accidentally dipping your skirt or your blankets into the bowl of water. And we can also help to regulate the temperature. So if you're using an electric heater, or traditionally, you know, women would sit over a smoke box. So I don't advocate that, like I don't think it's healthy to expose your mucus membranes to smoke. Bliss Magdalena (14:32): But the most ancient forms of yoni steaming were done over a small cauldron with a fire. And so women in South America, in Africa, in Indonesia, they would actually be burning and steaming herbs sitting over these quadrants, you know? And then more recently, so the modern version of this is that you have a, a bowl of what I would describe as like a loving herbal tea. And so you can use different types of herbs depending on your medical needs. So for example, if you want something which is mucus forming, you know, and it's gonna generate a lot of lubrication and a lot of softness for you, then you might go for something like calendula or rose petals, for example. If you want something that's more astringent, you know, because for example, you are recovering from an infection or you want something which is antiseptic and healing because you've had a cut or a tear, you could go for something, which is more, I would say the thing about this is that it's not actually like receiving a herbal medicine, it's more that you are inhaling almost like a homeopathic dose of these volatile organic compounds from different types of herbs. Bliss Magdalena (15:46): So you have a medicinal benefit that's coming from your awareness of the herbs rather than, for example, taking a dose of herbal medicine. So it's, it's working in a much more subtle way. So if you are recovering and you want to have something which is more as stringent, you could go for something like peppermint, you could go from mug warts, some people put ginger in their yoni steaming. So the best way to do this work is to work with someone who is knowledgeable as a herbalist in addition to having an awareness and an understanding of reproductive health. So this is why I think like anyone can steam with just a bowl of water, and you can literally make it as simple as just putting a bowl in your toilet system. If you wanna make it really easy on yourself, you can just get a big bowl, pop it in the loo, make sure that you are sitting high enough over it so that you are not going to come into direct contact with the hot water and you know, just pop a towel over your lap. Bliss Magdalena (16:45): Like it can really be as simple as that. You don't have to complicate it. And I think this is the thing with some of the more commercialized places. So if you go to like a Malaysian or a sort of Korean salon, then they'll often have like a plastic gown that you wear and sometimes you can actually be sitting over something that's like a crockpot, you know? And so that water can be very, very hot, you know, and I think this is where the media has really focused on these kind of dangerous aspects, that if you sit over a pot of boiling water, then yes, I mean that that is going to cause a health risk because you could potentially sc yourself on the steam. So I don't tend to work in that way, like with my students and with my clients I tend to use a ceramic or a bamboo bowl. Bliss Magdalena (17:38): We just position them in a way so that they can easily elevate. And I tend to use water that's just come off the boil and then wait for five minutes before they actually actually come to steam on it. So there's ways that you can do it safely and you know, you can actually buy these like bespoke steaming boxes now that you can sit over and they have a sort of whole, so that you can sit in a really safe way and they tend to be about 12 to 18 inches above the water. So yeah, if you prefer to do it that way, you can, but I think this is the thing about having a practitioner. So if you're working with someone that is knowledgeable about yoni steaming, then we can keep you safe, we can keep you comfortable and we can ensure that you're really having the best experience while you are undertaking what can be a very personal ceremony, you know? Yeah. We're just, we're just there with you. Dr.Kyrin (18:31): Yes. And it was so beautiful. So I had several experiences, one of which we had about a hundred women with a womb priestess, and we did the steaming together and it was so powerful. And what amazed me is that it's not only, okay, yes, you've got the heat, it brings blood flow. Yes, you have the physiologic response to the herbs, you are also inhaling them. But the energetic activation and what you said earlier, opening a portal for yourself, that was the most surprising thing about it, is that the spiritual aspect of in another realm. And it started bringing me these memories and visions and connections and emotions that was so powerful. And then, right. You know, I just wanna share this. Aha. So I, I read a book after, after I had this, the first experience. I said, oh my gosh, what is happening? So I had to re-read the book, womb Awakening. Dr.Kyrin (19:32): And you know, even though I've delivered thousands of babies and I've worked with thousands of women in my career, and I know that giving birth is bringing a new life, it never occurred to me. And I remember in womb awakening they talked about this, that the womb is actually a portal to another dimension, the dimension where souls live before they incarnate in this earth. And I never thought about it like that, and that women have this capacity to bring forth and materialize energies from another realm that men don't have. It just, it really hit me like a ton of bricks in the face while duh, and how powerful that is. And I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit about that and, and what it means for our own healing and how we work with this and this understanding and foster this. Bliss Magdalena (20:28): Yeah, of course. I mean, when you're steaming, you are activating a very powerful acupressure point. So it's the conception vessel. So it's, it is actually literally opening a channel in your central nervous system to enable energy to move more strongly through your field. But what this means on a kind of cosmic level is that we're opening ourselves to this infinite potentiality that lives within the portal space of the womb. So I mean within the context of steaming, but this can apply with any kind of breath work practice. You can also do this work using wand or a yoni egg. And you can also do this work when you are having yoni massage or if you are in sacred union. And you know, I often do this work when I'm in the bath, you know, because it's what I'm really open. So when you are allowing these tissues to completely relax and your awareness is coming into the consciousness of your energy flow within your yoni, your actual vaginal walls, they will begin to open and expand. Bliss Magdalena (21:43): And you come into this state of heightened arousal, which is called ballooning and tempting, right? I love this. So it's creating space inside of you for your breath, for your spirit, and for your energy to move. And then your cervix will actually relax and open. And so the thing that's amazing about the cervix is it's actually like a living representation of this Sri Yantra portal. So it's the gateway between what is in the outer realms of our lived sensory experience and what is within us, what is the cosmic potential for what we can birth into being from within the void, from within the darkness. And so, you know, inside the womb we have this radiant darkness. You know, this is how I describe it as if you are within a space where there's no light pollution. So when you look up and you see the night sky and you see that total darkness, but you can see that you're surrounded by an infinite number of shining stars. Bliss Magdalena (22:48): So this is what it's like when you meditate within the womb space. So it is devoid of light, but there is something that is existing beyond the emptiness. And I think there's something about recognizing in the conception points within that space just where you've, you've gone beyond the womb and, and slightly up into the fallopian tubes. So this is really where we are calling through our dreaming. And so you have to imagine that your ovaries are like these shining star portals that are existing within you. So there's these different gateways of awakening and perception within the different points of the yoni and moving up into the womb space and then moving to that conception point. So we journey these in my training course and there there's other amazing teachers who there's many of us kind of popping up. I think it's a resurgence of this womb awareness around the planet now where we are calling in this power and we are recognizing that we've always had this. Bliss Magdalena (23:57): So we've never been separate from our ability to generate fantastic healing capacity from being able to directly manifest circumstances and meetings, encounters in the physical world, and also dreaming a new world into being. So your womb is much more powerful than simply bringing forth another human life. Although of course that is magical, it is transformative. But I think there's something about stepping into the space of keeping your wise blood. So that's what I would describe the menopause and the post menopause. When you are holding onto your wise blood, you actually have a greater capacity for dreaming, for manifestation, and for calling down the wisdom codes for teaching others. So this is why really like the power of the crone is so immense. And within our culture we have been kind of brainwashed to believe that you somehow lose your power when you become an older, more mature womb carrier. Bliss Magdalena (25:03): But actually I think people who are in their forties and their fifties and their sixties, they're actually in the prime of matriarchy. And what I mean by that is holding the center, being at the center of your family, being at the center of your community. And this is where we really see change. This is where we see women stepping into positions of leadership, where we see women building communities. I mean, for example, myself in the last two years since I've turned 40, we've opened a goddess temple in my town, you know, and I was part of that founding, initiating, and birthing of this community project, which it's taken us six years, but it was only when I hit my forties that it was like bang, bang, bang. All of these things began to fall into place and happen because the force of my will was so focused through my womb and I knew what to do with that power. Bliss Magdalena (26:00): I knew how to use this magic and to create a hub for other people to come connect with this learning, you know? And it's so exciting. There's nothing makes me happier than teaching my temple arts course. And actually my students are coming this weekend and we're gonna be doing sacred bathing rituals. We're gonna be doing conscious touch bodily deaming, and we're gonna be doing yoni gazing as well. So you know, this is where you are like face to face with the portal. And so many people see these visions of the goddess, you know, that appears when you are in that space of reverence. There's something about coming into sacred prostration before the yoni where you are gazing upon something and you are recognizing its power, you are recognizing its potential. I mean, this is the source of all life. And once you start seeing yonis, you start seeing them everywhere in all kinds of sacred geometry in trees, in architecture, there's so many sacred sites around the world that are based upon the shape of this portal, you know? Bliss Magdalena (27:12): And so if we look at the construction of these like the new Grange burial mound in Ireland, for example, that's a really good example. So this passage tomb is the shape of a vagina with labia of the standing stones on the outside. And if you travel along that passageway, which is where the sunrises on the winter solstice, that light is going into the center of the womb chamber, which is deep under the earth, you know? So there's something about this knowledge which ancient civilizations have had, and we are beginning to reclaim it. So we are beginning to recognize it within ourselves. I can't think of anything more wonderful than people in the medical profession beginning to recognize the power of the wound portal. You know, this is so profound and it's so comforting to recognize that we've got this inside of us, we've always had it, and that we can listen to the guidance of this part of ourselves. Bliss Magdalena (28:16): And so a lot of what I teach is about how to listen to the voice of your womb and to be able to actually put that guidance into practice in your daily life. And so I would recommend for listeners, if you can take the time, just put your hands over your womb space, listen to your womb, and then if you keep a journal, write down the messages that you get, write down the feelings that you get. Sometimes you'll be given a piece of artwork, sometimes you'll be given a poem or a song, and all of these things are, I believe they are the codes of initiation for the womb priestess. So all of us have the capacity to do this work. Sometimes it's helpful to do it in circle with other sisters, with other priestesses, but you actually hold the keys for womb awakening within yourself. It's all there, all the codes are within you. Wow. Dr.Kyrin (29:10): It's just so tremendous. And you know, thinking about the sacredness of the shape of the yoni and what you're talking about doing at your center, the yoni gazing and really sexuality in the US is perverted, you know, in the media and porn addiction is so high. And I think that we all thirst for a healthy sexuality and really re as women reclaiming the power of our womb. And men, it's what they crave is that authentic connection, but nobody really knows how to do it. And so it comes out sideways. So I love that you are doing this work. I'm excited to dive into your trainings and really help to share with my audience and the people whom I know this power. I love this quote you shared with me before we started recording. The yoni and womb are portals to infinite wisdom and healing, which is kind of what you're talking about. And then this other one, remembering our body's sacredness is key to self empowerment. Can you talk a little bit about what that means? Because I don't think that most people see their body as sacred. They see it kind of like their car , that, you know, if it fails, they they get it fixed. And you know, in the US if we have a problem with our leg, we go to the doctor and they fix it. But this concept of our body being sacred and being a key to self-empowerment, what does that mean? Bliss Magdalena (30:41): There's this thing about this really, I blame Renee Descartes for this. This idea of this separation between our ourselves and our physical bodies and the idea of the body being almost like a machine which is kind of functioning for us. So I would never see my conscious awareness, my mind and my emotions as being separate from my physical body. So we have these incredible sensory interfaces and the body is a way for us to explore the experience of being alive, you know, and nothing is more sacred than that. It's something that is connecting us with everything else that's around us in our existence. And I think the experience of living in a body and being in a reciprocal relationship with your environment, the thing that's important about this, the idea of the body as sacred is recognizing ourselves as part of a wider network. So we are always connected to everything around us. Bliss Magdalena (31:53): We, we live in a dynamic ecosystem where we're in a constant process of exchange with not only the atmosphere, the air that we are breathing, the plant and animal life that's surrounding us, the microbes that are actually living on our skin. You know, we are this, we are this conglomerate of individual life forms that are making up a single living body is the most incredible thing. And you think about all these microorganisms that are living in colonies, you know, within us, inside of us, you know, in the gut biome or the skin biome. And we are also in this dynamic exchange with the cosmic bodies. So I was talking about chronobiology, you know, this idea of the ebb and flow of the tides, which is happening all the time with all the water on the planet. It's not just the ocean. This changes at different times of the month, depending on the phases of the moon. Bliss Magdalena (32:52): And the other thing that affects us is the tilt of the earth is affecting the amount of solar radiation that we are working with at different times of the year. So we've just come through this equinox phase. So for the next six months of the year, you know, in the northern hemisphere, this is when we're experiencing this opening, this flowering and abundance of the season of summer. And then at the autumn equinox, we are gonna go into this resting phase. So like I see summer as the time of the sympathetic nervous system, you know, you're doing a lot, you are creating a lot, you are experiencing, you're connecting. And then in the winter, you're coming into this phase of resting and nourishing yourself and really looking within and reflecting and maybe dreaming about the seeds that you want to plant for the coming year. So we are never separate from these cosmic planetary cycles. Bliss Magdalena (33:49): We are never separate from the reciprocal exchange that's happening with nature. And we are also connected to our ancestors. You know, it's so incredible the things that are being discovered of epigenetics and ancestral, intergenerational memories. You know, a lot of people talk about intergenerational trauma, but I really wanna talk also about intergenerational resilience, intergenerational strength, you know, and these great lessons, these great learnings and teachings and rememberings that are in all of ourselves, these things are encoded in our DNA. We are just the most miraculous beings. And you know, how can you say that that's separate from the divine? At no point would I ever feel that I was not a part of this living goddess, you know? And so I see the goddess as existing within everything. So the whole of the cosmas, all of the living things on the planet and all of these beautiful things that we would describe as being inert. Bliss Magdalena (34:55): But I believe those things are also imbued with a consciousness, with an essence that we are in reciprocity with. So this idea of recognizing your body as sacred is so empowering. When you recognize that you have the capacity to connect with and to transform, you are never in a space where there's not an opportunity to learn from what you are experiencing and what you're feeling. Obviously I've worked with people who are dying and I think that time when your bodily systems are beginning to shut down, the thing that's most amazing about this, they've discovered now that the consciousness of the body can live on for up to three days. I think it is after the bodily systems have shut down. So we've got this conscious awareness that is prolonged, it's beyond our understanding. There's something that is not a machine. There's something which is more than that. Bliss Magdalena (35:59): We have the opportunity to inhabit these physical bodies. But you know, the soul is infinite. And I really believe that we are part of this wider cosmic, I would describe it like a mycelium network of souls and consciousness. And we've got the opportunity to light up the other nodes along these strands of the mycelium. You know, we're all just like little fruiting mushrooms on this much bigger kind of, kind of framework of existence. And all of this network is dreaming. All of this network is imagining and creating new extensions of that life force energy. So almost like, have you seen that film avatar? You know that tree? Yeah, right. For me, that was really representing cosmic consciousness, but within an embodied somatic framework because it was something that people could just literally, they were just plugging their hair into this tree. We are doing that every day. So when you walk barefoot, you are connecting yourself to the electromagnetic field of gravitation that's around this planet. So you are, you are literally grounding into the earth. Those energies are existing within your own body all of the time. Dr.Kyrin (37:18): Yes. How we're all connected and consciousness and science, to my observation, has really proven all of this, but it hasn't made its way to mainstream medical care. So I think, I love that everybody listening is hearing this now and can start to use these different tools and techniques that you're sharing to help themselves. And I love, you mentioned the chrono biology and how we're a part of this. Can you talk about the, the lunar cycle and how that works with our feminine energy, whether we're menstruating or menopausal? Oh, and I did wanna just add, and I think you mentioned earlier that even if you've had a hysterectomy, you still have these energy centers, so don't exclude yourself from this, but yes, can we talk a little bit about that? The chronobiology of the lunar cycle? Bliss Magdalena (38:10): For sure. And I just want to say the originator of that term was a scientist called Gunter Klein. So you can find his work online. He wrote a book about this. So every cell is influenced by our receptivity to different types of, of lights. We have this capacity to regulate our bio rhythm based on the amount of natural lights and natural darkness that we take in on a day-to-day basis. So the pineal gland is helping to register this light, this rhythm of light and dark. The different endocrine functions which help to regulate other bodily systems are impacted by this ebb and flow of light. And so one of the best ways that you can reregulate your system is to go camping. So if you don't have any artificial light and you are actually getting up when the sun comes up and then you're going to bed when the sun goes down, or even if you're spending time up at night, but you are under starlight, your system is reregulating itself to the natural cycle. Bliss Magdalena (39:29): So if you do this for a full lunar cycle, if you go camping for 29 days, then you are gonna find that your system has reset itself. So I really recommend that if you've got the opportunity to do it, go camping somewhere that's got no light pollution. Because the thing that is really disrupting our natural cycles and our ability to tune in with our innate feminine power particularly is the advent of artificial light. So electric light at night in your house, I mean, I've got a light on and it's starting to get dark outside here in England, , you know, and the use of mobile phones because they're all emitting this kind of blue light, you know? And so it is really important if you've got any kind of issue where you feel outta sync, I would say the more that you can align yourself to the natural rhythms of light and dark and go and spend time out under the moon. Bliss Magdalena (40:27): So every night go out for, even if it's only 15 or 20 minutes, go and spend some time under the night sky because the different light which is being emitted at the different phases of the mood cycle is gonna impact on your energy levels, your mood, your capacity to work. So all of this stuff is influencing you on a subtle level all the time, even if you don't go outside, but you're gonna be more receptive to it if you actually spend time under the moonlight. So we've just had a a full moon. And so everyone will notice it's really common to know that you have difficulty sleeping and that you sometimes feel anxiety. You can sometimes feel jittery. A lot of women give birth at the time of the full moon because of the fact that you have so much fluid in your body. So this is the time when you'll really have the capacity for moving the most energy. Bliss Magdalena (41:21): This is the time when you should be celebrating. You should be coming together with your friends and your loved ones. You know, you're probably gonna be more generous in this period of time in the runup to the full moon than you are in the time when the moon is waning. So when the moon is coming to a dark moon. So for people that are menstruating, this is when you're in your loo to your phase most frequently. The thing is, all of this has been disrupted by artificial light. So nowadays people went straight at all different faces of the lunar cycle, but there it's about 50% of the population there in their lute to your face. So when the moon is waning, your energy level is often more depleted. You have to afford yourself more time for resting. And I think it's really important if the moon is coming towards its darker phase to put more time into planning and pausing and reflecting, rather than necessarily reacting straight away. Bliss Magdalena (42:26): Because you're gonna be less tolerant of others , and you're gonna need more time for resting and reflection. And you know, in the scientific data, it's actually been shown that people's decision making capacity and their ability to recognize the emotions of others, this is actually limited at the time of the dark moon. And it's limited for women that are in the luteal phase of their menstrual cycle. So whether you menstruate or not, give yourself more time out and more time off and invest in a lunar war planner so that you know when you're gonna be coming into the dark phase of the moon so that you can create more spaces in your work schedule during that time, during the time of the new moon. And when the moon is beginning to wax. So when it's coming from dark to full during this time, this is the perfect time to start new projects. Bliss Magdalena (43:26): This is the perfect time to plan meetings, this is the perfect time to go shopping. This is the perfect time to get things done. Yeah, so you're gonna be more productive then, and you're probably going to want to be more engaged and more friendly. So you're gonna want to come outta your cave. And you know, I like to imagine it like a womb cave. So at the time of the dark moon, you go into your womb cave and you use that time for dreaming, for reflecting and for making changes. So if there's things that you wanna cut out, if you wanna go on a fast, you know, the dark moon is the best time to do that. And if you want to introduce a new food into your diet, or if you want to start taking a new supplement, a new herbal remedy, maybe you want to start a new yoga practice, the best time to start that if you are actually gonna stick to that habit, is in the time of the waxing moon. So when it's in the first quarter really, and moving from the first quarter into the full moon, you're much more likely to achieve things. You're much more likely to get things done with flow and ease in the first half of the lunar cycle than you are in the later half of the lunar cycle. So does that make sense? Dr.Kyrin (44:40): Yeah, that's my observation too. By the time it's almost full, I can't get things straight, honestly. It's the energy is usually so intense and yes, I, I agree. When it's new, it's quiet and you can think and be present and centered. And this, I love that you share that this is true for even if you're menopausal, even if you've had a hysterectomy, you still have this cycle with the moon. Some people haven't realized that, but starting to pay attention to it, you've mentioned so many things that I know everybody listening is, well, what does that mean and what does that mean? So I'm wondering if you can talk about, well, what is womb priest to sing? You mentioned tantra, you mentioned sacred sexuality. I know we probably don't have enough time to go through everything. I'll definitely have you share all the places people can connect with you online towards the end. Dr.Kyrin (45:31): But can you talk about, say a woman is listening and she's kind of intrigued and she's thinking, wow, just like I did, Ida wasn't aware that my womb was a portal of creation. And you know, I know in all the, the womb steaming events I went to, usually we did a lot of talking and meditation at the beginning and there was this drumming and it would be about, the womb is not a place to store pain and fear. It is a place to create and to give life, give new birth to life, something like that. And really this idea of cleansing the womb and releasing all the pain and fear that's in there. And so if you can talk about some of these different topics and what is the path for someone who wants to start awakening this power in herself and reconnecting with it, what, what would that look like? Bliss Magdalena (46:20): My training is called the lunar womb temple. I initiate lunar womb priestesses who have a role within their community as educators and healers and supporters. And so in the work that I do, I'm empowering people with the knowledge of the anatomy, physiology, the natural cycles and the way that these things connect with ritual, with mythology, and with ancient history. So this really at its core, mens duration and tracking of the lunar cycle. So the cycles of reproductive seasons, these are the things that are the source of human culture. And so the most ancient lunar trackers that have been found are actually 86,000 years old. So you know, there's something about connecting with this red thread of womb wisdom that has moved through so many generations of human culture. So as a lunar womb priestess, you are holding space for the sacred. You are recognizing the power which is not only within yourself, but also helping others to awaken to that power within themselves. Bliss Magdalena (47:46): So it's about tracking your own lunar cycles. It's about educating and empowering other people to perform these self-care and spiritual practices, which are connecting you with the sacred feminine archetypes, the lunar goddesses, as well as these things that we can do in our community, such as red tent circles, women's sharing circles, also an awareness of what is kind of lying underneath the oppression and the tyranny of patriarchal. This idea that we are not holding our own power any idea within our culture, that somehow you have to get permission from a source outside of yourself in order to be powerful or in order to heal. So we're trying to dismantle that. Mm, so I'm really about reclaiming this idea of ma focal culture. And what I mean by that is focusing on the culture of our sacred, empowered feminine ancestors and the idea of the lineage of the goddess. Bliss Magdalena (49:02): So that's what I teach in my course. The reason why sexuality is so important and why the techniques of tantra are tied into this is that it's a tradition where the body is a vehicle for awakening. It's a remembering of our innate life force. So the power of our sexuality is the thing that is awakening the goddess within us. So your shakti, kundalini, or your, your serpent power, this is really the key to working with these energies. And so the snake, again, is an ancient symbol of these lunar cycles, the cycles of nature, and also the sacred life force energy that's moving through us all the time. So they're never separate. And I think in the traditions of tantra, that is the closest link that we have to these really free matrilineal like empowered cultures where people with wombs were really at the center and they were revered and honored for this life-giving power and this knowledge of the ebbs and flows. Bliss Magdalena (50:12): Because our bodies, you know, they act as a lunar tracker. That's the thing that's so amazing about it. So we are never set, you know, I believe that her magic is always within us. So as a lunar priestess, it's something that I have always been aware of. I've always been dedicated to this and I'm just so excited to share all of this stuff. And this is why I call my work a revelatory school rather than a mystery school because I want to reveal it. I want everyone to know, and I want everyone who's learned with me to be able to share this information so that we can actually shift the paradigm and get ourselves free gynecology and obstetrics, all of this science, you know, was founded on these horrendous colonial slavery kind of breeding and ownership of women. And I think we all need to liberate one another and we all need to really work to heal the memory of the suffering of these women who were, you know, some of them gave their lives so that these men of science could, you know, dictate to us what we to do with our bodies. But we've always known these things like the yoni steaming, the womb wrapping, you know, and these tantric touch healing modalities. They've been with us for so many millennia. It's like we're connecting with an ancient thread of something that we've always known. So, so yeah, that's my, that's my, that's my talk , Dr.Kyrin (51:43): You know, it's so inspiring. I wanna go yes, BLI, yes. Bli, gosh, so much that you've said. And yes, the modern practice of gynecology, oh gosh, don't get me started. I'll just say briefly. It's not nurturing at all. And you know, a lot of women are on these synthetic hormones that shut down our own natural hormones and cut us off from our cycles. And I don't know that it's certainly not holistic in any way, shape or form. And although helpful, maybe in some ways I think it's possibly harmful and that's probably a whole other discussion. But what you said about revelatory instead of mystery school, I know a lot of people call their their esoteric or teaching energetic type teachings, mystery schools, but I love that you call it revelatory. And you know, when I set out on this journey of being a nomad for a year and a half and I went to so many different countries, I kind of didn't know what, why I was going. Dr.Kyrin (52:42): And then I got to Africa and the ancestors started speaking to me. I had never really had meaningful dialogue with them before. And they said, what do you mean we called you here on this journey? And then also when I was in South Africa, they started speaking to me and I realized that the journey was about finding home, finding my home. You know, I am multi-ethnic background and never really felt like I had a set identity that, oh, I'm this nationality or ethnicity. And it, it just was kind of nebulous. And so I had this sense that it was about finding home and really when I found this womb work, I realized that I had found home. Yeah, you know, that that the home I had been searching for was always within me. And it hearkens back to Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz that she was always home. Dr.Kyrin (53:34): And I kind of got that metaphor in that movie and many other movies. But what I realized is that what that I was missing was my own connection to my own sacred power of my womb. And I so thank you for being so open to talking with me about this, the coming on the podcast and sharing your wisdom with everyone, because I think that this is vital for all women to know, and this is the time that we all need to know this because our societies, our world needs us to have loving solutions that benefit everybody to the problems that we're facing. And I think that there are lots of answers to be found here. So I can't thank you enough for coming and sharing this. Bliss Magdalena (54:26): Yeah, it's my and thank you so much for giving me the space to share it because I'm so passionate about it. And I really believe that it's important that we love ourselves home. There's something about creating safe, nurturing reciprocal spaces that we can share with other women that is so healing and this is how we remember and remind one another of our own power. So I'm so grateful to you for creating this space for me this evening. And yeah, I'm really looking forward to connecting with you again in the future. Dr.Kyrin (55:00): Yes. And please share with everyone where they can find you and connect with you online. We're gonna have all the links in the show notes, but please share that. Bliss Magdalena (55:08): Yeah, of course. I'm sharing, there's a video link to a practice, which is for this season of OS Tara. So it's called the Red Eggs Practice, and there's a link to my mailing list. So if you sign up for my mailing list, then I'll send you a link to this video so you can do these somatic practices where you are actually lighting the fire, the flame of spring, the flame of Tara within your womb, and really generating the space to sow the seeds for what you want to harvest this year. So it's a really lovely offering that's a free gift for you. And you can also find out information about the Lunar Womb Temple online training. So that's a nine month training. It starts on the 14th of May of this year. So anyone is welcome on that course and you can email me for more information. Dr.Kyrin (56:02): Thank you so much, bliss. Bless you. Thank you. I am so looking forward to this training and if you wanna join me, I'll go to the link in the site. We'll have it lunar wo temple dot get response site, I think it is. Dot Bliss Magdalena (56:17): Com. Yeah, that's the one. And my main website is bliss magdalena.com, so you can Dr.Kyrin (56:22): Find information on there as well. Right. I will see you there. Thank you so much, bliss. Thank you. Bye. And thank you for joining me for another episode of The Hormone Prescription. I know you have loved this episode with Bliss Magdalena. I could talk to her for hours. I have so many questions for her. Hopefully some of them will be answered in our upcoming training. This is really a new field of exploration for me, but I realize that I've been on the womb healing path and helping others with this all my life, but I didn't know it, and now I know the real reason why I became a gynecologist. So stay tuned for more. I look forward to hearing your reflections and feedback on Instagram, Facebook, please meet me there at Kyrin Dunston md. Thank you so much for joining me. I look forward to seeing you next week for another episode of The Hormone Prescription. Until then, peace, love, and Dr. Kyrin (57:17): Hormones, Dr.Kyrin (57:17): Y'all. Dr. Kyrin (57:19): Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon. --- ► Are you tired of feeling like you're losing control at midlife? Weight gain, low energy, and a decrease in sex drive are all too common. But it doesn't have to be that way. 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Welcome back, fabulous listeners! In this enlightening episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast, we are thrilled to have the brilliant Dr. Tom O'Bryan join us. Dr. O'Bryan is a globally recognized speaker who has dedicated his career to unraveling the mysteries of chronic disease, food sensitivities, and environmental toxins. Often referred to as the "Sherlock Holmes" of chronic disease, Dr. O'Bryan brings a wealth of knowledge and passion for helping people overcome health challenges, particularly during midlife. What You'll Learn: The Inflammation Equation – How inflammation impacts your hormones and overall wellbeing, especially during midlife. Invisible Triggers – Discover the hidden food sensitivities and environmental toxins that could be sabotaging your health. Autoimmune Awareness – Understand the connection between chronic inflammation and autoimmune diseases, and how you can take proactive steps to protect yourself. Practical Insights from Dr. O'Bryan – Gain actionable advice and strategies to reduce inflammation, balance your hormones, and reclaim your vitality. Conversation Highlights: Dr. O'Bryan takes us on a captivating journey, starting with his personal story of discovering the power of functional medicine. He shares eye-opening anecdotes and real-life detective stories of patients who transformed their health by addressing hidden inflammation. With his signature blend of expertise and compassion, Dr. O'Bryan provides a roadmap for recognizing and mitigating the factors that may be wreaking havoc on your hormones. If you found this episode as enlightening and empowering as we did, we'd love to hear from you! Please subscribe, rate, and review The Hormone Prescription Podcast on your favorite platform. Your feedback helps us bring more valuable content to midlife women everywhere. About Our Guest: Dr. Tom O'Bryan, DC, CCN, DACBN is an internationally recognized speaker and educator specializing in food sensitivities, environmental toxins, and the development of autoimmune diseases. He holds teaching faculty positions with the Institute for Functional Medicine and the National University of Health Sciences. Dr. O'Bryan is the celebrated author of You Can Fix Your Brain and The Autoimmune Fix.   ------ Dr. Kyrin Dunston (00:00): The real epidemic isn't a virus, it's inflammation. It's claiming way more lives for many more years than any virus ever has. Stay tuned as we dive into the inflammation equation with Dr. Tom O'Brian. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (00:17): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us, keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an OB GYN, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (01:11): Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription. This is Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me today as we dive into the inflammation equation with one of my longtime friends, Dr. Tom o O'Brien, who has produced many famous docuseries that have helped millions of people globally improved their health, reverse disease, prevent disease, and create vitality and longevity that really is their birthright that they haven't been able to find. So I'm super excited to dive into his latest project with you, the Inflammation Equation. We're really gonna focus on how inflammation affects women, and particularly women over 40. What you need to know today, things you can start doing today to reverse inflammation in your body, which contributes is the leading contributor to the top 15 or so causes of death. He talks about that. Dr. Tom is a veritable walking encyclopedia of the latest studies on functional health, and he's gonna share some recent studies with you that are really gonna blow your mind when it comes to inflammation. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (02:24): So you're going to want to listen up. We are gonna talk really about how do you know if you have inflammation? Are we talking about you? He has an incredible way to know in one sentence that you will never forget that you're gonna wanna love. He's gonna talk with you about the Toxic Substance Control Act and why they quote unquote, they are not protecting you, even though it seems like they are. The Toxic Substance Control Act is really something you need to understand why you are not protected and why you need to take action on your own health. He's gonna give you some actionable information, a way that you can reduce dementia risk by 54% just by doing something simple daily. So Dr. Tom's a veritable walking encyclopedia and very, gives you very action oriented information, and he's gonna share with you what you're gonna find in the upcoming event, the Inflammation Equation. I'll tell you a little bit about him and then we will get started. So Dr. Tom O'Brien has many initials after his name. He's an internationally recognized speaker focused on food sensitivities, environmental toxins, and the development of autoimmune diseases. He's considered a Sherlock Holmes for chronic disease and holds teaching faculty positions with the Institute for Functional Medicine and the National University of Health Sciences. He is the author of You Can Fix Your Brain and The Autoimmune Fix. Please help me welcome Dr. Tom O'Brien to the show. Dr. Tom O'Brian (04:02): Thank you so much. Pleasure to be with you. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (04:04): I'm really excited to have you back on talking about two of my favorite topics, inflammation and hormones, . Yes. A lot of people don't realize, a lot of women don't realize that inflammation, environmental toxicity, have anything to do with their hormone difficulties at midlife and beyond. So can you help shed a little light on why they might wanna listen and pay attention to what we're gonna talk about? Dr. Tom O'Brian (04:32): You bet. Primarily for me, I think the hook is the quality of your senior years. And the World Health Organization tells us that the healthy lifespan for the average woman in America is somewhere around 68 to 69 years. The lifespan of women in America is somewhere around 81 years. Well, wait a minute, what's the difference? Well, the healthy lifespan means that you're able to do what you want to do, that your body's functioning and you're not with a diagnosed disease that's limiting your lifestyle. And so what that's telling us is that the last 11 to 12 years of life for the average person in America is disabled. It's not healthy. Those are the numbers. And what are you doing that's going to help ensure you are not one of the average in a wheelchair or with such severe arthritis, you can't walk up a hill or whatever it should be. Dr. Tom O'Brian (05:35): What are you gonna do that's different than that? And there's a key, the key that unlocks the door to all of that, the Center for Disease Control tells us that 14 of the 15 top causes of death in the US today are chronic inflammatory diseases. It's always inflammation except for unintentional injuries, accidents, everything else is the cumulative damage of chronic inflammation under the surface that's been there for years. That is a realization. It's whoa. Well that doesn't relate to me Every cause of death, the top 15 causes of death, 14 of 15 are chronic inflammatory diseases without exception. So what that, okay, so what, what do I do about that? You learn how you're creating inflammation under the surface right now that may not be immobilizing you. So you feel fine. You're really not, you can't do the things you did 10 years ago. You're limited, but might feel fine. Dr. Tom O'Brian (06:43): No, you're not. But this level of inflammation is allowing you to walk around to do some basic things. So you think, well I'm, I'm doing okay. I'm doing pretty good. But the inflammation is under the surface killing off tissue every single day. And when you don't know this, you don't put any time into figuring out how do I reduce the inflammation? When you know this, then you ask the question, is this inflammatory or anti-inflammatory? And it comes down to should I have the apple or the potato chips? But you now have a paradigm to hold it in so that you can make choices that are more aligned with your desire to have quality of life. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (07:28): Yeah. Sobering statistics that you offer. But I think it's so important that we women get a kind of a cold glass of water in our face because the level of denial about our health at midlife and beyond as we age, I think is, is enormous. And what that statistic you gave, and really it's our vitality span and our lifespan. A lot of us are living in this chronic disease state for so many years lying to ourselves that we really don't have a problem. But I'm wondering if you can speak to the fact that a lot of women do go to their doctors and they say, Hey doc, I'm not sleeping like I used to. I can't lose this weight. Signs of inflammation, right? Can't sleep weight gain. I have brain fog. My mood is a little off. I'm irritable. I don't wanna be sexual. All of these things. I'm having little aches and pains and they're really not getting the memo or information that it's because of inflammation. And so can you help them understand why getting a clean bill of health from your regular $30 HMO copay doctor really is not the stamp of approval and that they need to invest time and money into educating themselves about what's really going on that's harming them? Dr. Tom O'Brian (08:45): Yeah, really good question. You don't go to a podiatrist if you have migraines. Who are you going to in asking the questions of? You have to go to healthcare practitioners that are trained in functional medicine, integrative medicine, holistic medicine who are working to live the life that you wanna live. You, you don't go to a podiatrist with migraines. So going to your average HMO $30 copay doctor that gives you four minutes of time is not going to be the, that may be a good doctor for some things, but not for this. You wanna go to doctors who are spending the extra time and dollars to study and learn what they never learned in medical school. That's not part of the education in medical school. And when you go in for an exam, a physical and a blood test, they don't do blood tests to see if you're healthy. Dr. Tom O'Brian (09:47): They do blood tests to identify do you have any diseases? And there's a big world of difference between the two, right? So you want to get information that is designed around achieving the goals of extending your healthy lifespan. For example, the general of the American Medical Association came out and said the magic number is 9,846. You walk 9,846 steps a day, you reduce your risk of dementia by 54%. Doesn't matter if you have the gene for Alzheimer's. It doesn't matter that they followed 75,000 people for over 25 years. And those that were walking at least 9,846 steps per day reduced their risk of dementia by 54%. So that's really useful information. And so you learned, okay, well, you, like your iPhone can tell you how many steps you take a day or you can wear a wearable device on your wrist and you start seeing, oh, I'm walking 400 steps a day. Dr. Tom O'Brian (10:55): Well, that's not gonna cut it. That creates disease by itself. That creates inflammation when you sit all day, that by itself will fuel your disease. And the way to think of this is that if I pull it a chain, the chain always breaks at the weakest link. It's at one end, the middle, the other end. It's your heart, your brain, your liver, your joints, doesn't matter. It's the pull on the chain that determines where the symptom, when the symptoms are going to happen. And it's your genetics that determine which links are the weak links. The pull on the chain is inflammation. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (11:34): Yeah, I love that. A chain always breaks its weakest link. So we're not getting this information in our doctor's offices. So we need to invest time and money and energy in getting that information for ourselves. And you've really dedicated your life to that, which I love. And I have to share this quote with everyone that you shared with me before we started. 'cause I love it. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community. And as long as I live, it's my privilege to do for it what I can. You really are a living example of that. We'll offer and share information on Dr. Tom's latest project will give you many resources to identify and remove the inflammation in your life and in your body. Let's talk a little bit about hormones and inflammation. So when we talk about inflammation, how does someone know if they have inflammation, if their doctor's not telling them? I guess that's the first question. And then we can dive into where is it coming from and how is it affecting my hormones as a woman at woman at midlife and beyond? But how would I know Dr. Tom O'Brian (12:42): If your body's not working the way you want it to? You're inflamed. Every disease is a disease of inflammation. And if you're not consciously, there's no way that a person is not carrying this low grade chronic inflammation if they're not actively learning how to reduce the triggers of that. For example, every time you put nail polish on the phalates, the chemicals used to mold plastic that make nail polish hard. The phthalates are in your bloodstream in four to five minutes every time you put nail polish on. And this stuff is, they're called endocrine disruptors. They disrupt how your hormones work. And the average woman, I don't know that you, you may know the exact number, I don't remember. It's somewhere around 120 to 140 chemicals. The average woman is putting on her body every morning before she leaves the house, as if those are safe. Dr. Tom O'Brian (13:37): They're not. And the way they, the, the industry gets away with this, oh, the government wouldn't allow anything like this. Oh, the government was paid off. The senators were paid off to pass this legislation called the Toxic Substance Control Act. And the TSCA says, you have to prove that the chemicals you're concerned about damage humans in the amounts that they're exposed to within 24 hours. They don't, most of them don't. There's no evidence of damage from the phthalates in your nail polish or from the phthalates that leach into the food. When you put leftover food in plastic containers. There's no evidence that the amount of phalates that are in the chicken the next day when you eat the chicken because it came out of the plastic into the food, there's no evidence that amount of phthalates is toxic to humans. There is no evidence. And that's how the industry got away with that. Dr. Tom O'Brian (14:35): But this stuff is cumulative in your body. It builds up over time. So give me a five-year-old girl painting her 10 little fingers and 10 little toes once a week with nail polish. Now she's 25 to 30 years old and she gets pregnant, wants to start a family, hopefully has a healthy pregnancy and a healthy delivery. Chicago not 2016, 346 pregnant women in the eighth month of pregnancy. And they did urine analysis looking for five different types of phthalates, these chemicals, these endocrine disrupting chemicals. And they put the results into fourths, the women with the lowest amount the next, the third and the highest. They followed the offspring of those pregnancies for seven years. And when the children turned seven years old, the researchers reached back out and said, hi, it's time to do that test for your child now and hope all is really great for you. Dr. Tom O'Brian (15:36): And they did the Wexler IQ test, the official IQ test. There's not much in medicine. That's all or every, but this was every child whose mother was in the highest category of phalates in urine and pregnancy compared to the children whose mothers were in the lowest quartile of phalates in urine and pregnancy. Every child in the highest category, their IQ was seven points lower. Six points seven to 7.4 points lower every single one of them. Now, that doesn't mean anything to anyone until you understand a one point difference in IQ is noticeable. A seven point difference is a difference between a child working really hard, getting straight A's in school and a child working really hard, getting straight C's in school, really working, but that child doesn't have a chance in hell of ever excelling. Now you just go to Google and you type in phthalates and neurogenesis brain cell growth. Dr. Tom O'Brian (16:34): Here come the studies. The higher the phthalates, the more you inhibit brain cell growth. So these women that have been painting their nails for 20 years, drinking out of plastic water bottles, wearing contact lenses, and the contact lens is full of phthalates and the solution is full of phthalates, they put in their eyes every day. This stuff accumulates in your body over time. Their babies are born with lower IQs, excuse me. Their babies are born with poorly developed brains and they develop poorer IQs by the age of seven. Wake up people. You can't put these poisons on your body or in your body and expect that you're going to be healthy and vibrant. It's not gonna happen. So you have to find, or organic cosmetics, you have to find glass storage containers. Give the Tupperware to your husband to store nails in the garage. That's what they're good for, right? It's, I mean, it's changing the way people think. And that's what our event is all about. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (17:39): It was very sobering. And I know everybody listening is, oh my gosh, this is horrible. And I said, don't freak out. Just take action and start replacing the co toxic cosmetics that you have one by one when you run out with something new. That's a simple action you can take as a woman. Because yes, we put on myriad products on our skin, on our hair or nails or lips, but there's this so-called kind of greenwashing of cosmetics where they wanna say it's phthalate free. But then if you really read the ingredients, there's equally toxic, toxic ingredients. But the industry has kind of gotten savvy to say that the products are free of certain toxic chemicals that consumers are becoming aware of. So you wanna check out something like environmental working group. But there's so many things that you can do to protect yourself and to, you wanna stop getting these things in your body and you wanna start getting them out. So there are things you can do to usher them out. How are women at midlife 40 and above, particularly affected by inflammation? I love your simple explanation that if something's not working properly in your body, you have inflammation. I love that. That makes it super simple. So how are women in the perimenopause and menopause particularly affected? Dr. Tom O'Brian (18:59): Many women who are taking hormones did not have their hormone levels tested before they started taking hormones. They're shot shotgunning and when, and they feel better. So they think everything's fine. Mm-Hmm, . But when you're shotgunning, when you're shotgunning, look, I grew up in Detroit. I grew up in the era of muscle cars. And all of us had muscle cars. And you don't take a 4 54 engine out of a Corvette and put it in a Volkswagen. If you drive a Volkswagen with a 4 54 engine in it really hard and really fast, things start to break down. When you take hormones to shotgun feeling better and you didn't have a deficiency of estrogen or you didn't have a deficiency of progesterone or testosterone, but you're taking the hormones and you feel better. Well, yeah, you put a 4 54 into a Volkswagen, you have to rebuild all the tissue so that it can accommodate. Dr. Tom O'Brian (20:01): Look, if you have a deficiency, you take the hormones of course, but at the same time, you are rebuilding your system. And every cell, your body regenerates. You have an entirely new immune system every two months. So why are you continuing to have an autoimmune disease for those that have Hashimoto's or whatever as a thyroid autoimmune disease or celiac or whatever they've got. Why are you still regenerating cells that are, 'cause your immune system is just the armed forces there to protect you. There's an army and Navy and Air Force and Marines, we call 'em IGA, IgG, I-G-E-I-G-M cytokines. They're just branches of the armed forces. So when they're elevated, the question is not, how do I shut down the immune system? How do I calm it down? No, the question is, what is my immune system trying to protect me from? And so you begin to explore what foods are you eating, what environmental toxins are you being exposed to? Dr. Tom O'Brian (21:05): How much crud has accumulated in your body? You just start the journey. When I interviewed Fran Drescher for this event, the nanny, she was wonderful, just wonderful. She's a 24 year survivor of uterine cancer. And she looks lovely. She truly does. And she said, when I was diagnosed, my oncologist saved my life. She's a really good friend now. And I asked her, why did I get cancer? And the oncologist said, we don't know. It just happens. And Fran didn't believe that. And so she said, I decided to focus my fame not on raising money for cancer research, but rather raising money to educate. Where does cancer come from? And it's, and she founded Cancer Schmance. And cancer comes from all of the environmental triggers that you're exposed to, whether it's in your food or in your cosmetics or in your home. Harvard did a study and they looked at, I got, I think it was, I'm sorry, I don't remember the exact number. Dr. Tom O'Brian (22:14): I think it was 15,000. It may have been a little bit more. 15,000 people with cancer, different types of cancers. Every single one of them had elevated markers of the immune system fighting mold, every single one of them. And it's like, what? What? So you have to check your house. Is there mold in this? My house is fine. No, you don't smell it. You don't see it. If you can smell it, it's bad. It's really bad. And so you just start learning and you just, and as Fran said, she said, Dr. O'brien, how did you get to my guest bathroom? 'cause I had just gone to the bathroom before we started filming. And I said, well, it's right over there. She said, yes, but how did you get there? And then I saw the sparkle in her eye and I knew what she was doing. I said, one step at a time. And she started that laugh of hers at Nanny. That was her message. You take one step at a time. You just, for example, you change out your toothpaste, you take a look at the toothpaste in your medicine cabinet and it says, warning, do not swallow. If swallowed, call National Poison Control Center, . Dr. Tom O'Brian (23:23): That's what it says on the box. Because they have to, but nobody reads this stuff. And we think, oh, we, they'd never give me anything that would harm me. Wake up. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (23:36): My kids used to say that all the time when I would try to explain to them why eating such and such wasn't a good idea. And they would say they wouldn't allow it if it weren't healthy , I'd say, who is they? Who do you think is protecting you? Nobody is protecting you. They're protecting their profits or corporate profits. And medicine is not about, and government is not about protecting your health. So yeah, Fran Drescher has, is really working hard to, to educate people. Talk a little bit about the event, the inflammation equation and what people will get out of that from watching it. Dr. Tom O'Brian (24:15): Oh, it's just magical. It's really magical. There it is. One hour a day for nine days. It's all free. And I traveled the world for a year, seven countries, 84 interviews the world leaders in environmental exposures, in brain function, in reversing Alzheimer's, the real leaders. And when you hear them speak, and when they say, so I say, excuse me professor. And I stop them in the middle of, did you just say, well, yes. Well that's a geeky word. People won't understand that. Does that mean well, yes. So then that means this. And they say, well, yes, exactly. Oh, thank you. Please continue. So you hear what these world scientists, world class scientists are saying about where disease comes from. And it's always without exception. It's always excessive inflammation. It's basic 1 0 1. Every doctor should have been taught this their first week in their education so that everything they learned would be under the umbrella of when inflammation gets really bad. This happens to your kidneys when inflammation's going on for years. This happens to your eyes when inflammation's go. That's how they should be taught because it's our lifestyle, the environment that we live in, the foods we decide to eat that activate your immune system for the inflammation that you get. And then wherever the weak link is in your chain, that's where you're gonna get a problem. Yeah. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (25:52): So we will have the information in the show notes where you can go to sign up and get this free Inflammation Equation event with all these top experts. I just wanna ask you a tough question because without getting too political, there is a lot of narrative around having people will not believe or understand that inflammation contributes to some of the top causes of death. Just like there's a narrative around what I call hormonal poverty doesn't contribute to this even though it's associated with seven of the top 10 causes of death. And so really you, you talked about going to a functional medicine provider, they can attend their your event. Where can people get credible information? How do they vet the information they're getting? Because there are a lot of health coaches out there. There are a lot of credentialed people who are on YouTube and various social media and giving a lot of information. But how does somebody really know what's credible and who to believe? I think consumers are really struggling with that right now. Dr. Tom O'Brian (27:03): You bet. And that's gonna get worse because so many people who have no education, no formal education are getting trained in marketing. And so they know how to carry a message out. Yeah. And that's a big problem. I've been impressed with what some of those programs say. 'cause They're right. Some of them are right on the money. It doesn't matter that they don't have a degree. They've really done their homework and they've learned a lot. For example, Fran Drescher, she doesn't have any formal education, but Cancer Schmance helps tens of thousands of people every few months who come and look at her programs and understand how do you detox your house? She talks about these chemicals. How do you know whether you're getting accurate information? That's a very valid question. I think events like this podcast where you bring on people that you screened so you know that they're credible is a, a good place to go for information. Dr. Tom O'Brian (28:07): Going to cancer Schmance is a great place to go. Reading my books, there's over 300 studies in each of my books, and I just talk pure science. I'm going to give you a study here, and it has an aspect to it that's not pure science. I always say, if there's something I say that's not just not pure science, and this is one of those times I think the most sensitive tissue in the human body is the fertilized egg. That it has no protection of its own. It's completely descent, dependent on mom and mom's environment for its survival, for its nutrition, and for its growth. This may not be to your audience, but I'm sure everyone can relate to it. And certainly for your children who may be of childbearing age. So Harvard published a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association three years ago, and the editors of the journal said, this is an elegant study using sophisticated biomarkers to prove their point. Dr. Tom O'Brian (29:13): Now, as Dr. Karen, the editors of the Journal of the American Medical Association don't say that very often. They don't give a stamp of approval to an article like that, right? But they did for this one. And they looked at women going to assisted fertility centers and they ruled out in an elegant way the contributing factors that they know of that determine success or failure. Are they smoking? Do they drink alcohol? Are they exercising socioeconomic class race? They ruled all of that out. And they went for one topic only. How many servings of fruits and vegetables is the woman eating a day while she's going through these injections? And then the implantation process and the results were shocking. They put those women into quartiles, the lowest number of servings of fruits and vegetables per day, the next, the third and the highest number of servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Dr. Tom O'Brian (30:17): And those women in the highest category of consumption of fruits and vegetables per day had an 18% less likelihood of successful implantation compared to the women eating the lowest amount of fruits and vegetables a day. Wait a minute, did you say the more fruits and vegetables you eat, the worse the outcome? Yes. And if they did get pregnant, they had a 26% less likelihood of alive birth. They lost the babies to still births and miscarriages. The more fruits and vegetables you eat, fruits and vegetables, the more fruits and vegetables you eat, the worse the outcome. This is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, and it came from Harvard. And this is what Yeah, completely paradigm shifting. And the editors have said, this is an elegant study using sophisticated biomarker. You can't argue with the science, but there was a subgroup of women that were eating organic. Dr. Tom O'Brian (31:17): And in that category, the results were the exact opposite. The more fruits and vegetables you eat, the better and the more success. And here's the good news. Women were put in the category of organic consumption. If they ate three servings per week, not 21 servings a week, three, that's all it took to completely reverse and get successful results. Now, the edit, the authors didn't address that topic of only three a week to be in the category. If they did two a week, they didn't see the benefit. But at three a week, they saw the same benefit as people eating 15, 18, 20 servings a week. So it just took three. Why? I think, and I don't have any signs for this, but I think it's because if you're eating organic whenever you can, you've got organic shampoo in your shower and you've got organic soap at the kitchen sink and you're trying, you're doing the best that you can, you're learning more. Dr. Tom O'Brian (32:17): And in that case, it made the complete difference, success or failure for these couples spending tens of thousands of dollars in all the emotional stress that women go through because it's the insecticides and pesticides and fungicides, rodenticides, glyphosate and antibiotics on the fruits and vegetables that are triggering the inflammation that we get. So you think you're doing something good for yourself eating fruits and vegetables and you are, but your carrots and your cucumbers and your tomatoes and your apples are loaded with pesticides. So if you can't get organic, and this is what we teach, and you learn about all this in the inflammation equation. If you can't get organic, you get the veggie spray wash and you grab the broccoli. When you bring it home from the store and you spray it with the wash, you dip it in the, the bowl of water, swish it around like that, and you lift it, wow, it's so much greener. Dr. Tom O'Brian (33:15): That's because you just took the wax and the pesticides off of it and you re, you reduce 94% of the toxic chemicals on the fruit or vegetables that quickly. But if you don't know this, you don't do it. And you get the pesticides. And because I think the most sensitive tissue is that fertilized egg, it doesn't have a chance if mom has been accumulating like the nail polish, the phthalate study, if mom's been accumulating over a lifetime, not knowing that she was accumulating all these toxins, but she was. And if you don't know this, you don't do anything about it. And so you've have this low grade inflammation all the time. So you just start learning. Yeah, you get glass storage containers, you get phthalate free nail polish, you get organic whenever you can. You get the spray for your vegetables that are not organic and you just learn these things and all of a sudden your body starts functioning better. 'cause You reduce the inflammation. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (34:09): Yeah. And you stop using the plugins and the air fresheners. That's my big pet peeve. And the perfumes Dr. Tom O'Brian (34:15): . Oh yeah. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (34:16): That are full toxins. Oh my gosh. Dr. Tom O'Brian (34:19): Blue Cross Blue Shield published this paper in February of 2020 and said, we got a problem. And nobody read it because that's when the virus came out. And so nobody, it should have been on the front page of every paper in the country. They said in the previous four year period, there was a 407% increase in the diagnosis of early Alzheimer's in 30 to 44 year olds. Wow. In four years, 407% increase. This is the pandemic, is the accumulation of all the chemicals that are causing so much inflammation, killing off brain cells, killing off brain cells, killing off brain cells or kidney cells or vision cells. It doesn't matter the tissue, wherever the weak link is, that's where you're going to develop the problem. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (35:10): This is the epidemic. It really is. It's way worse than any virus that we've had around, and it's probably claiming the lives and wellbeing and vitality of many more people. I don't know the exact numbers, but every single day and it's ongoing and getting worse. So let's talk a little bit about what people will find there. You've got several different episodes that people get access to. Nine different ones. You are gonna help them navigate what to put on their plate, what's healthy. Some of the information like you just shared, you don't have to do it perfectly, but what are the places you can make the biggest impact with your food? You're gonna talk about the environment, reducing environmental toxins with the products you use. You have something also on the biomes in your body. Do you wanna talk a little bit about that? Dr. Tom O'Brian (36:04): One of the episode four is all about the biomes, the microbiome in your gut and the oral microbiome you swallow. This is kind of a gross visual, but you swallow over a liter a day of saliva and the saliva, the bacteria in your mouth are inoculating your gut. And so you're gonna learn how to have a really fresh mouth and how to build a healthy microbiome. The importance of that. We are taking the major topics, hormones, we're taking the major topics and just gently introducing what the world experts say and then how do you start moving in another direction from that. So it's a big educational experience. People will wanna listen to it again and again. And the thanks and the kudos that we're getting emails are just hundreds and hundreds of emails just thanking us for this. That it, this really makes sense. Boy, I finally understand how to lead my family and their health for the rest of our lives. I've got a great picture of this. Now our job is really to change the paradigm, to change the way that people think about their health and to be more selective of what you put on your body and in your body. Yeah. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (37:25): Well, I encourage everyone to attend. It is free. We will have the link in the show notes, but I'll spell it out for you. It's www.theinflammationequation.com/kirin, K-Y-R-I-N, and we'll have the link. So if you're driving, don't try to write that down. But Dr. Tom, thank you so much for joining us today. I love that you, your life really does belong to the community and that you are a man of service and truth and research. A man after my own heart. It's been an honor and a privilege to have you here today. Dr. Tom O'Brian (38:02): Thank you, Karen. A real pleasure for me also, Dr. Kyrin Dunston (38:05): And thank you all for joining me for another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. I look forward to hearing your thoughts about today's episode and what you've learned, especially at the inflammation equation. You can reach out to me on social media and share the insights that you've gained and how you are putting the information you've learned into effect in your life for positive change so that you can have a longer vitality span as well as a longer lifespan. Thanks so much for joining me. I'll see you next week. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (38:35): Until then, peace, love, and hormones y'all. Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon. -----   ► The Inflammation Equation: Decoding The Steps For Optimal Wellbeing Video by Dr. Tom O'Bryan -Award Winning Dr. Tom O'Bryan Reveals Exactly How To Reverse The Root Cause Of Cancer, Diabetes, and Heart Disease… Without Meds Or Needles: CLICK HERE to watch for FREE.   ► Feeling tired? Can't seem to lose weight, no matter how hard you try? It might be time to check your hormones. Most people don't even know that their hormones could be the culprit behind their problems. But at Her Hormone Club, we specialize in hormone testing and treatment. We can help you figure out what's going on with your hormones and get you back on track. We offer advanced hormone testing and treatment from Board Certified Practitioners, so you can feel confident that you're getting the best possible care. Plus, our convenient online consultation process makes it easy to get started. Try Her Hormone Club for 30 days and see how it can help you feel better than before. CLICK HERE.  

Are you feeling more burnt out than blissful as you hit midlife? If so, this episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast is your new best friend. Join us as we chat with the incredible Dr. Tanya Beaubrun who reveals how to turn life's toughest lessons into "blessons" (blessings + lessons), helping you transform burnout into a powerful breakthrough. Meet Our Guest Dr. Tanya Beaubrun Dr. Tanya Beaubrun is not just any doctor; she's a beacon of hope and a source of profound wisdom for women navigating the tumultuous midlife years. With a medical career that spans decades and a personal history of overcoming adversity, Dr. Tanya knows firsthand what it means to rise from the ashes. Her compassionate approach combines conventional medicine with holistic practices, making her an invaluable guide for anyone looking to heal from the inside out. Key Takeaways 1. Understanding "Blessons": Discover how Dr. Tanya coined the term "blessons" and why it's crucial for your mental and emotional well-being. 2. Recognizing Burnout: Learn the subtle and not-so-subtle signs of burnout that many midlife women experience but often overlook. 3. Pathway to Breakthrough: Dr. Tanya lays out a roadmap for turning the low points in your life into stepping stones for success and happiness.  4. Holistic Healing: Explore the power of combining conventional medicine with holistic healing practices to achieve balanced health.  5. Practical Tips: Get actionable advice on how to implement these insights into your daily life, ensuring long-term wellness. Why You Should Listen This episode is not just an interview; it's a heartfelt conversation that promises to leave you feeling inspired, empowered, and ready to tackle midlife with renewed vigor. Whether you're struggling with hormonal changes, emotional fatigue, or just need a motivational boost, Dr. Tanya's wisdom will resonate deeply with you. Feeling inspired? Don't keep this newfound wisdom to yourself. Share this episode with your friends and join our community of empowered women on this beautiful midlife journey! And if you're ready to take the next step towards holistic health, book a consultation with Dr. Tanya Beaubrun. We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions, and stories of how you've transformed your own "blessons" into breakthroughs. Follow us on  our social media accounts and use the hashtag #TheHormonePrescriptionPodcast to join the discussion. Midlife doesn't have to be a crisis; it can be a time of tremendous growth and transformation. With experts like Dr. Tanya Beaubrun guiding the way, you can turn your life's trials into triumphs. Tune in, transform, and thrive!   —---------------   Dr. Kyrin (00:00): There are two important days in your life, the day you were born, and the day you find out why. Mark Twain, stay tuned as Dr. Tanya helps you understand how to use your life. Bless to go from burnout to breakthrough at midlife. Dr. Kyrin (00:17): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an OB GYNI had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Dr. Kyrin (01:10): Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me today as we speak with Dr. Tanya Beaubrun. She's gonna talk to you about what that means and we had a beautiful, beautiful conversation that I know you're gonna find inspirational and it's really gonna help you understand if you're experiencing burnout and you're feeling hopeless, what the path forward is. And this is from two doctors who have been there and gotten through it and now we help others. So you're gonna get a lot of inspiration as well as information and tools. We talk about so many things. The tool she shares, a tool to uncover what your dreams actually are, helps you understand that second most important day in your life. And if you're feeling like you're not where you're supposed to be in life, she helps you understand where, how to know where you're supposed to be and really helps you to start dreaming of life and color again if life has become black and white for you. Dr. Kyrin (02:19): I know that was true for me back when I weighed 243 pounds and my health was really tanked. Life had become black and white and now it's in color again, full color. So she's gonna really help you get unstuck 'cause she got herself unstuck. And we're gonna share that with you today. I'll tell you a little bit more about her and then we'll get started. She specializes in functional and integrative medicine. She's way more than a physician. She's a certified wellness and lifestyle empowerment coach, a motivational speaker and author. And she has a passion for nurturing wellbeing. She helps individuals rediscover their mojo for a happier, healthier life. She is a graduate of the University of the West Indies. She advocates a holistic approach to wellness, blending mind, body and spirit practices. And her credentials include an honors degree in alternative medicine and certifications in functional anti-aging and regenerative medicine. She is the CEO of Rodney Bay Medical and Diagnostic Center and Spearheads, Satya Integrative Medical Services, which is the Caribbean's first functional and integrative medical clinic. And she shares more about that during our discussion about really how revolutionary what she's offering in the Caribbean is. Please help me welcome Dr. Tanya Braven to the show. Dr. Tanya (03:36): Thank you for having me. Dr. Kyrin (03:38): I'm really excited to have you on the show. After reading your book Bubbles, Buddha and Butterflies, it was so touching and really spoke to me of the inner journey that we're on when we're seeking health as women at midlife. So I'm wondering if you can just start by sharing a little bit of your journey, how you went from burnout. You were there and I was there with me as being a, a physician also who went into medicine and to work with women specifically because I wanted the biggest toolbox to help women. And I thought the MD degree would get me there only to discover and become disillusioned that it doesn't actually create health and vitality. And so I was on this journey too, of seeking what are we missing? What am I missing with my own health? 'cause My own health was horrible and found that it wasn't even only about my physical health, although I thought it was, I just need to lose the weight. That was my mantra. I just need to lose the weight. And I know out there listening are with me on that, but it's so much more than that. Can you share with everyone a little bit of your story about being a physician and what you encountered? Dr. Tanya (04:56): It's a very interesting story now that I can look back from a space. You know, hindsight is always 2020. And I went into medicine. I've always known I was going to be a doctor. There was, you know, from the age of six or seven, I knew that was what I was going to do. I would take care of my dogs, I took care of my family, my cousins, you know, I I was just the nurturer. And we figured that's the only way to do it. So I went into medicine, conventionally trained, loved it, still do. But then I realized somewhere along the line that something was missing. And I thought that I was treating the bodies of my patient. We were well equipped in medical school to treat the minds of our patients as well as I would've liked. So I decided to become, to do a course in health coaching. Dr. Tanya (05:46): So I would blend health coaching with my medical practice to better treat the minds of my patient. Well, the first patient who, whose life was transformed by health coaching was my being exposed to a holistic approach with IIN bioidentical and genetics and all of that. And I thought, wow, there's so much more to medicine than I realized. And the shortly after that, I burnt out. Wasn't too long after that the first time, I didn't know what it was. I just thought that I had, I wasn't strong enough. There was a deficiency within myself that would not allow me to do what I, what I felt I needed to do as a physician, a wife, a mother of three. The second time I had then come through the IN course. I knew more about the adrenal fatigue. And by some stroke of luck, I happen to have a five point cortisol test kit. Dr. Tanya (06:44): I practice in the Caribbean. So you have to understand that we don't do many of the tests that you have available in the us We don't have right at our fingertips, especially the newer tests. And in functional and integrative medicine, we, we are a sort of, we are behind in certain ways. Somehow I found this test and I had to FedEx it out and lo and behold I had flatlined. Well, for me that was like the biggest aha and the biggest blessing because I realized that it wasn't in my head. You know, you go to doctors and your labs are normal and they tell you, oh, it's, it's just hormones, or you're just tired or you're just stressed and, you know, just sleep or rest more. So I had to find a way to heal myself because I realized that conventional western medicine was not going to heal me. Dr. Tanya (07:28): And I went on this path, found, somehow found functional medicine, founded con functional medicine, female doctor who looked at me with such compassion and understanding, like I truly felt seen and heard. I burst into tears and she held me and she told me that it's gonna take me at least two years to get back. Well, I'm the perfectionist, you know, and I'm a doctor, so it's not gonna take me two, it's impossible. It's maybe three months . No, I gave myself the year . But I continued working and I continued. I, it was introduced to the supplements and so, and I was feeling better. So of course as soon as you feel better, you go straight back into your old pattern, wearing the hats and listening to what the, you know, the, a small community tells you you should be doing and feeling that you are dancing tunes of so many others other than yours. Dr. Tanya (08:23): And then slowly but surely things started to crumble again. Of course. 'cause I didn't allow myself to heal properly. And there was one incident with a patient where I realized that it was a long time patient of ours and, and also a family friend. And he called me because he was dying. He knew he was going. When I got to his bedside, I knew that I was not gonna save his life. And it was the hardest thing for me because I'm like, okay, you've called the doctor, the doctor's supposed to save your life. And there I'm looking at him and he knows very well he's dying and I can't, and I know that I'm not going to be able to save him. Not at all. So I stayed with him and the family prayed and then I started to rub his feet. 'cause His feet were going cool. Dr. Tanya (09:03): And I said, oh, it must be so uncomfortable for him. So I just rub his feet. And as I looked up, he was looking down at me and I thought, he knows he's love. He knows how much I've, I have cared for him. And at the end of his life, he will know how much he is loved. And I realized then that sometimes the best prescription that we can give is a prescription for love. That totally changed everything for me. And he died later that day. And I went back and, but it just, everything changed. My whole foundation shifted because I was trained to be a doctor and I was trained to save lives. But then I realized I won't save every life, but that doesn't mean that I can't help them. Doesn't mean that I can't be the one to help them transition in a loving and compassionate way. Dr. Tanya (09:48): And I started to look at every single person who came and sat across my desk in a different light. How can I change their lives? How can I truly make them better? How can I heal them in whatever way, whether it's physical, emotional, or spiritual? I realized then that sometimes that's what we have to look at. It's not just the physical aspects of the patient. There's an emotional aspect, a mental aspect and a spiritual aspect. It took me on a journey where I started to look at my mental health, my physical health, my emotional health in a totally different way. I got deeper into my spirituality, worked with Gabby Stein and her spirit junkie masterclass. And it was as if I was going through these shifts and every time I went through another shift, something else would fall on my lap. And I'm like, oh wow, okay, let me do this. Dr. Tanya (10:38): And then a few years later I decided I'm going to study functional medicine because I do not want any patient to fall into this burnout path that I did and not be able to have someone who will be there for them and have them feel seen and heard and held in a safe space. Because that's what I realized I had needed and was not able, I, there was nobody to give it to me at the time. Found functional medicine, another layer of my world opened up and then I found integrative medicine, another layer. Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic medicine. Naturopathy. Homeopathy. And I'm like, these predated western medicine by thousands and thousands of years. But we were never taught that in medical school. And I started to look at things in a different light and, and everything just shifted. And it was at that point that I realized I had to practice medicine my way in a more heart-based way, in a compassionate way. Dr. Tanya (11:38): And still prescribe love whilst writing a prescription for medication. I'm prescribing love, whether they leave without a medicine, but it's a hug. Patient today told me that I set him on a path. All I did was tell him, he said he didn't know what job to choose. He was between two jobs. And I said, well, you know, I have these stones on my desk with inspirational sayings. Choose a stone, maybe it'll help you. And he chose joy. And he says, you know, that's what I told my wife, I need more joy in my life. I said, well, clearly you want the right path 'cause you chose, you chose it. I didn't choose it for you. You chose it. Then he decided he wanted to flip a coin and asked me to flip it for him. So I said, you know, I didn't know my job in entailed flipping coins, but there I was flipping coins for him, . Dr. Tanya (12:19): And every time he flipped it, he says, one more time. And I flipped it again. I'm like, I'm really not good at flipping coins. He says, but you're getting the same thing. I said, I'm not getting it. The coin's getting it. So he was able to get his answers and I, I looked at him today and I said, well sometimes my job involves rolling stones on flipping coins . And he thought it was hilarious. And I thought, you know what? You prescribe whatever the patient needs to have them heal in whatever way they need. And that's where I am now. Yeah, Dr. Kyrin (12:48): It's such a beautiful story and I love in your book how you relate that part where you said, I realized I had been doing what I thought I should be doing to be I'll fill in the blank, happy, successful, a good person, a good doctor, whatever. 'cause I have that realized that same thing that the early part of my life and career was really centered around. And I think this speaks to all women we're really told that essentially we all function the same and we should want marriage kids career. You know, nevermind that it's kind of a lie that , you can have your your cake and eat it too. Something's gonna give. And you described that beautifully in the book. I experienced that too. It's like when you're at work, you're thinking how you're screwing up at home. And when you're at home, you're thinking how you're screwing up at work and there's no peace and there's no place for us. Dr. Kyrin (13:45): And so everybody listening, if you're feeling like you are really a footnote in your own life and you've created, I created a life that wasn't sustainable for me because it wasn't a authentic and it's ad the health concerns are not separate from that. That was the big realization for me as I also discovered functional medicine and started healing myself, is not just the physical, it's about so much more. It's who you're being in your life, how you're living your life. Are you in alignment with your soul's purpose or not? Are you on the speaking the truth of who you came to be in this lifetime? And you described it so beautifully. Your book is just, it's beautifully written. And so for everyone listening, it's not a medical text. You're not gonna get a bunch of a medical ease jargon. It's really soul, soul, heart to heart, one woman to another at midlife. I lost my way. I know you might have too. And I wanna share my story. And so I I think you did that Dr. Tanya (14:50): Beautifully. Thank you. I have a little story about that book. So while I was on this journey, I started writing because I had left everything. I left my practice, I left my husband back home. So I went to Florida to study and I was with my daughter and my two boys were in university there as well. So I was what I call a single mom in a new country driving on the different, a different side of the road, learning everything new. I had never lived in the US before and I started writing as a form of release or just these things would come up and I would just settle write. And they were just there. One, one was taken up by Huffington Post, another one by another blog, you know, but they were just there. And while I was doing that, I decided, I, I figured I had to write a book because that's what everybody else was doing. Dr. Tanya (15:41): You know where you're on these, you know, you in my, even his coaching groups and everybody's write books I forgot to write. So I started, I started writing a book and it was what you'd think is a medical text, you know, medical, not a text, but a medical book to help people. And so, so I wrote it was, I had the cover, I had everything. About two weeks before I was finishing up my program and was leaving the us I started to get the jitters. I started to question myself, did you do the right thing? Are you going back home? Will they accept you? You know, you're in a small island. Will they even know what functional medicine is? You've given up so much of your time and your life here and, and you're going back and they may not even want you back. And it was a real dark night of the soul. Dr. Tanya (16:23): And I remember very vividly, I packed up the apartment and I was, we had one bed and I couldn't sleep. So I left my husband and my daughter and I went to sleep on the floor in the living room. 'cause I was just so tormented, so just anxious. And all of a sudden, the day before I was flying out, I'm like, you have a book. You need to put all these things you've been writing into a book and share it with the world because it's going to help somebody else in your, in a position similar to yours. I sat on that flight and I channeled that book. I never looked up so I wasn't, 'cause I was very scared to go back home. It sounds strange, but I was scared of what I would face. You know, you all, you leave and you, you, you figure you brave and you suffer. Dr. Tanya (17:09): But when the time comes to get back, that's when you're like, oh, the reality is gonna hit. And how hard will that reality be? So I'm on that flight, it's a three and a half hour flight, and I don't look up or down. I have headphones on and I put up my laptop. I very rarely use my laptop on a flight, but I never stop. By the time I landed, three and a half hours later, 90% of that book was completed. I had gone through all the essays, chosen the once rewritten, all the essays, decided how I was going to do it. The book just came through me. And I know that the universe sent this to me at that time to give me the time and space to process what I had gone through and to share it with somebody out there who needed to hear that it's okay to go after your dreams. Dr. Tanya (17:55): It's okay to be authentic. It's okay to speak your truth even though sometimes it's hard. Even though sometimes you're scared. Do it scared. Just live your life and do it the best way that you can because the only person that's going to be with you through the dark nights of the soul is you and your mind. And the name of the book, my son once, that was years ago, way before the book, I always said if I'd write a book that would be the name. He looked at me in the middle of Vegas about places, and I was walking through the mall and there was this beautiful Buddha and I like, oh my God, I have to stop and go in. He just looked at me, he says, oh, you, you're all about Buddha and butterflies. Every time there's a Buddha, we have to stop every time there are butterflies, we have to stop. And I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna write a book and I'm gonna call it a Bubbles Buddha and butterflies. And he just looked at me, he says, whatever, you just have to stop all these butterflies and all these, put it just so I wrote, that was the name of the book. So the name of the book was way before the idea for the book came in. Yeah. So everything just fell into place for this book. Dr. Kyrin (18:56): Yeah, it's so, it's so beautifully written. I I can't recommend it highly enough for any woman at midlife period. If you have burnout, if you don't know what your dreams are, it's just beautifully written, very inspiring. I think you really hit on key factors that keep us as women stuck. A lot of us think it's our health and that is a part of it. But there's something before the health where it is this honoring of ourselves and our permission to go against what society says we should be. And you know, I I hope everyone listening really gets how brave it is for doctors like Dr. Tanya and me to go outside the mainstream medicine is really a religion , Dr. Tanya (19:42): It's Dr. Kyrin (19:42): Not so much science as it is a religion. Because what mainstream medicine, no matter what continent you live on, or country you live in, is is a certain belief system in how you treat the body and how health is created or destroyed. And it's limited to giving a pill for every ill a surgery for every symptom. And it's not really targeted at healing the underlying cause. And so as doctors, we are trained into this belief system, this religion of mainstream medicine. And then we're told we know more about this type of health than anybody else. So forget everything else. And what the science says that we clearly are ignoring a large majority of what it takes to create health for men and women. We're ignoring our spirituality. We're ignoring the causative aspects. We're ignoring our lifestyle aspects. All the inputs that we go to learn in functional medicine school that the naturopaths got the first time we have to go to another school to take another medical education. Dr. Kyrin (20:52): And then we might take herbology, right, or acupuncture or energy medicine, which is something I've studied. And we have to start learning how to incorporate the spirituality. So for, for you to go outside your country and learn all these newfangled things, right, which aren't new at all. Like you pointed out, they're thousands of years old and have been validated by modern science. But mainstream medicine just conveniently wants to keep that out of everyone's awareness is extremely brave. I loved how you described that. You didn't have the awareness of your bravery and then all of a sudden it came into focus for you. Wow. Like I've been brave my every step of the way in following my inner guidance and now I'm going back. And then I could see where the transformation happened for you that shift to owning yourself and owning Yourself's, calling and having a mission to bring this to people who otherwise, you know, if they don't hear it from you, there's some people who will never hear it. Dr. Kyrin (21:57): And so I loved that and I want every woman listening to really pay attention because I have yet to talk to a woman who doesn't have this inside her too. And she's covered it up and buried it and forgotten it and denied it and just settled for what she thinks she should have, but she thinks she can have instead of what her soul has always known it wanted, that maybe she hasn't thought about in decades. So can you talk about the importance of like really you saw yourself true for who you were and what you were here to do? And how do women get to that place? Because there are women listening right now who are laying across the bed in despair because they're like, I've tried everything. There is no answer to my fill in the blank with the 60 plus symptoms of what I call midlife metabolic mayhem. You know, overweight, tired, no sex, hair falling out, skin issues, liver issues, digestive issues, mental health issues, you name the list. So there's a woman right now laying across the bed thinking her life is over because she can't find the answers. So how can you help her move into an awareness that you have? Dr. Tanya (23:09): First of all, her first instinct is usually right. Reach out for help and the awareness that something is not quite right. I think it took me a long time to acknowledge that something wasn't right. You know, you, you get up at two and three in the morning and you, you, you don't know why you're not sleeping and you as you call, you have me metabolic mayhem. But you keep thinking that it was going to go away. And that if, if you work harder, if you work out longer, if you eat less, if you just commit to doing more, it'll go away. Where really we should be committing to being more of ourselves. But sometimes we've forgotten, we don't even know who we are anymore. And post covid, I think it's even worse because I think the physical isolation and we became disconnected from ourselves in ways that are unprecedented. Dr. Tanya (24:04): And we are reaching a stage, I think this year where we're only now processing the effects of the pandemic on top of everything else that's going on with us physically and emotionally and spiritually. I had hoped that in many ways that the pandemic would be an awakening for the healthcare community because I realized that functional medicine was made for times like these. This is where functional medicine showed the diamond for what it really is during covid and now beyond. And not enough people are aware that one, there is this thing called functional medicine that actually looks at the patient and not the disease process alone. And that is individualized. And that we look at everything, the entire history of the patient, a comprehensive physical exam, the labs are looked at in a different way. There's so much and there's not one better than the other. Dr. Tanya (25:01): And I keep telling people, I will not say that conventional medicine is better or worse than functional medicine. I think there's a need for every single part, including the alternative, what we call, they call alternative. And I call complimentary because they compliment what we do. And we need to start integrating everything that we've learned into a unique recipe that is designed for each patient. So for this woman lying across the bed, I wanted to know that I see you, I hear you, I feel you, I have been exactly where you are. And you will get out of this and you will get out stronger, smarter, fitter, wiser, and even more beauty. Your soul will be even more beautiful for what you've been through. I always tell people the dark night of the soul that many people go through, it's just polishing us for something to shine our light brighter. We've just been polished. But when you're going through that, you're like, gosh, can, can you just polish me? It's not as hard. Can, can I get a light polish? Dr. Tanya (26:08): Must you polish? Must you, you know, I don't need to be scrubbed that hard. You know, I just want to gentle polish. You're going too deep. And it hurts as it really hurts. It really does. But then when you come out and you look at it, I look at so much that I burned out, including after Covid. And I look at those moments and I think they were lessons, lessons and they were blessings. And I call them the blessings. Blessings. I love that. Blessings and blessings. The blessings that that came out of these. I can now say beautiful things. And I, I have a lot of patients going through that now. And sometimes I think I'm so grateful that I went through it so I can truly empathize with the patient and say, okay, I understand. I truly get what you're going through. I get getting upon a morning and saying, there must be mortalized than this. Dr. Tanya (27:02): I get going on the scale and said, where did those five pounds come from? You know, put it on your rings, trying to put on your, my, my wedding ring one day wouldn't go on. I'm like, what happened to my fingers? And I'm looking at those fingers, I'm like, when did my fingers get fat? , you know, I get irregular periods and all of a sudden my periods that were really spectacularly regular power on time just suddenly stopped being regular. I'm like, okay, so I'm only in my late thirties, what's going on? Nobody told me that as early as my late thirties, I would be going through perimenopause. Especially if I'm, I have been significantly stressed. So if you are listening and you are feeling that everything is not right, understand that it's, it's it's turning you upside down and inside out preparing you for something greater, deeper, and far more beautiful than you can ever imagine. Dr. Tanya (27:54): I promise you, you will see that light again. But in order to see the light, we have to go through this tunnel. And if you have a partner holding your hand through the tunnel, it's a lot easier. And that partner is a sympathetic, well-trained healthcare professional. Somebody who will see you, who will hear you, who will truly sit back and see you for what you're going through and will not tell you it's in your head or you just need to rest. Or God forbid some, one of my patients, and I swear that was true, was told to just have another baby, just go have another baby. It was sort out your hormones. And I'm like, you are kidding me. They did not tell you that. She came to me. She says, he told me to just have another baby. I said, your doctor told you that? Dr. Tanya (28:39): He said yes. I said, I promise you do not need to have another baby. You know, and these are the stories that you hear all the time. And you think, where were we trained? Where is the deficiency in our training that we can look at the woman who hasn't slept for weeks, who is tired, who has gained weight? And it's not that it's in her mind. 'cause If you've been tracking her weight, you will see she's gained weight. She will tell you that her clothes are no longer fitting her. She's, she hasn't made it up. She's not gonna go and buy clothes because she just feels like it. And tell her that the answer to her, her, her problem is to have to get pregnant and have another baby. More lack of sleep, more weight gain, more hormonal issues. So we have to find partners, health partners, who will walk this tunnel with us and beyond because, not because you've gone through the tunnel and you've reached the end and you, you're seeing the light. Dr. Tanya (29:29): You can drop, I can drop your hand or you can drop my hand. I need to walk you through, get your, be on that and say, listen, I'll always be here for you if you need me. And that is what I think a lot of us have lacked in the past where we know there's a trusted healthcare partner that we can always go to and say, today I'm not feeling it. Or something is not quite right because the patient lives in their bodies and they know when something is not right. Even if the labs are normal, even if all the tests are normal and we can roll our eyes and bounce our head against the wall and say, what else is there? The patient knows. And if we allow them to tap into their inner wisdom and tune into their innate ability to heal themselves, we will have the answers. And that's our job. Not to just write prescriptions and tell them what to do. It's a partnership. Dr. Kyrin (30:22): Yes, it is so beautifully described. You know, I had to laugh when you said that about the doctor told her to have another baby. 'cause I, it brought up a memory for me from medical school 'cause I had crazy periods. That's one of the things that drawn me to going into ob. GYN is trying to figure myself out. And they told me that the doctor at the clinic at my med school told me, have a baby, this will get better. And that's insane . But it just highlights the insanity of what we're talking about. So for the woman listening, yes, you, you will get through that dark night of the soul. And I love your analogy of the polishing. Yeah, don't polish me so hard, so hard. But I really think that if we're off our course in life in any way, something has to get our attention. Dr. Kyrin (31:13): Whether it's a relationship crisis or a health crisis or a financial career crisis, something has to get our attention. And for some of us it is our health. So also I like to encourage women to stop thinking about your health problems as an obstacle and start looking at them as the pathway to the evolution of your soul. Like you talk about the butterflies that you love, I love them too. It really is the pathway. And I love this quote you shared from Mark Twain. There are two important days in your life, the day you were born and the day you find out why. And I think for a lot of the women I work with their health challenges and passing through them and learning how to navigate them becomes the vehicle through which they find out why they are here on this earth. And if you're listening and you're thinking, Karen, I can't even think about how I'm gonna get dinner and you're talking about why I'm here on this earth, I really don't care. Dr. Kyrin (32:17): I just wanna feel better. I hear you. I've been there like Dr. Tanya and I have both been flatlined, cortisols, that's the worst you can get. It means you're surviving and that's it. You're just surviving. And so I understand we've been there. How can you help women really get on that path and that understanding? And she's wondering, what am I here for? I really loved how you leaned into the question. And this has been true on my journey too. I recently am back from two years traveling in Africa and Middle East and Great Britain and just really kind of on this soul searching journey. And it's been monumental and I hope to share some of it in writing soon while I'm still unpacking it. But I always say I couldn't have done that without what I call hormonal prosperity. You gotta have hormonal prosperity to do all the things. But it also is the pathway towards me now truly, truly knowing and accepting who I am in this world. I love that workbook you made. Yeah. Can you talk dream catcher? Yeah, talk a little bit. So Dr. Tanya (33:23): This, this dream catcher was, was channeled while I was, was away studying. And I had been doing some coaching with some patients or, or clients. And I realized that a lot of people don't out of touch with their dreams. So you are born with whisper with a purpose. Everybody has a unique soul's purpose, but for some reason, either a teacher or a parent or somebody tells it tells you you can't do this or you can't be this and you forget. We forget who we were called to be. And it takes us sometimes to sit down and targeted questions. So I would work with myself and ask myself the questions and realize that let me use it with some of my patients. And that's how the Dream Catcher workbook was born. Where I, I wanted people to really get deep and spend time with themselves and get this done. Dr. Tanya (34:13): And many people didn't want to do it. People wouldn't, because when you start to get deep, it brings up some fears. It brings up some guilt and resentment. And I'm not living the life I wanted to, to, you know, to live. It's too hard, you know, to change now would be too hard. And I would stick with it and say, listen, I just need you to, to complete this. You don't have to share it with me, but keep it and, and just work on it. And that's how the dream catcher work came through, through work that I was doing. These are questions that I have sat and asked myself on many occasions. I still use it for myself at times where I'll sit and ask myself, okay, so there you are, and this year I'm gonna be 56. And if, you know, in Chinese medicine, this is a pivotal year for women. Dr. Tanya (34:58): 'Cause Every woman is every seven years. But the funny thing is that 56 is where it ends. So I've been on a mission to find out from traditional Chinese medicine practitioners what happens from 56 onwards. I don't just dry up, but there's absolutely nothing in the textbooks that tell you what's happened after age 56. But I'm completing another seven year cycle. And it's something that, having looked back, I realized that it is true that over after seven years, you, you sort of go through a rebirthing, right? Last year I went through a significant rebirthing, but I think because I was aware that I was going to be 56 this year, I kind of like, okay, well I know I'm going to go through this rebirthing process. I have no choice because it's not so bring it on. You must never ask the universe to bring things on. Dr. Tanya (35:50): Never, never, never. Because it brought it on. And it was like I was telling telling somebody that for this year, 2024, I felt for the first half of the year that I was placed in a washing machine and somebody had forgotten to turn off the re cycle. And I would go and as fast as I thought I would come to the end of a cycle, I'm like, okay, you're gonna stop now and wash me off and spit me out. It would just start over again. I'd be tumbled over and over again. And I'm like, okay, this rebirthing process now I've been washed so many times that now I think I really need to find a recycle myself because if I don't, I'm going to keep getting tumbled over. And, you know, and it's been quite a, a series of aha moments for me realizing that I am exactly where I am meant to be at any given time. Dr. Tanya (36:39): That everything I have learned over the past 55 plus years, whether it's in medicine, in marketing, in branding, in anything business, has brought me to this point. And I'm now making decisions that are from a place of owning my purpose, my power, and my passion. I've reached a stage where I've owned that. I'm, I now have silver strands of wisdom , you know, I don't call them grace, they're silver strands of wisdom and that I need to share with people. But more importantly, I, you need, these are now my legacy is, and how am I going to leave the world a better place? Having gone through everything I've gone through, I need to start to share the lessons and the blessings with people. So it took me a while to come out about my burnout. I didn't wanna talk about it. There was some shame in attached to it. Dr. Tanya (37:26): You know, how can the doctor allow ourself to burn out? Not once, twice, three times, even four times. You know, you'd think that by the second time one learns. But in sharing that and sharing my truth as authentically as I could, I cha I have changed. I know I have changed so many lives because the people who were suffering in silence, who didn't know what burnout felt or looked like, there are people who did not want to come out, who didn't know where to turn. And having me speak about it and say, listen, there is more to life than just hormone replacement or vitamins or supplements or having your face done. It's all everything together. And we need to look at what is right for you at any given point in time because it'll change as you change your needs and desires change. And I use myself as a Guinea pig so many times, okay, there's this new product on, let me try it. Dr. Tanya (38:22): My sister is one of the, I would say one of the top aesthetic medicine practitioners out there. I'm usually the Guinea pig. So yes, I would put my hand up for Botox and yes I will, I, you know, I've had thread lifts and I've done, you know, 'cause normally it's this, I need to try it Tony. And I'm like, okay, there's certain things I'll try. There's certain things I, you know, I won't. But I think that each person needs to know what's right for them and tune in. So I always ask the patient, do you feel that you, you wanna start this? Do you think it's time to start hormone replacement, bioidentical hormone replacement? Do you think tune into your body and see how it feels? Because not because there is, it's been prescribed in 90% of the patients at this time with this level needed, means that this patient needs it. Dr. Tanya (39:06): I may need to give them another few months. It, for me, looking at the practice of where medicine and, and getting people well has been the biggest shift for me. I will not necessarily cure certain people of certain diseases, but I will heal them even if it means coming to a point of acceptance of what is going on. And more importantly, understanding what is going on with their bodies. Because I believe that once a patient is educated well enough to understand what is going on with their bodies and empowered to remain in tune with their bodies and listen to their bodies, I think half our problems are solved. Once I get the patient to do that. And you know, many patients come to the doctor and say, the doctor knows all. So just, you know, just write me a prescription and, and take it all. Dr. Tanya (39:52): I need to lose these, this weight. Now just give me the, the ozempic. And I'm like, well, before I go to that point, let's see what's going on. Could it be a thyroid, could it be something else? And people don't quite get that. Their bodies . You know, there's so many bodily processes that are happening all the time and that before we go and interfere with it with drugs or even with certain supplements, we have to understand the baseline and know exactly where you are. And you need to know that with this happening, this is how you are feeling. So that when we shift you and transform you, you can understand, okay, I've moved to this other level. My goal for each patient is to get to a point where they feel joy. And I call somebody because I call it the mojo. I'm the Mojo MD mojo. Dr. Tanya (40:39): So somebody said, oh, all your patients are coming back and all I see is that they're glowing. I say, yeah, they have the module glue, right? Yeah, I want the glue. I said, well, you know, they've, they, it doesn't just come and I don't just write a prescription for the glue that there is a, a process that takes us and there's a system that takes us through a number we first to get the glue. So she just wanted, she wanted the glue right away. And I'm like, well, it doesn't quite work like that. But she's one of my most successful client stories. 'cause Once I, she understood that if one, it took work, two, I would be there for her. And three, it wouldn't happen just overnight. And she had to remain connected with her body through it all so she could explain to me what was going on. Dr. Tanya (41:23): Yeah. She became so connected that if she comes tell me anything, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna check it. She knows exactly what's going on. But not many healthcare practitioners are listening enough to their patient. We need to allow them the time and the space to unpack what's been happening to them sometimes for 30, 40, 50 years. It's so true. And it's time and space and a safe, nurturing environment where they don't feel rushed. They feel like they're heard, they feel like they're in, in a cocoon. I said, listen, I'm going to envelop you in this safe, you know, cocoon, at which point your transformation can begin. And that's really what, that's my goal now that I create soft nurturing spaces for each patient who comes through to me. Dr. Kyrin (42:09): I love that. It's beautiful. Beautifully said, described. And it's exactly what we need to heal as women, to be put in that loving cocoon and given the time and space to feel into what's right for us to discover what's right for us to rediscover ourselves, to transform into that butterfly. Because like this quote you shared from Hippocrates, which I love, natural forces within us are the true healers of disease. And then I've heard it said that we just need to remove everything that's an obstacle to the body healing itself. And sometimes that negative mind space, negative emotion, emotional space, those are the blocks. And so if we can get out of the way, and I just wanna reiterate what you said about having a guide, every successful person, you know, I heard the saying behind every successful man, there's a woman, right? But more than that, it's not that it's behind every successful person. Dr. Kyrin (43:07): There is another person or way more people. It doesn't have to be male or female, but everyone who's, you know, and just think of Luke Skywalker, right? He had a teacher, you think of Ralph Macchio and the Karate Kid. He had a teacher. Everybody has a teacher. Everyone who's successful can see us as we truly are and help guide us. I love what you've shared about having a lot of shame around your burnout. I had a lot of shame when I practiced regular ob GYN and I weighed 243 pounds and I looked and felt 20 years older than I was. And I felt so ashamed. I thought everyone can look at me and see I'm not healthy, but I'm supposed to know more about women's health than anyone else. But I think a true teacher has walked the path that they're helping you to walk. Dr. Kyrin (43:55): And if they haven't, do they really know is my question. I question anyone who hasn't experienced , what I'm dealing with, I think that people who have been through it themselves really do bring a uniqueness. And so I think it's almost a badge of honor. Oh, I've been there, I know what it feels like. And it really resonates with women when they hear that. So I thank you for your vulnerability around that. Thank you. And I so want to keep talking and we might have to do a part two because there's, I love it when I meet a fellow physician who actually has had a lot of the same experiences. We can have a dialogue on a different level and perspective that I think really will touch a lot of women. If you're listening, this is changing you, even if you don't realize it. And so if you like it, reach out and let us know, and we'll do a part two with Dr. Tanya. But I want you to share with everyone where they can connect with you online. How can they access the gifts that you have. The Dream Catcher Workbook, the Destined for Joy workbook, your book that you've published. Tell them all the places. Dr. Tanya (45:04): So you can find me online@tanyabore.com. B-E-A-U-B-R-U-N as in nancy.com. On my website, you also have access to my Destin for Joy ebook. Going to have a link sent to you for my Dream Catcher workbook. 'cause I think it's something that you, you have reminded me to reactivate this dream catcher. So I will send you the link for them to download. I'm on Instagram as Dr. Tanya Bran. I'm on Facebook as Tanya Ang Boran. I also work out of sat a Center for Functional and Integrative Medicine, which is my baby. It's the first functional and integrative medicine clinic in the, in my country, St. Lucia. But I think it's the first in the Caribbean, the first of its type in the Caribbean. So I'm very proud of it. I don't think there's any other, a Caribbean physician who has the training that I, I've had as western medicine with functional as well as integrative medicine. Dr. Tanya (46:04): And my goal is really to reach as many people, but particularly women who are feeling that they've lost themselves. That they, they, they just don't know who they are anymore. And they're just going through the motions. You living life in black and white, there's no joy. You're surviving and not thriving. I want people to thrive and feel vibrant and energized and filled with joy because what is the purpose of life? If you can't see things in color, if you get up every morning and look at yourself in the mirror and you're like, Ugh, you know, who's this person? I, I don't even know this person. And then when you look into their eyes, it's dead. I want the light back. I want the life back into their eyes. I want the life back into their souls because there's so many soulless women, and I shouldn't say soulless, the soul is there, but it's dull and it's dimmed the light and the, the, the light from the soul is so dim that we can't even see. Dr. Tanya (47:06): They can't even see their own light. They can't even share their beautiful light that the world needs. This is my book of bubbles, bud and butterflies, or is available on Amazon. You've just inspired me af after remembering how the book came, that I still have a book that's on my laptop that needs to be resurrected, revamped, and come out every so often. You know, it calls to me and I'm like, yeah, but as I was talking to you, so I am going to start looking at that and, and with no pressure and doing it out of a place of ease and joy. And that's where I'm at now, where everything in life has to be easy and simple and joyful. Anything starts to create too much angst and anxiety and stuff. I'm like, this is clearly not for me. , it sounds like the lazy and I take, you know, you, you, you just take the easy way out. Dr. Tanya (47:58): But for me, I think that by now my life needs to be simpler and somebody says, I'm now living my legacy is, and I, I've, I've really taken that on and said, these are my legacy years and how am I going to make the most out of that by having as much joy in my life. But yet being able to share this, this joy with people and inspire others to share their joy. And just imagine if all of us would just the, just imagine the joy coming out of our, our hearts and our souls and each person just sharing that, how different our world would be if we just freely gave, just give, just give. Yeah. Without over giving, of course, because you know, our tendencies to give and to give and eventually our everything gets sucked out and we just left it fleet. And I'm like, oh, okay. Maybe I should have given so much. So yes, I am available on my website, on Instagram, on Facebook. I don't do LinkedIn as as much as I should. So, but I am on LinkedIn. Should Dr. Kyrin (48:57): No, should Dr. Tanya (48:58): No, there's, yeah, yeah. I, I was told once, pick two platforms and use it. So my main one is Instagram, then I'm on, on on Facebook as well. Okay. And I just want anybody listening to, for them to understand that you are exactly where you're supposed to be as dark and deep as you think your dark night is. It gets better. Dr. Kyrin (49:22): It does, it gets Dr. Tanya (49:24): Better. Dr. Kyrin (49:24): And I thank you so much for sharing your beauty, your brilliance, your journey, your bubbles, butterflies, buddhas, everything that you've shared. We'll have all the links in the show notes, so if you're driving, don't worry about writing it down. We'll get all the links and put them in the show notes. Thank you so much Dr. Tanya for sharing your journey and just everything you shared, I can't thank you enough for joining us today. Dr. Tanya (49:50): Thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure. Dr. Kyrin (49:52): And thank you for joining us for another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kieran. I know you are inspired. I know you're gonna go download the Dream Patcher workbook. 'cause I'm telling you, these are some great thought provoking questions and the quality of your life is really governed by the questions that you ask. So make them great questions. Thanks so much for joining me today. I look forward to seeing you next week for another episode. Until then, peace, love, and hormones, y'all. Dr. Kyrin (50:22): Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.   —------- ► Take the Body Story Quiz from Dr. Tanya Beaubrun: Understand the balance between your body, mind, and soul. And how to nurture yourself to vibrant health and more joy. CLICK HERE.   ► Feeling tired? Can't seem to lose weight, no matter how hard you try? It might be time to check your hormones. Most people don't even know that their hormones could be the culprit behind their problems. But at Her Hormone Club, we specialize in hormone testing and treatment. We can help you figure out what's going on with your hormones and get you back on track. We offer advanced hormone testing and treatment from Board Certified Practitioners, so you can feel confident that you're getting the best possible care. Plus, our convenient online consultation process makes it easy to get started. Try Her Hormone Club for 30 days and see how it can help you feel better than before. CLICK HERE.  

BoneCoach™ Osteoporosis & Osteopenia - Joining us today to explore how to shift from hormonal poverty to prosperity to help your bones and overall health thrive is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. =>>FREE Stronger Bones Masterclass (Gain Access Now!)=>>FREE 7-Day Osteoporosis Kickstart=>>Apply to join the Stronger Bones Solution Program w/ the BoneCoach™ Team***Topics Covered0:00 - Episode start2:27 - Introducing Dr. Kyrin Dunston, her background, and expertise3:24 - Her transition from traditional OBGYN to functional medicine10:43 - Discussion on hormonal poverty and its impact on health14:36 - Preferred tests for assessing hormone levels 16:39 - Steps to address and reverse hormonal poverty, including the use of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy17:56 - How to determine the right bioidentical hormone treatment for individual needs21:51 - The crucial role of hormones, especially estrogen and testosterone, in maintaining bone density and preventing osteoporosis27:11 - Progesterone and DHEA's contributions to bone health 27:36 - The impact of stress and sleep on hormone levels and overall health32:34 - Natural alternatives to pharmaceutical sleep aids and their benefits36:07 - Information on Dr. Dunston's Hormone Poverty Quiz and where to find more resources***Resources MentionedFind all resources mentioned and show notes @=>> https://bonecoach.com/dr-kyrin-dunston-osteoporosis-hormone-connection ***What can you do to support your bone health and this podcast?1. Hit the “Subscribe” Button. 2. Leave a review. Thank you!

Welcome back to another enlightening episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast! This week, we dive deep into a topic that resonates with so many of us: bone health. We often think we're doing enough by following generic health programs, but what if those programs fall short when it comes to bone health? What if there's a better way to ensure stronger, healthier bones?

Welcome to another inspiring episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast! This week, we dive into the captivating journey of Christine, a remarkable woman who transformed her life from the depths of hormonal poverty and metabolic chaos to a thriving midlife success story. Episode Highlights Christine's Personal Journey: Listen as Christine candidly shares her struggles with hormonal imbalance and metabolic mayhem, painting a vivid picture of her life before finding hope and healing. Turning Points: Discover the pivotal moments that changed the trajectory of Christine's health journey, leading her from hopelessness to empowerment. Overcoming Obstacles: Gain insight into the strategies Christine employed to combat metabolic mayhem and rise above her challenges. Benefits of Working with The Host: Hear firsthand about the transformative benefits Christine experienced through her work with our host, including practical advice and tailored strategies that made all the difference. Inspiration for Midlife Women: Learn how Christine's story can inspire you to take control of your hormonal health and find success in midlife. Christine's Story: From Hopelessness to Triumph In this episode, we delve into Christine's personal account of facing seemingly insurmountable hormonal struggles. Like many women at midlife, she found herself navigating the confusing and often discouraging world of metabolic issues and hormonal imbalances. But Christine's story doesn't end there. Through perseverance and expert guidance, she discovered a path to reclaim her health and vitality. Christine shared invaluable practical advice and strategies for women dealing with similar challenges. Whether it's dietary adjustments, lifestyle changes, or understanding the nuances of hormonal balance, this episode is packed with actionable insights to help you on your journey. Christine provides an insider's view of what it's like to work with our podcast host. She breaks down the process at a granular level, explaining the philosophy behind the approach and why it works when other methods might fail. If you've ever felt overwhelmed by the information overload on Dr. Google, Christine's story will resonate deeply. She highlights how the expert knowledge and personalized care she received made all the difference. Christine's journey is a testament to the power of resilience and expert guidance. Her transformation from hopelessness to success is not just a story—it's a beacon of hope for every woman at midlife feeling demoralized by hormonal and metabolic struggles. Don't miss out on this inspiring episode! Tune in now to hear Christine's incredible journey and join our Hormone Balance Bliss Challenge today. Together, let's embark on a path to reclaiming our health and vitality. --- Stay tuned and stay inspired, and remember: you don't have to figure it all out on your own. With the right support and knowledge, you too can achieve hormonal balance and midlife success. Happy listening! --- Dr. Kyrin Dunston (00:00): Thank you so much, Dr. Karen. I truly, I cannot thank you enough. You have not only transformed my life, but you have saved my life in so many different ways and given me a life that I want to have. Speaker 2 (00:15): That's what Christine a had to say about working with me. Stay tuned for more details about her experience. Speaker 3 (00:23): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us, keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an OB GYN, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results, and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kieran Dunton. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Speaker 2 (01:16): Hi everybody. Thank you so much for joining me for another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kieran. I'm so glad that you're here because you're gonna get to hear a client, Christine, share her experience of working with me. We've got the Hormone Bliss Challenge launching this week on May 23rd. I only do it live a couple times a year. So you definitely don't wanna miss this, especially if you've thought about working with me and you've been wondering what's it like, what am I gonna get out of it? And really wanna understand my philosophy and how I've gone about helping thousands of women's women get out of midlife metabolic mayhem and hormonal poverty and into hormonal prosperity. Because if you're a woman over 40, most likely, you are experiencing many of these 60 plus symptoms of midlife metabolic mayhem to varying degrees. And it's interfering with you living your life the way that you want to, frankly, the way that you deserve to. Speaker 2 (02:19): You deserve to be healthy, vital, alive at every single age. There's no reason really, that you shouldn't feel as good as at 80 as you did at 20. And if you think that's laughable, then you don't know what I know, and you need to definitely come because I'm gonna teach you how to do that and this program. So Christine is a client who has worked with me, and she can give you the insider's view of what that's like, what benefits she's gotten from it, and help you understand a little bit more about the nuts and boats at a granular level that are involved with the philosophy that I share and why it gets results when other things don't. I know you might be feeling a little demoralized because if you're like most women at midlife, you've been going down the Dr. Google route and trying to figure it out by yourself, which I don't doubt that you could given enough time and energy to try to figure it out, but it might take you the 30 years that I've spent as a board certified OB GYN, completing my fellowship in anti-aging, metabolic and functional medicine, treating thousands of patients to have the knowledge and expertise. Speaker 2 (03:32): So, hit the easy button button and listen to the episode and you'll find out how you can get on the fast train to where you wanna go with your health and your life. Please help and help me welcome Christine to the show. So how are you doing? Dr. Kyrin Dunston (03:48): I am feeling so much better. My mood is stabilized. I am like, I am not girl. All the time. I am. I have enough energy that I'm actually starting to, I'm working out now in the mornings when I get up, I'm sleeping better at night. It is, yeah, it is like it's, it's like I'm getting to a whole new me and I love it. It's a great journey and I cannot thank you enough, honestly. Speaker 2 (04:14): Oh, my pleasure. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (04:16): It's great. Speaker 2 (04:16): What kinds of problems were you dealing with that made you seek out help outside of mainstream medicine? What kind of health problems? Dr. Kyrin Dunston (04:25): I was experiencing a lot of feeling very tired, feeling beyond tired, lethargic, low energy, not feeling like myself, feeling very angry and on edge all the time. My hair was thinning. I was putting on weight, excessive body hair, facial hair, and feeling very frustrated, quite honestly, through mainstream medicine. I went to a, I had listened to one of your podcasts and I thought I had all this great information, and I went to my gynecologist who came recommended that dealt with women in menopause, was her specialty. And I shared all of this information with her, and she sat there and looked at me and she said, well, you're in your fifties and you have a 6-year-old child. You're you, it's not, you're depressed. You need an antidepressant, and I could, I can run your hormones and I can tell you you're low on estrogen and that doesn't mean anything. You need an antidepressant. And I walked out of there, literally sat in my car and cried, and I listened to another one of your podcasts and had this wonderful opportunity to begin working with you. And everything literally started changing my life around for me working with you. Speaker 2 (05:35): Awesome. Oh, thank you. So what have been the most surprising things that you've learned? I'm sorry that you dealt with that at your doctors. Unfortunately, your experience of basically what I call gaslighting is not uncommon, and some women listening probably have experienced that. What has been the most eyeopening to you in the things that you've learned since you've been working in the program? Dr. Kyrin Dunston (06:01): I think so much everything, honestly, that I have been learning and continue to learn from you. It is, you are this fellowship trained gynecologist who has this wealth of medical knowledge behind you, and you also embrace different medicines from around the world and those philosophies, and you bring them all together and you put the science behind them for what used to be for areas that used to be considered, oh, this is different. Or it's not real because it's, it hasn't been vetted by us medical standards and we can't con you confirm it. And now so much of that we're seeing is being confirmed of, of different types of medicines and, and different approaches that have been for so long. And being able to combine those and really looking at your whole self, not just a piece of you. And you look at the whole woman and every aspect from the medical to the mental to the spiritual, and how do we bring that together and use that to be able to build what it is that women need, quite frankly. Mm-Hmm. all women. It's not something that should be overlooked. And I think many times it has been overlooked in modern medicine, especially when it comes to women. The focus that you have brought to it and the work that you do and that you bring the science behind it, I think just brings, brings it to a new level for many people. Speaker 2 (07:25): Yeah. Thank you. And I remember meeting you the first time and you've come a long way. And can you share about what's changed for you? Dr. Kyrin Dunston (07:34): Oh my gosh, everything. I am hitting 55 this summer, and I have a 6-year-old by choice. He was a little medical miracle, and I had always been in really good shape and in really active. And after his birth, like I just started noticing like my energy levels going down. My weight was heavier after birth than be when I was pregnant with my son. And just noticing going, wow, what's going on with me? And like, okay, it's menopause and how do I do and what do I do with this? And just feeling myself, just continuing to go down, becoming more lethargic, becoming more on edge with everything. And after having had the opportunity to work with you and learning from you and following, I have energy again. I'm to the point now where I'm up in the mornings and I'm working out and I'm giving myself that time and that space to be able to not feel guilty about carving out time and making myself a priority, which I think a lot of us forget or feel guilty about if we try to make ourselves a priority because we have to be mom. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (08:36): We have to be the best at our, our work, and we have to be there for everyone else. And if we take time for ourselves, we feel guilty about it, or that's too selfish. And having learned that, no, it's not selfish, it's a necessity. We have to take care of ourselves and grant ourselves that time. And, and that has truly brought such incredible balance back. My, my children have commented about and my 6-year-old mommy, like, I love that you're playing with me more. And, and we're doing more things outside. My daughter's like, yeah, you're not so angry all the time. And she's a teenager, so that says something. Yeah, just saying that says a lot for a 14-year-old to say, wow. And that has just been a huge gift. And even my husband has been very, again, you're back to a more pleasant person than I've seen in a really long time. And we now have time to go out and to do things and to have time together, which is huge. We have not had that in a really long time. Speaker 2 (09:34): Yeah. I mean, it's amazing. It's lovely to hear you talk about that because one of the biggest areas that suffers for us when our health suffers is our relationships. And I think that as women, we can really almost be in denial about that truth because people, to be honest, they don't wanna be honest with us and they don't wanna hurt our feelings and say, you know what? You're not showing up as the woman I married or . I'm a teenage girl and I don't even wanna be my around my own mom. Right? So they don't say anything and we think that nobody really notices, but I promise you, isn't it like the elephant in the room and then when you get better, everyone says, oh my gosh, you're you're doing so much better. I love this. And so I like that you highlighted that because I think that, I don't know, it was true for me. And it sounds like it was for you too, that I was in total denial about how I wasn't showing up in my relationships. Like I really would have liked to, and nobody, people were too polite in my life to call me out on it. I wasn't showing up as the best doctor that I could have been when I, my health was tank. I wasn't showing up as the best anything. Don't you think that's true? Dr. Kyrin Dunston (10:46): A hundred percent agreed. And, and what's really bad is my husband did call me out on it a few times and I lashed out at him. I'm like, what are you talking about? Just, I have all this work and the long hours at work and I, we have two children and we're doing all these things and I had every excuse under the sun as to why it wasn't me per se, because I couldn't, or I wasn't willing at that point to really just stop and take a breath and say, Hey, what's going on with you? Because that meant that if I had to deal with me and take time for myself, then I, in my mind at that point, then I couldn't be there and do what I needed to do for everyone else. And that was being selfish until I met you. . Speaker 2 (11:28): Changed. Speaker 2 (11:29): Yeah. And you mentioned earlier about taking time for yourself. So doing this type of work, it is a time commitment. It's a financial commitment. And I find that's a, a lot of, there are a few reasons why women don't do this, because clearly we're not getting the answers we need at our mainstream doctor's offices. I don't think anyone would argue about that. But then the next is, oh, it's gonna gonna take too much time. Oh, it's gonna take too much money. And then there's the, I don't trust myself to do it. Mm-Hmm. . So those are kind of the things that keep women stuck. And I made a pact with the universe when I discovered this. I said, I'm gonna use it on myself and then if it works, I'm gonna spend the rest of my life helping other women with this information. And it's not just menopause. 2 million of us go into menopause each year. In the United States alone, there are 50 million of us in menopause, but it's the perimenopause, it's the PCOS, it's all the hormone things. We've had women in our programs in their twenties. So what really tipped your hand that you said, this is the thing for me to get where I wanna be. I'm willing to invest the time, willing to invest the money, and I trust myself and I deserve it. What made you make all those decisions? Dr. Kyrin Dunston (12:45): Honestly, when I left the gynecologist's office and I saw it in my car and I felt so deflated because I had listened to a series of your podcasts and I went in armed with all this information, I went, this is it. I've got it. And this is this gynecologist who she specializes with women in menopause or perimenopause. I'm like, yes, this is awesome. And being told I was depressing, made an antidepressant, and here's a script , I was like, thank you. No, thank you. I said, something has to change because this is not me. I don't want to live like this any longer and I have to figure some things out. Having the support of my husband was huge and tremendous. It was, yeah, you, you need to, he was a hundred percent, yes, you need to figure it out and do what you need to do. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (13:32): And in terms of investing in myself, I didn't at first see it as investing in myself. I saw it a need to fix myself, for myself to be there for others. And that's where I was when I started with you, Dr. Karen. And you know, in terms of the investment and the money, when you look at the numbers and you crunch it and you crunch the numbers, what you are investing in yourself over the course of a year is less than what we do so much with so many other things going out for dinner. And I'm not saying we shouldn't do those things. We absolutely should. But when you look at what we spend on going out for dinner, going to get a massage, going to the gym, whatever other things we do, when we, you break that cost down, it is a minimal investment. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (14:18): And honestly, for what you, what the services that you offer for being able to make it affordable, if you break it out over what it costs over the cost of a year, mm-Hmm. . And then with the gains and learning about that, it's, you are worth the investment in yourself. You are worth that time and the balance and being able to find and, and discover, it's not even about rediscovering yourself. It's about discovering who you are at this point in time and where you want to go with yourself and that work, the work that you do and that you, the journey you help so many women on is you honestly taking four or five different disciplines and bringing them into one, if not more than, and you're giving all of this to us to be able to do. And when you break that down over the cost of a year or cost of a lifetime, it's that , the financial piece is not, it is not this astronomical amount that is out of reach for women. It really isn't. Speaker 2 (15:23): Yeah. And I'm so excited. So you talk about, to take you where you wanna go, so what do you envision for your future? You've got the 6-year-old, the 14-year-old. What do you envision? Dr. Kyrin Dunston (15:36): Honestly, I am, that is where I'm working through right now. Right? I had a whole vision for myself back in my forties. I made a deal with myself that I was gonna go back and, and work on my doctorate. And I was like, oh, I'm never getting pregnant. It's not help happening. Working with modern medicine. I was like, it's just not happening. So I went back and I was like, okay. I got accepted into a doctoral program and then I found out I was pregnant and I was like, oh, did it all, did both. And started a new job. And in the process of that and said, okay, my goal was I was going to retire at 56 and be able just to enjoy. And now I have a 6-year-old and a 14-year-old. So it's a little different. So for me right now, it's really figuring out I want to do next how I want to evolve everything I've done and worked for and, and what is that next piece? Dr. Kyrin Dunston (16:22): Not sure yet. And I'm exploring a lot of different avenues and just doing a lot of learning in some different ways and areas to see what it is that I want to continue to do because I'm not ready anymore. Two years ago or a year ago, I was like, oh my gosh, how am I gonna do this? I just wanna be able to retire and just sleep in the mornings and not do anything. And now I have this energy and I'm going, yes. Like what was I thinking? , what is the next step? What do I want to do? And how do I do that? And that's really what I'm focusing on right now. Speaker 2 (16:55): Yeah. And I love to hear you say this because I remember where you were and if I had said that to you a while ago, you would've just probably gotten very upset. What do you mean ? , when our health suffers, the, the, the biggest question, and the Bri biggest problem we have is like, how can I fix myself? How can I survive this? We're not, we let go of our dreams. And I know there's somebody listening right now who's identifying nodding her head saying, oh yeah, I remember I used to have dreams, but I don't even have them anymore. Because today my dream is like, how am I gonna make it through the day without two double espressos and then sleep the whole night? And how am I gonna keep my marriage alive when I don't ever wanna have sex? And how am I going to, you fill in the blank. And I love that the questions have changed for you and they've become expansive instead of contracting, they're expansive. Like, oh, and you have, now I see this and here the energy and vitality to basically do whatever you want, which is awesome. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (18:01): Thank you for that. And it's honestly, I would not be here right now if it weren't for you. Oh, Speaker 2 (18:06): That is so sweet. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (18:08): It's the truth. It's the truth. There are so many in all fields that don't truly hear what is being said, let alone listen, but truly hear and have the know and the level of expertise that you do in so many different areas. And the fact that you're also willing to continue on a growth journey professionally, that you're, that you continue to learn and you want to grow. That is incredible. And not many people, quite frankly, in the medical field at this point in their careers, are willing to do that. And that is a huge testament to you. Speaker 2 (18:47): Oh, thank you. Yeah. That I do have this lifelong learner in me that's always evolving. And I started my woman shaman training. I'd love to tell you about that. I'm wondering what you would share with a woman who's listening who maybe she's thought about working with me. Believe it or not, there are women, they see me and they hear and they're like, oh my gosh, I need what you have. But there are all these buts that get in the way. Yeah. One woman is coming to my mind who I've actually known personally for, gosh, probably 10 years. And she struggled with her weight and her energy and her health and all these things. And it's like she comes around and she's like, okay, I can't take it anymore. This is the last straw of my health. I'm gonna do the thing. And then she always, her butt gets so big, she doesn't do anything. Speaker 2 (19:35): And I'm not talking about her BUT, but her butt, her excuses. And I think the last time I talked with her, she now has fatty liver and pre-diabetes and all kinds of things. And so my job is to help people to reverse these things. And I know what path she's headed down because there is this point of no return. You get down with chronic disease where once you start having anatomic problems, then it becomes very hard to reverse. So anyway, all that to say, what do you say to that woman whose health is really not serving her in being able to live as who she authentically is in this life and express herself? Who's toying with, oh, I know Dr. Kirin can help me, but dealing with her buts. And what would you say to her? Dr. Kyrin Dunston (20:24): I would say there are always a million reasons why not to do something. And you only need the one reason, and that is yourself. And to give yourself the space and grace to take that risk. Because it is very scary to embark on a journey that can change you and help transform you and to help you become the person you want to be. And it's very easy to stay in a path or on a path that is very comfortable because you know where that's headed and you don't wanna head there, but you think that this is it. And I would just say to take that risk on yourself and and to take that chance and just to engage once with you and not look at a whole program or what the work is that I have to do or should do, just walk in and work with you and then go from there for the next part piece and one step at a time and not look at the overwhelming, this is where I wanna be and how am I gonna do that? That's so much work and it's so difficult. And it all these reasons and all those buts, why not? The one reason why is for you yourself Speaker 2 (21:30): Because you deserve it. We all do. Really, as you're talking, I'm thinking it's like if you go into first grade and you start obsessing about, oh my gosh, I've gotta make it through eighth grade, then, then I've gotta go through nine through 12 in high school and then I gotta go to college. And you just go, forget it. It's too long. It's too hard. I can't do, right. It's, we wouldn't do that. So you just look at the next step. And we've got the Hormone bliss challenge launching I think this week. And that gives people a real taste of seven days of working with me live one-on-one to see what it's like, and mostly have the ahas that a lot of people don't get. Because I think that, and I'm just wondering for you, is this true A lot of women, although you get that your mainstream HMO $30 copay doctor isn't giving you the whole truth and they're just giving you pill for every ill or a surgery for every symptom. Speaker 2 (22:21): Okay, we get it. We're not served there. But then there's so much online and social media, blogs, podcasts, and we're inundated with information. Mm-Hmm, . And if you're struggling, if you're a woman at midlife, you're probably struggling with some aspect of your health. It's just a fact. You're consuming all this information so you think you know the answers, but you don't even realize what you dunno. And so I'm just wondering, 'cause it sounds like it's, you were listening to podcasts and doing all these things that what we're really, you might have already answered this, it sounds like that the ahas were that you need to do all the things. You can't just do one thing. But I don't wanna put words in your mouth. What were the real ahas once you got down to the granular level, nitty gritty, okay, these are the steps you need to take. What were the ahas for you? What was most surprising? I Dr. Kyrin Dunston (23:14): Think the aha. There were so many along the there are, and I can't say there were, there are so many along this journey for me, the first, excuse me, the first aha was, again, as I said before, it is you have these expertises in so many different, and I'm saying four or five, and I know it's way more than that. And I'm, I apologize for underestimating that when you are out there and you are listening to different podcasts and you are researching and you are trying to bring all these pieces together, it was from the first podcast . I literally, I had stumbled upon it. It wasn't something I was actively looking for. I was like, oh, let me just give this a try and hearing your story. And I'm sitting there going, yes, that's me. Yes, that's me. And I'm literally checking off almost every single box that you were talking about, and you were so open and honest about your experiences and your journeys. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (24:09): That immediately caught me. And I was like, okay, here is a doctor who is willing to put herself out there. Let me see what is the next piece. And then listening to the next part of your podcast and, and you talk about everything. And I'm going, okay, we've heard so many and we've learned, and I grew up with parents who immigrated to this country. So different alternative medicines were this thing for us growing up. And it was like, oh, there were those freaky kids. You know, using these herbal type things, what's up with you? You know, so you hide all those things and you kind of push them to the side. And here you are talking about all these different approaches in, in different combinations. And that was like, that was my first aha. Like, oh my goodness, I can unpack some of this. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (24:54): And here is someone who is an expert in all these different areas. And then it just continued to grow from there. You treat the whole woman. It is not, piece of it is the whole woman. And again, and with our medicine that is such a compartmentalized, we have specialists, everything or people who generalize, but no one who's an expert in. So all the different parts, to be able to look at us as a whole woman and knowing how everything is connected. And again, for me that aha, oh yeah, remember this. And wow, here is someone who can only is not only speaking to that, but is teaching me and helping me understand how all these different parts are connected and how that will help me become the person I want to evolve into in a healthy manner without taking shortcuts, without looking for a fast fix, without, why isn't this working? And being able to do it in a positive manner that will help me continue to build and grow a healthy version of myself that I want to become Speaker 2 (26:03): So beautifully said. I guess I was blessed to be in a female body. So I have walked the walk of all of my clients. 'cause I've been in this body for many years, and then really blessed to have had the health challenges that I've had because they've exemplified that midlife metabolic mayhem that I help women with. So I uniquely, I'm intimate with the pain of it and also the pathway out because as a board certified ob, GYN, it wasn't, those tools weren't that, wasn't it? . And so I have sought out tools for to heal myself and then use them with other women and they actually do work. You just gotta pick 'em up and use them. Right? , yes, . Absolutely. Right. Well, thank you so much Christine, for sharing your experience. It's so great to connect with you. It's been wonderful working with you and with our health. There's always more to unfold and improve. It's a never ending journey. And I look forward to the future improvements you're gonna make, grateful for the ones you've already made and what you're gonna do, how you're gonna spend that extra energy and vitality and joy that you're creating. Thank Dr. Kyrin Dunston (27:17): You so much, Dr. Kieran. I truly, I cannot thank you enough. You have not only transformed my life, but you have saved my life in so many different ways and given me a life that I want to have. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, Speaker 2 (27:34): So grateful to have been a part of your life and your journey. Christine. Thank you. You're Dr. Kyrin Dunston (27:38): Stuck with me. I'm not going anywhere. Speaker 2 (27:40): . I know. I feel the same way. So thank you so much. Thanks for doing this. I so much appreciate it and I'll talk to you soon. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (27:50): All right. My pleasure. Okay, have a great night. Thanks, Speaker 2 (27:52): You too. Bye. Thank you so much for joining me and Christine today and for listening to her experience, and hopefully you've gotten insight into what's possible for your health and your life going forward when you decide to say yes to yourself. We'll have the link in the show notes to the Hormone List Challenge if you would like to join us starting May 23rd to find out how we can help you transform your health and your life to where you want it to be, how you can get out of midlife metabolic mayhem caused by hormonal poverty and into hormonal prosperity. Look forward to seeing you live in the challenge starting on Thursday, if that can serve you well. And until next week, we'll be back with another episode. Peace, love, and hormones, y'all. Speaker 3 (28:42): Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.   ► Are you tired of feeling like you're losing control at midlife? Weight gain, low energy, and a decrease in sex drive are all too common. But it doesn't have to be that way. With our Hormone Balance Bliss Challenge, you can reclaim your youth and feel as amazing as you did in college. Our proven system is designed specifically for women at midlife who want to balance their hormones, reset their metabolism, and start seeing real results. Imagine waking up with more energy than ever before. Feeling confident and sexy in your own body. No more mood swings or uncontrollable weight gain – just pure blissful balance throughout menopause. Sign up now for our 7-day challenge and start seeing incredible results within days! Attend daily interactive Q&As with our experts, take assessments to track your progress, and learn the exact steps needed to achieve hormonal harmony. You deserve this – don't wait any longer! CLICK HERE to sign up NOW!  

In this enlightening and empowering episode, we're joined by the inspirational Michelle Saudan, a beacon of light in the world of healing arts and the founder of Amanzi Wellbeing. Michelle's dedication to transforming lives through trauma-informed approaches, coupled with her mastery in sound healing, breathwork, movement, bodywork, and meditation, brings us a conversation that's both healing and revolutionary. Episode Highlights: Michelle opens her heart about her personal and professional voyage into the realms of healing arts. With her story, she illuminates the path for those of us seeking a deeper understanding of our holistic health. The spotlight of our discussion shines brightly on the topic of stored trauma—how it's often the unseen force disrupting women's health, especially during the pivotal stage of midlife. From hormonal imbalances to a spectrum of other health concerns, Michelle sheds light on the shadows cast by unaddressed trauma. Have you heard of trauma-informed approaches but find yourself mystified by what they entail? Michelle demystifies this term, explaining how such strategies foster a safe environment for healing and liberation from the chains of past hurts. Seeking practical wisdom? This episode is laden with tangible tips and strategies. Discover how integrating sound healing, purposeful breathwork, mindful movement, and meditation into your daily life can act as pillars supporting your health and healing voyage. We wrap up our conversation with a surge of hope and a call to empowerment. Michelle reminds us that it's within our power to nurture our health, rewrite our stories, and step into a life marked by balance and vitality. About Michelle Saudan: Michelle Saudan embodies the essence of holistic healing. Through her groundbreaking work with Amanzi Wellbeing, she has dedicated over a decade to enriching the lives of individuals, especially women navigating the complexities of midlife. Her approach is one that intertwines the physical, mental, and spiritual dimensions, offering a roadmap to those eager to heal from trauma and lead a life filled with joy and well-being. Michelle's commitment goes beyond individual healing—she is passionate about fostering community healing, notably through her trauma-informed wellness retreats that spotlight Africa's unique wellness treasures. In Conclusion: Dive deep with us into this life-affirming episode as Michelle Saudan helps us uncover the profound impact of stored trauma on our health and guides us through the pathways of healing. Remember, the power to transform our health narratives is within our grasp, and with the right tools and wisdom, we can emerge stronger, healthier, and more vibrant. Ready to start your healing journey? Join us on The Hormone Prescription Podcast and take the first step towards not just surviving, but thriving. Because your health isn't just about hormones—it's about heart, healing, and harnessing your power.   Dr. Kyrin Dunston (00:00): G Mate is quoted as saying trauma is not what happens to you, but what happens inside you. Trauma affects all of us, and it affects our health. If it stays untended, we'll never achieve the brilliant health that's possible for us at midlife and beyond. Stay tuned as Michelle Sudan shares with you, how to use Compassionate Inquiry and other modalities to help ease the trauma that's hurting your health. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (00:27): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us, keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an OB GYN, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunton. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (01:20): Hi everybody, and welcome back to another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Thanks so much for joining me today as we talk with Michelle Sudan, a beautiful woman I met in Dubai who's going to talk to us about healing the trauma that binds you, that's hurting your health. Whether you know it or not, the majority of us pro, probably pretty much all of us have little T traumas throughout our life. I know we've talked on the podcast and during the Stop the Menopause Madness summits some about this, but we haven't really tackled it in a big way. How do you start to address this in a tolerable way that's compassionate and really helps you to understand how these little overwhelming situations in your childhood and life have affected your health and are affecting your health to this day. So we're gonna talk with Michelle about that. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (02:18): I met her when I was in Dubai. She's from Zimbabwe. She talks a little bit about her story, which is beautiful, as with many of the healers I met in Dubai. She has a multifaceted skill set and is just a gifted human being. And really I think it's her presence that's more healing than anything. You'll see what I mean when you hear her talk. I think she has a healing frequency that just heals people who are in conversation with her or listening to her. That's been my experience with her and I just had to have her on the show. I had some beautiful experiences with her when I was in Dubai. Looking forward to having more. I think you will love this conversation as we really talk about healing the trauma that's binding you that you might not even be aware of, maybe you are, and how to go about doing that. So I'll tell you a little bit about her and then we'll get started. Michelle Sudan is the founder of AM Manzi Wellbeing and a practitioner of healing arts. She's deeply committed to the transformative powers of trauma-informed approaches, found healing, breath movement, body work, and meditation. She's devoted to supporting and holding space for the healing and wellbeing of our global community via trauma-informed wellness retreats with a focus on expanding awareness of Africa's unique wellness assets. Please help me welcome Michelle Sudan to the show. Michelle Saudan (03:45): Thank you, Karen. I'm so happy to be here. It's an honor. Love you energy, and just happy to share. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (03:52): Mutual. I'm so glad that our past crossed when I was in Dubai and really your energy just spoke to me. You have such a calming presence. There's so much talk about trauma and trauma informed therapy. I think the world is really waking up to how we've collectively been traumatized and how it's affecting our health. I know that's been a part of my journey these past 10 years, and you just had a presence and a way of speaking about these issues that was extremely non-threatening and inclusive and compassionate. And I saw people opening up in response to what you shared in a way I hadn't seen before, and I very much appreciated that. I know I participated in inner child healing meditation that you offered at Eva experience in Dubai that was just beautiful and so many other interactions. I so enjoyed hearing you talk about your grandmother and how she would speak to you and speak to just the culture that you come from, the continent that you come from. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (05:15): It's steeped in you in such a beautiful way. And so I was very excited to share you with my community because I think here in the US we women have been traumatized in ways that we don't even realize. And that was a big thing that happened for me in my year and a half travel outside the US was just seeing that, okay, yes, people have trauma pretty much everywhere, but it's very different in the ways in which, and the support systems and cultural differences in other areas that allow people to have a resiliency that I don't necessarily see here in the us. I mean, first off, the fact that it's talked about openly and collectively and discussed is so foreign to my US experience, particularly in the medical field where this really hasn't so much made it into the mainstream. It is starting to show that people are kind of left with not identifying, oh, this is talking to me, not aware particularly as a woman at midlife struggling with hormonal and other health issues. Oh, this is a part of my hormonal healing. Oh, what tools could I use? So you're left with a lot of women googling on doctor go, trying to find answers, maybe finding some answers, but really not a holistic, nurturing, supportive collective approach. So I'm wondering if you can start by talking a little bit about what brought you to trauma work and trauma healing. Hmm. Michelle Saudan (07:10): It's a lovely question. Thank you. Well, Kirin, I started my career as a bodyworker 14, now 14 years ago. And it came up to a point where a lot of my repeat clients would book sessions just to talk. I remember the first client, like it was yesterday, who booked a 90 minutes deep tissue massage. And he sat down and I said, well, you know, it is not first time he knows the protocol, you know, put the bath lay down. But he just sat and he said, no, Michelle, from today onwards, we'll do 15 minutes massage. 75 minutes we are going to talk. It started, and I was so confused because at that time, you know, 22 years old, I, I didn't know that there were such modalities like coaching and counseling and therapy. It doesn't exist in my part of the world in Zimbabwe where I came from. Michelle Saudan (08:09): So I started researching and, you know, came upon all these beautiful modalities and discovered that this was something I could, you know, serve my clients with. And then, then it was the topics that they brought as well, you know, topics such as suicide or harmful habits or, you know, depression, anxiety, which I did not know of, but they just opened up. And so I took it as my responsibility and also curiosity to find out more about these deeply rooted concerns that they were speaking to, and so that I could meet them at least halfway. And then that's how it started and it's been a roll on effect. And I remember watching a documentary called The Wisdom of Trauma by who is now one of my teachers, Dr. Gbo Mate, and his approached Compassionate Inquiry. And when I watched that, I just resonated with his teachings and everything that he spoke to in the world of trauma. And I decided to dive deep into somatic somatic healing when it comes to trauma informed practices and just an overall overarching theme when it comes to looking at trauma. And that's, yeah, that, that's the way it's taken me today. The nutshell. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (09:31): I love that because for so many reasons, the first, well one relates to this quote that you shared with me before we started recording, that I love by a h Almaas, only when compassion is present will people allow themselves to see the truth. I think that's something that I feel from you is from truth, but also peace, truth, inside peace. But the truth to me is peace. And that this man, bless him, , he saw the truth of who you were and he didn't believe, oh, she's just a massage therapist. And he saw that truth in the compassion that you offered him, that came through your hands because you weren't counseling him. And he called that out in you. So he loved and respected himself enough to say, oh no, I see who this woman is. And he also saw what he needed. And then to basically stand for that truth, this is what I need. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (10:34): And so it, it's so beautiful. I do believe that we each have a unique purpose on this planet and a reason for being here. And that part of our health problems are the fact that we haven't recognized or allowed ourselves to know that truth. And particularly in America, we've tried to decide with our minds, oh, what's a good career? How can I make a good living and, and have quote unquote security with a good pension plan and 401k and a home and a car, and all this with our minds. And we haven't listened to our souls to allow us to be called forth from us what our true purpose and calling is. And so I love that story because it says to me, you were attuned and you were listening to what is the universe telling me that I'm here for what I'm good at? And he called that out in you. I just think it's so beautiful. Does that make sense? Michelle Saudan (11:40): It does. It's, it's similar to, you know, when you, when you reflect on the quote, what's so beautiful about it, Karen, is that if, if I came to you and I was pouring my soul and bearing everything that I needed help with, I'm gonna seize to see everything and see things as they are and be willing to accept them and see the truth. And not just the story, but the underlying truth of what's really happening to me. For me, if there is judgment, if I'm being seen to be that which is not right in my life, if I'm being seen through a lens of compassion, then I'm gonna be willing to see all the parts of me, the good and the bad. You know, the comfortable and the uncomfortable. So that truth, seeing the truth of what really is present, seeing the truth of the pain that's underneath, you know, whatever addiction, you know, if there's, because underneath the anger that I hold within my body, within my soma, I'm gonna be willing to see it all and listen to it being mirrored back to me when there's compassion present and I'm willing and I'm ready to open that Pandora's box. Michelle Saudan (12:53): 'Cause when we open that box of healing, so much comes out that sometimes even shocks us. But if there's a compassionate witness or there's that sense of compassion within, then I'm, I'm not gonna be afraid. I'm just gonna be willing to open up that box load, I know what's inside, but I'm gonna be okay with it. 'cause The person in front of me is just mirroring that it's okay. And I think that really embodies what that quote stands for. And thank you for, for reflecting it back. I think it's so important. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (13:27): Yes. And something that has been really a part of my journey was initially I said, well, I want to work with women and help them with their health. So what's the biggest toolbox, most powerful toolbox I can get to access to help women? And so I said, oh, I'll get my medical doctorate. So I went to medical school and then I practiced that for many years. And then I saw that so many women, despite all the prescriptions I gave them and surgeries, I did hysterectomies, things like that, people were still suffering, particularly at midlife, including myself. And I said, well, we're missing something. Something's not right here. And then I discovered something called functional medicine. So that looked at the physiologic, biochemical causes of disease. So I studied that and that helped me transform my health and the women I was working with. But then after a while I started saying, wait a minute, yes, this works but not for everybody and why is that we're missing something. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (14:31): And then kind of went on my own healing journey and realized that the things that you help people with is what I was missing. And now I've realized, well this affects all of us, but very much in the US we have this mindset of, if I'm able to have a family and work at my job and be a productive member of society, this doesn't apply to me. Like there's very much this culture of don't talk, don't trust, don't feel like feelings are the enemy . And I find in working with women with their health, feelings are everything. And that's really what stops us from doing the things that could help us with our physical health is the feelings that we don't feel, the traumatic history that we don't acknowledge, that we don't talk about. But people spend so much time and energy not talking about it and pretending that everything's okay. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (15:39): Put some lipstick on, do your hair, you know, what's that song? I got my hair done, dah, dah, everything's fine. Like that to me says American culture. And so a lot of what I spend time with women doing is trying to help them see that no, everything's not fine 'cause you got your hair done and your nails done. And that really avoids talking about the things that are underneath what's causing you to not follow the diet. You know, you should follow, you know, eating things that I say are not in your best interest. doing things that are not in your best interest and your energy provides kind of, I've seen people open up in a way that, well, and I, I must say that in the Middle East where I encountered you in general, people are more open to being aware of these things. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (16:36): I'm talking about it. And I was amazed to arrive there and find this huge conversation going on in the kind of public that isn't going on in the US particularly. Also, I saw that in South Africa about apartheid and it's very public. And people say to you right away, oh yeah, we talk about this. We have to heal from this as a country. So can you talk a little bit about how people come to realize that this is them? And I'll say one more thing. I know I've said a lot at the retreat that you gave her a treat and you had kind of a conversation with everyone that to my mind was about codependency. But you never said that word . And you had people open up in a way that was so beautiful having this conversation in such a gentle way that women were realizing, oh yeah, this is me, but you never came at it. We come from a, in the US from a very top down perspective, oh, this is what the issue is and you need to da, and then people shut down. And no, that's not me. I'm not codependent. Can you talk a little bit about that? That's Michelle Saudan (17:46): A great question. It's like when you talk to a child, we have to realize that when people go through trauma, you know, like we all have gone through our own stuff, is that it causes us to put walls up and to protect and defend. That's a normal primal state of being when we're, you know, subjected to external forces that are, are not right, that are not safe for our being. So that when people are trying to heal, the last thing you want to do is, like you said, come from the mind because that's not gonna help anyone. It's what got them there. That's not what's gonna take them out. We need to come from the bottom, you know, and but come right from the heart center, that's what's gonna take them out. So in order to work with, with the trauma or to work with any of these circumstances that got people into the limiting states that they're in, then we can't be pointing fingers, for lack of a better word, it's gotta be different. Michelle Saudan (18:51): So that defenses are lowered and then we can work, then we have an open field. We don't have, we are not dealing with an army. You know, we are dealing with a peacemaking operation here that's ready to, to make amends and to see how we can fix things. And with regard to people talking about things you had said, you know, in South Africa, you know, people speak South Africa a little bit differently. That, and I love the movement and the energy, you know, that's building up. I can't say the same thing for other parts of Africa. I'm from Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans and South Africans, even though we share the same border is very different. Zimbabweans are still very much, we are very held back. I think we are 10 steps behind, for so many reasons. There's that fear, you know, that we can't speak, you know, after having, without bringing politics into this conversation. Michelle Saudan (19:51): But, you know, that has largely played a role, you know, lack of freedom of speech. It was never, never present from the time we won independence. But the South Africans had amazing leadership. Look at Nelson Mandela. Mm-Hmm. , you know, that, you know, for them to rely on. But for us, we can't say the same. So it's, we are still stuck in that time zone where people are not so open, at least not yet. And I hope to be one of the people with other sisters and brothers to change that narrative, not just for Zimbabwe, but for the continent as its own. 'cause It's time for us to heal, not just as a country, but just as a people regardless of where we come from. Mm-Hmm. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (20:36): Yes. And so is your approach something that you came by more innately from your origins and your ancestors? Or is it something that you learned? Michelle Saudan (20:49): It is something I would say I learned largely because I grew up in a community where we did not speak and you just had to go and do your job. Just if you had a roof and you had something to eat, whether it was once a day, you, you, you were better off. You just go and you continue because things could be worse. That was the mantra in our homestead. So, but then something happened and I have to thank them. I, I got a youth exchange scholarship at 16 and I went for the first time to the USA and it was such a huge culture shock because we were taught to be quiet, respect the teachers . And if we had an opinion, we kept it to ourselves. And when I went to a public school in Santa Barbara, it was very opposite. Michelle Saudan (21:48): Children spoke their minds. And so it, it really awoke something in me. I said, wow, you know, I mean, if we had a bit more respect, yes we can do it with some respect, but I loved how the children were just open, you know, they spoke the family. I stayed with them. The girls spoke about, you know, their emotions, how they were feeling openly with the parents. And that wasn't something I grew up with. So when I went back to Africa, it ignited something in me and I said, well, you know, I'd like that to be different, you know, 'cause it was nice, you know, we learned, we spoke our truth. Nothing was held and they were still together even though they spoke opinions. So it was a reflection. And then it was also something I learned because I traveled to so many countries in my time and then said, no, well, I've been extracted from what I've known for so long. I think this is where we are missing. We are missing something here as a people, as a culture. And this is hindering us in so many ways, economically, mentally, physically, socially, emotionally. And this is one of the major missing links, at least from the country I know of. I can't speak to others in the world, but from what I know from experience. So to a long-winded answer to your question, yes, it was learned. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (23:19): And so what was the evolution? Because yes, there are, people do speak their minds and opinions in the US and there's this whole reservoir of pain that isn't discussed, the feelings underneath. I'm wondering, coming from what you described in your cultural background and then the kind of eye-opening experience in the US, what was the evolution that allowed you to really have this deep presence and ability to sit with people in their pain and feelings? How did that evolve and how did you learn that? Hmm. Michelle Saudan (23:58): Yeah. Sitting with the deep pain comes from having gone through a lot of deep pain and adversity yourself. So I've gone through my own deep adversities, not just as an individual, but with my family is a lot of pain we've gone through as a collective. And I think watching when that's being mirrored to you as a child growing up. And you can see maybe we were not able to speak about the emotions, but the physical presence of holding space for people was always there is always part of the culture. You sit, there's no words being said, but we sit with the person and we know what's going on, but we sit and we grieve, we hold that space. So seeing that, but also having felt my family hold me and very much the same way and do the same for them is something you could sit with anything. Michelle Saudan (25:00): You know, people came with so many things and my grandmother was a, a nurse by night, but she did traditional African healing in the community, you know, and people were always coming to the home with different things and just sitting, you know, we could, they could be laughing and talking, but you see there was some pain and there'd just be silence, you know, or the body posture, you know, with the rounded shoulders and the heads down and the hands together under the chin as though you really, you know, I I I hear you, I resonate with you. So seeing that it's just been able to, to help me as well, to be able to sit with other people. It's like, no pain is, it is too big for me to be with you. I might not have all the answers to, or, you know, support to help you unpack it, but sitting with you that I can do no matter what. It's, Dr. Kyrin Dunston (25:58): That's so beautiful. Just being present with it. And, you know, my experience in the US is that we can't sit with, with uncomfortability. We gotta turn the TV on, eat that, you know, sweet compulsive avoidance of being present to discomfort, hence all the compulsive ways that we medicate our pain that then affect our health. You know, rates of diabetes, and pre-diabetes are soaring in the US over consumption of sugar, but also caused by stress, which affects how we process sugar, right? It affects our cortisol stress hormone. And it's interesting to me, a big part of what I help women with is the menopause transition. And it's a huge problem in the US but in other cultures it's not as much. And it's partly because of our lifestyle and the things that we reach for and the stress levels that we have. But it's very hard to get people to see this because in a capitalist culture, people profit off of our poor health and our compulsions. And it's such a part of the culture that we're taught when we're literal, oh, you fell and skinned your knee, have a cookie that'll make you feel better. How would you help someone compassionately lean into looking at the ways that they compulsively avoid their pain and feeling their feelings? Hmm. Michelle Saudan (27:31): Yeah. The first one, and I always use this word, is first compassion for yourself where there's no judgment. 'cause What leads us into the, the habits is then now the, you know, finding ways to cope with how bad we feel about ourselves, right? Mm-Hmm, . So it's okay, you know. So first I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll share an acronym that I share with many of my clients and something I use myself. So it's raining. So r stands for just recognize, just recognize what's going on for you. Okay? There's anger within me, there's guilt, or there's shame, or there's deep sadness. So there's grief. Just recognize what's there. And then the next thing is a, is allow, can you allow it to be there? You know, can, can the sadness be there without you trying to change it or whatever it is. And then I am in choir, just get curious, okay, what's really happening for me? Michelle Saudan (28:31): You know? And this creates space, you know, it gives you really a lot of space between the stimulus and you know, your reaction or your response. So get curious, okay, well what's happening? You know, what's triggered that? What's brought this on? And then the last part is to nurture yourself. So by the time you get curious and you say, oh, okay, well it was something someone said, okay, that triggered this belief. You know, there's this, there's something, 'cause this is, this is a pattern. Now there's space. You're becoming more conscious. And as Carl Young says, it's, it's until we make the unconscious conscious, it'll drive our lives and we'll call it fate. So here you are being conscious now, you know, by just doing this, you know, recognizing can you allow it to be with no judgment? Can the grief be there without me saying, oh, enough now, or have grieved for too long, I've been too sad, I've been crying for too long, or I haven't cried enough. Michelle Saudan (29:34): You know, can there be no evaluation on, on, you know, what's present for us? And then we get curious. And then the last part is nurture. Okay, what do you really need besides the cookie, you know, or the ice cream tub, is it a hug? Do I need to talk to someone? What's underlying? Because if it's, if it's a habit that doesn't serve you, it's okay, but let's look at what it's giving you. So when we look at a cookie, what are we getting? You know, we get dopamine, right? We circuits are wiring and firing. So from that, eating that satisfaction from the sugar. So what is that equivalent to? It's equivalent to a hug, quality touch. Yeah. So can I try that instead? And then it doesn't hurt me internally. So that's how the framework I use, it seems like a long little, long checklist. But when it's more conscious, it's just the way of being as opposed to, to doing. I Dr. Kyrin Dunston (30:32): Love that. So rain, recognize our recognize a allow, I was Michelle Saudan (30:39): In choir, so this was curiosity. And then n was is nurture, Dr. Kyrin Dunston (30:46): Right? And that quote from Carl Young, until we make the unconscious conscious, it will drive our lives and we will call it fate. And so many of the women I work with really have the mindset and attitude that my life is the way it is. I only have this health problem, this hormonal problem. Most of the women who come to me. And I just want you to tell me what supplements I need to take, diet to eat, exercise to do, to get rid of these symptoms. And not really seeing how unconscious patterns are playing a role in their health problems. And for so many of us, it is, I know for me, you know, unconscious patterns of this belief of I wouldn't be doing a good job as a doctor if I wasn't bleeding myself in my giving, right? I had to suffer in my giving. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (31:41): And then that caused me to overwork and overdue, which then affected my wellbeing and health. But it was such a compulsive, unconscious belief. And now I've kind of transformed that. 'cause I recognized it and it wasn't serving me. So I guess I kind of did this rain. I inquired this is serving me, oh, it's hurting me. And then I didn't, couldn't show up my best self and then started to nurture myself and say, no, I, you know, I can only really help other women to nurture themselves when I nurture myself. And so I stopped doing that. And I find that a lot of the women I work with have that similar belief. They give till it hurts. What thoughts would you share about that? Michelle Saudan (32:32): My grandmother always used to refer to this. I don't remember the passage, but it was from the Bible and it was about my cup runneth over. And she always used to say, you know, I'm, I'm a nurse, but at the end of the day, you know, my cup has to be four and the extra is what I give you children's, what I give my patients. And that was always something she spoke. And we didn't understand what it meant as an adult, I do now, but when we are giving so much and get into something where we spoke lightly saying compassion fatigue, you know, is giving so much that there is an underlying belief. And that's something that is very old. So it's something we have to look at, you know, within ourselves. It's like, okay, where, where is this coming from? Michelle Saudan (33:27): Because it's okay to give, you know, we're all in this line of service. But when it's, there's an, an agenda because it's a, it's attached to something that, that doesn't serve us where we de be depleting ourselves. So there's some work for us to do. 'cause It shouldn't be that way where when it's, when it comes out that way, there's, there's something where it started is so, so my question would be, where did you learn that you had to give so much of yourself that, or you depended or you placed your value on how much you know you gave. So something you learned. So it's, where did you learn that? And can we look at it from a nonjudgmental lens and see what's happening? Dr. Kyrin Dunston (34:15): So yes, the compassionate inquiry, and I know that you work with Gabor mate and I wanna share a couple quotes that you also shared with me. One from Gabor, which is, trauma is not what happens to you, but what happens inside you and the other from Tara Brock, whom I love the deepest transformations in our lives come down to something very simple. We learn to respond, not react to what is going on inside us. And very much what I hear you talking about is first becoming aware that something's happening. I think this used to be me and, and so many women I work with, we're not, we don't even, we're not, we don't even recognize these internal thought and feeling processes that are happening. And then we try to shut them down because we don't wanna go there. So we don't allow it. And then we're certainly not inquiring because I just need to put my lipstick on and keep it moving. And then we don't really know how to nurture ourselves 'cause we're not in touch with what we're needing and what we're wanting. But this idea of slowing it all down and learning to respond and not knee-jerk reaction, how would you help a woman to start to slow down and to start to respond and not react and really turn towards herself in this way? Michelle Saudan (35:47): It's, I think cultivating or having a practice of your own, you know, a mindfulness practice. And what I mean by that, Karen is not, not everyone needs to light a candle and burn incense and have a meditation cushion. You know, it, it, it can sound like making your own pot shrimp soup on a Sunday. And, and that's your moment and taking all the time. If whatever takes you out from the busyness, you know, of your external and really brings you in, then find that and use it as an anchor. If you love trimming your roses, let that be that moment where you say, okay, I'm gonna try and be as present as I can consciously and use this moment to, to really, I'm trimming the roses, but there's also, it gives me space and time just to be with myself, to slow down, you know, walking your dog, brushing your dog or your horses, just whatever it is, just find something that really anchors you. Michelle Saudan (36:51): We all have it, but maybe we just haven't consciously realized that, hey, that is my thing, you know, but you just unconsciously drawn to it, but you just didn't know that that is your, you know, your, your silver, your golden key to presence. So finding any practices that really bring you into the present moment to really slow down and anchor you can really make a difference. Because it's in those spare moments where you actually think, you know, well no, that didn't go well. What, what's wrong? You start questioning and give you space to contemplate if you are also ready to go there. Sometimes we can have all the space, but if we are not ready to go there, then all we'll have is just space. But, you know, so I hope that that helps. But just finding one's own way of taking that moment. But like you said, self-awareness is just do I realize that something's wrong and or something needs to be changed? Not wrong, I'll, I'll take back that word, but just something that needs to be changed. And if you just have that realization that no, something needs to change, then you have presence, voila, the rest will unfold. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (38:10): Yes, presence and awareness. And it leads me to a question that really has been reframed for me recently, and that is, what is self-love to you? How would you describe that to someone? Because we hear so much, oh, love yourself, love yourself. But really what does that mean on an everyday basis? What does it look like? What does it feel like? What, how do you do that? Michelle Saudan (38:35): Yeah. self-love. I, I think for me when I have a balance between authenticity and attachment, it means that I'm not stretching myself too thin to save the relationships around me. I'm not, I'm not putting myself on a spit as a sacrifice for the relationships I have. There is an element of me nourishing those relationships, but there's also a balance of me nourishing myself in equilibrium that for me, daily, because I'm in a relationship daily as all of us are, it's a very big thing because your relationships really test you. You know, as my young aunt made a joke. She said, well, if you want to get to know your crazy, have relationships or go live on an island, , Dr. Kyrin Dunston (39:30): You . Michelle Saudan (39:32): So it's so self-love is, in what ways are you choosing you even in the daily mundane things? I think it goes beyond, you know, spoiling yourself with a beautiful breakfast and a spa day or meditation treat at a center. But it's just how are you choosing you every day and how are you holding yourself accountable? 'cause It's also gotta be self-Love is also that element of allowing yourself to see your own growing edge, because then there's evolution, you know, that is also self-love. Not just in the ways we give space for, for ourselves, but it's also in recognizing, no, you know, this is where I contributed to this conflict or, you know, I, I wasn't my best here. You know, I could have done better, I could have responded better. That I feel, oh, I believe is also self-love because you are so self-aware and you are growing. So where are you catching yourself to be accountable and responsible for actions that may not have served or hurt somebody else's? Also, self-love, if it makes sense. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (40:44): Yes. I love that. Balancing authenticity and attachment and how you are choosing you every day and holding and holding yourself accountable. So it's kind of like a responsibility to yourself and to others. And how do you hold both of these gently in both hands together? , that's kind of what I heard. You have a beautiful retreat coming up that I would really like to go to. So I'm gonna see if the universe would like me to go. So I'm setting that intention 'cause it would be my 60th birthday, and I've been wondering what do I want to do for my 60th birthday? And then I saw the retreat you have and I said, oh my gosh, what I love, love that. And I try to live my life by what would I love to have happen? Because in this life I only get one . So I try to be guided by that. But do you wanna tell everybody about it in case they might be interested? We'll also have a link to your website that has the details, but tell everyone about it. Michelle Saudan (41:50): Mm-Hmm, . Thank you, Karen. Here, this retreat is called the Ancient Walks of Wisdom. And the intention was to, to really hone in on the holistic, forgotten languages of healing on the continent of Africa. But some of the oldest tribes such as the Himba and the Sam, who we know as the, you know, being the guardians of nature, they only take what they need. You know, they move from different ends of their lands with only what they can carry. But when, if I were to move, I speak to myself, I need a whole moving truck. I cannot carry everything in my hands. And it's a reminder for me, and I hope that it would be a reminder for those that come is that we forget to live lightly and not just externally, but internally. And this was the intention. And just to really look at how they live in unison and community with their children. Michelle Saudan (42:51): For example, one of the tribes we will visit is a Himba tribe. And the woman does not put the child on the ground unless he wants to, to walk and run. But she, he, this baby is latched with the mom 24 hours, you know? And eye contact and holding is something that we've lost in modern society. So this was just for us to come back. We are teaching this, we are learning this now by reeducating with modern studies and trauma, somatic healing. But when we look at it is something we already did in all our tribes, wherever we come from. So this is just to reconnect us, what has always been, but we've just forgotten. And this is what this retreat will embody. And I have one for local women. 'cause One thing I realized was that some of the retreats I was doing, which I canceled most of, was I didn't see my grandmother in who I was trying to represent. Michelle Saudan (43:56): I didn't see my mom or my great-grandmother, and they would have never afforded some of the retreats. And I said, well, I think I need to, to change this. And it gives me so much passion to now do some really low income retreats for just most women. So I'd like most women to be able to come and connect, like what we did at her retreat. I'd like everyone to be able to come because trauma and mental health is how it's seen right now in, in, in Africa is if you've, you know, in a mental health hospital, then that's when you need it. But if you don't do it again, put on the lipstick like you said and carry on. So I'd like to open that up. 'cause Our ancient elders, they did all of this, so they just didn't call it a retreat, but there was that support. So I'd like to bring that back in a way that suits us in the day and age we are living right now. So that's what I have upcoming and I'm really excited to share it and hopefully maybe I will come closer to you in the states and we can do some for, you know, for everyone's. I believe everyone should be able to have this at their fingertips. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (45:13): Oh, that sounds beautiful and I love your consideration for, for inclusivity at all economic levels. It's something that I struggle with in what I offer because to provide the type of services is rather expensive, and that means that some women are left out. And one of the ways that I can be more inclusive is by providing this podcast free. So I love having guests who come on and really I offer as you have this depth and perspective that they're not encountering every day and, and information and inspiration that they can use for healing. I mean, you sharing the rain technique, I invite everyone who's listening to start using that and just maybe keep it in your mind and the next time something happens that is disturbing or troubling or keeps coming to your mind, maybe just spend some time using that rain process of cognize, recognizing, allowing, inquiring and nurturing. That's a place to start. And I invite everyone listening also to look at, at Michelle's website and the offerings that she has, we'll have the link in the show notes that you can click. I thank you so much for just being who you are and for sharing yourself with us and the world. I think you've been a healing presence for me, and I know everyone listening to this show feels that as well. Michelle Saudan (46:50): Oh, thank you, Karen. It's been a joy. Thank you so much. Love to everyone listening and if anything, just remember it didn't start with you. I think we can love ourselves to healing by remembering just that. And yeah, I look forward to seeing you, Karen. If not at the retreat, I see you in Dubai or somewhere where God aligns us. But thank you too for the work you're doing. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (47:15): Thank you. And you know that what you just said, it didn't start with you. That's a whole other conversation, , that we can have. So maybe we'll have that at another date. If you're listening and that intrigues you and you would like us to talk about that, please reach out to me and let me know and we'll see if Michelle might allow us to make that happen. Thank you so much for joining me today. Look forward to hearing your experiences with the rain process, which is really a beautiful process that Michelle has shared with us. Thank you so much. I will see you next week in another episode. Until then, peace, love, and hormones, y'all. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (47:54): Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormones and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.   ► Know more about Michelle Saudan's offerings in the transformative powers of sound, breath, movement, bodywork and meditation. CLICK HERE.   ► Are you tired of feeling like you're losing control at midlife? Weight gain, low energy, and a decrease in sex drive are all too common. But it doesn't have to be that way. With our Hormone Balance Bliss Challenge, you can reclaim your youth and feel as amazing as you did in college. Our proven system is designed specifically for women at midlife who want to balance their hormones, reset their metabolism, and start seeing real results. Imagine waking up with more energy than ever before. Feeling confident and sexy in your own body. No more mood swings or uncontrollable weight gain – just pure blissful balance throughout menopause. 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Welcome to the latest episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast, where empowerment at midlife isn't just a dream—it's your reality! In this enriching episode, we're thrilled to bring you insights from the esteemed Dr. William Li. Dr. Li isn't just any guest; he's a life-changing force in the world of medicine. From the prestigious stages of TED Talks to the informative panels of top news programs, Dr. Li has become the voice that's reshaping our understanding of health. His revolutionary insights have contributed to more than 40 medical treatments for diseases making waves in the waters of wellness. But that's just the tip of the iceberg... In today's discussion titled Eat to Beat Disease: The New Science of How Your Body Can Heal Itself, Dr. Li picks apart the essence of his New York Times bestseller which dives deep into the healing powers of food. This isn't a conversation about fad diets; it's a masterclass in how everyday nutrition can be your most powerful medication. Imagine navigating midlife with a treasure map that leads to vitality and longevity. Thanks to Dr. Li, you won't have to imagine much longer as he reveals the inner workings of how the food you eat can help you combat illness, not just survive, but thrive. For all you seekers of wellness and warriors of well-being, this episode is a beacon of hope, guiding you towards a life where diet isn't just about your waistline, but about staying one step ahead of disease. It's time to get inspired and learn how to: Burn fat without starving yourself Heal your metabolism for good Use food scientifically proven to fuel longevity Dr. Li's message is tailored not just for the health-conscious but for anyone who's yearning for control over their body's destiny. And for midlife women, this might just be the Hormone Prescription you've been waiting for. Prepare yourself for a conversation that's loaded with practical advice, backed by rigorous science, and imbued with a dash of culinary magic. Are you ready to transform your midlife experience? Then grab a comfy spot, tune in, and get ready to Eat to Beat Disease! --- Featured in This Episode: Why your kitchen holds the key to disease prevention Dr. Li's groundbreaking research that's revolutionizing the medical community Strategies to nourish your body at the cellular level for lasting health A peek into Dr. Li's latest literary masterpiece   Dr. Kyrin Dunston (00:00): Natural forces within us are the true healers of disease. Hippocrates, stay tuned and find out your most powerful tool when it comes to mastering your metabolism at midlife with Dr. William Li. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (00:15): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us, keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an OB GYN, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (01:08): Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me as we dive in with Dr. William Li to talk about eating to Beat disease. Eat to Beat Disease is the name of his New York Times bestselling book on the new Science of How Your Body Can Heal Itself. He also has another book, Eat to Beat Your Diet, burn fat, heal your Metabolism, and live longer. Needless to say, he is an expert when it comes to what to eat, how to eat when it comes to improving your health, and he is super passionate about food. He loves to cook like I do. So we had a really great conversation I think you're going to enjoy. He is gonna talk a little bit about the quote from Hippocrates that I shared with you in the teaser, and also another one from Bruce Li and another one about what discovery actually consists of and how it can help you when it comes to creating great health. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (02:14): I'll tell you a little bit about Dr. Li and then we'll get started. Dr. William Li is a medical doctor and internationally renowned physician scientists and author of the New York Times bestseller Eat to Beat Disease. His groundbreaking research has led to the development of more than 40 new medical treatments that impact care for more than 70 diseases, including diabetes, blindness, heart disease, and obesity. His TED Talk, can we eat to starve? Cancer has garnered more than 11 million views. Dr. Li has appeared on Good Morning America, C-N-N-C-N-B-C, Rachel Ray, and live with Kelly and Ryan. He's been featured in USA Today Time Magazine, the Atlantic O Magazine and more. He is president and medical director of the Angiogenesis Foundation and he's leading global initiatives on food as medicine. And he has a new book, New York Times bestseller, Eat to Beat Your Diet about burning fat, healing your Metabolism of living longer. And it was released in March of 2023. This is a super fan girl moment for me because Dr. William Li is amazing, personable, and passionate. I think you're gonna love him as much as I do. Please help me welcome Dr. William Li to the show. Dr. William Li (03:29): Well, thank you very much Dr. Dun, it's a real pleasure. Yes, it's Dr. Kyrin Dunston (03:32): A pleasure to have you here. I heard you speak at a conference a few years ago and I thought to myself, oh, I wanna have him on the podcast. That would be amazing. And you're very in demand. So I think it took me this long to be able to get you on the show, but I'm super honored to have you here. Your books have transformed so many people's lives and really helped to move forward people's level of understanding about their diet, what they're putting in their mouths and their health, the outcomes they're getting. So I'm very curious, as a traditionally trained physician trained, how did you come to become so passionate and knowledgeable about eating to beat disease? Dr. William Li (04:21): Well, you know, those of us who trained in traditional medicine know how little nutrition actually is taught in medical school or during training, and that's certainly true in my own education. I had some secret sauce that I brought into the equation before I went to med school. I studied biochemistry in college and afterwards I took a gap year. And during my gap year before going to medical school, I traveled to the Mediterranean. I lived in Italy and I lived in Greece. And my interest all the way back then was in studying the interconnections between diet, culture and health. And what really interested me, and this is again, long before I went to med school, I was curious about how these cultures in Italy and Greece developed their food traditions and the seasonal eating that they did using whole plant-based foods, primarily long before these terms became popular and how much it meant to them culturally. Dr. William Li (05:26): In other words, people are eating, the children are eating what the parents are eating, who cooked what the Nonas or the grandmas are eating. And they passed these traditions and recipes down and it's been going on for hundreds of years. And, and that was really interesting to me because of my own background being Asian American. I grew up with cultural legacies that came from my own family and we saw lots of things mixing together, but I was always very curious about that link. And of course, being in the Mediterranean, I got to see people viewing food not outta fear, which is what we so often encounter. Oh, I don't know what I should eat. Should I be afraid of saturated fat? Should I be fearing dairy? Should I be fearing soy? I saw something completely different. And what I saw was people approaching food with joy. Dr. William Li (06:16): When people in the Mediterranean sat down for a meal, they usually sat down with company. And when they were, and the conversation they had inevitably when they were eating together was about the food that was placed in front of them and its tastes and the seasonality and how their mothers prepared or how their spouses would prepare the foods at home. And it made me realize as I then, you know, later went to medical school by contrast, how absent the idea of food and health in our culture and American culture was, and so I could never forget that. And as I memorized bugs and drugs, as you know, from medical training, my, you know, my, and as I observed all the terrible, crappy food and lifestyle, the diet, lifestyle of the medical student and the resident was just so terrible. I started to realize that there clearly was a missing piece of what modern doctors are trained on. Dr. William Li (07:17): And I think that the tide is changing a little bit, but here, hear me out for a second. What was missing was really the toolbox of the medical community. Before 1930, we had no antibiotics, we had no fancy drugs. You know, doctors going back in the beginning of the 19 hundreds and going back thousands of years really only had what was in the natural world and food and lifestyle as our only tools. And somehow in those last, you know, let's say 90 years, a hundred years or so, we lost sight of the fact that food is a tool in our toolbox. And so we have, we're training doctors to practice with inventions, medications surgery and radiation and all this other kind of stuff. And we've forgotten our roots and the roots of the food being a tool in the toolbox is so important because we now have the science. Dr. William Li (08:13): And I'm a scientist, I'm an internal medicine doctor trained for, for, you know, young and old men and women, healthy and sick. And I realized the huge wonderful opportunity was for people who had the scientific knowledge like me to dive, to do the deep dive, kind of like the, I could dive into the mosh pit of food using the same scientific rigor that we use for drug development to try to understand why foods are good for us, we know they taste good, now we have a better understanding of why they're actually beneficial as well. So I'm all about what foods to add and the new knowledge coming out of that rather than what foods to avoid. Although obviously there are some foods that one should avoid as well. Yes, Dr. Kyrin Dunston (08:55): Thank you so much for sharing that. You know, as you were speaking, a couple things came to mind. I recently watched a British series that I think took place in the 1800s. And whenever somebody felt ill, they gave them bone broth. They didn't call it bone broth, but they called it broth. Yeah. And so exactly what you're saying is something that I've observed and, you know, chicken soup, where does that come from? It's broth. Well, it's bone broth and then what you shared about traveling to Italy. And I have the pleasure of traveling to France with Walter Willette from Harvard. I think he's the author of, is it The French Dr. William Li (09:34): Paradigm? Yeah, I know Walter. Yes. Very good. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (09:36): Yeah. And to study why they don't have the, the cardiac and other diseases that we have based on their diet. And so that was really fascinating. So you just said that picking your food from a joyful place versus a fearful place, which I love. And really focusing on what foods to add. So what has been most surprising to you in the research that you've done in terms of what foods to add? Dr. William Li (10:05): Okay, so the wonderful thing about being a scientist is that we're always surprised because we're at, you know, as a scientist, most people think that researchers, scientists spend all their time getting together and dishing brainiac rocket science on each other. But in fact, that's not what real scientists do. When we get together with other scientists, we spend all of our time talking about questions that we don't know the answers to. And so we don't actually talk about what we know. We talk about what we don't know. And so for me, the opportunity to do research on food as medicine is a wonderful opportunity to continuously being surprised by what we're actually discovering. Give you some examples. All right. We know that berries are healthy, right? I mean, colorful berries eat the rainbow. I love strawberries, I love blueberries, I love blackberries. They're, they're good for us. Dr. William Li (10:58): They're anti-inflammatory. I think most people would actually know that. Okay, well, when I first dove into this food as medicine world, one of the things that I did with colleagues at the National US National Cancer Institute, this, my colleagues were actually doing drug discovery, trying to find new cancer drugs. And so in that process you have, as a researcher, you're not aware of what you're testing. So they call it blinded or masked. So you have no idea what you're testing to be objective. And you would throw these chemical powders or liquids into a test system to see if they would starve cancer by cutting off the blood supply. All right? That's what this project was all about. And what I did in a, what was considered daring back then, I decided to sneak about 20 different food extracts into the system. So maybe there were 50 drugs to test, and I snuck 20 extras. Dr. William Li (11:51): So there were 70 site things to test, and literally we were testing food versus drugs head to head in the same system for cancer discovery and drug development. Okay? Cancer drug treatment. I was so surprised to discover that strawberry extracts contain something called ACH acid. So you don't have to be a chemist, a chemist, but just know that people that are doing the research, we're beginning to figure out what these substances are. Allergic acid is a powerful anti-cancer substance because it cuts off the blood supply that's actually growing that could feed a cancer cell. And we validated and tested this head-to-head with cancer drugs. Okay? Now that was a big surprise. Fast forward to just a couple of weeks ago, I was surprised yet again that other researchers have been studying strawberries looking at the same types of substances, the IC acid. And now we know there's another group of compounds called pro anthocyanins. Dr. William Li (12:49): And guess what they've been shown to do in clinical studies. This is a study from the University of Cincinnati where they looked at about 30 men and 30 people with mild cognitive deficits. So not full on dementia, but heading in that direction. And they found that one cup worth of strawberries per day over the course of six weeks could improve memory and cognitive performance. Amazing. Now, and that's the same substance. So here it is, you know, strawberries have activity in the Cancer Drug Act along the lines of a cancer drug. Strawberries have activities and a clinical study along the lines of helping people who are having cognitive difficulties. If that's not foodist medicine, if that's not real research being conducted, I don't know what is. And these are the kinds of surprises that I literally get out of bed, right? Roll out of bed, and I've got like one foot in the past, you know, the same stuff that you and I trained on Dr. Dr. William Li (13:49): Dunson, you know, the bugs and drugs as I call them. Okay? Right. And, and, and the other foot in the future, because this is what we're discovering how the mother nature's pharmacy, pharmacy with the f not a pH, the mother's nature's pharmacy, is more incredible than we ever imagined. And so this is why I think I'm surprised by tea. Green tea is good for you, but so is a super fermented tea called P or tea. Guess what? P or tea is even a probiotic tea that improves metabolism studied in human trials. Amazing. And so every day I am surprised by something and it makes me smile. And it makes me happy to realize that we are able to lean into the foods that we should be adding to our system and learning more about that and not just vilifying foods, which has been really kind of like the cave we've crawled outta. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (14:44): Yes. You know, you mentioned poo or tea and I call it dirt tea because it has a different taste, so you have to get used to it. But because of the health benefits, I remember when I first tried it, I didn't care for it, but I said, I'm gonna learn to like it because it's good for me. And now I love it. So I think that what are a lot of people's objections to eating in ways that are healthy? You know, I don't know anybody listening when's the last time they ate a fresh strawberry or a fresh green green or had something like a poo or tea. But people say it's expensive. They say it's time consuming. It's not convenient. They say it doesn't taste good. So how do you, you've done this beautiful research and really shown that these foods can help and bring them into your diet. These other foods maybe you wanna eat less of, but the practicalities of those cost in terms of time, financial expense, and then also the dislike. How do you help people get past those? Dr. William Li (15:55): Sure. Okay. So I wrote two books that became New York Times Best Sellers. Yeah. Eat to Beat Disease and Eat to Beat Your Diet. And one of the things that I did as I wrote each book is I created tables and charts of foods that have been scientifically and clinically shown to be beneficial to help boost your body's health defenses. These foods make you healthier, okay? And the evidence and the science proves it. Okay? So, but I took all the, I did all the heavy lifting for my readers. And so the tables and charts are there. What I tell people to do is if you take, if you crap go of my books and you just take a photograph, screenshot of the tables and charts, and please take a sharpie or pencil or, or whatever you're writing with highlighter and circle the foods among those 300 that you already like, you know, maybe some people don't like green beans or Brussels sprouts, but maybe they like peaches or maybe like berries. Dr. William Li (16:51): You know, if you start circling these things, I always say I have not found anybody over the last four years. I've been challenged that couldn't find something, some foods, in some cases, many foods, but they're circling like crazy. And I said, guess what? You have just won the lottery, the food and health lottery because you've circled the foods that are already good for you and you like them. You've said that you like them. So if you start eating healthy foods that you already like, you are way ahead of the game. 'cause You're, you already like the foods that are good for you, start with that. Go to the grocery store. And, and so that's one way of actually addressing the like versus dislike. I'm starting with you and I'm trying to find out in a very personal way, what are your taste preferences? Everyone's different. Everyone's got their comfort foods. Dr. William Li (17:35): Everyone, you know, everyone can remember something that mom cooked when we were kids that we actually really resonate with. That's cool because you're almost certainly going to find something good, and you're gonna find something that's healthy. Now, that's one thing. What about the cost? Look, there was once this idea that you have to eat organic and you have to eat local and you have to eat fancy stuff. Turns out that the research is showing that the dirt cheap stuff, not just dirt tea, but dirt cheap foods is actually good for you. Yeah. Nuts and seeds, you know, walnuts, pecans, almonds, all those kinds of things you can buy in bulk. You know, go to one of those big discount stores and buy them in bulk. Great for our gut health, which then improves our metabolism, helps our fat hormones, helps all kinds of other aspects in our lives. Lowers cholesterol. It doesn't have to be expensive. Dr. William Li (18:26): One of the least expensive things I can think of that I actually like and I, and I put into my own shopping cart is not fancy pants at all. I love navy beans. All right, Navy beans. You go to the middle aisle and you just get a can of this stuff. They're pretty inexpensive. Navy beans have lignins, they've got great soluble fiber. They eat super fast, super cheap, crack a pan, the crack thing over there, rinse 'em out. Okay? I rinse all that cloudy stuff away from it. All right? Stick 'em in a pot. Heat 'em up, throw some inexpensive herbs that you can get outta your pantry to light it up a little bit. And you got yourself a gut healthy meal that's good for your gut microbiome, shown by evidence that it's not only inexpensive, it actually works to improve your metabolic health. Dr. William Li (19:16): So I think that, you know, if you take a look at healthy food, it's not only for the 1%. I think in fact the elemental foods, the things that used to be widely available to everyone are, can actually be really, really healthy, including dried foods, which tend to be healthy. You can store them longer, you can buy them in bulk. And that's totally fun. Here's something a lot of people don't realize. I know that it's true that eating mostly vegetarian, all vegetarian, you don't have to be vegan, but a mostly vegetarian diet is gonna be healthier for you. But if you eat seafood, okay, you don't have to go to the fancy fish market to buy expensive line cuts, whatever. Okay? If you go to the middle of the grocery store and you just carefully look for little tins of fish, I'm not talking about cat food. Dr. William Li (20:06): Don't go, don't go to the pet food section , okay? I used to think canned tuna was cat food because it smelled exactly like what we'd feed a cat. But there is a, in the Mediterranean, there's a long history of tinned foods, tinned sardines, tinned mackerel, tin tuna. They put a little extra virgin olive oil and they added some spices and herbs. They might put some like piquillo peppers or something in, you can find these in a grocery store and they're not expensive. You can buy a big pack of them, you can put 'em in a pantry. And man, do they make a tasty Omega-3 healthy oil final. Not only the Omega-3 fats, but also olive oil when they're cooked with that, you can just put that with a piece of crusty sourdough bread and have some raw carrots and you put yourself a real snack. Dr. William Li (20:53): And you know, wherever the girls, the girls dinner or the girls meal, like they talk about something like that, can be inexpensive and incredibly tasty and healthy for you as well. So I always tell people, don't let price be the obstacle. There's lots of things that are inexpensive that anyone can actually afford. Okay? And then the other issue about convenience, all right? I think that if you look on the internet today, you pick an ingredient, beans, kale, tomatoes, what have you, nuts, tree nuts. And if you want to actually find something, a simple way to do it, you don't need to bust open that old yellowed thick book that your mom used to keep around as a cookbook, right? passed around for generation, you, you know what I'm talking about, right? Yeah. All you gotta do is to go on a Google type ingredient, you know, collars or kale and type a recipe and type simple, how about 15 minutes, alright? Dr. William Li (21:48): 20 minutes and hit search and type, click on the video and watch somebody show you how to do it. All right? It's easy to do. And so I think that we should, and by the way, there, I, I have to tell you, as somebody who enjoys cooking, I'm not only a scientist and a doctor, I actually love cooking. But to me it's joyful. It's relaxing. I get some time by myself, I'm creating something. Listen, if that actually fits your personality as well, there's nothing better than knowing that you're eating and feeding your loved ones, then your friends and family as something that you put together. And you know everything that you put into it, and you can make those decisions for other people and it tastes great. So again, I hear you point out the exact same things that lots of people talk about as obstacles to healthy eating. And from my perspective, they're not really obstacles at all. You just have to look at them in a different way. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (22:41): I love that answer and I wholeheartedly agree. I was blessed to be raised by a mother who actually was a trained chef. She trained with Anne-Marie Colman at the Natural Gourmet Cookery School in New York. And Anne-Marie was one of the pioneers in teaching people how to cook mostly. I don't think she dealt with meat at all, actually. It was vegetarian, healthy, tasty meals. So I learned at a young age how to cook healthy food. Of course, I went off to medical school and I came back and told my mother, ' we heal with steel mother . 'cause I thought I knew better. It wasn't until I had my own health challenges that I went back to her and then really started to pay attention to how she cook healthy food that is delicious with healthy ingredients and, and really learns how to do it in an efficient, cost effective manner. Yeah. So I think it's something, it's a skill that anyone can learn. And abso you described beautifully. Dr. William Li (23:42): Absolutely. And you know, listen, if you know how to change a tire in your car or put in or change your oil in your engine, if you know how to fix the gutter or the, or, or the, the drain sink, if you know how to plunge a toilet, you can actually, you're, you're smart enough to know how to actually cook something tasty. And I like them. I I love the idea. I don't know, I, I don't know if you're saying healing with steel, it refers to cookware, but like, you know, but oh, . But, that's another way to think about it. You know, like, look, you don't have to go to the hospital and sit in the waiting room, you know, to be called by the nurse. I think that there are, look, I'm, I, we're both doctors and so I'm quite confident that we're on the same page. Dr. William Li (24:26): There are medical issues that you must go to your doctor for and communicate with your doctor for, and that only your doctor can really solve for you because it's not something you can really tackle at home. But on the other hand, healthcare, and I think you'll agree with me as well, it doesn't happen in the doctor's office or the hospital. Healthcare is what we, what people deliver for themselves between visits to the doctor's office, between visits to the ER, to the hospital or the infusion clinic or wherever you're going. You care for yourself. We do medical interventions, you know, in a doctor's office, we can do assessments, but the care for your health is what we do for, to all of ourselves at home. And, and food is just, you know, one of the several important things, because obviously we can't just think about this over simply. Dr. William Li (25:14): I mean, you've got exercise, you've got stress management, you've got sLip socialization, all things that are part of self-care. And, and look, everybody out there is in the world now, you know, in this new era of self-care, right? Where we know not to overwork ourselves, we know not to overload ourselves at work. Self-Care is really sort of a new era where we are taking responsibility for the amount of stress that that either we put in ourselves or other people, people put in ourselves. I think nutrition and eating well, and importantly, eating the things that you like that are healthy, all right? It's gotta taste good. That's how our, and it's just another thing to really think about and cultivate for yourself. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (25:59): Yes, I am saying that 2024 is the new self-love and self-care. It's like the next level. It's time to bump it up a notch and really make self-love an action word. It's a verb. And really meeting your needs and your wants and your desires to a high level, including your diet. I do know that a lot of women listening are dealing with what I call midlife metabolic mayhem. The 60 plus symptoms that women start experiencing over 40, the top two being fatigue and weight gain. So they're gonna wanna hear something from you about your second book, eat to beat your diet, how you heal your metabolism, burn fat, and live longer. So can you talk a little bit about the challenges for all of us, but maybe particularly for women over 40 with their metabolism and what's happening there and how they can work with their diet to assist them? Dr. William Li (26:58): Yeah, well listen you know, if you're a woman in your, in a, in the middle of your life and you're struggling with the actual issues or the questions about weight gain, weight management, fatigue, you know, all the things that, well, I think most people recognize, dread and maybe even accept that they're gonna have to contend with as they get into their forties and fifties and, and later in their lives. I have some good news. First of all, my book, Eat to Beat Your Diet, is not a diet book. That's a trick title. It's an anti-D diet book. I wrote a book about how you don't need to go on these intense, crazy diets that might actually help you lose a few pounds or maybe even more than a few pounds, but you can't stick to them. But how you can instead use the latest thinking about human metabolism, about body fat and the connections to our hormones or to our energy levels, to our ability to live rich, fulfilling lives in a way that we didn't recognize before. Dr. William Li (28:01): And let me explain this in a way that I think people can understand. All of us probably do something pretty similar, right? You get up in the morning, roll out of bed, take a shower, come out of the shower, and you're drying off and you probably got a mirror in the bathroom and out of the corner of your eye, you probably see on your naked body a lump or a bump that you are not happy with. It doesn't matter if you're a big person or a small body person. We all see this stuff, right? And then what's the thing you do? You go cur you curse. Like, ugh, I don't wanna see that. Then the next thing you do is what? Step on the bathroom scale. And that number that comes up isn't the one that you are hoping for you to curse again, all right? Dr. William Li (28:38): First thing in the morning, you've cursed yourself twice, right? And if this sounds like a familiar story, and I'm exaggerating a little bit, but I think most people resonate with it. 'cause I do the same thing. I used to do the same thing. We kind of associate our weight with our health. We associate body fat with something very negative. And we always talk about negativity and body fat. Look, we're, so, it's maybe part of our human nature. I don't care if you're a vegan or not, but if you actually go to a grocery store and you're wheeling, you're pushing your cart around and you're gonna be pushing it by the meat section, a butcher section, and you see that gigantic t-bone steak that's got like a thick rind of white fat around it. I don't care if you're like a, if you're, if you're like the, the biggest meat eater in town, everyone goes, Ugh, I hope nobody eats that. Dr. William Li (29:25): Right? So we're conditioned to think about body fat and the word fat in very negative ways. But what I wanna tell people in their middle age is that we don't always think about it, we don't always think about fat negatively. There's one situation I can tell you, everyone sees fat and smiles and you know what that circumstance is? That's when we see a baby or we see a pudgy baby. Mm-Hmm, you know, newborn, 1-year-old, big fat cheeks, double chin, rollie, polly tummy, , you know, big fat arms and legs. You're smiling right now, right? I'm, I'm not smiling saying it, right? We, that's one situation in which fat makes us feel happy. So think about what that means. Somewhere in our brain, we recognize that body fat is actually a good thing. In fact, if you saw a baby that was long and thin, like a fashion model, like a runway model with thin thighs and thin arms, like, like sharp chiseled cheekbones, , you'd be freaked out. Dr. William Li (30:22): You'd be freaked out, right? You go, you would, you would, you would run the other way. You would say, there is something seriously wrong with that baby, and you'd be completely right. Okay? So to understand body fat and metabolism and hormones in middle age, it's really helpful to do, to go, go way back and realize what body fat does for us when we're younger. Now, a lot of people don't know this, but our body fat and our hormones are really tightly interconnected. And our body fat and our health meaning good health, beneficial health, are tight, tightly, tightly tied together. All right? Now I gotta explain this. Most people don't know this, but if you go back, Dr. Duston back to med school, you remember we were sitting in embryology class and they were teaching us about how humans from dad sperm meets, meets mom egg, mom's egg and AEB of cells. Dr. William Li (31:13): And we had to memorize all the things that actually happened. Well, when the organs form, all right, one of the first organs that form are blood vessels. And that makes sense because every organ's gonna need blood flow to remain alive. The next tissue that really forms are nerves. 'cause That's the electrical system of the house of your body. And we all need electrical wires to power up our organs. All right? A third tissue organ that forms is body fat. Body fat is one of the early first organs that form. And by the way, at this point in our lives, we don't have waste lines. We don't actually have chins yet. We're still kind of forming our overall shape as humans. And you know where the body fat forms is as a ring around blood vessels. So when body fat starts forming, it forms as a cushion around our blood vessels. Dr. William Li (32:07): And you go, why would that be? Why is body fat forming on blood vessels? Well, it turns out, and we now know this, that our body fat, which is sometimes called adipocytes, adipocytes, adipose tissue, so we know, call fat tissue, these adipocytes the cells of fat around are living around blood vessels because each of these fat cells, adipocytes, are actually fuel tanks for the energy that we need to run our body. And where does the fuel get loaded? Into the fuel tank from our blood vessels? Because the food that we eat goes into the fuel, goes into the blood vessel, and the blood vessel loads them into the storage tank, which is our fat cells. And that's why fat starts forming around the blood vessel. So all around our blood vessels, all throughout our body, there's fat that actually starts forming. Now obviously the fat forms elsewhere as well, but it shows you just how important body fat is. Dr. William Li (32:58): Now, later in life, as we develop as teenagers, I mean, look, little boys and girls, five year olds, seven year olds, pretty much they look all the same, right? They're, they, they have the same body type, but later during adolescence, puberty, hips form, breast form, chests form, you know, facial features start reforming as well. That's where the future adult us begins. We start to look like the future adult who we're gonna be. And our body composition changes and fat starts moving in different places to where it needs to go. And we've got three kinds of fat that form, all right? And I'm telling you this because people who are middle age need to understand fat didn't form because you had too much to eat over Thanksgiving dinner, okay? Or that you went to that restaurant and you had, you know, you had too much on your plate. Dr. William Li (33:43): This is actually fat that is healthy fat. I'm talking about three types of fat that form, even when we're young teenagers and into young adults, you know, kind of the best shape of our lives. We've got subcutaneous fat that's under the skin sub under cutaneous skin fat. That's kinda like a wetsuit that protects us, that's healthy, helps to shape us. Then you've got visceral fat, which is gut fat, visceral meaning gut packed inside the tube of our body. So if you think about it, you could have a thin tube or you could have a big tube. People with large bodies have big tubes, but even people who are thin, who are thin, have thin tubes. And when, and the visceral fat can, it grows inside the middle of the tube of the body, you can't see in the mirror. All right? Dr. William Li (34:28): It's not the muffin top, it's not the double chin. It doesn't wobble under your arm. It's deep inside your gut. All right? And you need some of that. And then there's brown fat. And this is something that I think is really interesting is that brown fat, which we used to only think was in animals and babies, is a thin layer of fat. We're not talking about wiggly jiggly wobbly fat. That's not under your arms. Brown fat is quite different. It's paper thin, wafer thin, and it's pressed not close to the skin, but close to the bone deep in our tissues. We got some of it behind our breast bone. We got some of it around our neck. We got some of it a little bit in our belly, some of it behind between our shoulder blades. Brown fat is like an engine, like the stove top in your kitchen that uses gas. Dr. William Li (35:16): You want to blow some water. What do you do? You turn the crank, it goes click, click, click, click whoosh, you get the flame going on. That's what brown fat does. Brown fat metabolically whooshes fires up to create heat, right? For our body, and it draws that energy from our white fat, starting with a visceral fat, which so that you, so we, our fat controls fat. Now what happens? And there's all kinds of hormones that a fat is normally producing. This fat, healthy fat produces at least 15 different kinds of hormones. Adiponectin is one, is one that even helps our body absorb insulin and, and helps us release insulin and draw in our glucose so we have energy. So I'm bringing this up because people complain about not having enough energy. All adiponectin gives us our energy because it takes the food that we're eating and stores that energy into our fat cells. Dr. William Li (36:09): All right? And then we burn off that fat cell when we move around, and that's what gives us energy in our brain, in our muscles, everything. Okay? Now what happens is that if you actually overload the body's fat stores, if you overeat, you put too much fuel in your body, your body, like unlike a car where if you put too much fuel and it just splashes right out of the fuel tank, what does it do? Run down the side of your car, around the tires, and pool around your shoes. Now you're standing in a dangerous, toxic, flammable mess, right? In a gas station in your body, if we actually overload fuel, okay? By overeating, we just make more fuel tanks, those fuel tanks being fat cells. And so we, the more we eat, the more fuel we store, the more fuel we store, the more fuel tanks we need, the more body fat we need to make. Dr. William Li (36:54): And that's really why over consumption of food, good or bad actually will lead to more body fat being created. And the body fat that gets created, you can see it in the mirror, okay? Those are the lumpy, bumpy things, or they can actually grow in the center of your body around visceral fat. This is the fat that wraps around all your organs, because when you overeat and you have too much fuel and you've got too much fat wrapped on your organs, that fat becomes starved of oxygen. It becomes inflamed. It's like a forest fire that gets ignited inside your belly, you can't even see it. It's steep inside. And that inflammation rushes out throughout your body. And what it, one thing it does is it inflames fat upsets the, it derails the hormones like the fat hormones, like adipokines adiponectin. When that hormone gets derailed, you can't use it, you can't absorb your fuel. Dr. William Li (37:48): Well, and guess what? Now even though you have, you're loaded with a lot of fuel, you're not using a lot of fuel, you are tired, you're fatigued. So gaining too much weight leads to fatigue, inflammation accompanies it. All right? So overeating is one of these things that we need to really be careful about. Now, the other thing that happens in middle age, people go, oh, my metabolism's gonna slow down. There's something I can do about it. It's my fate, right? And indeed, people's bodies change. Women and men, but especially women, I think they notice it a lot more when your body shape changes, when you hit your mid forties and into your fifties you know, I don't know what I can do and I'm looking just like my mom did. All right? So the fact of the matter, it used to say, I've gained too much weight because my metabolism has slowed down. Dr. William Li (38:31): Nothing I can do about it. Right? Wrong. We used to think slow metabolism causes excess body fat, but in fact, it's the other way around. Too much body fat slows down your metabolism. And we know this from a seminal research study that was conducted just in 2021, published in the Journal of Science, one of the most credible journals in the world, where they found that all humans only undergo four phases of metabolism in their life and in the middle phase of metabolism. All right? So when you're born, everyone's born with the same metabolism. One year old, it shoots straight up from one 8-year-old to 20 years old. Your metabolism comes down to adult level. And then from 20 to 60, this is exactly where middle age occurs. 40, 45, 50, 55. Human metabolism is designed to be rock stable. It is not hardwired to go down. We are not programmed from birth to have a slow metabolism. Dr. William Li (39:28): We hit our middle age. And so anybody listening to this, you gotta realize everything that we thought has just been the story has been changed because we now realize that we are, our bodies are hardwired. It's our birthright to have a normal stable metabolism in middle age only at age 60, 60 to 90 slows down a little bit, okay? But not huge. It slows down a little bit. Now, what happens is that if you gain extra body fat, if you have extra fuel consumed, all right, and you're not moving, and that extra fat causes the inflammation disrupts the hormones, the fat hormones we're talking about here, you know, dip, pectin, ghrelin, I mean, these are all kinds of lectin. These are all hormones that are affected by, that are needed and healthy for us when we have the right amount of body fat and energy. Dr. William Li (40:14): But when we have too much of it, not only does that slow down our metabolism, but the excess inflammatory fat derails our hormones. When you derail these hormones, it's literally taking a train, okay? And just chucking it off the rails. Now it all, all heck breaks loose. And now you don't know if you're hungry or not hungry. Well, maybe I'll just eat some more. No, you know, you're eating more food now, you're eating more fuel. It's making everything worse. And then it, and the excess body fat slows down your metabolism. So the explanation for people who are middle reaching, middle age to say, I'm fatigued. I'm gaining weight. I don't know what to do, I don't think I have a choice. One of the things that modern research is showing us is that number one, you can actually try to restore your body's metabolic setpoint. Dr. William Li (41:01): It might take time to do it, but one thing to do is actually to burn down excess body fat. And to do that, you want to eat less e even intermittently fast and be a good way of doing it. Second, you wanna eat good quality food. 'cause You don't wanna be eating food that's just gonna blow up that inflammatory fat. You wanna eat good quality food, less of it, stay away from the ultra processed stuff, the added sugars, the added, you know, carbs. Then what you wanna do is exercise. You wanna stay physically active. You know, a body in motion stays in motion as the old law of thermodynamics or physics. And so you wanna actually stay in motion walking exercising. You don't need a trainer. You just need to stay active. You're gonna be burning down some of that extra fuel. You need good quality sLip because our metabolism burns down extra fuel when we're in REM sLip. Good quality sLip. All right? Now, why, by the way, why is all this not happening to us? Why is it so difficult to do this when we are in our mid forties, for women watching this? Think about it, how complicated our lives are at middle age when you are 20. You know, you might be struggling with various things, ideas, but you might have seen something like a mountain, but really a mold hill compared to what you're dealing with in your 40 bucks, all right? Yes. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (42:15): Right? Dr. William Li (42:16): Okay. So back then you were working out, you were looking good, you were fitting into whatever clothes you wanted, and you had plenty of energy and you know, you could do whatever you wanted and you didn't seem to gain weight, but you're active, all right? Now, fast forward the decades, and now you're in your mid forties. We got so much going on, all right? And I'm just trying to talk to people like, you know, who are listening, like, like real people, right? I mean, look, you got your spouse to worry about. You got stressors with your family life. You got your kids to worry about, you got your mortgage, you got your job to worry about, your boss worried. You get your car payments. And then, oh, by the way, if you follow anything in the news, we're worried about the election, worried about the war, worried about, you know, what kind of sickness is going on. Dr. William Li (42:58): Look, there's a lot of stressors going on, okay? And those stressors make it really hard for us to focus on making good decisions about the food. We choose quality food. Those distractions make it very difficult to eat smaller quantities, smaller portions. In fact, they're so distressed, so stressed out, we eat a lot. Those distractions make it hard to exercise and stay active. Those stresses prevent us from getting good quality sLip, which interferes with metabolism. So it's not that our fate is hardwired in our body, and when you hit 45, that's it, baby, you're screwed. No, the reality is that we got a lot going on. So we have to sort of tease apart some of the things that are gone and start to just calm down a little bit and make the, some of the good decisions, starting one by one that can help our body reset to the metabolism, to the fat, to the hormonal interactions that our body needs to give us energy, to give us the shape that we want to have, and to be able to allow us to live and thrive as we get older. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (44:01): Yes, thank you for that very comprehensive, detailed explanation. I think everybody probably got a lot out of that. And really the way you're describing it is that the communication has completely gone offline because of your current metabolic condition. And there are things that you can do to restore proper communication, right? I always say hormones are the communicators and you can get them reestablished. I loved inter, I love intermittent fasting and exercise and many of the other things that you've shared. Thank you so much for sharing this wisdom with everyone. You make it sound very approachable and doable by almost anyone, which it is. And so I love that. We'll definitely have links to your books in the show notes. You have a wonderful Dr. Li's Friday five handout, which we'll have a link to in the show notes. You wanna tell them a little bit about that and where else they can find you online? Dr. William Li (44:59): Yeah. Well, listen, my mission is to get good information about people's bodies and how food interacts with them in a joyful way. That's my mission, is to really impact as many lives as possible. So I have a website, Dr DR William Li l i.com. Please come to visit my website, take a look at the information that's on it. My books Eat to Beat Disease. You can buy them anywhere books are sold. You can order them online very, very easily. I do courses, I have online courses you can find on my website. I run them every month. And this is a deep dive into your body and the foods that can activate your body in ways that are delicious and effective so that you don't have to fear your food. You can love your food and love your health at the same time. And I'm, and I put out newsletters. Dr. William Li (45:44): These are free newsletters that you, or just contain facts and information. And you know, I'm inundated with information all the time. I just wanna get, I wanna do the heavy lifting for the public. For you guys who are listening, I'll, I'll try to, you know, bury the stuff that's BS and I'll try to surface the stuff that's really useful that you should know. The difference between medical research involving drug development and biotech and pharmaceuticals is that, you know, even if you hear about that stuff, you can't do anything about it. Most of the people in the public, but if you, for food is medicine research, when there's something important there is immediacy. I told you that eating, you might be surprised. Soy foods, like at a Mame or tofu can lower the risk of breast cancer, or tomatoes can lower the risk of prostate cancer if you're a man. Hey, guess what? That is something that after you hear that you can make a decision right away lickety split to add something good to your health. And so please know, I welcome people to my community. I've been teaching these online courses. We've got thousands of people from more than 80 countries that have taken my course. And so I, I just love the idea of trying to create as much impact as possible. And thank you for having me on. Well, thank Dr. Kyrin Dunston (46:58): Thank you for being here, and thank you for listening to another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. I know you have loved today's episode. I know you're gonna add strawberries to your diet. I know you're gonna add tomatoes. I know you're gonna look at Dr. Li's books and read them and get some powerful information. Maybe join one of his courses. And really, your most powerful tool when it comes to your health and your hormones is the food that you put in your mouth. I cannot say that you literally are what you eat. Your hormones are what you eat, you are what you eat. So this is the most powerful tool that you have at your disposal to make powerful changes in your health for this year. Like I said, 2024 is the year of self-love. So do it right, make it an action. It is a verb. Take the actions that will get you where you want to be. Thanks so much for joining us, and until next week, peace, love, and hormones, y'all. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (48:00): Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormones and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.   ► Get Dr. Li's Friday 5! 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Welcome to another empowering episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast, where we explore the intricate dance of hormones and health, specifically crafted for the vibrant midlife woman. Today, we're honored to have the remarkable Dr. Akil Palanisamy, join us to unravel the mysteries of autoimmunity and health dysfunction through the lens of integrative and Ayurvedic medicine. Get cozy and ready to be inspired by a Harvard-educated expert who takes a deeply compassionate and holistic approach to healing. Episode Highlights: Introduction to Dr. Akil Palanisamy: Discover the fascinating path that led Dr. Aki, a Harvard grad and a mind-body medicine-certified physician, to the forefront of integrative health. The TIGER Protocol Explained: Learn about the groundbreaking TIGER Protocol that Dr. Aki has pioneered, offering hope and healing to those suffering from autoimmune disorders. Integrative Medicine and Ayurveda: Delve into a unique conversation on blending modern medical practices with ancient Ayurvedic wisdom. Real-life Success Stories: Hear uplifting stories of resilience and recovery, showcasing the transformational impact of Dr. Aki's approach. Practical Tips for Midlife Wellness: Arm yourself with actionable advice and wellness strategies tailored for the midlife transition, ensuring you live your healthiest, most hormonal-balanced life. Inspirational Takeaway: Dr. Akil's expertise isn't just in his impressive credentials; it lies in his ability to see the patient as a whole. His methods are a testament to the power of integrative medicine - providing a beacon of light for anyone navigating the murky waters of hormonal health and autoimmunity. Tune in now to begin your own healing odyssey with the wisdom and warmth of Dr. Akil guiding the way. This episode is not just about listening; it's about awakening to the possibilities of true health renewal. Listen, Learn, and Thrive: Your body's plea for harmony between your hormones and health has been heard. Dr. Akil's knowledge and the TIGER Protocol could be the key to unlocking your body's fullest potential. Don't miss this life-altering conversation. Tune in, tap into your innate healing power, and take charge of your well-being. Your miraculous body awaits. Subscribe and Listen Now!   Dr. Kyrin Dunston (00:00): There is no greater thing you can do with your life and your work than follow your passions in a way that serves the world. And you, Dr. Akil , stay tuned to find out how to reverse the root causes of your autoimmunity and health concerns so that you too can follow your passion. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (00:20): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an OB GYNI had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue. Now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results, and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dundton. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (01:14): Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription. Thank you so much for joining me today as we dive into the topic of autoimmunity with Dr. Akil, who is a very accomplished physician who had his own healing journey during medical school that led him to a root cause resolution approach. He focuses on autoimmunity and helping people reverse it naturally. You're gonna hear some of his case studies of how he helped someone reverse Hashimoto thyroiditis, probably the most common autoimmune disease that disproportionately affects women as opposed to men and causes a lot of suffering, and how he helped her transform to not having Hashimoto's. Yes, it's possible despite what you might have heard, and you're going to hear just lots about what are the steps you need to take from his tiger protocol that he's developed. It applies to everyone, not just those of you with autoimmunity. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (02:14): So I hope you will give a listen and take notes and check out his book. We've got a link to get a per an excerpt from it in the show notes and talk a little bit about this quote that I shared with you at the beginning about living your passion. He shares what that means to him and how that informs his daily life and activities that I think you'll really love. So I'll tell you a little bit about him and then we'll get started. After working with patients in his two decades of practice, Harvard trained Dr. Aki Palani me was inspired to develop the tiger T-I-G-E-R protocol, an integrative treatment approach. Combining his work as a functional medicine practitioner with his training in Ayurvedic medicine, he has since used his simple protocol to successfully treat thousands of patients with autoimmune diseases. The protocol works to address the root cause of your autoimmunity instead of just treating the symptoms by suppressing your immune system. And that's what mainstream medicine does. It's a revolutionary transformative approach that can help you transform your health and your life as well. Please help me welcome Dr. Akil  to the show. Dr. Akil Palanisamy (03:26): Thank you so much Dr. Dunston, for having me on. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (03:29): So excited to talk with you about the tiger protocol. I always like to start because people love to hear how traditionally trained doctors like you and me. Yes. Arrived, became enlightened and became enlightened, saw the truth, the angels sang, we saw a better way. We really started people healing and doing things like reversing autoimmune disease. And so could you share a little bit about your journey from traditional mainstream medicine to a more root cause approach? Dr. Akil Palanisamy (04:03): Yeah. It actually began in medical school for me when I developed a mystery illness during my second year of medical school. You know, I was actually very conventionally thinking, very conventionally trained, didn't have a real awareness of integrative medicine, but I had kind of this mystery illness with chronic pain and fatigue, and it, it was so bad that I couldn't sit up in a chair and I had to actually take a year off for medical school to try to recover. And it was that time that I started exploring integrative medicine and complementary therapies, and that was the first thing that really helped me after a few years of conventional medicine. So that helped me during my year off to return to really optimal health. And I realized that I needed to learn this stuff so I could help my future patients with it. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (04:52): And so could you share a little bit about what you went through with that mystery illness and what you discovered Yes. That it was causing it? Dr. Akil Palanisamy (05:02): Yeah. So the symptoms were, you know, started with fatigue and then I developed a lot of musculoskeletal issues like neck pain, back pain. You know, I couldn't sit up in a chair, and so I couldn't attend class, and I was doing all the conventional treatment, you know, physical therapy, anti-inflammatories and so forth. But it was only when I saw an Ayurvedic doctor, which is Ayurveda as a traditional medicine from India, that she told me I have a specific imbalance of a dosha, which is one of the Ayurvedic principles. And that actually tied together all my symptoms that I was having. Whereas in Western medicine, there was no diagnosis and never was, because there's no clear diagnosis that ties together all those symptoms. But when she started treating me with an auric diet and, you know, lifestyle and spices and herbs and a whole program, you know, lifestyle program as well, then that was the beginning of recovering my health. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (06:02): Wow. I mean, I'm sorry that you went through that and it, you know, I I always say pain becomes your purpose, and it's only through pain, unfortunately, sometimes that we learn the truth if we're willing to lean into it and not just snuff it out. I always say that Mm-Hmm, yes. Symptoms that our body has is, you know, she's this beautiful vehicle that we have. She only has so many ways that she can let you know what she's needing and wanting and what's out of balance. And she's always talking to us. So a headache is not, she's not saying I need Tylenol, is that's not what a headache means. And , you know, if your tummy gets upset every time you eat, it's not, oh, I need something to stop my gut from being able to contract like an antispasmodic. And so right, everybody listening, I really encourage you to start learning the language of your body and understand what she's saying to you so you can get to the root cause and get out of the leaves and branches of the tree and stop medicating with drugs and surgery. So thank you so much for sharing that. Mm-Hmm, . So I, let's dive into your book on the Tiger protocol you've developed. Mm-Hmm. , a very specific detailed root cause protocol to help people with autoimmune disease. Was autoimmunity at all a part of the illness that you were suffering from? Dr. Akil Palanisamy (07:29): No, fortunately but you know, over the years, in the past 25 years I've been practicing, I've just started seeing more and more autoimmune patients and wondering, you know, why there is such an increase in autoimmune disease. So it's really just organically through my own practice, I started seeing more and more autoimmune patients. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (07:51): So is the tiger protocol developed with, from you working with them and really seeing what was specific to their needs and situations that needed to be addressed in order for healing to occur? Dr. Akil Palanisamy (08:03): Yes, exactly. And, you know, with these same five root causes, the more I researched, the more I found that it, they're actually driving most of our modern chronic diseases, you know, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, which is still the biggest killer of, of most men and women, obesity and also disrupting hormones. Because I, in my practice, I do work a lot with female hormones in, in women. And so I found that, you know, these five root causes not only affect autoimmunity, but all these other chronic conditions and hormones especially. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (08:36): Right. And I would love it if you could comment on the fact that women suffer with autoimmune immune disease way more than men. We are disproportionately represented with autoimmune disease. And why do you think that is? Dr. Akil Palanisamy (08:50): Yeah, I think it's probably several reasons. So, you know, as we're going to go through the tiger protocol, we can see that toxins affect women more than men because of, for example, xenoestrogens, which we can get into. Same thing with the, with the gut. You know, a lot of the gut bacteria have a big effect on estrogen, which we can discuss. And that, you know, the key role there. And then with stress the, the R part, you know, rest and managing stress, I think that is also very fundamental in terms of its effect on multiple hormones. And I think, you know, we need more research to confirm this, but I think that because women are more complex in terms of their hormone chemistry, that more of these factors in our modern life are attacking and disrupting more and more of their hormones than in men. And I think that's one of the reasons autoimmunity is more common in women. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (09:48): Yeah, I would agree. I really think it boils down to, down to hormones, , and that's foundationally what makes a woman different from a man. And so that's what puts us at risk for so many of these problems. So let's jump into the tiger protocol. I know that each letter stands for an issue that needs to be addressed. So if you just wanna start at the beginning, we can dive right into it. And I wanna just tell everybody listening, don't discount what we're gonna talk about and say, I don't have an autoimmune problem, this, they're not talking to me. Everything that Dr. Akil  is talking about and details in his book, actually is an issue that every woman at midlife, early life, later life, needs to address to address the root causes of any dysfunction that she is suffering from. These are really the root causes of all health problems. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (10:46): Whatever your diagnosis, whatever your symptoms. So if you think about your health like a tree, the symptoms and diagnoses you may have are up in the leaves and branches, and that's where mainstream medicine works. You go to the gastroenterologist for a gut problem, and you might get a drug or surgery for that problem. You go to the gynecologist for a female period problem, and you might get a drug or surgery for that problem. But where we're dealing with is we're going down the trunk of the tree into the roots of the tree in the dirt, and dealing with the root causes of all your leaf and branch problems. So everything we're gonna talk about applies to everyone. So I just wanna give that caveat. So without further ado, let's dive into the tea in tiger. Dr. Akil Palanisamy (11:32): Yes, sounds good. Yeah. So the tea stands for toxins, which are environmental toxins that are present in our food, water, air, you know, that all of us are exposed to. And when I was researching toxins, I found a class of toxins called obesogens, which are known to promote obesity. So these are things that disrupt our metabolic signaling, you know, the intricate hormones like leptin and ghrelin that regulate appetite and satiety. So many of these toxins the broader category is called EDCs or endocrine disrupting compounds. So they disrupt our endocrine system, which is the hormone system that we've been, we've been talking about. So for my women who are really struggling to lose weight I feel like that's one of the missing pieces of the puzzle is addressing these obesogens, you know, helping clear out those toxins that are promoting obesity. Dr. Akil Palanisamy (12:26): So that's, I think, a really key factor. Also, in toxins, there are ens. So these are toxins that promote insulin resistance and raise your blood sugar, again, a key cause of our diabetes epidemic. It's not just obesity. There's also a key factor of toxins that are disrupting your insulin and disrupting your blood sugar regulation. And we have to really address those as well. And then specifically for women, I talked about xenoestrogens. So these are compounds in our, you know, fragrances, pesticides, other chemicals. We put our body widely present in plastics, for example. And these are artificially created compounds that mimic estrogen. And so they're absorbed by the body. They disrupt the estrogen signaling and lead to, you know, a host of issues. So I, and of course, autoimmunity, which is the fastest growing category of disease, is included as well. That's what I focus on. But in my research, I found these toxins affect so many other key conditions like obesity, diabetes, heart disease, as well as just general inflammation in the body. So that's why I believe that's why I put the T first. 'cause I think toxins are really fundamental and maybe the first thing to be addressed. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (13:47): Yeah, I totally agree. And, you know, I just wanna tell a little personal anecdote. So I really, uhhuh, the biggest thing I think people can do in this area to start reducing their toxic load is to stop using artificial petrochemical fragrances all over your body and in your house. Just stop . Mm-Hmm, . Yes. And really there isn't an awareness of the dangers of these artificially scented products in the environment. So I, every, a lot of people know I've been traveling for 18 months globally, and I've had a lot of experiences where I go into new homes and stay in new homes. And there are plugins and scented candles and sprays and all the things that people use 'cause they like the way it smells. They use it on their dryer sheets with their towels and the sheets smell like perfume. And my body. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (14:40): I say that I'm a human chemical detector because of various circumstances I've encountered throughout my life where I was actually made sick by a building. Now I'm a human chemical detector. So I walk in and before I even smell it, my body tells me that it's there. Mm. And so I've had the opportunity to talk with people about, and try to educate them about the dangers of these, they're carcinogenic as well as contributing to health problems. And it's interesting how many people are very resistant to this information, not knowledgeable. And I'm just wondering if you have any thoughts on that, or, and I know you've got way more details in the book, but what would you say is the number one thing that people can do to start reducing their toxic load? Dr. Akil Palanisamy (15:24): Yes, I think that it, you know, it always starts with diet because I believe food is really fundamental. So I think, you know, trying to choose organic, so you're limiting the pesticide exposure. And then you don't have to have everything organic. You know, you can go with the environmental working group, which publishes a list called the Dirty Dozen, which is the 12 fruits and vegetables that are highest in pesticide, where you should try to get organic. And then they also publish the clean 15, which is the 15 that are pretty low and can be non-organic if possible. So I think that's a great way to start. And then to boost the detox pathways, I really like the cruciferous vegetables, all the, you know, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, those are, are very powerful. And then I think sweating like a sauna or steam room is really underutilized because there is very good research on sweating and how it excretes toxins through the skin, which is a really great way to, to help detox and keep the toxic level low. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (16:26): Yes. Those are great suggestions. And how does this relate to hormones? 'cause We always try to tie everything to hormones. Dr. Akil Palanisamy (16:34): Yes. So mainly in that, you know, all of these things that we've been talking about as toxins, like the endocrine disrupting compounds, the obesogens, the ens Z estrogens, all of them are disrupting this delicate balance that in women is critical, you know, because I always tell women it's like a symphony, you know, with all the female hormones that every piece is critical. And there's many different components that have to be in sync to, to make the perfect music, you know, the optimal health. And all of these toxins are disrupting that symphony. So that's why it's so important to address, you know, reducing the exposure and also boosting things to detoxify so you can have a, you know, better symphony and better music in the end. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (17:18): Right? Yeah. A lot of these toxins actually stimulate those hormone receptors in negative ways. They sit right on the receptor and really confuse your body. Yes. So super important. So that's the T in tiger. And then what is the, I, Dr. Akil Palanisamy (17:33): So I refer to infections, and this is a broad category. There's many different types like a bacterial, viral, fungal and, and so forth. And there's many ways that infections disrupt hormones. One of the ways is by causing elevated cortisol, which is one of the stress hormones because of infection. I'm not talking about acute infection things like, you know, flu or you're down with a cold and you, you're really sick. I'm talking more about low grade chronic infections, which can be detected by an integrative medicine doctor. And those can slowly cause stress on the body. And any stress on the body raises cortisol. And that has a variety of negative effects, which we can talk about when we talk about stress, which also raises cortisol. But I think that, yeah, infections can really disrupt the hormones by raising cortisol. And then, for example, another example would be candida, the yeast overgrowth. So candida often is an issue that is, you know, overgrown and surprisingly has really negative effects on hormone balance. When you have the overgrowth of candida, it actually breaks down progesterone and contributes to estrogen dominance. This is, you know, air emerging research. But a lot of these infections are starting to be studied for their negative effect on hormones. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (19:03): Yeah. So these chronic infections like candida, Epstein Barr virus Yes. Just dysbiosis in the gut where you don't have enough healthy bacteria and it's kind of skewed towards some of these less healthy ones. I, I think it's important 'cause some people listening are gonna say, great, I get it, Dr. Akil , I need to address toxins, infections, and all the other things we're gonna talk about. And they're gonna run to their $30 HMO copay doctor. And they're gonna say, right, well, I've heard Dr. Akil  on Dr. Kieran's podcast, and I want you to check me for these infections that are contributing to my autoimmune disease and MIT toxins, and I want you to help me with that. And what's gonna happen, . Dr. Akil Palanisamy (19:45): Yes. Yeah, no, exactly. I think it's you know, it's variable in terms of how much a typical conventional doctor will do or, or test. But I think that the good thing is what I focus on is really teaching people tools they can use at home on their own with, you know, diet and, and lifestyle. And, and with the topic of infections, my focus in the book is teaching people how to make your body inhospitable to infections, because then you can actually let your immune system work better to take care of whatever's there. So you don't have to do, you know, all of these tests. So there are ways to focus more on the terrain, the inner environment of the body to make it less hospitable to infections. And I think that's more of a root cause approach. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (20:32): Yeah, I agree. But I just don't want anyone listening to think that the average doctor with the education that we initially had is gonna be able to help them. So this is where your book comes into play. So yes, in, you know, I know this might be really inappropriate, but I met a woman when I was traveling and her name was Candida, and it just stuck in my head. 'cause When I met her, I thought, I wonder if she's had problems with having that name. Because I think of one thing when I hear candida and it's chronic infection, . Mm-Hmm. that actually, and you know, the, as a gynecologist, what would we do if someone said that they thought they had a yeast infection? We do a wet mount and look for yeast or candida in the vagina. But I always like to say to people that if you have chronic candida, it might not be on, I say it lives in your gut and it goes on vacation in your vagina. So, right. You know, if you get chronic candida infections, that means you've got a reservoir in your gut of where it's really living that's chronic. So that's what you gotta look at. Alright, so that's the T and then the I and tiger. And then how, what do we get with the G? Dr. Akil Palanisamy (21:42): Yeah, the gut is really critical. And the microbiome refers to all of the 40 trillion bacteria in the gut that have a really big effect on every organ system in the body. Pretty much if you name a, a part of the body, it's affected by the gut and the hormones are, are no exceptions. So I'll just pick three to focus on in terms of hormones and good gut. So first is the thyroid. So the very important gland that regulates your metabolism energy and so forth. And one of the key ways that the thyroid hormone in the body works is there's a conversion that needs to occur from what's called T four to T three, basically some of the, the active hormones. And about a quarter of that conversion happens in the gut microbiome. So if you're not having a good balance of bacteria, then your production of the active thyroid hormone is really gonna be limited. Dr. Akil Palanisamy (22:35): And that's a, that's gonna affect energy and weight and all of these things. So that is number one, the thyroid. Number two is melatonin. So we know this is important for sleep. And melatonin is produced from one of the precursors called serotonin, which is a neurotransmitter or a signaling compound. And actually about 80% of the body's serotonin is made in the gut, which then gets processed, you know, into melatonin and so forth. So all of these neurotransmitters which affect the brain, a lot of them are made in the gut. And that's what we call the gut brain axis. And then finally, I'll mention estrogen because there's a huge role of the gut bacteria, what's called the estrobolome, which are the bacteria that process and metabolize estrogens. And one of the key things, it's a little bit technical, but just bear with me here. It's called beta glucuronidase. Dr. Akil Palanisamy (23:30): So this is an enzyme that your gut bacteria have. And with, you know, with estrogen, it has to be just the optimal level, not too much or not too little. And the body has a system called estrogen recycling to kind of regulate that, which goes through the gut. And the beta glucuronidase, which is in certain bacteria, actually disrupts that. So the beta glucuronidase is an enzyme that de conjugates estrogen that is in the gut that's marked for excretion, you know, supposed to be flushed out of the body through the, the poop, and it allows it to be reabsorbed into the circulation. And then you can get, you know, estrogen dominance or too much estrogen. And that balance of recycling estrogen is disrupted by the gut bacteria. So again, if you have the, you know, imbalance of gut bacteria, it's going to be affecting not just estrogen balance, but your thyroid, your, you know, melatonin, you so many, so many things. So I think the gut is really foundational. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (24:30): Yes. So what do you say to someone listening who says, I don't have a gut problem, and they immediately shut down? Yes. And don't, I'm not gonna listen to this. My gut is like, works like magic. I poop every day. It's quiet. I don't have any symptoms. I don't have a gut problem. So then you say, improve your gut health. And what do you say to that woman who tells you, no, I, I don't need to look at that. I don't have a gut problem. Dr. Akil Palanisamy (24:56): Yes. And a lot of women I see in my practice are in that category. You know, fortunately they don't have GI symptoms, generally have good gut health and don't really expect to have any GI imbalances. But I always test their microbiome. You know, I always look in there and pretty much most of the time we find imbalances. And, and often, you know, the body is very resilient, so it's able to adapt and overcome a lot of imbalances and, you know, prevent you from feeling bad. But it doesn't mean those imbalances aren't there. And so what I found in my experience, when we start looking, there are imbalances, for example, in the, you know, the bacteria or the beta glucuronidase or some of those things. So that's why it's key, even if you are healthy without GI symptoms, to really focus on trying to boost your gut bacteria and really make sure they're optimal. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (25:48): So I love how you said that you test everyone, right? And I do too. I say, even if you don't think you have a gut problem, you need a functional stool test, food sensitivity, testing, et cetera. Mm-Hmm. . So can you talk about the importance of testing for hormones, for gut health, for mitochondrial function, for all the things that you think it's important for? Dr. Akil Palanisamy (26:10): There is a way, like for my patients who cannot afford functional medicine stool testing, there is a way through a regular lab to get an indirect measurement of the microbiome. So I do order this a lot. It's called a stool pH test. And it can be done through any traditional lab, you know, LabCorp quest, any lab in the us. And what a stool pH tells you is that it's an indirect marker of your gut microbiome, because the main determinant of that is your gut bacteria and specifically certain metabolites they produce called the short chain fatty acids. So if they're producing the right compounds, your pH will be really good. And that is a great way to gauge, you know, indirectly how the microbiome is doing. And then all of the things that I talk about in the book, like the prebiotic foods, fermented foods, certain specific types of fiber, all of those things can improve the stool pH. Dr. Akil Palanisamy (27:07): And then also the stool pH is a key factor for your immune health for reducing infections. You know, for example, candida can only overgrow if your pH is out of balance in the stool, in the gut. Mm-Hmm, . And same with a lot of bad bacteria. That's one of the ways your body keeps those bad bugs in check is by keeping the pH in a really optimal range. So that's a great way to test. And so I think for pa patients who don't have access to a functional doctor, that is something you can get through a regular lab. It's a standard test. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (27:38): Okay. Awesome. Love that. And let's go through E and R and then as we do, I would love it if you could just incorporate any examples of patients that you have worked with who maybe were suffering with the E or the R in particular. Yeah. And kind of what their journey was like to healing, but yeah, please proceed. Dr. Akil Palanisamy (27:59): So of course it is a big topic in terms of eating right and, you know, the diet. And so in general, yeah, I'm recommending a plant forward diet with plenty of, you know, whole foods. And so let me discuss three things which I think are negative in terms of their effect on hormones. Number one being sugar. So, so, you know, we all know that processed white sugar is inflammatory and has a really negative effect on the immune system as well as some of the metabolic hormones. And, you know, yes, occasionally like dark, dark chocolate, an occasional treat I think is fine. But in the long run, trying to cut back on sugar, I think, is really beneficial. So mainly because inflammation is at the root of all of our modern diseases and sugar has been linked to increasing inflammation in the body. Dr. Akil Palanisamy (28:49): And then second, I think they are processed foods. So a lot of the heavily processed and ultra processed foods that are present in our food supply right now, I think they, a lot of them have ingredients that are known to be disruptive, like preservatives, emulsifiers, artificial flavors or sweeteners. And so I think that's a category as well to, to really be mindful about. And then third, I wanted to mention dairy products because not everyone is sensitive to dairy. I think that it's important to test it out, maybe eliminate it for some time and then reintroduce, see if you notice a change. And so for women who do not have a sensitivity or allergy to dairy, this might be surprising, but from the hormone perspective, it's actually better to have full fat dairy rather than low fat. Because there was actually a study from Harvard where they looked at 18,000 women and their dairy intake pertaining to fertility. Dr. Akil Palanisamy (29:48): And they found that those women who had more low fat dairy products actually had worsened fertility and were more at risk for infertility. And in that case, also having full fat dairy, like normal un unprocessed dairy was associated with better fertility. And so in that study, they recommended women trying to conceive, you know, not have low fat dairy because it's actually potentially negative. And that goes back to processed foods because, you know, dairy as a whole, food does have that fat and has to go through a lot of processing to make it low fat and, you know, skim milk and all that. So if a woman tolerates dairy, I do recommend going with the whole fat and just in moderation, but avoid the low fat dairy. So yeah, those are just some, some examples. But, you know, there's so much we could talk about in terms of yes, p food, of course. Yeah. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (30:39): I love that study. I wasn't aware of that. And I would just encourage everyone, fat is your friend, right? All your cells are coated in fat. Your brain is fat. You need fat. And, and a lot of us in the eighties were really trained that fat was our enemy. And fat is not. It's your friend. Sugar is your enemy, but fat is Dr. Akil Palanisamy (30:57): Your friend. . Yes, yes. Yep. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (31:00): And then how about the R in tiger? Dr. Akil Palanisamy (31:02): Yes. So the R refers to rest, which encompasses sleep, and also managing stress. And stress has so many effects on hormones. So one, one of the main ways is through cortisol, which is one of the stress hormones and chronic stress, like many of us deal with that, you know, very full busy lives. But if it's out of control it causes high levels of cortisol chronically, and that disrupts a number of the other hormones. So that will cause, for example, testosterone to drop. And even women need some testosterone, you know, for normal function also, then it disrupts the thyroid. So then you start seeing thyroid hormone dysregulated, and then chronic stress can also lower estrogen and progesterone levels. So it just is something that affects almost every hormone. And you know, of course stress disrupts blood sugar regulation as well. So insulin is another hormone. Dr. Akil Palanisamy (32:00): So I think it's very important. Sometimes, you know, my patients, their eyes glaze over when I talk about stress. 'cause We've all heard so much about it. But I, I tell people to think, focus on something you enjoy, whether it be going out in nature or doing some yoga or Pilates or prayer or, you know, it doesn't have to be meditating for an hour every day, but finding something that you enjoy, that you're willing to do regularly is, is the key thing. And there's a lot of different ways to accomplish that. So. Great. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (32:29): So there we are at the Tiger Protocol, and I would love it if you could share some stories of people you've worked with, maybe the autoimmune diseases, Hashimoto's Lupus Yes. Multiple sclerosis and what their journey has been like through this protocol. Dr. Akil Palanisamy (32:45): Oh, sure. Yeah. So a case comes to mind of a nurse at our local hospital. She was in her forties and dealing with Hashimoto's and thyroid condition. And a lot of the common symptoms of Hashimoto's are fatigue, weight gain, and hair loss. And then, you know, with autoimmune diseases in general, they do develop slowly. So there's a key window where integrative or preventative strategies can really help. And she was in that case where her thyroid hormone levels like TSH were just going slightly high, but not at a level like greater than 10, where her doctor was gonna put her on medication, but it was abnormal. And so her doctor told her her thyroid levels don't qualify for a medication, so there was nothing he could do. And then he said, you know, your immune system is going to destroy your thyroid, and then at that point, come back and I'll prescribe you the medication. Dr. Akil Palanisamy (33:42): And, you know, that didn't really sit well with my , my patient who was used to being very proactive. So she came to our, you know, integrated medicine clinic, and she didn't want to just wait for her thyroid to fail and then get medication, you know, she wanted to do something more proactive. And in her case, we did some testing. We found that she did have IBS or irritable bowel syndrome, which had not really been addressed. And when we did some stool testing, we found she had this condition called the leaky gut, which is increased intestinal permeability, and that's a key factor in autoimmune diseases. She also had bacterial overgrowth, what we call dysbiosis. And so I put her on a gut healing program with a lot of fermented foods, bone broth, and prebiotic foods, which feed the good bacteria. And then we looked at her hormones. Dr. Akil Palanisamy (34:35): So commonly, like in thyroid conditions, the adrenal hormones are affected because there's a close link between the thyroid and the adrenal. And so I used certain herbs like ashwagandha, which is a, ashwagandha is a common urban Ayurveda, and used a lot to support the thyroid and adrenal. And then she started noticing some of her symptoms improving, like her fatigue, the hair loss, the IBS, you know, those, it took about, you know, three or four months because integrated medicine worked slowly, but some of those symptoms that were really bothering her had been resolved. And then after working together for about more, you know, six to seven months, we retested those Hashimoto's antibodies, the thyroid antibodies, and found they had come down into normal. So she no longer had Hashimoto's, you know, autoimmune disease. Yeah. So that was one example where, you know, just taking steps to address the root causes can, in some cases reverse the autoimmune disease and at least improve the symptoms. You know, even if it's not possible to cure the condition, people can feel normal and, you know, have a good quality of life. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (35:48): I, I think it's so important to highlight what you just said and the example you just gave, because people are really given this kind of death sentence by a lot of doctors because, and, and they're just telling their experience and what they've been taught that Hashimoto's, once you have it, you're always gonna have it. It's gonna destroy the thyroid. There's nothing we can do. And it's not, it's just because they don't know what's possible. But every day I see people go from very high Hashimoto's antibodies to no antibodies, right? Every day I see people go from having diabetes type two and go to not having diabetes and having optimal insulin and glucose control. And probably you do too. So I want everyone to hear that diseases can be reversed. And you didn't hear him mention any drugs in there, right. . Dr. Akil Palanisamy (36:45): Right. So Dr. Kyrin Dunston (36:46): Just naturally it can happen. So thank you for that. I, I want to highlight this quote you shared with me that I love, because I think you really exemplify it. And to me, I love helping women get healthy because I want them to feel better. Yes. And function better, but I always say I'm kind of sneaky because I really want them to live their passion in life, whatever that is. Yes. And you really can't live your passion if you don't feel good. So the quote is, there is no greater thing you can do with your life and your work than follow your passions in a way that serves the world. And you, and I'm just wondering, is that a quote from you or somebody who you admire? Dr. Akil Palanisamy (37:29): No, I had, you know, written it down during my medical school years, you know, when I was dealing with that illness, and I was going through a lot of depression and really despair. So because I was, you know, it was my dream to become a doctor, and here I was to stop my training. And so I really had to seek out inspiration. And I don't remember where I found that quote, but that is in my journal that I've kept for many years. And yeah, that was a key part of how I think now. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (37:56): I love that. And how does that, what does that look like in your daily life? How does that change what you do? Or how you do what you do? What does that look like? Dr. Akil Palanisamy (38:06): Yeah, I think for me, you know, really like teaching is my passion. And I think a lot of medicine, as you know, is really teaching and, you know, sharing with our patients. But I really wanted to do more teaching. So you know, this with my second book, the Tiger Protocol, you know, getting out there, being on podcasts such as this one and, and talking to patients. I also have started doing these group visits, shared medical appointments where I also do a lot of teaching. So that for me is really something I get excited about. Dr. Kyrin Dunston (38:35): Yes. And I can't remember if it's the word physician or doctor. One of those words means teacher, and it really is . Dr. Akil Palanisamy (38:44): Yes, exactly. Doctor, I think. Yeah, yeah, Dr. Kyrin Dunston (38:46): Yeah. What we, what we are. And so I love that you are living your passion of teaching and helping others. It's my passion too. So from one person who's passionate about helping people see the truth about their health and learn the truth, and find the path towards health and wholeness and a passionate life to another, I thank you so much for joining me on the show today. I think you've offered such valuable information, and I know inspiration as well to a lot of women who are feeling hopeless, and I know they've learned something that they can implement today. I'm gonna encourage them to check out your book. I know you have a free excerpt, what we're gonna have a link in the show notes to, but tell them all the places they can connect with you online, where can they find you, and what resources you have available Dr. Akil Palanisamy (39:37): Through my website, dr Akil .com. And then I am pretty active on some social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, as at Dr. Akil  on all three of those. So, Dr. Kyrin Dunston (39:50): Great. Thank you so much for joining me today, Dr. Akil . Dr. Akil Palanisamy (39:54): Thank you so much, Dr. Dunston. I enjoyed our conversation today, Dr. Kyrin Dunston (39:57): And thank you for joining me for another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kieran. I know that you have learned something that you can put into effect in your life today. Don't wait to start moving towards greater health and wholeness for yourself. I look forward to hearing about it on social media so that you can start feeling better and then move towards living what you're passionate about in your life. Thanks so much for joining me, and I'll see you next week. Until then, peace, love, and Dr. Kyrin Dunston (40:29): Hormones, y'all. Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormones and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. 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Welcome to The Hormone Prescription Podcast, the heart-to-heart space where we unravel the tapestry of women's health!

Welcome to another empowering episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast, designed specifically with you, the midlife woman, in mind.

Welcome to another empowering episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast, the go-to audio haven for midlife women seeking wellness and balance in a demanding world. Today's episode is a deep-dive into an often-overlooked culprit behind disease and chronic pain - our complex brains under the burden of deep stress.   In This Episode: Join us as we explore with Dr. David Clarke, the profound ways in which deep-seated psychological stress can manifest as physical symptoms. Dr. Clarke, an accomplished physician certified in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, shines a light on the intricate link between deep stress, our brain's response, and how this connection may be keeping you from enjoying a life free of pain.   For years, Dr. Clarke has dedicated his expertise to advancing awareness, diagnosis, and treatment of stress-related and brain-generated medical conditions, striving to quell the chronic pain epidemic. As President of the Psychophysiologic Disorders Association (PPDA), he is at the forefront of transforming lives through education and support.   Key Takeaways: Uncover why your unexplained aches might be rooted in emotional trauma or long-buried stress. Learn about the crucial role of psychophysiologic disorders in chronic pain syndromes. Discover practical tips on identifying stress-induced pain and how to address it effectively. Gain insights into Dr. Clarke's holistic approach that goes beyond medications to heal the mind-body connection.   Professional Insight: Armed with an MD from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and a wealth of clinical experience, Dr. Clarke's professional insights are a beacon of hope for those battling unseen stress-induced health struggles. A Message to Our Listeners: Dear listener, if you've been searching for answers to the mystery of your unresolved pain, this episode could be the key. Dr. Clarke's expertise offers not just knowledge, but also the compassion and understanding so vital during the healing process. --- Join the Conversation: We welcome you to share your thoughts and breakthrough moments from this episode on our social media channels. Use the hashtag #HormonePrescriptionPodcast to join the growing community of women empowering themselves through knowledge and shared experiences. Remember, wellness is not just about hormones. It's also about the mind and its powerful impact on our bodies. Tune in, tap into newfound wisdom, and transform your life one episode at a time. Until next time, stay inspired, say goodbye to chronic pain, and hello to a vibrant you!   Dr. Kyrin (00:00): All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. Arthur Schopenhauer, stay tuned to find out about something that is self-evident to some of us practitioners, but your doctor might not be aware that could be hurting your health and your hormones. Dr. Kyrin (00:24): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us, keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself again. As an O-B-G-Y-N, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue. Now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Dr. Kyrin (01:17): Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me today as we dive in with Dr. David Clark into a discussion about deep stress and your brain causing chronic disease, chronic pain, hurting your hormones and lots more. This really is self-evident to a lot of physicians like me and Dr. Clark, but most physicians haven't gotten the memo when they went through med school and training. They didn't get the memo on this. They weren't trained in this. So they're probably not aware if you're going to a typical managed care physician. They also don't necessarily have the time to spend with you to discern if these issues could be contributing to your health problem. So I think this is a super important topic. I'm glad you're here to hear it. Dr. Clark has deep knowledge and experience in treating patients, in research, in teaching medical students and residents about these issues, and it really can benefit your health and your hormones. Dr. Kyrin (02:29): So I'll tell you a little bit about him and then we'll get started. So he's a board certified internal medicine specialist and gastroenterologist, and he is the founder of the Psychophysiologic Disorders Association, PPDA. He's got some resources to share with you. His website is end chronic pain org. And he's very modest because in his bio that he shared with me before we started, and then I did my research online, I found all the books that he has authored and co-authored and all the resources that he has for you. So he's the author or co-author of Psychophysiologic Disorders. He is an author of a diagnostic guide for Psychophysiologic disorders, that's for practitioners. He is the author of, they Can't Find Anything Wrong, Seven Keys to Understanding Treating and Healing Stress Illness. But none of this was in his bio . So he's, he's very modest, but like I said, he has deep knowledge and the time has really come that all doctors should know about the effect of ACEs and deep stress on their patient's health, but they just don't. So it's your turn. You've gotta take responsibility for your health to educate yourself about this and to put it into practice, to use your, in your health to move it towards the best it can be because you only get one life and you deserve to have the best health and best life and best vitality possible. So that's Dr. David Clark. Please help me welcome him to the show. Dr. David (04:15): Great to be with you. Thank you. Dr. Kyrin (04:16): Yes. I know we're talking about your favorite topic today and hopefully we'll tie it into my favorite topic, which is hormones. And hormones and pain, chronic pain are interrelated. If you're listening and you're not sure why you're scratching your head saying, Dr. Karen, I don't understand that. Hopefully it'll make more sense for you at the end of the episode. But first I wanna dive in . You are certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology, but you have this passion for psychophysiologic disorders. If you're not sure what that is and you're listening, just stay tuned. We'll, we'll, we'll define that for you. And most doctors certified in internal medicine, practicing everyday internal medicine and gastroenterology really don't have an interest in this, they may not have knowledge or awareness of what you specialize in. I know that you do educate practitioners, which is wonderful because we need to have more awareness. How did you become aware that this was a huge blind spot for US physicians when it comes to treating patients and become so passionate about it? Dr. David (05:28): Well, like you, I was very traditionally trained. I mean, I went through four years of medical school and three years of internal medicine residency entirely. Traditionally, things were going well for me in terms of my training, but all of a sudden I encountered a patient. I didn't know the first thing about how to diagnose or treat this was in the eighth year, you know, when I was a first year as a gastroenterology fellow. And this patient had been ill for two years, with very severe physical symptoms, actually referred to UCLA where I was in training from another university because they couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. We did a very specialized test on the electromechanical properties of the intestine to try to figure out what her problem was. And we were my department chair and I, we were convinced that that test was gonna be abnormal because no other explanation was possible as far as we were concerned. Dr. David (06:21): And so when that test was normal, two we're just at a loss and we had to essentially tell the patient there was nothing more we could do for her. But in her exit interview, I asked her about stress a few more times, and she began telling me she'd been sexually abused as a girl and not just once or twice, but hundreds of times. And this obviously was a huge piece of history from her background that I didn't think could possibly be connected to why she was physically ill 25 years later. But it definitely stood out and I was aware that there was a psychiatrist in our institution who had an interest in these mind to body connections. And I thought, well, maybe we can help this patient live with her condition a little more successfully if she talks to this psychiatrist. So I arranged an appointment, forgot all about her, and then I ran into the psychiatrist in an elevator a few months later and said, you know, whatever happened to that patient that I referred to you? Dr. David (07:19): And she said, oh, I haven't seen her in a few weeks now, Dave she's fine. She's, you know, no longer needs any medical care. All of her symptoms have completely resolved. And this happened just with a few months of counseling. And at that point, that just blew my mind that you could alleviate a serious physical condition just by talking to somebody. So I thought, okay, you know, if I'm gonna be a complete doctor, I should learn a little bit about how to do this. It might come in handy for a few patients every year when I get into practice. So I prevailed on Dr. Kaplan to give me a framework for how she thought about these things. And then when I did get into practice, I started using this framework whenever I couldn't find a disease or an injury that would explain the patient's symptoms and patient after patient had these deep psychosocial stresses that were going on that were connected to their illness, if you could identify them, if you could treat them, the patient's physical symptoms would improve. And unfortunately, in Portland, Oregon where I was in practice, there were no other Dr. Kaplan's there. So I ended up doing a lot of this work myself, and today we're 7,000 plus patients later than I've been doing this with. And I've been teaching other doctors how to do this because you can, it's readily possible to learn how to do this, and it just transforms your practice. This was one third of my patients for decades. Dr. Kyrin (08:47): Right. Well, thank you for sharing that. I, I think it's always fascinating how, why people do what they do, why they're so passionate about it, particularly when it comes to physicians who have gone off the beaten path, the mainstream of medicine where most gastro neurologists are just typically prescribing drugs and surgery, and nobody's asking about people's adverse childhood experiences, deep stress, et cetera. So hopefully that gives everybody an idea of the question of why this is important. Maybe there's somebody listening who's been struggling with undiagnosed medical illness. What are some of the statistics on undiagnosed medical illness and why is this such a huge problem? Dr. David (09:31): Yeah, we're talking here about people who go to the doctor for their pain or illness and no disease or injury is found to explain it. Or if the doctor thinks, well, maybe this issue could be explaining your illness, but you're not improving in the way the doctor expects, and that's the time we want to bring in a look at psychosocial stresses, either from the past or the present or both that could be contributing. And it turns out that when you look at the research, it's about 40% of people that go to a primary care physician or about 20% of the adult population in general. So this is 80% larger than the diabetic population, for example. And yet, unfortunately, it's not been part of traditional training. It's kind of like the medical clinicians are saying, well, this is a a psychological problem. This is really not in our ballpark. And the mental health professionals are saying, well, these patients have physical symptoms, they've got real pain, they've got irritable bowel or fibromyalgia or migraines or pelvic pain or genital pain or joint or back pain. And that's not really a mental health problem. So we don't deal with this either. And these patients fall into a giant blind spot in this system. It's 50 million people in the United States alone. Dr. Kyrin (10:50): So how would somebody who's listening know if they have a chronic illness that remains undiagnosed or chronic pain? You talk about stress related brain generated symptoms versus traditional pain and disease. How does someone even begin to sort out, is this me? Could this be affecting me? Dr. David (11:10): Yeah, it certainly starts with having a medical evaluation to make sure there's no organ disease or injury that's responsible. And then after that, we're looking into whether there could be a psychosocial stress behind this. And there are three main categories for that. There could be stress in your life at the moment, especially if it's chronologically linked to when and where your symptoms began or when and where your symptoms flare up. The second major issue is to make sure you don't have a mental health condition that hasn't been diagnosed. A lot of people with depression, anxiety, or post-trauma stress don't fully recognize that their symptoms are linked to that depression. Those mental health conditions can be subtle in many people and not so obvious as to have you running straight to a mental health professional. And then finally, the biggest shock of my medical education was finding out that stress when you were a child, could make you ill as an adult. Dr. David (12:09): The question that I like to ask my patients here is, imagine you were a butterfly on the wall of your childhood home and you were observing a child you care about growing up in the same home that you grew up in and you can't do anything. You're just watching that kid try to cope. Would it make you sad or angry to watch that child either your own or another one you have a connection to make you sad or angry to watch that kid trying to cope in that environment. And if it would, then there's a probability that there's a level of stress that went on back then it can still be impacting you today, including in the form of physical symptoms. Dr. Kyrin (12:47): So I wanna ask you a couple of questions about what you just shared. So you said they need to make sure they don't have any type of organ disease or a mental health diagnosis, but in reality you can have organ disease functional like a Crohn's or ulcerative colitis with an actual organ problem, and you still could be related to stress and brain issues. Correct? Dr. David (13:12): Well, you can have a combination of impact on your body from stress, from brain generated symptoms and a biomedical condition like Crohn's disease at the same time. And that's, that can be a really confusing situation for a physician. If you've got a flare up of symptoms, you need to then sort out, is it the inflammatory bowel disease is flaring up or is it the irritable bowel syndrome that's more directly connected to stress that's flaring up. And sometimes you have to do more diagnostic tests to see if the inflammation is more active, or you can evaluate the patient and see if there's a stress that has come up in their life that has triggered the flare up in the symptoms. So yeah, there can be people who have both of these conditions at the same time. Right. Dr. Kyrin (14:01): And same, I guess with the mental health diagnosis. And you talk about adverse childhood experiences, which we've talked a bit about on the podcast, but I think it bears repeating. And you mentioned a term though I had not heard called deep stress. So can you talk about what is deep stress and maybe talk to everyone about how they would know if they qualified to have adverse childhood experiences or not? I know you gave a great example there. If you look back at your childhood, would you think, wow, that was really a lot to handle, but what is deep stress? Dr. David (14:36): I use the term deep stress to mean stresses that people don't fully recognize they have. So they're kind of deeply buried stresses that may be affecting a person today, but they're not fully recognizing the magnitude of that stress. One of my patients, for example, was put into my hospital because of an attack of severe vomiting and extreme dizziness. And when I went to see her for consultation, she said something to me, I've never heard from any other patient, which was, thank you for coming, doctor, but don't waste your time with me. You'd be better off seeing your other patients. And when I asked her why it turned out she had good reason to say that she had been hospitalized at a major university in her hometown 60 times over the previous 15 years with no diagnosis. She had seen a dozen different specialists, she had seen a psychiatrist and none of them could find anything wrong with her. Dr. David (15:31): But it turned out that she had a major stress in her life, which turned out to be that her mother had verbally and emotionally abused her, starting when she was three or four years old and continuing on to the present day. She was 50 years old at the time, her mother was in her seventies and was still doing this to her. So it also turned out that, and this was the, the real key to her diagnosis. But although most of her attacks of illness, which she had between six and 10 times a year, took place in and around her home community, she would always get an attack whenever she passed through a little town, about 45 minutes from where she lived. But it turned out the only time she ever went through that little town was when she was on her way to visit her mother, who lived several hours further down the road. Dr. David (16:21): So she's driving to visit her mom, the emotional tension in that relationship is building and building and building. And by the time she gets to this little town, her husband's gotta pull a car over and she's throwing up all over the guardrail. So I pointed out to her that the only time she got sick was when she was on her way to visit her mother. She could drive 45 minutes in any other direction and she'd be fine. She could drive an hour and 45 minutes in any other direction and she wouldn't have any problem. So that finally made clear to her what this deep stress was that she hadn't previously recognized. And as soon in her case, just bringing that into conscious awareness was enough to alleviate her illness. She went home from the hospital the next day and she called me a year later, say, she'd gone through the entire year with no episodes. Now I wish I could cure everybody that quickly, but it's a really good example of deep stress and the impact it can have when you finally see what's going on. Dr. Kyrin (17:22): Right. And so what you're describing though, in terms of the physician interaction really requires a level of attention and curiosity and a level of time commitment to really sort through these issues with people that most physicians are not allotted by the current managed care system that we have. And we're not trained in that. So I know that you have so many resources, books you've authored and training programs for practitioners. I don't know that the medical curriculum has changed since I went through medical school. Are you, or residency, but how do you suspect that we're going to actually get physicians, the education and training and give them the time to be able to sort through these issues with patients? Dr. David (18:13): Yeah, once you see these issues, you sort of can't unsee them. And it's true that the, you know, medical office visits these days are very short. But as I tell my audiences of physicians when I'm teaching, you don't have to gather all this information in one visit. You can get the information you need about stresses passed and present a little at a time, because these are patients that tend to keep coming back to your office because they don't get better with the traditional approaches. So you gather this information over time, and the physicians I've taught to do this they absolutely love it. It transforms their practice. So one of them mm-hmm, , a family doctor, took me aside at a conference and said, these concepts have put the joy back into my work because all of a sudden you've got 40% of the people who are coming through the door to see you. Dr. David (19:04): That used to be a headbanging frustrating because you didn't know what to do for them. Now all of a sudden you have a positive approach that you can take that actually makes people better. Not necessarily in one hour conversation like with the last patient, but definitely over time people can see they're on a pathway toward improving their use of healthcare resources goes way down. You know, you asked about, you know, what patients can do to assess themselves. I should have mentioned we've got a self-assessment quiz on my nonprofits website. It's at end chronic pain.org. There's a 12 item self-assessment quiz. And it's set up so that the more questions to which you answer yes, the more likely it is that you have one of these psychophysiologic disorders. A combination of psychology and physiology. And that's a way that your listeners can find out or at least get more information about whether this might apply to them. Dr. Kyrin (20:01): Yes. Something else you said though, that this woman had been emotionally abused by her mother in my experience. So this applies to a great quote that you shared with me from Schauer before we started that I wanna share with everyone. All truth passes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. And I love that because I, I don't know which stage we're in with the topics that you're talking about where deep stress, adverse childhood experience, and we're probably in the, maybe it's a little ridiculed by a lot of people. That's not an issue. And in my experience, and in a lot of the women that I work with, thousands of women, if you say, were you emotionally abused? Were you sexually abused? Did you have abuse? Did you have neglect as a child? Dr. Kyrin (20:51): I find that a majority of people who grew up in fairly cohesive, what I would call seemingly functional families, have no awareness actually, that they were emotionally abused, but they were, and maybe they have no memory of sexual abuse, but they were. And so I do find when I encounter patients, 'cause this is something I'm attuned to, and there are certain issues going on that have no medical explanation, and I approached these subjects, their answer is, oh no, I, my family was fine. I didn't have any problems. But if you ask more pointed questions to get to specific statements that people may have made or how people were available to them or not emotionally really in the terms of the emotional arena, people have a huge amount of denial is what I'm gonna say. Dr. David (21:42): You're right. Dr. Kyrin (21:44): So how do you, we've been socialized in America and most developed countries to believe that our body is a machine and it's a mechanical machine. When there's a problem, well, we go to the doctor to get a diagnosis, just like we take our car to the mechanic and then they figure out what's wrong and they give us a pill or they do a surgery and they fix us. And nowhere in my training or any, I just did my board recertification this year, we have to do it every year. And none of the articles on women's health had anything to do with what you and I are talking about when you and I both know that the issues we're talking about have deep consequences in terms of health for women in terms of their fertility and their menstrual regularity, their menopause, et cetera. So how do you get people out of denial and to really realize that this is a part of the problem and realize that what they did experience, although it might not have been horrific, like you see in some TV shows and movies, actually was neglectful and was an adverse childhood experience. And was Dr. Deep stress Dr. David (22:49): Wow, a lot to unpack there. Yes, with the Schopenhauer quote, I mean, it depends on, you know, who you talk to. But the acceptance now is really coming on. I mean, there, I'm teaching in my medical school, I'm teaching in graduate schools, and there are medical schools in Europe that are teaching this now. One of two of them are actually using my first book called They can't find anything wrong as a teaching tool, especially for their family doctors. So the acceptance is really growing. It, it's, we need more for acceptance than just me telling stories about my patients. And we have that. Now in 2024, there are half a dozen randomized controlled trials that show the value of what I call pain relief psychology or what another researcher is called, pain recovery psychology, that have compared it with a variety of placebo control groups and the, the power of the outcomes, the effect size, which is the, the statistical term is enormous for when you compare it in terms of the outcomes. Dr. David (23:55): One of the studies called the Boulder Back Pain Study, for example, they had people with 10 years of back pain. Their average pain scores were four out of 10. And with just one month of pain relief psychology, their average pain scores dropped from four to one. And this is after a decade, these people had been suffering. And, one month it just plummets. It's extraordinary to see the graph. It was published in the JAMA Psychiatry Journal of the American Medical Association. And the benefits were enormous. And we got similar results at Harvard, at the West Los Angeles VA Hospital where they worked with a very tough group of older male veterans, 5% of whom got better with cognitive behavioral therapy, which is the usual kind of psychotherapy that you get in the us. But with the new pain relief psychology, 42% achieved their pain goal. Dr. David (24:51): I mean, it was eight times as much. It's just extraordinary to see that kind of impact just from talking to people in a different way. So coming onto your question about how do we make people aware that their childhood experience was maybe not quite so good as they thought, because you know, after all, none of us has a parallel life we can compare ourselves with. If you grow up in a difficult environment, you may not necessarily appreciate how difficult it was. So this brings me back to that same idea of, you know, imagine a child that you care about growing up in the same household you did, dealing with everything you had to deal with, and you are just watching it as a passive observer. How are you feeling when you're watching that kid you care about try to cope? One of my patients was a, you know, person known to the public whom I was talking about this with. Dr. David (25:47): And she said, no, my childhood was really not that bad. Other people have been through much worse than I have. It turned out her parents fought with each other almost every day. Not physically, but verbally and emotionally, and she was an only child. So she took on the role of peacemaker and then her parents got divorced when she was age eight, which you would think would, you know, be a partial solution to her problem. But unfortunately, they kept living in the same house. They slept in several bedrooms, but you know, they still were fighting with each other. So from her perspective, it didn't do her any good at all. And she's telling me, no, this really wasn't so bad. So I said, okay, you have this beloved niece, a four or five, 6-year-old girl. You love this girl. You take her on with you on weekends and do fun things with her. Dr. David (26:32): You're just devoted to this little girl. Imagine her, your niece in that household, and you can only watch, you're watching your niece try to cope with your parents. What is that gonna be like for you? And she just stared at me. She was, you know, somebody who was very verbal, could carry on her end of a conversation all day long that just brought her to a halt. And she went on for a couple of minutes just pondering that idea. And then at the end she said, you know, after a week of watching that I would shoot myself. And that was the first time she had truly recognized just how difficult it really was. And that was the start of her treatment, which was successful. She had half a dozen different symptoms in her body for the last 20 years, and within a matter of months they were gone. Dr. Kyrin (27:21): I love that question. I think it's beautiful. I actually went through and took your quiz before we did the interview because I wanted to see what the questions were. And that question is on there. And I think that helps someone step out, I think people are very worried about blaming their parents and they don't wanna do that. And so that hence the denial. Most of us really appreciate all that our parents have done for us. And you know, even if there were difficulties, but when you step out as an observer and say, well, yeah, if there were a child like you, your patient said, I, I would shoot myself then, you know, and there really is no one to blame because they're only doing what they were taught by their parents and their parents and their parents and their parents. Dr. David (28:03): So they do the best they can. Dr. Kyrin (28:05): They do the best they can. So thank you for explaining that. And so people can also identify what are some of the most common symptoms that we're talking about? Dr. David (28:16): Yeah, I'm glad you asked 'cause we hadn't mentioned that it's literally head to toe. You can have pain symptoms and non-pain symptoms. So migraines ring in the ears, difficulty swallowing, visual disturbances, pseudo seizures, pain in the temporomandibular joint of the jaw. Neck pain, low back pain is a big one. Approximately 88% of low back pain is psychophysiologic in nature according to a recent study. Chest pain, abdominal pain, pelvic genital joint, difficulty breathing, unexplained cough, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel can cause diarrhea, constipation, nausea, vomiting, bloating, indigestion, numbness and tingling in the extremities. The, the only common denominator is that people tend to have more than one symptom at a time. The more symptoms you have, the more likely it is a psychophysiologic cause is what's going on. And there's lots more that I haven't even thought to mention. Functional neurological disorder is another one. A lot of people with hypermobility disorder like Aler Danlos get all kinds of symptoms attributed to Aler Danlos that probably are not from the Aler Danlos. They're actually from psychophysiologic disorder. Dr. Kyrin (29:37): And so how are these symptoms triggered and why is understanding this so important to treatment? Dr. David (29:44): Well, the symptoms can be triggered by a particular stress that this happens most often in my patients with post-trauma, that they've been through some kind of terrifying or horrifying event. And then, the symptoms begin soon thereafter, or it could be the trauma was quite a number of years in the past, but some triggering event has happened that leads to the development of the symptoms. But sometimes the symptoms can just appear for seemingly no reason as part of the recovery process from adverse childhood experiences. For example, my very first patient, she was averaging one bowel movement per month despite taking four different laxatives at double the usual doses. And it just started when she was 35. She was the one who had been sexually abused hundreds of times. Nobody had touched her against her will for close to 25 years. But the illness just began in midlife. Dr. David (30:40): And why is that? Well, it turns out that there's a recovery process from childhood adversity, and at some point people reached a level where a lot of the buried emotions begin to come knocking on the door. She had a tremendous amount of outrage about how she'd been treated as a girl, but it had been repressed. In order to survive her childhood, she had to repress it. But in the middle of her thirties, it was finally time for her to confront this and deal with it. But the anger couldn't find a way into her conscious awareness. So instead it manifested in her body. And the psychiatrist, Dr. Kaplan helped her to recognize how much anger she had begun to talk about, putting it into words. And the more you can put repressed emotions into words, the less they have to express themselves via the body. And these can be not just anger, but I've had patients with fear, shame, guilt, grief, that we're responsible instead of anger. Dr. Kyrin (31:39): Yeah, I love that. I really think that the body is our subconscious mind and it will out picture anything that we don't acknowledge or feel, feel, feel consciously. Absolutely. And so, right, if we deny it, then our body has to express it. And that's probably an illness or pain. But when we acknowledge it and feel it and process it, then the body says, oh, thank you for doing your job so that I don't have to bring it to your attention. And I really see all dis-ease in the body as a signal. Yes, there could be some biochemical or anatomic problem if it's progressed, but it's really stemming from a lot of these emotional and psychological issues. And you talk about the effectiveness of what you call pain relief psychology for alleviating deep stress. And it consists of personality traits, triggers, and unrecognized emotions from ACEs. Can you talk a little bit more about what pain relief psychology is? Dr. David (32:40): Yeah, you bet. What it's all about is uncovering the stresses that a person has in their life, whether they are in the present day. I mean, a very simple example was a patient of mine who only got his pain when he was driving to work. When he was driving home from work, he was fine on the weekends when he was not at work, he was fine too . So we kind of focused on, all right, what's going on at work? And, you know, that was a huge stress going on. So that was a very simple example. But more complicated is we're, we're trying to look at the long-term consequences of ACEs and the repressed emotions is a big one there. But we can also look at personality traits. Many people who've been through ACEs cope with those issues by developing certain personality traits. Their self-esteem, for one, is likely to be harmed and likely to be much lower than it deserves to be. Dr. David (33:30): Kids trying to cope with adversity oftentimes become very detail oriented, perfectionists. They tend not to be very assertive. They tend to focus on the needs of other people to the exclusion of putting themselves on the list of people. They take care of a whole long list of these personality traits that can be very stressful. But when you find out how you develop those personality traits, where they came from, who taught you these things about yourself that are not true, like, you know, you're a second rate or unworthy human being, and how did they teach those things to you? And we can understand that better. And that facilitates making changes in those personality traits, which then leads to a reduction in stress level. And then finally, I like to pay attention to triggers in someone's life. These are people, situations or events that are in some way linked to the past and are therefore very emotionally triggering. Dr. David (34:26): And the, the most common of those by far is that there's an ace perpetrator, you know, one of your parents usually that's still in your life today and is still mistreating you in some way. And that can lead to reactions in the body. One of my more dramatic examples of that is a patient who was hospitalized for a total of 51 days for her symptoms over a nine month period of time. And none of the many people who evaluated her asked her if anything stressful had happened right before she became ill. And it turned out that yes, something stressful had happened, which was that her father had a stroke and he was calling upon her for support. 3, 4, 5 days a week she'd be in his house helping him out. And this was a huge problem for her because she'd been avoiding her father for most of her adult life. Dr. David (35:18): And when I asked her why, she told me this story that nobody else had heard up to that point, which was that when she was six years old and her little brother was four, mom and dad had gone off to Las Vegas for a long weekend and she was staying with aunt and uncle on the Sunday that mom and dad were due to come back. They called up the aunt and uncle and they said, we're getting a divorce and we're not coming back. And that was the last she saw of her parents for the next 20 years. So there was, you know, enormous emotional tension in that relationship. Vinny has a stroke and she feels obligated as the daughter to go and help him out. But when she does that, and only is it difficult to be in his presence, as you might imagine, he's critical. If she doesn't do things exactly the way he wants her to, you know, you'd think he'd be grateful, but instead he doesn't hesitate to criticize her, which just twists the knife a little more. And not too surprising that she became physically ill in this situation, but nobody else had thought to delve into the possibility that her brain might be causing these symptoms, which are, if I haven't pointed it out yet, they're absolutely as real as symptoms from any other cause. Dr. Kyrin (36:30): You know, I love the examples you're giving. I think everyone's getting a really good idea. Wow, this could be me. My parents were divorced. I had just situations that are very adversarial and negative in our lives, but I think there's not a lot, a lot of acknowledgement about the emotional impact and now everybody's learning the physical impact. It was so interesting. I was recently traveling and I was in Dubai and I was having a problem with my right shoulder and arm, and I went to a physiotherapist and he did a bunch of manipulations, which really helped. And I started talking to him about emotions related to the different muscles and right arm, and it relates to the father's representation and all these things that I've studied over the years. And he said, what are you talking about ? He said he didn't know what I was talking about. Dr. Kyrin (37:21): And I said, well, you know, emotions can be stored in the body in different parts of the body or associated with different emotions. And he didn't, wasn't aware of this. But like you say, once you see it, you can't unsee it. So if you're listening to this, you're now having information that maybe your practitioners aren't aware of that you are going to be aware of, and you can start looking at your life. Wow, when do I get those migraines? Oh, let me see. It's about a couple days before this, such and such family members come to visit every time. And do I get stomach aches on the way to work? And there's some periodicity or relatedness to how you're living your life and the symptoms you're having. And when you start to sort that out, you can't unsee it. So how would someone get started? They can take your quiz. It might be possible that their practitioner is not versed in this. So how do you suggest that people get started having a proper assessment of pain relief psychology or I would say disease relief psychology? How do they go about doing this? Dr. David (38:29): Great place to start is with your physician to make sure that there's not a biomedical cause that you don't have an organ disease or an injury that could, the doctor thinks maybe there's a connection there, but you're not improving in the way that they expect. That would be another time to look and see if this psychophysiologic process could be contributing to your condition. And that 12 item quiz is a great place to start because it's got a lot of educational elements in it that can show you how some of these ideas might apply to you. And if they do, then we've got a lot of resources on the website that people can, it's end chronic pain.org that can help people delve into this more. There's a course on, there's several courses on there. Some of them are video, some of them are primarily text that can give you more information because information is the treatment here. Dr. David (39:23): The more you understand how this works, the more you understand how it applies to you, the more that you can do things to lead to improvement. This one of the techniques might be if you had an ace perpetrator in your life as a kid, writing a letter to that person. It's very challenging, as you pointed out earlier, to recognize that you might have some negative emotions towards someone that you also care about. And sorting that out, writing a letter to put those thoughts and feelings in there, both good and bad, not not to mail the letter just as an exercise, to write it as a way to take emotions and thoughts and feelings and put them into words that are written down that can pull ideas out of your head that you didn't necessarily know were there. And the more that you're able to do that, the less those things need to express themselves via the body. Dr. David (40:16): That's one of the techniques. There are apps for this that are very evidence-based, that one of them is called curable, that I recommend to patients. There are self-help books about this. We've got textbooks for healthcare professionals, but even the textbooks are written without jargon because we wanted the medical clinicians to be able to read the psychological material and vice versa. And one of the benefits of that is that if you're a science oriented reader, you can read one of these textbooks and get a lot out of it. I, I know psychophysiologic relief therapists who are prescribing even textbooks to their patients. Dr. Kyrin (40:56): Oh, I love that. Yeah. So definitely go to the website, we'll have the link in the show notes and take the quiz and start to investigate this. I mean, honestly, I think if you have any chronic condition, you could benefit from this. Definitely get a proper evaluation from your regular doctor. You might wanna also consider a functional approach, which I am particularly passionate about, and we often are able to fix and find root causes that mainstream medicine isn't able to address. But this even in a, from a functional perspective, is something that I think everybody should look into. I would be remiss if I didn't mention how this ties into hormones. And so briefly, because we're running out of time, I'm just gonna say that it ties in most likely to your cortisol stress hormone. 'cause We're talking about deep stress, we're talking about adverse childhood experiences, and this is going to deal with your HPA axis, hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis, which relates to your cortisol. So if you were wondering, Hey, Dr. Karen, are you gonna tie this into hormones? There we did it. Bam, , Dr. David (42:04): Yeah, it's an additional source of stress on top of everything else. Yeah. Dr. Kyrin (42:08): Yeah. So Dr. Clark, any parting words before we wrap up? Dr. David (42:13): You know, I'll just say the bottom line here is that the brain can generate symptoms in the body, and these symptoms are every bit as real and can be every bit as severe as symptoms from any other cause. So if you're looking for the body's defects as an explanation for the symptoms and you're not finding it, then think about whether the brain could be generating these symptoms. You know, a a classic example is phantom limb pain where somebody's had an amputation and yet they feel pain at the site where the limb is, you know, no longer exists. That pain is being generated in the brain and it is very powerful. I mean, it has put some of my patients in the hospital, one of my patients was a 17-year-old who I was asked to see on their 70th day in the hospital. Dr. David (43:02): They were getting 10 milligrams of morphine an hour. You know, for a kid this size, five or 10 milligrams would be enough to treat the pain of a fractured leg for your patient's. Not familiar with morphine doses. This patient was getting 10 milligrams every hour. That was when we found the stress, we treated it successfully, and the patient was off of the hospital in a week and off of all opioids in 30 days. So just being aware that the brain can do this and the brain does this because of stress, which may be deep stress, it may be stress you don't fully recognize, it may be stress from far in the past. So start looking for those things. Use the quiz to help you find what those things might be. And then finally, effective treatment is available. We've got half a dozen randomized controlled trials now published in very rigorous journals that show dramatic benefits when these underlying issues are brought into the open and dealt with successfully. Yes. Dr. Kyrin (44:00): And when you go take the quiz, when you get your results in your email, there's a resource page that Dr. Clark has with all kinds of books and just a plethora of resources. So you'll have lots there to help you on your way. Thank you so much, Dr. Clark, for joining me today. Dr. David (44:19): Thank you for having me. It was a pleasure speaking with you. Dr. Kyrin (44:22): And I'll just wrap up by sharing another quote that you shared with me before we started recording. I'll leave everyone with this because I think it really gets to the heart of what we're talking about. And it is from Rita Cheren, who's also a doctor, and it is the work of medicine. Inconsiderable part rests on the doctor's ability to listen to the stories that patients tell, to make sense of those often chaotic narratives of illness, to inspect and evaluate the listener's response to the story told to understand what these narratives mean and to be moved by them. I hope that you are inspired to look at your own possible deep stress and adverse childhood experiences and how it might be impacting your health to take the quiz, to educate yourself. I really think that this is the next frontier that in the future at some date will be self-evident. Dr. Kyrin (45:19): That of course, doctors need to be addressing this with their patients. But as long as you are here and you know about it, you can use this information to take action on your own behalf. You don't have to wait for your doctors to catch up. You can get the help that's available to you now. So something to think about. Look forward to hearing your thoughts. Reach out to me on social media and let me know what your thoughts are about this and how it's helped you. I'll see you again next week. Thanks so much for joining me. Until then, peace, love, and hormones, y'all. Dr. Kyrin (45:54): Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormones and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.   ► 12 item Self Assessment Questionnaire for brain-generated pain or illness by Dr. David Clarke.  This 12-item questionnaire is designed to improve understanding of your pain or illness. The more questions to which you answer ‘Yes', the more likely it is that a brain-to-body disorder (a Psychophysiologic Disorder or PPD) is contributing significantly to your condition. For any concerns raised by these questions, we recommend discussion with a medical or mental health professional. CLICK HERE to access the questionnaire.   ► Are you tired of feeling like you're losing control at midlife? 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Most people don't even know that their hormones could be the culprit behind their problems. But at Her Hormone Club, we specialize in hormone testing and treatment. We can help you figure out what's going on with your hormones and get you back on track. We offer advanced hormone testing and treatment from Board Certified Practitioners, so you can feel confident that you're getting the best possible care. Plus, our convenient online consultation process makes it easy to get started. Try Her Hormone Club for 30 days and see how it can help you feel better than before. CLICK HERE.

In this pivotal episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast, your host unlocks the secret link between spinal health and hormonal balance with none other than the spine whisperer himself, Dr. Ryan Wohlfert. Dr. Wohlfert isn't just any expert; he's a titan in the realm of spinal wellness—a Certified Mindset Specialist, Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician, and a master in the esteemed art of Chiropractic BioPhysics®. With over 23 years of transforming lives through education and renowned clinical practice, he returns to the podcast with an invigorating discussion on Essential Spinal Hygiene for Your Hormonal Function & Vitality. Key Insights From This Episode: The Spine-Hormone Connection: Dr. Ryan unravels how the spine directly influences our hormonal symphony and why maintaining spinal integrity can sing health into our lives. A Lifetime of Vitality: Discover Dr. Ryan's spinal correction protocol, a groundbreaking approach that has helped alleviate chronic pain and fend off dysfunction and disease for thousands. Beyond Manipulation: Learn how specific spinal care goes a step further than traditional chiropractic work, empowering not just relief, but a total revival of energy and endurance. The Pillars of Pain-Free Living: Dr. Ryan shares his wisdom on how simple, daily spinal hygiene practices can liberate you from the grips of medication and pave the way for a lifetime of vibrant, pain-free living. Mindset Matters: Embark on a mindset makeover that aligns your spinal health goals with success, as Dr. Wohlfert elaborates on how mental fortitude underpins physical wellbeing. Dr. Ryan's Mantra for Listeners: "Your spine is the conduit of life energy. Nourish it, and it will nourish every cell in your body. Neglect it, and wellness will elude you. It's that simple, and it's that miraculous." Stay tuned as Dr. Ryan leads us through the intricacies of spinal hygiene and its paramount role in nurturing our hormonal health—not just for today, but for a future brimming with vitality. And remember, your pathway to hormone harmony might just begin with a healthy spine.   Speaker 1 (00:00): You don't have to do anything except deal with the consequences of your choices. Dr. Ryan Wohlfert, stay tuned to find out what you're not doing for your spine that could be affecting your hormones and your health. Speaker 2 (00:14): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us, keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself again. As an O-B-G-Y-N, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Speaker 1 (01:08): Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me today as we dive in with Dr. Ryan Wohlfert to talk about the spine and spinal hygiene. I know you're thinking my spine takes care of itself. I don't need to do anything for it. You need to think again, , you really do. Your spine needs TLC. It is your backbone. It houses what your central nervous system, your brain, brings to the rest of your body. And a lot of us, many of us may have problems with it in our lifetime, overt or surreptitious, but it can cause problems in the long run if you're not doing some simple things like you brush your teeth every day and floss, right? There are things you need to do for your spine, but you know, it's pretty obvious when you have a tooth problem because you get a toothache or your teeth turn yellow or you get bad breath or right. Speaker 1 (02:03): It's pretty obvious, but you're probably not gonna have the obvious signs from your spine until a problem is down the line and has become more severe. And there's some simple things you can do for your spine, just like brushing your teeth and flossing that you can do for your spine and why that's super important. So, Dr. Ryan's gonna dive in with us on that topic. He has some great quotes, , like the one that I shared with you in the beginning, and he really has a deep knowledge of this subject and can speak about it in a really down to earth, practical way. I think you're gonna enjoy it. So without further ado, I will tell you a little about Dr. Ryan and then we'll get started. So, he's a certified mindset specialist. Love that. He is a certified chiropractic sports physician and certified chiropractic biophysics physician. He uses a specific spinal correction protocol to help patients resolve chronic pain and avoid dysfunction and disease. Yes. So he has over 23 years of education and clinical experience. He's worked with thousands of people to improve their spine energy longevity, eliminate dependence on medication, and make simple healthy pain-free living possible. Please help me welcome Dr. Ryan Wolfert to the Speaker 3 (03:21): show. Thanks for having me, doc. I appreciate you, you reaching out and us getting able to talk. Speaker 1 (03:27): Yeah, I think that this is such an important topic because it's very neglected, I'll say in the functional medicine space, even though we cover a lot of things, we don't cover the bioenergetics of the body, which I think is super important. And we really don't cover the structural aspects which are super important. And part of your metabolic homeostasis, right, from a, from your bones and your muscles, they're very highly metabolically active tissues. And this all ties into the bones and the musculoskeletal system into the spine, which is kind of ground zero, I'll call it, for your overall musculoskeletal balance. So I think it's super important, and that's why everybody listening needs to listen up and pay attention to this. Don't just say, oh, I don't have any spine problems, . Right? And if you're saying that you might, you're likely to have a very high possibility of that in your life. And this contributes to your overall metabolic and hormonal health, believe it or not. And we're gonna get into that a little more. So welcome and I, I would say Dr. Ryan, you're a chiropractor by training, right? Correct. And so what makes you focus more on the spine than anything else? How did you come in your chiropractic career to believe that that's really the linchpin? Speaker 3 (04:56): I love that. And I love what you said right at the beginning too, how, you know, especially in functional medicine, the mechanical aspects of things and structural aspects do get pushed to the background because we're, nutrition is important obviously, but the mechanics of how your body uses that nutrition is also important. And with the spine, my whole journey with the spine started when I was a kid, when I was 13 years old and I had my first migraine headache, and I'm already jumping the gun there. But again, I had these episodes and I would have headaches and I would have colds, and I would have infections and I would've bronchitis and all these things, but I was still an active kid, you know, playing all these sports with my brothers in the backyard and, and eating homemade food that my mom would make. Speaker 3 (05:49): But one time, or I shouldn't say one time, the first time I remember was sitting in class and all of a sudden I couldn't see outta my right eye. The right side of my body went numb like this, I shouldn't say numb, but a tingly feeling in my hand and down my leg. And just seeing spots, you know how you look at the sun and you get that sun spot or a light? Mm-Hmm, . But I couldn't see out of my eye. And then the craziest thing, and probably the scariest thing happened about 20 to 30 minutes after those symptoms started is I couldn't talk. Like I would just, I could have thoughts, but the words weren't coming out. And this was all, I was in class. I was, oh my gosh, asking questions and I didn't know what it was. But then after those symptoms, about a half hour, that's when I got my first migraine headache, like just this debilitating headache. Speaker 3 (06:43): I didn't, like I said, like I said, I thought it was just a headache, just a really bad one. So I went home, slept, and probably took some Tylenol and some ibuprofen that my mom gave me. I don't know, I can't remember. So it went away after a day or two, and then I was again sitting in class and it happened again the next week. So a week later it happened again. I knew what was gonna happen or after, like those first symptoms, the tingling, the sun, like the spots that I couldn't see went down to the school office and asked the secretary, I asked her, you know, I, I'm gonna have a bad headache. Do you have any Tylenol that I can take? And so what she said actually changed the course of my life. She said, I can't give you that, but what it sounds like, it sounds like you got a pinched nerve and you need to go see my chiropractor . Speaker 3 (07:35): So again, I was 10 years old, in the eighth grade. I was like, whatever. It's not like I could take myself, but she called my mom to come pick me up. And she told my mom when she came to pick me up, the same thing she told me. So then we went to the chiropractic office of her chiropractor. He took x-rays, showed me my spine was crooked, which was, I still remember that, again, I'm just giving you a summary version of it. But it was all very thorough. And I remember us sitting in the room, he showed my mom and myself the x-rays and said, look right there, it's on crooked. So then I got my first adjustment, and it was like fireworks went up. It was just, wow. Just, he said, feel your face. And all the circulation I could feel, my face was like beet red and was warm because the circulation was coming back. Speaker 3 (08:23): And so that was my first experience and it, it, it wasn't right then that I said, oh man, I'm gonna be a chiropractor. But it gave me the taste of it. And ever since then I've been, I've been going, but along the way, it wasn't until probably my, my junior, up until my junior year of high school, I was gonna be an engineer, a mechanical engineer. That's what my focus was. But then going into my senior year, somebody told me about kinesiology. Like, whoa, that sound, what's that? The study of human movement, the study of movement, musculoskeletal system, how the body works with that. So I I went into that major and while I was there, that's kinda like a stepping stone to either pre-med, athletic training, physical therapy, occupational therapy. But while I was at University of Michigan my freshman year, I was like, you know what I, I know the power of chiropractic and how the spine works. Speaker 3 (09:16): So that's where my focus led and it's been great along the way. Obviously I've learned a lot. You probably know as well as anybody the, your education and ex it starts after you get outta school. That's basically because after the last, you know, I've been a chiropractor for over 23 years, and the last 15 of it has been in this corrective form, which we'll talk a lot about today and the research behind that and how this actual structure, 'cause you know, there's chiropractic that, again, the adjustments are great, but if you're trying to fix the structure and posture and the, the normal curves of the spine and the positioning of the spine because of how the ligaments and muscles and nerves all intertwine, the adjustment is great for a jumpstart. But if you want to correct the actual positioning and structure and alignment of it, then you have to create a sustained load onto it. Speaker 3 (10:13): Similar to how braces correct the structure of teeth. Just like we can't push on our teeth one time a week or one time even a day, and it will correct the structure of them. There needs to be a sustained load to do that. And that's again, what we focus on. And by correcting those curves and the structure and the normal positioning of the spine, that takes the stress off of the nerves, off of the musculoskeletal system. So like how you mentioned ground zero is the spine. I, you know, I like to say it's the foundation of our strength and our function, because if that's off, then it puts excess wear and tear on the rest of the system. Speaker 1 (10:54): Right. So you said so much in there that's so rich, thank you for that. Before we dive into ground zero, I, I just have to point out a few things that you mentioned. So you said you were gonna go into mechanical engineering, which is interesting because you kind of are a mechanical engineer just of humans, not machines. And it gets to something else that you mentioned. It's interesting how many of us, I want everyone listening to think back, how many times did you go to the school nurse in your educational career with an ache, a bump, a pain for us ladies, a lot of times it's menstrual problems. And did they just give you a Tylenol or a Motrin, right, for your cramps, for your headache? They just gave you the pill. But it's fascinating to me that you are now in the pro profession and path that you're on and that this woman said something completely different. Speaker 1 (11:49): And out of the blue from 99.9% of the school nurses globally, that actually planted seeds that impacted the course of your life. Or rather, maybe she was one of your guides along that path, kind of planted by the divine, the universe, whatever you like to call it, to guide you on your path. And, and why I think this is so important. So why I'm so passionate about what I do is yes, do I want people, women, particularly women over 40, but all women to be as healthy as possible, vital and alive and feel great in their bodies? Yes. But it's so that you can live your purpose, live your passion. And a lot of women, they're so stuck in their health problems that they've even stopped dreaming about that passion. They've stopped listening to that internal voice that's guiding them. They're like, I just, Karen, I get it, but I just wanna feel better. Speaker 1 (12:47): But what I find is when I work with you to get you feeling better, then you're like, okay, now I wanna get back on my path and my purpose, what I think Dr. Ryan shared there was so key because all along your life you've been getting these seeds planted, these walk in angels who say things to you that are so out of the blue, like instead of here's the Tylenol, you've got a pinched nerve and you need to go to the chiropractor. And a lot of times we discount those and we think, oh, this is happening to everyone. I know I've done that. Oh, this happens to everyone. But now looking back, you know, I was in the nurse's office with period problems from the time I first got my period, right. Not realizing that that was guiding me on my path to women's health. So I just wanna highlight that. Thank you for sharing that very beautiful story because people listen, they're also looking to feel better, but they're also looking for their purpose once they feel better. So I think it's beautiful and, and anything you wanna add about that, please feel free to. But welcome to drive into Ground zero, whatever you feel called. Speaker 3 (13:55): I love that you brought that piece into it because I got the chills. You just say that, you know, the divine and God just leading me in that direction and you're not really, you don't know it, you know, until, until you know it, until again, I was going through my journey and you mentioned the mechanical engineering part of it. You're right, essentially that's what we're re-engineering, we're restructuring the body. It's interesting because this technique that we use, it's called CBP chiropractic biophysics, which you mentioned in the intro. It's it, the, the person who developed it, he you know, is a doctor of chiropractic, but he's also, he had a, a master's in engineering and a master's in in math. So he understood the relationship between that of the body and the mechanics and how that affects the overall health of the, because he has such a deep understanding of it. Speaker 1 (14:53): I have not heard of the term chiropractic biophysics. I'm gonna have to look it up. But is this related to, so I went to a chiropractor several years ago who was unlike any chiropractor I had been to before, and I've been to many of them. And he was the one who really introduced me to this whole concept that if there's a torque in your structural mechanics, meaning your spine, and it's kind of twisted and off kilter and things aren't aligned properly, that it alters the way blood flows through all of your blood vessels. It alters the ability of cells to take up nutrients and distribute nutrients that everything is affected. And he's like, think of, if you kind of take a city and you twist it a little, like take Manhattan, which kind of looks like a person and you twist it a little, well then Broadway isn't gonna, the traffic's not gonna flow smoothly along Broadway like it's supposed to. And then, you know, the UPS guy isn't gonna be able to deliver the packages properly 'cause there's gonna be traffic jams at certain places. So think of your blood vessels getting torqued and then calcium can't be delivered and then potassium and blood glucose can't be distributed properly. Is that what you're talking about? Or is it, am I totally off base? Speaker 3 (16:12): No, that's a great analogy. The flow of information, the flow of communication gets interrupted because, and that's a big reason why the spine is ground zero, why it's the foundation. And I think it's one of, I think it's the main reason why it's so important is because it houses the nervous system, the spinal cord and the nerve roots. So if you torque that as well as, again, it, it will alter the circulation like you had mentioned. And that's actually been shown through at least one study in, called in brain circulation journal, showing how the curve of the neck, which we haven't even gotten in the structure yet and what the normal structure is. But you should have this normal side curve of the neck and when you lose that, it alters the vertebral artery chemodynamics of that. So it's not delivering the oxygen, not delivering the blood to the brain, and then you can't get rid of the waste either. Speaker 3 (17:04): But no, that's very similar and like that torque that you mentioned, if there's some sort of mm-hmm, interference like that, and it's not allowing the communication just downriver down the highway. Like I love that analogy. Now the UPS driver can, you know, deliver the package. That's how our organs and organ systems can be affected by the spine not being in the correct alignment because it, you know, at the end of that highway route of that UPS driver is somebody's house. Well, at the end of these nerve roots and or the spinal cord, nerve roots to nerves at the end of those are your organs as well as your muscles and cells and all these tissues that they have to have this communication back and forth. Where if they don't, now the body, the brain's gonna try to figure things out on its own. Speaker 3 (17:55): And here is, I call it a perfect design, but somebody might call it a cruel joke. , your body, your body can handle a certain amount of dysfunction before it gives you symptoms, right? Right. If you felt a symptom every time you did something stressful to the body and that symptom didn't go away, you, your body, you wouldn't be able to function. So we need that nice communication in order for the brain to make decisions on what the body and the organs and the cells and tissue should be doing, including absorbing nutrients, including having your body heal and, and making the correct amount of hormones for, for, for, for your body. Speaker 1 (18:32): Right? And yes, so hopefully everybody listening, you're getting the picture right? And so this chiropractor was explaining to me like you're explaining like if you can do all the functional type of treatments you want, take all the supplements, change your diet, but if your skeletal system is wonky, which you proceeded to show me how mine looked wonky, you're not getting the proper delivery of nutrients, balance of hormones, excretion of waste. And isn't this happening to all of us just from gravity and living? We're all losing our C curve with us sitting and crouching over computers all day long. And kinda what are the situations that we're dealing with in everyday life that are causing us to have difficulties, whether we know it or not. Like you said, we might not have symptoms and we might think we're fine , so please enlighten Speaker 3 (19:27): Us. I got you led right into it. Beautiful. Because yeah, with the world that we're living in today, just going at a global level, you know, six in 10 US adults have at least one chronic condition. What does it have to do with the spine? Well, if you look at our world, almost 70% of us are in the distorted spinal posture that go forward hunched over prolonged flexed posture that leads to chronic issues and including chronic pain and disability fatigue, accelerated aging and arthritis, anxiety and mood problems, and increased medication use, which is a big you know, that's one of the things that I never wanna be on any medications, and this is, and I never will because I already put that in my mindset. And yes, it even impacts our hormones and our metabolic system. So what's even more, which I think is the most interesting part of what people don't know about the spine, is that multiple studies show that this spinal posture, you know, losing the C curve, as you mentioned, that hyper kyphosis of the mid back, that slump hunchback posture Mm-hmm that significantly increases the risk of death from heart disease, pulmonary issues, and all causes, which is surprising to a lot of people until we explain it, is think about it, if we're in that hunchback posture where our, the stress is on the nerves going to the heart, going to the lungs, going to the, the gut. Speaker 3 (20:56): Mm-Hmm. not only nerve stress, but just mechanically, if we're in that hunch position, well now again, we're putting increased mechanical stress on the heart to work the lungs. We can't, you know, get, you know, air into our lungs because there's not even enough space for that. So these, you already mentioned a few, you know, our phones, you know, sitting at a computer on the couch looking down, you know, propped up in our lazboy, driving, you know, even lying down, sleeping either on the couch or in bed or propping up ourselves up on pillows. But yeah, the major one is the phones being on our, our technology, which it's nice and I know that's not going away. So we better know how to counteract that stress with exercises, with adjusting our lifestyle with specific forms of, of traction we call it. Especially if you are already caught in that position where you have arthritis, where you have chronic back pain, where you have, you know, low energy, that's a big one because your body is fighting day after day just against gravity to stand up. Speaker 3 (22:03): And I'm saying a lot here, but I like to put images in, in people's heads and give analogies. If, if you are a, a, a parent or a grandparent and you, there's a, you know, when you had your babies and they were 10 pounds, 15 pounds as there were, you know, hopefully not 15 pounds when they were born, that'd be a, a pretty big baby. But if you took that 15 pound weight or 20 pound person, or even if you don't have a baby around or can't think back to that, just get a dumbbell or aa weight plate or something, 15 pounds and hold it at arms length away from your body. So that's like having this hunched posture where your head's forward and collapsing down is if you have a weight that's 15 to 20 pounds out away from you, do you see how your muscles, your spine, your joints are gonna be on overload, trying just to hold you up against gravity. And now we add things onto it to make it even tougher. So if we retrain our posture and spine using specific techniques to take that stress off of it, bring that weight closer to the body, now we're decreasing the stress, yes, on the spine, but also the spinal cord we're decreasing. And by that we're also decreasing stress on your organs, on your metabolism, on your entire cell tissue system, anywhere that these nerves go. Right? So that's how that works. Speaker 1 (23:28): Yeah, I love how you detailed that. It's, it's funny, I became a nomad about a year and a half ago. I've traveled all over the world and I don't know, somehow I thought in America, maybe we were in a bubble that we're all on our phones all day long. Everywhere. But no, everywhere I go, , , all, all over Africa, the Middle East, and now I'm in London, everybody's on their phone all the time in that hunched over position. And you listen, you know, you do it too. So I love this quote you shared with me before we started. You don't have to do anything except deal with the consequences of your choices. Your choices. So why I love that so much is that a lot of times we're not aware of the consequences of our choices. What are the consequences of being hunched over on our phone all day or our computer every day? Speaker 1 (24:19): And you're really highlighting that for us. You're waking us up to, oh, this is something I need to pay attention to. Whether or not I'm having a spine problem or a pain problem. It's something I need to pay attention to. And I know you've got solutions, . So we're gonna dive into that. But before we do that, how would somebody know if this is like, you need to drop everything and take care of this now position, or this applies to everyone, including me, and I need to start integrating some things into my daily life. What are some symptoms people might have to know where they fall on this continuum of needing acute attention or care versus, oh, this is a chronic problem and I do need to pay attention to it. Like fixing your diet. How do they know? Speaker 3 (25:07): An acute problem would be like any types of acute injuries, especially if you had like sciatica, shooting pain, debilitating pain, like with me when I was, when I had my migraines, that was a sign to me and that was well sign to our school secretary to tell us that, to, to tell me that any type of intense pain would be a, alright, you need to get this checked out. Which again, pain is a great motivator. So that's kind of a simple way to know if you have more on that lower spectrum, but still low energy and fatigue is another big one because your body's wasting so many resources. If your body is in this, your spine is in this distorted, abnormal, weakened position. So those are the two big main ones. Chronic pain in different areas of your body, especially spine and the nerves, disc problems arm, if we're talking may with a neck stiffness, achiness, where again you see a progression of not able to turn your head side to side, tilt it pain, shooting down the arm, numbness, tingling in your hands. Speaker 3 (26:17): Those are all signs of, okay, acute, get these checked out. Now if and hopefully that answered the question with that. If you are, and I'm glad you asked this, because if you don't have these acute symptoms, how can you test yourself to see what your spinal posture is like? And I love that. 'cause That's the, basically that's the first step is how do you assess to make sure that my ears over my shoulders, over my hip is over my ankle? 'cause That's the normal posture. We're looking at you straight ahead. We wanna make sure that if we have a, a straight line or a plumb line dropped down from the ceiling, we want your pelvis under the middle of your chest, under your, you know, middle of your head, like right between your, your eyes. Any deviation from those, again, you can, we call it, you do a selfie test where you take a, you got your phone, right? Speaker 3 (27:08): And you can try to take a selfie, you set it up somewhere and take a picture of yourself. Just get in a comfortable standing position looking straight at it, take a picture. And then also you could from the side especially, and you wanna make sure that you're going from the ground up, that your ankle is right on top of your, the outside of your hip, and then your shoulder and ear are all lined up. So that's one easy way. You can also look in the mirror for the front one. It's a little bit harder to do with the, the side, you know, a side picture of your body. Mm-Hmm, . Now another good one is the wall test because the most common postural distortion is that, you know, the hunchback, right? So you can stand up against a wall, your back is against a wall. Speaker 3 (27:51): Your feet are about two to four inches away from the wall. The back of your, your heels, your hips, your mid back. Your head should touch the wall. If you can't get your head to touch the wall comfortably, again, more than likely you're, there's arthritis. That's the hunchback, it's the degeneration of the disc. It's the common problem with osteoporosis because if they get weak spinal bones and fracture, not, they don't even need acute fractures, but these chronic fractures on the front, it, makes it hard for you to get in that aligned position. So that's another wall test. You can also do it lying down. Now if you, if you're lying down on your back and your head, it's uncomfortable to have your head on the floor or it can't even get in that position. I would call that more of an acute case where you need to get that checked out because you're stuck there. The restrictions that ligaments have gotten so fibrotic and so worn out and they're tight, that it can't do it. Like the muscles by themselves are not gonna allow you to do that. So just postural exercises and exercise by itself won't allow you to get back in the healthy position. Mm-Hmm, Speaker 1 (29:11): . Okay. Does that make sense, yeah. Yeah. Those are some great tips on things to do the wall test or lay on the floor doing the selfie. Or even if you could get someone to take a photo of you from the side or the front and kind of look at this alignment. You know, I have found that some of these skews in your posture are so subtle that I can't necessarily tell them. But then I go to the chiropractor and they're like, duh, , don't you see this? You know how your left hip is slightly higher than your Right, right? And, you know, they look at leg length and they're like, oh, this foot is a centimeter longer than the other leg. And they can really see it. Like, you guys have this very acute vision. And so I like that you're really, Speaker 3 (29:56): It's just like, you're just like, you're trained in what you do that I wouldn't be able to see, just like the, the listener, they're, they're trained in what they do. Like that whole purpose thing that you mentioned at the beginning, that purpose is what your skill is in, in developing that skill. Because I know I'll be adjusting to somebody in my brick and mortar clinic and I will like to start working on them. And they're like, I, how did you know that was there? It's just, you know, after 20 some years of doing it, you get a feel for it based on the symptoms they're telling me or their posture or what it is. Same thing again, in your profession. Yeah, Speaker 1 (30:34): Yeah. You just know. And everybody listening, I love this other quote you shared Dr. Ryan, don't complain about the results you didn't get from the work. You didn't do . So if you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear you Dr. Kyrin and Dr. Ryan, I know I should be tense paying attention to my spine, but I'm not gonna do it. I'm not gonna lie on the floor. I'm not gonna go against, well I'm not gonna do this selfie. Well then don't complain. 5, 10, 20 years down the line, , when you didn't do the work. Like, these are simple things y'all you can do tonight when you're at home or you know, wherever you are. Just stop, drop and do it really quickly to see if, if it applies to you, what are some things that we need to be doing. You know, I think a lot of us got the memo on aerobic exercise. Hopefully more women, if you're listening, have got the memo about the weight bearing exercise resistance training, essential for us women, almost more important than the aerobic exercise. But so many women don't do it. Shy away from it. It's super important. But what things do we need to be doing for exercise for our spine to preserve it, to reverse or counteract some of these kyphotic positions we're in all day long? Well, what do we need to be doing? Speaker 3 (31:49): Beautiful. I love that because that exercise is part of it. I've said the words a little bit at the be, you know, as we've gone through this, but as a simple little acronym, think of eat EAT, that is the protocol of chiropractic biophysics. So EAT stands for exercise adjustment and traction. And I'll go quickly through each of those because when you hear, like, I'll just touch on for a second, adjust you think, okay. Adjustment of the spine. But I'll, I'll show you how adjusting your lifestyle also is under that adjusted part of it. But let's start with exercise. You mentioned great ones, general exercise that you just mentioned. Beautiful. Not even gonna talk about that. But now there's general spinal exercises that you can do. And I know they'll have access to the spinal hygiene mini class. And this is part of that, but I'll go over it here. It's just like we take care of our teeth and brush our teeth every day, or at least what we're supposed to. Speaker 3 (32:48): We wanna take care of our spine every day. And it doesn't have to take long. Very simply taking your spine through all of its ranges of motion at least once a day, maybe even twice a day. So what are the ranges of motion? So side to side, bending side to side. I know people can't see me, but as I'm doing it, I have to do the actions as I do it. So your trunk and then also your head and neck, the rotation, just taking it, rotating it side to side. And you can either hold at the pain-free end range of motion for 10 seconds, or you can do five to 10 reps in each direction with these. If you have, I'll put the caveat right now, or the disclaimer, if you have osteoporosis or fractures, you want to be careful with the twisting and with these exercises, that's why it's always gentle, it's always controlled. Speaker 3 (33:38): So we have the side to side, we have the rotation. Now we want to flex. Although we are in this prolonged flexed posture for a lot of, you know, most of our day, we still wanna be able to do that motion. We just don't wanna be in that chronically flexed position. So flexing down, like either doing like a, and then also extending back. So the cat cow, a lot of people are familiar with that exercise or on your hands and knees where you're rounding your back, taking your chin towards your chest and then arching it up, squeezing the shoulder blades, dropping the pelvis down, but you're flexing the spine and extending rounding and then flattening going towards their, I don't like to say extreme, but their, their final range of motion under control gently and pain free. So that's called spinal hygiene. And just like I said, taking two minutes outta your day to do that. Yeah, Speaker 1 (34:32): I love that. And you could even do it while you're brushing your teeth. You know that great book Tiny Habits where one of his main tips was to link a new habit to something else that you already do. So if you're already religious about your teeth, brushing, flossing, all the things and the evening, then you could just tack on spinal hygiene to your dental hygiene right after. So it makes it super easy. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. Speaker 3 (34:57): That's okay. And there are more sp if, if you find during the assessment or if you ever get your spine checked from a doctor that specializes in, especially this corrective technique and like you said, Dr. Karen, we're good at seeing things that other people can't either through x-rays or through this postural analysis. But if you find during your assessment, your self-assessment, that your posture stinks, for lack of a better word, that it's, it's not aligned, your head's in front of your shoulders, your kyphotic or your, you know, your body side to side, one shoulder lower than the other, your head's tipped. There are specific postural exercises, spinal exercises that we would recommend based on your specific needs in the opposite direction to counteract that postural distortion. So unlike exercise, generally, you know, general exercise, we wanna do it bilaterally or if we go in one direction, we wanna do it on the other side of the body. Speaker 3 (35:55): Specific. Postural and spinal exercises are different because you have to counteract the position it's already in. So if I'm hunched over, heads forward, we don't wanna do a prolonged exercise where we're doing that, but we're doing an exercise where we're bringing the shoulder blades back, taking the head back, called the full spine exercise breathing. And it's not just a stretch, but it's retraining. Holding that position for five to 10 seconds, starting off at three sets of 10 reps and working your way up to even like 5, 6, 7 sets of 10 reps every day because we have to retrain it. Now you could do that type of exercise if you are at a computer, if you're hunched over, if you're on the couch for 20 to 30 minutes. And it's always good to have a timer on. So, mm-hmm, , another little tip, a timer on at 20 or 30 minutes. So you get up and just do this exercise for like 30 seconds where you're shoulders squeezing your shoulder blades back, taking your head back. That actually helps to increase circulation. Mm-Hmm, , which you'll feel. So that's the exercise part of it now. Speaker 1 (37:00): Yeah. Well I wanna add in there. Yeah, I just wanna put a plug for yoga. 'cause I always say that the triad is aerobic weight bearing and stretching because the constriction of your joints where the connective tissue starts hardening and getting tighter happens very gradually that you don't even notice it. And then before long, you know, you're having trouble reaching over your head or you can't touch your toes or whatever. And so yoga takes you generally through a lot of these stretches. So I wanna put a plugin for that, but please proceed. Speaker 3 (37:32): No, those are exactly the three cardio weight bearing resistance type training and flexibility ability. Absolutely. And it's funny because we'll get into the, with the traction part, eat, we'll talk about that. You said it perfectly. The connective tissues get tense, they get tight and you don't even know what's happening. And, and how do you correct that? So it is an adjustment. So adjusting the spine, which chiropractors are known for, but like I said in the beginning, it's not gonna correct the structure long term. It's gonna give you a jumpstart to a dead battery like I did with my daughter's car this morning. It's going to again give you, get the nerves working again and functioning, but also adjust talks about lifestyle, how you sit, how you stand, how you bend, lift, sleep, how you carry things. Think about your day and the postures that you're in and how you can improve on the postures that you're using. Speaker 3 (38:27): The biggest one, which we've mentioned multiple times, is on your phone, on your smartphone. I'm not sure how your phone being down in your lap or your tablet or your, well it's called a laptop. So I guess that's why, how that became the normal positioning to look at your phone. But it's very simple how to correct that, how to adjust the positioning of that. If you're sitting down, make sure your butt is up against the back of the chair of the couch, whatever it is, prop pillows behind you to keep you more upright. And then you can also put pillows or blankets or something on your lap. Rest your elbows on those blankets or pillows on your lap. Bend your elbows in arms to about 90 degrees or more and bring your phone towards, you know, more in front of your face. Definitely in front of, more like the chest area. Speaker 3 (39:20): Chest level, not down in your lap. And, have that be the normal position. Have, you know, let's make it so when we see somebody in the flex position looking down at their phone, you know, walking around or standing there waiting for something or at the airport waiting, that, that becomes like the abnormal where it's like, man, that doesn't look very good. Let's, let's lift it up so you can do this. Not just when you're sitting, but when you're standing too. Check your posture with that. So that's the, I will say another lifestyle adjustment. How you bend. It's not all about squatting, but it's more of a, in weightlifting terms, like a deadlift or a hip hint, you want to hinge at the hips when you're, you're bending because we're not always gonna be in a, I wanna say position to squat, but we're not always gonna be squatting. So we need to learn how to use our hips to bend. And I'll give a plug to a great technique called foundation training. It teaches you how to use your hips using this hip pinch. And I explained it in one of my, one of my handouts. But yes, how you hold your phone and how you bend are two huge things that you can adjust in your lifestyle. Speaker 1 (40:31): Awesome. Those are super important. We are running out of time, but before we wrap up, and I know you've got some great resources for everyone we wanna share, you mentioned osteoporosis or osteo products, spinal fractures, which are horrific. We don't want anyone here to have those. They're very silent, but they're also very painful and they're devastating because they do decrease your lung capacity. So your ability to breathe and, and oxygenate your tissues and have so many consequences. Can you just talk a little bit about osteoporosis? I can't tell you how many women I come across who have not had osteoporosis screening and they are well beyond the age at which they qualify for that or the medical risk factors that should qualify them and their doctors aren't talking to them about it. So I'm wondering if you could just put a plug in for women to get osteoporosis screening, what that should consist of, who should be getting it and how important it's, well, Speaker 3 (41:30): I don't know, like, you know, that's not in my area. I just see a lot of it because of the spine that I, you know, the, the 'cause I've been on the spinal health and because we have to make sure with that, I mean obviously Kevin Ellis is really good at explaining that Margie Bissinger because they deal more with osteoporosis. So look them up obviously. And you are even very well versed in what, when people should be getting checked because as they go through life changes and hormonal changes that affects the bones, that affects the, the, the strength and the density and the mineralization of the bones. But also what I, I like to point out too is I'm gonna take it back to the spine. Osteoporosis will affect the spine, it will affect your posture and that hyper kyphosis, especially if it's weak. So if we're weakening the bones, if we're weakening the bones of the spine, it's gonna cause these micro fractures, it's gonna cause degenerated disc because now there's increased stress on that, it's gonna cause that hunchback. Speaker 3 (42:30): So if you're, you know, per menopausal postmenopausal, they need to get that checked. But even more I think it is important to learn these things that you're teaching through nutrition, through detox, through posture, through sleep, all these healthy living practices to help prevent it. Yes, I know it's, it's a big, big story right now. And I think another big reason why osteoporosis is so profound and rampant now is the medications that people are taking. Mm-Hmm the side effects of these. And there's patients who I've talked to that have been on, they were on 20 years of, of prednisone and it's a steroid which weakens the bones 20 years. And those are obviously acute, special, hopefully they're special cases and not the norm because that is just gonna make your bones trash if you have been on medications, that's a, a good benchmark there is, if you've been on medications for a long period of time, it doesn't have to be steroids, it doesn't have to be prednisone. Speaker 3 (43:31): Make sure you get your bones checked because of the side effects caused not just the bones but your gut health, which affects how your body can absorb these nutrients. That's for osteoporosis. And I just wanna plug one time here, not a, not a plug, but because the most unique part of this whole eat protocol is the T part is the traction. We have to make sure we are addressing that and possibly using some form of traction similar to how braces are put on teeth to correct the structure. We have to put the spine in a position for a certain period of time, hold it there so the ligaments can reform. Alright? And we can use different towels, different techniques of the guy explain it in the spinal hygiene mini class that they'll have access to. Yes, Speaker 1 (44:16): There's so much to talk about it. I know we can't get it all in one show, but we will give them a link which will be in the show notes to share with everyone. And, and I do wanna reiterate, yes, Margie is great about osteoporosis. She's been on the show. So if you miss that episode, go back and listen. If you are a woman over 50, you absolutely should have a dual femur, dual hip DEXA scan to check for osteoporosis. And if you're at increased risk, 'cause you've been on medications like chronic prednisone, there's a whole list of medications that will increase your risk, family history, et cetera, then you wanna get a bone density. So thank you Dr. Ryan for joining us for this essential information to highlight things that we need to be aware of so that we can have great vitality and have an increase in our vitality span, not just our longevity, but how vital and alive we are in those extra years that we're gonna live. Because we do all the things and tell everyone about the spinal hygiene mini class that you have for them. We'll have the link in the show notes and where they can connect with you online. Speaker 3 (45:20): Yeah, I mean the spinal hygiene mini class, it's a simple one pager that shows you like what are the like four simple steps you can do to hydrate your body and spine to exercise at which we, we went over here how to, I went into more like how to adjust your lifestyle and went into examples of how to do that and then also the traction part of it, how to use towels, how to use household house, things they have around the house to use your advantage to help correct and support your spine. And then you can always go to dr wolfer.com, D-R-W-O-H-L-F as in Frank, ER t.com and that's where you can find me. Speaker 1 (46:05): Awesome. Well, I hope everyone will check Dr. Ryan in those places. Download the guide, add spinal hygiene to some other habit that you're already doing. It just takes a few minutes and enjoys the benefits of improved spinal function, which means improved hormonal balance, improved overall health. Thank you so much for joining me today, Dr. Ryan. Speaker 3 (46:28): Thank you. Speaker 1 (46:29): And thank you for joining us for another episode of the Hormone Prescription. This really is essential information that I don't know, honestly. Is your doctor telling you to take care of your spinal hygiene? I don't think so. So , you need to know about this, so I'm glad you're here. One last quote that Dr. Ryan shared with me before we started recording. I'll leave you with for when the one great scorer comes to Mark against your name. He writes, not that you won or lost, but how you played the game. That's from Grant Lynn Rice. So how will you play the game with the information that you get? What do you do with it? Do you want to know and keep it moving? Or do you go, nice to know. I'm gonna see how I can implement this in my life. I look forward to hearing what you do with this information on social media. So reach out to me on Instagram or Facebook at Kyrin Dunston md. Hope you have a great week. I'll see you again next week. Until then, peace, love, and hormones y'all. Thank you so much for Speaker 2 (47:28): Listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormones and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.   ► Get Dr. Ryan Wohlfert's 1-Page Spinal Hygiene MiniClass: Learn Simple Solutions to Hydrate, Move & Support Your Spine, Maintain Healthy Postures, and Live a Pain-Free, Active Life: CLICK HERE https://drwohlfert.com/spinalhygiene/   ► Are you tired of feeling like you're losing control at midlife? Weight gain, low energy, and a decrease in sex drive are all too common. But it doesn't have to be that way. With our Hormone Balance Bliss Challenge, you can reclaim your youth and feel as amazing as you did in college. 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In this enlightening episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast, Dr. Kyrin Dunston opens a heartfelt discussion about understanding and embodying self-love in the year 2024. If you're a midlife woman navigating the often tumultuous waves of hormonal change, sit back and tune in to a conversation that dives into the essence of caring deeply for oneself. It's more than skin-deep - it's a five-sensory journey towards being symptom free and realizing your full potential. Main Topics Discussed: Vision of Being Symptom Free: Dr. Kyrin encourages us to craft a vivid, multi-sensory vision of wellness. Imagine a life where every day sings with vitality. Finding Your 'Why': It isn't just about wanting to improve certain aspects of our health; it's about digging deep and finding the real reasons driving our pursuit of well-being. Navigating Relationships: Learn how intimate connections factor into self-love, and why nourishing these relationships - especially with ourselves - is crucial. Harnessing Universal Forces: This episode reveals how to tap into the universal force for miraculous results, guiding listeners from hormonal poverty to prosperity. Decision as the First Step: Drawing inspiration from JP Morgan's wise words, Dr. Kyrin explores the power of decision-making in initiating transformation. In an extraordinary moment, a listener shares her personal story in a mini coaching session with Dr. Kyrin - a testament to the power of vulnerability and clarity in the journey towards true self-love and hormonal balance. Remember, the choice to improve your life is in your hands, and as JP Morgan stated, "The first step to getting somewhere is to decide you're not going to stay where you are." Make that bold decision today!

Welcome to "The Hormone Prescription Podcast," where we navigate the tumultuous waves of midlife with grace, humor, and a lot of knowledge. In this episode, "How To Get To Hormonal Prosperity And Bliss," our host, Dr. Kyrin Dunston, takes us on an insightful journey out of hormonal poverty and into a realm of wellbeing and joy.

Is your relationship navigating the choppy waters of midlife? Then you are not alone. In this week's deep dive on "The Hormone Prescription Podcast," we unpack the conversations you need to have but might be dreading. This episode, we tackle erectile dysfunction (ED) head-on with the formidable Dr. Elliot Justin. Let's not skirt around the issue—the man in your life's ED affects both of you deeply. It's essential to address it not just for his well-being, but for yours and your relationship's health. Dr. Justin strides into the studio with an awe-inspiring list of credentials: urologist, innovative thinker, and couples' counselor extraordinaire, renowned for bringing new perspectives to midlife challenges. Today, he shares the collective wisdom garnered from years at the forefront of men's health and intimate relationships. Midlife can feel like a carnival of changes and curveballs. But when the elephant in the room is ED, that jovial atmosphere quickly transforms into a solo tightrope walk. Dr. Justin encourages us to transform this walk into a joint tightrope act, one that strengthens your bond and navigates the complexities of progesterone to performance. About Dr. Elliot Justin: ELLIOT JUSTIN, MD, FACEP, is the CEO and Founder of FirmTech, the first sex tech company dedicated to improving men's erectile fitness. He has a background in Emergency Medicine and healthcare technology consulting. Dr. Justin is also a serial healthcare entrepreneur, having founded and sold Pegasus Emergency Group and Swift MD. He has provided guidance to various services, telemedicine, and tech startups. Dr. Justin pursued Slavic Studies at Harvard University and studied medicine at Boston University. Happily married for 35 years, and father of three children, Elliot and Ann live in Montana with three energetic mares and a flock of chickens So, what can you expect to uncover in this eye-opening chat? Insights You Can't Afford to Ignore: Understand just how much ED can influence your daily life, and how to navigate these changes with grace. The Expert's Plan for Partnership: Dr. Justin's wealth of knowledge and experience is distilled into practical strategies to face the ED challenge as a team. Innovative Approaches to Speak Up and Heal: Discover modern ways to approach ED—no more outdated stigmas, only up-to-date solutions. Communication is Key to Connection: Learn the importance of open and honest conversation, and some powerful dialogue strategies for building bridges. Success Stories that Give Hope: Real-life experiences and victories will inspire you on your own journey through midlife. This episode bears all, from tender anecdotes to strategic wisdom, and catapults us into a space where ED isn't just a problem to overcome, but a journey to undertake together. So gather your wits and your earbuds—this one's going to shake up the midlife conversation in all the best ways. Tune into "The Hormone Prescription Podcast" now. And remember, don't just listen—subscribe, review, and transform the narrative of midlife with us.   Speaker 1 (00:00): “What goes up does not have to come down until you're ready.” Dr. Elliot. Justin, stay tuned to find out why your partner's ED is essential to address and how. Speaker 2 (00:12): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones in our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself again. As an O-B-G-Y-N, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue. Now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Speaker 1 (01:05): Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of The Hormone Prescription. Thank you so much for joining me today as we dive into the topic of erectile dysfunction for men. You know, it's kind of interesting that, you know, we women actually get erections of our clitoris. It's really a mini penis and most women aren't aware of that. And if you are not getting erections, that's something that needs to be addressed. I think we dive into this in this episode. In the interview we talk a little bit about this. He calls it something else for women, but for men and women, it really can be a sign of larger health issues, particularly related to your cardiac function, to your heart that can be lethal. So it's something you need to pay attention to. A lot of guys don't talk to their doctors about this issue because they're embarrassed and really, yeah, those days are over. Speaker 1 (02:02): You need to start talking to your doctors about your sex. You just do. It's imperative. Your sex is not separate from . Your total function, your liver function, your hormone function, your brain function, your gastrointestinal digestive function, your heart cardiac function, your sex is an essential part of your body, of who you are, how you function, your vitality. We get into that in this episode. Dr. Justin is on the same page with me. So if your doctor is ignoring your sexuality and not talking to you about it, it's time that you brought it up and demand to have it addressed and also for your partner. But I know that we women sometimes play that role for the men in our lives to be the one to help them get over themselves and talk about this with their doctor. So we're gonna talk about how to do that in this episode and more. Speaker 1 (02:57): Dr. Justin is not only a physician who's treated many, many patients, but he's a researcher, he's a developer, and he, like me, is always thinking about how we can serve people better? How can we help them live healthier, happier, longer lives? So I think you're gonna love Dr. Justin as much as I love talking to him. Just note, this is an explicit interview. So we do say some words that you might not want your kiddos to hear. So if you don't want them to hear it, you might wanna switch to a different episode and listen to this when you are in privacy. Just a note and I'll tell you a little about Dr. Justin. Then we'll get started. So, Dr. Elliot, Justin is a medical doctor fellow and CEO of the founder of Firm Tech. It's the first sex tech company dedicated to improving men's erectile fist fitness. Most sex companies are just sex toy companies, but this is a tech company to improve erectile fitness. He has a background in emergency med and healthcare technology consulting, and he is a serial healthcare entrepreneur, like I said, always developing things to help people live better lives. And he founded and sold multiple companies and provided guidance to various services. And he's just an all around badass who loves helping people. So I think you're gonna enjoy this episode. Without further ado, please help me welcome Dr. Elliot Justin to the show. Speaker 3 (04:31): Thanks. I welcome the opportunity to speak. Speaker 1 (04:32): Yeah. I'm really excited to have you on because you and I both know that men are not talking to their doctors about their erectile difficulties, their sexual difficulties, or low libido, all the problems they're having in the bedroom. We know that they, there are women, female partners are aware, and therefore we're really the ones that need the information. So if you're a woman listening, listen up, because really, I always say that erectile dysfunction could save a man's life, and we're gonna talk about that and you're probably scratching your head going, how could that save a man's life? But I wanna start by, I could explain that, know you have a background. Yeah, we'll get to that. You have a background in emergency medicine and healthcare technology. So what got you interested in diving deeper into the subject of men's sexuality and erectile dysfunction and men's sexual health? Speaker 3 (05:34): Well, my background, I'm an emergency medicine physician, and since 2015, my, I've been doing medical technology. That's how I got to this as an emergency medicine doctor, I can assure you that's short of a heart attack or a stroke. There are a few emergencies I could concern a man as much as a lip dick. So this is something that's of, of, you know, of vital importance to men, both their self-esteem and their health. I got involved in this. I was actually working on a very complicated catheter to regulate blood pressure after a stroke. A urologist heard what I was doing and said, I see you've done some research with neuromodulation of erectile function, which I had a neuromodulation for. We mean placing electrodes by a nerve and nerves. The paradigm for that is cardiac pacemaker that controls your heart, your heart, even have to even after you're dead. Speaker 3 (06:17): My thought was if we can control sexuality, the impact on, on, on an aging population would be enormous. I will say that project failed. I tried to neuromodulation the cous nerve, which everyone's favorite nerve no has heard about. Suppose the nerve that's responsible produce orgasms in men or women. We try it out on, on some, on some sheep. And actually, and on myself. We, we to no effect. I actually don't think that we know how orgasms are produced. It's very complicated. Well, oddly, even more complicated than, than the heart. So this urologist came to me about in 2015 and said, I wanna count the number nocturnal erection, not two, excuse me, came me three years ago, 2020, and said, I wanna count the number of nocturnal erections that are leading indicator of mass cardiovascular health. And I said, really? I know, I know anything about it. Speaker 3 (07:03): I, you know, I mean, everyone knows about morning wood. We poke up partners where it, we made, we laugh about it. But a healthy man has three to five nocturnal erections per night. And if that number goes down, it's a sign of an impending heart attack or stroke. So it's not just an association. Blood take, taking a blood high blood pressure is associated with stroke and heart attack. Declined number of nocturnal reactions is actually a leading indicator. It's predictive. So that I thought, gee, that could be enormous as an emergency medicine doctor. But a, that's another vital sign and a vital sign that would be much more compelling to men probably than any other than the other, other vital signs. And we live in this age of healthcare wearables for pretty much everything except for sex. And what do men, frankly, women care more about? Speaker 3 (07:43): How many steps they took yesterday or their calorie count or this or this or, or their sexual health. And that's, you know, that's a, that's a rhetoric, rhetoric question for most people. So the numbers are enormous, as you indicated earlier. I mean, 50% of men by age 50 have erectile dysfunction. It's even higher for women. And why is it higher for women? Because postmenopausal women lose their hormonal protection against heart disease. So postmenopausal women have all the same problems that men deal with. Diabetes, high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, auto attacks, et cetera. But premenopausal women take SSR antidepressants and they take hormones all which have, both of which have a significant impact upon their sexual performance as a health. So with d with data, we give people data. We can now transform the quality of, of, of, of health, of healthcare. We can transform how things are managed. Speaker 3 (08:35): 'Cause There's a cliche, if you can track it, you can hack it. So right now, when it comes to sexual health, doctors just really just have opinions. If I go, I'm 70 years old. If I went to a urologist or a sexologist right now and said, I like where my, where my sexual health is right now. I can perform every day. My wife and I are happy, but I wanna keep it there. What can ha what can you tell me? Or I told him, you know, I'm having, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm struggling getting erections. They can wave an ultrasound over my, over my penis in the office, but I'm not getting aroused. I'm not finding out what I really wanna know, which is what's happening when I'm trying to, trying to perform. So if we can give people data, they can then measure the impact of diseases, medications, diet, self effects, all these claims that are made and see what works for them. Speaker 1 (09:18): Yeah. You know, you, you've made so many great points in that. I just wanna go back and highlight a couple of them. Sure. So number one is that most women don't realize that erectile dysfunction is a problem for women. Women, yes. We get erections, ladies, right? 'cause Our clitoris is a small penis and they do get erect with sexual arousal. And that we women just write off that we're not getting aroused. We don't have orgasms as, oh, it's only a pleasure problem. But it's not just like for men, like you said, it's a leading indicator for cardiac disease. It is a leading indicator for cardiac disease and hormonal poverty for you ladies. So I just wanna highlight that because I think that's essential. But now I wanna go back. So this is great. Okay. That you, you really saw that there was a need for this. And you probably recognize men aren't gonna go to the doctor for this. They're not gonna talk about it. And so you started looking at ways that they could actually measure this themselves, right? Speaker 3 (10:22): Correct. Well, the doctors are really ignorant about this. Mm-Hmm. , I'll, I'll give you two examples in, I was approached by Dr. Hot Hotel and professor of urology at University of Utah to count the nerve nocturnal erections. And he wanted to embed sensors into a device like a condom ring that had six mm-Hmm. But it would have six times the elasticity of the condom ring. And I looked at this device and said, well, that's not gonna work because condom rings break. So have he been a urologist unaware of the fact that this piece of common technology is actually vulnerable to breaking also condom rings can rotate, which means, which means, means you have rotational artifact. And my thought to hit the response was, well, let's do better than that. Let's try to do more than just count the number in external erections. Let's try to figure out the health of all erections. So my thought was to embed sensors into an advanced form of an erection ring or cochran instead of colloquially known as this doctor, I've never used the cockran. Now I have yet to find, well, here's a joke we have at medical, at medical congresses. I'll ask you, how do you tell the difference between a straight doctor and a gay doctor? You ask one question, Rin, Speaker 1 (11:27): Have you used a coching? Is that the question? ? That's Speaker 3 (11:30): The question you got. How have you used a coching? You got, and the answer is, and, and a straight doctor's like nine is like never. 'cause They just, whether it's male pride or I don't, you know, straight doctors treat rings like a Suman kryptonite. I don't need that. Gay doctors will be like, yeah, like last night you got a better one. So gay straight doctors aren't open to the really, what should be the, the first line of therapy for man who has dysfunction? Then you have, there's no, there's no sense from these doctors about what is, what is normal sexual behavior. The scoring systems that are used by urologists, by sexologists to evaluate men or women for that matter, are focused on penetrative sex. There's the shim score, the atom, the eye, you're probably familiar with these. They don't reflect what people are actually doing. Speaker 3 (12:14): Mo most se most, most sex between, between partners over the age of 40. Penetration is just a part of it. It's not the focus, it's not the endpoint. And these studies, like something out of the 1950s or 60, are focused on that as an endpoint. Then urologists think, okay, the first line of therapy is to give a PD five medication with Viagra, Ali, p and d, you know, the, the top ones. But those medications put more blood into the penis, but they don't keep it there. Mm-Hmm. most men's problem is not getting it up. Most men's problem is losing an erection. That could happen for a whole variety of reasons from anxiety, diabetes, hypertension, alcohol, drugs. And then the most common one that urologists don't think about because all men get it, all women get it too, which is venous leak syndrome. Speaker 3 (12:57): Urologists are sure are surgery oriented. The pill doesn't work. They wanna put an implants into a penis or, or do some sort of surgical procedure. So venous leak syndrome is something that we can be born with. Very, very few men have it where you get blood, the penis, but it leaks out because the muscles that control the veins to hold the blood of the penis aren't, aren't very strong. Venous leak syndrome is something we all experience as we get older. I don't know how old you are. I'm 70. If I sit on a plane for five or six hours, my socks will start to pinch. My wedding band will, my finger will be hard, hard to take off my finger because I have venous link. 'cause As I get older, the, the muscles and my small veins don't pump blood back to my heart as effectively. Speaker 3 (13:32): It's the same thing for the penis. As we get older, our, our our, the smooth muscles weaken in our penis. We get an erection and we lose it. Now, that loss could be accelerated by anxiety or it can be the very cause of anxiety or, or caused by medications. Our research shows the big cocktails are SR antidepressants and anti antihypertensive and or in combination. But the solution is a plumbing solution. The P five medications put more blood in the penis. A properly used Cochran holds the blood in the penis, allowing a man to sustain erection for more, for a more satisfactory time period. Coing should be mainstreamed. I look at vibrators in my lifetime. My mother's vibrator was in a bottom dress drawer of a supply closet. Just thought we'd never find it. . We didn't know what it was. Speaker 3 (14:15): We found it. You know, I don't, my wife probably owns seven or eight. My daughter takes 'em on dates. They've been mainstreamed. It's no longer considered to be shameful for women to use a vibrator. Most women, I think in the latest report there were 60 women, 60 million women in the United States own more than one. What do men have? Well, they have these monstrous things called strokers. Like somebody could beat something to death with, they don't have anything, but, but they do have rings. But cochlea have been made the wrong way for many years. Can I, may I explain? Yeah. So I want to come up with a ring that could be worn overnight. Well, this cause I want to count data. I want to count these nocturnal erections. I also want to come up with a ring that could be worn comfortably during sex with sensors inside of it in order to record the duration of the firmness. Speaker 3 (14:56): Every erection. So we get baseline data on man's sexual health. But ings have been made for 150 years out of tight silicone rings. You have to have an erection before you put them on. 'cause They choke off the blood supply. It's like a NOIs on of penis. I mean, it's like some design by a hangman. I mean, so I thought, let's make coch rings out of a soft elastomer. So these are, I dunno if on camera right now, but these, these, our rings are unique. They're, they're made out of a, out of a soft elastomer. So they're comfortable with us. Silicone makes us adapt to them. I also wanted the ring to be safe, easy on, easy off. Many men are overweight. They, they, they can't, they can't even see their penis. Men who they're, they're anxious. These things need to be made very, very easy for them. Speaker 3 (15:35): I would suspect that about half the se heterosexual sex in the world starts when a man is scratching his wife's back. When she takes a bra off at night. Women don't like bras in their back because they're silicone in the back. It's itchy to the skin. I was looking at my wife's bra on the ground and I thought, oh, a hook. Women don't put on bras over their heads. A bras is a ring that opens and closes with a hook. Let's make an erection ring with a hook. So it's easy on, easy off. And then let's also design a ring. But that man can put on when he is flacid. So we can put on discreetly, put on hours before second. It could be worn for hours. So it doesn't block the arterial flow. It only constrains the return. And then let's also try to design a ring that will make a man's pleasure more intense. Speaker 3 (16:19): It's not a vibrator. The way we do that with a man is we draw out the. So we tested a ring on a group of men between the ages of 27 and 70. The goal is that if we put the right, we want to increase the ejaculatory phase by 50%. So with this ring, my ejaculatory phase goes from four seconds to seven seconds. That's a significantly more powerful orgasm. I think it's good as a vibrator, but it's, if it's for an instantly more powerful orgasm. But more importantly now, by putting sensors into it, we, we have a ring that's comfortably worn overnight to count nocturnal erections, which are leading the indicator mass. Cardiovascular health and wandering sex. The ring can measure the duration of firmness of erections. So now men can measure the impact of everything from medications, diseases, supplements, diets, relationships. Mm-Hmm. on sexual performance and say what works, what doesn't work. Speaker 1 (17:07): So I wanna ask you, because you mentioned this before we started recording, and then we touched a little bit on it just then that vibrators are mainstream for women. I mean, there are all kinds you can get like, what did I see online? It was like a superhero shaped vibrator. And I mean, they got everything. So sex toys for women are really mainstream, but not for men unless they're gay men. Why do you think that is? Speaker 3 (17:34): Well, I think there's several reasons. I think women, one, represent a much larger market. Women do women make what? Like 80% of the purchases overall in the United States or, I, I I think that might, I think it might be worldwide women purchase. If you exclude condoms, women purchase the majority of the sex toys. So when people look at numbers in, in the sex toy area, they say, oh, well men buy more. Well, not, that's not that. Once you exclude condoms, then it's, you know, then it's women. I think women are more open-minded rep represent a larger market. I also think the vibrators have been so enormously successful. No one else has figured out something equivalent for, you know, for men. I think for gay men, it's different. They're really, really focused on, on sexual pleasure and much less inhibited. Mm-Hmm. . And also anal sex requires a harder penis. It's harder to penetrate the anal sphincter than it is to penetrate a vagina. So a ring becomes, you know, it's almost a necessary tool. Speaker 1 (18:28): Okay. You, you made a comment though before we were recording. There's something about you, the way you said it was pretty comical because you said if a woman brings sex toys into the bedroom, so can you share that, that no problem. Yeah, sure. But if a man, then what happens? Yeah. Speaker 3 (18:44): When managers introduce sex toys, the industry surveys say they get used one or two times and then they get thrown out. If a woman introduces a sex toy, it, it gets used for as long and as often as she wants, wants it to be used. But, that also inhibits men from buying sex toys as well too, because they're not gonna get used. I also, I don't think any effort has really been made by the industry to make sex, make conquering sexy. But, but I, but the data shows this, this is a really important 'cause and there's, we, we've had an internal study to this effect. And there's gonna be big paper, two pi papers, spout rings at the American Neurology Association and Congress coming up, coming up in in May one is going, is going to show that if a man wants to have a longer lasting erection, a ring is more, more effective than a PD five medication. Speaker 3 (19:27): Well, big pharma's not gonna like that. And the heterosexual doctors have frankly been, they should have caught on this a long time ago. And if we're using rings, they would realize it. But a ring to dil in our internal data will keep, we were looking at D 2 cent data. So no one has studied D two ence. D two s is the time it takes for an erection to go down. We didn't measure time to go up because there's so many variables involved in that. Are you with a partner? Are you masturbating just by watching porn? You're drinking? We are just interested in the time it takes for erection to go down. 'cause That would be a measure of how much blood is held in the penis. So the ring alone, dala fill alone sustains an erection on the average of two, two to three minutes afterwards. The ring is about four and a half minutes long. And a ring plus the film is about five and a half minutes. So that those are men without Ed. So the takeaway message really is for all men would be, if you want to have a longer lasting, harder erection, put a ring on it and take a pill. Also, if you're a man who suffers prematurely and you want to keep thrusting afterwards comfortably, not uncomfortably, put a ring on it, take a pill. Mm-Hmm, Speaker 1 (20:30): , you made the comment several times, and I don't wanna bypass it because I think it's worth talking about. 'cause I know somebody listening is wondering why are doctors so phobic about talking about sex? You know, sexual function is a leading indicator of your overall health and vitality. So looking at a male man or woman's sexual functioning, I think is vital to their overall health assessment. And if there's any difficulty there, it's essential to evaluate it because it corresponds to cortisol stress hormone levels, and there are other sex hormone levels and vascular function, cardiac function, but also as a preventative practice, just like drinking enough water, just like enough aerobic exercise, weight bearing exercise, sex, regular, active, pleasurable sex is vital in promoting vitality. So what are we missing? Because I know women are listening, why isn't my doctor talking to me about this? Why isn't my doctor talking to my partner about this? What is the problem with doctors here? Speaker 3 (21:41): I have so angry about this issue because we physicians are doing our patients a horrific disservice. I'm seven years old, I'm a doctor. Doctor should feel comfortable talking to me. I've never had a doctor warn me about the sexual side effects of medication. I've never had a doctor ask me about my marriage. Did not ask those questions. Is stupid. It's insensitive. Now. One reason is there are no boxes to check for those things. There's no way of making money addressing those things that they should. And, and, and it actually applies to urologists as well too. They often don't take complete sex stories with people, but just, Hey, here's a PD five medication. We'll do an ultrasound. You're not working. You need an implant. You're not helping a person that way. I completely agree with you. Studies show that if someone has sex every day, their cortisol levels significantly improve. Speaker 3 (22:27): If men were in control study, big study was done. Whales, I think of Scotland. If men have men with equivalent cardiovascular disease at age 70 start having sex twice a week, their risk of cardiac arrest goes down 50% over the next five years. The benefits are enormous. And we should be recommending to people to have more sex. We doctors make recommendations about diet, about exercise, about sleep, and we don't speak about sex. And if we do speak about it, we are embarrassed. We have, believe me, people wanna talk about it. My, my last year of emergency medicine clinical practice, I said, you know what, I'm just going to do what I was trained to do in medical school. I'm gonna add a sexual history to pretty much all my exams. Well, it turned out even people came in with an ankle sprain. Wanna talk about both? A lot of 'em just wanna talk about their sex lives and they don't wanna talk about this spouse who wants to tell you all about it. Speaker 3 (23:15): So people, men and women are hungry for this information. And they're, to your point, and I would like to bring it up, Dr. Dustin, we doctors are doing them a tremendous disservice. But I don't know if doctors, mostly doctors are even capable of discussing it because they're kind of, they're relative as, as, as a group. They're relatively pr and conservative in conservative sort. An old, an old fashioned kind of, you know, you know, meaning about sex. Before I got involved in this field, I never, I never went to sexual congresses of urology or society of sexual methodology, which is no one's talk. There's very little talk about pleasure. All the focus is on surgery and pills. And it's not focused on what most con what concerns most people, which is how do I maintain my sexual health if I, if I'm poor sexual health, how, what can I do to reverse it? It's, you know, the, the focus of the doctors is, is on things, I'll be blunt things that make them money. Yeah, Speaker 1 (24:06): That's unfortunate. And really sex has been relegated to the closet for everyone. And it's such a vital part of health prevention, of promotion, of vitality, prevention of disease. I would be remiss if I didn't ask about, you mentioned some causes and contributors to erectile dysfunction, sexual dysfunction in men. If we didn't talk about porn, because that's epidemic among men in the United States all over the world, globally, how does that affect, and I know there's some women listening who are like, my husband watches porn. Is that part of the problem? Well, Speaker 3 (24:42): I'm, I'm, I'm ambivalent about porn because for a lot of men it is an escape to a world where they, where they, where in fantasy they, they get what they want and the things that they're not getting from their partners, male or female partners. For some people porn is beneficial. And so are we gonna ban porn because it's also harmful to some people. I wish that people could discuss porn with their partners. That's really where the where it comes in porn becomes. It can become a window into finding out what someone else's fantasies are. And most people, too many people don't have sex regularly. They, so before I talk about, talk about porn, because I'm, I I'm gonna get, I'll get you the mail, the major male complaint about porn in a moment. Mm-Hmm. men, too many people stop making love. Hmm. That's, they need to plan for pleasure. Speaker 3 (25:23): I mean, I, it it, I bring this up with guys at the gym or women, women too, which is like, Hey, you these, because they know what, they know what I'm doing. You, you let me know your love life is not satisfactory. How many hours do you spend working out a week? It'd be like, oh, 10, 14 hours. And I'll say, if you could just take two hours of that away and put that into your relationship, and they look at me like, men and women look at me like I'm nuts. Well, it's that, that that can't be done. I said, yeah, it can be done and should be done with planning. You know, a good love making is no more spontaneous than a good exercise session or, or a great meal meal. I don't just up a great meal Speaker 1 (25:57): Meal or a great vacation. I Speaker 3 (25:58): Don't, I don't go there, I don't, I don't know the refrigerator and say, Hey, what, what are the leftovers? Let's have leftovers again, . And that's what, and that's, let's have rotisserie chicken for the third night in a row. And that's the problem with a lot of people sex . They, they, they get bored with what they're doing with their partners and they don't talk about it. Speaker 1 (26:15): That analogy. But I love it. It's great. It's so true. You know, and, and I recently, I've really been diving the past six or so months into sacred sexuality and womb wisdom and the whole, you know, three types of orgasms or more, actually five, that women can have. And in diving into this, I've read a lot where the biggest problem for most women regarding sex and why they don't wanna have it, is because their men don't know how to properly work the machinery, how to please them, the different types of orgasms, what's required to get their motors going. And for them to become satisfied and actually to make love. They know how to wham bam, thank you man, kind of ma'am have sex, but they don't know how to make love. And so I'm wondering, where do guys supposed to learn this? Where Speaker 3 (27:06): Are women supposed to learn? I mean, you, you, because men have all the same complaints about women, men my age and men younger. It's like, oh, she's all, you know, she's, she, she thinks she tugs on my, my penis. Like, like, like, like an arm a machine or, you know, so people, this, this issue cuts both ways. Okay? And this is where people, people need to, people need to, my opinion, they, they need to, to communicate better about what they want. I mean, I, I'll get back to, I'll get back to, to my food analogy. Mm-Hmm. My wife is in the room right now. I don't know what she wants for dinner. And I could eat, you know, I, you know, so I, if, if I want, if I want to, if I wanna really make her happy with, for dinner tonight, I should explore what her, her ideas are. Speaker 3 (27:45): I think when it comes to sex, people kind of settle into both parties. I go down on her, she comes and then I penetrate her. That's kind of pretty, pretty standard and pretty boring sex that goes, that goes on for most people. This, they would, they would communicate. And that's what, that's, that's where I think porn can be valuable. People watch, if people explore porn together, they will expl expand their vocabulary for love, you know, for, you know, for love making. Also, there are a lot of guys for porn, porn is an outlet for them. The way shopping is for women and people like to say that, that porn built the web, but porn might have built the web originally. But shopping sustains the web, women do 85 to 90% of shopping online. Women have done studies showing that women get the same dopamine hits in their brain that men do from shopping, that men do from Washington porn. So gone to the point of Congress as people like to blame the other sex, but they need to, you know, examine what they're doing. And then they, then they need, they, they need to communicate better about what, about what their mutual needs are and be more. Right. Not saying nothing. Speaker 1 (28:45): That's fascinating information about shopping. I didn't know that's the case. So you're kind of equating the two. Speaker 3 (28:51): If women think it's ridiculous that a man wants to look at eight, eight bodies online, a guy might also think it's ridiculous that the woman needs to look at 25 shoes online. It's, it's, it's . You know, it's, I mean, but meanwhile to your, you know, Dr. Doc, Dustin, to your point, they could be making love. They could be. They could be. And that's the problem. They're not talking, they're not not playing for pleasure. They're not communicating. In addition to which there are other problems, which circle back to which we, people are taking a lot of medications to interfere with their sexual performance with, you know, half the adult population being diabetic, hypertensive 20, 25% taking anti antis antidepressants. All these drugs have, have, and these diseases have significant impact upon, upon their sexual performance. And people. And the doctors don't do a good job about wanting people to know about the sexual side effects. Speaker 3 (29:37): So with data, about how long they last, how firm they can get, we have, we're starting to get some data about women with the, the, the trial protocol. We can, they, people can then say, you know what? My doctor prescribed 300 milligrams of whatever antidepressant, but I noticed that around 150 milligrams my erection starts to soften or I can't. So people, I mean of course we, we, we recommend to everyone if they don't make changes, but with their medications before, let's discuss it with healthcare providers. But I know people are doing it because the healthcare providers don't know about them, don't know about these issues and don't prioritize. You know, they, as you said, you said earlier, the least priority for most doctors is someone's sexual performance. But if someone's taking Sri SRI antidepressant and lisinopril for their blood pressure and they can't get it up, but they can't, you're not making, you're not helping, you're not helping the depressions very much and you're not helping their their partner either. Speaker 1 (30:29): Right? Sex is a natural antidepressant. So , if you fix the sex, you probably wouldn't need the medication. So there's a woman listening now and she's really paying attention because she's thinking, wow, we don't have sex. We become like roommates. Either one of us could take it or leave it. Maybe she hasn't gotten out of hormonal poverty. So that's part of her issue. And if that's you, you definitely wanna listen up. 'cause , we are gonna run a special at her hormone club this winter if you wanna join us. But she knows her partner, she's observed that he's having some difficulties, whether obtaining an erection, maintaining having short or premature. How do you suggest that she approach this and talk to him? Because I've heard complaints from women before that when they've tried to bro this subject with their partners, that it has not been met with openness. So as a man, what would you say? How do we approach this with our partners? Speaker 3 (31:30): That's a great question. Hopefully you have some background information on the guy, because someone, it depends upon the person's age, but if, if it's, if it's a man over 45 or 50 it's the, the likelihood of that person having a physiological problem increases. So you really need to know what someone's blood pressure is, what their blood sugar, hemoglobin A1C is and the blood sugar, what their testosterone level is. There are, there are tests and then there are medications. I, you know, with, I've been impressed with the work that I've done over the last year, speaking to our patients, how many men could be helped just by, just in their medications and 'cause they're often taking multiple medications that that, that often a combination with alcohol are, are affecting their sexual performance. So you need to find out about the base, these, these baseline health factors. Speaker 3 (32:16): Another issue is these are all hard, such such just discussed, which is if a man can get it up with pornography and if a man is having erections at night when he's sleeping, he should be able to get up with his partner. And if he's not getting up with, with his partner, there's some issue in the relationship more, far more likely not some anxiety producing issue that's built up over the over built up over the years that need that, that needs to be addressed. Addressed. Mm-Hmm. between the two of them or, or addressed with, with, with the benefit of, of therapy. That's where ring comes in handy because a lot of those men get, they can get up and then they lo then they lose the erection and then they avoid sex because they, they, they feel I've got it up with her, but I've lost it. It hasn't worked out. That's where ring ring comes with confidence build up because a male erection things very differently than a male without erection. And, and Cochran will keep the blood in the penis even if people are having an argument of some erection. Speaker 1 (33:05): Is the way for her to approach it with him to maybe say, honey, I have some concerns I'd like to talk to you about. Can we set aside some time this weekend and then secure a time and then just couch it as a health concern and say, you know, I've noticed a, B, C when we are making love and I'm concerned because I heard Dr. Justin talking on Dr. Kirin show that this could have indications, meaning that you're at increased risk for heart disease, heart attack and early death, or any of the other things we've talked about. Or that the medications you're on might need to be adjusted. And I'm really wondering if we might be able to go to your doctor or if you could make an appointment with your doctor. Does that sound like a reasonable approach? Speaker 3 (33:52): Yeah, definitely. Speaker 1 (33:53): It's non-threatening. Uhhuh . Speaker 3 (33:55): Absolutely. And it does have to be approached as a partner issue. I mean, men often need the support of their partners just to comply with their medicines. Mm-Hmm. , I mean women are much more likely to comply with their, with it, with their medicines. Also, I think people need to think about what happens when they try to have sex. And his significance, if a man never gets an erection, doesn't have a a morning erection, this is where a device that can count the overnight that could be worn overnight comes in handy. I'll take it at both extremes. If a man, if a, if a man has a tech ring that can count, he wears overnight and he has nocturnal erections three or more, that man's sexual health is good enough to have to have sex. So that indicates that the issue is not medication related, disease related. Speaker 3 (34:36): The issue is probably is partnership related at the other extreme, the other extreme, and this happens, we, we, if a man has two or less nocturnal erections or those not, and those erections are, are either weak or not, they just don't occur that partner is getting risk fatigue or jaw fatigue for nothing. 'cause It ain't gonna happen. That man has a significant erectile problem that man needs to, to your point, that man needs to see a urologist and a cardiologist because he has a cardiovascular, cardio urological problem of, of profound significance and he needs help. Mm-Hmm. . So, and that's what, that's, that's where the data really comes in handy. 'cause The data ought to assess what's going on. So it could be, Hey honey, I noticed that, you know, the last six months have been really bad, you know, been difficult for you in, in bed and you start taking medication X just around the same time. Maybe the medication is the problem and maybe we can, with data, we can test whether that is the Speaker 1 (35:30): Issue. Right. And so the device that you developed actually they can wear overnight and it gives data in the privacy of their own home. Is that correct? Speaker 3 (35:39): That's correct. It can be one during sex as well too. Speaker 1 (35:41): Okay. And so how often do they have to use it to get enough data for how long a week takes a month? It Speaker 3 (35:48): Takes about up to about four uses for the sensors to calibrate the, to the individual's body. 'cause People's, you know, penises vary and, and how firm they get, they vary and, and you know, just variability. Variability in how long, how, how long people last. So I use it the way I use blood pressure. I take my blood pressure once a week. I take my, I measure my sexual health once a week. Oh, Speaker 1 (36:10): Okay. And then you kind of can follow it over time. Speaker 3 (36:13): Yeah, we have, we have men who use it every day and we have men who use it frequently. I mean it's been really valuable. There's a whole other issue here too, which can discuss prostate disease, which is, is another issue that prostate disease can, erectile dysfunction can mean a warning sign of prostate disease. So if a man Oh mm-Hmm Speaker 1 (36:27): Yeah. We even Speaker 3 (36:28): Talk that, I'm sorry, sorry I It's okay. So Right, if a man develops is starting to develop erectile dysfunction that man does need, you know, especially an older man, not, you know, old man over the age of 45, 50, that man needs, needs a a ur urology exam as well too. Speaker 1 (36:42): And men should be getting a rectal prostate exam annually. Correct. Speaker 3 (36:47): Annually. At least every two, every every two or three years. And if there's a family history, it should, it might need to be done more frequently. Right. I mean the PSA test remains controversial. I think it's a good idea. There might be some false positives, but, you know, why take a chance? Speaker 1 (37:00): Well what's the current age at which they should be getting that and is it annual? Speaker 3 (37:03): It's annual, I think it's 55. I I have to look. The indications change so frequently I have to look it up. Speaker 1 (37:09): Same for women . Yeah. So yeah, make sure that your partner is getting the PSA prostate specific antigen and a rectal prostate exam at whatever the current recommendations are. They should be getting that Women you need to be getting your rectal every year . They also need the rectal for screening for blood as well. Oh my gosh. This is such good information. And I think you've helped save some men, some women, and some marriages and couplings today because it's vital. Lemme Speaker 3 (37:41): Talk about that. 'cause We've had two men who had significantly declining nocturnal erections who went to their doctors and, and, and went to cardiology, actually got a cardiology workup and they, and they got catheterized and they got treated. They would've, they could've gone to have a heart, have a heart attack or something more, more disastrous. So the data, the data's fun, but the data's also really, really valuable. Yes. Speaker 1 (38:01): Very valuable when it comes to health. So ladies, don't ignore it. If your partner is suffering with any of these conditions, take steps to assess what's going on and get it addressed. Because it could be a sign of deeper health issues that could be life threatening, number one. But number two, a great sex life is really an important part of your, not only your physical vitality, but your emotional wellness and your connection to your partner and to the world at large. So thank you so much Dr. Justin for coming on and sharing this wonderful information. You've got some information to share with everyone about where they can find out more about you. We'll have the links in the show notes, they can find out more about your device and about how you are helping men. Speaker 3 (38:54): Yeah. If I could just add just one other thing, Dr. Dunston, which is that Sure. We're working, we're working on similar technology for women. So we've retested on, on, on, on 38 women and it's, it's our goal by early 25 2025 to deliver data for women that will also allow them to hack their sex, their sexual health in order to have a long, a longer lifetime of, of love making. Speaker 1 (39:13): Okay. You gotta give us a sneak peek in like one to two minutes . Sure. So we can know about that. Speaker 3 (39:19): Uhhuh we are measuring, it's all about blood flow in men and women. So just as, as the male device firmness is a marker of blood flow in a female device. I don't call it so much erection, but I call it arousal. We are measuring blood flow in the CLS overnight. Women have nocturnal chlor arousal and we are measuring that as a leading indicator of their cardiovascular and cardiometabolic health. And in one during sex, we are measuring their chlor arousal as well. So women can then measure the impact of diseases, diets, supplements, creams, all the, all, all things that that which claims are made for, for their sexual health and see what works best for them. Speaker 1 (39:54): That's amazing. Thank you for that. Do keep me updated on that . I will. So yeah, tell everyone where they can find out more. Speaker 3 (40:01): Sure. You can find us at my firm tech M-Y-F-I-R-M-T-E-C h.com and you can find me directly at elliot E-L-L-I-O t@myfirmtech.com. And thank you much so much, doc Dustin, for this opportunity. Speaker 1 (40:15): Yeah, thank you so much for coming on. I think this has been such valuable information. We will have that link in the show notes and you can go there to click and find out more and stay updated. I'm gonna stay updated on what's coming down the line for women and I'll certainly let you know. So thank you again for joining us for another episode of the Hormone Prescription. I know you are inspired to create a better sex life for yourself and your partner for all its wellness and vitality benefits. I look forward to hearing from you on social media more about this. Have a great week and until next week, peace, love, and hormones y'all. Speaker 2 (40:55): Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormones and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.   ► Learn more about Dr. Justin's works on erectile fitness - CLICK HERE.   ► Feeling tired? Can't seem to lose weight, no matter how hard you try? It might be time to check your hormones. Most people don't even know that their hormones could be the culprit behind their problems. But at Her Hormone Club, we specialize in hormone testing and treatment. We can help you figure out what's going on with your hormones and get you back on track. We offer advanced hormone testing and treatment from Board Certified Practitioners, so you can feel confident that you're getting the best possible care. Plus, our convenient online consultation process makes it easy to get started. Try Her Hormone Club for 30 days and see how it can help you feel better than before. CLICK HERE.   ► Do you feel exhausted, moody, and unable to do the things that used to bring you joy? It could be because of hormonal poverty! You can take our quiz now to find out if your hormone levels are at optimum level or not. Take this quiz and get ready to reclaim your life; say goodbye to fatigue and lack of energy for good. We want every woman to live her best life — free from any signs or symptoms of hormonal poverty, so they can relish their everyday moments with confidence and joy. Imagine having a strong immune system, vibrant skin, improved sleep quality… these are all possible when hormones are balanced! CLICK HERE now and take the #WWPHD Quiz to discover if you're in hormonal poverty — it only takes 2 minutes! Let's get started on optimizing your hormone health today.

Welcome back to another exciting episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast. Today, your favorite host, Dr. Kyrin Dunston, delves into a topic that's a game-changer - "Healing Hormonal Poverty - Finding Your Way Out of Midlife Metabolic Mayhem." Ever heard of 'Hormonal Poverty'? You might be wondering, what on earth is that? Well, let's draw a parallel here. You know financial poverty, right? It's when you lack the resources to meet your daily needs. Similarly, when your body lacks the hormonal resources to meet its needs, you're in a state of Hormonal Poverty. Every cell, every system in your body relies on these hormonal messengers for information on how to function. And when these hormones are out of sync, you're not just battling sluggishness or weight gain, you're at risk of serious health issues like dementia, Alzheimer's, breast cancer, osteoporosis, and heart disease. Scary, isn't it? But hey, don't panic! Dr. Dunston is here to guide us through this hormonal maze. What's the opposite of Hormonal Poverty? It's Hormonal Prosperity! It's that blissful state where your hormones are in harmony, leading to an energetic, vibrant, and healthy you. Imagine feeling sexy, confident, and revitalized again... That's the power of Hormonal Prosperity! In this episode, Dr. Dunston shares her personal journey from hormonal poverty to prosperity. She lost 100 lbs by mastering her hormones and she's on a mission to empower you with the knowledge and tools to do the same. Dr. Dunston sheds light on the seven main metabolic hormones that are crucial for our survival and vitality. Understanding these hormones is your first step towards healing hormonal poverty. This episode isn't just informative, it's transformative! It's time to take control of your health, ladies. Let's bid adieu to midlife metabolic mayhem and embrace hormonal prosperity! Ready for this journey of healing and transformation? Tune in now to this episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast. Let's heal hormonal poverty together and step into a life of vibrant health and hormonal prosperity! Remember, you're not alone in this journey. We're all in this together, learning, growing, and supporting each other. So, let's dive in and start healing!   Dr. Kyrin (00:08): This is the episode for January 25th, healing Hormonal Poverty, finding Your Way Out of Midlife Metabolic Mayhem. Here we go. Oh, let's see a teaser. Here we go. “There is no greater perspective than when you lose your health.” Dr. Jen Simmons. Stay tuned to find Your Way out of Hormonal Poverty and Midlife Metabolic Mayhem. And this is the intro and episode. Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription with me. Dr. Kyrin, thank you so much for joining me today as we dive into talking about healing hormonal poverty and finding your way out of midlife metabolic mayhem. Hopefully no need for an introduction, but if this is your first time listening to me, I'll, I'll give a little intro on myself if you're not familiar. I'm Dr. Kyrin Dunston, the 30 years veteran board certified OB GYN Fellowship, trained in anti-aging, metabolic and functional medicine. Dr. Kyrin (01:18): I'm also shamanically trained in the UTI Mesa tradition from Peru. I'm also a life certified life coach and a bunch of other things because I've spent my life helping women heal. And I learned by doing, I've learned by healing my own body, mind, spirit, soul, so that I can show the way to women like you. Maybe you're over 40 at this point, maybe you're not. Wherever you are on the life age spectrum, there's something here that can help you. And what we're gonna talk about today is healing. Hormonal poverty. Hormonal poverty. You say, what's that? Good question. Well, you're familiar with financial poverty. When you don't have enough money to meet your living expenses, you're considered to be in financial poverty. Well, when you don't have enough hormonal prosperity to meet your body's needs, you're living in hormonal poverty. All cells, all systems in your body depend on hormones which are chemical messengers in your body for information. They need these hormones for information on how to function. Your nervous system gives a lot of information on how to function, but not when it comes to your metabolism. That's the purvey of your hormones. They're what regulate your metabolism. And every woman knows what your metabolism is. It's how your body takes calories or energy in and converts it into, Dr. Kyrin (02:58): Into energy. And you know, when you don't turn calories from food or fat into energy, you are tired and you gain weight. So those are the two hallmark symptoms of a low metabolism and they might be your two biggest symptoms of midlife metabolic mayhem. What's midlife metabolic mayhem? You say? Great question. It's the 60 or so plus symptoms that women experience sometimes earlier than 40, but definitely over 40. By the time we are 50, about 60 to 70% of us are overweight or obese and we're tired. But we also have myriad other symptoms. We can have brain fog, memory lapses, depression, or dysthymia not feeling like ourselves, lack of lust and joy for life. We can have somatic symptoms in our gastrointestinal tract, right? Our digestion can go wonky. We don't poop properly When we eat something, it might upset your stomach and we have no idea why. Dr. Kyrin (04:07): Maybe we're having migraine headaches or muscular tension headaches and we don't know why. Maybe we've developed arthritis aches and pains, myalgias. Every system in the body is affected and there are over 60 plus symptoms of midlife metabolic mayhem. And this is due to our programmed obsolescence of our hormones. Yep. We ladies are programmed for our ovaries to go offline. Starting about the age of 35. They start declining and then by the time we're 51, the majority of us will go into what's called menopause. So you could be in the perimenopause, pre menopause, whatever you call it. What really matters is how much hormone do you have? We're talking estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. Those are the three main sex hormones for women. Yep. We women have testosterone too. And it's super important, just like men have all those three hormones too. They just have more testosterone and we have more estrogen, but they're essential for us to function properly. Dr. Kyrin (05:13): And when we don't have them, we're living in a state of hormonal poverty. And midlife metabolic mayhem can ensue, but not only that disease can ensue. So rates of dementia and Alzheimer's are increased in women in hormonal poverty, breast cancer, osteoporosis, cardiac heart disease, and heart attack. The number one killer of women over 50. So it's essential to identify if you're in hormonal poverty with testing, we test don't guess. And to get out of hormonal poverty, you might not need a prescription. Right? That's why I do what I do because you need education to figure out, well, what do I need to look for? Because unfortunately, I was just a regular board certified OB GYN for many years, and hormonal testing is not standard of care and it's considered not a viable option in mainstream medicine. Don't believe me. Go ask your doctor to test your hormones. Dr. Kyrin (06:18): Now, if they do, they're probably gonna do a blood test, which is not the right way to test hormones. And I'm gonna tell you why in my upcoming course, the Hormone Bliss Challenge. I'm gonna tell you that and a lot of other things that you need to know about the steps to get out of hormonal poverty and into hormonal prosperity because it's more than I can tell you in one short podcast. So it'll be a quick 70 day challenge. We'll meet for 30, 30 minutes each day. We'll be live on Zoom. You can meet with me, ask me questions directly and interact with the other participants. People love this course. And you will then have the ABC's one, two threes of, yeah, Dr. Karen, you can identify yeah, I'm in mid midlife metabolic mayhem. Yeah. I'm having these pre diseases or diseases are on my way to having them. Dr. Kyrin (07:14): Yeah. I don't wanna have my longevity cut short because of hormonal poverty. Show me the way and I'm gonna show you the way and the exact steps that I took and the exact steps that thousands of women I've worked with have taken to get out of hormonal poverty in the Hormone Blis challenge. And it starts on February 8th, right before Valentine's. So Valentine's February is the month of self-love. I say 2024 is the year of self-love. I've got another episode in the podcast coming up for you in a couple weeks about what self-love means and looks like in 2024. 'cause It's not your self-love of 2020 to 2023. It's a whole different ballpark of lava. Don't know what lava is. Come join me for that episode and I will tell you it's a different way of living in the world. So for this month of love, you're gonna love yourself. Dr. Kyrin (08:13): Taking action and joining me for the challenge will be the first step. So we're gonna help you identify if you're in midlife metabolic mayhem and the exact steps to get out, why the blood testing your Dr. May offer you is not correct and what is the right testing to get. And because you wanna test, don't guess. And if you do need treatment, there are two things you need. So why do I call this podcast The hormone prescription? I call it that because there are two prescriptions you need for hormonal prosperity. One might be a written prescription for estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. Don't forget that one. It's essential. Dr. Kyrin (08:55): That's one prescription. The other prescription is the life prescription. And we talk a lot about that on the podcast here. It's your diet, it's your exercise, it's your mental diet, emotional diet, what you're taking in externally. Supplements you might be taking or not taking, activities you might participate in or not participating in, sex you might be participating with or not participating with. It's everything else in your life besides the first prescription. So the podcast is the hormone prescription and it's about all of that. So I'm gonna be teaching you about the exact steps you need to get a prescription if you need one, and the exact steps you need to get the life prescription that you need to get out of hormonal poverty and get into hormonal prosperity. So one of my former guests, Dr. Jen Simmons on the podcast, talked about women's health and breast health and hormones, and she had some great quotes. Dr. Kyrin (09:54): I shared one in the teaser. There is no greater perspective than when you lose your health. If you think, oh, I'm gonna deal with this next year. Oh, when I retire, I'm gonna deal with this. Oh, it's not that bad. Oh, I'm just gonna go to my HMO doctor to deal with this. You're sorely mistaken. There really is no greater perspective than when you lose your health. I recently came back from a year and a half trip traveling across the globe to Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and everywhere I went, people asked me what I did. And I talked to them about, I help women get out of hormonal poverty into hormonal prosperity. And of course, , a lot of them were women over 35, 40. Oh my gosh, I need what you do because here are the symptoms I'm dealing with. And they would list, like, the one that comes to mind is the dental hygienist I saw when I was in London a couple weeks ago. Dr. Kyrin (10:48): She immediately said, oh my gosh, my periods have been crazy. They're super painful. They're very irregular. I have no sex drive. She whispers to me, which is very common because most women don't talk to their doctors about that. But she felt comfortable. I get these headaches, my hair is falling out, I can't remember anything. And my doctor told me, you must be depressed. And he gave me an antidepressant. Can you relate to that? She said, I'm not depressed. Why did he gimme an antidepressant? This is happening globally, y'all. It's not just in America. We're being gaslit and told that we don't have the hormonal poverty that we have. And that's just 'cause mainstream medicine doesn't recognize it. That's a whole other topic we'll get into in the Hormone bliss challenge. And so she needs help. So she's like, can I, can you help me? Dr. Kyrin (11:39): And yes, I help women globally. You can be anywhere in the world and participate in this seven day challenge. And in my coaching programs, we help you get the testing you need, the prescriptions that you need if you need them and the life prescriptions that you need so you're not alone. All right, I got to jump off. So yes, there's no greater perspective than when you lose your health. She's losing her health. Sometimes people wait when it's just symptomatic until they get a breast cancer diagnosis or they get an Alzheimer's diagnosis and then it's kind of too late. So you need to do something sooner rather than later. Dr. Jen also shared this quote, the only person who can heal you is you, your doctor, is don't wait for your doctor to go get fellowship training and do all the training that I've done to get this information until wake up to the truth. Dr. Kyrin (12:32): You'll be well gone from this planet if you wait that long. 'cause It takes sometimes 30 years for cutting edge science to find its way into mainstream medicine. And you don't have that kind of time. So you can learn from my, my path and my mistakes. Dr. Jen also shared this quote I love, not only was I on the right, not on the right path for myself, but I wasn't on the right path for my patients because she too has a story just like me of having ill health using mainstream medicine, not knowing she was in hormonal poverty. Finding, seeing the light, finding the right way, and getting on the right path so you don't have to wait. Learn from other doctors, other female doctors, I will say, because we've hit the wall and we know the way. And this is gonna help you get out of hormonal poverty into a hormonal problem. Dr. Kyrin (13:35): A friend of mine said this to me yesterday and I just loved it. She said she saw a meme online that said, most people are waiting and looking for the light at the end of the tunnel end. But in the meantime, I'm gonna light this up, . So I thought that was great because she's not waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel. She's gonna create her own light. And the hormonal challenge is gonna help you create the light that's gonna light your path from hormonal poverty to hormonal prosperity. So I hope you join me. Go to hormone bliss challenge.com. H-O-R-M-O-N-E-B-L-I-S-S-C-H-A-L-L-E-N-G-E, hormone bliss challenge.com to find out more and sign up. It starts February 8th. It's a small investment of time for a big return on your small investment. This has transformed women's lives. You'll see our test test some of our testimonials on that page when you go there. And we look forward to meeting with you, seeing you there, helping to support you, nurture you, and help you to help yourself and give yourself the lava and self-love that you deserve in 2024 in February, the month of love. Hope to see you there.   ► Are you tired of feeling like you're losing control at midlife? Weight gain, low energy, and a decrease in sex drive are all too common. But it doesn't have to be that way. With our Hormone Balance Bliss Challenge, you can reclaim your youth and feel as amazing as you did in college. Our proven system is designed specifically for women at midlife who want to balance their hormones, reset their metabolism, and start seeing real results. Imagine waking up with more energy than ever before. Feeling confident and sexy in your own body. No more mood swings or uncontrollable weight gain – just pure blissful balance throughout menopause. Sign up now for our 7-day challenge and start seeing incredible results within days! Attend daily interactive Q&As with our experts, take assessments to track your progress, and learn the exact steps needed to achieve hormonal harmony. You deserve this – don't wait any longer! CLICK HERE to sign up NOW!   ► Do you feel exhausted, moody, and unable to do the things that used to bring you joy? It could be because of hormonal poverty! You can take our quiz now to find out if your hormone levels are at optimum level or not. Take this quiz and get ready to reclaim your life; say goodbye to fatigue and lack of energy for good. We want every woman to live her best life — free from any signs or symptoms of hormonal poverty, so they can relish their everyday moments with confidence and joy. Imagine having a strong immune system, vibrant skin, improved sleep quality… these are all possible when hormones are balanced! CLICK HERE now and take the #WWPHD Quiz to discover if you're in hormonal poverty — it only takes 2 minutes! Let's get started on optimizing your hormone health today.

Ready to learn the secret to staying out of the nursing home and living your best life at midlife? It's easier than you think, and our guest expert on today's episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast is here to tell you how!    We were thrilled to have Amy Wilson, a Board Certified Geriatric Pharmacist, certified fitness professional, and certified nutrition coach on the show to share her wisdom, insights, and real-life tips for conquering midlife challenges. She is dedicated to helping people optimize their health and wellness in midlife, which can be the key to staying active and independent as we age.    In this episode, we dive deep into navigating individual barriers while navigating through the journey of midlife health and wellness. Amy shares her proven techniques for finding the balance we all crave in midlife. Amy passionately reveals her top strategies for successful weight loss, regaining good health, and keeping yourself out of the nursing home, emphasizing that it all starts with one important factor: "Optimizing your starting line at midlife."    Here are some of the powerful takeaways from today's episode:    1. Importance of Individualized Approach: Amy stresses the importance of understanding that every person is unique and requires a tailored approach to their fitness, nutrition, and self-care journey.    2. Nutrition & Fitness Balance: Exploiting simple everyday dietary changes and incorporating regular exercise routines can make a massive impact on the quality of life.    3. Mindfulness & Emotional Well-being: In addition to maintaining physical health, Amy emphasizes the importance of nurturing mental and emotional wellbeing. This includes staying connected with friends, family, and hobbies that bring joy to our lives.    4. Learning from Real-Life Stories & Scenarios: Amy shares inspiring stories of her clients who have successfully overcome midlife challenges, regained their health, and lived a happier, more fulfilling life. These tales will not only resonate with you but also motivate you to take the first step towards a vibrant life.    Grab a cup of tea or your favorite beverage, find a comfortable spot, and soak up everything Amy has to offer in this episode. You'll come away feeling inspired and ready to embrace a healthy, balanced, and fabulous midlife! Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review The Hormone Prescription Podcast, and as always, we're grateful for your support. See you on the next episode!   Speaker 1 (00:00): Today I do what others won't. So tomorrow I can do what others can't. Amy Wilson, what do you need to do today so that you can do the things that you wanna do tomorrow? Stay tuned and find out. Speaker 2 (00:15): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us, keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife. If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself again. As an O-B-G-Y-N, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Speaker 1 (01:09): Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me today as we dive into talking about staying out of the nursing home. I know that's not a topic that you might pick to listen to or talk about, but you know what? If you don't pay attention to the things that are gonna keep you out of the nursing home now, then 5, 10, 20, 30 years down the line, you might end up there. And it's really a place of last resort that you don't want to end up in because people don't go there to get better and go home. They go there when the end of the line is in view and there's nothing else that can be done from them. And these days you're gonna hear from Amy. She's gonna talk to you about how 40 and 50 and younger year olds are ending up in nursing homes for things that are fully preventable and treatable if they had done the things that we're gonna talk about today. Speaker 1 (02:04): Do I have your attention now? Yes, I think so. So she's gonna talk to you about doing the things that others won't do. For whatever reason, they don't want to, they don't think it's necessary. They don't think they have a problem. They think it's not gonna happen to me for whatever reason. They're not doing the things. What are the things you need to do so that tomorrow you can do what others can't? Meaning you won't end up in a nursing home, you'll be able to travel the world, go dancing, do all the things that you love to do that I love to do, right? You wanna stay healthy, vital, alive, having fun and enjoying your life. And there's some things that you need to pay attention to that you might not be paying attention to. So we're gonna dive into that. We're gonna talk about your purpose. Speaker 1 (02:48): We're gonna talk about why you need to eat more . Yes, eat more. I said we're gonna be talking about that. We're gonna talk about Ozempic and some of the other weight loss drugs. So lots in this episode to share with you. I'll tell you a little bit about Amy and we will get started. So Amy Wilson is a board certified geriatric pharmacist. So she knows nursing homes, a certified fit fitness professional, and a certified nutrition coach with over 30 years of experience whose mission is to empower and equip her clients to take charge of their health and find balance in their lives so that they can navigate through individual barriers and finally be successful in their efforts to lose weight and regain health. At midlife. She's gonna talk to you about optimizing the starting line instead of worrying about the finish line. What does that even mean? So please help me welcome Amy to the show. Speaker 3 (03:46): Thank you for having me. I'm I've, this is my favorite kind of a conversation to have. Speaker 1 (03:50): Yes, mine too. Anything that helps women, particularly women over 40, get the health that they're wanting and improve their lives is right up my alley. And I love the conversation we started having just before we hit record. When I said kind of what is your main differential that you offer women and share what you said. 'cause I think it's really powerful Speaker 3 (04:15): Main difference is that I am not skinny. I think chasing skinny is something that we need to stop. And I know that may sound crazy because we live in a society where we think that being skinny means happiness. Being skinny means being successful, but that's not the case. What I am hoping to help people, especially women over 40, is to realize that skinny is not the end all be all. What we need to be chasing is health. What we need to be chasing is strength and balance. I'm a board certified geriatric pharmacist. I work in nursing homes. That is my, I would say my main goal is to make sure that you don't end up in one of those. Where are you gonna be in 20, 30, 40 years if you're chasing skinny? More than likely, it's very possible you may end up in one of those because of a bone fracture, because of osteoporosis. But if you start looking at health and healing from the inside out and start looking at strength and balance, then the sky's the limit. And hopefully your future self is saying, thank you very much for putting me in this amazing position where I can still live my life independently. Speaker 1 (05:24): Amen to that. Yeah, I loved you, keeping you out of my nursing home. That's it. And really, you know, we don't spend our lives thinking about that. We're very mortality-phobic in the Western culture where we don't talk about death. We actually act like it's something that's not gonna happen to us. And we don't like to have end of life discussions and we don't like to have nursing home discussions. But a large majority of us are gonna end up there. And a lot of us are gonna end up there for exactly the reasons that you've said because we've lost bone mass, which means that we've most likely lost muscle mass. And if we're chasing skinny our whole lives, we're probably not helping our bones. We're probably not helping our muscle mass. It's notorious that we don't get adequate protein intake. And so we're actually buying a ticket to the nursing home and I don't wanna be there. I know most of you don't wanna be there. So I think it's time we have a real discussion and get honest and have a mortality discussion and really start talking about what we're talking about when we talk about health for women over 40. It's not only our longevity, but it's our vitality span. So how did you, as a geriatric pharmacist, Amy, become interested in this? What makes you so passionate about it? Speaker 3 (06:46): Well, it's kind of like my story starts when I was 16 years old and started yo-yo dieting and then went to pharmacy school and became a fitness instructor while I was going through pharmacy school. So I've been in the fitness and nutrition realm as well as the pharmacy realm for quite a while. But there was a huge disconnect because of wanting to be skinny, wanting to help clients lose X amount of weight, and then seeing them turn around and put it back on again. Or seeing them just feeling frustrated that their bodies weren't doing what they wanted to do. Or especially when you get 40, 45, 50, everything that you used to do stopped working. Well guess what? Same here. That happened to me. And you know, with hormones, things change. And what happened was, honestly, all the yo-yo dieting I did for years decreased in muscle mass, affected my metabolism, affected my hormones, and I had to do something that was different. And while I was starting researching and looking at different programs for me to try, I was also seeing this increase in younger patients coming into my nursing homes. And by younger I mean forties and fifties, Speaker 1 (08:02): Really Speaker 3 (08:03): That shouldn't be happening. It shouldn't be. And 10 years ago it was all eighties, nineties and one hundred. It's, it's, you know, the end of life. It's no longer live by yourself. Well now we're no longer can live by yourself In forties and fifties. We are getting lifestyle diseases of diabetes, hypertension, strokes, certain cancers that are caused by lifestyle. And that is scary and it's also preventable. And so I saw this as, you know, not only can I help perimenopause and menopausal women, but I have to also educate on what we're doing and what we're not doing when we eat ultra processed foods, what we're causing disease states. And then also having women understand that we have to stop chasing skinny and we need to start focusing on the health aspect. We need to start focusing on the strength aspect because that is gonna decrease our chronic inflammation that is gonna help our hormones, that is going to help us be independent for years down the line. Speaker 3 (09:13): And that's, I think that's what everybody wants. Nobody thinks about, oh, I'm gonna end up in a nursing home. Nobody thinks that I'm gonna be in assisted living. We all see ourselves going until our last breath. But we don't realize that a lot of things that we do, we set ourselves up for. You don't go to the doctor's office and it's like, oh by the way, you just got diabetes or you just got blood pressure, high blood pressure that has been coming for years. Your body's been telling you and sending you signs. We just choose to ignore it because we think we're busy or it has to do with stress or it's, you know, I have this going on so that's why I'm not sleeping. When we start listening to those signals that our body is sending us, we can start kind of dialing back what we need to do. And when I saw this big disconnect and when I saw the increase in my nursing homes, then putting two and two together with what was going on with me, it was kind of like this trifecta. I'm a fitness instructor, I'm a nutrition coach, I'm a pharmacist. Okay, let's put all these things together and help people move forward, help people learn how to balance, help people learn to get strength and to eat and quit starving so that their future self can thank them. Speaker 1 (10:23): Yes. And I'm just wondering, as you're working in these facilities and you're seeing younger women come in, what kind of the patterns that you were noticing that were different in their lifestyle, in their genetic background, in their history? Were you noticing particular patterns that you found that you could work with them on? Or was it kind of too late for them? Or what was the situation there? Speaker 3 (10:53): Fortunately, once you're in the nursing home, it is too late. It is just the way our healthcare system is. We are not a preventative healthcare system. But I'll look at their history and physical and I'll look at their discharge summary and I will look at what's been going on in their lives. And a lot of it is uncontrolled type two diabetes started as pre-diabetes to type two diabetes. A lot of it's being sedentary, not moving and doing, you know, they don't say in the history and physical what they've been eating, but you can kind of summarize by what's going on. It's been ultra processed food, it's been fast food, it's, they haven't been walking or working out. They've lived a sedentary lifestyle causing chronic inflammation. And then something happens where they can no longer take care of themselves. And now they're in a facility that is pretty much just taking care of you. It's not there to help you get better, get stronger to go back out in the community. Rehab will do that, but they can only do so much with the time that they're allowed. And a lot of it's not changing the behavior, it's not changing the food that they're eating or putting them on a certain exercise program. It's just to get them good enough so that they can go home. Speaker 1 (12:10): Right. And you know, isn't it interesting? Well, it's sad actually that in 2024 we don't have dietary history as part of the intake, even though we know the extreme impact that diet has on life. But like you say, people are going there to be taken care of, they're not going there to get better. So I love it you took that and you said, oh no, this can't be, we need to keep people out of the nursing home. What do we need to do? So, and I'm just curious, as a certified nutrition coach, what was your evolution? Did, were you a pharmacist first and then became a nutrition coach and then fitness trainer? What was the evolution for you of your path? Speaker 3 (12:59): So I started teaching when I was 17, teaching fitness classes. So back in the days of leg warmers, big hair, all that kind of high, low and high, low gene Fonda days. And I am a diagnosed exercise addict. I used to try to out-train a bad diet, but in the eighties we didn't know it was a bad diet. In the eighties everything was low fat, it was all replaced with sugar, which we didn't realize at that time was gonna set us up for our diabetes journey. And I didn't even think about it. I would just feel guilty for eating something. I would go work out and then I would also personal train and I would personal train and work out with my clients. I blew my back out and it wasn't a good thing. I blew it out. I had to have surgery. Speaker 3 (13:43): You think that would've taught my lesson, but it didn't. And I was right back after surgery doing everything I was doing before, because we really have come a long way in nutrition in the last five to 10 years. Back then it was still how much you work out, how little you eat. And that was the key to keeping your weight off. We now know that doesn't work. We now know there's, there's reasons why it doesn't work. So in my thirties, I was looking for different nutrition programs. 'cause As a pharmacist, as a fitness coach, people come up to you and ask all the time about diet, about nutrition, about supplements. So I have several certifications under my belt, but they were still calories and calories out. What you and how much you work out coming into my forties perimenopause hits and the inches are crazy. Speaker 3 (14:36): And I'm like, wait a minute, wait a minute. I'm teaching all the time. I'm working out. I'm not eating. I tried keto, I tried the latest and greatest because I am just like everybody who's listening to this podcast, I want a fix. I want it quick and I want it now. And I will try anything that looks like it might work. We're, none of us are immune to that. We all see it, we all see the shiny object. We're like, oh, maybe this will help me. And after trying all those and it would work for a hot minute and then not, it was watching a couple other friends who were instructors do a program that was called The Fast Weight of Fat Loss. And I'm like, you know what, I'm gonna try it. I threw a Hail Mary pass, tried it, didn't think it would work, it did. Speaker 3 (15:18): It was taking science, it was eating for what my body needed and which was a lot more than I thought. And was also really focusing on bloating that muscle. And then once I did that, it was amazing at what, how my body responded. I was pre-diabetic because thanks dad, that came through my genetics. But it was also pre-diabetes coming with the decrease in estrogen. My cholesterol was higher, my thyroid wasn't doing well. And then when I started eating and I started working out less lifting, all of those things started just to fall in place. A1C went down, my thyroid went back to normal, cholesterol was back. So it was kind of crazy. And I knew for me that if I was this way, there were a lot of other women that needed help, who were throwing their hands up in the air and saying, this is not fair. Speaker 3 (16:14): Why is this happening to me? And trying everything out there only to get frustrated. And when I switched in my head with health and strength and stopped chasing skinny, it was the light bulb. It was, okay, this is what we are meant to be. This is how we're supposed to be treating our bodies. Our bodies are one big chemical reaction and we need to be giving it the right fuel, the right chemicals in order for it to do its thing. Instead of relying on the latest, greatest shake or packets of food, we need to understand that it's science. There are reasons why we need to eat certain foods. There are reasons why ultra processed foods do not help us. And I think honestly, when I started putting two to two together and getting rid of that disconnect of what food does to your body and understanding what food can do, that was the aha moment. And I get that with all my clients now too. It's like when they get that aha moment and realize that, oh wait, there really is a correlation to what I put in my body and how I feel and how I'm sleeping and how much energy I have and losing inflammation. And when you get that, you don't wanna let go of it. Yeah. Speaker 1 (17:29): And you know, I think it's so important to talk about what food is. I think most people are trained to think about food in terms of calories. It's just caloric energy when it's so much more. It's information. There's the energy information that comes with food, there's the nutritional information that comes with food. And then when there is non-food stuff in food, there's the chemical information. And so there's so many aspects to food. There's the allergic component that maybe an IgE allergy or there may be a sensitivity and there is intolerance, particularly when it comes to dairy. So there's so many considerations for the food that you put into your body. I think most people really need to expand their understanding of what food is. It's just like education. When your kids go to school, they don't just learn one subject. It's not just one subject that they learn. Speaker 1 (18:30): There's so many. And so food is equally as complex. I think that this would be a great time, since you are mentioning weight loss, it is the beginning of a new year. A lot of people didn't meet their weight or health goals last year and now they're on the resolution and they're like, I know I hear you Amy, but I'm just gonna go get that medication that my friend took where she lost a ton of weight and then I'll deal with doing it. Right. Do you wanna talk a little bit about some of these medications like ozempic that are available that some people are getting amazing weight loss results with? Speaker 3 (19:05): If you haven't heard of these medications, they're called GLP one glucagon. Like Peptide one, Ozempic, wegovy, Monro. And there's several others that are gonna be coming out pretty soon. And first of all, if you're on them, and this is not to beat you up and say, oh my gosh, I can't believe you're doing this, this, I'm gonna give you the pros and cons and then if you're on them, what you need to also be doing in conjunction with those medications. The problem with those medications are some of the how it works or the side effects and how it works is that it slows down your GI tract. So it will slow down gastric emptying, which causes you to feel full. And I know every female is going, oh my god, it's about time. I want something that's gonna help me feel full. I want something that does that. Speaker 3 (19:49): Yes and no. If you feel like you're a bottomless pet, if you feel like all you do is crave sugar, I'm going to challenge you with the fact that you're probably not eating enough and you're probably not eating enough protein either. We can actually work with our own hormone, the GLP one by what we intake and food-wise. But what the medication does will slow down gastric emptying. It will also help with insulin and insulin sensitivity and insulin resistance. Those are great. But the side effects are that it can cause something called gastroparesis, which is a total shutdown of your GI tract. Unfortunately, it's not reversible. It's something that you'll have to live with for the rest of your life. And if you know anybody with gastroparesis, it is not a pretty disease state at all. And the other thing that it does, because you're not hungry, you are not eating, your body, like I said, is a chemical reaction. Speaker 3 (20:45): It needs fuel. If you are not giving your body fuel, your body's pretty smart number one goal is survival. And it's gonna take amino acids from your muscles. It's gonna take minerals from your bones. So what we're gonna be seeing probably in about, I wanna say three to five years of something I call old lady syndrome, we're gonna see those people who should not have it yet in a disease state of osteopenia, osteoporosis, sarcopenia, which is muscle wasting. We're gonna see all these later on age-related diseases because of not intaking the proper fuel. And that's scary. And it's all because of chasing skinny. So if you are looking at taking something, maybe you have a high A1C, which is diabetes, pre-diabetes, maybe your doctor says this is what we need to put you on. If that's the case, then please, please, please work with somebody to make sure that you're getting adequate protein to make sure that you are building muscle and that you are getting your vibes and minerals. Speaker 3 (21:46): Because the last thing we want is for your body to take away from your muscles and your bones. And that's what we really need to focus on with these medications. If we can do it without the medication, perfect. If you're gonna go on the medication, please be aware of the side effects because a lot of people go in and say, oh you know what, it won't happen to me. I'm not gonna be that person. You have to be prepared to be that person that it happens to. And then also understand that, you know what, maybe I can try one more thing before I go on this medication. One more thing, I never tried really eating. I've always starved. I never really tried weightlifting to get some muscle mass. Maybe if I just try this one more thing, that would be my ticket to where I wanna go health-wise and not have an injection that pretty much I will have to be on for the rest of my life. Speaker 1 (22:37): Yeah, I think those are all super important points. And I've honestly never seen a person who said they had tried, quote unquote tried everything to lose weight and said they couldn't lose weight. I've even had people say, I haven't been able to lose a pound in 20 years when they address the underlying causes, the hormone imbalance, the gut dysfunction, the toxicity, all the things that weren't able to lose the weight. And so I've, I, that's why I don't know much about these medications is because I don't use them. 'cause They're really, I don't find that they're necessary. And like you say, they have potentially short and long, long-term negative consequences and you really do have to be prepared to be that person who got that side effect from that drug. So I know that you take a much more holistic approach to, it sounds like that's not your first line either. Speaker 3 (23:30): To me it's almost, I would say the last line and you know, I had, I was talking to someone yesterday. Well what about people with diabetes? Absolutely there are purposes for medication. I would say I'm a pharmacist who prefers that you try something else before medication or that we try to get you off of medication. All medications have side effects. I don't care what medication, all supplements will have side effects too. So I'll get somebody I like, but it's natural. Yeah. So is Deion that is used for your heart. That's all natural too. It's a flower, it's a plant. And there's still side effects with that. And to understand that the one thing that doesn't really have side effects for most people, unless you have an allergic reaction, is nutrition and weightlifting. The side effects are positive, they're not negative. And so if we can kind of get back to realizing that Mother Earth has pretty much provided us everything that we need that we don't need pharmaceuticals, they're there. Speaker 3 (24:26): Pharmaceuticals are great for treatments but not necessarily cures most of the time. And you know, who wants to be someone in my nursing home who's taking 30 medications? Because when you start with one medication, you're gonna take another medication and then there's a side effect. So there's another medication. Nobody starts out wanting to take a pill for this. It just happens. And then there's another pill. So if we can stop that whole cascade in the first place and yeah. Does it take a little bit more work? Absolutely. I'm not telling everybody this is, this is rainbows and unicorns. It takes behavioral change. It takes work to learn how to eat for what your body needs. It takes work to learn how to prepare food again instead of going through a drive-through. But is it possible and is it the best and possibly the right thing to do? Absolutely. Speaker 1 (25:16): You know, I had this visual come to mind when you were talking about going on medications, but really the, the first medicine for the body is food and movement are the first two medicines. And it's kind of like, you know, we say, oh but there it's natural, but cyanides are natural and can kill you. Right. It's just natural. Doesn't mean it's good for you. I don't know why, but transportation popped into my mind. Airplanes. So taking a drug for everything is kind of like taking an airplane everywhere. You still need to know how to walk . Mm-Hmm . Yes And yes how to ride a bike. And it's like, just because we invented airplanes and, and air travel doesn't mean we throw out everything else. But really with our mainstream medical culture, that's what has happened. I mean, like you said on your intake at the nursing home, they don't even ask about diet when that is the foundation of health. So great. We talked about those medications. Now we've touched on muscle mass and bone mass. Let's talk a little bit about why those are so important. 'cause I know some people might have heard and gotten the memo about how important muscle mass maintenance and bone mass maintenance are for longevity and vitality span. But some people are not aware. So what would you tell them? The biggest, Speaker 3 (26:36): Or I would say used to be the biggest reason that somebody would go into a nursing home was a fall or a break. And that is directly correlated with muscle mass. It's directly correlated with bones. And we don't think about those kinds of things. And we think that sometimes when, oh, I'm in my fifties, I'm in my sixties, I'm in retirement and all I wanna do is just sit around, I'm going to challenge you. It's like, I don't think that's what we want. I think we wanna live, I think we wanna be active and to be active, we need our bones healthy, we need them strong. And to be active, we need muscle. We need muscle to be able to get out of a chair every day. We need muscles to pick up our dogs and our grandkids. We need muscle to be able to take the groceries inside. Speaker 3 (27:24): And hey, if we're gonna get on that plane, I want to be able to go over that overhead bin and put my luggage there. Everything that we do, everything that we do on a daily basis requires us to have a strong skeletal system and a strong muscular system. And if we let that go, everything else goes downhill. Everything does. We no longer can lift, we no longer can get out of a chair. We no longer can maybe lift our head up because we have osteoporosis and we have all these bone fractures in our cervical area. I don't think anybody wants that. That's not living. And if we can do the best by fueling our body, by strengthening our bones and strengthening our muscles, honestly that's the fountain of youth. Keeping your muscle mass. Keeping your bone mass is the fountain of youth. And I think that is, at least for me, that's the ticket that is not a pill, not the fountain of youth per se. Going and drinking the water, that's something that I can do on a daily basis is to help my bone strength and my muscle mass so that in the future I'm able to thrive. And I think most people want that. They just don't realize it unfortunately until it's too late. When we're in our forties, in our fifties, in our sixties, whatever age you are right now, it's not too late. And now is the time to start training for your future self. Speaker 1 (28:50): Yeah. And I think it's super important to realize that these changes and the downgrade of our musculoskeletal system happens so slowly and gradually over time that it's almost imperceptible. And you can write off these changes as being normal and think that you are not on that downward slope again, you're not the one who's gonna get the side effects from the medication. You are not the one that Amy and I are talking about. But this was a real reality check for me, , when I heard of the squat test and how you basically stand straight up and then you want to lower yourself into a cross-legged position without using your arms, y'all arms. And then from the squat leg position, you want to get back up off the floor into a standing position without using your arms. If you can't do that, descent has already begun. And that was a real wake up call when I heard somebody describe that. And every woman in the room kind of looked at her neighbor and said, I can't do that. You know, look at kids, they do it effortlessly. So what are some other signs that you would tell people to look for to know that they need to pay attention and they need to start paying attention now? Speaker 3 (30:11): Energy levels. How are you sleeping if you're not sleeping well, if your energies are constantly crashing and you need coffee to get you through the day. If you're constantly grabbing for the sugar because you're hungry or you just want to have that sugar craving. And what does that do? That shows that you're not fueling your body enough. That shows that you might have some hormonal imbalances that you need to get checked out. And the other thing is, you know, do you feel weak? Is it hard for you to park way out of the grocery store and walk in? Do you find the closest parking space? Or are you someone who just can't carry anything and you're like, oh, you know, it's just 'cause I'm tired and looking for those little things that are adding up now or that are kind of giving you a wake up call that, hey, I need to really listen to my body and start taking care of it and start training to get better. Yeah, Speaker 1 (31:09): Those are super important things to look at. And I know we're busy, we lead busy lives, we're doing a million things and we're like, oh, I just feel a little tired. And it happens so gradually that we don't even realize it. And so I say pay attention sooner rather than later. And do you wanna talk a little bit about protein intake and weight lifting and maintenance of muscle mass? Speaker 3 (31:35): Yeah, so the one thing that we are great at is not getting enough protein. We really, especially females, we are, we do not get enough protein. And as we age, we actually need more protein. And sometimes that's difficult. There are easier ways to find protein. You can go to the grocery store and there's, there can be like a chicken breast or get some Turkey bone broth. It's a great way to get protein. You don't have to rely on the shakes. And sometimes those bars are just like a candy bar. They're not, they're not good for you. You need protein and you need protein in order to keep your muscle and in order to build your muscle. And I think a lot of times I will get, especially some older women will be like, Ugh, but I don't wanna bulk up. I don't wanna look big. Speaker 3 (32:24): And I'm going to tell you you're not gonna happen. It's not gonna happen unless you have some pharmaceutical, pharmaceutical help that then, then possibly you might get bulky. But for most of us, that is not possible with lifting three days a week with increasing how much weight. And I'm not talking about your three to five pounds. That might be somewhere that you start out with three to five pound dumbbells. But if you start lifting 15, 20, 25 pound dumbbells, you will not get bulky. What will happen, especially if you're fueling your body, is that you will actually change your body shape to the way that you want it to be. It will be shapely, it will be, I hate saying thinner, but it's going to be more compact. So you're gonna lose inches because we are going to increase your muscle. And then if you're fueling yourself properly, you'll start burning fat. And that's, I think what most women want is that they have this idea of what they wanna look like and they think they have to do it by starving when it actually is the exact opposite. That if you start fueling your body with carbohydrates, with fat, with protein, and you do a simple workout routine for 30 minutes, not hours, that is gonna get you well on the path that you wanna go. Yes. Speaker 1 (33:49): So important. Eat more, exercise more, way less, feel better, be healthier. Do you wanna give any guidelines? What guidelines do you like to offer for people for their protein intake in terms of numbers or you know, palm of the hand size, how many times a day? What do you usually recommend? So Speaker 3 (34:09): Usually, you know, palm size is usually a serving size, so anywhere between 20 to 30 grams of protein per meal. So right around anywhere between 80 to 100 grams per day. And it just depends on who I'm coaching. And some of my clients, some of my clients take way more than that. But it also depends on their activity level. But that's just a good starting point. You'll see people that say, oh, you only need 30, 40 grams per day. Honestly 80 80 to 100 is where we need to be A midlife. Speaker 1 (34:44): Yes. I second that. Amen. . And then, you know, at the beginning of the year, people going back to the gym, it can be intimidating to go to some gyms and you see all these big muscle guys working out and it smells like a man's locker room . So what you suggest for a woman who really has no experience with weights, it's foreign to her, that whole gym scene is foreign. Maybe she hasn't stepped foot in a gym since grade school. What do you suggest? How does she get started? If Speaker 3 (35:18): The gym scene isn't for you, so let's invest in some bands. Let's invest in some dumbbells. You can do a program at home. I work out for the most part at home. My program has daily workouts that we use. I do it at home. I go to the gym once a week when I teach and I'm in and I'm out because I don't like the gym atmosphere anymore. It's changed since covid. And if you're like, okay, I just, I can't get the energy just to go to the gym, I don't wanna deal with traffic, I don't wanna deal with people, but can you get the energy to go stand up and go to maybe a different room and 30 minutes is all you have to do? And I, and someone says, but I haven't worked out, just try five minutes tomorrow, do six minutes the next day, seven minutes. Speaker 3 (36:08): You will be surprised how quickly you will get in shape. And what I always get is like, but I'm not in shape enough to work out. You gotta start somewhere. You have to start somewhere and be okay. Being a beginner, we are so worried about being perfectionists all the time. We gotta do this perfectly. We gotta do this perfectly. How about progress? How about a little bit better every single day? And I know it's the new year, I know when someone starts a program, it's like, I'm going to clean out my closet, I'm gonna clean out my pantries, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna get up at 4:30 AM. Do what you know you can do and then build upon that. Don't think you have to go all in 120%. Do what you can do today and build upon it tomorrow. And that will set you up for success. Speaker 1 (36:58): I noticed something in the materials you submitted before we did the interview. I'm wondering if you can explain what this means. I like what it says, but I'm not sure entirely what it means. Optimize the starting line instead of worrying about the finish line. What does that mean? Speaker 3 (37:13): That is one of my favorite books, James. Clear Atomic Habits. Mm-Hmm. . And he kind of says, all right, we look at the finish line, maybe it's the spring and you're going on vacation to a cruise and you're like, oh, I wanna buy this outfit and this outfit and this outfit and I need to be this weight by this time so I can wear this bathing suit or get back into this close. So we're looking at the finish line, we're not looking at what we need to do to get there. So if we can optimize the starting line, maybe it's getting our new pair of shoes and, 'cause we have, we, we don't have a decent pair of walking shoes. Maybe it's getting dumbbells so that we have something to lift. Maybe it's getting some resistance bands, it's getting everything you need to get to the finish line, but you gotta have a starting point first. Speaker 1 (38:09): I like that. Focus on what you can do now instead of, oh, I gotta get to this, this point. Because sometimes it can feel like climbing Mount Everest and, but I can go get some dumbbells. I can pull my sneakers out of the back of the closet. I can put out my workout clothes before I go to bed and set my alarm, you know, 10 minutes earlier so I can go in the living room and I don't know, I like sweating to the oldies, something like that. Yeah, yeah. Great. I love that. And you also have this other information that I like and I'm wondering if you can explain. So I was put here on this earth on purpose for a purpose. I love that. What does that mean to Speaker 3 (38:53): You? Yeah, we struggle sometimes. I think all of us struggle. We struggle. What's our calling? What do we need to do? Whether it's our job, whether it's our family, whether it's our career and we question everything. And that grounds me. I was put here on purpose for a purpose. And when sometimes I feel like maybe I'm not doing what I should be doing, maybe I'm not helping enough people. And I, one of my clients who's lost 130 pounds posted something yesterday and I was almost in tears. And those things ground me. It's like, you know what? That's my purpose. That's my calling. So I was put here on purpose for a purpose. And I think we all know our calling, we all know our purpose. Sometimes we don't think it's big enough or it's, we think it's just too small. But realize every single thing that you do that is your calling, that is your purpose, is huge and makes an impact. Speaker 1 (39:43): It's so true, Amy, and I think that sometimes our purpose is so integral to who we are, that we almost do it effortlessly and then we think it, our purpose has to be hard. Mm-Hmm . It has to be some hard journey or degree or something that we accomplish or somebody gives to us. But it's really a part of who we are. And really, I think one of the aspects of health that I love to help women see is their uniqueness. And so understanding their personality from all its aspects, whether it's learning about the Myers-Briggs and human design and their astrology and so on and so on. And really what makes them uniquely them so that they can be on purpose. And sometimes I find that like Bill, not Bill Gates , not Bill Gates, the Apple guy, , I see Jobs , he says, you know, the dots can only be connected going backwards. Speaker 1 (40:47): And I recently had an experience, you know, anyone who knows me knows I've been through many transformations in my life professionally and personally. And every time I'm kind of like, okay, what's happening now with this transition? I thought I was on purpose. And I had an experience just last week where I woke up to this even larger purpose . And it's like I had to wait 59 years to get that. I couldn't know it at nine, I couldn't know it at 1929. Right. So it's ever unfolding. And if you just keep following the dots or the breadcrumbs as they're laid out. And I do believe that if you're listening to this podcast, this is one of your breadcrumbs. You're here for a reason. You're hearing this for a reason. You're being called to pay attention to your longevity, your vitality. You're being called to pay attention to the fact that we're talking about staying out of a nursing home. or your attention is being awakened because this is a part of you fulfilling your purpose. 'cause You're not gonna fulfill your purpose if you're not healthy. Oh, right. Speaker 3 (41:56): So true. Oh yeah. Abs, I, I may have to use that. I love that. That is so true. So true. Speaker 1 (42:02): Yeah. And I love this other thing you said today I do what others won't. So tomorrow I can do what others can't. Talk a little bit about that. Speaker 3 (42:12): Well, I mean, let's look at my nursing homes. Yeah. We don't think about what can happen to us in the future, we don't think about what we should be doing now. We think when we get that diagnosis or something happens is I wish I could have, although I would've should've. Things come to mind. I'm choosing not to have those. So today I do what others won't. So tomorrow I will do what others can't. I suck it up. I sometimes say embrace the suck, suck it up, and I do my lifting workout on a day. I don't feel like it. I get my nutrition on a day where it's rough. I'm busy and there's meetings after meetings or a podcast or client calls. I make sure that I take care of myself first because I can't give to others if I am not taking care of myself. Speaker 3 (43:04): And I think as women, we tend to do the opposite. We give, give, give, give. And we think that's what we should be doing and not taking care of ourselves. I take care of myself first so that I can take care of everybody else so that I'm able to coach, be able to be a great, a pharmacist, a fitness instructor, and then in 20, 30 years when there's others my age who maybe can't stand, maybe are in a nursing home, planning on being in Costa Rica on a beach somewhere. So , I mean, I'm planning on being 80, 90 years old and power walking and enjoying life and not being in a chair watching it go by. Speaker 1 (43:50): Yeah. So I think that's a great call to everybody to pay attention. I think it's a great place to end. You have an amazing five day blueprint, five day fat loss blueprint. We're gonna have a link in the show notes. Do you wanna tell them a little bit about what they're gonna find there and also all the places they can then connect with you online? Sure. Speaker 3 (44:09): The best places I'll give you two. One is my website, amy k wilson.com. And then I'm known as the nutrition coach pharmacist on Instagram. So on my website, amy k wilson.com or Instagram, the nutrition coach pharmacist. So what I am giving you is a five day blueprint that has lots of recipes and also has two more recipes on there. One is my favorite chili recipe. So if you like chili and if you like Wendy's chili, the rumor is that this recipe was taken by Dave Thomas who made it the Wendy's chili recipe. However, this one is easy, this one is healthy and it can be made in the crockpot, Instapot, or stove. And I love things that are easy and nutritious at the same time. I will say on the five day blueprint, just look at it. Just think about maybe taking one day and multiplying those meals by two. So that way you have two days and then there's like 15 different recipes, I think. So that makes it how many days we multiply that too. That's a whole month worth of stuff. So I hope that helps people, maybe get you on the road, get you started. Because sometimes when you listen to these things you're like, well, how do I start? What are you talking about? How do I, what do I do? This will give you some ideas on how to get started. Speaker 1 (45:26): Yeah, I love that. And thank you for that. And I would just add, I love making multiple servings of one recipe and then freezing in single serve containers. So when you are busy, you can just grab it and defrost it and you've got a healthy meal and you don't have to go without. So amazing. And I wanna thank you so much for coming on the show, Amy. I have to say, you know, of all my colleagues in medicine, some of the most beleaguered colleagues are the ones who do work in nursing homes because it's kind of a rock and a hard place position there. It's too late for them to really transform anyone and bring them back to the health that they could have had. And so they kind of become despondent and hopeless, those colleagues. Mm-Hmm, . But you have taken that pain and you are out doing something about it, helping people to stay out of your nursing home. So I say, yay, you and thank you , thanks so much for joining me today. Speaker 3 (46:25): This was awesome. Thank you so much. Speaker 1 (46:27): And thank you all for joining me for another episode of The Hormone Prescription. I know you're inspired, I know you're gonna go download that blueprint. I know you're gonna make that chili and I wanna know how good it is. I love a good bowl of chili, so tell me about it on social media. Look forward to hearing about your results and look forward to hearing about all the insights that you had and how inspired you are for an amazing 2024 and beyond. Until next week when we'll have another episode, I'll see you then. Peace, love, and hormones, y'all. Speaker 2 (47:04): Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormones and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.   ►Take charge of your health with Amy Wilson's complimentary 5-Day Fat Loss Blueprint. Rethink your food, nourish your soul, and begin your journey to health with her 5-day plan. CLICK HERE. ► Feeling tired? Can't seem to lose weight, no matter how hard you try? It might be time to check your hormones. Most people don't even know that their hormones could be the culprit behind their problems. But at Her Hormone Club, we specialize in hormone testing and treatment. We can help you figure out what's going on with your hormones and get you back on track. We offer advanced hormone testing and treatment from Board Certified Practitioners, so you can feel confident that you're getting the best possible care. Plus, our convenient online consultation process makes it easy to get started. Try Her Hormone Club for 30 days and see how it can help you feel better than before. CLICK HERE. ► Do you feel exhausted, moody, and unable to do the things that used to bring you joy? It could be because of hormonal poverty! You can take our quiz now to find out if your hormone levels are at optimum level or not. Take this quiz and get ready to reclaim your life; say goodbye to fatigue and lack of energy for good. We want every woman to live her best life — free from any signs or symptoms of hormonal poverty, so they can relish their everyday moments with confidence and joy. Imagine having a strong immune system, vibrant skin, improved sleep quality… these are all possible when hormones are balanced! CLICK HERE now and take the #WWPHD Quiz to discover if you're in hormonal poverty — it only takes 2 minutes! Let's get started on optimizing your hormone health today.  

Welcome to another episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast, where we explore the world of hormonal health and natural healing for midlife women. Today's guest is the incredibly knowledgeable Dr. Bradley Nelson, creator of The Emotion Code and The Body Code. He's here to teach us how to use these powerful healing systems to clear energy blocks affecting our hormones and embrace the healing process.    Dr. Nelson is an expert in identifying and releasing energy blockages that can lead to hormonal imbalances and various chronic conditions. Throughout our conversation, he explains how our bodies are intricately connected to our emotions and how we can unlock our body's ability to heal by addressing these energy disturbances.    In this enlightening episode, you can expect to hear: - The foundational principles behind The Emotion Code and The Body Code - The link between emotions and hormones in your body - How energy blockages affect your hormonal health - Real-life stories of women who experienced transformative healing through Dr. Nelson's techniques - Practical tools and advice for clearing and rebalancing your energy at home    If you're a midlife woman dealing with hormonal imbalances or seeking to explore natural methods of healing, this episode is a must-listen. Dr. Nelson's expertise and personal insights will inspire you to take charge of your healing journey and tap into your body's innate wisdom.    Thank you for joining us today at The Hormone Prescription Podcast, and we'll see you in the next episode!   Speaker 1 (00:00): Albert Einstein said, everything is energy and that is all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want, and you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not philosophy. This is physics. Stay tuned to find out how energy applies to your health and is an essential part of healing your emotions and your physical health and your hormones. Speaker 2 (00:27): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us, keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself again. As an O-B-G-Y-N, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue. Now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Speaker 1 (01:20): Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of The Hormone Prescription. I'm Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me today as we dive in to talking with Dr. Bradley Nelson about the emotion code. I am so very honored to have Dr. Nelson on this show. I have been a fan of his for years. Read his book several years ago and know his work is profound and deep and really helps people achieve not only the emotional balance, but the hormonal balance and the physical vitality that they're seeking. It really is the missing link when it comes to health. And we're gonna talk about why in this episode, how these structures that monitor and maintain your hormones, your nervous system, your emotions, why they're so intertwined. And you may have noticed this in ways that might not be obvious to you, but we're gonna talk about some of them and we're gonna talk about why they're so intertwined. Speaker 1 (02:22): So if you're trying to aim for vitality, physical vitality and longevity, you're trying to aim for hormonal prosperity and longevity, and you want emotional balance, then this is the episode for you. 'cause Dr. Bradley Nelson has a very unique approach that was ahead of its time when it was introduced. We're gonna talk about this quote from Albert Einstein about why everything is energy. What does that mean for your health? Because I know you're not hearing that at your HMO doctor's office. You don't go for your checkup and they say, did you know that you are energy? But you need to know this. 'cause If you're not addressing it, you're not gonna be able to experience the health that's possible for you. We're gonna talk about why energy medicine is the last great frontier in medicine. And another quote from Nicola Tesla. That's amazing. So I'm gonna tell you a little bit about Dr. Bradley and then we will get started. Speaker 1 (03:17): He has a very extensive biography, but every bit is worth reading and talking about. So I'm gonna get into it then we'll have him on the show. So he is a veteran holistic physician, Dr. Chiropractic, Dr. Bradley Nelson. He's one of the world's foremost experts on natural methods of achieving wellness. An international trainer and speaker and author of the bestselling book, the Emotion Code. He has a new book, the Body Code, unlocking the Body's Ability to Heal Itself. You definitely wanna check that up. He was raised in Montana and grew up on the back of a horse. And as a child, he suffered two life-threatening illnesses, both of which were healed, not by traditional western medicine, no surprise there, but by separate alternative methods that tap the power of energy. And these experiences were to shape his life going forward In college, he studied computer programming and decided to pursue business as a career. Speaker 1 (04:11): But after entering the MBA program at Brigham Young, he had an epiphany. He had asked God for guidance about his future, and one night he woke up and his mind was overflowing with thoughts of service to mankind and to humanity. Maybe you have that too, and if you do, you need to pay attention to it. And the feelings were absolutely overwhelming. His head was filled with thoughts of healing and helping the world. A voice that was crystal clear spoke to him saying, this is a sacred calling. So he entered, dropped outta MBA, entered life Chiropractic College West in California, and graduated with honors. He began practicing as a holistic chiropractic physician and saw a wide variety of patients, many of whom had seemingly incurable conditions that he remembered learning about the computer that is the brain, the supercomputer, and how amazing it would be to access the data that's stored there, to unlock keys to help these people who had seemingly incurable conditions to heal. Speaker 1 (05:10): And he started doing extensive study and disciplines such as ancient medical practices, psychology and quantum physics, as well as the guidance of his own spiritual practice. And he discovered that packets of unprocessed emotion were the basis of most conditions. Have you ever felt like, well, that feeling is in me and I always feel that same feeling and it never seems to change or go away regardless of circumstances. If you haven't realized that most people do feel that they regurgitate the same feelings over and over, they don't realize it. So look back and think the body is essentially energy and emotion is energy as well. When the energy of a negative emotion is trapped in the body in a packet, it impacts the body's self-healing system. And these trapped emotions are almost like tumors and can obstruct healing at their worst. They actually create disease and physical problems. Speaker 1 (06:02): So he designed a process using this knowledge and has helped thousands of people, he is trained thousands in how to do these processes as well, to release their trapped emotions, to harness the intrinsic genius of his patient's subconscious minds, to identify the trapped emotion in the subconscious and use the laws of energy and electromagnetic fields and employ the governing meridian to release them. If you're not sure what that is, don't worry. Stay tuned. We're gonna talk about it. And it's pretty sophisticated and subtle knowledge, but he's made it so simple that even a child can do it. And the process is called the emotion code. You remove emotional energies that have clustered in the body around the heart, interfering with one's ability to find love, vitality, and healing success. And we're gonna dive into what the heart wall is, where these packets are, how do you know if you have them, what do you do about it? And we're just gonna go all over the place with Dr. Brad because he is a wealth of knowledge. He's also gonna touch on his new book, the Body Code, and all the training that he has. He has a free gift for you that's gonna help elucidate some of this. So without further ado, please help me welcome Dr. Bradley Nelson to the show. Speaker 3 (07:18): Thank you for having me on Kier, and I really appreciate it. It's great to be here. Speaker 1 (07:22): I came across your work a few years ago and the book The Emotion Code, and it really has transformed my way of thinking about health and emotions and so many things. I think it's revolutionary and really can help so many women of every age, but particularly at midlife and beyond. That's really my focus. And I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit about, 'cause this concept of emotions being trapped, emotions are kind of a mystery to a lot of women. . They don't realize that their hormones and nervous system are intricately involved with their emotional state and regulation, or lack thereof. So I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit about your journey to discovering what you discovered that you present in the emotion code. And there's so many things I wanna ask you, and that's a jam packed question, but start wherever you would like. Speaker 3 (08:22): Okay, absolutely. Well, I practiced as a holistic physician for about 18 years, and I was really obsessed with getting to the underlying causes of my patient's problems. And I was seeing all kinds of patients of all ages and with all kinds of physical and mental and emotional issues. And I was studying things, ancient methods of healing and modern methods. And I was doing everything I could to learn everything I could about how to fix my patients. And, I was also prayerful. Before I'd work on a patient, I would, I would actually pray silently. You know, it was just a momentary pause. Really. Nobody ever knew that I was asking for help from up above for people. That's, but that was really interesting because over those 18 years, there were a number of occasions where information would suddenly just flood into me about what to do and how to help someone. Speaker 3 (09:14): And what I learned was that all of my patients, no matter how young or old they were, no matter what they were suffering from, no matter what their symptoms were, they all had one thing in common. And that was, they were all suffering from the effects of their emotional baggage. And let me explain how that works. 'cause It, it's, it's kind of a strange thing. We're not used to thinking about emotional baggage. I mean, we use that phrase, right, Kieran, we, we might say, well, you know, a gal, she's got a lot of emotional baggage and that guy's got a lot of emotional baggage. Well, we all have emotional baggage. But what we're now finally beginning to understand in the 21st century is what our emotional baggage is, number one. And number two, what that emotional baggage is actually doing to us. So let me explain. Speaker 3 (10:03): First of all, you have to understand that these bodies of ours, even though they seem solid and three dimensional, the reality of it is if you talk to a physicist, especially someone who is working with quantum physics, they will tell you, well, the body really is an energy field. I mean, if you, if you zoom in, for example, on your hand and you zoom in, magnify your hand with a big microscope, and you go past the level of the cells and pass the organelles and pass the molecules until you're eventually looking at a single individual atom, the molecules are made of atoms. We're made of atoms, right? But if you were to look at that atom and look inside that atom, you'd see there's really nothing there. It's just empty space. It's just energy. And you'd see that the next atom is a long distance away. Speaker 3 (10:49): And so really, these bodies of ours are made of atoms which are made really of nothing but pure energy. It's hard for us to wrap our minds around that, but that is the truth of our existence. And in fact, as strange as it is, it gets even stranger, some quantum physicists recently, I think, to make a point, to try to help the rest of us understand the true nature of our reality. They said that if you could remove all the empty space from everyone's body on earth, you could fit all 7.8 billion people in the world into a box the size of a sugar cube. Right? It's kind of mind blowing. But that's really the reality of who we are. And so, even though our bodies seem solid, they really are energy fields. Our body, you know, your body is, is a very complex energy field. Speaker 3 (11:33): But when you're feeling an emotion, what's going on is that every emotion has its own specific frequency and it's own vibration. And so if you're feeling an emotion of anger, that's a different frequency than sadness and so on. And if you're feeling that emotion and that emotion is very powerful, that energy, that vibration may become trapped in the body. There are two situations where this typically occurs. If the emotion's very powerful or if we make it very powerful, we choose to become really upset, which of course we've all done. Or if an emotion coming up for you and you decide you're gonna not allow that, and you just stuff that emotion and you bury it so that you can move on with your life, then that's unexpressed. And so we end up with these emotional energies trapped in our bodies. The first time that I saw this actually was a woman that thought she was having a heart attack, and she I'd seen her before, but it had been a few months. Speaker 3 (12:27): And one day she comes in, she's got numbness on the left side of her face, her left arm's totally numb. She's got crushing chest pain, difficulty breathing. I told my staff, look, we might need an ambulance. We were right next to a medical center, so I knew we could get one really quickly. So I brought her into a room and I started doing some testing. Now with the emotion code, what we do is we ask questions and we get answers from the body by using muscle testing. And so, so if you can imagine, I have her holding her arm out parallel to the floor, and I'm asking questions. And her subconscious mind is responding with strength for yes. Or weak for No, that makes sense. Speaker 1 (13:06): Yes. Mm-Hmm, . Okay, but applied kinesiology style. Speaker 3 (13:10): Yeah, yeah. Kinesthetic, yeah. Whatever you wanna call it. Anyway, so I'm asking questions, well, do you have a trapped emotion that's contributing to your symptoms? And the answer was yes. And then we have a chart of emotions in the emotion code that looks like this. And there are, that's legible or visible. There's 60 emotions on here. Yes. And, Speaker 1 (13:28): And actually Dr. Brad has a link we'll give you at the end of the show where you can go and view this and actually download it. So go ahead, . Speaker 3 (13:36): Yeah. So anyway, so I asked, do you have a trapped emotion that's contributing to these symptoms? And the answer was, yes, very strong. And so I found very quickly the answer was the emotion was grief, and then we needed to know a little more. And so I tested a little more and found out that this had actually occurred. This emotional energy became trapped in her body three years before. And all of a sudden she breaks down crying. And she said, I can't believe that's affecting me. She said, I thought I dealt with all that. And I said, well, what happened to you? She said that three years before her husband had an affair and or was having an affair. And she found out about it and then confronted him with the evidence and the marriage blew up. And she was so betrayed. She was really in love with him, thought she was gonna be with him forever, right? Speaker 3 (14:22): And that was the end of that. And so they ended up getting a divorce, and then she spent a year in therapy dealing with it, and had even recently gotten remarried. So as far as she was concerned, that was just her ex and he betrayed her. And that was, she was trying to put it behind her. But as far as her body was concerned, that betrayal, that grief that was so powerful three years before was still there, still right there. And in fact, when I released that energy, and it just takes a few seconds, we just swipe down the middle of the back with a magnet or your hand, the feeling came back into her face and into her arm within about three seconds. And all of a sudden, the crushing chest pain, difficulty breathing, it was all just gone. And she left the office about 10 minutes later after joking with me and my staff. Speaker 3 (15:09): And then I remember sitting at my desk after she left, thinking, what in the world? What did I just witness? How is that possible? Now you think about your own life, right? You think about the things that you have been through, because we have all been through things. We've all been through things we'd rather not have gone through. You know, we've been through deaths in the family, we've been through breakups. A lot of us have been through divorces. We've had problems with our kids and injuries and accidents and all kinds of things. And so the emotions that we experience, sometimes those can stay with us. And what I found in practice that's just so unbelievable is that our emotional baggage is 90% of the time the reason for physical pain. It's the reason why people gain weight and can't lose it. It's one of the reasons, it's a reason behind every disease process that we've seen now in 35 years. Speaker 3 (16:04): Think about that. So if you've been diagnosed with a disease, I can guarantee you there is an emotional component to that disease process, and you can do everything else, right? But if you miss that component, then you might not get over the disease, because that's a piece of that puzzle. And of course, western medicine is still a number of years away from recognizing this. But, this is the reality. And so getting rid of that emotional baggage is one of the most amazing, one of the best things you can actually do for yourself, for your physical health, for your mental health and your emotional health. Speaker 1 (16:42): Yes. It's astounding to me. And so when you say the energy, the emotional baggage, it's almost like the emotions are energy in motion, and these, if these emotions aren't allowed to go through the cycle, that they go through and dissipate and be metabolized, that they stay there, almost like I envision these little packets, kind of quantum packets of energy that are sealed off from the rest of the system. Is that how you would explain it? Speaker 3 (17:13): Yeah, that's actually a really great way to explain it. I mean, there's an emotional process. I call it the emotional loop that we go through. When an emotion starts to be felt, if you think about what happens, first of all, some kind of stimulus occurs. Someone says something to you, or you see something, or you think something or hear something, an emotion starts to automatically come up for you. And most of the time we allow that emotion to come up and we, you know, maybe think the thoughts that go along with that emotion or feel the physical sensations with that. And then most of the time we allow that energy to kind of dissipate and go away. And so that emotional loop opens and we feel the emotion and we allow it to dissipate. And the loop closes on that experience, and that experience is over and ready for the next one. Speaker 3 (17:58): And we do this all the time, every day, right? But again, if that emotion is coming up and we decide, no, I'm not gonna go there, that's a bad emotion. I don't have time, whatever. And we stuff that emotion, then that energy that's been trying to express is suspended in the body in some way. And we don't really understand how this works. But the other, the other circumstances, if an emotion comes up and it's just so intense or so overpowering, you know, your parents die unexpectedly or suddenly, your husband asks you for a divorce or a child is hurt in a terrible accident or, you know, whatever. Sometimes the emotion is just so powerful, we can't really deal with it. And that energy becomes trapped in the body in that way too. Or sometimes an emotion comes up and we decide that we're going to empower that emotion and really go over the top by getting really upset. Speaker 3 (18:49): We've all done that too. And that can also amplify that energy. So that normal process, almost like breathing in the emotional feeling and then breathing it out, that gets stuck. And so the loop then stays open. And so we have an open loop for that emotional experience. And so the emotion code is just a way to find these open loops and close them. And, but it's, it's unbelievable. It's really unbelievable how powerful this is. And that's what's driving the success of this all over the world. You know, for example they just sent me this book in Vietnamese. I just got nice, this is, you know, this is Mandarin. I've got on the wall behind me. I've got all kinds of books from all over the world. We were just in Japan. This is a book in Japanese, you know, but it's going all over the world. And the reason why is because it's a very, very simple, easy method that anyone can use. So we certify people in this method. We've got people all over the world. We've certified over 12,000 people in the emotion code in 80 countries or so. But you can actually do this yourself as well. And so you can begin to heal your own emotional baggage. And, you know, if you think that you don't have emotional baggage, then I regret to inform you that you do, Speaker 1 (20:02): Right? That would be a question I would ask you, because some people listening are gonna think, I don't have that. And you know, in my experience, , the more education and training I've had in this field, and the more I've gotten my own energetic training and my own energetic path of healing, the more I realize that we really are emotion-phobic as a society. And I would say emotionally constipated. We don't know what to do with our emotions. We suppress them, we deny them, we , we do anything but honor them and feel them. So the average person listening right now is thinking, oh, that's not me. I don't have that. So what would you say to her? Speaker 3 (20:45): Well, you know, I have met people in my life that have had a lot less trapped emotions. And those are the kind of people that are really unflappable, that are able to kind of maintain an even keel no matter what's going on in their lives. Even those people, and they're kind of rare, really especially in this culture in the US I think they're, they're prone to, to develop less trapped emotions. But, you know, even those people have emotional baggage. The average adult in our experience has probably around 300 separate emotional energies that have become trapped in their bodies. And so it's a process of learning how to release these. And then you can have someone help you to get rid of your emotional baggage, or you can do it yourself. It's easy enough that kids are doing it. In fact, let me share a story with you. Speaker 3 (21:37): Sure. We were, we were at an event sometime back and a woman told us this story. She said that she started reading the emotion code book, and she had the book on audio and started listening to it and reading it. And her son started reading it and listening to it. And he started practicing with his friends, and she thought she thought it was cute. And a couple days go by, or sorry, a couple weeks go by, and one day the phone rings, she answers the phone, and it's a woman calling her who identifies herself as the mother of one of her son's friends. And she said, listen, my son has had a severe phobia of water all of his life, and you know, you can have a phobia to anything. And she said, she said, it's really been very disruptive to our life and to his life, and we've tried everything. Speaker 3 (22:18): We've taken him to everybody we could think of for years, and nothing's ever touched this. She said, right now I'm at the community pool. And she said, my son is out playing in the water, the other boys, for the first time in his life, she said, your son did this. How is this even possible? What in the world is he doing? Well, those two boys are only 11 years old. That's how easy this can be. And yet how incredibly life-changing it can be because you see, our behaviors are largely governed by the emotional baggage that we've picked up during our life. Who knows what happened to him. Maybe he was stuck in the womb a little too long, you know, or maybe he had an experience where he thought he was gonna drown when he was a baby. And so I don't know what the emotion was, but you can develop trapped emotions in the womb as a baby. Speaker 3 (23:04): It's even possible. In fact, this is something that's not unusual at all. It's even possible for us to inherit emotional energy at conception from mom or dad that they might have gotten a conception from their mom or dad. And these can go back for many generations. And so it's so interesting because, you know, the reason right now that you might be having trouble finding love or maybe the reason why you're having a hard time making money, it might be because, you know, maybe your great-great-great grandfather was thrown into a poor house. Or maybe, maybe your ninth grade grandmother was jilted at the altar, and that energy's been passing down your line and it's in you now. It's really wild, but it's easy to find even these kinds of things and release them. So yeah, this work is so fun, and it's changing lives all over the world. Speaker 1 (23:51): It is. It's fascinating. And you know, as you're talking, and I'm realizing some people are thinking, well, this is a little woo woo for me, Kieran, and I'm, what I'm gonna say is, woo woo is the new must do. Science is validating and has validated all of these things that Dr. Bradley's talking about. So if you're not, if you didn't get the memo, you need to get on board the train because this is what's keeping you from the physical health that you want, the life that you want. It's what's keeping you from everything that you want. I'm wondering if you can talk maybe a little bit about the scientific research that has confirmed many of the connections between emotions and health, if you wanna touch on that. Sure. Speaker 3 (24:35): Well, let's first of all talk about inherited trapped emotions. Since we were just talking about that. One of the very first studies that started to shed some light on this, and that blew a lot of people's minds, was a study that was done, I think it was about 15 years ago, where they were studying mice. And what they would do is they would, they would subject mice to an electrical shock. And at the, and which sounds terrible, but it, I don't think it was too bad. But at the same time that they were giving them this electrical shock, they would blow the smell, the scent of cherry blossom into their cages. And so after doing that, a few times, the mice became conditioned to the smell of cherry blossom. And so then all they had to do, of course, was just blow that smell into their cage, and they'd have a fear reaction, right? Speaker 3 (25:22): Well, they found that the offspring of these mice had that same kind of fear reaction. So even though mice, several generations down the line, had never smelled cherry blossoms in their entire lives, when they would give them that scent to smell, they'd have a fear reaction. And they were trying to figure out, well, how in the world is this happening? How are these mice teaching their offspring to be aware and to be scared of cherry blossom scent? So what they did is they took sperm from these mice that had been sensitized. They took that sperm across the campus, an impregnated female mice that had never been shocked, and that had never smelled cherry blossom. And they found that the offspring of those female mice were also sensitized. And so scientists are trying to figure this out still to this day. I mean, they're looking at the DNA into the microscope and trying to figure out how in the world this is happening? Speaker 3 (26:18): But we know how it's happening. It's because of these energies. It's a quantum phenomenon. You see, it's trapped emotional energy. And so there have been books written about, for example, the offspring of the, the grandchildren, for example, of Holocaust survivors. And they find that their DNA is a little different and that they're more susceptible to disease and so on. They're very different from the normal population. And the only possible explanation is what the grandparents went through in the Holocaust and how they survived that. So anyway, there are lots of studies that have been done, an amazing study that was done on childhood trauma that found that if you experienced trauma as a child, if you were bullied or abused in some way, then the odds of you suffering from some major disease years down the road is greatly enhanced. And so there's lots and lots of studies that have been done. Speaker 3 (27:10): We did our own study actually with post-traumatic stress and depression, and found that within about three weeks using the emotion code, the people that were in our study reported improvement in their symptoms of about 36 to 37% within about three weeks. So if you're dealing with depression or PTSD, what we're finding is that emotional baggage is the underlying cause of these things. Depression, anxiety, phobias, panic attacks, PTSD, eating disorders, self-sabotage of all kinds. And of course, if we bring that back around to hormones, you might think that, well, hormones are a completely separate thing. But lemme tell you, emotional baggage is massively important in the regulation of your hormones and the production of your hormones. When you have emotional baggage, what it can do is it can really dramatically interfere with the production and the normal flow of a whole hormonal system. Speaker 3 (28:13): One of the things that I used to do when I was in practice, and since then too, although I don't practice anymore, because we, we mainly just teach people around the world, but I've worked a lot with women who could not conceive. And of course, you think about how important hormones are to conception and carrying a child. Well, the last, the last three women that I worked with over the last few years all ended up having triplets , which I wasn't sure. I, you know, I wasn't sure if I should apologize or what, but , you know, . But yeah. But if you think about it, if you think about this, the, the hormone system in, in the female body, if you think about reproduction, what I used to tell my female patients is that the male re reproductive system is kind of like a tractor and somebody's wired the, the throttle open, and it's, there's no one on it. Speaker 3 (29:04): It's just chugging its way, you know, along the female reproductive system on the other hand is like a Formula One race car, and it's got all these different moving parts and components. And if everything is working well, then it can go 200 miles an hour and you can conceive and you can have a child and so on. But, but if there's anything that's not quite right, then things aren't gonna work. And so I've seen cases where I'm convinced one single trapped emotion was enough to stop the whole process. In fact, it's so interesting. We had a young woman who came to us a number of years ago who was suffering from Vaginismus. She'd been married about six months, and she told us that she'd been sexually abused as a child, but she was suffering from Vaginismus. So she and her husband had not been able to consummate their marriage. They had not been able to have sex, because of course, vaginismus is where the, the vaginal opening just tightens down, nothing's getting in there. And so we worked on her, released some trapped emotions, and her mother called us a couple of days later. She said, listen, she said, I just want you to know whatever you did worked, because she said everything's working, said her husband's coming home from, you know, he's coming home and spending lunch at, at home. Now they're trying to catch up. Speaker 1 (30:17): Oh, that's great. Yes, most women probably aren't aware. And I do just wanna tie that in a little more to what Dr. Bradley's saying is that your emotions are regulated primarily in your midbrain and the amygdala and your nervous system and your hormones are also regulated from the same area. So these brain structures that regulate emotions, your nervous system and your hormones are very interrelated and tightly controlled in that area. And imbalance in one is going to affect the other, particularly when it comes to negative emotions. It will affect your cortisol primarily. And then, you know, I call cortisol queen cortisol, she will be served by any means necessary, and she's gonna take down your female hormones, your estrogen, your progesterone, your male hormone, testosterone, and really dysregulate the whole system in order for survival, which depends on cortisol. So I just wanted to give you all a little bit of a concrete reference point as to how important this is. Speaker 1 (31:27): And, and again, to anyone who's saying, oh, this is woo woo, I love this quote you shared from Albert Einstein that I wanna share with everyone. Everything is energy, and that is all there is to it match the frequency of the reality you want. And you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not philosophy, this is physics. Albert Einstein said it a long time ago, , and now we're just starting to, to really understand what many ancient cultures have known for eons that, like Dr. Mayman, Oz says, energy medicine is the last great frontier in medicine, right? Speaker 3 (32:10): Yes. In fact, Einstein himself said, the medicine of the future will be the medicine of frequencies because he understood what our bodies really are. And it's so fascinating. In fact, Nicola Tesla, again, you know, one of the most brilliant people that ever lived said, if you wanna understand the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration. And so it's such an exciting time, really, Kieran, because we're really just now beginning to understand and put into practical use these ideas. And it's what I've been spending my whole career on, trying to understand this and trying to figure out how our bodies actually work. And so that's that's why I wrote the emotion code book, was because I saw what was happening with my own patients and what a, what a dramatic difference this was making for people in terms of their ability to get over disease processes and to be able to feel more love and to be able to have a happier life and get rid of all of these mental and emotional, physical issues. It's really unbelievable. I mean, 80% of the physical and, and mental emotional issues that we have are really because of our emotional baggage, the things we've gone through, or mm-hmm. in many cases, the things our grandparents went through, or great-great-grandparents or whatever. So, the beauty of this is that it's simple and anybody can use it, and it's something that, again, even kids you know, can use. And, and so fun stuff. And Speaker 1 (33:42): How would somebody go about starting to address this? They hear what you're saying, they get it, they probably even know they have some emotional baggage. They've got some health issues, they're convinced. And how do they go about starting to work with this? Speaker 3 (33:59): We have a free gift for Mm-Hmm, , all of you. And that is, you can go to our website@emotioncodegift.com. And if you go to emotion code gift.com, I'll go there really quick. Emotion code GIF t.com. And what we have there is something that we call the emotion code starter kit. So what you get is you get the first two chapters of the Emotion code book, and this is all free. You get the chart, and you also get a video series, it's called Intro to Energy Healing. We created this so that people can kind of get their feet wet and it doesn't cost anything. You can read the first couple of chapters of the book and see if you wanna read the rest of it. Of course, the book's available on Amazon and Audible and everywhere books are sold, you know, Barnes and Noble and so on. This will kind of give you more information about how this really works, and you'll learn how you can start to release this emotional baggage that you have. We all have it. Speaker 1 (34:54): So I'm curious if you've looked at any plant medicine psychedelics. I think they just submitted approval to the FDA for MDMA, for the indication, PTSD assisted psychotherapy, and there's a lot of research on psilocybin, and there's a big upswing in the use of plant medicines to help people heal emotionally. And one thing that I've always thought since reading your book was, but what about that you actually need to, emotions are a certain type of intelligence, and they have messages that need to be felt and honored. They, they're kind of gifts that give us information. And if you're using other techniques to change the energy of them, have they served their purpose? And are you doing some type of bypass, is my question. So I guess it's a two part question. One, if you're using energy techniques to clear these, are you bypassing their original intent? And is that wholly sufficient to heal them? And then my other question would be around kind of comparing and contrasting the use of these technologies that you've developed with psychedelics. Two part question. Speaker 3 (36:07): Okay. Well, first of all, first of all, yeah, you're absolutely right. When we experience an emotion, that emotion is coming up as a response to some kind of stimuli. And the emotion that we're feeling is the result of not only what's going on in that moment, but what's gone on in the past. And also the energy whatever emotional energy is trapped in the body, because remember, every emotion has its own particular frequency and its own particular vibration. And so if you're feeling an emotion of anger, that's a specific frequency different from grief and so on. So when that emotion is coming up for you, that is partly because of other energies that are trapped in the body. And one of the things that we find is that when you remove these trapped emotions, what happens is you're not as likely to experience that emotion anymore, or that feeling. Speaker 3 (36:56): To give you an example, I remember I had a patient that came in one day, we were working with her and found that she had a trapped emotion of resentment, and we traced it back to when she was 18 years old. And she said, oh, yeah, I know exactly what that's about. And she said, when I was in high school, I always resented this cheerleader. And she said, it's been 20 years now or so since I got outta high school. But she said, I don't, and she said, I don't even remember why I resented her, but she said, even now if I think about that girl, I can feel the resentment kind of swell up inside of me. And she said, I've always resented her, and I, I I still do. And so we released the trapped emotion of resentment from her, and a couple days later she came back in and she said, you know, last night I was with a friend and that girl's name came up. Speaker 3 (37:41): And for the first time, I didn't feel anything. I didn't feel that resentment. So if you think about it, what we're doing with the emotion code is we are, we're removing the emotional energies. And it's all really, in my opinion, it's really all about our learning. Because you see, most of us, most people believe that they're at the mercy of their emotions. That's, that there's really not anything they can do. The emotions that they experience are carrying them from one place to another. And, and they're, they're kind of a victim of that. But I think that what we are, what we're part of what we're here to learn is that we have control and we can choose our emotions for the most part, most of the time we can choose higher emotions. We can choose curiosity instead of anger. We can choose, you know, like for example, my wife and I have raised seven kids, and we would, that's one thing we would do when a child would do some stupid thing. Speaker 3 (38:40): We would look at each other and say, well, okay, I'm curious, how long do you think this child is gonna keep doing this kind of thing? Well, I don't know, honey, I'm curious too. What do you think? So we can choose higher emotions, and I think that that's a big reason why we're here, is to, to learn ultimately, really to choose unconditional love and total acceptance for people instead of these lower energies, these lower vibrations. So that's part of it. I think that as far as, so in other words, it's all for our learning. I think when we find emotional energy that's become trapped in the body, that's essentially like an open loop from abuse or divorce or whatever it might be. Ultimately, what does it do? Well, it's a burden that we have that we're carrying that's interfering with the pure expression, that is that energy field. That is what we are. So as we release those, that pure essence of who we are becomes more able to express. And we haven't actually even talked about the heart wall, but that's a whole nother thing. Speaker 1 (39:45): Let's talk about that Speaker 3 (39:46): . Okay. Speaker 1 (39:47): Do we have, can we talk about it in like eight minutes? Speaker 3 (39:51): I think we can, yeah. So yeah, Speaker 1 (39:53): That would be great. Speaker 3 (39:53): Okay. So when doctors first started doing heart transplants, it didn't take long before they noticed. People would come back in and they would report strange things like their taste in music or food or sports had totally changed, or they would've memories of being in places that they never in their life had ever visited. And there are books written about this. And in every case where these families were connected with the donor, or sorry, with the when these transplant recipients were connected with the, the families or the relatives of the heart donor, they would find out that, well, yes, our son's a baseball player, and now you'll love baseball. Maybe that's why, or, yeah, our daughter visited Rome every year. It was her favorite city in the world. Now you have memories of being in Rome, but you say you've never ever visited Rome. Speaker 3 (40:31): So the heart has something called cellular memory. The heart is the second brain we believe now of the ancients . The heart was the seed of the soul and the source of love and creativity and romance. And we've always kind of just thought that those ideas were just poetic license. But now we're beginning to realize that there's actually truth there. And in fact, they now know that there is something called the little brain in the heart that's, there's gray matter and white matter there. And the messages that are going between the brain and the heart are predominantly from the heart to the brain. And so we think now that the brain in your head is obeying the messages that are being sent by the brain in your heart, well, here's what happens when you feel like your heart is going to break. We've all felt that at one point or another, when that's going on and you're feeling that pressure on your chest, you're really deeply suffering. Speaker 3 (41:18): Someone's really hurting you, you're deep in grief or whatever it is, your heart's under assault at that point. And so the subconscious mind will gather emotional energies around the heart to protect the heart and those energies form into something that we call a heart wall. And a heart wall is an energy field that is surrounding the heart. And I never in my wildest dreams would've ever imagined this, but this is a real thing. And 93% of people have put up this wall. Now, when you have a heart wall, what happens is it makes it much more difficult for you to truly connect on a heart to heart level with other people. It makes it more difficult for you to find love, to stay in love. It makes it more difficult for you to manifest that perfect blueprint for your life that I believe lies within that heart of yours. Speaker 3 (42:07): 'Cause I think the heart is really the seed of the subconscious. And what we find is that when that wall is taken down, people fall in love who never thought they would, people have creative ideas that start to flow spontaneously to them. All kinds of amazing things happen. And that's, that really truly is one of the big driving forces behind the success of this book all over the world, is that when people get those emotional energies removed from around their heart, all of a sudden they may feel peace for the first time in their life. They may be able to feel, I mean, these are things from people, from people who have told us these things that mm-hmm, for the first time. Sometimes they're able to feel experience, they're able to experience things like joy or love. It's the most important part of the emotion code. And, and in fact, it is a major, major cause. I will believe the single biggest underlying cause of depression, the worst cases of depression that I've seen in my career. People who were, who had to decide every day if they were gonna take their life and or live one more day by removing that wall around their heart. I've seen those people turn around it literally in a matter of days, completely. Really. Speaker 1 (43:13): So how might someone suspect that they have a heart wall? Speaker 3 (43:17): Well, if you can think back to a time in your life when you felt like your heart was going to break, if you bend through some heartbreaking things, like I said, 93% of people in our experience have put up a wall like this. Mm-Hmm, . And I mean, I've seen people who were celibate, who had sworn off ever having a relationship. I've seen them within a matter of weeks, find the right person and, and fall in love. I mean, it's unbelievable, really. But it's true. Speaker 1 (43:46): Yeah, I remember reading about it in the book and it makes sense to me. I do feel I've been having experiences lately. I share very openly about my experiences on the show. And I, but I haven't shared this, I haven't talked about it, but I've been having this kundalini experience, and that really starts at the base of the spine and then starts reaching up and going through the heart. And the rush of opening that I've experienced during some of these in the heart area is a different experience of the heart energy that I've ever had. And I imagine what you're talking about is kind of like that. It's this opening and freeing of, I see the heart kind of as a rose, and that the energy can flow more freely. And like you're saying, that there's gray matter and white matter in there, and it really is the brain. I know. We think this lob of fat that we carry around on our in our heads is the king and queen of everything. But I don't think that's the case. I agree with you. It's probably more visceral and in our chest, like in our heart. Speaker 3 (44:56): Yeah. I believe that we really are designed to be heart-based beings. We're designed, I think, to live from our hearts. But somewhere along the line that we've gotten to this point where most people are living from their brain. They're trying to create their perfect life by using this analog computer. But the software for us, really, our pure essence lies within our hearts. And it's so fascinating because when that wall is taken down, the things that we see happening, there's lots of, I mean, we've got 10,000 plus maybe 20,000 testimonials now from people around the world about this kind of thing. And you can see some of those on our website@discoverhealing.com. But it's the most amazing thing. And by the way, I didn't mention this, but one of the most beautiful things about the emotion code is that if you learn how to use it for people, you automatically know how to use it for animals as well. And it's phenomenally powerful for animals. You've got an animal that's got a physical or a behavioral issue, you can probably fix that in short order with the emotion code. I mean, it's, there's a whole chapter in both the emotion code book and the body code book about animals. And it's a great proof of this work because there's no placebo effect with animals. They're just animals. And yet we see that they have emotional baggage. And getting rid of that baggage can make an enormous difference for them too, if Speaker 1 (46:14): Have pets. Yes, there are so many applications, pets, you can treat your family. And I love that in the book. You really, you really can do this yourself. It's very easy to do and applicable. So we will have the link for the free gift in the show notes. But if you'd like to give that again, give all the places, share all the places that people could find out more and find you online, find the book. I so appreciate you coming on the show and sharing this brilliant technology that you have discovered, developed, I'm not sure which, but it's, it's very beautiful and very valuable. So thank you so much for sharing it. Speaker 3 (46:54): Well, thank you. And people can, can find us@discoverhealing.com. That's our main website, discover healing.com. You can go to emotion code gift.com and get the first couple chapters of the book for free. My personal blog is Dr. Bradley nelson.com. It's D-R-B-R-E-D-L-E-Y-N-E-L-S-O n.com. And of course, we're all over the, you know, social media too. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter and so on. Speaker 1 (47:18): Great. Perfect. So I highly recommend that you go and look at the free gift, read the first couple chapters of the book. Like I said, the chart that Dr Bradley showed earlier is there, you can read that chart and you can get started working on your heart, well, your emotional baggage, which will help you with your hormones. Thank you again so much for joining me today for another episode of The Hormone Prescription. I look forward to seeing you on social media and hearing how you are applying the things that you've learned today and the results that you're experiencing. I'll see you next week for another episode. Until then, peace, love, and hormones, y'all. Speaker 2 (48:02): Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormones and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.   ► Begin unpacking your unwanted emotional baggage – for good! Get The Emotion Code Starter Kit now and receive Energy Healing Enrichment emails - CLICK HERE   ► Feeling tired? Can't seem to lose weight, no matter how hard you try? It might be time to check your hormones. Most people don't even know that their hormones could be the culprit behind their problems. But at Her Hormone Club, we specialize in hormone testing and treatment. We can help you figure out what's going on with your hormones and get you back on track. We offer advanced hormone testing and treatment from Board Certified Practitioners, so you can feel confident that you're getting the best possible care. Plus, our convenient online consultation process makes it easy to get started. Try Her Hormone Club for 30 days and see how it can help you feel better than before. CLICK HERE.   ► Do you feel exhausted, moody, and unable to do the things that used to bring you joy? It could be because of hormonal poverty! You can take our quiz now to find out if your hormone levels are at optimum level or not. Take this quiz and get ready to reclaim your life; say goodbye to fatigue and lack of energy for good. We want every woman to live her best life — free from any signs or symptoms of hormonal poverty, so they can relish their everyday moments with confidence and joy. Imagine having a strong immune system, vibrant skin, improved sleep quality… these are all possible when hormones are balanced! CLICK HERE now and take the #WWPHD Quiz to discover if you're in hormonal poverty — it only takes 2 minutes! Let's get started on optimizing your hormone health today.

In this episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Jennifer Woodward, a functional diagnostic nutrition practitioner specializing in guiding women through perimenopause naturally. Jennifer shared valuable insights into addressing hormone imbalances and provided practical solutions to navigate this phase with grace. Here is some of what she shared with us:   Recognizing perimenopause symptoms Recognizing perimenopause symptoms is crucial, and Jennifer emphasizes the value of paying attention to sleep disturbances, weight changes, anxiety, depression, and menstrual irregularities. Managing fluctuating estrogen and progesterone levels The conversation highlighted the importance of managing fluctuating estrogen and progesterone levels, recognizing perimenopause symptoms, and prioritizing stress management and self-care practices.   Proactive stress management Jennifer advocates proactive stress management, urging women to prioritize self-care, deep breathing, and mindful practices to reduce chronic stress and support hormone balance.   Jennifer also shared her inspiring perspective on embracing the mindset of abundance and positivity, encouraging women to focus on nourishment, positivity, and repletion in their journey through perimenopause. A fantastic message for all of our HBS podcast listeners.   About Jennifer Woodward: Jennifer Woodward holds a Master's of Science in Integrative Nutrition and is a certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner and a Board Certified Functional Wellness Coach. Jennifer is the creator of the acclaimed FDN Business School and she loves getting to help new FDNs thrive professionally. She is also the former Executive Director of the Association of Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Professionals where she was mentored by course creator Reed Davis.  Jennifer was recently a quarter-long guest lecturer in graduate Endocrinology at Parker University and also completed a three-month long internship with Dr. Kyrin Dunston, getting hands-on training in women's hormones.  She loves to be active with her high school sweetheart husband and four kids.   CONNECT WITH JENNIFER WEBSITE: jenniferwoodwardnutrition.com INSTAGRAM: @jennifer_woodward_nutrition FACEBOOK: facebook.com/jenniferwoodwardFDNP/     Mentioned in this episode: MegaSporeBiotic – Click HERE to grab this probiotic and use my practitioner code, which also gets you 10% off: TaraMegaSpore   WATCH MY FREE HORMONE BALANCE SOLUTION TRAINING VIDEO HERE   Hi, I'm Tara Thorne, FDN-P, RHN, FNC and women's health and hormone expert. After serving hundreds of women in my signature program, The Hormone Balance Solution, I bring to you, the HBS Podcast. This podcast is all about educating women, and giving them actionable strategies for supporting hormonal harmony. It's my passion to empower women to take back their health and their happiness. We'll cover gut health, mineral balancing, nutrient deficiencies, cellular health, nervous system health, functional testing, and so much more. No Fluff. No BS. Just everything you need to know and nothing you don't.

On this empowering episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast, we are thrilled to introduce our special guest, Dr. Traci Potterf – a compassionate and relatable Functional Medicine Anxiety Detective, who has dedicated her life to helping others understand and overcome their anxiety through holistic approaches. Dr. Potterf's own personal journey with anxiety led her to discover the world of functional medicine, and she is now on a mission to share her story and expertise in order to help others struggling with the same issues. With a unique focus on "befriending your body and your life", Dr. Potterf delves into the topic of anxiety from a fresh, empathetic and inspiring perspective. In this captivating episode, we explore: - Identifying hidden causes of anxiety: Learn how Dr. Traci Potterf's own experience battling anxiety inspired her to specialize in functional medicine and searching for the root causes of this all-too-common condition. - Natural solutions for addressing anxiety: Dr. Traci Potterf shares her expertise on various holistic and natural approaches to overcoming anxiety, from nutrition and supplements to mindfulness practices, prioritizing self-care, and more. - Befriending your body and your life: Harness your inner self and learn to befriend your body and your life in order to take control of your anxiety and live a life full of happiness, balance, and health. Don't miss out on the opportunity to learn invaluable insights from an inspiring and approachable authority in the field of functional medicine. Dr. Traci Potterf's quote from the episode could not be more poignant: "It's time to reclaim our power and take control of our anxiety." Take a step towards taking control of your anxiety – tune into this enlightening episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast and find your path to a healthier, more balanced life. Connect with Dr. Traci Potterf and embrace her unique perspective on overcoming anxiety today!   Speaker 1 (00:00): I said to my body softly, I want to be your friend. It took a long breath and replied, I have been waiting my whole life for this Naira Wahid. Stay tuned to discover a unique holistic approach to befriending your anxiety and healing it. Speaker 2 (00:20): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an OB GYN, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Speaker 1 (01:13): Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription. Thank you so much for joining me today as we dive into a holistic and global approach to addressing anxiety by befriending your body and your life. Sounds intriguing, doesn't it? If you're suffering with anxiety, I know it can be debilitating. I used to suffer with anxiety as well and found my way out. And my guest today, Dr. Tracy Potterf, really has a unique perspective on healing anxiety. We talked about it. Sure, it's all the things I like to talk about and we do cover those, but it's so much more and she really has a unique perspective based on her background, which I'll tell you a little bit about and we'll really dive into it. And this concept, like I shared in the teaser of befriending your body who has been waiting her whole life for you to turn her attention to her and to talk to her and to listen to her might be new to you, but it's really revolutionary and foundational when it comes to not only healing anxiety, but anything and everything that's plaguing you physically, mentally, and emotionally. So stay tuned to find out more. I will tell you a little bit about her and then we'll get started. Dr. Tracy Potter is a functional medicine anxiety detective who helps growth-minded people find and fix the hidden causes with natural solutions so they can live a limitless life at peace in their own skin. As a psychiatrist daughter, former medical anthropologist and recovered debilitating anxiety sufferer, she shares a unique way out of the mental health epidemic with the world. Please help me welcome Dr. Tracy Potterf to the show. Speaker 3 (03:13): Hey there. Thank you for letting me be a guest on your show. Speaker 1 (03:16): So excited to dive into this topic with you because you are the functional medicine anxiety detective and you have a really unique way of understanding and explaining what anxiety is, why we have it from an anthropological perspective that I think a lot of people miss. I think a lot of times we traditional mainstream doctors like I used to be, we're all about what's the diagnosis, what drug do I need to give? But even from a functional medicine perspective, we might look at some of the systems, but I think there are other issues at play that we might miss. You come from a family with a father, is it who was a psychiatrist, correct. So I'm sure you got a front row seat to a lot of dysfunction. , your former medical anthropologist. So talk about your conceptualization of anxiety. Speaker 3 (04:16): Thank you. So yeah, I learned this the hard way. I've had lots of anxiety back in the day and what I realized, and I can share more about the process, but what I realized is that anxiety is not just some genetic chemical imbalance or like some individual defect. It is a symptom. It's not a disorder and it's a natural response to an unnatural environment. And the problem is that we've normalized a culture that tries to override nature instead of working with the genius or intelligence of nature. And that's why branded is inner genius health because your inner genius is you are nature. We are nature. It's not somewhere outside of us, it's what we are and our cells, our human cells, our micro cells, our DNA, and when we work with and not against that internal intelligence, then it's amazing what we can heal. And when we live in ways that for our inner genius and make it really hard on our inner genius, then we end up with what we have, which is an epidemic of mental health issues and chronic illness issues. And then we think that's normal aging. We think it's normal. And I've heard you say this and I say it all the time, say the same thing. Just because it's common does not mean it's normal. Nature's not that cool. Speaker 1 (05:37): It's so true. I love that I had to write that down. Anxiety is a natural response to an unnatural environment. We think what's wrong with us that we're anxious, right? But the truth is it's what's wrong with society, . It's making us anxious. Can you talk a little bit more about that? Because I think a lot of people hear that and they go, what is she talking about? Of course, if you have anxiety, there's something wrong with you. What does she mean? Speaker 3 (06:04): Yeah, yeah. It's true that if you have anxiety, something's wrong, but it doesn't mean you're inherently defective as a human being. And so it, I think of anxiety, I use and abuse this metaphor. I think of anxiety as a smoke alarm. Just like all symptoms, it's a smoke alarm. And if your, let's say your house is on fire, wish someone, let's say something's on fire and the smoke alarm goes off and you just take the battery out of the smoke alarm and that's analogous to just numbing the symptoms or trying to make the symptoms go away. But if you don't put out the fire, then your house is still gonna burn down. So anxiety is like a smoke alarm. It's your body telling you something's wrong and often your brain on fire. You have neuroinflammation, you have issues in your gut, your brain, hormonal issues often like infections, toxic exposures. Speaker 3 (06:49): And this, a lot of this goes back to, so you were asking specifically, what are we doing now? What do we normalize? That's unnatural. I think a lot of people have an intuitive sense of this, but let's get specific. So we're eating crap , like we're eating things. We're putting chemicals in our bodies that don't belong and we're depriving our bodies of nutrients that we need, which starts in the soil by the way. Like we have depleted, poisoned soil. And if you don't have soil that's teeming with microbes and mycelium and insects and we demonize insects, insects are amazing, right? Let's kill 'em all. Let's kill all the microbes. Let's just sterilize everything. That's the greatest way to destroy our whole species. And so we, that's another thing is like this mentality of sterilization. Now I understand if you're in a hospital and you don't want like staph infections to spread, that's one thing. Speaker 3 (07:37): But like in our daily lives we've become so germophobic, but we don't realize we're poisoning ourselves with all these weird chemicals, toxins. And we're not too phobic, we're just like, ew germs. But then some of us are concerned about toxic chemicals, but a lot of people are oblivious to these like perfumes and creams and cleaning products. I've taken an informal toll, like I've talked to a lot of people who've been cleaning houses for decades and almost all of them have had cancer and cleaning products. Also, I think we know just sitting on our butts a lot and not moving, not squatting, not being able to squat and get up and down off the floor. That's a big deal. Mouth breathing. We're not breathing through our noses, we're breathing through our mouth for a whole lot of reasons, having our heads forwarded so that we screw up our posture and then we have trouble breathing and it causes cardiovascular disease, like not moving in joyful, playful ways, not playing, becoming alienated and not getting enough physical healthy physical touch and being held where like lack of tribe or community. Speaker 3 (08:34): It just goes on and on. Our sleep is messed up, our sleep is whacked. And then our circadian rhythms, this is a big one. Like people are starting to be like, okay, diet and exercise, which I don't even like those words anymore 'cause diet sounds like die, but like how we're eating. And then movement, I like it more than exercise, I'll use exercise, but I really like movement. 'cause It sounds more like play and exploration. But we're messing up our circadian rhythms. We're staying up late at night on these electronic devices. We're eating late at night, we're doing all these things that confuse our bodies and a lot of weight loss resistance and leptin resistance is tied to both how we're eating not and our sleep weight cycles and a relationship to light and the kinds of light we're exposed to at different times of day in the time of day we're eating. Speaker 3 (09:19): So it just goes on and on. But the thing is, all the solutions to all this are actually fun things that feel good. So I came up with this concept I call healthy hedonism, which is, so hedonism is like the pursuit of pleasure, but often people, we have a culture that's normalized toxic, addictive pleasures, things that destroy us. They feel good for a few minutes and then they destroy us and are often depressants, which are often neurotoxins. They are things that cause inflammation of the brain and nervous system, which causes anxiety, depression, brain fog, fatigue, trouble sleeping, just goes on and on. It is also because our nervous systems get dysregulated, then it messes up our immune system. A lot of people don't realize our nervous system and our immune system share biological structures and are in lockstep with each other. So then you have, you get sick more often or you have an overactive immune system and you end up without immunity and it just goes on and on and on. Speaker 3 (10:09): But what I want people to understand is the solutions. You can eat delicious food, you can have really wonderful self-care rituals that make you feel even euphoric. There are ways to move your body that feel like clay and you can still be really fit. We don't understand. It's not either or. It's that you don't give up pleasure to be healthy. You use pleasure and things that align with your evolutionary biology as a doorway to healing your body, healing your mind. So to heal your mind and your body, you have to heal your life. Speaker 1 (10:38): I love that he called it? Healthy hedonism. Healthy Speaker 3 (10:42): Hedonism. So pursuit of pleasure but healthy pleasures. So we need to broaden our pleasure palette. Like we need to be, like if you were painting a rainbow with just black and white, you'd be pretty limited. If you have the whole rainbow of human experience, then that's when you're really lit up and that's when you really come back home to yourself. Speaker 1 (11:00): So you described a lot of the lifestyle situations and conditions we're living under that are contributing to our anxiety. I'm wondering what your thoughts are, what you'd like to share about just the way that our brains function and are structured compared to other animals. One of the things I've loved about traveling is I get to encounter unique healers all over the world. And there's a guy who comes to Dubai called Ner Levy, and he does this very unique healing modality called the Ner Levy method. And he did a beautiful introductory talk one night and with the audience participation where to his work where he talked about the way in which we're living and what the difference is. And he brought in a lot of the things that you're mentioning. We used to live more rurally and communities and just the contact that we had, physical and emotional, spiritual connection with others. But this whole concept of what do we have? Why don't zebras have anxiety? Speaker 3 (12:04): Yeah, that's that why, yeah, that book is genius, Speaker 1 (12:07): Uniquely human because we have something they don't have, which is imagination. And that a lot of the things that we are anxious about as we we're, we have anxiety over is because of our imagination. Speaker 3 (12:21): That's a really good point. Yeah, it's true. We make a lot of stuff up. Like a lot of the demons are the, a lot of the, the predators are in our head most of the time. And it's interesting because we sit around, we can so easily all of us sit around imagining all kinds of scenarios and making ourselves nervous or whatever. And then we're sitting there overlooking the fact that we are actively, most people, and industrialized society are actively doing things to thwart our own wellbeing. So we're actually, it's interesting because like I hear people talk about anxiety, like it's just all thoughts or you could just change your thinking. You wouldn't have anxiety. And that's true for certain kinds of anxiety. But there are different kinds of anxiety. So if you have anxiety because you have low estrogen or low progesterone or both, then sitting around positive thinking, is it gonna fix that? Speaker 3 (13:11): Or if you have anxiety, as I went through, I had Lyme, I've been through Lyme disease, I've been through toxic mold, I've been through lead poisoning, all of those things cause severe anxiety and anxiety was the first symptom of what was, what something was off. So that's why I, I teach people if you wanna really resolve your anxiety, and a lot of people are like, I've tried everything that didn't work and they're not very open. And the thing is there, you have to address like three areas because if you just do one outta three or two out of three, you're not gonna get better. You're not gonna get rid of anxiety. And, and I'm sure you work with people in these same areas, which is of course there's a lifestyle I just talked about. And lifestyle is your daily thoughts and actions and your environment, your physical environment, your social environment. Speaker 3 (13:52): So that's big. It's not just diet and exercise. Then there's finding hidden health causes, hormonal issues, infections, environmental toxins, all kinds of things like that. Like just hidden help causes. And then the third pillar is your nervous system, like how your nervous system is wired and programmed. You can rewire things to neuroplasticity, you can rewire your nervous system to go from being over overwhelmed to a state of calm. And you can actually change the neurological structure of your brain through practices that actually feel good and don't take that much time. Yeah. But back to your point about our imagination, our neocortex or executive function that we have as humans, it's a blessing and a curse. It's a double-edged sword because we can create so much , ama so much like just wonder and awe magic with our consciousness. But we also can really make ourselves miserable and each other miserable. We're still learning how to wield what we're, Speaker 1 (14:49): Yes, we're learning how to wield the sword of, of who we are, how do we work with it? So it helps us. Something you touched on a few things just sparked something in me. You were running down kind of the list of all the things you need to look at. If you have anxiety, and you have this in the notes, I have this in my notes from you for the show, why no one has ever tried anything. So I actually just got off a consultation with a woman who, and if you're listening and you listen regularly to the podcast, I'm talking to you , because I swear that you're telling yourself that you've tried everything. And what I will tell you is if you are still suffering with X, Y, z, fill in the blank, anxiety, insomnia, whatever the symptom is, you have not tried everything. Speaker 1 (15:39): Right. And anxiety really highlights this, but so does every other symptom in this order because there's absolutely, there's always a reason why. And I, we've done, I've done it issues, I've done shows about anxiety and I talk about doing all the things, but the woman I was talking to literally told me I've tried everything and I've given her suggestions before on stuff that she should do and she doesn't do it right. So it's like where, where we're in denial. So I'm talking to you if you're listening, so listen up, you haven't tried everything if you're still suffering. But what I think is so important is, go ahead. Go ahead Dr. Tracy. Speaker 3 (16:24): Oh, no, no. Oh no. I was just gonna say, if you think about it, we live in an infinite universe. There is no such thing as everything having been tried because there's no end in sight. You just think of it logically. That's the reality. And what you were saying that there's, it's your body's asking for something and that's something exists. Like you may not. So when people say, I've tried everything and it didn't work, what they mean is I've tried everything that the experts have told me or that I've read about or that I've thought of or which doesn't mean everything, it just means what you're familiar with. Or it means I've tried everything that I felt ready and willing to try . But maybe there's some things that I just thought maybe I don't really need to do. Maybe they're not that important and I just Speaker 1 (17:06): Skipped over it or everything I was willing to spend the time and money on because that's what I find, right? A lot of people are like, yeah, no, I, I'd rather get, so yeah, she was telling me about some cosmetic procedure that she was having done, but she doesn't, didn't wanna invest in this thing anyway. Yeah. Back to anxiety. How do people need to expand their awareness and really tap into what you call their inner genius? What is their inner genius and why is it crucial to heal just about anything? Speaker 3 (17:36): Yeah. So your inner genius is the genius or intelligent in nature that runs all of existence. It makes the planet spin in their orbit that makes the flowers win and the bees buzz and makes every chemical process, it's the magic of nature. And nature has this tendency to strive toward balance or homeostasis where it's trying to correct itself. And symptoms or sensations, emotions are nature's way of talking to us and communicating and guiding us. It's your inner guide, your inner wisdom. And when we don't listen to that or we don't know how to listen, 'cause we haven't been taught to listen, we don't speak the language, then we feel maybe like our bodies have betrayed us or like we're defective or we feel angry. But here's the thing, like if you put your hand on a hot stove and your body didn't say, ouch, get that off, would that be a loyal body? Speaker 3 (18:28): If your brain's inflamed and you're damaging your gut and your intestines with the food you're eating and your body didn't make your tummy hurt or make you have brain fog or headaches or anxiety, then you wouldn't be being notified. That would be betrayal. If our bodies didn't tell us something's off, that would be betrayal. And so your inner genius is your best friend. It is infinitely intelligent and it's something you can tap into. And one of my favorite ways to tap into this is a meditation practice. And for those of you who are thinking, I'm so tired of hearing about meditation, I suck at meditation. That is a story. And you're, that's your imagination. That's imagination. That's not an objective reality because there are ways, maybe you've tried things that didn't work for you, but there are ways, like I teach people really concrete ways to meditate that gives your mind a job. Speaker 3 (19:19): And believe me, every one of us when we start meditating or if we skip meditation and then go back after a while, you're gonna have what they call the east monkey mind. You're gonna be like, your mind's gonna be all over the place. It's gonna be like , especially mine, but , it's okay. That's normal. And here's the thing is that's what's going on inside of you all the time. You're just used to the background buzz. And when you sit and be with it and you're willing to get out of your comfort zone and just sit and unconditionally be with yourself on what arises, and you give yourself a way to breathe, you give yourself a way to focus your mind. Anyone can meditate and, and what ends up happening in your nervous system feels like magic. And so one of the things I I offered is free, I call it a brain trick meditation, and someone else called it a magic meditation because it really does feel pretty magical. Speaker 3 (20:07): There's something you can do with your attention and with your breath at the same time. That's so easy. Anyone can do it. And in 15 minutes you're a totally different person. So if you have physical pain, emotional pain, anxiety, and also I accidentally discovered through my clients who are doing this at bedtime, it helps people who are having trouble sleeping and people, you can memorize it, it's a technique you memorize pretty quickly. So then you just have it the rest of your life. You don't need the recording anymore. And my clients just spontaneously started, they would wake up in the middle of the night, couldn't go back to sleep, they would do this process and then they would con out, they couldn't even get through the whole thing and they'd be back asleep again. So it's actually, I like this, I like to say it's better than melatonin for sleep or any other sleep aid. Speaker 3 (20:47): So like, just what we're able to do with our consciousness, with our breath is amazing. And that puts you in a possibility that then allows you to tap into your inner genius to stop sabotaging yourself and to get out of your own way and open up to the infinite possibility of your life. And then when you learn to do that, then that helps you have more of the wherewithal for the, the self-care, the wherewithal for the the functional medicine part and that kind of part, that kind of like all the, so it gives, it opens up the doorway to help you be more open to all the pillars, like all the steps you need to do to fix the problem. And I really fully believe that when you go through a mental health crisis, physical health crisis, even if it's been going on your whole life, I've had clients who've had anxiety since they, they remember being babies or toddlers having anxiety. They never remember not having anxiety. So they think, oh, I must be inherently defective and it's not true. So I have people who, who've been anxious their whole lives and within just a few weeks or really weeks to maybe a few months, three months, something like that, their anxiety has gone from like an eight to 10 daily, two to four. And that's, that's your ingen. Speaker 1 (22:00): Yeah. That's amazing. So I'd love that you bring that up because it's really like the prep work you need to get in the right space where you are open to receive the help that you're needing and you can tap into that eness. I think that we all have an innate intuition about what speaks to us and what we should go towards and what we should go away from. But we've learned to dampen it down so much that we're always looking to quote unquote experts to tell us what should I do? Right? And we really lose that internal guidance. That was true for me too. It's funny because when I learned about functional medicine after I transformed my health and then started working with people and some, a lot of people got it and some people just couldn't pick up the tools. What I realized is that there was a step before that happened for me that is exactly what you're talking about, Tracy, where I was able to tap into that inner heterogeneous and tap into being open. Speaker 1 (22:59): Because the truth was that these tools had come across my path years before and I had dismissed them and discounted them because I wasn't tapped into that frequency. So I love that you've created this pre-step for people to start tapping into that inner genius. So I definitely wanna say to everyone listening, that would be step one and then the person who is really anxious and I can identify with that because as everybody knows, I shared this before, I was so anxious at one point in my life before I found a, a root cause approach where I was on five psychoactive medications for anxiety and depression. And it ended up being all the things I like to say, right? It was my hormones. Yeah, it was my toxicity, it was my gut health. It was, you name it, right? Nervous system. And so now I've untangled all that and I really don't have anxiety or depression and I'm not on any medications and haven't been for years. Speaker 1 (23:57): But for the person listening, they're like, okay, Dr. Tracy, I get it. Okay. I need to calm my mind. Oh, I really wanna say one other thing about what you say about people who say, I can't meditate. I'm so tired of hearing about meditation, right? Do we ever say that about sleep? I'm so tired of hearing about sleep, right? , I'm so tired of hearing about my diet and what I eat. Like this is just something that you're gonna have to accept and face that you need to be doing, that you need to quiet your mind to get to the health that you want. Mm-Hmm, Speaker 3 (24:29): . And you don't have to stop thinking that's not the point. Like people think, oh, I'm supposed to, I have to sit in the lotus position and I have to stop my thoughts and I have to like, and if I don't experience some kind of merging with the universe right away, then like I did it wrong. And like that's all like that. Those are all myths about meditation. And I wanna talk about meditation. If you're not meditating, it's like you're missing one of your senses. You're not, you're operating at a very narrow spectrum. If you look at the full spectrum of light and or this full spectrum of color and you only knew about three colors and you didn't know about all the other colors, like there's an intrinsic pleasure and value in going into your in, I call it your inner verse, your inner space going into inner space. Speaker 3 (25:13): There's magic that happens there. There's it, it's amazing. It takes some time but not that long. It just takes consistency. Just like moving your body, just eating, just like sleep habits. Like it's just a habit. And it is, I really feel like if you go through a human life without ever developing meditation practice, you are missing out on a huge part of human possibility because there's like an inner world inside of us that makes us feel complete, that makes us feel whole. That makes us feel like you hear people mocking one with the universe, but feeling at one with the universe is really awesome. It feels amazing. So I just don't miss out on that. Don't like to do homework like you've gotta go meditate or else you're a bad girl or a bad boy. Most women here on this podcast, right? Speaker 3 (26:00): No, don't miss out on this inner party. Like it's like there's this amazing party and you're missing out on it inside of you. And your inner genius, yes. Is that consciousness and that consciousness drives your thoughts, your emotions, your awareness. But that consciousness drives all chemical processes. Your inner genius is also the chemical processes in your body. The inner geniusness is how microbes talk to each other and share genetic information. The inner genius is happening in the soil, it's happening in the plants, it's happening in the stars, it's happening in the sun, it's happening like that. The inner genius is happening. There's, for the inner genius, there's no differentiation between physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. 'cause It's all the same consciousness. Speaker 1 (26:41): Yes. And be patient with yourself. You didn't learn how to tie your shoes in one day, so it takes half. Speaker 3 (26:46): You did not. Speaker 1 (26:47): But yeah. So I have to, you gave me some beautiful quotes that I just have to pull all of them in before we end. So I've gotta start doing it now. You have this one from, do you say it, naira Wahe. And I said to my body, softly, I want to be your friend. I took a long breath and replied, I have been waiting my whole life for this. Oh my gosh, that gives me chill bumps. I've never heard that quote before. Tell me a little bit about this quote and what this means. Speaker 3 (27:18): At the end of the day, that's what our bodies want. That's what the pain is telling you. That's what the suffering is telling you. That's what belly fat is telling you. That's what the headaches, that's what everything is telling you. I wanna be your friend. I wanna take care of you. I want you to pay attention to me. I want you to love me. I want us to be on the same team. And we don't have a culture that teaches us to do that. And we have such a cliche culture. We usually look at TV shows and movies and advertisements. It's, I had a bad day, I need a drink. Let's like wine and chocolate is the only way to feel good. I'm not saying you can't ever enjoy wine and chocolate. I'm just saying that's so narrow compared to the vast. And so I just, yeah, we have to make friends with our, with our bodies, with our inner genius. Speaker 1 (28:01): I think for a lot of people, that's a really novel and radical concept because like you said, our culture is all about, oh, you're stressed, drink or do XY shop or whatever. But so for those people who are intrigued, how do they start to befriend their body? Speaker 3 (28:19): Well, one of the things I say, I think it's still on my website where you can get the brain to take meditation. I think it says unlock yourself healing superpowers. I don't know if I still have that on there, but it's, I feel like when you first start to have experiences where you have the ability to change, disrupt and change and transform a pattern in your body and you realize you have more control over your body than you realize, or you first start making changes to the quality of the food you're eating. Like here's the deal. You can still eat things you love whether it's hamburgers or pizza or curries or whatever, you just eat healthy versions of them and you balance your meals better. That's a whole other conversation. But if you're using quality ingredients and you balance the nutrients, there's kind of nothing within reason. Speaker 3 (29:03): There's very little you can't eat and still feel good afterwards. And like having, I think a lot of people don't have, we talk about boundaries these days, which I think is an important conversation. But what about boundaries around how you treat yourself? We talk, we have junk food, we have junk thoughts, junk beliefs, junk habits. And one thing I like to say about food is like when I give talks, sometimes I'll say, what is the most intimate thing we do with something outside of ourselves? And most people are thinking sex, right? Sex is incredibly intimate, but eating is more intimate because the molecules of the food become new. They become your body and become your thoughts, your feelings, your emotions, the perceptual lenses in which reality, right? And why wouldn't we have standards around that? And one of the things I just wanna gripe about is all the people saying restrictive diets. Speaker 3 (29:54): When people decide, Hey, I'm gonna take care of myself. I'm gonna stop poisoning myself and start nurturing myself and only eat like really yummy things that serve me. And other people are like, oh, you are on a restrictive diet. I'm like, no, I'm being liberated by my choices. This is freedom. There are so many hundreds of thousands of species of healthy edible things on this planet. And we are fixated on all this processed crap that's made from the same few in ingredients of natural ingredients and then thousands of chemicals. And we think we're being restricted when we decide to stop hurting ourselves. Like I got, if someone got out of an abusive relationship and said, I'm not gonna be in this abusive relationship anymore, will we tell that person, oh, you're really restricting your life by not letting this person abuse you. That doesn't make sense. Speaker 1 (30:38): And I think it goes right into this other quote you offered from Maya Angelou that I love. If you're always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be because I think that we try to fit in quote unquote normal. We wanna eat like everyone else and live like everyone else and have the same cars in the same fashion and all these things. And we spend so much time trying to be normal. But talking about how that affects your health is an example you just gave. Like the diet that's right for someone else might not be the right diet for you, but how you look at it, if you call it restrictive, it's different than this is the right diet prescription for me. So talk a little bit about that and how you can let go of being normal so you can know how amazing you're Speaker 3 (31:33): Yeah. Yeah. I love, yeah, I love that. I love period. But I love that quote. Yeah, so it's okay. It is so normal. We're tribal creatures. We evolved in tribes. We don't wanna get kicked out of the tribe and like, how are you gonna fit for yourself? How are you gonna get food? How are you gonna have a get sex and partnered and whatever like it, it's normal and understandable that we want to be part of a tribe, we wanna be in communities and we wanna fit in. I get that. I totally get it. That's nature. But what's not natural is now that we've normalized what we think is normal, goes completely against the very essence of what we are. And we, we, I heard, I think it's Gabor Mate said something about we have a culture, I forget what he said. That incentive our culture incentivizes us to betray ourselves, is what he was saying. Speaker 3 (32:23): Yeah. And so here's the deal. The way we make culture is by you and you and me and Dr. Kieran, like Dr. Dunston, like all of us are voting on culture. We all create it with our lifetime. We create it with how we spend money, we create it, it with what we consume. We create it with what we share. I don't mean getting on a soapbox and preaching at people and being righteous. That's obnoxious and that's not gonna create a connection. But when we all start as individuals and just lovingly making different choices, we model something different to other people and then those other people who are right on the edge of being like, I've been wanting to do that too. Suddenly it starts a domino effect. Like when I started changing my lifestyle, I tried preaching, didn't work, blow up in my face. That's why I say, don't do that. Speaker 3 (33:06): That was in my twenties. Didn't know better . But what I've noticed now is like when I've had housemates or people that live in my home, I don't tell them how to eat or preach to them, but they watch what I do and then within months they've all lost weight and are feeling better and are eating differently. Because it was just modeled to them that we're like, we learn through mimicry, we learn through modeling by being willing to be different and to come back into alignment with how the ways we evolve to live, to start to work with. And not against your inner genius. You're coming home to yourself and you're letting yourselves come home. You're letting your consciousness come home and that feels so good and lights you up and puts you in a much deeper state of love and expansiveness. And then that's contagious. Speaker 3 (33:46): And then other people want that. And people who criticize it or don't get it, they're just not your people. They're not your tribe. They're a different tribe. And that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that. And I just want people to understand. And here's another reframe for you guys. I think just on a primal level, we all have that little kid who doesn't wanna be left out at the birthday party or whatever, at school or dinner. And here's the deal, if you do what everyone else is doing in the main, in the mainstream, if you follow the mainstream, you're pretty much guaranteed to have chronic illness, to have mental health issues, to have cognitive decline, to become disabled, to be in diapers in your elder years, not be able have a walker be in a wheelchair, to be in lots of pain, to get autoimmunity, to get cancer, heart disease, to have your organs fail on you, to have like really invasive surgeries to like, you know this like that. If you wanna be included, that's what you're opting into. But what if being left out wasn't the worst thing in the world? What if you're being, instead of being left out, you're opting out of all these horrible things I just mentioned that we think are normal aging. What if you're opting out and by doing so you are setting an example that can help other people in your tribe do the same thing so that we can co-create a culture of nurture instead of a culture of torture. Yeah, Speaker 1 (35:04): I think that's something definitely important to ponder. And I think it's really the era that we're going into with this age of Aquarius coming, this myth of normal HaBO mates. And really our individuality and our uniqueness. And instead of top down, we're more communal and sharing and finding what's right for each one of us, which is going to vary greatly. But it can't happen if you don't have a relationship with your body and you're, you haven't befriended your body. One of the things that I love to teach women to do is to talk to their bodies. Talk to different folks. Yes, Speaker 3 (35:45): Me too. Oh my God, I love that. Speaker 1 (35:47): Yeah. Talk to their symptoms and ask what is the message that you have for me? Right? I always say that symptoms are the messengers, they're not the problem themselves. Mm-Hmm. , they're pointing to the problem. Right. But with every I Amen. Symptoms. Yeah. That we have, there's always a reason and a role that it's serving. But I love how you said earlier, Tracy, that it's usually multifactorial and there are often physical, biochemical, physiological correlates and there's usually a deeper meaning. So I think it's important to focus on all of these. And I know some of you are listening and thinking, Karen, you haven't gone into the microbiome in the gut as a cause of anxiety and you haven't. Okay. It's hear all those things. But no, I'm just saying people listen, , we've done that on other podcasts so many times. Go listen to the other podcast. Speaker 1 (36:41): But I think that what Dr. Tracy offers is, yes, gut health. Yes. Liver detox. Yes. Heavy metals. Yes. Mold, yes. Line, yes. All the things you've gotta do, the hormones, all the things and check all the things. But she really offers, you really offer a unique perspective that I don't think all root cause practitioners offer. And that's what I want everyone to hear and get is this connection to yourself, to your soul, this connection to other people, your connection to nature and universe and expressing that is a part of healing all physical health problems, including anxiety. So talk a little bit about that if you would. Yeah, Speaker 3 (37:28): Like our consciousness changes our biology. I think there are a lot of people out there that are talking about scientists, doctors. It's come out of the realm of just flu, which is where it was relegated for so long. Yeah. Because if you look deeper than, say you look at gut health and Lyme disease and all that stuff, if you look levels deeper, what caused that? Right? And why can some people have certain kinds of worms and what we call parasites and viruses. And there are people who have Borrelia or tick-borne illnesses or people who have HIV. There are people who have all kinds of different pathogens in their bodies. So there've been studies where they'll test thousands of people who are so-called healthy. I don't know where they're getting these people seriously, because I don't think there are that many Americans who are healthy. Speaker 3 (38:13): But I guess people who don't have diagnosed conditions and think they're healthy, there's, I remember this study, I wish I could, I need to find it again. But they did this elaborate testing on thousands of people who weren't considered sick and found that these people tested positive for a lot of these different conditions, a lot of these different pathogens, these critters inside of them that we consider pathogens and they weren't sick. Because it's not just the presence of the pathogen that makes the disease, it's how your immune system dances with it, which is directly tied to how your nervous system dances with it. So if your nervous system is dysregulated, your immune system becomes hypervigilant, just like your nervous system. So I think of a lot of these mold sensitivity and just stuck in chronic Lyme and chronic gut issues and just goes on and on. Even hormone stuff. Yeah. Mass cell activation, all these things is, and oh, and autoimmunity, I think of them as immunological PTSD. So your nervous system has PTSD and your immune system has PTSD and they're stuck in a rutt together. And I don't know if I'm going off down a little bit of another angle, but  Speaker 1 (39:18): No, I love it. I just think that's amazing. Immunological. P ts d Go on Speaker 3 (39:23): . Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, what ends up happening is a lot of this is in the nervous system. And so the thing is you can't just meditate and do nervous system work and not clean up the infections and not clean up your gut and not balance your hormones and, and not eat well and not take care of yourself and not get sleep. You can't just do one, A lot of people wanna just find a magic bullet, but we're trying to orchestrate, like you have a cellular symphony that you're trying to get to plain harmony and you can't focus only on one instrument and expect the whole symphony to sound amazing. And so there's a process like that's why I've created a proven process. And I know Dr. Dunton has proven processes that we take people through. So you have some support with this. Speaker 3 (40:06): 'Cause It can be overwhelming. I'm really, I'm supposed to do all this stuff, like I have a life, I'm busy. And so getting help because we are tribal creatures, right? And so it's just really important to really work with our nervous systems and our connection to something deeper as to circle back to what you were saying, like when we are connected to something beyond ourselves, we open up realms of possibility that we couldn't have even imagined possible before. And when you open up to that possibility, then suddenly all these other parts of the puzzle start filling in as well. And that's why having a guide that can help you through a process, because a lot of people just wanna go to someone and give an, get an appointment and have them tell me what supplements to take. And maybe I'll cut out a few foods, which are all fine things. Speaker 3 (40:50): There's nothing wrong with that. But if you don't do the deeper work mentally, physically, emotionally, in terms of your self-care, your daily habits, your thoughts, actions, beliefs, if you don't go through, go on a journey. If you don't go on this inner pilgrimage, like your body's gonna still keep telling you something's wrong and then you're gonna think something's wrong with you or you're gonna be mad at your body or feel betrayed. But that's not what's really happening. What's really happening is that you need to go on this inner pilgrimage to move through the different layers to come into the version of yourself that is sitting inside of you. You're not, the idea of this isn't to become a better person, it's to polish your, you're a gem and to polish, get the mud off and polish the beauty of what is inside of you already that is not getting fully expressed. Speaker 1 (41:33): Yeah. I love it so beautifully said Tracy. And I think that the gift of chronic symptoms and chronic illness is that eventually it will force you into this inner path and this inner journey if you keep at it, unless you give up. And that inner path and inner journey really is what not only brings you to physical healing, but greater expression of yourself in this lifetime. So I know we are running short on time, but I would be remiss if I didn't ask you about the demonization of estrogen. One of my favorite topics. Yes. Speaker 3 (42:14): A Speaker 1 (42:16): that it has caused so many millions is currently causing so many millions. Somebody reached out to me on social media the other day and said, Dr. Kieran, I've been on estrogen, I think she said for five years. And now I'm 55 and my doctor's telling me I have to stop it or I could get cancer or die from a heart attack. And this is a regular occurrence that people are told this and we can't stress it enough. So why don't we talk about that before we wind up. Speaker 3 (42:46): Oh, I love to. Let's get into it. So one of the first things I wanna say. My dad was a doctor. I grew up helping out in his office. I grew up in psychiatry and I can tell you doctors don't have time to delve into the research 'because they are so stinking busy. And there are certain people, practitioners who really stay abreast of research. I know Dr. Dunson does too, right? Do you like to be called Kieran? Dr. Kieran? Dr. Dunston. Speaker 1 (43:13): . I'll answer any Kirin is fine Speaker 3 (43:16): . Anyway, So I think people don't understand, doctors are human beings. And once you're taught something and it sticks in your brain and you haven't had the timer bandwidth to really like dive in and refute it or change your thinking, and then you also have these American medical Association or whatever country you're in, standards of practice that put a gun to your head that if you don't follow the formula, then you could get sued, you could lose your license, you could get in trouble. So it's really rough. So a doctor would have to feel extraordinarily well informed to go against the grain and have a really strong convention to take that risk. And once you do research this, you find out that there was never any evidence that estrogen causes cancer or heart disease or dementia. That has never happened, never existed. The Women's health initiative in two, 2002 that where they stopped the study because they said that there was increased risk with hormone replacement therapy. Speaker 3 (44:07): That was like, if you go dig into it, like instead of spending a lot of time, I'm sure you have lots of other episodes where you talk about it. And I'm sure like you can go read, there's this great book called Estrogen Matters that goes through step by step dismantling the whole thing. It doesn't take that long to read. You can also get it on audible. Estrogen matters. So one of the problems culturally is that we have a history of demonizing estrogen. And from a medical anthropology perspective, one of the things I've really looked at is history. Even if you look at the word hysterical comes from the Latin root for the word uterus. And like femininity in so many ways, like female hormones, female body parts have been pathologized like going back centuries. And we don't do that. Men are low on testosterone. Speaker 3 (44:53): We're not like, you're not allowed to have any, if people are low on thyroid, then we're not told you can't have any, if people are low on D three and that's a hormone, not a vitamin, we don't tell people you can't have any and it's gonna cause cancer and kill you. This whole idea that estrogen causes cancer, like estrogen cause cancer, then the people getting the most cancer would be really young women with high levels of estrogen, not older, middle aged women. It just makes no sense. If you look at the evidence there that that has never been shown and researched to, to exist. It doesn't exist. It's a, it's like literally one of the most damaging rumors that has ever made its way through medicine. So if you need estrogen, there are ways to get support. Now you I, in my, you can see what you say, what you think, but I don't think people, I think it's important not to take, if you can make your own hormone, then you don't wanna take so much that you impede your body's ability to make it own, make its own. But if you are really low on estrogen or progesterone and you're suffering, you need to take it. And I personally really am an advocate of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy as opposed to synthetic, especially progesterone progestin. It's not even the same molecule as progesterone. So I think it's really important for people to use really natural progesterone like the actual progesterone molecule and not progestin. I dunno, what do you think about that? Speaker 1 (46:14): Oh yes. Natural, absolutely. Bioidentical biologically identical. I mean, everybody listening knows we've got her hormone club if they need access to physicians who are experts in that board certified and licensed if they need access. But biologically identical if you need it, it's not appropriate for everyone, but Right. For the right. Yes. Speaker 3 (46:36): Yeah. And also, I do wanna say I am a huge supporter of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. And it's important to know, if you look at the domino effect of like the cascade of hormones in the human body, so much of hormone production starts in parts of the brain that also create chemicals that make stress hormones. So when we are stressed out, and then of course, I know you guys know from following Dr. Kieran, that all these toxic chemicals in our environment, our liver, you know all this, like this is all causing hormonal havoc. So when our brains are dysregulated, hormones are happening in our brains, they're happening in our liver, they're happening in our microbiome, our microbiomes are managing hormones. A lot of people don't realize that. And so when we do all the parts to really take care of our nervous system to nur nurture and nourish ourselves to sleep and to rest, and to have a meditation practice that, that you can fit in your schedule in life and that works for you when you do all those things, a lot of your hormones will self-Correct. When you get the nasty chemicals out of your body, a lot of it will self-Correct. But whatever does not self-correct, through self-care and all these measures, then it's okay to take hormones. Please do. It's not worth being miserable just to say, I'm not taking this. Speaker 1 (47:53): Yeah, it's a whole other conversation because that's what my TEDx talk was about, the consequences of hormonal poverty. So even for people who don't have symptoms, they, you do need to educate yourself on the consequences of not having these hormones because it's more than just symptomatology, but it's more than we have Speaker 3 (48:13): To go into. Yeah. Yeah. It does increase all risk mortality. It does increase your risk of outcomes of diseases. Like basically, it's dangerous not to have your hormones balanced. Speaker 1 (48:23): And gosh, Tracy, we could talk about for so long, we could talk forever. , I really appreciate you coming on the show and sharing your very deep perspective on anxiety that people aren't going to hear anywhere or most places. So I know you've got the simple brain trigger me for them. We will have the link to the show note in the show notes, but tell them all the places they can find and connect with you online. Speaker 3 (48:52): Absolutely. You're welcome to join my email list and get content there. You can follow me on Instagram, YouTube, or I'm on Facebook and LinkedIn. So just the usual social media channels. I'm really easy to stalk , like my phone, my name is very unique. No one else has it. So if you can spell my name, you can find me. Speaker 1 (49:10): Awesome. Thank you Dr. Tracy Potter for coming on the show, , and we very much appreciate it. Speaker 3 (49:18): Yeah, thank you. I've loved connecting with you. Thank Speaker 1 (49:20): You. And thank you for joining me for another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kieran. I hope you found today's episode inspiring, insightful, and you've probably heard some things that you've not heard before about your health. So I look forward to learning how you're gonna start befriending your body and going deeper and really start having a conversation with her because she's talking to you and she's waiting for you to talk to her. So start listening, reach out to me on social media and tell me all about it. Until next week, peace, love, and hormones, y'all. Speaker 2 (50:02): Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormones and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.   ►Struggling with anxiety, overwhelm, pain or sleep? Feel better in 15 minutes with this simple brain trick meditation by Dr. Traci Potterf - CLICK HERE. ► Feeling tired? Can't seem to lose weight, no matter how hard you try? It might be time to check your hormones. Most people don't even know that their hormones could be the culprit behind their problems. But at Her Hormone Club, we specialize in hormone testing and treatment. We can help you figure out what's going on with your hormones and get you back on track. We offer advanced hormone testing and treatment from Board Certified Practitioners, so you can feel confident that you're getting the best possible care. Plus, our convenient online consultation process makes it easy to get started. Try Her Hormone Club for 30 days and see how it can help you feel better than before. CLICK HERE.   ► Do you feel exhausted, moody, and unable to do the things that used to bring you joy? It could be because of hormonal poverty! You can take our quiz now to find out if your hormone levels are at optimum level or not. Take this quiz and get ready to reclaim your life; say goodbye to fatigue and lack of energy for good. We want every woman to live her best life — free from any signs or symptoms of hormonal poverty, so they can relish their everyday moments with confidence and joy. Imagine having a strong immune system, vibrant skin, improved sleep quality… these are all possible when hormones are balanced! CLICK HERE now and take the #WWPHD Quiz to discover if you're in hormonal poverty — it only takes 2 minutes! Let's get started on optimizing your hormone health today.

On this Episode 413 of Health Solutions, Shawn & Janet Needham R. Ph. talk about how hormones affect insomnia, especially as we age. Jennifer holds a Master's of Science in Integrative Nutrition and is a certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner and a Board Certified Functional Wellness Coach. She is also the Executive Director of the Association of Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Professionals where she is mentored by course creator Reed Davis. She is the creator of the acclaimed FDN Business School and she loves getting to help new FDNs thrive professionally. Jennifer was recently a quarter-long guest lecturer in graduate Endocrinology at Parker University and also completed a three-month-long internship with Dr. Kyrin Dunston, getting hands-on training in women's hormones. She loves to be active with her high school sweetheart husband and four kids. 00:00 - Start 00:22 - Jennifer Intro 00:43 - Under Sleeping 02:58 - Elevated Cortisol 06:52 - Ideal Daily Routine 09:54 - Self-Care 15:06 - Light 17:18 - Hormones 20:14 - Normalizing Sickness 24:54 - Exercise 25:55 - Summarizing Insomnia 27:42 - Closing Comments Episode Resources Facebook ~ https://www.facebook.com/FunctionalDiagnosticNutrition/ Instagram ~ https://www.instagram.com/fdntraining/ Twitter ~ https://twitter.com/FDNtraining LinkedIn ~ https://www.linkedin.com/company/san-diego-natural-health-&-fitness-ctr/ YouTube ~ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7xDnEKCe9gKeWZ2vbE3C8w Website ~ https://www.functionaldiagnosticnutrition.com/health-detective-podcast/ Website ~ www.fdntraining.com/healthsolutions EP 413: How Hormones Affect Insomnia with Jennifer Woodward and Shawn & Janet Needham R. Ph. ~ #hormones #insomnia #cortisol #alternativehealthpodcast #podcastofinstagram #podcastinterview #alternativehealth #functionaldiagnosticnutrition #healthdetective #healthpodcast #healthpodcasts #podcastshow #optimalhealth #healthfreedom #medicalcare #HealthCare #PriceTransparency #freemarket #Liberty #FitAfter50 #FitOver50 #fitover40 #fitafter40 #Boise #IdahoFalls #Tricities #SiouxFalls #Wenatchee #EducateAndEmpower #NeedhamHealthSolutions #TeamNeedham #ShawnNeedham #HealthSolutions #MosesLakeProfessionalPharmacy #MLRX #SickenedTheBook #ShawnNeedhamRPh #ThinkOutsideTheSystem #OptimalHealthMatters #ItsTime ~ *** #BenShapiro & #DaveRamsey Fans. Learn how to be in the driver's seat for your healthcare choices {not the system or doctors!}

Welcome to another episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast! In today's episode, our host [host name] is joined by the distinguished Dr. Jeffrey Gross, a board-certified neurological surgeon who specializes in anti-aging and regenerative medicine. Together, they explore the groundbreaking developments in stem cell technology and its role in improving health and combating disease.    Dr. Gross starts by offering insights into how he discovered the immense potential of stem cells in the field of regenerative medicine. This led him to establish ReCELLebrate, a cutting-edge initiative focused on providing modern biochemical treatments and, where possible, avoiding surgical intervention. Dr. Gross takes us on a deep dive into the longevity and biohacking consultations he conducts at his ReCELLebrate clinics in California and Nevada.    In addition to his work with stem cells, Dr. Gross also shares how his expertise extends to treating athletic injuries and performing spine procedures. Throughout the conversation, he delves into the nuances of these treatments and provides invaluable information on how stem cells can be an effective solution to many health problems.    Reflecting on his background, Dr. Gross walks us through his fascinating journey in the field of medicine and how he became a leading expert in stem cells and regenerative medicine. Show Highlights: * How Dr. Jeffrey Gross discovered the impressive capabilities of stem cells in regenerative medicine. * The founding and goals of ReCELLebrate, Dr. Gross's innovative approach to employing biochemical treatments. * An inside look at Dr. Gross's ReCELLebrate clinics and the longevity and biohacking consultations offered. * Dr. Gross's expertise in addressing athletic injuries and spine procedures, and how it ties in with his work in regenerative medicine. * A glimpse into the captivating background and journey of Dr. Jeffrey Gross in the medical field.    Join us in this enlightening conversation with Dr. Jeffrey Gross, and learn about the incredible possibilities that stem cells and regenerative medicine have to offer. Don't miss out on the wealth of knowledge this episode has to share, and be sure to subscribe to The Hormone Prescription Podcast for more enlightening discussions!   [00:00:00] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Cade Hildreth, the founder of Bioinformant, a stem cell industry research firm, is quoted as saying, the regenerative medicine revolution is upon us. Like iron and steel to the industrial revolution, like the microchip to the tech revolution, stem cells will be the driving force of this next revolution. [00:00:20] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Stay tuned to find out how you can start using stem cells to transform your health, your life, and your longevity. So the big question is how do women over 40 like us keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you're not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself again. [00:00:45] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: As an OBGYN, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss and supercharged energy after 40 in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue. Now I'm on a mission. This podcast is [00:01:00] designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results. [00:01:04] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: And to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you're facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kieran Dunstan. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Hi everybody. [00:01:22] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription. Thank you so much for joining me today as we dive into the use of stem cells for regenerative and longevity medicine with Dr. Jeffrey Gross. This is really one of the most powerful and emerging aspects of health that is available to you now To create the health that you're wanting the healing that you're wanting that you might not be aware of Because it's not offered everywhere and usually not covered by insurance And your regular doctor's probably not going to talk to you about it But as I shared in the beginning the quote it [00:02:00] really is One of the most powerful tools that's going to transform medicine, just like our tech field has been transformed. [00:02:08] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: And there's another quote that I love that I'll share. The next age of medicine will revolve around stem cells, just like there was. the pre intranet age, there will soon be the pre stem cell age, and it will confuse the next generation to talk about it. So although now it seems a little way out and off the beaten path, it will probably become the standard of care at some point in the future. [00:02:32] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: So I know that if you're listening, you want to know everything that's available that could possibly help you create better health, live a longer and healthier life and increase your vitality span. So I know you're going to want to hear about extending your health and longevity using stem cells and regenerative medicine. [00:02:53] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: So I'll tell you a little bit. about Dr Jeffrey Gross and then we'll get started. Dr Gross is a board certified [00:03:00] neurological surgeon who identified the unique and powerful capacity of stem cells to help not only neurological problems but to regenerate many aspects of health affected by disease. He focuses on anti aging and regenerative medicine at his resellably Great clinics in California and Nevada. [00:03:17] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: So we're going to dive into this episode in not only neurologic applications, but arthritic joint applications, musculoskeletal and more. And we're going to talk about beauty applications too, which I know you're going to want to hear about. So please help me welcome Dr. Jeffrey Gross to the  [00:03:35] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: show. Thank you so much. [00:03:36] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: I'm Pleased to be here. It's an honor to join you today. Yes, I'm  [00:03:39] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: super excited to have you on fellow physician who now has gone astray just like me and really found some things that can help people, which my audience really loves hearing about because they've done the HMO copay dr tango and [00:04:00] they know it doesn't work for them. [00:04:01] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: The number one question I get from people is why doesn't my doctor know what you know? Why doesn't my doctor offer me what you offer me? And they love to hear stories of doctors like you and me who were in the dark and found the light and what we know that can actually help them. So why don't we start there Dr. [00:04:22] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Jeff with your story from conventional medicine into what  [00:04:27] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: you're doing now. Great. Thank you for the opportunity. Probably a bit like yours, I was trained to be a physician, many years of training, just like you, and came from professors who trained similarly 20 years earlier, who were trained by professors similarly 20 years earlier, and there's a, there's this sort of preservation of these traditional in the box thinking of medicine, and I haven't abandoned that, what I have done is expand on it, because probably like you as well, we're [00:05:00] scientists, And we explore and we ask questions and we want to know what's really happening and what we have to do our own homework on that sometimes. [00:05:08] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: So, I was practicing traditional spine neurosurgery. I was taking care of patients mostly with neck and back problems, injuries, disc issues, pinched nerves. A very, very busy practice and I noticed that patients were telling me something they were coming in and saying, Hey, doc, I've tried all the things you've recommended. [00:05:29] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: I've tried therapy. I've tried time. I've tried prayer. I've tried supplements. I've tried anti inflammatories. I've even tried injections, but I'm still having problems. And we would talk, let's go over the surgical options. And they'd say, yeah, I'm just not quite ready. And I'd look at them and say, yeah, I think you're right. [00:05:46] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: You're not quite ready. You're not bad enough. And you're in that gap, that no man's land. And then they would say, Doc, what about lasers? And what about this? And what about stem cells? And you get hit enough time on the head with a rubber [00:06:00] mallet and that stem cell's stuck. And I finally said, you know what? [00:06:04] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Instead of going to the same old spine conferences every year And seeing, hearing the same old things reported, I'm going to go a different direction and I started going to different meetings and different educational conferences and got interested and retrained and now I've incorporated regenerative medicine and anti aging medicine and all these things into my practice to expand my tool base. [00:06:27] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Great, so You could learn from a pleasure perspective. I love that. So what happened when you went to your first stem cell conference? Take everyone through that. What really piqued your interest that you said, Wow, this is valid. And I need to know more about this because this could benefit my  [00:06:45] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: patients. I was, I'm embarrassed to say that 32 years had passed since I had my undergraduate degree in biochemistry and I went to the meeting and it just reopened a lot that had happened in 32 years [00:07:00] that built on this really neat background in molecular biology and what we knew about cells and how they function together. [00:07:07] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And I was so busy going down this path of clinical medicine that I had missed. I never got a newsletter on all the updates in this and what we've learned. And so I was a little embarrassed and, but it was wonderful because it reopened that curiosity and that reason why I, I chose that as my undergraduate degree in the first place and all that had happened in stem cells and in exosomes and other regenerative biologics. [00:07:35] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And that had been applied clinically, meaning for patients. So it wasn't just on a lab bench. Yeah. So  [00:07:41] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: let's get into stem cells. I think they're a mystery for a lot of people. And they're confused about what are the different types of stem cells, what can they be used for, what's FDA approved, what's not, what might they get in another country they won't get in [00:08:00] the U. [00:08:00] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: S., and also the benefits for longevity. And there are methods for stimulating your own stem cells. I recently learned about stem cells from endometrium and menstrual blood, which is really fascinating to me. But do you want to start there? Just kind of talking about what are stem cells?  [00:08:19] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Sure. This is, we'll do a little stem cell one on one here. [00:08:22] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And this is, let's take it back. When we were embryos inside of our mothers, We are made up of a ball of cells, and those are all stem cells, and those stem cells are incredibly powerful. They start out omnipotent, meaning they can become anything, and they become further differentiated, and that's a biological word, meaning the cells start to work towards what they're going to end up being, and it's like a job assignment. [00:08:50] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: You go to the vocational office, you say, assign me a job and okay, you're going to be a liver cell and you over there, you're going to be part of the elbow. You get a job assignment. [00:09:00] As the fetus develops, these omnipotent cells become pluripotent. They have less opportunities, but they're still broad opportunities. [00:09:09] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And then they become a multipotent and they get all the way down to where they can only differentiate into certain types of tissues. And those are the vast majority of what's available clinically because they're safer. They can't go backwards in the lineage and create a whole new human or even something weird. [00:09:27] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: We don't want that. And you're coming from the OBGYN field, you've heard of teratomas, these very, very, very Germ cell based tumors and things that can, so we don't want to use those dangerous cells. We don't know how to control them yet. So when we use the word stem cells, we're talking about these, they just haven't made that final job assignment. [00:09:47] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Right. And these are typically from the mesenchymal or the mesoderm layer of the embryo. And meaning they form most of the connective tissues, most of the organs. And when you tap into [00:10:00] these stem cells, they can be very powerful. Now, as humans, we have stem cells in us. They are a bank of cells, a storehouse, if you will, of cells that our body is constantly tapping into. [00:10:11] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: We renew our skin constantly. We're making new skin cells. We renew our liver cells. And if we are injured or hurt somehow, those cells can be recruited to help repair us. Think about Doc, a three year old scrapes his knee on the sidewalk. And you bandage, you clean it up, put some Bactine on it, put a bandage on it, give them a kiss and send them on their way, right? [00:10:34] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Three days later, that bandaid comes off, but that scab is almost completely healed. But then you take, in comparison, a 70 year old who bangs her elbow, and there's a bruise for two and a half weeks. So why does the same person who healed so quickly at age three not heal the same at age 70? Why? Same genes. [00:10:55] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Same bank of stem cells. Of course, our stem cells lose steam with [00:11:00] age. They get exposed to what we learned in medical school is called vaguely inflammation, right? And inflammation is the accumulation of all this environmental damage, exposure to toxins, exposure to electromagnetic fields, what's in our diet, what's in our water, how we treated ourselves with stress or avoidance of stress. [00:11:22] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And I'm sure you've talked about this with others as it applies to hormonal function, right? We want to try to tend towards an anti inflammatory lifestyle. So in any way, our stem cells don't work as well to repair and regenerate us. And that can happen at different rates. So the whole basis of the stem cell biology as a treatment is to tap back into our own youthful ability to heal. [00:11:47] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Our cells have the blueprint and the molecules and the genes to do that. That's kind of the underlying basis.  [00:11:53] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Okay. And regenerative treatment is defined as what, because that's [00:12:00] really what you specialize. In is regenerative treatment versus conventional medical approaches,  [00:12:06] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: right? I suppose I still do a bit of both but Regenerative medicine is the new tool that i've had for about five years Which has really blossomed into many aspects of it And maybe this is a good part to answer your question about the fda So as you know, and many people don't fully understand the fda Is sort of the doctor's first amendment police and they decide based on their criteria what we can make claims about. [00:12:35] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And those claims usually deal with curing or treating a disease or condition. So for example, if a new medicine is being developed. They decide when we can say this medicine has been shown to, to help deal with diabetes or something like that. So, there has yet to be any real regenerative stem cell treatment that has been approved for claims.[00:13:00]  [00:13:00] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: That doesn't mean it can't be done. The doctor and patient have a relationship and that's between them with proper informed consent. There are a couple things that are approved, but I don't know that I Consider them regenerative and that would be a bone marrow replacement for let's say, uh, leukemia. And this is why mothers might bank umbilical cord cells when they deliver a child. [00:13:24] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: That's traditionally been an approved treatment. Okay,  [00:13:29] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: so you're saying no FDA approved claims made indications for the use of stem  [00:13:36] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: cells? But let's be truly objective, since we're scientists. There have been no approvals or denials. So they have not said, we have approved, but we also have an unapproved. [00:13:47] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: It hasn't yet been decided. So the lack of approval does not mean that something is unapproved. And people don't fully, they tend to go only and hear the unapproved. That [00:14:00] doesn't mean, that just means they haven't been fully vetted these claims. You know, the proper full studies have not yet been okayed by the FDA. [00:14:09] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Okay, so can you talk about though what indications are generally agreed upon by experts in the regenerative medicine area as to what are appropriate uses that may not be FDA approved?  [00:14:26] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: You should be a politician that was fantastically worded. For the purposes of doing this correctly, anything I give an opinion on today is not a treatment for an individual, and is not necessarily approved by the FDA, and is just worthy of discussion. [00:14:42] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And every individual is addressed. individually. So yes, there is wonderful scientific reporting, mostly from not in the United States. We have literature out of Europe. We have literature from Asia where they are ahead of us. And you think about this doc, [00:15:00] 15 to 20 years ago, professional athletes were leaving this country to get these treatments. [00:15:04] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And other people, but of notoriety, it would be the athletes. Now those athletes are staying in the country because it is available here in the U. S. The source of the biologics, the stem cells or the related biologic components are here produced by, ironically, FDA compliant labs. So, and these are typically from donors of C section births. [00:15:29] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Where the placenta, the amniotic fluid, the umbilical cord are preserved instead of thrown away and sent to labs where they're under clean and sterile conditions, tested and treated. The main uses start with musculoskeletal issues like joint problems. In fact, some of the best research comes out of France and these are protocols I follow for knee pain. [00:15:54] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And if I may just keep rambling on the, the, a study in France [00:16:00] just reported two years ago on the 15 year follow up. So that means they've been doing this for at least 17 years as a study and probably longer. And what they did is they took patients with end stage knee problems. Ready and recommended for knee replacement. [00:16:16] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: So these are conditions like bone on bone patients may have heard or arthritis is terms doctors use painful knee problems that need a knee replacement. Not everybody wants an open knee replacement. It has a role, but they took these patients said, wait, instead of having your recommended knee replacement, join our study. [00:16:36] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And in that study, they injected bone marrow derived stem cells from those patients. And we might circle back to that in a moment, but they took them from these patients, processed them, concentrated them, and injected them into two different areas in the knee. And over 15 years, one of the groups was significantly superior to the other group. [00:16:58] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And the group that [00:17:00] did well was in bone injected, so they injected the bone of the knee just above and below the cartilage. The cartilage injected group did okay initially. But then declined at each five year mark and it was over 80 percent of the bone injected group did not need that knee replacement. [00:17:17] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: They had been recommended 15 years earlier. In other words, those knees were saved. That's amazing. We follow that protocol and we do the bone work and you think about it. Your cartilage in your joints and in your discs of your spine is probably one of the least biologically active tissues. There are not a lot of cells. [00:17:37] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: It's sort of a collection of squishy proteins and collagen and we call this sort of the biological rubber of the body. The real activity, the part of your body that made that cartilage in the first place when you were a fetus was the growth plate bone marrow where you're most of your stem cells reside, your storehouse of stem cells. [00:17:58] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: So we follow that [00:18:00] protocol. So  [00:18:00] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: with data like that, 80 percent did not need any replacement and they were bone on bone, which really that's the only standard of care treatment that we have to my knowledge. Why has the FDA not? Given an approval any  [00:18:16] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: insight into that I'm going to go out on a limb here and say i'm sure there are political and economic pressures from Companies that make metallic knee implants. [00:18:26] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: I am sure that the fda panels Uh that look at this. I have a very high threshold of studies in terms of number of participants And they love blinded and controlled studies, meaning blinded means the doctor doesn't know and the patient doesn't know if they're getting a placebo or not. And a controlled study means there's a placebo arm, but who would want to be that in that study that might get a placebo? [00:18:54] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: So it's going to be very hard to do a large population study with [00:19:00] placebo. So we are sort of at this. You know, difficult crossroads.  [00:19:04] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Yeah, sometimes you have to follow your common sense. Anyone can tell you that the success rate of any cartilage naturally regrowing when you're bone on bone is probably zero. [00:19:19] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: So do we really need that control group? That's where I sometimes wonder when did we leave common sense by the wayside or the body of scientific Tiff acknowledge and experience that we have from decades of doing medicine the way we've been doing it. And so this is the place you can be very frank and honest. [00:19:39] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: So I throw Mainstream medicine under the bus on the regular because people just don't get it. They're scratching their heads Why don't I get these options at my hmo doctor's office? And so I really help them to understand that medicine is a business and that it has It's [00:20:00] its own motivations and doing lots of surgeries and procedures and prescribing lots of drugs is part of it. [00:20:07] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: And so if you want something different, then you've got to make different choices and look elsewhere, which I think is a great, I was going to ask you in a little bit, but I'm going to ask you now. The second question people ask me after why doesn't my doctor offer this is, Will my insurance pay for this? [00:20:24] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: So I think this is a good place to ask that.  [00:20:27] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: You're absolutely right. There's a little bit of a conundrum. Because the FDA has not approved this for claims, your insurance has their hat to hang on that they, they will not approve this. However, there's something called PRP platelet rich plasma, which many people can get in their doctor's office, which is a taking your own blood and. [00:20:47] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: spinning it down in a centrifuge and pulling out the growth factors and the platelets and concentrating them and delivering them back to an area where there might be a strain or pain like a tennis elbow or a knee [00:21:00] ligament or something like that. And it is, it's rather simple. It is, it's sort of the lowest. [00:21:06] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Entry level regenerative medicine item and it is not approved for claims by the FDA But insurances are starting to pay for it because they're starting to see that it's less expensive than a surgical pathway So it might cost 500 to 1, 000 per session, typically people have two to three sessions. So, I think that's probably some good news in the long run towards insurance companies waking up and looking at the bigger picture and avoiding bigger open surgeries if possible. [00:21:40] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: There's always a role for the surgeries, I don't mean to say don't do surgery, I mean to say look at every option first, why not try a regenerative procedure because I can tell you. When I'm addressing a knee problem, it's usually two doses of biologics in the bone above and below the knee. [00:22:00] And we do that at a little injection facility with some sedation so no one has to feel the bone injection. [00:22:06] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: It doesn't take very long. Most of the work is done ahead of time. The targeting, the MRI, the testing. And We've got that down to where it's just under 10, 000 and I think that's a good price when you look at the lost work time, the downtime, the complications, the co pays you'd have just to have a knee replacement. [00:22:28] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Sure, the knee replacement might be less than 10, 000 out of pocket, but there's a cost of the pain and the recovery and the physical therapy and that kind of thing. So it's not cost prohibitive. For everyone. For some, I understand, but not for everyone.  [00:22:43] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Yes, my mother had both knees replaced, and the pain she went through and just never had the same gait and walking ease, and if she could have avoided it at that time, I'm sure she would have in hindsight.[00:23:00]  [00:23:00] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: So, let's get more specific, because I know people are wanting to know. So we've talked about knees. What other joint or musculoskeletal problems have stem cells been shown to help with? And then also maybe tie into there, you mentioned bone marrow as a source. What are the sources? Cause some people are saying, Oh my gosh, am I going to have to have my bone marrow removed to get stem cell treatment? [00:23:25] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: So where are these? Stem cells coming from? Are they autologous from the person? Are they from somebody else?  [00:23:32] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: So let me work backwards. I'll start with that question and then work back to and expand on, on the types of things we can do beyond knees. Okay. So you can have bone marrow, harvested stem cells harvested from your own bone marrow, and even other sources like fat. [00:23:48] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: I don't like the fat source. Because those cells are typically in an inflamed environment. And the whole theme here is to work against inflammation, which works to help our [00:24:00] body tissues function better and slow the aging process. I don't like to harvest, autologous is the word you used, and that means from yourself. [00:24:09] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: I prefer the perinatal sources. These are again the donated, ethical, and FDA compliant labs that prepare these biologics. The biologics would be either stem cells or stem cell messengers, stem cell derived messengers. And these are the small particles that one cell uses to communicate with other cells in our body, wake up our own stem cells, activate them. [00:24:35] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And I have been able to keep the cost of procedures down with, I believe, at least as good efficacy, if not better in some areas. With the stem cell messengers and we call those exosomes or nanoparticles and they are basically a stem cell giving a message to other cells to behave in an anti [00:25:00] inflammatory, youthful, regenerative, restorative way and that's what we're, that's what we seek. [00:25:05] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Those come from basically what used to be medical trash. It's now medical treasure, and these are donated and screened individuals. Unless you're in a culture that preserves the placenta for the delicacy that it may be in some areas, this is You've probably delivered thousands of babies and thrown away the, all this great stuff. [00:25:30] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Am I  [00:25:30] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: right? Yes. Who knew? You know, that HGTV show, isn't it called Trash to Treasure? But also I recently learned that in a lot of cultures, they actually bury the placenta to ground the energy body of the child into Mother Earth, which is a whole other conversation. So it's ethical to use it for medical procedures in the West, but in a lot of indigenous cultures, it probably wouldn't be so you [00:26:00] prefer the perinatal. [00:26:01] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: And it's not just for joint stem cells, not just for joints anymore. What are the other applications  [00:26:09] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: that we get great results with joints? I would say joints. Joints are a wonderful and relatively successful application in our hands. And by joints, I'm including spine. We don't have the long term data on spine yet, like we do for knees. [00:26:26] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Knees were sort of an easy first study because there's so many people with knees and they're easy to inject in the knee area, right? It's down there. It's just asking for an injection. The spine is a little bit more interesting. You have to be cautious around nerves. And that's where I come in as a neurosurgeon, so I'm, I've been inside the spine thousands of times doing surgeries. [00:26:47] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: I love doing fewer surgeries and more of these procedures. So we'll call that the musculoskeletal group. There are other things a little bit within the musculoskeletal group. One is there, there have been studies [00:27:00] showing improvement in bone density, which is very important in someone with declining hormone levels. [00:27:07] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Um, as, as you and your. Listeners must know the bone density is associated with longevity. The better your bone density, the better your longevity. And hormones are a big part of that. Weight bearing exercise is a big part of that. And other factors like certain supplements, vitamin D3, for example, and others. [00:27:25] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: So regenerative medicine can help support bone density. There are studies on that. The other longevity or I'm sorry  [00:27:33] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: to interrupt you, but where What types of stem cells are used  [00:27:37] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: and how are they administered? I have to look at the individual study, but you are correct. Most of the studies are either autologous harvested stem cells from that person, their donated stem cells from a perinatal source, or their donated stem cell messengers or exosomes from a perinatal source. [00:27:54] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Those are the three main applications that we call regenerative medicine. [00:28:00]  [00:28:00] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: For bone density, how are those  [00:28:01] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: administered? Oh, sorry. IV.  [00:28:04] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Intravenously. Is anyone doing that in the United States? There  [00:28:08] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: are a lot of us doing that. Okay.  [00:28:10] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: And so. Because I think there are women listening who are going to want to know what would your criteria be for what degree of osteopenia or osteoporosis. [00:28:20] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: I would say if there's any evidence for osteopenia and you want to get ahead of this and prevent this from going to full blown osteoporosis and you're already doing the traditional elements, weight bearing exercise, hormone optimization, things like this, the right supplements, it's something to look at. [00:28:38] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Osteoporosis. is associated with shortened longevity. So we want to get ahead of this. And the criteria would be making sure they've tried everything else first. Now if someone has a very focal area of osteopenia, maybe a hip issue, but the rest of their testing, because when they test for bone density, they test the hip, the spine, maybe the wrist, other areas. [00:28:59] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: [00:29:00] If we can focally treat by injection a spot area if needed. Yeah, but  [00:29:06] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: I've seen thousands of bone densities on thousands of women and it's a rare person who has a spot problem. It's usually pretty global. And so how many treatments would they have of intravenous stem cells? Because I know there's some women listening who are thinking, Oh, I'm going to look into that. [00:29:22] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: So they probably want to know. We  [00:29:24] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: probably do one treatment. And then monitor the bone density every six to 12 months and see what kind of length of benefit they got and what kind of benefit they got from it and use that as a guide. There's no signing up for, Oh, you'll need this every six or 12 months. [00:29:42] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: This is a individualized person and we guide it for that individual. So hopefully one treatment could give you. Months or years depending on how bad things are to start with how good your own status is your overall Inflammatory burden [00:30:00] and we can do blood tests to look at that in detail Because ultimately aging is an accumulation of this chronic inflammation and we need to not just give IV Regenerative biologics. [00:30:12] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: We need to look at every aspect of of what's causing root cause, right? What's causing inflammatory Yeah, let's  [00:30:19] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: detour and talk about that because I talk about it a lot, but you can never talk about it enough. This is the rust. The inflammation is the rust that corrodes all your cells and degrades them. [00:30:32] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: And this is what causes premature aging, disease, death, everything. It is the enemy. So, it's vital. Every doc I know who works with stem cells, Requires that people reduce their inflammation if they're in a highly inflamed state But I think it would be important to hear your perspective on that  [00:30:52] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: I could not agree more and i've converged with you using the the word rust As you have so i'm [00:31:00] glad we've come together because you're right rust is oxidation And we are oxidizing and that's why antioxidants are good for us. [00:31:08] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: So We all are in a state of inflammation. That's during the day, during the light hours, we have neuro stress, we have physical stress, we have all these things and we have things in our food source and they cause our cells to react in a defensive manner and that defense is chronic inflammation. At night, we repair. [00:31:29] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: If we're sleeping and we're getting good sleep, restorative sleep, our bodies and our cells undergo a repair process. It's a DNA repair, all kinds of things. And we need to balance that by really understanding those and focusing on them. I think reducing exposure to inflammatory items is probably the easiest thing we can do. [00:31:50] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Eating a cleaner diet, for example, avoiding toxins in our environment to the extent we know they're there and we can, limiting electromagnetic [00:32:00] waves. Turning off the screens at night and the other things we can do to reduce inflammation are lifestyle changes, like making sure we exercise, eating in the light window and not eating in the dark window, intermittent eating, intermittent fasting. [00:32:14] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: We can even supercharge the reduced inflammation. By what's called hormesis. Hormesis as, as you may have, you and your audience may know, is a slight stress upon our cells to build resilience and to clear out the senescent zombie cells that are taking up space and resources. And that might come through exercise. [00:32:35] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: It might come through calorie restriction, maybe a fast for anywhere from 24 to 72 hours. It might come from hot sauna use or cold plunges. And these stimulate the body to release survival proteins, which help reduce inflammation. These are the kind of proteins we find in stem cells and stem cell messengers. [00:32:54] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: So ultimately, the regenerative medicine is sort of a hack or a biohack to slow [00:33:00] inflammation. And as it slows and reduces and reverses inflammation at the cellular level, it's reducing aging at the cellular level. And you see many ads on social media. That our product reduces inflammation at the cellular level. [00:33:14] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: That's how we're going to reduce our, slow our aging. We have to do it at the cellular level. And everybody  [00:33:19] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: stay tuned because Dr. Jeff does have a gift for you at the end of the show that's gonna, uh, help some things that you can do to help reduce your inflammation so you don't want to miss that. [00:33:31] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Alright, let's jump back. We were going through the indications and treatments. We talked about knees, spine. We talked about osteoporosis, osteopenia, bone thinning. What other indications  [00:33:44] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: are there? We've treated with IV many things. So we have patients who have come to us with declining kidney function and whether that's related to too much sugar in the life over your life and diabetic changes acquired type two [00:34:00] diabetes, whether it's related to high blood pressure that hasn't been adequately controlled or even other items. [00:34:06] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: What happens is the blood test called creatinine starts to go up because your kidneys can't remove that amount of protein from the body. And yeah, We have seen declining, improving creatinine levels in patients who showed progressive problems with the kidney function, who wanted to avoid dialysis. So we've had a couple patients specifically, and we've only had to do one IV on each of those. [00:34:31] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: patients where their creatinine is improved and we're just watching their blood test with the creatinine. And people come in and say, I've had so much other benefits from that. I think better, more clearly. I have more energy. I sleep more soundly. We get all these beneficial side effects from the IV.  [00:34:49] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Just, I wanted to add something there. [00:34:50] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Just as you're talking, it makes perfect sense that I'm sitting here thinking, why don't we give them to everyone intravenously because just the three year old boy [00:35:00] who falls and scrapes his knee. All you have to do is protect it from infection and getting scraped again. And then the stem cells, the messages throughout the body say, send stem cells to this cut and fix it. [00:35:12] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: It tells what to do. And so that example you gave is beautiful about the kidneys and declining kidney function. You give the stem cells intravenously, they know where to go. And they know what to do and they know to fix the problem. So why aren't we giving it? Do some people just say, I want general longevity. [00:35:33] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: And I know you're going to talk a little bit about that. And I want to heal whatever's broken that I don't know about. And you just. Give them intravenous stem cells.  [00:35:43] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: I don't want to give the idea that stem cells fix everything, right? I think they try it. This is not a cure all, but we love to add it when we can as an alternative or an additional item to help repair or recover in medicine. [00:35:59] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: We call it [00:36:00] an adjunct therapy, right? So this is an add on treatment. For example, we see patients who are recovering from heart attack and we show improved cardiac. function from I. V. Regenerative biologics. We see patients recovering from stroke or have suffered what's called traumatic brain injury used to be called chronic concussive syndrome. [00:36:21] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And these people have lingering effects of brain injury, maybe from an accident or something. And we have shown some benefits there. And there are some studies published on this. Now it should be known that the stem cells do not readily cross the blood brain barrier when they're delivered IV. So the benefits we're actually seeing are more with the stem cell messengers, the stem cell derived exosomes I mentioned to you earlier because they are so small. [00:36:49] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Remember they're called nanoparticles for a reason. They're very small. They cross the blood brain barrier and stimulate the glial cells and that support our brain cells. [00:37:00] And you spoke earlier about other types of stem cells like endometrial base and things like this. There is wonderful work in more specialized types of stem cells. [00:37:08] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Right now, we do not use anything that's manipulated. So these are off the shelf, straight from the womb, tested, screened, and filtered. biologics, because the FDA is pretty clear that they don't want us using anything manipulated. Cells that have been conjured or cajoled into doing something very specific. [00:37:28] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: That is the next quantum leap in regenerative medicine, very specifically targeting stem cells and their messengers, engineered for a specific thing like helping to repair the islet cells in the pancreas in the case of type 2. It's for example, and again, most of these diseases of aging are diseases of inflammation and vice versa. [00:37:50] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Coronary artery clogging, atherosclerosis has an inflammatory component. Alzheimer's disease has an inflammatory component. If you look at [00:38:00] the tissue under a microscope, even type 2 diabetes, you look at the pancreas, it has an inflammatory component. We're really simply just reducing inflammatory exposure and effect. [00:38:12] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And that leads me to mention autoimmune, because this is where a lot of hormones get affected. And as your audience knows, autoimmune means the body is having a revved up attack on it, part of itself, for reasons unclear, but it's a hyper inflammation state. Let's list a few of those. Rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto's thyroiditis. [00:38:35] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: There are other autoimmune diseases and if you do inflammatory blood tests, you'll see the inflammation system is in high gear. We're not sure always why that is, but it is. Some infections are known for their hyper inflammation. Lyme's disease is one I know you've had guests on before about Lyme's disease. [00:38:55] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And another well known one that is known for inflammation is, [00:39:00] COVID 19. It's a very inflammatory virus, and a lot of these long COVID syndromes do have significant continued hyper inflammatory states involved. So we are seeing that these types of problems respond well to suppressing and controlling, we use the word immunomodulating, the inflammation system, where the regenerative biologics do work. [00:39:27] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: towards declining those problems and those symptoms.  [00:39:31] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Okay, wow, such great information. I would be remiss if I didn't ask because I know people are wanting to know about vampire facelift and beauty applications. Would you like to talk about that?  [00:39:45] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: I would. This is probably a little bit on the more fun end of things we do. [00:39:50] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And most of the people we see have a problem and we want to help them with a problem. But we also have enjoyed helping people want to not only feel [00:40:00] better and be healthier, but feel better about looking better. So there are currently two cosmetic procedures that we have. One is, and as your audience knows, a vampire facial is PRP. [00:40:13] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And we talked about PRP earlier for joints, where you can draw your, uh, have your blood drawn from your own veins, spun in a centrifuge, and pull out the growth factors and the platelets, and inject them into the face. So it gives more growth factors to the face to help tighten the collagen. I like to skip over that and go to the high octane stuff and that's to use the wide draw of the blood. [00:40:37] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: When you change the oil in your car, you don't put the old oil back in it. So we use the stem cell biologics and micro inject the face. to stimulate the epidermal cells in dermal cells rather to stimulate, make more collagen, more elastin, get some tightening and youthful radiant glow because of the [00:41:00] improvement in the cells. [00:41:02] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: I think you might notice this as an OB GYN in your pregnant patients. They, don't they often say, Oh, my skin is so good while they're pregnant because they're getting all these youthful growth factors from the womb circulating in the maternal bloodstream. They're getting a Yeah, they're getting a dose. [00:41:18] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Radiance is real. You can look at a pregnant woman and see that their hormones are really on point and their stem cells and how about hair  [00:41:30] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: regrowth? You're also using it for that? That was the other one. And I am, I'm also a recipient of that. So we do the same thing. I've had, I had a bald spot and I've had three scalp injections and it's because of the lighting and things, you probably can't see it, but I'll do some social media posts with some befores and afters. [00:41:50] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And it's, I've been able to help people with thinning, thinning hair. You have to have follicles. You have to have some hair. I can't take a bald person and with the current. state of [00:42:00] things. Now, when we talk about the future of the going backwards in the lineage of stem cells, there are some things coming down the pike and I have some colleagues and friends working on that. [00:42:09] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: But right now this is for people who do have some follicles and I'm sure your audience knows when your hormones start to decline, that's And you have a longstanding inflammation, you, the follicles are sensitive, they, that's like when someone is stressed and they lose hair, it's because the inflammation in their body from the nerve is seen in the areas of symptom, where they become symptomatic, that might be psoriasis. [00:42:33] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: It's where they have dry skin, it might be in the scalp with the follicles, it might be in other areas. We have patients with dry eye syndrome who maybe have had LASIK procedures and we've injected, we talk about glands, we inject the meibomian glands in the eyelids. to help improve the glandular function and I've had some limited benefit there and we're still figuring out how to do that best. [00:42:57] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Okay.  [00:42:58] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Before we wrap up, [00:43:00] we must talk about longevity and then I know you've got that gift for them that's going to help them to know some things that they can start doing now to help with anti aging. But what does the data look like and treatments to increase longevity with stem cells?  [00:43:17] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: We don't have enough. [00:43:18] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Long term data to answer that scientifically, but we do have something called biological age tests, and I think it'd be mentioned this, there are a few different kinds on the market, but basically it's a test that looks at either the markers in the bloodstream and or markers inside the cell bloodstream, of course, is outside the cell, and these markers are associated with certain age groups. [00:43:42] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: So we can do a blood test and estimate The biological age of someone as opposed to your calendar age, because I know at my last birthday, I turned 58, but I can do a biological age test and it has a different number and you can make lifestyle changes or do things in that [00:44:00] number adjust. You can affect your own rate of aging by taking your own anti aging journey and doing things about it. [00:44:07] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And we have some studies that show improvement in the, in these biological age tests. With the use of IV regenerative biologics, so at least at the cellular level, which is where aging really does happen, there is scientific evidence to show reduced inflammatory markers and age related markers. And  [00:44:28] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: I know people are wondering, what's that test and where can I get it? [00:44:32] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: It has to be ordered by a doctor like me, and I do a lot of Zoom consultations, so if anyone in your audience is listening, this is an additional holiday gift, is if they call and mention your name, I'll do an introductory Zoom or phone. I prefer zoom, but phone consultation and we can go over their aging status and see where they are and see if we can make some tweaks in many [00:45:00] different areas and talk about the biological age tests. [00:45:03] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: I'm happy to do that. But you have to mention your name and they heard us here.  [00:45:08] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Okay. So Merry Christmas to you, listener, you can call Dr. Jeff's office mentioned you heard him on Dr. Kieran's podcast and you can get some one on one time with Dr. Jeff and find out more about your health. I think that's a great place to end. [00:45:30] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: It sounds this is such a wonderful topic. It's a Such I guess it's kind of the wild west of medicine, but I think it is the future of medicine in many ways. So I think it's very valuable information. Thank you so much for sharing it. You have this wonderful gift that you're giving everyone to help them understand some things that they can start doing now for their health. [00:45:56] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: We'll have the link in the show notes. Do you want to tell them about [00:46:00] what that is? And then also all the places they can  [00:46:02] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: find you online. Thank you so much. Yes, if you go to the and I forget the word the young again method. com slash longevity There's a a free guide on some of the anti aging supplements You should start or if you're not already on and if you do schedule Some time to meet with me we can expand on that for you as well as customize it for the individual Please follow us at we celebrate is the name of the business. [00:46:28] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: R e c e f l e b r a t e That's our website. That's our Instagram. That's our TikTok. That's our YouTube. We have lots of fun stuff. Follow us and send me a comment on Instagram. If you're on Facebook, also send me a comment and say hi and introduce yourself. We like to meet new people all the time. Awesome. [00:46:48] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Thank you so much, Dr. Jeff, for your brave journey. It is always a brave journey for any physician to go off the beaten path [00:47:00] of What we're taught and to do something innovative and new and courageous. So thank you for saying yes to that because you're going to help a lot of people. I know you already are. [00:47:11] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: I really appreciate it. And I appreciate you sharing your journey and  [00:47:14] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: expertise with us today. Thank you so much for having me. It was my pleasure and honor. And thank you for  [00:47:20] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: joining me for another episode of the hormone prescription. Stem cells are super exciting and the indications are growing. Access is growing and availability. [00:47:35] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: So. I know you learned something that's going to inspire you today. I look forward to knowing what that is. Reach out to me on social media and let me know. And if you want to take Dr. Jeff up on his very generous holiday offer, please do so. We will have all the links in the show notes to his free gift and to how you can reach out to him and contact him. [00:47:58] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Until [00:48:00] next week, peace, love, and hormones, y'all. Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. [00:48:22] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription. com where we have some free gifts for you. And you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. [00:48:44] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Talk to you soon.   ►The Best 5 Anti-Aging Supplements that YOU Need to be taking NOW by Dr. Jeffrey Gross - CLICK HERE ► Feeling tired? Can't seem to lose weight, no matter how hard you try? It might be time to check your hormones. Most people don't even know that their hormones could be the culprit behind their problems. But at Her Hormone Club, we specialize in hormone testing and treatment. We can help you figure out what's going on with your hormones and get you back on track. We offer advanced hormone testing and treatment from Board Certified Practitioners, so you can feel confident that you're getting the best possible care. Plus, our convenient online consultation process makes it easy to get started. Try Her Hormone Club for 30 days and see how it can help you feel better than before. CLICK HERE.   ► Do you feel exhausted, moody, and unable to do the things that used to bring you joy? It could be because of hormonal poverty! You can take our quiz now to find out if your hormone levels are at optimum level or not. Take this quiz and get ready to reclaim your life; say goodbye to fatigue and lack of energy for good. We want every woman to live her best life — free from any signs or symptoms of hormonal poverty, so they can relish their everyday moments with confidence and joy. Imagine having a strong immune system, vibrant skin, improved sleep quality… these are all possible when hormones are balanced! CLICK HERE now and take the #WWPHD Quiz to discover if you're in hormonal poverty — it only takes 2 minutes! Let's get started on optimizing your hormone health today.    

In our latest episode, "Simple Detox and Steps to Become Energetically Efficient," we are excited to have special guest Kristin Rowell, founder and CEO of Energetically Efficient, a wellness and nutrition company that helps high achieving individuals regain their energy and transform their lives.    Kristin, a former business litigator, shares her journey of becoming a Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and how she guides her clients to become positive, energetic, motivated, fit, and high-vibrational humans.    During the episode, Kristin dives deep into the importance of detoxification and the significance of focusing on toxins in our food, water, air, and everyday products. As an expert in wellness and nutrition, she explains how clients can optimize their energy levels by understanding their unique physiology and biochemistry. This includes a detailed discussion on hormones, adrenals, and digestive health. Key takeaways from this episode include: - The significance of detoxification in our lives - How to identify and eliminate toxins around us - The essential role of hormones, adrenals, and digestive health in optimizing energy levels - Understanding our unique physiology and biochemistry for better overall health    Get ready to learn some transformative simple detox tips and strategies for becoming energetically efficient with Kristin Rowell on The Hormone Prescription Podcast hosted by Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast for more insightful episodes and expert guests. Happy listening!   Speaker 1 (00:00): “If you don't sacrifice for what you want, what you want becomes the sacrifice.” Jay Shetty, stay tuned. As a former business litigator turned functional, nutritional therapy practitioner, badass, Kristin Raul shares with you why you need to detox, how to do it, what human design can do for you, and how to get on your right path in life. Speaker 2 (00:26): So the big question is how do women over 40 like us, keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an O-B-G-Y-N, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunton. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Speaker 1 (01:19): Hi everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription. Thank you so much for joining me today. You are gonna love my guest today. She really is a powerhouse. Kristin Rowell, she's a former business litigator who followed her inner intuition. You're gonna hear how that unfolded into a new path in life where she actually helps women to create the health that they love. And she's very inspirational in terms of finding your authentic voice and getting on your right path in life. You're gonna hear her story, but let's start with detoxing and making it super simple. Sometimes we clinicians can make it super complicated and sometimes it takes someone who comes from a non-medical background who just wants to know, okay, that's great complicated information, but how do I do this practically for myself in everyday life to show us the way? And she really has created a really easy framework. Speaker 1 (02:24): You're gonna love what she has to say. It's super simple and super doable, and we're just gonna talk about why you need to do it, how to do it super simply, and you're gonna wanna do it. And then she's also very inspirational in terms of getting on your right path in life. Many women go into one path early on in their lives, whether it's motherhood or career, whatever it may look like. And then at midlife and beyond, we start feeling like there's something more that we wanna explore in terms of the gifts we have to offer in terms of what we wanna contribute to life in terms of what we wanna experience in life. And so it really is the time when we get to unpack those dreams, unpack our authentic selves, and figure out what is next for us. So I'll tell you a little bit about her and then we'll get started. Speaker 1 (03:22): Kristen Raul is a former business litigator, turned functional nutritional therapy practitioner, badass. She helps high achieving, stressed out professionals transform by losing weight, increasing their energy, and becoming more efficient as the founder and CEO of energetically efficient. The clients who hire Kristin are ready for transformational change and she works closely with them to guide them on their journey to becoming positive, energetic, motivated, fit, highly vibrational humans. She has served on boards, she's spoken all over the country. She has a long list of certifications and accomplishments. We talk about this in the episode and please help me welcome Kristin to the show. Speaker 3 (04:05): Thank you so much for having me. Speaker 4 (04:07): So you are a powerhouse, physically, mentally, emotionally. You're a former business litigator. Now you're a functional nutritional therapy practitioner. You have awards and competitions. There's so many topics that you could talk about to bless our women with today. And everybody should know that. Kristin and I were talking before the show trying to decide how we gonna narrow this down? 'cause I wanna make it very specific and actionable for you. And one of my new passions is human design, which she's passionate about too. So I wanna get that in there. So I thought that we would really focus on nutritional detoxification 'cause we've talked a lot about detoxification, but we talk about a lot of supplements and you all know coffee enemas are like my favorite, but maybe you wanna know a more practical way, Dr. Kyrin, like, how can I do this and just tweak how I eat? And so why don't we just start there, but welcome. I'm so glad to have you here. Speaker 3 (05:09): Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited. And I absolutely love not only human design, but also the topic of nutritional detoxification. And so I have been detoxifying my body nutritionally through just real food on and off, whether quarterly, twice a year or annually for over 20 years. So I have a tremendous amount of experience in it. And when I did my first detox, I was in my twenties. Here I am now at 47, and I really didn't know what I was doing. I didn't understand the importance of it other than this sounds like something that's an interesting challenge. And so I've iterated what I've done for detoxification over the years. And now I take myself quarterly, just once a quarter, I take myself through a two week cleanse. Okay? So it's not a bunch of supplements, it's not a juice fast, it's not cleansing in that way. Speaker 3 (06:00): It's really how do we eat the right foods? How do we consume the foods that contain the nutrients to support our body's phase one and phase two detoxification pathways? So that's really what it's all about. So for example, and I'm sure you know this, the sulfation pathway is part of your detox to phase two pathways. So in order to make sure you're supporting that particular pathway, we would need to eat foods that contain sulfur. So those would be our eggs, onion, garlic, our daikon radish, and those will enhance the sulfation pathway. So really when I go through this, and I'm happy to go down any avenue that we want to here, but when I take myself through this two week cleanse, and I do this of course with clients as well, it's about how do we get out all the things that detract our body from detox? Speaker 3 (06:47): How do we take those foods out of our system so that our body can do its natural detoxification, but it's always trying to do? And then how do we add in the foods that will support those pathways so that detoxification can be maximized? Mm-Hmm . And one other easy example is many people may not know that when you're pummeling your body with a phase two detox, which is very supportive for your liver, you are going through large quantities of glutathione. So it's really important to consume, for example, the amino acid cysteine, the amino acid methionine, some of these amino acids that we get from animal protein foods to actually help our body make more glutathione so that the detox can do its thing better. Yeah, Speaker 4 (07:28): This is great Kristen. So let's back up one step. And I know some people are saying, do I need to do a detox? Of course, if they're listening to me long enough, they know the answer to that . But you know, when I practice regular gynecology, people would ask me all the time, do I need to do a detox? And what was I trained to say was, no, your liver takes care of it. And that's just, we have so much trash coming into us now. We have to be doing a detox. And I do recommend at least quarterly, and that's for maintenance. If you've never done a major full body all systems detox, you probably need to go to do a good three or six months. How does somebody know if they're toxic? And they need to do a Speaker 3 (08:12): Fantastic question? Because you're right, many at any level of education, for most people, this isn't something that you're taught would might be a good idea for you. So the kinds of signs and symptoms that I tell people to look for in terms of whether they need detoxification are many, but I'll just list a few of them. It would be if you're getting skin issues like acne or rashes on your body, it's if you have a hard time losing weight, if you notice that you have, let's say, and this is in more severe cases, swollen lymph nodes around your body where you actually can feel your lymph, that would be another thing. If you are someone who doesn't sweat that often, so you're not getting mm-hmm, detoxification out. So if you're not a sauna person, if you're not doing any sort of heated classes where you're really getting your sweat on, I assure you all of the toxins that you accumulate in your body are not coming out just through your urine and your feces because people's systems get so sluggish. Speaker 3 (09:05): If you are someone also who doesn't ever engage in or doesn't know anything about breath work, because breath is of course one of our other detoxification pathways. So if you're not sweating and you're not doing breath work, those things alone may make you a candidate for detoxification. If you also notice just other symptoms I say in the body and they can range from, I feel tired all the time and I don't have a lot of energy and I don't know why I am reaching for caffeine every day and I need caffeine all of the time just to function, that's a bad sign. If you're someone who is easily intoxicated from drinking wine or other alcohol, that's a sign that your liver is pretty stagnant. And that might mean you need to detox. So those are just some Dr. Kean and I'm guessing that there's others that you can just as well. Speaker 4 (09:48): All right. I'm thinking dark circles under your eyes, puffiness in your face, hands or feet. Yes. And, and basically if, if you're a human on the planet in 2023, you need to be detoxing. Everybody needs to be detoxing Speaker 3 (10:03): . I'm so glad you said that 'cause I completely agree with you. But you're right. It's also those dark circles under the eyes. Those things are huge signs as well. And a lot of people don't realize, okay, yes, our liver is our hardest working organ and it's performing over 500 functions in our body, but rarely do we ever stop and give it some love. I would say we need to give our liver some love. It is a, and most images that you will see of the human body, it is always painted in this bright red color. It is the color of love. It's, it does so much for us. And so it's so good to pause, I think quarterly and really be gentle with your liver. Take out, especially now. And and I practice this as well. I generally eat what I consider to be a well-formulated low carbohydrate lifestyle. So I am eating, you know, somewhere between 50 and as much as 200 grams of carbohydrates depending on the day. But of course, a standard American diet, most people are eating more than 300 carbohydrates. And so what people don't realize is just like your liver has to filter all of the toxins in your body, which means that plastic thing that you heated up food in the microwave. No, don't do that. That plastic water bottle that you drank out of, no thank you, Speaker 4 (11:12): No , Speaker 3 (11:13): All of these plastic offenders. But that doesn't count the stuff we're breathing in. That doesn't count so many other toxins. All of this crappy lotion that I see people putting on their body, these offending soaps, other fragrances, every perfume you use, ladies, the makeup that we wear, all of these things put toxins into our body. And so all of those toxins have to be filtered through our liver. But so is all of the fat that we consume. So when I take clients through nutritional detoxification or when I do it for myself, I'm actually not recommending during that two week period that they're consuming something that's keto or that they're eating generally low carb. I want them to eat a lot of fiber. We add beans, we're doing cruciferous vegetables, which are supportive of detoxification. We're doing the dark leafy greens, which are supportive of detoxification. We're including a bunch of liver healing foods. Speaker 3 (12:05): And that might be artichokes, asparagus, celery, dandelion root tea, nutritional yeast, beets. All of these things are fantastic for your liver. So you're really saying to yourself each day, how can I get a bunch of these high quality detoxification supporting nutrient foods in my body each day? And how can I get out the noise, the processed sugar, the processed carbohydrates? Actually, I take out a diary for most people for a little bit of time. 'cause Dairy can be really offensive and obviously very inflammatory, even though I do love it. But I take that out for a period of time. And then we really just work to balance the body. And one of the best things I, and I know you know about nutritional detoxification, is it really helps to balance your hormones. It's fantastic for clearing excess estrogen in the body, which so many people are walking around with men and women. By the way, estrogen is not supplied to women, which I'm sure your listeners well know. So those, all of those reasons are why I think anyone who's living in a, as a human in 2023 could benefit from it. Speaker 4 (13:06): Thank you for bringing that up. If you are having estrogen dominance problems, and this is pretty much every perimenopausal woman, many women, so that's, if you're over 40, but many women over 20, I think that we should just say we're an estrogen nation. We're just swimming in estrogen. Most people, if you have period problems, fibroids, endometriosis if you're overweight, you have estrogen dominance. So you, one of the number one things you can do, Kristin, is exactly right, is do a detox and get your liver cleaned out because these estrogens are cleaned out through your liver, they're dumped into your gastrointestinal tract and they go out in your poop. So if you're not pooping, you need to be getting 20, 30, 40 grams of fiber a day at least to bind that estrogen and get it out. So thank you for bringing that up. Speaker 3 (13:56): Well, and thank you for bringing up the bowel movement piece of things, because I think so few people realize it's not just because you eat food, it's not a guarantee that it just seamlessly in the next day or two comes out the other end. A lot of the fecal matter and the toxicity in our body, you guys, if we're not having the really good healthy fats, if we're not hydrated, if we don't consume enough fiber, if we are super stressed out and we are always in a sympathetic state so that we can't have a bowel movement, and I have lots of clients like this, I'm sure you do as well. Yeah. In those circumstances now, these toxins that are trying to make their way through our intestinal tract can get stuck on the inside walls of our colon. And what happens over time, if they don't make their way out, is your colon, the large intestine will reabsorb that toxic material. So now there, it goes back into your bloodstream. And that may happen in more severe cases, but it really is a consequence of not consuming the fiber, having the healthy fats and hydrating enough to actually allow those toxins to make it all their way through the digestive system. Speaker 4 (14:59): I've been having this visual as we're having this conversation. I grew up in New York City and there was a time when the sanitation workers went on strike, right? So the trash, they put out the trash every day on the curb in New York, and then these big trash trucks come and they pick it up and they ship it off the island. But then they went on strike and the trash was piling up and oh my gosh, it was like this summer and it stunk. And I'm thinking, if you're not supporting your liver, then that's basically what's happening is the pi, the trash is piling up and it's stinking like Manhattan did when I was a kid. And the trash department, sanitation department went on strike. So we've talked about some. That's a good analogy. Speaker 3 (15:43): That's a great Speaker 4 (15:43): Analogy. And if you're not pooping, that's what's happening. Yes. Or it's, a lot of people would say, oh, I don't wanna drink water. We gotta talk about water, Kristen, they say, I don't like the taste of water. I don't drink water. And I'd say, well, not drinking enough water. 'cause You are 60 to 70% water and it helps to flush you out. It's like going to the bathroom all day in your toilet and never flushing . And then they go, okay, Kyrin, I get it. I'll drink the water . Speaker 3 (16:13): I love that. That's, I might steal that from you. It's so true. It's so true. And the other thing is with the hydration piece, and I know we can get to this, but ladies, if you want glowing, gorgeous, young looking skin, drink your water, it's so valuable in terms of hydrating your cells because it really provides the hydration that allows our skin to say, stay supple. So that's just one more reason that we wanna make sure we hydrate. Yeah. Speaker 4 (16:37): And just for everybody listening, if you didn't see Dana Cohen, we have a great two great interviews on the podcast about hydration and the specifics of it and types of water. And so you definitely wanna check that out, but you're absolutely right, Kristen. Alright, so what does your two week food detox regimen look like? I know everybody's gonna wanna low. No. 'cause You look amazing. You tell everyone all about all the IS fitness, bodybuilding competitions, you've won. So you're doing something right. So yeah, they're gonna wanna know about it, yeah. Yeah. Speaker 3 (17:11): I'm a professional bodybuilder and I'm a natural figure competitor. And I was Miss Natural Minnesota in 2018, which sounds so silly to even say, but it's in this fitness competition area. And I've also run 25 marathons. So I've, over the course of many years, really worked on dialing in my nutrition to optimally support, not just athletic performance, but because of what we do for a living in terms of it being very busy. And we work with busy professionals who work with women who are busy. It's also about cognitive function and having lasting energy throughout the day. So you're not having these blood sugar dips, you're actually able to sleep well and you're high functioning. So what my detoxification protocol looks like, just if people are like, oh my God, this is so overwhelming, where do I start? Mm-Hmm. . This is what I call my Cliff notes version of how to do it. Speaker 3 (17:55): So I'd say the hardest part for most people, and I'm just gonna get this out there, is I, when I detox and I tell everyone this, I really recommend that you take out the caffeine, the coffee, because caffeine really does interfere with your phase one detox pathways. And if you're gonna go on this venture to really detoxify, we gotta get the caffeine out. So I went through my detoxification just a couple weeks ago, and I had a bad headache for a couple days because I had been on coffee after being off of it for a year. I had been doing some traveling, and I was in a country where they had really good coffee. So anyways, I started drinking again. So for me, the crash was pretty hard, but once I got through those first two, three days, I was fine. It literally only takes a couple of days to break up with it. Speaker 3 (18:38): So no coffee, no sugar of any kind. I recommend that people don't do any packaged, even protein bars, even if it seems like the cleanest, healthiest protein bar. Let's just get all of that out. I'm just asking you to do it for two weeks. So also no dairy for certainly for a period of time. And then no refined grains of any kind. It's really a lot of vegetables, a few fruits and lean animal proteins, and then a lot of different supportive vegetables. So those are the nos. Those are like no caffeine, no sugar, no refined foods, no mold on your fruit is another one I forgot about. No protein bars, those kinds of things. And by the way, also no excess fat. So no bacon, no ribeyes, even those things, I'm not saying you're bad for you, but just not when you're cleansing. Mm-Hmm, . Speaker 3 (19:23): So then, okay, what do we eat? If we're taking all that off the table, what actually do we consume? So I recommend that people do something in the cruciferous category every day. So that means broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, or Brussels sprouts. So anything in that category. 'cause Cruciferous is great to support detox. Also, something in the citrus category, orange, lemon, lime, dark leafy greens. So this could be everything from the new band dangled micro greens that I'm just loving, that I keep finding at Whole foods. I love microgreens, arugula, water crests, Swiss shard, mustard greens, parsley, all of those things that you don't normally incorporate every day. Those are another awesome category to add. And then the sulfur rich foods that I mentioned before, so this would be your eggs, onion, garlic, or even dican radish are rich in sulfur. Those are the top four that I think of. Speaker 3 (20:12): And then there's just a few more categories. It's the liver healing foods, colon cleansing foods, and then our lean proteins. And then we just go pretty light on the healthy fat. So in the liver healing category, it's some of those foods I mentioned before, which are artichoke, asparagus, beets, celery, nutritional yeast, dandelion root tea, even whey protein or other high quality proteins, pea proteins, powders that literally have very minimal ingredients like just the protein isolate and maybe some stevia or monk fruit. And then in the colon cleansing category. And this category really helps add to the fiber and get the stool out of your body. These are things like apples, carrots, hairs, organic ground, flaxseed, cilium husk, organic chia seeds. Those are excellent sources of fiber. And also beans. I forgot about the beans. I absolutely love using a half of cup of organic beans every day during the detox because it's the highest quality source of soluble fiber and soluble fiber when it emulsifies with that bile that's being produced by our liver, and it mixes with that soluble fiber, it can really help to pull toxins through our digestive tract and get it out of the body. Speaker 3 (21:22): And then last, but certainly not least, is the lean proteins and just a couple servings of healthy fat. I tell people to back off on the fat a fair amount just because we wanna give our liver a break. But the lean proteins, of course, can include the wild caught shrimp, the chicken breasts, the grass-fed ground beef. And if you're not doing animal protein, which I recommend that people do, if they can tolerate it, if they aren't doing that, then a high quality Tempe source or spirulina or something else to get amino acids in, or even do an amino acid supplement because amino acids are so great for detoxification and amino acids are so great for hormone health in general. Right. And I'm sure you and I could talk for hours about that topic, but I just, I love helping people understand. It's one of the reasons that for some people, if they practice a vegetarian or vegan diet for long enough and they don't supplement with enough amino acids, they will find that their serotonin levels dip very low and they feel depressive symptoms. It's just this isn't like an opinion. These are just facts of how the body works. And I'm sure you answer to that as well. Yeah, Speaker 4 (22:23): I mean, I think they've got, you really laid out the foods, eat these foods in various varieties for two weeks, and you've really done a great detox. If you're pooping and you're drinking and you're peeing and you're sleeping and getting sunshine and going outdoors and all the things, so maybe dive into the amino acids. So many of us women over 40, even under 40, we are amino acid deficient. We don't eat enough protein. We don't digest the protein that we're eating because we eat on the go. We eat standing up or we don't eat enough. So our digestive enzymes are down . And then we don't extract the amino acids. And amino acids are the backbone of all your hormones. So if you're having hormonal poverty, hormonal deficiency, then that's one of the things you need to look at. It's also the backbone of all our neurotransmitters. So what amino acids would you suggest that they supplement with? How do they know? Speaker 3 (23:21): So for the amino acids that I recommend for supplementation, I mean, I take different amino acids for supplements that are particular brands. I take body health or key on aminos when I need them. But in terms of the overall amino acid profile, just for context, we of course have 20 amino amino acids, and nine of those are essential. So the others are non-essential. But of the nine essential amino acids, and I, I care about this topic a lot simply because I'm a professional bodybuilder. So I really care about what's the amino acid profile for helping me to build muscle, right? Mm-Hmm . And what we need to build muscle is we can't just have whatever amino acids without any intention around it. It really has to be those nine essential amino acids. So those include three branch chain amino acids, which are isoleucine, leucine, and valine. Speaker 3 (24:06): And we wanna have those inadequate amounts. We wanna specifically make sure that leucine is 2.5 grams or more combined with the other eight essential amino acids to stimulate muscle protein synthesis. So those would be in addition to the iso, leucine, leucine and veiling. Those are things like methionine. You'll find in a lot of these animal products that we eat cystine in the non-essential category, what you'll find more in collagen are amino acids like glycine. And that's great for hair, skin, and nails. But my primary recommendation when it comes to the amino acid profile of foods is you really can be brainless about it if you stick to animal proteins because animal proteins really contain that high quality benefit. And the other thing I tell people about amino acids is to think of it this way, let's put ourselves a hundred, 200, 300 years ago, and you've probably heard this term, most humans when they ate, they would eat something called a nose to tail way of eating. Speaker 3 (25:02): They would eat the entire animal. I'm sure everyone remembers, perhaps they had parents or grandparents or great-grandparents that ate things like liver and onions. We ate more organ meats back then. And now what we're so consumed with all the time is eating just muscle meat. We only eat the chicken breast. We don't eat chicken liver, we only eat lean steak like filet mignon. We don't eat beef, heart, or kidney. And so what that means is we're getting sort of an imbalanced amino acid profile in our bodies that's inconsistent with what nature intended. So the way to think about this in terms of supplementation is if you are someone who just eats the chicken breast and not the chicken liver or the filet mignon and not the beef, heart or kidney, then I really recommend that you do consume a high quality collagen supplement because collagen is a kin to those organ meats that we just aren't eating anymore. Speaker 3 (25:56): So I always say, if you're going to eat muscle meat, think of the muscle meat, like a whey protein shake. Muscle meat is very analogous to whey when it comes to the powders. And then the organ meats are very analogous to collagen when it comes to the powders. So oftentimes for my clients, if I'm running a meal plan for them and they wanna have a protein shake, I may ask them to combine whey or let's say it's pea if they can't consume whey protein with collagen so that they get that full comprehensive amino acid profile. Does that make sense? Speaker 4 (26:25): Yes. And that's great advice because you're so right. Most people don't eat organ meats. Of course. I love chicken liver. Speaker 3 (26:33): I do Joel Speaker 4 (26:34): Most. Yeah, most people don't. And so that's very sage advice. Thank you for offering that. I know that your time is limited, and I think that your path has been unique in that you were a litigator and now you help people transform their health. Yes. And you've done so many, I mean, marathons and competitions. So you obviously have a drive and you have a gift for transformation. I love this quote you shared with me before we started from Jay Shetty. If you don't sacrifice for what you want, what you want becomes the sacrifice. Yes. And I talked to so many women at midlife who really have put their lives on hold. They're not in jobs that they love anymore. Maybe their kids have grown up and left, but they don't know what's next for them. And you really have exemplified jumping from one lane, not only to another lane, but to a completely different highway. So can you talk a little bit about how that transformation took place that might inform somebody listening if you wanna weave human design in there? I won't be mad at you. 'cause I love human design, , . Speaker 3 (27:51): Yes. No, I love it. I will. I can do that for Speaker 4 (27:53): Sure. Yeah. And maybe that played a part in it. 'cause I know that was huge for me, a real inflection point. So yeah, I would, we would love to hear about that because I know you have to go in a few minutes. Speaker 3 (28:03): Oh sure. No problem. Thank you so much. So really as I think about my transition, I was someone who believed I was going to be a lawyer until I retired. I loved it. I thought try a lawyering was the best, most fun thing you could do. And there was nothing about it that I was not one of these female lawyers who got super burnt out, who wanted to leave, who was eye-rolling every day at her job. Now I certainly look forward to my work much more than I did then. So maybe I was doing a little, running a little bit of a program at the time. The very short version on why I left is that in the fall of 2017, after I got out of what I consider to be a fairly toxic relationship, I finally discovered and started practicing meditation. And meditation was really my answer to everything. Speaker 3 (28:46): And I know for many people when they hear that, they're like, oh, don't tell me I have to meditate. I can't meditate. It's so hard. My brain is going all the time and I'm thinking of the dishes and the laundry and my to-do list and everything. And I always say, that's because you're not good at it yet. You just need to practice. And like everything. I wasn't amazing at my job on the first day. I certainly wasn't an amazing lawyer on the first day, but I got really good at it because I was practicing. And that's really what's required for meditation. So when I tell you that I started meditating in 2017 and throughout the course of 2018 and into early 2019, it became these very obvious nudges from the universe about the fact that this was going to be my new path. I was like, wait a second, what? Speaker 3 (29:28): I'm gonna leave the practice of law? But it became very clear, there were little signs and synchronicities. Kieran, I was in a meeting with clients who were my clients as a lawyer. I was lawyering for them. And we'd get done talking about the case and details. And then one would say to me, say, Kristen, I know you're really fit and you do these comp. I really would love some help with losing weight. Do you think you could help me? So I was starting to notice, well, this is weird here. I've been practicing for 15, 16 years and that kind of thing had not happened before. But it's almost as though clients in this new practice, this new business, were starting to present themselves to me, which was really exciting. So every time I would be in meditation, I would get these little nudges or I would feel this pull. Speaker 3 (30:11): In fact, my business name, which is called energetically efficient, came to me during a meditation in 2018. And I thought, well, that's a cool name. I wonder what that's for. . I just thought, okay, I'll write that down. Maybe I'll need it someday. But I wasn't aware of the fact that there was this bigger process in motion that was pushing me in a different direction. And so when I finally made the decision to leave in the summer of 2019, people often asked me, and they still do, was it scary? Were you scared? And I can honestly say this, that the answer is no. And it was because I was so confident that I was being guided in this new path. And I felt so confident that if I bet on myself, I can't go wrong, that it wasn't scary and it was just exciting. Speaker 3 (30:52): And building this business ever since has been so fun. And so to go to your human design point, this was something I'd probably heard about sometime several years ago, but you know how you don't ever absorb the information until you're ready, right? Yep. There'll be a lot of people listening to this that'll hear detox 10 times and they'll be like, yeah, maybe someday. And all of a sudden, they might listen to the episode again and be like, wow, I need to do that. So that was how human design was for me. And when I first looked at my human design chart, I went, wait, what? I'm a projector. 'cause That was surprising to me. And here, what projectors are here for is to make the world more efficient. I mean, my business is energetically efficient. How do you efficiently use your energy? I like all these light bulbs. Speaker 3 (31:36): And fireworks started going off in my brain because I couldn't believe how much I was already living my design. So now the big transition that I'm in with human design, and I'd be so curious for you as well, because I'm a six two splenic projector, is I've learned and I've finally accepted about myself that I am not someone who can go with meetings all day long, which is what I did for so much of my life. And I didn't realize I was working against my design. You know, I did it as a lawyer. Then I started this business and it had clients all day long from morning to night. And many times I'd feel exhausted at the end of the night. And so I'm really trying to lean into my design and create more space on my calendar for creativity and just having my programs and offerings be where people come to me instead of me being pushy and salesy. It works much better as a projector if you go with the strategy of being invited. So now I'm curious what you are. Yeah, Speaker 4 (32:29): And just I'll tell you, but for everyone listening, if you haven't heard me talking about human design, we've done, we've talked about it in a few podcast episodes now, and we're incorporating it to all, into all my programs. It's a a system of how your energy body works, right? No more are we seven centered chakra beings. We have nine energy centers. And you have a unique design that pretty much only you have based on the high degree of specificity and detail that's available. But in general, you have a type and an authority and a strategy for how you're supposed to be making decisions and living your life. And if you're living out of alignment with that, that can affect your hormones, it can affect every organ in your body, it can affect your health. Health. And I too was living as a generator go do. Speaker 4 (33:20): And I naturally, and meditation was a part of my story too. It's so funny when you were talking about that people can't meditate 'because they it. It's a new skill. I had this picture of who of us, if our kid, we tried to teach 'em how to tie their shoe, and the first time they did, they went, I can't do it. I'll never tie my shoe , right? We would go, well honey, you're just doing it for the first time. Be patient with yourself. Right? How many times did your child have to tie to tie their shoe until they got it right? Yes. So it's the same with meditation. And that was a part of my story. And then I intuitively, before I knew about human design, started doing it differently. And then of course somebody mentioned human design. And I'm like, yeah, I'll look into that. Speaker 4 (34:05): Never did until years later. And then found out I'm a five one projector, emotional projector. And it really was such validation and gave me permission to really lean into what I'm here for, which yes, to make the world more efficient and guide others. And so that's why we're doing what we're doing. And I want everyone to hear this because I know that some of you are struggling with the path that you're on in life and you're looking for answers and you're trying to figure it out with your mind. You can't figure out your soul's purpose with your mind. That's not what it's for. Correct. You need to follow your intuition. If human design sounds like it might resonate with you, do it. If you have tried meditating and you haven't gotten anywhere, try again. Try a different type of meditation. Follow your intuition. One of the women in my programs the other day during our group coaching call said, you know, I really couldn't do the meditation even focusing on a mantra. Speaker 4 (35:03): So I started singing the mantra out loud, and I can meditate when I do that. See? I said, brilliant. You're listening to yourself. You're listening to your soul. Yes. And so that's what this is all about. Like we're all on an energetic frequency. What's gonna work for you is gonna resonate with you. You hear Kristen talking about detox, you hear us talking about the sanitation department not flushing your toilet and something's, if it's called to you, you're gonna be going get your cruciferous vegetables and your amino acids and you're gonna do the deal. And if it's not resonating with you, then it's not for you. So I'm all about restoring that innate wisdom that we have in our bodies and our souls and our spirits. And so what's like, now that you're on this new path? Speaker 3 (35:49): It's been so fun. , I just love building a business. It's so I'm largely coaching one-on-one, I'm coaching group classes and masterminds, and then I'm speaking around the country at health conferences and other places as well. I mean, it's awesome for me that there are so many professionals, specifically lawyers for example, who really need to take control of their health and that haven't really prioritized it because they work too much. So that's been a treasure trove of clients for me in particular, simply because they know that I understand the demands of the profession. So that's been really rewarding. So I've just loved it. I get to do it from home, which is so fun. I always say, I started my business and then nine months later, the world shut down and a lot of people decided they need to finally get healthy. So the timing worked out really well, but I just love doing it. I love speaking, I love educating. I love showing people a more efficiently, energetic way to live, which is what we do as projectors. Speaker 4 (36:40): Yes. So I know you have to go. Let's leave everyone with a Zig Ziglar quote. You shared with me before we started, which I love. You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. So call to action everybody. What are you gonna start with? What are you feeling inspired to do after listening to us? There's something that's calling to you. Listen to that nudge and go do the thing. Kristen, please tell everyone where they can find out more about you online and interact with you. Speaker 3 (37:13): Thank you so much. So my website is energetically efficient, and then I'm most active on Instagram, and my Instagram handle is MN for Minnesota, MN Golden Girl. And I have three golden retrievers, which is where that comes from. I just love them so much. I'm also on LinkedIn under my name Kristen Raul. I have a cookbook that recently came out so they can find out information about that through my Instagram or my website. Speaker 4 (37:36): Awesome. Thank you so much for joining me, Kristen. It was an absolute pleasure to have you here today. Speaker 3 (37:41): I just loved it so much. Thanks for having me. And Speaker 4 (37:43): Thank you for listening to another episode of The Hormone Prescription. I know you're inspired after this conversation. I wanna know what you were inspired to do. Reach out to me on social media and let me know, and have a great week. I'll see you next week. Until then, peace, love, and hormones Speaker 2 (38:00): Y'all. Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormones and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.   ► Download Kristin Rowell's FREE tips on how to be energetically efficient - CLICK HERE.   ► Feeling tired? Can't seem to lose weight, no matter how hard you try? It might be time to check your hormones. Most people don't even know that their hormones could be the culprit behind their problems. But at Her Hormone Club, we specialize in hormone testing and treatment. We can help you figure out what's going on with your hormones and get you back on track. We offer advanced hormone testing and treatment from Board Certified Practitioners, so you can feel confident that you're getting the best possible care. Plus, our convenient online consultation process makes it easy to get started. Try Her Hormone Club for 30 days and see how it can help you feel better than before. CLICK HERE.   ► Do you feel exhausted, moody, and unable to do the things that used to bring you joy? It could be because of hormonal poverty! You can take our quiz now to find out if your hormone levels are at optimum level or not. Take this quiz and get ready to reclaim your life; say goodbye to fatigue and lack of energy for good. We want every woman to live her best life — free from any signs or symptoms of hormonal poverty, so they can relish their everyday moments with confidence and joy. Imagine having a strong immune system, vibrant skin, improved sleep quality… these are all possible when hormones are balanced! CLICK HERE now and take the #WWPHD Quiz to discover if you're in hormonal poverty — it only takes 2 minutes! Let's get started on optimizing your hormone health today.    

Welcome to the latest episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast featuring our brilliant guest, Dr. Michelle Veneziano. Dr. Veneziano is an esteemed expert in the field of osteopathic self care and has a deep understanding of the benefits of fascial flow for midlife women. Her unique approach to Cranial Osteopathy not only empowers women with self-healing techniques but also emphasizes the body's innate ability to restore itself.    In this episode, we delve into the fascinating world of fascial flow and connection as medicine to heal. Dr. Veneziano shares her wealth of knowledge on the importance of maintaining natural balance and vitality by aligning ourselves with the world around us. Don't miss out on this engaging conversation as we uncover key takeaways for midlife women who can greatly benefit from this holistic approach to health and wellness.     You'll learn about: - Dr. Veneziano's specialized approach to Cranial Osteopathy and the healing benefits of fascial flow. - The role of fascial flow and connection in maintaining a balanced, healthy life for midlife women. - Practical advice on incorporating osteopathic self-care techniques into your daily routine. - Personal stories and real-life examples of how fascial flow and connection can improve overall health and well-being.    To continue your journey towards optimal health, make sure to hit that subscribe button for The Hormone Prescription Podcast. We have many more insightful episodes coming your way, featuring the latest topics in women's health, wellness, and self-care. Don't miss out on the knowledge, wisdom, and empowerment you deserve!   Speaker 1 (00:00): Feel your body every cell in every moment, and relate to the earth as if she is your dance partner. Dr. Michelle Veneziano. Stay tuned to find out why your fascia may be the key to your healing and your superpower, and why you're not walking correctly. Speaker 2 (00:19): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us, keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an OB GYN, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Speaker 1 (01:13): Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription. Thank you so much for joining me today as we talk to Dr. Michelle Veneziano, who's an osteopathic physician and very brilliant and progressive in the approaches that she's helping people work on and master when it comes to health and healing. She is trained and helps people with cranial osteopathy, working with their fascia, changing their body movement and posture and nervous system so that they can ignite their body's innate ability to heal. Yes, your body has an innate ability to heal. Just like if you get cut, all you have to do is cover it so it doesn't get wounded again, and then nature takes care of the rest. Well, your whole body actually functions that way, but most of us aren't aware of the bandaid that we need to be placing on the rest of our body, particularly our fascia, our nervous system, to allow healing to occur. Speaker 1 (02:17): And sure, you've gotta work on your hormones, you've gotta work on your gut health and your detox and all the things like I like to say. But a big missing piece that even a functional medicine perspective misses, is looking at your fascia. We're gonna talk about why that's super important and how you're walking, how you're connecting above and below how you're connecting to Mother Earth and so many other things that Dr. Michelle really is brilliant when it comes to helping people understand and implement in their lives. So I'll tell you a little bit about her and then we will get started. Dr. Michelle Veneziano is an osteopathic physician and clinical professor who has pioneered osteopathic self-care rooted in cranial osteopathy, a hands-on evidence-based therapeutic practice. That's one of the things I love about her, is she can explain the science behind all of these things that sources both western and eastern philosophies to support the body's ability to heal itself. She has a unique approach and you're gonna love her as much as I love speaking with her. We probably need to do more episodes. She has a lot of resources for you, which we're gonna share at the end of our discussion. And we're gonna talk about walking and relating on the earth as if she's your dance partner. Welcome, Dr. Michelle Veneziano to the show. Thank Speaker 3 (03:44): You for having me. I'm glad to be Speaker 4 (03:45): Here. I'm so excited to talk about craniosacral therapy and osteopathic medicine and fascia and un fascial unwinding. This is my new obsession, like I was just telling you. And so I know a lot of people are going, what we're talking about craniosacral what and fascial what , but maybe let's start with the basics because I think a lot of people see doctor of osteopathic medicine, they see medical doctor and they don't really know the difference. So can you talk a little bit about , the basics? Like what is osteopathy? How does a doctor of osteopathy differ from a medical doctor? What's different about it? And then we'll, mm-Hmm. go from there. Speaker 3 (04:30): Osteopath that trained in the US are medical doctors. It's very confusing for patients. I totally sympathize with that. And most of the osteopaths dos people with a DO degree are pretty indistinguishable from MDs. And there's this tiny sliver of our profession that has really devoted, we've devoted ourselves to maintaining the traditional osteopathic principles and practice, which go back to the 18 hundreds actually. Mm-Hmm. . So people might say, oh, my surgeon's a do and I might think that probably means they do surgery and they don't necessarily use their hands or work with the traditional principles. And the thing that's relevant about that is that even though a do may have chosen surgery, there is a foundational principle of more connectedness to sensation, more connectedness to touch. Generally DOS are maybe a little bit more relatable. They're used to being a little bit more intimate in their conversations. So even if your do is an emergency room doctor or you know a gastroenterologist, there's something about DOS that's a little bit more human. And I actually don't want to, there's a lot of MDs also that even practice osteopathy, so it's pretty hard to explain. And I would say the percentage of doss that actually use their hands is very small. So it's hard to find us and we're all different, so it's hard to define what we do. Speaker 4 (06:04): Let's talk about what you do. So you pioneer a type of self-care that's rooted in cranial osteopathy. Can you talk a little bit about that? You say that it's evidence-based therapeutic practice that sources both western and eastern philosophies to support the body's ability to heal itself. So in plain English, if you were talking to, if I introduced you to my friend Sarah, what would, how would you explain what that means? Speaker 3 (06:33): Most of what people see osteopathic doctors for is to have our hands on them and solve all of the structural issues and the way that electricity flows through the body. And basically, ultimately it's a reboot, blending all of those things. So they actually arrive in time and space and their subtle body and their physical body come back together when a person is offline or not themselves, not present, not actually in their body. It's like watching a three D movie and having one image. The images aren't together. And so each of us solves that in unique ways. What I'm doing now with the revelation that I had through my own personal experience was that until I figured out what it felt like to almost like a setting on a dial to be in that integrated space, I would get healed. And then I go back out. So I thought, what's wrong with this picture? So many patients are coming, I integrate them and then they gradually dissociate and then at one point they'll come back to be rebooted again. And I, I'm really passionate now about teaching people how to stay in . So I say it's, I'm teaching people how to need fewer treatments, how to hold the treatments that they get and how to not need me. And it just feels so much more of a beautiful service and less of a rescuing codependent approach. Mm-Hmm. to being a care provider. Speaker 4 (08:04): So a few things you said in there that I think some people aren't gonna understand. One, you mentioned subtle body. I know some people are scratching their heads going, what is Dr. Michelle talking about? You talked about disassociate. I think some people aren't gonna understand that. Can you, you explain what you meaning? Speaker 3 (08:23): Yeah. It's time everyone out there in the world to understand what the energy body is. Yes, everything's energy. If you don't get this, you're really gonna be struggling and not having as much fun. So I'm just gonna say it's time to understand energy. There are universities in this country that study what the biofield is, the OR field, the meridians and the chakras. There are maps of these things there, gazillions of studies explaining that we're actually electrical beings. We're electrical first and physical second. And the brilliance of osteopathy is that the brilliance of nature is that form follows function. So if you have a way to work with your own energy body and keep all of those circuits going, that feeds the physical and is, that's how the body heals. So energy comes first, the structure comes second. So when we have this, osteopaths have this, how do they do it? Speaker 3 (09:22): Something magical happened, I don't get it. And it's so efficient and it goes so deep really quickly because we access that principle. We'll go in and it took me years and years to feel anything. I didn't feel anything. I was that person listening who was like, biofield, what is that ? I really was, I'm the perfect, I'm the perfect case because of my own trauma and my own density in a body that was pretty shut down from just arriving. In a world that doesn't get these things, it's quite traumatizing for every single person on the planet to not be acknowledged and be able to have a relationship with that subtle aspect of ourselves. And I'm talking about something very basic. Everyone, this is not esoteric or advanced, right? Primitive people would tune into the subtle wave nature of pres of the physical world, didn't know what the weather was doing and where the predators were, and really feel into the land. How do we grow our food here? What are the seasons doing? This is such basic stuff. And the fact that it hasn't really penetrated mainstream ways of living is really concerning to me. You look at the world, things are not going well. I would say this is the reason you tune into your body and you actually know, oh Speaker 4 (10:49): Yeah, because we think we are flesh and bones and so we don't realize who we really are. And so once you get that, you have this subtle electrical body and that really our physicality follows this subtle body. Everybody needs to be addressing it. People are still going to their HMO doctors and they're not getting that information there. So I think that's why they're not aware. But then you talked about with feeling that they have, they have to dis they dissociate and that you need to bring them back. But helping them to learn how to do this themselves. And so how is this self-care, cranial osteopathy, something that can help people to manage their own subtle body? Speaker 3 (11:32): I'm gonna really simplify this because I'm an osteopath, okay? But I could be an Ayurvedic doctor, I could be a Chinese medicine doctor. We have different languages for describing the same thing. Okay? How do we connect with the energetic layer of existence? And if we don't do that, the organism of our bodies is going to be in fight or flight on some to some degree. So that's a tie-in to the hormone piece that I, I wanna speak to. And we're also going to feel spiritually, emotionally disconnected. What is this life experience happening? What being in a body is so strange if we don't connect to that deeper. It's almost like when we begin to have an experience as an electrical being and more identifying with that larger aspect of ourselves, we feel things start to make sense and we start to feel like connected to meaning and purpose and that bigger picture that, and most people, they don't have that. And the list of problems that will arise because of that dissociation, that disconnection from our deeper selves is limitless. So people say, how do you solve this? How do you solve that? Get in your body. Feel who you are. So I'm an embodiment teacher. Now I was not in my body, right? I had a whole host of, I could tell you my story for, I've had everything in the book. Please just tell us. I think it would be very instructive. Okay. Speaker 3 (13:06): Some of us are born maybe more aware and more sensitive as our base nature. And that was me. I arrived in Brooklyn, New York in the sixties and it was very weird. I remember feeling like I lived in an energetic world. I actually remember as a toddler walking down the street and seeing in colors and sort of feelings thing, feeling I got a lot of information that was bigger and different than what people were saying and doing. So it looked like I was in a movie. And then slowly I forgot all that. 'cause I grew up and I remember, and this is what happens to us, children are very spiritually connected typically, unless there's some horrific birth trauma experience. And then we slowly, so gradually acculturate to this different energetic collective kind of uncon, I'm gonna call it the collective unconscious of the planet. Speaker 3 (14:04): And it's heartbreaking and it's so gradual and unconscious. People don't really get that it even happened. They just wake up one day often as adolescents. And life is just not right. So many people are on antidepressants. The suicide rates are so high and there's this sort of vague, what is it? And then the surge goes on and on and then the list of physical things goes on and on. And I loved the episode with that. You did with Dr. Amit Agarwal. I was listening earlier and I just loved how he went into all these layers and speaking to how we have to begin to or get to, you said we have to. This is a beautiful invitation to come back to ease and grace and it's so much life. Makes sense. And it's so much simpler when we drop into that deeper layer of wisdom and connection to the planet. Speaker 3 (15:04): It's a literal electrical connection to the earth. It's a polarity. We actually become connected to the positive iion forces of the ionosphere and then the grounding. It's the yin pole of the earth. And so we begin to connect heaven and earth through our bodies and log on this infinite well of power and wisdom and intelligence in the universe. I just described what a spiritual experience typically is for most people. They somehow connect. It could be psychedelics, it could be a revelation that comes or a healing that comes or, and but, and what is that thing? And how do we actually live there? And somehow we're gonna connect this to fascia because you're really interested in fascia. And fascia is relevant to what I'm saying. So back to my story, I was not in my body at all. And then I arrived in, I think I was 15 years old and I had this accidental intellectual exposure to psychedelic medicine. Speaker 3 (16:10): It was a peyote medicine. And I've never said this in public before, but I think it's really relevant now that I saw it all. It's like, am I observer, self stepped back and looked at the whole movie and I was remember feeling, don't, how did I end up here? This is the wrong place. It's, it was very dark because the world's very dark. It's very, it's impossible to understand or feel resolution toward without this bigger site being in the body gives you bigger sight, simplifies things and resources. The physical self with the energy needed and the intelligence needed to heal. So I think that's where my journey began in the sense of, oh, I'm actually going to move toward understand I'm gonna solve this. And the same, it was the same year I got the download. I remember walking across the courtyard of my high school and it was almost like a boy said, you're going to medical school. Speaker 3 (17:13): And at the time I didn't even, I didn't know what that meant. I just thought books are easier than people. Let's do it. . So I had to heal myself. And then the whole process of my 20 years in practice was getting into my body. At first it's a little terrifying 'cause it's uncharted territory and there's all this backlog. So consciously or otherwise, when you say embodiment, it's a little bit terrifying to the subconscious. What is that? It's a total unknown. I might be an expert in a million things and I go in this direction and I feel totally disoriented and out of my depth. Hey, I understand. I'm with you on that. And so I had was a distance runner to deal with all my stress and medical school and existential stress is what I would say is the biggest thing. This kind of, I'm not gonna look at the world. Speaker 3 (18:10): I'm just gonna study a lot and run like 10 miles a day to just move all the energy of that terror. I would say that most of us carry somewhere in ourselves, whether or not we're connected to it moment to moment. And I had physical issues, big time, adrenal stuff. I had blown a disc in my low back 'cause I was so not present with my structure. I just was running all those endorphins. And then I got to fix it all. And it took many years. And I realized at one point, wow, I'm getting all these amazing treatments. But until I got in my body and was driving that blend of the physical and electrical, it didn't stick. Mm-Hmm . So I thought my biggest service to the world would be to help people have a lot of fun doing this, driving of their integrated self. Speaker 3 (19:06): So I actually wanna talk about really specific things today. Two epic super simple things that people can begin to do right now, like in this moment is connect your tongue to the roof of your mouth. Because the pituitary, which guides all the entire endocrine system hormones, cortisol that topic is so deep and I really love how Dr. Agarwal addressed it. So I'm not gonna talk about it. I'll invite everyone to go listen to that podcast. Is that when our tongue is dissociated from the roof of our mouth, it's actually pretty difficult to blend the three D movie into one physical and subtle body. It's almost like a set point for the main river of life force through the center of the body, which is called the central channel in Chinese medicine. And sh shara in sh sh. Thank you. Thank you. . Oh, in Ayurvedic medicine, this is this. Speaker 3 (20:06): And in osteopathy we call it the midline. Everything. Everything relates to the midline. So the physical and the subtle, we've got to, we get to begin to tune into what that channel is that connects us to the earth. And the ionosphere. It's a literal electrical circuit. I have papers in physics that describe how we participate in this circulation. It's not a vague, esoteric or really hypothetical. This is all mapped out in physics and mathematics. I have to close my window here just a second. So the tongue on the roof of the mouth, I say having a well-functioning tongue is like having an osteopath living in your head. And in Ayurvedic teachings, in the Vedic teachings, they describe a chakra in the roof of the mouth called the Soma chakra. That when the tongue is trained to land on the roof of my of your mouth and I speak all about how you get this to happen on my website in a blog called Your Swallows Mile and sleep are more related than you think. Speaker 3 (21:17): And so I have people start to really experience how wonderful it feels to have this connection come back in. And I can see you're doing it right now, , you're playing with that the entire polyvagal pathway, the vagus nerve is, is almost like massaged with every swallow. When the tongue lands on the roof of your mouth and mechanically it's one to six pounds of pressure every time you swallow one to 2000 times a day. And that pulses and keeps the pituitary awake and it keeps the connection between the heart and the pineal active. So this is an very direct nervous system. Calming and electrical system activation. There's a super cool idea. It's gonna affect fascia too because you're gonna begin to activate the electrical flow through the body, which then basically supercharges the fascia. And what we wanna do is get our energy moving. That's all I'm talking about. Speaker 3 (22:18): At the end of the day, you could call this podcast, get your energy moving and also get it in focus. Not all, most people are walking around, they're like a symphony of musical instruments that are all doing different things. It's crazy. And then we wanna get the symphony in tune. So tongue on the palette. And I wanted to say something. Oh, it's such a deep topic. I really encourage people to go read that blog. It's, I have a whole free self-study library. And then specifically, I'm 59 years old. I look like maybe I'm 45. I never have pain, I don't get sick ever. And I believe it's because of this constant flushing that I've, ult that I've gradually cultivated. My base setting is that I live in this place where there's powerful energy radiating out from my midline at all times. But this is very much like what martial artists do. Speaker 3 (23:20): This is what yogis do. This is the actual purpose of those practices. And then the toning and correction of things like joint pain and fill in the blank, everything extend from those things. Yoga, qigong, tai chi, frankly just being in a body is all those things all the time. They're not practices for me that I set aside time to do. I'm doing them in every moment. And I don't even know it because that's just who we're born being. So my entire teaching is about let's just reboot and restore to all the things we did naturally when we were born. Everything that works, everything that's good, you are already an expert in, it's just dormant intelligence. So tongue on the palate is where we're gonna start. And that's one connection, one gate, every joint in the body, the palate has multiple joints. Actually our gates in Chinese medicine that they talk about in Qigong, they talk about how every joint in the body is a gate through which this electric electricity must flow. Speaker 3 (24:32): So cranial, we started out, what does cranial mean? The entire skull behaves in a certain way when there's a lot of vital energy flowing through it. It actually pulses. We call this a rhythm cranial rhythm that is, do you have one or don't you? If you don't, things aren't gonna go well. And so someone might walk in and say, oh I have adrenal fatigue, I have migraines. Okay, cranial rhythm or not cranial rhythm. It doesn't really matter what the symptom is. It matters if you're breathing the entire body, including the fascia, bones and muscle must be integrated and pulsing in this beautiful fluid way that renders our system like an engine in tune. It becomes very fluid and efficient. That's a physical description of flow. State flow state's actually physical and it's also subtle electrical. So the second thing, that was my major revelation that made me so happy and is the reason I don't have pain. Speaker 3 (25:34): And it's the reason I'm super fit. Despite really not doing anything but using every cell in my body when I walk. And every moment when I sit the whole time I'm talking to you, I'm feeling not consciously, there's no work to this. Once you land in it again, this is you. I'm feeling and connected to every cell in my body. Every cell in my body is participating in everything I'm doing. Breathing, walking, moving, feeling. So it's like a constant state of refreshing, clearing, rejuvenating every cell in the body in every moment. So I hope that wasn't too complex. I do wanna talk about the specifics of how we walk to start to activate that power. Do you wanna say anything? Please, Speaker 4 (26:25): Please do. So let's see. I definitely wanna talk about fascia. So , if you wanna go there and then we can, if you wanna start talking about fascia, that would be Speaker 3 (26:35): Great. It's beautiful that you have this idea to talk about fascia because when the skull is doing this pulsing, the pelvis is also doing the pulsing. The entire body is a spring. Every joint is expanding contracting in relation to the earth. When that's happening, the fascia does not have to protect us. There's a quality when someone walks in and I'm like, do you have a cranial rhythm or don't you? Well if you don't, you're probably also gonna be physically shrink wrapped in fascia that's trying to protect you and isn't really hydrated or awake or supple and adaptable. So the tongue practice that I just described will actually begin to allow your fascia to back off the need to protect the body. Because once that electrical midline comes in, it's like the trunk of a tree and the entire, all the limbs can relax because they're connected to this power powerful central river. This is a key point. If you don't have a midline, your fascia is going to be doing all kinds of things. And how do you know? Because you'll stretch and then the next day you have to stretch again. You didn't actually, it doesn't stay supple in awake. Does that Speaker 4 (27:51): Make sense? I wanna, yes it does. Michelle, but I wanna just back up one second because I think most people have the idea of what fascia is the same as what I was basically taught in medical school and residency, which it's this kind of canvas like coating that encases all your bones, nerves, organs and keeps them from moving and holds them in place. But I have gotten such a deeper understanding and respect actually for what fascia is. It not only encases everything, but it attaches to every single cell in your body, every single cell. And it attaches to the structure or kind of the cytoskeleton of each cell. So this is the superhighway by which every cell in your body is connected. And please correct me if I'm wrong and elaborate, but it's faster than the nervous system. And it's why a flock of birds can move seamlessly all in one direction without communicating. Speaker 4 (28:53): And it's actually what causes the fastest coordination of movement in our body. And it has awareness and consciousness and stores memories and thoughts and all this. And so this is my new fascination with fascia. So I'd love it if you can elaborate on that so that everyone has a a context for what you're saying. I don't want them to discount it and say, oh that's just that white canvassy stuff. Like when we used to do surgery, it was the tissue we had to get through to get to the uterus, but we really didn't pay it much attention. But it's so much more than that. Speaker 3 (29:24): Oh, I'm so excited that you're so excited to talk about fascia. 'cause It is misunderstood. Speaker 4 (29:30): It's, Speaker 3 (29:31): And it does connect to every cell. And in terms of this reason that a flock of birds, you're, that's one beautiful analogy I use to mm-Hmm just have people get what flow state is, it's everything I'm talking about. And the one piece is there isn't a single aspect of the body that's not a part of shifting to the state of being able to intercommunicate the way of flocker berg's inter communicates. Think about the symphony analogy. There's bone, there are different densities in the body. We have bone, we have muscle, we have dura, we have organ tissue. The fascia connects it all. It's like the information superhighway. But, and every single instrument in the symphony participates the fascia's probably the great harmonizer in order for every cell to and every tissue type to begin to synchronize. So that we do become a flock of birds. Speaker 3 (30:26): We literally feel connected to everything and everyone, we are tribal beings. This is a foundational principle related to our ability to really exist in prosperity, expansion, abundance, all of that. So the fascia reflects when the body is in integration. It all comes back to integration. The fascia begins to be this sort of fluid supportive, super efficient conductor of information between every single cell in the body. And this electrical activation of the midline is how the charge comes in. The literal energy of our spirit comes through this channel, through the crown of the head when we're born. And that's not when we're born but in development. And the fascia is like where that electricity is actually stored. It's like a battery. It's like a many layers of the body store charge. But, and the fascia is I'm almost seeing like a science fiction movie where the people are in like a, I'm curious about why this image came in. Speaker 3 (31:37): It's like an electrical matrix that just holds it all together and holds potency and intelligence coming through these channels of connection through the sky and the ground. You know how they're doing solar collection of energy through painting like a roof. The fascia is like this absorber of even energy from the sunlight. It's actually like a huge aspect of how the body functions as a bio battery. So there's the subtle body, the electrical that comes in, but the physical actually has to be able to participate in that. And it's an exchange we have to be able to store that power and then allow it to manifest as regrowing a bone. If you break a bone. I think I'm, I might be getting a little bit abstract with this description maybe a little bit. Yeah, . So let's talk about something really specific here. My fascia, I doesn't get tight, right? Speaker 3 (32:39): And it's very supple. It's high. The fascia holds a lot of the water in our body, right? It actually is a, is a very powerful place where mo molecules and electricity join to create this really intense expression of power. Like you said, it's not just the neural pathways, it's not just the meridians. The fascia is probably the most powerful physical aspect of electricity expressing in the body or being held in the body. So let's bring it down to something really basic. How is it that I don't really care ever if I get a massage or not? I don't have tension. I'm not shrink wrapped. And one of the ways that I have solved this is that I walk in a way that native people walk tango dancing is a really great way to begin to learn how to activate the back body, which we, we don't do. Speaker 3 (33:40): Where fight or flight is an activation of the front body. People have these short hip flexors. So as muscles, all the anterior muscles, all the flexors, they directly tighten the diaphragm and shrink wrap the kidneys and activate the adrenal system. Kidney, renal, adrenal, adrenaline activation of fight, fight or flight. And this returning to native walking just makes the entire conversation so simple. I can't express enough how simply the way you walk, which is how you originally did walk before you unlearned the rigidity of modern ways, right? It's not very American to move in this organic fluid primal way. You will see it more in South America, sometimes in Europe. But, and the stiffness, that is something we learn from simply unconsciously mirroring what we do in our culture shuts down the whole darn thing. Including the ability of the fascia to receive and store and express electricity and power and do its job of hydrating and supporting all the structures of the body. Speaker 3 (35:00): So natural walking, what do we do? It's opposite. It's . It's opposite of what we do. We don't activate, we don't let the SOAs do anything. We push off the back from the ball of the foot when we're pushing off from the ground. That is a momentum that then lets the leg glide effortlessly forward. And it's one way I think of it is thinking of the earth as your dance partner. For anyone out there who's a dancer, you don't unconsciously just maybe connect with your partner or not. You keep this very connected, equal tension no matter what you're doing, right? If they move back, you move forward. If they move forward, you move back. This is a version of the flock of birds, right? We're in sync, we're fluid. It's not something you have to think about. You simply stay connected. So you're connecting to the earth. And in doing so, you're activating this midline function that I talked about that lets the whole body melt and lets the joints release and lets the fascia soft and not do its protective shrink wrap thing. Speaker 4 (36:15): That's fascinating. And when I was in Argentina recently, I worked with a, a rolfing therapist there who was reteaching me how to walk in the way a manner in which you are stating. And it felt a little bit foreign. But I wanna explain to everyone why I'm so fascinated, fascinated with fascia. Lately I had some experiences with different plant medicines where all I could describe what was happening is this unwinding where my body would make these spontaneous, internally driven movements. They weren't conscious, they were unconscious and was talking with different people about this. What is happening? What's the action? And then I started having them spontaneously because I'm always looking for what are the ways that are stopping us from healing the women I work with myself, the people I know what else is available to us. And so I started experiencing that spontaneously. And then I was at a retreat last weekend here in Dubai and they had something called inner dance. Are you familiar with that? Speaker 3 (37:20): I've not heard that term, but I imagine it's related to some of the similar things that there are practices. Speaker 4 (37:26): So it's, they use different music tracks to induce brainwave states and then you lay on a mat blindfolded and basically you allow your body to unwind the way it wants to unwind. And that was fascinating 'cause that's fa, excuse me, unwinding. And then I came across this, I think his name's Thomas Atley, he's head of an osteopathic school in England and he had this wonderful lecture on YouTube about the founder of osteopathy and really the significance of fascia. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to watch. So I really become aware of it as like you're talking about we're so adrenalized. We had a wonderful doctor on a few weeks ago on the podcast who wrote a book I think called Adrenalize. And we are in fight and flight and how the whole front body is contracted as if, what do you do when you are afraid is you contract into fetal position. So all those muscles are pulled down. And so part of healing for everyone I think is freeing this fascia from its chronically tense state. And like you said, you never care if you get a massage. And I'm thinking, oh, I would love to say that one day . So I've been working intensely with my fascia and encouraging all the women I work with to do the same in various ways. I'd love it if we could talk about that. I wash sha is one modality I'm familiar with cupping, fascial flossing. And of course I Speaker 3 (38:58): Have something great for you. I have something great for you. Yeah. There's a concept in us in mechanics when musculoskeletal medicine of any kind where there's a principle called reflexive inhibition. So this is so great. If you make a bicep, they tighten your bicep, the tricep will automatically release. So people say, I wanna release my bicep, I'm gonna do cupping and I'm gonna do guhan. And I love those things, don't get me wrong. And I use them but not really that much 'cause I don't really need them. And I say this to people about, I have to quiet my mind. No, you don't just feel you can't do both at the same time. Feeling is like activating your bicep, the mind quiets, you don't need to release your front body, simply activate your back body. And the reciprocal inhibition will release the front body. So it's great you can do fascial treatments, but, and like I said before, if you don't get this deeper relationship that will continually release and blend everything, you're just gonna have to keep doing treatments. Speaker 3 (40:00): It's not the root of what would actually bring flow state into all your body systems and then allow the fascia to be this like in martial arts, this very supportive and intensely strong and powerful sleeve of support that's also supple and can melt and allow you to move gracefully and efficiently in the ways that we see are possible. Mm-Hmm. In those practices, Qigong, any of the martial arts are seemingly magical because what they're doing is accessing the so much power and so much precision. And we think, wow, that's amazing. Is that really possible? They do seemingly humanly impossible things and we can do. And Speaker 4 (40:43): So when you say activate the back body, are you saying that changing the way we walk is all we need to do? Yes. To activate the back body Speaker 3 (40:50): And the way you sit there isn't if, if I get up I will shortly and I will walk to my bathroom and I will, I brush my teeth. I am feeling this kind of grudge, this whole conversation that's happening. Oh, I've been sitting for a while, I don't can't, I don't really feel my glutes activating. When you are walking, you wanna feel those back body muscles working and if you've been sitting for a while and you get up, you probably will notice, oh, I don't really feel them. And so I tell people, crouch like an animal on the ground. Exaggerate the recruiting of all these muscles too. You can feel those back body muscles activate and then gradually and then notice them. You won't have to notice them forever once they're on Mm-Hmm . But in the beginning you need to notice like I'm actually dancing with the earth with the spring, like connected and recruiting of every muscle in every step. Speaker 3 (41:54): And this is actually a way to heal your spine. I used to have all kinds of back issues and I remember one time when I built my school, I was sitting at the computer so many hours and getting away with it because of a lot of these things I'm talking about. But one day I noticed I was getting one of those muscle spasms where you can just tell if it goes, my whole spine's just gonna be contracted and it's gonna be weeks and weeks of pain. Has anyone gotten into one of those neck spasms? And then it's just really stuck for a while and really painful. I haven't had that happen in a long time, but I woke up a couple years ago and I was like, oh my gosh, I'm just about to be in big trouble. And I connected to my breath, got up, connected to the floor and walked down to make my tea very deliberately with this kind of like you were saying, you were going into the spontaneous fluid thing on the floor with that practice that you, this is it. Speaker 3 (42:55): This is what animals and primitive man did to wake it all up and blend it together. And I walked for a few minutes down to make my tea and this attunement to this micro movement and recruiting and what, what's going on in there? Really allowing my awareness to connect to every cell and in particular my back body. And it, it's like flipping a switch. Boom, we're on, we're good. Done. No neck thing happened. I basically could have been weeks of needing treatment, expensive and time consuming, looking for help outside of myself. Mm-Hmm. three or four minutes of conscious connection to your body and recruiting every muscle in particular your butt that solved it instantly. So awesome. That's a flock of birds flow. That's a flock of birds flow, behavior. And of course the fascia is almost like the holder of the whole thing. It's almost like the fascia kind of like activates the consciousness of, oh, I'm actually one substance. And the fascia sort of just connects it all together and holds the power and the integration. It's the support and the softness, the power and the softness at the same time. Because Speaker 4 (44:13): It has something called tensity, right? It's a liquid and solid. And so it's, isn't it really what keeps, when you're walking and your hand goes forward, it's what keeps your hand from flying off of your shoulder, isn't it? It keeps everything. Yeah. Because otherwise you'd be like a bag of jelly, Speaker 3 (44:31): Biotin, seg is exactly what I'm describing. It's another way of saying integration and the cooperation or integration's really the word, the flock of birds being all the parts of the body dropping into synchrony. And so the tensile aspects and then the structural aspects work together. It's this means we're a spring, that means we're everything's contained and this, this, the stability elements are bones are, are what allows support the fluid aspects to be free and melted. It's another way of saying integration. And it only comes through this splinting of the physical body and the subtle body. We can achieve this and not realize what we've done because, so oh, it's another brilliant thing I noticed that when we're in this three D glasses, the subtle body and the physical body blend again, the symphony is in tune. This is our fleck of birds state. The nervous system comes into balance. They mirror one another. Exactly. So if you can't yet feel your energy body, and believe me, I can relate, you will feel your nervous system responding to this blending of the physical and electrical aspects. Speaker 4 (45:53): Yes. There's so much to talk about with this. I'm creating a whole new program inside my other programs to start integrating, talking about fascia. I would love to have you come talk. Please tell me you have a blog or video somewhere on your website or YouTube about teaching people how to walk correctly. Speaker 3 (46:11): I have, do you I have gazillions of things. If you go to my website, flow is medicine.com. Mm-Hmm . Youll see a whole self study library. I have a YouTube channel. Okay. With tons of great things on it. I also have an ebook where I break down the tongue thing and I think I put the walking thing in there and the sitting thing, this, that thing you told me about you getting on the floor and dissolving into spontaneous fluid moment movement. Yeah, that's it right there. So I talk about what is that? How do we get there? How do we live there? And I can't stop talking about it. So I have a ton of videos, I have a ton of blogs there. I have an ebook and I, we actually have a flow school where we do it together once a week live on Zoom. And it's also a continuing medical education for doctors. So Awesome. Yeah. So the, all of that's so easy to find on flow is medicine.com and I'm really excited to hear about your program coming up and I can't wait to be a part of it if that's something that we, we could explore a collaboration on that. That sounds incredible. Speaker 4 (47:23): Yes, Dr. Michelle, it's, it's so great to have you on. I'm definitely gonna check out the resources. I hope some of you listening will join me in her online class 'cause it sounds super fun, educational and worthwhile for your health. Thank you so much for joining us. Any other information that you wanna share with everyone? Flow is medicine.com is where they can find you. Any other places online where you'd like them to know about connecting Speaker 3 (47:50): With you? I would love everyone to go to my courses page and sign up for even the free preview of what I'm doing because it's like a drip. I'm talking about some really powerful confronting things that will destroy your ego. Do not , I don't think. I don't know that, but, and self-care is an invitation, not an obligation. It's so fun once we get past that initial terror that you may or may not realize you have and then it's about building community. So even just going in and saying, I wanna learn more about this class and being in the loop to receive very few things I send out. But it's almost like, hmm, when the time is right, there'll be an email in your inbox and we'll just go with the flow Speaker 4 (48:42): And with the flow. Speaker 3 (48:43): I love it. Thank you Speaker 4 (48:45): So much for joining me today, Dr. Michelle. This has been an absolute pleasure and a gem. Thank you so much. Speaker 3 (48:52): Thank you for having me. Delighted Speaker 4 (48:54): And thank you all for joining me for another episode of the Hormone Prescription. This has been an amazing conversation. I know for some of you, a lot of this probably went over your head. Don't worry. Keep coming back. Keep listening. Check out Dr. Michelle's resources. It will make sense to you eventually and for some of you, this was right on point and you're gonna wanna know more. So you're going to want to check out her resources as well. Hopefully you are loving this new content that we are expanding and bringing to you 'cause it's really gonna help you with your hormones. We tied this a little bit into hormones today, but stay tuned for future episodes 'cause we'll be tying fascia more into hormones into your overall health and wellbeing. So Speaker 2 (49:42): I look forward to seeing you again next week. Until Speaker 4 (49:44): Then, Speaker 3 (49:45): Peace, Speaker 2 (49:46): Love, and hormones y'all. Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.   ► Ready to Shine? Dive into Dr. Michelle Veneziano's eBook for the Ultimate Glow! In Time to Glow Again, 5 Unusually Effective Gems from an Osteopathic Physician Dr. Michelle Veneziano dives right into the deepest, juiciest, most pleasurable ways to embody flow and that youthful glow, all without adding extra time to your day. CLICK HERE.   ► Feeling tired? Can't seem to lose weight, no matter how hard you try? It might be time to check your hormones. Most people don't even know that their hormones could be the culprit behind their problems. But at Her Hormone Club, we specialize in hormone testing and treatment. We can help you figure out what's going on with your hormones and get you back on track. We offer advanced hormone testing and treatment from Board Certified Practitioners, so you can feel confident that you're getting the best possible care. Plus, our convenient online consultation process makes it easy to get started. Try Her Hormone Club for 30 days and see how it can help you feel better than before. CLICK HERE.   ► Do you feel exhausted, moody, and unable to do the things that used to bring you joy? It could be because of hormonal poverty! You can take our quiz now to find out if your hormone levels are at optimum level or not. Take this quiz and get ready to reclaim your life; say goodbye to fatigue and lack of energy for good. We want every woman to live her best life — free from any signs or symptoms of hormonal poverty, so they can relish their everyday moments with confidence and joy. Imagine having a strong immune system, vibrant skin, improved sleep quality… these are all possible when hormones are balanced! CLICK HERE now and take the #WWPHD Quiz to discover if you're in hormonal poverty — it only takes 2 minutes! Let's get started on optimizing your hormone health today.    

Welcome to another episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast, where we explore the complex world of hormones and aging. In this episode, our host and hormone expert [Name] chats with bestselling author and renowned chiropractor, Dr. Ellen Cutler, about the power of enzyme therapy for healing, detoxification, and longevity.  About Dr. Ellen Cutler    Dr. Cutler is an internationally recognized teacher, public speaker, and media spokesperson. She specializes in the use of desensitization, gentle detoxification, and enzyme and nutritional therapies for chronic conditions. Her revolutionary healing technique, the Ellen Cutler Method (ECM), has helped countless people find relief when conventional medical methods have failed.  Episode Highlights:    1. Desensitization to Food Sensitivities: Dr. Cutler discusses the role of enzyme therapy in addressing food sensitivities, improving gut health, and reducing overall inflammation.   2. Myths Debunked: Dr. Cutler clears up some misconceptions about enzyme therapy.   3. Enzyme Therapy for Women in Midlife and Beyond: Our guest shares stories of how women experienced significant improvements in their health, energy levels, and overall well-being by incorporating enzyme therapy into their daily routines.   4. Practical Advice on Incorporating Enzyme Therapy: Dr. Cutler offers suggestions on how to incorporate enzyme therapy into your daily routine, including the best types of enzymes to take and when to take them.    Don't miss this eye-opening discussion with Dr. Ellen Cutler on the potential benefits of enzyme therapy for women in midlife and beyond. Tune in to The Hormone Prescription Podcast to learn more about this fascinating approach to healing, detoxification, and longevity.   Speaker 1 (00:00:00): Be patient with yourself. Nothing in Nature Blooms all year. Stay tuned as I talk with two of my health coaches, coach Vic and Coach Katrina, about achieving hormone bliss through midlife and metabolism, rescue and mastery. Speaker 2 (00:00:17): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us, keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an OB GYN I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue. Now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Speaker 1 (00:01:10): Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kieran. Thank you so much for joining me today as we dive in with two of my health coaches, coach Katrina and Coach Victoria, and talk about achieving hormone bliss through midlife metabolism, rescue and mastery. These are the names of some of our programs that we've developed over the past three years that many women have gone through and gotten out of hormonal poverty into hormonal prosperity. So it really is the pathway that will lead you to where you wanna be after 40. As a woman with your health. If you're experiencing hormonal poverty, the symptoms of midlife, metabolic mayhem, those are the 60 plus symptoms that can start affecting women as young as in their thirties, sometimes even in their twenties. Then this is the show for you. Those symptoms can include not only weight gain, but also fatigue, hair loss, lack of libido, depression, anxiety, poor cognitive functioning, digestive issues, immune system issues, getting sick more often, autoimmune disease. Speaker 1 (00:02:18): The list goes on and on and on. You might not be aware that the health problems that you're having all have a hormonal component to them, and this is why women's health can start to falter and fail. Starting at 40 and beyond. There's always a hormonal component to every diagnosis you have to every disorder you have to every disease you have, no matter what system it's in, dermatological, gynecological, gastrointestinal, psychological, it go, the list goes on. There's always a hormonal component. And so getting out of hormonal poverty and getting to hormonal prosperity really is essential to reversing any symptom you have to heal any disease you have and also to prolonging your life. Because unfortunately studies show that when we're in hormonal poverty, our lifespan is shortened, and that when we get out of hormonal poverty into hormonal prosperity, our lifespan is actually longer. We have less disease, fewer medications, lower weight, better energy, all the things that you want for your life. Speaker 1 (00:03:25): So is that something you want? Hormonal prosperity? Yes, we want hormonal prosperity Now. So we're gonna dive into this episode with my two coaches. They're both women over 40. They've had their own health journeys that they're gonna share with you, and they really are experts. I love working with women who are passionate about helping other women to achieve what's possible for them with their health and their lives. And these women definitely exemplify that. So I think you're really gonna like this episode. We're gonna dive into that quote that I shared with you at the beginning about being patient with yourself. Nothing in nature Blooms all year. That's from Coach Vic. She is an avid gardener. You gotta see pictures of her garden. She makes the most beautiful vegetables I have ever seen. I don't have a green thumb. I say I have a paw for a thumb 'cause I really resonate with animals and I do really well with them, but plants not so much. Speaker 1 (00:04:21): But Coach Vick has that covered. So we're gonna talk about how to be patient with yourself and then we're gonna talk with Coach Katrina. She has this wonderful quote that we're gonna talk about. Stop wasting time, like someone is making more of it if you put everything off as if you have forever to do it. I've been guilty of that too. We all have. But you know, time is our most valuable resource 'because it's the only thing that gives us time on this planet is time. And what gives us that time is our health. When our health runs out, our time runs out. So don't waste your time, make the most of it, and that means make your health the most. So we're gonna dive into it. I'll tell you a little bit about Vic and Katrina and then we'll get started. So Katrina Gallagher is a group fitness instructor instructor in Morgantown, West Virginia. Speaker 1 (00:05:13): She has health coaching certification through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, and she's finishing up her health coaching certification through functional diagnostic nutrition. She is a true lover of all things health and wellness. She will go down the rabbit hole on any given topic and then can tell you all about it. And she has an emphasis on biohacking and anti-aging. And Victoria Gale, coach Vic is a classical naturopathic physician with additional certification as a functional diagnostic nutrition practitioner, holistic cancer coach, certified bioenergetics practitioner, and soon to be national board certified reflexology reflexologist. She loves natural health and appreciates learning how to live in balance with the cycles of nature and the world around us. And we didn't get into this episode about bioenergetics, but that is a topic that's essential to your hormones that we'll probably cover in future episodes. So stay tuned for that. But please help me welcome Coach Vic and Coach Katrina to the show. Hello. Speaker 3 (00:06:16): Hi. Thanks so much for having us. Speaker 1 (00:06:18): I'm so excited to have you guys on. We've all known each other now for a few years. Gosh, I think back from the first stop, the Menopause Men's Summit probably, and we've worked with so many women and developed so many programs, Katrina's been through them and now is one of our coaches and more that we're working on to help women. And I think it's great for everyone to hear your stories because we're all over 40. We're all passionate about health. We're all women. We know firsthand what it's to deal with the midlife metabolic mayhem that occurs over 40 and to work through it and master it. And I think women need hope right now. A, I hear a lot of women are really suffering. They're really lost. They don't know which way to turn, and they don't even think it's possible. And they see me and they think, oh yeah, Karen, she's a doctor. Of course she can get that straight, but that's not true. It's possible for really every woman. So I wanted to start, I've already talked about your expertise in bios, but maybe if you could just start with your story of how you came to do the work that you do with women over 40 and why you're so passionate about it. Do you wanna start, Vic? Speaker 3 (00:07:41): Sure. So I got into natural health after a health episode. In my twenties. I developed asthma and I had it so bad that I was using inhalers and breathing machines and all kinds of stuff, hours and hours a day and nothing was working. And at the time I just thought, oh my God, this can't be my life. And my first profession is in performing arts. And so I was getting ready to do a performance and my name was called. And right before, right after my name was called, I started having an asthma attack . And so of course that was panic stricken. I was writing and I just thought, oh my God. And luckily I was able to swap places with someone and I ran down the hallway backstage and there was a pot of black coffee. And I had learned after many years of asthma attacks, if I drank black coffee and bent over, I could control or stop my asthma attacks. Speaker 3 (00:08:39): And so after that happened, I was like, okay, I can't live like this, not knowing what's gonna happen. And so a chance read in a health food store that someone had cured their asthma by juicing, just let me think. Well, I can't, it's not gonna hurt. So I went and bought a juicer and fruit and vegetables and all that and I started juicing. And after about two weeks of doing it with no plan, no nothing, I was just doing it. I noticed that my breathing started to get better and I was like, whoa, there's something to this. And so I juiced for the next year and a half or so, but I also started unpacking some emotions that I had been hanging onto some grief, that kind of stuff. And after about a year and a half, I got up one day and I just knew it was over. Speaker 3 (00:09:22): And I can't explain how I knew that, but I knew it was. And I packed up all my inhalers, breathing machines and threw them all in the garbage and never had another asthma attack. And that was 25 years ago now. And so after that happened, I was like, I need to really unpack what happened, what, what happened here. And at the time I had to kind of put it on the shelf because family, whatever. But then once the kids are out of the house and you kind of have some time on your own, I decided I need to look into a natural health kinda school. And so I looked for what's in our areas or whatnot. At the time we had two brick and mortar naturopathic schools here in the state. I'm in Michigan. And so I went to one of those schools and then unpacked and started to learn why that worked for me and what happened. Speaker 3 (00:10:12): And then I decided, well, if I can't help myself, I need to be able to help other people do what I did. And from that point, I started my brand and started working with folks. And the bulk of my practice is women. I do see both men and women. But I have to say after I've met you, Karen, and working with the institute, it's just women in midlife, I've kind of discovered that's my favorite group of people to work with. Not just because it's me, but . Not just because it's us, but it's just a really dynamic group of untapped, energetic potential. When we can really refocus and get women on their right path, we can change the world. And so there's just so many women that need that help and support. And so that's the primary set of what I do every day. And because I have naturopathic training, I'm always drawn to the natural sort of means of doing things that follow the path of nature. 'cause Nature actually shows everything that we need to do. We've just gotta kind of follow its paths and trends and then we'll find that our health will reset itself. And so that's kind of how I've found myself in this space where I am now. Speaker 1 (00:11:26): Yeah, thank you for sharing that. I love working with women. People say, well, don't you miss delivering babies? And I say, well, it was great at the time. But working with women, we give life, but we also are the sustainers of life on this planet. And if you help a woman, you help the whole, everyone on the planet, you help her family, you help her friends, she's gonna teach everyone else. And so I love doing what I do now because it's, I, I, I'll say it, and I know some people think it is complicated to deliver a baby, but it's not that complicated. And there are many wonderful midwives and doctors who do it wonderfully and brilliantly. But not everyone can help a woman come back to herself and come back to her vitality at midlife. There really aren't that many of us. And that's why I think it's so vital, the work that we do. Speaker 1 (00:12:19): And Katrina, what got you into this type of work? Well, I just kind of believe that you should just go where the world takes you, , and this is where the world has taken me. . I mean, I really, it was not, I didn't set out the, didn't set out to do this. I'm a lawyer by training. I practiced law for several years. And then, but I've always had an interest in health and wellness because when I was in elementary school, my dad had his first heart attack. He was 36, and then continued to have heart problems throughout the rest of my childhood. And then when I was 18, he had a heart transplant and he was 55 when he died. So that was very, maybe because when he had that first heart attack, I was at such a young age, it made such an impression on me. Speaker 1 (00:13:07): But I remember being like young, I don't remember how old I was, maybe eight or nine. And I remember thinking, I, I remember hearing the doctor tell my mom, there is a hereditary aspect to heart disease and chances are really good that one of your four children is gonna have problems. And I remember thinking, it's not gonna be me. It is not gonna be me. And I didn't know at the time what that meant, what I needed to do to keep it from being me. But I knew it wasn't gonna be me . And so, I started really in college kind of exploring. And of course when I was in college, that was when we were getting all the bad information about fat is evil and sugar is fine. And so probably did myself some harm, more harm than good back then, following all those recommendations. Speaker 1 (00:13:51): But I kind of kept up with it. And then I went to college, went to law school, just sort of dabbled it, dabbled in it really. And then when my kids were older and I had more time to kind of really explore, I really dove in and started just reading everything I could read about health and wellness and about heart health and doing the right things to make sure I wasn't the one of the four of us that ended up with heart problems. And then I guess when I decided to get my health coaching certification, I was approaching that premenopausal phase of my life. And so my own interest went there because that's where I was. And I think because I am, I am 54 now, I've been doing this now for several years. I think that midlife woman, I think they're just attracted to me. Speaker 1 (00:14:43): I think it's because I'm a group fitness instructor. And so I have, I work with a population of people who are already interested in fitness. Mm-Hmm. . And I will help anybody who wants my help. And I love working with everybody. But those midlife women seem to be attracted to me, I think because they see me, they, and they're like, okay, she can do it. She is healthy and she's fit. And so mm-hmm . So why can't I do that? And so it's sort of just happened that way. But I love it because I can share my own experiences and it's very, very, the stories I hear from them are very relatable. And so that's where I found myself and I really enjoy it. And I really, I will say, Karen, that joining your program when I did saved me a lot of heartache because I was perimenopausal when I started with you. Speaker 1 (00:15:31): And the journey has been relatively easy for me, , because I found you and the information that I found. And so as I see other women starting in like, oh, let me jump in and help you, let me do for you what Kieran did for me. Let me lead you to care. Let me get you in this so that you don't have to suffer either . So yeah. So it's a great midlife. Women are very motivated to feel better. Yes. And so it's very motivating. It's a very motivated population. And that's also nice. Yeah, it is. So thank you so much for, for sharing that. And I'm thinking as you're saying that we made it easier. And here you are a fitness instructor and I know a lot of people at midlife women look around and say, well, what am I not doing? What do I need to do to feel better? Speaker 1 (00:16:18): And fitness and going to the gym, joining fitness programs is something that people do. But I do find that eventually most people look around and say, well, this isn't all because I just don't feel like myself anymore. And you have this unique perspective where you actually went through the programs that Victoria and I had created. So what were some of the most surprising things to you that you learned? Like going through the midlife metabolism, rescue and mastery programs, what are some things that stick out as these big light bulbs? Wow, I had no idea that this was so important or that this worked like this or other things. Well, I was already, my fitness was fine. And really my food was already pretty on key. Like I was already doing most of that stuff. So most of that was not new to me and was not surprising to me. Speaker 1 (00:17:11): But we started off with the HRV, the HRV lesson, which I had no, no idea about . So that was all, I was like, wait, what is this new thing that could, that is like controlling my health , you know? So, my HRV was not fantastic. And so that, that was a whole new world to me, understanding the nervous system and regulating that and that. So that was big for me. I did not have an understanding at all of, of like , cortisol was new to me. I knew what it was, but I had no idea how important it was and what a controlling factor it is with regard to all of the other hormones. So that really stood out to me. The whole really, like sleep stress reduction portion was just not anything I had really delved into before. And that was all very important for me because my, I'm a great sleeper, but I was not sleeping enough. Speaker 1 (00:18:08): And I, at the time, had no idea how much damage that was probably doing to me and how much it was holding me back from feeling my best. So those things I would say. And then I knew the importance of gut health and I knew the basics, but that was just, I was just in heaven through all of that, learning all of the stuff about the gut stuff, the GI map was fascinating to me. And learning about how all of that works and how, and so that was a whole new world to me as well. So there was a lot, I mean, I went into it feeling like, okay, I know some things and that's good. And I was glad I knew the things I did, but there was a lot that I didn't know. And so there were several things during the course that I was just like, oh, what? I had no idea Speaker 3 (00:18:51): what, yeah, yeah. I would, I would, I would agree with that, that the GI map, a lot of the member, I remember a lot of the ladies early on when their GI map would show up and we would be in our one-on-one coach consult, they would go on and on about, oh my gosh, how is this test going on that no one knows about, but it says so much about my health and my hormones and how is this the first time I'm coming across this? And I would say gut health was something they really were going on and on about not understanding how much it was affecting every other aspect of their health. And they loved being able to address it botanically. 'cause A lot of what you can use to address gut health is entirely botanicals. You'd often don't need pharmaceutical type products to deal with the gut. Speaker 3 (00:19:37): And so they loved that. And I would second that. That's one. And the other aspect, I know that many of them had undervalued as far as being related to their health is their emotional state and traumas and things that they were hanging onto. And they really had no idea how it was slowly gnawing away at their health, but was this sort of stealth killer of their health. And they really undervalued it. 'cause I think so often we just kind of say, oh yeah, I had this happen in my past. It's no big deal. It can't still be affecting me now. And that's actually the entire opposite, wrong way to think of it. Because those traumas and things that we've held onto and have in us are little time bombs waiting to explode. And boy, when they do in midlife, when everything else is going on in our lives, it becomes a disaster for us as midlife women. And so I would say I, one thing I really appreciate, especially about this program and Kieran especially, you're one of the few FMDs that I've really run across who will delve into that aspect of health, the emotional, spiritual, psychological aspect of our health. Speaker 1 (00:20:47): 'Cause It's huge. It is. And I just wanna mention for anyone listening, HRV is heart rate variability. In case you didn't know. Yes. Thank you for saying that. It really is the missing piece. I mean, mainstream medicine for sure misses that piece, but most functional medicine misses it too. Nobody wants to go into the emotional stuff, . And I've had to learn these things out of necessity because I had a, let's say, less than nurturing childhood. They caught up with me at midlife. So I've had to learn about all these things and learn how to unpack them. But it's almost more than that, and this is why I'm creating it. If you're a regular listener to the podcast, you're gonna wanna listen to the next few episodes. 'cause I'm making a few episodes for you on psychoneuroendocrinology, which is a fancy way of saying how your thoughts and feelings affect your nervous system and your hormones. Speaker 1 (00:21:40): 'Cause They're all related. And it's actually a field in medicine, psychoneuroendocrinology and also your energetic blueprint. We're gonna be going into that 'cause your energetic design goes into that too. But all of these are less than nurturing or overwhelming small T or big T traumas that we have as children where it can be traumatic to a child, whatever their needs or wants are not met, that can be trauma that has to go somewhere. It has, that's energy. Emotions are energy in motion. And so if that energy is not discharged by a nurturing parent who can help you process it and feel it and understand it, which is most of the people who raised us, they don't because they don't know how to do it. It wasn't a common skill for people. 'cause They were worried about survival then these emotions and this energy has to go somewhere. Speaker 1 (00:22:37): So it goes into our fascia, into our nervous system. And it takes a lot of energy for the body to hold down those encapsulated packets of traumatic energy. And so this is one of the reasons why some women actually have a worst time at perimenopause, menopause at midlife is because they haven't unpacked all of these bigger little T traumas. And their cortisol has been struggling since they were five years old to keep a lid on this . And so anyway, it's a big conversation, but I'm creating a whole new program to dive into that even more deeply. Because I find that even though we incorporate that into the program and we talk a lot about it, it really, people need full guidance. Like, how do I do this work? So I'm making a whole program on that. Anything else you guys wanna say about that before we change topics though? I think it's so important. Yeah. I just will say in my own health coaching practice, I don't think I've ever, my bachelor's degree is in psychology and I don't think I've ever had a client that I didn't feel like I used my psych degree almost more than I used my, my, my health coaching certifications. , like they're, everybody has emotional issues that they haven't dealt with and mostly don't know how to deal with. And so I do what I can. I refer people, encourage people often to seek professional help Speaker 1 (00:24:08): In doing those things because it becomes obvious if you do this very much at all, how much those issues hold people back from reaching their full potential. Speaker 3 (00:24:18): Absolutely. I 100%, I 100% agree with that. And that's always an aspect of everything that I have when I'm working with my people. I mean, we certainly go through the testing and we explain, we come up with lifestyle recommendations, whatever. But there's always a point where the rubber has to meet the road where I'm talking to the clients and I'm like, okay, there's more here you're gonna need to unpack and here's some resources. I have a somatic therapist on staff here. And so she's been very helpful to direct people to. But there's always a point in time where the rubber meets the road and that intersection of mind, body, spirit becomes front and center. And it's something that has to be addressed. And emotions are powerful. They're the energetics that keep us moving day to day. And so they have to be sort of channeled and funneled in a way that makes life sustainable and healthy for us. Speaker 3 (00:25:14): And otherwise they become little time bombs. And I appreciate so much some of the specifics of the changes with what happens with women in midlife. And so some of the importance of needing to exercise and the changes with estrogen and all these things that when there's an emotional aspect attached to those things, it can really throw you way off. And so I've appreciated the program really digging down into some of those specifics. Because I know from my training and some of the other sorts of stuff I've learned over the years, a lot of the data, the research is on men or a healthy person in their twenties. There's never anything specifically tailored for midlife women. And I so appreciated some of the experts and things that you brought whose sole focus is women in midlife. Because you suddenly discover, oh wait a minute, there's a little bit of calibration that has to be different for the midlife women. There has to be some different thoughts. There has to be a little bit of a different approach. And I think that's been really, that's been game changing for me just to really Mm-Hmm. focus in on that. Speaker 1 (00:26:24): I always say, when I went through my mainstream education and med school and OB GYN residency, we were basically taught that women are just littler men with an accessory pack that allows special organs and hormones that allows us to really reduce life. And then when I got further along and had my own health crisis and had to sort that out and discovered what the work I do now, I discovered that nothing could be further from the truth. We are foundationally different. Our brains are structured differently. Our psyches, our nervous systems, like we just don't, we are not little men in any way, shape or form. But I love what you mentioned. One of the things that I love about the way we set up the programs is doing it in a group format. And I know that some people are a little hesitant at first 'cause they're used to that one-on-one, even though it's a five or seven minute, just write a prescription or you need a surgery visit. Speaker 1 (00:27:20): But that's what we've been socialized to believe is healthcare. And so they go in groups, I'm gonna be talking about my personal stuff in a group. And then what do you guys find as people's opinion at the end about that? They love it, right? Yeah. Oh, I was speaking for myself and for the ladies Oh yeah. That I went through it with and have seen go through it since the group was key. I think we got a lot of value from listening to each other, learning from each other's questions, the support that comes with knowing that there are other women out there that are going through what you're going through and that are, that you're kind of learning to fix it together. Yeah. I love the group setting. I don't, I, I have never heard anybody ever say a negative thing about, there's some apprehension in the beginning sometimes with people like, oh, but then once the comfort level increases a little bit, everybody's thrilled that there's that. It's in a group setting. Speaker 3 (00:28:15): Absolutely. And definitely in private consults, one-on-one, when we would meet with the folks outside of the group setting, they would definitely say, oh, I didn't really wanna share that. I haven't been sleeping. Or My HRV numbers were so terrible. But they suddenly discovered that there's comfort in being vulnerable and having another group of women do having the same kind of things happen, if not worse. There's a comfortability in sharing that. And I'm a firm believer that, I mean, we all need community, but I believe women especially need women only sort of supportive groups in life as well as in any kind of a healing situation. I believe we're just, I believe we're wired that way truthfully. And I've told friends many mm-Hmm. over the years. I've, I've told people that my girlfriend therapy group has gotten me through more things than any sort of, it's getting together with my girlfriends and parsing things out has been a huge piece for me. Speaker 3 (00:29:19): And I think if we're, if we see how good it is, when we feel great, especially when we're not feeling so great, it doubles the need to have that group of other supportive communities, especially women around us. And mm-Hmm. , I like to kind of relate it to nature. I mean, nothing in nature exists on its own, right? And so nature tells us we have to intercommunicate and support each other to get through day to day. And I love the data where they're looking at trees, how trees talk to each other and the roots talk to each other. Mm-Hmm. . And it's the fungus. And so that interconnection and communication is how nature exists. So why would we be any, we, why would we be any different? We're part of nature as well, right? We need that community. Speaker 1 (00:30:04): We do. And we have an epidemic of loneliness, and I'm trying to remember the exact numbers, but I think people over 50, it's like people say that they have some less than one close friend and they spend large swaths of time alone and they don't have the support systems. Because we used to live in communities where we were very connected to nature and very connected to each other. But now we live in cities and apartments with TVs and electronic devices. And people are on that thinking they're connected, but they're not. Right. So I think it is vital connection that is vital to health. And the statistics on loneliness are that it's worse than smoking for your health. So you may think, oh, I'm doing great 'cause I don't smoke. But if you're experiencing loneliness and you're not having human connection, 'cause there's certain kind of energetic benefits that we get from being, having eye contact and being in close proximity and having physical touch and sexual touch and all these things. Speaker 1 (00:31:04): If you're not having that, it could be like you're smoking two packs a day of cigarettes. So that's one thing I love about the groups. I think people got that oxytocin hit from having that connection and that support and being seen and being heard and being understood. They're going to their doctor's office being told There's nothing wrong with you. It's normal not to wanna have sex and have poor sex and poor sleep at your age. Now it's not right. And so they can come here and get affirmed for all the midlife, metabolic, mayhem, craziness that we're all experiencing. I wanted to ask you guys, how important do you think the testing is? Because I know some programs are like, oh, we just created this program to address your hormones and your gut and you're all gonna take these supplements and you're all gonna eat like this and you're all gonna do these things. Speaker 1 (00:31:55): And we don't do any tests. So how important are the tests? I wildly important , I mean . Yeah. Yeah. I mean, because you can, it's funny 'cause I always say at the end of the day, it no matter what issues you're having, to some extent the protocol to fix it is the same. Right? We all should be sleeping well. We all should be eating good, clean, organic whole foods. We all should be none of, we shouldn't be drinking alcohol. We shouldn't, like, there are some things that are gonna go across the board that are true for everyone. But the testing in my mind is super important, especially when it comes to the supplementation aspect of any wellness protocol because mm-Hmm. , you don't know what to take if you, you don't know exactly what's wrong, . So I can know my, I can feel that my hormones are outta whack. Speaker 1 (00:32:44): But if I don't do a Dutch test and know exactly if my estrogen is high or low or my progesterone is high or low, what my testosterone is doing, how do I know what to take? How do I know what to supplement with? How do I know how much? If you don't have the GI map and you don't know that you've got a parasite or you don't know that you're, that you've got whatever is high or low, then you don't know if you, should I be taking probiotics? Should I be taking digestive enzymes? Should I be doing a protocol to get rid of candida? Do I have high chance? Do like, so know how exactly to attack. To me, I'm a huge, powerful person. I want to know everything. I wanna know all the things. The more information I have, the more I can, the better decisions I can make about how to go about improving a situation. Speaker 1 (00:33:30): So the tests for me personally, or that's knowledge, give me input. All the information I want. But I've seen it too with our clients and they love those tests. They feel like finally there's something that validates the way they've been feeling. Yeah. There's clinical correlation to, oh my gosh, this no wonder I felt this way. And all of a sudden they don't feel crazy anymore. And Right. It just gives them a, a, a resource to say, okay, here it is in black and white . You're not crazy. You're not crazy. Exactly. Yeah. And then for me it was also like showing my husband, see I'm not crazy. . I told you . Speaker 1 (00:34:16): Yes. The validation is huge. Yeah. But it's funny, I just was recently interviewed by a woman, a journalist. And so, after the interview, she wanted to talk about her functional issues. Her 'cause she's at midlife. So everyone hears you deal with midlife metabolic mayhem. Lemme tell you my issues, let's talk about it. So I did. And she said that she had been trying the throw against the wall and seeing what sticks method that wasn't working. And everyone in her office was trying that. And then when some one of them would learn about some other protocol, they would share it. And then some of them would complain, this is too much work. Why is this so much work? and I went on this whole rant with her about, we don't complain about how much work our careers work to get the master's and take the SATs and apply to university and go to university. Speaker 1 (00:35:13): I mean, it's chaos, right? To, to go through your education and get your training and get your certifications and maintain your certifications and get your jobs and maintain your jobs. And nobody complains about how much work it is, right? 'cause You get the payoff. But then when it comes to our health, we've been socialized to believe that all we're supposed to do is shovel some calories in our mouth every day, lay horizontal for a few hours and it should be plug and play. We go to the doctor if we have a problem, they write us a script or do a surgery. And that's all we should have to input into our most valuable asset, our bodies, which is what the only thing that gives us time on this planet. And then we complain that it's too much work. So I know some people hear, oh, I gotta do a course and I gotta do testing. And oh, this is so much work. And I just like to have that reality check. But it was funny because after I talked to her, the journalist, she was like, I never thought about it. Like , I put no investment into my health. And that's why I don't, I think it's too much work. 'cause I don't, I've been trained that way. But what about the value of investing in your health? Speaker 3 (00:36:18): One of the things I remember early on when the first ladies would start the program and you would have the classes and you would talk about, we would come up with structured lifestyle recommendations to do. And so one of them was initially on 30 minutes every day of walking or taking a look at your H RV or whatever. And ever, and I remember clearly, and I won't mention any names, but there was a mm-Hmm. lady early on in the program who told us directly, she did not have 15 to 20 minutes to look at her hrv. And I re at the end of the program, of course we all went crazy and whatnot. And she went through the program and suddenly learned the value of that self investment. And, and by the end of the program, I remember her saying, oh my gosh, I feel so embarrassed and foolish that I thought that I didn't have the time. Speaker 3 (00:37:11): And now it's become, if I don't have that's, you know, the end of the world, I have to have that self investment time. I mean, if there's anything you're going to put time or investment into, it should be yourself and as many hours and as much money, whatever it takes, we have to put that time into ourselves. But I find that commonly with a lot of my midlife women, they tell me, oh, I don't have 30 minutes to walk. I don't have 15, 20 minutes. And it's really something because there's something to that that you'll put time into everything else but not yourself. And getting people to care and love about themselves, that's a piece of this. And that's what I, I do especially like about this program. And what I have to find with my client base as well, is we almost have to teach women to love ourselves again. And to really put ourselves first. I mean, who else should we put first? Mm-Hmm. . I mean, yes, we love our children, we love our husbands, we love whatever, but that first love has to be self-love. And that's a piece that I think midlife women have to really sit on and we have to really work with them on that. Yeah. Speaker 1 (00:38:21): What is up with that? Because, and we'd say, I don't have the time or I don't have the money that what we're, that's code for. I don't see the value in that thing or in myself. Speaker 3 (00:38:31): Right? Speaker 1 (00:38:32): So what is up with that? With us? Us? What are your thoughts, guys? I don't know. I think that we're just, I think that we're wired to be caretakers and I think that we put other people first. I mean, I think if you're a mother then you're just wired that your children are gonna come first. But I also think that we have, I think a lot of us waste a lot more time than we realize we waste. Mm-Hmm. Speaker 3 (00:38:57): , Speaker 1 (00:38:58): I think we have become a pretty inefficient society. And I don't say that judgmentally because I'm guilty of it. So I mean, I'm right there with you. I do. But you know, and I realized that, I realized that for myself recently when I did do 75 hard, I don't know if you all are familiar with 75 hard, but there are requirements. And one of the requirements is that you have to work out twice a day. And everybody going into the program is, I don't have, I can't work out twice a day for 40 for at least 45 minutes each workout. So it's, and it's like, how am I gonna make time for this? And you do it, you do the program for 75 and there are other things you have to do as well. Mm-Hmm. . But you, I realized for myself during that time how much like I was able to do that. And so the things that I lost were not important things . Okay. Like, so I think we, Speaker 3 (00:39:46): I think we've kind of, Speaker 1 (00:39:47): I think we've kind of forgotten how to prioritize our time as well. I think if women take a really good hard look at what their day is filled with, there are things that maybe in their minds feel necessary that aren't really necessary. So Mm-Hmm. , I do think that you're never gonna get women to not prioritize their children. That to not prioritize their family to some extent they're gonna prioritize, prioritize their jobs. But I think even within their jobs there are things that they are spending time on that aren't necessary. I think we need to learn to become better delegators. And I think we need to learn to say, you know what? That thing can wait , the world's not gonna end if that thing doesn't get done today. And so, yeah. So I think it's kind of twofold. I think we do have a tendency to take care of everybody around us first. But I also think that we're not always terribly efficient with our time. Speaker 3 (00:40:38): And that's part of the piece I think of having a loss of community. Because many things that we would get done in a day would be done by other community members. And so I think women, we've kind of, mm-hmm, Incorporated. Wait a minute, there's a thousand things to be done. I better do all thousand of them. Or life is gonna fall apart. But we've forgotten that even child rearing our earlier ancestors, it wasn't just the parents that were raising children, it was aunties, uncles, neighbors. I was raised where my neighbor would come and get me up in the morning and would do things. I mean, there's just other things that would be handled by the community. And that's where I think you're right about us having to really sit down and look at these list of things and determine that, okay, these aren't the important ones. These I need to delegate. We need to just reprioritize the need to get everything quote unquote done. We just don't need to. Speaker 1 (00:41:36): Yeah. Well and you address that in the programs we talk about breaking your day down into however many minute increments and Mm-Hmm . Mm-Hmm . Find your time. Like where is your time going? What's necessary? What's not necessary? That's a really good exercise for people who think that they don't have time to take care of them. Speaker 3 (00:41:56): Food preparation, the idea that we can't find time to prepare food has become something we've kind of fallen into as well. And I mean the meal services are great and yes, there's timeframes for things, but I mean to really take the time to prepare quality homemade food, which is a keystone for us being healthy, we have the time to do it. I mean, we aren't going out and catching animals. We aren't going out and picking stuff from the garden. We aren't doing, all we have to do is go to the grocery, you know, batch cook one day a week and put it in a freezer. Mm-Hmm. . We have the life of Riley for food preparation. So this idea that we're just too busy to prepare our food is just, is a myth we've all kind of brought into, and I'm a big advocate for having children that are old enough, be a part of food preparation and meal preparation. I just don't understand one person in a household being the only one responsible for all the meal prepping and children that are old enough should be doing some amount of meal prep. I believe. Speaker 1 (00:43:05): Absolutely. A pro tip from the episode is batch meal prep that is hands down the biggest time saver and gives you so much control over your health because what you are, what you eat. And so we go into the program, into the programs what to eat. But I started, when I first got on this journey over 10 years ago, I just sat down and started planning meals, which we never did before and planning recipes. And Sunday was shopping and cooking day and we would make mass amounts and freezer it. We got this big freezer and we always had food and then, and then it was just like a family affair 'cause we all did it together. So I think this issue of the time values, which I also do in the hormone bliss challenge, which we're gonna be running again in November, looking at where you spend your time, looking at where you spend your money, looking at your values, and are you spending your time and money in alignment with your values? And most women find that they are not. So I think I needed that reality check also. And so no shame here because we're all guilty of these. Oh for sure. Things as well. Speaker 3 (00:44:15): . Speaker 1 (00:44:15): Yeah. I'm just wondering, I wanna talk a little bit about human design because it's something that I've become interested in. In the past year we talked in the programs about your energetic blueprint where you talked about chakras. I think Vic, you even did a whole class on that, which was amazing. And people love learning about how their energetics and their body works. And then I got introduced into human design, which is a more specific science of differentiation. How each individual has a unique energetic blueprint that has to do with certain characteristics of when they were born, where they were born. It integrates many ancient teachings. And so I've had my chart done and been living in what we call my experiment for the past a year. And you guys have done your chart and I think Katrina's had her initial reading. So she isn't starting her experiment. Speaker 1 (00:45:14): You've done your chart, Vic. One thing that I learned from human design, I'll just give an example, is that my design is an emotional projector. So there are five different main types and then you have an authority by which you're supposed to make decisions. And then there are many more specifics about each person's unique blueprint that give them certain characteristics and qualities. I found that when I had my reading, it explained a lot of my personality characteristics that have always been perplexing to me and other people. Why am I always this way? Like I have this ability to kind of cut to the heart of a matter and see the truth behind things. And people have always been like, why can you see this behind the curtain? And I always wondered why can I? And it's part of my design and then also my fighting for the underdog. Speaker 1 (00:46:08): I always don't like injustice when I see it. And I'm always willing to fight for injustice, like for women at midlife. And that's part of my design. So there are a lot of insights, but the big thing was learning that I'm not a generator, which 65% of people are. So generators are the builders and the doers. And I am not, and I'm made to be a guide and lead people not to be out there digging the ditches and planting the trees, but helping people do dig ditches and plant trees better. And so that's kind of why I do what I do. So those were all very insightful and have allowed me to live more in alignment with my true nature, which actually helps balance your hormones. So if you're not living in alignment with your true nature, this is kind of where it relates to hormones. Speaker 1 (00:46:56): There are specific gates and channels that relate to specific hormones. So you can get that deep. But in general, if you're not living in alignment with your design, you are hurting your cortisol stress hormone because that's stress, it's friction if you're not operating in alignment with how you're supposed to operate. So those are the insights I got that I found hugely valuable. And we're actually adding right now a live human design class we're gonna do next week with an analyst, a whole section on human design and helping people get their charts and integrate it into balancing their hormones and healing hormonal poverty. So I'm just wondering if either of you would like to share any insights that you've had from your human design and mostly how it has helped you to live more in alignment with your true self. Well, I was absolutely fascinated and I did have a reading and the I, yeah, validating is the first word that came to mind because I am an emotional manifester. Speaker 1 (00:47:57): It just explained so much when about yeah, like you said, just so many things. It just helped me to understand myself. And I was like, oh, now it makes perfect sense. Why I, I'll never forget one time my kids were, my boys were playing baseball and their coach was a pretty young guy. And I made some comment once about how maybe I was gonna go talk to Tyler about X, Y, or Z And my boys were like, oh. They were like, oh, they, they reaction was like, oh, I was like, what? What? What? They said, you will completely freak him out if you go. And I said, why would you say that? What do you mean? And they're like, mom, you're very intimidating. And that was not a word that I would have used to describe myself. And so that kind of peaked my interest. Speaker 1 (00:48:41): And so I asked some other people, is that true? Do people find me intimidating? And I got that. I got yes, I got the answer yes a lot. And I was like, what? And literally I never really quite understood it. I never, but then when I met with Nancy and we talked about what exactly it means to be a manifester and how I have sort of an off-putting aura and that's just who I am. Like I just have a, I'm like, oh. So that's why people feel like I'm intimidating, but I never really saw myself that way. So it answered a lot of questions and it does kind of just sort of re-evaluate how you're moving through life and kind of what you're, how it helps you understand why people react to you the way that they do. And the fact that I am emotional, I've always been a follow your gut kind of person. And now I'm like, that's that, that is really super true for me. I really do need to follow my gut. If I feel a certain way, I need to, like Nancy said, even down to if you cook a meal and all of a sudden you don't feel like eating it like right don't like don't she. So, yeah, fascinating. And I feel like I'm just kind of getting started learning. So there's, I think there's mm-Hmm. a lot more to learn and I'm super excited about learning it. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 3 (00:49:59): I'm fascinated as well. I haven't had any readings done yet. I did run my chart and I only got a chance to read through one little aspect of it, but I'm a generator with emotional authority and it really just encapsulated everything I've ever done in my life. 'cause If I'm gonna start a business, I'm gonna dig in there and I'm gonna go through all the aspects of things. And it just really made sense for me. And the one thing that really stood out for me when I was kind of reading through one of the write-ups, they talked about when you have emotional authority, you kind of have to wait for a full wave of whenever you make a decision to kind of process things. And boy is that true. And the times when something has happened and I just immediately jump into it, it like, is egg in my face? , it blows up as the wrong decision. And I just, it's just something I'm understanding, especially as I'm getting older and just the maturity of kind of thinking through decisions. Mm-Hmm. , I see that it really is something that's a non-negotiable for me. I have to do that , like I cannot mince. I have to have that process. So I'm fascinated to learn more about it. And I think it's Speaker 1 (00:51:13): Really Speaker 3 (00:51:13): Interesting. I can't wait to have a reading on it. Speaker 1 (00:51:15): Yeah. And I will say, yeah, Uhhuh, go ahead. I have at times felt, since I've gotten this information, there have been times where I have felt myself more at peace with what's happening in my life because now I understand it better. So the way that it affects cortisol and the hormones makes perfect sense. Mm-Hmm. . Because there have been times I'm like, no, this is how you're designed . This is your process, it's fine. And it's given me just, it's kind of given me that level of, just take a breath, . It's all working out exactly the way it's supposed to. So definitely dovetails nicely into all of the other things. Mm-Hmm. that we're working. Yeah. Yeah. I they in a lot of the literature about it, they say it is the key to true self-love and acceptance because it is your design, just like your eye color is your eye color and , your face is your face. Speaker 1 (00:52:09): Right. If we don't accept and love ourselves exactly as we are and who we are and what we're designed to do on this planet and our personality characteristics, life is just friction. And that means cortisol problems and that means hormone problems and hormonal poverty, poor gut health and lack of health. And so to me, the more we can know ourselves, the more we can know our lab test results and what exactly is going on physiologically, biochemically inside. And the more we can know our energetics and our personality and our design, human design has a lot of information about what we're here to do. So if you're confused about your purpose and how we're here to operate and if we can surrender to the truth of all of that and be true to ourselves, life can be a much easier ride for sure. Which sounds really good to me. Speaker 1 (00:53:10): And I think at midlife is when the friction of how, because we're all really trained to live as generators and function as generators, make decisions with our brain and be the go doers. Well that's great for, I think they call 'em self projected generators. So the ones that are supposed to think, no, actually I don't think there's anyone, we'll have to defer to the experts on this 'cause I'm not a human design expert. That's why we have experts coming in to teach about it. But we are not designed to make decisions with our brains. And not all of us are designed to be out there digging ditches and planting trees. So I think it's a wonderful addition to the program and I'm super excited about it. Super excited about this next Hormone Bliss challenge. Coming up in November, we're gonna have the link in the show notes so that you can sign up and join us for a five day course that actually you'll get a lot of benefit. Speaker 1 (00:54:04): 'Cause I'm gonna teach you about all the steps that you need to take to heal hormonal poverty. But you're gonna start taking action on day one. And a lot of people get incredible results even in five days, which is amazing. But you can read more if you follow the link. So what last words You guys shared before we wrap up, you shared some amazing quotes with me before we started recording. So I wanna ask if you could talk about one of the, each of your quotes a little bit. I love a good quote. So Katrina, you shared this quote, stop wasting time, like someone is making more of it, which I absolutely love. Is that something that you say or is that, did someone else say it? It's actually a line from a song. I can't even remember the song, but the first time I heard it I was like, it just hit me. Speaker 1 (00:54:54): Yeah. . So, so we were talking about taking care of yourself and finding the time and at at one point you said, our health is really the only thing that gets us more time on this planet. And so why are we acting like we have all of this all the time in the world to do these things that are the most important things? And why do we waste so much? Like we, there is no more, like my father-in-Law always says, buy yourself a good piece of land. 'cause That's the one thing God's not making more of. . And so for me it's okay. So that's time. I think that, yeah, we have, we only have so much and we can buy ourselves more by taking good care of ourselves, but we spend so much, we waste so much time. It, I, I hate that it takes a lot of women until midlife to start the journey. Speaker 1 (00:55:45): I love it when women in their twenties want to come talk to me about how to take care of themselves. I'm like, you're so far ahead of the game. I so wish I had the information that I have now when I was younger so that I could have not wasted all that time. , would you have really used the information? Because I loved it. I'm a big one to say that too. Well, I wish I had known this 20 years ago, but I don't think I was ready for it 20 years ago. That's why I didn't receive it because I wouldn't have used it. I think I would've used some of it because I was very interested in being healthy back then. So I wish I, I do wish I had, but I just think that we spend a lot of time putting off, we'll all do it when I'll do it, when I'll do it when, and we just keep wasting time. Speaker 1 (00:56:26): Like someone's making more of it and nobody is and nobody's coming to save you . So I know that reminds me of this surgeon in the town where I was OB GYN in Savannah because she was typical midlife woman like everyone else, really not paying attention to her health. And then I had been out of town for a while and I came back and I saw her at the health food store and I had never seen her there. So I said, what are you doing here? And she said, oh, I was diagnosed with colon cancer, I had a colon resection. I'm getting ready to have further therapy and now I'm looking for supplements that can help me. And I cried because she neglected her health all those years. And a lot of us don't do anything until the other shoe drops and we get cancer or we get another horrible diagnosis, autoimmune disease, lupus, whatever it is or something horrible happens. And I just cried because if she had been in that house food store 10 years before doing natural things to help herself and being interested in it, then she might not have been in that position. But yeah, I love that one. And then Vic, you have this one. Be patient with yourself. Nothing in nature Blooms all year. I know you are an amazing gardener. You guys should see her pictures of her garden. She has a green thumb like nobody I've ever seen. But talk about what that means to you. I love that. Speaker 3 (00:57:45): Well, Speaker 3 (00:57:46): As everyone kind of gets started on their journey, we've kind of been, we we're in this immediate society. I'm gonna just take this handful of pills and everything will be fine. I'm just gonna go to this person and do this exercise. Everything will be fine. And there is, that's not how nature works. That's not how healing works. And so a lot of, when I get started with ladies, I suggest to them that if your children came to you and said, I'm not, I don't know this song, I'm not ready for the recital, we would say, be patient, go back and let's go slowly work through it. But when it comes to health, it's the same. We just have to be patient, be slow with the understanding that our body will heal when it's time to heal and when the conditions are right. And the same as all my stuff. I grew out in the garden, and the tomatoes bloom when they're ready to bloom. , the ec comes up when it's time for it to come up. And so patience is something I think we especially have to embrace and learn to understand in the process. And again, following nature, a thing rushes in nature. Neither should we. Speaker 1 (00:59:02): Yeah. I recently heard this term that I love called transactional healing, where we want it on demand. Like a pharmaceutical, I take the aspirin, my headache goes away. But when it comes to really helping the body heal and come into alignment and fix the root causes, you need to be patient. You can take the actions, but it's up to your body in what way it unfolds that healing. And so you don't wanna be transactional about it. And that's a factor in self-love. It's not self-loving to be transactional about your healing. So be patient with yourself, put in the work, it will happen. Last question. I know Katrina has to go Speaker 3 (00:59:42): . So real Speaker 1 (00:59:43): Fast, I would be remiss if I didn't talk about bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. As you guys know, my TEDx talk was about hormonal poverty and the consequences of it. Midlife metabolic mayhem, disease, disease, premature death, and all the plethora of data on these topics and how they can be prevented or reversed using natural hormone therapy. And I'm wondering if you can share in your personal journeys or women you've worked with, how important has that been? I will say for me it was, it has been a game changer. I'm super into fitness. Just the ability that it's given me to do what I want to do every day in the gym, the ability it's given me to build and maintain muscle mass. The ability it's given me to sleep well, , which is key. If you're as active as I am, you have to be able to sleep well. Speaker 1 (01:00:38): I won't say that I still have an occasional hot flash. Things aren't, it's not made everything perfect. I'm still not completely sure that I'm, that levels are optimized. 'cause As we kind of titrate up gradually mm-hmm , we don't wanna overdue and get everything just right. But I entered this program when I did because I was entering into perimenopause and the symptoms were starting and I didn't want it to get, I didn't want my life to get completely crazy with it. Right. And I was able to avert, I was able to avert the craziness. And so that's why I said before, it has been relatively easy for me. And a huge part of that I'm sure has been the bioidentical hormones. I don't feel like I have had all of those problems that I've, that my friends have had that, that have gone through. And my life is good. I mean, I will say honestly, I feel better, healthier, more fit right now at 54 than I've ever felt in my entire life. And woo. And I don't think that I would be able to say that had I not found you and all of the things including the hormones. Amazing. How about you Speaker 3 (01:01:43): Vic? Yeah. Yeah. I can definitely say hormone therapy. The bioidenticals have been a game changer for every person, every lady who's gone through this program and through my own client base. To the extent that we do it here and are able to, I have to say, I personally think that bioidentical hormone replacement therapy is just about as close to a magic wand for women as you can find of anything. It's just about that close and just what, especially the testosterone especially, there's just something there that, like Katrina said, with the muscle mash and just, it just clears the webs, it just clears the brain. It just clears things. And I think it's wonderful because having that little extra boost, when you suddenly feel better, then you feel more inspired to, oh well let me focus on my meal planning. Oh let me go and do this exercise. You just feel a little bit better. Mm-Hmm . I can't say enough about them. I think it's fantastic. I love that you have the hormone club going so women can have that access. 'cause They're not easy. Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy is not easy to find. And I love that you have access to that as long as you're in a state where they can get it. I think it's fantastic and it's a game changer. Truly. Speaker 1 (01:03:00): Yeah. We'll put the link to her hormone club in the show notes too, in case anyone is not able to access bioidentical hormones. We have a telemedicine company throughout the US that can provide board certified doctors specializing and that bioidentical hormone therapy, we can treat you from the comfort of your own dining room table via zoom and test you and send you hormones. So if

Get ready, ladies, because the latest episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast is now available! Our host and expert functional medicine doctor, Kyrin Dunston MD, delves into a topic that every midlife woman absolutely needs to know about: "Hormone Bliss Through Midlife Metabolism Rescue & Mastery."     In this must-listen episode, Dr. Kyrin Dunston is joined by two phenomenal guests: Coach Katrina Gallagher and Coach Victoria Gale.  Meet the Guests: - Katrina Gallagher is a group fitness instructor at Warrior Body in Morgantown, WV. She holds certification as a health coach from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and is close to completing her health coaching certification through Functional Diagnostic Nutrition. - Victoria Gale is a Classical Naturopath with a wealth of knowledge under her belt. In addition to her expertise in naturopathy, Victoria is also a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner, Holistic Cancer Coach, Certified BioEnergetics Practitioner, and a soon-to-be National Board Certified Reflexologist.    Together, these fantastic experts address crucial topics such as biohacking, anti-aging, and how women can achieve optimal health and wellbeing during midlife. Don't miss this informative and empowering discussion on The Hormone Prescription Podcast! In This Episode, You'll Learn: - The importance of understanding and managing your hormones during midlife - How to boost your metabolism through simple and effective strategies - The role of biohacking in achieving optimal hormonal balance and anti-aging - How to gain mastery over your overall health and wellness during midlife    So, fellow midlife warriors, grab a cup of tea, sit back, and learn all about how to achieve Hormone Bliss Through Midlife Metabolism Rescue & Mastery. Tune into this fantastic episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast with Dr. Kyrin Dunston and her incredible guests, Coach Katrina Gallagher and Coach Victoria Gale!

Welcome back to The Hormone Prescription Podcast, where we discuss all things related to hormonal health for midlife women. In this episode, we are honored to have Dr. Michael Platt as our special guest.   Dr. Platt is a pioneer in the field of bio-identical hormones and adrenaline dominance, and has dedicated his career to research and advancements in managing hormonal imbalances. Through his work, he has become a leading expert in observational, functional, alternative, and allopathic medicine.   His three books - "The Miracle of Bioidentical Hormones", "Adrenaline Dominance", and "Platt Protocol" have received a total of 11 literary awards, showcasing the impact and importance of his work.   In this episode, we dive into the topic of adrenaline dominance and how it can affect our hormonal health. Dr. Platt shares his insights on the use of progesterone cream as a therapeutic solution for managing adrenaline overload.   We also discuss the benefits of using bio-identical hormones and how they can help rebalance our hormones, leading to improved overall health and well-being.   Dr. Platt's wealth of knowledge and experience in this field is truly inspiring, and we hope you will join us for this insightful and informative episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast with Dr. Michael Platt. So tune in, take notes, and get ready to learn more about the miracle of bioidentical hormones and how they can help you achieve hormonal balance. Let's get started! Speaker 1 (00:00): Doctors give drugs of which they know little into bodies of which they know less, or diseases of which they know nothing at all. Voltaire, stay tuned to find out the missing hormone in your midlife program. Adrenaline. Speaker 2 (00:16): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself again. As an O B G Y N, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Speaker 1 (01:09): Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me today as we dive into adrenaline dominance. Some of you know about adrenaline, we know about adrenaline junkies who like doing things like jumping out of airplanes, Bundy jumping, really exciting things that get their adrenaline pumping. But you might not be aware that adrenaline actually is a hormone and that it could be the missing link in your midlife hormone program if you're not getting the results that you want. In fact, most of us have adrenaline problems because of stress. So it's not only about cortisol, it's also about adrenaline. There are some genetic predispositions to adrenaline dysfunction that we talk about in this episode that you're gonna wanna hear about. And there are many methods that you can use to address this. So this is a little bit of a controversial episode. Speaker 1 (02:07): I'm not usually this contentious with guess, but when they make some very outwardly bold claims about health that are questionably founded in science, then you know, I have to challenge that. So we did that, but I think that our guest today really is an expert in this field and really has a lot to offer on this topic. So I'll tell you a little bit about him and then we'll get started. Dr. Michael Platt has been a pioneer in the research and advancement of the therapeutic use of progesterone cream for use in managing adrenaline and hormone imbalance. He's considered an important pioneer and observational functional alternative and allopathic medicine focused on bioidentical hormones and adrenaline overload. He has three books, the Miracle of Bioidentical Hormones, adrenaline Dominance, and the Plat Protocol, and has received 11 literary awards. Please help me welcome Dr. Michael Platt to the show. Speaker 3 (03:01): Thank you. Glad to be here. Speaker 1 (03:03): So we're gonna talk about adrenaline dominance. We're gonna talk about bioidentical hormones. We're gonna talk about all things women over 40 and their hormonal poverty that they have to deal with and and how to go about fixing it. You have a book on adrenaline dominance, so why don't we start there. It's funny, I was doing an interview earlier today with a health coach and she had gone through one of my programs and so I had asked her in the interview what were the most surprising things that she learned during the program. And she said the importance of cortisol. She herself had been a fitness coach and a health coach and she had no idea about issues related to cortisol adrenaline also, and she was very surprised by that. So can you talk a little bit about how you came to realize that adrenaline and then cortisol is related to that also really is a key problem for women at midlife and beyond, and how you came to focus on that Speaker 3 (04:11): Adrenaline interfere with the quality of life any age, beginning with the baby, you've heard of babies that have colic, colic, colic is excess adrenaline and you can actually get rid of it in about five minutes. Treating the baby women that are pregnant with a fetus does a lot of kicking. That's adrenaline. That baby will probably have colic when the baby is born. Nobody ever talks about this. And then bedwetting in children is all about adrenaline and then a D H D and it just goes on and out. We'll talk about this, but what happened was I started getting involved with hormones because my, actually because of my mother, my mother died of breast cancer at the age of 61. And right after she died, I realized I had inherited her hormones. Men, people don't realize that men and women had the identical hormones, different levels, but the same hormones. Speaker 3 (05:04): And so I knew she was low in progesterone because she had breast cancer, she had a belly on her, so I knew she had a lot of insulin. So when I first got involved with hormones at that time, I used to have to slap my face when I was driving, trying to keep my eyes open. And then right after I started using progesterone, 'cause that I, I thought I was low in it because of my mother. I never got sleep in a car yet. And that, that's been a long time now. So when I saw what progesterone could do with, with regards to my, my sleepiness, I got involved with hormones and I opened up a clinic doing hormone therapy back in 1995. And what was advantageous to me is that I was able to sit down and talk to my patients for about two hours. Speaker 3 (05:46): And let me tell you something. When you sit down and talk to to some, that's how you learn about what's going on with them and what works and what doesn't work. And I realized that a lot of these people had the same issues, trouble sleeping, some anger issues, anxiety. And I figured that the only hormones that could cause all these different things is adrenaline. And so I started treating people with more excess adrenaline and I got some remarkable results. You can actually get rid of A D H D in 24 hours. You get rid of fibro fibromyalgia, which is considered incurable by lowering adrenaline. So it goes on and on and it opened up a whole new world of medicine to me. Speaker 1 (06:27): I know you're a md, but what w what is your specialty? Speaker 3 (06:30): I was board certified in internal medicine. I actually went to medical school watching to be a surgeon, but I did wanna do the 10 at that time they had what, what we called a 10 minute scrub and I didn't understand why you had to wash your hands for 10 minutes and then put on a pair of gloves. So anyway, I, I switched over to medicine and yeah, so my specialty was internal medicine. Speaker 1 (06:51): Okay. So how do you, I apologize, I haven't had the opportunity to read your books yet. So in someone who might suspect that they're hyper adrenalized, do you wanna talk a little bit about exactly what that is? I don't know that everybody can thinks about adrenaline as a hormone. They might think about it more as a neurotransmitter. But if you wanna talk a little bit about what it is, how it works in the body, how they might know that they are hyper adrenalized and what tests, if any, might be available. What would that process look like? Speaker 3 (07:28): Okay. People that have access adrenaline, first of all it's the, the number one reason why people are trouble sleeping, either falling asleep or staying asleep. Some people grind their teeth at night. Some people toss and turn. That's all adrenaline. The other thing, people with excess adrenaline will be quick to anger 'cause it's an anger hormone and they'll carry a lot of tension in the back of their neck. And this tension can actually cause tinnitus and it can cause headaches that are always mistaken for migraines. But it's really some, a headache called occipital neuritis, which is very easy to fix as opposed to migraines. But what's interesting is that this migraine or this headache is always mistaken for a migraine even though it's not a migraine headache. And very often this headache shoots right into the back of the eye and it comes from the occipital nerve sheath at the ba at the base of the skull. Speaker 3 (08:20): So just putting some congestion cream on the back of the neck eliminates its headache. But in, in any event, people with a lot of adrenaline anxiety is only caused by excess adrenaline. And adrenaline by the way, it's, it's both a hormone as well as a neurotransmitter. And the, so when people have a lot of adrenaline, they, it affects the quality of their life. People can sometimes complain about cold hands and cold feet. They always blame the thyroid for that, but it's actually adrenaline. And why adrenaline does this, it constricts blood vessels and so it can cut off blood supply to the intestines because they're not needed for survival. And adrenaline is a survival hormone. Speaker 3 (09:01): So by cutting off blood supply to the intestines, the cause of constipation, which is also known as I b s irritable bowel syndrome, is excess adrenaline. It cuts off blood supply not only to the hands and feet, but it also cuts off blood supply to the salivary glands because they're not needed for survival. And that's why when it comes to doing hormone test testing, I never recommend saliva test because the hormones don't get into the saliva, then they get low levels. And that's, so when they get a low cortisol in the saliva, they call that adrenal fatigue. But adrenal fatigue is a condition that doesn't exist be if they did a blood test. Speaker 1 (09:40): What do you mean by that? Adrenal fatigue is a condition that doesn't exist Speaker 3 (09:44): Because it, it's all based on a false reading of a saliva test. Adrenal fatigue is mostly a naturopath diagnosis and naturopath to sliva test. For the most part, Speaker 1 (09:55): We'll have to a degree to disagree on that salivary Speaker 3 (09:58): . Okay, that's fine. Speaker 1 (09:59): Testing is actually validated to be highly accurate in their me many medical doctors that use it. So if someone suspects that they have hyperrealism, are there a test that you recommend that they can get any confirmation of that? Or is it just a symptomatic diagnosis? Speaker 3 (10:18): Actually the best test is a cortisol test done on blood, not on saliva. And you cannot go by, by what they call a normal level in order to establish normal levels. They actually use medical students because they, they're available in hospitals and they can do studies on them. And all doctors have increased adrenaline. Adrenaline is actually the neurotransmitter. They give people intelligence. So most doctors, if not all, have a lot of adrenaline. So when they did the studies on them, they said that a normal cortisol level blood we're talk about blood now is 19.4. But to me anything above 13 is a high cortisol level. Speaker 1 (10:56): And so you're saying they should have a blood test and if they're above 13, that because their cortisol is high, that by definition they have hyperrealism. Is that correct? Speaker 3 (11:06): Yeah, I actually very rarely detesting because when somebody has a lot of adrenaline, you don't need to do a test. You know it, they have all sorts of symptoms too. So they have conditions like P M D D, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, which is caused by excess adrenaline. You don't need to do a test for that. But they don't have one except cor cortisol level. So there are a number of conditions that are caused by excess adrenaline. They really don't have to test for like fi, fibromyalgia. Speaker 1 (11:36): I find it interesting, you're very emphatic and reductive about P M D D is because of hyperrealism and this and fibro mount is because of it. And in my research and my fellowship training, et cetera, that usually it's multifactorial. Is hyperrealism a component of most of these? Yes. So what makes you so emphatic and Sure. What data do you have that says specifically that it is only hyperrealism that causes fibromyalgia? Period? End of sentence. I'm curious. Speaker 3 (12:08): Remember, I've had a lot of experience dealing with patients specifically for problems related to excess adrenaline. And the book that I wrote called Adrenaline dominance, right, Speaker 3 (12:19): Is the only book that I know of that talks about adrenaline. They have a a, a book out now about stress and they talk about cortisol where they don't talk about adrenaline. But the only thing that causes stress is excess adrenaline and body releases cortisol in response to stress. Now what's interesting is that people, most people don't realize it, the brain uses up a lot of sugar, probably more sugar than any other tissue in the body. And the, the reason why people have access adrenaline is not because they're in danger. It's because for, for the most part is because the body uses adrenaline to raise sugar levels for the brain. You a process called gluconeogenesis where the body converts protein into sugar and an adrenaline peaks at two 30 in the morning. A lot of people get up at that time to urinate because adrenaline actually gives people that urge to urinate on television. Speaker 3 (13:13): They call it an overactive bladder, but that's adrenaline and just like a condition called chronic interstitial cystitis, which is also considered incurable, which is also caused by adrenaline. And, but in any event, the body uses adrenaline to raise sugar levels and it peaks at two 30 in the morning when people are lying in bed. And when the body releases adrenaline, because it's a very, it's a powerful hormone, it creates stress to the body. And the body responds to stress by putting out cortisol. And cortisol also raises sugar levels. So while people are sleeping or trying to sleep, they're putting out two hormones that raise sugar levels and they're not burning it up. And the whole thing about sugar, it doesn't matter if you're eating sugar or if the body's making sugar, if you don't burn it up, the body stores it, it's fat and fat cells. Mm-Hmm. , I think it may be the number one reason for, for weight gain, but that's just my feeling. Speaker 1 (14:07): Mm-Hmm. , Speaker 3 (14:08): I think it's, at least it's an important issue when it comes to weight. So Speaker 1 (14:12): Yeah, I, I agree. It's an important issue when it comes to every health problem. The majority of us, especially in western cultures, are hyper adrenalized and it really isn't addressed. So I'm glad you have a book about it and you really are raising awareness about it. And I think that we do need to have a balanced view that it's, these disorders like P M D M D are probably not uni factorial disorders at least in my experience and training. So someone suspects and, and I think pretty much everyone has an adrenalin problem in this day and age. 'cause We all have so much stress. How do you recommend that they go about addressing it? Speaker 3 (14:55): I'd have to tell you that doctors don't get a whole lot of training with regards to the cause of illness. They train both . Speaker 1 (15:02): Yeah, pretty much none. . Speaker 3 (15:03): Okay. Yeah. Speaker 3 (15:04): So when it comes to adrenaline, it's the same thing. If, if you want to manage adrenaline, you have to treat the reason why the body's releasing it. And everybody knows about the fight or flight situation when it comes to adrenaline that when people are in danger, the body pours out adrenaline. But that's a rare reason why the body puts out adrenaline. The primary reason why the body puts out adrenaline is to raise sugar levels for the brain. So what this means is that if you provide the fuel to the brain, the body doesn't need to use adrenaline to do it. So the brain use the two different fuels. One is glucose that the type of sugar and the best source glucose for the brain comes for vegetables. And the reason for that, they don't stimulate a lot of insulin. Candy and soda are great sources of glucose, but they produce a lot of insulin, which lower sugar defeats the purpose. Speaker 3 (15:54): Now the other fuel, which is even more important that the brain uses are ketones. And you talk about a ketogenic diet, I don't recommend that because it's a difficult diet to accomplish, but you can get ketone directly from coconut oil or M C T oil, which comes from coconut oil. So basically adding coconut oil, m c t oil and vegetables into your meal plan, you can get a dramatic lowering of adrenaline. Now the only other thing you need to add is a 5% progesterone cream. Now 5% means that each pump is 50 milligrams and this is the exact strength you need to block adrenaline. They have different strength, but 5% is the exact strength. And what's good about this, you don't need a prescription for, you get it over the counter and you don't need a prescription for coconut oil or M c t oil or, or vegetables. So people can actually treat themselves if they care to. And people that have a lot of adrenaline, as soon as they put progestin cream on within minutes, they'll feel more, more relaxed and they'll be able to focus better if they have a lot of adrenaline. Speaker 1 (17:00): And I know that women listening now are going, how is progesterone gonna help my adrenaline? So what would you explain to them? Speaker 3 (17:06): The progesterone will help the adrenaline because it blocks adrenaline. It's mostly known for blocking estrogen, but it also blocks insulin and it blocks adrenaline. This is not known. Mm-Hmm. to most doctors, most people Speaker 1 (17:18): You think that they should have a progesterone test to see where their levels are before they use progesterone because Speaker 3 (17:27): No, I don't. First of all, you cannot overdose on progesterone. Speaker 1 (17:30): I've seen it Speaker 3 (17:32): . There is one Speaker 1 (17:32): I've seen it, it happens. Speaker 3 (17:34): There's a condition. Are you're familiar with type three diabetes? Speaker 1 (17:38): Yes. Speaker 3 (17:38): Did you know they don't have a test for it? Speaker 1 (17:40): Yeah. Speaker 3 (17:40): And it's a precursor to Alzheimer's. Okay. But the thing is, is that if somebody does have type three diabetes and they use progesterone, they get an immediate outpouring of adrenaline and immediate. And so these people will not tolerate progesterone. But it's important for them to know that they have type three diabetes because can be prevent, they can prevent Alzheimer's just by adding M C T oil into their meal plan. Speaker 1 (18:06): Yes. And I'm back. So you recommend that for men or women regardless of age, that they use progesterone cream? Speaker 3 (18:14): I do. Men stop making progesterone around the age of 50, and it's after the age of 50 that men start getting prostate cancer because now they, they don't have a hormone to block estrogen anymore, which causes prostate cancer and they start putting on weight around the middle because they can't block insulin and insulin puts on fat around the middle. So it's an important hormone for men also, even though most people think it's a woman's hormone. Speaker 1 (18:37): But what about treating the reason why someone has high adrenaline and calming their nervous system and regulating the nervous system and calming the sympathetic nervous system, increasing the parasympathetic, but with all the myriad of tools that we have to do that? What about doing that? Speaker 3 (18:58): Okay. The problem is, is that when it comes to the reason or the cause that people have access to adrenaline, it's genetic always. It's always genetic. In other words, if somebody has a lot of adrenaline, that means one or both parents had it. If a child has a D H D, then one or both parents have A D h D. They may not be recognized, but I can recognize it. But Speaker 1 (19:19): What gene is this, because I'm not familiar with this. I didn't, I've I've never heard of that. So can you enlighten me please? Speaker 3 (19:27): There's a lot of things in my book that you've never heard of. Speaker 1 (19:30): Okay. Speaker 3 (19:31): I think you'll find it very interesting. Speaker 1 (19:32): That's why I have you here so you can enlighten me. But so I'm wanting to know, because I know everybody listening is thinking the same thing. Same thing. I've never heard that. Speaker 3 (19:41): If you go to Amazon, you could read the reviews on my book. They're almost all five star. And people talk about their own experiences. Speaker 1 (19:49): Right. But I'm trying to get to the science 'cause I am not familiar. Yes. There are certain genetic snits that might predispose you where you don't detoxify your adrenaline the same as others. I happen to have that. So for instance, if I get upset, it tends to last longer than the average person because I don't metabolize my adrenaline as quickly. And methylation defects can predispose you to that. So is that what you're referring to? You're not referring to a direct gene that causes hyper production of adrenaline. Are you talking about all these SNPs of detox that you might have pathways that are decreased, so you might not metabolize it like I have. Is that what you're talking about? I Speaker 3 (20:33): Have to, I have to tell you, I'm not a scientist. Mm-Hmm. Speaker 1 (20:36): , Speaker 3 (20:37): I'm an obser. I observe. And so what I have observed is that when people have a lot of adrenaline, creative type people, by the way have the most adrenaline. And the reason for that is that the creative brain is more active and there's a lot of drugs and alcohol in the music industry. And I attribute that because these are people that are just trying to relax from all the adrenaline that they have. But when people are creative, these are the people that are very intuitive about other people. They can pick up good energy and bad energy from people. Mm-Hmm. . And they have premonitions and they have deja vu type feelings. When the phone rings, they'll even know who it is before they answer. Or they'll say, I was just thinking about you. Mm-Hmm. . And these are the people who will find that animals will be very attracted to them, believe it. Speaker 3 (21:24): Or the animals can pick up on their energy. And so can creative children pick up e energy that this adrenaline energy from other people? And now you have to remember, I've been dealing a long time with people with excess adrenaline. Mm-Hmm. . So these are things that I have observed. And the thing is that in the book I talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to adrenaline. And the only condition I put in the good category was A D H D. And the reason I put that in the good category is that the most intelligent, successful creative people in the world have a d h D. And like I say, you've heard of people that get road rage. Road rage is pure adrenaline. And you can actually get rid of road, you can get rid of road rage in 24 hours just by lowering adrenaline. Now remember, I, I've had the luxury, if you will, of dealing with a lot of people with excess adrenaline. And this is what I've observed mm-hmm. , I'm open to the doctors and I Speaker 1 (22:16): Hear what you're saying. So you're saying the genetic, the inputs. Right? So I, if you have detox pathway disruptions from SNPs, like I have, there are things you can do to improve, decrease sympathetic nervous system tone. I usually recommend that people quantify their sympathetic tone and their parasympathetic tone using something called heart rate variability. And they can actually get pretty reliable numbers that talk about and give information on your levels of these different neurotransmitters in the sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic, including adrenaline. So you can get actual numbers to measure it and you can use interventions to calm it down, like using breathing practices, which is really the way that you get at the autonomic nervous system. So I'm just wondering if, if you do talk about that in your book, meditation, breathing practices, things like that. Speaker 3 (23:19): Remember I I mentioned the good, the bad and the ugly. Speaker 1 (23:22): Yes. Speaker 3 (23:22): Okay. You're, I'm sure you're very familiar with a condition called hyperemesis grab Arum. Speaker 1 (23:27): Yes. Speaker 3 (23:28): What do you think causes that? You're Speaker 1 (23:30): Gonna say adrenaline, hyper adrenaline. I Speaker 3 (23:32): Am gonna say adrenaline . Speaker 1 (23:33): Okay. Speaker 3 (23:34): They have another condition called cyclical vomiting syndrome. They had children that have to be hospitalized to, to stop the vomiting. Again. There are some people who wake up nauseated and that's always adrenaline. Adrenaline is a, is a, is a hormone that causes nausea and vomiting. I had a, a gentleman that came in to see me and I think it was about 47 at the time. The reason he came to see me is because every morning he would wake up in a vomit every morning. And, and to my way of thinking, the only thing that can cause that was excess adrenaline. And this man had severe fibromyalgia, severe. Anyway, the upshot of the whole thing, I put some progestin cream on his arm and he rubbed his arms together and, and we started talking again. And about five minutes after putting on the cream, he looked at me, he, he sat back in his chair and he looked at me and said, doc, in my entire life I have never felt this good my entire life anyway, since he left my office, he's never had another episode of vomiting. So yeah, there are other things that can cause problems related to the neurotra, but is adrenaline, whatever. But progestin cream is so easy. easy. Really? Speaker 1 (24:41): Yeah. Don't get me wrong. I love progesterone. You know, the weight loss diuretic, sleep well feel good, anti-anxiety, anti-depression, happy hormone. It's wonderful. And I just, I'm all for fixing the reason why somebody has a problem before giving a medication. And so to me, I think that sometimes we can use a so-called functional or even a root cause approach in the same way as mainstream medicine. I have a headache, I take a medication to get rid of it. Oh, I'm hyper adrenalized. I'm gonna use progesterone to get rid of it. But you're not addressing the reason why you're hyper adrenalized, which to my knowledge we'll just have to agree that there's no gene for that, that gives you that. But there are conditions from genes with your detoxification where you may not get rid of it properly. So you might have higher levels, but the majority of people, like you said, everybody's stressed probably need to do something to calm that down. Speaker 1 (25:46): So I'm more of the approach to address those root causes. And also I'm gonna a proponent of tests, don't guess, test progesterone levels, test estradiol levels, test estriol levels, test testosterone levels, test D A G A, test all of these things, cortisol, insulin. And then use interventions in targeted in a targeted manner to fix and address these problems. And I find that when I work with people in this way, everything comes into balance. But I do love your contribution of really highlighting the hyperrealism. But I sometimes think that if you have a big hammer, everything can look like a nail. So I just am wary of that approach. Speaker 3 (26:35): . Okay. medicine has always been a passion for me. Mm-Hmm. Speaker 1 (26:40): . Speaker 3 (26:40): And I don't have to tell you, getting a patient well is very rewarding. Speaker 1 (26:44): Yes. Speaker 3 (26:45): The, I've seen the benefits of what happens when you lower adrenaline Speaker 1 (26:49): . Yeah. So what about, I know you have your other book on bioidentical hormones, correct? Or just hormonal imbalance. Do you wanna talk a little bit about that in older woman? Do you recommend that they are tested for their levels? Speaker 3 (27:06): You can, even though if a woman is in the menopause, which means she's not bleeding anymore, I pretty much know what her hormones are gonna be. I, and I'll be honest with you, I've always preferred treating people rather than lab tests. And the reason for that is that to my way of thinking, you can never go wrong treating a person, but you can go wrong treating a lab test. 'cause They, they can be off 'cause hor hormones are whatever. But in any event, the, I'm very much in favor of replacing hormones in women and men hormones Speaker 1 (27:40): Control everything. Speaker 3 (27:41): But yeah. Speaker 1 (27:41): So in the miracle bioidentical hormones, again, I apologize, I haven't been able to had time to read them yet, your books, do you recommend that women be tested for their levels or that they just use over the counter products? No, Speaker 3 (27:55): I, a big fan of compounding pharmacies. Speaker 1 (27:58): Mm-Hmm. Speaker 3 (28:00): And they will need prescriptions for the right hormones. I testosterone, I, I know it's a controlled drug and it, to me it's an extremely important hormone for women. Speaker 1 (28:10): Yes. Speaker 3 (28:10): The number one cause of death in women is, is heart attacks. And, and I think that's related to a low testosterone because their heart muscles have more testosterone receptor cytes than any other tissue in the body. And men still make some testosterone, but women stop. So I think it's an important hormone to replace in women when they're in the menopause. Speaker 1 (28:28): Why else do you think testosterone is important for women? 'cause That's something that I'm very passionate about too, because many doctors are reluctant to test and or prescribe testosterone for women. So what other reasons do you think it's vital for women? Speaker 3 (28:43): There's something you probably read about in my book that you won't hear anywhere else. Women that have what's called stress incontinence, if they cough or sneeze Yeah. Urine. And what I have found is that you can recommend Kegels and but without testosterone, they can't build muscle and they lose that muscle control around the urethra. So if you have a woman use intravaginal testosterone and have them do the Kegel exercise in three to six days, it'll be gone. And that's almost a hundred percent effective. Speaker 1 (29:14): That is, I've never thought of that. That is brilliant. We talk about losing muscle mass with lack of testosterone, but I never thought about that for stress incontinence. That's brilliant. . Speaker 3 (29:28): Yeah. You actually, when the medical board found out I was using testosterone for women 'cause I didn't do pelvic exams, they wanted to take away my license 'cause I was not doing pelvic exam even though they had their own gynecologist Anyway, medical boy has never liked me. So , you know, so, Speaker 1 (29:46): And I think, I don't think it was you, they don't like testosterone and they don't like testosterone in women. We'll have a little tangent here. So in her, I have a, a telemedicine company and we prescribe testosterone for women. But they have all these laws because called the hate act, it's not hate h a t, it's h A I G H T because of a teenage boy, Ryan Ha who obtained testosterone to build muscle. And he ended up dying because of cardiac problems. And so that's part of the reason that it's controlled substance. It's part of the reason it can't be prescribed by telemedicine. There are just so many regulations around testosterone and women don't abuse testosterone. Right. It was a teenage boy and it was male bodybuilders who were abusing it. And now women who, like you said, men continue to produce some testosterone. The majority, I'd say 80% of the women I see over 40 have dismal, if any testosterone. And it's vital for us, and it's a logistical nightmare to get a woman a testosterone prescription. And most doctors believe as if it's a religion, not science, that it's not necessary or it's harmful. And so I say amen to what you're saying about testosterone in women. It's vital. Yeah. Speaker 3 (31:13): It's a lot of things about hormones that have issues and shouldn't have Speaker 1 (31:18): Legal issues. Speaker 3 (31:19): Yeah. Legal issues. Speaker 1 (31:21): Yeah. So do tell about that. 'cause People wanna know, they wanna know, Speaker 3 (31:25): Like you, I I believe in treating the cause of illness. Right. Speaker 1 (31:28): And Speaker 3 (31:28): When you treat the cause, you can actually cure somebody. And as a result, I was able to get a lot of people off their medications. 'cause, But this irritates lot of doctors because it's a slap in the face for another doctor to have another doctor to take their patient off drug. And with the upshot of the whole thing, I had a run in with a medical board who, and I'm sure that's funded by drug companies. So they had complaints from doctors about me because I've taken their patients off drugs. I don't like drugs. It's like when people, thyroid, a lot of people have thyroid issues. And when I did my training, we were taught that cholesterol is a poor man's thyroid test. And the reason for that, the thyroid controls cholesterol metabolism. So a lot of people that are being treated for an an elevated cholesterol could actually just take thyroid. And also women with the highest cholesterols are the greatest longevity anyway. But, but that's even Speaker 1 (32:24): In there. Yeah. And I, before when you said, I, I don't like drugs and I tried to take people off 'em, I love this quote from Voltaire that you shared that I wanna share with everyone. Doctors give drugs of which they know little into bodies of which they know less for diseases of which they know nothing at all. Nothing at all. And I forget what century Voltaire was in, but I don't know that much has changed . Speaker 3 (32:48): It hasn't, unfortunately. Speaker 1 (32:50): I don't know why there's so many legalities around hormonal medications and anything else. The minute that comes out of my mouth, I say, I do know why. Because they're naturally occurring substances and therefore they're hard to, you can't patent them. And so that's why they're so highly political. And there are a lot of legalities, but from thyroid to estrogen, progesterone, testosterone. And I think in the balance, women suffer the most because we're programmed to have hormonal poverty at midlife. And we have so much stress. So yes. We talked a little bit about testosterone. How about estrogen? What, what would you like to offer everybody to understand about the role of estrogen? Speaker 3 (33:35): I'm not a big fan of estrogen. My mother was on Premarin before she died. Speaker 1 (33:39): But that's not estrogen , that's not human estrogen. Speaker 3 (33:44): It's horse estrogen. Speaker 1 (33:45): So you're, you're really not a fan of horse estrogen for human women. I am not either. Speaker 3 (33:51): Okay. A lot of these women that do use Premarin, they don't realize that they, they kill the colts after, after when they're born. 'cause These are pregnant mares urine that they use. I think if they knew that they wouldn't use Premarin, I would think that, I would hope that they wouldn't use it. But in any event, the, I like Estriol. Mm-Hmm. Speaker 1 (34:10): Speaker 3 (34:11): It, it's the weakest estrogen, but it's the only one that is not associated with cancer.  Speaker 1 (34:15): Right. Speaker 3 (34:16): And it's the only one, the only estrogen effective for vaginal dryness. I don't have a problem with estriol. It's probably the estradiol a little bit leery. Speaker 1 (34:26): But that show that there's increased longevity when you use estradiol to get someone out of hormonal poverty into what I call hormonal prosperity to optimum levels that decreased risk of dementia and Alzheimer's, decreased risk of cardiac disease, decreased risk of osteoporosis, decreased risk, the list goes on and on. And also not an increased risk of breast cancer. Now this is talking about biologically identical estradiol, not horse estrogen. So what are your reservations about it? Speaker 3 (35:07): When you talk about conditions that women get, like fibroids and endometriosis and polycystic ov and cancer, the ovaries, they're all related to estrogen, Speaker 1 (35:16): But aren't they really all related to the fact that the estrogen isn't balanced by progesterone because they, all these conditions increase in the 40 year old age range. That's when progesterone starts going down. And Speaker 3 (35:27): You're absolutely right. , nowadays when doctors use progesterone, they're not protecting their patients because they're using oral progesterone and converts into allopregnanolone. 90% of it converts into allopregnanolone, which I think actually increase increases adrenaline, I think. But anyway, Speaker 1 (35:47): Well, I do use oral progesterone, particularly for people who have high anxiety and sleep difficulties. I find that the delivery is better, the transdermal, we use all kinds, but that's why I like testing Speaker 3 (36:02): . They try, try the five, try the 5% progesterone cream because like I said, it block, it blocks adrenaline and they'd be able to sleep better and, and it gets rid of anxiety within minutes. Yeah. Speaker 1 (36:14): You know? Yeah. I usually do custom dose preparations. But go ahead. Speaker 3 (36:17): You talk about hormones and doctors never think about using hormones in children. Speaker 1 (36:22): No. Speaker 3 (36:23): And but, and here I'm, I'm saying if you have a baby with colic, you should put some progestin cream in the very belly in five minutes it's gone. You don't have to stay up all night with a crying baby. But I think a lot of people would look as SC at that. But when women, when the fetus is in the womb as it gets exposed to incredibly high levels of progesterone, right. So you figure if a fetus can tolerate those kind of levels, why can't a baby tolerate a little bit of progesterone cream? Speaker 1 (36:50): They're also exposed to testosterone and estrogen and utero. And I think any pediatrician would severely object to putting testosterone or estradiol on a child. Speaker 3 (37:04): I'm not talk, I'm, I understand that. I'm not, I'm not recommending that. But I would recommend progesterone. Speaker 1 (37:10): You would, but I don't think majority of doctors really understand. Agree. They agree. They don't speak hormone. agree. They don't speak hormone. So they don't understand. Even when you say it, I get a little clench in my stomach, but then I let I think about it and I go, yeah, they're, what's wrong with that ? There's probably nothing wrong with it. Speaker 3 (37:30): No, the baby will like it. Yeah. . Speaker 1 (37:33): Right. But I do, like I said, I worry that, oh, Tylenol for a knee egg, Tylenol for a headache, progesterone for this. Progesterone for that. Why is that baby hyper adrenalized. What? Is there mold in the house that's causing the smoke alarm No. In its body to go off and and adrenaline to go off? Is it not getting nurturing parenting what's happening? Speaker 3 (37:56): I'm telling you that even though you disagree with this, which is okay, the baby has a lot of adrenaline he inherited from the mother or possibly the father. I'm just saying. Speaker 1 (38:05): Yeah. Speaker 3 (38:06): One of the parents had a lot of adrenaline. Yeah. Speaker 1 (38:09): Yeah. such an interesting topic. And I have, now I have to read your book because I love that you're highlighting this because I think that it is completely overlooked in my fellowship training. I've never heard anyone talk about it the way you do in such detail. And I, so I think it is, it's completely overlooked and it definitely needs to be addressed. And how to address it though, I would probably just lean towards trying some more causes. The majority of people have shallow breathing, which signals their body that they are in a stress state, they don't breathe properly. And that triggers adrenaline to be released. And so breath reeducation a huge part of what I'm a proponent of. And just from my own experience, even having those genetic SNPs with breathing practices can bring it down so that I'm not in that state. So I tend towards more of that. But anything you would like to add, and we'll definitely give everyone, all the places your books and where to find you online, . Speaker 3 (39:18): It's just that women have to learn how to become proactive when it comes to their health. They can't rely on a medical system that has no concern about their health except for you. , you're it. Speaker 1 (39:29): There's some of us. But say more about that. What's your experience? Because you don't hear a lot of doctors talk about that. I'm one who does. I talk about the, there's no worse medical gaslighting going on than against women, particularly women over 40. And we're told we don't have a problem. We don't need hormones. Estrogen is bad. We don't need testosterone. It's insane. To me, Speaker 3 (39:53): The book I wrote, the first one was The Miracle of Bio Hormones. And it literally brought thousands of patients to my office from all over the country and all over the world came in because of that book. And this was the same time that Suzanne Summers mm-hmm. Speaker 1 (40:07): Speaker 3 (40:07): Came out with her book. Right. Sexy Ways or, and now keep in mind that Suzanne Summers had breast cancer and she was seeing doctor up in San Santa Barbara who had her on eight milligrams a day of estradiol at a time that she still had her, she was still having periods. She put her on estrogen, estradiol, and as she came down with breast cancer and she went to Germany, got some injections of , whatever, missile toe injection, and came back, went right back to this doctor and put her right back on estrogen, by the way. And she started bleeding from the uterus and couldn't stop and had to, and had to have a hysterectomy. Now, in her book, she never blamed estrogen for either problem. And to me this was a a such a, I, I thought it was a, was not a good thing for women to be exposed to that kind of, Suzanne Summers a nice lady, but I think, Speaker 1 (41:01): I think that she didn't blame the, she was on egregiously high levels of estrogen. And maybe that's why she, because I know in her later books, she didn't recommend those protocols that she had been on before that were these egregiously high levels of estrogen. So I think she recognized the benefits and the need for estrogen and she more blamed the protocol she had been on. And like Maya Angelou says, when you know better, you do better. She just didn't know. And she was trusting the so-called expert she went to, and then she had those problems. But that was my understanding of it. Anyway. Speaker 3 (41:40): Yeah. Speaker 1 (41:41): Alright. It has been a pleasure to have you, Dr. Platt. And where can people tell them about all your books and where they can find you online and Speaker 3 (41:51): Yeah, they can give a lot of information. The website codes, platt wellness.com, P L A t, platt wellness.com. They can read reviews on the books on Amazon. Mm-Hmm. , and they could buy the books on Amazon, I think. Speaker 1 (42:06): Okay. Speaker 3 (42:07): And they'll know on the website that there are ways of getting in touch with me if they have question. Speaker 1 (42:12): Great. Awesome. Thank you so much for joining us today, and thank you all for listening to another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kieran. I know you have learned something today that you can put into use to help yourself move, move towards the brilliant health that you deserve. Tell me what you thought, because I'm not usually this controversial when I do an interview , but we had some healthy discourse today and I'm wondering what you think and what you learned. So reach out to me on social media and give me a holler and I will see you again next week. Until then, peace, love, and hormones y'all. Speaker 2 (42:55): Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.   ► Free Guide to Managing Adrenaline for optimal health by Dr. Michael Platt - CLICK HERE   ► Feeling tired? Can't seem to lose weight, no matter how hard you try? It might be time to check your hormones. Most people don't even know that their hormones could be the culprit behind their problems. But at Her Hormone Club, we specialize in hormone testing and treatment. We can help you figure out what's going on with your hormones and get you back on track. We offer advanced hormone testing and treatment from Board Certified Practitioners, so you can feel confident that you're getting the best possible care. Plus, our convenient online consultation process makes it easy to get started. Try Her Hormone Club for 30 days and see how it can help you feel better than before. CLICK HERE.   ► Do you feel exhausted, moody, and unable to do the things that used to bring you joy? It could be because of hormonal poverty! You can take our quiz now to find out if your hormone levels are at optimum level or not. Take this quiz and get ready to reclaim your life; say goodbye to fatigue and lack of energy for good. We want every woman to live her best life — free from any signs or symptoms of hormonal poverty, so they can relish their everyday moments with confidence and joy. Imagine having a strong immune system, vibrant skin, improved sleep quality… these are all possible when hormones are balanced! 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Welcome to the latest episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast, hosted by Dr. Kyrin Dunston! In this informative and engaging episode, Dr. Kyrin Dunston talks to renowned guest Faraz Khan about reversing hair loss and regaining hair vitality at midlife. Faraz is an expert in the field of hair loss in women, founder of FullyVital, and host of the Anti-Aging Hacks Podcast.    Faraz's innovative thinking and empathetic approach towards hair health have made him a highly sought-after voice in the field. In this conversation, he delves into the molecular level of how testosterone and DHT, specifically around menopause, can affect hair follicle health, ultimately contributing to a broader understanding of hair loss patterns in women. Some highlights of the episode include: - Understanding the role of testosterone and DHT in hair health - Strategies to reverse hair loss during midlife - The complex interplay of hormones, diet, and lifestyle that impact hair health - Faraz's unique perspective and empathetic approach to hair health    It's an episode that you won't want to miss if you want to understand the root cause of hair loss and learn how to regain your hair's vitality at midlife. So, don't miss out on the valuable insights Faraz shares and the helpful knowledge he imparts.    Make sure to subscribe to The Hormone Prescription Podcast to stay updated on all the latest episodes and be a part of our community of listeners working towards better hormonal health. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a review!** Your positive feedback helps others discover our podcast and benefit from the insightful conversations we have with experts like Faraz Khan. Together, we can help more people gain control of their hormonal health and enjoy fuller, more vital lives.   Speaker 1 (00:00): Our bodies are magical and they know exactly how to heal. We just have to give them time so they can kickstart the process. Stay tuned to learn how to heal your hair and reverse hair loss at midlife. Speaker 2 (00:15): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us, keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself again. As an O B G Y N, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Speaker 1 (01:08): Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me today as we dive into reversing hair loss at midlife. How to make it fully vital with my guest today, Faraz Khan. Hair loss is a huge problem for women at midlife and beyond, and it's not only a cosmetic issue. Sure, our identity is very tied up in our hair and we want our hair to look its best 'cause it is tied to our identity, and we feel our best when our hair looks good, but it's about so much more. Your hair is part of the trilogy of what I call the canary in the coal mine, and that's hair, skin, and nails. These three aspects of your body will out picture what's going on inside. So if your health is not optimized inside, if you're in hormonal poverty, for instance, which occurs for most women after 40, then your hair is not going to be as thick as it should, as long as it should, as vital as it should, as healthy as it should, and your identity is gonna suffer as a result. Speaker 1 (02:22): So just like erectile dysfunction in men is very often a harbinger of cardiac issues, right? It's not just about erectile dysfunction in women. Hair problems are not just about the hair, it's about your metabolism, your physiology, your biochemistry, what's happening inside the body. And so the hair is one of the places that will out picture this. So I really want you to pay attention. If you've got hair problems, it could be a sign of something deeper. And we're gonna dive in today into what are the deeper causes of hair loss. Yes, it's about hormones, but it's not only about hormones. So there are other dysfunctions and disruptions that can be going on that you need to pay attention to. And we're gonna dive into that and we're gonna talk about the quote that Farad shared that I shared with you and the teaser. And we're gonna give you some solutions. Speaker 1 (03:13): Best of all, what do you do about it? There's testing that can be done, there are treatments that are available to you. There's further diagnosis, more than your doctors and dermatologist's office. There are specialists in this. So we're gonna dive into all of this and really give you a good understanding. First, I'll tell you a little bit about for us Khan, and then we'll get started. He's the founder of Fully Vital and the host of the Anti-Aging Hacks podcast. He's a leading expert in the field of hair loss in women and has dedicated his career to understanding the complex interplay of hormones, diet, and lifestyle on hair health. His work focuses on the molecular level of how testosterone and D H T affect hair follicles, as well as the other factors that go into hair loss. He has innovative thinking and an empathetic approach. This has made him a sought after voice in the field. He's helped countless individuals regain confidence and control over their hair health. His insights into hormonal imbalances, particularly around menopause, perimenopause, hormonal poverty, have contributed to a broader understanding of hair loss patterns in women. So please help me welcome Rascon to the show. Thank Speaker 3 (04:23): You so much, Dr. Kyron. I'm a big fan and I'm glad to be here. Yeah, Speaker 1 (04:26): I'm super excited to talk about hair loss. Back over a decade ago when I weighed 243 pounds and had fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue and all the health problems that I had, and I looked and felt 20 years older than I was, hair loss was a huge component of my dysfunction. I would wash my hair and it would look like there was a small dog in the drain. It would just come out. It was diffuse hair loss. I didn't have any bald patches, and it wasn't growing like it should. It was dry and brittle, it was falling out. And of course, all that reversed when I did all the things that we're gonna talk about. But it's near and dear to my heart. I, I don't think that a lot of women understand something that you said to me before we started recording, that really, hair loss is not just a cosmetic issue. Speaker 1 (05:21): It's about so much more. And it, it really is an indicator that your longevity is being affected and your overall health is being affected. So if you're listening, I really want you to pay attention if you're having hair loss because it's a sign that something bigger is going on. I used to call it, I still call it the canary in the coal mine, hair, skin and nails. If you're having a problem with your hair, skin and nails, these are the canary in the coal mine. You just chalk it up as a cosmetic issue. You might not even address it, but I say it's kind of like erectile dysfunction in men could be an indicator of cardiac disease that if you've got this as a woman, you really need to pay attention. Right? Speaker 3 (06:05): Yeah, totally. It's very important. Thank you for bringing that up. And I'm a big fan of your message as well. What happens is that as women, especially after the age of 35, hormones start changing. And Dr. Karen, you talk about, you know, the other things that come with that. Hormonal changes, especially as women get closer to menopause and all of those factors can play a part in hair thinning and hair loss. And it's very, very tied to the health of your overall system, the stress levels. Because when you're, when you're losing hair, your stress levels go up, and when your stress levels go up, you lose more hair. So that's also challenging. You've gotta take that into consideration. In addition, women tell us that they stop going out, they start, they stop communicating as much. And so this leads to self isolating, which again, is very bad for longevity and very bad for a long life and a healthy life. Speaker 1 (06:53): Yeah, it's so true. So let's dive into what causes it. And I know there are a lot of women out there with hair loss. They're looking for the one quick fix. What's the one thing that I have to do? You know, it's really how we're trained to look at our health problems. I have a symptom. How do I fix that symptom when I fix that symptom? We claim victory, we think we're done. But what I wanna encourage everybody listening to understand is that symptoms are not the problem. They are the sign post, post pointing to the problem, and it's incumbent upon us to investigate, to figure out the cause. And usually there isn't one cause of a symptom. It's usually multifactorial. And I think this is no better illustrated than with hair loss. So let's dive into the factors that go into contributing to hair loss. Totally. Speaker 3 (07:45): And if I may, let me explain the hair cycle really, really quickly. Yeah. Speaker 1 (07:49): So Speaker 3 (07:49): There's context behind everything we're talking about in this interview. The hair cycle has three different distinct phases. The first one is the growth phase or the antigen phase that it's called. About 85 to 90% of your hair is in the growth phase at a particular time, which is why there's so much hair in your head. And then there's the second phase, which is very, very short. It's about 10 days, it's called kagen. That's just a transition phase from the growth phase to the third phase, which is called telogen, which is where your hair follicle is just resting for two to three months. And in those two to three months, it'll fall out at some point. And so at this, in this stage, it's not growing at all. And sometimes the hair may not grow back out of the stage back into the growth phase. So I'll come back to that in a second. Speaker 3 (08:32): So what can we do in terms of goals? The, there's three goals that we have for hair follicles, especially as we get after, get over the age of 35 or 40. Number one, you want to keep the hair follicle in the hair growth phase as much as possible. And there's ways to do that because the longer it's in the hair growth phase, the longer it's gonna grow and the thicker your hair is gonna gonna look. Number two, we wanna make sure your hair is healthy, it's thick, the scalp is healthy so that there's a very good environment for this to keep growing. And then thirdly, what we wanna do is if your hair follicle does go into the shedding or the transition phase, which normally they will do after three to seven years of growing, then we wanna make sure all of those hair follicles are able to grow back and a bunch of them don't decide not to come back, which will lead to a much thinner looking scalp, which is very bad. Speaker 3 (09:23): So those are the three phases that we talk about. Now when it comes back to the question that you asked me is what are the reasons for hair thinning? The number one reason is something that you talk about Dr. Kyron all the time is due to hormones. So again, after the age of 35, and especially after the age of 40, estrogen and progesterone in women start to fall. And this causes a relative imbalance with testosterone. And this testosterone converts to dihydrotestosterone or D H t and d h t goes to your hair follicles and it starts to shrink them, makes them smaller and smaller and starve them. So your hair goes from nice thick hair to a wisser and wisser and wisser hair until it can't even grow anymore. So that's what it does. The other thing, d h t does that, it keeps your hair in the resting phase for a much longer period. Speaker 3 (10:11): So it appears that you have less hair on your scalp. So both of those are bad, but D H T can also prevent your hair from growing back out after the hair cycle is done. So we wanna be very careful with, especially this one, because it's a progressive condition and if you don't address it, it will keep going. Just like you see with men. The same thing happens to men, but happens to younger men 'cause they have high testosterone levels in their late teens, early twenties. And so testosterone is converting to D H T, which is causing progressive thinning of the hair follicle. And eventually for men there's baldness. But luckily for women it's more diffused. It's not completely gone from every single area. But of course this causes a lot of anxiety and shame in women. So that's the number one reason. Speaker 1 (10:54): Yeah. And do you wanna talk a little bit about the different patterns of hair loss that women can experience and what that might tell you, whether it's diffuse or you could have male pattern or female pat pattern. Talk a little bit about that. Totally Speaker 3 (11:07): Love that. So the number one reason, like I said, is due to hormones or D H D. And that directly corresponds or correlates to what is known as female pattern hair loss or androgenetic alopecia. It's the same as male, male pattern hair loss. 'cause The hormone behind it is the same. And so what happens is women will experience hair loss right in their crowns. Their Christmas or their tree, or their part, I should say, is gonna get wider and wider and wider. And they'll notice it first over there, but they can also see loss on the temples or in the front as well. And for men, again, same thing happens because it starts in the crown or in the front or the temples. And for men it completely meets in the middle and it's all of it's gone. But for women, thankfully, they don't lose all their hair, but they will notice it first in the part area. Speaker 3 (11:53): So that is the female pattern. Hair loss. The other way to tell is I had a client call me or a customer call me and say, Hey, I don't know what type of hair loss I have. And I asked her to just do a simple exercise in the shower. So next time you're washing your hair to take a few hair strands that you have in your hand, because of course we all lose hair in the shower, especially when we're washing it. And then stick 'em on the TILs. And when you see a difference, when you see some hairs that are thicker and some hairs that are thinner, this is a telltale sign that this is hormonal or female pattern hair loss. And that D h C is causing your hair to thin progressively. So that's number one. This is the most common hair loss pattern in women. Speaker 3 (12:31): The next is called diffuse hair loss. And this happens all over the scalp, even in the back areas, which are pretty much immune to the hormonal aspects. So hair above the ears and hair on the back of your scalp is pretty immune to hormonal imbalances, which is why men, you see them, they lose the top of their scalp, but not the sides in the back, similar for women. But in the diffuse hair loss, what happens is that you lose hair everywhere, all over your scalp. And this is typically the causes are multifold for this, but it could be because of a nutritional deficiency. This could be because of chronic ongoing stress. This could be due to a big stressor that has happened in your life, like the virus or giving birth or you know, even moving to a different city or a breakup, divorce, for example, psychological or physical stressor, a big one. Speaker 3 (13:23): Then there's a medications that you might be taking that can cause hair thinning. Also, there's thyroid, especially low thyroid conditions, they seem to be becoming a little bit more common in the women as opposed to men. And so a lot of these factors can cause diffuse hair thinning. And then lastly, there's the, this type of hair thinning or hair loss, which is very rare, but it's autoimmune related, where you will see, you know, complete loss of hair, you'll see shiny bald patches in your scalp, that's an autoimmune condition. Anywhere from two to 5% of women will get that. So will experience that at some point in their life. And typically that's managed by going to a dermatologist and getting either steroid shots or something else to kind of calm down the immune system. Speaker 1 (14:09): Yes, thank you for going through that. You know, I remembered a patient as you were talking who actually had different bald spots on her head and ends up she had a rain worm infection, in her scalp. Yeah. Which is fungal, which is very unusual, but then it was causing the hair loss. And then of course when she treated the rain worm, the hair grew back, it wasn't a problem. Mm-Hmm. And I know that you mentioned also that you thank your mother for did you, were you thanking her for your baldness or tell me about your mother's involvement and you, your interest in, in hair. Speaker 3 (14:45): Totally. What a great question. So I, this, this is going back to me in college. I was a soccer athlete. I thought I was, you know, I was the man and I was pretty confident at that time. But one day in the shower I was washing my hair and I looked down on my hands and they're full of my beautiful hair. And my stress levels went from a four to an 11 in that moment. I'll never forget that moment. And so I started seeking help, but I also started asking the right questions of where is this coming from and how do I fight this? And so I looked through my dad's, you know, the, my dad's side of the family, and I said, all of them have gorgeous hair. My grandfather had more hair than me at the age of 90. So I go, that's not the problem. Speaker 3 (15:25): What about my mom's side? And all three uncles, my mom's brothers, all of them were balding or bald. And I go, oh my God, this is coming from my mother's side of the family. I'm screwed. And so that's what started off as a, what I thought was a genetic condition that was coming from my parents. And it turns out that that's a big reason for Hairing as well. And it come, it can come from both sides. So my mother also, over the years, while I was doing nothing about it, trying to solve my own hair loss, kept complaining that her part was getting wider. She was seeing more and more hair loss. And interestingly, right now she's visiting me, my parents are. And so every three or four days were microneedling her scalp and we're putting all the serums and we're trying to help her grow back her hair as well. So it, the reason I went down this path is not only to solve this for myself, but also help my mother and see what I can do for her . Speaker 1 (16:18): Yeah. And you know, she's lucky to have your help, but it brings me to a larger philosophical question about why are we so attached emotionally to our hair? Speaker 3 (16:30): Yeah. This goes back thousands of years, Dr. Karin. It's like, at least for women, it is their identity. And it is so I guess the media kind of celebrates big hair. If you see Marilyn Monroe back in the sixties or whatever, it was like big hair, right? Barbie dolls, big hair. It's just all over the media for generations and for thousands and thousands of years across cultures, Cleopatra beautiful, gorgeous hair. And so it's just ingrained in her culture that that is a woman's power. It's her identity. And for men, it's not the case because men, unfortunately, most of us experience hair thinning starting in our twenties and beyond. And so we just kind of lose that, lose the crown. And so it's not so, so much a part of our identity as much as it's for women. Mm-Hmm. . Speaker 1 (17:16): Yeah, I, I think I've read that for women it's actually a sign of fertility. So the sexual kind of appeal of women often historically, has come from signs of good fertility, like wide hips, long thick hair. And it, these are really signs of vitality. And so I think it gets back to what we were talking about earlier, that hair loss is, it should be like a level three alarm in your mind when you have it. Because it's not just, oh, I'm afraid that I'm not going to look the way that I want to look. It's, oh my God, what is happening inside my body that's so off that my hair is falling off? Because that's affecting your heart and contributing to heart disease. It's affecting your brain and contributing to potential future dementia, affecting your bones, and contributing to future osteoporosis. It's affecting every cell and every system in your body, not just your hair. Mm-Hmm. So see this as a red alarm. So we talked a little bit about hormones. Yes. We talked about the sex hormones and you mentioned stress. What about cortisol? ? Speaker 3 (18:29): Yeah, huge, huge part. Cortisol has been known to shorten the hair cycles. We talked about trying to keep your hair in the growth phase for as long as possible. So hair typically grows anywhere from two to seven years. And we want it to be on the side of the seven years as much as possible. 'cause A lot of women actually call in and they say, I can't grow any hair, I can't or I can't grow longer hair. And so this is a common complaint that we get, especially from women over 40 years. How do I grow my hair longer? Well, hair's the thing, your hair doesn't stop growing every day. Your body's growing 0.3 millimeters off your hair, every single hair. So it's, your body's doing its job, it's just that the hair is falling out, which is why you can't grow past a certain stage. Speaker 3 (19:16): And so the, the best thing we can do is to keep the hair in the hair growth phase as long as possible. Now, stress unfortunately shortens the hair growth phase from seven years to five, to even three, which means you're not gonna be able to grow long tresses like you want to. And so there's two types of stresses here. And I kind of briefly alluded to this, but I wanna come back to this. Number one is the big, big stressor, which could be, you know, a lot of my friends have gotten the virus and they experienced a huge shedding and we're talking 30 to 40 to 50% of their hair coming out. And they thought that they were gonna have to shave their head off. They were looking at wigs and luckily they were able to save their hair, all of them. So that's one. Speaker 3 (20:00): But it can also happen from, as a result of surgery, as a result of a breakup, as a result of a divorce or anything that's physical or you know, psychological. So those are big stressors. We wanna be very careful. And typically the big shed comes after the big stressor about two to three months after. So it's very hard for you to kind of correlate to what's causing this. But just know that if you're losing handfuls of hair every single day, it's because something happened two or three months back and there are strategies for you to make sure all of that hair comes back. Which goes back to my earlier point. If you are transitioning, you wanna make sure every single hair comes back. The other reason that stress kind of plays a part in this is if you have chronic ongoing stress. So my friend Ashley called me from LA and she goes, I'm losing a bunch of hair. Speaker 3 (20:44): And I said, so what's going on? She goes, well, my coworker left a few months ago and I'm having to cover for her. I'm having to do two jobs. So she's stressed out for the past four or five months and as a result, her hair cycle is shortening and she's losing a lot of hair. And so what we wanna do is balance the cortisol levels, balance the stress levels to ensure that we have the best possible hair growth. But also what cortisol will do is it will pull all of your resources towards your vital organs. 'cause Your body says, okay, what is expendable? Hair, nails? I can expend all those and still live. I have to protect the organism. And we are under big dur, we're under big stress. So let's bring all the blood flow, all the nutrients, let's repu redistribute them to the vital organs as opposed to the hair follicles, which happen to be furthest from your heart, vertically speaking. So your heart has to work even harder to pump that blood up. And the other thing that cortisol will do is it will shrink your blood vessels so your blood can't go as fast or as far and considering that has to go all the way to the top of your scalp. It's very important to have healthy levels of cortisol or balance them and to make sure your circulation is good as well. Speaker 1 (21:51): And so many women these days are under chronic stress constantly. They've got aging parents they have to care for, they have children, they have partners, they have jobs. And it's this constant, constant stress. So if you're listening and you haven't done your salivary cortisol test, you need to do it and then you need to address it. And you may need to change some things in your life, but stress can be not only coming from lifestyle and psychosocial interactions and situations, it can be coming from inside the body like toxicity and inflammation. And that can affect care growth as well. Right? Speaker 3 (22:28): Yeah, totally. So I'm glad you brought that up. The other things that we learn about as we talk to women is that the average woman, Dr. Kyron, you know this very well, is putting on 10 to 12 different chemicals on her face, on her body, on her scalp before she leaves the home in the morning. And this is a lot to do with the modern beauty products that we have that that include parabens, that include phalates, that include benzoates, formaldehyde, fragrances. We don't actually know what's in these beauty products. And so the best thing, especially if you're experiencing hair thinning, is to use as natural of products as possible. You can pick any brand but make sure that it's very, very natural. It doesn't have all of these chemicals be listed because they are adding oxidative stress to your hair follicles. And as your hair follicle is fighting to survive and grow during times of hair thinning, we don't wanna add any extra stress to it. Speaker 3 (23:20): The other thing you mentioned is inflammation. Inflammation has been directly linked to hair loss. It's been measured in the hair follicles from scientists that are studying hair loss. And so we also know that as we get older, inflammation is, is known as inflammaging. It's one of the reasons why we age faster. If there's more inflammation in your body, you're likely gonna age faster than others that are have less inflammation. So we wanna get that back under control. Some ways to do that is having very good sleep, having low oxidative stress, having low cortisol levels as Dr. Karin mentioned. But also you can take some natural supplements that can help balance stress inflammation levels in your body to normal range. Yeah, Speaker 1 (24:03): I always think about inflammation like fire in the body. Yeah. And you can think of a, like a lot of little fires or one big fire, but how do you stop a fire? Well, you stop feeding it. So get the firewood out. So stop putting, using the chemicals changed to natural products. Stop eating things with pesticides and artificial flavorings and colorings processed foods and get them out of your environment. So stop feeding the fire. But then also you can quench it with antioxidant types of supplementation, which can be helpful. But it's so funny 'cause some people will say, oh great, I'll, I'll take this, this anti-inflammation supplement. I'm good. No, you still need to, to detox your life and stop using all the toxic things and stop eating gluten and all those inflammatory foods. Alright, so inflammation, we've got hormones, we've talked about sex hormones, we've talked about cortisol. What else can contribute to hair loss? Speaker 3 (24:59): Yeah, totally. There are thyroid conditions. Mm-Hmm. Having too low thyroid and having too high thyroid can both lead to hair thinning. And, and I'm sure you talk to people all the time about having low thyroid, but the symptoms include, you could even be losing hair on the eyebrows, you could be gaining weight, you know, e or when you sit down you get pretty lethargic. You have cold hands and feet and of course hair thinning. So that's the low thyroid. When you have high thyroid then you're just, your engine's running very, very fast and very hot and you'll be jittery and you'll lose hair as well as a result. And so there's only two tests that we, for the most part, when we recommend, because we wanna make sure we're not asking women to spend too much money. One of them is the full thyroid panel with antibodies. Speaker 3 (25:45): And this gives us a very good indication that you have either low thyroidism or you have Hashimoto's, which is something that we have to deal with outside of our products to make sure that that is normal. And sometimes when the thyroid gland is being attacked by the immune system in the body, you wanna make sure to stop that progression as quickly as possible. Otherwise you will lose the thyroid gland and you'll have to take medications for the rest of your life. And so that is the one thing that we, if you do notice that you have low thyroid, we recommend getting, or if you feel like you have low thyroid, we recommend getting the full thyroid panel with antibodies. So that's one. And then the other thing I, I guess I didn't mention is that nutritional, there's some nutrition aspects which can cause hair thinning. Speaker 3 (26:25): There's the big five, as we like to call it, in the hair loss world. These are vitamins and minerals. So what are these? Iron is very important for hair. We've got zinc, that's very important. Vitamin D is very important. Folate and B 12, you've gotta have enough of these in your body to support hair health and to make sure that it's not falling out because you're, you're deficient in these, interestingly enough, vegans these days, veganism is, is getting more and more popular. And I have friends in Los Angeles and New York that, that have gone vegan and you know, if that's what you wanna do, that's totally fine. But vegans are at risk of being deficient in three of these five nutrients, which is iron B 12, and folate. So make sure that you're either getting enough from your foods and or taking a supplement that has these ingredients so that you can fulfill those needs and you're not, you're not losing your hair and then wondering what's going on. Yeah, Speaker 1 (27:19): I would just caution people that I, I remember a while back, years ago, I don't know if someone was on Oprah talking about biotin, I think Yeah. For hair. And everyone was taking these mega doses of biotin. And what a lot of people don't understand is that when you supplement certain B vitamins, which biotin is, or even other vitamins to the exclusion of others, especially in these humongous doses, you cause these relative deficiencies in the others. And you can actually cause your chemical processes in the body to malfunction and cause more problems. So I always say it's best to get your nutrients from nutrient dense food mm-hmm. and supplement if it's targeted, and maybe you've had a nutritional test to target those nutritional components, but then retest to see do you still need those doses of those nutrients? And other than that, to use more broad-based type supplementation. But yes, nutrition is important and then hair is dead protein, right? Yeah, Speaker 3 (28:27): Yeah. It's keratin. I, I do want to come back to the nutrition aspect that you mentioned. I love what you're saying in that there are certain nutrition or nutritional aspects meaning vitamins and minerals. If you take too many of them or too much of them, then you'll cause her, you'll cause hair loss as well. So it's very interesting that vitamin A iron, both of these selenium, all three of these taken too low or being deficient in can cause hair thinning. But if you have too many of these, it can also cause hair thinning. So you've gotta be very careful, like Dr. Kyron mentioned, don't take these for months and years on end if you're taking target supplements, but do get measured to make sure you're not going over the limit for any of these. And then of course, hair fo hair, the hair strands are actually dead proteins. They're made up of keratin. And there's also melanin in them, which is the color, which creates the color in the hair follicle. And, and so that's what it is. You've gotta make sure you've got enough protein in your diet too, so it can have the amino acids to create the actual strand for the hairs. And so lots of things that go into her follicle health and I'm glad we're discussing these. Speaker 1 (29:34): Yes. And most women are not getting enough protein. So that's why, to make sure to mention that, that it's super important to make sure you are getting enough protein. And you also mentioned something before we started recording, I think everyone would find fascinating is that the density of hairs on a woman's head varies by hair color. Can you talk a little bit about that? Speaker 3 (30:00): Yeah, this was shocking to me when I learned this as well. So blondes seem to have more fun because they have the most hair on their head. It's about 150,000 hair follicles that blondes have and brunettes like myself and yourself, Dr. Kan if that's your natural color, we have about a hundred to 120,000 hair follicles on our scalp. And then redheads have to have seem to have the, the worst luck when it comes to hair follicles to have about 80 to 90,000 hair follicles. But still, I just wanna mention that, that that's plenty of hair follicles that's gonna cover your scalp very, very effectively. But coming back to the point that you made, blondes do have to do, seem to have the most hair and it's the thickest for them, especially early on. Speaker 1 (30:45): Yeah. And I, after you told me that, I started thinking, I wonder why that is and because I love to think about questions like that. . Yeah, . And I had this thought that, you know, blonde hair is more, it's lighter and opaque so it doesn't look as dense and maybe you need more of it to be substantial, whereas darker hair is more visibly obvious. But then I thought hair isn't on us to be seen, it's for thermodynamics, it's to keep us warm. So I'm not sure exactly why that is. It's very interesting. If anyone listening has an answer, I'd love to hear about it to reach out on social media or maybe you know the answer. Yeah, Speaker 3 (31:30): I'd love to hear the answer as well, . Speaker 1 (31:33): So what else is important for a woman to know or investigate if she's noticing hair loss? Speaker 3 (31:42): Yeah, the number one reason that I believe that women are not successful with fixing their hair loss problems is because they're not sure of the reason. As we mentioned, there can be multiple reasons for hair thinning and the number one reason, of course is hormonal. But sometimes there can be an additional reason like stress is adding to the hormones or you're taking a certain medication, or you have, you're low nutritional deficiencies in certain aspects or certain vitamins and minerals. And so understanding where the hair loss is coming from and and addressing it in multiple ways that seems to get the best results. What I've seen in practice and what I've learned from all the interviews and all the discussions I've had with hair experts over the years and hair researchers over the years, is that to get the best results, to stop hair thinning and to regrow your hair regrow, thicker, fuller hair, you've got to stimulate hair follicles in multiple ways. Speaker 3 (32:39): And that multiple stimulation seems to have the best combined effect. It's all synergistic inside and outside. You know, either taking something nutritionally and or applying pressure or massage to your scalp, all of that and also derma rolling, all of that seems to have very good benefit synergistically. But by itself, I'm sure you've talked to dozens if not hundreds of women that have tried a hair pill or that, that have tried a hair serum and had little to no results to show for it. For some it can work because that is the cause of their hair thinning. But if you take a holistic approach and say, okay, what's going on in your life? And if I had to just, if I had to get products, how could I make sure that these products address 80 or 90% of the reasons of my hair thinning without me having to get a PhD in hair science? That is the best way to move forward. Speaker 1 (33:29): You know, as you're talking, I I'm thinking we should talk about, well, how do most doctors address this, right? So if you're having hair loss, having practiced regular corporate mainstream medicine for many years, we really weren't given the tools to be able to properly assess why hair loss, even dermatologists. And so if you're listening, and this is you, you've probably already talked to your doctor and you probably haven't gotten satisfying answers, so I'm glad you're here. But let's talk about some of the different treatments. I mean, Rogan is something that you can purchase over the, the counter minoxidil. You talk mentioned dermal rolling. I've heard of stem cell injections, their transplants. So can you talk a little bit about what the different treatments are? I mean, I would say you gotta first look at it as a warning sign from your body that there are hormonal imbalances, there are toxicities, there are nutritional deficiencies. You've got to examine and address those. And then once you address them though there may be other things available to you. What are some of those things? Speaker 3 (34:35): Totally. And so what I'd love to do is to walk this down through simple ways to stop hair thinning and to regrow your hair to more complicated and or expensive ways. And there's a whole ladder you can walk up or walk down depending on how you're coming at this. So the simplest things which you could do is make sure that if you were just looking for solutions, then maybe like a supplement or something that helps balance counterbalance some of the hormones inside of your body, gives you the nutritional supplements, reduces in inflammation, reduce oxidative stress with antioxidants that can be multifactorial and go after a lot of things could be beneficial to you. But like I said, you wanna combine these with multiple things. So a supplement may be good, but you want to combine it with the serum that you apply topically to your scalp that's acting on the area that you need it to work. Speaker 3 (35:24): And then the third thing that has scientific evidence behind it is the derma roller, just by itself, a derma roller has proven to grow 15% more hair with nothing else, no other interventions. So that's a good one as well. To add to your protocol, women already are familiar with derma roller of their face and it's easy to do it on the scalp. So that's the third. And the fourth one that we kind of recommend quite a bit is brushing your hair a hundred to 200 times a day. Because what happens the first thing that happens when you're losing your hair, you don't wanna touch it, you don't wanna wash it, you don't wanna heal it, right? That happened to me for many, many years. In fact, I was putting these hair fibers in my scalp because I was so afraid of my scalp showing through when I was going out in Los Angeles where you get judged for how you look. Speaker 3 (36:08): And so if you're gonna do that, then those are the, the base layers. You want to do multiple of those at the same time. And they're pretty cheap, right? They're pretty economical for most people. Then if you say, well, I wanna go to a doctor or a dermatologist and I wanna get professional advice one, I would say that yes, absolutely you can do that. I would say that dermatologists aren't spending a lot of their time focusing on hair science. And you can also, I'm sure validate this Dr. Kyron because you're just too busy. There's too many patients to see, there's too much to do, there's too many conditions to treat. So dermatologists in their offices, they're getting a lot of Botox, a lot of fillers, a lot of all kinds of aesthetic things where they don't have a lot of time to figure this out. Speaker 3 (36:47): So what they'll typically recommend at a dermatologist or even doctor's office is they'll recommend P R P or platelet rich plasma, which are basically, they draw blood outta your body and they centrif use a centrifuge to spin it and then they, they inject it back into your scalp. The idea being that there are some growth factors that are available in this hair that can help rejuvenate and thicken your hair follicles. And if you look at the studies, there's meta-analyses that have been done on P R P. It's very individual to the type of machine, used to the process of the centrifugation. Many dermatologists that are not aware of the different types of machines will go to Amazon and buy one or they'll buy one from a pushy sales rep from many, many companies that are selling these centrifuges. And so it's really a crapshoot on when it comes to results. Speaker 3 (37:33): So if you're going to go down that route, make sure to ask for before and afters, make sure to validate that this doctor has results. Because what they're gonna do is they're gonna ask you to sign up for three or four of these injections over three to four months and they're gonna be a thousand dollars each. So you're gonna be $4,000 in and you're not gonna know if it's gonna work or not. And they won't even guarantee it and there is no money back. So you're gonna be out a few thousand dollars. So again, just know that the other aspect with regenerative medicine, it appears that stem cells unfortunately don't have as much good data. Even though there's anecdotal evidence of some, some individuals getting results, but on the whole stem cells have do not have good data on hair growth. In fact, exosomes, which are basically made from stem cells or extract from stem cells, seem to have better data on the, the hair as opposed to both P R P and stem cell. Speaker 3 (38:27): So if you're gonna choose a therapy, I would recommend you at least ask your doctor or dermatologist about exosomes. Again, note that it's not, not gonna be cheap. This is in the thousands of dollars with exosomes, you're probably just gonna do one treatment and there, you know, you'll have to see how that turns out for you. For some it works good for others, it may not work at all. Then we get to the hair transplants. This is the easiest solution for at least some men that have lost a lot of hair. The way this works is that if you have lost a bunch of hair in a particular area, this is can be very effective because they can pull the hair from the back of your scalp, which is immune to the dihydrate testosterone or D H T and you, they can implant it in the front so this hair won't fall out again. Speaker 3 (39:09): But you've gotta be very careful to address the underlying causes of hair thinning, because even if you do transplant hairs in the front or the top, the other hair will continue. This is a progressive condition, they'll continue to thin and they'll continue to fall out. So I've heard of instances where some men at least have used the hair transplants to get a bunch of hairs in the front, and then they got a second transplant and a third transplant, and then they just ran out of donor hair in the back. And so now they have a bunch of hair in the front and nothing behind it. So they had to laser off $40,000 of hair transplants that they had done. So you wanna be careful. And in addition, women are typically not the best candidates for hair transplants because when you're injecting or when you're implanting new hair or transplanting new hair, that causes a shock loss around. Speaker 3 (39:59): So the existing hair that may be around that newly transplanted hair, when you transplant it, it gets a shock because there's a damage to the skin. And so that hair might go, that hair might be lost because of this transplant. So again, speak with a very, somebody that's got a lot of ears on in in their practice for a hair transplant surgeon. I guess the final thing I would say is that some women, when they experience hair thinning in the front of their scalp, they can get scalp reduction surgery as well. So they will just cut out maybe a centimeter or half an inch of your scalp in the front and then staple it back down, which then brings your hairline lower. And so it makes you look more youthful. It makes you look like you have more hair. And women seem to do this more compared to men that will do the hair crime, spine surgery. Speaker 1 (40:45): Interesting. I didn't, I wasn't aware of that surgery. Another thing to do to ourselves, Speaker 3 (40:52): Totally, but never stops. Speaker 1 (40:54): Our hair is such a part of our identity that only you as the person dealing with this problem can say what it's worth to you and what, what you would like to have done. So I say follow your heart when it comes to that. I do wanna mention there is a type of specialist called a ologist, which most people have never heard of who is a hair specialist. They're not doctors, but they have specialized training in the evaluation and management of the hair follicles, particularly on the head. And they have very specialized equipment where they can evaluate hair follicles and see what state they're in, the size of them, their health, whether they're able to grow hair or not. And so if you're really struggling with this and a lot, it's funny 'cause I've even met a lot of dermatologists who don't even know that trick exists. Speaker 1 (41:53): Yeah. So you can, oftentimes there aren't that many of them, but you can look on Google to find a trick and go to them for a full evaluation. And they're often very good guides. I won't say that they're necessarily good at helping you evaluate the systemic conditions that we've been discussing that can contribute not only to hair loss, but also to decreasing your longevity and vitality. They, I haven't found that they universally are aware of that or know how to do it, but when it comes to targeted treatment, they're, they're the experts. So I did wanna mention that. Yeah, Speaker 3 (42:32): Totally. I've been to, I have many psychologist friends of my own. I've been to them. They have looked at my hair and scalp and microscopes. Yeah, they have 50 x magnification so they can look at what's going on. They can give you advice about, so yeah, totally agree. Yeah. Speaker 1 (42:46): But this is great information and I'm glad to have you here. I know you've given hope to some women today who are really struggling. You now know the steps you need to take, evaluate your hormones, so your sex hormones, your cortisol, your thyroid, I'd say your insulin too. Look at your inflammation levels, your toxicity or to decrease that toxin fire. And then look at your nutrient inputs, where are you deficient and work to sup supplement those. And then there are local things that you can do that we've discussed for us. Thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing all this wonderful information. Tell everyone how we can find out more about you. Tell 'em about your Anti-Aging Hacks podcast. Where are you online? Speaker 3 (43:32): Totally. Thank you Dr. Karin. So a couple of places. Number one, I'm the host of the Anti-Aging Hacks podcast, where we talk about wge and anti-aging and how to bring typical or simple resources to help you slow down your aging now and then in time, also reverse it because that revolution is coming very soon. So that's what I talk about on the Anti-Aging Hacks Podcast. The other is, I'm the founder of a hair wellness and hair growth company called Fully Vital, where we combine different products to give you maximum coverage for the reasons for hair thinning. So we've got a, a supplement that we talked about. We've got a, a serum for the hair, we've got a derma roller they will sell and also a hairbrush. So we sell a bundle that you can get, which covers, in my opinion, 80% of more of all the hair thinning reasons that will give you the best results. Speaker 3 (44:23): And if you do go with us, then we recommend that you use the get the three month bundle because hair growth takes a little bit of time. So you've gotta be patient with it. Get the three month bundle. And the best part about us is that we have a four month money back guarantee, full money back guarantee. So try us out for three months. We're covering the most spaces out of anybody out there, and for some reason, if you don't get results, email us and we'll refund all of your money. So there's, there's no risk attached to that. And you can find that@fullyvital.com. And Dr. Kyron, if you would allow me, I'd love to offer your listeners a coupon code as well for this. Speaker 1 (44:59): Sure. We can put it in the show notes. Speaker 3 (45:02): Okay, perfect. Awesome. Speaker 1 (45:04): Thank you so much for Oz before coming and sharing your wisdom about hair. Thank Speaker 3 (45:09): You Dr. Karin, honored to be on your show. Speaker 1 (45:11): And thank you for joining us for another episode of The Hormone Prescription for Dr. Kieran. I hope that you have learned something today that you can put into practice to change your hair, but maybe even to change your hormones and your life. I look forward to hearing about it on social media, so please reach out and let me know, and I hope you have a great week Until next week, peace, love, and Speaker 2 (45:34): Hormones, Speaker 1 (45:34): Y'all. Speaker 2 (45:36): Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold Speaker 1 (46:15): For you. Speaker 2 (46:16): Talk to you soon.   ► Get 10% discount on FullyVital hair growth products - CLICK HERE. ► Feeling tired? Can't seem to lose weight, no matter how hard you try? It might be time to check your hormones. Most people don't even know that their hormones could be the culprit behind their problems. But at Her Hormone Club, we specialize in hormone testing and treatment. We can help you figure out what's going on with your hormones and get you back on track. We offer advanced hormone testing and treatment from Board Certified Practitioners, so you can feel confident that you're getting the best possible care. Plus, our convenient online consultation process makes it easy to get started. Try Her Hormone Club for 30 days and see how it can help you feel better than before. CLICK HERE.   ► Do you feel exhausted, moody, and unable to do the things that used to bring you joy? It could be because of hormonal poverty! You can take our quiz now to find out if your hormone levels are at optimum level or not. Take this quiz and get ready to reclaim your life; say goodbye to fatigue and lack of energy for good. We want every woman to live her best life — free from any signs or symptoms of hormonal poverty, so they can relish their everyday moments with confidence and joy. Imagine having a strong immune system, vibrant skin, improved sleep quality… these are all possible when hormones are balanced! CLICK HERE now and take the #WWPHD Quiz to discover if you're in hormonal poverty — it only takes 2 minutes! Let's get started on optimizing your hormone health today.  

It is one of THE MOST common questions I get asked: “Should I or shouldn't I be on birth control and how is it impacting my perimenopause symptoms?”   If you have been wondering sister, then this is the episode for YOU.   Tune in to learn:   How birth control impacts our body in perimenopause Should you or shouldn't you be on it What to do if you want to get off How Functional Diagnostic Testing Can help you in perimenopause   Jennifer Woodward holds a Master's of Science in Integrative Nutrition and is a certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner and a Board Certified Functional Wellness Coach. Jennifer is also the creator of the acclaimed FDN Business School and she loves getting to help new FDNs thrive professionally. She is also the former Executive Director of the Association of Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Professionals where she was mentored by course creator Reed Davis.   Jennifer was recently a quarter-long guest lecturer in graduate Endocrinology at Parker University and also completed a three-month long internship with Dr. Kyrin Dunston, getting hands-on training in women's hormones. She loves to be active with her high school sweetheart husband and four kids.   Learn more from Jennifer here:   WEBSITE: https://jenniferwoodwardnutrition.com/about/ INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/jennifer_woodward_wellness/ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/jenniferwoodwardFDNP/     ************************************************************************* Start supporting your hormones NOW:    TAKE THE QUIZ: Is Your Weight Gain bc Of Perimenopause???    Heal your hormones in 10 simple steps with this FREE 10 Laws of Happy Hormones Guide.     Steal my Hormone Happy Weekly Meal Plan and Grocery List    The thought of weight release can be super daunting…where do you start? Will anything work bc of your age and hormones? Why is there so many conflicting protocols and advice out there?   I have been there more times than I can count in my life and let me tell you sister, I am not going to leave you there in overwhelm any more. Take my hand and let me walk you through the 3 phase process I do every time I want to create change in my body, particularly during perimenopause when the shifting of hormones make traditional methods of weight loss complete bunk.   So if you are ready to stop floundering and being lost, and you know you want changes in your body, grab something to take notes with and let's dive into this episode.   Rate, Review and Follow on Apple Podcasts   “I had no idea and am learning so much from Bria on The Period Whisperer Podcast.”

Welcome to this very special edition of The Lindsey Elmore Show.  Do you feel like you've tried everything to lose weight, decrease stress, increase energy, and just feel better?   Maybe it's not your fault. It could be your microbiome.   Your microbiome is connected to every single body system as well as your overall physical and mental wellness. Imbalance in the microbiome (dysbiosis) could be the cause of a slew of health issues that may surprise you. Contrary to popular belief, simply popping a probiotic supplement is not enough to support this intricate network that makes up the microbiome. The truth is, if you're not engineering your microbiome, you're leaving yourself vulnerable to an imbalance that can negatively affect your physical and mental health. Back in September of 2022, I hosted an event with over 40 experts who shared about the role of the microbiome in overall health and wellness. We are now sharing many of these interviews as a part of a podcast series. We'll explore the ever-evolving science of the human microbiome and its impact on health. You'll hear from experts about the latest research and how to apply this in your daily life.   If you've struggled with health issues and feel like you are out of options, I encourage you to tune in as we investigate the complex interplay between nutrition, lifestyle and the microbiome, and discover new ways to engineer a healthier, happier life.  From exploring cutting-edge treatments to learning about the power of probiotics, this special series of The Lindsey Elmore Show podcast is sure to open your eyes to the world of microbial engineering. Join Dr. Lindsey Elmore and learn how to engineer a healthy microbiome to prevent & reverse a variety of physical & mental illnesses. If you'd like to hear more of this interview or to listen to all the interviews from the Engineering Your Microbiome Summit, visit www.wellnessmadesimple.us. Use the code POD to get 20% off.  

Women are being misled about their hormones in midlife.  Too often, you don't suspect something's up with your metabolism until you deal with stubborn weight gain in midlife. But the truth is, you could have been experiencing a decline for years without realizing it.  In fact, there are over 60 symptoms of “hormonal poverty” that women can start experiencing as young as 35-40 years old. Unchecked, this hormone deprivation can cause fatigue, hair loss, weight gain, illness, and even a shortened healthspan.  In this essential conversation, Dr. Kyrin Dunston joins me to share crucial information about how to turn hormonal poverty into hormonal prosperity—so you can improve your health, restore your energy, stay healthy, and age powerfully. FULL show notes: jjvirgin.com/hormonalprosperity Try my protein calculator: http://jjvirgin.com/proteinfirst Subscribe to my podcast: http://subscribetojj.com Learn more about Dr. Kyrin Dunston and The Midlife Metabolism Institute: https://www.kyrindunstonmd.com Listen to The Hormone Prescription With Dr. Kyrin: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hormone-prescription-with-dr-kyrin-dunston/id1435007518 Join Her Hormone Club: https://www.herhormoneclub.com/ Take her Hormone Bliss Challenge: https://www.hormonebalancebliss.com/hbc-sales-page-page Check out her podcast: The Hormone Prescription: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-hormone-prescription-with-dr-kyrin-dunston/id1435007518 Get a hormone panel from YourLabwork (Dutch Test): https://yourlabwork.com/jj-virgin Listen to Rethinking Breast Cancer Prevention Wth Dr. Felice Gersh: https://jjvirgin.com/main-podcast/rethinking-breast-cancer-prevention-with-dr-felice-gersh-ep-573/ Listen to Beating Breast Cancer Statistics with Dr. Jenn Simmons: https://jjvirgin.com/main-podcast/beating-breast-cancer-statistics-with-dr-jenn-simmons-ep-575/ Listen to Redefining Menopause with Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz: https://jjvirgin.com/main-podcast/redefining-menopause-why-we-need-a-new-narrative-with-dr-suzanne-gilberg-lenz-ep-529/ Read Natural Hormone Balance for Women by Dr. Uzzi Reiss and Martin Zucker: https://amzn.to/3PsYKW2 Get Dr. Kyrin's FREE REPORT: The Diet Deceptive Dozen: 12 Foods Flying Under Your Radar Keeping You Overweight & Tired At Midlife: https://bit.ly/dietdeceptive  

Welcome to another episode of the Hormone Prescription Podcast, hosted by Dr. Kyrin Dunston, and joined by our special guest, Dr. Jessica Hehmeyer. Dr. Hehmeyer is a Functional Medicine Practitioner and Women's Health Expert who is here to provide us with her valuable insights and expertise on debunking weight loss myths and creating a healthier relationship with our bodies.   Key Takeaways: - Debunking weight loss myths - The importance of creating Your Middle Ground - The "gap of disappointment" and how to overcome it - Strategies for decluttering negative thoughts and keeping your goals in focus   Episode Highlights:    1. The Pitfalls of an "All or Nothing" Approach    Dr. Hehmeyer dives into the issues surrounding the "all or nothing" mindset that many women adopt during their weight loss journey. She emphasizes that true success lies in finding Your Middle Ground, a more sustainable and balanced approach to weight loss.    2. Empowering Women to Take Control of Their Weight Loss    Dr. Hehmeyer shares her experience and knowledge in empowering women to create a personalized weight loss plan that suits their unique needs and goals, leading to long-lasting results and a healthier lifestyle.    3. Overcoming the "Gap of Disappointment"    Dr. Hehmeyer reveals her insights into the "gap of disappointment" that many women experience when they aren't seeing immediate weight loss results. She provides strategies and advice on how to stay motivated, keep moving forward, and remain consistent in reaching your goals.    4. Decluttering Negative Thoughts and Staying Focused on Your Goals    Dr. Hehmeyer highlights the importance of decluttering negative thoughts and understanding the impact they can have on your weight loss journey. She shares tips on how to keep your goals in focus and maintain a positive mindset throughout your journey.    Join us on this episode of the Hormone Prescription Podcast, as we explore the world of weight loss mastery with Dr. Jessica Hehmeyer, and learn how to ditch the "all or nothing" mindset in favor of a more sustainable, balanced, and intuitive approach to achieving your health goals. Tune in now and be prepared to be inspired and empowered on your journey to better health!   Speaker 1 (00:00): The first step to getting somewhere is to decide you're not going to stay where you are. JP Morgan. And there is a force in the universe, which if we permit it, will flow through us and produce miraculous results. Mahatma Gandhi. Speaker 2 (00:14): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an OB G Y N, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Speaker 1 (01:08): Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription. Thank you so much for joining me today as we dive into the deeper meaning of weight loss and creating health for women at midlife with Dr. Jessie Hehmeyer. The two quotes that I shared initially with you are two quotes she shared with me before we started the interview that I absolutely love that we're gonna dive into in the interview from JP Morgan and Mahatma Gandhi. Two very different people, but with somewhat similar philosophies on life. If you are going to lose weight or heal from a disease or get rid of the symptom first you have to decide that you're not gonna stay where you are. And that might mean that you're going to decide, decide comes from the Latin de cre to cut away from, which means to make a decision to cut away from all other possibilities. Speaker 1 (02:05): So you're going to decide that, that you're not gonna stay where you are. And there is this force in the universe that if you allow it will flow through you and produce miraculous results. So I'm so glad you're here because both she and I have experienced this and work with these concepts with our clients. Whether it's losing weight or healing from chronic fatigue of fibromyalgia or the myriad problems that women at midlife can face with their health, with hormonal poverty. We both embody and embrace these philosophies. She has another beautiful quote from Martha Graham that I can't wait to share with you. We talk about it in depth here and we talk about some physiological changes that you're gonna need to make if you're gonna lose weight and get optimally healthy at midlife as midlife as well. So I'll tell you a little bit about Dr. Speaker 1 (02:55): Jessie and then we'll get started. She has a very varied background. She has a master of science in human nutrition and functional medicine. She's a doctor of chiropractic medicine. She's an I F M Certified Practitioner Alliance, a licensed dietician, a certified nutrition specialist. So she has all kinds of experience and basically she has a great foundation and so depth and breadth of knowledge in how to help women lose weight and create optimal health, particularly at midwife. She shares her story with us in the interview and she's a true doctor, which comes from the Latin or dore meaning to teach, show, or point out, and understands that healing occurs when individuals understand the what, why, and how behind their health and treatment. Please help me welcome Dr. Jessie Hehmeyer to the show. Thank Speaker 3 (03:53): You so much, Kyrin. It is a pleasure to be here with you and your audience. Speaker 1 (03:58): So much to talk about. So let's dive right into it. And I always like to start to give everyone a frame of reference to help them understand why they are so passionate about helping people with weight, about helping people become empowered when it comes to their health and their lives. And how did your path lead from, 'cause you've got chiropractic and fitness and nutrition and all kinds of stops on your journey of expertise. So how did it lead you to what you do now? Well, Speaker 3 (04:30): It led me there very personally as, as I'm sure it does for most people. And what I mean by that, Kyrin is for me, I really struggled with my weight for over a decade and not my weight in a sense that it was a health concern, right? I wavered, I was probably 15, 20 pounds that I would gain and lose over the course of over and over again over the course of multiple years. And for me, over that time period, I really got what a cost the struggle was for me, right? I got that it was interfering with me being fully present in life. It was interfering with me, fully contributing to life. And that just wasn't okay with me. So when I got clear that I was done struggling in this area of my life, it became about something else. It became not about the scale triumphing in this area of my life, it became around about being present and fully contributing. Speaker 3 (05:30): And so with that as my north star and really getting, just having this area of my life handled, I began to approach it from a place of questions rather than drill sergeant discipline, which never seemed to turn out well, right? And never seemed to turn out well when I took out the, the stick and started beating myself up and, and telling myself I I had to give up X, Y, Z and did so for a period of time and then in, in, in invariably at a certain point just broke my resolution broke and would end up right back where I was. And so I really saw that approach wasn't broke, was broken. And so I got curious about what a new approach might approach might look like that would lead me to a future where simply put this area of my life was handled right. It just wasn't a struggle. I felt great in my body. I felt good about how I looked and really fundamentally all those things about being a, an access to being fully present and contributing. Speaker 1 (06:30): Yeah, I love that. It's, boy did I beat myself up also about the wave. So when that internal inner critic would be like, you're bad if you eat this and you're bad if you don't, I'd say, oh, I'm not going to eat X, Y, or Z and then by four o'clock I'm eating it. And then, oh, you're bad. And all this shame. And it wasn't until I said, okay, I'm just gonna try and get healthy. Forget losing weight and then use the the same functional principles that you use as well as really the a spiritual approach. What is the weight about that I finally lost it to? And so here you are and you are helping people become empowered with their health and empowered in their life. And you shared some amazing quotes that I absolutely love before we started the episode that I think really get to the, a concept that I think everybody must embrace if they're going to experience the healing, health and vitality that is available to them, that is their birthright, that is possible so that they can live fully and give their gifts. And so I'm wondering if you can share that quote from Martha Graham and then we can talk about what that means. Speaker 3 (07:50): Absolutely. It would be my pleasure. So the quote by Martha Graham, there is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action. And there is only one of you in all time. This expression is unique and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost. The world would not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others. Speaker 1 (09:00): I had Joe bumps the whole time you were reading that. So can you talk a little bit about what this means when it comes to weight loss, when it comes to health, when it comes to living your life? Speaker 3 (09:12): To me it really, that quote really captures what a precious gift this life is. This life, our bodies, this opportunity to be here. It, it's nothing short of magic. And when we're really present to the gift that it is to be alive, we start to be in a different relationship. What it means to do our best to preserve that gift, right? When we're present to the wonder, the awe and the magic of this life, we're more likely to operate in our actions in a way that honors this life. And that's a journey. It's not an overnight A to Z event. It is a looking at, okay, how might I honor this gift called life based on where I am right now? And and I'm sure you'd say the same thing, ki right, the actions that I took when I started my own personal journey, born of self-love, are different than the actions that I take now simply born out of evolution. Right? That's totally natural. That's totally okay. And and I really see moving forward is the encouraged next step rather than approaching this as if it's either perfection or bus. Speaker 1 (10:32): Yeah, I, I think it's such a beautiful statement about who we are and what we are on this planet to do. I do believe we each have a unique calling and soul blueprint and gifts that we're meant to deliver. And if we don't deliver them, they'll never be delivered by someone else because only we can deliver them. And I, I tell the women who I work with in my programs that I'm sneaky. I, I wanna get you healthy 'cause I know you're suffering and I wanna stop, help you to stop suffering. And I know that you're sitting on gifts. You're sitting on assets, right? You're sitting on your at assets that the world needs. And I think it's the Dalai Lama who's quoted as saying the Western woman will save the world. And I believe it's the western middle aged and menopausal woman because we've got experience and we have a balanced viewpoint and we have fairness and justice and equanimity and we have experience in our chosen professions that we've been working in for decades. And then we have solutions to a lot of the problems that we're struggling with right now that come from a divine feminine perspective, not a pick tree iCal perspective that probably could help us. And I really enjoy helping women, I only work with women, I know you work with men too, really see that you getting yourself healthy is about more than just for you for your selfish needs. It's about you getting yourself healthy for humanity. Mm-Hmm. . And so you can deliver your gifts. Speaker 3 (12:11): Yeah. This is, yeah. So well said. Right? This is the opportunity right now. This is the opportunity to deliver your gifts. And Speaker 1 (12:21): I love the part where she talks about it's not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. Because so many women, when they do get healthy, then they're looking around, oh, what do I wanna do as my creative project? What do I want my legacy to be? And then they look, well, that's been done. That book's been written, that business has been made that no, it hasn't been done by you. Mm-Hmm , Speaker 3 (12:47): There is only one unique you and there's, the way you do it is going to be different the way than the way anyone else does it. Absolutely. And there's an abundance of people hungry for contribution. Speaker 1 (13:00): It's true. And the people who are gonna resonate with your frequency, 'cause you have a unique energetic frequency, are going to be drawn to you and they're only gonna hear certain things from you. They're not gonna hear it from Sally or Tom or Peter. Right. They're only gonna hear it from you. So I'm wondering if you can talk about this in the context of finding what you call your middle ground and ditching the all or nothing approach when it comes to health and healing and weight loss. What does that mean? Speaker 3 (13:33): Yeah. So the broken all or nothing approach, this is the inherited approach around our health and food in our bodies that's most prevalent when it comes to weight. And you know how this is lived is whole 30 followed by deep dish pizza and a bottle of wine on day 31, right? Like that would be a, a pretty clear example of the all or nothing approach in really, if we think about those two extreme actions, we're looking at deprivation or overindulgence. And for most people, those are the two options they're familiar with in this area of life. It's all in or all out. And a few problems with that is fundamentally speaking, they don't work. And by work I mean they don't allow people the opportunity to produce and sustain the health outcomes that matter most to 'em. So if you can't sustain the outcomes, to me, it's not a solution. Speaker 3 (14:32): Right? Secondly, they're born of self aggression, right? And self aggression really is not a solution for just about anything as far as I've ever found out for myself. So the broke and all or nothing approach is born of self aggression. And when I work with people, it's really stepping into a journey, a guided journey of authoring your middle ground. And your middle ground is finding that way of caring for your body and your life that allows you to integrate all of who you are and fully experience the joy of life, experience, the joy of being with others and celebrating with others while also moving towards the future you intend for your health and your life. And that journey is born of self-love. So it's just a real different way of operating. And it's not one that comes naturally for most people, right? Especially the people who I work with who've struggled in this area of their life for years or decades. It really takes some work not just to understand, okay, these are the actions, right? But stepping into a no way new way of relating with oneself and the actions that are working and the actions that aren't working from a place of kindness. Speaker 1 (15:49): So what does that look like? Can you give an example maybe from a client you've worked with or clients, because I think we talk about this concept of self love and stop beating yourself up and you're so hard on yourself. I'm a former hard on yourself member, right? And I didn't really understand what people were saying. You're so hard on yourself. What do you, what does that mean? Oh, you just have to love yourself. Well what does that look like? How do you do that ? So can you talk a little bit more in detail about the nuts and bolts of that journey? Speaker 3 (16:22): Yeah, no, that's funny that you were a member of the so hard on yourself plan, because I think I saw you at one of the so hard on yourself meetings, Speaker 1 (16:28): , you look familiar, Speaker 3 (16:31): But yeah. Yeah. So to me, where it all, where the journey, the new journey begins is getting very clear on your intention for your health and your life. And in a practical experiential sense, when I work with people and I invite your listeners to engage in this exercise, maybe write it down and, and do it later. But the first step is doing a little time traveling to a five-year future and actually writing the story of your health, your life, you as you intend and desire it occur, right? So telling the story in first person present tense, right? So I'm 46, I'd say I'm 51. And whatever's there for me about this five year future, I intend my body's healthy, strong, resilient in also tapping into what it is to live in your body at that moment, right? I walk across a, I walk through life confident and connected to others and the divine, however, you as an individual would say your experience would be in this five year future. Speaker 3 (17:45): So really painting this picture of your intended five-year future. So that's the first step is getting clear on your intended future. Now, there is another side of this coin and that's getting clear on what the likely, or perhaps we might say possible downward spiral five-year future would look like with no action, no change. What does it look like to be you in five years and how your body is, some people might have an idea about their health risks, like actually numbers around diabetes or heart disease or whatever the case might be, as well as your experience, right? The experience of defeat or betrayal or shame or whatever's there for people. And it's useful because they're both possible futures, right? And, and for most of us, we make change out of the carrot dangling as well as the stick on the back and not the stick on the back. Like we wanna beat ourselves up or, or scare ourselves. But it's really useful to look at what could the five-year future be like if I don't do anything and Yeah. Right. Speaker 1 (18:56): And then sobering, very sobering. Speaker 3 (18:58): Yes. Yes. And for some people quite literally, right? And from that I engage in an exercise with people that I call creating your vision of vitality that is really fundamentally based off of your intended future. It's really a condensed version, capturing your intention for your health and your life. And with that intention present, we start to navigate what it is to live with that as your north star. And that includes along the way capturing numbers, so actual lab work so that we can understand where you are relative to the desired future, what's the gap here? And also start to inform you what effective actions, what are the new actions that you'll need to bring into your life and begin practicing over and over again over time to live into that five-year future we want for you. And along that journey, when I'm working with people, I give them homework assignments. I call them fulfillment exercises. 'cause Some people get, get afraid when, you know, get scared when they hear the word homework. But they might be something more spiritual in nature. They might be something more informational in nature. Like what does insulin do? Scientific based exercise. But whatever it is, I choose for the person in front of me because I believe it's going to be an important puzzle piece in their journey ahead. Yeah. Speaker 1 (20:31): And then when you have that vision and that intention of who you're becoming on that heroine's journey, then every choice that you make in the present day is informed by that. And then you say, the woman who I'm becoming, she doesn't freak out 'cause it's four o'clock and she's hungry and she's not planning to eat dinner till seven. She drinks a glass of water or a glass of tea and keeps Yes. Keeps moving. Yeah. Speaker 3 (21:00): Absolutely. No, that's a great example, Karen. Absolutely. Yeah. Or the woman I'm becoming, if she suddenly in a moment of not being present comes to it and has, oh my gosh, I've just had two or three pieces of two or three cookies, she doesn't finish off the row. Right? Right. Speaker 1 (21:19): , she actually Speaker 3 (21:20): Puts it away and then grabs a, a glass of water and has a conversation with herself. Whatever's the useful conversation of that moment, both acknowledging, okay, maybe what led to that, oh, I, I didn't eat lunch, I was starving, right? And, or I was go at work, whatever it was, so that she can self-correct in the future, right? She can set herself up to live more aligned in the future. Mm-Hmm. Speaker 1 (21:47): So I want everybody listening to notice that we've been talking for about 20 minutes, we haven't talked about what diet you need to follow to lose weight. We haven't talked about what tests you need to get out of hormonal poverty. We haven't talked about anything other than the philosophy, the spirituality, the emotionality, the thought patterns, the belief patterns, the intentions, the energy around creating health. And so I hope that you've noticed that now some of you're Jones and for the diet tip of the day. 'cause You're like, I'm gonna go on, I'm gonna hear what's the one thing, what's the one thing everybody's looking on, Dr. Google, what's the one pill I need to take? The one supplement, the one diet? It doesn't exist, it just doesn't exist. Health is a state of wholeness. It's mental wholeness, emotional wholeness, spiritual wholeness, physical wholeness. So the only way to create that is by unpacking each of these areas and examining everything under the hood and then rearranging it and supplementing it and repacking it so that it can get you to that vision and intention. So I just wanted to point that out. Speaker 3 (23:02): Well said. Very well said. Yes. And, and the thing is, is for the people jonesing for the quick fix diet, right? Just notice what the diet industry is. I mean it's nothing if it's not quick fix, do this solutions. And yet it's, it's a multi-billion dollar industry that doesn't seem to be able to produce the outcomes and promises, Speaker 1 (23:27): Right? I think most diet programs have a 6% success rate at two years. And so this multi-billion dollar diet industry just works on profit off of churn. You lose the weight, you gain the weight, you lose the weight, you gain the weight, and you never truly become healthy and have vitality. And so the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. That didn't stop me when I weighed 243 pounds. I tried all the programs , right? You know, the Fen and the Jenny Craigs and the Nutrisystems and working out like crazy and fasting and all that stuff. I know you gotta do the things you gotta do until you finally come to this place of powerlessness and you go, I don't know the answer. And I think this place of surrender is when you can finally be handed a solution that works, that isn't a self aggressive solution and beat you into submission, but it's a self-loving solution. Speaker 1 (24:24): And you can really start to look at, well what has the weight meant in my life? Like I know for me that was a huge thing and it was protection. And I find that's true for a lot of women. I know in the ACE study that they did a Kaiser Permanente, I think there was an offshoot of it, another doctor looked at all the data and found that like 80% of the women who had overweight or obesity had been sexually abused as children. And that ended up was a part of my story, but I didn't know that. So then I could start loving myself and saying, oh, well if the, my need for protection is getting served by this layer of fat that I have around me, how can I serve that need for protection in another way so I can thank the fat doing its job and then let it go. So I love how you talk about journaling and writing your future at its best, your future at its worst. And I love to have people journal and dialogue with their fat or their body part. Like I, I've worked with a lot of women that have frozen shoulder and I like to have them dialogue with the frozen shoulder. What's going on? What did you come here to tell me? Said, Speaker 3 (25:31): And one of the things I love about what you just shared, Karen, is that you really got that, the holding on of the weight, it really came from such a good place, right? Yeah. It really came from such a good place and you were able to self dialogue and see that good place, acknowledge that good place it was coming from, and also get that there was a way to fulfill that very natural human need to feel safe and one that was born quite young, right? And do it in a way that still allows you physically, emotionally to thrive. Speaker 1 (26:12): Yeah. So I think I, I love that we're having this conversation because I love that everybody listening is hearing that health is about so much more than what supplements to take, what tests to do, what diet to follow. It is about you and who you are and your story and where it's been and where you're going and how you feel or how you don't feel. So I love that. And I love this other quote that you shared. I'm wondering if we could talk about that. I love a good quote, but from Mahatma Gandhi, there is a force in the universe which if we permit it, will flow through us and produce miraculous results. Talk a little bit about that . Well, Speaker 3 (26:53): For me, Kieran, when I, at about 26 years old or so throughout my hands and surrender and really devoted myself to figuring out this area of my life, I did so inside of a request. I asked what I would call the divine to collaborate to help me. And I made a promise that if the divine would help me, I would use my learnings to, to guide and help others. So to me, that lived experience is beautifully expressed in Gandhi's quote. And I, I'm sure, I'm sure you've had similar experiences that's throwing up your hands and surrender the surrendering to the divine doesn't mean you don't do anything. It actually opens up the energy for the right people to come into your life to teach you something, the right book to come into your life to teach you something, the right overheard conversation walking down the street to just all the things that you could never plan no matter how hard you try to show up inside of your commitment. Yes. Speaker 1 (27:56): Yeah. I had that moment after I, it was actually one of my patients who I had done the prescription, what I call the prescription tango with her, gave her sleeping pill, antidepressant, birth control pill, all the things, at midlife because she felt terrible. And she came back and she's like, yeah, it's not really helping me, but you know, as a board certified OB, G Y n I didn't really have much else to offer her except pills and surgery. And then she came back a year later and she was like a brand new woman and she said she had gone to this other doctor who had done all these tests. I never offered her to these treatments. And I'm thinking, how is there something I don't know about? I've been told by the certifying board of American Specialties that I know more about women's health than anybody else. Speaker 1 (28:40): Anyway, she had brought me one of Suzanne Summer's books and I wasn't gonna read it. I took it home and I was like, I'm not gonna read this book by Chrissy on three's company. But it sat there in my nightstand for a long time. And then one Saturday my kids were, came in and said, we're going to the movies. Like they didn't even bother asking me if I wanted to go anymore because they knew mom when she wasn't working, she was gonna be parked in her pajamas in bed 'cause she was sleeping and tired all the time. 'cause I had chronic fatigue and, and I read that book at first I was very reticent and prejudiced and then I started reading it like it was the Da Vinci Code, like the best mystery novel I ever read. And I finished it that day. I think the sun had just gone down. Speaker 1 (29:24): And I had one of those moments, I said, God, whatever you believe in the divine God, Buddha, Jesus, whatever. And I said, I'm going to use this and if it works, I'm gonna spend the rest of my life teaching other women about this. And then that prayer, that's a simple prayer, right? It calls in resources and possibilities that were previously closed to you now start opening up chance meetings, coincidences, so-called coincidences. And sometimes you have to come to that point of surrender and that force in the universe if you allow it and you don't keep going back to do the same you've been doing. Speaker 3 (30:06): Right. And it takes courage and it does. It takes a li it takes courage. It takes, sometimes it takes just getting sick of ourselves and even getting sick of ourselves. It still takes courage to, to surrender. Speaker 1 (30:19): It does. And I love it fits great with this other quote you have from , getting somewhere to decide you're not going to stay where you are. And so I'm not doing this anymore. And to whatever higher power you believe in, just say, I'm not doing this anymore. You need to show me the way. And I, I literally will say that out loud to whatever angels who work with me in the light, whoever's listening, I'm not doing it this anymore. So you show me. Yeah. And then stuff starts happening. Speaker 3 (30:49): It's true. It's things we cannot explain. It's very true. Speaker 1 (30:53): So let's give, I think we've talked a lot about the kind of nebulous, esoteric stuff that everyone avoids and doesn't want to talk about with health. So I think we need to be talking about it. But is there anything you'd like to share just from a root cause resolution, science-based approach that people might consider when it comes to losing weight, creating health? Speaker 3 (31:16): Yeah, absolutely. On the physiological front, I, I'm sure everything I'm about to say, Kieran, you are gonna completely nod your head with, right? But when I think about three recurring physiological barriers to weight loss, when, well, I should preface this by saying, sorry ladies, it's probably not your thyroid and like everybody, I feel like, I don't know if you experience this, like everybody wants it to be their thyroid because they're like, then I'll just start taking medication. They'll be easy, right? And like the thing is, is even if it's your thyroid, it's not just your thyroid, it's Speaker 1 (31:54): Not just your thyroid. In Speaker 3 (31:55): Other words, absolutely true. If your thyroid, if your your thyroid's underactive, if you need thyroid support, you should definitely get thyroid support. Absolutely. Absolutely. But it's probably not the keys to the kingdom you think and hope it will be. And so with that as the preface, the the three things, assuming your thyroid is well supported, well-functioning that I see with some recurring frequency is the first one is compromised insulin sensitivity, which is very different than lab normal, right? Lab normal's usually up around 19 for fasting insulin, I like to see fasting insulin seven or less. And so if that insulin is high single digits or in the double digits, we know we have an opportunity on the table to help your body be better at burning fuel rather than storing fuel. That's one of the foundational things I look at. Another thing that I see with some frequency is elevated inflammation, right? Speaker 3 (32:56): Sometimes people will come in and say, oh, I'm so inflamed. And I'll ask them about how it feels and maybe they'll say, my joints hurt or I'm bloated or my skin's red. They'll say something, we'll still go test the numbers also. But really the point is that mostly people don't experience any real symptoms when they're inflamed. The only way we know is by doing their labs and H S C R P is the number one go-to I look at with regards to inflammation, but also homocysteine. And when those elevate, when the H SS C R P that that inflammatory markers elevate in particular, it will absolutely slow down the metabolism. When I see this in time and again with women who, they come in and we like to see H S C R P 1.5 or less ideally under one, but that's the sweet spot range we're looking for. Speaker 3 (33:49): And I, I'm starting to work with someone who's H S C R P, we learn after her labs or seven or eight. I let them know, listen, it might be a few mo months before you start to see the scale move because the first order of business is breaking this vicious cycle of inflammation and then your body's just gonna take care of itself. But that's what we have to go get after first. And we do that in a lot of different ways. But fundamentally speaking, when that inflammation is elevated, first of all, people often, more often than not, don't have any symptoms and it's gotta be addressed in order to have the scale move. And then the number three is, I like to call it detoxification pathways gunked up, right? And that just, that shows up in a lot of different ways, right? That can show up as hormonal irregularities that can show up as just playing into that inflammatory process where there are more toxins in the body than ideal, which are driving inflammation. Speaker 3 (34:48): And that's never just like, there's not just one test I look at for to assess detox pathways, but a lot of different things. I look at what does your, detoxification is such a chic word, but we know that detoxification though, there are multiple physiological processes that allow this to happen in the body. And so I wanna understand, does the body have the essential nutrients to run the engine of detoxification, whether that's amino acids or B 12 or all the different things we need to in order to, to run the, run those gears nice and smoothly. And then also are those toxins getting out of the body. Another simple check for that is with someone having daily bowel movements, right? We know that our bowel movements are one of the primary ways we get out of, get toxins out of the body and in by toxins. It's not just pollutants and things we encounter in our environment, our hormones that we produce ourselves, or if people are taking some kind of using some kind of H R T or oral contraceptive, those, all those hormones go through our detox pathways also. So to have those running nice and smoothly is really foundational to supporting weight loss and also what comes after weight loss. Speaker 1 (36:06): Yes. When you said that about thyroid, I was envisioning people throwing tomatoes at this stage going boo, yes. I did this podcast episode, I guess it was about a year ago, called Why You Will Never Fix Your Thyroid By Trying to fix Your Thyroid . Speaker 3 (36:24): Oh, I love that. That is great. Speaker 1 (36:28): And it's the thyroid is just the innocent bystander, so I love that. But so there you have it, right? You just laid out the nutshell of all the things I like to say that you've got to do physiologically. But what I find is that people can rarely do the things that they need to do physi for their physiology and biology when they don't have the energy, right? Because everything at its essence is energy. And so that energy is your thoughts, your feelings, your beliefs, your history of your story that you're carrying around in your body and energetic packets. 'cause You've never unpacked it, most of us. And so you really need to address that. And then when you address that, the physiology you can very easily take care of. It's becomes simple. Speaker 3 (37:15): Absolutely. Yes. Well said. Speaker 1 (37:18): So tell everyone all the places they can find you online and interact with you. Speaker 3 (37:22): Yes. You can find me@wellempowered.com and you'll find a place where you can request a complimentary consultation. Please be sure you tell us where you heard about us because you will be entitled to 10% off if you do decide to engage beyond that, that complimentary consultation is 30 minutes. Virtual will give you a chance to ask me more questions. Consider working together, whether it's one-on-one or in group work, and then also Instagram at at well Empowered is where you'll find me. Speaker 1 (37:56): Awesome. Thank you so much, Dr. Jesse, for your path, your purpose, your passion, all the things that have led you to be here with us today. And thank you for the brilliance and insight and depth that you have shared. I really appreciate it. Thank Speaker 3 (38:11): You so much, ki it's been such a pleasure to be with you and to share our love of people empowered by their health and vitality. Speaker 1 (38:21): Yes. And thank you for joining us for another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kieran. Hopefully you feel empowered by our conversation, by knowing that you really are here for a specific purpose that only you can fulfill and that you can take steps today to start moving towards that. I look forward to hearing about the steps you're taking on social media. So reach out and let me know. And until next week, peace, love, and hormones y'all. Speaker 2 (38:49): Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.   ► FREE Consultation with Dr. Hehmeyer - CLICK HERE.   ► Feeling tired? Can't seem to lose weight, no matter how hard you try? It might be time to check your hormones. Most people don't even know that their hormones could be the culprit behind their problems. But at Her Hormone Club, we specialize in hormone testing and treatment. We can help you figure out what's going on with your hormones and get you back on track. We offer advanced hormone testing and treatment from Board Certified Practitioners, so you can feel confident that you're getting the best possible care. Plus, our convenient online consultation process makes it easy to get started. Try Her Hormone Club for 30 days and see how it can help you feel better than before. CLICK HERE.   ► Do you feel exhausted, moody, and unable to do the things that used to bring you joy? It could be because of hormonal poverty! You can take our quiz now to find out if your hormone levels are at optimum level or not. Take this quiz and get ready to reclaim your life; say goodbye to fatigue and lack of energy for good. We want every woman to live her best life — free from any signs or symptoms of hormonal poverty, so they can relish their everyday moments with confidence and joy. Imagine having a strong immune system, vibrant skin, improved sleep quality… these are all possible when hormones are balanced! CLICK HERE now and take the #WWPHD Quiz to discover if you're in hormonal poverty — it only takes 2 minutes! Let's get started on optimizing your hormone health today.  

Jennifer Woodward holds a Master of Science degree in Integrative Nutrition and is a certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner and a Board-Certified Functional Wellness Coach. Jennifer is the creator of the acclaimed FDN Business School and she loves helping new FDNs thrive professionally. She is also the former Executive Director of the Association of Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Professionals where she was mentored by course creator Reed Davis. Jennifer was recently a quarter-long guest lecturer in graduate Endocrinology at Parker University and also completed a three-month long internship with Dr. Kyrin Dunston, getting hands-on training in women's hormones. She loves to be active with her high school sweetheart husband and four kids. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this enlightening episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast, we're joined by Dr. Tricia Pingel, a naturopathic physician and expert on adrenal fatigue. Dr. Pingel shares her invaluable insights on stress and its impact on midlife women, particularly relating to the symptoms that many assume to be perimenopause.     Throughout the episode, Dr. Pingel demonstrates her vast expertise and experience as a source of hope, knowledge, and motivation for people who are looking for ways to address the root cause of their symptoms. From identifying the underlying causes of stress to correcting nutrition depleted by stressful conditions, Dr. Pingel's practical and multidimensional approach shows listeners how to repel incoming stressors and return to their happy, vibrant, and energetic selves.    In addition to discussing her experience and approach to helping patients restore their health, Dr. Pingel shares her personal journey of overcoming health struggles and personal loss. Through creating a community of positivity and gratitude, Dr. Pingel inspires her listeners to live every day to the fullest, embracing a healthy and balanced lifestyle.    In this empowering episode, you'll learn about: - The importance of addressing stress as the root cause of symptoms - The challenges with temporary 'quick fixes,' and why they often don't provide long-term solutions - How to recognize and address the underlying causes of stress in your life - The crucial role nutrition plays in restoring health and well-being - Dr. Pingel's personal journey of overcoming obstacles and creating a community of positivity    Don't miss this inspiring and informative episode that sheds light on the impact of stress on midlife women and offers practical guidance for a healthier, more balanced life. Tune in to The Hormone Prescription Podcast to take the first step toward transformation and healing.   Speaker 1 (00:00): Everything living has a rhythm. Do you feel your music? Michael Jackson, join me as Dr. Tricia Pingel. The hip hop energy doc shares with you her secrets to creating vitality at midlife and beyond. Speaker 2 (00:17): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an OB G Y N I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Speaker 1 (01:10): Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me today. My guest today is super high energy and super positive, and you are gonna be inspired to do something audacious with your health and your life after. After listening to her. I make a promise to do something towards the end of the show that you'll wanna hear about and that you're gonna see on Instagram in the near future. So that should be super exciting and she has a great story like most of the docs who do the kind of work that I do, because most of us come to this work from Pain Paying Pitch pushes us to our purpose. So we're here for a reason to share with you so that you, you can get out of pain. I'll tell you a little bit about Dr. Speaker 1 (01:58): Tricia and then we'll get started. She is a naturopathic physician and yes, that's a real medical doctor. I like to say that instead of going to regular MD or do school naturopathic doctors smart enough to get it right the first time and go the natural route. So they have lots of wonderful wisdom and training and she's an expert on adrenal fatigue and the physical impact of stress on the body. She's super passionate about it. She's impacted many family members in her life and you're gonna wanna hear about that too. She's the founder of Pingle Progressive Medicine where her team takes a multidimensional and integrative approach to healthcare and treats a wide range of medical conditions. She's a source of hope, knowledge, and motivation for others who are, have experienced temporary quick fixes for their symptoms, but seek to find the root cause and heal their bodies. Speaker 1 (02:53): She has helped thousands of people restore their health by showing them how to identify the stress, causing their symptoms, restoring their nutrition depleted by stress and assisting in changing their mindset to repel incoming stressors so that they can return to their happy, vibrant and energetic selves. She's appeared on many, many podcasts, shows, summits, and she is known as the hip hop energy doc. She's found dancing all over her social media media, cheering on her two boys at football and creating healthy vegan recipes in her kitchen, snuggling her three dogs and cat at home where she lives in Arizona. She did have her own health struggles, as did her family members and personal loss. She strives in creating a community of positivity, gratitude, and living every day to its fullest potential. Please help me welcome Dr. Tricia Pingle to the show. Speaker 3 (03:47): Thank you. It is so nice to be here. Thank you for having me. I can't wait to dive in and have an amazing chat today. Speaker 1 (03:53): I know, me too. And let, we gotta start by talking about your hip hop dancing that you do. I too love to dance. I don't dance hip hop, but you've got the energy for it. And I know a lot of women listening, that's what they're here seeking is like, why don't I have the energy to do the things I wanna do? So maybe share a little bit about how you came to have this great energy at the stage of life that you're in. Speaker 3 (04:20): Yeah, I think, you know, dance is one of the things I say that saved me. 'cause When I was younger I used to dance and it was how I found joy. And my dad was a musician, grew up listening to music. Music was part of what brought me joy and happiness. And as I got older and I went through, you know, stressors, losing my dad at 24 years old, you know, going through medical school, getting married, having children, having symptoms throughout my life that were always dismissed. You know, the things like acne and heavy menstrual periods and bloating and all of that brings into a stress and kind of took me away from myself. And I talk to a lot of women in their forties particularly where they say, gosh, Dr. Pingle, I really feel like I've lost who I am. I feel like I've lost my joy. Speaker 3 (05:04): I feel like I'm not the same person I used to be. And I'm mean, and I'm irritable and I'm snappy and I don't sleep well. And I was going through a lot of that in my thirties and when I finally recognized it, I thought, this is it. I need to go back to what I wanna do for my soul. And I put myself into a hip hop class. I hadn't done hip hop in maybe 20 years. And I put myself in a class with a bunch of teenagers, 14, 15, 16 years old and in an advanced class. And I said, I'm just gonna do this. I'm gonna commit this to myself. And I can say without of doubt, out of all the things that I did to be well out of the diet, the stress reduction, the supplements, the best thing I ever did was put myself back in that hip hop class. Speaker 3 (05:51): Because as soon as I started moving and I started reconnecting my head and my body, there was a massive change that happened. I found more energy, I found more joy. I found the ability to just let loose. And so I've just been carrying that thread. I've been so, I've been dancing, gosh now regularly with these teenagers for maybe seven to eight years now. And I love it. I just absolutely love it. I couldn't be any happier than when that music is on and my body is new , it's my favorite. It's my favorite, favorite part of my life, honestly. I love it. And I, when I don't have class, if they're on a break or something, I'm miserable. It's sad. , Speaker 1 (06:30): I totally identify with with that as well. Dance was a, I call it dance therapy and it's a real part of my wellbeing as well. When I got healthy and lost a hundred pounds, I started salsa dancing. Well, I used to ballroom dance first, but then it was so rigid and they always, they wanted me to compete and I'm like, I just wanna have fun. So I quit that and I started salsa dancing and now I've done zoo and Zumba and all of this. It's very social, it's athletic, it's expressive, artistic. So you really do get in your body and it's part of what brings me joy as well. And I think that's part of what keeps me healthy. I love that you do the hip hop online. I'm sure everybody really enjoys seeing that and they're like, I wonder how I can get that energy. Speaker 1 (07:19): But for somebody who's listening who's kind of at that midlife stage and they're thinking, oh yeah, that's a a pipe train, Dr. Tricia, I am too tired. Like I don't even have the energy. I know that you talk about stress a lot and how it affects our health, the difference between internal and external stress. You talk about people who don't even realize that stress is a factor because we women are our houses and we just power through everything. Right? Raise your hand if that's you multitask, take care of ev anything and everything all at once. So I don't know if that's a part of your story that you wanna share. How did you come to realize that stress was such a big factor? Yeah, Speaker 3 (08:03): It's crazy. And first of all, I love do it all women. I love that we just strive for all of this, but unfortunately our bodies are not built for that on the go lifestyle. And I think with the technology that we've brought in the iPhones, the, you know, the constant stimulation, the social media, we're actually setting ourselves and our children up for a lot of serious health issues. And we're seeing that in our society. We're seeing more sensitive diabetes, we're seeing more sensitive cancer, cardiovascular disease, higher inflammatory responses, immune problems. And I think a lot of this is coming from this everyday stuff that we try to do and all these goals that we set for ourselves. But we don't give our bodies much grace to go with the rhythm. One of my favorite quotes is from Michael Jackson and it kind of ties into the dancing. Speaker 3 (08:47): And this is that everything living has a rhythm. Do you feel your music? And I think we spend so much time just running past it and just running and pushing through and pushing through and pushing through that we don't stop to actually feel our own rhythm and feel our own music. And that's actually to our decline. When you ask about internal and external stressors, I think most of us know what external stressors are and we all deal with it every single day. Spouses, children, money, jobs, whatever comes at us, you know, the pool pump breaks, you know, things like that that happened at the last minute. But when we have that stress response in our body to those external factors, even scrolling through Instagram, we actually create an internal stress on our body. Whether that be a nutrient deficiency, it could simply be an imbalance of dopamine to serotonin. Speaker 3 (09:36): We have changes in our menstrual cycles in women that that give internal stresses at certain times. Menopause is quite a big stressor. And then if you have other things that are going on, let's say problems with blood sugar or you know, underlying genetic conditions, those also cause stresses on the body. So I think a lot of us spend so much time when I ask saying, are you under stress? And they're like, oh, you know, I have a great life. I have all this stuff. I have a great business, I do all these things and I get through it all. I think I'm fine. I don't think we realize how much that's actually impacting our internal environment. And in order to have energy, we have to give our body time to rest. We have to actually pull away from that instinct to do everything and allow our bodies to heal and repair. Speaker 3 (10:18): And by doing that, our body has the energy and the resources to create more energy, which ironically then allows us to do more. So in my own personal story, everything that I do now, I couldn't do 10 years ago, I was just exhausted and fatigued and just like these women that you're talking about, just unable to even handle anything. Just snapping at everything, feeling lost, feeling sad, not having the energy to do what I want to do. And it wasn't until I backed away and realized how much stress I was really putting on myself internally in nutritional deficiencies, in imbalances, in my hormones that were really, really causing the problem. So I think it's important for us to recognize how much our bodies actually know what to do and how much we're our minds maybe are pushing us beyond that. And we need to back off a little bit and have a little bit more grace. But Speaker 1 (11:09): You know, as I'm hearing you makes perfect sense. You're preaching to the choir 'cause that was me. And there's so much out there about you're doing too much, you're too much dish, you're drinking the coffee in the morning to wind up, you're drinking the wine to wind down. So you know, at some point you have to say like either you've got your head in the ground and you don't wanna hear the truth that you need to stop doing so much. Or what? What is it that women aren't getting? Because I talk to women and they say, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, but they actually won't stop. Like I have a woman in my midlife metabolism program right now and totally anonymous, I'm not gonna mention her name, but she, she goes at it, she's so successful in the things that she has done in her community as a wife and a mom. Speaker 1 (12:02): And when you talk to her, she seems so poised and so full of energy. And then you look at her salivary cortisol and you're like, how is she even standing up? And to get her to even realize that something wrong, she had to get a breast cancer diagnosis, right? Because stress then affects your cortisol and then that increases your risk of cancer. And then when people get cancer, then they pay attention and they go, oh, what am I doing wrong? But to really get her to understand that she's doing too much, this external stress you're talking about is like a herculean task. So what does it take for a woman to really change what she's doing and change her life? I think Speaker 3 (12:42): Having a physician working with you that shows you what it's doing. You know, I think so often you go to the doctor for it and just say, gosh doc, I'm really not sleeping that well. And they're like, oh, here's a medication, or Hi, I'm just not, I don't have the energy I need. Well here's an antidepressant. And nobody's saying, Hey, let's sit down and see could there be something going on? Is there an imbalance? And when you do a full lab workup and you look at it from a functional perspective and you look at it, what's going on and what's happening, there's so many times where I'm going through a lab review and the woman looks at me and says, oh my God, I had no idea, right? Mm-Hmm. . And then many of us have family members that have lost their lives too young, you know, and linked back to stress or something was preventable. Speaker 3 (13:21): And I think there's so much health consciousness going on in our generation right now and in my age group in particular that we're looking at, our parents go and we're like, how can we change that? We don't wanna be that. We don't, we don't wanna leave our kids at 59 years old like my dad did. Or you know, and I think, so a lot of women are seeking answers and they're going to the physician asking for these types of tests and they're not getting clear and can answers 'em what they need to do. There's no doubt stress in the, you know, the, if you go to the doctor and they have to put in your diagnosis code, it's not like they say stress, they'll say fatigue, you know, insomnia, headaches, bloating, constipation, hair loss, perimenopause, these are all in there, but they're all the exact same symptoms of stress. Speaker 3 (14:03): And I think a lot of people, my mission is to get people to recognize that when you have the symptoms of all these other conditions, they are exactly the same symptoms of what you have when your body is under stress. And it takes you working with a physician and seeking a physician that can help you find these imbalances. And then once you do, it's amazing. It could be as simple as a vitamin C deficiency and you throw some vitamin C in there and you're back to yourself. You know, it could be as simple as changing your workout just slightly to do some toning exercises that benefit the calming nervous system, the parasympathetic nervous system. Such small little tweaks and getting women to recognize that is just us getting out there, you and me and talking about it and talking about our experiences and talking about how we've gone through it and how we've gained energy back by doing this exact thing. All of us want the same thing. We wanna be happy, we wanna have energy, we wanna be able to do everything we wanna do. We wanna be connected with others. You know, this is kind of an innate, the innate wants of women and we can actually do it if we pay attention to how much we're beating ourselves up in the meantime. Speaker 1 (15:09): Yes, , we can, yeah. So paying attention. And I do think it takes people like you and me out there telling people and doing the testing and showing them, like, I never heard of salivary cortisol testing in my medical training as a board certified OB G Y N for, you know, over 14 years. It just wasn't even something I knew about. And you know, I'll never forget when I learned about it and I said, oh, I'm gonna do this test and I did it and I had no cortisol. I was like the woman I just described, thank God I didn't have a breast cancer diagnosis at the time. It was a wake up call. It was a real wake up call. And I think that a lot of women don't realize going to their, you know, neighborhood H M O $30 copay doctor, that they're not getting everything that's available that could help them to understand what's going on with their health and actually get that, that vitality back. So I think it's super important that we're out there telling people what's available. Speaker 3 (16:11): Absolutely. And I think women are seeking it. They know, like they know something's not right, it's just they're showing up and being told everything's fine. And then being given a therapy that we haven't even looked at those levels. I mean, you know, as much as I do that cortisol and progesterone have very much of a relationship. So a lot of doctors are just out there pumping a bunch of progesterone without even considering the cortisol impact of it. And it, it takes, our body is an amazing machine and it has the ability to adapt. We adapt to our environment. If you're in the woods and you see a bear, your entire biochemistry and physiology changes in order to save your life and that doesn't include producing testosterone to have sex, your body's not interested in that moment, in that, right? We change everything to, to running, right. Speaker 3 (16:57): And then we wonder why is our libido so low? You know, where we work 12 hours a day, we take care of the kids, we clean the house, we do all this stuff, and we have no interest in sex. Gee, , you know, is it a, is it a testosterone problem or is it a cortisol problem that's causing a testosterone problem? And I think when we start looking at the body as an adaptive being and really paying attention to those little things that we can do along the way, it can make such a drastic impact on our lives. And I hope that everyone out there listens to that and seeks that answer because it doesn't have to be complicated. We do have to be kind to ourselves. You know, we can't keep self-deprecating and pushing ourselves beyond belief. We can only go so far. My grandmother used to say, and this was my grandmother way back in the day, you can't burn a candle at both ends and expect it to keep burning. And that is 100% true. At some point you're gonna burn out. And at that point is unfortunately where most women, you know, start seeking the help. You know, when they get a cancer diagnosis or they or they can't move forward. And that's what happened to me and that's why I just want people to understand you can catch it actually before that happens. You can actually prevent that from happening from what you're hearing is happening to your friends, to your family, you know, to your loved ones. Speaker 1 (18:09): Right. And then what does that do to your nutrient status? Because you're eating food? You know, it's funny, when I weighed 243 pounds, I used to think I had the best nutrition 'cause I was weighed so much more and I had eaten so much more food, which now I look back and I think that's insane. But I don't think that most people are aware of the effects of stress on their nutrient status. Speaker 3 (18:36): Yeah, I mean you could be doing everything right. You could be eating this amazing diet and still being impacted by the stress and you're not getting utilization. So let me talk about how stress impacts that and it does that in a couple different ways. So number one, just us running from that bear and adapting to that stressor depletes our B vitamins, particularly B five, B six, B 12, which are highly involved in the way that we break down our food, you know, to create energy. I mean they're essential for the creation of a T p. It also impacts our mineral status. So we'll start to deplete things like magnesium, potassium, we start to get imbalances in our electrolytes, which have impacts on our thyroid, has impacts on muscle contraction, cramps, sleep, those types of things. We also have a pretty big depletion in antioxidants, particularly vitamin C. Speaker 3 (19:26): So when you start to have that direct impact in the nutrients, it impacts everything else in the body. It impacts our production of serotonin. It impacts the way that we manufacture and utilize hormones like estrogen, testosterone, progesterone. It changes the way that we utilize thyroid that we create. It changes the way that we absorb the nutrients from our food. And this is where stress impacts us. The second thing is when you're running from a bear, you're not gonna digest your food. We were kind of set up with these two different nervous systems and many people have heard them as fight or flight or rest and digest. And when you're in a fight or flight, you're not resting and digesting. So when you're running from something and keeping up with that schedule and going and going and going, your body down regulates its digestion, which means you could be eating the most amazing diet and not get a lick of that nutrition because your body has slowed the digestion changed the absorbability due to it dealing with the threat. Speaker 3 (20:22): So it actually comes at you at a double whammy. And then the third whammy is once those are imbalanced, that's another internal stress, which then has more impact on cortisol, which causes more nutritional deficiencies, more downregulation, more symptoms. So by just simply saying, okay, I'm a busy woman and I'm out there running all day long, what's my B vitamin status? What's my vitamin C status? What's my mineral status? Do I have trouble digesting things? Do I, am I noticing bloating? Do I get heartburn? You know, just being aware of some of the things that are being impacted really can make a huge difference in preventing future problems. So I always recommend in general that these are the supplements that most busy women need to take. They need to be on a B vitamin, they need to be on vitamin C and antioxidants. They need to be on a mineral and they need to be on a probiotic. Because all of those are definitely being impacted simply by the lifestyle alone. Speaker 1 (21:17): Yes, absolutely. Amen to that. And then what's the consequence if you have these nutrient depletions and you don't know about it? Speaker 3 (21:25): Yeah, the consequences Speaker 1 (21:26): Happen. Speaker 3 (21:27): Yeah. Lots of symptoms. So commonly I see impacts in sleep almost immediately. Not sleeping soundly, trouble falling asleep, waking up in the middle of the night, lots of changes in mood because serotonin is highly regulated in the gut. It's also made with B vitamins and vitamin C and magnesium and all these things that that I've just mentioned. So I see a lot of anxiety and underlying just baseline irritability, very commonly as it progresses, I start to see more of thyroid issue, primarily in the conversion of thyroid. And I don't wanna get too technical, but you know, you could have an outright low thyroid function or you could have a subclinical state where you're making the thyroid but you're not utilizing it well. So the body starts to store, it starts to store thyroid, it starts to store estrogen. And that's when you start to see these symptoms that look like perimenopause, heavy periods, irregular cycles, headaches, hair loss, wrinkles, you know, poor muscle tone, all these things that we attribute to hot flashes, all these things that we attribute to menopause or perimenopause. Speaker 3 (22:30): But what they really are is a reaction of your body because it can't make what it needs to make. If you were manufacturing, you know, a water bottle on a conveyor belt, there's all these pieces that go into making this water bottle. And when a piece is missing, you have to figure out another way to compensate. And that's what our body does all day. When it's under stress, Hey, I need to make serotonin, I don't have vitamin C. Where can I pull that from? Where can I get that right? So it pulls from other pathways in order to prioritize different ones. And that's where we start to see symptoms. And instead of treating the symptom and suppressing the symptom, we need to ask the question, why am I having anxiety? Am I having anxiety because I have an imbalance? Because I have a nutrient deficiency because I'm pushing myself too far? And when you answer that question, the solution is actually ridiculously simple. You just replete what you're missing. You fill that gap on that conveyor belt. And that's where a lot of the nutritional therapy comes in. In my world of dealing with stress is how can I help the body, you know, get more parts for that conveyor belt while we work on mind body aspect to try to calm the body. We also need to support it. So we support it with a lot of nutrition. A ton of nutrition. Speaker 1 (23:46): Yes, it's super important. I think that everyone really needs micronutrient testing to see where their levels are. I'm sure you're a proponent of tests, don't guess as well. . Speaker 3 (23:57): Yeah, abs. Absolutely. I love micronutrient testing. And that, back to one of your earlier questions, that's one of those aha moments where, you know, my client looks at me and says, oh my God, I had no idea. And once you know you can do something about it, I mean, we're all pretty hard people if they're hardworking people, if there's a problem and we can figure out how to fix it, we will fix it. So we've gotta identify where the weak links are so that we can fix it. And then it's not so complicated. Then you're not spending hours at the doctor's office just saying, doc, I'm not getting better. I'm not getting better. It's like, hey, we tested this, we saw we were low in iron, we repleted that. Now the iron's back to normal. How are your symptoms? And then how is that impacting other areas when we bring up iron, what does that do to other nutrients at that point? We're always adapting and that's what's so, mm-hmm , gosh darn amazing about our bodies is that we can adapt to every little thing. And if we play into that adaption and work with it rather than against it, if we feel our rhythm , then it's amazing what we can do. Speaker 1 (24:58): Yeah, it's so true. And you know, but what do you say to people who are like, I just wanna do the testing once, I wanna know what I need, supplements I need to take, and then I wanna go on my merry way and I don't ever wanna look at that again. Yeah, Speaker 3 (25:12): It's a shame. I have had people like that. They usually come back about five years later and say, okay, I was wrong. Can we look at this again? , , you know, one of the things that I've come to realize just in my own health journey is you're never done getting Well, it's a spectrum where there's an area of health and there's an area of disease. And as we grow and we change and we get older, we change, our chemistry changes, our metabolism changes, things change. And we have to constantly be adapting and growing to that. I don't think anyone can just say, okay, I'm gonna do everything in two months and then I'm gonna be well for the rest of our lives. That's not realistic. , I, I mean, just like I said, just a cell phone alone. I mean, how many times do people check their phone a day? Speaker 3 (25:51): I think it was like upwards of 80 times a day for adults and like double that for children. And it's not even buzzing, right? It's just, we're just innately always stimulating ourselves. We live in this stimulated society and unless society's gonna change, which it's not, we're just gonna keep developing and growing technology and we need to actually address that because otherwise we're just gonna keep changing. So health is a spectrum and I really prefer to work with my clients for a very long period of time. Most of my clients have been me with, been with me for a very long period of time. And every year we're looking at, okay, what were our wins and what do we still need to grow on? What do we still need to learn? How are we gonna get into that mindset of true wellness and health? And that takes time. Mm-Hmm. , it's hard. The hardest part, I don't know if you agree, the hardest part is the mindset part. The mind body part is the hardest one to get a handle of because our brains trick us into thinking we have to deal with something else first, that everyone else comes first or other things come first instead of just breathing or being in the moment. Speaker 1 (26:54): Yeah, it's so true. And as you're talking, I'm thinking, it's not like we think, oh, I'm gonna brush my teeth really good right now and then I won't ever have to do it again. Or I'm gonna clean my house so well I'm never gonna have to clean it again. No. But somehow, I don't know, when it comes to natural healing or nutritional changes or the things we're talking about, I don't know where we get this mentality from that I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it and I'm gonna get healthy and then I'm not gonna have to do it anymore. And I always say, health is a journey, not a destination. , it's not like you arrive . Speaker 3 (27:31): Yeah. You know, and I get, I get that all the time, you know, oh well how long do I have to do this nutrition plan for? How long do I have to abstain from alcohol for before I can put it back in? You know, it's like, well I don't know if you can put it back in. We're just gonna have to take this journey, you know, as it goes. And listen to what the body's trying to tell us and adapt to that as we go. One of the biggest obstacles that I get, or objections I guess, is they say, gosh, Dr. Penal, am I gonna have to eat plants like that for the rest of my life? ? Am I gonna have to eat like you and exercise every day like you do ? And I'm like, here's the thing to me, because I've gone through this transformation with my health, it isn't a burden to me to eat. Speaker 3 (28:10): Well, in fact, my body wants to eat well, it, it craves eating well. If I wanted to eat poorly, I couldn't. I physically couldn't because my body will be like, no, you are not eating that. And it's just a, I want to feel well, I have more energy and can do more than I've ever done in my entire life at 47, way more than I ever did when I was 22. It's an amazing thing. And when I see my clients transform and hit that point where I'm at, where they're like they want to be well, they want to continue to eat well because they feel so good, nothing's a better feeling and I know that I set them up. Nothing. You know, nothing is a better feeling. It's the most inspiring thing. It's why you and I show up every single day. It's to help people make that realization that they don't have to abuse their bodies to feel well. Speaker 3 (28:54): And I think we do that. You know, we drink alcohol, we deprioritize exercise or self-care for other people to help other people. And we think we're doing good when in reality we're focusing on everybody else and not ourselves and we're actually putting ourselves at detriment. But when you flip that, you can do so much more. You can give back to society. You can help so many more people. You have the energy to do what you want. You enjoy exercise, you enjoy food, you start dancing again. You know, you do things that truly allow you to appreciate every single moment, which unfortunately not everyone recognizes until something drastic happens. I've lost my entire family above me. So my parents, my grandparents, and I lost them all at a fair, fairly long young age. And to me that's changed my perspective on how I spend time with my kids, how I spend time with my friends and my family and the gratitude that I give forth every single day. Speaker 3 (29:45): Because this is a gift. I'm on lease, right? My life is on lease. It could go at any time. And I just want to be the best that I can be. And I wanna be able to give the knowledge that I've learned through this process to as many people as possible so that they can give it to other people so we can all reconnect and be healthy and well and live this life to the fullest. I, I can't think of anything more. And I think we spend so much time worrying about all those nitpicky things, right? Did we do this on time? Did so-and-so like it when we did that? Did that person ignore my text? You know, what is so-and-so doing on their vacation? You know, we worry about everybody else and we don't spend enough time really worrying about ourselves because we think it's selfish and it's not. Speaker 1 (30:25): It's not, is it Speaker 3 (30:26): ? ? It's not. It allows you to give more. You can do more, so much more. And we can help raise our kids to not set them up for the same thing we set ourselves up for, which scares Olivia daylights outta me with like two year olds on cell phones scrolling through YouTube. I'm like, no. Oh my gosh. Speaker 1 (30:44): . Oh no. So Speaker 3 (30:46): With a diet Coke in hand, right? , Speaker 1 (30:49): I'm wondering if, you know, it's so funny, I'm, I'm in Dubai right now and they have McDonald's here and they have McDonald's ads and I was noticing, so they have it with Arabic letters, which I think are very artistic and beautiful, the Arabic writing and, and I had this thought, is McDonald's healthier? Because the writing about it is pretty over here still as unhealthy. And you know, hopefully McDonald's won't mind that I say that 'cause they know that some of their products have been shown to be challenging. But anyway, I just had that thought. And it's the same for the sodas and things that I see in foreign countries in a foreign language with pretty writing. It doesn't look to me as toxic as I know it is in the US or I encountered it for decades. Do you know what I'm saying? Speaker 3 (31:37): I do. And you know, it's all marketing and marketing images in our heads of what's been told to us to be healthy or not healthy, right? So if it looks different, we're like, oh, that's healthy. I mean they do the same thing. Supplements. I've seen some supplements out there that are so beautiful. Their label is so beautiful and they're absolute junk. And I'm like, but they're selling like hotcakes 'cause their label is so beautiful. You know? So yeah. You know, and, and I think all of our habits are ingrained in exactly the same way. At some point we had an image in our brain that made it say, oh, we should eat that. Or This makes me feel good when I eat. What are they called? The little egg sausage McMuffins or whatever. I feel good when I eat that. So then whenever I feel depressed, I'm going to eat a sausage McMuffin. Speaker 3 (32:16): Right? I don't even know if that's the name. I haven't been to a McDonald's in years, but those are the things we have to use our mind to override. You know, I feel good when I eat quinoa and avocado, right? But it took me a while to overcome that, right, right. To overcome that pre I guess notion in my head. And I think that's one of the biggest challenges we have right now in our country. Particularly because we're just so inundated with information everywhere and it's so overwhelming and you don't know what to believe and you don't know what to look at and you don't know it's healthy. And I think that causes a lot of people just to be overwhelmed by the whole process and say whatever, I'll just eat whatever because this is too much work. It's not as much work as you think. You just need to have a trusted guide to help you, help you get through it and evaluate what you're doing. Speaker 1 (32:57): Yes. A trusted guide is essential and you are one. Dr. Tricia, thank you so much for coming and sharing your exuberance, your joy, your wisdom, your inspiration. I know people listening feel very inspired and hopeful from hearing you. I do, for sure. But you've got a wonderful total health cookbook that everybody can access for free. We will have the link in the show notes and tell everybody where else they can connect with you online. Speaker 3 (33:29): Absolutely. Dr pingle.com is my website and that has links to everything and you know, will always be updated with different things. But if you enjoy dancing and having fun and learning, you definitely should follow me over on Instagram at Dr. Pingel or Facebook at Dr. Tricia Pingel. I'm also on all the other social media channels. Pinterest has a lot of my recipes. Just, you know, search me up and definitely say hello. I'm here to connect with people. That's what I want. I wanna connect and inspire and grow and get us all, you know, working together so we can do everything we wanna do. So if you do follow me, pop a little note in one of my feeds and say, Hey, you know, saw you here. Nice to meet you. I would love to meet all of you. So thanks. Awesome. Speaker 1 (34:12): And we will have all those links in the show notes, so don't worry about writing them down. We've got 'em for you so you can just click them. Thank you so much Dr. Tricia for joining us today. It's been wonderful. You've inspired me. I realized since I got to to by two weeks ago, I haven't been dancing, so I am gonna go dancing sometime this week and have, have some joy. 'cause It's just, it's one of the most, if, if anyone listening, if you haven't danced in a while, I challenge you to go turn some music on and just dance around your living room. It, it's the most joy inspiring activity I can think of. So and involve. Thank you so much. Yeah, Speaker 3 (34:50): The kids are, the kids enjoy it too, and it prompts a lot of laughs and it's a connecting experience. And by the way, when you do start dancing, I want you to record it and post it so I can dance next to you on a duet or something. So pull, pull that up, do that. Speaker 1 (35:02): Let's do it. Okay. We'll do it. Promise. So thank you so much Dr. Trisha and thank, thank you so much for the work you do, and thanks for being here. Speaker 3 (35:10): Thank you for having me. Speaker 1 (35:11): And thank you for listening to another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Hopefully you've learned something that you will put into action today to move your health towards the brilliant health that you deserve. I look forward to hearing what changes you're making. You can reach out to me on social media, on Facebook and Kiran Instagram at Kyrin Dunston MD Ann, until next week, peace, love, and hormones Speaker 2 (35:37): Y'all. Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.   ► The Total Health Cookbook by Dr. Tricia Pingel. Filled with nutrient dense, easy to make and impressive recipes to support adrenal health. Sign up and files will be emailed to you! CLICK HERE.   ► Feeling tired? Can't seem to lose weight, no matter how hard you try? It might be time to check your hormones. Most people don't even know that their hormones could be the culprit behind their problems. But at Her Hormone Club, we specialize in hormone testing and treatment. We can help you figure out what's going on with your hormones and get you back on track. We offer advanced hormone testing and treatment from Board Certified Practitioners, so you can feel confident that you're getting the best possible care. Plus, our convenient online consultation process makes it easy to get started. Try Her Hormone Club for 30 days and see how it can help you feel better than before. CLICK HERE.    

Welcome back to another episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast, the go-to resource for midlife women seeking to better understand their hormones and how to navigate this often-challenging stage of life. Today, we are honored to have the brilliant Dr. Eric Balcavage as our guest.    Dr. Balcavage is the proud owner and founder of Rejuvagen and has made exceptional strides in the world of functional medicine, earning him a reputable position as a licensed Chiropractor in Pennsylvania. Drawing upon his wealth of knowledge and years of experience in the field, Dr. Balcavage will be diving deep into the truths behind thyroid physiology and the shortcomings of the current medical model.    In this eye-opening episode, get ready to learn about: - The crucial role that thyroid physiology plays in our everyday lives, particularly for midlife women - The complexity of bile physiology, and what it has to do with hormonal balance - The decisive factors that influence detoxification, oxidative stress, methylation, and chronic illness    Here's a taste of Dr. Balcavage's wisdom from the episode: "Understanding thyroid physiology is paramount for midlife women, as changes in hormonal balance can directly affect our overall well-being."    Dr. Balcavage's journey into understanding thyroid physiology began when he encountered a staggering number of patients who were continually misdiagnosed or underdiagnosed due to the restrictive parameters of the current medical model. Inspired by the undeniable need for a more comprehensive approach, he set out on a quest to dig deeper into human physiology and develop a more refined understanding of hormonal challenges that midlife women face, specifically thyroid disorders.    Throughout this episode, Dr. Balcavage shares personal anecdotes, professional insights, and invaluable advice on how to take control of your hormonal health. Armed with these enlightening perspectives, you will be better equipped to advocate for yourself in navigating the current medical model—which, as Dr. Balcavage bluntly puts it: "The traditional medical model's approach to thyroid health is flawed. It's far too narrowly focused, ineffectual, and doesn't paint the full picture."    So, join us on The Hormone Prescription Podcast as we pull back the curtain on the state of thyroid healthcare, empowering you, our midlife women listeners, to push past the constraints of the current medical model and embark on a journey toward better health and vitality. Don't miss this transformative episode with Dr. Eric Balcavage!    Remember to subscribe, rate, and leave a review for future episodes, and always consult your healthcare provider before making any changes to your health regimen. Until next time, stay tuned for more empowering conversations on The Hormone Prescription Podcast!   Speaker 1 (00:00): The thyroid debacle. Why the current medical model is keeping you sick and unwell. Stay tuned to hear Dr. Eric Balcavage with his unique perspective. Speaker 2 (00:11): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us, keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself again. As an O B G Y N, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue. Now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Speaker 1 (01:04): Hi everybody. Welcome to another episode of the Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me today. As we are going to talk about the thyroid debacle. Dr. Eric is a chiropractor who's functional medicine trained who really has a unique way of articulating the difficulties with thyroid management, not only in traditional corporate allopathic medic medicine or medical model, but in a functional medicine model model. This is where a lot of us actually get it wrong too, because we just change trying to chase T four. We're trying to chase T three. And a lot of practitioners don't look to identify and address the underlying root cause of thyroid disorders, which you must do if you're going to fix thyroid disorders once and for all. So Dr. Eric has written a book, the Thyroid Debacle, and he has a very unique perspective about a cell danger response that you're going to want to hear about. Speaker 1 (02:08): There's a lot of information here. It's very dense. He talks very quickly. So if you don't catch it all, you might wanna play it a little more slowly than usual so you can hear everything. But there's lots of good information in here, and we're gonna tell you the top three steps to start taking to address your thyroid problems. And he talks a lot about testing and so much else in this episode. So I'll tell you a little bit about him and then we'll get started. So Dr. Eric Balcavage is an actually recognized speaker and educator on various health related topics including thyroid physiology, biophysiology detoxification, oxidative stress, methylation, and chronic illness. He's a functional medicine practitioner and a licensed chiropractor in Pennsylvania and is the owner and founder of rejuven, a functional medicine clinic in Chads Ford, pa. Welcome Dr. Eric to the show. Well, thanks Speaker 3 (03:04): For having me. How you doing? Speaker 1 (03:05): I'm doing great. How are you doing today? Speaker 3 (03:08): I'm doing fantastic. So Speaker 1 (03:09): We are gonna talk about one of my favorite topics, thyroid, because that's one of the things that kept me stuck for years. 243 pounds with all my chronic health problems. And I kept thinking, I know I've got to have a thyroid problem. I have the top five symptoms, right? I'm overweight, I'm tired. I had hair loss, constipation, anxiety, and a host of other things. But every time I would do the standard thyroid profile as a board certified ob, G Y N, it would come back, quote unquote normal. And I started thinking I was crazy. And I even remember the last time Dr. Eric that I went to my internal medicine doctor and I said to her, I have to have a thyroid problem. Look at me. And she yelled at me and she said, fine, we're gonna check it one last time. But if it's normal, then it's just because you eat too much and you don't exercise enough that you're having all these problems. Speaker 1 (04:09): And she made me come to her office to get the lab results 'cause she was so fed up with me. And many people listening can probably relate to that because so many patients really do have low thyroid, but the tests come back normal. And I remember when I went to her office and drove across town that Tuesday, it was just starting to rain, and I was so afraid she was gonna tell me it was normal again. And that's exactly what she told me. And she yelled at me and said, you just eat too much and don't exercise enough. And I went in my car and closed the door and the rain was coming down and I started crying because I thought, I'm just crazy. There's really nothing wrong with me. And I know there's somebody listening right now who thinks that, so let's get into thyroid, the thyroid debacle, and how my story was not at all unique. It's actually very common. Do you wanna talk about that? Speaker 3 (05:01): Yeah, I, I think a huge problem for a lot of people is that we assume that two tests and ma many times, one test assess the state of thyroid physiology in the whole body. So most people, if they have, they're tired, they're fatigued, they're gaining weight, they're constipated, they have depression, anxiety, irritability, they have all these symptoms and they Google them, they go, sounds like a thyroid condition since your thyroid hormone drives the metabolism of the body. And so if you have the signs and symptoms and you get tested in a traditional allopathic model, what allopathic physicians have been trained to do much like yourself is to assess to run one test. And many times it's called A T S H, but many physicians will run a T S H with a reflex to free T four. And so what they're looking at is this marker, T S H. Speaker 3 (05:55): If that's out of the normal lab reference range, then there's a possibility based on the model that somebody might have either hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism. If the T s H is elevated, they might have hypothyroidism where their thyroid gland can't make enough thyroid hormone. And if it's below the lab reference range, then they might have hypothyroidism. And if it's, if the value's outta the reference range, then the lab automatically runs what they call a free T four test. And T four is the primary hormone that's made by the thyroid gland. So what they wanna see is if the T s H is high, is it because there's the thyroid glands not making enough T four, or if the T s H is lab low, is it because there's too much thyroid hormone being made? But if you have tired fatigue, all the symptoms of hypothyroidism, they're looking to see is that T S H high and the free T four low. Speaker 3 (06:46): And they're assuming that as long as the values are with TSH is within that reference range, that there isn't a thyroid problem that they can address. And their primary reason for that is in allopathic world, they're typically not re recommended all the guidelines, you've read them all, I'm sure the guidelines don't recommend intervention with thyroid hormone replacement until the gland is damaged or destroyed to a point that it can't make sufficient thyroid hormone anymore. Until that happens, until there's overt glandular dysfunction, the general recommendations aren't to provide thyroid hormone. And so they'll say, Hey, they're your thyroid's fine. The thyroid gland could be fine. But what causes hypothyroid signs and symptoms is less about the gland and more about what's happening inside your individual cells and tissues, which isn't fully represented by A T S H in a free T four. And that's where most people struggle and have problems. Speaker 3 (07:51): So to back it up for your listeners, you have trillions of cells in your body. They're like people. They need to bring nutrition into the cell and then turn that food energy into cellular energy so they can make proteins and peptides and hormones and all kinds of good stuff, hair and skin and all this stuff that makes us feel and function well. And T three is a, is the active thyroid hormone that really drives that process. So we have this gland that's right underneath our chin in the middle of our neck and it's, it's called our thyroid gland. And when it gets stimulated, when the body senses that there's more thyroid hormone is needed, the pituitary gland generates a hormone called T ss h thyroid stimulating hormone, it signal it goes to the thyroid gland, and that triggers more hormone production. The thyroid gland primarily makes T four, that's the primary circulating hormone. Speaker 3 (08:50): It's in a, it's a less active hormone. It still has activity, but it's less active what the cells do with that T four. Once that T four enters the bloodstream and a little bit of the active form, T three enters the bloodstream, but it's really at a ratio of about 10 to one, eight to one maybe. But that thyroid hormone enters into the bloodstream then like almost all hormones in the body, it gets docked onto a, like an like a taxi cab. We call 'em binding globulins. And they get escorted through the bloodstream to the cells and tissues that need hormone. Once they get to a cell or tissue that needs hormone, the hormones become free of that binding globulin or get outta the taxi cab. And now they can get it, get to the cell. Once those hormones are at the cell, then there's another step the cells have to determine do they want more hormone or not want more hormone. Speaker 3 (09:43): If it's a cell that's in low stress manufacturing mode, it's gonna bring T four in maybe a little bit of T three in, and it's going to convert the T four into T three. That T three goes to the receptors inside the nucleus, inside the mitochondria, and turns on the manufacturing process so that the cell can generate the energy, can bring glucose in other nutrients in, and make the stuff that makes us feel good. That requires a lot of energy. So we burn glucose, we burn fats, we feel and function good, we're able to maintain our weight. And then when we have enough metabolism, those cells say, okay, I'm gonna slow this process down. It can kind of bring less thyroid hormone in or deactivate the thyroid hormone to slow the metabolism back down. That's how it should work. And that's what we call homeostasis. Speaker 3 (10:34): But for a lot of people, they've got some type of dangerous physiology going on. There's stress, there's inflammation, there's infections, there's toxins, there's organisms that are impacting a cell. And if the cell is starting to perceive danger, because if there's a bacteria or a virus or some toxicity, that cell innately says, whoa, we need to shift from manufacturing and shift our attention to cell defense. We need to make more inflammatory chemicals. We need to ramp up the immune system to find the threat and kill it. And the dimmer switch to determines whether we're in manufacturing mode, high metabolism, making hair and skin and hormones, or whether we're in cell defense mechanism is the amount of thyroid hormone in the cell. The amount of T three in the cell can turn on the manufacturing, but higher levels of T three in the cell can also turn off the immune inflammatory process. Speaker 3 (11:29): But if I have, if I have a cell stress or cell danger response going on, I don't wanna increase the manufacturing. I don't wanna make more sex hormones. I don't wanna make more proteins and peptides that could support the threat. I don't wanna bring more glucose into the cell that could support the threat. I wanna slow the metabolism down, I wanna ramp up the defense mechanisms. And to do that, the cell reduces the amount of T three in the cell, slows down the mitochondria, reduces glucose coming into the cell, ramps up inflammation so it can fine and just dam and destroy mm-hmm. The threat. Mm-Hmm. And that okay, unfortunately causes hypothyroid symptoms even if you have a perfectly functioning thyroid gland and plenty of thyroid hormone in the bloodstream. So Speaker 1 (12:12): Are you talking about subclinical hypothyroidism where T S H is in the quote unquote normal range? And so is T three and T four? Is that what you're talking about? Speaker 3 (12:22): So you could have hypothyroid signs and symptoms and have a perfectly normal T S H. It could be a low T ss H and still have hypothyroid signs and symptoms. Mm-Hmm. . So if somebody has the signs and symptoms of hypothyroidism, then we have to look at a more comprehensive thyroid panel to assess is that, is there a reduced conversion of T four to T three? And then we want to take the next steps, like if there is a reduced conversion of T four to T three, are there inflammatory mechanisms that would be driving that process? And then we also wanna consider what tissues are being, IM impacted by that immune inflammatory process. Speaker 1 (13:00): Okay. Let's back up a minute. 'cause I know we got very granular, very fast and we probably lost some people. So I wanna back up a little bit and take a little bit wider view. Your book is called The Thyroid Debacle, why the Current Medical Model is Keeping You Sick and Unwell. And before we started recording, you were talking about how your approach to thyroid disorders is different. And so you were talking about what allopathic medicine does, what a root cause functional approach is, and then going beyond. So I think that would be great for everyone to hear. Do you wanna talk a little bit about what the thyroid debacle is? Speaker 3 (13:38): Yeah, I think it's the fact, I think it goes to the fact that we treaties every person that has hypothyroid signs and symptoms or actually has hypothyroidism as if they're in that state, we call homeostasis that if we're just gonna give them thyroid hormone, it's gonna do what we wanted to do. Whether it's T four or T three, we assume it's gonna work inside the cells and it doesn't work the same if we're in homeostasis versus allostasis. So we have to change our thinking as clinicians and, and stop thinking that the immune system's outta control and destroying the gland for no apparent reason, or that this body forgot how to convert T four to T three. And if I just flood the system with T four and T three, it's gonna work the way I should. We have to, as clinicians start to understand and explain to our patients that they're not broken, their bodies are adapting to some type of excessive cell stress response. Speaker 3 (14:31): And if we address the things that are causing the excessive cell stress, that's how you get their body to convert T four to T three efficiently. That's how they get their immune system to stop damaging and destroying their thyroid gland. I think we make the mistake in, especially in functional and integrative medicine, that it's the reason that people don't feel well is, is because they can't convert T four to T three versus they're adaptively doing that and giving them T three can provide a just another drug providing a temporary fix, but it doesn't address the root issues. Speaker 1 (15:09): Yeah. So you talk about hypothyroidism as a spectrum disorder. What do you mean by that? Speaker 3 (15:15): In allopathic medicine, and even to some degree in functional medicine, we consider that hypothyroidism starts when the gland can't make thyroid hormone anymore. T S h's lab high T four, free T four is lab low. That's when hypothyroidism starts. We might ev, and that's not when hypothyroid starts, in my opinion, that's the end stage of hypothyroidism. What the literature shows is that by the time you're diagnosed with primary hypothyroidism, you've lost 90% of the function of your thyroid gland. So that's not the beginning. That's like saying cardiovascular disease starts when you have your first heart attack or diabe blood sugar dysregulation starts when you get diagnosis di di with diabetes. Everything's a process in the body. So my thought process and my hypothesis is that hypothyroidism typically starts at the individual cell and tissue level, not at the thyroid gland level. So that's why somebody like you says, Hey, I'm tired, fatigued, I don't feel well, I have hypothyroid signs and symptoms, but my T S H is still normal. Speaker 3 (16:18): My free T four is still normal. And it's because we're checking what the gland output is potentially and not considering that what is ultimately causing hypothyroid signs and symptoms isn't about the gland, it's not about what's in the bloodstream, it's about how much T three is hitting the receptors inside the cell, and that's under the control of the individual cells and tissues to a large degree. So I think most hypothyroidism starts at the cell and tissue level. And if it's short-term, you get short-term si hypothyroid signs and symptoms, you get an upregulation of the immune inflammatory system. We address the cold, the virus, the bacteria and it, and those signs and symptoms go away. But if the stress becomes chronic and persistent, then not only do we have cellular tissue, hypothyroidism start to occur, but now we get glandular thyroiditis that starts to occur and eventually we lose gland function. And that's why if you're then just giving T four or maybe just T three, the symptoms, the improvement's only temporary and partial. Mm-Hmm. . And we don't get full resolve in, in either re regardless of the medication you're taking. Speaker 1 (17:27): And so you talk about the cell gave your response, you've talked a little bit about that, what's going on in the cell as a big determinant. And then you talk about the fitness factors that help you determine each patient's stress load. So how can everybody listening know, how do they know, are my cells in a cell danger response? How would somebody know before we get to the fitness factors, how would somebody know? Speaker 3 (17:53): Well, if you feel awesome, you have plenty of energy, no real signs or symptoms, you sleep eight hours, you feel well rested, you've got good muscle mass, limited extra body fat tissue on you, you've got tons of energy, great libido, probably not in the cell danger response, but if you have chronic health issues gaining weight, I mean gaining weight and seeing blood sugar dysregulation would be two of the easy things to say that there's something wrong with your cellular physiology. But beyond that, look at, if you have lots of signs and symptoms, there's some type of abnormal physiology going on. And that's when you start needing to say, maybe I'm in this allostatic state or cell danger response and not in homeostasis. 'cause Homeostasis means that I make enough energy to do everything I need to do at a cellular level efficiently. So the caloric intake is appropriate. I can make sex hormones, I can do everything I wanna do. That's homeostasis. Yeah. Speaker 1 (18:48): Well you just described like 60 to 80% of women over 40 have some list of signs and symptoms going wrong with their health. So we're pretty much all, that's Speaker 3 (18:58): Because probably 60 80% of the people have a cell danger response. And if you look at the population of the US, six 50 to 60% of the US population is overweight or obese, 50 to 60% of the population is on a statin. 50 to 60% of the population is diabetic. So yeah, I think that's easy to say that. Yeah, 40 to, I mean, a large percentage of people are grossly unhealthy to Yes. Speaker 1 (19:21): Yes we are. And so the average person listening that they're like, check that's me. Particularly if they're suspecting that they have a thyroid problem, how do they get at the root of, well, why are my cells having a cell danger response? And what are the specific issues that I personally need to address to help improve my thyroid so that I don't go through this? The chacha, the T four chacha with the allopathic practitioner, the T three chacha with the functional practitioner, and they wanna get out of that dance. How do they figure out what is causing the cell danger response for their cells in particular? Speaker 3 (20:00): Well, I mean, it's easy to do a self-assessment. And it's one of the things that Dr. Kelly and I, who was my co-author in the book, we talk about the fitness factors and we talk about the difference kind of aspects of your physiology that are probably contributing to the excessive stress load. And so when we talk about stress, most the time everybody thinks about emotional stress is the problem, right? This external thing that then causes us to have this angst. But stress comes in lots of different forms. You're never gonna be stress free. That's never the goal of what you're trying to accomplish. What you need to be able to do is stress the physiology and allow for recovery. So when we think about what creates excessive cell stress, it could be a number of factors. One of the things in my situation in my forties, I was still tr, you know, doing a lot of sports and training. Speaker 3 (20:49): I was doing triathlons at that point in time and training hard. And you know, few hours of physical training per day run into businesses, coaching, being a dad, sleeping four hours a day. And I had a great, I mean, my diet was good. I was physically active, mindset was good. But the big thing that drove me to have chronic inflammatory immune and thyroiditis issues was I was over training and limited recovery on top of poor breathing habits due to multiple broken noses. So I wasn't breathing well, I was over training, I wasn't allowing for recovery. So one day is not that big of a deal, my body's able to adapt. But do that over and over again and you start to create an excessive stress response on the tissues and your cells and tissues say like, enough already, let's try and shut this thing down. Speaker 3 (21:38): But as many athletes are, they go, I, pain is weakness leaving the body or discomfort is weakness leaving the body. And we try and just keep pushing forward. And then if you have that type of stress on your system, plus respiratory stress plus work stress plus emotional stress plus relationship stress, at some point the stress becomes excessive. And then I need to shift how my cellular physiology works. And I'll give you an example of how I typically express the cell danger physiology to my clients. And that is, do you have kids yourself? Yep. Mm-Hmm. . Okay. Do you love your kids? Yeah. Okay. So let's say this weekend you're gonna have a huge party at your house, right? One of your kids, your favorite one is sitting at your kitchen island, right? Eating food. You've got four burners on, you're cooking a whole bunch of food, you're doing wash, you're cleaning, you're doing everything all at the same time, and somebody breaks into your home and starts attacking your child. Speaker 3 (22:38): Are you gonna continue to cook? Nope. Are you gonna take time to turn the burners off? Put everything in nice glass Tupperware? Nope. Okay. Are you gonna try and slide one more Load of wash in? Nope. Finish vacuuming. No. Are you gonna try and take a nap? Nope. Sex? Nope. Okay. So if I walked into your house and I saw the foods burning on the stove, the house is a disaster, a mess. Vacuum cleaners running down, running in the middle of the floor, clothes are all over the place. I can make a couple decisions, right? I can make some thoughts. I could just say, well, you're a terrible cook and terrible housekeeper, so I'm gonna fix this and I'm gonna hire you a chef and I'm gonna hire you a housekeeper and I'll fix the problem. And it look, they come in, they clean, clean it up, everything looks awesome. Speaker 3 (23:27): Or I can ask a better question, which is, why is this happening? Is there an explanation for why you would leave the food burning on the stove, leave the vacuum cleaner, running, leave the house a disaster? And maybe I start to investigate that so we can make one of two choices that you're terrible cook chef, just like we could say the thyroid physiology's broken and the cell physiology is, is outta control. Or we could say, is this an appropriate adaptive response? So when somebody has, is feeling tired and fatigued and has signs and symptoms of hypothyroidism, or actually is diagnosed with hypothyroidism but still doesn't feel well on the medication, is their immune system outta control? Are they unable to convert T four to T three or is what we're seeing? Not broken physiology, but adaptive physiology. It's the appropriate response given the stressors that are put on the system. Speaker 3 (24:21): Mm-Hmm. And my argument is whether it's an allopathic approach or a functional medicine approach, we shouldn't be getting in the way and trying to fix an imbalance if it's an adaptation. And we shouldn't be assuming that everything's broken physiology, but start to look at the wisdom of the body and start to say, maybe this is adaptive. And what I need to identify is what's creating that excessive stress response. And if I address that, if I find out that you're in your basement fighting off an attacker and I take down the attacker and we get that attacker, you know, off of you and in custody and get rid of them, that's the solution. You weren't being a terrible housekeeper and cook. You were doing exactly the right thing you should have been doing. And the signs and symptoms, the burning food and the stuff all over the place was what we should be seeing. The signs and symptoms that you have, my hormones don't regulate. I'm gaining weight even though I'm eating and exercising appropriately. We need to look at those signs and symptoms and stop trying to like play, you know, whack-a-mole with those results and or those lab values and start to say, okay, what's create, why is the body adaptively doing that? Mm-Hmm. . And when we do that, that's what functional medicine is, in my opinion. Speaker 1 (25:39): Okay. And so what is the strategic thyroid solution is to identify and fix these root causes. Do you wanna talk about maybe the top three most important ones You list dietary, fitness, sleep, fitness, respiratory, fitness, emotional, physical, habitual, environmental, fitness, metabolic and genetic. What would be the top three in your opinion? Speaker 3 (26:01): Well, I think the top three would probably be, and we think about the things that we have the greatest control over and cost us next to nothing. Okay. And they're all important for the listener. She kinda ran through those, but they're all important. But definitely respiratory fitnesses would be right at the top of my list if you breathe inappropriately, and I would say the vast majority of us breathe inappropriately. We over breathe, we mouth breathe, especially at night when nobody's really paying attention. If you over breathe or excessively mouth breathe, you wind up reducing carbon dioxide levels. You wind up creating what we call hypoxia at the tissue level. And as soon as you induce hypoxia at the tissue level, low oxygen, you can't burn fat as a fuel efficiently. You downregulate your thyroid physiology and that's gonna set the stage for chronic immune inflammatory processes. Speaker 3 (26:58): So it doesn't cost anything to improve your breathing, it just takes time and activity or time and training. And first thing you gotta do is be aware. So how do you be become aware that you might have a respiratory, for my clients, I, I give them a respiratory fitness questionnaire, have 'em go through those things. But key things to keep an eye on are, you know, do you snore? And you may say, well I never snore. Well, how do you know ? Well, nobody complains. Well that doesn't mean you don't, right? And so if you're a mouth breather, if you snore, if you have a history of cavities or gum disease, there's a good chance that you're a mouth breather. If you've had a deviated septum or a broken nose, probably a good chance that you are a more of a mouth breather. If you get stuffy or congested at night, it's probably a good indication that you're gonna tend to be more of a mouth breather. Speaker 3 (27:45): And so assess it, address it, retrain your body's ability to breathe appropriately. If you, the other thing you could do is you could check your respiratory rate. I think you and I went to school, they, we, the average respiratory rate somewhere between 15, maybe 18 breaths per minute was considered normal. But really optimal is somewhere between six and 10 breaths per minute for optimal health. And most people aren't even close to it. Mm-Hmm. . And the other thing I have my patients do is do a controlled breath hold time test where they blow all the air out, hold their breath until they start to get their first SI signs of anxiousness or panic. And if that number optimally, that number should be being closer to over 40. But you know, a lot of people with chronic health issues, it's under 20, under 10, they, their poor breathing habits, maybe a really big contributor to what's creating some of their problems. Speaker 3 (28:37): And it doesn't cost you anything to check it and it doesn't cost you anything to retrain your breathing. And there's plenty of things out there that if you need guided care yoga, there's lots of yoga type breathing things. There's Wim Hof and all these things that can teach you and train you how to rebreed. And you don't have to, but you really don't have to pay for anything. You just gotta work on it. I would say number two would be good nutrition. And despite the craziness in the functional medicine space today where we've circled the diet religions in and we're shooting in at each other, the focus of somebody's dietary strategy you know, it should be a whole food based diet, 80% of the time is a great place to start. If you're eating a lot of processed foods, start there, stop doing it. Speaker 3 (29:27): Right? That's an easy thing to do. And you can say, well, do I need to be carnivore? Do I need to be keto? Do I need to be vegetarian, vegan, paleo, medi? What do I need to be? Get rid of all those fancy names and religions and just start shifting your diet to being 80% of the time whole food based. That's a great place to start. What we've done in functional medicine and this in the, in our industry is somebody's found that they did something. It helped them, helped the patient. So therefore everybody should be doing it. And what we have to consider that a carnivore diet could be really beneficial to somebody for a short period of time. Paleo diet could be very beneficial for somebody for a short period of time. Mm-Hmm. , maybe vegan or vegetarian, depending on what you're doing and how you're doing and what's going on with your physiology. Variation in diet may be, may be important to change, but the real issue isn't with what type of whole food diet we should be eating. We should be reducing the toxic load of the processed foods. And if we just do that, most people are gonna start to become healthier, more satisfied. Right. . And then, and then I'd say the third thing is, well, I was Speaker 1 (30:33): Gonna say just before you go to that, we just need to stop eating the crap and just , right. Eat for real food. Speaker 3 (30:40): We've lost touch with what we think healthy food is because we have stickers and labels that we stick on things and say, oh, this is, this is organic, this is whatever, and we think, oh, then it must be good. Well not, so it's all marketing. Speaker 1 (30:58): Right. Okay. Sorry to interrupt. And so the third thing would be, Speaker 3 (31:03): I think it's one of those things you, that everybody can work on that's really important for health and wellbeing is quality sleep. Too many of us, and I was one of those, I was like, you can sleep when you're dead. So, you know, I could stay up late studying, doing research, get up early so I could start training four hours of sleep. I was, I thought that was like a badge of like honor. I wore that proudly for probably 20 years, but I didn't realize the negative consequences it really had on my physiology. You can't heal and recover. Your brain does not process things appropriately if you don't sleep appropriately. Yeah. You don't, you can't clear out the toxins in the brain if you don't get good quality restorative sleep. And the vast majority of us are not getting it. We're on TVs or cell phones or whatever. Speaker 3 (31:48): We're taking stimulants too late in the day. We're sleeping with somebody who snores and keeps us from waking up or sleeping with our kids or our dog that keeps us awake. We're doing so many things to disrupt our sleep patterns and we don't realize how impactful that can be on our physiology. But those are three things that don't cost you anything to do tomorrow that you easily, you can easily assess just by googling healthy whole food diet. How do I check my respiratory rate? How do I improve my sleep? And you do those foundational things. You, your sleep may still not get, may not be as good as you want it to be, but you still have to start with good sleep habits and behaviors to be even have a chance of getting a better night's sleep. Speaker 1 (32:34): Right. And you can read about the other fitness factors in the book book. So I definitely recommend that. But I gotta ask you, where's spiritual fitness on that list? Speaker 3 (32:44): Well, I think that fit for me that fits into that psychological or emotional fitness category, like what goes on between the six inches of your ears has a huge impact on your physiology. So we talk about things in there, like, I think one of the things that's really important for people who are really anxious or depressed or sad or unhappy with their life is I think to have, whether, I don't care what religion somebody is, but I think having some spiritual beliefs is really important. And the other thing is the principles that we learn in whatever church you go to or whatever, you know, whatever spiritual philosophy you grew up in, those found, many of those foundational principles are just good things to, you know, good principles to live by. Mm-Hmm. . And if you live by a lot of those principles, you're gonna feel in, you're gonna feel and functional better from an emotional, from a spiritual standpoint. Speaker 3 (33:34): A lot of times people think that their life is terrible. My life is awful. I'm in such bad shape. Everything is terrible for me. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Those are the people I usually say, you need to volunteer, you need to go volunteer, you need to go help somebody mm-hmm. Who's in worse shape than you. And start to start to realize, you know, even though things may not all be going right, that there is some blessings in your life and some benefits in your life, but sometimes we're so stuck in our stuff and we're so focused on how terrible things are and what's wrong, that we can't actually see how good what's around us is. And so yeah, I think you have to have some, that, that spiritual piece is part of the emotional psychological fitness. Speaker 1 (34:15): Yeah. I mean, what you're saying is so true. I, the other day I was all in my head about my problems and I'm in Dubai and I met a guy on the waterfront who moved here with his family from Syria at 19 to study computer science. And he lost his two sisters a few months ago in the war in Syria. And here I am thinking that I have issues and he told me it's okay. And I said, really . And so it just really puts things in perspective. But for me in particular, the thyroid has a lot of spiritual meaning for women. I think that's one of the reasons why women have such a greater rate of thyroid dysfunction, particularly because it's in that throat chakra or energy center where you're supposed to speak your truth and so many women don't. So in particular, it's something that I talk with women about. So I was curious where that fit into your, your perspective. Speaker 3 (35:09): I'm not as in tune maybe from a, from a chakra perspective as you are, and there may be something to that, I don't know necessarily. But I do think what goes on, whether consciously or or subconsciously between the six inches of your ears has a drastic influence of your overall health and wellbeing. I mean, if you have a lot of trauma, a lot of emotional burden that's gonna create a windup of the limbic system, a windup of the sympathetic nervous system, a downregulation of the, a parasympathetic, and for the listener, you know, the sympathetic nervous system is that flight or flight response. And the parasympathetic is kind of the rest and recovery response. And so if in my mind I'm stressed, I'm worried I've got negative thoughts going on in that space and I can't manage and control it, that is going to drive a state of danger. Speaker 3 (36:01): It's a state of fear, a state of, of fight or flight response. And that will totally shift your physiology. I mean, if I was being chased by the tiger and I'm running for my life, I'm probably not gonna make digestive hormones 'cause I don't need the hormones. Right. I'm probably not gonna make appropriate levels of sex hormones because I don't need those. I'm not stopping to have sex. Right. I am running right. And so my physiology adapts to what's going on in my environment, whether it's the physical environment or the spiritual or emotional environment, my body's going to adapt to that environment. Speaker 1 (36:37): Right. Dr. Eric, thank you so much for raising the conversation level around thyroid disorder diagnosis and treatment. The book is the Thyroid Debacle. Why the current medical model is keeping you sick and unwell. Where can people connect with you online and found that, find out more about the work that you're doing? Speaker 3 (36:57): Sure. My website is rejuven center.com. So if somebody wants to learn more about me, they can go there. If they wanna have a, what we call a discovery consultation, just kind of chat about what's going on and what maybe the right strategies are or if I'm a, if they wanna potentially work with me, what that looks like. I do have a podcast that calls it, it's called the Thyroid Dancers Podcast, where we talk about not just thyroid physiology, but I talk about everything through the lens of the cell danger response. So I don't care what condition you have, we're talking about those foundational principles, physical fitness, emotional fitness, all those things that we kind of hinted to in the discussion. I've got a YouTube where all my podcasts are listed on there, as well as wherever you get your podcast, you can get 'em, you can download those. The podcast I do Thursdays, I do thyroid Thursday videos, they're on YouTube and I, my team puts them on Instagram. That's probably where I'm not really spend too much time on social media, but that's where we post, like on Instagram. And then anybody who's I, we do regular posts on there. And then any commentary that's, that comes in, those are a lot of times what becomes the content for a podcast, A Thyroid Thursday or an Instagram post. So those are the best places to reach out and hear more about what I'm doing. Speaker 1 (38:12): Awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. Well, Speaker 3 (38:15): Thanks for the invitation. It was great. Speaker 1 (38:17): And thank you for listening to another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Ki. Hopefully you learned something today that you will put into action, maybe start figuring out what's triggering your cell danger response, because pretty much most all of us went in over 40, have it and start doing something about it. Like Dr. Eric, Eric was talking about, looking at your food, looking at your sleep, looking at your breathing. The this is a place to start. Reach out and tell me about it on social media at Kyrin Dunston MD on Facebook and Instagram. I look forward to having and continuing the conversation with you there. And until next week when I'll see you for another episode, peace, love, and Hormones, y'all. Speaker 2 (38:58): Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.   ► Get Dr. Eric Balcavage's FREE ebook, "Why Don't I Feel Better on Thyroid Medication?" Learn the three hidden reasons thyroid replacement isn't helping you (or maybe even making you feel worse). - CLICK HERE ► Feeling tired? Can't seem to lose weight, no matter how hard you try? It might be time to check your hormones. Most people don't even know that their hormones could be the culprit behind their problems. But at Her Hormone Club, we specialize in hormone testing and treatment. We can help you figure out what's going on with your hormones and get you back on track. We offer advanced hormone testing and treatment from Board Certified Practitioners, so you can feel confident that you're getting the best possible care. Plus, our convenient online consultation process makes it easy to get started. Try Her Hormone Club for 30 days and see how it can help you feel better than before. CLICK HERE.    

Welcome to the latest episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast, titled "See Ya Later, Ovulator: Mastering Menopause With Nutrition, Lifestyle, And Hormones"! In this enthralling episode, we sit down with the amazing Esther Blum, an all-around authority on conquering menopause with an integrative approach from a dietitian's perspective.    Esther Blum is an Integrative Dietitian who has made it her mission to help women navigate the whirlwind of menopause. With Esther's extensive experience and undeniable expertise, she has guided countless women through the challenging waters of hormonal changes in this significant life stage. Her presence isn't just felt with her clients—she's made appearances on the Today Show, ABC-TV, and has even taken on the role of menopause mentor for none other than Gwyneth Paltrow!    Throughout the episode, we dive into the depths of menopause, discussing Esther's background and her journey in becoming such a sought-after expert. In this episode, you'll learn: - Esther's wealth of knowledge, shedding light on how vital lifestyle, nutrition, and hormonal therapy can play a role in achieving optimal hormonal balance for women going through this phase. - Esther's groundbreaking approach ensures that women can master menopause without the extreme stress and confusion it often brings. - The essentials of a hormone-balancing diet, how to promote self-advocacy, and the role of therapy in this crucial phase of women's lives. You'll be left with not only a better understanding of menopause but also equipped with tools to manage and thrive during this time.    Don't miss this enlightening and engaging episode filled with life-changing insights and actionable solutions for mastering menopause. Tune in to The Hormone Precription Podcast with our special guest, the esteemed Integrative Dietitian and Menopause Expert, Esther Blum, and embrace the journey through menopause with newfound confidence and understanding.   Speaker 1 (00:00): See you later, emulator and other Esther Blum is about menopause, nutrition, lifestyle and how to transform your life. Speaker 2 (00:11): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us, keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones in our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself again. As an O B G Y N, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue. Now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Speaker 1 (01:07): Hey everybody. Welcome back to another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me today. My guest today is passionate about menopause. She's passionate about nutrition, she's passionate about living a full life and she's got lots of wisdom to share. She's an integrated dietician by training for over three decades, but of necessity became a menopause expert and she's helped lots of women, thousands of women, in fact, through nutrition, hormones and self-advocacy. She's the author of several books. She's just really an advocate for women's health and to stop the gaslighting that's going on when it comes to women's hormones in healthcare. And she's wise beyond her years. I'll tell you a little bit about her and we'll get started. So, Esther Blum is an integrative dietician and menopause expert. In the last 27 years, she's helped thousands of women master menopause through nutrition, hormones and advocacy. She's the bestselling author of, see You Later, ovulators Need Women, don't Get Fat, eat, drink, and Be Gorgeous. Secrets of Gorgeous And The Eat, drink and Be Gorgeous. Project known as Gwyneth Paltrow's Menopause Mentor and by course for helping women thrive through menopause. Esther was also voted best nutritionist by Manhattan Magazine. She has appeared on the Today Show, a b C TV and Good Day New York, and is frequently quoted in Goop well and good Forbes and Time Magazine. Please help me welcome Esther Blum to the show. Thank you for having me. Speaker 1 (02:47): So excited to talk about menopause always and nutrition and lifestyle and what I call all the things. I love the title of your book. So I'm wondering if we can start there. See you later. Ovulators . Where, where did you get the title from? That book? Speaker 3 (03:08): Whatever. Yeah. You know what? It's funny. I literally saw online a woman who had had like a menopause or, or a hysterectomy party and she had these cookies with See You Later, ovulators on them. So I had used it as a subtitle for section or a chapter of the book and my publicist was like, no way man. That's gotta be the cover. Like, it's just so catchy and it was available. So I went with it. Okay. Yeah, it's really my homage to like get out like uterus and ovaries. You, you served me well. Thank you so much. Can we just wrap this party up now and can we be free of the monthly cycles and the cramps and the irritability and the bloating and the breast tenderness and the moodiness and the insomnia, , you know, just all those things. I'm like, let's just welcome in the next chapter for our bodies with power and grace and really joy. Speaker 1 (04:07): So you have been a dietician for a while, is that correct? Yeah, Speaker 3 (04:12): Almost three, almost three decades. I'm like a hundred now Speaker 1 (04:16): You're a hundred. And so what changed your focus to menopause? Hmm. Speaker 3 (04:22): It started because I worked in hospitals the first five years of my career. I actually started out working with wic, the WIC program at Boston City Hospital and then went to graduate school and got my master's in clinical nutrition and went back to hospital work, worked in cardiology units and, but started opening a private practice on the side and after about five years, I got certified in functional medicine. 'cause I was like, I'm really not making a difference, giving someone 10 minutes of diet instruction or working in the WIC office. Like, I was like, here's the benefits of high fiber beans and get your calcium from cheese. That there really, I wasn't making a difference. And so with functional mess and I wanted to get in at a more preventive level. And when I opened that, immediately menopausal women came into my practice and I was like, oh my gosh, I'm in my twenties. Speaker 3 (05:15): I don't even know how to treat. So I certainly didn't know much about hormone replacement at the time, but I did know about whole food diets and intermittent fasting and really optimizing insulin sensitivity and weight loss, like stubborn midsection, weight loss and the cortisol belly. So I got to work with diet therapy then. And over the years, really there's been such an evolution in the research. I mean, since I've started practicing, you know, the North American Menopause Society has had two different position papers that Women's Health Initiative study was out there in the early days of my practice. And then since then it's been, you know, the guidelines have been updated. So it, I've seen a lot of changes in my trajectory through menopause. Speaker 1 (06:05): Yes. Lots of changes. And so what are the biggest challenges? I mean, everybody listening, we talk about menopause a lot that you, you see with women and, and how has it evolved over time? So you, you went from nutrition, then you became functional medicine certified, and I know that you talked with women about hormones as well. And so how did that come into the picture? Yeah, Speaker 3 (06:31): Well, because I really wasn't doing, you know enough, like when I'm not solving, I, I don't think about the people who I'm helping as much as the people who I'm not helping. And there comes a point for some women, diet and lifestyle makes a huge difference, right? You ditch alcohol, you cut back on caffeine, you clean out sugar, you're gonna help a woman resolve her hot flashes and improve her sleep and her blood sugar and weight loss and cortisol management. But will it help a woman with brain fog? Will it help a woman with severe insomnia? Will it help a woman maintain her bones? Not necessarily. There comes a point when it's really time to bring in hormones for that last piece of the pie. And I always say it's not the whole pie. Don't think hormones are, you can't out hormone your, your lifestyle. You can't out supplement your lifestyle. It's got to be a multifaceted approach. It has to be stress management is number one in menopause. It's really critical. Sleep, digestion, optimizing protein, getting your strength training in, getting your, your steps in every day, your supplements if needed. Then the hormones, it's multifactorial. Speaker 1 (07:52): Yeah, I love that You can't out hormone your lifestyle, but you also can't out lifestyle your hormones. You know, I always say that menopause is a state of hormonal poverty. The consequences of that hormonal poverty may be symptomatically more severe or less severe for some women. But the changes are happening in hormonal poverty. And if you're not educated on them, that's what I talked about in my TED talk then, you know, you're at increased risk like my mom for Alzheimer's dementia. And the only risk factor she had was she was in untreated menopause for three decades. So I do think it's an essential part, the the puzzle. And so how do you counsel women? Because it's really hard when they traditional doctors won't give them the standard of care, basically is no hormones right? Or exactly for three symptoms and Right. Yeah. Speaker 3 (08:49): Well that was another reason why I wrote see a later ovulators because I have 20 pages of studies in the back of the book that support the use and the importance of hormone replenishment or now it's called M R t, right? Menopause replenishment therapy. But I, well, no matter what you call it, you know, it's very intimidating to confront a white coat. I even gave my book to my doctor and of course she did not read it. But you know, my advice , I know, and I mean, just like, sidebar here for a minute, real talk ladies. You know, I had this like ovarian cyst that ruptured back in November and I was in extraordinary pain and I, I came home and laughed. I said to my husband, I could have written what they told me. They were like, well, I said, so where are my treatment options? Speaker 3 (09:42): And they said, well, you can either go on the pill or go on the I U D or have a hysterectomy. And I said, Nope, what else you got? And they said, take lots of ibuprofen. And I was like, wow, I'm kind of screwed here. So I'm right in the trenches with you ladies. This is why I wrote the book was to like tell all of our stories and understand that medical gaslighting is really not, it's not okay. And if a dietician is researching and accessing all these studies and your doctor is not, and your doctor's A G Y N, then that's lazy medicine. If your doctor isn't updating the standards of warnings on hormones, that's lazy medicine. So what you can say is this is, you know, hey, I know you're not very into hormones, but just let me try it for three months. Speaker 3 (10:36): , I've done the research, but I have plenty of research studies if you wanna look at them in my book, in this book here. And I've done my research and the research shows they're safe and effective and can really prevent, you know, bone loss, loss of gray matter, increased risk of coronary artery disease and I really wanna try them. So a lot of doctors will capitulate to that. However, your Dr. May not monitor a follow up with your hormone labs the way you really should be following up. So the other alternative is vote with your wallet, find a new doctor. Like if you didn't like your hairstylist, if you didn't like your dry cleaner, you would find a new one. Why are we so afraid to look for new doctors? Especially when so many do telemedicine now. So that's another thing we wanna remember and, and yes, often they're out of pocket and we do have to lay out the cash, but insurance often reimburses for a good portion of this. And you will save time and you will save money and you will save nights and years of insomnia and bloating and weight gain and migraines and real struggles that impact your quality of life. Speaker 1 (11:48): Yeah. You know, I, I was laughing when you said your Dr. May say, yeah, I'm not that into hormones, which is kind of insane when you think about it. But literally that's what doctors are saying a lot of times to their patients without saying it. If you read between the lines, I'm not that into hormones. So yeah, that's actually why I created her hormone club. I don't even know, I don't think I mentioned to you, we created an all-in-one telemedicine solution for women to get bioidentical hormone testing and treatment with bioidentical estradiol EST trial, progesterone and testosterone. Nationwide in the United States we have board certified doctors in every state. So because people were not able to access this after I did the stop the Menopause Madness summit, we've now done three of them. Women said, we get it. We, we need hormones, where do we go? Speaker 1 (12:41): And we didn't have anywhere to send them. So one day I said, oh yeah, we need a telemedicine solution. And so I created it. So everybody listening there is access to this in your neighborhood. It may not look like what you're used to where you drive and find parking and sit with your butt hanging out in a little paper gown for an hour waiting to the doctor only to leave with a fist full of prescriptions that don't fix your problem. Like you can actually be in your pajama bottoms at your dining room table on Zoom, getting a hormone prescription. So that's just, you Speaker 3 (13:14): Could tell me more about this . Yeah, I need your info please. Thank you. Speaker 1 (13:20): Yeah. So we'll cover that. But in nutrition, what do you think is the most, what are the biggest issues you see for women in perimenopause and menopause with their nutrition and where do they have the biggest impact in those symptoms? If they're really gonna master their lifestyle to help master their hormones, where do they start? Speaker 3 (13:44): So I have three menno laws for fat loss and they're very simple and very straightforward and completely doable for everybody. So number one is to optimize your protein intake. And most people think they're eating and enough protein without understanding the research. And this always upsets the vegetarians and vegans. But I'm telling you what worked for you in your twenties and thirties does not work in your forties, fifties and beyond. So, and it's challenging for women because a lot of times during perimenopause and menopause, the gut changes, right? The digestive fire really decreases our, we don't produce as much stomach acid. The lining of the small intestine changes as progesterone and estrogen declines. So what happens is we feel like a lot of people say, I can't eat so much meat. It feels so heavy and they really struggle. It's another layer to struggle to optimize protein. Speaker 3 (14:42): But the research points that points to getting at least four ounces of protein at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Or if you're intermittent fasting, it's more challenging. You know, I say get at least seven to eight ounces of protein if you can at a meal and then have a little snack in between. But basically you need a minimum of a hundred grams of protein per day to not only maintain muscle mass, but really to build it. And a lot of people will have, you know, an egg for breakfast and maybe like a couple shrimp on a salad for lunch crumb or crumbled up chicken or an an egg. And then dinner is like the big meal, the steak, chicken, fish. So we really need to distribute evenly. Your body needs a minimum threshold of four ounces of protein at breakfast, lunch, dinner in order for you to optimize your anabolic capabilities or your ability to build muscle and plain in English. Speaker 3 (15:41): So that's something, just optimizing protein at breakfast is huge. So that can be done with a cup of cottage cheese, two eggs and two whites or two eggs plus some Turkey or ham or smoked salmon. A protein shake with two scoops of protein power. So if you're vegetarian you could do pea protein or you can do whey protein as well. So those are just some really simple easy strategies. Like just saying to someone, just add one more scoop of protein powder. They're like, oh, I can do that, no problem. Or just add a little more protein. What it does is protein raises serotonin and dopamine in the brain. So you're gonna offset your sugar cravings, you're gonna triple your energy and your mental focus and you're not gonna get the 4:00 PM crashes. So you will sleep better at night, again, crave less, better energy. Speaker 3 (16:33): And building muscle won't be as hard as it is already in menopause. It can be harder. So that's mental law number one, mental law number two is to make sure that you flip your ratios. And what do I mean by this? Make sure that if you're getting a hundred grams of carbs a hundred grams of protein a day or 120, then your carbs fall 70 to a hundred grams. You, most of us, most of the women I see have much greater carb to protein ratios and we need to flip those and have protein outweigh carbs. Now the carbs I'm talking about are the starchy carbs, unlimited, ve you know, vegetables don't, I don't count those towards your carbs. They have fiber and water. They're not gonna, nobody's getting fat on spinach and artichokes here, right? Watch your portions of rice or potatoes or sweet potatoes or, but they're still very beneficial, which is my mental law number three, which is to eat carbs at night. Speaker 3 (17:35): You know, protein by day, carbs at night. Why would I have you eat carbs at dinner? People think, oh my god, I'm gonna get so fat. That's ridiculous. You're far more insulin sensitive later on in the day than you are earlier in the day. And carbs again, you're gonna get a slight insulin bump even if you pair your carbs with a protein. And with vegetables, if you have, you know, a cup of sweet potatoes or quinoa or rice or lentils, yes your blood sugar will go up some and that tamps down your cortisol. So it really helps you sleep at night. And most people are like, wait, you're telling me to eat carbs? I get to eat more protein and feel less hungry. Like it's an abundance of riches at that point. Yeah. Speaker 1 (18:20): I was so surprised when you said that. Eat carbs at dinner. I know everyone's going Yes, , she said he carbs at dinner. Yes, exactly right. Yeah, I love that. Three fat loss. So protein for sure, you definitely, most of us women as we age, why do we do that? We lower and lower our protein, we don't get enough. And flipping the ratio of carbs to proteins and eating carbs at dinner mm-hmm. . So yeah, I see how that could really help. Insulin resistance is such a problem for perimenopausal and menopausal women. Do you have any other tips that you could offer them to help with their insulin? Mm-Hmm. ? Speaker 3 (19:03): Yes. So the next level, okay, so those are like kind of the foundations for fat loss. But let's say you're like Esther, I'm not, I'm not hungry in the morning. Like a lot of my menopausal mamas just aren't even hungry in the morning. And so for those women, I really love intermittent fasting and there's three ways you can do intermittent fasting and why intermittent fasting just means really simply shortening your eating window. And it's really beneficial in resetting those insulin receptors because your body has to dig deep into your fat stores and it really resets your insulin receptors beautifully. So number one is you can start with a 12 hour fast. You finish your dinner by 7:00 PM you do not eat breakfast until 7:00 AM or later. That's like a really gentle fast. See how you do with that? Just cutting out nighttime eating can be very beneficial. Speaker 3 (19:55): Then number two is you can really shorten your window to, you know, between 10 and six or 12 and six, getting, you know, a good six to eight hour eating window that also shreds body fat and can really offset. And you know, if you want like black coffee or tea in the morning, that's fine, just dough, add anything to it or so you don't break your fast. And then option three, which I love is the five two method. And that's where you eat normally five days outta the week and then two days out of the week, ideally not next to each other. You have 500 calorie days and a 500 calorie day is usually not eating during the day. And then you have a supper meal where you have like a chicken breast, a half cup of starch and two cups of steamed vegetables. And that also that really restricted eating just not only burns body fat but really helps reset insulin sensitivity. Speaker 1 (20:56): Yeah. The, the 500 calorie diet, if you can do it, I can't, I'd almost, I do better not eating at all than eating 500 calories. Speaker 3 (21:06): Yes. Yes. And some women feel that way too and just wanna drink some bone broth or water. That's what, that's the thing, right? Is bioindividuality, like other women in my practice, cannot fast at all. It either triggers, you know, overeating later in the day, binge eating or disordered eating. So we don't wanna do that. Or if you're feeling just so shaky and irritable and you cannot even concentrate, it's probably not for you. Now if you fall in that camp, you're gonna need to eat more and move more. So most women I see have very stalled fat loss and kind of a sluggish thyroid. 'cause They've been chronically dieting like to the tune of nine to 1200 calories a day for years and years and years and they, the weight just isn't coming off. So mm-hmm. for those women, right? A you can try, you know, super low carb, I don't wanna use the word keto, but keeping your carbs like 50 to 70 grams a day for a couple of weeks and coming off then or only having carbs on your weightlifting days or, you know, my other option is to really, you know, walk at least 15,000 steps a day and go to the gym, lift heavy two to three times a week, learn. Speaker 3 (22:26): And you may say, well what's a heavy weight? Heavy weight is when it brings you to failure. After, you know, by the third set you can only do six to eight where you really just, your muscles just will not lift. And most of us are lifting far lighter than we need to be. We're a lot stronger than we think we are. So there's many ways to skin a cat. Some of my ladies, again, we diet them up, then we cut calories for a couple weeks, then we diet them up where we, we get them eating 15 to 1800 calories a day and they're losing weight. Other women do well with the fasting protocol. Other women do well just by bumping up their movement every day. So it's really, and and, and allowing yourself to be hungry, not snacking, you know, allowing four to five hours between meals and if you're hungry between meals, gotta bump up your protein. That's how you know you're not eating enough protein if you can't make it five hours between the meal. Speaker 1 (23:22): Yes. And the weights, talk a little bit about that. It's super important and most of us aren't doing any weights. Like we think it's all about the aerobics or we're not looking heavy enough. Weights, . And I like how you described it in your third set. You really shouldn't be able to do that many reps. That's how you're exhausting that muscle. A lot of women worry about getting bulky muscles. They don't want to, but gosh, who is it? I, I saw he said something like, it's survival of those with the best muscle mass or something like this. . Speaker 3 (23:54): Yes. Muscle is, Speaker 1 (23:55): It's all about muscle mass. Yeah. Talk Speaker 3 (23:57): About that. Muscle is the organ of longevity and ladies, you do not have the testosterone to bulk up. Okay? You're not Michael Phelps eating 5,000 calories a day and has the testosterone of a younger man. Even if you're using bioidentical testosterone, you're still getting a micro dose. You're not, you're not gonna look like a dude and what's gonna happen. And women will say, well I tend to bulk up. No, you're not cutting calories enough. If you're bulking up, you're probably eating too much. Even Arnold Schwartzenegger, at the height of his bodybuilding when he wanted to get lean, he cut down to 1500 calories a day. So you really have to think about your caloric intake and log your food if you think you're bulking up. So back to, so diet is 80% the weights yes, heavy weights. Some women will say four pounds is a lot. Speaker 3 (24:55): And, and listen, you can do Pilates. I've done Pilates classes with four pound weights where my arms just instantly burned because the muscles are really isolated. But it will work the muscle. But if you really truly wanna build the muscle, then yes, you do need to build up to 10 pounds, 15 pounds, 20 pounds, 30 pounds, you know it, you don't have to injure yourself or your joints. And you do it very slowly. Maybe you start off a month using, you know, five to eight pound weights and by the end of four weeks you're ramping up to eight to 12 pound weights. You're adding in one set worth of 10 pound weights, the first two sets where at eight pounds. So you can incrementally increase your weight or do one set as a warmup, a lighter weight, and get heavier weights with each progressive set. Speaker 1 (25:45): Yeah. I love lifting weights, . I can't say enough about it. I think it's the best way to like take out your frustrations and work out that stress and just go lift heavy things. Ladies, go lift heavy. There's a reason that guys have been doing it is because it makes them feel good mentally. I think it's almost more a mental than a physical exercise. Speaker 3 (26:08): Yes it is. And believe me, if it's any consolation, like I don't enjoy lifting weights. I enjoy how I feel after, and I enjoy having my booty look good in a pair of jeans or my arms look good in a tank top. It's all, it's vanity. Whatever works for you, do it. Or just knowing like, hey, I wanna get up off the floor, you know, in my 60 seventies and eighties the way I did in my twenties and thirties. Or hey, I don't wanna break a bone. I've got family history of, you know, osteoporosis and I, I don't wanna go down that road. I wanna offset my hospital bills and you know, my sick time because falls and fractures are the leading cause of death in people over the age of 65. Speaker 1 (26:50): Amen. And there's so much you can do to prevent that and we just think it's not gonna happen to us. Right, right. And the truth is it does happen to us. Yes. I'm wondering if you could talk about some of the most inspiring stories of women who are in perimenopause or menopause women you've worked with, you know, over the years who really stick in your mind. Because right now there are women listening to us talk who are sitting there going, yeah, yeah, yeah, I've heard all this diet, nutrition, weights. I feel like crap. My doctor can't help me. There's no hope for me. I am the exception. There's no answer and there's no Speaker 3 (27:29): Hope. Oh yeah. Speaker 1 (27:31): And what I want them to know is yes, there is, because I was that woman 20 years ago. Right now we are the light for those women. So can you talk about some of those most inspiring stories? Speaker 3 (27:46): Yes. Okay. And you can see her testimonials. She gives a video on my website, esther blum.com. You can see both recorded and written. So first I'm gonna speak about my client, Julie, who when she came to me, had so much pain, so much inflammation, everything from reflux to horrible back pain. She was very overweight. She couldn't do any physical exercise or so she thought, and she drank like a sailor, I mean really heavily relied on alcohol to take care of her stress and depression, which please, it's not an antidepressant, that's for sure. It worsens the situation. So I was like, Julie, get in your pool. Get in your pool. Just start moving. Just start moving your body. Thank God she had a pool. Then we got her to add in protein, we got her to cut back on booze. We got her, you know, we added in some supplements. Speaker 3 (28:45): We were very slowly and incrementally. She lost 40 pounds in a month just doing the most simple foundational. Now most people don't lose 40 pounds in a month. That's extreme. That's a lot, right? But so much of what she had was fluid retention and inflammation. So for her, it worked really well. She got her energy back, she decreased her back pain tremendously to the point where she converted her daughter's bedroom into a home gym and was able to lift and her husband came and lifted with her. So that was like a ginormous success story. Then I think of my client, Laura, who came to me, totally different, right? Laura didn't have a lot of weight to lose. She had about five pounds of vanity. She called 'em vanity pounds. She wanted to lose. And she had, she was a single mom and her son would always tell her she had halat ptosis. Speaker 3 (29:40): And she was like, oh my god, I can't possibly date this way. And she was drinking wine and she was also not sleeping. And she, although she was a candidate, you know, we did her tests. And although she was a candidate for hormones, she really did not wanna use biodentical hormones. She wanted to conquer this through lifestyle. So I said, okay. So again, we ran her labs, I did some stool testing. She had a significant amount of h pylori, which is a bacteria that loves to shut off hydrochloric acid production in the gut. So it survives in a very alkaline environment. So she was having all this reflux because she didn't have the hydrochloric acid, she needed to kind of keep her pyloric sphincter shut. So we killed off the h pylori repopulated, her gut with stomach acid. Her bad breath went away. She, we also cleaned up her diet. Speaker 3 (30:32): She, you know, again, we did have to clean out alcohol ladies, I'm not gonna lie, there's really no way around it. Alcohol doesn't do your body any favors. Even one drink a week is really disruptive to fat loss, blood sugar, and can keep you in an estrogen dominant state while your liver is trying to detox alcohol. It will detox alcohol long before estrogen. It's just the way it is. So anyway, we cleaned up Laura's diet. We gave her a lot of magnesium at bedtime and other calming nutrients. And her sleep greatly improved. She is in a long-term relationship and actually got engaged. She got rid of her halat ptosis and she, she lost five pounds. She got really lean and started lifting weights and really got very sinan and lean. So those are just two of my women. Again, their testimonials are on my website. So it is possible, it really, whether you wanna lose five pounds, whether you need to lose 75 pounds, pounds, it is possible. The greatest limiter is not your hormones. It's not your diet as much as your limiting beliefs around what you deserve to have and your commitment to yourself. That's really the rate limiting factor. It really is. Like talk, Speaker 1 (31:51): Just talk a little bit more about that and how it's, how would someone know that you're talking to her that she has limiting beliefs? Speaker 3 (31:58): Because we all have limiting beliefs. We've internalized messages that we heard when we were younger that made us feel not enough in one way or another. And so we have to really think about why we want something. Right? When someone wants to lose weight, I say, well, why do you wanna lose weight vanity? It really, I mean, vanity always comes up first, right? I wanna good my clothes, I wanna feel sexy and bad. I wanna feel confident. But then the why's go deeper. Like, I wanna be able to keep up with my grandchildren one day. I want a better quality of life. I watch my mother get sick and die from diabetes and have horrible neuropathy and not have a, not be able to travel and have fun in her life. It's really getting in touch with your why. Getting in touch with your beliefs about why you can't have those things. Speaker 3 (32:48): 'Cause We can all, like the universe, pores a vacuum. The universe wants us to be abundant, understanding that we're not supposed to be fat, sick and broke. We're supposed to be rich in love and relationships and financially abundant, but also abundant in how we love on ourselves. And asking ourselves really like, yeah, I want a bar of chocolate. I want a bottle of wine, but is that gonna love me back? We know it's not right. So maybe I cut down to one square of chocolate a couple times a week. Maybe I put myself on a 90 day alcohol free challenge and maybe I experiment and see what's the harm in trying this? What will happen? Let me just observe objectively what's gonna happen to my body, my state of mind, and let me try taking, you know, two or three classes on an app or on YouTube or hiring a trainer and you know, just figuring out instead of saying like, I can't have this, flipping that on its head and saying, how can I make this happen? Speaker 1 (33:56): Mm-Hmm. , Speaker 3 (33:57): How can I make this happen? Speaker 1 (34:00): Right? I think it's so true and, and more it has to do with what we believe we can have and can we do it. And I think so many of us just cut off. We don't believe that it's possible for us. We believe we're, we're terminally unique and that we we'll never be successful. And that's why I wanted you to share those stories. Thank you for sharing them. Yeah. there so that people can hear what's possible for women who think that there's no hope. 'cause There is so much to be hopeful for, right? Speaker 3 (34:30): Yes. And the other piece is really being so careful, and this is the greatest gift of midlife I have found, is being so careful who you surround yourself with. Because when you start to take on healthy diet changes and when you start to cut out alcohol, some people around you are probably not gonna like that. And the ones who don't like that are probably not gonna be your biggest supporters. They're like the bucket of crabs, right? You know the story about the bucket of crabs where, right. There's always a couple crabs at the top of the pile trying to crawl out of the bucket. They're like, I see it, I'm going for it. And then crabs at the bomb keep trying to pull those crabs right back down. So like, think about who you're surrounding yourself with. If you say to someone, oh yeah, I'm, I'm not drinking right now, not, I can't drink, I'm not drinking right now. Speaker 3 (35:21): And somebody's like, come on, just one, it's not gonna hurt. That's not someone you wanna socialize with, right? You wanna socialize with the people who say, good for you. Great. I'll join you. Let's get a mocktail, let's get some club soda, whatever. Because it's, you have to one of my greatest tenets of success is surrounding myself with people who are far wealthier and successful and have a growth mindset, a way bigger growth mindset than me. That dream bigger than I ever even knew was possible. I'm like, oh, I never thought about that. Those are the people you're gonna need to clean house with these changes. And that's why I think also people are deeply terrified to change because they don't Speaker 1 (36:01): Wanna, 'cause they're gonna let go. Speaker 3 (36:03): They wanna let go of what feels very unsafe and very uncomfortable for them. Change is uncom, Speaker 1 (36:09): Right? And these are, it is, but it is the only sure thing in life is change. And why not make it positive change if you have a choice. Esther, I thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing your wisdom and experience with mastering menopause, with nutrition, lifestyle, and hormones. Your book, SIA Ovulate and all the other resources you've created for everyone. Speaker 3 (36:34): I have a special offer for everyone here listening today, and that is to download my Happy Hormone cocktail. And you're gonna go to esther blum.com/cocktail and receive incredible ways to improve your sleep, fix your gut, and eliminate hot flashes during perimenopause and menopause. Speaker 1 (36:56): Awesome. Thank you so much for that. We will have the link in the show notes, so don't worry about trying to write it down. If you're driving, we'll have it there for you. Where can people find out more about you and connect with you online? Speaker 3 (37:07): Yes. So come hang with me on Instagram at Gorgeous Esther and get on my list. You will get Premier offers from me before the general public does, but also you're gonna get weekly cutting edge education on hormones, lifestyle, all the things we talked about today. So just join me@estherblum.com. Speaker 1 (37:29): Awesome. We will look for you there. And thanks so much for the work you're doing and for the wisdom that you've shared. Speaker 3 (37:35): Thank you so much, Speaker 1 (37:37): And thank you for joining me for another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kieran. Hopefully you've learned something today that you can put into effect to start making changes towards the brilliant health that you deserve. It is your birthright. I look forward to hearing about those on Instagram and Facebook, and I'll see you next week for another episode. Until then, peace, love, and hormones, y'all. Speaker 2 (38:01): Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.   ► Get Esther's Freebie "The Happy Hormone Cocktail" - CLICK HERE Improve your sleep, fix your gut, and eliminate hot flashes during perimenopause and menopause.   ► Feeling tired? Can't seem to lose weight, no matter how hard you try? It might be time to check your hormones. Most people don't even know that their hormones could be the culprit behind their problems. But at Her Hormone Club, we specialize in hormone testing and treatment. We can help you figure out what's going on with your hormones and get you back on track. We offer advanced hormone testing and treatment from Board Certified Practitioners, so you can feel confident that you're getting the best possible care. Plus, our convenient online consultation process makes it easy to get started. Try Her Hormone Club for 30 days and see how it can help you feel better than before. CLICK HERE.

Welcome to another exciting and informative episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast, specifically designed for midlife women! In today's episode, we are joined by the insightful and experienced Dr. Anoop Kumar. Dr. Kumar will discuss why we don't know what true health is, and most importantly, how we can create it for ourselves.    With a background in clinical medicine and mind-body integration, Dr. Kumar is a leading voice in the field of health and healthcare transformation. His unique perspective on health invites us to explore and redefine our understanding of wellbeing in a holistic manner.    During the podcast, Dr. Kumar explores: * The concept of health as a holistic experience, encompassing physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing * How the healthcare industry often focuses on the physical body, neglecting other crucial aspects of health * The importance of integrating mind-body perspectives for a comprehensive understanding of human nature and unlocking true healing potential    Listeners will leave this episode feeling inspired and armed with practical tips for incorporating mind-body integrative approaches into their own health journeys. Don't forget to subscribe to The Hormone Prescription Podcast for more valuable insights on health and wellbeing!    Speaker 1 (00:00): “Health is the expression of human potential.”  - Dr. Anoop Kumar. Find out in this episode why we don't know what health truly is and how to create it. Speaker 2 (00:12): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us, keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones in our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an ob-gyn, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates our rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results, and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Speaker 1 (01:06): Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me today. My guest today, Dr. Anoop Kumar, is going to share some really progressive perspectives on health that really are essential to creating health. I mean, first off, most of us don't really know what true health is. We know what treating disease is, and we know what controlling disease is, but do you really know what true health is or how to create it? Well, Dr. Kumar does, and he's gonna share that with you today. He's gonna help you understand what's missing from your approach, what you're not considering, what you might not have thought of. And he has a very unique perspective and some very inspirational stories. And he's going to talk about how health is the expression of human potential without addressing that question directly. Speaker 1 (02:00): That's actually a quote I got from him. But I do agree that health is the expression of human potential. So see if you can read between the lines and give your own explanation of how health is the expression of human potential. After you give a listen and share your thoughts with us on social media, you can find me at Kyrin Dunston MD on Instagram and Facebook. I look forward to communicating with you. So I'll let you know a little bit about Dr. Kumar and then we'll get started. He is a leading voice for health and healthcare transformation, bringing clarity to the full spectrum of clinical medicine, MINDBODY integration and human potential. He is co-founder of Health Revolution, a company building a complete ecosystem for healing, beginning with the Health Jumpstart course and the Healing Is Possible podcast. He offers regular webinars featuring healing meditations and conversations on Big Picture Health. Dr. Kumar grew up experimenting with the philosophy of non-duality, eventually finding ways to integrate its comprehensive perspective of human nature with biomedical science. He is board certified in emergency medicine and holds a master's degree in management with a focus in health leadership. He is the author of Michelangelo's Medicine, and is this a dream? As well as of numerous articles, integrating mind body perspectives. Please help me welcome Dr. Anup Kumar to the show. Speaker 3 (03:25): Thank you. It's great to be here with you, Kyrin. Speaker 1 (03:28): So I think this will be an interesting conversation starting with, and maybe you can just start talking about this. Here's why we don't know what health truly is. I mean, I guess I'll first say that I think I know what health is, but I thought that, you know, I was learning how to help people create actual health when I went to medical school. Yeah. I wanted to help women to the best of my ability. So I looked around at all the options for the toolboxes that I could learn about and become educated in. And I said, oh, getting my MD medical doctorate will give me the biggest toolbox. Yes. So that's why I got my MD only to discover after over a decade of practicing that I probably didn't really know what health was when my own health failed. Yeah. So what's going on here? Speaker 3 (04:16): Well, so I would agree with you. When I went to medical school, I also saw that the way we're looking at human being is incomplete. I had a lot of background in philosophy and spirituality growing up. My parents were really heavily into that. So that was, in a way, my first education. My primary education was in those philosophical perspectives that I had been experimenting with in my life. And so, by the time I got to medical school and you know, we learned our anatomy and physiology and biochemistry and so on, I saw that we were learning a lot about a little, you know what I mean? So it's like we're basically taking the human being and looking at the human being through a relatively narrow lens and then studying that lens intensely. So there's a whole lot of knowledge, but it's about a narrow spectrum of being human. Speaker 3 (04:58): And I'll give you an example of let's say four or five things that I think limit our understanding of what health is. Let me first say that you mentioned that, you know, you feel like you know what health is. I think all of us know to some extent, so I'm not saying we have no idea. Mm-Hmm. , but I'm just saying the outer limits of what health could be, health after all, comes from the word whole. So what does it mean to be whole? What does it mean to be complete? In other words, what is the potential of a human being? Right? Like, what is the possibility for a human being? I think these are the questions that we, of course don't ask in healthcare, because the healthcare focus is really studying disease. So you and I study anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, embryology, and so on. Speaker 3 (05:37): And at some point we turn to pathology, pathophysiology. And it's like after that there's no turning back. Most of what you learn, even through continuing medical education, is about pathophysiology, diagnostic frameworks, and then treatments for those diagnostics for those diagnoses. So I think the bend, the tendency of health, healthcare, and research in general kind of assumes that we know, yes, this is the human being anatomy and physiology, but now what's going wrong is where the research is. So I think that that general direction needs to be broadened so that we ask broader questions about health and human potential. And lemme just give you a few examples of that. Number one, what we consider as, let's say, the bedrock of clinical medicine is human anatomy, right? We define the human being in a particular way, and it's based on that map of the human being that we decide what's going well, what's not going well, and we make our diagnosing treatments. Speaker 3 (06:32): But in fact, a human body is not the same thing as a human being. And we know that because you can look at a living human being and you can look at a body that that is dead. And we know the two are different. There's something fundamentally different about them. And yet, when we try to model a human being, what we do is strictly talk about the body. So at some point centuries ago, we made the decision that when we modeled the human being, human anatomy, we're not gonna look at mind. We're not gonna look at subtler processes of the human being that have been documented in other cultures, such as in Ayurveda or in traditional Chinese medicine or in yoga. We don't look at chakras, we don't look at meridians. None of that stuff has a place in our model of anatomy. We simply look at physical structures, right? Speaker 3 (07:13): And to me, like this should be on the front page of the New York Times, that in different cultures, they literally have different models of anatomy for the same species. We're all the same species, as far as I know. And yet, despite that fact, different cultures have different models of anatomy, and we don't know what to do about it, and we ignore it. We don't even talk about it. We just say, well, that stuff doesn't make sense, or we don't get it. Or it's not important, despite the fact that based on your model, your diagnosis is made and your treatment is made. So if our models are incomplete, then naturally it follows that our diagnoses and our treatments are incomplete. Right? So I think there's a huge lack of curiosity in medicine as to, Hey, why don't we understand that? Rather than just brushing it off saying, why don't we understand it? Speaker 3 (07:56): How can we understand it? Well, how, what do we have to augment in our knowledge not to throw away what we know, but to augment what we know and include this other perspective? Right? So that's point number one is if you don't know the human being completely, if you don't model the human being completely, then we are not going to know what health is. We can only gonna know partial approaches, which is why we have a disease-based care, disease-based approach to health in mm-hmm in what we call modern medicine. Second example, and this will surprise most physicians, most scientists, most people who have surprised science, who have studied science, is that we don't know what the body's fundamentally made of. All right? So just hear me out on this one. So when, when we were kids, we learned to play with those little solid balls that were atoms, and we connected them with the sticks, the molecular model kits, and we put them all together and we said, wow, this is what we are. Speaker 3 (08:44): You put a bunch of this together and, and that's how you get Karen, and that's how you get a new, and that's how you get everybody, right? And what's crazy is that after fourth grade or so, which is some fourth or fifth grade, whenever we did that first, or heard about that first, our understanding of what we're made of never advanced. So you can go to high school, you can go to graduate school, you can go to medical school, you can do fellowship, you can do C M E, and what we are made of that understanding never advances. It's still, yeah, a bunch of little balls and sticks, right? Which is mind boggling. , right? like what, what we, what we, it's, it's laughable what you think about, but it's true. What we, what we do understand is the complexity of how they interact. Speaker 3 (09:25): So we learn more about molecular models and how they interface and intracellular communication, but when you go down to the bottom, it still balls and sticks. It never went beyond fourth grade or fifth grade, right? Right. And the thing is, if you ask somebody, if you ask a doctor, ask a scientist what a human body is made of, we'll say, well, it's made of organs. What's that made of? It's made of tissues. What's that made of? It's made of cells. Then you get down to macromolecules and then molecules, then you get to atoms, subatomic particles, and finally you get to the smallest bits of matter that we know, which are called elementary particles. And you know what's crazy, Karen? After that, everybody stops asking questions. It's like, until then we always act, what's that made of? But what's that made of? But what's that made of? Speaker 3 (10:08): But once you get to elementary particles, it's like the room goes dark, right? Right. And that's because then you get into quantum physics and you get into a different kind of topic. And in medical school, you know, we don't touch that stuff. So it's, the answers get too difficult for us to understand. I mean, even, even among physicists, there's so much interpretation as to what quantum physics is actually telling us. That's still up in the air as to what it's actually suggesting about life and about being alive and about human beings. So nevermind in medicine, we don't even go near that stuff. So we just say, you know what? Balls and sticks good enough for me, we're done. Right? But in fact, we know that when we get into that, that these tiny particles that the body is constituted from are actually local vibrations in non-local fields of energy. Speaker 3 (10:54): And to that, we say, what I don't know what to do about that. That's not in my framework. That's not in the philosophy. I was taught by the way, we were all taught philosophy. We just, we weren't taught, we weren't told we were taught philosophy, right? And so we don't ask that question, but that's the truth. At a fundamental level, we do not know what the human body is made of. And that should be shocking to most people because the idea is that in medicine we know so much. But even such a fundamental question, we don't know. And for the most part, we don't think it's important because we believe all the stuff is subatomic, atomic, and on beyond that. But I think there's a clear link, a very distinct link between the fact that we don't know the fundamental nature of the body. And we also see ourselves completely, the two are very linked. Speaker 3 (11:37): Let me keep moving here. Point number three as to why, you know, we don't know what health is, is we don't know what the mind is. So neither do we know what the body is fundamentally made of, but the mind itself is not an object of inquiry in medicine, right? You and I know that biomedical science is based on the idea that subatomic particles and elementary particles are primary. They're fundamental. And that's what we need to know about and their interactions. And we can derive all understanding of health disease treatment from that. That's the idea. Nowhere in that picture is mine. And if you ask somebody, well, where does it go? Where does this idea of mind go? How can we fit that into your model of anatomy? What we say is, well, it's this little poofy cloud that comes out of the brain, right? Speaker 3 (12:20): We all learn that when we're watching cartoons, right? When it's like loony tunes or the somebody's chasing somebody else and they hit 'em in the head and see the circles and the stars, where you see the puff of clouds, that's like a thought it, we're basically teaching philosophy. We're basically saying that it is the brain that creates thoughts or creates this little cloud that we call the mind. But of course, that's a philosophical opinion. It's not a scientific fact. And there are ways to look into that that can actually suggest even other ideas. Like for example, the brain itself could be a representation, a mental representation. That's just another philosophical perspective that is still entirely consistent with science. What gets me Kiran is that despite the fact that mind is not really the domain of biomedical science, despite the fact that we don't know what the mind is, and there's nothing like the encyclopedias on mine that exist in other cultures in biomedical science, despite that we have the audacity to diagnose mental illness and talk about mental health at length. Speaker 3 (13:21): And I think we really go wrong here. We tend to conflate suffering and confusion and difficulty with something like a disease. And then what we try to do is map that to neurotransmitters. And then we have this whole, you know, serotonin, serotonin hypothesis, dopamine hypothesis, and so on. I'm not denying that there are correlations between serotonin and dopamine and mental states, but to say that those are primary or going via the brain and via neurotransmitters is the way to address mind and the health of the mind is again, I think a mistake and a limitation. And I'll just touch on one more point. So we've touched on some critical things. Number one is that we don't really study health, we more study disease. Number two, we don't understand what the body's fundamentally made of Number three, we don't know what the mind is. Number four is that there are people healing from all kinds of diseases all around us, and we don't talk about it, or we don't print it in journals, right? Speaker 3 (14:17): We don't write these up. And yeah, I think you and I both know that cuz we're both kind of operate in that field. I've interviewed so many people for my healing as possible podcast who have healed from everything that you're not supposed to heal from, including rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, advanced cancer, severe heart disease that was supposed to get bypass surgery and on and on and on. Severe diabetes type two diabetes, but severe type two diabetes. And so if that's the case, if people are healing from all of these conditions, then why is it that a lot of us don't know about it? Why is it that we doctors don't really know about it? Well that's, that's because number one, people don't like to talk about it because there's so much stigma around saying, well, that's unscientific, or there's no real evidence for that. But what happens is this is the self-fulfilling prophecy because we don't write up the case studies, we don't publish them nearly to the extent that they're happening. Speaker 3 (15:08): And then we turn around and call them anecdotal and we say, oh, it's a, it's a unique or it's a miracle, or it's by chance. But we're kind of making that happen because we're not talking about it and we're not writing it up. And what I realized that really blew my mind is that because we are not talking about these, what's happening is that our prognosis are really inaccurate, right? The denominator of all the cases we're looking at is insufficient, because included in that denominator is not all the cases of healing that are happening by means that are outside of medicine. So that's another reason we don't know what health is. And finally, I would say the biggest one is that we have confused complimentary medicine and conventional medicine, right? This is the biggest one. And I would ask everybody to really focus on this cuz this is the most powerful one. Speaker 3 (15:56): I think we tend to believe that everything other than what we call modern medicine is complimentary medicine, right? So traditional Chinese medicine, ida, yoga, meditation, lifestyle changes, all of this is complimentary medicine. And we believe that modern medicine is, is conventional medicine. And by that we mean generally in terms of treatment, it's pills and procedures, it's pills and surgeries are the predominant or IV medications are the predominant medicine in conventional medicine, or rather in modern medicine. And I think we have entirely inverted that we've gotten it completely backwards, right? And, and here's why. The real complimentary medicine is modern medicine, because it's supposed to be used as and when the person is getting sick or they need some intervention. Whereas all of these other systems are designed to sustain and enhance life, right? Complimentary medicine is by definition that which is complimentary. If you take away pills and surgeries, for most people, they're gonna be okay. Speaker 3 (16:55): They're at least going to live. And many will do quite fine without that. But if you take away what is primary nutrition, movement, connection rest from people, a human being can't live. That's the fundamental sustenance that human beings have lived on for millennia since we've been here. Right? So that is the true conventional medicine by convention, nutrition, movement, connection, and rest. What I call the four engines. Activating these four engines is what facilitates health and healing period for millennia. Mm-Hmm. , that is conventional medicine. Complimentary medicine is that which we can do without but can enhance life. And that is the modern medical system. So there's this complete inversion of terminology that has it backwards. So people tend to use the medical system as primary medicine, and that's a mistake. That's when we start to have problems. That's when we have diseases that can't be cured and that linger forever. Speaker 3 (17:47): Whereas to use it appropriately is to use it as needed when things come up as a compliment to the four engines of nutrition, movement, connection, arrest. So I say, you know, I'm emergency medicine, I work as an ER doc, I was working on the front lines during the pandemic. Emergency medicine is like bread and butter, allopathy and nothing else, right? It's, it's hardcore allopathy, hardcore biomedical science. And I say, right by virtue of that, I'm a complimentary medicine doctor, okay? Because if you use me as primary medicine, that's a problem. And the difference between me and primary care, of course there is a difference. But it's the same ideology, it's the same biomedical science, it's the same philosophy. And it's not a philosophy and a science that is suited for everyday care and sustenance. It's suited as a compliment to nutrition, movement, connection, and rest. So these are, okay, I've talked a lot. I've given you a few big points here as to why we don't know what health is. Speaker 1 (18:46): All right? So I know everybody listening is a little overwhelmed right now because a lot of these concepts are really new to them, and you had a lot of new ones. So everybody listening, just breathe. Take a big breath in, let's all do it together, end through your nose and let it out through your mouth. , we're gonna break it down for you. Don't worry, ladies, we got it. So let's kind of break these down in a little more detail so that people can really understand what you're talking about. Because I think most everybody listening was taught that we, we are Legos, right? We are Legos, yes. Yes. And we we're new Tony in anatomy, and yes, they don't realize that they've been indoctrinated, I won't say brainwashed, yes, but indoctrinated into a belief system that is a philosophy of health. And it's like, we're the fish in the water so we can't see the water. Speaker 1 (19:42): And now we're telling people you're in water. Like it's telling a fish. You live in water and the fish would go, what? Water? What are you talking about? Right? And so it's kind of this waking up process that has to happen that everybody's on a different journey with on a different timeline. Yes. And I wanna help them to understand. So I agree with you, this issue of quantum physics, right? We stop asking, but I do think the science has bridged this next level, but medicine just, it's kind of here. No evil, see, no evil speak no evil. They're like, no, no, no, no, I don't wanna hear it. I don't wanna hear it. I don't wanna, I don't wanna think about the things that I don't know. Yes. So can you ta talk a little bit about maybe some information that would, you know, you stated very matter of factly that Ayurveda traditional Chinese medicine, right? All of these ancient belief systems are valid, but to most people they've been told that's not true. Speaker 3 (20:41): Yes. Speaker 1 (20:42): Okay, good question. What can you say to people that bridges that gap between we're just sticks and balls connected. Yeah. And we are quantum physics that says that these ancient healing tools are valid, and we're more than Newtonian anatomy help them understand, right? Speaker 3 (21:02): Sure. Great question. So what everybody in the audience I invite you to understand and take a deep breath and consider, is that all the experts that are talking about how we're primarily this, or primarily atoms, if there are I, I think many experts say otherwise, but the belief that we are these primary primarily atoms that we're made up of this physical matter, et cetera. This comes from unexamined philosophy. And this is really important to understand. So we as physicians, we don't take in-depth philosophy classes. And all of you in the audience, I'm guessing the vast majority of you have not taken in-depth philosophy classes. And yet, despite that, both you and I were indoctrinated, as Kiran says a perfect word in a way of thinking. That said, physical stuff is the main stuff that matters. Nobody told you that, you know, Mrs. Jones didn't sit you down in first grade and say that, but everything we do is based on that, right? Speaker 3 (22:00): It's like, look at how things are made of, let's dissect the frog, let's dissect the leaf. What are we looking at? The physical stuff. Think about when you were a baby, right? When did your parents applaud you? When did they praise you? It's when they said, this is your nose, this is your shoulder, this is your stomach. And you were able to pair at that and they said, yay, congratulations. Yay. Look at Jamie. Or look at Jamie, look at Jose. Right? So all the, the adoration that we get, the kudos that we get, the awards that we get, everything is based on attending to physicality. Now, contrast that with your experience. I would bet that most people in the audience right now are not primarily aware of your body right now. You're not aware of your fourth toe right now, you're likely not aware of your heart, you're not aware of your liver, you're not aware of your neck unless you have some pain there. Speaker 3 (22:50): Or you had some recent issue. For the mass majority of vast majority of people, the majority of our attention is not on the physical body. It's in our minds. So for example, you may be experiencing, you may be thinking, Hmm, that's interesting. You may be experiencing curiosity, you may be experiencing doubt. Oh, I don't know, that doesn't quite make sense to me. Or you might say, huh, that's something to think about. Or you may be kind of buzzing, like, oh, this is really inspirational. All of these are happening in the mind. And by default, the vast majority of people are experiencing the mind the vast majority of the time. And yet in medicine, there is no model for mind. There's no mental anatomy, there's no mental physiology, there's no clear explication of how the mind relates to the body and why there's no exploration of other cultures and other philosophies that discuss this in detail. Speaker 3 (23:36): So right there, you can see this is like two ships passing at night, right? One is a body centric physical perspective, and another one is how we live our lives, which is mostly through our experiences. In fact, you can say that the two most significant experiences in anybody's life are love and pain or love and fear, or love and suffering. And they're both mental experiences, right? And yet there's no model for that in medicine. So what I wanna first do is draw your attention to this huge body mind chasm that exists in medicine. And secondly, I'd like to tell you that doctors, scientists, et cetera, are trained for the vast majority of their, at least for the first, let's say 18 to 30 years of their life, the same way you were in terms of philosophy. We've learned the exact same philosophy, which is that the body is what matters. Speaker 3 (24:27): You get kudos when you talk about the body. You get medals and awards for talking about the body. And if you talk about the mind too much, you're kind of strange, right? And, and that's alternative and that's different, right? Right. Now what quantum physics has done is that it has taken us to a very unusual place where it has shown us through experimentation that the smallest bits of solid matter that we're so comfortable with, because we love stacking those legos. We love playing Tetris. We love building things, you know, sandcastles, like smaller grains of sand, build larger sand castles. We're so entrained in this small parts make big holes. We're so entrained in this unexamined implicit philosophy that when quantum physics comes along and says, well hold on their partner, those little tiny balls of matter are actually vibrations when you look closely enough and their vibrations, not with a specific boundary, but their vibrations in a vast field of energy. Speaker 3 (25:24): It's something like if you had a, an infinite bedsheet, suppose you had a bedsheet that was so big, you could stretch across the whole earth, right? Actually stretch beyond the whole universe. But let's just say the earth for now. And this vast bedsheet, you could kind of push, you could poke on one side of the bed sheet and you could see it sticking out on the other side, right? You can kind of see this, this dent in the bed sheet. That dent is like a particle. Now that is no different than the entire bed sheet. It's the sheet itself locally behaving as a vibration or a dent or a wrinkle that we say, Hey, look, there's a wrinkle and we ignore the entire bed sheet. That's what's happening today in medicine. We're looking at the particles and ignoring the fact that what a particle is is nothing but a local vibration in a vast field of energy, right? Speaker 3 (26:08): And we totally leave that out because we don't know what to do do with that. And I say that the reason we don't know what to do with that is because we are locked in this philosophy that says body and particulate stuff is what is most important. Can I go one step further here, Karen? Sure. Go ahead. This, just bear with me here. This may be, we're just gonna go off the deep end just for fun. Okay? All right. Okay. I want to explain to you one hypothesis, one way of trying to understand why that is, how all of this makes sense. How can a small particle be actually this infinite field of energy? How does that make sense? How does that reconcile with what we know now? And here's what I would suggest to you. Okay? Imagine that you are with a friend going for a Sunday drive. Speaker 3 (26:51): Okay? You're in, you're in the car, you're going for a drive, and your friend is talking to you and, and imagine this is a dream. So you're sleeping at night, you're having this dream where you and your friend are going for a drive, and your friend is saying, man, I heard this podcast today. And there was some crazy stuff that we were talking about, right? Somebody was saying that these little bits that were made of, you know, like cells and particles. Yeah, yeah, I know that. Okay. Somebody was saying that those little bits are actually just vibrations in a huge field of energy. Can you imagine that? So in the dream, this person's saying, so like this little thumbnail, if I take a little bit of it and I could somehow hold up a little particle of that, they're saying that that's actually this whole thing, everything that's happening around us, the car, the Sunday drive, the sun, even the other planets, isn't that wild? Speaker 3 (27:34): How can that be? Doesn't make any sense. Now, within that dream, it doesn't make sense, right? But let's say we step outside that dream, as you and I are now, we're now outside the dream and we're looking in on that dream that they're having. And what we see is that the little particle that that person in the dream was talking about when they tried to look into what it is, what they found is that it was made of that entire field that the entire dream was made of. Well, what was the dream made of? It was naturally, it was mind, right? A dream is literally made of the mind. That is what a dream is. The mind represents itself as characters, as space, as time, and as little bits of matter. And so it only makes sense that if in that dream people try to look into the smallest thing and really find out with the most rigor, the most determination, the most scientific accuracy. Speaker 3 (28:23): And if they really do that and try to find out what that particle is, they're going to find out that there's no such thing as a particle. Because the entire thing is mined. There are no definite boundaries in that dream other than the boundaries superimposed by the mind. So every little thing in a dream, whether it's a rock or a hammer, or whether it's a thought in the dream, or whether it's water or something soft, when you look into it deeply enough from a scientific perspective, if we're good with our science, it will have to show us that that tiny thing is not actually something tiny, but something vast that is representing itself as something tiny. And I think that is what quantum physics is telling us. And that's why we cannot accept that in medicine. We're so wedded to the idea that the physical stuff creates the mental stuff, that the brain creates the mind. We cannot consider the inverse opinion, which is that mind or consciousness is fundamental, and it represents itself as these physical particles and on up as they build up into atom's, molecules and the body, Speaker 1 (29:25): Right? Yeah. But it is kind of insane when you think about it. Consciousness. How can you assess health or talk about health without addressing consciousness? But that is the very earth on which health doesn't want to tread. And I don't know if that goes back to when there was separation of church and state made. At some point that decision was made. And so we are living the results of the decision to kind of excise spirituality, excise consciousness from health. So I think it's important that we're having the conversations that you are discussing. And you mentioned earlier when you were talking about the four aspects, that there are no writeups on people healing. Yes. People heal in, in what we call miraculous ways every single day. Yes. But it's, yes, it's considered anecdotal. And so the very yardstick by which we measure scientific validity, the doubleblind placebo controlled trial, yes, you can't have, but science does just discount these anecdotes and say, oh, that's anecdotal and that's spurious. And it's not consistent. So, but we never question and say, wow, that we created that yardstick by which we're measuring everything and we just discard everything. That's not doubleblind placebo control trial proven, right? Speaker 3 (30:51): Yes, 100%. And, and the thing is, as long as we can say it's miraculous or unusual, we don't have to really pay attention to it. That's the catch 22 is like, on one hand it sounds amazing, it's like, wow, what a miracle it happened. But what we don't say is, well, that happened to a hundred other people too, but we just don't talk about it, or we don't know about it. And we don't create an environment where people want to talk about it. If we were really scientists, if we were really interested in helping people heal, we would create a database. That'd be the first thing that NIH would do, right? Here's a database, super easy to use, what was the diagnosis? How did it heal? And then an investigator would call you, how did you do it? Research it. And we would have hundreds of thousands of cases of these around the world, and we would very quickly get to what is it that helps? And I can guarantee you it's gonna be nutrition movement, connection, arrest, it's gonna be factors along those lines. Because no matter who is healed, it's always some combination of these. But we don't do that. So as long as we don't do that, we can keep saying it's anecdotal or it's miraculous. And I think that's where we do a disservice to the public. Speaker 1 (31:51): Yeah, I agree. And I, I really like how you talked about that we confuse complimentary and conventional medicine, but the real complimentary is modern mess medicine. Yes. The pills and procedures, but that the conventional medicine really is food connection cetera. Yes. And that's really what doctors should be focusing on. Yes. So how can, can you tell people maybe how they would get started? Because I love that concept with their own practice of conventional medicine, but things would they start paying attention to. Yes. Speaker 3 (32:26): So we actually have a chorus called the Health Jumpstart Chorus on our website. Mm-Hmm. at Health Revolution. If you go to health revolution.org/courses, there's one course called Health Jumpstart, which actually goes through these four nutrition, movement, connection, and rest. And there are 10 minute talks. You can do a, a talk daily where it's like a talk plus a simple practice that you can do to start moving in this direction. And it's not about being perfect, it's just about starting a process. You know, I'll go into this a little bit more detail. Nutrition, number one, lowest hanging fruit nutrition is to cut out processed foods, right? There's so much varying advice on nutrition, but I can tell you one thing that nobody advocates, nobody advocates eating processed foods, right? That's pretty much universal, universally agreed on. And there's hardly anything that's universally agreed on in nutrition. Speaker 3 (33:14): But every expert will say less processed food is another way of saying food. That's not really food, right? So eat real food, cut out processed food. And then the other thing is a plant predominant diet. So plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Now, beyond that, there's all kinds of customization that a person can do. But I will tell you, Kiran, I think you'd probably agree that if we just did that, the number of diseases that would go away by simply cutting out processed foods and eating more fresh fruits and vegetables is monumental. So that's monumental. That's beginning of nutrition. Another huge part of nutrition is what you and I are doing now, Kira. And that is telling a better story, nutrition for the mind, right? To Uhhuh, to really give people the story. What is true, what is to be looked at? What do we need to assess more closely? Speaker 3 (34:00): And what is the big picture here that ties all of this together, right? This time that we're in, what's happening in health and healthcare? What's happening in the world? What's happening to our power? How we can get our power and our independence back? What is that big story? And that's what we really like to tell at Health Revolution is a big story of what's going on and how we need to take our power back by activating these four engines of nutrition, movement, connection, arrest. Because that's really how you start to it. It's almost like living your life in advocacy for yourself, right? Because it's when the health starts to suffer, it's when we become dependent on other systems that are incomplete and that that take disease based approaches to care. That's when things start to get difficult. So number one is taking that power back, which every person can do, no matter what their situation is by activating these engines. Speaker 3 (34:51): So nutrition for the body, nutrition for the mind movement is manyfold movement. Of course, exercise is there, but I don't wanna limit to exercise, right? Because not everybody has to exercise in the same way. I say range of motion itself is powerful. If you have a joint, use it. You know, when you get up in the morning, every single joint, take it through its full range of motion. I do it even my, like, let's say my index finger, my d i p, my distal joint of my index finger, which we generally might not use. I'll flex it and extend it. Why? Because I have it. It's there, it's moment matters. So, you know, move your eyes all up and down, rotate them around, rotate them side to side, you know, move your neck, basically use that full range of motion. It gets the blood circulating, it gets your energy flowing and you just feel more vital when you do that. Speaker 3 (35:41): That's one aspect of moving the body. The other huge one is moving the breath, right? Rather than the shallow breathing that comes from the neck up, the full breath using the diaphragm, right? That that expands the trunk fully and kind of, and livens the whole body. The breath is so vital by the way, because it is probably the single biggest thing that connects what we call the mind and what we call the body in the er. You can, you can be, you can bet that if somebody's breathing fast and shallow that they're anxious, right? Even before you see them. If you look at the respiratory rate, you can tell fast and shallow equals anxious, slow and deep equals restful, right? Mm-Hmm. . So the breath and the body are intimately connected. And if you have a person breathing shallow and fast in the er, I'll make sure that my breath is deep and restful. Because it's almost like who is going to influence who somebody's going to move towards the other in terms of mental state, right? So it becomes very important to be aware of your mental state and how to ground yourself with the breath. So that's, we talked about moving range of motion. Sorry, go ahead. Sorry Speaker 1 (36:45): To interrupt you, but you just reminded me of a story. When I was a resident ob gyn one day there was a patient , you know, sometimes a little naive day goes a long way. And I think I was a second year, so I didn't know everything yet. And patient had tachypnea, she was breathing very rapidly and nobody could figure out why. You know, they had done an arterial. Yeah. And they had done all this whole workup and they come to me and they're like, well, what do you think? So I go in there and I observe her and she's really huffing and puffing and I, I said to her, why are you breathing so fast? She says, I don't know. I said, stop. And she stopped Speaker 3 (37:21): . Yeah. And Speaker 1 (37:27): Stop doing it. Yeah. And the problem went away. And it was very interesting. I really think that she was anxious. Yeah. So to your point, I think she was anxious and so she was shallow, rapid breathing. Yeah. Yeah. And when I just brought her mind to it, she stopped. Yeah. And problem solved. But how many of those problems could be solved if we paid better attention? But I agree with you about the breath. Speaker 3 (37:51): I agree. And, and we see that in the ER too. You know, and sometimes, sometimes I have the time to sit there with a person and they might be coming in with tachypnea or they feel short of breath or they feel chest discomfort. And sometimes you can talk to them and if you have enough time, you kind of hear what's going on in their life, what's stressing them out. And sure enough, mm-hmm. , you know, by the end of a six minute conversation, they're not breathing like that anymore. You know? And that often, and if, if they're truly feel better and all their symptoms have resolved and, and in your exam and your evaluation, everything else looks okay, you might have saved them six hours in the er, who knows how much their bill would've been. And that's simply under, now not all te chimney is that, of course, as we both know. Speaker 3 (38:36): But you know, knowing that and considering that is critical. So that's movement of the breath. The other two kinds of movement kirin are moving our emotions. I, you know, I cannot tell you how many people I've heard have healed from conditions by moving their emotions. And again, this goes back to if you think that the brain creates the mind and emotions and therefore there's some strange link somewhere, it's not so clear. But if you subscribe to another philosophy that is still entirely scientifically consistent, which is that consciousness is fundamental and matter or body is its representation, then mm-hmm. , we can see how anything that's lodged in the mind, like repressed emotions that have been stored for decade and have become stonelike and are manifesting as let's say tightness or muscular s stricture, which can lead to breathing difficulties, which can lead to pneumonia and who knows what else. Right. I can people just by releasing emotions I've seen heal from Crohn's disease after decades, despite having bowel, bowel resection and bowel obstructions and multiple infections just from one session of hypnosis. There's one person I know who healed from Crohn's disease, all their symptoms went away. Yeah. Other person that's, yeah. Speaker 1 (39:49): Mm-Hmm. , go ahead. That I was gonna say, that's fascinating. Before you tell the other example, if you can talk a little bit more about that, because that concept of not feeling emotion thing that came to me in the past few years and I didn't really understand what it meant and now I totally understand what it meant and what it feels like as an embodied sensation and find that so many people are in their minds thinking, thinking and labeling emotions, but they don't actually feel them. Yes. And it's a different experience when I feel people drop into the emotions and feel them because emotions are energy, emotion. They want to be run through, they want to be processed. And when you don't, you get a block. So can you explain that in a way that people might have a real understanding, cuz I think more of us than not, do not process our emotions or feel them. Speaker 3 (40:40): Yeah. Well you know, I can tell you my story. There's definitely a point in my life where I had to, on my own journey, I had to feel emotions that I had held in for so long. And that really changed, you know, everything about my life in a way. One story that comes to mind is when I was in medical school, the backstory is that I was born in, in DC in the United States and we moved back to India for a few years. So I lived there when I was a small kid for a few years and stayed with my grandmother for a little while, was very close to her in Guerra, in South India. Living in the village, you know, running around barefoot and just having, having a ball all the time. And then we moved back to the United States and have lived here since then. Speaker 3 (41:23): But I was very close to her. And at some point when I was in, I think, I think it was about ninth grade or so, my grandmother passed away in India. And I never really had that chance to mourn cuz it had been so long since I'd seen her intermittently, but never spent that much time with her again. And, you know, it was kind of just felt kind of disconnected. And I was also very much in my head thinking about so many things, ninth grade. And then med school came around later. And by that time in medical school around that time, I was going through a lot of changes. Just in my own experience. I was getting into meditation, a lot of changes were happening within myself. And I remember one night I heard the song, and it's a, the language that we speak is, is called Maam, it's A Language in South India. Speaker 3 (42:04): And it was a mala song. And the meaning of the song says it is goes like this, it says, you know, without saying anything, you went away. Do you still remember me? And so I heard that and it just like, it hit me like in my core, like in the depths of my heart. And I felt like my grandmother was saying that to me, you know, like, you know, like, you were here, you were living with me and then you just up and went to the US and you know, do you still remember me? Not in an accusatory way, but like, just in a loving way. Oh, do you remember me? You know, I'm your grandma. And of course I did remember her, I still felt very close to her. I still feel close to her now. But I had kind of, you know, intellectually built a wall so that I wasn't experiencing that. Speaker 3 (42:49): But when I heard this song, it all came flooding back. And I think I spent, I don't know, two or three, four hours keeping that song on a repeat and bawling my heart out for hours that night. I was literally, I've never cried like that in my life. I was literally on the floor in the fetal position with these deep earthen sobs coming out. And it was intentionally on repeat that I was doing that. And I can tell you that after that, that released so much in me that allowed me to continue on my journey. You know? And I know that if I had not done that, that that certain hardness or that tension that I kind of knew was there, but I also was kind of ignoring that could never have been released. And I know that down the line leads to that dise, that dis hyphen ease leads to disease in so many ways. Speaker 3 (43:41): And so, you know, one story I can tell you was the story of Crohn's disease. Somebody, I talked to somebody who, who we interviewed, she, she's on the Healing is Possible podcast, you can check out the full story. But the story was that when she was a kid, she felt like the only time she could get attention from her parents is when she was sick. They worked, I think she lived on a farm and she was always working, her parents were always working and she always had to do things. I never felt like she could just rest, you know, take time and just rest and be a kid. And when she did this hypnosis session, this all came back to her. Right? And so what came to her is like, that's the only time I could rest. And it's almost like her body was in a sense making her sick so that she could rest or get that rest. Speaker 3 (44:23): Mm-Hmm. . Mm-Hmm . And of course this came to her, right? Nobody told her this. And in fact, if you tell somebody this, they're likely to slap you. Say, you know how, how dare you say that, you know, I'm making this up and that my body's doing this. And of course that's not what's being said. No, nobody's making anything up. We're just talking about responses of the human system to receive what it needs, which is perfectly natural and perfectly understandable. So she arrived at this understanding during this one hypnosis session. Again, this is after multiple admissions to the hospital. Even a bowel resection, meaning part of the bowel was cut out. Mm-Hmm. , even after all that one hypnosis session where she realized this, that my body is doing this because it needs this space to rest, it needs this care. And when she realized that, she said, okay, I can give myself that. Speaker 3 (45:10): I don't need that anymore. And literally after that session, she stopped having any symptoms. And it's been five years or so now. So a classic example of how the body presents something that's in the mind. I'll give you one more example, which is with ulcerative colitis, another inflammatory bowel disease. This was a guy who's a psychotherapist in New York City. He's also on the Healing As Possible Podcast. This story, he was actually helping people get off of medicine and get better without being as dependent on medicine when he could do it safely. But he was super stressed out. He was always thinking about them even on vacation. He was thinking about them because obviously that's a, it's a critical function and you have to get that right, otherwise people can really suffer. Mm-Hmm . So he was always thinking about that, totally stressed out. And he had totally ignored what he always wanted to do, which is kind of make independent movies or, or shoot these films. Speaker 3 (46:00): And at some point when he was on vacation super and then he, some point he started having chronic diarrhea and fevers and infections and doctors put him on all kinds of medicine. You know, first it was prednisone, then other steroids, then immunosuppressants. But he was still having diarrhea and it was getting worse and worse and worse, abdominal pain. And finally they said, you know, we have to look at resection again. We have to look at cutting out part of your bowel. And he's like, this is insane. I'm young, I'm healthy, I'm an athlete. Like I don't understand how this is happening. I need to, I just gotta do something about this. So while on vacation stressed out, he said, I think I know what this is. I just don't feel good about what I'm doing. I'm too stressed out all the time. I wanna do what I wanna do. Speaker 3 (46:40): And he said he'd made the hardest decision of his life, which is to quit that job. And he wasn't sure about financial security and to get on a plane to, I think it was Europe that he went to. And he said it wasn't just the money, he was worried about being incontinent on the flight cuz he was going 15 times a day or more. And he said that happened. He had to suffer that on the plane. It happened over and over and over. But then he said, A new a funny thing happened once I made that decision, my diarrhea went down from 15 times a day to eight times a day. And then another month hap went by and it was four times a day and another month went by and it totally stopped. And today he has zero symptoms on no medication. This is a guy who was told he was going to have bowel resection within the next few months. Speaker 3 (47:22): And the only thing he's changed was stopping that job. Now was it easy? Of course it's not easy. There're not a lot of people who would make that decision. Where's the money gonna come from and, you know, how are you gonna suffer that plane trip? But you know, I think it's a, it's a commentary on our society that we put people in such difficult situations about their health that we don't say, you know what, you need six months, here you go. But these are ways, clear examples of how the body, I'm sorry, how the mind and the hormones and neurotransmitters associated with certain activities can stimulate inflammation in the body by creating a chronic state of inflammation through increasing the circulating cytokines in the blood. And that chronic inflammation then leads to conditions including heart disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and many other things. Speaker 1 (48:08): Right. Wow. Those are great examples. I think everybody should check out your podcast for sure. We'll have a link to it in the show notes and then we'll also have a link to the course that you have for everyone. The Three Minds Course. Yes. And so tell everyone about the Three Minds Course and where they can find you online. Speaker 3 (48:28): Okay. So the Three Minds Course is actually the free course. And that is, if you really want to dive into this possibility of consciousness being fundamental and matter of being its representation, this is the course. It's an entirely new way of seeing yourself and seeing the world that again, is entirely consistent with science. So it takes you through, you know, what is the first mind, what is the second mind and what is the third mind? That's the first part of the course. And then really gets into the analysis. You know, how does that make sense? What does it mean? What are some examples of that? And then it goes through some of the science that, that supports this, how we can use the current science and say, okay, I can see how this actually supports this model of the world. So you can find that at, if you go to health revolution.org/courses, you can go and click on the Three Minds Course and the other course that's there, of course the Health Jump Start course that teaches a person to activate their four engines. Speaker 1 (49:24): Awesome. Thank you for those resources. Thank you for this very important discussion that people need to hear about really why we don't know what true health is or how to achieve it. And giving them insight into the true conventional medicine. The, the four aspects of it. Yes. How they can get started with that. And really the importance of starting to understand the mind, what it is and how to work with it to help your health so that you can heal because healing is possible. What are some of the, of the other great stories they're going to hear on your podcast? Speaker 3 (50:02): There is a story of Liz, who is an I C U nurse who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Even initially was not so sure. And then she had the classic features on M R I that was found to be multiple sclerosis and was going down the usual treatment route was getting worse and worse and worse. And then she did a combination of things, different aspects of nutrition, movement, connection, and rest. And by changing that, by meditation, by changing what she ate, she found, I forgot the exact words. Words that she used. I think she said she could push the disease right. In the sense that she could feel it coming on. And then when she played with certain levers in her life, she could kind of push it away and stay symptom free. So that's a great story. Another's a story of Emily. Speaker 3 (50:51): Emily was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, I think, I believe she was in her thirties maybe, if I'm not mistaken, and got to a point where it was so severe that she couldn't hug her kids. And you know, she just heartbreaking, heartbreaking to, to, to tell her to hear her story. When she tried to hug them, she would feel so much pain in her body. And she's like, I can't do this. And she was on immunosuppressants and so many meds. And then she started to read and open her mind. And again, nutrition for the mind, hear that healing is possible, consider other perspectives, try some new things. And she told her doctor, she's like, I don't wanna be on this medicines. I have to, I need to try to heal this. And her doctor, her doctor said, Emily, you're gonna be in a wheelchair by the time you're 40, which I frankly think is cruel. Speaker 3 (51:36): You know, I wasn't there. I don't know the context, but I just think that's not the right thing to say to somebody. You know, you, we can have our opinions, but I think we support our patients in what they want and we tell them what we know. But to, I, I think that's a criticism that, that we need to stay away from regardless. Emily went on this journey and now is nearly symptom free, but she's way past, well, I wanna say way past where I take that back. She's definitely past 40 and she's not on any medication and she feels great most of the time. So that's another story. I'll give you one more powerful one. This is a story of Dr. Jimmy Conway, who's an orthopedic surgeon in, I wanna say Louisiana. No, not Louisiana, in Oklahoma City, I believe. He said, you know, he grew up, you know bacon, eggs, sausage, you know, every meal, something like that, heavy meats. Speaker 3 (52:27): And he said, he actually said that I knew I was gonna die, is what he said at some point. Or I knew something was gonna happen to me. But, you know, he was just on this lifestyle and then doing surgeries and just going at it full speed. And one day he had some left arm pain went in sure enough, had the angiogram and he's got multi-vessel disease. And he sees the cardiac surgeon standing over him, who was actually somebody he knew from medical school who said, Jimmy, you need to have bypass surgery in the next couple days, otherwise you're not gonna make it. And you know, his, basically his life is staring him in the face. So he goes home and he's getting ready for it. And obviously, you know, no exercise, nothing to, to stress your heart out in the meantime. And he comes across his book, how to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Dr. Speaker 3 (53:18): Caldwell Esselstyn. And he starts reading it, and then he gets inspired and he calls a surgeon and says, Hey, I'm canceling the surgery. The guy says, are you crazy? You're not gonna make it. He says, I can't do it. I need to try this. And he switches to a plant-based diet. And I can tell you that that's what, over 10 years ago, I think. And he is totally symptom free right now. And for people think that heart disease, I want, it's important for people to understand that heart disease is reversible. Not every single case, but in many cases, and Jimmy was one of the most severe cases, your heart disease happens because of atherosclerotic buildup on the vessels, on the lining of the vessels. And a plant-based diet has been shown to reverse, not just stop, but reverse the buildup that's in those vessels. And he's just one of many stories of people who avoided heart surgery and avoided stents by switching to a plant-based diet. So there's so many stories like that that I, I could keep going, but please do listen to podcast. Speaker 1 (54:20): Yeah, that's a great just sampling of what's available. And so I wanted everyone to hear the inspiration that's there. Healing is possible. I hope you will check out that episode. We will have links to all of the things that Dr. Kumar has mentioned in the show notes. So if you're driving, don't try and write them down. We'll have the links in the show notes wherever you get, whenever you get where you're going, you can click them. Thank you so much, Anup, for the work that you're doing. It's so important. Thank you for this wonderful conversation. It's very much appreciated. Speaker 3 (54:52): Thank you, Karen. It's a pleasure to be here and, and thank you for the work you do. Speaker 1 (54:55): And thank you all for listening to another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kirin. Thanks so much for joining us today. I hope you've learned something that inspires you to take action on your health, to know that healing is possible, brilliant health is possible, it's your birthright. And if you're not experiencing that well, then you need to get moving so that you can just take one step today. What's something that you could do different to move into the right direction? And I'll see you next week when we'll have another great guest on the podcast. Until then, peace, love, and hormones, y'all. Speaker 2 (55:31): Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.   ► Get access to Dr. Anoop Kumar's FREE course - CLICK HERE. This course invites you to reconsider fundamental assumptions about who you are and what the nature of this world is. It asserts that consciousness is fundamental and that matter is its pattern, in a manner consistent with science. It asserts that the body is the representation of the mind, rather than the body being the source of the mind. Seeing yourself and the world in this way brings openness, clarity, and infinite possibilities. ► Feeling tired? Can't seem to lose weight, no matter how hard you try? It might be time to check your hormones. Most people don't even know that their hormones could be the culprit behind their problems. But at Her Hormone Club, we specialize in hormone testing and treatment. We can help you figure out what's going on with your hormones and get you back on track. We offer advanced hormone testing and treatment from Board Certified Practitioners, so you can feel confident that you're getting the best possible care. Plus, our convenient online consultation process makes it easy to get started. Try Her Hormone Club for 30 days and see how it can help you feel better than before. CLICK HERE.

Ever wonder why some women seem to handle the challenges of menopause and aging with grace, while others struggle with symptoms that often go untreated? Dr. Kyrin Dunston herself struggled with that. As a traditionally trained OBGYN, she transitioned to alternative medicine to conquer her personal health crisis. She then dared to question the approach to women's health, especially as it relates to hormonal imbalances and midlife metabolic mayhem.Dr. Kyrin discussed how symptoms like weight gain, memory problems, and autoimmune disorders are frequently misunderstood, midlife metabolic chaos is caused by hormonal imbalances, and the dire effects of not replacing hormones. She wants women to understand these effects and how hormone replacement therapy can change one's quality of life. This proves that patient care can go beyond merely controlling symptoms. Dr. Kyrin Dunston, as an advocate of women's health, does exactly that.Quick Guide0:35 Exploring Alternative Approaches to Women's Health11:42 Midlife Metabolic Mayhem and Hormonal Imbalance28:05 Menopause, Hormonal Replacement, and Metabolic Health35:36 Hormonal Poverty44:19 Testing, Investing, and Your Health55:41 Challenges in Hormonal HealthcareGet to know our guestDr. Kyrin Dunston is a traditionally trained OBGYN with a fellowship training in anti-aging, metabolic, and functional medicine. She's the founder of Midlife Metabolism Institute and The Hormone Club. “So we're putting our health care expenditures in the wrong column. They are not expenses. They are investments in your most valuable asset, which is your human home, which is your body. Stop asking does your health insurance cover it? And start asking how can I invest in my most, most valuable asset to the best of my ability, for it to give me the best returns for the longest vitality span and life, to live the highest quality of life?” - Dr. Kyrin DunstonConnect with herInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/kyrindunstonmd Website: www.kyrindunstonmd.comEpisode snippets23:32 - 24:19 - One chemical change between hormones is powerful32:21 - 34:20 - The hormone replacement therapy39:19 - 39:59 - Know the underlying cause45:01 - 46:34 - Don't rely on insurance to receive Chances are, you wouldn't be listening to this podcast if you didn't need to change your life and get healthier. So take action right now. Book a call with Dr. Ovadia's team. One small step in the right direction is all it takes to get started. How to connect with Stay Off My Operating Table:Twitter: Dr. Ovadia: @iFixHearts Jack Heald: @JackHeald5 Learn more: Learn more about Dr. Ovadia's personalized health coaching Get Dr. Ovadia's book Stay Off My Operating Table on Amazon. Take Dr. Ovadia's metabolic health quiz: iFixHearts visit Dr. Ovadia's website: Ovadia Heart Health visit Jack Heald's website: CultYourBrand.com Theme Song : Rage AgainstWritten & Performed by Logan Gritton & Colin Gailey(c) 2016 Mercury Retro Recordings

Jennifer Woodward holds a Master's of Science in Integrative Nutrition and is a certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner and a Board Certified Functional Wellness Coach.  She is also the Executive Director of the Association of Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Professionals where she is mentored by course creator Reed Davis. Jennifer is also the creator of the acclaimed FDN Business School and she loves getting to help new FDNs thrive professionally. Jennifer was recently a quarter-long guest lecturer in graduate Endocrinology at Parker University and also completed a three-month long internship with Dr. Kyrin Dunston, getting hands-on training in women's hormones.  She loves to be active with her high school sweetheart husband and four kids. In this episode, we cover: - how Jennifer transitioned from being a pharmaceutical rep to the world of functional medicine - why so many women have bad perimenopausal symptoms - why it's so important for women to eat enough protein - how to combat hot flashes, weight gain, and other unpleasant symptoms that might pop up as you age ... and more! You can connect with her over on Instagram @jennifer_woodward_wellness Learn more about Jennifer's work on her website: jenniferwoodwardnutrition.com/ You can learn more about me by following on IG @imperfectlypaigewellness or by checking out my blog, freebies, and offers on my website: https://imperfectlypaigewellness.com Please share with #PaigeTalksWellness to help get the word out about the show - and join the Imperfect Health Fam over on Facebook.

Welcome back, Hormone Prescription Podcast listeners! We're so glad you've joined us for an exciting and eye-opening interview with a world-expert on Hashimoto's disease - Dr. Anshul Gupta.     Dr. Gupta is a best-selling author, speaker, researcher, and Board-Certified Family Medicine Physician with advanced certifications in Functional and Integrative Medicine. With his passion for helping his patients and people all over the world, he has been awarded Reader's Choice, Best Doctor in Northern Neck Area.    Having worked at the prestigious Cleveland Clinic Department of Functional Medicine alongside Dr. Mark Hyman, Dr. Gupta has an extensive background in helping people find the root cause of their health issues and reversing these conditions.    In this episode, we dive deep into understanding Hashimoto's disease and the incredible journey Dr. Gupta has taken to provide relief and hope to those affected. We explore his unique protocol for success and how he has helped thousands of patients reverse their health issues by using the concepts of functional medicine. Some highlights from our conversation with Dr. Gupta include: Understanding Hashimoto's disease Dr. Gupta's proven protocols The role of functional medicine in reversing health issues The impact of peptide and integrative therapies Don't miss out on this fantastic opportunity to learn more about reversing Hashimoto's thyroiditis from the expert himself, Dr. Anshul Gupta.   Be sure to share this episode with friends, family, and anyone in need of inspiration and hope to reverse Hashimoto's disease. Thank you for listening to The Hormone Prescription Podcast, and stay tuned for more insightful and life-changing episodes!   Speaker 1 (00:00): “Health is like money. We never have a true idea of its value until we lose it.” - Josh Billings, stay tuned. In this episode, Dr. Anshul Gupta is going to tell you how to reverse Hashimoto's. Speaker 2 (00:14): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones in our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an ob gyn, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue. Now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Speaker 1 (01:07): Hi everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me today. My guest today has his own story of healing from thyroid problems at midlife. And although he's a guy, thyroid problems are more prevalent in women, particularly Hashimoto's thyroiditis, which is epidemic proportions globally and it is curable. Y'all is the case. No one sent you the memo and you have Hashimoto's and you have antibodies. You can get rid of the antibodies and reverse Hashimoto's. So I want you to listen to this episode even if you don't have a thyroid problem and you don't have Hashimoto's. This episode is chock full of information from a board certified family practice doctor, and yours truly about how to find the underlying root causes of whatever problems you're having, even if it's not a thyroid problem. So take it from the two of us, both board certified medical doctors who had our own health crises and had to find answers. Speaker 1 (02:11): That's where you'll find the answers from a root cause resolution approach that will help you today. In particular, we're talking about Hashimoto's thyroiditis. So I'll tell you a little bit about Dr. Gupta and then we'll get started. Dr. Anshul Gupta is a best-selling author, speaker, researcher, and the world expert in Hashimoto's Disease. He educates people worldwide on reversing Hashimoto's disease. He's board certified in family medicine and he has advanced certification in functional medicine peptide therapy. And he's also fellowship trained in integrative medicine. He's worked at the prestigious Cleveland Clinic Department of Functional Medicine alongside Dr. Mark Hyman and has helped thousands of patients to reverse their health issues by using the concepts of functional medicine. His dedication towards his patients was recognized when he was awarded Reader's Choice Be Best Doctor in Northern Neck Area, and he's now on a mission to help 1 million people reverse their health conditions To achieve this mission. He has written a bestselling book called Reversing Hashimoto's, and he's also started a virtual functional medicine practice, a blog and a YouTube channel so he can reach people from all over the world. His blog and YouTube videos have already reached more than 2 million people worldwide. Please welcome Dr. Anshul Gupta to the show. Thank you Speaker 3 (03:32): So much for having me over here. It's a pleasure. Speaker 1 (03:34): So Hashimoto's thyroiditis is at epidemic proportions among women globally and you really have narrowed in on this disease and how people can reverse it naturally. What got you so interested in Hashimoto's thyroiditis? Speaker 3 (03:52): So actually like started with my own health journey. So by training I'm a family physician, so just after finishing my family medicine residency, I was in a private clinic doing family medicine work. But just couple of years into my practice I started getting a lot of symptoms. You know, I was getting a lot of tiredness by afternoon. I had to take a nap during my lunch hour just to kind of function. I was gaining a lot of weight even though I did not change my diet or exercise, I was having a lot of gut issues, terrible stomach pain, and the pain will just hit me randomly any point in the day and could not figure out what was causing it. And afterwards I would, after I finished my clinic, I was just brain foggy. I was not able to concentrate on things, not remember things properly, but the main issue was the stomach pain. Speaker 3 (04:42): I could not figure it out. So I started taking acid reflux medication to see if it would help. That did not do anything. Then I saw a GI specialist who did endoscopies, colonoscopies, blood works, ultrasounds, everything was normal. They added even more medications and it was working. I was having horrible stomach pain and everything was getting worse. That's where I found functional medicine. I got trained into functional medicine and made a protocol for myself, implemented a stepwise process of changing my lifestyle, ch changing supplements, everything. Within one month, my stomach pain was gone. Within six months I lost 40 pounds. You know, my energy levels were so up that even participated in a five K rugged maniac. And for me, actually, I've never an athletic person, so for me to do that was a big thing. My brain fog went away, you know, like my stomach was so good. Speaker 3 (05:35): So that was a life-changing experience for me that my health completely transformed within a few months of implementing the protocol. Then actually I got this opportunity to work at the Cleveland Clinic Functional Medicine Center with Dr. Mark Hyman. He wanted to do research in functional medicine. I was absolutely interested into that. When I started working over there, I noticed that I was attracting these middle-aged females and they all had very similar issues as mine. They were all tired, they were all having weight issues, they had gut problems, they were all brain foggy and the common denominator was that they all had Hashimoto disease and they were all falling off what the doctor wanted them to do of taking this medicine, but still not getting better. So that prompted me to research into Hashimoto's Disease, what is causing these females not to get better and what can be done? Speaker 3 (06:27): So through my research, you know, I kind of found out there were like several reasons for that and I developed this three step process, which implemented in several females while working over there. And we saw phenomenal results. Not only their quality of life improved, we were able to improve their thyroid numbers, their antibodies went away, their thyroid medicines were reduced. So we saw those great results. So that actually prompted me to share this with even wider audience and I wrote this book called Reversing Hashimoto's so that people kind of understand what is wrong with them and how they can get better. Speaker 1 (07:02): Yes. So physician healed thyself, you healed yourself and then you're proceeding to help other people. And so what really, what do you wanna talk a little bit about your three step process for Hashimoto's? Speaker 3 (07:16): Absolutely. so in Hashimoto's disease, a lot of people actually don't know is that it is very different from hypothyroidism. Hashimoto's disease is an autoimmune condition where your body is actually producing antibodies to destroy your own thyroid gland. And when people are going to the regular doctors and getting levothyroxine medicine that is supporting the thyroid gland, but not doing anything to address the underlying problem of autoimmunity or inflammation. So that's the very first step. We need to know why our body is producing these antibodies. So that's the first step that, you know, we have identified root causes that play a role. So in very first step, we actually want people to identify their root causes because everybody has different root causes that are playing a role. Mm-Hmm. , so identified five major root causes of big classes, of root causes that play a role. So those are food, ities, nutritional deficiencies, toxins, chronic infections and stress. Speaker 3 (08:15): So all of these combined together actually lead to Hashimotos disease. Now, most of the people are looking for just one root cause and once they find one root cause they stop then and there. They do not do a complete evaluation. It's very important to understand that most people will have at least two plus root causes, which are playing a role together to cause Hashimoto. So that's the very first step, people to understand what is root causes and what are their root causes that are playing a role. And then in the second step we start actually fixing, you know, like this thyroid which has been destroyed because of inflammation and autoimmunity. So in that aspect, you know, we have created this mito thyroid diet where we are focusing on actually two aspects of things. First of all, removing foods which are destroying the thyroid gland and then actually including foods which are healing for the thyroid gland and reduces inflammation in the body. Speaker 3 (09:09): So that's aspect of this like diet that we do get people started on. And plus the supplements. Supplements which are again supporting the thyroid gland, which are, have shown that they can help Hashimoto's patients reduce their antibodies and get better. So that's the second step. Start healing the process. And the last step or the third step is removing the toxicities. So in that aspect we work on removing the stress component by kind of help them incorporating stress reduction techniques and removing toxins by living in a toxin free environment. And the third thing is removing infections. The chronic infections, which can be parasites or Lyme disease or barella, bia, any of those chronic infections are playing a role. Mm-Hmm. . So that's the complete three-step process, which I recommend for people that you know, can help definitely improve the quality of life and also improve their antibody numbers. Right. Speaker 1 (10:00): I I thought it was interesting that you said most people only look for one root cause and then they stop. But the really, in traditional medicine, they don't look for any root causes. You'll find millions of women being treated, treated, I say in quotation marks for Hashimoto's thyroiditis because are they really being treated if the underlying cause is not being treated? I'd argue no, they're just being placed on Synthroid and left and meanwhile their immune system is destroying the thyroid gland further and further and further year after year after year. And so no real healing occurs. So I love your approach and that you've got this three step process to find the underlying cause. Z plural, it's usually never one. I say that these causes and functional medicine are kind of like ants at a picnic. There's never just one . There's always way more than one. You mentioned in your second step you help them to identify healing thyroid foods to add to the diet and hurting thyroid foods. Do you wanna talk a little bit about what some of those healing and hurting foods might be for the thyroid? Speaker 3 (11:07): Absolutely. So let's first start with the food which are hurting the thyroid. So again, we have good amount of research that suggests that diet can play a good important role. So in that aspect, you know, like certain foods, you know, causes something called food sensitivities. So that food sensitivity ultimately leads to leaky gut issues. And the leaky gut ultimately, you know, is an important role in Hashimoto seas. So a lot of people don't know the difference between food sensitivities and food allergies. They think that both of them are same. So kind of a little bit plugin over here that, you know, they're totally different things. Food allergy is a condition, let's say like if you have a peanut allergy, you eat peanuts, suddenly you are like blow up like a balloon or like, you know, you have highs all over your body, you have difficulty breathing, you land up in the emergency room, that's food allergy, food ity is that, let's say you eat gluten and your body says, Hey gluten, I don't like you, but it's okay. Speaker 3 (11:59): So they start producing very small amount of antibody against gluten and then slowly and slowly these antibodies actually start attacking your thyroid gland and that's what food sensory is all about. So we have seen several food which actually can lead to Hashimoto's by this food sensory method. One of them is gluten, the second one is dairy, the third one is soy, then comes corn. Then sugar is another thing which actually works in the different method, Northern food ities. But sugar hijacks the immune system and can again kind of play an important role in Hashimoto's. And then comes the processed food and the processed meats. We have to stay away from those also. So I think these are all the food aspects that, you know, we have kind of decent amount of research that suggests that that is a first step of removing these foods. Now in certain situations when their Hashimoto's antibodies are really very high or they're really having worse symptoms, sometimes we might have to also remove lectin containing foods, which can be the nightshades sometimes, which can be in like nuts and seeds and things. Speaker 3 (13:03): But I think for a normal person with Hashimoto's and other things, starting with removing the first five categories is great. And then if they're not getting the results, then moving and removing the other categories are important. So these are the foods to remove mm-hmm . Then what are the foods that we should include that are thyroid healing foods? So in that aspect, antioxidant containing foods, especially non-starchy colorful vegetables are really very important because each and every color that vegetables have carry a different antioxidants and that helps support the thyroid gland in kind of reducing inflammation and also provides them the right whites and minerals to gain support the production of the thyroid hormone. So definitely the more colorful your diet is, the better it is, especially coming from the non-starchy vegetables. Then comes a good quality fats again, you know, like we are living in a world where fats have been shammed really bad. Speaker 3 (13:57): Every kind of fat is really bad, but what we know is that there are good fats and there are bad fats. So it's very important to educate people about good fats because each and every cell of our body is lined with good fat. Our brain, 60% of them are made with fat. So our body needs good fat. So in that aspect, again, fatty fishes are great, have avocado, avocados are good. If we can tolerate nuts and seeds like chia seeds, flax seeds, you know, like those are again, good options. Olive oils, coconut oils, those are good fats that are definitely thyroid, supporting foods. Then comes the good quality protein. You know, whether it's coming from fish chicken or if you are a vegan or a vegetarian, again coming from nuts and seeds or your lentils and legumes, again, very important to have good quality protein because all those amino acids are again, needed for your thyroid gland and in body in general to kind of keep the immune system in Good check. Then you know, like again another things are certain spices like turmeric and ginger again are great to include because again, they have like, you know, great anti-inflammatory properties which supports your thyroid gland and again, healthy detoxification and your body to function better. So these are all thyroid healing foods that should be included. Then obviously if you want to include certain grains or gluten-free grains like keno and brown rice can also be an option just to kinda support your complex carbohydrates and your body needs. Speaker 1 (15:24): Yes, I'm this quote you shared with me before we started from Josh Billings health is like money. We never have a true idea of its value until we lose it. I know when a lot of people hear the foods that you just mentioned to add, they think that it's going to be expensive to eat that way to eat to support their thyroid. And I find that a lot of people, when you tell them the foods that you want them to eat, which is a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables and high quality proteins and fats say, oh that's gonna be expensive. I can't afford that. What, what do you say to that? How do you help them work through that? Speaker 3 (15:57): So again, you know, it's, as you all you suggested that it's kind of a misconception for a lot of people that you know, everything is so expensive, it's all about planning. We say that, okay, well you just have to plan your meals around it and you have to look for like local grocery stores. You don't have to like shop at the expensive grocery stores or going to Whole Foods or anything, right? Go to your local stores, which you know, can have easily these produce which are at a very cheaper price. And again, you know, the quantity of these things when you eat them, you don't have to eat a huge quantity because you get full very easily by eating all those veggies and things. So then you're not consume them so much and again, if you're meal planning and cooking at home, then again you're saving all that money that you'll be ex, you know, like spending when you're going to outside in restaurants. Speaker 3 (16:42): So in actually long run, people actually save money by eating this kind of diet and cooking food at home. And by cooking again, a lot of people say, well, I'm in a very busy job, you know, I have so many different responsibilities, I don't have the time because that's again, a very important thing for a lot of people, that limitation of the time. But again, I tell people it doesn't take too much time. You know, you, we have ways for people to kind of, you know work around with the limitation of the time they have. Do batch cooking, do cookings on the weekends, you know, then you can save that food for later on. Also, again, like easy recipes, you don't have to go for complicated recipes, which require an hour or so easy recipes with certain ingredients, again, make it so much easier for people to cook and also like, you know sustain their jobs and also their like responsibilities. So I think this is easily done within the budget as well as within the time constraint that a lot of people have. Yeah, Speaker 1 (17:36): I agree. And when I started on my functional medicine journey, I probably like, oh, what, 15 years ago I had to learn how to cook some new things and I went and got these kind of used cookbooks. I think I got eight of them and that had a lot eliminated a lot of the foods that you mentioned for thyroid. I don't have Hashimoto's, but I did have hypothyroidism and I just learned several of the recipes from there that I could cook that eliminated gluten, dairy, corn, all the things dairy that you mentioned. And at first it was like learning any new skill and it was challenging and then after a while it became second nature. So I just wanna encourage anybody listening that if I can do it, you can do it for sure. I promise you, you didn't mention cruciferous vegetables like broccoli. I know I've seen on social media sometimes you'll see a lot of these little memes saying, oh, you shouldn't eat broccoli if you have Hashimoto's. And I'm just wondering if you can kind of settle that for people if that's an issue or not. Speaker 3 (18:38): Absolutely. Again, yes, I totally like, you know forgot to mention that point. So crucifers vegetables is a complete myth. This actually started like, you know, around 20 years ago we had this very small research study on rabbits where they were fed a lot of cruciferous vegetables, like excessive amount for their like weight. And they saw that, you know, like the absorption, you know, like of tired medicine from their gut was a little bit on the lower side. So that prompted a discussion. All these are TROs and you know, they should be completely avoided. Now, 20 years ago, the main reason of hypothyroidism was not Hashimoto's, it was actually low iodine. So that was a legitimate concern at that point of time. But now coming forward in 20th century, we rarely see i o D in deficiency as the number one reason. The number one reason currently through research is Hashimoto's disease, more than 70% of people who are having hypothyroidism. Speaker 3 (19:34): The main reason is Hashimoto's. And we have a couple of research studies which clearly suggest that cruciferous vegetables are really good for Hashimotos because first of all, cruciferous vegetables are high in different vitamins and minerals like iron content, vitamin K, you know, like and other minerals mm-hmm like magnesium and things. And plus they have antioxidant like cetin, which again very helpful for your thyroid gland. And plus they have a detoxifying compound called sulforaphanes, which help to remove toxins from your liver, help support your liver. So they're actually so nutrition so good. So definitely they are very, very useful and if you have Hashimoto's disease then I think they should be part of your diet.  Speaker 1 (20:14): Will second that. I say amen each or crucifers your cauliflower, broccoli, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, they're so good for you and, and and it's really been a myth on social media and there are so many foods you do need to cut out. Don't cut out the ones you don't need to cut out like broccoli, so eat your broccoli. You mentioned iodine and there's a lot of controversy about iodine use in people with Hashimoto's. Can you talk a little bit about that? Speaker 3 (20:41): Actually, again, that very important point because again, the traditional way, even with a lot of naturopaths or like a a p like you know, natural medicine people, they are putting people on a very high doses of iodine if they have a di, if a thyroid problem. But what they're not understanding is that the research is very clear in Hashimoto's disease specific people too little of iodine can cause Hashimoto's disease, but too much of iodine can also cause hashimo disease. So we have to be right in the middle of that. Now the problem is this, we do not have a perfect test to check for iodine in a person's body. We do have this blood test, we have this urine test, you know, which can be done. But again, those are not a perfect measure of things. Mm-Hmm , so that's kind of, you know, the problem that we go into. Speaker 3 (21:26): So I don't recommend people going on very high doses of iodine. I think if you can replenish iodine through food, that is definitely the first good source. So all that seafood, if you are eating like sea vegetables like seaweeds, those are great resources for that. If you are not able to do that or you don't like them, that's where, you know, like little bit of I o D into your supplements, like up to 200 micrograms. I think that's a decent amount to do it. But some people are doing like thousand micrograms or 2000 micrograms a day and clearly that might be actually harming their thyroid by harming their Hashimoto's rather than actually helping them. Speaker 1 (22:02): You mentioned sea vegetables and I find that that's foreign to a lot of particularly western diets. And so that's something that you can get recipes from cookbooks and I say if you don't like 'em or you think you don't like them, try them again. Get some new recipes and try them in different ways. I found this great recipe for a hijiki shrimp salad with some wasabi. That's amazing. And I don't think most people aren't familiar with hijiki, so just try some different ones and expand your food vocabulary. I think that'll serve you. You talked about some of the root causes that people have to identify. You mentioned toxins, stress and infections. How does somebody go about addressing these? Because there's some people listening who they have a traditional doctor. Do you think that the average person can educate their traditional doctor to be able to do the proper investigation to under identify the underlying root causes? Or is this something that will require specialist evaluation? Speaker 3 (23:06): Yeah, most of the regular doctors do not understand the concept of root causes, that it's completely foreign to them because again, you know, like being a conventionally trained family physician, I was seeing tons of Hashimoto's patients before also, and whenever somebody says What should I be eating? I would say, just go and home and eat whatever you like. Speaker 1 (23:24): Right? Whatever you like. Speaker 3 (23:25): Yeah. So I've done that myself. So I know that the convention doctors would not be able to understand it's nothing wrong that they have a bad reason for it. It's basically they're not trained into that. So that's the reason they do not know the concept of, you know, root causes. So that's where coming to a specialist, like a functional medicine or integrative medicine specialist who understands the concept of root cause approach will be the best bet for doing it. And the other problem is that a lot of conventional labs actually are not equipped to test for all of these things. So that's where, you know, these advanced functional medicine labs are the way to go for it if you want to know what kind of toxins are there, how much is there and do we have any kind of, you know, infections going on in the gut, all of those things, you know, or other infection like Lyme disease and things, regular doctors do not have access to it. So then working with a specialist would be useful in that aspect. Yeah, Speaker 1 (24:18): I think it's so true in my OB G Y N training, never once did I hear or say the word root, the words root cause. It's just not a concept in mainstream medicine. It's you treat the symptom when the symp with a drug or surgery and when the symptom is gone you claim victory, but meanwhile other problems are accruing. And I'm wondering if you could talk about, we don't have time to go through all of the different root causes. You've got that in your book. We're definitely gonna have links to all of your resources in the show notes. But what are some of the most surprising common underlying root causes you think are often missed that people should be looking for? Speaker 3 (24:59): I think the number one root cause that a lot of people are not aware of or get missed is the toxins. I think 90% of my clients, you know, like whoever Hashimoto's Disease are dealing with some or the other kinds of toxins. And the problem is this, most of these toxins, a lot of people are not even aware that their environment has these toxins. So first of all, you know, we have these heavy metals like lead and mercury and arsenic and aluminum. They're hidden into a lot of different things that we are using on the regular basis. Now again, our food might actually be contaminated with them also, like, you know, fishes lot of times can have high mercury unless, you know, we are making a choice of, you know, getting fish from a good source lead is actually frequently contaminated in the water. So again, like if you don't have a proper filtration system, we might be getting exposed to it. Speaker 3 (25:49): Certain kind of spices actually we talked about like, you know, turmeric and ginger and other things. If they're coming from Asian countries, then again they can be actually contaminate with lead rice can have arsenic. So you see like, you know, I'm not saying to eat, not eat all of these things. What I'm saying is that unless we have a high index of suspicion, these toxins might be hidden there. So this is just the heavy metals then comes the mold toxins, you know, like you know, in our environment we are seeing more and more people being affected with mold toxins. Whether that is in their houses, whether it is the workplaces, whether it is a Airbnbs or hotels they might be spending time into all of these spaces might have more toxins that they are totally unaware of. Then comes the environmental toxins. Each and every day we are producing more and more chemicals, right? Speaker 3 (26:35): And these chemicals definitely are affecting our body in a very negative fashion. So whether that was like pesticides or glycosides, you know, like which are coming through our food or whether those are like other environmental toxins, like several cleaning products we are using in our house. And the last amount of toxins are, especially for females, all that skincare products they're using, starting from the soaps and cosmetics, they are laden with toxins. Most females, oh this just on my skin, but you and me know that the skin is the biggest organ of our body. Anything we put on the skin can get absorbed into our bloodstream and can reach thyroid. And over the course of days to weeks to years that toxin load keeps on increasing and again, kind of hijacks an immune system and starts attacking our own thyroid gland. So I think the very first thing people should large looking is their environment and start looking to reduce the amount of toxin exposure that they're having by buying cleaner products, by kind of buying cleaner cost medics, you know, kind of trying to eat organic if possible. You know, all those things. And that actually there's a great resource, you know, which your users might already know is like E W G, which is an environmental working group, great website has a great app, lot of good resources. You can actually check your cosmetic products over there and you can actually find cleaner products over there that you can buy. So that's a great resource for a lot of people to use. Speaker 1 (28:01): Yes, I love the environmental working group. That's a wonderful resource. You said early on talking about the different underlying root causes that you have to have a high index of suspicion. And as you were saying that, I was thinking in 2023, the fact that you're a human on the planet at this time with all the toxins that we have and all the molds that we have and all of these micro infections. Really most everyone who has Hashimoto's should be checked for all of these heavy metals, molds, et cetera, don't you think? Speaker 3 (28:36): Absolutely, yes. You know, I totally agree with that. As I said, almost every client that I see, if we are doing a toxin test on them, they do have some or the other hidden toxins in their system. So it is like given that they will be having, you know, like toxins in the system and everybody should be checking for them. So now they know which toxins they're dealing with because not all toxins are the same and the protocols can be different for different toxins. So you have to do that specific protocol to remove that particular, but definitely toxins are playing a major role in almost every client of mine. Mm-Hmm. , you know, like we work on their detox system to remove the toxin. Speaker 1 (29:11): It's so true. And another quote you shared from Kevin Trudeau, most people have no idea how good their body is designed to feel. I think is AP applicable here? I do talk to women who have Hashimoto's and they've had part of an evaluation they've had looking for maybe one root cause or two root causes, but they never get to the place where they say, oh my gosh, I didn't know I could feel this good. Can you talk a little bit about how persistent does a woman need to be? How diligent does she need to be? But also how does a woman know when she's gotten to that place where she's addressed all the underlying causes and she feels as good as she can feel? How does she know when she's gotten there and how does she get there? So Speaker 3 (29:56): Again, you know, like unless you do the protocol, unless you change things, you do not know how good you can feel. Because it's been years people that come to see us have been suffering, have not been in good shape in their health for years. And sometimes like after some time, that becomes your second nature. Oh well yes, I'm tired. So what's the big thing? Oh, well you know, I'm not able to exercise, so what's the big deal? Well, my mood changes very frequently. I don't feel the joy in my life anymore. So what, you know, that's kind of middle age that happens with everybody, right? Oh, I'm brain foggy because I'm getting old, right? So these are the excuses, right? Lot of women, you know, have been told they're not kind of, you know, thinking about these things, but people around them, or when they go to the doctors or any of the providers, they tell them, oh, that's normal to feel this way, but let me tell you, that is not normal. Speaker 3 (30:45): You should not be feeling this way. If you have feeling that your quality of life is not the same as before, then certainly you are missing out on things. And if you feed your body with the right things, if you kind of, you know, remove all the TOXs from your system, then your body gets better. So most of our females, like within a few months, they kind of not cannot imagine how good they can feel like going from like having a couple of naps in a day to actually going out to the gym and stocking a workout or doing a marathon. A lot of clients are doing it, not able to lose weight from losing like, you know, 15, 20 pounds is very normal in within four to five months for a lot of females. And actually not knowing what is clarity of mind because they have been so confused or overwhelmed all the time with all the responsibilities. Speaker 3 (31:34): And suddenly now they become so organized because they have that mental clarity to kind of do things and perceive what needs to be done. So these are bigger changes like, you know, like, you know, impacts the quality of life and now they actually see like the world and I say kind of HD space because first they were looking at world in an SD or like just a normal way. And now suddenly that the whole world becomes hd, they want to feel alive again. They say, I want to do things and I can do things. That's the biggest like, you know thing that almost each and every of our client when they work with us, they said, you know, I just feel that I got my life back again. Speaker 1 (32:11): Yeah. And that really is what it should feel like. I mean, I'm in my fifties and I've never felt better. Most of the time I should say of course I have my days. But if you're getting the answer from your providers that, oh, it's normal to wanna nap at midlife and you shouldn't have a great sex drive and you, it's okay to have lost your joy and medicate yourself with wine and chocolate, run , right? Run to someone who can actually help you. And I love this not Han quote that you also shared and because it really speaks to kind of my philosophy on health, keeping your body healthy is an expression of gratitude to the whole cosmos, the trees, the clouds, everything. I really do believe that we, we have not only a right to optimum health, but we have an obligation. Can you talk a little bit about what this quote that you shared means to you? Speaker 3 (33:06): Yeah, I think, you know, like we have forgotten what it feels like to be healthy. First of all, a lot of people are just kind of relying on medications to do their job and just kind of take their health to the next level. And that's not a reality. I'm not against medications. Absolutely. If you need the medications, you need it, but medications are just one tool in your toolbox that can make you feel better. There are several other tools. So your physical health definitely is one tool that you need to improve, but your mental and spiritual health is another tools that we need to focus on. And a lot of times, you know, I think we have this disconnect, you know, like in our modern world, we are living where we just feel the physical health takes the priority and that's the only thing we need to focus on. Speaker 3 (33:48): And less and less people are focusing on the mental aspect of things and the spiritual aspects of things. So I think those are the things that we definitely need to kind of build that purpose, you know, of our life where we need to get better, we need to get the quality of life not only for ourselves, but also for our family, for our friends, for our kids, for everybody around us. Because what I've seen is that females are the center place in a family and if one female gets healthy, everybody around them actually suddenly becomes healthy. A lot of times, you know, like females come to see me, well you started me on this protocol and things, you know, I, I'm, I'm mainly cooking in the house, so my husband has already lost like 35 pounds and I'm already lost only to 15 pounds. And I'll say, well that's good. At least you lost 15. But we see these very often, their husband's health are getting better. Suddenly their mom's health are getting better, the kids are doing good in the school, much better than before, right? So you're not just doing it for yourself, we are doing it for your family and everybody else. And it's very important to focus on the mental and the spiritual aspect of health. That is definitely one of the missing pieces a lot of people do not pay attention to. Speaker 1 (35:01): I wholeheartedly agree. I think that that mental aspect, the emotional aspect, the spiritual aspect, and how do you tell people to start addressing that in their lives? I find that sometimes people who have a particular religion, they don't want to talk about that in terms or spirituality in terms of their physical health. And so I'm just wondering how you approach that. Speaker 3 (35:24): I think the way I approach is that, you know, like we have clearly have research studies that says that if you are stressed out, that is definitely a very big cause of Hashimoto disease. And again, stress can be physical, mental, and spiritual. So I tell them that, you know, that is happening just contributed, you know, in your disease process and unfortunately your disease process is making you feel not so good. And that is again, leading to more stress in all of these aspects of your life, whether it's physical, mental, or spiritual. So I tell them, you know, like whatever activity you like to participate, you like to do, start doing those things. That reduces the stress. Whether that is meditation, whether that is prayer, you know, whether that is kind of being a part of a community or a group or breathing exercises, anything that resonates with you is very important to incorporate just for a few minutes, 10, 15 minutes in your day mm-hmm is going to change your life yet going to kind of break that stress cycle and going to start making you feel better. Speaker 3 (36:26): So that's where, you know, and again, internet is good in that aspect. You have all these different kinds of meditations depending on what religion or belief system that people have. You know, it is available. So I try to kind of encourage people to look inside of themselves and kind of find that happy place, you know, that kind of brings joy to them and they want to go to that place again and a again every day basis because if they're finding joy, that kind of motivates them to go to that place every day. So I try to help them to find that happy place of them. Mm-Hmm. , Speaker 1 (36:56): Yes, you have to deal with the stress and find your joy and I think it really is worth it. I think that so many women with Hashimoto's believe that it's a life sentence and that they're never going to regain their physical capacity in terms of energy, sex drive, mindfulness or mental capacity or memory, whatever it is. And on a daily basis, I see women go from having very high th antithyroid antibodies to none whatsoever undetectable. And I'm wondering if you could share your experience with that and give people the hope that they really deserve to have that. This is pretty reversible . Speaker 3 (37:36): Absolutely. So we have obviously several stories about it, but you know, I'm just kind of currently working with this client, you know, had amazing story. A young female 34 years of age came to see us six months ago, was given a diagnosis of Hashimoto's four years ago, but she had symptoms even before that. She was again like a mom of two kids. So after the second pregnancies is where her symptoms started, she was tired all the time. She started gaining weight and was not able to lose that weight. She was having horrible stomach bloating and like constipation issues. Doesn't matter what she eats, she will just feel like she was bloated all the time. Because of that, she was having a lot of mood changes. Sometimes she'll feel low mood, sometimes stressed out or anxious. So she kept on going to doctors, something is wrong with me. Speaker 3 (38:19): They kept on doing only one blood test, which was the tsh, which was initially normal. She was told, well maybe you're just stressed out. Maybe you need to see a psychiatrist or a counselor. So she obviously saw a psychiatrist, even tried medications but actually backfired. She failed worse. So she stopped the medicines after three or four years, you know, after going through all this audio, finally her TA such did show that she has hypothyroidism. So she was happy. Oh well finally I found it and I'm going to get this medicine. Everything will be okay. She was start on the medicine, no changes. She was still feeling the same way as you. She was feeling again. Couple of years into that she started researching on internet what was going on. Then somebody suggested maybe you have Hashimoto's, a seizure. She went to a doctor and asked them to check the antibody levels and bingo, obviously she had Hashimoto's, a disease, but a regular doctor says, well what if you have Hashimotos diseases? Speaker 3 (39:09): Your protocol or your program is going to be the same. Your thyroid numbers are within normal limits at T S H, so I'm going to put you on the same medicine. So that's where she was completely disheartened and lost hope that she could actually get better. So that's where she started looking into functional medicine. She found me and then started working with us. Her antibody levels were like, you know, 1200 or so, very, very high mm-hmm , although thyroid numbers, the T S H was in normal limits. She was taking the medicine. So then the first thing we did was that again, we looked at what are the potential root causes playing a role. So then she had some toxin exposures, like the mold toxins. She moved into this new house five years ago and that's where her symptoms got worse. She was exposed to a lot of stress at different parts in her life, which again was playing a role. Speaker 3 (39:52): And plus, you know, she had gut issues, you know, like we found that she had candida infection in her gut. So we made a stepwise plan, you know, like focused on the lifestyle changes, put her on some supplements, kinda addressing all of these and underlying root causes. And slowly and slowly couple of months into our protocol, again, amazing things happen. Her energy came back. She was a busy professional, actually she was running her own private like business, but she was not able to pay attention because she was so tired. But now actually she doubled her business, you know, like she was going on vacations with her kids, kids all the time. She was able to participate in kids' activities, you know, she already lost 11 pounds, you know, like working with us. Mm-Hmm and then the biggest was result from that 1100. Within six months her antibodies levels came back to zero. Speaker 3 (40:37): Yes. So doctor completely flipped out. She said, I've never seen that happening. I think this is a lab error. I think we need to repeat it. She said, no, I'm working on it. So I believe that. She said, no, I don't believe it. I would like to repeat it. She said, I am not paying for it. She said, I don't. She said, I will. Doctor said I will pay for it, don't worry. Like I'll make sure you do not get charged. She repeated the blood test and again, the antibodies levels were undetectable. Doctor said, I don't know what you're doing, but something you're doing is working. Keep doing that. So she was so happy that finally, you know, like not only my numbers are better, my life is back. She said, you know, this is a complete win-win situation for her now. Speaker 1 (41:14): Absolutely. So if you're listening and you're suffering with Hashimoto's or if you've got health concerns, you're tired, overweight, un any unresolved health concerns or symptoms definitely get checked. If you have some of the most common symptoms of thyroid disorders, like being tired or keeping weight on being constipated, losing your hair, having dry skin, brittle nails, anxiety, depression, mood disorders, memory disorders, I mean the list is extremely long. So really for a woman, if you're having any health symptoms, you need to get your thyroid properly checked. And that doesn't mean a standard of care, thyroid profile. It means seven or eight parameters that are done by a doctor who understands root cause identification, who understands root cause resolution like Dr. Gupta. Dr. Gupta has some amazing resources for you. We're gonna put links in the show notes to his book, to his YouTube channel, to his website, and also to his thyroid quiz. Do you wanna tell them a little bit about the thyroid quiz? Speaker 3 (42:21): Yeah. So again, you know, like a lot of people are having this question, how do I know what rules root causes I have? So obviously like, you know, we do not have a perfect way, but you know, like based on my kind of research and working with a lot of people, I kind of put together this quiz where people can answer kind of a couple of, or a bunch of questions and that can actually tell them that whether that particular root clause, you know, they should be looking into that or not. So after taking this quiz, they actually, you know, like order those five categories of root causes. They get a score in each category and that can tell them like what multiple categories they need to focus on to actually improve their thyroid and that those are the categories that they might be the major root causes for those people. So very easy quiz, you know, like people can maybe finish off in like five or 10 minutes, but then they get a g great kind of score that way in each category to know if they'd have no idea what root cause might be playing a role. Speaker 1 (43:14): Great. Thank you so much for that resource. If you are having any of the symptoms we've been talking about, I encourage you to go to the link that will be in the show notes and take the quiz. Read Dr. Gupta's book. If you've got Hashimoto's, you suspect you've got it. He really knows what he's talking about in terms of identifying and fixing the root causes. Reversing Hashimoto's is possible and it's probable if you take the right steps. So I encourage you to do that. Thank you so much for the work that you're doing, Dr. Gupta, and thank you so much for joining us today. Speaker 3 (43:48): Oh, it's a pleasure being over here. I totally like admire the work that you are doing, especially in women health, health space, helping so many people and sharing so much knowledge. You know, like, so I think you're giving hope to millions and millions of women out there that you know they can get their life back. So thank you so much for having me on the show. Speaker 1 (44:07): Thank you and thank you listener for joining us for another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kirin. I hope that you've learned something today that you can put into action to take steps to move your help to the brilliant help that you deserve. It's available to you at any and every age. I look forward to hearing what steps you take and what outcomes you have on social media. So find me at Karen Dunston on Instagram or Facebook, and I will see you next week. Until then, peace, love, and hormones y'all. Speaker 2 (44:39): Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.   ► To know the root cause of your thyroid disease, take Dr. Anshul Gupta's Free thyroid quiz - CLICK HERE Buy Dr. Anshul Gupta's Best Seller Book - CLICK HERE Follow him on Youtube - CLICK HERE ► Feeling tired? Can't seem to lose weight, no matter how hard you try? It might be time to check your hormones. Most people don't even know that their hormones could be the culprit behind their problems. But at Her Hormone Club, we specialize in hormone testing and treatment. We can help you figure out what's going on with your hormones and get you back on track. We offer advanced hormone testing and treatment from Board Certified Practitioners, so you can feel confident that you're getting the best possible care. Plus, our convenient online consultation process makes it easy to get started. Try Her Hormone Club for 30 days and see how it can help you feel better than before. CLICK HERE.  

Welcome to the latest episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast, where we dive deep into the world of hormones and empower you with the knowledge you need to take control of your hormonal health. In today's episode, "Why Fixing Your Insulin Makes Menopause (And Other Things) Magic", we are joined by the amazing Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo. With over 30 years of clinical experience and a wealth of expertise under her belt, Dr. Ritamarie is a true authority on functional health and holistic healing.  About Our Guest: Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo Dr. Ritamarie, the founder of the Institute of Nutritional Endocrinology, is passionately committed to transforming our current broken disease-focused system into a true health care system. She believes in finding the root cause of health challenges and using the wisdom of nature combined with modern scientific research to restore balance. A licensed Doctor of Chiropractic with certifications in Acupuncture, Nutrition, Herbal Medicine, and HeartMath®, Dr. Ritamarie specializes in insulin, thyroid, adrenal, and digestive imbalances. She is also a master at using palate-pleasing, whole fresh food as medicine. As a best-selling author, speaker, and internationally recognized nutrition and functional health authority, Dr. Ritamarie shares her wealth of knowledge through her podcast, Reinvent Healthcare, promoting a global movement for root-cause care. Key Takeaways: Insulin's Role in Menopause In this episode, we delve into the critical role insulin plays in menopause and how fixing your insulin can lead to a "magical" menopause journey. Dr. Ritamarie shares her expertise on how balancing insulin levels supports hormone regulation, weight management, and overall well-being during this significant life transition. Some highlights from our conversation include: - The connection between insulin resistance and menopausal symptoms  - How diet and lifestyle changes can dramatically improve your insulin sensitivity  - The importance of regular exercise and stress management in balancing blood sugar levels  - How hormone balancing can lead to better sleep, increased energy, and improved quality of life Dr. Ritamarie's insights will have you feeling inspired, motivated, and more informed about the significant role insulin plays in your hormonal health during menopause and beyond. Tune In and Transform Your Menopause Journey! Ready to discover the magic of fixing your insulin during menopause?Join us for this illuminating conversation with Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo in the latest episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast. Don't miss out on these valuable insights and practical advice to help you take control of your hormonal health and make your menopause journey a truly magical experience!   If you found this episode helpful, be sure to share it with your friends and leave us a review to help other midlife women find the podcast. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode! Until next time, here's to your hormonal health! Speaker 1 (00:00): “Don't exchange what you want most or what you want at the moment.” Dr. Rita Marie Loscalzo. Speaker 2 (00:07): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones in our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an ob gyn, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Speaker 1 (01:01): Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me today. My guest today, Dr. Rita Mari Loscalzo. It was one of your favorites in the Stop The Menopause Madness Summit, the Summit 2.0 and the Summit 100 because she's amazing and I love her. She's just a force. She is a force of nature. She has so much passion. She's on purpose. She helps so many people. She's a brilliant wealth of knowledge, a font of knowledge, and she walks the walk and talks the talk. So you're gonna love hearing her talk about a super important topic, insulin resistance and menopause and perimenopause. She talks about why insulin resistance is really an issue for both men and women, males and females at every age. So why should everyone be concerned? She's gonna make sure that you're aware of the tests that you need and how to read them properly. Speaker 1 (02:01): Because what your lab says is normal doesn't mean that's what's optimal and you should be shooting for. So she's gonna clarify that. She's gonna help you understand how I know if Dr. Rita Maria is talking to me. She's gonna cover the top strategies you can use if you are having insulin resistance that you can start using today. She gives you some real practical knowledge and you're just gonna love our conversation cuz she's amazing. I will remind you a little bit about Dr. Rina Marie Loscalzo and then we'll get started. She is the founder of the Institute of Nutritional Endocrinology. She's passionately committed to transforming our current broken disease focus system into a true healthcare system where every practitioner is skilled at finding the root cause of health challenges and uses the wisdom of nature combined with modern scientific research to restore balance. Dr. Rita Maria, licensed doctor of chiropractic with certifications in acupuncture, nutrition, herbal medicine and heart math specializes in insulin, thyroid and adrenal and digestive imbalances. She's also a master at using palate pleasing whole fresh food as medicine and is a bestselling author, speaker and internationally recognized nutrition and functional health authority with over 30 years of clinical experience. Her podcast Reinvent Healthcare provides health and wellness practitioners around the globe to be part of the movement to provide root cause care to people in need. Please help me welcome Dr. Rita Mari Scalzo to the show. I'm super Speaker 3 (03:42): Excited to be here. I love having our conversations and just really sharing valuable information that helps people get their health back, get their lives back. So thank you for inviting. I Speaker 1 (03:52): Know, right, right. Oh I'm so, it's always a great conversation with you and I don't even know where to start cuz there's so many things that I would love to talk to you about. But I know we're gonna dive into insulin and menopause. I guess I would start with when did you first realize that this was a colossal problem for women as they age, that insulin resistance was an issue? Speaker 3 (04:16): Well, what I first realized is that it's an, it's a problem at any age and that it's mostly ignored for so long that it becomes serious as we get to menopause. Do you know what I mean? It's like it's a problem in young people, it's a problem in children, right? But nobody's measuring it properly until it gets like it could be 30 years in the making and then all of a sudden somebody hits menopause and boom, right? They're like suddenly off the charts with their fasting blood sugars and they're having all the highs and lows and we suddenly say, oh, this person has insulin resistance or even diabetes and it gets worse at menopause. So part of why it gets worse is menopause is the cumulative effect, right? Part of it is that throughout time people are eating a bunch of garbage, being exposed to a lot of chemicals, not being able to detoxify their environment, having a lot of stress. Speaker 3 (05:08): Their cortisol levels are through the roof which raises blood sugar, which then affects insulin and insulin resistance. And it's suddenly like, like everything else, it hits the fan at menopause. Cuz now there's this serious change in hormones. Mm-Hmm and lack of estrogen and then the lack of estrogen, right? Estrogen affects the, the insulin receptors, ex estrogen affects the U utilization of ES insulin. And then when we have this blah blah blah that happens at perimenopause and then the blah that happens at menopause, you know, the weight dropping down, then we have a problem. So when did I realize this? I mean I started realizing this in patients a long time ago. Like, I don't know, probably 20 years ago, maybe even more. A lot of the problems that my patients were having were related to insulin Speaker 1 (05:58): Imbalance. So yeah, you've known it for a long time. I came in through the traditional route where in mainstream medicine, you know, insulin isn't a thing. We don't check it unless you're diabetic and you know, the parameters that we use are just, are wholly and adequate. Yeah. Can you talk a little bit about that? Cuz people still get confused with my recommendations for monitoring your insulin. And I always say insulin is that loose thread on the knotted ball of yarn. I used to knit when I was in college and my, I had this cat and the cat used to bat my yarn all over the place and then I would've to untangle it after my knitting session. And you know, how do you untangle a knotted bowl of yarn? Cuz that's what your hormones are doing by the time you get to menopause is you find the loose thread. And I always say that the loose thread is insulin. So when you mention that it's not being tested properly and really it affects everyone all ages, which is so true, diabetes is increasing in grade school children to epidemic proportion. So what should people be getting tested for? Speaker 3 (07:05): Well, first of all, I think everybody needs to have a baseline insulin tested. Of course we, we do fasting glucose, that's you learned in medical school, do fasting glucose and as long as it's below one 20, they're fine. Don't worry about it. But we should be testing fasting insulin. We absolutely should be. Because you know, kids who, like some kids can go hours and hours playing and then they, you know, they don't have to eat and other kids are like, they're, you know, crazy because they haven't eaten in a while. High levels of insulin show themselves first as that I can't make it more than a couple of hours between meals, right? Mm-Hmm. . And so I think we should be testing it the, the minute any kid gets tested, right? I think usually you go to a doctor and you have your annual exams. Speaker 3 (07:45): But here's the thing, the good and not good, you might have learned in medical school that anything up to 19 was good. If you look at the labs, it says up to 19 for fasting, insulin is fine. That's a serious, serious problem. And when we look at more of the functional ranges, two to five, and ideally two to three, like if somebody's really in good control, their fasting insulin should be between two and three. And I can tell you how many people I have worked with that they come in with fasting insulins in the twenties, some people even in the thirties, and they've been told, oh you're fine. It's not a problem. You're not diabetic but you're heading to be become diabetic. So it's really important. A lot of people say test a1c, there's a lot of, I like a1c, hemoglobin A1C to test like your averages of your glucose over time. Speaker 3 (08:32): But there's so many variations in that, like in athletes and if you're anemic and all this, where it could be a false reading, insulin is not gonna be a false reading. If you have a good fasting glucose and your fasting insulin is high, you are heading for a disaster. And it may take 10, 20, even 30 years before disaster hits. But meanwhile all the metabolic changes that are caused by high levels of insulin, which is stiffening of the arteries, which is blood pressure changes, changes in thyroid reception, you know, the receptors for thyroid, all that stuff is happening over time. And then suddenly the person gets DIA diagnosis as diabetic and then suddenly they have all these problems. And for some people they have all the diabetic challenges before they even become diabetic. I had one guy had the retinopathies and they say, oh what, what's going on? His, his A1C was 10. Nobody ever caught that cuz his fasting glucose was 95. Right? Yeah. So these people are being missed. Speaker 1 (09:32): Yeah. You know, it's so true. When I did my fellowship training in the anti-aging metabolic and functional medicine, we had this one professor, can't think of his name right this second, but I, I'll never forget sitting there watching him and him kind of going through all the things you we are talking about and kind of saying how mainstream medicine manages it. You know, they check a fasting blood glucose, it's 95, they don't get excited. Of course we functional people get very excited and they just watch it kind of go up and up and up and they never check anything else. And then all of a sudden people have complications of diabetes even though they don't have a diagnosis of diabetes. And then they look and oh, we did a hemoglobin a1c, you have diabetes, you get to wear the team jersey, you get to stick your finger for the rest of your life and take these medications. And it's like you get to join the team. But why was nobody looking to see that you were being recruited for 5, 10, 20 years? Speaker 3 (10:28): So, because it's not the medical model, right? The medical model is based on treating disease and there's some great tools for, you know, broken bones and surgery. I mean there's some good tools for massive infections, but we're not looking for helping people prevent disease, not looking to help people be healthy. It's looking for disease and then we can treat it. I watch things, you know, when I do blood chemistries, you probably do the same. You map 'em out. And so when you're looking at somebody's, let's say their liver enzymes, right? And you're going, oh, your liver enzymes are fine, but they're five points higher than they were last year. They're still in ideal range, but they were, oh, and the year before they were five points lower than that and you, what's going on? What kind of toxicity are you dealing with? Do you have mold in your house? Do you mm-hmm have, you know, some crazy stuff that you're dealing with. But that's not what medicine, mainstream conventional medicine is based on. That's what functional medicine is based on.   Speaker 1 (11:24): Okay. So let's give us quick synopsis so everyone can write this down. Not if you're driving , but they can write this down. What tests should they everyone be having specifically? Speaker 3 (11:36): I think fasting glucose, fasting insulin? You mean in terms of metabolic health or overall Speaker 1 (11:42): Overall? Well when we're talking about for insulin management and then also if you can give the optimal values what they should be looking for. Sure. Yeah. Fast fasting and yeah, Speaker 3 (11:53): Glucose should be in, you know, low eighties, you know, up to 85. Could be in the seventies, right? If it's below that, then you wanna make sure, oh, if you're on a keto diet, it's probably gonna be in the sixties or seventies, no big deal. Somebody's eating a ton of carbohydrates and they're fasting glucose is in the sixties, then they probably have some kind of craziness like this going on and that's why it's so low. Mm-Hmm . And then fasting insulin should be between two and five, ideally two to three hemoglobin a1c and ideally it should be right around five, you know? Mm-Hmm. , give or take a little bit, but right around five they're saying okay, you're 5.7 or you're not quite 5.8. So you're not insulin resistance yet. Oh you're 5.8 now you're insulin resistant. I mean it's, it's crazy. Right? So we're wanting them to be around five, which is an average glucose of about 96, 97, 98, something like that. Speaker 3 (12:42): Mm-Hmm . But then we also wanna look at inflammatory markers because it, this whole insulin resistance thing in inflammation is huge. Mm-Hmm. . And so we wanna look at creactive protein, highly sensitive creactive protein. I like to look at homocysteine because that's a huge one, especially when we're talking cardiovascular and there's so many cardiovascular complications out of control. Insulin, I a full thyroid panel. Right. Because they're all interrelated and if you have a thyroid problem, you can't fix your insulin problem, you have an insulin problem, you can't fix your thyroid problem, you gotta fix both. Right? Right. So those are my mainstays and of course CBCs and all the blood counts, liver enzymes, cuz they're all connected. Right? Right. We have to set a complete panel. But those are the things that are often missed on the standard panel. G G T, I don't know if you've noticed this because you probably don't, you probably include it, but most panels that they get at their hospital, their doctor, they don't include G t, which is a liver enzyme, but it's a really good marker of exposure to toxins. Mm-Hmm. , why are we not looking at and alcohol? Yes. They go, oh, I don't drink very much, I don't drink very much. Oh, why is your G G T 35? Come on. Right, right. I've had people where I've looked at their G G T and I said, what are you doing for, did you, I don't usually drink. Well did you go to a party or a wedding right before you had this tested? Oh yeah. How did you know that? Yeah, I just, the blood doesn't lie. Speaker 1 (14:06): No, I think that we humans like to think that we're not affecting our bodies with our habits and things that we do like drinking. So it is kind of like you've got this crystal ball when you do do the GT and you see it's elevated and you say, were you drinking at a party? And they're like, were you spying on me? Yes. Your body does notice alcohol. Like talk like let's just have a little diversion. Talk about alcohol for a minute. Oh what what would you want people to know about alcohol in their health? Because everybody wants to say, well the French drink two glasses of red wine a day, they have no cardiovascular disease. I can drink it with impunity. I'm not doing anything to myself. So what are your thoughts on that? That, Speaker 3 (14:51): So I'm not popular with my alcohol opinions. , I'm against it. Well it's not me either. Alcohol, it's organic, I don't care. Number one, it's addictive. And here's the thing. People say, I'm not gonna get addicted. I'm not gonna get addicted. You don't know when you cross that threshold. And some people cross that threshold at, you know, they just drink two glasses of wine a day. But then if they miss it, they're like, you know, right. They're that alcoholic. Like, I gotta get it. I gotta get it. Anything that's addictive, I'm against. Same thing with caffeine, with coffee. Like people say, oh but it's organic and it doesn't have the fungus in it and I'm putting CT oil in it and I'm making it healthy, but it's addictive. I watch people, you probably see the same thing at the conferences we go to. Speaker 3 (15:36): Like, I gotta go get my coffee. If you gotta go get your coffee, there's something metabolically out of balance that you need to correct. If you have a cup of coffee every now and then, cuz you go out with a friend and you just want the taste of it. That's very different. Same thing with alcohol. Every now and then you grab a glass of wine. But there were some studies that showed that even two glasses of wine a day a week, not a day, a week increase the risk of breast cancer by 14%. That's huge. I always say to people wish you like better your breasts or your coffee, your breasts or your, or your your alcohol. You know, I kind of like my breasts and I wanna keep them where they're, I don't, yeah. I don't wanna them for the, the 30 seconds on my tongue of pleasure with alcohol or, or caffeine. Speaker 3 (16:20): So I'm against it. It affects the lining of your gut. It affects the absorption, it affects the, certainly the microbiome because it's like sugar. It affects the liver and it gets absorbed like sugar. So it's like right. Sugar right into the bloodstream. So it, it can of course lead to fatty liver. That's what we see. And we're seeing a lot of people who are not alcoholics these days that have fatty liver. Like I, I saw a statistic like 49 or 50% of the population has fatty liver. Wow. I mean it's truly preventable. Right? So I don't like alcohol and it affects brains, it kills brain cells and it affects your, of course it affects your cognition and your ability to drive or you know, to think clearly. And we use it to lose inhibition. And I'm like, why don't we just lose inhibition , why don't we just, why don't we just like do the work so that you feel comfortable with who you are to just be who you are and be silly and fun and serious when you need to. Right. But to be able to turn it on and off because if you're drinking, you can't turn it back on. You can't turn your brain back on. Speaker 1 (17:24): Right. That's right. I'm curious what you think about this cuz you know, I have similar unpopular views about alcohol and health and I, you know, I just don't drink. But I have some patients who they really like it because they have a certain degree of social anxiety. And so I've started recommending that they use some form of T H C B gummies or droplets or something like that. And I'm wondering if you have any opinion on that because I say it won't affect your health as negatively. Speaker 3 (17:55): Yeah. I don't really, oh, so you said T hc not C, B D or did you say Speaker 1 (18:00): Right T HC tc so that you, Speaker 3 (18:03): Because it's outta my jurisdiction to even prescribe something like that. Mine you Speaker 3 (18:07): , you know, it's not even in the state. Like we can't get it anywhere here except by, you know, the, the guy on the corner that's selling it. And usually it's not in gummies, it's in, you know, and anyway that I don't wanna get people into the seediness of it and possibly get things laced that are bad. I don't think, I think that would be calmer. That would be a better alternative. Mm-Hmm. if it's small amounts. But again, people, the jury's out I think on how addictive T H C is. Yeah. Like some people say it's not, and some people say it is, it depends on the maturity of their brain. But what about if there's social anxiety? A lot of times that's, there's some imbalances that are related there, right? Magnesium zinc and B6 for example. Mm-Hmm. Right. Imbalances there. And they may say, well I take a, I take a multi and I have my B6 and my may need more of it because of a genetic tendency to not get rid of the, what am I, what am I trying to think? The, the word. The word just escape my mind. But there's a particular chemical that gets produced from hemoglobin that we can't eliminate. Mm-Hmm. . Okay. This is, we're gonna play the 20 questions. Gabe . So you're gonna guess what I'm thinking of cuz my brain isn't coming up with the word not purines anyway. It'll come to me. Speaker 1 (19:16): It'll come to you. Yeah. It'll Speaker 3 (19:17): Come to me. But it's basically a byproduct of hemoglobin production and the body in certain people can't get rid of it and it builds up and that creates a lot of the social, an anxiety and V6 and zinc help to eliminate that. And you can do a urine test to see if there's a problem there and you can address that. Right. Some of the other things with social anxiety might be, you know, old traumas and emotional things and working with it on that end. But as a temporary kind of bandaid solution, I think they're probably better off if they can get that non illegally and not and safely, let's just say safely. Right? Speaker 1 (19:56): I meant legally I wasn't saying illegal. So yeah. It's just something I've been playing around with because the alcohol is a toxicant and most people don't realize that. And you know, you can, if you drink too much, you will die. It's, it's a toxicant. So if you're trying to get your health straightened out best not to do that. But let's jump back to insulin. All right. So we've talked about the test, we've talked about what they should be looking for, but what are the symptoms that a woman might notice? Say she's been going to the doctor, she really doesn't have health problems, but then she's noticing she's gaining weight around her middle and then of course the cycles are getting less and less and then eventually stop and you know, the top symptoms of perimenopause and menopause where you're losing your sex drive and maybe getting some hair loss and some memory and and cognitive functioning are going down. What would key her in that? Dr. Rita? Marie's talking to me. I need to look at this. I know you think everyone should I do too. Yeah, I think everybody Speaker 3 (21:00): Should, but what would, yeah, Speaker 1 (21:01): It's not convinced. So Speaker 3 (21:03): Everybody's not convinced and by the way it's pylori. Speaker 1 (21:06): Well that would be a zebra, but Yeah, you should, you can. Speaker 3 (21:09): It would be, but it's not as, and not as much of a zebra as you think. Right. It's actually more common than we think. And I've done the, the blood test, not the blood. It's a urine test. Speaker 1 (21:18): Right. So looking for other causes of social anxiety. Totally agree with you. Speaker 3 (21:22): You wanna look at that, right? We always wanna have, here's the thing, we wanna get to the cause. We wanna correct the imbalances that's causing things. And then we want to, in the interim or while we're working on the cause, we wanna look at the the least invasive symptom management that we can come up with. Absolutely. The least invasive. So going back to that, how would they know? Well they're craving sugar after they eat a big meal, they're still hungry and they want more, usually something sweet. They can't go for more than a few hours without eating or after eating. They feel, you know, when they do, they feel kind of, you know, spacey and crazy. They're under a lot of stress and that cortisol, you know, causes it and they're gaining that weight around the middle is a real clear sign. If you're gaining weight around the middle, it's very often a sign of insulin resistance. Right. So all of those things, what else? You know that fatigue, you know, you, me, you mentioned that, right? All of those things add up, right? I'm tired all the time. I never used to be, I'm craving sugar. I can't get full after a meal. I can't make it long spaces between meals. All those things are indications that, that you need to check this out as well. Yeah. But it's not just garden variety menopause. Speaker 1 (22:32): Right. I agree. But, and I do think all women should have this done every year. Speaker 3 (22:39): Every year it's part of their $35 test. Come on. If the doctor won't do it, you get it on your own $35. Yeah. Speaker 1 (22:46): Right. Okay. So now, and the truth is, in my experience, more women than not have some degree of insulin resistance as they approach 50 and past 50. Yeah. So once you know you have a problem, how do they go about addressing it? Speaker 3 (23:04): Well, it's all the things we teach in general, right. It's addressing the, the diet. It's addressing the lifestyle. It's addressing the stress, addressing the sleep spacing of the meals movement. And with the food, I love getting people to either get a C G M. Mm-Hmm , a continuous glucose monitor. So you can actually see, oh I just ate this meal, you know, oh this meal kept me nice and steady. Or you just poke the thing. People don't like to do that as much. But you know, when you poke, poke you have a meal, you test your blood sugar beforehand with the finger prick you have the meal. And then I usually have people test right after because sometimes it starts to go up and then every half hour or so, 20, I like to say 15 to 20 minutes because you wanna catch the peak. Speaker 3 (23:46): But once you know how long your peak takes to get mm-hmm. to like, if you find it, it's always 45 minutes. Why am I doing this? Just test it at 45 minutes. And then you find, what is that peak, the height of the glucose after a meal and then it comes down, what is that for my average foods? And then you eliminate those foods that cause a high peak. In my opinion. It shouldn't go above one 10 in my opinion. And also the clinical research I've done and in the people I've worked with where we go in and we just say, just let's just test this on your normal food. And then they shift their diets and they do a metabolic reset. I take people through like a 30 day metabolic reset of really not doing anything that's gonna raise their insulin levels. So we're addressing the stress, we're getting them to do movement but not over, you know, not training for a marathon because that could be stressful cells to go up. Speaker 3 (24:37): Right. And then change the diet and get rid of the refined stuff. Get rid of the sugars. Even a lot of people, I'm one of them, don't do well with grains of any kind. Yeah. I don't do well with grains of any kind. It could just causes my, I mean checked every single one wild rice is O okay. It doesn't go up as high. Very sweet fruit. I figured out that if I eat very sweet fruit, I have to eat it with a lot of greens to slow down the absorption and then I can have my mango. So then I can have, or I've have a mango with an avocado that will dissipate that high peak. But learning how to eat the foods, the good healthy foods that raise glucose, find out what your trigger foods are and then you eliminate them. And for everybody it's gonna be sugar. Speaker 3 (25:20): Example, my husband and I go out for our anniversary uhhuh. We go to a restaurant that used to have this amazing menu and they've changed it a lot. So we're picking and choosing and I go, oh the Brussels sprouts with sriracha should be fine. We taste it, it's a little sweet. I'm like, there's probably maple syrup or you know, balsamic glaze or something in this. Right. I ate it anyway just to see. And my blood sugars went up to like 1 35. He decides to get the crab cakes with breaded crab cakes. And I'm like, that's crazy. His went up to 1 72. Speaker 1 (25:55): Oh my goodness. Speaker 3 (25:56): Okay. So it's just, we learn and he's going, oops, I guess I'm not gonna do that again. I thought I could get away with it after all the good food I've been eating. Like we all have a different genetic tendency and some people can get away with it for longer and other people can't. So I Speaker 1 (26:10): Love that you mentioned your husband cuz I don't believe I've met him, but I don't think so. But he eats healthy kind of like you do and low glycemic. And Speaker 3 (26:20): He does. He does. And he makes most of our food. So he, you know, and he'll, he'll do something he'll like when we're out. He'll have, he will have gluten when we go out. He'll have a little dairy when we go out. I don't wanna eat any of those things. Right. And he is not as strict as I am. Mm-Hmm. . So, but when we're home and he's exercising, like he goes out for a 10 mile bike ride or a 10 mile hike or he's exercising like crazy and he has diabetes in his family, his doc, his father was on insulin type two, but his pan pancreas wore out. So I know he has that genetic tendency. I have diabetes in my family, but also I know from testing I looked at my genes, I look at genes and my genes are like, yeah, I'm not good with with handling sugars. Speaker 1 (27:03): Yeah. My my family, me and my family either. I'm just wondering because a lot of the women I work with, cuz they only work with women, once they get the C G M and they really start learning about their blood sugar and they change how they eat, then they complain, my husband won't eat this way. Or that's sometimes an objection to why they don't even wanna do it in the first place. I can't cook two meals. My family will never accept no grains, no gluten, no sugar, no this, that and the other. I'm wondering how you coach people through that. Speaker 3 (27:36): Absolutely. So it's not a matter of cooking two meals. It's a matter of making side dishes for the people who will eat it. So if we're making like a big stir fry, right. I don't eat the rice. If he makes rice, I don't eat the rice. If he makes a big, you know, a big kind of vegetable casserole or roasted vegetables or whatever else, and he'll eat, he'll eat fish with that or he'll eat potatoes with that. I won't eat that. And that's not his most common thing. He does that periodically more for holidays. But we just get along that way. We, we do eat differently. He'll put balsamic vinegar on his salad. I won't, he likes canned arti cho cards. I don't like them. I I just don't like them that way. I want a fresh artichoke if I'm going to eat artichoke. So there's things we don't do, but you make a core meal that is healthy for everyone. Speaker 3 (28:24): Mm-Hmm. , you don't go out and buy, you know, Domino's pizza for the family. Right. You don't, you want your whole family to be eaten healthfully, but there's certain things you may have to restrict mm-hmm. well the way they don't, so it's not like eating two meals, it's like making a core meal and then you make some side dishes. How hard is it to put on a pot of rice? Right. Right. How hard is it to steam up some something, you know, or put, put a piece of fish in the oven or whatever they, they want to eat that you don't want to eat. You just don't mix it in with the, the main meal. Right. Which is what you want. Speaker 1 (28:55): Yeah. Yeah. It is possible and it can be easy, but I think it does require a little thought and it's thought it's thoughts that people haven't thunk before. So yes, it's a new skill. Yes. But I agree it can be done. I wanna ask you about the role of exercise or supplements for helping out with insulin resistance at in perimenopause and menopause. Speaker 3 (29:20): Absolutely. So yeah, trained muscles are much more insulin sensitive than untrained muscles. Right. So we just wanna, we wanna work out, you wanna work out within your capacity, right? So somebody who's been a marathon runner and is running five miles a day, that's no big deal. Somebody who's been a couch potato all their life, you don't tell 'em to go out running all day. But you, you also have to look at their state of their adrenals. And most people, by the time they hit me menopause and perimenopause, their adrenals are shot because of all the stressors that they've been under for so long. So we wanna take that into account. So I say the amount of exercise that when you do it, you feel good and you wanna go do it again the next day versus I can't exercise again for three days. That's right. Speaker 3 (30:04): Burst exercise is awesome. I have this little thing that I have keep in my office behind me and it's a little stair stepper and you go up and down, up and down, up and down as fast as you can for 30 seconds. And if you do that multiple times throughout the day, the burst training has been shown to increase insulin sensitivity so much better than aerobics. Or the same, right. If you do, 30 seconds is like 30 minutes of aerobics in terms of the effect on insulin sensitivity, of course you don't get the same cardiovascular effects. So doing both. So exercise is super critical. And supplementation, there's certain supplements we know help with insulin sensitivity and they tend to be things that get worn out over time. Right. And or depleted in the soils where people don't generally eat a lot of. So magnesium, magnesium super important for improving insulin sensitivity. Speaker 3 (30:55): And we know it's important for hormonal balance. I always put people on magnesium in the second half of their menstrual cycles because it helps with mobilizing and eliminating the extra hormones. And that's what happens in perimenopause. Like it's not that the hormones just suddenly drop, it's a blink and the the levels are so inconsistent. So if we improve the elimination of those, we're gonna do better. Right. Yeah. The, the conjugated, you know, the things that are already metabolized. So what else is good? Chromium is really important. It's really good for that. And we're depleted in our soils. So people benefit from the addition of chromium fatty acids like e b A and d H a, especially D H A has been shown to be insulin sensitizing. And then there's other little foods that I like to throw in at Berberine is an herb. It's a, it's an extract from an herb of like Oregon grape root and golden seal, golden rod. Speaker 3 (31:46): There's a bunch of different things. But berberine has been shown to be very helpful for reversing the effects of insulin resistance much safer than metformin. It's been studied alongside mess metformin. And then some foods, like my talking mushrooms traditionally used to help stabilize blood sugar. So much so that some people who have been on it, that have been doing my programs with me, they get to a point where they have to stop taking it at bedtime because their sugars go way down overnight and it wakes 'em up. Wow. That much. That's amazing. Yep. Yeah. I have a handout that you know, you could, you might, I might wanna give you to share with your listeners and it's basically, it's like a six page chart which has pictures of the, of the different foods and herbs and their mechanism and how it affects the insulin. And I can certainly get that to you and you can share that that with your people cuz it's just a really Speaker 1 (32:40): Nice I sure would love that. Speaker 3 (32:42): And chocolate. Yeah. Speaker 1 (32:43): I wasn't aware of the maitake mushrooms. That's fascinating. I'll have to look into that. Yeah. So yes, there are lots of foods, supplements you can add exercise for sure. Changing the way you eat that I, I'd say that's the three pronged stool. But what about the fourth prong in terms of, you know, I've had some women get the cgm, the continuous glucose monitor and then they freak out because they say, Kiran, I didn't even eat anything and my blood sugar went up. And I say, well what were you thinking about? Oh well I was upset at my husband because X, Y, and Z happened. Right? And I go, oh, so we have to have the conversation about how emotions affect your blood sugar. Yes, yes. Can you talk a little bit about that? Speaker 3 (33:28): Yeah, that's the stress response. I call it the candy bar eating effect of stress. It's like your sugar goes up as if you ate a candy bar and you didn't have the fun of eating the candy bar. You just got to yell at somebody or get all upset. So yeah. So when the body produces cortisol in response to stress stressful emotions or a stressful situation with someone else, the cortisol is meant to help us run away from tigers. Right. Get safe. So it mobilizes stored sugar. So it'll go to the glycogen stores which are in the liver and the muscles and it'll release those stored sugars so that you can run away. But if there's nothing to run away from, then they just raise your blood sugar and it doesn't go down. So I always tell people if you do have a stressful situation and it raises your blood sugar, go for a little walk, do some, you know, squats at your desk or do some kind of exercise to burn the calories to burn those extra sugars that just got released into your bloodstream. So it's a big thing. I always have people do either meditation or heart math or both or you know, other kinds of things to breathing, breathe techniques, , you know, just breathe. Speaker 1 (34:34): Just breathe. And I love these quotes that you shared with me before we started that I wanna share. So I wanna talk about them. I'll kind of lay 'em out. You have every choice Matters, which I love. Don't exchange what you want most for what you want in the moment. Mm-Hmm . And nothing tastes as good as healthy feels. I love all of these. Do you wanna elaborate on any of them? Speaker 3 (35:00): Yeah. So we get to make choices all day long. Way more choices than we even are consciously aware that we're making. We just make them right. Are you gonna get up in the morning and meditate? Are you gonna go back to sleep? Are you gonna get up and have a donut and a coffee? Are you gonna go for a run? Like all these choices and every minute throughout the day we have a choice to make and every choice matters and how our bodies biochemically react and how we look and how we feel and how we show up in the world. So every choice matters. The other one don't exchange what you want most for what you want in the moment. One of the things we do with people right at the start of working with them is get them in touch with what their big why. Speaker 3 (35:39): What do you, why do you wanna get your help back? What matters most to you? Right? Does it matter that your hands are all crumpled up and you wanna play the piano again and you know, or does it, you wanna be able to play around with your grandchildren? Do you wanna go have a nice, a nice vacation with your partner and hike and not be restricted? And if that's your what you want most and you're sitting there and you have a choice to have some chocolate chip cookies and some cake and some ice cream, you have to think in terms of what do I want most? Is this gonna lead me to the health and the energy that I need for all those things I want most? And you have to say, well nope, I guess not. I'm gonna choose something different. So that's where it means you're exchanging it cuz you're actually saying, oh well I'll just have this. Well you're exchanging what you want most is energy and freedom in your body for 30 seconds on your tongue of chocolate chip cookies or whatever. So that's the other one. And then the third one is, nothing tastes as good as healthy fields cuz you're like, oh, it just tastes so good. But if you've ever felt like truly healthy and unstoppable and like you have energy and stamina and you can do what you want whenever you want, that there's nothing that tastes better to me that I would exchange that for. Speaker 1 (36:48): You know, you are the vision of unstoppable, the title of your book, and you're just like a powerhouse of passion and purpose and performance and just what you do for people. You're a force. And can you talk a little bit about, I think this quote, speak to it and everything you've shared today really speaks to it. But talk a little bit about your philosophy on life. Speaker 3 (37:16): Wow. My philosophy on life. Speaker 1 (37:19): Yeah. Speaker 3 (37:19): Fun is super important. Pleasure is super important. Enjoyment. I wanna be able to enjoy every moment. I wanna be able to have the freedom to say, oh yeah, let's go on that hike and not say, oh, I'm too tired, my knees hurt, whatever. So my philosophy is being aligned with purpose, being aligned with nature. I mean, I'd much rather be outside than in here, you know, in in air conditioned room with lights on versus out there. But you know, bringing the computer out and recording a podcast outdoors gets a little tricky. So I don't, I come inside, but I'd much rather be outside. I'd much rather be out there convening with nature and growing vegetables and you know, there's just things that, that's my philosophy on life. I, I wanna be, I wanna be outside more than inside. I wanna be active more than inactive. And I wanna, I wanna have joy and facilitate others to experience the joy that they deserve and they can have. Speaker 1 (38:18): Yes. And it's a sad truth though, that a lot of joy requires good health . Yeah. Right. And that when we don't have good health, we lose our joy. And so I think that what we do to help people become healthy really does help to increase joy in the world. You are certainly a vision of that and I thank you so much for shedding light on this super important topic. This really can take a lot of menopausal women down and they don't even know it. They're just thinking it's their sex hormones and they don't realize Yes. That there are these other hormones like insulin that are vital. So thank you. Yeah. Thank you for sharing this. We have Dr. Rita Maria has some amazing gifts for you. We're gonna have a link in the show notes. She has her hormone balancing elixirs, she's gonna talk about that. We have, she has her hormone hacking breakfast menus, I think for menopause. Right. So do you wanna talk a little bit about these? Speaker 3 (39:16): Yeah. So the elixir, you know, I, I love herbs and I love drinks and I love creating these things. And I realized, I don't know when, this was like 10 years ago and I started to think, well then, you know, the magical drinks of the you know the ages, right? So what can we put together? So I put together some hormone balancing elixirs. So they're, they've got herbs and mushroom powders. If you're not allergic, you'll leave them out. I always tell people they say, I can't make your thing cuz I'm allergic to that ingredient. Eat it out. . Doesn't matter. Right. So it's a really nice little book that has a base recipe and then several like for energy and for stamina. And then there's a list in there of the different herbs and spices and things you can substitute in based on what hormones you're trying to balance. Awesome. Speaker 1 (40:01): Yeah. Thank Speaker 3 (40:02): You for that. And then the other one, the breakfast. Oh, you're welcome. It's, it's, you know what I've seen with that when people do this, I had one of them in there, it's, I think it's called the energy elixir. Mm-Hmm. . And I had somebody say, oh wow, after a month my hair's growing back, my look at how thick my hair is after a month. So other people heard her say that and they started using it and I kept getting stories like that. I'm like, is there a way I can patent this? And you know, a million dollars by selling the hair balancing elixir. Right. But that was, it's really fun and people love them. And I have, in my kitchen, I have my elixir station, so I have all these glass jars kind of like this, but they're straight up and down. Oh, you can't see it if, if you're listening, but like a a, you know, a 24 ounce, a Speaker 1 (40:45): Mason jar. Speaker 3 (40:46): Yeah. With a lid. And then at the top of the lid I have the name of what's in there. So I have my EPS and ashwagandha and, and my taki and my, all these different herbs and they're in my kitchen and I have the pot that I can make hot water in and I can just like pour it in and press the button and make hot water. And then I put it all together and the elixir recipes show you how to flavor them and how to spice them. And they're really good. The other one is the breakfast. Most people screw it up when it comes to breakfast. Right. , orange juice, coffee, a donut, a bagel a a croissant or if they're really being good oatmeal donut, a hormone balancing breakfast. Right, Speaker 1 (41:22): Right, right, right. Speaker 3 (41:24): So I put together menus like, here's the five components that you need to have in your meal to start the day. And whether you eat breakfast in the morning or you fast until noon or two, like I sometimes I haven't eaten anything yet today I'll have my breakfast at two. I will include all of those components in my meal to keep my blood sugar steady throughout the day to keep my hormone steady throughout the day. And so I have that and then there's a bunch of recipes in there. So it's really fun. Speaker 1 (41:52): Nice. Thank you so much for those. Yes. Breakfast, we really do, we screw up Breakfast in America . So we need breakfast rescue. So thank you for that. And thank you for the elixir. And we will have the link in the show notes so you can find it there and tell everyone where else they can find you and connect with you. Speaker 3 (42:15): Absolutely. So dr rita marie.com is my main website if you're a health practitioner, I have one called I n E Method, but it's linked from the main site. And then I'm on Instagram, Facebook, where else am I on regularly? Linkedin. And you just look up Dr. Rita Marie there. And then I have a YouTube channel. It's Dr. Rita Marie's Functional Health channel. And I post there, I usually do a live there once a week and I have probably seven, 800 out there. And I have a podcast called Reinvent Healthcare, mainly geared towards health practitioners, functional medicine doctors, nurses, health coaches, et cetera. But a lot of non, a lot of lay people listen in because it's just full of deep media information. And you were on there. Yes, Speaker 1 (43:00): We talked. Yes, I was. Yeah. Speaker 3 (43:01): Yeah, we did adrenal sex what are we talking about? Menopause Adrenal connection. So yes, it's den healthcare.com. Speaker 1 (43:09): Yes. Well check out Dr. Rina Marie and all those places. Definitely go to the show notes, click the link and download those valuable resources. We really can't get enough information about how to eat properly for perimenopause, menopause, how to balance our hormones. It really is, if you've heard me talk, hormones are the foundation of a woman's health. So if you don't get that right, you won't get anything else. Right. So get that right. For sure. Thank you so much for joining us, Dr. Rita Marie, Speaker 3 (43:40): Thank you. Speaker 1 (43:41): And thank you for joining us for another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kieran. Hopefully you've learned something today that you will put into action to start moving your hormones into a balanced direction. I look forward to hearing from you on social media about exactly what you've done and the results that you've gotten. I hope you have a wonderful week. Until then, peace, love, and hormones, y'all. Speaker 2 (44:08): Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.   ►Get Dr. Ritamarie's Homemade Hormone Balancing Elixir Recipes and Feel focused and alert all day without having to reach for a caffeine fix! - CLICK HERE. ►  ► Feeling tired? Can't seem to lose weight, no matter how hard you try? It might be time to check your hormones. Most people don't even know that their hormones could be the culprit behind their problems. But at Her Hormone Club, we specialize in hormone testing and treatment. We can help you figure out what's going on with your hormones and get you back on track. We offer advanced hormone testing and treatment from Board Certified Practitioners, so you can feel confident that you're getting the best possible care. Plus, our convenient online consultation process makes it easy to get started. Try Her Hormone Club for 30 days and see how it can help you feel better than before. CLICK HERE.   If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review The Hormone Prescription Podcast on your preferred podcast platform. Your support helps us reach even more listeners, allowing them to benefit from our expert advice and knowledge. ✨    

Dr. Kyrin Dunston is an obstetrician/gynecologist - someone who understands women's health. She also is an expert in anti-aging medicine, metabolic function and functional medicine to help women in midlife solve some of their issues like midlife weight gain and fatigue. And it all started with herself. She had her own health issues and managed to lose a life changing 100 pounds in the process. She has her own fabulous podcast called The Hormone Prescription. She is also the founder of Her Hormone Club, which is an all inclusive membership program giving women access to state of the art natural hormone therapy treatment throughout the US and the Midlife Metabolism Institute, which gives educational and coaching programs for women at midlife to fix their hormones, their metabolism and ultimately optimize their health. Dr. Kyrin has been featured on a TEDx talk, CBS, NBC TV networks, in Reader's Digest and The Huffington Post. Hormone Bliss Challenge https://www.hormonebalancebliss.com/hormone-bliss-order Diet Deceptive Dozen Report https://funnels.kyrindunstonmd.com/diet-deceptive-dozen Contact Dr. Dunston:Facebook: http://Facebook.com/kyrindunstonmd Website: http://kyrindunstonmd.com/Instagram: http://instagram.com/kyrindunstonmd Join the Hack My Age community on: Facebook Page : ⁠⁠http://facebook.com/hackmyage⁠⁠ Facebook Group: Biohacking Menopause https://www.facebook.com/groups/biohackingwomen50 Instagram: ⁠⁠http://instagram.com/hackmyage⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠http://www.hackmyage.com⁠⁠ Hack My Age VIP Group: ⁠⁠http://patreon.com/hackmyage⁠⁠ Email: zora@hackmyage.com Newsletter: ⁠⁠http://www.hackmyage.com/newsletter⁠⁠ This podcast is edited by ⁠⁠jonathanjk.com⁠ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hackmyage/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hackmyage/support

Join us for this empowering episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast, where we dive deep into the power of transforming anxiety into a powerful ally in our lives with clinical professional counselor, Lynn Dutrow. Discover how Lynn's unique perspective and practical strategies can help midlife women turn their inner struggles into incredible strengths. Guest Details Name: Lynn Dutrow Credentials: Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC), Author, and Compassionate AssKicker Background: Psychology, Education, Coaching, and Motorcycle Sales (a story for another day) Lynn specializes in supporting Responsible Rebels (aka Brave Small Business Owners, Empathic Entrepreneurs, and Purpose-Fueled Professionals) in enjoying their success with less stress. She's also the author of the highly sought-after book, *ALIGNED as F*ck: Transforming Your Inner Assholes (like Anxiety) into Allies.* In this heart-to-heart conversation, we explore Lynn's personal journey dealing with anxiety, her unique approach to overcoming mental barriers, and how she now helps others find peace and purpose in their lives. Key Takeaways and Lessons - The importance of acknowledging and confronting our anxieties and inner struggles - Practical tips and strategies for transforming anxiety into a powerful ally - How women in midlife can harness their anxiety for personal and professional growth - The role hormones may play in our anxiety levels and response - Techniques that promote self-awareness, acceptance, and healing If you're a midlife woman who's ready to turn anxiety into a source of empowerment and growth, this episode is not to be missed! Tune in to The Hormone Prescription Podcast and get inspired by Lynn's relatable stories, powerful insights, and practical tools to embrace your anxiety and unleash your potential. Remember, when you're ALIGNED as F*ck, you are unstoppable!   Speaker 1 (00:00): “The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change their future by merely changing their attitude.” Oprah Winfrey, stay tuned. Cause Lynn Dutrow is gonna teach you how to get aligned as f you and how to transform your inner anxiety into allies. Speaker 2 (00:24): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones in our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an ob-gyn, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Speaker 1 (01:17): Hi everybody. Thank you so much for joining me for another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Today we're gonna dive into anxiety again because it is such an important topic for women over 40. There are physical problems including hormonal imbalances, like hormonal poverty that can contribute to anxiety, but there are also mental thought processes that we can have habitually that can cause us to spiral into anxiety. And it makes it very difficult for us to actually achieve what we want to in life, like getting our health straight or doing the things we want with our career or relationships when we're stuck in anxiety. Cuz it's really a colossal waste of energy. As someone who suffered with anxiety in the past myself and sometimes also in the present, it's something that I think can't be talked about enough. More women than not suffer with this. Speaker 1 (02:13): Also men. So maybe you'll learn something in the episode today that will really help shed some light. My guest today is a licensed clinical professional counselor and she has a lot of experience in that area. She switched over to coaching. She's gonna tell you why and what the benefits of having a coach are over having a traditional therapist, particularly when it comes to anxiety. She's really action-oriented and we're gonna talk about that quote from Oprah. She's got a couple other great ones from Socrates and Heric Colitis that really get to the crux of what anxiety is all about it. You really have some unique and powerful tools that you can start using today to transform that ruminative thought process that's going on in your brain that really keeps you from living life fully and achieving what's possible for you. So I'll tell you a little bit about her and then we'll get started. Speaker 1 (03:08): Lynn Dutrow is a licensed clinical professional counselor. She's an author and compassionate ask kicker with a background in psychology, education, coaching and motorcycle sales, and that's a story for another day. She specializes in supporting the responsible rebels in enjoying their success with less stress. The responsible rebels are brave, smart business owners, empathic entrepreneurs and purpose fueled professionals, people just like you. She is the author of Aligned as. And I will say this is an explicit episode because Lynn speaks, frankly, she curses. So we've marked the episode as such, so if cursing bothers you, we don't have too much, but if it bothers you, have this episode or not play it when there are. She's the author of Aligned As, transforming Your Inner, like Anxiety Into Allies. Please help me welcome Lynn Dutrow to the show. Speaker 3 (04:05): Thank you. I'm honored to be here. I'm looking forward to our conversation. So Speaker 1 (04:08): One of the first questions I have for you is you're a licensed clinical professional counselor, but now you predominantly do coaching and help people get aligned as we're gonna talk about that. But how did you make the transformation? What made you decide to make the transformation from clinical counseling to coaching? Speaker 3 (04:34): So there's, there's a few things that factored into that. One of them simply being, I like to tell people what to do more than, than just the whole tradition, like how does that make you feel? And the also the ability to go beyond what felt like constraints of a typical or traditional counseling. So I do combine, I I really combine both of them. I tell people that I kind of came out of the womb being a good listener and so it's just a natural progression to work in the helping field, but it just has felt more and more like the coaching aspect of it, being able to be a partner with people and not just say, okay, like going back into the healing part, I'm more action oriented. So it's like, okay, this is going on now how do we get you to where things can be easier in how you're doing things? Speaker 3 (05:30): So rather than spending all the time in going back and, and looking at like, where did all of this come from? It's okay, what's going on now and how can we take action steps to get you to be living the life that you really wanna be living? So that's the shortest version that I have. why, why coaching appeals to my style more so than traditional counseling. So, and I think I also got started getting a lot of people who just weren't really looking for counseling, but they wanted a partner. They wanted someone to help them understand how anxiety and their other inner were impacting them. So I tend to get people with more high functioning anxiety, which isn't even a DSM diagnosis. So that there's the, there's where you talk, start talking about the constraints of where you, if you're doing counseling, there's the diagnosing and all of that too. So rather help people along rather than get caught in all of that. Yeah, Speaker 1 (06:30): I think it's an important topic for people like you to discuss because I think the average person is pretty confused right about now because there's so many different degrees that people can have. They can have a social work degree, they can have a marital and family counseling degree, they can have a be a clinical psychologist, they can have a PhD, they can have a master's, PhD, master's, all the different credentials. And there are so many different types of coaches out there and it's not regulated. So there's no standardization and I think people are confused. But one thing I think women are not confused about is that anxiety is a problem for the majority of us. Speaker 3 (07:13): Absolutely. We all have it in one form, form Speaker 1 (07:16): Another. Why, why do we, why do we all have anxiety? Lynn, please tell us why. Speaker 3 (07:23): Because anxiety's actually part of our survival system. It's there for a reason. It has just been given way too much power and we don't live in the same world where we have to be concerned about the Sabre twos tiger creeping up on us and having our survival system keep us alive. But that same survival system still there. And so the more comfortable we make our lives, the more that survival system and anxiety in particular over does its job. It's making things that aren't actually a threat to our survival, into things to react to. And there's so many things now that I was just talking to someone this morning about how we've made being a woman, being a mother, being a wife, all of those things into like an Olympic sport. And then so then you get all of the, your, your perfectionist gets involved in all of that and you know, we just keep trying to achieve and strive and do all of these things. And so anxiety's there all along the way going, oh, you're not doing it right, you're not doing it right. And ooh, let's panic about this even though there's nothing to panic about. So it's there. And the way that I work with clients is to have to acknowledge and accept it first, and then we're gonna work on changing your relationship to it so that, as I say, you teach it better social skills, get it to actually be working for you instead of against you. Speaker 1 (08:55): Well that sounds great and hopefully we can do that today. Give some people an idea of how they can do that. But I just, before we move on to that topic, why have we made our lives into Olympic sport? Why are we such perfectionist? Why do we have to be the best mom, the best wife, the best worker, the best business, the best everything? Where in the world did this come from that now all of a sudden we have to be the best? I don't think that it used to be that way. So what happened? I Speaker 3 (09:25): Don't think it used to be that way either. I think that there are a few things that have contributed. Technology is one of them because we can now see what people are doing all over the world for 24, you know, 24 hours a day, seven, seven days a week. And we didn't used to be able to do that. I mean, you know, just as far back as, you know, my parents' generation, they didn't have a television. They could tell what people were doing, you know, from radio or reading, you know, or those sorts of things, but they just got about their day. They went and did whatever they needed to do. And I don't think people were comparing themselves in the way they are now. And so that's, I think a big contributing factor is that, you know, any moment of the day you can pick up your little rectangle that we, you carry around with you and you can jump on social media or anything else and suddenly there's somebody to compare. Speaker 3 (10:16): I think we also have made the pursuit of happiness, the pursuit of success in however that has gotten defined, which is to be the best at rather than, and and there's also this avoidance of failure, you know, so if you're walking around avoiding failure, then you've got, the only other option is success because we are very wired to this all or nothing, especially if we have a tendency towards, so this all or nothing, it's like, well, you know, we can't fail so we must succeed. And then there's really nothing in the middle and we're just all over focused on it. Speaker 1 (10:55): Yeah. I call it paranoia, . Yes. We all have serious case of paranoia, compare and despair. Alright, so, so you know, I was talking with a friend earlier today who was in a little bit of distress, and as I was talking to her, these words kind of came out of my mouth. You know, everybody says if you're in anxiety, you're in the future, you're not in the present. And what I realized as I was talking to her is that's not, that's not exactly true mm-hmm , it's in the present. What should I do about this now, right now? Right. So you're having to decide on actions, you're having to decide on words that really is a, a a present struggle. And I'm just wondering if you have any thoughts or insights on that that you wanna share? Because they say mindfulness, people have said that mindfulness is a cure for anxiety because you're not being in the present. They say, if you're not in the present, then you know you're on the present. I've heard that. That's not the whole, do you know the saying I'm, I'm thinking of. Speaker 3 (12:02): I think so. I love them. You're on the present. That's hilarious. Yeah. So the, so, so my take on this is, yes, mindfulness can be helpful, but, but more from the perspective of learning how to think about what you wanna think about when you want to think about it, and to what you said, I think how anxiety is future oriented, how it impacts the present is that you are feeling like in this moment, I have to make a decision that feels like it's going to impact, you know, the next minute, the next hour, the next day, the next week. And so it feels like all this pressure in the moment. And what you can do with that is say, I can make this decision right now, and if in a minute or an hour or a day or a week from now I realize that the decision I made right here isn't working for me, then I can make another decision. And that's the part that gets us worked up is the, that I'm gonna make a decision now that's gonna dis like completely that I can't change it, you know, this is it, I'm signing up for whatever, and it's staying in the moment to, to trust that I'm gonna make the best decision I can right now. And then if in the future that's not working out in that moment in the future, I can make a different decision. Speaker 1 (13:27): Okay. That makes sense. So that's, yes, that's more staying in the present. So what do you think are the most important besides that? Which sounds pretty important. What else is very important for every woman listening to understand about the anxiety that she's got? She's got anxiety about the work she's doing in the world. Maybe she's a business owner, maybe she worked for somebody else, she's anxious. Am I doing enough? Am I good enough? She's worrying about her kids. Is she present enough? Or maybe other family members, spouses, partners, she's afraid she's gonna lose things. You know, there's a a lot big fear we've had in the past couple years. People afraid of losing their health or losing family members or friends to health problems, concerns about money problems. So what is important for all women to, to understand about anxiety? Speaker 3 (14:19): Well, I think one of the biggest things is to understand anxiety's role. And so anxiety is meant to do basically two things. It can be a force of good, which is when it's giving you a signal. And I would say in a lot of the cases that you just mentioned, anxiety is attempting to give a signal that you're doing too much, you're expecting too much of yourself. Well, that's probably the biggest one. They, they're expecting too much because too often I think women in particular, especially mothers or well, or, or people at work, so a woman who has a high pressure career, they're taking on too much responsibility. It's like we get a dopamine hit for being competent. We get a dopamine hit, you know, for for being the, the competent, the successful one in the room. So what happens is we feel like we have to do everything, but to be a really good leader, whether that's at work or you have to figure out how to, to delegate, how to let other people, you know, my daughter goes to a Montessori school and one of my favorite Maria Montessori quotes is, you know, basic is something along the lines of don't do for others what they can do for themselves. Speaker 3 (15:31): And that's been challenging. But when I tell people that my daughter has been doing her own laundry since she was five, you know, the, the jaws drop that, wait a minute, you know, I, I don't have to do everything for my children or my spouse or I don't have to do everything. I mean, I've worked with, you know, folks VP and higher level in companies and when we really break it down, we realize they're doing too much of what their employees, their subordinates are supposed to be doing because there's such a fear that it's not gonna be done right. Right. So it's teasing through a lot of these thoughts that we have of things having to be done a certain way or done Right. And again, that compare paranoia or compare para paranoia. Yeah. . And so when we can start to discern, is my anxiety giving me a signal? Speaker 3 (16:21): Is it, is it telling me something that's actually important and actionable that I can do something different? Or on the other hand, because because anxiety is not always showing up the same way, sometimes anxiety is showing up as noise, right? So that's when it's waking you up at 3:00 AM you know, worrying about something that you have no control over what to do about it in that moment. So the first thing is to distinguish, is my anxiety behaving today and actually giving me a signal about something that would be important for me to take action on, look at differently change? Or is it just being an and giving me noise to, to wind me up? You know, I tell, I tell clients that anxiety's kind of like that, like the neighbor or your cousin or somebody that you had to hang out with. Like you, you weren't, you didn't have a choice. Speaker 3 (17:13): Like you had to hang out with them at least some of the time, and you got along okay when it was just the two of you. But if you bring anybody else in, they started acting up and trying to keep your attention. Anxiety's kind of like that. It's like, Hey, wait a minute, I want your attention. So if you start focusing on something else, like I'm gonna draw you back and say, Hey, the only place I can keep you safe is right here. So I'm gonna keep you frozen. I'm gonna keep you stuck. I'm gonna keep you worrying, I'm gonna keep you on the, the hamster wheel, whatever it is. And so learning how anxiety works and how it plays, you know, the what if game and all of those things, that's a, a really great start to changing your relationship with all of those thoughts and feelings that overwhelm you. And Speaker 1 (17:57): So I try to tie everything into hormones, which includes the, the nervous system, the autonomic nervous system, sympathetic, parasympathetic. Why do we even have the ability to be anxious? What biologic capability or survival advantage does it confer on us Speaker 3 (18:14): To survive, to be alert, to notice, you know, my clients very often, they're the ones that pick up on the subtle things in their environment. They're the ones that, you know, you get something written by them, the the grammar is correct and all of that stuff. They're the ones who are constantly looking for things out of the ordinary because that's how we survived. And I, the a psychiatrist friend of mine, and I, I don't think she probably just repeated it, but it was, you know, basically we all evolved from the anxious people, from the people who were on alert because the people who relaxed dancing around the fire got eaten. Right. So I got it. Speaker 1 (18:55): Yeah. Speaker 3 (18:56): Right. So we are predisposed to survive, which means we are always on the lookout for things that might be a threat. And that's what I was talking about though, our lives on some level have gotten so comfortable that our survival system isn't quite sure what to do. It still wants to do its job. So it tends then to pick things that if we really stand back and look at them, they're not, nobody's gonna die. Right. But our body is overreacting as if that could be a possibility. So that's where, you know, becoming aware of what is going on and, and why your sympathetic nervous system gets so easily triggered. And I do agree that this can, and I often get people who say, well, I never thought of myself as anxious before. And then I, I look at their age and they're over 40, especially women, and it's like, okay, now what role is either the, maybe you weren't aware before because this is just how you functioned, but it all has to be related and I'm not the medical person, but you know, it all has to be related. Speaker 3 (20:08): Because if you are wearing out, you know, if your sympathetic nervous systems on all the time, then you're wearing out your adrenals or you know, the cortisol, all of those things that are then gonna just make all of this worse. So when I have clients, that's what I work on, like a multi-level, is we begin the process of what I call, like the education, just understanding how all of this works. And I think one of my gifts is I take what I call psychobabble and I break it down into real language that people can understand. So like that's with my, with the book that I wrote, you know, that's the comment I get. Wow. It's like, I like it sounds like I'm having a conversation with you and this makes sense to me. And then as we're doing that, then we start digging into some of the other things like what might be going on with clients' hormones, what might be going on with their health, what are they eating, what are their sleep habits look like? And oftentimes I think, I know for myself, when I looked at my hormones, that made a large difference in how my anxiety showed up, the intensity of it. So it definitely got better when as I began to look at my diet and, and how to change, you know, my hormones, my metabolism, all of that. So that is something that mm-hmm. , I think especially every woman, if you're experiencing extreme anxiety or any other mood issues you wanna look at that, it's important. Speaker 1 (21:33): Yeah, absolutely. And that's a part of my story that I've shared on the podcast many times. Extreme anxiety on many medications for it. And then when I got my hormones straight and got my gut straight, I didn't need any medications. Right? So if that's you and you're suffering with anxiety, that is the number one thing you want to do. But then beyond that, I do find that I have some thought patterns that tend to lead to anxiety like a lot of people. And I think a lot of the anxiety centers around this quote that you shared with me from otitis, there is nothing permanent except change. We don't like change, Lynn. Speaker 3 (22:14): No, we don't. We don't. But the one thing that's inevitable is change. Speaker 1 (22:21): Life is just a series of changes. Speaker 3 (22:24): Yes. That is something that I work with clients is like to increase their tolerance for discomfort. And I think that's another, you know, as I'm thinking about it, that's another thing that plays into why things are worse now. Because every marketer out there, every company that has hired someone to do their marketing has hired someone who knows that the best way to get us to buy someone buy something is to appeal to our fear and anxiety. Our fear and anxiety. That we're not good enough, that we're not living up to something that, and, and that we don't have to tolerate discomfort at all. You know, there's a pill, there's a blanket, there's a something, there's food, there's something that you can use to change how you feel. What I find is when my clients begin this process of not, their goal isn't to be comfortable and to be certain all the time, because that's what anxiety tells you. Speaker 3 (23:24): You have to be comfortable, you have to be certain, well those are illusions. We love them. We love the idea of being able to be certain, to make sure, like if you could sit in my shoes every time, sometimes I think that's why I like to sit alone in the woods and not be around people because the anxious language is just there. Make sure I have to make sure this, I should be doing that. All of this, that's all language that's, that's saying to us that we can in fact be certain and comfortable. And when we can step away from that and really be aware that there really is no way to be certain. And comfort is not, we're not meant to go through this life being comfortable. Some of the best things that we learn about are in the very trying times. Speaker 3 (24:13): We learn a lot about ourselves, about what we're here to do. I think it was Glenn and Doyle talks about if you're looking to figure out what your purpose is, figure out what makes you cry. You know? And I love that allowing ourselves to get past what we think society is telling us we should be doing our obligations mm-hmm. and get that, like what, what really makes our, you know, hits us in our heart. And you gotta get, you know, you gotta figure out how to get the, your inner critic and imposter syndrome and and doubt and all of those things. How to keep them from telling you what to do because they're like the secret service and they're gonna always pick the safest, like the safest route. But the safest route isn't always the route that's gonna get us where we're we're meant to go. So being able to take calculated risks and be uncomfortable for periods of time is important in this work. Speaker 1 (25:07): Yeah. You know, I love that you're going down this, this line of discussion about this topic. You know, what you're saying speaks to me of, we, we try to make decisions with our heads, right? What's the logical choice? What would a smart person do? And I've recently been learning more and more about something called human design, which I'm not sure if you're familiar with it. See you shaking your head Yes. And it's basically told me that in your brain is not designed to make decisions and nobody's brain is, and I actually am, have an emotional authority. So my emotions are, and other people have a splenic authority or they might have a sacral authority or something like this. No, no. Humans are supposed to be making decisions with our brain and yet that's where we make most decisions. And I love what you shared about Glennon Doyle. Speaker 1 (25:55): I love her writing and what you shared about what makes you cry. I talked to so many women midlife who are really confused about their purpose and their path and what would bring them joy and they don't even know what they want. So can you talk maybe about how you help people get in touch with that heart-centered, maybe emotional or splenic or whatever the, your authority is that can help guide you to what would be most meaningful. So you can take those calculated risks, but I think that, you know, if you don't go out on the branch on the limb, you can't get the fruit. So you kind of gotta go out there. So how do you help people navigate that? Speaker 3 (26:37): Well, it starts with just that education of how these inner parts of you work and then getting in touch with, well, what, you know, think, you know, it, it's different for different people. Sometimes people are able to get in touch with it when they think back to what they love to do as a child back before all of the expectations were piled on them. What do they find? Like, you know, if you have even five minutes to yourself, what, what do you gravitate to? What do you, what do you like to do? And, and also help them to, because again, I work with so many clients that have the all or nothing thinking they get, somebody gave me feedback in the book where it was like, I, you know, I don't, I don't wanna do any more of this work because it's gonna mean that I'm gonna have to divorce my husband . Speaker 3 (27:24): It's right. It's the all or nothing. And so I, I help guide them all on the path that it's, it's not that you have to take one huge step, let's just talk about 1% incremental change. Like looking at what's one little thing that you can do here? And also maybe you won't end up doing the thing that you're passionate about for a career. Like you don't have to give up your job today and go do something that, that you feel passionate about, but maybe you could start volunteering with something that you feel passionate about something. So just walking them through the, getting past their inner to even have a conversation about that things could be different than the way that they are right now. And to just look at little things, tweak a little bit here, tweak a little bit there. I think one of the big conversations that I have with clients is not to set goals. Speaker 3 (28:17): You can set intentions, you can have an idea of where you wanna go, but we get too caught up in the failure that happens between, you know, so think, think like with weight loss, it's like, okay, well I wanna lose, I think you said you lost over a hundred pounds. I mean that's big. But you had to, instead of focusing on the losing the a hundred pounds, my guess is you focus on the the things that you could be successful at every day until you got there. And that's what people miss. It's, it's the, oh, I'm gonna set this goal and I don't map out how I'm gonna get there. And so every day I wake up and I feel like I'm a failure cuz I'm not at my goal yet. So how do we break it down into having those successes every day? And so with finding your purpose, it's, let's just break this down and start looking at, you know, what makes, what makes you cry, what ma what gives you makes your heart, you know, feel full, you know, those sorts of things. And then what, how can you incorporate a little bit more of that each day? What are you doing that you can take off your plate? You know, the little thing. So that's how we get started with that. Yes. Speaker 1 (29:27): And it reminds me of this other quote you shared from Socrates. The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new. So when I lost all that weight, I focused on, I'm building health. Yeah. I wasn't even focused on the weight loss, I just was doing the things I needed to do to address the underlying causes, the hormonal imbalances, the toxicities, the gut dysfunction. And then the weight just started coming off. So I wasn't even focused. Speaker 3 (29:59): Right, exactly. That's exactly it is the changing the way that we focus it isn't, it wasn't ever about the weight loss. It was about making the healthy choices to have a better life. And then you get the, the secondary gain if you will. Oh well look when I did that, when that's what I focused on. So yeah, helping to, to people to see that if you focus too much on a goal that without those steps and without knowing what the deeper meaning behind it is. So that's what you did. And there's where your success, Speaker 1 (30:34): Right. And I'm wondering what you think stops most of us for going for what we actually want. So I think there are different categories of women at midlife. Some of us really don't know what we want. We haven't been asked, I've talked to some women and I say, well what is it you really want for your life? And they say, I don't even know anymore. So some of us don't know we have to go through a rediscovery process, but there's some of us who know, but we don't wanna say the thing, we're up free to say the thing cause we're afraid that someone will shame us for it. Or who do you think you are? And you talked about imposter syndrome and then our attitude oftentimes whatever situation we're in at midlife regarding what we truly want in life. And maybe it's great help that we want, maybe we wanna lose a hundred pounds, but we won't even admit it cuz we don't think we can have. It has to do with our attitude. And like you said, Oprah Winfrey shared the greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change their future by merely changing their attitude. And so many of us have this attitude of silence. We don't, it doesn't even mean that anyone else has silenced us. We've silenced ourselves. We don't say the thing that we need to say or want to say. We don't do the thing, we won't admit the thing. So help us here, Lynn. Yeah, Speaker 3 (31:58): Well it's, it goes back to the same thing. It's not safe to do those things. We, I think especially, you know, our generation, I am really curious whether these younger generations, I guess you would call it like the millennials and the Gen Zs, are they gonna have the same trouble when they get to be our age? Because they seem to be able to identify what they want a little bit more, or at least verbalize it. Now whether their experiences will show them, you know, this idea that they can't have it or not, I don't know. But I know like, you know, I'm a child of the eighties and nobody ever asked us what we wanted. So we, we don't know how to even answer that question. And I think though it's tied to safety, what feels safe. And so if you've ever had, and all it takes is one, all it takes is one situation where you spoke up, you said what you wanted and somebody either said, no, you can't have it, circumstances don't allow it. Speaker 3 (32:59): Or someone judged you like you did get it and you're feeling really good about it. And someone says, this happened to me like I got a pretty good job, a pretty high paying job out of graduate school. And I found out through the grapevine that somebody that I knew basically said I didn't deserve it. I didn't deserve to at my age to have gotten that job. Now that critical voice is in my head. And so I'm a little more cautious because if you think back to, and this wasn't really in the, in the big picture of things, this wasn't really that long ago. You know, there was a time when if you didn't stay in the favor of the tribe, you couldn't survive because that point in time to try to be a loner didn't really work. And so I think we've carried that forward. Speaker 3 (33:49): And so if we don't feel safe to ask for what we want or even get what we, what we think that we want because other members of the tribe are gonna be jealous and judge us, or we're not even just jealous that they have concerns about what's going on in your life and they're gonna say, Ooh, you know, don't take that risk. It doesn't take much for us to say, okay, well then, then I don't feel safe taking this risk or ta or asking for what I want. Mm-Hmm . And so I again built into our, our genetics and the physiology and our conditioning. Speaker 1 (34:23): Okay. And then I do wanna ask you before I wanna give Emry on some practical tips, they can start using poor anxiety that they're having. So we'll get to that. But the name of your book is Aligned as, transforming Your Inner, like Anxiety Into Allies. And I'm wondering if you can talk about that title, what does that mean, aligned as, what are your inner? So can you talk a little bit about that and then we'll also talk about some things people can do to get started with their anxiety. Speaker 3 (34:55): Sure. So my inner didn't want me to write that book. And so they were coming up with all kinds of obstacles for me. And so aligned was a word that really resonated with me that by getting, you know, getting them in alignment with what I wanted to do was important. So I used the letters of aligned to come up with the concept for each chapter. So there's a chapter A, a chapter L, you know, so on and under each one I talk about different concepts related to that letter. So that's how the whole thing started and it just kind of took off. So the book is really helping you to step by step look at, okay, what are, what's important to understand about how these, what I call inner, the ones who you know, your anxiety, your doubt, the inner critic, the perfectionist, all of that, how they have gotten in charge and how to demote them and teach 'em better social skills. Speaker 3 (35:53): So the first chapter talks about just acknowledging that they're there, accepting that they're there. And then the big one, the big step at that point is to anthropomorphize them. And I had to practice saying that word a lot. It does not really, you know, trip off your tongue, but it's giving human characteristics to a non-human form. And so I have found that clients have been very, once they get what they get how to do it, they've been very successful. And because it allows you to basically have a conversation with yourself and those parts of yourself that you're not, that you're scared of, that you're not getting along with that trip you up that sabotage you and to then recognize how to work with them differently. That's where I start people and then I have them look at their language and how to lean into discomfort, how to take a leap and be a leader, find their inner c e o and get these inner lined up and working for you rather than against you. Speaker 3 (36:53): And the book has been so well received that I actually am working on a companion workbook. So in the book I give an action step per chapter. So there's like seven, there might be some bonuses in there, but the workbook is actually a action step for every single concept. So there's like 23 or 24 concepts that I cover in the book that the workbook's gonna actually give you more examples as well as an action step for each one. So I'm doing my best to break it down as much as I can for people to really take the time to figure out how they can do this differently and have a, have a better result for themself. Speaker 1 (37:32): Okay. So your inner are all the things that stop you from being who you wanna be, doing what you wanna do in life, like anxiety, your inner critic, things like that. Mm-Hmm and getting aligned is teaming them, turning them into allies so that you can actually make the choices and changes that you want to live a more fulfilled life. Is that correct? Speaker 3 (37:55): That is correct. Speaker 1 (37:56): Okay. I like it . Awesome. Well this is great and I look forward to seeing the workbook. And what tips would you give everyone who is suffering with anxiety, who is listening right now? What are just some of the top three things you might have them start working with? Yeah, Speaker 3 (38:14): I, I think those would be the thing is just accept that yeah, this does happen. There's nothing, there's really nothing wrong with you. This is your body giving you a signal that it's time to listen to these voices, but listen to them with a discerning ear to see whether some of what they're trying to say to you are things that are important to address. Because again, it can lead you to saying, okay, like all the things that I've been trying to do for my health, which you know, all of the outdated stuff of eat less, you know, exercise more, all of that, that it's time to find a better path. You know, have your hormones tested, work with somebody who can help you get some relief there so that you can put the rest of the work into action and actually be getting closer to the life that you would like to have without all of your inner trying to say no, you can't have it. Speaker 1 (39:07): Okay. So get your hormones tested for sure. Speaker 3 (39:11): Absolutely. Speaker 1 (39:13): . And what would be a couple of other things, Speaker 3 (39:17): Practicing self-compassion. We didn't really talk about that before, but I think, yeah, in this age of all this paranoia and comparisonitis is learning to have self-compassion. I, you know, I talk about language and too often my clients are talking to themselves in a way they would never talk to, you know, a child or their best friend or, or anybody for that matter. And so really starting to know, you know, how you're talking to yourself and how we can be compassionate to others, but we have to learn how to be compassionate to ourselves as well. And then that goes in line, if you're being self-compassionate, then you are finding others because that's one thing too, especially for women. You don't have to do this alone. There are people out there and, and to go back to do you need a therapist? Do you need a coach? Speaker 3 (40:09): You know where to start. It's about the relationship. So start noticing who you resonate with and not just who you feel like is gonna tell you what to do, but who feels like somebody that you could work with that would be a partner to you. And not just somebody who seems more powerful or knowledgeable. Just because you know people have a lot of letters after their name doesn't mean that they would be a good fit for you. So that's part of, I think the process as well is finding mm-hmm someone. Cause you don't have to do it alone. Speaker 1 (40:40): You do not. There is lots of support and I'm so glad that you've written the book that you've written, that you're working on the workbook that you transitioned to coaching. I think that therapy is wonderful. It's helped me tremendously. And I also think that coaching can be extremely powerful. I've had coach coaching as well, and it can be very action oriented and help you to take actions contrary to what you've been getting because if you keep taking the same actions, you're gonna get the same outcome. Absolutely. So trying something different is key. Yeah. So thank you so much for coming on the show, Lynne, and sharing your insights about anxiety and the inner with us and helping everyone understand how to become as aligned as buck. Any last words you'd like to share with everybody? Speaker 3 (41:33): No. Just yeah, keep your eye out if you're, if this interests you at all, like I said, there's the book, there's a workbook you can get on my website and get a taste of the book. I think it's chapter three is available for my website. And I just really appreciate this conversation. It's been great. I hope it was helpful. Speaker 1 (41:52): Yes, thank you so much. And thank you all for listening to another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kieran. Hopefully you've learned something today that will inspire you to take action and do something different and really figure out what it is you want for your life and go for it. Don't just dream about it. I always say that the dream chooses the dreamer. You didn't choose the dream, it chose you. And that your dreams as humanity calling forth from you, those gifts that only you have, that only you can deliver. So what are those gifts and what are you gonna do to move towards delivering them today? Thanks so much for joining me. I'll see you next week. Until then, peace, Speaker 2 (42:34): Love, and hormones, y'all. Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.   ►Grab your excerpt from Lynn Dutroe's book ALIGNED As F*cK and get started transforming your Inner Assholes into Allies! - CLICK HERE ► Feeling tired? Can't seem to lose weight, no matter how hard you try? It might be time to check your hormones. Most people don't even know that their hormones could be the culprit behind their problems. But at Her Hormone Club, we specialize in hormone testing and treatment. We can help you figure out what's going on with your hormones and get you back on track. We offer advanced hormone testing and treatment from Board Certified Practitioners, so you can feel confident that you're getting the best possible care. Plus, our convenient online consultation process makes it easy to get started. Try Her Hormone Club for 30 days and see how it can help you feel better than before. CLICK HERE.   If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review The Hormone Prescription Podcast on your preferred podcast platform. Your support helps us reach even more listeners, allowing them to benefit from our expert advice and knowledge. ✨  

Welcome to The Hormone Prescription Podcast, where we bring you inspiring stories and expert insights to help you elevate your health and wellness. Today, we're excited to have the energetic and passionate Emmy-winning TV host, Samantha Harris, join us to talk about her incredible journey to health and wellness. Her story begins with a shocking breast cancer diagnosis at the age of 40, which led her to rise above the challenge and become a breast cancer "thriver." Samantha channeled her energy into becoming a Certified Health Coach, trainer, and author of the bestselling book "YOUR HEALTHIEST HEALTHY: 8 Easy Ways to Take Control, Help Prevent and Fight Cancer, and Live a Longer, Cleaner, Happier Life."    In this episode, you'll discover: - How Samantha's life took an unexpected turn with her breast cancer diagnosis - The ways in which she fought and thrived despite the challenge presented by this life-changing event  - The inspiration behind her bestselling book, "YOUR HEALTHIEST HEALTHY: 8 Easy Ways to Take Control" - Samantha's perspective on health and wellness as a Certified Health Coach and trainer  - The importance of taking control of your health and living your healthiest, happiest life   If you're inspired by Samantha's story and want to learn more, subscribe to The Hormone Prescription Podcast for more uplifting stories and informative interviews.    Remember to stay healthy, stay inspired, and keep on listening!   Speaker 1 (00:00): Keep doing what you're doing and you will keep getting what you're getting. Samantha Harris, stay tuned for amazing story of healing from breast cancer and beyond to your healthiest healthy. Speaker 2 (00:14): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an ob gyn, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Speaker 1 (01:07): Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me today. You're gonna love my guest today. She has an amazing story of healing from breast cancer and beyond, to becoming her healthiest healthy, and now that's what she's gonna help you do is become your healthiest healthy. In this episode, she is passionate about health and healing, but more than that, vitality and living a full and meaningful life. So she's gonna teach you all about that. She's very inspiring and she has some amazing wisdom to share about detecting breast cancer, trusting yourself and so many other things. It's just too much for me to tell you. You're gonna love this episode and we're gonna dive into the teaser that I shared with you. Keep doing what you're doing and you'll keep getting what you're getting, which is kind of a motto that she lives by. Speaker 1 (02:04): And she's gonna talk about how being kind to herself and really slowing down has been vital to becoming her healthiest, healthy, and might be a key to yours and so much more. So let me tell you a little bit about Samantha and then we'll get started. She's an Emmy winning TV host and she may be best known for her eight seasons as the host of Dancing With the Stars and Years as host of host, such as Entertainment Tonight and Extra from hosting every major Hollywood award show red carpet to starring on Broadway in the musical Chicago. She has been a fixture in the entertainment world. She's currently the host of the World play Game show, tug of Words on Game Show Network. Please help me welcome Samantha Harris to the show. Dr. Kier, I love what you do and how you really help. You know, as a, as a breast cancer survivor who's had to deal with a lot of hormonal issues because I had a hormone positive breast cancer, I am grateful for all the information that you put out there for anyone, whether they've had a deal with a diagnosis or not. Speaker 1 (03:08): So thank you for that. Oh, it's my pleasure. It's my passion. It's what I love doing. You know, when I discovered a root cause resolution way to heal my body and lose a hundred pounds and get off all the medications, I said that I would commit my life to teaching other women about this. And so that's why we're here. And I know that you have an amazing story about having estrogen. Was it estrogen receptor positive breast cancer? Oh yeah, pro progesterone, both. And, and so breast cancer is the thing that scares women more than anything. We're all petrified about getting breast cancer, I guess, because so many of us will get it in our lifetimes. It's not common to have your life shortened by it anymore because we have such advances in treatment. But it is possible. My maternal grandmother actually passed away at a very young age due to breast cancer. Speaker 1 (04:02): So I'm wondering if you could share your journey with everyone. Absolutely. And I think that it is so important to be able to let women know that we have so much more power and control than we may think. So as I've been a national ambassador for Susan g Koman, probably because of all my time hosting, dancing with the Stars in Entertainment Tonight and all of those and having a, a great national platform for that, but since my breast cancer diagnosis. And so I learned that one in eight women will receive a breast cancer diagnosis over the course of her lifetime, which a alone was shocking, but to me the most shocking part of it was that only five to 10% of those breast cancers are actually hereditary. And when I found out, because I had a, a grandmother who had breast cancer and now she was postmenopausal, so they don't connect premenopausal like mine to hers. Speaker 1 (04:52): She lived to 95, thank goodness my dad had colon cancer died at age 50, but he also had Crohn's disease before that. And there are, there is a breast colon hereditary connection. We looked at that, no connection there. So I had no, and I've done 180 genetic tests that are currently available for breast cancer. None of them detected it. So I'm in that 80 or 95, you know, to to 90, 95% of people who don't have a genetic predisposition. Right. And I'm sure there's probably, sure you could throw up a random number like 5% that are just, gosh, who knows what the heck it is. It's some sort of fluke. But, so let's say now that we're at like a good 85 to 90% of breast cancers being not genetic, not being able to be chalked up to some crazy other thing happening in their body. Speaker 1 (05:44): And we know the power of epigenetics, right? How our habits and lifestyle choices and our environment that we are living in impact our risk of disease in this case. Mm-Hmm. breast cancer, that was one of the most empowering things that I learned in my early cancer. Versity when I was learning as much as I possibly could. And so as a journalist, I started a research journey to seek out answers. Why are so many women getting it? Why when the hereditary links are so few? And I found it really is what we are putting in and around our bodies that leads not just to breast cancer but other cancers, type two diabetes, heart disease, neurodegenerative disorders and decline. And when I learned that, it made me realize, wow, there's so much more for my health and my outcome of my future that I have con potential control of. Speaker 1 (06:36): And I kept, took my power back, I was back in the saddle, I took the reins and I started to make slow but systematic changes in my life. Yeah, I love what you said and how you outline that 90 to 95% of what goes into causing breast cancer is under your control. And, but we're really taught that we're powerless, that we're at the whim or victimization of some nebulous kind of cancer causing God. But the truth is, it's what how we're living your lives, right? Which is what you teach people about in your programs. It's what we're putting in our mouths, what we're putting in our bodies, what we're putting on our hair, what we're not getting rid of, right? What we're not pooping out, what we're not peeing out. Yes. All of these disruptors. So yeah, share a little bit about your journey. I did see, you know, on your website you have some very personal pictures of you going through some very specific cancer treatments. Speaker 1 (07:33): If you would love to talk about that. I'm sure women would love to hear about how you survived that very difficult time, what it was like for you. And then coming out of that, what was it like the, the ultimate healing that you did after they got rid of the cancer? Well, I think sharing my journey is really important to me. And, and this is why we have to be our own best health advocates. We need to know our bodies better than anyone else, including the person in the lab coat with all respect to those of you who are in the profession of medicine. And then goodness you are. But we need to know our bodies better than the doctor we're walking into the room with. And that means noticing small changes and not bearing your head in the sand when you find them. So I had a clear M mammogram. Speaker 1 (08:17): I was about to turn 40, this is in 2014 actually, 2013. And the results came back clear. It's exactly what I had anticipated because I was the healthy one among my friends and family. I worked out every day I ate my cheese list pizzas and my snack well cookies that were low fat cuz god forbid we eat any fat , you know, I had a meal of red vines because they were fat free. Oh my God. They were the, I had literally, I would go and buy like from smart and final or Costco, like the tub of red vines cuz they would advertise fra fat free food. So I thought free fine to have, forget the fact that I now have learned it's high fructose corn syrup and red dye 40 and all these very harmful and cancerous things. But I didn't know that at the time. Speaker 1 (09:00): Right? And so here I am, I'm thinking I'm so healthy and I'm eating copious amounts of animal protein. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, whether it was yogurt or eggs for breakfast and Turkey or chicken or fish or something for lunch and dinner every single day of the week. And I grew up in Minnesota eating every part of the cow. There was so a lot of, a lot of animal in my life. And then here I was, you know, blindsided by this breast cancer diagnosis, which I didn't know because I had a clear mammogram. 11 days later I found a lump changing after a workout, again, knowing your body. And you know, you know, you take off that really tight constricting sports bra and you circle 'em to the left, you circle 'em to the right, you know, you gotta get them moving again. And there I was circling and I went, oh well that's weird. Speaker 1 (09:44): What is, what's that lump? I, that's definitely not been there before. But I just had a clear mammogram 11 days before that still didn't stick my head in the sand, didn't realize I needed to be my best health advocate. But I still called the ob. G Y n had me come in the next day, felt around, said it's nothing you, you're returning 40, it's probably glandular. This is what 40 year old breast looked like. Sent me on my way. Said it was nothing a month later, still there, but of course not breast cancer. So went to see my internist, same thing, quick clinical exam, it's nothing sent me on my way. And then it was the holidays and by the time I came up for air, it was about four months after I found that lump and it was still there. And I finally listened to my, now my inner voice screaming at me saying go to someone who looks at breasts every day and that only that the only expert who does is a breast oncologist. Speaker 1 (10:36): So I found myself at a cancer center thinking this is ridiculous. I don't have cancer, why am I here? And she did two ne two ultrasounds, a needle biopsy, a subsequent M r i, after those appointments, not one test detected the cancer. And yet she said, you're not crazy though. There's something there. So I'm going to advise. We do a lumpectomy. And we took it out, woke up from that surgery still saying no cancer. Went back a week later, told my husband, you don't need to come with me. It's not cancer. Go literally. I told him, go golf, it's a gorgeous day. Don't waste it in a dark, you know, office in the bottom of basement of a hospital with me. And then I was alone as the words you have ductal carcinoma and site do. And I'm trying to unravel what the heck that means. Speaker 1 (11:16): But I just heard the word carcinoma and I knew that meant cancer and lots of diagrams and dots and things she was drawing. And I, all of a sudden the adrenaline and the anxiety and the overwhelm and the scared feelings and every emotion you can imagine hearing you have cancer. My daughters were, our daughters were three and six at the time. I lost my dad when he was 50 and here I was at 40 and I thought like hell, I'm not gonna be there for my kids. And that's when my cancer journey began. And that was, that was 40. Wow. Turning 40 is an event for all of us, but certainly sounds like it was an extreme sport almost for you or an extreme life event. And so then what type of treatment did you undergo for that? So the, this is when you know a lot of personal choice comes into effect as well as many opinions. Speaker 1 (12:03): So again, taking your health into your hands and be your own best healthcare advocate. Don't take doctor number one's information as the only, you know the word of God. So literally within the span of a week I saw two more surgical oncologists. So three opinions. I took the lab results to a separate pathologist at a different university hospital just to make sure because we were all basing, you know, it on one lab reading. So we made sure that they agreed that it was actually this particular cancer. Mm-Hmm . It turned out that not only was it ductal carcinoma in situ, which is contained within the duct and really the kind of breast cancer you want because they take it out, it's gone. You're all good. Mm-Hmm . But finding great experts is really important because she listened, the surgeon listened to her gut and in the surgery she said, you know, there was an area on the border, it looked like healthy tissue. Speaker 1 (12:53): But for some reason my, my inner voice was saying I needed to take a sample that turned out to be invasive breast cancer. Oh my gosh. So in that moment, my breast cancer journey went from breast cancer light to breast cancer. Serious. And now it was not, you're done now cuz you had the lumpectomy, but it's okay, what's next? So my options were another lumpectomy to make sure we had clear margins and then six weeks of radiation every day or mm-hmm. A single or double mastectomy with or without reconstruction. I opted for the double with reconstruction. I saw multiple, I saw two different radiation oncologists to get their opinions. I saw, I have a second medical oncologist. So I had two opinions about chemo and treatment going forward in the end. And you guys, anyone who is out there listening and maybe newly diagnosed or one what to do, please feel free to always DM me and ask me questions. Speaker 1 (13:44): I respond to every single woman who is worried about a cancer diagnosis or is diagnosed and it is Samantha Harris tv, like television on Instagram and, and Facebook, Samantha Harris tv. But then I can explain why I chose not to do the chemo and not to do the radiation. Mm-Hmm . And it's a very personal decision of it on the chemo. Cause a lot of people will probably wanna know is I had a very low Oncotype score, which really show, and I had a very small tumor. So it, to me that was the decision. And now, now, you know, 2014 to now all these years later, I am very grateful that I didn't undergo chemo because of everything else I now know. However, had it been in a much more aggressive tumor, I don't think I would've made that choice. Right. And that's a very personal decision, like you said. Speaker 1 (14:29): So if there is anybody listening and you've got every sin cancer diagnosis, I love what you said about getting second opinions, even third opinions, really you do have to be the ceo, get all the information and then make a wise choice for yourself. So I do wanna have that disclaimer that what you necessarily did might not be right for someone listening. So get your healthcare providers and consult and yes, definitely reach out on social media if you do have questions, because I think the more people you can talk to about what's going on with you personally, the better you are. But no one person is the guru for you. You are the expert on your body and your health. I love how you really demonstrated that Samantha, by, even though you had a negative mammogram, 11 days later you felt a lump and you didn't just discount what you felt about your body. Speaker 1 (15:26): And I want every woman listening to really hear that because part of what I want you to learn is that you really are the expert. Nobody else can tell you when your body is working on all cylinders at a hundred percent you'll know that inside yourself, in your skin when you feel at home and you have great energy and your weight is where you want it to be and your sleep and your hair and your libido and yes, all the things. So after you got out of the acute phase, your oncologist doctors, they're like, okay Samantha, you're good. We're gonna follow you pretty closely I would imagine. But yes. What did you then do for yourself that you now teach other women? Well, this was the biggest thing, again, the eyeopening that we can be in better control of our health and our health future than we realized. Speaker 1 (16:18): So I put that journalist hat on tightly and I dug into research and I spoke to every expert I could and I sought out opinions and answers and asked some really deep questions. And here I was, you know, living my life thinking I was healthy, living my career in a makeup chair every single day. Being as any, whether you're working on TV like very few of us, or doing the nine to five or the mom 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM we all put on makeup or potions and lotions and hair stuff and whatever the shellacking that was done of chemical bombs of potential harmful carcinogens and endocrine disruptors with mess, mess with our hormones, allergens, neurotoxins that are in our products that our own f d A here in the US approves no big deal. No oversight from these companies. No responsibility from these big brands. They just market to us. Speaker 1 (17:13): It's October Pink ribbons, slap it on, but hey, we're also giving you breast cancer at the same time. So yes, it sounds very cynical, but I've learned so much and yeah, I'm saying overnight you need to throw out everything in your house and start over. But making small methodical changes that end up changing how you are living your day-to-day life is, is really important. And so I realized the makeup and the haircare I was using the personal care products at home, the cleaning supplies all were filled with toxic junk. The foods I was eating and how I was eating and when I was eating all were really not coming into play to make me live my healthiest healthy life. See, I thought I was healthy and I realized I needed to be my healthiest healthy. And that's, that's why, you know, my whole thing has now the your healthiest healthy from the your healthiest healthy book that really launched a whole program, a membership community with my life coaching and workouts and experts to my live, my courses that are offered and my retreats and really just answering anyone I possibly can through social media and putting as much information out there so that we have the, the tools at our disposal. Speaker 1 (18:23): So what were some of the most, you mentioned general categories, makeup, cleaning products, the things you were eating, what were some of the, the specific things that really shocked you when you're like, oh, and I mean maybe you don't wanna mention name brand names of products. I just realized that honestly any major big brand is pretty much like anything. You go to the department store pretty much you can is has a lot of toxic chemicals in it anytime you go down to the drugstore aisle, most of it also pretty toxic, thank goodness. And I will tell you the difference between now and back in 2014, thankfully we have so many the demand as consumers, right? They're finally hearing us, right? Even the big, big brands are starting to have little offshoot brands or an offshoot line of, I mean whether it's, you know, big brand x deodorant that is filled with aluminum and other toxic stuff. Speaker 1 (19:16): Now they have their aluminum free version because they realize they were losing some of the market share. And more and more, more kind of mom and pop shopper boutique like makeup brands and skincare brands are now becoming more str mainstream. You go into a place like a Sephora, they finally, and even Target, they finally have their clean brands. I have to look into what their requirements are. I don't know if they're like Samantha's level of clean, but you know what, it's a much baby steps. Might as well start there and you can always level up from there after that. Yes. And I'd say for anyone curious, if you want to look@ewg.org environmental working group.org, they list a lot of the mainstream brands and they, they give the products ratings. They tell you the ingredients that are toxic. But, and yes, a lot of these big brands are offering so-called quote unquote non-toxic products. Speaker 1 (20:10): I say that with little quotes, my fingers in the air because they're aware that consumers know certain ingredients are toxic, but they're also aware that consumers are not so educated that they will miss certain other names. So they will actually create different ingredients that have different names that you won't recognize that are probably toxic too. So I find, and what I've done and what I teach my people to do is find the small brands that really are 100% non-toxic and all natural and they just don't have any chemicals. And you're not not gonna find 'em in a big box store. You might find a lot of them online and ask for referrals from friends. There are a lot of blog posts now where you can kind of Google top 15 all natural makeup brands and then research it yourself. Don't take their word for it and discover what's best for you. Speaker 1 (21:05): What guidelines do you offer for that? Well, first of all, I you, you already brought up the Environmental Working Group, which is a fantastic resource. They're a nonprofit. I love their one through 10 ratings. One being the cleanest for an overall product or one also being ingredient to ingredient, how toxic that ingredient is. 10 being like runaway fragrance. By the way, red alert is a nine and that's because fragrance is proprietary. So if you have fragrance as an ingredient and that company isn't being transparent and this clo what that fragrance is made of within the product, stay away from it. Because it oftentimes has a lot of one four dioxane, which is a, an endocrine disruptor. It has phthalates, which are endocrine disruptors. And another great point Dr. Karen that you made, which is that a brand might say here's our clean version, but, and it doesn't have to be quote unquote all natural because that also there are synthetic chemicals that are not harmful that the, the good brands will make sure that they are transparent and disclose that are in the ingredients labels. Speaker 1 (22:07): So, cause I think people get scared away with all, all natural, that's not gonna work for me. It's not gonna have the staying power if you guys want. So I just finished shooting 65 episodes of a TV show and I had my hair makeup team who I've worked with for many years who are more than happy, they jumped at this and I was so happy we became teammates in this. I said, look, I'm going back on tv, I don't want toxic stuff in the dressing room every day on my face and our hair, us breathing it in. So before we shot, I tasked them with a challenge which was only bring in clean. And if you have a question about it, send the brand my way. I will vet it and let you know if I, if I'm like, it's approved or it's not. And Uhhuh tried a lot of different brands because there are a lot of clean brands. Speaker 1 (22:51): But then do they work? Is they, are they effective? Do they give you the appearance that you want on your face or with your hair? Do they have the lasting power? And I was shooting 12 hours a day, six episodes a day. So it was a very intense schedule. So if you want my list as you're listening of Clean Beauty that's been vetted, skincare, makeup, haircare, send me a DM on, mostly on Instagram, but you can try me on Facebook, Samantha Harris tv, like television, I will send you my list. I don't have skin in the game with most of the brands or anything like that. There are one or two that I've partnered with, but you don't have to use them. I'm gonna give you all the info and be straight up with you. Awesome. That's so generous. I hope you will take her up on that offer. Speaker 1 (23:30): And I know that in your healthiest healthy eight easy ways to take control is one of those switching out your your beauty products. It is, it is. It's a huge step. And again, it doesn't have to be overnight baby steps. So let's say you're like, okay, I'm ready to switch out my makeup. I know how much money we spend on makeup and all of these things. Mm-Hmm. , right? So I'm not saying go dump out your drawer tomorrow, but maybe start with, in terms of skincare and makeup, start with your lotion, right? Your face cream. Cuz you're covering the biggest amount of skin and surface area, which of course is our biggest organ. It's absorbing all of it into our bloodstream and then your foundation and then level up from there. Maybe it's lipstick because you're eating a lot of it, you know, then maybe move to blush and eyeshadows and so on and just start to level up. Speaker 1 (24:18): And the other thing for feminine care, and I know, you know, some of you may already be menopausal and you're not having to deal with menstrual cycles, but for those of you who are still, or you're at that later stage and you're having urine leakage and you have to have those types of pads, make sure that they're 100% organic cotton. Because if I show you what is in, we're talking about the bleach, the cotton that's been grown and and sprayed with Monsanto, glyphosate, and all these other horrible toxic chemicals, and you're putting it next to your most thin permeable skin. No, no, no. Or inside. No, no, no, no, no. , you do not wanna do this. So that's, that's my other little public service announcement. Preach Samantha, preach please. I love it. Right. So, you know, they, people hear people like me out here saying this stuff all the time, but it's about time. Speaker 1 (25:10): I love that you come from kind of a more traditional journalist background and that you discovered all this for yourself. I hate how you had to discover it. And I love that you're sharing this information and you're empowering women with this vital information, right? When people see you on TV and they think, oh, she's the pinnacle of beauty. And then you hear what she's sharing y'all about her hair and makeup and she told her people, I'm not sitting in this toxic soup for 12 hours a day every day for how many days. So what other kinds of ways to take control do you think are important for women to know about, to take control of their health? Well, a huge one. And I think possibly one of the biggest things people say, well, you know, I, especially I I even have my my 15 year old who wants, you know, it's all about how do I look, how do I look compared to everybody else? Speaker 1 (26:03): I think most of your listeners like, I, I mean we all wanna look good, but I'm kind of past that. I wanna just feel great. I wanna live a long, healthy life in this one vessel that I have. So what can I do? How can I treat my body so that it doesn't just look good, but that it feels amazing and gives me the ability to do the things I need to accomplish. Not just the day to day, but the big picture of things that I yearn to do. Right? I wanna go hike mountains in Italy and I have like all, you know, I wanna get down to the ground with my eventual grandchildren and play and be able to get back up. So you, first of all, you can't out exercise a bad diet. However, right? Daily movement is essential, very, very essential. But food is possibly one of the biggest changes you can make. Speaker 1 (26:49): I'm not telling you you have to give up your favorite corner bakery or you have to not have that steak when you go to the restaurant that you just love at that steakhouse. But when we're looking at food in general, we really wanna focus on a plant forward or plant-based diet. So the biggest thing is that women only get about 12 grams of fiber per day on average. And what we need to thrive and live optimally is closer to 30 to 35 grams of fiber per day. And even our own U S D A only says 25 grams, which actually you can talk to any expert worth their salt, they will tell you it's over 30 grams a day we need. And so the way to get that is increase your vegetable intake, you know, really non-starchy veggies. So if you're having a bunch of baked potatoes every day, that's not really qualifying non-starchy. Speaker 1 (27:37): We're talking about your cruciferous veggies, which are great cancer fighters. That's gonna be your Brussels sprouts and your broccoli and your cauliflower broccoli sprouts are amazing. You know, all of those cr kale and then leafy greens are at the top of that nutrient density pyramid. If you could only have one thing and you gotta choose what's the best nutrient density for my caloric buck, it would be leafy green, dark leafy greens, but adding in berries, great cancer fighters, tons of fiber getting in those, the chia seeds, the flax seeded flax seeds, also a great cancer fighter, matcha green tea powder changing up kind and the color of veggies that you're having and really making sure that your microbiome right, that's the, the diversity within your gut is as diverse as possible. So you wanna aim for about 30 different plant-based foods per week. And that means not just fruits and veggies, but also nuts and seeds and legumes whole grains. Speaker 1 (28:32): So quinoa, taf, amaranth Pharaoh, things like that. All count, which is great. And actually spices and herbs also count, and if you don't, doesn't even take a lot of those to count of as one of those 30. So that was the biggest food change I did was I flipped my plate as the meat eating Minnesotan with a slab front and center. I flip my plate to fill at least half my plate full of veggies at every meal. So my day starts with a smoothie and that's, I began to intermittent fast during covid. So now that's part of my life that's really can be very beneficial as well. And you guys can reach out to me on, on more about intermittent fasting, but so whenever I'm breaking my fast, it's with some cashews or cashews and almonds and then my smoothie because you can pack so many of the nutrients that are great for you and beneficial. Speaker 1 (29:22): I think I have something like 18 of my 30, all of fruit and vegetables all in my smoothie in one, one fell swoop. So it's, it's great, you know, you can throw all the goodness in there and then really just getting that variety in. Yes. So what you're eating super important. You've gotta work on that plant forward, plant-based plant predominant for sure. Intermittent fasting is a great tool. We've had a lot of the experts on that on the show. Talking about intermittent fasting, it's a tool that I use as well, but I love to say it's a tool, not necessarily a religion. Yeah. So treat it like, like a tool. All right. So we've talked about getting rid of the toxins. We've talked about your diet. What are some of the other easy ways to take control? And I know you have a lot more in your book, you have a lot more in your programs to go in depth, but I want people to kind of get a, an idea. Speaker 1 (30:11): Well, you know, the other thing is that leads to disease is stress. And we all live in such a stressful world because our phones are always dinging us. We're trying to fit 28 hours into 24 or maybe 30. In my mind, in my mind, I feel like I'm always trying to fit too much in and in this go, go, go world, we forget, we, we are praised for lack of sleep and overwork and grinding it out. When really that's to our detriment. First of all, it's not good for our hormones, it's not good, right? Our levels of cortisol, the stress hormone goes through the roof mm-hmm. . And when we live in a state of chronic stress that leads to chronic inflammation, which is the underlying cause of many diseases. So really taking that time every day for self-care and working in, whether it's breath work, meditation, a yoga, a hike, or walk in nature, time with friends, socializing, laughing, these are all stress relievers that are really important to add into your every day life to help beat depression, beat obesity, and beat inflammation. Speaker 1 (31:16): Yeah, you're super busy , you're a wife, you're a mom, you're a TV personality, you've got your own programs, your own platform. You're, you're DMing people on Instagram. You know, we tell women this all the time and do we do it a lot of times? No , we don't know how to say no, we don't know how to slow down. We don't know how to sit and just be. How have you reduced the stress in your life to help your co cortisol? I'm, I'm sure everybody would love to know. Breathwork I think has been one of the most powerful tools. I thought for the longest time only meditation and getting to sit for 30 minutes without moving was going to be what I needed to do. I'm still struggling to try to get in a, you know, a 15 or 20 minute meditation on a daily basis. Speaker 1 (32:01): But what I did realize that I could do was breathe and breathe, whether it's for 30 seconds or for five minutes or for 15, if I can, where I'm taking good deep belly breaths. There's a whole variety. You guys can google it, you can reach out to Dr. Kirin or to me. There's so many different ways to integrate breath work into your life. But even taking that, you know, two seconds of deep and exhales before you go into a meeting, when you park the car and turn off the ignition before you get out, finding those little cracks in the day where you can add in a couple of deep breaths, it immediately ignites your parasympathetic your rest and digest nervous system. And that can't be active if your sympathetic is in fight or flight. So it automatically deactivates the fight or flight and activates this resting, calming wonderful part of your nervous system. Speaker 1 (32:57): And that makes a big difference as well, I find. Mm-Hmm. . The other part is mindfulness. So if you're out maybe walking the dogs or you know, walking from the parking lot to the in, you know, the entrance to a building. If you can do it in a way that's mindful instead of the 4,000 thoughts that are in your head, take a moment while you're to breathe and focus on do you hear the birds chirping? You feel the warmth of the sun on your face, the breeze in your hair. If you're washing the dishes, maybe turn out off the noise around you. Do you feel the warmth of the water and the feel of the suds? Just things like that that are little actually add up to make big impact. Yes. Little things, mindfulness, breathing. Not everybody can meditate and sit still and empty their mind. Speaker 1 (33:45): And what about the role of self love? We hear a lot about that. I don't, to me that's not a mani-pedi you share this quote with me before we started that I love be kind, especially to yourself. So can you talk about that and, and how self-love has played a role? I'm sure it has in you healing and doing all of the things that you do and supporting all the people that you support. How does that show up? How are you kind to yourself? Well, in two different ways with self-care, for sure. And my mornings when I'm not traveling or shooting my mornings have become self-care mornings, and sometimes I get guilty about it because I realize all the other things on my to-do list are not getting done like I want them to get done, but I'm giving myself time for that workout to make the smoothie. Speaker 1 (34:35): And I have an infrared sauna that I sit at in. And I will say I started out meditating in there and now I, I will say I, I, I'll be honest, I do answer a lot of my dms while I'm in there, but no infrared sweat. I try to put it down for at least 10 minutes and put on a, a guided meditation. So I do breathe and I, I lay down, I put my legs up the wall in the sauna and it's a little portable popup. You guys can reach out to me. I love it because it's much more affordable than those big, you know, structured ones that you see at like infrared Sauna place or in like, some big Hollywood celebrities house that nobody can afford. I'm all about affordable ways to have healthcare hacks. But the other thing is how we talk to ourself in terms of being kind to ourself. Speaker 1 (35:16): We oftentimes are worse to ourselves and talk to ourselves whether we're in thought or out loud, worse than we would ever speak to somebody else. So when you pass that mirror next time, and the first thought is, oh gosh, I'm so wrinkled, gosh, I look so fat, whatever it is, first just acknowledge, just acknowledge that you had that thought as your first thought. It's a process. Then the next challenge is flip the script on yourself and find something positive that you like. I love the twinkle in my eye. I love how strong my arms are because I can carry my kids or I can hug my family or whatever that is. So that eventually the more positive self-talk we have and the more we push out the negative self-talk, it's something that our brain, even if we're not saying it out loud, if we're thinking it, our whole body hears it. Speaker 1 (36:03): And so it affects our wellbeing and our sense of satisfaction for life and happiness with ourselves. So being kind to yourself and then also it's, you know, the saying of it's a lot easier what to treat someone with syrup than with salt or I with vinegar. I don't know. There's some sort of saying like, but it it, the, the gentle smile to a stranger, someone who's off because you, you know, you cut in front of them and you didn't mean to a warm wave and smile of apology. It will actually go a long way versus giving them the finger back . Yes, so true. And I do think it's so important that we be kind to ourselves and just noticing my own self-talk and hearing other women how they talk about themselves and just this lack of self-love. I was doing an interview earlier and she was the, she was saying that I literally realized that I hated myself and I treated myself that way. Speaker 1 (36:58): And then now she's really cultivating this self-love. I totally wish we had time to go through all eight aspects of what you teach women, but we don't have enough time. So I'm gonna direct everyone before we sign off, we'll have you share your program. We'll have the links in the show notes, we'll have you share again, all the places they can find you. But I wanna ask you a question. I don't know if anyone's ever asked you this and you share this quote with me before we started that I love keep doing what you're doing and you will keep getting what you're getting. Where do you think you would be and what do you think would have happened if after your cancer diagnosis and your immediate treatment, you hadn't done the research, you didn't look into this, you just accepted what most women accept. Speaker 1 (37:49): Oh, cancer just happens out of the blue. I always say, not out of the blue, but out of the oblivious, where do you think you would be now? Which is what, 10 years later? I first of all would fear the recurrence, but a hundred percent because my chance of recurrence would've been a a lot greater if I hadn't started to make the changes that I am making or the, or the diagnosis, maybe not at this point, but maybe in another 10 or 20 years of another chronic disease that, you know, again, we can't take, I wish we could take 100% control by making these changes. We can't. And if you're stressing too much that, oh gosh, I'm supposed to be intermittent fasting and I broke it at 8:00 AM or I shouldn't be drinking too much wine because it could increase breast cancer risk and I had two glasses last night with friends, that stress is actually going to be more harmful. Speaker 1 (38:36): So we have to take everything in stride and find that, that the, the 90 10 rule or even the 80 20 rule, where the majority of the time you're making these helpful decisions. If I hadn't made these choices, first of all, I wouldn't have connected with the incredible women who I have been able to connect with and help and support and guide. And to me that has been the biggest gift of cancer and helping others live their healthiest healthy lives. That's amazing. Yes. Connection. And then with your voice and your platform, what you're able to offer every one in terms of information, I always say knowledge, tools, and support. That's what every woman needs. And so you're able to offer that. Thank you so much for coming on the hormone prescription and sharing your journey and your wisdom and your knowledge, tools and support. Speaker 1 (39:23): We'll have all the links in the show notes, but please do talk a little bit about your healthiest healthy community that you've created and the other places that people can find you online. Well, I love that. You know, first of all, I love live television. So the fact that I do live coaching, live workouts and bring in a live guest expert interview every week is just very much in line with what I love to do because I love to talk, but sharing and giving good takeaway. So the, your Healthiest healthy community is a membership based subscription platform, and you get access to me and immediate, you know, or pretty immediate responses in helping you live your healthiest healthy life for those who aren't interested in being part of a, a full group like that. Then I just recently launched Your Healthiest Healthy Courses, and these are basically both coaching sessions and expert guests who are giving topic-based information through the courses. Speaker 1 (40:14): So I have a two-part thriving after breast cancer course, a course on intermittent fasting, on gut health, on weight loss. We have them coming up on sleep and hormone balance and so many other topics. So that way you can go, okay, I'm just really right now focused on this. So that's what I want from Samantha. And then the other big thing that I just love and I live for every year are my, your healthiest healthy retreats. I have one in Santa Monica, California Beachside every year does a two day workshop. And then in Utah usually in October or November this year, it's October of 2023, but your Healthiest Healthy retreat. So four days and three nights hiking for all levels, by the way, and meditation and workshops with me and a lot of one-on-one coaching and advice and so much more. And I just, I, I, I just, it's my favorite thing in the whole year. Speaker 1 (41:03): I love that. Thank you so much for those amazing resources, Anne, for sharing your brilliance and wisdom with us today on the show. Thank you. Thank you. And again, you guys reach out to me, DM me and I will get back to you. Awesome. Thank you for watch for joining us for another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. I know that you learned something inspiring, uplifting, informative today, and I'm gonna challenge you to take action, take one step. What's one thing you could do differently today? Maybe take a couple deep breaths as we're closing out this episode. Thanks so much for joining me, and I look forward to seeing you again next week for another episode of The Hormone Prescription. Until then, peace, love, and hormones, y'all. Speaker 2 (41:45): Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.   ► Become your healthiest healthy! Get Samantha Harris's complimentary course - CLICK HERE.   ► Feeling tired? Can't seem to lose weight, no matter how hard you try? It might be time to check your hormones. Most people don't even know that their hormones could be the culprit behind their problems. But at Her Hormone Club, we specialize in hormone testing and treatment. We can help you figure out what's going on with your hormones and get you back on track. We offer advanced hormone testing and treatment from Board Certified Practitioners, so you can feel confident that you're getting the best possible care. Plus, our convenient online consultation process makes it easy to get started. Try Her Hormone Club for 30 days and see how it can help you feel better than before. CLICK HERE.   If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review The Hormone Prescription Podcast on your preferred podcast platform. Your support helps us reach even more listeners, allowing them to benefit from our expert advice and knowledge. ✨    

In this episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast, Karen Martel, a Certified Hormone Specialist & Transformational Nutrition Coach, joins us to provide insights on how to unlock the mysteries of female fat loss. In a candid conversation, Karen shares her journey of struggling with health issues and how she overcame these challenges to become a leading expert in women's hormone health and weight management.     Throughout the episode, Karen provides invaluable information on methods to balance and optimize hormones in peri and post menopause, and breakthrough weight loss resistance. Her practical tips and advice make a considerable impact on women's lives struggling with similar issues. Karen's passion for helping women improve their hormone health stems from her own experiences, and her approach to women's health is bold and practical. She is the host of the top 100 rated women's health podcast, "The Other Side of Weight Loss", where she shares her deep knowledge and expertise on female fat loss and hormone imbalance.    Episode Highlights: - Unlocking female fat loss secrets - Understanding hormonal challenges in peri and post menopause - Overcoming weight loss resistance - Karen's personal journey and experiences - Bold and practical approaches to women's hormonal health    Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast for more expert insights and breakthrough approaches in women's hormonal health!   Speaker 1 (00:00): What if you could break through weight loss resistance with a novel bioidentical hormone, would you try it? Stay tuned to find out if I would. Speaker 2 (00:10): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an ob gyn, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue. Now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Speaker 1 (01:03): Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me today as we're going to dive into a novel tool that's a bioidentical hormone that could help you lose up to 5% of your body weight in fat. Wanna know about it? Sure you do. Right? We always wanna look for all the natural options that could help us safely and effectively be more healthy. Right? If that includes losing weight, lose weight, regain energy, right? All the things you still gotta do all the things, but maybe this is something that can give you a little boost. We're gonna dive into that in this episode. And our guest today, Karen Martel, is gonna tell us about it and you're gonna see if I'm gonna try it or not and would you try it or not. So we're gonna have some information on that. Speaker 1 (01:51): But we're also gonna take a little tour off the main road that we usually talk about when we talk about breaking through weight loss resistance. And that has to do with the intangibles related to losing weight. The intangibles related to going from perimenopause to menopause, all the intangibles related to every symptom or disease that you might have. What are those? Well, the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs that are driving or supporting that energetic disruption. That is the symptom that you have, whether it's excess weight or you've got diabetes and your pancreas isn't functioning well, or you name the disease or symptom. There's some underlying spiritual, if you will, or energetic, cause we're gonna dive into that too. As my GE guest today, who is a weight loss resistance specialist has a lot of experience with that, as do I on my journey. It really is something that you will come to face yourself when you're healing from disease, if you're doing it right, and if you want the optimum outcomes, it really is key. Speaker 1 (03:01): So I'll tell you a little bit about Karen, then we'll get started. She's a certified hormone specialist and transformational nutrition coach and women's weight loss expert. She's got a top 100 rated women's health podcast. It's called The Other Side of Weight Loss, where she helps women to unlock the mysteries of female fat loss and hormone imbalance. She struggled with her own health issues, but she was determined to bring her knowledge to others with a bold new approach to women's hormone health and weight management. Her passion lies in helping women balance and optimize their hormones in per and post-menopause and breakthrough weight loss resistance. Yes. Please help me welcome Karen Martel to the hormone prescription. Speaker 3 (03:44): Thank you very much for having me, Dr. Kyrin. I'm very excited to be here. Speaker 1 (03:49): Yes, we talk about weight loss resistance. It's such a problem for women once we hit 40 and midlife and we age, and you really have some unique perspectives on some tools that are novel that can assist us with this weight loss resistance, and also how to address something that most people aren't aware of as an issue for them around weight loss at midlife. So maybe actually you can start by sharing a little bit about your journey and how you zeroed in on hormones and weight loss resistance and all things that we, women over 40 are concerned with . Speaker 3 (04:26): Yes, . Well, mine actually started, of course, had to start early for me in my thirties after the birth of my first child. I, you know, lost the pregnancy weight, but about a year and a half into it, I just, very suddenly, within a few months time, I rapidly started to put on weight and I had not changed anything. And I was experiencing not only weight gain, but I was having severe insomnia, really bad PMs, anxiety, depression, gut problems. And I did what every woman is told to do. I started to exercise like a mad woman . I started pretty much starving myself, trying every diet under the sun, calorie counting. I had always been a really healthy eater. So it wasn't like, it wasn't because I had changed my diet or was eating McDonald's every day and I was working out probably harder than I'd ever worked out in my life. Speaker 3 (05:25): And I only continued to gain weight. And I went to the doctor, I was put on an antidepressant, I was given a sleeping pill and kind of told to, you know, go on my way. And nobody at that time would've told me I was 33. Nobody would've said, Hey, maybe this is your hormones. And after a lot of struggling and a lot of different diets and exercise programs, I decided that I had to take matters into my own hands. And I started digging into research and decided, I think this has something to do with my hormones. And so I ended up going to a naturopath and having my hormones tested through saliva testing at the time. And it came out that I was, you know, super low on progesterone, high estrogen, and I had very low cortisol and D A T A, which I'm sure your listeners are familiar with, those two hormones and those are your stress hormones. Speaker 3 (06:24): And there I was just doing everything wrong. According to that hormonal profile, I was doing high amounts of cardio. I'm starving myself. I later found out that I also was hypothyroid and had no idea, which also those two things would've perpetuated that. So I had to go, okay, I have to make a serious shift because I didn't even think I was a stressed out person. So I started, I quit the, the hardcore CrossFitting and starving myself. And I actually started doing yoga all the time. I started asking for help. And the biggest piece of that puzzle was I started to really look at the spiritual side of what was happening. And I realized that there was a lot of things that I had not dealt with from my past. I had always had really bad self body image. I had an eating disorder as a teenager, I had sexual abuse. Speaker 3 (07:24): There was a lot of things that Karen had not dealt with. And so I went on a bit of a journey and I will tell you, it was not quick. There was no quick fixing this. And it took probably a good year of like really working on these things, slowing down, like looking at the spiritual aspect of things, dealing with some of the past stuff that the weight finally started to slowly come off. Mm-Hmm. . And I came out of that experience just going, there's gotta be more women like me. There's gotta be more women that are doing everything right that are not, you know, closet eating or eating McDonald's mm-hmm. and all of these things that, that they are eating, right. That they're exercising and they're not able to lose the weight. And so it kind of, it threw me into this world of nutrition. Speaker 3 (08:13): And then at the age of 42, I started to go into menopause and overnight Wow. Yeah. Overnight I had my thyroid crash on me and I started missing my periods. I started having hot flashes. I was, I gained two months and was like, what the heck? Because I really didn't think, I said at that point in time, I had been, you know, 10 years nutritionist, weight loss coach, like doing everything right. I don't drink, I don't, you know, dealing with the, the mental stuff, sleeping well. Like I, I really had all the boxes checked and then behold it happens again. And so that sent me on a mission to find out, okay, what's happening with my, my hormones? Why am I going into menopause so early? I was able to reverse it and I, at 47 today, I still have my period and I'm doing well. But it was a big eye-opener. Both times that when that happened to me, and I just, I know now work with so many women that very similar things have happened to them too, where they're, they are really healthy and they're trying to do things right, but they can't get that weight off. So Speaker 1 (09:22): Yeah, that period is that fifth vital sign. And when it starts going wonka donk, that is your sign emergency. Something is wrong. Just like if your pulse is sky high or your respiratory rate or you have a really high fever when your period, it really should be like clockwork. Your body has a timing mechanism where your period should come every, you know, 28 days or whatever is normal for you. And when it doesn't and it stops or it's late or it's irregular, that really should be your sign to look for the cause, not to get on a synthetic hormone. Just shut up your female system. Right? Everybody's heard me say that don't get on the birth control pill Speaker 3 (10:08): Or Speaker 1 (10:09): You know, the vaginal ring or devil shots like was done to me for decades. That's not the answer ladies. It's really not the answer. You gotta find the cause. So yeah, you hit that wall wow. At 42 and that, you know, bring drive home. Another very important point I wanna point out is that a lot of times if you go to a corporate or mainstream doctor with that scenario, they're just gonna say, oh yep, you're going into menopause. Oh well it's just biology. There's nothing we can do. And they're not going to investigate it. But you know, what you just heard Karen say was that she found the underlying cause she remediated it and then she had got her periods back and it wasn't menopause. So you don't wanna go into hormonal poverty any sooner than you have to, cuz then you have to face the consequences of them. Speaker 1 (11:01): So let's dive into, you mentioned some of the spiritual things. Let's dive into that cuz that's something we haven't talked about on the podcast that I think is super important. And then after that we'll dive into this novel tool that really is very hot and late breaking tool that you can use to help your weight loss resistance and lots of other problems in health that a lot of people don't know about. So we'll dive into that next, but what were some of your understandings that you learned through that period that you just described about the spiritual nature of this change you were going through? Speaker 3 (11:37): Yeah, I mean for my, myself personally, and I think for so many women that body self-image was a huge piece that I had to really look at. And I had self-abuse myself for a very long time. I was an alcoholic, I was a drug addict. Like I said, I had been raped, I had very bad eating disorder. I was bulimic for many years and I hadn't looked at any of that. I just literally had numbed myself and just pushed it away and thought, well I know that that's not good and that I probably am a little bit messed up from it, but I recognize that that wasn't a good thing. So I must be fine , I don't need to go back and really pick it apart. But I did and I had to. And it took a long time. I mean, like I said, it wasn't easy. Speaker 3 (12:24): I had to, I was in therapy for seven years and it was, it wasn't traditional therapy. I did a lot of what connected with me. I had started with traditional therapy and then I moved into spiritual therapy and I started seeing an energy worker. That was life-changing for me. And that's what really connected with me. And I really highly recommend that women find somebody that's gonna connect with them. Because I think a lot of the time women don't look at these problems because they don't, they immediately think if, if I'm going to go down that road, I gotta go see a therapist and I don't wanna do that. I'm not gonna go talk to somebody about my problems doesn't work, what are like, they have some issues around that. And it doesn't have to be that. It could be something completely different. E every single one of us is different. Speaker 3 (13:12): I've had, I've seen people that have gotten so much help just from body work, like going or doing yoga. Like there's so many things that you can do to connect with self. Mm-Hmm. , it doesn't have to look like that. And for some people that does work. So I think it's important to look at all of these things in, if you are continually running into the same problems over and over again, that's your sign. That's your sign that you are not looking at something that you need to look at. So if you are continually looking to the next best diet, constantly failing at that diet, constantly gaining the weight back, or maybe it's something completely different where it's just like you have this repetitive pattern of somebody wronging you constantly or getting yourself into the wrong relationships with the wrong partner. These are your big warning signs that hey, you're not listening. There's something here that you're not learning from, that you're not looking at that you have to deal with. And then, and if you don't, it's gonna keep happening over and over again and likely worse. Speaker 1 (14:22): Yes. And you know, I identify with a lot of the things that you shared. I'm wondering for everyone if you could talk about what you mean by spiritual. Because some people hear that and they're like, oh, that's not religion. I'm religious, I'm ex religion, I'm not gonna hear this, I can't hear this because spirituality is anti-religion. So maybe you could address that. So what do you mean by spiritual aspects? What does that mean? Speaker 3 (14:50): It can mean religion. I think that spirituality, I think religion is under that umbrella. So what it's whatever feeds your spirit. So if that is religion, no matter what religion it is mm-hmm. , that could be maybe what you need to connect more with. If that's what connects with you. If that's God, if it's Buddha, whatever it is, then maybe that's the road that you need to go down. Maybe you have to go talk to your priest or go talk to go get into a Bible study group wherever it might be. But if that's what is your thing, then that's great. Spirituality for me is personally my soul. What purpose am I here on earth for? I think we're all here to love and to learn. And I think that if we don't learn these things, that we're gonna have to come back in our next life and learn them again or try to learn them again. And that's my belief. I believe that there is a God, I think there was a Jesus, I think there was a Buddha. So I have this kind of like mix of all the religions put into one. But spirituality is more than what what you see here. It's that intuitiveness, it's what's going on inside. It's your heart, it's love, it's, and it can be your religion as well. So that's personally the way I see it. I don't know about you Karen, when, how do you see spirit ? Speaker 1 (16:06): Oh yeah. I mean to me it's the part of us that enlivens the human form that we're in, that we get to use while we're in this, on this earth plane. And it represents all of who we've ever been and ever will be and what we're meant to express in this lifetime. What we're meant to experience, the people we're meant to come in contact with. And to me, when I talk about the spirituality of perimenopause or menopause or the spirituality of any disease, I think there is a spiritual lesson in, in every symptom and disorder that we can experience. I'm talking about looking for the deeper meaning that isn't obvious, right? If you, when I weighed 243 pounds and I looked in the mirror, well you could, I could see I was morbidly obese. Right? But what's the meaning? What's the meaning behind that? More than, oh, I had hormonal imbalances is I had toxicities, I had gut dysfunction, I had all these physical causes contributing to it. Speaker 1 (17:08): I had energetic causes, right? Thoughts, feelings, beliefs, all garnered from past experiences that I had had that led me to certain belief systems. So it's interesting with obesity, they found in some of the studies, I think his name is Filetti, who did some of the research on this. And he just happened to notice that 80% of the women in, in the study he was doing on obesity had been sexually abused. And that's ultimately what I think led to the ACE trials, the adverse childhood experienced trials. Cuz they were starting to see this link between adverse childhood experiences, emotional psychosocial experiences, and physical health problems. And then when he, he noticed this 80% incidence of childhood sexual abuse among these women in this study that were obese. So to me it's really looking at the deeper meaning. And so how did that show up for you? Mm-Hmm. in terms of what you were going through right Here are your 42 mm-hmm. , your body's getting ready to go into menopause, which is on average nine years early, your thyroid shut down. And so what did that look like for you? Mm-Hmm. Speaker 3 (18:19): The thyroids energetically signifies your voice chakra. So we have these energy centers in our body, and this isn't woowoo, this is science. We have energy centers throughout our body. And the voice chakra sits right where your thyroid is. And I think that this is, I personally think this is why so many more women have it than men have thyroid problems, is because we don't tend to speak our mind as much as men do. We tend to stuff things down. We're not, we're taught that, you know, maybe not to voice our emotions so much. And I, looking back at my history and all the times I didn't say anything when I wanted to say something, when I wanted to stop that person from abusing me, when I had so much self-hatred for myself, I did not think that I was capable of being loved even. And that I think was really tied up in my thyroid. Speaker 3 (19:16): And I don't think it was something that I dealt with over those first few years of therapy. I don't think I, cause the thyroid thing didn't come in until later. And then I was like, oh, I'm not surprised that I have a thyroid problem. And I didn't address it. And so I really think it was my body going, n you have to pay attention to this now. This is, you have to start speaking your mind and you have to start loving yourself. And it sounds really like, oh, so cliche, oh, love yourself. But looking back at my history, I never did. I never loved myself. I had always hated my body. I always critiqued it. I didn't trust myself. I didn't, there was so many things that needed to be unpacked. And coming into my forties, going into menopause and gaining that much weight, especially as a weight loss coach, that was super hard on my ego. Speaker 3 (20:09): And I knew that no matter what I did, this was interesting. No matter what I did, I would not have lost the weight then I knew it. So every time I would like go, oh, you know, the, the old patterns would start to come up and I'd say, oh, I, I better start, you know, cutting down on the calories and we better start working out harder. And then I'd be like, Nope, stop. Don't do that. Because then that's like going back into that old pattern of dieting and thinking that that was the answer. Cause for me it's, it wasn't, and I knew that, I knew that there was something emotional, like you said, like there's always something emotional to every medical problem, every chronic ailment that you've got. I really truly believe that there is going to be an emotional component to it. Whether it's the full root cause, whether it's just a third of it, who knows. But there's always something emotional or something that, that your body is trying to get you to look at in your life. Speaker 1 (21:07): I totally agree with that 100%. And some of the things that you said, I wanna, let's go back and talk about this. So, you know, you very are very open and very freely shared some of your struggles earlier. And then you said, I hated myself. And the average per woman, if you ask her, do you hate yourself? She's gonna say no. And if you ask her, do you love yourself? She's gonna say yes. So I'm thinking we probably, because that probably would've been me at one point also. And then there was a point where I realized, no, I actually treat myself as if I hate myself, . And so what does that mean? What does, how would a woman identify, oh my gosh, I behave as if I hate myself. And the whole cliche, like you said, of self-love, we tell, we hear that so much, but really what does that mean on a day-to-day, day basis? Maybe you even take some instances, well, oh, here's something that I dealt with and here's how I treated myself with hatred around that, and here's how I now treat myself with love. So maybe we could have a little richer, more in depth discussion on that. Speaker 3 (22:11): Mm-Hmm. , I think people, women can recognize it because you have to tune into how are you speaking to yourself all day long. Right? Pay attention, like most of it is subconscious, but pay attention to, and I, and we're gonna get into this, is, I just recently lost a bunch of weight and it's so interesting to me to, to realize that I still have these like nagly little self-talk bull crap inside of me. . It's like, you know, I just go lose a bunch of weight, even though I was, you know, I, I was looking good and, but I lost weight. And then I caught myself looking in the mirror, not even realizing going, I wish I, I could lose a little bit more weight right here on my, the back of my arm. And I was like, oh, Karen, how dare you say that you just lost 10 pounds off your body and you, how dare I? Speaker 3 (23:06): And I was so ashamed and I felt so guilt. I was like, what, what? How can I even think that? And so I had to look at it and be like, where's that coming from? And I'm like, it's coming from the fact that I've done this for the last 30 years of my life. I've looked in the mirror and I have cut myself down. I, it's al it's never like, Hey, I'm looking good. Look at how great my stomach looks. I'm looking so hot. Like, it's usually like, we don't do that. We right. We pick up the one or like many things, whatever it is. But you'll, you'll nitpick. You'll be like, what's this freckle doing here on my face? , you're just, you'll find anything. And sometimes women, it's a lot, it's not one thing. It's their whole body that they look at and they hate. Speaker 3 (23:54): They're going, what? Look at my stomach, look at my legs, look at my cellulite, look at my hair, look at my wrinkles, look at my chest, look at my breasts. Like it's never ending. And so ask yourself like, how, how is your day spent talking to yourself? Are you constantly worried about your weight? Are you constantly worried about the food that's going into your mouth? Are you constantly going, Ooh, I'm gonna start this tomorrow. Ooh, I'm gonna eat better today. I'm gonna eat better tomorrow. I'm gonna start the diet next week. Because I think majority of women do this, wouldn't you say? Speaker 1 (24:28): Yes. And you know, I love the litmus test for that because it's such a habitual way that most of us think when we look in the mirror, we're not looking for what we love. We're looking for the things we don't like that we need to fix so we can be perfect. Would you say that to a friend? Would you say your friend says, oh Karen, I lost 10 pounds. Look I lost 10 pounds. And they proudly come before you and you go, you know what? Yeah. But you've got fat on the back of that arm and you need to lose that. What would your friend say to you? She would not be your friend anymore. Right. That's how you know you're hating on yourself. Speaker 3 (25:06): Yeah, exactly. And, and hate's a strong word, but yeah. Speaker 1 (25:10): , Speaker 3 (25:10): You know, like how much are you loving on yourself? Maybe ask that. How much are you actually just going like, you are rocking it. You look so fantastic. I had a friend last year who was desperately trying to lose weight. She was eating, trying to eat right. She was exercising. And then I didn't talk to her for like a month or two. And when I saw her, she had lost weight. And so I'm thinking like, oh, all my tips are working for her. Right? And she said, you know what Karen? I wasn't losing weight no matter what I was doing. And she said, so I, I stopped thinking about it. Instead I would get myself naked and I would stand in front of my mirror and I would tell myself how great I looked. And she said, I did that consistently . And she said, and the weight started coming off. And I was like, wow, . Speaker 1 (25:58): It's so true. One other thing I noticed, I just wanna share cuz I know some people listening are gonna be like, oh my gosh, I do that too is so I had been traveling and not been able to keep to my eating and exercise schedule and I gained a few pounds and then I came to a city here in Argentina where I could kind of get settled and get to a good gym and eat like I like to eat. And so I just started doing, doing the things that I do for my health. And then I started seeing that weight come off, come off. And I was very pleased. But instead of just continuing to love myself and give my body what it needed, I turned it into a project and I'm like, oh my gosh, I lost five pounds. I bet I could lose another eight pounds this month if I up my gym. Speaker 1 (26:44): And I cut my intermittent fasting to only eating four hours a day. And before I knew it, I had made myself in my progress into nothing. And I had made myself into a project and objectified myself instead of just loving myself and giving my body what it needs. Because I know she'll go to what the weight she likes. And I know there's some people listening going like, oh my gosh, I do that too. So you're not alone. But then what is the loving thing to let go of that I don't stop, I'm not, I don't usually weigh myself. Why did I even get on this scale? Right? It's not loving. So now I don't, not Speaker 3 (27:21): Not on Speaker 1 (27:21): The scale, right? I'm still in in Buenos Aries and I just go do the exercise and give my body the food it needs. That's loving. So how does a yeah. Self love look. How would you explain that? What kind of actions would it be? Speaker 3 (27:37): I think both with my, both times there when I was in my thirties and when I was in my forties, when I remember getting to a point even in my late thirties where I realized that I was still trying to lose weight even though I was at 128 pounds, that was my weight set point. It would never move from that. It would be like I would try something extreme, I'd lose some weight and it would just go right back to 1 28. And I just kept doing this for years. And I was constantly like, I wanna get down, I wanna get down. I shouldn't be this weight. I should be 1 25, I should be one 20, whatever it might be. And then I remember this one day, it just dawned on me, I'm like, this is where my body wants to be . It's not a super skinny little person. Speaker 3 (28:20): And I never will be. I never have been, I never will be. So quit trying to get down to this unrealistic weight. And I'm like, what, Karen, are you really willing to do what it would take to be 120 pounds? Like I would have to starve myself. I would have to, I I, even if I did, I still don't think I would've gotten down to that. And I let it go cuz I was like, I can sit here and spend the rest of my life trying to get down to this fricking number on the scale because I feel like that's how I should look. Or I can accept where I'm at right now and work on just accepting that. And so I did and I did great. And for many years I was, I was very pleased with where I was at till I hit my forties and I, and I gained the 15 pounds and then I immediately started to hate on myself. Speaker 3 (29:11): But I did the same thing where I, I knew if no matter what I was gonna do at that time, I wouldn't have been able to lose the weight. And so I worked on loving myself and I worked on sharing that message. And I think that that really helped because menopausal women, perimenopausal women and menopausal women, I really believe that it's very normal for us to soften a little bit. It just is men do. So why can't women? And it's not realistic to think we're gonna look like we did when we were 20, when we're 50. It's just not, and it's okay to soften a little bit and we need to start accepting that and having that be the normal where we can look at women that are in this midlife go and go, they look beautiful because I do, I look at women my age and I think they're beautiful when they're healthy. Speaker 3 (30:10): And so I just kept telling myself that is, I'm gonna be healthy. I'm gonna still eat right, I'm gonna still exercise, I'm gonna still do yoga and I'm gonna be healthy. And I had super clear skin and I, and I looked good. And yes, I was more overweight than I wanted to be. And I knew that that would come off eventually. And it did take a couple of years and it was slowly started to come off. And I still was though accepting. Cause I still wasn't down to 1 28. I still accepted that I needed to, that it was okay for me to soften a little bit mm-hmm. because I was getting older and that's okay. I wasn't overweight. Mm-Hmm. . I, but I had softened. Speaker 1 (30:52): I mean, I think if you do want to be the same as at 60 as you were at 20, you can do it. It's just, do you want to do it? I will say, I wanna ask you this cuz I, I don't know how old you are now. I'm in my fifties 47. Speaker 1 (31:07): Okay. So my generation, I guess that's your generation. I don't know if we're, I'm a baby boomer. I think we had some pretty unrealistic expectations of what weight we were supposed to be at any age. Yeah. Literally we had, you know, those little Barbie dolls where you could wrap your little pinky finger around their waist. And for my whole life, I thought because my thighs touched and I didn't have a gap thigh gap, there was something wrong with me. But now the, there were earlier, more recent generations, they really accept themselves. And I love some of these kind of TV and internet stars where they're big and beautiful and bold and they love themselves and nobody judges them and they're just accepted for who they are and their beauty. And I, you know, I don't know how you overcome the conditioning we went through, but any thoughts on that you'd like to share? Speaker 3 (31:56): Yeah, you could look like you did when you were 20, but what is it gonna take to get there? Like, how much suffering are you going to to have to go through and, and, and it's just not realistic. And I always tell women like whatever their numbers that they're trying to get down to, I asked them, when was the last time you were at that number and how long were you there for? Because usually it's like, oh, well I did this really extreme diet when I was 25 and I got down to 115 pounds, so I think that's what I'd like to be at because I love the way I looked. I'm like, yeah, I bet you did. But is that realistic? No, that's not your set point. So I just think be realistic about it. Be okay with softening a little bit. I'm not saying you have to accept being, you know, 300 pounds or two. Speaker 3 (32:40): Like I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that there is a place where you have to begin to accept where you're at because it likely will not change. Like you can only get down to that set point. Maybe that a healthy set point that is still maybe in your eyes overweight, even though it's only like five to 10 pounds or 15 pounds overweight maybe for you. But could you just work on accepting that and loving yourself for that? And just focusing on being healthy and feeling really good. And that's, I think, a really hard thing to ask women really, really hard. Speaker 1 (33:18): And what about the cultural norms that we grew up with, with very skinny barbies and a very skinny twiggy kinda expectation of what the definition of beauty was and what we should look like? Yeah. Speaker 3 (33:30): Well I, I ask you then, all of you, how many women do you know that look like that? Especially in their forties, even in their thirties, how many women did you know that were stick thin and had a perfect model figure? I can count like two friends out of all my friends that looked like that. Most didn't. So it's more normal to have curves than not to have curves. And we just see it in the magazines as these, this 1% of society of women that ha that were literally born genetically superior and that have those shredded bo like, they just come out looking fantastic and never have to worry about their weight. So it's more normal to be curvaceous and we have to tell ourselves this, that, that, that is what's normal. It's not normal. And, and look at men, geez, the discre, like between men and women. Speaker 3 (34:24): I just, it drives me nuts that men, all of my guy friends right now, they're in their forties and fifties. They've got the bellies. They're not getting Botox, they're not doing plastic surgery, they're not concerned . Like, they're just riding along, you know, and we look at them and oh, they're handsome with their gray hair. But yeah, women, we start to age and we're looked at like, Ooh, no, no, you better get your Botox. You better. Not that I'm saying anything wrong with Botox, I do get myself, but you know, like the pressure on us is far more right. And you have to remind yourself, like, I remind myself all the time, like, my husband's not doing all of these things. So take it easy on yourself. Don't feel like you have to too. Mm-Hmm. , this is the time in our life, like talking about spirituality. Speaker 3 (35:11): This is a time in our life where we, it's all about us finally. You know, like we in our twenties and thirties, it's all about our career, having children, getting married, and a lot of the time, right? We, we've, at this point, we've figured out if we're keeping the man or we're getting rid of 'em or, or, or your wife, whatever it is. And as we go into these years, our hormones start to shift. And I really think that this is is a calling to start paying attention to yourself, to start paying attention to your health mm-hmm. and let it be about you. You know, your kids are growing up, they're getting older. If you have children, you know, your ki your ki you figured out your job at this point. So let these years be about you because these can be the best years of your life. You know, we talk a lot about the bad, about the weight gain, about the hot flashes, the, the low sex drop, all the things that come with losing our hormones. But there's so much good that can come out of these years. These can be the best years of your life if you can start to take care of yourself and treat yourself with love. Like, it, it is, it's the time to do this and to work on these things. I really, really believe that. Speaker 1 (36:21): So one of the things that you shared with me before we started, I said, oh, we have to talk about that, that you can do to love yourself and really help yourself be your best as you age is peptide therapy, particularly if you're experiencing weight loss resistance. And I thought that is something that we should cover and talk about in this episode. So tell me how you became introduced with peptide therapy to help weight loss resistance. Yes. Speaker 3 (36:49): So we have actually a, a peptide weight loss program now because it started last year when I had a client who had Hashimotos. She was one of those women that was doing everything right, eating right, exercising, could not lose the weight no matter what she did. She had optimized her hormone, she optimized the thyroid, could not get the weight off. And we have, we, I hadn't seen her for a couple months, we have this session together and she just lost 17 pounds, . I said, how the heck did you do that? She said, Ozempic. And I'm like, what's Ozempic ? I hadn't even heard of it. So she tells me what it is and it's a weight loss peptide. And so then I went on the search of what the heck is this? And I started googling it and finding out for myself and thought, wow, this is amazing. Speaker 3 (37:38): I'm gonna give this a go. So I try it for myself and it was a complete disaster, to be honest, . I actually ended up getting severe migraines from it. I felt super sick, didn't lose any weight the first couple weeks. So I was like, well of course this isn't gonna work for Karen. Lo lo and behold, like, not shocking at all. Right? So I then started to recommend it to other client, other perimenopausal, menopausal women that I knew that had tried everything. You know, like they had done all the work and every single one of them were got results. And it was, it's, it was like, wow, this is amazing. So then fast forward to now, we've created our own, we like weight loss peptide program because it, I, it really truly just blows my mind how well these peptides work. So I have now gone to the other one, which is known as Manjaro. Speaker 3 (38:34): So I do it just the the peptide. I don't do the name brand Manjaro. So that's called Tze Peptide. So there's Semaglutide and there's Tpat. Tpat is the newest Semaglutide, which is also known as ozempic has been around for 10 years. So we've got a lot of research now on that originally developed for type two diabetics and they realized that, oh my goodness, people are losing a ton of weight, but they're on average in a year's time, or 72 weeks I think it was, they were losing 15 to 20% of their weight. Which just so everybody knows bef prior to this drug, if a drug could help a person lose 5% of their weight, that was considered amazing. Cuz that's all we had seen. That was how good it got. Mm-Hmm. , these were 15 to 20%. And it wasn't just that people were reversing all of these metabolic diseases. Speaker 3 (39:29): You know, cholesterol was getting better, their fatty liver was disappearing. It was helping there, there's research now showing that it helps to prevent Alzheimer's disease, plaque formation on the brain. All of these little metabolic markers were getting substantially better. People were getting off blood pressure mega medications and so many things were getting better mm-hmm. and plus they were effortlessly losing weight. These, these medications not only help to suppress appetite, but they work on your brain and they help it so that you don't crave sugary foods anymore. You just kind of just disappears . So you don't care to you, you're not struggling that whole time. Right? The whole, any other diet, you're struggling. We all know that. You're, you're like, I can't, I shouldn't eat that, but I really want to, you know, that's like why most diets fail is because our willpower runs out and we end up eating the highly palatable foods that are all around us. Speaker 3 (40:31): Well, this drug eliminates that need. So weight loss becomes easier than it's ever been before in your entire life. It's nuts how it works. So I went on Tze peptide, I was at 138 pounds and no side effects. In six weeks I lost 10 pounds and it was mm-hmm. . And it's been easy, fantastic. Like, I have no problem with it. This is though something that you have to typically stay on. So that's the downfall is you come off of it and a some people will, will keep the weight off, but because most people will blow past their set point, then you will likely, if you come off of it, you may go back to that normal set point, right? So for a menopausal woman, if you've gained, let's say you were always 130 pounds, but in menopause you've gained 15 pounds and you cannot get it off. Speaker 3 (41:30): Well, you could go on this drug and it's gonna gonna get you down to that 130 pounds. But if you wish that you could go actually down even farther. So if you came off of it, you would likely, as long as you were eating right and still exercising, you could go back. You may gain back, let's say right back up to maybe the hundred and 30, because that's your normal set point when most women I find have to stay on a maintenance dose. So they have to have seen everything from once every couple weeks to every six weeks. They have to do an injection, their once a week injection. So they, you start to spread them apart and then you can maintain that weight loss as long as you continue doing a shot every four to six weeks. Sometimes did everybody's individual. Mm-Hmm. . Yeah. Speaker 1 (42:17): So can you talk a little bit about how semaglutide works? So everybody knows like, is this an appetite suppressant? Is this uppers? What is it? Speaker 3 (42:27): No, definitely not. Uppers. So both semaglutide and tze peptide are hormones actually. And they're gut hormones. We produce them in our gut and then they tell your brain when you're full. So when you're eating these, because we're increasing, so they're 90, you can think of them as, I think of 'em as like a bioidentical hormone. They're 94% bioidentical to something you already make in your body. So it's gonna create more of this hormone that's gonna be telling you that you're full a heck of a lot faster. So there's no stimulation to it. It slows gastric emptying as well. It does affect the dopamine centers of the brain and the pleasure centers. So you don't get the same payoff from food, drugs, alcohol. Mm-Hmm. . So anything that is addictive to you that you are getting a dopamine hit from, it will bring that down. So there were mm-hmm. Speaker 3 (43:29): , there's actually some PubMed research showing like how it helps with co for cocaine addicts. So, interesting enough, I was just looking at that last night. So it works on different, a couple different mechanisms. There's two different, so Semaglutide is a glucagon-like peptide is what it's called. And then the tze peptide is a dual agonist, not that anybody needs to know this, it's a G I P. So glucose dependent, insulinotropic probably not saying that, right? Polypeptide. So these are peptides that we've already got in our body that are mimicking these peptides when we're taking them. So mm-hmm. , it's the best way to explain it. . Speaker 1 (44:11): And then everybody's gonna wanna know, oh my gosh, I want this, what does it cost? ? Yeah, that's the next question. Speaker 3 (44:18): Unfortunately, if you're not diabetic, you cannot get it covered through, if you've got insurance, you will not get it covered if you're not diabetic. Ozempic has now been approved for weight loss for obesity, but you have to be, I think it is over 30% or 35% bmi. So if you were to just go and get yourself a prescription, manjaro is gonna cost you about $1,500 a month. Semaglutide is about 1200 a month, but there's now compounding pharmacies that are making it. So compounding pharmacies can make semaglutide. And you're looking at about 200, 2 50 a month for that through a compounding pharmacy. Mm-Hmm. . And then with Tpat, it's a little bit of more gray area that they're not allowing compounding pharmacies to do it. There's still some that are, and I think eventually we'll start to see it more mm-hmm. . But right now, the company that made it is coming down on compounding pharmacies if they're trying to compound it. Speaker 3 (45:23): So then you can get it through peptide sites. So I, I don't know how much you've talked about peptides on here, but you know, there's growth hormone peptides, b BPC 1 57, all of these very familiar peptides that people are using now, and they're ordering them online from reputable peptide sites. Mm-Hmm. . And there you can get, we've got Tze peptide that starts at 170 a month, and the semaglutide is like 75 a month to start mm-hmm. . And then you increase your dose as you go along. So then it starts to, then the price goes up the farther along you go. So that's not too bad considering what, what us women will do to lose weight in the money that we spend on it. , Speaker 1 (46:05): I mean, I'm still a proponent of addressing the underlying root cause, but if something is natural and can be an aid to assist you, hey, why not? In fact, as you're talking about it, I've never, I always have to try everything first. You know, that's how I developed same everything that I I do with women is what I learned from losing a hundred pounds and getting off all prescription medications and healing from all the chronic medical conditions I had. I said I was gonna see if it worked, and then if it worked, I was gonna spend the rest of my life teaching other women about it. So that's what I do. And when I hear about something that could help us, that isn't gonna harm us, and you know, with it being a peptide, that's just a protein and it is fairly bioidentical. I'll tell everyone right now, I'm gonna get it. I'm gonna try it and I'll give you my feedback. But it sounds like you've had a, some good results with this. Do you wanna share any patient stories that come to mind? Oh, Speaker 3 (47:01): I've got so many patient stories. It's, it's so gratifying. It's just, we've been, we've been brain, we've been, not brain, we've been, it has been very, very hard. Our whole lives to lose weight. Like weight loss is really hard. And we all know this. And I have spent my life helping women to lose weight. Like, it's something I'm very passionate about. And I feel the same way as you do Dr. Kiran, that you have to look at all of these other factors. You know, it's, you gotta look at your hormones for all of you perimenopausal, menopausal women. You've gotta address the hormone loss, right? Well, you're gonna be, if you go take these peptides, you have to building, you're building a house on sand. That's what I'm saying. It's like you're building a house on sand, you gotta have a foundation. And so this is why we've created a program to go with it, because you could go out, buy these peptides on your own, go for it. Speaker 3 (47:52): But you know, if you're not, if you're still not eating right and you're not exercising, you're not replacing those hormones and working on your spiritual self like we've talked about here today. Then I just feel like, why, why? Like, why don't do that to your health? Don't use it as a, well, I'm gonna go eat my donut and I'm not gonna lose any weight. That's not good for your health then. Mm-Hmm. . So I really think you need to prioritize and you have to have those foundational pieces be part of it and take the time because this, this drug works so well take the time to change your eating habits, then if it's always been a struggle for you to eat, well then use this as a tool to work while to take, while you work on your eating habits, because it does make it so much easier. Speaker 3 (48:41): So work on the eating habits, work on the time that you eat, work on how much you eat because it's very hard to overeat on this drug. Use this as a positive thing. And it is very exciting because you just, the weight just falls off and it's like, oh my gosh. Like I felt, I, I've gone through this like battle within myself of guilt and shame and like, oh, it's been nuts. I've just been like, oh my. And like, and I've had to turn and look at like, some of these things that have arisen because I feel like if it's not hard, then I have no right to be thin. Speaker 1 (49:16): Wow. That's a belief system. Do you like believing that Speaker 3 (49:21): ? No. So I've been like, really try, I've been speaking about it on my own podcast and sharing my journey because these are things that may come up for other people where you do start to feel guilty or when people ask you like, oh, you've lost a lot, a lot of weight very quickly they think there's something wrong with you. Or they're like, oh, what she's doing a peptide or, you know, and I've just been like, no, let me educate you on this. Like this is actually the most astounding weight loss show we've ever seen to date. And if it can be easy, why not? I say, let's, let's embrace it. . Speaker 1 (49:59): Yes. Anne, I just wanna reiterate, you gotta address the underlying causes. Otherwise you are building a house on sand. If you don't fix your hormones and detoxify and get rid of the inflammation and fix your gut and do all the things, you still gotta do that. Well feel Speaker 3 (50:14): Good. You may be thin, but you're gonna feel like garbage. Speaker 1 (50:17): Right? And I, I will reiterate, I know we have a difference of opinion. It was pretty effortless for me to lose the hundred pounds when I address the underlying causes. And that's my experience with the women I work with. So I just wanna incorporate both of our experiences for everyone listening. It can be effortless, sometimes it's harder, sometimes it's easier. But why not take advantage of a tool that could help you? So I'm for sure gonna try it. I'll share my experience. If anybody listening decides to try it, maybe you'll decide to do Karen's program. She's got amazing programs, which she's gonna share some in, in information on right now. But you share these amazing quotes with me, Karen, before we start started, and we haven't offered any. So I will, before we wrap up, I just wanna offer two of my favorites that you shared. So one is one of the most courageous things you can do is identify yourself. Know who you are, what you believe in, and where you want to go. Sheila Marie Bethel, I don't know who she is. Can you talk a little bit about this quote and what it means to you? Speaker 3 (51:20): What it means to me is, is that's been my life mission as really being who I truly am. And that's all the work that I've done has led me to that. And it's, I I, I want that for everybody. I do. Speaker 1 (51:34): Amen. Yes. It be courageous. Identify yourself, know who you are, what you believe in and where you wanna go. And then Tony Robbins quote, the path to success is to take massive determined action. Action. You know, sometimes we women, we can just get stuck in our heads believing not true things. And you really deserve to have amazing health. You deserve to have a great sex life and great sexuality. You deserve to have great hair. Yes, you deserve to feel amazing in your skin. Look amazing in your skin if that matters to you. And do all the things that you want in life, right? Those dreams that you have we're given to you to fulfill. They're not some pipe dreams. So any last words you wanna share with everybody? Speaker 3 (52:22): Yeah, just off of, right off of what you just said there, like, don't settle for subpar. This is, like I said, this is the time in your life that could be the best time of your life. So go after it. Be courageous. Take massive action, but do what you, whatever it is that you have to do to be where you wanna be and look how you wanna look and that's fantastic. And embrace it and just, just don't be afraid and don't think that you have to suffer. I think poor, perimenopausal, menopausal when we have it in our head that there's gonna be some suffering or a lot of suffering. And we take this on like a badge of honor and it's like, no, we don't have to suffer and we can look fantastic and we can be fantastic and we can thrive. We don't have to suffer. Speaker 1 (53:11): Yes. So get about that business and you know, I think that's really part of loving yourself and maybe this is where we'll end. Mm-Hmm. self-love is honoring your dreams. That your dreams are meant to be fulfilled and taking massive action to make them come true. So where can everybody find you online? You have a free gift, a hormone quiz you can tell everyone about. We'll have all her links in the show notes. So if you're driving, please don't try to write these down, but share with everyone about the hormone quiz and all the places to find you. Speaker 3 (53:44): So karen martel.com. You can take my hormone quiz to find out, you know, which hormones could be stopping you from losing weight. It's just a quiz. So, but it's a great place to start and you'll get a little free meal plan from it. And besides that, you can find me on my podcast, the other side of weight loss, or we talk a ton about hormones and weight loss for women. We just hit 1 million downloads, so that's very exciting. So we've got 260 episodes on there. And then on social media, you can find me at Karen Martel hormones, Speaker 1 (54:14): Karen Martel hormones, and, and your podcast. Absolutely, definitely check it out. We'll have links to all of that in the show notes. Thank you so much for your journey, your wisdom and your passion for helping women. Thank you for being here, Karen. Speaker 3 (54:29): Thanks for having me. Speaker 1 (54:31): And thank you for joining me for another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kirin. So glad that you joined us today for this insightful discussion with maybe some things you hadn't thought about when it comes to your health, whether you have a weight problem or not. Looking at the deeper message of the malady or illness that you're experiencing can really help give you some insights that you can work towards healing and may just be the root cause that's keeping you stuck and you learned about a novel tool that you might want to consider using to help you. If you are struggling with weight loss, I'm gonna try it too and we'll share notes and see how it works, and I look forward to seeing you next week on another episode of The Hormone Prescription. Until then, peace, love, and Hormones. Y'all talk to you soon. Speaker 2 (55:20): Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.   ► Take Karen Martel's Hormone Quiz and find out which hormones could be stopping you from losing weight - CLICK HERE.   ► Feeling tired? Can't seem to lose weight, no matter how hard you try? It might be time to check your hormones. Most people don't even know that their hormones could be the culprit behind their problems. But at Her Hormone Club, we specialize in hormone testing and treatment. We can help you figure out what's going on with your hormones and get you back on track. We offer advanced hormone testing and treatment from Board Certified Practitioners, so you can feel confident that you're getting the best possible care. Plus, our convenient online consultation process makes it easy to get started. Try Her Hormone Club for 30 days and see how it can help you feel better than before. CLICK HERE.   If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review The Hormone Prescription Podcast on your preferred podcast platform. Your support helps us reach even more listeners, allowing them to benefit from our expert advice and knowledge. ✨  

Don't miss out on the latest episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast, where we delve into the importance of lifting weights for boosting your midlife metabolism. Our featured guest, Ashley Fillmore, is a leading expert in sustainable weight-loss who helps women balance their hormones, heal their metabolism, and achieve body composition changes that last a lifetime.    Ashley Fillmore is the Founder and President of Metabolic Fix™, a premium online coaching company that has helped thousands of women unlock the secret to better health and wellness. She is driven by her passion for helping women discover the life of health, happiness, and self-love they deserve.    In this episode you will learn: the importance of incorporating heavy lifting into your fitness routine for a robust midlife metabolism the science behind the benefits of weightlifting the transformative power of lifting heavy things and how you can effectively shape and transform your body, especially during the midlife stage.     Join us on The Hormone Prescription Podcast today and learn how to unlock the secret to a boosted midlife metabolism with Ashley Fillmore!   Speaker 1 (00:00): Everything you've ever wanted is sitting on the other side of beer. Ashley Fillmore. Stay tuned and I'll tell you how to do this thing that you haven't wanted to do for your health that you must do to make midlife marvelous. Speaker 2 (00:19): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an OB G Y N I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Speaker 1 (01:12): Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me today as we're going to talk about facing a fear that many women have that really is essential for them to do this thing, to make midlife marvelous, to make their metabolism marvelous, to get the health, the brilliant health that you desire and deserve. Yeah, I gotta do this thing. And so many of you are afraid of it or you're avoiding it and not doing it, and you don't know that there's some fear under there, but a lot of times there is. So we're gonna talk about it today. My guest today is really a ninja at this. I mean, she's had her own health challenges that she's gonna share with you and she's found some really cool paths over the mountain that she's gonna guide you through and help you understand. Speaker 1 (02:09): So I'm excited to dive into it with Ashley and to get you some information. She's gonna talk about your bravery. How do you get to the other side of fear and why your dreams might not be working? And that might be helpful to know because you have your dreams for a reason. They're meant to guide you to where you're supposed to be. So if you're not doing all the things like I like to say, we're gonna talk about all the things, but mostly this one thing that you're not doing, that you keep saying you're gonna do that's stopping you from experiencing the brilliant health that you deserve. So I'll tell you a little bit about Ashley and then we'll get started. She is a leading expert in sustainable weight loss and she helps women heal their metabolism, balance their hormones, and achieve body composition changes that lasts a lifetime. Speaker 1 (02:58): Woohoo. She is the founder and president of Metabolic Fix, a premium online coaching company that has helped thousands of women finally break free from chronic dieting for good and achieve long-term sustainable results using the metabolic fix method. She has a deep commitment to helping women better their lives and she strives to inspire others to embrace a life of health, happiness, and self-love. You deserve that self-love that we all deserve. She's a renowned keynote speaker, she's been on many podcasts. She has her own podcast, cheers to your success, and she has a Bachelor of Science and Exercise and nutrition and is a certified PT professional nutrition coach and health educator. Welcome Ashley to the Hormone Prescription. Hi. Speaker 3 (03:44): Thank you so much for having me. I am so excited to talk with you today. Speaker 1 (03:48): Yes. I think this is such an important topic. Why lifting everything is essential to your midlife metabolism. We women just don't get the weight lifting aspect and requirements of our health, especially as we age. And I find so many women don't lift enough weight, not heavy enough, or they don't do it at all. They're very focused on aerobics. So what helped you zero in on the fact that this is essential for us as we age? Speaker 3 (04:19): Yeah, so I think it started back when I started my career and when I was going through school and studying hormones, metabolism and sustainable weight loss. One thing that popped up all the time throughout my research and my certifications was the importance of weight training and its impact on your metabolism as you age. So most of the women that I've helped from day one in my career, I would say, are in their forties, fifties, sixties. And a lot of the women wanna lose weight. They've done a lot of crash dieting, they've done a lot of cardio based exercises cuz that was really popular in the eighties, nineties, even seventies when they were growing up. And you know, they need different because what they're currently doing isn't working and not serving them well anymore. And so when I was studying the impact that weight training has on your metabolism, the research is really shocking. Speaker 3 (05:12): And honestly for me it was just a no-brainer to say, okay, as women we need to become more comfortable in the gym. We have a space here. Your gym could be in a physical gym or even at home, but we need to become more comfortable with weight training. It's not just for men and it's not gonna make us bulky because that's the number one thing I hear from women is I don't wanna look like a man. We don't have the hormonal profile as you know, to look like a man. Even if we wanted to look like a man, we couldn't do it unless we were taking some extra hormones to help us look that way. And so really it started there in just recognizing the importance of building muscle mass and then backing it up from there and saying, okay, what do you have to do to build muscle mass? Does cardio help you build muscle mass? Does that 90 minute aerobics class build muscle mass? What's really gonna add more muscle mass on your frame? And what can you do to maintain the muscle mass that you have? When I started researching that, it connected all the dots. Weight training was the answer. Speaker 1 (06:21): Yeah, it's so key. And I mean we, we start as women losing muscle mass at the age of 30 if we don't lose any, do anything to prevent it, like weight training, hormone balancing, all the things. But weights are really essential. And you know, a lot of women I think don't realize that they're resting metabolic rate, meaning the rate at which they burn calories when they're just sit sitting there looking beautiful and doing nothing else really goes down when they, you start losing muscle mass and, and this is that 3% weight gain that we start with at age 30 if we don't do anything to counteract it. So this is really essential. So if you're listening and you're not using resistance or weight training as a part of your program, you want to listen up and, and you're right, absolutely right Ashley, about we don't have the testosterone to sustain the amount of muscle mass that males have. We just don't have it. So unless you're taking high doses or doping with testosterone, you're not going to bulk up. So you're not gonna look like some of these women who are professional weight trainers and have these huge muscles. You're just gonna get definition. So where is important for someone? Where do they start? Say they're, they've never worked with weights, they've never listed lifted weights. Yeah. How do they even get started with that? Speaker 3 (07:40): Yeah, and I think that it can be really overwhelming and it can be really intimidating. I've had so many women come to me and say, I'm, I'm terrified to go into the gym. I am so terrified. There's, you know, college kids, boys, you know, men, everyone's, you know, grunting and groaning and sweating on everything . I don't feel like I have a place here, but I'm like, no, you have a place here. And sometimes when we look back, at least I'm thinking back to when I was in college doing my internship, a part of my internship was working at a local health training studio. And when I even went to the gyms, there was a women's only section, which meant as a woman you could go to this designated area in the gym and use your machines and they had five pound dumbbells and eight pound dumbbells. Speaker 3 (08:28): It may be 10 pounds, but it stopped there and it kind of made you feel like as a woman that's where you belonged. You weren't really welcomed or supposed to be out in the big gym with the guys and it can be intimidating as a beginner. And so I think that's simple as best. And honestly I would say number one is getting some professional help. Truly it is really worth the investment because you can go on Instagram or even Google it these days and sure, are you gonna be able to find a workout? Definitely we can find a workout within a couple of seconds. Doesn't mean that this workout's effective or where you should be starting. Absolutely not. And so I think it's important to, if you can have someone assist you and guide you if you're a beginner, the basics work. Well, compound movements, you don't need to do workout for hours a day, even 20 or 30 minutes. Speaker 3 (09:23): There's research that shows the benefits in doing that. And then the secret is consistency. You have to consistently put in the work and be willing to progressively over time increase your weight in the gym, which is what we refer to as progressive overload. So not necessarily every week or every day go up on the weights you're lifting, but progressively over the course of several weeks and months, you should be able to say, okay, as I reflect back on my program, maybe you start off with five or 10 pounds, but over the course of maybe three, six weeks, 12 weeks, you go up to 10, 15, maybe even 20 pounds or more. I think that, you know, being, getting comfortable with lifting heavy weight and realizing heavy is relative to the individual. But keeping in mind as a beginner, you don't have to use fancy equipment, you don't need fancy machines, you actually don't even need a gym membership. You can simply buy some weights at home and follow a great program in the comfort of your home or going to a gym. But having a professional guide you, unless you are a certified personal trainer and know how to program effectively, can really be a game changer for that beginner getting started. Speaker 1 (10:41): Yeah, I think that's such important information. I will say I have trained with weights in a variety of scenarios throughout my life and the best results I ever got one of was actually when I worked with the best personal trainer I've ever worked with. And she knew exactly what you needed for optimum weight and different muscle groups and for functional capacity, right? So I was trying to increase certain muscle groups in my body cuz I was having back problems when I was so obese and she was just amazing. And I've done it myself too, where I've had weights at home and even I still was left with those questions. Am I doing the right exercises? Am I using the right weights? So where would someone start, say they want to buy some weights and do it at home, and maybe this is something you go through in your programs and help guide people on, but if you could just give them a ballpark idea so they can see it in their minds of how easy this could be, where would they even start if they were gonna do this at home? Speaker 3 (11:43): Yeah, no, that's a great question and, and you're right. One of the things I'll offer at the end of our show is even a trial to my rise workout program, which really does lay this out nicely for someone getting home or getting started and maybe wanting to work out at home or wanting to work out even in the gym. But if you're listening in and you're thinking, okay, I really want to get started, what do I need to buy today and what should I be doing? I would say if you're gonna work out at home and not join a gym membership, a bench, preferably an adjustable bench. So you can do incline dumbbell presses or flats, step ups, there's a lot of different things we can utilize that bench for, depending on your mobility and your flexibility. Certain movements like squats could be difficult to do free standing, so squatting to a bench can be very helpful to ensure that you're getting the proper range of motion so you can, that adjustable bench is perfect. Speaker 3 (12:39): I would say depending on your strength level. One of the things I mentioned earlier on was that strength is very much so relative to the individual. So for example, you may feel like 15 or 20 pounds is heavy or, and I may think it's super light, but it just depends on our strength levels, how long we've been lifting weights, how much muscle mass we have. And so for you getting started, I would say get a range of weights, you don't need a ton. I would say get some light dumbbells for higher repetitions and working more isolated muscle groups. So maybe five pounds, maybe two and a half pounds, eight pounds, 10 pounds. But then I would also suggest investing in some heavier dumbbells. So you can do lower reps at a heavier weight, meaning maybe you're only gonna do five to eight reps, so that five or 10 pound set of dumbbells isn't gonna work anymore. Speaker 3 (13:33): You're gonna need maybe 15, 20 plus pounds. So I think just having a variety of weights, maybe two lighter sets, two heavier sets, or one of each light and heavy. And I'm a big fan of bands as well. I do a lot of mini bands. We utilize them a lot for glute activation, which is something women struggle with, especially if you have a very sedentary job and you're not activating your glutes a lot, which you're not activating them when you're like in a, in a chair all day long. So we do a lot of band work as well. So you can typically google like mini band glute bands and there will be a variety of options that pop up. Those are very handy. You can add a lot of tension on your glutes and even for your lower back strength. And then if you can also maybe think about a stability ball. Speaker 3 (14:23): So you could do some core exercises as well as some leg exercises when you're like lying on laying on a floor, there's certain exercises you could do with that stability ball. So that would be the equipment a bench adjustable dump bes heavy and light mini bands for the glutes. And if you can't afford it, a stability ball, that would be enough to get started. Sure, you can go on and invest in more advanced equipment for your home gym, but I think build start there, show yourself that you can do it consistently and then think about making a larger investment down the road if you wanna get a squat rack, barbells and things like that. And then for your workouts, I think starting off really basic, generally speaking, you wanna focus primarily on compound movements. And so compound movements would be your squats, lunges, pullups, pushups, bent over rows. And some of these terms may not even, you know, just if you haven't lifted weights, it may be hard to even know what I'm talking about. Bench pressing, those are compound movements. You're activating multiple muscle groups and you're gonna burn more calories by doing that and help rev up your metabolism. And so focusing the bulk of your training plan on that, and even a basic template of three by 10 to just get started with anywhere between, I would say six to 10 exercises is very effective for a beginner. Speaker 1 (15:57): Awesome. Well that's like a comprehensive how to get started guy. Thank you Ashley, that was amazing. And I'm wondering if you can, because I know a lot of women are still are so hesitant to get started with this, can you share some stories of some women who have you've worked with in your program who maybe they were hesitant to and what their journey was like through starting with resistance training? Speaker 3 (16:25): Yeah, I would love to, and if you're okay with it, I would love to share a little bit of my story and then I'll go into sharing. I have a couple of clients in mind that I would love to just briefly touch on. But I will say that I used to be very afraid. Interestingly, although my education and background is in personal training, nutrition coaching, specializing in sustainable weight loss. When I was, started my career literally right out of college, I was very young and didn't have a lot of experience at that time. You know, I was afraid to be honest. So truly lifting weights, I leaned more into cardio and I thought that that was the secret and I thought more was better. And so I would, I signed up for a gym membership, not at for personal training, but for myself. And I started taking, I'm not sure if you're familiar with the less mills classes, but I took body pump step aerobics, spin class, and I would spend three to four hours a day in the gym burning calories because I thought that was the secret to building the body that I wanted what ended up happening. Speaker 3 (17:32): And combine that with crash dieting and eating about 1200 calories a day as a 20 year old, let's just say that's a perfect formula for disaster . So I thought that was all I needed to do to lose body fat. I was putting in a ton of effort in the gym doing exclusively cardio based workouts to burn calories. I was eating in a big caloric deficit, but I realized instead of gaining muscle mass and looking strong and healthy, I ended up honestly looking the opposite of that in my opinion. I had friends and family members and even clients say, wow, you know, are you okay ? You know, no, like you're no nothing personal, but you just, you look like you're getting a little too, just frail to me was the term that they lose not so much strong or healthy. And so I hit a dead end road. Speaker 3 (18:26): My hormones were in a really bad place. I lost my cycle. I felt really bad. I didn't feel good, I had horrible energy and I was spending so much of my day in the gym. I started to question, can I sustain this? I'm gonna be working full-time, I wanna have a family, I'm gonna have a household to maintain. There's no way. And so when I hit my dead end road, I had to stop doing everything that I was doing, including the cardio for hours, the undereating. And that's when I said, okay, I need to lean into what I know and what I'm literally, you know, learning through my own training and education. And that's when I started to walk at a steady low st, no, no steady state cardio, just at a leisure pace is what I would call it. Mm-Hmm. several days a week. Speaker 3 (19:16): And I started weight training three times per week and I took away all of the hit all of the extras and I went to basic functional strength training. And that's what I leaned into three times per week. I periodized my strength training programs to ensure that my body was going to change and I was gonna work my muscles in all of the necessary ways. So endurance training, hypertrophy training, which is muscle building and strength training. And I really leaned into progressive overload. My body started to transform and slowly but surely my hormones started to rebalance, my cycles returned, my energy came back. And instead of looking like the skinny slash, as my clients would even say at times frail version of myself mm-hmm. , I started to have more muscle mass on my frame. I started to physically be able to see my strength correlate over into other things. Speaker 3 (20:17): Like, wow, well now I can lift more weights here, I could pick up seven grocery bags or 10 at one time even. And it was a really amazing experience. And so I really leaned into that and since then I've been now lifting weights for over a decade. And it's been amazing. I mean, it's helped me stay strong through my pregnancies, it's helped me stay, stay strong postpartum. And it's just for me now, it's the number one thing I lean into weight training and walking. Those two things are the, in my opinion, you can do the ex, you can do cardio once you have that foundation built. And similar stories from my clients, I will say a lot of women come to me with more of the cardio mindset where they need to do cardio to burn body fat. And again, I personally have nothing against cardio. Speaker 3 (21:07): When you are utilizing it correctly and you have a strong foundation built for strength training, if you are a woman perimenopause or menopause, in my opinion, weight training needs to be a part of your program. You cannot only be doing cardio and expect to sustain your muscle tissue. And as you even mentioned, when your muscle tissue decreases, your metabolic rate also decreases. So you start to see why it becomes so easy to gain weight. And so my client's very similar. Cardio was all that they did. Dieting, excessive, you know, just chronically dieting all the time. And for them, I will say the biggest thing that they realized is that, wow, this is a lot easier than I realized. I'm actually falling in love with weight training and the feeling that I get from doing it. I'm strong, I'm capable. I also have a place here and wow, I wanted to lose inches off my waist. Speaker 3 (22:10): Here's how I do it. I wanted my glutes to look rounder and nicer. This is the secret to doing that. And so you start to see that as well. And so I would say for them, their competence, their body composition transforms. I'll see clients lose anywhere from 10 to 20 inches within a course of even three to 12 months depending on that client and the health of their metabolism when we got started. But could you imagine 20, and it sounds like you've had an amazing transformation yourself, but 20 inches off of your frame, that is significant fat loss. Speaker 1 (22:48): It is. I've even noticed in times where maybe I don't have access and I don't take the time to do weights for a while, and then I enter them back into my program, all of a sudden within a couple weeks, my clothes are all too big. And it really does get your musculature up and running where it just starts contracting around your frame and giving you more shape even for the same weight. Maybe you don't lose weight. So I just wanna say amen to everything you just said. You've got to have the resistance training. It's so key and really it's, it's what gives you that shape that you are looking for for your clothes. It's not always that you need to lose fat, you need to shape what you've already got, Speaker 3 (23:34): Right? That's right. You can and you can. And that's where you can focus on body recomposition. Not so much losing scale weight, it's more about maybe maintaining your current weight and just working on your muscle to body fat ratio. So bumping up that muscle mass, decreasing that body fat slowly. Mm-Hmm. , you can do that only by consistently strength training and eating enough for your body. But just like with weight training, it should be customized to some level to fit your goals and where you are and your nutrition should do the same. And when you put those two together, even if you're in your forties and fifties, actually I have a client that's gonna be 77 in December, she's been with me my whole career almost. And I will say she's still getting stronger. Still getting stronger. She's doing 17 body weight pull-ups. It's Speaker 1 (24:29): Amazing. Wow. That is amazing. At that age 17 body weight pull-ups. Whoa, shout out. That's amazing. . Speaker 3 (24:37): Yes. Speaker 1 (24:38): Can we, that's amazing. Can we also talk about body fat percentage? Because body composition is something that I love to use with people. I love the scales that give that information. And actually a little story about that. So after I lost the hundred pounds and had this transformation, I got, so I was so zealous about working out and weights and exercise and I said, oh, I wanna lower my body fat to 10%. So I was working with this trainer at the time and he looked at me like I was crazy and he said, I might have to kill you to get your body fat to 10%. And I didn't really understand, even though I had had, I had two sisters who did bikini competitions and they would go through their whole eating program and weight program before their competitions. And I watched them and it looked a little extreme, but I thought, oh, I can do that. Speaker 1 (25:32): And so I said that to him, he's like, that might just, I might have to kill you to do that. And then he explained to me what I was gonna have to do and I promptly decided, no, I don't want 10% body fat . Yeah. I don't wanna do. And I was sharing this in my hormone bliss challenge last week with the women in it as an example of your why has to be strong enough to get the outcome and to do the things that you're gonna need to do to get the outcome that you want. And, and I'm gonna use this to segue into talking about something else that I know we both are passionate about, which is dreams. But can you talk about what is an appropriate body fat percentage for a woman at 40 and above? And what should be we be aiming for? You know, we talk about weight loss, but really it's not weight loss because we could be losing muscle mass, it's fat loss that we want. So what should we be shooting for? Speaker 3 (26:27): Yeah. So you're right, 10% body fat. I'm happy you had a great trainer because that was really great advice. It would be, it's not impossible. A lot of times when you see maybe like your sisters when they were doing the bikini competitions or the body builders as women, a lot of them will even be under 10% body fat. But as you know with hormones, it is very, very difficult even eating in a deficit and working out six, seven days a week to get your body fat that low. And for us, it has a lot to do with our sex hormones, your estrogen levels. And generally when we start to lose body fat to that level, which is something I did, which was also why I lost my cycle. Mm-Hmm. is it's really hard for your body to, if you don't have enough fat storage to produce those sex hormones that we need your estrogen, your progesterone. Speaker 3 (27:17): And so for me, when my fat storage went down, it's really interesting. On my hormonal testing, it very much so showed my estrogen levels were way below normal ranges. Mm-Hmm. and other hormones were also very depleted. So for women it's difficult for us to get our body fat that low. There's a lot of, I would say almost like with the B M I charts, I would say that body fat sets differently on everyone's frame. So for exa, for example, you know, if you're five eight and you have 25% body fat and let's say you're within a healthy range, it may look a lot different than someone that's five four and you know, with a SMUD smaller frame. So I think the thing that I like to say when it comes to body fat percentages is there's always gonna be some wiggle room. I would say as a female, even in the teens is pretty difficult to get, especially if you're perimenopausal or menopausal. Speaker 3 (28:12): If you're thinking about, Hey, I just wanna get down to 15% body fat or 18% body fat, that's very much so in the athletic range, right? I would say a lot of my clients in their forties and fifties, and I've worked with hundreds of women over the last 17 plus years I've been doing this, most of them are at their healthiest when their body fat is within the 20% range, varying from mid to low twenties, which again, more people probably vary more to mid twenties, a little, you know, 24, 20 5%, that's where they're seeing their bodies start to change. When they get to the lower twenties, that's when they're seeing a lot of definition sculpted shoulders, AB muscles start to come out. I would say teens, you're getting into more, you know, athletic performance based body composition. And then as you probably know below that, you're getting into competition, stage it or you know, stage ready as they like to call it. Speaker 3 (29:11): And I don't think it's necessary for women to be that low in body fat percentage. I honestly think having some body fat's healthy, your hormones need it. I think that as a woman, you look nice with personally. Now everybody's opinion's different, but there's nothing wrong with a healthy amount of body fat. I know I worked really hard to get my body fat back up because I didn't like the way that I felt when it was that low. Mm-Hmm. . So for me, I would say, you know, when I'm coaching my clients, that's something that I look at and we pay attention to. They also, some of them will utilize scales. I wanna share something with you though, and this goes back to something you mentioned right before. Mm-Hmm. . So before I moved my company online, I worked as an in-person nutritionist and personal trainer at a health studio. Speaker 3 (29:56): So we only worked one-on-one with clients. We weren't like a big commercial gym where you could come and go as you please. There were group fitness classes. This was only appointment based. It was myself and the owner of the gym. And then he even built out a team a little bit larger as his business grew. And so we would do body fat analysis with caliper's on our clients. So as you know, there's room for error with all of these mm-hmm. forms to measure your body F. But if you have one person measuring you consistently utilizing the same CalPERS under the same circumstances and they've been measuring you for a while, you can really count that as accurate data to truly gauge a range. Now always keep in mind there's room for error with even the scales. You have to just keep that in mind, depending on your hydration and the time of day and all of that. Speaker 3 (30:48): I would have clients that I've been working with for let's say five or six years, measuring them every week or every other week at times, they would go through phases where they would miss a lot of workouts, they wouldn't eat correctly and they would come in, their scale weight would be up or the same and their body fat percentage would not be any lower. And then when we looked at their muscle ratio, muscle mass ratio, it wasn't any lower. And so, you know, sometimes when people would lean into the measurements, we would see different all kinds of data. At times we would see people's weight lower, but their body fat percentage higher. So that would really get the client, they would say, oh, well why is my weight lower? But my body fat percentage in muscle math, my body fat percentage is not lower and my muscle ratio is still not in a great place. And a lot of that turns to the type of training you're doing and the way that you're eating. And the point that I wanna make is that a low number on the scale doesn't always mean that you're losing body fat and building muscle mass, Speaker 1 (31:52): Right? Speaker 3 (31:53): Weighing the same or even gaining a little bit of weight when you're lifting weights consistently and dialing in your nutrition doesn't always mean that you're gaining body fat. And a lot of women think that it's like, oh, the scale's up a pound or two mm, I've gained a bunch of weight. And I'm like, no, no, no, hold on. Let's really assess the data. Doesn't mean that you've gained body fat just because the weight is up a pound or two. Speaker 1 (32:18): Yes. Wow. This is all such important information and I'm so happy to really have you on the show and dive into this topic because it's super important. And I will say it hands down, is one of the top five things that women miss over 40 in balancing their hormones, boosting their metabolism is a weight training y'all. So do it. Just do it right. Like Nike says, just do it. Just get started. Do it and perfectly do it today, do it and get started. As always, I love, I love a good quote. And Ashley, you shared some great ones. So I wanna dive into something else that's super important, which is talking about how do you achieve anything in your life a dream. So, well, why might you wanna have resistance training or weights in your program, in your health program? Because you want brilliant health, right? Speaker 1 (33:15): Because you wanna feel amazing at 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 beyond. You wanna live a long life, you wanna feel great, you wanna have great sex, you wanna look great, you wanna function great, you wanna be healthy, you don't wanna be bogged down by disease. So those are dreams because the only reason we have time on this planet is because we have a body. And when this body expires, which I, I consider your first home, your time is done and then you get that date on the second side, half other half of your tombstone, right? You get a beginning date, a dash and an end date. So it's all about dreams. What is the dream for your life? And that's why I was talking to my women in my challenge about their why. It's not what you want, it's why you want it, that will help you get there. And so you share this, dreams don't work unless you do. And I absolutely love that. Is that something that you say regularly and what does it mean to you? Speaker 3 (34:10): Yes, I say that all the time because it's a reminder. It also is a great reminder to help you take radical responsibility. And it gives you the power to know that you are in control of your life and the choices you make today can make a positive impact on your life or a negative impact on your life. And I noticed some that can make you feel scared or afraid to even go there. But truly for me it was very empowering to say, wow, if I want this, I have to do the work. There's no one else in my life, not my husband, not my children, not my friends that can do this for me, but I have to be the one to want it. And if I want it, I can make this happen. And truly believing that is a part of this. And I think this goes back to the confidence you have within yourself and being able to do hard things and walk into the gym or invest in help or start a new program or literally break down every thought that you had about how you should reach your goals, how you should heal your hormones and go into something new to say, you know what? Speaker 3 (35:26): Those things aren't working. I'm going to do what I need to do so I can reach my goal. Because dreams don't work unless you do. And it comes down to you being the one to take the action. And I learned that very early in my life. And it serves me not only in my professional career but personally just as a woman. Because like you said, even being an expert in leading programs and helping women, we have to also feel great to be able to show up like this and tell other women what to do and how to do it. And so I always remind myself, hey, you need to make sure that you're taking care of yourself. So whatever dreams and goals you have, identifying them, that's just the start. The next part is mapping out a plan. You don't have to have it all figured out, but you just need to know the next thing, the next step. That's it. What's the next thing you're gonna do today after listening to this podcast? What's one thing you can do after this show ends to help get you one step closer to your dream and goal? Speaker 1 (36:31): One thing, right? Every journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step. But what's stopping most of us gets to this other quote, you shared fear, right? Speaker 3 (36:42): Yeah. Everything you've ever wanted is setting on the other side of fear. What if it doesn't work? What if? What if I fail myself again? What if right? There's with fear, there's always that. What if big bolded letters that's stopping us in our tracks, but like you said, we get one opportunity, one life, one chance, one body. Sometimes you have to go before you're ready cuz if you're waiting for the fear to go away, it may never go away. Speaker 1 (37:13): Yeah. So how do you, so we're afraid we're gonna lose time, money, it's not gonna work. We're gonna gonna be able to do it. What if I do it wrong? Like we have a million fears and so we sit there and we do nothing and we have this dream and the years go on and our health deteriorates. I call it circling the drain. That's how I felt, right? Every day I would get up, it would be something different. And I'm like, oh my gosh, if I'm this bad now in my forties, where am I gonna be in another 10 years, another 20 years? How have you navigated fear in your life and with your clients? How do you suggest that people start to navigate around fear or work with it so that they can work on their dreams and actually achieve what they want in their life? Speaker 3 (37:56): Yes, I do. I talk about this a lot with my clients. I talk about this a lot on my podcast. And the biggest thing I would say is that there's also nothing wrong with doing a little bit of homework. I'm never telling clients or people to just literally jump blindfolded and not have any idea. I think we all should do a little bit of homework. You know, being in this space, I will say that not every coach is the same. Not every profe per you know, professional, you think, oh well, you know, a nutrition coach, coach, a nutritionist, a personal trainer, no, not everyone is the same. I think it's worth your time listening in. One of the number one fears is what if this doesn't work? What if the person doesn't know what they're doing? Do your homework. I'm always a big fan of, go to my website, check out testimonials, ask me questions, let's hop on a call. Speaker 3 (38:46): Let's talk if we need to, let me help you work through some of your concerns. And then that gives you more information, which can also help you overcome fear information and real facts. Not just stewing on the fears and you don't really know, is that a fact or is that an emotion? And so for me, one of the things I tell ladies is, please do your homework before you maybe make that big investment or do that scary coaching program. Make sure that you feel comfortable with the person you're investing with. But even taking it back a step, you know, fear is good. It's not a bad thing, it's our mm-hmm , our bo our minds wanting to protect us, right? And we all have our own reasons for being fearful or scared of things. But I will say that it doesn't serve us though. We have to learn. Speaker 3 (39:39): It serves us in a sense of, hey, be aware of the fear. Do your homework. You know, maybe don't, don't be afraid to ask questions, but don't let it stall you out. Especially when it comes to reaching your goals and your dreams. And I'll say, you know, when I was 15 years old, my mom suddenly passed away and I was on my own. I didn't have a dad, I didn't have a family. So for me, facing fear was something I had to face head on. I had no other opportunity or choice. It was either you go ahead, you take responsibility, you know the next step and that's it. And then you'll figure the rest out as you go. Or you could stay here and do nothing. But when you are going through your life, so if you're listening in, weighing those options out, what if you stay here? Speaker 3 (40:27): What does that mean for you? That means your health isn't gonna get any better. That means your quality of life isn't gonna get better. Like you said, if you're already in your forties and you're feeling that type of way, what does that mean for your fifties and your sixties or even six months from now? What does that impact have on your, your professional life, your intimacy with your partner, your, your relationship with your children? What's the cost of all of that? So literally when fear hits you think about those things. And then on the other side of fear, what if you take action? What's gonna happen then? So weigh out the pros and the cons. Every time in my life, the pros have always outweighed the if I stay here scenarios. And so for me and my clients, that's one of the things I've always leaned into is that's how you get over those fears is you lay it out and you work through that. And I would say most people listening in would say that taking that chance is worth it compared to staying where they are. When they truly walk through that, well what if I stay here? What does this mean for my health? What does this mean for my intimacy? What does this mean with my co for my professional life? What's gonna happen? It's not just gonna magically get better on its own, I'm gonna have to do things differently. Speaker 1 (41:48): So true, your health does not magically get better on its own. It doesn't magically get better cuz you take a medication to suppress a symptom, it gets better when you look at the underlying causes and address them, which is what we're talking about. I love this other quote that you shared. You're braver than you believe and stronger than you seem and smarter than you think. And if you're hearing those words, that's you were talking about. And we'll close out with that if you wanna talk a little bit about that, Ashley, and then I'm gonna have you share all the wonderful places that everyone can find you and interact with you. But yeah, I love that you're braver than you believe and stronger than you seem and smarter than you Speaker 3 (42:29): Think. Yeah, and that's something that I as just kind of leading into what I finished talking about, that's something that I had to remind myself at a very young age. And I allowed that to stick with me through all of the phases of life that I went through, through, you know, starting my own company, healing my own body and metabolism, starting a family, moving to a new state. All of the adventures in life that we go through. And I think that's really true. And when you're listening into this, even if things didn't work for you before, it doesn't mean that you're broken. It doesn't mean that things can't work for you. Now think about my client that's 77 years old almost, and in the gym and working out lifting weights four days a week and doing 17 pull-ups and you know, lifting heavy dumbbells for herself and barbell dead lifts and all of the things. Speaker 3 (43:19): You have to believe in yourself and you have to know that you can do this, you can do this. And I think your story is also a great testimony to say, Hey, in my forties, this is when I literally transformed my life and my health. And so just don't give up that hope. It's never too late to start. You can start now. I don't care if you're 50, 60 or whatever age you may be, you can get started now and you know, just, you've gotta believe that you can do this. And that's what I love about the that quote. Speaker 1 (43:51): Yes, believe, go lift heavy things, make your dreams happen and believe. Thank you so much, Ashley, for joining us today and sharing your very, actually, very powerful story, your journey, what you offer for women, your dedication to women's health. Ashley has some an e cookbook she's going to offer to you for free and a meal plan and a free trial of her program. So tell everyone about all the freebies you have for them. We'll have all the links in the show notes and then where they can connect with you online and find all your things. Speaker 3 (44:24): Yeah. So one of the things I would love to gift your audience with is I have a great e cookbook and meal plan. It's not customized to the individual because I do believe we all need some level of customization when it comes to amounts of food we consume and what we consume on a daily basis. But if you're looking for a great template of what does it look like to eat for strength training, metabolic health, and just really wanting and even weight loss, what is, what is a sample week or meal plan look like and what types of foods can you eat and lose weight? This is a really great resource for you. It's an e cookbook. You'll download it immediately, you'll get access to it immediately and you can have it forever. It's a free gift, tons of recipes, all gluten-free recipes, all healthy protein-based, lots of different options. Speaker 3 (45:14): I'm a mom, so they are also kid-friendly and easy to make because I don't have a lot of time to be in the kitchen right now. And then the Trial to the Rise program. So RI the Rise program is my workout membership, and with this program, you get access to my workout app within my workout app. Every four weeks you get a brand new program. All of the things I highlighted throughout our podcast, periodized strength training, progressive overload that's taking place within this program. Also, exercise demos are right there, so you don't have to, as I was listing out all of the names, I was getting a little worried about that person that maybe is thinking, I have no idea what she's talking about. A squat, a deadlift, a bench press. Well, my app will give you real-time demos, 10 seconds or less. You look at everything on your phone, there's no confusion. The workouts are compatible for at home or the gym. It's something that I love. I actually created this really affordable program for women that wanted to get in the gym or work out at home, have a plan that was affordable and not have to think about or worry about their workouts, but know that a professional with real experience is taken care of so your audience can have a free trial to that as well. Speaker 1 (46:31): Nice. Thank you so much for all those valuable resources. I hope if you're listening, you will take advantage of what Ashley is offering and get started. Go lift heavy things, make midlife marvelous, boost your metabolism and get your first house, your body in order so that it can serve you with the brilliant health that you deserve. Thank you so much for being here today and sharing all this valuable information. Ashley, Speaker 3 (47:00): Thank you so much for having me on your show, Speaker 1 (47:03): And thank you for listening to another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kien. Hopefully you've learned something today that you can take action on and put in place in your life to start moving towards the brilliant health that you deserve. I thank you for joining us, and I will see you again for another episode next week. Until then, peace, love, and hormones y'all. Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible Speaker 2 (47:28): Vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.   ► Get Ashley Fillmore's freebies: FREE E-Cookbook & Meal Plan - click here  FREE 30-Day Trial to her workout program RISE - click here   ► Feeling tired? Can't seem to lose weight, no matter how hard you try? It might be time to check your hormones. Most people don't even know that their hormones could be the culprit behind their problems. But at Her Hormone Club, we specialize in hormone testing and treatment. We can help you figure out what's going on with your hormones and get you back on track. We offer advanced hormone testing and treatment from Board Certified Practitioners, so you can feel confident that you're getting the best possible care. Plus, our convenient online consultation process makes it easy to get started. Try Her Hormone Club for 30 days and see how it can help you feel better than before. CLICK HERE.   If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review The Hormone Prescription Podcast on your preferred podcast platform. Your support helps us reach even more listeners, allowing them to benefit from our expert advice and knowledge. ✨    

Welcome back to another episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast! Today, we're diving into the world of human design, hormones, and how these two intertwine to impact your overall well-being.    We're delighted to have the brilliant Kate Vazquez on our show today! Kate is a Physician Assistant, Functional Medicine Practitioner, Mindset Coach, and the founder of Radiant by Design. She's also the author of the empowering book, Estrogen Is A B*tch, and the creator of the transformative program, Already Enough.    In this episode, Kate shares her unique approach to hormone balancing that combines functional medicine, human design, and nervous system regulation. She discusses her experiences with estrogen management and enlightens us on the connections between human design and our hormones. Main Themes Covered: Understanding human design and its role in individual health The role of estrogen management in hormonal balance How Kate's unique approach helps women overcome anxiety, stress, and imbalances Learning to embrace our radiant selves by tapping into the power of human design Episode Highlights: Introducing Kate Vazquez, our inspiring guest for today's episode The story behind Kate's journey into the world of functional medicine and human design An overview of human design and how it can transform our understanding of ourselves and our health The crucial role of estrogen management in hormonal balance and overall well-being Kate's unique approach to healing, blending functional medicine, human design, and nervous system regulation Real-life stories of how Kate's method has empowered women to overcome anxiety, stress, and hormonal imbalances  Embracing our radiant selves and the power of Already Enough Call to action and where to find more from Kate Vazquez   Speaker 1 (00:00): As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others - Maryanne Williamson, In this episode hears from Kate Vasquez, how discovering human design helped her health and helped her liberate herself from her own fear. Speaker 2 (00:19): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us, keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself again. As an O B G Y N, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Speaker 1 (01:12): Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me today. Really excited to share my guest with you today, Kate Vazquez. I'll tell you a little bit about her. I met Kate at a mastermind Halloween party with JJ Virgin a year or two ago, and I was really drawn to her and this is the first time I've really had a chance to talk, speak at depth with her. And we discovered that we have so much in common about how we view women's health and energetics and nervous system function and all the things as I like to say. So we really are kindred souls and super excited to have you here to hear this discussion because it contains some vital information for your health that you're not going to hear everywhere else. Starting with, we're gonna talk about something called human design, which isn't something I've talked about on the podcast, but really has been pivotal in me creating the health that I'm enjoying and really could help you as well. Speaker 1 (02:23): So I'm introducing it today and then actually next week my human design analyst is gonna come on the podcast and really talk nuts and bolts about what human design is and why and how it impacts your health and how you can use it to help improve your health too. But today we are talking with Kate and we're gonna give you actually a really close, upfront look at how human design has helped both of us transform our health. She has some beautiful quotes to share with you. This one from Maryanne Williamson that I stated in the teaser is beautiful. We talked about that. We talk about Shakespeare and his view on what makes things good or bad. We have a great quote from Peter that people in circumstances are revealing where you're not free. And so I'm gonna invite you to listen to this episode and really take it in and bathe in the energy of it and start to notice where you are not free. Speaker 1 (03:27): Where are you not allowing yourself to create the health that you deserve that's possible for you? What could be some of the blocks in your way? Maybe listening to some of Kate's story will help you to start to identify that and listening to the information. So I'll tell you a little bit about Kate and then we'll get started. Kate is a physician, assistant functional medicine practitioner and mindset coach. She's the founder of Radiant By Design. She is the author of Estrogen, is a and Creator of Enough, already Enough. She blends functional medicine, human design, and nervous system regulation for a unique approach that cultivates a deeper healing of the mind, body, and spirit. She helps women overcome anxiety, stress, and imbalances in their body to embrace the radiance of who they truly are. So we are gonna dive into it with Kate now. Welcome Kate to the Hormone Prescription. Speaker 1 (04:26): Hi Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much. I'm just so honored and blessed to be here and I'm just really excited for our conversation today. I am too, because you love the same things. I love you, love hormones, you love working with women, you love nervous system regulation and you love human design. These are all things I'm passionate about too and I'm wondering if you can share with everyone your journey towards discovering all these very unique tools, right? Functional medicine, root cause resolution is not the standard and it's not common. How did you discover that? How did you discover that nervous system regulation was important? How did you discover human design and really how it's impacted your health personally and the women that you work with? So if you could share that, that would be awesome. Absolutely. My story really began back in, in 2016. Speaker 1 (05:16): I was working as a physician assistant at the time in an, in an urgent care and just newly, newly married with my husband. And at the time I, I looked like I was happy on the outside, but deep down inside I was really struggling. I was just stressed out, anxious. I had about six to eight migraines a month, a lot of digestive issues, constipation, blo, I was even taking birth control just to keep my skin clear. And as a newly married couple, it was very challenging that first year cause we were still learning a lot about each other's. Like you go from like thinking about yourself to now you have to think about the other person. Plus I realized I was, I was just stuffing all my emotions down. Like I was stressed out at work and I'd come home and then I would sometimes vent it to my husband, but then we'd end up in, in arguments and get triggered and yeah, it was, it was a lot that was happening at that time and it just got to a point where things were really escalating to the point where I remember the stay very clearly in 2016 where I was sitting, my husband and I were sitting on his old ugly leather bran couch, which is all we had at the time. Speaker 1 (06:22): And I remember him looking at me and just with so much pain and just sadness in his eyes and saying, I don't know how much longer I keep doing this. And when he said that, it just tore me apart. Like I was so heartbroken to hear him say that. Cause I'm like, no, this can't be happening. This is my soulmate and , you know, what did I do wrong? What's, what's going on? What, why can't I make him happy? Why am I not good enough? You know, all these thoughts were flooding in my head, but deep down inside I knew like divorce was not an option and I was willing to do whatever it took. And I knew that something needed to change, something needed to change with my health, something needed to change with my mental and emotional state and something needed to change to, so that way we could, we could save our marriage, you know, and looking back, I I realized like at that time I needed to take responsibility and that what needed to change was myself. Speaker 1 (07:16): And so my husband at the time, he sent me off to, to Tony Robbins, at least the power within. And that's when I really learned a lot about mindset and personal development and learned about the limiting belief that I had, which was, I'm not enough. That was basically like running my life and was creating a lot of stress and anxiety at the time. And within a couple years I discovered functional medicine. So I dove into that. And at the same time I was starting my certification at, with the I Institute for Functional Medicine. I also started my own business, my own practice, radiant Health at the time. Because I realized there was definitely a better way, a different way to not only heal myself, but to help other people. I set out to heal my own issues improved, you know, my gut issues healed. Speaker 1 (08:05): My, my gut, I balance out my hormones coming off birth control or cortisol. But at the time I still, even though I physically started to feel better, I still mentally, emotionally wasn't feeling my best. I still was experiencing anxiety and also having migraines at the time. And so, you know, as a entrepreneur and business owner, I had jumped into a couple masterminds over the last couple years and, you know, being in a part of those groups, you get a lot of like strategies thrown at you and it's like you're, you're told to just like, go, go, go and do, do, do. And so I was doing a lot of these things to like really build and grow the business so I can impact more people and serve more people. But at the time I just, I was so burnt out, I was exhausted and I wasn't even enjoying what I was doing anymore. Speaker 1 (08:52): I felt like I was back at the urgent care where I'm like, I became a PA and now I'm like not happy. And now I'm like, I started my own business and now I'm not having, like, what is going on? You know? So I started learning about nervous system regulation and just diving into the subconscious mind. And I was doing yoga and meditation at the time and doing all the right things, you know, eating healthy exercise, taking supplements, but it just, it wasn't enough. And so diving into nervous system regulation into the subconscious mind to really uncover like my fears and beliefs and conditioning really helped me to do that. But I think the most pivotal change, the shift that I had was learning about human design. And I don't remember how I came across it. I think it was like something on Instagram that was like talking about human design. Speaker 1 (09:37): And I took the little, the quiz or filled out my information and I discovered I was a projector. And when I discovered I was a projector, I was like, oh, what does this, what does this mean? And I realized like as a projector, they're like, I'm here to guide. I'm not here to be constantly doing, to, to be generating or to be initiating things. And that really explained a lot for me, explained a lot as I looked back over my life. Like I had been conditioned to be a certain way and that way just didn't feel genuine, didn't feel authentic to who I was. So it's like when I discovered human design discovered I was projecting this is how I was supposed to live my life, it finally gave me permission to be who I am. To be me. Yeah. so liberating to be you. Speaker 1 (10:24): And if you're listening and you've never heard of human design, you're probably going, what, what is this? What do you mean permission to be me? So can you talk a little bit about what human design is and why someone might want to know their design and how it might help them? What, what is it basically like your energetic blueprint, like how you're designed to, to show up in this world and certain types are able to generate their own energy. We ha there's like generators and manifestors generating, manifesting generators, but then there's the non-energy types which are reflectors and projectors. And we're basically here to just guide and, and reflectors reflect back, you know, how others are. We're just here to be more of like the support system. Whereas the manifestors and generators are the ones taking action and and and generating things. And so, you know, for me, understanding my human design just help me understand how to support my health better because you know, for a projector we need a lot of rest. Speaker 1 (11:28): And so I started changing, changing how I saw clients. Like instead of working from nine to five, now I work from 10 to four. And in between my clients I make sure I schedule time in to take, to take breaks to rest, especially when I start to feel my energy dip. Because if my energy dips then I can't show up as my best self and help guide my clients. So I've been more in tune with that. But also just winding down before bedtime has been a big, big game changer for me because I used to wake up and just go, go go from the time I woke up to the time I went to bed and I realized that was impacting my sleep. And when my sleeps impacted, that impacts my energy and that impacts my health. So, so really understanding your design can help you understand, okay, how do I show up? Speaker 1 (12:15): But also it can improve your relationship with others. Cuz understanding my design and my husband's design, he's a manifestor. He's go, go, go, I'm not . So I realize too, like I want to guide him but I can't guide him unless he asks me for my advice. And that's also been another game changer. Cause you know, as projectors, like we're very knowledgeable, we want to help so many people and I used to give advice and I was met with resistance and it wasn't well received. And in human design when that happens, you ex as a projector experience a lot of bitterness. And I was definitely a lot of bitterness because I didn't know, I didn't have boundaries around like, okay, no, I have to wait for someone to ask for my advice cuz when I received the invitation it's well received, you know, and people are more likely to be open. Speaker 1 (13:04): And so it's really changed a lot for me as my like who living life as who I am, but also how to better serve my clients and hold that capacity, you know? But also improving my relationship with my husband as well and, and my health. So right. And so, and and in human design there there are only four energy centers. And so something that I want everyone listening to just think about and I am doing an interview later today with my human design analyst, Nancy. So we're gonna really get into the nuts and bolts of what is human design and how it impacts your health and how you might wanna know your design. And it that might help inform you about choices you might want to make that are different from the ones you're making regarding your health. So if, if you're a non-energy type or even if you are an energy type, right? Speaker 1 (13:58): Generators aren't either, they're also not meant to go out and make stuff happen. They're meant to respond to what comes to them. And if you don't realize that you could expend a lot of energy trying to make things happen. And so if you're operating in a manner that's contrary to your design, basically you're going to have issues. And a lot of times those issues will show up as health problems. So how do you integrate, well first I'm just curious, so what type of projector are you ? Because I'm a projector too and discovering that I'm a five one projector emotional projector emotionally defined really helped me understand a lot of things that I've known about myself my whole life. But I really couldn't grasp or know how to incorporate, like I'm extremely emotional. Emotional. Yep. All right. And so I didn't understand that and everybody would look at me and go, gosh, you're so emotional. Speaker 1 (14:54): Yeah, it's my design so now I understand it, I can accept it and I can just go, yeah, it's just who I am. So ta talk a little bit about your design. Yeah, absolutely. So I'm five one projector as well, but my authority is splenic, so I'm very, very intuitive and , I used to not listen to my intuition, but when I didn't listen to it I would always say I should have listened to my intuition . So I've definitely been more in tune in in listening to that. And yeah, that's what I love about human design. There's something called the authority. So once you understand what your energy type is, whether you're a projector, manifestor, manifesting generator, reflector, you know, et cetera, there's the authority and the authority is just like this, this feeling, this sensation. Or like in your case you have this emotional wave, so you don't want to make a decision when, like for you, when you're in an emotional wave. Speaker 1 (15:47): And yeah, growing up, yeah, the emotional types were told or yeah, a lot of people are just wondering like, why are these people so emotional? Like there's something wrong with them when in fact there's nothing wrong with you at all. That's just, that's normal. It's normal. And I think it's beautiful to be able to experience the, the variety of emotions. And that's another thing like I learned like we, we look at emotions as certain things are, emotions are are bad, but it's like no emotions are just, you know, our body processing information and a lot of times we don't allow those emotions to pass. And if we stuff them down, they get suppressed, repressed, that's when they start to effects the body and put us into yes sympathetic state. So for you recognizing your emotional wave and knowing like, okay, I'm experiencing this wave right now not to make a decision because if I make a decision, it's probably not gonna be the best decision for me. Speaker 1 (16:40): So once you come out of that wave, now you have more clarity as what is best for you, what person's best for you, what is your next step, what is your next move? What is the best, you know, decision? For me, it's just really tuning in cuz my, my intuition comes very quick. It's a very quick sp spontaneous, like inner knowing and it can be easily missed if I'm not in tune with that. Which looking back yeah, I wasn't always in tune with it. Didn't always listen to it and then the like wishing I had. And so it's just this, this inner knowing, yeah, it's really hard to describe but it's just this, this sensation that I feel when I know something's right and when I know when something's not right. So having that level of intuition can really affect like your, your health but also as, as projectors, what I find fascinating is that because oh, as since I have this splenic authority, I'm very, very in tune with a lot of different smells, . Speaker 1 (17:39): So I'm very, very sensitive to smells. And like the other day my husband went and got his hair cut and he told the guy don't spray his hair and the guy forgotten he sprayed these toxic chemicals all over his hair. And then I hop into the car cuz we were gonna go off and run errands together and I couldn't, I couldn't handle the smell . And that's very, very typical of of, of someone with a splenic authority. They're just very sensitive to smells in their environment. And I call it like my toxic, my toxin radar , yes. Because yeah, I'm just like, anything that's, yeah, just like cigarette smoke and yeah, just synthetic fragrances, anything that's not natural, I'm very, very sensitive to, in fact, it's given me migraines too in the past. So, so for me, like really like when I smell something, it's like my instinct is to run away because my body's protecting me, you know? Speaker 1 (18:29): So I think it's, it's a beautiful thing to have and understand like what your authority is cuz it's, it's, it's meant to, to protect you, you know, and help you when it comes to making the best decision for you, like in, in every area of your life. Yes. You know, and as you mentioned it, I have splenic definition also and I have that, that toxin radar smell also. So I have the spleen, but I am emotionally emotional authority. And so how do you incorporate that into the work you do with people? How does it help inform how you advise people knowing their human design type? Yeah, that is such a great question. I, I love learning about each person because when someone's coming to me and they're experiencing a lot of stress, just helping them to see like, are they living in alignment with who they are? Speaker 1 (19:22): Because if they're not, that's gonna generate a lot of stress. That's gonna be the reason why they're experiencing a lot of anxiety or depression. Why they have a lot of imbalances in their, with their hormones, with their adrenals, with their gut, with their thyroid. And so having that understanding, you know, we can start pulling, pulling apart like who's their not self. Cuz in human design there's that not self theme, right? And that's the theme that's been, or the self that's been conditioned from society. So really pulling out these pieces and that's where this nervous system regulation and subconscious work comes into play too, is just understanding like what are the thoughts they have and what are their beliefs and what are the patterns and conditioning that's not who they are. So now when they build that level awareness, now we can move them into embodying who they really are. Speaker 1 (20:09): But also, yeah, taking the concepts the core concepts and like understanding their strategy and understanding their authority and how they're gonna show up in their life. Because that's what made the biggest difference for me is like, yeah, other people can make decisions on the go. Like I believe it's manifested or manifesting generators can decide very, very quickly. But sometimes, yeah, for me I just, I have to tune into my intuition if my intuition doesn't feel right, you know, even though it may feel right for someone else, I have to listen to that cuz it's, it's always guiding me. Mm-Hmm. . But but yeah, using that has been a game changer cuz it's like I get to see my client for who they are . Yes. And help them to, to recognize like this is who they are and it's okay to be who they are. Speaker 1 (20:57): Yeah, I think that's key. And I, I'm just wondering cuz people probably come to you because you know, I know in functional medicine probably 80% of our clients are women over 40 because we suffer more than anyone with our health cuz we've got those, you know, wireless moving hormones that are changing and we've just got so many obstacles to navigate as we age. And one thing that I try to help all my clients understand is that it's not just about your physical health. You know, some people say, just tell me the supplements I need to take. Tell me the diet I need to eat, tell me the exercises I need to do. I don't wanna change anything in my life. Kirin, I just want you to tell me those things so I can plug them in and be fine. And I really step back and say, yeah, it's more than that. Speaker 1 (21:45): It's how you're living your life, how you're showing up, how you're making decisions, how you're setting boundaries are not. So do you find that most people are open and receptive to hearing this information? Or what, what is their reaction and how do you navigate it if people say, yeah, I don't wanna know any thing about that Kate . Well, the good thing is, you know, I'm very upfront with, with someone before they, they work with me and if, if someone's not open, you know, I let 'em want let them know like this is a part of the work that I do. And so not everyone is open to that. And, and that's okay. You know, I know everybody's on their own journey and so I work with my clients as as, as best as I can, meet them where they're at. And sometimes I'm like, okay, if we need to work on the physical things first, we can do that. Speaker 1 (22:34): But for the most part, everyone that has worked with me, you know, is really open into diving more cuz they understand that yeah, it's not necessarily just the physical healing that ne needs to happen. It it, there's a, there's a deeper healing that needs to happen as well. The mental, the emotional piece. And so the clients that work with me, they, they really want to get to the bottom and are open and and willing to do whatever it takes, even if it means diving into what's happening with the subconscious mind and helping them to regulate their nervous system and doing things a little bit differently than they've done before. Because obviously, you know, what they've done before wasn't working. And so yeah, they're coming to me to, to get that guidance and see things. And that's another thing as a productor, we see things from a different perspective, these little tweaks, these little changes, little things that they can do that they can add that's going to Yeah, give them profound effects in their life. Speaker 1 (23:30): Right? Yes. I mean that's something I bet that you've been doing this your whole life and you didn't realize that this was a special gift that you've been given , it's like your superpower then you can, people can come to you and you can really, you just see it and people are like, oh my gosh, you're brilliant. But it's just how you're designed. You're designed to truly see people at depth. And one of the things, I know you just mentioned nervous system regulation. Can you talk a little bit about that? Because I don't know that that's something that most people are aware of also. So how, is that something that you use to help educate clients and guide them and help them to heal? Yeah, so the first thing I ask is what emotion are you experiencing consistent daily basis? Because emotions are basically, the language of the body is what Dr. Speaker 1 (24:20): Joe Dispenza likes to say . So I'm a huge, huge fan of his work. But yeah, emotions will, will give us a clue as to the state that our bodies are in. And the state I'm talking about is, are we in a sympathetic state or are we in a parasympathetic state? Cuz I believe like most of us are operating in that sympathetic state, which is that that fight or flight response. And when we're in that state, you know, most of us are in that state chronically, which is not good. It does affect our health long term because I really truly believe like our nervous system is what's influencing the health, you know, affecting our gut. It's, you know, slowing down the signals affecting our digestion and how we break down and absorb our food. And elimination, it's also increasing the signals to, you know, our adrenal glands ramping up cortisol levels, which can also affect our glucose. Speaker 1 (25:08): And then it's also slowing down the signals to our reproductive organs. So there goes the hormonal issues, , you know, and women especially, they're going through menopause, you know, their hormones already are imbalanced and so the cortisol is spiked, you know, that's adding even more to the hot flashes and, and then yeah, and then there's the immune system. It's also impacting our immune system. So that's where a lot of autoimmune disorders pop up. And when it comes to autoimmune, you know, and actually any issue really any imbalances we have and chronic issues, it's, I was thinking about this the other day. I'm like, every like chronic disease, you know, lists all the risk factors and every single one of these diseases and disorders have stress as a risk factor. But we're not really taught how to adapt to stress. We're not taught how to like master our emotions and how to, you know, respond calmly in stressful situations. Speaker 1 (26:01): Instead, we just immediately react because of the conditioning. You know, growing up my, I love my mom, but she was all, she was just stressed out, anxious all the time, constantly reacting . And that's how I learned like, oh, like when this happens, freak out, you know, . Yeah. But that's not a healthy stress response. And so when it comes to nervous system regulation, it just started observing like, when I'm under stress, what is happening? How, how do I feel? You know, mentally, emotionally, how does my body feel physically? So it's, it's building that awareness and recognizing, wow, I've, I'm like, I'm just constantly in this, this state of fight or flight. And I remember as I was starting to work on this regulation piece, I remember sitting here at my desk as, as we are now, and just like tuning in. I'm like, I'm not even stressed out thinking about anything, but my abdominal muscles were really tight, my neck muscles were really tight, my jaw was really tight. Speaker 1 (26:56): I'm like, what is going on ? And I, I realized, I'm like, wow, my, you know, I'm, I'm in that sympathetic state. I'm in that fight or flight state. And so, so it was just starting to build that awareness and, and tuning in and basically reconditioning my mind and, you know, changing the thoughts that I was having. So I recognized a lot of those thoughts were, were causing my body to go into that state, but also recognizing patterns and, and how I was reacting and starting to train myself to actually respond calmly instead of immediately reacting and going into that, that fight response. Cause you know, with the stress response, I, I realized like we all, we all respond in different ways. There's, despite where we automatically go into defensiveness, we wanna prove we're right, you know, and, and that's where the perfectionism comes in. Speaker 1 (27:46): And that's definitely the where I used to live, you know, and, and that needing to be perfect and everything that I did. But there's also the flight where when people are stressed out, they will distract themselves from feeling a certain way. And so they'll use like food or alcohol or even scrolling on social media, different things like that just to distract them from feeling a certain way. And then there's that freeze response where they just want to completely, like, they're, they're paralyzed, they're frozen, they completely avoid conflict, you know, when they're under stress. And then there's that font type where they go into people pleasing and people that you know, excessively apologize. And there's a statement I I once read as like, you know, over apologizing is basically saying, sorry for just like existing. And I'm like, whoa, . Yeah. Why are we apologizing for just being human and for existing? Speaker 1 (28:35): You know? But we tend to over apologize, you know, for so many things, you know, for whatever reason, you know, because we, we feel like we're being a burden. We're we're being too much, you know? But at the end of the day it's like, no, that's that fond stress response. So starting to recognize the patterns can help us start to, to regulate our nervous system and recognize like when I respond to stress, is this a healthy response or is it an unhealthy response? And, and how it's affecting our body. But you know, going back to the emotions, you know, I recognize like when we are experiencing, you know, anxiety and depression and or feeling so in, in human design, I find it fascinating cuz when we're in our not self being, so for example, generators will experience a lot of frustration. Manifestors will experience anger, projectors will experience a lot of bitterness, resentment, reflectors, disappointment. Speaker 1 (29:25): And that's because we're in that sympathetic state. Because we're not operating in alignment with our design. We're not operating as who we are. And so we're gonna experience these what I call low vibrating emotions, which is our sympathetic state. But if we can switch out of that, you know, into a parasympathetic state, now we're gonna experience more love, more happiness, more joy, more peace, more fulfillment. And so the key is to like, okay, how can we get back to that state and experience more of those emotions? Cuz we're, and we are experiencing more of those emotions. We know that we're in that parasympathetic state which then supports our health long term. That's is the state that's gonna support healing. Cause we can't really support our healing if we're still stuck in that sympathetic state. Yes. So getting that switched back from paras, from sympathetic to parasympathetic is key. Speaker 1 (30:19): I'm wondering if you might share just one strategy that people might try to help regulate. Like say they're listening and they're noticing like you did. Oh yeah. My abdominal muscles will try, oh, I'm shallow breathing and woo. Yeah, I'm probably in sympathetic state. So one thing that they might try to just dial that down and step into that parasympathetic state. Yeah. More fully. Mm-Hmm. . That's a great question. Well the simplest thing and the most easiest and cheapest is, is tuning into our breath. Going back to breath work, you know. And just when I was in that recognizing like everything was tight, I just started focusing on breathing and I was telling my body at the same time, like, relax, it's okay, we're safe . Because the reason why we're tight intense is cuz like the body thinks we're not safe. And you know, all these perceived threats and demands, you know, and needing to do everything on our to-do list can be a perceived threat. Speaker 1 (31:21): You know things that are happening with people around us. And so I remember just closing my eyes and taking deep breaths and just telling my body, relax, release. And that's another word, release release. Cause sometimes we're holding onto things and so just saying that and saying, it's okay, I'm safe, I'm okay. You know, can really bring that body back into that, that parasympathetic state. Mm-Hmm. the breath. So key. And you know, when I pay attention to my breath, I find how many times a day I actually stop breathing. Yeah. I love dancing. And so I, I do dance lessons or like zu and Zama and my dance instructor's constantly telling me, breathe, , breathe. You're not breathing. And it's like, oh, I'm focusing on learning the new steps. And to me that's like a very anxiety producing cuz I wanna do it right. Speaker 1 (32:16): Right. I wanna do it perfect Lee. And, and then I hold my breath. Mm-Hmm and I make myself in this sympathetic nervous is the state, which is not conducive for learning. So I'm really shooting myself on the foot. So yeah, I wanna encourage everyone to breathe, take some deep breaths. Breathe. I, I love this. Yeah. This quote you shared with me from Peter Cro Life will present you with people and circumstances to reveal where you are not free. And it just stuck out to me right there because everybody listening, maybe these are some places and things that you needed to hear where you could re it could reveal where you're not free. So can you talk a little bit about what this means and actually who Peter Cro is? I don't even know, but I love that quote. I love Peter Cro. He's known as the mind architect if that doesn't say anything. Speaker 1 (33:09): . Yeah. But he's so good about just like pulling out the constructs of our subconscious mind and helping people to see like the way they've been and how they can live their life. And I love this quote cuz on my journey, this quote, life will present you with people and circumstances to reveal where you're not free was eye-opening quote to help me recognize my triggers every time I'm triggered. Instead of blaming someone that you feel a certain way, it's like, wait, no. Like why do I feel triggered right now? Because I recognize my triggers was not because of something someone said or something did, but because of the limiting belief I had in that moment, I felt like I wasn't good enough or I felt like I wasn't worthy or I felt like I was doing something wrong and then I could go back to something that happened in my childhood, you know, where there was something that happened then that, you know, cuz it's like these triggers are linked to our past experiences and the more experiences we have, the more they get linked together that just validate these beliefs . Speaker 1 (34:17): So yeah, I love that quote. And it's, it's a quote I use with my clients often to help them recognize, like, especially when they get triggered and something's bothering them or if you're feeling resistance, it's like, okay, where are you not free right now? Like it has nothing to do with the other person because yeah, the other person may be reacting because they have stuff that you know is going on inside of them. It's just been a really, really powerful quote for me. It is super powerful. I'm gonna have to look into Peter Krone and it reminds me of this podcast I just came across yesterday called It's not You, it's your trauma . Speaker 1 (34:55): Which I love that because you know, I think part of getting your physical health straight is you've got to disassemble this stress response and yourself. And part of it is that you're getting triggered, we're getting triggered all over the place and trying to fight with the external world to be different so we can feel okay inside when the truth is that's not possible. The only person you can change is yourself and to disassemble the triggers, the trigger buttons that you have where you're not free and change yourself so that the external environment isn't stressful. That's really something I think sooner or later that we each have to, to do if we are to get our cortisol under control. So here's where the hormone prescription comes in, y'all, you know, I tie everything to hormones, it's all about clean cortisol and if we don't serve her and we don't give her what she needs, which is a safe, comfortable life where we're not reacting to everything and everyone, then we're just never gonna achieve what's possible for us. Speaker 1 (36:01): Right? Yeah, absolutely. I completely agree. Personal experience right here, , right? Same for me. It's like I'm in the process of really disassembling these triggers and it's, yeah, the lessons are never ending. But I do love this quote you have from Shakespeare too that follows exactly to this. Nothing is ever good or bad, but thinking makes it so. Yeah. So do you wanna talk a little bit about that? Yes. Another really powerful quote that that's helped me on my journey, because I realize at the end of the day, everything is a perception. You know, everything that a thought we have is, is really based on our, our perceptions. Whether we think something's good or we think something's bad because what we think is good, what we think is bad, another person may think the opposite. And you know, and that's okay. We all have our own thoughts and our beliefs and our perceptions and we also have, you know, based on our perceptions create these stories. Speaker 1 (36:57): And if we can recognize like these stories is what, you know, puts us, sends us down this, this path of like, yeah, going down in, into a sympathetic state or being in a parasympathetic state. Like it really all starts with our thoughts. And that's something that I, I talk a lot about my clients and actually first thing I have them do is like start tuning into their thoughts. What are their thoughts? What are they thinking about themselves? What are they thinking about their health? Because say I have someone who wants to lose weight, and I'm like, okay, well how much weight do you wanna lose? And they're like, well I wanna lose this much weight. Well, why do you wanna lose that much weight? Well, because blah, blah blah, blah blah. And I'm like, well, have you ever been at that weight? And they're like, yeah. Speaker 1 (37:37): And so I got curious. I'm like, well, when you were at that weight, how did you feel? And they're like, well I was stressed out . And I'm like, well, how do you feel now? Well, I'm stressed out trying to lose weight. I'm like, okay. So I'm like, obviously when, when we're thinking about, you know, something like losing weight like that. Yeah, that feels very stressful. And so instead of focusing on losing weight, what's a different thought? How about like, I want to just feel healthy, I want to feel vibrant, I wanna feel energized, like I wanna feel strong. So what are the action steps you're gonna take to do that? Versus like, oh, I wanna lose weight, so now I gotta eat a salad and now I gotta exercise. Like it's, it's a completely different energy. So for me it's like, yeah, let's tune into our thoughts because yeah, whatever's happening in our life, it's not good or bad. Speaker 1 (38:25): So can we like start to neutralize the things because you know, when we are triggered it's because yeah, we're, we're perceiving it as as bad . So can we take a step back and, and yeah, going back to the the other quotes like recognizing, okay, where am I not free in this moment and, and what are my thoughts around that? And can I start to shift? And, and my favorite tool when it comes to perception is, is doing a, a reframe, you know, seeing things from a different perspective because there's so many different lenses of perspective that we can look through. We're only looking through one, but if we can start to shift and see things from a different perspective, it really starts to shift how we feel energetically and physically as well. So well said. It's beautiful and you know, I could talk to you probably for hours, but we'll keep it short. Speaker 1 (39:12): Maybe we'll have you back, we'll talk more human design. But this other quote from Maryanne Williamson that you shared, I love Maryanne Williamson. If you are listening, you don't know Maryanne. I definitely recommend looking into her because she has so much to teach about living in love versus fear. You know, her book Re Return to Love is one of my favorites. And so the quote is, as we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. And I I wanna say that, you know, the first time I met you at JJ Virgins, her mind share conference, so everybody listening, it's a conference that a lot of health printers go to and she has her mind share collaborative where we support each other. I remember meeting you at the Halloween party and you and your husband had the most amazing costumes, but I felt so drawn to you and you know, this idea of our presence automatically liberates others. Speaker 1 (40:09): I felt that from you. So can you talk a little bit about how this shows up in your life, what this quote means to you, and really your journey from liberating yourself from fear because it's fear that keeps us in that flight fight, freeze font response. So I'd love if you could share that before we wrap up. Yeah, absolutely. Now this, this quote is just a piece, I think it's the last piece of a bigger quote. So I highly encourage, if you're listening, go read the entire quote cuz it's just so powerful. And I love this quote so much and my husband does too, that we, we, I like, I bought a picture frame so we have it in our home, in the middle of our home so we can see it every single day. But this quote is so, is so powerful because it's true. Speaker 1 (40:55): I realize at the end of the day, the reason yeah, why we are in a sympathetic state is because we're focused on fear. And that's really been just like the found foundation, like all there is is is love or fear. And if we can recognize like every, every thought we have, every, you know, action we take, you know, every decision we make, every everything that we do, is it around fear or is it around love? Because if it's around fear, it's obviously yeah, going to put us in that sympathetic state, it's going to make us feel certain emotions and then if we're in that state long enough, it's going to impact our health. So for me, yeah, recognizing like I was, yeah, definitely operating from that place of fear and shifting back into love has been so powerful for me and that's why, yeah, I love Maryanne Lewis and that's one of my favorite books as well. Speaker 1 (41:45): Return to Love, Dr. Joe Dispenses, another incredible humane being who is on a mission in, in helping people just reconnect back to love. So if you guys haven't checked out his work, I highly recommend he's got three incredible books. But yeah, this quote has been powerful for me because I realized like I needed to go through everything that I went through, you know, experiencing the anxiety, experiencing the migraines, experiencing almost losing my, my soulmate because of everything I needed to experience the pain mentally, physically, emotionally, so I could learn the lessons that I needed to learn and be here to share, share everything I've learned on my journey, you know, the, the insights, the tools to help people step out of the conditioning, step out of the fear, step out of the limitations and step into who they really are. Because when you're living in embodiment of who you are, you are in your best health, you're, you're, you feel incredibly, you know, not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Speaker 1 (42:51): And when we're in that place, like it just makes life worth living. We have so much peace, so much freedom, fulfillment, you know, and, and that's my mission, that's my goal. I want women to have access to this. Like we all have the tools, the power within us, you know, to heal, to, to live our best life. We just, we haven't tapped into that yet. And that's my goal is to help women to tap into that. So that's why this, this quote has been really, really powerful for me. And I, I appreciate your, your statement cuz that's my goal. I'm like, I want women to see me like being liberated. And so that allows them, gives them the permission to, to liberate themselves, which in fact is what my next book is going to be called is Liberated . Yes, I love it. Yes. So as you shine your light, you allow you give others the permission to do it. Speaker 1 (43:47): I'm so glad that you have done this work and had your, the journey that you've had. I know it wasn't easy , you know, having followed somewhat of a similar path, it's really arduous, but I think that as projectors, it, it's what allows us to have the grit and the insight to actually help to guide others on their journeys successfully. So thank you for that and thank you for all the wonderful resources that you have to share with everyone. If you wanna tell them about your stress response quiz, we're gonna have a link to that in the show notes. We're also going to have a link to your already enough course. Do you wanna tell everybody what the we'll find with these resources? Yeah, absolutely. So you can find a lot of these resources on my website. It is currently your radiant health.com. But because of this journey, , I'm transitioning from Radiant Health to Radiant by Design because yeah, it's not just just functional medicine anymore, it's it's nervous system regulation. Speaker 1 (44:50): I'm adding in the human design piece, like we're healing different parts of ourselves, we're diving deep into the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual elements. And so, so yeah, it's radiant by design right now. Or excuse me, you're radiant health.com, but eventually we'll be radiant by design.com. But yeah, you can access those resources there. You also, I have my, my quiz and already enough is a podcast course which I created because I recognize a lot of women are busy on the go. And so I just recorded all the insights, the tools, five to 10, 15 minute episodes to dive into a subconscious mind, the nervous system regulation, emotional regulation piece, and also the tools to help them move out, that stress response into that sympathetic or flow state is what I call it. So they can start embodying, you know, being, being already enough. And you can also find me on Instagram at the Kate Vasquez and that's Vasquez with Double Z's, V A Z Q U E z. Speaker 1 (45:52): And I post a lot of content there. And also if you have any questions or just, you know, have anything to share, just, just send me a dm. I am and I'm always on Instagram. I love chatting with, with my followers, so yeah, please, please reach out to me if you have any questions or, or curious about anything. You know, I'm, I'm always there and always available. Awesome. Thank you so much Kate Vasquez for joining us today on the Hormone Prescription. Thank you so much for everything that you've shared. It's been a beautiful episode. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you so much. It's been awesome. And thank you for joining me for another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kiran. I know for sure you heard some things today that are going to inspire you to take the next step, do something differently, and move towards the brilliant health that you deserve. I'll see you next week for another episode. Speaker 2 (46:45): Until then, Speaker 1 (46:46): Peace, love, and hormones, y'all. Speaker 2 (46:49): Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon. Ready to delve deeper into the connections between human design and hormone balance, and uncover the radiant version of yourself? Don't hesitate—tune in to this episode now!

Is your lifestyle no longer serving you? Ignoring your biological needs as a woman leads to burnout, dissatisfaction, and a less joyful life. Today on The Girlfriend Doctor, we discuss the lifestyle necessary to adjust to the changes of menopause with Dr. Kyrin Dunston. She is a board-certified OBGYN. She realized the education she received as a doctor was not working as her health continued to decline. Her struggle helped her discover a new way to approach health. Now she helps women establish healthy habits to recover from burnout and adrenal fatigue. Together we uncover why self-education is the key to lasting transformation in your life. Understanding yourself and your needs is the first step on your hormonal health journey. Dr. Dunston helps you get clear on your goals and desires so that you can commit to the changes you need to achieve a life of joy.  Your body does not care what you think, and without understanding your biological and energetic needs, you won't have the energy to do the things you love. Dr. Kyrin helps you find balance and move into your second spring feeling empowered, energetic, and joyful. If you're ready to learn and take action, listen now!   KEY TAKEAWAYS [1:30] Activate Your Bliss Hormones [5:15] Hormone Bliss Challenge  [11:00] Knowledge Activates Action [13:00] Willful Ignorance in Women Physicians [18:00] You Cannot Prescribe Away a Bad Lifestyle [23:00] Crafting a Lifestyle to Avoid Burnout  [27:00] You Don't Have to Suffer to Transform [29:00] How Your Energy Body Works    HOW TO CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST Hormone Bliss Challenge  The Hormone Prescription Podcast Diet Deceptive Dozen Report from Dr. Kyrin  MidLifeMetabolismInstitute.com HerHormoneClub.com Instagram    MEMORABLE QUOTES “Understanding has to come before any meaningful change in your life. If you don't have that understanding to stand on, you can't make it.” [11:52] –Dr.Kyrin Dunston “Your body doesn't care what you think or what your beliefs are. It has its requirements, and if you don't give her what she needs then she's not going to give you what you need. You can try to medicate it away, every which way, but at some point, we have a reconning where we have to decide as women; do I want to go medicated into the night or do I want to take some time out to educate myself?” [19:27] -Dr.Kyrin Dunston