Hormone Prosperity Podcast with Dr. Kyrin Dunston

Kristin Rowell | Simple Detox And Steps To Become Energetically Efficient

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 <laugh> 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 <affirmative>. 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 <laugh>. 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, <affirmative> 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):

<Laugh>. 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 <laugh>,

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 <laugh>. And then they go, okay, Kyrin, I get it. I'll drink the water <laugh>.

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. <affirmative>. 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, <affirmative>.

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 <laugh>. 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 <affirmative>. 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, <laugh>, <laugh>.

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. <Laugh> <laugh>. 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 <laugh> 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 <laugh>, 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. <Laugh>, 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.

 

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Dr. Michelle Veneziano | Fascial Flow and Connection Is Medicine To Heal

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 <laugh>, 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 <laugh>, 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. <Affirmative> 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. <Affirmative>. 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 <laugh>. 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. <Affirmative> 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 <laugh>? 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 <laugh> 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. <Laugh>. 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 <affirmative>. 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. <Laugh>. 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, <laugh>, 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 <laugh>, 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 <affirmative> 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, <laugh> <laugh>. 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 <laugh>. 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 <laugh>. 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 <affirmative>. 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. <Affirmative> 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 <affirmative>. 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 <laugh>, 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 <laugh> 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 <laugh>

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!

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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.

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► Do you feel exhausted, moody, and unable to do the things that used to bring you joy?

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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.

 

 

Heather Gray | Could Your Chronic Symptoms Be Lyme? Your Guide To Identifying & Healing This Stubborn Mystery Illness

Are you a midlife woman struggling with chronic symptoms, but just can't seem to find the root cause? Could Lyme disease be the culprit behind the mystery? In today's riveting episode, we sit down with Heather Gray, an expert Functional Diagnostic Nutritionist and Bioenergetic Practitioner who specializes in helping clients with chronic and complex illnesses such as Lyme disease and Autoimmune diseases. With overn27 yearsnof personal experience, Heather is passionate about helping others find relief and regain their health 💪. 

The main topic for today's discussion is Lyme disease, and Heather will share her expertise on the following key takeaways:

- Identifying Lyme disease ⚠️
- Healing this mystery illness 🌱
- Empowering clients to take control of their health journey 🧘‍♀️
  
We dive into the nitty-gritty of Lyme disease – from its symptoms and the difficulties in identifying it, to Heather's personalized approach that helps clients reduce inflammation, improve gut health, and achieve optimal wellness 🔍🩺. Heather's dedication and experience have helped countless clients overcome their chronic health issues to achieve the health and vitality they deserve 😊.
  
So, dear midlife women, don't let chronic illness hold you back any longer! Tune in to this thought-provoking episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast and learn from Heather Gray the steps to identify and conquer Lyme disease, or any other stubborn mystery illness, once and for all 🦸‍♀️.
  
Sit back, relax, and enjoy the conversation ♨️. Don't forget to subscribe to The Hormone Prescription Podcast for more informative and inspiring episodes on all things hormonal and health-related! 🎧 🌟

 

Speaker 1 (00:00):

There's a reason you became a good host for Lyme in the first place. And if nothing changes, nothing changes, Heather Gray.

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 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 back to the Hormone Prescription. Thank you so much for joining me today as we dive into a topic we haven't dived into in five years in the podcast, which I don't know how that happened because it's super important and it could be affecting you and you might not even know it because it's a diagnosis that's often missed. It's hard to diagnose, and clinicians have to have a high index of suspicion, know the right tests to give, know the right treatments, and the right order to get rid of this bugger, I'm gonna call it Lyme disease. So it's a little bit of a complicated process, and not a lot of clinicians are experts in this. And so sometimes it's left to our health coaches and our other ancillary providers to really do the grunt work of being the experts in this. And today's guest is the line boss.

Speaker 1 (01:59):

Her name's Heather Gray. I'll tell you a little bit about her and then we will get started. So Heather is a functional diagnostic nutritionist and bioenergetic practitioner specializing in supporting clients with chronic and complex illnesses like Lyme disease, autoimmune diseases and more. She has 27 years of personal experience. A lot of us come to this work through our pain that becomes our purpose. Heather is no exception, so she deeply understands the struggles of living with these conditions. She really is dedicated to helping others find relief. You'll hear that in her enthusiasm, in her frequency, in the depth of knowledge that she has about this topic. She has a personalized approach as a practitioner. She's also a podcast host and author, and she's helped countless clients reduce inflammation in their body and brain, improve their gut health and achieve optimal wellness. She helps clients get to the root cause of their symptoms and helps them take control of their health journey. Her approach is not only effective, but also empowering. And one of the things I really love about her is that she incorporates the bioenergetics, the spirituality, which is essential for your healing. If you are neglecting that and you don't do it, it's not a moral or ethical choice. It's a health choice because you're missing one of the most important components of your healing protocol. And we dive into that in this episode as well. So please help me welcome the line boss, Heather Gray, to the show.

Speaker 3 (03:32):

Hey, thanks for having me. So excited. Yeah,

Speaker 1 (03:35):

I'm super excited to talk about Lyme because we haven't talked about it before and we're going into our fifth season of the show. And when I realized we hadn't talked about it, I said, how have we not talked about Lyme? Because although it may not affect as many people as have hormonal poverty at midlife for women, it really can be so debilitating and so hard to diagnose and people wait so long for a diagnosis. So I think it's super important to talk about this topic to really get people thinking about could this be a cause of some of the symptoms that I'm having? So why don't we dive in right there, Heather, starting with the symptoms, acute Lyme, chronic Lyme, what does it look like? How might someone suspect that this could be them?

Speaker 3 (04:28):

Well, first off, I'm just so honored to be the first and only person to talk about lime <laugh>, five seasons. That's nothing to sneeze at. I've got a podcast that I'm into season two, and yeah, that is a labor of love. So congratulations to you. Thank you. Yeah, lime the boring part. Let's get that stuff out of the way. <Laugh> acute. So it was funny when we were talking before we started, you're like you said, you found that a lot of folks don't have that traditional bullseye rash, and that's actually a misnomer, right? Only 30% of people who have Lyme disease actually get that bullseye rash. So if you think about it, it's actually a pretty small percentage of people. And that was me. Like I was bit by a tick when I was 13. My mom took it out the wrong way, right?

Speaker 3 (05:07):

There is a right way and a wrong way to take out the tick. She took a flame, a lighter to it, which actually makes it regurgitate what's in its system. So your chances of getting, yeah, if it's got Lyme and it passes it along to you, your chances are higher getting it that way. So she took it out the wrong way. And you know, I didn't develop symptoms until about two years later when it really started attacking my joints. And especially juvenile. Lyme is really heavy in the brain. And so a lot of cognitive issues, a lot of depression, a lot of anxiety, a lot of suicidal ideation. My first real experience with it was my first psych ward when I was 15 years old for my first suicide attempt. Wow. You know, it was sad because at the time nobody was trying to figure out why this 15 year old was trying to off herself.

Speaker 3 (05:53):

Nobody was digging deeper into why does this kid. Instead, they put me on antipsychotics, they told me I was attention seeking, pat me on the head, and sent me out the door. And I had spent two other times in the psych ward over over my life for suicide attempts. And what's crazy and not talked about a lot is that Lyme disease, most people die from suicide than the actual disease itself. Disease suicide in Lyme disease client patients are, is really high. The brain inflammation that it causes, the havoc that it causes with your hormones, the migrating pain, there's only six diseases out there that cause migrating pain. So that should be red flag number one. So if you ever have somebody coming to present to you and they're like, I've got a pain in my right shoulder, and then now it's in my left elbow, and then now it's in my right, right knee, right, they're not a hypochondriac.

Speaker 3 (06:47):

That's actually a very telltale sign of Lyme disease. So we've got migrating pain, we've got massive joint pain because Lyme likes to eat collagen. And so that's why we get so much joint inflammation and so much joint pain with that. It also likes to go to the areas that's weak, right? So it's gonna attack your weak areas. So if you have an injury somewhere, or if you have a genetic predisposition with something, it's gonna wreak havoc in that area. It causes a lot of brain inflammation, anxiety, depression, spinning, a obsessive thoughts suicidal ideations. There were days, I'm not even kidding, 20 to 30 times a day I would think about ways of taking myself out of this world. And, and it wasn't like a, there was nothing going on situationally for me to warrant those kind of thoughts. There was just a lot of hopelessness because I was being gaslighted by the medical community.

Speaker 3 (07:41):

I was not finding answers. You, it's very isolating when you have a chronic illness and you look normal, right? You don't look sick. So the invisible disease part of it comes with a huge thing. And then as I was then going into puberty, my hormones were a wreck. My periods were a total mess. It wreak havoc my whole life to the point where then once I did get pregnant, I miscarried. And so I've been battling hormonal stuff. So that's why I love any chance to tie this stuff in because I know for me, when you have those kind of stressors on the body we're, it's gonna steal from your, you know, sexual hormones and it's gonna cause cortisol levels to go up. And I've been fighting with my weight on and off my whole life. And so it's all very much tied together, all kinds of toxins and, you know, viruses, bacteria, other pathogens, any kind of stressor on the body is a stressor on the body and it's gonna mess with your hormones.

Speaker 1 (08:36):

Yeah. And I'm so sorry that you went through that as a teen at any age, that sounds horrifying. I'm glad that you've found the way and you're now helping other people because I know right now even people, there's somebody or some people listening who are gonna identify with those symptoms and they're gonna say, wait a minute, I have migratory pain. Wait a minute. I have had feelings of hopelessness and suicidal thoughts and obsessive thoughts. Wait a minute, I've had some of these symptoms. And wait a minute, my doctors never mentioned Lyme. I know I've been bitten by many ticks. I grew up in New York City. I went to camp in Connecticut, upstate New York. I've been to Maine, I've been bitten by so many ticks in my life. And if you live in a tick endemic area, it certainly has to be a possibility that you consider.

Speaker 1 (09:26):

And if you have even just hormonal problems that seem out of the norm, and like you said, it likes to eat collagen. So think about the strength of joints if you have early onset. I recently knew somebody who had bilateral hip replacement in her fifties, which is very young. So these are some of the symptoms you might think of and you definitely wanna be checked. Now, getting checked is another situation when it comes to Lyme. So we have to talk about testing and what are the different options for testing because there's a very high false negative rate, meaning you have Lyme, but the test comes back and says you don't. There's a wide array of testing that is more specific, meaning also more specialized and often more costly, but worth it if you can get a diagnosis. Talk a little bit about that.

Speaker 3 (10:18):

What an awesome topic. I have so much respect for this little bacteria. So going back to a little bit, what is Lyme? It's a spiral shaped bacteria, it's in the same family as syphilis. And so because of its spiral shaped, cork shaped nature, it can invade any tissue, any system, any organ in the body and start to wreak havoc. That's why they call it the great imitator because it can, cause there's, the numbers have been changing so much in the past 10 years, but the last time I heard it was like 65 or 70% of MS is actually undiagnosed Lyme disease, Alzheimer's, undiagnosed Lyme disease, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, undiagnosed Lyme disease. So all of these kinds of catch all types, we don't really know what it is. So we're just gonna call it that type of stuff. I'd be looking into Lyme. And so, and the reason that I have respect for it is, first off, it's been around for thousands of years.

Speaker 3 (11:08):

So we actually found it in, it was a mummy in the Italian Alps, I think who we, thousands of years old, found it in its system. So our immune system in this bacteria has been together for thousands of years. I think the reason we're seeing it pop its ugly head up so much these days is just like with anything else, we've gotten so far off track as humans on how to live. We've supercharged these bugs with EMFs. We've lowered our immune systems with toxins in the air, toxins in the water, toxins in our food, high stress, all this stuff that kind of leads us to be a better host. So like you said, you've been bit hundreds of times by ticks, you probably, you don't, you're not showing symptoms of Lyme disease where someone like myself, I, I had a lot of childhood trauma.

Speaker 3 (11:55):

I had an uncle who killed himself when I was four. I had a lot of heavy metal toxicities. I was celiac and I was eating the standard American diet, didn't know any better. So there were a lot of things that set me up to be a good host. And so that's one thing I really wanna emphasize in this episode is like, why do some people get it? And some people don't. There's also a genetic component to it. There's environment epigenetics, there's a lot of that stuff, but testing. So it's brilliant in the fact that it's got three different phases that it can live in. It can be in a cyst form, it can be in a persister cell form, it can be in its active form. And a lot of times when you start to go after it, it will wrap. Its up in your immune system in biofilm and hides from your immune system.

Speaker 3 (12:35):

And so that's why a lot of this testing you get so many negatives is because our immune system isn't picking it up or it's actually, we've had it for so long and it's depleted our immune system. And so now a lot of these tests that are looking for that immune response aren't getting it because our immune system's been shut down. So it's fascinating how stealthy it can be. I like testing through Vibrant Labs, DNA connections is a really good one. And Hygienics. So those are the three top tests that I would recommend. If you're getting testing done, testing done, a lot of times I use a free intake form. So I use two of them, one of them from cell core and one of 'em from Dr. Horowitz. And that one you can get online for free. But I have found so much clinical correlation with just a person's medical background, medical history, symptoms, and then these intake forms that I don't do a whole lot of actual Lyme testing anymore unless somebody absolutely is, I have $1,500 in my pocket and it's burning and I have to see black and white results.

Speaker 3 (13:34):

Okay, cool. If that's the case, then absolutely. Sometimes it does help to know what we're dealing with. But for the most part, I've, like I said, I've seen so much clinical correlation with those intake forms and then with a really great medical history and then going over symptoms that, and most people don't care to have that. If people are coming to me, it's usually because they've been sick for a really long time, they've already seen a lot of practitioners, they haven't gotten the answers they need, so their finances are a little bit more constricted. So if you've only got so much money to work with, I'd rather not waste it on a lab that could be a false negative. Instead, I'd rather use it towards whatever protocol treatment that you might need. Because it's not cheap <laugh> at all getting over Lyme disease because it affects so many different areas of the body that it's quite complex and it's like peeling back layers of an onion a lot of times. Especially someone like myself. I was 13 when I was bit and I finally got diagnosed when I was 34.

Speaker 1 (14:32):

And But these tests that you're mentioning are not necessarily the tests that you're mainstream corporate doctor will do,

Speaker 3 (14:40):

Correct. Yeah. Eliza Western Blot, those are the ones that they're typically, your typical doctor will do. And sadly, let's see if I can explain this properly. Back when they tried to come out with a Lyme vaccine like 20 years ago, in order for it not to pop a certain band on the Western blot, they actually took that, they took that band off and now they're not using that vaccine anymore. But the results of that lab are still coinciding with the vaccine stuff. So we're getting a lot of false negatives because they're missing bands. There's missing parts of this lab for a vaccine that we're not even using anymore. So it makes total no sense. And the fact that, like I said, a lot of times if your immune system is shut down, it's not gonna show up properly. So there's a lot of reasons why I'm not a fan of the Western blot or the Eliza test really, as far as Lyme testing goes.

Speaker 1 (15:32):

And I would agree with that. So I would encourage anybody who suspects that they could have chronic Lyme to not waste their time with those tests. And to, like Heather says, say that money for getting into the treatment because it's gonna improve everything about your health and your hormones or <crosstalk>. This

Speaker 3 (15:50):

Is how crazy this disease is. You just said the word chronic Lyme. Do you realize the CDC just recently, like within the past couple weeks, are omitting that chronic Lyme disease is actually a thing? So a disease that I've had since I was 13 years old, I'm now 45, is just now getting recognized by the CDC.

Speaker 1 (16:08):

Yeah, I saw, I can't remember the name of it, but there's a documentary about chronic Lyme. Do you know the one I'm talking about?

Speaker 3 (16:16):

There's three of them that came out last year. The monster inside me, the Quiet Epidemic. Mm-Hmm.

Speaker 1 (16:21):

<Affirmative>

Speaker 3 (16:22):

And Not Crazy. I'm sick. And so those three, I'll touch on chronic Lyme and all different types of stories, but they're all three of 'em are really great. The monster inside me is probably my favorite one.

Speaker 1 (16:34):

Okay, great. Thanks for those recommendations. And it really is one of the most severe illnesses that hasn't been recognized that people have really suffered with. And so tell us a little bit more about your story. How did you get on the path to healing?

Speaker 3 (16:50):

Oh man. So I'm typical. I must have seen 20, 30, 40 different practitioners and none of them were helping. And it was, my kid was a nine at the time, eight or nine. And I was going through another really bad spell. And my friend who's a psychologist was like, I want you to go see this pa up in Denver. And her name was Rosemary. I can't remember where she was from. She had the coolest accent. But I'm literally sitting with this woman for five minutes and she gets a twinkle in her eye and she goes, I know exactly what's wrong with you. And I'm thinking. Like, I've been here, done this for so long, there's no way I've been in your office for five minutes. And she goes, no, I, I think, have you ever been bitten by a tick? And I was like, yeah. Back when I was 13.

Speaker 3 (17:32):

And she goes, I think you have Lyme disease. And so on the way home, I'm tearing down the highway 75 miles an hour on i I 25 and tears streaming down my face and I'm, I screamed, I told you I'm not crazy. And when I finally write my book, that's gonna be the title of it, I told you I'm not crazy. The realities of Lyme disease, right? And then there's gonna be a subtitle, how I made Lyme My. So I need to get this book out. But so here I thought, and so many people with Lyme were like, I got a golden ticket, right? I got a golden ticket, I got a name for the monster that is just like, it doesn't even begin to touch them. What comes next? Right? Right. The story, because again, it just got recognized by the CDC.

Speaker 3 (18:16):

So finding a doctor that's literate that knows what they're doing can be really tough. Although there's a lot more, it's easier these days. There's a lot more Lyme literate doctors out there. But as a functional practitioner coach, like the one thing that I scream at the top of my lungs, and that was how I got better, was that you can't focus on treatment. Right? There's a reason I became a good host to begin with, and it's all that lifestyle stuff that I brought up earlier, right? So when I was seeing doctors, nobody would, when I went and saw that doctor in Denver who was treating me, and it's funny 'cause I ran into him recently and I didn't know if I wanted to like beat the crap out of him or give him a hug because the way they were treating me with just antibiotics and antimalarials, I thought I was gonna die.

Speaker 3 (18:59):

But it was because of that interaction that I went back to school and became a functional practitioner. So it was like a bittersweet. So like I said, but so yeah. So here I am on antibiotics, antimalarials herbals, like this really hardcore protocol in a body that's not pooping on a regular basis. I'm not sweating, right? My ba my hormones aren't balanced. My gut's a mess, my stress levels through the roof. I'm not sleeping well and he's going to war with my body, right? With these drugs. Wow. I thought I was gonna die. And that's when I learned the hard way that no, I really didn't wanna die. I just didn't wanna live like that anymore. And so then I started to fight and then I fought back and that's when I, I became a functional practitioner. I actually saw the, the founder Reed Davis on a podcast, right?

Speaker 3 (19:46):

Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And I'm listening to him talk to Sean Ton about how you've gotta balance your hormones. You gotta get your gut working right? You gotta make sure your detox pathways are open. What's your stress level? What's your other toxins in your house? Like I loved perfume and scented candles and fabric softener and all this toxic, nasty crap, right? So it was again, so now I'm peeling back the onion and I'm detoxing the body and detoxing my environment, I am balancing my hormones, healing my gut, getting on a better diet, making sure I'm pooping daily. That was huge. Detox was so huge, I love detox. Like I am the detox queen between my castor oil packs, my coffee enemas, skin brushing, sauna. Like I love my detox regimen because I have genetics and you know, crappy genetics that doesn't allow me to detox properly. I I

Speaker 1 (20:40):

Hear you sister. I'm the same

Speaker 3 (20:42):

<Laugh>. Yeah. Like a canary in the coal mine, right? It sucks, especially now that I'm traveling more for work and doing conferences and I'm staying in these moldy hotels and I'm getting my butt kicked all over again. But now I know what it is that I'm dealing with and I know how to overcome it for the most part, after I dialed in a lot of that lifestyle stuff, Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>. And the last piece was actually retraining my nervous system, right? Because I told you I had a lot of early childhood trauma that then carried over into teenage angst and then now cue chronic disease and then now cue other things. All these got stuck in my nervous system and got me stuck in fight or flight. And you can't heal when you're in fight or flight. And so I had to do somatic work, I had to do breath work, I had to do tapping, I had to do energy work all to help get my nervous system out of fight or flight and into rest and digest.

Speaker 3 (21:34):

And that was the piece that really helped me stay better because the good little functional practitioner that I am, I'm great at taking my supplements and going to bed on time and do, you know, doing the things, but I wasn't dealing with the emotional part. So I will get better. And then six months later I would relapse and then I'd get better and a year later I'd relapse and I kept relapsing. I was like, what the heck is going on? And that's when I learned about the nervous system resetting stuff. And I haven't had a relapse in three years, you know? So now when I get covid, I just got covid. When I get the flu, I just get the flu. I don't have a re flare up of Lyme or a reactivation of anything because I have the tools and I know what I need to do to keep every my nervous system calm daily meditation and now is a huge part of my journey that I actually look forward to because it just helps to reset everything instead of being holding on for dear life for everything all the time. That's been my journey in a nutshell.

Speaker 1 (22:28):

Yes. Thank you so much for sharing that. I think it's important for everyone listening to highlight some things I wanna highlight that Heather is sharing with you is like she said, she became a good host. So not everyone who has a tick that infects them with Lyme is going to get Lyme disease. Those hosts who are inhospitable to that spiral bacteria are not going to get an infection and pretty much not a chronic infection. So there probably was something decompensated about your system to begin with that you became susceptible to Lyme. And like she's saying, you have to fix, everybody wants to go in with guns blaring and kill the stuff like she described. She was being treated. Go to war with these bacteria in your body, but your body has to be prepared to handle that. War is very destructive.

Speaker 1 (23:24):

And so you've got to handle the basics first. You've got to get the hormones bounced, you've got to get the gut and the detox and the mitochondria and you've gotta get everything all tuned up, the nutrition, the nervous system functioning properly before you really come in with the big guns. And I even found, and this is true, we had a great conversation during my healing hormonal poverty coaching last week about a woman had wanted to have, or she just had her mercury amalgams. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. And she's having symptoms now because it doesn't sound like her dentist properly prepared her or is treating her with chelation and didn't get her all set up by doing the things we're talking about. There's some treatments like dealing with mold toxicity, dealing with Lyme, dealing with getting rid of heavy metals. You've gotta cover the basics first so that your body is ready to handle the stress and if not, you can actually create more problems down the line. So I love how you outlined that. Thank you for doing that. So I know some people are thinking, oh my gosh Heather, that sounds like so much work. And I love this quote you shared with me before we started. My self-care may feel like a part-time job, but it's better than being full-time sick, which I say I amend to. So describe, would you be comfortable describing your kind of self-care routine or that of clients you've worked with, how much time do they spend on a daily basis? What kinds of things are they doing?

Speaker 3 (25:02):

Yeah, absolutely. I'm an open book because that's how people get better, period, end of story. If one person gets one little nugget from my story, then it's been all worthwhile. And that's why I do what I do and that's why I get down here and talk the way that I do. Yeah. Yes. <Laugh>, because there are so many layers to peel back. And because there were things that set us up to be a good host, that's, it can be daunting because I'm actually taking your life and dumping it upside down and saying, okay, this works, this can stay, but this doesn't work. This can't stay, this works. This can stay. It's a funny question I get often from folks. They're like, when can I go back to blah, blah, blah <laugh> the way that I used to or living the, and I'm like, you can't.

Speaker 3 (25:44):

That is one of the gifts of Lyme disease. And there's not a lot of people talking about the gifts, but one of the gifts is it's teaching you that you can't continue living this toxic environment, this toxic lifestyle, and continue to function properly. Your body's tapping out and saying, overloaded, I'm done. And so there is no going back. And I, I'm grateful because I was a bit of a party girl back then. High stress, high achiever, burning the candle. A lot of type A personality. People I'm finding right, are a little bit more susceptible to these critters than anything else. Yeah. I was one of those <laugh>. So this disease taught me so many beautiful things about myself and about life, how to take care of the body. So now these days I don't have to do as much, it's like my maintenance, right?

Speaker 3 (26:30):

So I have supplements that I take every day. I'm still on a paleo type diet. I keep my inflammation down. I make sure to meditate daily, at least get 20 minutes of exercise in daily drinking clean water. And something as simple as putting $45 shower head filters from Amazon onto your, as you take a drink of clean water, I imagine, right? So many of us were like doing the thing and we're like, oh, I'm drinking this awesome filtered water. And then I ask them, are you bathing in filtered water? And they're like, no. And if you think about it, your skin is the largest organ. So if you're doing all these things to get rid of toxins and then you get into a five to 10 minute shower full of chlorine and fluoride and everything else, like, so a lot of times it's small little tweaks.

Speaker 3 (27:12):

I tell people, especially when it comes to getting toxins out of their lifestyle and out of their environment, right? When you run out of your aluminum deodorant, throw it away and get something that's, you know, cleaner, healthier, and doesn't have aluminum in it. Same thing with your self-care products. Same thing with getting this kind of a filter. It took me over a year to get my environment cleaned up and get filters and things in place, but it didn't happen overnight. And so that's one thing I tell people, go slow. Take it one bite at a time, right? Try not to look at the whole thing at once. 'cause Then you will get overwhelmed and you won't do anything. And really all those small steps really add up to big wins. But, these days I have a sauna blanket and I'm hoping to get one. I like Farage, they've got just a single pop-up like cord sauna, but my sauna blanket has a higher dose.

Speaker 3 (28:00):

And so it's an infrared sauna blanket and it looks like a sleeping bag that I get in. And I do that three times a week. I do skin brushing with it and take binders. So I really supercharge it. I use my castor oil pack overnight three times a week. I still do a coffee enema still once a week. And then, like I said, daily, making sure that I'm daily getting exercise and then taking care of my spiritual health because that's the other part of these pieces of healing that not a lot of people are talking about. We keep thinking yes, and separate the physical from the spiritual, from the emotional. And we can't, that is not how we're made up. And so really meditation is in, in prayer are absolute foundational for me now. Like I, you can really tell how easily I go off the rails when I haven't, haven't done those two things for myself every day.

Speaker 1 (28:50):

Thank you for sharing that. And I think you're so right. Mainstream medicine has the drugs and surgery and I'm glad we have it if we need it. Functional medicine has the physiological approach with supplements and nutrition and detox and healing the gut and bouncing hormones. I appreciate that. But I think what everybody, most, everyone misses. And then there's some people who only deal with the spiritual, energetic and they ignore others. They say, oh, this is all you need. And maybe down the line, when we get that perfected that technology for spiritual energetic healing, we won't need the other because everything is frequency at its core. Everything is light and sound and frequency. So maybe we'll get there like Dr. Spock where he would just take that Star Trek little and you'd be healed because he'd just be blasting your body with the right frequencies. You talked about prayer and meditation and you mentioned some things earlier. I think that a lot of people don't know what they're supposed to do when it comes to healing their energy body, what that really looks like, what that means. So just from your experience in yourself and working with people, what does that encompass? What does it look like?

Speaker 3 (30:10):

Mm-Hmm. Phenomenal question. There's a lot of cool tools out there these days. I've tried a lot of them. Some of them can be really stupid expensive <laugh>, like I like the Zito machine. And there's a couple other technologies out there that are really great at scanning the body, just like how you talked about. And they've been really spot on with kind of a diagnostic part. I haven't found a lot of 'em that help move the needle though. And you would think that that would be easy because once you energetically figure out what's going on, then you send the right, you know, frequency. Like rife. There is this wearable tech from one company that I work with now, so it's actually sending me frequencies through a red light and it looks like an Apple watch, but I can actually pick the frequency out.

Speaker 3 (30:55):

So right now I'm actually running Lyme and mold. And so I do that every day just to help balance my system out. Because especially after having Lyme for 27 years, it's not ever gonna leave me. It's a part of me and it's how well I keep my immune system up and working properly is how well it keeps it at bay. And so there are some cool texts out there, red light, there's different things that can, meditation I talked about in prayer help get you in that energetic space of working with frequency and vibration and helps get you more balanced. What else? Oh, emotion code and body code work. So a lot of times you don't actually have to go in and figure out what emotions are clogging up the system. You do muscle testing and these other energetic type practices to help clear that stuff out.

Speaker 3 (31:46):

There's breath work, all of the breath of fire to help move energy around and and balance the body. There's guided meditations, like I just did one yesterday with this woman. And I, I knew all about chakras for a long time and I actually wasn't gonna watch it. And I was like, I know about chakras. She actually taught me a few cool new things about chakras that I, I never heard before. And when she does, we hear sometimes that a person can have deficiency in a certain chakra, but I never thought in a way that some chakras can be overly enlarged, especially if people who are control freaks. She says when they come to see her that they're solar plexus, which is where our power center is actually overly sized compared to the rest of the chakras. And so when you're balancing your chakras, you really want them all to be very uniform, right?

Speaker 3 (32:31):

And working properly to keep the energy flowing. And so she took us on a guided meditation, starting from the root chakra and seeing the color red and then going up to the next one, up to the next one, up to the next one. Just like powering up a power center. Like it was just so incredibly mm-hmm, <affirmative> powerful but simple. So I, one thing I love about a lot of the bioenergetic stuff is they can be really easy. And so people a lot of times will discount how well breathwork works and how well yeah, meditation works, right? How well getting your feet on the ground, your bare feet on the ground for 20 minutes a day works or

Speaker 1 (33:07):

Sunlight.

Speaker 3 (33:08):

That's what I was gonna say. Or getting the first morning sunlight on your eyes. Like it's crazy how simple, easy some of these tools can be, but they are so impactful,

Speaker 1 (33:18):

Yes, so impactful. And the list is long. So I'm just wondering what you say to the person because we are so socialized and conditioned to believe that quote unquote, healing is something the doctor does to you with a drug or a surgery and it's a one shot. You take the drug or course of antibiotics and then you're better, or you have the surgery and then you're better. So when people hear, oh, you want me to deal with this bioenergetics, this spiritual part of me, I get two objections. Number one, it's all this very non-specific stuff that I don't see results out of right away. So I don't see the benefit, so I don't do it. And two, you're stepping on my religion and wondering how you handle those two objections.

Speaker 3 (34:02):

I don't really handle them. I'm <laugh>. I'm a, I'm a direct to the point type of person of, if you're not gonna do this, so actually I had a client who followed me. He was with me for a year and a half, and every single time something would come up and his anxiety would, what supplement can you give me? What things can you give me? And I'm like, have you done your breath work today? Did you do your journaling? Have you gone outside and put your feet on the ground? Have you gotten at least 20 minutes worth of exercise in? And he would say no to all of those things. And then I would tell him, I'm not giving you another supplement because you don't need another supplement. You need to get the lifestyle down under control in the foundation. And there is really no stepping on your religion.

Speaker 3 (34:42):

So whatever religion that you have, tuning into your higher power and having faith, not fear what whatever that is, they all, I shouldn't say operate similarly, but the higher power is the higher power. And really having a higher power, a faith in, in something outside of yourself really helps to get you over these illnesses. And it really is, I think, crucial. And if you don't believe in God believing in your higher self or, or mother nature or something outside of yourself, that can help give you strength and faith when things are dark, when things look scary. So one, there's really no stepping on the faith. I see that sometimes when you bring up chakras, a lot of times people are like, oh, that's against my religion. It's not actually tied to any religion. Yes, almost all old religions talk about it in a different way. It's just the energy,

Speaker 1 (35:29):

Energy centers.

Speaker 3 (35:31):

It's just energy centers. But yeah, I, and so I tell people quite often like, I can't guarantee my work because I don't know what you're gonna follow through with. But I do tell people, if you do what I tell you to do in the order and the way that I tell you to do it, if you don't get better, then I'll continue to work with you and dig deeper. Because sometimes it is, so one thing I wanted to talk about earlier is you were talking, there are always barriers to health. And there's three big ones that I have to rule out before I even start working with people on their Lyme. And one of them is mold. And you had brought up dentistry, right? So I had mercury in my mouth and I also had cavitations. So cavitations happen when they take out wisdom teeth or do root canals and they cause an infection to be locked in your job basically.

Speaker 3 (36:16):

And when <laugh>, my cognitive, oh my gosh, the cognitive, a decline that I was experiencing in 2020 was insane. Like, I would walk into a room and forget what I was doing. I would stutter. It was just horrible to know you're losing your mind, but not being able to do anything about it. And so I finally got the cavitations, found out I had wisdom teeth removed when I was 15. So now I've had this infection, another low grade infection in my body since I was 15 years old. And when they did the pathology when they dug out what was in there, there were all kinds of nasty viruses. Another bacteria, one of 'em who caused miscarriages, which I had a miscarriage. So cavitations, mold and sleep apnea, because all the best protocols in the world supplements, diet, everything are, are not gonna do you any good if you're not getting the proper amount of oxygen at night when you sleep. Right? So there are some barriers, bigger barriers to health and Lyme disease.

Speaker 1 (37:09):

Yes. Thank you for, for sharing that. And I was getting ready to wrap up and then I realized we would be remiss if we didn't talk about Lyme specific treatments. So you do all the basics, you get your body prime, detox, working hormones, balance, and then how do you go to war with the little buggers?

Speaker 3 (37:28):

Well, that's an even more controversial conversation than anything else that we've talked about. Because there are some camps, like I love Dr. Raws, huge fan of Dr. Raws. He's my hero, does all the herbals. I love that approach and that's what I work with because I'm not a licensed practitioner. So I use a lot of nutri medics or a lot of cell cores. Cell core is beautiful in the way that the protocol handles things in the right order, right? It opens up drainage pathways first, and then it's dealing with heavy metals and then parasites. And then you go into dealing with the ly. So you don't start with the Lyme. You, you've got to, you've got to clear out the way of this other crap before you start going after the ly. So I love pho. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>, Dr. Horowitz just came up with a double dap zone protocol that is supposed to supposedly put you into complete remission for the, for forever.

Speaker 3 (38:18):

Like it's supposed to be the best new thing that's out right now, a methylene blue so your people can't see. But my tongue looks like I've been sucking on a blue lollipop and it's a food grade medical die that they're finding all kinds of ridiculous antiviral, antibacterial antioxidants. It's supposed to help with reversing dementia and Alzheimer's and depression and because it can actually cross the blood-brain barrier. And so they're using it a lot for Bartonella when co-infection with Lyme disease. And I'm absolutely loving this stuff. Like I can't get over how clearheaded and the energy that I've been having since I've been taking it. What else? Oh, and then antibiotics, antimalarial. So there's a lot of different ways that you can go at it. And there's no right or wrong way. There is a pretty strong camp that if you've got chronic Lyme, that long-term use of antibiotics is not, is not the way because it has a tendency to do a hell of a lot more collateral damage than what it's worth. And personally, like I said, that's why I like cleaning people's other stuff up because a lot of times once we get all that other stuff cleared up, I don't have to bring in the heavy guns now your immune system and your body's going, oh, I know what to do now. And it just might need a little bit of help putting this booger back in its place, but I don't typically have to use the big guns.

Speaker 1 (39:39):

Yeah. Great. Thank you so much for covering that. Thank you for sharing your journey. Heather, thank you for the work that you're doing to help others with this super challenging problem and to get their health back and their lives back. I know you have a wonderful free gift for everyone. We'll have the link in the show notes. Do you wanna tell them a little bit about what they'll find there and then also share all the places they can find you and interact with you online?

Speaker 3 (40:06):

Absolutely. So yeah, go to the lion boss.com, that's where you'll get your free gift. It's a popup and it's a video series. So most cooking series, right? It's called Real Cooking for Real Life. 'cause I found Diet Nutrition, right? That's the foundation of health. You can't pass go, you can't collect $200, you can't be on this beautiful protocol and then go out and eat McDonald's and inflame your brain and inflame your gut and expect the protocol that you're taking to work properly. And one of the biggest barriers that I got, people were like, I don't know how to cook. I don't know what the, I don't know what's going on in the kitchen. I don't know what I'm doing. And so I made this cooking series to show you how easy it can be in 20 minutes or less. I'm making these delicious, healthy, yummy meals right to, and when I tell people I'm Paleo, so it's no dairy, no grains, no corn. And people are like, what do you eat? And, and, and then so I'm like, okay, I just need to put this on video. Like, oh my gosh, we eat so well. So yeah, the cooking series and then I'm on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, not Twitter's the only place. I'm not that, just that place just got too crazy for me. <Laugh>, I got off Twitter, but mostly Facebook and Instagram. And I have a podcast myself that you can find on Spotify and YouTube. Okay.

Speaker 1 (41:19):

And are you at the Line Boss or are you at Heather Gray or what? What's your handle?

Speaker 3 (41:25):

The line boss all the way through. Okay,

Speaker 1 (41:27):

Great. We will find you there. Thank you so much for joining me today, Heather. It's been a pleasure. Pleasure. Thank you so much. And thank you for joining me for another episode of The Hormone Prescription. Hopefully you have found some fascinating and useful and helpful information today. I look forward to hearing how you're going to implement at least one of these things that we've talked about into your life and the impact that you're finding and the health that you're achieving on social media. So please do reach out and thanks so much for joining us. I'll see you again next week for another episode. Until then, peace, love, and hormones y'all.

Speaker 2 (42:05):

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.

 

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Dr. Ellen | Cutler Micromiracle Enzymes for Healing, Detox & Longevity

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 <laugh>. 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 <laugh>. 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, <laugh>, and this is where the world has taken me. <Laugh>. 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 <laugh>. 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. <Affirmative>. 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 <affirmative>. 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, <laugh>, 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 <laugh> so that you don't have to suffer either <laugh>. 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 <laugh>. So that was all, I was like, wait, what is this new thing that could, that is like controlling my health <laugh>, 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):

<Laugh> 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, <laugh>. 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 <laugh>. 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. <Laugh>, 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. <Affirmative> 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. <Affirmative> 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. <Affirmative>, 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. <Affirmative>. 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 <laugh>, I mean <laugh>. 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. <Affirmative>, you don't know what to take if you, you don't know exactly what's wrong, <laugh>. 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 <laugh>. 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. <Laugh> <laugh>. I told you <laugh>.

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 <laugh> 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? <Laugh> 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 <laugh>, 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. <Affirmative> lady early on in the program who told us directly, she did not have 15 to 20 minutes <laugh> 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. <Affirmative>. 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):

<Affirmative>,

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. <Affirmative>. 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 <laugh>. 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. <Affirmative>, 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 <laugh>, 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, <affirmative> 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 <affirmative>. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. 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. <Affirmative>. We have the life of Riley <laugh> 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):

<Laugh>.

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 <laugh> 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 <laugh> don't <laugh> 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. <Affirmative> 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 <laugh> 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? <Laugh>, 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. <Affirmative>, I see that it really is something that's a non-negotiable for me. I have to do that <laugh>, 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. <Affirmative>. Because there have been times I'm like, no, this is how you're designed <laugh>. 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, <laugh>. It's all working out exactly the way it's supposed to. So definitely dovetails nicely into all of the other things. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative> 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 <laugh>, 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. <laugh>. 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. <Laugh> <laugh>. 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. <Laugh>, 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 <laugh>. 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 <laugh> 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. <Laugh>, 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):

<Laugh>. 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, <laugh>, 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 <affirmative>, 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 <affirmative>. 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 you're interested in that, we'll have the link in the show notes. We could do a whole episode about hormones. Testosterone, especially more than half of women over 40 are testosterone deficient. And if you think that's not important, think again. It is so important for our muscle mass, that if you don't have adequate muscle mass, you gain weight, meaning fat, right? And 75% of us are overweight or obese by the time we're 60. It has to do with our dopamine and our drive in life, our initiative.

Speaker 1 (01:03:51):

It has to do with our sex drive. It has to do with so many things. So it's vital along with the estrogen and progesterone. I know Katrina had to jump off. Thank you so much Katrina for joining me. And Vic, thank you so much for joining me. I think this has been an amazing discussion. I think people are gonna really enjoy it and get something from it. So hearing three women over 40 who have dealt with these issues and work with women with these issues, and hopefully you've gotten a lot of hope today. Hopefully you've gotten some insight into the steps that you might need to take. If you think that we might be able to help you, you're more than welcome to join us in the Hormel Bliss Challenge. We'll have the link in the show notes that'll be happening in November. Any last words, Vic, before we sign off?

Speaker 3 (01:04:37):

I just wanna tell all the ladies out. There's hope and there's a community waiting to take care of you. And learning to love yourself takes time. It takes patience, but you know when you do it, what comes out on the other side is a renewal of your life and you get to be the full, vibrant self you're supposed to be. And bra to you kirin for setting up this program and really digging in and getting all the nooks and crannies of pieces of things to really help support women in midlife bra outta you.

Speaker 1 (01:05:12):

Oh, well, thank you so much and thank you for helping me with it. You're as much a part of it as I am. It is our passion and our purpose and our pleasure to serve you. Hopefully you've gotten something out of today's episode, so until next week, if you did get something out of it, please reach out to us on social media. We love to hear about it. If you have questions you'd like us to answer and future episodes, if you love this episode, we can have Katrina and Vic back. We can answer your questions. We are here to serve you, so let us know how we can do that and we'll see you again next week. Until then, peace, love, and hormones, y'all.

Speaker 2 (01:05:49):

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.

 

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Coach Katrina Gallagher & Coach Victoria Gale | Hormone Bliss Through Midlife Metabolism Rescue & Mastery

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! 🎧💜

 

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 <laugh>. 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 <laugh>. 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, <laugh>, and this is where the world has taken me. <Laugh>. 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 <laugh>. 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. <Affirmative>. 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 <affirmative>. 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, <laugh>, 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 <laugh> so that you don't have to suffer either <laugh>. 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 <laugh>. So that was all, I was like, wait, what is this new thing that could, that is like controlling my health <laugh>, 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):

<Laugh> 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, <laugh>. 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 <laugh>. 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. <Laugh>, 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. <Affirmative> 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. <Affirmative> 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. <Affirmative>, 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. <Affirmative>. 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 <laugh>, I mean <laugh>. 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. <Affirmative>, you don't know what to take if you, you don't know exactly what's wrong, <laugh>. 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 <laugh>. 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. <Laugh> <laugh>. I told you <laugh>.

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 <laugh> 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? <Laugh> 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 <laugh>, 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. <Affirmative> lady early on in the program who told us directly, she did not have 15 to 20 minutes <laugh> 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. <Affirmative>. 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):

<Affirmative>,

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. <Affirmative>. 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 <laugh>. 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. <Affirmative>, 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 <laugh>, 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, <affirmative> 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 <affirmative>. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. 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. <Affirmative>. We have the life of Riley <laugh> 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):

<Laugh>.

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 <laugh> 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 <laugh> don't <laugh> 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. <Affirmative> 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 <laugh> 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? <Laugh>, 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. <Affirmative>, I see that it really is something that's a non-negotiable for me. I have to do that <laugh>, 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. <Affirmative>. Because there have been times I'm like, no, this is how you're designed <laugh>. 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, <laugh>. It's all working out exactly the way it's supposed to. So definitely dovetails nicely into all of the other things. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative> 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 <laugh>, 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. <laugh>. 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. <Laugh> <laugh>. 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. <Laugh>, 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 <laugh>. 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 <laugh> 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. <Laugh>, 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):

<Laugh>. 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, <laugh>, 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 <affirmative>, 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 <affirmative>. 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 you're interested in that, we'll have the link in the show notes. We could do a whole episode about hormones. Testosterone, especially more than half of women over 40 are testosterone deficient. And if you think that's not important, think again. It is so important for our muscle mass, that if you don't have adequate muscle mass, you gain weight, meaning fat, right? And 75% of us are overweight or obese by the time we're 60. It has to do with our dopamine and our drive in life, our initiative.

Speaker 1 (01:03:51):

It has to do with our sex drive. It has to do with so many things. So it's vital along with the estrogen and progesterone. I know Katrina had to jump off. Thank you so much Katrina for joining me. And Vic, thank you so much for joining me. I think this has been an amazing discussion. I think people are gonna really enjoy it and get something from it. So hearing three women over 40 who have dealt with these issues and work with women with these issues, and hopefully you've gotten a lot of hope today. Hopefully you've gotten some insight into the steps that you might need to take. If you think that we might be able to help you, you're more than welcome to join us in the Hormel Bliss Challenge. We'll have the link in the show notes that'll be happening in November. Any last words, Vic, before we sign off?

Speaker 3 (01:04:37):

I just wanna tell all the ladies out. There's hope and there's a community waiting to take care of you. And learning to love yourself takes time. It takes patience, but you know when you do it, what comes out on the other side is a renewal of your life and you get to be the full, vibrant self you're supposed to be. And bra to you kirin for setting up this program and really digging in and getting all the nooks and crannies of pieces of things to really help support women in midlife bra outta you.

Speaker 1 (01:05:12):

Oh, well, thank you so much and thank you for helping me with it. You're as much a part of it as I am. It is our passion and our purpose and our pleasure to serve you. Hopefully you've gotten something out of today's episode, so until next week, if you did get something out of it, please reach out to us on social media. We love to hear about it. If you have questions you'd like us to answer and future episodes, if you love this episode, we can have Katrina and Vic back. We can answer your questions. We are here to serve you, so let us know how we can do that and we'll see you again next week. Until then, peace, love, and hormones, y'all.

Speaker 2 (01:05:49):

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.

 

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Adrenaline Dominance and The Miracle of Bioidentical Hormones

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):

<Crosstalk>. 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 <laugh> 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. <Affirmative>, 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. <affirmative>,

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 <crosstalk>.

Speaker 1 (15:02):

Yeah, pretty much none. <Laugh>.

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. <Affirmative> 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):

<Laugh>. 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):

<Affirmative>,

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. <affirmative>. 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. <Affirmative>. 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. <Affirmative>. 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. <Affirmative>, 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 <laugh>.

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. <Laugh> 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):

<Laugh>. Okay. <Laugh> medicine has always been a passion for me. Mm-Hmm.

Speaker 1 (26:40):

<Affirmative>.

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):

<Laugh>. 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. <affirmative>

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. <Laugh> <laugh>.

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 <laugh>, 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 <laugh>.

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 <laugh>, 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):

<Affirmative>

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. <Laugh>, 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 <laugh> 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 <laugh>

Speaker 3 (36:02):

<Laugh>. 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. <Laugh> 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 <laugh>? There's probably nothing wrong with it.

Speaker 3 (37:30):

No, the baby will like it. Yeah. <laugh>.

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. <Laugh> 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, <laugh>.

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. <Laugh>, 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):

<Affirmative>

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 <laugh>, 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. <Affirmative>, 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 <laugh>, 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.

 

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Reversing Hair Loss At Midlife: How To Make It Fully Vital

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, <laugh> 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 <laugh>.

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. <affirmative>.

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? <Laugh>?

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 <laugh> 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 <laugh> 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. <Affirmative> 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. <Laugh>. Yeah, <laugh>. 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, <laugh>.

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, <laugh> <laugh>

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.

 

Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis and Adrenal Transformation Protocol - Find and Treat the Root Cause

In today's eye-opening episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast, our guest Dr. Izabella Wentz shares her invaluable insight and extensive knowledge on Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and the Adrenal Transformation Protocol. As a well-respected integrative pharmacist, Dr. Wentz has dedicated her career to helping midlife women find the root cause of their chronic health conditions. Through her protocol-based programs, she has empowered over 3,500 individuals to reclaim their health and wellbeing.

Key Takeaways:

- Learn about the causes and symptoms of Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, a common yet often overlooked autoimmune condition
- Discover how the Adrenal Transformation Protocol can reset your body's stress response through targeted safety signals
- Find out how this four-week program has already helped thousands of individuals by improving their brain fog, fatigue, anxiety, irritability, sleep issues, and libido
- Understand the importance of focusing on the root cause of chronic health issues, and why conventional treatments may fall short
  
Dr. Wentz also talks about her latest book, "Adrenal Transformation Protocol", which delves deeper into the protocol she has developed to address the root causes of various health problems. With an impressive success rate of over 80%, the four-week program incorporates targeted safety signals to reset the body's stress response, bringing about significant improvements in symptoms such as brain fog, fatigue, anxiety, irritability, sleep issues, and libido.

Dr. Wentz infuses this episode with her personal experiences and relatable stories, providing an engaging, informative, and inspiring listening experience. So tune in for a healthier, happier you!
  
Don't miss out on the opportunity to learn from this leading expert. Listen to the full episode now! And if you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe and leave a review to help support the podcast.

 

► Get your FREE Thyroid Gifts from Dr. Izabella Wentz. Sign Up and Receive a Free Book Chapter, Thyroid Diet Quick Start Guide and Ten Nutrient Dense Thyroid-friendly Recipes! - 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.

 

Ditching The Broken ”All or Nothing” Approach And Authoring *Your* Middle Ground To Weight Loss Mastery

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. <Affirmative>. 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 <affirmative>,

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 <laugh>? 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):

<Laugh> <laugh>, 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 <laugh> 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):

<Laugh>, 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. <Laugh>

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 <laugh>, 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 <laugh>. 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, <laugh> 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 <inaudible>, 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 <laugh> 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 <laugh>.

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.

 

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A Smart Person’s Guide to Breast Cancer

Welcome back to The Hormone Prescription Podcast - the go-to show for midlife women looking for expert insights on health. In this episode, we have the pleasure of welcoming Dr. Jennifer Simmons, a prominent board-certified breast surgeon with over fifteen years of experience in the field of breast disease.
  
Dr. Simmons has an impressive list of awards and achievements, including receiving the prestigious 2016 Founders Award from the Living Beyond Breast Cancer organization, and being named TOP DOC for six consecutive years by Philadelphia Magazine, Main Line Today 2018, and Suburban Life. With her expertise, she has been a frequent on-camera guest, sharing breaking medical breast cancer news on popular platforms such as 6ABC, CBS Philly, Fox 29 Good Day, and KYW News Radio.
  
In this insightful conversation, Dr. Jennifer Simmons shares her professional knowledge and invaluable advice on understanding and dealing with breast cancer.

Key discussion points in this episode:

- Understanding breast cancer: Dr. Simmons helps us grasp the basics of breast cancer, its types, and its stages.

- Risk factors: The different factors that could contribute to an increased risk of developing breast cancer, and what we can do to mitigate these risks.

- Early detection strategies: The significance of self-examinations, mammograms, and regular check-ups with healthcare professionals, as well as new technologies that can potentially help in early detection.

- Treatment options: An overview of different treatment pathways available depending on the type and stage of breast cancer, including surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy.

- Support systems: The importance of nurturing a strong support system during the cancer journey, including support from friends, family, and healthcare professionals. Dr. Simmons also highlights invaluable resources like the Living Beyond Breast Cancer organization.

- Practical advice: Dr. Simmons shares her top tips for women going through a breast cancer diagnosis, treatment, and recovery.

- Advancements in the field: A peek into current research and advancements that could potentially change the face of breast cancer treatment and prevention in the near future.
  
Get ready for an eye-opening and informative conversation with Dr. Jennifer Simmons, and don't forget to subscribe to The Hormone Prescription Podcast for more expert insights on health for midlife women.

 

Speaker 1 (00:00):

There is no greater perspective than when you lose your health. The only person who can heal you is you, Dr. Jen Simmons.

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 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. Kieran Dunton. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:03):

Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kieran. Thank you so much for joining me today. My guest today, Dr. Jennifer Simmons, is an amazing woman and physician who has accomplished much and really is leading the way to show women how to prevent breast cancer and how to heal their bodies overall. But most of us really don't pay attention. There is no greater perspective than when you lose your health. She says during our interview, and you'll see what else she says about that, but it really does put things in perspective because our health is the only reason that we get time on this earth. Time to enjoy our relationships, time to accomplish things, time to enjoy sunsets and the ocean and the mountains. And so if we're not paying attention to our health and doing everything that we can to make it the best, we're really in a state of dying.

Speaker 1 (02:04):

If you think about it, and I know that's pretty sobering and most of us don't like to think about it, but I actually like to keep my eye on the fact that I am going to die because it helps me to live each day to the fullest. And how could changing your perspective before you get an illness lead you to more health and wholeness is something I'd like you to start thinking about. The other quote she offered, the only person who can heal you is you, is so profound because a lot of us are always looking to someone else to heal us or fix us, but really the healing comes from within. So we have a very deep personal discussion about that as well. I'll tell you a little bit more about Dr. Jen Simmons and then we'll get started. She had an amazing career.

Speaker 1 (02:52):

So she's a prominent board certified breast surgeon in Philadelphia. She was the chief of breast surgery and director of the breast program at Einstein Medical Center, Montgomery, and she has had 15 years of experience in the field of breast disease. She received the 2016 top Honors Founders Award from the Living Beyond Breast Cancer Organization for improving the lives of women with breast cancer. She's always on the forefront of medical advances in breast surgery. She's been named Top Doc six years in a row by Philadelphia Magazine and also in mainline today, 2018 and Suburban Life. She's been on many news shows, many podcasts, many summits, and share her brilliance everywhere. And after her very personal and touching story that she shares in the interview view that you don't wanna hear, excuse me, you don't wanna miss hearing. She shares how she transitioned from being the top breast surgeon and taking care of women with breast cancer after they were diagnosed to taking care of women in a way that helps them prevent breast cancer and also heal holistically from breast cancer.

Speaker 1 (04:10):

She has some views that are very radical that you might be shocked by that I love and embrace because she is a truth seeker and a truth teller. And when it comes to healing yourself, not only from breast cancer, but all the melodies that we suffer from at midlife, midlife, metabolic mayhem, other diseases, and premature death when we're in hormonal poverty, you gotta get to the truth. And sometimes truth is painful, but if you don't tell the truth, you can't know the truth and you can't know what you need to do to heal. And then healing becomes impossible. And that's where so many women are right now. They're blind to the truth. So I'm a true seeker truth teller. Dr. Jen is a true seeker truth teller. And if you really want to know what's possible for you in this lifetime and achieve it, you've got to become a truth seeker and a truth knower.

Speaker 1 (05:06):

So now she has a practice Real Health md. She is the doctor with the answer to breast cancer. We give all the places you can find her online on social media and talk about her book as well. So without further ado, please help me welcome Dr. Jen Simmons to the show. Thanks. I'm so glad to be here. So breast cancer is a hot topic with women. I deal with women in their hormones, and the number one objection that people have about the hormones that they need a prescription for is, oh, but my doctor told me estrogen causes cancer. And so this is really in your ballpark. So I think we should start with the hard questions first, <laugh>, does estrogen cause breast cancer? Let's start right there. Let's just dive right in. So of course it doesn't cause breast cancer.

Speaker 3 (05:57):

I mean, it's such a ridiculous notion that it, I mean, just thinking about it from the logical standpoints, right? So first of all, why would God give us a hormone that is so vital to life that causes breast cancer? I mean, it's absurd. And then when we look at who gets breast cancer, the vast majority of breast cancers are in the postmenopausal population. And when you measure hormone levels in that population, they are completely deplete, right? They have no virtually no circulating estrogen. And so to say that estrogen causes breast cancer is absurd. It's ridiculous. And they're all evidence to the contrary. In fact, it's when estrogen is going away, that is the issue. When your body can't access its own estrogen because your ovaries are shutting down, that's when breast cancer becomes an issue. Now, when I say estrogen does not cause breast cancer, I am talking about the estrogen that is produced by your ovaries, produced by your adrenal glands.

Speaker 3 (07:05):

That is not the issue. However, there are environmental estrogens things in our environment that act like estrogen that are very toxic, that without question cause cellular damage, d n a damage and lead to breast cancers. So I'm talking about things like plastics, like antibiotics, like fragrance, like cleaning solutions, like phthalates, all these synthetic things that are in our environment on the estrogen receptor, but don't act like estrogen. They act in a far more stimulatory, irreversible way. And then they also have to be broken down by our hormone detoxification ways. And when that happens, they go preferentially down a toxic pathway because they're toxins. So I am very comfortable saying estrogen does not cause breast cancer. Do estrogen-like substances contribute to breast cancer? Absolutely. Without question. Yes.

Speaker 1 (08:13):

And I say I, I'm always a kind of common sense doctor, and I say reality check. 'cause That makes sense to you. Every man, woman, and child on the face of this planet has estrogen, <laugh>, and if estrogen caused breast cancer, we'd all have it.

Speaker 3 (08:29):

That's exactly right. That's exactly right. It's an absurd notion. Now, I can tell you that the reason that we talk about estrogen and breast cancer and a causative relationship is because we have synthetic medicines. We have pharmaceuticals that block the synthe, the synthetic pathway, like they block the synthesis, the the creation of estrogen. And we have pharmaceuticals that act on the estrogen receptor. So the reason that we use that explanation estrogen causes breast cancer is for the purposes of utilizing these drugs, but not because estrogen causes breast cancer. Again, it doesn't, it's absurd. But they have pharmaceuticals that can intervene in this pathway. And so they use that explanation in order to use the drugs.

Speaker 1 (09:22):

Oh, well that, I hadn't heard that concept. That's interesting. Yeah. So

Speaker 3 (09:27):

The estrogen

Speaker 1 (09:28):

Blockers,

Speaker 3 (09:29):

You'll, you'll notice, you'll notice like the vast majority of breast cancers have both estrogen and progesterone receptors on them. But we never talk about the progesterone part, right? You never hear progesterone causes breast cancer and you don't hear about drugs because we don't have them. So now we just focus on the estrogen because we have estrogen blocking drugs that are a nightmare. And so that's the story that people are told over and over and over again. And when you are told the same story over and over and over again, despite whether or not it's true, it becomes believable because it's repeatable. And that's exactly what happened in this case. And you know, we've seen that evidenced time and time again, especially over the last three years.

Speaker 1 (10:15):

It's fascinating. I mean, the more you know about big pharma and medicine, the deeper the do-do gets. That's really fascinating. And so I know they really revised the, the Women's Health Initiative study results, and they've come back and said, no, estrogen is protective against breast cancer. But nobody's listening. No, doctors are listening. They're not telling their patients this. So you're right. Once you repeat a lie so many times it does become the gospel. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (10:42):

And so doctors unfortunately, are hard to convince. They, you have to remember that the Women's Health Initiative, those results, those preliminary results, which should have never been released, you don't release the sto the results of a study in a newspaper article. But those results should have never, ever, ever been released. But they were, and it was 20 years ago. So for 20 years we've heard this false narrative. So it's really, really hard for people to unring that bell. And there are pieces of that puzzle that fit and make sense to people. So for instance, you know, you're only given estrogen blockade if you have a hormone positive tumor. And so people associate the fact that there, there are breast cancers with estrogen receptors on them, so therefore estrogen must be causative. And what people don't realize is that normal breast cells have estrogen receptors on them. They're supposed to have estrogen receptors on them. That's how the breast does what it's supposed to do, do, because it responds to normal stimulation by estrogen, normal signaling by estrogen. And in fact, it's the breast cancers that don't have estrogen receptors on them that are far more aggressive and far more difficult to treat and reverse because they are a further departure from normal. So a hormone positive tumor resembles the normal tissue and the further the cancer gets away from resembling the normal tissue, the more aggressive a process it is.

Speaker 1 (12:28):

Yeah, I think that there's so much misinformation, and I think that even regular gynecologists and general practitioners aren't aware of this. So they're counseling people incorrectly. You know, I know you, you gave me some great questions, but I had to go for the hardest one first because I really wanted to make sure we cover that. And I know that a lot of women coming to listening listen to you. That's what they wanna hear. But the basics, let's start with, what is breast cancer?

Speaker 3 (12:55):

Yeah, so that's a great question which so many people don't understand. So I, I wanna start off by saying that breast cancer is a normal response to an abnormal environment. So many people think that breast cancer is separate, right? It's a non-self, it's not a part of you. It is a foreign body, a foreign invader, a foreign thing. But the truth is that your breast cancer is a part of you, and it's the part of you that feels threatened by its environment. People with breast cancer don't have a bad breast. Breast cancer is a systemic disease. It means that there has been some systemic shift. The chemistry in the breast, the environment in the body has shifted away from homeostasis. And when that happens, the breast cells feel threatened. And so what does anything do when it feels threatened? It goes into survival mode, right?

Speaker 3 (13:54):

Think about an animal that's cornered. How is that animal gonna behave? It's gonna be extremely aggressive, it's gonna be ferocious, right? It's just trying to survive. That same process is happening in any organ that undergoes a cancerous transformation. It is responding to a hostile environment, and it is transforming into survival mode. So the key to breast cancer, the key to any cancer is to restoring the health of the environment, both the microenvironment and the environment in the breast or whatever organ you're talking about. But the microenvironment of the breast is influenced by the macro, the overall environment of the body. And so healing from breast cancer is about transforming that environment, getting back into homeostasis, getting rid of the threat so that those cells feel safe again, and no longer have to be in survival mode. So again, breast cancer is just a normal response to an abnormal environment. And the only approach is to restore health.

Speaker 1 (15:00):

And in mainstream medicine, is that addressed at all, or it's still surgery, chemotherapy, radiation level.

Speaker 3 (15:10):

Yeah, so it's conventional medicine. All the focus is on disease, right? Because that's what conventional medical doctors are taught. Nowhere in any part of my training, and I went to medical school for four years, I did residency for five years. I did fellowship for a year. And nowhere anywhere in my training was I taught how to make people, how to help people get healthy. We are trained to recognize a constellation of symptoms, give it a title, right? Diagnose and then prescribe, prescribe a pill, prescribe a procedure. That is what we are trained to do. And nowhere along those lines are we asking the important question. The important question for everyone has to be, where is the disease coming from? What is driving this disease? And the key to reversing it is about learning that understanding that eliminating whatever is driving disease and at the same time doing the things that drive health.

Speaker 3 (16:13):

And when all you focus on is disease, right? Like think about the mainstream response to breast cancer, like you're in for a fight. Get ready for a fight, be a fighter, keep fighting. That whole mentality is wrong. And what I advocate for, because you don't wanna fight, you don't want a war, you don't want the chemistry of stress. Think about what wars are filled with, they're filled with, with violence and fear. That's the last thing that you want in your body. You want to prepare for peace. That is what you're seeking. That is what you're looking to create. And with that comes homeostasis and health. And so it's about shifting the focus from illness, from disease, from the tumor, shifting the focus to health and to building health. Because if all you focus on is the tumor, you're focusing in the wrong area. Because first of all, what we focus on grows. And that's the last thing we want to grow. The tumor is not the problem. The tumor is the symptom of the problem. And until we realize that, until we recognize that we will never solve it.

Speaker 1 (17:29):

Yeah. I say exactly the same thing about weight. The excess fat is not the problem, it's the symptom of the problem. That's

Speaker 3 (17:37):

Exactly right. And

Speaker 1 (17:38):

And what you mentioned about peace and healing, I, I so agree with you. And I don't know if, if we can get into kind of the energetics of it, but the, the breasts relate to the heart chakra and love.

Speaker 3 (17:52):

Of course. Of course. And this is why we so often see a breast cancer diagnosis following heartache. So if you talk to someone who was diagnosed with breast cancer, you are almost certainly going to learn that they've had a death in the family, or they're caring for a sick patient or a sick parent or child, god forbid, or they've been through a divorce or had a move or lost their job. But there is going to be, or they've, you know, undergone trauma abuse. There is going to be heartache and heartbreak in the preceding years to the diagnosis. It happens nearly 100% of the time. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:34):

And so we need to be, I mean, medicine should be tending to our hearts and our energy, but I guess those doctors like us who went through the mainstream training and learned that method and then were enlightened to realize that it's way bigger than that can help people with that. So that's why I'm so glad to have you on the show and offer and share what, you know, it's so important for women about breast cancer. Now, we just got done talking about that estrogen doesn't cause breast cancer. But do we need to talk about why younger women are more and more getting breast cancer diagnosis and its relation to estrogen dominance?

Speaker 3 (19:17):

Yeah. So let's talk about what that is and what that means. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>, because when we talk about estrogen dominance, what we're not mentioning there is a lack of progesterone. And that is what is happening most of the time, is that our estrogen balance is entirely dependent on our progesterone balance. And progesterone is one of those very sensitive hormones. And if you are under a considerable amount of stress, then the overall chemical in your makeup is going to be cortisol stress hormone. And we're going to make cortisol at the expense of making progesterone. And so all of a sudden, all else being equal and your estrogen levels are what they are. But if you drop progesterone, now suddenly you're estrogen dominant. Right? Does that make sense?

Speaker 1 (20:15):

Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (20:16):

And so for so many women, we're having that progesterone drop off earlier and earlier and earlier. And so that is one problem, right? And that is because of the way we live our lives, the stressful environments, the lack of self-care, the lack of prioritization of sleep, the lack of a nourishing diet. And I'm not just talking about food because there are, you know, secondary foods, the things that you put in your, in your mouth. More important, there are primary foods, the things that nourish you, like sunshine and relaxation and connection, and all of these things that are so essential to life that we are skipping over. We are skipping over for busyness, for blue light, for over consumption. We're just skipping over the things that nourish us. And as a result, we lower our progesterone levels, raise our cortisol levels, and then we're in this estrogen dominant can position.

Speaker 3 (21:21):

In addition to that, we talked a little bit before about xenoestrogens. These are environmental estrogens. These are things that we are literally swimming in. We are swimming in a soup of environmental estrogens. Not what is made by our ovaries, not what is made by our adrenal glands, but what is what we are coming into contact with day in and day out that acts like this toxic estrogen in our body. And it's only compounding the problem on top of, you know, our relative progesterone paucity. And so this becomes a big issue. And these xenoestrogens directly damage D n A, they can directly cause answers to form. Everyone makes cancer cells young, old, and everyone in between. And the key to not getting cancer in that, the key to not having it reach mass size is to have an intact immune system. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>. So an intact immune system will recognize those cancer cells in their infancy and destroy them.

Speaker 3 (22:29):

But unfortunately, so many of us are walking around relatively immunocompromised because the things that distract your immune system, the things that weaken your immune system are so prevalent and no one's talking about them, right? So Right. Just one night of poor sleep will weaken your immunity just one night. So if you making cancer cells every day and you are having prolonged lack of sleep, that's a recipe for breast cancer. And we know that. We know that people who are poor sleepers, chronic short sleepers, they are at increased risk for a variety of chronic diseases, including cancer. And so it's the environmental influence and the reason that, which is the reason why we are seeing cancer younger and younger and younger, because we're getting further and further away from our evolutionary selves. We are modern beings living on a very old gene code. We only know safety or fight and flight.

Speaker 3 (23:34):

And we are not meant to be in fight or flight for more than a few seconds. Right? We are built for coming out of the cave in the morning, encountering the Saber two tiger, and either being able to escape within seconds and being restored to normal physiology or dying. But we are not built to run away from a saber two tiger for three hours, three days, three white weeks, three months, three years. We're not built for it. And yet our world is filled with saber-tooth tigers filled with things that compromise our immunity. Because when you're running away from a saber tooth tiger, you don't need to fight off a cold. So your immune system gets shut off. But if you are constantly running away from saber two tigers, there's no opportunity for your immune system to come back online. And that is a really, really important part of disease reversal, is getting the immune system to come back online.

Speaker 3 (24:33):

And the way that you do that is you build all these foundations of health, you prioritize sleep, you cut out processed foods, you make sure that you have joyful movement, you live a connected life and you eliminate toxins. And you manage the stressors of life as best you can. You're never gonna be able to get rid of all the stress, but it's not the stress that matters, it's how you internalize the stress that matters. And so having healthy ways to manage the stressors of life only way, the only way to reverse disease and to be healthy, to get your immune system to come back online and so that you can function the way that you are supposed to function the way that you wanna

Speaker 1 (25:19):

Function. Yes, absolutely. And I just wanna comment on something you shared about the estrogen progesterone balance. Right before, when I was preparing for our interview on my phone, I get these news alerts and popped up an article that said, younger women are getting exorbitant amounts of breast cancer or something like that. And doctors don't know why. And you know, I remember a few weeks ago there was one about the side effects from taking statin drugs and low energy. And doctors are confused as to why. And I'm thinking, well, mainstream doctors are confused about these things. These, but who have, you know, a functional metabolic perspective or not confused, this is science, this is how the body works.

Speaker 3 (26:04):

So yeah. See the problem is there are tons of prescribers that are prescribing that have no idea what they're prescribing, what what it does, right? Like anyone who prescribes a statin should know that if you're gonna take away cholesterol, which is the base molecule of life, it is the molecule from which we build all our hormones, we build all our neurotransmitters. So if you're gonna take that away and take away your hormones and your neurotransmitters, what do you expect to happen? Nothing good, right? Right. And yet statins are so readily prescribed, they don't lower anyone's risk of getting heart disease. They don't lower the risk of a heart attack, increase the risk of diabetes by 63%. So what are we doing? Right? <laugh> and people like you and I, all we do is shake our heads that people are surprised by this. When if they just spent, you know, 10 minutes understanding the physiology of the drug, they would stop that.

Speaker 1 (27:05):

Yeah. And, but it's interesting because some patients, I, a woman comes to mind I met with a few weeks ago, and her doctor wanted to check her cholesterol of course, and put her on a statin. And it's really not even high. And I explained all this to her and the kind of what she was looking forward to in terms of her decreased at t p production and hormones. And she said, well, that's okay. I'm still gonna take it <laugh>. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (27:31):

Yeah. So the one like thing that the cardiologists hang onto is that statins do have a short-term anti-inflammatory effect. But I mean, you can do so much better, right? Like you can use turmeric, ginger, there are so many other ways to get those anti-inflammatory effects than a statin, which is going to deplete your coenzyme q deplete your hormones, deplete your neurotransmitters, and make you even more susceptible to diabetes while not, while not impacting your coronary disease risk. So I think when people it, it is going to take a lot of reeducation, right? Because again, this statin story is another one that's been around for a long time. And when people hear the same thing enough times, they believe it to be true. I think we would be remiss if we didn't talk about the fact that, you know, we are going to see younger and younger breast cancers, just like we're going to see infertility because we bury widely used a, let's call it a drug that seriously affected people's immune system. And Oh yeah. And we're, we're gonna see the ramifications of that over the next, at least 10 years. It could be two generations, but we're gonna see it at least over one generation. We're gonna see infertility, we're gonna see cancers. Because you can't hijack the immune system without having repercussions. You can't, you can't.

Speaker 1 (29:13):

Yeah. It's, it's unfortunate and mm-hmm <affirmative> and it is a fact. And I've actually encountered quite a few people who have all kinds of repercussions from that medication. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (29:24):

I'm seeing the, you know, six months later breast cancer diagnoses. So, and what's happening there, because you know, breast cancer's a long road, breast cancers don't develop in six months. But what happens is that because we're all making cancer cells all day, every day, an immune, an intact immune system will keep that at bay. But when you take the immune system out of it, a process which was maybe just like slowly chugging along and wasn't going to really do anything now is existing unchecked. And it's when we pull the immune system out of the picture, when we take away its ability to do its job that we see all of these disease states propping up. And breast cancer is a big one. It

Speaker 1 (30:10):

Is. And I know some women listening are thinking, oh, you know, have the recommendations for screening changed? So I'm wondering if we can talk about that. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> your thoughts on mammography, thermography and some of the o other, other technologies available. Yeah, absolutely. And absolutely. Have you changed any recommendations that you give your patients about screening?

Speaker 3 (30:32):

Yeah, absolutely. So first let's talk about the mammographic screening program because what we have today was never trialed, was never tested. It was grandfathered in. It was grandfathered in based on the studies that were done in the 1970s, the safety studies in the 1970s when we were using two D mammograms. And you know, at that time the thought was that breast cancer started small, grew to some critical mass, at which time it would become more likely to metastasize. And so if we could screen and find these cancers before they reached a critical mass, we could save lives. And it is a lovely theory, lovely, just doesn't happen to be true because breast cancer growth is neither predictable nor linear. So a breast cancer is what it is from the very start. And if it's going to be aggressive, it's going to be aggressive from the very start.

Speaker 3 (31:36):

And if it's not going to be aggressive, it's not going to be aggressive. So no matter how big those non-aggressive tumors get, those people are going to do fine almost no matter what you do. And the people with aggressive cancers, no matter how small you find them, those people are not going to be fine almost no matter what you do. And then there's everyone in between. And the mammographic screening programs around the world, many of them have been abandoned. And what we see in this country is a huge push for mammography does not save lives. It earns a lot of money. It earns an an enormous amount of money for the system, but it does not save lives. In fact, when we look at a woman over her lifetime, for every 10,000 women that you screen, you will maybe save one woman's life and you will cause breast cancers in seven of them.

Speaker 3 (32:32):

So we're gonna cause seven times more breast cancers than lives we save. And no matter how many women we screen every year, no matter how many women, the exact same number of women die of breast cancer, 43,000 women will die of breast cancer every single year, no matter how many women we screen. So we are not doing better. Screening does not save lives. That is a bell. That's a 50 year long bell. And people are convinced that mammogram is saving their life. So I want to be clear, mammogram is not saving your life. It is ionizing radiation. It is traumatic, it is definitely causing damage. The more mammograms you get, the more damage there's going to be. So there is no benefit from my perspective in using mammogram to screen. If you wanna use it to, for diagnostic purposes, if you feel something you need an an evaluation, fine.

Speaker 3 (33:28):

Take 100 milligrams of melatonin and 2000 to 4,000 milligrams of vitamin C, liposomal vitamin C one hour before your study. And that goes for any radiographic study, an X-ray, a mammogram, a CAT scan, a PET scan, a bone scan, a DEXA scan, any radiation, ionizing radiation study, CAT scan. Did I say that? I hope so. Greening with mammogram is not gonna save anyone's life. And what it is going to do is identify a bunch of cancers that may never have become meaningful, clinically relevant. So a lot of women are going to get treated for breast cancer that don't need to get treated for breast cancer. And what's gonna happen to them, the vast majority of them are going to be hormone positive. They're gonna be put on hormone blockade. And we know that radiation, chemotherapy, hormone blockade, they all accelerate heart disease, which is by far the number one threat to a woman's life.

Speaker 3 (34:28):

In fact, every decade of a woman's life, after she's 30, she will die exponentially more of heart disease than breast cancer. We should be doing every single thing we can to protect the heart. And coincidentally, if you're doing that, those same things also prevent breast cancer. So I'm all about prevention. I don't think mammogram has any role. I do use thermography and I use thermography as an indicator. So if you have a thermogram that shows increased heat, then you know this is your kind of opportunity. This is your opportunity to make sure that your health is optimized. And I believe in self-exam, but all of this is going to be a moot point in the next year or two because there is an F D A approved screening modality called QT imaging. And this is novel. This is a novel imaging technique. It is not like anything else that's out there. There is no radiation. It is painless, it is fast, it is inexpensive and it has 40 times the resolution of M R I. And it is poised to not only replace M R I, but to replace mammogram for screening. It is already F D A approved to screen dense breasts and within a year it will be F D A approved to screen everyone. So it is really the solution that has been needed for so many years in terms of screening. Great.

Speaker 1 (36:12):

Thank you so much for talking about that. 'cause We get a lot of questions on that and I think it really helps to hear it from somebody with your credentials and experience. And you've got a great new thing coming, the QT screening, so we'll wanna know more about that when it's available. Yeah. But like you said, it's all about prevention and you talked a little bit about that with stress and sleep and proper diet and the nourishment that you get from connection and living a healthy life that isn't filled with stress. And you've got a wonderful freebie for everyone, a weekly checklist. Is there anything else you'd like to say about preventing breast cancer?

Speaker 3 (36:56):

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, at the end of the day, breast health is health and the things that you do to drive your overall health are the same things that are going to create healthy breast, create a healthy heart, create a healthy brain, create healthy bones, create healthy muscles, create a healthy gut. Like we are all one system working in concert. And if you, unless you pay attention to everything that makes up the symphony, you're not going to have the result that you want to have. And so it's all about the everything. And actually my book called A Smart Person's Guide to Breast Cancer was just released yesterday. And this is the place to go for the answers that you're looking for. Because I talk about prevention, I talk about what to do if you get a breast cancer diagnosis. I give you all the tools you need to understand not only the conventional modalities but also all the things that you can do for yourself. Again, the only person that can heal you is you. And health is not something that you can buy, you can't get it anywhere. You have to achieve it, you have to work for it. But in the end it's so worth it because when you have your health, that means that you are living a life worth living with. You are richly, richly rewarded for that.

Speaker 1 (38:28):

It's so true. And I always ask people, what's your most valuable asset? And people say, oh my house, usually my partner and I say, well you know, what about your health? And without your health, you don't have, you don't have a life. It's the only thing that gives you that dash on your tombstone is the time that you're here on this earth. And you, your health is of vital importance. So if you're not treating it like your most valued asset and something to invest time, energy, money in, then you're kind of missing the point. <Laugh>. Yeah. But I love what you said, the only person who can heal you is you. Yeah. I love

Speaker 3 (39:06):

That. I know you probably have your own pain to purpose story. I feel like most of us who have come to exist in this space have our own pain to purpose story. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. And unfortunately my pain keeps popping up again and again and again to remind me to stay on track. But when you talk about valuing your health, I had a bout of vertigo about a week and a half ago, and it's really truly when you lose your health there, there is no greater perspective than when you lose your health. Because in that period of time you realize that there is nothing else, nothing else. When you are suffering, it is impossible to do anything else. Like you can't create, all you can do is feel and experience that pain and know that there is nothing more horrible than living in that state of pain. And you realize how valuable it is to not be that way, to not feel that way, to be able to be free to live. And I don't know why humans have to learn lessons the hard way, but we do <laugh>.

Speaker 1 (40:21):

<Laugh>. I don't know why we do. And you know, I kind of skipped over that skipped 'cause you skipped, there's so much to cover with your topic that women wanna hear about. So I was, I guess kind of anxious to get it all in. But do you wanna share, I'd love for you to share a bit about your story. I think the more that women here, people like you and me sharing our pain to purpose stories, they say, wow, they pay attention. Yeah. And they really get it on a more personal level to start taking action.

Speaker 3 (40:55):

Yeah. I've seen the abyss <laugh> more than once. You know, really, I'm in the breast cancer space very organically, so organic. Like many women, I come from a breast cancer family. And there was really never a time in my life where I didn't know about breast cancer. When I was growing up. I had a first cousin, her name was Linda Creed, and Linda was a singer songwriter in the 1970s and 1980. She wrote all the music for the spinners and the stylistics <laugh>. She wrote 54 hits in all. And her most famous song was The Greatest Love of All. She wrote that song in 1977 as the title, title track to the movie, the Greatest starring Muhammad Ali. But it really received its acclaim in March of 1986 when Whitney Houston released that song to the world. And at that time it would spend 14 weeks at the top of the charts.

Speaker 3 (41:47):

Only Linda would never know because she died of metastatic breast cancer. Just one month after Whitney released the song. And I was 16 years old and my hero died. And so that no other woman, no other family, no other community had to grieve and feel this pain. And the way that my family felt this pain, I let her life and ultimately her death, give birth to my life's purpose. And I did the only thing I knew how to do. I became a doctor, I became a surgeon. I became the first fellowship trained breast surgeon in Philadelphia. And I did that really well. And for a really long time. And you know, during my tenure, my aunt was diagnosed, my mom was diagnosed, and all the while I just continued to live in that world and thought that I was truly making a contribution. And I'm running my practice and running the cancer program for my hospital, a wife and a mother and a stepmother and an athlete and a philanthropist.

Speaker 3 (42:53):

And I have all these balls in the air and I think I'm invincible until I'm not. And I go from probably being one of the most high functioning people that you ever knew to, I can't walk across the room, I just don't have the breath in my lungs to walk across the room. And I think I'm having a heart attack. And I go to the emergency room and I have an exhaustive three day workup. And at the end of that three days, I'm sitting in the office of my friend and colleague and physician and he tells me that I need to have surgery and chemoradiation and be on lifelong medication. And despite the fact that these are things that I say all day every day to people, when the words are coming at me, it's like I'm having an out-of-body experience. And I still to this day don't know why I walked away.

Speaker 3 (43:44):

You can call it God, you can call it universe. I just couldn't reconcile it when it was about me and my doctor told me I was gonna die. And it's not that I didn't believe him. I mean the I, I told thousands of women through my career that if they didn't get treatment for their cancer, they were gonna die. So it's not that I didn't believe him, but that something said to me that there was something else. And so I went on a journey to heal myself. And it was a selfish journey. Like this was never about solving the breast cancer problem. This was about solving my problem. And I was listening to a lecture, a man named Mark Hyman walked on the stage. This was 2017. I had never heard of him. His name meant nothing to me. And he came on stage and he introduced himself as a functional medicine physician.

Speaker 3 (44:38):

And at this point I had been a doctor for like 20 years. And I was super duper cynical despite the fact that I was going against medical advice, despite the fact that I was not accepting the standard of care. But I was still super cynical. And I thought like, what is this quack talking about? There's no such thing as functional medicine. And then I remembered that I was sick. And so I checked my ego at the door tuned in and thank God I did. Because within five minutes of him speaking my entire world makes sense. And I know exactly why I got sick. I got sick so that I could be in that room on that day in that chair listening to him speak. Because not only was I not on the right path for my health, but I wasn't on the right path for my patient's health.

Speaker 3 (45:25):

And if I really wanted to leave a legacy, if I really wanted to make the impact that I wanted to make, then I needed to reframe. Because like we talked about before, all of conventional medicine is focused on the tumor. And if you focus on the tumor, that's all that's growing. So my part in the breast cancer scenario was just perpetuating the same thing. I wasn't ever interfering with why people got cancer. All I was doing was cutting out tumors, leaving them to only go on to manifest the next disease. Because unless you intervene, unless you change why someone got cancer, they're only going to manifest the next disease or have a recurrence. And so it really took my own illness and you know, three years of my life to learn functional medicine and heal and, and prove it in myself so that I could go on to prove it in my patience.

Speaker 3 (46:25):

You know, that was my opportunity and I'm not gonna pretend that my healing was easy or linear is not. And there were plenty of days where I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna die 'cause this is too hard. And then I have an amazing husband and four beautiful children and a lot to live for. And so I pushed on and in the end I'm left with something a million times more rewarding. And I am on a mission to impact the lives of millions of women who would not have otherwise had this opportunity, the opportunity to be healthy. And if I can walk with them at any part on their journey and make a difference, that's what I wanna do. That's the legacy that I wanna leave. And I could have never, ever, ever had the opportunity as a surgeon and I would've never left surgery had it not been for my own health journey. Gosh.

Speaker 1 (47:24):

So such a, a beautiful and painful story. And you know, unfortunately it was pain that had to get me back on my path too. And like you said, so much better what you've gained, thank you so much for sharing that. I know that what you've shared has really spoken to women listening and I hope that they hear from what you're saying. I used to prescribe all the drugs and the chemotherapies and the radiation and do the surgery and when it came to me, I said no and found another way. And that was what, seven years ago, right?

Speaker 3 (48:00):

Wow. Right

Speaker 1 (48:01):

For you Jen. Seven years. Mm-Hmm.

Speaker 3 (48:03):

I actually didn't leave surgery. Right. Right away. So this journey, yes. Started seven years ago for me, but it took me some time to be able to leave. I'll tell you that of all of the things that I've done in my life and I've done a lot, I've had tremendous privilege. I mean, I really, you know, there is nothing like the privilege of being a surgeon in that God gave me this incredible ability to do what I did. And there is no greater trust than when someone goes to sleep and leaves you solely responsible for their life. Yeah. Their life. And it was amazing. And I really truly would have ever walked away from that had I not had this experience and this epiphany. But I was deeply entrenched in traditional medicine. So you know, it's not like one day the light switch flipped and I was all in.

Speaker 3 (49:05):

I did have to go back and train in functional medicine. It took three years. And you know, along the way it's belief and doubt, belief and doubt, belief and doubt. But at the end of that three years, I walked away from a position where I was highly paid, highly respected, and I was walking into the unknown working for myself for the first time in my life, I had spent my entire career as an employed surgeon walking away from very large income, of which, at least part of which was going toward supporting my family and putting my children through school. And it was a huge, huge sacrifice for me and my family at the age of 50 to start over. Huge. So that really truly was one of the most courageous things that I've ever done, is walk away from something that I was the master of to something that, you know, was completely new to me.

Speaker 3 (50:07):

And you know, thank God I did. And I'm sure you feel that same way, that thank God you did and I'm so, so, so grateful for the opportunity. I don't want to say that I am blessed by the fact that I had a near death experience because mm-hmm <affirmative> <affirmative>, you know, that's not a blessing. When I was able to see it as an opportunity, that was the turning point for me. And I think that that's an a really important message for people to know. Breast cancer sucks. Horrible. I don't wish it on anyone, but if you can, instead of seeing it as a punishment, seeing it as an opportunity, a window to something bigger and better, greater, more refined, more connected version of yourself for the people that are able to do that, it pays off. It pays off exponentially, but it's not always easy.

Speaker 3 (51:04):

And I didn't get there the first day either. I didn't even get there the first year. Like it took me a while to see my illness as opportunity. But that should be the goal. Yeah. It may not be the goal the day that you're diagnosed, but it needs to be the goal at some point. If you're going to truly overcome, if you're going to truly get healthy, it needs to be the goal at some point. And there's a large focus on that in my book. And in fact that's how my book ends, by reminding people that when they're ready, look to your why. What is the message? What is your dysfunction trying to tell you? Because we are created by God. We are perfect in machines and in a very imperfect world. And what is it that is interfering with the function of your machine? Because our bodies know how to heal, we just need to give it what it needs and take away what it doesn't. And that's where the work is. The work is in knowing what's working for you and what's not. So

Speaker 1 (52:06):

Much wisdom and brilliance and courage. And thank you for the path you've taken. I know it, it's has not been easy. And I'm so grateful to have the honor of having you on the show to tell your story and talk about such important information that women need to hear. So many women are quite afraid of breast cancer and they don't really know who to turn to. And now my followers know who to turn to, Dr. Jennifer Simmons. And I know you have a wonderful download for everyone about some things that they can start doing today to prevent themselves from not only getting breast cancer, but a lot of other diseases. Do you wanna tell 'em about it? Yeah,

Speaker 3 (52:52):

Absolutely. I mean, you know, ultimately you have so much more control than you think. And none of us need to be victims. We don't. And we can take that control now and have the health that we want, that we deserve, that we need. And so I put together a list of all of the things that you should be thinking about over the course of the week. I mean, you're not gonna be able to do everything every day, but as long as you get to it over the course of the week, that is what really is meaningful. You're not gonna be perfect. Don't strive for perfection. If you strive for perfection, all you're gonna be met with is failure. And just remember, it's what you do most that matters. So make it mostly great.

Speaker 1 (53:33):

Awesome. We'll have the link in the show notes, it's for Dr. Jen's weekly checklist and tell everyone where they can find out more about you online.

Speaker 3 (53:42):

Absolutely. So there's lots of places. My website is real health md.com and I have my own podcast called Keeping Abreast with Dr. Jen. And you can get that anywhere that you get your podcasts. I have a Facebook group if you want to follow along, ask questions. That's called Keeping Abreast with Dr. Jen. And my book is out and available. It's called The Smart Person's Guide to Breast Cancer. And if you are affected by breast cancer, if you know someone affected by breast cancer or if you are worried about breast cancer, this is the place to start. Awesome.

Speaker 1 (54:18):

Definitely go check Dr. Jen out, download her guide and just take it. Simple steps, what could you do today? And like she said, don't aim for perfection. 'cause Then when you don't reach it, then most of us, if you're like me, you say, I forget it. Just do what you can. Thank you so much, Dr. Jen. Oh,

Speaker 3 (54:39):

My pleasure. My pleasure. And don't forget to follow me on social at Dr. Jen Simmons. And my Jen has two nss.

Speaker 1 (54:46):

Yes, two Ns. She's at D RJ E n n, SS I M M O N. Ss. Thank you so much for joining us on

Speaker 3 (54:55):

The show. My pleasure. Thanks for having me. And

Speaker 1 (54:57):

Thank you for joining us for another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kieran. I know you are inspired by Dr. Jen to make changes in your life. If she can do it, you can do it, and I'll look forward to hearing about the changes that you're making. Maybe you're just going to bed a little bit earlier, maybe you're just changing your diet. Whatever it is, tell us about it on social media. We look forward to hearing about it. I'll see you on next week's show. Until then, peace, love, and hormones, y'all.

Speaker 2 (55:30):

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.

 

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