Episode 463: Dr. Erika Schwartz: Why Your Doctor Is Wrong About Hormones and How HRT Actually Saves Lives

Summary

Podcast Summary: Habits and Hustle
Episode 463: Dr. Erica Schwartz: Why Your Doctor Is Wrong About Hormones and How HRT Actually Saves Lives
Release Date: July 1, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode 463 of Habits and Hustle, host Jennifer Cohen engages in a deep and enlightening conversation with Dr. Erica Schwartz, a renowned hormone specialist often referred to as the "OG of hormones." The discussion delves into the misconceptions surrounding hormones and Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), the flawed studies that have shaped public opinion, and practical advice for individuals seeking to manage their hormonal health effectively.

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Background of Dr. Erica Schwartz

Dr. Erica Schwartz brings over 25 years of experience in hormone therapy and women's health. Her extensive career predates the recent surge in social media discussions about hormones and HRT. Jennifer Cohen recounts their long-standing connection through mutual friends and highlights Dr. Schwartz's credibility and expertise in the field.

• "She's the smartest woman in the world. She knows everything." ([00:51])

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The 2002 Women's Health Initiative Study and Its Impact

A critical point of discussion is the 2002 Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study, which fundamentally altered the medical community's stance on HRT. Dr. Schwartz reveals that the study was government-sponsored but fully funded by pharmaceutical companies, which provided non-bioidentical hormones. The study's flawed design—using participants who were five years post-menopause, smokers, and with preexisting conditions—led to misleading conclusions that HRT was harmful.

• "The moment that came out, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the North American Menopause Society... got scared... they told everybody they're bad for you." ([04:18])

This flawed study resulted in millions of women being abruptly taken off hormone therapies, leading to adverse health outcomes and a significant decline in the use of HRT despite its benefits.

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Evolution of HRT Understanding

Over time, emerging research has debunked the WHI study's findings, demonstrating that bioidentical hormones do not carry the same risks as those used in the original study. Dr. Schwartz emphasizes the importance of understanding that not all estrogens, progestogens, or androgens are the same at a molecular level, which affects their efficacy and safety.

• "They’re not the same if they molecularly, their molecules don't look the same." ([07:16])

Despite this progress, mainstream medical organizations have been slow to update their guidelines, continuing to propagate outdated and incorrect information about HRT.

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Issues with Conventional Medicine and HRT

The conversation highlights the stagnation in medical education regarding hormone therapy. Dr. Schwartz criticizes the fact that medical curricula have not evolved in decades, leaving physicians ill-equipped to address modern hormonal health needs.

• "The medical education medical school has not changed an iota since when I went to medical school 50, 60 years ago." ([11:08])

Dr. Schwartz points out that many doctors adhere strictly to outdated protocols, often dismissing patient concerns about hormonal imbalances and failing to provide effective treatments like HRT.

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Importance of Self-Advocacy in Healthcare

Given the shortcomings of conventional medicine, both Jennifer and Dr. Schwartz advocate for individuals to take charge of their own health. This involves educating oneself about hormonal health, recognizing symptoms of imbalances, and seeking knowledgeable and experienced healthcare providers who prioritize patient well-being over profit.

• "Don't let your doctor kill you. The goal is how do we protect ourselves and how do we empower ourselves?" ([14:23])

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Supplements for Hormonal Health

Dr. Schwartz provides a comprehensive overview of various supplements that support hormonal balance and overall health, emphasizing the importance of bioavailability and quality.

1. Vitamin C

   • "I take about a thousand milligrams twice a day." ([51:34])
   • Preferably in liposomal form for better absorption.

2. CoQ10

   • "Coq 10 helps with energy production on the cellular level." ([45:38])

3. NMN and NAD

   • "We use NMNs, which are more likely to convert into NAD." ([46:20])
   • Dr. Schwartz uses subcutaneous NAD shots for better efficacy compared to IVs.

4. Magnesium

   • "Magnesium citrate is great to make you poop and as a muscle relaxant." ([35:03])

5. Probiotics and Digestive Enzymes

   • Essential for gut health and reducing inflammation.

6. Other Supplements

   • ADK (Vitamin A, D, K): Enhances absorption of Vitamin D.
   • Lactoferrin: An immune booster used during travel.
   • N-acetyl cysteine (NAC): Supports brain and lung health.
   • Apigenin: Aids in improving sleep quality.

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Safety and Methods of HRT

Dr. Schwartz addresses common concerns about the safety of HRT, clarifying that when administered correctly by knowledgeable practitioners, HRT is not only safe but essential for maintaining various bodily functions.

• "HRT is exactly what you need because estrogen keeps your brain, your heart, your bones." ([19:07])

She warns against popular but ineffective methods like hormone pellets, which can flood the body with hormones and dull receptors, leading to further imbalances. Instead, she recommends controlled methods such as injections or creams that mimic the body's natural hormone pulses.

• "You're going to dull your receptors, and then people like me are going to wind up having to clean up the mess." ([27:03])

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Finding the Right HRT Providers

Choosing an experienced and reputable HRT provider is crucial. Dr. Schwartz advises seeking practitioners certified by the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M) who prioritize personalized care over rigid protocols.

• "You have to find someone who has experience. That's the first thing." ([24:40])

She emphasizes the importance of trial and error in finding a provider who listens and adjusts treatments based on individual responses.

• "If you don't feel better in three months, find someone else." ([25:43])

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Treatment Approaches and Lifestyle Changes

Balanced hormone levels are foundational to everything from mental clarity and mood stabilization to physical health and muscle maintenance. Dr. Schwartz outlines a layered treatment approach starting with hormonal balance, followed by supplements, peptides, and tailored exercise regimens.

• "We treat people in layers. So the treatment starts with the hormones." ([39:05])

Jennifer Cohen adds that lifestyle modifications—such as regular exercise, adequate protein intake, and reducing carbs and alcohol—are essential complements to hormonal therapies.

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Supplements Detailed Discussion

The hosts discuss specific supplements in detail, providing practical advice on their usage:

• Creatine

  • Supports muscle mass and recovery.
  • "If you're not exercising daily and lifting heavy weights... Movement is the foundation." ([17:54])

• Liposomal Vitamin C

  • Enhanced absorption compared to standard forms.
  • "It might be a gimmicky thing for absorption, but it's more expensive." ([52:08])

• Probiotics and Digestive Enzymes

  • Enhance gut health and reduce inflammation.
  • "Bloating is hormonal. Bloating is hormones." ([55:50])

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Closing Remarks

The podcast concludes with Dr. Erica Schwartz sharing information on how listeners can connect with her through Instagram and her practice in New York. Both hosts emphasize the importance of supporting each other in navigating hormonal health and advocating for better medical practices.

• "Don't let your doctor kill you. Please don't." ([57:56])

Jennifer Cohen expresses her gratitude for Dr. Schwartz's participation, highlighting the value of having experts who genuinely care about patient outcomes over personal fame or financial gain.

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Notable Quotes

• "Hormones are the foundation of everything because they're made in different cells in the body and they travel through the bloodstream and they affect every cell of every organ in your body." ([35:51]) – Dr. Erica Schwartz
• "Nobody's going to help us. And all these, like, you know, media, whatever. Social media. They have all the answers. They don't see patients." ([14:32]) – Dr. Erica Schwartz
• "The medical education medical school has not changed an iota since when I went to medical school 50, 60 years ago." ([11:08]) – Dr. Erica Schwartz

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Conclusion

Episode 463 of Habits and Hustle offers a comprehensive and critical examination of hormone health and HRT, challenging conventional medical narratives and empowering listeners to take control of their hormonal well-being through informed choices and proactive self-care. Dr. Erica Schwartz's expertise provides valuable insights into the benefits of properly managed HRT, the importance of supplements, and the necessity of finding the right healthcare partners.

Transcript

[A]

Hi, guys. It's Tony Robbins. You're listening to habits and hustle. Crush it.

[B]

All right, you guys, you're in for need.

[A]

Hormones. Everybody needs hormones.

[B]

Everybody needs hormones. Well, if you guys haven't guessed it yet, we have a hormone doctor on the podcast today. But not just any hormone doctor. This woman, Dr. Erica Schwartz, is the o. G. Of hormones. I know now it's, like, super trendy, and everyone's talking about hormones and hrt, and this lady was doing it way before it was popular and, you know, trending on, you know, Instagram and TikTok, and so I am so happy to have her in the studio today. So, Erica or doctor, how do I call Erica? I can call you Erica.

[A]

I think I know you.

[B]

I know we are. We're.

[A]

It's such a pleasure to be here. I cannot tell you how excited I am to be with you.

[B]

I'm excited to have you here.

[A]

I believe I'm here with you.

[B]

Well, what's so interesting? I know of all the things, right?

[A]

Tell them.

[B]

So I met ERICA probably, like, 25 years ago through a mutual friend named Tammy, who at the time was working at extra tv.

[A]

Right?

[B]

And her and I became fast friends, me and Tammy. And Tammy was doing all sorts of things called. She was doing a show called life changers. Do you remember this?

[A]

I was supposed to be one of the main life changers. We did this pilot that they were incubating, so I did that. And then they. It was me and two other guys.

[B]

Right? Okay.

[A]

Remember? And. And then I remember they wanted me to read teleprompter. And I remember taking a ride and going to Santa Monica and saying, you know what? I don't want to read a teleprompter. I can't do that.

[B]

Right. It's not for you.

[A]

No. So then I went to Lisa Gregory.

[B]

Who was the executive producer. Lisa is the. Was the executive producer of Extra back then. I totally remember. And I totally remember this because I was a life changer. It was. Dr. Drew was the main guy he became now.

[A]

So what happened is I left, and I said, I can't do it. I'm going back home. Even though they gave me this amazing contract, I never made that kind of money. It was amazing. But I was like, I can't do this. So I went home, back to New York, and there were two other guys who were doing it, and then they weren't there anymore. And then they brought Drew. Dr. Drew.

[B]

So funny.

[A]

And then I was on the show a couple of times, but it was so Funny. So that's when we met.

[B]

It's wild. And I. So I was just. So everyone knows this is like a whole new, a whole different lifetime ago, but I was a, I was a life changer and I was a body image expert.

[A]

Right.

[B]

You were on the, on the show. But what was so interesting is you were really close with Tammy. As you were, you were like longtime friends. And Tammy would always tell me, oh my God, Jennifer, you have to talk to Dr. Erica. She's the smartest woman in the world. She knows everything.

[A]

Not exaggerating at all.

[B]

No, but I swear that's what she would say. She was like emphatic about it. She's like, if you have any health issue, she's so amazing, you have to talk to her. She's so knowledgeable. And then she connected us. And you are so lovely and thank you.

[A]

I'm glad to hear that.

[B]

You were so lovely. I don't remember ever meeting you in person, but we talked on the phone. We talked on the phone and I just, I just had such a nice feeling about you. Cut to now, 25 years later. You've written a bunch of books, but you're, you're, you're. One of your books is being re released and the book is called Don't Let yout Doctor Kill youl, which is a great title. So you're on the podcast to kind of just talk about everything you know you've been doing. But I really wanted to talk to you about hormones and HRT because like we said, it's so popular right now. Menopause is so popular. Everyone's talking about it. And what I really like about you is that you're an actual doctor.

[A]

For real.

[B]

For real. And his and have been doing this for so long. And when you are dealing with hormones like to be. I'm going to be totally candid. I'm not on anything because I am really scared to screw with my hormones.

[A]

Of course.

[B]

And when you have too much information, it's actually more dangerous than having too little information because now you're just confused and don't know what to do. So I want to ask you something. Is hrt? There's all these like, there's always this underbelly of chatter that it's dangerous. Is it dangerous?

[A]

No. HRT is exactly what you need because think about it. When in your 20s and you're full of hormones, you don't really get sick a lot when you're pregnant and you're like overflowing with hormones, sure as hell, nothing Happens and you're like immortal, literally. So HRT is really important, but it's not hrt. It's the kind of hormones that you're taking. And it's all because of a study that went awry in 2002 called the women's Health Initiative. And the truth behind that study, you're going to love it was, it was a government sponsored study paid for fully by pharma. So pharma gave the hormones that they were using, which were not human, identical, bioidentical, whatever we're talking about now, but they were like, they looked different, they were like from pregnant horses urine, anyway. And they gave the, the pharma gave the drugs to the academic institutions that conducted the study. So when the study went off, and it turns out five years into the study, that the women were not doing so well. They were 10 years post menopause, they were smokers, they had all kinds of preexisting conditions. There was no reason. That study was just flawed. And the moment that came out, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the North American Menopause Society, which rules the coup when it comes to women's health, got scared that the truth would come out that it wasn't. That it wasn't government money, but rather drug money. Drug money?

[B]

Yeah. It is drug money, right? Yeah.

[A]

So they took, they told everybody they're bad for you, they cause cancer, they cause heart attacks, strokes, they cause, like blood clots, whatever. And 7 million. Think about that number. 7 million women were taken off their hormones instantly by these doctors who clearly didn't care enough.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And the North American Menopause Society sent out a note because the doctors were like, so what are we supposed to do now? And the women were like, what am I supposed to do now? They said, you should dress in layers and you should be in cool rooms because if you sweat, that's the way to, you know, take care of it. Just think about that. That's 2002. So that was disgusting, actually. No words. So I was.

[B]

That's what that was. That was the way that we should deal with it.

[A]

Just.

[B]

Just put extra layers on.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

Because of hot flashes, Whatever.

[A]

Of course. Now listen to this one. 2011, there is an international Menopause Society conference in Italy, which I went to, because it was in Italy.

[B]

Right, right. Let's be honest now.

[A]

Right, right.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And there are all these researchers coming and talking about it, and they're saying there's no class effect. What does that mean? That all estrogens are not the same. That all progestogens are not the same. Testosterone are not the same. They're not the same if they molecularly, their molecules don't look the same. Did it cross the Atlantic? Didn't we came back here. Nobody was getting hormones. It was a mess. I was working with bioidentical hormones and I had written a book that came out literally in April. So I was at the right place and the right time.

[B]

What was that book called?

[A]

The Hormone Solution.

[B]

Yeah, the hormone Solution.

[A]

And it has. It was since re released, it's called a new hormone solution, but either one. And it was number two on Amazon. So all of a sudden I'm the expert, right? 2013, the principal investigators, all these academicians who had done this research on the study came out in the medical journals, like in JAMA and said that it didn't really matter if you're on the hormones, these hormones that they had been on or not all cause mortality was the same. So the study was flawed and it didn't prove anything. But guess what? The media didn't pick up on it.

[B]

Right?

[A]

There was not one word in the media. I wrote about it, but then again, I was screaming in the dark at the time.

[B]

Right, right, right.

[A]

And it was really horrible. So of course I've been taking care of women, giving them hormones forever. But then all this data started coming showing that hormones were good for you, that they didn't cause cancer, that they didn't cause blood clots, that bioidenticals or human identical hormones are fine. And not only that, you desperately need them. So the North American Menopause Society and ACOG were like, oh, no, we can't do it, whatever. Slowly but surely they started moving in that direction and. But now they went against compounding pharmacies because they weren't FDA approved. Now they're FDA approved. You can get them anywhere you want anyway. And they tried to say, well, as. As low a dose as possible for as short a period of time as possible. Now it's for as long as you alive because I'm not gonna stop the hormones so that I can dry up and die.

[B]

Right?

[A]

Not planning on it.

[B]

So wait, back then, then. So. Because what I even noticed now. So let me just ask you some very poignant questions because what's happening is I feel like MDs, like doctors, like my gynecologist, for example, you know, they're reading these blood panels very differently than, let's say a functional medicine doctor would, right? They're like, oh, your testosterone is fine, even Though it's so low, it's like five, right? They're like, you're fine.

[A]

Right?

[B]

But if you go to a functional medicine doctor, then they're like, oh, no, you're really low. You know, you need to be put on this, this, and that. Why is it that actual MDs are still not on the bandwagon for hormones, but the functional medicine doctors and all these other HRT clinics are?

[A]

Well, that's a good question. Right?

[B]

Yeah. Thank you.

[A]

Yes. So it's like this. The medical education medical school has not changed an iota since when I went to medical school 50, 60 years ago. Literally nothing has changed. So they, you know, and I used to interview people for. I was on the board of one of the medical schools in New York, and I used to interview people to go to medical school, and I never interviewed somebody who said, oh, I want to be rich, I want to be important, I want to be arrogant, whatever the hell they all wanted to heal. Four years later, they turn out to be assholes. They don't care.

[B]

They don't care.

[A]

They don't care. But they're following the same party line as 50 years ago because nobody told them that things have changed. So that's why what you're getting is they have no idea about hormones. There's no education on hormones.

[B]

So is it because also, like, this is what. I've mentioned this before on this show and with my friends is that the. The. The medical system as we use, as we used to know it, is so just broken, right? Like, to get a doctor is almost impossible. It's literally almost impossible. Like, I don't even have it. Like a, Like a main doctor, which.

[A]

Actually might be better for you, really.

[B]

Well, let me tell you the problem I find, right? Every doctor becomes now a concierge doctor, or they're the functional medicine doctors. And to see these doctors, there's a major price tag. So it's making people sick, right? Because if you're. If you're somebody who is making a, like a modest income, you are screwed. There's nowhere to even go to even get proper advice. And if you're going to a doctor and you're someone who's hitting menopause or perimenopause or whatever it is, they're not going to help you. They'll say, oh, no, you're fine here, or maybe here, we'll. We'll give you this testosterone cream or something. But it's a very blunt way of. Of dealing with people. No one's really tweaking and looking and changing and fixing. You getting a very, very sterile medical visit. Right. Because people don't have. They don't have time for you. It's like, on to the next one. Unless you want to pay 20,000 a year, and then I will see you when you call me. That's literally what's happened to the medical industry.

[A]

Yeah. At least. That's like, literally you making it sound better.

[B]

Oh, I'm trying to be polite, you know?

[A]

You are.

[B]

You are. Because that's what's happening.

[A]

Because it's a mess. It's a disaster. And the reason it's a disaster is because nobody cares. Nobody cares. The doctors just care about getting it done. They follow algorithms. They follow, you know, protocols. Let AI do that.

[B]

But is it because there's too many patients and too few doctors, or is it because. Or do you think it's because after a while people become really kind of desensitized to people who are sick?

[A]

Listen, it could be any of those things, right? But you know what? It shouldn't be. Because if it is, like I said to you, you're better off with no doctor.

[B]

So then what? Okay, so then what would you have people do if you have no doctor, then what?

[A]

You figure out who you are. So the point is, you figure it out.

[B]

I should be my own doctor.

[A]

You're probably better off than getting an.

[B]

Asshole who's not going to help you or misdiagnose me.

[A]

Exactly. Because they're lazy and I have a ton of them. Situations like that, because I still see patients all the time. But this is the thing. So you better off, first of all, you know, and that's. Don't let your doctor kill you. The goal is how do we protect ourselves and how do we empower ourselves? Because nobody's going to help us. And all these, like, you know, media, whatever. Social media. Yeah, excellent. They have a. You know, they. They have all the answers. They don't see patients. So what the hell are you going to do?

[B]

Well, that was my other thing. Right. The second someone has any blip of popularity, they all want to be. Every doctor I meet wants to be famous. They want to have followers. And then once they start, like, tracking on social media, the patients are then, like, just discarded, basically.

[A]

Can you imagine?

[B]

And they're just posting and they're going to speak at this conference and they're going to this stage and. And they're, like, doing a sponsorship deal. Every doctor now is monetizing the fact that they're an expert and there's no doctors in the doctor's office.

[A]

No.

[B]

Seeing patients.

[A]

Right. And you know what they're doing? They're promoting whatever is paying them.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And it's horrible. Horrible.

[B]

This is why.

[A]

That's why I came out.

[B]

Well, this is why I want to know. Can you please. I know. Well, how do we find, like, listen, how do you find a doctor? Well, what. Okay, you're saying we have to be our own. Our own.

[A]

You have to start owning it.

[B]

Our own medical advisor.

[A]

You have to.

[B]

So, okay, so if you don't have the. If you don't have the knowledge and the wherewithal, and if you just Google or chat, you get a plethora of stuff that doesn't make sense. So what. What is someone, like, give me some tactile things that people should do to govern their own bodies, then, like, that actually can work.

[A]

Totally.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Your lifestyle.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

As you get older. And you know, and I hate labels. I don't like premenopause, perimenopause, post menopause, whatever. Menopause. I hate that.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because it's a continuum. From the time you go through puberty till the time you close your eyes for the last time, it's a continuum. Things change. We know that. So the better you know yourself, the more you address your lifestyle, the more likely you are to make life a continuum of health with small interruptions when you're sick. And that's my goal to teach you. So the point is you can take care of yourself by looking. Like, as you get older, can't tolerate the same lifestyle that you had when you were young. Your body can't. So you want to make your body feel better, so you need to sleep. But then when your hormones are out of whack, you can't sleep anymore.

[B]

Right?

[A]

So there. That's when you need hormones. You know, you can exercise. And you need to exercise because you want to maintain your muscle mass. Because as we know, muscles are the currency of youth. You want to eat more protein and stop eating all the carbs and stop drinking all the alcohol because we can't process it anymore.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And the thing is that this is just some of it. You can start meditating if you don't want to. Call it meditation. Just sit there by yourself, you know, call it anything you want. Breathe. You know, there are a million little things that will help you get yourself better.

[B]

You know, I was going to say one thing about exercise because that's something I. To me, exercise is the fountain of youth beyond everything else. Right. You could be doing you could take every supplement, and you could be taking every hormone in the world, but if you're not exercising daily and lifting heavy weights as you. As you. As you get older and just moving your body, forget about it. Or just walking, plain walking. Like, let's not overcomplicate stuff. You know, just go for a walk. Movement. To me, there's nothing better. If that's, like, the foundation, everything else, you can build from there.

[A]

Right. Well, let me throw a little wrench in that one.

[B]

Go ahead.

[A]

If your hormones are out of whack.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And you feel like shit, you're not going to be able to get off the couch. You're not going to be able to exercise. So then you're gonna go like, okay, this is Mother Nature putting. Taking me out. And I'm like, no, that's not Mother Nature taking you out. It's a moment when you can confront the fact that you can change it.

[B]

But when would you. When do you know? Like, when. If someone's sitting on the couch and they're super lethargic and they don't want to. They don't want to work out, they have anxiety, they have depression, or, like, they're just, like. They just have. They're lackluster. Okay. How do they. What's the. What's the correlation? Like, truly give us, like, symptoms if it's not, like, we all hear about what the symptoms are of perimenopause? You don't like the names, but, like.

[A]

You can use them? Don't know.

[B]

Like, let's say, I mean, if I'm a medical advisor to my own body.

[A]

Which you are.

[B]

Which I should be.

[A]

Because you live there. I don't.

[B]

Right. That's a good way.

[A]

No doctor lives there.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Mm.

[B]

How do we know. And how do we know if we need estrogen? If it's progesterone, if it's testosterone, like, what's the. Or if it's even hormones at all. How do we know if actually we need hormones?

[A]

You need hormones.

[B]

How do you know?

[A]

You know, because estrogen keeps your brain, your heart, your bones. Everything that falls apart as you get older is protected by estrogen. Think about when you're full of estradiol. Right? Your bones don't fall apart, your skin looks nice, you have no wrinkles, things like that.

[B]

So that's estrogen.

[A]

So that's. But you know what? It's not only one. They're all together.

[B]

Well, this is what my point is, though. Like, I. You know, people. Like, I have a lot of friends who are taking testosterone, right? But they're not taking estrogen or progesterone.

[A]

And they need progesterone. If they take testosterone, is it a.

[B]

Mistake just to take testosterone as a woman? If you're not taking estrogen and progesterone.

[A]

It may not be. Depends on the person. And remember, that's why I go back to the individual is like the key, right? So it may not be, but testosterone should go with progesterone because testosterone does turn into estrogen in the body. So you want to protect your uterus. Not a problem. You're okay. But the thing is, you will know when you need hormones. And I'll tell you how you know, you don't feel like yourself. It's like in my case, an alien invaded my head. I am pretty even tempered, okay? And suddenly I was like, moody and I was like short. People complain about that a lot, okay? Nobody thinks hormones. They'll give you an antidepressant. Antidepressant is the number one medication that they give women when they start going through the changes. Then it's birth control pills. Now birth control pills, they should get rid of them. I mean, if they were men, we wouldn't have birth control pills. The problem is that they put you in a menopausal hormone state because they shut off your own hormone production. So if you do, the mental pills do. Yes.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Or the iud, Mirena with a hormone, the synthetic hormone in it. Those things actually cause more problems than they solve. You know, they used to never Give women over 35 birth control pills because in Europe they used to go through menopause with that. Now they give it to everybody and then what happens? You still wind up with no hormones and you wind up in trouble. So the thing is, when you start not feeling like yourself, probably it's time to have your hormones checked. Ideally, in my world, I would want your hormones checked when you're not having problems, because I'd like to know what your ideal hormone balance is in the second half of the cycle, not the first one, because I'm not looking for your fertility level because there's more to you than just your fertility.

[B]

Right?

[A]

But we might never know that. And what happens is that I would like to know what your hormone levels are. So then as you start going through these not to be mentioned labels, right, Your hormone levels start fluctuating. So you'll have high estrogen one day, low estrogen another day. So if you give someone estrogen at that point point you'll create more problems because what what's going to happen is their boobs will start hurting, their periods are not coming. Right. So you want to actually know your patient, which is why you know to need to know yourself.

[B]

Right.

[A]

You need to know who's sitting across from you and you need to care about them.

[B]

So how do they, how do they. So the three again. So if we're self governing ourselves and we're finding all these things and we were talking about how doctors are kind of like checked out for the most part because of, you know, desensitization or lack there or too many people or bad whatever the reason is, how does someone find, okay, so now that they're self governed and now they're like, okay, yes, I need hormones, where do they go? Do they go to. Because HRT clinics are popping up on every corner. Yeah. And that's where people are going.

[A]

Right?

[B]

Is that so is that not what people should be doing?

[A]

You know what, it's better than not doing it.

[B]

Okay, so that is something that you would suggest to do.

[A]

I'd say once you know yourself, once you've adjusted your lifestyle. Right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because they're going to just give you hormones because they have the protocols, they'll follow protocols.

[B]

Well, they'll say they want to make money. They're expensive, by the way. These things are not cheap.

[A]

Well, right. So you have to make sure that they're doing the right thing.

[B]

Well, that's what I'm saying. How do you know though? That's the thing.

[A]

Well, you look at your lifestyle. So if you're not sleeping well or.

[B]

No, no, no, let's move past that point. Like we're doing all those things now we're sleep well now we're like, oh shit, I do need hormones right now. What do we do? Like now let's say I call up Dr. Smith, I go to see Dr. Smith. Dr. Smith is like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll give, we'll get your blood test and we'll, we'll do a blood test and that says yes, your testosterone's 5, you're fine.

[A]

Then what's Dr. Smith who was trained by, by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

[B]

So then where do I go?

[A]

If you go and find, you know, whether it's called, you know, the problem is, the problem is that functional, complementary, integrative wellness, anti aging, longevity, everything means the same. So that's the key.

[B]

That's good to know.

[A]

It's all just like, you know, it's like how Advil, Motrin, leave. Are all the same.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Ibuprofen.

[B]

Well, no, that's good. Can you talk about that a little bit? I think people are very confused. Yeah.

[A]

So I am. You go. Well, I'll be happy to fix it.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

But this is the thing. You have to find someone who has experience. That's the first thing. Yeah, that's why I came out.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because there's so many inexperienced people who, promoting themselves as experts who don't see patients and that's not okay because you're not helping women and you're actually kind of fueling the fire against hormones by getting the wrong doctors, the wrong providers. So it's very important that you find the right ones. So, you know, I teach at a 4M, which is the American Academy of Anti Aging Medicine, which has hormone tracts and they teach them and they get them certified and they have some basic information. So go find one of those. There are a lot of those. But the thing is, if it's working, so let's say, okay, you've gone, you started, they're not going to sell you on too many supplements. You're lucky they figured out that your hormones are low. They'll give you hormones and you feel better. So you're lucky. If you don't feel better, just give it three months. If in three months you're not back to your 35 year old self, move on. What we have to understand is the relationships with doctors are the same as any other relationship. If it's a two way street, it works. If it's a one way street, it's a dead end. So you don't want to be in a dead end. So if you feel better in three months, stay with it. If you don't feel better in three months, find someone else. And as you said, there's one on every street corner.

[B]

There is. So let me ask you this. So when is take, when is HRT dangerous? Because. Because they're so they pop up everywhere. Could it be if you're not with the right provider, can it be dangerous?

[A]

Not really.

[B]

So there's no way to be, no way for it to be dangerous.

[A]

You know, when I say something like this, don't push it to that end, right?

[B]

Yes, yes.

[A]

Don't go that far. I would say chances are that if they're not giving you the right thing for you, it's not going to work. Which means it's not going to be enough. The formulation is not going to get absorbed. Don't do pellets. Your body does not absorb pellets.

[B]

I Was going to ask you about that. So she's taught. You're talking. Erica's talking about testosterone pellets. Very popular. Yeah, very popular.

[A]

Because they're promoted. A lot of marketing for it. And you know what?

[B]

And they're expensive and you got to keep on getting them. And doctors make a lot of money off of these stem these testosterone pills.

[A]

Testosterone pill. That's right.

[B]

And so they're pushing them. That's what a lot of these HRT doctors are doing, pushing these. And also, like, what happens? Like, you're going from 0 to 60, you put a pellet in your butt. It's like 4. Your testosterone goes from like 10 to 400, and there's nothing you can do about it. You can't like.

[A]

No, you just have three months that it'll stay there. But this is the interesting thing. Your body releases hormones and pulses from your brain. Your pituitary gland sends pulses to your ovaries to release hormones.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So they're not there all the time. They come and go. When you put a pellet in, you're releasing hormones all the time. Not a good idea. Because you're going to keep on flooding your receptors on your cells with hormones and they're going to be like, screw it, I'm not interested in this anymore. So then you're going to dull your receptors, and then people like me are going to wind up having to clean up the mess by figuring out how to give you hormones that your body will actually accept. So, no, if it's about money, that's.

[B]

Actually a great point. So once you kind of screw around with your receptors like that, how can you. Can you fix them?

[A]

If you're lucky, yes.

[B]

So would you say, then what is the best. What's the best vehicle to get testosterone into your body?

[A]

Injectable or creams. There's a new form which is like sublingual, like a. Yeah. Thing. Which has not been studied enough, which is new. That I would not endorse yet, but hopefully it'll work. The problem with oral testosterone is, you know, goes through your liver the same as oral estrogen goes through your liver. Your liver is already over toxic.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Right. From all this crap in our environment. Right.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So you want to protect your liver. So if you can get the cream to get absorbed, by all means do it. If you can get injections once a month, twice a month, that's fine. Remember, they come out in pulses, so you don't have to have it all the time. As long as you have it once in a While you will protect it because remember you're going to be doing strength training so you're going to have muscles so your muscles will protect you.

[B]

What is your take on creatine?

[A]

I love pre creatine.

[B]

You do take creatine?

[A]

Yeah, of course. Five grams twice a day. Three times.

[B]

So do you. So I take it too. And I, I do you know what, do you know anything about the whitewash, acid wash, all these different types of washes? No. For creatine.

[A]

Tell me about it.

[B]

Well, no, I just feel like you got to be from what I like, from what I understand, you got to be very, very careful of what the, like where you're getting your creatine from.

[A]

Yeah, but I think you should be careful of where you get anything from.

[B]

Yeah, a hundred percent.

[A]

So you're right.

[B]

So I think I use momentous, you guys. It's my favorite. And that's just, it's called momentous. It's like they, it's like everything is triple party passport.

[A]

Got it. Because of you.

[B]

Really?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I love that. Thank you. By the way. Momentous. You hear that? Oh, third party tested. Not triple party tested. Third party test. I don't even know what I'm talking about. I was looking over your shoulder.

[A]

Yeah, no, I, I, I got it, I got it. I love, seems to be good.

[B]

I mean it's, but there's like a.

[A]

Lot of good ones. We have one at evolve science that they, they sell which has great bioavailability. Then there are like bulk nutrients supplements that are good. There are a lot of good ones. And the way you know, it's as you know.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Is you take the five grams, you put it in a little bit of water. Not this much water, but like a little bit.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You take it and then all of a sudden your brain kicks in and you feel good. So you know it's working.

[B]

So that's what I want, that's why I wanted to ask you about it because a couple things. Women are really scared of taking creatine. Why? Because it's the same as the hormones. We've heard so much of it being like, oh, it's going to bloat you and it's going to, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a supplement that guys only take. Again, there's a lot of like rhetoric that's been around for like 30 years that people still kind of remember or heard in the past. And so it's kind of like tainted what the truth is. Right. But that's the one supplement that I think. I mean, listen, I'm no doctor, but I would think that you actually live.

[A]

In your body and you know better.

[B]

Right. Or I play one on tv. Right. No, but like, hey, but like, it's.

[A]

Better than most of those.

[B]

Well, right. No, I. Thank you. But I think if you want to, like, if you want to like, keep muscle on your body. Body, yes, right.

[A]

Correct.

[B]

Creatine will help you with strength and with recovery.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

But the other thing is, what you just said is that brain fog. So that's why.

[A]

That's why I said to you, because it's about bioavailability. Right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And you want to make sure that you're not taking talcum powder, basically.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

Right. And so that's the best test. You just take 5 grams, put it in a little bit of water, mix it because dissolves immediately, then chug it down. And if within five to ten minutes you're like on, then you go, okay, this is working.

[B]

That's a. I see it. Because I'm not as. I'm not a shake person. I don't really have shakes with shakes.

[A]

You know, I do and I start every morning with a shake. And then when you put the creatine in it, it's like, okay, I have inositol in there, I have whey protein, I have all kinds of other stuff.

[B]

Right, right.

[A]

How am I going to know? So that's the best test.

[B]

That's a great, that's a great way of doing it. So because like, like to your point, like, well, you'd have so much. You have a shake every morning. I have a shake once in a while. So then like what people do is they don't. They don't take the proper supplement because everyone puts everything in the. In the shake. But you were saying other things. What else do you think is important for people? Like what supplements are you? Some that you swear by? Can I name you some? And you just say which ones you think. What do you think of fish oil?

[A]

I think it's great. But what kind of fish oil? Omega 3, omega 9. Omega 3, 15, fatty 15.

[B]

Oh, fatty 15.

[A]

Fatty 15 is really good.

[B]

So is it different than omega 3s?

[A]

Yeah, yeah, they have the higher concentration, so they're great. Then there is plasmalogens, which is omega 9, which work on the brain really well. So there don't do Omega 6. Whatever you're doing, don't do 6.

[B]

So then, so talk. So tell me what supplements then I won't do the game with you.

[A]

Go for it. No, no, no, I want it adk, of course.

[B]

I want you to say that the ones, the supplements that you think are the most important for women to take as they hit menopause.

[A]

How about forever or forever, whatever. Right. Adk we have, I have that as a combination because you know vitamin D, because it's about D, obviously. D is actually a hormones, a hormone. Yeah, it's not vitamin, but it's a fat soluble hormone. So if you take it ADK together, it gets absorbed better.

[B]

That's interesting. I always heard vitamin d take with K2, but I've never heard a, A.

[A]

Yeah, it works great. So that's the formula I'm using at Evolve Science.

[B]

And you know, I'm going to write that down. Okay, thank you. Next one.

[A]

Okay. Magnesium. Remember, magnesium is crucial. Now there are a lot of types of magnesiums. And you know, citrate is great to make you poop, right? But it's also muscle relaxant. You know, glycinate is great as a muscle relaxer. So I think combinations are great. But also citrate is wonderful. You don't have to go too far.

[B]

Can you, do you take magnesium citrate then in the morning and take, can you take magnesium?

[A]

No, I only take it at night. I only take it at night because.

[B]

People take magnesium glycogen to chill. But citrate won't make you chill.

[A]

It might. But you know what, you can also take L theanine, which is calm kind of thing. Right. In the morning and that will help you calm down. Now anxiety, as you know, comes from hormones. So if your hormones are imbalanced, you're not going to be walking around with a knot in the pit of your stomach.

[B]

Really.

[A]

You don't need the DNA.

[B]

So tell me all the benefits then of hormones just so we have a really good clip that I want to put up.

[A]

Okay. Hormones are the foundation of everything because they're made in different cells in the body and they travel through the bloodstream and they affect every cell of every organ in your body. So they're really important. And by hormones I mean, you know, the sex hormones, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone. But I also mean insulin, I mean thyroid, I mean adrenal. There are a lot of hormones, they work together. So if your hormones are imbalanced, you stay young, you stay useful, you have a brain. It affects your brain, it affects your sleep, it affects your ability to work out. You know, I put libido in there because it's important, obviously. And I wrote a Whole book about it.

[B]

Of course you did.

[A]

Right. But it was like trying to show people that intimacy and sexuality are not the same at all ages. And as you go through life, things change.

[B]

Yeah, no, it's important.

[A]

It's important it works. But anyway, so all of these. Everything. Everything. The clarity of thought.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Your. Your appetite. You know, we have GLP1s now. Everybody's taking GLP1s, but if your hormones are not imbalance, the GLP1s are going to be just another fad diet.

[B]

Really?

[A]

Of course.

[B]

So what happens? Because you're right, it's such a fad, Right. Everyone's taking these GLP ones and they.

[A]

All look like bobbleheads.

[B]

What do you think about this whole thing?

[A]

Yeah, listen, I've been working with them for five years because I teach peptides at A for M too.

[B]

Oh, you do?

[A]

Yes. So I've learned a lot. I know peptides pretty well and we use a lot of peptides. But GLP1s are great. But you know what? They're great in context, like everything else. When you lose weight, like, let's say you're 50 pounds overweight. Not happening here.

[B]

No, not here.

[A]

Not here. 50 pounds overweight. So you made the muscle to carry those 50 pounds of fat. I mean, 50 pounds of overweight, not fat. So you have more muscle than you think. Right. Because you have to carry it because you're carrying the weight.

[B]

Like resistant training. Like it's more to carry.

[A]

Yeah. You know what? No, it is.

[B]

Because you're carrying so much extra bandage resistance.

[A]

Exactly. So then you start taking GLP1 and you start dropping the fat, but you're also dropping the muscle. And while you're dropping the muscle, then you know what happens? Everything else falls apart. Then your metabolic rate, which is crucial, goes down. So now all of a sudden, you look like a bobblehead and you feel like crap. The only way to prevent that is, is to have your hormones balanced first. And the way I say it is we treat people in layers. So the treatment starts with the hormones. If your hormones are imbalanced, then I can give you GLP ones, then I can give you supplements, then I can give you peptides, then I can send you to workout, then I can do a lot of things because you have the foundation.

[B]

So hormones are the foundation? They are, yeah.

[A]

They really are. And I wish I could say they're not, but I Learned it over 30 plus years of doing it.

[B]

And so how does. So, for example, do you treat men as well?

[A]

Of course. Half the practice is Men.

[B]

Oh, half the practice is men. So if men have low testosterone, what are some symptoms beyond the ones that we think of, like low libido? Their strength is, you know, injuries. Depression is depression.

[A]

Yeah. You know what? When they get older and they stop losing their macho thing, they want to go do things and they just sit on the couch, back to the couch, right? Back to the couch, back to the couch. That's low testosterone. They don't go to the gym. They're not interested.

[B]

They do go to the gym. I think a lot of guys do go to the gym.

[A]

I know. And they're trying so hard and they're like stepping with the, on the gas, with the, you know, gas tank empty. So that's really bad because that brings me to one thing. You know, the whole thing with prostate cancer and testosterone was one report in 1939 by one Dr. By the name of Huggins, who reported a patient of prostate cancer with high testosterone. And that took over the whole urology idiocy. And to this day, they're still not going to give testosterone to men. And in 2007, this guy Morgenthaler, who was the head of urology at Harvard, did a whole review, like a total study review of every study ever conducted and proved that there was no connection between prostate cancer and testosterone. And nobody talked about it.

[B]

But what about if I heard that if someone has cancer that runs in their family and they're more susceptible or prone to maybe breast cancer or any type of statistic, whatever kind of cancer, hormones can't activate that. Is that, is that false?

[A]

It's false. It's false because hormones are not going to activate things. You're, you know, if you do genetic testing, which is a complete waste of time, because if you remember, we spent billions of dollars on genome testing and we still running. I mean, if you go to a functional medicine doctor, right, they'll do genome testing and they'll tell you, oh, you know, there are three genetic diseases we know about. And the rest of them are, oh, you know, your gene could be activated and might increase the risk. When I hear the word might, I run away? And the thing is, genes will get activated. It's our lifestyle. If we eating our microplastics in the air, and if we're eating the hormone treated cow, we are going to increase the risk of cancer.

[B]

Right?

[A]

And the thing is, instead of running and saying, oh my God, I don't want to get cancer, maybe we change it and make it. I want to live the healthiest life possible for as Long as possible, instead of running from doctor to doctor to doctor, looking for what?

[B]

So what do you think of functional medicine, doctors? What's your take?

[A]

They're fine. If they know what they're doing and they have experience and they care about you, anybody's fine.

[B]

Right?

[A]

You know what I don't like? I tell you what I don't like is when you go to a doctor and they'll say to you, you say, oh, I want testosterone. No, you can't have it, it'll give you cancer. When somebody says that, what it means to me is they don't know anything about it and they're not listening to you. So that's the dead end street out the door next.

[B]

Right. So you're all about like, really, your whole thing is like picking practitioners. Doesn't matter what type of doctor.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

But someone who you feel genuinely cares and sees you and is seeing you.

[A]

And listens to you and is telling you. Like, people come to me and tell me stuff like you said about whitewash.

[B]

Yeah, right. What was it called? I'm look it up. Because it's going to, I think I said it wrong.

[A]

And I'm like, no, but don't worry about it. But this is the point. There's a point to that.

[B]

Curious.

[A]

Go ahead. This is the thing.

[B]

Yeah, go ahead.

[A]

There's a lot of stuff I don't know. And all I have to say is I don't know. Because the moment I say I don't know, my credibility has gone up with you. You respect me. You know I care about you. I'm not going to bullshit you with my ego. I'm not putting my ego first. I'm putting you first. So that's how you judge your doctor.

[B]

Because you're special, though a lot of people, like we were saying, like, you're a unique person. That's why Tammy, who said, said that in the first place. But I, I, but I, I have to say it's become a modest monetization. Also, the truth of the matter is, like, people like, it's expensive. Most doctors are not taking insurance. The good ones are not taking insurance. I can bet you if I went to, went to your office, you were for, I bet you were a fortune. There's no way that you're taking my Blue Cross Blue Shield for free.

[A]

No. And you know what?

[B]

I tell you why, okay?

[A]

I never took insurance because, yeah, see, I tell you why. But I'll tell you why, okay? And it makes sense, because we, as in you and me, should change that whole Insurance idiocy. Because I didn't take insurance, because I didn't want anybody else. Between you and me, I didn't want the malpractice lawyer there. I didn't want the insurance there. I didn't want anybody there. It's a mix between you and me. So that's, you know, now it's. AI was deciding if you should have whatever the hell you're having. You know what I mean? It's disgusting what's going on. But people say stupid things because they don't know any better. They'll say, well, the insurance will cover this. And they don't understand that that means you and I are paying for it.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So, no. What you want to do is say no, I want. You know, like, the end of life is the most expensive part of healthcare. All the young people are paying for the expenses of end of life, which is total, because we're going to die anyway.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

So what are we talking about? We have to change the system. If we don't change the system, we're doomed.

[B]

Yeah, I agree with you. Okay. There are a couple other supplements I want to ask you about.

[A]

All right. The supplements. You didn't finish them.

[B]

We didn't. Okay. Quercetin. Is that something that we should be taking? And what does it do?

[A]

No, not necessarily. It's okay. But. No.

[B]

Coq 10 is.

[A]

Coq 10. Yes. Coq 10 is great.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Coq 10 helps with energy production on the. At the cellular level. So now everybody's talking about cells. Everybody's talking about mitochondria.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And that's a great supplement.

[B]

CoQ10 is great because I take. For. For the cellular health, I take true Niagen. Nad. Do you take that?

[A]

Yeah. And we. I work with NMNs, which you write true nigens. Good one.

[B]

Wait, you work with NMN? You should be off of the show. No joking. Well, no, because I thought NR is a precursor. It makes it nmn.

[A]

Yeah, it is.

[B]

You got to take nmn, has to convert into nr. So isn't it better just to take nr, which is true nitrogen, and it actually converts?

[A]

So if it converts, you're lucky. If it doesn't convert, NMN's kind of better because it's more likely to convert in more people.

[B]

Really? Why?

[A]

And you know, because of the way it's made. Really? The way they make it. Oh, really? Yeah. And you know what? We give NAD shots in the office.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

They love it. But not iv. Make sure you tell them not iv. Iv. NAD doesn't Work. It's painful. You feel like you have an elephant sitting on you.

[B]

Right. Well, it takes a long time, three.

[A]

Five hours to get it in. And then by the time it comes out, by the time you walk away, it's out. So you want something that stays. So we do like subcutaneous. In your skin.

[B]

Does that work though?

[A]

People like it.

[B]

Yeah, but does it work?

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

See, this is the thing. Like I'm not overall like vitamin IVs, right. It's a huge business. Right.

[A]

I have it, we do it.

[B]

Everybody does. Right. But these IVs, like, I. I don't know, like I feel like you're putting all this liquid into your body. You pee it out in two seconds, you sit there, you spend all this money, you spend all this time, and then it's poof, it's gone.

[A]

Interesting. Let me give you another piece of it.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

So IVs used to be what you get when you go to the emergency room and you have debt, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Then all of a sudden somebody got the idea, like, maybe we can keep people healthy with IVs.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then we started growing it and so if it's the right stuff in it, it'll help. But not for hangovers, because people use it for hangovers.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

And the hydration and things like that.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

But if you use it consistently for immune boosting for when you travel, for anti inflammatory, they work beautifully if you put the right things and they do.

[B]

So. So is it just another one of these myths that like you are just pissing them out two seconds later because they're putting all this liquid. Like people get these vitamin C things. Right. And like, you know, my mom would always say, why are you doing that? Like it's a waste. She's also like, she's a nurse, but she's like, you're just gonna.

[A]

Yeah, she's a conventional amount.

[B]

Yeah. She's like, you could. You're just gonna pee it out anyway. Right? So you're saying that it could. It depends on like what the scenario is.

[A]

Yeah. And I think that I look at what we do with the IVs and I look at what I do with IVs and I. Same. They actually work if you do it right.

[B]

So there's something else that you said. Okay, let's go. I'm going to circle. I'm going to go right back to those NAD IVs. I could not agree with you more. However, actually true. Niagen put out an NR iv. Have you heard of this?

[A]

No.

[B]

So Their IV is accept. Like this is like super potent. Very potent. And it takes 30 minutes to get into your body. Does that make a difference? You should try it.

[A]

If it works. I interviewed for a FRM where I run the podcast there.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The founder of True Niagen.

[B]

Oh, wait, hold on. Is it Charles Brenner?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

He's the scientist, right?

[A]

Yeah, he's the scientist.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

So he sold me on the whole thing, obviously.

[B]

Right.

[A]

I bought the whole thing. I did it. I didn't do the iv. So, yeah, it happens to be a good product.

[B]

Right.

[A]

It sounds like a good product.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Why not?

[B]

Right. So no, I'm asking, I want to know legitimately. Right. There's no.

[A]

The data behind it is good.

[B]

The thing is like, okay, so how about nac? Have you heard of nac?

[A]

Of course. N acetyl cysteine.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Is amazing. It's great for your brain, it's great for your lungs, it's great for everything. And I use it regularly. Funny that you mention it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I use it in the morning and at night when somebody has a cold and they cough or some in their lungs are not okay. The moment you give it to them, they heal. You don't have to give them cough medicine.

[B]

Really. So I've been taking it every day. Is that, is that okay? Because does your body get used to it? Yeah. If you're taking a supplement for too long.

[A]

Yeah, the body gets used to it. So I like drug, hormone supplement, holidays.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

To give your body time to reset and then say, oh, I want this again.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So I do that.

[B]

How, like how long should the vacation is?

[A]

Like when you finish with a bottle, skip the next bottle for a week or two.

[B]

Really?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Or like cycle it. Because yeah, your body gets used to it.

[A]

Yeah. And you don't want it to be used to it. You want it to be like, oh, yeah, I like this. It's like now I'm traveling, right?

[B]

Right.

[A]

So I'm traveling all week. So I have my AM and my PM pack and I put whatever I'm taking in there. So I'm going to take the most because I don't want to get sick. I want my immune system to be top. Right.

[B]

Yeah, of course.

[A]

I got to have a brain for you.

[B]

Right? Of course. Like I asked hard hitting questions.

[A]

Right. So they're like, I'll take a lot of them. Then I'll go home and I'll be like, okay, you can chill out.

[B]

Okay, so then tell me what you're, what you do every day, what's your. You say you take your AM ones and your pm. What do you do? Am. What do you do?

[A]

All right, so am. What do I do? I do some vitamin C. I take vitamin C because you know what? Linus Falling got a Nobel Prize for a reason. I don't take huge doses, but I take about a thousand milligrams twice a day.

[B]

How do you take it?

[A]

Oral.

[B]

Which one? Which one did you say?

[A]

Oh, you know what? The ones I use is Allergy research is the one I like.

[B]

I'm going to ask you about one that my friend has taken. He just actually sent it to me. He asked me to find out about it. He's like on top of his stuff, so.

[A]

Good.

[B]

Okay, so this is what it was. And I'm like, I never heard of it. But it's like a vitamin C type I'm taking.

[A]

Is it liposomal or something?

[B]

Yeah, you just said it.

[A]

Liposomal. You know what, that's like a gimmicky thing for absorption, that it's better. Absorption?

[B]

Yeah. What's. Okay, so what do you call it?

[A]

Liposomal.

[B]

That's exactly what it is.

[A]

Right. So it gets absorbed better. Supposedly. I'm not.

[B]

It's not interesting. It's not. It's not true.

[A]

It's more expensive.

[B]

It's more expensive. So someone just takes a thousand. You take a thousand milligrams of vitamin C. Okay, what else do you take?

[A]

Yeah. Then when I travel, I take the defense, which is lactoferrin. Lactoferrin is actually an immune booster that your body makes. It's part of your body and you really can't find it very often. We have it and the, you know, the practice has it and it's great. You know what? Echinacea and all that other shit. No, yeah. This one works really well and I've been using it since, like, God, only.

[B]

Really?

[A]

Yeah. And it really. Only when I travel.

[B]

Okay, what's the other ones?

[A]

Let's see. What else do I take? CoQ10. Creatine.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What else do I take in the morning? In the morning I take the NMNs. Right. Because of the NAD thing. Then I take a peptide. It's called TB4 frag, which is a peptide. That's an immune boosting peptide.

[B]

How is it, how you take. It's oral.

[A]

Oral? No, everything I'm taking is oral. I don't do any shots when I go anywhere. No. No.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And now, you know, there's a lot of debate with the injectable with the FDA involved and all of that. So I'm not really interested in that.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Let's see, what else do I take in the morning?

[B]

How about. How about at night?

[A]

At night I take the adk. I take.

[B]

Oh, you take vitamin D at night?

[A]

Yeah, but I can take it in the morning. It's fine. Okay. I take prodrome glia, which is the omega 9, which is. Oh, in the morning, I take the fatty 15.

[B]

And you take another type of omega at night.

[A]

Yeah, because Omega 9, which is prodrome glia, actually helps you sleep beautifully.

[B]

I've never heard that.

[A]

Listen to this one. There's another one called apigenin, which is from chamomile, and that helps you sleep well, too.

[B]

Really? Okay. Are you taking that?

[A]

I take that. Yeah, I have it. I'm thinking of the pack. I have it in that pack. And then what else do I take? The magnesium, the defense, I think that's.

[B]

Is there a blood test so people can take them to see if they should be taking these? Because instead of just giving people lists of things like, you know, you. You know yourself. Right, because you're a doctor. No, no, because I was gonna say. I was gonna say. I. I want to correct myself, please. Because, you know, your body, you're paying attention. Yeah. You've been like your own advocate. Everyone should be their own advocate. I know that. I understand. But instead of just like, giving. Not you, but instead of people just taking a ton of different stuff, is there a blood test so people can actually see what they're deficient in when these are things that are a little bit more, you know, a little more unique?

[A]

Right. You know what? There are a lot of blood tests. Most of them are to make money off of you.

[B]

Right.

[A]

They're not going to teach you anything.

[B]

Which ones should people. Which blood tests?

[A]

Oh, probiotics, probatics.

[B]

Right.

[A]

I knew there was something else.

[B]

Okay, you know what I'll do?

[A]

Like B12 level, folic acid level, iron level, you know, Then I look at inflammation. So, like crp, C reactive protein, homocysteine sedimentation rate. So I'll look at what I could treat, what I can make sure I minimize. Like, I don't want inflammation, obviously.

[B]

Who does?

[A]

No kidding.

[B]

Isn't inflammation. That's how every. That's how everything.

[A]

And everybody's taking ibuprofen, Motrin for it. As if that's going to help you. That'll put a hole in your stomach.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Take some probiotics, take some digestive enzymes.

[B]

What's. So when do. When do people take digestive enzymes.

[A]

Because I think before meals, you know, before big meals.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Because they have the enzymes, right, to help your liver and your gallbladder. So you take that and some people swear by him.

[B]

I know. That's. I was gonna. That's why I was asking you.

[A]

Oh, my God, they love them.

[B]

So how do we know if you need one?

[A]

I don't think.

[B]

You don't take it?

[A]

No, I don't get heartburn. I don't get any problems. So then we're fine.

[B]

You don't need to take it.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, you gotta look at what's going on. Right. The other.

[B]

Bloating.

[A]

Bloating is hormonal. Bloating is hormones.

[B]

Well, it can't be because I've been. I. I get bloated. I've been like, maybe like too much, like, everything. I. I, like, been. I. I've been getting bloated since I was like 20, 19, 18.

[A]

So that's hormonal.

[B]

No, it's because I love to eat food.

[A]

It's called I like to eat food.

[B]

No, I eat a lot.

[A]

I eat a lot, too.

[B]

I eat a ton of, like, volume is my thing. I can. I have to. Like.

[A]

Is it fiber? Like, you're eating 30 grams of fiber, Like a salad.

[B]

My. Like, my friends and family say that's like a trough. Like, I love it.

[A]

Me too.

[B]

I'll have, like a bowl of salad that's like this. And I just, like, literally, I can be. I can eat for an hour.

[A]

God bless you. What's wrong with that?

[B]

I get bloated from it. So then do I need a digestive enzyme?

[A]

Try it. See what happens. Try it. Always try it. If it works, by all means. If it doesn't work, get rid of it.

[B]

What probiotics should people take?

[A]

Depends. Like, you know, their probiotics or candida and, like, you know, Saccharomyces willardi, whatever. If you have candida. But there's some bifidas, they're basic probiotics that help that work really nicely. You can also drink, like, you know, the brine from sauerkraut and kimchi and all of that stuff.

[B]

I know. It's very important.

[A]

I'm just saying it.

[B]

I know.

[A]

Just saying. I don't do it, but I'd like actually sauerkraut, because I'm from Eastern Europe.

[B]

I know you are, of course.

[A]

Right.

[B]

That's why. Okay, I'm sorry. Okay, so basically, you gave me a great list of. Okay, so all these supplements. Okay. Your book is called yet again, do you want to say your title of the book?

[A]

Sure.

[B]

Okay. Say the title.

[A]

We can do another podcast anytime.

[B]

Let your doc. Don't let your doctor kill you. God, no, please don't.

[A]

Please don't.

[B]

Please don't. Erica, I'm so glad that you came on.

[A]

I am thrilled. When I saw that it was you, I was like, this is heaven.

[B]

This is so.

[A]

And then I'm like, a house. I'm like, it's her house.

[B]

I know. It's by the way. Yeah, well, because this is where I do my little thing, my little podcast in a basement.

[A]

So cool.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

You're beyond cool.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[A]

And I love it. And I want to see your new TED Talk. I'm very excited about that.

[B]

Okay, so I'll send it to you after.

[A]

Send it to me. Oh, my God, I'm so excited. And your book. I mean, everything. You're so good.

[B]

You listen. This is what. Listen, I didn't pay her. Oh, my God. You're valid.

[A]

So proud of you.

[B]

So sweet. Thank you.

[A]

Women should support each other. If women got it.

[B]

There are. You know, that's a whole other podcast we should be doing.

[A]

Yeah, we should.

[B]

Everyone. Dr. Erica Schwartz, besides the book, where can people find you?

[A]

Dr. Erica Schwartz?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

D R E R I K A S C H W R T Z on Instagram.

[B]

There you go. And if you are living in New York, are you accepting new patients?

[A]

We have, like, three other doctors. They don't have to have me.

[B]

Okay. They don't have to have you. But.

[A]

But yes, I. But to answer your question, there is an answer.

[B]

This is what I like about you. This is a doctor that's actually a doctor that's seeing patients.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Do you have time?

[A]

Well, how else am I going to know what's going on?

[B]

What?

[A]

How?

[B]

Hallelujah.

[A]

And you know what? I'm not here to endorse or become an influencer. I want to tell the truth because I have the experience. I've been doing it for 30 years.

[B]

And that's the thing. That's. And that's why you're like, a trusted source. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[A]

My God. Thank you.

[B]

You're welcome. Thank you. Bye. Bye.