Doing It Different

Instances of prostate cancer are going up and sperm counts are going down -- so why aren't we talking more about men's health?

Whether a partner, parent, or friends, we all have important men in our lives. But how often do we talk to them about their health?

Naturopathic physician Dr. Ralph Esposito joins me today to talk about the under-discussed topic of men's health. We talk about the importance of testosterone in overall health, possible factors contributing to decreasing sperm counts, and what men can do to stay healthy as they age.

I hope this episode sparks some conversations with the men in your life. Enjoy!

• 2:49 How Dr. Esposito got his start in naturopathic medicine
• 4:58 The current state of men's health and some of the major issues right now
• 6:57 What men need to know about prostate cancer screenings
• 10:44 The lifestyle habit that is essential for health
• 12:57 How to stay healthy as you age
• 16:45 Do males have cyclical hormone patterns similar to the way women do?
• 18:33 Men's testosterone levels are decreasing as they age. But should they be?
• 20:46 The importance of testosterone to overall health
• 25:52 Why it's challenging to diagnose low testosterone and often overlooked
• 29:31 Things that impact the optimal testosterone level for different men
• 32:20 How to increase testosterone levels naturally
• 36:09 The relationship between testosterone and male pattern balding
• 40:00 Sperm count is declining -- what's contributing to it and what can you do to prevent it.
• 42:32 EMF and the impact on sperm health and fertility
• 44:39 How Dr. Esposito addresses infertility with his patients
• 46:31 Pornography and the role it can have in fertility issues
• 49:44 Timing your sexual activity and other lifestyle activities to be mindful of when trying to conceive
• 51:26 The benefits of sauna use and Dr. Esposito's recommended approach.
• 53:48 Things to evaluate when examining sperm count and concentration

• DrRalphEsposito.com
• @Dr.RalphEsposito on Instagram
• @DrRalphEsposito on Twitter

Ralph is a naturopathic physician, acupuncturist, and functional medicine practitioner specializing in integrative urology and endocrinology with a hyper-focus on men's health. His precise and personalized style utilizes a systems biology and precision-medicine approach to medicine.

In addition to advising as a peer reviewer for medical journals, he has authored several medical textbook chapters and has designed education modules for health professionals specifically on urological conditions, male and female hormone dysfunction, hypogonadism, exercise, men's health, and sexual dysfunction.

Ralph has worked as a medical intern at NYU Integrative and Functional Urology Center. He holds a position as an adjunct professor at New York University where he lectures on integrative medicine. Currently, Ralph serves as a medical consultant and research analyst in New York City.

As thyroid health issues are on the rise, it's more important now than ever to understand what a proper diagnosis looks like and how to get started on a healing journey.

My guest today is someone who, like me, has experience healing Hashimoto's. Carrie Vitt is a Nutritional Therapist and thyroid, nutrition, and non-toxic living expert. She currently treats patients struggling with thyroid issues as a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, and provides healthy diet lifestyle resources on her website Deliciously Organic.

Carrie and I are talking today about healing your thyroid. We chat about Carrie's health journey, why Hashimoto's is becoming more and more common, practical interventions for thyroid disease, and much more.

Whether you're just starting your thyroid healing journey, or you've been on the path for a while now, this episode is for you.

• 2:11 Introducing Carrie and the story of her thyroid journey
• 5:22 Why Carrie turned down thyroid medication and how she was able to eventually reverse her Hashimoto's diagnosis
• 8:40 The thyroid disease epidemic and what Carrie sees as a major cause
• 12:05 How "overdoing it" can negatively impact your health
• 14:25 Hashimoto's and Hypothyroidism: How they're different and how they overlap
• 19:18 The first lab tests Carrie examines at the beginning of someone's healing journey
• 21:13 Some initial lifestyle changes recommended to address thyroid issues
• 23:33 Three of the biggest things I did to start healing
• 27:40 How to know whether you're eating enough
• 30:27 Carrie's non-negotiable interventions for her thyroid patients
• 32:11 Do people with vegans or vegetarians have a harder time healing from thyroid issues?
• 34:05 How long the Hashimoto's healing process takes (hint: it's a marathon, not a sprint)
• 37:23 Changes you'll see in your labs as your body starts to heal
• 39:24 Perspectives on medication
• 43:04 The controversy surrounding iodine: should you take it or not?
• 47:36 Why liver congestion is popular in people with Hashimoto's and what you can do to support it
• 51:07 Thyroid castor oil packs: how they work and who they're recommended for
• 55:18 Carrie's message for women who are struggling on their thyroid journey

• Carrie's' website: DeliciouslyOrganic.net
• Carrie's clinic: Biodynamic Wellness
• Book: Deliciously Organic
• Book: The Grain Free Family Table
• Instagram: @carrievitt
• Vital Choice online seafood delivery
• How to Make and Use Castor Oil Packs
• Carly's thyroid healing story

Carrie Vitt is a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner at Biodynamic Wellness and is the author of the successful cooking and lifestyle blog DeliciouslyOrganic.net and two cookbooks: Deliciously Organic and The Grain-Free Family Table. She has overcome Hashimoto's herself and runs a course that teaches other people to do the same. She works with clients all over the world helping them restore balance in their bodies and shares valuable health information and recipes on her social channels and website each week.

My husband Austin and I are always looking for ways to improve our relationship and deepen our connection.

Adee and Michael Cazayoux have been an inspiration for us on that journey, and I'm excited to bring them on today. Not only do they run a company together, but they actively work on maintaining a strong relationship and growing, both as a couple and individually.

Michael and Adee talk about the evolution of their relationships, the daily, weekly, and monthly habits that keep them connected, the importance of sex for long-lasting love, and how they each work hard to show up as their best selves in their marriage.

Enjoy!

• 4:37 The birth of Adee and Michael's relationship
• 5:45 What it was like living together for the first time in a 30-foot travel trailer
• 7:08 How success in business has helped with success and structure in Adee and Michael's relationship
• 9:14 Building "relationship self-esteem"
• 10:35 What led Adee to reframe her perspective around couple's therapy
• 15:54 How Adee and Michael's relationship is different than others
• 18:19 Keeping things alive and fresh even after five years of marriage
• 19:40 Adee and Michael's weekly and quarterly rituals that help them stay connected
• 24:30 A shared morning routine for relationship closeness
• 25:38 The benefit of letting your partner guide you in your goals for growth
• 28:17 How aspects of Adee and Michael's marriage have led to their personal growth
• 33:54 Your partner as a teacher and model for self-improvement
• 37:18 The importance of sex and how to prioritize it in your relationship
• 41:02 Why removing the expectation of spontaneous sex is so healthy
• 42:28 Michael and Adee's recommendations for improving your sex life - 46:33 sex soundbite
• 47:06 Building for the future with a baby on the way
• 51:05 The importance of community and Michael and Adee's plans for creating a communal space in Austin
• 54:09 Pieces of advice for having a beautiful relationship

• Working Against Gravity
• Working Against Gravity podcast
• Annie Lalla - Relationship Coach
• Katie and Gay Hendricks - relationship books and exercises
• Michael Cazayoux on Instagram
• Adee Cazayoux on Instagram

Adee Cazayoux: Adee Cazayoux is the Founder and CEO of Working Against Gravity (WAG), an online nutrition coaching program with a mission to transform lives.

Having made a name for herself in nutrition, Cazayoux has worked with elite athletes such as Katrin Davidsdottir, Jessica Lucero and Tia Clair-Toomey, just to spotlight a few.

Beyond being a coach to the pros, Cazayoux is a textbook lifelong learner. She completed her Bachelors in Honors Psychology and a Masters in Teaching and is working toward a Masters in Nutrition and Human Performance.

Beyond being an entrepreneur and student of the nutritional sciences, Cazayoux is also an accomplished athlete herself, having competed in the National Pro Grid League, CrossFit Open, and won the Bronze Medal in the 2016 Canadian National Weightlifting Championships. Cazayoux currently lives in Austin, Texas with her loving husband Michael and her Labradoodle, Otis and they're expecting their first child this year.

Michael Cazayoux: Michael Cazayoux, president of WAG, specializes in helping his team and clients "get out of their own way" by identifying self-limiting beliefs and ineffective behaviors.

In fact, the back-to-back CrossFit World Cup Champion is no stranger to this unique process of self-examination. At the impressionable age of 17, Cazayoux confronted his own limiting beliefs and ineffective behaviors head on, attending drug rehabilitation to overcome his addiction to opiates. It's this experience that inspired a love of health and fitness on a personal level, which later translated into a passion for coaching and mentoring inside and out of the gym.

Prior to joining WAG, Michael cofounded Brute Strength, an online fitness training company, where he continues to contribute to operations and remains as the podcast host.

Beyond "the office," the young entrepreneur is most proud of his marriage to Adee Cazayoux, his partner in love, life and fitness. In his free time, Cazayoux enjoys backpacking, snowboarding, woodworking, bow shooting, hunting and creating enormous value in people's lives — especially his closest family and friends.

What if you could have unprotected sex the majority of the month, without worry, and without having to be on hormonal birth control?

Sound too good to be true? Well, you might be surprised to find out that more and more women are taking control of their fertility without hormonal or potentially invasive methods of contraception.

The reality is that many women are looking for alternatives to hormonal birth control. And, with the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM), you can take back control of your fertility.

Reproductive health practitioner Lisa Hendrickson-Jack explains what FAM is, who it's for, how it works, how it's backed by science, and what it looks like on a daily basis.

We talk about what you really need to know about cervical fluid, how you can use FAM to get pregnant, or prevent pregnancy, and how you can get your partner onboard with FAM.

Fertility awareness can be incredibly empowering, whether you're trying to get pregnant or not.

I've been using the FAM for about 3 years now and love the relationship with my body it's provided me. I can't imagine preventing pregnancy any other way.

Enjoy!

• 2:38 Lisa's first experience with birth control and why she decided to stop taking it
• 5:43 How the narrative around fertility shapes our approach to birth control
• 7:42 What is the fertility awareness method (FAM) and how does it work?
• 9:00 Busting one of the myths around FAM and revealing the scientific truths around pregnancy
• 12:40 What it actually looks like to use the fertility awareness method
• 18:08 Pros and cons of tracking your fertility yourself
• 21:52 Why most women start exploring FAM
• 25:25 How cervical fluid changes throughout your cycle
• 30:42 The connection between cervical fluid and fertility
• 36:32 What cervical fluid does and how it helps with getting pregnant
• 41:39 Changing your perspective on the "gross factor" of cervical fluid
• 43:09 The best thing to teach teenage girls about cervical fluid
• 44:48 Being empowered by knowing your baseline - what's normal and what's not
• 46:51 Tips for people interested in using FAM to prevent pregnancy
• 50:35 Tips for women using FAM and trying to conceive
• 54:27 How to get your partner onboard with FAM
• 57:35 Recommendations for non-toxic lubes

• FertilityFriday.com
• Lisa's podcast - Fertility Friday
• Lisa's Book: The Fifth Vital Sign
• Book: Taking Charge of Your Fertility (Tony Weschler)
• Lisa's online course
• Daysy Fertility Tracker
• Carly's Experience Using Daysy

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack talks about vaginas a lot! She's a certified Fertility Awareness Educator and Holistic Reproductive Health Practitioner who teaches women to chart their menstrual cycles for natural birth control, conception, and monitoring overall health.

In her new book The Fifth Vital Sign, Lisa debunks the myth that regular ovulation is only important when you want children, by recognizing the menstrual cycle as a vital sign. Drawing heavily from the current scientific literature, Lisa presents an evidence-based approach to fertility awareness and menstrual cycle optimization.

She hosts the Fertility Friday Podcast, a weekly radio show devoted to helping women connect to their fifth vital sign by uncovering the connection between menstrual cycle health, fertility, and overall health. With well over a million downloads, Fertility Friday is the #1 source for information about fertility awareness, and menstrual cycle health, connecting women around the world with their cycles and their fertility -- something our education systems have consistently failed to do.

When she's not researching, writing, and interviewing health professionals, you'll find her spending time with her husband and her two sons. To learn more, visit fertilityfriday.com and thefifthvitalsignbook.com.

Decisions around birth are highly personal for each family and each birth. While many choose to give birth in a hospital, others are seeking an alternative.

Today, Allison Evans, cofounder of Branch Basics, joins us to talk about why she chose home birth for both of her daughters. We discuss her PCOS and chronic pain healing journey and how it helped her prepare for pregnancy, the specific reasons a hospital birth didn't feel right for her, and the two stories of how she brought her children into this world.

Allison gives pointers to other mothers seeking a holistic pregnancy and sheds valuable light on the preparation, mindset, and beauty of her two amazing home birth experiences.

Enjoy!

Episode Highlights:

• 5:24 PCOS + Chronic Pain: Allison's wellness journey
• 7:29 The changes Allison made that led to major transformation in her health
• 10:30 Resources on home birth safety and outcomes
• 11:47 How chronic pain was actually a blessing for preparing for conception
• 14:57 Allison's advice for what to do pre-pregnancy to get your body ready
• 16:22 Pregnancy highs and lows and why you can't compare your pregnancy to anyone else's
• 19:40 The initial stages of considering a home birth and why Allison decided she wanted a midwife
• 22:52 Hospital vs no hospital? Why you might choose one over the other
• 23:50 What you may not know about water births and why they're safer than you might think
• 26:07 The most common reason birthing women need medical interventions
• 28:07 Delayed umbilical cord clamping - why this was one of the big reasons why Allison decided to have a home birth
• 31:10 The importance of surrounding yourself with positive birth stories
• 32:20 Allison's home birth story #1: Birthing at the in-law's house
• 36:28 The thing that helped most with giving birth to baby 1
• 40:39 Busting myths about what home birth actually looks like
• 42:00 What Allison put in her smoothies to increase her low Hemoglobin levels
• 44:45 Changes Allison made to her home birth set up for baby 2
• 47:30 Home birth story #2: A Mother's Instinct
• 52:00 Two things that may have contributed to Allison's quick labors
• 54:08 Advice for women considering a home birth

• Evidence Based Birth
• Midwives Alliance of North America
• Birth Place Lab
• Allison's Written Birth Story on Branch Basics (includes sources/studies related to all her pregnancy and birth decisions)
• Book: Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
• Research Studies Supporting Placenta Encapsulations
• Branch Basics' Instagram
• Branch Basics' Website
• [email protected]

Allison Evans is a co-founder of Branch Basics and lives in Texas. After experiencing a health crisis during her junior year of college and traveling to specialists across the country to seek relief from chronic pain and motor impairments, Allison finally experienced true healing after moving to the Hill Country to live with her aunt, Marilee Nelson. By removing all toxic chemicals from her environment and eating real, whole foods, Allison's symptoms completely disappeared. Her healing journey inspired her to co-found Branch Basics to help others experience how to truly thrive in their health. Allison enjoys researching all things holistic parenting, finding clean brands to use and recommend, and helping others navigate their health journeys. She also loves taking walks with her husband and teaching her two daughters Sloane and Frances to eat healthily and appreciate nature!

When I started doing things differently several years ago my life changed dramatically.

And now, taking a different approach across all parts of my life has become a core part of who I am today.

I started this podcast because as I've gone on my own "Doing it Different" journey, I've encountered incredible people doing things differently in their own lives. From home births, to thyroid healing, to finances and regenerative agriculture, I interview guests whose perspectives shine a new light on how to view the world.

I'm thrilled to bring this podcast to you and hope it inspires you on your own journey of Doing it Different.

• 3:16 My health journey: the standard American Lifestyle led to standard American illness
• 5:38 How medication failed me and the symptoms that made me re-examine everything
• 6:45 The radically different approach to health that helped me heal my Hashimoto's
• 7:55 How alternative medicine kicked off a life-changing period in my life and I started questioning everything
• 8:40 How taking responsibility for my own wellness led to the birth of this podcast
• 10:25 What to expect from the Doing it Different podcast
• 12:50 Why this podcast is going beyond just health to explore things being done differently in all facets of life
• 13:51 The reality of being a recovering perfectionist in my podcast journey
• 15:03 Bringing forth vulnerability to continue to connect more deeply

• FrolicandFlow.me
• @Frolicandflow