Could Intimacy Be the Missing Key to Vitality After 40?

For more than 20 years, Shana James has been a trusted guide in the realm of relationships, offering profound insights into the causes of disconnection and the subtle art of rebuilding trust. A relationship coach with a Master’s in psychology, Shana is certified in DISC and Positive Intelligence, and has facilitated decades of Authentic Relating workshops—blending communication, mindfulness, and sensuality to help people reconnect with themselves and others.

Shana is passionate about helping individuals over 40 find or reignite deep, meaningful love. Her groundbreaking approach shows that emotional intimacy and being truly seen and heard in a relationship can fuel not only passion but also our physical health and mental vitality. As she says:

She hosts two transformative podcasts: Man Alive, with over 300 episodes featuring thought leaders and intimacy experts, and Practicing Love: Have the Best Love and Sex of Your Life After 40, a bold invitation to reclaim joy and connection later in life. Her TEDx talk, What 1000 Men’s Tears Reveal About the Crisis Between Men and Women, unveils the silent pain and unmet needs that often go unspoken in our relationships, and the healing that becomes possible when we finally listen.

She is the author of two acclaimed books:

📘 Honest Sex: A Passionate Path to Deepen Connection and Keep Relationships Alive

📕 Power and Pleasure: A Man’s Guide to Becoming a Confident and Satisfied Lover and Leader

In this episode of Beyond the Pills, Shana shares why real intimacy—emotional, physical, and spiritual—isn’t just a luxury; it’s a necessity for personal and workplace well-being. As companies search for ways to reduce healthcare costs and boost team performance, the answer might be closer to home than we think.

🎯 Key Insight: “Intimacy isn’t just about romance—it’s about being fully alive. When we’re deeply connected, we’re less stressed, more creative, and more productive.”

🔗 Take the intimacy quiz: shanajamescoaching.com/quiz

Mushrooms as Medicine: The Fungitarian Revolution

On this episode of Beyond The Pills, we welcome John James Staniszewski, creator of Fungitarian Food and Fungitarian.life, and co-owner of Windy City Mushroom, the largest organic gourmet mushroom farm in the Midwest. A vocal advocate for plant medicine, John launched his site alongside their innovative liposomal mushroom drops and gummies, aiming to demonstrate how food truly serves as medicine.

Why this matters right now:

• The North American functional mushroom supplements market reached approximately $542 million in 2023 and is projected to grow over 15% annually through 2030 theguardian.com+4novaoneadvisor.com+4grandviewresearch.com+4.
• Globally, the functional mushroom market stood at nearly $36 billion in 2024 with forecasts expecting it to hit between $62–76 billion by 2033, depending on sources globenewswire.com.
• Whether it’s Reishi for immunity, Lion’s Mane for cognition, or Cordyceps for energy, consumers and corporations alike are increasingly embracing mushrooms beyond culinary use nutraceuticalsworld.com+6globenewswire.com+6nypost.com+6.
• 
  

In this episode, we explore:

1. The science behind mushrooms — What human and animal studies reveal about mushroom benefits like immune support, inflammation reduction, mood balance, and gut health verywellhealth.com+1nypost.com+1.
2. Agriculture meets wellness — John’s journey from founding North America’s largest Midwest mushroom farm to launching high-bioavailability liposomal drops and gummies.
3. Economic impact in corporate health — How John’s concierge-level wellness model helps 7+ figure companies lower healthcare spending, boost productivity, and retain top talent. Studies show wellness interventions can return $3.27 in medical savings for every $1 spent, and onsite clinics often realize 36% reduced costs alongside millions in savings wired.com+4theguardian.com+4nypost.com+4lifestylemedicine.org.
4. Real-world wellness ROI — Review of industry data: naturopathic chronic-care programs reduce costs by up to 40% med.uc.edu, and lifestyle-medicine-plus–site programs have trimmed healthcare utilization by nearly 43% time.com+1lifestylemedicine.org+1.
5. A message of commitment — John’s rallying cry: “If you do anything in this life, make sure you go ALL IN.” This isn’t about trendy supplements—it’s a holistic, systemic reorientation toward nature-driven health.

Who this episode is for:

• Wellness-minded leaders interested in proven strategies that future-proof workforce health and reduce corporate healthcare outlays.
• Health entrepreneurs eager to innovate with mushroom-derived products and alternative medicine.
• Everyday individuals seeking practical ways to harness natural nutrition for immune resilience, mental clarity, and vitality.

Key takeaway:

We don’t need to invent new medicines—nature offers them. Mushrooms aren’t just fungi; they’re foundational to a healthier workforce, a smarter wellness strategy, and real human potential.

Links & Resources:

• Fungitarian.life – Explore liposomal drops, gummies, and the full spectrum of mushroom education.
• Instagram: @Mrfungitarian | @Fungitarian.life | @Windycitymushroom
• Facebook: John James Staniszewski | Fungitarian.life
• TikTok: Fungitarian.life
• LinkedIn: John James Staniszewski

Enjoyed this episode?

✅ Follow Beyond The Pills on your favorite listening platform so you never miss a conversation about rethinking health, wellness, and the future of medicine.

✅ Share this episode with your network if you believe in the power of real food, plant medicine, and transformative wellness solutions. Help us spread ideas that matter.

✅ Leave us a review to let us know what resonated with you. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and keep delivering the thoughtful, actionable insights you count on.

Thank you for being part of the Beyond The Pills community!

The Molecule of Healing: How Nitric Oxide Could Be the Missing Link in Modern Wellness

In this powerhouse episode of Beyond the Pills, we welcome Beth Shirley, RPh, CCN—a trailblazer in integrative pharmacy with over 40 years of experience at the intersection of pharmaceutical science and clinical nutrition.

Beth has worked alongside some of the world’s top thought leaders in nitric oxide research and is now on a mission to educate the world on why Nitric Oxide (NO) is the foundation of all healing. As the current Director of Education and Research at Approved Medical Solutions, Beth has not only formulated the first oxalate-free nitrate supplement to optimize nitric oxide, but also pioneered patent-winning formulations that enhance sexual vitality and holistic well-being.

Whether you're a high-performing entrepreneur, a healthcare innovator, or someone looking to take ownership of your health, this episode offers eye-opening insights into:

• Why NO (Nitric Oxide) is essential for cellular repair, immunity, energy, and longevity
• How to combat the hidden epidemic of NO deficiency
• Her patented product “Signal” and the science behind increasing sexual desire and pleasure
• What most practitioners still overlook when it comes to real integrative healing
• How companies can future-proof their workforce by investing in vitality, not just benefits

Beth doesn’t just talk theory—she’s helped formulate next-generation wellness solutions like Libby, a line focused on sexual health and vitality, and High Maintenance, a game-changing gut health product targeting food-borne pathogens with bacteriophage technology.

💡 Key takeaway: “Without adequate Nitric Oxide, you will not—and cannot—heal.”

If you’re ready to go beyond the band-aid approach and explore how biochemical vitality is the real edge in business, life, and healing—this episode is for you.

🩺 Learn more:

• www.approvedmedicalsolutions.com (Use code BEYONDTHEPILLS)
• www.withlibby.com
• Connect with Beth on LinkedIn

🎧 Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who needs to hear the truth beyond the pills.

What if the path to true healing doesn’t come in a bottle but in surrender?

In this compelling episode of Beyond the Pills, host Josh Rimany welcomes Beate Chelette, a globally recognized business strategist who built and sold her company to Bill Gates in a multimillion-dollar deal. Known as The Growth Architect, Beate has guided thousands of entrepreneurs and corporate leaders to scale their impact but her most transformative breakthrough didn’t happen in the boardroom. It happened deep within her own body.

After years of battling debilitating chronic migraines and unresolved trauma, Beate sought alternatives when traditional medicine failed her. Her journey led her to plant medicine where she not only found physical relief, but emotional and spiritual restoration that changed her life.

In this episode, Beate opens up about:

• Her rise from $135,000 in debt as a single mom to becoming a multi-7-figure business owner
• The toll that trauma, stress, and overachievement took on her health
• Her journey through plant medicine ceremonies and the emotional breakthroughs that followed
• The direct link between unhealed wounds and physical illness—especially in high-performing women
• Why true leadership and authority begin with personal alignment and inner clarity

Through Beate’s powerful story, listeners are invited to reimagine what healing looks like—especially when success masks suffering. She offers a message of hope, resilience, and reinvention, proving that even the most strategic minds must learn to listen to the wisdom of the body.

Featured Guest Links:

🔗 Website: beatechelette.com

📸 Instagram: @beatechelette

💼 LinkedIn: Beate Chelette

🎙️ Podcast: Business Growth Architect Show

🗓️ Program: Turn Your Talent into a Business

Leaving the System, Not the Mission: Dr. Susan Baumgaertel on Healing After Medicine

What if the very system you gave your life to—decades of dedication, care, and clinical excellence—became the very thing that broke your spirit? For Dr. Susan Baumgaertel, that question wasn’t theoretical. It was personal. After more than 25 years in internal medicine, Dr. B realized the cost of staying silent in a system that was no longer aligned with healing. So, she chose something radical in today’s healthcare landscape: sovereignty.

In this moving and courageous conversation, Dr. B takes us behind the curtain of modern medicine—where consolidation, corporatization, and unchecked productivity demands are driving good clinicians out of practice and patients into despair. But instead of walking away completely, she walked toward something better. She launched myMDadvocate, a consultancy rooted in compassion, agency, and true listening. She built MenopauseMenu.com, a hub of nourishing support for women navigating the changes of midlife. She authored The Menopause Menu, a heartfelt guide that reimagines care as connection. And through it all, she reclaimed the creative, compassionate, healer within.

This episode is not just about medicine—it’s about what it means to come home to yourself. Dr. B shares practical wisdom for anyone feeling stuck or stretched thin: why sleep is sacred, how to find joy in daily rituals like walking, and the power of remembering that “no” is a full sentence. You’ll hear her reflect on burnout, moral injury, and the liberating clarity that comes when you decide to recalibrate your inner compass. Whether you’re a clinician on the edge of change or a patient desperate to be seen and heard, Dr. B’s message is universal: You’re not broken. The system is. And you have options.

Tune in to this episode of Beyond the Pills for a raw, hopeful, and deeply empowering conversation with a physician who dared to redefine what healing really means.

✨ Subscribe to Dr. B’s YouTube channel: Dr. Susan Baumgaertel

🌿 Explore her advocacy work at mymdadvocate.com

💛 Get menopause support and community at menopausemenu.com

📕 Grab her book The Menopause Menu—available on Amazon.

Let this episode be your permission slip to listen deeply, lead bravely, and live beyond the pills.

What if the most powerful tool for healing, happiness, and success isn’t a pill but your mind?

In this eye-opening episode of Beyond The Pills, we’re joined by Ravinder Taylor, author, hypnotherapist, and president of Progressive Awareness Research. With over 30 years of experience studying the science behind self-help, Ravinder dismantles common myths in the personal development space and introduces a grounded, research-backed approach to lasting transformation.

We explore the untapped potential of the placebo effect, the surprising truth about self-sabotage, and how optimism can literally extend your life. Ravinder also shares the science behind her latest book, Mind Training: The Science of Self-Empowerment, which is built on over 200 independent studies—and explains how just a few intentional practices can rewire your mind for confidence, clarity, and connection.

Whether you're skeptical of self-help or spiritually curious, this conversation bridges science and soul in a powerful way.

Highlights include:

• Why most self-help advice misses the mark
• The placebo effect as proof of your untapped inner power
• How to uncover (and undo) self-destructive patterns
• Techniques to boost joy, relationship success, and even life expectancy
• The truth about subliminal messaging—and how it really works

You are more powerful than you think. And this episode will show you how to reclaim that power.

🔗 Learn more and connect with Ravinder:

🌐 Website: ravindertaylor.com

Book: Mind Training: The Science of Self-Empowerment

Instagram: @ravindertaylor

Facebook: facebook.com/RavinderKTaylor

What happens when ancient plant wisdom meets cutting-edge artificial intelligence?

In this visionary episode of Beyond The Pills, we sit down with Maestro Hamilton Souther—pioneer of the global plant medicine movement, founder of Blue Morpho, and a rare voice at the crossroads of mysticism and modern technology. Known for guiding thousands through transformative plant medicine journeys, Hamilton now explores how psychedelics, AI, and ancestral knowledge can work together to shape a more conscious and connected future.

Together, we dive into the ethics of ayahuasca, the science of expanded consciousness, and what it means to pursue true health—not just the absence of illness, but the presence of harmony between body, mind, community, and the planet itself.

This conversation challenges conventional paradigms of healing and invites you to reimagine what's possible when ancient tradition and future technology converge.

Inside the episode:

• How AI and plant medicine can co-create human flourishing
• The true meaning of health and innovation in the modern world
• Why ancestral knowledge must guide scientific advancement
• Ethical frameworks for psychedelic healing and consciousness exploration
• What it’s like to spend 14 days immersed in the Amazon jungle for spiritual and physical renewal

Step beyond the pills—and into the jungle.

🌿 Learn more: www.bluemorpho.org

📸 Instagram: @bluemorpho_org

How the Endocannabinoid System Could Be the Key to Reversing Disease

In this eye-opening episode of Beyond The Pills, we sit down with Chip Paul, a leading global theorist on the endocannabinoid system (ECS) and a pioneer in holistic health innovation. Chip isn’t a physician—but his research, patents, and groundbreaking theories are influencing the future of wellness in powerful ways.

As the founder of TrueMedX and co-founder of Neighborly Wellness with his wife Cindy, Chip is on a mission to help people reclaim their health naturally. He holds patents for ECS manipulation without cannabis and writes for the only peer-reviewed medical journal dedicated to endocannabinoid science. He’s also a TEDx speaker, curriculum advisor for the University of Mississippi, and adjunct professor at Arizona State University.

In this episode, we explore:

🌿 How the endocannabinoid system functions as the body’s master regulator

🔬 Natural ways to support ECS balance without cannabis

💊 Why many chronic conditions may actually be ECS imbalances in disguise

📚 The spiritual, scientific, and nature-based philosophy behind his work

If you're curious about how the body truly heals or you’re looking for answers outside of prescriptions, this episode will change the way you think about medicine, health, and the divine intelligence built into the human body.

🔗 Learn more at: www.chiptalkspodcast.com

🛒 Explore his patented wellness products at: www.truemedx.com

🏥 Visit his clinic: www.neighborlywellness.com

“God has always given us the cures. The cures are in Nature. The knowledge to unlock these cures can be found within the endocannabinoid system.” – Chip Paul

From the NFL to the Janitor's Closet—and Back Again: The Power of the Victory Mindset

What if the greatest lessons in life don’t come from winning… but from rising after you’ve lost everything?

On this episode of Beyond The Pills, we sit down with Marques Ogden—former NFL athlete turned bestselling author, keynote speaker, business strategist, and podcast host of Get Authentic with Marques Ogden. His journey defies the odds and redefines what it means to truly succeed. From the bright lights of the football field to the crushing weight of bankruptcy and back again, Marques brings raw truth, powerful perspective, and a Victory Mindset that will leave you deeply inspired.

🔥 From Millions Lost to Purpose Regained

At just 27, Marques built a fast-growing construction company. But in just 90 days, he lost nearly $3 million on one project—and with it, everything he had worked for. Instead of staying down, he chose to rewrite his story. Taking a part-time job as a janitor, he started over from scratch and began the long climb back—not just financially, but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

Today, Marques is a sought-after speaker who’s worked with 75+ Fortune 500 companies and been featured in USA Today, Forbes, and Cheddar News. He’s living proof that setbacks are setups for comebacks.

💡 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• How to develop an unshakable Victory Mindset no matter your circumstances
• Why authenticity and adversity are essential leadership tools
• The mental strategies Marques used to turn failure into a new beginning
• How to lead with humility, purpose, and relentless determination
• Why personal reinvention is more than possible—it’s powerful

Plus, Marques opens up about his latest ventures—The Inner Game Community and Scale Room—created to help entrepreneurs and leaders elevate from the inside out.

Whether you’re rebuilding from rock bottom or simply looking for the mental edge to take your life and business to the next level, this episode is your wake-up call. It’s not just about bouncing back—it’s about bouncing forward.

📲 Listen now—and discover what’s possible when you stop making excuses and start playing to win.

🔗 Connect with Marques:

Website: www.marquesogden.com

Instagram: @marquesogden

Podcast: Get Authentic With Marques Ogden

Projects: The Inner Game Community + Scale Room

In an age where medical innovation often feels like science fiction, few are standing at the intersection of neuroscience, regenerative medicine, and biohacking quite like Dr. Gross.

On this powerful episode of Beyond The Pills, we’re joined by Dr. Gross—a board-certified neurological surgeon, longevity consultant, and founder of ReCELLebrate—to explore a radical and promising new approach to healing the body from within. With a background in biochemistry, molecular biology, and over two decades of neurosurgical expertise, Dr. Gross now leads a movement toward non-toxic, regenerative alternatives to conventional treatments—starting with cancer.

At the forefront of this movement is activated natural killer (NK) cell-derived exosome therapy. These microscopic biological messengers are changing the game by supporting the body’s natural surveillance system. They seek out and destroy cancer cells, senescent “zombie” cells, and age-promoting toxins—without harming healthy tissue. It’s a groundbreaking approach that merges the body's God-given design with modern scientific precision.

In this episode, Dr. Gross breaks down:

• Why NK cell-derived exosomes are offering a natural, non-toxic cancer treatment alternative to chemotherapy and radiation
• How senescent cells accelerate aging and disease—and what we can do about it
• His journey from spine surgery to regenerative medicine and why he believes surgery should be the last resort
• The mission and vision behind ReCELLebrate and how it’s transforming how we think about healing, performance, and longevity
• What you need to know now about stem cells, exosomes, and the future of biohacking

With practices in both California and Nevada, and decades of recognition—including the Top Doctor Award and HealthTap’s 2022 Top Neurological Surgeon in the U.S.—Dr. Gross brings clinical credibility and visionary thinking to an urgent conversation in modern healthcare.

If you're seeking a fresh perspective on how to live longer, perform better, and radically heal from within, this conversation is a must-listen.

📍 Learn more or schedule a consult at: https://recellebrate.com

📱 Follow Dr. Gross on Instagram and TikTok: @recellebrate

🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: @stemcellwhisperer

🎧 Subscribe and listen to Beyond The Pills on your favorite platform to join the movement that’s bridging ancient wisdom and modern science for true healing.