Ready to learn the secret to staying out of the nursing home and living your best life at midlife? It's easier than you think, and our guest expert on today's episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast is here to tell you how!

Amy passionately reveals her top strategies for successful weight loss, regaining good health, and keeping yourself out of the nursing home, emphasizing that it all starts with one important factor: "Optimizing your starting line at midlife."

Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review The Hormone Prescription Podcast, and as always, we're grateful for your support. See you on the next episode!

Speaker 1 (00:00):

Today I do what others won't. So tomorrow I can do what others can't. Amy Wilson, what do you need to do today so that you can do the things that you wanna do tomorrow? Stay tuned and find out.

Speaker 2 (00:15):

So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us, keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife. If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself again. As an O-B-G-Y-N, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:09):

Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me today as we dive into talking about staying out of the nursing home. I know that's not a topic that you might pick to listen to or talk about, but you know what? If you don't pay attention to the things that are gonna keep you out of the nursing home now, then 5, 10, 20, 30 years down the line, you might end up there. And it's really a place of last resort that you don't want to end up in because people don't go there to get better and go home. They go there when the end of the line is in view and there's nothing else that can be done from them. And these days you're gonna hear from Amy. She's gonna talk to you about how 40 and 50 and younger year olds are ending up in nursing homes for things that are fully preventable and treatable if they had done the things that we're gonna talk about today.

Speaker 1 (02:04):

Do I have your attention now? Yes, I think so. So she's gonna talk to you about doing the things that others won't do. For whatever reason, they don't want to, they don't think it's necessary. They don't think they have a problem. They think it's not gonna happen to me for whatever reason. They're not doing the things. What are the things you need to do so that tomorrow you can do what others can't? Meaning you won't end up in a nursing home, you'll be able to travel the world, go dancing, do all the things that you love to do that I love to do, right? You wanna stay healthy, vital, alive, having fun and enjoying your life. And there's some things that you need to pay attention to that you might not be paying attention to. So we're gonna dive into that. We're gonna talk about your purpose.

Speaker 1 (02:48):

We're gonna talk about why you need to eat more . Yes, eat more. I said we're gonna be talking about that. We're gonna talk about Ozempic and some of the other weight loss drugs. So lots in this episode to share with you. I'll tell you a little bit about Amy and we will get started. So Amy Wilson is a board certified geriatric pharmacist. So she knows nursing homes, a certified fit fitness professional, and a certified nutrition coach with over 30 years of experience whose mission is to empower and equip her clients to take charge of their health and find balance in their lives so that they can navigate through individual barriers and finally be successful in their efforts to lose weight and regain health. At midlife. She's gonna talk to you about optimizing the starting line instead of worrying about the finish line. What does that even mean? So please help me welcome Amy to the show.

Speaker 3 (03:46):

Thank you for having me. I'm I've, this is my favorite kind of a conversation to have.

Speaker 1 (03:50):

Yes, mine too. Anything that helps women, particularly women over 40, get the health that they're wanting and improve their lives is right up my alley. And I love the conversation we started having just before we hit record. When I said kind of what is your main differential that you offer women and share what you said. 'cause I think it's really powerful

Speaker 3 (04:15):

Main difference is that I am not skinny. I think chasing skinny is something that we need to stop. And I know that may sound crazy because we live in a society where we think that being skinny means happiness. Being skinny means being successful, but that's not the case. What I am hoping to help people, especially women over 40, is to realize that skinny is not the end all be all. What we need to be chasing is health. What we need to be chasing is strength and balance. I'm a board certified geriatric pharmacist. I work in nursing homes. That is my, I would say my main goal is to make sure that you don't end up in one of those. Where are you gonna be in 20, 30, 40 years if you're chasing skinny? More than likely, it's very possible you may end up in one of those because of a bone fracture, because of osteoporosis. But if you start looking at health and healing from the inside out and start looking at strength and balance, then the sky's the limit. And hopefully your future self is saying, thank you very much for putting me in this amazing position where I can still live my life independently.

Speaker 1 (05:24):

Amen to that. Yeah, I loved you, keeping you out of my nursing home. That's it. And really, you know, we don't spend our lives thinking about that. We're very mortality-phobic in the Western culture where we don't talk about death. We actually act like it's something that's not gonna happen to us. And we don't like to have end of life discussions and we don't like to have nursing home discussions. But a large majority of us are gonna end up there. And a lot of us are gonna end up there for exactly the reasons that you've said because we've lost bone mass, which means that we've most likely lost muscle mass. And if we're chasing skinny our whole lives, we're probably not helping our bones. We're probably not helping our muscle mass. It's notorious that we don't get adequate protein intake. And so we're actually buying a ticket to the nursing home and I don't wanna be there. I know most of you don't wanna be there. So I think it's time we have a real discussion and get honest and have a mortality discussion and really start talking about what we're talking about when we talk about health for women over 40. It's not only our longevity, but it's our vitality span. So how did you, as a geriatric pharmacist, Amy, become interested in this? What makes you so passionate about it?

Speaker 3 (06:46):

Well, it's kind of like my story starts when I was 16 years old and started yo-yo dieting and then went to pharmacy school and became a fitness instructor while I was going through pharmacy school. So I've been in the fitness and nutrition realm as well as the pharmacy realm for quite a while. But there was a huge disconnect because of wanting to be skinny, wanting to help clients lose X amount of weight, and then seeing them turn around and put it back on again. Or seeing them just feeling frustrated that their bodies weren't doing what they wanted to do. Or especially when you get 40, 45, 50, everything that you used to do stopped working. Well guess what? Same here. That happened to me. And you know, with hormones, things change. And what happened was, honestly, all the yo-yo dieting I did for years decreased in muscle mass, affected my metabolism, affected my hormones, and I had to do something that was different. And while I was starting researching and looking at different programs for me to try, I was also seeing this increase in younger patients coming into my nursing homes. And by younger I mean forties and fifties,

Speaker 1 (08:02):

Really

Speaker 3 (08:03):

That shouldn't be happening. It shouldn't be. And 10 years ago it was all eighties, nineties and one hundred. It's, it's, you know, the end of life. It's no longer live by yourself. Well now we're no longer can live by yourself In forties and fifties. We are getting lifestyle diseases of diabetes, hypertension, strokes, certain cancers that are caused by lifestyle. And that is scary and it's also preventable. And so I saw this as, you know, not only can I help perimenopause and menopausal women, but I have to also educate on what we're doing and what we're not doing when we eat ultra processed foods, what we're causing disease states. And then also having women understand that we have to stop chasing skinny and we need to start focusing on the health aspect. We need to start focusing on the strength aspect because that is gonna decrease our chronic inflammation that is gonna help our hormones, that is going to help us be independent for years down the line.

Speaker 3 (09:13):

And that's, I think that's what everybody wants. Nobody thinks about, oh, I'm gonna end up in a nursing home. Nobody thinks that I'm gonna be in assisted living. We all see ourselves going until our last breath. But we don't realize that a lot of things that we do, we set ourselves up for. You don't go to the doctor's office and it's like, oh by the way, you just got diabetes or you just got blood pressure, high blood pressure that has been coming for years. Your body's been telling you and sending you signs. We just choose to ignore it because we think we're busy or it has to do with stress or it's, you know, I have this going on so that's why I'm not sleeping. When we start listening to those signals that our body is sending us, we can start kind of dialing back what we need to do. And when I saw this big disconnect and when I saw the increase in my nursing homes, then putting two and two together with what was going on with me, it was kind of like this trifecta. I'm a fitness instructor, I'm a nutrition coach, I'm a pharmacist. Okay, let's put all these things together and help people move forward, help people learn how to balance, help people learn to get strength and to eat and quit starving so that their future self can thank them.

Speaker 1 (10:23):

Yes. And I'm just wondering, as you're working in these facilities and you're seeing younger women come in, what kind of the patterns that you were noticing that were different in their lifestyle, in their genetic background, in their history? Were you noticing particular patterns that you found that you could work with them on? Or was it kind of too late for them? Or what was the situation there?

Speaker 3 (10:53):

Fortunately, once you're in the nursing home, it is too late. It is just the way our healthcare system is. We are not a preventative healthcare system. But I'll look at their history and physical and I'll look at their discharge summary and I will look at what's been going on in their lives. And a lot of it is uncontrolled type two diabetes started as pre-diabetes to type two diabetes. A lot of it's being sedentary, not moving and doing, you know, they don't say in the history and physical what they've been eating, but you can kind of summarize by what's going on. It's been ultra processed food, it's been fast food, it's, they haven't been walking or working out. They've lived a sedentary lifestyle causing chronic inflammation. And then something happens where they can no longer take care of themselves. And now they're in a facility that is pretty much just taking care of you. It's not there to help you get better, get stronger to go back out in the community. Rehab will do that, but they can only do so much with the time that they're allowed. And a lot of it's not changing the behavior, it's not changing the food that they're eating or putting them on a certain exercise program. It's just to get them good enough so that they can go home.

Speaker 1 (12:10):

Right. And you know, isn't it interesting? Well, it's sad actually that in 2024 we don't have dietary history as part of the intake, even though we know the extreme impact that diet has on life. But like you say, people are going there to be taken care of, they're not going there to get better. So I love it you took that and you said, oh no, this can't be, we need to keep people out of the nursing home. What do we need to do? So, and I'm just curious, as a certified nutrition coach, what was your evolution? Did, were you a pharmacist first and then became a nutrition coach and then fitness trainer? What was the evolution for you of your path?

Speaker 3 (12:59):

So I started teaching when I was 17, teaching fitness classes. So back in the days of leg warmers, big hair, all that kind of high, low and high, low gene Fonda days. And I am a diagnosed exercise addict. I used to try to out-train a bad diet, but in the eighties we didn't know it was a bad diet. In the eighties everything was low fat, it was all replaced with sugar, which we didn't realize at that time was gonna set us up for our diabetes journey. And I didn't even think about it. I would just feel guilty for eating something. I would go work out and then I would also personal train and I would personal train and work out with my clients. I blew my back out and it wasn't a good thing. I blew it out. I had to have surgery.

Speaker 3 (13:43):

You think that would've taught my lesson, but it didn't. And I was right back after surgery doing everything I was doing before, because we really have come a long way in nutrition in the last five to 10 years. Back then it was still how much you work out, how little you eat. And that was the key to keeping your weight off. We now know that doesn't work. We now know there's, there's reasons why it doesn't work. So in my thirties, I was looking for different nutrition programs. 'cause As a pharmacist, as a fitness coach, people come up to you and ask all the time about diet, about nutrition, about supplements. So I have several certifications under my belt, but they were still calories and calories out. What you and how much you work out coming into my forties perimenopause hits and the inches are crazy.

Speaker 3 (14:36):

And I'm like, wait a minute, wait a minute. I'm teaching all the time. I'm working out. I'm not eating. I tried keto, I tried the latest and greatest because I am just like everybody who's listening to this podcast, I want a fix. I want it quick and I want it now. And I will try anything that looks like it might work. We're, none of us are immune to that. We all see it, we all see the shiny object. We're like, oh, maybe this will help me. And after trying all those and it would work for a hot minute and then not, it was watching a couple other friends who were instructors do a program that was called The Fast Weight of Fat Loss. And I'm like, you know what, I'm gonna try it. I threw a Hail Mary pass, tried it, didn't think it would work, it did.

Speaker 3 (15:18):

It was taking science, it was eating for what my body needed and which was a lot more than I thought. And was also really focusing on bloating that muscle. And then once I did that, it was amazing at what, how my body responded. I was pre-diabetic because thanks dad, that came through my genetics. But it was also pre-diabetes coming with the decrease in estrogen. My cholesterol was higher, my thyroid wasn't doing well. And then when I started eating and I started working out less lifting, all of those things started just to fall in place. A1C went down, my thyroid went back to normal, cholesterol was back. So it was kind of crazy. And I knew for me that if I was this way, there were a lot of other women that needed help, who were throwing their hands up in the air and saying, this is not fair.

Speaker 3 (16:14):

Why is this happening to me? And trying everything out there only to get frustrated. And when I switched in my head with health and strength and stopped chasing skinny, it was the light bulb. It was, okay, this is what we are meant to be. This is how we're supposed to be treating our bodies. Our bodies are one big chemical reaction and we need to be giving it the right fuel, the right chemicals in order for it to do its thing. Instead of relying on the latest, greatest shake or packets of food, we need to understand that it's science. There are reasons why we need to eat certain foods. There are reasons why ultra processed foods do not help us. And I think honestly, when I started putting two to two together and getting rid of that disconnect of what food does to your body and understanding what food can do, that was the aha moment. And I get that with all my clients now too. It's like when they get that aha moment and realize that, oh wait, there really is a correlation to what I put in my body and how I feel and how I'm sleeping and how much energy I have and losing inflammation. And when you get that, you don't wanna let go of it. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:29):

And you know, I think it's so important to talk about what food is. I think most people are trained to think about food in terms of calories. It's just caloric energy when it's so much more. It's information. There's the energy information that comes with food, there's the nutritional information that comes with food. And then when there is non-food stuff in food, there's the chemical information. And so there's so many aspects to food. There's the allergic component that maybe an IgE allergy or there may be a sensitivity and there is intolerance, particularly when it comes to dairy. So there's so many considerations for the food that you put into your body. I think most people really need to expand their understanding of what food is. It's just like education. When your kids go to school, they don't just learn one subject. It's not just one subject that they learn.

Speaker 1 (18:30):

There's so many. And so food is equally as complex. I think that this would be a great time, since you are mentioning weight loss, it is the beginning of a new year. A lot of people didn't meet their weight or health goals last year and now they're on the resolution and they're like, I know I hear you Amy, but I'm just gonna go get that medication that my friend took where she lost a ton of weight and then I'll deal with doing it. Right. Do you wanna talk a little bit about some of these medications like ozempic that are available that some people are getting amazing weight loss results with?

Speaker 3 (19:05):

If you haven't heard of these medications, they're called GLP one glucagon. Like Peptide one, Ozempic, wegovy, Monro. And there's several others that are gonna be coming out pretty soon. And first of all, if you're on them, and this is not to beat you up and say, oh my gosh, I can't believe you're doing this, this, I'm gonna give you the pros and cons and then if you're on them, what you need to also be doing in conjunction with those medications. The problem with those medications are some of the how it works or the side effects and how it works is that it slows down your GI tract. So it will slow down gastric emptying, which causes you to feel full. And I know every female is going, oh my god, it's about time. I want something that's gonna help me feel full. I want something that does that.

Speaker 3 (19:49):

Yes and no. If you feel like you're a bottomless pet, if you feel like all you do is crave sugar, I'm going to challenge you with the fact that you're probably not eating enough and you're probably not eating enough protein either. We can actually work with our own hormone, the GLP one by what we intake and food-wise. But what the medication does will slow down gastric emptying. It will also help with insulin and insulin sensitivity and insulin resistance. Those are great. But the side effects are that it can cause something called gastroparesis, which is a total shutdown of your GI tract. Unfortunately, it's not reversible. It's something that you'll have to live with for the rest of your life. And if you know anybody with gastroparesis, it is not a pretty disease state at all. And the other thing that it does, because you're not hungry, you are not eating, your body, like I said, is a chemical reaction.

Speaker 3 (20:45):

It needs fuel. If you are not giving your body fuel, your body's pretty smart number one goal is survival. And it's gonna take amino acids from your muscles. It's gonna take minerals from your bones. So what we're gonna be seeing probably in about, I wanna say three to five years of something I call old lady syndrome, we're gonna see those people who should not have it yet in a disease state of osteopenia, osteoporosis, sarcopenia, which is muscle wasting. We're gonna see all these later on age-related diseases because of not intaking the proper fuel. And that's scary. And it's all because of chasing skinny. So if you are looking at taking something, maybe you have a high A1C, which is diabetes, pre-diabetes, maybe your doctor says this is what we need to put you on. If that's the case, then please, please, please work with somebody to make sure that you're getting adequate protein to make sure that you are building muscle and that you are getting your vibes and minerals.

Speaker 3 (21:46):

Because the last thing we want is for your body to take away from your muscles and your bones. And that's what we really need to focus on with these medications. If we can do it without the medication, perfect. If you're gonna go on the medication, please be aware of the side effects because a lot of people go in and say, oh you know what, it won't happen to me. I'm not gonna be that person. You have to be prepared to be that person that it happens to. And then also understand that, you know what, maybe I can try one more thing before I go on this medication. One more thing, I never tried really eating. I've always starved. I never really tried weightlifting to get some muscle mass. Maybe if I just try this one more thing, that would be my ticket to where I wanna go health-wise and not have an injection that pretty much I will have to be on for the rest of my life.

Speaker 1 (22:37):

Yeah, I think those are all super important points. And I've honestly never seen a person who said they had tried, quote unquote tried everything to lose weight and said they couldn't lose weight. I've even had people say, I haven't been able to lose a pound in 20 years when they address the underlying causes, the hormone imbalance, the gut dysfunction, the toxicity, all the things that weren't able to lose the weight. And so I've, I, that's why I don't know much about these medications is because I don't use them. 'cause They're really, I don't find that they're necessary. And like you say, they have potentially short and long, long-term negative consequences and you really do have to be prepared to be that person who got that side effect from that drug. So I know that you take a much more holistic approach to, it sounds like that's not your first line either.

Speaker 3 (23:30):

To me it's almost, I would say the last line and you know, I had, I was talking to someone yesterday. Well what about people with diabetes? Absolutely there are purposes for medication. I would say I'm a pharmacist who prefers that you try something else before medication or that we try to get you off of medication. All medications have side effects. I don't care what medication, all supplements will have side effects too. So I'll get somebody I like, but it's natural. Yeah. So is Deion that is used for your heart. That's all natural too. It's a flower, it's a plant. And there's still side effects with that. And to understand that the one thing that doesn't really have side effects for most people, unless you have an allergic reaction, is nutrition and weightlifting. The side effects are positive, they're not negative. And so if we can kind of get back to realizing that Mother Earth has pretty much provided us everything that we need that we don't need pharmaceuticals, they're there.

Speaker 3 (24:26):

Pharmaceuticals are great for treatments but not necessarily cures most of the time. And you know, who wants to be someone in my nursing home who's taking 30 medications? Because when you start with one medication, you're gonna take another medication and then there's a side effect. So there's another medication. Nobody starts out wanting to take a pill for this. It just happens. And then there's another pill. So if we can stop that whole cascade in the first place and yeah. Does it take a little bit more work? Absolutely. I'm not telling everybody this is, this is rainbows and unicorns. It takes behavioral change. It takes work to learn how to eat for what your body needs. It takes work to learn how to prepare food again instead of going through a drive-through. But is it possible and is it the best and possibly the right thing to do? Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (25:16):

You know, I had this visual come to mind when you were talking about going on medications, but really the, the first medicine for the body is food and movement are the first two medicines. And it's kind of like, you know, we say, oh but there it's natural, but cyanides are natural and can kill you. Right. It's just natural. Doesn't mean it's good for you. I don't know why, but transportation popped into my mind. Airplanes. So taking a drug for everything is kind of like taking an airplane everywhere. You still need to know how to walk . Mm-Hmm . Yes And yes how to ride a bike. And it's like, just because we invented airplanes and, and air travel doesn't mean we throw out everything else. But really with our mainstream medical culture, that's what has happened. I mean, like you said on your intake at the nursing home, they don't even ask about diet when that is the foundation of health. So great. We talked about those medications. Now we've touched on muscle mass and bone mass. Let's talk a little bit about why those are so important. 'cause I know some people might have heard and gotten the memo about how important muscle mass maintenance and bone mass maintenance are for longevity and vitality span. But some people are not aware. So what would you tell them? The biggest,

Speaker 3 (26:36):

Or I would say used to be the biggest reason that somebody would go into a nursing home was a fall or a break. And that is directly correlated with muscle mass. It's directly correlated with bones. And we don't think about those kinds of things. And we think that sometimes when, oh, I'm in my fifties, I'm in my sixties, I'm in retirement and all I wanna do is just sit around, I'm going to challenge you. It's like, I don't think that's what we want. I think we wanna live, I think we wanna be active and to be active, we need our bones healthy, we need them strong. And to be active, we need muscle. We need muscle to be able to get out of a chair every day. We need muscles to pick up our dogs and our grandkids. We need muscle to be able to take the groceries inside.

Speaker 3 (27:24):

And hey, if we're gonna get on that plane, I want to be able to go over that overhead bin and put my luggage there. Everything that we do, everything that we do on a daily basis requires us to have a strong skeletal system and a strong muscular system. And if we let that go, everything else goes downhill. Everything does. We no longer can lift, we no longer can get out of a chair. We no longer can maybe lift our head up because we have osteoporosis and we have all these bone fractures in our cervical area. I don't think anybody wants that. That's not living. And if we can do the best by fueling our body, by strengthening our bones and strengthening our muscles, honestly that's the fountain of youth. Keeping your muscle mass. Keeping your bone mass is the fountain of youth. And I think that is, at least for me, that's the ticket that is not a pill, not the fountain of youth per se. Going and drinking the water, that's something that I can do on a daily basis is to help my bone strength and my muscle mass so that in the future I'm able to thrive. And I think most people want that. They just don't realize it unfortunately until it's too late. When we're in our forties, in our fifties, in our sixties, whatever age you are right now, it's not too late. And now is the time to start training for your future self.

Speaker 1 (28:50):

Yeah. And I think it's super important to realize that these changes and the downgrade of our musculoskeletal system happens so slowly and gradually over time that it's almost imperceptible. And you can write off these changes as being normal and think that you are not on that downward slope again, you're not the one who's gonna get the side effects from the medication. You are not the one that Amy and I are talking about. But this was a real reality check for me, , when I heard of the squat test and how you basically stand straight up and then you want to lower yourself into a cross-legged position without using your arms, y'all arms. And then from the squat leg position, you want to get back up off the floor into a standing position without using your arms. If you can't do that, descent has already begun. And that was a real wake up call when I heard somebody describe that. And every woman in the room kind of looked at her neighbor and said, I can't do that. You know, look at kids, they do it effortlessly. So what are some other signs that you would tell people to look for to know that they need to pay attention and they need to start paying attention now?

Speaker 3 (30:11):

Energy levels. How are you sleeping if you're not sleeping well, if your energies are constantly crashing and you need coffee to get you through the day. If you're constantly grabbing for the sugar because you're hungry or you just want to have that sugar craving. And what does that do? That shows that you're not fueling your body enough. That shows that you might have some hormonal imbalances that you need to get checked out. And the other thing is, you know, do you feel weak? Is it hard for you to park way out of the grocery store and walk in? Do you find the closest parking space? Or are you someone who just can't carry anything and you're like, oh, you know, it's just 'cause I'm tired and looking for those little things that are adding up now or that are kind of giving you a wake up call that, hey, I need to really listen to my body and start taking care of it and start training to get better. Yeah,

Speaker 1 (31:09):

Those are super important things to look at. And I know we're busy, we lead busy lives, we're doing a million things and we're like, oh, I just feel a little tired. And it happens so gradually that we don't even realize it. And so I say pay attention sooner rather than later. And do you wanna talk a little bit about protein intake and weight lifting and maintenance of muscle mass?

Speaker 3 (31:35):

Yeah, so the one thing that we are great at is not getting enough protein. We really, especially females, we are, we do not get enough protein. And as we age, we actually need more protein. And sometimes that's difficult. There are easier ways to find protein. You can go to the grocery store and there's, there can be like a chicken breast or get some Turkey bone broth. It's a great way to get protein. You don't have to rely on the shakes. And sometimes those bars are just like a candy bar. They're not, they're not good for you. You need protein and you need protein in order to keep your muscle and in order to build your muscle. And I think a lot of times I will get, especially some older women will be like, Ugh, but I don't wanna bulk up. I don't wanna look big.

Speaker 3 (32:24):

And I'm going to tell you you're not gonna happen. It's not gonna happen unless you have some pharmaceutical, pharmaceutical help that then, then possibly you might get bulky. But for most of us, that is not possible with lifting three days a week with increasing how much weight. And I'm not talking about your three to five pounds. That might be somewhere that you start out with three to five pound dumbbells. But if you start lifting 15, 20, 25 pound dumbbells, you will not get bulky. What will happen, especially if you're fueling your body, is that you will actually change your body shape to the way that you want it to be. It will be shapely, it will be, I hate saying thinner, but it's going to be more compact. So you're gonna lose inches because we are going to increase your muscle. And then if you're fueling yourself properly, you'll start burning fat. And that's, I think what most women want is that they have this idea of what they wanna look like and they think they have to do it by starving when it actually is the exact opposite. That if you start fueling your body with carbohydrates, with fat, with protein, and you do a simple workout routine for 30 minutes, not hours, that is gonna get you well on the path that you wanna go. Yes.

Speaker 1 (33:49):

So important. Eat more, exercise more, way less, feel better, be healthier. Do you wanna give any guidelines? What guidelines do you like to offer for people for their protein intake in terms of numbers or you know, palm of the hand size, how many times a day? What do you usually recommend? So

Speaker 3 (34:09):

Usually, you know, palm size is usually a serving size, so anywhere between 20 to 30 grams of protein per meal. So right around anywhere between 80 to 100 grams per day. And it just depends on who I'm coaching. And some of my clients, some of my clients take way more than that. But it also depends on their activity level. But that's just a good starting point. You'll see people that say, oh, you only need 30, 40 grams per day. Honestly 80 80 to 100 is where we need to be A midlife.

Speaker 1 (34:44):

Yes. I second that. Amen. . And then, you know, at the beginning of the year, people going back to the gym, it can be intimidating to go to some gyms and you see all these big muscle guys working out and it smells like a man's locker room . So what you suggest for a woman who really has no experience with weights, it's foreign to her, that whole gym scene is foreign. Maybe she hasn't stepped foot in a gym since grade school. What do you suggest? How does she get started? If

Speaker 3 (35:18):

The gym scene isn't for you, so let's invest in some bands. Let's invest in some dumbbells. You can do a program at home. I work out for the most part at home. My program has daily workouts that we use. I do it at home. I go to the gym once a week when I teach and I'm in and I'm out because I don't like the gym atmosphere anymore. It's changed since covid. And if you're like, okay, I just, I can't get the energy just to go to the gym, I don't wanna deal with traffic, I don't wanna deal with people, but can you get the energy to go stand up and go to maybe a different room and 30 minutes is all you have to do? And I, and someone says, but I haven't worked out, just try five minutes tomorrow, do six minutes the next day, seven minutes.

Speaker 3 (36:08):

You will be surprised how quickly you will get in shape. And what I always get is like, but I'm not in shape enough to work out. You gotta start somewhere. You have to start somewhere and be okay. Being a beginner, we are so worried about being perfectionists all the time. We gotta do this perfectly. We gotta do this perfectly. How about progress? How about a little bit better every single day? And I know it's the new year, I know when someone starts a program, it's like, I'm going to clean out my closet, I'm gonna clean out my pantries, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna get up at 4:30 AM. Do what you know you can do and then build upon that. Don't think you have to go all in 120%. Do what you can do today and build upon it tomorrow. And that will set you up for success.

Speaker 1 (36:58):

I noticed something in the materials you submitted before we did the interview. I'm wondering if you can explain what this means. I like what it says, but I'm not sure entirely what it means. Optimize the starting line instead of worrying about the finish line. What does that mean?

Speaker 3 (37:13):

That is one of my favorite books, James. Clear Atomic Habits. Mm-Hmm. . And he kind of says, all right, we look at the finish line, maybe it's the spring and you're going on vacation to a cruise and you're like, oh, I wanna buy this outfit and this outfit and this outfit and I need to be this weight by this time so I can wear this bathing suit or get back into this close. So we're looking at the finish line, we're not looking at what we need to do to get there. So if we can optimize the starting line, maybe it's getting our new pair of shoes and, 'cause we have, we, we don't have a decent pair of walking shoes. Maybe it's getting dumbbells so that we have something to lift. Maybe it's getting some resistance bands, it's getting everything you need to get to the finish line, but you gotta have a starting point first.

Speaker 1 (38:09):

I like that. Focus on what you can do now instead of, oh, I gotta get to this, this point. Because sometimes it can feel like climbing Mount Everest and, but I can go get some dumbbells. I can pull my sneakers out of the back of the closet. I can put out my workout clothes before I go to bed and set my alarm, you know, 10 minutes earlier so I can go in the living room and I don't know, I like sweating to the oldies, something like that. Yeah, yeah. Great. I love that. And you also have this other information that I like and I'm wondering if you can explain. So I was put here on this earth on purpose for a purpose. I love that. What does that mean to

Speaker 3 (38:53):

You? Yeah, we struggle sometimes. I think all of us struggle. We struggle. What's our calling? What do we need to do? Whether it's our job, whether it's our family, whether it's our career and we question everything. And that grounds me. I was put here on purpose for a purpose. And when sometimes I feel like maybe I'm not doing what I should be doing, maybe I'm not helping enough people. And I, one of my clients who's lost 130 pounds posted something yesterday and I was almost in tears. And those things ground me. It's like, you know what? That's my purpose. That's my calling. So I was put here on purpose for a purpose. And I think we all know our calling, we all know our purpose. Sometimes we don't think it's big enough or it's, we think it's just too small. But realize every single thing that you do that is your calling, that is your purpose, is huge and makes an impact.

Speaker 1 (39:43):

It's so true, Amy, and I think that sometimes our purpose is so integral to who we are, that we almost do it effortlessly and then we think it, our purpose has to be hard. Mm-Hmm . It has to be some hard journey or degree or something that we accomplish or somebody gives to us. But it's really a part of who we are. And really, I think one of the aspects of health that I love to help women see is their uniqueness. And so understanding their personality from all its aspects, whether it's learning about the Myers-Briggs and human design and their astrology and so on and so on. And really what makes them uniquely them so that they can be on purpose. And sometimes I find that like Bill, not Bill Gates , not Bill Gates, the Apple guy, , I see Jobs , he says, you know, the dots can only be connected going backwards.

Speaker 1 (40:47):

And I recently had an experience, you know, anyone who knows me knows I've been through many transformations in my life professionally and personally. And every time I'm kind of like, okay, what's happening now with this transition? I thought I was on purpose. And I had an experience just last week where I woke up to this even larger purpose . And it's like I had to wait 59 years to get that. I couldn't know it at nine, I couldn't know it at 1929. Right. So it's ever unfolding. And if you just keep following the dots or the breadcrumbs as they're laid out. And I do believe that if you're listening to this podcast, this is one of your breadcrumbs. You're here for a reason. You're hearing this for a reason. You're being called to pay attention to your longevity, your vitality. You're being called to pay attention to the fact that we're talking about staying out of a nursing home. or your attention is being awakened because this is a part of you fulfilling your purpose. 'cause You're not gonna fulfill your purpose if you're not healthy. Oh, right.

Speaker 3 (41:56):

So true. Oh yeah. Abs, I, I may have to use that. I love that. That is so true. So true.

Speaker 1 (42:02):

Yeah. And I love this other thing you said today I do what others won't. So tomorrow I can do what others can't. Talk a little bit about that.

Speaker 3 (42:12):

Well, I mean, let's look at my nursing homes. Yeah. We don't think about what can happen to us in the future, we don't think about what we should be doing now. We think when we get that diagnosis or something happens is I wish I could have, although I would've should've. Things come to mind. I'm choosing not to have those. So today I do what others won't. So tomorrow I will do what others can't. I suck it up. I sometimes say embrace the suck, suck it up, and I do my lifting workout on a day. I don't feel like it. I get my nutrition on a day where it's rough. I'm busy and there's meetings after meetings or a podcast or client calls. I make sure that I take care of myself first because I can't give to others if I am not taking care of myself.

Speaker 3 (43:04):

And I think as women, we tend to do the opposite. We give, give, give, give. And we think that's what we should be doing and not taking care of ourselves. I take care of myself first so that I can take care of everybody else so that I'm able to coach, be able to be a great, a pharmacist, a fitness instructor, and then in 20, 30 years when there's others my age who maybe can't stand, maybe are in a nursing home, planning on being in Costa Rica on a beach somewhere. So , I mean, I'm planning on being 80, 90 years old and power walking and enjoying life and not being in a chair watching it go by.

Speaker 1 (43:50):

Yeah. So I think that's a great call to everybody to pay attention. I think it's a great place to end. You have an amazing five day blueprint, five day fat loss blueprint. We're gonna have a link in the show notes. Do you wanna tell them a little bit about what they're gonna find there and also all the places they can then connect with you online? Sure.

Speaker 3 (44:09):

The best places I'll give you two. One is my website, amy k wilson.com. And then I'm known as the nutrition coach pharmacist on Instagram. So on my website, amy k wilson.com or Instagram, the nutrition coach pharmacist. So what I am giving you is a five day blueprint that has lots of recipes and also has two more recipes on there. One is my favorite chili recipe. So if you like chili and if you like Wendy's chili, the rumor is that this recipe was taken by Dave Thomas who made it the Wendy's chili recipe. However, this one is easy, this one is healthy and it can be made in the crockpot, Instapot, or stove. And I love things that are easy and nutritious at the same time. I will say on the five day blueprint, just look at it. Just think about maybe taking one day and multiplying those meals by two. So that way you have two days and then there's like 15 different recipes, I think. So that makes it how many days we multiply that too. That's a whole month worth of stuff. So I hope that helps people, maybe get you on the road, get you started. Because sometimes when you listen to these things you're like, well, how do I start? What are you talking about? How do I, what do I do? This will give you some ideas on how to get started.

Speaker 1 (45:26):

Yeah, I love that. And thank you for that. And I would just add, I love making multiple servings of one recipe and then freezing in single serve containers. So when you are busy, you can just grab it and defrost it and you've got a healthy meal and you don't have to go without. So amazing. And I wanna thank you so much for coming on the show, Amy. I have to say, you know, of all my colleagues in medicine, some of the most beleaguered colleagues are the ones who do work in nursing homes because it's kind of a rock and a hard place position there. It's too late for them to really transform anyone and bring them back to the health that they could have had. And so they kind of become despondent and hopeless, those colleagues. Mm-Hmm, . But you have taken that pain and you are out doing something about it, helping people to stay out of your nursing home. So I say, yay, you and thank you , thanks so much for joining me today.

Speaker 3 (46:25):

This was awesome. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (46:27):

And thank you all for joining me for another episode of The Hormone Prescription. I know you're inspired, I know you're gonna go download that blueprint. I know you're gonna make that chili and I wanna know how good it is. I love a good bowl of chili, so tell me about it on social media. Look forward to hearing about your results and look forward to hearing about all the insights that you had and how inspired you are for an amazing 2024 and beyond. Until next week when we'll have another episode, I'll see you then. Peace, love, and hormones, y'all.

Speaker 2 (47:04):

Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormones and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.

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Welcome to another episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast, where we explore the world of hormonal health and natural healing for midlife women. Today's guest is the incredibly knowledgeable Dr. Bradley Nelson, creator of The Emotion Code and The Body Code. He's here to teach us how to use these powerful healing systems to clear energy blocks affecting our hormones and embrace the healing process.

Speaker 1 (00:00):

Albert Einstein said, everything is energy and that is all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want, and you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not philosophy. This is physics. Stay tuned to find out how energy applies to your health and is an essential part of healing your emotions and your physical health and your hormones.

Speaker 2 (00:27):

So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us, keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself again. As an O-B-G-Y-N, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue. Now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:20):

Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of The Hormone Prescription. I'm Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me today as we dive in to talking with Dr. Bradley Nelson about the emotion code. I am so very honored to have Dr. Nelson on this show. I have been a fan of his for years. Read his book several years ago and know his work is profound and deep and really helps people achieve not only the emotional balance, but the hormonal balance and the physical vitality that they're seeking. It really is the missing link when it comes to health. And we're gonna talk about why in this episode, how these structures that monitor and maintain your hormones, your nervous system, your emotions, why they're so intertwined. And you may have noticed this in ways that might not be obvious to you, but we're gonna talk about some of them and we're gonna talk about why they're so intertwined.

Speaker 1 (02:22):

So if you're trying to aim for vitality, physical vitality and longevity, you're trying to aim for hormonal prosperity and longevity, and you want emotional balance, then this is the episode for you. 'cause Dr. Bradley Nelson has a very unique approach that was ahead of its time when it was introduced. We're gonna talk about this quote from Albert Einstein about why everything is energy. What does that mean for your health? Because I know you're not hearing that at your HMO doctor's office. You don't go for your checkup and they say, did you know that you are energy? But you need to know this. 'cause If you're not addressing it, you're not gonna be able to experience the health that's possible for you. We're gonna talk about why energy medicine is the last great frontier in medicine. And another quote from Nicola Tesla. That's amazing. So I'm gonna tell you a little bit about Dr. Bradley and then we will get started.

Speaker 1 (03:17):

He has a very extensive biography, but every bit is worth reading and talking about. So I'm gonna get into it then we'll have him on the show. So he is a veteran holistic physician, Dr. Chiropractic, Dr. Bradley Nelson. He's one of the world's foremost experts on natural methods of achieving wellness. An international trainer and speaker and author of the bestselling book, the Emotion Code. He has a new book, the Body Code, unlocking the Body's Ability to Heal Itself. You definitely wanna check that up. He was raised in Montana and grew up on the back of a horse. And as a child, he suffered two life-threatening illnesses, both of which were healed, not by traditional western medicine, no surprise there, but by separate alternative methods that tap the power of energy. And these experiences were to shape his life going forward In college, he studied computer programming and decided to pursue business as a career.

Speaker 1 (04:11):

But after entering the MBA program at Brigham Young, he had an epiphany. He had asked God for guidance about his future, and one night he woke up and his mind was overflowing with thoughts of service to mankind and to humanity. Maybe you have that too, and if you do, you need to pay attention to it. And the feelings were absolutely overwhelming. His head was filled with thoughts of healing and helping the world. A voice that was crystal clear spoke to him saying, this is a sacred calling. So he entered, dropped outta MBA, entered life Chiropractic College West in California, and graduated with honors. He began practicing as a holistic chiropractic physician and saw a wide variety of patients, many of whom had seemingly incurable conditions that he remembered learning about the computer that is the brain, the supercomputer, and how amazing it would be to access the data that's stored there, to unlock keys to help these people who had seemingly incurable conditions to heal.

Speaker 1 (05:10):

And he started doing extensive study and disciplines such as ancient medical practices, psychology and quantum physics, as well as the guidance of his own spiritual practice. And he discovered that packets of unprocessed emotion were the basis of most conditions. Have you ever felt like, well, that feeling is in me and I always feel that same feeling and it never seems to change or go away regardless of circumstances. If you haven't realized that most people do feel that they regurgitate the same feelings over and over, they don't realize it. So look back and think the body is essentially energy and emotion is energy as well. When the energy of a negative emotion is trapped in the body in a packet, it impacts the body's self-healing system. And these trapped emotions are almost like tumors and can obstruct healing at their worst. They actually create disease and physical problems.

Speaker 1 (06:02):

So he designed a process using this knowledge and has helped thousands of people, he is trained thousands in how to do these processes as well, to release their trapped emotions, to harness the intrinsic genius of his patient's subconscious minds, to identify the trapped emotion in the subconscious and use the laws of energy and electromagnetic fields and employ the governing meridian to release them. If you're not sure what that is, don't worry. Stay tuned. We're gonna talk about it. And it's pretty sophisticated and subtle knowledge, but he's made it so simple that even a child can do it. And the process is called the emotion code. You remove emotional energies that have clustered in the body around the heart, interfering with one's ability to find love, vitality, and healing success. And we're gonna dive into what the heart wall is, where these packets are, how do you know if you have them, what do you do about it? And we're just gonna go all over the place with Dr. Brad because he is a wealth of knowledge. He's also gonna touch on his new book, the Body Code, and all the training that he has. He has a free gift for you that's gonna help elucidate some of this. So without further ado, please help me welcome Dr. Bradley Nelson to the show.

Speaker 3 (07:18):

Thank you for having me on Kier, and I really appreciate it. It's great to be here.

Speaker 1 (07:22):

I came across your work a few years ago and the book The Emotion Code, and it really has transformed my way of thinking about health and emotions and so many things. I think it's revolutionary and really can help so many women of every age, but particularly at midlife and beyond. That's really my focus. And I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit about, 'cause this concept of emotions being trapped, emotions are kind of a mystery to a lot of women. . They don't realize that their hormones and nervous system are intricately involved with their emotional state and regulation, or lack thereof. So I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit about your journey to discovering what you discovered that you present in the emotion code. And there's so many things I wanna ask you, and that's a jam packed question, but start wherever you would like.

Speaker 3 (08:22):

Okay, absolutely. Well, I practiced as a holistic physician for about 18 years, and I was really obsessed with getting to the underlying causes of my patient's problems. And I was seeing all kinds of patients of all ages and with all kinds of physical and mental and emotional issues. And I was studying things, ancient methods of healing and modern methods. And I was doing everything I could to learn everything I could about how to fix my patients. And, I was also prayerful. Before I'd work on a patient, I would, I would actually pray silently. You know, it was just a momentary pause. Really. Nobody ever knew that I was asking for help from up above for people. That's, but that was really interesting because over those 18 years, there were a number of occasions where information would suddenly just flood into me about what to do and how to help someone.

Speaker 3 (09:14):

And what I learned was that all of my patients, no matter how young or old they were, no matter what they were suffering from, no matter what their symptoms were, they all had one thing in common. And that was, they were all suffering from the effects of their emotional baggage. And let me explain how that works. 'cause It, it's, it's kind of a strange thing. We're not used to thinking about emotional baggage. I mean, we use that phrase, right, Kieran, we, we might say, well, you know, a gal, she's got a lot of emotional baggage and that guy's got a lot of emotional baggage. Well, we all have emotional baggage. But what we're now finally beginning to understand in the 21st century is what our emotional baggage is, number one. And number two, what that emotional baggage is actually doing to us. So let me explain.

Speaker 3 (10:03):

First of all, you have to understand that these bodies of ours, even though they seem solid and three dimensional, the reality of it is if you talk to a physicist, especially someone who is working with quantum physics, they will tell you, well, the body really is an energy field. I mean, if you, if you zoom in, for example, on your hand and you zoom in, magnify your hand with a big microscope, and you go past the level of the cells and pass the organelles and pass the molecules until you're eventually looking at a single individual atom, the molecules are made of atoms. We're made of atoms, right? But if you were to look at that atom and look inside that atom, you'd see there's really nothing there. It's just empty space. It's just energy. And you'd see that the next atom is a long distance away.

Speaker 3 (10:49):

And so really, these bodies of ours are made of atoms which are made really of nothing but pure energy. It's hard for us to wrap our minds around that, but that is the truth of our existence. And in fact, as strange as it is, it gets even stranger, some quantum physicists recently, I think, to make a point, to try to help the rest of us understand the true nature of our reality. They said that if you could remove all the empty space from everyone's body on earth, you could fit all 7.8 billion people in the world into a box the size of a sugar cube. Right? It's kind of mind blowing. But that's really the reality of who we are. And so, even though our bodies seem solid, they really are energy fields. Our body, you know, your body is, is a very complex energy field.

Speaker 3 (11:33):

But when you're feeling an emotion, what's going on is that every emotion has its own specific frequency and it's own vibration. And so if you're feeling an emotion of anger, that's a different frequency than sadness and so on. And if you're feeling that emotion and that emotion is very powerful, that energy, that vibration may become trapped in the body. There are two situations where this typically occurs. If the emotion's very powerful or if we make it very powerful, we choose to become really upset, which of course we've all done. Or if an emotion coming up for you and you decide you're gonna not allow that, and you just stuff that emotion and you bury it so that you can move on with your life, then that's unexpressed. And so we end up with these emotional energies trapped in our bodies. The first time that I saw this actually was a woman that thought she was having a heart attack, and she I'd seen her before, but it had been a few months.

Speaker 3 (12:27):

And one day she comes in, she's got numbness on the left side of her face, her left arm's totally numb. She's got crushing chest pain, difficulty breathing. I told my staff, look, we might need an ambulance. We were right next to a medical center, so I knew we could get one really quickly. So I brought her into a room and I started doing some testing. Now with the emotion code, what we do is we ask questions and we get answers from the body by using muscle testing. And so, so if you can imagine, I have her holding her arm out parallel to the floor, and I'm asking questions. And her subconscious mind is responding with strength for yes. Or weak for No, that makes sense.

Speaker 1 (13:06):

Yes. Mm-Hmm, . Okay, but applied kinesiology style.

Speaker 3 (13:10):

Yeah, yeah. Kinesthetic, yeah. Whatever you wanna call it. Anyway, so I'm asking questions, well, do you have a trapped emotion that's contributing to your symptoms? And the answer was yes. And then we have a chart of emotions in the emotion code that looks like this. And there are, that's legible or visible. There's 60 emotions on here. Yes. And,

Speaker 1 (13:28):

And actually Dr. Brad has a link we'll give you at the end of the show where you can go and view this and actually download it. So go ahead, .

Speaker 3 (13:36):

Yeah. So anyway, so I asked, do you have a trapped emotion that's contributing to these symptoms? And the answer was, yes, very strong. And so I found very quickly the answer was the emotion was grief, and then we needed to know a little more. And so I tested a little more and found out that this had actually occurred. This emotional energy became trapped in her body three years before. And all of a sudden she breaks down crying. And she said, I can't believe that's affecting me. She said, I thought I dealt with all that. And I said, well, what happened to you? She said that three years before her husband had an affair and or was having an affair. And she found out about it and then confronted him with the evidence and the marriage blew up. And she was so betrayed. She was really in love with him, thought she was gonna be with him forever, right?

Speaker 3 (14:22):

And that was the end of that. And so they ended up getting a divorce, and then she spent a year in therapy dealing with it, and had even recently gotten remarried. So as far as she was concerned, that was just her ex and he betrayed her. And that was, she was trying to put it behind her. But as far as her body was concerned, that betrayal, that grief that was so powerful three years before was still there, still right there. And in fact, when I released that energy, and it just takes a few seconds, we just swipe down the middle of the back with a magnet or your hand, the feeling came back into her face and into her arm within about three seconds. And all of a sudden, the crushing chest pain, difficulty breathing, it was all just gone. And she left the office about 10 minutes later after joking with me and my staff.

Speaker 3 (15:09):

And then I remember sitting at my desk after she left, thinking, what in the world? What did I just witness? How is that possible? Now you think about your own life, right? You think about the things that you have been through, because we have all been through things. We've all been through things we'd rather not have gone through. You know, we've been through deaths in the family, we've been through breakups. A lot of us have been through divorces. We've had problems with our kids and injuries and accidents and all kinds of things. And so the emotions that we experience, sometimes those can stay with us. And what I found in practice that's just so unbelievable is that our emotional baggage is 90% of the time the reason for physical pain. It's the reason why people gain weight and can't lose it. It's one of the reasons, it's a reason behind every disease process that we've seen now in 35 years.

Speaker 3 (16:04):

Think about that. So if you've been diagnosed with a disease, I can guarantee you there is an emotional component to that disease process, and you can do everything else, right? But if you miss that component, then you might not get over the disease, because that's a piece of that puzzle. And of course, western medicine is still a number of years away from recognizing this. But, this is the reality. And so getting rid of that emotional baggage is one of the most amazing, one of the best things you can actually do for yourself, for your physical health, for your mental health and your emotional health.

Speaker 1 (16:42):

Yes. It's astounding to me. And so when you say the energy, the emotional baggage, it's almost like the emotions are energy in motion, and these, if these emotions aren't allowed to go through the cycle, that they go through and dissipate and be metabolized, that they stay there, almost like I envision these little packets, kind of quantum packets of energy that are sealed off from the rest of the system. Is that how you would explain it?

Speaker 3 (17:13):

Yeah, that's actually a really great way to explain it. I mean, there's an emotional process. I call it the emotional loop that we go through. When an emotion starts to be felt, if you think about what happens, first of all, some kind of stimulus occurs. Someone says something to you, or you see something, or you think something or hear something, an emotion starts to automatically come up for you. And most of the time we allow that emotion to come up and we, you know, maybe think the thoughts that go along with that emotion or feel the physical sensations with that. And then most of the time we allow that energy to kind of dissipate and go away. And so that emotional loop opens and we feel the emotion and we allow it to dissipate. And the loop closes on that experience, and that experience is over and ready for the next one.

Speaker 3 (17:58):

And we do this all the time, every day, right? But again, if that emotion is coming up and we decide, no, I'm not gonna go there, that's a bad emotion. I don't have time, whatever. And we stuff that emotion, then that energy that's been trying to express is suspended in the body in some way. And we don't really understand how this works. But the other, the other circumstances, if an emotion comes up and it's just so intense or so overpowering, you know, your parents die unexpectedly or suddenly, your husband asks you for a divorce or a child is hurt in a terrible accident or, you know, whatever. Sometimes the emotion is just so powerful, we can't really deal with it. And that energy becomes trapped in the body in that way too. Or sometimes an emotion comes up and we decide that we're going to empower that emotion and really go over the top by getting really upset.

Speaker 3 (18:49):

We've all done that too. And that can also amplify that energy. So that normal process, almost like breathing in the emotional feeling and then breathing it out, that gets stuck. And so the loop then stays open. And so we have an open loop for that emotional experience. And so the emotion code is just a way to find these open loops and close them. And, but it's, it's unbelievable. It's really unbelievable how powerful this is. And that's what's driving the success of this all over the world. You know, for example they just sent me this book in Vietnamese. I just got nice, this is, you know, this is Mandarin. I've got on the wall behind me. I've got all kinds of books from all over the world. We were just in Japan. This is a book in Japanese, you know, but it's going all over the world. And the reason why is because it's a very, very simple, easy method that anyone can use. So we certify people in this method. We've got people all over the world. We've certified over 12,000 people in the emotion code in 80 countries or so. But you can actually do this yourself as well. And so you can begin to heal your own emotional baggage. And, you know, if you think that you don't have emotional baggage, then I regret to inform you that you do,

Speaker 1 (20:02):

Right? That would be a question I would ask you, because some people listening are gonna think, I don't have that. And you know, in my experience, , the more education and training I've had in this field, and the more I've gotten my own energetic training and my own energetic path of healing, the more I realize that we really are emotion-phobic as a society. And I would say emotionally constipated. We don't know what to do with our emotions. We suppress them, we deny them, we , we do anything but honor them and feel them. So the average person listening right now is thinking, oh, that's not me. I don't have that. So what would you say to her?

Speaker 3 (20:45):

Well, you know, I have met people in my life that have had a lot less trapped emotions. And those are the kind of people that are really unflappable, that are able to kind of maintain an even keel no matter what's going on in their lives. Even those people, and they're kind of rare, really especially in this culture in the US I think they're, they're prone to, to develop less trapped emotions. But, you know, even those people have emotional baggage. The average adult in our experience has probably around 300 separate emotional energies that have become trapped in their bodies. And so it's a process of learning how to release these. And then you can have someone help you to get rid of your emotional baggage, or you can do it yourself. It's easy enough that kids are doing it. In fact, let me share a story with you.

Speaker 3 (21:37):

Sure. We were, we were at an event sometime back and a woman told us this story. She said that she started reading the emotion code book, and she had the book on audio and started listening to it and reading it. And her son started reading it and listening to it. And he started practicing with his friends, and she thought she thought it was cute. And a couple days go by, or sorry, a couple weeks go by, and one day the phone rings, she answers the phone, and it's a woman calling her who identifies herself as the mother of one of her son's friends. And she said, listen, my son has had a severe phobia of water all of his life, and you know, you can have a phobia to anything. And she said, she said, it's really been very disruptive to our life and to his life, and we've tried everything.

Speaker 3 (22:18):

We've taken him to everybody we could think of for years, and nothing's ever touched this. She said, right now I'm at the community pool. And she said, my son is out playing in the water, the other boys, for the first time in his life, she said, your son did this. How is this even possible? What in the world is he doing? Well, those two boys are only 11 years old. That's how easy this can be. And yet how incredibly life-changing it can be because you see, our behaviors are largely governed by the emotional baggage that we've picked up during our life. Who knows what happened to him. Maybe he was stuck in the womb a little too long, you know, or maybe he had an experience where he thought he was gonna drown when he was a baby. And so I don't know what the emotion was, but you can develop trapped emotions in the womb as a baby.

Speaker 3 (23:04):

It's even possible. In fact, this is something that's not unusual at all. It's even possible for us to inherit emotional energy at conception from mom or dad that they might have gotten a conception from their mom or dad. And these can go back for many generations. And so it's so interesting because, you know, the reason right now that you might be having trouble finding love or maybe the reason why you're having a hard time making money, it might be because, you know, maybe your great-great-great grandfather was thrown into a poor house. Or maybe, maybe your ninth grade grandmother was jilted at the altar, and that energy's been passing down your line and it's in you now. It's really wild, but it's easy to find even these kinds of things and release them. So yeah, this work is so fun, and it's changing lives all over the world.

Speaker 1 (23:51):

It is. It's fascinating. And you know, as you're talking, and I'm realizing some people are thinking, well, this is a little woo woo for me, Kieran, and I'm, what I'm gonna say is, woo woo is the new must do. Science is validating and has validated all of these things that Dr. Bradley's talking about. So if you're not, if you didn't get the memo, you need to get on board the train because this is what's keeping you from the physical health that you want, the life that you want. It's what's keeping you from everything that you want. I'm wondering if you can talk maybe a little bit about the scientific research that has confirmed many of the connections between emotions and health, if you wanna touch on that. Sure.

Speaker 3 (24:35):

Well, let's first of all talk about inherited trapped emotions. Since we were just talking about that. One of the very first studies that started to shed some light on this, and that blew a lot of people's minds, was a study that was done, I think it was about 15 years ago, where they were studying mice. And what they would do is they would, they would subject mice to an electrical shock. And at the, and which sounds terrible, but it, I don't think it was too bad. But at the same time that they were giving them this electrical shock, they would blow the smell, the scent of cherry blossom into their cages. And so after doing that, a few times, the mice became conditioned to the smell of cherry blossom. And so then all they had to do, of course, was just blow that smell into their cage, and they'd have a fear reaction, right?

Speaker 3 (25:22):

Well, they found that the offspring of these mice had that same kind of fear reaction. So even though mice, several generations down the line, had never smelled cherry blossoms in their entire lives, when they would give them that scent to smell, they'd have a fear reaction. And they were trying to figure out, well, how in the world is this happening? How are these mice teaching their offspring to be aware and to be scared of cherry blossom scent? So what they did is they took sperm from these mice that had been sensitized. They took that sperm across the campus, an impregnated female mice that had never been shocked, and that had never smelled cherry blossom. And they found that the offspring of those female mice were also sensitized. And so scientists are trying to figure this out still to this day. I mean, they're looking at the DNA into the microscope and trying to figure out how in the world this is happening?

Speaker 3 (26:18):

But we know how it's happening. It's because of these energies. It's a quantum phenomenon. You see, it's trapped emotional energy. And so there have been books written about, for example, the offspring of the, the grandchildren, for example, of Holocaust survivors. And they find that their DNA is a little different and that they're more susceptible to disease and so on. They're very different from the normal population. And the only possible explanation is what the grandparents went through in the Holocaust and how they survived that. So anyway, there are lots of studies that have been done, an amazing study that was done on childhood trauma that found that if you experienced trauma as a child, if you were bullied or abused in some way, then the odds of you suffering from some major disease years down the road is greatly enhanced. And so there's lots and lots of studies that have been done.

Speaker 3 (27:10):

We did our own study actually with post-traumatic stress and depression, and found that within about three weeks using the emotion code, the people that were in our study reported improvement in their symptoms of about 36 to 37% within about three weeks. So if you're dealing with depression or PTSD, what we're finding is that emotional baggage is the underlying cause of these things. Depression, anxiety, phobias, panic attacks, PTSD, eating disorders, self-sabotage of all kinds. And of course, if we bring that back around to hormones, you might think that, well, hormones are a completely separate thing. But lemme tell you, emotional baggage is massively important in the regulation of your hormones and the production of your hormones. When you have emotional baggage, what it can do is it can really dramatically interfere with the production and the normal flow of a whole hormonal system.

Speaker 3 (28:13):

One of the things that I used to do when I was in practice, and since then too, although I don't practice anymore, because we, we mainly just teach people around the world, but I've worked a lot with women who could not conceive. And of course, you think about how important hormones are to conception and carrying a child. Well, the last, the last three women that I worked with over the last few years all ended up having triplets , which I wasn't sure. I, you know, I wasn't sure if I should apologize or what, but , you know, . But yeah. But if you think about it, if you think about this, the, the hormone system in, in the female body, if you think about reproduction, what I used to tell my female patients is that the male re reproductive system is kind of like a tractor and somebody's wired the, the throttle open, and it's, there's no one on it.

Speaker 3 (29:04):

It's just chugging its way, you know, along the female reproductive system on the other hand is like a Formula One race car, and it's got all these different moving parts and components. And if everything is working well, then it can go 200 miles an hour and you can conceive and you can have a child and so on. But, but if there's anything that's not quite right, then things aren't gonna work. And so I've seen cases where I'm convinced one single trapped emotion was enough to stop the whole process. In fact, it's so interesting. We had a young woman who came to us a number of years ago who was suffering from Vaginismus. She'd been married about six months, and she told us that she'd been sexually abused as a child, but she was suffering from Vaginismus. So she and her husband had not been able to consummate their marriage. They had not been able to have sex, because of course, vaginismus is where the, the vaginal opening just tightens down, nothing's getting in there. And so we worked on her, released some trapped emotions, and her mother called us a couple of days later. She said, listen, she said, I just want you to know whatever you did worked, because she said everything's working, said her husband's coming home from, you know, he's coming home and spending lunch at, at home. Now they're trying to catch up.

Speaker 1 (30:17):

Oh, that's great. Yes, most women probably aren't aware. And I do just wanna tie that in a little more to what Dr. Bradley's saying is that your emotions are regulated primarily in your midbrain and the amygdala and your nervous system and your hormones are also regulated from the same area. So these brain structures that regulate emotions, your nervous system and your hormones are very interrelated and tightly controlled in that area. And imbalance in one is going to affect the other, particularly when it comes to negative emotions. It will affect your cortisol primarily. And then, you know, I call cortisol queen cortisol, she will be served by any means necessary, and she's gonna take down your female hormones, your estrogen, your progesterone, your male hormone, testosterone, and really dysregulate the whole system in order for survival, which depends on cortisol. So I just wanted to give you all a little bit of a concrete reference point as to how important this is.

Speaker 1 (31:27):

And, and again, to anyone who's saying, oh, this is woo woo, I love this quote you shared from Albert Einstein that I wanna share with everyone. Everything is energy, and that is all there is to it match the frequency of the reality you want. And you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not philosophy, this is physics. Albert Einstein said it a long time ago, , and now we're just starting to, to really understand what many ancient cultures have known for eons that, like Dr. Mayman, Oz says, energy medicine is the last great frontier in medicine, right?

Speaker 3 (32:10):

Yes. In fact, Einstein himself said, the medicine of the future will be the medicine of frequencies because he understood what our bodies really are. And it's so fascinating. In fact, Nicola Tesla, again, you know, one of the most brilliant people that ever lived said, if you wanna understand the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration. And so it's such an exciting time, really, Kieran, because we're really just now beginning to understand and put into practical use these ideas. And it's what I've been spending my whole career on, trying to understand this and trying to figure out how our bodies actually work. And so that's that's why I wrote the emotion code book, was because I saw what was happening with my own patients and what a, what a dramatic difference this was making for people in terms of their ability to get over disease processes and to be able to feel more love and to be able to have a happier life and get rid of all of these mental and emotional, physical issues. It's really unbelievable. I mean, 80% of the physical and, and mental emotional issues that we have are really because of our emotional baggage, the things we've gone through, or mm-hmm. in many cases, the things our grandparents went through, or great-great-grandparents or whatever. So, the beauty of this is that it's simple and anybody can use it, and it's something that, again, even kids you know, can use. And, and so fun stuff. And

Speaker 1 (33:42):

How would somebody go about starting to address this? They hear what you're saying, they get it, they probably even know they have some emotional baggage. They've got some health issues, they're convinced. And how do they go about starting to work with this?

Speaker 3 (33:59):

We have a free gift for Mm-Hmm, , all of you. And that is, you can go to our [email protected]. And if you go to emotion code gift.com, I'll go there really quick. Emotion code GIF t.com. And what we have there is something that we call the emotion code starter kit. So what you get is you get the first two chapters of the Emotion code book, and this is all free. You get the chart, and you also get a video series, it's called Intro to Energy Healing. We created this so that people can kind of get their feet wet and it doesn't cost anything. You can read the first couple of chapters of the book and see if you wanna read the rest of it. Of course, the book's available on Amazon and Audible and everywhere books are sold, you know, Barnes and Noble and so on. This will kind of give you more information about how this really works, and you'll learn how you can start to release this emotional baggage that you have. We all have it.

Speaker 1 (34:54):

So I'm curious if you've looked at any plant medicine psychedelics. I think they just submitted approval to the FDA for MDMA, for the indication, PTSD assisted psychotherapy, and there's a lot of research on psilocybin, and there's a big upswing in the use of plant medicines to help people heal emotionally. And one thing that I've always thought since reading your book was, but what about that you actually need to, emotions are a certain type of intelligence, and they have messages that need to be felt and honored. They, they're kind of gifts that give us information. And if you're using other techniques to change the energy of them, have they served their purpose? And are you doing some type of bypass, is my question. So I guess it's a two part question. One, if you're using energy techniques to clear these, are you bypassing their original intent? And is that wholly sufficient to heal them? And then my other question would be around kind of comparing and contrasting the use of these technologies that you've developed with psychedelics. Two part question.

Speaker 3 (36:07):

Okay. Well, first of all, first of all, yeah, you're absolutely right. When we experience an emotion, that emotion is coming up as a response to some kind of stimuli. And the emotion that we're feeling is the result of not only what's going on in that moment, but what's gone on in the past. And also the energy whatever emotional energy is trapped in the body, because remember, every emotion has its own particular frequency and its own particular vibration. And so if you're feeling an emotion of anger, that's a specific frequency different from grief and so on. So when that emotion is coming up for you, that is partly because of other energies that are trapped in the body. And one of the things that we find is that when you remove these trapped emotions, what happens is you're not as likely to experience that emotion anymore, or that feeling.

Speaker 3 (36:56):

To give you an example, I remember I had a patient that came in one day, we were working with her and found that she had a trapped emotion of resentment, and we traced it back to when she was 18 years old. And she said, oh, yeah, I know exactly what that's about. And she said, when I was in high school, I always resented this cheerleader. And she said, it's been 20 years now or so since I got outta high school. But she said, I don't, and she said, I don't even remember why I resented her, but she said, even now if I think about that girl, I can feel the resentment kind of swell up inside of me. And she said, I've always resented her, and I, I I still do. And so we released the trapped emotion of resentment from her, and a couple days later she came back in and she said, you know, last night I was with a friend and that girl's name came up.

Speaker 3 (37:41):

And for the first time, I didn't feel anything. I didn't feel that resentment. So if you think about it, what we're doing with the emotion code is we are, we're removing the emotional energies. And it's all really, in my opinion, it's really all about our learning. Because you see, most of us, most people believe that they're at the mercy of their emotions. That's, that there's really not anything they can do. The emotions that they experience are carrying them from one place to another. And, and they're, they're kind of a victim of that. But I think that what we are, what we're part of what we're here to learn is that we have control and we can choose our emotions for the most part, most of the time we can choose higher emotions. We can choose curiosity instead of anger. We can choose, you know, like for example, my wife and I have raised seven kids, and we would, that's one thing we would do when a child would do some stupid thing.

Speaker 3 (38:40):

We would look at each other and say, well, okay, I'm curious, how long do you think this child is gonna keep doing this kind of thing? Well, I don't know, honey, I'm curious too. What do you think? So we can choose higher emotions, and I think that that's a big reason why we're here, is to, to learn ultimately, really to choose unconditional love and total acceptance for people instead of these lower energies, these lower vibrations. So that's part of it. I think that as far as, so in other words, it's all for our learning. I think when we find emotional energy that's become trapped in the body, that's essentially like an open loop from abuse or divorce or whatever it might be. Ultimately, what does it do? Well, it's a burden that we have that we're carrying that's interfering with the pure expression, that is that energy field. That is what we are. So as we release those, that pure essence of who we are becomes more able to express. And we haven't actually even talked about the heart wall, but that's a whole nother thing.

Speaker 1 (39:45):

Let's talk about that

Speaker 3 (39:46):

. Okay.

Speaker 1 (39:47):

Do we have, can we talk about it in like eight minutes?

Speaker 3 (39:51):

I think we can, yeah. So yeah,

Speaker 1 (39:53):

That would be great.

Speaker 3 (39:53):

Okay. So when doctors first started doing heart transplants, it didn't take long before they noticed. People would come back in and they would report strange things like their taste in music or food or sports had totally changed, or they would've memories of being in places that they never in their life had ever visited. And there are books written about this. And in every case where these families were connected with the donor, or sorry, with the when these transplant recipients were connected with the, the families or the relatives of the heart donor, they would find out that, well, yes, our son's a baseball player, and now you'll love baseball. Maybe that's why, or, yeah, our daughter visited Rome every year. It was her favorite city in the world. Now you have memories of being in Rome, but you say you've never ever visited Rome.

Speaker 3 (40:31):

So the heart has something called cellular memory. The heart is the second brain we believe now of the ancients . The heart was the seed of the soul and the source of love and creativity and romance. And we've always kind of just thought that those ideas were just poetic license. But now we're beginning to realize that there's actually truth there. And in fact, they now know that there is something called the little brain in the heart that's, there's gray matter and white matter there. And the messages that are going between the brain and the heart are predominantly from the heart to the brain. And so we think now that the brain in your head is obeying the messages that are being sent by the brain in your heart, well, here's what happens when you feel like your heart is going to break. We've all felt that at one point or another, when that's going on and you're feeling that pressure on your chest, you're really deeply suffering.

Speaker 3 (41:18):

Someone's really hurting you, you're deep in grief or whatever it is, your heart's under assault at that point. And so the subconscious mind will gather emotional energies around the heart to protect the heart and those energies form into something that we call a heart wall. And a heart wall is an energy field that is surrounding the heart. And I never in my wildest dreams would've ever imagined this, but this is a real thing. And 93% of people have put up this wall. Now, when you have a heart wall, what happens is it makes it much more difficult for you to truly connect on a heart to heart level with other people. It makes it more difficult for you to find love, to stay in love. It makes it more difficult for you to manifest that perfect blueprint for your life that I believe lies within that heart of yours.

Speaker 3 (42:07):

'Cause I think the heart is really the seed of the subconscious. And what we find is that when that wall is taken down, people fall in love who never thought they would, people have creative ideas that start to flow spontaneously to them. All kinds of amazing things happen. And that's, that really truly is one of the big driving forces behind the success of this book all over the world, is that when people get those emotional energies removed from around their heart, all of a sudden they may feel peace for the first time in their life. They may be able to feel, I mean, these are things from people, from people who have told us these things that mm-hmm, for the first time. Sometimes they're able to feel experience, they're able to experience things like joy or love. It's the most important part of the emotion code. And, and in fact, it is a major, major cause. I will believe the single biggest underlying cause of depression, the worst cases of depression that I've seen in my career. People who were, who had to decide every day if they were gonna take their life and or live one more day by removing that wall around their heart. I've seen those people turn around it literally in a matter of days, completely. Really.

Speaker 1 (43:13):

So how might someone suspect that they have a heart wall?

Speaker 3 (43:17):

Well, if you can think back to a time in your life when you felt like your heart was going to break, if you bend through some heartbreaking things, like I said, 93% of people in our experience have put up a wall like this. Mm-Hmm, . And I mean, I've seen people who were celibate, who had sworn off ever having a relationship. I've seen them within a matter of weeks, find the right person and, and fall in love. I mean, it's unbelievable, really. But it's true.

Speaker 1 (43:46):

Yeah, I remember reading about it in the book and it makes sense to me. I do feel I've been having experiences lately. I share very openly about my experiences on the show. And I, but I haven't shared this, I haven't talked about it, but I've been having this kundalini experience, and that really starts at the base of the spine and then starts reaching up and going through the heart. And the rush of opening that I've experienced during some of these in the heart area is a different experience of the heart energy that I've ever had. And I imagine what you're talking about is kind of like that. It's this opening and freeing of, I see the heart kind of as a rose, and that the energy can flow more freely. And like you're saying, that there's gray matter and white matter in there, and it really is the brain. I know. We think this lob of fat that we carry around on our in our heads is the king and queen of everything. But I don't think that's the case. I agree with you. It's probably more visceral and in our chest, like in our heart.

Speaker 3 (44:56):

Yeah. I believe that we really are designed to be heart-based beings. We're designed, I think, to live from our hearts. But somewhere along the line that we've gotten to this point where most people are living from their brain. They're trying to create their perfect life by using this analog computer. But the software for us, really, our pure essence lies within our hearts. And it's so fascinating because when that wall is taken down, the things that we see happening, there's lots of, I mean, we've got 10,000 plus maybe 20,000 testimonials now from people around the world about this kind of thing. And you can see some of those on our [email protected]. But it's the most amazing thing. And by the way, I didn't mention this, but one of the most beautiful things about the emotion code is that if you learn how to use it for people, you automatically know how to use it for animals as well. And it's phenomenally powerful for animals. You've got an animal that's got a physical or a behavioral issue, you can probably fix that in short order with the emotion code. I mean, it's, there's a whole chapter in both the emotion code book and the body code book about animals. And it's a great proof of this work because there's no placebo effect with animals. They're just animals. And yet we see that they have emotional baggage. And getting rid of that baggage can make an enormous difference for them too, if

Speaker 1 (46:14):

Have pets. Yes, there are so many applications, pets, you can treat your family. And I love that in the book. You really, you really can do this yourself. It's very easy to do and applicable. So we will have the link for the free gift in the show notes. But if you'd like to give that again, give all the places, share all the places that people could find out more and find you online, find the book. I so appreciate you coming on the show and sharing this brilliant technology that you have discovered, developed, I'm not sure which, but it's, it's very beautiful and very valuable. So thank you so much for sharing it.

Speaker 3 (46:54):

Well, thank you. And people can, can find [email protected]. That's our main website, discover healing.com. You can go to emotion code gift.com and get the first couple chapters of the book for free. My personal blog is Dr. Bradley nelson.com. It's D-R-B-R-E-D-L-E-Y-N-E-L-S-O n.com. And of course, we're all over the, you know, social media too. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter and so on.

Speaker 1 (47:18):

Great. Perfect. So I highly recommend that you go and look at the free gift, read the first couple chapters of the book. Like I said, the chart that Dr Bradley showed earlier is there, you can read that chart and you can get started working on your heart, well, your emotional baggage, which will help you with your hormones. Thank you again so much for joining me today for another episode of The Hormone Prescription. I look forward to seeing you on social media and hearing how you are applying the things that you've learned today and the results that you're experiencing. I'll see you next week for another episode. Until then, peace, love, and hormones, y'all.

Speaker 2 (48:02):

Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormones and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.

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Take a step towards taking control of your anxiety – tune into this enlightening episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast and find your path to a healthier, more balanced life. Connect with Dr. Traci Potterf and embrace her unique perspective on overcoming anxiety today!

Speaker 1 (00:00):

I said to my body softly, I want to be your friend. It took a long breath and replied, I have been waiting my whole life for this Naira Wahid. Stay tuned to discover a unique holistic approach to befriending your anxiety and healing it.

Speaker 2 (00:20):

So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an OB GYN, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:13):

Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription. Thank you so much for joining me today as we dive into a holistic and global approach to addressing anxiety by befriending your body and your life. Sounds intriguing, doesn't it? If you're suffering with anxiety, I know it can be debilitating. I used to suffer with anxiety as well and found my way out. And my guest today, Dr. Tracy Potterf, really has a unique perspective on healing anxiety. We talked about it. Sure, it's all the things I like to talk about and we do cover those, but it's so much more and she really has a unique perspective based on her background, which I'll tell you a little bit about and we'll really dive into it. And this concept, like I shared in the teaser of befriending your body who has been waiting her whole life for you to turn her attention to her and to talk to her and to listen to her might be new to you, but it's really revolutionary and foundational when it comes to not only healing anxiety, but anything and everything that's plaguing you physically, mentally, and emotionally. So stay tuned to find out more. I will tell you a little bit about her and then we'll get started. Dr. Tracy Potter is a functional medicine anxiety detective who helps growth-minded people find and fix the hidden causes with natural solutions so they can live a limitless life at peace in their own skin. As a psychiatrist daughter, former medical anthropologist and recovered debilitating anxiety sufferer, she shares a unique way out of the mental health epidemic with the world. Please help me welcome Dr. Tracy Potterf to the show.

Speaker 3 (03:13):

Hey there. Thank you for letting me be a guest on your show.

Speaker 1 (03:16):

So excited to dive into this topic with you because you are the functional medicine anxiety detective and you have a really unique way of understanding and explaining what anxiety is, why we have it from an anthropological perspective that I think a lot of people miss. I think a lot of times we traditional mainstream doctors like I used to be, we're all about what's the diagnosis, what drug do I need to give? But even from a functional medicine perspective, we might look at some of the systems, but I think there are other issues at play that we might miss. You come from a family with a father, is it who was a psychiatrist, correct. So I'm sure you got a front row seat to a lot of dysfunction. , your former medical anthropologist. So talk about your conceptualization of anxiety.

Speaker 3 (04:16):

Thank you. So yeah, I learned this the hard way. I've had lots of anxiety back in the day and what I realized, and I can share more about the process, but what I realized is that anxiety is not just some genetic chemical imbalance or like some individual defect. It is a symptom. It's not a disorder and it's a natural response to an unnatural environment. And the problem is that we've normalized a culture that tries to override nature instead of working with the genius or intelligence of nature. And that's why branded is inner genius health because your inner genius is you are nature. We are nature. It's not somewhere outside of us, it's what we are and our cells, our human cells, our micro cells, our DNA, and when we work with and not against that internal intelligence, then it's amazing what we can heal. And when we live in ways that for our inner genius and make it really hard on our inner genius, then we end up with what we have, which is an epidemic of mental health issues and chronic illness issues. And then we think that's normal aging. We think it's normal. And I've heard you say this and I say it all the time, say the same thing. Just because it's common does not mean it's normal. Nature's not that cool.

Speaker 1 (05:37):

It's so true. I love that I had to write that down. Anxiety is a natural response to an unnatural environment. We think what's wrong with us that we're anxious, right? But the truth is it's what's wrong with society, . It's making us anxious. Can you talk a little bit more about that? Because I think a lot of people hear that and they go, what is she talking about? Of course, if you have anxiety, there's something wrong with you. What does she mean?

Speaker 3 (06:04):

Yeah, yeah. It's true that if you have anxiety, something's wrong, but it doesn't mean you're inherently defective as a human being. And so it, I think of anxiety, I use and abuse this metaphor. I think of anxiety as a smoke alarm. Just like all symptoms, it's a smoke alarm. And if your, let's say your house is on fire, wish someone, let's say something's on fire and the smoke alarm goes off and you just take the battery out of the smoke alarm and that's analogous to just numbing the symptoms or trying to make the symptoms go away. But if you don't put out the fire, then your house is still gonna burn down. So anxiety is like a smoke alarm. It's your body telling you something's wrong and often your brain on fire. You have neuroinflammation, you have issues in your gut, your brain, hormonal issues often like infections, toxic exposures.

Speaker 3 (06:49):

And this, a lot of this goes back to, so you were asking specifically, what are we doing now? What do we normalize? That's unnatural. I think a lot of people have an intuitive sense of this, but let's get specific. So we're eating crap , like we're eating things. We're putting chemicals in our bodies that don't belong and we're depriving our bodies of nutrients that we need, which starts in the soil by the way. Like we have depleted, poisoned soil. And if you don't have soil that's teeming with microbes and mycelium and insects and we demonize insects, insects are amazing, right? Let's kill 'em all. Let's kill all the microbes. Let's just sterilize everything. That's the greatest way to destroy our whole species. And so we, that's another thing is like this mentality of sterilization. Now I understand if you're in a hospital and you don't want like staph infections to spread, that's one thing.

Speaker 3 (07:37):

But like in our daily lives we've become so germophobic, but we don't realize we're poisoning ourselves with all these weird chemicals, toxins. And we're not too phobic, we're just like, ew germs. But then some of us are concerned about toxic chemicals, but a lot of people are oblivious to these like perfumes and creams and cleaning products. I've taken an informal toll, like I've talked to a lot of people who've been cleaning houses for decades and almost all of them have had cancer and cleaning products. Also, I think we know just sitting on our butts a lot and not moving, not squatting, not being able to squat and get up and down off the floor. That's a big deal. Mouth breathing. We're not breathing through our noses, we're breathing through our mouth for a whole lot of reasons, having our heads forwarded so that we screw up our posture and then we have trouble breathing and it causes cardiovascular disease, like not moving in joyful, playful ways, not playing, becoming alienated and not getting enough physical healthy physical touch and being held where like lack of tribe or community.

Speaker 3 (08:34):

It just goes on and on. Our sleep is messed up, our sleep is whacked. And then our circadian rhythms, this is a big one. Like people are starting to be like, okay, diet and exercise, which I don't even like those words anymore 'cause diet sounds like die, but like how we're eating. And then movement, I like it more than exercise, I'll use exercise, but I really like movement. 'cause It sounds more like play and exploration. But we're messing up our circadian rhythms. We're staying up late at night on these electronic devices. We're eating late at night, we're doing all these things that confuse our bodies and a lot of weight loss resistance and leptin resistance is tied to both how we're eating not and our sleep weight cycles and a relationship to light and the kinds of light we're exposed to at different times of day in the time of day we're eating.

Speaker 3 (09:19):

So it just goes on and on. But the thing is, all the solutions to all this are actually fun things that feel good. So I came up with this concept I call healthy hedonism, which is, so hedonism is like the pursuit of pleasure, but often people, we have a culture that's normalized toxic, addictive pleasures, things that destroy us. They feel good for a few minutes and then they destroy us and are often depressants, which are often neurotoxins. They are things that cause inflammation of the brain and nervous system, which causes anxiety, depression, brain fog, fatigue, trouble sleeping, just goes on and on. It is also because our nervous systems get dysregulated, then it messes up our immune system. A lot of people don't realize our nervous system and our immune system share biological structures and are in lockstep with each other. So then you have, you get sick more often or you have an overactive immune system and you end up without immunity and it just goes on and on and on.

Speaker 3 (10:09):

But what I want people to understand is the solutions. You can eat delicious food, you can have really wonderful self-care rituals that make you feel even euphoric. There are ways to move your body that feel like clay and you can still be really fit. We don't understand. It's not either or. It's that you don't give up pleasure to be healthy. You use pleasure and things that align with your evolutionary biology as a doorway to healing your body, healing your mind. So to heal your mind and your body, you have to heal your life.

Speaker 1 (10:38):

I love that he called it? Healthy hedonism. Healthy

Speaker 3 (10:42):

Hedonism. So pursuit of pleasure but healthy pleasures. So we need to broaden our pleasure palette. Like we need to be, like if you were painting a rainbow with just black and white, you'd be pretty limited. If you have the whole rainbow of human experience, then that's when you're really lit up and that's when you really come back home to yourself.

Speaker 1 (11:00):

So you described a lot of the lifestyle situations and conditions we're living under that are contributing to our anxiety. I'm wondering what your thoughts are, what you'd like to share about just the way that our brains function and are structured compared to other animals. One of the things I've loved about traveling is I get to encounter unique healers all over the world. And there's a guy who comes to Dubai called Ner Levy, and he does this very unique healing modality called the Ner Levy method. And he did a beautiful introductory talk one night and with the audience participation where to his work where he talked about the way in which we're living and what the difference is. And he brought in a lot of the things that you're mentioning. We used to live more rurally and communities and just the contact that we had, physical and emotional, spiritual connection with others. But this whole concept of what do we have? Why don't zebras have anxiety?

Speaker 3 (12:04):

Yeah, that's that why, yeah, that book is genius,

Speaker 1 (12:07):

Uniquely human because we have something they don't have, which is imagination. And that a lot of the things that we are anxious about as we we're, we have anxiety over is because of our imagination.

Speaker 3 (12:21):

That's a really good point. Yeah, it's true. We make a lot of stuff up. Like a lot of the demons are the, a lot of the, the predators are in our head most of the time. And it's interesting because we sit around, we can so easily all of us sit around imagining all kinds of scenarios and making ourselves nervous or whatever. And then we're sitting there overlooking the fact that we are actively, most people, and industrialized society are actively doing things to thwart our own wellbeing. So we're actually, it's interesting because like I hear people talk about anxiety, like it's just all thoughts or you could just change your thinking. You wouldn't have anxiety. And that's true for certain kinds of anxiety. But there are different kinds of anxiety. So if you have anxiety because you have low estrogen or low progesterone or both, then sitting around positive thinking, is it gonna fix that?

Speaker 3 (13:11):

Or if you have anxiety, as I went through, I had Lyme, I've been through Lyme disease, I've been through toxic mold, I've been through lead poisoning, all of those things cause severe anxiety and anxiety was the first symptom of what was, what something was off. So that's why I, I teach people if you wanna really resolve your anxiety, and a lot of people are like, I've tried everything that didn't work and they're not very open. And the thing is there, you have to address like three areas because if you just do one outta three or two out of three, you're not gonna get better. You're not gonna get rid of anxiety. And, and I'm sure you work with people in these same areas, which is of course there's a lifestyle I just talked about. And lifestyle is your daily thoughts and actions and your environment, your physical environment, your social environment.

Speaker 3 (13:52):

So that's big. It's not just diet and exercise. Then there's finding hidden health causes, hormonal issues, infections, environmental toxins, all kinds of things like that. Like just hidden help causes. And then the third pillar is your nervous system, like how your nervous system is wired and programmed. You can rewire things to neuroplasticity, you can rewire your nervous system to go from being over overwhelmed to a state of calm. And you can actually change the neurological structure of your brain through practices that actually feel good and don't take that much time. Yeah. But back to your point about our imagination, our neocortex or executive function that we have as humans, it's a blessing and a curse. It's a double-edged sword because we can create so much , ama so much like just wonder and awe magic with our consciousness. But we also can really make ourselves miserable and each other miserable. We're still learning how to wield what we're,

Speaker 1 (14:49):

Yes, we're learning how to wield the sword of, of who we are, how do we work with it? So it helps us. Something you touched on a few things just sparked something in me. You were running down kind of the list of all the things you need to look at. If you have anxiety, and you have this in the notes, I have this in my notes from you for the show, why no one has ever tried anything. So I actually just got off a consultation with a woman who, and if you're listening and you listen regularly to the podcast, I'm talking to you , because I swear that you're telling yourself that you've tried everything. And what I will tell you is if you are still suffering with X, Y, z, fill in the blank, anxiety, insomnia, whatever the symptom is, you have not tried everything.

Speaker 1 (15:39):

Right. And anxiety really highlights this, but so does every other symptom in this order because there's absolutely, there's always a reason why. And I, we've done, I've done it issues, I've done shows about anxiety and I talk about doing all the things, but the woman I was talking to literally told me I've tried everything and I've given her suggestions before on stuff that she should do and she doesn't do it right. So it's like where, where we're in denial. So I'm talking to you if you're listening, so listen up, you haven't tried everything if you're still suffering. But what I think is so important is, go ahead. Go ahead Dr. Tracy.

Speaker 3 (16:24):

Oh, no, no. Oh no. I was just gonna say, if you think about it, we live in an infinite universe. There is no such thing as everything having been tried because there's no end in sight. You just think of it logically. That's the reality. And what you were saying that there's, it's your body's asking for something and that's something exists. Like you may not. So when people say, I've tried everything and it didn't work, what they mean is I've tried everything that the experts have told me or that I've read about or that I've thought of or which doesn't mean everything, it just means what you're familiar with. Or it means I've tried everything that I felt ready and willing to try . But maybe there's some things that I just thought maybe I don't really need to do. Maybe they're not that important and I just

Speaker 1 (17:06):

Skipped over it or everything I was willing to spend the time and money on because that's what I find, right? A lot of people are like, yeah, no, I, I'd rather get, so yeah, she was telling me about some cosmetic procedure that she was having done, but she doesn't, didn't wanna invest in this thing anyway. Yeah. Back to anxiety. How do people need to expand their awareness and really tap into what you call their inner genius? What is their inner genius and why is it crucial to heal just about anything?

Speaker 3 (17:36):

Yeah. So your inner genius is the genius or intelligent in nature that runs all of existence. It makes the planet spin in their orbit that makes the flowers win and the bees buzz and makes every chemical process, it's the magic of nature. And nature has this tendency to strive toward balance or homeostasis where it's trying to correct itself. And symptoms or sensations, emotions are nature's way of talking to us and communicating and guiding us. It's your inner guide, your inner wisdom. And when we don't listen to that or we don't know how to listen, 'cause we haven't been taught to listen, we don't speak the language, then we feel maybe like our bodies have betrayed us or like we're defective or we feel angry. But here's the thing, like if you put your hand on a hot stove and your body didn't say, ouch, get that off, would that be a loyal body?

Speaker 3 (18:28):

If your brain's inflamed and you're damaging your gut and your intestines with the food you're eating and your body didn't make your tummy hurt or make you have brain fog or headaches or anxiety, then you wouldn't be being notified. That would be betrayal. If our bodies didn't tell us something's off, that would be betrayal. And so your inner genius is your best friend. It is infinitely intelligent and it's something you can tap into. And one of my favorite ways to tap into this is a meditation practice. And for those of you who are thinking, I'm so tired of hearing about meditation, I suck at meditation. That is a story. And you're, that's your imagination. That's imagination. That's not an objective reality because there are ways, maybe you've tried things that didn't work for you, but there are ways, like I teach people really concrete ways to meditate that gives your mind a job.

Speaker 3 (19:19):

And believe me, every one of us when we start meditating or if we skip meditation and then go back after a while, you're gonna have what they call the east monkey mind. You're gonna be like, your mind's gonna be all over the place. It's gonna be like , especially mine, but , it's okay. That's normal. And here's the thing is that's what's going on inside of you all the time. You're just used to the background buzz. And when you sit and be with it and you're willing to get out of your comfort zone and just sit and unconditionally be with yourself on what arises, and you give yourself a way to breathe, you give yourself a way to focus your mind. Anyone can meditate and, and what ends up happening in your nervous system feels like magic. And so one of the things I I offered is free, I call it a brain trick meditation, and someone else called it a magic meditation because it really does feel pretty magical.

Speaker 3 (20:07):

There's something you can do with your attention and with your breath at the same time. That's so easy. Anyone can do it. And in 15 minutes you're a totally different person. So if you have physical pain, emotional pain, anxiety, and also I accidentally discovered through my clients who are doing this at bedtime, it helps people who are having trouble sleeping and people, you can memorize it, it's a technique you memorize pretty quickly. So then you just have it the rest of your life. You don't need the recording anymore. And my clients just spontaneously started, they would wake up in the middle of the night, couldn't go back to sleep, they would do this process and then they would con out, they couldn't even get through the whole thing and they'd be back asleep again. So it's actually, I like this, I like to say it's better than melatonin for sleep or any other sleep aid.

Speaker 3 (20:47):

So like, just what we're able to do with our consciousness, with our breath is amazing. And that puts you in a possibility that then allows you to tap into your inner genius to stop sabotaging yourself and to get out of your own way and open up to the infinite possibility of your life. And then when you learn to do that, then that helps you have more of the wherewithal for the, the self-care, the wherewithal for the the functional medicine part and that kind of part, that kind of like all the, so it gives, it opens up the doorway to help you be more open to all the pillars, like all the steps you need to do to fix the problem. And I really fully believe that when you go through a mental health crisis, physical health crisis, even if it's been going on your whole life, I've had clients who've had anxiety since they, they remember being babies or toddlers having anxiety. They never remember not having anxiety. So they think, oh, I must be inherently defective and it's not true. So I have people who, who've been anxious their whole lives and within just a few weeks or really weeks to maybe a few months, three months, something like that, their anxiety has gone from like an eight to 10 daily, two to four. And that's, that's your ingen.

Speaker 1 (22:00):

Yeah. That's amazing. So I'd love that you bring that up because it's really like the prep work you need to get in the right space where you are open to receive the help that you're needing and you can tap into that eness. I think that we all have an innate intuition about what speaks to us and what we should go towards and what we should go away from. But we've learned to dampen it down so much that we're always looking to quote unquote experts to tell us what should I do? Right? And we really lose that internal guidance. That was true for me too. It's funny because when I learned about functional medicine after I transformed my health and then started working with people and some, a lot of people got it and some people just couldn't pick up the tools. What I realized is that there was a step before that happened for me that is exactly what you're talking about, Tracy, where I was able to tap into that inner heterogeneous and tap into being open.

Speaker 1 (22:59):

Because the truth was that these tools had come across my path years before and I had dismissed them and discounted them because I wasn't tapped into that frequency. So I love that you've created this pre-step for people to start tapping into that inner genius. So I definitely wanna say to everyone listening, that would be step one and then the person who is really anxious and I can identify with that because as everybody knows, I shared this before, I was so anxious at one point in my life before I found a, a root cause approach where I was on five psychoactive medications for anxiety and depression. And it ended up being all the things I like to say, right? It was my hormones. Yeah, it was my toxicity, it was my gut health. It was, you name it, right? Nervous system. And so now I've untangled all that and I really don't have anxiety or depression and I'm not on any medications and haven't been for years.

Speaker 1 (23:57):

But for the person listening, they're like, okay, Dr. Tracy, I get it. Okay. I need to calm my mind. Oh, I really wanna say one other thing about what you say about people who say, I can't meditate. I'm so tired of hearing about meditation, right? Do we ever say that about sleep? I'm so tired of hearing about sleep, right? , I'm so tired of hearing about my diet and what I eat. Like this is just something that you're gonna have to accept and face that you need to be doing, that you need to quiet your mind to get to the health that you want. Mm-Hmm,

Speaker 3 (24:29):

. And you don't have to stop thinking that's not the point. Like people think, oh, I'm supposed to, I have to sit in the lotus position and I have to stop my thoughts and I have to like, and if I don't experience some kind of merging with the universe right away, then like I did it wrong. And like that's all like that. Those are all myths about meditation. And I wanna talk about meditation. If you're not meditating, it's like you're missing one of your senses. You're not, you're operating at a very narrow spectrum. If you look at the full spectrum of light and or this full spectrum of color and you only knew about three colors and you didn't know about all the other colors, like there's an intrinsic pleasure and value in going into your in, I call it your inner verse, your inner space going into inner space.

Speaker 3 (25:13):

There's magic that happens there. There's it, it's amazing. It takes some time but not that long. It just takes consistency. Just like moving your body, just eating, just like sleep habits. Like it's just a habit. And it is, I really feel like if you go through a human life without ever developing meditation practice, you are missing out on a huge part of human possibility because there's like an inner world inside of us that makes us feel complete, that makes us feel whole. That makes us feel like you hear people mocking one with the universe, but feeling at one with the universe is really awesome. It feels amazing. So I just don't miss out on that. Don't like to do homework like you've gotta go meditate or else you're a bad girl or a bad boy. Most women here on this podcast, right?

Speaker 3 (26:00):

No, don't miss out on this inner party. Like it's like there's this amazing party and you're missing out on it inside of you. And your inner genius, yes. Is that consciousness and that consciousness drives your thoughts, your emotions, your awareness. But that consciousness drives all chemical processes. Your inner genius is also the chemical processes in your body. The inner geniusness is how microbes talk to each other and share genetic information. The inner genius is happening in the soil, it's happening in the plants, it's happening in the stars, it's happening in the sun, it's happening like that. The inner genius is happening. There's, for the inner genius, there's no differentiation between physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. 'cause It's all the same consciousness.

Speaker 1 (26:41):

Yes. And be patient with yourself. You didn't learn how to tie your shoes in one day, so it takes half.

Speaker 3 (26:46):

You did not.

Speaker 1 (26:47):

But yeah. So I have to, you gave me some beautiful quotes that I just have to pull all of them in before we end. So I've gotta start doing it now. You have this one from, do you say it, naira Wahe. And I said to my body, softly, I want to be your friend. I took a long breath and replied, I have been waiting my whole life for this. Oh my gosh, that gives me chill bumps. I've never heard that quote before. Tell me a little bit about this quote and what this means.

Speaker 3 (27:18):

At the end of the day, that's what our bodies want. That's what the pain is telling you. That's what the suffering is telling you. That's what belly fat is telling you. That's what the headaches, that's what everything is telling you. I wanna be your friend. I wanna take care of you. I want you to pay attention to me. I want you to love me. I want us to be on the same team. And we don't have a culture that teaches us to do that. And we have such a cliche culture. We usually look at TV shows and movies and advertisements. It's, I had a bad day, I need a drink. Let's like wine and chocolate is the only way to feel good. I'm not saying you can't ever enjoy wine and chocolate. I'm just saying that's so narrow compared to the vast. And so I just, yeah, we have to make friends with our, with our bodies, with our inner genius.

Speaker 1 (28:01):

I think for a lot of people, that's a really novel and radical concept because like you said, our culture is all about, oh, you're stressed, drink or do XY shop or whatever. But so for those people who are intrigued, how do they start to befriend their body?

Speaker 3 (28:19):

Well, one of the things I say, I think it's still on my website where you can get the brain to take meditation. I think it says unlock yourself healing superpowers. I don't know if I still have that on there, but it's, I feel like when you first start to have experiences where you have the ability to change, disrupt and change and transform a pattern in your body and you realize you have more control over your body than you realize, or you first start making changes to the quality of the food you're eating. Like here's the deal. You can still eat things you love whether it's hamburgers or pizza or curries or whatever, you just eat healthy versions of them and you balance your meals better. That's a whole other conversation. But if you're using quality ingredients and you balance the nutrients, there's kind of nothing within reason.

Speaker 3 (29:03):

There's very little you can't eat and still feel good afterwards. And like having, I think a lot of people don't have, we talk about boundaries these days, which I think is an important conversation. But what about boundaries around how you treat yourself? We talk, we have junk food, we have junk thoughts, junk beliefs, junk habits. And one thing I like to say about food is like when I give talks, sometimes I'll say, what is the most intimate thing we do with something outside of ourselves? And most people are thinking sex, right? Sex is incredibly intimate, but eating is more intimate because the molecules of the food become new. They become your body and become your thoughts, your feelings, your emotions, the perceptual lenses in which reality, right? And why wouldn't we have standards around that? And one of the things I just wanna gripe about is all the people saying restrictive diets.

Speaker 3 (29:54):

When people decide, Hey, I'm gonna take care of myself. I'm gonna stop poisoning myself and start nurturing myself and only eat like really yummy things that serve me. And other people are like, oh, you are on a restrictive diet. I'm like, no, I'm being liberated by my choices. This is freedom. There are so many hundreds of thousands of species of healthy edible things on this planet. And we are fixated on all this processed crap that's made from the same few in ingredients of natural ingredients and then thousands of chemicals. And we think we're being restricted when we decide to stop hurting ourselves. Like I got, if someone got out of an abusive relationship and said, I'm not gonna be in this abusive relationship anymore, will we tell that person, oh, you're really restricting your life by not letting this person abuse you. That doesn't make sense.

Speaker 1 (30:38):

And I think it goes right into this other quote you offered from Maya Angelou that I love. If you're always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be because I think that we try to fit in quote unquote normal. We wanna eat like everyone else and live like everyone else and have the same cars in the same fashion and all these things. And we spend so much time trying to be normal. But talking about how that affects your health is an example you just gave. Like the diet that's right for someone else might not be the right diet for you, but how you look at it, if you call it restrictive, it's different than this is the right diet prescription for me. So talk a little bit about that and how you can let go of being normal so you can know how amazing you're

Speaker 3 (31:33):

Yeah. Yeah. I love, yeah, I love that. I love period. But I love that quote. Yeah, so it's okay. It is so normal. We're tribal creatures. We evolved in tribes. We don't wanna get kicked out of the tribe and like, how are you gonna fit for yourself? How are you gonna get food? How are you gonna have a get sex and partnered and whatever like it, it's normal and understandable that we want to be part of a tribe, we wanna be in communities and we wanna fit in. I get that. I totally get it. That's nature. But what's not natural is now that we've normalized what we think is normal, goes completely against the very essence of what we are. And we, we, I heard, I think it's Gabor Mate said something about we have a culture, I forget what he said. That incentive our culture incentivizes us to betray ourselves, is what he was saying.

Speaker 3 (32:23):

Yeah. And so here's the deal. The way we make culture is by you and you and me and Dr. Kieran, like Dr. Dunston, like all of us are voting on culture. We all create it with our lifetime. We create it with how we spend money, we create it, it with what we consume. We create it with what we share. I don't mean getting on a soapbox and preaching at people and being righteous. That's obnoxious and that's not gonna create a connection. But when we all start as individuals and just lovingly making different choices, we model something different to other people and then those other people who are right on the edge of being like, I've been wanting to do that too. Suddenly it starts a domino effect. Like when I started changing my lifestyle, I tried preaching, didn't work, blow up in my face. That's why I say, don't do that.

Speaker 3 (33:06):

That was in my twenties. Didn't know better . But what I've noticed now is like when I've had housemates or people that live in my home, I don't tell them how to eat or preach to them, but they watch what I do and then within months they've all lost weight and are feeling better and are eating differently. Because it was just modeled to them that we're like, we learn through mimicry, we learn through modeling by being willing to be different and to come back into alignment with how the ways we evolve to live, to start to work with. And not against your inner genius. You're coming home to yourself and you're letting yourselves come home. You're letting your consciousness come home and that feels so good and lights you up and puts you in a much deeper state of love and expansiveness. And then that's contagious.

Speaker 3 (33:46):

And then other people want that. And people who criticize it or don't get it, they're just not your people. They're not your tribe. They're a different tribe. And that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that. And I just want people to understand. And here's another reframe for you guys. I think just on a primal level, we all have that little kid who doesn't wanna be left out at the birthday party or whatever, at school or dinner. And here's the deal, if you do what everyone else is doing in the main, in the mainstream, if you follow the mainstream, you're pretty much guaranteed to have chronic illness, to have mental health issues, to have cognitive decline, to become disabled, to be in diapers in your elder years, not be able have a walker be in a wheelchair, to be in lots of pain, to get autoimmunity, to get cancer, heart disease, to have your organs fail on you, to have like really invasive surgeries to like, you know this like that. If you wanna be included, that's what you're opting into. But what if being left out wasn't the worst thing in the world? What if you're being, instead of being left out, you're opting out of all these horrible things I just mentioned that we think are normal aging. What if you're opting out and by doing so you are setting an example that can help other people in your tribe do the same thing so that we can co-create a culture of nurture instead of a culture of torture. Yeah,

Speaker 1 (35:04):

I think that's something definitely important to ponder. And I think it's really the era that we're going into with this age of Aquarius coming, this myth of normal HaBO mates. And really our individuality and our uniqueness. And instead of top down, we're more communal and sharing and finding what's right for each one of us, which is going to vary greatly. But it can't happen if you don't have a relationship with your body and you're, you haven't befriended your body. One of the things that I love to teach women to do is to talk to their bodies. Talk to different folks. Yes,

Speaker 3 (35:45):

Me too. Oh my God, I love that.

Speaker 1 (35:47):

Yeah. Talk to their symptoms and ask what is the message that you have for me? Right? I always say that symptoms are the messengers, they're not the problem themselves. Mm-Hmm. , they're pointing to the problem. Right. But with every I Amen. Symptoms. Yeah. That we have, there's always a reason and a role that it's serving. But I love how you said earlier, Tracy, that it's usually multifactorial and there are often physical, biochemical, physiological correlates and there's usually a deeper meaning. So I think it's important to focus on all of these. And I know some of you are listening and thinking, Karen, you haven't gone into the microbiome in the gut as a cause of anxiety and you haven't. Okay. It's hear all those things. But no, I'm just saying people listen, , we've done that on other podcasts so many times. Go listen to the other podcast.

Speaker 1 (36:41):

But I think that what Dr. Tracy offers is, yes, gut health. Yes. Liver detox. Yes. Heavy metals. Yes. Mold, yes. Line, yes. All the things you've gotta do, the hormones, all the things and check all the things. But she really offers, you really offer a unique perspective that I don't think all root cause practitioners offer. And that's what I want everyone to hear and get is this connection to yourself, to your soul, this connection to other people, your connection to nature and universe and expressing that is a part of healing all physical health problems, including anxiety. So talk a little bit about that if you would. Yeah,

Speaker 3 (37:28):

Like our consciousness changes our biology. I think there are a lot of people out there that are talking about scientists, doctors. It's come out of the realm of just flu, which is where it was relegated for so long. Yeah. Because if you look deeper than, say you look at gut health and Lyme disease and all that stuff, if you look levels deeper, what caused that? Right? And why can some people have certain kinds of worms and what we call parasites and viruses. And there are people who have Borrelia or tick-borne illnesses or people who have HIV. There are people who have all kinds of different pathogens in their bodies. So there've been studies where they'll test thousands of people who are so-called healthy. I don't know where they're getting these people seriously, because I don't think there are that many Americans who are healthy.

Speaker 3 (38:13):

But I guess people who don't have diagnosed conditions and think they're healthy, there's, I remember this study, I wish I could, I need to find it again. But they did this elaborate testing on thousands of people who weren't considered sick and found that these people tested positive for a lot of these different conditions, a lot of these different pathogens, these critters inside of them that we consider pathogens and they weren't sick. Because it's not just the presence of the pathogen that makes the disease, it's how your immune system dances with it, which is directly tied to how your nervous system dances with it. So if your nervous system is dysregulated, your immune system becomes hypervigilant, just like your nervous system. So I think of a lot of these mold sensitivity and just stuck in chronic Lyme and chronic gut issues and just goes on and on. Even hormone stuff. Yeah. Mass cell activation, all these things is, and oh, and autoimmunity, I think of them as immunological PTSD. So your nervous system has PTSD and your immune system has PTSD and they're stuck in a rutt together. And I don't know if I'm going off down a little bit of another angle, but 

Speaker 1 (39:18):

No, I love it. I just think that's amazing. Immunological. P ts d Go on

Speaker 3 (39:23):

. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, what ends up happening is a lot of this is in the nervous system. And so the thing is you can't just meditate and do nervous system work and not clean up the infections and not clean up your gut and not balance your hormones and, and not eat well and not take care of yourself and not get sleep. You can't just do one, A lot of people wanna just find a magic bullet, but we're trying to orchestrate, like you have a cellular symphony that you're trying to get to plain harmony and you can't focus only on one instrument and expect the whole symphony to sound amazing. And so there's a process like that's why I've created a proven process. And I know Dr. Dunton has proven processes that we take people through. So you have some support with this.

Speaker 3 (40:06):

'Cause It can be overwhelming. I'm really, I'm supposed to do all this stuff, like I have a life, I'm busy. And so getting help because we are tribal creatures, right? And so it's just really important to really work with our nervous systems and our connection to something deeper as to circle back to what you were saying, like when we are connected to something beyond ourselves, we open up realms of possibility that we couldn't have even imagined possible before. And when you open up to that possibility, then suddenly all these other parts of the puzzle start filling in as well. And that's why having a guide that can help you through a process, because a lot of people just wanna go to someone and give an, get an appointment and have them tell me what supplements to take. And maybe I'll cut out a few foods, which are all fine things.

Speaker 3 (40:50):

There's nothing wrong with that. But if you don't do the deeper work mentally, physically, emotionally, in terms of your self-care, your daily habits, your thoughts, actions, beliefs, if you don't go through, go on a journey. If you don't go on this inner pilgrimage, like your body's gonna still keep telling you something's wrong and then you're gonna think something's wrong with you or you're gonna be mad at your body or feel betrayed. But that's not what's really happening. What's really happening is that you need to go on this inner pilgrimage to move through the different layers to come into the version of yourself that is sitting inside of you. You're not, the idea of this isn't to become a better person, it's to polish your, you're a gem and to polish, get the mud off and polish the beauty of what is inside of you already that is not getting fully expressed.

Speaker 1 (41:33):

Yeah. I love it so beautifully said Tracy. And I think that the gift of chronic symptoms and chronic illness is that eventually it will force you into this inner path and this inner journey if you keep at it, unless you give up. And that inner path and inner journey really is what not only brings you to physical healing, but greater expression of yourself in this lifetime. So I know we are running short on time, but I would be remiss if I didn't ask you about the demonization of estrogen. One of my favorite topics. Yes.

Speaker 3 (42:14):

A

Speaker 1 (42:16):

that it has caused so many millions is currently causing so many millions. Somebody reached out to me on social media the other day and said, Dr. Kieran, I've been on estrogen, I think she said for five years. And now I'm 55 and my doctor's telling me I have to stop it or I could get cancer or die from a heart attack. And this is a regular occurrence that people are told this and we can't stress it enough. So why don't we talk about that before we wind up.

Speaker 3 (42:46):

Oh, I love to. Let's get into it. So one of the first things I wanna say. My dad was a doctor. I grew up helping out in his office. I grew up in psychiatry and I can tell you doctors don't have time to delve into the research 'because they are so stinking busy. And there are certain people, practitioners who really stay abreast of research. I know Dr. Dunson does too, right? Do you like to be called Kieran? Dr. Kieran? Dr. Dunston.

Speaker 1 (43:13):

. I'll answer any Kirin is fine

Speaker 3 (43:16):

. Anyway, So I think people don't understand, doctors are human beings. And once you're taught something and it sticks in your brain and you haven't had the timer bandwidth to really like dive in and refute it or change your thinking, and then you also have these American medical Association or whatever country you're in, standards of practice that put a gun to your head that if you don't follow the formula, then you could get sued, you could lose your license, you could get in trouble. So it's really rough. So a doctor would have to feel extraordinarily well informed to go against the grain and have a really strong convention to take that risk. And once you do research this, you find out that there was never any evidence that estrogen causes cancer or heart disease or dementia. That has never happened, never existed. The Women's health initiative in two, 2002 that where they stopped the study because they said that there was increased risk with hormone replacement therapy.

Speaker 3 (44:07):

That was like, if you go dig into it, like instead of spending a lot of time, I'm sure you have lots of other episodes where you talk about it. And I'm sure like you can go read, there's this great book called Estrogen Matters that goes through step by step dismantling the whole thing. It doesn't take that long to read. You can also get it on audible. Estrogen matters. So one of the problems culturally is that we have a history of demonizing estrogen. And from a medical anthropology perspective, one of the things I've really looked at is history. Even if you look at the word hysterical comes from the Latin root for the word uterus. And like femininity in so many ways, like female hormones, female body parts have been pathologized like going back centuries. And we don't do that. Men are low on testosterone.

Speaker 3 (44:53):

We're not like, you're not allowed to have any, if people are low on thyroid, then we're not told you can't have any, if people are low on D three and that's a hormone, not a vitamin, we don't tell people you can't have any and it's gonna cause cancer and kill you. This whole idea that estrogen causes cancer, like estrogen cause cancer, then the people getting the most cancer would be really young women with high levels of estrogen, not older, middle aged women. It just makes no sense. If you look at the evidence there that that has never been shown and researched to, to exist. It doesn't exist. It's a, it's like literally one of the most damaging rumors that has ever made its way through medicine. So if you need estrogen, there are ways to get support. Now you I, in my, you can see what you say, what you think, but I don't think people, I think it's important not to take, if you can make your own hormone, then you don't wanna take so much that you impede your body's ability to make it own, make its own. But if you are really low on estrogen or progesterone and you're suffering, you need to take it. And I personally really am an advocate of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy as opposed to synthetic, especially progesterone progestin. It's not even the same molecule as progesterone. So I think it's really important for people to use really natural progesterone like the actual progesterone molecule and not progestin. I dunno, what do you think about that?

Speaker 1 (46:14):

Oh yes. Natural, absolutely. Bioidentical biologically identical. I mean, everybody listening knows we've got her hormone club if they need access to physicians who are experts in that board certified and licensed if they need access. But biologically identical if you need it, it's not appropriate for everyone, but Right. For the right. Yes.

Speaker 3 (46:36):

Yeah. And also, I do wanna say I am a huge supporter of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. And it's important to know, if you look at the domino effect of like the cascade of hormones in the human body, so much of hormone production starts in parts of the brain that also create chemicals that make stress hormones. So when we are stressed out, and then of course, I know you guys know from following Dr. Kieran, that all these toxic chemicals in our environment, our liver, you know all this, like this is all causing hormonal havoc. So when our brains are dysregulated, hormones are happening in our brains, they're happening in our liver, they're happening in our microbiome, our microbiomes are managing hormones. A lot of people don't realize that. And so when we do all the parts to really take care of our nervous system to nur nurture and nourish ourselves to sleep and to rest, and to have a meditation practice that, that you can fit in your schedule in life and that works for you when you do all those things, a lot of your hormones will self-Correct. When you get the nasty chemicals out of your body, a lot of it will self-Correct. But whatever does not self-correct, through self-care and all these measures, then it's okay to take hormones. Please do. It's not worth being miserable just to say, I'm not taking this.

Speaker 1 (47:53):

Yeah, it's a whole other conversation because that's what my TEDx talk was about, the consequences of hormonal poverty. So even for people who don't have symptoms, they, you do need to educate yourself on the consequences of not having these hormones because it's more than just symptomatology, but it's more than we have

Speaker 3 (48:13):

To go into. Yeah. Yeah. It does increase all risk mortality. It does increase your risk of outcomes of diseases. Like basically, it's dangerous not to have your hormones balanced.

Speaker 1 (48:23):

And gosh, Tracy, we could talk about for so long, we could talk forever. , I really appreciate you coming on the show and sharing your very deep perspective on anxiety that people aren't going to hear anywhere or most places. So I know you've got the simple brain trigger me for them. We will have the link to the show note in the show notes, but tell them all the places they can find and connect with you online.

Speaker 3 (48:52):

Absolutely. You're welcome to join my email list and get content there. You can follow me on Instagram, YouTube, or I'm on Facebook and LinkedIn. So just the usual social media channels. I'm really easy to stalk , like my phone, my name is very unique. No one else has it. So if you can spell my name, you can find me.

Speaker 1 (49:10):

Awesome. Thank you Dr. Tracy Potter for coming on the show, , and we very much appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (49:18):

Yeah, thank you. I've loved connecting with you. Thank

Speaker 1 (49:20):

You. And thank you for joining me for another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kieran. I hope you found today's episode inspiring, insightful, and you've probably heard some things that you've not heard before about your health. So I look forward to learning how you're gonna start befriending your body and going deeper and really start having a conversation with her because she's talking to you and she's waiting for you to talk to her. So start listening, reach out to me on social media and tell me all about it. Until next week, peace, love, and hormones, y'all.

Speaker 2 (50:02):

Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormones and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.

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Welcome to another episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast! In today's episode, our host [host name] is joined by the distinguished Dr. Jeffrey Gross, a board-certified neurological surgeon who specializes in anti-aging and regenerative medicine. Together, they explore the groundbreaking developments in stem cell technology and its role in improving health and combating disease.

Show Highlights:

* How Dr. Jeffrey Gross discovered the impressive capabilities of stem cells in regenerative medicine.

[00:00:00] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Cade Hildreth, the founder of Bioinformant, a stem cell industry research firm, is quoted as saying, the regenerative medicine revolution is upon us. Like iron and steel to the industrial revolution, like the microchip to the tech revolution, stem cells will be the driving force of this next revolution.

[00:00:20] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Stay tuned to find out how you can start using stem cells to transform your health, your life, and your longevity. So the big question is how do women over 40 like us keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you're not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself again.

[00:00:45] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: As an OBGYN, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss and supercharged energy after 40 in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue. Now I'm on a mission. This podcast is [00:01:00] designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results.

[00:01:04] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: And to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you're facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kieran Dunstan. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast. Hi everybody.

[00:01:22] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription. Thank you so much for joining me today as we dive into the use of stem cells for regenerative and longevity medicine with Dr. Jeffrey Gross. This is really one of the most powerful and emerging aspects of health that is available to you now To create the health that you're wanting the healing that you're wanting that you might not be aware of Because it's not offered everywhere and usually not covered by insurance And your regular doctor's probably not going to talk to you about it But as I shared in the beginning the quote it [00:02:00] really is One of the most powerful tools that's going to transform medicine, just like our tech field has been transformed.

[00:02:08] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: And there's another quote that I love that I'll share. The next age of medicine will revolve around stem cells, just like there was. the pre intranet age, there will soon be the pre stem cell age, and it will confuse the next generation to talk about it. So although now it seems a little way out and off the beaten path, it will probably become the standard of care at some point in the future.

[00:02:32] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: So I know that if you're listening, you want to know everything that's available that could possibly help you create better health, live a longer and healthier life and increase your vitality span. So I know you're going to want to hear about extending your health and longevity using stem cells and regenerative medicine.

[00:02:53] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: So I'll tell you a little bit. about Dr Jeffrey Gross and then we'll get started. Dr Gross is a board certified [00:03:00] neurological surgeon who identified the unique and powerful capacity of stem cells to help not only neurological problems but to regenerate many aspects of health affected by disease. He focuses on anti aging and regenerative medicine at his resellably Great clinics in California and Nevada.

[00:03:17] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: So we're going to dive into this episode in not only neurologic applications, but arthritic joint applications, musculoskeletal and more. And we're going to talk about beauty applications too, which I know you're going to want to hear about. So please help me welcome Dr. Jeffrey Gross to the 

[00:03:35] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: show. Thank you so much.

[00:03:36] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: I'm Pleased to be here. It's an honor to join you today. Yes, I'm 

[00:03:39] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: super excited to have you on fellow physician who now has gone astray just like me and really found some things that can help people, which my audience really loves hearing about because they've done the HMO copay dr tango and [00:04:00] they know it doesn't work for them.

[00:04:01] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: The number one question I get from people is why doesn't my doctor know what you know? Why doesn't my doctor offer me what you offer me? And they love to hear stories of doctors like you and me who were in the dark and found the light and what we know that can actually help them. So why don't we start there Dr.

[00:04:22] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Jeff with your story from conventional medicine into what 

[00:04:27] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: you're doing now. Great. Thank you for the opportunity. Probably a bit like yours, I was trained to be a physician, many years of training, just like you, and came from professors who trained similarly 20 years earlier, who were trained by professors similarly 20 years earlier, and there's a, there's this sort of preservation of these traditional in the box thinking of medicine, and I haven't abandoned that, what I have done is expand on it, because probably like you as well, we're [00:05:00] scientists, And we explore and we ask questions and we want to know what's really happening and what we have to do our own homework on that sometimes.

[00:05:08] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: So, I was practicing traditional spine neurosurgery. I was taking care of patients mostly with neck and back problems, injuries, disc issues, pinched nerves. A very, very busy practice and I noticed that patients were telling me something they were coming in and saying, Hey, doc, I've tried all the things you've recommended.

[00:05:29] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: I've tried therapy. I've tried time. I've tried prayer. I've tried supplements. I've tried anti inflammatories. I've even tried injections, but I'm still having problems. And we would talk, let's go over the surgical options. And they'd say, yeah, I'm just not quite ready. And I'd look at them and say, yeah, I think you're right.

[00:05:46] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: You're not quite ready. You're not bad enough. And you're in that gap, that no man's land. And then they would say, Doc, what about lasers? And what about this? And what about stem cells? And you get hit enough time on the head with a rubber [00:06:00] mallet and that stem cell's stuck. And I finally said, you know what?

[00:06:04] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Instead of going to the same old spine conferences every year And seeing, hearing the same old things reported, I'm going to go a different direction and I started going to different meetings and different educational conferences and got interested and retrained and now I've incorporated regenerative medicine and anti aging medicine and all these things into my practice to expand my tool base.

[00:06:27] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Great, so You could learn from a pleasure perspective. I love that. So what happened when you went to your first stem cell conference? Take everyone through that. What really piqued your interest that you said, Wow, this is valid. And I need to know more about this because this could benefit my 

[00:06:45] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: patients. I was, I'm embarrassed to say that 32 years had passed since I had my undergraduate degree in biochemistry and I went to the meeting and it just reopened a lot that had happened in 32 years [00:07:00] that built on this really neat background in molecular biology and what we knew about cells and how they function together.

[00:07:07] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And I was so busy going down this path of clinical medicine that I had missed. I never got a newsletter on all the updates in this and what we've learned. And so I was a little embarrassed and, but it was wonderful because it reopened that curiosity and that reason why I, I chose that as my undergraduate degree in the first place and all that had happened in stem cells and in exosomes and other regenerative biologics.

[00:07:35] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And that had been applied clinically, meaning for patients. So it wasn't just on a lab bench. Yeah. So 

[00:07:41] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: let's get into stem cells. I think they're a mystery for a lot of people. And they're confused about what are the different types of stem cells, what can they be used for, what's FDA approved, what's not, what might they get in another country they won't get in [00:08:00] the U.

[00:08:00] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: S., and also the benefits for longevity. And there are methods for stimulating your own stem cells. I recently learned about stem cells from endometrium and menstrual blood, which is really fascinating to me. But do you want to start there? Just kind of talking about what are stem cells? 

[00:08:19] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Sure. This is, we'll do a little stem cell one on one here.

[00:08:22] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And this is, let's take it back. When we were embryos inside of our mothers, We are made up of a ball of cells, and those are all stem cells, and those stem cells are incredibly powerful. They start out omnipotent, meaning they can become anything, and they become further differentiated, and that's a biological word, meaning the cells start to work towards what they're going to end up being, and it's like a job assignment.

[00:08:50] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: You go to the vocational office, you say, assign me a job and okay, you're going to be a liver cell and you over there, you're going to be part of the elbow. You get a job assignment. [00:09:00] As the fetus develops, these omnipotent cells become pluripotent. They have less opportunities, but they're still broad opportunities.

[00:09:09] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And then they become a multipotent and they get all the way down to where they can only differentiate into certain types of tissues. And those are the vast majority of what's available clinically because they're safer. They can't go backwards in the lineage and create a whole new human or even something weird.

[00:09:27] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: We don't want that. And you're coming from the OBGYN field, you've heard of teratomas, these very, very, very Germ cell based tumors and things that can, so we don't want to use those dangerous cells. We don't know how to control them yet. So when we use the word stem cells, we're talking about these, they just haven't made that final job assignment.

[00:09:47] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Right. And these are typically from the mesenchymal or the mesoderm layer of the embryo. And meaning they form most of the connective tissues, most of the organs. And when you tap into [00:10:00] these stem cells, they can be very powerful. Now, as humans, we have stem cells in us. They are a bank of cells, a storehouse, if you will, of cells that our body is constantly tapping into.

[00:10:11] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: We renew our skin constantly. We're making new skin cells. We renew our liver cells. And if we are injured or hurt somehow, those cells can be recruited to help repair us. Think about Doc, a three year old scrapes his knee on the sidewalk. And you bandage, you clean it up, put some Bactine on it, put a bandage on it, give them a kiss and send them on their way, right?

[00:10:34] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Three days later, that bandaid comes off, but that scab is almost completely healed. But then you take, in comparison, a 70 year old who bangs her elbow, and there's a bruise for two and a half weeks. So why does the same person who healed so quickly at age three not heal the same at age 70? Why? Same genes.

[00:10:55] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Same bank of stem cells. Of course, our stem cells lose steam with [00:11:00] age. They get exposed to what we learned in medical school is called vaguely inflammation, right? And inflammation is the accumulation of all this environmental damage, exposure to toxins, exposure to electromagnetic fields, what's in our diet, what's in our water, how we treated ourselves with stress or avoidance of stress.

[00:11:22] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And I'm sure you've talked about this with others as it applies to hormonal function, right? We want to try to tend towards an anti inflammatory lifestyle. So in any way, our stem cells don't work as well to repair and regenerate us. And that can happen at different rates. So the whole basis of the stem cell biology as a treatment is to tap back into our own youthful ability to heal.

[00:11:47] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Our cells have the blueprint and the molecules and the genes to do that. That's kind of the underlying basis. 

[00:11:53] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Okay. And regenerative treatment is defined as what, because that's [00:12:00] really what you specialize. In is regenerative treatment versus conventional medical approaches, 

[00:12:06] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: right? I suppose I still do a bit of both but Regenerative medicine is the new tool that i've had for about five years Which has really blossomed into many aspects of it And maybe this is a good part to answer your question about the fda So as you know, and many people don't fully understand the fda Is sort of the doctor's first amendment police and they decide based on their criteria what we can make claims about.

[00:12:35] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And those claims usually deal with curing or treating a disease or condition. So for example, if a new medicine is being developed. They decide when we can say this medicine has been shown to, to help deal with diabetes or something like that. So, there has yet to be any real regenerative stem cell treatment that has been approved for claims.[00:13:00] 

[00:13:00] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: That doesn't mean it can't be done. The doctor and patient have a relationship and that's between them with proper informed consent. There are a couple things that are approved, but I don't know that I Consider them regenerative and that would be a bone marrow replacement for let's say, uh, leukemia. And this is why mothers might bank umbilical cord cells when they deliver a child.

[00:13:24] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: That's traditionally been an approved treatment. Okay, 

[00:13:29] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: so you're saying no FDA approved claims made indications for the use of stem 

[00:13:36] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: cells? But let's be truly objective, since we're scientists. There have been no approvals or denials. So they have not said, we have approved, but we also have an unapproved.

[00:13:47] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: It hasn't yet been decided. So the lack of approval does not mean that something is unapproved. And people don't fully, they tend to go only and hear the unapproved. That [00:14:00] doesn't mean, that just means they haven't been fully vetted these claims. You know, the proper full studies have not yet been okayed by the FDA.

[00:14:09] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Okay, so can you talk about though what indications are generally agreed upon by experts in the regenerative medicine area as to what are appropriate uses that may not be FDA approved? 

[00:14:26] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: You should be a politician that was fantastically worded. For the purposes of doing this correctly, anything I give an opinion on today is not a treatment for an individual, and is not necessarily approved by the FDA, and is just worthy of discussion.

[00:14:42] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And every individual is addressed. individually. So yes, there is wonderful scientific reporting, mostly from not in the United States. We have literature out of Europe. We have literature from Asia where they are ahead of us. And you think about this doc, [00:15:00] 15 to 20 years ago, professional athletes were leaving this country to get these treatments.

[00:15:04] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And other people, but of notoriety, it would be the athletes. Now those athletes are staying in the country because it is available here in the U. S. The source of the biologics, the stem cells or the related biologic components are here produced by, ironically, FDA compliant labs. So, and these are typically from donors of C section births.

[00:15:29] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Where the placenta, the amniotic fluid, the umbilical cord are preserved instead of thrown away and sent to labs where they're under clean and sterile conditions, tested and treated. The main uses start with musculoskeletal issues like joint problems. In fact, some of the best research comes out of France and these are protocols I follow for knee pain.

[00:15:54] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And if I may just keep rambling on the, the, a study in France [00:16:00] just reported two years ago on the 15 year follow up. So that means they've been doing this for at least 17 years as a study and probably longer. And what they did is they took patients with end stage knee problems. Ready and recommended for knee replacement.

[00:16:16] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: So these are conditions like bone on bone patients may have heard or arthritis is terms doctors use painful knee problems that need a knee replacement. Not everybody wants an open knee replacement. It has a role, but they took these patients said, wait, instead of having your recommended knee replacement, join our study.

[00:16:36] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And in that study, they injected bone marrow derived stem cells from those patients. And we might circle back to that in a moment, but they took them from these patients, processed them, concentrated them, and injected them into two different areas in the knee. And over 15 years, one of the groups was significantly superior to the other group.

[00:16:58] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And the group that [00:17:00] did well was in bone injected, so they injected the bone of the knee just above and below the cartilage. The cartilage injected group did okay initially. But then declined at each five year mark and it was over 80 percent of the bone injected group did not need that knee replacement.

[00:17:17] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: They had been recommended 15 years earlier. In other words, those knees were saved. That's amazing. We follow that protocol and we do the bone work and you think about it. Your cartilage in your joints and in your discs of your spine is probably one of the least biologically active tissues. There are not a lot of cells.

[00:17:37] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: It's sort of a collection of squishy proteins and collagen and we call this sort of the biological rubber of the body. The real activity, the part of your body that made that cartilage in the first place when you were a fetus was the growth plate bone marrow where you're most of your stem cells reside, your storehouse of stem cells.

[00:17:58] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: So we follow that [00:18:00] protocol. So 

[00:18:00] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: with data like that, 80 percent did not need any replacement and they were bone on bone, which really that's the only standard of care treatment that we have to my knowledge. Why has the FDA not? Given an approval any 

[00:18:16] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: insight into that I'm going to go out on a limb here and say i'm sure there are political and economic pressures from Companies that make metallic knee implants.

[00:18:26] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: I am sure that the fda panels Uh that look at this. I have a very high threshold of studies in terms of number of participants And they love blinded and controlled studies, meaning blinded means the doctor doesn't know and the patient doesn't know if they're getting a placebo or not. And a controlled study means there's a placebo arm, but who would want to be that in that study that might get a placebo?

[00:18:54] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: So it's going to be very hard to do a large population study with [00:19:00] placebo. So we are sort of at this. You know, difficult crossroads. 

[00:19:04] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Yeah, sometimes you have to follow your common sense. Anyone can tell you that the success rate of any cartilage naturally regrowing when you're bone on bone is probably zero.

[00:19:19] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: So do we really need that control group? That's where I sometimes wonder when did we leave common sense by the wayside or the body of scientific Tiff acknowledge and experience that we have from decades of doing medicine the way we've been doing it. And so this is the place you can be very frank and honest.

[00:19:39] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: So I throw Mainstream medicine under the bus on the regular because people just don't get it. They're scratching their heads Why don't I get these options at my hmo doctor's office? And so I really help them to understand that medicine is a business and that it has It's [00:20:00] its own motivations and doing lots of surgeries and procedures and prescribing lots of drugs is part of it.

[00:20:07] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: And so if you want something different, then you've got to make different choices and look elsewhere, which I think is a great, I was going to ask you in a little bit, but I'm going to ask you now. The second question people ask me after why doesn't my doctor offer this is, Will my insurance pay for this?

[00:20:24] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: So I think this is a good place to ask that. 

[00:20:27] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: You're absolutely right. There's a little bit of a conundrum. Because the FDA has not approved this for claims, your insurance has their hat to hang on that they, they will not approve this. However, there's something called PRP platelet rich plasma, which many people can get in their doctor's office, which is a taking your own blood and.

[00:20:47] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: spinning it down in a centrifuge and pulling out the growth factors and the platelets and concentrating them and delivering them back to an area where there might be a strain or pain like a tennis elbow or a knee [00:21:00] ligament or something like that. And it is, it's rather simple. It is, it's sort of the lowest.

[00:21:06] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Entry level regenerative medicine item and it is not approved for claims by the FDA But insurances are starting to pay for it because they're starting to see that it's less expensive than a surgical pathway So it might cost 500 to 1, 000 per session, typically people have two to three sessions. So, I think that's probably some good news in the long run towards insurance companies waking up and looking at the bigger picture and avoiding bigger open surgeries if possible.

[00:21:40] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: There's always a role for the surgeries, I don't mean to say don't do surgery, I mean to say look at every option first, why not try a regenerative procedure because I can tell you. When I'm addressing a knee problem, it's usually two doses of biologics in the bone above and below the knee. [00:22:00] And we do that at a little injection facility with some sedation so no one has to feel the bone injection.

[00:22:06] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: It doesn't take very long. Most of the work is done ahead of time. The targeting, the MRI, the testing. And We've got that down to where it's just under 10, 000 and I think that's a good price when you look at the lost work time, the downtime, the complications, the co pays you'd have just to have a knee replacement.

[00:22:28] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Sure, the knee replacement might be less than 10, 000 out of pocket, but there's a cost of the pain and the recovery and the physical therapy and that kind of thing. So it's not cost prohibitive. For everyone. For some, I understand, but not for everyone. 

[00:22:43] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Yes, my mother had both knees replaced, and the pain she went through and just never had the same gait and walking ease, and if she could have avoided it at that time, I'm sure she would have in hindsight.[00:23:00] 

[00:23:00] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: So, let's get more specific, because I know people are wanting to know. So we've talked about knees. What other joint or musculoskeletal problems have stem cells been shown to help with? And then also maybe tie into there, you mentioned bone marrow as a source. What are the sources? Cause some people are saying, Oh my gosh, am I going to have to have my bone marrow removed to get stem cell treatment?

[00:23:25] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: So where are these? Stem cells coming from? Are they autologous from the person? Are they from somebody else? 

[00:23:32] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: So let me work backwards. I'll start with that question and then work back to and expand on, on the types of things we can do beyond knees. Okay. So you can have bone marrow, harvested stem cells harvested from your own bone marrow, and even other sources like fat.

[00:23:48] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: I don't like the fat source. Because those cells are typically in an inflamed environment. And the whole theme here is to work against inflammation, which works to help our [00:24:00] body tissues function better and slow the aging process. I don't like to harvest, autologous is the word you used, and that means from yourself.

[00:24:09] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: I prefer the perinatal sources. These are again the donated, ethical, and FDA compliant labs that prepare these biologics. The biologics would be either stem cells or stem cell messengers, stem cell derived messengers. And these are the small particles that one cell uses to communicate with other cells in our body, wake up our own stem cells, activate them.

[00:24:35] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And I have been able to keep the cost of procedures down with, I believe, at least as good efficacy, if not better in some areas. With the stem cell messengers and we call those exosomes or nanoparticles and they are basically a stem cell giving a message to other cells to behave in an anti [00:25:00] inflammatory, youthful, regenerative, restorative way and that's what we're, that's what we seek.

[00:25:05] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Those come from basically what used to be medical trash. It's now medical treasure, and these are donated and screened individuals. Unless you're in a culture that preserves the placenta for the delicacy that it may be in some areas, this is You've probably delivered thousands of babies and thrown away the, all this great stuff.

[00:25:30] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Am I 

[00:25:30] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: right? Yes. Who knew? You know, that HGTV show, isn't it called Trash to Treasure? But also I recently learned that in a lot of cultures, they actually bury the placenta to ground the energy body of the child into Mother Earth, which is a whole other conversation. So it's ethical to use it for medical procedures in the West, but in a lot of indigenous cultures, it probably wouldn't be so you [00:26:00] prefer the perinatal.

[00:26:01] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: And it's not just for joint stem cells, not just for joints anymore. What are the other applications 

[00:26:09] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: that we get great results with joints? I would say joints. Joints are a wonderful and relatively successful application in our hands. And by joints, I'm including spine. We don't have the long term data on spine yet, like we do for knees.

[00:26:26] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Knees were sort of an easy first study because there's so many people with knees and they're easy to inject in the knee area, right? It's down there. It's just asking for an injection. The spine is a little bit more interesting. You have to be cautious around nerves. And that's where I come in as a neurosurgeon, so I'm, I've been inside the spine thousands of times doing surgeries.

[00:26:47] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: I love doing fewer surgeries and more of these procedures. So we'll call that the musculoskeletal group. There are other things a little bit within the musculoskeletal group. One is there, there have been studies [00:27:00] showing improvement in bone density, which is very important in someone with declining hormone levels.

[00:27:07] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Um, as, as you and your. Listeners must know the bone density is associated with longevity. The better your bone density, the better your longevity. And hormones are a big part of that. Weight bearing exercise is a big part of that. And other factors like certain supplements, vitamin D3, for example, and others.

[00:27:25] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: So regenerative medicine can help support bone density. There are studies on that. The other longevity or I'm sorry 

[00:27:33] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: to interrupt you, but where What types of stem cells are used 

[00:27:37] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: and how are they administered? I have to look at the individual study, but you are correct. Most of the studies are either autologous harvested stem cells from that person, their donated stem cells from a perinatal source, or their donated stem cell messengers or exosomes from a perinatal source.

[00:27:54] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Those are the three main applications that we call regenerative medicine. [00:28:00] 

[00:28:00] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: For bone density, how are those 

[00:28:01] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: administered? Oh, sorry. IV. 

[00:28:04] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Intravenously. Is anyone doing that in the United States? There 

[00:28:08] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: are a lot of us doing that. Okay. 

[00:28:10] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: And so. Because I think there are women listening who are going to want to know what would your criteria be for what degree of osteopenia or osteoporosis.

[00:28:20] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: I would say if there's any evidence for osteopenia and you want to get ahead of this and prevent this from going to full blown osteoporosis and you're already doing the traditional elements, weight bearing exercise, hormone optimization, things like this, the right supplements, it's something to look at.

[00:28:38] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Osteoporosis. is associated with shortened longevity. So we want to get ahead of this. And the criteria would be making sure they've tried everything else first. Now if someone has a very focal area of osteopenia, maybe a hip issue, but the rest of their testing, because when they test for bone density, they test the hip, the spine, maybe the wrist, other areas.

[00:28:59] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: [00:29:00] If we can focally treat by injection a spot area if needed. Yeah, but 

[00:29:06] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: I've seen thousands of bone densities on thousands of women and it's a rare person who has a spot problem. It's usually pretty global. And so how many treatments would they have of intravenous stem cells? Because I know there's some women listening who are thinking, Oh, I'm going to look into that.

[00:29:22] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: So they probably want to know. We 

[00:29:24] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: probably do one treatment. And then monitor the bone density every six to 12 months and see what kind of length of benefit they got and what kind of benefit they got from it and use that as a guide. There's no signing up for, Oh, you'll need this every six or 12 months.

[00:29:42] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: This is a individualized person and we guide it for that individual. So hopefully one treatment could give you. Months or years depending on how bad things are to start with how good your own status is your overall Inflammatory burden [00:30:00] and we can do blood tests to look at that in detail Because ultimately aging is an accumulation of this chronic inflammation and we need to not just give IV Regenerative biologics.

[00:30:12] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: We need to look at every aspect of of what's causing root cause, right? What's causing inflammatory Yeah, let's 

[00:30:19] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: detour and talk about that because I talk about it a lot, but you can never talk about it enough. This is the rust. The inflammation is the rust that corrodes all your cells and degrades them.

[00:30:32] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: And this is what causes premature aging, disease, death, everything. It is the enemy. So, it's vital. Every doc I know who works with stem cells, Requires that people reduce their inflammation if they're in a highly inflamed state But I think it would be important to hear your perspective on that 

[00:30:52] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: I could not agree more and i've converged with you using the the word rust As you have so i'm [00:31:00] glad we've come together because you're right rust is oxidation And we are oxidizing and that's why antioxidants are good for us.

[00:31:08] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: So We all are in a state of inflammation. That's during the day, during the light hours, we have neuro stress, we have physical stress, we have all these things and we have things in our food source and they cause our cells to react in a defensive manner and that defense is chronic inflammation. At night, we repair.

[00:31:29] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: If we're sleeping and we're getting good sleep, restorative sleep, our bodies and our cells undergo a repair process. It's a DNA repair, all kinds of things. And we need to balance that by really understanding those and focusing on them. I think reducing exposure to inflammatory items is probably the easiest thing we can do.

[00:31:50] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Eating a cleaner diet, for example, avoiding toxins in our environment to the extent we know they're there and we can, limiting electromagnetic [00:32:00] waves. Turning off the screens at night and the other things we can do to reduce inflammation are lifestyle changes, like making sure we exercise, eating in the light window and not eating in the dark window, intermittent eating, intermittent fasting.

[00:32:14] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: We can even supercharge the reduced inflammation. By what's called hormesis. Hormesis as, as you may have, you and your audience may know, is a slight stress upon our cells to build resilience and to clear out the senescent zombie cells that are taking up space and resources. And that might come through exercise.

[00:32:35] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: It might come through calorie restriction, maybe a fast for anywhere from 24 to 72 hours. It might come from hot sauna use or cold plunges. And these stimulate the body to release survival proteins, which help reduce inflammation. These are the kind of proteins we find in stem cells and stem cell messengers.

[00:32:54] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: So ultimately, the regenerative medicine is sort of a hack or a biohack to slow [00:33:00] inflammation. And as it slows and reduces and reverses inflammation at the cellular level, it's reducing aging at the cellular level. And you see many ads on social media. That our product reduces inflammation at the cellular level.

[00:33:14] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: That's how we're going to reduce our, slow our aging. We have to do it at the cellular level. And everybody 

[00:33:19] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: stay tuned because Dr. Jeff does have a gift for you at the end of the show that's gonna, uh, help some things that you can do to help reduce your inflammation so you don't want to miss that.

[00:33:31] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Alright, let's jump back. We were going through the indications and treatments. We talked about knees, spine. We talked about osteoporosis, osteopenia, bone thinning. What other indications 

[00:33:44] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: are there? We've treated with IV many things. So we have patients who have come to us with declining kidney function and whether that's related to too much sugar in the life over your life and diabetic changes acquired type two [00:34:00] diabetes, whether it's related to high blood pressure that hasn't been adequately controlled or even other items.

[00:34:06] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: What happens is the blood test called creatinine starts to go up because your kidneys can't remove that amount of protein from the body. And yeah, We have seen declining, improving creatinine levels in patients who showed progressive problems with the kidney function, who wanted to avoid dialysis. So we've had a couple patients specifically, and we've only had to do one IV on each of those.

[00:34:31] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: patients where their creatinine is improved and we're just watching their blood test with the creatinine. And people come in and say, I've had so much other benefits from that. I think better, more clearly. I have more energy. I sleep more soundly. We get all these beneficial side effects from the IV. 

[00:34:49] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Just, I wanted to add something there.

[00:34:50] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Just as you're talking, it makes perfect sense that I'm sitting here thinking, why don't we give them to everyone intravenously because just the three year old boy [00:35:00] who falls and scrapes his knee. All you have to do is protect it from infection and getting scraped again. And then the stem cells, the messages throughout the body say, send stem cells to this cut and fix it.

[00:35:12] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: It tells what to do. And so that example you gave is beautiful about the kidneys and declining kidney function. You give the stem cells intravenously, they know where to go. And they know what to do and they know to fix the problem. So why aren't we giving it? Do some people just say, I want general longevity.

[00:35:33] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: And I know you're going to talk a little bit about that. And I want to heal whatever's broken that I don't know about. And you just. Give them intravenous stem cells. 

[00:35:43] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: I don't want to give the idea that stem cells fix everything, right? I think they try it. This is not a cure all, but we love to add it when we can as an alternative or an additional item to help repair or recover in medicine.

[00:35:59] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: We call it [00:36:00] an adjunct therapy, right? So this is an add on treatment. For example, we see patients who are recovering from heart attack and we show improved cardiac. function from I. V. Regenerative biologics. We see patients recovering from stroke or have suffered what's called traumatic brain injury used to be called chronic concussive syndrome.

[00:36:21] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And these people have lingering effects of brain injury, maybe from an accident or something. And we have shown some benefits there. And there are some studies published on this. Now it should be known that the stem cells do not readily cross the blood brain barrier when they're delivered IV. So the benefits we're actually seeing are more with the stem cell messengers, the stem cell derived exosomes I mentioned to you earlier because they are so small.

[00:36:49] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Remember they're called nanoparticles for a reason. They're very small. They cross the blood brain barrier and stimulate the glial cells and that support our brain cells. [00:37:00] And you spoke earlier about other types of stem cells like endometrial base and things like this. There is wonderful work in more specialized types of stem cells.

[00:37:08] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Right now, we do not use anything that's manipulated. So these are off the shelf, straight from the womb, tested, screened, and filtered. biologics, because the FDA is pretty clear that they don't want us using anything manipulated. Cells that have been conjured or cajoled into doing something very specific.

[00:37:28] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: That is the next quantum leap in regenerative medicine, very specifically targeting stem cells and their messengers, engineered for a specific thing like helping to repair the islet cells in the pancreas in the case of type 2. It's for example, and again, most of these diseases of aging are diseases of inflammation and vice versa.

[00:37:50] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Coronary artery clogging, atherosclerosis has an inflammatory component. Alzheimer's disease has an inflammatory component. If you look at [00:38:00] the tissue under a microscope, even type 2 diabetes, you look at the pancreas, it has an inflammatory component. We're really simply just reducing inflammatory exposure and effect.

[00:38:12] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And that leads me to mention autoimmune, because this is where a lot of hormones get affected. And as your audience knows, autoimmune means the body is having a revved up attack on it, part of itself, for reasons unclear, but it's a hyper inflammation state. Let's list a few of those. Rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

[00:38:35] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: There are other autoimmune diseases and if you do inflammatory blood tests, you'll see the inflammation system is in high gear. We're not sure always why that is, but it is. Some infections are known for their hyper inflammation. Lyme's disease is one I know you've had guests on before about Lyme's disease.

[00:38:55] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And another well known one that is known for inflammation is, [00:39:00] COVID 19. It's a very inflammatory virus, and a lot of these long COVID syndromes do have significant continued hyper inflammatory states involved. So we are seeing that these types of problems respond well to suppressing and controlling, we use the word immunomodulating, the inflammation system, where the regenerative biologics do work.

[00:39:27] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: towards declining those problems and those symptoms. 

[00:39:31] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Okay, wow, such great information. I would be remiss if I didn't ask because I know people are wanting to know about vampire facelift and beauty applications. Would you like to talk about that? 

[00:39:45] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: I would. This is probably a little bit on the more fun end of things we do.

[00:39:50] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And most of the people we see have a problem and we want to help them with a problem. But we also have enjoyed helping people want to not only feel [00:40:00] better and be healthier, but feel better about looking better. So there are currently two cosmetic procedures that we have. One is, and as your audience knows, a vampire facial is PRP.

[00:40:13] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And we talked about PRP earlier for joints, where you can draw your, uh, have your blood drawn from your own veins, spun in a centrifuge, and pull out the growth factors and the platelets, and inject them into the face. So it gives more growth factors to the face to help tighten the collagen. I like to skip over that and go to the high octane stuff and that's to use the wide draw of the blood.

[00:40:37] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: When you change the oil in your car, you don't put the old oil back in it. So we use the stem cell biologics and micro inject the face. to stimulate the epidermal cells in dermal cells rather to stimulate, make more collagen, more elastin, get some tightening and youthful radiant glow because of the [00:41:00] improvement in the cells.

[00:41:02] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: I think you might notice this as an OB GYN in your pregnant patients. They, don't they often say, Oh, my skin is so good while they're pregnant because they're getting all these youthful growth factors from the womb circulating in the maternal bloodstream. They're getting a Yeah, they're getting a dose.

[00:41:18] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Radiance is real. You can look at a pregnant woman and see that their hormones are really on point and their stem cells and how about hair 

[00:41:30] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: regrowth? You're also using it for that? That was the other one. And I am, I'm also a recipient of that. So we do the same thing. I've had, I had a bald spot and I've had three scalp injections and it's because of the lighting and things, you probably can't see it, but I'll do some social media posts with some befores and afters.

[00:41:50] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And it's, I've been able to help people with thinning, thinning hair. You have to have follicles. You have to have some hair. I can't take a bald person and with the current. state of [00:42:00] things. Now, when we talk about the future of the going backwards in the lineage of stem cells, there are some things coming down the pike and I have some colleagues and friends working on that.

[00:42:09] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: But right now this is for people who do have some follicles and I'm sure your audience knows when your hormones start to decline, that's And you have a longstanding inflammation, you, the follicles are sensitive, they, that's like when someone is stressed and they lose hair, it's because the inflammation in their body from the nerve is seen in the areas of symptom, where they become symptomatic, that might be psoriasis.

[00:42:33] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: It's where they have dry skin, it might be in the scalp with the follicles, it might be in other areas. We have patients with dry eye syndrome who maybe have had LASIK procedures and we've injected, we talk about glands, we inject the meibomian glands in the eyelids. to help improve the glandular function and I've had some limited benefit there and we're still figuring out how to do that best.

[00:42:57] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Okay. 

[00:42:58] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Before we wrap up, [00:43:00] we must talk about longevity and then I know you've got that gift for them that's going to help them to know some things that they can start doing now to help with anti aging. But what does the data look like and treatments to increase longevity with stem cells? 

[00:43:17] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: We don't have enough.

[00:43:18] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: Long term data to answer that scientifically, but we do have something called biological age tests, and I think it'd be mentioned this, there are a few different kinds on the market, but basically it's a test that looks at either the markers in the bloodstream and or markers inside the cell bloodstream, of course, is outside the cell, and these markers are associated with certain age groups.

[00:43:42] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: So we can do a blood test and estimate The biological age of someone as opposed to your calendar age, because I know at my last birthday, I turned 58, but I can do a biological age test and it has a different number and you can make lifestyle changes or do things in that [00:44:00] number adjust. You can affect your own rate of aging by taking your own anti aging journey and doing things about it.

[00:44:07] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: And we have some studies that show improvement in the, in these biological age tests. With the use of IV regenerative biologics, so at least at the cellular level, which is where aging really does happen, there is scientific evidence to show reduced inflammatory markers and age related markers. And 

[00:44:28] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: I know people are wondering, what's that test and where can I get it?

[00:44:32] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: It has to be ordered by a doctor like me, and I do a lot of Zoom consultations, so if anyone in your audience is listening, this is an additional holiday gift, is if they call and mention your name, I'll do an introductory Zoom or phone. I prefer zoom, but phone consultation and we can go over their aging status and see where they are and see if we can make some tweaks in many [00:45:00] different areas and talk about the biological age tests.

[00:45:03] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: I'm happy to do that. But you have to mention your name and they heard us here. 

[00:45:08] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Okay. So Merry Christmas to you, listener, you can call Dr. Jeff's office mentioned you heard him on Dr. Kieran's podcast and you can get some one on one time with Dr. Jeff and find out more about your health. I think that's a great place to end.

[00:45:30] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: It sounds this is such a wonderful topic. It's a Such I guess it's kind of the wild west of medicine, but I think it is the future of medicine in many ways. So I think it's very valuable information. Thank you so much for sharing it. You have this wonderful gift that you're giving everyone to help them understand some things that they can start doing now for their health.

[00:45:56] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: We'll have the link in the show notes. Do you want to tell them about [00:46:00] what that is? And then also all the places they can 

[00:46:02] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: find you online. Thank you so much. Yes, if you go to the and I forget the word the young again method. com slash longevity There's a a free guide on some of the anti aging supplements You should start or if you're not already on and if you do schedule Some time to meet with me we can expand on that for you as well as customize it for the individual Please follow us at we celebrate is the name of the business.

[00:46:28] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: R e c e f l e b r a t e That's our website. That's our Instagram. That's our TikTok. That's our YouTube. We have lots of fun stuff. Follow us and send me a comment on Instagram. If you're on Facebook, also send me a comment and say hi and introduce yourself. We like to meet new people all the time. Awesome.

[00:46:48] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Thank you so much, Dr. Jeff, for your brave journey. It is always a brave journey for any physician to go off the beaten path [00:47:00] of What we're taught and to do something innovative and new and courageous. So thank you for saying yes to that because you're going to help a lot of people. I know you already are.

[00:47:11] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: I really appreciate it. And I appreciate you sharing your journey and 

[00:47:14] Dr. Jeffrey Gross: expertise with us today. Thank you so much for having me. It was my pleasure and honor. And thank you for 

[00:47:20] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: joining me for another episode of the hormone prescription. Stem cells are super exciting and the indications are growing. Access is growing and availability.

[00:47:35] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: So. I know you learned something that's going to inspire you today. I look forward to knowing what that is. Reach out to me on social media and let me know. And if you want to take Dr. Jeff up on his very generous holiday offer, please do so. We will have all the links in the show notes to his free gift and to how you can reach out to him and contact him.

[00:47:58] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Until [00:48:00] next week, peace, love, and hormones, y'all. Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe.

[00:48:22] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription. com where we have some free gifts for you. And you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you.

[00:48:44] Dr. Kyrin Dunston: Talk to you soon.

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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.

Key takeaways from this episode include:

- The significance of detoxification in our lives

Happy listening!

Speaker 1 (00:00):

“If you don't sacrifice for what you want, what you want becomes the sacrifice.” Jay Shetty, stay tuned. As a former business litigator turned functional, nutritional therapy practitioner, badass, Kristin Raul shares with you why you need to detox, how to do it, what human design can do for you, and how to get on your right path in life.

Speaker 2 (00:26):

So the big question is how do women over 40 like us, keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an O-B-G-Y-N, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunton. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:19):

Hi everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription. Thank you so much for joining me today. You are gonna love my guest today. She really is a powerhouse. Kristin Rowell, she's a former business litigator who followed her inner intuition. You're gonna hear how that unfolded into a new path in life where she actually helps women to create the health that they love. And she's very inspirational in terms of finding your authentic voice and getting on your right path in life. You're gonna hear her story, but let's start with detoxing and making it super simple. Sometimes we clinicians can make it super complicated and sometimes it takes someone who comes from a non-medical background who just wants to know, okay, that's great complicated information, but how do I do this practically for myself in everyday life to show us the way? And she really has created a really easy framework.

Speaker 1 (02:24):

You're gonna love what she has to say. It's super simple and super doable, and we're just gonna talk about why you need to do it, how to do it super simply, and you're gonna wanna do it. And then she's also very inspirational in terms of getting on your right path in life. Many women go into one path early on in their lives, whether it's motherhood or career, whatever it may look like. And then at midlife and beyond, we start feeling like there's something more that we wanna explore in terms of the gifts we have to offer in terms of what we wanna contribute to life in terms of what we wanna experience in life. And so it really is the time when we get to unpack those dreams, unpack our authentic selves, and figure out what is next for us. So I'll tell you a little bit about her and then we'll get started.

Speaker 1 (03:22):

Kristen Raul is a former business litigator, turned functional nutritional therapy practitioner, badass. She helps high achieving, stressed out professionals transform by losing weight, increasing their energy, and becoming more efficient as the founder and CEO of energetically efficient. The clients who hire Kristin are ready for transformational change and she works closely with them to guide them on their journey to becoming positive, energetic, motivated, fit, highly vibrational humans. She has served on boards, she's spoken all over the country. She has a long list of certifications and accomplishments. We talk about this in the episode and please help me welcome Kristin to the show.

Speaker 3 (04:05):

Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 4 (04:07):

So you are a powerhouse, physically, mentally, emotionally. You're a former business litigator. Now you're a functional nutritional therapy practitioner. You have awards and competitions. There's so many topics that you could talk about to bless our women with today. And everybody should know that. Kristin and I were talking before the show trying to decide how we gonna narrow this down? 'cause I wanna make it very specific and actionable for you. And one of my new passions is human design, which she's passionate about too. So I wanna get that in there. So I thought that we would really focus on nutritional detoxification 'cause we've talked a lot about detoxification, but we talk about a lot of supplements and you all know coffee enemas are like my favorite, but maybe you wanna know a more practical way, Dr. Kyrin, like, how can I do this and just tweak how I eat? And so why don't we just start there, but welcome. I'm so glad to have you here.

Speaker 3 (05:09):

Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited. And I absolutely love not only human design, but also the topic of nutritional detoxification. And so I have been detoxifying my body nutritionally through just real food on and off, whether quarterly, twice a year or annually for over 20 years. So I have a tremendous amount of experience in it. And when I did my first detox, I was in my twenties. Here I am now at 47, and I really didn't know what I was doing. I didn't understand the importance of it other than this sounds like something that's an interesting challenge. And so I've iterated what I've done for detoxification over the years. And now I take myself quarterly, just once a quarter, I take myself through a two week cleanse. Okay? So it's not a bunch of supplements, it's not a juice fast, it's not cleansing in that way.

Speaker 3 (06:00):

It's really how do we eat the right foods? How do we consume the foods that contain the nutrients to support our body's phase one and phase two detoxification pathways? So that's really what it's all about. So for example, and I'm sure you know this, the sulfation pathway is part of your detox to phase two pathways. So in order to make sure you're supporting that particular pathway, we would need to eat foods that contain sulfur. So those would be our eggs, onion, garlic, our daikon radish, and those will enhance the sulfation pathway. So really when I go through this, and I'm happy to go down any avenue that we want to here, but when I take myself through this two week cleanse, and I do this of course with clients as well, it's about how do we get out all the things that detract our body from detox?

Speaker 3 (06:47):

How do we take those foods out of our system so that our body can do its natural detoxification, but it's always trying to do? And then how do we add in the foods that will support those pathways so that detoxification can be maximized? Mm-Hmm . And one other easy example is many people may not know that when you're pummeling your body with a phase two detox, which is very supportive for your liver, you are going through large quantities of glutathione. So it's really important to consume, for example, the amino acid cysteine, the amino acid methionine, some of these amino acids that we get from animal protein foods to actually help our body make more glutathione so that the detox can do its thing better. Yeah,

Speaker 4 (07:28):

This is great Kristen. So let's back up one step. And I know some people are saying, do I need to do a detox? Of course, if they're listening to me long enough, they know the answer to that . But you know, when I practice regular gynecology, people would ask me all the time, do I need to do a detox? And what was I trained to say was, no, your liver takes care of it. And that's just, we have so much trash coming into us now. We have to be doing a detox. And I do recommend at least quarterly, and that's for maintenance. If you've never done a major full body all systems detox, you probably need to go to do a good three or six months. How does somebody know if they're toxic? And they need to do a

Speaker 3 (08:12):

Fantastic question? Because you're right, many at any level of education, for most people, this isn't something that you're taught would might be a good idea for you. So the kinds of signs and symptoms that I tell people to look for in terms of whether they need detoxification are many, but I'll just list a few of them. It would be if you're getting skin issues like acne or rashes on your body, it's if you have a hard time losing weight, if you notice that you have, let's say, and this is in more severe cases, swollen lymph nodes around your body where you actually can feel your lymph, that would be another thing. If you are someone who doesn't sweat that often, so you're not getting mm-hmm, detoxification out. So if you're not a sauna person, if you're not doing any sort of heated classes where you're really getting your sweat on, I assure you all of the toxins that you accumulate in your body are not coming out just through your urine and your feces because people's systems get so sluggish.

Speaker 3 (09:05):

If you are someone also who doesn't ever engage in or doesn't know anything about breath work, because breath is of course one of our other detoxification pathways. So if you're not sweating and you're not doing breath work, those things alone may make you a candidate for detoxification. If you also notice just other symptoms I say in the body and they can range from, I feel tired all the time and I don't have a lot of energy and I don't know why I am reaching for caffeine every day and I need caffeine all of the time just to function, that's a bad sign. If you're someone who is easily intoxicated from drinking wine or other alcohol, that's a sign that your liver is pretty stagnant. And that might mean you need to detox. So those are just some Dr. Kean and I'm guessing that there's others that you can just as well.

Speaker 4 (09:48):

All right. I'm thinking dark circles under your eyes, puffiness in your face, hands or feet. Yes. And, and basically if, if you're a human on the planet in 2023, you need to be detoxing. Everybody needs to be detoxing

Speaker 3 (10:03):

. I'm so glad you said that 'cause I completely agree with you. But you're right. It's also those dark circles under the eyes. Those things are huge signs as well. And a lot of people don't realize, okay, yes, our liver is our hardest working organ and it's performing over 500 functions in our body, but rarely do we ever stop and give it some love. I would say we need to give our liver some love. It is a, and most images that you will see of the human body, it is always painted in this bright red color. It is the color of love. It's, it does so much for us. And so it's so good to pause, I think quarterly and really be gentle with your liver. Take out, especially now. And and I practice this as well. I generally eat what I consider to be a well-formulated low carbohydrate lifestyle. So I am eating, you know, somewhere between 50 and as much as 200 grams of carbohydrates depending on the day. But of course, a standard American diet, most people are eating more than 300 carbohydrates. And so what people don't realize is just like your liver has to filter all of the toxins in your body, which means that plastic thing that you heated up food in the microwave. No, don't do that. That plastic water bottle that you drank out of, no thank you,

Speaker 4 (11:12):

No ,

Speaker 3 (11:13):

All of these plastic offenders. But that doesn't count the stuff we're breathing in. That doesn't count so many other toxins. All of this crappy lotion that I see people putting on their body, these offending soaps, other fragrances, every perfume you use, ladies, the makeup that we wear, all of these things put toxins into our body. And so all of those toxins have to be filtered through our liver. But so is all of the fat that we consume. So when I take clients through nutritional detoxification or when I do it for myself, I'm actually not recommending during that two week period that they're consuming something that's keto or that they're eating generally low carb. I want them to eat a lot of fiber. We add beans, we're doing cruciferous vegetables, which are supportive of detoxification. We're doing the dark leafy greens, which are supportive of detoxification. We're including a bunch of liver healing foods.

Speaker 3 (12:05):

And that might be artichokes, asparagus, celery, dandelion root tea, nutritional yeast, beets. All of these things are fantastic for your liver. So you're really saying to yourself each day, how can I get a bunch of these high quality detoxification supporting nutrient foods in my body each day? And how can I get out the noise, the processed sugar, the processed carbohydrates? Actually, I take out a diary for most people for a little bit of time. 'cause Dairy can be really offensive and obviously very inflammatory, even though I do love it. But I take that out for a period of time. And then we really just work to balance the body. And one of the best things I, and I know you know about nutritional detoxification, is it really helps to balance your hormones. It's fantastic for clearing excess estrogen in the body, which so many people are walking around with men and women. By the way, estrogen is not supplied to women, which I'm sure your listeners well know. So those, all of those reasons are why I think anyone who's living in a, as a human in 2023 could benefit from it.

Speaker 4 (13:06):

Thank you for bringing that up. If you are having estrogen dominance problems, and this is pretty much every perimenopausal woman, many women, so that's, if you're over 40, but many women over 20, I think that we should just say we're an estrogen nation. We're just swimming in estrogen. Most people, if you have period problems, fibroids, endometriosis if you're overweight, you have estrogen dominance. So you, one of the number one things you can do, Kristin, is exactly right, is do a detox and get your liver cleaned out because these estrogens are cleaned out through your liver, they're dumped into your gastrointestinal tract and they go out in your poop. So if you're not pooping, you need to be getting 20, 30, 40 grams of fiber a day at least to bind that estrogen and get it out. So thank you for bringing that up.

Speaker 3 (13:56):

Well, and thank you for bringing up the bowel movement piece of things, because I think so few people realize it's not just because you eat food, it's not a guarantee that it just seamlessly in the next day or two comes out the other end. A lot of the fecal matter and the toxicity in our body, you guys, if we're not having the really good healthy fats, if we're not hydrated, if we don't consume enough fiber, if we are super stressed out and we are always in a sympathetic state so that we can't have a bowel movement, and I have lots of clients like this, I'm sure you do as well. Yeah. In those circumstances now, these toxins that are trying to make their way through our intestinal tract can get stuck on the inside walls of our colon. And what happens over time, if they don't make their way out, is your colon, the large intestine will reabsorb that toxic material. So now there, it goes back into your bloodstream. And that may happen in more severe cases, but it really is a consequence of not consuming the fiber, having the healthy fats and hydrating enough to actually allow those toxins to make it all their way through the digestive system.

Speaker 4 (14:59):

I've been having this visual as we're having this conversation. I grew up in New York City and there was a time when the sanitation workers went on strike, right? So the trash, they put out the trash every day on the curb in New York, and then these big trash trucks come and they pick it up and they ship it off the island. But then they went on strike and the trash was piling up and oh my gosh, it was like this summer and it stunk. And I'm thinking, if you're not supporting your liver, then that's basically what's happening is the pi, the trash is piling up and it's stinking like Manhattan did when I was a kid. And the trash department, sanitation department went on strike. So we've talked about some. That's a good analogy.

Speaker 3 (15:43):

That's a great

Speaker 4 (15:43):

Analogy. And if you're not pooping, that's what's happening. Yes. Or it's, a lot of people would say, oh, I don't wanna drink water. We gotta talk about water, Kristen, they say, I don't like the taste of water. I don't drink water. And I'd say, well, not drinking enough water. 'cause You are 60 to 70% water and it helps to flush you out. It's like going to the bathroom all day in your toilet and never flushing . And then they go, okay, Kyrin, I get it. I'll drink the water .

Speaker 3 (16:13):

I love that. That's, I might steal that from you. It's so true. It's so true. And the other thing is with the hydration piece, and I know we can get to this, but ladies, if you want glowing, gorgeous, young looking skin, drink your water, it's so valuable in terms of hydrating your cells because it really provides the hydration that allows our skin to say, stay supple. So that's just one more reason that we wanna make sure we hydrate. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (16:37):

And just for everybody listening, if you didn't see Dana Cohen, we have a great two great interviews on the podcast about hydration and the specifics of it and types of water. And so you definitely wanna check that out, but you're absolutely right, Kristen. Alright, so what does your two week food detox regimen look like? I know everybody's gonna wanna low. No. 'cause You look amazing. You tell everyone all about all the IS fitness, bodybuilding competitions, you've won. So you're doing something right. So yeah, they're gonna wanna know about it, yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (17:11):

I'm a professional bodybuilder and I'm a natural figure competitor. And I was Miss Natural Minnesota in 2018, which sounds so silly to even say, but it's in this fitness competition area. And I've also run 25 marathons. So I've, over the course of many years, really worked on dialing in my nutrition to optimally support, not just athletic performance, but because of what we do for a living in terms of it being very busy. And we work with busy professionals who work with women who are busy. It's also about cognitive function and having lasting energy throughout the day. So you're not having these blood sugar dips, you're actually able to sleep well and you're high functioning. So what my detoxification protocol looks like, just if people are like, oh my God, this is so overwhelming, where do I start? Mm-Hmm. . This is what I call my Cliff notes version of how to do it.

Speaker 3 (17:55):

So I'd say the hardest part for most people, and I'm just gonna get this out there, is I, when I detox and I tell everyone this, I really recommend that you take out the caffeine, the coffee, because caffeine really does interfere with your phase one detox pathways. And if you're gonna go on this venture to really detoxify, we gotta get the caffeine out. So I went through my detoxification just a couple weeks ago, and I had a bad headache for a couple days because I had been on coffee after being off of it for a year. I had been doing some traveling, and I was in a country where they had really good coffee. So anyways, I started drinking again. So for me, the crash was pretty hard, but once I got through those first two, three days, I was fine. It literally only takes a couple of days to break up with it.

Speaker 3 (18:38):

So no coffee, no sugar of any kind. I recommend that people don't do any packaged, even protein bars, even if it seems like the cleanest, healthiest protein bar. Let's just get all of that out. I'm just asking you to do it for two weeks. So also no dairy for certainly for a period of time. And then no refined grains of any kind. It's really a lot of vegetables, a few fruits and lean animal proteins, and then a lot of different supportive vegetables. So those are the nos. Those are like no caffeine, no sugar, no refined foods, no mold on your fruit is another one I forgot about. No protein bars, those kinds of things. And by the way, also no excess fat. So no bacon, no ribeyes, even those things, I'm not saying you're bad for you, but just not when you're cleansing. Mm-Hmm, .

Speaker 3 (19:23):

So then, okay, what do we eat? If we're taking all that off the table, what actually do we consume? So I recommend that people do something in the cruciferous category every day. So that means broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, or Brussels sprouts. So anything in that category. 'cause Cruciferous is great to support detox. Also, something in the citrus category, orange, lemon, lime, dark leafy greens. So this could be everything from the new band dangled micro greens that I'm just loving, that I keep finding at Whole foods. I love microgreens, arugula, water crests, Swiss shard, mustard greens, parsley, all of those things that you don't normally incorporate every day. Those are another awesome category to add. And then the sulfur rich foods that I mentioned before, so this would be your eggs, onion, garlic, or even dican radish are rich in sulfur. Those are the top four that I think of.

Speaker 3 (20:12):

And then there's just a few more categories. It's the liver healing foods, colon cleansing foods, and then our lean proteins. And then we just go pretty light on the healthy fat. So in the liver healing category, it's some of those foods I mentioned before, which are artichoke, asparagus, beets, celery, nutritional yeast, dandelion root tea, even whey protein or other high quality proteins, pea proteins, powders that literally have very minimal ingredients like just the protein isolate and maybe some stevia or monk fruit. And then in the colon cleansing category. And this category really helps add to the fiber and get the stool out of your body. These are things like apples, carrots, hairs, organic ground, flaxseed, cilium husk, organic chia seeds. Those are excellent sources of fiber. And also beans. I forgot about the beans. I absolutely love using a half of cup of organic beans every day during the detox because it's the highest quality source of soluble fiber and soluble fiber when it emulsifies with that bile that's being produced by our liver, and it mixes with that soluble fiber, it can really help to pull toxins through our digestive tract and get it out of the body.

Speaker 3 (21:22):

And then last, but certainly not least, is the lean proteins and just a couple servings of healthy fat. I tell people to back off on the fat a fair amount just because we wanna give our liver a break. But the lean proteins, of course, can include the wild caught shrimp, the chicken breasts, the grass-fed ground beef. And if you're not doing animal protein, which I recommend that people do, if they can tolerate it, if they aren't doing that, then a high quality Tempe source or spirulina or something else to get amino acids in, or even do an amino acid supplement because amino acids are so great for detoxification and amino acids are so great for hormone health in general. Right. And I'm sure you and I could talk for hours about that topic, but I just, I love helping people understand. It's one of the reasons that for some people, if they practice a vegetarian or vegan diet for long enough and they don't supplement with enough amino acids, they will find that their serotonin levels dip very low and they feel depressive symptoms. It's just this isn't like an opinion. These are just facts of how the body works. And I'm sure you answer to that as well. Yeah,

Speaker 4 (22:23):

I mean, I think they've got, you really laid out the foods, eat these foods in various varieties for two weeks, and you've really done a great detox. If you're pooping and you're drinking and you're peeing and you're sleeping and getting sunshine and going outdoors and all the things, so maybe dive into the amino acids. So many of us women over 40, even under 40, we are amino acid deficient. We don't eat enough protein. We don't digest the protein that we're eating because we eat on the go. We eat standing up or we don't eat enough. So our digestive enzymes are down . And then we don't extract the amino acids. And amino acids are the backbone of all your hormones. So if you're having hormonal poverty, hormonal deficiency, then that's one of the things you need to look at. It's also the backbone of all our neurotransmitters. So what amino acids would you suggest that they supplement with? How do they know?

Speaker 3 (23:21):

So for the amino acids that I recommend for supplementation, I mean, I take different amino acids for supplements that are particular brands. I take body health or key on aminos when I need them. But in terms of the overall amino acid profile, just for context, we of course have 20 amino amino acids, and nine of those are essential. So the others are non-essential. But of the nine essential amino acids, and I, I care about this topic a lot simply because I'm a professional bodybuilder. So I really care about what's the amino acid profile for helping me to build muscle, right? Mm-Hmm . And what we need to build muscle is we can't just have whatever amino acids without any intention around it. It really has to be those nine essential amino acids. So those include three branch chain amino acids, which are isoleucine, leucine, and valine.

Speaker 3 (24:06):

And we wanna have those inadequate amounts. We wanna specifically make sure that leucine is 2.5 grams or more combined with the other eight essential amino acids to stimulate muscle protein synthesis. So those would be in addition to the iso, leucine, leucine and veiling. Those are things like methionine. You'll find in a lot of these animal products that we eat cystine in the non-essential category, what you'll find more in collagen are amino acids like glycine. And that's great for hair, skin, and nails. But my primary recommendation when it comes to the amino acid profile of foods is you really can be brainless about it if you stick to animal proteins because animal proteins really contain that high quality benefit. And the other thing I tell people about amino acids is to think of it this way, let's put ourselves a hundred, 200, 300 years ago, and you've probably heard this term, most humans when they ate, they would eat something called a nose to tail way of eating.

Speaker 3 (25:02):

They would eat the entire animal. I'm sure everyone remembers, perhaps they had parents or grandparents or great-grandparents that ate things like liver and onions. We ate more organ meats back then. And now what we're so consumed with all the time is eating just muscle meat. We only eat the chicken breast. We don't eat chicken liver, we only eat lean steak like filet mignon. We don't eat beef, heart, or kidney. And so what that means is we're getting sort of an imbalanced amino acid profile in our bodies that's inconsistent with what nature intended. So the way to think about this in terms of supplementation is if you are someone who just eats the chicken breast and not the chicken liver or the filet mignon and not the beef, heart or kidney, then I really recommend that you do consume a high quality collagen supplement because collagen is a kin to those organ meats that we just aren't eating anymore.

Speaker 3 (25:56):

So I always say, if you're going to eat muscle meat, think of the muscle meat, like a whey protein shake. Muscle meat is very analogous to whey when it comes to the powders. And then the organ meats are very analogous to collagen when it comes to the powders. So oftentimes for my clients, if I'm running a meal plan for them and they wanna have a protein shake, I may ask them to combine whey or let's say it's pea if they can't consume whey protein with collagen so that they get that full comprehensive amino acid profile. Does that make sense?

Speaker 4 (26:25):

Yes. And that's great advice because you're so right. Most people don't eat organ meats. Of course. I love chicken liver.

Speaker 3 (26:33):

I do Joel

Speaker 4 (26:34):

Most. Yeah, most people don't. And so that's very sage advice. Thank you for offering that. I know that your time is limited, and I think that your path has been unique in that you were a litigator and now you help people transform their health. Yes. And you've done so many, I mean, marathons and competitions. So you obviously have a drive and you have a gift for transformation. I love this quote you shared with me before we started from Jay Shetty. If you don't sacrifice for what you want, what you want becomes the sacrifice. Yes. And I talked to so many women at midlife who really have put their lives on hold. They're not in jobs that they love anymore. Maybe their kids have grown up and left, but they don't know what's next for them. And you really have exemplified jumping from one lane, not only to another lane, but to a completely different highway. So can you talk a little bit about how that transformation took place that might inform somebody listening if you wanna weave human design in there? I won't be mad at you. 'cause I love human design, , .

Speaker 3 (27:51):

Yes. No, I love it. I will. I can do that for

Speaker 4 (27:53):

Sure. Yeah. And maybe that played a part in it. 'cause I know that was huge for me, a real inflection point. So yeah, I would, we would love to hear about that because I know you have to go in a few minutes.

Speaker 3 (28:03):

Oh sure. No problem. Thank you so much. So really as I think about my transition, I was someone who believed I was going to be a lawyer until I retired. I loved it. I thought try a lawyering was the best, most fun thing you could do. And there was nothing about it that I was not one of these female lawyers who got super burnt out, who wanted to leave, who was eye-rolling every day at her job. Now I certainly look forward to my work much more than I did then. So maybe I was doing a little, running a little bit of a program at the time. The very short version on why I left is that in the fall of 2017, after I got out of what I consider to be a fairly toxic relationship, I finally discovered and started practicing meditation. And meditation was really my answer to everything.

Speaker 3 (28:46):

And I know for many people when they hear that, they're like, oh, don't tell me I have to meditate. I can't meditate. It's so hard. My brain is going all the time and I'm thinking of the dishes and the laundry and my to-do list and everything. And I always say, that's because you're not good at it yet. You just need to practice. And like everything. I wasn't amazing at my job on the first day. I certainly wasn't an amazing lawyer on the first day, but I got really good at it because I was practicing. And that's really what's required for meditation. So when I tell you that I started meditating in 2017 and throughout the course of 2018 and into early 2019, it became these very obvious nudges from the universe about the fact that this was going to be my new path. I was like, wait a second, what?

Speaker 3 (29:28):

I'm gonna leave the practice of law? But it became very clear, there were little signs and synchronicities. Kieran, I was in a meeting with clients who were my clients as a lawyer. I was lawyering for them. And we'd get done talking about the case and details. And then one would say to me, say, Kristen, I know you're really fit and you do these comp. I really would love some help with losing weight. Do you think you could help me? So I was starting to notice, well, this is weird here. I've been practicing for 15, 16 years and that kind of thing had not happened before. But it's almost as though clients in this new practice, this new business, were starting to present themselves to me, which was really exciting. So every time I would be in meditation, I would get these little nudges or I would feel this pull.

Speaker 3 (30:11):

In fact, my business name, which is called energetically efficient, came to me during a meditation in 2018. And I thought, well, that's a cool name. I wonder what that's for. . I just thought, okay, I'll write that down. Maybe I'll need it someday. But I wasn't aware of the fact that there was this bigger process in motion that was pushing me in a different direction. And so when I finally made the decision to leave in the summer of 2019, people often asked me, and they still do, was it scary? Were you scared? And I can honestly say this, that the answer is no. And it was because I was so confident that I was being guided in this new path. And I felt so confident that if I bet on myself, I can't go wrong, that it wasn't scary and it was just exciting.

Speaker 3 (30:52):

And building this business ever since has been so fun. And so to go to your human design point, this was something I'd probably heard about sometime several years ago, but you know how you don't ever absorb the information until you're ready, right? Yep. There'll be a lot of people listening to this that'll hear detox 10 times and they'll be like, yeah, maybe someday. And all of a sudden, they might listen to the episode again and be like, wow, I need to do that. So that was how human design was for me. And when I first looked at my human design chart, I went, wait, what? I'm a projector. 'cause That was surprising to me. And here, what projectors are here for is to make the world more efficient. I mean, my business is energetically efficient. How do you efficiently use your energy? I like all these light bulbs.

Speaker 3 (31:36):

And fireworks started going off in my brain because I couldn't believe how much I was already living my design. So now the big transition that I'm in with human design, and I'd be so curious for you as well, because I'm a six two splenic projector, is I've learned and I've finally accepted about myself that I am not someone who can go with meetings all day long, which is what I did for so much of my life. And I didn't realize I was working against my design. You know, I did it as a lawyer. Then I started this business and it had clients all day long from morning to night. And many times I'd feel exhausted at the end of the night. And so I'm really trying to lean into my design and create more space on my calendar for creativity and just having my programs and offerings be where people come to me instead of me being pushy and salesy. It works much better as a projector if you go with the strategy of being invited. So now I'm curious what you are. Yeah,

Speaker 4 (32:29):

And just I'll tell you, but for everyone listening, if you haven't heard me talking about human design, we've done, we've talked about it in a few podcast episodes now, and we're incorporating it to all, into all my programs. It's a a system of how your energy body works, right? No more are we seven centered chakra beings. We have nine energy centers. And you have a unique design that pretty much only you have based on the high degree of specificity and detail that's available. But in general, you have a type and an authority and a strategy for how you're supposed to be making decisions and living your life. And if you're living out of alignment with that, that can affect your hormones, it can affect every organ in your body, it can affect your health. Health. And I too was living as a generator go do.

Speaker 4 (33:20):

And I naturally, and meditation was a part of my story too. It's so funny when you were talking about that people can't meditate 'because they it. It's a new skill. I had this picture of who of us, if our kid, we tried to teach 'em how to tie their shoe, and the first time they did, they went, I can't do it. I'll never tie my shoe , right? We would go, well honey, you're just doing it for the first time. Be patient with yourself. Right? How many times did your child have to tie to tie their shoe until they got it right? Yes. So it's the same with meditation. And that was a part of my story. And then I intuitively, before I knew about human design, started doing it differently. And then of course somebody mentioned human design. And I'm like, yeah, I'll look into that.

Speaker 4 (34:05):

Never did until years later. And then found out I'm a five one projector, emotional projector. And it really was such validation and gave me permission to really lean into what I'm here for, which yes, to make the world more efficient and guide others. And so that's why we're doing what we're doing. And I want everyone to hear this because I know that some of you are struggling with the path that you're on in life and you're looking for answers and you're trying to figure it out with your mind. You can't figure out your soul's purpose with your mind. That's not what it's for. Correct. You need to follow your intuition. If human design sounds like it might resonate with you, do it. If you have tried meditating and you haven't gotten anywhere, try again. Try a different type of meditation. Follow your intuition. One of the women in my programs the other day during our group coaching call said, you know, I really couldn't do the meditation even focusing on a mantra.

Speaker 4 (35:03):

So I started singing the mantra out loud, and I can meditate when I do that. See? I said, brilliant. You're listening to yourself. You're listening to your soul. Yes. And so that's what this is all about. Like we're all on an energetic frequency. What's gonna work for you is gonna resonate with you. You hear Kristen talking about detox, you hear us talking about the sanitation department not flushing your toilet and something's, if it's called to you, you're gonna be going get your cruciferous vegetables and your amino acids and you're gonna do the deal. And if it's not resonating with you, then it's not for you. So I'm all about restoring that innate wisdom that we have in our bodies and our souls and our spirits. And so what's like, now that you're on this new path?

Speaker 3 (35:49):

It's been so fun. , I just love building a business. It's so I'm largely coaching one-on-one, I'm coaching group classes and masterminds, and then I'm speaking around the country at health conferences and other places as well. I mean, it's awesome for me that there are so many professionals, specifically lawyers for example, who really need to take control of their health and that haven't really prioritized it because they work too much. So that's been a treasure trove of clients for me in particular, simply because they know that I understand the demands of the profession. So that's been really rewarding. So I've just loved it. I get to do it from home, which is so fun. I always say, I started my business and then nine months later, the world shut down and a lot of people decided they need to finally get healthy. So the timing worked out really well, but I just love doing it. I love speaking, I love educating. I love showing people a more efficiently, energetic way to live, which is what we do as projectors.

Speaker 4 (36:40):

Yes. So I know you have to go. Let's leave everyone with a Zig Ziglar quote. You shared with me before we started, which I love. You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. So call to action everybody. What are you gonna start with? What are you feeling inspired to do after listening to us? There's something that's calling to you. Listen to that nudge and go do the thing. Kristen, please tell everyone where they can find out more about you online and interact with you.

Speaker 3 (37:13):

Thank you so much. So my website is energetically efficient, and then I'm most active on Instagram, and my Instagram handle is MN for Minnesota, MN Golden Girl. And I have three golden retrievers, which is where that comes from. I just love them so much. I'm also on LinkedIn under my name Kristen Raul. I have a cookbook that recently came out so they can find out information about that through my Instagram or my website.

Speaker 4 (37:36):

Awesome. Thank you so much for joining me, Kristen. It was an absolute pleasure to have you here today.

Speaker 3 (37:41):

I just loved it so much. Thanks for having me. And

Speaker 4 (37:43):

Thank you for listening to another episode of The Hormone Prescription. I know you're inspired after this conversation. I wanna know what you were inspired to do. Reach out to me on social media and let me know, and have a great week. I'll see you next week. Until then, peace, love, and hormones

Speaker 2 (38:00):

Y'all. Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormones and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.

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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.

Speaker 1 (00:00):

Feel your body every cell in every moment, and relate to the earth as if she is your dance partner. Dr. Michelle Veneziano. Stay tuned to find out why your fascia may be the key to your healing and your superpower, and why you're not walking correctly.

Speaker 2 (00:19):

So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us, keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an OB GYN, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:13):

Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription. Thank you so much for joining me today as we talk to Dr. Michelle Veneziano, who's an osteopathic physician and very brilliant and progressive in the approaches that she's helping people work on and master when it comes to health and healing. She is trained and helps people with cranial osteopathy, working with their fascia, changing their body movement and posture and nervous system so that they can ignite their body's innate ability to heal. Yes, your body has an innate ability to heal. Just like if you get cut, all you have to do is cover it so it doesn't get wounded again, and then nature takes care of the rest. Well, your whole body actually functions that way, but most of us aren't aware of the bandaid that we need to be placing on the rest of our body, particularly our fascia, our nervous system, to allow healing to occur.

Speaker 1 (02:17):

And sure, you've gotta work on your hormones, you've gotta work on your gut health and your detox and all the things like I like to say. But a big missing piece that even a functional medicine perspective misses, is looking at your fascia. We're gonna talk about why that's super important and how you're walking, how you're connecting above and below how you're connecting to Mother Earth and so many other things that Dr. Michelle really is brilliant when it comes to helping people understand and implement in their lives. So I'll tell you a little bit about her and then we will get started. Dr. Michelle Veneziano is an osteopathic physician and clinical professor who has pioneered osteopathic self-care rooted in cranial osteopathy, a hands-on evidence-based therapeutic practice. That's one of the things I love about her, is she can explain the science behind all of these things that sources both western and eastern philosophies to support the body's ability to heal itself. She has a unique approach and you're gonna love her as much as I love speaking with her. We probably need to do more episodes. She has a lot of resources for you, which we're gonna share at the end of our discussion. And we're gonna talk about walking and relating on the earth as if she's your dance partner. Welcome, Dr. Michelle Veneziano to the show. Thank

Speaker 3 (03:44):

You for having me. I'm glad to be

Speaker 4 (03:45):

Here. I'm so excited to talk about craniosacral therapy and osteopathic medicine and fascia and un fascial unwinding. This is my new obsession, like I was just telling you. And so I know a lot of people are going, what we're talking about craniosacral what and fascial what , but maybe let's start with the basics because I think a lot of people see doctor of osteopathic medicine, they see medical doctor and they don't really know the difference. So can you talk a little bit about , the basics? Like what is osteopathy? How does a doctor of osteopathy differ from a medical doctor? What's different about it? And then we'll, mm-Hmm. go from there.

Speaker 3 (04:30):

Osteopath that trained in the US are medical doctors. It's very confusing for patients. I totally sympathize with that. And most of the osteopaths dos people with a DO degree are pretty indistinguishable from MDs. And there's this tiny sliver of our profession that has really devoted, we've devoted ourselves to maintaining the traditional osteopathic principles and practice, which go back to the 18 hundreds actually. Mm-Hmm. . So people might say, oh, my surgeon's a do and I might think that probably means they do surgery and they don't necessarily use their hands or work with the traditional principles. And the thing that's relevant about that is that even though a do may have chosen surgery, there is a foundational principle of more connectedness to sensation, more connectedness to touch. Generally DOS are maybe a little bit more relatable. They're used to being a little bit more intimate in their conversations. So even if your do is an emergency room doctor or you know a gastroenterologist, there's something about DOS that's a little bit more human. And I actually don't want to, there's a lot of MDs also that even practice osteopathy, so it's pretty hard to explain. And I would say the percentage of doss that actually use their hands is very small. So it's hard to find us and we're all different, so it's hard to define what we do.

Speaker 4 (06:04):

Let's talk about what you do. So you pioneer a type of self-care that's rooted in cranial osteopathy. Can you talk a little bit about that? You say that it's evidence-based therapeutic practice that sources both western and eastern philosophies to support the body's ability to heal itself. So in plain English, if you were talking to, if I introduced you to my friend Sarah, what would, how would you explain what that means?

Speaker 3 (06:33):

Most of what people see osteopathic doctors for is to have our hands on them and solve all of the structural issues and the way that electricity flows through the body. And basically, ultimately it's a reboot, blending all of those things. So they actually arrive in time and space and their subtle body and their physical body come back together when a person is offline or not themselves, not present, not actually in their body. It's like watching a three D movie and having one image. The images aren't together. And so each of us solves that in unique ways. What I'm doing now with the revelation that I had through my own personal experience was that until I figured out what it felt like to almost like a setting on a dial to be in that integrated space, I would get healed. And then I go back out. So I thought, what's wrong with this picture? So many patients are coming, I integrate them and then they gradually dissociate and then at one point they'll come back to be rebooted again. And I, I'm really passionate now about teaching people how to stay in . So I say it's, I'm teaching people how to need fewer treatments, how to hold the treatments that they get and how to not need me. And it just feels so much more of a beautiful service and less of a rescuing codependent approach. Mm-Hmm. to being a care provider.

Speaker 4 (08:04):

So a few things you said in there that I think some people aren't gonna understand. One, you mentioned subtle body. I know some people are scratching their heads going, what is Dr. Michelle talking about? You talked about disassociate. I think some people aren't gonna understand that. Can you, you explain what you meaning?

Speaker 3 (08:23):

Yeah. It's time everyone out there in the world to understand what the energy body is. Yes, everything's energy. If you don't get this, you're really gonna be struggling and not having as much fun. So I'm just gonna say it's time to understand energy. There are universities in this country that study what the biofield is, the OR field, the meridians and the chakras. There are maps of these things there, gazillions of studies explaining that we're actually electrical beings. We're electrical first and physical second. And the brilliance of osteopathy is that the brilliance of nature is that form follows function. So if you have a way to work with your own energy body and keep all of those circuits going, that feeds the physical and is, that's how the body heals. So energy comes first, the structure comes second. So when we have this, osteopaths have this, how do they do it?

Speaker 3 (09:22):

Something magical happened, I don't get it. And it's so efficient and it goes so deep really quickly because we access that principle. We'll go in and it took me years and years to feel anything. I didn't feel anything. I was that person listening who was like, biofield, what is that ? I really was, I'm the perfect, I'm the perfect case because of my own trauma and my own density in a body that was pretty shut down from just arriving. In a world that doesn't get these things, it's quite traumatizing for every single person on the planet to not be acknowledged and be able to have a relationship with that subtle aspect of ourselves. And I'm talking about something very basic. Everyone, this is not esoteric or advanced, right? Primitive people would tune into the subtle wave nature of pres of the physical world, didn't know what the weather was doing and where the predators were, and really feel into the land. How do we grow our food here? What are the seasons doing? This is such basic stuff. And the fact that it hasn't really penetrated mainstream ways of living is really concerning to me. You look at the world, things are not going well. I would say this is the reason you tune into your body and you actually know, oh

Speaker 4 (10:49):

Yeah, because we think we are flesh and bones and so we don't realize who we really are. And so once you get that, you have this subtle electrical body and that really our physicality follows this subtle body. Everybody needs to be addressing it. People are still going to their HMO doctors and they're not getting that information there. So I think that's why they're not aware. But then you talked about with feeling that they have, they have to dis they dissociate and that you need to bring them back. But helping them to learn how to do this themselves. And so how is this self-care, cranial osteopathy, something that can help people to manage their own subtle body?

Speaker 3 (11:32):

I'm gonna really simplify this because I'm an osteopath, okay? But I could be an Ayurvedic doctor, I could be a Chinese medicine doctor. We have different languages for describing the same thing. Okay? How do we connect with the energetic layer of existence? And if we don't do that, the organism of our bodies is going to be in fight or flight on some to some degree. So that's a tie-in to the hormone piece that I, I wanna speak to. And we're also going to feel spiritually, emotionally disconnected. What is this life experience happening? What being in a body is so strange if we don't connect to that deeper. It's almost like when we begin to have an experience as an electrical being and more identifying with that larger aspect of ourselves, we feel things start to make sense and we start to feel like connected to meaning and purpose and that bigger picture that, and most people, they don't have that. And the list of problems that will arise because of that dissociation, that disconnection from our deeper selves is limitless. So people say, how do you solve this? How do you solve that? Get in your body. Feel who you are. So I'm an embodiment teacher. Now I was not in my body, right? I had a whole host of, I could tell you my story for, I've had everything in the book. Please just tell us. I think it would be very instructive. Okay.

Speaker 3 (13:06):

Some of us are born maybe more aware and more sensitive as our base nature. And that was me. I arrived in Brooklyn, New York in the sixties and it was very weird. I remember feeling like I lived in an energetic world. I actually remember as a toddler walking down the street and seeing in colors and sort of feelings thing, feeling I got a lot of information that was bigger and different than what people were saying and doing. So it looked like I was in a movie. And then slowly I forgot all that. 'cause I grew up and I remember, and this is what happens to us, children are very spiritually connected typically, unless there's some horrific birth trauma experience. And then we slowly, so gradually acculturate to this different energetic collective kind of uncon, I'm gonna call it the collective unconscious of the planet.

Speaker 3 (14:04):

And it's heartbreaking and it's so gradual and unconscious. People don't really get that it even happened. They just wake up one day often as adolescents. And life is just not right. So many people are on antidepressants. The suicide rates are so high and there's this sort of vague, what is it? And then the surge goes on and on and then the list of physical things goes on and on. And I loved the episode with that. You did with Dr. Amit Agarwal. I was listening earlier and I just loved how he went into all these layers and speaking to how we have to begin to or get to, you said we have to. This is a beautiful invitation to come back to ease and grace and it's so much life. Makes sense. And it's so much simpler when we drop into that deeper layer of wisdom and connection to the planet.

Speaker 3 (15:04):

It's a literal electrical connection to the earth. It's a polarity. We actually become connected to the positive iion forces of the ionosphere and then the grounding. It's the yin pole of the earth. And so we begin to connect heaven and earth through our bodies and log on this infinite well of power and wisdom and intelligence in the universe. I just described what a spiritual experience typically is for most people. They somehow connect. It could be psychedelics, it could be a revelation that comes or a healing that comes or, and but, and what is that thing? And how do we actually live there? And somehow we're gonna connect this to fascia because you're really interested in fascia. And fascia is relevant to what I'm saying. So back to my story, I was not in my body at all. And then I arrived in, I think I was 15 years old and I had this accidental intellectual exposure to psychedelic medicine.

Speaker 3 (16:10):

It was a peyote medicine. And I've never said this in public before, but I think it's really relevant now that I saw it all. It's like, am I observer, self stepped back and looked at the whole movie and I was remember feeling, don't, how did I end up here? This is the wrong place. It's, it was very dark because the world's very dark. It's very, it's impossible to understand or feel resolution toward without this bigger site being in the body gives you bigger sight, simplifies things and resources. The physical self with the energy needed and the intelligence needed to heal. So I think that's where my journey began in the sense of, oh, I'm actually going to move toward understand I'm gonna solve this. And the same, it was the same year I got the download. I remember walking across the courtyard of my high school and it was almost like a boy said, you're going to medical school.

Speaker 3 (17:13):

And at the time I didn't even, I didn't know what that meant. I just thought books are easier than people. Let's do it. . So I had to heal myself. And then the whole process of my 20 years in practice was getting into my body. At first it's a little terrifying 'cause it's uncharted territory and there's all this backlog. So consciously or otherwise, when you say embodiment, it's a little bit terrifying to the subconscious. What is that? It's a total unknown. I might be an expert in a million things and I go in this direction and I feel totally disoriented and out of my depth. Hey, I understand. I'm with you on that. And so I had was a distance runner to deal with all my stress and medical school and existential stress is what I would say is the biggest thing. This kind of, I'm not gonna look at the world.

Speaker 3 (18:10):

I'm just gonna study a lot and run like 10 miles a day to just move all the energy of that terror. I would say that most of us carry somewhere in ourselves, whether or not we're connected to it moment to moment. And I had physical issues, big time, adrenal stuff. I had blown a disc in my low back 'cause I was so not present with my structure. I just was running all those endorphins. And then I got to fix it all. And it took many years. And I realized at one point, wow, I'm getting all these amazing treatments. But until I got in my body and was driving that blend of the physical and electrical, it didn't stick. Mm-Hmm . So I thought my biggest service to the world would be to help people have a lot of fun doing this, driving of their integrated self.

Speaker 3 (19:06):

So I actually wanna talk about really specific things today. Two epic super simple things that people can begin to do right now, like in this moment is connect your tongue to the roof of your mouth. Because the pituitary, which guides all the entire endocrine system hormones, cortisol that topic is so deep and I really love how Dr. Agarwal addressed it. So I'm not gonna talk about it. I'll invite everyone to go listen to that podcast. Is that when our tongue is dissociated from the roof of our mouth, it's actually pretty difficult to blend the three D movie into one physical and subtle body. It's almost like a set point for the main river of life force through the center of the body, which is called the central channel in Chinese medicine. And sh shara in sh sh. Thank you. Thank you. . Oh, in Ayurvedic medicine, this is this.

Speaker 3 (20:06):

And in osteopathy we call it the midline. Everything. Everything relates to the midline. So the physical and the subtle, we've got to, we get to begin to tune into what that channel is that connects us to the earth. And the ionosphere. It's a literal electrical circuit. I have papers in physics that describe how we participate in this circulation. It's not a vague, esoteric or really hypothetical. This is all mapped out in physics and mathematics. I have to close my window here just a second. So the tongue on the roof of the mouth, I say having a well-functioning tongue is like having an osteopath living in your head. And in Ayurvedic teachings, in the Vedic teachings, they describe a chakra in the roof of the mouth called the Soma chakra. That when the tongue is trained to land on the roof of my of your mouth and I speak all about how you get this to happen on my website in a blog called Your Swallows Mile and sleep are more related than you think.

Speaker 3 (21:17):

And so I have people start to really experience how wonderful it feels to have this connection come back in. And I can see you're doing it right now, , you're playing with that the entire polyvagal pathway, the vagus nerve is, is almost like massaged with every swallow. When the tongue lands on the roof of your mouth and mechanically it's one to six pounds of pressure every time you swallow one to 2000 times a day. And that pulses and keeps the pituitary awake and it keeps the connection between the heart and the pineal active. So this is an very direct nervous system. Calming and electrical system activation. There's a super cool idea. It's gonna affect fascia too because you're gonna begin to activate the electrical flow through the body, which then basically supercharges the fascia. And what we wanna do is get our energy moving. That's all I'm talking about.

Speaker 3 (22:18):

At the end of the day, you could call this podcast, get your energy moving and also get it in focus. Not all, most people are walking around, they're like a symphony of musical instruments that are all doing different things. It's crazy. And then we wanna get the symphony in tune. So tongue on the palette. And I wanted to say something. Oh, it's such a deep topic. I really encourage people to go read that blog. It's, I have a whole free self-study library. And then specifically, I'm 59 years old. I look like maybe I'm 45. I never have pain, I don't get sick ever. And I believe it's because of this constant flushing that I've, ult that I've gradually cultivated. My base setting is that I live in this place where there's powerful energy radiating out from my midline at all times. But this is very much like what martial artists do.

Speaker 3 (23:20):

This is what yogis do. This is the actual purpose of those practices. And then the toning and correction of things like joint pain and fill in the blank, everything extend from those things. Yoga, qigong, tai chi, frankly just being in a body is all those things all the time. They're not practices for me that I set aside time to do. I'm doing them in every moment. And I don't even know it because that's just who we're born being. So my entire teaching is about let's just reboot and restore to all the things we did naturally when we were born. Everything that works, everything that's good, you are already an expert in, it's just dormant intelligence. So tongue on the palate is where we're gonna start. And that's one connection, one gate, every joint in the body, the palate has multiple joints. Actually our gates in Chinese medicine that they talk about in Qigong, they talk about how every joint in the body is a gate through which this electric electricity must flow.

Speaker 3 (24:32):

So cranial, we started out, what does cranial mean? The entire skull behaves in a certain way when there's a lot of vital energy flowing through it. It actually pulses. We call this a rhythm cranial rhythm that is, do you have one or don't you? If you don't, things aren't gonna go well. And so someone might walk in and say, oh I have adrenal fatigue, I have migraines. Okay, cranial rhythm or not cranial rhythm. It doesn't really matter what the symptom is. It matters if you're breathing the entire body, including the fascia, bones and muscle must be integrated and pulsing in this beautiful fluid way that renders our system like an engine in tune. It becomes very fluid and efficient. That's a physical description of flow. State flow state's actually physical and it's also subtle electrical. So the second thing, that was my major revelation that made me so happy and is the reason I don't have pain.

Speaker 3 (25:34):

And it's the reason I'm super fit. Despite really not doing anything but using every cell in my body when I walk. And every moment when I sit the whole time I'm talking to you, I'm feeling not consciously, there's no work to this. Once you land in it again, this is you. I'm feeling and connected to every cell in my body. Every cell in my body is participating in everything I'm doing. Breathing, walking, moving, feeling. So it's like a constant state of refreshing, clearing, rejuvenating every cell in the body in every moment. So I hope that wasn't too complex. I do wanna talk about the specifics of how we walk to start to activate that power. Do you wanna say anything? Please,

Speaker 4 (26:25):

Please do. So let's see. I definitely wanna talk about fascia. So , if you wanna go there and then we can, if you wanna start talking about fascia, that would be

Speaker 3 (26:35):

Great. It's beautiful that you have this idea to talk about fascia because when the skull is doing this pulsing, the pelvis is also doing the pulsing. The entire body is a spring. Every joint is expanding contracting in relation to the earth. When that's happening, the fascia does not have to protect us. There's a quality when someone walks in and I'm like, do you have a cranial rhythm or don't you? Well if you don't, you're probably also gonna be physically shrink wrapped in fascia that's trying to protect you and isn't really hydrated or awake or supple and adaptable. So the tongue practice that I just described will actually begin to allow your fascia to back off the need to protect the body. Because once that electrical midline comes in, it's like the trunk of a tree and the entire, all the limbs can relax because they're connected to this power powerful central river. This is a key point. If you don't have a midline, your fascia is going to be doing all kinds of things. And how do you know? Because you'll stretch and then the next day you have to stretch again. You didn't actually, it doesn't stay supple in awake. Does that

Speaker 4 (27:51):

Make sense? I wanna, yes it does. Michelle, but I wanna just back up one second because I think most people have the idea of what fascia is the same as what I was basically taught in medical school and residency, which it's this kind of canvas like coating that encases all your bones, nerves, organs and keeps them from moving and holds them in place. But I have gotten such a deeper understanding and respect actually for what fascia is. It not only encases everything, but it attaches to every single cell in your body, every single cell. And it attaches to the structure or kind of the cytoskeleton of each cell. So this is the superhighway by which every cell in your body is connected. And please correct me if I'm wrong and elaborate, but it's faster than the nervous system. And it's why a flock of birds can move seamlessly all in one direction without communicating.

Speaker 4 (28:53):

And it's actually what causes the fastest coordination of movement in our body. And it has awareness and consciousness and stores memories and thoughts and all this. And so this is my new fascination with fascia. So I'd love it if you can elaborate on that so that everyone has a a context for what you're saying. I don't want them to discount it and say, oh that's just that white canvassy stuff. Like when we used to do surgery, it was the tissue we had to get through to get to the uterus, but we really didn't pay it much attention. But it's so much more than that.

Speaker 3 (29:24):

Oh, I'm so excited that you're so excited to talk about fascia. 'cause It is misunderstood.

Speaker 4 (29:30):

It's,

Speaker 3 (29:31):

And it does connect to every cell. And in terms of this reason that a flock of birds, you're, that's one beautiful analogy I use to mm-Hmm just have people get what flow state is, it's everything I'm talking about. And the one piece is there isn't a single aspect of the body that's not a part of shifting to the state of being able to intercommunicate the way of flocker berg's inter communicates. Think about the symphony analogy. There's bone, there are different densities in the body. We have bone, we have muscle, we have dura, we have organ tissue. The fascia connects it all. It's like the information superhighway. But, and every single instrument in the symphony participates the fascia's probably the great harmonizer in order for every cell to and every tissue type to begin to synchronize. So that we do become a flock of birds.

Speaker 3 (30:26):

We literally feel connected to everything and everyone, we are tribal beings. This is a foundational principle related to our ability to really exist in prosperity, expansion, abundance, all of that. So the fascia reflects when the body is in integration. It all comes back to integration. The fascia begins to be this sort of fluid supportive, super efficient conductor of information between every single cell in the body. And this electrical activation of the midline is how the charge comes in. The literal energy of our spirit comes through this channel, through the crown of the head when we're born. And that's not when we're born but in development. And the fascia is like where that electricity is actually stored. It's like a battery. It's like a many layers of the body store charge. But, and the fascia is I'm almost seeing like a science fiction movie where the people are in like a, I'm curious about why this image came in.

Speaker 3 (31:37):

It's like an electrical matrix that just holds it all together and holds potency and intelligence coming through these channels of connection through the sky and the ground. You know how they're doing solar collection of energy through painting like a roof. The fascia is like this absorber of even energy from the sunlight. It's actually like a huge aspect of how the body functions as a bio battery. So there's the subtle body, the electrical that comes in, but the physical actually has to be able to participate in that. And it's an exchange we have to be able to store that power and then allow it to manifest as regrowing a bone. If you break a bone. I think I'm, I might be getting a little bit abstract with this description maybe a little bit. Yeah, . So let's talk about something really specific here. My fascia, I doesn't get tight, right?

Speaker 3 (32:39):

And it's very supple. It's high. The fascia holds a lot of the water in our body, right? It actually is a, is a very powerful place where mo molecules and electricity join to create this really intense expression of power. Like you said, it's not just the neural pathways, it's not just the meridians. The fascia is probably the most powerful physical aspect of electricity expressing in the body or being held in the body. So let's bring it down to something really basic. How is it that I don't really care ever if I get a massage or not? I don't have tension. I'm not shrink wrapped. And one of the ways that I have solved this is that I walk in a way that native people walk tango dancing is a really great way to begin to learn how to activate the back body, which we, we don't do.

Speaker 3 (33:40):

Where fight or flight is an activation of the front body. People have these short hip flexors. So as muscles, all the anterior muscles, all the flexors, they directly tighten the diaphragm and shrink wrap the kidneys and activate the adrenal system. Kidney, renal, adrenal, adrenaline activation of fight, fight or flight. And this returning to native walking just makes the entire conversation so simple. I can't express enough how simply the way you walk, which is how you originally did walk before you unlearned the rigidity of modern ways, right? It's not very American to move in this organic fluid primal way. You will see it more in South America, sometimes in Europe. But, and the stiffness, that is something we learn from simply unconsciously mirroring what we do in our culture shuts down the whole darn thing. Including the ability of the fascia to receive and store and express electricity and power and do its job of hydrating and supporting all the structures of the body.

Speaker 3 (35:00):

So natural walking, what do we do? It's opposite. It's . It's opposite of what we do. We don't activate, we don't let the SOAs do anything. We push off the back from the ball of the foot when we're pushing off from the ground. That is a momentum that then lets the leg glide effortlessly forward. And it's one way I think of it is thinking of the earth as your dance partner. For anyone out there who's a dancer, you don't unconsciously just maybe connect with your partner or not. You keep this very connected, equal tension no matter what you're doing, right? If they move back, you move forward. If they move forward, you move back. This is a version of the flock of birds, right? We're in sync, we're fluid. It's not something you have to think about. You simply stay connected. So you're connecting to the earth. And in doing so, you're activating this midline function that I talked about that lets the whole body melt and lets the joints release and lets the fascia soft and not do its protective shrink wrap thing.

Speaker 4 (36:15):

That's fascinating. And when I was in Argentina recently, I worked with a, a rolfing therapist there who was reteaching me how to walk in the way a manner in which you are stating. And it felt a little bit foreign. But I wanna explain to everyone why I'm so fascinated, fascinated with fascia. Lately I had some experiences with different plant medicines where all I could describe what was happening is this unwinding where my body would make these spontaneous, internally driven movements. They weren't conscious, they were unconscious and was talking with different people about this. What is happening? What's the action? And then I started having them spontaneously because I'm always looking for what are the ways that are stopping us from healing the women I work with myself, the people I know what else is available to us. And so I started experiencing that spontaneously. And then I was at a retreat last weekend here in Dubai and they had something called inner dance. Are you familiar with that?

Speaker 3 (37:20):

I've not heard that term, but I imagine it's related to some of the similar things that there are practices.

Speaker 4 (37:26):

So it's, they use different music tracks to induce brainwave states and then you lay on a mat blindfolded and basically you allow your body to unwind the way it wants to unwind. And that was fascinating 'cause that's fa, excuse me, unwinding. And then I came across this, I think his name's Thomas Atley, he's head of an osteopathic school in England and he had this wonderful lecture on YouTube about the founder of osteopathy and really the significance of fascia. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to watch. So I really become aware of it as like you're talking about we're so adrenalized. We had a wonderful doctor on a few weeks ago on the podcast who wrote a book I think called Adrenalize. And we are in fight and flight and how the whole front body is contracted as if, what do you do when you are afraid is you contract into fetal position. So all those muscles are pulled down. And so part of healing for everyone I think is freeing this fascia from its chronically tense state. And like you said, you never care if you get a massage. And I'm thinking, oh, I would love to say that one day . So I've been working intensely with my fascia and encouraging all the women I work with to do the same in various ways. I'd love it if we could talk about that. I wash sha is one modality I'm familiar with cupping, fascial flossing. And of course I

Speaker 3 (38:58):

Have something great for you. I have something great for you. Yeah. There's a concept in us in mechanics when musculoskeletal medicine of any kind where there's a principle called reflexive inhibition. So this is so great. If you make a bicep, they tighten your bicep, the tricep will automatically release. So people say, I wanna release my bicep, I'm gonna do cupping and I'm gonna do guhan. And I love those things, don't get me wrong. And I use them but not really that much 'cause I don't really need them. And I say this to people about, I have to quiet my mind. No, you don't just feel you can't do both at the same time. Feeling is like activating your bicep, the mind quiets, you don't need to release your front body, simply activate your back body. And the reciprocal inhibition will release the front body. So it's great you can do fascial treatments, but, and like I said before, if you don't get this deeper relationship that will continually release and blend everything, you're just gonna have to keep doing treatments.

Speaker 3 (40:00):

It's not the root of what would actually bring flow state into all your body systems and then allow the fascia to be this like in martial arts, this very supportive and intensely strong and powerful sleeve of support that's also supple and can melt and allow you to move gracefully and efficiently in the ways that we see are possible. Mm-Hmm. In those practices, Qigong, any of the martial arts are seemingly magical because what they're doing is accessing the so much power and so much precision. And we think, wow, that's amazing. Is that really possible? They do seemingly humanly impossible things and we can do. And

Speaker 4 (40:43):

So when you say activate the back body, are you saying that changing the way we walk is all we need to do? Yes. To activate the back body

Speaker 3 (40:50):

And the way you sit there isn't if, if I get up I will shortly and I will walk to my bathroom and I will, I brush my teeth. I am feeling this kind of grudge, this whole conversation that's happening. Oh, I've been sitting for a while, I don't can't, I don't really feel my glutes activating. When you are walking, you wanna feel those back body muscles working and if you've been sitting for a while and you get up, you probably will notice, oh, I don't really feel them. And so I tell people, crouch like an animal on the ground. Exaggerate the recruiting of all these muscles too. You can feel those back body muscles activate and then gradually and then notice them. You won't have to notice them forever once they're on Mm-Hmm . But in the beginning you need to notice like I'm actually dancing with the earth with the spring, like connected and recruiting of every muscle in every step.

Speaker 3 (41:54):

And this is actually a way to heal your spine. I used to have all kinds of back issues and I remember one time when I built my school, I was sitting at the computer so many hours and getting away with it because of a lot of these things I'm talking about. But one day I noticed I was getting one of those muscle spasms where you can just tell if it goes, my whole spine's just gonna be contracted and it's gonna be weeks and weeks of pain. Has anyone gotten into one of those neck spasms? And then it's just really stuck for a while and really painful. I haven't had that happen in a long time, but I woke up a couple years ago and I was like, oh my gosh, I'm just about to be in big trouble. And I connected to my breath, got up, connected to the floor and walked down to make my tea very deliberately with this kind of like you were saying, you were going into the spontaneous fluid thing on the floor with that practice that you, this is it.

Speaker 3 (42:55):

This is what animals and primitive man did to wake it all up and blend it together. And I walked for a few minutes down to make my tea and this attunement to this micro movement and recruiting and what, what's going on in there? Really allowing my awareness to connect to every cell and in particular my back body. And it, it's like flipping a switch. Boom, we're on, we're good. Done. No neck thing happened. I basically could have been weeks of needing treatment, expensive and time consuming, looking for help outside of myself. Mm-Hmm. three or four minutes of conscious connection to your body and recruiting every muscle in particular your butt that solved it instantly. So awesome. That's a flock of birds flow. That's a flock of birds flow, behavior. And of course the fascia is almost like the holder of the whole thing. It's almost like the fascia kind of like activates the consciousness of, oh, I'm actually one substance. And the fascia sort of just connects it all together and holds the power and the integration. It's the support and the softness, the power and the softness at the same time. Because

Speaker 4 (44:13):

It has something called tensity, right? It's a liquid and solid. And so it's, isn't it really what keeps, when you're walking and your hand goes forward, it's what keeps your hand from flying off of your shoulder, isn't it? It keeps everything. Yeah. Because otherwise you'd be like a bag of jelly,

Speaker 3 (44:31):

Biotin, seg is exactly what I'm describing. It's another way of saying integration and the cooperation or integration's really the word, the flock of birds being all the parts of the body dropping into synchrony. And so the tensile aspects and then the structural aspects work together. It's this means we're a spring, that means we're everything's contained and this, this, the stability elements are bones are, are what allows support the fluid aspects to be free and melted. It's another way of saying integration. And it only comes through this splinting of the physical body and the subtle body. We can achieve this and not realize what we've done because, so oh, it's another brilliant thing I noticed that when we're in this three D glasses, the subtle body and the physical body blend again, the symphony is in tune. This is our fleck of birds state. The nervous system comes into balance. They mirror one another. Exactly. So if you can't yet feel your energy body, and believe me, I can relate, you will feel your nervous system responding to this blending of the physical and electrical aspects.

Speaker 4 (45:53):

Yes. There's so much to talk about with this. I'm creating a whole new program inside my other programs to start integrating, talking about fascia. I would love to have you come talk. Please tell me you have a blog or video somewhere on your website or YouTube about teaching people how to walk correctly.

Speaker 3 (46:11):

I have, do you I have gazillions of things. If you go to my website, flow is medicine.com. Mm-Hmm . Youll see a whole self study library. I have a YouTube channel. Okay. With tons of great things on it. I also have an ebook where I break down the tongue thing and I think I put the walking thing in there and the sitting thing, this, that thing you told me about you getting on the floor and dissolving into spontaneous fluid moment movement. Yeah, that's it right there. So I talk about what is that? How do we get there? How do we live there? And I can't stop talking about it. So I have a ton of videos, I have a ton of blogs there. I have an ebook and I, we actually have a flow school where we do it together once a week live on Zoom. And it's also a continuing medical education for doctors. So Awesome. Yeah. So the, all of that's so easy to find on flow is medicine.com and I'm really excited to hear about your program coming up and I can't wait to be a part of it if that's something that we, we could explore a collaboration on that. That sounds incredible.

Speaker 4 (47:23):

Yes, Dr. Michelle, it's, it's so great to have you on. I'm definitely gonna check out the resources. I hope some of you listening will join me in her online class 'cause it sounds super fun, educational and worthwhile for your health. Thank you so much for joining us. Any other information that you wanna share with everyone? Flow is medicine.com is where they can find you. Any other places online where you'd like them to know about connecting

Speaker 3 (47:50):

With you? I would love everyone to go to my courses page and sign up for even the free preview of what I'm doing because it's like a drip. I'm talking about some really powerful confronting things that will destroy your ego. Do not , I don't think. I don't know that, but, and self-care is an invitation, not an obligation. It's so fun once we get past that initial terror that you may or may not realize you have and then it's about building community. So even just going in and saying, I wanna learn more about this class and being in the loop to receive very few things I send out. But it's almost like, hmm, when the time is right, there'll be an email in your inbox and we'll just go with the flow

Speaker 4 (48:42):

And with the flow.

Speaker 3 (48:43):

I love it. Thank you

Speaker 4 (48:45):

So much for joining me today, Dr. Michelle. This has been an absolute pleasure and a gem. Thank you so much.

Speaker 3 (48:52):

Thank you for having me. Delighted

Speaker 4 (48:54):

And thank you all for joining me for another episode of the Hormone Prescription. This has been an amazing conversation. I know for some of you, a lot of this probably went over your head. Don't worry. Keep coming back. Keep listening. Check out Dr. Michelle's resources. It will make sense to you eventually and for some of you, this was right on point and you're gonna wanna know more. So you're going to want to check out her resources as well. Hopefully you are loving this new content that we are expanding and bringing to you 'cause it's really gonna help you with your hormones. We tied this a little bit into hormones today, but stay tuned for future episodes 'cause we'll be tying fascia more into hormones into your overall health and wellbeing. So

Speaker 2 (49:42):

I look forward to seeing you again next week. Until

Speaker 4 (49:44):

Then,

Speaker 3 (49:45):

Peace,

Speaker 2 (49:46):

Love, and hormones y'all. Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.

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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 ⚠️

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 , 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. 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 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 . 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):

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. . 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):

. 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. . 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 . 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. , 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 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 . 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 , 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, 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 . 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 , 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 , 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. , 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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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

Episode Highlights:

Speaker 1 (00:00:00):

Be patient with yourself. Nothing in Nature Blooms all year. Stay tuned as I talk with two of my health coaches, coach Vic and Coach Katrina, about achieving hormone bliss through midlife and metabolism, rescue and mastery.

Speaker 2 (00:00:17):

So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us, keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an OB GYN I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue. Now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast.

Speaker 1 (00:01:10):

Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kieran. Thank you so much for joining me today as we dive in with two of my health coaches, coach Katrina and Coach Victoria, and talk about achieving hormone bliss through midlife metabolism, rescue and mastery. These are the names of some of our programs that we've developed over the past three years that many women have gone through and gotten out of hormonal poverty into hormonal prosperity. So it really is the pathway that will lead you to where you wanna be after 40. As a woman with your health. If you're experiencing hormonal poverty, the symptoms of midlife, metabolic mayhem, those are the 60 plus symptoms that can start affecting women as young as in their thirties, sometimes even in their twenties. Then this is the show for you. Those symptoms can include not only weight gain, but also fatigue, hair loss, lack of libido, depression, anxiety, poor cognitive functioning, digestive issues, immune system issues, getting sick more often, autoimmune disease.

Speaker 1 (00:02:18):

The list goes on and on and on. You might not be aware that the health problems that you're having all have a hormonal component to them, and this is why women's health can start to falter and fail. Starting at 40 and beyond. There's always a hormonal component to every diagnosis you have to every disorder you have to every disease you have, no matter what system it's in, dermatological, gynecological, gastrointestinal, psychological, it go, the list goes on. There's always a hormonal component. And so getting out of hormonal poverty and getting to hormonal prosperity really is essential to reversing any symptom you have to heal any disease you have and also to prolonging your life. Because unfortunately studies show that when we're in hormonal poverty, our lifespan is shortened, and that when we get out of hormonal poverty into hormonal prosperity, our lifespan is actually longer. We have less disease, fewer medications, lower weight, better energy, all the things that you want for your life.

Speaker 1 (00:03:25):

So is that something you want? Hormonal prosperity? Yes, we want hormonal prosperity Now. So we're gonna dive into this episode with my two coaches. They're both women over 40. They've had their own health journeys that they're gonna share with you, and they really are experts. I love working with women who are passionate about helping other women to achieve what's possible for them with their health and their lives. And these women definitely exemplify that. So I think you're really gonna like this episode. We're gonna dive into that quote that I shared with you at the beginning about being patient with yourself. Nothing in nature Blooms all year. That's from Coach Vic. She is an avid gardener. You gotta see pictures of her garden. She makes the most beautiful vegetables I have ever seen. I don't have a green thumb. I say I have a paw for a thumb 'cause I really resonate with animals and I do really well with them, but plants not so much.

Speaker 1 (00:04:21):

But Coach Vick has that covered. So we're gonna talk about how to be patient with yourself and then we're gonna talk with Coach Katrina. She has this wonderful quote that we're gonna talk about. Stop wasting time, like someone is making more of it if you put everything off as if you have forever to do it. I've been guilty of that too. We all have. But you know, time is our most valuable resource 'because it's the only thing that gives us time on this planet is time. And what gives us that time is our health. When our health runs out, our time runs out. So don't waste your time, make the most of it, and that means make your health the most. So we're gonna dive into it. I'll tell you a little bit about Vic and Katrina and then we'll get started. So Katrina Gallagher is a group fitness instructor instructor in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Speaker 1 (00:05:13):

She has health coaching certification through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, and she's finishing up her health coaching certification through functional diagnostic nutrition. She is a true lover of all things health and wellness. She will go down the rabbit hole on any given topic and then can tell you all about it. And she has an emphasis on biohacking and anti-aging. And Victoria Gale, coach Vic is a classical naturopathic physician with additional certification as a functional diagnostic nutrition practitioner, holistic cancer coach, certified bioenergetics practitioner, and soon to be national board certified reflexology reflexologist. She loves natural health and appreciates learning how to live in balance with the cycles of nature and the world around us. And we didn't get into this episode about bioenergetics, but that is a topic that's essential to your hormones that we'll probably cover in future episodes. So stay tuned for that. But please help me welcome Coach Vic and Coach Katrina to the show. Hello.

Speaker 3 (00:06:16):

Hi. Thanks so much for having us.

Speaker 1 (00:06:18):

I'm so excited to have you guys on. We've all known each other now for a few years. Gosh, I think back from the first stop, the Menopause Men's Summit probably, and we've worked with so many women and developed so many programs, Katrina's been through them and now is one of our coaches and more that we're working on to help women. And I think it's great for everyone to hear your stories because we're all over 40. We're all passionate about health. We're all women. We know firsthand what it's to deal with the midlife metabolic mayhem that occurs over 40 and to work through it and master it. And I think women need hope right now. A, I hear a lot of women are really suffering. They're really lost. They don't know which way to turn, and they don't even think it's possible. And they see me and they think, oh yeah, Karen, she's a doctor. Of course she can get that straight, but that's not true. It's possible for really every woman. So I wanted to start, I've already talked about your expertise in bios, but maybe if you could just start with your story of how you came to do the work that you do with women over 40 and why you're so passionate about it. Do you wanna start, Vic?

Speaker 3 (00:07:41):

Sure. So I got into natural health after a health episode. In my twenties. I developed asthma and I had it so bad that I was using inhalers and breathing machines and all kinds of stuff, hours and hours a day and nothing was working. And at the time I just thought, oh my God, this can't be my life. And my first profession is in performing arts. And so I was getting ready to do a performance and my name was called. And right before, right after my name was called, I started having an asthma attack . And so of course that was panic stricken. I was writing and I just thought, oh my God. And luckily I was able to swap places with someone and I ran down the hallway backstage and there was a pot of black coffee. And I had learned after many years of asthma attacks, if I drank black coffee and bent over, I could control or stop my asthma attacks.

Speaker 3 (00:08:39):

And so after that happened, I was like, okay, I can't live like this, not knowing what's gonna happen. And so a chance read in a health food store that someone had cured their asthma by juicing, just let me think. Well, I can't, it's not gonna hurt. So I went and bought a juicer and fruit and vegetables and all that and I started juicing. And after about two weeks of doing it with no plan, no nothing, I was just doing it. I noticed that my breathing started to get better and I was like, whoa, there's something to this. And so I juiced for the next year and a half or so, but I also started unpacking some emotions that I had been hanging onto some grief, that kind of stuff. And after about a year and a half, I got up one day and I just knew it was over.

Speaker 3 (00:09:22):

And I can't explain how I knew that, but I knew it was. And I packed up all my inhalers, breathing machines and threw them all in the garbage and never had another asthma attack. And that was 25 years ago now. And so after that happened, I was like, I need to really unpack what happened, what, what happened here. And at the time I had to kind of put it on the shelf because family, whatever. But then once the kids are out of the house and you kind of have some time on your own, I decided I need to look into a natural health kinda school. And so I looked for what's in our areas or whatnot. At the time we had two brick and mortar naturopathic schools here in the state. I'm in Michigan. And so I went to one of those schools and then unpacked and started to learn why that worked for me and what happened.

Speaker 3 (00:10:12):

And then I decided, well, if I can't help myself, I need to be able to help other people do what I did. And from that point, I started my brand and started working with folks. And the bulk of my practice is women. I do see both men and women. But I have to say after I've met you, Karen, and working with the institute, it's just women in midlife, I've kind of discovered that's my favorite group of people to work with. Not just because it's me, but . Not just because it's us, but it's just a really dynamic group of untapped, energetic potential. When we can really refocus and get women on their right path, we can change the world. And so there's just so many women that need that help and support. And so that's the primary set of what I do every day. And because I have naturopathic training, I'm always drawn to the natural sort of means of doing things that follow the path of nature. 'cause Nature actually shows everything that we need to do. We've just gotta kind of follow its paths and trends and then we'll find that our health will reset itself. And so that's kind of how I've found myself in this space where I am now.

Speaker 1 (00:11:26):

Yeah, thank you for sharing that. I love working with women. People say, well, don't you miss delivering babies? And I say, well, it was great at the time. But working with women, we give life, but we also are the sustainers of life on this planet. And if you help a woman, you help the whole, everyone on the planet, you help her family, you help her friends, she's gonna teach everyone else. And so I love doing what I do now because it's, I, I, I'll say it, and I know some people think it is complicated to deliver a baby, but it's not that complicated. And there are many wonderful midwives and doctors who do it wonderfully and brilliantly. But not everyone can help a woman come back to herself and come back to her vitality at midlife. There really aren't that many of us. And that's why I think it's so vital, the work that we do.

Speaker 1 (00:12:19):

And Katrina, what got you into this type of work? Well, I just kind of believe that you should just go where the world takes you, , and this is where the world has taken me. . I mean, I really, it was not, I didn't set out the, didn't set out to do this. I'm a lawyer by training. I practiced law for several years. And then, but I've always had an interest in health and wellness because when I was in elementary school, my dad had his first heart attack. He was 36, and then continued to have heart problems throughout the rest of my childhood. And then when I was 18, he had a heart transplant and he was 55 when he died. So that was very, maybe because when he had that first heart attack, I was at such a young age, it made such an impression on me.

Speaker 1 (00:13:07):

But I remember being like young, I don't remember how old I was, maybe eight or nine. And I remember thinking, I, I remember hearing the doctor tell my mom, there is a hereditary aspect to heart disease and chances are really good that one of your four children is gonna have problems. And I remember thinking, it's not gonna be me. It is not gonna be me. And I didn't know at the time what that meant, what I needed to do to keep it from being me. But I knew it wasn't gonna be me . And so, I started really in college kind of exploring. And of course when I was in college, that was when we were getting all the bad information about fat is evil and sugar is fine. And so probably did myself some harm, more harm than good back then, following all those recommendations.

Speaker 1 (00:13:51):

But I kind of kept up with it. And then I went to college, went to law school, just sort of dabbled it, dabbled in it really. And then when my kids were older and I had more time to kind of really explore, I really dove in and started just reading everything I could read about health and wellness and about heart health and doing the right things to make sure I wasn't the one of the four of us that ended up with heart problems. And then I guess when I decided to get my health coaching certification, I was approaching that premenopausal phase of my life. And so my own interest went there because that's where I was. And I think because I am, I am 54 now, I've been doing this now for several years. I think that midlife woman, I think they're just attracted to me.

Speaker 1 (00:14:43):

I think it's because I'm a group fitness instructor. And so I have, I work with a population of people who are already interested in fitness. Mm-Hmm. . And I will help anybody who wants my help. And I love working with everybody. But those midlife women seem to be attracted to me, I think because they see me, they, and they're like, okay, she can do it. She is healthy and she's fit. And so mm-hmm . So why can't I do that? And so it's sort of just happened that way. But I love it because I can share my own experiences and it's very, very, the stories I hear from them are very relatable. And so that's where I found myself and I really enjoy it. And I really, I will say, Karen, that joining your program when I did saved me a lot of heartache because I was perimenopausal when I started with you.

Speaker 1 (00:15:31):

And the journey has been relatively easy for me, , because I found you and the information that I found. And so as I see other women starting in like, oh, let me jump in and help you, let me do for you what Kieran did for me. Let me lead you to care. Let me get you in this so that you don't have to suffer either . So yeah. So it's a great midlife. Women are very motivated to feel better. Yes. And so it's very motivating. It's a very motivated population. And that's also nice. Yeah, it is. So thank you so much for, for sharing that. And I'm thinking as you're saying that we made it easier. And here you are a fitness instructor and I know a lot of people at midlife women look around and say, well, what am I not doing? What do I need to do to feel better?

Speaker 1 (00:16:18):

And fitness and going to the gym, joining fitness programs is something that people do. But I do find that eventually most people look around and say, well, this isn't all because I just don't feel like myself anymore. And you have this unique perspective where you actually went through the programs that Victoria and I had created. So what were some of the most surprising things to you that you learned? Like going through the midlife metabolism, rescue and mastery programs, what are some things that stick out as these big light bulbs? Wow, I had no idea that this was so important or that this worked like this or other things. Well, I was already, my fitness was fine. And really my food was already pretty on key. Like I was already doing most of that stuff. So most of that was not new to me and was not surprising to me.

Speaker 1 (00:17:11):

But we started off with the HRV, the HRV lesson, which I had no, no idea about . So that was all, I was like, wait, what is this new thing that could, that is like controlling my health , you know? So, my HRV was not fantastic. And so that, that was a whole new world to me, understanding the nervous system and regulating that and that. So that was big for me. I did not have an understanding at all of, of like , cortisol was new to me. I knew what it was, but I had no idea how important it was and what a controlling factor it is with regard to all of the other hormones. So that really stood out to me. The whole really, like sleep stress reduction portion was just not anything I had really delved into before. And that was all very important for me because my, I'm a great sleeper, but I was not sleeping enough.

Speaker 1 (00:18:08):

And I, at the time, had no idea how much damage that was probably doing to me and how much it was holding me back from feeling my best. So those things I would say. And then I knew the importance of gut health and I knew the basics, but that was just, I was just in heaven through all of that, learning all of the stuff about the gut stuff, the GI map was fascinating to me. And learning about how all of that works and how, and so that was a whole new world to me as well. So there was a lot, I mean, I went into it feeling like, okay, I know some things and that's good. And I was glad I knew the things I did, but there was a lot that I didn't know. And so there were several things during the course that I was just like, oh, what? I had no idea

Speaker 3 (00:18:51):

what, yeah, yeah. I would, I would, I would agree with that, that the GI map, a lot of the member, I remember a lot of the ladies early on when their GI map would show up and we would be in our one-on-one coach consult, they would go on and on about, oh my gosh, how is this test going on that no one knows about, but it says so much about my health and my hormones and how is this the first time I'm coming across this? And I would say gut health was something they really were going on and on about not understanding how much it was affecting every other aspect of their health. And they loved being able to address it botanically. 'cause A lot of what you can use to address gut health is entirely botanicals. You'd often don't need pharmaceutical type products to deal with the gut.

Speaker 3 (00:19:37):

And so they loved that. And I would second that. That's one. And the other aspect, I know that many of them had undervalued as far as being related to their health is their emotional state and traumas and things that they were hanging onto. And they really had no idea how it was slowly gnawing away at their health, but was this sort of stealth killer of their health. And they really undervalued it. 'cause I think so often we just kind of say, oh yeah, I had this happen in my past. It's no big deal. It can't still be affecting me now. And that's actually the entire opposite, wrong way to think of it. Because those traumas and things that we've held onto and have in us are little time bombs waiting to explode. And boy, when they do in midlife, when everything else is going on in our lives, it becomes a disaster for us as midlife women. And so I would say I, one thing I really appreciate, especially about this program and Kieran especially, you're one of the few FMDs that I've really run across who will delve into that aspect of health, the emotional, spiritual, psychological aspect of our health.

Speaker 1 (00:20:47):

'Cause It's huge. It is. And I just wanna mention for anyone listening, HRV is heart rate variability. In case you didn't know. Yes. Thank you for saying that. It really is the missing piece. I mean, mainstream medicine for sure misses that piece, but most functional medicine misses it too. Nobody wants to go into the emotional stuff, . And I've had to learn these things out of necessity because I had a, let's say, less than nurturing childhood. They caught up with me at midlife. So I've had to learn about all these things and learn how to unpack them. But it's almost more than that, and this is why I'm creating it. If you're a regular listener to the podcast, you're gonna wanna listen to the next few episodes. 'cause I'm making a few episodes for you on psychoneuroendocrinology, which is a fancy way of saying how your thoughts and feelings affect your nervous system and your hormones.

Speaker 1 (00:21:40):

'Cause They're all related. And it's actually a field in medicine, psychoneuroendocrinology and also your energetic blueprint. We're gonna be going into that 'cause your energetic design goes into that too. But all of these are less than nurturing or overwhelming small T or big T traumas that we have as children where it can be traumatic to a child, whatever their needs or wants are not met, that can be trauma that has to go somewhere. It has, that's energy. Emotions are energy in motion. And so if that energy is not discharged by a nurturing parent who can help you process it and feel it and understand it, which is most of the people who raised us, they don't because they don't know how to do it. It wasn't a common skill for people. 'cause They were worried about survival then these emotions and this energy has to go somewhere.

Speaker 1 (00:22:37):

So it goes into our fascia, into our nervous system. And it takes a lot of energy for the body to hold down those encapsulated packets of traumatic energy. And so this is one of the reasons why some women actually have a worst time at perimenopause, menopause at midlife is because they haven't unpacked all of these bigger little T traumas. And their cortisol has been struggling since they were five years old to keep a lid on this . And so anyway, it's a big conversation, but I'm creating a whole new program to dive into that even more deeply. Because I find that even though we incorporate that into the program and we talk a lot about it, it really, people need full guidance. Like, how do I do this work? So I'm making a whole program on that. Anything else you guys wanna say about that before we change topics though? I think it's so important. Yeah. I just will say in my own health coaching practice, I don't think I've ever, my bachelor's degree is in psychology and I don't think I've ever had a client that I didn't feel like I used my psych degree almost more than I used my, my, my health coaching certifications. , like they're, everybody has emotional issues that they haven't dealt with and mostly don't know how to deal with. And so I do what I can. I refer people, encourage people often to seek professional help

Speaker 1 (00:24:08):

In doing those things because it becomes obvious if you do this very much at all, how much those issues hold people back from reaching their full potential.

Speaker 3 (00:24:18):

Absolutely. I 100%, I 100% agree with that. And that's always an aspect of everything that I have when I'm working with my people. I mean, we certainly go through the testing and we explain, we come up with lifestyle recommendations, whatever. But there's always a point where the rubber has to meet the road where I'm talking to the clients and I'm like, okay, there's more here you're gonna need to unpack and here's some resources. I have a somatic therapist on staff here. And so she's been very helpful to direct people to. But there's always a point in time where the rubber meets the road and that intersection of mind, body, spirit becomes front and center. And it's something that has to be addressed. And emotions are powerful. They're the energetics that keep us moving day to day. And so they have to be sort of channeled and funneled in a way that makes life sustainable and healthy for us.

Speaker 3 (00:25:14):

And otherwise they become little time bombs. And I appreciate so much some of the specifics of the changes with what happens with women in midlife. And so some of the importance of needing to exercise and the changes with estrogen and all these things that when there's an emotional aspect attached to those things, it can really throw you way off. And so I've appreciated the program really digging down into some of those specifics. Because I know from my training and some of the other sorts of stuff I've learned over the years, a lot of the data, the research is on men or a healthy person in their twenties. There's never anything specifically tailored for midlife women. And I so appreciated some of the experts and things that you brought whose sole focus is women in midlife. Because you suddenly discover, oh wait a minute, there's a little bit of calibration that has to be different for the midlife women. There has to be some different thoughts. There has to be a little bit of a different approach. And I think that's been really, that's been game changing for me just to really Mm-Hmm. focus in on that.

Speaker 1 (00:26:24):

I always say, when I went through my mainstream education and med school and OB GYN residency, we were basically taught that women are just littler men with an accessory pack that allows special organs and hormones that allows us to really reduce life. And then when I got further along and had my own health crisis and had to sort that out and discovered what the work I do now, I discovered that nothing could be further from the truth. We are foundationally different. Our brains are structured differently. Our psyches, our nervous systems, like we just don't, we are not little men in any way, shape or form. But I love what you mentioned. One of the things that I love about the way we set up the programs is doing it in a group format. And I know that some people are a little hesitant at first 'cause they're used to that one-on-one, even though it's a five or seven minute, just write a prescription or you need a surgery visit.

Speaker 1 (00:27:20):

But that's what we've been socialized to believe is healthcare. And so they go in groups, I'm gonna be talking about my personal stuff in a group. And then what do you guys find as people's opinion at the end about that? They love it, right? Yeah. Oh, I was speaking for myself and for the ladies Oh yeah. That I went through it with and have seen go through it since the group was key. I think we got a lot of value from listening to each other, learning from each other's questions, the support that comes with knowing that there are other women out there that are going through what you're going through and that are, that you're kind of learning to fix it together. Yeah. I love the group setting. I don't, I, I have never heard anybody ever say a negative thing about, there's some apprehension in the beginning sometimes with people like, oh, but then once the comfort level increases a little bit, everybody's thrilled that there's that. It's in a group setting.

Speaker 3 (00:28:15):

Absolutely. And definitely in private consults, one-on-one, when we would meet with the folks outside of the group setting, they would definitely say, oh, I didn't really wanna share that. I haven't been sleeping. Or My HRV numbers were so terrible. But they suddenly discovered that there's comfort in being vulnerable and having another group of women do having the same kind of things happen, if not worse. There's a comfortability in sharing that. And I'm a firm believer that, I mean, we all need community, but I believe women especially need women only sort of supportive groups in life as well as in any kind of a healing situation. I believe we're just, I believe we're wired that way truthfully. And I've told friends many mm-Hmm. over the years. I've, I've told people that my girlfriend therapy group has gotten me through more things than any sort of, it's getting together with my girlfriends and parsing things out has been a huge piece for me.

Speaker 3 (00:29:19):

And I think if we're, if we see how good it is, when we feel great, especially when we're not feeling so great, it doubles the need to have that group of other supportive communities, especially women around us. And mm-Hmm. , I like to kind of relate it to nature. I mean, nothing in nature exists on its own, right? And so nature tells us we have to intercommunicate and support each other to get through day to day. And I love the data where they're looking at trees, how trees talk to each other and the roots talk to each other. Mm-Hmm. . And it's the fungus. And so that interconnection and communication is how nature exists. So why would we be any, we, why would we be any different? We're part of nature as well, right? We need that community.

Speaker 1 (00:30:04):

We do. And we have an epidemic of loneliness, and I'm trying to remember the exact numbers, but I think people over 50, it's like people say that they have some less than one close friend and they spend large swaths of time alone and they don't have the support systems. Because we used to live in communities where we were very connected to nature and very connected to each other. But now we live in cities and apartments with TVs and electronic devices. And people are on that thinking they're connected, but they're not. Right. So I think it is vital connection that is vital to health. And the statistics on loneliness are that it's worse than smoking for your health. So you may think, oh, I'm doing great 'cause I don't smoke. But if you're experiencing loneliness and you're not having human connection, 'cause there's certain kind of energetic benefits that we get from being, having eye contact and being in close proximity and having physical touch and sexual touch and all these things.

Speaker 1 (00:31:04):

If you're not having that, it could be like you're smoking two packs a day of cigarettes. So that's one thing I love about the groups. I think people got that oxytocin hit from having that connection and that support and being seen and being heard and being understood. They're going to their doctor's office being told There's nothing wrong with you. It's normal not to wanna have sex and have poor sex and poor sleep at your age. Now it's not right. And so they can come here and get affirmed for all the midlife, metabolic, mayhem, craziness that we're all experiencing. I wanted to ask you guys, how important do you think the testing is? Because I know some programs are like, oh, we just created this program to address your hormones and your gut and you're all gonna take these supplements and you're all gonna eat like this and you're all gonna do these things.

Speaker 1 (00:31:55):

And we don't do any tests. So how important are the tests? I wildly important , I mean . Yeah. Yeah. I mean, because you can, it's funny 'cause I always say at the end of the day, it no matter what issues you're having, to some extent the protocol to fix it is the same. Right? We all should be sleeping well. We all should be eating good, clean, organic whole foods. We all should be none of, we shouldn't be drinking alcohol. We shouldn't, like, there are some things that are gonna go across the board that are true for everyone. But the testing in my mind is super important, especially when it comes to the supplementation aspect of any wellness protocol because mm-Hmm. , you don't know what to take if you, you don't know exactly what's wrong, . So I can know my, I can feel that my hormones are outta whack.

Speaker 1 (00:32:44):

But if I don't do a Dutch test and know exactly if my estrogen is high or low or my progesterone is high or low, what my testosterone is doing, how do I know what to take? How do I know what to supplement with? How do I know how much? If you don't have the GI map and you don't know that you've got a parasite or you don't know that you're, that you've got whatever is high or low, then you don't know if you, should I be taking probiotics? Should I be taking digestive enzymes? Should I be doing a protocol to get rid of candida? Do I have high chance? Do like, so know how exactly to attack. To me, I'm a huge, powerful person. I want to know everything. I wanna know all the things. The more information I have, the more I can, the better decisions I can make about how to go about improving a situation.

Speaker 1 (00:33:30):

So the tests for me personally, or that's knowledge, give me input. All the information I want. But I've seen it too with our clients and they love those tests. They feel like finally there's something that validates the way they've been feeling. Yeah. There's clinical correlation to, oh my gosh, this no wonder I felt this way. And all of a sudden they don't feel crazy anymore. And Right. It just gives them a, a, a resource to say, okay, here it is in black and white . You're not crazy. You're not crazy. Exactly. Yeah. And then for me it was also like showing my husband, see I'm not crazy. . I told you .

Speaker 1 (00:34:16):

Yes. The validation is huge. Yeah. But it's funny, I just was recently interviewed by a woman, a journalist. And so, after the interview, she wanted to talk about her functional issues. Her 'cause she's at midlife. So everyone hears you deal with midlife metabolic mayhem. Lemme tell you my issues, let's talk about it. So I did. And she said that she had been trying the throw against the wall and seeing what sticks method that wasn't working. And everyone in her office was trying that. And then when some one of them would learn about some other protocol, they would share it. And then some of them would complain, this is too much work. Why is this so much work? and I went on this whole rant with her about, we don't complain about how much work our careers work to get the master's and take the SATs and apply to university and go to university.

Speaker 1 (00:35:13):

I mean, it's chaos, right? To, to go through your education and get your training and get your certifications and maintain your certifications and get your jobs and maintain your jobs. And nobody complains about how much work it is, right? 'cause You get the payoff. But then when it comes to our health, we've been socialized to believe that all we're supposed to do is shovel some calories in our mouth every day, lay horizontal for a few hours and it should be plug and play. We go to the doctor if we have a problem, they write us a script or do a surgery. And that's all we should have to input into our most valuable asset, our bodies, which is what the only thing that gives us time on this planet. And then we complain that it's too much work. So I know some people hear, oh, I gotta do a course and I gotta do testing. And oh, this is so much work. And I just like to have that reality check. But it was funny because after I talked to her, the journalist, she was like, I never thought about it. Like , I put no investment into my health. And that's why I don't, I think it's too much work. 'cause I don't, I've been trained that way. But what about the value of investing in your health?

Speaker 3 (00:36:18):

One of the things I remember early on when the first ladies would start the program and you would have the classes and you would talk about, we would come up with structured lifestyle recommendations to do. And so one of them was initially on 30 minutes every day of walking or taking a look at your H RV or whatever. And ever, and I remember clearly, and I won't mention any names, but there was a mm-Hmm. lady early on in the program who told us directly, she did not have 15 to 20 minutes to look at her hrv. And I re at the end of the program, of course we all went crazy and whatnot. And she went through the program and suddenly learned the value of that self investment. And, and by the end of the program, I remember her saying, oh my gosh, I feel so embarrassed and foolish that I thought that I didn't have the time.

Speaker 3 (00:37:11):

And now it's become, if I don't have that's, you know, the end of the world, I have to have that self investment time. I mean, if there's anything you're going to put time or investment into, it should be yourself and as many hours and as much money, whatever it takes, we have to put that time into ourselves. But I find that commonly with a lot of my midlife women, they tell me, oh, I don't have 30 minutes to walk. I don't have 15, 20 minutes. And it's really something because there's something to that that you'll put time into everything else but not yourself. And getting people to care and love about themselves, that's a piece of this. And that's what I, I do especially like about this program. And what I have to find with my client base as well, is we almost have to teach women to love ourselves again. And to really put ourselves first. I mean, who else should we put first? Mm-Hmm. . I mean, yes, we love our children, we love our husbands, we love whatever, but that first love has to be self-love. And that's a piece that I think midlife women have to really sit on and we have to really work with them on that. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:38:21):

What is up with that? Because, and we'd say, I don't have the time or I don't have the money that what we're, that's code for. I don't see the value in that thing or in myself.

Speaker 3 (00:38:31):

Right?

Speaker 1 (00:38:32):

So what is up with that? With us? Us? What are your thoughts, guys? I don't know. I think that we're just, I think that we're wired to be caretakers and I think that we put other people first. I mean, I think if you're a mother then you're just wired that your children are gonna come first. But I also think that we have, I think a lot of us waste a lot more time than we realize we waste. Mm-Hmm.

Speaker 3 (00:38:57):

,

Speaker 1 (00:38:58):

I think we have become a pretty inefficient society. And I don't say that judgmentally because I'm guilty of it. So I mean, I'm right there with you. I do. But you know, and I realized that, I realized that for myself recently when I did do 75 hard, I don't know if you all are familiar with 75 hard, but there are requirements. And one of the requirements is that you have to work out twice a day. And everybody going into the program is, I don't have, I can't work out twice a day for 40 for at least 45 minutes each workout. So it's, and it's like, how am I gonna make time for this? And you do it, you do the program for 75 and there are other things you have to do as well. Mm-Hmm. . But you, I realized for myself during that time how much like I was able to do that. And so the things that I lost were not important things . Okay. Like, so I think we,

Speaker 3 (00:39:46):

I think we've kind of,

Speaker 1 (00:39:47):

I think we've kind of forgotten how to prioritize our time as well. I think if women take a really good hard look at what their day is filled with, there are things that maybe in their minds feel necessary that aren't really necessary. So Mm-Hmm. , I do think that you're never gonna get women to not prioritize their children. That to not prioritize their family to some extent they're gonna prioritize, prioritize their jobs. But I think even within their jobs there are things that they are spending time on that aren't necessary. I think we need to learn to become better delegators. And I think we need to learn to say, you know what? That thing can wait , the world's not gonna end if that thing doesn't get done today. And so, yeah. So I think it's kind of twofold. I think we do have a tendency to take care of everybody around us first. But I also think that we're not always terribly efficient with our time.

Speaker 3 (00:40:38):

And that's part of the piece I think of having a loss of community. Because many things that we would get done in a day would be done by other community members. And so I think women, we've kind of, mm-hmm, Incorporated. Wait a minute, there's a thousand things to be done. I better do all thousand of them. Or life is gonna fall apart. But we've forgotten that even child rearing our earlier ancestors, it wasn't just the parents that were raising children, it was aunties, uncles, neighbors. I was raised where my neighbor would come and get me up in the morning and would do things. I mean, there's just other things that would be handled by the community. And that's where I think you're right about us having to really sit down and look at these list of things and determine that, okay, these aren't the important ones. These I need to delegate. We need to just reprioritize the need to get everything quote unquote done. We just don't need to.

Speaker 1 (00:41:36):

Yeah. Well and you address that in the programs we talk about breaking your day down into however many minute increments and Mm-Hmm . Mm-Hmm . Find your time. Like where is your time going? What's necessary? What's not necessary? That's a really good exercise for people who think that they don't have time to take care of them.

Speaker 3 (00:41:56):

Food preparation, the idea that we can't find time to prepare food has become something we've kind of fallen into as well. And I mean the meal services are great and yes, there's timeframes for things, but I mean to really take the time to prepare quality homemade food, which is a keystone for us being healthy, we have the time to do it. I mean, we aren't going out and catching animals. We aren't going out and picking stuff from the garden. We aren't doing, all we have to do is go to the grocery, you know, batch cook one day a week and put it in a freezer. Mm-Hmm. . We have the life of Riley for food preparation. So this idea that we're just too busy to prepare our food is just, is a myth we've all kind of brought into, and I'm a big advocate for having children that are old enough, be a part of food preparation and meal preparation. I just don't understand one person in a household being the only one responsible for all the meal prepping and children that are old enough should be doing some amount of meal prep. I believe.

Speaker 1 (00:43:05):

Absolutely. A pro tip from the episode is batch meal prep that is hands down the biggest time saver and gives you so much control over your health because what you are, what you eat. And so we go into the program, into the programs what to eat. But I started, when I first got on this journey over 10 years ago, I just sat down and started planning meals, which we never did before and planning recipes. And Sunday was shopping and cooking day and we would make mass amounts and freezer it. We got this big freezer and we always had food and then, and then it was just like a family affair 'cause we all did it together. So I think this issue of the time values, which I also do in the hormone bliss challenge, which we're gonna be running again in November, looking at where you spend your time, looking at where you spend your money, looking at your values, and are you spending your time and money in alignment with your values? And most women find that they are not. So I think I needed that reality check also. And so no shame here because we're all guilty of these. Oh for sure. Things as well.

Speaker 3 (00:44:15):

.

Speaker 1 (00:44:15):

Yeah. I'm just wondering, I wanna talk a little bit about human design because it's something that I've become interested in. In the past year we talked in the programs about your energetic blueprint where you talked about chakras. I think Vic, you even did a whole class on that, which was amazing. And people love learning about how their energetics and their body works. And then I got introduced into human design, which is a more specific science of differentiation. How each individual has a unique energetic blueprint that has to do with certain characteristics of when they were born, where they were born. It integrates many ancient teachings. And so I've had my chart done and been living in what we call my experiment for the past a year. And you guys have done your chart and I think Katrina's had her initial reading. So she isn't starting her experiment.

Speaker 1 (00:45:14):

You've done your chart, Vic. One thing that I learned from human design, I'll just give an example, is that my design is an emotional projector. So there are five different main types and then you have an authority by which you're supposed to make decisions. And then there are many more specifics about each person's unique blueprint that give them certain characteristics and qualities. I found that when I had my reading, it explained a lot of my personality characteristics that have always been perplexing to me and other people. Why am I always this way? Like I have this ability to kind of cut to the heart of a matter and see the truth behind things. And people have always been like, why can you see this behind the curtain? And I always wondered why can I? And it's part of my design and then also my fighting for the underdog.

Speaker 1 (00:46:08):

I always don't like injustice when I see it. And I'm always willing to fight for injustice, like for women at midlife. And that's part of my design. So there are a lot of insights, but the big thing was learning that I'm not a generator, which 65% of people are. So generators are the builders and the doers. And I am not, and I'm made to be a guide and lead people not to be out there digging the ditches and planting the trees, but helping people do dig ditches and plant trees better. And so that's kind of why I do what I do. So those were all very insightful and have allowed me to live more in alignment with my true nature, which actually helps balance your hormones. So if you're not living in alignment with your true nature, this is kind of where it relates to hormones.

Speaker 1 (00:46:56):

There are specific gates and channels that relate to specific hormones. So you can get that deep. But in general, if you're not living in alignment with your design, you are hurting your cortisol stress hormone because that's stress, it's friction if you're not operating in alignment with how you're supposed to operate. So those are the insights I got that I found hugely valuable. And we're actually adding right now a live human design class we're gonna do next week with an analyst, a whole section on human design and helping people get their charts and integrate it into balancing their hormones and healing hormonal poverty. So I'm just wondering if either of you would like to share any insights that you've had from your human design and mostly how it has helped you to live more in alignment with your true self. Well, I was absolutely fascinated and I did have a reading and the I, yeah, validating is the first word that came to mind because I am an emotional manifester.

Speaker 1 (00:47:57):

It just explained so much when about yeah, like you said, just so many things. It just helped me to understand myself. And I was like, oh, now it makes perfect sense. Why I, I'll never forget one time my kids were, my boys were playing baseball and their coach was a pretty young guy. And I made some comment once about how maybe I was gonna go talk to Tyler about X, Y, or Z And my boys were like, oh. They were like, oh, they, they reaction was like, oh, I was like, what? What? What? They said, you will completely freak him out if you go. And I said, why would you say that? What do you mean? And they're like, mom, you're very intimidating. And that was not a word that I would have used to describe myself. And so that kind of peaked my interest.

Speaker 1 (00:48:41):

And so I asked some other people, is that true? Do people find me intimidating? And I got that. I got yes, I got the answer yes a lot. And I was like, what? And literally I never really quite understood it. I never, but then when I met with Nancy and we talked about what exactly it means to be a manifester and how I have sort of an off-putting aura and that's just who I am. Like I just have a, I'm like, oh. So that's why people feel like I'm intimidating, but I never really saw myself that way. So it answered a lot of questions and it does kind of just sort of re-evaluate how you're moving through life and kind of what you're, how it helps you understand why people react to you the way that they do. And the fact that I am emotional, I've always been a follow your gut kind of person. And now I'm like, that's that, that is really super true for me. I really do need to follow my gut. If I feel a certain way, I need to, like Nancy said, even down to if you cook a meal and all of a sudden you don't feel like eating it like right don't like don't she. So, yeah, fascinating. And I feel like I'm just kind of getting started learning. So there's, I think there's mm-Hmm. a lot more to learn and I'm super excited about learning it. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:49:59):

I'm fascinated as well. I haven't had any readings done yet. I did run my chart and I only got a chance to read through one little aspect of it, but I'm a generator with emotional authority and it really just encapsulated everything I've ever done in my life. 'cause If I'm gonna start a business, I'm gonna dig in there and I'm gonna go through all the aspects of things. And it just really made sense for me. And the one thing that really stood out for me when I was kind of reading through one of the write-ups, they talked about when you have emotional authority, you kind of have to wait for a full wave of whenever you make a decision to kind of process things. And boy is that true. And the times when something has happened and I just immediately jump into it, it like, is egg in my face? , it blows up as the wrong decision. And I just, it's just something I'm understanding, especially as I'm getting older and just the maturity of kind of thinking through decisions. Mm-Hmm. , I see that it really is something that's a non-negotiable for me. I have to do that , like I cannot mince. I have to have that process. So I'm fascinated to learn more about it. And I think it's

Speaker 1 (00:51:13):

Really

Speaker 3 (00:51:13):

Interesting. I can't wait to have a reading on it.

Speaker 1 (00:51:15):

Yeah. And I will say, yeah, Uhhuh, go ahead. I have at times felt, since I've gotten this information, there have been times where I have felt myself more at peace with what's happening in my life because now I understand it better. So the way that it affects cortisol and the hormones makes perfect sense. Mm-Hmm. . Because there have been times I'm like, no, this is how you're designed . This is your process, it's fine. And it's given me just, it's kind of given me that level of, just take a breath, . It's all working out exactly the way it's supposed to. So definitely dovetails nicely into all of the other things. Mm-Hmm. that we're working. Yeah. Yeah. I they in a lot of the literature about it, they say it is the key to true self-love and acceptance because it is your design, just like your eye color is your eye color and , your face is your face.

Speaker 1 (00:52:09):

Right. If we don't accept and love ourselves exactly as we are and who we are and what we're designed to do on this planet and our personality characteristics, life is just friction. And that means cortisol problems and that means hormone problems and hormonal poverty, poor gut health and lack of health. And so to me, the more we can know ourselves, the more we can know our lab test results and what exactly is going on physiologically, biochemically inside. And the more we can know our energetics and our personality and our design, human design has a lot of information about what we're here to do. So if you're confused about your purpose and how we're here to operate and if we can surrender to the truth of all of that and be true to ourselves, life can be a much easier ride for sure. Which sounds really good to me.

Speaker 1 (00:53:10):

And I think at midlife is when the friction of how, because we're all really trained to live as generators and function as generators, make decisions with our brain and be the go doers. Well that's great for, I think they call 'em self projected generators. So the ones that are supposed to think, no, actually I don't think there's anyone, we'll have to defer to the experts on this 'cause I'm not a human design expert. That's why we have experts coming in to teach about it. But we are not designed to make decisions with our brains. And not all of us are designed to be out there digging ditches and planting trees. So I think it's a wonderful addition to the program and I'm super excited about it. Super excited about this next Hormone Bliss challenge. Coming up in November, we're gonna have the link in the show notes so that you can sign up and join us for a five day course that actually you'll get a lot of benefit.

Speaker 1 (00:54:04):

'Cause I'm gonna teach you about all the steps that you need to take to heal hormonal poverty. But you're gonna start taking action on day one. And a lot of people get incredible results even in five days, which is amazing. But you can read more if you follow the link. So what last words You guys shared before we wrap up, you shared some amazing quotes with me before we started recording. So I wanna ask if you could talk about one of the, each of your quotes a little bit. I love a good quote. So Katrina, you shared this quote, stop wasting time, like someone is making more of it, which I absolutely love. Is that something that you say or is that, did someone else say it? It's actually a line from a song. I can't even remember the song, but the first time I heard it I was like, it just hit me.

Speaker 1 (00:54:54):

Yeah. . So, so we were talking about taking care of yourself and finding the time and at at one point you said, our health is really the only thing that gets us more time on this planet. And so why are we acting like we have all of this all the time in the world to do these things that are the most important things? And why do we waste so much? Like we, there is no more, like my father-in-Law always says, buy yourself a good piece of land. 'cause That's the one thing God's not making more of. . And so for me it's okay. So that's time. I think that, yeah, we have, we only have so much and we can buy ourselves more by taking good care of ourselves, but we spend so much, we waste so much time. It, I, I hate that it takes a lot of women until midlife to start the journey.

Speaker 1 (00:55:45):

I love it when women in their twenties want to come talk to me about how to take care of themselves. I'm like, you're so far ahead of the game. I so wish I had the information that I have now when I was younger so that I could have not wasted all that time. , would you have really used the information? Because I loved it. I'm a big one to say that too. Well, I wish I had known this 20 years ago, but I don't think I was ready for it 20 years ago. That's why I didn't receive it because I wouldn't have used it. I think I would've used some of it because I was very interested in being healthy back then. So I wish I, I do wish I had, but I just think that we spend a lot of time putting off, we'll all do it when I'll do it, when I'll do it when, and we just keep wasting time.

Speaker 1 (00:56:26):

Like someone's making more of it and nobody is and nobody's coming to save you . So I know that reminds me of this surgeon in the town where I was OB GYN in Savannah because she was typical midlife woman like everyone else, really not paying attention to her health. And then I had been out of town for a while and I came back and I saw her at the health food store and I had never seen her there. So I said, what are you doing here? And she said, oh, I was diagnosed with colon cancer, I had a colon resection. I'm getting ready to have further therapy and now I'm looking for supplements that can help me. And I cried because she neglected her health all those years. And a lot of us don't do anything until the other shoe drops and we get cancer or we get another horrible diagnosis, autoimmune disease, lupus, whatever it is or something horrible happens. And I just cried because if she had been in that house food store 10 years before doing natural things to help herself and being interested in it, then she might not have been in that position. But yeah, I love that one. And then Vic, you have this one. Be patient with yourself. Nothing in nature Blooms all year. I know you are an amazing gardener. You guys should see her pictures of her garden. She has a green thumb like nobody I've ever seen. But talk about what that means to you. I love that.

Speaker 3 (00:57:45):

Well,

Speaker 3 (00:57:46):

As everyone kind of gets started on their journey, we've kind of been, we we're in this immediate society. I'm gonna just take this handful of pills and everything will be fine. I'm just gonna go to this person and do this exercise. Everything will be fine. And there is, that's not how nature works. That's not how healing works. And so a lot of, when I get started with ladies, I suggest to them that if your children came to you and said, I'm not, I don't know this song, I'm not ready for the recital, we would say, be patient, go back and let's go slowly work through it. But when it comes to health, it's the same. We just have to be patient, be slow with the understanding that our body will heal when it's time to heal and when the conditions are right. And the same as all my stuff. I grew out in the garden, and the tomatoes bloom when they're ready to bloom. , the ec comes up when it's time for it to come up. And so patience is something I think we especially have to embrace and learn to understand in the process. And again, following nature, a thing rushes in nature. Neither should we.

Speaker 1 (00:59:02):

Yeah. I recently heard this term that I love called transactional healing, where we want it on demand. Like a pharmaceutical, I take the aspirin, my headache goes away. But when it comes to really helping the body heal and come into alignment and fix the root causes, you need to be patient. You can take the actions, but it's up to your body in what way it unfolds that healing. And so you don't wanna be transactional about it. And that's a factor in self-love. It's not self-loving to be transactional about your healing. So be patient with yourself, put in the work, it will happen. Last question. I know Katrina has to go

Speaker 3 (00:59:42):

. So real

Speaker 1 (00:59:43):

Fast, I would be remiss if I didn't talk about bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. As you guys know, my TEDx talk was about hormonal poverty and the consequences of it. Midlife metabolic mayhem, disease, disease, premature death, and all the plethora of data on these topics and how they can be prevented or reversed using natural hormone therapy. And I'm wondering if you can share in your personal journeys or women you've worked with, how important has that been? I will say for me it was, it has been a game changer. I'm super into fitness. Just the ability that it's given me to do what I want to do every day in the gym, the ability it's given me to build and maintain muscle mass. The ability it's given me to sleep well, , which is key. If you're as active as I am, you have to be able to sleep well.

Speaker 1 (01:00:38):

I won't say that I still have an occasional hot flash. Things aren't, it's not made everything perfect. I'm still not completely sure that I'm, that levels are optimized. 'cause As we kind of titrate up gradually mm-hmm , we don't wanna overdue and get everything just right. But I entered this program when I did because I was entering into perimenopause and the symptoms were starting and I didn't want it to get, I didn't want my life to get completely crazy with it. Right. And I was able to avert, I was able to avert the craziness. And so that's why I said before, it has been relatively easy for me. And a huge part of that I'm sure has been the bioidentical hormones. I don't feel like I have had all of those problems that I've, that my friends have had that, that have gone through. And my life is good. I mean, I will say honestly, I feel better, healthier, more fit right now at 54 than I've ever felt in my entire life. And woo. And I don't think that I would be able to say that had I not found you and all of the things including the hormones. Amazing. How about you

Speaker 3 (01:01:43):

Vic? Yeah. Yeah. I can definitely say hormone therapy. The bioidenticals have been a game changer for every person, every lady who's gone through this program and through my own client base. To the extent that we do it here and are able to, I have to say, I personally think that bioidentical hormone replacement therapy is just about as close to a magic wand for women as you can find of anything. It's just about that close and just what, especially the testosterone especially, there's just something there that, like Katrina said, with the muscle mash and just, it just clears the webs, it just clears the brain. It just clears things. And I think it's wonderful because having that little extra boost, when you suddenly feel better, then you feel more inspired to, oh well let me focus on my meal planning. Oh let me go and do this exercise. You just feel a little bit better. Mm-Hmm . I can't say enough about them. I think it's fantastic. I love that you have the hormone club going so women can have that access. 'cause They're not easy. Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy is not easy to find. And I love that you have access to that as long as you're in a state where they can get it. I think it's fantastic and it's a game changer. Truly.

Speaker 1 (01:03:00):

Yeah. We'll put the link to her hormone club in the show notes too, in case anyone is not able to access bioidentical hormones. We have a telemedicine company throughout the US that can provide board certified doctors specializing and that bioidentical hormone therapy, we can treat you from the comfort of your own dining room table via zoom and test you and send you hormones. So if 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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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." 

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.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

- The importance of understanding and managing your hormones during midlife

Speaker 1 (00:00:00):

Be patient with yourself. Nothing in Nature Blooms all year. Stay tuned as I talk with two of my health coaches, coach Vic and Coach Katrina, about achieving hormone bliss through midlife and metabolism, rescue and mastery.

Speaker 2 (00:00:17):

So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us, keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an OB GYN I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue. Now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast.

Speaker 1 (00:01:10):

Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kieran. Thank you so much for joining me today as we dive in with two of my health coaches, coach Katrina and Coach Victoria, and talk about achieving hormone bliss through midlife metabolism, rescue and mastery. These are the names of some of our programs that we've developed over the past three years that many women have gone through and gotten out of hormonal poverty into hormonal prosperity. So it really is the pathway that will lead you to where you wanna be after 40. As a woman with your health. If you're experiencing hormonal poverty, the symptoms of midlife, metabolic mayhem, those are the 60 plus symptoms that can start affecting women as young as in their thirties, sometimes even in their twenties. Then this is the show for you. Those symptoms can include not only weight gain, but also fatigue, hair loss, lack of libido, depression, anxiety, poor cognitive functioning, digestive issues, immune system issues, getting sick more often, autoimmune disease.

Speaker 1 (00:02:18):

The list goes on and on and on. You might not be aware that the health problems that you're having all have a hormonal component to them, and this is why women's health can start to falter and fail. Starting at 40 and beyond. There's always a hormonal component to every diagnosis you have to every disorder you have to every disease you have, no matter what system it's in, dermatological, gynecological, gastrointestinal, psychological, it go, the list goes on. There's always a hormonal component. And so getting out of hormonal poverty and getting to hormonal prosperity really is essential to reversing any symptom you have to heal any disease you have and also to prolonging your life. Because unfortunately studies show that when we're in hormonal poverty, our lifespan is shortened, and that when we get out of hormonal poverty into hormonal prosperity, our lifespan is actually longer. We have less disease, fewer medications, lower weight, better energy, all the things that you want for your life.

Speaker 1 (00:03:25):

So is that something you want? Hormonal prosperity? Yes, we want hormonal prosperity Now. So we're gonna dive into this episode with my two coaches. They're both women over 40. They've had their own health journeys that they're gonna share with you, and they really are experts. I love working with women who are passionate about helping other women to achieve what's possible for them with their health and their lives. And these women definitely exemplify that. So I think you're really gonna like this episode. We're gonna dive into that quote that I shared with you at the beginning about being patient with yourself. Nothing in nature Blooms all year. That's from Coach Vic. She is an avid gardener. You gotta see pictures of her garden. She makes the most beautiful vegetables I have ever seen. I don't have a green thumb. I say I have a paw for a thumb 'cause I really resonate with animals and I do really well with them, but plants not so much.

Speaker 1 (00:04:21):

But Coach Vick has that covered. So we're gonna talk about how to be patient with yourself and then we're gonna talk with Coach Katrina. She has this wonderful quote that we're gonna talk about. Stop wasting time, like someone is making more of it if you put everything off as if you have forever to do it. I've been guilty of that too. We all have. But you know, time is our most valuable resource 'because it's the only thing that gives us time on this planet is time. And what gives us that time is our health. When our health runs out, our time runs out. So don't waste your time, make the most of it, and that means make your health the most. So we're gonna dive into it. I'll tell you a little bit about Vic and Katrina and then we'll get started. So Katrina Gallagher is a group fitness instructor instructor in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Speaker 1 (00:05:13):

She has health coaching certification through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, and she's finishing up her health coaching certification through functional diagnostic nutrition. She is a true lover of all things health and wellness. She will go down the rabbit hole on any given topic and then can tell you all about it. And she has an emphasis on biohacking and anti-aging. And Victoria Gale, coach Vic is a classical naturopathic physician with additional certification as a functional diagnostic nutrition practitioner, holistic cancer coach, certified bioenergetics practitioner, and soon to be national board certified reflexology reflexologist. She loves natural health and appreciates learning how to live in balance with the cycles of nature and the world around us. And we didn't get into this episode about bioenergetics, but that is a topic that's essential to your hormones that we'll probably cover in future episodes. So stay tuned for that. But please help me welcome Coach Vic and Coach Katrina to the show. Hello.

Speaker 3 (00:06:16):

Hi. Thanks so much for having us.

Speaker 1 (00:06:18):

I'm so excited to have you guys on. We've all known each other now for a few years. Gosh, I think back from the first stop, the Menopause Men's Summit probably, and we've worked with so many women and developed so many programs, Katrina's been through them and now is one of our coaches and more that we're working on to help women. And I think it's great for everyone to hear your stories because we're all over 40. We're all passionate about health. We're all women. We know firsthand what it's to deal with the midlife metabolic mayhem that occurs over 40 and to work through it and master it. And I think women need hope right now. A, I hear a lot of women are really suffering. They're really lost. They don't know which way to turn, and they don't even think it's possible. And they see me and they think, oh yeah, Karen, she's a doctor. Of course she can get that straight, but that's not true. It's possible for really every woman. So I wanted to start, I've already talked about your expertise in bios, but maybe if you could just start with your story of how you came to do the work that you do with women over 40 and why you're so passionate about it. Do you wanna start, Vic?

Speaker 3 (00:07:41):

Sure. So I got into natural health after a health episode. In my twenties. I developed asthma and I had it so bad that I was using inhalers and breathing machines and all kinds of stuff, hours and hours a day and nothing was working. And at the time I just thought, oh my God, this can't be my life. And my first profession is in performing arts. And so I was getting ready to do a performance and my name was called. And right before, right after my name was called, I started having an asthma attack . And so of course that was panic stricken. I was writing and I just thought, oh my God. And luckily I was able to swap places with someone and I ran down the hallway backstage and there was a pot of black coffee. And I had learned after many years of asthma attacks, if I drank black coffee and bent over, I could control or stop my asthma attacks.

Speaker 3 (00:08:39):

And so after that happened, I was like, okay, I can't live like this, not knowing what's gonna happen. And so a chance read in a health food store that someone had cured their asthma by juicing, just let me think. Well, I can't, it's not gonna hurt. So I went and bought a juicer and fruit and vegetables and all that and I started juicing. And after about two weeks of doing it with no plan, no nothing, I was just doing it. I noticed that my breathing started to get better and I was like, whoa, there's something to this. And so I juiced for the next year and a half or so, but I also started unpacking some emotions that I had been hanging onto some grief, that kind of stuff. And after about a year and a half, I got up one day and I just knew it was over.

Speaker 3 (00:09:22):

And I can't explain how I knew that, but I knew it was. And I packed up all my inhalers, breathing machines and threw them all in the garbage and never had another asthma attack. And that was 25 years ago now. And so after that happened, I was like, I need to really unpack what happened, what, what happened here. And at the time I had to kind of put it on the shelf because family, whatever. But then once the kids are out of the house and you kind of have some time on your own, I decided I need to look into a natural health kinda school. And so I looked for what's in our areas or whatnot. At the time we had two brick and mortar naturopathic schools here in the state. I'm in Michigan. And so I went to one of those schools and then unpacked and started to learn why that worked for me and what happened.

Speaker 3 (00:10:12):

And then I decided, well, if I can't help myself, I need to be able to help other people do what I did. And from that point, I started my brand and started working with folks. And the bulk of my practice is women. I do see both men and women. But I have to say after I've met you, Karen, and working with the institute, it's just women in midlife, I've kind of discovered that's my favorite group of people to work with. Not just because it's me, but . Not just because it's us, but it's just a really dynamic group of untapped, energetic potential. When we can really refocus and get women on their right path, we can change the world. And so there's just so many women that need that help and support. And so that's the primary set of what I do every day. And because I have naturopathic training, I'm always drawn to the natural sort of means of doing things that follow the path of nature. 'cause Nature actually shows everything that we need to do. We've just gotta kind of follow its paths and trends and then we'll find that our health will reset itself. And so that's kind of how I've found myself in this space where I am now.

Speaker 1 (00:11:26):

Yeah, thank you for sharing that. I love working with women. People say, well, don't you miss delivering babies? And I say, well, it was great at the time. But working with women, we give life, but we also are the sustainers of life on this planet. And if you help a woman, you help the whole, everyone on the planet, you help her family, you help her friends, she's gonna teach everyone else. And so I love doing what I do now because it's, I, I, I'll say it, and I know some people think it is complicated to deliver a baby, but it's not that complicated. And there are many wonderful midwives and doctors who do it wonderfully and brilliantly. But not everyone can help a woman come back to herself and come back to her vitality at midlife. There really aren't that many of us. And that's why I think it's so vital, the work that we do.

Speaker 1 (00:12:19):

And Katrina, what got you into this type of work? Well, I just kind of believe that you should just go where the world takes you, , and this is where the world has taken me. . I mean, I really, it was not, I didn't set out the, didn't set out to do this. I'm a lawyer by training. I practiced law for several years. And then, but I've always had an interest in health and wellness because when I was in elementary school, my dad had his first heart attack. He was 36, and then continued to have heart problems throughout the rest of my childhood. And then when I was 18, he had a heart transplant and he was 55 when he died. So that was very, maybe because when he had that first heart attack, I was at such a young age, it made such an impression on me.

Speaker 1 (00:13:07):

But I remember being like young, I don't remember how old I was, maybe eight or nine. And I remember thinking, I, I remember hearing the doctor tell my mom, there is a hereditary aspect to heart disease and chances are really good that one of your four children is gonna have problems. And I remember thinking, it's not gonna be me. It is not gonna be me. And I didn't know at the time what that meant, what I needed to do to keep it from being me. But I knew it wasn't gonna be me . And so, I started really in college kind of exploring. And of course when I was in college, that was when we were getting all the bad information about fat is evil and sugar is fine. And so probably did myself some harm, more harm than good back then, following all those recommendations.

Speaker 1 (00:13:51):

But I kind of kept up with it. And then I went to college, went to law school, just sort of dabbled it, dabbled in it really. And then when my kids were older and I had more time to kind of really explore, I really dove in and started just reading everything I could read about health and wellness and about heart health and doing the right things to make sure I wasn't the one of the four of us that ended up with heart problems. And then I guess when I decided to get my health coaching certification, I was approaching that premenopausal phase of my life. And so my own interest went there because that's where I was. And I think because I am, I am 54 now, I've been doing this now for several years. I think that midlife woman, I think they're just attracted to me.

Speaker 1 (00:14:43):

I think it's because I'm a group fitness instructor. And so I have, I work with a population of people who are already interested in fitness. Mm-Hmm. . And I will help anybody who wants my help. And I love working with everybody. But those midlife women seem to be attracted to me, I think because they see me, they, and they're like, okay, she can do it. She is healthy and she's fit. And so mm-hmm . So why can't I do that? And so it's sort of just happened that way. But I love it because I can share my own experiences and it's very, very, the stories I hear from them are very relatable. And so that's where I found myself and I really enjoy it. And I really, I will say, Karen, that joining your program when I did saved me a lot of heartache because I was perimenopausal when I started with you.

Speaker 1 (00:15:31):

And the journey has been relatively easy for me, , because I found you and the information that I found. And so as I see other women starting in like, oh, let me jump in and help you, let me do for you what Kieran did for me. Let me lead you to care. Let me get you in this so that you don't have to suffer either . So yeah. So it's a great midlife. Women are very motivated to feel better. Yes. And so it's very motivating. It's a very motivated population. And that's also nice. Yeah, it is. So thank you so much for, for sharing that. And I'm thinking as you're saying that we made it easier. And here you are a fitness instructor and I know a lot of people at midlife women look around and say, well, what am I not doing? What do I need to do to feel better?

Speaker 1 (00:16:18):

And fitness and going to the gym, joining fitness programs is something that people do. But I do find that eventually most people look around and say, well, this isn't all because I just don't feel like myself anymore. And you have this unique perspective where you actually went through the programs that Victoria and I had created. So what were some of the most surprising things to you that you learned? Like going through the midlife metabolism, rescue and mastery programs, what are some things that stick out as these big light bulbs? Wow, I had no idea that this was so important or that this worked like this or other things. Well, I was already, my fitness was fine. And really my food was already pretty on key. Like I was already doing most of that stuff. So most of that was not new to me and was not surprising to me.

Speaker 1 (00:17:11):

But we started off with the HRV, the HRV lesson, which I had no, no idea about . So that was all, I was like, wait, what is this new thing that could, that is like controlling my health , you know? So, my HRV was not fantastic. And so that, that was a whole new world to me, understanding the nervous system and regulating that and that. So that was big for me. I did not have an understanding at all of, of like , cortisol was new to me. I knew what it was, but I had no idea how important it was and what a controlling factor it is with regard to all of the other hormones. So that really stood out to me. The whole really, like sleep stress reduction portion was just not anything I had really delved into before. And that was all very important for me because my, I'm a great sleeper, but I was not sleeping enough.

Speaker 1 (00:18:08):

And I, at the time, had no idea how much damage that was probably doing to me and how much it was holding me back from feeling my best. So those things I would say. And then I knew the importance of gut health and I knew the basics, but that was just, I was just in heaven through all of that, learning all of the stuff about the gut stuff, the GI map was fascinating to me. And learning about how all of that works and how, and so that was a whole new world to me as well. So there was a lot, I mean, I went into it feeling like, okay, I know some things and that's good. And I was glad I knew the things I did, but there was a lot that I didn't know. And so there were several things during the course that I was just like, oh, what? I had no idea

Speaker 3 (00:18:51):

what, yeah, yeah. I would, I would, I would agree with that, that the GI map, a lot of the member, I remember a lot of the ladies early on when their GI map would show up and we would be in our one-on-one coach consult, they would go on and on about, oh my gosh, how is this test going on that no one knows about, but it says so much about my health and my hormones and how is this the first time I'm coming across this? And I would say gut health was something they really were going on and on about not understanding how much it was affecting every other aspect of their health. And they loved being able to address it botanically. 'cause A lot of what you can use to address gut health is entirely botanicals. You'd often don't need pharmaceutical type products to deal with the gut.

Speaker 3 (00:19:37):

And so they loved that. And I would second that. That's one. And the other aspect, I know that many of them had undervalued as far as being related to their health is their emotional state and traumas and things that they were hanging onto. And they really had no idea how it was slowly gnawing away at their health, but was this sort of stealth killer of their health. And they really undervalued it. 'cause I think so often we just kind of say, oh yeah, I had this happen in my past. It's no big deal. It can't still be affecting me now. And that's actually the entire opposite, wrong way to think of it. Because those traumas and things that we've held onto and have in us are little time bombs waiting to explode. And boy, when they do in midlife, when everything else is going on in our lives, it becomes a disaster for us as midlife women. And so I would say I, one thing I really appreciate, especially about this program and Kieran especially, you're one of the few FMDs that I've really run across who will delve into that aspect of health, the emotional, spiritual, psychological aspect of our health.

Speaker 1 (00:20:47):

'Cause It's huge. It is. And I just wanna mention for anyone listening, HRV is heart rate variability. In case you didn't know. Yes. Thank you for saying that. It really is the missing piece. I mean, mainstream medicine for sure misses that piece, but most functional medicine misses it too. Nobody wants to go into the emotional stuff, . And I've had to learn these things out of necessity because I had a, let's say, less than nurturing childhood. They caught up with me at midlife. So I've had to learn about all these things and learn how to unpack them. But it's almost more than that, and this is why I'm creating it. If you're a regular listener to the podcast, you're gonna wanna listen to the next few episodes. 'cause I'm making a few episodes for you on psychoneuroendocrinology, which is a fancy way of saying how your thoughts and feelings affect your nervous system and your hormones.

Speaker 1 (00:21:40):

'Cause They're all related. And it's actually a field in medicine, psychoneuroendocrinology and also your energetic blueprint. We're gonna be going into that 'cause your energetic design goes into that too. But all of these are less than nurturing or overwhelming small T or big T traumas that we have as children where it can be traumatic to a child, whatever their needs or wants are not met, that can be trauma that has to go somewhere. It has, that's energy. Emotions are energy in motion. And so if that energy is not discharged by a nurturing parent who can help you process it and feel it and understand it, which is most of the people who raised us, they don't because they don't know how to do it. It wasn't a common skill for people. 'cause They were worried about survival then these emotions and this energy has to go somewhere.

Speaker 1 (00:22:37):

So it goes into our fascia, into our nervous system. And it takes a lot of energy for the body to hold down those encapsulated packets of traumatic energy. And so this is one of the reasons why some women actually have a worst time at perimenopause, menopause at midlife is because they haven't unpacked all of these bigger little T traumas. And their cortisol has been struggling since they were five years old to keep a lid on this . And so anyway, it's a big conversation, but I'm creating a whole new program to dive into that even more deeply. Because I find that even though we incorporate that into the program and we talk a lot about it, it really, people need full guidance. Like, how do I do this work? So I'm making a whole program on that. Anything else you guys wanna say about that before we change topics though? I think it's so important. Yeah. I just will say in my own health coaching practice, I don't think I've ever, my bachelor's degree is in psychology and I don't think I've ever had a client that I didn't feel like I used my psych degree almost more than I used my, my, my health coaching certifications. , like they're, everybody has emotional issues that they haven't dealt with and mostly don't know how to deal with. And so I do what I can. I refer people, encourage people often to seek professional help

Speaker 1 (00:24:08):

In doing those things because it becomes obvious if you do this very much at all, how much those issues hold people back from reaching their full potential.

Speaker 3 (00:24:18):

Absolutely. I 100%, I 100% agree with that. And that's always an aspect of everything that I have when I'm working with my people. I mean, we certainly go through the testing and we explain, we come up with lifestyle recommendations, whatever. But there's always a point where the rubber has to meet the road where I'm talking to the clients and I'm like, okay, there's more here you're gonna need to unpack and here's some resources. I have a somatic therapist on staff here. And so she's been very helpful to direct people to. But there's always a point in time where the rubber meets the road and that intersection of mind, body, spirit becomes front and center. And it's something that has to be addressed. And emotions are powerful. They're the energetics that keep us moving day to day. And so they have to be sort of channeled and funneled in a way that makes life sustainable and healthy for us.

Speaker 3 (00:25:14):

And otherwise they become little time bombs. And I appreciate so much some of the specifics of the changes with what happens with women in midlife. And so some of the importance of needing to exercise and the changes with estrogen and all these things that when there's an emotional aspect attached to those things, it can really throw you way off. And so I've appreciated the program really digging down into some of those specifics. Because I know from my training and some of the other sorts of stuff I've learned over the years, a lot of the data, the research is on men or a healthy person in their twenties. There's never anything specifically tailored for midlife women. And I so appreciated some of the experts and things that you brought whose sole focus is women in midlife. Because you suddenly discover, oh wait a minute, there's a little bit of calibration that has to be different for the midlife women. There has to be some different thoughts. There has to be a little bit of a different approach. And I think that's been really, that's been game changing for me just to really Mm-Hmm. focus in on that.

Speaker 1 (00:26:24):

I always say, when I went through my mainstream education and med school and OB GYN residency, we were basically taught that women are just littler men with an accessory pack that allows special organs and hormones that allows us to really reduce life. And then when I got further along and had my own health crisis and had to sort that out and discovered what the work I do now, I discovered that nothing could be further from the truth. We are foundationally different. Our brains are structured differently. Our psyches, our nervous systems, like we just don't, we are not little men in any way, shape or form. But I love what you mentioned. One of the things that I love about the way we set up the programs is doing it in a group format. And I know that some people are a little hesitant at first 'cause they're used to that one-on-one, even though it's a five or seven minute, just write a prescription or you need a surgery visit.

Speaker 1 (00:27:20):

But that's what we've been socialized to believe is healthcare. And so they go in groups, I'm gonna be talking about my personal stuff in a group. And then what do you guys find as people's opinion at the end about that? They love it, right? Yeah. Oh, I was speaking for myself and for the ladies Oh yeah. That I went through it with and have seen go through it since the group was key. I think we got a lot of value from listening to each other, learning from each other's questions, the support that comes with knowing that there are other women out there that are going through what you're going through and that are, that you're kind of learning to fix it together. Yeah. I love the group setting. I don't, I, I have never heard anybody ever say a negative thing about, there's some apprehension in the beginning sometimes with people like, oh, but then once the comfort level increases a little bit, everybody's thrilled that there's that. It's in a group setting.

Speaker 3 (00:28:15):

Absolutely. And definitely in private consults, one-on-one, when we would meet with the folks outside of the group setting, they would definitely say, oh, I didn't really wanna share that. I haven't been sleeping. Or My HRV numbers were so terrible. But they suddenly discovered that there's comfort in being vulnerable and having another group of women do having the same kind of things happen, if not worse. There's a comfortability in sharing that. And I'm a firm believer that, I mean, we all need community, but I believe women especially need women only sort of supportive groups in life as well as in any kind of a healing situation. I believe we're just, I believe we're wired that way truthfully. And I've told friends many mm-Hmm. over the years. I've, I've told people that my girlfriend therapy group has gotten me through more things than any sort of, it's getting together with my girlfriends and parsing things out has been a huge piece for me.

Speaker 3 (00:29:19):

And I think if we're, if we see how good it is, when we feel great, especially when we're not feeling so great, it doubles the need to have that group of other supportive communities, especially women around us. And mm-Hmm. , I like to kind of relate it to nature. I mean, nothing in nature exists on its own, right? And so nature tells us we have to intercommunicate and support each other to get through day to day. And I love the data where they're looking at trees, how trees talk to each other and the roots talk to each other. Mm-Hmm. . And it's the fungus. And so that interconnection and communication is how nature exists. So why would we be any, we, why would we be any different? We're part of nature as well, right? We need that community.

Speaker 1 (00:30:04):

We do. And we have an epidemic of loneliness, and I'm trying to remember the exact numbers, but I think people over 50, it's like people say that they have some less than one close friend and they spend large swaths of time alone and they don't have the support systems. Because we used to live in communities where we were very connected to nature and very connected to each other. But now we live in cities and apartments with TVs and electronic devices. And people are on that thinking they're connected, but they're not. Right. So I think it is vital connection that is vital to health. And the statistics on loneliness are that it's worse than smoking for your health. So you may think, oh, I'm doing great 'cause I don't smoke. But if you're experiencing loneliness and you're not having human connection, 'cause there's certain kind of energetic benefits that we get from being, having eye contact and being in close proximity and having physical touch and sexual touch and all these things.

Speaker 1 (00:31:04):

If you're not having that, it could be like you're smoking two packs a day of cigarettes. So that's one thing I love about the groups. I think people got that oxytocin hit from having that connection and that support and being seen and being heard and being understood. They're going to their doctor's office being told There's nothing wrong with you. It's normal not to wanna have sex and have poor sex and poor sleep at your age. Now it's not right. And so they can come here and get affirmed for all the midlife, metabolic, mayhem, craziness that we're all experiencing. I wanted to ask you guys, how important do you think the testing is? Because I know some programs are like, oh, we just created this program to address your hormones and your gut and you're all gonna take these supplements and you're all gonna eat like this and you're all gonna do these things.

Speaker 1 (00:31:55):

And we don't do any tests. So how important are the tests? I wildly important , I mean . Yeah. Yeah. I mean, because you can, it's funny 'cause I always say at the end of the day, it no matter what issues you're having, to some extent the protocol to fix it is the same. Right? We all should be sleeping well. We all should be eating good, clean, organic whole foods. We all should be none of, we shouldn't be drinking alcohol. We shouldn't, like, there are some things that are gonna go across the board that are true for everyone. But the testing in my mind is super important, especially when it comes to the supplementation aspect of any wellness protocol because mm-Hmm. , you don't know what to take if you, you don't know exactly what's wrong, . So I can know my, I can feel that my hormones are outta whack.

Speaker 1 (00:32:44):

But if I don't do a Dutch test and know exactly if my estrogen is high or low or my progesterone is high or low, what my testosterone is doing, how do I know what to take? How do I know what to supplement with? How do I know how much? If you don't have the GI map and you don't know that you've got a parasite or you don't know that you're, that you've got whatever is high or low, then you don't know if you, should I be taking probiotics? Should I be taking digestive enzymes? Should I be doing a protocol to get rid of candida? Do I have high chance? Do like, so know how exactly to attack. To me, I'm a huge, powerful person. I want to know everything. I wanna know all the things. The more information I have, the more I can, the better decisions I can make about how to go about improving a situation.

Speaker 1 (00:33:30):

So the tests for me personally, or that's knowledge, give me input. All the information I want. But I've seen it too with our clients and they love those tests. They feel like finally there's something that validates the way they've been feeling. Yeah. There's clinical correlation to, oh my gosh, this no wonder I felt this way. And all of a sudden they don't feel crazy anymore. And Right. It just gives them a, a, a resource to say, okay, here it is in black and white . You're not crazy. You're not crazy. Exactly. Yeah. And then for me it was also like showing my husband, see I'm not crazy. . I told you .

Speaker 1 (00:34:16):

Yes. The validation is huge. Yeah. But it's funny, I just was recently interviewed by a woman, a journalist. And so, after the interview, she wanted to talk about her functional issues. Her 'cause she's at midlife. So everyone hears you deal with midlife metabolic mayhem. Lemme tell you my issues, let's talk about it. So I did. And she said that she had been trying the throw against the wall and seeing what sticks method that wasn't working. And everyone in her office was trying that. And then when some one of them would learn about some other protocol, they would share it. And then some of them would complain, this is too much work. Why is this so much work? and I went on this whole rant with her about, we don't complain about how much work our careers work to get the master's and take the SATs and apply to university and go to university.

Speaker 1 (00:35:13):

I mean, it's chaos, right? To, to go through your education and get your training and get your certifications and maintain your certifications and get your jobs and maintain your jobs. And nobody complains about how much work it is, right? 'cause You get the payoff. But then when it comes to our health, we've been socialized to believe that all we're supposed to do is shovel some calories in our mouth every day, lay horizontal for a few hours and it should be plug and play. We go to the doctor if we have a problem, they write us a script or do a surgery. And that's all we should have to input into our most valuable asset, our bodies, which is what the only thing that gives us time on this planet. And then we complain that it's too much work. So I know some people hear, oh, I gotta do a course and I gotta do testing. And oh, this is so much work. And I just like to have that reality check. But it was funny because after I talked to her, the journalist, she was like, I never thought about it. Like , I put no investment into my health. And that's why I don't, I think it's too much work. 'cause I don't, I've been trained that way. But what about the value of investing in your health?

Speaker 3 (00:36:18):

One of the things I remember early on when the first ladies would start the program and you would have the classes and you would talk about, we would come up with structured lifestyle recommendations to do. And so one of them was initially on 30 minutes every day of walking or taking a look at your H RV or whatever. And ever, and I remember clearly, and I won't mention any names, but there was a mm-Hmm. lady early on in the program who told us directly, she did not have 15 to 20 minutes to look at her hrv. And I re at the end of the program, of course we all went crazy and whatnot. And she went through the program and suddenly learned the value of that self investment. And, and by the end of the program, I remember her saying, oh my gosh, I feel so embarrassed and foolish that I thought that I didn't have the time.

Speaker 3 (00:37:11):

And now it's become, if I don't have that's, you know, the end of the world, I have to have that self investment time. I mean, if there's anything you're going to put time or investment into, it should be yourself and as many hours and as much money, whatever it takes, we have to put that time into ourselves. But I find that commonly with a lot of my midlife women, they tell me, oh, I don't have 30 minutes to walk. I don't have 15, 20 minutes. And it's really something because there's something to that that you'll put time into everything else but not yourself. And getting people to care and love about themselves, that's a piece of this. And that's what I, I do especially like about this program. And what I have to find with my client base as well, is we almost have to teach women to love ourselves again. And to really put ourselves first. I mean, who else should we put first? Mm-Hmm. . I mean, yes, we love our children, we love our husbands, we love whatever, but that first love has to be self-love. And that's a piece that I think midlife women have to really sit on and we have to really work with them on that. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:38:21):

What is up with that? Because, and we'd say, I don't have the time or I don't have the money that what we're, that's code for. I don't see the value in that thing or in myself.

Speaker 3 (00:38:31):

Right?

Speaker 1 (00:38:32):

So what is up with that? With us? Us? What are your thoughts, guys? I don't know. I think that we're just, I think that we're wired to be caretakers and I think that we put other people first. I mean, I think if you're a mother then you're just wired that your children are gonna come first. But I also think that we have, I think a lot of us waste a lot more time than we realize we waste. Mm-Hmm.

Speaker 3 (00:38:57):

,

Speaker 1 (00:38:58):

I think we have become a pretty inefficient society. And I don't say that judgmentally because I'm guilty of it. So I mean, I'm right there with you. I do. But you know, and I realized that, I realized that for myself recently when I did do 75 hard, I don't know if you all are familiar with 75 hard, but there are requirements. And one of the requirements is that you have to work out twice a day. And everybody going into the program is, I don't have, I can't work out twice a day for 40 for at least 45 minutes each workout. So it's, and it's like, how am I gonna make time for this? And you do it, you do the program for 75 and there are other things you have to do as well. Mm-Hmm. . But you, I realized for myself during that time how much like I was able to do that. And so the things that I lost were not important things . Okay. Like, so I think we,

Speaker 3 (00:39:46):

I think we've kind of,

Speaker 1 (00:39:47):

I think we've kind of forgotten how to prioritize our time as well. I think if women take a really good hard look at what their day is filled with, there are things that maybe in their minds feel necessary that aren't really necessary. So Mm-Hmm. , I do think that you're never gonna get women to not prioritize their children. That to not prioritize their family to some extent they're gonna prioritize, prioritize their jobs. But I think even within their jobs there are things that they are spending time on that aren't necessary. I think we need to learn to become better delegators. And I think we need to learn to say, you know what? That thing can wait , the world's not gonna end if that thing doesn't get done today. And so, yeah. So I think it's kind of twofold. I think we do have a tendency to take care of everybody around us first. But I also think that we're not always terribly efficient with our time.

Speaker 3 (00:40:38):

And that's part of the piece I think of having a loss of community. Because many things that we would get done in a day would be done by other community members. And so I think women, we've kind of, mm-hmm, Incorporated. Wait a minute, there's a thousand things to be done. I better do all thousand of them. Or life is gonna fall apart. But we've forgotten that even child rearing our earlier ancestors, it wasn't just the parents that were raising children, it was aunties, uncles, neighbors. I was raised where my neighbor would come and get me up in the morning and would do things. I mean, there's just other things that would be handled by the community. And that's where I think you're right about us having to really sit down and look at these list of things and determine that, okay, these aren't the important ones. These I need to delegate. We need to just reprioritize the need to get everything quote unquote done. We just don't need to.

Speaker 1 (00:41:36):

Yeah. Well and you address that in the programs we talk about breaking your day down into however many minute increments and Mm-Hmm . Mm-Hmm . Find your time. Like where is your time going? What's necessary? What's not necessary? That's a really good exercise for people who think that they don't have time to take care of them.

Speaker 3 (00:41:56):

Food preparation, the idea that we can't find time to prepare food has become something we've kind of fallen into as well. And I mean the meal services are great and yes, there's timeframes for things, but I mean to really take the time to prepare quality homemade food, which is a keystone for us being healthy, we have the time to do it. I mean, we aren't going out and catching animals. We aren't going out and picking stuff from the garden. We aren't doing, all we have to do is go to the grocery, you know, batch cook one day a week and put it in a freezer. Mm-Hmm. . We have the life of Riley for food preparation. So this idea that we're just too busy to prepare our food is just, is a myth we've all kind of brought into, and I'm a big advocate for having children that are old enough, be a part of food preparation and meal preparation. I just don't understand one person in a household being the only one responsible for all the meal prepping and children that are old enough should be doing some amount of meal prep. I believe.

Speaker 1 (00:43:05):

Absolutely. A pro tip from the episode is batch meal prep that is hands down the biggest time saver and gives you so much control over your health because what you are, what you eat. And so we go into the program, into the programs what to eat. But I started, when I first got on this journey over 10 years ago, I just sat down and started planning meals, which we never did before and planning recipes. And Sunday was shopping and cooking day and we would make mass amounts and freezer it. We got this big freezer and we always had food and then, and then it was just like a family affair 'cause we all did it together. So I think this issue of the time values, which I also do in the hormone bliss challenge, which we're gonna be running again in November, looking at where you spend your time, looking at where you spend your money, looking at your values, and are you spending your time and money in alignment with your values? And most women find that they are not. So I think I needed that reality check also. And so no shame here because we're all guilty of these. Oh for sure. Things as well.

Speaker 3 (00:44:15):

.

Speaker 1 (00:44:15):

Yeah. I'm just wondering, I wanna talk a little bit about human design because it's something that I've become interested in. In the past year we talked in the programs about your energetic blueprint where you talked about chakras. I think Vic, you even did a whole class on that, which was amazing. And people love learning about how their energetics and their body works. And then I got introduced into human design, which is a more specific science of differentiation. How each individual has a unique energetic blueprint that has to do with certain characteristics of when they were born, where they were born. It integrates many ancient teachings. And so I've had my chart done and been living in what we call my experiment for the past a year. And you guys have done your chart and I think Katrina's had her initial reading. So she isn't starting her experiment.

Speaker 1 (00:45:14):

You've done your chart, Vic. One thing that I learned from human design, I'll just give an example, is that my design is an emotional projector. So there are five different main types and then you have an authority by which you're supposed to make decisions. And then there are many more specifics about each person's unique blueprint that give them certain characteristics and qualities. I found that when I had my reading, it explained a lot of my personality characteristics that have always been perplexing to me and other people. Why am I always this way? Like I have this ability to kind of cut to the heart of a matter and see the truth behind things. And people have always been like, why can you see this behind the curtain? And I always wondered why can I? And it's part of my design and then also my fighting for the underdog.

Speaker 1 (00:46:08):

I always don't like injustice when I see it. And I'm always willing to fight for injustice, like for women at midlife. And that's part of my design. So there are a lot of insights, but the big thing was learning that I'm not a generator, which 65% of people are. So generators are the builders and the doers. And I am not, and I'm made to be a guide and lead people not to be out there digging the ditches and planting the trees, but helping people do dig ditches and plant trees better. And so that's kind of why I do what I do. So those were all very insightful and have allowed me to live more in alignment with my true nature, which actually helps balance your hormones. So if you're not living in alignment with your true nature, this is kind of where it relates to hormones.

Speaker 1 (00:46:56):

There are specific gates and channels that relate to specific hormones. So you can get that deep. But in general, if you're not living in alignment with your design, you are hurting your cortisol stress hormone because that's stress, it's friction if you're not operating in alignment with how you're supposed to operate. So those are the insights I got that I found hugely valuable. And we're actually adding right now a live human design class we're gonna do next week with an analyst, a whole section on human design and helping people get their charts and integrate it into balancing their hormones and healing hormonal poverty. So I'm just wondering if either of you would like to share any insights that you've had from your human design and mostly how it has helped you to live more in alignment with your true self. Well, I was absolutely fascinated and I did have a reading and the I, yeah, validating is the first word that came to mind because I am an emotional manifester.

Speaker 1 (00:47:57):

It just explained so much when about yeah, like you said, just so many things. It just helped me to understand myself. And I was like, oh, now it makes perfect sense. Why I, I'll never forget one time my kids were, my boys were playing baseball and their coach was a pretty young guy. And I made some comment once about how maybe I was gonna go talk to Tyler about X, Y, or Z And my boys were like, oh. They were like, oh, they, they reaction was like, oh, I was like, what? What? What? They said, you will completely freak him out if you go. And I said, why would you say that? What do you mean? And they're like, mom, you're very intimidating. And that was not a word that I would have used to describe myself. And so that kind of peaked my interest.

Speaker 1 (00:48:41):

And so I asked some other people, is that true? Do people find me intimidating? And I got that. I got yes, I got the answer yes a lot. And I was like, what? And literally I never really quite understood it. I never, but then when I met with Nancy and we talked about what exactly it means to be a manifester and how I have sort of an off-putting aura and that's just who I am. Like I just have a, I'm like, oh. So that's why people feel like I'm intimidating, but I never really saw myself that way. So it answered a lot of questions and it does kind of just sort of re-evaluate how you're moving through life and kind of what you're, how it helps you understand why people react to you the way that they do. And the fact that I am emotional, I've always been a follow your gut kind of person. And now I'm like, that's that, that is really super true for me. I really do need to follow my gut. If I feel a certain way, I need to, like Nancy said, even down to if you cook a meal and all of a sudden you don't feel like eating it like right don't like don't she. So, yeah, fascinating. And I feel like I'm just kind of getting started learning. So there's, I think there's mm-Hmm. a lot more to learn and I'm super excited about learning it. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:49:59):

I'm fascinated as well. I haven't had any readings done yet. I did run my chart and I only got a chance to read through one little aspect of it, but I'm a generator with emotional authority and it really just encapsulated everything I've ever done in my life. 'cause If I'm gonna start a business, I'm gonna dig in there and I'm gonna go through all the aspects of things. And it just really made sense for me. And the one thing that really stood out for me when I was kind of reading through one of the write-ups, they talked about when you have emotional authority, you kind of have to wait for a full wave of whenever you make a decision to kind of process things. And boy is that true. And the times when something has happened and I just immediately jump into it, it like, is egg in my face? , it blows up as the wrong decision. And I just, it's just something I'm understanding, especially as I'm getting older and just the maturity of kind of thinking through decisions. Mm-Hmm. , I see that it really is something that's a non-negotiable for me. I have to do that , like I cannot mince. I have to have that process. So I'm fascinated to learn more about it. And I think it's

Speaker 1 (00:51:13):

Really

Speaker 3 (00:51:13):

Interesting. I can't wait to have a reading on it.

Speaker 1 (00:51:15):

Yeah. And I will say, yeah, Uhhuh, go ahead. I have at times felt, since I've gotten this information, there have been times where I have felt myself more at peace with what's happening in my life because now I understand it better. So the way that it affects cortisol and the hormones makes perfect sense. Mm-Hmm. . Because there have been times I'm like, no, this is how you're designed . This is your process, it's fine. And it's given me just, it's kind of given me that level of, just take a breath, . It's all working out exactly the way it's supposed to. So definitely dovetails nicely into all of the other things. Mm-Hmm. that we're working. Yeah. Yeah. I they in a lot of the literature about it, they say it is the key to true self-love and acceptance because it is your design, just like your eye color is your eye color and , your face is your face.

Speaker 1 (00:52:09):

Right. If we don't accept and love ourselves exactly as we are and who we are and what we're designed to do on this planet and our personality characteristics, life is just friction. And that means cortisol problems and that means hormone problems and hormonal poverty, poor gut health and lack of health. And so to me, the more we can know ourselves, the more we can know our lab test results and what exactly is going on physiologically, biochemically inside. And the more we can know our energetics and our personality and our design, human design has a lot of information about what we're here to do. So if you're confused about your purpose and how we're here to operate and if we can surrender to the truth of all of that and be true to ourselves, life can be a much easier ride for sure. Which sounds really good to me.

Speaker 1 (00:53:10):

And I think at midlife is when the friction of how, because we're all really trained to live as generators and function as generators, make decisions with our brain and be the go doers. Well that's great for, I think they call 'em self projected generators. So the ones that are supposed to think, no, actually I don't think there's anyone, we'll have to defer to the experts on this 'cause I'm not a human design expert. That's why we have experts coming in to teach about it. But we are not designed to make decisions with our brains. And not all of us are designed to be out there digging ditches and planting trees. So I think it's a wonderful addition to the program and I'm super excited about it. Super excited about this next Hormone Bliss challenge. Coming up in November, we're gonna have the link in the show notes so that you can sign up and join us for a five day course that actually you'll get a lot of benefit.

Speaker 1 (00:54:04):

'Cause I'm gonna teach you about all the steps that you need to take to heal hormonal poverty. But you're gonna start taking action on day one. And a lot of people get incredible results even in five days, which is amazing. But you can read more if you follow the link. So what last words You guys shared before we wrap up, you shared some amazing quotes with me before we started recording. So I wanna ask if you could talk about one of the, each of your quotes a little bit. I love a good quote. So Katrina, you shared this quote, stop wasting time, like someone is making more of it, which I absolutely love. Is that something that you say or is that, did someone else say it? It's actually a line from a song. I can't even remember the song, but the first time I heard it I was like, it just hit me.

Speaker 1 (00:54:54):

Yeah. . So, so we were talking about taking care of yourself and finding the time and at at one point you said, our health is really the only thing that gets us more time on this planet. And so why are we acting like we have all of this all the time in the world to do these things that are the most important things? And why do we waste so much? Like we, there is no more, like my father-in-Law always says, buy yourself a good piece of land. 'cause That's the one thing God's not making more of. . And so for me it's okay. So that's time. I think that, yeah, we have, we only have so much and we can buy ourselves more by taking good care of ourselves, but we spend so much, we waste so much time. It, I, I hate that it takes a lot of women until midlife to start the journey.

Speaker 1 (00:55:45):

I love it when women in their twenties want to come talk to me about how to take care of themselves. I'm like, you're so far ahead of the game. I so wish I had the information that I have now when I was younger so that I could have not wasted all that time. , would you have really used the information? Because I loved it. I'm a big one to say that too. Well, I wish I had known this 20 years ago, but I don't think I was ready for it 20 years ago. That's why I didn't receive it because I wouldn't have used it. I think I would've used some of it because I was very interested in being healthy back then. So I wish I, I do wish I had, but I just think that we spend a lot of time putting off, we'll all do it when I'll do it, when I'll do it when, and we just keep wasting time.

Speaker 1 (00:56:26):

Like someone's making more of it and nobody is and nobody's coming to save you . So I know that reminds me of this surgeon in the town where I was OB GYN in Savannah because she was typical midlife woman like everyone else, really not paying attention to her health. And then I had been out of town for a while and I came back and I saw her at the health food store and I had never seen her there. So I said, what are you doing here? And she said, oh, I was diagnosed with colon cancer, I had a colon resection. I'm getting ready to have further therapy and now I'm looking for supplements that can help me. And I cried because she neglected her health all those years. And a lot of us don't do anything until the other shoe drops and we get cancer or we get another horrible diagnosis, autoimmune disease, lupus, whatever it is or something horrible happens. And I just cried because if she had been in that house food store 10 years before doing natural things to help herself and being interested in it, then she might not have been in that position. But yeah, I love that one. And then Vic, you have this one. Be patient with yourself. Nothing in nature Blooms all year. I know you are an amazing gardener. You guys should see her pictures of her garden. She has a green thumb like nobody I've ever seen. But talk about what that means to you. I love that.

Speaker 3 (00:57:45):

Well,

Speaker 3 (00:57:46):

As everyone kind of gets started on their journey, we've kind of been, we we're in this immediate society. I'm gonna just take this handful of pills and everything will be fine. I'm just gonna go to this person and do this exercise. Everything will be fine. And there is, that's not how nature works. That's not how healing works. And so a lot of, when I get started with ladies, I suggest to them that if your children came to you and said, I'm not, I don't know this song, I'm not ready for the recital, we would say, be patient, go back and let's go slowly work through it. But when it comes to health, it's the same. We just have to be patient, be slow with the understanding that our body will heal when it's time to heal and when the conditions are right. And the same as all my stuff. I grew out in the garden, and the tomatoes bloom when they're ready to bloom. , the ec comes up when it's time for it to come up. And so patience is something I think we especially have to embrace and learn to understand in the process. And again, following nature, a thing rushes in nature. Neither should we.

Speaker 1 (00:59:02):

Yeah. I recently heard this term that I love called transactional healing, where we want it on demand. Like a pharmaceutical, I take the aspirin, my headache goes away. But when it comes to really helping the body heal and come into alignment and fix the root causes, you need to be patient. You can take the actions, but it's up to your body in what way it unfolds that healing. And so you don't wanna be transactional about it. And that's a factor in self-love. It's not self-loving to be transactional about your healing. So be patient with yourself, put in the work, it will happen. Last question. I know Katrina has to go

Speaker 3 (00:59:42):

. So real

Speaker 1 (00:59:43):

Fast, I would be remiss if I didn't talk about bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. As you guys know, my TEDx talk was about hormonal poverty and the consequences of it. Midlife metabolic mayhem, disease, disease, premature death, and all the plethora of data on these topics and how they can be prevented or reversed using natural hormone therapy. And I'm wondering if you can share in your personal journeys or women you've worked with, how important has that been? I will say for me it was, it has been a game changer. I'm super into fitness. Just the ability that it's given me to do what I want to do every day in the gym, the ability it's given me to build and maintain muscle mass. The ability it's given me to sleep well, , which is key. If you're as active as I am, you have to be able to sleep well.

Speaker 1 (01:00:38):

I won't say that I still have an occasional hot flash. Things aren't, it's not made everything perfect. I'm still not completely sure that I'm, that levels are optimized. 'cause As we kind of titrate up gradually mm-hmm , we don't wanna overdue and get everything just right. But I entered this program when I did because I was entering into perimenopause and the symptoms were starting and I didn't want it to get, I didn't want my life to get completely crazy with it. Right. And I was able to avert, I was able to avert the craziness. And so that's why I said before, it has been relatively easy for me. And a huge part of that I'm sure has been the bioidentical hormones. I don't feel like I have had all of those problems that I've, that my friends have had that, that have gone through. And my life is good. I mean, I will say honestly, I feel better, healthier, more fit right now at 54 than I've ever felt in my entire life. And woo. And I don't think that I would be able to say that had I not found you and all of the things including the hormones. Amazing. How about you

Speaker 3 (01:01:43):

Vic? Yeah. Yeah. I can definitely say hormone therapy. The bioidenticals have been a game changer for every person, every lady who's gone through this program and through my own client base. To the extent that we do it here and are able to, I have to say, I personally think that bioidentical hormone replacement therapy is just about as close to a magic wand for women as you can find of anything. It's just about that close and just what, especially the testosterone especially, there's just something there that, like Katrina said, with the muscle mash and just, it just clears the webs, it just clears the brain. It just clears things. And I think it's wonderful because having that little extra boost, when you suddenly feel better, then you feel more inspired to, oh well let me focus on my meal planning. Oh let me go and do this exercise. You just feel a little bit better. Mm-Hmm . I can't say enough about them. I think it's fantastic. I love that you have the hormone club going so women can have that access. 'cause They're not easy. Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy is not easy to find. And I love that you have access to that as long as you're in a state where they can get it. I think it's fantastic and it's a game changer. Truly.

Speaker 1 (01:03:00):

Yeah. We'll put the link to her hormone club in the show notes too, in case anyone is not able to access bioidentical hormones. We have a telemedicine company throughout the US that can provide board certified doctors specializing and that bioidentical hormone therapy, we can treat you from the comfort of your own dining room table via zoom and test you and send you hormones. So if 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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Welcome back to The Hormone Prescription Podcast, where we discuss all things related to hormonal health for midlife women. In this episode, we are honored to have Dr. Michael Platt as our special guest.

Dr. Platt is a pioneer in the field of bio-identical hormones and adrenaline dominance, and has dedicated his career to research and advancements in managing hormonal imbalances. Through his work, he has become a leading expert in observational, functional, alternative, and allopathic medicine.

His three books - "The Miracle of Bioidentical Hormones", "Adrenaline Dominance", and "Platt Protocol" have received a total of 11 literary awards, showcasing the impact and importance of his work.

In this episode, we dive into the topic of adrenaline dominance and how it can affect our hormonal health. Dr. Platt shares his insights on the use of progesterone cream as a therapeutic solution for managing adrenaline overload.

We also discuss the benefits of using bio-identical hormones and how they can help rebalance our hormones, leading to improved overall health and well-being.

Dr. Platt's wealth of knowledge and experience in this field is truly inspiring, and we hope you will join us for this insightful and informative episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast with Dr. Michael Platt. So tune in, take notes, and get ready to learn more about the miracle of bioidentical hormones and how they can help you achieve hormonal balance. Let's get started!

Speaker 1 (00:00):

Doctors give drugs of which they know little into bodies of which they know less, or diseases of which they know nothing at all. Voltaire, stay tuned to find out the missing hormone in your midlife program. Adrenaline.

Speaker 2 (00:16):

So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself again. As an O B G Y N, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:09):

Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me today as we dive into adrenaline dominance. Some of you know about adrenaline, we know about adrenaline junkies who like doing things like jumping out of airplanes, Bundy jumping, really exciting things that get their adrenaline pumping. But you might not be aware that adrenaline actually is a hormone and that it could be the missing link in your midlife hormone program if you're not getting the results that you want. In fact, most of us have adrenaline problems because of stress. So it's not only about cortisol, it's also about adrenaline. There are some genetic predispositions to adrenaline dysfunction that we talk about in this episode that you're gonna wanna hear about. And there are many methods that you can use to address this. So this is a little bit of a controversial episode.

Speaker 1 (02:07):

I'm not usually this contentious with guess, but when they make some very outwardly bold claims about health that are questionably founded in science, then you know, I have to challenge that. So we did that, but I think that our guest today really is an expert in this field and really has a lot to offer on this topic. So I'll tell you a little bit about him and then we'll get started. Dr. Michael Platt has been a pioneer in the research and advancement of the therapeutic use of progesterone cream for use in managing adrenaline and hormone imbalance. He's considered an important pioneer and observational functional alternative and allopathic medicine focused on bioidentical hormones and adrenaline overload. He has three books, the Miracle of Bioidentical Hormones, adrenaline Dominance, and the Plat Protocol, and has received 11 literary awards. Please help me welcome Dr. Michael Platt to the show.

Speaker 3 (03:01):

Thank you. Glad to be here.

Speaker 1 (03:03):

So we're gonna talk about adrenaline dominance. We're gonna talk about bioidentical hormones. We're gonna talk about all things women over 40 and their hormonal poverty that they have to deal with and and how to go about fixing it. You have a book on adrenaline dominance, so why don't we start there. It's funny, I was doing an interview earlier today with a health coach and she had gone through one of my programs and so I had asked her in the interview what were the most surprising things that she learned during the program. And she said the importance of cortisol. She herself had been a fitness coach and a health coach and she had no idea about issues related to cortisol adrenaline also, and she was very surprised by that. So can you talk a little bit about how you came to realize that adrenaline and then cortisol is related to that also really is a key problem for women at midlife and beyond, and how you came to focus on that

Speaker 3 (04:11):

Adrenaline interfere with the quality of life any age, beginning with the baby, you've heard of babies that have colic, colic, colic is excess adrenaline and you can actually get rid of it in about five minutes. Treating the baby women that are pregnant with a fetus does a lot of kicking. That's adrenaline. That baby will probably have colic when the baby is born. Nobody ever talks about this. And then bedwetting in children is all about adrenaline and then a D H D and it just goes on and out. We'll talk about this, but what happened was I started getting involved with hormones because my, actually because of my mother, my mother died of breast cancer at the age of 61. And right after she died, I realized I had inherited her hormones. Men, people don't realize that men and women had the identical hormones, different levels, but the same hormones.

Speaker 3 (05:04):

And so I knew she was low in progesterone because she had breast cancer, she had a belly on her, so I knew she had a lot of insulin. So when I first got involved with hormones at that time, I used to have to slap my face when I was driving, trying to keep my eyes open. And then right after I started using progesterone, 'cause that I, I thought I was low in it because of my mother. I never got sleep in a car yet. And that, that's been a long time now. So when I saw what progesterone could do with, with regards to my, my sleepiness, I got involved with hormones and I opened up a clinic doing hormone therapy back in 1995. And what was advantageous to me is that I was able to sit down and talk to my patients for about two hours.

Speaker 3 (05:46):

And let me tell you something. When you sit down and talk to to some, that's how you learn about what's going on with them and what works and what doesn't work. And I realized that a lot of these people had the same issues, trouble sleeping, some anger issues, anxiety. And I figured that the only hormones that could cause all these different things is adrenaline. And so I started treating people with more excess adrenaline and I got some remarkable results. You can actually get rid of A D H D in 24 hours. You get rid of fibro fibromyalgia, which is considered incurable by lowering adrenaline. So it goes on and on and it opened up a whole new world of medicine to me.

Speaker 1 (06:27):

I know you're a md, but what w what is your specialty?

Speaker 3 (06:30):

I was board certified in internal medicine. I actually went to medical school watching to be a surgeon, but I did wanna do the 10 at that time they had what, what we called a 10 minute scrub and I didn't understand why you had to wash your hands for 10 minutes and then put on a pair of gloves. So anyway, I, I switched over to medicine and yeah, so my specialty was internal medicine.

Speaker 1 (06:51):

Okay. So how do you, I apologize, I haven't had the opportunity to read your books yet. So in someone who might suspect that they're hyper adrenalized, do you wanna talk a little bit about exactly what that is? I don't know that everybody can thinks about adrenaline as a hormone. They might think about it more as a neurotransmitter. But if you wanna talk a little bit about what it is, how it works in the body, how they might know that they are hyper adrenalized and what tests, if any, might be available. What would that process look like?

Speaker 3 (07:28):

Okay. People that have access adrenaline, first of all it's the, the number one reason why people are trouble sleeping, either falling asleep or staying asleep. Some people grind their teeth at night. Some people toss and turn. That's all adrenaline. The other thing, people with excess adrenaline will be quick to anger 'cause it's an anger hormone and they'll carry a lot of tension in the back of their neck. And this tension can actually cause tinnitus and it can cause headaches that are always mistaken for migraines. But it's really some, a headache called occipital neuritis, which is very easy to fix as opposed to migraines. But what's interesting is that this migraine or this headache is always mistaken for a migraine even though it's not a migraine headache. And very often this headache shoots right into the back of the eye and it comes from the occipital nerve sheath at the ba at the base of the skull.

Speaker 3 (08:20):

So just putting some congestion cream on the back of the neck eliminates its headache. But in, in any event, people with a lot of adrenaline anxiety is only caused by excess adrenaline. And adrenaline by the way, it's, it's both a hormone as well as a neurotransmitter. And the, so when people have a lot of adrenaline, they, it affects the quality of their life. People can sometimes complain about cold hands and cold feet. They always blame the thyroid for that, but it's actually adrenaline. And why adrenaline does this, it constricts blood vessels and so it can cut off blood supply to the intestines because they're not needed for survival. And adrenaline is a survival hormone.

Speaker 3 (09:01):

So by cutting off blood supply to the intestines, the cause of constipation, which is also known as I b s irritable bowel syndrome, is excess adrenaline. It cuts off blood supply not only to the hands and feet, but it also cuts off blood supply to the salivary glands because they're not needed for survival. And that's why when it comes to doing hormone test testing, I never recommend saliva test because the hormones don't get into the saliva, then they get low levels. And that's, so when they get a low cortisol in the saliva, they call that adrenal fatigue. But adrenal fatigue is a condition that doesn't exist be if they did a blood test.

Speaker 1 (09:40):

What do you mean by that? Adrenal fatigue is a condition that doesn't exist

Speaker 3 (09:44):

Because it, it's all based on a false reading of a saliva test. Adrenal fatigue is mostly a naturopath diagnosis and naturopath to sliva test. For the most part,

Speaker 1 (09:55):

We'll have to a degree to disagree on that salivary

Speaker 3 (09:58):

. Okay, that's fine.

Speaker 1 (09:59):

Testing is actually validated to be highly accurate in their me many medical doctors that use it. So if someone suspects that they have hyperrealism, are there a test that you recommend that they can get any confirmation of that? Or is it just a symptomatic diagnosis?

Speaker 3 (10:18):

Actually the best test is a cortisol test done on blood, not on saliva. And you cannot go by, by what they call a normal level in order to establish normal levels. They actually use medical students because they, they're available in hospitals and they can do studies on them. And all doctors have increased adrenaline. Adrenaline is actually the neurotransmitter. They give people intelligence. So most doctors, if not all, have a lot of adrenaline. So when they did the studies on them, they said that a normal cortisol level blood we're talk about blood now is 19.4. But to me anything above 13 is a high cortisol level.

Speaker 1 (10:56):

And so you're saying they should have a blood test and if they're above 13, that because their cortisol is high, that by definition they have hyperrealism. Is that correct?

Speaker 3 (11:06):

Yeah, I actually very rarely detesting because when somebody has a lot of adrenaline, you don't need to do a test. You know it, they have all sorts of symptoms too. So they have conditions like P M D D, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, which is caused by excess adrenaline. You don't need to do a test for that. But they don't have one except cor cortisol level. So there are a number of conditions that are caused by excess adrenaline. They really don't have to test for like fi, fibromyalgia.

Speaker 1 (11:36):

I find it interesting, you're very emphatic and reductive about P M D D is because of hyperrealism and this and fibro mount is because of it. And in my research and my fellowship training, et cetera, that usually it's multifactorial. Is hyperrealism a component of most of these? Yes. So what makes you so emphatic and Sure. What data do you have that says specifically that it is only hyperrealism that causes fibromyalgia? Period? End of sentence. I'm curious.

Speaker 3 (12:08):

Remember, I've had a lot of experience dealing with patients specifically for problems related to excess adrenaline. And the book that I wrote called Adrenaline dominance, right,

Speaker 3 (12:19):

Is the only book that I know of that talks about adrenaline. They have a a, a book out now about stress and they talk about cortisol where they don't talk about adrenaline. But the only thing that causes stress is excess adrenaline and body releases cortisol in response to stress. Now what's interesting is that people, most people don't realize it, the brain uses up a lot of sugar, probably more sugar than any other tissue in the body. And the, the reason why people have access adrenaline is not because they're in danger. It's because for, for the most part is because the body uses adrenaline to raise sugar levels for the brain. You a process called gluconeogenesis where the body converts protein into sugar and an adrenaline peaks at two 30 in the morning. A lot of people get up at that time to urinate because adrenaline actually gives people that urge to urinate on television.

Speaker 3 (13:13):

They call it an overactive bladder, but that's adrenaline and just like a condition called chronic interstitial cystitis, which is also considered incurable, which is also caused by adrenaline. And, but in any event, the body uses adrenaline to raise sugar levels and it peaks at two 30 in the morning when people are lying in bed. And when the body releases adrenaline, because it's a very, it's a powerful hormone, it creates stress to the body. And the body responds to stress by putting out cortisol. And cortisol also raises sugar levels. So while people are sleeping or trying to sleep, they're putting out two hormones that raise sugar levels and they're not burning it up. And the whole thing about sugar, it doesn't matter if you're eating sugar or if the body's making sugar, if you don't burn it up, the body stores it, it's fat and fat cells. Mm-Hmm. , I think it may be the number one reason for, for weight gain, but that's just my feeling.

Speaker 1 (14:07):

Mm-Hmm. ,

Speaker 3 (14:08):

I think it's, at least it's an important issue when it comes to weight. So

Speaker 1 (14:12):

Yeah, I, I agree. It's an important issue when it comes to every health problem. The majority of us, especially in western cultures, are hyper adrenalized and it really isn't addressed. So I'm glad you have a book about it and you really are raising awareness about it. And I think that we do need to have a balanced view that it's, these disorders like P M D M D are probably not uni factorial disorders at least in my experience and training. So someone suspects and, and I think pretty much everyone has an adrenalin problem in this day and age. 'cause We all have so much stress. How do you recommend that they go about addressing it?

Speaker 3 (14:55):

I'd have to tell you that doctors don't get a whole lot of training with regards to the cause of illness. They train both .

Speaker 1 (15:02):

Yeah, pretty much none. .

Speaker 3 (15:03):

Okay. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (15:04):

So when it comes to adrenaline, it's the same thing. If, if you want to manage adrenaline, you have to treat the reason why the body's releasing it. And everybody knows about the fight or flight situation when it comes to adrenaline that when people are in danger, the body pours out adrenaline. But that's a rare reason why the body puts out adrenaline. The primary reason why the body puts out adrenaline is to raise sugar levels for the brain. So what this means is that if you provide the fuel to the brain, the body doesn't need to use adrenaline to do it. So the brain use the two different fuels. One is glucose that the type of sugar and the best source glucose for the brain comes for vegetables. And the reason for that, they don't stimulate a lot of insulin. Candy and soda are great sources of glucose, but they produce a lot of insulin, which lower sugar defeats the purpose.

Speaker 3 (15:54):

Now the other fuel, which is even more important that the brain uses are ketones. And you talk about a ketogenic diet, I don't recommend that because it's a difficult diet to accomplish, but you can get ketone directly from coconut oil or M C T oil, which comes from coconut oil. So basically adding coconut oil, m c t oil and vegetables into your meal plan, you can get a dramatic lowering of adrenaline. Now the only other thing you need to add is a 5% progesterone cream. Now 5% means that each pump is 50 milligrams and this is the exact strength you need to block adrenaline. They have different strength, but 5% is the exact strength. And what's good about this, you don't need a prescription for, you get it over the counter and you don't need a prescription for coconut oil or M c t oil or, or vegetables. So people can actually treat themselves if they care to. And people that have a lot of adrenaline, as soon as they put progestin cream on within minutes, they'll feel more, more relaxed and they'll be able to focus better if they have a lot of adrenaline.

Speaker 1 (17:00):

And I know that women listening now are going, how is progesterone gonna help my adrenaline? So what would you explain to them?

Speaker 3 (17:06):

The progesterone will help the adrenaline because it blocks adrenaline. It's mostly known for blocking estrogen, but it also blocks insulin and it blocks adrenaline. This is not known. Mm-Hmm. to most doctors, most people

Speaker 1 (17:18):

You think that they should have a progesterone test to see where their levels are before they use progesterone because

Speaker 3 (17:27):

No, I don't. First of all, you cannot overdose on progesterone.

Speaker 1 (17:30):

I've seen it

Speaker 3 (17:32):

. There is one

Speaker 1 (17:32):

I've seen it, it happens.

Speaker 3 (17:34):

There's a condition. Are you're familiar with type three diabetes?

Speaker 1 (17:38):

Yes.

Speaker 3 (17:38):

Did you know they don't have a test for it?

Speaker 1 (17:40):

Yeah.

Speaker 3 (17:40):

And it's a precursor to Alzheimer's. Okay. But the thing is, is that if somebody does have type three diabetes and they use progesterone, they get an immediate outpouring of adrenaline and immediate. And so these people will not tolerate progesterone. But it's important for them to know that they have type three diabetes because can be prevent, they can prevent Alzheimer's just by adding M C T oil into their meal plan.

Speaker 1 (18:06):

Yes. And I'm back. So you recommend that for men or women regardless of age, that they use progesterone cream?

Speaker 3 (18:14):

I do. Men stop making progesterone around the age of 50, and it's after the age of 50 that men start getting prostate cancer because now they, they don't have a hormone to block estrogen anymore, which causes prostate cancer and they start putting on weight around the middle because they can't block insulin and insulin puts on fat around the middle. So it's an important hormone for men also, even though most people think it's a woman's hormone.

Speaker 1 (18:37):

But what about treating the reason why someone has high adrenaline and calming their nervous system and regulating the nervous system and calming the sympathetic nervous system, increasing the parasympathetic, but with all the myriad of tools that we have to do that? What about doing that?

Speaker 3 (18:58):

Okay. The problem is, is that when it comes to the reason or the cause that people have access to adrenaline, it's genetic always. It's always genetic. In other words, if somebody has a lot of adrenaline, that means one or both parents had it. If a child has a D H D, then one or both parents have A D h D. They may not be recognized, but I can recognize it. But

Speaker 1 (19:19):

What gene is this, because I'm not familiar with this. I didn't, I've I've never heard of that. So can you enlighten me please?

Speaker 3 (19:27):

There's a lot of things in my book that you've never heard of.

Speaker 1 (19:30):

Okay.

Speaker 3 (19:31):

I think you'll find it very interesting.

Speaker 1 (19:32):

That's why I have you here so you can enlighten me. But so I'm wanting to know, because I know everybody listening is thinking the same thing. Same thing. I've never heard that.

Speaker 3 (19:41):

If you go to Amazon, you could read the reviews on my book. They're almost all five star. And people talk about their own experiences.

Speaker 1 (19:49):

Right. But I'm trying to get to the science 'cause I am not familiar. Yes. There are certain genetic snits that might predispose you where you don't detoxify your adrenaline the same as others. I happen to have that. So for instance, if I get upset, it tends to last longer than the average person because I don't metabolize my adrenaline as quickly. And methylation defects can predispose you to that. So is that what you're referring to? You're not referring to a direct gene that causes hyper production of adrenaline. Are you talking about all these SNPs of detox that you might have pathways that are decreased, so you might not metabolize it like I have. Is that what you're talking about? I

Speaker 3 (20:33):

Have to, I have to tell you, I'm not a scientist. Mm-Hmm.

Speaker 1 (20:36):

,

Speaker 3 (20:37):

I'm an obser. I observe. And so what I have observed is that when people have a lot of adrenaline, creative type people, by the way have the most adrenaline. And the reason for that is that the creative brain is more active and there's a lot of drugs and alcohol in the music industry. And I attribute that because these are people that are just trying to relax from all the adrenaline that they have. But when people are creative, these are the people that are very intuitive about other people. They can pick up good energy and bad energy from people. Mm-Hmm. . And they have premonitions and they have deja vu type feelings. When the phone rings, they'll even know who it is before they answer. Or they'll say, I was just thinking about you. Mm-Hmm. . And these are the people who will find that animals will be very attracted to them, believe it.

Speaker 3 (21:24):

Or the animals can pick up on their energy. And so can creative children pick up e energy that this adrenaline energy from other people? And now you have to remember, I've been dealing a long time with people with excess adrenaline. Mm-Hmm. . So these are things that I have observed. And the thing is that in the book I talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to adrenaline. And the only condition I put in the good category was A D H D. And the reason I put that in the good category is that the most intelligent, successful creative people in the world have a d h D. And like I say, you've heard of people that get road rage. Road rage is pure adrenaline. And you can actually get rid of road, you can get rid of road rage in 24 hours just by lowering adrenaline. Now remember, I, I've had the luxury, if you will, of dealing with a lot of people with excess adrenaline. And this is what I've observed mm-hmm. , I'm open to the doctors and I

Speaker 1 (22:16):

Hear what you're saying. So you're saying the genetic, the inputs. Right? So I, if you have detox pathway disruptions from SNPs, like I have, there are things you can do to improve, decrease sympathetic nervous system tone. I usually recommend that people quantify their sympathetic tone and their parasympathetic tone using something called heart rate variability. And they can actually get pretty reliable numbers that talk about and give information on your levels of these different neurotransmitters in the sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic, including adrenaline. So you can get actual numbers to measure it and you can use interventions to calm it down, like using breathing practices, which is really the way that you get at the autonomic nervous system. So I'm just wondering if, if you do talk about that in your book, meditation, breathing practices, things like that.

Speaker 3 (23:19):

Remember I I mentioned the good, the bad and the ugly.

Speaker 1 (23:22):

Yes.

Speaker 3 (23:22):

Okay. You're, I'm sure you're very familiar with a condition called hyperemesis grab Arum.

Speaker 1 (23:27):

Yes.

Speaker 3 (23:28):

What do you think causes that? You're

Speaker 1 (23:30):

Gonna say adrenaline, hyper adrenaline. I

Speaker 3 (23:32):

Am gonna say adrenaline .

Speaker 1 (23:33):

Okay.

Speaker 3 (23:34):

They have another condition called cyclical vomiting syndrome. They had children that have to be hospitalized to, to stop the vomiting. Again. There are some people who wake up nauseated and that's always adrenaline. Adrenaline is a, is a, is a hormone that causes nausea and vomiting. I had a, a gentleman that came in to see me and I think it was about 47 at the time. The reason he came to see me is because every morning he would wake up in a vomit every morning. And, and to my way of thinking, the only thing that can cause that was excess adrenaline. And this man had severe fibromyalgia, severe. Anyway, the upshot of the whole thing, I put some progestin cream on his arm and he rubbed his arms together and, and we started talking again. And about five minutes after putting on the cream, he looked at me, he, he sat back in his chair and he looked at me and said, doc, in my entire life I have never felt this good my entire life anyway, since he left my office, he's never had another episode of vomiting. So yeah, there are other things that can cause problems related to the neurotra, but is adrenaline, whatever. But progestin cream is so easy. easy. Really?

Speaker 1 (24:41):

Yeah. Don't get me wrong. I love progesterone. You know, the weight loss diuretic, sleep well feel good, anti-anxiety, anti-depression, happy hormone. It's wonderful. And I just, I'm all for fixing the reason why somebody has a problem before giving a medication. And so to me, I think that sometimes we can use a so-called functional or even a root cause approach in the same way as mainstream medicine. I have a headache, I take a medication to get rid of it. Oh, I'm hyper adrenalized. I'm gonna use progesterone to get rid of it. But you're not addressing the reason why you're hyper adrenalized, which to my knowledge we'll just have to agree that there's no gene for that, that gives you that. But there are conditions from genes with your detoxification where you may not get rid of it properly. So you might have higher levels, but the majority of people, like you said, everybody's stressed probably need to do something to calm that down.

Speaker 1 (25:46):

So I'm more of the approach to address those root causes. And also I'm gonna a proponent of tests, don't guess, test progesterone levels, test estradiol levels, test estriol levels, test testosterone levels, test D A G A, test all of these things, cortisol, insulin. And then use interventions in targeted in a targeted manner to fix and address these problems. And I find that when I work with people in this way, everything comes into balance. But I do love your contribution of really highlighting the hyperrealism. But I sometimes think that if you have a big hammer, everything can look like a nail. So I just am wary of that approach.

Speaker 3 (26:35):

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

Speaker 1 (26:40):

.

Speaker 3 (26:40):

And I don't have to tell you, getting a patient well is very rewarding.

Speaker 1 (26:44):

Yes.

Speaker 3 (26:45):

The, I've seen the benefits of what happens when you lower adrenaline

Speaker 1 (26:49):

. Yeah. So what about, I know you have your other book on bioidentical hormones, correct? Or just hormonal imbalance. Do you wanna talk a little bit about that in older woman? Do you recommend that they are tested for their levels?

Speaker 3 (27:06):

You can, even though if a woman is in the menopause, which means she's not bleeding anymore, I pretty much know what her hormones are gonna be. I, and I'll be honest with you, I've always preferred treating people rather than lab tests. And the reason for that is that to my way of thinking, you can never go wrong treating a person, but you can go wrong treating a lab test. 'cause They, they can be off 'cause hor hormones are whatever. But in any event, the, I'm very much in favor of replacing hormones in women and men hormones

Speaker 1 (27:40):

Control everything.

Speaker 3 (27:41):

But yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:41):

So in the miracle bioidentical hormones, again, I apologize, I haven't been able to had time to read them yet, your books, do you recommend that women be tested for their levels or that they just use over the counter products? No,

Speaker 3 (27:55):

I, a big fan of compounding pharmacies.

Speaker 1 (27:58):

Mm-Hmm.

Speaker 3 (28:00):

And they will need prescriptions for the right hormones. I testosterone, I, I know it's a controlled drug and it, to me it's an extremely important hormone for women.

Speaker 1 (28:10):

Yes.

Speaker 3 (28:10):

The number one cause of death in women is, is heart attacks. And, and I think that's related to a low testosterone because their heart muscles have more testosterone receptor cytes than any other tissue in the body. And men still make some testosterone, but women stop. So I think it's an important hormone to replace in women when they're in the menopause.

Speaker 1 (28:28):

Why else do you think testosterone is important for women? 'cause That's something that I'm very passionate about too, because many doctors are reluctant to test and or prescribe testosterone for women. So what other reasons do you think it's vital for women?

Speaker 3 (28:43):

There's something you probably read about in my book that you won't hear anywhere else. Women that have what's called stress incontinence, if they cough or sneeze Yeah. Urine. And what I have found is that you can recommend Kegels and but without testosterone, they can't build muscle and they lose that muscle control around the urethra. So if you have a woman use intravaginal testosterone and have them do the Kegel exercise in three to six days, it'll be gone. And that's almost a hundred percent effective.

Speaker 1 (29:14):

That is, I've never thought of that. That is brilliant. We talk about losing muscle mass with lack of testosterone, but I never thought about that for stress incontinence. That's brilliant. .

Speaker 3 (29:28):

Yeah. You actually, when the medical board found out I was using testosterone for women 'cause I didn't do pelvic exams, they wanted to take away my license 'cause I was not doing pelvic exam even though they had their own gynecologist Anyway, medical boy has never liked me. So , you know, so,

Speaker 1 (29:46):

And I think, I don't think it was you, they don't like testosterone and they don't like testosterone in women. We'll have a little tangent here. So in her, I have a, a telemedicine company and we prescribe testosterone for women. But they have all these laws because called the hate act, it's not hate h a t, it's h A I G H T because of a teenage boy, Ryan Ha who obtained testosterone to build muscle. And he ended up dying because of cardiac problems. And so that's part of the reason that it's controlled substance. It's part of the reason it can't be prescribed by telemedicine. There are just so many regulations around testosterone and women don't abuse testosterone. Right. It was a teenage boy and it was male bodybuilders who were abusing it. And now women who, like you said, men continue to produce some testosterone. The majority, I'd say 80% of the women I see over 40 have dismal, if any testosterone. And it's vital for us, and it's a logistical nightmare to get a woman a testosterone prescription. And most doctors believe as if it's a religion, not science, that it's not necessary or it's harmful. And so I say amen to what you're saying about testosterone in women. It's vital. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (31:13):

It's a lot of things about hormones that have issues and shouldn't have

Speaker 1 (31:18):

Legal issues.

Speaker 3 (31:19):

Yeah. Legal issues.

Speaker 1 (31:21):

Yeah. So do tell about that. 'cause People wanna know, they wanna know,

Speaker 3 (31:25):

Like you, I I believe in treating the cause of illness. Right.

Speaker 1 (31:28):

And

Speaker 3 (31:28):

When you treat the cause, you can actually cure somebody. And as a result, I was able to get a lot of people off their medications. 'cause, But this irritates lot of doctors because it's a slap in the face for another doctor to have another doctor to take their patient off drug. And with the upshot of the whole thing, I had a run in with a medical board who, and I'm sure that's funded by drug companies. So they had complaints from doctors about me because I've taken their patients off drugs. I don't like drugs. It's like when people, thyroid, a lot of people have thyroid issues. And when I did my training, we were taught that cholesterol is a poor man's thyroid test. And the reason for that, the thyroid controls cholesterol metabolism. So a lot of people that are being treated for an an elevated cholesterol could actually just take thyroid. And also women with the highest cholesterols are the greatest longevity anyway. But, but that's even

Speaker 1 (32:24):

In there. Yeah. And I, before when you said, I, I don't like drugs and I tried to take people off 'em, I love this quote from Voltaire that you shared that I wanna share with everyone. Doctors give drugs of which they know little into bodies of which they know less for diseases of which they know nothing at all. Nothing at all. And I forget what century Voltaire was in, but I don't know that much has changed .

Speaker 3 (32:48):

It hasn't, unfortunately.

Speaker 1 (32:50):

I don't know why there's so many legalities around hormonal medications and anything else. The minute that comes out of my mouth, I say, I do know why. Because they're naturally occurring substances and therefore they're hard to, you can't patent them. And so that's why they're so highly political. And there are a lot of legalities, but from thyroid to estrogen, progesterone, testosterone. And I think in the balance, women suffer the most because we're programmed to have hormonal poverty at midlife. And we have so much stress. So yes. We talked a little bit about testosterone. How about estrogen? What, what would you like to offer everybody to understand about the role of estrogen?

Speaker 3 (33:35):

I'm not a big fan of estrogen. My mother was on Premarin before she died.

Speaker 1 (33:39):

But that's not estrogen , that's not human estrogen.

Speaker 3 (33:44):

It's horse estrogen.

Speaker 1 (33:45):

So you're, you're really not a fan of horse estrogen for human women. I am not either.

Speaker 3 (33:51):

Okay. A lot of these women that do use Premarin, they don't realize that they, they kill the colts after, after when they're born. 'cause These are pregnant mares urine that they use. I think if they knew that they wouldn't use Premarin, I would think that, I would hope that they wouldn't use it. But in any event, the, I like Estriol. Mm-Hmm.

Speaker 1 (34:10):

Speaker 3 (34:11):

It, it's the weakest estrogen, but it's the only one that is not associated with cancer. 

Speaker 1 (34:15):

Right.

Speaker 3 (34:16):

And it's the only one, the only estrogen effective for vaginal dryness. I don't have a problem with estriol. It's probably the estradiol a little bit leery.

Speaker 1 (34:26):

But that show that there's increased longevity when you use estradiol to get someone out of hormonal poverty into what I call hormonal prosperity to optimum levels that decreased risk of dementia and Alzheimer's, decreased risk of cardiac disease, decreased risk of osteoporosis, decreased risk, the list goes on and on. And also not an increased risk of breast cancer. Now this is talking about biologically identical estradiol, not horse estrogen. So what are your reservations about it?

Speaker 3 (35:07):

When you talk about conditions that women get, like fibroids and endometriosis and polycystic ov and cancer, the ovaries, they're all related to estrogen,

Speaker 1 (35:16):

But aren't they really all related to the fact that the estrogen isn't balanced by progesterone because they, all these conditions increase in the 40 year old age range. That's when progesterone starts going down. And

Speaker 3 (35:27):

You're absolutely right. , nowadays when doctors use progesterone, they're not protecting their patients because they're using oral progesterone and converts into allopregnanolone. 90% of it converts into allopregnanolone, which I think actually increase increases adrenaline, I think. But anyway,

Speaker 1 (35:47):

Well, I do use oral progesterone, particularly for people who have high anxiety and sleep difficulties. I find that the delivery is better, the transdermal, we use all kinds, but that's why I like testing

Speaker 3 (36:02):

. They try, try the five, try the 5% progesterone cream because like I said, it block, it blocks adrenaline and they'd be able to sleep better and, and it gets rid of anxiety within minutes. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (36:14):

You know? Yeah. I usually do custom dose preparations. But go ahead.

Speaker 3 (36:17):

You talk about hormones and doctors never think about using hormones in children.

Speaker 1 (36:22):

No.

Speaker 3 (36:23):

And but, and here I'm, I'm saying if you have a baby with colic, you should put some progestin cream in the very belly in five minutes it's gone. You don't have to stay up all night with a crying baby. But I think a lot of people would look as SC at that. But when women, when the fetus is in the womb as it gets exposed to incredibly high levels of progesterone, right. So you figure if a fetus can tolerate those kind of levels, why can't a baby tolerate a little bit of progesterone cream?

Speaker 1 (36:50):

They're also exposed to testosterone and estrogen and utero. And I think any pediatrician would severely object to putting testosterone or estradiol on a child.

Speaker 3 (37:04):

I'm not talk, I'm, I understand that. I'm not, I'm not recommending that. But I would recommend progesterone.

Speaker 1 (37:10):

You would, but I don't think majority of doctors really understand. Agree. They agree. They don't speak hormone. agree. They don't speak hormone. So they don't understand. Even when you say it, I get a little clench in my stomach, but then I let I think about it and I go, yeah, they're, what's wrong with that ? There's probably nothing wrong with it.

Speaker 3 (37:30):

No, the baby will like it. Yeah. .

Speaker 1 (37:33):

Right. But I do, like I said, I worry that, oh, Tylenol for a knee egg, Tylenol for a headache, progesterone for this. Progesterone for that. Why is that baby hyper adrenalized. What? Is there mold in the house that's causing the smoke alarm No. In its body to go off and and adrenaline to go off? Is it not getting nurturing parenting what's happening?

Speaker 3 (37:56):

I'm telling you that even though you disagree with this, which is okay, the baby has a lot of adrenaline he inherited from the mother or possibly the father. I'm just saying.

Speaker 1 (38:05):

Yeah.

Speaker 3 (38:06):

One of the parents had a lot of adrenaline. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (38:09):

Yeah. such an interesting topic. And I have, now I have to read your book because I love that you're highlighting this because I think that it is completely overlooked in my fellowship training. I've never heard anyone talk about it the way you do in such detail. And I, so I think it is, it's completely overlooked and it definitely needs to be addressed. And how to address it though, I would probably just lean towards trying some more causes. The majority of people have shallow breathing, which signals their body that they are in a stress state, they don't breathe properly. And that triggers adrenaline to be released. And so breath reeducation a huge part of what I'm a proponent of. And just from my own experience, even having those genetic SNPs with breathing practices can bring it down so that I'm not in that state. So I tend towards more of that. But anything you would like to add, and we'll definitely give everyone, all the places your books and where to find you online, .

Speaker 3 (39:18):

It's just that women have to learn how to become proactive when it comes to their health. They can't rely on a medical system that has no concern about their health except for you. , you're it.

Speaker 1 (39:29):

There's some of us. But say more about that. What's your experience? Because you don't hear a lot of doctors talk about that. I'm one who does. I talk about the, there's no worse medical gaslighting going on than against women, particularly women over 40. And we're told we don't have a problem. We don't need hormones. Estrogen is bad. We don't need testosterone. It's insane. To me,

Speaker 3 (39:53):

The book I wrote, the first one was The Miracle of Bio Hormones. And it literally brought thousands of patients to my office from all over the country and all over the world came in because of that book. And this was the same time that Suzanne Summers mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 (40:07):

Speaker 3 (40:07):

Came out with her book. Right. Sexy Ways or, and now keep in mind that Suzanne Summers had breast cancer and she was seeing doctor up in San Santa Barbara who had her on eight milligrams a day of estradiol at a time that she still had her, she was still having periods. She put her on estrogen, estradiol, and as she came down with breast cancer and she went to Germany, got some injections of , whatever, missile toe injection, and came back, went right back to this doctor and put her right back on estrogen, by the way. And she started bleeding from the uterus and couldn't stop and had to, and had to have a hysterectomy. Now, in her book, she never blamed estrogen for either problem. And to me this was a a such a, I, I thought it was a, was not a good thing for women to be exposed to that kind of, Suzanne Summers a nice lady, but I think,

Speaker 1 (41:01):

I think that she didn't blame the, she was on egregiously high levels of estrogen. And maybe that's why she, because I know in her later books, she didn't recommend those protocols that she had been on before that were these egregiously high levels of estrogen. So I think she recognized the benefits and the need for estrogen and she more blamed the protocol she had been on. And like Maya Angelou says, when you know better, you do better. She just didn't know. And she was trusting the so-called expert she went to, and then she had those problems. But that was my understanding of it. Anyway.

Speaker 3 (41:40):

Yeah.

Speaker 1 (41:41):

Alright. It has been a pleasure to have you, Dr. Platt. And where can people tell them about all your books and where they can find you online and

Speaker 3 (41:51):

Yeah, they can give a lot of information. The website codes, platt wellness.com, P L A t, platt wellness.com. They can read reviews on the books on Amazon. Mm-Hmm. , and they could buy the books on Amazon, I think.

Speaker 1 (42:06):

Okay.

Speaker 3 (42:07):

And they'll know on the website that there are ways of getting in touch with me if they have question.

Speaker 1 (42:12):

Great. Awesome. Thank you so much for joining us today, and thank you all for listening to another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kieran. I know you have learned something today that you can put into use to help yourself move, move towards the brilliant health that you deserve. Tell me what you thought, because I'm not usually this controversial when I do an interview , but we had some healthy discourse today and I'm wondering what you think and what you learned. So reach out to me on social media and give me a holler and I will see you again next week. Until then, peace, love, and hormones y'all.

Speaker 2 (42:55):

Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.

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